Jesus Christ in the Old Testament - Sermons by C. H. Spurgeon (Full Text and PDF).

Christ in the Old Testament: 60 Sermons by C. H. Spurgeon
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PREFACE

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When "The Messiah: Sermons on Our Lord's Names, Titles and Attributes" was issued, a promise was given of a companion compilation to be entitled "Christ in the Old Testament." Here it is; the sixth volume of a series which includes sermons on the Parables, the Miracles, the Canticles, and the Titles of Christ.

To the two disciples on the moonlit road, the Master, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, expounded the things concerning Himself. He is everywhere in Scripture; patriarchs and kings are types of Him who is the Ancient of Days and the Prince of Peace: the law was but a shadow of good things to come, and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The Old Testament was Christ's Bible, and it is a Bible full of Christ. He is as surely in it as in the New Testament, albeit the revelation is not as vivid nor as full. Of course, when Spurgeon preached, he poured the content of the New Testament revelation into the mould of the Old Testament type and prophecy; expounding, in the blaze of gospel light, that which was hidden from the prophets when they enquired and searched diligently what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow: interpreting, perhaps, more than the prophet or lawgiver understood, but not more than the Spirit intended and revealed.

There are sixty discourses within these covers. They fall naturally into three groups - Historical, Ceremonial and Prophetical - each merging into the other. Twenty sermons are given under each heading; this number might have been easily doubled; on many of the subjects Mr. Spurgeon has preached several times, and sermons on other topics were available; but enough has been chosen to set forth the fair and glorious image of Him who is fairer than the children of men, who fulfils all the law and the prophets, who is the theme of Scripture as He is the joy of heaven.

May the glory of Christ in the Old Testament lead some to receive Christ into the heart as the hope of glory, and lend a new value to that Scripture which, though unsparingly assailed, is ever its own best witness!

CHAPTER 1. HONEY FROM A LION

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, April 3rd, 1881, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."
Romans 5:15.

This text affords many openings for controversy. It can be made to bristle with difficulties. For instance, - there might be a long discussion as to the manner in which the fall of Adam can justly be made to affect the condition of his posterity. When this is settled there might arise a question as to the exact way in which Adam's fault is connected with ourselves - whether by imputation of its sin, or in what other form; and then there might be further dispute as to the limit of the evil resulting from our first parents' offence, and the full meaning of the fall, original sin, natural depravity, and so forth. There would be another splendid opportunity for a great battle over the question of the extent of the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ; whether it covers, as to persons, the whole area of the ruin of the Fall; whether, in fact, full atonement has been made for all mankind or only for the elect. It would be easy in this way to set up a thorn-hedge, and keep the sheep out of the pasture; or, to use another metaphor, to take up so much time in pelting each other with the stones as to leave the fruit untasted. I have, at this time, neither the inclination nor the mental strength either to suggest or to remove the difficulties, which are so often the amusement of unpractical minds. I feel more inclined to chime in with that ancient father of the church who declined controversy in a wise and explicit manner. He had been speaking concerning the things of God and found himself at length confounded by a certain clamorous disputant, who shouted again and again, "Hear me! Hear me!" "No," said the father, "I will not hear you, nor shall you hear me,- but we will both be quiet and hear what our Lord Jesus Christ has to say." So we will not at this time listen to this side nor to that; but we will bow our ear to hear what the Scripture itself hath to say apart from all the noise of sect and party. My object shall be to find out in the text that which is practically of use to us, that -which may save the unconverted, that which may comfort and build up those of us who are brought into a state of reconciliation with God; for I have of late been so often shut up in my sick chamber that when I do come forth I must be more than ever eager for fruit to the glory of God. We shall not, therefore, dive into the deeps with the hope of finding pearls, for these could not feed hungry men; but we will navigate the surface of the sea, and hope that some favouring wind will bear us to the desired haven with a freight of corn wherewith to supply the famishing. May the Holy Spirit bless the teaching of this hour to the creation and nourishment of saving faith.

I. The first observation from the text is this - THE APPOINTED WAY OF OUR SALVATION IS BY THE FREE GIFT OF GOD. We Were ruined by the Fall, but we are saved by a free gift. The text tells us that the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Although this doctrine is well known, and is taught in our synagogues every Sabbath day, yet this grand essential truth is often enough forgotten or ignored, so that it had need be repeated again and again. I could wish that every time the clock struck it said, "By grace are ye saved." I could wish that there were a trumpet voice ringing out at day-break both on sea and land, over the whole round globe the words, "By grace are ye saved." As Martin Luther said of a certain other truth so say I of this, "You so constantly forget it that I feel inclined to take the Bible and beat it about your head, that you may feel it and keep it in remembrance." Men do not naturally love the doctrine of grace, and therefore they cast it out of their minds as much as possible. The larger portion of mankind do not believe that salvation is of grace: another part of them profess to believe it, but do not understand its meaning; and many who do understand it have never yielded to it or embraced it. Happy are they who belong to the remnant according to the election of grace, for they know right well the joyful sound, and they walk in the light of the glory of the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Observe, that salvation is a free gift, that is to say, it is bestowed upon men by God without regard to any merit, supposed or real. Grace has to do with the guilty. Mercy in the very nature of things is not a fit gift for the righteous and deserving, but for the undeserving and sinful. When God deals out to men his gracious salvation they are regarded by him as lost and condemned, and he treats them as persons who have no claim upon him whatsoever, to whom nothing but his free favour can bring deliverance. He saves them, not because he perceives that they have done anything that is good, or have hopeful traits of character, or form resolutions to aspire to something better; but simply because he is merciful, and delights to exercise his grace, and manifest his free favour and infinite love. It is according to the nature of God to pity the miserable and forgive the guilty, "for he is good, and his mercy endureth for ever." God has a reason for saving men; but that reason does not lie in man's merit in any degree whatever. This is clear from the fact that he often begins his work of grace upon those who can least of all be credited with goodness. It was said of our Lord, "This man receiveth sinners," and the saying was most emphatically true. Sovereign grace selects such as Rahab the harlot, and Manasseh the persecutor, and Saul of Tarsus, the mad zealot against Christ: such as these have been seized upon by efface, and arrested in infinite love, that in them the Lord might manifest the power and plenitude of his mercy. Salvation is a work which is begun by the pure, un-purchased, free favour of God, and in the same spirit it is carried on and perfected. Pure grace, which lays the foundation, also brings forth the topstone.

Salvation is also brought to men irrespective of any merit which God foreseen will be in man. Foresight of the existence of grace cannot be the cause of grace. God himself does not foresee that there will be any good thing in any man, except what he foresees that he will put there. What is the reason, then, why he determines that he will put it there? That reason, so far as we are informed, is this, "He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy." The Lord determines to display his love, and set on active work his attribute of grace, therefore doth he save men according to the good pleasure of his will. If there be salvation given to men upon the foresight of what they are yet to be, it is clear it is a matter of works and debt, and not of grace; but the Scripture is most decided that it is not of works, but of unmingled grace, for saith the apostle, "If by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." Our text is express that salvation is "the free gift," and that it comes to us by "the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ."

I go a little further in trying to explain how salvation is a free gift, by saying that it is given without reference to conditions which imply any desert. But I hear one murmur, "God will not give grace to men who do not repent." I answer, God gives men grace to repent, and no man ever repents till first grace is given him by which he is led to repentance. "God will not give his grace to those who do not believe," says one. I reply, God gives grace to men by which they are moved to believe, and it is through the grace of God that they are brought into the faith of Jesus Christ. You may say, if you please, that repentance and faith are conditions of salvation, and I will not quarrel with you; but please remember that they are not conditions in the sense of deserving anything of God. They may be conditions of receiving, but they are not conditions of purchasing, for salvation is without money and without price. We are expressly told that salvation "is of faith, that it might be by grace": for faith is not to be numbered with works of the law, to which the idea of merit may be attached. Faith is far as the poles asunder from claiming anything of God by way of debt. Faith comes as a poor, undeserving thing, and simply trusts the free mercy of God. It never attempts to wear the crown, or grasp a particle of praise. The believer never can be a boaster, for boasting is excluded by the law, of faith. If a Christian should begin to boast, it would be because his believing is failing, and his evil nature is coming to the front; for faith is of all graces most self-denying; her song is always, Non nobis Domine, "Not unto us, but unto thy name give praise." While, therefore, the word of God assures us that except we repent we shall all likewise perish, and that if we believe not in Jesus Christ we shall die in our sins, it would have us at the same time know that there is no merit in repenting or believing, but grace reigns in God's acceptance of these graces. "We are not to regard the requirement of faith, repentance, and confession of sin as at all militating against the fulness and freeness of divine grace, since, in the first place, both repentance, faith, and true confession of sin are all gifts of grace, and, in the next place, they have no merit in themselves, being only such things as honest men should render when they know that they have erred and are promised forgiveness. To be sorry for my sin is no recompense for having sinned; and to believe God to be true is no work for which I may demand a reward; if, then, I am saved through faith, it is of the pure mercy of God, and of that alone that pardon comes to me.

Beloved, so far is God from giving salvation to men as a matter of reward and debt, and therefore bestowing it only upon the good and excellent, that he is pleased to bestow that salvation over the head of sin and in the teeth of rebellion. As I said before, mercy and grace are for the sinful, for none others need them; and God's grace comes to us when we are far off by wicked works. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Free grace breaks forth like a mighty flood, and sweeps in torrents over the hills of our transgressions, rising above the high alps of our presumptuous sins. Twenty cubits upward doth this sea of grace prevail till the tops of the mountains of iniquity are covered. The Lord passeth by transgression, iniquity, and sin, and remembereth not the iniquity of his people, because he delighteth in mercy. Almsgiving needs a pauper, and grace needs a sinner. There is no opportunity for forgiveness where there is no offence. If men are meritorious how can God be gracious to them? In such a case it will be enough for him to be just. When good works can put in a valid claim peace and heaven can be obtained by the rules of debt; but since it is clear that eternal life is the gift of pure favour, you need not marvel when I say that grace comes to men leaping over the mountains of their iniquities. Abounding mercy delights to blot out abounding sin, and it will never lack for opportunity to do its pleasure. There is no lack of occasions for grace in this poor fallen world, and of all the places where there is most room I know of one spot not far from here where there is a grand opportunity for infinite mercy and super-abounding grace to exercise their power. Here is the spot - it is this treacherous, guilty heart of mine. I think, my brother, you know of another spot that is very like it; and you, my sister, too, can say, "Wondrous mercy! Sure there is room for all its heights and depths to be shown in this sinful soul of mine." Ay, and it will be shown, too, if you can but look for it through Christ Jesus; for it is the delight of God's grace to flow into unlikely places: mercy is the glory of God, and he loves to bestow it on those who least deserve it.

We are saved by grace, free grace, pure grace, grace without regard to merit or to the possibility of such a thing, and many of us have been saved by grace of the most abounding and extraordinary sort. Some of us will be prodigies of divine love, miracles of mercy, to be wondered at throughout eternity: we shall be set up in heaven as monuments for angels to gaze at, in which they shall see a display of the amazing goodness of the Lord. Some of us, I said; but I suppose that in each one of the redeemed there is some particular development of grace which will make him specially remarkable, so that the whole body of us, as one glorified church, shall be made known unto angels, and principalities, and powers, the manifold wisdom of God. Oh, what a revelation of grace and mercy will be seen when all the blood-washed race shall gather safely around the eternal throne, and sing their hallelujahs unto him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood.

Note one thing more concerning this plan of salvation, that all this grace comes to us through the one man Jesus Christ. I sometimes hear people talking about a "one man ministry." I know what they mean, but I know also that I am saved by a one man ministry, even by one who trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him. I was lost by a one man ministry, when father Adam fell in Eden; but I was saved by a one man ministry, when the blessed Lord Jesus Christ bore my sin in his own body on the tree. O matchless ministry of love, when the Lord from heaven came into the world and took upon himself our nature, and became in all respects human, and being found in fashion as a man, was obedient to death, even the death of the cross! It is through the one man, Christ Jesus, that all the grace of God comes streaming down to all the chosen. Mercy flows to no man save through the one appointed channel, Jesus the Son of man. Get away from Christ, and you leave the highway of God's everlasting love; pass this door, and you shall find no entrance into life. You must drink from this conduit-pipe, or you must thirst for ever, and ask in vain for a drop of water to cool your parched tongue. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." All the infinite mercy of God and love of God - and God himself is love - is concentrated in the person of the well-beloved Son of the Highest, and unto him be glory for ever. Sing unto him, ye angels! Chant his praise, ye redeemed! For by the one man Christ Jesus the whole company of the elect have been delivered from the wrath to come, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God.

Thus I have tried to set before you God's way of salvation.

II. Starting aside, as it may seem, from the current of our thoughts, but only with the view of coming back to it with a forcible argument, we next note that it is CERTAIN THAT GREAT EVILS HAVE COME TO US BY THE FALL. Paul speaks in this text of ours of the "offence," which word may be read the "Fall," which was caused by the stumbling of our father Adam. Our fall in Adam is a type of the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, but the type is not able completely to set forth all the work of Christ: hence the apostle says, "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." It is certain, then, that we were heavy losers by the offence of the first father and head of our race. I am not going into details and particulars, but it is clear that we have lost the garden of Eden and all its delights, privileges, and immunities, its communion with God, and its freedom from death. We have lost our first honour and health, and we have become the subjects of pain and weakness, suffering and death: this is the effect of the Fall. A desert now howls where otherwise a garden would have smiled. Through the sin of Adam we have been born under conditions which are far from being desirable, heirs to a heritage of sorrow. Our griefs have been alleviated by the bounty of God, but still we are not born under such conditions as might have been ours had Adam remained in his integrity and kept his first estate. We came into the world with a bias towards evil. Those of us who have any knowledge of our own nature must confess that there is in us a strong tendency towards sin, which is mixed up with our very being. This is not derived solely from faults of education, or from the imitation of others; but there is a bent within us in the wrong direction, and this has been there from our birth. Alas! that it should be so; but so it is. In addition to having this tendency to sin, we are made liable to death - nay, not liable alone, but we are sure in due time to bow our heads beneath the fatal stroke. Two only of the human race have escaped death, but the rest have left their bodies here to moulder back into mother earth, and unless the Lord cometh speedily, we expect that the same thing will happen to these bodies of ours. While we live we know that the sweat of our brow must pay the price of our bread; we know that our children must be born with pangs and travail; we know that we ourselves must return to the dust from whence we are taken; for dust we are, and unto dust must we return. O Adam, thou didst a sad day's work for us when thou didst hearken to the voice of thy wife and eat of the forbidden tree. The world has no more a Paradise anywhere, but everywhere it has the place of wailing and the field of the dead. Where can you go and not find traces of the first transgression in the sepulchre and its mouldering bones? Every field is fattened with the dust of the departed: every wave of the sea is tainted with atoms of the dead. Scarcely blows a March wind down our streets but it sweeps aloft the dust either of Caesar or his slave, of ancient Briton, or modern Saxon; for the globe is worm-eaten by death. Sin has scarred, and marred, and spoiled this creation by making it subject to vanity through its offence. Thus terrible evils have come to us by an act in which we had no hand: we were not in the Garden of Eden, we did not incite Adam to rebellion, and yet we have become sufferers through no deed of ours. Say what you will about it, the fact remains, and cannot be escaped from.

This sad truth leads me on to the one which is the essence of the text, and constitutes my third observation.

III. FROM THE FALL WE INFER THE MORE ABUNDANT CERTAINTY THAT SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS SHALL COME TO BELIEVERS. If all this mischief has happened to us through the fall of Adam why should not immense blessing flow to us by the work of Christ? Through Adam's transgression we lost Paradise, that is certain; but if anything can be more certain we may with greater positiveness declare that the second Adam will restore the ruin of the first. If through the offence of one man many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, shall abound and has abounded unto many. Settle in your minds, then, that the fall of Adam has wrought us great damage, and then be as much assured that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, in which we had no hand whatever, must do us great service. Believing in Christ Jesus, it becomes beyond all measure sure to us that we are blessed in him, seeing that it is already certain that through the fall of Adam we have become subject to sorrow and death.

For, first, this appears to be more delightful to the heart of God. It must be fully according to his gracious nature that salvation should come to us through his Son. I can understand that God, having so arranged it that the human race should be regarded as one, and should stand or fall before him in one man, should carry out the arrangement to its righteous end, and allow the consequences of sin to fall upon succeeding generations of men: but yet I know that he takes no pleasure in the death of any, and finds no delight in afflicting mankind. When the first Adam transgressed it was inevitable that the consequences of his transgression should descend to his posterity, and yet I can imagine a perfectly holy mind questioning whether the arrangement would be carried out. I can conceive of angels saying one to another, "Will all men die through this entrance of sin into the world? Can it be that the innumerable sons of Adam will all suffer from his disobedience?" But I cannot imagine any question being raised about the other point, namely, the result of the work of our Lord Jesus. If God has so arranged it that in the second Adam men rise and live, it seems to me most gloriously consistent with his gracious nature and infinite love that it should come to pass that all who believe in Jesus should be saved through him. I cannot imagine angels hesitating and saying, "Christ has been born; Christ has lived; Christ has died; these men have had nothing to do with that: will God save them for the sake of his Son?" Oh, no, they must have felt, as they saw the babe born at Bethlehem, as they saw him living his perfect life and dying his atoning death, "God will bless those who are in Christ; God will save Christ's people for Christ's sake." As for ourselves, we are sure that if the Lord executes judgment, which is his strange work, he will certainly carry out mercy, which is his delight. If he kept to the representative principle when it involved consequences which gave him no pleasure, we may be abundantly assured that he will keep to it now that it will involve nothing but good to those concerned in it. Here, then, is the argument, - "For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."

This assurance becomes stronger still when we think that it seems more; inevitable that men should be saved by the death of Christ than that men should be lost by the sin of Adam. It might seem possible that, after Adam had sinned, God might have said, "Notwithstanding this covenant of works, I will not lay this burden upon the children of Adam"; but it is not possible that after the eternal Son of God has become man, and has bowed his head to death, God should say, "Ye, after all I will not save men for Christ's sake." Stand and look at the Christ upon the cross, and mark those wounds of his, and you will become absolutely certain that sin can be pardoned, nay, must be pardoned to those who are in Christ Jesus. Those flowing drops of blood demand with a voice that cannot be gainsaid that iniquity should be put away. If the voice of Abel crying from the ground was prevalent, how much more the blood of the Only-begotten Son of God, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot? It cannot be, O God, that thou shouldest despise or forget the sacrifice on Calvary. Grace must flow to sinners through the bleeding Saviour, seeing that death came to men through their transgressing progenitor.

I do not know whether I shall get into the very soul of this argument as I desire, but to me it is very sweet to look at the difference as to the causes of the two effects. Look now at the occasion of our ruin, - "the offence of one." The one man transgresses, and you and I and all of us come under sin, sorrow, and death. What are we told is the fountain of these streams of woe? The one action of our first parents. Far be it from me to say a word to depreciate the greatness of their crime, or to raise a question as to the justice of its consequences. I think no one can have a more decided opinion upon that point than I have; for the offence was very great, and the principle which led to our participation in its results is a just one, and, what is more, is fraught with the most blessed after-consequences to fallen men, since it has left them a door of hope of their rising by the same method which led to their fall. Yet the sin which destroyed us was the transgression of a finite being, and cannot be compared in power with the grace of the infinite God; it was the sin of a moment, and therefore cannot be compared for force and energy with the everlasting purpose of divine love. If, then, the comparatively feeble fount of Adam's sin sends forth a flood which drowns the world in sorrow and death, what must be the boundless blessing poured forth from the infinite source of divine grace? The grace of God is like his nature, omnipotent and unlimited. God hath not a measure of love, but he is love; love to the uttermost dwells in him. God is not only gracious to this degree or to that, but he is gracious beyond measure; we read of "the exceeding riches of his grace." He is "the God of all grace," and his mercy is great above the heavens. Our largest conceptions fall far short of the loving-kindness and pity of God, for "his merciful kindness is great towards us." As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are his thoughts above our thoughts in the direction of grace. If, then, my brethren, the narrow fount which yielded bitter and poisonous waters has sufficed to slay the myriads of the human race, how much more shall the river of God which is full of water, even the river of the water of life, which proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, supply life and bliss to every man that believeth in Christ Jesus? Thus saith Paul, "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." That is the argument of the text, and to me it seems to be a very powerful one, sufficient to dash out the very life of unbelief and enable every penitent man to say, "I see what I have lost in Adam, but I also see how much I obtain through Christ Jesus, my Lord, when I humbly yield myself to him."

Furthermore, I would have yon note the difference of the channels by which the evil and the good were severally communicated to us. In each case it was "by one," but what a difference in the persons! We fell through Adam, a name not to be pronounced without reverence, seeing he is the chief patriarch of the race, and the children should honour the parent: let us not think too little of the head of the human family. Yet what is the first Adam as compared with the second Adam? He is but of the earth earthy, but the second man is the Lord from heaven. He was at best a mere man, but our Redeemer counts it not robbery to be equal with God. I Surely, then, if Adam with that puny hand of his could pull down the house of our humanity, and hurl this ruin on our first estate, that greater man, who is also the Son of God, can fully restore us and bring back to our race the golden age. If one man could ruin by his fault, surely an infinitely greater man in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily can restore us by the abounding grace of God.

And look, my brethren, what this man did. Adam commits one fault and spoils us; but Christ's works and achievements are not one, but many as the stars of heaven. Look at that life of obedience: it is like a crown set with all manner of priceless jewels: all the virtues are in it, and it is without flaw in any point. If one sinful action of our first covenant head destroys, shall not a whole life of holiness, on the part of our second covenant representative be accepted for us?

But what is more, Adam did but eat of the forbidden fruit, but our Lord Jesus died, pouring out his soul unto death, bearing the sin of his people upon himself. Such a death must have more force in it than the sad deed of Adam. Shall it not save us? Is there any comparison between the one act of rebellion in the garden and the matchless deed of superlative obedience upon the cross of Calvary which crowned a life of service? Am I sure that the act of disobedience has done me damage? Then I am much more certain that the glorious act of self-sacrifice must be able to save me, and I cast myself upon it without question or misgiving. The passion of God's Only-begotten must have in it infallible virtue for the remission of sin. Upon the perfect work of Jesus my soul hangs at this moment, without a suspicion of possible failure, and without the addition of the shadow of a confidence anywhere else. The good which may be supposed to be in man, his best words and holiest actions, are all to me as the small dust of the balance as to any title to the favour of God. My sole claim for salvation lies in that one man, the gift of God, who by his life and death has made atonement for my sin, but that one man, Christ Jesus, is a sure foundation, and a nail upon which we may hang all the weight of our eternal interests. I feel the more confidence in the certainty of salvation by Christ because of my firm persuasion of the dreadful efficacy of Adam's fail. Think awhile and it will seem strange, yet strangely true, that the hope of Paradise regained should be argued and justified by the fact of Paradise lost, that the absolute certainty that one man ruined us should give us an abounding guarantee that one glorious man has in very deed effectually saved all those who by faith accept the efficacy of his work.

Now, if you have grasped my thought, and have drunk into the truth of the text, you may derive a great deal of comfort from it, and it may suggest to you many painful things which will henceforth yield you pleasure. A babe is born into the world amid great anxiety because of its mother's pains, but while these go to prove how the consequences of the Fall are still with us, according to the word of the Lord to Eve, "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children," they also assure us that the second Adam can abundantly bring us bliss through a second birth, by which we are begotten again unto a lively hope. You go into the arable field and mark the thistle, and tear your garments with a thorn: these prove the curse, but also preach the gospel. Did not the Lord God say, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." Through no fault of ours, for we were not present when the first man offended, our fields reluctantly yield their harvests. Well, inasmuch as we have seen the thorn and the thistle produced by the ground because of one Adam, we may expect to see a blessing on the earth because of the second and greater Adam. Therefore with un-bounded confidence do I believe the promise - "Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Do you wipe the sweat from your brow as you toil for your livelihood? Did not the Lord say, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"? Ought not your labour to be an argument by which your faith shall prove that in Christ Jesus there remaineth a rest for the people of God. In toiling unto weariness you feel that Adam's fall is at work upon you; he has turned you into a tiller of the ground, or a keeper of sheep, or worker in metals, but in any case he has made you wear a yoke; say you then to the Lord Jesus, "Blessed second Adam, as I see and feel what the first man did, I am abundantly certified as to what thou canst accomplish. I will therefore rest in thee with all my heart."

When you observe a funeral passing slowly along the street, or enter the churchyard, and notice hillock after hillock above the lowly beds of the departed, you see set forth evidently before your eyes the result of the Fall. You ask, - Who slew all these? and at what gate did the fell destroyer eater this world? Did the first Adam through his disobedience lift the latch for death? It is surely so. Therefore I believe with the greater assurance that the second Adam can give life to these dry bones, can awake all these sleepers, and raise them in newness of life. If so weak a man as Adam by one sin has brought in death, to pile the carcases of men heaps upon heaps, and make the earth reek with corruption, much more shall the glorious Son of God at his coming call them again to life and immortality, and renew them in the image of God. How blessed are those words, - "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Is not this killing a lion, and finding honey in its carcase? "Out of the eater cometh forth meat, and out of the strong cometh forth sweetness," when from the fact of the Fall we derive a strong assurance of our restoration by Christ Jesus.

Time fails me; otherwise I meant to have dwelt somewhat at length upon the last head which can now only be cursorily noticed.

IV. It seems certain that if from the fall of Adam such great results flow, GREATER RESULTS MUST FLOW FROM THE GRACE OF GOD, AND THE GIFT BY GRACE, WHICH IS BY ONE MAN, JESUS ChRIST. Brethren, suppose that Adam had never sinned, and we were at this moment un-fallen beings, yet our standing would have remained in jeopardy, seeing that at any moment he might have transgressed and so have pulled us down. Thousands of years of obedience might not have ended the probation, seeing there is no such stipulation in the original covenant. You and I therefore would be holding our happiness by a very precarious tenure; we could never glory in absolute security and eternal life as we now do in Christ Jesus. We have now lost everything in Adam, and so the uncertain tenure has come to an end, our lease of Eden and its joys has altogether expired; but we that have believed, have obtained an inheritance which we hold by an indisputable and never-failing title which Satan himself cannot dispute; "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." The Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work by which his people are saved, and that work has been certified by this resurrection from the dead. There are no "ifs " in the covenant now; there is not a "peradventure" in it from beginning to end; no chances of failure caused by unfinished conditions can be found in it. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Do you say "I believe he shall be saved if he - "? Do not dare to add an "if" where God has placed none. Remember what will happen to you if you add anything to the book of God's testimony. No, it is written, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:" "He that believeth in him hath everlasting life." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Thus we have obtained a surer standing than we could have had under the first Adam, and our hymn is true to the letter when it sings:-

"He raised me from the deeps of sin,
The gates of gaping hell,
And fix'd my standing more secure
Than 'twas before 1 fell."

Our Lord has not only undone the mischief of the Fall, but he has given us more than we have lost: even as the Psalmist saith, "Then I restored that which I took not away."

By the great transgression of Adam we lost our life in him, for so ran the threatening - "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"; but in Christ Jesus we live again with a higher and nobler life, for the new life being the direct work of the Spirit, and being sustained by feeding upon the person of the Lord Jesus, is higher than the life of innocence in the garden of Eden. It is of a higher kind in many respects, of which we cannot now speak particularly, but this much we may say, "The first Adam was made a living soul, the second Adam is a quickening Spirit."

The Lord Jesus has also brought us into a nearer relationship to God than we could have possessed by any other means. We were God's creatures by creation, but now we are his sons by adoption; in a certain narrow sense we were the offspring of God, but now by the exaltation of the man Christ Jesus, the representative of us all, we are brought into the nearest possible relationship to God. Jesus sits upon the throne of God, and manhood is thus uplifted next to deity: the nearest akin to the Eternal is a man, Christ Jesus, the Son of the Highest. We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, and therefore we share his honours and participate in his triumphs. In Christ Jesus man is made to have dominion over all the works of God's hands, and the redeemed are raised up together with Christ and made to sit in the heavenly places with him, above all principalities and powers, and all things else that be; for these are the favourites of heaven, the beloved of the great King. No creatures can equal perfected men; they rise superior even to the angels who have never sinned; for in them the riches of the glory of God's grace is more fully seen than in pure, unfallen spirits.

O beloved, hath not the Lord Jesus Christ done much for us, and ought we not to expect that it should be so, for the grace of God, and the gift by grace by the man Christ Jesus, are infinitely stronger forces than Adam's sin. There must be much more sap in the man, the Branch, than in that poor plant, the one man who was made from the dust of the earth. Oh the bliss which opens up before us now. "We have lost Paradise, but we shall possess that of which the earthly garden was but a lowly type: we might have eaten of the luscious fruits of Eden, but now we eat of the bread which came down from heaven; we might have heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, but now, like Enoch, we may walk with God after a nobler and closer fashion. We are now capable of a joy which unfallen spirits could not have known: the bliss of pardoned sin, the heaven of deep conscious obligation to eternal mercy. The bonds which bind redeemed ones to their God are the strongest which exist. What a joy it will be to love the Lord more than any other of his creatures, and assuredly we shall do so. Do not think that this is an unwarrantable assertion, for I feel sure that it is the truth. Do you not read in the gospels of a woman who washed the Saviour's feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and anointed them with ointment? Did not the Saviour say that she loved much because she had much forgiven. I take it that the same general principle will apply to all places, to eternity as well as to time, and therefore I believe that forgiven sinners will have a love to God and to his Christ such as cherubim and seraphim never felt; Gabriel cannot love Jesus as a forgiven man will do. Those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb will be nearer and dearer to him, and he will be nearer and dearer to them, than all the ministering spirits before the throne, for he took upon him our nature and not theirs. Glory be unto thee, O Christ! As I look into the awful deeps of Adam's fall, I tremble, but when I lift up my eyes again to the eternal heights whither thou hast raised me by thy passion and thy resurrection I feel strengthened by the former vision. I magnify the infinite grace of God, and believe in it unstaggeringly. Oh, that I had power to magnify it with fit words and proper speech, but these are not with me. Accept the feeling of the heart when the language of the lip confesses its failure. Accept it, Lord, through the Well-beloved. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Romans 5.

Hymns from " Our Own Hymn Book"- 909, 233, 229.

CHAPTER 2. THE BLOOD OF ABEL AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, September 2nd, 1866, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."
Genesis 4:10.

"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
Hebrews 12:24.

The first shedding of human blood was a very terrible experiment. Whether Cain's murderous blow was premeditated or not, the sight of a bleeding human corpse must have been a terrible novelty to him. He had not been hardened by reading details of warfare, or listening to tales of murder; killing and slaying were new terrors to mankind, and he who was the ringleader in such violence must have been filled with mingled astonishment at the result of his blow, and apprehension as to its consequences. I think I see him standing there by the corpse, for a moment stiff with affright, awe-struck at the sight of blood. Will the skies dart malignant fires upon him? Will the sodden earth produce speedy avengers from her astonished soil? What questions must have flashed through the murderer's mind! But lo! the warm life-blood flows in a crimson stream upon the earth, and some ghastly comfort arises to the mind of the guilty wretch as he observes the earth soak in the blood. It stands not in a pool, but the earth opens her mouth to receive and to conceal his brother's blood. Sad memorials bespatter the herbage and crimson the soil, but still the dreadful flood is drying up, and the murderer feels a momentary joy. Perhaps Cain went his way dreaming that the terrible matter was all over. He had done the deed, and it could not be undone; he had smitten the blow, ridden himself of the presence of one who was obnoxious to him; the blood had been swallowed up by the earth, and there was an end to the business which need cause no further thought. There was no machinery in those days of police, and law, and judges, and gallows, and therefore Cain had little or nothing to fear; strong and hale man, with no one to punish him, and nobody to accuse or upbraid him, except his father and his mother, and those, possibly, too bowed with grief and too mindful of their own offence to show much resentment toward their firstborn. He may therefore have imagined that the deed was speechless and silent, and that now oblivion would cover his crime, so that he might go his way as though the deed were never done. It was not so, however, for though that blood was silent in the seared conscience of Cain, it had a voice elsewhere. A mysterious voice went up beyond the skies; it reached the ear of the Invisible, and moved the heart of Eternal Justice, so that breaking through the veil which conceals the Infinite from man, God revealed himself and spoke to Cain: "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Then Cain knew that blood could not be idly spilt, that murder would be avenged, for there was a tongue in every drop of the vital essence which flowed from murdered manhood, which prevailed with God, so that he would interpose and hold a solemn inquest thereon.

Brethren, that was a more terrible experiment still which was tried at Calvary, when not the first man was slaughtered but the Son of God himself; he who was man but yet was more than man, God manifest in the flesh; it was a dread experiment when having dragged him before the judgment seat and falsely condemned him, having shouted, "Away with him, away with him," they actually dared to take the nails and fasten the Son of God to the accursed tree, to lift up his body between earth and heaven, and there to watch its griefs till they ended in his death, when they pierced his side, and forthwith flowed there-out blood and water. No doubt Pilate, who had washed his hands in water, thought that no mischief would come of it. The Scribes and Pharisees went their way, and said, "We have silenced the accusing voice. There will no more be heard in our streets the cry of him who said, 'Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.' We shall no longer be disturbed in our hypocrisy and formality by the presence of a pure and holy being, whose simple honesty shall be a stern rebuke to us. We have murdered him, we have put him to death without just reason, but there is an end of it. There will be no voice to that blood." Little did they know that up to heaven the cry of Jerusalem had already gone, "His blood be on us, and on our children," was registered in the tablets of justice, and ere long Jerusalem became the treasure house of woe and a den of misery, so that the like to her destruction hath not been, neither ever shall be, upon the face of the earth. Far more delightful is the fact that another and more melodious cry went up to heaven from the cross of Calvary. "Father, forgive them," resounded from the wounds of Immanuel. The blood of Abel was not voiceless, and the blood of Jesus was not dumb; it cried so as to be heard amid the thrones of heaven, and blessed be God, it spake for us and not against us; it spake not worse things, as it might well have done, but better things than that of Abel. It did not demand fiercer vengeance than that which fell upon Cain, it did not ask that we might be driven vagabonds and fugitives upon the face of the earth, and to be at last banished from God into hell for ever, but it cried, "Father -, forgive them," and it prevailed, and the curse was taken away, and a blessing came to the sons of men.

This morning we propose to keep our discourse to the subject of the voice of the blood of Abel and the voice of the blood of Jesus, as standing in comparison the one with the other. They both spake. That is evident. Abel being dead yet speaketh, saith the apostle, and we know to our abiding comfort that the blood of Jesus pleads before the eternal throne. All blood has a voice, for God is jealous of its preservation, the blood of excellent and just men has a more heavenly speech still, but the voice of the blood of Jesus far surpasses all, and among ten thousand voices it bears the palm.

I. In the first place, JESUS' BLOOD SPEAKS BETTER THINGS IN GENERAL.

What did the blood of Abel say? Was it not the blood of testimony? When Abel fell to the ground beneath his brother's club, he bore witness to spiritual religion. Cain was the lover of a merely outward worship, in which faith had no place. He loved a worship of show and pomp, he garnished the altar with fruits and decked it with flowers; his was a religion of taste and elegance, a religion of his own devising; but it was devoid of a humble, believing, spiritual reference to the promised Deliverer. Abel stood there the professor of an ungarnished religion of faith in the promised sacrifice. On the altar was a lamb, bleeding from its death wound, and laid in order for burning; a ghastly spectacle not to be delighted in by taste, a thing from which the lovers of the beautiful would turn away. Abel had chosen such an offering because God had chosen it, and because it was the fit means for leading his faith to its true object, the Lord Jesus. He saw by faith in the bleeding lamb the memorial of the Lord's great propitiation for sin, which could not be seen in Cain's offering of the fruits of the earth, however tasteful that offering might be. Abel stands forth before us as the first in a cloud of witnesses, bearing brave testimony, and prepared to seal it with their lives. He died a martyr for the truth, the grandly God-like truth that God accepteth men according to their faith. All honour to the martyr's blood which speaks so effectually for precious truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being also a testifier and witness for the faith of God, spake better things than Abel, because he had more to speak, and spake from more intimate acquaintance with God. He was a fuller witness of divine truth than Abel could be, for he brought life and immortality to light, and told his people clearly of the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ had been in the bosom of the Father, and knew the divine secret; this secret he revealed to the sons of men in his ministry, and then he sealed it by his blood. It is not to be forgotten that though the death of Christ was in chief an atonement for sin, yet it was also a testimony to the truth, for he is said to be a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people, and as a dying, bleeding martyr, it will be clear to you that this blood testifies to fuller, brighter, and more glorious truth than did the blood of Abel.

Moreover, the blood of Abel spake good things in that it was the proof of faithfulness. This dear servant of the Great Master was faithful under his brother's opposition; yea, faithful unto death. It could not be said of him as the apostle said of certain others, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." He resisted sin even unto blood; he was faithful in all his house as a servant; he turned not from his integrity, but counted not his life dear unto him. His blood as it fell to the ground spake this good thing; - it said, "Great God, Abel is faithful to thee." But the blood of Jesus Christ testifies to yet greater faithfulness still, for it was the sequel of a spotlessly perfect life, which no act of sin had ever defiled; whereas Abel's death furnished, it is true, a life of faith, but not a life of perfection. The faithfulness of Jesus was complete from the day of his birth to the hour of his death; and inasmuch as he needed not otherwise to die, his voluntary yielding up of life was all the more an act of obedience, and the better proof of his fidelity to his trust.

Moreover, we must never forget that all that Abel's blood could say as it fell to the ground was but the shadow of that more glorious substance of which Jesus' death assures us. Jesus did not typify atonement, but offered it; he was not the representative of sacrifice; he was the great Sacrifice itself and inasmuch as the substance must ever excel the shadow, the blood of Jesus Christ speaketh better things than that of Abel.

It is well to add that our Lord's person was infinitely more worthy and glorious than that of Abel, and consequently his death must yield to us a more golden-mouthed discourse than the death of a mere man like Abel, He who dies at the hand of Cain is but one of our race, testifying to truth and righteousness, testifying by faith to a sacrifice to come; but he who died at the hand of Herod and of Pilate was divine, and came upon no common errand, with no ordinary message to deliver. When the glorious Son of God bowed his head and gave up the ghost, the voice that arose from his blond must necessarily have been louder, sweeter, more full, and more Godlike than the voice of the martyred Abel's gore. We understand then, before coming to details, that on general principles we may be pretty clear that the blood of Jesus would speak better things than that of Abel.

II. Now we will enter the very heart of our text, while we remember that THE BLOOD OF JESUS SPEAKS BETTER, THINGS TO GOD than the blood of Abel did. The blood of Abel cried in the ears of the Lord, for thus he said to Cain. "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." That cry did not go round to seek a mediator, but went directly to the judgment-seat of God, and laid an accusation against the murderer. Now what did Abel's blood say to God? Standing by the spot where Abel fell, and marking the ground all crimson with clotted gore, what would the blood seem to you to say? What would be your own reflection? What would you conceive that the blood said to God? It said just this, "O God, one of thine own creatures, the product of thy matchless skill, has been dashed in pieces, and barbarously destroyed. A living, sensitive body formed by art and skill, such as only thou couldst show, has been wantonly broken. The potter will not bear, that the vessel which has been fashioned upon the wheel with much cost and labour should be wantonly broken, but here is a body far more costly, far more wonderful than anything which human art could create, and this has been destroyed. Great God, the Creator of all things, wilt thou look on this with patience, wilt thou bear to see the work of thine own hands most cruelly destroyed?" Was there not much in this cry? Then that blood would plead still further, "O God, thy creature has been destroyed without cause. No just reason of provocation has been given, no offence has been committed which could deserve so terrible a stroke; but one of thy feeble creatures who has a claim upon thy kind protection has been wantonly and needlessly slain: - his blood appeals to thee! Thou Judge of all the earth, wilt thou let the weak be trodden down by the strong, and wilt thou suffer the innocent to be smitten by the fierce hand of the wicked." You see the cry gathers force. At first it is, "O God, thy creature has been destroyed;" next it is, "O God, thy subject has been maltreated by one of his fellow-subjects, by one who has become thine enemy: wilt thou not interfere?" Yet the .blood of Abel said more than this; it said, "O God, the blood shed here was shed for thee." It seemed to say, "If it were not for love of thee this blood had not been shed! If these drops had not been consecrated by devotion, if this blood had not flowed in the veins of a man who loved God with all his heart it had not been poured out upon the ground. O God," cries every drop, "I fell upon the ground for thee - wilt thou endure this? Shall a creature that thou hast made yield up its life with pain and anguish for thee, and wilt thou be like a cold, motionless, unmoved, immovable statue, and look on without emotion? Wilt thou not bestir thyself, O God? Shall blood be shed on thine own behalf, shed unjustly too, the blood of thine own loving, righteous creature, and wilt thou not interfere?" What force there is in such a voice! Yet the blood added to this, "O God, I have been shed in defiance of thee," for the stroke which came from Cain's hand was not merely aimed at Abel, it was in spirit aimed at God, for if Cain could have done the same to God as he did to his brother Abel, he doubtless would have done it. He was of that wicked one, and therefore slew his brother, and the wickedness which was in him was Deicidal; he would have slain God himself if it had been in his power, and so the blood cries, "O God, here is the gauntlet of defiance thrown down to thyself. Cain defies thee. He has struck the first blow at thyself, he has smitten down the vanguard of the army of thine elect. Wilt thou look on in quiet? Wilt thou take no vengeance? Wilt thou have no regard? Shall there be silence in heaven when there are groans and cries on earth? Shall heaven's heart be cold when the heart of the enemy is hot with rage and fierce with rebellion? O God, wilt thou not interpose? Surely this is a heaven-piercing cry, but this is not all. The blood of the proto-martyr added to all this such an appeal as the following: - "O God, this is the first of human blood that has been murderously shed, and shed by an unnatural brother's hand. Wilt thou pass this by? Then how canst thou be just? Did not this blood challenge the very existence of justice in God? O God, if thou do not punish this first barbarous man-slayer, who kills his brother, then all adown the ages men will riot in blood and wanton in murder, and they will say, 'How doth God know?' He that sitteth in the heavens regardeth not, he will not so much as speak? It were as though God should issue a licence for man to shed each other's blood, and give permission for red-handed murder to lord it over the whole creation, if the first murder should pass unnoticed by the great Judge of all." Do you hear, my brethren, what a cry the blood of Abel must have had, and with what power it arose to heaven? But we are not left to conjecture as to the power of that cry, for we are told that God heard, and when he heard it he came to reckoning with Cain, and he said, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground." Then came the withering sentence of it. The ground which had drank in the blood became accursed to Cain, so that delve it as he might it could not yield him a bounteous harvest, plough it as he would, with all his skill and craft, it never could yield its strength to him. The original curse of the thorn and the thistle, which had fallen upon it when Adam survived, was now doubled to Cain, so that he reaped but handfuls and gathered scanty sheaves. This would be a constant bitter mingled with his daily bread, while over and above that, he received unto his heart a curse which made him the slave of his own dreads. He served fear and trembling as his gods, and went about the earth with darkness within him and darkness round about him, never more rejoicing, but wearing the mark of reprobation fixed upon his brow. His life was doubtless hell upon earth, and at last he was driven for ever from the presence of the Most High God. Blood has a voice in it, and when it is heard against a man it brings upon him a curse untold.

Well now, brethren, it is a very sweet task to ask you to turn your minds away from the blood of Abel to the blood of Jesus. I feel persuaded that you did just now recognise the voice of Abel's blood, and I want your minds to hear with equal distinctness the voice of Jesus Christ's blood, for there are the same reasons for its loudness, but they are all far more emphatic. Can you stand at Calvary now and view the flowing of the Saviour's blood from hands, and feet, and side? What are your own reflections as to what that blood says to God? Think now at the cross-foot. That blood crieth with a loud voice to God, and what doth it say? Does it not say this? "O God, this time it is not merely a creature which bleeds, but though the body that hangs upon the cross is the creature of thy Holy Spirit, it is thine own Son who now pours out his soul unto death. O God, it is thine only-begotten One, dear to thyself, essentially one with thee, one in whom thou art well pleased, whose obedience is perfect, whose love to thee has been unwavering, - it is he who dies. O God, wilt thou despise the cries and the tears, the groans, the moans, the blood of thine own Son? Most tender Father, in whose bosom Jesus lay from before the foundations of the earth, he dies, and wilt thou not regard him? Shall his blood fall to the ground in vain? Then, moreover, the voice would plead, "It is not only thy Son, but thy perfectly innocent Son, in whom was no necessity for dying, because he had no original sin which would have brought corruption on him, who had moreover no actual sin, who throughout life had done nothing worthy of death or of bonds. O God, it is thine only begotten, who, without a fault, is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and stands like, a sheep before her shearers. Canst thou see it, thou God of all, canst thou see the infinitely holy and just Son of thy heart led here to die - canst thou see it, and not feel the force of the blood as it cries to thee?" Was there not added to this fact that our Lord died to vindicate the honour of his Father? "For thee, O God, for thee he dies! He who hangs on Calvary hangs there in deference to thine own decree, in fulfilment of thine own purpose, in vindication of the honour of thy law, that thou mayest thyself be glorified, that thy justice may have full scope, and thy mercy may have illimitable sway. O God, the sufferer, pale in death, whose wounds are torn open with the cruel nails, and whose soul is racked with pain unutterable, dies for thee. If there had been no God he need not die. If there were no law to vindicate, no truth to defend, no honour, and majesty, and justice to which to pay homage, it need not that he died. If thou wert content to stain thine honour or to restrain thy mercy, there were no need that he should give himself. But it is for thee, for thee each pang, for thee each groan, for thee each, drop of blood, and wilt thou not be moved thereby?" Brethren, is there not power in this voice? Yet over and above this the blood must have pleaded thus with God: - "O God, the blood which is now being shed, thus honourable and glorious in itself, is being poured out with a motive which is divinely gracious. He who dies on this cross dies for his enemy, groans for those who make him groan, suffers for those who thrust the dart into his soul, and then mock at the agony which they themselves have caused. O God, it is a chain for God in heaven which binds the victim to the horns of the altar, a chain of everlasting love, of illimitable goodness." Now, dear friends, you and I could not see a man suffer out of pure benevolence without being moved by his sufferings, and shall God be unmoved? the perfectly holy and gracious God, shall he be indifferent where you and I are stirred to deep emotion? The sight of blood makes some of us shudder; the sight of blood shed from an innocent person - shed by the hand of violence - would make our very souls chill within us; but the thought of that blood being shed with a motive so marvellous, because of a disinterested affection towards undeserving criminals - this would move us indeed; and do you dream that it did not move the heart of God? Blessed be his name, we are not left to conjecture here; it so moved our heavenly Father that to this day God has come to man, and speaking to us through that blood he has said, "What hast thou done? Whatever thou hast done, however black and filthy thy sin may have been, the voice of my Son's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and now from this day forth I have taken off the curse from the earth for his sake, neither will I curse it any more. Ye shall be blessed in your basket and in your store, in your going out and in your coming in. I have forgiven you your iniquities; I have set a mark upon you, and no man shall hurt you, neither shall justice smite you, for in the person of my dear Son I have received and accepted you, guilty as you are. Go your way, and live happily and peaceably, for I have taken away your iniquities and cast your sins behind my back, and the day has come in the which if thy sins be searched for they shall not be found, yea, if they be sought out they shall not be, saith the Lord, for I have pardoned them whom I have reserved." Abel's blood had mighty prevalence to curse, but Jesu's blood has prevalence to bless the sons of men.

I want you to stay a little over this thought to digest it. I wish I had the power to send it home; only the Holy Ghost, however, can do that. I want, however, just to dwell on it, that you may get into the soul of it. Observe that the blood of Abel spoke to God long before Cain spoke. Cain was deaf to the voice of his brother's blood, but God heard it. Sinner, long before you hear the blood of Jesus, God hears it, and spares your guilty soul. Long before that blood comes into your soul to melt you to repentance, it pleads for you with God. It was not the voice of Cain that brought down vengeance, but the voice of Abel's blood; and it is not the cry of the sinner seeking mercy that is the cause of mercy, it is the cry of that blood of Jesus. I know you will tell me you cannot pray; oh what a mercy it is that the blood can, and that when you cannot plead so as to prevail, the blood pleads. If you are to win mercy from God and get forgiveness, it will not be by the efficacy of your prayers and tears, but through the efficacy of that blood of God's dear Son. Cain did not ask for vengeance, but it came unsought through the blood; and you, though you feel as if you hardly dare look for mercy, yet shall find it if you can trust the blood of Jesus which speaks for you. The blood does not need your voice to increase its power with God; he will hear your voice, but it is because he hears the blood of Jesus first of all. It is a mercy for us that the blood of Jesus Christ speaks for the guilty, even as the blood of Abel spoke against the guilty. Jesus' blood pleads not for the innocent, if such there be, they need no plea from an atoning sacrifice. Jesus pleads for the rebellious that the Lord God may dwell among them; for you that have broken his laws, and despised his love, and fought against his power; the blood of Jesus pleads for such as you, for he came into the world to save sinners. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

The precious blood speaks constantly. Did you notice that word in the text? "which speaketh," not "which did speak," but "which speaketh." The blood of Jesus pleaded for the thief upon the cross, but it:-

"Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more."

Brother, when prevailing sin oppresses the conscience, it is a thousand mercies to know that we have even now a prevailing Saviour. Years ago some of us came to Christ and we found pardon; but our faith occasionally faints, and our doubts grow strong. Come, let us go afresh to the fountain, let us look anew to the cross, for the blood speaks still. Still in effect our Lord Jesus bleeds to-day as much as he did eighteen hundred years ago, for the blood is just as certain in its power with God at the present moment as when the thief said, "Lord, remember me." Let us think of this and rejoice in this. My soul, when thou canst not plead with God, when thou darest not, when thy tongue is silent, and despair gags thy mouth, even then Jesus pleads. Now lay thou hold upon the intercession; come and cast thyself upon him; rest wholly in him, he must prevail though thou canst not, he must succeed though thou hast no power whatsoever. Come then, and link thyself with the infallible prevalent plea of the precious blood, and it is all well with thee, all safe with thee, and safe for ever. God grant us grace to do this, each one of us, and his be the praise!

III. Furthermore, JESUS' BLOOD SPEAKS BETTER THINGS TO US IN OUR OWN HEARTS than the blood of Abel.

I suppose most of you read the account written by the newspaper correspondents who have passed over the battle-fields of Koniggratz or Sadowa. How it thrilled one to read of ditches filled with blood, and of the smell from putrid corpses being so intolerable that the travellers were fain to leave the battle-field in haste. I would not like to be Bismarck, nor the Crown Prince of Prussia, nor the King, nor any one who had a hand in a war so sanguinary and so unjustifiable. I suppose that wholesale assassins grow used to such things; I suppose that they can read of thousands mangled by shot and shell without emotion, and even see the heaps of corpses without a shudder, but I am certain of this, that it would drive me mad. Ah! to have the blood of one person knowingly laid at my door would be enough to dash all comfort from my life; but to have the blood of tens of thousands poured out to gratify my ambition, I think must make reason reel at once. It must be an absence of conscience which makes reason to keep her throne when men have been wading through their fellows' blood for mere purposes of selfish gain. Seeing that there had been no wars in Cain's day, and that the human heart had not been brutalised as it now is, so as to speak of war as we now do in such gentle terms, surely if he had had any conscience at all, it must have been a horrible thought to him that he had killed his brother. "I have killed a man, I have shed his blood." Surely it made him start in his sleep. How could he be quiet upon his lonely couch? That red-handed man! Guilt, a grim chamberlain, with fingers bloody red would surely draw the curtains of his bed. Would not the spectacle all come up before his mind? The talk in the field, the sudden impulse, the blow, the blood, the look of his victim as he cried for pity as one cruel stroke succeeded another; and then the sight of the ghastly body and the streaming blood, and the crimson marks on the soddened earth. Oh, it must have been a remembrance clinging like a viper around the murderer wherever he might be! He might well build a city, as we are told he did, in order to quench these fiery remembrances. Then would the thought come upon him, "You slew him though he was your brother." "Am I my brother's keeper?" said he, but men can talk sometimes more braggingly than their heart talks in secret. The horror of brother-killing must have haunted Cain: "I slew my brother, I, the first that was born of woman slew the second born." And then it would be suggested, "And wherefore did I slay him? What evil had he done me? What if he did offer a different sacrifice from mine, and what if God did accept him and not me, yet what hurt had he done me?" The innocence of his victim, if Cain had any conscience, must have increased his uneasiness, for he would recollect how inoffensively he had kept those sheep of his, and had been like one among them, so lamblike, that shepherd man himself, a true sheep of God's pasture. "Yet," would Cain say, "I slew him because I hated God, the God before whose bar I am soon to stand, the God who set this mark on me." Can you picture the man who had thus to be daily schooled and upbraided by a brother's blood? It needs a poet's mind to teach him. Think how you would feel if you had killed your own brother, how the guilt would hang over you like a black cloud, and drop horror into your very soul.

Now, brethren, there is more than equal force in the cry of the blood of Jesus, only it acts differently, and it speaketh better things. Let it be remembered, however, that it speaks those better things with the same force. Comforts arise from the blood of Jesus as powerful as the horrors which arose from the blood of Abel. When the sinner looks to Jesus slain, he may well say, "If I did not know that all this blood was shed for me as well as by me, my fears would multiply a thousand fold; but when I think that that precious blood is blood shed instead of mine, that it is blood which God planned and ordained should be shed for me from before the foundation of the world, when I think that that is the blood of God's own dear Son, whom he has smitten instead of smiting me, making him bear the whole of his wrath that I might not bear it, O my God, what comforts come streaming from this blessed fountain! Just in proportion as thought of murder would make Cain wretched, in the same proportion ought faith to make you happy as you think upon Jesus Christ slain; for the blood of Christ, as I said at the beginning of the sermon, cannot have a less powerful voice; it must have a more powerful voice than that of Abel, and it cries therefore more powerfully for you than the blood of Abel cried against his brother Cain. Oh, then, my clamouring sins, I can hear you, but I am not afraid of you, for the blood of Jesus speaks louder than you all. Oh, then, conscience, I can hear thine accusation, but I am not alarmed, for my Saviour died. I come before God with perfect confidence, because sprinkled with the blood of my Substitute. If the horror of Cain with an awakened conscience might be unendurable, so the peace which comes to me through the precious blood of Jesus is indescribable and unutterable, a peace like a river, a righteousness like the waves of the sea. Sweet peace have all they who hear the blood speaking in their souls, telling them that sin is forgiven, that God is reconciled, that we are accepted in the Beloved, and that now we are preserved in Christ Jesus, and shall never perish, neither shall any pluck us out of his hand. I trust you know, I know many of you do, the sweet power of this peace-speaking blood. Such innocent blood, ordained on purpose to give peace, is precious beyond all price. O my soul! never look for peace elsewhere, and never be afraid of finding peace here. If to-day, O Christian, you have lost your confidence, if to-day you are conscious of having been false to your Lord, and of having done despite to his Spirit, if to-day you feel ashamed of the very name of a Christian because you have dishonoured it, if to-day despair is ready to strangle your hope, and you are tempted to give all up, yet come now, even now, to this precious blood. Do not think that my Saviour can save merely the little sinners; he is a great Saviour - mighty to save. I know your sins speak very loudly - ah! well they may; I hope you will hear their voice and hate them in the future - but they cannot speak so loudly as the blood of Jesus does. It says, "Father, Father, shall I die in vain? Father, I paid my blood for sinners, shall not sinners be saved? I was smitten for the guilty, shall the guilty be smitten too?" The blood says, "O God, I have vindicated thy law, what more dost thou demand? I have honoured thy justice, why shouldst thou cast the sinner into hell? O thou Divine Benignity! canst thou take two exactions for one offence, and punish those for whom Jesus suffered? O Justice! wilt thou herd avenge? O Mercy! when the way is cleared, wilt thou not run to guilty sinners? O Love Divine, when the pathway is opened for thee, wilt thou not show thyself to the rebellious and the vile? "The blood shall not plead in vain; sinners shall be saved, and you and I, I hope, among them to the praise and glory of his grace.

IV. Two or three words to close with. JESUS' BLOOD, EVEN IN MY TEXT, SPEAKS BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL.

It speaks the same things but in a better sense. Did you notice the first text? God said unto Cain, "What hast thou done?" Now that is what Christ's blood says to you: "What hast thou done?" My dear hearer, dost thou not know that thy sins slew the Saviour? If we have been playing with sin, and fancied it to be a very little thing, a trifle to play with and laugh at, let us correct the mistake. Our Saviour hangs on the cross, and was nailed there by those sins of ours; shall we think little of them? Looking from the cross, Jesus says to us, "What hast thou done?" O my hearer, what hast thou done? Thou hast slain thy best friend and ruined thyself! Let me come home personally to every one. Make an inventory now of your sins. Go over the black list from your childhood till now. What hast thou done? Ah! Lord, done enough to make me weep for ever if it were not that thou hast wept for me. Drops of grief can never repay the debt which is due to thy blood. Alas! I have done evil. Lord, but thou hast done good to me. What hast thou done? What hast thou done? was a dreadful accusation to Cain, it might have gone through him like a dart; but to you and to me it is the soft enquiring voice of a Father's love bringing us to repentance. May it bring us now!

What I want mainly to indicate is this. If you notice in the second text, this blood is called "the blood of sprinkling." Whether Abel's blood sprinkled Cain or not I cannot say, but if it did it must have added to his horror to have had the blood actually upon him. But this adds to the joy in our case, for the blood of Jesus is of little value to us until it is sprinkled upon us. Faith dips the hyssop in the atoning blood and sprinkles it upon the soul, and the soul is clean. The application of the blood of Jesus is the true ground of joy, and the sure source of Christian comfort; the application of the blood of Abel must have been horror, but the application of the blood of Jesus is the root and ground of all delight.

There is another matter in the text with which I conclude. The apostle says, "We are come to the blood of sprinkling." He mentions that among other things to which we are come. Now, from the blood of Abel every reasonable man would flee away. He that has murdered his fellow desires to put a wide distance between himself and the accusing corpse. But we come to the blood of Jesus. It is a topic in which we delight as our contemplations bring us nearer and nearer to it. I ask you, dear Christian friends, to come nearer to it this morning than ever you have been. Think over the great truth of substitution. Portray to yourselves the sufferings of the Saviour. Dwell in his sight, sit at the foot of Calvary, abide in the presence of his cross, and never turn away from that great spectacle of mercy and of misery. Come to it; be not afraid. Ho, ye sinners, who have never trusted Jesus, look ye hither and live! May you come to him now!

"Come, guilty souls, and flee away,
Like doves to Jesus' wounds."

Nay, do not run away from the wounds which you have made, but find shelter in them; forget the sufferings of Christ, but rest in them! Your only hope lies in trusting in Jesus, resting wholly upon him. Think much of the griefs of your Lord, and if I might suggest to some of you who will not be coming out this afternoon, perhaps if you could spend an hour or two between services in considering the sufferings of the Saviour, those considerations might be the means of bringing faith to you. Faith cometh by hearing, but it is a thoughtful hearing; and hearing comes by the word of God, but the word must be thought over. Open the Word, read the story of the cross, ask the Master to bless it to you, and who knoweth but through the Divine Spirit some of you may yet hear the voice of that blood which speaketh better things than that of Abel. The Lord bless every one of you for his name's sake. Amen.

CHAPTER 3. SHUT IN OR SHUT OUT

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, August 14th, 1881, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"The Lord shut him in."
Genesis 7:16.

Noah was a very different man from the rest of those who lived in his time, for the grace of God had set a division between him and them. They forgot God, and he feared him; they lived for things seen and temporal, and he lived in sight of the invisible. When he was building his ark lie was in a miserable minority, as men count heads: and, even after one hundred and twenty years' ministry, when his ark was builded and his family entered it, they were eight against many millions, an insignificant few, as men would say; a pitiful sect among mankind. Who could imagine that the eight would be right and all the millions wrong? Where God is, there is the majority. But very clearly there was a very marked distinction between Noah and his household, and all the rest of mankind. Yet, great as that distinction was, throughout one hundred and twenty years there was no impassable gulf between the two parties. Although Noah could not, would not go to them, yet they that would might pass to him; if they would hear, believe, and obey, they, too, might be amongst the company whom God had blessed, and whom he would surely preserve from destruction. Yea, when the one hundred and twenty years were over, and God's Spirit would no longer strive with men, there stood the great ark with its vast door wide open, and still Noah continued to preach and to declare that all who would pass within that open portal into the ark of safety should be preserved from the coming destruction. Outside that door death would reign universally, but all would be peace within.

When the last seven days of grace had come to a close the Lord began his work of justice by separating Noah, and "the Lord shut him in." Then there was a more marked difference between Noah and the rest of mankind. He that openeth and no man shutteth, he that shutteth and no man openeth, even he had interposed a barrier impassable between Noah and those that believed not. Mercy's gate was shut, the time of long-suffering had come to a close.

Brethren, the Church of God stands at the present moment in the World very much in the same condition as Noah and his family. Still is the door of the ark wide open, and it is our business with all our might to persuade, constrain, compel men to come in. Not without success have our entreaties been; for many have entered the ark of salvation which is found in the person of our divine Lord Jesus. These make up with us the chosen family of God who shall be safe when the world is deluged with the last devouring fire. But the time cometh, it comes to each man in death, and it will come to the whole company of the ungodly in the day when the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with a shout, that the door shall he shut, and it shall be said, "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Character will become unchangeable; he that is unjust will be unjust still, and he that is filthy will be filthy still.

My heart trembles as I think of this matter. There is a joy in being shut in with the saints, but a great grief in knowing that many will be shut out. I shall labour so to set forth this truth that, mayhap, ere the door closes a goodly company may cry, "We will come with you, for we perceive that the Lord is with you." Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto the Lord; but until those water-floods break forth they may come, and they shall find a glad welcome; for it is written "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

Our meditation will be arranged under two heads, which may readily be remembered: shut in and shut out. They stand in very distinct contrast, and admit of no third condition.

I. First, let us think of truths which range themselves under the head of shut in. This is a blessed text. Oh that the Spirit of God may help me to preach from it, and you to enjoy it.

Observe, then, that Noah was shut in - shut in the ark. Noah's condition as to an evil world was now one of permanent separation. He was severed from the world, and his separation was beyond recall. There is a time in the human character when it has some good thing in it towards the Lord God of Israel, and yet that good thing may be lost; but there is another and happier time when the truly converted have stepped over the boundary, and shall never go back again unto corruption. They are dead, and their life is hid with Christ in God; hidden beyond further damage or death. They are henceforth kept by the power of God unto salvation; crucified unto the world and the world unto them. There was a time when, speaking after the manner of men, Noah might have given up his testimony and sided with the ungodly mass; but that possibility is all over; for the door is shut, the Lord hath shut him in. There was no wish in Noah's heart to come out, and he could not come out. The deed was done, and could not be undone: the bolt was turned and could not be withdrawn. Noah was shut in by a hand which is not given to undo its own work. I believe that this fixity of character and condition has happened to all believers who can truly say that they are dead unto the world. Dying unto the world is the way of our salvation; by this process we pass into newness of life. I dare say when that door was shut the men of the world said, "Look at old Noah! he has gone into his coffin. He is as good as dead and buried." Yes, that was exactly what they were meant to see and to say; and Peter says, "The like figure whereunto also baptism doth now save us." He does not say that baptism saves us; but that it is a "like figure" of the way of salvation. The ark and immersion set forth the same truth. The man is "buried in baptism," to signify that he is dead to the world; wherein also he rises again to show his fellowship with Christ in resurrection, and the fact that he has risen to newness of life. Baptism is a picture of the way of salvation, just as Noah's ark was. Entrance into the ark and submergence beneath a forty days' deluge of rain, was a fit type of death and burial; and the rising of the ark above the waters fitly sets forth resurrection to a new life. Noah underwent burial to all the old things that he might come out into a new world, and even so we die in Christ that we may live with him. This is the doctrine, but the experience is grand. Beloved, it is a great mercy when a man can feel in his own soul that God has fixed for ever his condition towards the ungodly. We have come out, my brethren, from among men just as Abraham did when he left his fatherland and went into the land of which he knew nothing but that God had said that he would give it to him and to his seed. It is written concerning Abraham and the other patriarchs that "doubtless if they had been mindful of the place whence they came out, they had opportunity to return," but they did not return, it entered not into their minds and hearts to do so. They had as fully left Padanaram behind them as if they had been dead and buried to it, and their life showed each one of them to be a pilgrim and a sojourner with God. Even so with believers, the Lord has called us out and set us apart unto himself. Henceforth a door is shut behind us, and we cannot go back. We are like Bunyan's Pilgrim, we must go forward, for we have no armour for our backs. There is no inducement to go back if we fairly consider the matter. The City of Destruction which we have left is to be burnt with fire - shall we go back to that? The enemies we have fought with and encountered are left behind; shall we seek them to fight with them again, or to become their friends? Sin is bitter to us, it hath already broken our teeth as with gravel stones, - shall we go back to it again? What inducement have we to return to the house of bondage? No; by God's grace "Forward" is our motto till we come to "the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

Brethren, I am always glad when I can feel concerning any of you that you have finally done with the world, and may be numbered with the irreconcilables: for, alas, I fear there are too many who have so questionably come out of Sodom that their hearts are there still, and they are apt to cast lingering looks towards the accursed city. Ah me! what if any of you should become pillars of salt! "Remember Lot's wife!" But when, like Noah, you are divided from the world's pursuits by God's own act, then is it well with you. Noah was shut in, and could not follow after the festivities and worldlinesses of men. They were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, but to Noah the dance and the viol, the feast and the revel, called in vain. He could not now hoard up wealth, nor seek for fame among the sons of men. He was utterly exiled and excluded from all those things which charmed the minds of his co-temporaries; he was out of the fashion, yea, out of the world. He was shut out, too, from all their possessions; even from his own farm he was now expatriated. Blessed is that man who, whatsoever he hath, hath it as though he had it not; he sets no store by earthly things, and does not lock up his soul in his iron safe. He is shut out from the things which rust and corrupt, so that they are not his God, nor his treasure. Noah was divided from the evil generation among which he dwelt by the act of God: here was his safety. Adam was put in Paradise by God, but he was never shut in by God, and therefore very soon he left his first estate and wandered among thorns and thistles. But Noah was both put in the ark and shut in the ark, and therefore he never left his shelter until the Lord bade him come forth to possess the new world. Blessed are the men of whom the Lord Jesus can say, "They are not of the world." Such have passed by death into life, and are members of a new race, who shall go forth with joy, and be led forth with peace; for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed is that man who has crossed the Rubicon, deciding to be on the Lord's side whatever others may do, Blessed is the man who has burnt his boats behind him, having landed in a country from which he will never retreat. I would fain be one who can cease to be, but cannot cease to be a Christian; who can die, but cannot deny his Lord; who will, if needful, go with him to prison and to death, and can do no otherwise, for the love of Christ constraineth him. Then is the will most truly free when it is under the sweet dominion of infinite love; this is true liberty, - to be led about in triumph in every place, bound with the silken cords of gratitude, a captive to the power of grace. O happy man who can truly say that henceforth he is "shut in," because he is born again, and thus entirely changed. In the olden time a newly-converted man who became an eminent saint was met in the street by a woman who had at other times tempted him to sin. He took no notice of her, and at last she cried out, "Do you not know me? It is I." "Ah," said the new man, "but it is not I." No, he was not the man who could take pleasure in uncleanness; he could no longer sin, for he was born of God. Our inner life shuts us in to holiness, and the wounds of Jesus seal the door. The goodness of God interposes a barrier between us and evil; for we say with Joseph, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" "How can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" Hence our prayer is that of Toplady;-

"Oh nail me to the sacred wood,
There tie me with thy Spirit's chain;
There seal me with thy fastening blood, Nor ever let me loose again:
There let me bow my suppliant knee,
And own no other Lord but thee!"

We must now remark, secondly, that Noah was not only shut in, but he was shut in by God. There was the excellence of it, - "The Lord shut him in." No man can shut in as the Lord can. I cannot shut professors in to the ways of godliness as I could wish; alas, with all my preaching, many wander, and try to be members of the church and citizens of the world too. We have among us avowed lovers of Christ, who act too much like "lovers of pleasure." I have preached no liberty to sin, as some do, but I have declared that "strait is the gate and narrow is the way;" but yet these men make excursions into the broad road. I would still hammer at the door of the ark, in hope of shutting it close and keeping it so; but it is little that I can do. If Noah had shut himself in he might have come out again; and if any of the world outside had shut him in, he would, probably, have burst open the door; but "the Lord shut him in," and thus sure work was made of it. Oh to be enclosed by Almighty grace! The Lord has shut his people in unto himself by his choice of them in Christ Jesus, by his redemption of them from among men, and by his sanctifying them to be a peculiar people unto himself. Yes, the Lord has done it - "The Lord shut him in."

Take notice that this was very close shutting, so as to keep out the water. I fancy that if you saw a huge vessel lying upon the dry land where the floods would come to float it, you would be very anxious about that great opening in its side. It was evidently a huge doorway, for a pair of elephants had passed through it; so that it was a gaping leak which would take in enough water in an hour to sink the ark to the bottom. How could the great door be closed? All the timbers are stanch, and the ship is well calked, and pitched within and without with pitch; but all will go for nothing unless we can secure the big door. Merely to shut the door will be of no use. When the rain begins to fall in torrents from above, and the waters leap up from below, and the ship commences to rise, she will take in any quantity of water at the points where the door fits into the wood. Shipwrights will be wanted, and the calkers must come, and the men with the pitch. No shipwright could manage to shut so huge a door close enough for safety unless you give him time, and call in the help of other workers. Hence "the Lord shut him in" because nobody else could safely be trusted to shut such a door, against which a forty days' tempest was to beat most furiously. What a mercy it is that when we get into Christ by faith, and are shut in from the world with him, that we are perfectly safe, because the Lord himself has shut us in. We are not only brought to Christ Jesus by divine power, but we are preserved in Christ Jesus unto eternal life by the same divine might.

Beloved, there is no doubt about the salvation of those who are in Christ, for none can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Never has a soul perished trusting in Jesus, and never shall a soul so perish; for though salvation be so difficult that the righteous scarcely are saved, yet when the Lord Jehovah puts his hand to the work, it is well done, and dune for ever. In Noah's case the huge chasm that would have let in the water-floods was perfectly closed up. Even so all the yawning leaks and openings of our fall and sin are closed by the grace of God, and in Christ Jesus we are secure: the Lord has shut us in.

That door was also shut very fast, to prevent the entrance of enemies from the outside. For who can tell? I should fancy that when the waters began to rise, when they were up to the ankles, or knee deep, those who had hitherto ridiculed the patriarch's barge would assemble around that door and clamorously demand to be admitted, resolved, if refused, to force their way. In vain. God had shut the door, and no violence could force it open, by push of crowd, or leverage of strength. Even so it is with us, we are protected against every onslaught of the enemies of our soul. Come life, come death, things present or things to come, salvation hath God appointed for walls and bulwarks. Come temptations of every sort, come craft or assault of devils, none can force the doorway and come at us for our destruction. "At evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing."

This divine shutting in of Noah was very necessary: for I suppose that no one else could have moved the gigantic door upon its enormous hinges. It was probably too massive to have been stirred by Noah, or his united family. It must have been a moment of wonder and awe when that stupendous door began silently to move of its own accord, as though an invisible hand was carefully closing it, so that not a crevice should be made through which water could penetrate. The ark was soon as entire as if it had never exhibited an opening from stem to stern. You and I need shutting into Christ by a divine hand, or it never will be done securely. When a soul is brought to Christ it is by divine grace, but the whole is not done then; the grand difficulty is to keep us in Christ; for without continued grace we shall still perish despite all the arrangements of redeeming love. How many have ventured to sea in the galleys of their own resolve and have perished there! How many have hoped to shut themselves in with Christ by the mere force of personal determination, and the leakage of their own depraved heart has drowned them. But, oh, when God has brought us into union with Jesus he shuts us in, and we are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. The great door of covenant faithfulness is shut behind the believer, and he is surrounded by the power and grace of God, even as Noah was housed within the strong timbers of the ark. There is no crack nor cranny through which the floods of wrath can penetrate; omnipotent love hath shut us in.

And the Lord did this not only necessarily, but graciously. I call your attention to the change of the names in the text, a very significant change indeed: - "They that went in, went in male and female of all flesh: as God had commanded him: and the Lord - that is, Jehovah - "shut him in." Elohim, as the Creator and Preserver, takes care of living things to preserve them; but the Lord, even Jehovah, the covenanting God, interposes in great mercy to protect his chosen servant. It was Jehovah who entered into solemn league and covenant with his servant Noah that he would preserve him in the ark, and float him into the new world in it; and as Jehovah the covenanting One he shut him in. There is no security like that which is given us by the covenant of grace. The hand which was lifted to swear our safety has also been outstretched to effect it. The everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure guarantees salvation to all who are represented by the great Head and Surety of that covenant, even our Lord Jesus. Love and power co-operate with faithfulness and truth to keep the chosen from all danger. Dwell much upon the covenant, and note the immutable pledges by which it is secured and the immortal principles upon which it is founded. Try to suck out the delicious sweetness which is to be found in the hive of the covenant; for if you are an advanced child of God no form of truth can be more nourishing or refreshing to your mind. The doctrines which spring out of the covenant are peculiarly comforting to believing minds. The promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, and can never fail nor change, since the covenant standeth fast for ever and ever. Its tenure is free and sovereign grace, and it cannot be dis-annulled. Here is a line of it, "I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." With such a promise doth Jehovah shut us in with Christ Jesus in matchless kindness and un-speakable love.

Notice, once again, that this deed was very instructive to Noah, it must have been so. Noah had ceased to live according to the mere senses of the body, and had come to perceive his absolute dependence upon God; but he was made by the opened door to see that dependence most clearly. By divine orders he had built an ark on dry land, and when it was builded Noah might have said "Now I feel safe": but he could not say so, for there was a gaping gash in the side of the ark, a vast aperture which he could not close up. It was an occasion of mercy to mankind, and Noah was probably glad to see it open that he might still preach righteousness and warn men to escape, saying "The door is open! Come, ye great sinners! Enter, ye sons of Anak. Come and be saved."

"Come to the ark, ere yet the flood
Your lingering steps oppose; Come, for the door which open stood
Is now about to close."

Yet when he had done his sermon and went home perhaps he said to his wife "Beloved, how can this ark save us? That door, if ever the floods come, will be a dreadful danger to us. We cannot shut it, what is to be done? We must leave it with God. We are still dependent upon a divine interposition, and Jehovah will stretch out his hand and shut the door effectually so that we shall float above the deluge." In this condition of daily dependence the Lord would have his people abide, conscious to the very last that in him only do they live. "Without me ye can do nothing." We are entirely dependent upon our faithful, loving God for everything. If I were to get up to heaven's wall and gaze in through the pearly gateway, I know that if God did not give me grace to take the last step I should die upon the threshold of the celestial city. We rest upon God at the first for hope and pardon, and the like is the case to the last. "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him." You will never be able to throw your cap up and say, "I have done with further prayer and watchfulness, for I need no longer depend on God." Never will you cease to look unto the Lord for your salvation till you shall be safely housed in heaven:-

"Far from a world of grief and sin,
With God eternally shut in."

Then joyfully will you confess that salvation is of the Lord, and glorify your great God and Saviour.

Thus, then, the text tells us that Noah was shut in, and that he was shut in by God; but now let us remember that he was shut in with God; for in the first verse of the chapter we read "The Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark;" and this clearly shows that the Lord was in the ark already. O what a joy it is to know that when a soul is buried to the world it lives with Christ. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." God is in Christ Jesus, and we are in Christ Jesus, and thus we have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus. The tabernacle of God among men is the person of Christ, and when we are joined unto the Lord and become members of his body, we are alive unto God and have fellowship with him. It is a blissful privilege to be hidden away in the person of Christ, for "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him." You are in him, that is true, joined unto the Lord in one spirit. Oh the fellowship the saved have with God! How cheering! How near! How elevating! How strengthening! God has left all the world to its own destruction; but in the ark, Christ Jesus, there is joy, and peace, and fellowship; for God is there, and all his redeemed family are shut in with him. Happy man, to be enclosed in the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High, he shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Next, notice that Noah's happiness was all the greater because he was shut in the ark with all his family. This is a great joy, to have all your household brought unto the faith of Christ. Some among us have one or two of their family still without Christ, and strangers to his salvation. This is a great grief. I will not enlarge upon a subject so painful, but I know instances in which godly women have all their children with them in Christ, but the husband is still a stranger to the covenant of promise.

There is a brother among us who joys to dwell in Christ, but his father and mother are still without God and without Christ. How often have we heard that dear brother's prayer for his relatives. Perhaps his parents are here, and if so I would tell them how much their son's prayers affect me; he cries as for his very life that God would save his father. Some among us never pray in the prayer-meeting without strong crying and tears for their kinsmen according to the flesh; they cannot get through a prayer without mentioning their children, or their brothers, or others of their house; I hope they never will; I hope God will lay their kindred on their heart as a heavy burden till they are all saved in answer to prayer. Noah would have been an unhappy man that day if his wife had been outside the ark, or if Shem or Ham had been outside, or if Japhet's wife, or any other had been left to perish. How joyful are they who can say that all theirs are God's. You are very pleased, some of you, to see your sons and daughters respectably settled in life; thank God for his gracious providence; but, mark you, if they were all poor, and you saw them all saved, there would still be the highest cause for gratitude. Better to see them regenerate than rich, better married to Christ than to a fortune. Give your God no rest till it is so; and if there is one who seems quite outside of spiritual things, pray for him as Abraham prayed for Ishmael, "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!" It is better you should pray hard for them while they live, than that you should mourn bitterly over them when dead, as David did when he lamented aloud, "O Absalom, my son; would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" May the Lord, when he blesses us as he did Jacob, extend that blessing to all our tribes, and cause all that are born unto us to be born again unto himself.

Noah and his household were shut in, dear friends, to be perfectly preserved, and then to come forth into a new world. The rains descended, the water-springs poured forth their fountains, the waters rose, and the huge vessel began to quit the ground, and to walk the waters like a thing of life. Methinks the little company might well have sung a hymn; but if they did, it is probable that the hymn was brought to a pause as they heard the cries of drowning men and women outside. I cannot attempt to picture the scene: they must have come clustering in great multitudes round the ark when they saw that in very deed the flood was descending and uprising. As the fast-closed ark began to move the inmates must have heard a chorus of cries, and groans, and shrieks of men and women as they perished in the insatiable waters. Down poured the incessant showers, beating on the roof with perpetual thunder. The hidden eight were in solitude, shut in from the all-enveloping sheet of rain. The waters continued to gather, and still up rose the ark; though they could scarce tell where they were amid the watery solitude, they knew that they were safe. When they looked out and saw no living thing, not even the top of a mountain, and they were floating on a sea that knew no shore, how strange must have been their sensations! But the Lord had shut Noah in, so he was perfectly safe. He knew that the Lord High Admiral of the seas was at the helm to steer the lonely barque aright. Then came a strong wind to assuage the waters; and how the ark must have sped before the gale, none knew whither: it was tossed about, doubtless, for it is the nature of winds to raise waves, and where there was no shore to give the slightest shelter the vessel must have felt all their force. Yet the favoured family was safe.

"Without deep calleth unto deep,
But all is peace within."

The waters were assuaged, and by-and-by the ark owned to a strange sensation, for its keel was touching the earth, the ark was coming to its rest. God remembered Noah, and brought the ark to rest on the mountains of Ararat. But will the ark ground safely? Perhaps she will break her back on a rock, or slide down the side of a hill, or over the brink of a precipice. No, no. He who was her Architect will be her Preserver. God has found an anchorage for the stars, and he can surely berth a ship. He found the ark a safe resting place, and brought out all her passengers safe and sound. He is berthing many a vessel now in the everlasting harbours, and he hath such skill in navigation that no vessel which belongs to him shall ever come to an ill end. So far Noah fared well and felt solid ground beneath him once again. Now the waters quickly assuage; but what a mass of mud - shall the rescued family run the risk of fever and miasma? they shall not be let out till the land is dry, and then when the earth has been fertilised by its own destruction and is ready to receive the seed from the sower's hand, and the grass has begun to grow for the cattle, then shall they come out into a new world. How fair the face of nature so newly washed! How like a bride decked for her marriage day! God set open wide the door, and out they come, camels, elephants, sheep, lions, Noah and all his family, rejoicing to range at liberty. A sacrifice is offered and God smells a savour of rest. So shall it be with us: shut in with Christ away from this world, to which we are not conformed, we shall ride in safety as exiled beings out of this old world into another. A day cometh when the new heaven and the new earth shall be seen, and then the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace; then shall our sacrifice of praise be accepted of the Lord. Blessed are they who enter into the ark of Jesus Christ, and so die to the old life that they may live in newness of life, rejoicing in him who sitteth upon the throne and saith, "Behold, I make all things new!" This be your lot and mine for ever and ever.

II. I have purposely reserved a very few minutes only for the second and much more painful point of my discourse, which comes out of the words, shut out.

To have the door shut is well enough for Noah and those who are with him, but as for all the rest, that big door when it closed on its hinges shut them all out! Shut them all out to perish with a swift and sure destruction. Who were they? I wonder if any of the sort are here!

Well, they were a people that had been preached to. Noah was a "preacher of righteousness," and fulfilled his office perseveringly. The men of his generation were not left to perish without light; they had been warned, they had been instructed, they had been entreated. They were such as you are who have been habitual hearers of the word, but hearers only. Of course, you have none of you heard the gospel for one hundred and twenty years from one man; but many of you have heard it quite long enough to have incurred great guilt in having rejected it so often.

They were a people who had been prayed for. You will ask me how I come to know that. I answer that Ezekiel speaks of three men notable as intercessors, Noah, Daniel, and Job; and I feel sure he would not have mentioned Noah in that company if he had not been a man of great prayer. I believe that he prayed much for his generation, and yet they were not saved. Sure I am, dear hearers, that some of yon are daily the objects of earnest supplication. On Monday nights I have had notes about some of you, and hundreds, and even thousands of us have joined together in praying for you. Beside that, you know the dear ones at home are earnestly interceding for you, and some who are now in heaven pleaded hard for you ere they departed: yet you will be shut out as sure as you are alive unless you fly to Christ, and enter into his salvation very soon.

They were a people who had many of them been associated with Noah in his work. It is hardly likely that Noah built the ark with his own hands all alone; he must have hired fellers of trees, and carpenters, and calkers, and shipwrights of various kinds. None of these were saved. It is a sad thing that those who helped to build the ark were shut out of it! Remember, however, that they shut themselves out! They chose their own destruction. Do I speak to any who have subscribed to build the house in which they worship? who contribute their share to the expenses of the church and to the help of the poor, and to the education of the young; and yet to have no part in Christ? I do not understand those of you who are zealous in promoting religion, and yet have no share in the great salvation? Why will you resolve to be shut out? As sure as ever you sit on that seat, you will be shut out of heaven, and shut out of Christ for, ever, unless you arise and go unto your Father confessing your sins and seeking his mercy. May God arouse you to flee from the wrath to come!

These people had seen great wonders. Half the world must have gathered to see the camels and elephants, eagles and peacocks, snails and worms, all come running, or flying, or creeping to the ark. Such a sight never could have been seen before. There they come in pairs: four wild beasts, two and two; and clean beasts by sevens! Voluntarily entering the ark! What a sight it must have been! Many saw it and confessed that God's hand was in it, and yet they did not enter the ark themselves. Oh, my hearers, some of you have been here in times of revival; you have seen drunkards saved, you have seen the most unlikely ones converted, and yet you have not turned unto the Lord. Be ye sure of this - you will be shut out of hope for ever! May God grant it may never be so; but except you repent it must be the case. Let me read you a passage from the gospel of Luke, and as I read it, think of it and tremble: "When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall :answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out." Thrust out - pushed out, not permitted to enter - the great door interposing between you and all hope of mercy.

Next, notice what they did. What they did was this: they were a people who took all their delight in worldly things. We are told in the New Testament that they "ate and they drank, they married and were given in marriage, till the day that Noah entered into the ark." They were altogether taken up with this world - like some of you, who have no regard for the world to come, but live as if this life would be everything. Prayer and praise, and looking into eternal things are all a weariness to you; you look after the shop and the farm and the house, and forget God. I do not blame you for diligence in business any more than I blame these people for eating and drinking and marrying; but to make this the main thing in life is to despise God and heaven and eternity. O my hearer, remember your God! your Saviour! your soul! death! heaven! hell! How little do you think of these things! Be not like these ungodly ones who gave their hearts to worldly things.

And then they did not believe, there was the point. Whatever Noah might say they replied, "Poor old man, you have entered on a second childhood. Perhaps when we are five hundred years old we shall talk nonsense too." When the patriarch came to be six hundred years old they said, "That greybeard is always telling us these stories," and they jested at the old man's fable. Alas, some of you do not believe the gospel, and therefore do not seek its salvation; but it is true, and you will own it to be so when you get breast deep in the fire-flood, as you will be ere long. Oh that you would believe, and escape from the wrath to come! They despised the long-suffering of God. They said, "Here has Noah been telling us these one hundred and twenty years that a flood is coming, and where is it?" Among ourselves it is a common proverb, "Christmas is coming," but in Noah's days there must have been more sting in the proverb, "The deluge is coming." They would not believe that such a thing could ever be. Some say, "I have gone on very well, I have had no religion and yet I have always prospered. I have seen godly people getting poor, but I have always added field to field and house to house. I do not want religion. I am comfortable enough without it." If we say we pity them, they reply, "We do not want your pity." Just so! but the tables will be turned ere long, and then you will demand our pity, though it will avail you nothing, for the door will be shut. Once let God shut the door, and there will be an eternal separation between the ungodly and all hope and happiness.

What came of it then? The door of hope was shut, and the multitude perished without hope.

When I was thinking this over I fancied that I could preach about it; but I cannot. When I realize the fact that any one of my dear hearers should be shut out of heaven I cannot bear myself. I want to find a secret place wherein to weep. If an angel should say to me this morning, "All your hearers shall be saved but one, and you must pick out the one who shall be shut out of heaven," I should run my eye anxiously up and down these lines of pews, and I should take up many an hour, and at last cry, "No, I cannot take the responsibility of marking out the doomed man." I should keep you here, I think, till I expired before I could make the horrible death-choice. I would say, "Lord, save every one." And as for the marked man, I would cry, "Spare him! Do spare him!" Oh, my hearers, will you do for yourselves what I could not dare to do for you? Will any man choose for himself to be lost? Will he count himself unworthy of eternal life, and put it from him? Then I must shake off the dust of my feet against him. I will have none of the responsibility. If you will be damned you must do it yourselves. I will not be a partaker in the crime. Your blood be on your own heads. Go down to the pit if you will deliberately choose to do so; but this know, that Christ was preached to you, and you would not have him; you were invited to come to him, but turned your backs upon him; you chose for yourselves your own eternal destruction! God grant you may repent of such a choice, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

CHAPTER 4. THE GOSPEL OF ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE OF ISAAC

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Evening May 2nd, 1869, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all."
Romans 8:32.

We have selected this verse as our theme, but our true text you will find in the twenty-second chapter of Genesis, the narrative which we read to you this morning at full length, and upon which we spoke in detail in our discourse. I thought it meet to keep to one point this morning, on the ground that one thing at a time is best, and therefore I endeavoured to lead your undivided contemplations to the peerless example of holy, believing obedience, which the father of the faithful presented to us when he offered up his son.

But it would be a very unfair way of handling Holy Scripture to leave such a subject as this, so full of Christ, without dwelling upon the typical character of the whole narrative. If the Messiah be anywhere symbolised in the Old Testament, he is certainly to be seen upon Mount Moriah, where the beloved Isaac, willingly bound and laid upon the altar, is a lively foreshadowing of the Well-beloved of heaven yielding his life as a ransom. We doubt not that one great intent of the whole transaction was to afford Abraham a clearer view of Christ's day; the trial was covertly a great privilege, unveiling as it did, to the patriarch, the heart of the great Father, in his great deed of love to men, and displaying at the same time, the willing obedience of the great Son, who cheerfully became a burnt offering unto God. The gospel of Moriah, which is but another name for Calvary, was far clearer than the revelation made at the gate of Paradise, or to Noah in the ark, or to Abraham himself on any former occasion. Let us pray for a share in the privilege of the renowned friend of God, as we study redemption in the light which made Abraham glad.

Without detaining you with any lengthened preface, for which we have neither time nor inclination, we shall first, draw the parallel between the offering of Christ and the offering of Isaac; and, secondly, we shall show wherein the sacrifice of Christ goes far beyond even this most edifying type. O blessed Spirit of God, take of the things of Christ at this hour, and show them unto us.

I. First, THE PARALLEL.

You know the story before you; we need not repeat it, except as we weave it into our meditation. As Abraham offered up Isaac, and so it might be said of him that he "spared not his own son," so the ever blessed God offered up his Son Jesus Christ, and spared him not.

There is a likeness in the person offered. Isaac was Abraham's son, and in that emphatic sense, his only son; hence the anguish of resigning him to sacrifice. There is a depth of meaning in that word "only" when it is applied to a child. Dear as life to a parent's heart is his only child; no gold of Ophir nor sparkling gems of Inde can be compared therewith. Those of you blessed with the full quiver, having many children, would yet find it extremely difficult, if one had to be taken from you, to say which it should be. A thousand pangs would rend your hearts in making choice of one out of the seven or the ten, upon whose clay-cold brow you must imprint a last fond kiss; but what would be your grief if you had but one! What agony to have torn from you the only token of your mutual love, the only representative of your race! Cruel is the wind which uproots the only scion of the ancient tree; rude is the hand which dashes the only blossom from the rose. Ruthless spoiler, to deprive you of your sole heir, the corner-stone of your love, the polished pillar of your hope. Judge you then the sadness which pierced the heart of Abraham when God bade him take his son, his only son, and offer him as a burnt offering! But I have no language with which to speak of the heart of God when he gave up his only begotten Son. Instead of attempting the impossible, I must content myself with repeating the words of Holy Writ: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Nothing but infinite love to man could have led the God of love to bruise his Son and put him to grief. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is, in his divine nature, one with God, co-equal and co-eternal with him, his only begotten Son in a manner mysterious and unknown to us. As the divine Son the Father gave him to us: "Unto us a Son is given, and his name shall be called the Mighty God." Our Lord, as man, is the Son of the Highest, according to the angel's salutation of the Virgin: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." In his human nature Jesus was not spared, but was made to suffer, bleed, and die for us. God and man in one person, two natures being wondrously combined, he was not spared but delivered up for all his chosen. Herein is love! Behold it and admire! Consider it and wonder! The beloved Son is made a sacrifice! He, the Only-begotten is smitten of God and afflicted, and cries, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Remember that in Abraham's case Isaac was the child of his heart. I need not enlarge on that, you can readily imagine how Abraham loved him; but in the case of our Lord what mind can conceive how near and dear our Redeemer was to the Father? Remember those marvellous words of the Incarnate Wisdom, "I was by him as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Our glorious Saviour was more the Son of God's love than Isaac could be the darling of Abraham. Eternity and infinity entered into the love which existed between the Father and the Son. Christ in human nature was matchlessly pure and holy, and in him dwelt the fulness of the God-head bodily; therefore was he highly delightful to the Father, and that delight was publicly attested in audible declarations, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Yet he spared him not, but made him to be the substitute for us sinners, made him as a curse for us, and to be hanged on a tree. Have you a favourite child? Have you one who nestles in your bosom? Have you one dearer than all other? Then should you be called to part with him, you will be able to have fellowship with the great Father in delivering up his Son.

Remember, too, that Isaac was a most lovely and obedient son. "We have proof of that in the fact that he was willing to be sacrificed, for being a vigorous young man, he might have resisted his aged father, but he willingly surrendered himself to be bound, and submitted to be laid on the altar. How few there are of such sons! Could Abraham give him up? Few, did I say, of such sons? I cannot apply that term to Christ the Son of God, for there was never another such as he. If I speak of his humanity, who ever obeyed his father as Christ obeyed his God? "Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience." It was his meat and his drink to do the will of him that sent him. "Wist ye not," said he, "that I must be about my Father's business?" And yet this obedient Son, this Son of sons, God spared not, but unsheathed his sword against him, and gave him up to the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and death itself. What mighty love must have led the Father to this I Impossible is it to measure it.

"So strange, so boundless was the love
Which pitied dying men. The Father sent his equal Son,
To give them life again."

It must not be forgotten, too, that around Isaac there clustered mysterious prophecies. Isaac was to be the promised seed through which Abraham should live down to posterity and evermore be a blessing to all nations. But what prophecies gathered about the head of Christ! What glorious things were spoken of him before his coming! He was the conquering seed destined to break the dragon's head. He was the messenger of the covenant, yea, the covenant itself. He was foretold as the Prince of Peace, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. In him was more of God revealed than in all the works of creation and of providence. Yet this august person, this heir of all things, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, must bow his head to the stroke of sacred vengeance, being given up as the scapegoat for all believers; the Lamb of our passover, the victim for our sin. Brethren, 1 have left the shallows, and am far out to sea to-night; I am swimming in a great deep, I find no bottom, and I see no shore; I sink in deeps of wonder. My soul would rather meditate than attempt to utter herself by word of mouth. Indeed, the theme of God's unspeakable gift, if we would comprehend its breadth and length, is rather for the closet than for the pulpit, rather to be meditated upon when you muse alone at eventide than to be spoken of in the great assembly. Though we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, we cannot attain to the height of this great argument. God gave such a one to us that the world could not find his fellow nor heaven reveal his equal. He gave to us a treasure so priceless that if heaven and earth were weighed like the merchants' golden wedge, they could not buy the like thereof. For us was given up the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. For us the head of most fine gold was laid in the dust, and the raven locks bestained with gore. For us those eyes which are soft as the eyes of doves, were red with weeping, and washed with tears instead of milk. For us the cheeks which were as a bed of spices were defiled with spittle, and the countenance like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars, marred more than the sons of men. And all this was by the Father's appointment and ordaining; according to the eternal purpose written in the volume of the Book.

The parallel is very clear in the preface of the sacrifice. Let us show you in a few words. Abraham had three days in which to think upon and consider the death of his son; three days in which to look into that beloved face and to anticipate the hour in which it would wear the icy pallor of death. But the Eternal Father foreknew and foreordained the sacrifice of his only begotten Son, not three days nor three years, nor three thousand years, but for ever the earth was Jesus was to his Father "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Long ere his birth at Bethlehem it was foretold, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." It was an eternal decree that from the travail of the Redeemer there should arise a seed that should serve him, being purchased by his blood. What perseverance of disinterested love was here! Brethren, suffer me to pause and worship, for I fail to preach. I am abashed in the presence of such wondrous love. I cannot understand thee, O great God, I know thou art not moved by passions, nor afFected by grief as men are; therefore dare I not say that thou didst sorrow over the death of thy Son. But oh! I know that thou art not a God of stone, impassible, unmoved. Thou art God, and therefore we cannot conceive thee; but yet thou dost compare thyself to a father having compassion on a prodigal; do we err, then, if we think of thee as yearning over thy Well-beloved when he was given up to the pangs of death? Forgive me if I transgress in so conceiving of thy heart of love, but surely it was a costly sacrifice which thou didst make, costly even to thee! I will not speak of thee in this matter, O my God, for I cannot, but I will reverently think of thee, and wonder how thou couldst have looked so steadily through the long ages, and resolved so unwaveringly upon the mighty sacrifice, the immeasurable generosity of resigning thy dear Son to be slaughtered for us.

Remember, that Abraham prepared with sacred forethought everything for the sacrifice. As I showed you this morning, he became a Gibeonite for God, acting as a hewer of wood, while he prepared the fuel for his son's burning. He carried the fire, and built the altar, providing everything needful for the painful service. But what shall I say of the great God who, through the ages, was constantly preparing this world for the grandest event in its history, the death of the Incarnate God? All history converged to this point. I venture to say it, that every transaction, whether great or small, that ever disturbed Assyria, or aroused Chaldea, or troubled Egypt, or chastened Jewry, had for its ultimate object the preparing of the world for the birth and the sacrifice of Christ. The cross is the centre of all history. To it, from ancient ages, everything is pointing; forward from it everything in this age proceeds, and backward to it everything may be traced. How deep is this subject, yet how true! God was always preparing for the giving up of the Well-beloved for the salvation of the sons of men!

We will not tarry, however, on the preface of the sacrifice, but advance in lowly worship to behold the act itself. When Abraham came at last to Mount Moriah, he hade his servants remain at the foot of the hill. Now, gather up your thoughts, and come with me to Calvary, to the true Moriah. At the foot of that hill God bade all men stop. The twelve have been with Christ in his life-journey, but they must not be with him in his death throes. Eleven go with him to Gethsemane: only three may draw near to him in his passion; but when it comes to the climax of all, they forsake him and flee; he fights the battle singly. "I have trodden the wine-press alone," said he, "and of the people there was none with me." Although around Calvary there gathered a great crowd to behold the Redeemer die, yet spiritually Jesus was there alone with the avenging God. The wonderful transaction of Calvary as to its real essence and spirit, was performed in solemn secrecy between the Father and the Son. Abraham and Isaac were alone. The Father and the Son were equally alone when his soul was made a sacrifice for sin.

Do you observe also that Isaac carried the wood! - a true picture of Jesus carrying his cross. It was not every malefactor who had to bear the tree which was afterwards to bear him, but, in our Lord's case, and by an excess of cruelty, wicked men made him carry his cross. With a felicity of exactness to the prophetic type, God had so ordered it, that as Isaac bore the wood up to the altar, so Christ should carry his cross up to the place of doom.

A point worthy of notice is, that it is said, as you will find if you read the chapter of Abraham and Isaac, "that they went both of them together." He who was to smite with the knife, and the other who was to be the victim, walked in peaceful converse to the altar. "They went both together," agreeing in heart. It is to me delightful to reflect that Christ Jesus and his Father went both together in the work of redeeming love. In that great work by which we are saved, the Father gave us Christ, but Christ equally gave us himself. The Father went forth to vengeance dressed in robes of love to man, and the Son went forth to be the victim of that vengeance with the same love in his heart.

They proceeded together, and at last, Isaac was bound, bound by his father. So Christ was bound, and he saith, "Ye could have no power against me unless it were given to you of my Father." Christ could not have been bound by Judas, nor Pilate, nor Herod, if the Eternal Father had not virtually bound him and delivered him into the hands of the executioner. My soul, stand and wonder! The Father binds his Son; 'tis God thy Father who binds thine Elder Brother, and gives him up to cruel men that he may he reviled, spit upon, and nailed to the tree to die.

The parallel goes still further, for while the father binds the victim, the Victim is willing to be hound. As we have already said, Isaac might have resisted, but he did not; there are no traces of struggling; no signs of so much as a murmur. Even so with Jesus; he went cheerfully up to the slaughter-place, willing to give himself for us. Said he, "No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."

You see how the parallel holds, and as you behold the earthly parent, with anguish in his face, about to drive the knife into the heart of his dear child, you have before you, as nearly as earthly pictures can paint heavenly things, the mirror of the divine Father about to give up the Well-beloved, the just, for the unjust, that he may bring us to God. I pause there. What further can I say? It is not, as I have said before, a theme for words, but for the heart's emotions, for the kisses of your lips, and the tears of your soul.

Yet the parallel runs a little further, after having been suspended for a moment, Isaac was restored again. He was bound and laid upon the altar, the knife was drawn, and he was in spirit given up to death, but he was delivered. Leaving that gap, wherein Christ is not typified fully by Isaac, but by the ram, yet was Jesus also delivered. He came again, the living and triumphant Son, after he had been dead. Isaac was for three days looked upon by Abraham as dead, on the third day the father rejoiced to descend the mountain with his son. Jesus was dead, but on the third day he rose again. Oh! the joy on that mountain summit, the joy of the two as they returned to the waiting servants, both delivered out of a great trial. But, ah! I cannot tell you what joy there was in the heart of Jesus and the great Father when the tremendous sacrifice was finished, and Jesus had risen from the dead; but, brethren, we shall know some day, for we shall enter into the joy of our Lord.

It is a bold thing to speak of God as moved by joy or affected by grief, but still, since he is no God of wood and stone, no insensible block, we may, speaking after the manner of men, declare that God rejoiced over his risen Son with exceeding joy, while the Son rejoiced also because his great work was accomplished. Remembering that passage in the prophet, where God speaks of his saints, and declares that he will rejoice over them with singing, what if I say that much more he did this with his Son, and, resting in his love, he rejoiced over the risen one, even with joy and singing.

What followed the deliverance of Isaac? You heard, this morning, that from that moment the covenant was ratified. Just at the base of that altar the angel declared the oath wherein God sware by himself. Brethren, the risen Saviour, once slain, has confirmed the covenant of grace, which now stands fast for ever upon the two immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lie.

Isaac, also, had that day been the means of showing to Abraham the great "provision of God. That name, Jehovah-Jireh, was new to the world; it was given forth to men that day from Mount Moriah; and in the death of Christ men see what they never could have seen else, and in his resurrection they behold the deepest of mysteries solved. God has provided what men wanted. The problem was, How can sinners be forgiven? How can the mischief of sin be taken away? How can sinners become saints, and those who were only fit to burn in hell be made to sing in heaven? The answer is yonder, where God gives up his Only-begotten to bleed and die instead of sinners, and then bids that Only-begotten return in glory from the grave. "Jehovah-Jireh," is to be read by the light which streams from the cross. "The Lord will provide" is beheld on the Mount of Calvary as nowhere else in heaven or earth.

Thus have I tried to show the parallel, but I am sadly conscious of my want of power. I feel as if I were only giving you mere sketches, such as schoolboys draw with chalk or charcoal. You must fill them in; there is abundance of room - Abraham and Isaac, the Father and Christ. In proportion to the tenderness and love with which you can enter into the human wonder, so, methinks, by the loving and affectionate teaching of the Holy Spirit, you may enter into the transcendent wonder of the divine sacrifice for men.

II. But now, in the second place, I have to HINT AT SOME POINTS IN WHICH the PARALLEL FALLS SHORT.

The first is this, that Isaac would have died in the course of nature. When offered up by his father, it was only a little in anticipation of the death which eventually must have occurred. But Jesus is he "who only hath immortality," and who never needed to die. Neither as God nor man had he anything about him that rendered him subject to the bands of death. To him Hades was a place he need never enter, and the sepulchre and the grave were locked and barred fast to him, for there were no seeds of corruption within his sacred frame. Without the taint of original sin, there was no need that his body should yield to the mortal stroke. Indeed, though he died, yet did not his body see corruption; God had shielded him from that. So Isaac must die, but Jesus need not. His death was purely voluntary, and herein stands by itself, not to be numbered with the deaths of other men.

Moreover, there was a constraint upon Abraham to give Isaac. I admit the cheerfulness of the gift, but still the highest law to which his spiritual nature was subject, rendered it incumbent upon believing Abraham to do as God commanded. But no stress could be laid upon the Most High. If he delivered up his Son, it must be with the greatest freeness. Who could deserve that Christ should die for him? Had we been perfection itself, and like the sinless angels, we could not have deserved such a gift as this. But, my brethren and sisters, we were full of evil; we hated God; we continued to transgress against him; and yet out of pure love to us he performed this miracle of grace - he gave his Son to die for us. Oh! unconstrained love - a fountain welling up from the depth of the divine nature, unasked for and undeserved! What shall I say of it? O God, be thou ever blessed! Even the songs of heaven cannot express the obligations of our guilty race to thy free love in the gift of thy Son!

Furthermore, remember that Isaac did not die after all, but Jesus did. The pictures were as nearly exact as might be, for the ram was caught in the thicket, and the animal was slaughtered instead of the man; in our Lord's case he was the substitute for us, but there was no substitute for him. He took our sins and bare them in his own body upon the tree. He was personally the sufferer. Not by proxy did he redeem us, but he himself suffered for us; in propria persona he yielded up his life for us.

And here comes in one other point of difference, namely that Isaac, if he had died, could not have died for us. He might have died for us as an example of how we should resign life, but that would have been a small boon; it would have been no greater blessing than the Unitarian gospel offers when it sets forth Christ as dying as our exemption. Oh, but beloved, the death of Christ stands altogether alone and apart, because it is a death altogether for others, and endured solely and only from disinterested affection to the fallen. There is not a pang that rends the Saviour's heart that needed to have been there if not for love to us; not a drop of blood that trickled from that thorn-crowned head or from those pierced hands that needed to be spilled if it were not for affection to such undeserving ones as we. And see what he has done for us! He has procured our pardon; we who have believed in him are forgiven. He has procured our adoption; we are sons of God in Christ Jesus. He has shut the gates of hell for us; we cannot perish, nor can any pluck us out of his hands. He has opened the gates of heaven for us; we shall be with him where he is. Our very bodies shall feel the power of his death, for they shall rise again at the sound of the trumpet at the last day. He was delivered for us his people, "for us all;" he endured all for all his people, for all who trust him, for every son of Adam that casts himself upon him; for every son and daughter of man that will rely alone upon him for salvation. Was he delivered for you, dear hearer? Have you a part in his death? If so, shall I need to press upon you as you come to this table to think of the Father's gift and of the Father himself? Do I need to urge you with tearful eye and melting heart as you receive the emblems of our Redeemer's passion, to look to his Father and to him, and with humble adoration to admire that love which I have failed to depict, and which you will fail to measure? I never felt, I think, in all my life, more utterly ashamed of words, and more ready to abandon speech, for the thoughts of God's love are too heavy for the shoulders of my words; they burden all my sentences, and crush them down; even thought itself cannot bear the stupendous load. Here is a deep, a great deep, and our bark knows not how to sail thereon. Here deep calleth unto deep, and our mind is swallowed up in the vastness and immensity of the billows of love that roll around us. But what reason cannot measure faith can grasp, and what our understanding cannot comprehend our hearts can love, and what we cannot tell to others we will whisper out in the silence of our spirits to ourselves, until our souls bow with lowliest reverence before the God whose name is Love.

As I close, I feel bound to say that there may be some here to whom this is but an idle tale. Ah! my heart breaketh as I think of you, that you should continue to sin against your Maker, and forget him from day to day as most of you do. Your Maker gives his own Son to redeem his enemies, and he comes to you to-night and tells you that if you will repent of your sins, and trust yourselves in the hands of his dear Son, who died for sinners, you shall be saved, but, alas! you will not do so; so evil is your heart, that you turn against your God, and you turn against his mercy. Oh! do you say, "I will not turn against him any more"? Are your relentings kindled? Do you desire to be reconciled to the God you have offended? You may be reconciled; you shall be reconciled to-night, if you do now but give yourselves up to God your Father, and to Christ your Saviour. Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life, for this is his gospel, "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." What that damnation is may you never know, but may his grace be yours. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Hebrews 6.

CHAPTER 5. JEHOVAH-JIREH

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, October 12th, 1884, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen."
Genesis 22:14.

"Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh," or "Jehovah will see it," or "Jehovah will provide," or "Jehovah will be seen." We are offered a variety of interpretations, but the exact idea is that of seeing and being seen. For God to see is to provide. Our own word "provide," is only Latin for "to see." You know how we say that we will see to a matter. Possibly this expression hits the nail on the head. Our heavenly Father sees our need, and with divine foresight of love prepares the supply. He sees to a need to supply it; and in the seeing he is seen, in the providing he manifests himself.

I believe that the truth contained in the expression "Jehovah-jireh" was ruling Abraham's thought long before he uttered it and appointed it to be the memorial name of the place where the Lord had provided a substitute for Isaac. It was this thought, I think, which enabled him to act as promptly as he did under the trying circumstances. His reason whispered within him, "If you slay your son, how can God keep his promise to you that your seed shall be as many as the stars of heaven?" He answered that suggestion by saying to himself, "Jehovah will see to it!! As he went upon that painful journey, with his dearly beloved son at his side, the suggestion may have come to him, "How will you meet Sarah when you return home, having imbrued your hands in the blood of her son? How will you meet your neighbours when they hear that Abraham, who professed to be such a holy man, has killed hi& son?" That answer still sustained his heart - "Jehovah will see to it! Jehovah will see to it! He will not fail in his word. Perhaps he will raise my son from the dead; but in some way or other he will justify my obedience to him, and vindicate his own command. Jehovah will see to it." This was a quietus to every mistrustful thought. I pray that we may drink into this truth, and be refreshed by it. If we follow the Lord's bidding, he will see to it that we shall not be ashamed or confounded. If we come into great need by following his command, he will see to it that the loss shall be recompensed. If our difficulties multiply and increase so that our way seems completely blocked up, Jehovah will see to it that the road shall be cleared. The Lord will see us through in the way of holiness if we are only willing to be thorough in it, and dare to follow wheresoever he leads the way. We need not wonder that Abraham should utter this truth, and attach it to the spot which was to be for ever famous: for his whole heart was saturated with it, and had been sustained by it. Wisely he makes an altar and a mountain to be memorials of the truth which had so greatly helped him. His trials had taught him more of God, - had, in fact, given him a new name for his God; and this he would not have forgotten, but he would keep it before the minds of the generations following by naming the place Jehovah-jireh.

Observe as you read this chapter that this was not the first time that Abraham had thus spoken. When he called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh he had seen it to be true, - the ram caught in the thicket had been provided as a substitute for Isaac: Jehovah had provided. But he had before declared that truth when as yet he knew nothing of the Divine action, when he could not even guess how his extraordinary trial would end. His son Isaac had said to him, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" and the afflicted father had bravely answered, "My son, God will provide." In due time God did provide, and then Abraham honoured him by saving the same words, only instead of the ordinary name for God he used the special covenant title - Jehovah. That is the only alteration; otherwise in the same terms he repeats the assurance that "the Lord will provide."

That first utterance was most remarkable: it was simple enough, but how prophetic! It teaches us this truth, that the confident speech of a believer is akin to the language of a prophet. The man who accepts the promise of God unstaggeringly, and is sure that it is true, will speak like the seers of old: he will see that God sees, and will declare the fact, and the holy inference which comes of it. The believer's childlike assurance will anticipate the future, and his plain statement - "God will provide" - will turn out to be literal truth. If you want to come near to prophesying, hold you hard to the promise of God and you shall "prophesy according to the measure of faith." He that can say, "I know and am sure that God will not fail me in this mine hour of tribulation," will, before long, drop pearls of divine confidence and diamonds of prediction from his lips. Choice sayings which become proverbs in the church of God are not the offspring of mistrust, but of firm confidence in the living God. To this day many a saying of a man of God is quoted among us, even as Abraham's word was quoted. Moses puts it, "As it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen;" and we might mention many a sentence which is said unto this day which first fell from the mouth of a faithful spirit in the hour of the manifestation of the Lord. The speech of the father of the faithful became the speech of his spiritual seed for many a year afterwards, and it abides in the family of faith unto this day. If we have full faith in God, we shall teach succeeding generations to expect Jehovah's hand to he stretched out still.

True faith not only speaks the language of prophecy, but, when she sees her prophecy fulfilled, faith is always delighted to raise memorials to the God of truth. The stones which were set up of old were not to the memory of dead men, but they were memorials of the deeds of the living God: they abundantly uttered the memory of God's great goodness. Abraham on this occasion did not choose a name which recorded what he had done, but a name which spake of what Jehovah had done. It is true Abraham's faith was worthy to be remembered throughout all generations, for there he believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, and the Lord said to him, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." There the patriarch had endured the extreme test: no gold was ever passed through a hotter furnace. But true faith is always modest; from her gate boasting is excluded by law. Abraham says nothing about himself at all, but the praise is unto God, who sees and is seen; the record is, "Jehovah will provide," I like that self-ignoring; I pray that we, also, may have so much strength of faith that self may go to the wall. Little faith is very apt to grow proud when, to its own astonishment, it has wrought righteousness; but strong faith so completely empties itself, and so entirely depends upon the all-sufficiency of God, that when anything is achieved it remembers nothing but the divine hand, and lays the crown where it ought to be laid. Growing in experimental acquaintance with the God of the covenant, faith has a new song and a new name for her God, and takes care that his wonderful works shall be remembered.

Note yet further, that when faith has uttered a prophecy, and has set up her memorial, the record of mercy received becomes itself a new prophecy. Abraham says, "Jehovah-jireh, - God will see to it"; what was he doing then but prophesying a second time for future ages? He bids us know that, as God had provided fur him in the time of his extremity, so he will provide for all them that put their trust in him. The God of Abraham liveth, and let his name be praised, and let us rest assured that, as certainly as in the patriarch's distress, when there seemed no way of escape, the Lord appeared for him and was seen in the mount, even so shall it be with all the believing seed while time endureth. "We shall all be tried and tested, but in our utmost need God will see us, and see to our deliverance, if we will but let faith have her perfect work, and will hope and quietly wait the moment when the Lord shall be seen working salvation. The Lord is the Preserver of men and the Provider for men. I long for ail of us to get this truth firmly fixed in our hearts, and therefore I shall try to show that God's provision for Abraham and Isaac typified the far greater provision by which all the faithful are delivered from death; and that God, in providing in the mount, has given us therein a sure guarantee that all our necessities shall be provided for henceforth even for ever.

Consider, then, that the provision which God made for Abraham was symbolic of the greater provision which he has made for all his chosen in Christ Jesus. "Jehovah-jireh" is a text from which to preach concerning providence, and many have been the sermons which have been distilled from it; but I take the liberty of saying that providence, in the ordinary sense of the term, is not the first thought of the passage, which should be read with some sort of reference to its connection, and the more so because that connection is exceedingly remarkable.

I. When Abraham said "Jehovah will provide," he meant us, first of all, to learn that THE PROVISION WILL COME IN THE TIME OF OUR EXTREMITY. The provision of the ram instead of Isaac was the significant type which was before Abraham's mind; but our Lord tells us, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad;" and surely if ever Abraham saw the day of Christ, and was beyond measure glad, it was at that moment when he beheld the Lord providing a substitute for Isaac. At any rate, whether Abraham understood the full meaning of what he said or not, he spoke not for himself, but for us. Every word he uttered is for our teaching, and the teaching is this: that God, in the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, made the fullest provision for our greatest needs; and from that we may infer that whatever need shall ever occur to us, God will certainly provide for it; but he may delay the actual manifestation thereof till our darkest hour has come.

"Just in the last distressing hour
The Lord displays delivering power;
The mount of danger is the place
Where we shall see surprising grace."

The Lord gave our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Substitute for men in view of the utmost need of oar race. Isaac was hard pressed when God interfered in his behalf. The knife was lifted up by a resolute hand; he was within a second of death when the angelic voice said, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad." God provided instantly when the need pressed urgently. Beloved, was Isaac nearer to death than sinful man was near to hell? Was that knife closer to the throat of the beloved Isaac than the axe of the executioner was near to the neck of every sinner, aye, to the neck of the whole race of man? We have so sinned and gone astray that it was not possible for God to wink at our transgressions; he must visit our iniquities with the just punishment, which is nothing less than death eternal. I constantly meet with persons under the convincing power of the Spirit of God, and I always find that in their apprehension the punishment of sin is something terrible and overwhelming. When God deals with men by his convincing Spirit, they feel that their sin deserves nothing less than the wrath of God in hell. So it was with our race; we had altogether destroyed ourselves, and were shut up under condemnation by the law, and it was in that dread hour that God interposed and proclaimed a Saviour for men. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." I would to God we all felt what a dreadful thing it is to be lost; for then we should value the provision of the Saviour much more than we do now. Oh, sirs, if no Redeemer had been provided, we might have gathered here this morning, and if you could have had patience to hear me, all I should have been able to say would have been, "Brethren, let us weep together and sigh in chorus; for we shall all die, and, dying, we shall sink into the bottomless pit, and shall abide for ever under the righteous anger of God," It must have been so with us all if a substitute had not been found. If the gift of the loving Father had not been bestowed, if Jesus had not condescended to die in our place, we must have been left for execution by that law which will by no means spare the guilty. We talk about our salvation as if it were nothing very particular: we have heard of the plan of substitution so often that it becomes commonplace. It should not be so; I believe that it still thrills the angels with astonishment that man, when he had fallen from his high estate, and had been banished from Eden, and had become a rebel against God, should be redeemed by the blood of the Heir of all things, by whom the Divine Father made the worlds. When death and hell opened their jaws to devour, then was this miracle completed, and Jesus taken among the thorns was offered up a sacrifice for us.

God not only interposed when the death of Isaac was imminent, but also when the anguish of Abraham had reached its highest pitch. The patriarch's faith never wavered; but we must not forget that he was a man like ourselves, and no father could see his child offered up without an inward agony which surpasses all description. The anguish of so perfect a man as Abraham, a man who felt all the domestic affections intensely, as every truly gaily father must feel them, and who loved his son as much as he loved his own life, must have been un-speakably great. What must have been the force of faith which enabled the man of God to master himself, to go contrary to the current of human nature, and deliberately to stand ready to sacrifice his Isaac! He must have been wound up to a fearful pitch of anguish when he lifted up the knife to slay his son; but just then the angel arrested his hand, and God provided the ram as the substitute in the moment of his utmost misery.

Surely the world had come to a great state of misery when at last God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, that he might become the sacrifice for sin. At any rate, this I know that as a rule men do not see Christ to be their substitute nor accept him as their Redeemer till they feel that they lie at hell's door, and till their anguish on account of sin has become exceeding great. I remember well when I first beheld the lamb of God who suffered in my stead. I had often heard the story of his death; I could have told it out to others very correctly; but then I did not know my own pressing need, I had not come to feel the knife at my throat, nor was I about to die; and therefore my knowledge was a cold, in-operative thing. But when the law had bound me, and given me over to death, and my heart within me was crushed with fear, then the sight of the glorious Substitute was as bright to me as a vision of heaven. Did Jesus suffer in my stead without the gate? were my transgressions laid on him? then I received him with joy unspeakable, my whole nature accepting the good news. At this moment I accept the Lord Jesus as my Substitute with a deep, peaceful delight. Blessed be the name of Jehovah-jireh for having taken thought of me, a beggar, a wretch, a condemned criminal, and for having provided the Lamb of God whose precious blood was shed instead of mine.

II. Secondly, upon the mount THE PROVISION WAS SPONTANEOUSLY MADE for Abraham, and so was the provision which the Lord displayed in the fulness of time when he gave up his Son to die. The ram caught in the thicket was a provision which on Abraham's part was quite unsought. He did not fall down and pray, "O Lord, in thy tenderness provide another victim instead of my son, Isaac." Probably it never entered his mind. But God spontaneously, from the free grace of his own heart, put the ram where Abraham found it. You and I did not pray for Christ to die. He died for us before we were born, and if he had not done so it would never have entered into our mind to ask for so great a gift. Until the Lord sought us we did not even seek to be saved by Christ, of the fact of whose death we had been made aware. Oh, no; it is not in man by nature to seek a Saviour: it is in God to give a Saviour, and then the Spirit of God sweetly inclines the heart to seek him; but this seeking comes not of man. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It is ours to sin, it is God's to save. "We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Ours is the wandering, but the laying of those wanderings upon Jesus is of the Lord alone: we neither bought it, nor sought it, nor thought it.

In Abraham's case I believe it was an unexpected thing. He did not reckon upon any substitute for his son; he judged that he would have to die, and viewed him as already dead. As for ourselves, if God had not revealed the plan of salvation by the substitution of his only-begotten Son we should never have dreamed of it. Remember that the Son of God is one with the Father; and if the Holy Ghost had not revealed the fact that the offended God would himself bear the penalty due for the offence, it would never have occurred to the human mind. The brightest of the spirits before God's throne would never have devised the plan of salvation by the sacrifice of Jesus. It was unexpected. Let us bless the Lord, who has done for us exceeding abundantly above what we asked or even thought in giving to us redemption through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I may say of Christ what I could not have said of Abraham's ram, that not only was he unsought for by us and unexpected, but now that he is given he is not perfectly comprehended.

"Much we talk of Jesu's blood,
But how little's understood!
Of his sufferings, so intense,
Angels have no perfect sense."

I am often ready to beat upon my own breast as I study the wondrous mystery of atoning love; for it seems to me so mean a thing to be so little affected by such boundless grace. If we fully felt what God has done for us in the great deed of Jesus' death, it might not be wonderful if we were to die under the amazing discovery. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." The immortal God undertakes to bear death for man! The immaculate stands in the sinner's place. The well-pleasing Son is made accursed for those who else had been accursed for ever. He who was above all shame and sorrow laid aside his glory and became the "Man of Sorrows," "despised and rejected of men." "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor." It is more extraordinary than romance! Poets may sing their loftiest stanzas, but they shall never reach the height of this great argument. "Paradise Lost" a Milton may compose, and fascinate a world with his majestic lines; but Paradise Restored by the divine substitution is not to be fully sung by mortal mind. God only knows the love of God. All the harps of redeemed men and all the hymns of adoring angels can never set forth the splendour of the love of Jehovah in providing for our need, providing for our salvation, providing his only-begotten Son, and providing him of his own free love, unsought, and undesired of men.

III. But, thirdly, we ought to dwell very long and earnestly upon the fact that for man's need THE PROVISION WAS MADE BY GOD HIMSELF. The text says, "Jehovah-jireh," the Lord will see to it, the Lord will provide. None else could have provided a ransom. Neither on earth nor in heaven was there found any helper for lost humanity. What sacrifice could be presented to God if a sacrifice could be accepted? Behold Lebanon, as it rises majestically toward heaven, white with its snows; see the forests which adorn its sides! Set these all on fire, and see them blaze as the wood of the altar of God. Yet "Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt ofFering." Take the myriads of cattle that roam the hills, and shed their blood till you have made a sea of gore, but what of that? "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Men may themselves die, but in death each man who dies only pays his own debt to nature; there is nothing left for another. "None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." Where shall a redemption be found by which it shall be possible that the multitude of the elect shall be effectually redeemed from death and hell? Such a ransom could only be found by God, and he could only find it in himself, - in him who was one with himself, who lay in the bosom of the Father from old eternity. The provision was made by God himself, since none other could provide. God alone could say, "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom."

But was it not singular that the Lord Jehovah should provide it? When law has been broken, and its honour has to be retrieved, it would not be judged likely that the aggrieved party should make the sacrifice. That God, against whom all the blasphemy and sin and wickedness of a ribald world was aimed, shall he himself make expiation? Shall the judge bear the penally due to the criminal? "Lay it on the sinner; for it is his due"; so justice cries aloud, - "Lay the penalty on the transgressor"; but if a substitute can be permitted, where can one be found able and willing to become surety for the guilty? Found upon the throne! Found in the majesty that is offended! Brethren, I am beaten down by my subject; forgive me that I cannot speak of it as I would desire. There is no room here for words; it is a matter for silent thought. We want the fact of substitution to strike us and then the cross will grow sublimely great. In vision I behold it! Its two arms are extended right and left till they touch the east and west and overshadow all races of men; the foot of it descends lower than the grave, till it goes down even to the gates of hell; while upward the cross mounts with a halo round about it of unutterable glory, till it rises above the stars, and sheds its light upon the throne of the Most High. Atonement is a divine business; its sacrifice is infinite, even as the God who conceived it. Glory be to his name for ever! It is all that I can say. It was nothing less than a stretch of divine love for Jesus to give himself for our sins. It was gracious for the Infinite to conceive of such a thing; but for him to carry it out was glorious beyond all. What shall I say of it?

I will only interject this thought here - let none of us ever interfere with the provision of God. If in our dire distress he alone was our Jehovah-jireh, and provided for us a Substitute, let us not think that there is anything left for us to provide. O sinner, do you cry, "Lord, I must have a broken heart"? He will provide it for thee. Do you cry, "Lord, I cannot master sin, I have not the power to conquer my passions"? He will provide strength for thee. Do you mourn, "Lord, I shall never hold on and hold out to the end. I am so fickle"? Then he will provide perseverance for thee. Dost thou think that after having given his own dear Son to purchase thee he will let that work fail because thou canst not provide some little odds and ends to complete the work? Oh, dream not so; dote not on such a folly. Whatever thou wantest, poor sinner, if thou believest in Christ the Lord's provision of a Saviour in Christ warrants thy believing that God will provide it. Salvation begins with Jehovah-jireh, the cross and the bleeding Saviour; dost thou think it will afterwards drivel down into thy providing this and that? Oh, thy pride! Thy insane pride! Thou art to do something, art thou? What! and yoke thy little something with the Eternal God? Didst thou ever hear of an angel failing to perform a duty until he was assisted by an emmet? Hast thou ever heard of God's great laws of nature breaking down till some child's finger could supplement their force? Thou to help thy God to provide! Get thee out of the way, and be nothing; then shall God come in and be everything. Sink! It is the Lord that must rise, He shall be seen in the mount, and not thyself. Hide thyself, and let the glory of the Lord be manifested in thee. I wish that every troubled one here could catch this idea, and hold it fast. Whatever you want to put away your sin, whatever you want to make you a new creature, whatever you want to carry you to heaven, Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide it. He will see to it. Trust thou in him, and ere long thou shalt see the divine provision, and Jehovah shall be glorious in thine eyes.

IV. But I must pass on. That which God prepares for poor sinners is A PROVISION MOST GLORIOUSLY MADE. God provided a ram instead of Isaac. This was sufficient for the occasion as a type; but that which was typified by the ram is infinitely more glorious. In order to save us God provided God. I cannot put it more simply. He did not provide an angel, nor a mere man, but God himself. Come, sinner, with all thy load of sin: God can bear it; the shoulders that bear up the universe can well sustain thy load of guilt. God gave thee his Godhead to be thy Saviour when he gave thee his Son.

But he also gave in the person of Christ perfect manhood, - such a man as never lived before, eclipsing even the perfection of the first Adam in the garden by the majestic innocence of his nature. When Jesus has been viewed as man, even unconverted men have so admired his excellence that they have almost adored him. Jesus is God and man, and the Father has given that man, that God, to be thy Redeemer. For thy redemption the Lord God has given thee the death of Christ; and what a death it was! I would that troubled hearts would oftener study the story of the Great Sacrifice, the agony and bloody sweat, the betrayal in the garden, the binding of the hands, the accusation of the innocent, the scourging, the thorn-crowning, the spitting in the face, the mockery, the nailing to the tree, the lifting up of the cross, the burning fever, the parching thirst, and, above all, the overpowering anguish of being forsaken of his God. Bethink thee, O soul, that to save thee the Son of God must cry, "Lama sabachthani!" Bethink thee that to save thee he must hang naked to his shame between heaven and earth, rejected of both; must cry, "I thirst," and receive nothing but vinegar wherewith to moisten his burning lips. Jesus must "pour out his soul unto death " that we might live. He must be "numbered with the transgressors," that we might be numbered with his saints in glory everlasting. Was not this a glorious provision? What greater gift could be bestowed than one in whom God and man are blended in one?

When Abraham on the mount offered a sacrifice it was called a "burnt offering"; but when the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary died it was not only a burnt offering, but a sin offering, a meat offering, and a peace offering, and every other kind of sacrifice in one. Under the oldest of all dispensations, before the mosaic economy, God had not taught to men the distinctions of sacrifice, but an offering unto the Lord meant all that was afterwards set forth by many types. When the venerable patriarch offered a sacrifice, it was an offering for sin, and a sweet smelling savour besides. So was it with our Lord Jesus Christ. When he died he made his soul an offering for sin, and "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." When he died, he also offered unto God a burnt offering, for we read, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." When Jesus died he gave to us a peace offering; for we come to feast upon him with God, and to us "his flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed." One would need many a day in which to expatiate upon the infinite virtues and excellencies of Christ, in whom all perfections are sweetly hived. Blessed be his name, God has most gloriously provided for us in the day of our need. Jehovah-jireh!

V. Fifthly, THE PROVISION WAS MADE EFFECTIVELY. Isaac did not die; the laughter in Abraham's house was not stifled; there was no grief for the patriarch; he went home with his son in happy companionship, because Jehovah had provided himself a lamb for a burnt differing. The ram which was provided did not bleed in vain; Isaac did not die as well as the ram; Abraham did not have to slay the God-provided victim and his own son also. No, the one sacrifice sufficed. Beloved, this is my comfort in the death of Christ - I hope it is yours, - that he did not die in vain. I have heard of a theology which, in its attempt to extol the efficacy of Christ's death, virtually deprives it of any certain efficiency; the result of the atonement is made to depend entirely upon the will of man, and so is left to hap-hazard. Our Lord, according to certain teachers, might or might not see of the travail of his soul. I confess that I do not believe in this random redemption, and I wonder that any persons can derive comfort from such teaching. I believe that the Son of God could not possibly have come into the world in the circumstances in which be did come, and could not have died as he did die, and yet be defeated and disappointed. He died for those who believe in him, and these shall live, yea, they do live in him.

I should think that Isaac, the child of laughter, was solemnly joyous as he descended the hill and went home with his father. Methinks both of them tripped along with happy step towards Sarah's house and their own loved home; and you and I this day may go home with like joyousness. We shall not die, for the Lamb of God has died for us. We shall never perish, for he has suffered in our stead. We were bound on the altar, we were laid on the wood, and the fire was ready for our consuming; but no knife shall touch us now, for the sacrifice is offered once for all. No fire shall consume us, for he who suffered in our stead has borne the heat of the flame on our behalf. We live, and we shall live. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." This is an effectual and precious providing. I do not believe in a redemption which did not redeem, nor in an atonement which did not atone; but I do believe in him who died in vain for none, but will effectually save his own church and his own sheep for whom he laid down his life. To him we will all render praise, for he was slain, and he has redeemed us unto God by his blood out of every kindred and people and nation.

VI. Turn we then, sixthly, to this note, that we may well glorify Jehovah-jireh because THIS PROVISION WAS MADE FOR EVERY BELIEVER. The provision on the Mount of Moriah was made on behalf of Abraham: he was himself a man of faith, and he is styled the "father of the faithful"; and now every faithful or believing one may stand where Abraham stood, and say, "Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide." Remember, however, that our faith must be of the same nature as that of Abraham, or it will not be counted to us for righteousness. Abraham's faith worked by love; it so worked in him that he was willing to do all that the Lord bade him, even to the sacrifice of his own dear son. You must possess a living, working, self-sacrificing faith if you would be saved. If you have it, you may be as sure that you are saved as you are sure that you have sinned. "He that believeth on him is not condemned," because Christ was condemned for him. "He that believeth on him hath everlasting life:" he cannot die, for Christ died for him. The great principle upon which our security is based is the righteousness of God, which assures us that he will not punish the substitute and then punish the person for whom the substitute endured the penalty. It were a matter of gross injustice if the sinner, having made atonement for his sin in the person of his covenant Head, the Lord Jesus, should afterwards himself be called upon to account for the very sin which was atoned for. Sin, like anything else, cannot be in two places at once: if the great God took my sin, and laid it on his Son, then it is not on me any more. If Jesus bore the wrath of God for me, I cannot bear that wrath; it were contrary to every principle of a just moral government that the Judge should cast our Surety into prison and exact the penalty of him, and then come upon those for whom the suretyship was undertaken. By this gospel I am prepared to stand or fall; yea, by it I will live or die: I know no other. Because I believe it, I this day cry from the bottom of my heart, "Jehovah-jireh," the Lord has provided an effectual redemption for all those who put their trust in him whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. It is true, as it is written, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." It is true that the faith which worketh by love brings justification to the soul.

VII. But now I close with a remark which will reveal the far-reaching character of my text. "Jehovah-jireh" is true concerning all necessary things. The instance given of Abraham being provided for shows us that the Lord will ever be a Provider for his people. As to the gift of the Lord Jesus, this is A PROVISION WHICH GUARANTEES ALL OTHER PROVISION. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Abraham learned that; for, as soon as he had slaughtered the ram, the covenant was repeated in his ears, and repeated as he had never heard it before, - accompanied with an oath. God cannot swear by any greater than himself, and so he said, "By myself have I sworn." Thus was the covenant ratified by blood and by the oath of God. Oh, that bleeding Sacrifice! The covenant of God is confirmed by it, and our faith is established. If you have seen Jesus die for you, your heart has heard God swear, "Surely in blessing I will bless thee!" By two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for God to lie, he hath given us strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us in the gospel. Let us fall back on this eternal verity, that if God has provided his own Well-beloved Son to meet the most awful of all necessities, then he will provide for us in everything else.

Where will he provide? He will provide for us in the mount, that is to say, in the place of our trial. When we reach the place where the fatal deed of utmost obedience is to be wrought, then God will interpose. You desire him to provide for you when you lift up your eyes and see the mount afar off. He does not choose so to do; but in the mount it shall be seen, in the place of the trial, in the heat of the furnace, in the last extremity Jehovah will be seen, for he will see to it, and it shall become a proverb with you, - "In the mount Jehovah shall be seen." That is to say, when you cannot see, the Lord will see you and see to your need; for his eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. You will not need to explain to God your difficulties and the intricacies of your position, he will see it all. Joyfully sing that revival ditty:-

"This my Father knows."

As soon as the Lord has seen our need, then his provision shall be seen. You need not climb to heaven or descend into the deep to find it: the Lord's provision is near at hand,- the ram in the thicket is behind you though you see it not as yet. When you have heard God speak to you, you shall turn and see it, and wonder you never saw it before. You will heartily bless God for the abundant provision which he reveals in the moment of trial. Then shall the Lord himself be seen. You will soon die, and perhaps in dying you will be troubled by the fear of death; but let that evil be removed by this knowledge - that the Lord will yet be seen, and when he shall appear you shall be manifested in his glory. In the day of the revelation of the Lord Jesus your body shall be raised from the dead, and then shall the divine provision yet more fully be discovered, "In the mount it shall be seen," and there shall God himself be manifested to you, for your eyes shall behold him and not another.

There is a rendering given to my text which we cannot quite pass over. Some read it that "in the mount the people shall be seen," - in that mount in years to come the multitude would gather to worship God. God's presence was in the temple which was built upon that spot, and thither the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord to worship the Most High. I dwell in a house not made with hands, but piled by God of solid slabs of mercy. He is building for me a palace of crystal, pure and shining, transparent as the day. I see the house in which I am to abide for ever gradually growing around me. Its foundation was laid of old, in eternal love, - "in the mount it shall be seen." The Lord provided for me a Covenant Head, a Redeemer, and a Friend, and in him I abide. Since then, course upon course of the precious stones of loving-kindness has been laid, and the jewelled walls are all around me. Has it not been so with you? By-and-by we shall be roofed in with glory everlasting, and then as we shall look to the foundations, and the walls, and to the arch above our head, we shall shout, "Jehovah-jireh," - God has provided all this for me! How we shall rejoice in every stone of the divine building! How will our memory think over the method of the building! On such a day was that stone laid, I remember it right well: "I was sore sick and the Lord comforted me." On such a day was that other stone laid, - I was in prison spiritually, and the heavenly visitor came unto me. On such another day was that be-jewelled course completed, for my heart was glad in the Lord and my glory rejoiced in the God of my salvation. The walls of love are still rising, and when the building is finished and the top-stone is brought out with shoutings of "Grace, grace, unto it!" we shall then sing this song unto the Lord - Jehovah-jireh! The Lord has provided it. From the beginning to the end there is nothing of man and nothing of merit, nothing of self, but all of God in Christ Jesus, who hath loved us with an everlasting love, and therefore hath abounded towards us in blessing according to the fulness of his infinite heart. To him be praise world without end. Amen, and Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Genesis 22:1-19.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 426, 226, 199.

CHAPTER 6. FIRST KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND AFTER THAT KING OF PEACE

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Evening, February 3rd, 1884, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"First being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace."
Hebrews 7:2.

We will not enlarge upon the story of Melchisedec, nor discuss the question as to who he was. It is near enough for us to believe that he was one who worshipped God after the primitive fashion, a believer in God such as Job was in the land of Uz, one of the world's grey fathers who had kept faithful to the Most High God. He combined in his own person the kingship and the priesthood; a conjunction by no means unusual in the first ages. Of this man we know very little; and it is partly because we know so little of him that he is all the better type of our Lord, of whom we may enquire, "Who shall declare his generation?" The very mystery which hangs about Melchisedec serves to set forth the mystery of the person of our divine Lord. "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; he abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils."

Melchisedec seems to have been, first by name, and then by place of office, duubly designated a king. First, his name is Melekzedek, which signifies by interpretation, "king of righteousness." His personal name is "king of righteousness." As a matter of fact, he was also the monarch of some town called Salem; it is not at all likely to have been Jerusalem, although that may have been the case. The interpretation of his official name is "king of peace." A teaching was intended by the Holy Spirit in the names: so the apostle instructs us in the passage before us. I believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture; hence, I can see how there can be instruction for us even in the proper names of persons and of places. Those who reject verbal inspiration must in effect condemn the great apostle of the Gentiles, whose teaching is so frequently based upon a word. He makes more of words and names than any of us should have thought of doing, and he was guided therein by the Spirit of the Lord, and therefore he was right. For my part, I am far more afraid of making too little of the Word than of seeing too much in it.

This man is, first, named "Melchi-zedek" - "king of righteousness" by interpretation; and herein he is like our divine Lord, whose name and character can only come to us by interpretation. What he is and who he is and all his character, no angel's tongue could tell. No human language can ever describe to the full what Jesus is. He is King, but that is a poor word for such royalty as his. He reigns, but that word "reigns" is but a slender description of that supreme empire which he continually exercises. He is said to be King of righteousness, but that is by interpretation, by the toning down of his character to our comprehension. Scripture might have called him King of holiness, for he is "glorious in holiness." His character, better known to spirits before the throne than to us, is not to be comprehended in that one word "righteousness:" it is but an interpretation, and most things lose by translation, and so the perfect character of the Son of God, as it stands before the Eternal Mind, cannot be fully expressed in human language. In fact, when our faculties are enlarged, and our spirits raised to the highest platform, they can never reach the eternity of our Lord's sonship, and the glory of his kingdom: the equity of his character, and the loveliness of his mind, both as God and man, must still be far beyond us. But this much is translated to us into our own tongue - that he is a King, and that he is a righteous King - yea, the very King of righteousness - the Sovereign of the realm of equity, the supreme Lord of everything that is good and holy. That, you see, is wrapped up in his name, and nature. Jesus is righteousness, and every righteous thing gathers beneath the right sceptre of his kingdom.

But the second word, Salem, which, brought down to our tongue, signifies "peace," is in reference to a place rather than a person. Yon see our Lord Jesus is essentially righteousness, that is interwoven with his name and person; but he gives, bestows, deposits, pours forth peace in a place which he has chosen, and upon a people whom he has ordained, and whom he has brought near unto himself: so that his kingdom of peace links him with his redeemed, to whom he has given the peace of God.

"First, King of righteousness." How early that "first" is I cannot tell you. "In the beginning was the Word," but when that beginning was, who knows? - for is he not, indeed, without beginning? First and firstborn, from everlasting thou art God, O mighty Son of Jehovah? First King of righteousness, and then afterwards when, men fell, when rebellion, and strife, and war had sprang up - then he came to heal the mischief and become "King of peace." He comes himself as the divine Ambassador, our Peacemaker and Peace; he comes here into this place even into the midst of his Salem, into the midst of his people, and gives us now, as he has long given, the vision of peace; opening up before the eye of faith the completeness, the sureness, and the delight of perfect peace in himself.

The one matter which I am going to set forth at this time is just this - "First King of righteousness, and after that also King of peace." Note well the order of these two, and the dependence of the one upon the other; for there could be no true peace that was not grounded upon righteousness; and out of righteousness peace is sure to spring up. Righteousness is essential to peace; if it were not first, peace could not be second. If there could be a kind of peace apart from righteousness, it would be dank, dark, deadly, a horrible peace, ending in a worse misery than war itself could inflict. It is needful where an unrighteous peace exists that it should be broken up, that a better peace should be established upon a true foundation which will last for ever.

I shall ask you - and may the Spirit of God help us to do it - first, to admire the King, and, secondly, to enjoy him - to enter with holy delight into the full meaning of his name and character as King of Righteousness and King of peace.

I. First, I ask you to ADMIRE THIS KING.

This Melchisedec, whom we exhibit as a type, is such a king as God is. He is according to divine model. He is priest of the Most High God, and he is like the Most High God, for the Lord Jehovah himself is, first, King of righteousness, and after that also King of peace. The great Creator entered the garden of Eden in that sorrowful hour when our parents had rebelled, and were hiding among the trees to escape his call; and he bade them answer for their fault. When they stood trembling before him in the nakedness of their conscious guilt, they knew him as their King and their Judge. At that moment he was not first the King of peace to them, but first the King of righteousness. He pronounced sentence upon the serpent, upon the woman, and upon the man, gently making much of the punishment to fall aslant upon the ground; but yet vindicating justice before he spake a word of peace. After that discourse, yea, in the midst of his sentences, he spake of peace when he mentioned the woman's seed that should bruise the serpent's head. Then also there happened the slaying of a victim, for the Lord God made unto them coats of skins, of beasts which had, no doubt, been slain in sacrifice, and with these they were covered. In beginning to deal with an apostate race the Lord observed the fitting order of our text: he began with righteousness, and afterwards went on to peace. At the gate of the garden commenced the dispensation of mercy and peace, but first of all there was the pronouncing of the sentence that man should eat bread in the sweat of his face, and that unto dust he should return. Substantial righteousness was dealt out to the guilty, and then peace was provided for the troubled. At the fall God first set up a Judgment-seat, and right speedily a Mercy-seat. Righteousness must ever lead the van.

Well, the times went on, and men began to sin with a high hand. There were giants in those days, and the people of God were mixed up with the men of the world. This is the worst sign of the world's depravity when there ceases to be a division between the people of God and the sons of men. There was an unholy alliance between sin and righteousness; and then the King came forth again, and displayed his countenance, and began to judge, and correct, and call to repentance. Men perceived that the countenance of God towards them was the face of one who is first King of righteousness. Noah's teaching taught men to return unto the Lord, or he would surely deal with them in righteousness, and make a full end. Space most ample was given for repentance, but men were mad upon their follies. He is first King of righteousness, and afterwards King of peace; and so he dealt with that guilty world. He pulled up the sluices of the great deep which lieth under; he let loose all the cataracts of heaven from above, and he swept men from off the face of the earth. Then afterwards he hung the rainbow in the sky, and he smelled a sweet savour of rest; and there was peace once more between God and a race that had to begin again with father Noah instead of father Adam. Righteousness ruled first, and washed out with a flood the traces of ungodliness, and then peace set up her gentle reign upon a new world.

All along, in the history of God's dealings with men, he kept to this unvarying rule. God has never forsaken righteousness, not even for the sake of love. He selected a people for himself; he called his son out of Egypt; he brought his chosen people through the Red Sea into the wilderness, and there he communed with them. But they went astray after graven images; they defiled themselves with the vices of the surrounding heathen. They became degraded and polluted, and then he came again among them as the King of righteousness, setting Sinai on a blaze, making even Moses to fear and quake, compelling the earth to open and swallow up rebels, causing the fire to break out among them, or fiery serpents to inflame their veins with death: for, though to them he was a King of peace, and walked among them in tenderness, and by the fiery cloudy pillar led their band, and in the midst of the tabernacle by his Shekinah unveiled his glory, yet it was then true, as it is now true, "The Lord thy God is a jealous God." He would not bear iniquity. He could not look upon sin without indignation. His anger smoked against it, for he is and ever must be "first King of righteousness, and after that also King of peace." That wonderful wilderness journey is bright with mercy, but it is equally dark with justice. Remember the graves of lusting and the burnings. Israel's God was ever sternly righteous though glorious in grace. It is a high but terrible privilege to dwell near to God, fur his holiness burns like a consuming fire, and will not endure evil.

Ay, and when he had brought his people into the promised land, and had given them their heritage by lot, we must remember how they sinned against him; and it was not long ere he brought upon them the Midianites, or the Philistines, or foes of one race or another, so that they were grievously oppressed, and afflicted, and brought low. When they cried to him, then he delivered them; but he took vengeance upon their inventions. He would not bear their sin: he took it exceedingly ill from them that a people so highly favoured should so constantly rebel. He said, " You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." He was to his own elect nation, first. King of righteousness, and then King of peace.

And so it went on until, at last, Israel provoked the Lord beyond measure, and the chosen people went astray to their own confusion, and then with the besom of destruction he swept them off from the face of their land. He scattered them as a man scattereth dung upon the field. Are they not divided to this day among all the people, a by-word and a proverb still, for men everywhere say, "These are the people that forgot their God, and he banished them from their own land, and will keep them in banishment till they return unto their God in spirit and in truth"? Every Jew whom we see pacing our streets, far off from the city of his fathers, is a proof that the Lord of heaven is, first, King of righteousness.

All over the world, and everywhere, this is God's way of dealing with men. Do not imagine that God will ever lay aside his righteousness for the sake of saving a sinner - that he will ever deal with men unrighteously in order that they may escape the penalty due to their transgression. He has never done so, and he never will. Glorious in holiness is he for ever and ever. That blazing throne must consume iniquity; transgression cannot stand before it; there can be no exception to this rule. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Whatever things may change, the law of God cannot alter, and the character of God cannot deteriorate. High as the great mountains, deep as the abyss, eternal as his being, is the righteousness of the Most High. Peace can never come to men from the Lord God Almighty except by righteousness. The two can never be separated without the most fearful consequences. Peace without righteousness is like the smooth surface of the stream ere it takes its awful Niagara plunge. If there is to be peace between God and man, God must still be a righteous God, and by some means or other the transgression of man must be justly put away; for God cannot wink at it, or permit it to go unpunished. Salvation must first of all provide for righteousness, or peace will never lodge within its chambers. The Lord of heaven is first King of righteousness, and then King of peace, so that Melchisedec was such a king as God is.

And now, next, the type is especially meant to teach us that he was such a king as Christ is; for when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, he came with this everlasting and unchangeable rule girt about him - that, though he should be a King, yet he would be first King of righteousness, and after that also King of peace. Why did he not set up a kingdom here below among the Jews? Many spirits would have welcomed him. If he had only set himself up to be a king, promising them sure conquest and abundant plunder, the zealots of the Jewish nation would have fought like tigers at his side. But, no; he came first to be a King of righteousness, and that was a topic for which they cared nothing. He went into his own Father's house like a king into his palace; but it was with a scourge of small cords, crying, "Take these things hence!" The temple was no abode for him while greed, and self, and mammon defiled its courts. In that temple he looked round about him with indignation, for he saw no trace of righteousness there, but every indication that up to the very veil of the temple all was given over to human unrighteousness.

They wanted an unrighteous kingdom, but he would not have it. His fan was in his hand, and he would thoroughly purge his floor. His laws were not to be like those of Caesar; his soldiers were not to fight with carnal weapons. He came not to set up a kingdom of power and force, but a kingdom of love and truth and righteousness; and hence his own people knew him not, and rendered him no homage. His holiness stood in the way of such a kingdom as the Jews desired, and hence they turned upon him and cried, "Let him be crucified." Though they would not acknowledge his sovereignty, he was their King; and at his death he bore above his head the superscription, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." He would not set up a carnal kingdom of their sort; Church and State, truth and force united in some form or other, must have been suggested to him; but no; he must be first King of righteousness, and then King of peace. He preached no peace apart from purity. He never made little of vice or error; he was the deadly foe of all evil. He said, "I came not to bring peace, but a sword." Until there is righteousness there must be conflict, and peace can only enter when righteousness has won the field. Oh, my brethren, I wish I had power to describe to you how our divine Master in all his lowliness began to be the King of righteousness by his superlative, unrivalled character. Here among us there was never such righteousness as his - such royal righteousness throughout all his career in all the details of life. I see an imperial righteousness in the character of my divine Lord - a righteousness that is master and superior of all other. Even those that hate Jesus cannot find fault with him. Books written to disprove his divine mission are nevertheless full of almost fulsome adulation of him: I call it by no better word, because I think that the praises which infidels have given to our Lord are no more acceptable to him than were the praises of devils when they said, "This is the Son of God!" Then he bade them hold their peace, and I think he has the same wish at this moment touching his Unitarian and Infidel admirers. All sorts of men have been compelled to do homage to this kingly One who has passed across the page of history, the very sovereign of all that is right and good.

But ah, methinks he was most King of righteousness when he said unto himself, "My Father's law has been broken: I will restore its honour. Men have defied it and trampled on it: I will pay to it the highest homage." With this strong desire upon him he went up to the cross, and gave his hands and feet to the nails, and his side to the spear, and with a thorn crown upon his dying brow he became in very deed the King of righteousness. As the Son of God, he rendered unto the divine majesty all the honour due to the law by reason of the many insults which sin had heaped thereon. The transgressions of his people were laid upon their Great Shepherd, they were made to meet upon him in one dreadful storm, and that hurricane spent itself upon him. Our Great Substitute endured the consequences of human guilt on our behalf, and thus he is able to pacify the troubled conscience. He is, first, King of righteousness. He knew that he could not be King of peace to us till, first of all, he had woven a perfect righteousness in the loom of his life, and dyed it in his own heart's blood in his death: but when he had achieved this, then he became King of righteousness, demonstrated to be so before the eyes of all, and then to you and to me he became henceforth the King of peace. How glorious is his name! Oh, for a voice of thunder with which to praise him!

To-day our Lord and Master has gone his way up to the eternal hills where he reigns; but his kingdom, for which we daily pray, is coming; and, mark you, it will come by righteousness. I say no word, against those who endeavour to bring peace to the nations by the extension of commerce, facilities for travel, and so forth; but it is not thus that the sword of war shall be broken. Would God the sword of the Lord were quiet in its scabbard for ever; but I never anticipate the reign of universal peace on earth till first the King of righteousness is acknowledged in every place. I do not think that we shall ever see the fruits without the tree, or the stream without the source, or peace without the enthronement of the principle of righteousness from which it springs. There shall come a day when the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the wolf shall lie down with the lamb - when they shall hang; the useless helmet in the hall, and study war no more; but that reign of the joyous King, that era of plenty, love, and joy, can only commence as a reign of righteousness. It cannot be anything else; and until sin is dethroned, till iniquity is banished, we shall not see the divine fruit of peace upon the face of the earth. Wherever Jesus is King he must be first King of righteousness, and after that King of peace.

So, then, Melchisedec is such a king as God is, and such a king as Jesus is.

Note, next, that he is such a king as right-hearted minds desire. I say "right-hearted minds." I mean not only those who are saved, but those in whom. there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. There is an honest and good ground not yet sown, and we know what that soil waiteth for. I remember what my thoughts used to be when I was seeking the Lord; I longed to be saved; I desired to escape from my sin; but with it there always went this thought - "God must be just." I had ever a certain trembling sense of guilt, but at the same: time a deep reverence for righteousness. In my heart of hearts I said, "Let not the Lord even fur my sake do an unrighteous thing. I am nothing; but God and his righteousness are all in all. It were a greater calamity for God to be unjust than for me to be lost. It were a dark day for all the aspirations of noble minds if it were possible for God to swerve from the strict rule of his integrity. Though he slay me, yet let his name be honoured, and let his righteousness remain untarnished." I remember distinctly being the subject of that feeling. Sinner as I was I had a care for the perfect law of the Lord, and would by no means have agreed to its being dishonoured in order to my own personal salvation. I wanted this question answered - "How can God be just and yet the Justifier of him that believeth?" I did not know at that time the sweet secret of substitution; but when I did know it, no music ever sounded so sweetly in the human ear as that sounded in my heart. When I saw that, by the interposition of the Son of God, and his bearing my guilt, God could be sternly, strictly, severely just, to the letter, in every jot and tittle, and yet could put all my sin away, and take me to his bosom, and let me be his child, then I said, "This must be of God. This divine secret bears upon its own face its own warranty of truthfulness, for no man could have invented a system at once so just to God, so safe to man." To be able to look for mercy as just, and receive pardon on the ground of righteousness, is certainly a high ground to reach; and yet every believer stands there before God. I say that every right-minded man feels a deep concern for the righteousness of God, when he is soberly in his senses, and thinking the matter over. He longs to be saved, that is more than natural; but he does not wish to be saved in a way that would derogate from the supreme splendour of the righteousness of God. Let the Lord God be glorious in justice, and then, if I can be saved, well and good. Blessed be God, we can, be thus saved. Our entrance to heaven can be as justly secured as our banishment to hell was righteously deserved. How justice and peace have kissed each other is now made known. That secret is told us in the Word of God. Is it not written on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?

And I am sure, again, that no right-hearted man wants Christ to come and be to him the King of peace, and then to let him live in sin. Brothers. I want no peace in my heart concerning any fault. If I know myself before God, my heart's inmost prayer is that I may never be able to rest till I am rid of every relic of evil. I do not want to make myself happy and yet to live in a single known sin. If I could have the offer of heaven, and be a drunkard, I wish not for a drunkard's heaven. What could it be but a scene of riot, strife, and obscenity? If I could have heaven and be a liar, I want not a liar's heaven. What could the heaven of falsehood be but hell in truth? Nay, I would not wish for a heaven in which I might freely indulge some minor sin, or be jovial in the commission of some unconsidered transgression. Nay, there can be no heaven for me till evil in every form is expelled from my nature. My God, my longing is not for happiness first, but for purity first, and happiness afterwards; and hence it is my delight to read that my King is first the King of righteousness, and then the King of peace. My heart rejoices in a sin-killing King, and then a peace-bestowing King, sweeping out the buyers and the sellers from the temple, and then manifesting himself there in all his majesty to his waiting people.

Melchisedec, therefore, sets forth such a king as all right-minded people desire.

Again, this wonderful Melchisedec is such a king as Jesus must he to every one of you who have not yet known him, if you are ever to receive him as your Saviour. Let me not sew pillows to all arm-holes by preaching salvation to those who do not repent of their evil ways. I do not come here to chant in dulcet tones sweet lullabies to men who sleep in unrighteousness. If you would have peace with God, you must repent of sin. If you love evil you cannot love God. There must be a divorce between you and sin, or there can be no marriage between you and Christ. When Jesus comes to a soul, he comes as King of righteousness first, and after that as King of peace. We must have a positive righteousness of life, a cleanness of heart and hand, or we shall not be found at the right hand of the Judge. Let no man deceive himself. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." He that comes to Christ, and takes Ohrist to be his Saviour, must take Christ also to be his Ruler; and, Christ ruling him, there must be in that man's heart an active, energetic pursuit of everything that is good and holy, for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." He that liveth in sin is dead while he liveth, and knows nothing of the life of God in his soul. Righteousness must hold the sceptre, or peace will not attend the court.

I know that I speak to many who long to be saved; but will you give up your sin? for Christ has come to save his people from their sins. If you do not wish to be saved from sinning, you will never be saved from damning. Do you hug your Delilah? Then shall you lose your eyes like Samson. Do you hold to the viper, and press the asp to your bosom? Then shall the poison boil within your veins. Christ cannot save you while sin is loved and followed after, and has a reigning power in you; for it is an essential of his salvation that he should deliver you from the mastery of evil. I would to God that many here would cry, "That is the very thing I want. I long for it. Can I be helped to renounce sin?" O poor heart, if thou hungerest after righteousness, thou shalt be filled! Thou shalt be helped to conquer evil: thou art being helped by the very desire which has been breathed into thee. "Oh," says one, "can I break off" the iron yoke, and come out of the Egyptian bondage of my lust?" Thou canst; for Christ has come to set thee free. Trust thou in him, the great Emancipator. But if thou sayest, "I will live in sin, and yet go to heaven," thou shalt never do so. There shall by no means enter into the celestial city anything that defileth. He that takes men to heaven is first King of righteousness, and after that he is King of peace.

I have closed this first head when I have noticed that that is the kind of king that God would have every one of us to be. We ought all to be, first, kings of righteousness, and then kings of peace. The Lord has appointed each man his kingdom: let us see to it that we reign for good and not for evil. On all sides we hear voices inviting us to peace apart from righteousness. "Oh," they say to us, "a confederacy, a confederacy." What mean you? You are to preach a lie, and we are to preach the truth, and yet we are to call each other brothers. We are no brothers, and we will not by our silence aid the fraud. "Oh, but," say they, "be charitable." Charitable with what? Charitable with God's truth, flinging it down into the mire of error? Charitable by deceiving our fellowmen? That we cannot be. Brethren, we must so hold and love the truth as to hate every false way; for the way of error is ruinous to the souls of men, and it will go hard with us if even by our silence we lead men to run therein. If any man shall say to you, "Come and let us sin together," reply to him, "I cannot enter into association with you, for I must first be pure and then peaceable, since I serve a Lord who is first King of righteousness, and after that King of peace." "Hold your tongue," says the world. "Do not fight against error. Why need you speak so loudly against a wrong thing?" We must speak, and speak sharply too, for souls are in danger. We must uplift the banner of truth, or we shall be meanest of all cowards. God has made us kings, and we must be first kings of righteousness, and after that kings of peace.

God's people are tempted sometimes to be a little too peaceable. Remember that our Lord Jesus has not come to make us live at peace with sin. He has come to set a man against his brother - to divide a household where iniquity holds sway. There can be no peace between the child of God and wrong doing or wrong thinking of any kind. We must have "war to the knife" with that which would rob God of his glory and men of their salvation. Our peace is on the footing of righteousness, and on no other ground. We are for all that is good and right; but we dare not cry "Peace, peace, where there is no peace."

II. Now my time has fled, but I must occupy a little upon the best part of my subject. I have asked you to admire the King. I now beg you to ENJOY HIM.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is first King of righteousness. You know what it means. Shall I tell you what it includes? All who are in him, and one with him in his kingdom, are righteous in his righteousness. His is a righteous kingdom, and those who obey it will be found to have done rightly. If we follow Christ's rule we need never be afraid that it will mislead us. We are righteous, certainly, when we are doing his bidding. If any cavil and say, "Why doest thou this?" quote the King's authority. Do not thou be afraid if thou doest the King's bidding. He is a King of righteousness, and thou art righteous in obeying his righteous ordinances. He who religiously obeys Mahomet may yet be doing grievous moral wrong; but it is never so with the disciple of Jesus: obedience to Jesus is holiness.

Notice, next, that if we trust this King of righteousness we are righteous in his merit. I want you to believe this. If you had always kept God's law and had never sinned, you would have been conscious of righteousness. Now, by faith, as many of you as believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are as righteous as he is righteous in the sight of God - as righteous as if you had never sinned. Oh, I want you to feel this. "Being justified by faith we have peace with God;" but there must first be this justifying righteousness before there can be peace. What Christ did he did for his people. I say not that what Christ did is imputed to his people, though I believe that it is so; but it belongs to his people, for they are part and parcel of him, and so are partakers with him. They are in him as in their Federal Head, and whatsoever Christ is, or has, or does, belongs in itself, in the very nature of things, to all that are in him and in that covenant whereof he is the Head. Stand up straight, then, before thy God, and though in thyself the publican's humble demeanour suits thee well, yet in thy Lord thou mayest take another stand and say, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again." The Lord Jesus is "made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness." "This is his name whereby he shall be called. The Lord our Righteousness;" for "as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners," as you and I know to our cost, "so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." "By his knowledge" - by the knowledge of him - "shall my righteous Servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities."

Now, then, dost thou believe in Christ? Then thou hast no sin. Thy sin was laid upon Christ of old, and he bore the punishment of it, and thou canst not be punished for it. Divine righteousness cannot exact a double penalty for the same offence. Dost thou believe in Jesus? Then he hath made an end of all the sin which was once written against thee. He has buried thy transgressions for ever in his own sepulchre. If thou art in Christ, his perfect righteousness is wrapped about thy loins, and thou standest this day "accepted in the Beloved." Oh, it is a glorious standing, Jesus the King of righteousness, and we in our King made righteous. We are comely through the comeliness of Christ which is put upon us.

Now this I want you to think of. Whenever you are enjoying the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, please to recollect that he never gives you any part of salvation without giving it to you righteously; and if he gives it to you righteously you are possessed of it righteously. My sins are pardoned. Yes, and righteously pardoned. Oh, is not this a wonder? Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. If I pray, I have naturally no right to be heard as a sinner; but, using the name of Christ, I expect to be heard as righteously as if I were the new-created Adam fresh from the hand of Deity. When I come before God and ask his protection, I look for it as righteously as Christ looked for it when he was here below, for he has put upon me, a poor unworthy believer, all his regal rights; and all his righteousness is mine, so that I may use his name at the foot of my prayers, and stamp my petitions with his Christly authority. I may take the blessings of the covenant as freely as he may take them who bought them with his blood; for he bought them for all his people, and he has made transfer of all the covenant estate to all who are in him. Oh, brothers, it is a dreadful thing to be under a sense of sin, but it is an equally blessed thing to be under a sense of righteousness. We are righteous even as he is righteous. Let us never forget this.

And then, next, he is after that King of peace. I want you to try to-night - nay, I do not want you to try, I want the Holy Spirit to do it for you - I want you to enjoy the King of Salem, the King of peace. Do you know that at this moment, if you are a believer, you have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord? There is no quarrel between you and God to-night. You are one with him, your delight is in him. I know not now in my own soul of aught that I could say against the Lord's dealings with me throughout the whole of my life; nor, let him deal with me as he wills, do I feel any repugnance to putting myself entirely into his hands. For weal or woe, for wealth or poverty, for life or death, I am content to hand myself over to the Lord absolutely. And now, there being peace on the poor creature's side, it is such a joy to think that there is peace from God's side, only still more perfect and enduring. He looks at you through his dear Son, and he sees no sin in you - no iniquity in you. He loves you with a perfect love at this moment, and he knows of no just cause or impediment why he should not love you. "Why," says one, "I have not been a believer more than a week." I do not care if you have not been a believer more than ten minutes: he that believeth hath everlasting life and everlasting love. As soon as the prodigal son was home, what did his father do? Upbraid him? No, he kissed him. Had his father no fault to find? No, not any. He said, "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. Let us eat and be merry." Why did he not say, "Come, my dear son, I must have a little sharp talk with you, for your good. You know you have behaved very badly to me. I must chide with you and upbraid you"? No, no. Not a word of the sort. Not a syllable or even a look after that fashion. He giveth liberally, and upbraideth not. He puts his dear child at perfect ease with himself, and says, "Be at home. Be happy. Eat, drink, and be merry with me; for you are my child, and though you were lost, you are found. You were dead, but you are alive again. Let us rejoice together in this blessed salvation which glorifies my Son."

I want you to sit in those pews - you that really believe in Jesus, and receive this bread and wine in perfect contentment, saying within yourselves, "It is well. It is all well. It is well from beginning to end - from top to bottom. Being justified by faith, I have peace with God. The peace of God that passeth all understanding doth keep my heart and soul by Jesus Christ." Come. If you have never enjoyed it before, enjoy it to-night, and do not be afraid. If you go to the devil's feasts, put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite, for you may soon eat and drink and be drunken. Solomon is the author of this prudent advice. But when you come to the feasts of love, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. There never was a Christian man that was too happy in God. There never was a believer that was too peaceful, too serene, too confident, too hopeful. You cannot drink too much of this heavenly nectar. Oh, that you would but have grace to take in all that you may have! I know what you will do. You will come to-night into my Lord's treasury, and he will say, "Take what you will." There will be mints of gold and silver before you, and you will look all round and take up some brass farthing or other and say, "Bless the Lord for this!" Such gratitude is right enough. Bless the Lord for anything. At the same time, why not take something better? "Oh, I have been a mourner," you say, "all my days." Whose fault is that? "Oh, but I have never had any great light or any great joy." Whose fault is that? Is it not your own? The Lord seems to me to say to-night even to the elder brothers here, "Rejoice and be glad." I do not think that many grumblers come to the Tabernacle, but there are certain grumpy elder brothers that are apt to say, "Neither at any time transgressed I thy commandments, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. I never have any joy. I am a regular seat-holder and a member. I go to the communion; I do all I can; but I never get any of these holy raptures and spiritual delights. These reformed thieves and converted rascals when they are converted seem to monopolize all the music and the dancing. I never have a dance to myself at all." But the father was in such a blessed humour that night that he did not even upbraid the elder brother; but he said, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. If you have had no kid wherewith to make a supper for your friends, why did you not take it? All that I have is thine." Come in, dear elder brother, as well as you younger ones, and let us eat and drink and be merry this night in the name of him who, having been the King of righteousness upon the bloody tree, is now to-night the King of peace upon his glorious throne; who upon this table shows you how he wrought out perfect righteousness, breaking his body and pouring out his blood for you, and now bids you come and see how all this is wrought for your peace, for his flesh and blood are now your bread and wine to make you glad. Wherefore, rejoice in the Lord! and again I gay, Rejoice! Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Hebrews 7.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book " - 397, 393.

CHAPTER 7. JESUS MEETING HIS WARRIORS

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, September 11th, 1864, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all"
Genesis 14:18-20.

What a splendid type is Abram, in the narrative before us, of our Lord Jesus Christ! Let us read this story of Abram in connection with our Saviour, and see how full of meaning it is. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the abundance of his love, had taken us to be his brothers; but we, through our sin, had removed into the land of Sodom, and Jesus Christ dwelt alone in his safety and his happiness, enjoying the presence of God. The hosts of our enemies, with terrible force and cruel fury, carried us away captives. We were violently borne away with all the goods which we possessed, into a land of forgetfulness and captivity for ever. Christ, who had lost nothing by this, nevertheless being a "brother born for adversity," pursued our haughty foes. He overtook them; he smote them with his mighty hand - he took their spoil, and returned with crimsoned vesture, leading captivity captive. He restored that which he took not away. Methinks as I see Abram returning from the slaughter of the four kings, I see in him a picture of a greater than Abram, returning "from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, travelling in the greatness of his strength." Who answers to my enquiry who he is? "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Abram was that righteous man raised up in the East, to whom God gave his enemies as driven stubble to his bow; and so the Lord Jesus has driven our enemies like chaff over to the wind, for they fled at the presence of Jehovah Jesus; and by the valour of the atoning Lamb they have been utterly broken in pieces for ever. Let that thought dwell with you, it may furnish you with matter for meditation at your leisure.

We shall this morning rather consider Abram as the type and picture of all the faithful. He was the father of the faithful; and in his history you have condensed - as I think - the history of all faithful men. You will scarcely find a trial which will befall you, which has not in some respect happened unto Abraham. I will not say that he was tempted in all points like as we are, but he was tempted in so many points that he well deserves to be called the father of the faithful, being partaker of flesh and blood even as all the children are who belong to his faithful family.

Observe then, in handling our subject in this manner, that believers are frequently engaged in warfare. Notice, secondly, that when they are thus engaged, they may expect to be met by their Lord, the great Melchizedeh; and remember, thirdly, that when they are favoured with an interview with him, and are refreshed by him as with bread and wine, then, like Abram, they consecrate themselves anew, and, as Abram gave tithes of all, even so do they.

I. We mention then, what you must all know right well by experience - you who are God's people - THAT THE BELIEVER IS OFTEN ENGAGED IN WARFARE.

This warfare will be both within and without - within with the innumerable natural corruptions which remain, with the temptations of Satan, with the suggestions of his own wicked heart; and without, he will frequently be engaged in warfare, wrestling "not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The peculiar case of Abram leads me to remark that sometimes the believer will be engaged in warfare, not so much on his own account as on the account of erring brethren, who, having gone into ill company, are by-and-by carried away captive. It was no quarrel of Abram's, it was Lot's matter. Lot had gone to Sodom. Instead of standing in the separated path of the true believer, he had joined himself unto the world, and when evil days came, Lot was carried away captive with the rest. Abram cared little enough for the king of Sodom: I do not suppose he would have taken his sword from the sheath for all the men who dwelt in Admah or Zeboiim; but for Lot's sake, seeing him in ill company and in danger, he draws the sword. And sometimes, brethren, when we see those who are God's servants putting themselves into alliance with evil systems, we find them carried away captive, and taken where we believe their hearts would never go, and we feel compelled to come out and draw the sword against the common enemy of Christ and of all his people; and though they may heartily wish that we would let them alone in their sin, and let them be quiet in their evil union, we see into what spiritual capacity it leadeth them, and we cannot be silent, but must draw the sword when conscience and when God demand it, and never sheath it until God's work is done. However, this rarely occurs; for the most part the Christian spends his sword's edge upon his own spiritual foes: and truly we have enough of these. What with pride, sloth, lust; what with the arch enemy of souls, and his insinuations and blasphemies; what with the lust of the eye, the pleasures of this world, and the pride of life; what with enemies who come upon us even from providence in the shape of temptations, arising out of our trials and our vocations, we ought to carry our sword always drawn; and, above all, we should ever carry the shield of faith and take the weapon of all-prayer. The Christian is never to feel himself at ease so long as he is on this side Jordan. This is an enemy's land. Expect a foe behind every bush, look to hear the shot come whistling by, and each night adore almighty grace that you have not fallen a prey to your cruel and remorseless foes. The Christian is engaged throughout his whole life as a soldier - he is so called in Scripture - "A good soldier of Jesus Christ;" and if any of you take the trouble to write out the passages of Scripture in which the Christian is described as a soldier, and provision is made for his being armed, and directions given for his warfare, you will be surprised to find there are more of this character than concerning any other metaphor by which the Christian is described in the Word of God. His chief and main business seems to be, like his Master, to bear witness for the truth; "For this purpose was I born and sent into the world;" and though in himself a man of peace, yet he can say with his Master, "I came not to send peace but a sword;" for wherever he goes, he finds that his presence is the signal for war - war within him and war without him: he is a man of peace, and yet a man of war because a man of peace. The Christian is engaged in warfare with sin, Satan, error, and falsehood, and sometimes he is called to fight for erring friends.

Observe that this war is one against powerful odds. The four kings mentioned in this chapter were all great sovereigns. From what little we can glean from profane history, they appear to have been very mighty monarchs, and they must have been assisted by very valiant armies to have smitten the giants whose names are mentioned in the opening verses. They appear to have carried away the five kings of the plain with the greatest possible ease; yet here is Abram, who has little more than three hundred of his own armed servants at his call, and yet he ventures against the embattled thousands of the kings of nations. Such is the warfare of the Christian: he has to contend against foes far too many for him - he is like the worm that is to arise and thrash the mountain. He is little and despised, and if he measures his own strength he will find it to be perfect weakness; and yet, for all this, he anticipates a victory, and like Abram, hastens to the holy war.

Carefully notice, that as it is a battle of fearful odds, it is one which is carried on in faith. Abram did not venture to this fight with confidence in his own strength, or reliance upon his own bow, but he went in the name of the Lord of Hosts. Faith was Abram's continual comfort. Sometimes his faith failed, as it will in the best, but still the spirit of the man's life was a simple confidence upon God, whom he had not seen, but whose voice he cheerfully obeyed. The Christian is to carry on his warfare in faith. You will be vanquished, indeed, if you attempt it by any other method. Brethren, there is not a sin in your heart which will not master you if you seek to fight it by resolutions of your own; faith in the precious blood of Christ must win you the victory, and the world will laugh you to scorn if you assail it with any other weapons than such as Calvary will furnish you. "This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith;" and if you ask faith what weapon she uses, her reply is, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." Live near to Jesus Christ, rest upon the power of his atonement and the prevalence of his plea, and then go forward against every enemy without and every foe within, and you shall be more than a conqueror.

In this great battle, carried on by faith, Abram had a right given him from God, and the promise of God's presence virtually in that right. What business had Chedorlaomer to come unto Canaan? Had not Jehovah said to Abram, "All this land will I give unto thee?" Therefore he and his confederate monarchs were neither more nor less than intruders. For thirteen years they might have exercised sovereignty over the cities of the plain, but those cities and everything around them belonged virtually to Abram. It is true they would have laughed at the very idea of Abram's claiming the whole land of Canaan, but that claim was nevertheless valid in the court of heaven, and the patriarch by right divine was heir of all the land. Christian, you are, by virtue of a covenant made with you to drive out every sin, as an intruder. "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." You are to drive out every error, for you are a servant of the truth and the truth alone has a right to live and a right to exist; and in fighting this lawful warfare, you may expect that the right arm of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth will be bared that he may show himself strong on behalf of all those who are valiant for his truth and for his name. Fear not; the battle is not yours, but God's. You go not a warfare at your own charges; and though hell may roar as it will, and earth be all in arms, and your own heart may fail you, and your flesh when you take counsel with it may make you feel a coward, yet say, "In the name of God will I destroy them," go forward and conquer. "They compass me about like bees," said David, "yea, like bees they compass me about: but in the name of God will I destroy them;" and what David did you shall do through David's God.

Yet more, the Christian is engaged in a conflict in which he walks by faith and leans upon God; but yet it is a conflict in which he uses all means, calls in all lawful assistance, and exerts himself with all vigour and speed. Abram did not sit still and say, "Well, God will deliver Lot; he has promised to keep his servants as the apple of his eye" - Oh! no, that is not faith; that is foolish presumption. Abram did not take his time about it, and go marching leisurely after the foe, nor did he go without the assistance of his friends, Aner, and Eshcol, and Mamre. So the Christian, if he sees any method by which he may be assisted in overcoming sin or promoting truth, uses it with wisdom and discretion. He trusts in God as though he did nothing himself, and yet he does everything as if all depended upon him. He knows that good works cannot save him, and he equally knows that he is not saved unless there be some fruits of good works. He understands that the means of grace cannot of themselves convey grace to him, and yet at the same time he never despises them, but looks to find a blessing in the use of them. He understands that the ministry, and private prayer, and the searching of the Scriptures cannot save him, but he also understands that thus using helps which God has given him, and diligently pressing forward and setting a bold face before the foe, he is in the path of God's ordinances, and may expect to have God's help.

And do observe, dear friends, yet again, that Abram marching on thus with activity, and using discretion, by attacking his enemies at night rather than by day, did not cease until he had gained a complete victory over them. It was not enough to smite them at one corner of their host, nor merely to deliver Lot, but now he is come out against them he will win a sure and decisive victory. O beloved, you and I are never to sit still and say, "It is enough." Have I smitten my drunkenness? Have I overcome my blaspheming habits? Am I delivered from Sabbath breaking? Have I become honest and chaste? Yet this is not where I should stop. Have I sought to bring down my self-conceit, my pride, my sloth? It is well and good, but let me never be satisfied with any attainment short of absolute perfection. We do not believe we shall be perfect in this life, but we will never be satisfied until we are. "Onward," is the Christian's motto. As long as there is one sin which is not removed we will fight, and cry, and groan, and go to the cross concerning it. As long as there is one soul in this world un-saved, we will wrestle with the mighty One of Jacob to stretch out his hand to save it. So long as there remains one error upon earth, so long as we have a tongue to speak and God gives us grace, we will bear our witness against it. In this battle there is no holding our hand till the victory is wholly won; we must bring back the goods, and the men, and the women, and Lot, and the whole company; for the victory must be complete. More than conquerors must we be through him who hath loved us. Let us anticipate the time when it shall be so. O brethren, methinks I see the victors ascending in triumphal state the starry steeps, Christ at their head rides gloriously; he who loved them leads the van; the gates open to him as the great Conqueror who has led their captivity captive. Methinks I see the glad faces of all those soldiers of the cross as they enter the portals of eternal peace.

"I ask them whence their vict'ry came -
They with united breath,
Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
Their triumph to his death."

See then, beloved, here you are this morning soldiers; you are to fight by faith in God. However tremendous the power of your adversaries, you are not to fear since God is with you. You are to fight, using discretion as your armour-bearer, but you are also to couple this with perseverance, continuing faithful to the end, for only those who overcome shall sit upon the throne of God for ever.

We have thus perhaps said enough concerning this first point, and now, may the Holy Spirit bedew with his holy influences while we talk of the second, for otherwise it will be only talk.

II. While engaged in such earnest spiritual contention, the believer may expect to SEE HIS LORD.

When Shadrach, Meshech, and Abed-nego, were fighting Christ's battles in the fiery furnace, then the Son of Man appeared unto them. As in the building of Jerusalem in troublous times, they had the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other; so our Lord Jesus Christ, while he teaches us to use the sword, takes care to edify and build us up in the faith at the same time. He understands that warriors require strengthening meat, and that especially when they are under stern conflict they need extraordinary comforts that their souls may be stayed and refreshed. Why does Jesus Christ, as set forth here under the type of Melchizedek, appear unto his children in times of conflict? Answer - He comes to them first, because they are weary. In every conflict which the child of God has to wage, it is not the private person who goeth to the warfare, it virtually is Christ fighting - Christ contending. It is a member of Christ's body labouring against Christ's enemy for the glory of the Head. Christ the Head has an intense feeling of sympathy with every member, no matter how humble. Since there is a vital union between Christ and every member, there is also an undying sympathy; and whenever, brother, thou contendest for the faith till thou growest weary, Jesus Christ will be sure to give thee some proof of his close communion with thee. The martyrs protest that they never had such communion with God anywhere as among the caverns of the hills, or the swamps of the woods, to which they were exiled for Christ; and that even on the rack, in extremity of torture, or even upon the gridiron in the heat of the fire - even there the sweet presence of Christ has been over-poweringly delightful to them, so that they almost lost the sense of pain. Thou, Lord, dost send a plenteous rain, whereby thou dost refresh thine heritage when it is weary! Spend your strength for God, brother, for when fainting seems inevitable, then shall come such a sweet renewing of your strength, that, like an eagle, you shall stretch your wings and mount aloft to commune with God in solitary joys. Christ, your Melchizedek, will meet you in your conflicts, if he never did before.

The King of Peace met the returning warrior for another reason. Abram was probably flushed with victory, and this is a very dangerous feeling to any child of God. When the seventy disciples returned to Christ they said, with evident exultation, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us:" but Jesus Christ sweetly and gently rebuked them by saying, "Nevertheless, rejoice not in this, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." The true secret of a Christian's joy is not to be his conquest over sin or over error, but the person of his Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord knows that his people, if they are successful, even in spiritual warfare, when they have used the best of means and felt the best of motives, are nevertheless very liable to the intoxication of pride, and therefore he either sends "a thorn in the flesh," or else, what is better still, he comes himself. I am persuaded, beloved, that the best cure for pride is a sight of Christ. Oh! when your eyes see him, then your own loathsomeness, blackness, and deformity, are clearly revealed. I am fair until the sun ariseth - then am I black indeed. I think myself pure until I see him whiter than any fuller could make him, and then I fall down and cry, "Unclean, unclean, unclean!" "Now mine eye seeth thee," said Job, "wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Down go your flaunting pennons and your lofty plumes, when you have a sight of Christ. No humbler man than George Herbert - no humbler man than Samuel Rutherford - and these were men who lived close to Christ. Christ's presence is a cure-all. When Melchizedek comes, every spiritual disease flies before him. The Church at Laodicea was very far gone, but how did the Master propose to cure it? Here it is - "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him." What, Lord, is this thy delightful treatment of thy sick Church? "Yes, my communion with thee, poor lukewarm Laodicea, will revive thee." Truly that is a most suggestive figure by which John describes the countenance of Christ; he says "His countenance was as the sun shining in his strength." So, Lord, it does not matter how dark I am, the moment thou dost show thy face, all must be light. This, I think, was the reason why the King of Righteousness met Abram, to turn away his thoughts from the tempting joys of victory, to his sure portion in the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.

Yet again, was not this visit bestowed because Abram was about to he tried in a yet more subtle manner than he had been before? It is easier to fight Chedorlaomer, than to resist the King of Sodom. Joshua down in the plain never grew weary when he was fighting the Amalekites, but Moses on the mountain felt his hands grow heavy. Why? Because the more spiritual the exercise, the more aptness is there in us to grow weary in it; and so the more spiritual the temptation the more likelihood of our becoming a prey to it, and the more strength do we need to overcome it. That was a very subtle temptation to Lot, by the King of Sodom. Why it looked so right - perfectly right. Abram has brought back these captives: he has a right to the spoil; he ought, therefore, to take it. If he had done so, no one could blame him on ordinary rules, but then there is a higher rule for believers than for other men. Brethren, I contend that the common rules of morality are binding upon all, but that a supernaturally high rule of morality should regulate the Christian; that the Christian is not allowed to wink at an evil because he has educated his conscience not to think it so, but he shall so act that there shall not be any wrong in the action, upon the common judgment of any unbiased spectator. He who is of the King's Council, must walk very daintily, lest he offend his Master. I tell you, from experience, that the nearer you come to Christ, and the more you have of communion with him, the more jealous you must be of yourself, or else, if other men escape the rod, you will not: you will have to smart for it behind the door, where another may not see nor understand your grief. Beloved, it is well to have communion with Christ, to prepare us against subtle temptations, for to feed us upon Melchizedek's bread and wine, is to make us more than a match for the King of Sodom. O Jesus! when I have seen thy face, my soul beholds not the dazzling beauties of earthly excellence. Brother, if ever thou hast seen Christ's face, that painted harlot, the world, will never win thy love again. Didst thou ever eat the pure white bread of heaven? Then the brown, gritty bread of earth will never suit you, but will break your teeth with gravel stones. You will never care to drink earth's sour and watery wine, if you have once been made to drink of the wines on the lees well refined - the spiced wine of Christ's pomegranate. If you want to be strengthened against the most subtle worldly temptations, cry, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine;" and you may go forth to conflicts of every kind, more than a conqueror, through him that hath loved you.

Thus we have spoken upon the fact that Melchizedek met Abram, and the reasons. Now, let us look a little more closely at what he did. In what character did he, meet Abram? The reply is easy - he met him as one possessed of a royal priesthood.

Christ meets us, brethren, as a priest and as a king in all our battles. What a mercy it is that Christ visits us as a priest, for we never fight against sin without being in some measure partakers of it. I do not believe there ever was a controversy for truth upon which any gracious man, though engaged upon the right side, could look back without some regrets and some tears. I much believe that even Martin Luther or John Knox, when upon their dying beds, though never regretting that they contended earnestly for the faith, yet felt that while they were in the flesh, something of flesh mingled with all that they did. Thus it will be to the end, and even, when contending against our own sins and lusts, yet, beloved, our very repentance has something in it to be repented of, and our very flying to the cross has something in it of a lingering from the cross, and therefore something of evil. Jesus, all hail! How much I need to meet thee as a priest! And you, beloved, do you not feel that you need him too? Do you not, as you look upon Calvary and the flowing blood, confess that you need, in all spiritual conflicts, to meet Christ?

But Melchizedek was also a king, and truly thus we want to view our Lord whenever we are fighting his battles. "The Lord reigneth," is perhaps one of the most comforting texts in the compass of God's word to the contending Christian. "Ah!" says the poor soul, "I am trodden under foot of Satan, but rejoice not over me, O mine enemy: though I fall, yet shall I rise again, for the Lord reigneth." Oh! that is our consolation when at any time we think we are routed, when we see our Church dismayed and our banner trailed in the mire, then we remember Jesus, for him hath God the Father exalted, "and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." Hail! King of Righteousness and Peace, much do we need to meet thee! Come, mount thy glorious chariot, ride forth conquering and to conquer drawn by thy three white horses, meekness, truth and righteousness! Heaven adores thee, earth obeys thee, hell trembles at thy presence, gates of brass must burst at thy touch, and bars of iron snap at thy word! O king immortal, ride gloriously and let thy people behold thee and rejoice in thee. But we must see Christ, see him, by close communion with him. You cannot see him by my description. Melchizedek met Abram, and Jesus Christ must meet you; he must stop you on a sudden, when you least expect it, and reveal himself unto you as he doth not unto the world. Jacob before wrestling was met by hosts of angels at Mahanaim, but what are these when compared with the Lord himself? There is a high blessing in being met by angels - do not mistake me there - but oh! to be met by the angel of the covenant, the Michael the archangel, to be met by him, ah! what comfort is here! And will he meet me? Will he meet you? Yes, we can answer, he will, for we have met with him. " Mine eyes have seen the King in his beauty," many of us can say, and our souls are exceedingly comforted and full of holy joy because we have beheld him as Priest and King.

The next enquiry is, what did he do for him? He brought him bread and wine, precisely setting forth what Jesus does, who brings us his flesh and his blood. Carnal people say, in order to understand Christ's words, that when you eat bread and drink wine at the Lord's table, there is his flesh in the bread, or that the bread is transubstantiated into flesh, and the same with the wine; but the spiritual mind understands that these emblems awaken the spiritual powers, and that then the spiritual powers - not the lips and the stomach, but the spiritual powers - do really and spiritually feed upon the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, and so the Word is fulfilled: "Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, there is no life in you." I do not know that Christian people feed altogether on doctrine. I know that the truth of God is food, but believers get richer nourishment than even this affords. When I am very gloomy, I like to take down some work upon the high doctrines, God's sovereignty, election, perseverance, and I get comforted; but there are other times when I am brought very low, and that kind of food will not suit me. I am obliged then to turn to my Lord himself. There is, I believe, in times of conflict no food which can be the stay of an immortal soul except the Master himself - communion with him, a putting of the fingers into the print of the nails, and a thrusting of the hand into the side - this is the sovereign remedy for unbelief, and the best food for faith. His manifest presence is our noblest nutriment. When Christ reveals himself, then all grows calm and peaceful; but until we can get him, we still abide in darkness, and we see no light. The worshipper who came up to the temple could not live upon the brazen laver, nor the golden snuffers, nor even upon the cherubic emblems, he must needs partake with the priests of the lamb offered in sacrifice; and so the true food of the child of God is Jesus Christ himself - not so much ordinances and doctrines, which are only the utensils and the vestments, but Christ himself, the very Christ, made flesh for us, received with joy into our soul, and fed upon until, like Abram, we go on our way rejoicing. That is what the royal priest did for the patriarch.

Bear with me patiently while I remark what Melchizedek said to him. First he blessed him, and then he blessed God, and that is just what we need our Lord to do for us. We want our Lord Jesus Christ first to bless us. "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth." We need a blessing upon our own persons and especially upon our own works. What are our works when we have done them all but futile vanity, until God comes to strengthen us? Beloved, you and I may contend for Christ until we are dumb, but not a soul that will see the light or know the truth by our witness of itself; we may go with tender hearts and seek to bring sinners to the cross of Christ, but we shall never bring a sinner unless God's own arm is revealed. We shall come back like the prophet, saying, "Who hath believed our report," and feeling that the arm of God hath not been revealed unto men. But when, on the other hand, the possessor of heaven and earth has blessed us, then our earthly substance is blessed and our earthly words are Messed, and then we get a heavenly blessing; heaven's rest and peace, heaven's omnipotence rests upon us, and in the glory of a heaven-given strength we go forth confident of victory. We want a blessing from Christ. Ask it now, beloved, ask it now you who are weary with last week's fighting, you who can scarcely endure any longer by reason of your trials and troubles, say to him now, "Melchizedek, bless me! O Jesus, bless me now." Possessor of heaven and earth, forget not one of us, thy beloved ones, but give us a blessing.

Beloved brethren, Melchizedek did not stop there, but he fulfilled another part of his priestly office - he blessed God. Whenever we are singing here, when I am in right order, my soul takes wing and wants to fly to heaven; when we all sing with power and force there is a sweetness and grandeur about the song which we do not often meet with; yet I am always conscious that we cannot praise God as he deserves to be, and herein I bless the great Melchizedek that though we cannot bless God as he should be blessed, yet he can. Jesus Christ presents the praises of his saints before God as well as their prayers. He is the Intercessor, and while he has the vials full of odours sweet to present, he also presents the music of our harps; both our offerings come up accepted in the beloved. Now what say you, brethren, have you done anything this week that is of good repute? Has God given you any success? Dear sister, have you won any souls for Christ? I know you have. Dear brother, has God blessed you in any witness-bearing? Have you felt that God has been with you? Well now, come and lay your honours down at his feet; whatever they may be, put them there, and pray the great Melchizedek to take out of your heart every particle of self-glory and every atom of self-exaltation, and ask him to say for you in a higher sense than ever you can say it, "Blessed be the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, who hath delivered mine enemies into mine hand." Thus you shall be glad that the great Melchizedek has met you.

I have talked thus, but truly one word from the lip of Christ will be worth ten thousand of mine; and if you have ever seen him, you will think me a very dauber when I try to paint him. If you get this day so much as ten minutes real fellowship with Jesus, you will wonder how it is, that I, if I know anything about him, could talk in this cold way. Go your way, brethren, and pray Melchizedek to meet you.

III. Lastly, and very briefly indeed, since our time is gone, when a wrestling believer is favoured with a sight of the great Melchizedek, voluntarily and yet necessarily he makes a new dedication of himself to God. You see Abram does not appear to delay a moment, but he gives to Melchizedek a tithe of all, by which he seemed to say, "I own the authority of my superior liege lord, to all that I am, and all that I have." There is one of our hymns which says:-

"Hail, Melchizedek divine;
Thou, great High-Priest, shaft be mine;
All my powers before thee fall -
Take not tithe, but take them all."

And truly our holy faith deserves of us that we should give all to Christ. I would that some Christians, however, practised the rule of giving a tenth of their substance to the Lord's cause. The Lord's Church need never lack if you had a bag in which you stored up for Christ: when you gave anything, you would not feel it was giving of your own; your left hand would not know what your right hand did, for you would be taking out of the Lord's stock which you had already consecrated to the Lord's cause. Not less than one-tenth should be the Lord's portion, especially with chose who have a competence; and more than this, methinks, should be expected of those who have wealth. But there is no rule binding with iron force upon you, for we are not under law in Christ's Church, but under grace, and grace will prompt you to do more than law might suggest; but certainly the Christian should reckon himself to be not his own, and that he has nothing to retain for his own private account. I pray God if I have a drop of blood in my body which is not his, to let it bleed away; and if there be one hair in my head which is not consecrated to him, I would have it plucked out, for it must be the devil's drop of blood and the devil's hair. It belongs to either one or the other: if not to God, then to Satan. No, we must, brethren, have no division of ourselves, no living unto this world and unto God too. Mark Anthony yoked two lions together, and drove them through the streets of Rome: they do strange things at Rome, and there are many people who can yoke two lions together, and drive towards Rome; but you will never be able to yoke the lion of the tribe of Judah and the lion of the pit together - they are at deadly antagonism, and Christ will not have you for his servants if you seek to serve two masters. I know that any talk of mine here will be in vain, but if, beloved, you should see Christ, and have communion with him, your consecration to him will be a matter of course. I will suppose that this afternoon one of you should sit down in your arm chair, and, as you are sitting there, you will be thinking, "How little I have been giving of late to the cause of Christ! How seldom I have opened my mouth for him!" Perhaps you will think, "I have got on in the world too, but I really cannot afford it! My expenses are so great!" Suppose the Lord Jesus Christ should come into the room with those pierced hands and bleeding feet - suppose he were to remind you of what he has done for you, how he visited you in your low estate, when your heart was breaking under a sense of sin, you would not then tell him you could not afford to give to his cause. Suppose our Lord Jesus Christ should look you in the face and say to you, "I have done all this for you. What wilt thou do for me?" What would be your answer? Why you would say, "Take it all, my Master, take it all, all that I am, and all that I have shall be for ever thine." Or, if you felt niggardly - supposing he should say to you, "If you will never ask anything of me, I will never take anything from you." Would you agree to that? No, but as you still will have immense demands to make upon his liberality, cease not still to give your whole spirit, soul and body, as a whole burnt-offering unto God. As Abram did before Melchezidek so do you in the presence of Christ, own that you are his, and give yourself to him.

My dear brethren, I pray God that this may stir you up to seek a high grade of piety and to live in daily communion with a living Saviour, and he will bless and keep you.

But there are some of you who are not like Abram. You need not hope yet to see Melchizedek. There are some of you strangers, far off. Ah! I may rather compare you to the men of Sodom. Christ has done something for you as Abram did for Sodom. You know it was only for the sake of Lot that he brought them back, bat he did bring them all back, and for the sake of Lot gave a respite to them all; although a few years after they had grown so wicked that they were all destroyed. My Master has given a respite to free you all. While his great work was the salvation of his own chosen, yet he has spared you all in the land of the living. Take heed lest you do as did the men of Sodom, for then a hail more fiery, a destruction more terrible must come upon you, seeing that you turn not aside from your evil ways, nor seek his face. Trust Christ, and you are saved; believe in him, and your sins are forgiven; but if you refuse, beware, lest that come upon you which is written in the prophets, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish!" The Master now send us away with his benediction. Amen.

CHAPTER 8. JESUS AND HIS BRETHEEN

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Evening, October 4th, 1885, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and ha cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren. Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life."
Genesis 45:1-5.

I need not say to you, beloved, who are conversant with Scripture, that there is scarcely any personal type in the Old Testament which is more clearly and fully a portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ than is the type of Joseph. You may run the parallel between Joseph and Jesus in very many directions, yet you need never strain the narrative even so much as once. I am not about to attempt that task on the present occasion; but I am going to take this memorable portion of the biography of Joseph, and to show you how, in making himself known to his brethren, he was a type of our Lord revealing himself to us.

It seems that, at last, Joseph could bear the suspense no longer. He knew who his brethren were, he knew which was Benjamin, and which was Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and the rest, and he recollected all the story of their early days together; but they did not know him. They thought him some mysterious potentate, some great ruler of the land of Egypt, - as indeed he was, but they did not know so much about him as he knew about them. Consequently, there was a distance between him and them, and his loving heart ached to bridge that gulf by manifesting himself to them. It is the way of love to desire to make itself known.

Now, in a still higher sense, the Lord Jesus Christ knows all about those in this place whom he has redeemed with his precious blood. The Father gave them to him from before the foundation of the world, and he took them into covenant relationship with himself or ever the earth was. Often has he thought of these his beloved ones; his delights have been with the sons of men, and he has looked forward, and foreseen all that would happen to them. Ever since these redeemed and chosen ones have been born into the world, he has watched them so carefully that he has counted the very hairs on their heads. They are so precious to him, as the purchase of his heart's blood, that they have never taken a single wandering step but his eye has tracked the mazes of their life. He knows them altogether, - knows their sins, knows their sorrows, knows their ignorance of him, knows how sometimes that ignorance has been wilful, and they have continued in the dark when they might have walked in the light; and now, at this moment, speaking after the manner of men, the heart of Christ aches to manifest himself to some of them, he wants to be known, he thirsts to be known, he can only be loved as he is known, and he pines for love, and so he pines to manifest himself to his loved ones. Ay, and there are some of them who do know him already in a measure, but their measure is a very little one; it is but as a drop compared with the great deep sea. I have been praying, and am praying still, and I am not alone in the prayer, that this very hour, the Lord Jesus may be pleased to manifest himself to his own blood-bought ones. To all who have been called by his grace already, and to many not yet called to him, may he come in the fulness of his own glorious revelation, and make himself known; for know ye not this, - that the revelation of Christ in the Word will not save you unless Christ be revealed in you and to you personally? Nay, more than that; the Christ born at Bethlehem will not save you unless that Christ be formed in you the hope of glory, he must himself come to you, and make himself known to you. It will not suffice you to read about his healing the sick, he must touch you with his hand, or you must touch the hem of his garment with your hand; but somehow there must be personal contact between yourself and the Lord Jesus Christ, or else all that he did will avail nothing to you. Let this be our prayer now, - that to each man and woman and child here the Lord may graciously make himself known.

I. Notice, first, that THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, LIKE JOSEPH, REVEALS HIMSELF IN PRIVATE FOR THE MOST PART.

Joseph cried, "Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren." It would not have been seemly for this great ruler to lose all command of himself in the presence of the Egyptians. His heart was carried away with love to his brothers, and the cry that he lifted up was so loud that the people in other parts of the palace could hear that something strange was going on; but he could not bear that they should all stand around, and gaze with curious eyes upon their ruler as he unbosomed himself to his brothers. They would not have understood it, they might have misrepresented it; at any rate, he could not bear that the scene of affection which was now to be enacted should be witnessed by strangers, so he cried, " Cause every man to go out from me."

My dear friends, do you really want savingly to see and know this Lord Jesus Christ? Have you never yet beheld him by the eye of faith? Then, permit me to exhort you to be literally much alone, - much alone in searching the Scriptures, and much alone in private, secret prayer. That gracious revelation of himself to you as bearing your sins, and putting away your guilt, will not be likely to come to you until you get a little time in private, where you can quietly meditate upon your Lord and his great atoning work. The mischief of this busy London is that we are fretted and worn with incessant occupations; we should all of us be much stronger and better if we saw less of the faces of men and more of the face of God. But for a penitent sinner, who desires to behold his pardon written in the smiling countenance of Christ, there must be solitude. You must rise earlier in the morning, and get a half-hour to yourself then, or you must sit up later at night, or you must steal out of bed at the dead of night, or you must even resolve that you will not go to your business until the first business of finding Christ is ended once for all. I feel persuaded that, with some of you at least, there will be no peace to your heart, and no comfortable sight of Christ, until you have gone upstairs, and said, "Here, alone, with every man put out and every wandering thought excluded, will I bow the knee, and cry, and look, and hope, and believe, until I can say, "I have seen the Lord; I have looked to him whom I have pierced, and I have seen my sin put away by his death upon the tree."

Further, I want you to notice, not only the excellence of solitude in general, but the benefit of a kind of mental solitude. Brethren, if in the house of God, in the midst of the assembly, the Lord Jesus Christ is ever to manifest himself personally to us, it must be in a kind of mental and spiritual solitude. I believe that the preacher will never succeed in winning a soul if he tries to make himself prominent in his own preaching. An old man, who was accustomed to catch trout in a certain stream, was asked by one who had been fishing in vain, "Have you caught any fish to-day?" "Yes, sir," he said, "I have a little basketful." "Oh!" said the other, "I have been fishing all day long, and I have taken none." "No," said the man, "but there are three rules about catching trout, which, perhaps, you have not observed. The first is, - Get quite out of sight; and the second is, - Get still more out of sight, and the third is, - Get still more out of sight than that; and you will catch them so." And I believe that it is just so in preaching. If the preacher can get quite out of sight, and still more out of sight, and yet still more out of sight, then will he be the means of bringing souls to Christ. And you, dear friends, will only see him well in any kind of preaching when you try to forget the man. I mean that remark to apply in two ways. Perhaps the preacher is one whom you dearly love, and you expect much from him. Well then, forget him, expect nothing from him, but look away from him to your Lord. Or perhaps the preacher's voice has no particular charm for you, the man is not very bright in his utterances; well, forget him, and try to see his Master. Forget the preacher for good and for bad, for better and for worse, and get to the Lord himself.

There is a story told of Mr. Erskine having preached on one occasion before the communion, and a good woman, a child of God, heard him with such delight, and was so much fed and satisfied, that she left her own pastor, and went some miles on the next Lord's-day to go and hear him again. That morning, he was dreadfully dry and barren, or at least she thought that he was. There was no food for her whatever; and being not a very wise woman, she went in to tell him so. She said, "Oh, Mr. Erskine, I heard you at the communion with such delight; you seemed to take me to the very gates of heaven, and I was fed with the finest of the wheat; so I have come this morning on purpose to hear you, and I confess that I have got nothing out of you!" So he said, "My good woman, what did you go for last Sabbath-day?" "I went to the communion, sir." "Yes, you went to the communion; that was to have communion with the Lord?" "Yes," she said, "I did." "Well," said Mr. Erskine, "that is what you went for, and you got it; and the Lord blessed my word to you, and you had communion with him. Now, what did you come here for this morning?" "I came to hear you, sir." "And you have got what you came for, for you have heard me, and found that I am a poor, dry, sapless thing, there is nothing in me." Think of this story when you are remembering the Lord's servants, and forgetting their Master himself. I do believe that, as you are sitting here, you whose eyes have already been opened by the Spirit of God, if you will but say, "Cause every man to go out from me; shut to the door, I have entered into my closet even while in the pew; I am alone now, and I desire to see no man save Jesus only," you shall see him, for he manifests himself to his people all alone. Oh, that each one here would say, "There is nothing but Christ that I desire to see, there is nothing else I wish to remember, I would think only of my Lord Jesus; may he be pleased to reveal himself to me!"

II. The second remark I have to make is this, - when the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to any man tor the first time, it is usually in the midst of terror, and THAT FIRST REVELATION OFTEN CREATES MUCH SADNESS.

When Joseph made himself known to his brethren, and said to them, "I am Joseph," "they were troubled at his presence." Judah had made a very plaintive speech when it was threatened that Benjamin should be detained in Egypt, and all the brothers were in deep trouble; so that, when the great ruler said to them, "I am Joseph," they were not filled with joy by his words, so we read, "His brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence." He was Joseph, their brother, and he loved every one of them; yet "they were troubled at his presence." It was the best thing that could have happened to them to be in the presence of him who was sent of God to save their lives with a great deliverance; yet "they were troubled at his presence."

And you and I recollect, perhaps, when, under a deep sense of sin and sorrow, we had our first perception of Christ's salvation, instead of being glad at it, we were "troubled at his presence." "Why!" we said to ourselves, "this Christ is he whom we have despised, and rejected, and crucified." There did not seem, at first, much comfort for us in the manifestation of Christ. One said, in order to cheer us, "He died for sinners." "But," we answered, "surely not for such sinners as we are." Even the very sound of that blessed word "salvation" grated on our ears, because we thought we should be like the fabled Tantalus, up to our neck in water which we could not drink, or surrounded by fruit which we could not pluck. "He may have died for others," we seemed to say, "but scarcely for us." We "were troubled at his presence." Even the house of God, to which we continued to go, was a place of terror to us, and we cried, like Jacob did at Bethel, "How dreadful is this place!" In the worst sense of that word, it really was "dreadful" to us, full of dread, although we believed it to be "none other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven." We said, "What right have we to be in the house of God? How can we expect to enter heaven even though its gate is so near to us?" We heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, but we sorrowfully exclaimed, "Ah, that is only too true! He will pass by, he will never stop to look at us." We heard that precious text, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;" yet we said, "What is it to believe in him? How can we believe in him?" The light seemed shining all around us, but our eyes were blind to it; the music of heaven was sounding in all its sweetness, but our ears were closed to its melody; everlasting love was coming near to us, yet our hearts did not open to receive it; and therefore we could not answer Christ, for we were troubled at his presence."

Dear friends, if any of you are in this sad state, do not therefore be driven away from our Jesus, our greater Joseph; but still stand in his presence, even though you are troubled at it, for that experience, though it be bitter, is a bitter sweet. There may be trouble in Christ's presence, but there is a far greater trouble in being driven from his presence and from the glory of his power. So keep standing just where you are, even though you stand trembling, for by-and-by, and perhaps this very hour, he will graciously reveal himself to you, and you shall no longer tremble at his presence, but, on the contrary, you shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, as you perceive that this Joseph, this Jesus, is your Brother, your Saviour, your Friend, your all in all.

III. Now, thirdly, though the first appearance of Jesus, like that of Joseph, may cause sadness, THE FURTHER REVELATION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO HIS BRETHREN, BRINGS THEM THE GREATEST POSSIBLB JOY.

If you look at this passage when you are at home, you will perhaps say to yourself, "The second time that Joseph spoke to his brethren, he had not much more to say than he said the first time," for then he said, "I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?" And the second time there was much the same burden in his language: "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt." So, when Christ reveals himself in grace to any poor heart, the revelation, for substance, is much the same as at the first, yet there is a great difference. When, for the first time, I heard the gospel to my soul's salvation, I thought that I had never reaUy heard the gospel before, and I began to think that the preachers to whom I had listened had not truly preached it. But, on looking back, I am inclined to believe that I had heard the gospel fully preached many hundreds of times before, and that this was the difference, - that I then heard it as though I heard it not; and when I did hear it, the message may not have been any more clear in itself than it had been at former times, but the power of the Holy Spirit was present to open my ear, and to guide the message to my heart. O dear friend, if you have heard me preach Christ crucified, and you have not yet seen Christ to your soul's salvation, I pray that you may do so now! I do not suppose that there will be any difference in the sermon, or in the truth proclaimed; the difference will be that, in the one case, it has not reached your heart, and in the other case it will. O blessed Master, speak comfortably to the hearts of sinners, and to the hearts of thy people, too! Make the old, old gospel to be new to us by clothing it with a new power within our hearts and consciences, and throughout our lives!

Yet, there were some differences in the words which Joseph uttered to his brethren. If you turn again to the narrative, you will see that he began his second speech by saying to them, "Come near to me, I pray you." There was a longing for nearness to those he loved, and that is the point of my sermon at this time. I want you, who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but who are, nevertheless, his elect, his redeemed ones, to come near to him now by an act of faith, and trust him with yourselves, your souls, your sins, and everything else. Stand not back through shame or fear, ye chief of sinners, for he says, "Come near to me, I pray you. 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'" As for you who are his brethren already, come you near to him, for to you also he says, "Come near to me, I pray you." Oh, if our Lord were actually here in bodily presence, - and I can almost picture him in the loveliness and glory of Divine Majesty, - if he were to stand here, and say to us, "Come near to me, I pray you," we would, with solemn reverence, bow before him, but we would with joyful obedience come near to him, and try to hold him by the feet and worship him. Would not each one of you press forward to come near unto him? I am sure that you would; well, that is what you have to do in a spiritual fashion. We know not Christ after the flesh, but we do know him after the Spirit. So, come near to him, dear brethren in Christ; believe in him again as you did at the first, look to him again as if you have never looked before. Worship him as your Lord and your Redeemer, prostrate yourselves before him, and adore him as the Son of God revealed in our midst; come near to him. Then talk to him; tell him all that is in your inmost heart. Unburden to him your cares and your doubts; ay, and come near to him with your fondest affection, and say to him now, in the silence of your spirit, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Come near to Christ with all your tears of penitence, come near with your alabaster box of gratitude, come near with the kisses of your lips of love, come near with your whole heart's purest affection, and come now, for that is what he invites you to do. It is a part of his manifestation of himself to you that you should endeavour to come near to him. Cry, "Stand back, O self! Stand back, O devil! Stand back, all care for the world! Stand back, even care for the church just now! My heart must come near unto her Lord, and sit like a dove on his finger, and be satisfied to look with her gentle eyes at the beauties of his countenance." God help us so to do, in response to our Lord's gracious invitation, "Come near to me, I pray you."

Then, as if to help us to come near, our Lord, in this revelation, declares his relationship to us. The speaker in the type says, "I am Joseph your brother;" and the Lord Jesus Christ, though he is Head over all things to his Church, and King and Lord of death and hell, yet says to everyone who believes in him, "I am your Brother; I am of your kith and kin; Head of the family, but still of the family; and touched with the feeling of your infirmities, for I was in all points tempted like as you are." Do not imagine, concerning the Lord Jesus, that there is only a fanciful or sentimental brotherhood between him and you. It is real brotherhood; there is no such brotherhood under heaven, so complete and true, as that which exists between Christ and every blood-washed soul, for it is not a brotherhood according to the flesh, but an everlasting, spiritual brotherhood. An eternal union of the closest and most vital kind is established between Christ and every one who believes in him.

We do not reckon it hard, do we, to win a brother's heart? If we have been a little cold towards a brother, his heart soon warms to us again; and, as for our Lord, if we have not seen him of late, if any of us have not loved him as we should, if we are saying, "We are troubled at his presence, we hardly dare come to his table," may he say to us, "Come near to me, I pray you; I am your Brother. Come near, come nearer, nearer still. I am pleased when you are near." Come with your sin and your lukewarmness; come just as you are, as you came to him at the first; and he will receive you, and will manifest himself unto you as he does not unto the world.

In addition to revealing his relationship, which was a great motive for inviting his brethren to come near, he also told them a secret. He said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt." I think he mentioned that to show them that he must be Joseph their brother, for who else in all the world knew of that shameful action on their part? I do not suppose that the Midianite merchants, who bought Joseph, knew that he was sold by his own brethren; or if they did know, there were none of them in Pharaoh's palace, for they were Ishmaelites, and they had gone their way to traffic somewhere else. All who knew of that wicked transaction were Joseph and his brothers, so by this password he lets them know that there was a sort of free-masonry between them. This was the sign, "I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt." It made them blush, I dare say; and it must have made them mourn; but it also made them feel, "Yes, that is our brother; nobody but Joseph would know that we sold him into slavery." And, dear friends, have you never seen your Well-beloved as he reads your heart? I have known him read mine from the first thought in it to the last, and I have thanked him as he has read it, for I have said, "Lord, thou hast read that book right through, and now thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Alas! I did sell thee into Egypt; there was a day when I chose Egypt and its pleasures rather than thyself; and there have been days since when I have sold thee again into Egypt by treating thee with lukewarmness, and giving myself up to other lovers. Yes, Lord, I have sold thee to the Ishmaelites by doubting thee and mistrusting thee; and by my sins I have stripped thee of thy many-coloured garment, and by my own folly I have let thee go away from thy Father's house, and from the chamber of her that bare thee. Thou knowest all this, my Lord, but I know thee, too, because thou knowest me so well."

Then notice that, when Joseph thus revealed himself to his brethren, he did not say more till he had sweetly put away all their offences against him. They had been troubled because they knew that they had sold him into Egypt; but he said to them, "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither." That was a blessed way of saying, "I freely and fully forgive you." So Jesus says to his loved ones, who have grieved him by their evil deeds, "Be not grieved, for, 'I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.' Be not angry with yourselves, for I will receive you graciously, and love you freely. Be not angry with yourselves, for your sins, which are many, are all forgiven; go, and sin no more. For my name's sake, will I defer mine anger; wherefore, 'Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'" Many of you know the way our Saviour talks; I pray that he may just now make every believer sure that there is not a sin against him in God's Book of remembrance. May you, dear friends, be clear in your conscience from all dead works! May you have the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, to keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, and in the clear white light of your Saviour's glorious presence, may you see the wounds he endured when suffering for your sins! Then will you sing with the disciple whom Jesus loved, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Last of all, Joseph was not satisfied with thus revealing himself to his brethren, and assuring them of his free forgiveness, but he promised them rich supplies for the future. To my mind, this was the next best news to his message of forgiveness. He said to them, in effect, "You have had two years of famine. It is only through me that you have been preserved alive; you have come down to Egypt with your asses and your sacks, and you have taken home provender to my father and to your households; but there are yet five more years in which there will be no ploughing and no harvest. What will become of you? What little you had in store, is already all consumed, God has sent me here that, through those five years, I may nourish you. You shall come down, and live in Goshen, on the fat of the land of Egypt, and you shall never have any want, for all the treasures of the land of Egypt are mine, and I will take care of you, you shall never know any lack." In like manner, beloved, your Lord stands, and says to you, "You will have many more troubles yet." Some of my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who are here, will be in heaven before five more years have expired; they have good reason to be very grateful to God. But to some of us who are younger, it may be that God has appointed many a year to abide here; but our Saviour lives,

"He is at the Father's side,
The Man of love, the Crucified;"

and the arrangements of providence are in his hand, and all that providence shall be over-ruled for us. "No good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly." You wiU be in Egypt for a while longer, dear friend, but you will be in the Goshen of Egypt, and the good of all the land is yours. Oh, what a blessing it is to think that we have a Brother who reveals himself to us as the Universal Provider, who will not let us have a want, but will take care that, before our need comes, the supply shall be ready, and we shall have nothing to do but to rejoice in him who careth for us!

Let not that sweet thought take away from your minds what I want to be the centre of all our meditation, namely, that you should come near to your Lord. We never use a crucifix; we should think it sinful so to do. Neither do I want to have an imaginary crucifix, by trying to set Christ before you so that you should picture him mentally; but I want your faith to do much more than imagination can. The Lord Jesus Christ is spiritually here in the midst of us, according to his gracious promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;" and he hears me speaking these words at this moment, I am as sure of it as if I saw that mystic presence with my natural eyes. If I did see him, I know that I should fall at his feet as dead, and the rest of this service would have to be spent in awe-struck silence by everyone that did behold him. But, O thou Son of God and Son of Mary, Jesus Christ our Saviour, we trust thee wholly and alone to save us, and we love thee with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; and as we live by thee, we pray thee to help us to live /or thee, to live to thee, to live like thee, and by-and-by to live with thee! We could almost wish that we might now fall down and kiss thy dear feet, but thou art not here in visible presence; for thou hast gone up into the glory; but thou art here spiritually, and we come to thee, and say, "Lord, thou art ours, and we are thine; we will hold to thee, and will not let thee go."

"Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear,
It is not night if thou be near."

Come, stay with me while yet the evening shade shall linger, till death's dark night comes on, and then, instead of night, let the morning break upon my gladdened eyes because it is thyself that has come, the life, the resurrection, and not death at all! Come, beloved, can you not get nearer to your Lord? Can you not speak familiarly with him? Can you not whisper into his ear the story of your love?

"Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,"

and help us now to come near to Jesus! Amen and Amen.

CHAPTER 9. THE PROPHET LIKE UNTO MOSES

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, August 3rd, 1879, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."
Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

Man, the creature, may well desire intercourse with his Creator. When we are right-minded we cannot bear to be like fatherless children, born into the world by a parent of whom we know nothing whatever. We long to hear our father's voice. Of old time, or ever sin had entered into the world, the Lord God was on the most intimate terms with his creature man. He communed with Adam in the garden; in the cool of the day he made the evening to be seven-fold refreshing by the shadow of his own presence. There was no cloud between un-fallen man and the ever-blessed One: they could commune together, for no sin had set up a middle wall of partition. Alas, man being in honour continued not, but broke the law of his God, and not only forfeited his own inheritance, but entailed upon his descendants a character with which the holy God can hold no converse. By nature we love that which is evil, and within us there is an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, and consequently intercourse between God and man has had to be upon quite another footing from that which commenced and ended in the glades of Eden. It was condescension at the first which made the Lord speak with man the creature; it is mercy, unutterable mercy, now if God deigns to speak with man the sinner.

Through his divine grace the Lord did not leave our fathers altogether without a word from himself even after the Fall, for between the days of Adam and Moses there were occasional voices heard as of God speaking with man. "Enoch walked with God," which implies that God walked with him and had communion with him, and we may rest assured it was no silent walk which Enoch had with the Most High. The Lord also spake to Noah, once and again, and made a covenant with him: and then he, at still greater length and with greater frequency, spake with Abraham, whom he graciously called his friend. Voices also came to Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and celestial beings flitted to and fro between earth and heaven. Then there was a long pause and a dreary silence. No prophet spoke in Jehovah's name, no voice of God in priestly oracle was heard, but all was silent while Israel dwelt in Egypt, and sojourned in the land of Ham. So completely hushed was the spiritual voice among men that it seemed as if God had utterly forsaken his people and left the world without a witness to his name; yet there was a prophecy of his return, and the Lord had great designs, which only waited till the full time was come. He purposed to try man in a very special manner, to see whether he could bear the presence of the Lord or no. He resolved to take a family, multiply it into a nation, and set it apart for himself, and to that nation he would make a revelation of himself of the most extraordinary character. So he took the people who had slaved amongst the brick kilns of Egypt, and made them his elect, the nation of his choice, ordained to be a nation of priests, a people near unto him, if they had but grace to bear the honour. Though they had lain among the pots, with a high hand and an outstretched arm he delivered them, and with gracious love he favoured them, so that they became for beauty and excellence as the wings of a dove that are covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold. He divided the Red Sea and made them a way of escape, and afterwards set that sea as a barrier between them and their former masters. He took them into the wilderness, and there fed them with manna which dropped from heaven, and with water out of the rock did he sustain them. After a while he began to speak to them, as he had never spoken to any nation before. He spake with them from the top of Sinai, so that they heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, and in astonishment they cried, "We have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth." But the experiment failed. Man was not in a condition to hear the direct voice of God. On the very first day the people were in such terror and alarm that they cried out, "This great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more we shall die." As they stood still at a distance to hear the words of God's perfect law they were filled with great fear, and so terrible was the sight that even Moses said, "I exceedingly fear and quake." The people could not endure that which was commanded, and entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. They felt the need of some one to interpose - a daysman, an interpreter, one of a thousand was needed to come between them and God. Even those among them that were the most spiritual, and understood and loved God better than the rest, yet confessed that they could not endure the thunder of his dreadful voice, and their elders and the heads of their tribes came unto Moses and said, "Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it."

The Lord knew that man would always be unable to hear his Maker's voice, and he therefore determined not only to speak by Moses, but, ever and anon, to speak by his servants the prophets, raising up here one and there another; and then he determined, as the consummation of his condescending mercy, that at the last he would put all the word he had to say to man into one heart, and that word should be spoken by one mouth to men, furnishing a full, complete, and unchangeable revelation of himself to the human race. This he resolved to give by one of whom Moses had learned something when the Lord said to him in the words of our text, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him."We know assuredly that our Lord Jesus Christ is that prophet like unto Moses by whom in these last days he has spoken, unto us. See Peter's testimony in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and Stephen's in the seventh chapter of the same book. "This man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house," yet did he bear a gracious likeness to Moses, and therein his apostles found a sure argument of his being indeed the Messiah, sent of God.

The subject of this morning's discourse is the Lord's speaking to us by Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man, and our earnest aim is that all of us may reverently hear the voice of God by this greatest of all prophets. Men and brethren, this is the word of God unto you this morning, that very word which he spake on the holy Mount, when the Lord was transfigured and there appeared with him Moses and Elias speaking to him, and out of the excellent glory there came the word, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." This is my message at this hour - "Hear ye him." He saith to you all this day, "Incline your ear and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live. Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in flatness." "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven."

Our meditation will run in this line: first, we will think for a moment upon the necessity for a Mediator; secondly, upon the person of the Prophet-Mediator whom God hath chosen; and, thirdly, upon the authority with which this Mediator is invested, by which authority he calleth upon ns this day to hearken to God's voice which is heard in him.

I. We begin by considering how urgently there existed THE NECESSITY for a Mediator. I need but very short time to set this forth. There was a necessity for a Mediator in the case of the Israelites, first, because of the unutterable glory of God, and their own inability to endure that glory, either with their eye, their ear, or their mind. We cannot suppose that the revelation of God upon Sinai was the display of all his greatness: nay, we know that it could not be such, for it would have been impossible for man to have lived at all in the presence of the infinite glory. Habakkuk, speaking of this manifestation, says, "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness; was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand"; but he adds, "there was the hiding of his power." Despite its exceeding glory, the manifestation upon the mount of God at Horeb was a subdued manifestation, and yet, though it was thus toned down to human weakness, it could not be borne. The unveilings of Jehovah's face no mortal eye could bear. The voice with which God spake at Sinai is by Moses compared to the voice of a trumpet waxing exceeding loud and long, and also to the roll of thunder; and we all know the awe-inspiring sound of thunder when it is heard near at hand, its volleys rolling overhead. How the crash of peal on peal makes the bravest heart, if not to quail, yet still to bow in reverent awe before God! Yet this is not the full voice of God: it is but his whisper. Jehovah hath hushed his voice in the thunder, for were that voice heard in its fulness it would shake not only earth, but also heaven. If he were for once to unveil his face the lightning's flame would pale to darkness in comparison. The voice of the Lord God is inconceivably majestic, and it is not possible that we, poor creatures, worms of the dust, insects of a day, should ever be able to hear it and live. We could not bear the full revelation of God apart from mediatorial interposition. Perhaps when he has made us to be pure spirit, or when our bodies shall have been "raised in power," made like unto the body of our Lord Jesus, we may then be able to behold the glorious Jehovah, but as yet we must accept the kindly warning of the Lord in answer to the request of Moses, "thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live." The strings of life are too weak for the strain of the unveiled presence; it is not possible for such a gossamer, spider-like thread as our existence to survive the breath of Deity, if he should actually and in very deed draw nigh to us. It appeared clearly at Sinai, that even when the Lord did accommodate himself, as much as was consistent with his honour, to the infirmity of human nature, man was so alarmed and afraid at his presence that he could not bear it, and it was absolutely necessary that instead of speaking with his own voice, even;hough he whispered what he had to say, he should speak to another apart, and afterwards that other should come down from the mount and repeat- the Lord's words to the people.

This sufficient reason is supported by another most weighty fact, namely, that God cannot commune with men because of their sin. God was pleased to regard his people Israel at the foot of Sinai as pure. "Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes." They had abstained for awhile from defiling actions, and as they stood outside the bounds they were ceremonially clean; but it was only a ceremonial purity. Before long they were really unclean before the Lord, and in heart defiled and polluted. The Lord said of them, "O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!" He knew that their heart was not right even when they spoke obediently. Not many days after the people had trembled at Sinai they made a golden calf, and set it up and bowed before it, and provoked the Lord to jealousy so that he sent plagues among them. It is quite clear that after such a rebellion, after a deliberate breach of his covenant, and daring violation of bis commands, it would have been quite impossible for God to speak to them, or for them to listen to the voice of God, in a direct manner. They would have fled before him because of his holiness, which shamed their unholiness; and because of their sin, which provoked his indignation, because of the wandering, and instability, and treachery of their hearts, the Lord could not have endured them in his presence. The holy angels for ever adore with that threefold cry, "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth "; and he could not permit men of unclean lips to profane his throne with their unholy utterances. Oh no, my brethren with such a sense of sin as some of us have, and as all of us ought to have, we should have to cover our faces, and cower down in terror, if Jehovah himself were to appear. He cannot look upon iniquity, neither can evil dwell with him, for he is a consuming fire. While we are compassed with infirmity we cannot behold him, for our eyes are dimmed with the smoke of our iniquities. If we would see even the skirts of his garments we must first be pure in heart, and he must put us in the cleft of the rock, and cover us with his hand. If we were to behold his stern justice, his awful holiness, and his boundless power, apart from our ever-blessed Mediator, we should dissolve at the sight, and utterly melt away, for we have sinned.

This double reason of the weakness of our nature, and the sinfulness of our character, is a forcible one, for I close this part of the discourse by observing that the argument was so forcible that the Lord himself allowed it. He said, "They have well spoken, that which they have spoken." It was no morbid apprehension which made them afraid, it was no foolish dread which made them start, for wisdom's own self in the person of Moses, said, "I do exceedingly fear and quake." The calmest and, meekest of men had real cause for fear.

God's face is not to be seen. An occasional glimpse may come to spirits raised above their own natural level, so that they can for awhile behold the King, the Lord of hosts; but even to them it is a terrible strain upon all their powers, the wine is too strong for the bottles. What said John, when he saw, not so much absolute Deity, but the divine side of the Mediator? "When I saw him I fell at his feet as dead." Daniel, the man greatly beloved, confesses that there remained no strength in him and his comeliness was turned into corruption when he heard the voice of God; and Job said, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes." No, God knoweth it is not silly fright nor unbelieving fear; it is a most seemly awe and a most natural dread which takes hold of finite and fallible creatures in the presence of the Infinite and Perfect One. These frail tabernacles, like the tents of Cushan, are in affliction when the Lord marches by in the greatness of his power. We need a Mediator. The Lord knows right well that our sinfulness provokes him, and that there is in us, in the best here present, that which would make him to break out against us to destroy us if we were to come to him without a covering and a propitiation.

We must approach the Lord through a Mediator: it is absolutely necessary. God himself witnesses it is, and therefore in his mercy he ordains a Mediator, that by him we may be able to approach his throne; of grace. May the Holy Spirit make this truth very plain to the consciousness of all of us, and cause us to sing with the poet:

"Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find;
The holy, just, and sacred Three
Are terrors to my mind."
"But if Immanuel's face appear,
My hope, my joy begins;
His name forbids my slavish fear,
His grace removes my sins."

II. This brings us to consider THE PERSON of the appointed Mediator, and in my text we obtain a liberal measure of information upon this point. Read these blessed words, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren." Dwell with sweetness upon this fact, that our Lord Jesus was raised up from the midst of us, from among our brethren. In him is fulfilled that glorious prophecy, "I have exalted One chosen out of the people." He is one of ourselves, a brother born for adversity. He was born at Bethlehem, not in fiction, but in fact: where the horned oxen fed he in a manger lay, as any other babe might do, wrapped in swaddling bands, and dependent on a woman's loving care as any other babe might be. He was like ourselves in his growth from infancy to manhood, increasing in stature as we do from our childhood to our riper age. Though the holy child Jesus he was yet a child, and therefore he was subject to his parents. And when he came forth as a man, his was no phantom manhood, but true flesh and blood; he was tempted and he was betrayed: he hungered and he thirsted; he was weary and he was sore amazed; he took our sicknesses, and he carried our sorrows; he was made in all points like unto his brethren. He did not set himself apart as though he were of an exclusive caste or of a superior rank, but he dwelt among us; the brother of the race, eating with publicans and sinners, mingling ever with the common people. He was not one who boasted his descent, or gloried in the so-called blue blood, or placed himself among the Porphyro-geniti, who must not see the light except in marble halls. He was born in a common house of entertainment where all might come to him, and he died with his arms extended as a pledge that he continued to receive all who came to him. He never spoke of men as the common multitude, the vulgar herd, but he made himself at home among them. He was dressed like a peasant, in the ordinary smock of the country, a garment without seam, woven from the top throughout; and he mixed with the multitude, went to their marriage feasts, attended their funerals, and was so much among them, a man among men, that slander called him a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. In all respects our Lord was raised up from the midst of us, one of our own kith and kin. "For this cause he is not ashamed to call us brethren." He was our brother in living, our brother in death, and our brother in resurrection; for after his resurrection he said, "Go, tell my brethren;" and he also said, "My Father, and your Father; my God, and your God." Though now exalted in the highest heavens he pleads for us and acts as a High Priest who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. God has graciously raised up such a Mediator, and now he speaks to us through him. O sons of men, will ye not hearken when such an one as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of man, is ordained to speak of the eternal God? Ye might be unable to hear if he should speak again in thunder, but now he speaketh by those dear lips of love, now he speaketh by that gracious tongue which has wrought such miracles of grace by its words, now he speaketh out of that great heart of his, which never beats except with love to the sons of men - will ye not hear him? Surely we ought to give the most earnest heed and obey his every word.

Moses was truly one of the people, for he loved them intensely, and all his sympathies were with them. They provoked him terribly, but still he loved them. We can never admire that man of God too much when we think of his disinterested love to that guilty nation. See him on the mountain there as Israel's advocate. The Lord said, "Let me alone that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation." That proposal opened up before Moses' eye a glittering destiny. It was within his grasp that he himself should become the founder of a race, in whom the promises made to Abraham should be fulfilled. Would not the most of men have greedily snatched at it? But Moses will not have it. He loves Israel too well to see the people die if he can save them. He has not an atom of selfish ambition about him; but with cries and tears he exclaims, "Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people." He prevailed with God by his pleading, for he identified himself with Israel. Moses did, as it were, gather up all their griefs and sorrows into himself, even as did our Lord. True Israelite was he, for he refused to be called the sou of Pharaoh's daughter, and cast in his lot with the people of God. This is just what our blessed Lord has done. He will not have honour apart from his people, nor even life, unless they live also. He saved others, himself he could not save. He would not be in heaven, and leave his saints behind. He loved the people and so proved himself to be one chosen out of their midst, a brother among brethren.

Mark well that, while thus our Lord is our brother, the great God has in his person sent us one who is lifted up above us all in the knowledge of his mind. Thus saith the Lord (v.18.), "I will put my words in his mouth." Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us inspired by God. Not alone cometh he, nor of his own mind; but saith he, "The Father is with me: I do always the things which please him: the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." Both in word and work he acted for his Father, and under his Father's inspiration. Men and brethren, I beseech you not to reject the message which Jesus brings, seeing it is not his own, but the sure message of God. Trifle not with a single word which Jesus speaks, for it is the word of the Eternal One: despise not one single deed which he did, or precept which he commanded, or blessing which he brought, for upon all these there is the stamp of deity. God chose one who is our brother that he might come near to us; but he put his own royal imprimatur upon him, that we might not have an ambassador of second rank, but one who counts it not robbery to be equal with God, who nevertheless for our sake has taken upon himself the form of a servant that he might speak home to our hearts. For all these reasons, I beseech you despise not him that speaketh, seeing he speaketh from heaven.

The main point, however, upon which I want to dwell is, that Jesus is like to Moses. There had been no better mediator found than Moses up to Moses' day; the Lord God, therefore, determined to work upon that model with the great prophet of his race, and he has done so in sending forth the Lord Jesus. It would be a very interesting task for the young people to work out all the points in which Moses is a personal type of the Lord Jesus. The points of resemblance are very many, for there is hardly a single incident in the life of the great Lawgiver which is not symbolical of the promised Saviour. You may begin from the beginning at the waters of the Nile, and go to the close upon the brow of Pisgah, and you will see Christ in Moses as a man sees his face in a glass. I can only mention in what respects, as a Mediator, Jesus is like to Moses, and surely one is found in the fact that Moses beyond all that went before him was peculiarly the depository of the mind of God. Once and again we find him closeted with God for forty days at a time. He went right away from men to the lone mountain-top, and there he was forty days and forty nights, and did neither eat nor drink, but lived in high communion with his God. In those times of seclusion he received the pattern of the tabernacle, the laws of the priesthood, of the sacrifices of the holy days, and of the civil estate of Israel, and perhaps the early records which compose the book of Genesis. To whom else had God ever spoken for that length of time, as a man speaketh with his friend? He was the peculiar favourite of God. From the first day of his call, when he was keeping his father's flock at the back of the desert, right to the day when God kissed away his soul on the top of Nebo, he was a man greatly beloved, to whom God manifested himself as to no other. Hear the Lord's own words to Aaron and Miriam. "And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches: and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" In this our Lord Jesus is Like to Moses, only he far surpasses him, for the intercourse between Christ and the Father was very much more intimate, seeing that Jesus is himself essential deity, and "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Cold mountains and the midnight air continually witnessed to his communion with the Father. Nor these alone, for he abode with the Father. His language was always spoken out as God was speaking within him; he lived in God, and with God. "I know," said he, "that thou hearest me always." Instead of having to point out when Christ was in communion with the Father, we have rather, with astonishment, to point out the solitary moment when he was left of the Father, even that dread hour when he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Only for that once the Father had left him, and even then it was inexplicable, and he asked the reason for it; though he knew himself to be then suffering as the Substitute for man, yet did his desertion by God come upon him as a novelty which utterly overwhelmed him, so that he asked in agony why he was forsaken.

Moses, to take another point, is the first of the prophets with whom God kept up continuous revelation. To other men he spake in dreams and visions, but to Moses by plain and perpetual testimony. His Spirit rested on him, and he took of it to give thereof to Joshua, and to the seventy elders, even as Jesus gave of his Spirit to the apostles. Sometimes God spake to Noah, or to Abraham and others; but it was upon occasions only; and even then, as in the case of Abraham and Jacob, they must fall asleep to see and hear him best: but with Moses the Lord abode perpetually; whensoever he willed he consulted the Most High, and at once God spake with him, and directed his way. So was it with Christ Jesus. He needed not to behold a vision: the spirit of prophecy did not occasionally come upon him, and bear him out of himself, for the Spirit was given him without measure, and he knew the very mind and heart of God perpetually. He was always a prophet; not sometimes a prophet, like him of old, of whom we read, "The Spirit of God came upon him in the camp of Dan"; or like others of whom it is written, "the word of the Lord came to them." At all times the Spirit rested upon him: he spake in the abiding power of the Holy Ghost, even more so than did Moses.

Moses is described as a prophet mighty in word and deed, and it is singular that there never was another prophet mighty in word and deed till Jesus came. Moses not only spoke with matchless power, but wrought miracles. You shall find no other prophet who did both. Other prophets who spake well wrought no miracles, or only here and there; whilst those who wrought miracles, such as Elijah and Elisha, have left us but few words that they spake: indeed, their prophecies were but lightning flashes, and not as the bright shining of a sun. When you come to our Lord Jesus you find lip and heart working together, with equal perfectness of witness. You cannot tell in which he is the more marvellous, in his speech or in his act. "Never man spake like this man," but certainly never man wrought such marvels of mercy as Jesus did. He far exceeds Moses and all the prophets put together in the variety and the multitude and the wonderful character of the miracles which he did. If men bow before prophets who can cast down their rods, and they become serpents, if they yield homage to prophets who call fire from heaven, how much more should they accept him whose words are matchless music, and whose miracles of love were felt even beyond the boundaries of this visible world; for the angels of God flew from heaven to minister to him, the devils of the pit fled before his voice, and the caverns of death heard his call and yielded up their prey. Who would not accept this prophet like unto Moses, to whom the Holy Ghost bare witness by mighty signs and wonders?

Moses, again, was the, founder of a great system of religious law, and this was not the case with any other but the Lord Jesus. He founded the whole system of the Aaronic priesthood and the law that went with it. Moses was a law-giver: he gave the ten commandments in the name of God, and all the other statutes of the Jewish polity were ordained through him. Now, till you come to Christ you find no such law-giver; but Jesus institutes the new covenant as Moses introduced the old, the sermon on the mount was an utterance from a happier Sinai, and whereas Moses gives this and that command, Jesus gives the like in sweeter form and in diviner fashion, and embodies it in his own sacred person. He is the great legislator of our dispensation, the King in the midst of Jeshurun, giving forth his command which runneth very swiftly, and they that fear the Lord are obedient thereunto.

Time will fail us, or we would mention to you that Moses was faithful before God as a servant over all his house, and so was Jesus as a Son over his own house. He was never unfaithful to his charge in any respect, but in all things ruled and served to perfection as the anointed of the Father. He is the faithful and true Witness, the Prince of the kings of the earth. Moses, too, was zealous for God and for his honour. Remember how the zeal of God's house did eat him up. When he saw grievous sin among the people, he said, "Who is on the Lord's side?" and there came to him the tribe of Levi, and he said, "Go in and out, and slay ye every one his men that were joined to Baal-peor." Herein he was the stern type of Jesus, who took the scourge of small cords, and drove out the buyers and sellers, and said, "Take these things hence: it is written. My Father's house shall be a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves"; for the zeal of God's house had eaten him up.

Moses, by divine grace, was very meek, and perhaps this is the chief parallel between him and Jesus. I have said, "by divine grace," for I suppose by nature he was strongly passionate. There are many indications that Moses was not meek, but very far from it until the Spirit of God rested upon him. He slew the Egyptian hastily, and in after years he went out from the presence of Pharaoh "in great anger." Once and again you find him very wroth: he took the tables of stone and dashed them in pieces in his indignation, for "Moses' anger waxed hot"; and that unhappy action which occasioned his being shut out of Canaan was caused by his "being provoked in spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips," and said, "Hear now, ye rebels; must I fetch you water out of this rock?" Divine grace had so cooled and calmed him that in general he was the gentlest of men, and when his brother and sister thrust themselves into his place and questioned his authority, it is written, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." In his own quarrel he has never anything to say: it is only for the people and for God that his anger waxeth hot. Even about his last act of hastiness he says, "God was angry with me for your sake," not for his own sake. He was so meek and gentle that for forty years he bore with the most rebellious and provoking nation that ever existed. But what shall I say of my Master? Let him speak for himself. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest: take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Our children call him "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild." The man Jesus is very meek above all men that are upon the face of the earth. He has his indignation:-

"Like glowing oven is his wrath,
As flame by furious blast upblown,"

for he can be angry, and the wrath of the Lamb is the most awful wrath beneath the sun; but still to us, in this gospel day, he is all love and tenderness; and when he bids us come to him, can we refuse to hear? So meek is the Mediator that he is love itself, incarnate love; so loving, that when he died his only crime was that he was "found guilty of excess of love"; can we be so cruel as to reject him? O brothers and sisters, do not refuse to listen to the voice of this Tender One by whom God speaketh to you.

Our Lord was like to Moses in meekness, and then to sum up all, - Moses was the Mediator for God with the people, and so is our blessed Lord. Moses came in God's name to set Israel free from Pharaoh's bondage, and he did it: Jesus came to set us free from a worse bondage still, and he has achieved our freedom. Moses led the people through the Red Sea, and Jesus has led us where all the hosts of hell were over-thrown, and sin was drowned in his own most precious blood, Moses led the tribes through the wilderness, and Jesus leads us through the weary ways of this life to the rest which remaineth for the people of God. Moses spake to the people for God, and Jesus hath done the same. Moses spake to God for the people, and Jesus ever liveth to make intercession for us. Moses proposed himself as a sacrifice when he said, "If not, blot my name out of the book of life"; but Jesus was an actual sacrifice, and was taken away from the land of the living for our sakes, being made a curse for us. Moses, in a certain sense, died for the people, for he could not enter into the land, but must needs close his eyes on Nebo. Those are touching words, "The Lord was angry with me for your sakes": words which in a diviner sense may be fitly applied to Jesus, for God was angry with him for our sakes. Right through to the very end our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, is a prophet like unto Moses, raised up from the midst of his brethren. O my hearers, hear ye him. Turn not your ear away from this Prophet of prophets, but hear and live.

III. I close with that point, and if my words are very few let them be weighty. Let us think of THE AUTHORITY of our great Mediator, and let this be the practical lesson - Hear ye him. Men and brethren, if our hearts were right, the moment it was announced that God would speak to us through Jesus Christ there would be a rush to hear him. If sin had not maddened men they would listen eagerly to every word of God through such a Mediator as Jesus is; they would write each golden sentence on their tablets, they would hoard his word in their memories, they would wear it between their eyes, they would yield their hearts to it. Alas, it is not so; and the saddest thing of all is that some talk of Jesus for gain, and others hear of him as if his story were a mere tale or an old Jewish ballad of eighteen hundred years ago. Yet, remember, God speaks by Jesus still, and every word of his that is left on record is as solemnly alive to-day as when it first leaped from his blessed lips, I beseech you remember Christ cometh not as an amateur, but he hath authority with him: this ambassador to men wears the authority of the King of kings. If ye despise him ye despise him that sent him: if ye turn away from him that speaketh from heaven ye turn away from the eternal God, and ye do despite to his love. Oh, do not so.

Note how my text puts it. It saith here, "Whosoever shall not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him," My heart trembles while I repeat to you the words, "I will require it of him." To-day God graciously requires it of some of you, and asks why yon have not listened to Christ's voice. Why is this? You have not accepted his salvation. Why is this? Yon know all about Jesus, and you say it is true, but you have never believed in him: why is this? God requires it of you. Many years has he waited patiently, and he has sent his servant again and again to invite you. The men of Nineveh sought mercy in their day, and yet you have not repented. God requires it of you. Why is this? Give your Maker a reason for your rejection of his mercy if you can: fashion some sort of excuse, O ye rebellious one. Do you despise your God? Do you dare his wrath? Do you defy his anger? Are you so mad as this?

The day will come when he will require it of you in a much more violent sense than he does to-day; when you shall have passed beyond the region of mercy he will say, "I called yon and you refused, why is this? I did not speak to you in thunder. I spoke to yon with the gentle voice of the Only Begotten who bled and died for men: why did you not hear him? Every Sabbath day my servant tried to repeat the language of his Master to you: why did you refuse it? You are cast into hell, but why did not you accept the pardon which would have delivered you from it?" You were too busy. Too busy to remember your God? What could you have been busy about that was worth a thought as compared with him? You were too fond of pleasure. And do you dare insult your God by saying that trifling amusements which were not worth the mentioning could stand in comparison with his love and his good pleasure? Oh, how you deserve his wrath. I pray you consider what this meaneth, "I will require it of him." You who still harden your hearts, and refuse my Master, go away with this ringing in your ears, "I will require it of him! I will require it of him." "When he lieth dying alone in that sick chamber I will require it of him: when he hath taken the last plunge, and left this world, and finds himself in eternity, I will require it of him: and when the thunder wakes the dead, and the great Prophet like unto Moses shall sit on the great white throne to judge the quick and the dead, I will require it of him, I will require it of him."

My Master will require of me how I have preached to you, and I sincerely wish it were in my power to put these things in better form, and plead with you more earnestly; but, after all, what can I do? If you have no care for your own souls, how can I help it? If you will rush upon eternal woe, if you will despise the altogether lovely One through whom God speaks to you, if you will live day after day carelessly and wantonly, throwing away your souls, oh, then mine eyes shall weep in secret places for you; but what more can I do but leave you to God? At the last I shall be compelled to say "Amen" to the verdict which condemns you for ever. God grant that such a reluctant task may not fall to my lot in reference to any one of you, but may you now hear and obey the Lord Jesus, and find eternal salvation at once, for his dear name's sake. Amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon - Deuteronomy 5; 18:15-22.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 240, 229, 21.

CHAPTER 10. THE MEDIATOR- THE INTERPEETER

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, July 28th, 1889, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And all the people saw the thunderiugs, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not."
Exodus 20:18-20.

The giving of the law was glorious with pomp of power. The blaze of splendour was intended to impress the people with a sense of the authority of the law, by letting them see the greatness of the Law-giver. It was meet that with great solemnity the law of the Most High should be proclaimed, that Israel might have a holy reverence for its commands. This terrible grandeur may also have been intended to suggest to the people the condemning force of the law. Not with sweet sound of harp, nor with the song of angels, was the law given; but with an awful voice from amid a terrible burning. Not in itself is the law condemnatory; for if there could have been life by any law, it would have been by this law: but by reason of man's sinfulness, the law worketh wrath; and to indicate this, it was made public with accompaniments of fear and death: the battalions of Omnipotence marshalled upon the scene; the dread artillery of God, with awful salvos, adding emphasis to every syllable. The tremendous scene at Sinai was also in some respects a prophecy, if not a rehearsal, of the Day of Judgment. If the giving of the law, while it was yet unbroken, was attended with such a display of awe-inspiring power, what will that day be when the Lord shall, with flaming fire, take vengeance on those who have wilfully broken his law?

To us, that day at Horeb is a type of the action of the law in our nature: thus doth the law deal with our consciences and hearts. If you have ever felt the law spoken home to you by the Spirit of God, you have heard great thunderings within. You have been forced to cry with Habakkuk, "When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones." And God intended it to be so, that you might look to the flames which Moses saw, and abandon for ever all hope of acceptance by the works of the law.

The glorious majesty which surrounded the institution of the law is not, however, our subject at this time. I shall handle the text in another manner. The Lord God, in this instance, came as near to man as was possible; yea, he came nearer than man could bear. Until a Mediator was found, the approach of God brought to man nothing, but terror. Although under no great apprehension of guilt at the time - for they had only then heard the law for the first time - yet the people removed, and stood afar off, and cried out, "If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die." God was near them in special condescension; for Moses said, "Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?" Yet this memorable manifestation caused them alarm. Does it ever happen now that the Lord comes to his people in a way which dismays them? I think so. It is not really so, that God will fight against his people; but, to our apprehension, so it seems at certain times. Of these tempestuous manifestations of the Lord to our hearts I am going to speak at this time; and may the heavenly Comforter use it to the spiritual profit of his tried family!

Our first head is this: the Lord has ways of communing with his people which fill them with fear; but, secondly, this endears the Mediator to them; and, thirdly, this Mediator teaches them to interpret wisely the Lord's darker dealings with them. When we have thought upon these things, we shall close by saying to you that this sacred art of interpretation should he practised by us now.

I. First, let me remind you that THE LORD HAS WAYS OR COMMUNING WITH HIS PEOPLE WHICH FILL THEM WITH FEAR. You must not think that the Lord always appears to his people in robes of light: sometimes he enrobes himself in clouds and darkness. His paths drop fatness, and yet he often hath his way in the whirlwind. True, he manifests himself to us as he doth not unto the world; but in the brightest of those manifestations he may make us fear as we enter into the cloud. It is not every revelation of God which inspires the saints with joy; for in many cases it is far otherwise, even as with Daniel, who said, "I saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength." This experience may not have occurred to some of you; it is, however, known to many of the people of God, who have had long dealings with him. If any of you do not understand this matter, lay the sermon by till you do.

Sometimes the near approach of the Lord fills his people with apprehension and alarm; and this is sure to be the case when his coming includes a close application of the law to their hearts. We used to talk of "law-work" in days which are now past, and are by moderns looked upon with contempt; and, my brethren, our talk was not without good reason, for there is such a work, and it ministers greatly to our good. Certain servants of God, who had experienced this law-work to a very deep degree, fell into the error of regarding a marked measure of it as absolutely necessary to every child of God. We will avoid that evil, for it was a grievous cause of uncharitableness; but we will not conceal the fact that many souls, in coming to God, and in God's coming to them, have been made to feel a hewing and burning work from the law of God. The law has rent them in pieces, because they themselves have rent it in pieces. The law has wrought in them a sense of bondage, burden, and despair. Even after we have fled for refuge to the hope set before us in the gospel, after we have a full assurance that our iniquities are put away, the Lord sometimes works in us a further work of the law, in which he makes us to see its exactness, its spirituality, strictness, and infinite compass. It is no little thing to see how the law judges the thoughts, desires, and imaginations of the heart. As the plummet of the holy law is held up, we see how out of the perpendicular we are, and we are therefore distressed. Brethren, when I have carefully considered, and inwardly perceived, the holiness of God's law, I have felt as though the sharp edge of a sabre had been drawn across my heart, and I have shivered and trembled. Though the law did not actually cut or wound, yet its very presence, in all the keenness of its two edges, has made me shudder. So pure, so just, so uncompromising is the law of God, that when it is really understood, it makes us quail, and brings us to our knees. The law searches to the dividing asunder of joints and marrow, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Its excessive light strikes us, like Saul of Tarsus, to the earth, and makes us cry for mercy. When you begin to judge yourself and estimate your actions by its infallible rule, you cease from boasting, and are filled with self-abhorrence. I believe it to be one of the best means to growth in humility, to be well instructed in the law, in the force and power of it. No man knows the brightness of the gospel till he understands the blackness of those clouds which surround the law of the Lord. Much of the shallowness of current religion is the result of a failure to apprehend the demands of divine justice, and a want of clear perception of the heinousness of disobedience. Let but God set up the throne of his law in your heart, and make you feel the power of that law in any one item of your daily conduct, much more in the whole circle of your life, and you will feel as the Israelites did when they could not abide the presence of the Most High.

The Lord also may most truly and profitably come to a man, and in his coming may unveil to him the depravity of his nature. If any man could see his own heart as it is by nature, he would be driven mad: the sight of our disease is not to be borne unless we also see the remedy. When the Lord permits the fountains of the great deep of our depravity to be broken up, then are the tops of the hills of our self-sufficiency drowned in fear. When we see what we are capable of being, apart from divine grace, our spirit sinks. When believers are allowed to see how much there is still about them that is akin to hell, when sin becomes exceeding sinful, and we feel that the taint of it has defiled our whole nature, then it is that we are horrified and appalled. What an abyss of evil is within our bosoms! Probably some of you know very little about it. I pray that you may never discover it by its painful results; but I desire that you may believe it, so as to take a firmer grip upon the doctrines of grace, and exercise greater watchfulness over your hearts. Sin which dwelleth in us is no enemy that we can safely despise. Even in one single member of our fallen nature, namely, the tongue, there dwells a world of iniquity: "It defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." What poor creatures we are! The best of men are men at the best; and, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, and the power of divine grace, hell itself does not contain greater monsters of iniquity than you and I might become. Within the magazine of our hearts there is powder enough to destroy us in an instant, if omnipotent grace did not prevent. When this is distinctly perceived, we are troubled before the presence of the thrice holy God. Standing before the Lord, we cry with the prophet, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips." This is a true manifestation of God; but it is by no means a cause of comfort to us.

The Lord may also come to us, and lead us, by his light, to a discovery of actual sin in our life. We may sit here, and think ourselves, very good; but if so, we are in the dark. If a beam of divine light is now entering our mind, our apprehension of our own character will be changed. The sins of a single day, if fully known in all their bearings, would drive us to despair, apart from the infinite grace of God. Apart from the divine plan of justifying the ungodly in Christ Jesus, any one hour would shut us up in hell. Beloved, think a minute of your omissions during the past week, how much you might have done, and ought to have done, which you have not done. It is on the side of omission that some of us are most vulnerable. Honestly looking down upon our lives, we may be able to say that we do not know of any overt offence against God, and for this we bless the divine grace; but when we come to think of what we have left undone, we feel like a traveller who, when crossing a glacier, suddenly sees an unfathomable crevasse opening just before him, and widening fast as he looks down into its blue depths of frozen death. Oh the sadness of that confession, "We have left undone the things which we ought to have done"! There is as much of lamentation in it as in the cry which precedes it - "We have done those things which we ought not to have done." When we think of all our omissions, how can we stand before the Lord?

Think again of your failure in what you have done. Brethren, you have prayed this week. I only refer to this week; for seven days are more than enough for my purpose. You have prayed: you have kept your regular times for devotion. But how have you prayed? With fervency? With careful consideration? With concentrated mind? Brethren, have you prayed with faith? With importunity? Surely, each of these questions must cut into you like a whip of wire. If you are as I am, you cannot answer to this examination without wincing. Why, even in the one matter of prayer, the sins of our holy things may shrivel us up before the burning eye of the Lord, who searcheth the heart. Your Bible also: you have read your Bible, of course you have; but with what attention? with what intention? with what devout belief? with what resolve to feel its force, and obey its commands? Have we not sinned against this Book enough to cast us into the lowest hell in the space of four-and-twenty hours?

When the Lord begins to take a man to pieces by coming near to him, another matter will often trouble him, and that is his falseness, even where, in a measure, he is sincere. You prayed in public, and expressed most proper emotions and desires; but were they really your own emotions and desires, or did you steal the expressions of another man? You preached about the things of God; did your testimony come from your heart? Do you act in accordance therewith? You, my Christian friend, expressed yourself strongly, but, in your heart of hearts, can you justify the expression? Do we not often go further with our lips than we go with our hearts? Is not this, to some degree, hypocrisy? Must it not be very displeasing to God that we should use words towards him which we have not weighed, and which are not fully true, as we use them? O brethren, if the Lord sets our secret sins in the light of his countenance, we too, like Israel, shall start and shrink from the presence of the Lord.

If we add to these apprehensions of our own unworthiness a sense of the divine glory, then we cower down and hide ourselves in the dust. When a peal of thunder rends the heavens, and is followed up by a crash, as if the house would fall about your ears, while flames of fire blind you with their excessive brilliance, you feel that the Lord is terrible out of his holy places. God's nearness has inspired you with an awe which has been shaded with dread. The one attribute of power suffices to make the strongest believer feel that Jehovah is to be feared above all gods. But, my brethren, if properly apprehended, God's omniscience inspires an equal awe, while his goodness, his love, and his holiness are even more overwhelming when fully realized. One might possibly stand with unblanched cheek in the presence of divine power; but when the Lord reveals his holiness, a man might far sooner gaze into the sun than look into the face of God. Even his love is as the fire of a furnace to our unloveliness. At the sight of our God we say with Job, "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." The nearness of God to sinful man is a killing thing, and those who have known it will confess that it is so.

What, my brethren, if, in addition to this, there should come to you a succession of alarming providences? These Israelites not only knew that God was near, but they heard the thunder, they saw the lightning, they looked into the thick darkness, they marked the mountain altogether on a smoke, and by all this they were horror-stricken. Has it come to pass that the Lord has laid many blows upon his servant? Has he taken away the desire of thine eye with a stroke? What if there be one, two, three little graves in yonder cemetery? What if lover and friend have forsaken thee? What if thy business fail thee, and if thy health fail thee also? What if thy spirits sink? Oh, then, indeed, I marvel not that thou art scared with forebodings of still worse calamities, and art ready to give up the ghost! Now art thou afraid because of the nearness of the great God, who is trying thee.

If to this be added an apprehension of speedy death, as in the case of the Israelites, who cried, "This great fire will consume us"; then, indeed, it is difficult to remain calm and hopeful. It will be no trifle to stand before the face of the Eternal. Since heaven and earth shall flee from thy face, and rocks shall melt, and stars shall fall, and the moon shall be turned black as sackcloth of hair, who shall stand before thee, thou great and glorious One!

Thus have I spoken to you upon the fact that our God does sometimes commune with his people in a way that fills them with over-whelming dread; let us advance to our next theme.

II. Secondly, ALL THIS ENDEARS TO US THE MEDIATOR. The Israelites turned at once to Moses. They had already murmured against him: they afterwards said, "As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him"; once they took up stones to stone him; but now they are of another mind. Terrified by the presence of God, they cry to Moses, "Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee." The Mediator is everything to them now. They had found out by experience the necessity for an interposer; and they had not made a mistake either, for God himself said they had well spoken what they had said. There is in God's esteem an urgent need for a Mediator. When we sang just now:-

"Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find;
The holy, just, and sacred Three
Are terrors to my mind,"

we did not give utterance to morbid or ungrounded fear. It is so in truth; and the next verse is accurate also:-

"But if Immanuel's face appear,
My hope, my joy begins;
His name forbids my slavish fear,
His grace removes my sins."

It is a matter of fact that we need a Mediator; and these people were driven to see it. Brethren, be sensible of your sin, and you will no more attempt to approach an absolute Deity than you would walk into a volcano's mouth. You will feel that you need a sacrifice, a propitiation, a Saviour, a Mediator. Perceive the infinite difference between your nothingness and the divine infinity, and you will feel that there is no drawing nigh to the Eternal but by Jesus Christ. How can we, of ourselves, draw nigh unto God? It is wisdom to say unto the Well-beloved, "We pray thee, stand between the Lord and us." When your trembling is upon you, when your heart faints with awe, then you perceive how much you need an Advocate. Bless God that he has appointed one to be High Priest for you, who can safely go into the thick darkness, and stand in the presence of the Thrice Holy Majesty, and represent you without fail.

Moses was well fitted to be the type of the true Mediator of the gospel covenant. He was himself in great favour with God, so that the Lord hearkened to his voice. Behold his dauntless courage in the presence of God, and, at the same time, his intense tenderness towards the people. Mark his faithfulness God-ward as a servant over all his Master's house, and then note his self-sacrifice for Israel, so that he once said, "Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." He offered himself to be a sacrifice for them. But, O beloved, consider Jesus Christ our Mediator. Where is the like of him? He is man, like ourselves; in all respects a sufferer, poor, needy, knowing even the pangs of death; and therefore he can lay his hand upon us with a warm, brotherly love. But then he is "God over all, blessed for ever," equal with the Most High, the Well-beloved of the Father; and thus he can give his hand to the eternal God, and so link our humanity with God. I feel most safe in trusting all my concerns with that dear Advocate, that Interpreter, one of a thousand. O Jesus, who can rival thee?

"God, and yet man, thou art.
True God, true man, art thou;
Of man, and of man's earth a part,
One with us thou art now."

Into the thick darkness our Mediator went. Forth from it he came. He interprets to us the language of the Eternal, and he takes our petitions up to heaven, and translates them into the tongue of the Holy One, so that God hears us and accepts us in the Well-beloved.

I know that some of you imagine that you would believe the gospel if God were to speak to you out of the skies. Do not wish for it. The terror of his voice would overwhelm you, but it would not convert you. The Israelites were happy with a Mediator, and so will you be. If you hear not Jesus, neither would you hear though God should thunder. A Mediator is provided. Could you, with all your wit, suggest a better Mediator than Christ? I intreat you, accept the gospel in Christ, and come to God through him. As there is no other way, so assuredly there could be no better way. If you had all wisdom and all power in your hands with which to make a way of acceptance with God, could you devise one more pleasant, more simple, more perfect, more adequate, more exactly what you need? Come, then, dear heart, come at once to God in Christ; and remember, Jesus says, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out;" "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

III. Now I come to my third point, upon which I would lay stress: THE MEDIATOR TEACHES US TO INTERPRET WISELY THE LORD'S DEALINGS. Moses became an interpreter of the Lord's terrible appearance to the trembling people, and he put a cheering construction upon it. You, to whom God has been speaking in a way of terror, and I know there are such here, for I have had to comfort them; you have a Mediator to explain to you the ways of the Lord. Be ready to learn the lesson which he teaches you: it is this - "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not." These rough dealings of God with your conscience, with your body, with your family, and with your estate, are not for your destruction, but for your instruction: not for your killing, but for your healing. As he came in tempest and thunder to teach the children of Israel, so has he come to you. If God is teaching you, he cannot mean to destroy you: the law does not provide a schoolmaster for a convict who is to be hanged to-morrow. The discipline in God's house, however severe it may be, is a sure proof of love. We educate sons, and not enemies. The Lord is teaching you what you are, and what he is. If he had meant to destroy you, he would not have showed you such things as these. If a criminal must needs die, we do not put him through a rehearsal of the pains of death. No, no, there would be no use in such a course - it would be sheer cruelty; and depend upon it, the Lord will not show you his own greatness merely to make you miserable, nor reveal to you your own ruin merely to drive you to despair. He does not afflict willingly. Infinite love dictates the apparent severity with which he afflicts your conscience. You are being judged here, that you may not be judged hereafter with the ungodly; you are now made to abhor yourself, that the Lord may not abhor you in the day of the judgment of the wicked.

The Mediator here explains to trembling Israel that God had come to test them. We all need testing, do we not? Would you like to cross a railway bridge if it was reported to you that it had never been tested by a train? When the first Exhibition was built, I remember how they marched troops along the galleries to test them. Do you not desire to have your hope for eternity tested? The Lord draws near to us in ways which inspire our fears because he would test us. What is the result of the test? Do you not feel your own weakness? Does not this drive you to the strong for strength? You feel your own sinfulness; and you fly to the Lord Jesus for righteousness. Testing has a practically good effect in slaying self-confidence, and driving you to put your confidence where God would have it rest.

When God came to these people in cloud and storm, it was to impress them, to put depth into their thought and feeling. We are filled with fear at times on purpose that our religion may not be a flimsy, superficial thing. Our tendency is to slur spiritual work. We easily get to be trifling and careless. Levity in religion is an easily-besetting sin with many; but when we are made to see the plague of our heart, and the awful majesty of God, that fear of the Lord which endureth for ever soon drives out the triflers from the temple. Fear ploughs deep, and then faith sows, and love reaps; but godly fear must lead the way. Godly fear makes prayer to be fervent prayer; it makes the hearing of the word to be quite another thing from listening to the chatter of the world's vanity. Holy awe of God makes preaching to me to be the burden of the Lord. It may be light work to your men of genius and learning; but to me it is life and death work. Often have I thought that I would rather take a whipping with a cat-o'-nine-tails than preach again. How can I answer for it at the last great day unless I am faithful? "Who is sufficient for these things?" When I have felt the dread responsibility of souls which may be lost or saved by the word they hear, the fact that God is so near has made my flesh creep, and made me wish that I had never ventured on so bold a life-work. How shall I give in an honourable account of my commission at last? Beloved, God, by such apprehensions as these, is deepening in us the work of his grace, making us more alive to our position, and better fitting us for It. It is all in love that he allows our awe of him to darken into dread, our sense of weakness to deepen into faintness of heart.

Above all, it is explained to us that the dealings of the Lord are meant to keep us from sin. What does David say? "Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." Does not Hezekiah tell us that by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of our spirit? We are so worldly, that we need our nest to be stirred to keep us on the wing. Six days we are taken up with business, mixing with those who despise heavenly things; and we should come to think lightly of them too, were it not that God comes to us in his dread majesty and makes us think, consider, and fear. This holy trembling drives off the shams which else would grow over us like mould on decaying matter. Our inward tempests clear the air, and keep us from stagnation and the pestilence which breeds in it. God's love will not suffer us to settle down in mere pretences, and so glide into gross sins: he empties us from vessel to vessel, and thus discovers our evil sediment, and cleanses us from it. Many people, when they hear a sermon, say, "How did you enjoy it?" If you always enjoy sermons, the minister is not a good steward. He is not acting wisely who deals out nothing but sweets. God's people need that the word should at times be medicine to them, and we do not enjoy medicine. The word is as fire, and the iron does not like the fire; yet it is needful to its melting. It is as a hammer, and the rock does not love the hammer; yet it is needful to its breaking. Experiences which are painful may be therefore all the more profitable. That which makes us hate sin is a thing to be valued. I pray you, after this manner read the dispensations of God with you. When he chides he loves; when he chastens he shows fatherly affection; and when he scourges he receives into peculiar familiarity. Do not therefore run away from a chastening God. If fear drives thee away, let faith draw thee near. He means thy highest good. Never doubt it. Steadfastly believe that his heart loves even if his face frowns.

IV. I close by asking you to PRACTISE THIS ART OF SACRED INTERPRETATION. Whensoever thy Lord speaketh with thee in thunder and writeth bitter things against thee, by faith read between the lines, and after the example of Moses, the mediator, put a comfortable construction upon rough words.

Faith sees many reasons for refusing to read as fear would suggest: here is one of them. When the Lord spoke to these people with the voice of trumpet and thunder, he did not speak in anger after all, but in love; for his first words set the key-note. Here they are: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." What gracious words! What happy memories they arouse! What loving-kindnesses they record! It is true that your Lord has taken your wife or your child away, or has made you sick, or has tried your soul by the hidings of his face; but it is not an enemy who has done this. It is your God who has done it, even the same God that delivered you from the power of sin, and made you free in Christ Jesus. The Lord of love has chastened you, and chastened you in love. Learn Job's philosophy, and say from your heart, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Think of his former loving-kindness. Consider what he has done for you through the Lord Jesus and his death on your behalf. He brought you out of the bondage of your natural depravity, and he set you free from the Pharaoh of your evil passions. He has washed you from your sins, and brought you through the Red Sea of your fears by his own right hand. Can you not believe that he means well to you? What if he does speak roughly; may he not do so without being distrusted? He is the same God: he changeth not, and therefore you are not consumed: can you not rely on his faithful love? Will you take good from his hand, and will you not also take evil? He who humbles us is our covenant God, bound to us by his promise and his oath. He gave his Son to redeem us, he cannot now do us a displeasure: let him do as seemeth him good. We give him carte blanche to do what he wills, for his love is beyond dispute. Ho died that I might live, and now it is impossible for him to mean anything other than good towards me. I sometimes think that if I never had a gleam of love from his face again, I would live on that one text: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Salvation from sin and death and hell should make us interpret every trying revelation, and every afflicting providence, and every painful experience, by the key of his ancient love; and so interpreted, every sorrowful line is sweetened.

Notice next, dear friends, in your process of interpretation, that God cannot mean to destroy us, since this would be contrary to his word. He hath said, "He that believeth in him hath everlasting life." Can "everlasting life" be destroyed or die? How, then, could it be "everlasting life"? Can God declare it everlasting, and yet end it? Yes, he has given us everlasting life in his dear Son; and, what is more, he has laid up that life in Christ; for "your life is hid with Christ in God." Can he destroy the life which he has hid in his own immortal Son? Does not Jesus say, "Because I live ye shall live also"? What are you afraid of, then? God cannot destroy you. He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." What if he speaks severely to thee, it is that he may deliver thee from sinning. Wilt thou not bless him? He will not curse thee, for he hath blessed thee in his Son, and "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Bow thyself, and take from thy Father's hand whatever he appoints.

Remember, that you are not, after all, in the same condition as Israel at the foot of Horeb. Though I have drawn a sort of parallel this morning, yet there remains, a wonderful difference. "Ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest." Ye are not come to a terrible voice which mortal ears could not endure. "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. And to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." You are come to the land of pardon, peace, and promise: you are in the home of life, love, and liberty. You have come to the Lord of adoption, acceptance, and glory. Wherefore, do not, I pray you. construe the acts and dealings of God with your soul after the mean and slavish manner which unbelief suggests to you, but believe your God in the teeth of all you hear, or see, or feel. The Lord hath come to prove thee, to put his fear before thy face, and to keep thee from sin; wherefore look for sweet fruit from the bitter tree of thy present grief, and flee not from thy God.

Again, dear friend, here is our great comfort: we have a Mediator. When God dealeth with thee by the law, or by his rod, or by his searching Spirit, thou art apt to say, "How can I endure his hand?" Hide behind the Mediator. Let Jesus be thy shield, even as he is the Lord's Anointed. Beseech the Lord God not to look on thee as thou art in thyself, but to see thee in Christ Jesus. Say:-

"Him, and then the sinner see,
Look through Jesu's wounds on me."

Take care that thou lookest through Jesus' wounds on God; and if thou dost, thou wilt see in him infinite love and boundless kindness. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is unutterable love. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him"; and when they fear him most, his pity goes out to them in streams of tenderness. If thy God use the knife on thee, it is to cut out a deadly cancer. If thy God break thee, and grind thee, it is to get away thy bran, and make thee as the fine flour of the meat-offering. He may seem to slay thee, but by this he makes thee live. Though he slay thee, still trust thou in him. Never believe anything which would militate against the truth of his love, or the wisdom or the tenderness of it. Cling to him when he frowns. The closer thou canst cling, the less thou wilt feel the blows of his hand when he chastens. A faith which believes when it smarts will soon have done with the rod. If thou wilt have nothing but good to say of God, he will take thee out of the fire, for it is evident that thou dost not need more of it. A full and firm belief in God when he seems to be against us, is a grand mark of sanctification. To be able to spell out "love" when it is written in cruciform characters, shows a high state of spiritual education.

And now, beloved, if you can take the Lord in this way, henceforth and for ever believing in his love, and never staggering through unbelief, thou wilt glorify thy God and get good to thyself in every way. If thou believest, then thou wilt be strong; for faith is the backbone of the spiritual man. If thou believest, thou wilt love, and love is the very heart of the spiritual man. Believing and loving, thou wilt endure with patience, and thy patience shall be a crown to thee. Believing, loving, and enduring, thou shalt become equipped for every holy service, and in that service thou shalt acquire more and more of likeness to thy Lord, till when thou hast endured to the full, thou shalt be in all points a brother of him who is the Firstborn. Like him, thou shalt be able to go into the thick darkness, and have that communion with God which only they can know who have felt the consuming fire passing through them again and again, and burning up that corruption of the flesh which makes God to be a terror to men. Like our Mediator, may we be made to plead with God for men, and with men for God. May we go up into the mount and see God and eat and drink; and then come down with faces shining with the heavenly light. God give us thus to have a Mediator, to interpret our God through a Mediator, and then to grow like our Mediator by the work of his own Spirit.

I have said a great deal that must be very terrible to ungodly men, since it even tries the holiest. O my hearers, if you are unconverted, I do not suppose that the terrors of the Lord, even though they make you fear, will work any lasting good in you; for I remember that those very people who trembled at Sinai were found, in a very few weeks, madly dancing before a golden calf, and saying, "These be thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee up out of Egypt." Fear alone will work no saving or sanctifying effect on the heart. It ploughs, but it does not sow. In the child of God, mixed with faith, fear becomes a holy tonic, a salutary medicine; but, as for you who have cause for fear, there is something else for you. Flee to the Mediator, trust in Christ Jesus, who stands between man and God, look unto him at once, and looking you shall live. To our adorable Mediator be glory for ever and ever. Amen, and Amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon - Exodus 20:18-21; Deuteronomy 5.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 92 (Part I), 433, 281.

CHAPTER 11. THE HIGH PRIEST STANDING BETWEEN THE DEAD AND THE LIVING

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, October 21st, 1860, by C. H. Spurgeon, at Exeter Hall, Strand.

"And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed."
Numbers 16:47-48.

We have attentively read the passage which contains the account of this transaction. The authority of Moses and Aaron had been disputed by an ambitious man belonging to an elder branch of the family of Levi, who had craftily joined with himself certain factious spirits of the tribe of Reuben, who themselves also sought to attain to power by their supposed rights through Reuben the first-born. By a singular judgment from heaven, God had proved that rebellion against Moses was a mortal sin. He had bidden the earth open its mouth and swallow up all the traitors, and both Levites and Reubenites had disappeared, covered in a living grave. One would have imagined that from this time the murmurings of the children of Israel would have ceased, or that at least even should they have daring enough to gather in little mutinous knots, yet their traitorous spirit never would have come to so great a height as to develop itself in the whole body openly before the Lord's tabernacle. Yet so was it. On the very morrow after that solemn transaction, the whole of the people of Israel gathered themselves together, and with unholy clamours surrounded Moses and Aaron, charging them with having put to death the people of the Lord. Doubtless they hinged this accusation upon the fact, that whenever Moses prayed God heard him; then would they say, "Had he prayed upon this occasion the people would not have been destroyed; the earth would not have opened her mouth, and they would not have been swallowed up." They would thus attempt to prove the charge which they brought against these two great men of God. Can you picture the scene now in your mind's eye. There is the infuriated mass of people; the spectacle of such a crowd as I see before me in this hall is overpowering, and were all this multitude in tumult against two men, the two might have sufficient cause for trembling; but this would be but as a grain of sand compared with that inconceivable number who were then gathered. A large part of those three millions would come up in one vast tumultuous host; whatever was proposed by any leader of the mob would no doubt have instantly been carried into effect, and had it not been for the awful majesty which surrounded the person of Moses, no doubt they would have torn him to pieces on the spot. But just as they are rushing up like the waves of the sea, the cloudy pillar which hung above the tabernacle descends, and envelopes in its fold, as with a protecting baptism, the whole of the sacred place. Then in the centre of this cloud there blazed out that marvellous light called the Shekinah, which was the indication of the presence of Him who cannot be seen, but whose glory may be manifest. The people stand back a little; Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces in prayer; they beg of God that he would spare the people, for they have heard a voice coming out of the excellent glory, saying, "Get thee up from this people, that I may destroy them in a moment." "This time God's blow goes forth with his word, for the destroying angel begins to mow down the outer ranks of the vast tumultuous host, there they fall one open another; Moses with his undimmed vision, looking over the heads of the people, can see see them begin to fall beneath the scythe of death. "Up," saith he, "ap Aaron, up, and take with thee thy censer; snatch fire from off the holy altar, and run among the people, for the plague has begun." Aaron, a man of a hundred years of age, fills his censer, runs along as if he were a youth, and begins to swing it towards heaven with holy energy, feeling that in his hand was the life of the people; and when the incense is accepted in heaven, death stops in his work. On this side are heaps upon heaps of corpses slain by God's avenging angel; and there stand the crowd of living people, living only because of Aaron's intercession; living simply because he had waved that censer and burned that incense for them; otherwise, had the angel smitten them all, they would all have lain together as the leaves of the forest lie in autumn - dead and sear.

I think you can now in your imaginations picture the scene. I desire to use the picture before us as a great spiritual type of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for that erring multitude of the sons of men, who "like sheep have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own way." We shall look at Aaron this morning in a five-fold character. The whole scene is typical of Christ; and Aaron, as he appears before us in each character is a most magnificent picture of the Lord Jesus.

I. First, let us look at Aaron as the LOVER of the people. You know who it is to whom we give that name of, "Lover of my Soul." You will be able to see in Aaron the lover of Israel; in Jesus the lover of his people.

Aaron deserves to be very highly praised for his patriotic affection for a people who were the most rebellious and stiff-necked that ever grieved the heart of a good man. You must remember that in this case he was the aggrieved party. The clamour was made against Moses and against Aaron, yet it was Moses and Aaron who interceded and saved the people. They were the offended ones, yet were they the saving ones. Aaron had a special part in the matter, for no doubt the conflict of Korah especially was rather against the priesthood, which belonged exclusively to Aaron, than against the prophetical dispensation which God had granted to Moses. Aaron must have felt when he saw Korah there and the two hundred and fifty men, all of them with their censers, that the plot was against him; that they wished to strip from him his mitre, to take from him his embroidered vest, and the glittering stones that shone upon his breast; that they wished to reduce him to the position of a common Levite, and take to themselves his office and his dignity. Yet, forgetting himself, he doth not say, "Let them die; I will wait awhile till they have been sufficiently smitten." But the old man with generous love hastened into the midst of the people, though he was himself the aggrieved person. Is not this the very picture of our sweet Lord Jesus? Had not sin dishonoured him? Was he not the Eternal God, and did not sin therefore conspire against him as well as against the Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit? Was he not, I say, the one against whom the nations of the earth stood up and said, "Let us break his bands asunder, and cast his cords from us." Yet he, our Jesus, laying aside all thought of avenging himself, becomes the Saviour of his people.

"Down from the shining seats above,
With joyful haste he fled;
Entered the grave in mortal flesh,
And dwelt among the dead."

Oh! generous Christ, forgetting the offences which we have committed against thee, and making atonement by thine own blood for sins which were perpetrated against thine own glory!

Well, you note again, that Aaron in thus coming forward as the deliverer and lover of his people, must have remembered that he was abhorred by this very people. They were seeking his blood; they were desiring to put him and Moses to death, and yet all thoughtless of danger, he snatches up his censer and runs into their midst with a divine enthusiasm in his heart. He might have stood back, and said, "No, they will slay me if I go into their ranks; furious as they are, they will charge this new death upon me and lay me low." But he never considers it. Into the midst of their crowd he boldly springs. Most blessed Jesus, thou mightest not only think thus, but indeed thou didst feel it to be true. Thou didst come unto thine own, and thine own received thee not. Thou didst come into the world to save a race that hated thee, and oh, how they proved their hatred to thee, for they did spit upon thy cheeks; they did cast calumny and slander upon thy person; they did take the heir, and said, "Come, let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours." Jesus, thou wast willing to die a martyr, that thou mightest be made a sacrifice for those by whom thy blood was spilt. Jesus transcends Aaron; Aaron might have feared death at the hands of the people; Jesus Christ did actually meet it, and yet there he stood even in the hour of death, waving his censer, staying the plague, and dividing the living from the dead.

Again, you will see the love and kindness of Aaron, if you look again; Aaron might have said, "But the Lord will surely destroy me also with the people; if I go where the shafts of death are flying they will reach me." He never thinks of it; he exposes his own person in the very forefront of the destroying one. There comes the angel of death, smiting all before him, and here stands Aaron in his very path, as much as to say, "Get thee back! get thee back! I will wave my incense in thy face; destroyer of men, thou canst not pass the censer of God's high priest." Oh thou glorious High Priest of our profession, thou mightest not only have feared this which Aaron might have dreaded, but thou didst actually endure the plague of God; for when thou didst come among the people to save them from Jehovah's wrath, Jehovah's wrath fell upon thee. Thou wast forsaken of thy Father. The plague which Jesus kept from us slew him, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." The sheep escaped, but, "his life and blood the Shepherd pays, a ransom for the flock."

Oh, thou lover of thy church, immortal honours be unto thee! Aaron deserves to be beloved by the tribes of Israel, because he stood in the gap and exposed himself for their sins; but thou, most mighty Saviour, thou shalt have eternal songs, because, forgetful of thyself, thou didst bleed and die, that man might be saved!

I would again for one moment, draw your attention to that other thought which I have already hinted at, namely, that Aaron as a lover of the people of Israel deserves much commendation, from the fact that it is expressly said, he ran into the host. I am not just now sure about Aaron's age, but being older than Moses, who must have been at this time about ninety years of age, Aaron must have been more than a hundred, and probably, a hundred and twenty, or more. It is no little thing to say that such a man, clad no doubt in his priestly robes, ran, and that for a people who had never shown any activity to do him service, but much zeal in opposing his authority. That little fact of his running is highly significant, for it shows the greatness and swiftness of the divine impulse of love that was within. Ah! and was it not so with Christ? Did he not haste to be our Saviour? Were not his delights with the sons of men? Did lie not often say, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished." His dying for us was not a thing which he dreaded. "With desire have I desired to eat this passover." He had panted for the moment when he should redeem his people. He had looked forward through eternity for that hour when he should glorify his Father and his Father might glorify him. He came voluntarily, bound by no constraint, except his own covenant engagements; and he cheerfully and joyfully laid down his life - a life which no man could take from him, but which he laid down of himself. While I look with admiration upon Aaron, I must look with adoration upon Christ. While I write Aaron down as the lover of his race, I write down Jesus Christ as being the best of lovers - the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

II. But I now pass on to take a second view of Aaron as he stands in another character. Let us now view Aaron as THE GREAT PROPITIATOR.

Wrath had gone out from God against the people on account of their sin, and it is God's law that his wrath shall never stay unless a propitiation be offered. The incense which Aaron carried in his hand was the propitiation before God, from the fact that God saw in that perfume the type of that richer offering which our Great High Priest is this very day offering before the throne.

Aaron as the propitiator, is to be looked at first as bearing in his censer that which was necessary for the propitiation. He did not come empty-handed. Even though God's high priest; he must take the censer; he must fill it with the ordained incense, made with the ordained materials; and then he must light it with the sacred fire from off the altar, and with that alone. With the censer in his hand he is safe, without it Aaron might have died as well as the rest of the people. The qualification of Aaron partly lay in the fact that he had the censer, and that that censer was full of sweet odours which were acceptable to God. Behold, then, Christ Jesus as the propitiator for his people. He stands this day before God with his censer smoking up towards heaven. Behold the Great High Priest! See him this day with his pierced hands, and head that once was crowned with thorns. Mark how the marvellous smoke of his merits goeth up for ever and ever before the eternal throne. 'Tis he, 'tis he alone who puts away the sins of his people. His incense, as we know, consists first of all of his positive obedience to the divine law. He kept his Father's commands; he did everything that man should have done; he kept to the full the whole law of God, and made it honourable. Then mixed with this is his blood - an equally rich and precious ingredient. That bloody sweat - the blood from his head, pierced with the crown of thorns; the blood of his hands as they were nailed to the tree; the blood of his feet as they were fixed to the wood; and the blood of his very heart - richest of them all - all mixed together with his merits - these make up the incense - an incense incomparable - an incense peerless and surpassing all others. Not all the odours that ever rose from tabernacle or temple could for a moment stand in rivalry with these. The blood alone speaketh better things than that of Abel, and if Abel's blood prevailed to bring vengeance, how much more shall the blood of Christ prevail to bring down pardon and mercy! Our faith is fixed on perfect righteousness and complete atonement, which are as sweet frankincense before the Father's face.

Besides that, it was not enough for Aaron to have the proper incense. Korah might have that too, and he might have the censer also. That would not suffice - he must be the ordained priest; for mark, two hundred and fifty men fell in doing the act which Aaron did. Aaron's act saved others; their act destroyed themselves. So Jesus, the propitiator, is to be looked upon as the ordained one - called of God as was Aaron. Settled in eternity as being the predestinated propitiation for sin, he came into the world as an ordained priest of God; receiving his ordination not from man, neither by man; but like Melchisedec, the priest of the Most High God, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, he is a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Stand back, sons of Korah, all of you who call yourselves priests. I can scarce imagine that any man in this world who takes to himself the title of a priest, except he take it in the sense in which all God's people are priests, - I cannot imagine that a priest can enter heaven. I would not say a thing too stern or too severe; but I do most thoroughly believe that an assumption of the office of priest is so base an usurpation of the priestly office of Christ, that I could as well conceive of a man being saved who called himself God, as conceive of a man being saved who called himself a priest; if he really means what he says, he has so trenched upon the priestly prerogative of Christ, that it seems to me he has touched the very crown jewels, and is guilty of a blasphemy, which, unless it be repented of, shall surely bring damnation on his head. Shake your garments, ye ministers of Christ, from all priestly assumption; come out from among them; touch not the unclean thing. There are no priests now specially to minister among men. Jesus Christ, and he only is the priest of his Church, and he hath made all of us priests and kings unto our God, and we shall reign for ever and ever. If I should have any person here so weak as to depend for his salvation upon the offerings of another man, I conjure him to forego his deception. I care not who your priest may be. He may belong to the Anglican or to the Romish church. Ay, and to any church under heaven. If he claimeth to be anything of a priest more than you can claim yourself - away with him - he imposes upon you; he speaks to you that which God abhors, and that which the Church of Christ should abhor and would detest, were she truly alive to her Master's glory. None but Jesus, none but Jesus; all other priests and offerings we disdain. Cast dirt upon their garments, they are not and they cannot be priests; they usurp the special dignity of Jesus.

But let us note once more in considering Aaron as the great propitiator, that we must look upon him as being ready for his work. He was ready with his incense, and ran to the work at the moment the plague broke out. We do not find that he had need to go and put on his priestly garments; we do not find that he had to prepare for performing the propitiatory work; but he went there and then as Boon as the plague broke out. The people were ready to perish and he was ready to save. Oh, my hearer, listen to this, Jesus Christ stands ready to save thee now; there is no need of preparation; he hath slain the victim; he hath offered the sacrifice; he hath filled the censer; he hath put to it the glowing coals. His breastplate is on his breast; his mitre is on his head; he is ready to save thee now. Trust him, and thou shalt not find need for delay. Rely upon him, and thou shalt not find that he hath to go a day's journey to save thee; "He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Ye who know not Christ, hear this! Ye are lost and ruined by the fall. Wrath is gone out from God against you. That wrath must consume you to the lowest hell, unless some one can propitiate God on your behalf. You cannot do it. No man can do it; no prayers of yours; no sacraments, nay, though you could sweat a bloody sweat, it would not avail; but Christ is able to make propitiation. He can do it, and he alone; he can stand between you and God, and turn away Jehovah's wrath, and he can put into your heart a sense of his love. Oh, I pray you, trust him, trust him. You may not be ready for him, but he is always ready to save, and indeed I must correct myself in that last sentence, you are ready for him. If you be never so vile, and never so ruined by your sin, their needs no preparation and no readiness. It was not the merit of the people that saved them, nor any preparation on their part; it was the preparedness of the high priest that saved them. He is prepared. He stands on the behalf of those who beUeve on him. Would that thou wouldst now believe on him and trust thy soul in his hands; and oh, believe me, thy sins which are many shall be all forgiven; the plague shall be stayed, nor shall God's wrath go out against thee, but thou shalt be saved.

III. Let me now view Aaron as the INTERPOSER.

Let me explain what I mean. As the old Westminster Annotations say upon this passage, "The plague was moving among the people as the fire moveth along a field of corn." There it came; it began in the extremity; the faces of men grew pale, and swiftly on, on it came, and in vast heaps they fell till some fourteen thousand had been destroyed. Aaron wisely puts himself just in the pathway of the plague. It came on, cutting down all before it, and there stood Aaron the interposer with arms outstretched and censer swinging towards heaven, interposing himself between the darts of death and the people. "If there be darts that must fly," he seemed to say, "let them pierce me; or let the incense shield both me and the people. Death," saith he, "art thou coming on thy pale horse! I arrest thee, I throw back thy steed upon his haunches. Art thou coming, thou skeleton king? With my censer in my hand I stand before thee; thou must march over my body; thou must empty my censer; thou must destroy God's High Priest, ere thou canst destroy this people." Just so was it with Christ. Wrath had gone out against us. The law was about to smite us; the whole human race must be destroyed, Christ stands in the fore-front of the battle. "The stripes must fall on me," he cries; "the arrows shall find a target in my breast. On me, Jehovah, let thy vengeance fall." And he receives that vengeance, and afterwards upspringing from the grave he waves the censer full of the merit of his blood, and bids this wrath and fury stand back. On which side are you to-day, sinner? Is God angry with thee, sinner? Are thy sins unforgiven? Say, art thou unpardoned? Art thou abiding still an heir of wrath and an inheritor of death? Ah! then would that thou wert on the other side of Christ. If thou dost believe on Christ, then let me ask thee, dost thou know that thou art completely saved? No wrath can ever reach thee, no spiritual death can ever destroy thee, no hell can ever consume thee, and why? What is thy guard, what thy protection? I see the tear glistening in thine eye as thou sayest, "There is nothing between me and hell save Christ? There is nothing between me and Jehovah's wrath save Christ? There is nothing between me and instant destruction save Christ? But he is enough. He with the censer in his hand - God's great ordained Priest- he is enough." Ah, brothers and sisters, if you have put between you and God, baptisms and communions, fastings, prayers, tears and vows, Jehovah shall break through your refuges as the fire devours the stubble. But if, my soul, Christ stands between thee and Jehovah, Jehovah cannot smite thee; his thunderbolt must first pierce through the Divine Redeemer ere it can reach thee, and that can never be.

My dear hearers, do you perceive this great truth, that there is nothing which can save the soul of man, save Jesus Christ standing between that soul and the just judgment of God? And oh, I put again the personal enquiry to you, are you sheltered behind Christ? Sinner, are you standing to-day beneath the cross? Is that thy shelter? Is the purple robe of Jesu's atonement covered over you?

Are you like the dove which hides in the clefts of the rock? Have you hidden in the wounds of Christ? Say, have you crept into his side, and do you feel that be must be your shelter till the tempest be overpast? Oh, be of good cheer; he for whom Christ is the intercessor, is a rescued man. Oh, soul, if thou art not in Christ, what wilt thou do when the destroying angel comes? Careless sinner, what will become of thee when death arrests thee? Where wilt thou be when the judgment trumpet rings in thine ears, and sounds an alarm that shall wake the dead? Sleepy sinner, sleeping to-day under God's Word, will you sleep then, when Jehovah's thunders are let loose, and all his lightnings set the heavens in a blaze? I know where then you shall seek a shelter! You shall seek it where you cannot find it; you shall bid the rocks fall upon you, and ask the mountains to hide you, but their stony bowels shall know of no compassion, their hearts of adamant shall yield you no pity. and you shall stand exposed to the blast of vengeance and the shower of the hot hail of God's fury, and nothing shall protect you; but as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed from off the face of the earth, so must you be destroyed, and that for ever and ever, because ye believed not on Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

IV. But we cannot tarry longer here; we must again pass to another point. We have viewed Aaron in three characters - as the lover, the propitiator, and the intercessor; now, fourthly, let me view him as the SAVIOUR.

It was Aaron, Aaron's censer, that saved the lives of that great multitude. If he had not prayed the plague had not stayed, and the Lord would have consumed the whole company in a moment. As it was, you perceive there were some fourteen thousand and seven hundred that died before the Lord. The plague had begun its dreadful work, and only Aaron could stay it. And now I want you to notice with regard to Aaron, that Aaron, and especially the Lord Jesus, must be looked upon as a gracious Saviour. It was nothing but love that moved Aaron to wave his censer. The people could not demand it of him. Had they not brought a false accusation against him? And yet he saves them. It must have been love and nothing but love. Say, was there anything in the voices of that infuriated multitude which could have moved Aaron to stay the plague from before them? Nothing! nothing in their character! nothing in their looks! nothing in their treatment of God's High Priest! and yet he graciously stands in the breach, and saves them from the devouring judgment of God! Oh! brothers and sisters - if Christ hath saved us he is a gracious Saviour indeed. Often as we think of the fact that we are saved, the tear falls down our cheek; for we never can tell why Jesus hath saved us.

"What was there in you that could merit esteem?
Or give the Creator delight?
'Twas 'Even so. Father!' you ever must sing,
'Because it seem'd good in thy sight.'"

There is no difference between the glorified in heaven and the doomed in hell, except the difference that God made of his own sovereign grace. Whatever difference there may be between Saul the apostle and Elymas the sorcerer, has been made by infinite sovereignty and undeserved love. Paul might still have remained Saul of Tarsus, and might have become a damned fiend in the bottomless pit, had it not been for free sovereign grace, which came out to snatch him as a brand from the burning. Oh, sinner, thou sayest "There is no reason in me why God should save me;" but there is no reason in any man. Thou hast no good point, nor hath any man. There is nothing in any man to commend him to God. We are all such sinners, that hell is our deserved portion; and if any of us be saved from going down into the pit, it is God's undeserved sovereign bounty that doth it, and not any merits of ours. Jesus Christ is a most gracious Saviour.

And then again, Aaron was an unaided Saviour. Even Moses did not come with Aaron to help him. He stood alone in the gap with that censer - that one solitary stream of smoke dividing between the living and the dead. Why did not the princes of Israel come with him? Alas! they could have done nothing; they must have died themselves. Why did not all the Levites come with him? They must have been smitten if they had dared to stand in the place of God's High Priest. He stands alone, alone, alone! and herein was he a great type of Christ, who could say, "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me." Do not think, then, that when Christ prevails with God, it is because of any of your prayers, or tears, or good works. He never puts your tears and prayers into his censer. They would mar the incense. There is nothing but his own prayers, and his own tears, and his own merits there. Do not think that you are saved because of anything that you have ever done or can ever do for Christ. We may preach, and we may be made in God's hand the spiritual fathers of thousands of souls, but our preaching doth in no way help to turn away the wrath of God from us. Christ doth it all, entirely and alone, and no man must dare to stand as his helper. Sinner, dost thou hear this; thou art saying. "I cannot do this or that." He asks thee not to do anything; thou sayest, "I have no merits." Man, he does not want any, if thou wouldst help Christ thou wilt be lost, but if thou wilt leave Christ to do it all, thou shalt be saved. Come now, the very plan of salvation is this, to take Christ to be thine all in all; he will never be a part-Saviour; he never came to patch our ragged garments; he will give us a new robe, but he will never mend the old one. He did not come to help build the palace of God, he will quarry every stone and lay it on its fellow; he will have no sound of hammer, or any mortal help in that great work. Oh that this voice could ring through the world while I proclaim again those words, the deathblow of all Popery, legality, and carnal merit, "Jesus only, Jesus only." "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Nor doth he need a helper; "He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." "He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him."

He was, then, you will perceive, a gracious Saviour, and an unaided one; and, once more, Aaron as a Saviour was all-sufficient. Death came up to the very feet of Aaron; there lay a dead man, there lay a mother, a child, a prince, a hewer of wood, a drawer of water, - there they lay. There stood a strong man in his agony, and implored that he might not die, but he fell backward a corpse. There stood up a prince of Israel and must he die? Yes, he must fall. All-devouring death, like a hungry lion, came howling onward, amidst the screams and shrieks of the people, but there he stood; that censer seemed to say, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." What a miracle that the censer should stop the reign of death. Up to this mark the waves of that shoreless sea are flowing; there men stand on the terra-firma of life. Aaron stands, and as God's High Priest with that censer alone, he puts back grim death; the whole host of Israel, if they had been armed and had carried hows, could not have driven back the pestilence; nay, all the hosts of armed men that ever stained the earth with blood could not have driven back God's plagues. Death would have laughed at them, yea, he would have trodden in among their ranks and cut them in pieces, but Aaron alone is enough, fully sufficient, and that through the burning of the incense. Oh sinner, Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour, able to save; you cannot save yourself, but he can save you. Oh sinner, all sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; it mattereth not how base and vile you may have been, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Though the remembrance of thy sin bring scarlet into thy face; dost thou blush to think what a wretch thou hast been, has thy life been foul adultery, has it been blasphemy, lying, hatred of God's people, and whatnot; - I add to this another, if thou wilt, - or lasciviousness, debauchery, murder, - if all these crimes were there, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, would be able still to cleanse thee from all sin. Though thou had committed every crime in the catalogue of iniquity, sins which we cannot mention, yet "Though thy sins be as scarlet, they shall be as wool; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as white as snow." And thou sayest, "How can I partake of this?" Simply by trusting Christ with thy soul. "He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned." This was Christ's commission to the apostles, he bid them go forth and preach this great truth, and again I proclaim it, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not must be damned." He that believeth not shall be damned, be his sins never so few, he that believeth shall never be lost, though his sins may have been never so many. Trust thou thy soul with Christ, and thy sins are at once forgiven, at once blotted out.

V. And now I come to my last point, and that is, Aaron as THE DIVIDER - the picture of Christ.

Aaron the anointed one stands here; on that side is death, on this side life; the boundary between life and death is that one man. Where his incense smokes the air is purified, where it smokes not the plague reigns with unmitigated fury. There are two sorts of people here this morning, we forget the distinction of rich and poor, we know it not here; there are two sorts of people, we forego the distinction of the learned and unlearned, we care not for that here; there are two sorts here, and these are the living and the dead, the pardoned, the unpardoned, the saved, and the lost. What divides the true Christian from the unbeliever? Some think it is that the Christian takes the Sacrament, the other not. It is no division; there be men who have gone to hell with sacramental bread in their mouths; others may imagine that Baptism makes the difference, and indeed it is the outward token, the baptismal pool is the means by which we show to the world that we are buried in Christ's grave, in type that we are dead to the world and buried in Christ; we rise up from it in testimony that we desire to live in newness of life by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He who is baptized does in that way cross the Rubicon, he draws the sword and throws away the scabbard, he is the baptized one, and has a sign that can never be eradicated from him. He is dedicated through that baptism to Christ, but it is but an outward sign, for many have there been who have been baptized with water, who not having the baptism of the Holy Ghost, have afterwards been baptized in the fiery sufferings of eternal torment. No! no! the one division, the one great division between those who are God's people and those who are not, is Christ. A man in Christ is a Christian; a man out of Christ is dead in trespasses and sin?. "He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ is saved, he that believeth not is lost." Christ is the only divider between his people and the world. On which side, then, art thou to-day, my hearer? Come, let the question go individually to you. Young man, on which side are you? Are you Christ's friend and servant, or are you his enemy? Old man, thou with the grey head yonder, thou hast but a little while to live, on which side art thou? Art thou my Master's blood-bought one, or art thou still a lost sheep? And thou matron, thou who art busied, perhaps, even now in thy thoughts upon thy children, think not of them for a moment, on which side art thou? Hast thou believed, hast thou been born again, or art thou still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity? Ye that stand yonder, let the question penetrate your thick rank now, where are you? Can you take the name of Christ upon your lips, and say. "Jesus, I am thine, and thou art mine, thy blood and righteousness are my hope and trust;" for if not, my hearer, thou art among the spiritually dead, and thou shalt soon be among the damned unless divine grace prevent, and change, and renew thee.

Please remember, brothers and sisters, that as Christ is the great divider now, so will he be in the day of judgment. Do you never think of that, he shall divide them the one from the other, as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats. It is the Shepherd's person that divideth the sheep from the goats. He stands between them, and in that last day of days for which all other days were made, Christ shall be the great divider. There the righteous clad in white, in songs triumphant glorified with him; and there the lost, the unbelieving, the fearful, the abominable. What divides them from yon bright host? Nothing but the person of the Son of Man, on whom they look, and weep, and mourn, and wail because of him. That is the impenetrable barrier that shall shutout the damned from eternal bliss. The gate which may let you in now will be the fiery gate which shall shut you out hereafter. Christ is the door of heaven; oh, dreadful day when that door shall be shut, when that door shall stand before you, and prevent you entering into the felicity which you shall then long for, when you cannot enter into it.

Oh! on which side shall I be, when all these transitory things are done away with, when the dead have risen from their graves, when the great congregation shall stand upon the land, and upon the sea, when every valley, and every mountain, and every river, and every sea, shall be crowded with multitudes standing in thick array? Oh! when he shall say, "Separate my people, thrust in the sickle, for the harvest of the world is ripe;" my soul, where shalt thou be? Shalt thou be found among the lost? Shall the dread trumpet send thee down to hell, while a voice that rends thine ear, shall call after thee. "Depart from me, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity into everlasting fire in hell, prepared for the devil and his angels." Oh, grant that I may not be there, but among thy people may I stand. So may it be; may we be on the right hand of the Judge to all eternity, and remember that for ever and ever Christ will be the divider; he shall stand between the lost and the saved, he shall interpose for ever between the damned and the glorified. Again, I put it to you, give me your ears just for one moment while I speak. What say you, sirs, shall this congregation be rent in twain? The hour is coming when our wills and wishes shall have no force. God will divide the righteous from the wicked then, and Christ shall be the dread division; I say, are we prepared to be separated eternally? Husband, are you prepared to renounce to-day your wife for ever; are you prepared when the clammy sweat gathers on her brow to give her the last kiss, and say, "Adieu, adieu, I shall never meet with thee again." Child, son, daughter, are you ready to go home and sit down at the table of your mother, and ere you eat, say, "Mother, I now forswear you once for all, I am determined to be lost, and as thou art on the side of Christ, and I will never love him, I will part with you for ever." Surely the ties of kinship make us long to meet in another world, and do we wish to meet in hell? Do you wish all of you to meet there - a grim company to lie in the midst of the flames. Will you abide in the devouring fire, and dwell in everlasting burning? No, your wishes are that you may meet in heaven, but you cannot unless yon meet in Christ, you cannot meet in Paradise unless you meet in him. Oh that now the grace of God Were poured upon you, that you might come unto Jesus.

CHAPTER 12. JOSHUA'S VISION

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Morning, February 16th, 1868, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his ayes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him. Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? and he said. Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him. What saith my lord unto his servant? and the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so."
Joshua 5:13-15.

The Lord divided the Jordan that his people might pass through dry-shod. This miracle greatly dis-spirited the Canaanites, and so prepared the way for an easy triumph for the invading Israelites. You would have naturally expected that the Lord would have bidden his people avail themselves immediately of this terror to strike a heavy blow at once, and press on with might and main before the enemy could take breath, and so sweep the land clear of the adversaries in a single campaign. But it was not so. Instead of immediate activity, the children of Israel pitched their tents at Gilgal, and there tarried for a considerable season. For God is in no hurry. His purposes can be accomplished without haste, and though he would have us redeem the time because our days are evil, yet in his eternity he can afford to wait, and by his wisdom he so orders his delays, that they prove to be far better than our hurries. Wherefore, were the people to delay? That they might be obedient to commands which had been forgotten. In the desert, for divers reasons, circumcision and the passover had been neglected. They were not visited with any chastisement on account of this neglect, for the Lord considered their position and condition, and winked at their error, but before he would use them he would have them fully obedient to his will. It cannot be expected that God should tolerate disobedient servants, and therefore they must stay awhile, till they had been attentive to the two great precepts of the Mosaic covenant. Dear friends, let us pause and ask ourselves, as believers, whether we have been in all respects conscientiously attentive to our Master's commands? If not, we may not expect him to send a blessing to the church or to the world through us, until first of all we have yielded our willing obedience to that which he has prescribed for us. Are any of you living in the neglect of a known part of the divine will? or are you undesirous of knowing some portions of God's will, and therefore wilfully blind to them? My dear brother, you are cutting the tendon Achilles of your strength. You can never overthrow your enemies like Samson while your locks are thus shorn. You cannot expect that God should send you forth to conquer and to bring to him renown, when you have not as yet conquered your own personal indolence and disobedience. He that is unfaithful in that which is least will be unfaithful in that which is greater; and if you have not kept the Master's sayings in the little vine-yard of your personal history, how much less shall you be able to do it if he should entrust you with a greater field of service! Here then is the reason for Israel's delay, and it is a reason why at the commencement of our special services we should make diligent search for neglected duties, and promptly fulfil them.

The two precepts which had been overlooked were very suggestive. The one was circumcision. Every man throughout the whole camp of Israel must be circumcised before God would begin to speak about Jericho. Not a word about the walls falling flat to the ground; not a syllable concerning compassing the accursed city seven days, until, first of all, the reproach of Egypt had been put away, and his people had received the token of the covenant. Now, we are told in the New Testament that Christians must partake in a circumcision without hands, not of the flesh, but of the spirit. "He is not a Jew which is one outwardly ... but he is a Jew which is one inwardly." In the Colossians the apostle tells us that the true circumcision is the putting away of the body of death by the circumcision of Christ, by which I understand that the Christian must purge himself, in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Christ, of every fleshly defilement, of every sinful thought, of every wrong ambition, of every carnal desire: if he is to be used by his Master it is imperative that this be done, and be done at once, in the name of the Most High. "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." God will not fight his battles by the uncircumcised. He will have his people clean from the sin that doth so easily beset them, or else he will not use them. Stop, then, my brethren, and let me beseech you to search your own hearts, and see what there may be within that might render you unfit to be blessed. If I, as God's minister, have no conversions, I dare not attribute the fact to divine sovereignty. It may be so, but I am always afraid to make divine sovereignty the scapegoat for my iniquities. I rather think that if God withholds the blessing, there is a cause; and may not the cause be in myself, that I do not live as near to God as I should, or am indulging in something which his holy eyes cannot look upon? I speak to you who are church members, if in the Sabbath-school, if in your tract distribution, or if in any other work you are doing, you do not win souls to God, cry unto him, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Sin blocks up the channel of mercy; the stream is strong enough, but you restrain its flow; your sins separate between you and your God; and, therefore, I conjure each one of you, if you be the Lord's, now shake yourselves from the dust, sanctify a fast unto the Most High, and come before him with supplication. Sit before him in sackcloth and ashes, in the silent dejection of your abashed spirits,and confess before him all your sins. Arise, pour out your hearts like water before the Lord, acknowledge your sins and offences, and then, being purged from these by the water and the blood which flowed from the riven side of Jesus, you may arise to service and expect to be made a blessing.

But circumcision was not enough, they must also keep the passover. This it appears they had only celebrated twice, once in Egypt, and once at the foot of Sinai; but they were now to begin a passover which was to be kept every year without cessation. Brethren, ye know the meaning the passover has to us; it represents feeding upon Christ. He is the Paschal Lamb; we must put away the old leaven of sin, and we must come with pure hearts to feed upon our Lord. You will never be able to fight the Canaanites till you have fed on Christ. A spiritual man who tries to live without feeding upon Jesus, soon becomes weak; he who has but slight communion with Christ, he who day after day has no sight of the King in his beauty, who is never taken to the banqueting house, and sees not the love banner waving over his head, is not likely to be a hero. If you do not eat the bread of heaven, how can you do the work of heaven? The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits; and if we would labour for God with success, we must first of all feed upon the Christ of God, and gather strength from him. "Son of man," said the voice from heaven to the prophet, "eat this roll:" he must first eat it, and then speak concerning what he has handled and tasted. We must enjoy true religion in our own souls before we can be fit exponents of it to others. How shall ye be heralds of a message which has never been spoken into your inward year by the voice of the Lord? How can you expect to bring others to life when your own soul is all but dead? How shall you scatter the live coals of eternal grace when the flame upon the hearth of your heart has almost expired? Brethren, let us keep the feast, let us draw nigh unto our Lord Jesus with pure hearts, let us renew our first faith and early love, taking the great Son of God to be once more the ground of our hope, the source of our joy, the object of our desires. Let us come near, yea, nearer and nearer still to him, pressing to his embrace; so shall we be prepared to brave the conflict, and earn the victory.

After the ordinances had been kept, you will suppose that at once the trumpet sounded for an assault, and the valiant men of Israel with their scaling ladders, and their battering rams, gathered round the devoted city to attack and carry it by storm. Patience! patience! you are always in a hurry, but God is not. Joshua himself, that bold, brave spirit, is in some haste, and therefore, he goes forth by night, meditating and patrolling; and as he is meditating upon God, and gazing every now and then at that huge city, and wondering where would be the best point of attack, and how it would be captured, he is astonished by the appearance of a stately personage who bears a sword in his hand. Brave Joshua, unconscious of anything like fear, advances at once to the apparent interloper and demands of him, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" He little guessed in what august presence he was standing until a majestic voice said, "Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Then Joshua discerning the divinity of the celestial warrior bowed and worshipped, and humbly enquired what he should do; and then after he had been instructed, he rose and went according to the Lord's directions to the capture of the city of palm-trees.

The children of Israel may be likened to yonder gallant vessel, prepared for a long voyage. All the cargo is on board that is needed, all the stores are there, and every man in his place. In all respects, the good ship is fully equipped, but why does she linger? Why do not the sailors weigh the anchor? If you ask the man at the helm, he will tell you, "We are waiting for the captain." A good and sufficient reason indeed, for till the captain has come on board, it is idle for the vessel to put out to sea. So here Israel had been circumcised, and the blessed feast of the paschal lamb had been celebrated, but still they must not go to the conflict until the captain himself had arrived; and here, to Joshua's joy, the angel of the presence of the Most High appeared to claim the presidency of the war, and lead forth the hosts of God to certain victory. Brethren, this is precisely the condition of this church at the present moment; we have endeavoured, I think, to draw near unto God and to abide in his love; we have sought to purge ourselves from sin, and to be holy even as he is holy; but still this will not suffice, we want the divine presence, and we are now bidden to pause awhile and to seek it, prayerfully, that in its matchless power, we may go forward successfully.

I. I shall ask your earnest attention, this morning, to two or three brief rules for our present solemn engagements. First, REALISE THE FACT OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE.

Jesus himself comes to this holy war. Joshua saw a man clad in armour, equipped for war. Cannot the eyes of your faith see the same? There he stands, Jesus, God over all, blessed for ever, yet a man. Most surely God, but with equal certainty bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He is in the midst of his church; he walketh amongst the golden candlesticks. His promise is, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 1 do not wish to talk, but I desire rather that you should exercise your own minds, your faith, your spiritual powers, and vividly believe that Jesus is here; so believe it, that your inner eye beholds what you believe. The Son of Man is here, as surely here as he was with the disciples at the lake, when they saw coals of fire, and fish laid thereon, and bread; he is here to talk with us by his Spirit, as he did to Peter and to the rest of the disciples on that memorable day. Not carnally, but still in real truth, Jesus is where his people meet together. Joshua saw him with his sword in his hand. O that Christ might come in our midst with the sword of the Spirit in his hand; come to effect deeds of love but yet deeds of power; come with his two-edged sword to smite our sins, to cut to the heart his adversaries, to slay their unbelief, to lay their iniquities dead before him. The «word is drawn, not scabbarded, as alas! it has been so long in many churches, but made bare for present active use. It is in his hand, not in the minister's hand, not even in an angel's hand, but the sword drawn is in his hand. Oh, what power there is in the gospel when Jesus holds the hilt, and what gashes it makes into hearts that were hard as adamant, when Jesus cuts right and left at the hearts and consciences of men! Brethren, seek this presence, and seeking it, believe it; and when you hear the gospel preached, or when you meet together for prayer, think you see in the centre of the assembly the Champion of Israel, with uplifted sword, prepared to do great exploits, as in days of old.

The glorious man whom Joshua saw, was on his side. The day shall come when the ungodly shall see this man with his sword drawn; but in answer to their question, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" they shall find him to be the fiercest of their foes. In the midst of his church, Christ carries a sword only for the purposes of love to them. Oh, how blessed it will be if you can know that out of his mouth there goeth a two-edged sword, like unto a flame of fire; and if you dare to bring your heart near to that sword, that it may cut and kill in you everything obnoxious to the divine will, and then can bring your children and kinsfolk, and those that sit in these pews side by side with you, and say, "O Master, let thy sword of fire go through them according to thy word, 'I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal,' O kill, that they may live; O wound, that they may be healed.

"Thine arrows sharply pierce the heart
Of foemen of the King;
And under thy dominion's rule
The people down do bring.
O thou that art the mighty One,
Thy sword gird on thy thigh,
Ev'n with thy glory excellent,
And with thy majesty."

The divine presence then is what we desire, and if we have it, brethren, faith at once is encouraged. It was enough for the army of Cromwell to know that he was there, the ever victorious, the irresistible, to lead on his Ironsides to the fray. Many a time the presence of an old Roman general was equal to another legion; as soon as the cohorts perceived that he was come whose eagle eye watched every motion of the enemy, and whose practised hand led his battalions upon the most salient points of attack, each man's blood leaped within him, and he grasped his sword and rushed forward secure of success. My brethren, our King is in the midst of us, and our faith should be in active exercise. "The shout of a King is in the midst of us," it is said, for where the King is there the people shout for joy, and because of confidence of victory. The preacher may preach, but what is that? but if the King be there, then it is preaching in very deed. The congregations may have met, and they may have gone again. "The panoramic view which has dissolved," you say. Ah, so it may seem to you, but if the Spirit of God was there, all that has been done will abide, and remain even to that day of judgment, when the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. "Nothing but a simple girl sitting down to talk to a few little children about their souls." Just so, but if the Lord be there, what awe gathers round that spot! If the King himself sit in that class, what deeds are done that shall make the angels of heaven sing anew for joy! "Nothing but a humble man, unlettered, earnest, but not eloquent, standing in the corner of a street, addressing a few hundred people. His talk will soon be forgotten." Precisely so, but if the King be there it shall never be forgotten. The foot prints of every true servant of the Lord shall not be in the sand, but in the enduring brass, the record of which shall outlast the wreck of matter. When the King is with us, faith is confident, because God girds faith as with a golden girdle, and from head to foot clothes her with a panoply of armour, and puts a sword into her hand which is all destroying, and with which she cuts through coats of mail, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

When the King is with his people, then hope is greatly encouraged, for saith she, "Who can stand against the Lord of Hosts?" There must be conversions; it is no longer a question of trust and expectation, but of absolute certainty when Jesus is at the preaching. My brethren, if by earnest prayer we shall really bring the King into our midst to-day, as I am persuaded we shall, and if we keep him here, holding him by our entreaties, and by our tears, which are the golden chains that bind Christ to his people, then we need not think that there shall be good done, nor hope so, but it must be so, it shall be so, for where Christ is, there is the manifestation of the omnipotence of deity, and the hardest of hearts feel the influence thereof.

Where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed, for oh! of all the things in the world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the presence of Jesus. A glimpse of him will overcome us, so that we shall be almost ready to say, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." Oh, but a smell of the aloes, and the myrrh, and the cassia which drop from his perfumed garments, but a smell of these I say, and the sick and the faint among us shall grow strong. Oh, but a moment's leaning of the head upon that gracious bosom, and a reception of his divine love into our poor cold hearts, and we shall be cold no longer, but shall glow like seraphs, being made equal to every labour, and capable of every suffering. Then shall the spirit of the Lord be upon us, and our old men shall see visions, and our young men shall dream dreams, and upon the servants and the handmaidens will God pour out his Spirit. If we do but know that Jesus is here, every power will be developed, and every grace will be strengthened, and we shall cast ourselves into the Lord's battle with heart, and soul, and strength. There is not a single part of our inner man which will not be bettered by the presence of Christ; therefore is this to be desired above all things.

Brethren, suppose that Christ is here, this morning, his presence will be most clearly ascertained by those who are most like him. Joshua was favoured with this sight because he alone had eyes that could bear it. I do not read that even Caleb saw this man with his sword drawn; only Joshua saw him, because Joshua was the most spiritual and the most active. If you desire to see Christ you must grow to be like him, and labour to serve him with heart, and soul, and strength. Christ comes not in the visions of the night to those who toss upon the bed of indolence, but he reveals himself in the night watches to those who learn to watch and war. Bring yourselves, by the power of the Spirit, into union with Christ's desires, and motives, and plans of action, and you are likely to see him. I would that all of you were Joshuas; but if not, if but some shall perceive him, we shall still receive a blessing.

I am sure this presence of Christ will be needed by us all. All of you who love Jesus intend to do him service during this next month, and, indeed, I hope as long as you live. Now, there is nothing good which you can do without Christ. "Without me ye can do nothing," is a great and undoubted fact. If you meet to pray, you shall not pray acceptably unless he be with you. If you teach, or preach, or whatever you do, however small the labour, you shall accomplish nothing unless it be through his power, and through his manifested presence with you. Go not to warfare at your own charges, but wait upon your Master. tarrying at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.

But, brethren, Jesus Christ's presence may he had. Do not despond and say that in the olden times the Master revealed himself, but he will not do so now. He will, he will, he will. His promise is as good as ever. He delights to be with us even as with our fathers. If he doth not come it is because we hinder him - we are not straitened in him, but straitened in our own bowels. Let me persuade you that all the great things which were done at Pentecost can be done again in this Tabernacle. Let me persuade you that all the wondrous conversions which were wrought in any of the ages of the church may be repeated at this hour.

Do not say that Luther, or Calvin, or Whitfield, or Wesley were great men, and therefore around them great things gathered; my brethren, the weakest of men may be more honoured than the greatest, if God so wills it. Our weakness, want of learning, want of eloquence, and what not - I look upon these as advantages rather than not, for if we were eminent, we might perhaps claim some of the glory, but if we be "less than nothing and vanity," then is there a clear stage for the divine operations. And why should we not so see in this place such a revival as shall shake all England, and stir the dry bones in the valley of vision at this day as they never were stirred since apostolic times. We have but to expect it, to believe it, to pray for it, to work for it, and we shall have it. God's clouds still pour down the water floods as plenteously as when Elisha went up to the top of Carmel. The Lord thundereth mightily against his enemies at this day, as when he went forth with his people in the days of yore. Think not that the Almighty has ceased to do marvels - the Lord of Hosts is still the king eternal, immortal, and invisible, with an arm which doeth wonders. You have still only to plead the power of the precious blood and the meritorious death of Christ, to see wonders in this year of grace which shall even eclipse any that your fathers saw, or heard of in the old time before them. May God grant to each believer among us the vision of the godlike man with the sword drawn in his hand, and then may we go forth in the strength which he alone confers.

II. In the second place, UNDERSTAND THE LORD'S POSITION IN THE MIDST OF HIS PEOPLE. "As Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come."

What a relief this must have been for Joshua. Perhaps he thought himself the captain; but now the responsibility was taken from him; he was to be the lieutenant, but the King himself would marshal his hosts. I feel it no small relief to my own mind to feel that though I have been at your head these fourteen years, leading you on in God's name to Christian service, yet I am not your captain, but there is a greater one, the presence angel of the Most High, the Lord Jesus - he is in our midst as Commander-in-chief. Though my responsibilities are heavy, yet the leadership is not with me. He is a leader and commander for the people. Brethren, wherever Christ is, we must recollect that he is Commander-in-chief to us all. We must never tolerate in the church any great man to domineer over us; we must have no one to be Lord and Master save Jesus. Christ is the Field-marshal, the Captain of our salvation; and if you are a member of the church of God, you must own this, not as a general fact only, but as a fact particularly in your case. Christ is your Master. You are not to say, "I prefer this or that doctrine." What have you to do with likes or dislikes? Believe what he tells you. You are not to say, "I prefer a certain form of worship." What have you to do with preferences? Worship as the Master bids you. Alas! for the day when whims and tastes and fancies come into the Christian church to lead the people. All this Puseyism which we hear so much outcry about, is simply the putting up of taste into the place of simple obedience to Christ. If we would but just keep close to Christ's word, we should be right enough. I pray each believer here to recollect that he is in no respect his own master in the things of God, but that Christ is Commander-in-chief. "Is it of any use to send missionaries to India?" said some one to the Duke of Wellington. "What are your marching orders?" said the Duke. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Those are our marching orders We have nothing to do with whether they are prudent orders or not; they are sure to be good if they come from him! Our duty is to do as our Commander bids us to do. Every word of Christ, if we would see him do wonders in our midst, must be obeyed. Not the great precepts only, but the little ones too. It behoves Christians to have done with that cant about non-essentials. My brethren, every command of Christ is essential to us as servants. Not essential to our salvation - we are saved; that is not the question for us to raise; but being saved, and being servants of Christ, every command which comes from the great Captain it is essential for every soldier to keep. It matters not though it be simply a ceremonial, yet still we have no right to alter it. What would the court-martial say to any of the private soldiers, who, having received an order from a captain, should say, "Well, I did not consider it to be exceedingly important"? "Drum him out of the regiment, sir, there is an end to all discipline in the army when soldiers criticise their orders." So is it with Christ's law. We have no right to say, for instance about believers' baptism, "Well, it is a non-essential." Who told you so? If Jesus commands it. obey it, and if it be the Lord's law, make haste and delay not to keep the Master's statute. I single out that one precept, but there are many others which are perhaps of greater importance, if we are allowed to say greater or less about anything which Christ has bidden us do. My brethren, do let us seek now to put our minds into the hands of the Holy Spirit to be taught what the great Captain's will is, and when we know it, let our souls bend under it, as the osier bends in the breath of the wind, and as the boat upon the sea is driven to and fro in the gale. Down with thee, self, down with thee! Carnal judgment and foolish reason, lie still! Let the word of God be paramount within the soul, all opposition being hushed.

Brethren, if we do not act with the Captain, disappointment will be sure to follow. The Lord had issued orders that none of the tribes should take of the accursed spoil of Jericho. Achan did so. I have often wondered that only Achan did it, but that one Achan brought defeat upon Israel at the gates of Ai. I wonder how many Achans there are here this morning. I should feel myself very much at ease if I thought there were only one, but I am afraid that there are many who have the accursed thing hidden within them, the love of money, or wrong; ways of doing business, or unforgiving tempers, or an envious spirit towards their fellow Christians. Now, if the possession of these bad things by one will stop the blessing, we are in a very evil plight, but he is in a worse plight by far who is the occasion of the evil. Where are you, Achan? God will find you out even if we do not. He will bring us all by our tribes, by our families, by our households, and then man by man, and woe unto the son of Carmi if he be taken. Brethren, the violation of the law of the captain may bring defeat upon the whole company.

And where the law is not obstinately and wilfully violated, yet its neglect will cause much trouble. They were commanded to make no covenant with the Canaanites, but in a thoughtless hour, the Gibeonites came like persons from a far country, they believed their deceitful story, and made a covenant with them; and this became a trouble to Israel long afterwards. If as a church we forget the law of Christ, even though we do not contemptuously break it, if we ignorantly forget it, we may expect no small amount of evil to flow from it. Do not tolerate the idea that God punishes his people for sin in the sense of punitive justice, but always hold it for certain, that the Lord chastises his people for sin as a father chastises his children, and that the great Head of the church will not suffer his laws to be broken with impunity by his own people. I wish I could speak to you with the earnestness which I feel boiling up within my soul. I would, my brethren, that we should keep our Master's commands in every jot and tittle, depending upon his presence, feeling it to be here, not daring in his presence to offend, but yielding up to him the reins of government in all respects, that we might then have his blessing. I want that we should all keep to the word of God, minding each precept as far as we understand it. I want, moreover, that we should be attentive to that mind of Christ which is often expressed by the Holy Spirit in divine monitions in our minds, that the law of the book may be with us, and the law of the Spirit within us. If we are obedient to both these, we shall be prepared like Joshua to advance to the war.

III. Thirdly, and very briefly. Our third rule is WORSHIP HIM WHO IS PRESENT WITH US.

Joshua, it is said, fell on his face to the earth. Worship is the highest elevation of the spirit, and yet the lowliest prostration of the soul. If Christ be here, brethren, when you reach your homes get a little time of quiet and worship, and when you come up again, this evening, in your songs and prayers truly worship the ever present God, bow down in the lowliest reverence of your subdued spirit as though you actually were in heaven. If you have no wings with which to veil your face, still cover it with shame; if you have no crown to cast, yet such talent as you have, lay it all down reverentially before him. Worship the Son of God! Then, when you have so done, give up yourself to his command: say to him, "What saith my Lord unto his servant?" I wish you could spend this afternoon, those of you who are not actively engaged, in trying to get an answer to this question: "What saith my Lord unto his servant? What is there for me to learn, for me to feel, for me to do? and as I would help my brethren during this month. Lord, what part of the work am I to take?" When you have done this, dear friends, I want you to imitate Joshua in the third thing, namely, put off your shoes from off your feet. Joshua, perhaps, had not felt what a solemn thing it was to fight for God, to fight as God's executioner against condemned men. He must put his shoes off, therefore. We never can expect a blessing if we go about God's work flippantly. I shudder when I see any sitting at the Lord's table who can indulge in light remarks or in wandering thoughts, on so solemn an occasion. What hast thou to do here, not having on a wedding garment? There are some of us whose besetting sin is levity of spirit. Cheerfulness we are to cultivate, but we must beware lest levity become a cankerworm to our graces. Brethren, this next month must be a holy month unto us. I ask our young and our old friends alike to seek a quiet and sober spirit. To seek to save souls from going down to the pit is no pastime: to talk of Jesus is no trifle. We do not meet to pray in sport; we do not gather together in supplication as a mere matter of form. Angels are in our midst observing us, the King himself is here. How would you behave if you actually saw Jesus with your eyes? If I were to vacate this pulpit and the crucified One stood here, stretching out his pierced hands and looking down upon you with the mild radiance of his sovereign love, how would you feel? Ask to feel just so, for he is here. Faith can perceive him. Ask to feel just so at this present moment, and so to go out to your work this afternoon and all the remaining days of your life, as a servant of God who is standing in the presence of his Lord upon holy ground, and cannot therefore afford to trifle, since he has solemn work to do, and means to do it in his Master's name.

IV. To conclude, let us now even before we separate, ADVANCE TO ACTION, according to the Master's command.

Unconverted men and women, you are our Jericho, we wish to conquer you for Christ. Our desire is to win you to Jesus for your own good and for his glory. Now, what are we to do with you? Joshua was bidden to go round the city seven times. We would preach to you the gospel of Christ, not seven times, but seventy times seven. They were to blow the rams'-horns. The rams'-horn was most mean as to matter, most dull as to sound, and the least showy as to appearance. So, not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in simplicity do we warn you with the rough sound of our ram's horn, that unless you repent, you must perish. Sin must be punished. Sin is upon you, and God must punish you. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of his law can fail; and this is one part of his law, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." You have sinned, you are always sinning, and die you must. Some of you are going from bad to worse. If you do not live in outward sin, yet the sins of thought and heart will condemn yon. You will die ere long, and when you die the Lord will cast you into the place which he has prepared for the devil and his angels. Be not deceived, there may be but a step between you and death; or if your life be prolonged for a little season, yet how soon will it b« ever. Eternity! eternity! how dread to you if you plunge into it unprepared, to face an angry Judge, no righteousness of Christ to plead, and no blood in which to wash your guilty soul. You are standing, some of you, between the jaws of perdition. The gospel has been preached to you and you have neglected it. You have been brought up by godly parents, and you have despised their admonitions. Therefore wrath will come upon you to the uttermost. As sure as you live you shall be driven from Jehovah's presence into the place where hope cannot follow you, and where mercy will never seek you. We must sound this ram's-horn; we only pray that God may bless our warning voice to you.

After the rams'-horns came the ark, which the priests carried round and round the city. That ark was the type of Christ. We beg to bring Christ before yon, ye unconverted ones. Jesus Christ came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost, God smote him instead of us. He took the sins of his people, and God punished him for our sins instead of punishing us, Christ is the great Substitute for sin. If you trust him you shall live. If you will take him this day to be your Saviour, and to be your Master and your Lord, you shall never perish, for God has pledged his word for it, that if you believe in him you shall be saved, O that you would look to Christ, and live! Your good works are nothing, your tears and prayers all go for nothing as to merit, but if you look to Jesus hanging from yonder cross, you shall live. If you will trust yours If with him who is now at the right hand of the eternal Father, crowned with many crowns, sooner shall heaven's high throne be shaken than your soul be suffered to perish. Only believe in Jesus, and thou shalt live; for this is the gospel, "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned," We seek not to mince matters with you - damned you will be unless you trust Christ, damned you never shall be if you will come and cast yourself before him. "Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish by the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Suppose that in the visions of the night, this night when you are on your bed you should suddenly see in your chamber the man with a sword drawn in his hand! You would not need to ask the question, "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" for your own conscience would soon tell you. Suppose you should hear a solemn voice declare, "The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and you are not saved." "Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ... I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." Suppose you saw that sword uplifted, and about to smite you, would yon not start in your dream, and your face be covered with a clammy sweat, feeling horrors indescribable? Yet such is your case to-day; except you repent, such will be your case eternally. I bless God that now our Lord Jesus has no sword drawn in his hand, but he comes to you with open hands, and saith, "Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." With tears be invites you to come to him, persuades you to come. O wherefore do ye tarry, wherefore do you turn your backs upon your own mercy, and seal your own death warrant? God grant that you may come to Jesus, and ere he grasps that sharp destroying sword.

Lastly, brethren, we are not only to sound the ram's-horn of warning, and to bear round and round the sinner's conscience the ark of Christ's grace, but all the host must engage in the work. Did you notice that the whole of the people were to compass the city! it would not fall else; and they were to shout, too, at the last. I want you, my fellow members, to unite in our earnest efforts to win souls for Christ. I have a right to claim it, and I now entreat you to fulfil the claim. You profess to have been bought with the Lord's blood, and to be his disciples. I ask you all, if you be sincere in your professions, come with us round about this Jericho, every one of you. If ye cannot all come up to the public prayer-meetings, yet send us your hearts, pray for sinners, plead for the unconverted, give the eternal Leader no rest till he be pleased to use his great power for their conversion. I am almost inclined to fall on my knees to ask you church members to rally round us at this hour. If you owe your conversion to me under God, as many of you do, I charge you by every filial tie you feel, desert me not just now. If you have ever been comforted, as I know some of you have, if I have ever been God's voice to your souls, I beseech you return to me this kindness by drawing very near to God in prayer for the souls of others. For your own children's souls be very earnest; for the souls of your servants, and kinsfolk, and neighbours, wrestle with God even unto tears; and if you will not do it, I had almost said I had sooner you were not with us. If you will not pray, if you will not join in the common supplication, wherefore do ye cumber us? O Meroz, take care lest thou be accused if thou come not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty! But you will come, God will be with us, and show us his bare right hand resplendent in our midst, and unto Him shall be the praise for ever and ever.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon- Joshua 6:10 to end.

CHAPTER 13. DAGON'S UPS AND DOWNS

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him."
1 Samuel 5:2-4.

The ark of the Lord was captured by the Philistines though it was guarded by all the men of arms that Israel could muster for the battle. It came to no hurt when it was surrounded by unarmed priests: although the times were exceedingly disturbed and perilous all through the dreary period of the Judges, yet never was the ark a captive till it was protected by the carnal weapon. When those whom God had ordained to take care of the ark of the covenant had it in charge it was safe enough; but when the proud banners of the State and the warlike array of the nation formed the body-guard of the sacred shrine the ark of God was taken. When the civil power was joined with the spiritual, and the arm of flesh came in to patronise and to take into connection with itself the arm of God's strength, then it was that the ark was borne away in triumph by its foes. All through human history you will find the explanation of this instructive fact: let God's truth alone, and it will take care of itself without the aid of kings and princes, laws or establishments, endowments or privileges. Only state the pure truth of revelation and it will force its own way, but garnish and adorn it by your eloquent language, or protect and guard it by your carnal wisdom and prudence, and the truth goes into captivity. Leave the church alone, O ye kings and princes, or persecute it if ye will, for it will laugh your opposition to scorn; but pretend not to propagate its doctrines by the civil power, for this is the worst curse that can befall it. Take it under your patronage, and the mere touch of your royal hands will create disease within it. Almost to the death has the so-called "church" come down when her ministers, like Hophni and Phineas, have allied themselves with the temporal power; for God will do his work by his own instruments, and in his own way; he will not be indebted to the might of the flesh, but will defend his own glory by his own mysterious power. He uses for his instruments his consecrated ones who wear the white linen, which is the righteousness of saints, and not the blood-stained men of war arrayed in coat of mail and glittering breastplate of steel.

Another lesson may be learned from the incident before us. When the Philistines had beaten the Israelites in battle, and captured the sacred chest called the ark, they boasted and gloried as though they had defeated God himself. They evidently regarded the golden casket as the very choicest part of the spoil, and they placed it as a trophy in the chief temple of their god Dagon, to show that he was mightier than the God Jehovah, who was unable, as they thought, to protect his people. This touched at once the honour of Jehovah, and because he is a jealous God this boded good for Israel. The fact that God is a jealous God has often a terrible side to us, for it leads to our chastisement when we grieve him: this, indeed, led to the defeat of Israel. But it has also a bright side towards us, for his jealousy flames against his foes even more terribly than against his friends; and when his name is blasphemed, and honours that are due to him are ascribed to a mere idol, or he is declared to have been defeated by a false god, then his jealousy burns like coals of juniper, and he makes bare his right arm to smite his adversaries, as he did on this occasion. He thinks it meet to punish his offending people, but when Philistia saith, "Dagon has defeated Jehovah," then the Lord will no longer suffer Philistia to triumph. Jehovah's answer to his foes was Dagon broken to shivers before his ark, and the Philistines plagued with emerods till, in their desperate pain and dire disgrace, they set free the ark, being no longer able to endure its presence in any of their towns; so that the Jews ever afterwards used to exasperate the Philistines by reminding them of the disease which so sorely tried them; and there is a dash of this in the psalm which saith of the Lord, "He smote his enemies in the hinder part; he put them to a perpetual reproach." Never did a boastful nation undergo a deeper dishonour in the eyes of their neighbours, to whom they became a laughing-stock, and never did an image suffer a worse disgrace than that which befell their god Dagon.

Now, then, whenever at any time infidelity or superstition shall so prevail as to discourage your minds, take you comfort out of this - that in all these God's honour is compromised. Have they blasphemed his name? Then he will protect that name. Have they gone further than they used to do in foul utterances against him? Then they will provoke him, and he will make bare his holy arm. I pray that they may so provoke him! All his church will say "Amen!" to that, so that he may arise and perform the glorious works of his strength and of his love among the sons of men, and put the adversary to confusion by proving that he is still with his people, and still the same mighty God as he was in the days of yore. Say you to yourselves, then, "Our Lord will not always endure this idolatrous popery, which is multiplying its priests within our national church. His people cannot bear it; much less will he. He will not always tolerate these blasphemous theories, by which self-conceited, learned men and vainglorious sceptics seek to get rid of God out of the world. They will provoke him. He will bestir himself; he will show himself strong on the behalf of his truth, he will roll back the waves of sin, and let the ages know that he is still the great I AM, the victorious God over all, blessed for ever." Those two truths seem to me to lie upon the surface of this passage.

And now, though it would be very wrong to make out the word of God to be a mere set of allegories, and so to deny that it records facts - and this, I trust, we shall never do - yet, as the apostle Paul has shown us that many of the events in the Old Testament are an allegory, and as, indeed, these things are evidently types, and must be regarded as emblems and patterns of things that still occur - we shall use this passage in a spiritual way, and make it the channel of experimental teaching. Where the living God comes into the soul, Dagon, or the idol god of sin and worldliness, must go down. This is the one thought which we shall hammer out at this time.

I. To begin, then: THE COMING OF THE ARK INTO DAGON'S TEMPLE WAS AN APT SIMILE OF THE COMING OF CHRIST INTO THE SOUL.

Dagon, according to the best information, was the fish-god of Philistia; perhaps borrowed from the Sidonians and men of Tyre, whose main business was upon the sea, and who therefore invented a marine deity. The upper part of Dagon was a man or woman, and the lower part of the idol was carved like a fish. We get a very good idea of it from the common notion of the fictitious, fabulous creature called a mermaid. Dagon was just a merman or mermaid; only, of course, there was no pretence of his being alive. He was a carved image, like that which the papists worship and call the Blessed Virgin, or Saint Peter, or Saint Remy. The temple at Ashdod was, perhaps, the cathedral of Dagon, the chief shrine of his worship; and there he sat erect upon the high altar with pompous surroundings. The ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts was a small wooden box overlaid with gold, by no means a very cumbersome or bulky matter, but nevertheless very sacred, because it had a representative character, and symbolized the covenant of God: its capture was grievous indeed to pious Israelites, for they felt that the glory was departed when the ark was taken. The sacred chest was carried in triumph by the Philistines, and brought into the temple where Dagon stood. In your mind's eye you can see the fish-god high upon his throne, and the incense burning before him as the priests gather around, and the princes of Philistia with triumphant banners bow before his shrine. We hear the shouts of the Philistine lords as they bring in the golden coffer with the golden staves, and set it down at the foot of Dagon, and sing their exultant songs. Hear them as they sound their trumpets and chant their blasphemous hymns: "Glory be unto thee, O Dagon! thou hast triumphed this day, O mighty god of the land and the sea! Glorious fish-god, thou hast vanquished those who vanquished the Canaanites; and though their God slew the Egyptians of old, thou hast smitten them by their thousands. Glory be unto thee, thou mighty god!" Thus would they extol their deity and pour contempt upon the captured ark, which they placed at the foot of the image. Then, when the service was over, and they had worshipped Dagon to their heart's content, they shut up the temple, and there was darkness in the holy place, or unholy place - which shall I call it? Not long did the ark remain where it was, with Dagon still supreme, but the mere incoming of the ark into the idol temple was a fair picture of the introduction of the grace of God into the human heart. The Philistines brought in the ark of the Lord, but only an act of divine power can bring the grace of God into the soul. By divers instrumentalities the truth as it is in Jesus is read, is heard, is brought to the recollection, is seen printed in the lives of men, and so enters into the temple of the inner manhood. When it first conies into the heart it finds sin enthroned there; and the Prince of Darkness reigning supreme. The first grace that enters into the soul finds it in darkness and in death, under the dominion of sin. Brethren, we have not to deliver ourselves from sin and death and darkness, and then obtain grace; but, while we are yet dead, grace visits us; while we are yet slaves the liberator comes; on our blackest midnight the sun of righteousness arises. While the Dagon of sin sits firmly on his throne, as if he never could be stirred, and his horrid form is alone to be seen lording it over all the thoughts and imaginations of the heart, even then it is that "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins," sends his almighty grace to dwell within us. When that grace enters the soul it comes not with observation, and sin at the first does not know any more about the incoming of grace than Dagon knew about the ark. The grace, the light, the truth, the love of God come into the soul, and the man does not know as yet what the Lord has done for him. He is only conscious of some impression, of a thoughtfulness he had never known before, of a calm frame of mind, of a desire to consider eternal things; and that is all that he perceives of the Lord's work within him. His Dagon seems to be there in as supreme a majesty as ever, only something strange is also within the mind, the man knows not what it is. It is the beginning of the end - of a blessed and glorious end.

We have now Dagon and the ark in the same temple, sin and grace in the same heart, but this state of things cannot long abide. No man can serve two masters, and even if he could then two masters would not agree to be so served. The two great principles of sin and grace will not abide in peace with each other, they are as opposite as fire and water. There will be a conflict and a victory, and we know which will conquer, for as surely as ever the grace of God comes into the soul sin receives notice to quit. That night, when the Philistines had finished their exulting ceremonies, they thought they had left Dagon robed in glory, reigning and triumphing over the ark of the Lord. They had scarcely shut the doors and gone before Dagon fell on his face to the ground before the ark. Down he went. He did not lean over, but he fell, nor did he drop upon his side, but he was made to do obeisance before the ark, for he fell on his face; and he did not fall part of the way merely, but fell on his face to the ground before the ark: a change of positions very significant to his worshippers! The ark was set at the foot of Dagon, and now Dagon lies before the ark as if he were prostrating himself in worship before the great and mighty God. Even thus grace in the soul is not long before it overthrows sin. What a turning of things upside down grace always makes! The watchword is, "Overturn, overturn, overturn." The Breaker is come up, and the images of man's invention must be dashed to shivers.

Very likely your Dagon is in the shape of self-righteousness. I shall call it Dagon, for it is nothing better: one of the worst idols in the whole world is the idol of self. The self-righteous man boasts that he is as good as other people, if not rather better, although he is not a Christian. He does not know that he has ever done anything very wrong, and he feels that in him there is a great deal that is very good and excellent, and therefore he expects that things will go well with him at last. He has a very fine figure-head for his god, and though there may be a rather "fishy" tail to his character, he keeps that as much out of sight as possible, and conceals it with excuses. The god of his self-confidence is a very pretty thing, take it for all in all; it is beautiful as a mermaid, and he is fascinated with its beauty. He bows before his idol and sings before it that ancient canticle of the Philistines - I mean the Pharisees - which begins, "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are!" When grace enters the soul the dominion of self-confidence comes to an end, down goes the fish-god on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the man discovers that he has no such righteousness as that wherein he trusted. He begins to bemoan his sins and to lament his shortcomings. A perfect change of feeling has come over him. He loathes himself as much as he once admired himself; and now, instead of taking the highest seat in the synagogue, he is willing to be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord. "Ah, me!" says he, "what a sinner I am! how vile in the sight of God!" See you not how this brave Dagon has gone down on his face to the ground before the ark.

Perhaps the man never had much of this vainglorious self-righteousness, but be served the Dagon of besetting and beloved sin. The man was a drunkard, Bacchus ruled him: but as soon as the grace of God is brought into his soul he has done with the drink-god. The horrible Dagon of drunkenness is hurled from its throne by grace. The man cannot bear to think that he should have so disgraced himself as to be fond of wantonness, and chambering, and surfeiting, and drunkenness, and such-like abominable sins, which bring manhood below the level of the beast. He who is truly penitent hates the very name of these filthy sins. If a man has been guilty of using bad language and profane swearing, the grace of God generally cures him of that at once. I have heard men who had lived in the practice of swearing for many years say that, from the time they were converted, they never had a temptation to it; that black sin went off bag and baggage at once. Some sins are slow in dying, but profanity generally gives up the ghost without a struggle. John Bunyan says that a stone from the battering-ram slew Mr. Profane by cracking his skull, so that he died early in the siege of Mansoul; it were well if more deceptive sins did the like. The grosser outward offences, like Dagon, are soon down before the ark.

Sin of every sort is bowed low before triumphant grace. Yea, and the man who receives the grace of God feels that the love of any and every sin is cast out of its place in his heart. Now he desires to be quit of it all, and anxiously cries, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" He will no more go and live in sin, as he did before, than Paul will continue to be a persecutor after the Lord, even Jesus, has appeared to him by the way. What a Dagon-fall there was in the apostle's pride just outside the Damascus gate! Such a fall takes place in the heart of every man to whom the grace of God comes with power.

Now the parallel may be run a little further. This fall of Dagon very soon began to he perceived, for "When they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the earth." Very soon after the entrance of grace this sign follows, and ere long it is seen and known. Let no man conceive that there is grace in his soul if Dagon sits on the throne still. This is one of the earliest tokens of the entrance of the life of God into the soul - that sin falls down from its high place, and is no more had in honour.

At the same time, observe that Dagon was not broken. He had fallen on his face, but that was all; so that the next day his foolish worshippers could set him up again. Sometimes at the first entrance of grace there is a downfall of sin, but nothing like such a breaking and destroying of sin in the soul as there will be afterwards. When the divine life has entered sin is dethroned, it no longer sits up there in the place of God; but yet, for all that, there is an awful power remaining in the corrupt nature, a deadly tendency to sin, a powerful law in the members bringing the soul into captivity. Still, down the idol goes, even if it be not broken: it cannot reign, though it may remain to trouble us.

Now, what happened on the night mentioned in the text? Dagon fell before the ark when it was all quiet and still in the temple. While the worshippers were there, during the day, there was noise, and shouting, the false god sat aloft and you could not tell that there was any mysterious power about the ark. It was in the quiet of the night that this deed was done, and thus often in the hearing of the word grace is introduced into the heart, but you would not know that any change was wrought, for it is only when the man gets away from the world's business - gets alone and begins to consider - that a divinely-mysterious might is displayed by the inward grace, so as to sink sin, and lay the power of evil low. Would to God our hearers took more opportunities for quietly considering the word of God! How much more blessing might often be gotten out of sermons and books if there were more meditation! You get the grapes, but you do not tread them in the wine-vat. There is more trouble taken to collect the sheaves of the sermon than is afterwards expended in threshing them out. The power which smote Dagon was displayed in the quiet of the night; and when the grace of God has entered into your souls it is probable that the down-coming of sin will be better effected in times of quiet thought and searching of heart than at any other period. Thought is the channel of immense benefit to the soul. Shut the temple doors and let all be still, and then will the Holy Ghost work wonders in the soul.

II. Now, secondly, THE SETTING UP OF DAGON THE SECOND TIME, AND HIS SECOND FALL, VERY WELL REPRESENT THE BATTLE GOING ON IN THE SOUL BETWEEN SIN AND GRACE.

What fools these Philistines were to continue worshipping a god which when it tumbled down could not get up again. To worship a god which fell on its face was bad enough, but to worship one that could not rise when he fell, but needed to be set in his place by human hands, was certainly vile infatuation: but they took up their precious deity, and they put him in his place again, and no doubt sang a special "high mass" to him, and then went their way quietly to their homes, little dreaming that their pretty fish-god would want their help again so soon. Even thus Satan and the flesh come into our souls and try to set our fallen Dagon up again, with some measure of success. It often happens that in young converts there comes a period when it looks as if they had altogether apostatized and gone back to their former ways. It seems as if the work of God were not real in their souls, and grace was not triumphant. Do you wonder at it? I have ceased to wonder. The gospel is preached, and the man accepts it, and there is a marvellous difference in him; but when he goes among his old companions, although he is resolved not to fall into his former sins, they try him very severely. He is assailed in a thousand ways! Some of our young people, if they were to tell their story, would harrow up your feelings by mentioning the way in which all sorts of jests, and insinuations, and taunts are hurled at them, and that by influential persons - their parents, their elder brothers and sisters, and those who oversee their work; they are beset behind and before, so that if they do not transgress in one way, it is very likely that the devil craftily trips them up in another. I have known a man when he has been tempted to go into evil company refuse again, and again, and again. His tempters have laughed at him, and he has borne it all, but at last he has lost his temper; and as soon as the enemies have seen his passion boiling up they have cried out, "Ah, there you are! We have got you." At such a time as that the poor man is apt to cry, "Alas, I cannot be a believer, or else I should not have done this." Now, all this is a violent attempt of Satan and the flesh to set Dagon up again. They know that the Lord has thrown him down and they cannot bear it, but would fain set the fish-god again on his throne. Sometimes they do for a time set Dagon up again and cause great sorrow in the soul. I have known a poor lost lamb to be found and brought into the fold; but it has miserably wandered for a time, and the devil has thought that, surely, he had got that lamb, and would tear him into pieces, and yet he has been deceived after all. Dagon was only set up for a time, and he had to come down again; and so it happens wherever grace enters the heart. The wanderers have come back, weeping and sighing, to own that they have dishonoured their profession: and what has been the result in the long run? Why, they have had more humility, more tenderness of heart, more love to Christ, more gratitude, than they had before; and I have been glad (not glad that they wandered, but glad) that the grace of God, when he has brought them back again more fully, has given them a deeper conversion and a more lasting and substantial work of grace, so that afterwards they have continued by the grace of God honourable, useful Christians even to the end. Often and often is that the case, and I speak at this time to any young convert who can say in his heart, "O sir, I do love the Lord, but I have been such a backslider. I do trust Jesus. I wish to be a Christian, but I have been overthrown by enemies, I fear I must not join a Christian church, because if I could not resist temptation for six weeks how could I expect to stand fast all my life? I am such a poor, weak creature, so apt to be led astray, what is to become of me?" Dear friend, grieve to think you were so foolish, but do not doubt the power of God's Holy Spirit to help you, and to break in pieces the enemy, who seems to have resumed his power over you.

Now, notice that although they again set Dagon up, he had to go down again with a worse fall. I have no doubt it took them a long pull and a great heave to haul the uncomely lump of marble into its place again. Many strong limbs were tired, and muscles strained, to lift up the huge god, and set him on his pedestal; but it was no trouble to the Lord to upset the ugly stone. No rope was wanted, and no straining or pulling, "Bel boweth down and Nebo stoopeth" when Jehovah uplifts himself. Only shut the temple gates, and leave the ark and Dagon to have it out between them, and Dagon gets the worst of it. Only, mark this, Dagon has not gained much by being reinstated, for this time, when he comes down, behold he was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah, "and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold," The idol's head was gone, and even so the reigning power of sin is utterly broken and destroyed, its beauty, its cunning, its glory are all dashed to atoms. This is the result of the grace of God, and the sure result of it, if it once comes into the soul, however long the conflict may continue, and however desperate the efforts of Satan to regain his empire, O believer, sin may trouble thee, but it shall not tyrannize over thee. "Sin shall not have dominion over you," saith the Holy Spirit, "for ye are not under the law, but under grace." If the power of evil be set up for awhile it shall only come down with the greater force, and its head shall be cut off.

Then, too, the hands of Dagon were broken off, and even thus the active power, the working power of sin is taken away. Both the palms of the idol's hands were cut off upon the threshold, so that he had not a hand left. Neither right-handed sin nor left-handed sin shall remain in the believer when God's sanctifying grace fetches Dagon down. The secret reigning power is broken, and so is the manifest working power. The Christian is kept from putting forth his hand into iniquity. He is crucified with Christ, and so both hands are nailed to the cross and fastened up from performing those deeds of ill towards which the lustings of the flesh would urge him.

This happened, too, if you notice, very speedily; for we are told a second time that, when they arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face. It does not take grace long, when it is once in the soul, to overturn the reigning power and the active energy of sin, when these for a while appear to get the upper hand. Brothers and sisters, I hope you know this. I hope that the Spirit of God which is in you, and the love of Christ which reigns in you, have destroyed the power which sin once had in your souls. If it be not so, then question yourselves whether the Spirit of God be in you at all. It is not possible that the ark should be in the temple and that Dagon should be standing there unbroken. Not till the morrow morning shall evil remain un-challenged and unmoved upon the throne. It is not possible that you, dear friend, could live and delight in sin, and yet be a child of God. If your heart is set upon iniquity, where your heart is there your treasure is, and if sin be your treasure you are no heir of heaven. That which governs your heart is your lord and your god; what your heart loves, by that you shall be judged, and if you love evil you shall be condemned. We may sin - ah, would God we did not! - but to love sin is not in the believer. There is a deadly antagonism between grace and sin; and where the gracious life comes the evil life must fall. There cannot be an alliance between Dagon and the ark, between God and the world, or between Christ and sin.

III. And now, thirdly, the parallel still holds good in one more point, namely, that THOUGH THE FISH-GOD WAS THUS MAIMED AND BROKEN, YET THE STUMP OF DAGON WAS LEFT TO HIM.

The original Hebrew is, "Only Dagon was left to him," or "only the fish": only the fishy part remained. The head and the upper portions were broken away, there remained only the fishy tail of Dagon, and that was all; but that was not broken. Now, this is the business which brings us so much sorrow - that the stump of Dagon is left to him. I wish it were not. I have heard some say that they have no sin remaining in them. Well, dear brother, the Lord convert you! I shall say no more than that, for if there were in you enough light for you to perceive your darkness, it were better than to talk as you do. Every child of God who knows anything about himself and the experience of a real believer, knows that there is indwelling sin in him, and that to a most fearful extent, so as to make his very soul cry out in agony, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" I could not go the length of singing, with Ralph Erskine, as a description of myself, the lines written by him in his "Believer's Sonnets":-

"To good and evil equal bent,-
And both a devil and a saint."

But yet, taken with a large lump of salt, there is a good deal of truth even in that unguarded expression. There is the old corruption within us, and there is no use denying it, because denying it will put us off our guard, will make many of the puzzles of life to be quite unanswerable, and often bring upon us great confusion of soul. The other law is within us as well as the law of grace. Canst thou draw near to God, my brother, and not see that he can justly charge thee with folly? Canst thou stand in his presence, as Job did, and behold his glory, and not say, "I abhor myself in dust and ashes"? Canst thou have dealings with perfection, and not perceive thy faultiness? Canst thou come near unto the innermost court of the temple, and stand in that excessive light of fellowship which is the portion of the Lord's chosen, and not see within thyself spots and wrinkles, yea, thousands of them, so as to make thee cover thy face for shame, and adore the amazing grace which loves thee still? Canst thou not see in thy daily life enough to condemn thee, and cast thee into hell, were it not that God still sees thee in Christ, and imputes not thy iniquity to thee, but accepts thee in the Beloved? Oh, it is so - it is so, indeed! The stump of Dagon is still left; and because it is left, dear friends, it is a thing to be watched against, for though that stony stump of Dagon would not grow in the Philistine temple; yet they would make a new image, and exalt it again, and bow before it as before. Alas, the stump of sin within us is not a slab of stone, but full of vitality, like the tree cut down, of which Job said, "At the scent of water it will bud." Leave the sin that is in you to itself, and let temptation come in the way, and you shall see that which will blind your eyes with weeping. It is a good thing to look at your face in a glass, but your face is not yourself; no mirror can show you yourself. There is a certain temptation which has an affinity to the evil within you; and should Satan bring that temptation near you will see yourself to your horror and shame. There shall then look out of the window of your countenance a man whom you did not see when you looked in the glass, for you only saw the house he lived in. So ugly is he that he makes the very house he lives in look horrible. When the angry man comes up, and is visible to the naked eye, how he deforms the countenance! When obstinate old Adam comes to the window, what a dark forbidding face he wears! When that envious spirit comes up, what an evil glance there is in the eye! When the unbelieving spirit peers through the lattice, what a miserable countenance he shows compared with the face of faith and childlike confidence in God! There is nobody in this world, dear brother, that you have so much cause to be afraid of as yourself. Augustine used to pray, "Lord, deliver me from that evil man, myself." A very appropriate prayer for a woman, too - "Lord, save me from myself." If you are saved from yourself you will be saved from the devil; for what can the devil do unless self joins hands with him in unholy league? But, oh, what watchfulness it will need! Here is room for faith indeed! Faith does not decline the conflict, nor puff us up with the notion that the fight is over; on the contrary, it takes to itself the whole armour of God, because it sees the battle to be still raging. Faith is wanted to be the shield to keep off the fiery darts, and the sword with which to smite the foe. Here is the sphere in which faith is to work; it does not talk of ended warfare, but carries on the life-long campaign to ultimate victory. Faith does not say, "I have ceased the conflict": she knows better: faith says, "I am in the midst of it, warring with a thousand foes, and looking for the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord." O brothers and sisters, be strong in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, for you have used to be so, since the stump of Dagon still remaineth. The lusting of the flesh abideth still in the regenerate.

Look at this matter again. That stump of Dagon which remained was a vile thing: it was a piece of an idol, a fragment of a monstrous image which had been worshipped instead of God. Now, the sin which dwelleth in you is never to be regarded by you as anything else than a horrible, loathsome, and detestable thing. That after such love as you and I have known there should be in us even the power to be ungrateful ought to shock us; that after such proof of his truth as God has shown to us, after such faithfulness and such abundant evidences of faithfulness, we should still be capable of unbelief ought to be a sorrow to us. Oh, I wish I could never sin again throughout time or eternity. Oh, that every particle of the tinder of depravity into which the devil could let a spark fall was gone from my nature. It is a mercy to have the sparks put out, but it is a pity to have even the tinder left; and there is plenty of this tinder about us all. Tinder? Ay, gunpowder, so quick is it to take the light which Satan is ever ready to bring. We carry a bomb-shell heart about with us, and we had better keep clear of all the devil's candles lest there should be an explosion of actual sin. These candles are common enough in the form of some plausible but sceptical friend, or in the form of amusements which are questionable. Keep you clear of Lucifer's matches. You have got enough mischief in your heart without going where you will get more. If anybody here feels that he is so very gracious and good that he can safely enter into temptation, I am sure that he is labouring under a very great mistake. I would say to him. Brother, there is devil enough in you without your sending out invitation cards to seven more. Go you to him that casteth out devils. Go you into company where the powers of evil will be held in chains and bound; but do not go where other devils as wicked as himself will call to the demon who now besets you, and stir him up to work mischief. The stump of Dagon is left. Be careful, watchful, prayerful, and loathe sin with all your soul.

IV. But now, lastly, here is mercy, that THOUGH THE STUMP OF DAGON WAS NOT TAKEN OUT OF THE PHILISTINE TEMPLE, WE MAY GO BEYOND THE HISTORY AND REJOICE THAT IT WILL BE TAKEN FROM OUR HEARTS.

The day is coming, brother, sister, in which there will be no more inclination in you to sin than there is in an angel. The day is coming in which your nature shall be so established in truth and righteousness and holiness that all the devils in hell will not be able to make you think a wrong thought. "Oh," says one, "I wish that time would come soon." It will come, brother. The Lord will keep you fighting yet and warring yet; but there will come a day when a messenger will wait at your door, and he will say, "The pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern. Thy flesh must return to the dust, and thy spirit to God that made it," and then your spirit shall open its eyes with glad surprise and find itself delivered from the body, and at the same time delivered from all sin. There shall also come by-and-by the sound of the trumpet of resurrection, and the body shall rise; and one of the chief characteristics of the risen body will be that as it rises it will be free from the bondage of corruption, and it will have no tendency to lead us into sin. When our perfected spirit shall enter into our perfect body, then our complete manhood, body, soul, and spirit shall have no stain, or spot, or flaw. All its past sin will be washed away - nay, is washed away - in the blood of the Lamb, and all its propensities, tendencies and inclinations to sin shall all be gone for ever, and the very possibilities of sinning shall be eternally taken away.

"No cloud those blissful regions know,
For ever bright and fair;
For sin, the source of mortal woe,
Can never enter there."

John Bunyan represents Mercy as laughing in her sleep. She had a dream, she said; and she laughed because of the great favours which were yet to be bestowed upon her. Well, if some of you were to dream to-night that the great thing which I have spoken of had actually happened to you, so that you were completely free from all tendency to sin, would not you also be as them that dream and laugh for very joy. Think of it - no more cause for watchfulness, no more need of weeping over the day's sin before you fall asleep at night; no more sin to confess, no devil to tempt you, no worldly care, no lusting, no envy, no depression of spirit, no unbelief, nothing of the kind - will not this be a very large part of the joy of heaven? Why, I am ready to cry for joy to think that this will happen to me, unworthy though I be. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name." It will be so, brother, both to you and to me. As surely as we have trusted Christ he will perfect that which concerneth us.

"The feeblest saint shall win the day,
Though death and hell obstruct the way."

The Lord has undertaken our perfect sanctification, and he will accomplish it. He has brought old Dagon down, and broken his head and his hands, and he will break him to shivers ere long. Yea, he will take the ark of the Lord away where Dagon shall never come into contact with it any more. He will take you - the gracious part of you, your truest and best self - away into the glory, to abide with him for ever. Think of this and sing. Yea, brother, sing with all your might, for all this may happen within a week. A week? It may happen within a day. It may happen before you reach home to-night. We are so near to heaven that if we were not very dull, and our ears very heavy, we might at once hear the angels chanting their ceaseless hallelujahs. Some of God's saints- some here, perhaps - have almost got their foot upon the threshold of the eternal city, and do not know it. They are closer than they think to the harp and the palm branch. They would not fret about what they will do next year, they would not be worrying about next quarter-day if they knew that they would be amongst the royalties of heaven by then. They would not even think about to-morrow did they know how soon it will all be over, and how soon the eternal joy will begin.

God bless you, dear friends. May the Lord's grace reign over all in the power of the Holy Ghost; and even to sinners in whom sin is triumphant may Jesus Christ come, and his grace enter, and then their beloved sins must fall. To the one only living and true God be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Romans 7:18-25; and Romans 8:1-14.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book"- 377, 648, 631.

CHAPTER 14. THE LOVE OF JONATHAN, AND THE LOVE OF JESUS

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Evening, September 29th, 1889, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women."
2 Samuel 1:26.

David was a poet; and when he found that his best-beloved friend had fallen by the arrows of the Philistines, he wept greatly, and then he cheered his heart by writing the very fine elegy, which in after years was called "The Song of the Bow." Even if David's lamentation is judged according to the canons of literary taste, it must be placed among the first of poetical compositions. Thus David tried to keep his friend's memory green; the song was meant to be a memorial of him. Such friends as Jonathan are not common; and when we have had them, we must not forget them.

It is sad that, in these days, friendship is proverbially a frail thing. Friends are like swallows, that are with us in our summertime, and gone when the damps of autumn begin to gather. When a man has a faithful friend, let him grapple him to his side with hooks of steel; and when he loses him, let him know that he has lost what will be very hard to replace, and let him not forget his friend though he be buried beneath the sod. True friendship likes to fashion memorials of the departed. We keep mementoes of the loved ones we have lost, we like to think of the happy days of communion we have had together, and we will not allow the cherished name to be blotted out from the memory of men.

When I thought of this subject, I said to myself, "I shall see many to-night who are lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ; I shall be face to face with thousands who love him as they love their own soul." I believe that is my happiness now. Well then, beloved friends, let us who love Christ keep him ever in memory. If you can speak of his name, be not silent. If you can make melody, in honour of Jesus, in the great congregation, take down the minstrel's harp, and lay your fingers among the strings, and bring out sweetest music to his dear name that thousands may hear; but if you have a feebler instrument, sing or play to the two or three, and let those who love you know that you 1ove your Lord best of all. Or if thy tongue fail thee, use thy pen to let men know who Jesus is. Say, with the psalmist, "My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King."

What shall we do to keep Christ's name before the sons of men? Let us be inventive, and often make the winds and waves to bear the story of his life and love to those who know it not. I would whisper in the ear of someone, "If thou lovest Jesus, how is it that thou art never at his table?" If there be any way of keeping him in memory, which is better than every other, it is the one which he has himself chosen, "This do in remembrance of me." How do you excuse yourselves, ye lovers of Christ, who have never kept up this feast of love? This is one of his dying requests, "Meet and remember me"; and yet, though you say that you love him, and I will not challenge the truth of what you say, you have never yielded obedience to his loving request, and come to eat the bread and drink of the cup which are the memorials of his broken body and his poured-out blood. David, thou couldst sing of Jonathan, though there was no law that thou shouldst do so; what wilt thou say of some who love the Christ of God better than thou didst love Jonathan, and yet have never remembered him in the way in which he asked to be remembered, but have cast behind their back the sweet forget-me-not of the table of communion?

Let that stand as a preface. May the Lord put our hearts in tune now while we think upon two things! The first is the small type, Jonathan's love to David; the second is the infinite anti-type, Christ's love to men. Perhaps it will be sweetest to-night if we can each one say, "Christ's love to me. He loved me, and gave himself for me." That expression will be in harmony with the words of the text, "Thy love to me was wonderful."

I. First, then, we have to think a little about JONATHAN'S LOVE TO DAVID.

Jonathan's was a singular love, because of the pureness of its origin. Jonathan loved David out of great admiration of him. When he saw him come back with the head of Goliath in his hand, he loved him as a soldier loves a soldier, as a brave man loves another brave man. He felt that there was the right kind of metal in that young man; and though Jonathan was the king's son, and heir-apparent to the throne, we find that he "stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle." He felt that such a hero, who could so trust his God, and so expose his life, and come off so victorious, deserved his utmost love. It did not begin in self-interest, it did not begin in relationship; but it began in the likeness that Jonathan saw between his own nature, and that of David. It was one brave man loving another brave man.

Jonathan's love proved also to be most intense. It is said that "he loved him as his own soul." He would at any moment have sacrificed his life to preserve the life of David; in fact, I do not doubt that Jonathan thought David's life much more valuable than his own, and that he was quite willing to expose himself to peril that David might be preserved. Jonathan's was a very intense love. May we see more of this kind of love among Christian men! May they love each other for Christ's sake, and because of the love of God which they see in one another, and may they be intense in their affection!

Jonathan's love was very disinterested; because, as I have said, Jonathan was heir-apparent to the throne, but David had been anointed king by Samuel. The kingdom was to be taken from the house of Saul, and given to the house of David. Very naturally, the young prince Jonathan might have felt first envy, and then hatred of David, who was to supplant him; but instead of that, he said to him one day, very touchingly, "Thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee." He meant to be his friend, and his helper, taking joy in seeing David wear the crown which might have adorned his own brow. Happy Jonathan, to be able to put himself in the background like that, and to feel that, if David was first, it was what he himself desired. That friendship, in which a man can set himself on one side for the sake of another, is not yet so common that we can hawk it in the streets.

Jonathan's was a love which bore up under all opposition, for he soon found that Saul, his father, in his black heart, hated David. He could not bear the thought that another man should take the place which he coveted for himself, though he did not himself deserve to keep it. He wished to see David dead; and because Jonathan took David's part, Saul was exceedingly angry, and made Jonathan's lot hard to bear; yet Jonathan did not cast off his friend, he clung to David through good report and through evil report. Jonathan was faithful to his father, and very obedient to him; but still he would not give up his friend David, and he would sooner be in jeopardy of the javelin of Saul than end the friendship that existed between himself and God's chosen servant.

And this love was very active, for you know how he pleaded for David with his father. He went out into the field, and took counsel with David. He arranged plans and methods for David's preservation; and, on one occasion, we find that he "went to David in the wood, and strengthened his hand in God." Yes, his love was not a matter of mere talk, it was real, practical, active; it was a love which never failed. When the arrow of the Philistine went through the heart of Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, it struck the name of David that was engraven there.

"He loved him long, and loved him well,
And loved him to the death;"

so that David could truly say, "Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women."

Now, dear friends, do you not think that, when we read a story like that of Jonathan and David, it should stir up in us the desire, not so much to have such a friend, as to be such a friend as Jonathan was to David? Any man can selfishly desire to have a Jonathan; but he is on the right tack who desires to find out a David to whom he can be a Jonathan. There is great joy in life with real friendship on both sides. Some people expect friendship to be always heaping its treasures upon them; but true friendship has two hands, and two feet, and two eyes. You cannot have a real friendship that is all for taking, and never for giving. David loved Jonathan as Jonathan loved David. May that blessed Spirit of God, who teaches us to love even our enemies, help us to cultivate sanctified friendships, and to be willing to help those who are our brethren in Christ in time of need!

I shall say no more upon that part of my subject; but I hope it will rebuke some who are no friends at all. Oh, how often have we met with such! They are very friendly when their legs are under your mahogany; but they are not so friendly when you have no mahogany, and have hardly a deal table left. They think all the world of you while you can be a ladder by which they climb the wall of prosperity; but when they are on the top of the wall, they too often say that they never saw that ladder in all their lives, and you may take it away. We continually see that kind of thing among men of the world. May it not be so among Christians! May we be true to all who are our friends, as we would be generous even to any who are our foes, if such persons are in existence!

II. But I want now to talk of something more sweet, and more sure. THE LOVE OF CHRIST TO ME, using the first personal pronoun, because it is in the text: "Thy love to me was wonderful."

I hope that many here will be helped to use that same pronoun each one for himself or for herself. I do not wish to preach to-night; I want rather to be a sort of fugleman, just to go through the exercises that others may do the same. I am to speak of love which I trust many feel, which I hope they may feel even more than the speaker does; and let it be the ambition of every one of us to love Christ more and more. Let us think of Christ as present here to-night, for so he is, according to his promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." There he stands. With closed eyes, faith perceives him, and she cries, "Thy love to me was wonderful."

I think that we feel this most when we see our Saviour die. Sit down at the foot of the cross, and look up. Behold that sacred brow with the thorny wreath upon it. See those blessed eyes, red with weeping; mark those nailed hands, that once scattered benedictions; gaze on those bleeding feet, which hurried on errands of mercy; watch till you can peer into that gaping side, how deep the gash, how wide the breach, see how the water and the blood come streaming forth! This is the Lord of life and glory, who thus dies amid derision and scorn, suffering the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Oh, if you can picture Christ on the cross, and believe that he died for you, you will be led to cry, "Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of mothers or of wives. Thy love to me was - I cannot describe what it was - it was wonderful - as full of wonders as the heavens are full of stars, or as a forest is full of leaves. Thy love, as I see it in thy death, was wonderful." Do you picture David saying this as he thinks of the body of Jonathan pierced with the arrows of his enemies, "Thy love to me was wonderful"? Will you not stand so to-night, in imagination, over your Saviour's body, as you see it wrapped in spices, and laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea? Ere yet the stone is rolled to the cave's mouth, will you not look on that mangled form, and say, "In very truth, thy love to me was wonderful"?

Beloved friends, sometimes we feel as if our love to our departed ones would know another great flood-tide if they could come back again. You have lost - no, I will not harrow up your feelings, - you have all lost those most dear, and your sorrow was great as you laid them in the grave; but if to-night, when you reached your home, you should find, sitting in that room of yours, the beloved one come back, I think that your love would suddenly leap up into an ecstasy, and it would be greater than ever it was before. "Has my husband returned to me? Has my spouse come back to me? Has my mother, my child, been restored to me?" Oh, what a feast of love our souls would have if there could be such a reunion in our bereaved households! Well, remember that he who died for us rose again.

"He lives, the great Redeemer lives,"

lives with our love still within his heart, lives to love us as much in his eternal glory as he did in the shame and spitting while he was on earth. Come, give your love room and space to-night, as you remember him as dead, but rejoice in him as living.

I think, also, that we sometimes feel the greatest love to dear friends when we find others doing them despite. When David found that Jonathan's body had been dishonoured by the Philistines, that they had taken away the bodies of King Saul and his sons to hang them on the wall of Beth-shan, then was he sorely troubled, and his love broke forth again in sighs, and cries, and tears. And I must say to-night that I love my Lord all the more because of the insults others heap upon him. When I have lately seen books written against his atoning sacrifice, when I meet with men, calling themselves Christians, who speak lightly of the sacred expiation, and even of the divine Person of the great sacrifice, my heart first burns with indignation against the traitors, - true successors of Judas, - and then my soul cries, "My Saviour, by the dishonour that they put on thee, I love thee all the more. By the shame that they again cast on thee, as though thou wert a hundred times crucified, I vow to serve thee with a hundredfold energy and force of concentrated love, for thy love to me was wonderful." Some can speak lightly of Christ; mayhap they never knew such love as he has shown to me. Some can despise his blood; possibly they were never washed from such sins as mine. Some think lightly of his faith; perhaps they have never had such communion with him as my heart has known; but I must say of him, "Thy love to me was, is, and ever shall be, wonderful, passing all loves supposable in heaven or earth besides."

Now let me briefly tell the story of that love, - it is a long story, - the love of Christ to me. Part of its wonder lies in the object of this love, that it should be bestowed upon me: "Thy love to me." Dear brother, dear sister, will you only talk about it just now to yourself? "It is a wonder that Christ should love anybody; but is it not the greatest wonder of all that he should love me? Who am I, and what is my father's house, that Christ should love me?"

"What was there in you that could merit esteem,
Or give the Creator delight?"

Thy love to me! There was special undesert; there were many reasons why love should have passed me by; but thy love to me was wonderful that thou shouldst single out me. Tell it in heaven that there is no greater wonder there than that Christ should love me; and when you get there, say to all the bright spirits before the throne, "There is no greater wonder in the salvation of you all than there is in my salvation. Thy love to me, my Lord," and you will bow adoringly at Christ's feet as you say it, "Thy love to me was wonderful."

Then throw the emphasis on the first word, "Thy love to me," and you have another part of the wonder, that is, in the Giver of this love. For a man to love me, well, should not men love their kind? But for God to love me, for the Infinite, for the inconceivably lovely One, whose ideal of that which is loveable must be far beyond human conception, for him to love me, this is a miracle indeed. Can you imagine it, that God who is greater than immensity, whose life is longer than time, that God the all-boundless One, should love you? That he should think of you, pity you, consider you, this is all very well; but that he should love you, that his heart should go out to you, that he should choose you, that he should have graven you on the palms of his hands, that he should not rest in heaven without you, that he should not think heaven complete until he brings you there, that you should be the bride, and Christ the Bridegroom, that there should be eternal love between him and you, oh, as you think of it, lift up your hands with adoring wonder, and say, "Thy love to me was wonderful."

Now begin, if you can, to consider the commencement of this love. When did God begin to love his own elect ? There was a time when he began to make the worlds; but from eternity he has loved his chosen. Before the first flash of light illumined the primeval darkness, God loved his people. Before the first pulsation of life came into human bodies, long ere there were such beings as men and women, he loved his own. He saw them in the glass of predestination and fore-knowledge, and he loved them then; his delights even then were with the sons of men. His love had no beginning, it was like himself, self-existent, starting from itself, and there never was a time when God did not love his own people. Think of that wonder of grace, that such a speck of dust as you are should have been loved from eternity, that such a handful of ashes as I am should have been loved from before all worlds! Tell it as with voice of trumpet, for God hath said it, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee."

Christ's love, then, is wonderful in its beginning; and when it began to work on me, it was still wonderful, for what did I do? I refused it. When Christ came in robes of love to me, and presented himself as a candidate for my heart's acceptance, I told him that I would not have him. There was a wanton world that had my heart. There was the devil himself, in all manner of sinful shapes; and he had my hand, and I was his. Was it not so with some of you, that Christ wooed you many a year, and you would not have him? He came to you sometimes threatening, and sometimes inviting; he came to you by providences, by preachers, by books, by his good Spirit; yet though you turned your back on him, he never turned his back on you; he would not take "No" for an answer.

"Determined to save, he watched o'er my path
When, Satan's blind slave, I sported with death."

Think of a man, who used to come staggering out of a public-house late at tight, yet he is loved of God! Or of a thief, whose hair was cut short in the prison, yet he was loved of God, and here he is to-night sitting at Jesus' feet, rejoicing in that love! Oh, what songs there will be in heaven concerning the love of Christ to his own, and the rebuffs which the dear Lover of our souls received by the sad, sad usage of ungodly, wilful men! "Thy love to me was wonderful."

And when Christ's love led him to come here, and take our nature, was it not wonderful? He reigned enthroned in heaven; seraphim and cherubim gladly did his bidding. He was God, and yet he came down from yonder royal palace to that stable at Bethlehem, and to the manger where the horned oxen fed. 'Tis he! 'Tis he! But as George Herbert reminds us, he hath unrobed himself, and hung his azure mantle on the sky, and all his rings upon the stars; and there he lies, a babe in swaddling bands, taking human nature into union with his divinity because he loved us. Truly, thou blessed Child, whom I would take into mine arms as Simeon did, and say, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation;" thy love to me was wonderful! Behold Christ with the sceptre of heaven in his hand, and then see him sitting on the edge of a well, talking to an adulterous woman. Gaze on him with the harps of angels ringing out his praise, and then see him with all the riff-raff of Jerusalem scoffing at him, and bidding him come down from the cross. If he stooped to become a man like ourselves, and stooped lower still, even unto death, truly may each saved one cry to him, "Thy love to me was wonderful."

There is one thing that makes the love of Christ more wonderful than anything else, and that is, that he not only took our nature, but he took our sin. There, scrape it up together, the filthy stuff that has made God himself to sicken at the thought of man, I mean, the sin and the pollution of our lives. Behold, the Lord hath gathered it up together in one foul heap, enough to putrefy the universe, and he hath laid it all on Christ, and the great Sin-bearer takes it upon himself as though it were his own, though it was not. He suffers for it, he bears the sentence of justice on account of it, and then he hurls it all away into the abyss of oblivion, where it shall never be found again. My Saviour, didst thou bear my sin in thine own body on the tree? Wast thou condemned for my condemnation? Then, in very deed, thy love to me was wonderful.

I do not know how to break my text up so as to bring it home to each believer; I wish that everyone here, who really has known Christ's love, would help me by a personal thought upon the brotherly and condescending character of this love. Times have been when we, who love Christ's name, have been in trouble, and he has been very near to us. Times have been when we have been misrepresented, and abused, and he has smiled, oh, so sweetly on us! Times have been when bodily pain has made us very faint, and he has put underneath us the everlasting arms. Speak as you find, beloved; how have you found the Lord Jesus in your dark days, in your heavy days, in your weary days? Have you not found him a matchless Friend? I can bear my own witness that there is no comfort like his comfort, there is no smile like his smile, there is no touch of help like his delivering hand. "Thy love to me was wonderful." Sometimes, when I have told the story of God's goodness to me, a Christian friend has said, "Have you not written all that down?" "No, I have not," I have replied. "Will you not take care, before you die, that it is all written down?" I have said, "No, I do not know that I shall." Now perhaps your life's story will die out with yourself, yet have there not been very marvellous touches of Christ's love in it? Have there not been windows of agates, and gates of carbuncle, through which you have seen your Lord's face; and can you not say to-night, looking over your pilgrim path from the first day until now, "Lord, thou hast been ever with me; thy love to me was wonderful in condescending, helpful fellowship in the time of my need"?

Think, also, of the comforting and thoughtful provisions of Christ's love. Sometimes you have been well-nigh slipping, not merely as to trouble, but as to sin. Our lives are not all to our credit; there have been sad moments, when unbelief has crept in on the back of thoughtlessness, and you have been almost a sceptic. There have been evil moments, when sin has insinuated itself into the imagination, and you have almost done that which would have been your ruin. Have there not been times in your life when you have been smitten, and, if there had not been some One to uphold you, you would have fallen, almost unconsciously fallen, and there have lain down to die? But oh, how Jesus has watched over you, and cared for you! Never mother nursed her babe with such care as Christ has given to you. When you look back, sometimes, and see the pit from which you have been preserved, into which you might have fallen; when you meet with some old friend, who used, years ago, to be singing at your side, but is now a drunkard or profane, and you say, "Why should he be like that any more than I should? Who hath made me to differ? What but the grace of God has kept me until now?" ah, then you see how Christ's love to you has been wonderful, passing the love of women!

But the love of Christ to us is most of all wonderful in its plans for the future. You know not, and you cannot conceive, what he will yet do for you. You are in trouble, are you? Well, joy cometh in the morning. Just now, you have to drink the bitter cup, and God gives you pills that you do not like. Take them at his hand, for they are meant for your good. 'Tis but a little while, and then sorrow and sighing shall for ever flee away. Has any redeemed man here any notion of what God has prepared for them that love him? You shall stand among the perfected, and go in and out amongst the holy. You shall be where no trouble shall ever reach you, or even the noise and dash of a wave of sorrow ever reach your ears. You shall be where it shall be your felicity to serve God without mistake, without transgression, and without omission. You shall behold the face of the King in his beauty, not now and then, but for ever without a cloud or a veil between. You shall find it your delight to praise him; and your voice shall be heard amid the choirs of the glorified as you adore the Lamb whose love to you has been so wonderful. And what will be your employments in heaven? Ah, that I cannot tell you; but they shall be employments that shall be equally honourable and delightful!

I have told you before what I sometimes dream shall be my lot in glory, to stand not here, and preach to a handful of people, though it be verily a large handful; but to stand upon some starry orb, and preach of Christ to whole constellations at once, and thunder out my remembrances of his sweet love to myriads of beings who have never heard of him as yet, for they have never sinned, but who will drink in all the tidings of what Jesus did for sinful men. And each of you, according to your training for it, shall make known to angels, and principalities, and powers, the manifold wisdom of God. There is plenty of room for you all, for God's universe will need millions upon millions of messengers to go through it all, and tell out the story of redeeming love. And we, I believe, are here in training for that eternal work of making known to illimitable regions of space, and countless myriads of intelligent beings whom God has created, but who have never fallen, the story of this little planet, and of the God who loved it so that he came here, and died that he might save his people from their sins.

Get ready, brethren, for the eternity which is so near. Within about a hand's-breadth, you and I shall be in eternity. Even if we live to be eighty or ninety, or fulfil the tale of a hundred years, it is but a little while, and we shall have quitted these dark shores, and landed in the everlasting brightness of endless glory, that is, if we know the love of Christ to-day, and trust in Christ to-day. We shall go on and on for ever and for ever experiencing more and more of this great truth, "Thy love to me was wonderful."

Now let each one answer this question, - Can you say, "He loved me, and gave himself for me"? If not, you are an unhappy man. God make you even more unhappy until you come and look to Jesus Christ, as men looked to the brazen serpent; and as by their looking they were healed, so by your looking may you be made to live to-night! Remember that:-

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One;
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner - look unto him, and be saved-
Unto him who was nail'd to the tree."

CHAPTER 15. RECRUITS FOR KING JESUS

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A Sermon delivered on Lord's-day Evening, February 17th, 1884, by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band."
1 Chronicles 12:16-18.

At this time David was in the hold - I suppose in the stronghold of Ziklag, which the king of the Philistines had given to him. It was in that fortress-town that he received a welcome addition to his band. David was an exile; and it is not every man who cares to cast in his lot with a banished nobleman. He was outlawed, and his sovereign would have slain him with his own hand if he had found opportunity: few care to stake their all with a man in such a condition. The many who were on Saul's side spoke very bitterly of David, and, wishing to curry favour with the king, they slandered him to the blackest degree: few respectable people care to associate themselves with a person who is in ill-repute. Many to whom he had done no ill were eager to betray David, and sell him into the hand of his enemy; for men sought their own gain, and cared not whom they sold, so long as they clutched the price: it was no small thing for a band of men to unite with a man upon whose head a price was set. David had to stand upon his guard, for traitors were all around: the men of Keilah would have delivered him up when he went in all simplicity of heart within their gates. The fortunes of David were at a low ebb, and hence when these men came to David they did a valorous action - an action which he would be sure to remember in the after-days of his triumph.

I want to run a parallel between the case of David and that of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the present moment our Lord Jesus, the Son of David, is still in the hold. Among the men of this world he is not yet enthroned: their hearts go after another prince, and as yet the kingdom has not come to the Son of David. I know that he reigns in heaven, and that he is in very deed King of kings and Lord of lords; but before the eyes of the mass of men he is still despised and rejected. His people, as yet, are but a feeble folk, and often hard put to it; while his kingdom is ridiculed, his claims are derided, and his yoke is scorned. The doctrines which he preached are tossed to and fro like a ball; and men at the present time are glorying in science or tradition, in reason or in speculation; yea, they speak as if human wisdom would soon wipe out the very name of Christianity. It is not so in truth before God; but it is so in appearance before men. This is an age of blasphemy and of rebuke for our Lord the King. Brave are they who will stand to Christ in this, the day of his exile. They shall be right royally rewarded who will now take up his cause, and will go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach. He is the man for the Lord Jesus who can now run the gauntlet of miles of scoffers, and be willing to be called a fool, a madman, or an idiot for his name's sake. Blessed are they who are not ashamed this day to bear the name of Christ written out large; and to confess that, after the way which men call "orthodoxy," so worship they the Lord God of their fathers. The philosophic Christian may escape if he will drown the Christian in the philosopher; but this is not to stand out square for Christ. It does our heart good nowadays to meet with a few brethren who are not ashamed still to believe in the merit of the Redeemer's precious blood, and in the power of his Spirit to regenerate. We feel at home when we drop in with a few who believe in prayer, and expect the Lord to interpose on the behalf of his people. I say, blessed are they who, like these men of Benjamin and Judah, are willing to go to the King in the hold, and take up his cause though it be at a low ebb, and stand up for him when the many are ready to trample him down, and are ridiculing his work and his cause. For my own part, I never loved my Lord better than now that he is defamed; and his truth is all the dearer to me because it is flouted by the worldly-wise.

It is to those who will volunteer for Jesus that I am about to speak; and our first head is, that using the text as a parable we have here a commendable example. It is a commendable example for men to join themselves with Christ while he is at a discount. Secondly, here is a cautious inquiry. When David sees these men come he does not at once receive them with open arms, but there is a reserve about him till he has asked them a question or two. He wants to know who they are before he writes down their names in his muster-roll. And, thirdly, here is a very cordial enlistment as they answer to his question, and say, "Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; for thy God helpeth thee."

I. First, then, here is A VERY COMMENDABLE EXAMPLE. May the Holy Spirit lead many of my dear hearers to follow it.

Many of these men of Benjamin and Judah, in the first place, went to join themselves to David because they had heard that he was the Lord's anointed. They understood that Samuel had gone down to Ramah, and, in the days of David's youth, had anointed him in the name of the Lord to be king instead of Saul. Therefore they said, "Whom God anoints we will follow," and they came after David. It was fit that they should be loyal to David if they would be obedient to God.

Now, it is within the belief, I trust, of all assembled here, that the Lord God Almighty has anointed "one chosen out of the people" to be his King in Zion - the King of his church for ever and ever; and that one chosen out of the people is Jesus of Nazareth, of the house of David, who is himself, as man, the servant of God, but who is also divine, and counts it not robbery to be equal with God. We have, I trust, all of us drunk in this doctrine, that the Lord Jesus is the Anointed of God, the very Word of God, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Now, it seems to me that if it be so, the next inevitable step for men who fear God is to go forth and follow the Lord's Anointed. If Jesus be the Messiah, the sent One of God, in the name of everything that is gracious and right let us follow him. God has given him to be a leader and a commander to the people; let us rally to his banner without delay. If the Lord has anointed Jesus to be a prince and a Saviour, let him be our prince and our Saviour at once. Let us render him obedience and confidence, and openly avow the same. Our Lord puts it thus - "If I tell you the truth, why do ye not believe me?" The argument is irresistible with true-hearted men. If any of you believe that Jesus is anointed to be the Saviour of men, I say that you are unreasonable if you do not practically accept him as such. But if you are willing to come right straight out, and say, "Let others do as they will; as for me, I will be the loving servant of the anointed of the Lord"; then you act rightly, and render a reasonable service. What better argument can I find with just and reasonable persons than this? You believe that God has anointed Jesus, therefore accept him for yourself. If these men followed David because God had anointed him, infinitely more binding is it upon you and upon me, believing that God has anointed Jesus of Nazareth to be the King, for us to follow him, that we may be found faithful to his cause and kingdom. Oh, my dear hearers, I am perplexed about some of you: you call Jesus Lord, and yet you do not obey him; you own that he is the Saviour, and yet you do not trust in him for salvation. Do think this over, and may the Holy Ghost lead you to a sensible decision. If Jesus be God's anointed, led him be your beloved.

Next, these men, no doubt many of them, followed David because of his personal excellencies. They had heard of him - of what he was in his youth, what he had been at home, and at court, and in the army, and in the day of battle. He had behaved admirably everywhere, and these warriors had heard of it. I should not wonder if some of them remembered that, when he was a youth and ruddy, he came forth with his sling and stone and smote the giant foe of Israel on the forehead. Perhaps they had heard of all his mighty acts that he did when, as Saul's captain, he went in and out before the host and did valiantly in the name of the Most High. And when they heard of his gentleness, and of his courtesy, and of all the many virtues which adorned him, making him so greatly different from those leaders of freebooting bands who were so common in that land, I do not wonder if they enthusiastically gave themselves up to be the loyal followers of this David the son of Jesse. A good soldier should have a good captain: a good captain deserves good soldiers. These men of war argued well when they enlisted under David. But how shall I commend the Lord Jesus Christ to you that are of a noble spirit? Was there ever any like unto him? Who among the good, the great, the brave, the beautiful, can be likened unto him? He left the courts of heaven that he might save men. Love brought him from glory to be the Redeemer of his enemies! Being found in fashion as a man, he gave himself up to death, even the death of the cross for love of men. All his life long he did valiantly for the Lord his God, in all holiness and righteousness, defeating every temptation and overcoming all evil, and he ended his labour by going up to the cross to enter into personal duel with death and hell, therein overthrowing all the powers of evil on the behalf of his people. Oh, could I paint his face, and could you see it as it is beheld by the eyes of God, yon would all be enamoured of him! Oh, could all men know how good he is, how gracious he is, as some of us do know; even if they only went to that partial extent, surely no men would stand out, but the Prince Immanuel would win all hearts! All these young men and all the vast multitude who gather to this Tabernacle would gladly take up their cross, and follow after Jesus at once, if they had any idea of his surpassing excellence. O my soul, how wouldst thou rejoice if men would come at once to Jesus! Oh to hear you all say, "We also will be with Jesus in the day of his derision and his scorn; for we see what he is, and there is none like him. He shall be our King and our Captain, for he is the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely." He, being such a One, and so worthy of the anointing which he has received of God, I do as his recruiting sergeant commend him to every one here. Oh, that you would all become his true followers at once; for he deserves the love and loyalty of every one of you. If ye would be safe and happy, come to my Lord, and be henceforth his servants. If ye would fight a good fight, enlist beneath this glorious "Captain of our salvation."

There was a third reason why brave spirits resolved to enlist under David, and that was, that he was so cruelly persecuted by Saul - so misrepresented and abused by his enemies. There are some cringing, fawning spirits in this world, who must always go with the majority. What everybody says they say: they take their cue from those who lead the fashion of the hour. They ask leave of common custom to breathe or eat. They dare not swallow down their spittle till they have obtained permission so to do. Cringing, fawning sycophants of all that is great, and all that is fashionable, scarcely could a soul be found in them if they were searched through and through with a microscope. These will never come to David when he is in the hold, nor need he wish that they would. On the other hand, there are brave spirits who rather prefer to be in the minority. They do not even care if they have to stand alone for truth and righteousness. They could have ventured to say with Athanasius, "I, Athanasius, against the world"; for they know the right and they cling to it; and it is not to them a question whether truth walks in silver slippers or whether she plods barefoot through the mire. It is the truth they care for, and not the habiliments with which she may be adorned or disfigured. Such men took up David's side chivalrously because it was the right side, and the despised side; and they liked it none the less because so many spake evil of it. Sadly true is it that the Lord Jesus Christ is still of so little account in this world. His name, ah, I am sick of the way in which they use his name to-day! Shame on some that are called Christian ministers! They believe in Christ, but it is a Christ without his crown, his atonement, his judgment-seat, or even his Godhead. They mock us with orthodox phrases, from which the essential truth is gone. They pretend that they believe in the atonement, and when we listen to their atonement we find that it does not effectually atone for any one. It is a mere fiction, and not a fact. It saves nobody, but is a mere sham. They have eviscerated the gospel, and then they hold up the empty carcase, and claim that they are Christians still. Christians who have murdered Christianity! Believers who doubt whether there is anything to be believed! Yet we are entreated in our charity to hug such traitors to our bosom. We shall do nothing of the kind. We would sooner believe in infidels outright than in those who pretend to be Christians and are infidels at heart. "Modern thought" is a more evil thing than downright atheism; even as a wolf in a sheep's skin is worse than a wolf in his natural form. There are pretty things said of our Lord Jesus by those who deny the faith which are sickening to me. I loathe to hear our true Lord praised by false lips. They deny the doctrines which he taught, and yet prate about believing him. It is a shallow trick, but yet it deceives shallow souls. Poor, weak minds say, " The man speaks so beautifully of Jesus, surely he cannot be in error." I tell you it is the old Judas trick - the Son of man is betrayed with a kiss. How nauseating their praises must be to him whom they are betraying. Think not that they are honest; their designs are far other than appear upon the surface. They laud him as man that they may dishonour him as God: they cry up his life, and his example, that they may cast his atoning sacrifice into the ditch. They lift up one part of the divine revelation with no other intention than that they may dash down the other: they crouch at his feet that they may stab at his heart.

I avow myself at this hour the partisan of Christ, and of the whole truth of Christ, in its old-fashioned form: the more old-fashioned the better for me. I am for Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. I am for the gospel of martyrs and confessors who gave their hearts' blood as the seal of their faith. New gospels and new theologies I abhor. I am for that same ancient gospel which to-day is said to be absolutely defunct. Science has wiped out the evangelicals: we are dead: we are gone. So they say of us. Yet in our graves we turn: even in our ashes live our wonted fires: we expect a resurrection. Truth may be crushed down, but it cannot be crushed out. If there survived but one lover of the doctrines of grace he would suffice by God's Spirit to sow the world again with the verities of our holy faith. The eternal truth which Christ and his apostles taught is not dead but sleepeth; at a touch of the Lord's hand she shall rise in all her ancient power and look round for her adversaries, and they shall not be: yea, she shall diligently consider their place and they shall not be. Blessed are they who at this time are not afraid to be on the side that is ridiculed and laughed at. Truth will have its turn, and though it now grind the dust it shall be at the top before long, and they who are loyal to it shall share its fortunes. Let us be bold enough to say, "Put down my name among the fools who believe, and not among those whose wisdom lies in doubting everything." God save ns from the wisdom which believes in itself, and give us more of the wisdom which believes in him!

Once more. These men came to David because they believed that David had a great future before him. He was very poor when they came to him, an exile, as we have said, an outlaw, one who could not return to his land because the king himself had a personal feud with him. But they said, "It doth not yet appear what he shall be. This son of Jesse will be king yet, and his enemies shall beg their lives of him." So, looking to the great future that awaited him, they determined to take shares with him in his present low estate that they might be raised with him in his exaltation. Now, I think that I can say to every one here, "I would that ye would come over to David's side - to Jesus's side - for there is a future awaiting him, a glory, a triumph, even here on earth, such as shall make those men gnash their teeth who throw away this opportunity of enlisting in his host." How will souls lament for ever their neglect of joining themselves to Jesus! It shall be their everlasting regret that they lost the opportunity of standing straight out for truth, and right, and love, as they are seen in the person of the Son of God. Oh, it will be an endless loss to have refused to stand upon the pillory of scorn, and avow Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God, and the Saviour of men. "Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." Woe to those who pierced him l)y refusing to believe in him. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, and the shout of "Hallelujah, hallelujah," shall come up from earth and descend from heaven. He shall sit upon the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Who does not desire to be with him and to behold his glory? Cast in your lot with him, then, O ye undecided! Let his cause be as it may in the eyes of worldlings, espouse it at once right heartily; for they that are with him in his humiliation shall be with him in his triumph.

Those are the reasons why, at this time, I stand here, and exhort, beg, beseech, entreat every one among you to be on the side of Jesus Christ our Lord. Woe unto you if you turn your backs upon him! Woe unto you if you attempt to be neutrals! Woe unto you if you are lukewarm followers! Remember, he that is not with him is against him. He that takes not up his cross and follows not after him is not worthy of him, and shall not be counted among his disciples. Oh, that this whole company here to-night were distinctly and avowedly, perfectly and continuously, on the side of Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, the coming King! O my friend, yonder, I speak to you personally, I would to God that you would at once put on the livery of my Lord Jesus, and become his sworn servant for ever!

II. Now, I have just a few words to say upon the second head. A CAUTIOUS INQUIRY.

These men of Benjamin and of Judah came to David, and David met them as a warrior standing upon his guard. The times were not such as to allow of a negligent confidence in all who professed friendship. The Benjamites were of the same tribe as Saul, and it was singular that they should come and join with David, the rival of their own leader. The men of Judah belonged to the same tribe as those men of Keilah who had betrayed David: therefore the hero was cautious and made careful inquiry. My Lord Jesus Christ is never so eager after disciples as to enrol those who cannot bear to be questioned. He did not go abroad sweeping up a heap of nominal followers who would increase his apparent strength and prove a real weakness to him. He said to those who offered themselves, "Count the cost." "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest," says one. Jesus does not there and then enlist him, but calmly replies, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." He wants followers, but he wants them to be of the right kind; therefore he does not delude them and excite them to enter suddenly upon a course which they will, before long, renounce. He does not act as, I am afraid, the recruiting sergeant does when he tells the brave boys of all the glories they will enjoy, and crosses their hands with a shilling, so that they may take Her Majesty's money and become her servants. The sergeant does not say much about the wounds of battle and the pains of hospital: he does not dwell very long upon wooden legs, and broken arms, and lost eyes, and all that. No; he dwells on pleasure, victory, pension, glory. Our great Captain does not in this manner entrap allies, but he sets the worst part of his service first, and bids men consider whether they will be able to carry out that which they propose to do. I would in this matter imitate my Lord: I have pressed you to come to his banner, but at the same time I would cautiously inquire of you.

Now, see what David said to them: he set before them the right way. He said, "If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you." If you wish to join with Christ's people, and have your name numbered with them, one main question is - Do you come unto him? Do you first give yourselves to the Lord and afterwards unto his people? "If ye be come unto me," says David. It would have been useless for them to answer, "We have come because we are fond of some of the people that are with you." "No," he says, "if ye be come to me, then my heart shall be knit to you. Not else."Do you come to Christ, dear friend? Are you sure that Jesus is your Leader? Do not profess to be a Christian if you have not come to Christ, for Christ is the soul of Christianity. To come to Christ is this: confessing your sin, look to him as the sin-bearer, trust him with your future, trust him with your soul altogether. By a sincere, simple, undivided faith, you do really come to Jesus: have you such a faith? Let Jesus Christ be first and last with you. Take him to be your Saviour altogether. Do not be your own Saviour even in part. Let him save you from beginning to end, from top to bottom, in all ways and respects. If it be so, come along with you, for our host will be glad to have its number increased by your coming. If you do not thus come to our Lord, pray do not come to us, for you will neither do good, nor get good thereby.

Then David puts the question, "If ye be come peaceably unto me," and this was needful, for some are captious and quarrelsome. Some profess to come to Christ, but they quarrel with Christ at the very first. They would make terms with him, and they come intending to dispute with his people. From the first they are discontented and fault-finding, rather patronizing Christ and his cause than humbly uniting with him and his people. They do not think half as much of God's people as God thinks of them. When I hear people say, "Oh, there is So-and-So, who is not what he ought to be, and he is a member of the church," and then they begin finding fault with this and with that, I say to myself, "That critic is no true friend." The church is not perfect, but woe to the man who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections. Christ loved his church, and let us do the same. I have no doubt that the Lord can see more fault in his church than I can; and I have equal confidence that he sees no fault at all, because he covers her faults with his own love- that love which hides a multitude of sins; and he removes all her defilement with that precious blood which washes away all the transgressions of his people. I dare not find fault with those whom the Lord has loved from before the foundation of the world; more especially since 1 find that I need all my time to find out my own faults and to get rid of them. If you are a faultless man I do not ask you to join the Christian Church, because I am sure that you would not find anybody else there like yourself. It is true that if you do not join a church till you find a perfect one you will not be a church-member this side heaven; but I may add, that if there were such a church, the moment your name was written in the list it would leave off being a perfect church, for your presence would have destroyed its perfection. If you are coming to pick holes, and quiz, and question, and find fault, and talk about inconsistencies and so forth, then you may pass on and join some other army; but if you be come peaceably to our Lord and to us. then I offer you a hearty welcome. We are not anxious to enlist men who love to have the pre-eminence, nor men of fierce temper, nor unforgiving spirits, nor proud, envious, lovers of strife: we want only those who have the mind of Christ. Come peaceably, or come not at all.

Again David puts the question, "If ye be come peaceably to me to help me." Mind this and mark it well: they that join with Christ must join in his battles, join in his labours, join in his self-sacrifice. We must come to his church not only to be helped, but to help. It is of no use your entering the army if you do not mean to fight; and it is of no use your uniting with the host of God unless you mean to take your share in the holy warfare. Many forget this, and look upon a religious life as one of sanctified selfishness. A great many stop the gospel plough. "Hi!" say they; "stop!" They want to ride on one of the horses. Yes, but the ploughman has no opinion of such friends. Let them lead the horses or hold the plough-handles, or do something, or else let them take themselves off. Of course, I do not mean the sick and faint; but all fit for war must go to the war. There is something for every church member to do as well as to receive. They that join the Church of Christ must come to pull as well as to be pulled - come to work as well as to eat; and usually the rule is true in Christ's house as it ought to be in everybody else's, "He that will not work, neither shall he eat." They that do not labour in the cause of Christ will very soon find that they are not fed in the house of God. Why should they be? I count it no office of mine to carry bread and meat to sluggards and lie-a-beds: I would sooner feed swine. They who never do a hand's turn among us ought to be turned out from us. If ye be come peaceably to help us, then I speak for my Captain, and bid you welcome; but if you do not mean real service, please to march on.

There are the three questions, then. Do you come to Christ and accept him? If so, come along. Do you come with a desire to maintain peace among your Christian brethren? If so, come! Do you come with the intent of helping the Lord Jesus Christ to spread abroad his truth? Then come, and welcome, and the Lord be with you and with us!

Do you know what Jesus says to you who come to him aright? "My heart shall be knit unto you." Oh, I think that if I had been Amasai, I should have felt the spirit come upon me to speak just as Amasai did when he so heartily declared that he and his brethren came to join heart and soul with David. With all that loving warmth which was so natural to him, David said, "My heart shall be knit to you." Now when the Lord Jesus Christ says, "Will you espouse my cause? Will you accept me for leader? Will you come and join with my people? Then my heart shall be knit unto you" - do not your hearts leap within you? What a charming promise it is! What union of soul it sets forth! I do not know much about knitting; but some of you do. Things knit together are not merely joined in one, but they are one. They are not merely sewn together by a machine, so that you can draw out a thread and the pieces divide; but they are knit together and are of one piece, one fabric, one substance. Come, then, ye truly faithful, you shall be knit together with Christ, his heart with your heart; you shall never be separated from him any more. It is a great thing when the hearts of God's people are knit together; but it is greatest of all when their hearts are knit with Christ's heart, and his heart is knit with theirs. Come hither, ye true-hearted: cast in your lot with your Lord. Is it not reward enough for coming into his host that his heart shall be knit to you? I count this my heaven upon earth, to have my Lord's love; do you not agree with me?

Notice how David put the other side of it, and set before them the wrong way; - "But if ye be come to betray me to my enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it." Will persons ever join the church to betray the Lord Christ to his enemies? I say not that such is their present purpose; but a great many have acted as if they were from the beginning traitors to him and to his truth. They have come into the church, and yet they have betrayed Christ to his enemies; yea, they have been aided in their treachery by having been admitted within our ranks. Some have done this by giving up the doctrines of the gospel. Falling into this error and that, they have denied the gospel, overthrown the weak, and shaken the strong. Some have proved themselves the enemies of the cross of Christ by their inconsistent lives. People have pointed at them, and said, "Those are followers of Christ, you see. They can lie, and cheat, and get gain as the basest rogues do." They say that they are Christians, and yet you cannot trust them in trade. They are just as gay, and worldly, and false as if they were not Christians at all. Why, then I suspect that they are not Christians at all; but like Judas Iscariot, they are children of perdition. Then there are some in all ages who betray the Lord Jesus by apostasy. They run well for a time, and then they are hindered. Being armed and carrying bows, they turn back in the day of battle. They are trees twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Such sorrowful heart-breaking cases do occur in all churches, where men come to the very front, and appear to do great service for Christ, and yet forsake him, and walk no more with his people, nor in his ways; even denying that they ever were associated with him and with his cause. They open his wounds! They put him to an open shame! Woe unto them! Sorrowfully, yet sternly would I say, If there should be one here who will in some future day wilfully betray the Saviour on any account whatever, the Lord have mercy upon such, and prevent his joining with our church lest we be overwhelmed with shame and sorrow. True-hearted men, we invite you! Half-hearted, fickle men, we would avoid you! Yet such do come, and will come, and what can we say of them? "The God of our fathers look thereon and rebuke it," - ay, rebuke it so as to prevent it, that they may not be as thorns in our side.

III. But time fails me, and therefore I must finish up, thirdly, by describing from the text A CORDIAL ENLISTMENT.

The captain of these brave men felt the Spirit come upon him, and he spoke up as warm-heartedly as David had spoken, saying, "Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace, be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee."

He began thus: - "Thine are we, David." Now, that is the first thing I want of those who are going to join the church - "Thine are we, Jesus. We are not our own; we are bought; with a price." Well may that man avow himself to belong to Christ who has been bought with the blood of Christ: "For ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." Now, if ye be indeed redeemed by him, I pray you confess that; you are altogether and absolutely your Lord's. Sing with your whole heart:-

"All that I am, and all I have
Shall be for ever thine."

Do not sing it alone, but practise it. Let your lives say - Thine are we, Jesus. Neither count we anything that we possess to be our own; but all is dedicated to thy royal use.

Then Amasai added, "and on thy side, thou son of Jesse:" for, if we belong to Christ, of course we are on Christ's side, whatever that side may be. In religion, morals, politics, we are on Christ's side. Here is the side of the learned; there is the side of the ignorant: we are on neither the one, nor the other: we are on Christ's side. In every political question we desire to be and ought to be on Christ's side: we are neither of this party nor of that, but on the side of justice, peace, righteousness. In every moral question we are bound to be on Christ's side. In every religious question we are not on the side of predominant thought, nor on the side of fashionable views, nor on the side of lucre, but on the side of Christ. Make this your oracle -"What would Jesus do?" Go and do that. How would Jesus think? Go and think that. What would Jesus have you to be? Ask God to make you just that. "Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse."

Then he added, "Peace be to thee." "Peace, peace, be to thee." Double peace to thee. So say we to our Lord Jesus Christ: our heart salutes him and invokes peace upon him. Blessed Master, we are at peace with thee so completely as to be at one with thee. What thou sayest we believe; what thou doest we admire; what thou commandest we obey; what thou claimest we resign; what thou forbiddest we forego. We yield ourselves up to thee wholly, and are at perfect peace with thee in all thy purposes, and designs, and acts. Peace, peace, to thee.

"And peace be to thy helpers." We desire all good for all good men. We pray for the peace of the peaceful. The day that we were converted we felt that we loved every Christian. I used to say of the little village where I first preached, that I had such an attachment to every inhabitant in it that if I had seen a dog that came from Waterbeach I would have given him a bone. Do you not feel the same towards all the Lord's people? The proverb hath it, "Love me, love my dog;" and when you love Christ you love the very lowest of his people. Ay, if Jesus had a dog, you would love that dog for Christ's sake. I am sure that it is so. When a man is always cavilling, I fear he has not the spirit of Christ, and is none of his. We know some people who might he compared to hedgehogs, they cannot be touched by anybody, they are all spines and prickles; such people may think well of themselves, but it is to be feared that the loving Jesus does not think well of them. The man with a hot head and a bitter heart, is he a friend of Jesus? I cannot imagine that such a head as that will lie in Jesus Christ's bosom. Oh, no, dear friends; he that loveth is born of God, but not the man of hate and spite. Give me the eyes of the dove, and not those of a carrion crow. When the dove soars aloft into the air, what does she look for? Why, for her dovecote, and when she discovers the beloved abode she uses her wings with lightning speed, for there is her delight. If you were to throw a raven or a carrion-crow into the air, it would be looking for something foul which it could feed upon; and there are men and women in every Christian church who are always trying with far-reaching and greatly-magnifying eyes to find out some wretched scandal or another. If you want to go to your bed uncomfortable, and to lie awake all night, if you are a pastor of a church, have a few minutes' talk with a friend of this order. These are the folks who have just sniffed out a matter that ought to be inquired into. When it is inquired into there is nothing to discover, and great heart-burning is caused in the process of investigation. These same scandal-mongers will have something fresh to-morrow morning wherewith to keep their dear tongues going. May we be favoured with very few of these irritating beings. May those that come among us always be those that can say, "Peace be to thy helpers." Whatever helps Christ I would help. Wherever I see anything of Christ there my heart shall rest. Oh, to have a large increase to this church and all the churches of hearty, loving, peace-making people!

The last word that they said to David was, "For thy God helpeth thee;" and I shall keep that last sentence very much to myself: I want to feed upon it as my portion of meat: you must not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, and I am that ox at this time. "Thy God helpeth thee." How I do rejoice to think that God is helping the Great Son of David. All the powers of the God of nature and providence are working to aid the Lord of grace. The stars in their courses are fighting for our Immanuel. Everything is being overruled for the advance of Christ's kingdom. We are all on the tremble as to the Soudan and Egypt; but could we see all things we should rejoice. None of ns know what is coming. I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I venture to foretell that mountains will be levelled for the coming of our Lord even by calamities and disasters. There will be a speedier dissolution of the empire of the false prophet and of the false prophet's imitator because of all this mixing up of the west and the east in an unwilling conjunction. I say not how or when, but the Lord's purpose shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. When the ocean roars at its utmost fury, the Lord puts a bit into the mouth of the tempest and reins up the storm. Jehovah maketh a way for himself amid the tumult of great waters. When confusion and uproar predominate everywhere, and old chaos seems to be coming back again, all this is but a phase of unbroken order. How swift and sure are the revolutions of the wheels which are bringing nearer the chariot of the Son of God!

Cast in your lot with "the Leader and Commander of the people," who has God with him. It is the glory of Christ's cause that the Lord God is involved in it. Mr. Wesley's dying words were, "The best of all is, God is with us!" As I repeat the truth my heart cries, "Hallelujah! Blessed be the name of the Lord!" The Lord thy God helpeth thee, O Christ of God! The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in thy hand. Thou must reign: thy Father swears it to thee. Thou shalt divide a portion with the great, and thou shalt share the spoil with the strong, for thou hast given up thy soul unto death, and permitted thy glory to be rolled in the dust; and thou hast risen and gone into the glory; therefore thou must reign. O Anointed of the Lord, thy throne shall endure for ever ! To-night thy servants salute thee again, thou Son of David. Wounded Christ, we lay our fingers in the print of the nails, and say, "My Lord and my God." Risen Christ, we look upward as the heavens receive thee, and we adore. Ascended Christ, we fall at thy dear feet, and say, "Thine are we, O Son of David, anointed to be a Prince and a Saviour." Coming Christ, we wait and watch for thine appearing! Come quickly to thine own! Amen and amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - John 1:29-51.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book"- 639, 670, 674.

CHAPTER 16. LOYAL TO THE CORE

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be."
2 Samuel 15:21.

Although the courage of David appears to have failed him when he fled from his son Absalom, yet certain other noble characteristics came out in brilliant relief, and, among the rest, his large-heartedness and his thoughtfulness for others. A man in such a desperate condition as he was must have earnestly coveted many friends and have been anxious to retain them all, but yet he would not exact their services if they were too costly to themselves, and so he said to Ittai, who appears to have been a Philistine - a proselyte to Israel, who had lately come to join himself to David - "Wherefore goest thou also with us? Thou hast newly come to me, and should I make thee wander with me in my sorrows? Return to thy place and abide with the new king, for thou art a stranger and an exile. May every blessing be upon thee. May mercy and truth be with thee." He did not send him away because he doubted him, but because he felt that he had no claim to the great sacrifices which Ittai might have to make in attending his chequered fortunes. "I do not know what may become of me," he seems to say, "but I do not want to drag you down with myself. Should my cause become desperate, I have no wish to involve you in it, and therefore with the best of motives I wish you farewell." I admire this generosity of spirit. Some men have great expectations: they live upon their friends, and yet complain that charity is cold. These people expect more from their friends than they ought to give. A man's best friends on earth ought to be his own strong arms. Loafers are parasitical plants, they have no root of their own, but like the mistletoe they strike root into some other tree, and suck the very soul out of it for their own nourishment. Sad that men should ever degrade themselves to such despicable meanness! While you can help yourselves, do so, and while you have a right to expect help in times of dire necessity, do not be everlastingly expecting everybody else to be waiting upon you. Feel as David did towards Ittai - that you would by no means wish for services to which you have no claim. Independence of spirit used to be characteristic of Englishmen. I hope it will always continue to be so; and especially among children of God.

On the other hand, look at Ittai, perfectly free to go, but in order to end the controversy once for all, and to make David know that he does not mean to leave him, he takes a solemn oath before Jehovah his God, and he doubles it by swearing by the life of David that he will never leave him; in life, in death, he will be with him. He has cast in his lot with him for better and for worse, and he means to be faithful to the end. Old Master Trapp says, "All faithful friends went on a pilgrimage years ago, and none of them have ever come back." I scarcely credit that, but I am afraid that friends quite so faithful as Ittai are as scarce as two moons in the sky at once, and you might travel over the edge of the world before you found them. I think, however, that one reason why faithful Ittais have become so scarce may be because large-hearted Davids are so rare. When you tell a man that you expect a good deal of him, he does not see it. Why should you look for so much? He is not your debtor. You have closed at once the valves of his generosity. But when you tell him honestly that you do not expect more than is right, and that you do not wish to be a tax upon him, when he sees that you consult his welfare more than your own, that is the very reason why he feels attached to you, and counts it a pleasure to serve such a generous-hearted man. You will generally find that when two people fall out there are faults on both sides: if generous spirits be few, it may be because faithful friends are rare, and if faithful friends are scarce it may be because generous spirits are scarce too. Be it ours as Christians to live to serve rather than to be served, remembering that we are the followers of a blaster who said, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." We are not to expect others yo serve us, but our life is to be spent in endeavouring to serve them.

I am going to use Ittai's language for a further purpose. If Ittai, charmed with David's person and character, though a foreigner and a stranger, felt that he could enlist beneath his banner for life - yea, and declared that he would do so there and then - how much more may you and I, if we know what Christ has done for us, and who he is and what he deserves at our hands, at this good hour plight our troth to him and vow, "As the Lord liveth, surely in whatsoever place my Lord and Saviour shall be, whether in death or life, even there also shall his servant be."

And so I shall begin by noticing first in what form this declaration was made, that we may learn from it how to make the same declaration.

I. In WHAT FORM AND MAlyNER WAS THIS DECLARATION MADE?

It was made, first, at a time when David' s fortunes were at their lowest ebb, and consequently it was made unselfishly, without the slightest idea of gain from it. David was now forsaken of everybody. His faithful body-guard was all that he had on earth to depend upon, and then it was that Ittai cast in his lot with David. Now, beloved, it is very easy to follow religion when she goes abroad in her silver slippers, but the true man follows her when she is in rags, and goes through the mire and the slough. To take up with Christ when everybody cries up his name is what a hypocrite would do, but to take up with Christ when they are shouting, "Away with him! away with him!" is another matter. There are times in which the simple faith of Christ is at a great discount. At one time imposing ceremonies are all the rage, and everybody loves decorated worship, and the pure simplicity of the gospel is overloaded and encumbered with meretricious ornaments; it is such a season that we must stand out for God's more simple plan, and reject the symbolism which verges on idolatry and hides the simplicity of the gospel.

At another time the gospel is assailed by learned criticisms and by insinuations against the authenticity and inspiration of the books of Scripture, while fundamental doctrines are undermined one by one, and he who keeps to the old faith is said to be behind the age, and so on. But happy is that man who takes up with Christ, and with the gospel, and with the truth when it is in its worst estate, crying, "If this he foolery, I am a fool, for where Christ is there will I be; I love him better at bis worst than others at their best, and even if he be dead and buried in a sepulchre I will go with Mary and with Magdalene and sit over against the sepulchre and watch until he rise again, for rise again he will; but whether he live or die, where he is there shall his servant be." Ho, then, brave spirits, will ye enlist for Christ when his banner is tattered? Will you enlist under him when his armour is stained with blood? Will you rally to him even when they report him slain? Happy shall ye be! Your loyalty shall be proven to your own eternal glory. Ye are soldiers such as he loves to honour.

Ittai gave himself up wholly to David when he was hut newly come to him. David says, "Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us?" But Ittai does not care whether he came yesterday or twenty years ago, but he declares, "Surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be." It is best to begin the Christian life with thorough consecration. Have any of you professed to be Christians, and have you never given yourselves entirely to Christ? It is time that you began again. This should be one of the earliest forms of our worship of our Master - this total resignation of ourselves to him. According to his word, the first announcement of our faith should be by baptism, and the meaning of baptism, or immersion in water, is death, burial and resurrection. As far as this point is concerned, the avowal is just this: "I am henceforth dead to all but Christ, whose servant I now am. Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. The watermark is on me from head to foot. I have been buried with him in baptism unto death to show that henceforth I belong to him." Now, whether you have been baptized or not I leave to yourselves, but in any case this must be true - that henceforth you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. As soon as ever Christ is yours you ought to be Christ's. "I am my Beloveds" should be linked with "My Beloved is mine," in the dawn of the day in which you yield to the Lord.

Again, Ittai surrendered himself to David in the most voluntary manner. No one persuaded Ittai to do this; in fact, David seems to have persuaded him the other way. David tested and tried him, but he voluntarily out of the fulness of his heart said, "Where, my lord, the king, is, there also shall his servant be." Now, dear young people, if you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is yours, give yourselves up to him by a distinct act and deed. Feel that one grand impulse without needing pressure or argument, - "The love of Christ constraineth me": but do not wait to have your duty urged upon you, for the more free the dedication the more acceptable it will be. I am told that there is no wine so delicious as that which flows from the grape at the first gentle pressure. The longer you squeeze the harsher is the juice. We do not like that service which is pressed out of a man: and certainly the Lord of love will not accept forced labour. No; let your willinghood show itself. Say:-

"Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee."

My heart pants after the service of her Lord. With the same spontaneity which Ittai displayed make a solemn consecration of yourselves to David's Lord.

I used a word then which suggests another point, namely, that Ittai did this very solemnly. He took an oath which we Christians may not do, and may not wish to do, but still we should make the surrender with quite as much solemnity. In Dr. Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul" there is a very solemn form of consecration, which he recommends young men to sign when they give themselves to Christ. I cannot say that I can recommend it, though I practised it, for I fear that there is something of legality about it, and that it may bring the soul into bondage. I have known some write out a deed of dedication to Christ and sign it with their blood. I will neither commend nor censure, but I will say that a complete dedication must be made in some manner, and that it should be done deliberately and with grave thought. You have been bought with a price, and you should, therefore, in a distinct manner own your Lord's property in you, and transfer to him the title-deeds of your body, spirit, and soul.

And this, I think, Ittai did publicly. At any rate, he so acted that everybody saw him when David said, "Go over," and he marched in front - the first man to pass the brook. Oh yes, dear friend, you must publicly own yourself a Christian. If you are a Christian you must not try to sneak to heaven round the back alleys, but march up the narrow way like a man and like your Master. He was never ashamed of you, though he might have been: how can you be ashamed of him when there is nothing in him to be ashamed of? Some Christians seem to think that they shall lead an easier life if they never make a profession. Like a rat behind the wainscot they come out after candlelight and get a crumb, and then slip back again. I would not lead such a life. Surely, there is nothing to be ashamed of. A Christian - let us glory in the name! A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ - let them write it on our door plates, if they will. Why should we blush at that? "But," says one, "I would rather be a very quiet one." I will now place a torpedo under this cowardly quietness. What saith the Lord Jesus? "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven; but he that shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." Take up your cross and follow him, for "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." When our Master ascended up on high he told us to preach the gospel to every creature; and how did he put it? "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." There must be, therefore, the believing and the acknowledgment of believing. "But cannot I be saved as a believer if I do not openly confess Christ?" Dear friend, you have no business to tamper with your Master's command, and then say, "Will he not graciously forgive this omission?" Do not neglect one of the two commands, but obey all his will. If you have the spirit of Ittai you will say, "Wheresoever my lord the king is, there also shall thy servant be."

I leave the matter with the consciences of those who may be like Nicodemus, coming to Jesus by night, or who may be like Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple, but secretly, for fear of the Jews. May they come out and own their Master, believing that then he will own them.

II. Secondly, WHAT DID THIS DECLARATION INVOLVE? As to Ittai, what did it involve?

First, that he was henceforth to be David's servant. Of course, as his soldier, he was to fight for him, and to do his bidding. What sayest thou, man? Canst thou lift thy hand to Christ and say, "Henceforth I will live as thy servant, not doing my own will, but thy will. Thy command is henceforth my rule"? Canst thou say that? If not, do not mock him, but stand back. May the Holy Ghost give thee grace thus to begin, thus to persevere, and thus to end.

It involved, next, for Ittai that he was to do his utmost for David's cause, not to be his servant in name, but his soldier, ready for scars and wounds and death, if need be, on the king's behalf. That is what Ittai meant as, in rough soldier-tones, he took the solemn oath that it should be so. Now, if thou wouldst be Christ's disciple, determine henceforth by his grace that thou wilt defend his cause; that if there be rough fighting thou wilt be in it; and if there be a forlorn hope needed thou wilt lead it, and go through floods and flames if thy Master's cause shall call thee. Blessed is the man who will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, giving himself wholly up to his Lord to serve him with all his heart.

But Ittai in his promise declared that he would give a personal attendance upon the person of his master. That was, indeed, the pith of it. "In what place my lord, the king, shall be, even there also will thy servant be." Brethren, let us make the same resolve in our hearts, that wherever Christ is, there we will be. Where is Christ? In heaven. We will be there by-and-by. Where is he here, spiritually? Answer: in his church. The church is a body of faithful men; and where these are met together, there is Jesus in the midst of them. Very well, then, we will join the church, for wherever our Lord, the King, is, there also shall his servants be. When the list of the redeemed is read we will be found in the register, for our Lord's name is there.

Where else did Jesus go? In the commencement of his ministry he descended into the waters of baptism. Let us follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. At the close of his ministry he brake bread, and said, "This do ye in remembrance of me." Be often at his table, for if there is a place on the earth where he manifests himself to his children it is where bread is broken in his name. Let me now tell a secret. Some of you may have heard it before, but you have forgotten it. Here it is - my Lord is generally here at prayer-meetings on Monday nights, and, indeed, whenever his people come together for prayer, there he is. So I will read you my text, and see whether you will come up to it - "Surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether it be in a prayer-meeting or at a sermon, even there also will thy servant be." If you love your Lord, you know where his haunts are; take care that you follow hard after him there.

Where is the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, brethren, he is wherever the truth is, and I pray God that he may raise up a race of men and women in England who are determined to be wherever the truth of God is. We have a host of molluscous creatures about who will always be where the congregation is the most respectable: respectability being measured by clothes and cash. Time was in the church of God when they most esteemed the most pious men; has it come to this that gold takes precedence of grace? Our fathers considered whether a ministry was sound, but now the question is - Is the man clever? Words are preferred to truth, and oratory takes the lead of the gospel. Shame on such an age. O you who have not altogether sold your birthrights, I charge you keep out of this wretched declension.

The man who loves Christ thoroughly will say, "Wheresoever the Lord the King is, there also shall his servant be, if it be with half a dozen poor Baptists or Methodists, or among the most despised people in the town." I charge you, beloved, in whatever town or country your lot is cast, be true to your colours, and never forsake your principles. Wherever the truth is, there go, and where there is anything contrary to truth, do not go, for there your Master is not to be found.

What next? Well, our Master is to be found wherever there is anything to be done for the good of our fellow-men. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be found wherever there is work to be done in seeking after his lost sheep. Some people say that they have very little communion with Christ, and when I look at them, I do not wonder. Two persons cannot walk together if they will not walk at the same pace. Now, my Lord walks an earnest pace whenever he goes through the world, for the King's business requires haste; and if his disciples crawl after a snail's fashion they will lose his company. If some of our groaning brethren would go to the Sunday-school, and there begin to look after the little children, they would meet with their Lord who used to say, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." If others were to get together a little meeting, and teach the ignorant, they would there find him who had compassion on the ignorant and on those that are out of the way. Our Master is where there are fetters to be broken, burdens to be removed, and hearts to be comforted, and if you wish to keep with him you must aid in such service.

Where is our Master? Well, he is always on the side of truth and right. And, O, you Christian people, mind that in everything - politics, business, and everything - you keep to that which is right, not to that which is popular. Do not bow the knee to that which for a little day may be cried up, but stand fast in that which is consistent with rectitude, with humanity, with the cause and honour of God, and with the freedom and progress of men. It can never be wise to do wrong. It can never be foolish to be right. It can never be according to the mind of Christ to tyrannize and to oppress. Keep you ever to whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report, and you will so far keep with Christ. Temperance, purity, justice - these are favourites with him; do your best to advance them for his sake.

Above all, remember how Jesus loved secret prayer, and if you resolve to keep with him you must be much at the throne of grace.

I will not detain you over each of these points, but simply say that Ittai's declaration meant also this - that he intended to share David's condition. If David was great, Ittai would rejoice. If David was exiled, Ittai would attend his wanderings. Our point must be to resolve in God's strength to keep to Christ in all weathers and in all companies, and that whether in life or death. Ah that word "death" makes it sweet, because then we reap the blessed result of having lived with Christ. We shall go upstairs for the last time and bid good-bye to all, and then we shall feel that in death he is still with us as in life we have been with him. Though our good works can never be a ground of confidence when we are dying, yet if the Lord enables us to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, and so to lead a decided, positive, downright, upright Christian life, our death pillow will not be stuffed with thorns of regret, but we shall have to bless God that we bore a faithful witness as far as we were able to do so. In such a case we shall not when we are dying wish to go back again to rectify the mistakes and insincerities of our lives. No, beloved, it will be very, very sweet to be alone with Jesus in death. He will make all our bed in our sickness; he will make our dying pillow soft, and our soul shall vanish, kissed away by his dear lips, and we shall be with him for ever and for ever. Of those that are nearest to him it is said, "These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. They shall walk with him in white, for they are worthy."

I conclude with this observation. Will our Lord Jesus Christ accept at our hands to-night such a consecrating word? If we are trusting in him for salvation will he permit us to say that we will keep with him as long as we live?

We reply, he will not permit us to say it in our own strength. There was a young man who said, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest," but Christ gave him a cool reception: and there was an older man who said, "Though all men shall forsake thee yet will not I," and in reply his Master prayed for him that his faith should not fail. Now, you must not promise as Peter did, or you will make a greater failure. But, beloved, this self-devotion is what Christ expects of us if we are his disciples. He will not have us love father or mother more than him; we must be ready to give up all for his sake. This is not only what our Master expects from us, but what he deserves from us.

"Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all,"

This, also, is what the Lord will help us to do, for he will give us grace if we will but seek it at his hands: and this it is which he will graciously reward, and has already rewarded, in that choice word of his in the twelfth of John, where he says of his disciples in the twenty-sixth verse, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." Oh, to be honoured of God in eternity when he shall say, "Stand back, angels; make way, seraphim and cherubim; here comes a man that suffered for the sake of my dear Son. Here comes one that was not ashamed of my Only-begotten when his face was smeared with the spittle. Here comes one that stood in the pillory with Jesus, and was called ill names for his sake. Stand back, ye angels, these have greater honour than you." Surely the angels of heaven as they traverse the streets of gold and meet the martyrs will ask them about their sufferings, and say, "You are more favoured than we, for you have had the privilege of suffering and dying for the Lord." O brothers and sisters, snatch at the privilege of living for Jesus; consecrate yourselves this day unto him; live from this hour forward, not to enrich yourselves, nor to gain honour and esteem, but for Jesus, for Jesus alone. Oh, if I could set him before you here; if I could cause him to stand on this platform just as he came from Gethsemane with his bloody sweat about him, or as he came down from the cross with wounds so bright with glory and so fresh with bleeding out our redemption, I think I should hear you say, each one of you, "Lord Jesus, we are thine, and in what place thou shalt be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servants be." So may the Lord help us by his most gracious Spirit who hath wrought all our works in us, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon - 2 Samuel 15;13-23 and Matthew 10:24-33.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 670, 658, 666.

CHAPTER 17. DAVID'S SPOIL

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's-day, April 15th, 1888, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"This is David's spoil."
1 Samuel 30:20.

We have aforetime gathered spoil for ourselves out of David's behaviour 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 victory. But we must not do this till we have refreshed our memories with the story of his conduct under distress. When he came to the city he found it burned with fire, the property of himself and his comrades carried away, and, what was worse, all their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, gone into captivity. In the madness of their grief the people turned upon their leader, as if he had led them into this calamity. He was the only calm person among them, for he "encouraged himself 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 which 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 properly received a special portion of the spoil, and concerning 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 may 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 recovered 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 nothing was lacking: "David recovered all." When our Lord Jesus wrought out our 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 say, "This is David's spoil." I think I hear them, as they drive the bullocks and the sheep before them, shouting right 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." He 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 mountains 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 JESUS.

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 obtain 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 honoured their captain.

For, first. David's men defeated the Amalekites, and took their spoil, but it was for David's sake that God gave success to the band. God's eye rested upon his chosen servant, the Lord's anointed, and it was not for the warriors' 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 that every blessing, every pardoning mercy, every delivering 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 response to that, can answer, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto the name of the Well-beloved be praise, and honour, 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 blessing, and on that favour, yea, on them all, we see the mark of the cross. These are all fruits of our Redeemer's passion, the purchase of his blood. Again we say with gratitude, "This is David's spoil."

Moreover, David's men gained the victory over Amalek because 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 company. But David encouraged himself in the Lord, and so encouraged all his desponding followers. Drawing his sword, 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 Lord 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 discouraged." You know how he set his face like a flint, how stout-hearted he was to accomplish the work of our redemption, and how he ceased not till he could cry victoriously, "It is finished."

"Our glorious Leader claims our praise
For his own pattern given."

Following at his feet we, too, fight with sin. Treading 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, will 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 Commander's battle, and every victory won by us is due to the great Captain of our salvation. 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. 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 favour 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 ourselves 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 own destruction, but now, sanctified by the grace of God, all is being used for God's glory, and for our own 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 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 of us, looking at himself, and all his past, and all his future, may say, "This, too, is David's spoil." Christ has done it, 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 repeating the hymn:-

"Rejoice, ye shining worlds on high,
Behold the King of glory nigh!
He comes adorned with victory.
He made our foes before him flee.
Ye heavenly gates, your 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 apart 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 defeated foe. Now, in the great battle of Christ on our behalf, he has not only given us back what we lost, but he 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 content with restoration, he 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 where 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; 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 honour." And we see in Jesus human nature joined in mysterious union with the Godhead. 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 dignity 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 a 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 Godhead bodily, is with him upon his throne. It is a wondrous honour this - that manhood should be taken into intimate 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 believing 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 how sublime! I know how to say it, but not how to expound it! It does 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? 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; for it is written 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 covenant 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 glorious being next to God is man. A sinner most shameful once, but now in Christ a child accepted and honoured! 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 covenant Head, and unto him let the glory of it be ascribed world without end.

Another blessing which was not ours before the fall, and therefore never was lost, but comes to us as a surplusage, is the fact that we are redeemed. You sang just now that verse,

"Never did angels taste above
Redeeming grace and dying love."

It is clear that 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? Do you see those well-beloved creatures? Who are they?" Spirits that have lived in other worlds will come crowding up to the great metropolis, and will say one to another, "Who are those courtiers - those that dwell nearest to God? Who are they?" And one spirit will say to another, "They are beings whom God not only made as he made us, but whom 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 suffering 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 news 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 sacrifice - 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 redeemed beings, is indeed something given to us by Jesus over and above what Adam lost; and throughout eternity 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 be creatures who have known sin, 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 was our fault. We shall for ever remember the price at which we were redeemed; and we shall have ties upon us that will bind us to an undeviating loyalty to him who exalted 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 eternal character. Such a being shall never fall, because for ever held by cords of love eternal, and bonds of gratitude 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 wills, though always 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 accounted as the royal treasure of Jehovah. Then shall we sit with Christ upon his throne, and reign with him for ever, "This is David's spoil."

We receive blessings unknown to beings who have never fallen. I sometimes murmur to myself - and sweet music it has been as I have quietly murmured it - we are the elect of God. Election is a privilege most high and precious, what can exceed it in delight? This also is David'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 unto 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 would 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 yon, 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 often-times, when our spirit is willing, it is hampered by these garments of clay, for the flesh is weak. Some look with intense delight to the prospect of the Saviour's coming, as a means of escape from death. I confess I have but slender sympathy with them. If 1 might have my choice, I would 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 whithersoever 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 I he had not meant us to enter it, would have been left an empty tenement when 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 removed in the olden time, their servants took away the arras or hangings of their chambers; but if those hangings 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 know much about the resurrection of the body, and therefore 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 corruption, 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 wake 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 materialism, is another rare gift of Jesus. God intended, 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 I make it very plain? These poor substances - earth, water, and the like - they seem far down 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 water, 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 exalted in being connected with spirit at all. When spirit becomes connected with God, and refined materialism becomes connected with a purified spirit, by the resurrection from the dead, then shall be brought to pass the uplifting 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 baptism: they put away the Lord's supper. I have sometimes 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, are used not only as symbols, but as tokens that all created things 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; but God intends, through man, to lift up the nethermost extremities of his creation into a greater 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 ourselves 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 "kings and priests." What can the dead earth do in worship till there comes one who worships God as the world's priest? What can the fields and woods 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 around 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 worships 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 was slain, have been made kings and priests unto God.

I wish you would, rather than listen to me, try and muse upon the wonderful position which redeemed men do now occupy, and will occupy for ever and ever. For my own 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 honour 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 glory of God is another of the choice gifts which the pierced hands of Jesus alone bestow. Principalities and powers shall see in the mystical body of Christ more of God than in all the universe besides. They will study in the saints the eternal purposes 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 whom he keeps as the apple of his eye, those whom 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 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!

III. I close with the most practical part of my sermon: 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 enthusiastically. 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 David's spoil from you and from me?

First, our hearts are his alone for ever.

"Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it.
Seal it from thy courts above."

Of every believing heart it may be said, "This is David'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; "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 ail, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but 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 Jesus 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 or other, dear friend, of which you could say, "Henceforth this shall be sacred to my bleeding Lord"? Some peculiar faculty? Some choice piece of acquirement not generally possessed? Something in which you excel? 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 David'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 honour 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 homage 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 David's spoil." Jesus Christ is Head over all things to his church, and nobody else can take that position. No one may dare to take the title of "head of the church" without a usurpation of our Lord's royal right. Certain teachers of the church claim authority over consciences, 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 infallible truth, and we cease to dispute when Jesus speaks; but no man else shall dictate doctrine to us, for "This is David's spoil." , He must be sole Rabbi 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 of your own proper substance 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 honour which she paid him. What if the ointment were sold, and given to the poor? Yet it could 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; 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 between 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 savings, but all her living. She had nothing left when she gave her farthing: she loved so much that she consecrated all her living. We sometimes sing:-

"Yet if I might make some reserve,
And duly did not call, I love my God with zeal so great
That 1 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 all that 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. Are there not many persons who, on that despicable scale, reward the Saviour for the travail of his soul? I shall not upbraid them. I shall not urge them to do more, lest I spoil the voluntariness of the large gifts they mean to bring. Let a hint suffice. For us, who are deep in the Redeemer's debt, who have had much forgiven, who every day are 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. God 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.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon - Matthew 25:31-46 and 26:6-13.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 416, 802.

CHAPTER 18. THE THRESHING-FLOOR OF ORNAN

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's-day Morning, November 9th, 1884, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there."
1 Chronicles 21:28.

"Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel."
1 Chronicles 22:1.

David was for many years searching for a site for the great temple which he purposed to build for Jehovah his God. It had been ordained that the sacrifices offered to the one God should be offered by all Israel upon one altar; but as yet the ark of the Lord was within curtains, near to David's palace, and the altar of burnt offering was situated at Gibeon. Where should the one altar be erected? Where should the ark find its permanent dwelling-place? David said, "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." Yet for a long time he received no indication as to the exact spot whereon the Lord's altar should be reared, save only that he was told that the Lord had chosen Zion and desired it for his habitation.

David watched, and waited, and prayed, and in due time he received the sign. God knew the spot, and had consecrated it long before by his appearance unto Abraham. The other Sabbath-day, you remember, our text was "Jehovah-jireh," (Number 5 in this series) and we then learned that in the mount the Lord would be seen. Upon Mount Moriah, on or near that particular spot which had been named Jehovah-jireh, was the temple to be built. Abraham had there unsheathed the knife to slay his son. Wondrous type of the great Father offering up his Only-begotten for the sins of men! The scene of that grand transaction was to be the centre of worship for the chosen people. Where Abraham made the supreme sacrifice, there should his descendants present their offerings. Or if we look into the type and see God there presenting Jesus as a sacrifice for men, it was most suitable that man should for ever sacrifice to God where God made a sacrifice for him. As yet it was not known to David that this was the chosen place. Now it is indicated by memorable signs: the angel of justice stands above the spot; and his sword is sheathed there in answer to the cries of the afflicted king, according to the long-suffering mercy of God. Then David clearly saw the mind of the Lord, and said, "This is the house of Jehovah my God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel." Then he commenced at once with double speed to prepare the materials for the temple. Though he knew that he might not build it, since his hands had been stained with blood, yet he would do all that he could to help his son Solomon in the great enterprise.

This problem which David hid at last worked out by the good hand of God upon him, is one which in a deep spiritual sense exercises our hearts full often. Where is it that man may meet with God? How is it that man may speak with his offended Lord and be reconciled to him? Is there not some meeting-place where the sinner may express his repentance, and where mercy may grant full absolution? Many are saying, "Oh, that I knew where I might find him!" Hearts touched by the Spirit of God are still seeking after God if haply they may find him. In what condition, and by what means may man be at peace with God, and dread no longer the sword of his justice?

For the heart of some of us that problem takes a further shape: we know where man may meet with God but we want to know how the careless, proud, rebellious heart shall be induced to come to God in his appointed way. We know it is by the power of the Holy Ghost, through the preaching of the word, and the uplifting of the all-attracting cross; but we would fain know the state of mind which will lead up to reconciliation; for now we often have to go back to him that sent us, and to cry, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" We would lead men to God by Jesus Christ if we could; we stretch out the finger, and we point the way, but they will not see; we stretch out both hands, and intreat them to come, but they will not yield; our heart breaketh for the longing that it hath to present every man in Christ reconciled unto the living God; but how shall it be? How shall the sinner come unto God?

We may get some light from the type before us upon that question - Where shall God's temple be? How shall men be brought to it? We speak not at this time upon natural things, but upon the things of the Spirit; therefore let us pray the Holy Spirit to enlighten and instruct us, for only by his aid shall spiritual truth enter our hearts!

And, first, I remark that externally there was, and there is nothing in any place why it should be the peculiar meeting-place of God with man; but, secondly, that spiritually the place which God did choose was most suitable; for in it we read the true ground upon which God does actually meet with men in a way of grace. When we have lingered over these two subjects, we shall then have to exhort you after this fashion, - heartily let us use the place which God hath set apart to be our meeting-place with himself. "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

I. First, then, this truth is believed by you, though, alas! not by all men, that EXTERNALLY THERE IS NOTHING IN ANY PLACE WHY GOD SHOULD THERE MEET WITH MEN.

The Lord chose the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite as the spot whereupon for many a day his holy worship should be openly celebrated according to the outward ceremonies of a typical dispensation. There the Temple was built, and for a thousand years it stood as the centre of Divine worship, so far as it was visibly presented according to his ordinance. What that mount may yet become we will not at this time consider. Prophets give us bright hints of what shall yet be even on Mount Zion, which has so long been trodden under foot of the adversary. But why was the threshing-floor of Ornan to be the meeting-place of David with his God, and the spot where prayer was to be heard?

Certainly it was a very simple, unadorned, unecclesiastical place. The threshing-floor of Ornan boasted no magnificence of size, or beauty of construction. There was just the rock, and I suppose a composition spread upon it of hard clay or cement, that the feet of the oxen might the better tread out the corn. That was all it was; yet when the Temple with all its glory crowned the spot, God was never more conspicuously present than on that bare, ungarnished threshing-floor. "Meet God in a barn!" saith one. Why not? Does that astonish you? God met Adam in a garden, Abraham under a tree, and Noah in an ark. There is less of man in the open field than in the cathedral, and where there is least of man there is at least an opportunity to find most of God. "Meet God on a threshing-floor!" Why not? It may be a thousand times more sacred than many a chancel; for there simple minds are likely to pay their homage in hearty truthfulness, while in the other the artificialness of the place may foster formality. God has met with man in a dungeom, in a cave, in a whale's belly. When yon have displayed all your skill in architecture, can you secure any more of the Divine presence than the disciples had in the upper room? Can you get as much of it? A tasteful building may be a way of showing your pious regard for the Lord, and so far it may be justifiable and acceptable; but take care that you do not regard it as essential, or even important, or you will make an idol of it. If the church or chapel he esteemed for its form or tastefulness, it will become a mere exhibition of skill and industry, and so be no more sacred than the house of a greedy merchant, or the palace of a profligate prince. No chisel of mason, or hammer of carpenter can build a holy place. Without either of these a spot may be none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven. God chose a threshing-floor for his audience with David, just as aforetime he had chosen to reveal himself in a bush to Moses. His presence had been glorious on the sandy floor of the wilderness, in the midst of the curtains of goats' hair; and now it was gracious among the sheaves and the oxen. How can he that filleth all things care about a house which is made with hands? You know how curtly Stephen dismisses even Solomon's Temple with a word - "but Solomon built him a house. Howbeit, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." What was that golden fane to the Infinite Majesty? Is not his own Creation sublimer far? No arch can compare with the azure of heaven, no lamps can rival the sun and moon, no masonry can equal that city whose twelve foundations are of precious stones. Thus saith the Lord by the prophet: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made." Wherefore, then, should he not choose the hill whereon Ornan had made a hardened floor whereon to thresh his corn? At any rate that was the Lord's meeting-place with David, his audience chamber with the suppliant king; as if to show that he careth not for tabernacles or temples, but by his own presence makes that place glorious wherein he reveals himself.

Moreover, it was a place of ordinary toil, - not merely a floor, but a threshing-floor in present use, with oxen present, and all the implements of husbandry ready to hand. It was so ordinary, and so everyday a place, that none could have been more so: as if the Lord would say to us, "I will meet you anywhere; I will be with you in the house and in the field; I will speak with you when you till the ground, when you thresh your corn, when you eat your bread." Every place is holy where a holy heart is found. This ought to gladden the solitude of godly men. God is with you, therefore be of good cheer. If you are on board ship, or if you are wandering in the woods, or are banished to the ends of the earth, or are shut out from the Sabbath assemblies of God's house, yet,

"Where'er you seek him he is found,
And every place is hallowed ground."

On the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite did God meet with David, and in your workroom, at your bench, or upon your bed, or behind the hedge, or in the corner of a railway carriage, the Lord will hear you, and commune with you.

My heart rejoices when I think that this was not only a very un-adorned place, and one that was given up to common uses, but it was also in the possession of a Jebusite. The Jebusites were among the nations doomed for their iniquities; they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise; and this vast rock on which the Temple is to stand, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, belongs at first to one of the accursed seed of Canaan. Herein the Lord showeth that he is no respecter of persons; he would meet the king, not on the land of an Israelite, but on the threshing-floor of a Jebusite. The Jews wrapped themselves up within themselves, and said, "The temple of the Lord; the temple of the Lord are we": but the Lord seemed to rebuke their national pride by saying, "And your Temple is built upon the threshing-floor of a Jebusite." If they would but have remembered this, the Jews might in our Lord's day have been more tolerant of the conversion of the Gentiles to God. More-over, Gentile blood flowed in the veins of that very king who established their empire, and who was now prostrate before his God, interceding for Jerusalem. Remember Ruth, and whence she came. She put her trust under the wings of Jehovah, God of Israel, and became the great-grandmother of David. David never seemed to forget that fact, for his psalms are full of far-reaching desires and good wishes for all the peoples of the earth. Remember his words: "Let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." He looks back upon his birth, as the son of Jesse and the great-grandson of Ruth, and a large heart beats within his breast, desiring that Jehovah may be the God of the whole earth. Let us, therefore, not consider our own peculiar nationality or condition, or rank among men, as if salvation came by natural descent. The blood of fallen Adam is in the veins of every man, and there is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ Jesus. If you happen to have been born of parents who did not train you in the fear of God, yet do not despond; for as the Temple was built upon the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, so shall the great God dwell in your heart though your fathers knew him not. Say thou in thy soul, "The Lord shall have a dwelling within my heart, Jebusite though I be."

Once more, there was one matter in reference to Oman's threshing-floor which it would be well to mention: before it could be used it had to be bought with money. I frequently meet with impossibly spiritual people who hate the mention of money in connection with the worship of God. The clatter of a collection jars upon their sublime feelings. The mention of money in connection with the worship of God is more dreadful to them than it is to God himself; for he saith, "Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money"; and again, "None shall appear before me empty." To these pious persons money saved and hoarded is abundantly pleasant; their only objection is to giving it. In this they somewhat differ from David, who paid to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. Before he would offer a sacrifice he paid down fifty shekels of earnest money; for he said, "I will not offer burnt offerings unto Jehovah my God of that which doth cost me nothing." It is a very curious thing, is it not? that one man should show his spirituality by his liberality, and another should pretend to do it by the reverse method. In connection with all true worship of God in the olden times there was always the offertory, and frequently the sound of gold or silver. Beneath the drawn sword of the avenging angel money is given, and land is bought. The solemnity of the transaction is not marred thereby. Yet there was no absolute need for money, since Ornan said, "Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all." David cannot endure to worship at another man's expense, and he answers "Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price." That religion which costs a man nothing is usually worth nothing. Under the old dispensation, when men went up to worship God, it was with a bullock or with a lamb; even the poorest brought at least a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons. Do you think that this bringing of cattle and birds into the sanctuary would spoil your spirituality? It would do so if you have no spirituality; but if you have grace in your heart, your spirituality will choose just such a practical way in which to show itself. Some men's godliness is a thin, misty, ghostly, ghastly nothing: true adoration is a thing of substance, and of truth. The highest act of adoration that was ever paid on earth was when that woman, whose name is to be mentioned wherever this gospel is preached, emptied upon the head of our blessed Lord an alabaster box of precious nard. That gift was known to have cost her at least five hundred pence. It might have been sold for much, but the costliness of the perfume entered into the very essence of the act in the mind of the holy and grateful woman. The Lord Jesus Christ when he sat over against the treasury not only rend the hearts of the givers, but lie noticed the actual offering of the woman who dropped into the box two mites that made a farthing, which were all her living. Some people would sneeringly allude to the two dirty half-farthings, and condemn the collection as spoiled by Alexander the coppersmith; but the Lord is not so dainty as his servants, for he accepts the poor gifts of his people. The rattle of the coins did not take away from the heavenliness and the spirituality of that woman's worship. Far otherwise. The top of Moriah, where God appoints that his Temple should be builded, saw the weighing out of gold and silver, and was all the fitter for Divine communion because thereof.

From the whole learn that it is not needful for meeting with God that you should be aided by persons arrayed in special robes, oxen will do as well; neither do you require a holy pavement, a threshing-floor may be holiness unto the Lord; neither do you need stained glass and vaulted roof's, the open air is better still. Do not believe for a moment that visible grandeur is necessary to the place where God will meet with you. Go to your threshing-floor and pray; ay, while the unmuzzled oxen take their rest, bow your knee and cry to the Lord of the harvest, and you shall meet with God there amongst the straw and the grain. Fear not to draw nigh to God in these streets, but consecrate all space to the Lord your God. Study simplicity and plainness of worship. Remember how the Lord hated altars of brick, and how he would have his people build an altar of earth or of unhewn stone, to keep his Worship simple and natural. "If thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it."

II. But now, secondly, SPIRITUALLY THIS THRESHING-FLOOR OF ORNAN WAS AN ADMIRABLE TYPE OF HOW GOD MEETS WITH MEN.

I think, first, its extreme simplicity enters into the essence of the type. So far from thinking that a threshing-floor was a bad place to pray in, if I look a little beneath the surface I think I can see the reason for it. Golden grain is being separated from the straw by the corn drag - whence came this corn? From him who openeth his hand and supplieth the want of every living thing. Here, then, God meets me in the kindest way. Where can I meet him better than where he gives me food? Where can we better adore than in the midst of his rich gifts by which he doth sustain my life? Why, I think if I had gone out to gather manna every morning with my omer, I should have kept on praising God every moment as I collected the heavenly bread. Never could spot be more propitious than where the gracious Preserver of men spread out needful food for his children. We cannot do better than praise God when we are in our daily service earning our daily bread, or gathered at our meals refreshing our bodies. At the gate of God's almonry let us wait with worship. Where better a temple out of which the bread of eternal life shall come, than on a threshing-floor where the bread of the first life is to be gathered? The two things seem to meet right well together. The temporal and the eternal join hands in common consecration. That same prayer which teaches us to say, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," leads us on to cry, "Give us day by day our daily bread." There is a spiritual significance in the type.

"Would it be fanciful if with a glance I indicated that the threshing-floor is the exact type of affliction? Tribulation signifies threshing in the Latin, and the saints through much tribulation enter the kingdom. One of the titles of the people of God is "my threshing and the corn of my floor." Now it is well known that the Lord is with his people in their trials. When he smites with one hand he holds with the other. In the lion of trial we find the honey of communion. The temple of glory is built on the threshing-floor of affliction. I do not thrust forward this observation as though it were of great weight; but even if it be a fancy so far as the type is concerned, the thought conveys a truth in a pleasing manner.

But much more, this was the place where justice was most clearly manifest. Above Ornan's threshing floor, in mid-air, stood a dreadful apparition. A bright and terrible figure, a mysterious servant of God, was beheld with a drawn sword in his hand, which he brandished over the guilty city of Jerusalem. Deaths were constant. The people fell as forest leaves in autumn. Then was it that David went out to meet with his God, and make confession before him. Oh, sirs, the lack of many of you is that you have never yet beheld sin in its consequences, sin in its guilt, sin in its doom. God is angry with the sinner every day. Men do not fly to God till fear puts wings upon their feet. Take away the dread of the wrath to come, and you have removed the great impulse which makes men seek for mercy. Men will not meet God till they see the angel with the drawn sword. They will trifle and play with sin, and neglect the invitation of God, and even doubt his existence, till conviction comes home to them, and they are made to feel that sin is an exceeding evil and bitter thing. Conviction of sin wrought by the Spirit of God is more powerful than argument. I had religiousness, but I never drew near to God in spirit and in truth till I had seen and almost felt that drawn sword. To feel that God must punish sin, that God will by no means clear the guilty, is the best thing to drive a man God-ward. To feel that sword as it were with its point at your own breast, its edge ready to descend upon your own being, this it is that makes the guilty plead for pardon in real earnest. Men cry not "Lord save" till they are forced to add "or I perish." I could wish for certain preachers that I hear of, that they were made more vividly to realize the terror of the Lord in their own souls. He who has felt the hot drops of despair scald his throat, has had it cleared for the utterance of free grace doctrine. If some men had more fully felt that they were sinners, they would have made better saints. David meets with God at the place where he sees that sin necessitates condign punishment, and I do not believe that any man can be in fellowship with God and be blind to that truth. David saw the result of his own sin, and dreaded what would further come if, day after day, the Lord should visit him and his people with judgment. He had grown proud of the number of his subjects, and had begun to act the independent potentate, instead of loyally remaining the viceroy of Jehovah; but now he sees that he has been guilty of high treason, and beholds the sword at his neck. There he bows himself, and there the God of all grace meets with him.

Perhaps the point which brought David out into complete brokenness of heart was a clear view of the deadly effect of his sin upon others. Seventy thousand people had died of the black death already through his sin, and still the pestilence raged: this brought the matter home to his heart. Every ungodly man ought to reflect upon the mischief which he has caused to others by his evil life: his wife has been hindered from good things, his children have grown up without the fear of God, his companions with whom he has worked and traded are hardened in their wickedness by a sight of his wickedness: youthful minds have been seduced from virtue by his vice, simple hearts have been led into infidelity by his unbelief. O men, you know not what you do. You let fly sparks, but what the conflagration may have already been none of you can tell. Carelessly, O man, hast thou cast the thistledown to the wind; but what harvests of the ill weed have come, and may yet come, from thy single handful, who can tell? Are there not some in hell through thine influence? Are not others going there through thine unhallowed teaching? O thou whose hair is snow-white with sixty or seventy winters, how much of ruin hast thou wrought already! How much more is still to come! This came home to David, and he stood aghast at it, crying to God about it, and pleading as for his life that the evil might be stayed.

Thus, you see, when the deadly fruit of sin is clearly perceived, then the soul turns to God, and the Lord meets that soul. The cross is the place of doom: under its shadow we admit our guilt, and vividly see it, and thus put ourselves into a truthful position, where the God of truth will meet with us. God will meet with sinners when they come to him as sinners; but he will not hearken to them while they refuse to see their sin, and will not believe in the vengeance due to it.

Furthermore, that place where God met with David and made it to be his temple for ever, was the place where sin was confessed. David's confession is very frank and full. David says, "Is it not I? Even I it is that have sinned." Go thou, sinner, to the Lord with thine own personal confession. Shut thine eye to thy fellow-man, and say, "Father, I have sinned." Cry with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Make private personal confession, without comparing thyself with thy fellow-men, and the Lord has promised to forgive thee, and all those who confess their transgressions.

Set forth in thy confession the aggravated nature of thy sin. David said, "I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed." He emphasizes the evil, "I have done evil indeed." You will not find God in a way of grace till you begin to put an "indeed" at the end of the evil which you confess. Have you not sinned against light, sinned against knowledge, sinned against love, sinned against warnings, sinned against entreaties? Then, go and tell the Lord that you have sinned with grievous aggravations. "Father," said the prodigal, "I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." Where such a confession as this is offered, God will meet the sinner.

That confession also had within itself an admission of the justice of the punishment; for he says, "Let thine hand be on me, and on my father's house." He does not cavil against the sword of the Lord and its deadly blows. That sinner truly repents who feels:-

"My lips, with shame, my sins confess
Against thy law, against thy grace:
Lord, should thy judgment grow severe,
I am condemn'd, but thou art clear.
Should sudden vengeance seize my breath,
I must pronounce thee just in death;
And, if my soul were sent to hell,
Thy righteous law approves it well."

That repentance which questions the justice of God in the punishment of sin is a repentance that needs to be repented of; but when the penitent doth, as it were, lay his head upon the block, yield his neck to the rope, and give himself up to God, saying, "I have sinned," then mercy feels free to display itself. As long as a man quarrels with justice he cannot be at peace with mercy. We must accept God as king, even though he beareth not the sword in vain, or else he will never put up that sword into its sheath. Condemn thyself, and God will acquit thee. Come penitently and submissively, and the just God will be a Saviour unto thee.

But this is only the beginning of it; for Oman's threshing-floor was then the place where sacrifice was offered and accepted. Hastily they piled the altar of unhewn stones; they brought up to it ox after ox that had been lately threshing out the corn: the blood flowed in plentiful streams, and the sacrifice was laid upon the wood. God meets with men not where the blood of bulls and of goats flows in rivers, but where the glorious person of his own dear incarnate Son is offered up once for all for guilty men. Calvary is the trysting-place between God and penitents. Now we have reached it. This is the site of the temple: this is the temple "not made with hands," once destroyed, but builded up in three days. The person of the Lord Jesus, crucified and raised from the dead, is that place where God meeteth guilty, confessing man, and striketh hands with him; ay, eats and drinks with him in peace, as was indicated by the peace offering which David presented, and the Lord accepted. Oh, souls, you need to see this, for if you do not see it you will never see God. A reconciled God is only to be seen through the smoke of the great sacrifice. The wounds of Christ are the windows of the heart of God. If thou canst believe in Jesus Christ, by faith presenting him again to God as thy sacrifice, then God will meet with thee.

But what did David see ere long when he had laid his bullock on the altar? A flame descended from the Lord. Like a flash of lightning it came, and the sacrifice was consumed; sure token that the Lord had accepted it, and was well pleased because of it. Even thus has the Lord accepted the one great sacrifice for sin. When our Lord Jesus offered himself he came under the judicial sentence, and cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He was consumed with sorrow. "It pleased the Lord to bruise him." The Lord himself put him to grief, and made his soul a sacrifice for sin. "He was made a curse for us, as it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." And now the Lord has placed his mercy-seat where the blood is sprinkled. He accepts us in the Beloved whose sacrifice he accepted long ago when he raised him from the dead. We have access by the blood of Jesus. Come, poor trembling sinner; come with thine eye on Jesus crucified and thou shalt be welcomed of the Lord.

As soon as David had seen the sacrifice he had only one more sight to see, and that made the threshing-floor of Ornan more glorious than ever. He beheld the sign of peace. Above the threshing-floor stood the angel of the Lord; but what a change! The drawn sword, which threatened death to the city and to the nation, was suddenly thrust into its scabbard, and all was still. Not a soul more in Jerusalem should die of the pestilence. The sword of the Lord rested and was quiet. Oh, the joy of David's spirit when he saw this! What a solemn but joyous melting of heart he felt as his soul gushed forth in streams of gratitude. Learn from this that the point of full communion with God to-day is the place where we see the angel with the sheathed sword. Oh, how sweet to know that God hath nothing against us! He hath blotted out our transgressions, and will never remember them. He cannot smite us, for he has justified us in his Son. How shall he destroy those for whom Christ hath shed his blood? He hath a sword, but it is for those who are the adversaries of our souls, even for the arch-fiend who would destroy us. Its edge is not for us who are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. Many of you cannot draw near to God, and I do not wonder at it, because you have not yet seen that sin was in very deed put away by the sacrifice of Jesus. You have seen the drawn sword, and that is something; but you have not yet beheld that sword sheathed, nor heard the voice of Jehovah saying, "It is enough." The place where love meets love, where your little tiny stream melts into the great river of God's love, is where we sing, "O Lord, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me." Henceforth our life flows with the life of Jesus in one deep, peaceful stream, onward and onward for ever. You cannot rest in the Lord and live in him till you have seen the Sacrifice and its eternal results in peace with God. May God bring you there! Atonement is the basis of worship. The sacrifice of Christ and his righteousness, these are the Jachin and the Boaz, the two sublime pillars of the temple gate. God communes with men where Jesus becomes man's rest. You cannot pass to the mercy-seat to speak with God except through the veil of the Saviour's body which was rent on our behalf.

Thus I think I have made you familiar with the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and showed you wherein it was felt to be a place of divine manifestation and a fit site for the permanent temple of God.

III. And now I am going to close by HEARTILY EXHORTING YOU TO USE THIS PLACE.

Brethren and sisters, if we have found out where to meet with God, then let us meet with him continually. Do you feel guilty this morning? Is your sin heavy upon you? Do you see the sworded angel? Well, you have to meet God even there! Therefore, gird up your loins! "What garments shall I put on?" Put on sackcloth. I mean not literally; but while there is any guilt upon you come to God with lowliest penitence, mourning for sin, as David did, and the elders that were with him. You may not come now in the silken garments of your luxury, nor in the purple robes of your pride, nor in the mail of your hate. Put these away from you, and come with sackcloth and ashes, weeping for your transgressions, and God will meet with you; for he will meet with sinners who come to him mourning because of their sin.

When you thus come, I want you to be quiet a while. Stand still! Listen I Suppose you had been with those elders of Israel; what would you have heard? You would have heard your shepherd-king pleading for his flock: "These sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand be on me, and on my father's house." But now David is dead and buried, and his sepulchre is in his own land; but another King of the house of David, one Jesus, is standing before the Lord pleading for mercy. While you are clothed in the sackcloth of your repentance, you may hear him cry, "As for these sheep, let them live. Thou hast awakened the sword against me, their shepherd, therefore let my sheep be spared! Thine hand has been on me, therefore let these go their way!" Do you hear that intercession? Jesus is pleading in that fashion now. He is "able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Oh it is blessed to come to God that way - with the sackcloth on your loins, but with the prevalent intercession in your ears; confidently believing that Jesus maketh intercession for the transgressors, and that he must and will so prevail that by his knowledge he shall justify many.

Further, when you are coming to God, dear hearts, always take care that you come to the sacrifice. We frequently miss communion with God, I am persuaded, because we do not remember enough that precious blood which gives us access to God. When you go up-stairs to pray, and you cannot get near to God, then do not speak, but sit in silence, and muse upon the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion of the Lord, and all the circumstances of his wondrous death, and say, "He loved me and gave himself for me." There is a matchless power in the Lord's sacrifice to remove the stone out of the heart, and pluck away selfishness from the affections. Come, come, come, come to the sacrifice! There shall you dwell with God in sweet delight.

If you would come still nearer to God, do not forget the effect of the sacrifice and intercession in the sheathing of the sword of justice. I have already set forth this truth; now I entreat you to turn it to practical use by enjoying it.

"Oh how sweet to view the flowing
Of my Saviour's precious blood,
With divine assurance knowing
He has made my peace with God."

Do not say, "I hope that the sword is sheathed "; it either is so, or it is not so. Do not be content with questionable hopes, but aim at certainties. Rest not till you obtain a solid assurance of your peace with God. If Jesus Christ was punished for your sin you cannot be punished for it; if he did bear your sin he did bear it, and there is an end of it; and if you have believed on him you have the full proof in the word of God that you are justified before God. What more do you want than God's own word for it? and that word declares that you, as a believer, have eternal life and shall never perish, neither shall you come into condemnation. Do not continue to mutter, "Well, I hope I may yet realise it." Why these debates? It is so: "he that believeth in him is justified from aU things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses": God has turned away his wrath from the believer, and the sword is sheathed; therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And lastly, if this be so, and you realise it, go away and begin to build a temple. You say, "Do you want us to build a new place of worship?" No, I speak only of a spiritual house. Of course, build as many meeting-places as you can where people may come together to hear the word, for many are needed in this growing city, but the peculiar sort of building which I urge upon you is of the heart and spirit. Make your entire being a living temple for the living God. Begin now: the foundations are laid, you would not dream of building on any other; for "other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid." The Divine Moriah of Christ's person, the sacred place of his sacrifice is the mount wherein God shall be seen. Jesus Christ has himself become the foundation of your hope; go and build on him. Set up the pillars of earnest supplication, and arch them over with lofty praises. Remember, your God "inhabiteth the praises of Israel." Build him a house of praise, that he may dwell in you, make your bodies to be the temples of the Holy Ghost, and your spirits the priests that sacrifice therein. In acts of holiness, piety, charity, and love spend all your days. Let your houses be churches dedicated to his fear and love; and let their chambers be holy as the courts of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Let each morning and evening have its sacrifice. Be yourself a priest at the altar. Let the garments of your daily toil be as vestments, your meals as sacraments; let your thoughts be psalms, your prayers incense, and your breath praise. Let every action be a priestly function, bringing glory unto the Lord from this day forth and for ever. He that died for you reckons you to be dead to all things but himself; and so it becometh you to be. "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price," and from this day forward your motto should be, - "Thine entirely. Thine entirely, O my God, I am." Begin to build this living temple, and the Lord help you to complete it to his praise. A poor edifice it will be when you have finished it, compared with the Lord your God; but yet if you have laboured sincerely and earnestly it will turn out to be compacted of gold and silver and precious stones, and it will be found in the day of Christ to honour and glory. So may the Lord bless you, beloved, now and for ever. Amen, and amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - 1 Chronicles 21 and 22:1-5.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 302, 553, 551.

CHAPTER 19. A GREATER THAN SOLOMON

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's-day Evening, February 6th, 1881, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"Behold, a greater than Solomon is here."
Luke 11:31.

Our first thought is that no mere man would have said this concerning himself unless he had been altogether eaten up with vanity; for Solomon was among the Jews the very ideal of greatness and wisdom. It would be an instance of the utmost self-conceit if any mere man were to say of himself - "A greater than Solomon is here," Any person who was really greater and wiser than Solomon would be the last man to claim such pre-eminence. A wise man would never think it; a prudent man would never say it. The Lord Jesus Christ, if we regard him as a mere man, would never have uttered such an expression, for a more modest, self-forgetting man was never found in all our race. View it on the supposition that the Christ of Nazareth was a mere man, and I say that his whole conduct was totally different from the spirit which would have suggested an utterance like this - "A greater than Solomon is here." For men to compare themselves with one another is not wise, and Christ was wise; it is not humble, and Christ was humble. He would not have thus spoken if there had not been cause and reason in his infinitely glorious nature. It was because the divinity within him must speak out. For God to say that he is greater than all his creatures is no boasting; for what are they in his sight? All worlds are but sparks from the anvil of his omnipotence. Space, time, eternity, all these are as nothing before him; and for him to compare or even to contrast himself with one of his own creatures is supreme condescension, let him word the comparison how he may. It was the divine within our Lord which made him say - and not even then with a view to exalt himself, but with a view to point the moral that he was trying to bring before the people - "A greater than Solomon is here." He did as good as say, "The queen of the south came from a distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but you refuse to hear me. She gave attention to a man, but you will not regard your God. You will not listen to the incarnate Deity who tells you words of infinite, infallible wisdom." Our Lord Jesus is aiming at his hearers' good, and where the motive is so disinterested there remains no room for criticism. He tells them that he is greater than Solomon, to convince them of the greatness of their crime in refusing to listen to the messages of love with which his lips were loaded. Foreigners came from afar to Solomon; but I, says he, have come to your door, and brought infinite wisdom into your very gates, and yet you refuse me. Therefore the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against you, for, in rejecting me, you reject a greater than Solomon.

The second thought that comes to one's mind is this: notice the self-consciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He knows who he is, and what he is, and he is not lowly in spirit because he is ignorant of his own greatness. He was meek and lowly in heart - "Servus servorum," as the Latins were wont to call him, "Servant of servants," but all the while he knew that he was Rex regum, or King of kings. He takes a towel and he washes his disciples' feet; but all the while he knows that he is their Master and their Lord. He associates with publicans and harlots, and dwells with the common people; but all the while he knows that he is the only begotten of the Father. He sits as a child in the temple hearing and asking questions of the rabbis; he stands among his disciples as though he were one of themselves, conversing with the ignorant and foolish of the day, seeking their good; but he knows that he is not one of them; he knows that he has nothing to learn from them: he knows that he is able to teach senates and to instruct kings and philosophers, for he is greater than Solomon, He wears a peasant's garb, and has not where to lay his head; but he knows that, whatever the lowliness of his condition, he is greater than Solomon; he lets us perceive that he knows it, that all may understand the love which brought him down so low. It is grand humility on Christ's part that he condescends to be our servant, our Saviour, when he is so great that the greatest of men are as nothing before him. "He counted it not robbery to be equal with God": mark that; and yet "he made himself of no reputation." Some people do not know their own worth, and so, when they stoop to a lowly office it is no stoop to their minds, for they do not know their own abilities. They do not know to what they are equal; but Christ did know: he knew all about his own Deity, and his own wisdom and greatness as man. I admire, therefore, the clear understanding which sparkles in his deep humiliation, like a gem in a dark mine. He is not one who stoops down according to the old rhyme:-

"As needs he must who cannot sit upright";

but he is one who comes down wittingly from his throne of glory, marking each step and fully estimating the descent which he is making. The cost of our redemption was known to him, and he endured the cross, despising the shame. Watts well sings;-

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

Brethren, if our Saviour himself said that he was greater than Solomon, you and I must fully believe it, enthusiastically own it, and prepare to proclaim it. If others will not own it, let us be the more prompt to confess it. If he himself had to say, before they would own it, "A greater than Solomon is here," let it not be necessary that the encomium should be repeated, but let us all confess that he is indeed greater than Solomon. Let us go home with this resolve in our minds, that we will speak greater things of Christ than we have done, that we will try to love him more and serve him better, and make him in our own estimation and in the world's greater than he has ever been. Oh! for a glorious high throne to set him on, and a crown of stars to place, upon his head! Oh to bring nations to his feet! I know my words cannot honour him according to his merits: I wish they could. I am quite sure to fail in my own judgment when telling out his excellence; indeed, I grow less and less satisfied with my thoughts and language concerning him. He is too glorious for my feeble language to describe him. If I could speak with the tongues of men and of angels, I could not speak worthily of him. If I could borrow all the harmonies of heaven, and enlist every harp and song of the glorified, yet were not the music sweet enough for his praises. Our glorious Redeemer is ever blessed: let us bless him. He is to be extolled above the highest heavens: let us sound forth his praises. Oh for a well-tuned harp! May the Spirit of God help both heart and lip to extol him at this hour.

First, then, we shall try to draw a parallel between Jesus and Solomon; and, secondly, we will break away from all comparisons, and show where there cannot be any parallel between Christ and Solomon at all.

I. First, then, between Christ and Solomon there are some points of likeness.

When the Saviour himself gives us a comparison it is a clear proof that a likeness was originally intended by the Holy Spirit, and therefore we may say without hesitation that Solomon was meant to be a type of Christ. I am not going into detail, nor am I about to refine upon small matters; but I shall give you five points in which Solomon was conspicuously like to Christ, and in which our Lord was greater than Solomon. O for help in the great task before me.

And, first, in wisdom. Whenever you talked about Solomon to a Jew his eyes began to flash with exultation; his blood leaped in his veins with national pride. Solomon - that name brought to mind the proudest time of David's dynasty, the age of gold. Solomon, the magnificent, why, surely, his name crowns Jewish history with glory, and the brightest beam of that glory is his wisdom. In the east, and I think I may say in the west, it still remains a proverb, "To be as wise as Solomon." No modern philosopher or learned monarch has ever divided the fame of the son of David, whose name abides as the synonym of wisdom. Of no man since could it be said as of him, "And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart." He intermeddled with all knowledge, and was a master in all sciences. He was a naturalist:" and be spake of trees, from the cedar trees that are in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes." He was an engineer and architect, for he wrote: "I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees." He was one who understood the science of government - a politician of the highest order. He was everything, in fact, God gave him wisdom and largeness of heart, says the Scripture, like the sand of the sea: "and Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about." Yes; but our Saviour knows infinitely more than Solomon. I want you to-night to come to him just as the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, only for weightier reasons. You do not want to learn anything concerning architecture or navigation, agriculture or anatomy. You want to know only how you shall be built up a spiritual house, and how you shall cross those dangerous seas which lie between this land and the celestial city. Well, you may come to Jesus and he will teach you all that you need to know, for all wisdom is in Christ, Our divine Saviour knows things past and present and future: the secrets of God are with him. He knows the inmost heart of God, for no one knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whom the Son shall reveal him. To him it is given to take the book of prophetic decree and loose the seven seals thereof. Come, then, to Christ Jesus if you want to know the mind of God, for it is written that he "is made unto us wisdom," Solomon might have wisdom, but he could not he wisdom to others; Christ Jesus is that to the full. In the multifarious knowledge which he possesses - the universal knowledge which is stored up in him - there is enough for your guidance and instruction even to the end of life, however intricate and overshadowed your path may be.

Solomon proved his wisdom in part by his remarkable inventions. We cannot tell what Solomon did not know. At any rate, no man knows at this present moment how those huge stones, which have lately been discovered, which were the basis of the ascent by which Solomon went up to the house of the Lord, were ever put into their places. Many of the stones of Solomon's masonry are so enormous that scarcely could any modern machinery move them; and without the slightest cement they are put together so exactly that the blade of a knife could not be inserted between them. It is marvellous how the thing was done. How such great stones were brought from their original bed in the quarry - how the whole building of the temple was executed - nobody knows. The castings in brass and silver are scarcely less remarkable. No doubt many inventions have passed away from the knowledge of modern times, inventions as remarkable as those of our own age. We are a set of savages that are beginning to learn something, but Solomon knew and invented things which we shall, perhaps, rediscover in five hundred years time. By vehement exertion this boastful nineteenth century, wretched century as it is, will crawl towards the wisdom which Solomon possessed ages ago. Yet is Jesus greater than Solomon. As for inventions, Solomon is no inventor at all compared with him who said, "Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom," O Saviour, didst thou find out the way of our salvation? Didst thou bring into the world and carry out and execute the way by which hell-gate should be closed, and heaven-gate, once barred, should be set wide open? Then, indeed, art thou wiser than Solomon. Thou art the deviser of salvation, the architect of the church, the author and finisher of our faith.

Solomon has left us some very valuable hooks - the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the matchless Song. But, oh, the words of Solomon fall far short of the words of Jesus Christ, for they are spirit and life. The power of the word of Jesus is infinitely greater than all the deep sayings of the sage. Proverbial wisdom cannot match his sayings, nor can "The Preacher" rival his sermons, and even the divine Song itself would remain without a meaning - an allegory never to be explained - if it were not that Christ himself is the sum and substance of it. Solomon may sing of Christ, but Christ is the substance of the song. He is greater than Solomon in his teachings, for his wisdom is from above, and leads men up to heaven. Blessed are they that sit at his feet.

Again, Solomon showed his wisdom in difficult judgments. You know how he settled the question between the two women concerning the child; many other puzzles Solomon solved, and many other knots Solomon was able to untie. He was a great ruler and governor - a man wise in politics, in social economy, and in commerce - wise in all human respects. But a greater than Solomon is present where Christ is. There is no difficulty which Christ cannot remove, no knot which he cannot untie, no question which he cannot answer. You may bring your hard questions to him, and he will answer them; and if yon have any difficulty on your heart to-night, do but resort to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and search his word, and you shall hear a voice as from the sacred oracle, which shall lead you in the path of safety.

My point at this time, especially as we are coming to the Communion table, is this. I want you that love the Lord Jesus Christ to believe in his infinite wisdom, and come to him for direction. I fear that when you are in trouble, you half suppose that the great keeper of Israel must have made a mistake. You get into such an intricate path that you say, "Surely, my Shepherd has not guided me aright." Never think so. When you are poor and needy still say, "This my poverty was ordained by a greater than Solomon." What if you seem to be deprived of every comfort, and you are brought into a strange and solitary way, where you find no city to dwell in? Yet a guide is near, and that guide is not foolish; but a greater than Solomon is here. I think I look to-night into a great furnace. It is so fierce that I cannot bear to gaze into its terrible blaze. For fear my eyeballs should utterly fail me and lose the power of sight through the glare of that tremendous flame, I turn aside, for the fury of its flame overpowers me. But when I am strengthened to look again I see ingots of silver refining in the white heat, and I note that the heat is tempered to the last degree of nicety. I watch the process to the end, and I say, as I behold those ingots brought out all clear and pure, refined from all dross, and ready for the heavenly treasury, "Behold, a greater than Solomon was in that furnace work." So you will find it, O sufferer. Infinite wisdom is in your lot. Come, poor child, do not begin to interfere with your Saviour's better judgment, but let it order all things. Do not let your little "Know" ever rise up against the great knowledge of your dear Redeemer. Think of this when you wade in deep waters, and comfortably whisper to yourself, - "A greater than Solomon is here."

I have not time to enlarge, and therefore I would have you notice, next, that our Lord Jesus Christ is greater than Solomon in wealth. This was one of the things for which Solomon was noted. He had great treasures: he "made gold to be as stones, and as for silver it was little accounted of," so rich did he become. He had multitudes of servants. I think he had sixty thousand hewers in the mountains hewing out stones and wood, so numerous were the workmen he employed. His court was magnificent to the last degree. When you read of the victuals that were prepared to feed the court, and of the stately way in which everything was arranged from the stables of the horses upwards to the ivory throne, you feel, like the queen of Sheba, utterly astonished, and say, "The half was not told me." But, oh, when you consider all the wealth of Solomon, what poor stuff it is compared with the riches that are treasured up in Christ Jesus. Beloved, he who died upon the cross, and was indebted to a friend for a grave; he who was stripped even to the last rag ere he died; he who possessed no wealth but that of sorrow and sympathy, yet had about him the power to make many rich, and he has made multitudes rich - rich to all the intents of everlasting bliss; and therefore he must be rich himself. Is he not rich who enriches millions? Why, our Lord Jesus Christ, even by a word, comforted those that were bowed down. When he stretched out his hand he healed the sick with a touch. There was a wealth about his every movement. He was a full man, full of all that man could desire to be full of; and now, seeing that he has died and risen again, there is in him a wealth of pardoning love, a wealth of saving power, a wealth of intercessory might before the Father's throne, a wealth of all things by which he enriches the sons of men, and shall enrich them to all eternity.

I want this truth to come home to you: I want you to recognise the riches of Christ, you that are his people; and, in addition, to remember the truth of our hymn:-

"Since Christ is rich can I be poor?
What can I want besides?"

I wish we could learn to reckon what we are by what Christ is. An old man said, "I am very old; I have lost my only son; I am penniless; and, worst of all, I am blind. But," added he, "this does not matter, for Christ is not infirm; Christ is not aged; Christ has all riches; and Christ is not blind; and Christ is mine; and I have all things in him." Could you not get hold of that somehow, brothers and sisters? Will not the Holy Spirit teach you the art of appropriating the Lord Jesus and all that he is and has. If Christ be your representative, why, then you are rich in him. Go to him to be enriched. Suppose I were to meet a woman, and I knew her husband to be a very wealthy man, and that he loved her very much, and she were to say to me, "I am dreadfully poor; I do not know where to get raiment and food." "Oh," I should say, "That woman is out of her mind." If she has such a husband, surely she has only to go to him for all that she needs. And what if nothing is invested in her name, yet it is in his name, and they are one and he will deny her nothing." I should say, "My good woman, you must not talk in that fashion, or I will tell your husband of you." Well, I think that I shall have to say the same of you who are so very poor and cast down, and yet are married to Jesus Christ. I shall have to tell your Husband of you, that you bring such complaints against him, for all things are yours, for ye are Christ's and Christ is God's; wherefore, "lift up the hands that hang down, and confirm the feeble knees"; use the knees of prayer and the hand of faith, and your estate will well content you. Do not think that you are married to Rehoboam, who will beat you with scorpions, for you are joined to a greater than Solomon. Do not fancy that your heavenly Bridegroom is a beggar. All the wealth of eternity and infinity is his; how can you say that you are poor while all that he has is yours?

Now, thirdly, and very briefly indeed. There was one point about Solomon in which every Israelite rejoiced, namely, that he was the prince of peace. His name signifies peace. His father, David, was a great warrior, but Solomon had not to carry on war. His power was such that no one dared to venture upon a conflict with so great and potent a monarch. Every man throughout Israel sat under his vine and fig tree, and no man was afraid. No trumpet of invader was heard in the laud. Those were halcyon days for Israel when Solomon reigned. Ah, but in that matter a greater than Solomon is here; for Solomon could not give his subjects peace of mind, he could not bestow upon them rest of heart, he could not ease them of their burden of guilt, or draw the arrow of conviction from their breast and heal its smart. But I preach to you to-night that blessed divine Man of Sorrows who has wrought out our redemption, and who is greater than Solomon in his peace-giving power. Oh, come and trust him. Then shall your "peace be as a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." Am I addressing one of God's people who is sorely troubled, tumbled up and down in his thoughts? Brother or sister, do not think that you must wait a week or two before you can recover your peace. You can become restful in a moment, for "He is our peace," - even he himself, and he alone. And, oh, if you will bat take him at once, laying hold upon him by the hand of faith as your Saviour, this man shall be the peace even when the Assyrian shall come into the land. There is no peace like the peace which Jesus gives; it is like a river, deep, profound, renewed, ever flowing, overflowing, increasing and widening into an ocean of bliss. "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind, through Jesus Christ." Oh, come to him. Come to him at this moment. Do not remain an hour away from your Noah, or rest, for with him in the ark your weary wing shall be tired no longer. You shall be safe and restful the moment you return to him. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. I want you to get that joy and to enter into this peace. Blessed combination, joy and peace! Peace, peace, there is music in the very word: get it from him who is the Word, and whose voice can still a storm into a calm. A greater than Solomon is here to give you that peace; beat the sword of your inward warfare into the plough-share of holy service; no longer sound an alarm, but blow up the trumpet of peace in this the day of peace.

A fourth thing for which Solomon was noted was his great works. Solomon built the temple, which was one of the seven wonders of the world in its time. A very marvellous building it must have been, but I will not stay to describe it, for time fails us. In addition to this he erected for himself palaces, constructed fortifications, and made aqueducts and great pools to bring streams from the mountains to the various towns. He also founded Palmyra and Baalbec - those cities of the desert - to facilitate his commerce with India, Arabia, and other remote regions. He was a marvellous man. Earth has not seen his like. And yet a greater than Solomon is here, for Christ has brought the living water from the throne of God right down to thirsty men, being himself the eternal aqueduct through which the heavenly current streams. Christ has built fortresses and munitions of defence, behind which his children stand secure against the wrath of hell; and he has founded and is daily finishing a wondrous temple, his church, of which his people are the living stones, fashioned, polished, rendered beautiful - a temple which God himself shall inhabit, for he "dwelleth not in temples made with hands, that is to say, of this building"; but he dwells in a temple which he himself doth pile, of which Christ is architect and builder, foundation, and chief corner-stone. But Jesus builds for eternity, an everlasting temple, and, when all visible things pass away, and the very ruins of Solomon's temple and Solomon's aqueduct are scarcely to be discerned, what a sight will be seen in that New Jerusalem! The twelve courses of its foundations are of precious stones, its walls bedight with diamonds rare, its streets are paved with gold, and its glory surpasses that of the sun. I am but talking figures, poor figures, too; for the glory of the city of God is spiritual, and where shall I find words with which to depict it? There, where the Lamb himself is the light, and the Lord God himself doth dwell - there the whole edifice, the entire New Jerusalem - shall be to the praise and the glory of his grace who gave Jesus Christ to be the builder of the house of his glory, of which I hope we shall form a part for ever and ever.

Now, if Christ does such great works, I want you to come to him, that he may work in you the work of God. That is the point. Come and trust him at once. Trust him to build you up. Come and trust him to bring the living water to your lips. Come and trust him to make you a temple of the living God. Come, dear child of God, if you have great works to do, come and ask for the power of Christ with which to perform them. Come, you that would leave some memorial to the honour of the divine name, come to him to teach and strengthen you. He is the wise master-builder; come and be workers together with Christ. Baptize your weakness into his infinite strength, and you shall be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. God help you so to do.

Once more. I draw the parallel upon the fifth point, and I have done with it. Solomon was great as to dominion. The kingdom of the Jews was never anything like the size before or after that Solomon made it. It appears to have extended from the river of Egypt right across the wilderness far up to the Persian Gulf. We can scarcely tell how far Solomon's dominions reached; they are said to have been "from sea to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth." By one mode or another he managed to bring various kings into subjection to him, and he was the greatest monarch that ever swayed the sceptre of Judah. It has all gone now. Poor, feeble Rehoboam dropped from his foolish hands the reins his father held. The kingdom was rent in pieces, the tributary princes found their liberty, and the palmy days of Israel were over. On the contrary, our Lord Jesus Christ at this moment has dominion over all things. God has set him over all the works of his hands. Ay, tell it out among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. The feet that were nailed to the tree are set upon the necks of his enemies. The hands that bore the nails sway at this moment the sceptre of all worlds: Jesus is King of kings, and Lord of lords! Hallelujah! Let universal sovereignty be ascribed to the Son of man: to him who was "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Tell it out, ye saints, for your own comfort. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof. Everything that happens in providence is under his sway still, and the time is coming when a moral and spiritual kingdom will be set up by him which shall encompass the whole world. It does not look like it, does it? All these centuries have passed away, and little progress has been made. Ah, but he cometh; and when he cometh, or ere he cometh, he shall overturn, overturn, overturn, for his right it is, and God will give it him. And, as surely as God lives, unto him shall every man bow the knee, "and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Do not be afraid about it. Do not measure difficulties, much less tremble at them. What is faith made for but to believe that which seems impossible? To expect universal dominion for Christ when everything goes well is but the expectation of reason; but to expect it when everything goes ill, is the triumph of Abrahamic confidence. Look upon the great mountain and say, "Who art thou, O great mountain? Before the true Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." In the blackest midnight, when the ebon darkness stands thick and hard as granite before you, believe that, at the mystic touch of Christ, the whole of it shall pass away, and at the brightness of his rising the eternal light shall dawn, never to be quenched. This is to act the part of a believer; and I ask you to act that part, and believe to the full in Christ the Omnipotent. What means this stinted faith in an almighty arm? What a fidget we are in and what a worry seizes us if a little delay arises! Everything has to be done in the next ten minutes, or we count our Lord to be slack. Is this the part of wisdom? The Eternal has infinite leisure, who are we that we should hasten him?

"His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour."

A day is long to us: but a thousand years to him are but as the twinkling of a star. Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, for the time shall come when the God of Israel shall put to rout his adversaries, and the Christ of the cross shall be the Christ of the crown. We shall one day hear it said, - The great Shepherd reigns; and his unsuffering kingdom now hath come. Then rocks and hills, and vales and islands of the sea shall all be vocal with the one song. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour and glory and power and dominion and might for ever and ever!"

Thus I have tried to draw the parallel, but I pray you to see the Lord Jesus for yourself, and know whether I have spoken the truth about him. You have heard the report; now, like the Queen of Sheba, go and see for yourself. Get to Christ, as to his dominion, come under his sway and own his sceptre. Go and trust your King; love your King; praise your King; delight in your King. How courtiers delight to be summoned to court! How glad they are to see the queen's face. How pleased they are if she gives them but a kindly word! Surely, their fortune is made, or at least their hopes are raised and their spirits lifted up. Shall we not sun ourselves in the presence of the blessed and only Potentate? Let us come into the presence of our King to-night, or else let us sit here and weep. Let us come to his table to feed upon himself. Let us live on his word. Let us delight in his love; and we shall surely say, "A greater than Solomon is here."

II. I shall not detain you longer than a minute or two while I remark that we must rise beyond all parallels, if we would reach the height of this great argument, for BETWEEN CHRIST AND SOLOMON THERE IS MUCH MORE CONTRAST THAN COMPARISON - much more difference than likeness.

In his nature the Lord Jesus is greater than Solomon. Alas, poor Solomon! The strongest man that ever lived, namely, Samson, was the weakest of men; and the wisest man that ever lived was, perhaps, the greatest, certainly the most conspicuous, fool. How different is our Lord! There is no infirmity in Christ, no folly in the incarnate God. The backsliding of Solomon finds no parallel in Jesus, in whom the prince of this world found nothing though he searched him through and through.

Our Lord is greater than Solomon because he is not mere man. He is man, perfect man, man to the utmost of manhood, sin excepted; but still he is more, and infinitely more, than man. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." He is God himself. "The Word was God." God dwells in him, and he himself is God.

As in nature he was infinitely superior to Solomon, and not to be compared with him for a moment, so was he in character. Look at Christ and Solomon for a minute as to real greatness of character, and you can hardly see Solomon with a microscope, while Christ rises grandly before you, growing every moment till he fills the whole horizon of your admiration. Principally let me note the point of self-sacrifice. Jesus lived entirely for other people; he had never a thought about himself. Solomon was, to a great extent, wise unto himself, rich unto himself, strong unto himself; and you see in those great palaces, and in all their arrangements, that he seeks his own pleasure, honour, and emolument; and, alas! that seeking of pleasure leads him into sin, that sin into a still greater one. Solomon, wonderful as he is, only compels you to admire him for his greatness, but you do not admire him for his goodness. You see nothing that makes you love him, you rather tremble before him than feel gladdened by him. Oh, but look at Christ. He does not have a thought for himself. He lives for others. How grandly magnificent he is in disinterested love. He "loved his church and gave himself for it." He pours out even his heart's blood for the good of men: and hence, dear friends, at this moment our blessed Lord is infinitely superior to Solomon in his influence. Solomon has little or no influence to-day. Even in his own time he never commanded the influence that Christ had in his deepest humiliation. I do not hear of any that were willing to die for Solomon; certainly nobody would do so now. But how perpetually is enthusiasm kindled in ten thousand breasts for Christ! They say that if again there were stakes in Smithfield we should not find men to burn at them for Christ. I tell you, it is not so. The Lord Jesus Christ has at this moment a remnant according to the election of his grace who would fling themselves into a pit of fire for him, and joy to do it. "Who shall separate us" - even us poor pigmies - "from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" "Oh," says one, "I do not think I could suffer martyrdom." You are not yet called to do so, my brother, and God has not given you the strength to do it before the need arises; but you will have strength enough if ever it comes to your lot to die for Jesus. Did you never hear of the martyr who, the night before he was to be burnt, sat opposite the fire, and, taking his shoe off, he held his foot close to the flame till he began to feel the burning of it? He drew it back and said, "I see God does not give me power to bear such suffering as I put upon myself, but I make none the less doubt," said he, "that I shall very well stand the stake to-morrow morning, and burn quick to the death for Christ without starting back." And so he did, for he was noticed never to stir at all while the flames were consuming him. There is a great deal of difference between your strength to-day and what your strength would be if you were called to some tremendous work or suffering. My Lord and Master, let me tell you, wakes more enthusiasm in human breasts at this moment than any other name in the universe. Napoleon once said, "I founded a kingdom upon force, and it will pass away;" but "Christ founded a kingdom upon love, and it will last for ever and ever." And so it will. Blot out the name of Christ from the hearts of his people? Strike yon sun from the firmament, and quench the stars; and when you have achieved that easy task, yet have you not begun to remove the glory of the indwelling Christ from the hearts of his people. Some of us delight to think that we bear in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus. "Where?" says one. I answer, it is all over us. We have been buried into his name, and we belong to him, in spirit, soul, and body. That water-mark, which denotes that we are his, can never be taken out of us. We are dead with him, wherein also we were buried with him and are risen again with him; and there is nothing at this moment that stirs our soul like the name of Jesus. Speak for yourselves. Is it not so? Have you never heard of one who lay dying, his mind wandering, and his wife said to him, "My dear, do you not know me?" He shook his head; and they brought near his favourite child. "Do you not know me?" He shook his head. One "Whispered," Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ ?" and he said, "He is all my salvation and all my desire." Oh, blessed name! Blessed name! Some years ago I was away from this place for a little rest, and I was thinking to myself, "Now, I wonder whether I really respond to the power of the gospel as I should like to do? I will go and hear a sermon and see." I would like to sit down with you in the pews sometimes and hear somebody else preach, - not everybody, mark you, for when I hear a good many I want to be doing it myself. I get tired of them if they do not glow and burn. But that morning I thought I would drop into a place of worship such as there might be in the little town. A poor, plain man, a countryman, began preaching about Jesus Christ. He praised my Master in very humble language, but he praised him most sincerely. Oh, but the tears began to flow. I soon laid the dust all round me where I sat, and I thought, "Bless the Lord! I do love him," It only wants somebody else to play the harp instead of me, and my soul is ready to dance to the heavenly tune. Only let the music be Christ's sweet, dear, precious name, and my heart leaps at the sound. Oh, my brethren, sound out the praises of Jesus Christ! Sound out that precious name! There is none like it under heaven to stir my heart. I hope you can all say the same. I know you can if you love him; for all renewed hearts are enamoured of the sweet Lord Jesus. "A greater than Solomon is here." Solomon has no power over your hearts, but Jesus has. His influence is infinitely greater; his power to bless is infinitely greater; and so let us magnify and adore him with all our hearts.

Oh, that all loved him! Alas that so many do not! What strange monsters! Why, if you do not love Christ, what are you at? You hearts of stone, will you not break? If his dying love do not break them, what will? If you cannot see the beauties of Jesus, what can you see? You blind bats! O you that know not the music of his name, you are deaf. O you that do not rejoice in him, you are dead. What are you at, that you are spared through the pleadings of his love, and yet do not love him? God have mercy upon you, and bring you to delight yourselves in Christ, and trust him! As for us who do trust him, we mean to love him and delight in him more and more, world without end. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Colossians 1.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book"- 390, 389, 416.

CHAPTER 20. THE DROMEDARIES

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

We will read a few verses first, and at the close of them you will find the text.

"Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon's pro- vision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. And those officers provided victual for King Solomon, and for all that came unto King Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge."
1 Kings 4:20-28.

The last words are the text for this occasion.

From the whole passage you will see that the kingdom of Israel under the sway of Solomon was a fair type of the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps it most exactly describes his future dominion, in the long-expected glory of the latter days. The present state of the church may be compared to the reign of David, splendid with victories, but disturbed with battles; but there are better days to come, days in which the kingdom shall be extended and become more manifest; and then the Lord Jesus Christ shall be even more conspicuously seen as the Solomon of the kingdom, "who shall have dominion from sea to sea." Yet even now, as " we that have believed do enter into rest," so do we also enter into the richest provision which is made in the covenant of grace, even at this present; and I may say of all who have come under the sway of Christ, that we dwell in a region of peace, seated every man under his vine and fig tree, and none making us afraid. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," and, "therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "The peace of God which passeth all understanding" doth keep our heart and mind by Jesus Christ. Israel under Solomon had abundance as well as peace. What says the historian? They were "as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry." It is said that there was such plenty in the land in Solomon's time that gold was of no more value than silver, and silver became of little more value than iron; and as for the other metals, they were little accounted of. So common had precious metals become that they were scarcely precious any longer, they were so plentiful. The whole land flowed with milk and honey, and the people rejoiced and were glad. Certainly the Lord Jesus Christ has brought his people into a state of the greatest plenty, for "all things are yours; whether things present, or things to come; or life, or death; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." What plenty must that man have to whom the Lord has said, "No good thing will I, withhold from them that walk uprightly"! "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." He has given us carte blanche in prayer. He has put into our hands the keys of his treasury, and has bidden us take what we will. He has said, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart"; and he has added, "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." If we have not, it is "because we ask not, or because we ask amiss."

So, too, we dwell in a kingdom which is ruled with wisdom. It is said of Solomon in this chapter that he had wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand on the sea shore; and Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Is not this also our honour and privilege? Behold, this day the Lord Jesus Christ is "made unto us wisdom." "We have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things" while we dwell in him; for "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant." "If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine." "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children," Hence we dwell under a rule of wisdom, which wisdom imparts itself to each one of us according to his capacity to receive it, yea, even to those whose experience is but shallow: "to teach the young men wisdom, and the babes knowledge and discretion." "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask, of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not."

Israel had a king who was full of power. Solomon had squadrons of horse and chariots of war, and he was so strong that the kings of the earth dared not come into conflict with him, but paid him tribute. As for our King, he has better forces than horses and chariots of war, for he has but to speak to his Father, and he will presently send him twenty legions of angels. All power is delivered unto him in heaven and in earth. The fulness of the Godhead dwells in him for the defence and help of his people, and if you will but open your eyes you shall see horses of fire and chariots of fire round about your Lord. Hosts of angels are ascending and descending upon the Son of man, and all heaven is in motion for the purposes of God in Christ Jesus. Not an angel stands still beneath the sway of Christ, but each one either ascends or descends to do his Master's bidding. Talk of mighty princes - he is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the "blessed and only Potentate," to whom belongeth rule over all principalities and powers. I might go on with the parallel, but that is not the object of my discourse.

The great kingdom of Solomon was managed by a well-appointed body of officers, and certain persons were set over each province, who, amongst other duties, had to provide for king Solomon's table and stable. The table was very sumptuously furnished, as you saw in the reading; and in the stable stood horses of war, and also swift dromedaries, which were used in the same manner as our modern post-horses, to carry messages rapidly from one station to another. These swift horses and dromedaries were made to run from town to town with the royal mandates, and thus the whole country was kept in speedy communication with the capital. Appointed officers were bound to provide for these horses and dromedaries, and all else that concerned the king's business; and my subject at this time will illustrate the likeness between this arrangement and the methods of our Lord's kingdom.

I. First we shall note that EACH OF SOLOMON'S OFFICERS HAD A CHARGE. The text says, "Every man according to his charge." We have officers about modern courts who may be highly ornamental, but when you have said that, there is very little else to add. On high days and holidays they wear many decorations, and glitter in their stars and garters, and sumptuous garments, but what particular charge they fulfil it is beyond my power to say. In Solomon s court all his officers had a service to carry out, "every man according to his charge." It is exactly so in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are truly his, he has called us to some work and office, and he wills us to discharge that office diligently. We are not to be gentlemen-at-ease, but men-at-arms; not loiterers, but labourers; not glittering spangles, but burning and shining lights.

It is an exceeding glory to be the lowest servant of King Jesus. It is more honour to be a scullion in Christ's kitchen than to be a peer of the realm. The meanest position that can be occupied in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, if any can be mean in such a service, has a touch of divine glory about it; and if we rightfully discharge it, though it be only to wash the saints' feet, we partake in the honour of our Master, who himself did not disdain to do the like. But no man is put in any office in the church that he may be merely ornamental. We are set in our places with an end and design, every man according to his charge - every woman according to her charge. My dear brother, you do not occupy the post of a minister or a pastor that you may be respected, but that you may "adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things." You are not, my dear brother, ordained to be an elder or a deacon in a church that our Lord may put honour upon you, though he does put honour upon you in it, but that you may bring glory to God - that the people may see the grace of God in you, and may magnify God in you. Churches were not made for ministers, but ministers for churches. We who are officers in the church are not ordained for our own sakes, but for the people's sake, and we should always recollect that fact, and live with it in our eye. Dear friend, if you are called to teach in the school, if you are called to visit from house to house, or to act as a City Missionary, or a Bible woman, you have work to do, and you must do it well, or render a sorrowful account at the last. Office is not given to you that you may get credit by it, and have the honour of filling it, but that you may do real service to your Lord and Master Jesus Christ. No servant of Christ can be faithful if he regards that title as one of barren honour involving no responsibility. If we would be servants and officers under our great King we must bow our necks to the yoke, and not imagine that it will suffice to bind burdens upon other men's shoulders, and act as lookers-on ourselves. It is said of Job's cattle, that "the oxen were ploughing, and the asses were feeding beside them"; but in our Lord's field we must all be oxen, and steadily keep to the furrow.

Those who served Solomon were officers under a strict king, for such was his wisdom that he would not tolerate unfaithfulness in any office. He chose the best men, and so long as he retained them he meant business and expected prompt attention. If they did not do their duty, he did his, and sent them packing. It is very much so in the church of Jesus Christ. I am not speaking as if the children of God could perish; but I do say this, that in the service of Christ if you are not a faithful servant you will soon have to make room for another. You may be laid aside by sickness, and then you will have suffering instead of serving, or you may be made to drop into the rear rank and go behind and weep in sorrow because you did not faithfully do your duty in the front. Recollect that text, "The Lord thy God is a jealous God," and rest assured that our Lord Jesus Christ is like his Father, he will have the diligent obedience of his servants, and their faithful zeal, or else he will cashier them, and take away their commissions. "Be ye clean," saith he, "that bear the vessels of the Lord," for he will be had in reverence of them that are about him, and unholy servants and unfaithful servants shall soon find that their Master can do without them. Many a minister has had to come away from a place of vantage because he has not zealously used it to win souls and lead on the people to the holy war. I do not doubt that many rising officers have been sent back to the ranks because the Commander-in-Chief could not have patience with them any longer in their positions. They were removed because they discouraged their fellow-soldiers and checked the progress of the campaign. Do not suppose that our Lord Jesus Christ is any less strict in his discipline than Moses, for love is always severe towards those it highly favours. I greatly question the love of that man who can tolerate unchastity in his wife; certainly the husband of the church will not do so. The love of our Lord Jesus is of so fervent a character that he cannot bear a divided heart, or a negligent walk in any one of us. There is a text which some Christian people do not like, and so they cut the heart out of it: "Our God is a consuming fire." They say, "God, out of Christ, is a consuming fire." The text does not say so; it speaks of "Our God," and that means our covenant God, our God in Christ, and it is God in Christ Jesus who is a consuming fire. Beware how you deal with him; for while his love is strong as death, his jealousy is cruel as the grave; and if our hearts and motives and aims in his service once become divided, it will be as great a crime as if one of Solomon's servants should have been playing into the hands of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Solomon would have taken care that a man who had two lords should not have him for one of them. None of us can serve two masters: certainly, if Christ be one of them he will be the only one. A divided heart is an abhorrence to the loving Saviour, and we must not insult him with it.

The officers of Solomon were also obliged to recollect that the orderly working of the whole system depended upon each one of them. That is to say, Solomon had so arranged it that there was a certain troop of horses in a certain town, and the appointed officer must see to their fodder: barley and straw were to be on the spot in full quantity for the horses at that particular depot. It would not have done to send it anywhere else; and if an officer had failed to supply his department, the horses must have starved and the system been thrown out of gear. Now, in any well arranged Christian church a Christian who is not faithful to his charge little knows what mischief he dues; but, as far as he can, he puts the whole machine out of gear, and, apart from the interposing mercy and supreme wisdom of Christ, he would throw the whole economy of the Lord's house into disorder. Brethren and sisters, we think when we neglect a part of our service that it ends there, but it does not. A father neglects his duty to his children: there is mischief to the child, but it goes farther; that child in after life spreads the evil by his example, and transmits it to his descendants; ay, to his children's children after him. A Christian man in a church keeps in the background when he should be in the front, or he comes to the front when he should be in the rear, and this is just the upsetting of the whole business, so that affairs cannot move smoothly. The little church cannot prosper because an influential member is where he ought not to be. In a great house the servants must keep their places, and if the cook will persist in doing the chamber-maid's duties, and does not prepare the meals, everything is in a muddle; and if, on the other hand, the maid who has to clean the rooms neglects that duty, but must needs be in the kitchen, there will be no comfort either by day or by night. You can all see the bearing of this upon a Christian church.

To change the figure, a church is like a house, and if the windows are put where the doors should be; or if what should make the roof is laid on the floor, the house is out of order. To be "fitly framed together" is the true condition of the Lord's house. The church is also compared to the body. If the eye should transfer itself to the foot, or if the ear should move to the hand, or if the hand should take the place of the foot, or the foot should attempt to do the work of the mouth, our comely frames would become monstrosities. So it must be in the system of the church of Jesus Christ if his arrangements are broken through. Under God everything depends upon each child of God having his "charge," and looking well to it. If he does not look well to his own department the Christian man does damage to others as well as to himself.

In Solomon's kingdom it came to pass that the spirit of the king infused itself into all his officers, and therefore the country was well governed. Beloved, I pray that it may be so with this church, and with all the churches of Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of our great King may infuse itself into us all. Nothing makes men fight like having a hero for a leader. When Cromwell came to the front nobody was afraid. Away went the cavaliers like chaff before the wind, when once he was present. And, surely, when our glorious Master, the Captain of our salvation, the standard bearer among ten thousand, is seen to be in the midst of a church, then everything goes well, and we all fight with confidence and daring. One man sometimes seems to have the power of pervading thousands of other men; his spirit appears to govern, to move, to stir the hearts of his fellow men till the man lives in them all; and so is it supremely with the Lord Christ. We live in him, and he lives in us. If we are all moved by the spirit which dwells in Jesus - the spirit of love, of self-denial, of consuming zeal, and of ardour, then all will be done gloriously. If we copy his consecration, his prayerfulness, his boldness and his gentleness, what a troop shall we make, and how well will our Solomon's kingdom be administered!

Only one more thought here. When Solomon's kingdom came to mischief it was through one of his officers. You recollect that, when Solomon died, Jeroboam split the kingdom in twain, and he was a runaway servant. Whenever a church comes to ruin, we grieve to confess that it is generally through its own officers. I fear it is oftener the ministers than any other persons. The great heresies which have infested the church have not sprung from the mass of the people, but from certain famous leaders; and at this day the heart of our churches, I believe, is infinitely more sound than the ministry. I wish it were not so, but I cannot conceal my fears. When our Lord was betrayed it was not by private followers, such as Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, or Joseph of Arimathaea, but by Judas, the treasurer of the College of Apostles. It was an apostle who sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver. Still the fault is equally grievous if it be committed by the lowest officer. As I have already said, we are all servants: we are all clothed with responsibilities, and we can, if the Holy Spirit shall leave us to it, do grievous damage - more damage than the outside world - can ever accomplish. Let the raging crowd surround Zion's wall, let them cast up their banks and seek to shoot their arrows there; but lo, the virgin daughter of Zion hath shaken her head at her foes and laughed them to scorn. But when the traitor comes within - when it is written that "Judas also which betrayed him knew the place" - then is the Master betrayed in the garden where he resorted for prayer. When from the bowels of the church there springs a serpent, even her head must be stung thereby. Let the question go round, "Lord, is it I?" and may God of his grace grant that none of us may ever betray our charge, and so bring damage to the glorious cause and kingdom of our blessed King.

II. Our second head is somewhat like the first. We now note that EACH MAN WAS BOUND TO ACT ACCORDING TO HIS CHARGE - "Every man according to his charge." The officers were bound to obey their orders; first, as to matter. Certain of them had to provide fat oxen for Solomon's table, and others had to see that the roebucks were hunted and that the fowls were fatted for the same purpose; while others were commissioned to provide the barley and the straw for the horses and the dromedaries. As I have already said, if they had gone out of place - if the man who had to provide the barley for the horses had fed the chickens with it, and if the officer who was bound to hunt the roebucks had occupied himself with carting the straw, there would have been great confusion. And so, dear brother, when you will not do what you were evidently meant to do, and are quite able to do, but must needs attempt something quite out of your range, all goes amiss. Observe your own body: if your ear were to have a feeling that it ought to eat instead of hearing, the mouth would be interfered with, and the feeding of the frame would be very badly done. The eye is a very serviceable member, but if it persisted in refusing to see, and must needs take to hearing, we should be run over in the streets. Each member has its own office in the body, and must attend to its own work, and not to the office of another. Dear friend, have you found out what you can do - what the Lord has fitted you to do, and what he has blessed you in doing? Then keep to it, and do it better and better, and by no means complain of your vocation. Do not find fault with others whose work differs from your own. The eye would be very foolish if it should say, "Do not tell me about that frivolous member the ear; it is of no use, for it only knows what it is told, and it is so blind that it could not see a house if it were within a yard of it, nor even a mountain a mile high." Equally idle would it be if the ear should say, "Do not tell me about the mouth; it is a selfish organ, always wanting to be fed. It is good for nothing, for it cannot hear, and if a cannon were fired off close to it, it would not perceive it." Neither may the mouth say, "That roving foot is always running about. Why does it not work like the hand?" Nor may the hand find fault with the tongue because it boasts great things, and does nothing. There would be sad confusion in the body if such a spirit prevailed: but the hand keeps to its work, and even there there is a subdivision of service. The little finger plays a part which the thumb cannot fulfil, and there is something for the thumb which the forefinger cannot do. So should it be in the church of God: you should each find out what you can do, and then seek, God the Holy Spirit helping you, to do that, to the very best of your ability, out of love to Jesus.

Observe that with Solomon it was "every man according to his charge " as to measure; for if a man had charge of a barrack where there were two thousand horses, he had to send in more barley and straw than the officer who superintended a smaller barrack of only five hundred horse. The purveyor who was ordered to supply Solomon's table with fat bullocks had to send more than he who fed the tables of the inferior officers. Note this well, for certain of us are bound to do much more than others. Some of us bear heavy responsibilities, and if we were to say, "I shall do no more than anybody else, I need not overburden myself," we should be unfit to occupy the position to which God has called us. Dear friends, I am not afraid that any of you will do too much for Jesus Christ, but I would like you to try. Just see now whether you can be too ardent, too self-sacrificing, too zealous, or too consecrated. It were a pity that such a thing should not be attempted. I have never known anybody who could accuse himself of so rare a crime. Oh, no; we all feel that all we can do, and more, is well deserved by our blessed Master who has given us our charge. Do not forget that you who are fathers ought to be better men than those single men who have no children to look up to them, and to copy their example. You who are large employers ought to be better men, because your workmen will watch how you live. You who have talents and abilities ought to be more active than those who have none, for five talents call for more interest than one. Do remember the rule of proportion. If you have five talents, and your brother has only one, you may do twice as much as he does and yet fall short. He is faithful with his small capital, but your proportion is five times as much, and therefore twice as much falls short of what is expected from you. Many a servant girl gives her fourpenny-piece to the offering, and if the same proportion were carried out among those who are wealthy, gold would not be so rare a metal in the Lord's treasury. A tithe may be too much for some, but a half might not be enough for another. Let it be, "Every man according to his charge," as to measure as well as to matter.

"Every man according to his charge," applied to place; for if the servant who had to send in barley for the dromedaries to Jerusalem had sent it off to Joppa, or if the Joppa man had sent all his fodder to Jericho, there would have been considerable trouble and outcry in the stables, and if the fatted beef and the venison for Solomon's table when he stopped in the house of the forest of Lebanon had been sent over to his other house on Mount Zion, the king would have had his table ill supplied. Some men are not satisfied to serve God in their proper place; they must run fifty miles off, or a hundred, before they can work. Is this right? I remember a little text in the Proverbs, - "As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place." There is a sphere for every star which decks the sky, and a blade of grass for every drop of dew which spangles the mead. Oh that every one would keep his place. Very much depends on position. Statues upon a building may look magnificent, and seem to be in fine proportion, but it those statues were one night to say, "We do not like standing up here in this exposed place; we will walk down and stand in the public square," you would see at once that the artist never meant them to be there, for they would be out of proportion in their new position. So a man is a man when he keeps his niche, but he may be a nobody if he leaves it. Many a man have I known who has done nothing till he has found his place, and then he has astonished his friends. I find it so with young men entering the ministry: a brother has not succeeded, in fact, he has been an utter failure in his first position, and yet, when God has opened the proper door for him, he has done marvels. Why did he not succeed before? Because he was out of his place. The best thing applied to the purpose for which it is not suited is a mere waste, and the best man in an unsuitable position may unwittingly be a hindrance to the cause he loves. Solomon's officer would have been very foolish if he had sent his barley down to Dan when it was his duty to supply Beersheba, Find your place, good brother, and do not be in a hurry to move. He who keeps a shop in a dozen towns in a dozen years will at the end look in vain for a shop which will keep him. The spirit of roving tends to poverty. Those who are eager to move because they imagine that they will leave their troubles behind them are much deceived, for these are found everywhere. You may soon get into some such predicament as Jonah, who thought that all would be well if he could avoid Nineveh trials, but he had forgotten the troubles of being aboard ship in a storm. I do not suppose he ever ran away to Tarshish again. That one experiment satisfied him, and I hope you will profit by his experience. Do not try running away on your own account, for if you do endeavour to escape your Lord's hard work, I would have you remember that the sea is quite as tempestuous now as ever, and whales are fewer now than in Jonah's day, and not at all so likely to carry a live man to shore. Keep your place: "every man according to his charge."

Once more, every man was to act according to his charge as to time, because the passage speaks of each one "in his month." If the January man had taken care to provide for Solomon's table in February, what would have happened? There was a man for February, and there would have been two supplies for one month, but none for the first weeks of the year. If the August officer had kept back till September the corn which was wanted by the horses and the dromedaries in August, what would the poor creatures have done during that month? While the barley was coming the steeds would have been starving. In serving Christ there is a great deal in being up to time, punctual in everything. Not to-morrow, brother: not to-morrow, that is somebody else's day: to-day is the day for you. Up and do the day's work. Some soul is to be won for Christ, some truth to be vindicated, some deed of kindly charity to be wrought, some holy prevalent prayer to be offered, and it is to be done at once. Or ever to-morrow's sun has risen, see that thou hast carried out thy charge, for time in reference to these solemn matters is life. Promptness we always admire in responsible persons. If they have any public duty to do, we cannot endure to see men leaving matters in arrears, to be done by-and-by, or never done at all. If Jesus Christ "straightway" did this and that, as Mark always takes care to tell us he did, let us imitate his promptitude, and serve God without the sluggard's delays.

III. I close with the third point, that EACH MAN WOULD RECEIVE SUPPLIES "ACCORDING TO HIS CHARGE." I do not quite understand the precise and definite bearing of my text. Surely it means, not only that one set of officers was to send in the barley, but that another set of officers was to receive the barley and the straw in proportion to the number of horses and dromedaries. "Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, everyone according to his charge"; that is to say, according to the number of horses to be provided for, such was the amount of corn and of straw that was sent in for their food.

So I gather, first, that concerning the servants of our Lord Jesus Christ a great charge from him is a guarantee of great supplies. There is something very comfortable about this as to temporals. Some declare that God sends mouths and does not send bread; or at least they say he sends the mouths to one house and the bread to another. If it be so, those who get too much bread should send it round to their neighbours. Yet I note that somehow where there are mouths bread does come. It often amazes me, I must confess, and it brings tears to my eyes when I see it, and indeed it is perfectly wonderful, that poor widows with a swarm of little children do feed them in some fashion. The poor woman comes to the Orphanage about a little boy, and she does not like to part with him, but want compels; and when we have said, "My good woman, how many children had you when your husband died?" she has replied, "Seven, sir, and none of them able to earn a penny." "You have been fighting your way alone these three or four years, how have you done it?" "Ah, sir," she answers, "God only knows. I cannot tell you." No, no; and there are many of God's dear children who could not tell you how they lived, but they have lived, and their children too. The Lord leaves them a great charge, and in his own way he sends a supply. Most of us have found that if our King sends us the dromedaries he sends us the barley. It has been so in my case in the matter of our two hundred and fifty orphan children at Stockwell; our gracious God has always sent us enough, and the boys have known no lack; and when we receive another two hundred and fifty children, and have girls as well as boys, I feel sure our heavenly Father will provide for them all. I hope you will all recollect that the provision must come instrumentally through the Lord's own people, and much of it through the readers and hearers of the sermons, but come it will. If my Lord puts more dromedaries into my stable I shall look for the corresponding increase in the barley and the straw, for I am quite sure he will send it. When I think of my dear friend, Mr. George Muller, with 2050 orphan children, and nothing to depend upon, as they say, but just prayer and faith, I rejoice greatly. He never has a fear or a want, and is as restful as if he were an incarnate Sabbath. If we had twenty thousand orphans to feed, our Master is quite able to supply them all. He feeds the universe, and we may well, trust him. If we have a simple, childlike faith, we shall find that a great charge is a guarantee of a great supply: "Every man according to his charge."

As it is in temporals, so is it in grace. When God gives a man a few people to look after, he gives him grace enough; and when he gives him ten times that number, he gives him more of his Holy Spirit; and when he gives him a hundred times that number, he increases the divine anointing. If the Lord sends you a little trial, dear brother, you shall have grace enough, and if he sends you a huge trial you shall still have grace enough. If he gives you some little work to do in the back settlements, your strength shall be as your day, and if he allots you a great charge in the front of the enemy's fire you shall not come short. "Every man according to his charge." You will not have a farthing's worth of grace over. You shall never have so much that you can boast about it, and talk of having lived for months without sinning, and the like kind of nonsense. You shall be forced to feel that, when you have done all, you are an unprofitable servant. Never in my life have I had in the morning, left from yesterday's manna, as much as would cover a threepenny-piece. I have always been so hungry that I have had to devour all I could get there and then. I have lived from hand to mouth; the hand has been that of my Lord, which is ever full, and the mouth has been mine, and it has been always gaping for more. When in my ministry I have had a double quantity of food, I have had a double number to feed upon it. The Lord's grace has been sufficient for my necessities, but it has never left me room for glorying in self. Still, take it as a sure fact that a great charge is a guarantee of a great supply.

Now we will turn the truth over, and say that a great supply indicates a great charge. O that some would think of this! A man has grown richer than he used to be. Brother, with more barley and more straw, you ought to keep more dromedaries; I mean, that God did not send that corn for the mice to destroy, but he means it to be eaten. When God gives men money or means of any sort, they ought to feel that they are his stewards, and must use all they have for their Master. If you do not use it, but hoard it, it will happen to you as once befell a little brook. It had always been running, rippling along, rolling its gladsome stream down to the river, and thus ever emptying itself, but remaining ever full. This little brook became greedy, and said, "I have been too extravagant. I have made no provision for the hot summer weather. I always give all I get; it keeps running through me in one perpetual stream, and none of it stays. This must be altered. I will make a great store, and become full." So there came a bank across it: it was dammed up, and the waters kept on swelling and rising. After a little time the water turned green and foul. It became encumbered with all sorts of weeds, was the haunt of all manner of creeping things, and gave forth an offensive smell. It became a very great nuisance to the villagers, and they called in the sanitary commissioners to get rid of it, for it was breeding fever. How now, thou once sparkling brook! What an end has come to thy bright and cheerful life. Do you see the drift of the parable? Recollect that in Palestine there is one sea which always receives and never gives out. What is its name? The Dead Sea. It must always be the Dead Sea while this is its character. If they were to cut a channel into the great ocean, to let its waters run away, it might grow sweet, but otherwise it never can do so. The man who much receives but nothing gives is dead while he lives. He who has great receipts should reckon that he has a great charge, and act accordingly. When a brother has great talents, great possessions, great influence - when he is great at anything - by God's grace let him say, "God requireth great things of me; for to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." It is a law of the kingdom of Christ- - a law which he will take care is always carried out.

So I finish up with this: somebody will say, "I could almost wish that I could escape from the responsibility of being a servant of Christ." Dear brother, take note of these two or three facts.

You cannot better your circumstances as a servant of Christ by diminishing your charge. If you say, "I shall not attempt quite so much," you will not improve your circumstances by that course; for if you diminish work, the Lord will diminish the strength. Our great Solomon will stop some of the supplies if you have fewer dromedaries to feed, and so you will be no better off. If you have to keep six he will give you provision for six; if you take to keeping three he will only give you supplies for three, and you will be poorer rather than richer.

Neither can you improve your circumstances by entirely and only increasing the supply; for, if you receive more straw and barley, certainly our Solomon will send you more dromedaries. When you have more strength you will have more trials. When God's children do not discharge their service with the means which he entrusts to them, he frequently lets them take shares in a "limited liability company," which is the same thing as throwing your money into the river; or he leaves them to become shareholders in a breaking bank, with unlimited catastrophe as its capital, and this is more terrible still. It often happens to a man who has scraped and saved, and stinted the cause of Christ, that in his later years he is in straits, and he cries to himself, "It is all gone, and I wish I had used it better before it went. It would have been far better to give it to the Lord than to see the lawyers devour it." Ah, your sin has found you out. Your Master could not trust you, and so he has taken away his goods from you, and now you wish that you had behaved yourself Let us take warning from such bad managers; and let us see that, as our charge is so we cry for supplies, and that as the supplies come we use them wisely.

Everything for Jesus, the glorious Solomon of our hearts, the Beloved of our souls! Life for Jesus! Death for Jesus! Time for Jesus! Eternity for Jesus! Hand and heart for Jesus! Brain and tongue for Jesus! Night and day for Jesus! Sickness or health for Jesus! Honour or dishonour for Jesus! Shame or glory for Jesus! Everything for Jesus, "every man according to his charge." So may it be! Amen.

CHAPTER 21. THE BEGINNING OF MONTHS

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's Day Morning, January 1st, 1882, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you."
Exodus 12:1-2.

In all probability up to that time the year had been supposed to begin in the autumn. The question has been raised at what season of the year did God create man, and it has been decided by many that it must have been in autumn, so that when Adam was placed in the garden he might at once find fruits ripe and ready for his use. It has not seemed probable that he would have begun his career while as yet all fruits were raw and green; therefore many have concluded that the first year of human history began in the time of harvest, when fruits were mellowed for man's food. For this reason, perhaps, in the old time the new year began when the feast of harvest had been celebrated. Here at the point of the Exodus, by a decree of God, the commencement of the year was altered, and so far as Israel was concerned the opening of the year was fixed for the time of our spring - in the month called Abib, or Nisan. We know that a little before the barley was in the ear (see Exodus 9:31), and on the Sabbath after the passover, the produce of the earth was so far advanced that the first-fruits were offered, and a sheaf of new barley was waved before the Lord. Of course, when I speak of spring, and then of ears of barley, you must remember the difference of climate, for in that warm region the seasons are far in advance of ours. You must pardon me if my ideas should become a little mixed; you can correct them easily at your leisure. From the time when the Lord saved his people from destruction by passing them over the ecclesiastical year began in the month Abib, in which the passover was celebrated. The jubilee year was not altered, but began in the autumnal equinox. The Jews seem to have had two or three beginnings of the year in relation to different purposes; but the ecclesiastical year, the great year by which Israel reckoned its existence, commenced henceforth in the month Abib, when the Lord brought his people out with a high hand and an out-stretched arm.

It is with God to change times and seasons as he pleases, and he has done so for great commemorative purposes. The change of the Sabbath is on the same manner, for whereas the day of rest was formerly the seventh, it is now merged in the Lord's-day, which is the first day of the week. As Herbert says, "He did unhinge the day," and he set the Sabbath on golden hinges by consecrating the day of his resurrection. To every man God makes such a change of times and seasons when he deals with him in a way of grace; for all things are become new within him, and therefore he begins a new chronology. Some of us used to think our birthday fell at a certain time of the year; but now we regard with much more delight another day as our true birthday, since on that second natal day we began truly to live. Our calendar has been altered and amended by a deed of divine grace.

This morning I want to bring to your mind this fact, that, just as the people of Israel when God gave them the passover had a complete shifting and changing of all their dates, and began their year on quite a different day, so when God gives to his people to eat the spiritual passover there takes place in their chronology a very wonderful change. Saved men and women date from the dawn of their true life; not from their first birthday, but from the day wherein they were born again of the Spirit of God, and entered into the knowledge and enjoyment of spiritual things. The passover is, as we all know, a type of the great work of our redemption by the blood of Jesus, and it represents the personal application of it to each believer. When we perceive the Lord's act of passing us over because of Christ's atoning sacrifice, then it is that we begin to live, and from that day we date all future events.

So this morning we shall first describe the event; secondly, mention varieties of its recurrence; and thirdly, consider in what light the date of this grand event is to be regarded according to the law of the Lord.

I. First, then, let us DESCRIBE THIS REMARKABLE EVENT, which was henceforth to stand at the head of the Jewish year, and, indeed, at the commencement of all Israelitish chronology.

First, this event was an act of salvation by blood. You know how the elders and heads of families each one took the lamb and shut it up, that they might examine it carefully. Having chosen a lamb without blemish, in the prime of its life, they kept it by itself as a separated and consecrated creature, and after four days they slew it, and caught its blood in a basin. When this was done they took hyssop and dipped it in the blood, and therewith sprinkled the lintel and the two side posts of their houses. By this means the houses of Israel were preserved on that dark and dreadful night, when with unsheathed sword the angel of vengeance sped through every street of Pharaoh's domain and slew the firstborn of all the land, both of men and of cattle. You will remember, dear friends, the time when you yourselves perceived that God's vengeance was out against sin; you can even now recollect your terror and your trembling. Many of us can never forget the memorable time when we first discovered that there was a way of deliverance from the wrath of God. Memory may drop all else from her enfeebled grasp, but this is graven on the palms of her hands. The mode of our deliverance is before us in the type as Moses describes it. The angel could not be restrained, his wing could not be bound, and his sword could not be sheathed: he must go forth, and he must smite. He must smite us among the rest, for sin was upon us, and there must be no partiality: "the soul that sinneth it shall die." But do you remember when you discovered God's new way, his blessed ordinance by which, without abrogating the destroying law, he brought in a glorious saving clause by which we were delivered?

The clause was this, - that if another could be found who could and would suffer instead of us, and if there could be clear evidence that this surety did so suffer, then the sight of that evidence should be enough for our deliverance. Do you remember your joy at that discovery? for, if so, you can enter into the feelings of the Israelites when they understood that God would accept an unblemished lamb in the place of their firstborn; and if the blood was displayed upon the doorpost as the clear evidence that a sacrifice had died, and a substitute had suffered, then the angel should know that in that house his work was done, and he might therefore pass over that habitation. The avenger was to demand a life; but the life was already paid, for there was the blood-mark which proved it, and the exactor might go on his way. It was the night of God's passover, not because the execution of vengeance was left undone in the houses passed over, but for a reason of the opposite kind, - because in those houses the death-blow had been struck, and the victim had died, and, as the penalty could not be exacted twice, that family was clear.

I do not know whether there is any truth in the statement of a correspondent that whatever part of the earth the lightning once strikes it never strikes it again: but whether it be so or not, it is certain that wherever the lightning of God's vengeance has once struck the sinner's substitute it will not strike the sinner. The best preservative for the Israelite's house was this, - vengeance had struck there and could not strike again. There was the insurance mark, the blood-streak; death had been there, no matter though it had fallen on a harmless iamb, it had fallen on a victim of God's own appointment, and in his esteem it had fallen upon his Christ, the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. Because the claims of retribution had been fully met there was no further demand, and Israel was secure. This is my eternal confidence, and here is my soul's sweet hymn:-

"If thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my room endured The whole of wrath divine:
Payment God cannot twice demand,
First at my bleeding Surety's hand,
And then again at mine.
"Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest;
The merits of thy great High Priest
Have bought thy liberty:
Trust in his efficacious blood,
Nor fear thy banisLment from God,
Since Jesus died for thee."

It was to me the beginning of my life, that day in which I discovered that judgment was passed upon me in the person of my Lord, and that there is therefore now no condemnation to me. The law demands death, - "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Lo, there is the death it asks, and more. Christ, my Lord, has died, died in my stead: as it is written, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Such a sacrifice is more than even the most rigorous law could demand. "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Therefore do we sit securely within doors, desiring no guard without to drive away the destroyer; for, when God sees the blood of Jesus he will pass over us. "In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah 23:6). I say again, it was the beginning of life to me when I saw Jesus as dying in my stead. I beheld the first sight that was worth beholding, let all the rest be darkness and as the shadow of death. Then did my soul rejoice when I understood and accepted the substitutionary sacrifice of the appointed Redeemer. That is the first view of this event, - the blood of sprinkling made Israel secure.

Secondly, that night they received refreshment from the lamb. Being saved by its blood, the believing households sat down and fed upon the lamb. They never ate as they ate that night. Those who spiritually understood the symbol must have partaken of every morsel with a mysterious awe mingled with an unfathomable delight. 1 am sure there must have been a singular seriousness about the table as they stood there eating in haste; and especially if ever and anon they were startled with the shrieks that rose from every house in the laud of Egypt, because of the slain of the Lord. It was a solemn feast, a meal of mingled hope and mystery. Do you remember, brothers and sisters, when first you fed upon Christ, when your hungry spirit enjoyed the first morsel of that food of the soul? It was dainty fare, was it not? It was better than angels' bread, for:-

"Never did angels taste above
Redeeming grace and dying love."

I hope you have never risen from that table, but are daily feeding upon Jesus. It is a very instructive fact that we do not go to our Lord's table, like Israel, to eat in haste, with a staff in our hand, but we come there to recline at ease with our heads in his bosom, reposing in his love. Christ Jesus is the daily bread of our spirits.

Observe that the refreshment which Israel ate that night was the Lamb "roast with fire." The best refreshment to a troubled heart is the suffering Saviour; the Lamb roast with fire. A poor sinner under a sense of sin goes to a place of worship, and he hears Christ preached as an example. This may be useful to the saint, but it is scant help to the poor sinner. He cries, "That is true; but it rather condemns than comforts me." It is not food for him: he wants the lamb roast with fire, Christ his substitute, Christ suffering in his place and stead. We hear a great deal about the beauty of Christ's moral character, and assuredly our blessed Lord deserves to be highly exalted on that score; but that is not the aspect under which he is food to a soul conscious of sin. The chief relish about our Lord Jesus to a penitent sinner is his sin-bearing, and his agonies in that capacity. We need the suffering Saviour, the Christ of Gethsemane, the Christ of Golgotha and Calvary, Christ shedding his blood in the sinner's stead, and bearing for us the fire of God's wrath. Nothing short of this will suffice to be meat for a hungry heart. Keep this back and you starve the child of God.

We are told in the chapter that they were not to eat of the lamb raw. Alas! there are some who try to do this with Christ, for they preach a half-atoning sacrifice. They would make him in his Person and in his character to be meat for their souls, but they have small liking for his Passion, and they cast his Atonement into the background, or represent it to be an ineffectual expiation which does not secure any soul from vengeance. What is this but to devour a raw Christ? I will not touch their half-roasted lamb; I will have nothing to do with their half substitution, their half-complete redemption. No, no; give me a Saviour who has borne all my sins in his own body, and so has been roast with fire to the full. "It is finished," is the most charming note in all Calvary's music. "It is finished," the fire has passed upon the Lamb, he has borne the whole of the wrath that was due to his people: this is the royal dish of the feast of love.

What a multitude of teachers there are who must needs have the Lamb sodden with water, though the Scripture saith, "Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water." I have heard it said that a great number of sermons are about Christ and about the gospel, but yet neither Christ nor his gospel are preached in them. If so, the preachers present the lamb sodden in the water of their own thoughts and speculations and notions. Now, the mischief of this boiling process is that the water takes away a good deal from the meat. Philosophical discoursings upon the Lord Jesus take away much of the essence and virtue of his person, offices, work, and glory. The real juice and vital nutriment of his glorious Word is carried off by interpretations which do not explain, but explain away. How many boil out the soul of the gospel by their carnal wisdom! What is worse still, when meat is sodden, it is not only that the meat gets into the water, but the water gets into the meat; and so, what truth these gospel-boilers do hand out to us is sodden with error, and you receive from them dishes made up partly of God's truth and partly of men's imaginings. We hear in some measure solid gospel and in larger measure mere watery reasoning. When certain divines preach atonement, it is not substitution pure and simple; one hardly knows what it is. Their atonement is not the vicarious sacrifice, but a performance of something they are long in defining. They have a theory which is like the relics of meat after months of boiling, all strings and fibres. All manner of schemes are tried to extract the marrow and fatness from the grand soul-satisfying doctrine of substitution, which to my mind is the choicest truth that can ever be brought forth for the food of souls. I cannot make out why so many divines are afraid of the shedding of blood for the remission of sin, and must needs stew down the most important of all the truths of revelation. No, no; as the type could only be correct when the lamb was roast with fire, so the gospel is not truly set forth unless we describe our Lord Jesus in his sufferings for his people, and those sufferings in the room, place, and stead of sinners, presenting absolutely and literally a substitution for them. I will have no dilution: it is substitution: - "he bore our sins." He was made sin for us. "The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." We must have no mystifying of this plain truth, it must not be "sodden at all with water," but we must have Christ in his sufferings fresh from the fire.

Now, this lamb they were to eat, and the whole of it. Not a morsel must be left. Oh that you and I would never cut and divide Christ so as to choose one part of him and leave another. Let not a bone of him be broken, but let us take in a whole Christ up to the full measure of our capacity. Prophet, Priest, and King, Christ divine and Christ human, Christ loving and living, Christ dying, Christ risen, Christ ascended, Christ coming again, Christ triumphant over all his foes - the whole Lord Jesus Christ is ours. We must not reject a single particle of what is revealed concerning him, but must feed upon it all as we are able.

That night Israel had to feed upon the lamb there and then. They might not put by a portion for to-morrow: they must consume the whole in some way or other. Oh, my brother, we need a whole Christ at this very moment. Let us receive him in his entirety. Oh for a splendid appetite and fine powers of digestion, so as to receive into my inmost soul the Lord's Christ just as I find him. May you and I never think lightly of our Lord under any light or in any one of his offices. A11 that you now know and all that you can find out concerning Christ you should now believe, appreciate, feed upon, and rejoice in. Make the most of all that is in the word concerning your Lord. Let him enter into your being to become part and parcel of yourself. If you do this the day in which you feed on Jesus will be the first day of your life, its day of days, the day from which you date all that follows. If once you have fed upon Christ Jesus you will never forget it in time or in eternity. That was the second event which was celebrated in each succeeding Passover.

The third event was the purification of their houses from leaven, for that was to go in a most important way side by side with the sprinkling of the blood and the eating of the lamb. They were told that they must not eat leaven for seven days, for whosoever did partake of leaven should be cut off from Israel. It shows the deep importance of this purification that it is put in equal position with the sprinkling of the blood; at any rate it might not be separated from it upon pain and penalty that he who divided the two should himself be divided from the congregation of Israel. Now, it is always a pity when we are preaching justification by faith so to bring in sanctification as to make it a part of justification; but it is also a horrible error when you are preaching justification so to preach it as to deny the absolute necessity of sanctification, for the two are joined together of the Lord. There must be the eating of the lamb as well as the sprinkling of the blood; and there must be the purging out of the old leaven, as well as the sprinkling of the blood and the eating of the lamb. Very carefully the Jewish householder looked into every closet, corner, drawer, and cupboard to sweep out every crumb of stale bread; and if they had any bread in store, even if it was new and they intended to eat it, they must put it all away, for there must not be a particle of leaven in the same house with the lamb. When you and I first came to Christ what a sweep there was of the leaven. I know I was clean delivered from the leaven of the Pharisees, for all trust in my own good works went, even the last crumb of it. All confidence in rites and ceremonies must go too. I have not a crust left of either of these two sour and corrupt confidences at the present moment, and I wish never to taste that old leaven any more. Some are always chewing at that leaven, glorying in their own prayers, and alms, and ceremonies; but when Christ comes in, this leaven all goes out. Moreover, the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, must be cleared out. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Guile must go, or guilt will not go. The Lord sweeps the cunning out of his people, the craftiness, the deceit: he makes them true before his face. They wish that they were as clear of every sin as they are clear from insincerity. They once tried to dwell before the Lord with double dealing, pretending to be what they were not; but as soon as ever they ate of Christ, and the blood was sprinkled, then they humbled themselves in truth, and laid bare their sinnership, and stood before God as they were, with their hypocrisy rent away. Christ has not saved the man who still trusts in falsehood. You cannot feed on Christ and at the same time hold a lie in your right hand by vain confidence in yourself, or by love of sin. Self and sin must go. But oh what a day it is when the old leaven is put out, - we shall never forget it! This month is the beginning of months, the first month of the year to us, when the Spirit of truth purges out the spirit of falsehood.

A fourth point in the passover is not to be forgotten. On the passover night there came, as the result of the former things, a wonderful, glorious, and mighty deliverance. That night every Israelite received promise of immediate emancipation, and as soon as the morning dawned he quitted the house in which he had sheltered during the night, and quitting his home he quitted Egypt too. He left for ever the brick-kilns, washed the brick-earth for the last time from his hands, looked down on the yoke he used to carry when he worked amid the clay, and said, "I have done with you." He looked at every Egyptian taskmaster, remembered how often he had struck him with the stick, and he rejoiced that he would never strike him again, for there he was at his feet begging him to be gone lest all Egypt should die. Oh what joy! They marched out with their unleavened bread still on their backs, for they had some days in which they were still to eat it, and I think before the seventh day of unleavened bread was over they had reached the Red Sea. Still eating unleavened bread they went down into the depths of the Red Sea, and still with no flavour of leaven in their mouths they stood on its shore to sing unto the Lord the great Hallelujah, because he had triumphed gloriously, and the horse and his rider had been cast into the sea. Do you recollect when the Lord purged you from the love of sin, and from trust in self, and when he brought you clean out and set you free, and said, "Go on to the promised rest, go Oil to Canaan"? Do you remember when you saw your sins drowned for ever, never to rise in judgment against you, - not merely your destruction prevented, not merely your soul fed with the finest food, not merely your heart and your house cleansed of hypocrisy, but yourself delivered and emancipated, the Lord's free man? Oh, if so, I am sure you will grant the wisdom of the ordinance by which the Lord decreed, - "this month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you." Thus much, then, on describing the event.

II. Now, secondly, I want to MENTION THE VARIETIES OF ITS RECURRENCE among us at this day.

The first recurrence is of course on the personal salvation of each one of us. The whole of this chapter was transacted in your heart and mine when first we knew the Lord. Our venerable Brother and Elder White, when I saw him the other night, said to me, "Oh, sir, it is very precious to read the Bible, but it is infinitely more delightful to have it here in your own heart." Now I find it very profitable to read about the passover; but oh, how sweet to have a passover transacted in your own soul by the work of the Holy Spirit! Moses wrote of something that happened thousands of years ago, but the substance of it all has happened to me in all its details, and to thousands who are trusting in the Lord. Can we not read this story in Exodus, and say, "Yes, it is even so"? Every word of it is true, for it has all occurred to me, every atom of it, even to the eating of the bitter herbs; for I recollect right well that, at the very moment when I had the sweet flavour of my Lord's atonement in my mouth, I felt the bitterness of repentance on account of sin, and the bitterness of struggling against the temptation to sin again. Even the minute touches of that typical festival are all correct, as thousands know who have participated in its antitype. This passover record is not a story of olden times alone, it is the record of your life and mine, - I hope it is. Thus by each separate saved man the paschal feast is kept.

But then it happens again in a certain sense when the man's house is saved. Remember, this was a family business. The father and mother were present when the lamb was slain. I dare say the eldest son helped to bring the lamb to the slaughter, another held the knife, a third held the basin, and the little boy fetched the bunch of hyssop, and they all united in the sacrifice. They all saw father strike the lintel and the side-posts, and they all ate of the lamb that night. Everyone that was in the house, all that were really part of the family, partook of the meal: they were all protected by the blood, they were all refreshed by the feast, and they all started the next morning to go to Canaan. Did you ever hold a family supper of that kind? "Oh," some fathers might say, "it would be the beginning of family life to me if ever I might eat bread in the kingdom of God with all my sons and daughters. Oh that every chick and child around my table truly belonged to Christ." A family begins to live in the highest sense when as a family, without exception, it has all been redeemed, all sprinkled with the blood, all made to feed on Jesus, all purged from sin, and all set at liberty to go out of the domains of sin, bound for the Kingdom. Joy! joy! joy1 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." If any of you enjoy the privilege of family salvation, you may well set up a monument of praise, and make a generous offering to God, by whom you are thus favoured. Engrave it upon marble, and set it up for ever - This household is saved, and the day of its salvation is the beginning of its history in connection with the Lord's Israel.

Extend the thought - it was not only a family ordinance but it was for all the tribes of Israel. There were many families, but in every house the passover was sacrificed. Would it not be a grand thing if you that employ large numbers of men should ever be able to gather all together and hopefully say, "I trust that all these understand the sprinkling of the blood, and all feed upon Christ." Dear men and women that are placed in such responsible positions, you might indeed say, "This shall be the beginning of months to us." Labour for it, therefore, and make it your heart's desire. If you live to see a district in which you labour permeated with the gospel, what a joy! If we shall live to see London with every house sprinkled with the redeeming blood! If we should live to see all England feeding, not as many do at Christmas to excess on the delicacies of earth, but feasting spiritually, where there can be no excess, upon Christ. Oh, what a beginning of years it would be to our happy island! What a paradise it would be! If it should be so with France, if it should be so in any country, what a day to be remembered. Commence a nation's annals from its evangelization. Begin the chronicle of a people from the day when they bow at the feet of Jesus. There will come a day to this poor earth when all over it Jesus shall reign. It may be long yet, but the day shall come when Christ shall have dominion from sea to sea. The nations which are called Christians, although they so little deserve the title, do already date their chronology from the birth of Christ, and this is a sort of faint foreshadowing of the way in which men shall one day date all things from the reign of Jesus; for his unsuffering kingdom yet shall come. God hath decreed his triumph, and on all the wings of time it hastens. When he cometh that month shall be the beginning of months unto us. I say no more.

III. And now, in the last place, I come to show IN WHAT LIGHT THIS DATE IS TO BE REGARDED, if it has occurred to us in the senses I have mentioned.

Primarily, if it has occurred in the first sense to us personally: what about it then? Why, first, the day in which we first knew the Saviour as the Paschal Lamb should always be the most honourable day that has ever dawned upon us. The Israelites placed the month Abib in the first rank because it was the month of the passover: put down the date at which you knew the Lord as the premier day, the noblest hour you have ever known. It eclipses your natural birthday, for then you were born in sin, then you were "born to trouble as the sparks fly upward;" but now you are born into spiritual life, born unto eternal bliss. It eclipses your marriage day, for union to Christ shall bring you greater felicity than the happiest of conjugal bonds. If you have ever known a day in which you received the honours of the State, or gained distinction in learning, or attained to a position in society, or arrived at a larger wealth, all these were but dim, cloudy, foggy days compared with this "morning without clouds." On that day your sun rose never to go down again: the die was cast, your destiny for glory was openly declared. I pray you never in your thoughts degrade that blessed day by thinking more of any pleasure, honour, or advancement than you do of the blessing of salvation by the blood of Jesus. I am afraid that some are striving and struggling after other distinctions, and if they could once reach a certain event then they would be satisfied: is not your salvation worth vastly more than this? They would feel that they were made for life if a certain matter turned out right. Brother, you were made for life when you were made anew in Christ Jesus. You came to your estate when you came to Christ: you were promoted when he received you to his friendship. You gained all that you need desire when you found Christ, for a saint of old said, "He is all my salvation, and all my desire." Do not, therefore, if the Queen should knight you or the people should send you to Parliament, think that the event would overshadow your conversion and salvation. Think of that act of grace as the Lord thinks of it, for he says, "Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." Unto you that believe Jesus is honour; in him you boast and glory, and well you may. The blood-mark is a believer's chief adornment and decoration, and his being cleansed and set free by grace is his noblest distinction. Glory in grace and in nothing else. Prize the work of grace beyond all the treasures of Egypt.

This date is to be regarded as the beginning of life. The Israelites reckoned that all their former existence as a nation had been death. The brick-kilns of Egypt, the lying among the pots, the mixing up with idolaters, the hearing of a language which they understood not - they looked on all Egyptian experience as death, and the month which ended it was to them the beginning of months. On the other hand, they looked upon all that followed after as being life. The passover was the beginning, and only the beginning: a beginning implies something to follow it. Now then. Christian man, whenever you speak about your existence before conversion always do it with shamefacedness, as one risen from the dead might speak of the charnel-house and the worm of corruption. I feel grieved when I hear or read of people who can stand up and talk about what they used to do before they were converted very much in the way in which an old seafaring man talks of his voyages and storms. No. no, be ashamed of your former lusts in your ignorance; and if you must speak of them to the praise and glory of Christ, speak with bated breath and tears and sighs. Death, rottenness, corruption are all most fitly left in silence, or, if they demand a voice, let it be as solemn and mournful as a knell. Let your sin-story be told in a way which shall show that you wish it had never been true. Let your conversion be the burial of the old existence, and as for that which follows after, take care that you make it real life, worthy of the grace which has quickened you.

Suppose these Israelites had loitered about in Egypt: suppose one of them had said, "Well, I did not finish that batch of bricks. I cannot go out just yet. I should like to see them thoroughly well baked and prepared for the pyramid" - what a foolish fellow he would have been! No, but they left the bricks, and the clay, and the stuff behind, and went straight away, and let Egypt take care of itself. Now, child of God, quit the ways of sin with determination, leave the world, leave its pleasures, leave its cares, and get right away to Jesus and his leadership. You are now the Lord's free man; shall the blood be sprinkled for nothing! Shall the lamb be eaten and mean nothing! Shall the leavened bread be purged out in vain! Shall the Red Sea be crossed, and the Egyptians drowned, and you remain a slave? The thought is abhorrent. That was the mischief about the Israelites, that they had still a hankering after the leeks and garlick of Egypt: these strong-smelling things had scented their garments, and it is hard to get such vile odours out of one's clothes. Alas, that Egyptian garlick clings to us, and the smell of it is not always so abominable to us as it ought to be. Besides, they pined for fish which they did eat in Egypt in plenty, muddy fish though it was. There were better fisheries for them in Jordan, and Gennesaret, and the Great Sea, if they had gone ahead; and sweeter herbs were on Canaan's hills than ever grew in Egypt's mire. Because of this evil lusting they were kept dodging about for forty years in the wilderness. They might have marched into Canaan in forty days if it had not been for that stinking garlick of theirs, and their Egyptian habits and memories. Oh, that God would cut us quite free, and enable us to forget those things whereof we are now ashamed.

I have nearly concluded when I have added this, that inasmuch as the passover was now the beginning of the year to them it was the putting of all things right. I told you that the year had formerly begun in autumn, according to most traditions: was this really the best season to pitch upon? Upon second thoughts, was autumn the best season in which to begin life, with winter all before you and everything declining? By the institution of the passover the year was made to begin in what is our spring. If I judge from the condition of our land I should ask, - When could the year begin more fitly than in the spring-tide of early May? It seems to me that it actually does begin in spring. I do not see that the year naturally begins to-day, though it does so arbitrarily. We are in about the middle of winter, and the year as yet lies dead. When, the birds sing and the flowers rise from their beds of earth, then the year begins. It seems to me a strange supposition that our first parents commenced life in autumn, amid lengthening nights and declining forces. No, we say, by all means let the date be fixed in spring, so that the salutations of the new year shall be sweet with fragrant flowers and rich with joyous songs. Nor would the time of our spring in the East be a season without supplies, for in April and May the first ears of corn are ready, and many other fruits are fit for food. It was good for the Israelites to have the feast of the first-fruits in the month Abib, to bring the first ears to the Lord, and not to wait till they were ripe before they blessed the Giver of all good. We ought to be grateful for green mercies, and not tarry till everything come to ripeness. In some parts of the East there is fruit all the year round, and why not in Eden? In the delightful country where I have sojourned, which bears a very close resemblance to the East, there are fruits still ripening upon the trees, and one tree or another will be found to bear fruit every month all the year round, so that if Adam had been created in the month of April there would have been food for him, followed by a succession of fruits which would have supplied all his wants. Then he would have had summer before him with all its ripening beauties, and this is a more paradisaical outlook than winter. It is right that the year should begin with the first-fruits, and I am sure it is quite right that the year should begin with you and with me when we come to Christ and receive the first-fruits of the Spirit. Everything is out of joint till a man knows Christ: everything is disorderly and bottom upwards till the gospel comes and turns him upside down, and then the right side is up again. Man is all wrong till the gospel puts him all right. Though grace is above nature it is not contrary to nature, but restores true nature. Our nature is never so truly the nature of a man as when it is no longer man's sinful nature. We become truly men, such as God meant men to be, when we cease to be men such as sin has made men to be.

Our life, beginning as it does at our spiritual passover, and at our feeding upon Christ, we ought always to regard our conversion as a festival and remember it with praise. Whenever we look back upon it the memory of it should excite delight in our hearts. I wonder how long a man ought to thank God for forgiving his sins? Is life long enough? Is time long enough? Is eternity too long? How long ought a man to thank God for saving him from going down to hell? Would fifty years suffice? Oh no, that would never do, the blessing is too great to be all sung of in a millennium. Suppose you and I never had a single mercy except this one, that we were made the children of God and co-heirs with Christ Jesus,- suppose we had nothing else to enjoy! We ought to sing about that alone for ever and ever. Ay, if we were sick, cast on the bed of pain with a hundred diseases, with the bone wearing through the skin, yet since God's everlasting mercy will sanctify every pain and every affliction, should we not still continue to lift up happy psalms to God and praise him for ever and ever? Therefore, be that your watchword all through the year - "Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord!" The Israelite always closed the passover with a hymn of praise, and therefore let us close our sermon this morning with holy joy, and continue our happy music till this year ends, ay, till time shall be no more. Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon - Exodus 12.

CHAPTER 22. THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING AND THE CHILDREN

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's Day Morning, October 23rd, 1887, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you. What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses."
Exodus 12:21-27.

I wanted, dear friends, earnestly wanted, to continue the subject of last Lord's-day morning; for I felt it important that we should bear again and again our witness to the doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord. But, at the same time, I promised that I would endeavour to keep "the feast of the children," and have a sermon which should be specially addressed to Sunday-school teachers. I could not preach a school sermon at the appointed time, so as to open your children's week, but thought a discourse might come in none the less suitably if I brought up the rear by closing your meetings. How am I to fulfil both my purposes? I think the subject before us will enable me to do so. We shall preach of the sprinkled blood, and of Jesus the great sacrifice for sin; and then we shall press upon all who know the value of the great redemption that they teach the young in their earliest days what is meant by the death of Jesus and salvation through his blood.

The Paschal lamb was a special type of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not left to gather this from the general fact that all the ancient sacrifices were shadows of the one true and real substance; but we are assured in the New Testament that "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). As the Paschal lamb must be without blemish, so was our Lord, and its killing and roasting with fire were typical of his death and suflFerings. Even as to time, our Lord fulfilled the type, for the time of his crucifixion wss the passover. As the impression answers to the seal, so dues the sacrifice of our Lord correspond with all the items of the passover ceremonial. We see him "drawn out" from among men, and led as a lamb to the slaughter; we see his blood shed and sprinkled; we see him roasted in the fire of anguish; by faith we eat of him, and flavour the feast with the bitter herbs of penitence. We see Jesus and salvation where the carnal eye sees only a slaughtered lamb, and a people saved from death.

The Spirit of God in the passover ceremonial lays special emphasis upon the sprijiMmg of the blood. That which men so greatly oppose, he as diligently sets forth as the head and front of revelation. The blood of the chosen lamb was caught in a basin, and not spilled upon the ground in wastefulness; for the blood of Christ is most precious. Into this bowl of blood a bunch of hyssop was dipped. The sprays of that little shrub would hold the crimson drops, so that they could be easily sprinkled. Then the father of the family went outside, and struck with this hyssop the lintel and the two side posts of the door; and so the house was marked with three crimson streaks. No blood was put upon the threshold. Woe unto the man that tramples upon the blood of Christ, and treats it as an unholy thing! Alas! I fear that many are doing so at this hour, not only among the outside world, but among those who profess and call themselves Christians.

I shall endeavour to bring forward two thing. First, the importance attached to the sprinkled blood; and, secondly, the institution connected with it, namely, that the children should be instructed in the meaning of sacrifice, so that they also may teach their children, and keep alive the memory of the Lord's great deliverance.

I. First: THE IMPORTANCE ATTACHED TO THE BLOOD OF SACRIFICE is here made very plain. Pains are taken to make the sacrifice observable, yea, to force it upon the notice of all the people.

I note, first, that it became and remained the national mark. If you had traversed the streets of Memphis or Rameses on the night of the Passover, you could have told who were Israelites and who were Egyptians by one conspicuous token. There was no need to listen under the window to hear the speech of the people within the house, nor to wait till any came into the street so that you could observe their attire. This one thing alone would be a sufficient guide - the Israelite had the blood-mark upon his doorway, the Egyptian had it not. Mark you, this is still the great point of diflFerence between the children of God and the children of the wicked one. There are, in truth, but two denominations upon this earth - the church and the world; those who are justified in Christ Jesus, and those who are condemned in their sins. This shall stand for a never-failing sign of the "Israelite indeed": he has come to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel. He that believeth in the Son of God, as the one accepted sacrifice for sin, hath salvation, and he that believeth not in him will die in his sins. The true Israel are trusting in the sacrifice once offered for sin; it is their rest, their comfort, their hope. As for those who are not trusting in the atoning sacrifice, they have rejected the counsel of God against themselves, and thus have declared their true character and condition. Jesus said, "Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you"; and want of faith in that shedding of blood, without which there is no remission of sin, is the damning mark of one who is a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Let ns make no question about it: "Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God." (See 2 John 9, in the Revised Version.) He that will not accept the propitiation which God hath set forth must bear his own iniquity. Nothing more just, and yet nothing more terrible, can happen to such a man than that his iniquity should not be purged by sacrifice nor offering for ever. I care not what your supposed righteousness may be, nor how you think to commend yourselves to God, if you reject his Son, he will reject you. If you come before God without the atoning blood, you have neither part nor lot in the matter of the covenant inheritance, and you are not numbered among the people of God. The sacrifice is the national mark of the spiritual Israel, and he that hath it not is an alien; he shall have no inheritance among them that are sanctified, neither shall he behold the Lord in glory.

Secondly, as this was the national mark, it was also the saving token. That night the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, and as he flew down the streets of Egypt he smote high and low, the first-born of princes and the first-born of beasts, so that in every house and in every stall there was one dead. Where he saw the blood-mark he entered not to smite; but everywhere else the vengeance of the Lord fell on the rebellious. The words are very remarkable: "The Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." What holds back the sword? Nothing but the blood-stain on the door. The lamb has been slain, and they have sprinkled their houses with the blood, and therefore are they secure. The sons of Jacob were not richer, nor wiser, nor stronger, nor more skilled than the sons of Ham; but they were redeemed by the blood, and therefore they lived, while those who knew not the redeeming token died. When Jericho fell down, the one house that stood was that which had the scarlet line in the window; and when the Lord visits for sin, the man that shall escape is he who knows Jesus, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace."

I call your very special attention, however, to the words that are used in the twenty-third verse: "The Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door." What an instructive expression! "When he seeth the blood." It is a very comforting thing for you and for me to behold the atonement; for thus we gain peace and enter into rest; but, after all, the grand reason of our salvation is that the Lord himself looks upon the atonement, and is well pleased for his righteousness' sake. In the thirteenth verse we hear the Lord himself say: "When I see the blood I will pass over you." Think of the holy eye of God being turned to him that taketh away the sin of the world, and so fixed on him that he passes over us. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, but he looks upon the face of his anointed and forgives the sin. He accepts us with our sacrifice. Well does our hymn-writer pray:-

"Him and then the sinner see;
Look through Jesu's wounds on me."

It is not our sight of the sprinkled blood which is the basis of salvation, but God's sight of it. God's acceptance of Christ is the sure guarantee of the salvation of those who accept his sacrifice. Beloved, when thine eye of faith is dim, when thine eye-balls swim in a flood of tears, when the darkness of sorrow hides much from thy vision, then Jehovah sees the blood of his Son, and spares thee. In the thick darkness, when thou canst not see at all, the Lord God never fails to see in Jesus that with which he is well pleased, and with which his law is honoured. He will not suffer the destroyer to come near thee to harm thee, because he sees in Christ that which vindicates his justice and establishes the needful rule of law. The blood is the saving mark. At this moment this is the pressing question for each one in the company gathered in this house: Do you trust the divine propitiation or do you not? Bring to me what you will to prove your own personal excellence. I believe in no virtue which insults the Saviour's blood, which alone cleanseth us from all sin. Rather confess your multiplied transgressions and shortcomings, and then take heart and hope; for there is forgiveness large and free for the very chief of sinners, through him who has made peace by the blood of his cross.

O my hearer, guilty and self-condemned, if thou wilt now come and trust in Jesus Christ, thy sins, which are many, shall be all forgiven thee, and thou shalt love so much m return, that the whole bent and bias of thy mind shall be turned from sin to gracious obedience. The atonement applied to the conscience saves from despair, and then acting upon the heart it saves from the love of evil. But the atonement is the saving sign. The blood on the lintel and on the two side posts secured the house of the poorest Israelite; but the proudest Egyptian, yea, even Pharaoh on the throne, could not escape the destroyer's sword. Believe and live. Reject the atonement and perish!

Note, next, that the mark of the blood was rendered as conspicuous as possible. The Israelites, though they ate the Paschal lamb in the quiet of their own families, yet made no secret of the sacrifice. They did not make the distinctive mark upon the wall of some inner chamber, or in some place where they could cover it with hangings, that no man might perceive it; but they smote the upper part of the doorway and the two side posts of the door, so that all who passed by the house must see that it was marked in a peculiar manner, and marked with blood. The Lord's people were not ashamed to have the blood thus put in the forefront of every dwelling: and those that are saved by the great sacrifice are not to treat the doctrine of substitution as a hole-and-corner creed, to be secretly held, but not openly avowed. The death of Jesus in our room and place and stead is not a redemption of which we are ashamed to speak in any place. Call it old-fashioned and out of date, our critics may; but we are not ashamed to publish it to the four winds of heaven, and to avow our confidence in it. He that is ashamed of Christ in this generation, of him will Christ be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father, and all his holy angels with him. There is a theology abroad in the world which admits the death of Christ to a certain indefinable place in its system, but that place is very much in the rear: I claim for the atonement the front and the centre. The Lamb must be in the midst of the throne. Atonement is not a mystery scarcely to be spoken of, or if spoken of at all, to be whispered. No, no, it is a sublime simplicity, a fact for a child to know, a truth for the common people to rejoice in! We must preach Christ crucified whatever else we do not preach. Brethren, I do not think a man ought to hear a minister preach three sermons without learning; the doctrine of atonement. I give wide latitude when I say this, for I would desire never to preach at all without setting forth salvation by faith in the blood of Jesus. Across my pulpit and my tabernacle shall be the mark of the blood; it will disgust the enemy, but it will delight the faithful. Substitution seems to me to be the soul of the gospel, the life of the gospel, the essence of the gospel; therefore must it be ever in the front. Jesus, as the Lamb of God, is the Alpha, and we must keep him first and before all others. I charge you, Christian people, do not make this a secondary doctrine. Keep your perspective right, and have this always in the foreground. Other truths are valuable, and may most worthily be placed in the distance; but this is always to be in the foreground. The centre of Christianity is the cross, and the meaning of the cross is substitution.

"We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains our Jesus bare,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there."

The great sacrifice is the place of gathering for the chosen seed: we meet at the cross, even as every family in Israel met around the table whereon was placed the lamb, and met within a house which was marked with blood. Instead of looking upon the vicarious sacrifice as placed somewhere in the remote distance, we find in it the centre of the church. Nay, more; it is so much the vital, all-essential centre, that to remove it is to tear out the heart of the church. A congregation which has rejected the sacrifice of Christ is not a church, but an assembly of unbelievers. Of the church I may truly say, "The blood is the life thereof." Like the doctrine of justification by faith, the doctrine of a vicarious sacrifice is the article of standing or falling to each church: atonement by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ means spiritual life, and the rejection of it is the reverse. Wherefore, we must never be ashamed of this all-important truth, but make it as conspicuous as possible. "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."

Further, the sprinkled blood was not only most conspicuous, but it was made very dear to the people themselves by the fact that they trusted in it in the most implicit manner. After the door-posts had been smeared the people went inside into their houses, and they shut to the door, never to open it again till the morning. They were busy inside: there was the roasting of the lamb, the preparing of the bitter herbs, the girding of their loins, the getting ready for their march, and so forth; but this was done without fear of danger, though they knew that the destroyer was abroad. The command of the Lord was, "None of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning." What is going on in the street? You must not go to see. The midnight hour has come. Did you not hear it? Hark, that dreadful cry! Again a piercing shriek! What is it? The anxious mother asks, "What can it be?" "There was a great cry in Egypt." The Israelites must not heed that cry so as to break the divine word which shut them in for a little moment, till the tempest was over-past. Perhaps persons of doubtful mind, during that dread night, may have said, "Something awful is happening. Hear those cries! Listen to the tramping of the people in the streets, as they hurry to and fro! It may be there is a conspiracy to slay us at dead of night." "None of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning" was sufficient for all who truly believed. They were safe, and they knew it, and so, like the chicks beneath the wings of the hen, they rested in safety. Beloved, let us do the same. Let us honour the precious blood of Christ not only by speaking of it boldly to others, but by a calm and happy trust in it for ourselves. In full assurance let us rest. Do you believe that Jesus died for you? Then be at peace. Let no man's heart fail him now that he knows that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Let the cross be the pillar of our confidence, unmoved and immovable. Do not be agitated about what has been or what is to be: we are housed in safety in Christ Jesus both from the sins of the past and the dangers of the future. All is well, since love's atoning work is done. In holy peacefulness let us proceed with our household work, purging out the old leaven and keeping the feast; but let no fear or doubt disturb us for an instant. We pity those who die without Christ, but we cannot quit our Lord under the pretence of saving them: that would be folly. I know there are terrible cries outside in the streets - who has not heard them? Oh, that the people would but shelter beneath the blood-mark! It pierces our heart to think of the doom of the ungodly when they perish in their sins; but, as Noah did not quit the ark, nor Israel leave her abode, so our hope is not larger than the cross will warrant. All who shelter beneath the blood of the atonement are secure, and as for those who reject this great salvation, how shall they escape? There are great and sad mysteries in this long night, but in the morning we shall know as much of God's dealings with men as it will be good for us to know. Meanwhile, let us labour to bring our fellows within the pale of safety, but yet let us be ourselves peaceful, composed, restful, and joyful. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Possess ye your souls in patience. Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Feed upon the Lamb, for his flesh is meat indeed. That same Jesus who has preserved your life from destruction will be the sustenance of that life evermore. Be happy beneath the saving blood-mark. Make a feast of your passover. Though there be death outside, let your joy within be undisturbed.

I cannot stay long on any one point, and therefore notice, next, that the Paschal blood-shedding was to be had in perpetual remembrance. "Ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever." As long as Israel remained a people, they were to keep the passover: so long as there is a Christian upon earth the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus must be kept in memory. No progress of years or advance of thought could take away the memory of the Paschal sacrifice from Israel. Truly it was a night to be remembered when the Lord brought out his people from under the iron yoke of Egypt. It was such a wonderful deliverance, as to the plagues which preceded it, and the miracle at the Red Sea which followed it, that no event could possibly excel it in interest and glory. It was such a triumph of God's power over the pride of Pharaoh, and such a manifestation of God's love to his own people, that they were not merely to be glad for one night, nor for one year, nor even for a century; but they were to remember it for ever. Might there not come a time when Israel would have achieved further history? Might not some grander event eclipse the glory of Egypt's overthrow? Never! The death of Egypt's firstborn, and the song of Moses at the Red Sea must remain for ever woven into the tapestry of Hebrew history. Evermore did Jehovah say, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Beloved, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be declared and showed by us until he come. No truth can ever be discovered which can put his sacrificial death into the shade. Whatever shall occur, even though he cometh in the clouds of heaven, yet our song shall be for ever, "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Amid the splendour of his endless reign he shall be "the Lamb in the midst of the throne." Christ as the sacrifice for sin shall ever be the subject of our hallelujahs: "For thou wast slain." Certain vainglorious minds are advancing - advancing from the rock to the abyss. They are making progress from truth to falsehood. They are thinking, but their thoughts are not God's thoughts, neither are their ways his ways. They are leaving the gospel, they are going away from Christ, and they know not whither. In quitting the substitutionary sacrifice they are quitting the sole hope of man. As for us, we hear the Lord saying to us, "Ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever," and so will we do. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," is our boast and glory. Let others wander where they will, we abide with him who bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

Notice next, dear friends, that when the people came into the land where no Egyptian ever entered they were still to remember the passover. "It shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service." In the land that flowed with milk and honey there was still to be the memorial of the sprinkled blood. Our Lord Jesus is not for the first day of our repentance only, but for all the days of our lives: we remember him as well amid our highest spiritual joys as in our deepest spiritual griefs. The Paschal lamb is for Canaan, as well as for Egypt, and the sacrifice for sin is for our full assurance as well as for our trembling hope. You and I will never attain to such a state of grace that we can do without the blood which cleanseth from sin. If we should ever reach perfection, then would Christ be even more precious than he is to-day; or, if we did not find him so, we might be sure that our pretended attainment was a wretched delusion. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, and have constant fellowship with him, yet still the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Moreover, brethren, I want you to notice carefully that this sprinkling of the blood was to he an all-pervading memory. Catch this thought: the children of Israel could not go out of their houses, and they could not come in, without the remembrance of the sprinkled blood. It was over their heads; they must come under it. It was on the right hand and on the left: they must be surrounded by it. They might almost say of it, "Whither shall we go from thy presence?" Whether they looked on their own doors, or on those of their neighbours, there "was the same threefold streak, and it was there both by day and by night. Nor was this all; when two of Israel married, and the foundation of a family was laid, there was another memorial. The young husband and wife had the joy of looking upon their firstborn child, and then they called to mind that the Lord had said, "Sanctify to me all the firstborn." As an Israelite he explained this to his son, and said, "By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem." The commencement of every family that made up the Israelitish nation was thus a time of special remembrance of the sprinkling of the blood; for then the redemption money must be paid, and thus an acknowledgment made that they were the Lord's, having been bought with a price. In ways many, and everywhere present, the people were reminded of the need of sacrifice. To the thoughtful, every going down of the sun reminded him of the night to be remembered; while the beginning of each year in the month Abib brought home to him the fact that the beginning of his nation dated from the time of the killing of the lamb. The Lord took means to keep this matter before the people; for they were wayward, and seemed bent upon forgetting, even like this present age.

In the thirteenth chapter, in verse 9, we read: "It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes." And again, in verse 16, we read: "And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt." By this is meant that they were henceforth to do everything with regard to redemption; and they were henceforth to see everything in connection with redemption. Redemption by blood was to consecrate each man's hand, so that he could not use it for evil, but must employ it for the Lord. He could not take his food, or his tool, in his hand, without remembrance of the sprinkled blood which had made his food and his labour a blessing. All his acts were to be under the influence of atoning blood. Oh, what service you and I would render if it was always redeemed labour that we gave! If we went to our Sunday-school class, for instance, feeling, "I am bought with a price," and if we preached with redeemed lips the gospel of our own salvation, how livingly and lovinglv we should speak! What an effect this would have on our lives! You would not dare, some of you, to do what you now do, if you remembered that Jesus died for you. Many a thing which you have left undone would at once be minded if you had a clearer consciousness of redeeming love. The Jews became superstitious, and were content with the letter of their law, and so they wrote out certain verses upon little strips of parchment called "tephillin," which they enclosed in a box, and then strapped upon their wrists. The true meaning of the passage did not lie in any such childish action; but it taught them that they were to labour and to act with holy hands, as men under overwhelming obligations to the Lord's redeeming grace. Redemption is to be our impulse for holy service, our check when we are tempted to sin. They were also to wear the memory of the passover as frontlets between their eyes, and you know how certain Jews actually wore phylacteries upon their foreheads. That could be no more than the mere shell of the thing: the essence of the command was that they were to look on everything in reference to redemption by blood. Brethren, we should view everything in this world by the light of redemption, and then we shall view it aright. It makes a wonderful change whether you view providence from the standpoint of human merit or from the foot of the cross. "We see nothing truly till Jesus is our light. Everything is seen in its reality when you look through the glass, the ruby glass of the atoning sacrifice. Use this telescope of the cross, and you shall see far and clear; look at sinners through the cross; look at saints through the cross; look at sin through the cross; look at the world's joys and sorrows through the cross; look at heaven and hell through the cross. See how conspicuous the blood of the passover was meant to be, and then learn from all this to make much of the sacrifice of Jesus, yea, to make everything of it, for Christ is all.

One thing more: we read in Deuteronomy, in the sixth chapter, and the eighth verse, concerning the commandments of the Lord, as follows: "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." See, then, that the law is to be written hard by the memorials of the blood. In Switzerland, in the Protestant villages, you have seen texts of Scripture upon the doorposts. I half wish we had that custom in England. How much of gospel might be preached to wayfarers if texts of Scripture were over Christian people's doors! It might be ridiculed as Pharisaical, but we could get over that. Few are liable to that charge in these days through being religious overmuch. I like to see texts of Scripture in our houses, in all the rooms, on the cornices, and on the walls; but outside on the door - what a capital advertisement the gospel might get at a cheap rate! But note, that when the Jew wrote upon his door-posts a promise, or a precept, or a doctrine, he had to write upon a surface stained with blood, and when the next year's passover came round he had to sprinkle the blood with the hyssop right over the writing. It seems to me so delightful to think of the law of God in connection with that atoning sacrifice which has magnified it and made it honourable. God's commands come to me as a redeemed man; his promises are to me as a blood-bought man; his teaching instructs me as one for whom atonement has been made. The law in the hand of Christ is not a sword to slay us, but a jewel to enrich us. All truth taken in connection with the cross is greatly enhanced in value. Holy Scripture itself becomes dear to a sevenfold degree when we see that it comes to us as the redeemed of the Lord, and bears upon its every page marks of those dear hands which were nailed to the tree for us.

Beloved, you now see how everything was done that could well be thought of to bring the blood of the Paschal lamb into a high position in the esteem of the people whom the Lord brought out of Egypt; and you and I must do everything we can think of to bring forward, and keep before men for ever the precious doctrine of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. He was made sin for us though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

II. And now I will spend a short time in reminding you of THE INSTITUTION THAT WAS CONNECTED WITH THE REMEMBRANCE OP THE PASSOVER. "It shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover."

Inquiry should be excited in the minds of our children. Oh, that we could get them to ask questions about the things of God! Some of them enquire very early, others of them seem diseased with much the same indifference as older folks. With both orders of mind we have to deal. It is well to explain to children the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, for this shows forth the death of Christ in symbol. I regret that children do not oftener see this ordinance. Baptism and the Lord's Supper should both be placed in view of the rising generation, that they may then ask us, "What mean ye by this?" Now, the Lord's Supper is a perennial gospel sermon, and it turns mainly upon the sacrifice for sin. You may banish the doctrine of the atonement from the pulpit, but it will always live in the church through the Lord's Supper. You cannot explain that broken bread and that cup filled with the fruit of the vine, without reference to our Lord's atoning death. You cannot explain "the communion of the body of Christ" without bringing in, in some form or other, the death of Jesus in our place and stead. Let your little ones, then, see the Lord's Supper, and let them be told most clearly what it sets forth. And if not the Lord's Supper - for that is not the thing itself, but only the shadow of the glorious fact - dwell much and often in their presence upon the sufferings and death of our Redeemer. Let them think of Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and Golgotha, and let them learn to sing in plaintive tones of him who laid down his life for us. Tell them who it was that suffered, and why. Yes, though the hymn is hardly to my taste in some of its expressions, I would have the children sing:-

"There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall."

And I would have them learn such lines as these:

"He knew how wicked we had been,
And knew that God must punish sin;
So out of pity Jesus said,
He'd bear the punishment instead."

And when attention is excited upon the best of themes, let us be ready to explain the great transaction by which God is just, and yet sinners are justified. Children can well understand the doctrine of the expiatory sacrifice; it was meant to be a gospel for the youngest. The gospel of substitution is a simplicity, though it is a mystery. We ought not to be content until our little ones know and trust in their finished sacrifice. This is essential knowledge, and the key to all other spiritual teaching. May our dear children know the cross, and they will have begun well. With all their gettings may they get an understanding of this, and they will have the foundation rightly laid.

This will necessitate your teaching the child his need of a Saviour. You must not hold back from this needful task. Do not flatter the child with delusive rubbish about his nature being good and needing to be developed. Tell him he must be born again. Don't bolster him up with the fancy of his own innocence, but show him his sin. Mention the childish sins to which he is prone, and pray the Holy Spirit to work conviction in his heart and conscience. Deal with the young in much the same way as you would with the old. Be thorough and honest with them. Flimsy religion is neither good for young nor old. These boys and girls need pardon through the precious blood as surely as any of us. Do not hesitate to tell the child his ruin; he will not else desire the remedy. "Tell him also of the punishment of sin, and warn him of its terror. Be tender, but be true. Do not hide from the youthful sinner the truth, however terrible it may be. Now that he has come to years of responsibility, if he believes not in Christ, it will go ill with him at the last great day. Set before him the judgment-seat, and remind him that he will have to give an account of things done in the body. Labour to arouse the conscience; and pray God the Holy Spirit to work by you till the heart becomes tender and the mind perceives the need of the great salvation.

Children need to learn the doctrine of the cross that they may find immediate salvation. I thank God that in our Sabbath-school we believe in the salvation of children as children. How very many has it been my joy to see of boys and girls who have come forward to confess their faith in Christ! and I again wish to say that the best converts, the clearest converts, the most intelligent converts we have eVer had have been the young ones; and, instead of there being any deficiency in their knowledge of the Word of God, and the doctrines of grace, we have usually found them to have a very delightful acquaintance with the great cardinal truths of Christ. Many of these dear children have been able to speak of the things of God with great pleasure of heart, and force of understanding. Go on, dear teachers, and believe that God will save your children. Be not content to sow principles in their minds which may possibly develop in after years; but be working for immediate conversion. Expect fruit in your children while they are children. Pray for them that they may not run into the world and fall into the evils of outward sin, and then come back with broken bones to the Good Shepherd; but that they may by God's rich grace be kept from the paths of the destroyer, and grow up in the fold of Christ, first as lambs of his flock, and then as sheep of his hand.

One thing I am sure of, and that is, that if we teach the children the doctrine of the atonement in the most unmistakable terms, we shall be doing ourselves good. I sometimes hope that God will revive his church and restore her to her ancient faith by a gracious work among children. If he would bring into our churches a large influx of young people, how it would tend to quicken the sluggish blood of the supine and sleepy! Child Christians tend to keep the house alive. Oh, for more of them! If the Lord will but help us to teach the children we shall be teaching ourselves. There is no way of learning like teaching, and you do not know a thing till you can teach it to another. You do not thoroughly know any truth till you can put it before a child so that he can see it. In trying to make a little child understand the doctrine of the atonement you will get clearer views of it yourselves, and therefore I commend the holy exercise to you.

What a mercy it will be if our children are thoroughly grounded in the doctrine of redemption by Christ! If they are warned against the false gospels of this evil age, and if they are taught to rest on the eternal rock of Christ's finished work, we may hope to have a generation following us which will maintain the faith, and will be better than their fathers. Your Sunday-schools are admirable; but what is their purpose if you do not teach the gospel in them? You get children together and keep them quiet for an hour-and-a-half, and then send them home; but what is the good of it? It may bring some quiet to their fathers and mothers, and that is, perhaps, why they send them to the school; but all the real good lies in what is taught the children. The most fundamental truth should be made most prominent; and what is this but the cross? Some talk to children about being good boys and girls, and so on; that is to say, they preach the law to the children, though they would preach the gospel to grown-up people! Is this honest? Is this wise? Children need the gospel, the whole gospel, the unadulterated gospel; they ought to have it, and if they are taught of the Spirit of God they are as capable of receiving it as persons of ripe years. Teach the little ones that Jesus died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Very, very confidently do I leave this work in the hands of the teachers of this school. I never knew a nobler body of Christian men and women; for they are as earnest in their attachment to the old gospel as they are eager for the winning of souls. Be encouraged, my brothers and sisters: the God who has saved so many of your children is going to save very many more of them, and we shall have great joy in this Tabernacle as we see hundreds brought to Christ. God grant it, for his name's sake! Amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon - Exodus 12:21-36 and 13:1-10, 14-16.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book" - 414, 370, 281.

CHAPTER 23. NUMBER 1,500, OR LIFTING UP THE BRAZEN SERPENT

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's Day Morning, October 19th, 1879, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."
Numbers 11:9.

This discourse when it shall be printed will make fifteen hundred of my sermons which have been published regularly week by week. This is certainly a remarkable fact. I do not know of any instance in modern times in which fifteen hundred sermons have thus followed each other from the press from one person, and have continued to command a large circle of readers. I desire to utter most hearty thanksgivings to God for divine help in thinking out and uttering these sermons, - sermons which have not merely been printed, but have been read with eagerness, and have also been translated into foreign tongues; sermons which are publicly read on this very Sabbath day in hundreds of places where a minister cannot be found; sermons which God has blessed to the conversion of multitudes of souls. I may and I must joy and rejoice in this great blessing which I most heartily ascribe to the undeserved favour of the Lord.

I thought the best way in which I could express my thankfulness would be to preach Jesus Christ again, and set him forth in a sermon in which the simple gospel should be made as clear as a child's alphabet. I hope that in closing the list of fifteen hundred discourses the Lord will give me a word which will be blessed more than any which have preceded it, to the conversion of those who hear it or read it. May those who sit in darkness because they do not understand the freeness of salvation and the easy method by which it may be obtained, be brought into the light by discovering the way of peace through believing in Christ Jesus. Forgive this prelude; my thankfulness would not permit me to with-hold it.

Concerning our text and the serpent of brass. If you turn to John's gospel you will notice that its commencement contains a sort of orderly list of types taken from Holy Scripture. It begins with the creation. God said, "Let there be light," and John begins by declaring that Jesus, the eternal Word, is "the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Before he closes his first chapter John has introduced a type supplied by Abel, for when the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him he said, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Nor is the first chapter finished before we are reminded of Jacob's ladder, for we find our Lord declaring to Nathanael, "Here-after ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." By the time we have reached the third chapter we have come as far as Israel in the wilderness, and we read the joyful words, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We are going to speak of this act of Moses this morning, that we may all of us behold the brazen serpent and find the promise true, "every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon the brazen serpent, shall live." It may be that you who have looked before will derive fresh benefit from looking again, while some who have never turned their eyes in that direction may gaze upon the uplifted Saviour, and this morning be saved from the burning venom of the serpent, that deadly poison of sin which now lurks in their nature, and breeds death to their souls. May the Holy Spirit make the word effectual to that gracious end.

I. I shall invite you to consider the subject first by noticing THE PERSON IN MORTAL PERIL for whom the brazen serpent was made and lifted up. Our text saith, "It came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

Let us notice that the fiery serpents first of all came among the people because they had despised God's way and God's bread. "The soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way." It was God's way, he had chosen it for them, and he had chosen it in wisdom and mercy, but they murmured at it. As an old divine says, "It was lonesome and longsome," but still it was God's way, and therefore it ought not to have been loathsome: his pillar of fire and cloud went before them, and his servants Moses and Aaron led them like a flock, and they ought to have followed cheerfully. Every step of their previous journey had been rightly ordered, and they ought to have been quite sure that this compassing of the land of Edom was rightly ordered, too. But, no; they quarrelled with God's way, and wanted to have their own way. This is one of the great standing follies of men; they cannot be content to wait on the Lord and keep his way, but they prefer a will and way of their own.

The people, also, quarrelled with God's food. He gave them the best of the best, for "men did eat angels' food;" but they called the manna by an opprobrious title, which in the Hebrew has a sound of ridicule about it, and even in our translation conveys the idea of contempt. They said "Our soul loatheth this light bread," as if they thought it unsubstantial, and only fitted to puff them out, because it was easy of digestion, and did not breed in them that heat of blood and tendency to disease which a heavier diet would have brought with it. Being discontented with their God they quarrelled with the bread which he set upon their table, though it surpassed any that mortal man has ever eaten before or since. This is another of man's follies; his heart refuses to feed upon God's word or believe God's truth. He craves for the flesh-meat of carnal reason, the leeks and the garlic of superstitious tradition, and the cucumbers of speculation; he cannot bring his mind down to believe the Word of God, or to accept truth so simple, so fitted to the capacity of a child. Many demand something deeper than the divine, more profound than the infinite, more liberal than free grace. They quarrel with God's way, and with God's bread, and hence there comes among them the fiery serpents of evil lusting, pride, and sin. I may be speaking to some who have up to this moment quarrelled with the precepts and the doctrines of the Lord, and I would affectionately warn them that their disobedience and presumption will lead to sin and misery. Rebels against God are apt to wax worse and worse. The world's fashions and modes of thought lead on to the world's vices and crimes. If we long for the fruits of Egypt we shall soon feel the serpents of Egypt. The natural consequence of turning against God like serpents is to find serpents waylaying our path. If we forsake the Lord in spirit, or in doctrine, temptation will lurk in our path and sin will sting our feet.

I beg you carefully to observe concerning those persons for whom the brazen serpent was specially lifted up that they had been actually bitten by the serpents. The Lord sent fiery serpents among them, but it was not the serpents being among them that involved the lifting up of a brazen serpent, it was the serpents having actually poisoned them which led to the provision of a remedy. "It shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." The only people who did look and derive benefit from the wonderful cure uplifted in the midst of the camp, were those who had been stung by the vipers. The common notion is that salvation is for good people, salvation is for those who fight against temptation, salvation is for the spiritually healthy: but how different is God's word. God's medicine is for the sick, and his healing is for the diseased. The grace of God through the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ is for men who are actually and really guilty. We do not preach a sentimental salvation from fancied guilt, but real and true pardon for actual offences. I care nothing for sham sinners: you who never did anything wrong, you who are so good in yourselves that you are all right - I leave you, for I am sent to preach Christ to those who are full of sin, and worthy of eternal wrath. The serpent of brass was a remedy for those who had been bitten.

What an awful thing it is to be bitten by a serpent! I dare say some of you recollect the case of Gurling, one of the keepers of the reptiles in the Zoological Gardens. It happened in October, 1852, and therefore some of you will remember it. This unhappy man was about to part with a friend who was going to Australia, and according to the wont of many he must needs drink with him. He drank considerable quantities of gin, and though he would probably have been in a great passion if any one had called him drunk, yet reason and common-sense had evidently become overpowered. He went back to his post at the gardens in an excited state. He had some months before seen an exhibition of snake-charming, and this was on his poor muddled brain. He must emulate the Egyptians, and play with serpents. First he took out of its cage a Morocco venom-snake, put it round his neck, twisted it about, and whirled it round about him. Happily for him it did not arouse itself so as to bite. The assistant-keeper cried out, "For God's sake put back the snake," but the_foolish man replied, "I am inspired." Putting back the venom-snake, he exclaimed, "Now for the cobra." This deadly serpent was somewhat torpid with the cold of the previous night, and therefore the rash man placed it in his bosom till it revived, and glided downward till its head appeared below the back of his waistcoat. He took it by the body, about a foot from the head, and then seized it lower down by the other hand, intending to hold it by the tail and swing it round his head. He held it for an instant opposite to his face, and like a flash of lightning the serpent struck him between the eyes. The blood streamed down his face, and he called for help, but his companion fled in horror; and, as he told the jury, he did not know how long he was gone, for he was "in a maze." When assistance arrived Gurling was sitting on a chair, having restored the cobra to its place. He said. "I am a dead man." They put him in a cab, and took him to the hospital. First his speech went, he could only point to his poor throat and moan; then his vision failed him, and lastly his hearing. His pulse gradually sank, and in one hour from the time at which he had been struck he was a corpse. There was only a little mark upon the bridge of his nose, but the poison spread over the body, and he was a dead man. I tell you that story that you may use it as a parable and learn never to play with sin, and also in order to bring vividly before you what it is to be bitten by a serpent. Suppose that Gurling could have been cured by looking at a piece of brass, would it not have been good news for him? There was no remedy for that poor infatuated creature, but there is a remedy for you. For men who have been bitten by the fiery serpents of sin Jesus Christ is lifted up: not for you only who are as yet playing with the serpent, not for you only who have warmed it in your bosom, and felt it creeping over your flesh, but for you who are actually bitten, and are mortally wounded. If any man be bitten so that he has become diseased with sin, and feels the deadly venom in his blood, it is for him that Jesus is set forth to-day. Though he may think himself to be an extreme case, it is for such that sovereign grace provides a remedy.

The bite of the serpent was painful. We are told in the text that these serpents were "fiery" serpents, which may perhaps refer to their colour, but more probably has reference to the burning effects of their venom. It heated and inflamed the blood so that every vein became a boiling river, swollen with anguish. In some men that poison of asps which we call sin has inflamed their minds. They are restless, discontented, and full of fear and anguish. They write their own damnation, they are sure that they are lost, they refuse all tidings of hope. You cannot get them to give a cool and sober hearing to the message of grace. Sin works in them such terror that they give themselves over as dead men. They are in their own apprehension, as David says, "free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom God remembers no more." It was for men bitten by the fiery serpents that the brazen serpent was lifted up, and it is for men actually envenomed by sin that Jesus IS preached. Jesus died for such as are at their wits' end: for such as cannot think straight, for those who are tumbled up and down in their minds, for those who are condemned already - for such was the Son of man lifted up upon the cross. What a comfortable thing that we are able to tell you this.

The bite of these serpents was, as I have told you, mortal. The Israelites could have no question about that, because in their own presence "much people of Israel died." They saw their own friends die of the snake-bite, and they helped to bury them. They knew why they died, and were sure that it was because the venom of the fiery serpents was in their veins. They were left without an excuse for imagining that they could be bitten and yet live. Now, we know that many have perished as the result of sin. We are not in doubt as to what sin will do, for we are told by the infallible word, that "the wages of sin is death," and, yet again, "Sin, when it is finished, brngeth forth death." We know, also, that this death is endless misery, for the Scripture describes the lost as being cast into outer darkness, "where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched." Our Lord Jesus speaks of the condemned going away into everlasting punishment, where there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. We ought to have no doubt about this, and the most of those who profess to doubt it are those who fear that it will be their own portion, who know that they are going down to eternal woe themselves, and therefore try to shut their eyes to their inevitable doom. Alas, that they should find flatterers in the pulpit who pander to their love of sin by piping to the same tune. We are not of their order. We believe in what the Lord has said in all its solemnity of dread, and, knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men to escape therefrom. But it was for men who had endured the mortal bite, for men upon whose pallid faces death began to set his seal, for men whose veins were burning with the awful poison of the serpent within them - for them it was that God said to Moses, "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to paBs, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."

There is no limit set to the stage of poisoning: however far gone, the remedy still had power. If a person had been bitten a moment before, though he only saw a few drops of blood oozing forth, and only felt a little smart, he might look and live, and if he had waited, unhappily waited, even for half an hour, and speech failed him and the pulse grew feeble, yet if he could but look he would live at once. No bound was set to the virtue of this divinely ordained remedy, or to the freedom of its application to those who needed it. The promise had no qualifying clause, - "It shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live," and our text tells us that God's promise came to pass in every case, without exception, for we read - "It came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Thus, then, I have described the person who was in, mortal peril.

II. Secondly, let us consider the REMEDY PROVIDED FOR HIM. This was as singular as it was effectual. It was purely of divine origin, and it is clear that the invention of it, and the putting of power into it, was entirely of God. Men have prescribed several fomentations, decoctions, and operations for serpent bites: I do not know how far any of them may be depended upon, but this I know - I would rather not be bitten in order to try any of them, even those that are most in vogue. For the bites of the fiery serpents in the wilderness there was no remedy whatever, except this which God had provided, and at first sight that remedy must have seemed to be a very unlikely one. A simple look to the figure of a serpent on a pole - how unlikely to avail! How and by what means could a cure be wrought through merely, looking at twisted brass? It seemed, indeed, to be almost a mockery to bid men look at the very thing which had caused their misery. Shall the bite of a serpent be cured by looking at a serpent? Shall that which brings death also bring life? But herein lay the excellency of the remedy, that it was of divine origin; for when God ordains a cure he is by that very fact bound to put potency into it. He will not devise a failure, nor prescribe a mockery. It should always be enough for us to know that God ordains a way of blessing us, for if he ordains, it must accomplish the promised result. We need not know how it will work, it is quite sufficient for us that God's mighty grace is pledged to make it bring forth good to our souls.

This particular remedy of a serpent lifted on a pole was exceedingly instructive, though I do not suppose that Israel understood it. We have been taught by our Lord and know the meaning. It was a serpent impaled upon a pole. As you would take a sharp pole and drive it through a serpent's head to kill it, so this brazen serpent was exhibited as killed, and hung up as dead before all eyes. It was the image of a dead snake. Wonder of wonders that our Lord Jesus should condescend to be symbolised by a dead serpent. The instruction to us after reading John's gospel is this: our Lord Jesus Christ, in infinite humiliation, deigned to come into the world, and to be made a curse for us. The brazen serpent had no venom of itself, but it took the form of a fiery serpent. Christ is no sinner, and in him is no sin. But the brazen serpent was in the form of a serpent; and so was Jesus sent forth by God "in the likeness of sinful flesh." He came under the law, and sin was imputed to him, and therefore he came under the wrath and curse of God for our sakes. In Christ Jesus, if you will look at him upon the cross, you will see that sin is slain and hung up as a dead serpent: there too is death put to death, for "he hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light:" and there also is the curse for ever ended because he has endured it, being "made a curse for us, as it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Thus are these serpents hung up upon the cross as a spectacle to all beholders, all slain by our dying Lord. Sin, death, and the curse are as dead serpents now. Oh, what a sight! If you can see it what joy it will give you. Had the Hebrews understood it, that dead serpent, dangling from a pole, would have prophesied to them the glorious sight which this day our faith gazes upon - Jesus slain, and sin, death, and hell slain in him. The remedy, then, to be looked to was exceedingly instructive, and we know the instruction it was intended to convey to us.

Please to recollect that in all the camp of Israel there was but one remedy for serpent-bite, and that was the brazen serpent; and there was but one brazen serpent, not two. Israel might not make another. If they had made a second it would have had no effect: there was one, and only one, and that was lifted high in the centre of the camp, that if any man was bitten by a serpent he might look to it and live. There is one Saviour, and only one. There is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. All grace is concentrated in Jesus, of whom we read, "It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." Christ's bearing the curse and ending the curse, Christ's being slain by sin and destroying sin, Christ bruised as to his heel by the old serpent, but breaking the serpent's head, - it is Christ alone that we must look to if we would live. O sinner, look to Jesus on the cross, for he is the one remedy for all forms of sin's poisoned wounds.

There was but one healing serpent, and that one was bright and lustrous. It was a serpent of brass, and brass is a shining metal. This was newly-made brass, and therefore not dimmed, and whenever the sun shone, there flashed forth a brightness from this brazen serpent. It might have been a serpent of wood or of any other metal, if God had so ordained; but he commanded that it must be of brass, that it might have a brightness about it. What a brightness there is about our Lord Jesus Christ! If we do but exhibit him in his own true metal he is lustrous in the eyes of men. If we will but preach the gospel simply, and never think to adorn it with our philosophical thought, there is enough brightness in Christ to catch a sinner's eye, aye, and it does catch the eyes of thousands. From afar the everlasting gospel gleams in the person of Christ. As the brazen standard reflected the beams of the sun, so Jesus reflects the love of God to sinners, and seeing it they look by faith and live.

Once more, this remedy was an enduring one. It was a serpent of brass, and I suppose it remained in the midst of the camp from that day forward. There was no use for it after Israel entered Canaan, but, as long as they were in the wilderness, it was probably exhibited in the centre of the camp, hard by the tabernacle door, upon a lofty standard. Aloft and open to the gaze of all hung this image of a dead snake - the perpetual cure for serpent venom. Had it been made of other materials it might have been broken, or have decayed, but a serpent of brass would last as long as fiery serpents pestered the desert camp. As long as there was a man bitten there was the serpent of brass to heal him. What a comfort is this, that Jesus is still able to save to the uttermost ail that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. The dying thief beheld the brightness of that serpent of brass as he saw Jesus hanging at his side, and it saved him; and so may you and I look and live, for he is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

"Faint my head, and sick my heart,
Wounded, bruis'd, in every part,
Satan's fiery sting I feel
Poison'd with the pride of hell:
But if at the point to die,
Upward I direct mine eye,
Jesus lifted up I see,
Live by him who died for me."

I hope I do not overlay my subject by these figures. I wish not to do so, but to make it very plain to you. All you that are really guilty, all you who are bitten by the serpent, the sure remedy for you is to look to Jesus Christ, who took our sin upon himself, and died in the sinner's stead, "being made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Your only remedy lies in Christ, and nowhere else. Look unto him and be ye saved.

III. This brings us, in the third place, to consider the APPLICATION OF THE REMEDY, or the link between the serpent-bitten man and the brass serpent which was to heal him. What was the link? It was of the most simple kind imaginable. The brazen serpent might have been, if God had so ordered it, carried into the house where the sick man was, but it was not so. It might have been applied to him by rubbing: he might have been expected to repeat a certain form of prayer, or to have a priest present to perform a ceremony, but there was nothing of the kind; he had only to look. It was well that the cure was so simple for the danger was so frequent. Bites of the serpent came in many ways; a man might be gathering sticks, or merely walking along, and be bitten. Even now in the desert serpents are a danger. Mr. Sibree says that on one occasion he saw what he thought to be a round stone, beautifully marked. He put forth his hand to take it up, when to his horror he discovered that it was a coiled-up living serpent. All the day long when fiery serpents were sent among them the Israelites must have been in danger. In their beds and at their meals, in their houses and when they went abroad, they were in danger. These serpents are called by Isaiah "flying serpents," not because they do fly, but because they contract themselves and then suddenly spring up, so as to reach to a considerable height, and a man might be well buskined and yet not be beyond the reach of one of these malignant reptiles. What was a man to do? He had nothing to do but to stand outside his tent door, and look to the place where gleamed afar the brightness of the serpent of brass, and the moment he looked he was healed. He had nothing to do but to look, no priest was wanted, no holy water, no hocus-pocus, no mass-book, nothing but a look. A Romish bishop said to one of the early Reformers, when he preached salvation by simple faith, "O Mr. Doctor, open that gap to the people and we are undone." And so indeed they are, for the business and trade of priestcraft are ended for ever if men may simply trust Jesus and live. Yet it is even so. Believe in him, ye sinners, for this is the spiritual meaning of looking, and at once your sin is forgiven, and what perhaps is more, its deadly power ceases to operate within your spirit. There is life in a look at Jesus; is not this simple enough?

But please to notice how very personal it was. A man could not be cured by anything anybody else could do for him. If he had been bitten by the serpent and had refused to look to the serpent of brass, and had gone to his bed, no physician could help him. A pious mother might kneel down and pray for him, but it would be of no use. Sisters might come in and plead, ministers might be called in to pray that the man might live; but he must die despite their prayers if he did not look. There was only one hope for his life - he must look to that serpent of brass. It is just so with you. Some of you have written to me begging me to pray for you: so I have, but it avails nothing unless you yourselves believe in Jesus Christ. There is not beneath the copes of heaven, nor in heaven, any hope for any one of you unless you will believe in Jesus Christ. Whoever you may be, however much bitten of the serpent, and however near to die, if you will look to the Saviour you shall live; but if you will not do this you must be damned, as surely as you live. At the last great day I must bear witness against you that I have told you this straight out and plainly. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: he that believeth not shall be damned." There is no help-for it; you may do what you will, join what church you please, take the Lord's Supper, be baptized, go through severe penances, or give all your goods to feed the poor, but you are a lost man unless you look to Jesus, for this is the one remedy; and even Jesus Christ himself cannot, will not, save you unless you look to him. There is nothing in his death to save you, there is nothing in his life to save you, unless you will trust him. It has come to this, you must look, and look for yourself.

And then, again, it is very instructive. This looking, what did it mean? It meant this - self-help must be abandoned, and God must be trusted. The wounded man would say, "I must not sit here and look at my wound, for that will not save me. See there where the serpent struck me, the blood is oozing forth, black with the venom! How it burns and swells! My very heart is failing. But all these reflections will not ease me. I must look away from this to the uplifted serpent of brass." It is idle to look anywhere except to God's one ordained remedy. The Israelites must have understood as much as this, that God requires us to trust him, and to use his means of salvation. We must do as he bids us, and trust in him to work our cure; and if we will not do this we shall die eternally.

This way of curing was intended that they might magnify the love of God, and attribute their healing entirely to divine grace. The brazen serpent was not merely a picture, as I have shown you, of God's putting away sin by spending his wrath upon his Son, but it was a display of divine love. And this I know because Jesus himself said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son": plainly saying that the death of Christ upon the cross was an exhibition of God's love to men; and whosoever looks to that grandest display of God's love to man, namely, his giving his only-begotten Son to become a curse for us, shall surely live. Now, when a man was healed by looking at the serpent he could not say that he healed himself; for he only looked, and there is no virtue in a look. A believer never claims merit or honour on account of his faith. Faith is a self-denying grace, and never dares to boast. Where is the great credit of simply believing the truth, and humbly trusting Christ to save you? Faith glorifies God, and so our Lord has chosen it as the means of our salvation. If a priest had come and touched the bitten man he might have ascribed some honour to the priest; but when there was no priest in the case, when there was nothing except looking to that brazen serpent, the man was driven to the conclusion that God's love and power had healed him. I am not saved by anything that I have done, but by what the Lord has done. To that conclusion God will have us all come; we must all confess that if saved it is by his free, rich, sovereign, undeserved grace displayed in the person of his dear Son.

IV. AUow me one moment upon the fourth head, which is THE CURE EFFECTED. We are told in the text that "if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived;" that is to say, he was healed at once. He had not to wait five minutes, nor five seconds. Dear hearer, did you ever hear this before? If you have not, it may startle you, but it is true. If you have lived in the blackest sin that is possible up to this very moment, yet if you will now believe in Jesus Christ you shall be saved before the clock ticks another time. It is done like a flash of lightning; pardon is not a work of time. Sanctification needs a life-time, but justification needs no more than a moment. Thou believest, thou livest. Thou dost trust to Christ, thy sins are gone, thou art a saved man the instant thou believest. "Oh," saith one, "that is a wonder." It is a wonder, and will remain a wonder to all eternity. Our Lord's miracles when he was on earth were mostly instantaneous. He touched them and the fevered ones were able to sit up and minister to him. No doctor can cure a fever in that fashion, for there is a resultant weakness left after the heat of the fever is abated. Jesus works perfect cures, and whosoever believeth in him, though he hath only believed one minute, is justified from all his sins. Oh the matchless grace of God!

This remedy healed again and again. Very possibly after a man had been healed he might go back to his work, and be attacked by a second serpent, for there were broods of them about. What had he to do? Why, to look again, and if he was wounded a thousand times he must look a thousand times. You, dear child of God, if you have sin on your conscience, look to Jesus. The healthiest way of living where serpents swarm is never to take your eye off the brazen serpent at all. Ah, ye vipers, ye may bite if ye will; as long as my eye is upon the brazen serpent I defy your fangs and poison-bags, for I have a continual remedy at work within me. Temptation is overcome by the blood of Jesus. "This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith."

This cure was of universal efficacy to all who used it. There was not one case in all the camp of a man that looked to the serpent of brass and yet died, and there never will be a case of a man that looks to Jesus who remains under condemnation. The beUever must be saved. Some of the people had to look from a long distance. The pole could not be equally near to everybody, but so long as they could see the serpent it healed those that were afar off as well as those who were nigh. Nor did it matter if their eyes were feeble. All eyes were not alike keen; and some may have had a squint, or a dimness of vision, or only one eye, but if they did but look they lived. Perhaps the man could hardly make out the shape of the serpent as he looked. "Ah," he said to himself, "I cannot discern the coils of the brazen snake, but I can see the shining of the brass;" and he lived. Oh, poor soul, if thou canst not see the whole of Christ nor all his beauties, nor all the riches of his grace, yet if thou canst but see him who was made sin for us thou shalt live. If thou sayest, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," thy faith will save thee; a little faith will give thee a great Christ, and thou shalt find eternal life in him.

Thus I have tried to describe the cure. Oh that the Lord would work that cure in every sinner here at this moment. I do pray he may.

It is a pleasant thought that if they looked to that brazen serpent by any kind of light they lived. Many beheld it in the glare of noon, and saw its shining coils, and lived; but I should not wonder that some were bitten at night, and by the moonlight they drew near and looked up and lived. Perhaps it was a dark and stormy night, and not a star was visible. The tempest crashed overhead, and from the murky cloud out flashed the lightning, cleaving the rocks asunder. By the glare of that sudden flame the dying man made out the brazen serpent, and though he saw but for a moment yet he lived. So, sinner, if your soul is wrapped in tempest, and if from out the cloud there comes but one single flash of light, look to Jesus Christ by it and you shall live.

V. I close with this last matter of consideration: here is A LESSON FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THEIR LORD. What ought we to do? We should imitate Moses, whose business it was to set the brazen serpent upon a pole. It is your business and mine to lift up the gospel of Christ Jesus, so that all may see it. All Moses had to do was to hang up the brazen serpent in the sight of all. He did not say, "Aaron, bring your censer, and bring with you a score of priests, and make a perfumed cloud." Nor did he say, "I myself will go forth in my robes as lawgiver, and stand there." No, he had nothing to do that was pompous or ceremonial, he had but to exhibit the brass serpent and leave it naked and open to the gaze of all. He did not say, "Aaron, bring hither a cloth of gold, wrap up the serpent in blue and scarlet and fine linen." Such an act would have been clean contrary to his orders. He was to keep the serpent unveiled. Its power lay in itself, and not in its surroundings. The Lord did not tell him to paint the pole, or to deck it with the colours of the rainbow. Oh, no. Any pole would do. The dying ones did not want to see the pole, they only needed to behold the serpent. I dare say he would make a neat pole, for God's work should be done decently, but still the serpent was the sole thing to look at. This is what we have to do with our Lord. We must preach him, teach him, and make him visible to all. We must not conceal him by our attempts at eloquence and learning. We must have done with the polished lance-wood pole of fine speech, and those bits of scarlet and blue, in the form of grand sentences and poetic periods. Everything must be done that Christ may be seen, and nothing must be allowed which hides him. Moses may go home and go to bed when the serpent is once uplifted. All that is wanted is that the brazen serpent should be within view both by day and night. The preacher may hide himself, so that nobody may know who he is, for if he has set forth Christ he is best out of the way.

Now, you teachers, teach your children Jesus. Show them Christ crucified. Keep Christ before them. You young men that try to preach, do not attempt to do it grandly. The true grandeur of preaching is for Christ to be grandly displayed in it. No other grandeur is wanted. Keep self in the background, but set forth Jesus Christ among the people, evidently crucified among them. None but Jesus, none but Jesus. Let him be the sum and substance of all your teaching.

Some of you have looked to the brazen serpent, I know, and you have been healed, but what have you done with the brazen serpent since? You have not come forward to confess your faith and join the church. You have not spoken to any one about his soul. You put the brazen serpent into a chest and hide it away. Is this right? Bring it out, and set it on a pole. Publish Christ and his salvation. He was never meant to be treated as a curiosity in a museum; he is intended to be exhibited in the highways that those who are sin-bitten may look at him. "But, I have no proper pole," says one. The best sort of pole to exhibit Christ upon is a high one, so that he may be seen the further. Exalt Jesus. Speak well of his name. I do not know any other virtue that there can be in the pole but its height. The more you can speak in your Lord's praise, the higher you can lift him up the better, but for all other styles of speech there is nothing to be said. Do lift Christ up. "Oh," says one, "but I have not a long standard." Then lift him up on such as you have, for there are short people about who will be able to see by your means. I think I told you once of a picture which I saw of the brazen serpent. I want the Sunday-school teachers to listen to this. The artist represented all sorts of people clustering round the pole, and as they looked the horrible snakes dropped off their arms, and they lived. There was such a crowd around the pole that a mother could not get near it. She carried a little babe, which a serpent had bitten. You could see the blue marks of the venom. As she could get no nearer, the mother held her child aloft, and turned its little head that it might gaze with its infant eye upon the brazen serpent and live. Do this with your little children, you Sunday-school teachers. Even while they are yet little, pray that they may look to Jesus Christ and live; for there is no bound set to their age. Old men snake-bitten came hobbling on their crutches. "Eighty years old am I," saith one, "but I have looked to the brazen serpent, and I am healed." Little boys were brought out by their mothers, though as yet they could hardly speak plainly, and they cried in child language, "I look at the great snake and it bless me." All ranks, and sexes, and characters, and dispositions looked and lived. Who will look to Jesus at this good hour? O dear souls, will you have life or no? Will you despise Christ and perish? If so, your blood be on your own skirts. I have told you God's way of salvation, lay hold on it. Look to Jesus at once. May his Spirit gently lead you so to do. Amen.

CHAPTER 24. THE TRUE TABERNACLE, AND ITS GLORY OF GRACE AND PEACE

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's Day Morning, September 27th, 1885, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
John 1:14.

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
John 1:17.

There was a time when God freely communed with men. The voice of the Lord God was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day. With unfallen Adam the great God dwelt in sweet and intimate fellow-ship; but sin came and not only destroyed the garden, but destroyed the intercourse of God with his creature, man. A great gulf opened between man as evil, and God as infinitely pure; and had it not been for the amazing goodness of the most High, we must all of us for ever have been banished from his presence, and from the glory of his power. The Lord God in infinite love resolved that he himself would bridge the distance, and would again dwell with man; and in token of this he made himself manifest to his chosen nation Israel when they were in the wilderness. He was pleased to dwell in type and symbol among his people, in the very centre and heart of their camp. Do you see yonder tent with its curtains of goats' hair in the centre of the canvas city? You cannot see within it; but it was all glorious within with precious wood, and pure gold, and tapestry of many colours. Within its most sacred shrine shone forth a bright light between the wings of cherubim, which light was the symbol of the presence of the Lord. But if you cannot see within, yet you can see above the sacred tent a cloud, which arises from the top of the Holy of Holies, and then expands like a vast tree so as to cover all the host, and protect the chosen of God from the intense heat of the sun, so apt to make the traveller faint when passing over the burning sand. If you will wait till the sun is down, that same cloud will become luminous, and light up the whole camp. Thus it was both shade and light; and by its means was enjoyed that safety which was afterwards set forth in the promise, "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." Over all the glory was a defence and a comfort. The Lord dealt not so with any nation, save only his people Israel, of whom he said, - "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

The day of the type is over; we see no more a nation secluded from all others and made to be as "the church in the wilderness." God doth not now confine his abode to one people; for "The God of the whole earth shall he be called." There is now no spot on earth where God dwells in preference to another. Did not our Lord say, at the well of Sychar, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." "But ... the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth"? Wherever true hearts seek the Lord, he is found of them. He is as much present on the lone mountain's side as in the aisles of yonder abbey, or in the galleries of this tabernacle. "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?"

Yet there is a true house of God, a real temple of the Infinite, a living abode of the Godhead. The epistle to the Hebrews speaks of "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." There is still a trysting-place where God doth still meet with man, and hold fellowship with him. That place is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The manhood of Christ is become to us the anti-type of that tent in the centre of the camp. God is in Christ Jesus; Christ Jesus is God; and in his blessed person God dwells in the midst of us as in a tent; for such is the force of the original in our text. "The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled, or tented, among us." That is to say, in Christ Jesus the Lord dwelt among men, as God of old dwelt in his sanctuary in the midst of the tribes of Israel. This is very delightful and hopeful for us: the Lord God doth dwell among us through the incarnation of his Son.

But the substance far excels the shadow; for in the wilderness the Lord only dwelt in the abode of man, but now his approach to us is closer, for he dwells in the flesh of man. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Note that word "flesh." It doth not say, "The Word was made man": it means that, but the use of the word "flesh" brings the Lord Jesus still closer to us, and shows that he took on him the very nature and substance of manhood: he did not merely assume the name and notion, and appearance, of manhood, but the reality: the weakness, the suffering, the mortality of our manhood he actually took into union with himself. He was no phantom, or apparition, but he had a human body and a human soul. "The Word was made flesh." When the Lord became bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, his incarnation in a human body brought him far nearer to man than when he only abode within curtains, and occupied a tent in the midst of Israel.

Moreover, it is to be noted that God does in the person of Jesus not merely dwell among men; but he hath joined himself unto men - the Word not only dwelt in flesh, but "was made flesh." It is impossible to use words which are exactly accurate to describe the wonderful incarnation of the Son of God in human flesh; but these words are used to show that our Lord is as truly and as really man as he is God. Not only does God dwell in the body of man; but our Lord Jesus is God and man in one person. He is not ashamed to speak of men as his brethren. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." So that the Lord Jesus is one with us. This approach to us is exceeding close. God was never one with the tabernacle, but in Christ Jesus he is one with us. This union hath in it a sweetness of sympathy, a tenderness of relationship, and a condescension of fellowship greatly to be admired. Now we listen to the music of that blessed name Emanuel, "God with us." In the person of the only begotten, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we see God reconciling the world unto himself. Let us rejoice and be glad that we have in Jesus more than Israel had in the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. The ancient believer gazed upon the sacred tent, he thought of the holy place of sacrifice, and the Holy of Holies, the inner shrine of the Lord's indwelling; but we have infinitely more, we have God in our nature, and in him "truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

In and around the tent wherein the Lord dwelt in the centre of the camp there was a manifestation of the presence of God. This was the glory of that house: but how scanty was the revelation! A bright light which I have already mentioned, the Shekinah, is said to have shone over the mercy-seat; but the high priest only could see it, and he only saw it once in the year when he entered with blood within the vail. Outside, above the holy place, there was the manifest glory of the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. This sufficed to bear witness that God was there; but still, cloud and fire are but physical appearances, and cannot convey a true appearance of God, who is a spirit. God cannot be perceived by the senses; and yet the fiery, cloudy pillar could appeal to the eyes only. The excellence of the indwelling of God in Christ is this - that there is in him a glory as of the only begotten of the Father, the moral and spiritual glory of Godhead. This is to be seen, but not with the eyes; this is to be perceived, but not by the carnal senses: this is seen, and heard, and known, by spiritual men, whose mental perceptions are keener than those of sight and hearing. In the person of the Lord there is a glory which is seen by our faith, which is discerned of our renewed spirits, and is made to operate upon our hearts. The glory of God in the sanctuary was seen only by the priest of the house of Aaron; the glory of God in the face of Christ is seen by all believers, who are all priests unto God. That glory the priest beheld but once in the year; but we steadily behold that glory at all times, and are transformed by the sight. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is not a thing of outward appearance, to be beheld with the eyes, like the pillar of cloud and fire; but there is an abiding, steady lustre of holy, gracious, truthful character about our Lord Jesus Christ, which is best seen by those who by reason of sanctification are made fit to discern it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; yea, they do see him in Christ Jesus. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Many of us besides the apostles can say, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." We have not seen Jesus raise the dead; we have not seen him cast out devils; we have not seen him hush the winds and calm the waves; but we do see, with our mind's eye, his spotless holiness, his boundless love, his superlative truth, his wondrous heavenliness; in a word, we have seen, and do see, his fulness of grace and truth; and we rejoice in the fact that the tabernacling of God among men in Christ Jesus is attended with a more real glory than the mere brilliance of light and the glow of flame. The condescension of Christ's love is to us more glorious than the pillar of cloud, and the zeal of our Lord's self-sacrifice is more excellent than the pillar of fire. As we think of the divine mysteries which meet in the person of our Lord, we do not envy Israel the gracious manifestations vouchsafed her when "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord covered the tabernacle"; for we have all this and more in our incarnate God, who is with us always, even to the end of the world.

As the Holy Spirit shall help me, I shall at this time say, first of all, Let us behold this tabernacling of God; and, secondly, Let us avail our selves of this tabernacling of God in all the ways for which it was intended.

I. First, then, Let US BEHOLD THIS TABERNACLING OF GOD WITH US. "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." In Jesus Christ all the attributes of God are to be seen; veiled, but yet verily there. You have only to read the gospels, and to look with willing eyes, and you shall behold in Christ all that can possibly be seen of God. It is veiled in human flesh, as it must be; for the glory of God is not to be seen by us absolutely; it is tuned down to these dim eyes of ours; but the Godhead is there, the perfect Godhead in union with the perfect manhood of Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Two divine things are more clearly seen in Jesus than aught else. Upon these I would speak at this time, considering the two together, and then each one separately - "Full of grace and truth."

Observe the two glorious qualities, joined inseparably - grace and truth - and observe that they are spoken of in the concrete. The apostle says that the only begotten is "full of grace and truth." He did not come to tell us about grace, but actually to bring us grace. He is not full of the news of grace and truth, but of grace and truth themselves. Others had been messengers of gracious tidings, but he came to bring grace. Others teach us truth, but Jesus is the truth. He is that grace and truth whereof others spake. Jesus is not merely a teacher, an exhorter, a worker of grace and truth; but these heavenly things are in him: he is full of them. I want you to note this. It raises such a difference between Christ and others: you go to others to hear of grace and truth, but you must go to Christ to see them. There may be, there is, grace in other men; but not as it is in Christ: they have it as water flowing through a pipe, but he has it as water in its fountain and source. He has grace to communicate to the sons of men, grace without measure, grace essential and abiding. There is truth in others where God has wrought it, by his Spirit; but it is not in them as it is in Christ. In him dwell the depth, the substance, the essence of the fact. Grace and truth come to us by him, and yet they evermore abide in him. I say again, our Lord did not merely come to teach grace and truth, or to impress them upon us; but he came to exhibit in his own person, life, and work, all the grace and truth which we need. He has brought us grace in rivers and truth in streams: of these he has an infinite fulness; of that fulness all his saints receive.

This grace and truth are blended. The "and" between the two words I would treat as more than a common conjunction. The two rivers unite in one fulness - "Full of grace and truth": that is to say, the grace is truthful grace, grace not in fiction nor in fancy, grace not to be hoped for and to be dreamed of, but grace every atom of which is fact; redemption which does redeem, pardon which does blot out sin, renewal which actually regenerates, salvation which completely saves. We have not here blessings which charm the ear and cheat the soul; but real, substantial favours from God that cannot lie. Then blend these things the other way. " race and truth : the Lord has come to bring us truth, but it is not the kind of truth which censures, condemns, and punishes; it is gracious truth, truth steeped in love, truth saturated with mercy. The truth which Jesus brings to his people comes not from the judgment-seat, but from the mercy-seat; it hath a gracious drift and aim about it, and ever tends unto salvation. His light is the life of men. If thou art overshadowed with a dark truth which seems to deepen thy despair, look thou to it again and thou wilt perceive within it a hidden light which is sown for the righteous. The darkness of convincing and humbling truth maketh for light: by engendering despair of self, heart-searching truth is meant to drive thee to the true hope. There is grace to God's people in everything that falls from the lips of Jesus Christ. His lips are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh; myrrh in itself is bitter, but such is the grace of our Lord Jesus that his lips impart sweetness to it. See how grace and truth thus blend, and qualify each other! The grace is all true, and the truth is all gracious. This is a wondrous compound made according to the art of the divine Apothecary. Where else is grace so true, or truth so gracious?

Furthermore, it is grace and truth balanced. I wish I were able to communicate my thoughts this morning as they came to me when I was meditating upon this passage; but this thought almost speaks for itself. The Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace; but then he has not neglected the other quality which is somewhat sterner, namely, that of truth. I have known many in this world very loving and affectionate, but they have not been faithful: on the other hand, I have known men to be sternly honest and truthful, but they have not been gentle and kind: but in the Lord Jesus Christ there is no defect either way. He is full of grace which doth invite the publican and the sinner to himself; but he is full of truth which doth repel the hypocrite and Pharisee. He does not hide from man a truth however terrible it may be, but he plainly declares the wrath of God against all unrighteousness. But when he has spoken terrible truth, he has uttered it in such a gracious and tender manner, with so many tears of compassion for the ignorant and those that are out of the way, that you are as much won by his grace as convinced by his truth. Our Lord's ministry is not truth alone, nor grace alone; but it is a balanced, well-ordered system of grace and truth. The Lord himself is in his character "just and having salvation." He is both King of righteousness and King of peace. He does not even save unjustly, nor does he proclaim truth unlovingly. Grace and truth are equally conspicuous in him.

Beloved, notice here that both these qualities in our Lord are at the full. He is "full of grace." Who could be more so? In the person of Jesus Christ the immeasurable grace of God is treasured up. God has done for us by Christ Jesus exceeding abundantly above all that we ask, or even think. It is not possible even for imagination to conceive of any person more gracious than God in Christ Jesus. You cannot desire, certainly you cannot require, anything that should exceed what is found of grace in the person, offices, work, and death of the only begotten. Come, ye that have large minds, and intellects that are creative, and see if ye can devise anything that should be mentioned in the same day with what God, in the infinite glory of his grace, has given us in the person of his Son. And there is an equal fulness of truth about our Lord. He himself, as he comes to us as the revelation and manifestation of God, declares to us, not some truth, but all truth. All of God is in Christ; and all of God means all that is true, and all that is right, and all that is faithful, and all that is just, all that is according to righteousness and holiness Christ Jesus has brought to us the justice, truth, and righteousness of God to the full: he is the Lord our righteousness. There are no reserves of disagreeable fact in Christ. There is nothing hidden from us of truth that might alarm us, nor anything that might have shaken our confidence; nor, on the other hand, is any truth kept back which might have increased our steadfastness. He says, "If it were not so I would have told you." Admire the full-orbed splendour of the Sun of Righteousness. Ask not with Pilate, "What is truth?" but behold it in God's dear Son. Oh, I know not how to speak to you upon themes so full and deep! How shall I, that am but as a twinkling dewdrop on a blade of grass, reflect the full glory of this Sun of Righteousness? But all truth and all grace dwell in Christ in all their fulness beyond conception, and the two lie in each other's bosoms for ever, to bless us with boundless, endless joy and glory.

Thus have I taken the two together. Now I want to dwell briefly on each one by itself.

Grace is put first. "We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace." Jesus Christ is the Son of God; he is his only begotten Son. Others are begotten of God, but no other was ever begotten of God as Christ was; consequently, when he came into this world the glory that was about him was a glory as of the only begotten, A very singular, and very special, and incommunicable glory abides in the person of our Lord. Part of this was the glory of his grace. Now, in the Old Testament, in that thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus, which we read in part this morning, you notice that the glory of God lay in his being "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." The glory of the only begotten of the Father must lie in the same things as the glory of the Father, namely, in long-suffering, goodness, and truth. In Christ there is a wonderful display of the gentleness, patience, pity, mercy, and love of God. Not merely did he teach the grace of God, and invite us to the grace of God, but in himself he displayed the grace of God.

This is to be seen, first, in his incarnation. It is a wonderful instance of divine grace that the Word should be made flesh and dwell among us, and reveal his glory to us. Apart from anything that springs out of the incarnation of Christ, that incarnation itself is a wondrous act of grace. There must be hope for men now that man is next akin to God through Jesus Christ. The angels were not mistaken when they not only sang, "Glory to God in the highest," but also, "on earth peace, goodwill towards men," because in Bethlehem the Son of God was born of a virgin. God in our nature must mean God with gracious thoughts towards us. If the Lord had meant to destroy the race, he never would have espoused it and taken it into union with himself. There is fulness of grace in the fact of the Word made flesh tabernacling among us.

More than this, there is fulness of grace in the life of Christ when we consider that he lived here in order to perfect himself as our High Priest. Was he not made perfect through his sufferings, that he might sympathize with us in all our woes? He was compassed with infirmities, and bare our sorrows, and endured those crosses of the human life which press so heavily on our own shoulders; and all this to make himself able to deal graciously with us in a tender and brotherly way. Apart from that which comes out of this wonderful brotherhood, there is a bottomless depth of grace about the fellowship itself. The Lord Jesus cannot curse me, for he has borne my curse: he cannot be unkind to me, for he has shared my sorrows. If every pang that rends my heart has also rent his heart, and if into all my woes he has descended even deeper than I have gone, it must mean have to me, it cannot mean anything else; and it must mean truth, for Jesus did not play at fellowship, his griefs were real. I say then that this manifestation of God in the person of Christ Jesus is seen in his sorrowing life to be full of grace and truth.

Then think for a minute of what he did. He was so full of grace that when he spake his words dropped a fatness of grace, the dew of his own love was upon all his discourses; and when he moved about and touched men here and there, virtue went out of him, because he was so full of it. At one time he spake and pardoned a sinner, saying, £Thy sins be forgiven thee": at another moment he battled with the consequences of sin, raising men from sickness and from death: again he turned himself and fought with the prince of darkness himself, and cast him out from those whom he tormented. He went about like a cloud which is big with rain, and therefore plentifully waters waste places. His life was boundless compassion. There was a power of grace about his garments, his voice, his look; and in all he was so true that none ever thought him capable of subterfuge. Everywhere he wont he scattered grace among the children of men; and he is just the same now; fulness of grace abides in him still.

When it came to his death, which was the pouring out of his soul, then his fulness of grace was seen. He was full of grace indeed, forasmuch as he emptied himself to save men. He was himself not only man's Saviour, but his salvation. He gave himself for us. He was indeed full of grace when he bare our sins in his own body on the tree. His was love at its height, since he died on the cross, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." Pronounce the word "substitution," and you cannot help feeling that the Substitute for guilty man was full of grace; or use that other word, "representative," and remember that whatever Jesus did, he did as the covenant head of his people. If he died, they died in him; if he rose again, they rose in him; if he ascended up on high, they ascended in him; and if he sits at the right hand of God, they also sit in the heavenly places in him. When he shall come a second time it shall be to claim the kingdom for his chosen as well as for himself; and all the glory of the future ages is for them, and not for himself alone. He saith, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Oh, the richness of the grace and truth that dwell in our Lord as the representative of his people! he will enjoy nothing unless his people enjoy it with him. "Where I am, there also shall my servant be." To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

There is yet another word higher than "substitution," higher than "representation," and that is "union." We are one with Christ, joined to him by a union that never can be broken. Not only does he do what he does, representing us, but we are joined unto him in one spirit, members of his body, and partakers of his glory. Is not this grace, grace unspeakable? Is it not a miracle of love that worms of earth should ever be one with incarnate Deity, and so one that they never can be separated throughout the ages?

Thus I have shown you that there is in our Lord a fulness of grace. Your own thoughts will dig deeper than mine.

But then it is said there is in him also a fulness of truth, by which I understand that in Christ himself, not merely in what he said, and did, and promised, there is a fulness of truth. And this is true, first, in the fact that he is the fulfilment of all the promises that went before concerning him. God had promised great things by his prophets concerning the coming Messiah, but all those predictions are absolutely matters of fact in the person of the Well-beloved. "All the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus." Verily he hath bruised the serpent's head. Verily he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Verily he hath proclaimed liberty to the captives. Verily he hath proved himself a prophet like unto Moses.

According to my second text, in verse seventeen, I understand our Lord Jesus to be "truth" in the sense of being the substance of all the types. The law that was given by Moses was but symbolical and emblematical; but Jesus is the truth. He is really that blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel; he is in very deed the paschal lamb of God's passover: he is the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, and the peace-offering - all in one! He is the true scapegoat, the true morning and evening lamb; in fact, he is in truth what all the types and figures were in pattern. Blessed be God, brethren, whenever you see great things in the Old Testament in the type, you see the real truth of those things in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jew had nothing that we have not: he had nothing even in outline and shadow which we have not obtained in substance. The covenant in its fulness is in Christ: the prophecy is in Moses, the fulfilment is in Jesus: the foreshadowing is in the law, the truth is in the Word made flesh.

Further than that, our Lord Jesus Christ is said to be grace and truth in this sense, that he truthfully deals with matters of fact in the case of our salvation. I know the notion of the world is that the salvation of Christ is a pretty dream, a handsome piece of sentiment. But there is nothing dreamy about it: it is no fiction; it is fact upon fact. The Lord Jesus Christ does not gloss over or conceal the condition of man in his salvation; he finds man condemned, and takes him as condemned in the very worst sense, condemned of a capital offence; and as man's substitute he endures the capital penalty, and dies in the sinner's stead. The Lord Jesus views the sinner as depraved, yea, as dead in trespasses and sins, and he quickens him by his resurrection life. He does not wink at the result of the fall and of actual sin; but he comes to the dead sinner and quickens him; he comes to the diseased heart and heals it. To me the gospel is a wonderful embodiment of omnipotent wisdom and truth. If the gospel had said to men, "The law of God is certainly righteous, but it is too stern, too exacting, and therefore God will wink at many sins, and make provision for salvation by omitting to punish much of human guilt, why, my brethren, we should always have been in jeopardy. If God could be unjust to save us, he could also be changeable, and cast us away. If there was anything rotten in the state of our salvation, we should fear that it would fail us at last. But our foundation is sure, for the Lord has excavated down to the rock; he has taken away every bit of mere sentiment and sham, and his salvation is real throughout. It is a glorious salvation of grace and truth, in which God takes the sinner as he is, and deals with him as he is; yea, and deals with the sinner as God is, on the principles of true righteousness; and yet saves him.

But it means more than that. The Lord deals with us in the way of grace, and that grace encourages a great many hopes, but those hopes are all realized, for he deals with us in truth. Our necessities demand great things, and grace actually supplies those great things. The old law could never make the comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the conscience, but the grace of God makes believers perfect as pertaining to the conscience. If I were to sit down and try to imagine a flaw in the ground of my salvation by Christ, I could not do it. Believing as I do in him who bore my sins in his own body on the tree, I feel that by no possibility can his atonement fail me. I have not imagination strong enough to feign a reason for distrust: I do not see hole or corner in which any charge could lurk against the man that believes in Jesus Christ. My conscience is satisfied, and more than satisfied. Sometimes it even seems to me that my sins could not have deserved that the Son of God should die. The atonement is greater than the sin. Speak of the vindication of the law! - is not the vindication even greater than the dishonour? Does not the law of God shine out more lustrous in its indescribable glory through the sacrifice of Christ as the penalty for sin, than it would have done had it never been broken, or had all the race of law-breakers been swept into endless destruction? O brothers, in the salvation of Jesus there is a truth of grace unrivalled! There is a deep verity, a substantiality, an inward soul-satisfaction in the sacrifice of Christ, which makes us feel that it is a full atonement - a fountain of "grace and truth."

Nor have I yet quite brought out all the meaning even if I have succeeded so far. Christ has brought to us "grace and truth"; that is to say, he works in believers both grace and truth. We want grace to rescue us from sin; he has brought it: we need truth in the inward parts; he has wrought it. The system of salvation by atonement is calculated to produce truthful men. The habit of looking for salvation through the great sacrifice fosters the spirit of justice, begets in us a deep abhorrence of evil, and a love for that which is right and true. By nature we are all liars, and either love or make a lie: for this cause we are content with refuges of lies, and we compass ourselves with deceit. In our carnal state we are as full of guile as an egg is full of meat; but when the Lord comes to us in Christ, no longer imputing our trespasses to us, then he takes out of our heart that deceit and desperate wickedness which had else remained there. I say it, and dare avow it, that the system of salvation by the indwelling of God in Christ and the atonement offered by him for men, has a tendency in it to infuse grace into the soul and to produce truth in the life. The Holy Ghost employs it to that end. I pray that you and I may prove it so by the grace which causes us to love both God and man, and the truthfulness with which we deal in all the affairs of life.

Thus has our Lord displayed the glory of God in the grace and truth with which he is filled. I am sorry I have spoken so feebly on a theme so grand. May the Spirit bless you even through the infirmities of my speech!

II. Now I want a few minutes to say to you, Come brothers and sisters, LET US AVAIL OURSELVES OF THIS TABERNACLING OF GOD AMONG US.

First, then, if God has come to dwell among men by the Word made flesh let us pitch our tents around this central tabernacle; do not let us live as if God were a long way off. To the Israelites God was equally near from every quarter of the camp. The tabernacle was in the centre, and the centre is equally near to every point of the circumference. No true Israelite could say, "I must go across the sea, or soar up into the air, or dive into the depths to find my God." Every Israelite could say "He dwelleth between the cherubim: I have but to go to his tabernacle to be in his presence and speak with him." Our God is not far from any one of his people this day. We are made nigh by the blood of Christ. God is everywhere present, but there is a higher presence of effectual grace in the person of the only begotten. Do not let us live as if we worshipped a far-off God. Let us not repine as if we were deserted. Let us not feel alone, for the Father is with us.

"God is near thee; therefore cheer thee, sad soul."

Open thy window towards Jerusalem, as Daniel did; pray with thine eye upon Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily in the greatest nearness to us. God is never far away since Christ has come to dwell among men.

Next, let us resort to this central tabernacle to obtain grace to help in time of need. Let us come to Christ without fear, for he hath grace to give, and he will give it to us abundantly, whenever we need it. I like to think of the wording of my text. Leave out the parenthesis, and it runs, "He dwelt among us full of grace." He could not have dwelt among such provoking ones if he had not been full of grace. But if he dwells among us full of grace, we need not fear that he will cast us away because of our sins and failings. I invite you, therefore, to come boldly to him who is full of forgiving love. I beg you to come and receive of his fulness, for grace is truly grace when it is communicated: grace which is not distributed is grace in name only. "Alas!" you say, "I want so much grace." Brother, it is treasured up in Christ for you without measure. It is placed in him that you may have it. Do we not try to persuade the sinner that there is life in a look? Shall I need to persuade saints that grace is equally free to them? Do we not tell the sinner that God is not to be sought for as far away, but that he is waiting to be gracious? Must I tell the believer the same? You may at this moment obtain all the grace you need. The door is open; enter and take what you will. Do not stop till you reach home and go through a set of religious exercises; but here, and now, believe in Jesus to the full. In the centre of the camp is the incarnate God; Israel had but to go to the central tent to find present help in time of trouble. In the person of Christ, who hath said, "I am with you alway, even to the end of the world," there is, in truth, all the grace you can possibly need. Come to this well and drink. Receive of his fulness, and go on your way rejoicing.

What next shall we do? Brethren, since God in Christ is in the midst of us, let us abide in joyful, peaceful confidence in him who is grace and truth to us. Do not let us wander to other sources. To whom should we go? Shall we leave our God? Shall we leave his grace, his truth? Do not let us dream that he is changed, for he is God. Do not imagine that he has removed, for he hath said, "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell, for I have desired it." Do not let us conceive that his grace and truth are exhausted; for his fulness is eternal. Let us receive strong consolation, and remain steadfast, unmovable. Let us quietly rest in the firm belief that all we can want between here and heaven, all that we need this moment and in all moments yet to come, is treasured up in Christ Jesus, who is abidingly the centre of his church and the manifestation of God.

Once more: if this be so, and God does really in Christ dwell in the midst of his people "full of grace and truth," let us tell everybody of it. I am sure if I had been an Israelite in the wilderness, and had met an Amalekite or an Edomite, I should have gloried in my God, and in the privileges which his presence secured me. We know that Amalekites and Edomites could not have come into the house of the Lord; but nowadays, if we meet with one who is a stranger, we can tell him of our privilege, with sweet persuasion that the stranger can be brought nigh through the blood of the Lamb. Therefore let us abundantly speak of the dwelling of God with men. Let us tell to all that the Lord has come to man, not in wrath, not in judgment, but "full of grace and truth." O my unconverted hearer, come to Jesus! He is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him. Draw nigh to the meek and lowly Jesus, and you draw nigh to God. He saith, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Publish the invitation of grace to the four winds. Ring out your silver trumpets, or if you have them not, sound your rams' horns; but somehow let all people know that the tabernacle of God is with men, and he doth dwell among them. Tell out this news in the far country, that the wandering prodigal son may hear it, and cry, "I will arise, and go to my Father." God has come to men; will not men come to God? In Christ Jesus God invites men to come to him; will you not come to receive grace and truth?

One more lesson remains, and that is - what manner of people ought we to he among whom Jehovah dwells? It must have been a very solemn thing to be a member of that great camp of two millions in the wilderness of Sinai. God's presence in the midst of the camp must have made every tent sacred. As we walked through the streets of that canvas city, if we had been Israelites, and in our right minds, we should have said, "These tents are none other than the house of God and the very gate of heaven; for see, Jehovah is in the midst of us. Mark you not the bright light that shines above his sanctuary?" We should have felt that in such a camp all should be holy. The pollution of sin should be unknown there. In such a camp constant prayer and praise should be presented to him whose presence was its glory and defence. To-day let our congregation be a holy convocation; and as for ourselves, let us be holiness unto the Lord. We are consecrated men and women, seeing the Lord has come so very near to us. I spoke of solemnity; I meant not dread and sorrow, but a solemnity full of joy. It is a solemn thing to have God so near, but the joy is equal to the solemnity. Glory be unto God most high, for he is here! Let us spend our days and nights in gladness and delight, God is reconciled to us in the person of his dear Son, and we have fellowship with God in Christ Jesus; wherefore let us rejoice evermore. Amen and amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon - Exodus 34:1-8; 40:34-38 and John 1:1-18.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book " - 249, 256, 250.

CHAPTER 25. SILVER SOCKETS: OR, REDEMPTION THE FOUNDATION

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A Sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, on Lord's Day Morning, January 30th, 1881, at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls."
Exodus 30:11-16.

"A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and live hundred and fifty men. And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket."
Exodus 38:26-27.

Will you kindly first open your Bibles at Exodus 30.; for I must commence my discourse by expounding that passage. When the account was taken of the number of the children of Israel the Lord commanded that every male over twenty years of age should pay half a shekel as redemption money, confessing that he deserved to die, owning that he was in debt to God, and bringing the sum demanded as a type of a great redemption which would by-and-by be paid for the souls of the sons of men. The truth was thus taught that God's people are a redeemed people: they are elsewhere called " the redeemed of the Lord," If men reject the redemption which he ordains, then are they not his people; for of all his chosen it may be said - " The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he." Whenever we attempt to number up the people of God it is absolutely needful that we count only tliose who at least profess to have brought the redemption price in their hands, and so to have taken part in the atonement of Christ Jesus. David, when he numbered the people, did not gather from them the redemption money, and hence a plague broke out amongst them. He had failed in obedience to the Lord's ordinance, and counted his subjects, not as redeemed people, but merely as so many heads. Let us always beware of estimating the number of Christiang by the number of the population of the countries called Christian; for the only true Christians in the world are those who are redwjued No. 1,581 Ij 288 METROPOLITAN TABERNACI-E PULPIT. from iniquity by the blood of the Lamb, and have personally accepted the ransom which the Lord has provided, personally brought their redemption money in their hands by taking Christ to be theirs and pre- senting him by an act of faith to the great Father. God has upon earth as many people as believe in Jesus Christ, and we dare not count any others to be his but those who can say, " In whom we have redemp- tion through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." "We must not count heads which know about Christ, but hands which have received the redemption money and are presenting it unto God; not so much persons who are called Christians by courtesy as souls that are Christly in very fact, because they have accepted the atoning sacrifice, and live before God as " redeemed from among men." Observe that this redemption, without which no man might rightly be numbered among the children of Israel lest a plague should break out among them, must be perso7ial and individual. There was not a lump sum to be paid for the nation, or twelve amounts for the twelve tribes; but each man must bring his own half shekel for himself So there is no redemption that will be of any use to any of you unless it is per- sonally accepted and brought before God by faith. You must each oue be able to say for yourself concerning the Lord Jesus, " He loved me, and gave himself for me." The doctrine of general redemption, which teaches men to say, " Oh, yes; we are all sinners, you know; Christ died for us, for he died for us all," lays a very poor foundation for comfort. W» need not so much a general as a personal redemption, a redemption which actually redeems, and redeems us as individuals. The great sacrifice for the sin of man must become to us a personal atonement, for only so can we realise its efficacy. You must each one bring Christ nnto the Father, taking him into your hands by simple faith. No other price must be there; but that price must be brought by every individual, or else there is no acceptable coming to God. It was absolutely essential that each one should bring the half shekel of redemption money; for redemption is the only way in which you and I can be accepted of God. If birth could have done it, they had the privilege beyond all doubt; for they had Abraham to their father: they were lineally descended from the three great patriarchs, and they ?2iight have said, " We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man." Nay, but salvation is not of blood, nor of birth, nor of the will of the flesh: salvation is by redemption, and even the true child of Abraham must bring his redemption money. So must you, you child of godly parents, find salvation by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, or be lost for ever. Do not believe the falsehood of certain modern divines, that you children of godly parents do not need to be con- Terted because you are born so nobly and brought up so tenderly by your parents. You are by nature heirs of wrath even as others. " Ye must be born again," and ye must be personally redeemed as well as heathen children, or else you will perish, though the blood of ministers, martyrs, and apostles should be running in your veins. Redemption is the only ground of acceptance before God, and not godly birth, or pious education. There were many, no doubt, in the camp of Israel who were men oi station and substance; but they must bring the ransom money, or die amid their wealth. Others were wise-hearted and skilful in the arts, jefc SILVER kSOCKETS. 23^ must they be redeemed or die. Rank could not save the princes, nor office spare the elders: every man of Israel must be redeemed; and no man could pass the muster-roll without his half shekel, whatever he might say, or do, or be. God was their God because he had redeemed them out of the house of bondage, and they were his people because he had " put a redemption between his people and the Egyptians." Well did David ask, " What one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself?" Note well that every Israelitish man must be alike redeemed, and re- deemed with the like, nay, with the same redemption. *' The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel." Every man requires redemption, the one as well as the other. Kings on their thrones must be redeemed as ^Yell as prisoners in their dungeons; the philosopher must be redeemed as well as the peasant; the preacher as much as the profligate, and the moralist as certainly as the prostitute or the thief. The redemption money for every person must be the same, for all ha\e sinned and are in like condemnation. And it must be a redumption that meets the divine demand, because, you see, the Lord not only says that they must each bring half a shekel, no more, no less, but it must be "the shekel of the sanctuary," - not the shekel of commerce, which might be debased in quality or diminished by wear and tear, but the coin must be according to the standard shekel laid up in the holy place. To make sure of it Moses defines exactly how much a shekel was worth, and what its weight was, - " A shekel is twenty gerahs," So you must bring to God the redemption which he has appointed, - the blood and righteousness of Christ, - nothing more, nothing less. The ransom of Christ is perfection, and from it there must be no varying. The price must satisfy the Divine demand, and that to the fall. Note that the price appointed did effectually redeem so far as the type could go. Some rejcnce in a redemption which does not redeem , for the general redemption by which all men are supposed to be redeemed leaves multitudes in bondage, and they go to hell despite this kind of redemption. Therefore do we preach a particular and special redemp- tion of God's own chosen and believing people: these are effectually and really ransomed, and the precious price once paid for them has set them free, neither shall any plague of vengeance smite them, for the redemption money has procured them eternal deliverance. This type is full of instruction: the more it is studied the richer will it appear. Every man that is numbered among the children of Israel, and permitted to serve God by going out to war, or to take upon him the duties of citizenship, must, as he is numbered, be redeemed. So must every one of us, if we are truly God's people and God's servants, find our right to be so in the fact of our redemption by Christ Jesns our Lord. This is the joy and glory of each one of us: " Thou hast redeemed me, 0 Lord God of truth." Now we turn to the second of our texts, and there we learn a very remarkable fact. In the thirty-eighth chapter, verse twenty-five, we find that this mass of silver which was paid, whereby six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men were redeemed, each one paying his half shekel, came to a great weight of silver. It must have weighed 290 METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT. •Mnethinn; over four tons, and this was dedicated to the use of the taher* nacle: the special application of the precious metal was to make sockets into which the boards which made the walls of the tabernacle should be placed. The mass of silver made up one hundred talents, and these upheld the fifty boards of the holy place. They were in a wilderness, constantly moving, and continually shifting the tabernacle. Now, they might have dng out a foundation in the sand, or on coming to a piece of rock where they could not dig, they might have cut out foundations with great toil; but the Lord appointed that they should carry the foundation of the tabernacle with them. A talent of silver, weigliing, I suppose, close upon one hundred pounds, was either formed into the shape of a wedge, so as to be driven into the soil, or else made into a solid square plate to lie upon it. In the wedge or plate were made mortises, into which the tenons of the boards could be readily fitted. These plates of silver fitted the one into the other, tenon and mortise wise, and thus they made a compact parallelogram, strengthened at the corners with double plates, and formed one foundation, moveable when taken to pieces, yet very secure as a whole. This foundation was made of the redemption moneij. See the instructive emblem ! The foundation of the worship of Israel was redemption. The dwelHng- place of the Lord their God was founded on atonement. All the Doards of incorruptible wood and precious gold stood upon the redemp- tion price, and the curtains of fine linen, and the veil of mate) i less workmanship, and the whole structure rested on nothing else but the solid mass of silver which had been paid as the redemption money of the people. There was only one exception, and that was at the door where was the entrance to the holy place. There the pillars were set upon sockets of brass, perhaps because, as there was much going in and out of the priests, it was not meet that they should tread upon the token of redemption. The blood of the paschal Lamb, when Israel came out of Egypt, was sprinkled on the lintel and the two side posts; but out of reverence to that blood it was not' to be sprinkled on the threshold. Everything was done to show that atonement is to be the precious foundation of all holy things, and everything to prevent a Blighting or disregard of it. Woe unto that man of whom it shall ever be said, " He hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." I do not for a moment bring before you the type of the text as a proof of doctrine; but I intend to use it simply as an illustration. It Beems to me to be a very striking, full, and suggestive emblem, setting forth most clearly certain precious truths. I feel I am quite safe in using this illustration, because it is one among a group of acknowledged types, and could not have been given without a reason. I do not see why they could not have made the foundation sockets of iron, or why they could not have been content with tent pins and cords as in other cases of tent building: I see no reason in the necessity of the case why they must be sockets of silver; there must have been another reason. Why was that particular silver prescribed ? Why must the redemption money be used, and nothing else ? Surely there is teaching here if we will but see it. SILVER SOCKETS. 291 MoreoYer, this d )es not stand alone; for when the Tabernacle was Bucceeded by the Temple redemption was still conspicuous in the foundation. What was the foundation of the Temple ? It was the rock of Mount Moriah. And what was the hill of Moriah but the place where in many lights redemption and atonement had been set forth. It was there that Abraham drew the knife to slay Isaac: a fair picture of the Father offering up his Son. It was there the ram was caught in the thicket and was killed instead of Isaac: fit emblem of the Substitute accepted instead of man. Later still, it was on Mount Moriah that the angel, when David attempted to number the people without redemption money, stood with his sword drawn. There David offered sacrifices and burnt offerings. The offering was accepted and the angel sheathed his sword - another picture of that power of redemp- tion by which mercy rejoices against judgment. And there the Lord uttered the memorable sentence, " It is enough, stay now thine hand." This "enough" is the crown of redemption. Even as the Great Sacrifice himself said, " It is finished," so does the Great Accepter of the sacrifice say, *' enough." What a place of redemption was the hill of Zion ! Now, if the temple was built on a mount which must have been specially selected because there the types of redemption were most plentiful, I feel that without an apology I may boldly take this first fact that the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness was based and grounded upon redemption money, and use it for our instruction. With this much of preface we will now fall to and feed upon the spiritual meal which is set before us. 0 for grace to feast upon the heavenly bread that we may grow thereby. Spirit of the living God, be pleased to help us in this matter. I. First, I want you to view this illustration as teaching us something about God in relation to man. Tlie tent in the wilderness was typical of God's coming down to man to hold intercourse with him: the fiery cloudy pillar visible outside, and the bright light of the shekinah, visible to him who was called to enter once a year into the innermost sanctuary, shining over the mercy-seat, - these were the tokens of the special presence of the Deity in the centre of the camp of Israel. The Lord eeems to teach us, in relation to his dealing with men, that he will meet man in the way of grace only on the footing of redemption. He treats with man concerning love and grace within his holy shrine; but the basis of that shrine must be atonement. Eest assured, dear friends, that there is no meeting with God on our part except through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. I am of Luther's mind when he said, "I will have nothing to do with an absolute God," God out of Christ is a terror to lis. Even in Christ, remember, he is a consuming fire, for even " our God 26 a consuming fire"; but what he must be out of Christ may none of us ever know. ** Till God in human flesh I see, My thoughts no comfort find; The holy, just, and sacred Three Are terrors to my mind. ♦' But if Immanuel's face appear, My hope, my joy bcoins; His name forbids my slavish fear. His grace removes my sins." 292 METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT. You must not attempt to have audience with God at first upon tlie footing of election. It were presumptuous to attempt to come to the electing Father except through the atoning Son. " No man," saith Christ, " Cometh to the Father but my me." Never attempt to speak with God on the footing of your own sanctification; for very soon you will come to bringing your legal righteousness before him, and that will provoke him. Always enter the holy place with the thought, " I know that my Redeemer liveth." " Not without blood": recollect that ! Into the holy place went the high priest once every year, "not without blood." There can be no coming of God to man on terms of peace except through the one great sacrifice: that must be the foundation of it all. Nay, and not only God's coming to us, but God's abiding ivith us is upon the same foundation; for the tabernacle was, so to speak, the house of God, - the place where God especially dwelt among his people, as he said: "I will dwell in them, and walk in them." But he never dwelt among them in anything but in a tent that was based upon the silver of the redemption money; and you, dear friend, if you have ever walked with God, can only maintain your fellowship by resting where you did at first, as a poor sinner redeemed by your Saviour. They have asked me to rise sometimes to a higher platform, and come to God as a sanctified person. Yes, but a rock, though it may be lower than the little wooden stage which some erect upon it, is safer to stand upon; and I do believe that those who walk with God, according to their attain- ments, and imaginary perfections, have climbed up to a rotten stage, which will fall under them ere long. I know no mode of standing before God to day but that which I had at first. I am unworthy still in myself, but accepted in the Beloved ! Guilty in myself, and lost and ruined; but still received, blessed, and loved, because of the person and work of Christ. The Lord cannot dwell with yon, my dear friend, you will soon have broken fellowship and be in the dark, if you attempt to walk with him because you feel sanctified, or because you have been active in his service, or because you know much, or because you are an experienced believer. No ! no ! no ! The Lord will only abide with us in that tabernacle whose every board is resting upon the silver foundation of redemption by his own dear Son. There can, beloved, be no sort of communion between God and us ex- cept through the atonement. Do you want to pray? You cannot speak with God except through Jesus Christ. Do you wish to praise? You cannot bring the censer full of smoking incense except through Christ. It is only within those foundations of silver that you can speak to God, or hear him speak comfortably with you. Would you hear a voice out of the excellent glory ? Do you pray that the great Father would speak with you as with his dear children ? Expect it through Jesus Christ, for " through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Even unto the Father, though we be children, we have not access except through Jesus. The tabernacle of communion even to him that lives nearest to God must be built upon the redemption price. Free grace and dying love must be the golden bells which ring upon our garments when we go into the holy place to speak with the Most High. The tabernacle was the place of holy service, where the priests all day long offered sacrifices of one kind and another unto the Most High. SILVER SOCKETS. ggg And you and I serve God as priests, foi' he has niade us a I'oyal priest- hood. But how and where can we exercise our priesthood ? Every- where as to this world; but before God, the foundation of the temple wlierein we stand, and the ground of the acceptance of our priesthood, ia redemption. The priests offered their sacrifice not in groves of man'a planting, or on high hills, which were the natural strength of the bind, but within the space marked out by the silver slabs of atonement money , and so must we worship and serve within redemption lines. If we come under the idea of legal merit, and suppose that there is a natural good- ness in our prayers, or in our praises, in our observances of Christian ceremonies, or in almsgiving, or in zealous testimony, we make a great mistake, and we shall never be so accepted. We must bring our offerings unto that court which is fenced about by the foundation most precious «\hich God has laid of old, even the merit of his dear Son. We are accepted in the Beloved, and in no other manner; we are shut in within the foundation which Christ has laid of old, not with corruptible things as with silver and gold, but with his own most precious blood. Thus much, dear brethren, upon one view of this subject. May you learn much of God in his relation to man while you meditate thereon at your leisure and are taught of the Holy Ghost. II. I think we may, in the second place, apply this illustration to Christ in his divine Person. The Tabernacle was the type of our Lord Jesus Christ, for God dwells among men in Christ. " He taber- nacled among us, and we beheld his glory," says the apostle. Gud dwelleth not in temples made with hands, that is to say, of this building; but the Temple of God is Christ Jesus, " in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Our Lord is thus the Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man; and our first and fundamental idea of him must be in his cha- racter as Redeemer. Our Lord does come to us in other characters, and in them all he is right glorious; but unless we receive him as Redeemer we have missed the essence of his character, the fuundation idea of him. As the tent in the wilderness was founded upon the redemption money, go our idea and conception of Christ must be first of all that *' he is the propitiation for our sins;" and I say this, though it may seem unnecessary u> s;iy it, because Satan is very crafty, and he leads many from plain truth by subtle means. I remember a sister, who had been a member of a certain denomination, who was converted to God in this place, tholigh she had been a professed Christian for years. She said to ine " I have hitherto believed only in Christ crucified: I worshipped him as about to come in the second Advent to reign with his people, but I never had a sense of guilt, neither did I go to him as putting away my sin; and hence I was not saved." When she began to see herself as a sinner she found her need of a Redeemer. Atonement must enter into our first and chief idea of the Lord Jesus. " We preach Christ crucified'': we preach him glorified, and delight to do so; but still the main point upon which the eye of a sinner must rest, if he would have peace with God, must be Christ crucified for sin. " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Do, then, my dear hearer, let the veiy foundation of your faith in Christ be your view of him as rausoming you from the power of sin and Satan. Some say chey adjjiire an* METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT. Cliiist as an example, and well they may; they can never find a better: but Jesns Christ will never be truly known and followed if he be viewed only as an example, for he is infinitely more than that. Neither can any man carry out the project of being like Christ, unless he first knows him as making atonement for sin, and as giving power to overcome sin through his blood. Some writers have looked upon Christ from one point of view and some from another, and there is no book that is more likely to sell than a Life of Christ, but the most essential view of him is to be had from the cross foot. No complete life of Christ has been written yet. All the lives of Christ that have yet been written amount to about one drop of broth, while the four Evangelists are as a whole bullock. The pen of inspiration has accomplished what all the quills in the world will never be able to do again, and there is no need they should. However much we dwell upon the holiness of our Lord, we cannot complete his picture unless we describe him as the sinner's ransom. He is white, but he is ruddy too. Rutherford said, *' 0 then, come and gee if he be not a red man. In his sufiering for us he was wet with his own blood. Is he not well worthy of your love ? " "When he cometh forth in the vesture dipped in blood many shun him, they cannot bear the atoning sacrifice; but he is never in our eyes so matchlessly lovely as when we see hira bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, and {)utting away transgression by making himself the Substitute for his people. Let this then be your basis idea of Christ - "he has redeemed us fiom the curse of the law." Indeed, m retereuce to Christ, we must regard his redemption as the basis of his triumphs and his glory - "the sulFer- iugs of Christ and the glory that shall follow." We cannot understand any work that he has performed unless we understand his vicarious sacrifice. Christ is a lock without a key, he is a labyrinth without a clue, until you know him as the Redeemer. You have spilt the letters on the floor, and you cannot make out the character of the Wonderful till first you liave learned to spell the words - atonement by blood. This is the deepest joy of earth and the grandest song in heaven. " For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood." I beg you to observe, in connection with our text, that as the foundation of the Tabernacle was very valuable, so our Lord Jesus as our Redeemer is exceedingly precious to us. His redemption is made with his precious blood. The redemption money was of pure and precious metal, a metal that does not lose weight in the fire. " The redemption of the soul is precious." What a redemption price hath Christ given for us; yea, what a redemp- tion price he is ! Well did Peter say, " Unto you that beheve he is precious": silver and gold are not to be mentioned in comparison with him. To me it is very instructive that the Israelites should have been redeemed with silver in the form of half-shekels, because there are many who say, "These old-fashioned divines believe in the mercantile idea of the atonement." Exactly so: we always did and always shall use a metaphor which is so expressive as to be abhorred by the enemies of the truth. The mercantile idea of the atonement is the Biblical idea of the atonement. These people were redeemed, not with lumps of uncoined silver, but with money used in commerce. Paul saifch "Ye are not your own: ye are bought " - listen - " with a p'ke " - to give us the mercantile SILVER SOCKETS. 295 idea beyond all question. " Bought with a price " is doubly mer- cantile. What say you to this, ye wise refiners, who would refina the meaning out of the word of the Lord ? Such persons merely use this expression about the " mercantile idea " as a cheap piece of mockery, because in their hearts they hate atonement altogether, and the idea of substitution and expiation by vicarious sacrifice is abhorrent to them. Therefore hath the Lord made it so plain, so manifest that they may stumble at this stumbling-stone, " whereunto also," methinks, as Peter saith, " they were appointed." To us, at any rate, the redemption price which is the foundation of all is exceedingly precious. But there is one other thing to recollect in reference to Christ, namely, that we must each one view him as our own, for out of all the grown up males that were in the camp of Israel, when they set up the tabernacle, there was not one but had a share in its foundation. We read in Exodus XXXV. 25 and 26, " And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stii-red them up in wisdom spun goats' hair." The men could not spin, perliaps; fchey did not nnderstand that art; but every man had his half a shekel in the fonndation. I want you to think of that. Each believer has a share in Christ as his redemption: nay, I dai-e not say a share in him, for he is all mine, and he is all yours. BiHitlier and sister, have yun by faith laid hold upon a whole Christ and said, " He has paid the price for me "? Then you have an interest in the very fundamental idea of Christ. Perhaps you are not learned enough to have enjoyed your portion in certain other aspects of our Lord; but if you are a believer, however weak you are, though you are like the poor among the people of Israel, you have your half shekel in the foundation. I delight to think of that. 1 have my treasure in Christ; " my Beloved is mine." Do you say he is yours ? I do not deny it. 80 he is, but " he is mine." If you deny that fact we will quarrel at once, for I do aver that " my Beloved is mine." Moreover, by his purchase " I am his." " So am I," say you. Quite right: I am glad you are; but I know that " I am his," There is notliing like getting a firm, personal hold and grip of Christ: my half shekel is in the basis of the tabernacle; my redemption money is in the divinely glorious building of grace; my redemption is in the death of Christ, which is the foundation of all. III. Time fails me, and yet I have now a third thought to lay before you very briefly. The tabernacle was a type of thk Chuuch of God as the place of divine indwelling. What and where is the church of God ? The true church is founded upon redemption. Every board of shittim wood was tenoned and mortised into the sockets of silver made of the redemption money, and every man that is in the church of God is united to Christ, rests upon Christ, and cannot be separated from him. If that is not true of you, my dear hearer, you are not in the church of God. You may be in the church of England or of Rome, you may be in this church or some other; but unless you are joined to Christ, and he is the sole foundation upon which you rest, you are not in the church of God. You may be in no visible church whatever, and yet, if you are resting upon Christ, you are a part of the true house of God on earth. Christ is a sure foundation for the church; for the tabernacle wm 296 METROl'OLITAN TABERNACLE PUl.PIT. never blown down. It had no foundation but the talents of silver; and jet it braved every desert storm. The wilderness is a place of rough winds - it is called a howling wilderness; but the sockets of silver held the boards upright, and the holy tent defied the ra-e of the elements. To be united to Christ by faith is to be built on a sure foundation. Hia church will never be overthrown let the devil send what hurricanes he may. And it was an invariable foundation, for the tabernacle always had the same basis wherever it was placed. One day it was pitched on the sand, another on a good piece of arable ground, a third time on a grass plot, and to-morrow on a bare rock; but it always had the same foundation. The bearers of the holy furniture never left the silver sockets behind. Those four tons of silver were carried in their waggons, and put out first as the one and only foundation of the holy place. Now, the learned tell us that the nineteenth century requires "advanced thought." I wish the nineteenth century was over; I have heard it bragged about so much that I am sick of the nineteenth century. We are told that this is too sensible a century to need or accept the same gospel as the first, second, and thii-d centuries. Yet these were the centuries of martyrs, the centuries of heroes, the centuries that conquered all the gods of Greece and R »me, the centuries of holy glory, and all this because they were the centuries of the gospel; but now we are so enlightened that our ears ache for sometliing fresh, and under the in- fluence of another gospel, which is not another, our behefs are dwindling down from alps to anthills, and we ourselves from giants to pigmies. You will want a microscope soon to see Christian fai^h in the land, it is getting to be so small and scarce. By God's grace some of us abide by the ark of che covenant, and mean to preach the same gospel which the saints received at tlie first. We shall imitate those who, having had a .silver fonndntion at the first, had a silver foundation for the tabernacle, even till the> came to the promised land. It is a foundation that we dare not change. It must be the same, world without end, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. IV. Fouithly, and lastly, I think this tabernacle in the wilderness may be viewed as a type of the gospel, for the guspel is the revelation of God to man. The tent in the wilderness was the gospel according to Moses. Now, as that old gospel in the wilderness was, such must ours be, and I want to say just two or three things very plainly, and ha?e done. Redemption, atonement in the mercantile idea, must be the foundation oj our theologij - doctrinal, ^radical, a'nd experimental. As to doctrine, they say a fish stinks first at the head, and men fiist go astray in their brains. When once there is anything wrong in your belief as to redemption you axe wrong all through. I believe in the old rhyme - " What think you of Christ ? is the test To try both your state and your scheme. You cannot be right in the rest Unless you think rightly of him." If you get wrong on atonement you have turned a switch which will run the whole train of your thoughts upon the wrong line. You musi kuo'.y Christ as the Redeemer of his people, and their substitute, or yoor SILVER SOCKETS 297 fceaching will give an uncertain sound. As redemption mnst be the foundation of doctrinal divinity, so it must of practical divinity. " Ye are not your own: ye are bought with a price," must be the source of holiness, and the reason for consecration. The man that does not feel himself to be specially " redeemed from among men " will see no reason for being different from other men. " Christ loved his Church and gave himself /(?r /'/;" he who sees no special giving of Christ for his Church will see no special reason why the Church should give herself to Christ. Certainly redemption must be the foundation of experimental theology; for what is an experience worth that does not make us every day prize n\ore and more the redeeming blood? Oh, my dear friends, I never knew, though I had some idea of it, what a fool I was till of late years. I tell you that those dreadful pains, which may even make you long for death, will empty you right out, and not only empty you, but make you judge yourself to be a hollow sham, and cause you to loathe yourself, and then it is that you cling to Christ. Nothing but the atoning sacrifice will satisfy me. I have read plenty of books of modern theology, bat none of them can heal so much as a pin's prick in the conscience. When a man gets sick in body and heavy in spirit he wants the old-fashioned puritanical theology, the gospel of Calvin, the gospel of Augustine, the gospel of Paul, the gospel of our Lord and 8a\ i 16, 17. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is offeree after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Or, " Where a covenant is, there must also be the death of him who covenants, or of that by which the covenant is established." Or read it as we have it in our version, for it seems as if it must be so, although we are loth to give the meaning of •* testament " to the word, since its natural 822 METROPOLITAIf TABERNACLE PULPIT. meaning is evidently covenant: " Where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth; " or, if you wiU, while the victim that was to confirm the covenant lived, the covenant was not ratified; it must be slain before it could be thus effective. 18 - 22. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. There is no truth more plain than this in the whole of the Old Testament; and it must have within it a very weighty lesson to our souls. There are some who cannot endure the doctrine of a substitutionary atonement. Let them beware lest they be casting away the very soul and essence of the gospel. It is evident that the sacrifice of Christ was intended to give ease to the conscience, for we read that the blood of bulls and of goats could not do that. I fail to see how any doctrine of atonement except the doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ can give ease to the guilty conscience. Christ in my stead suffering the penalty of my sin, - that pacifies my conscience, but nothing else does: * ' Without shedding of blood is no remission." 23. It was therefore necestary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; These things down below are only the patterns, the models, the symbols of the heavenly things; they could therefore be ceremonially purified with the blood which is the symbol of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. 23, 24. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, ivhich are the figures of the truej but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of Ood for us: He never went within the veil in the Jewish temple; that was but the symbol of the true holy of holies. He has gone "into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." 25 - 28. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. A nd as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; There is no need that he should die again, his one offering has for ever perfected all his people. There remains nothing but his final coming for the judgment of the ungodly, and the acquittal of his redeemed. 28. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without tin unto salvation. Christ's second coming will be " without sin," and without a sin offering, too, wholly apart from sin, unto the salvation of all his chosen. May we all be amongst those who are looking for him ! Amen. THE EENT VEIL. Deliteeed on Lord's-dat Morning, March 25th, 1888, by C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." - Matt, xxvii. 50, 61. *' Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and Uving way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to Bay, his flesh." - Hebrews x. 19, 20. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was fitly surrounded by miracles; yet it is itself so much greater a wonder than all besides, that it as far exceeds them as the sun outshines the planets which surround it. It seems natural enough that the earth should quake, that tombs should be opened, and that the veil of the temple should be rent, when he who only hath immortality gives up the ghost. The more you think of the death of the Son of God, the more will you be amazed at it. As much as a miracle excels a common fact, so doth this wonder of wonders rise above aU miracles of power. That the divine Lord, even though veiled in mortal flesh, should condescend to be subject to the power of death, so as to bow his head on the cross, and submit to be laid in the tomb, is among mysteries the greatest. The death of Jesus is the marvel of time and eternity, which, as Aaron's rod swallowed up all the rest, takes up into itseK all lesser marvels. Yet the rending of the veil of the temple is not a miracle to be lightly passed over. It was made of " fine twined linen, with cherubims of cunning work." This gives the idea of a substantial fabric, a piece of lasting tapestry, which would have endured the severest strain. No human hands could have torn that sacred covering; and it could not have been divided in the midst by any accidental cause; yet, strange to say, on the instant when the holy person of Jesus was rent by death, the great veil which concealed the holiest of aU was "rent in twain from the top to the bottom." What did it mean ? It meant much more than I can tell you now. It is not fanciful to regard it as a solemn act of mourning on the part of the house of the Lord. In the East men express their sorrow by rending their garments; and the temple, when it beheld its Master die, seemed struck with horror, and rent its veil. Shocked at No. 2,015. g R24 METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT. the sin of man, indignant at the murder of its Lord, in its sympathy with him who is the true temple of Grod, the outward symbol tore its holy vestment from the top to the bottom. Did not the miracle also mean that fi-om that hour the whole system of tj^pes, and shadows, and ceremonies had come to an end ? The ordinances of an earthly priesthood were rent with that veil. In token of the death of the ceremonial law, the soul of it quitted its sacred shrine, and left its bodily tabernacle as a dead thing. The legal dispensation is over. The rent of the veil seemed to say - " Henceforth Grod dwells no longer in the thick darkness of the Holy of Holies, and shines forth no longer from between the cherubim. The special enclosure is broken up, and there is no inner sanctuary for the earthly high priest to enter: typical atonements and sacrifices are at an end." According to the explanation given in our second text, the rending of the veil chiefly meant that the way into the holiest, which was not before made manifest, was now laid open to all believers. Once in the year the high priest solemnly lifted a corner of this veil with fear and trembling, and with blood and holy incense he passed into the imme- diate presence of Jehovah; but the tearing of the veil laid open the secret place. The rent from top to bottom gives ample space for all to enter who are called of G-od's grace, to approach the throne, and to commune with the Eternal One. Upon that subject I shall try to speak this morning, praying in my inmost soul that you and I, with all other believers, may have boldness actually to enter into that which is within the veil at this time of our assembling for worship. Oh, that the Spirit of God would lead us into the nearest fellowship which mortal men can have with the Infinite Jehovah ! First, this morning, I shall ask you to consider what has been dwie. The veil has been rent. Secondly, we will remember ivhat we there- fore have: we have " boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Then, thirdly, we will consider how we exercise this grace: we " enter by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." I. First, think of what has been done. In actual historical fact the glorious veil of the temple has been rent in twain from the top to the bottom: as a matter of spiritual fact, which is far more important to us, the separating legal ordinance is abolished. There was under the law this ordinance - that no man should ever go into the holiest of all, with the one exception of the high priest, and he but once in the year, and not without blood. If any man had attempted to enter there he must have died, as guilty of great presumption and of profane intru- sion into the secret place of the Most High. Who could stand in the pre- sence of him who is a consuming fire ? This ordinance of distance runs all through the law; for even the hoty place, which was the vestibule of the Holy of Holies, was for the priests alone. The place of the people was one of distance. At the very first institution of the law when Q-od descended upon Sinai, the ordinance was, " Thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about." There was no invitation to draw near. Not that they desired to do so, for the mountain was altogether on a smoke, and " even Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." " The Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, THE RENT VEIL. 325 lest tliey break througli unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish." If so much as a beast touch the mountain it must be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. The spirit of the old law was reverent distance. Moses, and here and there a man chosen by God, might come near to Jehovah; but as for the bulk of the people, the com- mand was, " Draw not nigh hither." When the Lord revealed his glory at the giving of the law, we read, - " When the people saw it, the}' removed, and stood afar off." All this is ended. The precept to keep back is abrogated, and the invitation is, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." "Let us draw near" is now the filial spirit of the gospel. How thankful I am for this ! what a joy it is to my soul ! Some of God's people have not yet realized this gracious fact, for still they worship afar off. Very much of prayer is to be highly commended for its reverence; but it has in it a lack of childlike confidence. I can admire the solemn and stately language of worship which recognizes the greatness of God; but it will not warm my heart nor express my soul until it has also blended therewith the joyful nearness of that perfect love which casteth out fear, and ventures to speak with our Father in heaven as a child speaketh with its father on earth. My brother, no veil remains. Why dost thou stand afar off, and tremble like a slave ? Draw near with full assurance of faith. The veil is rent: access is free. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Jesus has made thee nigh, as nigh to God as even he himself is. Though we speak of the holiest of all, even the secret place of the Most High, yet it is of this place of awe, even of this sanctuary of Jehovah, that the veil is rent; therefore, let nothing hinder thine entrance. Assuredly no law forbids thee; but infinite love invites thee to draw nigh to God. This rending of the veil signified, also, the removal of the separating sin. Sin is, after all, the great divider between God and man. That veil of blue and purple and fine twined linen could not really separate man from God: for he is, as to his omnipresence, not far from any one of us. Sin is a far more effectual wall of separation: it opens an abj'ss between the sinner and his Judge. Sin shuts out prayer, and praise, and every form of religious exercise. Sin makes God walk contrary to us, because we walk contrary to him. Sin, by separating the soul from God, causes spiritual death, which is both the effect and the penalty of transgression. How can two walk together except they be agreed ? How can a holy God have fellowship with unholy creatures ? Shall justice dwell with injustice ? Shall perfect purity abide with the abominations of evil ? No, it cannot be. Our Lord Jesus Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He taketh away the sin of the world, and so the veil is rent. By the shedding of his most precious blood we are cleansed from all sin, and that most gracious promise of the new covenant is fulfilled - " Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." When sin is gone, the barrier is broken down, the unfathomable gulf is filled. Pardon, which removes sin, and justification, which brings righteousness, make up a deed of clearance so real and so complete that nothing now divides the sinner from his reconciled God. The Judge is now the Father: he, who once must necessarily have condemned, is foimd justly absolving 826 METROPOLITAN TABERXAOLE PTTLPTT. and accepting. In this double sense the veil is rent: the separating ordinance is abrogated, and the separating sin is forgiven. Next, be it remembered that the separating sinfulness is also taken away through our Lord Jesus. It is not only what we have done, but what we are that keeps us apart from God. "We have sin engrained in us: even those who have grace dwellinr: in them have to complain, *' When I would do good, evil is present with me." How can we commune with God with our eyes blinded, our ears stopped, our hearts hardened, and our senses deadened by sin ? Our whole nature is tainted, poisoned, perverted by evil; how can we know the Lord ? Beloved, through the death of our Lord Jesus the covenant of grace is established with us, and its gracious provisions are on this wise: " This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." When this is the case, when the will of God is inscribed on the heart, and the nature is entirely changed, then is the dividing veil which hides us from God taken away: " Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Blessed are all they that love righteousness and follow after it, for they are in a way in which the Righteous One can walk in fellowship with them. %)irits that are like God are not divided from God. Difference of nature hangs up a veil; but the new birth, and the sanctification which follows upon it, through the precious death of Jesus, remove that veil. He that hates sin, strives after holiness, and labours to perfect it in the fear of God, is in fellowship with God. It is a blessed thing when we love what God loves, when we seek what God seeks, when we are in sympathy with divine aims, and are obedient to divine commands: for with such persons will the Lord dwell. When grace makes us partakers of the divine nature, then axe we at one with the Lord, and the veil is taken away. "Yes," saith one, " I see now how the veil is taken away in three different fashions; but still God is God, and we are but poor puny men: between God and man there must of necessity be a separating veil, caused by the great disparity between the Creator and the crea- ture. How can the finite and the infinite commune ? God is all in all, and more than all; we are nothing, and less than nothing; how can we meet ? " When the Lord does come near to his favoured ones, ih.ej own how incapable they are of enduring the excessive glory. Even the beloved John said, " When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." When we have been specially conscious of the presence and working of our Lord, we have felt our flesh creep, and our blood chill; and then have we understood what Jacob meant when he said, " How dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." AU this is true; for the Lord saith, " Thou canst not see my face and live." Although this is a much thinner veil than those I have already mentioned, yet it is a veil; and it is hard for man to be at home with God. But the Lord Jesus bridges the separating distance. Behold, the blessed Son of God has come into the world, and taken upon himself our nature ! " Foras- much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself Hkewise took part of the same." Though he is God as God THE RENT VEIL. 327 is God, yet is lie as surely man as man is man. Mark well how in the person of the Lord Jesus we see Grod and man in the closest con- ceivable alliance; for they are united in one person for ever. The gulf is completely filled by the fact that Jesus has gone through with us even to the bitter end, to death, even to the death of the cross. He has followed out the career of manhood even to the tomb; and thus we see that the veil, which hung between the nature of God and the nature of man, is rent in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We enter into the holiest of all through his flesh, which Knks manhood to Godhead. Now, you see what it • is to have the veil taken away. Solemnly note that this avails only for believers: those who refuse Jesus refuse the only way of access to God. God is not approachable, except through the rending of the veil by the death of Jesus. There was one typical way to the mercy-seat of old, and that was through the turn- ing aside of the veil; there was no other. And there is now no other way for any of you to come into fellowship with God, except through the rent veil, even the death of Jesus Christ, whom God has aet forth to be the propitiation for sin. Come this way, and you may come freely. Refuse to come this way, and there hangs between you and God an impassable veil. Without Christ you are without God, and without hope. Jesus himself assures you, *' If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." God grant that this may not happen to any of you ! For believers the veil is not rolled up, but rent. The veil was not unhooked, and carefully folded up, and put away, so that it might be put in its place at some future time. Oh, no ! but the divine hand took it and rent it from top to bottom. It can never be hung up again; that is impossible. Between those who are in Christ' Jesus and the great God, there will never be another separation. " Who. shall separate us from the love of God ? " Only one veil waa made, and as that is rent, the one and only separator is destroyed. I delight to think of this. The devil himself can never divide me from God now. He may and will attempt to shut me out from God; but the worst he could do would be to hang up a rent veil. What would that avail but to exhibit his impotence ? God has rent the veil, and the devil cannot mend it. There is access between a believer and his God; and there must be such free access for ever, since the veil is not rolled up, and put on one side to be hung up again in days to come; but it is rent, and rendered useless. The rent is not in one corner, but in the midst, as Luke tells us. It is not a slight rent through which we may see a little; but it ia rent from the top to the bottom. There is an entrance made for the greatest sinners. If there had only been a small hole cut through it, the lesser offenders might have crept through; but what an act of abounding mercy is this, that the veil is rent in the midst, and rent from top to bottom, so that the chief of sinners may find ample passage ! This also shows that for believers there is no hindrance to the fullest and freest access to God. Oh, for much boldness, this morning, to come where God has not only set open the door, but has lifted the door from its hinges; yea, removed it, post, and bar, and all ! 328 METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT. I want you to notice that this veil, when it was rent, was rent by God, not by man. It was not the act of an irreverent mob; it was not the midnight outrage of a set of profane priests: it was the act of God alone. Nobody stood within the veil; and on the outer side of it stood the priests only fulfilling their ordinary vocation of offering sacrifice. It must have astounded them when they saw that holy place laid bare in a moment. How they fled, as they saw that massive veil divided without human hand in a second of time ! Who rent it ? Who but God himself? If another had done it, there might have been a mistake about it, and the mistake might need to be remedied by replacing the curtain; but if the Lord has done it, it is done rightly, it is done finally, it is done irreversibly. It is God himself who has laid sin on Christ, and in Christ has put that sin away. God himseli has opened the gate of heaven to believers, and cast up a highway along which the souls of men may travel to himself. God himself has set the ladder between earth and heaven. Come to him now, ye humble ones. Behold, he sets before you an open door ! II. And now I ask you to follow me, dear friends, in the second place, to an experimental realization of my subject. We now notice WHAT WE HAVE: " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest." Observe the threefold "having" in the paragraph now before us, and be not content without the whole three. JFe have *^ boldness to enter m.'^ There are degrees in boldness; but this is one of the highest. When the veil was rent it required some boldness to look within. I wonder whether the priests at the altar did have the courage to gaze upon the mercy-seat. I suspect that they were so struck with amazement that they fled from the altar, fearing sudden death. It requires a measure of boldness steadily to look upon the mystery of God: " Which things the angels desire to look into." It is well not to look with a merely curious eye into the deep things of God. I question whether any man is able to pry into the mystery of the Trinity without great risk. Some, thinking to look there with the eyes of their natural intellect, have been blinded by the light of that sun, and have henceforth wandered in darkness. It needs boldness to look into the splendours of redeeming and electing love. If any did look into the holiest when the veil was rent, they were among the boldest of men; for others must have feared lest the fate of the men of Bethshemesh would be theirs. Beloved, the Holy Spirit invites you to look into the holy place, and view it all with reverent eye; for it is full of teaching to yon. Understand the mystery of the mercy- seat, and of the ark of the covenant overlaid with gold, and of the pot of manna, and of the tables of stone, and of Aaron's rod that budded. Look, look boldly through Jesus Christ: but do not content yourself with looking ! Hear what the text says: " Having boldness to enter in.'" Blessed be God if he has taught us this sweet way of no longer looking from afar, but of entering into the inmost shrine with confidence ! " Boldness to enter in " is what we ought to have. Let us follow the example of the high priest, and, having entered, lei us perform the functions of one who enters in. " Boldness to enter in " suggests that we act as men who are in their proper places. To stand within the veil filled the servant of God with an overpowering THE RENT VEIL. 329 sense of the divine presence. If ever in his life he was near to God he was certainly near to God then, when quite alone, shut in, and excluded from all the world, he had no one with him, except the glorious Jehovah. 0 my beloved, may we this morning- enter into the holiest in this sense ! Shut out from the world, both wicked and Christian, let us know that the Lord is here, most near and manifest. Oh that we may now cry out with Hagar, " Have I also here looked after him that seeth me ? " Oh, how sweet to realize by personal enjoyment the presence of Jehovah ! How cheering to feel that the Lord of hosts is with us ! We know our God to be a very present help in trouble. It is one of the greatest joys out of heaven to be able to sing - Jehovah Shammah - the Lord is here. At first we tremble in the divine presence; but as we feel more of the spirit of adoption we draw near with sacred delight, and feel so fully at home with our God that we sing with Moses, " Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." Do not live as if God were as far off from you as the east is from the west. Live not far below on the earth; but live on high, as if you were in heaven. In heaven you will be with God; but on earth he will be with you: is there much difference ? He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Jesus hath made us nigh by Jiis precious blood. Try da}' by day to live in as great nearness to God, as the high priest felt when he stood for a while within the secret of Jehovah's tabernacle. The high priest had a sense of cowinmiion with God; he was not only near, but he spake with God. I cannot tell what he said, but I should think that on the sjieeial day the high priest unburdened him- self of the load of Israel's sin and sorrow, and made known hia requests unto the Lord. Aaron, standing there alone, must have been filled with memories of his own faultiness, and of the idolatries and backslidings of the people. God shone upon him, and he bowed before God. He may have heard things which it was not lawful for him to utter, and other things which he could not have uttered if they had been lawful. Beloved, do you know what it is to commune with God ? Words are poor vehicles for this fellowship; but what a blessed thing it is ! Proofs of the existence of God are altogether superfluous to those of us who are in the habit of conversing with the Eternal One. If anybody were to write an essay to prove the existence of my wife, or m}' son, I certainly should not read it, except for the amusement of the thing; and proofs of the existence of God to the man who com- munes with God are much the same. Many of you walk with God: what bliss ! Fellowship with the Most High is elevating, purifying, strengthening. Enter into it boldly. Enter into his revealed thoughts, even as he graciously enters into yours: rise to his plans, as he con- descends to yovirs; ask to be uplifted to him, even as he deigns to dwell with you. This is what the rent of the veil brings us when we have boldness to enter in; but, mark you, the rent veil brings us nothing until we have boldness to enter in. Why stand we without ? Jesus brings us near, and truly our fellowship is with the Eather, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Let us not be slow to take up our freedom, and come boldly to the throne. The high priest entered within the veil of blue, 230 METROPOLITAIf TABERNACLE PULPIT and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with blood, and with incense, that he might pray for Israel; and there he stood before the Most iligh, pleading with him to bless the people. 0 beloved, prayer is a divine institution, and it belongs to us. But there are many sorts of prayers. There is the prayer of one who seems shut out from God's holy temple; there is the prayer of another who stands in the court of the Gentiles afar off, locking towards the Temple; there is the prayer of one who gets where Israel stands and pleads with the God of the chosen; there is the prayer in the court of the priests, when the sanctified man of God makes intercession; but the best prayer of all is offered in the holiest of all. There is no fear about prayer being heard when it is offered in the holiest. The very position of the man proves that he is accepted with God. He is standing on the surest ground of acceptance, and he is so near to God that his every desire is heard. There the man is seen through and through; for he is very near to God. His thoughts are read, his tears are seen, his sighs are heard; for he has boldness to enter in. He may ask what he will, and it shall be done unto him. As the altar sanctifieth the gift, so the most holy place, entered by the blood of Jesus, secures a certain answer to the prayer that is offered therein. God give us such power in prayer ! It is a wonderful thing that the Lord should hearken to the voice of a man; yet are there such men. Luther came out of his closet, and cried, Vici - " I have conquered." He had not yet met his adversaries; but as he had pre- vailed with God for men, he felt that he should prevail with men for God. But the high priest, if you recollect, after he had communed and prayed with God, came out and blessed the people. He put on his garments of glory and beauty, which he had laid aside when he went into the holy place, for there he stood in simple white, and nothing else; and now he came out wearing the breast-plate and all his precious ornaments, and he blessed the people. That is what you will do if you have the boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; you will bless the people that surround you. The Lord has blessed you, and he will make you a blessing. Your ordinary conduct and conversation wiU be a blessed example; the words you speak for Jesus will be like a dew from the Lord: the sick will be comforted by your words; the despondent wiU be encouraged by your faith; the lukewarm wlU. be recovered by your love. You will be, practically, saying to each one who knows you, " The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and give thee peace." You wiR become a channel of blessing: " Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water." May we each one have boldness to enter in, that we may come forth laden with benedictions ' If you will kindly look at the text, you will notice, what I shall m.erely hint at, that this boldness is well grounded. I always like to see the apostle using a " therefore ": " Having therefore boldness." Paul is often a true poet, but he is always a correct logician; he is as logical as if he were dealing with mathematics rather than theology. Here he writes one of his therefores. Why is it that we have boldness? Is it not because of our THE RENT VEIL. 331 relationship to Christ which makes us " brethren " ? ** Having there- fore, brethren, boldness." The feeblest believer has as much right to enter into the holy place as Paul had; because he is one of the brother- hood. I remember a rhyme by John Eyland, in which he says of heaven - *• They all shall be there, the great and the small; Poor I shall shake hands with the blessed St. Paul.'* I have no doubt we shall have such a position, and such fellowship. Meanwhile, we do shake hands with him this morning as he calls us brethren. We are brethren to one another, because we are brethren to Jesus. Where we see the apostle go, we will go; yea, rather, where we see the Great Apostle and High Priest of our profession enter, we will follow. " Having, therefore, boldness." Beloved, we have now no fear of death in the most holy place. The high priest, whoever he might be, must always have di-eaded that solemn day of atonement, when he had to pass into the silent and secluded place. I cannot tell whether it is true, but I have read that there is a tradition among the Jews, that a rope was fastened to the high priest's foot that they might draw out his corpse in case he died before the Lord. I should not wonder if their superstition devised such a thing, for it is an awful position for a man to enter into the secret dwelling of Jehovah. But we cannot die in the holy place now, since Jesus has died for us. The death of Jesus is the guarantee of the eternal life of all for whom he died. We have boldness to enter, for we shall not perish. Our boldness arises from the perfection of his sacrifice. Read the fourteenth verse: " He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." We rely upon the sacrifice of Christ, believing that he was such a perfect substitute for us, that it is not possible for us to die after our substitute has died; and we must be accepted, because he is accepted. We believe that the precious blood has so effectually and eternally put away sin from us, that we are no longer obnoxious to the wrath of God. We may safely stand where sin must be smitten, if there be any sin upon us; for we are so washed, so cleansed, and so fully justified that we are accepted in the Beloved. Sin is so completely lifted from us by the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, that we have bold- ness to enter where Jehovah himself dwells. Moreover, we have this for certain, that as a priest had a right to dwell near to God, we have that privilege; for Jesus hath made U8 kings and priests unto God, and all the privileges of the office come to us with the office itself. AVe have a mission "within the holy place; we are called to enter there upon holy business, and so we have no fear of being intruders. A burglar may enter a house, but he does not enter with boldness; he is always afraid lest he should be sui-prised. You might enter a stranger's house, without an invitation, but you would feel no boldness there. We do not enter the holiest as house- breakers, nor as strangers; we come in obedience to a call, to fulfil our ofiice. When once we accept the sacrifice of Christ, we are at home with God. Where should a child be bold buc in his father's house? Where stiould a priest stand but in the temple of his God, for whose 332 METROPOLITAN TABERXACLE PULPIT. service lie is set apart ? "WTiere should a blood- washed sinnei lire hut with his God, to whom he is reconciled ? It is a heavenly joy to feel this boldness ! We have now such a love for God, and such a delight in him, that it never crosses our minds that we are trespassers when we di-aw near to him. "VVe never say, " God, my dread," but " God, my exceeding joy." His name is the music to which our lives are set: though God be a consuming fire we love him as such, for he will onl}' consume our dross, and that we desire to lose. Under no aspect is God now distasteful to us. We delight in him, be he what he may. So you see, beloved, we have good grounds for boldness when we enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. I cannot leave this point until I have reminded you that tve may have this boldness of entering in at all times, because the veil is always rent, and is never restored to its old place. " The Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not; " but the Lord saith not so to us. Dear child of God, you may at all times have " boldness to enter in." The veil is rent both day and night. Yea, let me say it, even when thine eye of faith is dim, still enter in; when evidences are dark, Btill have " boldness to enter in "; and even if thou hast unhappily sinned, remember that access is open to thy penitent prayer. Come still through the rent veil, sinner as thou art. What though thou hast backslidden, what though thou art grieved with the sense of thy wanderings, come even now! "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts," but enter at once; for the veil is not there to exclude thee, though doubt and unbelief may make you think it is so. The veil cannot be there, for it was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. III. My time has fled, and I shall not have space to speak as I meant to do upon the last point - how we exercise this grace. Let me give you the notes of what I would have said. Let us at this hour enter into the holiest. Buhold the way ! We come hi/ the icay of atonement: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." I have been made to feel really ill through the fierce and blasphemous words that have been used of late by gentlemen of the modern school concerning the precious blood. I will not defile my lips by a repetition of the thrice-accursed things which they have dared to utter while trampling on the blood of Jesus. Everywhere throughout this divine Book you meet with the precious blood. How can he call himself a Christian who speaks in flippant and profane language of the blood of atonement ? My brothers, there is no way into the hoKest, even though the veil be rent, without blood. You might suppose that the high priest of old brought the blood because the veil was there; but you have to bring it with you though the veil is gone. The way is open, and you have boldutss to enter; but not without the blood of Jesus. It would be an unholy boldness which would think of di-awing near to God without the blood of the great Sacrifice. We have always to plead the atonement. As without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, so without that blood there is no access to God. THE RENT VEIL. 333 Next, the way by which we come is an unfailing way. Please notice that word - " by a neiv way "; this means by a way which is always fresh. The original Greek suggests the idea of " newly slain." Jesus died long ago, but his death is the same now as at the moment of its Oficurrence. We come to God, dear friends, by a way which is always f'ifectual with God. It never, never loses one whit of its power and f rashness. " Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood Shall never lose its power." The waj' is not worn away by long traffic: it is always new. If Jesus Christ had died yesterday, would you not feel that you could plead his merit to-day ? Very well, you can plead that merit after these nineteen centuries with as much confidence as at the first hour. The way to God is always newly laid. In effect, the wounds of Jesus incessantly bleed our expiation. The cross is as glorious as though he were still upon it. So far as the fi-eshness, vigour, and force of the atoning death is concerned, we come by a new way. Let it be always new to our hearts. Let the doctrine of atonement never grow stale, but let it have dew upon it for our souls. Then the apostle adds, it is a ^^ living way.''^ A wonderful word! The way by which the high j)riest went into the holy place was of course a material way, and so a dead way. We come by a spiritual way, suitable to our spirits. The way could not help the high priest, but our way helps us abundantly. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.^'' When we come to God by this way, the way itself leads, guides, bears, brings us near. This way gives us life with which to come It is a dedicated way: " which he hath consecrated for us." When a new road is opened, it is set apart and dedicated for the public use. Sometimes a public building is opened by a king or a prince, and so is dedicated to its pm-pose. Beloved, the way to God through Jesus Christ is dedicated by Christ, and ordained by Christ for the use of poor believing sinners, such as we are. He has consecrated the way towards God, and dedicated it for us, that we may freely use it. Surely, if there is a road set apart for me, I may use it without fear; and the way to God and heaven through Jesus Christ is dedicated by the Saviour for sinners; it is the King's highway for wayfaring men, who are bound for the City of God; therefore, let us use it. " Consecrated for us " ! Blessed word ! Lastly, it is a Christly way; for when we come to God, we still come through his flesh. There is no coming to Jehovah, except by the incarnate God. God in human flesh is our way to God; the substi- tutionary death of the Word made flesh is also the way to the Father, There is no coming to God, except by representation. Jesus represents us before God, and we come to God through him who is our covenant head, our representative and forerunner before the throne of the Most High. Let us never try to pray without Christ; never try to sing without Christ; never try to preach without Christ. Let us perform no holy function, nor attempt to have fellowship with God in any shape or way, except through that rent which he has made in the veil by his flesh, sanctified for us, and offered upon ti^e cross on our behalf. 834 METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT. Beloved, I have done when I have just remarked upon the next two verses, which are necessary to complete the sense, but which I was obliged to omit this morning, since there would be no time to handle them. We are called to take holy freedoms with Grod. " Let us draw near," at once, " with a true heart in full assurance of faith.'* Let us do so boldly, for we have a great high priest. The twenty- first verse reminds us of this. Jesus is the great Priest, and we are the sub-priests under him, and since he bids us come near to God, and himself leads the way, let us foUow him into the inner sanctuary. Because he lives, we shall live also. We shall not die in the holy place, unless he dies. God will not smite us unless he smites him. So, "having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in f uU assurance of faith." And then the apostle teUs us that we may not only come with boldness, because our high priest leads the way, but because we our- selves are prepared for entrance. Two things the high priest had to do before he might enter: one was, to be sprinkled with blood, and this we have; for " our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience." The other requisite for the priests was to have their " bodies washed with pure water." This we have received in symbol in our baptism, and in reality in the spiritual cleansing of regeneration. To us has been fulfilled the prayer - " Let the water and the blood From thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Cleanse me from its guilt and power." We have known the washing of water by the Word, and we have been sanctified by the Spirit of his grace; therefore let us enter into the holiest. Why should we stay away ? Hearts sprinkled with blood, bodies washed with pure water - these are the ordained preparations for acceptable entrance. Come near, beloved ! May the Holy Spirit be the spirit of access to you now. Come to your God, and then abide with him ! He is your Father, your all in all. Sit down and rejoice in him; take your fill of love; and let not your communion be broken between here and heaven. Why should it be ? Why not begin to-day that sweet enjoyment of perfect reconciliation and delight in God which shall go on increasing in intensity until you behold the Lord in open vision, and go no more out ? Heaven will bring a great change in condition, but not in our standing, if even now we stand within the veil. It will be only such a change as there is between the perfect day and the daybreak; for we have the same sun, and the same light from the sun, and the same privilege of walking in the light. " Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the moun- tains of Division." Amen, and Amen. Portion of Scripture read before Sermon - Hebrews z. Hymns from " Our Own Hymn Book " - 318, 296, 895, THE CONSECRATION OF PRIESTS, Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, November 15th, 1874, B¥ C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. " This is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister nnto me in the priest's office." - Exodus xxix. 1. Under the law, only one family could serve God in the priest's office, but under the gospel all the saints are " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood " (I. Peter ii. 9). In the Christian church no persons whatsoever are set apart to the priesthood above the rest of their brethren, for in us is fulfilled the promise which Israel by reason of her sin failed to obtain - " Ye shall be a kingdom of priests unto me." Paul, in addressing all the saints, bids them present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service. It is the grand design of all the works of divine grace, both for us and in us, to fit us for the office of the spiritual priesthood, and it will be the crown of our perfection when with all our brethren we shall sing unto the Lord Jesus the new song, " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." This honour have all the saints: according to Peter, in the second chapter of his First Epistle, it belongs even to new- born babes in grace, for even such are spoken of as forming part of an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Nor is this confined to men as was the Aaronic priesthood, for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female. My subject to-day is the consecration of priests, but it does not refer exclusively or even specially to persons called clergy- men, or ministers, but to all of you who believe in Jesus, for ye are God's clergy, his cleros, that is, his inheritance, and ye should be all ministers, ministering according to the grace given to you. The family of Aaron was chosen unto the priesthood, " for no man taketh this honour upon himself, but he that was called thereunto as was Aaron," and even thus all the Lord's people are chosen from before the foundation of the world. Being chosen, Aaron and his sons Nos. 1,203-4. 336 METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULl'IT. were at God's command hroiu/ht nigh unto the door of the tabernacle. None ever come to God except they are brought to him; even the spouse sings, "he brought me into the banquetting house." Jesus said, " No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him." We are made nigh by the blood of Jesus and brought nigh by the drawings of the Holy Ghost. Assuming that you and 1 have made our calling and election sure, let us further see what is needed to qualify us to serve as priests at the altar of the living God. Follow me carefully as I mention the ceremonies prescribed in the chapter before us, for they teach us necessary things: the outward ceremonies are abolished, but their inner meaning remains. I. First, THE PRIESTS WERE WASHED. We read in the fourth verse, *' Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water." The pure and holy God cannot be served by men of unclean hands and impure hearts; he would not endure it under the law, nor will he tolerate it under the gospel. " Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord," and, " Be ye holy for I am holy," are standing precepts of our priesthood. It was well said by the psalmist, " I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, 0 Lord." This washing is afforded us in two ways, answering to our double need. First, it is given to us in regenerotion, wherein we are born of water and of the Spirit. By the power of the Holy Ghost we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus, and in us is fulfilled the type set forth in Naaman, who washed in Jordan, and his flesh came again unto him, even as a little child. Not in the waters of baptism, but in the living water of the Holy Spirit are we cleansed from nature's original defile- ment; he it is who causes old things to pass away, and makes all things new. Through his sanctifying operations we are cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and made vessels fit for the Master's use. This washiug is in every case essential. You may say, "I desire to serve God," but you cannot do it till first you are born again. Your whole nature must be cleansed, or you will never be qualified to stand as a priest before the thrice holy God. T marvel how some who know nothing about regeneration can dare to call themselves priests. They are strangers to the renewing influences of the Spirit, and yet they style themselves God's ministers. Has God set blind men to be guides, and dead men to quicken souls ? Unto such as these God saith, " What hast thou to do to declare my statutes ? " The need of another form of washing was indicated by the double stream which flowed from the pierced breast of Christ, for " forthwith came there out blood and water." We must be washed by remission of siti, of which David sang, " Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." In the first moment of our faith in Jesus there is given to us a washing which makes us clean every whit in the sight of God, once for all. It is that washing to which the Lord Jesus referred when he said, " He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, for he is clean." The priests were washed once from head to foot, to make them ceremonially clean, and after that they needed only to wash their feet when they came into the THE CONSECRATION OF PRIESTS. 837 holy place; and even thus our Ijord told his disciples when he washed theii' feet that they had no need of another complete bathing, for they were clean every whit. Believers should not pray to their heavenly "Father as if their sins still rested upon them and had never been for- given, for the Lord has put away their sin, and as far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed their transgressions from them: yet as they continually accumulate some evil and stain by being in this body, and in this world, they have need to come each day with, *' For- give us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." Our first washing has removed all sin as before God the Judge; our daily washing cleanses us from offences towards God as our Father. Even when we walk in the light as God is in the light, and have fellowship one with another, we yet need daily cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, and blessed be God we have it. Now, my dear hearers, have you thus been cleansed from all sin ? Do ye know to-day the power of that word, " Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" ? Have you the blessed- ness of that man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile ? Do not try to stand as a priest before God till you have received this double washing. Remember the great aim of the gospel is to make us priests unto God, but the consecrating process must begin by our being cleansed as sinners from the guilt of sin and the defilement of our nature. He who would serve the Lord must first confess his iniquities and obtain remission, or he can no more approach the living God than a leper could enter into the holy place. II. After being washed the priests were clothed. They might not wear one of the garments which belonged to themselves or to their former calling. Under garments were provided for them, and outer garments too, within and without their raiment was new and appropriate. They put on what was given them, nothing more and nothing less. No man can serve God acceptably in his own righteousness, it is but filthy rags. We must have the fine linen of an inward sanctification, and the outer garment, for glory and for beauty, of the imputed righteousness of our I^ord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We must, in a word, sing with the hymn, •* Jesus, thy blood and righteousness. My beauty are, my glorious dress." We cannot stand to worship God unless it be so; he will drive us from his presence. Note, that these garments were provided for them. They were at no expense in buying them, nor labour in weaving them, nor skill in making them; they had simply to put them on. And you, dear child of God, are to put on the garments which Jesus Christ has provided for you, at his own cost, and Ireely bestows upon you out of boundless love. Thes* garments formed a complete apparel. They had no shoes upon their feet, it is true, but they would have been superfluous, for the place whereon they stood was holy ground. They were sandalled with rever- ence. The child of God when he is bedecked in the righteousness of Christ still feels a solemn awe of the Lord, and comes into the presence Y i838 ^ry.'iKoi'OMTAN tabernacle i'ULI'IT. of the Most High with lowliest adoration, for he remembers that he is but a creature at his best. These garments ivere very comely to look upon. Though the common priests did not wear the breastplate of jewels, nor the bells and pome- granates, nor the girdle of blue and fine twined linen, yet, in their ordi- nary dress of pure white, they must have been very comely to look upon. Fine white linen is the emblem of the righteousness of the saints, and , truly in God's eye, with the exception of his dear Son, there are no / lovelier objects in the world than his own people when they are di-essed in the garments of salvation. The dress provided tvas ahsohitely necessary to he ivorn. No priest might offer sacrifice without the appointed garments, for we read itt the forty-third verse of the twenty-eighth chapter, " They shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the taber- nacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die."" They would have died had they attempted to sacrifice without being- clothed according to the law. A man pretending to serve God without the divine righteousness upon him, puts himself in a most perilous position; he is where the flaming wrath of God burns terribly. Better for him to keep his own place in the distance, than to draw near unto the service of God, unless he is adorned with the glorious array which Christ has woven in the loom of his life and dyed in his own blood. Dear brethren, if you desire to worship God aright in holy lal)Our, or prayer, or praise, you must go to your engagements dressed in the righteousness of Jesus, for you can only be " accepted in the Beloved. "^ III. Then, thirdly, these priests were anointed. It does not appear that they were each one personally anointed so early in the ceremony, but they saw the fragrant oil poured upon Aaron on their behalf. So you find it written in the seventh verse, " Then shalt thou , take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him." So that in order to serve God aright, it is needful for us to see the anointing which has been given to our covenant Head, without measure. But you say to me, " Of what benefit can that be to us ? We require the unction of the Holy Spirit upon ourselves." True, but the oil which was poured upon Aaron's head went down his beard, and ita copious flow descended even to the skirts of his garments; and what you need to know if you are to be a true priest to God is, that the Holy Spirit comes to you through Christ and from Christ, and that it is be- cause your Head is anointed, that you have an unction from the Holy "* One. You could not have been Christians if he had not first been the Christ. Be of good cheer concerning this, for though you may be one of the lowest members of the mystical body of Jesus Christ, you have ' an anointing from the Holy One, because Jesus has that anointing, and in the power of that anointing you may minister before the Lord. Further on in the discourse we shall have to show you the personal anointing which you must individually receive, but it is highly impor- tant for every worker to see where his fragrance before God must lie, - never in himself, but always in his covenant Head. Be ye filled with the Spirit, but do not dream that the Spirit of God comes to you apart ( from your Lord. You are the branch, and the sap can only come to you THE CONSECRATION OF PRIESTS. £39 through the stem. You are the member, and your life dwells in your head; divided from Jesus you are dead. Never forget this, for any attempt at independence will be fatal. A man in Christ is fragrant with a holy peri'ume before the Lord, but out of Christ he is an unclean thing, and cannot approach the altar. IV. Fourthly, having been washed, clothed, and representatively anointed, they had next to share in the sin offering. They were sinful men, how could they approach a thrice holy God ? You and 1 are sinful, as we know by bitter experience; how can we hope to stand before the mercy-seat, and present acceptable sacrifices unto such an one as God is ? There is no way of approaching him while our sin is seen, it must be covered, covered by a sin-offering. We are told that the sin-offering selected was a bullock without blemish, of the first year, strong, and vigorous, a perfect being as far as it could be. Lift your eyes to Jesus, in whom is no spot of sin, being undefiled in nature and immaculate in life. He it is who stands for you, even he who knew no sin, and yet was made sin for you that you might be made the righteousness of God in him. He, in the fulness of his strength, and in the perfection of his manhood, gave himself a ransom and a substitute for you. View him with wondering gratitude. The l)ullock of the sin-offering being brought to the altar, Aarou and his sons were to lay their hands upon it. Read the tenth verse: - They " shall put their hands upon the head of the bullof-k." The Hebrew word means more than lightly placing the hand, it gives the idea of pressing hard upon the bullock's head. They came each one and leaned upon the victim, loading him with their burden, signify- ing their acceptance of its substitution, their joy that the Lord would accept that victim in their stead. When they put their hands on the bullock, they made a confession of sin, and the Rabbis have preserved for us the form in which that confession was made, but time forbids our reading it to you. The act was evidently understood by all con- cerned as a typical transfer of guilt, and the placing of the bullock of the sin offering in the place of the sinner. Come, brethren and sisters, though washed, though clothed, though anointed, come as penitents, and rejoice in the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus. Draw nigh unto the liord with sincere hearts and acknowledge your transgressions, and again accept your Saviour as your sin-bearer; for a sin-bearer who is not accepted by you can be of no service to you. The hands of faith must be laid upon the sacrifice: for my part, I like to lay them there every day, nay, I desire to keep them there always^ believing without ceasing that ray sin is imputed no more to me, but by a sacred act of God was laid upon Jesus, according to that sentence, " He hath, laid on him the iniquity of us all." The bullock was killed as a token that just as the poor beast was slain so they deserved to die for their sins, and that done, the blood was caught in bowls and taken to the altar, and there it was poured out, at the bottom of the altar, round al>out. Read the 1 7th verse. There must have been a pool of blood all round the altar, or at any rate a crimsoned line. What did it signify ? Did it not show that our only access to God is by the blood ? They were washed and robed and anointed, and yet they could not reach the altar till tlie way to it had 340 HETHOPOLITANT TABERNACLE PULPIT. been pav^ed with atoning blood. Oh, my brother, there is no way for thee to God as his priest except through the precious blood. "We cannot draw near to God, or serve him aright, if we forget the blood of atonement. Our standing is upon and within the blood of sprinkling; we must bring our prayers, praises, preachings, almsgivings, and all other offerings, to the altar, around which the blood is poured. In vain are all good works which are not so presented. See ye well to this, my brethren. It is essential beyond all else. This done, the choicer and more vital parts of the bullock were taken, and burned upon the altar, to show that even when our Lord Jesus is viewed as a sin ottering, he is still a sweet savour unto God, and however he might hide his face from his Son because of our sin, yet he was always in himself well pleasing unto the Father. Hence the inwards of the bullock were burned on the altar, where nothing could be presented but that which was a sweet savour to God. 0 thou Lamb ol God, under whatever aspect we behold thee, thou art still precious to thy Father ! Thou wert beloved by him even when thou hadst to cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ! " But because the bullock was a sin-ottering, and therefore obnoxious to God, its flesh, and its skin, and all that remained were carried out- side the camp, and burned with a quick, consuming fire, as a thing ivorthy to be destroyed, for sin was upon it, and it must be burned up. Believer, have you seen Jesus as the great oflFering for sin, made a curse for us ? You will never serve God in the priestly office aright unless you see that sin is a hateful thing to God, so hateful that, even when it only lay upon his dear Son by imputation, he could not look upon him, but bruised and smote him until he cried in anguish, " Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani." "Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the camp," to show that not witliout his being treated as a transgressor could we be treated as righteous, and also that sin is in itself a deadly pest, which must not be endured in the camp of the chosen. Never let your joy concerning the atonement lessen your horror of transgression: - " With your joy for pardoned guilt, Mourn that you pierced the Lord." I am persuaded that no one will ever serve the Lord humbly and devotedly unless he obtains a clear view of the Lord Jesus as his sin- oflfering, and substitute. Some preachers either do not know that truth, or else they think too little ot it to make it prominent in their sermons, hence their ministry does not save souls. The great saving truth is the doctrine of atonement by substitution. Without it ministers will keep souls in bondage year after year, because they do not proclaim the finished redemption, nor let men know that sin was laid on Jesus that it might be for ever removed from the believer. **H6 was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; " brethren, get that truth clearly into your heads, and intensely into your hearts, and you will become devoted to the Lord. Do not only believe that grand truth, but in the spirit of it serve ye the Lord without weariness, seeing ye have been redeemed with a price far more precious than silver and gold THE CONSECRATION OF PRIESTS. 341 V. After the sin-offering the consecrated ones went on to take THEIR SHARE IN THE BURNT-OFFERING. The burnt-offerlng differed widely from the sin-offering. The sin-offering indicated Christ as bearing our sin, but the burnt-offering sets him forth as presenting an acceptable offering unto the Lord. God required of us perfect obedience, he demanded from us a pure and holy life, and the require- ment was a just one: but among us all there is none righteous, no, not one; how then could we stand before the thrice Holy Lord ? Beloved, Jesus stands in the gap. Before God his righteousness was i perfect, acceptable, and delightful, and for us it is presented. He is '^ made of God unto us righteousness. The burnt-offering does not bring to light the remembrance of sin except so far as it reminds ns that we were in need of a perfect righteousness; it brings before us only the thought of Jesus offering himself as a sweet savour unto God, and making us accepted in the Beloved. The priests were to bring a ram without blemish, and when killed, before it was laid on the altar, its inwards were to be washed, for otherwise the natural foulness of its \ body would prevent its being a fit type of that Saviour who is pure within, in whom there is no taint of original sin. When this ram was I brought the priests were to lay their hands upon it, as much as to say, "We accept this ram, that it may represent us as acceptable before God." Oh, beloved, lay your hands on Jesus now by faith, and f say, "Jesus, I accept thee as my righteousness before the Lord, and j believe that as God sees in thee all that is delightful, and smells a sweet savour of rest, so he will be well pleased with me for thy sake." This offering when placed upon the altar was wholly burnt; not a. fragment of it was put outside the camp, not a morsel of it was eaten by man, but the whole ram was utterly consumed with fire, for it was a burnt-offering unto the Lord. And thus, dear friends, it is very delight- ful to us to see that God received Jesus, the whole of Jesus; there was nothing in him to reject, and nothing that could be done without. He satisfied the Lord; he asked no more, he would have no less. Jesus has rendered to the Father all that he could desire from men, and the Lord is Well pleased for his righteousness' sake. A sense of accept- ance is a very necessary thing to those who would worship God aright, for if you do not enjoy it the legal spirit will begin to work to win acceptance by merit, and that will spoil all. If men dream that they are to pray or preach their way to heaven, or to do this, and to do that, to be acceptable with God, they will offer strange fire on the Lord's altar and bring sacrifices with which he can never be pleased. Vain oblations he will call them, and frown on the offerers. How delightful it is to serve God with a sense that we are pleasant in the sight of God; for this fills us with gratitude, inspires us with zeal, creates boldness, and fosters every grace. With what joy will you stand to minister daily whatever your calling may be, whether it be as a mother in the family, a servant in the house, a minister in the pulpit, or a teacher in the class. You will not need driving like a slave to his toil, but like a dearly beloved child you will rejoice to please your Father in all things. Work in the prison-house of the law under the lash of conscience is a very different thing from holy work in the sunlight of the Lord's countenance and the liherty 342 METROPOLITAN TABRKNACLE PULl'IT. Df full acceptance. He who knows that he is not now to be judged and condemned by the law, but stands for ever justified because of

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