C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.”-2 Kings 3:16-18.

Many useful lessons might be gathered from this narrative if we had but time. Upon the very surface we are led to observe the weakness of man when at his utmost strength. Three kings, with three armies well-skilled in war, were gathered to subdue Moab, and lo, the whole of the leaguered hosts were brought to a dead-lock and a standstill by the simple circumstance that there was a want of water. How easily can God nonplus and checkmate all the wisdom and the strength of mankind! In circumstances of need how utterly without strength men become! A sere leaf in the hurricane is not more helpless than an army when it finds itself in a wilderness and there are no springs of water. Now they may call their soothsayers, but these cannot deliver them. The allied sovereigns may sit in solemn conclave, but they cannot command the clouds. In vain your shields, O ye mighty! In vain your banners, ye valiant hosts! The armies must perish, perish painfully, perish without exception, and all for want of so simple but so necessary a thing as water. Man would fain play the god, and yet a little water will lay him low.

We may also learn here how easily men in times of difficulty which they have brought upon themselves, will lay their distress upon providence rather than honestly see it to be the result of their own foolish actions. Hear the king of Israel cast the blame upon Jehovah: “For the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” Providence is a most convenient horse to bear the saddles of our folly. As I said in the reading, if we prosper and succeed, we proudly sacrifice to our own wisdom; but if shame and loss follow our folly, then we complain of an unpropitious providence. Alas! for man, that he will even rail against his God, rather than acknowledge himself to be in error. Yet we see, on the other hand, that the truly spiritual are by their misfortunes and their necessities driven nearer to God. I do not find Jehoshaphat himself enquiring for a prophet of God until there was no water, and then he said, “Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him?” When tribulation drives us to the Lord, it is an unspeakable blessing, and makes affliction prove to us one of our greatest mercies. It is a good wave that washes the mariner on to the rock: it is a blessed trouble which wafts the Christian nearer to his God. If thou art led to set loose by the world through thy losses and thy crosses, be thankful for them; for, if thou hast lost silver, thou hast gained that which is better than gold. If, like the dove to the cleft of the rock, thy soul flies to God, driven homeward by stress of weather, then be thankful for tempest, for it is safer and better for thee than the calm. But we have no time to dwell on these topics. I rather call your attention to the three kings standing at the door of Elisha’s tent. They had paid him no deference before; he had not been made chaplain to the forces, but he had followed the camp as a volunteer, and lived in obscurity. The poor wise man is precious in the hour of peril. God knows how to bring his servants to honour; and he who poured water on the hands of the Lord’s servant, Elijah, has three kings waiting at his door. Observe that he addressed the king of Israel very sharply indeed, for sinners can claim but little respect from the servants of God, any more than rebels can expect to be treated with profound courtesy by loyal soldiers. The prophet evidently was much disturbed in his mind by the sight of the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Elijah never spoke better than when his fiery soul was thoroughly excited; but Elisha was a man of a milder mood and a gentler spirit, and therefore feeling that his blood was hot and his soul stirred, he did not venture to prophesy. He felt within himself, “I am not in the right mood. If I were to speak, I might utter my own words rather than the words of my Master. I feel so angry at the very sight of that wicked Jehoram, that I might perhaps say what I should be sorry for in after days.” Therefore Elisha makes a pause. “Bring me a minstrel,” saith he; and there was doubtless in the camp some holy songster, some Asaph, some Heman, some sweet psalmist of Israel; and when he laid his fingers among the harp-strings, and began to sing one of David’s wondrous strains, the prophet grew more calm and composed. “Sing us one of the songs of Zion,” was doubtless his request to the minstrel; and, when the soft sweet strain had soothed the tumult of his storm-tossed passions, the prophet rose to declare the will of Jehovah. His words were short, but full of force: “Make this valley full of ditches, for thus saith the Lord, that valley shall be filled with water.” He would not speak until he felt the divine flame: in the same spirit as those disciples who tarried at Jerusalem until they had received power from on high, he waited until his mind was in a fit state to receive the Holy Spirit, and be the vehicle of the divine mind to those who were round about him. It is well for us, if we have to preach or pray, always to ask the Spirit to help our infirmity, and tune our hearts to the right key, for though our God can use us in any frame of mind, yet we must all be aware that there are certain states in which we become more adapted to be the vehicle of blessing to our fellow men.

The whole of this story may be made useful to ourselves, and therefore we shall notice, first, our position as set forth by the condition of these kings; secondly, our duty as told to us by the prophet; thirdly, the Lord’s modes of operation as here described; and then, fourthly, our further desire for something yet greater than the supply of our merely pressing necessities.

The armies of these kings were in a position of abject dependence: they were dying of thirst; they could not supply their need; they must have from God the help required, or they must perish. My brethren, this is just the position of every Christian church. Every truly Christian church not only is dependent upon God, but feels it, and there is a grave difference between the two; for some churches whose creed is orthodox upon this point, nevertheless act as if they could do as well without the Holy Spirit as with him. I trust we may never be brought into such a condition. Remember, my brethren, unless our religion be altogether hypocrisy and a he, we have the Holy Spirit. It is not we may have him and be thankful, but we must have the Holy Spirit’s power and presence, and the assistance of the Most High, otherwise our religion will become a mockery before God, and a misery to ourselves. We must have the aid of the Holy Spirit, for ours is not a mechanical religion. If our worship consisted in the reading of forms “appointed by authority,” we could do exceedingly well without the assistance of the Spirit of God. If we believed in the manipulations of priestcraft, and thought that after certain words, and genuflections, and ceremonials, all was done, it would matter little to us whether we had the conscious presence of God or no. If we could regenerate by water, applied by hands saturated with the oil of apostolical succession, we should have no particular need to pray for the benediction of the Holy Ghost; and if the utterance of certain words, it may be by profane lips, could turn bread and wine-oh, horrible dogma!-into the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we could wondrously well afford to dispense with the Spirit of God. But we cannot thus deceive ourselves. Ours is not a religion of mechanics and hydrostatics: it is spiritual, and must be sustained by spiritual means. If our religion were, on the other hand, one of mere intellectualism, we should only need a well-trained minister, who had passed through all the grades of human learning, who had stored himself with the best biblical criticism, and was able to instruct and illuminate our understandings, and we, if we be men of judgment ourselves, could profit exceedingly well. Our faith standing in the wisdom of man, the wisdom of man could easily be found, and our faith could be confirmed. But if, my brethren, our faith standeth not in the wisdom of man nor in the eloquence of human lips, but in the power of God, then in vain do we make a profession, unless the Holy Ghost dwelleth in our inner man.

So dependent is the Christian church upon the Holy Ghost, that there never was an acceptable sigh heaved by a penitent apart from him; never did holy song mount to heaven except he gave it wings; never was there true prayer or faithful ministry except through the power and might of the Holy Ghost. Sinners are never saved apart from the Spirit of God. No moral suasion, no force of example, no potence of logic, no might of rhetoric, ever changed the heart. The living Spirit alone can put life into dead souls. And when those souls are quickened, we are still as dependent as ever upon the Spirit of God. To educate a soul for heaven is as much a divine task as to emancipate a soul from sin. To comfort a desponding Christian, to strengthen his weak hands and confirm his feeble knees, to brighten the eyes of his hope and to give him nerve to hold the shield of his faith-all these are the work of the Spirit of the living God. O Christian, with all the power thou hast received, thou hast not strength enough to live for another second, except as the Spirit of God quicken thee. All thy past experience, all that thou hast learned and acquired, must go for nothing, except, daily and perpetually, moment by moment, the Spirit of God shall dwell in thee, and work in thee mightily, to keep thee still a pilgrim to the gate of heaven. Thus, as each individual is dependent, the whole church is dependent in a ten-thousandfold measure. Without the Spirit of God, we are like to a ship stranded on the beach; when the tide has receded, there is no moving her until the flood shall once again lift her from the sands. We are like that frozen ship, of which we read the other day, frostbound in the far-off Arctic Sea: until the Spirit of God shall thaw the chilly coldness of our natural estate, and bid the lifefloods of our heart flow forth, there we must lie, cold, cheerless, lifeless, powerless. The Christian, like the mariner, depends upon the breath of heaven, or his barque is without motion. We are like the plants of the field, and this genial season suggests the metaphor: all the winter through vegetation sleeps wrapped up in her frost garments, but when the mysterious influence of spring is felt, she unbinds her cloak to put on her vest of many colours, while every bud begins to swell and each flower to open. And so a church lies asleep in a long and dreary winter until God the Holy Ghost looseth the bands of lethargy, and hearts bud and blossom, and the time of the singing of birds is come. This doctrine has been preached hundreds of times, and we all know it, but for all that, we all forget it; and especially when we are in earnest about our work, and perceive our personal responsibility, there is no truth that needs to be insisted upon more thoroughly than this, “Without me, ye can do nothing.” Until we are utterly empty of self, we are not ready to be filled by God; until we are conscious of our own weakness, we are not fit platforms for the display of the divine omnipotence. Until the arm of flesh is paralysed, and death is written upon the whole natural man, we are not ready to be endowed with the divine life and energy.

We now proceed to note our duty as the prophet tells it to us.

The prophet did not tell the kings that they were to procure the water-that, as we have already said, was out of their power-but he did say, “Make this valley full of ditches,” that when the water came there might be reservoirs to contain it. They that pass “through the valley of Baca make it a well”-that is their business; “the rain also filleth the pools”-that is God’s business. If we expect to obtain the Holy Spirit’s blessing, we must prepare for his reception. “Make this valley full of trenches” is an order which is given me this morning for the members of this church; make ready for the Holy Ghost’s power; be prepared to receive that which he is about to give; each man in his place and each woman in her sphere, make the whole of this church full of trenches for the reception of the divine waterfloods. Before the Nile begins to rise, you see the Egyptians on either side of the banks making ready first the deep channel, and then the large reservoir, and afterwards the small canals, and then the minor pools, for unless these are ready the rising of the Nile will be of little value for the irrigation of the crops in future months; but when the Nile rises, then the water is received and made use of to fertilise the fields; and so, when the treasury of the Spirit is open by his powerful operations, each one of us should have his trench ready to receive the blessed flood which is not always at its height. Have you never noticed the traders by the river’s side? If they expect a barge of coals, or a vessel laden with other freight, the wharf is cleared to receive it. Have you not noticed the farmer just before the harvest-time-how the barn is emptied, or the rick yard is made ready for the stacks? Men will, when they expect a thing, prepare for the reception of it; and, if they expect more than usual, they say, “I will pull down my barns and build greater, that I may have where to bestow my goods.” The text says to us, “Prepare for the Spirit of God.” Do not pray for it, and then fold your arms and say, “Well, perhaps he will work;” we ought to act as though we were certain he would work mightily-we must prepare in faith. Have you never read that text, “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes”? What for? “For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left.” You are to enlarge your tent first, and then God will send those that will fill it. But the most of people say, “Well, you know, of course, if God sends a blessing, we must then enlarge.” Yes, that is the way of unbelief, and the road to the curse. But the way of faith and the road to the blessing is this: God has promised it-we will get ready for it; God is engaged to bless, now let us be prepared to receive the boon. Act not on the mere strength of what you have, but in expectation of that which you have asked. Act for God on the faith of what he will give, rather than on the faith of what you have as yet obtained. Count God’s notes of hand as cash. Believe that, with God, a promise is as good as the fulfilment, and act when you have the promise as you would have acted if you had already seen the promise fulfilled.

Prepare for a blessing: prepare largely. “Make this valley full of ditches,” not make one trench, but as many as possible. For God, when he worketh, worketh like a God. As a king gives not stintedly, like a beggar, so God, in his gifts, is not restrained. Giving will not impoverish him, and withholding will not enrich him. Expect great things from a great God. “Make this valley full of ditches.” Have a holy covetousness of the divine blessing. Never be satisfied with what God is doing in the conversion of souls; be grateful, but hunger after more. If he give ten souls, ask for a hundred; if he give a hundred, ask for a thousand; if a thousand, ask for ten thousand. Insatiable as the grave ought the Christian’s heart to be with regard to the glory of God. Here we may swallow the horse-leech indeed, and say, “Give, give, give,” with greater vehemence every day, and yet shall not God chide us for the largeness or the importunity of our desires. Open your mouth wide, for God will fill it. “Make this valley full of ditches.”

Moreover, prepare at once-not dig trenches in a month’s time, but “make this valley full of ditches” now. Oh, that little word “now!” it is often the saving word to sinners, and to the Christian it is the quickening word. To-morrow! who shall tell how many souls it has destroyed, devouring them as the grave devoureth the slain! Alas! for the mischiefs of that demon word, to-morrow. And who shall say how many Christian churches have been deprived of blessed enlargements by the policy which said, “Wait a little!” Out on this horrible advice! Wait? Impossible! Death waits not! Hell makes no pause! Sin stays not its mad career! If the devil, and death, and hell would wait, we might have an excuse for loitering; but, meanwhile, “Forward!” must be our motto. Now, even now, my brethren, prepare for the blessing, for God is ready to give it when we are ready to receive it. When the valley is full of ditches, the ditches shall be filled: when the wells are made in the valley of Baca, then shall the pools be filled.

Furthermore, prepare actively. Ditchmaking is laborious work; God is not to be served by child’s-play, or sham work with no toil in it. When a valley is to be trenched throughout its whole length, all the host must give themselves to the effort, and none must skulk from the toil. I believe with all my heart in the Spirit of God; but I do not believe in human idleness. Celestial power uses human effort. The Spirit of God usually works most where we work most. With regard to our own salvation, the meritorious part of that is finished for us; but still it is written, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” and the reason given is, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” We work because God works: to loiter because God works, is wicked reasoning. Do not tell me that because God will fulfil his own purposes, therefore his people may go to sleep; for it never was his purpose to lull his people to slumber; but his great design is the education of an intelligent host of co-workers with himself. The Lord has made us and ordained us that we in our measure may work together with him. It is his office to bless our efforts; but it is at once our privilege and our duty each one of us to yield ourselves as the instruments of the divine purpose. I want every Christian man here to feel that if the Lord is about to bless this church, or his church at large, there must be, on the part of every one of us, a shouldering of the spade, and a going forth to diligent, continuous, persevering service, in the name of the Master, according to his will. Give me a lazy church, and say nothing about the Spirit of God-the Spirit of God and lazy churches are a long way off from each other; but give me an earnest church and the Spirit of God, and who knows what may come of such a blessed union! Let but men be prepared to labour, and God is prepared to bless their labour, for is it not written “Paul planteth, and Apollos watereth”-and what happens?-“God giveth the increase.” He seldom denies the increase where there is a planting Paul and a watering Apollos. Earnest efforts and believing dependence upon God are sure to be attended with a blessing.

Let me, however, interpret these words, “Make this valley full of ditches,” a little more plainly and pointedly. If we are to have a blessing from God, we are every one of us to have a trench ready to receive it. “Well, how shall I have mine ready?” one says. My answer is, have large desires for a blessing: that is one trench you can all dig. Brethren, is it not true that some of you do not want a blessing? If the Lord should give you an unusual blessing, you would hardly thank him: for you have never hungered and thirsted after it. There are some professors who do not want to be too thoroughly Christian; they are quite afraid of having too much of the Spirit of God; they are for ankle-deep religion; but they had rather not wade further into the stream, lest they should be carried away by the current. It would be inconvenient to such persons to have much grace. Do not be afraid, you will not get it; in fact, it will be a question, before long, whether you have any at all. But if a true believer desires much grace, he shall have it. Enlarge then, your desires, my brethren; ask for much likeness to your Master, much fellowship with your divine Lord; ask for great faith; ask for clear hope; ask for intelligent views of truth; ask for a burning sense of the value of that truth. “Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Do not stint yourselves, but “make the valley full of trenches.” If there be any attainment which has seemed to you up till now to be impossible, long after it. If it be any height of virtue, if it be any excellence of loveliness, or any eminence of grace, let your soul be enlarged. “I speak,” says Paul, “as unto my children” (so may I speak to many among you), “be ye also enlarged.” “Ye are not straitened in the Lord, nor in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.” Make the valley of your soul as full as possible of the reservoirs of longing desire for a blessing.

Next, add to these desires, faithful, vehement, and importunate prayers. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” Make your heart full of prayer; and, my brethren, ye need not say that ye have not subjects for supplication. If you have all you want yourselves, pray for others. Go to God for your children’s salvation. Oh, that our children might be God’s children! They counted the family of Curio happy, of old, because there were three orators in it, the grandsire, the father, and his son; but that is a far happier family where there are three generations of Christians; when the promise is made true, “Instead of the father, shall rise up the children;” when the holy cause descends as an heirloom from the father to the son, and from the son to the next generation, and the next! Pray for this, and be not content without it. Then plead for your servants, your kinsfolk, and your neighbours. Set your heart upon special cases; yearn over those cases; and when you see those converted, long after more, and make your valley full of new trenches, for this is a day of grace, an hour of blessing, and the Lord will give you according to your faith.

Furthermore, if desires and prayers are good, yet activity is even more so. Every Christian who wanteth to have a blessing for himself or for others, must set to work by active exertion, for this is the word, “Make this valley full of ditches.” If you cannot dig a deep trench, dig a shallow one; and if it cannot be as broad as you wish, let it be as wide as you can make it. I mean this: some of you young men might preach-you have the ability, you have the time for study; I want you to lay out your talents in that holiest of enterprises: in the treet corners, anywhere, proclaim Christ. Some of you ought to be teaching in Sabbath schools, but you are putting that talent by; it is usting, it is spoiling, and you will have no interest to bring to your Master for it. I want that Sabbath school talent to be used. I long to see the Sabbath school trench deepened and lengthened, by every one doing his share. Many of you might do good service by teaching senior classes at your own houses. This work might be most profitably extended. If our intelligent Christian brethren and matrons would try to raise little classes, of six, eight, ten, or twelve, at home, I know not what good might come of it. You would not be interfering with anyone else, for in such a city as this, we may all work as hard as we will, and there is no chance of interfering with each other’s labours. This sea is too large here for us to be afraid of other folks running away with our fish. I want to see our whole system of trenches enlarged. Some, of you, perhaps, will do best in tract distribution: well, do it-keep it up; but mind there is something in the tract-and that is not always the case-mind there is something worth reading which will be of use when read. Do not give away somnolent tracts, which are more likely to send the readers to sleep than to prayer. Some of them might be useful to physicians, when they cannot get their patients to sleep by any other means. Get something useful, interesting, telling, scriptural, and give it away largely out of love to Jesus; and if these labours do not suit your taste, talk personally to individuals. Christ at the well! What a schoolmaster for us! Talk to the one woman, the one child, the one carter, the one labourer, whoever he may be. He who makes one blade of grass grow that would not otherwise have grown, is a benefactor to his race; and he who scatters one good thought which would not else have been disseminated, has done something for the kingdom of Christ. I cannot tell you what is most fit for everybody to do; but if your heart is right, there is something for each one. There are so many niches in the temple, and so many statues of living stone to fill those niches, to make it a complete temple of heavenly architecture. You and I must each find our own niche. Remember, Christian, your time is going. Do not be considering always what you ought to do, but get to work; shut your eyes and put your hand out, and “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” The very first Christian effort will do, only do it with your might; do it in the name and strength of God. “Make this valley full of ditches.” I would ask God to make this church full of workers, to turn out the drones and multiply the bees. We do not want drones here: we want only those who will bring their share of honey to the common hive-I mean their share of glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not saved, we will long for your salvation, and be glad that you come among us, and hope that God will bless you; but if you are a church member, and do nothing, the Lord have mercy upon your miserable soul.

One thing more, and I leave this point. With all the work that the church does in making the valley full of ditches, we must take care that we do it in a spirit of holy confidence and faith. These ditches were to be dug, not because the water might come, but because they were sure it would come. So we must work for Christ, not because we may win souls, but because we must. A minister was asked to what point he reached in his faith when he was preaching; he said he prayed, and he hoped God would bless the word, and God did bless the word in a measure, according to his faith. But there was another whose conversions were about ten times as numerous in one month as the other good man’s in a year, and when he was asked in what style he preached, whether he hoped he would have a blessing, he said, “No, I do not hope anything about it; when I go into the pulpit, I am sure of being blessed, because I am preaching God’s word, and have in faith sought his help.” Preaching in faith is sure to be honoured of God, and all Christian work ought to be done in the spirit of confidence. Who are the soldiers that win a battle? Not those who walk to the fight half afraid of defeat, but those men who are like the English trumpeter, who could sound a charge, but had never learned to sound a retreat. Those are true Christians who do not know how to be beaten, who cannot doubt God’s promise, who do not understand how the gospel can be preached in vain, who do not know how it is possible that Jesus Christ, with his omnipotent arm, can fail to see of the travail of his soul, but who believe that “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand,” and who expect Jehovah to follow with a divine result that which is done to his glory. Oh! to dig ditches with the confidence that God, who bade us dig them, will be quite sure to fill them! This is faith’s true place, may we not be slow to occupy it.

Observe, my brethren, how sovereign the operations of God are. When Elijah wanted rain, there was a cloud seen, and he heard a sound as of abundance of rain, and by-and-by the water descended in floods; but when God would send the water to Elisha, he heard no sound of rain, nor did a drop descend. I know not how it was that the trenches were filled. Whether adown some deep ravine, the ancient bed of a dried-up torrent, God made the mighty flood to return, as he did along the bed of Kishon of old, I do not know, but by the way of Edom the waters came obedient to the divine command. God is not tied to this or that mode or form. He may in one district work a revival, and persons may be stricken down, and made to cry aloud; but in another place there may be great crowds, and yet all may be still and quiet, as though no deep excitement existed at all. God blesses often by the open ministry, and frequently by the personal and more secret action of his people. He can bless as he wills, and he will bless as he wills. Let us not dictate to God. Many a blessing has been lost by Christians not believing it to be a blessing, because it did not come in the particular shape which they had conceived to be proper and right. To some the divine work is nothing, unless it assumes the form which their prejudice has selected. Oh, be thankful if it comes anyhow. I have been greatly rejoiced at some of the conversions at the Agricultural Hall. I hoped to have heard of many who never went to a place of worship getting a blessing; I dare say we shall hear of them, but curiously enough, the most of those I have heard of, are those who have been here before, or who have been regular attendants elsewhere for years. I did not go abroad to look after my own children, but it is very odd-they say if you want to know something about your own house, you must go away from home; and so, I suppose, in order to be the means of conversion of some of you, it must needs be that I go afield. Well, so long as God sends blessing, it is not for you or I to have any choice about it. Perhaps if I pray for my own children, he may bless somebody else’s children. If I am seeking the good of a child, perhaps that may be blessed to an old man, for many a sermon to the young has been made useful to the old. I do not know that prayer does always fall in the same place from which it ascends. Prayer is like a cloud rising from the earth, sure to come back again in rain, but not always bound to return to the same spot. Many of you are praying for a husband or a wife: God has never blessed your husband or wife, but he has remembered others out of regard to your prayer; and, when you come to heaven, you will be content so long as your prayer was answered. Be thankful for revival, brethren; but do not set up your will as to how it shall come. “Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water.”

Notice, next, that as the blessing comes sovereignly, so it comes sufficiently: there was enough for all the men, for all the cattle, and all the beasts. They might drink as they would, but there was quite enough for all. Let us wait then in prayer upon God, and prepare to be heard, for God has great floods of grace to give, according to his riches in glory; by Christ Jesus will he deal out large things to those whose faith is large.

Observe, that this flood came very soon, for the Lord is a punctual paymaster. Moreover, it came certainly; there was no mistaking it, no doubting it; and so shall God’s blessing wait upon the earnest prayers and faithful endeavours of Christian people-a blessing such as the greatest sceptic shall not be able to deny, such as shall make the eyes of timidity to water, while he says to himself, “Who hath begotten me these?” You have only to look up to God and work for God, and you shall have such a blessing as shall make you wonder at it. Did you notice the word “Behold” in one of the verses following my text? It is a hint that the whole host were amazed at it. God will amaze his church with what he will bestow, if they only have the confidence to act as though they believed his promise, and could not think that he would be less gracious than his word.

Thus I have spoken to you about your duty and about the divine mode of operation. Brethren and sisters, we must have the blessing in this particular church: it were enough to break one’s heart even to suppose it possible that we should not. God knows with what earnest desires and endeavours I went to the Agricultural Hall to preach the gospel, and with how simple and sincere a motive you went there too: we certainly did not journey so far for our own comfort, but for the honour and glory of the Master. And God’s word must be followed with a blessing. “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.” But I cannot and will not harbour a mistrustful suspicion about the blessing of God resting upon that action, and knowing, as I do, that many of you are really solemnly in earnest with an apostolical earnestness. I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I am certain God will not withhold the dew, nor keep back the rain; for he never did say to his people, “Seek ye my face” in vain. Zion hath not conceived the wind, nor shall she bring forth a dream. As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children. The earnest agony of a living church must bring forth fruit unto God, or else the Bible is no longer reliable, and the promise of God no longer sure. But he changes not, and therefore we will look for the blessing, knowing that it must come.

Lastly, the Lord bade his servant tell them that not only should there be water, but he said, “This is but a light thing in the sight of God. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.” Greater things are behind, and are to be expected. If the Christian church universal were prepared for a blessing, God would not only give to it a revival in its own border, but make short work, by its means, of all his enemies. At the present moment the Moabites are exceedingly bold, they invade us on all sides; especially do they prevail in the form of Romanists, sneaking into a Protestant church that they may be fed upon the fat of the land. Ah! my brethren, a revived church will soon make short work of Puseyism. Let the church of God be cold, and dead, and powerless, and Popery will soon spread. Look at Holland. Thirty or forty years ago how little there was of Romanism in that fine old Protestant country, and now, because philosophy and rationalism have entered into so many of the pulpits, and put away the gospel, Romanists have multiplied like the grass of the field. But only give us the old-fashioned gospel which they used to preach under the “Gospel Oak,” and out in the open fields, where thousands flocked to hear it, only give us the truth as it is in Jesus, and as Samson rent the lion, so would the church tear heresy in pieces. Behold, the evil of the day shall disappear as a moment’s foam melts back into the wave that bears it, if Jehovah doth but visit us. These forgers of lies are but of yesterday, and a thing of nought; their doctrines, the baseless fabric of a vision, without even reason, much less Scripture, to back them up. No, let Israel dig the trenches, and the swords of her warriors will soon find out the hearts of Moab’s mightiest one. So with sin, there is no way of putting down sin except by getting the church of God revived. I am ashamed of some Christians, because they have so much dependence upon parliament and the law of the land. Much good may parliament ever do to true religion except by mistake. As to getting the law of the land to touch our religion, we earnestly cry, “Hands off! leave us alone!” Your Sunday bills and all other forms of act-of-parliament-religion, seem to me to be all wrong. Give us a fair field and no favour, and our faith has no cause to fear. Christ wants no help from Cæsar. Let our members of parliament repent of the bribery and corruption so rife in their own midst before they set up to be protectors of the religion of our Lord Jesus. I should be afraid to borrow help from government, it would look to me as if I rested on an arm of flesh instead of depending on the living God. Let the Lord’s day be respected by all means, and may the day soon come when every shop shall be closed on the Sabbath; but let it be by the force of conviction and not by force of the policeman; let true religion triumph by the power of God in men’s hearts, and not by the power of fines and punishments. Oh, for more dependence upon the living God, and less reliance upon an arm of flesh, and we shall see yet greater victories won by King Jesus! So, my brethren, let us dig the trenches, and continue to ask God to send us the water, and as for the Moabites out yonder, whatever shape the sin may take; let us depend upon it, the church of God is enough, through the power of God who dwells in her, to put down sin, and win the kingdom for Christ. I would to God that some here who belong to the Moabites, I mean you unconverted people, might be brought to know the Saviour. Some of you know the way well enough, but want the will to run in it. O may the Spirit of God give you that will! A simple trust in Jesus will save you; God grant it to you. After faith, you shall work out of love to Jesus; but all your workings before you trust in him will do no good. Come to him, trust in him; make your heart this morning full of trenches, full of great desires, longings and prayings. If so, God will fill your soul; for he heareth the humble, and despiseth not their tears. May God bless you, one and all. Amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 132; 2 Kings 3:1 to 20.

SELF-HUMBLING

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, May 5th, 1867, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humblest thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.”-2 Chron. 34:27.

Josiah was very earnestly engaged in a devout work for God: he was cleansing, beautifying, and repairing the Temple at Jerusalem. While this was being done, a copy of the book of the laws being found, it was carried to the king, and the king at once diligently perused it. While reading it he discovered certain terrible penalties threatened to idolaters and other offenders; and, knowing that his subjects had for successive years been guilty of the offences thus condemned, he felt persuaded that the righteous judgments of God would come upon them. Greatly alarmed, though himself personally innocent of the guilt, he rent his clothes, wept, and humbled himself before the Most High. Now, it seemed a strange thing, did it not, that so good a man, personally so clear from blame, engaged in one of the holiest of works, with a sincere heart devoting himself to the cause of his God, should meet with so sad and depressive a discovery just in the very midst of his prosperous labours! Was there not another time that the law could have been sent to him with its condemning power? Were there not other offenders far more grossly erring than he, who might have been humbled? Why need this king, with his large, royal, tender heart, all consecrated to God, to be set a weeping, and to be made to go softly in the bitterness of his soul, just in the very moment of enthusiastic and successful labour? I take it that the reason was this: God had much love towards Josiah, and, having honoured him to rebuild the Temple, he knew the natural tendency of the human heart to pride, and therefore, with a holy jealousy for one whom he loved so well, he sent him this discovery of the book of the law, to keep him humble at the time when otherwise he might have been exposed to peril by the lifting up of his heart. You remember, beloved friends, the case of Hezekiah, when God raised him up from the sick bed. It is said he rendered not recompense to God according to the benefit received, for his heart was lifted up within him; and then God sent him a message by the prophet to tell him that the treasures of his house should be carried away into Babylon, and his sons should be captives to serve the king of Babylon-thus the Lord administered a check after the sin had broken out. But in the case before us, the Lord preferred a preventive to a cure, and sent a check before the mischief had occurred, and so the holy worker became also the humble penitent-and there was blended in the life of Josiah, like the blending of the drops of rain with the gleams of sunlight, a fair rainbow of many virtues; for you see him toiling for his Lord with all his might, and yet bowing himself in dust and ashes, as an humble suppliant before the throne of heavenly grace. Learn from this, that you and I in the midst of a career of success from God, when our heart is most pure and most right, must not therefore expect that all things will go smoothly, but may rather for that very reason expect to experience humiliating circumstances. Like Paul, when favoured with an abundance of revelations, we may expect a “thorn in the flesh,” lest we should be exalted above measure. Disclosures of our own weakness and sinfulness are often made to us at the very time when God is honouring us most. In order that our vessel may be able to endure a strong and fair wind of divine favour, the Lord in infinite wisdom causes us to be ballasted with grief or trial.

This morning I cannot enter into the whole of my text, but I shall ask your attention to Josiah’s humbling himself. In this matter we shall note, first, the acceptable act; secondly, the powerful reasons which exist for our imitating it; and, thirdly, the encouraging results which followed-some of them are clear in his case, and others we may expect in our own.

First, we have to speak upon the acceptable act which Josiah performed; I say an act, not a grace or a state. It is not said that Josiah was humble. He was so, or he would not have trembled at God’s word.

All graces are in all Christians in a measure. In every Christian there is the germ of every virtue. Just as in every well-formed child there is every muscle and sinew, and nerve and bone, although all are far from being developed, yet it is there; so in each Christian there exists humility, with all the kindred graces, though it is as yet in some scarcely perceptible, and in others is far removed from perfection. Josiah certainly possessed the grace of humility. It is not said that his soul was in a state of habitual humility, although he ought to have been. We ought always to be, in a certain sense, in the valley of humiliation. Pride is never to be excused in the believer. There is never a moment when we may safely be lifted up. Always lowly should we be in our own esteem. He that thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, deceiveth himself: and as we are always nothing in ourselves, it would be well for us to know and to feel this, and not to be self-deceived, or lay a flattering unction to our hearts. What is mentioned in the text is an act, not a grace, not a state, but an act. We have before us the grace of humility in Josiah, acting after its own nature to produce the state of humility in his soul. He humbled himself, that is, he set to work to cure himself of any remaining pride, and to educate in himself the humility which the grace of God had wrought in him. He humbled himself; he confessed his share in the sin which God condemned; he acknowledged on his own part the justice of God in threatening such punishments; he stripped himself of his royal array; he made no mention of services which he had rendered to God in the Temple; he mentioned not his own generosity in having given of his treasures to the decorations of the house of the Lord; but he came as that poor publican is described as coming in our Lord’s famous parable, not “daring to lift so much as his eyes towards heaven, but smiting upon his breast, and crying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” So that, brethren, I want you this morning not so much to enquire whether you have humility, for I know that if you are believers, humility is somewhere in your heart; I do not ask you whether you are in an humble state this morning, it may be you are not; but I want you to accompany me in an act of humiliation, in the bowing of your souls before the Lord-each man and each woman, according to the experience of each, bowing low and reverently before the majesty of the Most High, that we may obtain from God the mercies which each of us may need.

1. Concerning this action, then, I have to mention in the first place, that it was a a real and personal act. The text says, “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself.” Thou didst not talk about humbling thyself, but thou didst humble thyself. Thou didst not bid others do it, but thou didst humble thyself. It became to thee a personal matter of obligation, and thou didst not postpone that obligation, or look at it, and commend it, and say, “When I have a more convenient season, I will send for thee;” but thou didst humble thyself, really, sincerely, truly, and in very deed; thou didst, in thine own proper person, bow thyself to the very dust before the Most High.” Brethren, I fear lest the habit of preaching to you may lead me to forget my personal share in this and other holy exercises. I pray God it may not! And on the other hand, it is very possible that you may criticise the style in which I address you, and so may forget that my style is not the business in hand. We are now to have respect to a very solemn obligation, of which our text reminds us. I pray you let us come honestly to the work, and may God’s Holy Spirit help us, and may each one here be willing now to have it said of him, “Thou didst humble thyself.”

2. Observe too that as the work was real and personal, so it was voluntary. “Thou didst humble thyself.” It is not said that God humbled him, by which it is not implied that the grace of God did not assist him, that the Spirit of God was not the author of his humility, but it is implied that God did not by any overt and open judgment of providence cause Josiah to be humbled. Have you ever noticed the difference between being humble and being humbled? Many persons are humbled who are not humble at all. Pharaoh was humbled, on I how humbled, when he saw that even the flies and lice could vanquish both himself and his men-at-arms! how humbled when he found that the God of heaven could send plague after plague upon him, and make the proud lips that said, “Who is Jehovah that I should obey his voice?” cry, “Intreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail!” He must have been humbled, but he was not humble. And when the chill waters rolled over him in the Red Sea, he died with a proud spirit, but he had been humiliated to the last degree. Even so God may humble some of us; he may take away our property, and we may be humbled by being poor; he may be pleased to strip us of that which is now the object of our boasting, and we may be humbled by its loss; but the duty to which I call you this morning is that of humbling yourselves before judgment comes to deal with you, as, mark you, it surely will, unless you attend to the gracious precept, and humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. We must all either break or bow. Let us bow cheerfully. “Let us kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and we perish from the way.” It is a voluntary humiliation of soul which is inculcated by the example of Josiah, and may the Spirit of God make us willing in the day of his power, that we may willingly humble ourselves before God.

3. It was, moreover, a sincerely devout act on the part of Josiah. He humbled himself, we are told, “before God.” It is true he did put on sackcloth, and rend his clothes, and so far his humiliation was apparent to men, but the soul of his humbling was before God alone. It is vain to put on sackcloth, and to bow your head like a bulrush before man, unless your heart abases itself before God. Outward mourning and tasting are not humiliation, neither doth God care for them if the heart be absent. “Rend your hearts, and not your garments.” Let your souls be humbled and your spirits contrite. Dear friends, we want more and more to walk in our religion before God. Away with that holiness which consisteth in respect to the forms and customs of society! Away with that religion which flaunteth itself before the staring eye of a fellow mortal. We want that grace which hath respect to the God who seeth in secret; we want more and more, in fact, of spiritual worship, for they who worship God the Spirit must “worship him in spirit and in truth.” Your hymns are no songs of praise unless they are sung unto God; your prayers are no prayers unless you seek the face of the God of Israel; and your humblings are nothing but another form of pride unless your souls have a reverent and deep respect unto the Lord.

4. Once again, the act on the part of Josiah was a very deep and thorough one. He did not try to humble himself, but he did it. This I gather from the repetition of the fact in the text. Where inspiration mentions a thing twice, it is because God would have our notice drawn to it. It is written, “Thou didst humble thyself before God;” and again, “and humblest thyself before me.” It was not garment-tearing merely, it was heart-breaking. Josiah was really broken in heart. He did not struggle to get himself down where he should be, but he was down; at the foot of the mercy-seat he cast himself as a true broken-hearted penitent. Brethren beloved, it is an easy thing to say, “I would be humble,” but to be humble before God is another thing; and to begin the sacred work of humiliation before the Most High is no great thing, but to continue in it until at last you can say, “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O God”-this is a blessed work, and you need the assistance of the Spirit of God in it. We are all at certain times conscious of our weakness, but we forget the humbling fact; our humility is like the morning cloud and the early dew which passeth away; but to have this inwrought into the spirit till the whole heart becomes thoroughly self-mortified, and pride is excluded and shut out, this it is that we want, and this it is that will win the blessing.

Beloved friends, let me say to you that the grace of humility, of which I spoke in the first place, is exceedingly sweet before God, and where it does not exist, a man cannot humble himself. Let me also remark that the state of humility is much more blessed than the mere act of humiliation, and should be the condition of every Christian at all times. We ought always to walk humbly before the Lord; but if we are not in the state of humility, we must exercise the act of humility in order to bring us into it. We ought always to be clean; but as we are not always so, through contact with this evil world, there must be a time for cleansing: so we ought to be always humble; but as we are not so, there must be a time for humbling ourselves. Now, let no man or woman in this place be exempt from the work before us, for here is a king, an eminent person, and yet he humbles himself! Sons of the earth, will not you do the same? Here is one engaged in the greatest of works, yet he humbles himself! Let no pastor, no minister, no elder, no deacon, let no earnest evangelist, let no successful labourer, as a private Christian, fancy himself excused. Josiah bowed, who dares stand erect? Let each heart in its own place bow before the Most High. Here is one who was pure in his life, who feared God and died in the act of fulfilling his treaty with his eastern allies, and defending his country against the tyrant Pharaoh-necho, who sought to keep him from the battle by pretending to have been sent by God. He lived a a saint, and died as a patriot king might wish to die, and yet he humbles himself before the Most High! O friends, do not we perceive that this example demands of us immediate imitation? The Lord lead us into it.

Grant me your earnest attention while I give a few powerful reasons why we should perform the same act as this which is recorded of Hezekiah.

1. My brethren, reasons for humbling ourselves are more abundant than the time allowed me in which to urge them upon you. In the first place, a deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the punishment which it deserves, should make us lie low before the throne. We have sinned; we, we have erred and strayed from his ways like lost sheep-we who are now present. We have sinned as Christians. Alas! that it should be so. Favoured as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful; privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. Who among us, though he may long have been engaged in the Christian warfare, will not blush when he looks back upon the past? As for our days before we were regenerate, may God blot them out-may they be forgiven and forgotten. But since then, though we have not sinned as before, yet there has been this peculiar aggravation of our sins, that we have sinned against light and against love-light which has really penetrated our minds, and love which we have been able to recognise, and in which we have rejoiced. Oh! the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins, to my mind, cheaply compared with the sin of one of God’s own elect ones, who has had communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus’ bosom. Look, brethren, at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears, as they fall upon the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore, seek the spirit of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter’s denying his Master. Remember, it is written, “He wept bitterly.” Have we no such offences to weep over? Are there no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? Think, brethren, these sins of ours deserve nothing less than the hottest hell; these sins of ours, before and after conversion, would consign us to the place of inextinguishable fire, if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to differ, snatching us like brands from the burning. Is there no help here towards the work of soul humbling? My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural filthiness, and worship thy God.

2. Let us reflect upon another humbling subject-our origin and our end. Here are we, the offspring of a day; unclean things brought out of an unclean thing; children that are corrupters; the seed of evil doers; what are we at the best but mere animated earth? and erelong we shall be brought into that lowly bed where the worms shall be under us, and the worms shall cover us; we shall become a puff of wind, a handful of brown dust: and shall we glory? We who sprang from nothing, and must go back to nothing, shall we boast ourselves? O worm of the dust, know thyself, and cease from pride!

3. I would remind you also, my dear brethren, of that sovereign grace which has made us to differ. I frequently find that a sense of God’s amazing love to me has a greater tendency to humble me than even a consciousness of my own guilt. Think, my brethren, what you are by grace! You were chosen of God according to his purpose; chosen, not for good in you, but chosen because he would choose you; because “He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom he will have compassion.” You were “not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold … but with the precious blood or Christ.” You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God’s only begotten. Think of that; and, as Jesus stooped for you, bow yourselves in lowliness at his feet. You are now a child of God; a favourite of the skies, on the road to glory, with a heritage beyond the black river which shall be yours when suns and moons have paled their waning light. You are to dwell for ever near to God, and to be like him. Surely the thoughts of such amazing goodness will make the vessel, laden so heavily with mercy, sink in the water, even to its bulwarks. Surely you will feel that you must bless and magnify God, because you are less than the least of all his mercies.

4. Further, let me ask you to think of the greatness of God. It is not in my power by words to bring before you that tremendous subject; but if I could put you in the position of Job, when he said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee,” you would be certain to add with that patriarch, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

“Great God, how infinite art thou!

What worthless worms are we!”

5. Once more, think of the life and death of the Saviour. See your Master taking a towel and washing his disciples’ feet; and, follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself; nay, see him all his life long. Is not this sentence the compendium of his biography-“He humbled himself”? Was he not here on earth always stripping-taking off first one robe of honour and then another, till, naked, he was fastened to the cross, and then emptied out his inmost self, pouring out the floods of his life-blood from his heart, and giving up all for us, till they laid him penniless in a borrowed grave?”

“His honour and his breath

Were taken both away,

Joined with the wicked in his death,

And made as vile as they.”

How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand, my beloved brethren and sisters, at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark still the relics of the spittle on those blessed cheeks; go round the cross and mark his scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and his whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in his outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it; if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know him. I pray the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, and I know our position will no longer be that of the inflated, pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much, because much has been forgiven him.

I would, however, warn the inexperienced believer concerning this act of humbling-do not make mistakes about it. Do not mistake sham humility for real humility. There is a cant of humility which is infamous. People will say in prayer, “Thy poor dust,” and use all sorts of depreciating expressions, when they are as proud as Lucifer; they will say before the Lord things concerning themselves which they are very far from believing, for from their manner and bearing, it is clear that their estimate of themselves is far from being too low. There are others who think that laziness is humility; they cry, “Oh, I could not do this! I could not do the other!” when they might do it, and should do it, and ought to do it, and could do it, God the Holy Ghost helping them; but they shirk every duty because they have a sense of inability, and they cover their idleness with the mantle of supposed humility. Moses was rebuked by God very strongly when he made excuses, and would fain have avoided going into the great work to which the Lord had called him. Let us not raise questions with our God when he calls us to labour, but let us say, “Here I am, send me.” Do not fall into that miserable counterfeit humility, but like men, use all your strength for Jesus. Again, do not mistake unbelief for humility. “I hope I am,” “I trust I am,” and expressions of that kind, savour far more of distrust of God than of humility of spirit, for the best form of humility is compatible with the highest degree of faith. In fact, that is not true faith, but spurious, which is not humble; and that is not genuine humility of the loveliest type which is not confident in God. Faith and humility should always walk together. Let the grace in you be real grace, and to that end ask the Spirit of God to work it in you.

Let me add, dear friend, if you find it difficult to humble yourself before God, stand to it the more earnestly, for the more difficult it is, the more you need it. If your soul were humble, it would easily humble itself; but because it is proud, it needs humbling; and for this reason it finds the duty irksome and displeasing to the flesh. Mortify your pride, my brethren; let your souls be mortified on account of sin; and if you cannot yourself do it, you know where your strength lieth, fly to the strong for strength, and you shall have enabling grace.

Again, let me say, in order to humble yourselves, exercise all your faculties. Let the memory bring before you your past offences. Let your understanding form a proper judgment of your position as a creature, as a sinner, and now as a dependent servant. Your understanding will greatly help you, for true humility is forming a just estimate of oneself, and to humble oneself, is to bring oneself down to the place where one ought to be. Let your hopes and your fears, let your affections and your passions, let all the powers of your intellect and heart agree to this-that now before God you will humble yourself as Josiah did. I have given you the reasons. May God apply those reasons with power by his Holy Spirit!

Lastly, I have to encourage our friends to this duty by encouraging results.

I think it was Bernard, or one of the preachers of the middle ages, who said, “There is one thing to be said for humility, that it never can by any possibility do one harm.” For if a man goes through a door, and he has the habit of stooping his head, it may be the door is so high there is no need for stooping, but the stooping is no injury to him; whereas if the door should happen to be a low one, and he has the habit of holding up his head, he may come into sharp contact with the top of the door. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

1. But there are positive advantages connected with it, for, first, humiliation will often avert judgment. How many times in the history of the Israelites, when they were given over to their enemies, their humbling themselves at once drove away the invaders, and set them free from the scourge! Perhaps some of the most remarkable cases which I can quote are those of wicked men, for their cases show the power of humiliation with God where there is nothing else to work upon him. Rehoboam had set up a false worship, and “did evil in the sight of the Lord;” therefore God was provoked with Rehoboam and with Judah; and Shishak, the king of Egypt, came up and ravaged Judea, and was about to capture Jerusalem; but we read that Rehoboam and Judah humbled themselves before God, and the Lord said that Shishak should not touch Jerusalem; and, moreover, the Lord visited the land with favour, and it is said “also in Judah things went well.” This mercy was granted, not because of any good thing in Rehoboam or his people, but only because they humbled themselves. A more remarkable case still is that of Ahab. Ahab had killed Naboth to obtain his vineyard; but when he entered that vineyard, stained with innocent blood, Elijah met him with the cutting question, “Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?” And Ahab’s proud and haughty spirit was cowed with fear of Elijah, and he cried, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy!” Elijah delivered the terrible sentence of God to him, that the whole of his household should die, and that Jezebel should be eaten by dogs in that very vineyard. Ahab could no longer, after hearing that sentence, keep up his brazen countenance; but we read, “And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.” Then the Lord said unto Elijah, “Seest thou how Aha! humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days.” So that this basest of all men, this wicked Ahab, whose name stands infamous in the Chronicles of the Kings, yet obtained a blessing from God when he humbled himself. As for God’s people, when the Lord has been about to smite them, he has usually stayed his hands when they have humbled themselves. See the case of Hezekiah which we have already mentioned. Hezekiah humbled himself, it is said, because of the pride of his heart, and the Lord said this evil should not be brought upon him in his day. And Josiah, in this case, also turned aside the sword of the Lord from the Israel of his own day, because he humbled himself. My dear friend, you are under the paternal discipline of God, and he will make you feel his chastening rod; but if you humble yourselves, you put the rod away. You know, with your own children, if you feel compelled to chasten, yet, when you see softness and tenderness of heart, and a sweet readiness to confess the fault, it goes against your heart that the rod should be used, and you put it away, for humble sorrow is all that you wanted to produce; and if the effect be there already, there is no need of further sternness. So the Lord turns away the chastisement from his people when they humble themselves.

2. Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. The old philosophers were wont to assert, as a law of matter, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” This old dictum is out of date nowadays; but, still it is true spiritually. So, then, if you and I empty ourselves, depend upon it, God will fill us. Divine grace seeks out and fills a vacuum. Make a vacuum by humility, and God will fill that vacuum by his love. He who desires sweet communion with Christ, should remember the word of the Lord, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” “He hath respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” Stoop, my dear friend, if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, “He descended that he might ascend”? so must you. You must go downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone. I believe that God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” with all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it without growing proud because of it.

3. Further, my dear brethren, the act of humiliation will be very blessed to you and to me, because it will improve our spiritual health. To humiliate yourself is as necessary in this wicked world as it is for travellers through African jungles to take, every now and then, a draught of quinine. The bitterness of humility is a tonic to the spirit. I know of no man who is so courageous before his fellow-man as he that bows before his God. My knee shall bend to God, and God alone; but if my knee never bends to God, you may depend upon it, it will soon be bending when I do not want it to do so-it will tremble before the face of man. If you fear God with a deep and powerful fear, you shall fear nobody else; you should be able to say before a fierce tyrant like Nebuchadnezzar, with the three holy children, “Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” The fear of God is the death of every other fear; like a mighty lion, it chases all other fears before it. Nothing makes a man so vigorous and strong, with the exception of faith, as humility; and even faith itself cannot be strong where humility is weak.

4. Once more, usefulness will be promoted by humility. There are some professors whom God cannot bless, because they would grow intolerably proud if they were blessed. I heard a dear brother say that he believed God blessed us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it was safe for him to do, and I believe he does so. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let you be successful in his holy war, you would run away with the crown yourself, and meeting with an enemy you would fall a victim, so that you are kept low for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures so much as to touch a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of grace, and fits us to deal with our fellow-men. Everybody gets as far as ever he can from a proud man. I confess myself I have a great pleasure in seeing proud men, when I can hardly discern them with a powerful telescope, nearer than this would be far less agreeable. We mind not how near we come to gentle and meek spirits, for these are company for angels. Proud spirits do not like to deal with great sinners. “Stand by, I am holier than thou” is not the language for a man who would be useful. What think you, would a Pharisee make a city missionary? Look at the fine gentleman, bloated with self-importance What a useful preacher he would make, would he not? Send him after the poor fallen girls at midnight meetings! Better send a peacock! “Stand by, I am holier than thou;” why, the man who feels thus is out of place in the service of God; he is more fit to play lacquey to the world’s vanities, than to talk of being a soldier of the cross. Just as the excess of pride disables, so an abundance of humility of spirit will fit you for any kind of Christian work to which the Holy Spirit may call you. Let us humble ourselves then, dear friends, that God may exalt us in due time by giving us to see the result of our work.

I know not how to plead any further, but I commend to the Holy Spirit for fulfilment my deeply anxious desire for myself and for you my brethren in the common faith, that we may all be brought like Josiah to humble ourselves before God.

There is yet a word which I desire to speak to those who are not saved. I do not say to you, begin with humbling yourselves: your hope lies in Jesus Christ. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.” That is the gospel. Your salvation lies not in you but in Jesus. At the same time, an humble and a contrite spirit will be a very ready way of leading you to Christ, and therefore I beseech you cultivate this spirit. There is a story narrated in the classic history of Augustus Cæsar, that a most troublesome pirate had destroyed many of the Roman vessels, and therefore Cæsar, having hunted him in vain for some time, offered a reward of ten thousand talents for the pirate’s head. Now the pirate, knowing the case to be hopeless, and perhaps somewhat relenting, came himself before Cæsar, and laying his head down before him in the dust, he said, “Ten thousand talents! I have brought the pirate’s head.” Cæsar looked at him with astonishment, but said, “You have trusted the generosity of Cæsar, and no man shall trust that in vain. You are pardoned. There are the ten thousand talents too.” Now, sinner, I would advise thee to follow his example. Shrewd and sensible was that: be thou as wise. God will have thy head of thee, nay, thy soul; but go thyself with it, submit thyself. After that evil May-day in our English history, when the apprentices had done so much mischief by destroying the foreigners’ houses and burning them, in a riot, a commission sat to try them, and a number of them were summoned to the Guildhall; but when they appeared with ropes about their necks, confessing that they deserved to be hanged, a free pardon was accorded to very many of them. Come, poor soul, the Lord will never swing thee up if thou wilt put the rope round thine own neck. If thou wilt bring thine own head, he will never take it off thy shoulders. Come just as thou art, confess the wrong, and trust to the liberality of God in Jesus Christ, and thou shalt not find him fail.

You proud ones who are self-righteous will perish, but you who are humble, by trusting in Jesus, shall be saved. Yonder is a sinking ship! The vessel is going down rapidly, and I see two men equally anxious for life. One of them puts on his garments, heavy with gold lace, loads himself with jewels, fills his pockets with his gold and his silver, and springs into the sea. You know what will become of him: he has weighted himself for destruction. But here is another who takes off not only such jewelry as he may have upon him, but he strips himself even to his last rag, and then casts himself naked into the sea. If any man can swim, it is he. So do thou poor soul. If thou hast a rag of self-righteousness, off with it. If thou hast anything whatever of thine own to depend upon, off with it; and if any man can swim in the sea of divine love, thou art the man; and, let me add, a naked spirit was never drowned there. Lay thou hold on Jesus with nothing of thine own in thy hands, and “thou shalt never perish, neither shall any man pluck thee out of his hands.” May God bless these words to us all for his love’s sake. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 86.