When the soul is perfectly reconciled to God, and comes to delight in him, it rejoices in all his attributes. At the first, perhaps, it dwells almost exclusively upon his love and his mercy, but it afterwards proceeds to find joy in the sterner attributes, and especially delights itself in his holiness and in his power. It is a mark of the growth of Christian knowledge when we begin to distinguish the attributes and to rejoice in God in each one of them. It betokens meditation and thought when we are able thus to discern the things of God and to give to the Lord a psalm of praise for each one of his glories; and it also indicates a growingly intimate communion with the great Father when we begin to perceive his adorable character, and to rejoice so much in all that he is, that we can take the attributes in detail, and bless, and praise, and magnify him on account of each one of them. Under the Jewish law there were forms of the sacrifices which were of the simplest kind, such as the offering of turtle doves or young pigeons, which were simply cleft asunder and burned upon the altar; but there were other and more elaborate rules for the sacrifices which were taken from the flock and the herd; these were rightly divided, and the parts laid in their places-the head, the fat, the inwards, and the legs, and so on, as if to show that although some believers only know the atoning sacrifice as a whole and after a superficial manner, there are others still further instructed, who look deeper into divine mystery, and see the various forms which the great truth assumes. It is a saving thing to know the Lord at all with the heart; but I would, beloved, that ye knew all the varied rays of his pure light, that ye beheld the many glories of his crown, and could rejoice in each distinct excellence of his infinite perfection.

The subject of this morning is the power of God as the subject of adoration. Here, dear brethren, we have large scope for thought, for the power of God is manifested in connection with all his other attributes; it is the cause of all his works, and the basis and working force by which his kingdom is maintained and himself revealed. How clearly is his power beheld in creation: there indeed, O Lord, “thou hast a mighty arm.” We injure ourselves and dishonour our Creator when we pass over his works as if they were beneath the notice of spiritual minds. It is perverse on our part to forget the exhortation, “What God has cleansed, call not thou common.” The psalmist sang concerning the creating might of God in verses eleven and twelve of the psalm before us-“The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.” David did not divide between revelation and nature; he loved the word and meditated therein day and night, but at the same time he triumphed in the works of God’s hands. In the hundred and fourth Psalm he found music in rocks and rills, in fowls and fir trees, and rejoiced that the glory of the Lord shall endure for ever, the Lord shall rejoice in his works. In the eighth Psalm he considered the heavens, and burst forth with the exclamation, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” With the same feeling I led you to sing this morning that child’s hymn in which the power of God is reverenced-

“I sing the almighty power of God,

Which made the mountains rise,

Which spreads the flowing seas abroad,

And built the lofty skies.”

The Lord made Job and his friends remember his power as seen in creation; indeed, it was by revealing that one attribute that Job’s friends were silenced, and the patriarch himself was led to cry, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee?” We ought not to overlook that which had so salutary an influence upon others. It is a pity when people become so spiritual that they have no eye whatever for the Lord’s power in rivers and mountains, in seas and storms; for God has made them all, and as in his glass he is darkly to be seen in them. “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” I can understand the feeling of some who say, “I prefer spiritual preaching, and I delight most to read the spiritual parts of the word of God rather than the historical records, and to think of his grace rather than of his wisdom in nature”; but there is a fault about such a preference, excellent as it is in one way. It is as though you had a friend who was a great artist, and a master in statuary, able to make the marble almost live and speak with his magic chisel. You are accustomed to call upon this eminent sculptor, and it gives you great pleasure to talk with him, and to associate with his children, but you have never gone into his studio, for his masterpieces do not interest you. Now, this is poor fellowship, and if ever you get to be in perfect sympathy with your friend, you will be interested in that which interests him, and charmed with the various proofs of your friend’s powers in design and execution. You will study his works for his sake, and love him all the more because of those wonders of beauty and joy which his hand produces. If the Lord thinks fit to display the hand of his power in the visible universe, it would ill become any one of his children to close his eyes thereto. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” “All thy works praise thee, O God; but thy saints shall bless thee.”

So, too, the power of God is to be seen in providence; in the overruling hand which controls common events. Our sweet singer writes in verse 9, “Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them.” God’s power is seen in the great phenomena of nature, and even in the lesser matters of every-day life. His hand guides the fall of every sere leaf, and adorns each blade of grass with its own drop of dew; but chiefly his way is in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. The mighty hand of the Lord is to be seen in the events of human history; his power is manifest in courts and armies, in the rise and fall of empires, in the growth of nations, or in their overthrow. Behold how he broke Egypt in pieces as one that was slain, and scattered his enemies with his strong arm. His people did not refuse to sing of his great power when he smote great kings and slew famous kings, because his mercy to his people endureth for ever. It ought to be a subject of great joy to all righteous souls that the world is not left to itself, or to tyrants: the might is with the right after all, for power belongeth unto God. There is a Governor and Ruler who is Lord of all, and all power is in his hand. Have you not often wished more power to the arm of the man who attacks insolence and cruelty? Be glad, then, that all power is in the hand of the Judge of all the earth, who must and will do right. He will not leave bloodshed unavenged, nor suffer wanton cruelty and horrible brutality to go unpunished; and if the great ones of the earth pass by with indifference, or wink the eye in wicked policy, there is an eye that sees, and a hand that will mete out vengeance stern and sure. In patience possess your souls, O ye people of God, for “God reigneth over the heathen, he sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.” The needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the oppressed for ever trodden down, for verily the Lord reigneth, and his power shall defend the cause of right.

It is another subject for which we have reason also to adore God, that his power is seen in the ultimate judgment of the wicked, a terrible subject upon which I will not enlarge, but one which should prostrate us in the dust before his awful majesty. There are two flaming jewels of Jehovah’s crown which will be terribly seen in hell; his wrath and his power. “What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction?” Righteous indignation and omnipotence will be glorified together in that last tremendous act of judgment in which he will separate the righteous from the wicked, and apportion to the unbelievers their due. “Who knoweth the power of thine anger?” What must be the strength of an angry God! Who shall stand against him when once he stirreth up his indignation, when he shall break the nations with a rod of iron, and shiver them like potters’ vessels? Beware, saith he, “ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” Who shall stand against this great and terrible God in the day of his wrath? Who shall endure in that day when mercy’s day is over, and justice alone sits on her burning throne.

Neither of these, however, is the subject of this morning, though we should not have completed the topic without alluding to them. The subject is the power displayed in connection with the mercy of God, for so Ethan begins this noble covenant psalm: “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.” Power in alliance with grace is our one theme.

First, we shall consider the mighty power of God in his grace, as revealed in our experience; secondly, divine power, as displayed in Christ Jesus; and, thirdly, we shall endeavour to reflect upon the same power, and consider how it should be practically recognized. We must be short on each point, for our time is scanty.

First, the mighty arm of God displayed in the way of grace, as manifested in our experience.

First, beloved, remember the divine longsuffering. What a mighty arm of grace it must have been which held back the anger of God while we were in a state of rebellion and impenitence. For God to rule the angry sea seems nothing to me compared with the power which he exercises upon himself when he endures the provocations of ungodly men, the hardness of their hearts, their rejection of Christ, and oftentimes their blasphemous speeches and their unclean deeds. O sinner, when thou art sinning with a high hand and with an outstretched arm, is it not a wonder of wonders that God does not cut thee down, and end thy insolence? He saith, “Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries”: is it not a marvel that he has not eased himself of you, and taken you away with a stroke? You know how it is with some men, a word and a blow; but it has not been so with God. There have been many words of love and many deeds of kindness. He has waited long, and is waiting now, stretching out his hands all the day to a disobedient and gainsaying people. What power is this which restrains its own power, the power of God over his own omnipotence, so that he does not let his anger flame forth at once and devour the ungodly, nor suffer the sword of execution to smite down the rebel in the midst of his provocations? Glory be unto thy lovingkindness and thy longsuffering, O God, for in them we see thy mighty self-restraining power.

But, next, we saw the power of God so as to recognize it when the Lord subdued us by his mighty grace. What omnipotence is displayed in the conquest of every rebellious sinner! By nature the sinner stands out very stoutly against God, and will not obey his voice. Often he is bulwarked round with prejudices; and you and I, who seek to convert him, are quite unable to reach him. Prejudice is an earthwork into which you may fire with the heaviest cannon, but without avail, for the balls are buried in the earth, and no result follows. When men will not see, no light can help them, for they wilfully close their eyes. When they will not hear, the charms of the gospel avail not, for they have resolutely closed their ears. It is a wonder of wonders when at last God conquers prejudice, and the man finds himself where he would have sworn he never could be, melted down and penitent at Jesus’ feet. If a prophet had told him it would ever be so, he would have said, “Thou art mad, this cannot be: I abhor the very name of it.” Thou hast a mighty arm, O God, when prejudiced Saul of Tarsus falls down at thy feet, and rises to become thine apostle.

Men are surrounded often with a granite wall of obstinacy: they will not yield to the power of divine love. Preach as you may, they are not to be moved, but remain like an impregnable fortress, frowning from its own inaccessible rock, defying all assaults. You can find no way to get at them. You would he willing almost to die if you could capture their hearts for Christ, but they are neither to be taken by threatening nor by wooing. They are like leviathan whose scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. “Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?” They appear to have no joints to their harness through which the arrow of conviction may penetrate: but thou hast a mighty arm, O God, and thine enemies are made to feel thine arrows; those who were exceeding stout against thee have, nevertheless, come crouching at thy feet and have become thy servants. Glory be to God, the northern iron and the steel become wax at his bidding.

We have seen some, also, who have been rooted in their habits of sin, altogether severed from their old sins. Wonder of wonders, the Ethiopian has changed his skin, and the leopard has lost his spots: for he who was accustomed to do evil has learned to do well. Behold a miracle of mighty grace. The sinner has grown old in sin: like an old oak he has become rooted to the earth by a thousand roots. To transplant him seemed impossible, it were far easier to cut him down. Yet the giant hand of grace has taken hold of that ancient tree and shaken it to and fro by conviction of sin, and at last it has by conversion been drawn from its place right up by the roots, so that the place which once knew it knew it no more. The rock and soil in which it had been imbedded for, perhaps, half a century were made to give way before the upheaving, uprooting force, and the man, divided from his former life, has beep a proof of what the Lord can do. The Lord knows how to cleave the mountain and divide the sea, and therefore he can separate men from their darling lusts, and teach them to cut off right arms and pluck out right eyes rather than perish in sin. Truly, Lord, thou hast a mighty arm.

Satan teaches men to defend themselves against grace by bulwarks of pride. They say, “Who is the Lord that we should obey his voice?” They lift up their horn on high, and speak with a stiff neck. They are self-righteous, they are sure that they have done no ill; the gospel is powerless upon them because they are so lofty in their looks and insolent in their thoughts. But thou hast a mighty arm, O Lord, thou layest proud sinners very low; thou makest them hungry and thirsty, and then they cry unto thee in their trouble. Thou hast a mighty arm amongst the proud, and thou bringest down their heart with labour, they fall down and there is none to help. “He hath put down the mighty from their seats.” Nebuchadnezzar, from saying, “Behold this great Babylon that I have builded,” learned to confess that those who walk in pride the Lord is able to abase.

Equally mighty is the Lord to overcome despair, for this is another one of the fortresses in which sinners intrench themselves against divine grace. “There is no hope,” say they, “therefore will we give up ourselves to our iniquities,” and it is almost idle to attempt to convert those who are wilfully despairing. They resent the consolations of the Bible, and reject the promises of God; and yet the Lord can break the bars of iron and cut the gates of brass in pieces, and bring up the captives from the dungeons of despair, and set them on a rock, and put a new song into their mouths, and make them praise his name for evermore. From the iron cage the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can set the captives free. All glory be unto his name, when God resolves to save the sinner he will have his will without violating the will of man. In a sweet, soft, gentle manner, in which the power lies in the gentleness, and the force lies in the tenderness, the Lord can conquer the most obstinate. He makes the lion to lie down with the lamb, so that a little child shall lead it. Thus the power of God is seen in the conquest of sinners.

That power is equally seen in their transformation; for is it not a marvel that God should be able to make old and corrupt rebels into new creatures in Christ Jesus? Every conversion is a display of omnipotence. To create the world was but half a wonder compared with the creation of a right spirit; for there was nothing to hinder when God spake and the world began; but when God speaks to ungodly men there is a resisting force, which impedes the work and even defies the great worker. There is a darkness and a death, there is a force of evil and an inability towards good which must be overcome, yet the Lord maketh all things new, and causeth the new creation to arise in the hearts of his people. Verily he hath a mighty arm. Glory be to the Lord who only doeth great wonders with a high hand and an outstretched arm.

Conversion is also called a resurrection. It will be a great feat of power when dead carcases shall live at the sound of the last trumpet, but it is an equal wonder when the dry bones of dead sinners come to life, when those who were scattered at the grave’s mouth, the hopeless, graceless, Christless, nevertheless are made to live at the sounding of God’s word by the power of his Spirit. Oh, you that have been new created and quickened into newness of life, adore his power to-day! Who but a God could have made you what you are? Consider what you were, and reflect upon the glorious position to which the Lord has brought you by the blood of the cross. Think what rebels you were, and how set on mischief your nature was; and now, subdued by sovereign grace, your spirit longs for his embrace, you follow after holiness and seek to have it perfected in the fear of God. What a revolution is this! What a turning of things upside down! To turn the wilderness into springs of water and the desert into a flowing stream is nothing compared with turning the dead, cold, dry heart of man into a mighty wellspring of love springing up unto eternal life. Glory be to thy power, oh thou infinitely mighty Jehovah, thou hast a mighty arm.

That same power is seen, dear friends, in the various deliverances which the Lord gives to his people at the outset, when their enemies come against them so fiercely. Behold, my brethren, how strong was the hand of God which delivered us from the bondage of our first doubts and fears, when conscience accused and the law condemned, when we thought ourselves only waiting for the death warrant and the execution. Behold the Lord has routed our despair, he has set us free from fear and brought us into the liberty wherewith Christ makes men free. We were slaves to sin, too, and oh how sin marshalled all its armies against us at the first, if haply it might cut off our earliest hopes. But mighty was that Christ of God who put all our sins to the rout, and drowned them in the Red Sea of his blood. “There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle.” Then Satan came forth with the most horrible temptations, and roared upon us like a lion, for he will not willingly lose his subjects. He sought to cast about us all his nets, that he might hold us captive, and prevent our flying to the divine refuge. But, behold, the prey has been taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive has been delivered, and we are this day rescued from the power of sin and Satan. Even the law itself hath now no power over us to condemn us, for Christ has satisfied it, and we are free. Mighty is thine arm, O God! Thine own right hand, and thy holy arm have gotten thee the victory.

And since then, beloved, in the continual upholding of the saints, in their final perseverance which is guaranteed, how much of the power of God is seen. You have passed through many troubles, some of you, troubles most heavy and sore, but they have not prevailed against you nor overthrown you. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” Fierce were the foes that gathered against us many a time, and had not the Lord been on our side they had swallowed us up quick; but thou, O Lord, hast a mighty arm, and in thy name have we found a refuge. They compassed us about like bees, yea, they compassed us about, but in the name of the Lord have we destroyed them. Out of what sins and temptations have we come forth victorious! With some of you your path has been through the wilderness, and through one continuous scene of warfare. Snares and traps have been thickly strewn all along your pathway; trials and discouragements have fallen like a storm of hail perpetually beating; and yet you are not overthrown. He keepeth the feet of his saints. The life of any one Christian is a world of wonders, but in some believers their experience consists of a series of great miracles. “O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.” How has our soul escaped as a bird from the fowler’s snare! The mighty adversaries have been overcome by him who is mightier than they all! The divine strength has been manifested in our weakness. My brother, is it not a wonder that being such a poor worm as you are, yet you have never been crushed? Is it not a marvel that though your faith has been as a bruised reed it has not been broken, and though your piety has been like smoking flax it has never been quenched? Kept alive with death so near, preserved when enemies have been so fierce, will you not say indeed “Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy right hand”?

Brethren, the end cometh, but it will all be right at last, for unless the Lord shall come, we have yet to meet the last grim adversary, but we are not afraid, because our brethren who have gone before us have set us an example of how to die triumphantly. How gloriously have they triumphed in their last hours. We have stood by their side, seen the brightness of their eye when all around was deathshade, and heard their exulting songs when all that looked upon them wept at the thought of their departure. Blanched their cheek? Far from it. They have been as jubilant in their dying hour as the warrior when he divides the spoil. As the bride rejoiceth in her bridal, they have looked forward to the coming of their great Lord and to their being blessed for ever in his embrace. We have been ready to cry out with them, “O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!” Truly, Lord, when thy poor, weak, suffering people die triumphantly, we see that thou hast a mighty arm. When flesh and heart are failing, when friends cannot help, when every earthly comfort vanishes, for the heart still to rejoice and triumph-this is to see the arm of the Lord made bare, and this causes us to bless and magnify his holy name.

I would to God that I had more ability to set forth this majestic subject; but I have done my best, and I ask your meditations in the quiet of this afternoon to assist me, that you may really adore and bless the power which is so conspicuous in every vessel of mercy, so revealed in your own self if you be indeed a child of God. O Holy Spirit, make known to us the exceeding greatness of his mighty power, to usward who believe.

Secondly, let us behold the mighty arm of God as specially displayed in the person of Christ Jesus; and here will you kindly follow me in the psalm itself, for there you will see that the power of God is displayed in Jesus Christ, in the choice of him, and the exaltation of him, to be a Prince and a Saviour. See verse 19: “I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.” Christ is the incarnation of the power of divine grace, in him dwells the power of God to save the sons of men; and yet in what weakness it dwelt. He was a man despised and rejected, lowly and meek, poor, and without worldly honour. His was the weakness of shame and suffering, poverty and dishonour; but the power of God was upon him, and is upon him now. It is a grand thing to know that God by the weakness of man, taking it into connection with his own nature, has routed sin, Satan, death and hell. The battle in the wilderness was between Satan and a man, tempted as we are; but oh, how gloriously that matchless man overthrew the tempter and prevailed. The agony in the garden of Gethsemane was that of a man: it was a man, though God, who sweat great drops of blood, and uttered strong crying and tears, and won the victory by which evil is dethroned; and he that met the powers of evil on the cross, and stood alone and trod the wine-press till there remained not an uncrushed cluster, was a man. It is by his power, even the power of the man of Nazareth, that all the powers of evil have been for ever blasted and withered; so that, though they rebel, it is but a struggling gasp for life. As surely as God sits on his throne, the foot of the seed of the woman shall be upon the serpent’s head, to crush it for ever; for mighty as were the hosts of evil, God hath exalted one chosen out of the people, and laid help upon him, that he may eternally vanquish all the hosts of darkness. Strong is thy right hand, O Saviour, for by weakness and suffering and death thou hast overthrown all thy people’s foes.

His power was seen, next, in our Lord’s anointing. “I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him.” You know how in his preaching there went out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword with which he smote sin, because the Spirit of God was upon him. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit bore witness in the entire body of Christ, making all his servants speak with tongues of fire the word of the gospel. The Spirit of God is with Christ on earth still in his church, so that, feeble though the speech of his ministers may be, a secret power attends it, irresistibly subduing the forces of evil. Rejoice ye this day, beloved; for the anointing rests still in the church of God, and the anointed Redeemer must be victorious in every place. Thanks be unto God which causeth his word to triumph in every place by the power of the eternal Spirit. We ought therefore to adore Jesus Christ as having the power of God, because the Holy Ghost is always with him and with his word, and he is therefore mighty to save.

We must equally magnify the power of God because of the continuance of the empire of Christ in the world. As saith the Psalmist: “with whom my hand shall be established mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him, and I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him.” These eighteen hundred years every effort has been put forth to root up the church of Christ. The devil and all his servants on earth have conspired to overthrow the growing kingdom of our Lord; but they have never succeeded. Think, my brethren, what the power of God must be which has kept the church alive under fiery persecutions, rescued it from the fangs of the Inquisition, preserved it from the poison of heresy, and the pestilence of infidelity, and, what is worse, enabled it to survive the horrible dragon of Popery which has threatened altogether to carry away the church with the floods which it pours out of its mouth. Yet the chosen seed live on and are multiplied in the land, even as it is promised in the thirty-sixth verse of the Psalm before us; “His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.” The establishment and continuation of the church is an extraordinary proof of divine power.

So are all the conquests of Christ; some of which we have seen, and more of which are to come. “I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him,” is the divine promise. “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers.” Glory be to God, Christ is triumphant still. Still in the preaching of his truth he rides forth conquering and to conquer. The gospel has not lost its old force, but whenever it is preached in faith it wins the day. See what power it has in drawing together the multitudes and holding them in breathless attention: a man has nothing to do but to preach Christ simply, and with all his might, and the people will hear it. We want no endowment of the state, we seek no acts of parliament to help us. Give us a clear stage and no favour, an open Bible and an earnest tongue, and the people shall yet be aroused and the multitude shall bow before the people’s King. Jesus Christ is still the mightest name which can be pronounced by mortal tongue; its all-subduing power shall yet be felt in the remotest regions of the earth.

Beloved, I have not time to do more than say that the great power of God’s grace is embodied in Christ’s mighty intercession. See verse 26: “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.” This makes him mighty to save-“He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” I should like to have an hour to expatiate upon the gracious power of God as seen in the intercession of Christ. Omnipotence dwells in every plea that falls from those dear lips, as the eternal Son pleads his own merits with the everlasting Father. Beloved, the power of Christ is well known to many of you. Did it not call you from the dead? Has not it kept you from going down into the pit? Is there not such power in his name that it makes your heart to leap? If we speak of anything else, you listen to it and glide into sleep; but if you hear about him, does it not stir the very deeps of your soul? Have you not often, when you felt faint and weary, sprung to your feet with exultation at the very thought of him? Has not his presence made your sick bed soft, and what you thought your dying couch to be a throne whereon you sat and reigned as in the heavenly places?

“Jesus, the very thought of thee

With transport fills my breast.”

You know it is so. The power of Jesus’ name, who can measure it? and what will be your sense of his power when you reach another world; when he shall have brought you into his rest, even you who were so unworthy; when he shall reveal in you all the majesty of his goodness; when heaven shall be yours, and all its boundless plains and golden streets,-and when, looking around, you shall find all your Christian brethren there without exception, as many as loved the Lord below, all safely gathered into the fold at last? What a shout shall sound throughout heaven when the armies of the living God shall assemble and find not a soldier missing; when they shall read the muster-roll, and Little Faith shall be found there, and Ready-to-Halt shall be there without his crutches, and Miss Much-afraid shall be there, and Mistress Despondency shall be there, each able to answer to his or her own name and say, “Here am I.” Satan has not devoured a single lamb of all the flock, nor slain a single man of all the host. All along the line Jesus has been victorious! When you shall see the whole host assembled, and remember the struggles through which each one of them came, the much tribulation through which they waded to their crowns, you will exclaim with rapture, “Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.” All glory be to Jehovah Jesus, our almighty Saviour!

Now this brings me to my conclusion, and here we have to answer the question-how is this power to be practically recognized? If you will practically carry out what I say, a few words will suffice.

First, if the power of God be so great, yield to it. Man, do you hope to resist God? Hast thou an arm like God’s, and canst thou thunder with a voice like his? Throw down those weapons, and cease to wage a hopeless war. Capitulate at once, surrender at discretion. Oh, if there be a man here who is the enemy of God, I beseech him to count the cost before he continue the war, and see whether he is able to brave it out with God. Shall wax fight with the fire, or tow contend with the flame? He would go through a host of such as thou art, O man, as fire burneth up the stubble, and or ever thou hast time to think of it, thou shalt be utterly destroyed. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.”

The next practical use is this-is God so strong? then trust him to save you. Never say again that he cannot snatch you from perdition: never doubt his power to save, even in extremity. I have shown you that he has treasured up his gracious power in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, therefore look unto Jesus Christ and be ye saved. All power lies with him, he can forgive all sin, and he can also subdue all iniquity, change the most depraved heart, and implant every grace in the soul. “Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”

Next, if he be so strong, then trust him in everything. Oh, you that are his people, never dare to distrust him. Is his arm shortened? Cannot the Lord deliver you? Bring your burdens, your troubles, your wants, your griefs, pour them out like water before him, let them flow forth at the foot of the Almighty, and they shall pass away and you shall sing, “The Lord is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation,”

Is God so strong, then shake off all fear of man. Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die? Man is but grass, withered in an hour, wherefore should you tremble at his frown? He is crushed before the moth; why then fear him? Let not the faces of proud men confound you. Trust in God and fear not, for the mighty God of Jacob is with us, and greater is he that is for us than all they that can be against us.

And now as to thy service, to which thou art called by the Lord. If he be so strong, do not think of thine own weakness any longer, except as being a platform for his strength. Hast thou only one talent? God’s Holy Spirit is not limited in power. He can make thy one talent as fruitful as another man’s ten. Art thou weak as water? Then rejoice this day, and glory in infirmity, because the power of God shall rest upon thee. Think not of what thou canst do-that is a very small affair, but consider what he can do by thee. He can strengthen the feeble against the strong. Behold, this day he saith unto thee, “Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them.”

Last of all, with regard to all the future which lies before you,-is God so strong? then commit it to his hands. You have a great trouble to face to-morrow, you are expecting a greater trouble still at the end of the week. Now, be not afraid, for the Lord liveth to deliver thee. What! Dost thou fear? Is thy Counsellor perished? Has thy Helper failed thee? How canst thou sink in the deep waters when underneath thee are the everlasting arms? The mighty God is thy refuge, how canst thou be in danger? Wherefore dost thou look into the future at all? Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. God is the God of to-morrow as well as the God of to-day. Cease from thy troubling, for it weakens thee, but cannot help thee; it dishonours thy God, thy Saviour, and thus it is evil. In patience and quietness wait for the fulfilment of his promise: rest in him and be at peace. Stand thou still, and see the salvation of God. O Lord, glorify thyself this morning in both saint and sinner, by manifesting the greatness of thy power, for thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 89.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-205, 89 (Part II.), 679, 680.

ÆNEAS

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-Day Evening, July 16th, 1876, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

Upon the occasion of the regular hearers vacating their seats to allow strangers to fill the house.

“And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Æneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.”-Acts 9:32-35.

I may not hope that I shall see you all again, and so, as I have the opportunity of only preaching one sermon to you, I must make it as full as I can of essence of gospel, from beginning to end. We have heard of a chaplain who preached in a jail, who selected a subject which he divided into two heads. The first part was the sinner’s disease; this he took for his topic on one Sabbath, and closed the sermon by saying that he should preach upon the sinner’s remedy upon the following Sunday. Now, there were several of the prisoners hanged on the Monday, according to the custom of the bad old times, so that they did not hear that part of the discourse which it was most necessary for them to hear. It would have been well to have told out the great news of salvation at once to men so near their end, and I think that in every sermon, if the preacher confines himself to one subject, and leaves out essential gospel truth, under the notion that he will preach salvation by Jesus another day, he is very unwise, for some of his congregation may be dead and gone-alas, some of them lost-before he will have the opportunity of coming to the grand and all-important point, namely, the way of salvation. We will not fall into that evil to-night. We will try to shoot at the very centre of our target, and preach the plan of salvation as completely as we can; and may God grant that his blessing may rest on it, the Holy Spirit working with it.

I shall only preach this one sermon to some of you: you will, therefore, have the greater patience with me, as I shall not inflict myself upon you again: but, if we are to have only one communication with each other, let us come to real practical business and waste no time to-night. A good deal of sermon-hearing is mere trifling; let us come to matter-of-fact preaching and hearing at this time. I am afraid that some sermon-preaching is playing too-fine words and oratorical fireworks, but no agony for souls. We mean business to-night. My heart will not be satisfied unless many of you who came in here without Christ shall go down those steps saved by his atoning blood. Bitter will be my disappointment if many do not lay hold of Jesus, and realize in their own souls Peter’s words, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” I have faith in the great Physician that many of you will go away whole to-night, though sin-sick when you came into this house of prayer. Much supplication has gone up to heaven for this, and the Lord heareth prayer; and therefore do I reckon that miracles of healing will surely be wrought in this house on this occasion.

To the point, then. Peter came to Lydda, and found one who bore the classic name of Æneas: no mighty warrior, however, but a poor paralyzed man, who had been confined to his bed for eight long years. Touched with a sight of the man’s feebleness, Peter felt the impulse of the Spirit upon him; and, looking at him as he lay there, he said, “Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed.” Touched by the same Spirit who inspired the apostle, the man believed the message,-believed that Christ had healed him, at once rose and made his bed, and in an instant was perfectly restored. Now let us hear something about this man. We are not to hear Virgil sing, “arms and the man,” but we are to let Luke tell us of the man and his Saviour.

In the first place, then, it is very clear that the man was truly sick. Had he not been really sick, the incident before us would have been all a piece of imposture-a feint and a pretence from beginning to end: but he was hopelessly infirm. He had been anxiously watched by his friends for eight years, and was so completely palsied that during all those years he had not left his bed, which had grown hard as a stone beneath him. Now, as there is no room for a great cure unless there is a great sickness, so there is no room for God’s great grace unless there is great sin. Jesus Christ did not come into the world to save sham sinners, but real sinners; neither did he descend from heaven to seek those who are not diseased with sin, for the whole have no need of a physician, but he has come to seek those who are deeply diseased, and to give them real healing. This man’s sickness was no imaginary ill, for he could not move; his hands and feet were quite paralyzed. If in any limb there was a measure of motion, it was only a tremulous quiver, which rather indicated growing weakness than remaining force. He was bereaved of all strength. Are you such by nature, my friend, in a spiritual sense? Certainly you are so; but have you found it out? Has the Spirit of God made you feel that you can do nothing aright apart from him, and that you are altogether ruined and palsied unless Jesus Christ can save you? If so, do not despair because you feel how terribly your soul is smitten; but, on the contrary, say to yourself, “Here is room for mercy in me. If ever a soul wanted healing, I do. Here is space for divine power to operate in me, for if ever a soul was weak and palsied, I am just that soul.” Be thou cheered with the hope that God will make of thine infirmity a platform upon which he will display his power.

The man had been paralyzed eight years. The length of its endurance is a terrible element in a disease. Perhaps yours is no eight years’ malady, but twenty-eight, or thirty-eight, or forty-eight, or seventy-eight, perhaps, eighty-eight years have you been in bondage under it. Well, blessed be God, the number of years in which we have lived in sin cannot prevent the mercy of God in Christ Jesus from making us whole. You have a very long bill to discharge, while another friend has but a short one, and owes comparatively little; but it is just as easy for the creditor to write “paid” at the bottom of the large bill as the smaller one. And now that our Lord Jesus Christ has made full atonement it is as easy for God to pardon the iniquities of eighty years as the sins of the child of eight. Be not despairing, then. Jesus Christ can make such as thou art whole, even though thy heart and thine understanding have been long paralyzed with sin.

The man’s disease was one which was then reckoned to be, and probably is now, entirely incurable. Who can restore a palsied man? Æneas could not restore himself, and no merely human physician had skill to do anything for him. Dear hearer, has the Spirit of God made you feel that your soul’s wound is incurable? Is your heart sick? Is your understanding darkened? Do you feel your whole nature to have become paralyzed with sin, and is there no physician? Ah, I know there is none among men, for there is no balm in Gilead, there is no physician there; there never was, or else the daughter of my people would have been healed of her hurt long ago. There is no soul physician except at Calvary; no balm but in the Saviour’s wounds. If you feel that you are incurably soul-sick, and the case is desperate unless infinite mercy shall interpose, then I am glad that you are here to-night. I am glad that there is such a one as Æneas present. Do you know that the most delightful task in the world is to preach to those who consciously need the Saviour? Mr. Whitfield used to say that he could wish to preach all day and all night long to those who really knew that they wanted Christ. We are bound to preach to everybody, for our Master said, “preach the gospel to every creature” under heaven; but, oh, when we can get at a knot of hungry souls it is easy and pleasant work to feed them with the bread of heaven; and when hearts are thirsty it is sweet work to hand out the living water, for they are all eager to take it. You know, the great difficulty is that you can bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink if he is not thirsty; and so you may set Jesus Christ before men, but if they do not feel their need of him they will not have him. You may preach in tones of thunder, or plead with accents of intense affection, but you cannot stir them to desire the grace which is in Christ Jesus, unless they feel their need of it Oh, I am happy to-night-thrice happy-if anywhere in this house there is an Æneas who is sick, and knows that he is sick; who knows his disease to be incurable, laments that he is palsied and can do nothing, and longs to be healed by divine power. He is the man who will welcome the glad news of the gospel of free grace. The man was really sick, and so are you, my hearer; your sins are great, your sinfulness of nature is grievous, and your case is beyond reach of human skill.

In the second place, this man, Æneas, knew something about Jesus; because, otherwise, when Peter said, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,” Æneas might have earnestly enquired what he meant, but could not intelligently have acted upon what he could not comprehend. He could not have believed what Peter said, because he would not have understood his meaning. Mere words, unless they appeal to the understanding, cannot be useful; they must convey light as well as sound, or they cannot breed faith. When Peter said, “Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,” I have no doubt that Æneas remembered what he had aforetime heard about Jesus Christ, and his wondrous life and death. Now, lest there should be one in this congregation who does not know Jesus Christ, and does not understand how it is that he is able to heal sin-sick souls, let us briefly tell the old, old story over again.

“Jesus Christ,” translated into English, means a “Saviour anointed.” Who is he? He is the Son of the Highest, very God of very God; and when we were lost in sin he who is called the Son of God laid aside his most divine array, and came hither to be dressed like ourselves in this poor flesh and blood; in the manger he lay as an infant, and on a woman’s breast he hung a feeble babe. The God who stretched forth the heavens like a tent to dwell in, and digged the deep foundations of the earth, came down to earth to take upon himself our nature and to be born of a woman. Oh, matchless stoop of unbounded condescension that the Infinite should be an infant, and the Eternal God should conceal himself within the form of a babe. This marvel was performed that we might be saved. Being here, the Lord of angels lived some thirty years or so amongst men; he spent the earliest part of his life as a carpenter’s son obedient to his father, and he was throughout the whole of his earthly sojourn obedient to his father, God. Inasmuch as we had no righteousness, for we had broken the law, he was here to make a righteousness for us, and he did so. But there was also wanted an atonement, for we had sinned, and God’s judgment demanded that there should be punishment for sin: Jesus stepped in as the Surety and the Substitute for the guilty sons of men. He bared his back to the lash of justice, and opened his breast to her lance, and died that sinners might live. The just for the unjust, he died that he might bring us to God:-

“He bore, that we might never bear,

His Father’s righteous ire.”

Now, when he had thus lived and died, they placed his body in the tomb, but he rose again on the third day, and he is yet alive; and by this man Christ Jesus, who is risen from the dead, is preached unto the nations the remission of sins. For after forty days this same Jesus, who had been dead and buried, rose into the heavens in the presence of his disciples, ascending till a cloud concealed him from their sight, and he now sits at the right hand of God, even the Father, pleading there the merit of his blood, making intercession for sinners that they may be reconciled to God. Now, brethren, this is the story that we have to tell you, with the addition that this same Jesus is coming again to judge the quick and the dead, for he is Lord of all. He is at this hour the Mediator appointed by the infinitely glorious Jehovah, having power over all flesh that he may give eternal life to as many as Jehovah hath given him, and this we beseech you to consider, lest when he comes as a judge you should be condemned at his bar. Æneas had heard more or less of these great facts. The story of the incarnate God had come to his ears by some means or other, and Æneas understood that though Jesus Christ was not in the room, and there was only Peter and a few friends there, and though Jesus Christ was not on earth, but was gone to heaven, yet his power on earth was the same as ever it was. He knew that Jesus could work miracles from heaven as well as when he was here below. He understood that he who healed the palsy when he was here, could heal the palsy now that he has risen to his throne; and so Æneas believed in Jesus Christ from what he had heard, simply trusting in him for healing. By means of that faith Æneas was made whole.

I will very earnestly dwell on that point for a second or two. I am persuaded that in this congregation all of you know the story of Jesus Christ crucified. You have heard it on the Sabbath from the pulpit. Your children sing it when they come home from the Sunday School. You have a Bible in every house, and you read the “old, old story” in the plain but sublime language of our own noble version; but, oh, if you have heard it and know it, how is it that you have not drawn from it the same inference that this poor paralyzed man did? How is it that ye have no faith? Jesus lives, he sits on Zion’s hill, he receives poor sinners still. Jesus lives “exalted on high to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins.” He can heal you now, and save you now as well as if you met him in the street, or saw him standing at your door knocking for admittance. I would to God that this inference were drawn by you all.

We have got so far: the man was sick, and the man knew something about Christ. And now came the most important point of all: the man believed on the lord Jesus.

Peter said to him, “Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” The man did not believe in Peter as the healer, for you notice Peter does not say anything about himself. Peter does not say, “As the head of the church, I, by power delegated to me, make thee whole.” There is no allusion to any such claim, Peter preached too clear a gospel for that. That is the purest gospel which has the least of man in it, and the most of Christ. I charge you, men and brethren, do not listen to that teaching which sets the priest in front of the Saviour, or even by the side of the Saviour, for it is false and ruinous. Your forefathers, Englishmen, your forefathers bled and died that they might never submit to that vile superstition which is being now propagated by a considerable party in the Established Church of this once Protestant land! No man beneath the sky has any more power to save your soul than you have yourself, and if any presumptuous priestling tells you that he has, do not believe him, but despise his claims. An old woman asks me to cross her hand with a sixpence, and says that she will tell my fortune. I am not such a fool. And if another person dressed in habiliments, which are not quite so becoming to him as a red cloak is to an old woman, tells me that he can regenerate my child, or forgive my sins, I treat him with the same contempt and pity as that with which I treat the wicked hag. I believe in neither the one imposter nor the other. If ever you are saved you must be saved by Jesus Christ alone through your own personal belief in him; certainly not by the intervention of any man, or set of men, hail they from whatever church they will. God send that the Pope and the priesthood and all their detestable deceits may go down in this land, and that Christ may be exalted!

As this man had no faith in any supposed power coming from Peter, much less had he any faith in himself, neither did he look within himself for hope. He did not say to Peter, “But I do not feel strength enough to get well;” neither did he say, “I think I do feel power enough to shake off this palsy.” He said neither the one nor the other. Peter’s message took him off from himself. It was, “Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; it is not that thou hast stamina in thy constitution and rallying points about thy bodily system. No, Æneas, thou art paralyzed; thou canst do nothing; but Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” That was what the man had to believe; and it is very much what you also, my dear hearer, must believe.

With his faith Æneas had the desires which showed that it was not mere speculation, but solid practical believing; he anxiously wished to be made whole. Oh, that sinners anxiously wished to be saved! Oh, that yonder angry man wished to be cured of his bad temper! Oh, that yonder covetous man wished to be cured of his avarice! Oh, that yonder lustful man wished to be cured of his uncleanness! Oh, that you drunkard wished to be cured of his excess! Oh, that men really wanted to get rid of their sins! But no. I never heard of men reckoning a cancer to be a jewel, but there are many men who look upon their sins as if they were gems, which they keep as hid treasure, so that they will sooner lose heaven than part with their lustful pleasures. Æneas wanted to be made whole, and was ready to believe when Peter spoke to him about Jesus Christ.

And what did Æneas believe? He believed-and may you believe the same!-first, that Jesus could heal him, could heal him, Æneas. John Brown, do you believe that Jesus Christ can cure you? I do not care, John, what your faith is about your wife’s case; it is about yourself that you want faith: Jesus Christ is able to save you-you, Æneas; you, John Brown; you, Thomas; you, Sarah; you, Mary. He is able to save you. Can you grip that, and reply, “Yes, he is able to save me”?

And Æneas believed that Jesus Christ was able to save him there and then, just as he was. He had not taken a course of physic; he had not been under galvanism to strengthen his nerves and sinews and prepare him to be cured, but he believed that Jesus Christ could save him without any preparation, just as he was, then, immediately, with a present salvation. When you think what Christ is, and what he has done, it ought not to be difficult to believe this. But truly God’s power must be revealed before your soul will believe this unto salvation. Yet is it true that Jesus Christ can heal, and can heal at once. Whatever the sin is, he can cure it. I mentioned a whole set of sins just now. The scarlet fever of pride, the loathsome leprosy of lust, the shivering ague of unbelief, the paralysis of avarice,-he can heal all, and with a word, instantaneously, for ever, completely, just now. Yes, sinner, he can heal you now. Æneas believed that. He believed, and, as he believed, Jesus did make him whole. Oh, I wish I could to-night so preach the gospel that my Lord and Master would lead many unbelievers to believe in him. O Holy Spirit, work thou with the word! Sinner, dost thou want forgiveness? Christ has wrought it out. Every sin that you have done shall be forgiven you for his name’s sake if you trust Jesus to do it. Do you see your sins like a great army pursuing you? Do you think they will swallow you up quick? Jesus Christ, if you believe in him, will make an end of them all. You have read in Exodus how Pharaoh and his hosts pursued the tribes of Israel, and the people were terribly alarmed; but early in the morning they were no more afraid, for Miriam took her timbrel, and the daughters of Israel went forth with her in the dance; and they sang, “Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” One of the most magnificent notes in that marvellous song was this, “The depths have covered them: there is not one of them left.” The damsels took up the refrain, and sang, “Not one, not one, not one! The depths have covered them: there is not one of them left.” Now, if you believe in Jesus, the whole army of your sins shall sink beneath the sea of his blood, and your soul shall sing, “The depths have covered them: there is not one of them left.” Such shall be your song to-night, if you are enabled to believe in Jesus Christ, God’s crucified Son.

But do not think that we preach about the pardon of past sin only, because if a man could get his past sins pardoned, and go on as he did before, it would be so much the worse for him. Pardon of sin, without deliverance from its power, would be rather a curse than a blessing; but wherever sin is pardoned, God breaks the neck of its power in the soul. Mind, we do not tell you that Jesus Christ will forgive the past and then leave you to live the same life as before; but we tell you this: whatever the sin is that is now a disease to you, Jesus Christ can heal you of it. He can save you from the habit and power of evil doing and thinking. I will not attempt to go into details. There are odd people coming into the tabernacle on ordinary occasions, and so I dare say there may be to-night. How often has there come in a man to whom I might say, “Put out your tongue, sir. Ah, I see red spots, and black spots, for you are a liar and a swearer.” Can my Master heal such a diseased tongue as that? Yes, trust thou him to-night, and he will make thee truthful, and purge thee from thy profanity. But here is another; I dare not describe him. Look at him! He has lived an unchaste life, and strong are his passions; and he says, “Can I ever be recovered from my vile desires?” Oh, sir, my Lord can lay his hand on that hot heart of thine, and cool it down to a sweet sobriety of chastity. And thou, fallen woman, do not think that thou art beyond his powers; he shows himself mighty to save such as “the woman that was a sinner.” Ah, if you are a slave to vile sins, Jesus can give perfect freedom from vicious habits. You young man there, you know that you have fallen into many sins which you dare not mention, which coil about your heart, and poison your life like serpents writhing within your conscience. My Lord can take them all out of the soul, and deliver you from the results of their fiery venom. Yea, he can make you into a new creature, and cause you to be born again. He can make you love the things which you once hated, and hate the things which you aforetime loved, and turn the current of your thoughts in quite another way. You see Niagara leaping down its awful height, and you say, “Who can stop this?” Ay, indeed, who can stop it? But my Master can, and if he speaks to the Niagara of your lust, and says, “Cease thy raging! “it will pause at once; yea, if he bids the waters of desire leap up instead of down, you shall be as full of love to Christ as once you were full of love to sin. He made the sun to stand still, and caused the moon to pause upon the hill of Gibeah; and he can do all things. Spake he not the world out of nothing? And can he not create new hearts and right spirits in the souls of men who have been far off from him by wicked works? He can do so, and blessed be his name he will: the world of mind is as much beneath his control as that of matter. If thou believest, O man, to thee I may say as Peter did to Æneas, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.”

Well, now, let us pass on to notice, next, that the man was made whole. There was no imposture about it; he was made whole, and made whole there and then. Just fancy, for a minute, what would have been the result if he had not been made whole. What dishonour it would have been to Peter! Peter said,” Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole”: but there lies Æneas as palsied as before. Everybody would say, “Peter is a false witness.” Well now, I will not say that the preacher of the gospel must see souls saved, or else he is a false witness. I will not say that, but I will say that if ever my ministry, under God, does not save souls I will give it up; for it seems to me that if we do not bring souls to Christ we preachers are just good for nothing. What are we if we do not turn many to righteousness? Reapers who never reap, soldiers who never win a battle, fishermen who take no fish, and lights which enlighten no one. These are sad but true comparisons. Do I address any unsuccessful minister? I would not speak harshly to him, but I would speak very severely to myself if I were in his case. I remember the dream of a minister. He thought that he was in hell, and being there, he was dreadfully distressed, and cried out “Is this the place where I am to be for ever? I am a minister.” A grim voice replied, “No, it is lower down for unfaithful ministers, much lower down than this.” And then he awoke. Ah, and if we do not agonize till souls are brought to Christ, we shall have to agonize to all eternity. I am persuaded of it: we must have men saved, or else we shall be like Peter would have been if he had said, “Jesus Christ makes thee whole,” and the man had not been made whole,-we shall be dishonoured witnesses.

What dishonour would have been brought upon the name of Jesus if the man had not been made whole. Suppose, my dear fellow sinner, you were to believe in Jesus Christ, and yet were not saved; what then? Oh, I do not like to suppose so, for it is almost a blasphemy to imagine it, but yet consider it for a moment. Believe in Jesus and not be saved! Then he has broken his word, or lost his power to save, either of which we are unwilling to tolerate for a minute. If thou believest in Jesus Christ, as surely as thou livest Jesus Christ has saved thee. I will tell thee one thing,-if thou believest in Jesus Christ and thou art damned, I will be damned with thee. Come! I will risk my soul on that bottom as surely as thou wilt risk thine, for if the Lord Jesus Christ does ever lose a soul that trusts him he will lose mine: but he never will, he never can:-

“His honour is engaged to save

The meanest of his sheep:

All that his heavenly Father gave,

His hands securely keep.”

Rest ye in him and ye shall be saved, else were his name dishonoured.

And suppose that, like Æneas, you trusted Christ-if you were not saved, what then? Why, then the gospel would not be true. Shut up those churches, close those chapels, banish those ministers, burn those Bibles; there is no truth in any of them if a soul can believe in Jesus and yet not be saved. The gospel is a lie, and an imposture, if it be true that any poor sinner can put his trust in Jesus and not be healed of his sins; for thus saith the Lord of old, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” This is his last word to his church, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.” If men believing are not saved from the power of sin, then the gospel is not true, and we are sent on a fool’s errand: but they are saved, blessed be the name of God, and the gospel is truth itself.

Oh, my dear hearer, fain would I urge thee to put thy trust in Jesus Christ to-night, by the experience which I and other believers have enjoyed; for some of us have relied on the name of the Redeemer, and he has saved us. We shall never forget the day, some of us, when we left off self-righteousness and believed in Christ to the salvation of our souls. The marvel was done in a minute, but the change was so great that we can never explain it, or cease to bless the Lord for it.

“Happy day! Happy day!

When Jesus washed my sins away.”

I recollect the morning when salvation came to me as I sat in a little Primitive Methodist chapel under the gallery, and the preacher said, “That young man looks unhappy;” and added, “Young man, you will never find peace except you look to Christ;” and he called out to me, “Look!” With a voice of thunder he shouted, “Young man, look! Look now!” I did look, I turned the eye of faith to Jesus at once. My burden disappeared, and my soul was merry as a bird let loose from her cage, even as it is now as often as I remember the blessed salvation of Jesus Christ. We speak what we do know; ours is no hearsay or second-hand testimony; we speak what we have felt and tasted and handled, and our anxiety is that you may know and feel the same. Remember, my dear hearer, that the way to use the gospel is to put it to yourselves like this. What is your name? I said, “John Brown,” just now, did I not? Suppose it is John Brown, then. Well, the gospel says, “He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ hath everlasting life.” Then it means, “If John Brown believes on Jesus he has everlasting life.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,”-“Then I, John Brown, believing and being baptized, shall be saved.” Lay hold of it in that way. Perhaps you say, “But may I put my name to a promise, and appropriate it in that fashion?” Yes, you may, because there is nothing in the Bible to say that your name was left out from the list of those to whom the promise is made. If I were a beggar in the streets, and were very hungry, and I heard that there was a gentleman who was giving a good meal away, and that he had advertised that any beggar might come, I do not think I should say, “Well, my name is not down in his list.” I should stop away when I found that he inserted an excluding clause, “Charles Spurgeon shall not have any of the food I distribute,” but not till then. Until I read in black and white that he excluded me I should run the risk, and get in with the other hungry folk. Until he shut me out I would go. It should be his deed and not mine that kept me from the feast. Sometimes you say, “But I am not fit to go to Christ.” The fittest way to go to Christ is to go just as you are. What is the best livery to wear when you go a-begging? I recollect some long time ago, when I lived not far from here, in the extremeness of my greenness, I gave a man who begged at the door a pair of patent leather boots. He put them on, and expressed great gratitude; but I met him afterwards, and I was not at all surprised to find that he had pulled them off. They were not at all the style of things to go about begging in. People would look at him and say, “What! you needing coppers while wearing those handsome boots? Your tale won’t do.” A beggar succeeds a deal better barefoot than in fine shoes. Rags are the livery of mendicants. When you go and beg for mercy at the hand of God, do not put on those pretty righteousnesses of yours, but go with all your sin and misery, and emptiness, and wretchedness, and say, “Lord, here am I. Thou hast said that Christ is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. I am a soul that wants saving to the uttermost, and here I am. I have come. Lord, save me.”

Now, summing all up: this is what you have to do, sinner, in order to be saved to-night, simply believe in Jesus Christ. I saw a young-woman from America in the vestry some little time ago who came in great concern of soul to know the way of salvation, and I said to her, “Do you not see it? If you trust Christ, you are saved.” I quoted the Scriptures which teach this great truth and made them plain to her, until the Holy Spirit opened her eyes; light came on her face in a moment, and she said, “I do see it. I trust Christ with all my heart: and I am to believe that I am saved because I trust Jesus, and he has promised to save believers?” “Yes,” I replied, “you are getting on the rock now.” “I feel,” she said, “a deep peace beginning in my soul, but I cannot understand how it can be, for my grandfather belonged to the old school Presbyterians, and he told me he was six years before he could get peace, and had to be put into a lunatic asylum, for he was so miserable.” Ah, yes, I have no doubt such cases have happened. Some will go seventeen thousand miles round about merely to go across a street, but there is no need for it. There it is-“The word is nigh thee, on thy lip and in thy heart. If with thy heart thou wilt believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and with thy mouth make confession of him, thou shalt be saved.” There is naught to be done; there is naught to be felt; there is naught to be brought. No preparation is wanted. Come just as you are, and trust Christ to save you out and out this night, and you shall be saved. God’s honour and Christ’s word are pledged to it.

This is the last thing. When Æneas was healed he acted in conformity therewith. “Peter said unto him, Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed.” He did so. He rose directly and made his bed.

Now, if any of you say to-night, “I have believed in Jesus,” remember you are bound to prove it. How prove it? Why, if you have believed in Jesus, you are made whole, and you are to go home and show people how whole you are. This man was palsied, and had been lying there prostrate eight years, and could never make his bed, but he proved he was healed by making his bed for himself. Perhaps here is a man who when he has entered his house has generally opened the door with an oath. If there is such a person here, and Christ saves you-he will wash your mouth out for you. You will have done with profane language for ever. Your wife will be surprised when you go home to hear how differently you talk. Perhaps you have been used to mix with rough companions in your work, and you have talked as they have done: if Jesus Christ has made you whole, there is an end to all filthy speaking. Now you will talk graciously, sweetly, cleanly, profitably. In years gone by you were angry and passionate; if Jesus Christ has made you whole, you will be as tender as a lamb. You will find the old lion lifting his head and giving an occasional roar and a shake of his mane, but then he will be chained by the restraints of grace, while the meek and gentle lamb of the new nature will feed in pastures wide and green. Ah, if the Lord has saved you, the drunkard’s ale-bench will have no more of you, for you will want better company than the seats of scoffers can afford you. If the Lord saves you, you will want to do something for him, to show your grateful love. I know this very night you will long to tell your children, and tell your friends, that Jesus Christ has made you whole. John Bunyan says that when he was made whole he wanted to tell the crows on the ploughed land about it. I do not wonder that he did. Tell anybody, tell everybody, “Jesus Christ has saved me.” It is a sensation the like of which no man can imagine, if he has not felt it, to be made a new creature right away, in a moment. That surprises all who see it, and as people like to tell news-strange news-so does a new-born man long to go and tell others, “I have been born again: I have found the Saviour.”

Now, mark, you will have to prove that this is so by an honest, upright, consistent, holy life,-not, however, by being merely sternly honest. If Christ has saved you, he will save you from being selfish. You will love your fellow men; you will desire to do them good. You will endeavour to help the poor; you will try to instruct the ignorant. He who truly becomes a Christian becomes in that very same day a practical philanthropist. No man is a true Christian who is un-Christ-like-who can live for himself alone, to hoard money or to make himself great. The true Christian lives for others: in a word, he lives for Christ. If Christ has healed you, gentle compassion will saturate your soul from this time forth and for ever. O Master, thou who didst heal men’s bodies in the days of thy flesh, heal men’s hearts to-night, we pray thee.

Still this word more. Somebody says, “Oh, I wish I had Christ!” Soul, why not have him at once? “Oh, but I am not fit.” You never will be fit; you cannot be fit, except in the sense in which you are fit even now. What is fitness for washing? Why, being dirty. What is fitness for alms? Why, being in distress. What is fitness for a doctor? Why, being ill. This is all the fitness that a man wants for trusting in Christ to save him. Christ’s mercy is to be had for nothing, bribe or purchase is out of the question. I have heard of a woman whose child was in a fever and needed grapes; and there was a prince who lived near, in whose hothouse there were some of the rarest grapes that had ever been grown. She scraped together the little money she could earn, and went to the gardener and offered to buy a bunch of the royal fruit. Of course he repulsed her, and said they were not to be sold. Did she imagine that the prince grew grapes to sell like a market-gardener? And he sent her on her way, much grieved. She came again; she came several times, for a mother’s importunity is great; but no offer of hers would be accepted. At last the princess heard of it and wished to see the woman; and when she came the princess said, “The prince does not sell the fruit of his garden:” but, snipping off a bunch of grapes and dropping them into a little bag, she said, “He is always ready to give it away to the poor.” Now, here is the rich cluster of gospel salvation from the true vine. My Lord will not sell it, but he is always ready to give it away to all who humbly ask for it; and if you want it come and take it, and take it now by believing in Jesus.

The Lord bless you for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon-Isaiah 55.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-100 (Ver. I.); 982, 992.