The occurrence of our text in the psalm before us is an instance of the great rule that the Lord does nothing by halves. In this priceless psalm the Lord found his servant in the first verse liable to fretfulness and envy, and he exhorted him to cease from fretting; then, in verse three, he taught him to trust, in verse four he led him on to delight, in verses five and six he conducted him into a peaceful committing of his way unto God, and he did not stay the operation of his grace till he had perfected that which concerned him and brought him up to the elevated point of our text, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” God doth not merely cure the evil in us, but he confers unspeakable good. He takes away the disfiguring wound, but he imparts also comeliness and beauty. If any of you this morning are in a low state of grace, so that you have even fallen into fretfulness at the prosperity of the ungodly, do not cast away all hope, for the grace of God aboundeth toward us in all wisdom and prudence, and he will restore your soul. Remember how David said, in the seventy-third Psalm: “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” “So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.” The Lord knoweth how to bring his people again from Bashan, yea, and to uplift them like Jonah from the depths of the sea; and he can bring you by the operation of his grace this day upward from doubt to assurance, from fretfulness to rest.

Rest is a blessing which properly belongs to the people of God, although they do not enjoy it one tithe as much as they might. Under the Old Testament dispensation there was considerable provision made for rest. Typically the chosen nation was shown that one great end of the visitation of the Lord was to give his people rest, for on the seventh day they rested and did no manner of work. Yea more, in the seventh year they rested according to the divine precept. “Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.” When they were obedient to the Lord’s command they thus enjoyed a whole year of rest, and were no losers by it, for no doubt the seventh fallow year so benefited the land that it brought forth all the more fruit during the other six, so that there was none the less store in their barns. Over and above this, once in fifty years when the seventh seventh year came round, they carried out still further the Sabbatic idea, and the Jubilee year was a time of peculiar and emphatic rest and festival. For thus had the Lord commanded. “A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.” So that very prominently even in that somewhat servile and yoke-bearing dispensation there was brought before the mind of the Israelite the privilege of rest, and those who possessed the inner sight, as Moses did, realized the promise, “My Spirit shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.” Indeed, Canaan itself was intended to be the type of rest: the land that floweth with milk and honey, the land of brooks and valleys, the land that the Lord thy God thinketh on, the land upon which the eyes of the Lord rest from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year was meant to be a place where every man should rest under his own vine and fig tree, and look for a yet deeper rest in God. Had they known it, in giving them Canaan Joshua had given them a fair picture of rest; they did not see through the type so as fully to understand its significance, yet nevertheless there it was. O Christian men and women, ye also miss much of your rest, ye have too much of fretfulness, too much of care, too much that is servile. The land doth not keep her Sabbaths as she should, neither doth your soul rest as it might; and as for jubilees, how very scarce they are, whereas, if Christian believers lived near to God, and enjoyed the peace which Jesus gives, they might keep jubilee every year, and Sabbath every day. The Lord grant that we may have power to enjoy his rest, and that it may never be said of us, “They could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Brethren, the Lord, as if to show us that he would have us rest, has been pleased to speak of resting himself. It is inconceivable that he should be fatigued, it were profanity to suppose that he who fainteth not neither is weary, and of whose understanding there is no searching, can ever be in a condition to need rest, and yet he did rest, for when he had finished all the works of his hands in the six days of creation the Lord “rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it.” When afterwards that rest was broken because his works were marred, we find him further on smelling a “sweet savour of rest” in the sacrifice which was offered unto him by Noah, whose very name was rest. These two facts are highly instructive, and teach us that God resteth in a perfect work, and that when that work is marred the Lord resteth in a perfect sacrifice, even in the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath a rest there and he speaks of our “entering his rest” as it is written “they shall not enter into my rest.” There is a rest of God then, and there remaineth a rest unto the people of God, and of that rest, not in its highest development in heaven, but in its present enjoyment on earth, we are about to speak.

“Rest in the Lord.” First, dear brethren, let consider at the steps to this royal chamber of repose: secondly, let us meditate upon the rest which is enjoyed in that quiet chamber: and then, thirdly, let us look at that sumptuous chamber itself. As the result and issue of it all may the Holy Spirit sweetly lead us into quietness and peace, even as of old it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest.”

First then let us consider certain steps to this royal chamber of rest. How are we to reach this place of sacred repose? The steps are in the psalm before us. The first is “Fret not thyself.” You are out in the fields among the wild beasts, cease to hunt them: you are among those who toil in bondage, suffering all the brunt of ill weathers and hard seasons; come away from them. Come within doors, into your Father’s house. By the help of the Divine Spirit leave the green bay trees which have cast their shadow upon you and enter into the sanctuary. No longer be as the carnal who envy one another. So long as you are out there among those who lust after evil things and fret against the Lord’s providence you cannot rest. While you are agitating yourself to gain what other men lust after and to enjoy what other men take pleasure in you are missing the peculiar privileges of the children of God. While your spirit is running with worldlings in the race and wrestling with them in the battle you cannot enjoy the peace which Jesus left as a legacy to his disciples. Come away then; for the first step to rest is “fret not thyself.” The griefs which make the ungodly pine are not for you, for the objects which they seek are not your objects: the losses which make them despond must not make you disconsolate, for their treasure is not your treasure. Come away then from admiring their transient felicity, and lamenting your present distress. Have you been envying transgressors? Count yourself to have been foolish and ignorant in so doing, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Rise above the things which are seen, for they are temporal, and spurn the things which make the flesh to smart, for this light affliction is but for a moment. Let not the world weigh you down, for you are bound, as an heir of heaven, to tread it beneath your feet: the world and all its honours you are called upon to despise, and in order that your soul should not lust after its dainties, come away unto your God, and no longer fret yourself.

When you have thus come out of the field, and have arrived at the palace of love, the first staircase is described as trust and do. Read the third verse, “Trust in the Lord and do good.” You believe in the Lord’s love, prove your confidence by committing yourself to the keeping of him who loves you. You believe in the atonement of Jesus, fly for cleansing to the blood which was shed for you. You believe in the glory of your risen Lord, commit all your future to him with whom you are one day to sit upon the throne. As for all your trials, come now and believe in God concerning them. Do not let anything make you mistrust or distrust your God. Know ye that he is God and “his mercy endureth for ever,” and trust ye in him for ever. But let this faith be practical-“Trust in the Lord and do good.” A dead faith will bring you but poor comfort; yours must be a faith which can do as well as receive. It is through the exercise of faith that comfort comes to the heart, even as the exercise of our limbs warms our bodily frame. Do good if you suffer for it, and you shall partake in the joy of your Lord.

“Commit thy way to God,

The weight which makes thee faint;

World’s are to him no load;-

To him breathe thy complaint.

He who for winds and clouds

Maketh a pathway free,

Through wastes, or hostile crowds

Will make a way for thee.”

When thou hast learned to trust and to do thou wilt have ascended a noble staircase of the royal palace, and where does it land thee? It lands thee in the king’s dining-room, where it is written-“Verily thou shalt be fed.” Observe the promise, If thou hast a living, active faith thou shalt be provided for: thy bodily wants as they come shall be relieved, thy mental wants also shall be satisfied, and as for the vast demands of thy spirit, God all-sufficient shall supply them all-“So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed.” It will be a happy circumstance, dear brethren, if you can come up the first staircase this morning, leaving the fields, leaving the elder brethren out there who complain concerning the many years of service in which their Father has never given them a kid, that they might make merry with their friends, and rejoicing to do the will of the Lord out of motives of love. Let the sinner and the grumbler alone and go up those stairs of active faith, and sit down where a feast is spread, even a feast of fat things full of marrow and of wines on the lees well refined.

We must ascend somewhat higher, and climb the next staircase, which is marked Delight and desire. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Think what a good God thou hast, yea, what a blessed God he is. Remember how good he has been to thee in the past. Think of the richness of his word, the sureness of his promise, the tenderness of his love, and the power of his arm till thy soul shall say, “Whatever I have not, I have my God; whatever is unsatisfactory, he satisfies me; and whatever grieves me to think it is so unfit for me, nothing grieves me in my God. I would not have him changed, nor have him change in any respect. He is a sea of blessedness in which my soul doth swim.” When you have delighted, begin to desire. Open your mouth wide and the Lord will fill it. Enlarge your petitions and he will grant them to you. Desire more grace, more holiness, more love, more knowledge of Christ, more heaven below; and all these shall come at your call. Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.

See, now, we have ascended beyond the dining-room, and mounted to the royal treasury, we have entered the king’s almonry, yea we have come into the king’s withdrawing room where he listens to the desires of his suitors, and enters into fellowship with them, and bids them delight in him. Here he bids you open all your heart, and pour forth your secret longings, for he will lavish upon you the gifts of his love, and fill you with all his fulness. It will be a great joy to you to-day if you have now climbed from the low marshy lands of fretting into the upper chamber of delighting in the Lord.

But you are not up to the royal rest-chamber yet. You must now climb another stair, marked, Commit thy way and trust. “Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him.” Concerning that part of thy way which thou understandest and hast under thy control, labour to walk therein according to the Lord’s mind, and all that portion of thy way which thou understandest not and hast no power over, leave entirely to the absolute will of God. What hast thou to do in ordering thine own way? “All the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.” If thou must needs have the arrangement of thine own march through the wilderness, if thou wilt advance without the guidance of the pillar of cloud and fire, who is to provide for thee, and whither wilt thou go? Thy fallible judgment and feeble strength will soon fail thee. Leave to thy Lord’s will to ordain every step which thou shalt take, and ask only to know so much of his mind as to be able to follow his guidance. Do not wish to pry into the secrets of the future, but “commit thy way unto the Lord.” Do not worry about the troubles or the present, but leave thy way where thou hast left thy soul. Say unto the Lord, “My Father, since this road is all too rough for my infant feet, be pleased to carry me, even as thou didst thy people all the days of old”: and his strong hands shall lift thee up, and in his bosom shalt thou ride over the miry places of the earth, rejoicing in almighty love. Commit and trust.

Now this brings us into the undressing room which stands side by side with the royal bed-chamber. Take off the dusty garments of thy cares and commit them to the Lord. Strip thyself of one anxiety after another, unrobe thyself of all that reminds thee of this miry, weary pilgrimage, and leave thy worn and travel-stained raiment. Then dost thou need a candle to light thee to thy bed; here it is for thee in verse six, “He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.” You feel convinced that what is left with God is safe, you have an assured confidence that if you commit a matter to him you have left it in the hands of a faithful Creator: these gracious confidences will light you to your couch of rest. Like Paul, you will be at peace as to the future whether it bring you life or death, for you will say “I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him until that day.” There is your candle, enter the quiet chamber and take your rest. “Rest in the Lord.”

These are the steps which I have tried briefly to describe. There is a coming out from the fretfulness generated by the world and its cares and troubles-a pulling off the shoes, as it were, before you enter the palace, saying to your soul, “Fret not because of evil-doers.” Then there is a sitting down to a feast of love by a simple but active faith. Next there is, after the feast, the sweet dessert of communion with Christ-a leaning of the head upon the bosom of the Lord, as John did at the supper, delighting oneself in the Lord, and getting the desires of thine inmost soul. After this comes a disrobing of everything like care, and the laying aside of all that is earth-born and gross, which tends to distract us; and, last of all, there is the resigning of the soul to the peace which the Holy Spirit brings, which is comparable to reclining upon a soft couch, provided by him who says to us, “My child, thou art very weary; rest in the Lord.”

“Long did I toil, and knew no earthly rest;

Far did I rove, and found no certain home;

At last I sought them in his sheltering breast,

Who spreads his arms and bids the weary come.

With him I found a home, a rest divine;

And I since then am his, and he is mine.”

Now let us try and form some idea of the rest itself which is bestowed upon us in this royal chamber.

First, it is a rest of mind, of which the prominent ingredient is a sense of security and fixedness: a fixed belief in the teachings of the divine Spirit and in the gospel which we have received; a sense of having grasped the blessings which that gospel holds out to us, and therefore a sense of the certainty of our acceptance with God and of our eternal security in Christ Jesus. Beloved, if you are of the school which shifts its creed every week; if you belong to the modern-culture gentlemen, who cannot tell us what they believe, because they do not know themselves-who are so eminently receptive that it appears to me that they are mainly occupied in turning out what lumber they have warehoused in order to be able to stow away more,-then you will never know any rest. This hallowed state of mind cannot come to the unsettled doubter. The sacred, dove-like Spirit quits the regions of uncertainty and dwells with those who know whom they have believed. Where he dwells there is rest, but nowhere else. Look at John-the blessed, loving John-how, all through his three epistles, he continually uses that word “know.” He is a terrible Positivist; he is sure of everything; he dogmatises gloriously, and he rests. There is no rest till you are sure. A little “if” is like a stone in your shoe; you cannot travel comfortably, it blisters the foot and prevents restful progress. “Ah, but,” says one, “I do not know how to interpret such and such a text.” Well, then, brother, cease from interpreting it, and believe it as it stands. It is infinitely better to believe God’s word than to interpret it; indeed, much that passes for interpretation nowadays is simply the drying of all sap and soul out of the inspired words, and making them retain only a very dry and husky sense. Be you more earnest to believe than to interpret. Ask, what does the text say? Believe that, and if you do not comprehend all its meaning do not be any the less believing. How shall God be comprehensible by finite creatures, or his glorious truth be seen in all points by such poor mortals as we are? Believe, so shalt thou be established; and then, being established in the truth, grasp the blessings which that truth brings to you, and rejoice therein. You believe in justification by faith; be sure that you are justified. You believe in the election of God; make your calling and election sure. You believe in the final perseverance of the saints; persevere even to the end. Grip the blessings, and then feel that, having believed that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God; having put your trust in him, there is therefore now no condemnation to you, for you are in Christ Jesus. As you realise these doctrines, and the positive security-the indisputable security-which comes to every believer who is relying upon Jesus, you will feel that perfect rest which is indescribable in sweetness, the rest “which only he that feels it knows.” Our rest is a sense of security.

Next, this rest is, in another aspect, contentment-perfect satisfaction with our earthly lot. Ambition spoils rest; the constant greed of avarice puts rest out of the question. The worry, the fret, the fume of accumulating, of desiring more, of impatiently coveting more than God is pleased to give-all this ruins rest. Oh, to say, “The Lord’s will be done! Having food and raiment, I am therewith content.” “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” and to let ambition, and lofty desires, and fretfulness, and complaining at your lot, all go, and just say, “God hath appointed my portion and ordained all my ways; and so let it be.” This is rest. Put this together with security as to the eternal future, and you have gained two very sweet ingredients with which to compose a rest worthy of the sons of God.

“Rest, weary heart,

From all thy silent griefs, and secret pain

Thy profitless regrets, and longings vain;

Wisdom and love have ordered all the past,

All shall be blessedness and light at last;

Cast off the cares that have so long opprest;

Rest sweetly, rest!

Next there is in this rest the idea of immovable confidence-perfect confidence in God, so that when severe trial comes the soul says, “It is right-I am sure it is right; I cannot see the reason, but I know that the trial is sent in love; I am certain of that.” When another trial befalls child-like confidence in God still says, “It could not be better; if God send two troubles, they are better than one; and if he send six, they are six times better than one, though they seem six times worse.” That confidence says also, “He will bring me out of it; he never sent me out yet upon the sea of tribulation but what he brought me home again; never sent me to a battle at my own charges yet; never bade me do a work but what he gave me strength for it; never called me to suffer but what he sustained me under the pain.” Oh, but this is a blessed thing, to be quite confident that God cannot err, cannot forsake, cannot change, cannot cease to love, and that therefore everything that cometh from him cometh in the right way, at the right time, in the right measure, and that all is well and will end well. Ay, though all the tempests come forth from their caverns to howl at once across the tremendous seas, though every cyclone and hurricane that ever blew should come back again, and my poor barque should be almost a wreck by reason of their fury,-it is well, it is well. If only on a board or a broken piece of the ship, I shall come safe to land, for so hath God decreed. Glory be to his name! I will leave all to him. This is rest-thorough rest, security, contentment, confidence.

Then, perhaps, mainly, according to the Hebrew, this rest consists in submission, for the Hebrew is, “Be silent to God.” That is the word. One of the old versions reads it, “Hold thou still before God.” This holy silence is illustrated by what we read of Aaron; when his sons died, before the Lord-“Aaron held his peace.” Let your tongue be quiet, do not murmur, do not argue: leave all, and bow in silence. “My soul is even as a weaned child,” said David; he would no longer cry after the warm breasts of comfort, he was weaned at last. Now, O Lord, thy will is my will. It has been a sharp lesson, but thou hast taught it to me at last. Aforetime I struggled, but now I acquiesce: once I quarrelled, but now sweetly yield. Let it be as thou pleasest, thy will is mine. This also is rest.

“This is a holier, sweeter rest,

Than the lulling rest from pain,

And a deeper calm than that which sleep

Sheds over heart and brain.

“It is the soul’s surrender’d choice,

The settling of the will,

Lying down gently at the cross,

God’s purpose to fulfil.”

There comes, next, the rest of patient waiting, for that is in the text. What does it say? “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” This is to have desires, but to feel that you can waive them, and tarry the Lord’s leisure; to have wishes, but always to keep them tethered so that they go not too far; to have a will only in subserviency to the the wiser and kinder will which rules above; saying ever, “Lord, that is what I think I should wish for, but I do not certainly know whether it would be good for me or not, and therefore I ask thee to deny me if my wishes are wrong. My most earnest prayers, my Father, if they should not please thee, do not hear them; for I would ask thee rather not to hear me than to hear me if I ask amiss. I have wishes and a will, and thou hast permitted me to have them, for thou hast said thou wilt grant me the desires of my heart; but Lord, if my heart should not be delighting herself in thee when she feels her desires they shall not be my desires, I will disown them. My supremest will shall be not to will anything except thy will, and if I do will it I repent of so willing, and discard the evil will and the undesirable desire. I will turn all wilfulness out of doors by thy grace that thou mayest have thy will.” This is a blessed spirit, dear friends, and he that has attained it has entered the royal bedchamber, where he shall rest in peace, for “so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

This rest means also peace, peace of soul with yourself, with your fellow men, with God. It takes two to make an enemy, and if you will not be one of the two, you will not have an enemy seriously to distress you. Men may dislike you, but they shall be held in check, for “when a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” “He maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder thereof doth he restrain.” At any rate, the assured believer possesses that peace which Christ had, who when his foes gathered round about him, and sought to catch him in his words, baffled them all by his calm self-possession.

This rest means quiet happiness, inward calm. The soul has mounted where it wants to be, and does not intend to move from its position. Noah’s dove has been round the earth and seen nothing but a waste of waters, but she has flown home at last, she is in Noah’s hand, and she means to stop in the ark until the better times shall come, and the waters are assuaged. Oh, if any of you have wandered and lost the peace which Christ gives, even that which he gives not to the world, if you are troubled and fretful, and envious, and weary, commune with your own heart this morning and say, “Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” Say to your heart as I have said to mine, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” “Rest in the Lord.”

To close our description of rest, I think we must add one other term to it, it is the rest of expectation, especially in regard to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest fret that some of us ever have is about the cause of God. Personal troubles and domestic troubles sit very lightly on some of us, but church trouble perplexes us. Not in my case, because none of you who love the Lord ever intentionally cause me distress of mind, but there are some who walk of whom we would tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, and yet they have entered into the church, to her dishonour and injury. And outside this church, outside in the great church of Christ, you can see everywhere looming heavily over us the black clouds of Romanism, and amidst the gloom the spectres of scepticism are fitting to and fro. Everything in these times seems to be loose and out of joint. The men of “thought” have pulled up the old landmarks, they have broken down the hedges, and laid the Lord’s enclosures common to all that pass by the way. Behold they go about to break down the carved work of the sanctuary with their axes, they defile the temple of the Lord. Nothing is sacred for these wise men of modern times, no truth that was taught by their sires can be taught by them. The doctrines of grace to these men are platitudes, and the doctrine of the cross itself is denied; or, when not denied, so obscured that we know not what it is. Scarcely do they themselves know what it is they affirm; they are great at questions and negations. Novelties of doctrine are poured out upon the earth, countless in number as the frogs which came up in the apocalyptic vision, and what shall the end be? “Go thy way,” says God to his beloved, “for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot in the end of the days.” Christ will take care of his own church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Leave thou all this to him who seeth the end as well as the beginning, and to whom the victory shall surely come. Your strength is to sit still. Rest in the Lord with expectation that he will overrule the evil, and will himself surely come to end it all and reign amongst his ancients gloriously.

Lastly, and here I needed time, but with my usual improvidence I have squandered it, our third point is, let us enter and examine the royal chamber itself. “Rest in the Lord.” Now the text does not say rest in anything about the Lord, but rest in the Lord himself. Oh that the Spirit might bring us into such union and communion with God that we must to the full know the meaning of this text. “Rest in the Lord”! The Lord has revealed himself to us in these days in the person of his only-begotten Son: Jesus, akin to us by nature, Jesus, our substitute and surety, Jesus, our all in all. Now, beloved, come near to Jesus by a living faith, hide yourselves in Jesus, enter into his wounds, feel your safety in him, your union to him. Live to him, live with him, live for him, live in him, and as you do so you must rest. Only in the Lord is there any rest for you; but as you are a man in Christ Jesus and lose yourself in him, your life being hidden with Christ in God, in that way, in that way only, shall you find perfect rest. What a resting place do saints find in the finished work of Jesus! Let but the Holy Ghost lead them to see the glory of his atoning blood and they are sure to rest. Let me tenderly entreat the tempted believer to tell Jesus all his case, and look to him for that rest which he himself promised when he said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

“Rest, weary soul!

The penalty is borne, the ransom paid,

For all thy sins full satisfaction made;

Strive not to do thyself what Christ has done,

Claim the free gift, and make the joy thine own;

No more by pangs of guilt and fear distrest,

Rest, sweetly rest!”

Although this is obviously the main meaning, we may add that, “Rest in the Lord” means, rest in him as your covenant God. You have not to deal with an abstract deity who stands afar off as your offended Creator. Behold, beloved, if thou believest in Jesus, the Lord has entered into an everlasting covenant with thee, ordered in all things and sure. He hath said concerning thee “I will not turn away from thee to do thee good.” He has promised to keep you and preserve you, and bring you into his eternal glory by a covenant signed and sealed with the precious blood of Christ. “Rest in the Lord.” He will keep his covenant even to its jots and tittles, therefore be not disquieted. The eternal shalls and wills shall never fail. “This is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee.” Glory be unto our covenant God! Come and rest in him, beloved.

Then rest in all the relationships into which the Lord has been pleased to bring himself. Know thou that this God of thine is thy shield and thine exceeding great reward; thy rock, thy dwelling-place, thy Shepherd, and thy Preserver. Best of all, he is thy Father. Oh, brethren, one cannot talk about this, one wants to drink it in by quiet meditation; it is a bliss too great for words to be indeed a child of the heavenly Father! Jehovah is Creator of heaven and earth, Maker and Destroyer, and yet I am his child, and as surely as a child may trust its parent and rest in its mother’s bosom, so surely and safely may I trust my Father, and rest in him.

Dost thou not know, too, that to set forth the nearness and tenderness of his relationship to us, the Lord is pleased to describe himself as the husband of our souls? For “Thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name.” “I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.” Shall not the spouse trust her husband? I hope we will each of us say to him this morning, “Lord, I do trust thee, for I love thee, since thou hast made me one with thee in blessed conjugal union; and I say unto thee to-day as the church did of old, ‘Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?’ ” Rest in thy friend, thy Saviour, thy all in all. I leave the full list of divine relationships for you to think of at your leisure; they are all full of rest.

Rest, next, in each one of the attributes of God. Are you conscious of sin? Come and rest in the mercy which blots it out. Poor sinner, I would fain invite thee with the burden of thy guilt upon thee to remember that he delighteth in mercy, that it is God’s joy to pass by transgression. Thou wilt never escape from the bondage of thy sin, except as thou comest to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ his Son. Rest in boundless mercy. Beloved child of God, are you troubled about inward sin?-then rest in his power to break the neck of corruption. Perhaps your affliction concerns your worldly affairs, then rest in the power of God to help you: he is great at a dead lift, and when none can help us but God, then is God most ready to come to the rescue. Rest, beloved brother, in God’s wisdom. You cannot see your way, but he can see it, leave it to him, for there is no possibility of error in his counsels. Rest also in his immutability, that sure anchorage amid the troubled sea of life. Thou hast changes every day; he never changes. Come back to him whose constancy of love is a mountain of strength. He has set his mind upon saving thee, and he is of one mind, and who shall turn him? This is his mind-that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he will perform that salvation: nor death, nor hell shall thwart the sacred purpose of an unchanging God. He will carry out his gracious work and glorify himself therein. Rest thou also in his faithfulness. What he has promised he will perform. He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Take thou his promise and believe it to be as good as the fulfilment, for so it is.

Rest thou also in his word, which he has written for thy consolation. The Holy Ghost has in a thousand ways declared the divine goodwill towards thee: meditate upon what he has dictated. As full as the skies are of stars so full are the Scriptures with promises. Take these precious promises, one by one, believe them, and pray unto the Lord, saying, “Fulfil this word unto thy servant whereon thou hast caused me to hope. O Lord, do as thou hast said.” Then sweetly rest in the eternal truthfulness, for the Lord will keep every one of his promises to you.

What a subject I have before me! I seem to be like those bold explorers in the northern seas, before whom a passage opens up to the left, and anon another channel on the right. They sail into the centre of a great bay, and then further on enter upon another sea, and know not how wide the ocean may yet become still further on. My text is an ocean to which I see no bound, it is full of wondrous grace, but I have neither time nor ability to sail over its shoreless surface. I must leave you to spread the sails of meditation, and favoured by the gales of the Spirit’s influences, I trust you will be borne along, not to an ocean of primeval ice, but to the condition of unbroken rest in the Lord.

Next, let us rest in the will of God. It is a high point to arrive at to feel that my Father’s will is such that I can entirely rest in it, let it be whatever it may; yet it would not be so difficult if we were not so depraved. O for conquering grace to crush down self. I would be as a grain of dust blown in the summer’s gale without power to change my course, carried on by the irresistible breath of the Lord: for ever made willingly unwilling to will anything but the will of my Lord. I would be as a tiny straw borne along by the Gulf Stream, carried whereever the warm love of God shall bear me, self delighting to lie low and see the Lord alone exalted. The Buddhists talk about being absorbed into Buddha and ceasing to be, and they make it their heaven to be at last swallowed up in God. I know the falsehood of this teaching, but I know that there is a truth which is very like it in outward aspect. Oh, to be nothing! To be less than nothing! To have no will and no desire about life or death, about sickness or health, about poverty or wealth, no will about anything; and yet to have a strong resolved will to deny self and say, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” This is to rest in the Lord.

Beloved, may the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, grant you abundantly from this day forward to enter into this, which is man’s first, man’s last, man’s sweetest, truest rest, the rest of the sinner coming to Christ, the rest of the saint abiding in heaven-the only real rest that can be found, in earth or heaven-rest in the Lord. God grant it to us by faith, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon-Psalm 37.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-708, 699, 729; Verses 1, 2, 5, 6.

COMING-ALWAYS COMING

A Sermon

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington

“To whom coming.”-1 Peter 2:4.

The apostle is speaking of the Lord Jesus, of whom he had previously said, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” and he follows that sentence up with this, “To whom coming as unto a living stone.” Now, I want to call your special attention to this present participle-this act of coming-for there is much to counsel and to comfort us in the fact and the reflections it suggests.

The Christian life is begun, continued, and perfected altogether in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very great blessing for us. Sometimes when you go a journey, you travel so far under the protection of a certain Company, but then you have to change, and the rest of your journey may be performed under very different circumstances, upon quite another kind of line. Now we have not so far to go to heaven in the guardian care of Jesus Christ, and then at a certain point to change, so as to have somebody else to be our leader, or some other method of salvation. No, he is the author and he is the finisher of our faith. If we begin aright we begin with “Christ is all”; if we go on aright we go on with “Christ is all”; and if we finish aright we finish with “Christ is all.” It was a great delusion of some in Paul’s day that after they had begun in the spirit, they hoped to be made perfect in the flesh; and there are some now a days who begin as sinners resting upon Christ, but they want to go on as independent saints, resting on themselves. That will never do, brethren. It is not “Christ and Company” anyhow. The sinner knows that it must be Christ only, because he has nothing of his own; and the saint ought to know that it must be Christ only, because he has less than nothing apart from Christ. I believe that if we grow out of Christ we grow in an unhealthy mushroom fashion: what we need is to grow up into Christ in all things, knowing him more and more, and being more and more satisfied that he is what we need. This is really a healthy growth, and may God send more and more of it to us as long as ever we live. Blessed be his holy name, with us it is Christ in the morning, when we are young and full of strength; it is Christ at noon, when we are bearing the burden and heat of the day; and it is Christ at eventide, when we lean on the staff for very age, and the shadows lengthen, and the light is dim. Yea, and it shall be Christ only when the night settles down and death-shade curtains our last bed. In all circumstances and conditions we look to Jesus only. Are we in wealth? Christ crowns it. Are we in poverty? Christ cheers it. Are we in honour? Christ calms us. Are we in shame? Christ consoles us. Are we in health? He sanctifies it. Are we in sickness? He relieves it. As he is at all times the same in himself so he is the same to us. To the same Christ we must come and cling under every new circumstance. Our heart must abide faithful to her one only Lord and lovingly sing,-

“I’ll turn to thee in days of light

As well as nights of care,

Thou brightest amid all that’s bright,

Thou fairest of the fair!”

We have not to seek a fresh physician, to find a new friend, or to discover a novel hope, but we are to look for everything to Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” “Ye are complete in him.” Stand to this, my brethren. Never think that you need aught beyond the provision which is stored up in him, for sanctification, for satisfaction, or for safety. Cast not your eyes around you to find a supplement to the Lord Jesus, or you will deceive yourselves and dishonour him. It is not with our Lord as it was with Moses. Moses led the people through the wilderness, but he could not bring them into the promised land: that was reserved for Joshua. Brother, the Lord Jesus has led you so far through the wilderness, and he will lead you over the Jordan, and secure your heritage to you, and see you safely landed in it: look not, therefore, for any other leader or lawgiver. It is not with Christ as it was with David: David collected the materials for the temple, but though he could gather together vast stores of great value, he could not build them up, for the Lord said that this honour should be reserved for his son that should be after him; and therefore the construction of the temple was left for Solomon. But our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be his name, has not only gathered together his people and the precious treasures with which he is to build a living temple unto God; but he will also build it stone upon stone, and bring forth the top stone with shouting. He shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory. Christ in the Christian’s alphabet is A, B, C right down to Z, and all the words of the pure language of Canaan are only compounds of himself. Has he not said it, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end”?

Our text speaks about coming to him, and I shall endeavour to expound it to you thus. This is a full picture of Christian life. I consider it to be a complete picture of a saint drawn with one stroke. It is not easy to make a portrait with one line, yet I remember seeing a somewhat famous portrait of our Lord in which the artist never lifted his pencil from the paper from beginning to end, but drew the whole of it with one continuous series of circles. So here I may say the whole Christian life is drawn in one line-coming unto Christ. “To whom coming.” When we have spoken upon that, I shall answer two questions; the one-what is the best way of coming to him at first? the other-what is the best way of coming to him afterwards? May the Holy Spirit bless the whole discourse to our souls.

First, then, here is a complete description of the Christian life. It is a continuous “coming” to Jesus.

If you have your Bibles open at the text I want you to notice that the expression occurs in connection with two figures. There is one which precedes it in the second verse, namely, the figure of a little child fed upon milk. “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming.” Children come to their parents, and they frequently come rather longer than their parents like; it is the general habit of children to come to their parents for what they need. They begin with coming to the mothers when they are new-born babes. Look at the little child; it cannot provide for itself. If it were left to shift for itself it must die; but having tasted the unadulterated milk, it thirsts for more of it. When the time comes round for it to be fed, and it comes very often, it gives unmistakeable signs even before it can speak that it wants its food; it knows where to come, and it will not rest till it reaches its place and nestles down. As the child grows up it knows the breakfast hour, and the dinner hour, and knows where to come for the grateful meal and the hearty welcome. You do not want in most of your houses, I suspect, to ring a bell to call your children together to the family table: they all carry little interior bells which let them know pretty accurately when meal-times will be, and they come freely, without persuading or forcing. Some of them are now getting to be fifteen or sixteen years of age, and they keep on coming still. They come to your table just as they used to come. When first you had to lift them into their little chairs then they were coming; and now they take their big chairs as if they quite belonged to them; but they still keep on coming. Yes, and they come to you not only for bread and for meat, but they come for a great many things besides. In fact, the older they grow, the more they come for. They used to come for little shoes and little garments, and now they need them cut of a larger size, and of more expensive material, and they come accordingly. Though they cost you more they come with greater freedom, for habit has made them very bold in their coming. They do not require any entreaty or encouragement to come for what they want: they look for many things as a matter of course, and for the rest they come with all the readiness imaginable. Perhaps they let you know their desires a little sooner than you want them to do, and when you think that they might manage a little longer with what they have, they press their claims with earnestness, and vote them urgent. They very soon find out their requirements, you never have to call them together and say, “Now girls, I want you earnestly to consider whether you do not want more dresses. Now boys, I want you to lay it to heart whether you do not require new clothes.” Oh, nothing of the sort. Your children do not need to be called in such a way; they come without calling. They are always coming for something, as you very well know. Sometimes they constrain you to put your hands into your pockets so frequently and for such a variety of expenses that you wonder how long the purse will hold out, and when your resources will be exhausted. Of one thing you feel quite sure that it will be easier to drain your purse than to stop your children from coming for one thing or another.

They come to you now for a great many things they did not come for at first. It seems that there is no end to the things they come for, and I believe there is no end at all. Some of them, I know, continue to come after they have got beyond their boyish years. Though you have a notion, I suppose, that they might shift for themselves, they are still coming for sovereigns where shillings used to suffice. When you could put them to bed at night with the reflection that you had found them in food and raiment, and house and home, you knew your expenses; but now the big fellows come to you with such heavy demands that you can hardly see the end of it. So it is; they are always coming.

Now, in all this long talk I have been showing you how to understand the figure of coming to Christ. Just what your children began to do from the first moment you fixed your eyes on them, and what they have continued to do ever since, that is just what you are to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. You are to be always coming to him-coming to him for spiritual food, coming to him for spiritual garments, coming to him for washing, guiding, help, and health: coming in fact for everything. You will be wise if, the older you grow, the more you come, and he will be all the better pleased with you. If you find out other wants and make clearer discoveries of your needs, come for more than you used to come for, and prove thereby that you better understand and appreciate what manner of love it is-that ye should be called the sons of God. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Has he not said to you, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it”? It is rather strange that you never have to tell your children to do that. They do it without any telling; but you have been told to do it, and yet you do not do it. He complains, “thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob.” The infinite liberality of your heavenly Father has urged you to make great requests of him, and yet you have stuttered and stammered and been afraid to ask, until he now tells you that “you have not because you ask not.” Beloved, let us learn from our children, and let it be the habit of our lives to be incessantly coming to the heavenly Father-coming oftener, coming for more reasons, coming for larger blessings, coming with greater expectations, coming in one life-long perpetual coming, and all because he bids us come.

If you will look again at your Bibles, you will get a second illustration from the fourth verse, “To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Here we have the figure of a building. A building comprises first a foundation, and then the stones which are brought to the foundation and are built upon it. This furnishes a very beautiful picture of Christian life. I have read that there has been discovered beneath Jerusalem an immense cavern or quarry near the Damascus gate. Travellers who have been into this quarry say that there are niches in the live rock out of which the magnificent stones were cut with which Solomon’s temple was built. The temple is up there on the top of the rock, and then far down in the quarry you can distinctly discover where the huge stones used to be. Now there was a process of coming by which each stone came to the foundation. Some stones that were expected to form part of the building never reached it: there is one huge stone of that sort in the Bezetha cavern now. It is still there, for this reason-that, though it is squared and chiselled on the front and two sides, and also on the top and the bottom, yet it has never been cut away at the back, and so it cleaves to the rock of which it is naturally a part, and remains in its original darkness. Now, the passage that I would like you to think of is that in the fifty-first chapter of Isaiah-“Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” There are many here present who have been cut off from the rock, and lifted up out of the horrible pit; since which early operation of divine grace they have been coming and coming till they have reached the foundation, and are built up as lively stones in the temple which is established upon Christ. But there are others of you who need further excavating. God has begun his work upon you, he has used sharp tools, and begun to separate you from the world: it has taken a long time to get you cut away from the rock, even in part. You used to be altogether sinful and earth-bound, and you lived in worldliness, just as the stone formed a part of the rock; God has been using his great chisel upon you, and cut you away, and separated you to a great extent from your fellow men; but still at the back, in secret, your heart cleaves to sin. You have not given up the darling lust of your heart and therefore you are not quarried yet, and you cannot come to Christ, for that is impossible till you are separated from the rock of which you naturally form a part. Oh, how I wish that almighty grace would take the saw of the word to-night, and make clear cuts right across your stony heart until you are sawn right adrift from the hard rock of sin, that you may afterwards be made to come to Christ to be built upon him as your foundation. That is how the work of grace begins,-by cutting loose the soul from the evil world of which it has been a component part. This is part of the process by which the living stones are brought to rest on the foundation, for it is clear that they cannot come to the foundation till first they are removed from their native bed in the pit of sin. Oh, may God’s grace continue to take out many of this congregation like stones divided from the quarry, that so by grace they may come to Jesus.

Well, after they had cut out those stones in the quarry, which, with a little imagination, you can see lying there, detached and distinct, the next operation was to pull them up to the top of Mount Zion. It was a long drag up to the summit of the hill. How Solomon managed to remove such enormous masses we do not know. If he had no machinery or motive force that could supersede manual labour, and the force on which he relied was in the sinews of men, the matter is all the more wonderful. They must have pulled away perhaps many thousands of them at one single stone, hauling it out of the pit, dragging it up the zigzag roads till at last the gigantic mass reached its place. Now, there is a lifting, a drawing of the soul to Christ after this fashion, and I see among you some who have recently been drawn. You have not been dragged by men. All the men in the world could not draw a sinner to Christ. No machinery is known or will ever be invented that can ever draw a proud, stubborn will to Christ. We may tug and pull till we break the ropes, but we shall never make a soul stir one inch Christward. But there is another power which can accomplish the work impossible to us. “I, if I be lifted up,” says Christ, “will draw all men unto me.” He has such attractive power that he draws the stones out of the quarry of nature, right up to the foundation which his free grace has laid in Zion, and they are built upon him. This is the second part of the work of grace in the soul; first it separates us from the rock, and then it draws us up to the foundation, and in both it is working out our coming to Christ.

Well, we have watched the stone as it has been carried up. What is the next process? Why, the next work is to let it down, so that it lies in due order upon the foundation. The foundation of the temple very likely was far below the adjacent soil; and so this mass of stone had to be let down to the foundation steadily and wisely that it might rest in its proper bed. What a task it is sometimes-to let a huge stone down upon the foundation, and to get it to lie square and true, so that every bit of it is in proper position with the rest of the structure. Picture the process to your mind’s eye. We have got the stone upon the base, but half of it projects beyond the foundation, and so far it has nothing to lean upon. That will never do. It must be moved till it lies plumb with the foundation, exactly square with the other stones, and till every portion of it rests firmly on its proper bed. Oh, dear hearts, this is one work which the grace of God has to do with you-to bring you to lie upon Christ, to recline upon Christ, and that wholly, rightly, and squarely. It takes a long time to bring some sinners to this; they want to be propped up with a little bit of self-righteousness, they cannot be induced to lie right square upon Christ; they want to tilt a little, have a little shoring up with their own doings, and a little dependence on themselves: but this will never do. “To whom coming,” says the text, “coming as to a living stone.” Oh, that almighty grace would constrain you all to be coming till you lie flat and square on Christ, till you have Christ at one corner, and Christ at the other corner, and Christ at all the four corners whereon your soul lies; till you are resting on the Lord Jesus Christ at all times, in all respects, under all circumstances, for everything. Other foundation can no man lay; be ye sure that ye rest wholly upon it.

“Bless the Lord,” says one, “I know I have come as far as that. Can I get any farther?” Well, look brother, as long as ever that huge stone lies on the foundation it is always coming to the foundation. Its own weight is always pressing it down upon the foundation, and the heavier it is the more closely and compactly it lies. I do feel myself, now, to be more close to Christ than ever I was. My weight of sin helps to press me down on him. My weight of trouble, my weight of care, my weight of anxiety about the souls of my hearers, and even my weight of joy, all help me to press more on my Lord. The way to be coming to Christ, brethren, as long as ever you live, is to lean more on Christ, press more heavily on Christ, and depend more upon Christ than ever you did. In this way, you know, some stones seem, by long abiding and pressing, to cleave to one another, and unite together till they appear to be no longer distinct, but one mass. Have you not often noticed in an old Roman wall that you cannot distinguish the mortar from the stone? You cannot tell where the stones were joined; they have grown to be one piece. And blessed is that Christian who, like a living stone, has continued so to come to the foundation till Christ and he have become one, as it were: yea, one in conscious fact, so that nothing can divide them. Thus we continue still to come to Jesus, and draw nearer to him; nearer and yet nearer still, built up into him, perfectly joined in one spirit. Then, only then, shall Christian life be perfected.

These two figures of the babe and the stone have shown you, I trust, what the text means. I have not gone far afield to find them-they lie, as you have seen, in the immediate context. “To whom coming” is an apt description of the whole of Christian life: mind that you make it the rule of yours.

But now, secondly, I have to answer the question, what is the best way of coming to Christ at first?

There are some poor hearts among you longing to be saved. “Ah,” you say, “I hear that if I come to Christ I shall be saved; but how can I come to him? What do you mean by coming to Jesus?” Well, our reply is plain and clear,-it is to trust Christ, to depend upon him, to believe him, to rely upon him. Then they enquire, “But how can I come to Christ? In what way would you recommend me to come?” The answer is, the very best way to come to Christ is to come with all your needs about you. If you could get rid of half your needs apart from Christ, you would not come to Jesus half so well as you can with the whole of them pressing upon you, for your need furnishes you with motives for coming, and gives you pleas to urge. Suppose a physician should come into a town with motives of pure benevolence to exercise the healing art. What he wants is not to make money, but to bless the townsmen: he does not intend to make any charge or take any fees, but he lets it be known that he has come into the town to display his skill. He has a love to his fellow men, and he wants to cure them, and therefore he gives notice that as he only wishes for opportunities of displaying his kindness and skill, the poorest will be welcome, and the most diseased will be best received. Now, then, who is the man that can come to the doctor’s door with confidence, and give a good rat-tat-tat, and feel that he will be welcome? Well, there is a person who has cut his finger: will the doctor rush into the surgery to attend to him? No doubt he will look at the cut, but he will not grow very enthusiastic over it, for doctors do not get much credit out of curing cut fingers. Here is another gratis patient who has a wart on his hand. Well, there is nothing very famous about curing warts, and the physician is by no means excited over his work. But here is a poor forlorn body who has been given up by all the other doctors, a patient who is so bad that he lies at death’s door: he has such a complication of diseases, that he could hardly tell what diseases he has not suffered from, but certainly his condition is terrible enough to make it appear hopeless. He seems to be a living wonder of disease. That is the man who may come boldly to the physician, and expect his immediate attention, and his best consideration. Now, doctor, if you can cure this man he will be a credit to you. This man exactly answers to your advertisement. You say that you only wish for patients who will give you an opportunity of displaying your skill. Here is a fine object for your pity, he is bad at the lungs, bad at the heart, bad in the feet, bad in the eyes, bad in the ears, bad in the head, bad all over. If you want an opportunity of showing your skill, here is the man. Jesus, my Lord and Master, is the Great Physician of souls, and he heals them on just such terms as I have mentioned. Is there a fargone sinner here to-night? Is there a deeply sinsick soul anywhere within the range of my voice? Is there man or woman who is bad altogether? Come along, my friend, you are just in a right condition to come to Jesus Christ. Come just as you are, that is the best style of “coming.”

Another illustration may be furnished by the common scriptural figure of a feast. A king determines to act with generosity; and, to show how liberal his disposition is, he desires to make a banquet for those who need it most. He says, “If I make a great feast to my lords and dukes, they will think little of my hospitality, for they fare sumptuously every day; therefore I will seek out guests who will be more likely to be grateful. Where shall I find guests who will most enjoy my dainties, men who will eat with the greatest gusto, and drink with the greatest delight?” Having considered the matter, he cries to his heralds, “Go ye into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.” From among the tramps by the roadside the heralds soon gather starving wretches who exactly meet the king’s wishes. Here is a poor man who has had nothing to eat for the last forty-eight hours. Look at his eager delight at the sight of the food! If you want somebody to eat largely and joyfully, is not he the man? See how he takes it in! It is wonderful how the provisions disappear before him! Here again is a poor woman who has been picked up by the wayside, faint for want of bread. She has scarcely any life in her, but see how she begins to open her eyes at the first morsel that is placed before her, and what delight there is in her every expression as she finds herself placed at a table so richly loaded. Yes, the poorer, the more hungry, the more destitute the guests, the more honour is accorded to the king who feeds such mendicants, and receives such vagrants to his table. Hear how they shout the king’s praises when they are filled with his meat! They will never have done thanking him. Now, if I address a soul to-night that is very needy, very faint, very desponding, you are a fit guest for my Master, because you have such a fine appetite for his generous repast of love. The greatness of your need is your fitness for coming to Christ, and if you want to know how to come, come just as you are. Tarry not to improve yourself one single atom; come as you are, with all your sin and filthiness and need about you, for that is the best way to come.

If you want to know how to come aright the first time, I should answer, come to find everything you want in Christ. Do not come with a load of your own wealth. Remember what Pharaoh said to Joseph; “Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.” Do not bring your old rubbish with you. “I thought I was to bring repentance.” Do not attempt to do so, but look to Jesus for it. Jesus Christ is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. Come and receive a heart of flesh, for you cannot make one for yourself. “Oh, but I thought I was to bring faith.” Faith also is the gift of Christ. It cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; draw near then to that word to find faith. Come for everything. “Oh, but I want to feel.” And then, I suppose, after you have found a nice lot of feelings you will come to Christ, and say, “Lord, thou art now able to save me, for my feelings are right.” What self-conceit! Come to Christ for feelings; come to Christ for everything.

“What,” saith one, “can you mean it, that I, an unfeeling, impenitent wretch, am bidden to come at once and believe in Jesus Christ for everlasting life?” I mean just that. I do not mean to send you round to that shop for repentance, and to the other shop for feeling, and to a third store for a tender heart, and then direct you to call on Christ at last for a few odds and ends. No, no, but come to Christ for everything.

“Come, ye needy, come and welcome,

God’s free bounty glorify;

True belief and true repentance,

Every grace that brings you nigh,