Our Lord Jesus Christ taught the people much by his words, but he taught them even more by his actions. He was always preaching, his whole life was a heavenly discourse on divine truth; and the miracles which he wrought were not only the proofs of his deity, but the illustrations of his teaching. His wonders of mercy were, in fact, acted sermons, truths embodied, pictorial illustrations appealing to the eye, and thus setting forth gospel teaching quite as clearly as vocal speech could have done. When we read of the miracles of our Lord, we should not only accept them as proofs of his Deity, and seals of his commission, but as instructions as to the manner of his gracious working. What he did of old to the bodies of men should be received as a prophecy of what he is to-day prepared to do to the souls of men. I am sure I shall not be straining the meaning of the text, or the intention of the miracle, if, instead of preaching about the youth possessed of the devil, and dwelling only upon that wonderful display of power, I endeavour to show that there are parallel cases at this time in the world of mind. Jesus is able to work in the unseen spirit-world miracles such as were foreshadowed by those which he wrought in the visible natural world.

I suppose that we have never seen Satanic possession, although I am not quite sure about it; for some men exhibit symptoms which are very like it. The present existence of demons within the bodies of men I shall neither assert nor deny; but certainly, in our Saviour’s day it was very common for devils to take possession of men and torment them greatly. It would seem that Satan was let loose while Christ was here below that the serpent might come into personal conflict with the appointed seed of the woman, that the two champions might stand foot to foot in solemn duel, and that the Lord Jesus might win a glorious victory over him. Since his defeat by our Lord, and by his apostles, it would seem that Satan’s power over human bodies has been greatly limited; but we have still among us the same thing in another and worse shape, namely, the power of sin over men’s minds. That this is akin to the power of the devil over the body is clear from holy Scripture. “The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not.” “The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” says the apostle Paul. Satan works in all ungodly men, as a smith at his forge; do you wonder that they sometimes curse and swear? These are only the sparks from the forge below, flying out of the chimney. The evil one is found co-operating with evil natures, finding fire for their tinder, blowing up the flame that is within them, and in every way assisting them, and exciting them to do evil; so that, albeit men are not possessed of devils in the sense in which they were so in Christ’s day, yet the evil one still has power over them and leads them whithersoever he desires. Do we not constantly meet with persons of this kind? I do. I know passionate men in whom the fiercest of devils appear to rave and rage; and I could point out others whose love of lying betrays the presence of the father of lies. One blasphemes and uses such filthy language that we are sure his tongue is set on fire of hell, even if the prince of devils is not ruling it. A man says, “Drink is ruining me, body and soul. I know that it is shortening my life. I have had delirium tremens, and I know that I shall have it again if I continue as I am; but I cannot leave the drink. Sometimes the craving comes over me, and I seem as if I must swallow the intoxicating draught, whether I will or no.” Whether this is the devil, or whether it is altogether the man himself, I am not going to argue; but the drink-devil, whose name is legion, is certainly among us to this day, and we hear persons tell us that they are anxious to escape from its power, and yet they return to it, rushing to intoxication as the swine rushed into the sea when the demons had entered into them.

Need I mention another form of this evil in the shape of unchastity? How many a man there is-alas, it is true of women too!-struggling against a fierce passion, and yet that passion conquers them; the unclean desire comes upon them like a hurricane bearing all before it, and they yield to it as the sere leaf yields to the blast. Nay more, they rush into a sin which they themselves condemn, of which already they have tasted the bitter fruit: they could not be more eager for it if it were the purest of all enjoyments. As the moth dashes again into the candle which has burned its wings, so do men hurry into the vice which has filled them with misery. They are possessed and domineered over by the spirit of lust, and return to their crimes as the oxen return to the stream.

I need not go further into details, for one man falls into sin in one way, and another falls after quite a different fashion. All devils are not alike-though they are alike evil. Anger differs from lust, and profligacy laughs at covetousness, yet are they all of one brood, privates in the same dreadful legion. Men practise differing sins, but their sins all manifest the same evil power. Unless Christ has set us free we are all in some shape or other under the dominion of the prince of darkness, the master of the forces of evil.

This poor young man of whom we are to talk to-night was brought into a most horrible condition through the influence of a Satanic spirit. He was a lunatic: reason had been dethroned. He was an epileptic, so that if left alone he would fall into the fire or into the water. You have yourself seen persons in fits of epilepsy, and you know how dreadful would be their danger if they were taken in a fit in the middle of a street, or by the side of a river. In this youth’s case the epilepsy was only the means by which the demon exercised his power, and this made his condition seven-fold worse than if it had been simply a disease. This afflicted one had become deaf and dumb besides, and very violent, so that he was capable of doing a great deal of mischief. In all the Holy Land there was only one who could do anything for him! There was one name by which he could be cured, and only one. It was the name of Jesus. The Lord Jesus had disciples who had wrought miracles in his name, but they were baffled by this extraordinary case. They tried what they could do, but they were utterly defeated, and gave up the task in despair; and now there remained only one person beneath the canopy of heaven that could touch this child’s case and drive out the devil. Only one person could now answer the poor father’s prayers: every other hope was dead. That is just the state in which we are: there is but one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Many are the pretended salvations, but only one is real.

“There is a name high over all,

In hell, and earth, and sky.

Angels and men before it fall,

And devils fear and fly.”

That one name is the name of Jesus, the Son of God, to whom all power is given. He is God, and can deliver any man from the dominion of evil, whatever form it may have assumed, and however long established the dominion may be. Cure besides there is none. Nothing else can rescue a man from the thraldom of his sin but the word of Jesus. When the word of power is spoken from his divine mouth all things obey; but none out of the ten thousand voices of earth can deliver us from evil. We are shut up to heaven’s unique remedy: God grant that, being so shut up, we may avail ourselves of it.

This poor lad, although nobody could cure him save Jesus, had a father that loved him, and nobody could tell the sorrow of that father’s heart because of his poor son. The father had a sharp struggle to get his son to the disciples, for epileptic persons who are also insane are hard to manage. I cannot tell how many round about assisted to hold him, all pitying the poor creature. Alas, the Lord Jesus Christ was away! The parent’s heart was heavy when he found that the great Healer to whom he looked was for a while absent. But when Jesus came down from the mountain-top the poor demoniac had this one great advantage-that he had friends to aid in bringing him to Christ. I hope that all here who are not saved are privileged with relationship to some friend who seeks their salvation. Perhaps it is a wife who cannot bear that her husband should remain out of Christ, or a husband who pines till his spouse is turned unto the Lord, and in either case it is a great help. How often a mother bears a secret anguish in her breast for her unconverted sons and daughters! I have known a sister in the family to be the only one who knew the Lord, and she has pleaded with the Lord day and night, entreating him to bless the whole of her household. Frequently a servant in the house becomes its best helper, or it may be a neighbour who has seen the ungodly conduct of his neighbours never ceases to pray for them. When some few get together to bring a specially hard case before Jesus, it is blessed work: for desperate cases grow hopeful under the influence of prayer. Come, ye saved ones, pray with me now for these unrenewed sinners, that at this moment they may feel the power of our Lord Jesus.

So, then, my first point shall be, that our hopes are all awakened. Here is a poor youth, but bad as he is terribly possessed as he is, he is coming to Christ! Prayer has been offered for him by his father, and Jesus is near. All looks well! We will take the case of a sinner who is in a similar condition: prayer has been offered for him, and that prayer has, in some measure, been heard. We have in this congregation, I trust, some who are coming to Christ, and I am right glad of it. Coming to Christ is not the best possible condition, for the best condition is to have already come to him. For a hungry man to be coming to a dinner is not enough: he must actually reach the table and eat. For a sick man to be coming to an eminent physician is hopeful, but it is not enough; he must get to that physician, take his medicine, and be restored. That is the point. To be coming to Christ is not enough: you must actually come to him, and really receive him; for to such only does he give power to become the sons of God.

This poor child was coming, and so are some here: that is to say, they have begun to hear the gospel with attention. They did not aforetime go anywhere on the Sabbath; nor did they get up very early on a Sunday morning. I can see a man who seldom rose on a Sunday morning, and when he did, he read his newspaper. You might see him any time before one o’clock in his shirt-sleeves. Half this city of London is in that condition every Sunday morning, because they look upon the day as simply their own day, and not the Lord’s-day. They have very short memories, and do not “remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy:” they forget all about its being the Lord’s-day, and do not reverence it. This is shameful conduct towards God. If a man on the road were to meet with a poor beggar, and give him six out of seven shillings which he had with him, the beggar would be a wicked wretch if he afterwards knocked the man down and stole the other shilling. Yet there are multitudes of people to whom God gives six days out of seven, and nothing will satisfy them but they must have the seventh all to themselves, and rob God of it. The man I refer to is repenting of this wrong, and so you see him coming upon the Sunday morning to hear the gospel. He hears it very attentively; he leans forward to catch every word, and he treasures up what he hears.

We are sure that he is coming to Christ, for when he gets home he reaches down his Bible. He has begun to read the Word of God in an earnest way. He thought at one time that it was about the dullest book in the world. He even dared to turn it into a jest, and all because he never read it; for those who deny the inspiration of Scripture are almost always people who have never read it for themselves. It is a book which carries conviction within itself to candid minds when they carefully peruse it. Assuredly this man is coming to Christ, for he searches the Scriptures.

I feel sure he is coming to Christ, for he has begun to mend in many respects. He has dropped his frequent attendance at his usual place of worship, namely, the public-house. He keeps more at home, and is therefore sober. Plenty of people in London need no bell to fetch them into the temples of their gods. We see in some of our churches and chapels persons going in twenty minutes or half-an-hour after service begins; but look at the temples of Bacchus at one o’clock, and at six in the evening, and see how punctual are his votaries! The worshippers of liquid fire stand outside till the shrine is opened; they are afraid of being late; they are so thirsty that they long for the time of the deadly libation. Drink seems to be the water of life to them, poor creatures that they are! But now our friend of whom we are so hopeful is not seen waiting at the posts of the doors-the “Blue Posts,” I mean. Thank God, he is looking to another fountain for comfort.

Note also that he has dropped his blasphemy and his unchastity. He is a purer man in mouth and body than he used to be. He is coming to Christ. But, as I said, coming is not enough. The thing is really to reach the Lord Jesus and to be healed by him. I pray you, do not rest short of this.

Still, this is all hopeful, very hopeful. The man is a hearer; he is also a reader of the Scriptures; he has begun to mend a bit; and now he is a thinker, too, and begins to be a little careful about his soul. While he is at his labour, you can see that there is something working in his brain, though once it was filled with vanity and wickedness. He has a weight, too, at his heart, a burden on his mind; he is evidently in earnest; so far as he knows the teaching of Scripture he is deeply affected by it. He has learned that he will not cease to exist when he dies; but that he will continue to be when yonder sun becomes black as a burnt-out coal. He knows that there will be a day of judgment, when throngs upon throngs, yea, all the dead, shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ to give an account of the things which they have done in the body; he thinks this over, and he is alarmed. He chews the cud upon divine truth, and finds time for solitary meditation. That man is coming to Christ, for there is no better evidence of the face being set towards Christ and heaven than a thoughtful state of mind.

And I have heard-of course, I cannot tell, for I was not there to see-I have heard, I say, that the other night he began to pray. If so, I know that he is coming to Christ, for prayer is a sure token. He has not yet cast himself fully at the feet of Jesus, but he cries, “Lord, save me.” He is coming, and I am as glad as the birds on a spring morning. The angels are watching; they are leaning from the battlements of heaven to see whether it will end rightly, and you and I are very hopeful, especially those of us who have been praying for this man; for since we see that there is some change in him, and he begins to think and pray, we look for his salvation, as men look for flowers when April showers are falling. So, you see, our hopes are excited.

And now I will read the text again,-“As he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him.” By this our fears are aroused. What a sight it must have been! Here is the poor father bringing his lunatic son, and friends are helping him; they are getting him near the Saviour, and he is just coming to him who can cure him, when, on a sudden, he is taken in a fearful fit, worse than he had ever suffered before. He is cast down, thrown about, dashed to and fro; he wallows on the ground: he seems to be flung up and down as by an unseen hand, we fear that he will be torn to pieces. See! he falls down like a dead man, and there he lies. As the crowd gathers around him, people cry, “He is dead.” Does it not seem a dreadful thing that when hope was at its brightest all should be dashed aside?

I have observed this thing scores of times: I might say, I think without exaggeration, hundreds of times. I have seen men, just when they were beginning to hear and beginning to think, taken on a sudden with such violence of sin, and so fearfully carried away by it, that if I had not seen the same thing before I should have despaired of them; but, having often seen it, I know what it means, and I am not so dismayed as a raw observer might be; though I must confess that it half breaks my heart when it happens to some hopeful convert whom I hoped to receive into the church, and to rejoice over. We mourn when we hear that the man who was somewhat impressed has become worse than aforetime, and has gone back to the very vice from which we had rescued him. The case runs on the same lines as our text-“As he was a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him.”

How does the devil do this? Well, we have seen it done in this way:-When the man had almost believed in Christ, but not quite, Satan seemed to multiply his temptations around him, and to bring his whole force to bear upon him. There is a wicked man in the shop, and the devil says to him, “Your mate is beginning to be serious: ridicule him. Tempt him all you can. Treat him to strong drink. Get him away to the theatre, the music-hall, or the brothel.” It is wonderful how the ungodly will lay all kinds of traps for one who is escaping from his sins. They are fearfully set on keeping him from Christ. This is a free country, is it not? A wonderfully free country when a Christian man in the workshop has to run the gauntlet for his very life to this day. A man may swear, and drink, and do what he likes that is detestable, and never is there a word of rebuke for him; but the moment he begins to be serious and thoughtful the wicked are down upon him like so many dogs on a rat. The devil finds willing servants, and they worry the poor awakened one; is there any wonder that, as he has not yet found Christ and is not yet saved, he should for the time be carried away by these assaults, and feel as if he could not go further in the right road?

I have known in addition to all this that Satan has stirred up the anxious one’s bad passions. Passions that lay asleep have suddenly been aroused. Moreover, the man has become thoughtful, and from that very fact doubts which he never knew before have come upon him. He begins to mend, and now he finds a difficulty in getting his needle through where the rent was made. He finds that tearing is easier work than mending, and that running into sin is a much more easy thing than rising out of the black ditch into which he has fallen. So now, what with those about him tempting him, his bad passions responding to the temptation, and his doubts overclouding everything, it is not a marvellous thing that the poor creature grows worse before he gets better. The disease which before had been concealed in more hidden and vital parts, seems to be thrown out upon the surface, and the sight is sickening. This, however, is not always a bad sign. Doctors rather prefer it to an inward festering.

So have I seen it when men have been coming to Christ; their boat has been tossed with tempest, and they have been driven far out upon a raging sea.

Yes, and I will tell you what I have seen. I have seen a man almost converted-well-nigh a believer in Christ, on a sudden become more obstinate in his opposition to the gospel than ever he was before. A man that was quiet and harmless and inoffensive before has, under the influence of Satan, just when we hoped the best things of him, turned round in a rage against the people who sought to do him good, and he has spoken opprobriously of the gospel which a little while before he seemed anxious to understand. Sometimes such persons act as if they were reckless and profane; just as boys, when they go through a graveyard, whistle to keep their courage up. Many a man says big things against the gospel when he is pretty nearly caving in, and he does not like anybody to know that he is beaten. He is coming to Jesus; but still he does not want anybody to see that he is so, and therefore he pretends to an opposition which is not sincere. Have you not discovered that a man is never so violent against a thing as when he is unwillingly convinced of the truth of it? He has to try and demonstrate to himself that he does not believe it by being very loud in his declarations: a secret something in his soul makes him believe, and he is mad because he cannot resist the inward conviction.

Do not be astonished-you that are trying to bring men to Christ-if it should often happen that these lunatics break loose-that these epileptics have a worse fit just before Christ cures them than ever you knew them to have had before.

I will describe the usual way in which the devil throws men down and tears them. You need not listen to this unless you like, because it does not relate to all of you here; but it is true of a sufficient number to render it needful for me to speak of it. It is a very curious thing that if there is a poor soul in London that is well-nigh insane through despair of heart he wants to talk to me. I am often sore burdened by the attempt to sympathize with the distracted. I do not know why they should be attracted to me, but they come to tell me of their evil state of mind-people who have never seen me before. This fact gives me a wide field of actual practice and careful observation. I frequently meet with persons who are tempted with blasphemous thoughts. They have not yet laid hold on Christ, but they are trying to do so; and at this stage of their experience most horrible thoughts pass through their minds. They cannot prevent it: they hate the thoughts, and yet they come, till they are ready to lose their reason. I will tell you what happened to me. I was engaged in prayer alone in a quiet place one day when I had just found the Saviour, and while I was in prayer a most horrible stream of blasphemies came into my mind, till I clapped my hand to my mouth for fear that I should utter any one of them. I was so brought up that I do not remember ever hearing a man swear while I was a child; yet at that moment I seemed to know all the swearing and blasphemy that ever was in hell itself; and I wondered at myself. I could not understand whence this foul stream proceeded. I wrote to my venerable grandfather who was for sixty years a minister of the gospel, and he said to me,-“Do not trouble about it. These are no thoughts of yours; they are injected into your mind by Satan. The thoughts of men follow one another like the links of a chain, one link draws on another; but when a man is in prayer the next natural thought to prayer is not blasphemy; it is not, therefore, a natural succession of our own thoughts. An evil spirit casts those thoughts into the mind.” I read also in an old book what they used to do years ago in our parishes in the “good old times” when nobody had any sense of humanity. If a poor wretch came to a parish begging, they whipped him through the place and sent him on to his own parish. Thus should we treat these diabolical thoughts. Whip them by hearty penitence, and send them off to where they came from, back to their own parish, which is far down in the deeps. Thoughts of this sort, seeing you loathe them, are none of yours. Do not let Satan lay his brats at your door, but send them packing. Perhaps when you know this, it may help to break the chain; for the devil may not think it worth his while to worry you in this way any more, when he cannot by this means lead you to despair: he seldom wastes his time in spreading nets when the bird can see them. Therefore, tell Satan to begone, for you can see him, and you are not going to let him deceive you. It may be he will take the hint and begone.

When this does not answer, I have know Satan to throw the coming sinner down and tear him in another way. “There,” says he, “did you not hear the preacher speaking about election? You are not one of the elect.” “Perhaps I am not,” says one. Perhaps you are, say I, and I think that whether you are one of the elect or not, you had better come, on the ground that Jesus says-“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” If you come, he will not cast you out, and then you will find that you are one of the elect. You need not trouble about predestination: you will see that clearly enough very soon. If any man had a ticket to go to a meeting, and he said, “I do not know whether I am ordained to get in or not,” I should think it very probable that he was not ordained to enter if he sat at home in the chimney-corner and did not make the attempt to go; but if, having his ticket, he waked to the place and went in, I should feel sure that he was ordained to go in. You will know your election when you have obeyed your calling. Go you to Christ because you are commanded and invited, and leave the deeper question to be answered by the facts.

Satan will throw men down and tear them in another way. “Ah!” says he, “you are too big a sinner.” I make short work of that. No man is too big a sinner. “All manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.”

“Oh but,” says Satan, “it is too late.” Another lie of his. It is never too late so long as we are in this world, and come to Jesus for pardon. Generally in the case of young people he puts the clock back, and says “It is too soon”; and then when they get old he puts the clock on, and says “It is too late.” It is never too late as long as Jesus lives, and the sinner repents. If a sinner were as old as Methuselah, if he came to Christ and trusted him he would be saved.

“Oh but,” the devil says, “it is no use your trying at all. The gospel is not true.” Ay, but it is true, for some of us have proved it. I could bring before you to-night, if it were necessary, men and women who lived in sin and wallowed in it, and yet the Lord Christ has saved them by his precious blood. They would rejoice to tell you how they have been delivered from the reign of sin by faith in Jesus, though they could never have delivered themselves. The gospel is true. Our converts prove it. Conversion is the standing miracle of the church; and while we see what it works every day in the week, we are confident and sure. When men that were passionate, dishonest, unchaste, covetous, become holy, gracious, loving, pure, generous, then we know that the gospel is true by the effect which it produces. A lie would never produce holiness and love. Out of the way, devil! It is all in vain for you to come here with your falsehoods; we know the truth about you, and about the gospel, and you shall not deceive us.

And then the devil will come with this-“It is of no use. Give it up; give it up.” Many and many a man who has been on the brink of eternal life, has been thrown down and torn with this, “It is of no use; give it up. You have prayed, and you have not been answered: never pray again. You have attended the house of God, and you have become more miserable than ever: never go again. Ever since you have been a thinking man and a sober man, you have had more trouble than ever you had. See,” says the devil, “what comes of your religion.” Thus he tries to induce the newly awakened to give it up. But oh, in God’s name let me implore you do not turn from it, for you are on the brink of the grand discovery. Another turf turned, and there is the golden treasure. After all your striving-your long striving-never give up the search until you have found your Saviour; for your Saviour is to be found. Trust in him this night, and he is yours for ever.

I shall not detain you much longer. But as our hopes have been awakened and our fears have been aroused, let us look on the scene till our wonder is excited. Did you notice when I was reading in the ninth chapter of Mark, how Jesus healed this poor child? He did heal him, he healed him of all that complication, healed him of the devil’s domination, healed him of the epilepsy, healed him of being deaf and dumb, healed him of being a lunatic, healed him of pining away; and in one moment that young man was completely saved from all his ills. He could speak; he could hear; he was cured of his epilepsy, and was no more a lunatic, but a happy rational being. The whole thing was done at once. Wonder, and never leave off wondering!

“Can a man be changed all at once? It must take a long time,” says one. I admit there are certain qualities which come only by education and patient watchfulness. There are certain parts of the Christian character that come of culture, and must be watered with tears and prayer. But let me assure you, not as a matter of theory, but as a matter which I have seen for thirty years, that a man’s character may be totally changed in less time than it takes me to tell you of it. There is such power in the name of Christ that, if that name be preached and the Spirit of God applies it, men can be turned right round. There can be a total reversal of all their conduct, and, what is more than that, of all their inclinations, and desires and wishes, and delights and hates; for God can take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. The child of darkness can be translated into the kingdom of light. The dead heart can be quickened into a spiritual existence, and that in a single moment, by faith in Jesus Christ. When that poor epileptic child was healed, it is said that the people were amazed. But how much greater will be our amazement if we see the Lord Jesus work such a miracle upon you! You have struggled to get better, you have prayed to get better, and all seems to be unavailing. Now, just trust Christ, the blessed Son of God who reigns in heaven, who died for sinners, and now lives for sinners. Only trust him, and this blessed deed is done, you become a new creature in Christ Jesus, and commence a holy life which shall never end. This wonder can be performed now.

This cure was perfected at once, and it remained with the youth. The most charming point about it was that the Lord Jesus said, “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” Enter no more into him-there is the glory of it! Though the epileptic fit was ended, yet the young man would not have been cured if the devil had returned to take possession of him again. The Saviour’s cures endure the test of years. “Enter no more into him” preserved the young man by a life-long word of power.

I never dare to preach to anybody a temporary salvation. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” not for to-night merely, but for ever. When God saves a man he is saved: not for weeks and years, but eternally. If Christ turns the devil out of him he shall enter into that man no more for ever. Now, this is a salvation that is worth your having, and worth my preaching. A temporary, I had almost said, a trumpery salvation, that saves a man for a few months and then lets him perish, is not worth preaching or having; but that which so makes a man new as to put into him “a well of water springing up into everlasting life”-that is worth worlds. I will tell you a story of Christmas Evans which I like to tell on this point. Christmas Evans was once describing the prodigal’s coming back to his father’s house, and he said that when the prodigal sat at the father’s table his father put upon his plate all the daintiest bits of meat that he could find; but the son sat there and did not eat, and every now and then the tears began to flow. His father turned to him and said, “My dear son, why are you unhappy? You spoil the feasting. Do you not know that I love you? Have I not joyfully received you?” “Yes,” he said, “dear father, you are very kind, but have you really forgiven me? Have you forgiven me altogether, so that you will never be angry with me for all I have done?” His father looked on him with ineffable love and said, “I have blotted out thy sins and thy iniquities, and will remember them no more for ever. Eat, my dear son.” The father turned round and waited on the guests, but by-and-by his eyes were on his boy, they could not be long removed. There was the son weeping again, but not eating. “Come, dear child,” said his father, “come, why are you still mourning? What is it that you want?” Bursting into a flood of tears a second time, the son said, “Father, am I always to stop here? Will you never turn me out of doors?” The father replied, “No, my child, thou shalt go no more out for ever, for a son abides for ever.” Still the son did not enjoy the banquet; there was still something rankling within, and again he wept. Then his father said, “Now, tell me, tell me, my dear son, all that is in thy heart. What do you desire more?” The son answered, “Father, will you make me stop here? Father, I am afraid lest, if I were left to myself, I might play the prodigal again. Oh, constrain me to stay here for ever!” The father said, “I will put my fear in thy heart, and thou shalt not depart from me.” “Ah! then,” the son replied, “it is enough,” and merrily he feasted with the rest. So I preach to you just this-that the great Father when he takes you to himself will never let you go away from him again.

Whatever your condition, if you trust your soul to Jesus, you shall be saved, and saved for ever.

“Once in Christ, in Christ for ever:

Nothing from his love can sever.”

“But what if we fall into great sin?” says one. You shall not abide in great sin. You shall be kept and preserved by that same power which has begun the good work, for it will surely carry it on even to the end.

Just two or three sentences and I have finished. I have been speaking about the devil throwing some down and tearing them when they are coming to Christ. Are there any of you who do not know anything about it? Well, I am glad that you do not. If you come to Christ without being thrown down and torn I am glad of it. I have endeavoured to help those that are terribly tormented; but if you are not so tried, do not wish to be. There were here this morning two or three of the good fish-people from Newhaven, and when I saw them in their picturesque costumes they reminded me of a story that I heard about an old fishwife who used to live near Edinburgh. A young man visited her, and began speaking to her about her soul. She was going out, and she took up her great load of fish to carry on her back, much more than most men would like to carry. The young man said to her, “Well, you have got a great burden there, good woman. Did you ever feel a spiritual burden?” She put down her load and said, “You mean that burden which John Bunyan speaks about in the Pilgrim’s Progress, do you not?” “Yes,” he said. “Well,” she said, “I felt that burden before you were born, and I got rid of it, too; but I did not go exactly the same way to work that John Bunyan’s pilgrim did.” Our young friend thought that she could not be up to the mark to talk so, for he fancied that John Bunyan could not make a mistake. “Well,” she said, “John Bunyan says that Evangelist pointed the man with the burden on his back to the wicket-gate, and when he could not see the gate, Evangelist said, ‘Do you see that light?’ And he looked till he thought he saw something like it. ‘You are to run that way-the way of that light and that wicket gate.’ Why,” she said, “that was not the right direction to give a poor burdened soul. Much good he got out of it; for he had not gone far before he fell into the Slough of Despond, up to his neck in the mire, and had like to have been swallowed up. Evangelist ought to have said, ‘Do you see that cross? Do not run an inch, but stand where you are, and look to that; and as you look your burden will be gone. I looked to the cross at once and lost my load.’ ” “What!” said the young man, “did you never go through the Slough of Despond?” “Yes,” she said, “I have been through it far too many times; but let me tell you, young friend, that it is a deal easier to go through the Slough of Despond with your burden off than it is with your burden on.” There is much blessed truth in this story. Do not any of you be saying to yourselves, “How I wish I could get into the Slough of Despond!” If you say that, you will get in, and then you will say, “How I wish I could get out of the Slough of Despond!” I have met with persons who fear that they never were saved because they have not experienced much terror. I meet with others who say that they cannot be saved because they experience too much terror. There is no pleasing people. Oh that they would look to Jesus whether or no! After I was preaching Jesus Christ from this platform once, there came a man into the vestry who said to me, “Blessed be God that I entered this Tabernacle. I come from Canada, sir. My father, before he found true religion had to be locked up in a lunatic asylum, and I always thought that I must undergo a similar terror before I could be saved.” I said, “No, no, my dear friend, you are to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you do that, despond or not despond, you are a saved man.” This gospel I preach to you. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him quietly, humbly, simply, immediately. Trust him to make you a holy man-to deliver you from the power of the devil and the power of sin, and he will do it: I will be bound for him that he will keep his word. Jesus is truth itself, and never breaks his word. He never boasts that he can do what he cannot do. He has gone into heaven, and he is therefore “able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Only trust him. Trust him to overcome the evil you have to fight with. You will conquer it, man, if you will only trust Jesus. Woman, there is hope for you if you will trust the wounded, bleeding, dying, risen, living Saviour. He will battle for you, and you shall get the victory.

God bless you, everyone, and may we all meet in heaven to praise the Son of God for ever and ever.

MARVELLOUS! MARVELLOUS!

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, October 28th, 1883, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.”-Zechariah 8:6.

God sent his servant Zechariah with a promise that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and that it should enjoy a time of great peace and prosperity. Instead of men being slain in battle in the prime of their days, old men and old women were to dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, “every man with his staff in his hand for very age”: and whereas war had often cut off the women and the children, the promise further added, “the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.” Everything was to be prosperous in the land around, so as to bring plenty into the city,-“For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.” It was a sweet assurance, and it ought to have made them very happy, but it did not.

When this gracious promise came, it startled the people, for it seemed past belief. The unbelievers did not say point blank, “This promise is not true,” but deep in their hearts they thought as much. It is not the general habit of unbelief among God’s people to give a flat contradiction to his promises: we are hardly honest enough to our own thoughts to express them with deliberate plainness of speech: even unbelief loves to wear some cobweb covering or other, that its naked deformity may not appear. Our reverence for the Lord will not permit us distinctly to give him the lie; but it comes to much the same thing, for in our heart of hearts we deny the truthfulness of his word. The remnant of Israel said, “How can this thing be? In these days, in these troublous days, in these threatening days, how can Jerusalem be made to prosper? Former hopes have been disappointed: we see no better signs of the times, and doubtless if our hopes be now raised they will again be disappointed. How can the city rise from its ashes? We can hardly think it possible: at any rate, it will be marvellous, extremely difficult, exceedingly unlikely, indeed, impossible.” They did not say at once, “It will not be”; but they said, “It will be a marvellous thing”; by which they meant that it was not in the least likely.

You who carry Bibles with you which have the marginal readings, will notice that in the margin there is the word “difficult,” and the text may be read thus, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be difficult in your eyes, should it also be difficult in mine eyes?” This is the only instance in which the word “difficult” occurs in our version of the Bible, and in this case it is only to be found in the margin. There is too much of God in the Bible for difficulties to live in it. I should be very glad if I could always put the word “difficult” into the margin of my life, and never let it stand in the substance of it. I wish my faith would banish it. Difficulty does crop up now and then through unbelief: but where God manifests himself, difficulty vanishes. Leave it in the margin, brother! Leave it in the margin; let it not be read in the annals of your actual life. A brave self-reliance blots the word difficult out of its dictionary, and a full God-reliance may much more safely do so. If God be for us, all things can be accomplished. Things impossible with men are possible with God. The remnant of Israel said, “It will be difficult”; and then they softened the words a little, and said, “It will be marvellous in our eyes”; still it came to this at the bottom, that they did not believe the word of the Lord. They could not conceive how the promise could be fulfilled, and therefore because it surpassed their conception, they supposed that the Lord was equally non-plussed and perplexed. Because the restored prosperity of Jerusalem would be a great wonder, they doubted if it could ever be accomplished. Yet, blessed be the name of the Lord, it was accomplished; for “though we believe not, he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself.”

It certainly was a marvellous thing that Jerusalem, after having been so dreadfully destroyed, should again lift up its head and enjoy a little period of sunlight; but we are called upon to believe in even greater wonders-wonders of a spiritual kind which are more difficult of belief than material miracles. I am going to talk about what to every intelligent and awakened mind will be the greatest wonder of all, namely, the possibility of our salvation by faith which is in Christ Jesus. Satan will assail you who are saved, and you who are seeking to be saved, and he will aim a blow at your faith. If he does not dare to tell you in his own native tongue of point blank lying that the promise which the gospel makes to the believer is false, yet he will lead you to think it highly improbable, too good to be true, too wonderful ever to happen; in a word, he will make it appear marvellous in your eyes, and he will hint that it is incredible. So this morning I am going, first, to speak upon carnal reasoning, how it runs; secondly, to offer a correction to that reasoning by pointing out an untruth which lies at the bottom of it; and, thirdly, I will try, in conclusion, to dwell upon the truth of the matter, and see if we cannot enjoy some right reasoning. O blessed Spirit of grace, teach our reason right reason at this hour, and make us to perceive all things in the light of truth!

Here we have before us a specimen of carnal reasoning. The Jews of those days said, “It is difficult; it will never be performed. It is marvellous in our eyes; it will never happen.” This kind of speech comes from men as soon as they begin to think about their souls, and to desire the salvation of the Lord. We inform them in God’s name that whosoever repents of sin and confesses it, and believes in Jesus Christ, shall receive immediate pardon; and this good news surprises them, as well it may. Straightway the old serpent begins to hiss out a doubt, and they ask, “How can it be? Can a man receive in one moment forgiveness for fifty years of sin? How can his conscience be cleared by the simple act of believing in Christ? How can the record of a life of evil be blotted out at once?” Assuredly it does not seem probable to a troubled mind; reason decides that it must be very difficult; common sense assents that it is a marvellous affair altogether, and the poor awakened hearts conclude that the promise of full, free, and present forgiveness cannot be true. Thus they push the promise of God concerning pardon on one side as a good thing which is quite past belief.

Then comes the blessing of renewal of heart, such as God speaks of in the covenant-promise, “A new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within them.” Our hearer understands that upon his believing in Jesus he is born again, and becomes a new creature, with new likes and new hates, an entirely altered being; but understanding the promise is one thing, and believing it is another. A new heart the awakened one desires, but he considers it too great a marvel. He asks, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Can I who have been accustomed to do evil learn to do well? It will be marvellous indeed if such a sinner as I should be turned into a saint; if such a rebel as I should become a loyal subject of King Jesus! Such a conversion will be most extraordinary. I do not think it can be carried out.” He knows that he cannot subdue his own stubborn will, nor conquer his own unruly passions; and therefore he concludes that the thing is improbable, and not to be looked for. Thus another choice covenant-promise is thrown on one side by unbelief, and the man sits down in self-created despair, under the persuasion that a new birth for him would be too marvellous a thing to expect.

Even if the awakened soul proceeds as far as believing in the first two blessings, unbelief comes to him in another way, for this thief is sure to meet the traveller to Zion again and again. The Lord has promised that the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger; and Christ has declared that the living water which he gives shall be no transient boon, but shall be in a man a well of water springing up into everlasting life. “Oh! but,” says the tempted one, “how can I hope to persevere to the end? I shall be one of these days tempted so strongly that I shall be carried off my feet. What with indwelling sin and a cunning tempter, and a world full of evil, I cannot hope to endure to the end. I shall one day fall by the hand of the enemy. Do you assure me that the righteous shall hold on their way? Then it will be marvellous: it must be so difficult that I fear it is improbable, if not impossible.” Thus unbelief pushes on one side another covenant blessing.

Further on there comes to the man who has been helped to persevere for a while the promise that he shall ultimately be presented faultless before the presence of God with exceeding joy: this promise is assailed in the same manner. The serpent of unbelief leaves its slimy trail upon everything. We are told that a day shall come when the believer shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, made meet to dwell with the angels in light, ay, and to dwell with God himself for ever; and straightway the soul is tempted to think this wonderful effect of grace to be impossible. When we remember how often we have been worsted by the enemy, how frail, how fallible we are, and how fierce and subtle is our adversary, we dare not hope that we shall see him utterly defeated and his power broken to pieces. We dwell upon the fact that it will be very marvellous; indeed, the more we think of it the more marvellous it becomes in our eyes; and, alas! unbelief leaps upon the back of our wonder, and we judge that the blessing can never be ours. Thus another promised blessing is thrown under the table. In fact, each mercy of God’s covenant is looked at, wondered at, and then renounced, not because it is undesirable, but because it is so good, so rich, so full. O wretched unbelief which makes the excellence of the favour into a reason for refusing it! Help us, O Holy Spirit, to believe our Lord, and no more reason in this evil fashion!

I have known children of God in the time of their great trial, when they have been surrounded with afflictions, oppressed with poverty, and depressed in spirit, to become quite incredulous as to the possibility of deliverance. They ask, “How can God cause our bread to be given us and our water to be sure now? Can he bring us out of such sore trouble as this? We know that he has been gracious to his people in other instances, but our case is one of peculiar difficulty: surely our Lord has forsaken us quite, our God will be gracious no more.” This cometh of reasoning, falsely so called. When we see no passage through our straits we are sadly apt to conclude that God sees none. He has promised that with every trial he will make us a way of escape; but we doubt his word. Like the unbelieving lord in the Book of Kings, we say, “If God would make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” Have you never said that, my brother, in your spirit? Dear sister, has not the evil one whispered such a word in your ears in dark times? Have you not fancied that at last you have passed beyond the reach of divine help, and will surely perish? In this way carnal reason is sure to argue, and rob God of his glory, and our souls of consolation. It has been so from the beginning, that while doubting God we cover our unbelief with an evil sophistry, but this sophistry does not avail to remove the mischievous tendencies of our mistrust. Unbelievers by this wicked reasoning are left in their spiritual death, while believers are hampered and sorely wounded. O accursed unbelief, this is thy false argument, “It is marvellous, and therefore it cannot be true!” We answer thee that because it is marvellous it is all the more likely to be true.

Secondly, we will now aim our arrows at the dark spot in this carnal argument, which makes it all to be false; or, in other words, we will correct this reasoning.

First, let us note that when because the blessing promised is marvellous, we therefore doubt the promise of God concerning it, we must have forgotten God. “If it be marvellous in your eyes, saith the Lord of hosts, is it therefore marvellous in mine eyes?” God himself puts it so, and there is but one answer to the question. My text is a very singular one, for it is hedged in with the name of the Lord, and with a double “thus saith the Lord of hosts.” It begins with “Thus saith the Lord of hosts,” and it finishes up with, “saith the Lord of hosts,” as if twice to bring to our memory that God is, and that God has made a promise, and that this Promiser is Jehovah the great and powerful, the Lord of all, who has countless armies at his beck and call. This unbelief forgets, and hence her error.

To come to our one subject, that of your own salvation, you hear the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus, and your mind replies, “It is marvellous, it is difficult.” Do you not see that you are looking at it as if you had made the promise? From that standpoint it would be indeed difficult, even to impossibility. But whose promise is it? It is not yours, but God’s. If you were to promise to give yourself eternal life, and to keep yourself to the end, and sanctify yourself perfectly, what a foolish person you would be to undertake what you could not possibly perform! But it is not your promise; it is God’s promise. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Do look at it in that light. It is a marvellous promise for you to receive, but the God who spake it knew what he was saying, and he knew that he had power to perform it. It is the promise of God, “who alone doeth great wonders”: remember that.

And remember, next, that God does not look to you to fulfil his promises. Do not fall into such a foolish imagining. If you make a promise yourself, it is your own business to carry it out: is it not? And if God makes a promise that he will save a sinner, whose work is it to save that sinner? Why, it is the work of the God who made the promise. It is written, “He that believeth in him hath everlasting life.” “Marvellous,” say you; but who says it? Why, God. Then it is God’s department to make it true. If you would but remember this, that the pardon of sin is God’s business, that the renewing of the heart is God’s business, that the keeping of the saint to the end is God’s business, that the sanctifying and perfecting of all believers is God’s business, then you would find it more easy to believe. Can anything surpass the power of God? Did you ever hear of the Lord being baffled in his designs? Can it be possible that he has promised what he is not able to perform?

The false reasoning which cries-“It is marvellous, and therefore impossible,” ignores altogether the fact that God is a marvellous Being, and that if his promise is marvellous, it is like himself. He is a great God and his power and wisdom are infinite: can anything surpass his ability? Would you have the infinite God confine his promises and gifts to common-place matters? Would it be seemly that the Lord, who is infinite in resources, should do nothing but what you can understand? O sirs, you forget the Eternal, and therefore doubt the promise: do so no more.

And, further, the error which vitiates the argument of carnal reason takes another shape. There is here, as far as the Lord is thought of at all, an underestimate of God. The Lord puts this very plainly in our text-“If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes?” You are judging God as if he were like yourself; you have been calculating divine possibilities by the scale of your own capacity; you have lowered God to the limit of your understanding, you have narrowed him to your notion of what he can do; and thus you degrade his greatness to your littleness, his wisdom to your folly, his power to your weakness. The deed of salvation is marvellous with you; but it is not strange with God, to whom it has been the great thought of eternity, towards which he causeth all things to move. Everything in wonder depends upon the person affected by it: a trader goes to Africa, he takes with him a looking-glass, and you see the chiefs gather around, and with wonder they gaze upon their own pleasing countenances in the mirror. It is marvellous to them; it becomes the talk of the tribe; but that looking-glass is not marvellous to the trader who brought it there. A musical-box is set playing, and a whole village of negroes gather about it, unanimously believing that it must be at least a spirit, if not a God. To them it is a great marvel, and they expect the white man to marvel too, for they measure his capacity by their own: yet their wonderful thing is to an Englishman a mere simplicity. Shall we set it down for certain that what is a wonder to us is a wonder to God? This would be absurd. The Lord can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think: there is no bounding his power, no searching of his understanding. “But my sin,” say you, “who is to subdue it?” Not you, certainly; but the Lord of hosts is able to overcome the power of sin. Do not measure God by yourself. “But my trouble, who can bring me through it?” Nobody can, except the everlasting God, who fainteth not, neither is weary. The end of the creature is the starting-place of the Creator. The limit of our power is soon reached; but the wings of the morning could not bear us beyond the power divine. Whatsoever the Lord wills is accomplished; be sure of that.

When we begin to doubt whether God will love us to the end, is it not measuring God’s patience by our impatience? Is there not a calculating of God’s immutability by our mutability? Because we change and grow weary, shall we fancy that the Lord also changes? Is there variableness and turning with the great Father of lights? Hath not the Lord declared, “I am God; I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed?”

When we doubt God’s wisdom by questioning whether he can find a way of keeping his word and helping us, is it not because our little knowledge is exhausted and our plans broken down, and therefore we conclude that God’s plans will break down too, and his invention will fail to contrive our deliverance? But, beloved, it is not so. The Lord’s way is in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. His footsteps are not seen, but he walketh on the sea, he rideth on the wings of the wind. He everywhere hath sway, and all things answer to his purpose and accomplish his designs. Leave off doubting, and believe that the Lord’s thoughts are as high above your thoughts as the heavens are above the earth.

It is at bottom our pride which makes us judge the Lord to be like ourselves. If you degrade God to be like to man it is because you idolize man, and make him like to God. Who are you, you creature of an hour? Who are you, you creeping insect upon the bay leaf of existence? Who are you, poor mortal, that to-day is, and to-morrow is shovelled back into mother earth, that you should begin to measure God? Go, measure heaven with your span, weigh the Alps in scales, and the Andes in balances, and hold the Atlantic in the hollow of your hand, and when you have done these things know that you are not at the beginning of the measurement of the wisdom, the power, the truth, and the goodness of the Lord. This, however, is the fault of carnal reasoning, that it judges the Lord of hosts by the miserable standard of human weakness.

Do you not see, dear friends, that if we begin to say that God’s promise is so marvellous that it cannot be performed, we do the infinite God high dishonour? You dishonour his power by imagining that a difficulty has arisen which he cannot meet. You suppose a power greater than God, since it baffles and defeats him. What is this but to set up another god? It is a fault charged upon Israel of old as a very provoking crime, that they limited the Holy One of Israel. Oh that we may never be guilty of this offence! But you do worse than that, for I can suppose God to bear the dishonour of his power being limited, but it is far worse practically to insinuate that he boasts beyond his line. I tremble as I say that unbelief accuses the Lord of vain boasting. When a man promises you what he knows he cannot perform, what opinion do you form of him? You say at once, “Why, the man is a boaster; he is big at talking, but small at performing.” Will you insinuate that of the Lord God? Has it come to this, that you dare criticize your Maker? Do you dare insinuate that the infinite Jehovah has promised to a sinner what he is incapable of giving him? He says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;” and you say, “No, I could not be saved.” Does God, then, speak beyond his ability? Does he promise what he is not able to perform? This is a form of blasphemy from which may we be cleansed through the blood of our Lord Jesus.

Or is it that you dream that God does not know his own strength? What! Is the Almighty ignorant? Is the only wise God unaware of his own power? Does he not know what he can do? I will not say that a man brags when he promises what he cannot perform, provided that he is unaware of his inability, for in such a case he blunders through ignorance or conceit of himself. Dost thou dare charge either of these upon God? Far from me be such an evil thought. I feel this morning that if all your sins were mine, yet since the Lord has promised pardon to him that believeth, I could and would believe over the head of all that mass of sin. Yea, if all the iniquities of all the men that ever lived were laid upon my soul, yet upon that assurance, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,” I would even venture my soul’s hope of salvation, and make sure of success. If the Lord has given a promise to his people that he will keep them to the end, and that they shall not perish, then he will keep them to the end without fail. Why, brothers, if our road to heaven were thick with devils, so that they stood like blades of wheat in a corn-field, yet we should be able to force a lane right through the serried host, the Lord Jehovah being our helper. If all the powers that are, or were, or can be, were to raise themselves up against the promise of God, in the name of God would we defy and defeat them. The word of the Lord makes us more than conquerors. David said of old, “They compassed me about like bees; yea, they compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.” What can stand against the feeblest man that lives if he has God’s promise to back him? The Lord can do just what he wills, whoever may oppose: wherefore let us fling away this folly of ours in supposing that, because a work of grace is marvellous in our eyes, it is therefore marvellous in the eyes of the Lord. That which is difficult with us is easy with him. There is a radical mistake at the bottom of all this wicked, unbelieving reasoning-it leaves out the Lord altogether, or degrades him below the glory of his Godhead.

We have reached the third division of our discourse, and here let us practise a little right reasoning.

I invite any here who are troubled with doubts about the promise of God to follow me in a few simple considerations.

First, it is quite clear that for our salvation marvels must be wrought. It will be a wonder in all ages for any one of us to attain to glory: it will need the omnipotence of God to renew, preserve, and perfect us. It is a rule with regard to miracles that God is very economical with them. In the Romish Church you have miracles in abundance, such as they are; but they are for the most part needless parades of power. When St. Denis, after his head was cut off, picked it up in his hands and walked a thousand miles with it, the dear good man might as well have saved himself and his head the unsightly pilgrimage. When the blood of St. Januarius liquefies, or a Madonna winks, it may be interesting, but one does not see the necessity for either performance. The God of the Scriptures has no hand in such miracles; they are not of the same order as those which are wrought by his right hand. Our Lord never uses a miracle where the same thing could be done by the ordinary processes of nature; but whenever a miracle is requisite, a miracle is forthcoming,-there is no stint of power though there is no wasteful display of it. I argue, then, that if it is necessary for you to be saved in order that God’s promise may be kept, you shall be saved; and if in order to this, marvels are needed, marvels will happen. The Lord reserves no strength when it is needful to expend it for the fulfilment of his promises; if omnipotence must make bare its arm, it shall be bared. The Lord led his people Israel to the Red Sea: perhaps if the Egyptians had not come up, it might have been possible to make rafts to ferry them across the gulf, and we are sure it would have been done if it had been the best way of achieving the Lord’s design; but when the Egyptians were so close behind that you could hear the neighings of their horses, and almost feel the hot breath of their vengeful masters, then there remained no ordinary way for the people of God to escape, and lo! the mighty depths yawned before the tribes, and a road was opened through the heart of the sea that the people of God might pass through. So it shall be with you: if to forgive your sin needs a miracle of grace, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the miracle of grace is done. If to change thy nature needs the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, if thou believest in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit waiteth to work that great change nay, he has wrought the change, and thy faith is the evidence of it. If it shall need all the power of God to keep one of his children to the end, all that power shall be seen in him; for though God worketh not miracles till they are needed, he is not slow to do so when the case demands them. He will shake earth and heaven to complete the salvation of his chosen. Therefore, if a deed of grace be marvellous in thine eyes, say to thyself, “Marvellous as it is, nothing short of it will avail, and therefore it shall be done.” It was marvellous that God should become man; but as there was no salvation for us apart from Immanuel God with us, Jesus was born of a woman. It is marvellous that the Son of God should die; but as there was no salvation apart from his death, he died upon the cross. If the Lord has given a promise it must be carried out cost what it may, for his name is “God that cannot lie.” If there is no way of bringing a saint to God except by the Holy Ghost’s dwelling in him, which is a great wonder, then the Holy Ghost shall dwell in him; for the many sons must be brought unto glory, and if marvels are needed as many as the hairs on their heads, so many marvels there shall be.

A second little bit of reasoning may tend to comfort some of you, namely, that, after all, marvellous things are the rule with God. I say not miracles, although it is difficult to draw the line between the ordinary processes of God’s working and the extraordinary ones, for the ordinary are extraordinary, and his extraordinary deeds can hardly be more marvellous than his daily operations. All the works of God in creation are marvels. Take the telescope and search out the stars. Assuredly an “undevout astronomer is mad.” When we perceive somewhat of the multitudes of worlds that God has made, their vast distances, the proportions of their bulk, the regularity of their orbits, and the rapidity of their motions, we discover that the great machinery of nature is ordered by infinite skill. “It is the Lord’s doing,” and it is marvellous in our eyes. Surely, that God who flings the stars about with both his hands can give us our daily bread. If he makes worlds to fly off like sparks from the anvil of his omnipotence, he can make new creatures in Christ Jesus. If he keeps all those heavenly lamps shining so brightly for centuries, he can sustain grace in the hearts of his people without difficulty. But now, if you have done with the telescope, please put it by, and let me lend you a microscope. Look at a butterfly from your garden; nay, you need not trouble to examine the whole creature, a portion of a broken wing will suffice for your astonishment. Here is a spider’s eye! Are you not surprised? This is the petal of a flower-what amazing beauty! Take but a single portion of a minute blood-vessel, and study it awhile. I hear you say, “I never could have believed it; this glass reveals to me such wonders that I am utterly astounded.” God is as great in the little as in the great: he is God everywhere. If a man carefully fashions a needle it appears to be exquisitely smooth and polished. Ah! it is only bright because your eye is dim. Put it under the glass. It is transformed into a rough bar of iron. No works of man will bear to be examined with a microscope; but you may search the Lord’s work with the utmost care. The commonest, plainest, simplest, most ordinary creation of God is perfect. Since, then, all nature teems with marvels, why put aside a promise of God because it involves a marvel? Is such conduct reasonable?

However, if you have read through all the page of nature, which I am sure you have not, I would invite you to peruse the book of providence, and see what marvels are there. I will give you no illustrations, because your own life will probably furnish you with such. If not, look at the history of any country: see how wondrously God has wrought out his everlasting purposes of justice or of mercy in each land. The story of providence contains a world of wonders. Why, then, should you doubt the promise of God because it involves a marvel? Rather believe it for that very reason. I think there is good reasoning in all this.

Follow me yet a little further, when I say that you must be prepared to abandon altogether the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ if you make it a rule to disbelieve the marvellous. The greatest marvel that I ever heard of is this-“Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh.” How the infinite could become one with the finite, so that the babe at Bethlehem should be the Mighty God, I cannot tell, and I think you cannot. Are you prepared to forego the incarnation of Christ? For if you are not, you must not refuse to believe in any act of God because it is marvellous, for it cannot be more marvellous than God in human flesh.

Think again: it is a cardinal doctrine of Christianity that the dead will rise again; that at the sounding of the trump of God they that are in their graves will rise to be judged in their bodies. Is not this a marvel? Stand in a cemetery, and ask the question, “Can these dry bones live?” Do you believe in the resurrection? Then you must never set aside any promise of God because it involves a marvel. You also believe, according to the word of the Lord, that this world will one day be the home of God’s glory, for there shall be new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, and the travail of the groaning creation shall come to an end, and this world shall be made anew a temple for the Lord. What an extraordinary thing this will be! yet you believe it. Do not therefore ever doubt a single promise that God makes either to saint or sinner because it contains a marvel.

Yet, again, I want you to follow me in another thought, namely, that greater marvels have been already wrought than any which your salvation and mine will henceforth involve. Brothers, if it had been whispered to some one of us that God would take upon himself human form and dwell among men, we should have looked much astonished; but if the prophet had added, “In that form he will be despised and spit upon, and hung up to die a felon’s death, because he will bear the sin of man, which will be laid upon his perfect person, so that he will be made a curse for us,” we should have said, “No, that cannot be.” Beloved, it has been; atonement has been accomplished. Christ has borne the load of his people’s sins up to the cross, and he has hurled that weight from his shoulders into his own sepulchre, and left it there buried for ever. No wonder like this remains to be done: the greatest deed is finished. The renewal of our nature, and the forgiveness of our sin, are but little things compared with what Christ has already done. That he should now save his people seems to me not at all extraordinary; it would be more extraordinary that he should die, and not save those for whom he died. Having paid the ransom price for his heritage, it is but a natural consequence that it should be set free. The greater wonder has already amazed angels, and principalities, and powers. Oh, think not, though I for lack of time have passed lightly over this miracle of miracles, the death of our blessed Lord, that there is not much more to be said of this great wonder! Why, in dying, our Lord destroyed death, and cried, “Where is thy sting?” In rising again, he burst the bands of the sepulchre, and opened a way to life to all believers: in ascending the starry road, he led captivity captive, and took possession of heaven in the name of all his redeemed; and now, this day, he that was despised and rejected has all power given to him in heaven and in earth on our behalf. These great wonders have been finished, and registered in heaven; it only remains for us simply to receive the result of them by believing in Christ Jesus our Lord. To deliver us from the wrath to come is now comparatively but a small marvel. Compared with the griefs and death of the Son of God nothing great remains. Think of that, and let your faith be encouraged.

I will not detain you except to remind you of the sweet thought that the more marvels there may be in our salvation the more glorifying it will be to God. Do think of that. The more difficult it will be to save you, the more glory to God when he has achieved it. Your sin washed away will only demonstrate the power of the precious blood of Jesus; your hard, stubborn will subdued, will only prove the might of the love of Christ upon your soul. Your trials, and temptations, and weaknesses, and infirmities will only glorify that almighty strength which is working in you to produce your ultimate perfection. Believe the promise all the more because it is so wonderful; and therefore so honouring to the Lord. Do not let the marvel stagger you: let it encourage you. Say, “If this involved nothing wonderful, I could not think it came from God; but inasmuch as it is great and high it is all the more worthy of a God.” Make the difficulties of the Bible a help to your faith, and let the greatness of grace render you the more hopeful of receiving it.

Lastly, let me say, whenever you have any doubts and fears, do turn away your mind from the thing that is promised to the faithful Promiser. We want larger ideas of God altogether. If we had them we should find it easy to believe his word. I remember when a boy being taken to see the residence of one of our nobility, and the good friend who took me noticed my astonishment at the largeness of the house. I was amazed at it, having never seen anything like it, and so I said, “What a house for a man to live in!” “Bless you, boy,” said he, “this is only the kitchen!” I was only looking at the servants’ apartments, and was astonished at the grandeur thereof; but the mansion itself was a far nobler affair. Oftentimes when you see what the Lord has done, you are ready to cry out, “How can all this be? His goodness, his mercy, is it as great as this?” Rest assured that you have only seen a little of his goodness, as it were the kitchen of his great house: you have not seen the palace of the Most High, where he reveals his full power and splendour.

You know the story of the warrior, who, having led his men into a difficult position, went round at night to their tents. He said to himself, “If they are all in good heart we shall fight well to-morrow, but certainly this defile needs all our valour: I should like to know the spirit of my men.” Going round the camp secretly, he heard in a tent some half-dozen soldiers conversing, and one of them above the rest was just saying, “I think our general has made a great mistake this time: look at the enemy: they have so many cavalry, so many infantry and guns, and so forth.” He added up all the force of the enemy, and another soldier chimed in, “What do you suppose our strength to be?” So the other calculated-so many footmen, so many horsemen, so many artillerymen, and so on. He was just going to total it up, and make a very small concern of the whole, when the general drew aside the canvas of the tent and said, “And pray, my man, how many do you count me for?” Did all the general’s skill, and valour, and renown count for nothing? He who had won so many fights could he not win again? Just so the Lord Jesus Christ, whenever we begin summing up our strength, or rather our weakness, seems to appear and say, “How many do you count me for?” O sirs! you have not counted the Lord Jesus at the millionth part of what he is; nay, the firmest believer here has not yet reached the trailing skirts of the garments of divine omnipotence. Let us enlarge our minds. Come, blessed Spirit, reveal Christ in us, and let us thus know more of God, and trust him better, and let nothing be unbelievingly marvellous in our eyes, since nothing can be too hard for the Lord. God bless you. Amen.

Portions of Scripture read before Sermon-Numbers 11:1-23. 2 Kings 7.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book.”-186, 192, 686.