Our Father’s will shall certainly be done, for the Lord “doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.” Let us adoringly consent that it shall be so, desiring no alteration therein. That “will” may cost us dear; yet let it never cross our wills: let our minds be wholly subjugated to the mind of God. That “will” may bring us bereavement, sickness, and loss; but let us learn to say, “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” We should not only yield to the divine will, but acquiesce in it so as to rejoice in the tribulation which it ordains. This is a high attainment, but we set ourselves to reach it. He that taught us this prayer used it himself in the most unrestricted sense. When the bloody sweat stood on his face, and all the fear and trembling of a man in anguish were upon him, he did not dispute the decree of the Father, but bowed his head and cried, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” When we are called to suffer bereavements personally, or when, as a holy brotherhood, we see our best men taken away, let us know that it is well, and say most sincerely, “The will of the Lord be done.”

God knows what will best minister to his gracious designs. To us it seems a sad waste of human life that man after man should go to a malarious region, and perish in the attempt to save the heathen: but infinite wisdom may view the matter very differently. We ask why the Lord does not work a miracle, and cover the heads of his messengers from the death-shaft? No reason is revealed to us, but there is a reason, for the will of the great Father is the sum of wisdom. Reasons are not made known to us, else were there no scope for our faith; and the Lord loves that this noble grace should have ample room and verge enough. Our God wastes no consecrated life: he has made nothing in vain: he ordains all things according to the counsel of his will, and that counsel never errs. Could the Lord endow us with his own omniscience, we should not only consent to the deaths of his servants, but should deprecate their longer life. The same would also be true of our own living or dying. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”; and therefore we are sure that he does not afflict us by bereavement without a necessity of love. We must still see one missionary after another cut down in his prime; for there are arguments with God, as convincing with him as they are obscure to us, which require that by heroic sacrifice the foundations of the African church should be laid. Lord, we do not ask thee to explain thy reasons to us. Thou canst screen us from a great temptation by hiding thyself; for if even now we sin by asking reasons, we might soon go further, and provoke thee sorely by contending against thy reasons. He who demands a reason of God is not in a fit state to receive one. In the case of the honoured men whom the Lord has removed from us this year, there is assuredly no loss to the great cause as it is viewed by the eye of God. See the great stones and costly stones laboriously brought from the quarry to the edge of the sea! Can it be possible that these are deliberately thrown into the deep? It swallows them up! Wherefore is so much labour thrown away? These living stones might surely have been built into a temple for the Lord; why should the waves of death engulf them? Yet more are sought for, and still more: will the hungry abyss never cease to devour? Alas, that so much precious material should be lost! It is not lost. No, not a stone of it. Thus the Lord layeth the foundation of his harbour of refuge among the people. “Mercy shall be built up for ever.” In due time massive walls shall rise out of the deep, and we shall no longer ask the reason for the losses of early days.

Peace be to the memories of the heroic dead! Men die that the cause may live. “Father, thy will be done.” With this prayer upon our lips let us bend low in child-like submission to the will of the great Jehovah, and then gird up our loins anew to dauntless perseverance in our holy service. Though more should be taken away next year, and the next, yet we must pray on, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

My heart is grieved for the death of the beloved Hartley, and those noble men who preceded him to “the white man’s grave.” I had seen him especially, for it had been a joy to assist him for three years in preparing for missionary service. Alas! the preparation led to small visible results. He left us, he landed, and he died. Surely the Lord means to make further use of him; if he did not make him a preacher to the natives, he must intend that he should preach to us. I may say of each fallen missionary, “He being dead yet speaketh.” “Faithful unto death,” they inspire us by their example. Dying without regret in the cause of such a Master, they remind us of our own indebtedness to him. Their spirits rising to his throne are links between this Society and the glorified assembly above. Let not our thoughts go downward to their graves, but rise upward to their thrones. Does not our text point with a ringer of flame from earth to heaven? Do not the dear departed ones mark a line of light between the two worlds?

If the prayer of our text had not been dictated by the Lord Jesus himself, we might think it too bold. Can it ever be that this earth, a mere drop of a bucket, should touch the great sea of life and light above and not be lost in it? Can it remain earth and yet be made like to heaven? Will it not lose its individuality in the process? This earth is subject to vanity, dimmed with ignorance, defiled with sin, furrowed with sorrow; can holiness dwell in it as in heaven? Our Divine Instructor would not teach us to pray for impossibilities; he puts such petitions into our mouths as can be heard and answered. Yet certainly this is a great prayer; it has the hue of the infinite about it. Can earth be tuned to the harmonies of heaven? Has not this poor planet drifted too far away to be reduced to order and made to keep rank with heaven? Is it not swathed in mist too dense to be removed? Can its grave-clothes be loosed? Can thy will, O God, be done in earth as it is in heaven? It can be, and it must be; for a prayer wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit is ever the shadow of a coming blessing, and he that taught us to pray after this manner did not mock us with vain words. It is a brave prayer, which only a heaven-born faith can utter; yet it is not the offspring of presumption, for presumption never longs for the will of the Lord to be perfectly performed.

May the Holy Spirit be with us, while I first lead you to observe that the comparison is not far-fetched. That our present obedience to God should be like to that of holy ones above is not a strained and fanatical notion. It is not far-fetched, for earth and heaven were called into being by the same Creator. The empire of the Maker comprehends the upper and the lower regions. “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’s”; and “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” He sustaineth all things by the word of his power both in heaven above and in the earth beneath. Jesus reigneth both among angels and men, for he is Lord of all. If, then, heaven and earth were created by the same God, and are sustained by the same power, and governed from the same throne, we believe that the same end will be subserved by each of them, and that both heaven and earth shall tell out the glory of God. They are two bells of the same chime, and this is the music that peals forth from them: “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah!” If earth were of the devil and heaven were of God, and two self-existent powers were contending for the mastery, we might question whether earth would ever be as pure as heaven; but as our ears have twice heard the divine declaration,” Power belongeth unto God,” we expect to see that power triumphant, and the dragon cast out from earth as well as heaven. Why should not every part of the great Creator’s handiwork become equally radiant with his glory? He that made can remake. The curse which fell upon the ground was not eternal; thorns and thistles pass away. God will bless the earth for Christ’s sake even as once he cursed it for man’s sake.

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” It was so once. Perfect obedience to the heavenly will upon this earth will only be a return to the good old times which ended at the gate of Eden. There was a day when no gulf was digged between earth and heaven; there was scarce a boundary line, for the God of heaven walked in Paradise with Adam. All things on earth were then pure, and true, and happy. It was the garden of the Lord. Alas, that the trail of the serpent has now defiled everything. Then earth’s morning song was heard in heaven, and heaven’s hallelujahs floated down to earth at eventide. Those who desire to set up the kingdom of God are not instituting a new order of things; they are restoring, not inventing. Earth will drop into the old groove again. The Lord is King: and he has never left the throne. As it was in the beginning so shall it be yet again. History shall, in the divinest sense, repeat itself. The temple of the Lord shall be among men, and the Lord God shall dwell among them. “Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” It will be so at the last. I shall not venture far into prophecy. Some brethren are quite at home where I should lose myself. I have scarcely yet been able to get out of the gospels and the epistles; and that deep book of Revelation, with its waters to swim in, I must leave to better instructed minds. “Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of that book;” to that blessing I would aspire, but I cannot yet make claim to interpret it. This much, however, seems plain,-there is to be “a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” This creation, which now “groaneth and travaileth in pain,” in sympathy with man, is to be brought forth from its bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Blessed be the Lord Christ, when he brought his people out of their bondage, he did not redeem their spirits only, but their bodies also: hence their material part is the Lord’s as well as their spiritual nature, and hence again this very earth which we inhabit shall be uplifted in connection with us. The creation itself shall be delivered. Materialism, out of which there has been once made a vesture for the Godhead in the person of Christ, shall become a fit temple for the Lord of hosts. The New Jerusalem shall come down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride is prepared for her husband. We are sure of this. Therefore unto this consummation let us strive mightily, praying evermore, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Meanwhile, remember also that there is an analogy between earth and heaven, so that the one is the type of the other. You could not describe heaven except by borrowing the things of earth to symbolize it; and this shows that there is a real likeness between them. What is heaven? It is Paradise, or a garden. Walk amid your fragrant flowers and think of heaven’s bed of spices. Heaven is a kingdom: thrones, and crowns, and palms are the earthly emblems of the heavenlies. Heaven is a city; and there, again, you fetch your metaphor from the dwelling-places of men. It is a place of “many mansions”-the homes of the glorified. Houses are of earth, yet is God our dwelling-place. Heaven is a wedding-feast; and even such is this present dispensation. The tables are spread here as well as there; and it is our privilege to go forth and bring in the hedge-birds and the highwaymen, that the banqueting-hall may be filled. While the saints above eat bread in the marriage supper of the Lamb, we do the like below in another sense.

Between earth and heaven there is but a thin partition. The home country is much nearer than we think. I question if “the land that is very far off” be a true name for heaven. Was it not an extended kingdom on earth which was intended by the prophet rather than the celestial home? Heaven is by no means the far country, for it is the Father’s house. Are we not taught to say, “Our Father which art in heaven”? Where the Father is the true spirit of adoption counts itself near. Our Lord would have us mingle heaven with earth by naming it twice in this short prayer. See how he makes us familiar with heaven by mentioning it next to our usual food, making the next petition to be, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This does not look as if it should be thought of as a remote region. Heaven, is at any rate, so near that in a moment we can speak with him that is King of the place, and he will answer to our call. Yea, before the clock shall tick again you and I may be there. Can that be a far-off country which we can reach so soon? Oh, brothers, we are within hearing of the shining ones; we are well-nigh home. A little while and we shall see our Lord. Perhaps another day’s march will bring us within the city gate. And what if another fifty years of life on earth should remain, what is it but the twinkling of an eye?

Clear enough is it that the comparison between the obedience of earth and that of heaven is not far-fetched. If heaven and heaven’s God be, in truth, so near to us, our Lord has set before us a homely model taken from our heavenly dwelling-place. The petition only means-let all the children of the one Father be alike in doing his will.

Secondly, this comparison is eminently instructive. Does it not teach us that what we do for God is not everything, but how we do it is also to be considered? The Lord Jesus Christ would not only have us do the Father’s will, but do it after a certain model. And what an elevated model it is! Yet is it none too elevated, for we would not wish to render to our heavenly Father service of an inferior kind. If none of us dare say that we are perfect, we are yet resolved that we will never rest until we are. If none of us dare hope that even our holy things are without a flaw, yet none of us will be satisfied while a spot remains upon them. We would give to our God the utmost conceivable glory. Let the mark be as high as possible. If we do not as yet reach it, we will aim higher and yet higher. We do not desire that our pattern should be lowered, but that our imitation should be raised.

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Mark the words “be done,” for they touch a vital point of the text. God’s will is done in heaven. How very practical! On earth his will is often forgotten, and his rule ignored. In the church of the present age there is a desire to be doing something for God, but few enquire what he wills them to do. Many things are done for the evangelizing of the people which were never commanded by the great Head of the Church, and cannot be approved of by him. Can we expect that he will accept or bless that which he has never commanded? Will-worship is as sin in his sight. We are to do his will in the first place, and then to expect a blessing upon the doing of that will. My brethren, I am afraid that Christ’s will on earth is very much more discussed than done. I have heard of brethren spending days in disputing upon a precept which their dispute was breaking. In heaven they have no disputes, but they do the will of God without discord. We are best employed when we are actually doing something for this fallen world, and for the glory of our Lord. “Thy will be done”: we must come to actual works of faith and labours of love. Too often we are satisfied with having approved of that will, or with having spoken of it in words of commendation. But we must not stay in thought, resolve, or word; the prayer is practical and business-like, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” An idle man stretched himself on his bed when the sun had risen high in heaven, and as he rolled over, he muttered to himself that he wished this were hard work, for he could do any quantity of it with pleasure. Many might wish that to think and to speak were to do the will of God; for then they would have effected it very thoroughly. Up yonder there is no playing with sacred things: they do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Would God his will were not alone preached and sung below, but actually done as it is in heaven.

In heaven the will of God is done in spirit, for they are spirits there. It is done in truth with undivided heart, and unquestioned desire. On earth, too often, it is done and yet not done; for a dull formality mocks real obedience. Here obedience often shades off into dreary routine. We sing with the lips, but our hearts are silent. We pray as if the mere utterance of words were prayer. We sometimes preach living truth with dead lips. It must no longer be so. Would God we had the fire and fervour of those burning ones who behold the face of God. We pray in that sense, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” I hope there is a revival of spiritual life among us, and that, to a large extent, our brotherhood is instinct with fervour; but there is room for far more of zeal. Ye that know how to pray, go down upon your knees, and with the warm breath of prayer arouse the spark of spiritual life until it becomes a flame. With all the powers of our innermost being, with the whole life of God within us, let us be stirred up to do the will of the Lord on earth as it is done in heaven.

In heaven they do God’s will constantly, without failure. Would God it could be so here! We are aroused to-day, but we fall asleep tomorrow. We are diligent for one hour, but sluggish the next. This must not be, dear friends. We must be steadfast, unmovable-always abounding in the work of the Lord. We need to pray for sacred perseverance, that we may imitate the days of heaven upon the earth by doing the Lord’s will without a break.

They do God’s will in heaven universally, without making a selection. Here men pick and choose-take this commandment to be obeyed, and lay that commandment by as non-essential. We are, I fear, all tinctured, more or less, with with this odious gall. A certain part of obedience is hard, and therefore we try to forget it. It must no longer be so; but whatsoever Jesus saith unto us we must do. Partial obedience is actual disobedience. The loyal subject respects the whole law. If anything be the will of the Lord, we have no choice in the matter, the choice is made by our Lord. Let us pray that we may neither misunderstand the Lord’s will, nor forget it, nor violate it. Perhaps we are, as a company of believers, ignorantly omitting a part of the Lord’s will, and this may have been hindering our work these many years; possibly there is something written by the pen of inspiration which we have not read, or something read that we have not practised; and this may hold back the arm of the Lord from working. We should often make diligent search, and go through our churches to see wherein we differ from the divine pattern. Some goodly Babylonish garment or wedge of gold may be as an accursed thing in the camp, bringing disaster to the Lord’s armies. Let us not neglect anything which our God commands lest he withhold his blessing.

His will is done in heaven instantly, and without hesitation. We, I fear, are given to delays. We plead that we must look the thing round about. “Second thoughts are best,” we say, whereas the first thoughts of eager love are the prime production of our being. I would that we were obedient at all hazard, for therein lies the truest safety. Oh, to do what God bids us, as God bids us, on the spot, and at the moment! It is not ours to debate, but to perform. Let us dedicate ourselves as perfectly as Esther consecrated herself when she espoused the cause of her people, and said, “If I perish, I perish.” We must not consult with flesh and blood, or make a reserve for our own selfishness, but at once most vigorously follow the divine command.

Let us pray the Lord that we may do his will on earth as it is done in heaven; that is, joyfully, without the slightest weariness. When our hearts are right, it is a glad thing to serve God, though it be only to unloose the latchets of our Master’s shoes. To be employed by Jesus in service which will bring us no repute, but much reproach, should be our delight. If we were altogether as we should be, sorrow for Christ’s sake would be joy: ay, we should have joy right along, in dark nights as well as in bright days. Even as they are glad in heaven, with a felicity born of the presence of the Lord, so should we be glad, and find our strength in the joy of the Lord.

In heaven the will of the Lord is done right humbly. There perfect purity is set in a frame of lowliness. Too often we fall into self-gratulation, and it defiles our best deeds. We whisper to ourselves, “I did that very well.” We flatter ourselves that there was no self in our conduct, but while we are laying that flattering unction to our souls, we are lying, as our self-contentment proves. God might have allowed us to do ten times as much, had he not known that it would not be safe. He cannot set us upon the pinnacle, because our heads are weak, and we grow dizzy with pride. We must not be permitted to be rulers over many things, for we should become tyrants if we had the opportunity. Brother, pray the Lord to keep thee low at his feet, for in no other place canst thou be largely used of him.

The comparison being thus instructive, I pray that we may be the better for our meditation upon it. I do not find it an easy thing even to describe the model; but if we essay to copy it: “this is the work; this is the difficulty.” Unless we are girded with the divine strength we shall never do the will of God as it is done in heaven. Here is a greater labour than those of Hercules, bringing with it victories nobler than those of Alexander. To this the unaided wisdom of Solomon could not attain; the Holy Ghost must transform us, and lead the earthly in us captive to the heavenly.

Thirdly, I beg you to notice, dear friends, that this comparison of holy service on earth to that which is in heaven, is based upon facts. The facts will both comfort and stimulate us. Two places are mentioned in the text which seem very dissimilar, and yet the likeness exceeds the unlikeness-earth and heaven.

Why should not saints do the will of the Lord on earth as their brethren do it in heaven? What is heaven but the Father’s house, wherein there are many mansions? Do we not abide in that house even now? The Psalmist said, “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee.” Have we not often said of our Bethels, “This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”? The spirit of adoption causes us to be at home with God even while we sojourn here below. Let us therefore do the will of God at once.

We have the same fare on earth as the saints in heaven, for “the Lamb in the midst of the throne doth feed them:” he is the Shepherd of his flock below, and daily feeds us upon himself. His flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed. Whence come the refreshing draughts of the immortals? The Lamb doth lead them to living fountains of waters; and doth he not even here below say to us, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”? The same river of the water of life which makes glad the city of our God above, also waters the garden of the Lord below.

Brethren, we are in the same company below as they enjoy above. Up there they are with Christ, and here he is with us, for he hath said-“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” There is a difference as to the brightness of his presence; but not as to the reality of it. Thus you see we are partakers of the same privileges as the shining ones within the city gates. The church below is a chamber of the one great house, and the partition which separates it from the church above is a mere veil, of inconceivable thinness. Wherefore should we not do the Lord’s will on earth as it is done in heaven?

“But heaven is a place of peace,” says one; “there they rest from their labours.” Beloved, our estate here is not without its peace and rest. “Alas,” cries one, “I find it far otherwise.” I know it. But whence come wars and fightings but of our fretfulness and unbelief? “We which have believed do enter into rest.” That is not in all respects a fair allegory which represents us as crossing the Jordan of death to enter into Canaan. No, my brethren, believers are in Canaan now; how else could we say that the Canaanite is still in the land? We have entered upon the promised heritage, and we are warring for the full possession of it. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I for one do not feel like a lone dove flying over waters dark, seeking rest for the sole of her foot. No, I have found my Noah: Jesus has given me rest. There is a difference between the best estate of earth and the glory of heaven, but the rest which every soul may have that learns to conquer its will, is most deep and real. Brethren, having rest already, and being participators of the joy of the Lord, why should we not serve God on earth as they do in heaven?

“But we have not their victory,” cries one, “for they are more than conquerors.” Yes, and “our warfare is accomplished.” We have prophetic testimony to that fact. Moreover, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” In the Lord Jesus. Christ the Lord giveth us the victory, and maketh us to triumph in every place. We are warring; but we are of good cheer, for Jesus has overcome the world, and we also overcome by his blood. Ever is this our war-cry, “Victory! Victory!” The Lord will tread Satan under our feet shortly. Why should we not do the Lord’s will on earth as it is done in heaven?

Heaven is the place of fellowship with God, and this is a blessed feature in its joy; but in this we are now participators, for “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The fellowship of the Holy Ghost is with us all; it is our joy and our delight. Having communion with the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are uplifted and sanctified, and it is becoming that by us the will of the Lord should be done on earth as it is in heaven.

“Up there,” says a brother, “they are all accepted, but here we are in a state of probation.” Did you read that in the Bible? for I never did. A believer is in no state of probation; he has passed from death unto life, and shall never come into condemnation. We are already “accepted in the Beloved,” and that acceptance is so given as never to be reversed. The Redeemer brought us up out of the horrible pit of probation, and he has set our feet on the rock of salvation, and there he has established our goings. “The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.” Wherefore should we not, as the accepted of the Lord, do his will on earth as it is done in heaven?

“Ay,” saith one, “but heaven is the place of perfect service; for ‘his servants shall serve him.’ ” But is not this the place, in some respects, of a more extensive service still? Are there not many things which perfect saints above and holy angels cannot do? If we had choice of a sphere in which we could serve God with widest range, we should choose not heaven but earth. There are no slums and over-crowded rooms in heaven to which we can go with help, but there are plenty of them here. There are no jungles and regions of malaria where missionaries may prove their unreserved consecration by preaching the gospel at the expense of their lives. In some respects this world has a preference beyond the heavenly state as to the extent of doing the will of God. Oh, that we were better men, and then the saints above might almost envy us! If we did but live as we should live, we might make Gabriel stoop from his throne and cry, “I wish I were a man!” It is ours to lead the van in daily conflict with sin and Satan, and at the same time ours to bring up the rear, battling with the pursuing foe. God help us, since we are honoured with so rare a sphere, to do his will on earth as it is done in heaven.

“Ay,” say you, “but heaven is the place of overflowing joy.” Yes, and have you no joy even now? A saint who lives near to God is so truly blessed that he will not be much astonished when he enters heaven. He will be surprised to behold its glories more clearly; but he will have the same reason for delight as he possesses to-day. We live below the same life which we shall live above, for we are quickened by the same Spirit, are looking to the same Lord, and rejoicing in the same security. Joy! Do you not know it? Your Lord says, “That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” You will be larger vessels in heaven, but you will not be fuller; you will be brighter, doubtless, but you will not be cleaner than you are when the Lord has washed you and made you white in his own blood. Do not be impatient to go to heaven. Nay, do not have a wish about it. Set very loose by the things of earth; yet count it a great privilege to have a long life in which to serve the Lord on earth. Our mortal life is but a brief interval between the two eternities, and if we judged unselfishly, and saw the needs of earth, we might almost say, “Give us back the antediluvian periods of human life, that through a chiliad we might serve the Lord in suffering and in reproach, as we cannot do in glory.” This life is the vestibule of glory. Array yourselves in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for this is the court-dress of earth and heaven. Manifest at once the spirit of saints, or else you will never abide with them. Now begin the song which your lips shall carol in Paradise, or else you will never be admitted to the heavenly choirs; none can unite in the music but those who have rehearsed it here below.

Lastly, this comparison, which I feel I can so feebly bring out, of doing the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven, ought to be borne out by holy deeds. Here is the urgency of the missionary enterprise. God’s will can never be intelligently done where it is not known; therefore, in the first place, it becomes us as followers of Jesus to see to it that the will of the Lord is made known by heralds of peace sent forth from among us. Why has it not been already published in every land? We cannot blame the great Father, nor impute the fault to the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened, nor the mercy of God restrained. Is it not probably true that the selfishness of Christians is the main reason for the slow progress of Christianity? If Christianity is never to spread in the world at a more speedy rate than the present, it will not even keep pace with the growth of the population. If we are going to give to Christ’s kingdom no larger a percentage than we have usually given, I suppose it will require about an eternity-and-a-half to convert the world; or, in other words, it will never be done. The progress made is so slow, that it threatens to be like that of the crab, which is always described in the fable as going backward. What do we give, brethren? What do we do? A friend exhorts me to say that the Baptist Missionary Society ought to raise a million a-year. I have my doubts about that; but he proposes that we should, at least, try to do so for one year. There is nothing like having a high mark to aim at. A million a-year seems hugely too much by the general consent of you all, and yet I am not sure. What amount of property is now held by Baptists? The probable estimate of money now in the hands of baptized believers in the United Kingdom might make us ashamed that a million is not put down at once. Far more than that is spent by a similar number of Englishmen upon strong drink. We do not know how much wealth lies in the custody of God’s stewards; and some of them are not likely to let us know until we read it in the paper, and then we shall discover that they died worth so many hundreds of thousands. The world counts men to be worth what they hoard; but in truth they were not worth much, or else they could not have retained so much from the work of the Lord when it was needed for the spread of the gospel. As a denomination we are improving a little. We are improving a little. I was obliged to repeat that sentence, and place the emphasis in the right place. We may not congratulate ourselves: considerable room for improvement yet remains: the income of the Society might be doubled and no one oppressed in the process. It is not for us to say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: but, Lord, thou hast many ways and means of accomplishing that will; I pray thee do it, but let me not be asked to help on the work.” No, when I utter this prayer, if I am sincere I shall be searching my stores to see what I can give to make known the truth. I shall be enquiring whether I cannot personally speak the saving word. I shall not decline to give because the times are very hard, neither shall I fail to speak because I am of a retiring disposition. An opportunity is a golden gift. Now, do not offer the prayer of the text if you do not mean it. Better omit the petition than play the hypocrite with it. You who fail to support missions when it is in your power to do so should never say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” but leave out that petition for fear of mocking God.

Our text, dear friends, leads me to say that as God’s will must be known that it may be done, it must be God’s will that we should make it known; because God is love, and the law under which he has placed us is that we love. What love of God dwelleth in that man who denies to a benighted heathen that light without which he will be lost? Love is a grand word to talk of, but it is nobler as a principle to be obeyed. Can there be love of God in that man’s heart who will not help to send the gospel to those who are without it? We want to bless the world; we have a thousand schemes by which to bless it, but if ever God’s will is done in earth as it is done in heaven it will be an unmixed and comprehensive blessing. Join the Peace Society by all means, and be forgiving and peaceable yourself; but there is no way of establishing peace on the earth except by God’s will being done in it, and that can only be done through the renewing of men’s hearts by the gospel of Jesus Christ. By all manner of means let us endeavour so to control politics, as Christian men, that oppression shall not remain in the earth; but, after all, there will be oppression unless the gospel is spread. This is the one balm for all earth’s wounds. They will bleed still until the Christ shall come to bind them up. Oh, let us then, since this is the best thing that can be, show our love to God and man by spreading his saving truth.

The text says, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Suppose any one of you had come from heaven. It is but a supposition; but let it stand for a minute: suppose that a man here has come fresh from heaven. Some would be curious to see what his bodily form would be like. They would expect to be dazzled by the radiance of his countenance. However, we will let that pass. We want to see how he would live. Coming newly from heaven, how would he act? Oh, sirs, if he came here to do the same as all men do on earth, only after a heavenly sort, what a father he would be, what a husband, what a brother, what a friend! I would sit down and let him preach this morning, most assuredly; and when he had done preaching, I would go home with him, and have a chat. I should be careful to observe what he would do with his substance. His first thought would be, if he had a shilling, to lay it out for God’s glory. “But,” says one, “I have to go to shop with my shilling.” Be it so, but when you go say, “Oh! Lord, help me to lay it out to thy glory.” There should be as much piety in buying your necessaries as in going to a place of worship. I do not think this man coming fresh from heaven would say, “I must have this luxury; I must have this goodly raiment; I must have this grand house.” But he would say, “How much can I save for the God of heaven? How much can I invest in the country I came from?” I am sure he would be pinching and screwing to save money to serve God with; and he himself, as he went about the streets, and mingled with ungodly men and women, would be sure to find out ways of getting at their consciences and hearts; he would be always trying to bring others to the felicity he had enjoyed. Think that over, and live so-so as he did who really did come down from heaven. For after all, the best rule of life is, what would Jesus do if he were here to-day, and the world still lying in the wicked one? If Jesus were in your business, if he had your money, how would he spend it? For that is how you ought to spend it. Now think, my brother, you will be in heaven very soon. Since last year a great number have gone home: before next year many more will have ascended to glory. Sitting up in those celestial seats, how shall we wish that we had lived below? It will not give any man in heaven even a moment’s joy to think that he gratified himself while here. It will give him no reflections suitable to the place to remember how much he amassed, how much he left behind to be quarrelled over after he was gone; he will say to himself, “I wish I had saved more of my capital by sending it on before me, for what I saved on earth was lost, but what I spent for God was really laid up where thieves do not break through and steal.”

Oh, brothers, let us live as we shall wish we had lived when life is over; let us fashion a life which will bear the light eternal. Is it life to live otherwise? Is it not a sort of fainting fit, a coma, out of which life may not quite have gone, but all that is worth calling life has oozed away? Unless we are striving mightily to honour Jesus, and bring home his banished, we are dead while we live. Let us aim at a life which will outlast the fires which shall try every man’s work.

If I may have moved any person here to resolve, “I will so live,” I have not spoken in vain. I have at least stirred myself with the intense desire to cast off the mere outsides and husks of life, and to ripen the real kernel of my being. Thy will by me be done on earth, as yet, my Lord, I hope to do it in the skies. May I begin here a life worthy to be perpetuated in eternity. God bless you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

GRAPPLING IRONS

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, May 4th, 1884, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.” Psalm 119:88.

When David wrote this part of the psalm he was evidently beset by many enemies who sought to destroy him, and it is exceedingly important to note what part of himself he guarded with the most care. Which part of his nature did he regard as the most vital? Where did he hold the shield that he might be screened from the darts of the foe? We observe that his prayer is very little about his body, or his temporal interests. Like other men, he desired to be preserved in life and kept in prosperity; but his main prayer is not about these matters. Evidently his chief thought is concerning his soul, his character, his adherence to God’s word, his steadfastness in the faith. Observe the current of his supplication,-“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.” He is not so anxious to keep his health, or to keep his house, or to keep his crown, or even to keep his life, as he is that he may keep the testimony of God’s mouth. O brethren, everything is right when the heart is right, and everything is wrong when the soul is wrong. We are prospering even when we lose our wealth if we grow in grace; but we are in the direst adversity, even if we are growing rich, if we become spiritually poor. Starve your soul, and you will be wretched amid the dainties of a king’s table; but let your soul be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and a dinner of herbs will be better to you than a stalled ox. The first thing, the main thing, the chief thing, is that the heart be kept true towards God and his word. Concerning this David prays.

I would call to your notice this morning, first, his intense desire, which is that he may keep the testimony of God’s mouth; secondly, his consequent prayer arising out of that desire. “Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.” When we have spoken upon those two points we shall then endeavour to use the whole text by way of showing his holy example,-a lesson to all believing people in all ages to strive after quickened spiritual life that they may keep the testimony of God’s mouth.

First, in these words of David, we have his intense desire that he might keep the testimony of God’s mouth.

This desire was founded in a high esteem of God’s word. He viewed the divine revelation as coming directly from Jehovah’s own mouth. To some men this holy book is no more inspired than the plays of Shakespeare or the poems of Milton. We have in the Old Testament, they say, the sacred writings of the Jews, which deserve to be treated with great respect; and this is all. David thought not so; and, thank God, we join with David in his opinion. David speaks of God’s word, though he had but a small portion of it compared with what we have, as “the testimony of God’s mouth.” To me there is no explanation of those words except that which involves verbal and infallible inspiration. The testimony of God’s mouth must be given in words: God’s heart has thoughts, but God’s mouth has words; and words from the omniscient and true God must be infallible. This view invests Holy Scripture with an awe and a glory which create in us the deepest reverence, and constrain us to the most earnest attention. When we look upon every word of this precious book as coming fresh from God’s mouth, we liken it to those other words by which he called the universe out of nothing, and created light where else had been darkness. To the ear that is rightly tuned by God’s Spirit there is a voice and a music as of infinite wisdom and love about every syllable of Scripture. The breath of life is in the testimony from the mouth of the living God. In truth the Lord may have spoken the word actually by the mouth of Moses, but spiritually his own mouth has uttered it. The inspired sentence may come down to us from the pen of David; Isaiah, or any other of the prophets, may have been the visible medium of its transmission; but the word itself has come distinctly and directly, with absolute truth and unmingled purity, from the mouth of the Most High. The coin of inspiration comes from the mint of infallibility. The truth is the teaching of the God of truth. As such we render to it our ears, our hearts, and our obedient lives. What God hath said we dare not question. The man of God wraps his face in his mantle and bows before the divine majesty, humbly saying, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”

Those who have this reverence for God’s word will long to cling to it; they will be afraid of misinterpreting it; and they will not venture to add any of their own words to it, lest they be called into judgment for such presumption. The ear of the devout man seems to hear the thunder of that sentence, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” God grant that we may accept the Bible not as the writings of man, but as the word of the living God. A few evenings ago we were led to think of those who tremble at God’s word: may we be numbered among them, for to such will God look, and with such will he dwell. Let us unite with the Psalmist in saying, “Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.”

This prayer of David’s, springing from his great reverence for the revealed will of God, includes within it many points of virtue. I cannot explain what he means by keeping the testimony of God’s mouth by any one line of things: it is a far-reaching prayer, as full as it is brief. He means, no doubt, that he desired to be steadfast in the doctrine which the mouth of the Lord had spoken. He wished to be taught of the Lord so as to know the truth, and then to be so confirmed and established in it that no wind of doctrine should carry him away from his moorings. He desired to be steadfast, unmovable, rooted and grounded in the truth of God. Such an attainment is much to be desired at this time. The things which we have learned and have received we must hold fast until our Lord shall come. He has set us in our place to keep guard over his truth; let no sentry sleep at his post. He has put us in trust with the gospel; God grant we may not be dishonest trustees, trifling with our charge. May those especially who are teachers of others be good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Though we bring forth things new and old, let us take care that we bring forth nothing but what we find in the treasury of the Word. Woe unto the prophet who declares “a vision of his own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.” Too many are doing so at this hour, glorying in their boasted culture, and trusting to their own intellects. Of such we may say with Jeremiah, “They are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.” The Lord shall one day silence such, and put their followers to confusion. But blessed is that man who speaks the mind of God, and causes the people to hear the word of the Lord. Man’s word is for the forum, but God’s word must be spoken in his temple. The things which we have heard, and seen, and received of the Spirit of God, these things we would hold and teach, and nothing beside. I am sure that the prayer of our text means-Help me, Lord, to know, believe, and hold fast the testimony of thy mouth: may I be a true believer, having my feet upon the solid rock of thy teaching, and not upon the quicksand of man’s invention. May I never be ashamed of thy truth. If men call it outworn and effete, may I nevertheless know it to be thine own eternal word which liveth and abideth for ever. Let me feel it to be quickening, reviving, strengthening, and as full of power and energy as ever it was. May I believe concerning it that it has the dew of its youth about it, that its locks are bushy and black as a raven, that it still goeth forth as the sun from the chambers of the morning, and that like a mighty man it marches onward conquering and to conquer. Brethren, this word shall never return unto God void, but it shall accomplish that which he pleases. This meaning of the prayer is worthy of solemn note in these evil days.

But there is another meaning which will seem to some more practical, though indeed it is not so; for there is as much real practice about right thinking as about right acting; and for the understanding to be obedient to God is as vital a thing as for the actions of the life to be conformed to his will. We ought to be anxious to be obedient to God in all his precepts; and if we are striving to be so, our prayer should daily be that we may be preserved in the keeping of the testimony of God’s mouth. Our Father who is in heaven has told his children what his will is: should not this constrain them to fulfil it? He has been pleased to teach us what it is that pleaseth him; should we not hate that which God hates, and love that which he delights in? Let us pray that we may be set in the straight and narrow way which leadeth unto life eternal, and may be kept there even to the end. There is no law of God’s mouth which a faithful and loving believer would wish to be ignorant of: there is no command of his mouth which we would wilfully disobey or neglect. Our prayer is, “Make me to run in the way of thy commandments.” That law of God, which was once so terrible to us, has lost its frowns through the atoning sacrifice: and now we delight in the law of God after the inward man, and we long to be perfectly conformed to it. Our grief is that we are not perfect; sin is our pain and plague. We shall never be perfectly happy till we are perfectly holy. Sin is a constant fret and burden to us: whenever we see even a trace of it in our nature or our acts, we cry, “Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” We cannot endure that the shade of evil should flit across the imagination; nay, even if in our dreams a sin doth cast its shadow over our spirit we wake disturbed. We would not have a wish which leans towards iniquity: we would have every thought brought into captivity to the Lord, bound by the bonds of righteousness and led prisoner along the triumphant way of sanctification; for holiness is life, light, and liberty to us. “I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts.” Freedom from the power of evil is the highest liberty which we expect on earth. I am sure, my friends, the prayer is rising in your hearts at this moment-

“Teach me to run in thy commands,

’Tis a delightful road,

Nor let my head, nor heart, nor hands,

Offend against my God.”

David further desired that he might be preserved in perfect and unwavering confidence in the promises of God. The testimony of God’s mouth is largely made up of exceeding great and precious promises. Oh, what rich and eternal things hath he promised to them that fear him! No good thing will he withhold from them: all things shall work together for their good. He will give them of the dew of heaven, and of the deep that lieth under; the chief things of the ancient mountains and the precious things of the lasting hills has he covenanted to give them. The sad fact is that sometimes his own people begin to question those promises, and if the vision tarrieth they are in unbelieving haste, and limit the Holy One of Israel. Yet the covenant is ordered in all things and sure: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Not one of his words shall fail: nor shall one blessing which he has promised be withheld. “All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” His covenant shall stand fast, though heaven and earth pass away; he will not alter the thing that hath gone out of his mouth. Therefore our prayer is that we may keep the testimony of his mouth, and, like our fathers, may be persuaded of the promises, and may embrace them. What an instructive word is that! “Embraced them”-pressing them to their hearts, and holding them dear to their souls. Oh, never, never let us dare to suspect the faithfulness of our God; rather let us emulate the faith of Abraham, who staggered not at the promise through unbelief; believing that if God had promised him a seed of Isaac, and yet commanded him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, God was able even from the dead to raise him up, and so to keep his word. All things may be contrary to what they seem to be, and all human witnesses may be intentionally or unintentionally false, but the Eternal God must be true. “Let God be true and every man”-ay, and every thing-“a liar.” It were better to suppose the very heavens did lie, and that the earth beneath us had become untrue, and that all our senses were instruments of deception, rather than we should for a moment allow that the God of truth could falter or waver. The largest faith of which the most enlarged mind is capable is the righteous due of God, who cannot err or change. Be this your prayer, that you may be confident of the truth of every promise of the covenant of grace, and stand to it, come life or come death. Be this your firm resolve: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

This prayer then, you see, has a very wide significance, and I want you to observe that upon the very surface of the words there is an indication that this desire in his soul was backed up by the experience of the past. He desires to keep the testimony of God’s mouth; and that implies that he has already received that testimony, and is in possession of it. If a man has not obtained a thing, he cannot keep it. Beloved, I would throw you back this morning for a moment upon memories of the past. Do you remember the place, the spot of ground where first you heard of God with your inner ear? Do you remember your beggary, your disease, your death? and how the heavenly word gave you wealth, healing, and life in Christ? Since then, how precious, how soul-sustaining, how full of deliverance, how pregnant with victory, have the words of God been to you in days of affliction and conflict! At this day you must feel that you could not leave this precious word, for you would be leaving the fountain of living waters. It has been your life, your joy, your all; why should you leave it? With David you can bear witness, “Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.” Whither will you go if you forsake the Lord’s testimony? What way is open to you if you turn from the way of his statutes? But, my brothers, the mercies of the past, I might even say the miseries of the past, all bind us to our God and to his statutes. All that has happened hitherto has only magnified his word above all his name. We have lived on that word when else our soul had died of famine: we have had light in the midst of more than Egyptian darkness through its testimonies. What wonders we have wrought through the promises of God. “O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.” By the power of this word have we run through a troop, by our God have we leaped over a wall. Passing through the fire we have not been burned; wading through the rivers we have not been drowned; for the word of the Lord has brought us deliverance. Believe for the future, for the past demands it! God grant that we may, by a childlike confidence, for ever keep the testimony of his mouth.

Furthermore, this desire is necessitated by the struggles of the present. Poor David had become like a bottle in the smoke: his eyes were failing, his heart had fainted, his days were growing few, his pathway was intercepted with pits, he was persecuted wrongfully, he was almost consumed; but he adds, “I forsook not thy precepts.” That was the saving clause of it all. We may be in the smoke, but we shall not be smothered; we may be persecuted, but we shall never be forsaken; we may be cast down, but we shall not be destroyed while we keep the testimonies of God’s mouth. We are still in the sea, therefore let us cling to our life-buoy; we are still in the wilderness, let us daily gather the heavenly manna. Cast not away your confidence, which even now hath great recompense of reward. Stand you to it, that, be the present what it may, your choice is made; your understanding is assured, your convictions are indelible. Change as ye will, all ye that know not God; but we that know him by long experience are inseparably united to him. To quit the truth of God for modern notions would be to leave the streams from Lebanon for the sand of the desert, the sweet waters of Siloah for the brine of the Dead Sea. Tossed no longer with tempest, our soul has found her anchorage and rests in the Lord. “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise!” We are not for ever learning, but we have come to the knowledge of the truth by the teaching of the Holy Ghost. We are neither to be bribed nor bullied so as to lose our faith, for it is of the operation of God. The elect shall not be deceived, for they know the voice of their Lord, and he has taught them to distinguish the language of truth from the jargon of error.

I am sure I may add that this desire of David is well warranted by every prospect of the future. We do not know what troubles we shall yet experience; but we do know that he who hath helped us bears us through, and makes us more than conquerors too. The testimony of God’s mouth is our shield in the day of battle. We cannot put on Saul’s armour, for we have not proved it; but we have proved the panoply which God provides for us in his word, and therefore we wear it daily. That future, which extends in endless vista far beyond our mortal life, demands faithfulness of us. If we are traitors to the truth of God to-day, what will become of the next generation, and the next, and the next? At this hour we suffer for the negligences of our ancestors: error has been established by a long continuance of perversity-shall we persevere in maintaining falsehood? To-day will ye rebuild the Jericho which the Reformers threw down? Will we pull down the Jerusalem which they have built up? If so, our sons shall curse the memory of their sires. This poor world may experience great delay to her grand hope if Christian men in the present are unfaithful to the truth. Ages hang upon the conduct of the church of to-day. Speak out the truth while you live, so that when you leave this life it may be said, “He being dead yet speaketh.” Let us to-day anchor the church to sound doctrine, lest she drift further and further in years to come. Speak God’s word faithfully, for that word shall live and conquer when you are gone. He that soweth the seed of heresy and evil doctrine entails upon succeeding generations an evil and a plague, and his very name shall rot; but he that soweth the good seed shall be the father of ten thousand successive harvests. To-day we may seal the coming centuries unto the Lord, setting the impress of the truth upon them. Be ye steadfast for the truth in your own day, for you know not what perilous times will come, before the advent of the Lord Jesus. Your words and acts to-day will affect eternity itself. A word spoken to-day, barbed with ill intent, and envenomed with the poison of falsehood, may make souls to smart throughout a dread eternity. Tremble therefore lest in any wise ye cease to keep the testimony of the mouth of God. Thus much upon David’s desire: may a like desire burn in our hearts!

Secondly, let us consider his consequent prayer. He did not pray immediately that he might keep the testimony of God’s mouth, but he offered the next prayer to it, the one which leads up to it right surely. As a man that goeth up to his chamber doth not leap up all at once, but climbeth the stairs, so doth David rise to the keeping of the Lord’s word by the prayer,-“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness.”

This prayer is wisdom. He that saith, “I shall keep the testimony of God’s mouth, for I am fully resolved to do it,” had better salt that resolution with prayer, or it will rot like all things which come of the flesh. “Oh,” saith he, “I am strong-minded and firmly established, and shall never be moved from the hope of my high calling.” O man, thou knowest not thyself, nor the power of temptation, if thou art depending upon thyself. Thou wilt be as readily blown away as the thistledown upon the wold when the north wind is raging. O heart, thou art but human; and humanity is unstable as water. O man, thou art frail as a shadow; trust not in thyself for a moment. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Put up a prayer to God that he would confirm thee, for in that way and in that only shalt thou be true to his statutes. He shall keep God’s testimony that is kept by God’s power, and he alone; therefore this prayer is wisdom. Moreover, as there is but one Lord and Giver of life, what more could David do than pray? He could not give himself life, and he was wise to apply to him who alone quickeneth the dead.

This prayer was suggested, I do not doubt, by David’s inward state. He says, “Quicken me.” Does he mean that he was dead? Yes, comparatively. He means that he felt the power of death working in him. Before he is quite numbed he cries, “Quicken me.” He was not altogether dead, for dead men never pray for quickening; but he had a sense of deadness creeping over him, gradually chilling the genial current of his soul. He was dull; he was heavy; he felt lethargic, and indisposed to activity. “Quicken me, Lord,” saith he; “Quicken me.” The Lord hath given us some life, beloved, but that life at intervals seems to go to sleep through weariness: let us pray, “Quicken me, Lord.” The Lord has given us his well-beloved Son, not only that we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly. Is thy life vigorous, dear brother? Yet still this prayer is suitable to thee; still cry, “Quicken me.” Nobody knows how much vitality a man can manifest. He who seems all alive might still have more life. He can rise from life to strength, from strength to activity, from activity to intensity, from intensity to violence. When a man is thoroughly alive what a man he is! Are we not, the most of us, a droning, sleepy, half-quickened set? We mope and grope like men who are looking for their graves; but when the Lord comes to us he quickens us from head to foot, and then the blood leaps in our veins, our spiritual breath is full and deep, and we are fired with enthusiasm. We are dry now and powerless, like the bush in the desert; but the Spirit descends upon us as fire, and then we blaze with divine fervour. We can do all things through Christ that strengthened us. If we desire to cleave to the truth let us pray that up to the highest point we may be filled with the life of God, since life and truth go together. Oh that we may become quick in every respect, quickened by him who is the resurrection and the life. This is every way a suitable prayer; a very fitting one for lukewarm Laodiceans. It will not be out of place in the mouth of any one of us. However full of life we may be, let us all together plead for this master blessing of quickening.

“Revive thy work, O Lord,

Disturb this sleep of death,

Quicken the smouldering embers now,

By thine almighty breath.”

It is a prayer which met David’s condition. Carefully read the octave of verses with “Caph” at the head of them, and see how well it fits in at the end of each. “My soul fainteth”-“Quicken me.” “Mine eyes fail”-“Quicken me.” “I am become like a bottle in the smoke”-“Quicken me.” “How many are the days of thy servant?”-I seem near to death-“Quicken me.” “The proud have digged pits for me”-“Quicken me,” that I may spy out their pitfalls and avoid them. “They persecute me wrongfully”-“Quicken me,” Lord; for they cannot hurt me, though they pour death upon me, if thou pour life into me. “They had almost consumed me”-“Quicken me,” and then I may burn with fire, but I shall not be consumed. You see, the blessing of quickening meets all these conditions. I believe that the best preservative under trial is increased spiritual life. Did I hear you complain, “I am very poor”? Brethren, if your soul is quickened and you become rich in faith, poverty will be a light burden. “But I am very depressed in spirit.” Truly, this is sad; but if you are more fully quickened, you will shake it off as living men put from them the cerements of the tomb. But you cry, “I have such hard work to do!” If you have stronger life, the task will be easier. “But I have been disappointed and defeated.” You will have few defeats, or you will bear them joyfully when your spiritual life is vigorous and full. “Quicken me.” I suggest that this prayer be presented all over the place by every child of God. Breathe it before God in the silence of your hearts. “Quicken me: quicken me.” I, thy minister, how much I need the quickening influences of thy Spirit! My brethren associated with me in the church, how much they require it! Lord, quicken us all! You that have come up from the country, some of you grow dull enough in your rustic quietude. Join with us in pleading, “Quicken me.” You who are Sunday-school teachers want life for yourselves if you are to communicate it to others. In any and every case increased spiritual life will be a blessing to you. Whatever your difficulty, whatever your doubt, whatever your sorrow, whatever your temptation, here is a prayer that meets every case: “Quicken me after thy lovingkindness.”

It is a prayer especially which answered to David’s aim in presenting it. He prayed this prayer that he might be enabled to keep God’s testimony. Now who are the people that give up sound doctrine? Why, the people who do not know the quickening power of it in their own souls, and do not live in the delightful enjoyment of it. Who are the people that give up holy practice? Why the people that are not dwelling in the power of the Holy Ghost, and are not full of the life of God. Who are those that are tossed up and down like the locust and are shifty, and have no fixed position? Why they are the men that have not received the fulness of life from on high. You can do a great many things with a dead man; but you cannot make him stand upright: you may try most earnestly, but a corpse cannot stand; until you put life into the body it will fall to the ground; and so if the life of God be not in you you cannot hold the truth, or maintain purity, or walk in integrity. Life is absolutely essential to steadfastness in the truth. Whenever I hear of churches and ministers departing from the faith, I know that piety is at low ebb among them. It is proposed that we should argue with them: it is of no avail to argue with dead people. It is proposed that we should bring out another book of Christian evidences: it is small benefit to provide glasses for those who have no eyes. What is wanted is more spiritual life; for as the truth quickens men they love the quickening word; but dead men care little about that which is to them a dead letter. “Thy word hath quickened me,” says David; and the man that is quickened clings to the truth which quickens him. Whenever you feel a little shaky, and your feet begin to totter, and your head to swim, just cry, “Lord, quicken me; here is a sign that I am dying, for I am doubting; pour more of thy power into me.” When spiritual life is healthy, it will feed upon the word, and so take it into its innermost self that nothing can remove it. Why do men grow weary of heavenly food? David tells us-“Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.” Just so: the best meat in God’s word is not enjoyed by men who are sinful and foolish, for they are suffering under a soul-sickness which kills holy appetite. The prayer of our text answers to David’s aim: “Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.”

He presented this prayer on the right ground. Observe how he pleads the mercy and love of God. “Quicken me after thy lovingkindness.” That is a lovely way of putting it:-I do not now appeal to thy righteousness, but to thy love, thy special love, thy loving kinnedness to those that are of kin to thee. Lord, I would entreat thee to bless me because of thy lovingkindness to those whom thou didst foreknow and didst predestinate to be thine own. Oh, by that special love of thine I pray thee quicken me, that I may take fast hold upon thy word, and never let it go!

He does mean too, I think, by saying, “after thy lovingkindness,” that he desires to be quickened by a sense of God’s love. Is there anything that puts life into a man like that? A mother finds her babe half frozen, and she warms it back to life by pressing it to her bosom; she imparts the warmth of her own heart to it until it lives again and smiles: it is just so with our God,-there is no reviving us except by pressing us close to his bosom. Did I hear you say, “I will repent in terror. I will go to Moses to get revival”? I advise you not to do so, for he will use the rod most severely, and flog you back to feeling; and that is by no means a desirable method. Divine love is a sweeter and surer quickener. The true elixir of life is love. Oh, for a draught of it!

“Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,

Which wonders to feel its own deadness depart,

Aroused by thy goodness I rise from the ground,

And sing to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.”

“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness.”

I would close this section of my discourse by saying, it is a prayer which has a promise attached to it. It was not so in David’s day; but in these latter times we have a promise which fits it as the wax the seal. When I have a lock I am always glad to find a key which fits it. Here is the lock-“Lord, I feel as if I were dead;” and here is the key-“He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” That answers the supplication as a glove fits the hand-“Though he were dead, yet shall he live.” If it were possible for a believer to get between the jaws of death and stand there, the mouth of the sepulchre could not close itself upon him. Look at Jonah; he is in the whale’s belly, and the whale is in the great deeps, far down from the light of day. Surely it was the very belly of Hades to him, but it could not be his grave. The great fish had an indigestible morsel within him at that time; he could not possibly consume the prophet, because he believed the truth of God with a living faith. He soon escaped after he had uttered his creed; and this was his creed, “Salvation is of the Lord.” With that confession of faith in your heart no power can destroy you, no belly of hell can swallow you up; you must live, for so it is written, “Though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Plead that promise, and cry unto God, when you feel sloth creeping over you-“Quicken me, that I may keep the testimony of thy mouth.”

We part with David, and this is the last word: in this verse we have his holy example, which I commend to you.

First, offer the prayer of life when you feel that you are dead. It is a strange paradox; but I put it with all my might to you. If this morning you are forced to cry, “My heart seems like adamant; my feeling is all gone; if aught is felt it is only pain to find I cannot feel; I seem to be altogether out of sorts; if the life of God be in me at all it is like a spark hidden away among the ashes, and I cannot discover it:” well, then, bestir yourselves to pray. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Let thy groan go up from the grave’s mouth. If thou canst get no further than a sigh, let thy moaning be addressed to God, let the heavings of thine anguished heart move towards thy heavenly Father. Let prayer arise like smoke from the altar towards heaven: “Quicken me: quicken me.” Such a prayer will prove an antidote to the poison of death. Though your bones lie scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cleaveth wood upon the earth, yet if the sighing of your soul be towards quickening you shall be brought up again. “Thy dead men shall live.” From between the very ribs of death there shall come a higher, better, and diviner life. Breathe, then, thy desire in prayer after this fashion,-“Lord, thy poor, dead servant cries to thee for life.” Do not say, “It is such an odd prayer; it is so singular, therefore it cannot be correct.” I gather that it is genuine because it is so singular that no one would borrow it from his neighbour. In spiritual life that which is according to usual routine is often false, and that which is so strange that only a personal experience could have suggested it, is most probably correct. Therefore I say again to you who seem as if you were dead, let this prayer go up, “Lord, quicken me,” and he will enlighten you by his Holy Spirit.

The next thing I learn is this, that living truth can only be held firmly by living men. Some who are very sound are nothing else but sound; but we want no such allies. Some of those who hold a correct creed are very narrow, and will not tolerate a departure by a hair’s-breadth from their fixed opinion; but narrowness is not strength. To know the truth and feel its power, and manifest its influence in your life, is the proof that you have grappled it to your soul as with hooks of steel. A dead creed in a dead man’s hand is like dead wheat in the grip of an Egyptian mummy; what can come of it? But observe carefully a living man, with living seed to sow, for you shall see a harvest yet. A living man who grasps a living truth is mighty as Moses with Aaron’s rod in his hand which had life in it, for it budded and blossomed, and brought forth almonds. Such a rod as this can divide the Red Sea, and fetch waters out of flinty rocks. Oh, for living truth in the grip of a living man! My dear friend, if you are going to be a champion of reformation, first be yourself reformed; if you would become a defender of the faith, first be an exemplifier of it. Let Jesus reign in your soul, and then he will make you a priest and king unto himself by his own divine power.

The next lesson is, regard God’s lovingkindness as a source of life. Unhappily too many have viewed it as an excuse for death. “Oh, yes,” they say, “I am one of God’s chosen; I need not trouble myself about holiness or activity. I shall be saved by sovereign grace.” Do you sit down and quietly cross your legs, and fold your arms, and do nothing, and then look to be rewarded for it? In all probability you will be lost at last, for you are lost already. The man who dares to pervert truth is already a lost man; but he that knows the lovingkindness of the Lord says, “Quicken thou me, Lord. Such love as this I must translate into life: grant that to me to live may be love.” Those words “love” and “live” are very near akin in their conformation; they are joined together in spiritual things, let no man put them asunder. Do not get behind the door and suck your honeycomb, and say, “I love enjoyment, but I hate employment. I never try to defend the truth or to spread it, but it is very sweet to me.” Ah, my dear sir, that kind of honey will poison you; the thought of it makes me sick. The right thing is to feel that the more God loves you the more you love him; the more he does for you the more will you do for him.

“Loved of my God, for him again

With love intense I burn;

Chosen of him ere time began,

I choose him in return.”

“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness.”

And lastly, let divine aid, whenever we seek it or obtain it, lead us to the practical use of it in obedience. “Quicken me,” and “so shall I keep.” I put those words together in that fashion, for they are together. That is to say, if the Lord gives quickening I will give steadfastness. The believer is active, not passive. He is acted on, but he also acts. In the first work of regeneration we are passive: that must be a pure act of God’s grace; but as the child as soon as it is born becomes active, and begins to cry, so does a new-born soul prove its activity by its prayer. As the child ever after has an activity all its own in proportion to the measure of its vitality, so will it be with the child of God: he becomes more and more energetic in proportion as God pours into him more and more of the divine life. Come, ye that lie in the dust, shake yourselves from it; ye that are at ease in Zion, bestir yourselves in the service of your Lord and Master before a heavy woe overwhelms you. This is an evil day, a day in which multitudes are perishing in poverty and sin by reason of their ignorance of Christ; will ye not instruct them? This is a day of blasphemy and rebuke, in which the truth of God is cast down and trodden like mire in the streets; will ye not stand up for it? If ye come not to-day to the help of the Lord and his truth, then shall ye be cursed like the inhabitants of Meroz of old: but oh, I charge you, men of God, who live by faith on the Son of God, feed ye upon him and be strong, and then quit yourselves like men, and keep his testimonies in the teeth of an infidel world and a philosophising church. Hold you to the fundamentals of the faith, though with others the foundations are shaken. Abide like rocks in the midst of foaming billows, and defy all opposition. Stand fast in the house of your God below, and this shall be your reward above-“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” May the best of blessings rest upon you. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalm 119:81-104.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-100 (Part II.); 119 (Part III.); 459.