You, dear friends, who belong to the Tabernacle, are well acquainted with our venerable friend, George Rogers. It was a great joy to me to find him alive when I came home from the Continent; he said that he must keep on living till he had seen me once more, and then he hoped that he should go home. That was a month ago, but yesterday I saw him again, and he seemed to be greatly revived and refreshed. He has attained an extremely advanced age, and it is only natural that he should soon go to his rest and reward. He remarked to me, yesterday, that he had bidden farewell to the world entirely, and he did not wish to renew the acquaintance; he did not know why he should linger here any longer, for everything was finished, and he was ready to depart; and then he said to me, in his cheery way, “I wonder whether I shall see that new Baptist Chapel completed.” You know that he is not a Baptist, but a Congregationalist; yet he has been with us so many years that we always claim him. He added, “When it is built, I hope they will send a regular old-fashioned Baptist to preach in it.” I asked him, “What sort of old-fashioned Baptist do you mean?” “Why,” he replied, “the oldest-fashioned Baptist was the man that cried, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ That is the old-fashioned sort of Baptist I mean,-John the Baptist; and that is the sort I hope will come there.” “Yes,” I said, “and I wish that was the sort of preacher who would go everywhere, for that is the truth which still needs to be preached.” “Ah, yes!” said Mr. Rogers, “there is nothing like the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice, it is the doctrine for this world, and it is the doctrine for the next.” “Do you not think,” said he, “that this passage would make you a good text for to-morrow, ‘These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth’?” “Yes,” I answered, “that will make me a good text; may God send me the sermon!” That is why I have taken this text; it really comes to you from that venerable man who is so far advanced in years, and so close to the borders of the eternal state. He feels that the old-fashioned Baptist doctrine that ought to be continually preached is this, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” and that the best character that can be ascribed to Christians in any age is this, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Upon that theme I am going now to speak to you as the Holy Spirit shall enable me.

And, first, I would make this observation, that this is characteristic of saints: “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” This has always been the way of the saints; this is the way the holy prophets went, the way of the martyrs, the way of the reformers and confessors, the way of all who shall meet above around the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Begin at the beginning. When do you see Abel at his best? It is when he brings of the firstlings of his flock, and stands beside the altar of sacrifice whereon lies the God-accepted lamb? The first of the martyrs is a martyr to the doctrine of sacrifice by blood; he, being dead, yet speaketh, bearing his testimony that there is no way of access to God except by the sacrifice of a lamb.

Pass on to Abraham. What is one of the most memorable sayings of the father of the faithful? “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” Did not Abraham then, by faith, see Christ’s day? Yea, he saw it afar off, and was glad; he knew that the great Jehovah-jireh would provide a wondrous Substitute, who would die in the place of his people, even as the ram took the place of Isaac; and Abraham saw in his own offering of his son whom he so dearly loved, a faint image of that greater offering of the Eternal Father when he should give his only-begotten and well-beloved Son to die that his people might live.

Again I say that it is always characteristic of God’s people that they follow the Lamb, for look at Israel in Egypt. They are slaves at the brick kilns, they are building treasure cities and pyramids, but they cannot stir out of Egypt till first of all they have slain and eaten the paschal lamb, and sprinkled his blood upon their dwelling-places. Then they go out singing the song of Moses the servant of God and of the Lamb. All through their marching in the wilderness, there was the offering of the morning lamb and the evening lamb. The people of God were known by their trust in a great sacrifice, that sacrifice being prefigured by “the blood of bulls and of goats, and the sprinkling of the ashes of an heifer,” and especially by the passover lamb and the morning and the evening lamb.

I do not know any clearer characteristic of the saints throughout the ages that are past than this, “These are they which follow the Lamb.” Think of the prophet Isaiah, and as you remember him, and his prophecy, does not the thought of the Lamb of God rise up to your mind at once? “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Then, when the new saints come into the world in the brighter day, the clearer dispensation of the gospel, does not John the Baptist point all who hear him to the Lamb of God? That morning star of the Christian solar system throws its bright beams upon Jesus the one great sacrifice. John cried, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” and that other John, who heard him speak, started following the Lamb, and all through his life he kept close company with that blessed Lamb of God till, in his extreme old age, in the island of Patmos, he saw visions of God, and wrote that wonderful Book of the Revelation out of which we were reading just now; and one of the noteworthy points in that Book is that John continually speaks of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb. The one sacrifice has been offered, the redemption price has been fully paid, the sins of the redeemed have been all put away, and now one might have thought that the Lord Jesus would assume some other form, for instance, that the Lion of the tribe of Judah would always be predominant in the apocalyptic vision, yet it is not so. John says, “I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion.” Sacrifice is ever first,-first before the angels, first before the elders who represent the Church, first in the very centre of the throne of God himself, for it is the throne of God, and of him who offered himself as the sacrifice, that is, the Lamb. This, then, is the emblem on the escutcheon of the church triumphant as well as the church militant, “a lamb as it had been slain.” For the wilderness and for Canaan, for the battle-field and for the palace, for the cross and for the throne, it is ever the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain, and that liveth again, and liveth to die no more. God forbid that this matchless figure should ever be dim to our eyes, but may we gaze upon it with ever-increasing delight!

Saints in all ages have followed the Lamb, and I do not wonder that they have done so, for it was the Lamb that made them saints. They have “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Sainthood begins at Calvary. There is no possibility of being holy till first there has been remission of sin; and there is no remission of sin without the shedding of the blood of the Lamb. No, dear friends, we have no hope of being clean in God’s sight unless we have been washed, and there is no fountain of cleansing for the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but that which was opened when Christ hung on the cross. Well may they follow Christ who have been made saints by him.

They follow the Lamb, again, because it is he who keeps them saints. “He keepeth the feet of his saints.” If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, and so have fellowship one with another, it is still “the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son,” which “cleanseth us from all sin.” We need perpetual cleansing, and we get that perpetual cleansing in the ever-flowing stream from the wounds of Christ which, in effect, perpetually do bleed for those who put their trust in him. Well may the saints follow the Lamb, for to him they owe, not only the beginning, but the continuance of their spiritual life and saintship.

And, brothers and sisters, what other leader could they follow? What model, except Christ, is there for a saint to copy? How can we attain to holiness if we work not after this pattern? Where shall any manhood be seen as fit for imitation, except where it is linked with the Godhead, in the Divine Son of God? Where shall we see the law written out in living characters, but in the life of this glorious Man, this blessed Son of God? Beloved, it is not possible for saints, in all respects, to follow any other leader, and it is characteristic of them that they follow the Lamb. Ask yourselves, my dear hearers, whether you are among these followers of the Lamb.

The second part of our subject shows us that this expression is instructive to those who desire to be saints. Those of us who have already the commencement of sanctification, should remember that we can only be saints in the fullest sense by following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

First, then, we are to follow the Lamb. Some men spurn the idea of following anybody; they have very capacious brains, and they like to think and to excogitate. They will have nothing but what is beaten out on their own anvils. To accept the Word of God as a little child receives it, is altogether beneath their dignity. They think that the Word of God itself is mistaken when it says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” They fancy that their thoughts are even a little higher than the thoughts of God. They are followers of nobody, they are leaders; or, at any rate, they are “self-contained.” They have their own revelation, and each man of them is a god to himself. Very well, you may stand there by yourselves, you learned people; you may have your degrees, M.A., D.D., or whatever else you like, for you are those who follow nobody; but of the true people of God, it is written, “These are they which follow the Lamb.” These are not they who follow their own leading, striking out a path of their own; these are not the great eccentrics, or the wonderful originals; but these are they which follow, they are content to be merely followers; they do not aspire to be anything more than followers, but they are glad, however, to add that they are followers of the Lamb: “These are they which follow the Lamb.”

There are other persons in the world who follow some one of their fellow-men. Whatever he says, is gospel to them; whatever he has written is, of course, infallible. “Be ye followers of me,” says the apostle Paul, but then he adds directly, “even as I also am of Christ.” While we are children, we are necessarily under instructors; but we must take heed, as we grow in grace, that we never follow an instructor so blindly as to follow him where he goes wrong. No, “to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” Every true instructor will beg you to see that, when he errs, you are not to err with him, but to keep a conscience and an understanding of your own, so that it will not be said, “These are they who follow this or that eminent preacher or divine;” but, “These are they which follow the Lamb.” Mind that, dear friends, for it is most important.

I know another company of people who follow “the church.” That is a wonderful thing, you know, “the historic church.” This is the great door of entrance into the Church of Rome, and many have been attracted to it, and have gone through it down into the abyss. There are certain persons who think that “the church” cannot err; but I do not know a more erring community than that which is commonly called “the church.” Yet there are certain people who must follow the church whithersoever she goeth; and as she has gone to Rome, there they will also go. Or if they think she has gone to Oxford, there they will abide; or if she has gone to Canterbury, there they will dwell. Well, I have great respect for these brethren, but I prefer to be numbered with those of whom it is written, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Whether he goes to Rome, or to Geneva, or to Wittenberg, or to Canterbury, or to Smithfield amidst the martyrs’ burning stakes, or amongst the misnamed Anabaptists, or the Methodists, follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

I have been sometimes called to book for saying-yet I will venture to say it again,-that, if I lived in a village, or if I lived in any other place where I knew there was a Baptist or other Dissenting Chapel, before I decided to attend it, I should want to know first, “Is the gospel preached there? “I am not so blindly wedded to any denomination whatever that I should cling to the denomination if it did not cleave to Christ. “Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” If you can hear sound doctrine concerning Christ preached anywhere, go and hear it; if it is in connection with those who also follow the Lamb in the waters of baptism, show your preference for that form of worship; but do not cling merely to an old name and an old flag when Christ has gone from them. The first thing for your soul is to get near to Christ, to feed upon his truth, and so to let it be said of you, dear friends, “ ‘These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth;’ and if they do not hear the gospel in one place, they will go to another, for they are not going to listen to false doctrine. They have, as sheep of Christ, received a taste by which they know what is truth and what is error. ‘A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers;’ but when they hear their Shepherd’s voice, they will follow that. ‘These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.’ ” The church is all very well in its place, but the church has often lost her lord. In the Song of Solomon we read how she went about the streets seeking him; so I should not like to have to follow her whithersoever she goeth; but it is safe and right to follow the Bridegroom wherever he goes, so let us keep to that, and be amongst those that “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”

A further instruction is this. We may always follow the lead of the Lamb of the atoning sacrifice. We can never follow it too closely in our thought. You know that you may get some one thought into your head, and it may rule your whole being till you hardly know where it may lead you. Few men know the consequences of introducing any single doctrine into their minds, for it is pretty sure to bring another and another in its train. This is especially true about the doctrine of the atonement offered by Christ the Lamb of God, yet you may accept it without fear, whatever its consequences may be, and never be at all afraid to follow it whithersoever it goeth.

For instance, when you think of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, dying in unutterable pangs to redeem men, it gives you the true idea of the terrible blackness of sin. Well, follow out that thought; and if you begin to be greatly depressed under a sense of sin, if conscience should sting and scourge your heart, if it should almost drive you to despair to think that sin could not be put away except by the death of the Son of God, still follow out the thought, for the process will not hurt you. “Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Though he should lead you into a very trying experience, and a very humbling sense of your own guilt, go on still further with him, for he who leads you into that gloom will lead you out of it in the most efficient manner, and you need not be afraid to “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”

“If it be so,” says one, “that the Son of God must die before sin can be put away, then it follows that there is no salvation out of Christ.” Just so, follow up that thought. Go on with it to its ultimate issues, do not be afraid, even though the consequences should startle you. Rest assured that, where the doctrine of the cross may lead you, you may follow it quite safely. One thing I know, the doctrine of the cross will never make you trifle with sin, it will never let you imagine that the death of the wicked is a slight matter, it will never make you indifferent as to the state of men when they pass into another world. “Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” and you will hate sin more and more, you will love souls more and more, you will have an intense awe of the law of God, and you will have an intense love for the person of your Redeemer. You cannot push this thought too far, it is a truth about which you can never go to an extreme. Nay, I wish that you would go to any extreme that lies along this route, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” as a matter of thought.

But now, once more, you may also very safely follow the Lord Jesus Christ, as the atoning sacrifice, in matters of fact; that is to say, you may be in this world, as far as you can in your measure, as Christ was. The man who believes in the doctrine of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, will feel that sin is bitter, and he will become very intolerant of it. He will seek to put it down, he will try to purge it out of his own conduct, and he will not endure it in his own family. Go on with that line of conduct, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. How can you tolerate that which cost the Son of God the bloody sweat of Gethsemane? How can you play with the dagger which pierced his heart? No, you must practically, in your life, hate the sins that made him mourn, and nailed him to the tree. Alas! nowadays, I see many who are trifling with sin. We Puritans, they say, are much too precise and too strict. Ah, sirs! it is that preciseness and that strictness that are wanted more and more, and we shall never know how to live thus except we abide hard by the cross of Christ. Unless we believe that sin cost Christ his life, we shall never have that holy enmity towards sin which we ought to have, that blessed intolerance of sin which ought to take possession of every Christian’s heart and mind.

“Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” If you do, you will have to go outside the camp, just as he did, bearing his cross. He went forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem; you will have to do the same; you will find people saying of you that they cannot endure you, you have become too religious, too strait-laced, and so on. Blessed are they who are not afraid of hard names, who indeed feel that, if it be wrong in the judgment of the world to follow Christ so closely, they intend to be more wrong, even as David said to Michal, “I will yet be more vile.” God help us so to do! “Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” into the place of separation without the camp.

If you follow the Lamb, you may be called to suffer, you may have to lose friends, you may come under the cruel lash of slander, you may, perhaps, have to lose this world’s gains, for righteousness’ sake and holiness’ sake; but whatever the cost may be, follow the Lamb, say to yourself,-

“Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead,

I’ll follow where he goes.”

“The blood-bespattered footprints of my Master shall receive mine. Not with equal strides, but still with gladsome footsteps, I will follow in his track, let that track lead where it may. What he did, I will do, after my measure.” This is what we ought to do, brothers and sisters. How different our lives would be if we always wrought them out by this rule-“What would Christ do in such a case?” I have sometimes got into a great fix of conscience when I have put to myself the question, “What would Christ do in such a case as this?” And once or twice I have not been able to answer, and then I have had to hark back a little, and say, “Would Christ ever have been in circumstances similar to mine just now? Is there not some mistake farther back, and had I not better go right back, and begin again, somewhere or other, rather than keep on a track in which I cannot suppose my Lord to be?” Oh, that we might feel, henceforth, that we will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, whatever the consequences may be!

Young Christian, I should recommend you, in starting out in the Christian life, to aim at obeying your Lord’s commands in every particular. If you have believed in him, the first thing that you ought to do is to be baptized. “Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” and I am sure that he went down into the waters of Jordan, and was baptized by John, and then the Holy Spirit rested upon him, and his Father said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” When you have done that, go and give yourself to the Church of Christ, for the Lord Jesus Christ, from the very first, began to gather round about him those who feared God, and he had a company of disciples who constituted his Church. Still keep on following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth; and if you do, you will be a very amiable, loving, generous, hearty, self-denying, laborious Christian. If you follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, you will go about doing good; you will lay yourself out in service for the Master. Perhaps you will teach little children, for he said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” Perhaps you will stand and preach in the streets, for he, by the hill-side, and on the mountain, and by the sea, spoke ever the things of God. But if you follow him, you will do good in one way or another, and not be a lazy lie-a-bed in the kingdom of Christ, expecting to be honoured and rewarded for doing nothing at all.

“These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Brothers and sisters, are we not happy that we may follow him? His track leads to rest, for he sitteth at the right hand of God. His track leads to victory, for the Lamb is enthroned, and he will give us to overcome, and to sit with him upon his throne, even as he has overcome, and sits with the Father upon his throne. Oh! then, by that sweet ending, let us make a good beginning, and a blessed, persevering continuance, in following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

I close with this remark,-our text is suggestive to all who would be saints.

You perceive that, if you are to be true saints, first of all, you must trust Christ. A man does not follow another unless he has faith in him. Brethren, your way to heaven lies in trusting yourself with Christ as a sacrifice for sin,-as the Lamb of God. Trust yourself with him, and you have begun the new life, you have started as a saint.

But, next, this trust must be of a practical kind. It is not said in our text, “These are they which trust the Lamb” merely; but, “These are they which follow the Lamb.” You must do what he bids you, as he bids you, because he bids you, and because you trust him. You must begin, from this day forth, to show by your lives that your faith in Christ is no mere sentiment, but a vital active principle within your minds. In that way you shall find eternal life in trusting the Lamb and following him.

But, if you follow him, recollect that you must make no terms with him. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” “Lord,” say you, “I will follow thee across the grassy lawn, or over the smoothly-rolled road” No, no: you must make no conditions; you must follow him up the crags and down into the marshes, you must follow Christ everywhere, with no picking and choosing of the road. Where he bids you, you must go; where he leads you, you must follow. Will you do that? If so, you shall be his in the day of his appearing; but you must take that “whithersoever” into the contract. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” O sir, wilt thou follow Christ at this rate? If thou wilt, thou art Christ’s man; this is the sort of soldier that he would enlist in his army, the man who is ready to follow him whithersoever he goeth. I heard of a young man who wanted to be an officer in Napoleon’s army, and he came to get a commission, wearing a fine new hat, and a suit of clothes of the very neatest cut possible; and the officer asked him, “Sir, if you were in a defile, with mountains on either side of you which you could not ascend, and there was no possibility of going back, and the enemy in front was at least ten times your number, what would you do in such a case as that?” He answered, “I should resign my commission.” They did not make an officer of him, you may be sure; but there are plenty of that kind who, as soon as ever they come to a difficulty in the Christian faith, say, “Take my name off the roll; I did not bargain for this.” Now, if you mean to be a Christian, you must “follow the Lamb whithersoever-whithersoever-whithersoever he goeth.”

And if you do this, you must be like him. Christ and his followers must be of one mind. Christ the Lamb is not to be followed by the devil’s lions. If you follow the Lamb, you must grow more and more lamb-like; and that means being more gentle, more meek, more self-sacrificing, more ready to submit to the divine will. The Lord make us so, and may we be among the blessed people who shall have this for their epitaph,-nay, not for their epitaph, for they are not dead, but who shall have this for their motto, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth”!

Lastly, remember that Jesus came to the communion table, and his followers should be like him in this respect also. If there is any child of God who has forgotten this truth hitherto, let him no longer forsake the assembling of himself with God’s people in the keeping of this sacred feast. God bless you all, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

REVELATION 14

The Church of God had undergone a very great trial; there had arisen a cruel and wicked persecuting system, described by John in his vision as a beast,-a terrible dragon, of which we read that “it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” This was bad enough; but afterwards there arose another system of evil, which was even more dangerous, because it was an imitation of the truth. Another beast came up out of the earth, having two horns like a lamb, yet he spake as a dragon; and of him John writes, “he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” I will not go into the symbolic meaning of these two beasts; it is sufficient to observe that they had very terrible power, and one might have thought that under their successive attacks the Church of God would have been destroyed. Yet note how this chapter begins.

Verse 1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,

Jesus is not dead, he still lives. He is not defeated: “a Lamb stood on the mount Sion.” He is not disturbed or troubled, but he stands in the posture of quiet confidence. “A Lamb stood on the mount Sion;” Jesus is not driven out of his Church, but he is still dwelling in the midst of his people.

That is something, yet unbelief says, “Well, I can understand that John saw the Lord there, but had he any people with him? Had he any Church? Listen: “I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,”-

1. And with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

They are all there; a vast number, a complete number, the exact number which in the seventh chapter of this Book had been described as sealed. They are all there without exception; not one of them is lost, but they all stand fast as a great army surrounding their glorious Leader. Yes, my brethren, in the darkest times, Christ has his Church still around him; it is with him as it was when the Lord said to Elijah, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” Be of good courage; if your eyes are but anointed with the heavenly eye-salve, you may see, as John saw, the Lamb on mount Sion, surrounded by multitudes of faithful followers.

2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

As loud as thunder, and yet as musical as the choicest notes from a band of harps,-such is the testimony of the saints, such is the expression of their exultant joy in their Lord.

3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders:

See, brethren, how little the powers of darkness can do; not only are the saints all there, but they are singing. The devil cannot rob Christ of a single sonnet; the stanzas of our grateful praise shall continue to be poured forth though all the dragons howl as they may: “They sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders.”

3. And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

There is a special redemption, a “redemption from the earth.” For such redeemed men there is a special song, which no others can learn; and that song will be sung by them in the darkest of all days, in the roughest of all weathers. When the dragons seem to triumph, Christ shall still have his praise, blessed be his holy name.

4. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.

This is the Scriptural metaphor for those who have not turned aside to idol gods, or to false opinions, or to unholy practices. You remember how Paul longed to present the Corinthian Christians “as a chaste virgin” to Christ; he desired that Christ might have all their love. These servants of God are of this sort, wholly the Lord’s.

4. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Let no man deny, then, that there is a special and particular redemption of God’s people. All men are not redeemed as these were redeemed, else the expression would be untruthful, or without meaning: “These were redeemed from among men.” There is an elect company for whom Christ especially laid down his life; they are his, and they are made to know that they are his, and to take the position of a blood-bought people who belong not to themselves, but to him who has bought them with his blood. These are the hundred and forty and four thousand who stand on the mount Sion with the Lamb in the midst of them.

5. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Kept, by divine grace, pure in doctrine, holy in life, devout in heart; these are the body-guard of the Lamb, the chosen companions of the King of kings, whose reward shall be unspeakably great for ever and ever.

6, 7. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

The old interpreters used to understand these two verses as referring to the great Protestant Reformation. When the old dragon had done his utmost against the Church of God, and the thick darkness of the middle ages rested alike on the Church and the world, then God sent the Reformers, like flying angels, to preach the everlasting gospel, and their special message was, “Worship not saints, and angels, and relics, and crucifixes; but ‘worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ ”

8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Babylon always goes down when the gospel is preached; the very flight of the angelic preachers is sufficient to make old Rome totter to her fall. So our fathers used to explain this chapter, for so they understood it. I am not sure whether it refers to that or to any other particular form of anti-Christ; but whatever it may be, whenever the gospel is exalted, down goes the devil, and down goes the whole Babylonian system.

9, 10. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

How we ought to dread any collusion with deadly error, any fellowship with the hypocrisies and falsehoods of those who would deceive, for, if we receive the mark of the beast either in our forehead, so as to have unbelieving thoughts, or in our hand, so as to do evil deeds, we shall have to suffer in company with Babylon, that great system of error which is only an imitation and a counterfeit of Christianity! What tremendously terrible words these are: “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb”!

11-15. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

This is the ingathering of the people of God; you notice that this harvest of God is reaped by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that Son of man, who sat upon the cloud, “having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.”

16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

May you and I form a part of that great harvest! May we be found amongst those golden sheaves which are to be the reaping from Christ’s great sowing when he gave himself for his people, and was cast into the earth as a grain of wheat to die, that he might not abide alone!

17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

The reaper this time is an angel.

18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earthy; for her grapes are fully ripe.

This is the ingathering of the ungodly; they are not the Lord’s harvest, they are the vintage of his wrath. This vintage is not reaped by him who wears the golden crown, the Lord Jesus Christ himself; but by one of his angels, who is bidden to thrust in his sharp sickle, and reap, for the hour of divine judgment has at last come.

19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

Shall any of us ever be cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God? We shall, if we continue growing upon the evil vine, and are not grafted into Christ, the true and living Vine.

20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

By which striking symbol the apostle describes the greatness and the terror of the overthrow which must happen to the ungodly when once God begins to deal with them in judgment. Oh, that the abounding mercy of God would give us a place in his great harvest, and not leave us to be gathered in the vintage of his wrath, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-410, 356, 412.

JOB’S RESIGNATION

A Sermon

Intended for Reading on Lord’s-day, March 22nd, 1896,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Thursday Evening, March 11th, 1886.

“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”-Job 1:20-22.

Job was very much troubled, and he did not try to hide the outward signs of his sorrow. A man of God is not expected to be a stoic. The grace of God takes away the heart of stone out of his flesh, but it does not turn his heart into a stone. The Lord’s children are the subjects of tender feelings; when they have to endure the rod, they feel the smart of its strokes; and Job felt the blows that fell upon him. Do not blame yourself if you are conscious of pain and grief, and do not ask to be made hard and callous. That is not the method by which grace works; it makes us strong to bear trial, but we have to bear it; it gives us patience and submission, not stoicism. We feel, and we benefit by the feeling, and there is no sin in the feeling, for in our text we are expressly told of the patriarch’s mourning, “In all this Job sinned not.” Though he was the great mourner-I think I might truly call him the chief mourner-of Scripture, yet there was no sin in his mourning. Some there are who say that, when we are heavy of heart, we are necessarily in a wrong spirit, but it is not so. The apostle Peter saith, “If need be ye are in heaviness through manifold trials,” but he does not imply that the heaviness is wrong. There are some who will not cry when God chastiseth them, and some who will not yield when God smiteth them. We do not wish to be like them; we are quite content to have the suffering heart that Job had, and to feel the bitterness of spirit, the anguish of soul which racked that blessed patriarch.

Furthermore, Job made use of very manifest signs of mourning. He not only felt sorrow within his heart, but he indicated it by rending his mantle, by shaving off the hair of his head, and by casting himself prone upon the ground, as if he sought to return to the womb of mother-earth as he said that he should; and I do not think we are to judge those of our brethren and sisters who feel it right to wear the common tokens of mourning. If they give them any kind of solace in their sorrow, let them have them. I believe that, at times, some go to excess in this respect, but I dare not pass sentence upon them because I read here, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” If the crape should be worn for a very long while, and if the sorrow should be nursed unduly, as others judge, yet we cannot set up a standard of what is right for others, each one must answer for his conduct to his own Lord. I remember the gentleness of Jesus towards mourners rather than his severity in dealing with them; he hath much pity for our weakness, and I wish that some of his servants had more of the same spirit. If you who are sorrowing could be strong, if the weeds of mourning could be laid aside, it might indicate a greater acquiescence in the divine will; but if you do not feel that it should be so with you, God forbid that we should rebuke you while we have such a text as this before us, “Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground;” and “in all this Job sinned not.”

I want you, however, to notice that mourning should always be sanctified with devotion. It is very pleasant to observe that, when Job had rent his mantle after the Oriental custom, and shaved his head (in a manner which, in his day, was not forbidden, but which under the Mosaic law was prohibited, for they might not cut their hair by way of mourning as the heathen did), and, after the patriarch had fallen down upon the ground, he “worshipped.” Not, he grumbled; not, he lamented; much less that he began to imprecate and use language unjustifiable and improper; but he “fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.” O dear friend, when thy grief presses thee to the very dust, worship there! If that spot has come to be thy Gethsemane, then present there thy “strong crying and tears” unto thy God. Remember David’s words, “Ye people, pour out your hearts,”-but do not stop there, finish the quotation,-“Ye people, pour out your hearts before him.” Turn the vessel upside down; it is a good thing to empty it, for this grief may ferment into something more sour. Turn the vessel upside down, and let every drop run out; but let it be before the Lord. “Ye people, pour out your hearts before him: God is a refuge for us.” When you are bowed down beneath a heavy burden of sorrow, then take to worshipping the Lord, and especially to that kind of worshipping which lies in adoring God, and in making a full surrender of yourself to the divine will, so that you can say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” That kind of worshipping which lies in the subduing of the will, the arousing of the affections, the bestirring of the whole mind and heart, and the presentation of oneself unto God over again in solemn consecration, must tend to sweeten sorrow, and to take the sting out of it.

It will also greatly alleviate our sorrow if we then fall into serious contemplations, and begin to argue a little, and to bring facts to bear upon our mind. Evidently Job did so, for the verses of my text are full of proofs of his thoughtfulness. The patriarch brings to his own mind at least four subjects for earnest consideration, out of which he drew great comfort. In like manner, you will do well, not merely to sit still and say, “I shall be comforted,” but you must look about you for themes upon which to think and meditate to profit. Your poor mind is apt to be driven to and fro by stress of your sorrow; if you can get anchor-hold of some great clearly ascertained truths, about which you can have no possible doubt, you may begin to derive consolation from them. “While I was musing,” said David, “the fire burned,” and it comforted and warmed him. Remember how he talked to himself as to another self, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” There are two Davids, you see, talking to one another, and cheering one another! A man ought always to be good company for himself, and he ought also to be able to catechise himself; he who is not fit to be his own schoolmaster is not fit to be schoolmaster to other people. If you cannot catechise your own heart, and drill a truth into your own soul, you do not know how to teach other people. I believe that the best preaching in the world is that which is done at home. When a sorrowing spirit shall have comforted itself, it will have learned the art of consoling other people. Job is an instance of this kind of personal instruction; he has three or four subjects which he brings before his own mind, and these tend to comfort him.

The first is, to my mind, the extreme brevity of life.

Observe what Job says, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither.” He came forth, and he expected to go back to mother-earth, and there to lie. That is Job’s idea of life, and a very true one it is, “I come forth, and I go back again.” One asked a man of God, one day, “Will you tell me what life is?” The man of God stopped just a moment, and then deliberately walked away. When his friend met him, the following day, he said to him, “Yesterday, I asked you a question, and you did not answer it.” “But I did answer it,” said the godly man. “No,” rejoined the other, “you were there, and you were gone.” “Well, you asked me what life was, and that was my answer. Could I have answered your question better?” He answered and acted wisely, for that is a complete summary of our life here below,-We come, and we go. We appear for a brief moment, and then we vanish away. I often, in my own mind, compare life to a procession. I see you, dear friends, going by me one by one, and vanishing, and others come on behind; but the point that I am apt to forget-and you do the same,-is that I am in the procession, and you are in it, too. We all count all men mortal but ourselves, yet all are marching towards that country from whose bourn no traveller returns.

Well now, because life is so short, do you not see where the comfort comes? Job says to himself, “I came, and I shall return; then why should I worry myself about what I have lost? I am going to be here only a little while, then what need have I of all those camels and sheep?” So, brethren, what God has given us, is so much spending-money on our journey, to pay our own fares, and to help our fellow-travellers; but we do not, any of us, need as much substance as Job had. He had seven thousand sheep. Dear me! what a task it must have been to drive and to feed such a large flock! “And three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen!” That is, a thousand oxen. “And five hundred she asses, and a very great household.” Our proverb says, “The more servants, the more plagues;” and I am sure it is true that the more camels, the more horses, the more cows, the more of such things that a man has, the more there is to look after, and to cause him trouble. So Job seems to say to himself, “I am here for such a little time, why should I be carried away, as with a flood, even when these things are taken from me? I come and I go; let me be satisfied if other things come and go. If my earthly stores vanish, well, I shall vanish, too. They are like myself; they take to themselves wings, and fly away; and by-and-by I too shall take to myself wings, and I shall be gone.” I have heard of one who called life, “the long disease of life”; and it was so to him, for, though he did a great work for his Master, he was always sickly. Well, who wants a long disease? “There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.” We want rather to feel that it is not long, that it is short, and to set small store by all things here below, and to regard them as things which, like ourselves, appear but for a time, and soon shall be gone.

Further, Job seems especially to dwell with comfort upon the thought, “I shall return to the earth, from which all the particles of my body originally came; I shall return thither.” “Ah!” said one, when he had seen the spacious and beautiful gardens of a wealthy man, “these are the things that make it hard to die.” You recollect how the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuben went to Moses, and said, “If we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.” Of course, they did not want to cross the Jordan if they could get all their possessions on the other side. But Job had not anything this side Jordan, he was cleaned right out, so he was willing to go. And, really, the losses that a man has, which make him “desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better,” are real gains. What is the use of all that clogs us here? A man of large possessions reminds me of my experience when I have gone to see a friend in the country, and he has taken me across a ploughed field, and I have had two heavy burdens of earth, one on each foot, as I have plodded on. The earth has clung to me, and made it hard walking. It is just so with this world, its good things hamper us, clog us, cling to us, like thick clay; but when we get these hampering things removed, we take comfort in the thought, “We shall soon return to the earth whence we came.” We know that it is not mere returning to earth, for we possess a life that is immortal, we are looking forward to spending it in the true land that floweth with milk and honey, where, like Daniel, we shall stand in our lot at the end of the days; therefore, we feel not only resigned to return to the womb of mother-earth, but sometimes we even long for the time of our return to come. A dear servant of God, whom you would all recognize if I mentioned his name, was talking with me concerning our dear departed brother, Hugh Stowell Brown, and he said, “All the brethren of my age and yours seem to be going home; they are passing away, the fathers and the leaders are going, and I could almost wish,” he added, “that our Heavenly Father would put my name down as the next to go.” I said that I hoped the Lord would not do so, but that our brother might be spared to labour a while longer here; but that, if I might put in another name, I would plead for my own to go in there instead of his. Happily, we have nothing to do with the date of our home-going, it is out of our hands; yet we are glad to feel that, when the time of our departure shall arrive, it will be no calamity, but a distinct advancement, for the Master to bid us to return to the dust whence we came. “Return, ye children of men,” he will say, and we will joyfully answer, “Yes, Father, here we are, glad to stretch our wings, and fly straight to yonder world of joy, expecting that even our poor bodies, by-and-by, at the trump of the archangel, shall come back to thee, and we shall be like thine only-begotten Son, when we shall see him as he is.”

Secondly, Job seems to comfort himself by noticing the tenure of his earthly possessions. “Naked,” says he, “came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither.”

He feels himself to be very poor, everything is gone, he is stripped; yet he seems to say, “I am not poorer now than I was when I was born.” I had nothing then, not even a garment to my back but what the love of my mother provided for me. I was helpless then; I could not do anything for myself whatever.” One said to me, the other day, “All is gone, sir, all is gone, except health and strength.” Yes, but we had not as much as that when we were born. We had no strength, we were too weak to perform the least though most necessary offices for our poor tender frame. David often very sweetly dwells upon his childhood, and still more upon his infancy; and we shall do well to imitate him. Old men sometimes arrive at a second childhood. Do not be afraid, brother, if that is your case; you have gone through one period already that was more infantile than your second one can be, you will not be weaker then than you were at first. Suppose that you and I should be brought to extreme weakness and poverty, we shall neither be weaker nor poorer than we were then. “But I had a mother,” says one. Well, there are some children who lose their mother in their very birth; but if you had a mother to care for you then, you have a Father to care for you now; and, as a child of God, you surely feel that your mother was but the secondary agent to watch over you in your weakness; and God who gave that love to her, and moved her to care for you, will be sure to find that same love which flowed out of him into her still stored up in his own bosom, and he will see you through. Do not be afraid, my brother, my sister, the Lord will see you through. It is wonderful that, after God has been gracious to us for fifty years, we cannot trust him for the rest of our lives; and as for you who are sixty, seventy, or eighty years of age, what! has he brought you thus far to put you to shame? Did he bear you through that very weakest part of your life, and do you think he will now forsake you? David said, “I was cast upon thee from the womb,” as if then he had none but God to help him; and will not he who took care of us then take care of us even to the end? Ay, that he will; wherefore, let us be of good courage, and let the poverty and weakness of our infancy, as we think of it, cheer us if we are weak and poor now.

Then Job adds, “However poor I may be, I am not as poor as I shall be, for naked shall I return to mother-earth. If I have but little now, I shall, soon have still less.” We have heard of a rustic who, when dying, put a crown-piece into his mouth, because he said that he would not be without money in another world; but then he was a clown, and everyone knew how foolish was his attempt thus to provide for the future. There have been stories told of persons who have had their gold sewn up in their shrouds, but they took not a penny with them for all their pains. Nothing can be taken with us; we must go back to the earth, the richest as poor as the poorest, and the poorest no poorer, really, than the richest. The dust of great Cæsar may help to stop a hole through which the blast blows, and the dust of his slave cannot be put to more ignoble uses. No, poor and weak as we may be, we are not as poor and weak as we shall be by-and-by; so let us just solace ourselves with this reflection. The two ends of our life are nakedness; if the middle of it should not always be scarlet and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day, let us not wonder; and if it should seem to be all of a piece, let us not be impatient or complaining.

I want you to notice, also, what I think really was in Job’s mind, that, notwithstanding that he was but dust at the beginning, and would be dust at the end, yet, still, there was a Job who existed all the while. “I was naked, but I was; naked shall I return thither, but I shall be there.” Some men never find themselves till they have lost their goods. They, themselves, are hidden away, like Saul, among the stuff; their true manhood is not to be seen, because they are dressed so finely that people seem to respect them, when it is their clothes that are respected. They appear to be somebodies, but they are nobodies, notwithstanding all that they possess. The Lord brought his servant Job to feel, “Yes, when I had those camels, when I had those she asses, when I had those sheep, when I had those men-servants, they were not myself; and now that they are gone, I am the same Job that ever I was. The sheep were not a part of myself, the camels were not a part of myself; I, Job, am here still, lying in my wholeness and integrity before God, as much a servant of Jehovah, in my nakedness, as I was when I wrapped myself in ermine.” O sirs, it is a grand thing when God helps us to live above what we have, and above what we have not! Then it is that he brings us to know ourselves as we are, in our God, not dependent upon externals, but maintained and strengthened by food of which the world knoweth nothing, which cometh not from milk of kine. Then are we robed in a garment that cometh not from fleece of sheep, and we possess a life that dependeth not on the swift dromedary, a true existence that is neither in flocks, nor herds, nor pastures, nor fields, but delights itself in God, and stays itself on the Most High. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither,” says Job, but “still it is I, the blessed of God, his same devoted servant, who will trust him to the end.” That was good talk for Job’s heart, was it not? Though it may not all have been said in words, I doubt not that something like it, or something much better, passed through the patriarch’s mind, and thus he solaced himself in the hour of his sorrows and losses.

But now, thirdly, and perhaps the most blessed thing, is what Job said concerning the hand of God in all things: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

I am so pleased to think that Job recognized the hand of God everywhere giving. He said, “The Lord gave.” He did not say, “I earned it all.” He did not say, “There are all my hard-earned savings gone.” “Ah, me!” he might have said, “all the care for those sheep, and the dreadful expense of those camels, and the trouble that I have been at with those oxen; and now they are all gone, it does seem hard.” He does not put it so, but he says, “The Lord gave them to me; they were a gift, and though they are gone, they were a gift from him who had a right to take them back, for all he gives is only lent. ‘A loan should go laughing home;’ and if God lent me these things, and now has called them back, I will bless his name for having let me have them so long.”

What a sweet thing it is, dear brothers and sisters, if you can feel that all you have in this world is God’s gift to you! You cannot feel that, you know, if you came by it dishonestly. No, it is not God’s gift then, and it brings no blessing with it; but that which is honestly the result and fruit of your cheerful industry, you may consider has come from God; and if, in addition, you have really sanctified your substance, and have given your fair proportion to help the poor and the needy, as Job did, if you can say that you have caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy when you relieved her wants, then all that you have is God’s gift. God’s providence is man’s inheritance, and your inheritance has come to you from God’s providence. Look at it all as God’s gift; it will sweeten even that little loaf of bread and that tiny pat of butter,-which is all you will have to eat to-day or to-morrow,-if you regard it as God’s gift. It will soften that hard bed upon which you lie, wishing that you were somewhat better covered from the cold, if you think of it as God’s gift. A slender income will give us much content if we can see that it is God’s gift.

Let us not only regard our money and our goods as God’s gifts; but also our wife, our children, our friends. What precious gifts they often are! A man is truly rich who has a good help-meet; he is really rich who has godly children about him. Even though they may cost him much care, he is abundantly repaid by their affection; and if they grow up in the fear of the Lord, what a choice gift they are! Let us look at them all as God’s gifts; let us not see them or anything else about the house without feeling, “My Father gave me this.” Surely it will tend to draw the teeth of every sharp affliction if, while you have enjoyed the possession of your good things, you have seen God’s hand in giving them to you.

Alas! some of you do not know anything about God. What you have, is not counted by you as God’s gift. You miss the very sweetness and joy of life by missing this recognition of the divine hand in giving us all good things richly to enjoy.

But then, Job equally saw God’s hand in taking them away. If he had not been a believer in Jehovah, he would have said, “Oh, those detestable Sabeans! Somebody ought to go and cut to pieces those Chaldeans.” That is often our style, is it not?-finding fault with the secondary agents. Job has nothing to say about the Sabeans or the Chaldeans, or the wind, or the lightning. “The Lord,” said he, “the Lord hath taken away.” I believe that Satan intended to make Job feel that it was God who was at work when his messenger said, “The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep.” “Ah!” said Satan, “he will see that God is against him.” The devil did not succeed as he thought he had done, for Job could see that it was God’s hand, and that took away the sting of the stroke. “The Lord hath taken away.” Aaron held his peace when he knew that the Lord had done it, and the psalmist said, “I was dumb with silence, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it;” and Job felt just that. “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.” Never mind the secondary agents, do not spend your strength in kicking against this bad man or that; he is responsible to God for all the evil he has done, but at the back of these free agents there is a divine predestination, there is an over-ruling hand, and even that which in men is evil may, nevertheless, in another light, be traced up distinctly to the hand of the Most High. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.”

Will you recollect that with regard to your children? If Job had lost his eldest son alone, he might have needed much grace to say, “The Lord gave him, and the Lord hath taken him away.” Job had lost his eldest son, but he had lost six more sons, and he had lost his three daughters as well. I have known a mother say, “My two dear boys sickened and died within a week; I am the most tried woman who ever lived.” Not quite, not quite, dear friend; there have been others who have excelled you in this respect. Job lost his ten children at a stroke. O Death, what an insatiable archer thou wast that day, when ten must fall at once! Yet Job says, “The Lord hath taken away.” That is all he has to say about it: “The Lord hath taken away.” I need not repeat to you the story of the gardener who missed a choice rose, but who could not complain because the master had plucked it. Do you feel that it is just so with all that you have, if he takes it? Oh, yes! why should he not take it? If I were to go about my house, and take down an ornament or anything from the walls, would anybody say a word to me? Suppose my dear wife should say to the servant, “Where has that picture gone?” and the maid replied, “Oh, the master took it!” Would she find fault? Oh, no! If it had been a servant who took it down, or a stranger who removed it, she might have said something; but not when I took it, for it is mine. And surely we will let God be Master in his own house; where we are only the children, he shall take whatever he pleases of all he has lent us for a while. It is easy to stand here and say this; but, brothers and sisters, let us try to say it if it should ever come to us as a matter of fact that the Lord who gave should also take away. I think Job did well to call attention to this blessed truth, that the hand of God is everywhere at work, whether in giving or in taking away; I do not know anything that tends more to reconcile us to our present sorrows, and losses, and crosses, than to feel, “God has done it all. Wicked men were the agents, but still God himself has done it. There is a great mystery about it which I cannot clear up, and I do not want to clear it up. God has done it, and that is enough for me. ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.’ ”

Job’s last comfort lay in this truth, that God is worthy to be blessed in all things: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Dear friends, let us never rob God of his praise, however dark the day is. It is a funeral day, perhaps; but should not God be praised, when there is a funeral, as well as when there is a wedding? “Oh, but I have lost everything!” And is this one of the days when there is no praise due to God? Most of you know that the Queen’s taxes must be paid; and our great King’s revenue has the first claim upon us. Let us not rob our King of the revenue of his praise. “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord’s name is to be praised.” “Oh, but I have lost a child!” Yes, but God is to be praised. “But I have lost my mother.” Yes, but God is to be praised. “I have a bad headache.” Yes, but God is to be praised. One said to me, one evening, “We should have family prayer, my dear sir, but it is rather late; do you feel too tired to conduct it? “No,” I said, “I never was too tired yet to pray with my brethren, and I hope I never shall be.” If it is the middle of the night, let us not go to bed without prayer and praise, for we must not rob God of his glory. “There is a mob in the street,” but we must not rob God of his glory. “Our goods are getting cheaper and cheaper, and we shall be ruined in the market, “but let us not rob God of his glory. “There is going to be, I do not know what, happening by-and-by.” Yes, but we must not rob God of his glory.

“Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job means that the lord is to be blessed both for giving and taking. “The Lord gave,” blessed be his name. “The Lord hath taken away,” blessed be his name. Surely it has not come to this among God’s people, that he must do as we like, or else we will not praise him. If he does not please us every day, and give way to our whims, and gratify our tastes, then we will not praise him. “Oh, but I do not understand his dealings,” says one. And are you really such a stranger to God, and is God such a stranger to you, that, unless he enters into explanations, you are afraid that he is not dealing fairly with you? O sir, have you known the Lord for twenty years, and cannot you praise him for everything? Brethren, some of us have known him forty years now, perhaps some of you have known the Lord for fifty years; are you always wanting to have chapter, and verse, and explanations from him before you will praise him? No, no, I hope we have gone far beyond that stage.

God is, however, specially to be praised by us whenever we are moved by the devil to curse. Satan had said to the Lord concerning Job, “Put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face;” and it seemed as if God had hinted to his servant that this was what the devil was aiming at. “Then,” said Job, “I will bless him.” His wife suggested afterwards that he should curse God, but he would do no such thing, he would bless him. It is usually a wise thing to do the very opposite to what the evil one suggests to you. If he says, “Curse,” do you bless. Remember the story of a man who was going to give a pound to some charitable institution. The devil said, “No, you cannot afford it.” “Then,” said the man, “I will give two pounds; I will not be dictated to in this way.” Satan exclaimed, “You are a fanatic.” The man replied, “I will give four pounds.” “Ah! “said Satan, “what will your wife say when you go home, and tell her that you have given away four pounds? “Well,” said the man, “I will give eight pounds now; and if you do not mind what you are at, you will tempt me to give sixteen.” So the devil was obliged to stop, because the more he tempted him, the more he went the other way. So let it be with us. If the devil would drive us to curse God, let us bless him all the more, and Satan will be wise enough to leave off tempting when he finds that, the more he attempts to drive us, the more we go in the opposite direction.

This is all meant to be sweet, cheery talk to suffering saints; how I wish that everybody here had an interest in it! What will some of you do, what are some of you doing, now that you have lost all,-wife dead, children dead, and you are growing old, yet you are without God? O you poor rich people, who have no interest in God, your money must burn your souls! But you poor, poor, poor people, who have not anything here, and have no hope hereafter, how sad is your case! May God, of his rich mercy, give you even a little common-sense, for, surely, common-sense would drive you to him! Sometimes, in distributing temporal relief, we meet with persons who have been out of work, and full of trouble, and have not had bread to eat, and we say to them, “Did you ever cry to God for help?” “No, sir, we never prayed in all our life.” What are you at? Here is a child, crawling about a house, shivering for want of bread and clothes. “Did you never ask your father for anything?” “No, never.” Come, friend, did God make you, or did you grow without him? Did God create you? If he made you, he will have respect unto the work of his hands. Go and try him, even on that low ground. Go and seek his face even as his creature, and see whether he does not help you. O unbelief, to what madness dost thou go, that even when men are driven to starvation, they will not turn to God! O Spirit of God, bless the sons of men! Even through their fears, and sorrows, and losses, bless them, and bring them in penitence to the Saviour’s feet, for his dear name’s sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

JOB 1:6-22

Verse 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

Angels and all kinds of intelligent spirits had, as it were, a special, solemn, general assembly,-a great field-day, or levee. Perhaps, in stars far remote, in various parts of the universe, there was celebrated that day a high festival of honour unto Jehovah; but since sin has come into the world, since even amongst the twelve apostles there was a Judas, so in every assembly, even though it be an assembly of the sons of God, there is sure to be a devil: “Satan came also among them.” If he is not anywhere else, he is sure to be where the sons of God are gathered together. Yet what impudence this is on his part, that he dares to come even into the assemblies of the saints! And what hardness of heart he must have, for he comes in as a devil, and he goes out as a devil! The sons of God offer their spiritual prayers inspired by the Holy Ghost, but the devil offers diabolical petitions suggested by his own malice.

7. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?

He is obliged to give an account of himself; he cannot go a yard from his door without divine permission.

7. Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Satan is always busy, never quiet; he cannot be still.

8. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job,-

You see, Job is a man whom God calls his servant even in speaking to the devil, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?”

8. That there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

God himself gives Job that high character. He is a non-such, he stands alone amongst mankind: “There is none like him in the earth.” “Hast thou reckoned him up? Hast thou taken his measure, O thou accuser of the brethren?”

9. Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

Even the devil could not bring a charge against Job’s conduct; so he insinuated that his motives were not pure.

10. Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?

“He finds that it pays, it answers his purpose to be devout.”

10, 11. Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

See, the devil measures Job’s corn in his own bushel; but, happily, it was the measurement of a liar, so he measured amiss. There are still some who say, “Yes, it is a fine thing to be good when you are rich; it is a very easy thing to behave yourself aright when all goes smoothly with you. Would the man, who is such a devout servant of God now, be like that if he were in poverty, or if he were cruelly slandered, or if he were treated with contempt? Would the grace of God carry him over those rough bridges? His religion is a fine thing, no doubt; but if he were tried and tested we should see what he would do.” Now, the Lord delights in proving the graces of his people, for it brings great glory to his name when experiments are made upon them, to test them and try them, and to let even their greatest adversary know how true they are, and what a divine work it is which God has wrought upon them.

12. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.

Satan could go so far, but no farther; there is an “only” in the permission granted to him: “Only upon himself put not forth thine hand.”

12, 13. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:

That was a bad day for trouble to come. Satan selected that day because it was a joyful day, and therefore it would make the trials of Job the more startling. Moreover, if Job could have had his choice, he would have preferred that his trouble should come when his sons and his daughters were praying, not when they were feasting.

14, 15. And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

The bad news comes to him all of a sudden, just when he is thinking of something very different. There is only one servant left to tell the tale; he was spared that Job might know that the news was true. If that one other servant had been killed, the tidings could only have reached Job as a rumour, that might or might not be true; but now, one of his own servants tells him the sad story, so there is no mistake about it. Ah! the devil knows how and where to strike when he does strike; yet this was only the first blow for poor Job, and there were heavier ones to follow.

16. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Now, if that lightning had fallen on the Sabeans while they were robbing and plundering, one might not have wondered; but to fall on the flocks of a man of God who had clothed the naked with the fleeces of his sheep, and had presented many of the fat of the flock unto God in sacrifice,-that did seem strange. This trial, too, comes right upon the back of the other, and this one would appear to be more severe than the former one because it seemed to come distinctly from God. “The fire of God”-the lightning, “is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep.”

17. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Three such heavy blows will surely be enough to test the patriarch, but a fourth messenger came with the direst news of all.

18, 19. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Did any other man ever have to endure such a complication of troubles, such agonies piled one upon another with no respite? Job must have felt well-nigh stunned and choked by these consecutive griefs.

20-22. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Oh, the triumphs of almighty grace! May God grant us such patience, if he sends us such trials, and unto him shall be the glory evermore!