C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Lord’s-day Evening, November 4th, 1877.

“And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.”-1 Chron. 13:8.

“And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?”-1 Chron. 13:12.

“So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy.”-1 Chron. 15:25.

David had, in his heart, an intense love to God. During Saul’s reign, God had been well-nigh forgotten in the land. The ordinances of his house had been almost, if not entirely, neglected; and when David found himself firmly seated upon his throne, one of his first thoughts was concerning the revival of religion,-the re-establishment of that form of worship which God had ordained in the wilderness by the mouth of his servant Moses. So he looked about him to see where the ark of the covenant, that most sacred of all the ancient symbols, was; and he wrote, “We heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.” Out of pure love and reverence to God, he called the people together, consulting with them so that the thing might not be done by himself alone, but by the nation. It was agreed that the ark should be brought up, and placed upon Mount Zion, near the palace of the king, in a conspicuous position where it should be the centre of religious worship for the entire nation. It was to be placed near that sacred spot where Abraham had, of old, offered up his son Isaac, that, in the great days of assembly, the Israelites might wend their way thither, and worship God as he had commanded them.

David’s intention was right enough, no fault can be found with that; but right things must be done in a right way. We serve a jealous God, who, though he overlooks many faults in his people, yet, nevertheless, will have his word reverenced, and his commands obeyed. “Be ye clean,” says he, “that bear the vessels of the Lord.” He will be honoured by those that attempt to draw nigh to him. So it came to pass that, though David had a good intention, and was about to do a right thing, yet, at the first, he had a great failure. When we have considered the cause of that failure, we shall note that this failure wrought in David a great fear; and when we have meditated for a while upon that fear, we shall see that, when he set to work to honour his God after the due order, he did it with such a great joy that, perhaps, we have scarcely another instance of such exuberance of spirit in the worship of God as we have in the case of David, who leaped and danced before the ark of the Lord with all his might.

First, then, we are to consider David’s great failure. It followed almost immediately after “David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.” This was David’s first attempt to bring up the ark of the covenant into the place appointed for it.

Observe, dear friends, that there was no failure through lack of multitudes. It is, to my mind very delightful to worship God with the multitude that keep holy day. I know some people who think themselves the only saints in the whole world. They do not imagine that any can be the elect of God if there are more than seven or eight, “because,” say they, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it;” and, therefore, simply because they are few in number, they straightway conclude that they have passed through the strait gate into the narrow way. It needs far better evidence than that to prove that they are in the right road; and, for my part, I love, as David did, to go with the multitude to the house of God, to keep time and tune with many hearts and many voices all on fire with holy devotion as they lift up the sacred song in a great chorus of praise unto the Most High. There was no failure, in that respect, on this occasion, for “David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim.” Thus they came, from all parts of the land, in their hundreds and their thousands, an exceeding great multitude; yet their attempt to bring up the ark proved a sad failure. So, you see that it is of little value merely to gather crowds of people together. However great the multitude of nominal worshippers may be, it is quite possible that they may offer no worship that is acceptable to God. We, ourselves, may come and go in our thousands, yet that alone will not guarantee that the presence of God is among us. It would be far better to be with a few, if God were in the midst of them, than to be with the multitude, and yet to miss the divine blessing.

Neither was there any failure so far as pomp and show were concerned. It seems that these people paid very great honour, in their own way, to this ark;-putting it on a new carriage, and surrounding it with the princes, and the captains, and the mighty men of the kingdom, together with the multitudes of the common people of the land. I doubt not that it was a very imposing array that day; and, truly, the solemn worship of God should be attended to with due decency and order, yet it may be a failure for all that. Sweet may be the strain of the sacred song, yet God may not accept it because it is sound, and nothing more. The prayer may be most appropriate so far as the language of it is concerned, yet it may fail to reach the ear of the Lord God of Sabaoth. Something more is needed beside mere outward show,-something beyond even the decent simplicities of worship in which we delight.

Neither was there any failure, apparently, so far as the musical accompaniment was concerned. We are told, in our text, that “David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.” I like that expression, “with all their might.” I cannot bear to hear God’s praises uttered by those who simply whisper, as though they were afraid of making too much noise. Nay, but,-

“Loud as his thunders, sound his praise,

And speak it lofty as his throne;”-

for he well deserves it. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof, in praise of its great Creator. Let all the winds and the waves join in the concert; there cannot be any sound too jubilant for him who is worthy of the highest praise of heaven and earth. It is right to sing unto the Lord with all your might; yet there may be a certain kind of heartiness which is not acceptable to God because it is natural, not spiritual. There may be a great deal of outward expression, yet no inward life. It may be only dead worship, after all, despite the noise that may be made. I do not say that it was altogether so in David’s case; but, certainly, all the multitude, all the pomp, and all the sound, did not prevent its becoming an entire failure. What was the reason for that failure?

If I read the story aright, it seems to me, first, that there was too little thought as to God’s mind upon the matter. David consulted the people, but he would have done better if he had consulted God. The co-operation of the people was desirable, but much more the benediction of the Most High. There ought to have been much prayer preceding this great undertaking of bringing up the ark of the Lord; but it seems to have been entered upon with very much heartiness and enthusiasm, but not with any preparatory supplication or spiritual consideration. If you read the story through, you will see that it appears to be an affair of singing, and harps, and psalteries, and timbrels, and cymbals, and trumpets, and of a new cart and cattle; that is about all there is in it. There is not even a mention of humiliation of heart, or of solemn awe in the presence of that God of whom the ark was but the outward symbol. I am afraid that this first attempt was too much after the will of the flesh, and the energy of nature, and too little according to that rule of which Christ said to the woman at Sychar, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Yes, beloved, all worship fails if that is not the first consideration in it. Let the singing be hearty and melodious, let everything in our services be in proper order; but, as the first and most important thing, let the Holy Ghost be there, so that we may draw near to God in our heart, and have real spiritual communion with him. The outward form of worship is a very secondary matter; the inward spirit of it is the all-important thing; there appears, to me, to have been too little attention paid to that in the first attempt that David made to bring up the ark; and, therefore, it was a failure.

One very important omission was that the priests were not in their proper places. They appear to have been there, but they were, evidently, not treated as their position entitled them to be. The men of war were brought to the front, and the men of worship were pushed aside. Now, in all true worship, the priest is of the first importance. “What,” you ask, “do you believe in a priest?” Yes, in the great High Priest of whom the Aaronic priesthood was the type; all my hopes for time and eternity are centered in him who is “a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” If you do not put him into the first place,-I care little what sort of worship you render,-you may be very intense, and very devout, after your own fashion,-but it is all in vain. There is no way of coming unto God except through the “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” There is no way of approaching God except through the one great High Priest, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You may cry unto God, but your prayers cannot reach his ear until Christ presents them to his Father. You may bring your sweet spices, but they will never have any fragrance before the Lord until the great High Priest puts them into the golden censer, and mingles with them the precious incense of his own merits, and so makes them acceptable before the Lord. A prayer without Christ in it will never reach heaven. Praise, which is not presented through the merits of Christ, is but a meaningless noise which can never be well-pleasing unto God.

These people not only had not the priests in their proper places, but they also had a cart, instead of Levites, to carry the sacred ark. The labouring oxen took the place of the willing men who were appointed by God for this service David and all the people appear to have forgotten the appointments which God made concerning the ark, so they fell into trouble, and all their efforts proved to be a failure.

Next, I notice that, the first time, there were no sacrifices. They put the ark upon the cart, and went before it, and behind it, and around it, with their instruments of music, but there was no sacrificial blood shed. They had been so long out of the habit of worshipping God in his appointed way that they had forgotten very much. I wonder that David did not notice this fatal omission, and I am not surprised that Uzza died as there is no mention of the sprinkling of blood upon the mercy-seat that day. And, beloved, if we leave the blood of atonement out of our worship, we leave out that which is the very life of it, for the blood is the life thereof. If you have no respect unto the atoning sacrifice of Christ, God will have no respect unto you. If you have no regard for the great propitiation which Christ has made for sin, the Lord will not accept either prayers or praises at your hands. Without the shedding of Christ’s blood, there is no remission of sin.

All through this incident, we see that there was no taking heed to the commands of God, and to the rules which he had laid down. The people brought will-worship to God, instead of that which he had ordained. What do I mean by will-worship? I mean, any kind of worship which is not prescribed in God’s own Word. It has sometimes been pleaded, as an excuse for the observance of some rite or ceremony which is not commanded in the Scriptures, that it is very instructive, or very impressive. That is no excuse or justification for disobedience. The first commandment may be broken, not only by worshipping a false god, but by worshipping the true God in another way than that which he has ordained. If you set up a mode of worship not warranted by his Word, whatever you may plead for it, it is idolatrous, and the Lord may well say to you, “Who hath required this at your hands?” Mark this,-if it be not of his appointment, neither will it meet with his acceptance. Inasmuch, therefore, as these people did not show any reverence for God by consulting his record of the rules which he had laid down for their guidance,-seeming to think that, whatever pleased them must please him,-whatever kind of worship they chose to make up would be quite sufficient for the Lord God of Israel,-therefore, it ended in failure. Beloved, take care how ye worship God. If ye are to take heed how ye hear, ye are also to take heed how ye pray, and to take heed how ye praise, and to take heed how ye come to the communion table. Take heed how, in any way, ye seek to draw near unto the living God, for he is not to be approached in any slipshod fashion that you may choose to invent. He has his own way by which alone he can be approached. His august court has rules, even as the courts of earthly kings have their regulations and laws; and if ye transgress the King’s command, it may be that he will smite you as he slew Uzza, or, at the least, your worship will be unacceptable to him.

Now we turn to our second text, to the second head of our discourse, namely, David’s great fear: “And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?”

What changeable creatures we are! From a careless, and almost criminal, want of thought, David’s mind speedily travels to great seriousness of thought, attended with a very terrible dread. Do you wonder that the death of Uzza caused David to fear greatly? The procession is going along, and the harps, psalteries, timbrels, cymbals, and trumpets are sounding the high praises of God when, on a sudden, the oxen come to the threshingfloor of Chidon, and, perhaps, tempted by the sight of the grain, they turn aside,-or, at least, they stumble, and the ark is likely to be upset. One mistake usually leads to another. If they had not put the ark on that cart, this trouble would not have happened. And now young Uzza, who had been living in the house where the ark had been kept so long, perhaps not thinking he is doing wrong, puts out his hand to hold the ark, and instantly falls a corpse. A thrill of horror goes through the crowd, the music stops, and David stands aghast. At first sight, it docs appear to be a very severe punishment; yet we must remember that this is not the only time that God acted thus toward those who profaned the service in which they were engaged. Nadab and Abihu, instead of taking the proper fire to light their censers, took strange fire. There did not seem much difference; is not one kind of fire very much like another? Those two young men went in before the Lord with their censers kindled by strange fire, and they fell dead in a moment before God. They had only broken the law in a small matter, as it seemed; but God has his ways of measuring things, and his method is very different from ours. David ought also to have remembered how more than fifty thousand of the men of Beth-shemesh were slain when the Philistines brought back the ark, and the men of Beth-shemesh looked into it. Truly “our God is a consuming fire.” He will not be trifled with. This was his ark, and he would make them know that it was his; and albeit that, with good intentions, they had surrounded it, yet, since they had not reverently obeyed his commands, he would let them see that he was not to be trifled with, nor that his ark could be touched with impunity. Do you wonder that, in the presence of that corpse, David was afraid of God that day?

He was also afraid of God for another reason, namely, that he himself had been in a wrong frame of mind, for we read, in the 11th verse, that “David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza.” He does not seem to have been displeased with Uzza, but he was displeased with God. It seemed, to him, a hard thing that he had gathered all that crowd of people together, and that they had been doing their best, as he thought, for the honour of God, and now the whole proceedings were spoilt by the outstretched hand of an angry God in their midst. So David was angry; and when he remembered that such wicked thoughts had ever crossed his mind, he began to feel afraid of God for his own sake.

Then, I daresay, his own sense of unworthiness for such a holy work made him cry, “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” He feared lest, in some unguarded moment, he might be guilty of irreverence, and so perish, as Uzza had done. I have often had, in a measure, that kind of fear upon me which came over David that day. To be a child of God, is the most blessed experience in the world, but it also involves stern discipline. When God makes you his child, you are sure to feel his rod. Others may escape it, but you will not, “for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” If you live very near to God, and you get many tokens of his favour, you will find that you must watch every step you take, and every thought you think, for the Lord is a jealous God; and where he gives the most love, there will be the most jealousy. He may leave a sinner to go to great lengths in sin, but not his saints. He may let ordinary Christians do a great deal without chastening them; but if you are privileged to lie in his bosom, if you have high fellowship with him, you will soon know how jealous he is. I have often heard men, while praying, quote as if it were a text of Scripture, “God, out of Christ, is a consuming fire.” The Bible does not say anything of the kind; it says, “Our God is a consuming fire.” So, the prophet Isaiah asks, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” And what is his answer? “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly.” He is the only man who can live amid such burnings,-the sacred salamander from whom the fire only burns out any remaining sin. When you ask to live near to God, see in what a terrible place, and in what a supremely blessed place, you ask to live. You want to live in the fire of his presence, even though you know that it will consume your sin, and that you will have often to suffer much while that sin is being consumed. I have said, again and again, “My Lord, burn as fiercely as it may, I do aspire to dwell in this sacred spot. Let the fire go through me till it has burned up all my dross; but, oh! do let me dwell with thee!”

Yet I am not surprised if someone starts back, and says, “I can hardly ask for such a trial as that.” Like James and John, we want to sit on the right and left hand of our Master in his glory; but when he asks, “Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” it will need much more grace than they had if we are able to say, from our hearts, “ ‘We can.’ By thy grace, we shall be able and willing to endure anything if we may but dwell with thee.” For, beloved, if you have ever had even a glimpse of God in his innermost tabernacle,-if he has made his glory to shine upon you,-you have felt willing even to die, have been almost eager to die, that you might have yet more of that beatific vision, and never have it clouded again. One of the good old saints said, when he had very much of the love of Christ poured into his soul, “Hold, Lord, hold! It is enough. Remember that I am but an earthen vessel. If I have more, I shall die.” If I had been in such a case. I think I would have said, “Do not hold, Lord. I am but an earthen vessel, so I shall die in the process, and glad enough shall I be to die if I may but see thy face, and never, never, lose the vision any more.”

We need not wonder that David was afraid after such a manifestation of the divine displeasure. He did the best thing he could do under the circumstances, he left the ark with Obed-edom for a while, determined to set about its removal in a different fashion another time.

Now we come to our third subject; that is, David’s sacred joy: “So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy.” Obed-edom took the ark into his house, and God blessed him. Then it occurred to David that there was not much, after all, to be afraid of in the ark. That awful thing, that had smitten Uzza, had been in this other man’s house, and been a blessing to him. That fact has often made my heart rejoice. I have said, “Well, I know that it is a solemn thing to live near to God; but I have seen a poor, bed-ridden woman live in the light of God’s countenance, year after year, as happy as all the birds of the air; then, why should not I do the same? I have seen a plain, humble, Christian man walking with God, as Enoch did, and happy from the 1st of January to the last of December, and God blessing him in everything; so, come, my soul, though thy God is a consuming fire, there is nothing for his children to dread.” So, after David had seen that God blessed Obed-edom for three months, he thought to himself, “Well, now, Obed-edom has had his turn, and I may have mine. I will set to work to see if I cannot worship God rightly this time, and bring up the ark unto my house in the right way.”

So he began thus. He prepared a tent for the ark. I do not read that he did that before; but, in the 1st verse of the 15th chapter we read, “David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.” Now you see that he is thoughtful and careful in preparing a place for the ark of God; and if I want God’s presence, I must prepare my mind and heart to receive it. If I want to enjoy communion with my Lord at his table, I must obey that injunction, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” I must not observe the ordinances of the Lord’s house without proper thought and solemnity. As the priests washed themselves before they ministered at the altar, so would I come, cleansed and sanctified by the purifying Word, that I may acceptably appear before God.

Then, next, the mind of the Lord was considered. In the 2nd verse of this 15th chapter, David says, “None ought to carry the ark of the Lord but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God;” and he asserts that the breach upon them had been made because they “sought him not after the due order.” Now is David anxious to obey God. He will do, not what he thinks proper, but what God thinks proper; and that is the right way for us to worship the Lord. How I wish that all professing Christians would revise their creed by the Word of God! How I wish that all religious denominations would bring their ordinances and forms of worship to the supreme test of the New Testament! “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” But, alas! they know that so much would have to be put away that is now delightful to the flesh, that, I fear me, we shall be long before we bring all to worship God after his own order. But, my soul, if thou art to be accepted of God, thou must see to it that, in all thine approaches to the great King, thou dost strictly observe the etiquette of his court. What is the rule for courtiers who come into the presence of the King of kings? What dress are they to wear? With what words can they approach the throne? In what spirit are they to draw nigh to God? Answer all these questions, and see that thou dost ask the Lord to make thee obedient in all things to his gracious commands.

Further, you see that, this time, the priests were put into their proper places. David said, “Because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.” Now they are where they should have been at the first, in the front of the procession; and, brethren, when God accepts us, Christ will take the first place. Our great High Priest will be in the front, and we shall do nothing except through his name, and in the power of his precious blood.

Then, on this second occasion, sacrifices were presented unto the Lord. Scarcely had the ark rested upon the shoulders of the Levites than they offered seven bullocks and seven rams as a sacrifice unto God. So, we should never think of doing anything in the worship of our God without the seven bullocks and seven rams which are all summed up in the one perfect offering of our ever-adorable Lord. O brothers and sisters, keep Christ ever before you! Let all your good deeds be done through the strength you receive from him, for “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.” Nothing can be right that is apart from him; but if he is our Alpha and Omega, and all the letters between, there is no fear that we shall not bring up the ark of the Lord aright. In this spirit of loving obedience, and holy awe, relying upon the sacrifice which they had presented, they seemed like hinds let loose; and David, especially, who I suppose was a representative of the whole of them, seemed as if he did not know how he could adequately express the joy that he felt. He had his harp, of which he was a master-player; so, with his skilful fingers moving among the familiar strings, he began to sing; and as he sang, he leaped like some of our Methodist friends do when they get so excited that they must needs begin to jump and to dance. I suppose that all the crowd cried, “Amen!” as David sang some of his most joyous songs of praise unto the Lord, and that a great shout went up to heaven, for everyone was glad that day, and especially David, as he danced before the Lord with all his might.

We must not forget that this carrying up of the ark was a type of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there is anything that should make a Christian’s heart leap for joy, it is the fact of his Lord’s return to heaven. See him! He has risen from the dead, and now he is rising from the midst of his disciples. He continues to ascend till a cloud receives him out of their sight, and angels fly to meet him as he nears the pearly gates. Squadron after squadron salutes the conquering Prince, and bids him welcome home. And who, I pray you, is this Lord of hosts who now ascends his Father’s throne, and sits down at his Father’s right hand for ever, as the acknowledged King of kings and Lord of lords? It is the man that died on Calvary,-the great representative Man who is also God. Lo, at his chariot wheels he drags sin, Satan, death, and hell. He leadeth captivity captive, and giveth gifts unto men.

“Sing, O heavens! O earth, rejoice!

Angel harp, and human voice,

Round him, as he rises, raise

Your ascending Saviour’s praise.”

Now may ye, who love him, dance with all your might; now may ye let your souls revel in intensest delight, and plunge themselves in the bottomless sea of ineffable bliss. God grant you so to do, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

1 CHRONICLES 13, and 15:1-4, 11-16, 25-29

Chapter 13. Verses 1-3. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us: and let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.

It had lain neglected at Kirjath-jearim, “in the fields of the wood,” as David writes in the 132nd Psalm.

4-8. And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim. And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

A stately array of all the leaders of the tribes, with all sorts of music, to do honour to the ark of God.

9, 10. And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.

I suppose that Uzza, through the ark having been so long in his father’s house, had grown unduly familiar with it, and therefore touched it. Yet it was an express law that even the Levites should not lay a hand upon the ark. They carried it with staves; the priests alone might touch it for necessary purposes. It was for this profanation that Uzza “died before God.”

11, 12. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?

He was afraid lest he also might die.

13. So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

He must have been a brave, believing man, to be willing to receive the terrible ark into his house; but he, probably, knew that, so long as he behaved reverentially to it, he would have a blessing, and not a curse, through taking it under his charge.

14. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.

Chapter 15. Verses 1, 2. And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.

It should not be carried upon a new cart, dragged by unwilling oxen, but it should be borne upon the cheerful shoulders of the God-appointed bearers, the Levites.

3, 4. And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto his place, which he had prepared for it. And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites:

Then follows the list of them, which we need not now read.

11-13. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.

They had sought him, but they had not done it “after the due order.” They had been in too great a hurry; and they had followed their own notions, instead of looking to the written law wherein everything was prescribed for them.

14-16. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.

Before, there had been a great medley of musical instruments, but little singing; and there had not been a proper choice as to the persons who were to sing; but, now, this service was put into the right hands.

Then follows a list of the singers and the players upon the various kinds of instruments that went forth to bear the ark. Let us pass on to the 25th verse.

25, 26. So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites-

For, though the ark was by no means a great load, yet they must have felt some measure of alarm at the very idea of going near to it; but when God strengthened them, they took up their burden with delight: “When God helped the Levites”-

26, That bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams.

There is no mention of any sacrifice on the previous occasion. If there had been a proper offering of beasts unto the Lord, there might not have been the death of Uzza; but, now, they do everything in the right order, and the sacrificial blood is sprinkled; without that, there is no acceptance before God.

27, 28. And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.

David himself, while playing on his harp, leaping and dancing through the intensity of joy which filled his soul.

29. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart.

So have I known it, when a rich person has been converted, and has been found, in the first flush of his Christian joy, mixing with the poorest of the brethren full of delight; and somebody of his own rank has sneered at him. Yet Michal was less honourable than David, though she thought so much of herself. God forbid that we should ever blush to manifest enthusiasm even with the poorest of God’s saints while we are glorifying the Lord! Let Michal sneer, if she will; it matters little what she does. We will only reply as David did, “I will yet be more vile than thus.”

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-98, 186, 317.

OUR HIDING-PLACE

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, November 5th, 1903,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Lord’s-day Evening, November 11th, 1877

(when the Tabernacle was thrown open to all comers).

“And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.”-Isaiah 32:2.

One who is really worthy to be called “a man” is a rare creature. There are great numbers of human beings, who come under the generic name “men”, who do not possess those noble, manly characteristics which would entitle us truly to speak of any one of them as “a man.” When God gives “a man” to any nation, it is a grand gift. There are many names in history which remind us how much blessing may be conferred upon a race, and upon an age, by the raising up of one man.

It is possible that, in the first instance, my text refers to Hezekiah the king of Judah. The Assyrians had invaded the land, and the army and the nation were powerless to defend their territory. It seemed as though the homes of the people must be utterly destroyed by fire, and that the inhabitants must be either slain by the sword or carried away into captivity. But there was one man, named Hezekiah, who, though he had not a great army, had great faith in the power of prayer to God; so he took Rab-shakeh’s blasphemous letter, and spread it before the Lord in earnest supplication. He sent word to another true man, the prophet Isaiah, begging him also to lift up his prayer to God; and the prophet sent to the king the cheering intelligence that the Assyrian monarch should not be able to enter Jerusalem, but should be driven back to his own city of Nineveh, and should be slain by the sword in his own land. Hezekiah and Isaiah were, for Judæa, a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, in that time of stress and storm.

Nor is it only in sacred story that we find illustrations of such an experience as my text describes. I might remind you of some of our kings and other great men who have been a hiding-place and a covert to our own land in the day of danger and of distress. The name of Alfred the Great will always shine brightly in our national history; and, much later, there was “a man” who wore no regal crown, but who was the greatest and best of all the kings. Oliver Cromwell was a real hiding-place and covert to this land in the days when the crowned king was unworthy to rule. In him, God raised up “a man” who risked everything in defence of the liberties which we still enjoy. What a hiding-place from the wind, and what a covert from the tempest he was to the little company of persecuted saints in the valleys of Piedmont! The Duke of Savoy had determined to extirpate the Protestants; but Cromwell heard of his cruelties, and resolved that he would do all that he could to rescue them from their persecutor’s power. He sent for the French ambassador, and told him to let his master know that he must have those persecutions stopped immediately. His majesty replied that Savoy did not belong to him, and that he could not interfere with the Duke. “Nevertheless,” replied Cromwell, “if you tell the Duke that you will go to war with him if he does not cease persecuting the Protestants, he will soon stop his butcheries. If you will not do that, I will go to war with you; for, in the name of the Lord of hosts, I will defend his persecuted people.” Of course, such a brave message as that speedily took effect Oh, that, in every age, in every land, whenever and wherever there is oppression or persecution to be rebuked, and tyranny to be overthrown, God may always find “a man” who shall come boldly to the front, and speak and act for truth and righteousness, and so become “a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest,” to the people whom he has the honour to protect in such a time as that! I have no more to say upon that view of our subject except to pray God to make us all manly in that sense, so that all of us may, through his grace, take our proper place in the battle for the right and the true against the wrong and the false.

I have, however, to speak of another Man, to whom this text more especially refers. It is the Messiah,-the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and men,-God’s greatest gift to men,-the Nazarene, Jesus Christ of the house of David, who is the true hiding-place from the wind, and covert from the tempest, to all who take shelter in him. If my lips are divinely helped to extol him, and if your hearts are divinely taught to rejoice in him, we shall all be blessed. In speaking about my text, I want to show you, first, that this life is very liable to storms; secondly, that from all these storms, the Man Christ Jesus is our hiding-place; and that, thirdly, our wisdom is to shelter in that hiding-place.

First, then, this life is liable to many storms.

He that reckoneth upon a calm from his cradle to his grave reckons altogether amiss. You may set sail upon a sea as smooth as glass; but I doubt not that, ere your voyage is completed, you will often have to reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and be at your wits’ end, by reason of the fury of the storm.

We are subject to great mental storms. No man can be a true thinker without finding his mind occasionally storm-tossed. A rushing mighty wind of doubt seems to come sweeping down from the mountains of speculation, driving everything before it. Anchors begin to drag, and firmly moored beliefs are driven headlong towards the rocks of destruction. We have known what it is, sometimes, to have such a terrible cyclone of doubt and questioning raging around us that we have hardly felt our own existence to be a fact, and have had grave questions concerning our own inner consciousness. When we have these stormy winds and tempests howling within the little world of our souls, we appreciate the promise of the text: “A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.”

At other times, the stormy winds take another shape, namely, that of outward trial and trouble. “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Doubtless, there is a skeleton in every house,-some cause of sorrow in every family. A man may have a flourishing business, but there may come serious losses; or he may have the flush of health upon his cheek, and may suddenly begin to lose his vigour. The little ones around him, who are his joy, may sicken, and he may have to follow his loved ones to the grave. The wife of his youth may be taken away from him, or the friend of his middle age may suddenly be smitten down. The world is full of what we sometimes call accidents, though we know that they are providences,-providences of a sad and mournful character to us. God will not let us, who are his song-birds, build our nests here. He will send a rough wind through the forest, which will make the bough, on which we try to build, rock to and fro in the storm till we are obliged to take to our wings again, for there is no resting-place for us upon any of the trees in this world. Many of you only too well know that there are rough winds of outward trial and trouble. I do not doubt that many a stormy blast has swept across your heart, in your families, or in your persons, or in your estates; some way or other, you have realized your need of “a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.”

Then there is a wind, which sometimes blows upon men,-a penetrating, searching, cutting wind, which may bring good with it, but which, at the time it is blowing, is a truly terrible wind to endure,-I mean that of spiritual distress on account of discovered sin, when, looking into your soul, you have spied out what you could not have believed was there. Sins and iniquities, which had long hidden their heads, have suddenly appeared before you, and you have been almost swept off your feet as by a tornado. I recollect when that wind blew through and through my soul. No comfort could I get by day or by night; my transgressions haunted and hunted me. I had not been worse than other young men, nor as bad as many whom I knew; but I seemed so to myself. It appeared to me as if I had become the very chief of sinners, and the most surely condemned of all who ever lived. Remembering the experience I then passed through, I can truly say that I know of no pain, that can be felt by the body, which is comparable to the terrible pangs of conscience when the searching breath of the Eternal Spirit goes through the soul, and withers up all the comeliness of our own righteousness, and despoils all the supposed beauty of our own good works. That is a wind which I trust we all have felt, or shall yet feel; but, still, while it blows, it is dreadful to endure.

There is another wind which follows upon this, and of which this is the prelude unless infinite grace shall interpose, that is, the awful wind of the infinite wrath of God. When that mighty blast begins to blow upon men, it makes their beauty to consume like the moth. When they first realize that “God is angry with the wicked every day,” they tremble in his presence; but what will their terror be when that wind is let loose upon them in all its fury? When God’s right arm shall be bared for war, and thunders shall clothe his cloudy car, and he shall come forth armed with sword and buckler to confront his foes, saying, “I will ease me of mine adversaries,” who shall be able to stand before him? Good Mr. Whitefield used to cry, “Oh, the wrath to come! The wrath to come!” And, verily, I know not what he could have said about it except to utter the exclamation, and there to leave it, for that wrath to come must surpass all human language or imagination. Sometimes, it blows upon men ere they leave the body; they begin to be caught by the eternal whirlwind before they have quite got clear of the shores of time and mortal life; and some of them have let us know, by their terrible terror as they have died, a little of what that awful blast must mean to those who are swept away by it.

I will mention but one other wind, and that is one to which the best of men, as well as the worst, are exposed; namely, the sudden and mysterious temptations of the devil. He knows how to take us unawares; and he finds, in our natural depravity, an ally, so that, when he comes, and knocks at the door of our heart, the sin that is within arises, and opens to him; and then he comes in, and terrible is his entrance into the soul. I have known a young man, who appeared to be upright and honest, suddenly decoyed into an act of theft by the temptation of the evil one. I have seen those who have been, apparently, pure in mind and heart, and who, at any rate in their youth, dreaded every thought of immorality, on a sudden cast down into the very depths of filthiness by a strong Satanic temptation which has assailed them. There is no man living who can truly say, “I am secure against the devil’s assaults.” You may resolve as you please, but Satan is older and more cunning than you are; and he knows your weak points, and how he can most easily cast you down. He is the prince of the power of the air, and he can bring with him such a wind as shall smite the four corners of the human house at once, and level it to the ground. Woe to the man who is tempted of the devil, in such a way as that, unless he has a hiding-place wherein to shelter himself in the stormy and dark day!

I hope I have said enough upon this point; if I go on in this strain, you will think that my sermon is like the roll of the prophet, written within and without with lamentations and woe.

Now, in the second place, blessed be God that I can tell you that, from all these storms, the Man Christ Jesus is our hiding place. I have to try to set him before you by the help of his Holy Spirit: “A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.” It is to him we sing,-

“The tempest’s awful voice was heard;

O Christ, it broke on thee!

Thy open bosom was my ward,

It braved the storm for me.

Thy form was scarred, thy visage marred;

Now cloudless peace for me.”

“A man”-yet one who is more than a man,-a man of whom it is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is the Man Christ Jesus who is, nevertheless, to be adored as “over all God, blessed for ever,” reigning, as he now does, in the highest heavens, crowned with glory and honour. I invite all of you, who are afraid of the storms of doubt, or trial, or temptation, or of the wrath of God, to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, because, being God, he is omnipotent; and, therefore, nothing can be too hard for him. Once enclosed within his hand, where is the power that can reach you there, or pluck you thence? If your shield shall be the Almighty One himself, then are you secure from all hurt or harm.

Yet, as the text says, “A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest,” I remark that Christ is truly a man. Oh, how often, in the thought of Christ’s real humanity, has my soul found a hiding-place from all manner of storms! “God”-the word is great! “God”-the idea is sublime! The great Eternal Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth, and who bears them up by his unaided power, who rides upon the stormy sky, and puts a bit into the mouth of the raging tempest,-how shall I, a poor worm of the dust, draw nigh to such a God as this? The answer quickly comes, “He has been pleased to reveal himself in the Man Christ Jesus.” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” God deigned to take upon himself the nature of man; there he lies in the manger,-the Infinite, yet an infant,-omnipotent, yet swaddled by a woman, and hanging as though helpless at her breast. Let Bethlehem ever tell the matchless mystery of godliness, God manifest in human flesh. Why should I dread to appear before God, now that, in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, there is a link between my manhood and his Deity? The awful gulf, that sin had made, is bridged, and now I perceive how near God comes down to man, and how closely he lifts up man to himself. Jesus Christ was truly man. With the exception of being free from sin, he was in no respect different from ourselves; and at this moment, though he occupies the very throne of God in glory, his sympathies run towards us.

“He knows what sore temptations mean,

For he has felt the same.”

He is ready to succour us, for his delights are still with the sons of men. He became a man because he loved men. God has such affection for our race that he has married our nature to himself. Oh, what joy there ought to be in our hearts because of this! Whenever the thought of the greatness, and the holiness, and the terrible majesty of God, oppresses any one of us, let him say, with good Dr. Watts,-

“Till God in human flesh I see,

My thoughts no comfort find;

The holy, just, and sacred Three

Are terrors to my mind.

“But if Immanuol’s face appear,

My hope, my joy begins;

His name forbids my slavish fear,

His grace removes my sins.”

The very fact that God has become incarnate, makes him to be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.

Further, Christ is the substitutionary Man, for he stood forward as the Man to die instead of guilty men. Have you not often heard this life called a state of probation? That is a most incorrect term, for our probationary period passed away long ago. There was a man,-the first of men, Adam,-and the whole human race was put upon probation in him. If he had obeyed his Maker’s command, all his seed would have lived by virtue of his obedience; but as he disobeyed, his entire race has suffered. He could not endure the test applied to him, for he ate of the forbidden fruit, and so fell from his high estate; and, in his fall, you, and I, and all mankind fell down. We fell in another, we had nothing to do with the matter, for it all happened thousands of years before we were born. Some have questioned the justice of this arrangement. If you have done so, I pray you to lay aside all such questions, for this is the door of hope for you. Because our fall was caused by another, there remained the possibility, on the same plan of representation and substitution, of our being lifted up by Another, and saved by Another. So, in the fulness of time there came a second Man, the Lord from heaven, and stood in our place. Did he obey the law? For thirty years and more, he was upon his trial, but he never failed. “In him was no sin.” But man was under condemnation because of his guilt; will Jesus Christ, as the great Substitute for sinners, bear upon himself the punishment due to human guilt? He could not have borne it if he had not been God as well as man; being the God-man, he said that he would bear sin’s penalty, that all who would put their trust in him might for ever go free. It was a wondrous sight, when, on that awful night in dark Gethsemane, he began to bear his people’s guilt, and so was made to sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground, while his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

I hope you all know the sad yet glad story; I expect most of you have often heard it,-how Jesus bore that tremendous load of our guilt upon his own shoulders, though his back was bleeding from Pilule’s cruel scourging,-how he bore it though they nailed his hands and feet to the accursed tree,-how he bore it though the sun refused to look upon him, and travelled on in tenfold night,-how he bore it though Jehovah himself forsook him while he was bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, so that he was compelled to cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He bore that terrible burden right to the end; and on the cross he cried, “It is finished,” ere he gave up the ghost. This is the Man who is the hiding-place from the storm, and the covert from the tempest,-the substitutionary Man,-the surety Man,-who stood in the room, and place, and stead of guilty man,-the just Man bearing, instead of unjust man, the deserved wrath of God. If you, my dear friends, will only put your trust in him, you will find him to be indeed a blessed covert from the storm that is now threatening you. How can God’s wrath touch you if Christ has borne it all in your stead? A hiding-place shelters a man because it bears the full force of the storm, while he is protected from its fury. Because Christ died for us, therefore we, who take shelter in him, shall not die. Our debt is paid, justice is satisfied, mercy triumphs, and we go free. This is the Man,-the substitutionary Man,-who is “as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest,” to all who put their trust in him.

That is not all, however, for this substitutionary Man remains the representative Man; and if you are believers in him, he represents you in everything. He died, but he also rose again; what a shelter from all tempestuous thoughts of death there is in that glorious truth! For,-

“As the Lord our Saviour rose,

So all his followers must.”

The wind howls sadly out yonder among the tombs in the cemetery; one would scarcely choose to spend a night there alone among the dead; but even that mournful wind, when it is heard by the ear of faith, has music in it. That ancient message is yet to be fulfilled, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.” This is what Christ says to us, so we need not stand by the pious dead, and weep as those without hope; but we may already begin to anticipate the dawning of that glorious morning when, at the summons of the descending Saviour, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Jesus, therefore, as our Representative, is a hiding place to us from all the winds which would come to us by the way of the sepulchre. We are not afraid to die, for Jesus lives; and he said to his disciples, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” He has also gone up into heaven; in his glorified body, he ascended up on high, there to appear in the presence of God for us. So, whenever you have any dread about the future, recollect that you will be where he is. If you are a believer in him, you must ascend to heaven even as he has done; and as he sits upon his throne, even so shall you; and as he is perfected in glory, even so must you be. Between the Man Christ Jesus and all believers in him there is such unity that, wherever he is, there must his people also be. This is what he rightfully demands on their behalf, by virtue of his atoning sacrifice: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” If you hide behind this rampart of stupendous rock,-this mighty mound of divine consolation,-it matters not what winds may rage, or what storms may roar, you may rest in security and serenity behind the great representative Man who is “as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.”

We also have to bless the name of our Lord Jesus that he is the ever-living Man, who is, at all times, a shelter from the wind to those who trust in him. Our earthly friends may die, but we shall never lose our best Friend. All merely human comforters will fail us sooner or later, but he will ever abide true and steadfast to all who rely upon him.

“He lives, the great Redeemer lives,”-

so his cause is always safe, and our safety is always secured in him. Hide thyself, therefore, in the ever-living Man; for, there, thou needest not fear any change that the rolling ages may bring.

Blessed be the name of Jesus, he is also the interceding Man; for, at this very moment, he is pleading for his people before his Father’s throne. We cannot see him; yet, sometimes, when our faith is in lively exercise, we can almost behold him, and can all but hear him presenting his almighty pleas on behalf of all those who have entrusted their case into his hands. O beloved,-

“In every dark distressful hour,

When sin and Satan join their power,

Let this dear hope repel the dart,

That Jesus bears us on his heart.”

If nobody else remembers us, he does; and he spreads his wounded hands in powerful, prevalent intercession on our behalf; and our comfort is that “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

It is true that he is a man, but he is a man clothed with infinite power. So think no longer of the Christ as “despised and rejected of men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” for he has done with all that. He has ascended from his cross to his throne.

“The highest place that heaven affords

Is his, is his by right,

The King of kings, and Lord of lords,

And heaven’s eternal light.”

Do not look at crucifixes, or any such representations of Christ; for he, in whom you trust, is neither upon the cross nor in the tomb, for he is risen. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay;” but do not forget to look up to the place where he now sits; for “this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.” Ere he ascended, he said to his disciples, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach (or, make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them (those who are made disciples) in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” We serve the Christ whom all his creatures must obey; angels fly at his bidding, and devils tremble at his frown. He allows the kings of the earth to sway their mimic sceptres for a time, but all the while he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. For our Lord Jesus Christ, we claim a universal monarchy. He sits enthroned upon the circle of the heavens, and the nations of the earth are but as grasshoppers before him.

“Sweet majesty and awful love

Sit smiling on his brow,

And all the glorious ranks above

At humble distance bow.

“This is the Man, th’ exalted Man,

Whom we unseen adore;

But when our eyes behold his face,

Our hearts shall love him more.”

I close my description of this wondrous Man by reminding you that he is the coming Man. It is but a little while, and he that shall come will come. The great drama of this world’s history draws towards its close. We know not when it will end, for it is not for us “to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power;” but there comes to us, as a clear, ringing message out of the deep mystery of the future, the voice of our Saviour, saying, “Surely I come quickly,” to which our glad response is, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” I cannot foretell to what a state of anarchy or of despotism this world may yet come; I cannot forecast the ultimate issues of great wars and conflicts between divers nations; but the saints of God shall always have a hiding-place from every stormy wind that shall ever blow. “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” “He cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” There shall come a day when that ancient prophecy shall be fulfilled, “He shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised.” There shall yet come a halcyon period when they shall hang the useless helmet high, and study war no more; but the silver trumpet of the blessed jubilee shall sound aloud, for Christ, the great Prince of peace, shall then have returned to reigin, and his unsuffering kingdom shall know no end. This is the world’s hope, that the people’s Christ, the Man chosen out of the people, the Lover of mankind, the great Philanthropist, the Divine Man shall come and reign amongst his loyal subjects, and be to them “as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.”

To sum up all, beloved, I do not know what your storms, inwardly or outwardly, may be, or what may be your special dread or terror; but if you hide away in the Man Christ Jesus, you will find that he will afford you shelter from every trouble that can possibly befall you.

So I close my discourse by saying to you, As the Lord Jesus Christ is such a hiding-place as this, let us run to him for shelter.

First, let us stand behind him whenever we approach to God. I can imagine someone saying, “I want to pray, but I am afraid to appear before the Lord; for, if his eyes of fire shall look upon me, they may utterly consume me. What shall I do?” Why, stand behind his Son, and say unto him,-

“Him, and then the sinner see,

Look through Jesu’s wounds on me.”

Come not to God yourself directly, but come unto him through Jesus Christ the Mediator and Intercessor. Then, his wrath cannot reach you, for Christ your hiding-place will stand between you the offender and the God whom you have offended. This seems to me to be very simple; if there are any here who have never acted thus, I entreat the Lord to lead them to do so now. Come, poor soul, thou knowest that thou canst not keep the law, and that thou canst not bear the punishment due to sin; well, then, wilt thou not trust the Lord Jesus Christ to stand in thy place, and to suffer instead of thee? If thou dost, all is done that is needful. Thou art in the shelter, so the wind cannot blow upon thee.

Even when thou hast done that, there are the storms of this life still to be met, so get behind Christ by following him in the path of duty. If you never go anywhere but where Christ leads the way, you need not be afraid of storms, for they will beat upon him more than upon you. When I was quite a young man, I was greatly reviled for preaching the gospel; and, sometimes, my heart would sink a little under the cruel slanders that many uttered; but I used often to go upstairs to my room, and after a season of sweet fellowship with my Lord, I would come down singing,-

“If on my face for thy dear name,

Shame and reproaches be,

All hail reproach, and welcome shame,

If thou remember me.”

Whenever there is a cross to be carried by any of Christ’s followers, he always bears the heavy end on his own shoulders. He always takes the bleak side of the hill himself, and his disciples may be well content to follow when they have so good a Master to lead the way. Ay, beloved, whenever any of the troubles of life come upon you, get near to Jesus, and shelter behind him. When John the Baptist was put to death, his disciples took up his body, and went and told Jesus. That was the best thing they could have done. When the little baby dies, dear mother, take up its body, and go and tell Jesus. When you are out of employment, working-man, and the supply of bread is short in the home, go and tell Jesus. He will sympathize with you, for he also was an hungred. And when others of the trials of life come upon any of you, do not hesitate as to what you will do; but, if you have hidden behind him on account of sin, go and hide in him on account of sorrow; for this Man shall always be a hiding-place from every stormy wind that blows if you do but know how to go and trust in him.

Come to my Lord Jesus Christ, my dear fellow-men, because he is an effectual hiding-place. Many of us have tried him, and proved that he is all that I have said. There have been millions upon millions of his saints, in all ages, who have cast upon him their entire life-burden, and he has never failed to relieve any one of them yet. I have stood by the bedside of many dying Christians; but, to this moment, I have never heard one of them say that Christ had played him false. There are hosts of biographies of Christians published; did you ever find, in any of them, a single instance in which a believer in Christ found himself deserted and forsaken by his Saviour? No, but, on the contrary, the testimonies are heaped up far beyond any evidence that ever could be demanded in a court of law; and they prove, beyond all question, that Christ helps his children in all their emergencies, and delivers them in every time of trouble. I appeal to any of you who have had godly parents. What your father tried, and your mother tried, young man, I ask you to try. Where your gracious grandmother rested all her hope,-and you know that, poor simple woman as she was, she died triumphantly,-be not you so unwise as to refuse to rest your hope. I like things that have been tried and proved; the new-fangled notions of this modern age may do for lackadaisical gentlemen who seem scarcely to know whether they have a soul to lose; but I know that I have one, and I cannot afford to risk it on speculations and novelties. That gospel, which has saved the saints for nearly two thousand years, is good enough for me; so I trust myself in this ancient hiding-place of God’s people,-the refuge which they have found to be safe in all generations; and I invite all of you, by a simple act of faith in Jesus Christ, to do the same.

“But,” says someone, “there are so many sinners in the world; if they were all to come at once into this hiding-place, would there be room for them?” Oh, yes! for, as the caverns of Engedi could hold all David’s men, and Saul’s men, too, and yet they scarcely came near each other, so, in the secret caverns of almighty love, in the person of the Man Christ Jesus, there is room enough and to spare for all the sinners who ever lived on the face of the earth. It will never be truly said, “The salvation of God is worn out; the pasture has been fed upon by too many sheep, so it is all gone; the great supper has been all consumed because there were too many guests.” Never, never shall this happen. There is room in Christ Jesus for every soul that shall ever come unto him. God help you all to come at once!

“Come, sinner, to the gospel feast;

Oh, come without delay!

For there is room in Jesu’s breast

For all who will obey.”

Lastly, this is an available hiding-place. I think I read, some time ago, of a ship, caught in a storm, which might not have been lost but that the port it was trying to reach could only be entered at high tide. As the tide was low, the poor vessel had to stay outside, to be dashed to pieces within sight of the harbour. My Lord’s love is never like that harbour; it is always at flood-tide. Now, poor weather-beaten vessel, almost ready to go down, steer straight for the harbour mouth between the two red lights. There is water enough for you, though you may be so deeply laden a sinner that you seem to draw a thousand fathoms. The infinite love of Jesus Christ is bottomless, so there is room enough in it for you, and millions more. Steer for it at once by simply saying, “I will believe in Jesus; I will take him to be my Substitute and Representative; the appointed Man who died instead of me.” If you come to him thus, you shall certainly find that he will accept you. Your salvation will not depend upon who or what you are, but only upon your hiding-place. Here is a sinner, almost as big as Giant Goliath, going into this hiding-place, but it completely shields him from the stormy blast. Here is a little tot, is the hiding-place safe for such a tiny child as he is? Yes, it is quite as safe for him as for the giant if he does but come into it. You, who know that you have been big sinners, if you get into this hiding-place, will be secure; and you, who feel yourselves very weak and insignificant,-you young children who may be here,-if you come to Christ, and trust him, you will be just as safe as the oldest saints.

“Only trust him, only trust him,

Only trust him now;

He will save you, he will save you,

He will save you now.”

That is the way into this hiding-place,-trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Depend upon Christ for the pardon of your sin, and for everything you need for time and for eternity, and you shall find him shield you from every storm henceforth and for ever. The Lord bless you all, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.