“He must reign.” There was another “must” which his disciples were very slow to learn. Very much of our Lord’s teaching to his apostles was concerning the necessity that he must suffer. That doctrine seemed so strange to them, that, at first, they could scarcely catch the idea. When they perceived that Christ really meant it; they could not bear the thought of it. One of them even began to rebuke his Lord, but he sharply stopped him. The notion that Christ must suffer could not be drilled into the apostles; their very spirits seemed to revolt against it. And do you wonder? If you had lived with that dear and blessed Lord, and had seen the perfection of his character, the liberality of his gifts, and the tenderness of his heart, and if you had known, as they did, in a measure, the glory of his nature and the marvel of his person, could you have endured the thought that he must be despitefully used, and spit upon, and nailed like a felon to a gibbet? No, even Christ himself might have found it difficult to get that thought into your mind. It was such a cruel “must”-that he must die. Why, even after he had died, and all the prophecies concerning his death had been fulfilled, it was still a bewilderment to his disciples. The two, who walked to Emmaus with Christ, were in a maze concerning it, and he had to say to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?”

That first “must” cost the people of God much before they learned it, but we know right well that the price of pardon for us was Christ’s suffering and death. We understand that there was no other way of access for us but by the atonement,-no other method by which the lost inheritance could come back except by that ransom price which was found in the pierced heart of Christ. And now there is another “must” which, I think, is almost as difficult for us to learn. The shadow of the cross has fallen upon us, and we live so much in its shade that it is not easy for us to catch the gleam of that necessity which comes from his throne: “He must reign.” The cross, too, is on our shoulder. It is not merely that we live under the shadow of the cross, but the burden of the cross has to be cheerfully endured from day to day; as we bear it, it is not easy for us to feel that “he must reign.” O brethren, when you preach, but no man gives heed to your message,-when you teach, but the children yield not their hearts to your Lord,-when you sojourn in Mesech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar, and meet with hard and cold hearts in every place, that thaw not even beneath the sunbeams of the love of Jesus, you are very apt to say that it does not appear that “he must reign.” The long rebellion against Jehovah still continues; the dread revolt against the majesty of heaven seems as if it would never end, and we sometimes fear that the treason will last on to all eternity. It appears impossible that the Crucified Christ shall yet be the universal Conqueror, that the man of Nazareth will yet mount his white horse, and lead his conquering armies to the last charge and to the final victory; and yet, as surely as it was true that he must suffer, so surely “he must reign;” and it becomes us to open our hearts to this predestinated necessity ordained of the Most High. Jesus must reign; his defeat is not to be thought of for a moment. Delay there may be, but the victory must come: “he must reign.” Let heaven ring with the anticipation of it: “he must reign.” Let earth resound with the prophecy of it: “he must reign.” Let hell’s darkest cavern hear the tidings of that imperative necessity: “he must reign.” And let each Christian feel revived and quickened by the joyful sound, he who had to die, must surely reign. The second necessity shall be as certainly fulfilled as was the first: “he must reign.” Let me try to ring that bell, or to sound that trumpet.

There is, first, a fact which is a sort of prelude or accompaniment to the necessity in its greater fulfilment.

The fact is, that he does now reign; that is in our text. It says, “He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” Jesus is reigning even now in heaven. There, no shame can approach him, and no scorn can even be whispered at his feet. He reigns there with undisputed sway; it would not be possible for me fully to depict the royal state in which Emmanuel sits enthroned above, but I would like your faith to endeavour to realize it. You may even venture to call in your sanctified imagination to aid you to sketch the scene where he reigns in glory. There is no province of the celestial domain which does not own his sway, and not one individual of all the happy tribes that dwell in glory but is glad to call him King. The holy angels, whom he hath made to be as flames of fire, delight to do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word. All the various orders of cherubim and seraphim yield him their loyal homage, and all the angels and principalities and powers in the heavenly places own him as their Lord for ever. His redeemed occupy the most honourable place in heaves; nearest to the throne you will find the four and twenty elders, the representatives of the Church; and then, in an outer ring, stand the angels worshipping and adoring; and all the redeemed spirits-as well they may since they owe their glory to his blood,-call Jesus their Lord and King. He is no servant there; he washes no disciples’ feet there; he goes not thence to Pilate’s Hall to be judged. Absolute and supreme is he,-King of kings, for they are all kings whom he has redeemed;-and Lord of lords, for they are all lordly ones over whom he reigns, and he occupies the highest seat amidst the splendours of the celestial realm.

But do not imagine that Christ’s reign is limited to those gates of pearl and streets of shining gold. Far from it, for Jesus reigns to-day on earth. It did my ears and heart good, just now, to hear you sing “Crown him Lord of all.” I dared not hope that every heart here was really crowning him, but I did believe that there were thousands who, in their inmost souls, were wishing him all honour and glory, and delightedly confessing their allegiance to him. O Jesus, thou hast still on earth myriads whose highest joy is found in thy name, and who find their heaven on earth as they think of thee. In thy Church, thou art still Lord and Master; and if there be churches that revolt against thee, and play the harlot, thou hast thy chaste spouse still, and thou reignest over her in undisputed sovereignty.

Nor is Christ’s kingdom limited to the Church in heaven and the Church on earth, for he reigns to-day over all things. “All power,” said he, “is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Providence is at the disposal of the Nazarene. Let those doubt it who will, we believe that every event which transpires-political, national, social, domestic,-is overruled by him for the accomplishment of the grand designs of mercy which he has for his own elect. Just as Joseph reigned in Egypt, and all had to come to him for food in the time of famine, so does Jesus reign in the courts of earth for the good of his people. His cause must prosper, for he is always at the helm; yea, even where confusion seems to rule, he is everywhere King, putting a bit into the mouth of the tempest, and riding upon the wings of the wind. Just as the seas owned his presence when he was here incarnate, so do they own his presence now; and just as the earth then felt his tread, so doth she feel it now; but it is no more the weary tramp of the Son of man, but the majestic footfall of the Son of God. He ruleth everywhere. “The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.”

He reigns, too, even in hell itself. The devils bite their iron bonds in grim despair because he reigns. They tried to make this earth their own, but now they know the prowess, the strong arm, and the valiant heart of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Highest; and they must do his bidding. “Hitherto shall ye come, but no further,” is his command to the spirits grim and fierce, and they are compelled to submit to him, however anxious they are to do still more mischief to the sons of men. Yes, Jesus reigns from the bottomless gulf to the heights of heaven. Far off, where the sun now gilds the Western hills, and yonder, in the East, where we shall watch for his return to-morrow morning, over all those regions Jesus reigns,-

“Far as the eagle’s pinion

Or dove’s light wing can soar.”

He reigns to-day, and let his people proclaim it without fear, “The Lord is King.” The fact that he is now reigning cheers our hearts.

“Rejoice, the Lord is King,

Your Lord and King adore;

Mortals, give thanks and sing,

And triumph evermore:

Lift up the heart, lift up the voice,

Rejoice aloud, ye saints, rejoice.”

But, to come still more closely to our text, we ring this bell again, and call your attention to the necessity for Christ’s reign: “He must reign.” It is not merely that he shall, he can, or he may; but he must,-“he must reign.” Let us see why he must.

Well, first and weakest argument of all, yet one that has much force in it, all his servants say that he shall reign. Weak as the twelve apostles were, and the immediate followers of Christ, they said that “he must reign,” and they meant it, and they lived to make it true, and almost all the nations on the earth heard of Jesus within a century after he had been taken up to heaven. Then came the kings of the earth, and set themselves against him, and they said that he should not reign; but the martyrs came, and yielded up their lives with joy, each one singing “he must reign.” While the amphitheatres ran with blood, other champions came into the ring, each one uttering the watchword, “he must reign.” The kings of the earth mocked at the saints of God. “What do these feeble Jews?” said they, just as Pharaoh might have said, “The locusts, what can they do?” But the locusts might have answered, “We are each one of us weak, but there are myriads of us, and we will come up, and cover your land, and we will eat every green thing that is left in the land;” and they did so. It was very much the same with the persecuted saints of God; each individual believer was weak, but they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands, they came in countless shoals till the kings threw away their swords and quenched their fires in sheer despair; and they agreed that, nominally at least, Christ should reign, for his disciples would have it so.

And now, to-day, it becomes us not to speak vauntingly; but, if persecuting times should ever come again, many of those who say the least about it would be among the first to go boldly to be burned at the stake, or to submit their bodies to the torture of the rack, for love of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Mutius Scævola put his right hand into the fire to burn, he told the king that there were a thousand youths who had sworn that they would put him to death rather than that their country should fall into his hands, and the tyrant trembled; and there are thousands of Christians now, who only need the dire necessity again to rise, and they would come forward with cheerfulness to yield their lives for their Lord, declaring that “he must reign” whatever might become of them. We must never let his standard fall, or even tremble in the day of battle. Forward, ye sons of heroes, in the name of him who bled and died for you! Never let there be any question in your mind whether “he must reign” or no. The sun may cease to shine, and the moon forget her nightly marches, but Jesus must reign. It must be so, for his people declare it.

I said, however, that this was the weakest of reasons, and there are many far stronger ones. “He must reign,” for he is Jehovah’s Heir,-the “Heir of all things.” Kings cannot always ensure the putting of their crowns upon the heads of their sons. When they die, perhaps a rebellion breaks out, and overthrows the dynasty; but what power can overturn the Divine dynasty, and rob the Heir of God of his dominions?

“He must reign,” for by nature he is a King. He was born a King; you might have seen something of sovereignty in his eyes when he first opened them upon earth’s light. The wise men from the East brought gifts which showed that they recognized the royalty of the newborn babe of Bethlehem. Every characteristic of the life of Christ is royal. He is no tyrant king. He is the people’s King, but a true King in every part of his being. There is nothing mean, or low, or selfish, about him. Every motion of his hand is princely, as he feeds the multitudes, or heals their sicknesses; and every glance of his eye is kingly, as he weeps over man’s sin and fall, or as he rebukes man’s transgression.

“He must reign,” for he deserves that honour. You cannot see him voluntarily yielding up his soul unto death in order that he might redeem his people by his blood,-you cannot hear his cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!”-without feeling that, if there be justice in the courts of heaven, the death of Christ upon the cross cannot be the end of him. That terrible shame must be rewarded; and how can it be rewarded except by the brightest crown that can possibly be conceived, or by something brighter even than that? Reign he must, for he was so good, so generous, so self-sacrificing, so oblivious of himself in death. We should lose our faith in the Deity if we could lose faith in the reign of Christ as the reward of all that he suffered upon the cross.

Besides, “he must reign,” for who is to stop him? In the olden days, many tried to do so, but he defeated them all. The prince of darkness came to him in the wilderness, and offered him a paltry bauble in the place of his true crown, but the tempter was repulsed by the sentence, “It is written.” The prince of darkness came again and again, but he found nothing in Christ upon which he could lay his hand; and, ere long, Christ will have the great adversary beneath his foot, and finally bruise his head. All the evil forces upon the face of the earth cannot stand against Christ; for if, upon the accursed tree, he defeated them in his weakness, he will surely conquer them in the time of his strength. He trod them under his foot when he died; how much more completely shall he vanquish them now that he is risen again! He scattered them, like chaff before the wind, with his dying breath; how much more shall he do it now in the fulness of his resurrection life! Rejoice, O Christians, in the fact that there is nothing that can stand against Jesus!

“He must reign,” for the best of all reasons,-the Father hath decreed it. “Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” God wills it, and that stands for us as a sufficient reason; and God is working it. Omnipotence is on the side of Christ. We see him not yet at the head of his heavenly armies; but he is there, and he is even now going forth conquering and to conquer, and everything that happens is working out the decree that Christ must be King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Not only does Christ reign, and must Christ reign, but there is a progress about his kingdom. It is growing; it becomes more and more visible among the sons of men. I am not going into prophecies; I leave them for wiser persons than I am. I am more at home in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John than in the deeps of Revelation; but this one thing I do know from the Word of the Lord, that, first of all, “he must reign” lovingly over all his elect. Some of them are hard to bring in, but they must come sooner or later. Christ himself said, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring.” Some of them are with us now; they have long resisted mercy’s call, but they will have to yield. Sovereign grace has determined it, so yield they must. The Lord says, “Compel them to come in,” and come in they must, for “he must reign.” He will not suffer one of the sheep he bought with his blood to be lost on the mountains, or one single soul that he ransomed from the enemy to abide for ever in captivity. “He must reign” over them, and he will; and the day shall come when he shall pass all his sheep, one by one, under the hand of him that telleth them, and they will all be there, all with the blood mark upon them as they come through the gate, and the tale of the flock shall be complete, not one shall be devoured of the wolf. The Shepherd shall say to his Father, in that day, “Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.”

It also seems to me to be clear, from the Scriptures, that, in future ages, Jesus Christ will reign over all nations. I do not believe that the great drama of the world’s history will end till truth is triumphant. I read, concerning the Messiah, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.” The North shall give up, and the South shall no longer keep back, but they shall bring his sons from afar, and his daughters from the ends of the earth. I cannot help expecting a period when “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Happy day! Oh, that it might soon arrive! Push on with mercy’s work, O missionaries and evangelists! Toil on, preachers and teachers, for “he must reign.” Ours is not a losing cause; Jesus must yet subdue the nations, and be acknowledged by them as Lord and God.

I know also that he must one day reign over all mankind, whether by their willing consent, or in spite of their opposition, for to him every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

“He shall reign from pole to pole,

With illimitable sway.”

And over and above that, I look for a time when Jesus Christ will reign upon this earth over all nature; when, all his enemies being subdued, the new Jerusalem shall come down out of heaven upon the earth, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Read the Revelation, and you will find that much which we generally apply to heaven is really a description of what is to take place upon this earth. I hope it is not mere poetic fancy that leads me to believe that the mists, which now swathe this planet, and make her dim in comparison with her sister stars, will one day all be swept away, and she shall shine out as bright as in that pristine morning when the sons of God shouted for joy at the sight of the new creation. I think it is no fiction to believe that the day shall come when restored manhood, in connection with the personal reign of Christ, shall have dominion over all the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea, and when it shall not be a metaphor, but a realized fact that “the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them;”-when whispers of blasphemy shall not merely be drowned in thunders of adoration, but shall not even be known;-when the last taint and trace of sin shall have disappeared, and the earth shall shine as if she had never been defiled, and the days of her mourning shall be for ever ended; and “Glory, glory, glory,” shall be the song from sunrise to sunset, and the night watches shall be kept with music of praise, and angels shall go to and fro, between the throne above and the throne below, and the new heavens and the new earth shall be seen, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

“Hallelujah!-hark! the sound,

From the centre to the skies,

Wakes above, beneath, around,

All creation’s harmonies:

See Jehovah’s banner furl’d,

Sheathed his sword! He speaks,-’tis done,

And the kingdoms of this world

Are the kingdoms of his Son.”

Then comes the grand climax, when he shall “put all enemies under his feet;”-not annihilate them, not exterminate them, not convert them, but put them under his feet. There shall still be a devil, but he shall be a devil under Christ’s feet. Lost spirits there shall still be, but the great Conqueror shall hold them down beneath his almighty heel. Death shall be destroyed: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” We shall remember that men died; we shall ourselves remember that we passed beneath the power of death; but all the bitterness of death will be past so far as we are concerned. Through Christ’s death, eternal life has become ours. Oh, what a prospect opens up before me! My time flies so nimbly, as it always does when I have such a subject as this, so I must forbear to speak of it as I fain would; but let your faith project itself into the glorious future of which I have been reminding you. It may be much nearer than you have imagined. If you listen intently, you may hear the chariot wheels of the coming King. Be ye ready to greet him whenever he comes; it may be that, to-night, ere the clock has sounded out the midnight hour, the cry may be heard in heaven and earth, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh;” and starting from your beds, you will have to meet him. Will you be ready to hail him joyfully, as your long-expected King, or will you have to meet him dolefully, and to be trodden beneath his feet? “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”

So I close with this question,-let each one take it to heart as best he may; and may the Spirit of God send it home!-How do I stand in relation to the great event thus predestinated? What is my connection with the triumph of Christ? Am I one of his enemies? Suppose a gnat should be able to plunge itself into the inconceivably fierce heat that burns from the orb of day, its instant destruction must follow; and it must be so with you also if you are opposed to Christ. Thou potsherd of earth, strive with other potsherds like thyself. For thee to strive with Jesus, is for a potsherd to strive against a rod of iron which will break it in pieces. There is no hope of success for thee; so give up the hopeless enterprise. Thine utter insignificance will make thine opposition to be contemptible in that day when the intelligences of the universe shall judge things aright.

What then? Had we not better yield-I will not say because we must, but because we ought? For, in this case, Christ’s might is on the side of right, and it is no disgrace to a man to yield to might when it is allied with right. “I yield to Christ,” saith one. How far do you yield? Do you yield so far as to be saved by him? “Yes,” say you. Do you yield so far as to be forgiven by him? “Yes,” say you. Do you yield so far as to become his disciples? “Yes,” say you. But do you yield that he should reign over you,-that you should do as he bids you, and not do what he forbids? Shall he be King over you? If you want to have him on any other terms than these, you cannot have him at all, for “he must reign.”

“Yet know (nor of the terms complain,)

Where Jesus comes, he comes to reign;

To reign, and with no partial sway:

Thoughts must be slain that disobey.”

Will you have him to reign thus over you? This is the all-important point. Alas! many say, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Be not you so senseless as this, but yield to Jesus Christ, and let him be your Lord and King. If you will not do so, I must again remind you of the dread alternative. You must either let him reign over you, or else you will have to lie beneath his feet. Have you ever reckoned what will be the weight of the rejected love of God incarnate, who died for sinners, and yet is rejected by myriads despite his unspeakable love? Take your pens, and calculate that weight if you can;-omnipotence indignant that eternal love was slighted,-omniscience aroused to anger by the fact that divine compassion, such as could never have been dreamt of, was trampled under foot by impudent sons of men. In the name of the God who made the heavens and the earth, and who made each one of you, I entreat you to yield to that Christ who is your rightful King. As sinners, yield yourselves by trusting in him; as men, yield yourselves to obey his commands. In the name of him who will come with sound of trumpet, and with angel guards attending him, swift to judge, and stern to punish, I implore you to bow before him now. As though I felt death’s cold hand upon me, and heard a voice saying to me, “Speak out now, man, for the last time, and obey your King’s command,” so speak I in the name of him who will make earth and heaven reel beneath his awful presence when he comes to judge the quick and the dead. In the name of him who will shut the gates of mercy on all those who reject his gospel, I do not merely ask you, or beseech you, but I command you, in his name, to repent and be converted. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” O God, own this message, for it is thine own truth! Prove it to be so, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

1 CORINTHIANS 15

Verses 1, 2. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

What was this gospel, of which Paul thought so highly, and which he says is the means of our salvation? Did it consist in sundry doctrinal statements? No, it contained doctrinal statements, but it did not consist entirely of them. Here is Paul’s declaration concerning the gospel:-

3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

This is the solid basis of the gospel.

4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

This is the very keystone of the gospel arch,-the Christ who died on the cross, and was buried in Joseph’s tomb, “rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” This great truth of Christ’s resurrection is so important that Paul dwells upon it at length.

5. And that he was seen of Cephas,

Peter saw him.

5, 6. Then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present,

When the epistle was written.

6-8. But some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

There is no fact, in all history, that is so well attested as the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Whether there ever was such a person as Julius Cæsar might be contested, though there were, doubtless, thousands of witnesses who saw him, and many who wrote about him; but as to whether Christ rose from the dead, no candid mind can entertain a doubt. He was seen by great companies of believers, and by various individuals who had long known him most intimately, and who had many opportunities of judging whether they were deceived or not.

Christ’s resurrection is not only so well attested, but it is also the most important fact that ever happened in the history of the world, as Paul goes on to show.

9-14. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

“We are deceivers, and you are deceived, and the whole Christian system crumbles into dust unless Christ did really rise from the dead.”

15. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

Between Christ and his people, there is a union which can never be broken; so that, if he rose from the dead, they also must rise. If we are one with him, who shall separate us? And if we cannot be separated, then we must share and share alike with him.

16-19. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

To have been quickened into a life which gives great pain and sorrow would be a miserable thing if this were not compensated by the hope of glory which that life has brought to us. A man who has been always poor can bear his poverty; but let him taste of wealth and luxury for a while, and then go back to penury, and how keen is the pang he feels! And let a man be quickened to know God, and to rejoice in the new life, and then be told that there is no hereafter, and he is, indeed, “of all men most miserable.”

20-22. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

All that were in Adam died in Adam, and all that are in Christ live in Christ, and shall rise in Christ.

23-26. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Death is an enemy, but it is the last one; and it is an enemy that shall be destroyed; but it shall be destroyed last.

27, 28. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

There will, one day, be an end of the Mediatorial system. Christ shall have restored us to the Father, and then he, as our Head, and we, as making up the family of the redeemed, shall rejoice in the God who is “all in all.”

29-32. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? and why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.

If there is no resurrection, the philosophy of the Epicureans is a true one. If we are to come to an end when we die, let us enjoy life while we can; if it is to be a short life, let it be a merry one. You see to what a conclusion this theory would lead us, so let us start back from it with horror. The logical consequence convicts the statement of falsehood. There is a future state, and there is to be a resurrection of the body.

33-35. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

You know the almost endless questions that may be asked about this matter, and you know the snares into which a man may fall if he begins curiously to pry into this mystery. Paul will have no prying into the mystery, and somewhat tartly he answers:-

36. Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.

Would you take the seed into your hand, and begin to argue, “How can that little seed ever become a flower?” Could you guess, apart from observation, what kind of flower would come out of such a seed as that? You would make a hundred foolish guesses if you tried it. So is it concerning the resurrection of the body; in due time we shall know, and we shall see; but, till then, we must wait and trust.

37, 38. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Every man shall have his own body. There will be differences and peculiarities, even as there are here; and we shall therefore know each other.

39-42. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption;

You know all about that.

42. It is raised in incorruption:

What an anticipation for us!

43. It is sown in dishonour;

For, with all the honour that we can pay to our departed dear ones, it is a dishonour to them to have to lie encased in a coffin, in the cold clay of the cemetery.

43. It is raised in glory:

Oh, the splendour of that resurrection!

43. It is sown in weakness;

It is so weak that it cannot get into its own last resting-place, but must be tenderly laid there by others.

43, 44. It is raised in power: it is sown a natural body;

A soulish body, a body fitted for the human soul.

44. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

A body fitted for the new-born spirit which is given in regeneration.

45-48. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy:

You and I have every evidence about us that we are earthy.

48. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

Glory be to the name of Christ, we belong to him, and already the heavenly light begins to shine upon us, and we are getting ready soon to put on the garments of immortality.

49-51. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,

For some will be here when Christ comes again to this earth.

51-58. But we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,

“Let us weep and lament”? Oh, no! That is not the apostle’s inference. Therefore, let us throw down our weapons, and say, “It is no good to continue the fight, for we must all die”? Far from it.

58. Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

“Ye know,” because Christ has risen, and because you also shall rise, and because there is a reward of grace laid up in store for you. The Lord’s people may die, but the Lord’s church never dies, and the Lord himself, the ever-living One, is always with us, blessed be his holy name!

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-426, 338, 417.

MARY’S MAGNIFICAT

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, June 22nd, 1905,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Thursday Evening, April 22nd, 1875.

“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”-Luke 1:46, 47.

Mary’s Magnificat was a song of faith. You have thought, perhaps, that you could easily have sung this song if you had been as highly favoured as she was; but are you sure that you could have done so? Have you ever realized the difficulties under which this hymn was composed and sung? If not, permit me to remind you that the wondrous birth, which had been promised to her, had not then been accomplished, and in her mind there must have been a consciousness that many would doubt her statements. The visitation of the angel, and all its consequences, would seem to be ridiculous and even impossible to many to whom she might venture to mention the circumstances; nay, more than that, would subject her to many cruel insinuations, which would scandalize her character, and that which conferred upon her the highest honour that ever fell to woman would, in the judgment of many, bring upon her the greatest possible dishonour. We know what suspicions even Joseph had, and that it was only a revelation from God that could remove them. Mary must have been sorely troubled if she had been influenced by her natural feelings, and had been swayed by external circumstances.

It was only her wondrous faith,-in some respects, her matchless faith, for no other woman had ever had such a blessed trial of faith as she had,-it was only her matchless faith that she should be the mother of the holy child Jesus, that sustained her. Truly blessed was she in believing that, and blessed indeed was she in that, even before there was an accomplishment of the things that were told her by the angel, she could sing, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Unbelief would have said, “Wait.” Fear would have said, “Be silent.” But faith could not wait, and could not be silent; she must sing, and sing she did most sweetly. I call your attention to this fact because, when we ourselves have a song to sing unto the Lord, we may perhaps be tempted not to sing it till our hopes are accomplished, and our faith has been exchanged for fact. O brother, sister, if this is your case, do not wait, for your song will spoil if you do. There is another song to be sung for the accomplished mercy, but there is a song to be sung now for the promised mercy; therefore, let not the present hour lose the song which is due to it.

I am not going to expound the text so much as to ask you to practise it with me; so, firstly, let us sing; secondly, let us sing after Mary’s manner; and, thirdly, let us sing with Mary’s matter.

Firstly, then, let us sing.

Let us sing, first, because singing is the natural language of joy. Do not even the ungodly sing when their corn and wine increase? Have they not their harvest hymns and vintage songs? Do they not sing right merrily when they go forth to the dance? And if the wicked sing thus, shall the righteous be silent? Are the jubilant songs all made for the ungodly, and the dirges for us? Are they to lift high the festive strain, and we to be satisfied with the “Dead March” in Saul, or some such melancholy music as that? No, brethren; if they have joy, much more have we. Their joy is like the crackling of thorns under a pot; but ours is the shining of a star that never shall be quenched. Let us sing then, for our joy abounds and abides. Therefore, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” If the joy of the Lord be your strength, why not express it in holy song? Why should not your joys have a tongue as well as the joys of ungodly men? When warriors win victories, they shout; have we won no victories through Jesus Christ our Lord? When men celebrate their festivals, they sing; are there any festivals equal to ours,-our paschal supper, our passage of the Red Sea, our jubilee, our expectation of the coronation of our King, our hymn of victory over all the hosts of hell? Oh, surely, if the children of earth sing, the children of heaven ought to sing far more often, far more loudly, far more harmoniously than they do. Come, then, let us sing because we are glad in the Lord.

Let us sing, too, because singing is the language of heaven. It is thus that they express themselves up yonder. Many of the songs and other sounds of earth never penetrate beyond the clouds. Sighs and groans and clamours have never reached those regions of serenity and purity; but they do sing there. Heaven is the home of sacred song, and we are the children of heaven. Heaven’s light is in us; heaven’s smile is upon us; heaven’s all belongs to us; and, therefore,-

“We would begin the music here,

And so our souls should rise:

Oh, for some heavenly notes to bear

Our passions to the skies!”

The music of joy and the music of heaven should often be upon our lips in the form of psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.

Let us also sing, because singing is sweet to the ear of God. I think I may venture to say that even the song of birds is sweet to him, for, in the 104th Psalm, where it is written, “The Lord shall rejoice in his works,” it is also mentioned that the birds “sing among the branches.” Is there anything sweeter in the world than to wake up, about four or five o’clock in the morning, just at this time of the year, and hear the birds singing as if they would burst their little throats, and pouring out, in a kind of contest of sweetness, their little hearts in joyous song? I believe that, in the wild places of the earth, where no human foot has ever defiled the soil, God loves to walk. When I have been alone among the fir trees, inhaling their sweet fragrance, or have wandered up the hill where the loudest voice could not be answered by another voice for no man was there, I have felt that God was there, and that he loved to listen to the song of birds that he had created. Yea, even the harshly croaking ravens he heareth when they cry.

I do not think that mere music is sweet to God’s ear when it comes from man in lewdness, attended with lascivious thoughts; and even sacred music, which is sweet in itself, when used for mere amusement, must be an abomination to the Most High when it is so degraded. But he loves to hear us sing when we sing his praises from our hearts. Do you not delight to hear your own children sing, and is there anything sweeter than a song from a child? At the Orphanage, the other day, they brought me a little boy who had just been taken in. I felt a special interest in him because his father had been a minister of the gospel. They told him to sing to me, and it was a very sweet song-one of Mr. Sankey’s hymns,-which came from his lips. His singing quite touched my heart. Had it been my own child, I do not doubt that it would have touched my heart still more; and God loves to hear his children sing. Even your discords, so long as they do not affect your heart, but are only of sound and not of soul, shall please him. What a beautiful simile is used in the 22nd Psalm: “O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel!” Just as God’s ancient people, during the feast of tabernacles, dwelt under booths made from the boughs of trees, so Jehovah is represented as having made for himself a tabernacle out of the praises of his people. They are only like fading boughs, that soon turn brown, yet the great Lord of all condescends to sit beneath them; and, as we each one bring a new bough, plucked from the tree of mercy, we help to make a new tabernacle for the Most High to dwell in.

One reason why they sing in heaven is because all there are seeking to please the heart of God. They sing not merely that they may practise psalmody, and have their voices in good order, or that they may interest the strangers who are constantly arriving from these nether lands, or even that they may please each other, and delight the angels; but unto the Lord is their perpetual song, for he delighteth in it. Let us also sing unto him as long as we live. Sometimes, it would be well for us to make hymns, rather than to repress the making of them, as we often do. The Moravians were accustomed to gather up, in their churches, the very poorest rhymes and ditties that were made by the brethren, and they used to shape them as best they could into something like singable form, and their hymn-book has in it a great number of hymns that I should not like to hear you sing; but, for all that, I like the spirit that was in the early Moravians. “Let us each one try to make a hymn,” said they. “Let us encourage one another to express some personal experience of our life, for we have each one of us had some special point of God’s grace illustrated in us.” I would that the men, who can so well write popular songs, and give to the people attractive words and tunes to sing in the street or in the home, would consecrate their talents to a better purpose by writing hymns and spiritual songs to the praise and glory of God. We should then be the richer in our psalmody, as, indeed, we always are when God sends us a true revival of religion, for revivals of religion always bring with them new hymns and spiritual songs.

But if we cannot ourselves compose hymns, let us sing those that somebody else has made, and let us sing the right ones, those that suit us best. There are some hymns that I cannot sing at present; they are too high for me, but I shall sing them by-and-by. There are others that are too low for me; I cannot get down to such depths of doubt and trembling as the poets seem to have been in when they composed them. Every Christian should have some particular hymn that he loves best, so that, when his heart is merriest, he should sing that hymn. How many good old people I have known, who used to sit and sing, or walk about the house, just humming or crooning-

“When I can read my title clear

To mansions in the skies,

I bid farewell to every fear,

And wipe my weeping eyes.”

Some have other favourites; but, whatever our choice is, I think it is well to have a hymn which, although we have not ourselves written it, has, nevertheless, been made our own by our circumstances and experiences. When we have fixed on such a hymn as that, let us sing it unto the Lord again and again.

Let us not be amongst those who make excuses for not singing. One says that he has no voice. Then, sing with your heart, brother. Perhaps even your voice would improve if you used it more; but if there be such a grating noise about it that you dare not sing when another person is listening, get alone, and sing unto the Lord.

Do not say that you are unable to sing because you are always in company. I would have you make it your general rule to sing in almost any company where your lot may be cast; though, sometimes, it is not meet to cast your pearls before swine. Watch your opportunity; if all in the room are silent, perhaps you had better be silent, too; but if one of your workfellows feels that he must needs sing a song, and he has taken the liberty to do it, now is your turn, and you may sing, too. I remember being on mount St. Bernard, spending a night with the monks at the hospice. There was a piano, which had been given by the Prince of Wales, and the different persons who were spending the night there, sang and played by turns. One sang a Spanish hymn, and another a German hymn, and when it came to our turn, we sang,-

“There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.”

And why should we not sing it? Had we not as good a right to sing as the other people had? Do not you abate your rights and privileges, dear friends; but, if others sing, do you sing, too, and never mind who listens; it will do no man any hurt to hear the praises of the Lord.

And do not say that you cannot sing because of your occupation. Your hands may be just as busy as usual even while the songs of Zion are rising from your lips. You may even be writing, or otherwise mentally occupied, and yet, at the same time, your heart may be ascending to God in praise.

Make no excuse because you are ill. Sometimes, a little song between the sheets is very sweet in the ears of God, even though it has to be accompanied by sighs and groans. Pain makes every note come out with great effort, yet I believe God bends down his ear to hear such singing as that. I have known birds in cages sing better than those outside; and the Lord sometimes puts us in a cage on purpose that he may hear us sing the sweeter. He loves to hear his sick children sing his praises upon their beds, and his high praises in the midst of the furnace of affliction. Are you very poor? Then, sing from your heart unto the Lord, and your music shall be better than silver and gold unto God. Even death itself need not stay our songs; let us sing right up to this side of the glory gate, there is no fear about our keeping on with our song on the other side. So long as we can sing here, let us do so, praising the Lord right up to the last hour of our lives, then shall our voices be tuned immediately to nobler songs, for, in a moment, we shall-

“Sing with rapture and surprise

His lovingkindness in the skies.”

Now, passing on to our second point, let us sing after Mary’s manner, as far as that manner may be transferable to us. No bird ought to try to sing exactly like another. The blackbird ought not to imitate the thrush, nor the thrush the canary; let them all keep to their own notes, and let each one of us sing his own song unto the Lord. Yet I think we shall see that there is something about Mary’s music that will suit us all.

First, let us sing reverently. Mary was very joyful, but there was nothing in her song that would strike you as being irreverent, vulgar, or commonplace. I am not squeamish about music, but I must confess that I hardly like to hear the high praises of God sung to the tune of a comic song or of a dance. There is a certain congruity about things that must be observed, and some good music may have associated with it such queer ideas that we had better let it alone till those associations have died out, lest, haply, while we are uttering holy words, some people may be reminded by the tune of unholy things. Mary sings very reverently, and so should we; and though I like some of the new tunes very well, and am glad that they are so popular, yet, for my own part, I like a good old psalm tune much better. It seems to me like going away from the snows of Lebanon to seek after the stale cisterns of earth, when we leave the old music, and the old hymns, and the old psalms, for any of your modern melodies. Still, if you can praise God better with the new songs, do so; but let it always be done reverently.

But, secondly, Mary praised God with personal devotion. Notice how intensely personal her song is. Elizabeth is there, yet Mary sings as though she were all alone: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” It seemed as though her song meant something like this, “Elizabeth is glad, but I, Mary, also am glad, and I have a gladness which is all my own, which even Elizabeth cannot know. ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord.’ ” It ought to be so in our congregations; we should join with our fellow-Christians in their songs of praise, but we must always mind that our personal note is not omitted, “My soul doth, magnify the Lord.” Do you not think that some of you too often forget this? You come to hear sermons, and sometimes you do not come to the assembly as much as you ought for the purpose of directly and distinctly praising God in your own personality and individuality. The music is delightful to us as it rises from thousands of voices, but to God it can be pleasant only as it comes from each heart. “My soul”-whether other people are praising the Lord or not;-“my soul”-for I have a personal indebtedness to thee, my God, and there is a personal union between thee and me; I love thee, and thou lovest me; and, therefore, even if all other souls are dumb, “my soul doth magnify the Lord.” In this fashion, dear brother or sister, have a song to yourself, and mind that it is thoroughly your own.

Thirdly, in Mary’s song we see great spirituality. You observe how she puts this matter twice over: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” She is far from being content with mere lip service. Her language is poetic, but she is not satisfied with her language. I have no doubt that her voice was exceedingly sweet, but she does not say anything about that, but she does speak of “my soul” and “my spirit.” O dear friends, let us never be satisfied with any kind of worship which does not take up the whole of our inner and higher nature. It is what you are within that you really are before the living God; and it is quite a secondary matter how loud the chant may be, or how sweet the tune of your hymn, or how delightfully you join in it, unless your spirit, your soul, truly praises the Lord. You can sometimes do this in “songs without words”; and he that hath no voice for singing can, after this fashion, magnify the Lord with his soul and spirit.

Mary also praised the Lord intelligently. Notice how she sings: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” You observe that she varies the names which she uses, and she varies them with great propriety. She magnifies Jehovah; she makes him great; which is the proper thing to do concerning Jehovah; but she rejoices in God her Saviour. In that aspect, her Lord comes nearer to her, and becomes more immediately the object of joy to her, so she rejoices in God her Saviour. She dwells first upon Jehovah’s power to save: “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” Then she dwells upon his willingness to save: “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” She seems to see the two points,-the greatness and the goodness of the Lord; Jehovah, yet her Saviour; the Ruler and Lawgiver, yet the gracious One who pardons and blots out sin.

Mary praised God enthusiastically, for the reduplication of the terms, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” indicates the fervour and ardour of her praise. It is natural to us to repeat ourselves when we begin to glow with holy gladness, so Mary says, “My soul, my natural life;-my spirit, my newborn, my intenser, diviner life;-my soul, my mind, my intellect;-my spirit, my affections, my heart, my emotions, my entire being, my soul and spirit praise the Lord.” She did not need to add that her body praised the Lord, for the very sound of her voice bore witness that her body was joining with her soul and spirit, and that so her triple nature was magnifying the Lord. There was enthusiasm in her song; and if ever any of us ought to be stirred to the very depths of our spirit, it is when we are praising the Lord. Sing, brethren, sing sweetly, but sing loudly, too, unto God your strength.

Further, we may sing, as Mary did, divinely; I mean, of course, with regard to the object of her song. So let it be with us. “My soul doth magnify”-a doctrine? a church? a priest? God forbid! “My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath rejoiced in”-the success of my pastor’s ministry? Yes, it may do so, but that is one of the inferior themes for joy. “My spirit hath rejoiced in” my own success in casting out devils, and working miracles? Ay, it may do that; but, still, it would be better to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. The subject of Mary’s joy is nothing low, nothing less than heavenly: “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” If that is your declaration, you may well lift up your voice and sing,-

“Go up, go up, my heart,

Dwell with thy God above.”

Note, again, that Mary sang evangelically, and we must mind that we always do the same, for I am afraid that there are some popular hymns which have something that is not gospel in them; and whenever there is a hymn that has the slightest taint of that sort in it, we ought to abandon it for ever, however sweet its poetry may be. Mary sings, “My spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.” She was no Socinian, and she was no Romanist; she knew that she needed a Saviour, and that she needed a God for her Saviour, so her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour. When we reach the highest point in our devotions, we still need a Saviour. I do not at all like the boastful talk about “the higher life” in which some people seem to revel. We cannot have too high a life; but “God be merciful to me a sinner,” is about as big a prayer as I can manage at present; and often does my soul pray with such earnestness the dying thief’s prayer that his petition is forced to my lips, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” The place of the perfect does not suit me yet, at any rate, but the place of the publican and of the penitent more becomes me, as I think it does the most of us. Oh, yes! we still need a Saviour; so, like Mary, we will sing about our Saviour; and even if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we cannot do without the blood of Jesus Christ constantly cleansing us from all sin, for sin we do still.

Once more, Mary praised the Lord with assurance. It is a grand thing to be able to sing, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God”-“who will, I hope, and pray, and sometimes believe, be my Saviour”? I have spoilt the music-have I not,-by putting in those words of my own? It goes better as Mary sang it, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” She was quite assured of that fact, and had not any doubts or fears concerning it. It is well to get such a firm grip of the Saviour that we rest in him completely, and so can sing to his praise. “Oh!” saith one, “I cannot praise Jesus as I would, because of my sins;” and I reply to that remark,-But, my dear friend, would you praise him if you had no sins? Would he be needed by you and wanted by you then? Could he be of any use to you then? Would you feel any gratitude to him? If you were not sinners, of what use would a Saviour be to you? But we praise him because, though we are conscious of sin, we are equally conscious of cleansing in his precious blood. We take him to be our All-in-all because we ourselves are nothing at all. If we had been of any account, he would have been just so much lees; but, since we are nothing, there is the opportunity for him to be All-in-all to us. Let us sing, then, to his praise; may God the Holy Spirit teach us to do so, even as he taught the Virgin Mary!

Now, thirdly, and briefly, let us sing with Mary’s matter. That was twofold: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

The first part of our matter, then, should be, “Magnify the Lord.” How can we do that? We cannot really make God great, though that is the meaning of the word. How, then, can we magnify him?

Well, first, let us think of his greatness; it will be really praising him if we thus think of him. You need not speak, but just ponder, weigh, consider, contemplate, meditate, ruminate upon the attributes of the Most High. Begin with his mercy if you cannot begin with his holiness; but take the attributes one by one, and think about them. I do not know a single attribute of God which is not wonderfully quickening and powerful to a true Christian. As you think of any one of them, it will ravish you, and carry you quite away. You will be lost in wonder, love, and praise as you consider it; you will be astonished and amazed as you plunge into its wondrous depths, and everything else will vanish from your vision. That is one way of making God great,-by often thinking about him.

The next way to make God great is by often drinking him into yourself. The lilies stand and worship God simply by being beautiful,-by drinking in the sunlight which makes them so charming, and the dewdrops which glisten upon them. Stand before the Lord, and drink him in; do you understand what I mean by this expression? You go down to the seaside, when you are sickly, and you get out on a fine morning, and there is a delightful breeze coming up from the sea, and you feel as if it came in at every pore of your body, and you seem to be drinking in health at every breath you breathe. Do just like that in a spiritual sense with God, go down to the great sea of Godhead; magnify it by thinking how great it is, and then take it into your very soul. God cannot be greater than he is, but he can be greater in you than he is at present. He cannot increase; there cannot be more of God than there is, but there may be more of God in you. More of his great love, more of his perfect holiness, more of his divine power may be manifested in you, and more of his likeness and light may be revealed through you. Therefore, make him great in that respect.

And when you have done that, by his help, then try to make him great by what you give forth, even as the rose, when she has satisfied herself with the sweet shower, no sooner does the clear shining come after the rain, than she deluges the garden all around with her delicious perfume. Do you the same; first drink in all you can of the Deity, and then exhale him; breathe out again, in your praise, in your holy living, in your prayers, in your earnest zeal, in your devout spirit, the God whom you have breathed in. You cannot make more of God than he is, but you can make God more consciously present to the minds of others, and make them think more highly of God by what you say and what you do.

I should like to be able to say, as long as I live, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” I should like to have this as the one motto of my life from this moment until I close my eyes in death, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” I would fain preach that way; I would fain eat and drink that way; I would even sleep that way, so that I could truthfully say, “I have no wish but that God should be great, and that I should help to make him great in the eyes of others.” Will not you also, dear friends, make this the motto of your life-psalm?

Then Mary added, “and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Is there any true praise without joy? Is not praise twin brother to joy? And do not joy and praise ever dwell together? Rejoice, then, beloved, not in the scenes you see, for they are fleeting, but rejoice in your Saviour,-in him above everything else. Never let any earthly thing or any human being stand higher in your joy than Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rejoice in him as most surely yours; for, dear brother, as a believer, Christ is thine. If thou art resting in him, he belongs to thee; so rejoice in thine own Saviour, for all of Christ is thine,-not half a Saviour; not one of his wounds for thee, and one for me; but all his wounds for thee, and all for me; not his thoughtful head for thee, and his loving heart for me; but his head and his heart all for thee and all for me;-he is my Saviour, from his feet that were pierced by the nails to his head that was crowned with thorns.

Oh, how we ought to rejoice in him, whatever our union with him may cost us! Mary did not know what that wondrous visitation would cost her; and it was to cost her much, as Simeon said to her, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also;” but even though the sword must go through her soul, it mattered not to her, for unto her a child was to be born, unto her a son was to be given, who was to be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” So, if the fact that Christ is ours involves the bearing of the cross, we are glad to bear it. It may involve suffering and shame, and a thousand temptations and trials; if it be so, each true believer can say with Mary, “ ‘My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,’-in what he is, in what he is to me, in what he is to all his sons, in what he is to poor sinners, in what he is to God, in what he will be when he comes again, and in what he will be throughout eternity.” If a little bird has nothing else to do but sing, it has a great deal to do; and if you and I should have, to-night, when we get home, nothing to do but to praise the Lord, we have the best employment out of heaven. We must not think that Christians are wasting time when they pray and praise. Some fussy folk seem to imagine that we must always be talking, or attending meetings, or giving away tracts. Well, do as much as ever you can of all good things; but, still, there must be times for quiet meditation, times for reading, times for praying, and times for praising. There is no waste about such times; they are among the best spent hours that we ever have. To work is the stalk of the wheat; but to praise, is the full corn in the ear. You and I, beloved, are the living to praise God. This is the culmination, the very apex of the pyramid of existence, pointing straight up to heaven,-that we praise God with all our heart and soul.

So then, to conclude, here is something for every child of God to do. You can all magnify the Lord, and you may all rejoice in him. You cannot all preach. If you could, who would there be to hear you? If all were preachers, where would be the hearers? But you can all praise God. If there is any brother or sister here who has only one talent, let not such an one say, “I cannot do anything.” You can magnify the Lord, and you can rejoice in him. To be happy in him is to praise God. The mere fact of our being happy in the Lord makes music in his ears. If you are one of his children, you can be happy in him, so get out of those doleful dumps; cast out that spirit of murmuring and complaint which so often possesses you. Pray the Lord to help you to shake off your natural tendency to look on the dark side of everything, and say, “No, no; I must not do that. After all, I am not on the road to hell; I am on the way to heaven; and this world is the ante-room to heaven, so my soul shall magnify the Lord, and my spirit shall rejoice in God my Saviour.” I believe that, if we could brighten the faces of all the saints, and anoint them with the oil of gladness, we should do more than anything else could do to spread Christianity. I mean, if we could make the children of the King rejoice, we should cause worldlings to ask, “Where does this joy come from?” And as they asked this question, we would give them the answer, and so the gospel would be sure to spread.

My closing word is concerning those who cannot magnify the Lord, and cannot rejoice in God their Saviour, those who cannot sing to God’s praise, and who never have any joy in the Lord. Then, how can they be his children? God has many children, and they have many infirmities; but he never had a dumb child yet. They can every one say, “God be merciful to me a sinner;” and they can all sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” Prayer and praise are two of the sure signs of a true-born heir of heaven. If thou dost never praise God, my friend, thou canst never go to heaven. Till the Lord has taken out of thee the praise of other things, and the love of other things, and given thee the grace to love himself, and praise himself, thou canst not enter into his glory. May some poor soul here, that has not anything for which it could praise itself, begin now to praise that God who freely forgives the greatest sin, and who is willing to cleanse the very blackest sinner, for he has given Christ to die, the Just for the unjust, that he may bring them unto God. Oh, begin to magnify him and rejoice in him now, and you will never want to leave off doing so, world without end. Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

Luke 1:39-56

Verses 39-41. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

We do not read that Mary was filled with the Holy Ghost, possibly because she was always in that condition, living very near to God in hallowed fellowship. Some of us have occasional fillings with the Holy Spirit, but blessed are they who dwell in him, having been baptized into him, and enjoying continual nearness to God as the blessed result.

42, 43. And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Those who are most holy are most humble; you will always find those two things go together. Elisabeth was the older woman, but, inasmuch as Mary was more highly favoured than she was, she asked, “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Genuine Christians do not exalt themselves above their fellow-believers, but they have a self-depreciatory spirit, and each one esteems others better than himself.

44, 45. For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

What a benediction that is! If any of us truly believe God’s Word, we are blessed from that very fact, for God’s promise never misses its due performance. Men find it convenient to forget their promises, but God never forgets; he takes as much delight in keeping his promise as he does in making it.

46. And Mary said,-

We do not read that she spoke with a loud voice. Occasionally, the visitation of the Spirit causes excitement. Thus, Elisabeth spoke with a loud voice; but Mary, though full of a rapturous joy, spoke calmly and quietly, in a royal tone of holy calm. “Mary said,”-

46. My soul doth magnify the Lord,-

She was weary, for she had come a long journey, but she was like Abraham’s servant, who said, “I will not eat, until I have told mine errand.” So Mary will not eat until she has sung the praises of her God: “My soul doth magnify the Lord,”-

47, 48. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Some have done so to the grief of genuine Christians, for they have apostatized from the faith, and made Mary into a kind of goddess; and, therefore, Protestant Christians have gone to the other extreme, and have not always given to her the respect which is due to her.

49, 50. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

Notice how Mary quotes Scripture. Her mind seems to have been saturated with the Word of God, as though she had learned the books of Scripture through, and had them “by heart” in more senses than one; and it is significant that, though the Holy Spirit was speaking by her, yet even he quoted the older Scriptures in preference to uttering new sentences. What honour he put upon the Old Testament by so continually quoting it in the New Testament, even as the Lord Jesus also did. Let us, too, prize every part of God’s Word; let us lie asoak in it till we are saturated with Scriptural expressions; we cannot find any better ones, for there are none.

51-53. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Mary’s song reminds us of the song of Hannah, yet there is a different tone in it. Hannah’s has more of exultation over enemies cast down, but Mary’s is more becoming to the new dispensation as Hannah’s was to the old. There is a gentle quietness of tone about the Magnificat all through, yet even Mary cannot help rejoicing that the Lord “hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.”

54-56. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.

Wondrous as her future was to be, she would not neglect the duties of her home. When any of you are privileged to share high spiritual enjoyments, mind that you always return to your own home not unfitted for your domestic duties. We read that David, after he had danced before the ark, “returned to bless his household.” We must never set up God’s altar in opposition to the lawful duties of our home. The two together will make us strong for service, and enable us to glorify the name of the Lord.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-775, 34, 765.