Oh, that something would move this great city of ours! I am afraid that at least one-third of our population is settling down in stolid indifference to all religion. It is not that there are thousands of professed infidels, but without making the profession of being so, infidels they really are. It is not that they hate the gospel,-they do not care to hear it, or to know what it teaches. They have not enough interest in it to enter the sanctuary even for once in their lives, unless influenced by fashion or by fear they may attend some ceremonial observance. I think we can hardly form a conception of the fearful heathenism of this great metropolis. You might go down street after street, and find that the larger proportion of the people, so far from making any profession of religion, did not even enter a place of worship, and knew nothing more than what the city missionary or the Bible-woman may have been helped to teach them. We are getting into a very, very, very sad state of things; we want something or other that will get at the masses, and constrain the city to be moved.

The theatre services which have been lately attempted have no doubt proved a great blessing; the opening of cathedrals was a step in the right direction; but everybody can see that the effect of such departures from the ordinary routine is naturally transient. There will be no greater attraction in a theatre than there will be in a chapel or church, if the same gospel is preached, after the novelty of its having been preached there shall have worn off. We can no more expect to see cathedrals crowded long together now than we might have expected it twenty years ago. The thing is good as an expedient, but it must be temporary in its results. We shall want something greater than this before we shall get at the masses of London. This is only, as it were, a little hammer; we want a hammer more massive than that of Thor to strike this island, to make it shake from end to end. When you have three millions of people herded together, you cannot move them by simply opening half-a-dozen theatres, or by crowding a cathedral, or by filling some large place of worship.

What a hopeful sign it would be even if people were excited against religion! Really, I would sooner that they intelligently hated it than that they were stolidly indifferent to it. A man who has enough thought about him to oppose the truth of God is a more hopeful subject than the man who does not think at all. We cannot do anything with logs; we feel that we could brace up our nerves to the charge amidst men possessed with devils while we have the gospel to cast the devils out. It is when men have no-spirit at all, but are simply dull, lumpish, thoughtless logs, that we cannot get on with them. For my part, I do not regret the activity of Puseyism and Popery just now. Though I dread it as an awful evil in itself, I am thankful for everything that will relieve the awful stillness of religious stagnation. If it will only stir us up to oppose it, if it will only make the true Protestant spirit of England come out, I shall be grateful for the sanitary results, however much I deplore the devastating pestilence. We want something that shall again rouse this city, and move it from end to end.

The text seems to me to tell us what will do it. What is that which will stir the whole of London, as it stirred Jerusalem? A reigning Saviour riding in triumph. Jesus Christ never moved Jerusalem till he mounted on that ass, till they cast their garments in the pathway, and strewed the branches, and cried, “Hosanna!” Then it was, as he rode in triumph as King of the Jews, that the whole city was stirred. Oh, that we had a reigning Saviour more distinctly recognized in all our churches! There is no use in mincing matters or hiding our shame. The shout of a King is not in the midst of the church at large. The ancient glory which rested upon the Lord’s chosen has in a great measure departed. Write ye Ichabod, for the glory is departed. We have not now the lighting down of the mighty arm, nor the strength of a present God, as once we had. The world knows very little about the church, and cares very little about her, so long as Christ does not reign in her palaces. Unfurl the King’s flag, proclaim his entry, make known his residence, and forthwith, “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

What was that church which disturbed the dark ages? Why, a church made up of men who hazarded their lives unto the death,-men who stood up and preached in the dead of night to the few who were bold enough to gather to hear them,-men who at other times could beard the tyrant, and stand face to face with cardinal or pope, and speak the truth, come what might. These were men who had a reigning Saviour in their midst; yet, few and feeble, that gallant host subdued the world. The Vatican trembled; the words they spake, sustained by the character they bore, fell like thunderbolts about it. Would you enquire, my brethren, for the simple but saintly servants of God who brought a Reformation into England? They were men who recognized a reigning Saviour. The church was represented by those in whose hearts Jesus Christ really did dwell,-such men as Wycliffe and his successors. From market-place to market-place they went, with but half pages or whole pages of the Word of God, as fast as they could be printed; they read them, at the market-cross; they went on from place to place, preaching the pure, unadulterated gospel, in homely language, with fiery tongues, and soon they set all England in a blaze.

And who were they in later days, in the last century, who awoke the slumbering church? They were men who had Christ reigning in them; such men as Whitefield and the Wesleys,-men who bowed before the royal dignity of Jesus, and said,-

“Shall we, for fear of feeble men,

The Spirit’s course in us restrain?”

Awed by no mortal’s frown, would they smooth their tongues and fashion their words to win human esteem? On the hill-tops, in the churchyards, by the roadsides, anywhere, everywhere, they unfurled the banner of a reigning Saviour, and straightway the darkness of England gave place to glorious light. And now could we only get the Church of God to awake, we should soon have the whole city moved. Let our ministers preach the gospel, or let them preach it with something like force; instead of treating us to moral essays and elaborately-prepared discourses, let them speak their hearts out in such words as God would give them on the occasion; let the members of the church back them up by vehement zeal, earnest prayer, and incessant labours; we should want nothing else to stir this city from end to end. Oh, to see the Saviour riding in the midst, and to hear the acclamations, while joyous converts shout, like the young children of old, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” The old attractions of the cross have not departed. You cannot preach Christ and not get a congregation. Be it “the Christ” whom you preach honestly and preach fully, the people must come to hear. Though they hate and loathe the truth, they will come again to hear it. They will turn on their heel, and say, “We cannot bear it;” but the next time the doors are opened they will be there. The gospel gets them by the ear and holds them. It has a secret, mysterious influence even over the hearts that do not receive it, to compel them at least to lend their ear to the hearing of it. Let the church, then, awake; and that influence shall be had whereby the whole city shall be moved.

But when we speak of the church, I am afraid we often hide our own sins under a declaration against the church. Why, we are the church. Christian men and women, you are the church. You must, not tie the church up like a quivering victim, and lash her; tie yourself up, and let the lash fall on your own shoulders. If you and I had a reigning Christ in our hearts, we should help to move the city. Do you ask what I mean by that? I do not mean the way in which some of you show the quality of your faith by the quantity of its fruits. Your convictions and your conversion assume a very mild form. You keep them well in check; you have got a tight rein on the motions of the heart; your religion never runs wild,-never! you are such a prudent brother; you will never be guilty of anything like enthusiasm, no one will ever chalk the word “Fanatic” on your back. You will never move the city, my friend,-no fear of it. While appeals, which ought to make your heart burn, freeze on your ears, you will never move the city. While themes which ought to bow you to the earth in humility of spirit, and then lift you up as on eagles’ wings in rapture of delight, affect you not at all; unimpressible as stone, you will never move the city. But if you and I felt that the things we believed were of the first and last importance, that they were worth living for, and, worth dying for, that there was nothing else, in fact, in all the world that was worth any care or thought except these things, then, beloved, we should soon see the city moved. One earnest Christian fully given up to his Master, one soul perfectly devoted to Christ, is of more worth in soul-winning and in world-conquering than fifty thousand of the mere professors. You know how it used to be in the olden wars. The rank and file all did service in their way; but it was the one man who made the corner of the triangle to break the enemy’s ranks, and gathered all the spears into his own bosom,-it was he who won the victory. The man who dashed foremost with his battle-axe and slew the foe, and gave courage to all the trembling ones behind,-the man who told them that victory was sure to wait on courage, and who dashed on against fearful odds,-he was the man who made his country famous. And we want such Christians nowadays, those who know no fear, do not believe in defeat, and are animated with the assurance that the Most High God is with us, and who will go on, and on, and on, conquering and to conquer.

You see, it is a reigning Christ who moves the city,-Christ riding in the heart in a glorious procession of gladsome acclamation,-it is this that will be the great thing to stir even London’s stolid masses.

The great multitude, when stirred, will ask the question, “Who is this?” and it will be an unfortunate thing if you who are with Christ should not be able to give an answer. Some of you, whose hearts are, I hope, right towards him, are scarcely attentive enough to that precept, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” I do deprecate above all things your getting your creed from me,-your building your creed upon the fact that the preacher has said so-and-so. We want Bible students as Christians,-men who not only believe the truth, but have good reasons for believing it; men who can meet error with the argument, “It is written,” and can maintain the truth at all hazards, using weapons taken from the armoury of God’s inspired Book. Oh, that we had among us more who were fit to be teachers! But, alas! I am afraid we shall have to say of many amongst you, as Paul said of the weak ones in his day, that, when they ought to have been teachers, they were still only learners; and when they should have been breaking the bread of life to others, they were themselves still needing to be fed upon milk. I hope that will not be the case with us. May we grow in grace; so that, when the question is asked, “Who is this?” we may be able to answer it.

Beloved, is it your desire to do good to your fellow-men? Have you a longing in your soul to be the means of bringing others to Christ? In order to accomplish this, it is imperatively necessary that you should have a knowledge of Jesus. Let it be a heart knowledge. You tell your children sometimes to learn their lessons by heart. You cannot learn Christ in any other way. Christ cannot be learned in the head. Love only can learn love; and Christ is love incarnate. It is by loving him, and communing with him, that you will get to understand him. You must learn him by heart. Then you must learn him experimentally. I would not give anything for an answer to my anxious enquiries from a mere theoretical person. Could I not read the Book, and get at the theory myself? I want to be taught by one who has tasted and handled the things of which he speaks. Dear brethren in Christ, seek to know Jesus by living upon him. Drink ye of his blood; eat ye of his flesh; be you in constant communion with him, till your vital union with his person shall transcend your faith by a constant joyful experience. Know Christ experimentally.

Endeavour also to know Christ, beloved, by being taught of his Spirit. That learning of Christ that we get from human wit is of little worth; it is the revelation of Christ in us by the Holy Ghost which alone is true knowledge. John Bunyan used to say that he preached only such truths as the Lord had burnt into him. Oh, may he burn these truths into you! May he be pleased to write upon the tablets of your heart the story of your Master, so that, when any shall say, “Who is this?” you may not need to pause for a single moment, or to ask any divine to assist you in the answer,-

“But gladly tell to sinners round

What a dear Saviour you have found.”

This enquiry about Christ should always be met with a clear and distinct answer.

If I had only one more sermon to preach before I died, I know what it should be about: it should be about my Lord Jesus Christ; and I think that, when we get to the end of our ministry, one of our regrets will be, that we did not preach more of him. I am sure no minister will ever repent of having preached him too much. You who are with Jesus, talk much about him, and let that talk be very plain. Tell sinners that “God was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and his disciples beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Tell them that he came to this earth as a Substitute for his people, that his holy life is accounted their righteousness, that his sufferings and death constitute a complete atonement, and appease the wrath of God for all their sins. Never let an opportunity be lost of telling out the doctrine of substitution. That is the core of the gospel; the sinner in Christ’s place, and Christ in the sinner’s place; our debts to God paid by Christ; the chastisement of our peace laid upon him, that we may have the peace through his chastisement.

I wish to put this matter very earnestly to my dear brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus, and especially to you who are in church-fellowship here. Do on every occasion, and especially when you get but half an invitation to do so,-do speak out concerning the person of Christ as God and man, concerning the work of Christ as taking human guilt and suffering for it, concerning the worth of that work as being able to take away all manner of sin and blasphemy. Tell it to the very chief of sinners, that the blood of Christ can make them clean; tell it to the drunkard, the harlot, the thief, the murderer. Tell them all that whosoever believeth in him is not condemned; and never, from fear or through shame, refuse to give an answer to so hopeful an enquiry as this,-“Who is this?”

And what shall I say to you who are moved by curiosity to ask this question, “Who is this?” I daresay there were some in Jerusalem who were so busy with their shops that they did not enquire, “Who is this?” “Oh!” they would say, “We need not go across the threshold to see what a mob may be doing in the street,-a lot of children calling out ‘Hosanna,’ and a number of idle gossips following a silly fellow as he rides upon an ass through the street; that is all it is.” Other people doubtless had a little of the bump of curiosity; they could not help enquiring. So they come into the street, they stand among the crowd, and they say to one, “Who is this?” “I don’t know,” says he, “I am come to see for myself.” “But who is this?” they repeat again and again; and they very likely get six wrong answers before they get the right. They push on, and at last they get a good standing-place,-perhaps climb up into a tree, as Zacchæus did; and there they are, all wide awake, trying to get an answer to the question, “Who is this?”

Well, I hope some such curiosity as this may be in your mind; at any rate, I had it in my mind once, and I believe there are many who now have it. I will tell you the occasions upon which this curiosity is often excited. A labouring man has been in the habit of working with another who was often intoxicated, an habitual swearer, and perhaps even prone at times to blaspheme. On a sudden, he sees him a changed character, steady in all his conduct, affectionate, thoughtful of his wife and children, industrious, and withal he is religious. What an alteration! Can it fail to cause enquiry? Or he calls in at the house of a neighbour, and finds that neighbour very sick and ill; he is a working man with a large family, and it would be a very serious thing for him to die, and leave those little ones; but he sits up in the bed, and he tells his friend that he has not any care at all about these matters, he has left them all with God; he says, “I used to fret and worry myself, but now, whether I live or die, I leave all with God; I am perfectly resigned to his will; Christ is with me here; and I find it-

“ ‘Sweet to lie passive in his hands,

And know no will but his.’ ”

“Oh,” says the man, “who is this that has made such a difference in my neighbour?” What can be the cause of this change? What can be the reason of this? He watches another; he persecutes him, jeers and laughs at him, casts all manner of threats and insinuations at him. He sees him bear it all very quietly; he knows that he cannot tempt him to do what is wrong, though he tries hard to do it; the path of integrity is trodden year after year, and the worldly man looking on cannot make it out. He says, “Who is this?” He sees another,-a very happy, lively, earnest, joyful Christian. “Well,” thinks this man, “I have to go to the theatre to get any fun; I must be in company, and I must drink a certain quantity before I can get my spirits up; but here is a man cheerful and bright without any of those things. He is poor, but he is happy; he has got a fustian jacket, but he has not got a fustian heart; he’s ‘as happy as a king;’ his soul is merry within him; I can’t make it out,-‘Who is this?’ ” These things stir men’s curiosity, and I hope, dear friends, you will try to make people more and more curious by this plan. And how often a holy deathbed stirs that curiosity! As the expiring believer shouts victory, or sinks to his rest with perfect joy, the worldling looks on, and says, “Who is this? I can’t comprehend it, I can’t make it out.”

Now, it is little wonder, my dear friends, that there should be some curiosity to know about Christ. There ought to be a great deal more. Consider that God himself speaks to you by Christ. Shall God speak, and shall mortal man not care to hear what God says? Shall God speak to me by his dear Son, and shall I have no ear to hear the Divine Word? I ought to be anxious to know it. Christ was spoken of by prophets,-Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah,-all of them spoke of Christ. Were there all those testimonies about him, and shall not I care to know of him? When he came upon earth, it was with songs of angels, and a new star was launched forth to welcome his birth; have I no curiosity to know of him? I understand that his person is complex, that he is at once God and man,-a strange, wonderful Person this! do I not wish to know more of him? I find that he died, and that he rose again, and that there is a close connection between his dying and rising again, and the forgiveness of our sins and the justification of our souls; do I not want to know about that? Christ has come to solve the most tremendous problem, come to tell us of life beyond the grave, of immortality when corruption shall have done its work; have I no curiosity about this? The bleeding Saviour, hanging on the cross, says to every man here who has any curiosity in his nature, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me.” I commend the curiosity that would make you know more of Jesus Christ. Study this blessed Book much. Pry into those mysteries which speak much of him, and do, oh do press forward till you have got an answer to that question, “Who is this?”

There may be, in this house of prayer, some who are in positive ignorance asking the question, “Who is this?” I think we ought not to take it for granted that all our congregation understand the gospel, for they do not. The simple command, “Believe and live,” which God has written so plainly in the Bible, is not understood by a great many of our hearers. I sometimes get letters from those who have heard the gospel preached here which astound me. The way in which my correspondents look at things seems conclusive that they have never read the Bible; they imagine that my preaching and everybody else’s should be altered, in order to suit some whim and fancy of theirs. The ignorance pointed at in the text was strange; for Christ had lived in Jerusalem, and had been there working miracles, yet the people said, “Who is this?” And Jesus Christ is preached in the very street where you live; you can hear of him out of doors if you like, in the ministry of some open-air preacher; the city missionary will tell you about him; there is a Testament to be had for twopence; everybody may know about Jesus Christ; and yet there are a great many who do not know about him.

But is not ignorance of Jesus Christ in this age wilful? Those who do not know of Jesus Christ now have nobody but themselves to blame. Let me remind you that this ignorance is very damaging; you lose by it much joy and comfort here below, beside the risks of the hereafter. Ignorance of Jesus Christ will be fatal to your soul’s welfare. You may not know how to read; but if you know Christ, you shall “read your title clear to mansions in the skies.” It is a bad thing for a man not to know a little of all sciences, but a man may go to heaven well enough if he knows only the science of Christ crucified. Not to know Jesus will shut you out of heaven, though you had all the degrees of all the universities in the world appended to your name. Ignorance of him who is the Saviour of sinners is ignorance of the remedy for your soul’s disease, ignorance of the key which unlocks heaven’s gate, ignorance of him who can kindle the lamp of life in the sepulchres of death. Oh, I pray you, if you have been hitherto ignorant of the Saviour, be not satisfied till you know him!

And when I speak of ignorance of Christ, I do not mean ignorance of his name, and of the fact that there is such a Person; I refer more especially to that spiritual ignorance which is so common even among the best-informed. Nine persons out of ten who go to a place of worship do not know the meaning of the Saviour shedding his blood for the remission of sin. If you press them to tell you how it is that Christ saves, they will tell you that he did something or other by which God is able to forgive sin. Though the grand fact that Christ was actually punished in the room, place, and stead of his chosen people, is a fact as clear in the Scripture as noonday, they do not see it. The doctrine of general redemption-that Christ died for the damned in hell, and suffered the torments of those who afterwards are tormented for ever,-seems to me to be detestable, subversive of the whole gospel, and destructive of the only pillar upon which our hopes can be built. Christ stood in the stead of his elect; for them he made a full atonement; for them he so suffered that not a sin of theirs shall ever be laid at their door. As the Father’s love embraced them, so the death of his Son reconciled them.

And who are these that are thus redeemed from among men? They are those who believe in Jesus Christ. This definition is not more simple than conclusive to those to whom the work of the Spirit of God is intelligible. If you do put your trust in him, it is evident that Christ died for you in a way and manner in which he never died for Judas; he died for you so vicariously that the offences you have committed were imputed to him, and not to you, and therefore your sins are forgiven you. If you trust him, you cannot be punished for your sins, for Christ was punished for them. How can debts be demanded of you that were paid originally by your Saviour? You are clear. The Master said, “If ye seek me, let these go their way;”* and when they seized Jesus, they let his chosen people go. You are clear; before God’s bar you are clear. Nobody can lay anything to your charge if you trust in Jesus Christ, for he suffered in your stead. Ignorance of that great fundamental truth of the whole gospel keeps thousands in darkness. It is the great ball and chain upon the leg of many spiritual prisoners; and if they did but know that, and could spell “substitution” without a mistake, they would very soon come into perfect joy and liberty.

Once more. It is thought that the expression, “Who is this?” was a contemptuous one on the part of many. They said, “What next, eh? We have heard of all sorts of excitements and noises, what next? Here is a man who has not where to lay his head; yet he is riding like a king. Here is a man who wears the common smock-frock of a Galilean peasant, and there are people spreading their garments in the way, and strewing branches of trees before him! What next, and what next?” Peradventure with scornful tone some said, “Well, what shall we live to see? The King of the Jews! Ah! King of the Jews! Yes, very likely! His father and mother are with us; is this the poor carpenter’s son? King of the Jews, forsooth!” And so they just sneered, and turned away. Yes; but, friends, stop a bit. Some persons who sneer deserve to be sneered at; but we will not treat you so.

It cannot be, after all, such a very fine and wise thing to sneer at the Saviour, when you recollect that the angels do not sneer, and never did sneer at him. They came with him when first he descended into Bethlehem’s manger; they came with joyous songs on that memorable night when he was born of the Virgin. Did they not sing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”? Do not sneer where angels sing. When he afterwards retired, in an hour of terrible sorrow, to the garden of Gethsemane, where great drops of blood fell on the ground, the angels came and strengthened him. Round the bloody tree they watched, and wondered how the Lord of glory thus could die; and when he went into the grave, methinks they hung their harps awhile in silence. This we know that, when, on the third day, he burst the bands of death, one of them came to roll away the stone, and two others sat-the one at the foot, the other at the head,-where Jesus had lain; and when the forty days had been accomplished, and he went up to his abode,-

“They brought his chariot from above,

To bear him to his throne;

Clapp’d their triumphant wings, and cried,

‘The glorious work is done.’ ”

In heaven they cry, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” The mightiest archangel in glory counts it his honour to fly on Jesus Christ’s errands. Sneer not, then. What is there to sneer at? These spirits are at least as wise as you. Pause awhile, and “kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way.”

Do you not care for angels? Then listen: do not sneer, for there are as wise men as you who have not sneered at Christ. You mention some great man who was a scoffer. Ah, well, so it may be, for great men are not always wise; but, on the other hand, what Newton believed in, what Locke trusted in, what Milton sang of, what a Bunyan could dream of in Bedford Gaol, cannot be quite such a contemptible thing after all. I might quote some names at which you could not and would not sneer. You would think yourself unknown and base indeed if you called them unknown and ignoble. The name which these men, great even in your esteem, thought worthy of their highest reverence, surely you need not be so fast to reproach. Come, my friend, search thou also into this problem. Give thy wit a little exercise upon this question, “Who is this?” Seek to know who and what Christ is, and whether he is not a suitable Saviour for thee.

Do not affect to be contemptuous, for, after all, if you look at it, there is nothing to despise. What is the gospel story? It is this, that though you are the enemy of Christ, Christ is no enemy of yours. Here is the story, that, while we were yet his enemies, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. I could never despise a man who loved his enemy, and if I saw him come to die to save another, and that other his foe, I could not despise him. I might think him unwise, and think the price of his fair life too dear to buy the wretch for whom he died, but I could not despise his love. Oh, there is something so majestic in Christ’s love that you cannot sneer at it! Uncurl that lip now. He dies not for himself in any sense; he bleeds for his friends,-nay, more, for his foes. His dying prayer* is, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do;” and even when his friends forsook him, his last thoughts were all for them. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich. There is nothing to sneer at here. He casts aside his glory, hangs his azure mantle on the sky, and takes the rings from off his fingers to hang them up for stars, and down he comes, and is born a feeble child. In his mother’s lap he lies. He lives so poverty-stricken that he has not where to lay his head; and when the fox went to its burrow, and the bird to its nest, he went to the lone mountain, and his looks were wet with the dews of night. “Give me to drink,” he says, as he sits upon the well of Samaria. He is forsaken, despised, and rejected of men; and when he dies, even God himself leaves him. Jesus cries, “Why hast thou forsaken me!” And all this was because of his strong, all-conquering love for the sons of men. You cannot despise this Man. I would love the Saviour, even if he had not died for me. I could not help it. Such love as his must have my heart, such disinterested giving up of all for the sake of those who hated him must claim our heart’s affections.

Do not despise him, let me again say to you, for you do not know but that one day you may be where he is. Oh, if you knew that he would wash you in his precious blood, and make you clean; if you knew that he would cast his robe of righteousness about you; if you knew that he would take you up to be with him, and put the palm-branch in your hand, and make you sing for ever of victory through his precious blood, you would not despise him! And yet that shall be the portion of all of you if you believe on him, if you cast yourselves on his finished work. Where he is, there you shall be, and you shall see his face. Do not despise him, the sinner’s Friend. Can you dislike him, the Lover of your soul? How can you refuse to be a lover of him? Shedding his tears over you, shedding his blood for you, how can you do otherwise than cast yourselves at his feet?

Despise him not, lastly, for he is coming again in pomp and glory. Speak not lightly of him who is at the door. He is coming, perhaps, while I talk of these great matchless things. Soon may he come into our midst, but he will come with rainbow wreath and clouds of storm. He will come sitting on the great white throne, and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him. Do not despise him now, for you will not be able to despise him then. Will you do now what you cannot do then? Oh, what a different tale will some men tell when Christ comes! How those who called him foul names will hide their fouler faces! Come up now, do not play the coward; come up now, and spit in his face again, ye villains, that once did it in his lifetime. Come now, and nail him to the tree again; Judas, come and give him a kiss, as once thou didst! Do you see them? Why, they fly! They hide their heads. They do not any longer despise and reject him, but their cry is, “Rocks, fall on us, and hide us.” “Ye mountains, open your bowels, and give us a place of concealment.” But it cannot be; the Lamb’s eyes of love have become the Lion’s eyes of fire, and he that was meek and gentle has now become fiery and terrible. The voice that once was sweet as music, is now loud and terrible as the crash of thunder; and he that once dealt out mercy, now deals out bolts of vengeance. Oh, despise not him who shall so soon come in his glory! Bow ye now, and “kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” Ask, “Who is he?” and when you put the question, answer it yourself, “This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” Trust Jesus Christ, sinner, and you shall know who he is; and he, knowing who you are, will save you with a great salvation. Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

LAMENTATIONS 3:52-58

(Concluded from page 132 of Sermon No. 3,083, “Comfort for Those whose Prayers are Feeble.”)

52-55. Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, 1 am cut off. I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.

He said, “I am cut off,” yet he called upon the name of the Lord out of the low dungeon into which his enemies had cast him. What a mercy it is that God’s servants are often as graciously inconsistent as Jeremiah was just then! They are afraid that the Lord will not hear them, yet they continue to pray unto him. They are afraid that they are cast off for ever, yet they will still use the privilege of a child of God, and cry unto him, though they doubt whether they have a child’s right to do so. Go on, beloved, with that blessed inconsistency, and the Lord will bless you in it.

56. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

Is not that a beautiful description of prayer, when the soul cannot find words, nothing but a “breathing”? Did I say nothing but a breathing? Why, that is the very essence of prayer.

“Prayer is the breath of God in man,

Returning whence it came.”

Vocal sounds in prayer can be given forth by hypocrites. Our children have their dolls or their little animals that they press to make them squeak, but there is no life in them; so there may be a sound, yet no life; but I never heard of anything that really breathed, and yet had not life. And when your soul breathes itself out before God in prayer, although it cannot utter any articulate sound by reason of the sorrow of your heart, there is spiritual life in you.

57. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee:*

Oh, sweet experience! Cannot you, beloved, say that these words suit you as much as they did Jeremiah? I am inclined to say to him, “They are mine, Jeremiah; they certainly were yours, but I am sure that they are equally mine.”

57, 58. Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.†

Blessed be his holy name for ever and ever!

“MARVELLOUS THINGS”

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, April 2nd, 1908,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Thursday Evening, May 7th, 1874.

“O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.”-Psalm 98:1, 2.

The invitations of the gospel are invitations to happiness. In delivering God’s message, we do not ask men to come to a funeral, but to a wedding feast. If our errand were one of sorrow, we might not marvel if men refused to listen to us; but it is one of gladness, not sadness-in fact, you might condense the gospel message into this joyous invitation, “O come, and learn how to sing unto the Lord a new song! Come and find peace, rest, joy, and all else that your souls can desire. Come and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” When the coming of Christ to the earth was first announced, it was not with sad sonorous sounds of devil spirits driven from the nethermost hell, but with the choral symphonies of holy angels who joyfully sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men;” and as long as ever the gospel shall be preached in this world, its main message will be one of joy. The gospel is a source of joy to those who proclaim it, for unto us, who are less than the least of all saints, is this grace given-that we should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.* The gospel is also a source of joy to all who hear it aright, and accept it, for its very name means “glad tidings of good things.” I feel that, if I am not able to preach to you as I would, yet am I thrice happy in being permitted to preach at all; and if the style and manner of my address may not be such as I desire them to be, nor such as you will commend, yet it will matter but little, for the simplest telling out of the gospel is of itself a most delightful thing; and if our hearts were in a right condition, we should not merely be glad to hear of Jesus over and over again, but the story of the love of our Incarnate God, and of the redemption wrought by Immanuel, would be the sweetest music that our ears ever heard.

In the hope that our hearts may thus rejoice, I am going to talk of many things under two heads. The first is, the marvellous things which God has done in the person of his Son; and, secondly, some marvellous things in reference to ourselves, which are almost as marvellous as those that God has done.

Firstly, I am to call your attention to the marvellous things mentioned in the text. If you read it carefully, you will notice that, first, there are some marvellous things that are marvellous in themselves; secondly, some that were marvellous in the way in which they were done: “His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory;” and then, thirdly, some that were marvellous as to the way in which they were made known: “The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.”

First, then, we will consider the things that are marvellous in themselves: “He hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.” You know the story We were enslaved by sin, we were in such bondage that we were liable to be for ever in chains; but our great Champion undertook our cause, and entered the lists pledged to fight for us till the end; and he has done it. It would have been a cause of great joy if I could have come here, and said to you, “The Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken to fight our battles for us;” but I have something much better than that to say. He has fought the fight, and “his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.” It must have required more faith to believe in the Christ who was to come than to believe in the Christ who has come. It must have required no little faith to believe in Christ as victorious while he was in the midst of the struggle; for instance, when the bloody sweat was falling amidst the olive trees, or when he was hanging upon the cross, and moaning out that awful cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” But the great crisis is past. No longer does the issue of the conflict tremble in the balance; Christ hath for ever accomplished his warfare, and our foes are all beneath his feet.

“Love’s redeeming work is done;

Fought the fight, the battle won.”

What foes has Christ overcome? Our main foe, our sin, both as to the guilt of it and as to the power of it. As to the guilt of it, there was a law, which we had broken, and which must be satisfied. Christ has kept the positive precepts of that law in his own perfect life, and he has vindicated the honour of that law by his sacrificial death upon the cross. The law, therefore, being satisfied, the strength of sin is gone; and now, O believers, the sins which ye saw in the day of your conviction ye shall see no more for ever! As Moses triumphantly sang of the enemies of the chosen people, “the depths have covered them,” so can you say of your sins, “There is not one of them left.” Even in God’s great Book of Remembrance there is no record of sin against any believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. “By him all that believe are justified from all things.” Try to realize this, brethren and sisters in Christ. Let the great army of your sins pass before you in review,-each one like a son of Anak, armed to the teeth for your destruction. They have gone down into the depths, and the Red Sea of Christ’s blood has drowned them, and so he hath gained a complete victory over all the guilt of sin; and as for the power of sin within us,-alas! we often groan concerning it, but let us groan no longer; or if we do, let us also sing.

The experience of a Christian is summed up in Paul’s utterance, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”* If you take the whole quotation, I believe you have a summary of a spiritual man’s life,-a daily groaning and a daily boasting,-a daily humbling and a daily rejoicing,-a daily consciousness of sin and a daily consciousness of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to conquer it. We do believe, beloved, that our sin has received its death-blow. It still lingers within us, for its death is by crucifixion, and crucifixion is a lingering death. Its heart is not altogether fastened to the cross, but its hands are, so that we cannot sin as we once did. Its feet, too, are fastened, so that we cannot run in the way of transgressors as we once did; and one of these days the spear shall pierce its heart, and it shall utterly die; and, then, with the faultless ones before the throne of God, we shall be unattended by depravity or corruption any longer. Therefore, let us “sing unto the Lord a new song,” because his right hand, and his holy arm, have gotten him the victory over sin within us.

“His be the victor’s name,

Who fought our fight alone;

Triumphant saints no honour claim;

His conquest was his own.”

In connection with sin came death, for death is the daughter of sin, and follows closely upon sin; Jesus has conquered death. It is not possible for believers to die eternally, for Jesus said, “Because I live, ye shall live also;” and even the character of the natural death is changed to believers. It is not now a penal infliction, but a necessary way of elevating our nature from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Even those who will be living at the coming of the Lord must be “changed” in order that they may be fit to enter glory. Death, therefore, to believers, is but a putting off of our week-day garments that we may put on our Sabbatic attire,-the laying aside of the travel-stained garments of earth that we may put on the pure vestments of joy for ever. So we do not fear death now, for Christ has conquered it. He has rent away the iron bars of the grave, and he has left in the sepulchre his own winding-sheets and napkin that there may be suitable furniture in what was once a grim, cold, empty charnel-house; and he has gone up into his glory, and left heaven’s gate wide open to all believers. Unless he shall first come, we too shall descend into the grave whither he went, but we also shall come up again as he did, and we shall rise complete in the perfection of our redeemed manhood. Then shall we be satisfied, when we awake in the likeness of our Master; so let us “sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things.”

“Hosannah to the Prince of light,

Who clothed himself in clay,

Enter’d the iron gates of death,

And tore the bars away!

“Death is no more the king of dread,

Since our Immanuel rose;

He took the tyrant’s sting away,

And spoil’d our hellish foes.

“See how the Conqueror mounts a’oft,

And to his Father flies,

With scars of honour in his flesh,

And triumph in his eyes”

And as Christ has conquered sin and death, so has he conquered the devil and all his hosts of fallen spirits. This monster of iniquity, this monster of craft and malice has striven to hold us in perpetual bondage; but Christ met him in the wilderness, and vanquished him there; and met him, as I believe, in the garden of Gethsemane, in personal conflict, and vanquished him once for all; and now he has led captivity captive. Inferior spirits were driven away by Christ when he was here upon earth, and they fled at the bidding of the King; and now, although Satan still worries and vexes the saints of God, the Lord will bruise Satan under their feet shortly. Therefore, dear brethren and sisters in Christ, this is the joyous news we have to bring to sinners,-that sin, and death, and the devil have all been vanquished by the great Captain of our salvation; and for this let us so rejoice that we sing unto the Lord a new song.

“He hell in hell laid low;

Made sin, he sin o’erthrew:

Bow’d to the grave, destroy’d it so,

And death, by dying slew.

“Sin, Satan, death appear

To harass and appal;

Yet since the gracious Lord is near,

Backward they go, and fall.”

But, according to the text, what the Lord did is not only marvellous in itself, but the way in which he did it was also marvellous. Observe that he did it alone: “His own right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.” No one was associated with the Lord Jesus Christ in the conquest which he achieved over sin, and death, and the devil, and nothing is more abhorrent to a believing soul than the idea of giving any particle of glory to anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ. He trod the winepress alone, so let him alone wear the crown. Sinner, you have not to look for any secondary Saviour; Christ has done it all. You need pay no reverence to saints, or martyrs, or priests Christ has done it all, so resort to him for all you want. Christ alone has accomplished the salvation of his people; no other hand has been raised to help him in the fight. Look then to Jesus only for salvation. Trust in him with your whole heart; throw your weight entirely upon him, my poor brother or sister, if you have not yet done so, and you shall find rest and salvation in him.

Another marvel is that he did it all so wisely: “His right hand hath gotten him the victory.” You know that we use the word “dexterous” to signify a thing that is done well; we mean that it was done right-handedly. So Christ fought our battle with his right hand; he did it with ease, with strength, and with infinite wisdom. Salvation is the very perfection of wisdom, because, in the salvation of a sinner, all the attributes of God are equally glorified. There is as much justice as there is mercy in the salvation of a sinner by the atoning sacrifice of Christ,-mercy full-orbed, and justice full-orbed also,-God fulfilling his threatenings against sin by smiting Christ, and giving to the love of his heart full vent in saving the very chief of sinners through the death of his dear Son. The more I consider the doctrine of substitution, the more is my soul enamoured of the matchless wisdom of God which devised this system of salvation. As for a hazy atonement which atones for everybody in general, and for nobody in particular,-an atonement made equally for Judas and for John, I care nothing for it; but a literal, substitutionary sacrifice, Christ vicariously bearing the wrath of God on my behalf, this calms my conscience with regard to the righteous demands of the law of God, and satisfies the instincts of my nature which declare that, as God is just, he must exact the penalty of my guilt. Dear brethren, Jesus Christ, suffering, bleeding, dying, has gotten us the victory. The hand that was pierced by the nails has conquered sin, the hand that was fastened to the wood has fastened up the accusation that was written against us, the hand that bled has brought salvation to us, so that we are Christ’s for ever. ’Twas infinite wisdom which shone in the conquest of sin, and death, and the devil.

But it was holiness too: “His holy arm hath gotten him the victory.” The psalmist seems, as he advances in his Psalms, to fall more and more in love with the matchless holiness of God, and the holiness of the victory of Christ is a great point in its favour. There is never a sinner so saved as to make God even seem to wink at sin. Since the creation of this world, there was never an act of mercy performed by God that was not in perfect harmony with the severest justice. God, though he has loved and saved unholy men, has never stained his holy hands in the act of saving them. He still remains the holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, though he is still very pitiful, and full of compassion, and passes by transgression, iniquity, and sin, and presses prodigal children to his heart. The atonement of Jesus Christ is the answer to the great question, “How can God be just and yet the Justifier of him that believeth? How can he be perfectly holy, and yet, at the same time, receive into his love, and adopt into his family, those who are unrighteous and unholy?” O Calvary, thou hast solved the problem! The bleeding wounds of the Incarnate God have made righteousness and peace to kiss each other. May God grant to you, unconverted sinner, the grace to understand how he can save you, and yet be perfectly holy, how he can forgive your sins, and yet be perfectly just! I know this is the difficulty that troubles you,-how can you be received while God is what he is? He can receive you, for the Lord Jesus Christ took the sin of his people, and bore it in his own body on the tree, and being the appointed Head of all believers, he has vindicated in his own person the inflexible justice of God There is the Man who has kept the whole law of God,-not Adam, for he failed to keep it,-but the second Adam, the Lord from heaven; and all whom he represented are now “accepted in the Beloved,” made acceptable to God because of what Jesus Christ has done So let us magnify that holy arm which hath gotten him the victory

I have now to speak upon the third point, the marvellous grace which has revealed all this to us It is a very familiar thing for us who are sitting here to hear the gospel, but will you just carry your minds back, some two or three thousand years, to the period when this Psalm was written? What was then known concerning salvation was known almost exclusively by the Jews Here and there, a proselyte was led into the bonds of the covenant; but, for the most part, the whole world lay in heathen darkness. Where there was the seal of circumcision, there were the oracles of God; but as for the sinners of the Gentiles, they knew nothing whatever concerning the truth. And it might have been so till this day if the Lord had not made known his salvation, and openly showed his righteousness in the sight of the heathen Our present privileges are greater than those of ancient Israel, and I am afraid that we sometimes despise, or at least forget, those whom we have for a time supplanted. They were the favoured people of God, and through their unbelief they have been put away for a while, but Israel is yet to be restored to even greater blessings than it formerly enjoyed.

“The hymn shall yet in Zion swell

That sounds Messiah’s praise,

And thy loved name, Immanuel!

As once in ancient days.

“For Israel yet shall own her King,

For her salvation waits,

And hill and dale shall sweetly sing

With praise in all her gates.”

Do we value as we ought the privilege we now have of hearing in our own tongue the wonderful works of God? My dear unconverted hearer, how grateful you ought to be that you were not born in Rome, or Babylon, or in the far-off Indies, in those days when there was no Christian missionary to seek you out, and care for your soul, but when the whole of the light that shone was shed upon that little land of Palestine! Jesus Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition, and now it makes no difference whether we are Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, for the gospel is to be preached to every creature in all the world, and “he that balieveth and is baptized shall be saved,” whatever his previous character may have been, or to whatever race he may have belonged.

Yet let us never forget that, in order to accomplish this great work of salvation, it was necessary that the blessed. Son of God should descend to this world, and it was also necessary that the Spirit of God should be given to rest upon the Church, to be the inspiration by which the gospel should be preached among the heathen. Again let me ask a question. Do we sufficiently reverence the Holy Ghost, and love him as we should for all that he has done? The incarnation of the Son of God is no greater mystery than the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men. It is truly marvellous that the ever-blessed Spirit, who is equally God with the Father and the Son, should come and reside in these bodies of ours, and make them his temple. Yet remember that, if it had not been so, there would have been no effective preaching of the gospel; and, this night, unless the Holy Ghost is here to bless the Word, there will be no open showing of Christ’s righteousness to you, and no making known of his salvation to your heart. All the victories of Christ, for which I challenge your grateful songs, would be unknown to you if the Holy Ghost did not touch men’s lips so that they might tell what the Lord hath done, and publish abroad his glorious victories.

Remember, too, that, in connection with the work of the Holy Spirit, there has had to be an unbroken chain of divine providence to bring the gospel to you, and to your fellow-countrymen. Look back through the past ages, and see what wonderful revolutions of the wheels full of eyes there have been. Empires have risen, and have fallen, but their rise and fall have had a close connection with the preaching of the gospel. There have been terrific persecutions of the saints of God; Satan has seemed to summon all hell to attack the Church of Christ, yet he could not destroy its life. Then came the night of Popery, dense as the nights of Egypt’s darkness; but old Rome could not put out the light of the gospel. Since then, in what marvellous ways baa God led his chosen people! He has raised up his servants, one after another, so that the testimony concerning the victories achieved by Christ might be continued among us, and might be spread throughout all the nations of the earth; and thus it comes to pass that, to-night, you have the open Bible in your hands, and I am permitted freely to expound the teaching of that Bible to you. How wonderfully has the history of our own country been working towards this happy result! Glorify God and bless his holy name that we live in such halcyon days as these when the Lord hath made known his salvation, and hath openly showed his righteousness in the sight of the heathen.

But yet more sweetly let us praise the Lord that we not only live where the gospel is made known, but that God has made it known to some of us in a still higher sense. Some of us now understand, as we did not at one time, the righteousness of God,-his way of making men righteous through Jesus Christ. We understood it in theory long before God made it savingly known in our soul; this is another work of the Holy Spirit for which we have good reason to sing unto the Lord a new song. Sinner, I have to say to you that God has sent the gospel to you to tell you that his Son, Jesus Christ, has conquered sin, and death, and the devil, and that, if you believe in Jesus, you shall be a partaker in his victory. There is nothing for you to do but to believe in him. Even the power to understand his truth is God’s gift to you; even the faith that receives it he works in you according to his Spirit. You are to be nothing that God may be everything; it is for you to fall at his feet, with confusion of face and contrition of heart, and when he bids you do so, to rise up and say, “I will sing unto the Lord a new song. O Lord, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me through him who hath gotten the victory on my behalf.”

The second point of my subject, on which I must speak very briefly indeed, is this,-there are some marvellous things in reference to ourselves.

The first of these marvellous things is that, after all that Christ has done, and the mercy of God in making it known, so many are utterly careless and indifferent concerning it. Tens of thousands will not even cross the threshold to go and hear about it. Bibles are in many of their houses, yet they do not take the trouble to read them. If they are going on a railway journey, they consult their Bradshaw; but they do not search God’s own Guide Book to find the way to heaven, or to learn where and when they must start if they mean to reach that place of eternal happiness and bliss. We can still ask, with Isaiah, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” The most marvellous sight out of hell is an unconverted man; it is a marvel of marvels that the Son of God himself should leave heaven and all its glories, and come to earth to bleed and die, in manhood’s shape for manhood’s sake, and yet that there should be anyone in the shape of a man who should not care even to hear the story of his wondrous sacrifice, or that hearing the story, should disregard it as if it were of no interest to him. Yet see how men rush to buy a newspaper when there is some little bit of news! With what avidity do some young people, and some old people too, who ought to know better, read the foolish story of a love-sick maid! How freely their tears flow over imaginary griefs! Yet the Lord Jesus Christ, bleeding to death in disinterested love to his enemies, moves them not to tears, and their hearts remain untouched by the story of his sufferings as if they were made of marble.

The depravity of mankind is a miracle of sin; it is as great a miracle, from one point of view, as the grace of God is from another. Jesus Christ neglected! Eternal love slighted! Infinite mercy disregarded! Ay, and I have to confess, with great shame, that even the preacher of the gospel is not always affected by it as he ought to be; and not only must I, my brethren, confess this, but so must others, I fear, who preach the Word. Why, it ought to make us dance for joy to have to tell you that there is mercy in the heart of God, that there is pardon for sinners, that there is life for the dead, that the great heart of God yearns over sinners; and our hearts ought to be ready to break when we find that men disregard all this good news, and are not affected by it. It is an astounding calamity that men should have fallen so terribly that they are insensible to infinite love. God grant that his grace may show to you, unconverted sinners here, in what a horrible state your hearts must be in that, after all that Christ has done, you still give him no token of gratitude, no song of praise for the wonders he has wrought.

Looking from this point of view, there is another marvellous thing, which is, that some of us have been so brought to recognize the work of Christ that we are saved by it; because, to confess the truth, there are some of us who were very unlikely subjects (speaking after the manner of men to be saved. Probably, each saved person here did think himself the most unlikely one ever to be saved; I know that I thought so concerning myself. You remember the story of a Scotchman who went to see Mr. Rowland Hill, and who sat and looked him in the face for a long while, till the good old minister asked him, “What are you looking at?” He replied, “I have been studying the lines of your face.” “What do you make of them?” asked Rowland; and the answer was, “I was thinking what a great vagabond you would have been if the grace of God had not met with you.” “That thought has often struck me,” said Rowland; and a similar thought has often struck some of us. If we had not been converted, wouldn’t we have led others into sin? Wouldn’t we have invented fresh pleasures of vice and folly? Who would have stopped us? We had daring enough for anything, enough even to have bearded the very devil himself if we had thought that some new vice could have been invented, or some fresh pleasure of sin could have been discovered. But now that God has made us yield, “by sovereign grace subdued,” and brought us to his feet, and put on us the chains which now we gladly welcome, and which we long to wear for ever, O come, and let us sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things for us; “his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory!” Dear child of God, if there be special grace in your case, as I know you feel that there has been, there ought to be special honour given to Christ by you. Everyone who is saved ought to live a very special life,-an extraordinary life. If you were an extraordinary sinner, or have been, in some way or other, an extraordinary debtor to divine love, may there be some extraordinary devotion, extraordinary consecration, extraordinary faith, extraordinary liberality, extraordinary loving kindness, or something else about you in which the traces of that marvellous right hand of God and his holy arm will be plainly manifested!

The last thing I will speak about is this, there is something marvellous in the joy which we, who have believed in the victory wrought by Christ, have received. Probably all of you have sung that song of which the refrain is,-

“I am so glad that Jesus loves me.”

That refrain is very monotonous, yet I think I should like to sing it all night, and should not wish to leave off even when the morning broke.

“I am so glad that Jesus loves me.”

You may turn it over, and over, and over, and over, as long as ever you like, but you will never find anything that makes you so glad as that thought, “Jesus loves me;” and you will never find that the sweetness of that thought, “Jesus loves me,” will ever be exhausted. Sinner, if you only knew the blessedness of the life of Christ, you would be glad enough to run away from your own life, and run to share ours in him! We have peace like a river, we can leave all our cares and our burdens with our God. We are just where we love most to be,-in the bosom of our Heavenly Father, and the Spirit of adoption makes us feel perfectly at home with him. We can say, “Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee!” We are in perfect safety, for who is he that can destroy those whom Christ protects? We have got into peace even with our own conscience. We have also a blessed prospect for the future; we shall be borne along upon the wings of divine providence until we exchange them for the wings of angels. We have a heaven below, and we are looking for a still better heaven above.

“All that remains for me

Is but to love and sing,

And wait until the angels come

To bear me to the King.”

This is the lower part of the choir; some of the singers are up in the galleries, and we are learning here the notes that we shall sing above. Come, beloved, let us make these sinners long to share our joys. If any of you saints have been moaning and groaning of late, get into your proper condition. Begin to tune up, and praise the Lord with all your might till the ungodly shall say, “After all, there is something sweeter and brighter and better in the lives of these Christians than we have ever known in ours. But whether you will rejoice or not, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour; and so I will, by his help, till death suspends these mortal songs, or melts them into the songs immortal before the throne. God bless you, brethren and sisters, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

PSALM 116

1. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.*

Every answered prayer should make us love the Lord, and especially those prayers that come up from our heart when it is overwhelmed within us. When we pray in deep trouble, and God sends us help and deliverance, it is impossible for us not to love him. Cannot each believer here say, with great gratitude, “I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications”?

2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

“This begging business pays so well that I will never give it up as long as I live. The Lord has heard me, so he shall hear me again and again. He is so good and so generous a God, and such bounties are continually being distributed at his door, that I will never go to anybody else, but will continue to knock at God’s door as long as I live.”

The psalmist goes on to tell us what was the special occasion which brought out this expression of his gratitude.

3, 4. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.†

His petition was short, earnest, plain, and personal. It was a sharp arrow shot from the bow of prayer, and it reached its mark in the heart of God. Are any of you just now in very sore distress? Then let each one imitate the example of the psalmist, and pray, “O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.” Have you been delivered as the psalmist was? Then, make a note of it; be sure to jot it down in your pocket-book, so that, when you get into such a trouble again, you may turn to the record of God’s delivering mercy, and say, “The God who delivered me before has not changed, so I will apply to him again, for I am sure that he will again deliver me.”

5, 6. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

Poor simpletons, who cannot help themselves, but who are, nevertheless, free from deceit and craft, and take God’s Word as they find it,-sincere simple souls, who trust in the Lord, he will take care of them; but he will leave those who think they are wise enough to do so, to take care of themselves.

7, 8. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

If we have enjoyed this trinity of deliverances, let us praise the Three-One God for ever and ever. Praise him, O my soul, if thou art saved! Praise God, O mine eyes! Be filled with the happy tears of gratitude since he has delivered you from the bitter, briny tears of grief. Praise him, O ye feet that he has kept from falling, and run in the way of his commandments with great joy!

9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

“That shall be my way of walking,-not before men, that I may gain their praise; but I will consider the Lord, and the Lord alone; and so long as I please him, I shall not mind whether I please anybody else or not.”

10, 11. I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, All men are liars.

It is always better not to speak in haste. It is very seldom that we say much that is worth hearing when we talk too fast. “I said in my haste, ‘All men are liars.’ ”

12. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

That is better, for it is better to praise the Lord than to find fault with men, even if the fault found be really there. It is better for each one of us to be rendering our homage to God than picking holes in the coats of others, so let each one of us ask, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?”

13. I will take-

The psalmist asks, “What shall I render?” and he answers, “I will take.” That is a strange way of rendering, is it not? Yes, brethren, but that is the way for us to show our gratitude to the Lord for all his benefits toward us. John Newton was right when he wrote,-

“The best return for one like me,

So wretched and so poor,

Is from his gifts to draw a plea,

And ask him still for more.”

“I will take”-

13, 14. The cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.

And I can be spokesman for you, brethren and sisters in Christ, and say that the Lord is good, and that we have proved him to be good to us under peculiarly trying circumstances. He does not fail to help his people, neither does he turn his back upon them in their hour of need. We have tried all other dependences, and have been bitterly disappointed; but the Rock of Israel’s salvation standeth fast for ever; glory be to the name of Jehovah of hosts! Let us pay our vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.

15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.*

It is an event for which he makes all necessary arrangements. He does not allow it to happen accidentally, or according to the will of man. As good old John Ryland says,

“Not a single shaft can hit

Till the God of love thinks fit.”

16. O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.†

The psalmist said that he was a home-born slave, because his mother was a servant of God, and he was born, as it were, a servant of his mother’s Lord. How delightful it is to be a Christian, and the son of a Christian! Let us rejoice and be glad if that is our happy lot. It is more honour to have had a mother who feared the Lord than a mother who was a princess or an empress, but who had not the grace of God in her heart.

17-19. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.