The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” There is a great talk about yesterday. There are Some who will have it that there are none like the days that are past-“the good old times.” There are Some who glory in what they did years ago. Their work was done yesterday. They have long ago retired from the business of life, but still they are accustomed to indulge in the recollections of what they did in days gone by. Yesterday is also dwelt upon in lamentation and even in despair. Yesterday! alas, opportunities are past. “The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Yesterday we lived in sin; yesterday we rejected Christ; yesterday we stifled conscience; and therefore despair says that it is all over now. Time is gone. Closed for ever are the gates of mercy: the death warrant is signed: the gallows are erected for the execution.

Now it is noteworthy that the Holy Ghost, neither that we may take comfort in it, nor despair about it, saith not “yesterday”-he saith “to-day.” He points us not to the past-(we shall have to look at that and weep over it, or bless God for it either with repentance or gratitude)-he points us not to the time of the Flood but to to-day. A very large proportion of mankind, you will find, delight in dwelling upon the word “to-morrow.” Oh, what will they not do to-morrow! Sin shall be rejected to-morrow; the Saviour shall be sought to-morrow. Clasped in the arms of faith, they will exult in the peace of Christ to-morrow; they will pray to-morrow; they will serve God to-morrow. Alas! of all the nets of Satan as a fowler for the souls of men, perhaps there is none in which he taketh more than in this big net of procrastination. “I will,-I will,” and there it ends. “I go, sir,” and he went not. To resolve and re-resolve, and then to die, the same is the melancholy history of thousands of hearers who bid fair for heaven a thousand times, and yet will never enter there.

To-morrow! oh, thou cursed word to-morrow! How has man made thee cursed! I find thee not in the almanack of the wise; thou art only in the calendar of fools. To-morrow! there is no such thing except in dreamland, for when that comes which we call to-morrow it will be to-day, and still for ever, to-day, to-day, to-day. There is no time but that which is. Time was, is not, and time to come, is not.

To-day is the only time we have. Happily for us, the Holy Ghost saith “To-day if ye will hear his voice.” Never do I find him saying “to-morrow.” His servants have often been repulsed by men like Felix who have said, “Go thy way for this time. When I have a more convenient season I will send for thee.” And never did any apostle say, “Repent to-morrow, or wait for some convenient season to believe.” The constant testimony of the Holy Ghost, with regard to the one single part of time, which I have shown indeed to be all time, is, “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Now I am trying to speak to-night not as though I were preaching at all, but I want to talk to you Christians first, and then to you unconverted people very seriously, and may God the Spirit speak through the words.

First to you that love the Lord, or profess to do so-Christian people-I have to say to you to-night,-the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” That is to say, that it is essential to duty that we attend to it at once. Every command of Christ bears date to-day. If a thing be right, it should be done at once; if it be wrong, stop it immediately. Whatever you are bound to do, you are bound to do now. There may be some duties of a later date, but for the present that which is the duty, is the duty now. There is an immediateness about the calls of Christ. What he bids you do, you must not delay to do. The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” And I would say this with regard to everything. Do you love the Lord? Have you ever professed his name? Then the Holy Ghost saith “to-day.” Hesitate not to take up his cross at once and follow him,-the cross of him who was nailed to the cross for you; who by his precious blood has made you not your own, but his. Confess him before men. Has he not said, “He that denieth me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven!” Confess with thy mouth, if thou hast believed with thy heart.

It is the immediate duty of the believer to be baptized. “As soon as thou believest in Christ thou mayest.” “To-day,” saith the Holy Ghost. Having united thyself to the people of God, then whatever, according to thy position and calling, is incumbent upon you, do it. Art thou a young Christian, warm, fervent in spirit, and do thy seniors call thee impudent and damp thine ardour? Listen not to them: go and do what is in thy heart. I would give nothing for a man’s zeal if that zeal does not make him sometimes indiscreet. Imprudence so far from being a sin is often an index of the possession of the highest grace. Nay, David, imprudent as thou art, take the smooth stones from the brook. Wait not till thou art become a king or a hoary-headed monarch about to resign the crown to Solomon. While thou art ruddy and a youth hesitate not. The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Or art thou called in middle life? Thy sun has already spent half its day. Is it suggested to thee that thou shouldst seek thy children’s conversion? Plead at once that thy little ones so long neglected may now be saved. The Holy Ghost saith to thee, parent, father, mother,-“To-day.” Art thou come into the midst of a multitude of workers of which thou art the master seeking their good? Seek it to-day. Hast thou in thy heart the intention to serve God when thou best amassed so much wealth? What! shall God be second? Shall mammon take the first place and Jehovah be put in the background? Nay, let thy gold come in second or not at all. Let thy God come in now. The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” “But there are urgent things pressing.” If thou canst claim that they are duties, God forbid that I should bid thee neglect them, but if they are covetous and lustful, put them aside and now, in the prime of your life, while yet the marrow is in thy bones and thine eye is not dim, give to God what he claims of thee to-day.

Have you lingered long upon the road, and has the evening come, and has the sun almost touched the horizon, and is the red light gleaming in the sky? Then the Holy Ghost says to thee, “O aged Christian, serve God to-day.” I cannot comprehend the postponements of old age; yet do we frequently meet with them. There was an aged man who meant to devote all his substance to the church of God, but he put it off and the thing was never done. There was another who meant to have spoken to his children. He would gather them together on a certain day, and would speak to them and their children; for so had it come about that he was a grandsire now; but he said he would do it by and by; and the time never came. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do”-what saith the Scripture? Think about it? No,-“do it.” Give God thy first and choicest thoughts. Many a man has thought over a good thing till the devil has come in with a second thought and the thing has never been done. I love that blessed thing that made Magdalen, or Mary, whichever it was, break the alabaster box over the Saviour. She did not sit down to calculate or the thing would not have been done. And this is especially incumbent upon the aged. You are not likely to be guilty of indiscretion; your blood is not hot; therefore you may fling the reins on the back of your zeal; you are not likely to exceed in your zeal; therefore, go at once, I pray you. Oh, I wish Christians were in the habit of following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Remember, there are many things he gives to us that we do not deserve at all or do not receive so as to carry them out. Be ye not as the horse or mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. Oh, be guided by gentler means, the softer touches of God’s hand. The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Whatever Christian service may come across you, Christian brother, let me urge you not to let this night pass away, nor to-morrow until you have accomplished the whole of it. Get through it, dear brother, get through it, at once. The Lord knows when duty will be most acceptable to him. The Lord loves fresh gathered fruit. You are not to store it up until the bloom is gone and say, “I will bring it to-morrow.” The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Whatever is to be done for the Lord, let it be done now.

And then there is a second set of obligations which come upon the Christian, viz., undoing. Now the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Have I done wrong towards my neighbour? Have I spoken an unkind word? Have I made an unjust speech? Let me make my peace with my friend. But when? “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” I heard the other day that when a wasp had stung one, the sting would go away if the wasp died ere the sun went down. And peradventure there may be about each one of us some bad habit, something we cannot justify ourselves in. Let us seek to be purged from it; for “the Holy Ghost saith ‘To-day.’ ” Is there any sin to be conquered? There is no such time to smite sin as to-day. You will never smite this Amalekite as well as now. He will be off his guard if you smite him now. At once, then, strike the blow against the sin, whatever it may be. There is no time for killing weeds in the garden of the soul like to-day. There is no time for throwing salt upon the field which is fruitful with noxious poison like now. Never imagine that you will get rid of sin by degrees. I know some people have been cured of a taste for strong drink by degrees, and such things may be possible, but the Christian will find it easier to wean himself at once by a sacred total abstinence from everything that is sinful; for as long as you parley with the enemy the enemy will still have power over you, and blessed is that man who does not begin to take off one finger of his right hand and then another and then another, but takes the axe and chops it off as one whole thing at once. “If thy right hand offend thee cut it off.” Some think this enough-“If thy right hand offend thee pare the nails.” It is not so. Oh, yes; for doing and for undoing, the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.”

But I cannot linger where there is so much to say. Remember, beloved Christian friends, that there are some duties which if you don’t do to-day you never will do. I called upon a Christian man some time ago and saw him looking very sorrowful. He was a man of earnest spirit, always trying to do good, and I was surprised to see sorrow on his face; but he said, “My dear sir, I met with a very sad thing this morning. There is a man who has been doing certain errands about here, and I noticed him and felt a great concern about his soul, and yesterday I had resolved that when he came into the shop I would speak to him. It has been my habit to speak to all I came in contact with. Well, I don’t know whether I can excuse myself or not, but this man came upon his usual errands, and I was busy and did not speak to him as I designed. I intended to do it this morning, and his wife has come round and said he is dead, and I cannot forgive myself, for there is nothing else I can do for him, and I feel almost as though his blood will lie at my door.”

You cannot tell but what you will be in company this evening with somebody who will never have a warning if you do not give it to-night, never have another invitation to come to Jesus, and if you should hear to-morrow that your friend has suddenly dropped down dead, and that he was unconverted, it would cause you some regret and remorse that you had not spoken. Now, now, because it is “now, or never.” If it might be “Now or to-morrow,” there might be some reason for delay, but it is not so, it is “now, or never.” Therefore I do pray you, brethren (and I am speaking much more to myself than to you), to be instant in season and out of season. Oh, pity these poor souls who live in darkness and do not know our sweet Lord Jesus. “Ye are the light of the world.” Defer not the light-giving, lest the night come to them wherein you cannot help them.

Notice again. When we intend to do Christian service to-morrow, and do it faithfully and well, yet we sin. There is a contract for certain steamers to carry Her Majesty’s mails, and they are bound to leave Liverpool at such a time and arrive at New York so long afterwards. Suppose they leave six hours after the time, if they make the best voyage they can, they break the contract. And an action which is done to-morrow, but should have been done to-day, whatever be its acceptableness in itself, is faulty. It is as an untimely fruit, out of date. If I do not do till to-morrow what I ought to do to-day, I cannot do to-morrow’s duties. I cannot possibly put Thursday’s work into Friday. Cannot I call in help? Yes, but I am robbing my Master of my friend’s service. I have work to do which never can be done in eternity unless it is done to-day. Throughout the whole of eternity I can never make up for that lost hour. The work of that hour is gone and can never be done. Eternal mercy can wipe out the sin and, blessed be God, it will; but there is the fact for all that. Therefore the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” To-day’s work is to be done to-day; therefore, let it be done.

For, beloved friends, there is one remark with regard to service for God, and that is, that duties put off tend to the hardening of the heart. You begin to be familiar with the neglect of them; and nothing is more injurious to the mind than familiarity with sin. To be acquainted with sin is to be made sinful. When I postpone a duty I am acquainted with the neglect of that duty. How many times-(I will put a riddle to you if I can; probably you will recollect it)-how many times does a man sin in an hour who does not perform the duties of that hour? There is one act of omission which he has committed the first minute. He ought to have done it at once. Is there a sin each minute or is there a sin each tick of the clock? I would like you to think of that. It seems to me that we do not know how many sins there may be crowded into the neglect of a duty for an hour. And some have neglected duties for a week; they have disobeyed God for a week. Have you ever seen your child sin in that way? You have said, “John, go to the door!” Has he been an obstinate child and not gone but stood still? You say again, “John, go to the door!” Still he does not go. I wonder how long you would let your child stand still? I think I know some who could not manage for five minutes to keep their hands off him, and perhaps it is well they should not stand it long.

But now God has had his hands off you, some professors, by the week together, and the year together, for what you know you ought to have done; and yet you have not done it. And all the while the Word of God saith to you, “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” But you have still continued to tempt the Lord and tried him, though by the wonders of his mercy he has kept his hands off. Don’t provoke him any more, but go and say, “I have delayed too long. Now, Father, I will do what thou bid’st me. Help me by thy grace, for I will not be a disobedient child any more.” Delay not; for you have provoked him too long already. I have often pitied God, to think he should be so badly treated, that his children whom he treats so well should make him such poor return. Let us have sympathy with our dear heavenly Father and say, “We will grieve him no more.”

There is one more thing that I want to say to you, dear Christian. I have been putting it very strongly to-day, but I have felt authorized to do so because the text puts it so. The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” The Holy Ghost! That clothes it with deep solemnity. The Holy Ghost! That is, the Divine Person of the Godhead, concerning whom we find that there is a sin against him which will never be forgiven. If we want to keep clear of that sin, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Be very tender concerning all sin: be tender most of all concerning this. Remember how the Holy Ghost loves you-how he loves you! Jesus Christ loved men so that he came and lived amongst them, and the Holy Ghost loves men so that he comes and lives in them. I wonder which is the more admirable in condescension,-the incarnation of the Son, or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They are both divinely merciful and gracious. Grieve him not, then,-he is your Comforter,-he is your Comforter! And have you vexed him who dwelleth in you and shall be with you? The human heart ne’er entertained so divine a guest. Resist him not. Yield to him now; for that is the very point on which he lays stress. The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Now I have said in myself (and I pray God to help me to carry it out) I will strive after more grace, and I will seek to do what good I can now. Dear brethren, let that not be a resolution merely, but let us practise it, for the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.”

Now I am going to turn away from you Christians to talk to the unconverted a little, and I pray that what is said may go to their hearts. To you, unconverted sinners, the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” I asked a brother why he was not present on a certain occasion and he said, “I never got an invitation.” I am afraid there are some sinners that never come to Christ because they do not get an invitation. I know that is not the case with any sinner who is in the habit of coming to this house. I believe Christian ministers would do well, or, at any rate not ill, if they never preached anything but invitation. There is much more to preach to advanced people of God, but still there are men who all their lives long have invited men to come to Christ, and I believe they do not ill to spend their whole time in that.

Now the point in the invitation is,-When is it? Somebody says, “Will you come to my house to dinner?” Well, if that is all he says, I do not come; but if he says, “I dine at half-past five,” then he gives me the time of day and tells me when he wants to see me. You know if a person says, “Whenever you are going by this way I shall be glad to see you,” you never call in at all; but if a man says, “I shall be glad to see you at such-and-such a time,” you understand his invitation. And now the Holy Ghost puts a time to the invitation. I am not invited to-morrow, but this first of May-this sweet May day, the Holy Ghost says to me, “Come to Christ to-day.” And he says to you to-night through these lips of mine, “To-day, even now, come seek and find every good in Jesus joined.” “Look unto him, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.” The time is fixed, and the time is fixed for to-day.

Why did he fix to-day? Well, first, it was his mercy fixed it. Suppose he had said “to-morrow,” it would have been unkind to detain you in the gall of bitterness all the night. You would have had a wretched night and have said, “I shall not live through it.” You would have wanted Christian people to come and sit with you, and pray with you, while you were under condemnation, that you might reach to-morrow morning. But he has not said to you that you have got to wait until you are seventeen, or to you yonder, that you have got to wait until you are thirty. Oh, no, he says, “To-day.” And then it is in wisdom that he says “to-day,” because it is wisdom to seek the Lord at once; for otherwise the thread of life may be snapped. Have you ever noticed how much more frail our life is than glass? I have seen thin Venice glass three or four hundred years old, but I never saw a man last that time. We are frail things. A moment’s touch and we are dust. The Holy Ghost therefore does not put it off unwisely, but he says, “To-day.”

And the Holy Ghost does it, too, in addition to his mercy and wisdom, out of love to holiness. He would be a partaker of our sin if he excused our living an hour in sin. He never does. If I had God’s liberty to remain in sin a week, he would be a partaker in my sin. But he has bidden us fly to the fountain now. Lovingly and yet with a sort of sternness does he bid me come to-day. “To-day if ye will hear his voice,” forsake your sin and fly for refuge.

I might mention other attributes of God which would move him to put it “To-day,” but I will not. If you are at all affected by what I have said (and I hope you may be) don’t say, “Well, I will resolve to think about my soul.” I have noticed so many people who have felt “I’m a good fellow after all-I have made a splendid resolution, haven’t I.” Just as I have been men in commercial life over head and ears in debt, go to a loan society or raise a little money at their bankers, or perhaps do what is much the same thing, without raising money at all, give an accommodation bill, and say, “Well, I’ve paid that man!” when they have never paid him a farthing, but have given him merely a bit of paper. They get on wonderfully easy because they have passed a bit of paper saying that they will pay at a certain time when they know that they never mean to do it. Resolutions are accommodation bills that men give to God and nothing ever comes of them. I sometimes wish there was no “paper” in business, and certainly I wish there were no “resolutions” in religion. A resolution to repent may damn a man, but a belief would save him. A resolution to believe in Christ may only check the voice of conscience, but a belief would save. Your resolutions are of no use whatever-like draughts from Aldgate pump. They are not worth thinking of. Oh, to have real practical obedience to Christ, for the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.”

Let me just speak further to you for a moment or two. It does seem very sweet that the Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Do you know what I would do if I were in your case and you in mine? I recollect when I sought the Lord I hoped that after some months of darkness I might get light, and it was according to my hope. Now if I had to seek him over again, I would go and say, “Lord, thou hast said ‘To-day.’ Lo! I seek thee to-day; and shall I say ‘To-day’ and thou say ‘To-morrow’? Dear Saviour, I trust thee to-day. To-day speak peace to my conscience. To-day apply the blood of sprinkling and give my spirit rest.” I would make a plea of it if I were you; for a man made a great feast and said to the poor, “Come to-day,” the poor would not expect to sit shivering there to get a meal to-morrow; but they would say, “Our invitation was to-day. There is provender to-day.” So, sinner, if you will come to the Lord and say, “My Lord, my Father, thou hast called me to-day therefore to-day I feel thy love to me, and I pray thee to-day to put my sins away as far as the east is from the west,”-God will keep to his word and you will find speedy rest.

Oh, some of you have lived long enough without God. Some of you have lived fifty years without God and long enough to be condemned. Oh, you would not like to be converted, and then be of no service to your Lord at all, or only have given him a few months of your life. I pray you, think of this,-the long time past-which may have sufficed you to have wrought the will of the flesh and the short time that is to come. Do you know how soon you are to die? Is there any man here who is certain that he will live to see another year? When the next service is held to watch the old year out and the new year in, will you be here, or where will you be? The Holy Ghost says “To-day.” Every hour that passes is hardening you if you are remaining out of Christ: it becomes less probable that God will meet with you. There are so many more opportunities wasted, so many more appeals thrown away. O, dear hearers, if God made you stand on this platform and said, “I will tell you who they are that will reject your message and perish finally,” I would say, “Good Spirit, tell me no such thing! Conceal the secret! I do not wish to know it.” I think it would break my heart to look in some of your faces and think, “That man will be in hell and be in anguish, and ask for a drop of water to cool his tongue.” I could not bear to feel that it would be so. And yet I feel morally certain it will be so with some of you. Oh, I am staggered when I feel how souls come into this Tabernacle (and some of you are always here) and do not get the blessing. I pray to-night that some of us may get the blessing.

An incident occurred this afternoon. An aged minister, an excellent man, came into my vestry, and shook my hand and said, “I have got this letter which I should like you to see.” Well, I had many things to attend to, but he was so anxious and said, “I know you will like to hear it,” that I took the letter. Before I read it he explained to me that he had a son who had made a profession of religion, but had gone aside from it, and it had pretty well broken his heart. At last he was to go to America, and the father sent him away with a very heavy heart. The old man took off his spectacles. The letter was from his son and it said, “I went to hear Mr. Spurgeon, and I have not the slightest doubt that it has had an influence on my whole life. The text was, ‘He is as a root out of a dry ground.’ The sermon was divided into four parts.” I can recollect the sermon well enough. I was suffering from great pain at the time. “The point which lasted longest was that in which he said that God had made Christ to grow up like a root-like a root out of a dry ground. He went on for twenty-five minutes”-(then he gave an opinion of my style which I won’t read to you)-“but what surprised me most was that, out of five or six thousand, he fastened his eyes on me though I was in the farthest gallery”-(the young man’s name was Thomas So-and-so-the son of the Baptist minister-“and suddenly he shouted out these words, ‘There’s that wild, dare-devil Tom. God means to save him and he will be a comfort to his father in his old age.’ ” The old gentleman took off his spectacles again when he got to that and said, “And so he is.” It went on, “I thought he was going to say my name.” He trembled lest the people should think his name was Tom. Well, that cheered my heart to think of that young fellow, and I thought I would have a shot at some of you to-night, and I pray that it may go right straight through your hearts.

And now, this first of May, if you meet with God to-night, if you pray and believe in Jesus to-night, this will be your spiritual birthday. You will recollect the night that believers were baptized and that that night Christ met with you. It is now three-and-twenty years, I think, within an hour or two, since I was also baptized on the first of May, confessing Christ, in my early youth, and I will close my sermon by saying that if he had been a bad master I would have run away from him, and if he had not kept his promises I would not believe him; but he has been a good master and a dear Saviour. I think it is twenty-four years during which I can bear an earnest testimony to the goodness and love of Christ. If you knew him you would not live a minute without him. “Ah,” say you,-“will he have me?” Will you have him? That is the point. You won’t have any wooing to do towards Christ. He loved sinners; he died for sinners. “Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The Holy Ghost saith “To-day.” Do you say “To-day” too? Amen and amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

HEBREWS 3, and 4:1

Chapter 3. Verse 1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” What wonderful titles! “Holy brethren,” made brethren in holiness and made holy in our brotherhood,-“partakers of the heavenly calling,”-called of God from among the worlds. Our occupation and our calling henceforth is to serve the Lord. Well, if you be holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.” Think much of Him. Remember who it is you follow, with whom you are brethren. If you think little of your Leader you will live but poor lives. Consider him, often think of him, try to copy him. With such a Leader what manner of people ought we to be?

2, 3. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

Moses was but a part of the house after all, a prominent stone in the building, but Christ is the builder, builder of the house, foundation, topstone of it. Think then much of him. Get an high idea of him as faithful unto God in everything. Moses kept the law and was a good example to Israel save in some point of weakness, but Christ perfectly carried out his Father’s commission, and he is worthy of more honour than Moses.

4-6. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

“But Christ as a Son”-far higher degree-“Christ as a son over his own house,” of which he is the heir, of which he is even now the sole proprietor-“whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” None are truly Christ’s but those who persevere in grace. Men may be nominally Christ’s, but they are not Christ’s house unless they hold fast to the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Temporary Christians are not really Christians.

7, 8. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

You are his house, give him rest, do not provoke him. If you belong to him be holy, do not grieve him. If you are his house be not defiled: surely he should dwell in a holy place.

9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

Oh, children of God, you have some of you been more than forty years now in the Lord’s service: do not vex him. You have been long called out of Egypt and brought into the separate place in this wilderness world: be careful to be fit for the Divine indwelling.

10, 11. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

God grant that none of this congregation may be of that mind, who having named the name of Christ and being known as his people, continue to grieve him one way and another, to put him to the test by their doubts, to make him angry by their sins. No, God grant we may be of another sort lest he should lift his hand and swear, “They shall not enter into my rest.”

12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Here the charge is not to the outside world but to those whom he had called “holy brethren.” He drops the word “holy” for there are some brethren so called who would not deserve that name, and to them he speaks very pointedly, “Take heed, take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” And how will that be shown? By wandering off, one way or another, away from the living God. If your God is not a living God to you in whom you live and move and have your being, if he does not come into your daily life, but if your religion is a dead and formal thing, then you will soon depart.

13, 14. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

Not otherwise. Again I say they who do not hold on and hold out are not really partakers of Christ, but we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. Those that fly to this doctrine and that, unsettled spirits, wandering stars, mere meteors of the night, these are not Christ’s, but we must hold the beginning of our faith stedfast unto the end.

15. While it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Twice over we are warned of this, to avoid hardness of heart. God save us from ossification of heart, petrifaction of heart, till we get a heart of love or a heart of stone-may God save us from this.

16. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

There were two; it was a slender remnant that were faithful.

17. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

God speaks very lovingly of the bodies of his saints, but see how he speaks of the bodies of apostates, “whose carcases” as if they were no better than so many brute beasts, “whose carcases fell in the wilderness.”

18. And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

Sinning and not believing seem to go together. The 17th verse asks the same question as the 18th, but the answer is different. “With them that had sinned” says the 17th verse; “to them that believed not” says the 18th verse. Want of faith brings want of holiness, and when we abide in the faith we abide in obedience

19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Chapter 4. Verse 1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

I left out the “us” because that is inserted by the translators and should not be there. The promise is left to somebody, it does not say to us-“a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Not come short of it but even seem to do so. God keep us from the very shadow of sin, from the very appearance of evil. “For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.” In the old time that gospel which was preached to them was preached to us-but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” God send us this holy mixture of the hearing and the believing, to our soul’s salvation, to his glory. Amen.

POSITIVISM

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, September 9th, 1909,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

In the year 1875.

“We know … And we know … And we know.”-1 John 5:18-20.

It is remarkable how throughout the whole of John’s epistle he continually uses the word “know.” It has quite refreshed me to read through the epistle carefully, and to observe how, as the clock strikes the same note again and again, John seems to have kept to this monotone, “We know, we know, we know.” In this age, when it is fashionable not to know anything, when the professedly learned would hold us in a state of perpetual doubt, and our great poet tells us that there is more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds, and everybody seems to be bewitched with what is called “modern thought,” it is quite cheering to one’s ear, and delicious to one’s heart, to hear the bell strike out again and again, “We know, we know, we know.” After all, there is something certain somewhere, some grip for our anchor, some foundation to build our eternal hopes upon-something that can be trusted, something besides cloud and will-o’-the-wisp. “We know, we know, we know.” Take your pencils and read through this first epistle of John, and underline the word “know,” and you will feel the force of our remark. Look at the second chapter, “Hereby we do know that we know him.” “He that saith I know him.” “Hereby know we that we are in him.” In the thirteenth verse we read, “Because ye have known him.” “I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.” “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” An so in the third chapter, verse after verse. “The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” “We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” The fifth verse-“Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin.” And so it is, on, on, on, all through the chapter-“we know,” “ye know,” and “they know.”

And why is this? It seems to me, first, that John had the echo of his Master’s words ringing in his ears. He laid his head upon his Master’s bosom, and caught his Master’s spirit; yea, more, his Master’s thoughts; yea, more, his Master’s very words. Continually as you read John’s first epistle you are reminded of passages in his gospel. The epistle seems to be the essential extract of the gospel. John, the beloved of Jesus, reproduces his Master more fully than any other apostle. Listen to the Master’s words in the fourteenth chapter of John, fourth verse: “I go to prepare a place for you. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?” (Seventh verse)-“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him.” Hear how the know rings out! Again, attend to our Lord’s prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John-“Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has given me are of thee.” “They have known surely that I came out from thee.” “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.” The words of Jesus had so fastened upon John’s mind, and had so deeply impressed his heart, that when his soul wanted words it caught at those which had rooted themselves so firmly among the most happy memories of his life. I attribute the preponderance of the word “know,” which constitutes itself an idiom in the epistle, to the fact that the expressions of the Master had been treasured up by the servant.

Furthermore, John is one in whom we see very little of mental conflict. Thomas had brain in excess of heart, and hence he had his doubts, and exclaimed, “Except I put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” By-and-by he became a grand believer, and indeed a very leader in true doctrine, for he was the first that ever inferred the deity of Christ from his wounds when, looking at the scars, he said, “My Lord and my God.” John was too intimate with Christ to doubt, and he had too much heart to be a questioner, too much of earnest, intense, loving life to be subject to those diseases which spring from preponderance of intellect over affection. His soul was, like his Lord’s, on fire with love divine, and it burnt up the chaff of doubt too rapidly for it even, to have seemed to be there. It had only to be scattered over the flame to vanish at once. It is very beautiful to notice how positive John is in his writing. I like the commencement of his epistle, it is so different from the wavering talk which we hear now-a-days. He begins thus-“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon (that is, intensely gazed upon) and our hands have handled of the word of life; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Is not this true “positivism”? Where will you find it if you do not find it here? Speak of dogmatism! Here is dogmatic teaching indeed. He does not hestitate, or fear, or doubt for one moment. His evidence is too sure, and his conviction too firm; and hence it is that he rings out that bell so clearly, “We know, we know, we know.”

The full assurance, expressed by the word “know” arises from the fact that perfect love always casts out hesitancy and doubt, which are a form of fear, and, as John tells us, “Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.” Love cannot endure a doubt. If love is crossed with doubt it becomes jealousy, and that is cruel as the grave. A man had better meet a wolf in the depth of winter, or a bear robbed of her whelps, than a man in his jealousy, for his fury burns like coals of juniper, which have a most vehement flame. Love must have certainty. Those whom we dearly love must be beyond suspicion as to their reciprocal affection. As to a doubt whether there be a Christ, or whether he be the Son of God, or whether he loved us and gave himself for us, this may be indulged in by those who love not; but where love is supreme it sits in state like God upon the cherubim, and the Dagon of doubt falls down and is broken in pieces. If the church of the present age loved Jesus better she would speak much more confidently about him, and in so doing she would speak more like the oracles of God: but where the damp of lukewarm affection settles down, the cold chill of doubt is sure to follow; and it is in these wintry nights of declining love to Jesus that the frost of unbelief binds up the rivers of spiritual life. The Lord quicken the love of his church, and as soon as that is done, her sons will say, as John did, “We know, and we know, and we know,” and the grand old positive spirit of Luther and of Calvin, blazing with the enthusiasm which came with Whitefield and Wesley, will come back to the church, and God will bless the world thereby.

I am about to speak upon the forms of Christian knowledge. “We know” … “and we know” … “and we know.”

Here I note, first, that Christians have this knowledge in seven different forms, of which the one draws on the other, like golden links of a precious chain.

And, first, we know; that is to say, we have instruction; and herein we are saved from ignorance. The Christian is not ignorant of the gospel and its great primary truths, but he knows them, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and by searching the Word. That use of the term we have frequently in this epistle. I will give two specimens. The twentieth verse of the fifth chapter: “We know that the Son of God is come, and that he hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true.” We know the fact of incarnation, and the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have been so informed by the Scriptures. In the sixteenth verse of the fourth chapter we have another instance: “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.” We know the love of God, for it is revealed, and we accept the witness of the Spirit concerning it.

We know the great facts of the gospel, and this is no small blessing. Myriads of our fellow creatures are unaware of the first principles of the faith, scarcely knowing that there is a God, and altogether ignorant of the wondrous plan of redemption by the blood of Jesus. Even in this (so called) Christian country there is much ignorance about these things. I wish that Christian people would more frequently question others about what they know of Christ. No book is less read, in proportion to its circulation, than the Bible, and certainly no book is less understood. With all the preaching we have-and some of it is very excellent-there is every-where a great ignorance of the rudimentary truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One is surprised to find that the language which is used in the pulpit is not understood at all by the mass of the people. They do not know where the preacher is he is somewhere up in the clouds, they learn nothing from his big words. They suppose it is all right, and very good, and they listen to it; but as far as instruction is concerned many a preacher might almost as well speak in Syriac. “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.” It is a happy thing to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come in the flesh, that he took upon himself the sins of his people, that he bore the wrath of God on their behalf, that by believing in him men are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. It is a blessed thing to know that “in him we have redemption through his blood,” and sanctification and eternal life. It is a blessed thing to know the Holy Ghost; to know that he converts the soul, and comforts, and illuminates, and guides, and sanctifies; it is well to know something of the future life; to know the doctrine of election, the doctrine of effectual calling, and the doctrine of the eternal security of the saints. Many there be who have not found out these truths; and if we have done so, it is not a thing to boast of, but a matter to be very thankful for. I am afraid the Bible is so common that we are not duly grateful for it; and the preaching of the gospel has become so usual a thing to us that we are not sufficiently mindful of the high privilege conferred upon any one who is permitted to hear it. Be glad, dear friends, that so far as instruction in the gospel is concerned we are not left in the dark, but we can say, thanks be to God, we know, for we have been taught, some of us from our youth up; we know, for we have searched the Scriptures; we know, for we have listened to a gospel ministry; we know, for we have weighed, and judged, and studied these things for ourselves.

There is a far higher knowledge than this, which I shall speak of secondly. By knowing is frequently meant apprehending and understanding. This kind of knowledge is opposed to a mere hearing of doctrines and facts without understanding their inner meaning. To wit, a man may know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he died, but he may not understand the great truth of substitution, and why and wherefore Jesus died. Now, I do not say that any very deep understanding of the truth is necessary to salvation, but I do say that it is an inestimable privilege to be able to go deep into these things, and to know not merely the facts but the reason of the facts, and the teaching of the facts. A nut is very well, but I prefer to crack the shell, and get the kernel. It is delightful to read the Word, but to meditate upon it and understand it is the great matter. In instruction we are like the cow when cropping the grass, but apprehension is like the same creature ruminating: when she lies down and chews the cud, it is then that the real nourishment is gained. John uses the word “know” in that sense in the second clause of the twentieth verse of our text: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding that we may know.” That is, he has taught us what is meant by his coming. From our very childhood we knew that Jesus came in the flesh, but perhaps it is only a little while ago that we understood how

“He bore, that we might never bear,

His Father’s righteous ire,”-

and how he stands as our representative before the throne of God at this moment. We know the doctrine of imputed righteousness as a matter of fact, but, perhaps, we have not even now entered into the full sense of our acceptance in the Beloved. I urge upon every one who knows the truth to pray daily for a deeper understanding of its innermost meaning, that he may know the marrow and fatness of the covenant, may dig into the mines of revelation, and turn up those masses of gold which surface readers never discover. The Scriptures do not at once yield up the whale of their wealth even to a student. He must dig and dig, and dig and dig again. Jerome used to say, “I adore the plenitude of Holy Scripture;” and well he might, for there is a mighty fulness in it. I think it was Henry Martin who, when he had to translate the Bible into the Persian, said that he never knew the Word so well as when he had to go over every syllable of it. You remember Uncle Tom spelling “L-e-t let, n-o-t not, y-o-u-r your, h-e-a-r-t-s hearts be troubled,” and so on, and how he said that every letter of it was sweet. After you have thought over a verse for hours you feel persuaded that you have found out its full teaching; perhaps you have looked to learned authors and noticed the correct text, and many good thoughts thereon, and yet further on a new meaning starts up; and perhaps weeks after, when that text has been abiding under your tongue like a sweet morsel, you all on a sudden say, “I never saw this before. Here is something fresh and more wonderful still. Now I know the inmost sense of this delightful Scripture.”

How I wish that all Christians in this sense knew, so that they could say “We know, we know, we know.” We ought not merely to assert our belief in an orthodox creed, but we should know the meaning of it. We should not merely confess that such and such are our doctrinal sentiments; but we should go into truths like bees into the cups of the flowers, and find out where their honey lies. O that we could all feel that we have gone into the secret caves of revelation, the Spirit of God holding a flaming torch and leading us into all truth! O that we might all see the innumerable sparkles of those precious gems which glitter in the deep places where the lion’s whelp hath not trodden, far down where only the Spirit of God can lead, and where only an eye that has been touched with heavenly eye-salve can see! Oh, for a church made up of people who understand, and therefore know!

We know by instruction, and we know by apprehension; but there is a sweeter sense than this. We know, in a third sense, by personal acquaintance. You will find that meaning in such passages as the second chapter, at the thirteenth and fourteenth verses-“I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.” Our text is another specimen. “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him.” I will not quote all the texts; there are many of that kind. Thus we know the Lord himself. A friend comes to you and he says, “Do you know such a person?” You say first, “I know there is such a person”-that is instruction. Being further asked, “But, do you know him?” you answer, “Well, I know that he was a fine tall man, a soldier in the infantry, and that he went to the Crimea.” That is a sort of knowing him by apprehension, but does not fully answer the question, “Do you know him?” You say, “Well, I cannot say that I know him, for if I were to see him I could not recognise him, I have never even spoken to him.” To be acquainted with a man is a higher order of knowledge than the former, and in that sense believers know God, and know Jesus Christ, and know the Holy Spirit. They are acquainted with God. “No man hath seen God at any time,” but we have spoken to him, and he has spoken to us. We have not heard his voice with these ears, but we are sure that we have heard him in our hearts. Our spirits know his voice. We have sometimes been bowed down with terror as he has spoken, and brought us under the spirit of bondage, but now we know the sound of his voice as a spirit of love, and we respond to it, crying, “Abba, Father.” We know the voice of Jesus. We are like the sheep who will not follow a stranger, “for they know not the voice of strangers;” but we know Jesus, and when he speaks to our souls we answer to his call. We not only know his voice, but we know him. We have come into personal contact with the Christ of God, not in mere imagination, but in fact. As surely as we live, the eternal God in Jesus Christ has looked upon us and has touched us-nay, more, has wrought a miracle on us, and has made us new creatures, “begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” I speak not of you all. I speak only of those of whom it is true that they do know the Lord. The Lord Jesus has become our familiar acquaintance. We tell him all our griefs. There is not a trouble but we carry to him, not a sorrow but we pour it into his bosom; and he, on the other hand, reveals his heart to us, for “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.”

True believers, especially full-grown believers, when they are advanced in the divine life, know the Lord Jesus Christ as they know their friends, yea, as they know their very selves. They speak with him as a man speaketh with his friend; they even know him as they cannot know their friends, for they have received him into themselves, and they have become one with him. They have eaten his flesh and drunk his blood, and he is in them, and they in him-an intimate knowledge excelling all other knowledge beneath the sun. Though they do not profess to know all that is to be known of Christ, for there is a love of Christ that passeth knowledge, and heights and depths there are beyond all mortal ken, yet they do know him, and their daily aspiration is to know him more and more fully.

See, then, that as apprehension surpasses instruction, so acquaintance rises far beyond apprehension. May you and I know with this third knowledge, and live in the sweet enjoyment of it all our days.

Out of this rises a fourth degree of knowledge, namely, that of certainty as opposed to scepticism. When we are under instruction doubts may arise; when we apprehend and understand doubts may still trouble us; but when we come to be acquainted with Jesus, they are less likely to haunt us. Out of fellowship with Jesus springs the higher state of absolute certainty as to divine things. John himself was very certain. I read to you the commencement of his epistle just now, and you saw how confident he was; and we find him writing all through his epistle with equal strength and force of assurance. He says in the third chapter, the fifth verse, “Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin, and in him is no sin.” And in the twenty-fourth verse, “And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” In the fifth chapter read verse nineteen: “We know that we are of God;” and few as he felt that his brethren were, and the whole world engaged on the other side, in the spirit of Athanasius he cries, “The whole world lieth in the wicked one.” He allows no force to the evidence even of a contradicting world, because one man abiding in the truth has more weight in his witness than millions under the power of the father of lies. Now, brethren, this is a blessed state to get into-that of certainty. I am utterly amazed at hearing it continually asserted that the thoughtful public teacher must make great allowances for “the spirit of the age, which is one of earnest scepticism.” I do not believe it. The spirit of the age is that of thoughtlessness and trifling. But what have I or any other Christian man to do with the spirit of the age? The spirit which is in us by which we ought to speak is the Spirit of God, and not the spirit of the age. In what spirit are Christian ministers to speak? The spirit of the first century, while the first century lasts, I suppose; the spirit of the second century when the second century comes in; and so from age to age the spirit of the Christian is to alter. Can it be so? You remember when they condemned Leighton because he did not speak according to the times, he replied, “If all of you are speaking for the times, let one poor brother speak for eternity.” Was he not correct? Surely the spirit of the truth never changes, for truth is immutable. Surely the Spirit of God never alters, for he is divine. Have we one medicine for one age, and another medicine for another? Does it run thus-“Go ye into all the world and adapt the gospel to every century”? I find it not so written. Our standing orders are, Preach the gospel, the gospel, the same gospel, to every creature, thoughtful or thoughtless, philosophical or ignorant, civilised or uncivilised. Semper idem is the motto which the gospel may write above her temples. There let it stand. She cannot alter. For her to alter were death to truth and treason to Christ. Though we believe not, and though the age grow doubting, he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself. Ah, brethren, if you are not certain about these things, may God grant that you may be certain. Oh, to be uncertain whether the Saviour loved me and gave himself for me, it were as death to my soul! Some find delight in pulling down, as far as they can, the eternal pillars of the temple; but to see a sacrilegious hand laid on the least of them is painful in the extreme. There hangs my hope on yonder bloody tree, where the incarnate God offered up expiation for my sin; if you can disprove the doctrine of atonement, my comfort is gone, I care no more to live, there remaineth nothing for me. Therefore is my soul driven back by sheer necessity to fundamental truths, and cannot be content till she casts away the rubbish of human opinion, and gets down to the rock again-the sheer granite of eternal verities which God hath spoken, which are “yea” and “amen” in Christ Jesus. Brethren, labour after this. Let it not be to you a question whether there is such a thing as regeneration; it cannot be a question if you yourself are regenerate. It will not be a question whether there is such a thing as justification, if you are justified. You cannot doubt as to sanctification, if you are yourself consciously sanctified, any more than angels in heaven will doubt whether there is a heaven while living there and enjoying the glory of it. May we get up to this fourth point, which is that of absolute certainty as opposed to scepticism.

But now, fifthly, there is a knowledge of another kind, very useful in these days, namely, that of discernment as opposed to a readiness to receive erroneous teaching. That meaning was intended by John. Read in the second chapter, beginning at the eighteenth verse:-“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” He does not mean that the saints know everything, but they judge, they discern, they know truth from error. When doctrine presents itself to you, ye know whether it is of Christ or of antichrist, and act accordingly. You are able to judge, to discern, and to distinguish. In the fourth chapter you have it again, at the second verse:-“Hereby know we the Spirit of God (or discern the Spirit of God). Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” “Hereby,” says he in the sixth verse, “know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” We know which is which, even as our Lord says-“A stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.” And again, “I know my sheep, and am known of mine.” There is a spirit of discernment, and much is it wanted now-a-days. It comes to us in the following way: Instruction, apprehension, acquaintance, certainty,-these bring discernment to detect the false from the true. Very delightful, too, is it to my mind, to see how the least instructed Christian, who does not know his Lord and love him, is not to be led astray. More professors like to hear a man who can speak fluently; and if he will use very pretty phrases and talk about cataracts, and the rippling rills, and the skies, and the clouds, and heaven knows what besides of mimic poetry, they cry up the orator mightily. The child of God thinks not so, for he has another way of judging. He says when he hears such rhetoric, “There was nothing for me.” “What do you mean? There were plenty of flowers.” “I cannot eat flowers,” saith he. He judges whether he was fed or not, and he knows what he can eat. Nobody teaches sheep what is good for food and what is not; they know by instinct. I do not suppose they could preach a sermon upon, healthy herbs and unhealthy plants, but they know by some means, and so do believers. They could not write it down; they could not compose an essay upon discernment: but they know what they can feed upon, and they know what they cannot feed upon, and they have very sure tests within them. “Ah,” says the believer, “that will not do for me. There is no Christ in it. I cannot away with it.” They listen to some humble preacher, who loves Jesus Christ and lifts him high, and they say, “Ah, well. He puts his h’s in the wrong places, and his grammar is deficient; but we were blessed, for when he exalted our Master and preached of him our very hearts danced within us for joy.” I have felt just that myself: I have sat and cried as if my heart would break to hear Jesus Christ spoken of by a plain working man; but have felt indignant when I have listened to a learned thinker confusing the minds of the simple by words worth nothing at all. I was yesterday in a certain place, where needing refreshment, it was pressed upon me to purchase something, which was said to be very good to eat; and as far as I could make out when I partook of it, it was nothing beaten up and blown out to a great size, and a little sugar powdered over it; and it reminded me of the sermons that I have read, in which there was nothing whatever, only it was blown out extensively, developed into a great size, and a little sugar of rhetoric put to it. Hungry souls cannot feed on wind. They will not have it. They very soon go away. Of course the fine fashionable people, the empty professors, who look for words only, say, “Oh, you must not be uncharitable. We cannot expect doctrine in every sermon,” and so on. Thus, like the wild asses, they sniff up the wind and are satisfied therewith; but not so the people of God, they feel that time is too short, and eternity too long, and hell too terrible, and heaven too precious, to have their Sundays frittered away by pretty little essays which have as much connection with Mahometanism as with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are plenty of such preachers abroad, and abundance of gentlemen who will pat them on the back and say, “These are highly intellectual brethren, and are fit to occupy large spheres.” Our business is to preach Jesus Christ, and if we cannot preach him, let us take to tailoring, or ploughing, or cobbling, or some other honest way of earning one’s livelihood. To preach anything else but Christ crucified, is to betray our Lord and Master, and most assuredly to bring upon ourselves confusion and condemnation in the last great day of account. May we have, dear brethren, given to us the spirit of discrimination that we may know the precious from the vile, for if we do so as preachers we shall be as God’s mouth; and may we as hearers have the same discrimination, that we may ever be able to receive that which is of God, and to reject at once with solemn determination that which is according to the spirit of the world and not after Jesus Christ.

I pass on from that form of knowledge to another, which is this; by knowledge in this epistle is frequently meant assurance in opposition to anxiety. That is the frequent use of the term here, as in the second chapter, the third to the eighth verse:-“Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.” Then in the fourteenth verse of the third chapter:-“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” In the twenty-fourth verse:-“Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath given us.” Far too seldom do Christians reach this point. They should do so; and they should come up the ladder by the steps I have described; but many seem to think that it is almost necessary for them always to say most timorously, “I hope I am in Christ. I trust I am saved.” They dare not say, “I know that I am in him, and that his Spirit is in me.” Now, if they have never reached this round of the ladder, God forbid we should condemn them, for some of God’s children remain trembling and doubting for many a day; yet they should not be content to be there. It ought to be the desire and aim of every one of us to know whether we are saved or not, because it is not a question that we can afford to leave in doubt. Any person here who has invested his money in any commercial enterprise, who should have it hinted to him this evening when he reaches home that it is an, unsound concern, would not be at all likely to be quiet until he had discovered whether it was so or not; and therefore our souls’ eternal interests, which are far more important, cannot be allowed to remain in suspense. As soon as ever the question is raised a sensible man will be unsatisfied till it is settled. “Can it be settled?” says some one. “Can it be?” Oh, brethren, believe me, many of us do know our calling and election. Why? Because God has given us infallible tokens. He says, “Whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ hath everlasting life.” We do believe in him; we trust him with all our hearts, and God has said that we are saved and have everlasting life. Shall we doubt God? Then “we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” If we feel a hearty love to God’s people, inspiration tells us that we have passed from death unto life. Shall we doubt it? No, we will believe it. “Well,” says one, “that seems to me to be presumption.” Do you think so? Suppose you promise your children to-night that you will take them out to-morrow morning, and one of them says to you, “Well, father, I hope you will.” There is no joy in his countenance,-why? Because he says he does not think you will; he is afraid it would be presumption to believe you. Do you not think it is presumption in him to doubt you? Look at that other little one. You say, “Jane, I shall take you out to-morrow.” She claps her hands with delight; the thoughts of doubting you never enters her little head. Is she presumptuous? What, presumptuous to believe her father! Surely, it never can be presumption to believe God! To disbelieve God and to think highly of yourself-that is presumption; but to trust God and to believe his word, is there any presumption in that? “Ah,” says one, “but if I knew for a certainty that I was saved I am afraid that I should grow careless.” Why so? Full assurance is the very thing that makes men watchful. They feel it such a great joy to be beloved of God that they are afraid of doing anything to grieve him. The man who does not know whether he has any money or not is not likely to be very watchful over the box which may, perhaps, contain something, or may not; but if he knows that he has a treasure there, he will take good care that nobody shall rob him of it. Brethren, if we were slaves, under the spirit of bondage, and had to be whipped to do what was right by the fear of being sent to hell, that would be one thing; but the children of God are not slaves, they are sons; and because God’s everlasting love to his own dear children can never turn into hate, do they therefore disobey their heavenly Father? God forbid! Assurance is the mainspring of holiness in a Christian.

The last word is this. There is another knowledge, namely, the knowledge of unstaggering faith, which knows a thing which is not as yet. You have an instance in the second verse of the third chapter. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Why, O great apostle, did you not say, “We hope that when he shall appear”? No, no, he did not hope it at all: he knew it: he was sure of it. But do we not generally say, “We trust that when Christ shall appear it will be so”? So far true; but oh, it is better when faith reckons the things that are not as though they were. A man will take a thousand pound cheque from his neighbour, and say, “I have the money.” “My dear sir, you have not. You have only a piece of paper.” “Ah,” says he, “but it has a good name to it. It is as good as gold.” Surely the promise of a God that cannot lie is as good as the fulfilment!

I bless God that for some little time instead of worrying myself about a thousand things which concern this Church, and the College, and the Orphanage, and the Colportage,-whenever I have any sort of trouble it has been my sweet privilege to breathe a prayer to God and leave all my anxieties at his feet. I do the best I can to keep things right, and then I leave them with the Lord. If these works are not his work, then let them go to pieces. If they are, then he will attend to them. I am an instrument in his hands, and as such I do the little I can do, and leave the rest to him. It is wonderful how smoothly things go when we trust them with the Lord. Your fidgetting and worrying do all the mischief. Something gets between the wheels, and they will not work; and I will tell you what that something is. It is your own finger, and when you feel such a squeeze that you cannot bear it, it is a lesson to you. Take your finger out, and let it alone. The best way to do with a great trouble is to pray to God about it, and then put it on the shelf, and never take it down any more. You have come here on a week-night, some of you, with a heavy burden. All the time the preaching is going on, and the praying, and singing, you have lost your load, or have not felt it, but just as you get outside, you say, “I have left my burden inside! Let me go and take it up again;” and you feel it on your mind as heavily as ever. Beloved, this is not the way to trust God. The way to trust him is to cast your care on him altogether. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” Be sure that when you pass through the rivers they shall not overflow you, and through the fires, they shall not burn you. Be sure that as your days so shall your strength be. Be sure that God will bring you through, for he will deliver his people out of all troubles, and give them a sure admittance into his eternal kingdom and glory. We should speak with certainty. Of troubles and trials and deliverance from them, and of all the future we should say, as our text has it, “We know, and we know, and we know.” That is how Paul spoke. “We know that all things work together for good.” He did not say he thought it, and he hoped it, but “we know.” “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” and by its assuring power “we know, and we know, and we know.”

Now, dear reader, if you are unconverted, what do you know? If you know not the Lord, what do you know? Nothing that is of any use to you spiritually, by any true knowledge. Oh that God might make you know this,-that you are lost by nature, and unless forgiven, you will be lost for ever and ever; and when you know that, I pray the Lord by his Spirit to make you know that there is a Saviour, and that he is able to save unto the uttermost: and then may he make you know in the fullest sense that he loved you and gave himself for you. So may you know him, and be found in him when he comes in the clouds of heaven. Amen.