C. H. SPURGEON

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Thursday Evening, May 14th, 1885,

On behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

“And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.… Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.”-2 Chronicles 34:15, 18, 19.

Hilkiah had found the Book, and it was a more important find than if he had discovered a mine of diamonds, or perpetual motion, or a new world. Oh, that Book, that wonderful Book! Was there ever anything like it under heaven? Well may it be a power when we come to think of what it is,-the Book of the law of the living God! How reverently did he lift it from its hiding-place, remove its dust, and commence to read its title and contents! This particular Book of the law was probably the first five Books of Moses, commonly called the Pentateuch. Some have thought that it was only the Book of Deuteronomy; but it is too late in the day for us to decide with confidence its exact form; we know that it was “a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses” (2 Chron. 34:14), probably an autograph copy by Moses. Of that we cannot be sure; but whatever hand may have written the letters, what a Book the law of the Lord is! The Old Testament is a light divine which has led multitudes of saints to the Lord’s right hand, and its lustre is not dimmed by the New Testament, but increased thereby. Not one tittle of it has failed, or shall fail; it liveth and abideth for ever. Taking an enlarged view of the law of the Lord to-day, and holding in our hands two Testaments, both the Old and the New, what a marvellous Book the Bible is! Earth does not contain an equal wonder.

It is a Book which has God for its Author; for, though there be many authors, and the Book be divided into many treatises, yet it is all of one as to its innermost authorship, since holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. A divine originality runs through it all; marks of the divine mind abound in every portion, and the Holy Spirit still inspires it all, and breathes it into the hearts of believing readers. Matthew and Mark, and Luke and John are here, but we scarcely observe them as compared with the higher light, the light of God which illuminates every page. The Book is saturated with a heavenly life.

What God has written is to be received with the utmost reverence. It is a pity that so many treat this Sacred Volume as they would treat any ordinary book; they sit on the throne of judgment, and sway the sceptre of criticism, as if they would call God himself to their bar. Surely they have never heard in their heart and conscience the sound of that question, “Who art thou that repliest against God?” If God be not its Author, this Book is a gross imposture, and the sooner we treat it as such the better; but if God be its Author, let us bow before it obediently, and accept it as our infallible directory.

As it has God for its Author, so it commends itself to us as inestimably precious because it has God’s mind for its matter. In this Book of the Lord the chief subject is himself and his ways, and his grace towards us his creatures. Here the Lord does not so much explain his works as his own personal ways, thoughts, and designs to our fallen race; he does not take the pen in hand to explain to us what he has written in the stone book, or to open up to us what he has printed in letters of light in yonder constellations; but to reveal his glorious grace which he has caused to dwell in all its fullness in Christ Jesus our Lord. He has left us to find out what we may of visible things,-a happy and healthful exercise for our minds; but he had something nobler to tell us when he inspired this Book. Herein he has told us his thoughts of man, and of the Man Christ Jesus; his thoughts upon our sin, and the ruin that comes of it; his thoughts as to how we may be saved, and what shall come out of that salvation. The windows of this Book look towards heaven, and truly they are windows of agate,-themselves precious, and giving us a view of still more precious things. Its doors open into eternity, and its gates lead into glory. Every page points to holiness and felicity, and attracts us thereto. Precious Book! I would say of thee what David said of Goliath’s sword, “There is none like that; give it me.” Thou art marrow and fatness, honey, wines on the lees well refined; yea, manna of angels, and water from the Rock Christ Jesus. Of all soul-medicines thou art the most potent; of all mental dainties thou art the sweetest; and of all spiritual food thou art the most sustaining.

As the Book has God for its Author, and God’s mind for its matter, so does it become invaluable to us because it is directed to us. It is not a letter written from God to the angels, nor is it sent to a race of beings alien from ourselves; but this Book is for men, and it is directed, not to our curiosity, nor to any of our lower faculties, but to the soul of our life, to the vital spirit of our manhood. It is God’s Word to the innermost man,-to our immortal part. He speaks here not only to our ears, but to our souls. He directs his teaching not to that part of us which shall die, but to that part of us which shall never cease to be, but shall be immortal as himself. If ever a man ought to concentrate all his faculties, and pray to be in the best mental order, it should be when he comes to study the Word of God upon matters which concern his noblest being. God grant, therefore, that in our hearts we may feel deep reverence for this marvellous Book which we shall not now lose as Israel almost lost it,-whose copies will never become scarce, as they were in Josiah’s day. The Word of the Lord will always be precious, but not through scarcity of copies now that the Bible Society is scattering them thick as autumn leaves. They will be always gems for value, and yet as pebbles of the brook for multitude.

He that reads this wondrous Book aright may well value it because of the boons which it will bring him. It will tell him how to be rid of all his sin, and free from the slavery of Satan. It will teach him how to bear his present burdens, and quit all needless cares. It will be a guide to him through the maze of life, a pillow for the bed of death. It will give him joy and peace through believing when the thickest troubles shall gather round about him, and it will make him ready for the future world when brightest glories shall shine upon him. Whatever thou needest for time or for eternity, this Book shall either give it to thee, or point thee to him who has it ready to give to thee if thou wilt bend thy knee before him. It is a golden mine of truth, and infinitely more; it is a treasury of blessings and delights, and even then I have not fully described it. It has for thee, O sheep of the Lord, all that thy good Shepherd sees that thou hast need of! Here are the green pastures wherein he maketh thee to feed and to lie down; and here flow the still waters, whereof if a man drink he shall never thirst, but shall joy and rejoice in God for ever.

I do not wonder that Hilkiah and Shaphan had the same value for the smaller Book which we believers in Christ have for the larger edition of it; for even a fragment of it is priceless. I do not wonder that they considered their treasure to be worthy of being brought before the king. If they had discovered where hidden coffers had been concealed by Solomon and the great kings that succeeded him, they would not have procured so glorious a present for the king of Judah as when they suddenly stumbled upon this Book of the law of the Lord.

To-night I shall try to speak of the whole question under three heads. And the first will be this: here is an instance of that peculiar preservation which God has extended to the Scriptures which he has inspired. It would seem, from this narrative, that copies of the Word of God had become extremely rare, for no other copy was known to exist. If anyone had known where there was a copy of the Pentateuch, the priest would have known, or the pious king’s secretary would have been informed of it. These appear to have been gracious men, learned men, and men to whom the people came; surely, if such a thing was procurable, they would have possessed a copy of the law of the Lord. Perhaps the faithful scattered up and down through Israel and Judah had copies of the Book, but they had grown so accustomed to conceal them from their persecutors that they kept the secret to themselves. If there were other copies, they were not known to those who had the best means of discovering them.

When Hilkiah discovered this copy of the Word of God, he was greatly surprised and overjoyed. What a singular providence it was that the Book was not quite destroyed! How fortunate that the one copy should have been left! It is believed by many-and I think that their belief is correct,-that this was the standard copy. If it was not the original, yet it was an authorized transcript which was to be regarded as the correct text; and it had been laid up in the ark of the Lord for that purpose. Perhaps, in some dark hour, for fear that it should be discovered even in the secret shrine of the tabernacle, a priest had hidden it away. The tradition is that it was buried beneath a heap of stones when Ahaz was seeking out copies of the Word to destroy them. By the divine providence of God, this one standard copy had been preserved, and now came to light. It may have been hidden carefully: then providence had provided the care-taker. It may have been thrown away carelessly: then providence had made even that carelessness to be the means of preserving the treasure. In any case, the law was still among men, and it had now fallen into careful and reverent hands. The God who gave it had preserved it.

Now look you along through all the ages, and if you are a reverent believer in the Word, you will be filled with grateful wonder that the Sacred Roll has been preserved to us. Through what perils it has passed, and yet, as I believe, there is not a chapter of it lost; nay, nor a verse of any chapter. The mis-readings of the copies are really so inconsiderable, and are so happily corrected by other manuscripts, that our Bible is a marvel in literature for the comparative ease with which the correct text is discoverable. It seems to me that God’s divine care has extended itself to the whole text, so that, with far less care than would be needed by any classic author, the very words of the Holy Spirit may be known. As the wings of cherubim overshadowed the mercy-seat, so do the wings of providence protect the Book of the Lord. As Michael guarded the body of Moses, so does a divine care secure the Books of Moses. I invite lovers of history and of famous books to look into the interesting story of the immortality of Scripture. Let us think of that special preservation with reverent gratitude.

The God of Israel had given rules for the preservation of the Scriptures, but they had evidently fallen into disuse. It is expressly laid down in the Book of Deuteronomy that each king was to copy out the Book of the law for himself. We have no evidence that any one of them did so. Most of the ordinances of the Lord to his chosen people were neglected almost as soon as they were given. Even in the wilderness, during forty years, the rite of circumcision, which lay at the base of everything, was unobserved. The feast of tabernacles was not kept for many and many a year; and the Passover, the most solemn of all rites, was not carefully celebrated; indeed, it had never been properly observed from the days of Samuel to the days of Josiah. It had been altered and debased from its original form. Alas! Christian ordinances have suffered from the same tendency to change. This proves the depraved nature of man, and his unwillingness to walk in the path of obedience. The plan of preserving the Sacred Book by the kings copying it had fallen into disuse, and hence the extreme scarcity of manuscripts around the court; yet even then the Word did not fail.

Nor was the Scripture alone in danger from the neglect to preserve it, but furious persecutions had been raised against the Holy Volume. The haters of it slew the prophets, broke down the memorials of God’s goodness to his people, and polluted the holy place of the Most High; and their rage did not spare his statutes. The law must be destroyed, or they would be still rebuked. You know, brethren, how from century to century that church which has no foundation in the Word of God has, with desperate determination, hunted after every copy of the inspired Volume to destroy it. It is not very long ago since that unchangeable church called the Scriptures “dangerous pastures.” Who and what must the shepherds be who use such language concerning the law of the Lord? But with all their burnings they have not destroyed the Book. With all their inquisitions and torture-chambers, faith in Scripture has survived. Still the Book teaches and preaches with a divine unction and authority. What Popery could not do, infidelity shall not do. Infidelity, some years ago, was going to blot out the name of Jesus from under heaven! Its boastful champion said that he was but one man, but in a few years he would undo all that was accomplished by the twelve apostles. His name is left to execration: the work of God goes on better than ever it did; and the grand old Book is scattered everywhere, falling fast and thick as snowflakes in the time of winter. I might almost say that the copies of the Bible are in number comparable to the sands of the sea. Think of nearly a million penny Testaments being scattered in a single year in this one land! These are leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations. There is a blessing in every line of the Sacred Record both for the present age and for years to come. This Word must abide among men till time shall be no more. God be thanked for it.

The passage before us is a very beautiful instance of how under every difficulty, when every regulation has been neglected, and the utmost fury goes forth against the Word, yet the Word liveth and abideth for ever. The fact is, that providence is the ally of revelation. From the Word of the Lord creation started; by the Word of the Lord creation is sustained; and everything seems to know the source from which it came, and every creature lends itself to the preservation of that grand Word by which it exists. Depend upon it, brethren, the Book is not alone; God is always with it. God hath put a wall of fire around the revelation of his will, and with omnipotence he guardeth it against all who would harm it. God is always with those who tremble at his Word; and when there shall come times of darkness and of sorrow, and ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, never question what the end will be; for “the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.” He that sitteth on the floods as King for ever and ever will so order all things that his Word shall have yet greater sway, and his gospel shall conquer the hearts of men.

But, oh, how should we love the Book, and how should we stand up for it, and guard it jealously, since God has guarded it so well! Let every man of God be like Solomon’s valiant men of Israel, who watched about the bed of the king, each man with his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night; for there is much fear just now for the truth of God. I mean, of course, to us poor puny beings there is danger; there is no fear in the great heart of the Eternal. There is no fear as to the accomplishment of his purposes; for he is strong in power, and not one faileth. What our fathers preserved with their blood we will preserve with our lives. That which bore them to a martyr’s death, singing as they went, we will not consent to throw away. If any man has another gospel, let him keep it; I am satisfied with mine. If any man has found another Bible, let him read it; I am satisfied with my mother’s old Bible, and the Bible of my ancestors. If discoveries are to be made concerning a new way of the salvation of men, let them make them who care to do so; the old way has saved me, and the old way has saved multitudes of others; and therein shall I abide, God helping met, come what may; and so will you, my brethren, and together we will rejoice that God preserves his Book, and continues to give his Holy Spirit with it. God will uphold the truth that is in this Book; and the men that hold that truth shall be upheld. “For ever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven;” and similar eternal settlements are made for all whose hope is fixed upon that Word.

Having glanced at this, I ask you to think for a little upon another point, and that is the commendable communication concerning this Book. Hilkiah finds it; Hilkiah hands it to the royal secretary, whose name was Shaphan. Shaphan reads a bit of it, and makes quite sure that it is what it professes to be, and then straightway he goes with it to the king. The king holds a Bible-reading with him; and when the king has read the Sacred Roll himself, he summons all the people, and reads the Book to them. The point is this: if you have found the Word of God, make it known to others. Keep not this honey to yourself.

Hilkiah handed to Shaphan the Book without note or comment. It was the Book with no apocryphal matter rolled up with it. It was the Book of the law of God in its purest state. He who found the Book delighted in it, but he passed it on; and the next passed it on, and the next passed it on, and the next circulated it still farther. All the nation soon heard of what was written in the Book. The handers-on of the Volume do not appear to have tarried long. Hilkiah rejoiced, and said to secretary Shaphan, “I have found the Book of the law;” and Shaphan did not delay a month, but went straight away to let the king know; and the king, after he had rent his clothes, and expressed his sorrow for national sin, and enquired at the hand of the Lord’s prophetess, published the divine message to the people, and read the law to them. The moral is: continually make known God’s Holy Word. If thou hast obtained light, let thy brother light his candle at thy candle. If thou hast seen anything of God, tell thy brother what thou hast seen. Let not God’s Book grow mouldy in thine own hand, but pass it on, and let another read what thou hast read to thy salvation and to thy comfort, that he also may be saved and comforted. Let your light shine. Scatter the bread of heaven. Distribute the balm of Gilead.

How can we do this? Well, I believe that it is the duty of every Christian man not only to preach the gospel, and to tell to others of his own experience of it, but also literally to pass on the Book itself. You may possibly make a mistake as to your explanation of it; but you will make no mistake if you give away the Book itself, and pray the Spirit of God himself to explain it to the reader. Money should be spent by each one of us in scattering Bibles. With Testaments at a penny, who would not give Testaments away? With Bibles so cheap as they are, and withal so beautiful to look upon, many of them, who would not think it a good investment frequently to give to the young, to your relatives, to your friends, a copy of the Book? Suit the size of the copy to the person, and so give that your present will be valued. What better marriage gift than a family Bible? What better present for an aged person than one of the large-print Bibles? Oh, what gladness you might give to many a humble cottager by the present of such a Book! I have seen them with their old thumbed Bibles, trying to read them when they have strained their eyes, and I have pitied them. We who are getting old know the luxury of a fine large print. You who have the means should take care that there is not an elderly person who, for lack of large type, is unable to read the Word of God. I hope that few houses are quite without a copy of the Word of God; but, while I hope so, I have often had my hopes very rudely dashed to the ground by discoveries of people who possess no Bible.

I fear also that millions, who possess copies of the Word of God, never think of reading them. I have been at night, not far from here, in the houses of persons thought to be respectable, and there has been death very near; and I have said, “Bring me the Bible, that I may read a passage of Scripture;” and they have hunted high and low, and none has been found. This was not for lack of means to buy, but for lack of care to have. It is for us, at any rate, to endeavour liberally to scatter copies of the Word.

You are doing this when you help the man who spends his life in the work of translation. How can there be Bibles to give away in foreign languages until the Book has been translated into them? The scholar must live while he has the work of translation to do. Subscriptions given to the Bible Society are a handing over of the Scriptures to tribes that sit in darkness, who by this means shall see a great light.

If you cannot give away Bibles, I believe you do a good work when you sell them, or give money to help to produce them cheaply. If you cannot afford a whole Bible, something is done when a portion is given away, or a Gospel is left in a cottage. You can never tell what may come of a single portion of the Word of God,-ay, of a leaf of it. Instead of regretting, as I have heard some do, that Bibles are sometimes sold for waste paper, and goods are done up in them, I am glad that it should be so. I admire the enterprise of Andrew Fuller, and some others long ago, who printed hymns upon papers which were to be used in the sale of cottons and other small wares. They gave those papers to tradesmen that they might do their goods up in them. So long as the truth does but travel, it does not matter how. If you can place the Bible where men may read it, who knows what may result? I knew a friend who, in purchasing his tobacco, found it done up in a passage of the Word of God, and by the perusal of that portion became a converted man. Let us not be afraid of what will become of the Book, for it is quite able to take care of itself; only let us imitate Hilkiah and Shaphan and Josiah, and make it known wherever we have the opportunity. Hast thou bread to eat while the multitudes are dying of hunger in the streets, and wilt thou eat thy morsel alone? Then shame on thee! Is the plague mowing down its thousands, and hast thou medicine that can stay the disease, and dost thou conceal the recipe and hide the remedy in thine own chest? Then shame on thee! Dost thou see millions going down to hell, and hast thou the good news of how they may escape that place of misery, and enter into glory; and wilt thou not tell it, or wilt thou not hand is on in the form of a Book? Then shame upon thee! How is he a Christian who has no sympathy with the Bible Society? How is he a Christian who in some shape or other does not spread this matchless Word?

And now, lastly, I want to call your attention to the best thing of the whole; and that is, notice the important influence of this Book when it was read.

We find that, as soon as the king heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes. First of all, he read it. The Book has no value if it be not read. Nowadays, we do not so much need Bibles as Bible-readers. Are any of you in that condition,-that you would not be without a Bible in your house, and yet you never read it? Do you treat this Book as a fetich? Do you reverence words which you do not care to read? Is there some kind of witchcraft about paper and binding in a certain form? Do you think it a very pious thing to put a big Bible under your arm, and march to a place of worship with it, and yet never read it? Oh, fall not into such folly! It is the reader and the understander of the Word who gets the blessing from it. This Book is like a nut, and you must crack the nut by reading and meditation, and so get the kernel, or it will not feed your soul.

Now, the first result of this Book upon the king was, that he rent his clothes. How many here present, if they would but read the Word, and if the Holy Ghost would bless it to them, would have to rend their hearts, if not their garments! You, my friend, if you are not born again, if you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, are in such a condition that, if you knew your danger, the joints of your loins would be loosened, and for fearful astonishment you would be ready to fall to the ground. You are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity, and do not know it. You lie under the wrath of God, and the curse of the law is upon you, and you do not know it; and all for want of reading and believing what this Book would tell you,-would tell you most assuredly and infallibly. I fear me, there never is a congregation without a considerable number who have need to read this Book, if for nothing else, in order that they might know their real state. There is a prayer which I often pray, and I venture to commend it to many here; I pray, “Lord, let me always know the worst of my case.” I cannot bear the idea of being self-deceived, of fancying that I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, when in God’s sight I am naked, and poor, and miserable. Read your Bibles, that you may be honest with yourselves,-that you may not deceive yourselves by thinking that you are something when you are nothing. That is the first effect of the Word. “Oh!” say you, “it would make me miserable even to read it.” Very likely it would; but by such misery you would come to sure and healthful happiness. By such a disturbance you would come to a lasting and acceptable peace.

After the king had rent his garments, he then began to enquire after the God who had sent this Book. Now, notice this. If any of you have never done this, pray that you may read the Book,-ay, read the more terrible parts of it as well as the more cheering portions, in such a way that, having read it, you may seek this God who thus speaks to you in loving faithfulness. Endeavour to learn of him how you may be saved; labour to know him personally; for it is written, “Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace.” It is of no avail to be acquainted with the Scriptures if you are not acquainted with God. You may read the Scriptures till you perish, unless you see God in the glass of Scripture; for it is to him that you must come. A personal Christ must have personal dealings with a personal sinner, or else there will be no personal salvation. And the value of the Book lies mainly in this,-that it does not let you stop at itself, but it paints as with a finger of light to the cross, and with a still small voice it whispers, “There your hope lies. Look there.” The Lord Jesus takes up the cry of the Book, and utters that gracious command, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” O that you would look and live! Scatter the Bible, Christian people, in order that it may be like a sharp two-edged sword to kill self-righteousness, and that it may also be a finger of love to point sinners to the cross of Christ.

After this happened, and Josiah began to understand the Book, he entered upon a reformation. I will not say how many things in England need reformation; but certainly we need it in a great many forms, ecclesiastical, doctrinal, social, moral, and political. The Bible is the greatest of reformers. You thought, perhaps, I should have applied that term to Luther, or Calvin, or Zwingle; but this is the reformer that reformed Luther; this is the teacher that instructed Calvin; this is the prophet that fired the heart of Zwingle. Whilst this Book is extant, error will always be in danger of overthrow. An open Bible, and men may cavil, and criticise, and invent new doctrines if they please; but this is the rock on which they will split. As God lives, his truth must live; and all that is of man’s imagining and scheming, and that comes not out of this Book, shall be broken to pieces. The grass withereth, but the Word abideth. “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” If you seek to have the social fabric purged of the leprosy which now eats into its very walls, scatter this Book. If you want to uplift the fallen, and to purify the defiled, scatter this Book, that men may be cleansed by it. If you want to see the Church of God made one, and her various dividing errors put away, scatter this Book. If you desire to see a blessed unity in the truth, scatter this Book. If you would dispense a perfect blessing, scatter the Bible, for all good lies here. We need no novel teachings to restore the glory of the Church; we only need to come back to the purity of Scripture. That great reformation which broke down all the idols in Judah and Israel came of the discovery of this Book; and there remains for us at this day no better means of reform and revival. God send to England this choice mercy, that it may become a Bible-reading nation, a Bible-loving nation, a Bible-obeying nation; and that shall be the best thing that can happen to our native land. God grant it!

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

2 CHRONICLES 34:14-33

Verse 14, 15. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

This was a very remarkable find. Of all the discoveries that they might have made, they could have discovered nothing that would work so much good to all the people as this “book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.”

16-19. And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

Such was his horror upon discovering how they had all sinned, and how many terrible judgments were to be inflicted upon them because of all that long time of sin, that he rent his clothes.

20, 21. And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king’s, saying, Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found:

Oh, that all who read God’s Book now would do as young Josiah did! If there be any difficulty in a book, the short way to get to understand it is to enquire of the author; and, surely, never is there greater wisdom than, having read any of the deep mysteries or solemn threatenings in this Volume, and feeling ourselves staggered by them, we enquire of the Lord concerning them. I believe that there is many a puzzling passage in the Bible on purpose that we may be driven to enquire of the Lord about it. If the Book were all so easy of understanding that, at the first reading of it, we could comprehend all its meaning, we might, perhaps, keep away from God; but he has purposely given us many dark sentences, and made the sense to be somewhat obscure in order that we may wait upon his enlightening Spirit, and so obtain instruction, for the Spirit of God is more useful to us even than the Word itself is. Great as the blessing of the Book is, the blessing of the living Spirit is greater still, and anything is good that drives us to him. That which had influenced the mind of Josiah was the terror of the Book.

21-28. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book. And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect. And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

When God selects an instrument for his own service, how well he tunes it for the use to which it is to be put! Here is a woman, a married woman, and she is selected to be the Lord’s prophetess to the king; but never has any man spoken more bravely than she did. Her opening words show a holy courage which is lifted above all fear of men: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,” for before God kings are only men; and though Huldah was only a subject of Josiah, see with what real dignity God’s ordination had invested her. Josiah was not to succeed in the reformation of Israel. He was true and sincere, but the people were steeped in hypocrisy, and formality, and idolatry, and they did not go with the king in all his root and branch reforms. They still clung in their hearts to their idols, and therefore they must be destroyed, and the nation must be carried away captive. It was, however, a very singular promise that God gave to Josiah, “I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace.” Yet he was mortally wounded in battle, so how could that promise be fulfilled? You know how it could be. However we may die,-if sword or plague or fire consume the saints among the rest of mankind, their very deaths and graves are blest. There was no fighting about Josiah’s grave; he was buried in peace. Pharaoh-Necho had smitten him, but he did not destroy the land; and Josiah was allowed to be buried amid the great lamentations of a people who only began fully to appreciate him when he was taken away from them.

29, 30. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.

That was a grand Bible-reading, with a king for reader, and all his princes and all his people gathered to listen to the Word of God. What could he have said better, had he been the greatest of orators? To read out of this blessed Book must surely be to the edification of the hearers.

31-33. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

GRACE ABOUNDING

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, May 30th, 1912,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Lord’s-day Evening, April 15th, 1866.

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”-Romans 5:20.*

There has been a long battle in this world between man’s sin and God’s grace. If it had been a fight between man’s sin and God’s justice, it would soon have come to an end. Picture to yourself the flames of hell, and see there what God’s justice can do when it comes into conflict with human guilt. When God goes forth to war against the ungodly, his might is indeed terrible. Divine justice makes short work of sin; it treads it under foot, and stamps it out, even as men do with sparks of fire; for God hates sin with a perfect hatred, and when his anger is aroused against it, he teareth it in pieces as the lion rendeth his prey in his fury. But, happily for us, the conflict with which we are just now concerned is not that between justice and sin but that between grace and God’s milder attribute of mercy has entered the field, and in our text Paul tells us the result of the battle. It looked for a time as if sin would gain the victory, for it abounded more and more; but at the last the banner of grace waved triumphantly over the battlefield, for “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Without any further preface, I am going to give you several illustrations of the truth of our text, beginning with those we find in the chapter itself. Paul has been writing concerning the principle of representation, the federal headship, first of Adam and then of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has been telling us about our fall in the first man, and our salvation in the second Man, the Lord from heaven. He has been describing our ruin under our first federal head, and our redemption by our second covenant Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in both cases our text is clearly illustrated. It does seem at first sight as if the setting up of Adam as the representative man had been the means of making sin to abound; because, as soon as sin overcame Adam, it overcame the whole race of mankind. It appears as if it would have been better to have put every man on probation on his own account, and to have let him stand or fall according to his own good or ill behaviour. It seems as if it must have been a comparatively easy victory for sin to overthrow the whole race by a single blow. Certainly, sin did gain a great victory in the garden of Eden, and therein it abounded; but Paul shows that it was by this very principle of representation that “grace did much more abound,” for it is through the death of One, even Jesus Christ our Lord, that all believers live. It is by the righteousness of this One that a multitude whom no man can number shall attain unto everlasting life. Now it appears to me that, if the other system had been adopted, the plan of each one standing or falling by himself, there would have been no hope of salvation for any one of the whole race of mankind. We believe that the angels did so stand or fall, each on his own account. Satan was not the federal head of all the angels, and consequently, when he fell, they did not all fall, but a considerable number of them did; and no hope of their restoration to the favour of God is given, but we are told that “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” I think it is more than probable that, had you and I been left to stand or fall on our own account, we should all have fallen, and then we should have fallen to rise no more. But now, as we fell in the person of one representative, it has become possible for us to rise through another Representative; and as many of us as have believed in Jesus have risen from the fall of Adam, are delivered from the death which was the consequence of Adam’s sin, and are made alive in Christ Jesus by a new spiritual life in virtue of our union with our risen Lord. By the federal headship of Adam sin did indeed abound; the flood-gates were pulled up, and torrents of iniquity inundated the whole human race; but by the federal headship of Christ grace does much more abound, so that all who believe in him shall be eternally saved. I think this was the meaning of the apostle when he wrote the words of our text, and this is one illustration of the general truth that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

A second illustration of this truth can be found in the first part of the verse from which our text is taken: “The law entered, that the offence might abound.” Through no fault in itself, but through our depravity, the law increases the gravity of our offences.

You know that, if you give your child no commands, he cannot disobey you; but the moment you give a command, the natural inclination of the child to disobedience turns the command into an occasion for sin. The more commands God gives, the more possible it is for man to sin. When water is cast upon lime, there follows great heat and smoke. Yet the water was not hot; put your lips to it, and you will find that it is a sweet and cooling draught, but it produced heat when mixed with the lime because of the inherent heat in the lime. So, when God’s commandment is cast upon a man, and he kicks against it, the fault is not in the commandment, but in the man’s wicked heart which rebels against it. Paul says, “I had not known sin, but by the law.” He would have been just as truly a sinner in himself, but the sinfulness would not have come out if it had not been for the law’s prohibitions and restrictions against which he rebelled. The law of God is something like the medicine which a doctor gives to a patient who has some disease internally, but the medicine throws it out upon the skin; yet it is far better that it should be thus thrown out than that it should lie hidden in the system, and lead to the patient’s death. The law acts like this, especially upon those who are under conviction; it throws out the sin that is within them, and lets them see it in its true character. The law comes like a policeman with a search-warrant, and says, “There is a criminal concealed here, and I have come to discover him.” Perhaps you say, “There is no criminal here, I never harbour thieves or other bad characters.” But the officer produces his warrant, and searches you through and through, and at last you have to own that he is right even though you did not suspect the true state of affairs.

It seems a very dreadful thing that the effect of the law should be to make the sinner worse than he was before: “the law entered that the offence might abound.” But that is just where our text comes in: “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The more needful the law’s exposure of sin is, the more glorious is the grace that cleanses from the sin. The law, like a candle, shows me my blackness; but that same revelation, of which the law is only a part, also shows me the precious blood of Jesus which takes all my blackness away, and makes me whiter than snow. As I hear the thunders of Sinai, and am full of terror as the lightning sets the sky ablaze, I turn to the dear, patient Lamb of God, and as I see him suffering for me, I say to him. “Oh, what wondrous grace it must have been by which thou didst deliver me from all this terrible wrath! Blessed Lamb of God, how much I owe to thee, for thou hast hushed the law’s loud thunder, and given my soul a quiet and safe hiding-place!” The work of the law upon the enlightened conscience is a very healthy operation; it is like a sharp needle that goes through the soul, but it draws the golden thread of mercy after it; or like the sharp plough which breaks up the ground, and prepares it for the seed which in due time shall bring forth the harvest to God’s praise and glory. Whenever the entrance of the law makes the offence to abound, may God grant us grace to receive the gospel so that grace shall much more abound!

Now follow me in thought while I conduct you to a spot where we shall find a third illustration of the truth of our text, that is, the place called Calvary; surely that is the spot where sin did most abound, yet where grace abounded even more.

Look in at the council-chamber of the Sanhedrim, and hear them charge the Son of God with blasphemy, and say if sin did not abound there. See him hurried away to Pilate’s hall and to Herod’s judgment-seat, “despised and rejected of men;” behold how they set him at nought, and mocked him, how they plucked out his hair, defiled his blessed visage with their accursed spittle, crowned him with thorns, and assailed him with insult upon insult, and cruelty upon cruelty, and then say if sin did not indeed abound there. See him toiling painfully through the crowded streets, scoffed at by the ribald multitude, but mourned by the daughters of Jerusalem; watch him as at last he ascends the hill of doom, see him hanging on the cross in indescribable agony while the heartless spectators jeer and scoff, and make a jest even of his dying cries, and then say if sin did not abound there. What foaming billows of iniquity rolled up around that accursed tree, swelling and rising until they completely immersed the Lord of life and glory in their horrible depths! Yes, verily sin abounded there; surely it was the darkest day in human history. Wicked men had killed kings before, but that day they killed the King of kings; they had been regicides before, but now they became deicides. They killed the Son of God, and cast him out of the vineyard, saying, “This is the heir, and now that we have killed him the inheritance shall be ours.” Sin abounded so much that it put out the light of the sun; so heavy was it that it cracked the solid earth, and rent the rocks asunder, and caused the graves to open, while the great veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

Yet “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Oh, for an angel’s tongue to tell out the wondrous mystery! My poor lips are quite unequal to this tremendous task; it is vain for me to attempt to describe the grace that so gloriously abounded in our Lord upon the cross; the grace that flashed benignantly from those languid eyes, the grace that fell in cleansing drops from those opened veins, the grace that poured in torrents from that pierced side, the grace that heaved, and tossed, and struggled convulsively in those tortured limbs, the grace that fought, and wrestled, and at last conquered in that anguished spirit, the grace that even then began interceding for the transgressors as Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” the grace that cried with a mighty voice, “It is finished,” ere the Saviour bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, the grace that ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and giving gifts unto men. Of this grace I will not dare to speak further than to say,-may it be your happy lot to sail upon that sea of grace, for fathom it you never can! May you drink from that fountain of divine grace, for you shall never be able to drink it dry! May God give you the bliss of knowing in your own experience how much grace abounde through the atoning sacrifice of Christ upon the cross!

Oh, that I had the tears of Baxter, and that my soul were all aglow as the soul of Whitefield used to be, while I plead my Master’s cause! O my hearers, nothing so clearly shows the terrible depravity of human nature as this, that man has become so utterly wicked and debased as to believe that Christ is not still “mighty to save”! What a vile wretch man must be, and what a base thing human nature must be, when any can deliberately doubt the power of Christ to save the lost! The inspired declaration is that “he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them;” yet this wicked heart of ours finds it impossible to believe this until the Holy Spirit comes, and with supernatural energy enlightens the understanding, sways the will, controls the judgment, and brings the soul to rest in Jesus Christ. Oh, how guilty we must be that we will not believe that what God says is true, that we will not believe though millions of witnesses before the throne attest the truth that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”!

Thus we have had three illustrations of the truth of our text, find we may and a fourth in man’s nature, for there also “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Look at Adam in the garden of Eden, a noble being, supreme amongst all the creatures around him. The lion crouches at his feet, the leopard sports about him, the dove nestles in his bosom, and all birds and beasts come at his call, and yield obedience to his command. But do you see that serpent coiled around a tree? That is the brute embodiment of sin, and it has come there to do incalculable mischief. Wait a little while, and you may see Adam and Eve driven out of the garden where they were once so happy, for the sin to which they so readily yielded has brought a heavy curse upon them and upon all their descendants. As you read the stern sentences pronounced upon each of them by the lips of Jehovah himself, you realize that in their case sin has indeed abounded. Then, remembering what I have already said to you about the principle of representation, you will realize that Adam’s fall involved the fall of every one of us. What Mark Antony is supposed to have said concerning the death of Julius Cæsar might well be said with regard to the effect of Adam’s fall upon us,-

“Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen!

Then I, and you, and all of us fell down.”

If you want to see how sin has abounded, go down the street, and look upon some of those who have been drinking what has been truly called “liquid damnation.” I need not describe the sight, for all of us are, alas! more or less familiar with it; nor need I picture other fallen creatures in whom sin is to be seen in some of its most repulsive aspects. We will not think of them in the self-righteous spirit of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as other men, but we will sorrowfully confess that what they now are any of us might have been had providence and grace not prevented it.

If you want to see further what ruin sin has wrought, I would take you to the graveyard. We will not ask the sexton to open the graves, the sight and smell would be more than we could endure; but he could tell us some strange tales of the remains of the noble being whom God made to have dominion over all the works of his hands. This is what he has come to now,-an empty skull and a few dry bones! This is what sin has brought him down to,-to be food for worms!

But I will not linger over that dark part of the subject; think how grace has much more abounded even where sin did most abound. Grace comes in, and finds man under sentence of death, hopeless and polluted, and full of everything that is obnoxious in God’s sight. What does grace do in such a case at that? I answer by pointing you to that wondrous vision that John had in Patmos when he saw “One like unto the Son of man.… His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” Who is this for whom all heaven rings with hallelujahs, while hell trembles at his word, and millions upon earth own allegiance to him? Who is this? Why, ’tis the man Christ Jesus, who once slept as a helpless babe in his mother’s arms, who afterwards toiled at the carpenter’s bench at Nazareth, and who breathed out his earthly life amid the untold agonies of Calvary; but who is now exalted to his Father’s right hand, “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” “Ah!” say you, “that is all true concerning him, but we are not up there with him.” But faith says that we are if we are truly trusting in Jesus, for “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Now you see how gloriously true our text is. Sin did us untold damage, but grace has given us more than sin ever took away. Sin robbed us of silver, but grace has given us gold. Sin slew this body of flesh, but grace has given us a spiritual body which shall live for ever. Sin threw us down among the masses of this fallen race, but grace has lifted us up, and set us among the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Yes, 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.” Verily, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

There is a further illustration of the truth of our text in some who are now present with us.

There are some now in this house in whom sin abounded in certain special ways at which I shall only just hint. They were drunkards, swearers, unchaste; they dishonoured their father and mother, they sinned against light and knowledge; they disregarded God’s Word, they stifled the rebukes of conscience; in brief, “sin abounded” in them. But now, through grace, a great change has come over them, and they have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus; and amongst us all there are none who love Christ more than they do, and none who serve him more zealously than they do. You know that it is very often the case that those who have been the greatest sinners become the greatest saints; those who were the devil’s corporals and sergeants, nay, his captains and generals, when they are truly converted, become the boldest and bravest soldiers of the cross. It is hardly necessary to remind you of John Bunyan, once a very notable sinner, who became a very prince in our Israel, and who felt that, in his case, grace had indeed abounded to the chief of sinners. Many of us ought indeed to love much, as I trust we do, because we have been forgiven much. Divine mercy has covered and blotted out a vast mass of sin that we had committed; and now, remembering with humility and shame all our past offences, we pray that we may prove in all our future lives, what holy and useful men and women God’s grace can make of us. Surely, dear friends, you will not serve God worse than you served the devil; when you had a bad master, you were a good servant to him; but now that you have a good Master, the best Master you can ever have, do not be a bad servant to him. May the Lord grant that great grace may abound in all who have been great sinners!

But as these are exceptional cases, I will come to something that will include us all. Kindly turn to the little book that records your life-history written out upon the pages of memory. As you look over those pages, you who have known the Lord for some years, what do you think of yourselves? The men who think much of themselves must surely be those who do not think at all, but those who really do think must see very much in their past lives which causes them to blush. Looking back upon the years since we first came to Christ, what a multitude of sins we have committed! If our own children had treated us as badly as we have treated our heavenly Father, what should we have done with them? What a marvel of patience our heavenly Father has been in his dealings with us! I look at my pulpit work, and I have to confess that sin has abounded there. I look at my private life, and I have to own that sin has abounded there. As you look at your Sunday-school class, my brother or sister, I think that you too must admit that sin has abounded there. As a husband, as a wife, as a child, as a master, as a servant, as a tradesman, as a statesman,-whatever may be your position in society, do you not have to say with sorrow that sin has abounded there? But, dear friends, has not grace also abounded? Ay, that it has, for “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Do not ever get into such a state of heart as to groan over yourselves so that you cannot praise the Lord for his abounding grace. Oh, do praise him, do bless him, for he well deserves to be praised! Sin abounds, so be humble; but grace much more abounds, therefore be thankful. Sin abounds, so be watchful; but grace doth much more abound, therefore be confident that God will give you the victory through him who hath loved you.

Now, lastly, in this world sin abounds on a very large scale.

Stand on your watch-tower, Christian, and look over the world so far as you can. A great proportion of it is still shrouded in the dense darkness of heathenism; and uncounted millions are bowing down before blocks of wood and stone. Think too of the vast multitudes who put their trust in the false prophet, Mahomet, and are quite content with the parody of Christianity that they find in the Koran. Then remember with sorrow how large a proportion of those who are called Christians are simply worshippers of Mary instead of believers in Jesus, or who bow down before images, ikons, relics, crosses, and I know not what. If we turn to Protestant Christianity, what a vast mass of hypocrisy, formality, inconsistency, and everything else that is evil is mixed with that which is genuine and true! All over the world sin abounds. See how many lands are still cursed by war. What infamies are perpetrated in all our great cities; ay, and in many of our little country villages too! God must have been amazingly patient to have borne so long with our wicked race. As the flood in Noah’s day was universal, so does sin cover the earth to-day; it prevails over the tops of the mountains, it abounds in all the valleys and plains.

This prospect is very alarming, and for missionaries it would be very depressing if they did not believe that, where sin abounds, grace shall much more abound. But the day is coming-oh, hasten, ye wheels of time, and bring the happy hour!-when suddenly the pedestal upon which any false god is seated shall shake, and totter to its fall, when the crescent of Mahomet shall wane for ever, when the harlot of the seven hills shall cease to corrupt the earth with her fornication, and when the beast, and the false prophet, and the devil and all his hosts shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Yea, the day is coming-God speed it!-when the people on every island and on every continent shall hear the joyful sound of the gospel of God’s grace. The day is coming when Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God, when India’s many millions and the far-off Chinamen and Japanese and other children of the East shall no longer sound the praises of any false god, but shall delight in confessing that Jesus Christ, the Son of David, is also the Son of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, and their own and only Saviour. The little spring that burst up like a rippling rivulet from the foot of Calvary’s cross has swollen into a mighty river even now; its tides are increasing, its floods are swelling, its depth is growing, and the day is coming when, like a mighty ocean, it shall cover the whole earth as the waters cover the deep, and floating across that sea of glory shall be heard the millennial anthem, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

Then, at the last, so many of us as have believed in Jesus shall be gathered with him in that great city, the new Jerusalem, whose twelve gates are twelve pearls, whose walls are jasper, and whose street is of “pure gold, as it were transparent glass,”-that city of which John says, “I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Well may we sing,-

“Jerusalem! my happy home!

Name ever dear to me;

When shall my labours have an end,

In joy, and peace, and thee?

“Oh when, thou city of my God,

Shall I thy courts ascend,

Where congregations ne’er break up,

And Sabbaths have no end?”

Ah, well! in due time we shall get there; and then, when looking down from our serene abode, we shall be able to read the whole drama of human history, from the creation to the fall of Adam, from the fall to the cross of Christ, and then to the final consummation of all things, this will be the summary of it all at least as far as we are concerned, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” If it should be my happy privilege up there, upon some sunny mount, to descant upon this theme in more flaming words than I can use to-night, all of you who are of a kindred spirit with me will help to tell the story to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, and the harpers standing on the sea of glass will strike their harps afresh, and sing again the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, and their songs will be in harmony with our theme to-night, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” So let us go forth to our various occupations on the morrow believing that, though sin abounds, grace shall yet more abound; let us live so that all may see how grace abounds in us; and let us help to spread the wondrous story of what this grace has done for us, that others may seek that grace for themselves,-that grace which abounds to the chief of sinners, that grace which is the portion of all who believe in Jesus, that grace which shall in God’s good time be crowned with glory, that “grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved!” Oh, that all here might be sharers in that grace! God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

ROMANS 5:1-11

Verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith,-

But why “therefore”? Because of the verse preceding it: “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Christ died to atone for our sins, Christ rose again to secure our justification, “Therefore being justified by faith,”-

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:*

We have peace, we know that we have, we enjoy it; it is not a thing of the future, we have peace, a deep calm like that which came to the disciples when Christ hushed the winds and waves to sleep. “We have peace with God,” his peace has entered into us, we possess it now; but it is all “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is all war apart from him, but all peace through him. We poor sinners, being justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. By whom also we have access by faith-

That is to say, we come near to God; we have the entré of the King’s palace; “we have access by faith”-

2. Into this grace wherein we stand,

With firm foot and confident heart, we stand in God’s presence. Happy people!

2. And rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

What a window hope is! It looks toward heaven; we have only to look out that way, and then we can “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

3. And not only so, but we glory-

We hope for glory,-“the glory of God,” and we already “glory.” But in what do we glory? “We glory”-

3. In tribulations also:-

That is the blackest thing a Christian has,-his tribulations; so, if we can glory in them, surely we can glory in anything. “We glory in tribulations also:”-

3. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

A man cannot prove that he has patience if he has never been tried. Christian patience is not a weed, it is a cultivated plant; we only get patience through our trials.

4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

You cannot make an experienced Christian without trouble. You cannot make an old sailor on shore, nor make a good soldier without fighting.

Here is that window of hope again; standing at the back of our experience, we look out of the window, and what God has done for us is a token of what God will do for us.

5. And hope maketh not ashamed;

Peace gives us courage; hope takes the blush out of the cheek when we confess Christ, for we remember the glory that is to be revealed in him and in us, so how can shame come in?

5. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.*

God’s love is like sweet perfume in an alabaster box; the Holy Spirit breaks that box, pours out the love of God into our souls, and the perfume fills our entire nature.

6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.†

When we had no power to do anything that was good, when we were strengthless and hopeless, then Christ died for us. This is a wonderful gospel expression, which ought to bring comfort to those here who have no pretence of godliness, “Christ died for the ungodly.”

7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die:

However upright and just a man may be, nobody thinks of dying for him.

7. Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

That is to say, for a generous, kind, noble-hearted man, some might dare to die.

8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.‡

We were neither righteous nor yet good, yet Christ died for us. “Oh!” said a little boy once to his mother, “I do not think so much of Christ dying for men, I think I would be willing to die if I could save a hundred men by dying.” But his mother said, “Suppose it was a hundred mosquitoes,-would you die for them?” “Oh, no!” he said, “I would let the whole lot of them die.” Well, we were much less, in comparison with Christ, than mosquitoes are in relation to men, yet he died for us, good-for-nothing creatures that we are. Well does one say, “God shows part of his love to us in many different ways, but he shows the whole of his love in giving Christ to die for us.” Here you see his heart laid bare, the very heart of God laid open for the inspection of every believing soul. To die for saints would be great love; but to die for sinners, while they are yet sinners, and regarding them as sinners,-this is love with emphasis, the very highest commendation that even divine love can have.

9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

See; it is a less thing for God to preserve us when we are justified than it is for him to justify us while we are yet sinners. The final perseverance of the saints may well be argued from their conversion, their entrance into glory is guaranteed by the ransom price that Christ has paid for their redemption. He died to save sinners, so how is it possible that he should let saints perish? Oh, no; that can never be! “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.*

Notice that while we were his enemies, he blessed us, so now that we are reconciled to him, will he not still bless us? If he reconciled us to him by the death of his Son, will he not save us by his life now that we are reconciled to him? Does he make us his friends, intending afterwards to destroy us? Perish such a thought. This verse is like a trident, it is a three-pronged argument for our eternal safety. I will read it again: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

11. And not only so,-

Surely we have got high enough when we have reached an absolute certainty of our eternal salvation. Yet we are to go still higher: “And not only so,”-

11. But we also joy in God-

Even now we joy in God; “although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olives shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls,” yet do “we joy in God”-

11. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,-

Every blessing comes to us through him. How Paul delights to harp upon that string! He says continually, “through our Lord Jesus Christ,”-

11. By whom we have now received the atonement.†

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we are at one with God, we are reconciled to him by the death of his Son. All our sin is for ever put away; we have received the atonement, and we rejoice in the God of our salvation. Glory be to his holy name for ever and ever!