eChurch Blog

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ” 2 Corinthians, 1:5

SEEK ye rest from your distresses ye children of woe and sorrow? This is
the place where ye may lighten your burden, and lose your cares. Oh, son
of affliction and misery, wouldst thou forget for a time thy pains and
griefs? This is the Bethesda, the house of mercy; this is the place where
God designs to cheer thee, and to make thy distresses stay their never
ceasing course; this is the spot where his children love to be found, because
here they find consolation in the midst of tribulation, joy in their sorrows,
and comfort in their afflictions.

Even worldly men admit that there is
something extremely comforting in the sacred Scriptures, and in our holy
religion. I have even heard it said of some, that after they had, by their
logic, as they thought, annihilated Christianity, and proved it to be untrue,
they acknowledged that they had spoilt an excellently comforting delusion,
and that they could almost sit down and weep to think it was not a reality.

Ay, my friends, if it were not true, ye might weep. If the Bible were not the
truth of God — if we could not meet together around his mercy seat, then
ye might put your hands upon your loins and walk about as if ye were in
travail. If ye had not something in the world beside your reason, beside the
fleeting joys of earth — if ye had not something which God had given to
you, some hope beyond the sky, some refuge that should be more than
terrestrial, some deliverance which should be more than earthly, then ye
might weep, — ah! weep your heart out at your eyes, and let your whole
bodies waste away in one perpetual tear. Ye might ask the clouds to rest
on your head, the rivers to roll down in streams from both your eyes, for
your grief would “have need of all the watery things that nature could
produce.” But, blessed be God, we have consolation, we have joy in the
Holy Ghost. We find it nowhere else. We have raked the earth through, but
we have discovered ne’er a jewel; we have turned this dunghill-world o’er
and o’er a thousand times, and we have found nought that is precious, but
here, in this Bible, here in the religion of the blessed Jesus, we, the sons of
God, have found comfort and joy, while we can truly say, “As our
afflictions abound, so our consolations also abound by Christ.”

There are four things in my text to which I invite your attention the first is
the sufferings to be expected — “The sufferings of Christ abound in us;”
secondly, the distinction to be noticed — they are the sufferings of Christ;
thirdly, a proportion to be experienced — as the sufferings of Christ
abound, so our consolations abound; and fourthly, the person to be
honored — “ So our consolation aboundeth by CHRIST.”

I. Our first division then is, THE SUFFERINGS TO BE EXPECTED. Our holy
Apostle says “The sufferings of Christ abound in us.” Before we buckle on
the Christian armor we ought to know what that service is which is
expected of us. A recruiting sergeant often slips a shilling into the hand of
some ignorant youth, and tells him that Her Majesty’s Service is a fine
thing, that he has nothing to do but walk about in his flaming colors, that
he will have no hard service — in fact, that he has nothing to do but to be a
soldier, and go straight on to glory. But the Christian servant, when he
enlists a soldier of the cross, never deceives him like that. Jesus Christ
himself said, “Count the cost.” He wished to have no disciple who was not
prepared to go all the way — “to bear hardness as a good soldier.” I have
sometimes heard religion described in such a way that its high coloring has
displeased me. It is true “her ways are ways of pleasantness,” but it is not
true that a Christian never has sorrow or trouble. It is true that light-eyed
cheerfulness, and airy-footed love, can go through the world without much
depression and tribulation: but it is not true that Christianity will shield a
man from trouble; nor ought it to be so represented. In fact, we ought to
speak of it in the other way, Soldier of Christ, if thou enlisteth, thou wilt
have to do hard battle. There is no bed of down for thee, there is no riding
to heaven in a chariot; the rough way must be trodden, mountains must be
climbed, rivers must be forded, dragons must be fought, giants must be
slain, difficulties must be overcome, and great trials must be borne.

It is not
a smooth road to heaven, believe me; for those who have gone but a very
few steps therein, have found it to be a rough one. It is a pleasant one, it is
the most delightful in all the world, but it is not easy in itself; it is only
pleasant because of the company, because of the sweet promises on which
we lean, because of our Beloved who walks with us through all the rough
and thorny brakes of this vast wilderness. Christian expect trouble: “Count
it not strange concerning the fiery trial, and as though some strange thing
had happened unto thee;” for as truly as thou art a child of God, thy Savior
hath left thee for his legacy, — “In the world, ye shall have tribulation, in
me ye shall have peace.” If I had no trouble I would not believe myself one
of the family. If I never had a trial, I would not think myself a heir of
heaven. Children of God must not, shall not, escape the rod. Earthly
parents may spoil their children, but the heavenly Father ne’er shall his.
“Whom he loveth he chasteneth,” and scourgeth every son whom he hath
chosen. His people must suffer; therefore, expect it Christian; if thou art a
child of God, believe it, look for it, and when it comes say, “Well suffering,
I foresaw thee; thou art no stranger, I have looked for thee continually.”

You cannot tell how much it will lighten your trials, if you await them with
resignation, In fact, make it a wonder if you get through a day easily. If
you remain a week without persecution, think it a remarkable thing; and if
you should, perchance, live a month without heaving a sigh from your
inmost heart think it a miracle of miracles. But when the trouble comes say,
“Ah! this is what I looked for; it is marked in the chart to heaven, the rock
is put down; I will sail confidently by it; my Master has not deceived me.”

“ Why should I complain of want or distress
Temptation or pain? he told me no less.”

But why must the Christian expect trouble? Why must he expect the
sufferings of Christ to abound in him? Stand here a moment, my brother,
and I will show thee four reasons wherefore thou must endure trial. First
look upward, then look downward, then look around thee, and then look
within thee, and thou wilt see four reasons why the sufferings of Christ
should abound in thee.

Look upward. Dost thou see thy heavenly Father, a pure and holy being,
spotless just, perfect? Dost thou know that thou art one day to be like him?
Thinkest thou that thou wilt easily come to be conformed to his image?
Wilt thou not require much furnace work, much grinding in the mill of
trouble, much breaking with the pestle in the mortar of affliction, much
being broken under the wheels of agony? Thinkest thou it will be an easy
thing for thy heart to become as pure as God is? Dost thou think thou canst
so soon get rid of thy corruptions, and become perfect, even as thy Father
which is in heaven is perfect?

Lift up thine eye again; dost thou discern those bright spirits clad in white,
purer than alabaster, more chaste, more fair than Parian marble? Behold
them as they stand in glory. Ask them whence their victory came. Some of
them will tell you — they swam through seas of blood. Behold the sears of
honor on their brows; see, some of them lift up their hands and tell you
they were once consumed in fire; while others were slain by the sword, rent
in pieces by wild beasts, were destitute, afflicted, tormented. O ye noble
army of martyrs, ye glorious hosts of the living God. Must ye swim
through seas of blood, and shall I hope to ride to heaven wrapped in furs
and ermine? Did ye endure suffering, and shall I be hampered with the
luxuries of this world? Did ye fight and then reign, and must I reign
without a battle. Oh, no. By God’s help I will expect that as ye suffered so
must I, and as through much tribulation ye entered the kingdom of heaven,
so shall I.

Next, Christian, turn thine eyes downward. Dost thou know what foes
thou hast beneath thy feet? There are hell and its lions against thee. Thou
wast once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects.
Dost thou think that Satan is pleased with thee? Why, thou hast changed
thy country. Thou wast once a liege servant of Apollyon, but now thou art
become a good soldier of Jesus Christ; and dost thou think the devil is
pleased with thee? I tell thee nay. If thou hadst seen Satan the moment
thou wast converted, thou wouldst have beheld a wondrous scene. As soon
as thou gavest thy heart to Christ, Satan spread his bat-like-wings: down
he flew into hell, and summoning all his counselors he said “Sons of the pit,
true heirs of darkness, ye who erst were clad in light, but who fell with me
from high dignities, another of my servants has forsaken me; I have lost
another of my family; he is gone over to the side of the Lord of Hosts. Oh
ye, my compeers, ye fellowhelpers of the powers of darkness, leave no
stone unturned to destroy him. I bid you all hurl all your fiercest darts at
him; plague him; let hell-dogs bark at him; let fiends besiege him; give him
no rest, harrass him to the death; let the fumes of our corrupt and burning
lake ever rise in his nostrils, persecute him, the man is a traitor, give him no
peace; since I cannot have him here to bind him in chains of adamant, since
I ne’er can have him here to torment and afflict him, as long as ye can, till
his dying day, I bid you howl at him; until he crosses the river, afflict him,
grieve him, torment him; for the wretch has turned against me, and become
a servant of the Lord.” Such may have been the scene in hell, that very day
when thou didst love the Lord. And dost thou think Satan loves thee better
now? Ah! no. He will always be at thee, for thine enemy, “like a roaring
lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.” Expect trouble therefore,
Christian, when thou lookest beneath thee.

Then, man of God, look around thee. Do not be asleep. Open thine eyes,
and look around thee. Where art thou? Is that man a friend next to thee?
No; thou art in an enemy’s country. This is a wicked world. Half the
people, I suppose, profess to be irreligious and those who profess to be
pious, often are not. “Cursed is he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his
arm.” — “Blessed is he that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord
is.” — “As for men of low degree, they are vanity;” the voice of the crowd
is not worth having; and as for “men of high degree, they are a lie,” which
is worse still. The world is not to be trusted in, not to be relied upon. The
true Christian treads it beneath his feet, with “all that earth calls good or
great.” Look around thee my brother; thou wilt see some good hearts,
strong and valiant, thou wilt see some true souls, sincere and honest, thou
wilt see some faithful lovers of Christ; but I tell thee O child of light, that
where thou meetest one sincere man, thou wilt meet twenty hypocrites,
where thou wilt find one that will lead thee to heaven, thou wilt find a
score who would push thee to hell. Thou err in a land of enemies, not of
friends. Never believe the world is good for much. Many people have
burned their fingers by taking hold of it. Many a man has been injured by
putting his hand into a nest of the rattlesnake — the world; thinking that
the dazzling hues of the sleeping serpent were securities from harm. O
Christian! the world is not thy friend. If it is, then thou art not God’s
friend; for he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God; and he
who is despised of men, is often loved of Jehovah. Thou art in an enemy’s
country, man: therefore, expect trouble: expect that the man who “eats thy
bread will lift up his heel against thee;” expect that thou shalt be estranged
from those that love thee; be assured that, since thou art in the land of the
foe, thou shalt find foemen everywhere. When thou sleepest, think that
thou sleepest on the battle-field, when thou walkest believe that there is an
ambush in every hedge. Oh! take heed, take heed this is no good world to
shut thine eyes in. Look around thee, man; and when thou art upon the
watch-tower, reckon surely that trouble cometh.

But then, look within thee. There is a little world in here, which is quite
enough to give us trouble. A Roman once said he wished he had a window
to his heart, that all people might see what was going on there. I am very
glad I have not if I had, I would shut it up as closely as Apsley House used
to be, I would take care to have all the shutters up. Most of us would have
great need of shutters if we had such a window. However, for one
moment, peep into the window of thine heart, to observe what is there. Sin
is there — original sin and corruption; and, what is more, self is still within.
Ah! if thou hadst no devil to tempt thee, thou wouldest tempt thyself; if
there were no enemies to fight thee, thyself would be thy worst foe; if there
were no world, still thyself would be bad enough; for “the heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked.” Look within thee, believer,
know that thou bearest a cancer in thyvery vitals; that thou carriest within
thee a bomb-shell, ready to burst at the slightest spark of temptation, know
that thou hast inside thy heart an evil thing, a coiled-up viper, ready to
sting thee and bring thee into trouble, and pain, and misery unutterable.

Take heed of your heart, Christian; and when thou findest sorrow, trouble,
and care, look within and say, “Verily, I may well receive this, considering
the evil heart of unbelief which I carry about with me.” Now dost thou see,
brother Christian? No hope to escape trouble is there. What shall we do
then? There is no chance for us. We must bear suffering and affliction;
therefore, let us endure it cheerfully. Some of us are the officers in God’s
regiments, and we are the mark of all the riflemen of the enemy. Standing
forward, we have to bear all the shots. What a mercy it is that not one of
God’s officers ever fall in battle! God always keeps them. When the arrows
fly fast, the shield of faith catches them all; and when the enemy is most
angry, God is most pleased. So, for aught we care, the world may go on,
the devil may revile, flesh may rise, “for we are more than conquerers
through him that hath loved us.” Therefore, all honor be unto God alone.
Expect suffering — this is our first point.

II. Now, secondly, there is A DISTINCTION TO BE NOTICED. Our
sufferings are said to be the sufferings of Christ. Now, suffering in itself is
not an evidence of Christianity.

There are many people who have trials and troubles who are not children
of God. I have heard some poor whining people come and say, “I know I
am a child of God, because I am in debt, because I am in poverty, because
I am in trouble.” Do you indeed? I know a great many rascals in the same
condition; and I don’t believe you are a child of God any the more because
you happen to be in poor circumstances. There are abundance who are in
trouble and distress besides God’s children. It is not the peculiar lot of
God’s family, and if I had no other ground of my hope as a Christian,
except my experience of trials, I should have but very poor ground indeed.

But there is a distinction to be noticed. Are these sufferings the sufferings
of Christ or are they not? A man is dishonest, and is put in jail for it; a man
is a coward and men hiss at him for it; a man is insincere, and, therefore,
persons avoid him. Yet he says he is persecuted. Persecuted! Not at all; it
serves him right. He deserves it. But such persons will comfort themselves
with the thought, that they are “the dear people of God,” because other
people avoid them, when it so happens that they just deserve it. They do
not live as they ought to do, therefore the world’s punishment is their
desert. Take heed, beloved, that your sufferings are the sufferings of
Christ, be sure they are not your own sufferings; for if they are, you will
get no relief: It is only when they are the sufferings of Jesus that we may
take comfort. “Well,” you say, “what is meant by our sufferings being the
sufferings of Christ?” You know the word “Christ” in the Bible sometimes
means the whole Church with Christ, as in 1 Corinthians xii.12, and several
other passages which I cannot just now remember; but you will call to
mind a scripture where it says, “I fill up that which is behind of the
sufferings of Christ, for his body’s sake, which is the Church.” Now, as
Christ, the head, had a certain amount of suffering to endure, so the body
must also have a certain weight laid upon it. Our afflictions are the
sufferings of Christ mystical, the sufferings of Christ’s body, the sufferings
of Christ’s church, for you know that if a man could be so tall as to have
his head in heaven and his feet at the bottom of the sea, it would be the
same body, and the head would feel the sufferings of the feet. So, though
my head is in heaven, and I am on earth, my griefs are Christ’s griefs; my
trials are Christ’s trials, my afflictions, he suffers.

“ I feel at my heart all thy sighs and thy groans,
For thou art most near me, my flesh and my bones
In all thy distresses, thy Head feels the pain,
Yet all are most needful, not one is in vain.”

The trials of a true Christian are as much the sufferings of Christ, as the
agonies of Calvary.

Still you say, “We want to discern whether our troubles are the trials of
Christ.” Well, they are the trials of Christ, if you suffer for Christ’s sake. If
you are called to endure hardness for the sake of the truth, then those are
the sufferings of Christ. If you suffer for your ownsake, it may be a
punishment for your own sins; but if you endure for Christ’s sake, then
they are the trials of Christ. “But,” say some, “is there any persecution
nowadays? Do any Christians have to suffer for Christ’s sake now?”
Suffer, sirs! Yes. “I could a tale unfold” this morning, if I pleased, of
bigotry insufferable, of persecution well nigh as bad as that in the days of
Mary; only our foes have not the power and the law on their side. I could
tell you of some who, from the simple fact, that they choose to come and
hear this despised young man, this ranting fellow, are to be looked upon as
the offscouring of all things. Many are the persons who come to me, who
have to lead a miserable and unhappy life, simply because from my lips they
heard the word of truth. Still, despite of all that is said, they will hear it
now. I have, I am sure, many before me, whose eyes would drop with
tears, if I were to tell their history — some who have privately sent me
word of how they have to suffer for Christ’s sake, because they choose to
hear whom they please. Why, is it not time that men should choose to do
as they like. If I do not care to do just as other ministers do, have not I a
right to preach as I please? If I haven’t I will — that is all. And have not
other parties a right to hear me if they like, without asking the lords and
governors of the present day, whether the man is really clerical or not.

Liberty! liberty! Let persons do as they please. But liberty — where is it?
Ye say it is in Britain. It is, in a measure but not thoroughly. However, I
rejoice that there are some who say, “Well, my soul is profited: and let men
say what they will, I will hold hard and fast to truth, and to the place where
I hear the word to my soul’s edification.” So, dear hearts, go on, go on;
and if ye suffer for Christ’s sake, they are Christ’s sufferings. If ye came
here simply because ye gained anything by it, then your sufferings would be
your own; but since there is nothing to gain but the profit of your own
souls, still hold on; and whate’er is said, your persecution will but win you
a brighter crown in glory.

Ah! Christian, this ennobles us. My brethren, this makes us proud and
happy to think that our trials are the trials of Jesus. Oh! I think it must have
been some honor to the old soldier, who stood by the Iron Duke in his
battles, to be able to say, “We fight under the good old Duke, who has
won so many battles: and when he wins, part of the honor will be ours.”

Christian, thou fightest side by side with Jesus, Christ is with thee; every
blow is a blow aimed at Christ; every slander is a slander on Christ; the
battle is the Lord’s; the triumph is the Lord’s; therefore, still on to victory!
I remember a story of a great commander, who, having won many glorious
victories, led his troops into a defile, and when there, a large body of the
enemy entirely surrounded him. He knew a battle was inevitable on the
morning, he therefore went round to all the tents, to hear in what condition
his soldier’s minds were — whether they were dispirited or not. He came
to one tent, and as he listened, he heard a man say. “There is our general;
he is very brave, but he is very unwise this time; he has fed us into a place
where we are sure to be beaten; there are so many of the enemy’s cavalry,
so many infantry;” and then the man counted up all the troops on their own
side, and made them only so many. Then the commander, after he had
heard the tale, gently drew aside a part of the tent, and said, “How many
do you count me for? You have counted the infantry and calvary; but how
many do you count me for — me, your mighty captain, who have won so
many victories.” Now, Christian, I say, how many do you count Christ for?
How many do you put him down for? Hast thou put him down for one? He
is not one, nor a thousand: he is the “chief among ten thousand.” But he is
more than that. Oh! put him down for a high figure; and when thou
countest up thine aids and auxiliaries, put down Christ for all in all, for in
him victory is certain — the triumph is secure.

III. Our third point is, A PROPORTION TO BE EXPERIENCED. As the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so the consolations of Christ abound.
Here is a blessed proportion. God always keeps a pair of scales — in this
side he puts his people’s trials and in that he puts their consolations. When
the scale of trial is nearly empty, you will always find the scale of
consolation in nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials is full,
you will find the scale of consolation just as heavy; for as the sufferings of
Christ abound in us, even so shall consolation abound by Christ. This is a
matter of pure experience. Some of you do not know anything at all about
it. You are not Christians, you are not born again, you are not converted,
ye are unregenerate, and, therefore, ye have never realized this wonderful
proportion between the sufferings and the consolations of a child of God.
Oh! it is mysterious that, when the black clouds gather most, the light
within us is always the brightest. When the night lowers and the tempest is
coming on, the heavenly captain is always closest to his crew. It is a
blessed thing, when we are most cast down, then it is that we are most
lifted up by the consolations of Christ. Let me show you how.

The first reason is, because trials make more room for consolation. There
is nothing makes a man have a big heart like a great trial. I always find that
little, miserable people, whose hearts are about the size of a grain of
mustard-seed, never have had much to try them. I have found that those
people who have no sympathy for their fellows — who never weep for the
sorrows of others — very seldom have had any woes of their own. Great
hearts can only be made by great troubles. The spade of trouble digs the
reservoir of comfort deeper, and makes more room for consolation. God
comes into our heart — he finds it full — he begins to break our comforts
and to make it empty; than there is more room for grace. The humbler a
man lies, the more comfort he will always have. I recollect walking with a
ploughman one day — a man who was deeply taught, although he was a
ploughman, and really ploughmen would make a great deal better
preachers than many college gentlemen — and he said to me, “Depend
upon it, my good brother, if you or I ever get one inch above the ground,
we shall get just that inch too high.” I believe it is true; for the lower we
lie, the nearer to the ground we are — the more our troubles humble us —
the more fit we are to receive comfort; and God always gives us comfort
when we are most fit for it. That is one reason why consolations increase in
the same ratio as our trials.

Then again, trouble exercises our graces, and the very exercise of our
graces tends to make us more comfortable and happy. Where showers fall
most, there the grass is greenest. I suppose the fogs and mists of Ireland
make it “the Emerald Isle;” and wherever you find great fogs of trouble,
and mists of sorrow, you always find emerald green hearts: full of the
beautiful verdure of the comfort and love of God. O Christian, do not thou
be saying, “Where are the swallows gone? they are gone: they are dead.”
They are not dead, they have skimmed the purple sea, and gone to a far off
land; but they will be back again by and by. Child of God, say not the
flowers are dead; say not the winter has killed them, and they are gone.
Ah! no; though winter hath coated them with the ermine of its snow; they
will put up their heads again, and will be alive very soon. Say not, child of
God, that the sun is quenched, because the cloud hath hidden it. Ah! no; he
is behind there, brewing summer for thee; for when he cometh out again,
he will have made the clouds fit to drop in April showers, all of them
mothers of the sweet May flowers. And oh! above all, when thy God hides
his face, say not, that he has forgotten thee. He is but tarrying a little while
to make thee love him better; and when he cometh, thou shalt have joy in
the Lord, and shalt rejoice with joy unspeakable. Waiting, exercises our
grace; waiting, tries our faith; therefore, wait on in hope; for though the
promise tarry, it can never come too late.

Another reason why we are often most happy in our troubles is this — then
we have the closest dealings with God. I speak from heart knowledge and
real experience. We never have such close dealings with God, as when we
are in tribulation. When the barn is full, man can live without God; when
the purse is bursting with gold, we somehow can do without so much
prayer. But once take your gourds away, you want your God; once cleanse
away the idols out of the house, then you must go and honor Jehovah.

Some of you do not pray half as much as you ought. If you are the children
of God, you will have the whip, and when you have that whip, you will run
to your Father. It is a fine day, and the child walks before its father; but
there is a lion in the road, now he comes and takes his father’s hand. He
could run half-a-mile before him when all was fine and fair; but once bring
the lion, and it is “father! father!” as close as he can be. It is even so with
the Christian. Let all be well, and he forgets God. Jeshurun waxes fat, and
be begins to kick against God; but take away his hopes, blast his joys, let
the infant lie in the coffin, let the crops be blasted, let the herd be cut off
from the stall; let the husband’s broad shoulder be in the grave, let the
children be fatherless — then it is that God is a God indeed. Oh, strip me
naked; take from me all I have; make me poor, a beggar, penniless,
helpless, dash that cistern in pieces, crush that hope, quench the stars; put
out the sun, shroud the moon in darkness, and place me all alone in space,
without a friend, without a helper; still, “Out of the depths will I cry unto
thee, O God.” There is no cry so good as that which comes from the
bottom of the mountains, no prayer half so hearty as that which comes up
from the depths of the soul, through deep trials and afflictions. Hence they
bring us to God, and we are happier; for that is the way to be happy — to
live near to God. So that while troubles abound, they drive us to God, and
then consolations abound.

Some people call troubles weights. Verily they are so. A ship that has large
sails and a fair wind, needs ballast. Troubles are the ballast of a believer.
The eyes are the pumps which fetch out the bilge-water of his soul, and
keep him from sinking. But if trials be weights, I will tell you of a happy
secret. There is such a thing as making a weight lift you. If I have a weight
chained to me, it keeps me down, but give me pulleys and certain
appliances, and I can make it lift me up. Yes, there is such a thing as
making troubles raise me towards heaven. A gentlemen once asked a
friend, concerning a beautiful horse of his, feeding about in the pasture
with a clog on its foot, “Why do you clog such a noble animal?” “Sir,” said
he, “I would a great deal sooner clog him than lose him: he is given to leap
hedges.” That is why God clogs his people. He would rather clog them
than lose them; for if he did not clog them, they would leap the hedges and
be gone. They want a tether to prevent their straying, and their God binds
them with afflictions, to keep them near to him, to preserve them, and have
them in his presence. Blessed fact — as our troubles abound, our
consolations also abound.

IV. Now we close up with our last point; and may the Holy Ghost once
more strengthen me to speak a word or two to you. THERE IS A PERSON
TO BE HONORED. It is a fact that Christians can rejoice in deep distress, it
is a truth, that put them in prison, and they still will sing; like many birds,
they sing best in their cages. It is true that when waves roll over them, their
soul never sinks. It is true they have a buoyancy about them which keeps
their heads always above the water, and helps them to sing in the dark,
dark night, “God is with me still.” But to whom shall we give the honor?
To whom shall the glory be given? Oh! to Jesus, to Jesus; for the text says
it is all by Jesus. It is not because I am a Christian that I get joy in my
trouble — not necessarily so; it is not always the fact that troubles bring
their consolations; but it is Christ who comes to me. I am sick in my
chamber; Christ cometh up stairs, he sitteth by my bedside, and he talketh
sweet words to me. I am dying; the chilly cold waters of Jordan have
touched my foot, I feel my blood stagnate and freeze. I must die; Christ
puts his arms around me, and says, “Fear not, beloved; to die is to be
blessed, the waters of death have their fountain head in heaven, they are
not bitter, they are sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne of God.”
I wade in the stream, the billows gather around me, I feel that my heart and
my flesh fail; but there is the same voice in my ears, “Fear not; I am with
thee! be not dismayed; I am thy God.” Now, I come to the borders of the
infinite unknown, that country “from whose bourne no traveler returns;” I
stand almost affrighted to enter the realm of shades; but a sweet voice says,
“I will be with thee whithersoever thou goest; if thou shouldst make thy
bed in Hades I will be with thee;” and I still go on, content to die, for Jesus
cheers me; he is my consolation and my hope.

Ah! ye who know not that
matchless name, Jesus, ye have lost the sweetest note which e’er can give
melody. Ah! ye who have never been entranced by the precious sonnet
contained in that one word Jesu, ye who know not that Jesu means, I-ESU,
(“I ease you”) ye have lost the joy and comfort of your lives, and ye
must live miserable and unhappy. But the Christian can rejoice, since Christ
will never forsake him, never leave him, but will be with him.

A word or two to characters — First, I have a word with you who are
expecting troubles, and are very sad because you are looking forward to
them. Take the advice of the common people, and “never cross a bridge till
you get to it.” Follow my advice: never bring your troubles nearer than
they are, for they will be sure to come down upon you soon enough. I
know that many persons fret themselves about their trials be fore they
come. What on earth is the good of it? If you will show me any benefit in
it, I will say go on, but to me it seems quite enough for the Father to lay
the rod on the child without the child chastising itself. Why should you do
so? You, who are afraid of trouble, why should you be so? The trial may
never overtake you; and if it does come, strength will come with it.
Therefore, up with thee, man, who are sitting down groaning, because of
forebodings.

“ Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.”

Out on thee! Up! up! Why wilt thou sit down and be frozen to death?
When trouble comes, then fight it with manful heart and strong, plunge into
the stream, accoutred as thou art, and swim it through, but oh! do not fear
it before it comes.

Then Christian in trouble, I have a word to say with thee. So my brother,
thou art in trouble, thou art come into the waves of affliction, art thou? No
strange thing is it brother? Thou hast been there many times before. “Ah,”
but sayest thou, “this is the worst I ever had. I have come up here this
morning with a millstone round my neck. I have a mine of lead in my heart:
I am miserable, I am unhappy, I am cast down exceedingly.” Well, but
brother, as thy troubles abound, so shall thy consolation. Brother, hast thou
hung thy harp upon the willows? I am glad thou hast not broken the harp
altogether. Better, to hang it on the willows than to break it; be sure not to
break it. Instead of being distressed about thy trouble, rejoice in it; thou
wilt then honor God, thou wilt glorify Christ, thou wilt bring sinners to
Jesus, if thou wilt sing in the depths of trouble, for then they will say,
“There must be something in religion after all, otherwise the man would
not be so happy.”

Then one word with you who are almost driven to despair. I would stretch
my hands out, if I could, this morning — for I believe a preacher ought to
be a Briareus, with a thousand hands to fetch out his hearers, one by one,
and speak to them. There is a man here quite despairing — almost every
hope gone. Brother, shall I tell thee what to do? Thou hast fallen off the
main deck, thou art in the sea, the floods surround thee, thou seemest to
have no hope, thou catchest at straws, what shalt thou do now? Do? why
lie upon the sea of trouble, and float upon it, be still, and know that God is
God, and thou wilt never perish. All thy kicking and struggling will sink
thee deeper; but lie still, for behold the life-boat cometh; Christ is coming
to thy help; soon he will deliver thee, and fetch thee out of all thy
perplexities.

Lastly, some of you have no interest in this sermon at all. I never try to
deceive my hearers by making them believe that all I say belongs to all who
hear me. There are different characters in God’s word, it is yours to search
your own hearts this day, and see whether ye are God’s people, or not. As
the Lord liveth before whom I stand, there are two classes here. I do not
own the distinction of aristocratic and democratic; in my sight, and in
God’s sight, every man is alike. We are made of one flesh and blood; we
do not have china gentlemen and earthenware poor people, we are all made
of the same mould of fashion. There is one distinction, and only one. Ye
are all either the children of God, or children of the devil, ye are all either
born again, or dead in trespasses and sins. It is yours to let the question
ring in your ears: “Where am I? Is yon black tyrant, with his fiery sword,
my king; or do I own Jehovah-Jesus as my strength, my shield, my
Savior?” I shall not force you to answer it, I shall not say anything to you
about it. Only answer it yourselves, let your hearts speak, let your souls
speak. All I can do is to propose the question. God apply it to your souls! I
beseech him to send it home and make the arrow stick fast!

“Is Jesus mine! I am now prepared,
To meet with what I thought most hard;
Yes, let the winds of trouble blow,
And comforts melt away like snow,
No blasted trees, nor failing crops,
Can hinder my eternal hopes
Tho’ creatures change, the Lord’s the same,
Then let me triumph in his name.

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“For so he giveth his beloved sleep” — Psalm 127:2

THE sleep of the body is the gift of God. So said Homer of old, when he
described it as descending from the clouds, and resting on the tents of the
warriors around old Troy. And so sang Virgil, when he spoke of Palinurus
falling asleep upon the prow of the ship. Sleep is the gift of God. We think
that we lay our heads upon our pillows, and compose our bodies in a
peaceful posture, and that, therefore, we naturally and necessarily sleep.
But it is not so. Sleep is the gift of God, and not a man would close his
eyes, did not God put his fingers on his eyelids; did not the Almighty send
a soft and balmy influence over his frame which lulled his thoughts into
quiescence, making him enter into that blissful state of rest which we call
sleep. True, there be some drugs and narcotics whereby men can poison
themselves well nigh to death, and then call it sleep; but the sleep of the
healthy body is the gift of God. He bestows it, he rocks the cradle for us
every night; he draws the curtain of darkness; he bids the sun shut up his
burning eyes, and then he comes and says, “Sleep, sleep my child; I give
thee sleep.” Have you not known what it is at times to lie upon your bed
and strive to slumber? and as it is said of Darius, so might it be said of you:
“The king sent for his musicians, but his sleep went from him.” You have
attempted it, but you could not do it; it is beyond your power to procure a
healthy repose. You imagine if you fix your mind upon a certain subject
until it shall engross your attention, you will then sleep; but you find
yourself unable to do so. Ten thousand things drive through your brain as if
the whole earth were agitated before you. You see all things you ever
beheld dancing in a wild phantasmagoria before your eyes. You close your
eyes, but still you see; and there be things in your ear and head, and brain,
which will not let you sleep.

It is God alone, who alike seals up the sea
boy’s eyes upon the giddy mast, and gives the monarch rest: for with all
appliances and means to boot, he could not rest without the aid of God.
It is God who steeps the mind in lethe, and bids us slumber, that our bodies
may be refreshed, so that for tomorrow’s toil we may rise recruited and
strengthened.

O my friends, how thankful should we be for sleep. Sleep is the best
physician that I know of. Sleep hath healed more pains of wearied bones
than the most eminent physicians upon earth. It is the best medicine; the
choicest thing of all the names which are written in all the lists of
pharmacy. There is nothing like to sleep! What a mercy it is that it belongs
alike to all! God does not make sleep the boon of the rich man, he does not
give it merely to the noble, or the rich, so that they can keep it as a peculiar
luxury for themselves; but he bestows it upon all. Yea, if there be a
difference, the sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or
much. He who toils, sleeps all the sounder for his toil. While luxurious
effeminacy cannot rest, tossing itself from side to side upon a bed of eider
down, the hard-working laborer, with his strong and powerful limbs, worn
out and tired throws himself upon his hard couch and sleeps: and waking,
thanks God that he has been refreshed!

Ye know not, my friends, how
much ye owe to God, that he gives you rest at night. If ye had sleepless
nights, ye would then value the blessing. If for weeks ye lay tossing on
your weary bed, ye then would thank God for thy favor. But as it is the gift
of God, it is a gift most precious, one that cannot be valued until it is taken
away; yea, even then we cannot appreciate it as we ought.

The Psalmist says there are some men who deny themselves sleep. For
purposes of gain, or ambition, they rise up early and sit up late. Some of us
who are here present may have been guilty of the same thing. We have
risen early in the morning that we might turn over the ponderous volume,
in order to acquire knowledge; we have sat at night until our burned-out
lamp has chidden us, and told us that the sun was rising; while our eyes
have ached, our brain has throbbed, our heart has palpitated. We have been
weary and worn out; we have risen up early, and sat up late, and have in
that way come to eat the bread of sorrow Many of you business men are
toiling in that style. We do not condemn you for it; we do not forbid rising
up early and sitting up late; but we remind you of this text: — “It is vain
for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he
giveth his beloved sleep.” And it is of this sleep, that God gives to his
beloved, that we mean to speak this morning, as God shall help us — a
sleep peculiar to the children of God — a sleep which he gives to “his
beloved.”

Sleep is sometimes used in a bad sense in the Word of God, to express the
condition of carnal and worldly men. Some men have the sleep of carnal
ease and sloth: of whom Solomon tells us, they are unwise sons that
slumber in the harvest, causing shame, so that when the harvest is spent,
and the summer is ended, they are not saved. Sleep often expresses a state
of sloth, of deadness, of indifference, in which all ungodly men are found,
according to the words, “It is time for us to awake out of sleep.” “Let us
not sleep as do others, but let us who are of the day be sober.” There be
many who are sleeping the sluggard’s sleep, who are resting upon the bed
of sloth, but an awful waking shall it be to them when they shall find that
the time of their probation has been wasted; that the golden sands of their
life have dropped unheeded from the hour-glass; and that they have come
into that world where there are no acts of pardon passed, no hope, no
refuge, no salvation.

In other places you find sleep used as the figure of carnal security, in which
so many are found. Look at Saul, lying asleep in fleshly security — not like
David, when he said, “I will lay me down and sleep, for thou Lord makest
me to dwell in safety.” Abner lay there, and all the troops lay around him,
but Abner slept. Sleep on, Saul, sleep on. But there is an Abishai standing
at thy pillow, and with a spear in his hand he says, “Let me smite him even
to the earth at once:” Still he sleeps; he knows it not. Such are many of
you, sleeping in jeopardy of your soul; Satan is standing, the law is ready,
vengeance is eager, and all saying, “Shall I smite him? I will smite him this
once, and he shall never wake again.” Christ says, “Stay, vengeance, stay.”
Lo, the spear is even now quivering — “Stay, spare it yet another year in
the hope that he may yet wake from the long sleep of his sin.” Like Sisera,
I tell thee, sinner, thou art sleeping in the tent of the destroyer; thou mayest
have eaten butter and honey out of a lordly dish; but thou art sleeping on
the doorstep of hell, even now the enemy is lifting up the hammer and the
nail, to smite thee through thy temples, and fasten thee to the earth, that
there thou mayest lie for ever in the death of everlasting torment — if it
may be called a death.

Then there is also mentioned in Scripture, a sleep of lust, like that which
Samson had when he lost his locks, and such sleep as many have when they
indulge in sin, and wake to find themselves stripped, lost, and ruined. There
is also the sleep of negligence, such as the virgins had, when it is said,
“they all slumbered and slept;” and the sleep of sorrow, which overcame
Peter, James, and John. But none of these are the gifts of God. They are
incident to the frailty of our nature; they come upon us because we are
fallen men; they creep over us because we are the sons of a lost and ruined
parent. These sleeps are not the benisons of God; nor does he bestow them
on his beloved. We now come to tell you what those sleeps are, which he
does bestow.

I. First, there is a miraculous sleep which God has sometimes given to his
beloved — which he does not NOW vouchsafe. Into that kind of
miraculous sleep, or rather trance, fell Adam, when he slept sorrowingly
and alone; but when he awoke he was no more so, for God had given him
that best gift which he had then bestowed on man. The same sleep Abram
had, when it is said that a deep sleep came on him, and he laid him down,
and saw a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, while a voice said to him,
“Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Such a
hallowed sleep also was that of Jacob, when, with a stone for his pillow,
the hedges for his curtains, the heavens for his canopy, the winds for his
music, and the beasts for his servants, he laid him down and slumbered.
Dreaming, he saw a ladder set upon the earth, the top of which reached to
heaven, the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. Such a sleep
had Joseph, when he dreamed that the other sheaves made obeisance to his
sheaf, and that the sun, moon, and seven stars were subject unto him.

So ofttimes did David rest, when his sleep was sweet unto him, as we have
just read. And such a sleep was that of Daniel, when he said, “I was asleep
upon my face, and behold the Lord said unto me, Arise, and stand upon thy
feet.” And such, moreover, was the sleep of the reputed father of our
blessed Lord, when in a vision of the night, an angel said unto him, “Arise,
Joseph, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, for
Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” These are miraculous
slumbers. God’s angel hath touched his servants with the magic wand of
sleep, and they have slept, not simply as we do, but slept a wondrous sleep,
they have dived into the tenfold depths of slumber, they have plunged into
a sea of sleep, where they have seen the invisible, talked with the unknown,
and heard mystic and wondrous sounds: and when they have awoke, they
have said, “What a sleep, Surely, my sleep was sweet unto me.” “So he
giveth his beloved sleep.”

But, nowadays, we do not have such sleeps as these. Many persons
dream very wonderful things, but most people dream nonsense. Some
persons put faith in dreams: and, certainly God doth warn us in dreams and
visions even now. I am sure he does. There is not a man but can mention
one or more instances of a warning, or a benefit, he has received in a
dream. But we never trust dreams. We remember what Rowland Hill said
to a lady, who knew she was a child of God, because she dreamed such-and-
such a thing: “Never mind, ma’am, what you did when you were
asleep; let us see what you will do when you are awake.” That is my
opinion of dreams. I never will believe a man to be a Christian merely
because he has dreamed himself one; for a dreamy religion will make a man
a dreamer all his life — and such dreamers will have an awful waking at
last, if that is all they have to trust to.

II. He gives his beloved, in the second place, the sleep of a quiet
conscience. I think most of you saw that splendid picture, in the Exhibition
of the Royal Academy — the Sleep of Argyle — where he lay slumbering
on the very morning before his execution. You saw some noblemen
standing there, looking at him, almost with compunction; the jailer is there,
with his keys rattling: but positively the man sleeps, though tomorrow
morning his head shall be severed from his body, and a man shall hold it up
and say, “This was the head of a traitor.” He slept because he had a quiet
conscience: for he had done no wrong. Then look at Peter. Did you ever
notice that remarkable passage, where it is said that Herod intended to
bring out Peter on the morrow; but, behold, as Peter was sleeping between
two guards, the angel smote him? Sleeping between two guards, when on
the morrow he was to be crucified or slain! He cared not, for his heart was
clear; he had committed no ill. He could say, If it be right to serve God or
man, judge ye;” and, therefore, he laid him down and slept.

O sirs! do ye
know what the sleep of a quiet conscience is? Have you ever stood out and
been the butt of calumny — pelted by all men; the object of scorn — the
laugh, the song of the drunkard? And have ye known what it is, after all, to
sleep, as if you cared for nothing, because your heart was pure? Ah! ye
who are in debt — ah! ye who are dishonest — ah! ye who love not God,
and love not Christ — I wonder ye can sleep, for sin doth put pricking
thorns in the pillow. Sin puts a dagger in a man’s bed, so that whichever
way he turns it pricks him. But a quiet conscience is the sweetest music
that can bill the soul to sleep. The demon of restlessness does not come to
that man’s bed who has a quiet conscience — a conscience right with God
— who can sing —

“With the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace shall be.”
“So he giveth his beloved sleep.”

But let me tell you who have no knowledge of your election in Christ
Jesus, no trust in the ransom of a Savior’s blood — you, who have never
been called by the Holy Ghost you, who never were regenerated and born
again — let me tell you that you do not know this slumber. You may say
your conscience is quiet; you may say, you do no man any wrong, and that
you believe at the bar of God you shall have little to account for. But, sirs,
you know you have sinned; and your virtues cannot atone for your vices.
You know that the soul that sinneth, if it sins but once, must die. If the
picture has a single flaw, it is not a perfect one. If ye have sinned but once,
ye shall be dammed for it, unless ye have something to take away that one
sin. Ye do not know this sleep, but the Christian does, for all his sins were
numbered on the “scape-goat’s head of old.” Christ has died for all his sins,
however great or enormous, and there is not now a sin written against him
in the Book of God. “I, even I,” says God, “am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for my name’s sake, and I will not remember thy sins.” Now
thou mayest sleep; for “so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

III. Again: there is the sleep of contentment which the Christian enjoys.
How few people in this world are satisfied. No man ever need fear offering
a reward of a thousand pounds to a contented man; for if any one came to
claim the reward, he would of course prove his discontent. We are all in a
measure, I suspect, dissatisfied with our lot; the great majority of mankind
are always on the wing; they never settle, they never light on any tree to
build their nest, but they are always flittering from one to the other. This
tree is not green enough, that is not high enough, this is not beautiful
enough, that is not picturesque enough; so they are ever on the wing, and
never build a peaceful nest at all. The Christian builds his nest; and as the
noble Luther said, “Like yon little bird upon the tree, he hath fed himself
tonight — he knoweth not where his breakfast is to-morrow. He sitteth
there while the winds rock the tree: he shuts his eyes, puts his head under
his wing, and sleeps; and, when he awakes in the morning, sings,

‘Mortals cease from toil and sorrow;
God provideth for the morrow.’”

How few there are who have that blessed contentment — who can say, “I
want nothing else, I want but little here below — yea, I long for nothing
more — I am satisfied — I am content.” You sung a beautiful hymn just
now, but I suspect that many of you had no right to it, because you did not
feel it.

“With thy will I leave the rest
Grant me but this one request.
Both in life and death to prove
Tokens of thy special love.”

Could you say there was nothing you wanted on earth, save Jesus? Did you
mean that you are perfectly content — that you had the sleep of
contentment? Ah! no. You, who were apprentices, are sighing till you shall
be journeymen; you who are journeymen, are groaning to be masters;
masters are longing till they shall retire from business, and when they have
retired, they are longing that all their children shall be settled in life. Man
always looks for a yet beyond, he is a mariner who never gets to port, an
arrow which never reaches the target. Ah! the Christian hath sleep. One
night I could not rest, and in the wild wanderings of my thoughts I met this
text and communed with it: — “So he giveth his beloved sleep.” In my
reverie, as I was on the border of the land of dreams, methought I was in a
castle. Around its massive walls there ran a deep moat. Watchmen paced
the walls both day and night. It was a fine old fortress, bidding defiance to
the foe; but I was not happy in it. I thought I lay upon a couch; but
scarcely had I closed my eyes, ere a trumpet blew, “To arms! To arms!”
and when the danger was overpass I lay me down again. “To arms! To
arms!” once more resounded, and again I started up. Never could I rest. I
thought I had my armor on, and moved about perpetually clad in mail,
rushing each hour to the castle top, aroused by some fresh alarm. At one
time a foe was coming from the west; at another, from the east. I thought I
had a treasure somewhere down in some deep part of the castle, and all my
care was to guard it. I dreaded, I feared, I trembled lest it should be taken
from me. I awoke, and I thought I would not live in such a tower as that
for all its grandeur. It was the castle of discontent, the castle of ambition, in
which man never rests. It is ever “To arms! To arms! To arms!” There is a
foe here or a foe there. His dear-loved treasure must be guarded. Sleep
never crossed the drawbridge of the castle of discontent. Then I thought I
would supplant it by another reverie. I was in a cottage. It was in what
poets call a beautiful and pleasant place, but I cared not for that. I had no
treasure in the world, save one sparkling jewel on my breast; and I thought
I put my hand on that and went to sleep, nor did I wake till morning light.
That treasure was a quiet conscience and the love of God — “ the peace
that passeth all understanding.” I slept, because I slept in the house of
content, satisfied with what I had. Go ye overreaching misers! Go ye,
grasping ambitious men! I envy not your life of inquietude. The sleep of
statesmen is often broken; the dream of the miser is always evil; the sleep
of the man who loves gain is never hearty, but God “giveth,” by
contentment, “his beloved sleep.”

IV. Once more: God giveth his beloved the sleep of quietness of soul as to
the future. O that dark future! that future! that future! The present may be
well but ah! the next wind may wither all the flowers, and where shall I be?
Clutch thy gold, miser; for “riches make to themselves wings and flee
away.” Hug that babe to thy breast, mother; for the rough hand of death
may rob thee of it. Look at thy fame and wonder at it, O thou man of
ambition! But one slight report shall wound thee to the heart, and thou
shalt sink as low as ever thou hast been lifted high by the voices of the
multitude. The future! All persons have need to dread the future, except
the Christian. God giveth to his beloved a happy sleep with regard to the
events of coming time.

“What may be my future lot,
High or low concerns me not;
This doth set my heart at rest,
What my God appoints is best.”

Whether I am to live or die is no matter to me; whether I am to be the
“offspring of all things,” or “the man whom the king delighteth to honor,”
matters not to me. All is alike, provided my Father doth but give it. “So he
giveth his beloved sleep.” How many of you have arrived at that happy
point that you have no wish of your own at all? It is a sweet thing to have
but one wish, but it is a better thing to have no wish at all — to be all lost
in the present enjoyment of Christ and the future anticipation of the vision
of his face. O my soul! what would the future be to thee if thou hadst not
Christ? If it be a bitter and a dark future, what matters it, so long as Christ
thy Lord sanctifies it, and the Holy Ghost still gives thee courage,
energy, and strength? It is a blessed thing to be able to say with Madame
Guyon —

“To me ‘tis equal, whether love ordained,
My life or death, appoint me pain or ease;
My soul perceives no real ill in pain
In ease or health, no real good she sees
One good she covets, and that good alone,
To choose thy will, from selfish bias free,
And to prefer a cottage to a throne,
And grief to comfort, if it pleases thee.
That we should bear the cross is thy command
Die to the world, and live to sin no more.
Suffer unmoved beneath the rudest hand,
As pleased when shipwrecked, as when safe on shore.”

It is a happy condition to attain. “So he giveth his beloved sleep.” Ah! if
you have a self-will in your hearts, pray to God to uproot it. Have you selflove? Beseech the Holy Spirit to turn it out; for if you will always will to
do as God wills you must be happy. I have heard of some good old woman
in a cottage, who had nothing but a piece of bread and a little water, and
lifting up her hands, she said, as a blessing, “What! all this, and Christ
too?” It is “all this,” compared with what we deserve. And I have read of
some one dying, who was asked if he wished to live or die, and he said, “I
have no wish at all about it.” “But if you might wish, which would you
choose?” “I would not choose at all.” “But if God bade you choose?” “I
would beg God to choose for me, for I should not know which to take.”
Happy state! happy state! to be perfectly acquiescent —

“To lie passive in his hand,
And know no will but his.”
“So he giveth his beloved sleep.”

V. In the fifth place: there is the sleep of security. Solomon slept with
armed men round his bed, and thus slumbered securely; but Solomon’s
father slept one night on the bare ground — not in a palace — with no
moat round his castle wall, — but he slept quite as safely as his son, for he
said, “I laid me down and slept, and I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.”
Now, some persons never feel secure in this world at all; I query whether
one half of my hearers feel themselves so. Suppose I burst out in a
moment, and sing this —

“I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given;
More happy but not more secure,
Are the glorified spirits in heaven.”

You would say, that is too high doctrine; and I would reply, very likely it is
for you, but it is the truth of God, and it is sweet doctrine for me I love to
know that if I am predestinated according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, I must be saved if I was purchased by the Son’s blood, I cannot be
lost, for it would be impossible for Jesus Christ to lose one whom he has
redeemed, otherwise he would be dissatisfied with his labors. I know that
where he has begun the good work he will carry it on. I never fear that I
shall fall away, or be lost; my only fear is, lest I should not have been right
at first; but, provided I am right, if I be really a child of God, I might
believe that the sun would be smitten with madness, and go reeling through
the universe like a drunken man — I might believe that the stars would run
from their courses and instead of marching with their measured tramp, as
now they do, whirl on in wild courses like the dance of Bacchanals — I
could even conceive that this great universe might all subside in God,
“even as a moment’s foam subsides again upon the wave that bears it,” but
neither reason, heresy, logic, eloquence, nor a conclave of divines, shall
make me pay a moment’s attention to the vile suggestion, that a child of
God may ever perish. Hence I tread this earth with confidence.

Arguing a
little while ago with an Arminian, he said, “Sir you ought to be a happy
man, for if what you say be true, why you are as secure of being in heaven
as if you were there,” I said, “Yes, I know it.” “Then you ought to live
above cares and tribulations, and sing happily from morning to night.” I
said, “So I ought, and so I will, God helping me.” This is security. “He
giveth his beloved sleep.” To know that if I died I should enter heaven —
to be as sure as I am of my own existence that God, having loved me with
an everlasting love, and he being immutable, will never hate me if he has
once loved me — to know that I must enter the kingdom of glory — is not
this enough to make all burdens light, and give me the hind’s feet
wherewith I may stand upon my high places. Happy state of security! “So
he giveth his beloved sleep.”

And there is a sleep, my dear friends, of security, which is enjoyed on earth
even in the midst of the greatest troubles. Do you remember that passage
in the book of Ezekiel, where it is said, “They shall dwell securely in the
wilderness and sleep in the woods?” A queer place to sleep in! “In the
woods.” There is a wolf over yonder, there is a tiger in the jungle, an eagle
is soaring in the air; a horde of robbers dwell in the dark forest. “Never
mind,” says the child of God:

“ He that hath made his refuge God,
Shall find a most secure abode;.
Shall walk all day beneath his shade,
And there at night shall rest his head.”

I have often admired Martin Luther, and wondered at his composure.
When all men spoke so ill of him, what did he say? Turn to that Psalm — “
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble;
therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” In a far inferior manner, I
have been called to stand up in the position of Martin Luther, and have
been made the butt of slander, a mark for laughter and scorn; but it has not
broken my spirit yet, nor will it, while I am enabled to enjoy that quiescent
state of — “ So he giveth his beloved sleep.” But thus far I beg to inform
all those who choose to slander or speak ill of me, that they are very
welcome to do so till they are tired of it. My motto is cedo nulli — I yield
to none. I have not courted any man’s love; I asked no man to attend my
ministry; I preach what I like, and when I like, and as I like. Oh! happy
state — to be bold, though downcast and distressed — to go and bend my
knee and tell my Father all, and then to come down from my chamber, and

“If on my face, for thy dear name,
Shame and reproach shall be;
I’ll hail reproach, and welcome shame,
For thou’lt remember me.”

VI. The last sleep God giveth his beloved, is the sleep of a happy
dismission. I have stood by the graves of many servants of the Lord. I have
buried some of the excellent of the earth; and when I bid farewell to my
brother down below there slumbering in his coffin, I usually commence my
speech with those words, “So he giveth his beloved sleep.” Dear servants
of Jesus! There I see them! What can I say of them, but that “so he giveth
his beloved sleep?” Oh! happy sleep! This world is a state of tossing to and
fro; but in that grave they rest. No sorrows there; no sighs, no groans, to
mingle with the songs that warble from immortal tongues. Well may I
address the dead thus: — “My brother, oftentimes hast thou fought the
battles of this world; thou hast had thy cares, thy trials, and thy troubles;
but now thou art gone — not to worlds unknown, but to yonder land of
light and glory. Sleep on, brother! Thy soul sleepeth not, for thou art in
heaven but thy body sleepeth. Death hath laid thee in thy last couch; it may
be cold, but it is sanctified; it may be damp, but it is safe; and on the
resurrection morning, when the archangel shall set his trumpet to his
mouth, thou shalt rise. “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord: yea, saith
the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.”
“Sleep on in thy grave, my brother, for thou shalt rise to glory.” “So he
giveth his beloved sleep.”

Some of you fear to die, and have good reason to do so, for death for you
would be the beginning of sorrows; and on its approach ye might hear the
voice of the angel of the Apocalypse: “One woe is past, but behold two
woes more are to come.” If, sirs, ye were to die unprepared, and
unconverted, and unsaved, “There remaineth nothing but a fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation.” I need not speak like a Boanerges,
for it is to you a well known truth, that without God, without Christ,
“strangers from the commonwealth of Israel,” your portion must be
amongst the damned — the fiends — the tortured — the shrieking ghosts
— the wandering souls who find no rest —

“ On waves of burning brimstone toss’d,
For ever, O for ever lost!”

“The wrath to come!” “The wrath to come!” “The wrath to come!”
But, beloved Christian brother, wherefore dost thou fear to die? Come let
me take thy hand:

“ To you and me by grace ‘tis given
To know the Savior’s precious name;
And shortly we shall meet in heaven
Our end, our hope, our way the same.”

Do you know that heaven is just across that narrow stream? Are you afraid
to plunge in and swim across? Do you fear to be drowned? I feel the
bottom — it is good. Dost thou think thou shalt sink? Hear the voice of the
Spirit: “Fear not, I am with thee, be not dismayed, I am thy God: when
thou passest through the river, I will be with thee, and the floods shall not
overflow thee.” Death is the gate of endless joys, and dost thou dread to
enter there? What! fear to be emancipated from corruption? Oh! say not
so, but rather, gladly lay down and sleep in Jesus, and be blessed. I have
finished expounding my subject.

There is only one question I want to ask
of you before you pass out of those doors. Do you seriously and solemnly
believe that you belong to the “beloved” here mentioned? I may be
impertinent in asking such a question, I have been accused of that before
now, but I have never denied it. I rather take the credit of it than not. But
seriously and solemnly I ask you — Do you know yourselves to be
amongst the beloved? And if it happens that you want a test, allow me to
give you three tests, very briefly, and I have done. It has been said that
there are three kinds of preachers — doctrinal preachers, experimental
preachers, and practical preachers. Now I think there are three things that
make up a Christian — true doctrine, real experience, and good practice.
Now, then, as to your doctrine. You may tell whether you are the Lord’s
beloved partly by that. Some think it matters not what a man believes.
Excuse me: truth IS always precious, and the least atom of truth is worth
searching out. Nowadays the sects do not clash so much as they did.
Perhaps that is good, but there is one evil about it. People do not read their
Bibles so much as they did. They think we are all right. Now, I believe we
may be all right in the main, but we cannot be all right where we contradict
one another; and it becomes every man to search the Bible to see which is
right. I am not afraid to submit my Calvinism, or my doctrine of believer’s
baptism, to the searching of the Bible. A learned lord, an infidel, once said
to Whitffeld “Sir, I am an infidel, I do not believe the Bible, but if the Bible
be true, you are right, and your Arminian opponents are wrong. If the Bible
be the Word of God, the doctrines of grace are true;” adding that if any
man would grant him the Bible to be the truth, he would challenge him to
disprove Calvinism. The doctrines of original sin, election, effectual calling,
final perseverance, and all those great truths which are called Calvinism —
though Calvin was not the author of them, but simply an able writer and
preacher upon the subject — are, I believe, the essential doctrines of the
Gospel that is in Jesus Christ.

Now, I do not ask you whether you believe
all this — it is possible you may not, but I believe you will before you enter
heaven. I am persuaded, that as God may have washed your hearts, he will
wash your brains before you enter heaven. He will make you right in your
doctrines. But I must enquire whether you read your Bibles I am not
finding fault with you this morning for differing from me, I may be wrong;
but I want to know whether you search the Scriptures to find what is truth.
And, if you are not a reader of the Bible, if you take doctrines secondhand,
if you go to chapel, and say, “I do not like that;” what matters your
not liking it provided it is in the Bible? Is it Biblical truth, or is it not? If it
is God’s truth let us have it exalted. It may not suit you, but let me remind
you, that the truth that is in Jesus never was palatable to carnal men, and I
believe never will be. The reason you love it not, is because it cuts too
much at your pride; it lets you down too low. Search yourselves, then, in
doctrine.

Then take care that you remember the experimental test. I am afraid there
is very little experimental religion amongst us, but where there is true
doctrine, there ought always to be a vital experience. Sirs, try yourselves
by the experimental test. Have you ever had an experience of your
wretchedness, of your depravity, your inability, your death in sin? Have ye
ever felt life in Christ, an experience of the light of God’s countenance, of
wrestling with corruption? Have you had a grace-given Holy Ghost implanted experience of a communion with Christ? If so, then you are right
on the experimental test.

And, to conclude, take care of the practical test. “Faith without works is
dead being alone.” He that walketh in sin is a child of the devil, and he that
walketh in righteousness is a child of light. Do not think, because you
believe the right doctrines, therefore you are right. There are many that
believe right, act wrong, and they perish. “Be not deceived; God is not
mocked, whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.”

I have done. Now let me beseech, you by the frailty of your own lives —
by the shortness of time — by the dreadful realities of eternity — by the
sins you have committed — by the pardon that you need — by the blood
and wounds of Jesus — by his second coming to judge the world in
righteousness — by the glories of heaven — by the awful horrors of hell —
by time — by eternity — by all that is good — by all that is sacred — let
me beg of you, as you love your own souls, to search and see whether ye
are amongst the beloved, to whom he giveth sleep. God bless you.

The following study was conducted by  Theos ‘The public theology think-tank’

50% of Britons admit to fearing the process of dying, according to the findings of a new research project on death and dying by Theos, the public theology think tank.

In the poll of over 1,000 adults undertaken for Theos by ComRes, 20% admit to fearing both the way they will die and death itself. 30% say that they fear the way they will die but not death itself. 25% claim to fear neither death nor the way they will die.  42% people believe that the publicity surrounding the death of Jade Goody was helpful, in making people think about death.

When asked about the sort of funeral they would like, 37% of people say that they would like a Christian funeral compared with 17% saying a non-religious one. 4% would like a religious but not a Christian ceremony. There is a trend by age group: 53% of people aged 65 and over say they would like a Christian funeral compared with only 20% of 18-24 year olds.

Only 7% of the population have made arrangements for their funeral. 16% of people have not given it any thought and 13% of people say they will let their family or friends decide. 42% have made a will and 41% have taken out life insurance.

Two thirds of all people (66%) have seen a dead body. 55% of 18-24 year olds have not while only 16% of people aged 65 and over have not.

The highest proportion of people fearing both the way they will die and death itself is among 18-24 year olds (26% compared with a national average of 20%). Strikingly, although the smallest proportion of people wanting a Christian funeral is within that age group (20% compared with a national average of 37%) it also contains the highest proportion of people wanting a religious but not Christian funeral (9% compared with a national average of 4%). 42% of people aged 65 and over state that their religious faith helps them to deal with the death of a loved one and prepare for their own death compared with only 23% of 18-24 year olds.

Commenting on the finding of the research, Director of Theos, Paul Woolley said:

“This research offers a useful insight into public attitudes regarding a highly personal and emotive subject.

“The different attitudes about death between age groups are especially striking. The fact that we are fearful of dying suggests we need to discuss it more.

“The proportion of people fearing death in society could be explained by the breakdown of an overarching religious narrative in the culture. It might also have something to do with the lack of experience people have in dealing with death.”

In his book, The Welcome Visitor, published earlier this year, John Humphrys said: “The attitude of modern society to death has changed because our attitude to life has changed. A century ago we knew that death was never far away and we were prepared for it. Today the opposite is true.”

“I have exalted one chosen out of the people” Psalm 89:19

ORIGINALLY, I have no doubt, these words referred to David. He was
chosen out of the people. His lineage was respectable, but not illustrious;
his family were holy, but not exalted: the names of Jesse, Obed, Boaz, and
Ruth, awoke no royal recollections, and stirred up no remembrances of
ancient nobility or glorious pedigree. As for himself, his only occupation
had been that of a shepherd-boy, carrying lambs in his bosom, or gently
leading the ewes great with young — a simple youth of a right royal soul,
and undaunted courage, but yet a plebeian — one of the people. But this
was no disqualification for the crown of Judah. In God’s eye the extraction
of the young hero was no barrier to his mounting the throne of the holy
nation, nor shall the proudest admirer of descent and lineage dare to
insinuate a word against the valor, wisdom, and the justice of the
government of this monarch of the people.

We do not believe that Israel or Judah ever had a better ruler than David;
and we are bold to affirm that the reign of the man “chosen out of the
people” outshines in glory the reigns of high-bred emperors, and princes
with the blood of a score of kings running in their veins. Yea, more, we
will assert that the humility of his birth and education, so far from making
him incompetent to rule rendered him, in a great degree, more fit for his
office, and able to discharge its mighty duties. He could legislate for the
many, for he was one of themselves — he could rule the people, as the
people should be ruled, for he was “bone of their bone, and “flesh of their
flesh” — their friend, their brother, as well as their king.

However, in this sermon we shall not speak of David, but of the Lord Jesus
Christ, for David, as referred to in the text, is an eminent type of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior, who was chosen out of the people; and of
whom his Father can say “I have exalted one chosen out of the people.”

Before I enter into the illustration of this truth I wish to make one
statement, so that all objections may be avoided as to the doctrine of my
sermon. Our Savior Jesus Christ, I say, was chosen out of the people; but
this merely respects his manhood. As “very God of very God” he was not
chosen out of the people, for there was none save him. He was his Father’s
only-begotten Son, “begotten of the Father before all worlds.” He was
God’s fellow, co-equal, and co-eternal; consequently when we speak of
Jesus as being chosen out of the people, we must speak of him as a man.
We are, I conceive, too forgetful of the real manhood of our Redeemer, for
a man he was to all intents and purposes, and I love to sing,

“A Man there was, a real Man
Who once on Calvary died.”

He was not man and God amalgamated — the two natures suffered no
confusion — he was very God, without the diminution of his essence or
attributes; and he was equally, verily, and truly, man. It is as a man I speak
of Jesus this morning; and it rejoices my heart when I can view the human
side of that glorious miracle of incarnation, and can deal with Jesus Christ
as my brother — inhabitant of the same mortality, wrestler with the same
pains and ills, companion in the march of life, and, for a little while, a
fellow-sleeper in the cold chamber of death.

There are three things spoken of in the text: first of all, Christ’s extraction — he was one of the people; secondly, his election — he was chosen out
of the people; and thirdly, Christ’s exaltation — he was exalted. You see I
have chosen three words, all commencing with the letter E, to ease your
memories that you may be able to remember them the better — extraction,
election, exaltation.

I. We will commence with our Savior’s EXTRACTION. We have had many
complaints this week, and for some weeks past, in the newspapers,
concerning the families. We are governed — and, according to the firm
belief of a great many of us, very badly governed, — by certain aristocratic
families. We are not governed by men chosen out of the people, as we
ought to be; and this is a fundamental wrong in our government, — that
our rulers, even when elected by us, can scarcely ever be elected from us.
Families, where certainly there is not a monopoly of intelligence or
prudence, seems to have a patent for promotion; while a man, a commoner,
a tradesman, of however good sense, cannot rise to the government.

I am
no politician, and I am about to preach no political sermon; but I must
express my sympathy with the people, and my joy that we, as Christians,
are governed by one chosen out of the people.” Jesus Christ is the people’s
man; he is the people’s friend — ay, one of themselves. Though he sits
high on his Father’s throne, he was “one chosen out of the people. Christ is
not to be called the aristocrat’s Christ, he is not the noble’s Christ, he is
not the king’s Christ; but he is “one chosen out of the people.” It is this
thought which cheers the hearts of the people, and ought to bind their souls
in unity to Christ, and the holy religion of which he is the Author and
Finisher. Let us now beat out this wedge of gold into leaf, and narrowly
inspect its truthfulness.

Christ, by his very birth was one of the people. True, he was born of a
royal ancestry. Mary and Joseph were both of them descendants of a kingly
race, but the glory had departed; a stranger sat on the throne of Judah;
while the lawful heir grasped the hammer and the adze. Mark ye well the
place of his nativity. Born in a stable — cradled in a manger where the
horned oxen fed — his only bed was their fodder, and his slumbers were
often broken by their longings. He might be a prince by birth – but certainly
he had not a princely retinue to wait upon him. He was not clad in purple
garments, neither wrapped in embroidered clothing; the halls of kings were
not trodden by his feet, the marble palaces of monarchs were not honored
by his infant smiles. Take notice of the visitors who came around his
cradle. The shepherds came first of all. We never find that they lost their
way. No, God guides the shepherds, and he did direct the wise men too,
but they lost their way. It often happens, that while shepherds find Christ
wise men miss him. But, however, both of them came, the magi and the
shepherds; both knelt round that manger, to show us that Christ was the
Christ of all men; that he was not merely the Christ of the magi, but that he
was the Christ of the shepherds — that he was not merely the Savior of the
peasant shepherd, but also the Savior of the learned, for

“None are excluded hence, but those
Who do themselves exclude;
Welcome the learned and polite,
The ignorant and rude,”

In his very birth he was one of the people. He was not born in a populous
city; but in the obscure village of Bethlehem, “the house of bread,” the Son
of Man made his advent, unushered by pompous preparations, and
unheralded by the blast of courtly trumpets.

His education, too, demands our attention. He was not taken as Moses
was, from his mother’s breast, to be educated in the halls of a monarch; he
was not brought up with all those affected airs which are given to persons
who have golden spoons in their mouths, at their births. He was not
brought up as the lordling, to look with disdain on every one; but his father
being a carpenter, doubtless he toiled in his father’s workshop. “Fit place,”
a quaint author says, “for Jesus; for he had to make a ladder that should
reach from earth to heaven. And why should he not be the son of a
carpenter?” Full well he knew the curse of Adam: “in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread.” Had you seen the holy child Jesus, you would have
beheld nothing to distinguish him from other children, save that unsullied
purity which rested in his very countenance. When our Lord entered into
public life, still he was the same. What was his rank? Did he array himself
in scarlet and purple? Oh! no: he wore the simple garb of a peasant — that
robe “without seam the top to the bottom,” one simple piece of stuff,
without ornament or embroidery. Did he dwell in state, and make a
magnificent show in his journey through Judea? No; he toiled his weary
way, and sat down on the curb-stone of the well of Sychar. He was like
others, a poor man; he had not courtiers around him; he had fishermen for
his companions; and when he spoke, did he speak with smooth and oily
words? Did he walk with dainty footsteps, like the king of Amalek? No, he
often spoke like the rough Elijah; he spoke what he meant, and he meant
what he said. He spoke to the people as the people’s man. He never
cringed before great men, he knew not what it was to bow or stoop, but he
stood and cried, “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Woe
unto you, whitewashed sepulchres.” He spared no class of sinners: rank
and fortune made no difference to him. He uttered the same truths to the
rich men of the Sanhedrin, as to the toiling peasants of Galilee. He was
“one of the people.”

Notice his doctrine. Jesus Christ was one of the people in his doctrine. His
gospel was never the philosopher’s gospel, for it is not abstruse enough. It
will not consent to be buried in hard words and technical phrases: it is so
simple that he who can spell over, “He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved,” may have a saving knowledge of it. Hence, worldly-wise men
scorn the science of truth, and sneeringly say, ‘why, even a blacksmith can
preach nowadays, and men who were at the plough tail may turn
preachers,’ while priestcraft demands, ‘What right have they to do any
such thing, unauthorized by us?’ Oh! sad case, that gospel truth should be
slighted because of its plainness, and that my Master should be despised
because he will not be exclusive — will not be monopolised by men of
talent and erudition. Jesus is the ignorant man’s Christ as much as the
learned man’s Christ; for he hath chosen “the base things of the world and
the things that are despised.”

Ah! much as I love true science and real
education, I mourn and grieve that our ministers are so much diluting the
Word of God with philosophy, desiring to be intellectual preachers,
delivering model sermons, well fitted for a room full of college students
and professors of theology, but of no use to the masses, being destitute of
simplicity, warmth, earnestness, or even solid gospel matter. I fear our
college training is but a poor gain to our churches, since it often serves to
wean the young man’s sympathies from the people, and wed them to the
few the intellectual, and wealthy of the church. It is good to be a fellow citizen in the republic of letters but better far to be an able minister of the
kingdom of heaven. It is good to be able like some great minds, to attract
the mighty; but the more useful man will still be he, who, like Whitfield,
uses “market language,” for it is a sad fact that high places and the gospel
seldom well agree; and, moreover, be it known that the doctrine of Christ
is the doctrine of the people. It was not meant to be the gospel of a caste, a
clique, or any one class of the community. The covenant of grace is not
ordered for men of one peculiar grade, but some of all sorts are included.

A few there were of the rich followed Jesus in his own day, and it is so
now. Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus were well to do, and there was the
wife of Herod’s steward, with some more of the nobility. These, however,
were but a few: his congregation was made up of the lower orders — the
masses — the multitude. “The common people heard him gladly;” and his
doctrine was one which did not allow of distinction, but put all men as
sinners naturally, on an equality in the sight of God. One is your father,
“one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” These were
words which he taught to his disciples, while in his own person he was the
mirror of humility, and proved himself the friend of earth’s poor sons, and
the lover of mankind O ye purse proud! O ye who cannot touch the poor
even with your white gloves! Ah! ye with your mitres and your croizers!
Ah! ye with your cathedrals and splendid ornaments! This is the man whom
ye call Master — the people’s Christ — one of the people! And yet ye look
down with scorn upon the people — ye despise them. What are they in
your opinion? The common herd — the multitude. Out on ye! Call
yourselves no more the ministers of Christ. How can ye be, unless,
descending from your pomp and your dignity, ye come amongst the poor
and visit them — ye walk amongst our teeming population and preach
to them the gospel of Christ Jesus. We believe you to be the descendants of
the fishermen? Ah! no, until ye doff your grandeur, and, like the fishermen,
come out, the people’s men, and preach to the people, speak to the people,
instead of lolling on your splendid seats, and making yourselves rich at the
expense of your pluralites!

Christ’s ministers should be the friends of manhood at large, remembering
that their Master was the people’s Christ. Rejoice! O rejoice! ye
multitudes. Rejoice! rejoice! for Christ was one of the people.

II. Our second point was ELECTION. God says, “I have exalted one chosen
out of the people.” Jesus Christ was elected — chosen. Somehow or other,
that ugly doctrine of election will come out. Oh! there be some, the
moment they hear that word, election, put their hands upon their
foreheads, and mutter, “I will wait till that sentence is over, there will be
something I shall like better, perhaps.” Some others say, “I shall not go to
that place again; the man is a hyper-Calvinist.” But the man is not a hyper-
Calvinist; the man said what was in his Bible — that is all. He is a
Christian, and you have no right to call him by those ill-names, if indeed an
ill-name it be, for we never blush at whatever men do call us. Here it is:
“One chosen out of the people.” Now, what does that mean, but that Jesus
Christ is chosen? Those who do not like to believe that the heirs of heaven
were elect cannot deny the truth proclaimed in this verse, — that Jesus
Christ is the subject of election — that his Father chose him, and that he
chose him out of the people. As a man, he was chosen out of the people, to
be the people’s Savior, and the people’s Christ. And now let us gather up
our thoughts, and try to discover the transcendent wisdom of God’s
choice.

Election is no blind thing. God chooses sovereignly, but he always
chooses wisely. There is always some secret reason for his choice of any
particular individual; though that motive does not lie in ourselves, or in our
own merits, yet there always is some secret cause far more remote than the
doings of the creature, some mighty reason unknown to all but himself. In
the case of Jesus the motives are apparent; and without pretending to enter
the cabinet council of Jehovah, we may discover them.

1. First, we see that justice is thereby fully satisfied by the choice of one
out of the people. Suppose God had chosen an angel to make satisfaction
for our sins — imagine that an angel were capable of bearing that vast
amount of suffering and agony which was necessary to our atonement, yet
after the angel had done it all, justice would never have been satisfied, for
this one simple reason, that the law declares, — “ The soul that sinneth IT
shall die.” Now, man sins, and therefore man must die. Justice required,
that as by man came death, by man also should come the resurrection and
the life. The law required, that as man was the sinner, man should be the
victim — that as in Adam all died, even so in another Adam should all be
made alive. Consequently it was necessary that Jesus Christ should be
chosen out of the people; for had yon blazing angel near the throne, that
lofty Gabriel, laid aside his splendours, descended to our earth, endured
pain, suffered agonies, entered the vault of death, and groaned out a
miserable existence in an extremity of woe, after all that, he would not
have satisfied inflexible justice, because it is said, a man must die, and
otherwise the sentence is not executed.

2. But there is another reason why Jesus Christ was chosen out of the
people. It is because thereby the whole race receives honor. Do you know
I would not be an angel, if Gabriel would ask me. If he would beseech me
to exchange places with him, I would not, I should lose so much by the
exchange, and he would gain so much. Poor, weak, and worthless, though
I am, yet I am a man, and being a man, there is a dignity about manhood —
a dignity lost one day in the garden of the fall but regained in the garden of
resurrection. It is a fact, that a man is greater than an angel — that in
heaven humanity stands nearer the throne than angelic existence. You will
read in the Book of the Revelation, of the four and-twenty elders who
stood around the throne, and in the outer circle stood the angels. The
elders, who are the representatives of the whole church, were honored with
a greater nearness to God than the ministering spirits. Why man — elect
man — is the greatest being in the universe, except God. Man sits up there
— look! at God’s right hand, radiant with glory, there sits a man! Ask me
who governs Providence, and directs its awfully mysterious machinery; I
tell you it is a man — the man Christ Jesus. Ask me who has during the
past month bound up the rivers in chains of ice, and who now has loosed
them from the shackles of winter, I tell you a man did it — Christ. Ask me
who shall come to judge the earth in righteousness, and I say a man. A real,
veritable man is to hold the scales of judgment, and to call all nations
around him. And who is the channel of grace? Who is the emporium of all
the Father’s mercy? Who is the great gathering up of all the love of the
covenant? I reply a man — the man Christ Jesus. And Christ, being a man,
has exalted you, and exalted me, and to put us into the highest ranks. He
made us, originally, a little lower than the angels, and now despite our fall
in Adam, he hath crowned us, his elect, with glory and honor, and hath set
us at his right hand in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to
come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus.

3. But, my brethren, let us take a sweeter view than that. Why was he
chosen out of the people? Speak, my heart! What is the first reason that
rushes up to thyself? for heart thoughts are best thoughts. Thoughts from
the head are often good for nothing, but thoughts of the heart, deep
musings of the soul, these are priceless as pearls of Ormuz. If it be a
humbler poet, provided that his songs gush from his heart, they shall better
strike the cords of my soul than the lifeless emanations of mere brain. Here,
Christian: what dost thou think is the sweet reason for the election of thy
Lord, he being one of the people? was it not this — that he might be able
to be my brother, in the blest tie of kindred blood? Oh! what relationship
there is between Christ and the believer? The believer can say

“One there is above all others
Well deserves the name of friend;
His is love beyond a brother’s
Faithful, free, and knows no end.”

I have a great brother in heaven. I have heard boys say sometimes in the
street that they would tell their brother, and I have often said so when the
enemy has attacked me — “I will tell my brother in heaven.” I may be
poor, but I have a brother who is rich. I have a brother who is a king. I am
brother to the prince of the kings of the earth; and will he suffer me to
starve, or want, or lack, while he is on his throne? Oh! no; he loves me; he
has fraternal feelings towards me; he is my brother. But, more than that:
think, O believer! Christ is not merely thy brother, but he is thy husband.
“Thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name.” It rejoices the
wife to lean her head on the broad breast of her husband, in full assurance
that his arms will be strong to labor for her, or defend her; that his heart
ever throbs with love to her, and that all he has, and is, belongs to her, as
the sharer of his existence. Oh! to know by the influence of the Holy
Ghost, that the sweet alliance is made between my soul and the ever
precious Jesus, sure, tis enough to quicken all my soul to music, and make
each atom of my frame a grateful songster to the praise of Christ.

Come,
let me remember when I lay like an infant in my blood, cast out in the open
field; let me recollect the notable moment when he said, “Live!” and let me
never forget that he has educated me, trained me up, and one day will
espouse me to himself in righteousness, crowning me with a nuptial crown
in the palace of his father. Oh! it is bliss unspeakable! I wonder not that the
thought doth stagger my words to utter it! — that Christ is one of the
people, that he might be nearly related to you and to me, that he might be
the goel, or kinsman, next of kin.

“In ties of blood with sinners one,
Our Jesus is to glory gone;
Hath all his foes to ruin hurled —
Sin, satan, earth, death, hell, the world.”

Saint, wrap this blessed thought, like a necklace of diamonds, around the
neck of thy memory put it, as a golden ring, on the finger of recollection,
and use it as the king’s own seal, stamping the petitions of thy faith with
confidence of success.

4. But now another idea suggests itself. Christ was chosen out of the
people — that he might know our wants and sympathize with us. You
know the old tale, that one half the world does not know how the other
half lives, and that is very true. I believe some of the rich have no notion
whatever of what the distress of the poor is. They have no idea of what it is
to labor for their daily food. They have a very faint conception of what a
rise in the price of bread means. They do not know anything about it; and
when we put men in power who never were of the people, they do not
understand the art of governing us. But our great and glorious Jesus Christ
is one chosen out of the people, and therefore he knows our wants.

Temptation and pain he suffered before us, sickness he endured, for when
hanging upon the cross, the scorching of that broiling sun brought on a
burning fever; weariest — he has endured it, for weary he sat by the well;
poverty — he knows it, for sometimes he had not bread to eat, save that
bread of which the world knows nothing; to be houseless — he knew it,
for the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but he had not
where to lay his head. My brother Christian, there is no place where thou
canst go, where Christ has not been before thee, sinful places alone
excepted. In the dark valley of the shadow of death thou mayest see his
bloody footsteps — footprints marked with gore; ay, and even at the deep
waters of the swelling Jordan, thou shalt, when thou comest hard by the
side, say “There are the footprints of a man: whose are they?” Stooping
down, thou shalt discern a nail-mark, and shalt say “Those are the
footsteps of the blessed Jesus.” He hath been before thee; he hath
smoothed the way; he hath entered the grave, that he might make the tomb
the royal bedchamber of the ransomed race, the closet where they lay aside
the garments of labor, to put on the vestments of eternal rest. In all places
whithersoever we go, the angel of the covenant has been our forerunner;
each burden we have to carry, has once been laid on the shoulders of
Immanuel.

“ His way was much rougher and darker than mine;
Did Christ my Lord suffer, and shall I repine?”

I am speaking to those in great trial. Dear fellow-traveler! take courage:
Christ has consecrated the road, and made the narrow way the King’s own
road to life.

One thought more and then I will pass on to my third point. There is a
poor soul over there, who is desirous of coming to Jesus, but he is in very
great trouble, lest he should not came right; and I know many Christians
who say, “Well, I hope I have come to Christ, but I am afraid I have not
come right.” There is a little footnote to one of the hymns in dear Mr.
Denham’s collection, in which he says, “Some people are afraid they do
not come right. Now, no man can come except the Father draw him; so I
apprehend, if they come at all, they cannot come wrong.” So do I
apprehend, if men come at all, they must come right. Here is a thought for
thee, poor coming sinner. Why art thou afraid to come?” “Oh!” sayest
thou, “I am so great a sinner, Christ will not have mercy upon me.” Oh!
you do not know my blessed Master, he is more loving than you think him
to be. I was once wicked enough to think the same, but I have found him
ten thousand times more kind than I thought. I tell you, he is so loving, so
gracious, so kind, there ne’er was one half so good as he. He is kinder than
ever you can think; his love is greater than your fears, and his merits are
more prevalent than your sins. But still you say, “I am afraid I shall not
come aright, I think I shall not use acceptable words.” I tell you why that
is: because you do not remember that Christ was taken out of the people. If
Her Majesty were to send for me tomorrow morning, I dare say I should
feel very anxious about what kind of dress I should wear, and how I should
walk in, and how I should observe court etiquette, and so on; but if one of
my friends here were to send for me, I should go straight off and see him,
because he is one of the people, and I like him. Some of you say, “How can
I go to Christ? What shall I say? What words shall I use?” If thou were
going to one above thee, thou mightest say so: but he is one of the people.
Go as thou art, poor sinner — just in thy rags, just in thy filth — in all thy
wickedness, just as thou art. O conscience-stricken sinner, come to Jesus!

He is one of the people. If the Spirit has given thee a sense of sin, do not
study how thou art to come, come anyhow, come with a groan, come with
a sigh, come with a tear, — any come, if thou dost but come, will do, for
he is one of the people. “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; let him that
heareth say, Come.” Here I cannot resist airing an illustration. I have heard,
that in the deserts, when the caravans are in want of water, and they are
afraid they shall not find any, they are accustomed to send on a camel, with
its rider, some distance in advance, then after a little space follows another,
and then, at a short interval, another: as soon as the first man finds water
almost before he stoops down to drink, he shouts aloud, “Come!” The next
one, hearing the voice, repeats the word, “Come!” while the nearest again
takes up the cry, “Come!” until the whole wilderness echoes with the word
“Come!” So in that verse, “the Spirit and the Bride say, first of all, Come:
then let him that heareth say, Come, and whosoever is Thirst, let him come,
and take of the water of life freely.” With this picture I leave our survey of
the reasons for the election of Christ Jesus.

III. And now I am to close up with his EXALTATION. “I have exalted one
chosen out of the people.” You will recollect, whilst I am speaking upon
this exaltation that it is really the exaltation of all the elect in the person of
Christ; for all that Christ is, and all that Christ has, is mine. If I am a
believer, whatever he is in his exalted person, that I am, for I am made to
sit together with Christ in heavenly places.

1. First, dear friends, it was exaltation enough for the body of Christ to be
exalted into union with the divinity. That was honor which none of us can
ever receive. We never hope to have this body united with a God. It cannot
be. Once has incarnation been done — never but once. Of no other man
can it be said, “He was one with the Father, and the Father was one with
him.” Of no other man shall it be said, that the Deity tabernacled in him,
and that God was manifest in his flesh, seen of angels, justified of the spirit,
and carried up to glory.

2. Again: Christmas exalted by his resurrection. Oh! I should have liked to
have stolen into that tomb of our Savior, I suppose it was a large chamber;
within it lay a massive marble sarcophagus, and very likely a ponderous lid
was laid upon it. Then outside the door there lay a mighty stone, and
guards kept watch before it. Three days did that sleeper slumber there! Oh!
I could have wished to lift the lid of that sarcophagus, and look upon him.
Pale he lay; blood-streaks there were upon him, not all quite washed away
by those careful women who had buried him.

Death exulting cries, ‘I have slain him: the seed of the woman who is to
destroy me is now my captive!’ Ah! how grim death laughed! Ah! how he
stared through his bony eyelids, as he said, ‘I have the boasted victor in
my grasp.’ ‘Ah!’ said Christ, ‘but I have thee!’ And up he sprang, the lid of
the sarcophagus started up; and he, who has the keys of death and hell,
seized death, ground his iron limbs to powder, dashed him to the ground
and said, “O death, I will be thy plague. O hell, I will be thy destruction.”
Out he came, and in turn the watchmen fled away. Startling with glory,
radiant with light, effulgent with divinity, he stood before them. Christ was
then exalted in his resurrection.

3. But how exalted was he in his ascension! He went out from the city to
the top of the hill, his disciples attending him while he waited the appointed
moment. Mark his ascension! Bidding farewell to the whole circle, up he
went gradually ascending like the exaltation of a mist from the lake or the
cloud from the steaming river. Aloft he soared: by his own mighty
buoyancy and elasticity he ascended up on high — not like Elijah, carried
up by fiery horses; nor like Enoch of old, it could not be said he was not,
for God took him. He went himself; and as he went I think I see the angels
looking down from heaven’s battlements, and crying, ‘See the conquering
hero comes!’ while at his nearer approach again they shouted, ‘See the
conquering hero comes!’ So his journey through the plains of ether is
complete — he nears the gates of heaven — attending angels shout “Lift
up your heads, ye ever lasting gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors!” The glorious hosts within scarce ask the question, “Who is the
king of glory;” when from ten thousand thousand tongues there rolls an
ocean of harmony, beating in mighty waves of music on the pearly gates
and opening them at once, “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty
in battle.” Lo! heaven’s barriers are thrown wide open and cherubim are
hastening to meet their monarch.

“They brought his chariot from afar,
To bear him to his throne;
Clapp’d their triumphant wings and said,
‘The Savior’s work is done.’”

Behold he marches through the streets. See how kingdoms and powers fall
down before him! Crowns are laid at his feet, and his Father says, ‘Well
done, my Son, well done!’ while heaven echoes with the shout, ‘Well
done! well done!’ Up he climbs to that high throne, side by side with the
Paternal Deity. “I have exalted one chosen out of the people.”

4. The last exaltation of Christ which I shall mention is that which is to
come, when he shall sit upon the throne of his Father David, and shall
judge all nations.

You will observe I have omitted that exaltation which Christ is to have as
the king of this world during the millennium. I do not profess to understand
it, and therefore I leave that alone. But I believe Jesus Christ is to come
upon the throne of judgment, “and before him shall be gathered all nations;
and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats.” Sinner! thou believest that there is a judgment; thou
knowest that the tares and wheat cannot always grow together — that the
sheep and the goats shall not always feed in one pasture; but dost thou
know of that man who is to judge thee that he who is to judge thee is a
man? I say a man — a man once despised and rejected.

“The Lord shall come, but not the same
As once in lowliness he came:
A humble man before his foes;
A weary man, and full of woes.”

Ah! no. Rainbows shall be about his head, he shall hold the sun in his right
hand as the token of his government, he shall put the moon and stars
beneath his feet, as the dust of the pedestal of his throne, which shall be of
solid clouds of light. The books shall be opened — those massive books,
which contain the deeds of both quick and dead. Ah! how shall the
despised Nazarene sit triumphant over all his foes. No more the taunt, the
jeer, the scoff; but one hideous cry of misery, “Hide us from the face of
him that sitteth on the throne.” Oh, ye, my hearers, who now look with
contempt on Jesus and his cross, I tremble for you. Oh, fiercer than a lion
on his prey, is love when once incensed. Oh despisers! I warn ye of that
day when the placid brow of the Man of Sorrows shall be knit with frowns;
when the eye which once was moistened by dew-drops of pity, shall flash
lightning on its enemies; and the hand, which once was nailed to the cross
for our redemption, shall grasp the thunderbolt for your damnation; while
the mouth which once said, “Come unto me, ye weary,” shall pronounce in
words louder and more terrible than the voice of the thunder, “Depart ye
cursed!” Sinners! ye may think it a trifle to sin against the Man of
Nazareth, but ye shall find that in so doing ye have offended the Man who
shall judge the earth in righteousness; and for your rebellion ye shall endure
waves of torment in the eternal ocean of wrath. From that doom may God
deliver you! But I warn you of it. You have all read the story of the lady,
who, on her marriage-day stepped up stairs, and seeing an old chest, in her
fun and frolic stepped inside, thinking to hide herself an hour, that her
friends might hunt for her; but a spring lock lay in ambush there, and
fastened her down for ever, nor did they ever find her, until years had
passed, when moving that old lumbering chest, they found the bones of a
skeleton, with here and there a jewelled ring and some fair thing. She had
sprung in there in pleasantry and mirth, but was locked down for ever.

Young man! take heed that you are not locked down for ever by your sins.
One jovial glass — it is all. “One moment’s step.” So said she. But there’s
a secret lock lays in ambush. One turn into that house of ill-fame — one
wandering from the paths of rectitude — that is all. Oh, sinner! it is all. But
dost thou know what that all is? To be fastened down for ever. Oh! if thou
wouldst shun this, listen to me, whilst — for I have but one moment more —
I tell thee yet again of the Man who was “chosen out of the people.”
Ye proud ones! I have a word for you. Ye delicate ones, whose footsteps
must not touch the ground! ye who look down in scorn upon your fellow
mortals — proud worms despising your fellow worms, because ye are
somewhat more showily dressed! What think ye of this? The man of the
people is to save you, if you are saved at all. The Christ of the crowd —
the Christ of the mass — the Christ of the people — he is to be your
Savior! Thou must stoop, proud man! Thou must bow, proud lady. Thou
must lay aside thy pomp, or else thou wilt never be saved; for the Savior of
the people must be thy Savior.

But to the poor trembling sinner, whose pride is gone, I repeat the
comforting assurance. Wouldst thou shun sin? Wouldst thou avoid the
curse? My Master tells me to say this morning, — “ Come unto me all ye
that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I remember the
saying of a good old saint. Some one was talking about the mercy and love
of Jesus, and concluded by saying, “Ah, is it not astonishing?” She said,
“No, not at all.” But they said it was. “Why,” she said, “it is just like him: it
is just like him!” You say, can you believe such a thing of a person? “Oh
yes!” it may be said, “that is just his nature.” So you, perhaps, cannot
believe that Christ would save you, guilty creature as you are. I tell you it
is just like him. He saved Saul — he saved me — he may save you. Yea,
what is more, he will save you. For whosoever cometh unto him, he will in
no wise cast out.

I have been wanting to comment on Barack Obama in relation to his seeming love affair with abortion and also Tony Blair and his ‘Faith Foundation’, but have thus far resisted the temptation.

However, I have come across a superb article from Professor Michael Scooyans – an expert on bioethics and demography – a prominent scholar of the pontifical academy of social sciences:-

This article sums up SOME of my doubts relating to Tony Blair and his so called ‘Faith Foundation’ and Barack Obama:-

The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States has raised many expectations all over the world. In the United States, the voters chose a young, mixed race, brilliant president. He is expected to keep his promise of correcting the errors of the president who preceded him. Some excessive terms have even been used, for example the assertion that the time has come to “rebuild” the United States, or to reorganize the international order. This shows the influence of Saul D. Alinsky (1909-1972), one of the intellectual guides of the new president and Hillary Clinton. There has been no lack of zeal among the dynamic new president’s admirers, who demonized the beleaguered president George W. Bush, calling for the dismantling of the politics that he developed as soon as possible. Now the Bush administration, although it did have its merits, was characterized by failures that have been acknowledged, even by the president’s inner circle. Nonetheless, on one essential and fundamental point, President Bush promoted a policy worthy of respect and continuity: he offered both unborn children and medical personnel legal protection, certainly less than sufficient but still effective.

The voters who put Barack Obama into the presidency did not perceive the weakness and ambiguity of the statements made by their candidate concerning this decisive point. Moreover, once elected, one of President Obama’s first actions was to revoke President Bush’s measures to protect the unborn child’s right to life.

President Obama is thus reintroducing the right to discriminate, to “set aside” some human beings. With him, the right of every human person to life and liberty is no longer recognized, much less protected. As a result, President Obama disputes the reasoning invoked by his fellow African-Americans when they demanded, rightly, the recognition of the right of all to the same dignity, to equality and freedom. In its prenatal version, racism has been restored in the United States.

The new president is thus dragging the law into a process of regression that is altering the democratic nature of the society that elected him. In fact, a society that calls itself democratic but whose leaders, invoking subjective “new rights,” permit the elimination of some categories of human beings, is a society that has already set out on the road of totalitarianism. According to the World Health Organization, 46 million abortions are performed worldwide each year. By revoking the legal provisions protecting life, Obama is expanding the gruesome list of the victims of criminal laws. The way has been opened for abortion to become a legal demand. The law itself can be thrown into disrepute whenever it is exploited and twisted to legalize anything whatsoever, and is put, for example, at the service of a plan to eliminate the innocent. From this point on, the reality of the human being no longer has any importance.

The evident result of the change determined by Obama is that the number of abortions in the world will increase. President Bush had cut funding for programs that involve abortion, particularly outside of the United States. The reversal of this measure by the new administration limits the right of medical personnel to conscientious objection, and allows Obama to increase funding for public and private organizations, both national and international, that develop programs of birth control, of “maternity without risk,” of “reproductive health” that include and promote abortion among their methods of contraception.

President Obama thus inevitably appears as one of the main proponents of the aging of the population in the United States and in nations that “benefit” from birth control programs that are presented as a precondition for development. How can a well-informed political leader ignore the fact that a society that aborts its children is a society that is aborting its future?

The measure taken by Barack Obama is destined to have repercussions on a worldwide level. Traditional American “messianism” boasted that it offered the best model of democracy to the world. With the permission to kill innocent people legally, this claim is growing dimmer. In its place is emerging a “messianism” that proclaims the extinction of the moral principles written in the Declaration of Independence (1776) and in the Constitution of the United States (1787). From now on, the reference to the Creator is rejected. No human reality can assert itself anymore by virtue of its intrinsic dignity. What matters now is the will of the president. According to his own words, the president no longer needs to make reference to the moral and religious traditions of humanity. His will is the source of law. What does the American congress think about this?

Now, since the influence of the United States is what matters most in international relations, bilateral and multilateral, and especially at the UN, it can be predicted that sooner or later abortion will be presented at the UN as a “new human right,” a right that permits demanding abortion. The result will be that there will no longer be any room in the law for conscientious objection. This same process will allow the president to express his desire to put other subjective “new rights” on the list, like euthanasia, homosexuality, unilateral divorce, drug use, etc.

Remake religion? Remake Christianity?

President Obama can count on support for these programs from Tony Blair and his wife Cherie Booth. One of the aims of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the think tank founded by the former British prime minister, will be that of remaking the major religions, just as his colleague Barack Obama will remake global society. With this purpose, the foundation in question will try to expand the “new rights,” using the world religions for this end and adapting these for their new duties. The religions will have to be reduced to the same common denominator, which means stripping them of their identity. This cannot be done without establishing international law as inspired by Hans Kelsen (1881-1973), and charged with approving all of the laws of sovereign nations. This system of law will also have to be imposed on the world religions in such a way that the new “faith” may be the unifying principle of global society. This new “faith,” this unifying principle, must allow the advancement of the Millennium Development Goals. These goals include “Promote gender equality and empower women” (number 3) and “Improve maternal health” (number 5). We know very well what these expressions cover and imply. The launching of the Foundation’s program has been announced with a campaign against malaria. This is part of goal number 6: “Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.” The announcement was made in such a way that subscribing to this campaign will mean subscribing to the Millennium Development Goals as a whole.

In fact, Tony Blair’s project extends and amplifies the United Religions Initiative, which appeared several years ago. It also extends the Global Ethic Declaration, one of the main proponents of which is Hans Küng. This plan cannot be realized except at the price of the sacrifice of religious freedom, of the imposition of a “politically correct” interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, and of the sabotage of the natural foundations of law. Machiavelli had recommended that religion be used for political purposes . .

The former British prime minister’s highly propagandized “conversion” to Christianity, as well as his interview with the gay magazine “Attitude” in April of 2009, make Tony Blair’s intentions concerning religion even more clear, beginning with the Catholic religion. The Holy Father’s statements, especially about condoms, belong to another generation. The fresh “convert” does not hesitate to explain to the pope not only what he must do, but also what he must believe! Is he Catholic? Blair does not believe in the authority of the pope.

So now we are back in the time of Hobbes, if not of Cromwell: it is civil power that defines what one must believe. Religion is emptied of its distinctive content, its doctrine; nothing remains but a residue of morality, as defined by the Leviathan. It is not said that one must deny God, but from now on God has nothing to do with the history of men and their rights: it is a return to Deism. God is replaced by the Leviathan. It is up to this to define, if it wishes, a civil religion. It is up to this to interpret, if and how it wishes, the religious texts. The question of the truth of religion no longer has any relevance. Religious texts, in particular the biblical ones, must be understood in their purely “metaphorical” sense; this is what Hobbes recommends (III, XXXVI). At the most, only the Leviathan can interpret the Scriptures. Religious institutions must also be reformed to adapt them to the changes. Some religious figures must be taken hostage and made to approve the new secularized “faith,” that of the “civil partnership.”

The rights of man as understood in the realist tradition are here put to the sword. Everything is relative. There are no rights left, except for the ones defined by the Leviathan. As Hobbes writes, “The law of nature and the civil law contain each other and are of equal extent” (I, XXVI, 4). Nothing remains of the truth, except for what the Leviathan says. It alone decides how the change should take place.

The return of the two-headed eagle

Blair’s project cannot be realized without bringing back into question the distinction and relations between Church and state. This project threatens to set us back to an age in which political power was ascribed the mission of promoting a religious confession, or of changing it. In the case of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, this is also a matter of promoting one and only one religious confession, which a universal, global political power would impose on the entire world. We also recall that the intellectual foundations for the Blair project, impregnated with New Age thinking, were laid by the United Religious Initiative and by the Global Ethic Declaration, and it is supported by many similar foundations.

This project clearly recalls the history of Anglicanism and its foundation by “defender of the faith” Henry VIII. In effect, the realization of this project presupposes the creation of a worldwide government and a global thought police. As has been seen in the case of Barack Obama, the architects of the worldwide government are dedicated to imposing a system of legal positivism that puts law behind a supreme will, which determines the validity of particular laws. In short, if Blair’s project should ever be realized, the agents of the world government would impose, as a new Act of Supremacy, a single religion, validated by the interpreters of the supreme will, the Vicar General of which may already have been found (Hobbes, III, XXXVI).

What the analysis of Barack Obama’s decisions and Tony Blair’s project reveals is that an alliance is coming between two converging intentions, one aimed at subjugating law and the other at subjugating religion. This is the new version of the two-headed eagle. Law and religion are exploited to “legitimize” anything at all.

This twofold exploitation is deadly for the human community. This is what emerges from the various experiences that have taken place in the context of the nanny state. This, by virtue of wanting to please individuals, has multiplied subjective “rights” of attribution, for example in the areas of divorce, sexuality, the family, population, etc. But by doing this, the nanny state has created countless problems that it is incapable of resolving. With the extension of these “rights” of attribution on a worldwide scale, the problems of instability and marginalization are increased to such an extent that no world government will be able to solve them.

The same is true for religion. Since the separation of Church and state was achieved, it has been inadmissible for the state to use religion to reinforce its own dominion over hearts, bodies, and consciences. As Archbishop Roland Minnerath says, the state cannot shackle religious truth, and must even guarantee the free search for this.

Toward political-legal terrorism

Through these channels, and with the support of the Blairs, the president-jurist Obama is preparing to launch a new American messianism, in a totally secularized form. He is supported in this by his faithful colleague, a presumed candidate for the presidency of the European Union. The supreme will of the president of the United States will ratify the law of nations and the law concerning relations among nations. In his footsteps, the “Thirty-Nine Articles” of the new religion will be promulgated by his British colleague.

From the summit of this pyramid, the will of the Prince is destined to circulate through the international channels of the UN to the individual national channels. In perspective, this process, as can be guessed, extinguishes the authority of the national parliaments, abolishes the authority of the executive branch, and ruins the independence of judicial power. These are the reasons why, in Obama’s thinking, an international criminal court should have a larger role, and must be armed in order to coerce the recalcitrants – for example, the Catholics – who reject this view of power and law, of law as a servant of power. How can one not see this blinding truth: that we are witnessing the emergence of an unprecedented form of political-legal terrorism?

To finish, let us make the effort to remember that the Church does not have a monopoly on respect for the human right to life. This respect is proclaimed in  the greatest moral and religious traditions of humanity, which often predate Christianity. The Church fully recognizes the value of arguments from reason in favor of human life. As Archbishop Minnerath has admirably demonstrated, the Church completes and consolidates this argumentation by drawing on the contribution of theology: respect for creation; man as the image of God; love of neighbor; the new commandment; etc. These arguments are frequently presented in the Church’s statements, and in the many Christian documents on this question.

But when the highest authorities of the nations, and even of the world’s leading power, waver on respect for fundamental human rights, it is the Church’s duty to appeal to all men and women of good will to unite for the purpose of creating a single front to defend the life of every human being. The first attitude required of all, according to the responsibilities of each one, is conscientious objection, which Obama is trying to circumscribe. But this objection must be accompanied by efforts in the political sphere, in the media and the universities. The mobilization must be general and must have the central objective of all morality, and especially all Catholic morality: to acknowledge and love one’s neighbor, beginning with the smallest and most vulnerable.

I personally love this song. I was privileged to travel with an American evangelist through Spain, Morocco and Portugal last year.

We visited a tiny church in Portugal, which was no bigger than my front room. The material poverty was obvious and I judged them negatively in my soul for some reason and thought that the service would be not be a success.

I was absolutely and totally wrong and humbled beyond measure.

Their spirituality was stunning compared with mine and I was ashamed. They had nothing of this world and were prepared to give an offering to the evangelist which amounted to practically everything they had!

They had an interpreter for us so we could understand the service and translate the evangelists message.

They blessed the socks off me, and in that humble church, in a poor Portuguese village, the Holy Spirit flooded that place and these folks were so open to the guiding of God.

The worship group which consisted of two folks with guitars sounded like angels and were the most anointed worship leaders I have ever experienced. They had learnt some songs in English for us, and this song – ‘All I need is you Lord’ (Hillsong) – was one of them.

It was during this song that my hard heart truly melted, because they live these lyrics every day.

“And hast made us unto our God kings and priests;
and we shall reign on the earth” Revelation 5:10

“MUSIC hath charms.” I am sure sacred music has; for I have felt
something of its charms whilst we have been singing that glorious hymn
just now. There is a potency in harmony, there is a magic power in melody,
which either melts the soul to pity, or lifts it up to joy unspeakable. I do
not know how it may be with some minds they possibly may resist the
influence of singing; but I cannot.

When the saints of God, in full chorus,
“chaunt the solemn lay,” and when I hear sweet syllables fall from their
lips, keeping measure and time, then I feel elevated; and, forgetting for a
time everything terrestrial, I soar aloft towards heaven. If such be the
sweetness of the music of the saints below, where there is much of discord
and sin to mar the harmony, how sweet must it be to sing above, with
cherubim and seraphim. Oh, what songs must those be which the Eternal
ever hears upon his throne! What seraphic sonnets must those be which are
thrilled from the lips of pure immortals, untainted by a sin, unmingled with
a groan: where they warble ever hymns of joy and gladness, never
intermingled with one sigh, or groan, or worldly care. Happy songsters!
When shall I your chorus join? There is one of your hymns that runs:-

“Hark! how they sing before the throne!”

and I have sometimes thought I could “hark! how they sing before the
throne.” I have imagined that I could hear the full burst of the swell of the
chorus, when it pealed from heaven like mighty thunders, and the sound of
many waters, and have almost heard those lull-toned strains, when the
harpers harped with their harps before the throne of God; alas, it was but
imagination. We cannot hear it now; these ears are not fitted for such
music; these souls could not be contained in the body, if we were once to
hear some stray note from the harps of angels. We must wait till we get up
yonder. Then, purified, like silver seven times, from the defilement of earth,
washed in our Savior’s precious blood, sanctified by the purifying influence
of the Holy Spirit:-

“We shall, unblemished and complete,
Appear before our Father’s throne,
With joys divinely great.”
“Then loudest of the crowd we’ll sing,
Whilst heaven’s resounding mansions ring
With shouts of sovereign grace.”

Our friend John, the highly favored apostle of the Apocalypse, has given us
just one note from heavens song; we shall strike that note, and sound it
again and again. I shall strike this tuning-fork of heaven, and let you hear
one of the key notes. “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests;
and we shall reign on the earth.” May the great and gracious Spirit, who is
the only illumination of darkness, light up my mind whilst I attempt, in a
brief and hurried manner, to speak from this text. There are three things in
it: first, the Redeemer’s doings — “and hast made us; secondly, the saints’
honors -” and hast made us kings and priests unto our God,” and, thirdly,
the world’s future — “and we shall reign upon the earth.”

I. First, then, we have THE REDEEMER’S DOINGS. They who stand before
the throne sing of the Lamb – the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who took the
book and broke the seals thereof — “Thou hast made us kings and priests
unto our God.” In heaven they do not sing
“Glory, honor, praise, and power
Be unto ourselves for ever;
We have been our own Redeemers; – Hallelujah!”
They never sing praise to themselves; they glorify not their own strength;
they do not talk of their own free-will and their own might; but they ascribe
their salvation from beginning to end, to God. Ask them how they were
saved, and they reply; “The Lamb hath made us what we are.” Ask them
whence their glories came, and they tell you, “They were bequeathed to us
by the dying Lamb.” Ask whence they obtained the gold of their harps, and
they say, “It was dug in mines of agony and bitterness by Jesus,” Inquire
who stringed their harps, and they will tell you that Jesus took each sinew
of his body to make them. Ask there where they washed their robes and
made them white, and they will say:-

“In yonder fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.’”

Some persons on earth do not know where to put the crown, but those in
heaven do. They place the diadem on the right head; and they ever sing —
“And he hath made us what we are.”
Well, then, beloved, would not this note well become us here? For “what
have we that we have not received?” Who hath made us to differ? I know,
this morning, that I am a justified man; I have the full assurance that:-

“The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do.
My Savior’s obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view.”

There is not a sin against me in God’s book: they have all been for ever
obliterated by the blood of Christ, and cancelled by his own right hand. I
have nothing to fear; I cannot be condemned. “Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God’s elect?” Not God, for he hath justified, not Christ, for
he hath died. But if I am justified, who made me so? I say — “And hath
made me what I am.” Justification from first to last, is of God. Salvation is
of the Lord alone.

Many of you are sanctified persons, but you are not perfectly sanctified;
you are not redeemed altogether from the dross of earth; you have still
another law in your members, warring against the law of your mind, and
you always will have that law while you tabernacle in faith, you never will
be perfect in your sanctification until you get up yonder before the solemn
throne of God, where even this imperfection of your soul will be taken
away, and your carnal depravity rooted out. But yet, beloved, there is an
inward principle imparted; you are growing in grace – you are making
progress in holiness. Well, but who made you have that progress? Who
redeemed you from that lust? Who ransomed you from that vice? Who
bade you say farewell to that practice in which you indulged? Cannot you
say of Jesus, “And hath made us!” It is Christ who hath done it all, and to
his name be honor, and glory, and praise, and dominion.

Let us dwell one moment on this thought, and show you how it is that it
can be said that Christ hath made us this. When did Christ make his people
kings and priests? When could it be said, “And hath made us kings and
priests unto our God?”

1. First of all, he made us kings and priests, virtually, when he signed the
covenant of grace. Far, far back in eternity, the Magna Charta of the saints
was written by the hand of God, and it needed one signature to make it
valid. There was a stipulation in that covenant that the Mediator should
become incarnate should live a suffering life, and at last endure a death of
ignominy; and it needed but one signature, the signature of the Son of God,
to make that covenant valid eternal, and “ordered in all things and sure.”
Methinks I see him now, as my imagination pictures the lofty Son of God
grasping the pen. See how his fingers write the name; and there it stands in
everlasting letters — “THE SON!” O sacred ratification of the treaty, it is
stamped and sealed with the great seal of our father in heaven. O glorious
covenant, then for ever made secure! At the moment of the signature of
this wondrous document, the spirits before the throne – I mean the angels might have taken up the song, and said of the whole body of the elect,
“And hast made you kings and priests unto your God;” and could all the
chosen company have started into existence, they could have clapped their
hands and sung, “Here we are by that very signature constituted kings and
priests unto our God.”

2. But he did not stop there. It was not simply agreeing to the terms of the
treaty; but in due time he filled it all – yes, to its utmost jot and tittle. Jesus
said, “I will take the cup of salvation” and he did take it – the cup of our
deliverance. Bitter were its drops; gall lay in its depths; there were groans,
and sighs, and tears, within the red mixture, but he took it all, and drank it
to its dregs, and swallowed all the awful draught. All was gone. He drank
the cup of salvation, and he ate the bread of affliction. See him, as he
drinks the cup in Gethsemane, when the fluid of that cup did mingle with
his blood, and make each drop a scalding poison. Mark how the hot feet of
pain did travel down his veins. See how each nerve is twisted and
contorted with his agony. Behold his brow covered with sweat, witness the
agonies as they follow each other into the very depths of his soul. Speak,
ye lost, and tell what hell’s torment means; but ye cannot tell what the
torments of Gethsemane were. Oh! the deep unutterable! There was a
depth which couched beneath, when our Redeemer bowed his head, when
he placed himself betwixt the upper and nether millstones of his Father’s
vengeance, and when his whole soul was ground to powder. Ah! that
wrestling man – God – that suffering man of Gethsemane; Weep over him,
saints – weep over him, when ye see him rising from that prayer in the
garden, marching forth to his cross; when ye picture him hanging on his
cross four long hours in the scorching sun, overwhelmed by his Father’s
passing wrath – when ye see his side streaming with gore – when ye hear his
death-shriek, “It is finished,”- and see his lips all parched; and moistened by
nothing save the vinegar and the gall,- ah! then prostrate yourselves before
that cross, bow down before that sufferer, and say, “Thou hast made usthou
hast made us what we are; we are nothing without thee.”

The cross of
Jesus is the foundation of the glory of the saints; Calvary is the birth-place
of heaven; heaven was born in Bethlehem’s manger; had it not been for the
sufferings and agonies of Golgotha we should have had no blessing. Oh,
saint! in every mercy see the Savior’s blood, look on this Book – it is
sprinkled with his blood; look on this house of prayer – it is sanctified by his
sufferings; look on your daily food – it is purchased with his groans. Let
every mercy come to you as a blood-bought treasure; value it because it
comes from him; and evermore say, “Thou hast made us what we are.”

3. Beloved, our Savior Jesus Christ finished the great work of making us
what we are, by his ascension into heaven. If he had not risen up on high
and led captivity captive, his death would have been insufficient. He “died
for our sins,” but he “rose again for our justification.” The resurrection of
our Savior, in his majesty when he burst the bonds of death, was to us the
assurance that God had accepted his sacrifice; and his ascension up on
high, was but as a type and a figure of the real and actual ascension of all
his saints, when he shall come in the clouds of judgment, and shall call all
his people to him.

Mark the man-God, as he goes upward towards heaven,
behold his triumphal march through the skies, whilst stars sing his praises,
and planets dance in solemn order; behold him traverse the unknown fields
of ether till he arrives at the throne of God in the seventh heaven. Then
hear him say to his Father, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do, behold me and the children thou hast given me; I have fought a good
fight, I have finished my course, I have done all, I have accomplished every
type; I have finished every part of the covenant; there is not one iota I have
left unfulfilled, or one tittle that is left out; all is done.” And hark, how they
sing before the throne of God when thus he speaks: “Thou hast made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

Thus have I briefly spoken upon the dear Redeemer’s doings. Poor lips
cannot speak better, faint heart will not rise up to the height of this great
argument. Oh! that these lips had language eloquent and lofty, that they
might speak more of the wondrous doings of our Redeemer!

“Crown him! crown him!
Crowns become the Savior’s brow.”

II. Now, secondly, THE SAINT’S HONORS: “and hast made us unto our
God kings and priests.” The most honorable of all monarchs have ever
been esteemed to be those who had a right not only to royal, but to
sacredotal supremacy – those kings who could wear at one time the crown
of loyalty, and at another the mitre of the priesthood, who could both use
the censer and hold the scepter – who could offer intercession for the people, and then govern the nations. Those who are kings and priests are great indeed; and here you behold the saint honored, not with one title, or one office, but with two. He is made not a king merely, but a king and a priest; not a priest merely, but a priest and a king. The saint has two offices
conferred upon him at once, he is made a priestly monarch and a regal
priest.

I shall take, first of all, the royal office of the saints. They are KINGS.
They are not merely to be kings in heaven, but they are also kings on earth;
for if my text does not say so, the Bible declares it in another passage: “Ye
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.” We are kings even now. I
want you to understand that, before I explain the idea. Every saint of the
living God, not merely has the prospect of being a king in heaven, but
positively, in the sight of God, he is a king now; and he must say, with
regard to his brethren and himself, “And hast made us,” even now, “unto
our God kings and priests; and we shall reign upon the earth.” A Christian
is a king. He is not simply like a king, but he is a king, actually and truly.
However I shall try and show you how he is like a king.

Remember his royal ancestry. What a fuss some people make about their
grandfathers and grandmothers, and distant ancestors. I remember seeing
in Trinity College, the pedigree of some great lord that went back just as
far as Adam, and Adam was there digging the ground – the first man. It was
traced all the way up. Of course I did not believe it. I have heard of some
pedigrees that go back further. I leave that to your own common sense to
believe it or not. A pedigree in which shall be found dukes, marquises and
kings, and princes. Oh! what would some give for such a pedigree? I
believe, however, that it is not what our ancestors were, but what we are,
that will make us shine before God; that it is not so much in knowing that
we have royal or priestly blood in our veins, as knowing that we are an
honor to our race – that we are walking in the ways of the Lord, and
reflecting credit upon the church and upon the grace that makes us
honorable. But since some men will glory in their descent, I will glory that
the saints have the proudest ancestry in all the world. Talk of Caesars, or
of Alexanders, or tell me even of our own good Queen: I say that I am of
as high descent as her majesty, or the proudest monarch in the world. I am
descended from the King of kings. The saint may well speak of his
ancestry – he may exult in it, he may glory in it – for he is the son of God,
positively and actually. His mother, the Church, is the Bride of Jesus; he is
a twice-born child of heaven: one of the blood royal of the universe. The
poorest woman or man on earth, loving Christ, is of a royal line. Give a
man the grace of God in his heart, and his ancestry is noble. I can turn back
the roll of my pedigree, and I can tell you that it is so ancient, that it has no
beginning; it is more ancient than all the rolls of mighty men put together;
for, from all eternity my Father existed: and, therefore, I have indeed a
right royal and ancient ancestry.

And then, again, the saints, like monarchs, have a splendid retinue. Kings
and monarchs cannot travel without a deal of state. In olden times, they
had far more magnificence than they have now; but even in these days we
see much of it when royalty is abroad. There must be a peculiar kind of
horse, and a splendid chariot, and outriders, with all the etceteras of
gorgeous pomp. Ay! and the kings of God, whom Jesus Christ has made
kings and priests unto their God, have also a royal retinue “Oh!” say you,
“but I see some of them in rags; they are walking through the earth alone,
sometimes without a helper or a friend.” Ah! but there is a fault in your
eyes. If you had eyes to see, you would perceive a bodyguard of angels
always attending every one of the blood-bought family. You remember
Elijah’s servant could not see anything around Elijah, till his master opened
his eyes; then he could see that there were horses and chariots round about
Elijah. Lo! there are horses and chariots about me. And thou, saint of the
Lord: where’er thou art there are horses and chariots. In that bed-chamber,
where I was born, angels stood to announce my birth on high. In seas of
trouble, when wave after wave seems to go over me, angels are there to lift
up my head; when I come to die, when sorrowing friends shall, weeping,
carry me to the grave, angels shall stand by my bier; and, when put into the
grave, some mighty angel shall stand and guard my dust, and contend for
its possession with the devil.

Why should I fear? I have a company of
angels about me; and whenever I walk abroad, the glorious cherubim
march in front. Men see them not, but I see them; for “faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We have a
royal retinue: we are kings, not merely by ancestry, but by our retinue.

Now, notice the insignia and regalia of the saints. Kings and princes have
certain things that are theirs by perspective right. For instance, Her Majesty
has her Buckingham Palace, and her other palaces, her crown royal, her
scepter, and so on. But, has a saint a palace? Yes. I have a palace! and its
walls are not made of marble, but of gold; its borders are carbuncles and
precious gems; its windows are of agates; its stones are laid with fair
colors; around it there is a profusion of every costly thing, rubies sparkle
here and there, yea, pearls are but common stones within it. Some call it a
mansion; but I have a right to call it a palace too, for I am a king. It is a
mansion when I look at God, it is a palace when I look at men, because it
is the habitation of a prince. Mark where this palace is. I am not a prince of
Inde — I have no inheritance in any far-off land that men dream of – I have
no El Dorado, or Home of Prester John; but yet I have a substantial palace.
Yonder, on the hills of heaven it stands, I know not its position among the
other mansions of heaven, but there it stands: and “I know that if the
earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Have Christians a crown too? O yes; but they do not wear it every day.
They have a crown, but their coronation day is not yet arrived. They have
been anointed monarchs, they have some of the authority and dignity of
monarchs; but they are not crowned monarchs yet. But the crown is made.
God will not have to order heaven’s goldsmiths to fashion it in aftertime;
it is made already hanging up in glory. God hath “laid up for me a crown of
righteousness.” Oh, saint, if thou didst just open some secret door in
heaven, and go into the treasure chamber, thou couldst see it filled with
crowns. When Cortes entered the palace of Montezuma, he found a secret
chamber bricked up, and he thought the wealth of all the world was there,
so many different things were there stowed away. Could you enter God’s
secret treasure-house, what wealth would you see!” “Are there so many
monarchs,” you would say, “so many crowns, so many princes?” Yes, and
some bright angel would say, “Mark you that crown? It is yours;” and if
you were to look within, you would read “Made for a sinner saved by
grace, whose name was-;” and then you would hardly believe your eyes, as
you saw your own name engraved upon it.

You are indeed a king before
God, for you have a crown laid up in heaven. Whatever other insignia
belong to monarchs, saints shall have. They shall have robes of whiteness;
they shall have harps of glory; they shall have all things that become their
regal state, so that we are indeed monarchs, you see; not mock-monarchs,
clothed in purple garments of derision, and scoffed at with “Hail, king of
the Jews;” but we are real monarchs “He hath made us kings and priests
unto our God.”

There is another thought here. Kings are considered the most honorable
amongst men. They are always looked up to and respected. If you should
say, “a monarch is here!” a crowd would give way. I should not command
much respect if I were to attempt to move about in a crowd; but if anyone
should shout, “here is the Queen!” every one would step aside and make
room for her. A monarch generally commands respect. Ah! beloved, we
think that wordly princes are the most honorable of the earth, but if you
were to ask God, he would reply, “my saints, in whom I delight, these are
the honorable ones “Tell me not of tinsel and gewgaw; tell me not of gold
and silver; tell me not of diamonds and pearls; tell me not of ancestry and
rank; preach to me not of pomp and power; but oh! tell me that a man is a
saint of the Lord, for then he is an honorable man. God respects him,
angels respect him, and the universe one day shall respect him, when Christ
shall come to call him to his account, and say, “well done, good and
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” You may despise a
child of God now, sinner; you may laugh at him, you may say he is a
hypocrite; you may call him a saint, a methodist, a cant, and everything you
like; but know that those titles will not mar his dignity – he is the honorable
of the earth, and God estimates him as such.

But some persons will say, “I wish you would prove what you affirm, when
you say that saints are kings; for, if we were kings, we should never have
any sorrows; kings are never poor as we are, and never suffer as we do.”
Who told you so? You say if you are kings, you would live at ease. Do not
kings ever suffer? Was not David an anointed king? and was he not hunted
like a partridge on the mountains? Did not the king himself pass over the
brook Redron, and all his people weeping as he went, when his son
Absalom pursued him? And was he not a monarch when he slept on the
cold ground, with no couch save the damp heather? O yes, kings have their
sorrows-crowned heads have their afflictions. Full oft

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

Do not expect that because you are a king, you are to have no sorrows. “It
is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes
strong drink.” And it is often so. The saints get but little wine here. It is not
for kings to drink the wine of pleasure, it is not for kings to have much of
the intoxicating drink and the surfeits of this world’s delight. They shall
have joy enough up yonder, when they shall drink it new in their Father’s
kingdom. Poor saint! do dwell on this. Thou art a king! I beseech thee, let
it not go away from thy mind; but in the midst of thy tribulation, still
rejoice in it. If thou hast to go through the dark tunnel of infamy, for
Christ’s name; if thou art ridiculed and reviled, still rejoice in the fact, “I
am a king, and all the dominions of the earth shall be mine!”

That last idea, and I have done with this part of the subject. Kings have
dominion. Do you know I am a fifth monarchy man? In Cromwell’s time
some said there had been four monarchies, and the fifth would come and
overturn every other. Well, I never wish to do as they did; but I believe
with them, that a fifth monarchy shall come. There have now existed four
great empires, arrogating universal dominion, and there never shall be
another world-wide monarchy until Christ shall come. Jesus, our Lord, is
to be King of all the earth, and rule all nations in a glorious spiritual, or
personal reign. The saints, as being kings in Christ, have a right to the
whole world. Here am I this morning, and my congregation before me.

Some persons say, “Keep to your own place and preach,” and I have heard
the advice, “Do not go out of your parish.” But Rowland Hill used to say
he never went out of his parish in his life; his parish was England, Scotland,
and Wales, and he never went out of it. I suppose that is my parish, and the
parish of every gospel minister. When we see a city full of sin and iniquity,
what should we say? That is ours, we will go and storm it. When we see a
street or some crowded area, where the people are very bad and wicked,
we should say, “That is our alley, we will go and take it.” When we see a
house where people will not receive the gospel, we should say, “That is our
house, we will go and attack it.” We will not go with the strong arm of the
law; we will not ask the policeman, or government to help us; but take with
us “the weapons of our warfare” which “are not carnal but spiritual, and
mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds.” We will go, and
by God’s Spirit we shall overcome.

There is a town where the children are
running about the street, uneducated, we will go and take those children -
kidnap them for Christ. We will have a Sabbath school. If they are ragged
urchins who cannot come to a Sabbath school, we will have a ragged
school. There is a part of the world where the inhabitants are sunk in
ignorance and superstition: we will send a missionary to them. Ah! those
who do not like missionary enterprise, do not know the dignity of the saint.
Talk of India, talk of China. “it is mine,” saith the saint. All the kingdoms
of the earth are ours. “Africa is my washpot – I will triumph over Asia. They
are mine! they are mine!” “Who shall bring me into the strong city?” Is it
not thou, O Lord? God shall give us the kingdom of Christ. The whole
earth is ours; and by the power of the Holy Ghost, Bel shall bow, Nebo
shall stoop, the gods of the heathen, Budha and Brahma shall be cast
down, and all nations bow before the scepter of Christ. “He has made us
kings.”

Our second point, upon which I shall be very brief, is, “He hath made us
kings and PRIESTS.” Saints are not only kings, but priests. I shall go to it at
once, without any preface.

We are priests, because priests are divinely chosen persons, and so are we.
“No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as
was Aaron.” But we have that calling and election; we were all ordained to
it from the foundations of the world. We were predestinated to be priests,
and in process of time we had a special effectual call, which we could not
and did not resist, and which at last overcame us, that we became at once
the priests of God. We are priests, divinely constituted, When we say we
are priests, we do not talk as certain parties do, who say they are priests,
wishing thereby to arrogate to themselves a distinction. I always have an
objection – I must state it strongly – to calling a clergyman, or any man that
preaches, a priest. We are no more so than you are. All saints are priests.
But, for a man to stand up and say he is a priest, any more than those he
preaches to, is a falsehood. I detest the distinction of clergy and laity. I like
scriptural priestcraft, for that is the craft or work of the people who are all
priests; but all other priestcraft I abhor. Every saint of the Lord is a priest
at God’s altar, and is bound to worship God with the holy incense of
prayer and praise. We are priests, each one of us, if we are called by divine
grace; for thus we are priests by divine constitution.

Then, next, we are priests, because we enjoy divine honors. None but a priest might enter within the vail; there was a court of the priests into which none might ever go, except the called ones. Priests had certain rights and privileges which others had not. Saint of Jesus! heir of heaven! thou hast high and honorable privileges, which the world wots not of! Hast thou ever been within the vail in communion with Christ? Hast thou ever been in the court of the Lord’s house, the court of the priests, where he has taught thee, and manifested himself to thee? Hast thou? Yes, thou knowest thou hast, thou enjoyest constant access to God’s throne; thou hast a right to come and tell thy griefs and sorrows into the ear of Jehovah. The poor worlding must not come there, the poor child of wrath has no God to tell his troubles to. He must not go within the veil, he has no wish to go; but thou mayest; thou mayest come to God’s ear, swing the censer before the throne, and offer thy petition in the name of Jesus. Others have not these divine honors. Thou art divinely honored, and divinely blessed.

Then another remark, to finish up with, shall be, we have a divine service
to perform; and as I want you all, this morning, to turn this chapel into one
great altar – as I want to make you all working priests, and this the temple
for sacrifice – look earnestly at your service. You are all priests, because
you love his dear name and have a great sacrifice to perform, not a
propitiation for your sins, for that has been once offered, but a sacrifice this
day of holy thanksgiving. Oh! how sweet in God’s ear is the prayer of his
people! That is the sacrifice that he accepts; and when their holy hymn
swells upwards towards the sky, how pleasant it is in his ears, because then
he can say, “My hosts of priests are sacrificing praise.” And do, you know,
beloved, there is one point in which most of us fail in our oblations before
God? We offer our prayer, we present our praise; but how little do we
sacrifice of our substance unto the Lord! I had thought this morning seeing
I desire to make you amazingly liberal, to have made this my text, “Honor
the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with
new wine” and I had thought of showing that our substance was the
Lord’s, that we were bound to devote no small portion of it to him, and
that if we did do so we might expect prosperity even in worldly business,
for he would make our barns full and our presses burst with new wine.
However, I conceive it to be needless to preach a collection sermon -I
thought I would rather tell your about your honor and dignity, and then
you shall just give what you like, for the only free-will I like, is a free-will
offering.

Suffer, ye beloved, a few words God has said in his Word that
you are to honor him with your substance. As a priest of the Lord will you
not sacrifice something to the Lord this day? Here we have a great object
before us, we want more room for the crowds who come to hear the
gospel. It seems important, when such a throng is gathered, that none
should go away. Ought we not to bless God that they come? There was a
time you were few indeed, and the cry was, “Who hath believed our
report?” But God has given us great success, the ministry here has been
blessed to the conversion of not a few souls; I have many cases, now in this
chapel, of broken hearts and contrite spirits; doubtless, there are many
more than I know of, and I believe the blessed Spirit will bring them out in
due time.

Oh! do you not grieve that any should have to turn away from
the voice of the ministry – that any who come here should have to go away,
perhaps to spend the Sabbath in sin. You know not where they have to go,
when they cannot get within these walls. The thing is, we have come to the
resolution that this chapel should be enlarged, so that there should be
accommodation for a larger number. Now, ye priests, sacrifice to the Lord.
Let the priests build the house of Lord; let those who worship in the
sanctuary take up the trowel today; let the mortar and the brick be laid,
and let this house be once more filled with the glory of the Lord, and an
abundant congregation.

III. Now, I have to close up with THE WORLD’S FUTURE. “We shall reign
on the earth.” I have not much time for this, and I dare say it is expected
that I shall tell you about the millennium and the personal reign of Christ. I
shall not at all, because I don’t know anything about it. I have heard a
great many people talk of it, and, if anybody shows me a book on the
millennium, I say, “I cannot read it just yet.” A good man has lately written
a book on it, and a gentleman recommended it to me so strongly, that I
could not but buy it out of courtesy; but I elevated it to the aristocratic
region of library, in the higher ranks, and there it rests in quiet repose. I do
not think myself capable of threading the labyrinths of the subject, and I do
not believe the very respectable author can do it. It is a subject so dark, and
I have read so many different views upon it, that it is all a phantasmagoria
with me. I believe all the Bible says of a glorious future, but I cannot
pretend to be a maker of charts for all time. Only this I gather as a positive
fact, that the saints will one day reign on the earth. This truth appears to
me clear enough, whatever may be the different views on the millennium.

Now, the saints do not reign visibly; they are despised. They were driven,
in old times, into dens and caves of the earth: but the time is coming when
kings will be saints, and princes the called ones of God – when queens shall
be the nursing mothers and kings the nursing fathers of Christ’s church.
The hour is coming when the saint, instead of being dishonored, shall be
honored; and monarchs, once the foes of truth, shall become its friends.
The saints shall reign. They shall have the majority; the kingdom of Christ
shall have the upper hand; it shall not be cast down – this shall not be Satan’s
world any longer – it shall again sing with all its sister stars, the never
ceasing song of praise. Oh! I believe there is a day coming when Sabbath
bells shall sprinkle music over the plains of Africa – when the deep thick
jungle of India shall see the saints of God going up to the sanctuary, and I
am assured that the teeming multitudes of China shall gather together in
temples built for prayer, and, as you and I have done, shall sing, to the ever
glorious Jehovah,

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
Happy day! happy day! May it speedily come!

Now, to close up, one very practical inference. Ye are kings and priests
unto your God. Then how much ought kings to give to the collection this
morning? Thus speak ye to yourselves. “I am a king; I will give as a king
giveth unto a king.” Now, mark you, no paltry subscriptions! We don’t
expect kings to put down their names for trifles. Then, again: you are a
priest. Well priest do you mean to sacrifice? “Yes.” But you would not
sacrifice a broken-legged lamb, or a blemished bullock, would you? Would
you not select the best of the flock? Very right, then select the very best of
the Queen’s coins, and offer, if you can, sheep with golden fleece. Excuse
my pressing this subject. I want to get this chapel enlarged; so do you, we
are all agreed about it; we are all rowing in one boat. I have set my mind
on £50, and I must, and will, have it today, if possible. I hope you won’t
disappoint me. It is not my own cause, but my Master’s – at other times you
have given liberally- I am not afraid of you – but hope to come forward, next
Sabbath morning, with the cheering announcement that the £50 is all
raised, and then I think my spirit; will be so elevated, that, by the help of
God, I will venture to promise you one of the best sermons I am capable of
delivering.

The Christian reader will be pleased to learn, that after this appeal, the sum
of £50 0s. 11 1/2d. was collected at the doors, towards defraying the
expenses of the enlargement. Should any reader of the New Park Street
Pulpit desire to contribute to this excellent object, any sum will be
thankfully received by MR. WILLIAM OLNEY, Secretary, at the Chapel.

This post has now been removed from this blog.

Please Visit the new UK Christian Mental Health Website for support, advice, articles, discussions and more.

I’m putting this article on from our friends at Christian Hawk because I like it!

ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?

Liberalism’s’ “Thought Police” Have Arrived!

George Orwell’s ‘Thought Police’ Have Arrived in the West.

Do You Hold Christian Values? Are You Deeply Opposed to Permissive Liberalism? Are You “Right-Wing”?

Be Careful! You Are Probably Being Observed Right Now!

This really is no joke – you seriously need to read this!

“We Now Face the Very Real Possibility That the Persecution of Christians is about to Commence in our Own Beloved Anglo-Saxon and European Christian Heartlands…”

Increasingly, law-abiding Christians (and non-Christians) in the West who oppose officially-approved new liberal laws, directives and proposed legislation are being visited by the police. Apparently one no longer has the right to even privately hold a view which is in opposition to the prevailing climate of Liberalism. Is this not the arrival of George Orwell’s “thought police” as outlined in his famous novel, 1984 ?

You think I might be exaggerating?

When a mother said on British radio that she thought gay couples should not adopt children, the police were soon in touch. When an evangelist was physically attacked for carrying a placard denouncing homosexuality, he was the one prosecuted – not his attacker! When a trainee policeman made racist comments – in private – he was recorded by a secret television crew who had him thrown off the course (Now, I do not approve of racist views but I will defend anybody’s right to hold their own privately-held views, provided – if they are hateful views – they are not disseminating them widely to the public).

Do we have freedom of speech? Or do we not?

Surveillance cameras are to be found everywhere. London is said to have in excess of 300,000

One of the famous hallmarks of the Soviet Union, and communist China (and probably to a lesser extent, Nazi Germany) were the secret police who continually had their ears to the ground just listening for any signs of dissent. Sometimes fathers were betrayed by sons, brothers were betrayed by sisters, even husbands by wives. Sometimes if the secret police really thought that they were on to something but the evidence was a little thin people would be bribed to ‘say just a little more’ – Yes, it became dangerous to even talk in one’s sleep just in case one betrayed an anti-government view. In the West we have rightly condemned this and rightly so, so the great irony of this is that it is now the liberal West which is beginning to pay just a little bit too much attention to various views which contradict its dogmas.

To quote the Sunday Times Review article, ‘Beware of the Thought Police’ (December, 2005)

‘What is going on? Has Britain, regarded around the world as the home of free speech, become a country in which people can no longer say what they think? Have ancient freedoms of movement and self-expression vanished? And why do the police have these new powers? The answers lie in the government’s slippery reaction to two distinct strains of zealotry: Islamic terrorism and political correctness. It has exploited the mood of insecurity to push through a law protecting itself from public protest; and it has turned the police into creatures of the PC lobby by putting them in the front line against “wrong thinking”.’

Are We Being Watched?

George Orwell’s concept of ‘Big Brother is Watching You’ has become one of the most enduring comments on modern society.

To be perfectly frank, we are probably all being watched in these days where the technology is widely available to do so. But those of us with somewhat high-profile websites who are opposed to Liberalism are in little doubt that we are being watched! I have become very aware during the last year that my internet ministry is being watched (discovered in a way that I prefer not to spell out) but I am prepared to accept this as the price for having a website which unashamedly proclaims the Christian gospel and is quite prepared to attack those ‘liberal values’ which are currently almost sacrosanct here in Europe.

In ‘You Are Being Watched, and There Is No Place to Hide; An interview with Robert O’Harrow,’ John W. Whitehead wrote this,

‘Increasingly, we live in a surveillance state where everything we do and our every transaction, business or otherwise, is watched, videotaped and analyzed. There is virtually nothing that the surveillance state, growing data systems and information companies do not know about the most intricate details of our lives. With the slightest mistake, however, you can be branded for life. Take, for example, Matthew Frost of Tampa, Fla., a businessman and father of two who simply wanted to vote in the 2000 presidential election. When he attempted to cast a ballot, the election worker told him: “Sorry, sir, you have a felony. You can’t vote.” Although it was a mistake and Frost had never been convicted of a felony, he still was not allowed to vote. Frost was a victim of a botched attempt by government officials to use a private data contractor “to help purge the electoral votes of felons and other ineligible people,” writes Robert O’Harrow in his revealing book No Place to Hide: Behind the Scenes of Our Emerging Surveillance Society (2005). This was “a glaring demonstration of what can happen when the government and private data services team up to target individuals,” notes O’ Harrow. “The use of computerized personal information can—and often does—spin out of control.’

More Examples of Christian and Right-Wing Views Being Monitored and Persecuted.

Joe and Helen Roberts are a British couple who live in Lancashire and support Christian values. In 2005 they complained to their local council regarding its gay rights policies. I think that 98% of Christians would agree with their complaint. The Roberts’ made the surely valid point that if gay groups should be allowed to make their literature available in public places then, as Christians, surely they had the right to place Christian literature in the same places. But this suggestion was (not surprisingly) quickly rejected! But – astonishingly – in December 2005 they received a visit from the police which resulted in an interrogation lasting over an hour. Joe tells his amazing story on an audio tape which you can access here: Thought Police Interview; Joe Roberts’ Story (December, 2006 Update on the Roberts’ Story!).

I do not support the BNP (British Nationalist Party) but (in common with thousands of other Britons) I am astonished that (in early 2006) their leader Nick Griffin is being prosecuted because of his criticism of Islam which was made in a pub meeting of his friends and supporters. Not surprisingly, the case has collapsed once but there is to be a retrial to commence May, 2006. The speech was recorded by a television spy camera due to the connivance of liberal journalists who thought they had a ‘scoop’. An attempt is being made to show that his remarks about the religion of Islam (apparently he called it an “evil religion”) are really racist when they clearly are not. I just wonder if the current British government realise how many new supporters the BNP are currently gathering because of the over-sensitivity of the ‘thought police’ in this matter.As I read on one blog site which was discussing this matter,

‘The BNP have finally got the press coverage they so badly needed to strengthen their party and lift them to higher levels. Now – almost overnight – they have support in countries like the U.S, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand, as well as national coverage throughout Britain.’

A New Western Persecution of Christians?

George Orwell (1903-1950) wrote ’1984′ in 1949 and it was his final novel. He portrayed a future souless and demoralised society in which ‘thought police’ would control everything. Eventually, only worship of the secular State was allowed.

But, to return to the attacks on Christians by the forces of liberalism, WND Editor and founder Joseph Farah recently said, “The attacks on Christianity in America are alarming. We are witnessing more than religious bigotry now. We are entering the early stages of what could become persecution and outright criminalization of Christianity if it is not exposed and fought vigorously by all freedom-loving people.”

Farah’s warning should be taken seriously. The last 10-15 years or so have seen the arrival of a new intense persecution of Christians in many countries, mainly at the hands of Hindus and Islamics but we now face the truly amazing situation that homegrown western Liberalism could be about to turn on its own Christians.

In Prepare for Persecution, the Rev Bob Frost, the new President of Release International, says this,

‘“We are closer to persecution today than at any time in my life,” he said, as French MPs moved to ban the wearing of religious symbols including large Christian crosses in state schools.

Dr Frost, undertook to raise awareness of the persecuted church as he was appointed president of Release International (RI). “RI has a ministry in awakening Christians in the UK about what persecution is and how the church can be a witness. RI has a role in preparing us in the West for what may come our way.”’

He said he aimed to prepare the emerging generation of British Christian leaders to meet persecution head on. Growing restrictions are being imposed on religious freedom in many countries across Europe, ensnaring Christians as well as other sincere believers. “Persecution is imminent,” said Rob Frost.

He added: “The message has to go out to young emerging leaders in the UK that Christianity is worth suffering for and even dying for. It is not a game but a high-risk occupation.” Eddie Lyle, Executive Director of Release International, said: “Post 9/11 the world is fearful of religious fervour. It means basic freedoms are being denied even to mainstream Christians who simply love the Lord and seek to love their neighbour.”’ (Taken from The European Institute of Protestant Studies)

So we now face the very real possibility that the persecution of Christians is about to commence in our own beloved Anglo-Saxon and European Christian heartlands…

Here in the UK even more legislation is currently being planned which Christians will not be able to support and which will isolate them further:

‘Later this year the (UK) Government will bring forward new laws on sexual orientation. Using Ministerial order-making powers under the Equality Act, they plan to outlaw ‘homophobic’ discrimination in the provision of goods and services.

These laws could create problems. They could force, for example, a Christian bed and breakfast to offer a double bed to a homosexual couple; and they could require a church hall to be let out to gay rights activists. The sexual orientation provisions could even mandate the equal promotion of homosexuality and heterosexuality in state schools and result in litigation over the curriculum.’

(Comment comes from The Christian Institute website).