A Sermon
(No. 19)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, April 15, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At Exeter Hall, Strand.
"Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: for this is all
my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow."–2
Samuel 23:5.
THESE be the last words of David; so we read at the commencement of the
chapter. Many have been the precious sentences which have fallen front
his inspired lips; seraphic has been the music which has dropped from
his fingers when they flew along the strings of his harp; but now that
sweet voice is to be hushed in death, and now the son of Jesse is to
sleep with his fathers. Surely it were well to press around his bed, to
hear the dying monarch's last testimony; yea, we can conceive that
angels themselves would for an instant check their rapid flight, that
they might visit the chamber of the dying mighty one, and listen to his
last death song. It is always blessed to hear the words of departing
saints. How many choice thoughts have we gained in the bedchamber of
the righteous, beloved? I remember one sweet idea, which I once won
from a death-bed. A dying man desired to have one of the Psalms read to
him, and the 17th being chosen, he stopped at the 6th verse, "Incline
thine ear unto me and hear my speech," and faintly whispering, said,
"Ah, Lord, I cannot speak, my voice fails me; incline thine ear, put it
against my mouth, that thou mayest hear me." None but a weak and dying
man, whose life was ebbing fast, could have conceived such a thought.
It is well to hear saints' words when they are near heaven–when they
stand upon the banks of Jordan. But here is a special case, for these
be the last words of David. They are something more than human
utterances; for we are told that the Spirit of the Lord spake by him,
and his word was in his tongue. These were his closing accents. Ah!
methinks, lisping these words he rose from earth to join the chorus of
the skies. He commenced the sentence upon earth, and he finished it in
heaven. He began, "Although my house be not so with God;" and as he
winged his flight to heaven, he still sang, "yet hast thou made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: "and now
before the throne he constantly hymns the same strain–"yet hast thou
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure."
I hope, my friends, there are many of us who can join in this verse
this morning, and who hope to close our earthly pilgrimage with this
upon our tongue.
We shall notice first, that the Psalmist had sorrow in his house–"
Although my house be not so with God." Secondly, he had confidence in
the covenant–" yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant." And
thirdly, he had satisfaction in his heart, for he says–" this is all
my salvation, and all my desire.
I. The Psalmist says he had sorrow in his house–"Although my house be
not so with God." What man is there of all our race, who, if he had to
write his history, would not need to use a great many "althoughs"? If
you read the biography of any man, as recorded in the Sacred Word, you
will always find a "but," or an "although," before you have finished.
Naaman was a mighty man of valour, and a great man with his master, but
he was a leper. There is always a "but" in every condition, a crook in
every lot, some dark tint upon the marble pillar, some cloud in the
summer sky, some discord in the music, some alloy in the gold. So
David, though a man who had been raised from the sheepfold, a mighty
warrior, a conqueror of giants, a king over a great nation, yet, had
his "althoughs;" and the "although" which he had, was one in his own
house. Those are the worst troubles which we have in our own household.
We love not an evil beast abroad, but we hate the lion most when it
prowls upon our own estates, or croucheth on the floor of our dwelling.
The greatest trouble with the thorn is when it lieth in our bed, and we
feel it in our pillow. Civil war is always the fiercest–those are foes
indeed who are of our own household. I think, perhaps David intended,
when he said "Although my house be not so with God," to speak partly of
his affairs. If any man else had looked at David's affairs–the
government of his country–he would have said, "David's government is
the mirror of excellence." His house was so rightly ordered, that few
of his subjects could murmur at him; but David recollected that a
greater and keener eye than that of man rested on him; and he says,
speaking of his empire and his house–for you know the word "house" in
Scripture often means our business, our affairs, our transactions,
("Set thine house in order, for thou must die, and not live,")–he
says, although before man my house may be well swept, and garnished,
yet it is not so with God as I can desire. Oh, beloved, there are some
of us who can walk before our fellow-men conscious of innocence; we
dare defy the gaze of our fellow-mortals; we can say, "Lord! thou
knowest I am not wicked;" we are blameless before this perverse
generation: we walk amongst them as lights in the world, and God has
helped us, so that we are clean from the great transgression; we are
not afraid of a criticism of our character, we are not fearful of being
inspected by the eyes of all men, for we feel that through God's grace
we have been kept from committing ourselves; he has kept us, and the
evil one toucheth us not. But with all this conscious innocence–with
all that dignity with which we stand before our fellows–when we go
into God's sight, how changed we are! Ah, then, my friends, we say not,
"Lord! thou knowest I am not wicked;" but rather, we fall prostrate,
and cry, "Unclean, unclean, unclean;" and as the leper cools his heated
brow with the water running in the cool sequestered brook, so do we
have our body in Siloam's stream, and strive to wash ourselves clean in
the water and blood from Christ's riven side. We feel that our house is
"not so with God ;" though in the person of Jesus we are free from sin,
and white as angels are: yet when we stand before God, in our own
persons, we are obliged to confess, that honest as we may be, upright
as we have been, just and holy before men, yet our house is "not so
with God."
But I imagine that the principal meaning of these words of David refers
to his family–his children. David had many trials in his children. It
has often been the lot of good men to have great troubles from their
sons and daughters. True, we know some households that are the very
image of peace and happiness, where the father and mother bend the knee
together in family prayer, and they look upon an offspring, numerous or
not, as it may be, but most of them devoting their hearts to God. I
know a household which stands like a green oasis in the desert of this
world. There be sons who preach God's gospel, and daughters who are
growing up to fear the Lord, and to love him. Such a household is
indeed a pleasant halting-place for a weary soul in its pilgrimage
through this wilderness of life. Oh! happy is that family whom God hath
blessed. But there are other houses where you will find the children
are the trials of the parents. "Although my house be not so with God,"
may many an anxious father say; and ye pious mothers might lift your
streaming eyes to heaven, and say, "Although my house be not so with
God." That first-born son of yours, who was your pride, has now turned
out your disgrace. Oh! how have the arrows of his ingratitude pierced
into your soul, and how do you keenly feel at this present moment, that
sooner would you have buried him in his infancy; sooner might he never
have seen the light, and perished in the birth, than that he should
live to have acted as he has done, to be the misery of your existence,
and the sorrow of your life. O sons who are ungodly, unruly, gay, and
profligate, surely ye do not know the tears of pious mothers, or ye
would stop your sin. Methinks, young man, thou wouldst not willingly
allow thy mother to shed tears, however dearly you may love sin. Will
you not then stop at her entreaties? Can you trample upon your mother?
Oh! though you are riding a steeple-chase to hell, cannot her weeping
supplications induce you to stay your mad career? Will you grieve her
who gave you life, and fondly cherished you at her breast? Surely you
will long debate e'er you can resolve to bring her grey hairs with
sorrow to the grave. Or has sin brutalized you? Are ye worse than
stones? Have natural feelings become extinct? Is the evil one entirely
your master? Has he dried up all the tender sympathies of your heart?
Stay! young prodigal, and ponder!
But, Christian men! ye are not alone in this. If ye have family
troubles, there are others who have borne the same. Remember Ephraim!
Though God had promised that Ephraim should abound as a tribe with tens
of thousands, yet it is recorded in 1 Chron. 7:20–22: "And the sons of
Ephraim; Shuthelah and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah
his son, and Tahath his son, and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son,
and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land
slew, because they came down to take away their cattle. And Ephraim
their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him."
Abraham himself had his Ishmael, and he cried to God on account
thereof. Think of Eli, a man who served God as a high priest, and
though he could rule the people, he could not rule his sons; and great
was his grief thereat. Ah! some of you, my brethren in the gospel, may
lift your hands to heaven, and ye may utter this morning these words
with a deep and solemn emphasis–you may write "Although" in capitals,
for it is more than true with some of you–" Although my house be not
so with God."
Before we leave this point: What must I say to any of those who are
thus tried and distressing in estate and family? First, let me say to
you, my brethren, it is necessary that you should have an "although" in
your lot, because if you had not, you know what you would do; you would
build a very downy nest on earth, and there you would lie down in
sleep; so God puts a thorn in your nest in order that you may sing. It
is said by the old writers, that the nightingale never sang so sweetly
as when she sat among thorns, since say they, the thorns prick her
breast, and remind her of her song. So it may be with you. Ye, like the
larks, would sleep in your nest did not some trouble pass by and
affright you; then you stretch your wings, and carolling the matin
song, rise to greet the sun. Trials are sent to wean you from the
world; bitters are put into your drink, that ye may learn to live upon
the dew of heaven: the food of earth is mingled with gall, that ye may
only seek for true bread in the manna which droppeth from the sky. Your
soul without trouble would be as the sea if it were without tide or
motion; it would become foul and obnoxious. As Coleridge describes the
sea after a wondrous calm, so would the soul breed contagion and death.
But furthermore, recollect this, O thou who art tried in thy
children–that prayer can remove thy troubles. There is not a pious
father or mother here, who is suffering in the family, but may have
that trial taken away yet. Faith is as omnipotent as God himself, for
it moves the arm which leads the stars along. Have you prayed long for
your children without a result? and have ye said, "I will cease to
pray, for the more I wrestle, the worse they seem to grow, and the more
am I tried?" Oh! say not so, thou weary watcher. Though the promise
tarrieth, it will come. Still sow the seed; and when thou sowest it,
drop a tear with each grain thou puttest into the earth. Oh, steep thy
seeds in the tears of anxiety, and they cannot rot under the clods, if
they have been baptized in so vivifying a mixture. And what though thou
diest without seeing thy sons the heirs of light? They shall be
converted even after thy death; and though thy bones shall be put in
the grave, and thy son may stand and curse thy memory for an hour, he
shall not forget it in the cooler moments of his recollection, when he
shall meditate alone. Then he shall think of thy prayers, thy tears,
thy groans; he shall remember thine advice–it shall rise up, and if he
live in sin, still thy words shall sound as one long voice from the
realm of spirits, and either affright him in the midst of his revelry,
or charm him heavenward, like angel's whispers, saying, "Follow on to
glory, where thy parent is who once did pray for thee." So the
Christian may say, "Although my house be not so with God now, it may be
yet;" therefore will I still wait, for there be mighty instances of
conversion. Think of John Newton. He even became a slaver, yet was
brought back. Hope on; never despair; faint heart never winneth the
souls of men, but firm faith winneth all things; therefore watch unto
prayer. "What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch." There is your
trouble, a small cup filled from the same sea of tribulation as was the
Psalmist's when he sung, "Although my house be not so with God."
II. But secondly: David had confidence in the covenant. Oh! how sweet
it is to look from the dulness of earth to the brilliancy of heaven!
How glorious it is to leap from the ever tempest-tossed bark of this
world, and stand upon the terra firma of the covenant! So did David.
Having done with his "Although," he then puts in a blessed "yet" Oh! it
is a "yet," with jewels set: "He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure."
Now let us notice these words as they come. First, David rejoiced in
the covenant, because it is divine in its origin. "Yet hath HE made
with me an everlasting covenant." O that great word HE. Who is that? It
is not my odd-father or my odd mother who has made a covenant for
me–none of that nonsense. It is not a covenant man has made for me, or
with me; but yet hath HE made with me an everlasting covenant." It is
divine in its origin, not human. The covenant on which the Christian
rests, is not the covenant of his infant sprinkling: he has altogether
broken that scores of times, for he has not "renounced the pomps and
vanities of this wicked world," as he should have done, nor "all the
lusts of the flesh." Nor has he really become regenerate through those
holy drops of water which a cassocked priest cast on his face. The
covenant on which he rests and stands secure, is that covenant which
God has made with him. "Yet hath HE made." Stop, my soul. God, the
everlasting Father, has positively made a covenant with thee; yes, that
God, who in the thickest darkness dwells and reigns for ever in his
majesty alone; that God, who spake the world into existence by a word;
who holds it, like an Atlas, upon his shoulders, who poises the destiny
of all creation upon his finger; that God, stooping from his majesty,
takes hold of thy hand and makes a covenant with thee. Oh! is it not a
deed, the stupendous condescension of which might ravish our hearts for
ever if we could really understand it? Oh! the depths! "HE hath made
with me a covenant." A king has not made a covenant with me–that were
somewhat: an emperor has not entered into a compact with me; but the
Prince of the kings of the earth, the Shaddai, the Lord of all flesh,
the Jehovah of ages, the everlasting Elohim. "He hath made with me an
everlasting covenant." O blessed thought! it is of divine origin.
But notice its particular application. "Yet hath he made with ME an
everlasting covenant." Here lies the sweetness of it to me, as an
individual.
"Oh how sweet to view the flowing
Of Christ's soul-redeeming blood,
With divine assurance knowing,
That he made my peace with God."
It is nought for me that he made peace for the world; I want to know
whether he made peace for me: it is little that he hath made a
covenant, I want to know whether he has made a covenant with ME. David
could put his hand upon his heart and say, "Yet hath he made a covenant
with ME." I fear I shall not be wrong in condemning the fashionable
religion of the day, for it is a religion which belongs to the crowd;
and not a personal one which is enjoyed by the individual. You will
hear persons say, "Well, I believe the doctrine of justification; I
think that men are justified through faith." Yes, but are you justified
by faith? "I believe," says another, "that we are sanctified by the
Spirit." Yes, all very well, but are you sanctified by the Spirit? Mark
you, if ever you talk about personal piety very much, you will always
be run down as extravagant. If you really say from your heart, "I know
I am forgiven; I am certain that I am a pardoned sinner;"–and every
Christian will at times be able to say it, and would always, were it
not for his unbelief–if you say, "I know in whom I have believed; I am
confident that I have not a sin now recorded in the black roll; that I
am free from sin as if I had never transgressed, through the pardoning
blood of Jesus," men will say it is extravagant. Well, it is a
delightful extravagance, it is the extravagance of God's Word; and I
would to God more of us could indulge in that holy, blessed
extravagance. For we may well be extravagant when we have an infinite
sum to spend; we may well be lavish when we know we never can exhaust
the treasure. Oh! how sweet it is to say, "Yet hath he made with ME an
everlasting covenant. It is nought that you talk to me of my brother
being saved. I am very glad that my friend should get to glory, and I
shall rejoice to meet you all; but after all, the thing is, "Shall I be
there?"
"Shall I amongst them stand,
To see his smiling face?"
Now, Christian, thou canst apply this personally. The covenant is made
with thee. Man, open thine eyes; there is thy name in the covenant.
What is it? It is some plain English name, perhaps. It never had an
M.P. nor an M.A. after it, nor a "Sir," before it. Never mind, that
name is in the covenant. If you could take down your Father's family
Bible in heaven, you would find your name put in the register. O
blessed thought! my name–positively mine! not another's. So, then,
these eyes shall see him, and not another's for me. Rejoice, Christian;
it is a personal covenant. "Yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant."
Furthermore, this covenant is not only divine in its origin, but it is
everlasting in its duration. I have had some very pretty letters sent
me from anonymous writers who have listened to me; and being great
cowards (whom I always abhor) they cannot sign their names. They may
know what fate they receive; the condign punishment I appoint to them.
I cut them asunder, and thrust them into the fire. I hope the authors
will not have a similar fate. Some of them, however, quarrel with me,
because I preach the everlasting gospel. I dare not preach another, for
I would not have another if it were offered to me. An everlasting
gospel is the only one which I think worthy of an everlasting God. I am
sure it is the only one which can give comfort to a soul that is to
live throughout eternity. Now, you know what an "everlasting covenant"
signifies. It meant a covenant which had no beginning, and which shall
never, never end. Some do not believe in the everlasting nature of
God's love to his people. They think that God begins to love his people
when they begin to love him. My Arminian friends, did you ever sing
that verse in your meeting?–of course you have–
"O yes, I do love Jesus,
Because he first lov'd me."
That is a glorious Calvinistic hymn, though we know whose hymn book it
is in. Well, then, if Jesus loved you before you loved him, why cannot
you believe that he always did love you? Besides, how stupid it is to
talk so, when you know God does not change. There is no such thing as
time with him; there is no past with him. If you say, "he loves me
now," you have in fact said, "he loved me yesterday, and he will love
me for ever." There is nothing but now with God. There is no such thing
as past or future; and to dispute about eternal election and so on, is
all of no avail; because, if God did choose his people at all–and we
all admit that he chooses them now–I do not care about whether you say
he did so ten thousand, thousand years ago, because there is no such
thing as the past with God; with him it is all now. He sees things,
past and future, as present in his eye. Only tell me that he loves me
now; that word "now," in God's dictionary, means everlasting. Tell me
that God has now pardoned my sins; it means, that he always has, for
his acts are eternal acts. Oh how sweet to know an everlasting
covenant! I would not barter my gospel for fifty thousand other
gospels. I love a certain salvation; and when I first heard it
preached, that if I believed, God's grace would keep me all my life
long, and would never let me fall into hell, but that I should preserve
my character unblemished, and walk among my fellow-creatures pure and
holy, then said I, "That is the gospel for me; an everlasting gospel."
As for that sandy gospel, which bets you fall away and then come back
again, it is the wickedest falsehood on earth. If I believed it, I
would preach the gospel and be holy on the Sunday, and fall away on the
Monday, and be a Christian again on the Tuesday; and I should say, "I
have fallen from grace and have got up again." But now, as a true
Calvinistic Christian, I desire to have in myself, and see in others, a
life of constant consistency; nor can I think it possible to fall away,
and then return, after the many passages which assert the impossibility
of such a thing. That is the greatest safeguard on earth–that I have
something within me that never can be quenched; that I put on the
regimentals of a service which I never must leave, which I cannot leave
without having proved that I never was enlisted at all. Oh! that keeps
me near my God. But once make me doubt that, and you will see me the
vilest character living under the sun. Take from me the everlastingness
of the gospel, and you have taken all. Dear old Watts Wilkinson once
said to Joseph Irons, when he said, "I love you to preach the covenant
everlasting nature of God's love,"–" Ah!" said the old saint, "What is
there else in the gospel if you do not preach it?" Brother, what is
there else? If we do not preach an everlasting gospel, the gospel is
not worth twopence. You may get anything uncertain anywhere else; it is
in the Bible alone that we get everlasting things.
"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."
But notice the next word, for it is a sweet one, and we must not let
one portion go, " It is ordered in all things." "Order is heaven's
first law," and God has not a disorderly covenant. It is an orderly
one. When he planned it, before the world began, it was in all things
ordered well. He so arranged it, that justice should be fully
satisfied, and yet mercy should be linked hand-in-hand with it. He so
planned it that vengeance should have its utmost jot and tittle, and
yet mercy should save the sinner. Jesus Christ came to confirm it, and
by his atonement, he ordered it in all things; he paid every drop of
his blood; he did not leave one farthing of the ransom-money for his
dear people, but he ordered it in all things. And the Holy Spirit, when
he sweetly applies it, always applies it in order; he orders it in all
things. He makes us sometimes understand this order, but if we do not,
be sure of this, that the covenant is a well-ordered covenant. I have
heard of a man who bought a piece of land, and when the covenant was
being made, he thought he knew more about it than the lawyer; but you
know it is said that when a man is his own lawyer he has a fool for his
client. In this case the man had a fool for his client; and he drew up
the covenant so badly, that in a few years it was discovered to be good
for nothing, and he lost his property. But our Father's covenant is
drawn up according to the strictest rules of justice; and so is ordered
in all things. If hell itself should search it–if it were passed round
amongst a conclave of demons, they could not find a single fault with
it. There are the technical terms of heaven's court; there is the great
seal at the bottom, and there is the signature of Jesus, written in his
own blood. So it is "ordered in all things."
That word things is not in the original, and we may read it persons, as
well as things. It is ordered in all persons–all the persons whose
names are in the covenant; it is ordered for them, and they shall come
according to the promise: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." O my beloved
Christian, stop at this promise a moment, for it is a sweet well of
precious water to slake thy thirst and refresh thy weariness. It is
"ordered in all things." What dost thou want more than this? Dost thou
need constraining grace? It is "ordered in all things." Dost thou
require more of the spirit of prayer? It is "ordered in all things."
Dost thou desire more faith? It is "ordered in all things." Art thou
afraid lest thou shouldst not hold out to the end? It is "ordered in
all things." There is converting grace in it; pardoning grace in it;
justifying grace, sanctifying grace, and persevering grace; for it is
"ordered in all things, and sure." Nothing is left out; so that
whene'er we come, we find all things there stored up in heavenly order.
Galen, the celebrated physician, says of the human body, that its bones
are so well put together, all the parts being so beautifully ordered,
that we could not change one portion of it without spoiling its harmony
and beauty; and if we should attempt to draw a model man, we could not,
with all our ingenuity, fashion a being more wondrous in workmanship
than man as he is. It is so with regard to the covenant. If we might
alter it, we could not change it for the better; all its portions are
beautifully agreed. I always feel when I am preaching the gospel
covenant that I am secure. If I preach any other gospel, I am
vulnerable, I am open to attack; but standing upon the firm ground of
God's covenant, I feel I am in a tower of strength, and so long as I
hold all the truths, I am not afraid that even the devils of hell can
storm my castle. So secure is the man who believes the everlasting
gospel; no logic can stand against it. Only let our preachers give the
everlasting gospel to the people, and they will drink it as the ox
drinketh water. You will find they love God's truth. But so long as
God's gospel is smothered, and the candle is put under a bushel, we
cannot expect men's souls will be brought to love it. I pray God that
the candle may burn the bushel up, and that the light may be manifest.
But now, to wind up our description of this covenant, it is sure. If I
were a rich man, there would be but one thing I should want to make my
riches all I desire, and that would be, to have them sure, for riches
make to themselves wings, and fly away. Health is a great blessing, and
we want but to write one word on it to make it the greatest blessing,
that is the adjective "sure." We have relatives, and we love them; ah!
if we could but write "sure" on them, what a blessed thing it would be.
We cannot call anything "sure" on earth; the only place where we can
write that word is on the covenant, which is "ordered in all things and
sure." Now there is some poor brother come here this morning who has
lost his covenant, as he thinks. Ah! brother, you once had peaceful
hours and sweet enjoyment in the presence of God; but now you are in
gloom and doubt; you have lost your roll. Well, let me tell you, though
you have lost your roll, the covenant is not lost, for all that. You
never had the covenant in your hands yet; you only had a copy of it,
You thought you read your title clear, but you never read the
title-deeds themselves; you only held a copy of the lease and you have
lost it. The covenant itself; where is it? It is under the throne of
God; it is in the archives of heaven, in the ark of the covenant; it is
in Jesus's breast, it is on his hands, on his heart–it is there. Oh!
if God were to put my salvation in my hands, I should be lost in ten
minutes; but my salvation is not there–it is in Christ's hands. You
have read of the celebrated dream of John Newton, which I will tell you
to the best of my recollection. He thought he was out at sea, on board
a vessel, when some bright angel flew down and presented him with a
ring, saying, "As long as you wear this ring you shall be happy, and
your soul shall be safe." He put the ring on his finger, and he felt
happy to have it in his own possession. Then there came a spirit from
the vasty deep, and said to him; "That ring is nought but folly;" and
by cajolery and flattery the spirit at last persuaded him to slip the
ring from off his finger, and he dropped it in the sea. Then there came
fierce things from the deep; the mountains bellowed, and hurled upward
their volcanic lava: all the earth was on fire, and his soul in the
greatest trouble. By-and-bye a spirit came, and diving below, fetched
up the ring, and showing it to him, said, "Now thou art safe, for I
have saved the ring." Now might John Newton have said, "Let me put it
on my finger again." "No, no; you cannot take care of it yourself;" and
up the angel flew, carrying the ring away with him, so that then he
felt himself secure, since no cajolery of hell could get it from him
again, for it was up in heaven. My life is "hid with Christ in God." If
I had my spiritual life in my own possession, I should be a suicide
very soon; but it is not with me; and as I cannot save myself, as a
Christian I cannot destroy myself, for my life is wrapped up in the
covenant: it is with Christ in heaven. Oh, glorious and precious
covenant!
III. Now to close our meditation. The Psalmist had a satisfaction in
his heart. "This is," he said, all my salvation, and all my desire." I
should ill like the task of riding till I found a satisfied worldly
man. I suspect there is not a horse that would not be worn off its legs
before I found him; I think I should myself grow grey with age before I
had discovered the happy individual, except I went to one place–that
is, the heart of a man who has a covenant made with him, "ordered in
all things, and sure." Go to the palace, but there is not satisfaction
there; go to the cottage, though the poet talks about sweet retirement
and blest contentment, there is not satisfaction there. The only solid
satisfaction–satisfying the mouth with good things–is to be found in
the true believer, who is satisfied from himself, satisfied with the
covenant, Behold David: he says, "As for my salvation, I am secure; as
for my desire, I am gratified: for this is all my salvation, and all my
desire." He is satisfied with his salvation. Bring up the moralist. He
has been toiling and working in order to earn salvation. Are you
confident that if you died you would enter into heaven? "Well, I have
been as good as other people, and, I dare say, I shall be more
religious before I die;" but he cannot answer our question. Bring up
the religious man–I mean the merely outwardly religious man. Are you
sure that if you were to die you would go to heaven? "Well, I regularly
attend church or chapel, I cannot say that I make any pretensions to be
able to say, He hath made with me an everlasting covenant."' Very well,
you must go. So I might introduce a score of men, and there is not one
of them who can say, "This is all my salvation." They always want a
little supplement, and most of you intend making that supplement a
little while before you die. An old Jewish Rabbi says, that every man
ought to repent at least one day before his last day; and as we do not
know when our last day shall be, we ought to repent to-day. How many
wish they knew when they were going to die, for then they fancy they
would be sure to repent, and be converted a little while before. Why,
if you had it revealed to you, that you would die at twenty minutes
past twelve next Sunday, you would go on in sin up till twelve o'clock,
and then you would say, "There are twenty minutes more–time enough
yet;" and so until the twenty minutes past had come, when your soul
would sink into eternal flames. Such is procrastination. It is the
thief of time; it steals away our life; and did we know the hour of our
dissolution, we should be no more prepared for it than we are now. You
cannot say, can you, that you have all your salvation? But a Christian
can. He can walk through the cholera and the pestilence, and feel that
should the arrow smite him, death would be to him the entrance of life;
he can lie down and grieve but little at the approach of dissolution,
for he has all his salvation; his jewels are in his breast, gems which
shall shine in heaven.
Then, the Psalmist says, he has all his desire. There is nought that
can fill the heart of man except the Trinity. God has made man's heart
a triangle. Men have been for centuries trying to make the globe fill
the triangle, but they cannot do it: it is the Trinity alone that can
fill a triangle, as old Quarles well says. There is no way of getting
satisfaction but by gaining Christ, getting heaven, winning glory,
getting the covenant, for the word covenant comprises all the other
things. "All my desire,"–says the Psalmist.
"I nothing want on earth, above,
Happy in my Saviour's love."
I have not a desire; I have nothing to do but to live and be happy all
my life in the company of Christ, and then to ascend to heaven, to be
in his immediate presence, where
"Millions of years these wondering eyes
Shall o'er my Saviour's beauties rove,
And endless ages I'll adore
The wonders of his love."
Just one word with my friends who do not agree with me in doctrine. I
am sure, my dear friends, that I wish not to anathematize any of those
whose creed is the reverse of mine; only they must allow me to differ
from them and to speak freely; and if they do not allow me they know
very well that I shall. But I have this much to say to those dear
friends who cannot bear the thought of an everlasting covenant. Now,
you cannot alter it, can you? If you do not like it, there it is. "God
hath made with me an everlasting covenant." And you must confess, when
you read the Bible, that there are some very knotty passages for you.
You might, perhaps, remove them out of your Bible; but then you cannot
erase them out of divine verities. You know it is true, that God is
immutable, do you not? He never changes–you must know that, for the
Bible says so. It declares that when he has begun a good work, he will
carry it through. Do not get reading frothy commentators any longer;
take the Bible as it stands, and if you do not see everlasting love
there, there is some fault in your eyes, and it is a case rather for
the Ophthalmic hospital, than for me. If you cannot see everlasting,
eternal security, blood-bought righteousness, there, I am hopeless
altogether of your conversion to the truth, while you read it with your
present prejudices. It has been my privilege to give more prominence in
the religious world to those old doctrines of the gospel. I have
delighted in the musty old folios which many of my brethren have kept
bound in sheepskins and goatskins, on their library shelves. As for new
books, I leave them to others. Oh! if we might but go back to those
days when the best of men were our pastors–the days of the Puritans.
Oh! for a puritanical gospel again; then we should not have the sleepy
hearers, the empty chapels, the drowsy preachers, the velvet-mouthed
men who cannot speak the truth; but we should have "Glory to God in the
highest, on earth peace, and good-will towards men." Do go home and
search. I have told you what I believe to be true; if it is not true,
detect the error by reading your Bibles for yourselves, and searching
out the matter. As for you, ye ungodly, who hitherto have had neither
portion nor lot in this matter, recollect that God's Word speaks to you
as well as to the Christian, and says," Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye
die, O house of Israel?" graciously promising that whosoever cometh to
Christ he will in no wise cast out. It is a free gospel, free as the
air, and he who has but life to breathe it may breathe it; so that
every poor soul here, who is quickened, and has a sense of his guilt,
may come to Christ.
"Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream."
All the evidence you require is to feel your need of Christ; and
recollect, if you only once come, if you do but believe, you will be
safe through all eternity; and amidst the wreck of matter, the crash of
worlds, the conflagration of the universe, and the destruction of all
terrestrial things, your soul must still be eternally secure in the
covenant of God's free grace. God enable you now to become his adopted
children by faith in Jesus.