A Sermon
(No. 26)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, May 27, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At Exeter Hall, Strand.
"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved,
and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto
death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is
sufficient for these things?"–2 Corinthians 2:15-16.
THESE ARE THE words of Paul, speaking on the behalf of himself and his
brethren the Apostles, and they are true concerning all those who by
the Spirit are chosen, qualified, and thrust into the vineyard to
preach God's gospel. I have often admired the 14th verse of this
chapter, especially when I have remembered from whose lips the words
fell, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in
Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every
place." Picture Paul, the aged, the man who had been beaten five times
with forty stripes save one,' who had been dragged forth for dead, the
man of great sufferings, who had passed through whole seas of
persecution only think of him saying, at the close of his ministerial
career, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in
Christ!" to triumph when shiprecked, to triumph when scourged, to
triumph in the stocks, to triumph under the stones, to triumph amidst
the hiss of the world, to triumph when he was driven from the city and
shook off the dust from his feet, to triumph at all times in Christ
Jesus! Now, if some ministers of modern times should talk thus, we
would think little of it, for they enjoy the world's applause They can
always go to their place in ease and peace; they have an admiring
people, and no open foes; against them not a dog doth move his tongue;
everything is safe and pleasant, For them to say, "Now thanks be unto
God, which always causeth us to triumph" is a very little thing; but
for one like Paul, so trampled on, so tried, so distressed, to say
it-then, we say, outspoke a hero; here is a man who had true faith in
God and in the divinity of his mission.
And, my brethren, how sweet is that consolation which Paul applied to
his own heart amid all his troubles. "Notwithstanding all," he says,
"God makes known the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Ah!
with this thought a minister may lay his head upon his pillow: "God
makes manifest the savour of his knowledge." With this he may shut his
eyes when his career is over, and with this he may open them in heaven:
"God hath made known by me the savour of his knowledge in every place,"
Then follow the words of my text, of which I shall speak, dividing it
into three particulars. Our first remark shall be, that although the
gospel is "a sweet savour" in every place, yet it produces different
effects in different persons; to one it is the savour of death unto
death; and to the other the savour of life unto life." Our second
observation shall be, that ministers of the gospel are not responsible
for their success, for it is said. "We are unto God a sweet savour of
Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish." And thirdly,
yet the gospel ministers place is by no means a light one: his duty is
very weighty; for the Apostle himself said, "Who is sufficient for
these things?"
I. Our first remark is, that THE GOSPEL PRODUCES DIFFERENT EFFECTS. It
must seem a strange thing, but it is strangely true, that there is
scarcely ever a good thing in the world of which some little evil is
not the consequence. Let the sun shine in brilliance–it shall moisten
the wax, it shall harden clay; let it pour down floods of light on the
tropics–it will cause vegetation to be extremely luxuriant, the
richest and choicest fruits shall ripen, and the fairest of all flowers
shall bloom, but who does not know, that there the worst of reptiles
and the most venomous snakes are also brought forth? So it is with the
gospel. Although it is the very sun of righteousness to the world,
although it is God's best gift, although nothing can be in the least
comparable to the vast amount of benefit which it bestows upon the
human race, yet even of that we must confess, that sometimes it is the
"savour of death unto death." But then we are not to blame the gospel
for this; it is not the fault of God's truth; it is the fault of those
who do not receive it. It is the "savour of life unto life" to every
one that listens to its sound with a heart that is open to its
reception. It is only "death unto death" to the man who hates the
truth, despises it, scoffs at it, and tries to oppose its progress, It
is of that character we must speak first.
1. The gospel is to some men "a savour of death unto death." Now, this
depends very much upon what the gospel is; because there are some
things called gospel, that are "a savour of death unto death" to
everybody that hears them. John Berridge says he preached morality till
there was not a moral man left in the village; and there is no way of
injuring morality like legal preaching. The preaching of good works,
and the exhorting men to holiness, as the means of salvation, is very
much admired in theory; but when brought into practice, it is found not
only ineffectual, but more than that–it becomes even "a savour of
death unto death." So it has been found; and I think even the great
Chalmers himself confessed, that for years and years before he knew the
Lord, he preached nothing but morality and precepts, but he never found
a drunkard reclaimed by shewing him merely the evils of drunkenness;
nor did he find a swearer stop his swearing because he told him the
heinousness of the sin; it was not until he begin to preach the love of
Jesus, in his great heart of mercy-it was not until he preached the
gospel as it was in Christ, in some of its clearness, fulness, and
power, and the doctrine, that "by grace ye are saved, through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" that he ever met
with success. But when he did preach salvation by faith, by shoals the
drunkards came from their cups, and swearers refrained their lips from
evil speaking; thieves became honest men, and unrighteous and ungodly
persons bowed to the scepter of Jesus. But ye must confess, as I said
before, that though the gospel does in the main produce the best effect
upon almost all who hear it either by restraining them from sin, or
constraining them to Christ, yet it is a great fact, and a solemn one,
upon which I hardly know bow to speak this morning, that to some men
the preaching of Christ's gospel is "death unto death," and produces
evil instead of good.
(1.) And the first sense is this. Many men are hardened in their sins
by hearing the gospel. Oh! tis terribly and solemnly true, that of all
sinners some sanctuary sinners are the worst. Those who can dive
deepest into sin, and have the most quiet consciences and hardest
hearts, are some who are to be found in God's own house. I know that a
faithful ministry will often prick them, and the stern denunciations of
a Boanerges, will frequently make them shake. I am aware that the Word
of God will sometimes make their blood curdle within them; but I know
(for I have seen the men) that there are many who turn the grace of God
into licentiousness, make even God's truth a stalking-horse for the
devil, and abuse God's grace to pall ate their sin. Such men have I
found amongst those who hear the doctrines of grace in their fulness.
They will say, "I am elect, therefore I may swear; I am one of those
who were chosen of God before the foundation of the world, and
therefore I may live as I list." I have seen the man who stood upon the
table of a public house, and grasping the glass in his hand, said,
"Mates! I can say more than any of you; I am one of those who are
redeemed with Jesus' precious blood:" and then he drank his tumbler of
ale and danced again before them, and sang vile and blasphemous songs.
Now, that is a man to whom the gospel is "a savour of death unto
death." He bears the truth, but he perverts it; he takes what is
intended by God for his good, and what does he do, he commits suicide
therewith. That knife which was given him to open the secrets of the
gospel he drives into his own heart. That which is the purest of all
truth and the highest of all morality, he turns into the panderer of
his vice, and makes it a scaffold to aid in building up his wickedness
and sin. Are there any of you here like that man–who love to hear the
gospel, as ye call it, and yet live impurely? who can sit down and say
you are the children of God, and still behave like liege servants of
the devil? Be it known unto you, that ye are liars and hypocrites, for
the truth is not in you at all. "If any man is born of God, he cannot
sin." God's elect will not be suffered to fall into continual sin; they
will never "turn the grace of God into licentiousness;" but it will be
their endeavour, as much as in them lies, to keep near to Jesus. Rest
assured of this: "By their fruits ye shall know them." A good tree
cannot bring forth corrupt fruit; neither can an evil tree bring forth
good fruit." Such men, however, are continually turning the gospel into
evil, They sin with a high hand, from the very fact that they have
heard what they consider excuses their vice. There is nothing under
heaven, I conceive, more liable to lead men astray than a perverted
gospel. A truth perverted is generally worse than a doctrine which all
know to be false. As fire, one of the most useful of the elements, can
also cause the fiercest of conflagrations, so the gospel, the best
thing we have, can be turned to the vilest account. This is one sense
in which it is "a savour of death unto death."
(2.) But another. It is a fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ will
increase some mens damnation at the last great day. Again, I startle at
myself when I have said it; for it seems too horrible a thought for us
to venture to utter–that the gospel of Christ will make hell hotter to
some men than it otherwise would have been. Men would all have sunk to
hell had it not been for the gospel. The grace of God reclaims "a
multitude that no man can number;" it secures a countless army who
"shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation;" but, at the
same time, it does to those who reject it, make their damnation even
more dreadful. And let me tell you why.
First, because men sin against greater light; and the light we have is
an excellent measure of our guilt. What a Hottentot might do without a
crime, would be the greatest sin to me, because I am taught better; and
what some even in London might do with irnpunity–set down, as it might
be, as a sin by God, but not so exceeding sinful-would be to me the
very height of transgression, because I have from my youth up been
tutored to piety. The gospel comes upon men like the light from heaven.
What a wanderer must he be who strays in the light! If he who is blind
falls into the ditch we can pity him, but if a man, with the light on
his eyeballs dashes himself from the precipice and loses his own soul,
is not pity out of the question?
"How they deserve the deepest hell,
That slight the joys above!
What chains of vengeance must they feel,
Who laugh at sov'reign love!"
It will increase your condemnation, I tell you all, unless you find
Jesus Christ to he your Saviour; for to have had the light and not to
walk by it, shall be the condemnation, the very essence of it, This
shall be the virus of the guilt–that the, "light came into the world,
and the darkness comprehended it not;" for "men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds are evil."
Again: it must increase your condemnation if you oppose the gospel. If
God devises a scheme of mercy, and man rises up against it, how great
must be his sin? Who shall tell the great guilt incurred by such men as
Pilate, Herod, and the Jews? Oh! who shall picture out, or even faintly
sketch, the doom of those who cried, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" And
who shall tell what place in hell shall be hot enough for the man who
slanders God's minister, who speaks against his people, who hates his
truth, who would, if he could, utterly cut off the godly from the land?
Ah! God help the infidel! God help the blasphemer! God save his soul:
for of all men least would I choose to be that man. Think you, sirs,
that God will not take account of what men have said? One man has
cursed Christ; he has called him a charlatan. Another has declared,
(know that he spoke a lie) that the gospel was false. A third has
proclaimed his licentious maxims, and then has pointed to God's Word
and still, "There are worse things there!" A fourth has abused God's
ministers and held up their imperfections to radicals. Think you God
shall forget all this: it the last day? When his enemies come before
him, shall he take then by the hand and say, "The other day thou didst
call my servant a dog, and spit on him, and for this I will give thee
heaven!" Rather, if the sin has not been cancelled by the blood of
Christ, he will not say, "Depart, cursed one, into the hell which thou
didst scoff at; leave that heaven which thou didst despise; and learn
that though thou saidst there was no God, this right arm shall teach
thee eternally the lesson that there is one; for he who discovers it
not by my works of benevolence shall learn it by my deeds of vengeance:
therefore depart, again, I say!" It shall increase men's hell that they
have opposed God's truth. Now, is not this a very solemn view of the
gospel, that it is indeed to many "a savour of death unto death?"
(3.) Yet, once more. I believe the gospel make some men in this world
more miserable than they would be. The drunkard could drink, and could
revel in his intoxication with greater joy, if he did not hear it said,
"All drunkards shall have their portion in the lake that burneth with
fire and brimstone." How jovially the Sabbath-breaker would riot
through his Sabbaths, if the Bible did not say, "Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy!" And how happily could the libertine and
licentious man drive on his mad career, if he were not told, "The wages
of sin is death, and after death the judgment!" But the truth puts the
bitter in his cup; the warnings of God freeze the current of his soul.
The gospel is like the skeleton at the Egyptian feast. Though by day he
laughed at it, by night he will quiver as the aspen leaf, and when the
shades of evening gather around him, he will shake at a whisper. At the
thought of a future state his joy is spoiled, and immortality instead
of being a boon to him, is in its very contemplation the misery of his
existence. The sweet wooings of mercy are to him no more harmonious
than peals of thunder, because he knows he despises them. Yea, I have
known some who have, been in such misery under the gospel, because they
would not give up their sins, that they have been ready to take their
own lives. Oh! terrible thought! The, gospel is "a savour of death unto
death!" Unto how many here is it so? Who are now hearing God's Word to
be damned by it? Who shall retire hence to be hardened by the sound of
the truth? Why, every man who does not believe it; for unto those that
receive it, it is "a savour of life unto life," but to unbelievers it
is a curse, and a savour of death unto death."
2. But, blessed be God, the gospel has a second power. Besides being
"death unto death," it is "a savour of life unto life." Ah! my
brethren, some of us could speak, if we were allowed this meaning, of
the gospel as being "a savour of life" to us. We can look back to that
hour when we were "dead in trespasses and sin." In vain all Sinai's
thunders; in vain the rousing of the watchmen; we slept on in the
death-sleep of our transgressions; nor could, an angel have aroused us.
But we look back with joy to that hour when first we stepped within the
walls of a sanctuary, and savingly heard the voice of mercy. With some
of you it is but a few weeks. I know where ye are and who ye are. But a
few weeks or months ago ye too were far from God, but now ye are
brought to love him. Canst thou look back my brother Christian, to that
very moment when the gospel was to thee–when thou didst cast away thy
sins, renounce thy lusts, and turning to God's Word, received it with
full purpose of heart? Ah! that hour–of all hours the sweetest!
Nothing can be compared, therewith. I knew a person who for forty or
fifty years had been completely deaf. Sitting one morning at her
cottage door as some vehicle was passing, she thought she heard
melodious music. It was not music; it was but the sound of the vehicle.
Her ear had suddenly opened, and that rough sound seemed to her like
the music of heaven, because it was the first she had heard for so many
years. Even so, the first time our ears were opened to hear the words
of love–the assurance of our pardon–we never heard the word so well
as we did then; it never seemed so sweet; and perhaps, even now, we
look back and say,
"What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!"
When first it was "a savour of life" unto our souls.
Then, beloved, if it ever has been "a savour of life," it will always
be "of life;" because it says it is not of savour of life unto death,
but a savour of life unto life. "Now I must aim another blow at my
antagonists the Arminians; I cannot help it. They will have it that
sometimes the gospel is a savour of life unto death. They tell us that
a man may receive spiritual life, and vet may die eternally. That is to
say, a man may be forgiven, and yet be punished afterwards; he may be
justified from all sin, and yet after that, his transgressions can be
laid on his shoulders again. A man may be born of God, and yet die; a
man may be loved of God, and yet God may hate him to-morrow. Oh! I
cannot bear to speak of such doctrines of lies; let those believe them
that like. As for me, I so deeply believe in the immutable love of
Jesus that I suppose that if one believer were, to be in hell, Christ
himself' would not long stay in heaven, but would cry, "To the rescue!"
Oh! if Jesus Christ were in glory with one the gems wanting in his
crown, and Satan had that gem, he would say, "Aha! prince of light and
glory, I have one of thy jewels!" and he would hold it up, and then he
would say, "Aha! thou didst die for this man, but thou hadst not
strength enough to save him; thou didst love him once–where is thy
love? It is not worth having, for thou didst hate him afterwards!" And
how would he chuckle over that heir of heaven, and hold him up, and
say, "This man was redeemed; Jesus Christ purchased him with his
blood:" and plunging him in the waves of hell, he would say, "There
purchased one see how I can rob the Son of God!" And then again he
would say, This man was forgiven, behold the justice of God! He is to
be punished after he is forgiven. Christ suffered for this mans sins,
and yet," says Satan with a malignant joy, "I have him afterwards; for
God exacted the punishment twice!" Shall that e'er be said? Ah! no. It
is "a savour of life unto life," and not of life unto death. Go, with
your vile gospel; preach it where you please; but my Master said, "I
give unto my sheep ETERNAL life." You give to your sheep temporary
life, and they lose it; but, says Jesus, "I give unto my sheep ETERNAL
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall man pluck them out of
my hands." I generally wax warm when I got to this subject, because I
think few doctrines more vital than that of the perseverance of the
saints; for if ever one child of God did perish, or if I knew it were
possible that one could, I should conclude, at once that I must , and
suppose each of you would do the same; and then where is the joy and
happiness of the gospel? Again I tell you the Arminian gospel is the
shell without the kernel; it is the husk without the fruit; and those
who love it may take it to themselves. We will not quarrel with them.
Let them go and preach it. Let them go and tell poor sinners, that if
they believe in Jesus they will be damned after all, that Jesus Christ
will forgive them and yet the Father send them to hell. Go and preach
your gospel, and who will listen to it? And if they do listen, is it
worth their hearing? I say no; for if I am to stand after conversion on
the same footing as I did before conversion then it is of no use for me
to have been converted at all. But whom he loves he loves to the end.
"Once in Christ, in Christ for ever;
Nothing from his love can sever."
It is "a savour of life unto life." And not only, "life unto life" in
this world, but of "life unto life" eternal. Every one who has this
life shall receive the next life; for "the Lord will give grace and
glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly."
I am obliged to leave this point; but if my Master will but take it up,
and make his word a savour of "life unto life" this morning, I shall
rejoice in what I have said.
II. But our second remark was, that THE MINISTER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR
HIS SUCCESS. He is responsible for what he preaches; he is accountable
for his life and actions; but he is not responsible for other people.
If I do but preach God's word, if there never were a soul saved, the
King would say, "Well done, good and faithful Servant!" If I do but
tell my message, if none should listen to it, he would say, "Thou hast
fought the good fight: receive thy crown." You hear the words of the
text: "We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, as well in them that
perish, as in them that are saved." This will appear, if I just tell
you what a gospel minister is called in the Bible. Sometimes he is
called an ambassador. Now, for what is an ambassador responsible? He
goes to a country as a plenipotentiary; he carries terms of peace to
the conference; he uses all his talents for his master; he tries to
show that the war is inimical to the prosperity of the different
countries; he endeavours to bring about peace; but the other kings
haughtily refuse it. When he comes home does his master say, "Why did
not you make peace?" "Why, my Lord," he would say, "I told them the
terms; but they said nothing." "Well, then," he will say, "thou hast
done thy duty; I am not to condemn thee if the war continues." Again
the minister of the gospel is called a fisherman. Now a fisherman is
not responsible for the quantity of fish he catches, but for the way he
fishes. That is a mercy for some ministers, I am sure, for they have
neither caught fish, for neither caught fish nor even attracted any
round their nets. They have been spending all their life fishing with
most elegant silk lines, and gold and silver hooks; they always use
nicely polished phrases; but the fish will not bite for all that,
whereas we of a rougher order have put the hook into the jaws of
hundreds. However, if we cast the gospel net in the right place, even
if we catch none, the Master will find no fault with us He will say,
"Fisherman! didst thou labour? Didst thou throw the net into the sea in
the time of storms?" "Yes, my Lord, I did." "What hast thou caught?"
"Only one or two." "Well, I could have sent thee a shoal, if it so
pleased me; it is not thy fault; I give in my sovereignty where I
please; or withhold when I choose; but as for thee, thou hast well
laboured, therefore there is thy reward." Sometimes the minister is
called a sower. Now, no farmer expects a sower to be responsible for
the harvest; all he is responsible for is, does be sow the seed? and
does he sow the right seed? If he scatters it on good soil, then he is
happy; but if it falls by the way-side, and the fowls of the air devour
it, who shall blame the sower? Could he help it? Nay, he did his duty;
he scattered the seed broad-cast, and there he left it. Who is to
blame? Certainly not the sower. So, beloved, if a minister comes to
heaven with but one sheaf on his shoulder, his Master will say, "O
reaper! once a sower! where didst thou gather thy sheaf?" "My Lord, I
sowed upon the rock, and it would not grow; only one seed on a chance
Sabbath morning was blown a little awry by the wind, and it fell on a
prepared heart; and this is my one sheaf." "Hallelujah!" the angelic
choirs resound, "one sheaf from a rock is more honour to God than a
thousand sheaves from a good soil; therefore, let him take his seat as
near the throne as yon man, who, stooping beneath his many sheaves,
comes from some fertile land, bringing his sheaves with hm." I believe
that if there are degrees in glory, they will not be in proportion to
success, but in proportion to the earnestness of our endeavours. If we
mean right, and if with all our heart we strive to do the right thing
as ministers if we never see any effect, still shall we receive the
crown. But how much more happy is the man who shall have it in heaven
said to him, "He shines for ever, because he was wise, and won many
souls unto righteousness." It is always my greatest joy to believe,
that if I should enter heaven, I shall in future days see heaven's
gates open, and in shall fly a cherub, who, looking me in the face,
will smilingly pass along to God's throne, and there bow down before
him and when has paid his homage and his adoration, he may fly to me,
and though unknown, shall clasp my hand. and if there were tears in
heaven, surely I should weep, and he would say, "Brother, from thy lips
I heard the word; thy voice first admonished me of my sin; here I am,
and thou the instrument of my salvation." And as the gates open one
after another, still will they come in; souls ransomed, souls ransomed;
and for each one of these a star–for each one of these another gem in
the diadem of glory–for each one of them another honor, and another
note in the song of praise. Blessed be that man that shall die in the
Lord, and his works shall follow him; for thus saith the Spirit.
What will become of some good Christians now in Exeter Hall, if crowns
in heaven are measured in value by the souls that are saved? Some of
you will have a crown in heaven without a single star in it. I read a
little while ago, a piece upon the starless crown in heaven–a man in
heaven with a crown without a star! Not one saved by him! He will sit
in heaven as happy as he can be, for sovereign mercy saved him; but oh!
to be in heaven without a single star! Mother! what sayest thou to be
in heaven without one of thy children to deck thy brow with a star?
Minister! what wouldst thou say to be a polished preacher and yet have
no star? Writer! will it well become thee to have written even as
gloriously as Milton, if thou shouldst be found in heaven without a
star? I am afraid we pay too little regard to this. Men will sit down
and write huge folios and tomes, that they may have them put in
libraries for ever, and have their names handed down by fame! but how
few are looking to win stars for ever in heaven! Toil on, child of God,
toil on; for if thou wishest to serve God, thy bread cast upon the
waters shall be found after many days. If thou sendest in the feet of
the ox or the ass, thou shalt reap a glorious harvest in that day when
he comes to gather in his elect. The minister is not responsible for
his success.
III. But yet, in the last place, TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IS HIGH AND
SOLEMN WORK. The ministry has been very often degraded into a trade. In
these days men are taken and made into ministers who would have made
good captains at sea, who could have waited well at the counter, but
who were never intended for the pulpit. They are selected by man, they
are crammed with literature; they are educated up to a certain point;
they are turned out ready dressed; and persons call them ministers. I
wish them all God-speed, every one of them; for as good Joseph Irons
used to say, "God be with many of them, if it be only to make them hold
their tongues." Man-made ministers are of no use in this world, and the
sooner we get rid of them the better. Their way is this: they prepare
their manuscripts very carefully, then read it on the Sunday most
sweetly in sotto voce, and so the people go away pleased. But that is
not God's way of preaching. If so, I am sufficient to preach forever. I
can buy manuscript sermons for a shilling; that is to say, provided
they have been preached fifty times before, but if I use them for the
first time the price is a guinea, or more. But that is not the way.
Preaching God's word is not what some seem to think, mere child's
play–a mere business or trade to be taken up by any one. A man ought
to feel first that he has a solemn call to it; next, he ought to know
that he really possesses the Spirit of God, and that when he speaks
there is an influence upon him that enables him to speak as God would
have him, otherwise out of the pulpit he should go directly; he has no
right to be there, even if the living is his own property. He has not
been called to preach God's truth, and unto him God says, "What hast
thou to do, to declare my statutes?"
But you say, "What is there difficult about preaching God's gospel?"
Well it must be somewhat hard; for Paul said, "Who is sufficient for
these things?" And first I will tell you, it is difficult because it is
so hard as not to be warped by your own prejudices in preaching the
word. You want to say a stern thing; and your heart says, "Master! in
so doing thou wilt condemn thyself;" then the temptation is not to say
it. Another trial is, you are afraid of displeasing the rich in your
congregations. Your think, "If I say such-and-such a thing, so-and-so
will be offended; such an one does not approve of that doctrine; I had
better leave it out." Or perhaps you will happen to win the applause of
the multitude, and you must not say anything that will displease them,
for if they cry, "Hosanna" to day, they will cry, "Crucify, crucify,"
to-morrow. All these things work on a minister heart. He is a man like
yourselves; and he feels it. Then comes again the sharp knife of
criticism, and the arrows of those who hate him and hate his Lord; and
he cannot help feeling it sometimes. He may put on his armour, and cry,
"I care not for your malice;" but there were seasons when the archers
sorely grieved even Joseph. Then he stands in another danger, lest he
should come out and defend himself; for he is a great fool whoever
tries to do it. He who lets his detractors alone, and like the eagle
cares not for the chattering of the sparrows, or like the lion will not
turn aside to rend the snarling jackal–he is the man, and he shall be
honoured. But the danger is, we want to set ourselves right. And oh!
who is sufficient to steer clear from these rocks of danger? "Who is
sufficient," my brethren, "for these things?" To stand up, and to
proclaim, Sabbath after Sabbath, and week-day after week-day, "the
unsearchable riches of Christ."
Having said thus much, I may draw the inference–to close up–which is:
if the gospel is "a savour of life unto life," and if the minister's
work be solemn work, how well it becomes all lovers of the truth to
plead for all those who preach it, that they may be "sufficient for
these things." To lose my Prayer-book, as I have often told you, is the
worst thing that can happen to me. To have no one to pray for me would
place me in a dreadful condition. "Perhaps," says a good poet, "the day
when the world shall perish, will be the day unwhitened by a prayer;"
and, perhaps, the day when a minister turned aside from truth, was the
day when his people left off to pray for him, and when there was not a
single voice supplicating grace on his behalf. I am sure, it must be so
with me. Give me the numerous hosts of men whom it has been my pride
and glory to see in my place before I came to this hall: give me those
praying people, who on the Monday evening met in such a multitude to
pray to God for a blessing, and we will overcome hell itself, in spite
of all that may oppose us. All our perils are nothing, so long as we
have prayer. But increase my congregation; give me the polite and the
noble,–give me influence and understanding; and I should fail to do
anything without a praying church. My people! shall I ever lose your
prayers? Will ye ever cease your supplications? Our toils are nearly
ended in this great place, and happy shall we be to return to our
much-loved sanctuary. Will ye then ever cease to pray? I fear ye have
not uttered so many prayers this morning as ye should have done; I fear
there has not been so much earnest devotion as might have been poured
forth. For my own part, I have not felt the wondrous power I sometimes
experience. I will not lay it at your doors; but never let it be said,
"Those people, once so fervent, have become cold!" Let not Laodiceanism
get into Southwark; let us leave it here in the West-end, if it is to
be anywhere; let us not carry it with us. Let us "strive together for
the faith once delivered unto the saints:" and knowing in what a sad
position the standard. bearer stands, I beseech you rally round him;
for it will be ill with the army,
"If the standard bearer fall, as fall full well he may.
For never saw I promise yet, of such a deadly fray."
Stand up my friends; grasp the banner yourselves, and maintain it erect
until the day shall come, when standing on the last conquered castle of
hell's domains, we shall raise the shout, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" Till that time, fight
on.