A Sermon
(No. 38)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, September 16, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take
away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's."–Jeremiah 5:10.
WE HAVE BEEN talking very freely during this last week of "glorious
victories," of "brilliant successes," of "sieges," and of "stormings."
We little know what the dread reality is of which we boast. Could our
eyes once behold the storming of a city, the sacking of a town, the
pillage of the soldiery, the barbarous deeds of fury, when the blood is
up and long delay has maddened their souls; could we see the fields
saturated with blood, and soaked with gore; could we spend one hour
amongst the corpses and the dying; or if we could only let the din of
battle, and the noise of the guns reach our ears, we should not so much
rejoice, if we had anything of fellow feeling for others as well as for
ourselves. The death of an enemy is to me a cause of regret as well as
the death of a friend. Are not all my brethren? and doth not Jesus tell
me so? Are we not all made of one flesh? and hath not God "made of one
blood all nations that dwell upon the face of the earth?" Let us, then,
when we hear of slaughtered enemies, and of thousands that have fallen,
cease to rejoice in their death. It would betray a spirit utterly
inconsistent with the Christian religion, more akin to Mohamedanism, or
to the fierce doctrines of Budha, but not in the least to be brought
into compatibility with the truths of the gospel of the glorious God.
And yet with all that, far be it from me to check any gladness which
this nation may experience, now that it hopes that the incubus of war
may at last be removed. Clap your hands, O Britons! Rejoice, ye sons of
Albion! there is hope that your swords may yet be sheathed, that your
men shall not be mown down as grass before the scythe; that the
desolation of your hearths shall now be staid; that the tyrant shall be
humbled; and that peace shall be restored. With this view of it, let
our hearts leap for joy, and let us sing unto God who hath gotten us
the victory; rejoicing that now earth's wounds may be staunched; that
her blood need not flow any longer; and that peace may be established,
we trust upon a lasting footing. This, I think, should be the Christian
view of it. We should rejoice with the hope of better things; but we
should lament over the awful death and terrible carnage; the extent of
which we know not yet, but which history shall write amongst the black
things. My earnest prayer is, that our brave soldiery may honor
themselves as much by moderation in victory, as by endurance of
privation, and velour in attack. I have nothing more to say upon that
subject whatever, I am now about to turn to a different kind of siege,
another kind of sacking of cities.
Jerusalem had sinned against God; she had rebelled against the most
High, had set up for herself false gods, and bowed before them; and
when God threatened her with chastisement, she built around herself
strong battlements and bastions. She said "I am safe and secure. What
though Jehovah hath gone away, I will trust in the gods of nations.
Though the Temple is cast down, yet we will rely upon these bulwarks
and strong fortifications that we have erected." "Ah!" says God,
"Jerusalem, I will punish thee. Thou art my chosen one, therefore will
I chastise thee. I will gather together mighty men, and will speak unto
them; I will bid them come unto thee, and they shall visit thee for
these things. My soul shall be avenged on such a nation as this." And
he calls together the Chaldeans and Babylonians, and says to those
fierce men who speak in uncouth language, "Go ye up upon her walls, and
destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements, for they
are not the Lord's." Thus God used wicked men to be his scourge to
chastise a still more wicked nation, who were yet the objects of his
affection and love.
This morning I shall take my text and address it in four ways, to
different classes of men. First I think this may be spoken by God of
his church. "Go ye up against her," says he to her enemies, "take away
her battlements, for they are not the Lord's." This may also be spoken
to many a Christian. God often bids troubles and enemies go up against
Christians to take away their battlements that are not the Lord's. This
also may be spoken to the young convert who is trusting in himself, and
has not yet been brought low. God says to doubts, and fears, and
convictions and to the law, "Go ye up against him: make not a full end;
take away his battlements; for they are not the Lord's." And this also
shall be spoken at last to the impertinent sinner, who, putting his
trust in his own strength, hopes by joining hand with hand, to go
unpunished: God shall say, at last, to his angels, "Go ye up against
her." He will, however, in the last case, alter the next phrase–"make
a full end; take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's."
I. First, then, I shall regard this text as spoken concerning THE
CHURCH. God frequently says to the Church's enemies, "Go ye up against
her, but make not a full end take away her battlements; for they are
not the Lord's." God's church is very fond of building walls which her
God has not sanctioned. She is not content to trust in the arm of God,
but she will add thereto some extraneous help which God utterly abhors.
"Beautiful for situation–the joy of the whole earth–is Mount Zion,
upon the sides of the north, the city of the great king. As the
mountains are round about Jerusalem, even so is God round about his
people, from henceforth, for evermore." But his people are not content
with God's being round about them, they seek some other protection. The
church has very often gone to king Jareb for help, or to the world for
aid; and then God has said to her enemies, "Go ye up against her, but
make not a full end: take away her battlements, for they are not the
Lord's. She shall not have them. I am her battlement. She is to have
none other."
1. The first I may mention is this. The church of God has sometimes
sought to make the government its battlements. There was a church
anciently in Rome, a holy and pious church of God, whose members
worshipped and bowed down before the God of Israel. But a certain wily
monarch called Constantine, who believed that should he turn Christian
he should thus secure the empire more firmly to himself, and put down
sundry other commanders who were helped by the priests in order to gain
his own ends and promote his own honor, pretends to see a vision in the
skies, and professes to become a Christian, makes himself the head of
the church, and leader of the faithful. The church fell into his arms,
and then state and church became allied. What was the consequence of
the church of Rome becoming allied with the state; Why she has become a
corrupt mass of impurity, such a disgrace to the world that the sooner
the last vestige of her shall be swept away the better. This was
because she built up bulwarks that are not the Lord's, and God has said
to her enemies, "Go ye up upon her walls." Yea, her apostacy is now so
great, that doubtless, the Judge of all the earth shall make a "full
end" of her, and the prophecy of the Apocalypse shall be fulfilled,
"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning and
famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the
Lord God who judgeth her." There are true Protestant churches standing
now that have made unholy alliances with governments. Christ testified,
"My kingdom is not of this world," and yet they have crouched at the
feet of kings and monarchs. They have obtained state endowments and
grants; and so they have become high, and mighty, and honorable, and
they laugh at those pure churches who will not buckle and commit
fornication with the kings of the earth, but who stand out for the
royal supremacy of the Saviour, and look only to Christ as the head of
the Church. They apply to us the epithets of "schismatics,"
"dissenters," and such-like, but I believe that God shall yet say of
every state-church, whether it be the Church of England, Ireland,
Scotland or of anywhere else, "Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy;
but make not a full end;" for there are thousands of pious men in her
midst, "take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's." Even
now we see a stir throughout the world to take away these battlements.
The holy and pious men in the Church of England have multiplied
amazingly during the last few years. It is pleasing to see the great
improvement in the Establishment. I think no class of Christians have
made more speedy advances in reformation than they have. They have a
stirring in their midst, and are saying, "Why should we be under the
government any longer?" There are many clergymen who have said, "We
have no wish whatever for this union: we would be glad to come away
from all state control." I wonder they do not do it, and follow their
convictions. They are saying, "take away her battlements, they are not
the Lord's," and if they do not take them away themselves, we are
advancing by slow degrees, and, by the aid of heaven we will take away
their battlements for them one of these fine days, and they will wake
and find that church-rates and tithes have ceased; that they must stand
or fall themselves; that God's church is strong enough to stand herself
without government. It will be a happy day for the Church of
England–God bless her! I love her–when those battlements are taken
down, when the last stone of state patronage is thrown down; when the
unneeded help of kings and princes shall be refused. Then she will come
out a glorious church–like a sheep from the washing. She will be the
honor of our land, and we who now stand aloof from her will be far more
likely to fall into her bosom, for her articles are the very marrow of
truth, and many of her sons are the excellent of the earth. Oh, angel,
soon blow thy trumpet of war, and give the command! "Go ye up upon her
walls, make not a full end." She is one of my churches; "take away her
battlements; they are not the Lord's." He has nothing to do with such a
battlement, he hates it altogether–state alliance is obnoxious to the
God of Israel; and when kings shall become real nursing fathers, they
will in another mode afford the gold of Sheba, and the free-will
offering of their piety.
2. But there are other churches that are making battlements for
themselves. These are to be found amongst us as well as other
denominations. There are churches who make battlements out of the
wealth of their members. It is a respectable congregation, a most
respectable church, the members are most of them wealthy. They say,
within themselves, "We are a strong and wealthy church; there is
nothing can hurt us; we can stand fast." You will find wherever that
idea possesses the mind, prayer-meetings will be ill attended; they do
not think it necessary to pray much to keep up the cause. "If a five
pound note is wanted," says a brother, "we can give it." They do not
think it necessary to have a preacher to bring together the multitude,
they are strong enough in themselves. They are a glorious corporation
of quiet personages; they like to hear a drawing-room preacher; they
would think it beneath their dignity to enjoy anything which the
populace could understand; that would be a degradation to their high
and honorable position. We know some churches now–it would be
invidious to point the finger at them–where wealth and rank are
reckoned to be the first thing. Now, we do love to have wealth and rank
in our own midst, we always thank God when we have brought among us men
who can do something for the cause of truth; we bless God when we see
Zaecheus, who had abundance of gold and silver, giving some of his
gifts to the poor of the Lord's family, we like to see the princes and
kings bringing presents and bowing before the King of all the earth;
but if any church bows before the golden calf, there will go forth the
mandate, "Go ye up upon her walls; but make not a full end: take away
her battlements; for they are not the Lord's." And down the church will
come God shall humble it; he will bring it down from its high position;
he will say, "Though thou sittest on the rocks, and buildest thy house
amongst the stars of heaven; even thence will I pluck thee down and
this right hand shall reach thee." God will not have his church relying
on man and putting trust in princes. "Cursed shall be such-a-one," he
says, "he shall be like a heath in the desert, he shall not see when
good cometh; his leaf shall wither and he shall bring forth no fruit
unto perfection."
3. There are some other churches relying upon learning and erudition.
The learning of their ministers seems to be a great fort, bastion, and
castle. They say for instance "What do these uneducated and unrefined
preachers? Of what use are they. We like men of sound argument, men who
give a large amount of biblical criticism, who can decide this, that,
and the other." They rely upon their minister; he is their tower of
strength; he is their all in all. He happens to be a learned man. They
say, "What is the use for any one to oppose him? See the amount of his
learning! Why his enemies would be cut in pieces, because he is so
mighty and learned." Never let it be said that I have despised learning
or true knowledge. Let us have as much as we can. We thank God when men
of learning are brought into the church, when God renders then useful.
But the church now-a-days is beginning to trust too much to learning,
relying too much on philosophy, and upon the understanding of man
instead of the Word of God. I do believe a large proportion of
professing Christians have their faith in the word of man, and not in
the word of God. They say, "Such-and-such a divine said so; that
so-and-so beautifully explained that passage, and it must be right."
But whatever church shall do this, God will say, "Go ye up upon her
walls; make not a full end; take away her battlements; for they are not
the Lord's."
4. But I think that the worst battlement the churches have now, is an
earthwork of great and extreme caution. It is held to be improper that
certain obnoxious truths in the Bible should be preached; sundry
reasons are given why they should be withheld. One is, because it tends
to discourage men from coming to Christ. Another is, because certain
persons will be offended on account of these rough edges of the gospel.
Some would say, "O keep them back! You need not preach such and such a
doctrine. Why preach distinguishing grace? Why divine sovereignty? Why
election? why perseverance? why effectual calling? These are calculated
to offend the people, they cannot endure such truths." If you tell them
about the love of Christ, and the vast mercy of God, and such like it
will always be pleasing and satisfying; but you must never preach deep
searching law-work, you must not be cutting at the heart and sending
the lancet into the soul–that would be dangerous. Hence most churches
are shielding themselves behind an ignominious bulwark of extreme
caution. You never hear their ministers spoken against; they are quite
safe behind the screen you will be very much puzzled to tell what are
the real doctrinal views of our modern divines. I believe you will pick
up in some poor humble chapel more doctrinal knowledge in half an hour,
than in some of your larger chapels in half a century. God's church
must be brought once more to rely upon the pure truth, upon the simple
gospel, the unalloyed doctrines of the grace of God. O may this church
never have any bulwark but the promises of God! May he be her strength
and shield! May his Aegis be o'er our head and be our constant guard!
May we never depart from the simplicity of the faith! And whether men
hear, or whether they forbear, may we say–
"Should all the forms that men devise
Assault my soul with treach'rous art
I'll call them vanities and lies
And bind the gospel to my heart."
II. We shall now address the text to THE CHRISTIAN–THE REAL CHILD OF
GOD. The true believer, also, has a proneness to do as the church
does–to build up sundry "battlements," which "are not the Lord's," and
to put his hope, his confidence, and his affection in something else,
besides the word of the God of Israel.
1. The first thing, dearly beloved brethren, whereof we often make a
fortress wherein to hide, is–the love of the creature. The Christians'
happiness should be in God, and God alone. He should be able to say,
"All my springs are in thee. From thee, and thee alone, I ever draw my
bliss." Christ in his person, his grace, his offices, his mercy, ought
to be our only joy, and our glory should be that." Christ is all." But
beloved, we are too much inclined by nature to hew out for ourselves
broken cisterns that hold no water. There is a drop or two of comfort
somewhere in the bottom of the leaky pitcher, and until it is dried up,
we do not believe it is broken at all. We trust in that sooner than in
the fountain of living waters. Now whenever any of us foolishly make a
battlement of the creature, God will say to afflictions–"Go ye up
against her: take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord's."
There is a father–he has a son. That son is as dear to him as his own
flesh and blood. Let him take heed lest that child become too much his
darling, lest he sets him in the place of the Most High God, and makes
an idol of him for as sure as ever he does, God, by affliction, will
say to the enemy, "Go up against him: take away his battlements, for
they are not the Lord's." There is a husband. He coats upon his wife,
as he should do. The Scripture telleth us, that a man cannot love his
wife too much: "Husbands love you wives, as Christ also loves the
Church"–and that is infinitely. Yet this man has proceeded to a
foolish fondness and idolatry. God says, "Go ye up against him make not
a full end; take away his battlements, for they are not the Lord's." We
fix our love and affection on some dear friend of ours, and there is
our hope and trust. God says, "What though ye take counsel together, ye
have not taken counsel of me, and therefore, I will take away your
trust. What though ye have walked in piety, ye have not walked with me
as ye should. Go ye up against her, O death! go ye against her, O
affliction! Take away that battlement, it is not the Lord's. Ye shall
live on me–ye shall not feed, like Ephraim, on the wind. Ye shall lean
on my arm; ye shall not trust in the staff of these broken reeds. Ye
shall set your affections on things above, and not on things on earth.
For I will blast the Joy of earth. I will send a blight upon your fair
harvest. I will make the clouds obscure your sun, and you shall cry
unto me, O God, thou art my trust, my sun, my hope, my all.'"
Oh, what a mercy it is that he does not make a "full end," beloved! It
may seem to be an end sometimes, but it is not a full end. There may be
an end of our hopes, an end of our faith, an end of our confidence at
times, but it is not a full end. There is a little hope left; there is
just a drop of oil in the cruse, there is the handful of meal in the
barrel: it is not the full end yet. Though he has taken away many joys,
and blasted many hopes, though many of our fair flowers have been
blighted, he has left something. One star will twinkle in the sky, one
faint lamp glimmers from yonder distant cottage–thou art not quite
lost, O wanderer of the night. He has not made a full end; but he may
do, unless we come to him.
2. Once more. Many of us are too prone to make battlements out of our
past experience, and to rely upon that instead of confiding in Jesus
Christ. There is a sort of self-complacency which reviews the past, and
says, "there I fought Apollyon there I climbed the hill Diffidently;
there I waded through the Slough of Despond." The next thought is, "And
what a fine fellow am I! I have done all this. Why, there is nothing
can hurt me. No, no! If I have done all this, I can do everything else
that is to be accomplished. Am I not a great soldier? Shall any make me
afraid? No; I have confidence in my own prowess, for my own arm hath
won many a victory. Surely I shall never be moved." Such a man cannot
but think lightly of the present. He does not want communion with
Christ every day. No, he lives on the past. He does not care to have
further manifestations of Jesus. He does not want fresh evidence. He
looks at the old musty evidences. He makes past grace the bread of his
soul, instead of using it as a seasoning to sweeten his meal. What does
God say whenever his people do not want him; but live on what they used
to have of him, and are content with the love he once gave them? "Ah! I
will take away your battlements." He calls out to doubts and fears–"Go
ye up upon his walls; take away his battlements, for they are not the
Lord's."
3. Then, again, we sometimes get trusting too much to evidence, and
good works. Ralph Erskine did not say amiss when he remarked, "I have
got more hurt by my good works than my bad ones." That seems something
like Antinomianism, but it is true; we find it so by experience. "My
bad works," said Erskine, "Always drove me to the Saviour for mercy; my
good works often kept me from him, and I began to trust in myself." Is
it not so with us? We often get a pleasing opinion of ourselves: we are
preaching so many times a week, we attend so many prayer meetings; we
are doing good in the Sabbath-school; we are valuable deacons;
important members of the church; we are giving away so much in charity;
and we say, "Surely I am a child of God–I must be. I am an heir of
heaven. Look at me! See what robes I wear. Have I not indeed a
righteousness about me that proves me to be a child of God?" Then we
begin to trust in ourselves, and say, "Surely I cannot be moved, my
mountain standeth firm and fast." Do your know what is the usual rule
of heaven when we thus boast? Why the command is given to the foe–"Go
ye up against him, make not a full end: take away his battlements; for
they are not the Lord's." And what is the consequence? Why, perhaps God
suffers us to fall into sin, and down goes self-sufficiency. Many a
Christian owes his falls to a presumptuous confidence in his graces. I
conceive that outward sin is not more abhorbed by one God than this
most wicked sin of reliance on ourselves. May none of you ever learn
your own weakness by reading a black book of your own backslidings.
More to be desired is the other method of God when he sends the light
of the Spirit into the heart, and developes our corruption; Satan comes
roaring there, conscience begins calling out, "Man you are not
perfect." All the corruptions burst up like a volcano that had slept
for a little moment. We are taken into the dark chambers of imagery; we
look at ourselves, and say, "Where are my battlements gone?" We go to
the hill-top again, and see the battlements are all gone. We go by the
side of the city–they are all departed. Then we go again to Christ,
and say,
"I, the chief of sinners am,
Jesus died for me."
"Nothing in my hands I bring;
Simply to thy cross I cling."
Heaven smiles again, for now the heart is right, and the soul is in the
most fitting position. Take care of your graces, Christians!
III. Now to bring the text to the young CONVERT, to the man in that
state of our religious history which we call conversion to God. All men
by nature build battlements for themselves to hide behind. Our father
Adam gave us as a portion of our inheritance when we were born, high
battlements, very high ones; and we are so fond of them that it is hard
to part them. There are different lines of them; multiplied walls of
fortifications; and when Christ comes to storm the heart, to carry the
city by storm, to take it for himself, there is an over-turning of all
these different walls which protect the city.
1. In the forefront of the city of Mansoul, frowns the wall of
carelessness–an erection of Satanic masonry. It is made of black
granite, and mortal art cannot injure it. Bring law, like a hugh
pickaxe, to break it: you cannot knock a single ship off. Fire your
shells at it: send against it all the hot cannon balls that any of the
ten great mortars of the commandments can fire, and you cannot move it
in the least. Bring the great battering ram of powerful preaching
against it; speak with a voice that might wake the dead and make almost
Satan tremble: the man sits careless and hardened. At last a gracious
God cries out–"Take away her battlements, they are not the Lord's."
And at a glance down crumbles the battlement. The careless man becomes
tender-hearted, the soul that was hard as iron has become soft as wax;
the man who once could laugh at gospel warnings, and despise the
preaching of the minister, now sits down and trembles at every word.
The Lord is in the whirlwind: now he is in the fire, yea, he is in the
still small voice. Everything is heard now, for God has taken away the
first battlement–the battlement of a hard heart and a careless life.
Some of you have got as far as that, God has taken that away. I know
many of you by the tears that glisten on your cheeks–those precious
diamonds of heaven–testify that you are not careless.
2. The first wall is surmounted, but the city is not yet taken: the
Christian minister, under the hand of God, has to storm the next
wall–that is the wall of self-righteousness. Many poor sermons get
their brains knocked out in the attack; many of them are bayonetted by
prejudice, in trying to storm that bastion. Thousands of good sermons
are spent all in vain in trying to make it totter and shake, especially
among you good moral people, children of pious parents, and godly
relations. How strong that wall is with you! It does not seem to be
made of separate stones, but it is all one great solid rock. You
guilty–you depraved–you fallen. Yes, you believe it, and you pay a
compliment to Scripture in so doing; but you do not feel it. You are
the humble ones that stoop down–as needs you must, because you cannot
sit upright; but you are not the humble ones who stoop willingly and
feel that you are less than nothing. You say so; you call yourself a
beggar, but you know that you are "rich and increased in goods, and
have need of nothing," in your own opinion. How hard it is to storm
this wall! it must be carried at the point of the bayonet of faithful
warning; there is no taking it except by boldly climbing up with the
shout of "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God." We have to use very rough words to
get your self-righteousness down. Ay! and when we think it is nearly
overthrown, it is soon piled up again in the night; the devil's sappers
and miners are soon out to repair all the breaches. We thought we had
carried you by storm, and proved you to be lost and ruined ones; but
you take heart and say, "I am not so bad as I seem; I think I am yet
very good." We have by the grace of God, to carry that wall before we
can get at your hearts.
3. Thus the double rampart is passed, but another still opposes our
progress–Christ's warriors know it by the name of self-suficiency.
"Ah!" says the man, "I see I am a lost and ruined sinner–my hope has
deceived me; but I have another wall I can make myself better. I can
build and repair." So he begins piling up the wall, and sits down
behind it. He makes the covenant of grace into a covenant of works. He
thinks faith is a kind of work, and that we are saved for it. He
imagines we are to believe and repent, and that we thus earn salvation.
He denies that faith and repentance are God's gifts only, and sits down
behind his self-sufficiency, thinking, "I can do all that," Oh! blessed
day when God directs his shots against that. I know I hugged that old
idea a long while with my "cans," "cans," "cans;" but I found my "cans
"would hold no water, and suffered all I put in to run out. There came
an election sermon; but that did not please me. There came a law
sermon, showing me my powerlessness; but I did not believe it; I
thought it was the whim of some old experimental Christian, some dogma
of ancient times that would not suit men now. Then there came another
sermon, concerning death and sin; but I did not believe I was dead, for
I knew I was alive enough, and could repent, and set myself right
by-and-bye. Then there came a strong exhortation sermon; but I felt I
could set my house in order when I liked, that I could do it next
Tuesday week as well as I could do it at once. So did I continually
trust in my self-sufficiency. At last, however, when God really brought
me to myself, he sent one great shot which shivered it all, and, lo, I
found myself utterly defenceless. I thought I was more than mighty
angels, and could accomplish all things, then I found myself less than
nothing. So also every truly convinced sinner finds that repentance and
faith must come from God, that reliance must be placed alone on the
Most High; and instead of looking to himself, he is forced to cast
himself at the feet of sovereign mercy. I trust, with many of you, that
two of the walls have been broken down; and, now, may God in his grace
break down the other, and say to his ministers, "Go ye up upon their
walls: take away their battlements; for they are not the Lord's."
Perhaps there are some here who have had their battlements taken away
lately, and they think God is about to destroy them. You think you must
perish, that you have no goodness, no hope, no help–nothing but a
fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation. Now, hear ye
the last words, "make not a full end." God would make a "full end" of
you if he did not take away your battlements, for you would then die
inside the walls of self-sufficiency; but he says, "make not a full
end." Rely, then, upon his power and grace, for he will not destroy
thee.
IV. Now, lastly, I must take this passage as it respects the UNGODLY
AND THE SINNER AT LAST. How many there shall be at the last great day
who will sit down very comfortably behind certain battlements that they
have builded! There is one man–a monarch: "I am irresponsible," says
he, "who shall ever bring anything to my charge? I am an autocrat: I
give no account of my matters." Oh! he will find out at last, that God
is Master of emperors, and Judge of Princes; when his battlements shall
be taken away. Another says, "Cannot I do as I like with my own? What
if God did make me, I shall not serve him. I shall follow my own will.
I have in my own nature everything that is good, and I shall do as my
nature dictates. I shall trust in that, and if there be a higher power,
he will exonerate me, because I only followed my nature." But he will
find his hopes to be visionary and his reason' to be foolish, when God
shall say, "The soul that sinneth it shall die:" and when his
thundering voice shall pronounce the sentence–"Depart ye cursed into
everlasting fire." Again, there is a company of men joined hand in
hand, and they think they will resist the Eternal yea, they have a plan
for subverting the kingdom of Christ. They say, "We are wise and
mighty. We have fortified ourselves. We have made a covenant with death
and a league with hell," Ah! they little think what will become of
their battlements at the last great day, when they shall see them
crumble and fall. With what fear and alarm will they then cry: "Rocks,
hide us! Mountains, on us fall!" What will they do when God's wrath
goes forth as a fire in the day of his fierce anger, when he shall melt
their hopes and make them pass away, when he shall blast all their joys
and compel them to stand naked before his presence? Then I picture to
myself, in the day of judgment, a band of men who have said on earth,
"We will trust in God's mercy. We do not believe in these religions at
all: God is merciful, and we will trust in mercy." Now, suppose–what
is impossible, because their delusion will be dissipated at
death–suppose them, in the dread day of account, to be crouching in
the fortress of uncovenanted mercy. The judge opens his eyes upon their
city, and says, "Angels! go ye up upon their walls; make a full end;
take away their battlements, they are not the Lord's." Then the angels
go, and demolish every stone of the bulwarks. They utterly cut off all
hope of mercy. Each time they lay on the blow they cry "without
holiness no man shall see the Lord! Without shedding of blood there is
no remission of sins! Ye are saved by grace through faith, but ye
trusted in naked mercy, ye shall not have it but ye shall have naked
justice and nothing else." Then there is another party who have built a
castle of rites and ceremonies. On one side they have a huge piece of
granite called "Baptism," and on another they have the "Lord's Supper;"
and in the middle they have "Confirmation." They think what a glorious
castle they have builded. "We be lost?–We paid tithe of mint, cummin,
and anise. We paid tithes of all we possessed. We know that grace is in
ceremonies." Out comes the Almighty, and with one word blasts their
castle, simply saying "Take away their battlements, for they are not
the Lord's." Ungodly men and women! what will ye do at last without
battlements, without a rock to hide yourselves, without a wall behind
which to conceal yourselves, when the storm of the Terrible One shall
be as a blast against the wall? How shall ye stand when your hopes
shall melt like airy dreams, like visions of the night that pass away
when one awaketh? What will ye do when he despises your image, and when
all your hopes are utterly gone?
The Christian man can go away with the reflection that his battlements
can never be taken away, because they are the Lord's. We rely upon the
electing love of Jehovah–Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; we trust in the
redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, the Everlasting Son; we depend wholly
upon the merits, blood, and righteousness of Jehovah-Tsidkenu–the Lord
our righteousness; we are confiding in the Holy Spirit. We confess that
we are nothing of ourselves–that it is not of him that willeth, or of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. We do not acknowledge
one scrap of the creature in our salvation nor one atom of self; we
rely entirely upon covenant love, upon covenant mercy, covenant oaths,
covenant faithfulness, covenant immutability, and resting on these, we
know our battlements cannot be taken away. Oh, Christian! with these
walls surrounded thou makest laugh at all thy foes. Can the devil touch
thee now? he shall only look upon thee and despair. Can doubts and
fears take away our battlements? No: they stand fast and firm, and our
poor fears are but as straws dashed against the wall by the wind; for,
"though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful," and not all the
temptations of a sinful world, or our own carnal hearts, can separate
us from the Saviour's love. We have a city, the walls of which are
mighty, the foundations of which are eternal; we have a God who says,
"I the Lord do keep her, and do water her every moment, lest any hurt
her, I will keep her day and night." Trust Christian, here, salvation
shall God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Surrounded with these, thou
mayest smile at all thy foes. But take heed you add nothing to them,
for if ye do, the message will be, Take away the battlements, they are
not the Lord's."