Among Lions

DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 4, 1879,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"My soul is among lions." Psalm 57:4.

SOME of you cannot say this and you ought to be very thankful that you
are not obliged to do so. Happy are you young people who have godly
parents and who dwell in Christian families. You ought to grow like the
flowers in a conservatory, where killing frosts and biting blasts are
unknown. You live under very favorable circumstances. Your soul, I
might almost say, is among angels, for you dwell where God is
worshipped, where family prayer is not forgotten, where you can have a
kindly guidance in the hour of difficulty and comfort in the time of
trial. You dwell where angels come and go and God, Himself, deigns to
dwell! Happy should young people be in such circumstances! How grateful
and how holy you ought to be!

I want all who dwell where everything helps them, to remember the many
gracious ones who dwell where everything hinders them. You who live
near the Beautiful Gate of the temple must not forget the many who are
sighing in the tents of Kedar. If your soul is not among lions, praise
God for it–and then let your sympathies go out towards those who
mournfully complain–

"My soul with him that hates peace Has long a dweller been. I am for
peace, but when I speak, For battle they are keen."

It is a Christian duty to "remember them that are in bonds as bound
with them." And whenever our own favored circumstances lead us to
forget those who are persecuted and tried, our very mercies are working
mischief in us. "We are all members, one of another." If one member
suffers, all the rest should suffer with him and, therefore, we will
turn our thoughts towards our persecuted Brothers and Sisters tonight,
that our united supplications may sustain them under their difficulties
and, if the Lord is so pleased, may even deliver them.

When may a Christian truly say, "My soul is among lions"? Such is the
case when, either from our being members of ungodly families, or from
having to gain our livelihood among unconverted and graceless people,
we are subjected to reproach and rebuke and to jest and jeer for Jesus
Christ's sake. Then we can say, "My soul is among lions." I know that
many in this congregation are the only ones in their family whom God
has called. I bless His name that He is often taking one of a household
and a lone one of a family and bringing such to Jesus. Some quite
un-Christian person who thinks not of God drops in here out of
curiosity and God meets with him and he becomes the first of his kith
and kin to say "I am the

Lord's."

Frequently when converts come to cast in their lot with us, they will
say, "I do not know one in all my family who makes any profession of
godliness. They are, all of them, opposed to me." In such a case the
soul is among lions and it is very hard and trying to be in such a
position. Well may we pity a godly wife bound to an ungodly husband!
Alas, full often a she is married to a drunk whose opposition amounts
to brutality. A tender, loving spirit that ought to have been cherished
like a tender flower is bruised and trod under foot–and made to suffer
till her heart cries out in grief, "My soul is among lions!" We little
know what life-long martyrdom's many pious women endure.

Children also have to bear the same when they are singled out by Divine
Grace from depraved and wicked families. Only the other day there came
under my notice one who loves the Lord. I thought that if she had been
a daughter of mine I should have rejoiced beyond all things in her
sweet and gentle piety, but her parents said, "You must leave our house
if you attend such-and-such a place of worship. We do not believe in
these things and we cannot have you about us if you

do." I saw the grief which that state of things was causing and though
I could not alter it, I mourned over it. Woe unto those who tyrannize
over my Lord's little ones!

Nobody knows what godly working men have to put up with from those
among whom they labor. There are some shops where there is religious
liberty, but frequently the working men of this city are great tyrants
in matters of religion. I tell them that to their faces–if a man will
drink with them and swear with them, they will make him their
companion–but when a man comes out to fear God, they make it very hard
for him. And pray, dear Sir, has not a man as much right to pray as you
have to swear? And has he not as much right to believe in God as you
have to disbelieve? It is a wonderfully free country, this wonderfully
free country! Almost as free as America in the olden times when every
man was free to beat his own slave, for now the working man claims
freedom to laugh and swear at every other working man who chooses to be
sober and religions!

There are large factories all over London where a Christian man has to
run the gauntlet of sneers from morning to night which never ought to
come upon the face of honest men and which never would come if Britons
were as fond of freedom as they profess to be! They declare that they
never will be slaves, but they are slaves–slaves to their own
ungodliness and drunkenness–the great mass of them! And only where
Divine Grace comes in and snaps the chain do men become free at all. If
one serious man sets his face steadfastly to serve God, the baser sort
seem as if they must get him under their feet and treat him with every
indignity that malice can devise. It may be all in sport, but the
victim does not think so.

Do not tell me that persecution ceased when the last martyr burned!
There are martyrs who have to burn by the slow fire of cruel mockery
day after day. But I bless God that the old grit is still among us and
that the old spirit still survives, so that men defy sneers and slander
and hold on their way! I could tell stories which would both shock you
and delight you of what is said and done by the common order of English
working men against those who profess religion–and how courageously
the righteous and the true bear it all and, in the long run, conquer,
too–they oftentimes win their mates to confess the same faith!

They call us all cants and hypocrites and the like, but they know
better! And if they had a grain of manliness, they would cease from
such lying. A true Briton gives that liberty to others which he claims
for himself and if he does not choose to be religious himself, he
stands up like a man to defend the rights of others to be so if they
choose! Now, then, you British workmen, when shall we see you doing
this? The text speaks of a soul among lions. Why did the Psalmist call
them lions? "Dogs" is about as good a name as they deserve! Why call
them lions? Because at times the Christian man is exposed to enemies
who are very strong–perhaps strong in the jaw–very strong in biting,
tearing and rending.

Sometimes the Christian man is exposed to those who loudly roar out
their infidelities and their blasphemies against Christ–and it is an
awful thing to be among such lions as those. The lion is not only
strong but also cruel. And it is real cruelty, which subjects
well-meaning men to reproach and misrepresentation. The enemies of
Christ and His people are often as cruel as lions and would slay us if
the law permitted them to. The lion is a creature of great
craftiness–creeping along stealthily and then making a sudden
leap–and so will the ungodly creep up to the Christian and, if
possible, spring upon him when they can catch him in an unguarded
moment. If they think they spy a fault in him, they come down upon him
with all their weight!

The ungodly watch the righteous and if they can catch them in their
speech, or if they can make them angry and cause them to speak an
unguarded word, how eagerly they pounce upon him! They magnify his
fault, put it under a microscope of 10,000 power and make a great thing
of it. "Report it! Report it!" they say. "So would we have it!"
Anything against a true-born child of God is a sweet nut for them! Such
as are daily watched, daily carped at, daily abused, daily hindered in
everything that is good and gracious–go with your tears before the God
you serve and cry to Him, "My soul is among lions."

Now, it is to such that I am going to speak tonight. A little, at
first, by way of comfort. And then a little by way of advice.

I. First, BY WAY OF COMFORT. You are among lions, my dear young Friend,
then you will have fellowship with your Lord and with His Church. Every
Lord's Day and every time we meet, this benediction is pronounced upon
you, that you may enjoy the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship
with the Holy Spirit brings you into fellowship with Jesus and this
involves your being conformed to His sufferings. Now, your Lord was
among lions. The men of His day had not

a good word to say of Him. They called the Master of the house,
Beelzebub–they will never call you a worse name than that. They said
that He was a drunk and a winebibber–possibly they may say much the
same as that of you and it will be equally false.

You need not be ashamed to be pelted with the same dirt that was thrown
at your Master! And if it should ever come to this, that you should be
stripped of everything and false witnesses should rise up against
you–and you should even be condemned as a felon and taken out to be
executed–your lot will still not be worse than His. Remember that you
are the followers of a Crucified Lord and cannot expect to be the
world's darlings! If you are Christians, the Inspired description of
the Christian life is the taking up of the cross! Do you expect to be
dandled on the knees of that same ungodly world which hung your Master
upon the Cross?

No. You know that he who is the friend of this world is the enemy of
God. This Truth of God is unchangeable. It is just as certain, today,
as it was in years gone by that, "the evil hates the righteous and
gnashes his teeth at him." You may pick up a fashionable religion and
get through the world with it very comfortably, but if you have the
true faith, you will have to fight for it. If you are of the world, the
world will love its own. But if you are not of the world because the
Lord has chosen you out of the world, the world will hate you! When a
villager goes up the little street the dogs do not bark at him, for
they know him well. But when a stranger rides along, they set up a
howl. By this shall you know whether you are a citizen of the world or
a pilgrim towards the better land.

Nor was your Master alone. Remember the long line of Prophets that went
before Christ? Which of them was it that was received with honor? Did
they not stone one and slay another with the sword? Did they not cut
one in pieces with a saw and put others to death with stones? You know
that the march of the faithful may be tracked by their blood. And after
our Lord had gone to Heaven, how did the world treat the Church? In the
streets of Rome and all large cities, the fierce cry was often heard,
"Christians to the lions! Christians to the lions! Christians to the
lions!"

At the dead of night men cry, "Fire!" when a house is blazing. A mob
will cry, "Bread!" when they are starving. But the cry of old Rome that
was dearest to the Roman heart and most expressive of their horrible
enmity to goodness was, "Christians to the lions!" Of all the gallant
shows the Roman Empire ever saw that excited the populace beyond all
things else was to see a family–a man and his wife, perhaps, and a
grown daughter and son and three or four children– all marched into
the arena, the big door thrown open and lions rushing out to spring
upon them and tear them to pieces!

What harm had the Christians done? They had forgiven their enemies!
That was one of their great sins! They would not worship the gods of
wood and stone. They would not blaspheme the name of Jesus whom they
loved, for He had taught them to love one another and to love all
mankind. For such things as this, men raised the cry, "Christians to
the lions! Christians to the lions !" All along, this has been the cry
of the world against all who have faithfully followed in the steps of
Jesus Christ. Just now the merciful hand of Providence prevents open
persecution, but only let that hand be taken away and the old spirit
will rage again! The seed of the serpent still hates the Seed of the
woman–and if the old dragon were not chained, he would devour the
man-child as he has often tried to do. Do not deceive yourselves–in
one form or other the old howl of, "Christians to the lions!" would
soon be heard in London if almighty power did not sit upon the Throne
and restrain the wrath of man.

You who have to suffer a measure of persecution for Christ's sake ought
to be very glad of it, for you are counted worthy not only to be
Christians, but to suffer for Christ's sake. Do not, I pray you, be
unworthy of your high calling, but endure hardness as good soldiers of
Jesus Christ should. In these afflictions you are having fellowship
with your Head and with His mystical body, therefore be not ashamed.
Here is another thought. If you are among lions you should thereby be
driven nearer to your God. When you had a great many friends, you could
rejoice in them. But now that these turn against you and the Truth of
God has come home to you that, "A man's foes shall be they of his own
household," what ought you to do? Why, get closer to God than you ever
were before!

Jesus Christ so loved His Church that He said, as He looked at His poor
disciples, "These are my mother, and sister, and brother." You should
do what your Master did–make His Church your father and mother and
sister and brother! No, better still, make Christ all these to you and
more! Take the Lord Jesus to be everything that all the dearest of
mortals could be and far more. Sing that charming verse, which is a
great favorite of mine, for it was very precious to me in days gone
by–

"If on my face, for Your dear name,

Shame and reproach should be,

All hail reproach, and welcome shame,

If You remember me."

Be sure that you live near to God. All Christians ought to do so, but
you especially should be driven by every false accusation, by every
caustic remark, by every cutting sentence nearer to your Father's
bosom. The more they rebuke you the more constantly should you abide
under the cover of His sacred wings and find your joy in the Lord!

And, getting close to Christ, let me say to you, now, by way of advice
and by way of comfort, too, endeavor to be very calm and happy. Do not
mind it. Take as little notice of the scoffer as you can. It is a grand
thing to have one deaf ear! Mind that you keep yourself very deaf to
slander and reproach as the Psalmist did when he said, "I was as a man
that hears not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs." One blind eye
towards the folly of enemies is often of more use to a man than two
that are always looking about with suspicion. Do not see everything; do
not hear everything. When there is a hard word spoken, do not notice
it, or, if you must hear it, forget it as quickly as you can.

Love others all the more, the less they love you–repay their enmity
with love. Heap coals of fire upon them by making no return to a hard
speech except by another deed of kindness. Very seldom defend
yourself–it is a waste of breath and casting pearls before swine. Bear
and bear again! Remember that our Lord has sent us forth as sheep among
wolves and sheep cannot defend themselves. The wolf can eat all the
sheep up if it likes, but, do you not see, there are more sheep in the
world, now, than there are wolves, 10,000 to one? Though the wolves
have had all the eating and though there never yet was a sheep that
devoured a wolf, yet the sheep are here and the wolves have gone! The
sheep have won that victory and so will Christ's little flock.

The anvil is struck by the hammer and the anvil never strikes in return
and yet the anvil wears the hammer out! Patience baffles fury and
vanquishes malice. The non-resistance principle involves a resistance
which is irresistible. The steady patience that cannot be provoked, but
which, like Jesus, when reviled reviles not, is certain of conquest.
This is what you persecuted ones need to learn, to get more near your
God when you are among the lions in order to be the more calm and
patient as men rage against you.

A third piece of comfort is this. Please remember that although your
soul is among lions, the lions are chained. When Daniel was thrown into
the lions' den, the lions were hungry and would soon have devoured him,
but you know why it was that they could not touch him. Ah, the angel
came. Just as the fierce lions were about to seize Daniel, down he came
swift from Heaven and stood in front of them. "Hush!" he said–and they
lay as still as a stone. So says the text–"My God has sent His angel
and shut the lions' mouths." They had fine teeth, but their mouths were
shut! If the Lord can easily shut a lion's mouth, He can as easily
quite the mouth of an ungodly man! He can take all trouble off of you,
if He wills it, in an instant!

And He can give you a smooth path to Heaven when it pleases Him. Only
remember that if everything on the road to Heaven were smooth, Heaven
would not be so sweet at the end and we should not have an opportunity
of displaying those Christian Graces which are brought out and educated
by the opposition of the world. God will not quench the fire of
persecution, for it consumes our dross–but He will moderate its power
so that not a grain of pure metal shall be lost. The lions are chained,
dear Friend! They can go no farther than God permits. In this country
the most they can do, as a rule, is to howl–they cannot bite–and
howling does not break bones, so why, then, be afraid?

The man who is afraid of being laughed at is not half a man, but almost
deserves the scorn he receives. Never mind what is said. Talking will
not hurt you. Harden your spirit against it and bear it gallantly. Go
and tell your Lord of it if your heart fails you and then go forward,
calm, as your Master did, fearing nothing, for God will bear you
through. The lions can roar, but they cannot tear–fear them not.

Another fact for your comfort is this–when your soul is among lions,
there is another lion there as well as the lions that you can see. Have
you never heard of Him? He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah! How
quietly He lies! How patiently He waits by the side of His servants!
The jest, the jeer, the noise continues and He lies still. If He only
would–if He thought it wise–if it were not for His superlative
patience He has only to rouse Himself for one moment and all our
enemies would be destroyed! Our great Lord and King could have had 20
legions of angels when He was in the garden for the lifting of His
finger, but He continued alone, a suffering Man.

If He willed it at this day, He could sweep the ungodly away as chaff
before the wind! His longsuffering is for their salvation, if haply
they may turn and repent. If your faith is as it should be, it will be
a great joy to you to know that He is always with you; that He is
always near you. If He is ever absent from others of His servants, He
is never away from His persecuted servants. Ask the Covenanters among
the mosses and the hills and they will tell you that they never had
such Sabbaths in Scotland as when they met among the crags and set
their scouts to warn them against Claverhouse's dragoons. When Cargill
or Cameron thundered out the Word of God, with what power was it
attended! How sweetly was the blessed Bridegroom with His persecuted
Church among the hills!

There is never such a time for seeing the Son of God as when the world
heats the furnace seven times hotter. There is the flaming furnace–go
and stand at the mouth of it and look in. They threw three bound men in
their clothes and in their hats into it and the flame was so strong
that it killed the soldiers who threw them in! But look! Can you see
them? Nebuchadnezzar himself comes to look. See how greatly he is
astonished! He calls to those around him and he demands, "Did not we
cast three men bound into the furnace? Look! There are four! A strange,
mysterious form is that fourth! They are walking the coals as if they
walked in a garden of flowers. They seem full of delight! They are
walking as calmly as men do when they converse in their gardens in the
cool of the day! And that fourth, that mysterious fourth is like the
Son of God!"

Ah, Nebuchadnezzar, you have seen a sight that has often been seen
elsewhere. When God's people are in the furnace, God's Son is in the
furnace, also! He will not leave those who will not leave Him. If we
can cling to Him, rest assured that He will cling to us, even to the
end! Fear not the lions, then. Our Samson would turn upon them and tear
them in a moment if their hour were come–

"Jesus' tremendous name Puts all our foes to flight! Jesus, the meek,
the angry Lamb, A Lion is in fight. By all Hell's host withstood,

We all Hell's host overthrow. And conquering them, through Jesus' blood

We still to conquer go."

Again, I want to comfort you with this word–you whose souls are among
lions should remember that you will come out of the lions' den
unharmed. Daniel was cast into the den. Darius could not sleep that
night and when he went in the morning he did not expect to find a bone
of Daniel left and so he began crying out to him. How surprised he must
have been when Daniel replied that his God had preserved him! How
thankful he was to fetch him out of the den! You, too, dear child of
God, will come out of the den all right. There will be a resurrection
of God's people's bodies at last and there will be a resurrection for
their reputations, too!

The slanderer may belie the character of a true man, but no true man's
character will ever be buried long enough to rot. Your righteousness
shall come forth as light and your judgment as the noonday. You need
not be afraid but, as Daniel rose from the den to dignity, so will
every man who suffers for Christ receive honor and glory and
immortality "in that day." Remember that if you are now among the
lions, the day is hurrying on with speed when you shall be among the
angels! Our Lord and Master, after being in the wilderness with the
wild beasts, found that "angels came and ministered to Him." Such a
visitation awaits all the faithful.

What a change those martyrs enjoyed who took a fiery breakfast on
earth, but supped with Christ that very day after riding to Glory in a
chariot of fire! If you have to suffer now, even all that can possibly
be wreaked of vengeance upon you for Christ's sake, you will think
nothing of it when you have been five seconds in Heaven! Indeed, it
will be a subject of congratulation that you were permitted, in your
humble measure, to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake!
Therefore be comforted, you young people, and march on with heroic
step. I see a soldier or two here tonight and I am right glad that we
have generally a block of red coats in the congregation. I know that
often in the barracks it is hard for a Christian man to bear witness
for Jesus Christ.

Many and many a soldier has found his path as a Christian to be
extremely difficult. He has had to sail very carefully, like a ship
among torpedoes, and only Divine Grace has kept him safe. Some of you
who reside in large establishments,

where you sleep in rooms with great many others, find it difficult,
even, to kneel down to pray. Mind that you do it, though. Do it at
first right bravely and keep it up! Never be ashamed of your colors.
Begin as you mean to go on–and go on as you begin! If you begin
parleying, you will soon lose all their respect and make it worse for
yourself. In the name of Jesus Christ let me beseech you to be firm and
steadfast even unto death!

Be comforted, for there has no new thing happened to you. It is no
novelty for the followers of Jesus to be ridiculed and despised. He
came to send fire on the earth and it has been kindled well near 2,000
years. The fiery path is the old road of the Church militant–therefore
tread it and be glad that you are permitted to follow the heroes of
Heaven in their sacred way!

II. Now, a few words BY WAY OF ADVICE. Of course this does not deal
with all of you who are now present. I hope that many of you dwell
among the godly. Still there are some whose soul is among lions and to
them I give this counsel. First, if you dwell among lions, do not
irritate them. If I happened to be among lions, I would not tease them.
I would take good care that if they were cruel and fierce I did not
make them so. I have known some who I hope were Christians, who have
acted very unwisely and have made matters worse for themselves.

There is such a thing as ramming religion down people's throats, or
trying to do so. You can put on a very long face and try to scold
people into religion. This will not do. Never yet was anybody bullied
to Christ and there never will be. Some are very stern and make no
allowances for other people–these may be good, but they are not wise.
What is a rule to you and to me may not be a rule to everybody else. We
said, the other Sunday, that we should not think of eating what we give
to swine, but we do not, therefore, say, "These swine must not have
their slop." No, no! It is good enough for them. Let them have it.

And as to worldly people and their amusements, let them have them, poor
things. They have nothing else, let them have their mirth. I would not
touch their joys, nor would you, for they would be no pleasure to you.
But do not, as a new-born man, go and set yourself up as the standard
of what the ordinary sinner, dead in sin, is to be! He cannot come up
to our standard. Do not be perpetually finding fault! That is pulling
the lions' whiskers and the creatures are very likely to growl at you.
If your soul is among lions, be gentle, be kind, be prudent, be
tender–sometimes be silent. A good word is on your tongue, but there
are times when you must not say it–for the life of you, you must not
say it–for it would rouse the lions and make more sin than needs be.

Sometimes a Truth of God needs defending, but, my inexperienced and
untaught Brother, do not try to defend it, for you have not the
strength. The champion of infidelity will challenge one who is weak and
uninstructed and he overthrows him–and he who came forth valorously is
beaten in argument. He was not up to the mark in knowledge and so he
was vanquished! And then, what do the adversaries say? Why, they boast
that the Truth is disproved and that Christ is beaten. Nothing of the
kind! The British empire was not defeated when a regiment of our
soldiers were slain at Isandula–and the Truth and cause of Christ is
not defeated when some weak champion full of zeal rushes to the front
when he ought to have kept in the rear.

I do not say much on this point because we have not much rash zeal,
nowadays, and it would be a pity to check what honest zeal there is.
But still, there is such a text as, "Be you wise as serpents and
harmless as doves." Put your finger on your lips when you are
irritated. You cannot speak to the purpose when you are perturbed and
are likely to be angry. Be quiet and bide your time. Many a man would
do more good for the cause of God if he would not irritate ungodly
people. Leave them alone–seek their salvation lovingly and
tenderly–but when your efforts to do them good only provoke them to
sin, try another way. Do not go on with that which angers them–invent
another method. I believe that some Christians make half the opposition
which they get from the world by their own ill tempers and stupidity.
They challenge conflict. Their actions seem to say, "Who will fight
me?" and then, of course, somebody takes up the challenge. Do not act
foolishly! If your soul is among lions and they are inclined to be
quiet, do not needlessly excite them.

Secondly, if your soul is among lions, do not roar, yourself, for that
is very easy to be done. We have known some who we hope were Christians
who have met railing with railing, hard words with hard words, bitter
speeches with bitter speeches. The ungodly are lions, but you are
not–do not try to meet them in their own line. You will never roar as
well as they do! If you are a Christian, you have not the knack of
roaring. Leave them do it. Your way of meeting them is not by losing
your temper and abusing your antagonists and so becoming a lion,
yourself–you must conquer them with gentleness, patience, kindness and
love!

I pray you, dear Brothers and Sisters who have to bear a good deal for
Christ's sake, do not get soured in spirit. There is a tendency in a
martyr age to become obstinate and pugnacious. You must not be so.
Love, love, love! And the more you are provoked, love the more!
Overcome evil with good. I think it necessary to mention these cautions
because I know many require them. Again, if your soul is among lions,
do not be cowardly. Have you never heard that a lion is afraid of a man
if he looks him steadily in the face? I am not sure about that piece of
natural history, but I am quite certain that it is true with regard to
the ungodly world.

If a man will bear himself calmly. If he will be unmoved, determined,
resolute and steadfast, he will overcome the adversary. "When a man's
ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with
him." If you give way a little, you will have to give way a great deal.
If you give the world an inch, you will have to give it a mile as sure
as you are alive. If you will not yield an inch, no, nor yet a
barleycorn, but stand steadfast, God will help you. Courage is what is
needed. The world, after a while, says of any man, "It is of no use
laughing at him–he does not mind it. It is of no use calling him hard
names–he only smiles at you. It is useless to be his enemy, for he
will not be yours. He will only be your

friend."

Then the world whispers, "Well, after all, he is not so bad a fellow as
we thought he was. We must let him have his own way." There is a big
human heart somewhere down in men if you can but get at it and, after a
while, when truth and righteousness have suffered and been denounced,
men turn round and are almost ready to carry on their shoulders with
hosannas the same person whom, a little while before, they longed to
crucify. Do not be a coward! Do not be a coward!–

"Stand up! Stand up for Jesus! The fight will not be long. This day the
noise of battle, The next the victor's song."

Even if the fight were long, for such a Master as Jesus it were worth
while to endure 10,000 years of scorn and, moreover, the reward at the
end will repay us a thousand-fold!

If your soul is among lions, then do not go out among them alone. "Then
whom shall I take with me?" asks one, "there is not a Christian in the
shop." Take your Lord with you! Be absolutely sure that you do that.
Now, my dear Friend, I know what they said yesterday and how they
bantered you and you were tart and short with them because you were not
in prayer in the morning as you ought to have been. If your mind had
been more calm and gentle as the result of prayer, you would not have
minded it one-half so much. Take your Master with you and whenever you
have to speak, remember that He is standing at your side and try to say
what you would like Him to hear. And then, when you have made your
defense, you will be able to say, "Good Master, I think I have not
dishonored You, for I have spoken Your words."

Oh, live near to Christ if you live among lions! Those of you who
endure opposition make the best Christians. Many that have been
distinguished for Christ in later life have had to rough it a little at
first. "It is good for a man that he bears the yoke in his youth." If I
could bring a garden-roller and roll the grass for you all the way from
here to Heaven, do you think that I would do it? Certainly not! A rough
place or two is good for you–it tries and strengthens pilgrim feet! A
child will never become a man if he is carried about, all his life,
like a baby. You must run alone. You must learn the arts of holy
warfare or else you will not be fit to be a soldier of the Cross, a
follower of the Lamb! May His good Spirit help you to keep in
fellowship with Christ that He may guard and protect you from every
temptation and persecution.

Further, let me say to you that if your soul is among lions and you
feel very weak about it, you are permitted to pray the Lord to move you
in His Providence to quieter quarters. A Christian man is not bound to
endure persecution if he can help it–"When they persecute you in one
city flee to another." You are quite warranted in seeking another
situation. There may be reasons why you should remain under the trial
and, if so, take care that you do not overlook them. Prudence may make
you avoid persecution, but cowardice must not mingle with the prudence!
That prayer which says, "Lead us not into temptation," gives us, as it
were, a permit to move from places where we are much tempted and
sometimes it is the duty of the Christian to seek some other sphere of
labor, if he possibly can, where he will not be so much tried.

One thought more–the braver thing is to ask for Grace to stay with the
lions and tame them. "My soul is among lions." Well, if the Lord makes
you a lion tamer, that is the very place where you ought to be! In some
of our districts in London as soon as ever a man is converted he feels
that he cannot live there any longer and this makes the district
hopeless. My dear Friend, Mr. Orsman, working in Golden Lane, as it
used to be, told me that his was an endless task because as soon as
ever the people were converted they would say, "Would you have me live
here any longer, in such a horrible place as this?" They naturally felt
that as they had grown sober, decent and respectable, they should move
into a different locality and they did so–and the result is that the
old spot does not improve.

Sometimes the Christian man should say, "No, God has made me strong in
Grace and I will stop here and fight it out. These are lions, but I
will tame them. I believe that God has put me here on purpose to bring
my fellow workmen to the Savior and, by His Grace, I will do it." Now,
if I were a lamp, I daresay that if I had my choice of where I should
burn, I should choose to blaze away in a respectable street. I should
like to scatter my light in front of the Tabernacle! But surely if I
were a really sensible lamp I should say to myself–"If there are only
a few lamps and all the streets have to be lit, there is more necessity
to light up a back slum or a blind alley than to adorn a main street.
Therefore let me shine in the dismal courts. In a lonely, dark place
where murder may be done–there let me act as guardian of the night and
detective of the villain."

A wise lamp would say, "I came into the world to give light and I
should like to give light where light is most needed. Hang me up in
Mint Street, or in St. Giles's, or away there by the back of Kent
Street where I may be most useful." And now, Christian people, is there
not sense about this advice? Is there not reason in it? Would not your
Master have you go where you are most needed and should you not,
therefore, if your soul is among lions, say, "Thank God it is so. These
people are not going to conquer me, but I am going to conquer them"?

What a beautiful spectacle was that which was exhibited by the Moravian
Brethren in their grand times! They could not land on one of the West
Indies to preach the Gospel to the Negroes, for the planters would not
have anybody there but slaves. So two Brothers sold themselves for
slaves and lived and died in bondage that they might teach the poor
Negroes of Christ! It is said that there was a place in Africa where
persons were shut up whose limbs were rotting away through leprosy and
other diseases. Two of these Brethren climbed up a wall and saw these
poor creatures–some with no legs and others with no arms. They asked
to be allowed to go in to win souls for Christ and the answer was, "If
you enter you can never come out again because you would bring
contagion. You go in there to die, to rot away as the lepers

do."

These brave men went in and died that they might bring the lepers to
Christ! I hope that we have some drops of that grand Christian blood
still in our veins! And if we have, we shall feel that we could go to
the gates of Hell to win a sinner! You are not like your Master unless
you would die to save men from Hell. You will bear jests and jeers and
count them nothing if you can but win souls. So stop where you are, my
stronger Brothers and Sisters–if your souls are among lions, tarry and
tame the lions!

It will be a grand thing for you to come, one day, to the Church
meeting with two or three of your neighbors whom you have been the
means of converting to Christ. I like to see a man march, if he can do
it, with a tame lion on each side! When a man has, by God's Grace,
brought some of those that were drunks and swearers to the feet of
Jesus, oh, it is a grand triumph! It has been my business for many
years to be a lion tamer and I delight in it! If there is any lion of
the sort here, I wish the Master would tame him and make him lie down
and crouch at His feet. There is the place for us poor sinners–at the
feet of Christ.

But do not be afraid of sinners, dear Friends, for how can you tame
them if you tremble at them? Go forth to win them in the strength of
the living God and you shall yet see the lion lie down with the
lamb–and a little child shall lead them. Amen and amen!
__________________________________________________________________

Self-righteousness–a Smoldering Heap of Rubbish