Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
My soul doth magnify the Lord.'Luke 1:46.
MARY HAD RECEIVED a wonderful intimation from heaven of which she
herself scarcely understood the full length and breadth. Her faith had
apprehended a great promise, which as yet her mind hardly comprehended.
Her prayer, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to
thy word,' showed her joyful submission and childlike confidence, and
this made her blessed with the blessedness of patient hope. Under
divine guidance she made a speedy journey into the hill country to see
her cousin Elisabeth, and from her she received a confirmation of the
wonderful tidings which the angel had brought to her. Elizabeth herself
had been favored from above, for the Lord had looked upon her, and
taken away from her the reproach of barrenness. Amongst other choice
words, Elizabeth said to her, Blessed is she that believed: for there
shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the
Lord.' When Mary had thus been comforted by her friend, and her spirit
had been elevated, and her confidence confirmed, she began to sing unto
the Lord most sweetly, saying, My soul doth magnify the Lord.' Now, if
it is a good time with any of you'if in communion with some older
believer your confidence has been strengthened, make sure that the Lord
has a return for it. When your own heart is lifted up, then lift up the
name of the Lord. Exalt him when he exalts you. You will perhaps tell
me that the Virgin had very especial reason for magnifying the Lord,
and I answer, Assuredly she had. Blessed is she among women,' and we
are not backward to own the eminent honor which was put upon her.
Blessed indeed she was, and highly favored. But yet, is there any true
believer who has not also received special favor of the Lord? Sitting
down quietly in our chamber, can we not each one say that the Lord has
favored him or her with some special token of divine love? I think
there is something about each believer's case which renders it special.
We are none of us exactly like our brethren, for the manifestations of
divine grace are very various; and there are some bright lines about
your case, brother, which will be seen nowhere else, and some peculiar
manifestations about your happiness, my sister, of which no one else
can tell. I might not be straining words if I were to say to many a
sister in Christ here, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is
with thee: blessed art thou among women.' And I might say the same to
many a brother here: Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is
with thee: blessed art thou among men. The Lord hath done great things
for thee, and let thy spirit be glad.' True, there is one point in
which we cannot be compared to Mary literally. She was to be the mother
of the human nature of our Lord; but there is a parallel case in each
one of us in which a higher mystery'a more spiritual mystery'gives us a
like privilege, for, behold, the Holy Ghost dwells in each believer. He
lives within us as within a temple, and reigns within us as in a
palace. If we be partakers of the Holy Ghost, what more can we desire
by way of favor from God, and what greater honor can be bestowed upon
us? It was by her that the Word became incarnate, but so also is it by
us, for we can make God's Word stand out visibly in our lives. It is
ours to turn into actual, palpable existence among the sons of men the
glorious Spirit of grace and truth which we find in the Word of God.
Truly did our Lord speak when he said to his disciples, These are my
mother, and sister, and brother.' We bear as close a relationship to
Christ as did the Virgin mother, and we in some sense take the same
position spiritually which she took up corporeally in reference to him.
May he be formed in us the hope of glory, and may it be ours to tend
his infant cause in the world, and watch over it as a nurse does over a
child, and spend our life and strength in endeavoring to bring that
infant cause to maturity, even though a sword should pass through our
own heart while we cherish the babe.
But now, having introduced to you her magnificat, we will dwell upon
these words, My soul doth magnify the Lord,' and I do earnestly hope
that many of us can adopt the language without being guilty of
falsehood: we can as truly say as Mary did, My soul doth magnify the
Lord.' If there are any of you present to-night who cannot say it, get
to your chambers, fall upon your knees, and cry to the Lord to help you
to do so; for as long as a man cannot magnify God he is not fit for
heaven, where the praises of God are the eternal occupation of all the
blessed spirits. If you cannot magnify God, it probably is because you
are magnifying yourself. May the Lord cut self down and make nothing of
you, and then you will make everything of him. When you sink in your
own estimation, then will God rise in your esteem. May God the Holy
Ghost make it so.
I. Touching these words, I notice that, first, our text suggests to us
AN OCCUPATION FOR ALL GRACIOUS PEOPLE: My soul doth magnify the Lord.'
Here is an occupation for all of us who know the Lord, and have been
born into his family.
Observe, it is an occupation which may be followed by all sorts of
people. This humble woman speaks of her low estate, and yet she could
magnify the Lord. All believers, of every rank and condition, can
attend to this work. There are some things that you cannot do, but this
one thing every gracious heart can do, and should delight to do,
namely, to magnify the Lord.
This is an occupation which can be followed in all places. You need not
go up to the meeting-house to magnify the Lord, you can do it at home:
you need not step out of your own quiet little room, for you may sit
still, and all alone you may magnify the Lord. You may be tossed about
upon the sea in a storm, but you may trust his name, and be calm, and
so magnify him. Or, you may be no traveler, and never go a hundred
yards out of the village in which you were born, but you may magnify
the Lord just as well for all that.
Where'er we seek him he is found,
And every place is hallowed ground';
and in every place this hallowed occupation may be carried out, and we
may always say'at least the place will not prevent our saying, My soul
doth magnify the Lord.'
This is not an occupation which requires a crowded congregation, it can
be fitly performed in solitude. I suppose that this sonnet of the
Virgin was sung with only one to hear it, her cousin Elisabeth. There
is a quorum for God's praise even where there is only one; but, where
there are two that agree to praise God, then is the praise exceeding
sweet. Ah, my dear sisters, you will never stand up to speak to
thousands, and many of my brethren now present would be very timid if
they had to praise the Lord before a score. Never mind about that.
Praise does not require even two or three, but in the quiet of the
night, or in the loneliness of the wood far away from the haunts of
men, your soul may pursue this blessed task, and daily, hourly,
constantly sing' My soul doth magnify the Lord.'
This is an occupation also, dear friends, which requires no money. Mary
was a poor maiden. She had no gold or silver, and yet did she sweetly
say, My soul doth magnify the Lord.' It is an honorable thing to be
entrusted with this world's treasure to lay it out for Jesus. The
church has its temporal needs, and happy is that man who is privileged
to supply them: but this kind of work can be followed by the child who
has no money, and by the workwoman who scarcely knows how to find
herself in bread. It may be followed by the poor man reduced to the
workhouse; and by the poor woman who lies in the infirmary breathing
out her life. My soul doth magnify the Lord,' is as fit for paupers as
for peers. Oh! these are golden notes, and those that use them have
golden mouths, as golden as Chrysostom of old, even though they have to
say, Silver and gold have I none.'
And this is an occupation, dear friends, which I commend to all here
present, because it does not require great talent. A simpleton may sing
My soul doth magnify the Lord.' We have each one a soul, and when that
soul has been renewed by grace it can follow this blessed pursuit of
magnifying the Lord, Perhaps you have not the abilities of Mary, for
she was, doubtless, a woman of considerable culture, like Hannah who
preceded her, whose song she partly borrowed. Hannah seems to me to be
one of the most gifted women of the Old Testament, and to be worthy of
more notice than is generally given to her. But if you could not write
a hymn, if you could not compose a verse, if you have no ability that
way, ay, and if you cannot sing'and there are some of us that have such
cracked voices that we never shall, and there are one or two brethren
here who have such bad ears for time that I generally hear them a note
behind everybody else, as I did to-night'well, never mind about that,
our souls can magnify the Lord. It is an occupation that does not
depend upon the voice, or upon any kind of talent whatever. Those who
sing worst to the ear of man may, perhaps, sing best to the ear of God;
and those who have the least apparent ability may, from the warmth of
their heart and the ardor of their devotion, really have the greatest
capacity in God's judgment for magnifying his name.
My soul doth magnify the Lord.' I would invite all my brothers and
sisters here to take this for their occupation as long as they live,
and never to cease from it. Nay, even should death for a moment suspend
it, let them so praise God that it shall be no new work for them to
begin again and praise him for ever in heaven.
Dear friends, albeit that this magnifying of the Lord is an occupation
to be taken up by all Christians, do not let us think little of it. To
magnify the Lord seems to me the grandest thing we mortals do, for, as
I have already said, it is the occupation of heaven. When the saints of
the Most High pass into their glorified state they have nothing else to
do but to magnify the Lord. The word signifies, to put it in a Saxon
form instead of a Latin one, to greaten God.' We cannot make him really
greater, but we can show forth his greatness. We can make him appear
greater. We can make others have greater thoughts of him, and that we
do when we are praising him. We can ourselves try to have greater and
yet greater thoughts of him'make him to our apprehension a greater God
than we once knew him to be; and this, I say, is no mean occupation,
because it is followed in heaven by all redeemed and perfected spirits.
Even here, it is the end of everything. Praying is the end of
preaching, for preaching and hearing are nothing in themselves except
men be brought to Christ and led to prayer. But then praying is not the
end: praising is the end of praying. Prayer is the stalk of the wheat,
but praise is the ear of the wheat: it is the harvest itself. When God
is praised, we have come to the ultimatum. This is the thing for which
all other things are designed. We are to be saved for this end, To the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in
the Beloved.' We are not saved for our own sakes. How often does the
Scripture tell us this in sense, and sometimes in words, Not for your
sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you; be ashamed
and be confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.' The glory of
God is to my mind the highest conceivable end'it certainly is the chief
end of my being. So, my dear brother, if you cannot go out to preach'if
after looking over all your condition you feel that your sickness and
other circumstances may excuse you from active service, and even if you
are compelled to keep your bed, do not suppose that you are useless as
to the highest end of your being. You may still serve it by lying upon
the couch of pain and magnifying the Lord by patience. Have you ever
looked at those lovely lilies which adorn our gardens with their golden
petals and their milk-white leaves? How they praise God! And yet they
never sing. You do not even hear a rustle, but they stand still and
praise God by existing'by just, as it were, enjoying the sun and the
dew, and showing what God can do. A genuine Christian shut up under
pain and sickness may glorify God by being his beloved child, by
receiving the love of God, by showing in his common-place daily
character, which is only noticeable from its holiness, what the grace
of God can do. Oh may this be the occupation of us all since it is so
noble a pursuit! My soul doth magnify the Lord.' Come, what are you
doing to-night? Have you been during this day murmuring and complaining
and grumbling? End that, and begin praising. Some of you are farmers,
and I have no doubt you have grumbled because of the weather. I do not
wonder, but I hope that you will not do it any more, but rather believe
that God knows better about skies and clods and clouds and crops than
you do. If we had the management of the weather, I have no doubt we
think we should do it very splendidly, but I question whether we should
not ruin all creation. Our great Lord and Master knows how to manage
everything. Let us cease from all criticism of what he does, and say,
My soul does not grumble. My soul does not complain; I have taken up a
better business than that. My soul doth magnify the Lord.' That is her
one engagement from which she will never cease.'
II. Secondly, if you look at the text from another point of view, it
provides for us A REMEDY FOR SELF-CONGRATULATION.
If any one of us had been favored, as the Virgin was, with the promise
that we should become the parent of the Savior, do you not think that
we should have felt exceedingly lifted up? It was natural that she
should be proud, but it was gracious on her part that she was humble.
Instead of magnifying herself she magnified the Lord. It was a great
thing, and somebody must be magnified for it. Nature would have said,
Mary, magnify thyself'; but grace said, Mary, magnify the Lord.' If the
Lord has been very gracious to any one of us, our only way to escape
from vain-glorious pride, which will be exceedingly wicked if we
indulge in it, is by giving vent to our feelings in quite another
direction. Do you notice how she sets off the greatness of God by her
own insignificance? He that is mighty hath done to me great things.' To
me,' she says. They are great things, and he is mighty, but they are to
me. He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.' Over against
the greatness of God's goodness to you be sure to set in contrast your
own meanness and unworthiness. Has the Lord redeemed you, called you,
justified you, sanctified you, set you in his church, and given you a
name and a place among his people? When you are inclined to run up the
topgallants, and to hang out all the flags, and to glory in your flesh,
recollect who you are and what you are, and the hole of the pit whence
you were drawn, and the rock out of which you were hewn, and say, Why
me, Lord? Why me?' Begin to magnify the name of the Lord, and that will
be a death-blow to the temptation to pride.
Mary had a specialty: no one else should be the mother of our Lord: but
so have we. Electing love has pitched on us. Many have been passed by,
but the Lord has loved us with a special love; yet we cannot rejoice in
it so as to glory in ourselves, for this election is according to his
sovereign will, and not of ourselves. It is all of grace and free
favor, and not according to merit. Hence my soul doth magnify the Lord
for everlasting love and special redemption. Whence is this to me? What
am I, and what is my father's house, that thou, O Lord, shouldst choose
me?
Mary knew also that she was to be famous. All generations shall call me
blessed.' But do notice how she balances her fame with another fame.
She says, Holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him.'
She magnifies the name of the Lord. If he has given her a measure of
honor, she lays it at his feet. Mind you do the same. Be not so vain as
to be lifted up with a little success. We have all passed through this
test of character, and in the fining-pot how few of us have borne the
fire without loss! Perhaps you have preached a sermon and God has
blessed it; the congregation is increased, and crowds are gathering;
the probability is that the devil whispers, You are a capital preacher.
Well done! You put your point admirably: God is blessing you. There
must be something admirable in your character and abilities.' Away,
away, thou fiend of the pit! This is ruinous pride! But suppose, dear
brother, that the fiend will not go away while he finds you musing upon
your success, what are you to do? Try him with this'My soul doth
magnify the Lord.' Praise the name of the Lord that ever he should make
use of such a poor, unsuitable instrument as yourself. Give him all the
honor and all the glory, if honor and glory there be, and see if the
arch-enemy does not take to flight, for God's praises are abhorrent to
the devil.
In whatever capacity you are serving the Lord, if he puts any honor
upon you, mind you give it all back to him. Sedulously and carefully
endeavor to do this, for robbery here will be fatal; he will not give
his glory to another. If we begin to pilfer even a little of the
praise, we shall find that our Master will reckon us to be unfaithful
stewards, and give us a discharge. If we glory in our strength, we may
have to go out and shake ourselves like Samson when his hair was lost,
because the Lord has taken our strength away from us. A heart that is
lifted up with self-esteem will soon be cast down in the mire. Mary
knew that God's favors are given to us, not that we may congratulate
ourselves, but that we may worship him; and she acted accordingly. If
grace be come to thee, my brother, it is a wanton waste of it to pride
thyself upon it. Like the manna in the Israelite's house when kept till
the morning, it will breed worms and stink: no worm ever brought
swifter decay than pride. Bear the shield of thine honor as an
armor-bearer for thy Lord, Know that thou hast nothing but what belongs
to him. Use all for him, and glorify him for all, and in all; and so
wilt thou do well. I recommend the text, then, as a cure for pride: My
soul doth magnify the Lord.'
III. Thirdly, and I will be brief on each point, the text is A FRUITFUL
UTTERANCE FOR HOLY FEELINGS. My soul doth magnify the Lord,' is
evidently the overflow of a full soul.
There must have been great mixture of feeling in the heart of this holy
woman; but these few words furnished expression for every variety of
her emotions. Those feelings were of an opposite character, and yet
they all spoke by this one sentence. It is clear that she was filled
with wonder. Her thoughtful spirit asked, how can so great a thing be
true to me? Shall the Son of the Highest be born of Mary, the village
maiden? Oh, miracle of condescension! With the amazement there was
mingled, not the unbelief which too often comes of wonder, but an
expectation of the promised marvel. She believed that the things which
were spoken to her would be performed by the Lord, and she looked that
God should keep his word to her. How sweetly those two feelings, wonder
and expectation, are blended, hidden away and yet expressed, in these
few words, My soul doth magnify the Lord'! It is as though she had
said, I cannot understand the favor promised me. How glorious in his
grace is the Lord my God! But I expect the blessing: I am sure of it,
for the Lord is true! So I praise him concerning it.' The sentence is
tinged with two fair colors, the vermilion of wonder and the azure of
hope, and they meet harmoniously upon the same ground. The words are
wonderful on that account.
Now take two other mental states. The first would be her believing. She
was not like Zacharias, who needed to be struck dumb because he doubted
the word of the Lord. Mary had faith, and yet, at the same time she
must have been awe-stricken by the revelation. That she should give
birth to the Son of the Highest must have utterly abashed and
overwhelmed her. Now both these states of mind are here'faith and awe.
Faith says, I know that the angel's message is true, and therefore my
soul doth magnify the Lord.' Awe says, What a solemn thing it is that
God should come to dwell in my breast! My soul doth magnify the Lord.'
Thus in these words confidence and reverence have met together,
assurance and adoration have kissed each other. Here is faith with its
familiarity, and devotion with its godly fear.
Here, also, you very clearly perceive two other holy emotions. Her
humility is apparent, and in the text it seems to ask the question, How
can this happen to me? How can it be that such a poor woman, affianced
to a humble carpenter, should be the mother of my Lord?' Humility sheds
its perfume here, like a violet hidden away. She seems to say, Not unto
me, not unto me be the glory! My soul doth magnify the Lord.' But that
humility is not of the cringing and crouching kind which draws back
from God, for it is clearly mixed with love. I rejoice in my gracious
Lord,' she seems to say, I bless him: I love him: I praise him. My soul
doth magnify the Lord. I am not worthy of his promised visitation, but
it will be mine, and infinite condescension will do this thing unto me.
Therefore do I love my God, and I draw near to him. My soul doth
magnify the Lord.'
Brothers and sisters, you will often find the language of my text the
most expressive of utterances for all that is good in your minds. Many
sweet passions, like little birds, may fold their wings, and dwell
together in this one well-compacted nest,'My soul doth magnify the
Lord,' Holy emotions may fly hither in swarms, and make the text like a
hive of bees, stored with honey. As I turn and think it over, it sheds
abroad its own spirit within me, as spices breathe out their own
perfume, and I cry, My soul doth magnify him.'
I think I perceive in these words a singular mixture of admiration and
calm thought: a wonder in which there is no surprise. The blessed
Virgin is evidently, as I have said before, wonder-struck that such a
thing should come to her, and yet there is about that wonder no
startling of amazement, but a marvelling which is the result of
previous careful thought. She had considered the prophecies and
promises, and saw them about to be fulfilled in her seed. She sang in
the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth verses, He hath holpen his servant
Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to
Abraham, and to his seed for ever.' She had turned over the subject in
her mind, and she came to the conclusion, He has said he will do this.
It is as he spake.' So, oftentimes, when you get a mercy given to you,
you will be surprised at it at first, but afterwards you will say, This
is even as the Lord promised to me. He doeth no new thing to his
servant. It is only my forgetfulness that has made me to be astonished.
Did he not promise that he would help me'that he would deliver me'that
he would give me all that I needed? And inasmuch as he has done it in
this surprising way, my soul doth magnify him twice over for the
wonderful mercy, and for the faithfulness of his covenant love which
kept the ancient promise which he made to be yea and amen in Christ
Jesus.' Again, I say, I commend the text as an expression of your
feelings. How sweet are the words, My soul doth magnify the Lord'! They
are full, many-sided, and natural, and yet most spiritual.
IV. Fourthly, I think my text may be used as A REASON FOR HOPEFULNESS.
It would be well to be wrapped up in this spirit with regard to
everything. The mood which bids us sing My soul doth magnify the Lord'
is full of a hope which will be useful in a thousand ways. For
instance, concerning our own providential condition, let us magnify the
Lord. Surrounded with difficulties, let us walk on with confidence,
because our great God is equal to every emergency, and can both level
the mountains and fill up the valleys. Burdened with labors and
stripped by necessities, let us maintain an unchanging cheerfulness,
because we magnify the might and the bounty of the eternal Jehovah,
whose name is God All-sufficient. When danger is magnified by fear, let
God be magnified by faith. When the troubles of our heart are enlarged,
let our expectations from the Lord be enlarged also.
The same God-magnifying spirit should attend our glances into futurity,
if we indulge in any, and we are all too apt to do so. Ah! we would
like to know, some of us, what is going to happen to us. Fain would we
steal a glance behind the screen, and each one see
What gloomy lines are writ for me,
Or what dark scenes arise'
There is a desire in most persons' minds to draw away the curtain which
God has so wisely placed over the future. This is very wrong of us, and
yet it is as common as it is blamable. We all turn prophets every now
and then, and when we do we prophesy evil, and therefore it would be
well if we could catch the spirit of Mary with regard to our forecasts
of the future, and say, My soul doth magnify the Lord.' Why do we set
our blear-eyed anxieties to watch the signs of heaven? If we must pry,
and guess, and speculate, why not employ our brighter powers, and let
blue-eyed hope scan the ensigns of the sky? When we meddle with the
future how dare we foretell that which would dishonor the Lord? If we
must needs write bitter things against ourselves, yet we ought not to
write untruthful things against him. When we do forecast the future at
all, let us do it in the spirit wherewith we sing, My soul doth magnify
the Lord.' Let us be certain that we shall find him to be a great God
in the future, greatly good, wondrously gracious, magnifying his mercy.
We shall have troubles, but our soul doth magnify the Lord, for she
foresees that we shall ride out all storms with Jesus at the helm, and
come safe into port. Our anxious eye foresees necessities, but our soul
doth magnify the Lord, for she sees him with a golden key opening the
treasures of David, and supplying all her wants. Our troubled car can
hear the wolf, but our soul doth magnify the Lord, for she sings, The
Lord is my Shepherd, and he will preserve me.' In this spirit you may
look forward to the swellings of Jordan, magnifying the living God
while you yourself lie down to die. If you faint and begin to say, Ah!
I shall never be able to die triumphantly,' you are minimizing, and not
magnifying, the Lord. You are making him little, and not great. Try and
say, How marvellously will he show his grace to me, a dying worm! Oh,
how wondrous he will be in the eyes of angels that will crowd the banks
to' hear a poor trembling soul like me go singing through the stream!
My God will be great in that day; then will he lay bare his arm, and
therefore will I fear no evil, for he will be with me; his rod and his
staff will comfort me.' Think great things of God. Greaten God. Magnify
his name whenever you look forward to the future. Chase from your mind
any imagination or foreboding which would detract from the greatness or
the goodness of your God.
Judge in the same manner with regard to the salvation of your
fellow-men. Never say, It is of no use inducing such a man to attend
the means of grace. He is a blaspheming wretch. All that he would do if
he heard a sermon would be to make sport of it for the next week. I
have no faith in taking such a man to hear a ministry which he would be
sure to ridicule.' Such unbelieving talk is making little of God. Is it
not so? Is it not dishonoring God to think that his gospel cannot reach
the most depraved hearts? Why, if I knew that a man had seven thousand
devils in him, I believe the gospel could drive them all out. Get the
sinners under the sound of the word, and the worse they are,
oftentimes, the more does God love to display the greatness of his
grace in casting down the power of their sin. Believe great things of
God. I can honestly say this'that since God saved me I never doubted
his power to save anybody. All things are possible now that he has
brought me to his feet, and kept me these years as his loving child. I
must think great things of God who has done such great things for so
great a sinner as I am. Greaten God, my brethren; greaten God. Believe
great things of him. Believe that China can be made into a province of
the celestial kingdom. Believe that India will cast her riches at
Jesus' feet. Believe that the round world will yet be a pearl on
Christ's finger-ring. Do not go in for the dispiriting, despairing,
unmanly, un-Christly ideas of those who say, The world is not to be
converted. It is a poor wreck that will go to pieces, and we are to
fish off here and there one from the water-logged hulk.' Brethren,
never believe that we are to stand by and see the eternal defeat of
God. Deem not that our God is unable to win upon the old lines, and
must needs shift the plan of the campaign. It shall never be said that
God could not save the world by the preaching of the gospel, and by the
work of the Holy Spirit, and therefore must needs bring in the advent
of the Lord to do it. I believe in the coming of the Lord, but, blessed
be his name, I believe also that the battle which he has begun in the
Spirit he will fight out in the old style, and finish with a victory in
the very manner in which he opened the conflict. It pleases him by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, and it will please
him to continue to do so till the whole round earth shall ring with
hallelujahs of praise to the grace of God, who by the feeblest of his
creatures shall have defeated sin, and death, and hell. Do not get into
a desponding state of mind, and rush into half-insane theories of
prophecy in order to excuse your unbelief and idleness. Never throw
down your weapons, and pretend that the victory is to be won by doting
and dreaming: we are to fight to the end with the same weapons, and in
the same name. We will drive the devil out of the world yet, by the
grace of God, by the old, efficient weapons of the Word of God and the
Spirit of God. Greaten God, and magnify his name, by believing in the
success of the gospel of his dear Son.
As to the nearer future, never believe any human prophecy that does not
glorify God. Expect great things of God, and if you hear any prediction
that is not to the glory of God, conclude that it is a blunder. Oh!'
said one to me, this country will go back to Romanism: the gospel light
will be quenched in England.' Ah, dear me! Some brethren are mightily
fond of this prognostication. But, my dear friend, there is one thing
that always comforts me, namely, that God is not dead: and he is not
going to be defeated by the pope of Rome, or fifty popes of Rome. He
will win the victory yet. Always have courage, for it is God's cause,
and it is in God's hands, and, being in God's hands, it is safe enough.
See what you do:'because you cannot trust God's hand you trust your
own! You thrust out your sacrilegious arm to interfere with God's
peculiar work. What are you at? You are about to defile God's ark.
Recollect the story of Uzzah. Pluck your hand back, and leave the ark
alone. The Lord will help you to do such work as he gives you to do,
but he has not made you Lord of empires, nor director of providence.
Leave to his sovereign sway the purposes of his eternal grace, and
depend upon it he will bring the world to Jesus' feet. Christ himself
shall come: be you looking for him every day, but be constant in his
service, working for him every hour. Believe, too, that he shall reign
amongst his ancients gloriously, and where amidst Judea's glades Christ
has been dishonored and the false prophet has ruled, there too shall he
reign, and Jew and Gentile shall worship and adore his ever-blessed
name. I say again, magnify the Lord with all your souls. Greaten God.
Expect great things in the future, and with the cheery note of
confidence go forward to battle for him whose is the victory for ever
and ever.
V. Once more, and I have done. Our text should be used as a GUIDE IN
OUR THEOLOGY. We will finish with that. Here is a very useful test for
young disciples who are beginning to study God's word. My soul doth
magnify the Lord.' If you will carry this with you it will often save
you from error, and guide you into truth. There is certain teaching
which makes a great deal of man: it talks much of man's free-will,
ability, capacity, and natural dignity. It evidently makes man the
center and end of all things, and God is placed in a position of
service to his creature. As for the Fall: father Adam slipped and broke
his little finger, or something of the kind, but this theology sees no
great ruin as the result of the fall. As for salvation: it is a slight
cure for a small ill, and by no means the infinite grace which we
consider it to be. Dear brethren, let those have this theology who like
it, but do not you touch it even with a pair of tongs. It is of no use
to man, for it mistakes his position, and only ministers to his pride.
Man's place is not on the throne, but at the foot of the cross. Listen
to another theology, in which the sinner is laid low, his sinfulness is
exposed, his corruption is unfolded, Christ's redemption is magnified,
free grace is extolled, and the Holy Ghost is adored. That is the
theology for you, believe it: that is the theology of the Scriptures,
accept it. I do not think that you will often be led wrong if this be
your mode of judgment: that which glorifies God is true, and that which
does not glorify God is false.
Sometimes you will meet with an undoubted teaching of God's word which
you do not understand. You know that the doctrine is taught in the
word, but you cannot make it coincide with some other truth, and you
cannot quite see, perhaps, how it glorifies God. Then, dear brother,
dear sister, glorify God by believing it. To believe a doctrine which
you see to be true by mere reason is nothing very wonderful. There is
no very great glory to God in believing what is as clear as the sun in
the heavens; but to believe a truth when it staggers you'oh, gracious
faith! oh, blessed faith! You will perhaps remember an illustration
taken from Mr. Gough, where the little boy says, If mother says it is
so, it is so if it is not so.' That is the kind of believing for a
child towards its mother, and that is the sort of believing we ought to
exercise towards God. I do not see the fact, and I cannot quite
apprehend it, but God says it is so, and I believe him. If all the
philosophers in the world should contradict the Scriptures, so much the
worse for the philosophers; their contradiction makes no difference to
our faith. Half a grain of God's word weighs more with us than a
thousand tons of words or thoughts of all the modern theologians,
philosophers, and scientists that exist on the face of the earth; for
God knows more about his own works than they do. They do but think, but
the Lord knows. With regard to truths which philosophers ought not to
meddle with, because they have not specially turned their thoughts that
way, they are not more qualified to judge than the poorest man in the
church of God, nay, nor one-half so much. Inasmuch as the most learned
unregenerate men are dead in sin, what do they know about the living
things of the children of Cod? Instead of setting them to judge we will
sooner trust our boys and girls that are just converted, for they do
know something of divine things, but carnal philosophers know nothing
of them. Do not be staggered, brothers and sisters, but honor God,
glorify God, and magnify him by believing great things and
unsearchable'past your finding out'which you know to be true because he
declares them to be so. Let the ipse dixit of God stand to you in the
place of all reason, being indeed the highest and purest reason, for
God, the Infallible, speaks what must be true.
So, then, I come back to where I started. Let us go forth and
practically try to magnify the name of the Lord. Go home and speak well
of his name: gather your children together and tell them what a good
and great God he has been. Some of you who have a swarm of youngsters
could not do better than spend half an hour in telling them of his
goodness to you in all your times of trouble. Leave to your children
the heirloom of gratitude. Tell them how good the Lord was to their
father, and how good he will be to his children: tell your servants,
tell your work-people, tell anybody with whom you come in contact what
a blessed God the Lord is. For my part, I never can speak well enough
of his adorable name. He is the best of masters, his service is
delight; he is the best of fathers, his commands are pleasure. Was
there ever such a god as our God, our enemies themselves being judges?
Magnify his name by the brightness of your countenances. Rejoice and be
glad in him. When you are in sorrow and must needs fast, yet appear not
unto men to fast, but anoint your faces and still wear a smile. Let not
the world think that the servants of a king go mourning all their days.
Make the world feel what a great God you serve, and what a blessed
Savior Christ is, and thus evermore let your soul magnify the Lord. God
grant you grace to do so, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Psalm 34.
HYMNS FROM Our Own Hymn Book'174, 775.
LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON.
Dear Friends,'Your continued prayers are sought for the special
services at the tabernacle, that by their success any injury occurring
through the pastor's enforced absence may be remedied. It would be an
affliction indeed if our life-work should suffer through painful
sickness, which in itself is a heavy cross to bear. By your prayers
this will be averted, and the trial will be turned into a blessing.
Right thankful am I to report rapid, and I trust real, progress in my
own case. Living in an unbroken series of summer days, where no cold
mists are dreamed of, it is no great marvel that rheumatic pains fly
away, and depression of spirit departs. The healing Lord has breathed a
restoring influence over land, and sea, and sky, and I am feeling it to
my great joy. Hoping soon to be among my own people, and to issue
sermons newly preached, I am, to my many hearty friends, their grateful
servant.
C.H. Spurgeon
Menton, Jan. 8, 1880.
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A Woman of a Sorrowful Spirit