A Bit of History for Old and Young
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 10, 1887,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham
and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this
day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads."
Genesis 48:15,16.
JOSEPH was one by himself. In Jacob's family he was like a swan in a
duck's nest–he seemed to be of a different race from the rest, even
from his childhood. He was the son of old age, the son of the elders,
that is, a child who was old when he was young, in thoughtfulness and
devotion. He reached an early ripeness which did not end in early
decay. In consequence of this, Joseph was one by himself in the
peculiarity of his trials. Through his brothers' hatred of him, he was
made to suffer greatly and, at last, was sold into slavery and
underwent trials in Egypt of the severest kind. "The archers have
sorely grieved him and shot at him, and hated him." But, Brothers and
Sisters, see the recompense, for he had blessings which were altogether
his own. "His bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made
strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." He was as
distinguished by the favor of God as by the disfavor of his brothers.
When Jacob is old and about to die, Joseph receives from him a blessing
all to himself, in addition to that which he received with his
brothers. In the 49th chapter we read, "Gather yourselves together, and
hear, you sons of Jacob: and hearken unto Israel, your father." And
they did so and received as a family such blessings as their father's
prophetic eyes foresaw. But before this, "by faith, Jacob blessed the
two sons of Joseph" at a private interview especially granted to them.
Had not his tribulations abounded, his consolations would not so have
abounded! Do you seem, yourself, my Friend, to be marked out for
peculiar sorrows? Do the arrows of affliction make your life their
target and are you chastened above all other men? Do not be regretful,
for the arrows are winged by Covenant Love which designs, by their
wounds, are to prepare you for a special work which will lead up to a
special benediction from your Father who is in Heaven!
The day will come when you will be grateful for every smart you now
endure–yes, grateful for that bitter pang of unkindness from your
brothers, though now it tortures your heart. The abundance of the
Revelation of God is usually joined with a thorn in the flesh either
before or after it. Notwithstanding your grief, there shall yet be born
to you, as to Joseph, a Manasseh, for God shall make you forget all
your toil, and an Ephraim, for God shall make you fruitful in the land
of your affliction. You shall be blessed above all others! "Even by the
God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall
bless you with blessings of Heaven above, blessings of the deep that
lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: the blessings of
your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto
the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of
Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his
brethren."
Surely it is good for a man that he bears the yoke in his youth–his
shoulders shall be the better able to bear the government when God
shall lay it upon them! Instructed by affliction, the man shall become
a father to his people and a comforter to the afflicted.
Our text tells us that Jacob blessed Joseph and we perceive that he
blessed him through blessing his children which leads us to the next
remark, that no more choice favor could fall upon ourselves than to see
our children favored of the Lord. Joseph is doubly blessed by seeing
Ephraim and Manasseh blessed. Dear young people, to whom I now speak,
your fathers can say, "We have no greater joy than this, that our
children walk in the Truth of God." If any of you who are unconverted
knew the deep searching of heart of your parents about you, I think you
would not long be careless and indifferent about Divine things. And if
you could conceive the flashes of heavenly joy that would light up your
parents'
hearts if they saw you saved in the Lord, it would be an inducement to
you to consider your ways and turn unto the Lord with full purpose of
heart. God, Himself, next to giving to His chosen the Covenant of
Grace, can do them no greater earthly kindness than to call their
children, by His Grace, into the same Covenant! Will you not think of
this?
Those of us who are parents are bound to do our best that our children
may be partakers with us of the Divine inheritance. As Joseph took
Ephraim and Manasseh to see their aged grandfather, let us bring our
children where blessings may be expected. Let us be careful of the
company into which we take our sons and daughters. Let us never conduct
them where they may receive harm rather than benefit. Carefully,
lovingly, wisely–using no undue severity–let us guide them into
likely places for the Divine benediction and encourage them to seek the
blessing for themselves by the fact that their parents are seeking it
for them. The father who will not seize every opportunity of getting a
blessing for his Eph-raim and Manasseh is not likely to see the lads
seeking the blessing for themselves. Especially should this care be
taken by parents who are growing rich–whose offspring will be tempted
by this very fact to seek grander society than the poor people of God
can afford them.
I doubt not that these two sons of Egypt's prime minister were exposed
to exceedingly great temptations. As the sons of a very wealthy and
distinguished parent, their tastes might lie in an Egyptian direction.
I believe that they were, nevertheless, greatly swayed to the right
side and led to worship the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,
by the zeal of their father, Joseph, and by the recollection of the
benediction of their dying grandfather. There is no trace of their
having inclined to the religion of the king and the nobles of
Egypt–they adhered to the faith of their father. Oh that all the
descendants of Puritan fathers might be steadfast to the pure Truth of
God in these evil days!
Furthermore, observe that if we want to bless young people, one of the
likeliest means of doing so will be our personal testimony to the
goodness of God. Young men and women usually feel great interest in
their fathers' life story–if it is a worthy one–and what they hear
from them of their personal experience of the goodness of God will
abide with them. We all read biographies and we value the results of
experience which we find there, but the biographies of our own
relatives are peculiarly treasured. And when these biographies are not
read, but spoken, what wonderful force they have! I remember in my
younger days hearing a minister, blind with age, speak at the communion
table and bear witness to us young people who had just joined the
Church, that it was well for us that we had come to put our trust in a
faithful God. And, as the good man, with great feebleness and yet with
great earnestness, said to us that he had never regretted that he had
given his heart to Christ as a boy, I felt my heart leap within me with
delight that I had such a God to be my God!
His testimony was such as a younger man could not have borne–he might
have spoken more fluently, but the weight of those 80 years at the back
of it made the old man eloquent to my young heart! We who are growing
gray in our Master's service ought not to be backward to speak well of
His name. Why, my Brother, you will not be able to do so much good in
Heaven as you can on earth, for they all know about it up there–but
men here need our witness to the God whom we have tried and proved! Let
us make occasions in which we may speak well of the Lord, even the God
who has fed us all our life and redeemed us from all evil. This is one
of the best ways in which to bless the lads. The benediction of Jacob
was intertwined with his biography–the blessing which he had, himself,
enjoyed, he wished for them–and as he invoked it, he helped to secure
it by his personal testimony.
One thing further. I want you to note that Jacob, in desiring to bless
his grandsons, introduced them to God. He speaks of "God before whom my
fathers did walk: God who blessed me all my life long." This is the
great distinction between man and man! There are two races–he that
fears God and he that fears Him not. The religion of this present age,
such as it is, has a wrong direction in its course. It seeks after what
is called "the enthusiasm of humanity," but what we need, far more, is
enthusiasm for God! We shall never go right unless God is first, midst
and last. I despair for benevolence when it is not based upon devotion.
We shall not long have love to man if we do not first and chiefly
cultivate love to God. What our boys need in starting in life is a
God–if we have nothing else to give them, they have enough if they
have God! What our girls need in quitting the nurture of home is God's
love in their hearts–and whether they have fortunes or not, is a small
matter! In fellowship with God lies the essence of true human life!
Life in God, life by the knowledge of the Most High, life through the
Redeeming Angel–this is life, indeed!
Jacob died as one who had been delivered from all evil, yes, even the
evil of old age. His eyes were dim, but that did not matter, for his
faith was clear. I love to think that we are going where our vision of
God will not be through the eyes, but through the spiritual
perceptions. These were brighter in Jacob in his old age than ever
before. His faith and love,
which are the earthly forms of those perceptions, were apprehending God
in a more forcible manner than ever and, therefore, signified little
that the eyes which he would need no longer were failing him. We cannot
say that he was in decay, after all, for he was losing what he only
needed in this world of shadows–and was gaining fitness for the higher
state! His gracious faculties grew as his bodily faculties declined
and, therefore, he felt that his life was ending in a fullness of
blessing such as he wished for the children of his dearest son. How
ardently do I wish the same blessing for all the young people before
me! The Lord God Almighty bless you! When your earth-born faculties
fail you, may heavenly Graces more than supply their place!
All this is introduction, so now we must come at once and plunge into
the discourse! And I will be brief upon each point of it. Jacob's
testimony, wherewith he blessed the sons of Joseph, has in it four
points.
I. First, HE SPEAKS OF ANCESTRAL MERCIES. He begins with that "God,
before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk." As with a pencil he
sketches the lives of Abraham and Isaac. He does not fill in with
coloring, but the outline is perfect–you see the two men in their
whole career in those few words–"God, before whom my fathers Abraham
and Isaac did walk."
They were men who recognized God and worshipped Him beyond all others
of their age. God was to them a real existence. They spoke with God and
God spoke with them. They were friends of God and enjoyed familiar
acquaintance with him. No agnosticism blinded their understandings and
deadened their hearts. They were worshippers of the one living and true
God. Happy children who have such fathers! Happier children who are
like such fathers!
They not only recognized God, but they acknowledged Him in daily life.
I take the expression, "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk," to mean that He was their God in common life. They not only
knelt before God when they prayed, but they walked before Him in
everything. When they went forth from their tents and when they
returned from their flocks, they walked before God. They were never
away from His service, or without His Presence. He was their dwelling
place. Whether they sojourned under an oak or dwelt by a well. Whether
they entertained strangers or walked in the field to meditate, they
lived and moved in God. This is the kind of life for you and for
me–whether we live in a great house or in a poor cottage, if we walk
before God we shall lead a happy and a noble life–whether that life is
public or obscure. Oh that our young people would firmly believe this!
They walked before God, that is, they obeyed His commands. His call
they heard, His bidding they followed. Abraham left country and kindred
to go to an unknown land which God would show him. Yes, more, he took
his son, whom he greatly loved, and stood prepared to sacrifice him at
God's command! Isaac also yielded himself up to be slain, if so Jehovah
willed. To them the will of the Lord was paramount–He was Law and Life
to them, for they loved and feared Him. They were prompt to hear the
behests of God and rose up early to fulfill them. They acted as in the
immediate Presence of the All-Seeing.
To the fullest they trusted Him. In this sense they always saw Him. We
sometimes talk about tracing Him. We cannot trace Him except as we
trust Him! And because they trusted, they traced Him. Notwithstanding
all the danger and difficulty of their pilgrim state, they dwelt in
perfect security in an enemy's land, for the Lord had said, "Touch not
My anointed and do My Prophets no harm." They were serene and tranquil
because they walked before God, knowing Him to be their Friend–and
that He was their shield and their exceedingly great reward. For
temporal things they had no anxiety, for they lived upon the
All-Sufficient God. Therefore these two men, Abraham and Isaac, though
much tried, led peaceful lives–they conversed with Heaven while they
sojourned on earth.
They enjoyed the favor of God, for this, also, is intended by walking
before Him. His face was towards them–they sunned themselves in His
smile. God's love was their true treasure. We read that God had blessed
Abraham in all things and of Isaac we hear even the Philistines say,
"We saw certainly that the Lord was with you." God was their wealth,
their strength, their exceeding joy! I say again, happy sons who have
such ancestors! Happier, still, if they follow in their track!
So Jacob spoke of Abraham and Isaac and so can some of us speak of
those who went before us. Those of us who can look back upon godly
ancestors now in Heaven must feel that many ties bind us to follow the
same course of life. Had they transgressed against the Lord, our duty
would have called us to quit the ways of the family, even as Abraham
left his kindred who dwelt on the other side of the flood. But as their
way was right, we are doubly called to follow it because it is the good
old way and the way our godly fathers trod.
There is a charm about that which was prized by our fathers. Heirlooms
are treasured and the best heirloom in a family is the knowledge of
God. When I spoke, the other day, with a Christian Brother, he seemed
right happy to tell me that he sprang from a family which came from
Holland during the persecution of the Duke of Alva. And I felt a
brotherhood with him in claiming a like descent. I dare say our fathers
were poor weavers, but I had far rather be descended from one who
suffered for the faith than bear the blood of all the emperors within
my veins! There should be a sacredness to you young people in the faith
for which your ancestors suffered. Choose not the society of Egypt and
its wealth and honors, but keep to the stock of Israel and claim the
inheritance of Jacob as Ephraim and Manasseh did. Let it not be said
that as your family increased in riches, it departed from the living
God. Shall the goodness of God be perverted into a reason for apostasy?
The way of holiness in which your fathers went is a fitting way for you
and it is seemly that you maintain the godly traditions of your house.
In the old times they expected sons to follow the secular calling of
their fathers and although that may be regarded as an old-world
mistake, yet it is well when sons and daughters receive the same
spiritual call as their parents. Grace is not tied to families, yet the
Lord delights to bless to a thousand generations! Very far are we from
believing that the new birth is of blood, or of the will of the flesh,
or of the will of man. The will of God reigns here supreme and
absolute–but yet there is a sweet fitness in the passing on of holy
loyalty from grandfather to father and from father to son. I like to
feel that I serve God "from my fathers." I feel that it is right and
comely that I should be found preaching out of my whole soul the same
doctrine which my grandfather and my father preached–and equally fit
that my sons should be found, as they are, preaching no other Gospel
than that which we have received–"Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today and forever!"
I say again, if our fathers were wrong, we ought boldly to dissent from
them and obey God rather than man, but where they are right we are
bound to follow them! I stood, last Wednesday in a sort of dream as I
gazed upon my much-beloved grandfather's place of sepulcher. I was
encouraged by seeing the record of his 54 years of service in the midst
of one church and people and I rejoiced that, could he rise from the
dead, he would find his grandson preaching that same old-fashioned and
much-despised Calvinistic doctrine of the Grace of God which was his
joy in life and his comfort in death!
A godly ancestry casts responsibility upon young people. These Ephraims
and Manassehs perceive that their fathers knew the Lord and the
question arises, Why should they not know Him? O my beloved young
Friends, the God of your fathers will be found of you and be your God!
The prayers of your fathers have gone before you–let them be followed
by your own. Be hopeful of being heard at that Mercy Seat where they
found Grace to help in every time of need. They died in the hope that
you would fill their places–shall not their hopes become facts? Do I
speak to some who have godly parents in Heaven and yet they are,
themselves, pursuing the ways of sin or of worldliness? Registered upon
that file are your mother's prayers. I trust they will yet be heard.
Even now they stand like a hedge about you, making it hard work for you
to go to Hell! Will you force your way to Hell over a father's grave?
Will you, by a desperate effort, push aside your pleading mother's form
and pursue your dreadful road to ruin? If so, you will involve
yourselves in tremendous guilt. I beseech you, hear the tender voice of
love which now invites you to be blest!
A godly ancestry should invest a man's case with great hopefulness. May
he not argue, "If God blessed my ancestors, why should He not bless me?
If they sought mercy and found it, why should not I? My father and my
mother were not perfect any more than I am, but they had faith in God
and He accepted them and helped them. If I have faith in God, He will
accept me and be faithful to me. They were saved as sinners trusting in
the blood of Jesus and why should not I?" I beseech you, put this
argument to the test and you will find it holds good.
II. Thus we have seen Jacob seeking to bless his seed by bearing
testimony to the blessings which God had bestowed upon his house. Now
he comes to deal with PERSONAL MERCIES. The old man's voice faltered as
he said, "The God which fed me all my life long." The translation would
be better if it ran, "The God which shepherded me all my life
long."
He spoke of the Lord as his Shepherd. Jacob had been a shepherd and,
therefore, he knew what shepherding included–the figure is full of
meaning. There had been a good deal of Jacob about Jacob and he had
tried to shepherd himself. Poor sheep that he was, while under his own
guidance he had been caught in many thorns and had wandered in many
wildernesses. Because he would be so much a shepherd to himself, he had
been hard put to it. But over all, despite
his willfulness, the shepherding of the Covenant God had been exercised
towards him and he acknowledged it. O dear saints of God, you to whom
years are being multiplied, give praise to your God for having been
your Shepherd! You delight in the 23rd Psalm–sing it sometimes with
variations by using the past tense–"The Lord has been my Shepherd and
I have known no need. He has made me to lie down in green pastures; He
has led me beside the still waters. Yes, though I have walked through
the valley of the shadow of death in times of great darkness, yet I
have feared no evil: for He has been with me, His rod and His staff
have comforted me." Bear your witness to the shepherding of God, for
this may lead others to become the sheep of His pasture.
This shepherding had been perfect. Our version rightly says that the
Lord had fed Jacob all his life long. Take that sense of it and you who
have a daily struggle for subsistence will see much beauty in it. Jacob
had a large family and yet they were fed. Some of you say, "It is all
very well of you to talk of Providence when you have few to provide
for." I answer, it is better, still, to talk of Providence where a
large household requires large provision! Remember Jacob had 13
children, yet his God provided them bread to eat and clothes to put on.
None of that large company were left to starve. You think, perhaps,
that Jacob was a man of large estate. He was not so when he began life.
He was only a working man–a shepherd. When he left his father's house
he had no attendants with camels and tents. I suppose he carried his
little bit of provision in a handkerchief and when he laid down that
night to sleep, with a stone for his pillow, the hedges for curtains,
the heavens for his canopy, and the earth for his bed, he had no fear
of being robbed.
God was with him, but apart from that, he had nothing to begin life
with but his own hands. Whatever he received from his father Isaac
afterwards, he had at first to fight his own way–but he knew no lack
either at the beginning or at the end, for he could speak of the great
Elohim as, "the God which fed me all my life long." Hundreds of us can
say the same! I remember one who came to be wealthy who used to show me
with great pleasure the tree axle of the truck in which he used to
wheel his goods through the streets when he began in business–I liked
to see him mindful of his original. Mind you do not go and say, "See
how I have got on by my own talents and industry!" Talk not so proudly,
but say, "God has fed me." Mercies are all the sweeter when seen to
come from the hand of God.
But besides being fed, Jacob had been led, even as sheep are guided by
the shepherd who goes before them. His journeys, for that period, had
been unusually long, perilous and frequent. He had fled from home to
Padanaram. After long years he had come back to Canaan and had met his
brother, Esau. And after that, in his old age he had journeyed into
Egypt. To go to California or New Zealand in these times is nothing at
all compared to those journeys in Jacob's day! But he says, "God has
shepherded me all my life long" and he means that the great changes of
his life had been wisely ordered. At home and in exile, in Canaan and
in Goshen, God had been a shepherd to him. He sees the good hand of God
upon him in all his wanderings, until he now finds himself sitting up
on his bed and blessing Joseph through his sons.
I am glad that he went into detail with these young men, for they
needed to be confirmed in their fidelity to God. They were in a
perilous condition, for they had the entree of the rank and fashion of
Egypt and were tempted to forsake the poor family of the Hebrews. Some
of you young fellows begin where your fathers left off and, having the
means of self-indulgence, you are apt to follow the fashions and
frivolities of the period. Oh that the Holy Spirit may make you feel
that you need God with you with wealth as much as your fathers needed
God without wealth! You may yet come to beggary with all your
inheritance if you cast off the fear of the Lord and fall into sin. You
who begin life with nothing but your own brains and hands, trusting in
your father's God, shall yet have to sing as your fathers sang, "the
God which fed me all my life long."
Young men and young women beginning life, I charge you seek first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness! It is not life to live without
God–you miss the kernel, the cream, the crown of life if you miss the
Presence of God! Life is but a bubble blown up of toil and trouble
without God! Life ends in blighted hope if you have not hope in God.
But with God you are as a sheep with a Shepherd–cared for, guided,
guarded, fed, led–and your end shall be peace without end!
III. Thirdly, bear with me while I follow Jacob in his word upon
REDEEMING MERCIES. "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil." There
was to Jacob a mysterious Person who was God and yet the Angel or
Messenger of God. He puts this Angel side by side with Elohim, for this
Angel was God. Yet was He his Redeemer. He saw Him doing the office of
the next-of-kin–though God, He was his Kinsman and, as his Kinsman,
effected redemption for him! Jacob's faith enabled him, like Job, to
know that his Redeemer lives. He saw that this Covenant Messenger had
redeemed him from all evil and he magnified the name of the Lord who
revealed Himself in this Angel!
When Jacob was in his sorest straits, this Redeeming Angel always
interposed. He fell into an evil state through the influence of his
mother and he did Esau serious wrong. He fled for his life and at that
time there was a great gulf between him and God. Then that Angel came
in and bridged the gulf with a ladder by which he might rise to God.
The Kinsman, God, came in and showed Jacob how the abyss might be
crossed, so that he might return to his God. When he was away in
Padanaram, he began to sink very low while chaffering with churlish
Laban. Then, again, the Angel came and said, "Get you out from this
land and return unto the land of your kindred." The Redeeming Angel
held back wrathful La-ban–and when Esau came to meet him in hot anger,
the Angel specially appeared to Jacob. The Angel wrestled, as a Man,
with Jacob to get Jacob out of Jacob and raise him into Israel! How
marvelous was the redemption which was worked for him that night at
Jabbok! Jacob came forth from the conflict limping, but he walked
before the Lord far better than before! That same mysterious Person had
bid him go down into Egypt with the promise that He would go down with
him. It was the Angel of God's Presence who held His shield over Jacob
and preserved him from all evil.
Brothers and Sisters, let us also tell of the redeeming mercies of the
Lord Jesus towards us! He redeemed us on the bloody tree, but He has
also redeemed us from our death in sin. Do you remember the place and
time when Jesus first met with you? Perhaps not. But blessed be the
Redeeming Angel that quickened me into spiritual life! I recall the
place and time with pleasure! He redeemed us, also, from despair when,
under a sense of sin, we could not dare to hope. He came to us and
showed us our healing in His wounds and our life in His death.
Afterwards, when our corruptions began to rise and we had a hard battle
to believe that such sinners were, indeed, saved, the Redeeming Angel
confirmed our faith and gave us inward strength. Do we not well
remember when He said unto us, "I have loved you with an everlasting
love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you"? I want you to
look back and remember the times when you were sick and this Redeeming
Angel so sweetly visited you that you were half afraid to get well, for
fear you should lose His Pres-ence–your bed had become a throne to
you!
You remember, too, when that pinch came in business, so that you could
not see how to provide things honest in the sight of all men. Then
Jesus revealed His love and bade you think of the lilies and the ravens
which neither spin nor sow and yet are clothed majestically and fare
sumptuously! Many a time has the Lord delivered you because He
delighted in you. When you were likely to fall into sin. When you were
very wrong in spirit, He beheld you in pity and restored your soul.
Though you were so lukewarm that He was ready to spue you out of His
mouth, yet He knocked at your door and when you admitted Him, He came
in and supped with you–and your soul was soon on fire with love to
Him! He restored your soul and the love of your espousals came back to
you. Blessed Redeemer, how graciously do You deliver! Oh that we more
often thought of the interpositions of the loving Christ! He did not
only redeem us when He died, but He still redeems us by His living
power! This is the sum of our life–the Angel of the Covenant has
delivered us day by day, is delivering us and will deliver us to the
end! Do you wonder that we commend Him to our offspring and desire to
commit them to His loving care? Young Friends who know not the Savior,
I would gladly lead you to this Guardian Angel, this God-like Man who
will save you from all evil from this day forth and forevermore!
IV. Now comes the last point–I do not know if anyone has gone to sleep
in this close atmosphere, but if so, let him kindly wake up, for I have
something to say which will interest him. Jacob has spoken of ancestral
mercies, personal mercies and redeeming mercies–and now he deals with
FUTURE MERCIES as he cries–"Bless the lads." He began with blessing
Joseph and he finishes with blessing his lads. O dear Friends, if God
has blessed you, I know you will want Him to bless others! There is the
stream of mercy, deep, broad and clear–you have drunk of it and are
refreshed, but it is as full as ever! It will flow on, will it not? You
do not suppose that you and I have dammed up the stream so as to keep
it to ourselves! No, it is too strong–too full a stream for that! It
will flow on from age to age. God will bless others as He has blessed
us. Unbelief whispers that the true Church will die out. Do not believe
it! Christ will live and His Church will live with Him till the heavens
are no more. Has He not said, "Because I live, you shall live also?"
"Oh," you say, "but we shall not see such holy men in the next
generation as in past ages." Why not? I hope the next age will see far
better men than any of those who are with us at this time! Pray that it
may be so. Instead of the fathers, may there be the children and may
these be princes before the Lord!
The stream of Divine Grace will flow on. Oh, that it may take our sons
and daughters in its course! "Bless the lads." Sunday school teachers,
is not that a good prayer for you? Pray the Lord to bless the lads and
the lasses, because He has
blessed you. There is the stream–it must flow somewhere–pray, "Lord,
make it flow to my family and to my class." For Your mercy's sake,
gracious Lord, "bless the lads."
We need not say in what precise form or way the blessing shall come.
Let us leave it in all its breadth of inconceivable benediction. May
the Lord bless our youth as only He can do it! And if He causes them to
fear and trust Him, He will be blessing all of us and blessing ages to
come. Upon these Ephraims and Manassehs will depend the work of the
Lord in the years to come. Therefore, with emphasis we pray, "Bless the
lads." All for us, we are content to work on, saying, "Let Your work
appear unto Your servants." But our anxious desire is that our children
may reap the result of our labors and, therefore, we add, "and Your
glory unto their children."
In closing, I wish to bear a personal testimony by narrating an
incident in my own life. I have been preaching in Essex this week and I
took the opportunity to visit the place where my grandfather preached
so long–and where I spent my earliest days. Last Wednesday was to me a
day in which I walked like a man in a dream! Everybody seemed bound to
recall some event or other of my childhood. What a story of Divine Love
and Mercy did it bring before my mind! Among other things, I sat down
in a place that must always be sacred to me. There stood in my
grandfather's manse garden two arbors made of yew trees, cut into
sugar-loaf fashion. Though the old manse has given way to a new one and
the old chapel is also gone, yet the yew trees flourish as before.
I sat down in the right hand arbor and I thought of what had happened
there many years ago. When I was a young child staying with my
grandfather, there came to preach in the village Mr. Knill who had been
a missionary at St. Petersburg and a mighty preacher of the Gospel. He
came to preach for the London Missionary Society and arrived on the
Saturday at the manse. He was a great soul-winner and he soon spied out
the boy. He said to me, "Where do you sleep? for I want to call you up
in the morning." I showed him my little room. At six o'clock he called
me up and we went into that arbor. There, in the sweetest way, he told
me of the love of Jesus and of the blessedness of trusting in Him and
loving Him in our childhood. With many a story he preached Christ to me
and told me how good God had been to him.
And then he prayed that I might know the Lord and serve Him. He knelt
down in that arbor and prayed for me with his arms about my neck. He
did not seem content unless I kept with him in the interval between the
services and he heard my childish talk with patient love. On Monday
morning he did as on the Sabbath and again on Tuesday. Three times he
taught me and prayed with me and before he had to leave, my grandfather
had come back from the place where he had gone to preach–and all the
family were gathered to morning prayer. Then, in the presence of them
all, Mr. Knill took me on his knee and said, "This child will one day
preach the Gospel and he will preach it to great multitudes. I am
persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland Hill, where, (I
think he said), I am now the minister."
He spoke very solemnly, and called upon all present to witness what he
said. Then he gave me sixpence as a reward if I would learn the hymn–
"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform."
I was made to promise that when I preached in Rowland Hill's Chapel
that hymn should be sung. Think of that as a promise from a child!
Would it ever be other than an idle dream? Years flew by. After I had
begun, for some little time, to preach in London, Dr. Alexander
Fletcher had to give the annual sermon to children in Surrey Chapel,
but as he was taken ill, I was asked, in a hurry, to preach to the
children. "Yes," I said, "I will, if the children will sing, 'God moves
in a mysterious way.' I have made a promise long ago that so that
should be sung."
And so it was–I preached in Rowland Hill's Chapel and the hymn was
sung! My emotions on that occasion I cannot describe. Still that was
not the chapel which Mr. Knill intended! All unsought by me, the
minister at Wotton-Under-Edge, which was Mr. Hill's summer residence,
invited me to preach there. I went on the condition that the
congregation should sing, "God moves in a mysterious way"–which was
also done. After that I went to preach for Mr. Richard Knill, himself,
who was then at Chester. What a meeting we had! Mark this! He was
preaching in the theater! His preaching in a theater took away from me
all fear about preaching in secular buildings and set me free for the
campaigns in Exeter Hall and the Surrey Music Hall. How much this had
to do with other theater services you know–
"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform."
After more than 40 years of the Lord's loving kindness, I sat again in
that arbor! No doubt it is a mere trifle for outsiders to hear, but to
me it was an overwhelming moment. The present minister of Stambourne
Meeting House and the
members of his family, including his son and his grandchildren, were in
the garden and I could not help calling them together around that arbor
while I praised the Lord for His goodness. One irresistible impulse was
upon me–it was to pray God to bless those lads that stood around me!
Do you not see how the memory begat the prayer? I wanted them to
remember, when they grew up, my testimony of God's goodness to me–and
for that same reason I tell it to you young people who are around me
this morning!
God has blessed me all my life long and redeemed me from all evil–and
I pray that He may be your God. You that have godly parents, I would
specially address. I beseech you to follow in their footsteps, that you
may one day speak of the Lord as they were able to do in their day.
Remember that special promise, "I love them that love Me and those that
seek Me early shall find Me." May the Holy Spirit lead you to seek Him
this day and you shall live to praise His name as Jacob did!