A Feast For Faith
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 16, 1866 BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"This also comes forth from the Lord of Hosts, Who is wonderful in
counsel and excellent in working." Isaiah 28:29.
ISAIAH admired the farmer's skill in his calling. He mentions with
admiration the various methods adopted by the farmer in the rotation of
crops, in the choice of different soils for certain seeds, in the
methods of binding up and stowing away his produce. And he enlarges
especially upon the different methods of threshing which were used by
the Orientals, some tender grain being threshed out by a staff in a
man's hand, and others being dragged out of the husk by coarser means,
such as by being trampled upon by the feet of oxen, pressed by the
turning of a cart wheel upon them, or by the dragging them through a
sharp threshing instrument having teeth. He considered, I suppose, that
the art of agriculture was in a high state of perfection.
I wonder what he would say if he could observe it now, and see the
wonderful machines which no sooner go into a field or a brickyard than
they accomplish with ease in a few hours that which was once the labor
of days or even weeks! Certainly he would exclaim with even greater
emphasis than he did concerning the agriculture of his own day–"This
also comes forth from the Lord of hosts." The sentiment of the text on
its surface is that the art, and science, and skill of man, are the
gifts of God. The Prophet instances only agriculture, but the same
principle applies to all the arts and manufacturing, and in a higher
degree, still, to those more sublime sciences which elevate the human
mind and make us acquainted with the majestic and mysterious powers of
Nature.
We are bound to trace human wisdom up to Divine wisdom, even in those
things which have no relation to the eternal interests of men, but
which have a beneficial influence upon their present state. We read of
Bezalel, the son of Uri, that the Lord said, "I have filled him with
the spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,
and in all manner of workmanship. To devise cunning works, to work in
gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set
them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship."
Then it is added, "and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I
have put wisdom."
We are to ascribe the thoughtful, inventive mind, and the dexterous,
clever hand, to Him who is the great Instructor of man. We trace
directly to God the marvelous philosophy of Newton, and the skill of
Watt and Stevenson, because the very slightest consideration shows us
that there was originally a peculiarity in the constitution and
formation of such minds as theirs. The most of us could have done
nothing of the kind if we had tried all our days. There may be men of
inventive genius here, but I suppose that nine out of ten of us can
make no pretense to the possession of anything of the sort, and
therefore we are led to ask, "Where did the faculty come from?"
Surely the fertile brain of invention must be the Creator's gift! And
Providence has also a hand in the business, for many men whose minds
would naturally have gone in the direction of invention are turned into
quite another course by the force of circumstances–
"Chill penury repressed their noble rage, And chilled the genial
current of their soul."
It was surely God's Providence, which in other cases found a channel
for the natural passion, and allowed the soul to flow as it willed. And
how often, too, some of the greatest inventions have been due to the
simplest incidents! The puffing of steam from a kettle, or the falling
of an apple from a tree have led thoughtful minds to discover great and
important truths–and who shall attribute these circumstances to any
but to Him, who "works all things according to the counsel of His
will"–and who gives wisdom to the wisest of the sons ofmen?
Let us adore the Mighty God, not only as we read our Bibles, but as we
traverse the halls of art and science, and visit the exhibitions which
in these days of ours are being reared on every side. Let us make man's
skill speak to us of God's Glory, and as we look upon them, instead of
saying, "Great are you, O man! And great are the marvels of your
genius," let us say, "Great are You, O God, in thus instructing man,
and guiding him to those principles and properties of matter, by the
knowledge of which his mortal existence is cheered and brightened." The
drift of the writer of the text is this–if God thus instructs man in
wisdom–how wise must He be Himself! If the mere rays which come from
Him convey to us so much light that we are perfectly astonished at what
man can do, what must be the infinite wisdom in counsel, and the
excellence of works which are to be discovered in God Himself!
If the human mind at last has linked two far-divided continents
together, and annihilated space and time, and even made the old ocean
to be the preserver rather than the destroyer of the slender line along
which the fluid lightning flashes at man's bidding. If man has bridged
the mightiest rivers, and has forced his roads through pathless forests
and rocky mountains–being taught to do so by God–then what cannot God
do? If the pupil, the poor puny pupil, can accomplish these marvels,
what cannot the Master perform? Must He not be wonderful in His
counsel? Must He not be excellent in His works?
Thus the Prophet conducts our mind from man to God. I wish that all
teachers did the same! But how many there are whose main business
appears to be to divert the mind from God, and to ignore His Existence!
There are two things which shall occupy our attention this morning. The
first is the vision of God which the text presents to us, and the
second is the lesson which such a vision is calculated to teach us.
I. First, let us behold THE VISION OF GOD WHICH IS PRESENTED TO US IN
THE TEXT. The Lord of hosts is seen by the enlightened eye, first of
all, in His council-chamber, and then in His great workshop. And in
both He is the subject of prophetic admiration. He is "wonderful in
counsel." He is "excellent in working." Let us remark at the outset
that it is clear from the text that God does not work without a plan.
God has not left the world to chance.
There are some men who are always kicking against the doctrine of an
eternal purpose, and who grow angry if you assert that God has settled
what shall occur. It is by the consent of all agreed that man is
foolish if he works without a plan, and yet they cry out when we insist
that God also, in all His working, is fulfilling a well-arranged
design! Depend upon it, however–let men rebel against this Truth of
God as they will–that God has determined the end from the beginning.
He has left no screw loose in the machine! He has left nothing to
chance or accident. Nothing with God is the subject of an "if or a
"perhaps," but even the agency of man, free as it is–as untouched and
undisturbed as if there were no God–even this is guided by His
mysterious power, and works out thoroughly His own purpose in every jot
and tittle!
He wings the thunderbolt and shall He not guide the most passionate
spirit? He puts a bit into the mouth of the whirlwind and shall He not
control the most ambitious will? He takes care that even the sea shall
come no farther than He bids it and shall not the heart of man be
equally subject to the Divine purpose? Yielding to man his free agency,
giving to him his responsibility, leaving him as free as if there were
no purpose and no decree, yet the eternal Jehovah works out His plans,
and achieves His purpose to the praise of His Glory!
The great principle of the text is that God has a plan–and that this
plan is wonderful in itself, and is found to be excellent when it is
carried out. This may be illustrated in many ways, and let us remark at
once that it is illustrated in Nature. All creation is full of traces
of design. It is true that the Lord took no counsel with His angels,
nor sought direction from any beings. "With whom took He counsel, and
who instructed Him?" He alone meted out the heavens with a span, and
weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. But they
were weighed and measured, and nothing was made without the most
accurate calculation!
Even that which appears to us to be irregular in the Divine work is
only undiscovered order. The stars seem cast about upon the floor of
Heaven as men might fling gold dust from their hands! Yet there is not
a single star whose place might be altered without mischief to the
whole arrangement. Who has studied astronomy that does not know that
the size of every planet–its place in the solar system, the density of
its matter, the length of its year, and everything connected with
it–is arranged upon a scale so accurate that they can be calculated by
the mathematician with the utmost nicety? Such is the wisdom manifested
in the arrangement of those ponderous orbs of Heaven! And here on earth
is it not one of the clearest arguments for Godhead that design is
visible everywhere?
Take the meanest animal, or the most minute insect, and you will find
in it the most admirable contrivances to suit the habits of the
creature and to make it happy in its condition. No, these creatures not
only show design, but supply proof that the design is excellent in its
working, for every fish that passes through the paths of the sea
declares in its easy and graceful motion that the plan of its formation
works admirably, and so with every bird and beast. No creature has to
go to its Creator and complain, "There is a defect in my structure. I
cannot carry out the end for which I was designed." Our own bodies,
too, so curiously worked, full of nerves and muscles, the matchless
needlework of God's patient fingers, have about them, if we did but
observe them, ten thousand proofs of the surpassing foresight and
masterly art of the great Maker.
Oh that being so wondrously made by God we might feel bound to show
forth His praise! Beloved Friends, a second illustration of this Truth
of God may very easily be drawn from Providence. The great Providential
operations of God are all the result of His fore-determined purpose and
decree. From the first moment when Hiddekel and Euphrates, with their
silvery flood, rolled joyously through the midst of Paradise rippling
over sands of gold, down to the Last Great Day when the mighty angel
shall stand upon the sea and upon the earth, and swear by Him that
lives forever and ever that time shall be no longer–everything that
has moved or shall move in Heaven, and, earth, and Hell, has been, is,
and shall be according to the counsel and foreknowledge of
God–fulfilling a purpose holy, just, wise, and unalterable!
The whole poem of Providence, when it shall be read in the light of
eternity, shall be found worthy of the Infinite Mind. Even that part of
human history which has been already written, though it may appear
unintelligible at first sight, when it comes to be thoroughly studied,
has an explanation very near at hand. Did not God, age by age, prepare
the world for the coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh? And is He not
now preparing it for His second coming in His Glory? All the way up
till now every lover of the Lord will see that the awful wheels of
Providence have worked with excellent regularity. Empires have fallen,
but the Truth of God has risen! Dynasties have perished, but immortal
principles have conquered!
Slaughter has sown her seed in crimson furrows, but Liberty has
ultimately reaped the golden harvest. Famine and Pestilence have made
the earth to quake beneath their terrible footsteps when they came as
messengers of the avenging God, but flowers of goodness have sprung up
in their awful tracks. The most fearful calamities have hidden us
beneath their wings from calamities yet greater. The mischief of a day
has begotten for us blessings which have endured for ages! God has
shown in Providence, even until now, that He is wonderful in design and
excellent in working.
But, Believer, perhaps you will be more interested if I say that your
own personal experience of that Providence goes to prove this with
equal clearness. Oh, how wondrous in design has God been in His
dealings with you! You have felt many trials, and you are not able to
understand the reason of it all. You have been sitting down by the side
of the vast sea of Providence and you have been asking, Why this? And,
Why that? And trying to fathom the mystery with the shallow line of
your own judgment. But depend upon it that the need for all that you
have suffered has been most accurately determined by God! You must have
seen that He overrules all things for your good.
Have you not to thank God today, you gray-headed saints, for the
afflictions of your youth? And as to the trials of your riper years,
can you not say of them, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now
have I kept Your Word"? You lost a friend once, but you never knew how
much you gained by that loss, nor how much misery that trial spared
you. Some of you might never have been saved at all were it not that,
like Manasseh, you were taken among the thorns. You had determined to
live and die a worldling, and if the house in which you lived so
comfortably had not been consumed with fire you would have dwelt there
still!
But now you are a stranger and a sojourner, and are looking for "a city
which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Happily for
you, you did not see the plan of your life when you commenced it–but
equally happy for you is it that there was such a plan–that your life
has been arranged on the best possible principles so that if you had
been gifted with unerring wisdom, you must have arranged a life for
yourselves exactly similar to the one through which you have passed! I
know you will say, "Well, to begin with, I would not have been born a
child of poverty if I could have helped it. I would have prospered in
business if I could have had my own way. I would have been in quite
another locality from that in which I now reside if I could have had my
own choosing."
Yet, be persuaded that in every deviation from your past lot, you would
have been rushing into peril! And the happy results of which you will
have to sing in Heaven might have been prevented had there been an
alteration in any degree in
God's dealings with you. Many of you will be more pleased with another
illustration. The wondrous planning of the excellent Worker is plainly
seen in the great economy of Redemption. Well may angels desire to look
into the scheme by which God ordained that fallen man should rise by
his Fall, and should rise by a means similar to that by which he fell!
While God should be glorified even more than if sin had never entered,
Redemption is the most Divine of God's thoughts.
It is marvelous that He should give His own Son to be Incarnate for the
sake of His creatures! That God the mighty Maker should appear in human
flesh and become a Man, so that fallen, sinful, and miserable man might
be lifted up, and become the son of God! What a dream was that of Jacob
when he saw the ladder, the foot of which rested upon the earth, and
the top reached up to the seventh Heaven! That dream is more than
realized when I see the foot of the ladder in the humanity of Christ,
fixed in Bethlehem's manger, or if you will, at Calvary's Cross. And
then behold the top of that ladder reaching up to the Eternal Throne,
where He reigns as "God over all, blessed forever," who was also "the
Son of Man."
When I look at each of the rungs of that ladder, and see the proofs of
Divine love in the Savior's sighs and tears, and bloody sweat, and
passion, and death, I am lost in wonder! Truly it is a matchless scheme
by which Justice has its due, and Mercy has its sway–by which
Vengeance is satisfied, Holiness is gratified, and yet Love and Mercy,
uncontrolled and unlimited–sway their silver scepter among the sons of
men! When I see this great sight, those words of Isaiah's ring with a
bell–like music in my ears, "He is wonderful in counsel."
But, Beloved, when you see Redemption worked out, and when you think
that God really gave His only Son and that this Son actually did come
to Bethlehem–really lived among the sons of men, bowed His neck to the
yoke of obedience, and gave His hands to the nails, and His side to the
spear–you see His death was no fiction, but a grand reality! When you
see that Redemption completed by the resurrection of the Master and
hear the angelic shouts as He ascends on high, leading captivity
captive, and see Heaven lit up with a supernal splendor as He mounts to
His well-earned throne, you then find that He is as wonderful in the
carrying out of Redemption as He is in the proposing of it! You see,
then, He is wonderful in counsel, and that He is also excellent in
working.
Then, Brethren, turning from Redemption itself, look at the Gospel, and
see how wonderful in counsel God was in that matter. If we were to hold
a parliament of the wise men of England to settle the Gospel, I will
undertake to declare now what the Gospel would be. I am sure as to the
result–the majority of the members would decide that the Gospel to be
preached should be this–That men should be exhorted to do their best
to "live righteously, honestly, and soberly in this present evil
world." And then, through the merits of Christ, God would accept their
lives, and they would be saved. Now, that happens NOT to be the Gospel,
but the Law–or rather it is neither Law nor Gospel, but a mixture of
both, which God despises! It is neither hot nor cold, and He spits it
out of His mouth as an abhorred thing.
The Apostle Paul peremptorily, over and over again, tells us that
salvation is not by works. No, he tells us that it is not by works and
Divine Grace put together, either! He testifies that the two principles
neutralize and kill each other, and that a man must either be saved
wholly as the result of God's favor, or else he must be saved
altogether as the result of his own merit–for the two principles
cannot in any way be combined. The Gospel which we have to preach is
just the reverse of what human wisdom would advise. It is not, "do and
live," but "believe and live."
Now I will show you in a moment that the Gospel, which the world would
propose, would be a most absurd Gospel, because it would be of no
service to the very persons who need it the most. Those who walk
righteously, honestly, and soberly, may be put down as those who "have
no need of a physician." Why, then, prescribe a medicine for them?
Where would the Gospel be for the sick? As for the men who feel their
guilt before God, and their inability to conquer sin, what am I to say
to them if the world's Gospel is the true one? I can say nothing at all
to them upon this supposition, but must leave them to their
destruction!
If I find them lying upon the bed dying, or if I meet with them in the
hour of extremity, I can have no word of comfort to whisper in their
ear at all, but can only remind them that if they had lived
righteously, honestly, and soberly, things would have been different
with them–which is not good news but a rebuke! But now I can come to
all men, whoever they may be, sunken in degradation and steeped in
vice, and say to them, "In the name of God trust Christ, and you shall
be saved! The past shall be forgiven you, and as you trust Christ there
shall come flashing into your soul a new life which shall make you hate
the sins which have been your ruin, and make you love the ways of truth
and righteousness! You shall be saved as the result of God's free
favor, and the proof of it shall be that you shall be saved from the
power of sin and purified from your iniquities."
This Gospel seems to me to be wonderful in its counsel because it is
suited to the most abject and the most depraved. And I am a witness,
among ten thousand others, that it is excellent in its working. The
other system I spoke of would be bad in its working. Many preachers
have had to confess the uselessness of mere moral preaching. One of
them said he preached up honesty till his parish swarmed with thieves.
There is no instance, I believe, on record where the mere preaching of
the Law made a man love God, or where the heart ever was, or ever could
be, renewed by inculcating good works. As well hope to make a
blackamoor white by pelting him with snowballs.
And if it were right to do so, we could point out cases in this house
this morning by scores, where the preaching of the Savior's love and
the testimony of a free salvation for the undeserving has melted the
heart, has changed the morals, has, in fact, produced such an effect
that the drunkard loves sobriety, that the harlot has become chaste,
and that the most abandoned are saved. The Gospel plan is excellent in
its working. The other plan, which looks as if it would repress vice,
pulls up the very floodgates of it, for what you command a man not to
do, that he will do! But when you come to him, not with a command, but
with a sweet invitation of love, and with wooing words of comfort,
bidding him look to Jesus and live, then the command which was irksome
and impossible before becomes an easy yoke.
I must hardly tarry longer to illustrate this great principle, or
otherwise I might have spoken upon God's plan and God's work in inward
experience. The experience of every Christian is, in some respects,
different from the experience of every other, but it is still the
result of God's plan. Your being led through a certain state of deep
depression and of severe mental exercise is down in the book–and as
for my Brother yonder–his being led through a state of exultation and
rapturous delight is down in the plan, too. And it is right, that in
one case you should have defeat, and that in the other case you should
enjoy triumph.
My Brother shall be made a perfect man in Christ Jesus by his
joys–some excellencies will be in him which nothing but joy could have
fostered. You also shall be brought to spiritual development by your
sorrows, and some powers shall be in you which nothing but sorrow ever
could have educated in your case. The experiences of God's servants are
very like the wanderings of the children of Israel in the
wilderness–they were led here, and there, and round about–and yet
their road was the best way to Canaan. Sometimes a straight line is not
the shortest distance between two places. It is in mathematics, but it
is not in experience, for there may be something between through which
a straight line could not be drawn. There may be something in you which
renders it necessary that God should not lead you in a straight line,
and it may be best for you to avoid insuperable obstacles by going
round about.
Another illustration will be found in the use of instrumentality. It is
a wonderful design of God to use one man to be the means of the
conversion of another, because the man who does the work is as much
benefited as the man upon whom the work is done. It is a great means of
Divine Grace to the minister to be allowed to preach, as well as a
great means of Grace to the hearers to be able to hear. The Sunday
school teacher is as much benefited as are his scholars, and all of you
who are watering others shall be watered yourselves. It is a wise thing
on the part of God to use the Christian for the good of others because
it tends to edification.
And then how excellent it is in working! I am sure there is nothing
more excellent than when a Church is all at work. Then you see the
excellencies of instrumentality–no quarrellings, no bickering, no
jealousies–all are active. But let the same Christians have nothing to
do and straightway they meet with that black master who is said always
to find work for idle people! They begin snarling. They become
cantankerous and full of bitterness. They find fault, first with all
the world in general, and then with their Brethren in particular, and
lastly with themselves! No man is so near to the utmost extremity of
misery as that man who has nothing to do. "How died so and so?" said
one. "He died of having nothing to do," was the answer. "Ah," said the
other, "that is enough to kill any of us!" And so it is. Let us escape
from such a calamity.
It is wise in God's counsel to use instrumentality, and it is excellent
in working when it comes to be carried out. I must not, however, weary
you with these illustrations. I will only say that the best
illustration of all will be when, at the last, God's counsels shall be
perfectly fulfilled! The end is coming. Although the ages may appear to
drag their weary length along, yet he who looks upon them after God's
fashion considers them to be but as a watch in the night. In a few more
days the whole of God's purposes, with regard to the race of men here
below, will be fulfilled. The last messenger of
Mercy will have delivered his message, and the last elect soul will
have received it. The time shall come when the last vessel of mercy
shall be taken out from among the ruins of the Fall, and set in its
place where Jesus dwells.
Then comes the end, and when that end comes, we shall read, as far as
may be, the whole of God's purpose as one grand poem! And there will
not be one verse in it that has a syllable too much, or a word too
little. There will not be one stanza or canto redundant, much less one
that is erased–but from beginning to end we shall see the master pen
and the mastermind drawing forth the glorious array of majestic
thoughts! And with angels, seraphs, principalities, and powers, we
shall burst forth into one mighty song, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent reigns!"
We shall see how, from the first even to the last, the King has been
sitting upon the floods and ruling all things according to His own
will. "From seeming evil still educing good, and better still, and
better still in infinite progression," to the praise of His own Glory
forever and ever.
II. This being the doctrine of the text, I now want, as God shall help
me, to give you SOME OF THE LESSONS FROM IT. Believe me, I have not
laid down this doctrine in order that it may be a bed for you to
stretch yourselves upon, nor even that it may be a coverlet for you to
wrap yourselves in it–but I have done it with a practical purpose in
view!
First, I have a word to say to those unconverted persons who have some
desire after salvation. Dear Hearers, I would to God that, seeing His
counsel is so wondrous, you would agree to it. It is in His counsel
that sinners shall be saved by Grace through believing in Christ. You
have been setting up your own notion. You say that sinners should be
saved by getting themselves into a state of gloominess. That sinners
should be saved by humbling their minds. At least that is what I
suppose you are saying, for you say you cannot be saved because you do
not feel enough–that is to say, your plan is that you should be saved
as sinners, prepared to be saved–and God's plan is that you should be
saved just as you are.
He wills to deal with you just where you now are, in your spiritual
blindness, ignorance, hardness of heart, or whatever else may be the
form of your spiritual malady. His plan is that you should look to
Jesus as you are, and that looking, you should live! You will find this
plan of God's not only wise in counsel, but also excellent in working.
I have tried it and therefore I can speak experimentally. It is a
blessed way of salvation, that way of, "Look and live." But the
blessedness of it must be felt to be understood. I looked to Him and
was lightened, and many, many, many around me have done the same and
could rise up now and sing the hymn–
"I came to Jesus as I was, Weary, and worn, and sad. I found in Him a
resting place, And He has made me glad."
You gave your mental assent to the principle which I laid down, that
God is wonderful in His design, and excellent in working out His
design. Oh that you might give your heart's consent to this Truth of
God, and say, "Yes, Lord, it is a good way of salvation. I yield myself
to it. Lord, work salvation in me. I will from now on have nothing to
do with my own merit and strength. I will be dead, Lord, that You may
live in me. I will be nothing, that You may be my All in All." Oh, I am
happy, I am thrice happy, if a soul is now agreeing to that! O Heart!
You shall see His face, for when you accept Him it is a clear proof
that He has long ago loved you! And when you are agreed with Him it is
because He determined that you should be a sheep of His pasture.
Another word, and this is not to the sinner, but to you, the people of
God. You believe that God is wise in His counsel, and excellent in His
working, and you did not kick against the Truth as I laid it down, did
you? Now I want you to agree to this in your own particular case. I
know there are some of you here who, when it comes to the point,
believe it as a doctrine, but you do not believe it in your own case.
You say, "I cannot understand God's dealings with me." As if it were
expected that you should! But you also add, "I cannot believe that God
has good designs in it." My dear Friend, you must believe it, or
else–what? Shall I dare to say it? Yes, I will say it–John said that
if a man did not believe God, he made God a liar, and so you who do not
believe in God's wisdom make Him a fool!
Do you not shrink from that? I know you must! You do in effect, when
you doubt the wisdom of Providence–make God out to be a blunderer–or
else to be unkind! Would you do either? No, your heart is shocked at
the idea! It is all right, then, my Sister. It is all right, my
Brother. There cannot be a doubt of it, can there? If our business is
in His hands, it will all come right. You cannot get the rudder
round–the vessel will go on the wrong tack. But He can do it. He knows
how to get to the point that you are aiming at, and that He is aiming
at, and He will get you there even as sailors get their vessels to
where they want to go by tacking about.
So will it be with you. Your course is all mapped out by your Lord.
Nothing will take Him by surprise. There will be no novelties to Him.
There will be no occurrences which He did not ordain, and for which,
therefore, He has not provided. He has arranged all, and you have but
to patiently wait and you shall sing a song of deliverance. But these
are not the lessons I wanted to teach. They are both valuable, but I
now desire to speak to those of my Brothers and Sisters who are my
fellow workers. The workers and the sufferers are the cream of the
Church. Workers, here is a lesson for you. I will try to learn it
myself. It is this–when we are going to work for God do not let us be
in such a mighty hurry. I know our slow-going friends will like that
advice, but I do not mean what they think I do!
Do not let us seem to encourage them in their laziness by making
blunders through being hasty, for they will be sure to say, "Ah, you
should have been as slow as we are, and you would not have fallen into
these errors." Just so, but it is better to do good and blunder than to
lie and rot in idleness. Brother workers, let us have a well-formed
plan, and let it be God's plan. Very frequently I am afraid that we
sketch out our plan ourselves, and if we do that without waiting upon
God we are not walking in the path of faith–we are not bringing in Him
who is "wonderful in counsel" to our help. And we must not, therefore,
expect to have Him who is "excellent in working" for our assistance. We
must do God's work in His own way.
Sitting with Mary at the Master's feet is the very best preparation for
doing the work which Martha did without being "cumbered" by it. Oh,
when I know that I am following and not leading–that I am not running
before God's cloud, and like a fool, hunting out my own way in the
wilderness–but I see that I have His footsteps before me–it is happy
and safe walking! Friends may say, "Ah, rash young man, you are risking
so much," and Unbelief may cry, "Let me see the pounds, shillings, and
pence and we can go on!" But Faith cries, "If it is God's way. I know I
am no fool! I know I am safe."–
" 'Tis safer, Lord, to trust in You, And on Your care depend, Than
trust in men of high degree, Or even ha ve kings our friend."
God never fails the man who, in simple, child-like faith, rests
entirely upon Him. Have you never noticed that when you are content to
wait for God's plan it opens up to you very wonderfully? You could not
have opened it up. You did not understand it, but He cleared the way.
Instead of laying awake all night, how much better to go to sleep and
wake up in the morning and find that God has done all for you. Faith
goes forward in the name of God, and the gates of iron open to her
through Divine strength. Let not your wisdom misguide you–your folly
will not if your wisdom does not. Let not your strength make you weak,
and then your weakness will be no hindrance. Do not imagine, when you
have learned God's plan, that you will comprehend it–for it was not
meant for you to comprehend.
I do not suppose that the most of the bricklayers who are employed by
our great builders understand at all what the house which they are
building is to be like. Very likely nine out of ten of those who go up
the ladder with the troughs of mortar, or stand on the scaffolding with
their trowels at work have no idea as to whether the building is to
come out Gothic or Grecian. They have nothing to do with that! They
have merely to carry their mortar and to lay the bricks and do their
day's work.
This is just what you and I have to do. Whether the Lord may leave me
to carry out the work, or whether He may take me off and put others to
accomplish His design should be the same to me. I have but to do my
daily work, and to trust the great Architect who is, "wonderful in
counsel and excellent in working," that though I may not know it, He
will most certainly bring out the best results from the accumulated
labors of all His servants. Again, when we do know God's plan, we must
remember to carry it out, for that same God who is "wonderful in
counsel" is also "excellent in working."
Do not sit down and be so pleased with the plan that you never try it!
I must confess that I like to see a well-thumbed Bible better than more
dainty copies because I see that it has been used. When you see a plan
in an architect's office that is very new and very pretty to look at,
you say, "Ah, nothing has been done with it." But when you see a plan
that is smudgy, and torn, and almost broken through where it has been
folded, you know that the man has done something with it. Now, do not
fall in love with the plan, and think it is very pretty but never carry
it out! When Dr. Guthrie wanted his Ragged-schools founded, he called
on a certain minister, who said, "Well you know, Mr. Guthrie, there is
nothing very new in your scheme. I and Mr. So-and-So have been thinking
over a plan similar to yours for the last twenty years." "Oh, yes,"
said Dr. Guthrie, "I dare say. But you have never carried it out." So
some people are always thinking over some very fine plan of their
own–but while the grass grows the steed starves.
Now the God who plans also works. Let us believe this. Christian, God
has planned to divide the Red Sea, and He says, "Go forward!" Are you
going to sit still till the sea is divided for you? No, in God's name,
Man, go forward, and the sea will be divided when you need it to be
divided, but not before. What use would there be in having the Red Sea
out of its normal condition, and its bed laid dry for hours before the
hosts are to walk through it? You shall have God's help when you need
it, and you are not to expect that God will minister to the cravings of
your unbelief. No! Trust in Him and you shall see wonders!
I may not often quote my own life as an example except to you who are
my friends and fellow workers, and to whom my life is but your own
brought out in public. You know how we, as a Church, have been led to
see mysteriously the hand of God. I remember one night, when we
resolved to build this House of Prayer, we knew that we were poor, much
too poor ever to be able to raise so large a sum as this house would
cost–especially when the vow was registered that it should never be
built with borrowed money–but should either be paid for or else not
built at all.
I remember preaching that evening from the text, "And the iron did
swim," and saying that the building of this house seemed as likely a
thing to happen as if the iron should swim. But I said I was glad it
was twenty-five thousand pounds which we wanted, for if it had been
only five thousand pounds, or ten thousand pounds, we might feel able
to raise it. But twenty-five thousand pounds was impossible–only I
believed that God could do impossibilities! It was one of the most
singular things that ever occurred, when a friend at a distance whom I
never saw but once in my life–and who had no connection with us–put
down five thousand pounds himself toward it!
We were encouraged. We went to work, and the thing was done and as it
went on, more and more singular helps were sent! When the College of
which I am president had been commenced, for a year or so, all my means
were spent. My purse was dried up and I had no other means of carrying
it on. I was in this very House of Prayer one Sunday evening after I
had spent all I had for the support of my young men for the ministry.
There is a dear friend now sitting behind me who knows the truth of
what I am saying. I said to him, "There is nothing left whatever." He
said, "You have a good Banker, Sir." "Yes," I said, "and I should like
to draw upon Him now, for I have nothing." "Well," he said, "how do you
know? Have you prayed about it?" "Yes, I have." "Well, then, leave it
with Him. Have you opened your letters?" "No, I do not open my letters
on Sundays."
"Well," he said, "open them for once." I did so, and in the first one I
opened there was a banker's letter to this effect–"Dear Sir, We beg to
inform you that a lady, totally unknown to us, has left with us two
hundred pounds for you to use in the education of young men." Such a
sum has never come since, and it never came before! And I have no more
idea than the dead in their graves how it came then, nor who it came
from! But to me it seemed that it came directly from God.
We have gone on successfully ever since with that work, and are
resolved to launch out into others. And I believe that we only need as
a Church, and your pastor only needs as your pastor, to have faith in
God, and we shall find Him "wonderful in counsel and excellent in
working."
Wherever there is the hand of a true man there is the wing of an angel!
Wherever there is the working of the sword of Joshua and the prayer of
Moses, the almighty arm of the God of Israel is present! You have but
to believe, and to go forward, leaning upon Him who made Heaven and
earth, and all will be well.
Let us pluck up courage, and from this very morning let us feel that we
are not to be guided by the dogmas of carnal prudence but by the
dictates of FAITH IN THE INVISIBELE GOD. Let us no longer measure
means, and calculate possibilities, but let us go to Him who cannot be
measured or limited. Let us trust Him where we cannot trace Him. Let us
serve Him with might and main, and, to use the words of Gerhardt–
"Let us in life and death His steadfast Truths declare, And publish
with our latest breath, His love and guardian care!"