Advance!

Advance!

(No. 2957)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1905.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE
24, 1875.

"The LORD our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, You have dwelt long
enough in this mountain." Deuteronomy 1:6.

IT is a good thing, sometimes, to look back–to take a retrospective
view of our life. It is a very bad thing to live upon the past–to say,
"I believe I am a child of God because I had certain spiritual
enjoyments and experiences 10 or 12 years ago." Ah, such stale fare as
this will not feed hungry souls. They need present enjoyment, or, at
least, present confidence in the ever-living God. Yet, Brothers and
Sisters, we may sometimes gather fuel for today from the ashes of
yesterday's fire. Remembering the mercies of God in the past, we may
rest assured concerning the present and the future.

If we have wisely learned by experience, we may, from our own failures
in the past, gain wisdom which shall enable us to avoid the evils which
overcame us on former occasions. It is well to do as you may sometimes
have seen the bargemen do on a river or canal. They walk backward,
pushing with all their might backward, to drive their barge forward
and, sometimes, we may go backward just far enough to help us to push
forward, but no further than that! Never must anyone of us say to
himself, "What I was in my youth, or what I was in middle life, is a
sufficient comfort for me now. Soul, take your ease, for I have much
goods laid up for many years." That will never do, for we need to
exercise a present faith to enjoy a present love–and to live in
present holiness and fear of the Lord. Yet it will help us if we
remember all the ways whereby the Lord our God has led us these many
years in the wilderness.

But, coming to our text, we are reminded that we must expect
changes–"You have dwelt long enough in this mountain." Secondly, we
ought not to make these changes without the authorization of our Divine
Leader–"The Lord our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, You have
dwelt long enough in this mountain." But, thirdly, in our spiritual
pilgrimage there are times when it becomes very clear that we have been
long enough in a certain condition and need to make an advance towards
the Canaan which is our blest inheritance.

I. To begin, then, WE MUST EXPECT CHANGES.

Israel was not always to dwell at Horeb and even the choicest place of
Divine manifestation is not always to be ours. The land of Jordan and
of the Hermonites and the Hill Mizar, though very precious to us
because of the spiritual experiences we have enjoyed there, are not to
be our permanent places of abode. We have to journey onward and pitch
our tent somewhere else.

We need not wonder at this, my Brothers and Sisters, for this is a
changing world. We would be out of gear with the whole creation if we
did not frequently change. Behold how the year changed. It seems but
yesterday that the rivers were locked in ice. Soon we saw the flowers
peeping up from the soil and now we have reached midsummer–and shall
soon be looking for the appointed weeks of harvest! And it will not be
long before winter will be here again. On this earth, on the greatest
or on the minutest scale, all things change, whether it is an empire
that rises and passes away, or a crocus or a rose that blooms and
fades. All things that are, once were not and, by-and-by, shall not be,
or, at least, the place which knows them, now, shall know them no more
forever. The forest once slept in an acorn cup. That some forest,
beneath the axe, shall pass away and vanish into smoke. All things
change and, therefore, we, also, must expect to change.

And, mark you, we have already changed. Perhaps we had a happy
childhood and can remember even now the songs of the nursery and the
holy hymns of our cradle days. But there came a time when we had dwelt
long enough in that mountain, for it would have been ill for us always
to continue as children. Then we were youths and were at school. And
perhaps we recollect with pleasure those free days of boyhood and
girlhood when, if we did not know the value of

knowledge, at any rate we found that those who taught us had more
pleasant ways of teaching than our fathers knew! But it was not well
for us to always stay at school–there came a time when our parents
felt and we felt that we had stayed long enough in that mountain. Since
that, some of us have passed from change to change till we have come to
the full maturity of spiritual life. And some of you I see, with the
snows of many a winter lying on your brows, are approaching yet another
change–you know that, by-and-by, you must come to another, for it will
be said of you, "You have dwelt long enough in this mountain." And so,
we shall pass through all the several stages of man till we come to the
blessed mountain where we shall never dwell too long, nor ever feel
that we have dwelt there long enough! But while we are beneath the
moon, there must be waxing and waning to all who come under the moon's
spell. And where the very heart of the earth, like a great sea, has its
ebbs and its floods, we cannot but expect that we, too, should have our
ebbs and our floods without us and within us.

We must expect to have changes, next, because it is good for us to have
them. For, if not, we might become rooted to the earth. This is not our
rest. But if we were always in one place and in one state, we would
begin to think that it was. Have you not noticed, with regard to the
brethren who are free from trouble–who, to use a Scriptural simile,
have not been emptied from vessel to vessel–how they settle on their
lees and what a scum generally rises upon the surface of such people's
hearts? Because they have no changes, they begin to think that they
shall continue forever as they are. They do not put that thought into
words–they are not quite so foolish–yet they have the notion
treasured up in their hearts that tomorrow will be as this day, only
more abundant, and all the future in a similar fashion. If we have a
long-continued spell of calm weather, we are apt to think that it will
always be so. And if it were always so, perhaps we would get into as
bad a condition as Coleridge pictures in his "Ancient Mariner." Because
there was no wind to drive the ship along and the tropical sun was
shining everywhere, everything was becoming corrupt. God knows that our
tendency is in that direction and, therefore, He makes us to be
pilgrims and strangers here–as all our fathers were.

Were it not for changes, too, some would grow utterly weary. Some of
God's children would welcome almost any change from their present
condition. They suffer, perhaps, from abject poverty–perhaps from
unkindness on the part of those who ought to love and care for them. It
may be that their condition is one in which the iron enters into their
soul. Possibly their sorrow is a secret sorrow and the more severe
because it must be kept to themselves and cannot be communicated to
others. A worm, unseen by any human eye, is gnawing at their heart.
They dare not mention it! If they did, they would not be sympathized
with and might even be ridiculed. Ah, we little know the sorrows of
others and there are some who look most cheerful and are wise to look
so, who ought to be praised because with sacred patience they keep
their sorrow to themselves! There are some whom you, perhaps, are
envying, who far more need your pity than they deserve your envy. There
is much sorrow even among God's saints and it is a great mercy for them
that the Lord sometimes turns their captivity. It seemed a pity that
when Job had all his treasures, there should come such a change to him
and that he should have to sit down among the ashes. But when he sat
among the ashes, it was a happy circumstance for him that a change came
and that, "the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his
beginning." What if you are the lowest spoke of the wheel just now? You
will be the highest spoke in less than a minute, for the wheel is
always turning round! You are not in a permanent position as to your
low estate any more than as to your high estate–if prosperity does not
endure, neither does adversity. It is written, "Weeping may endure for
a night, but joy comes in the morning." The hours of the night will
pass away in due course and the joys of the morning will recompense you
for the sorrows of the season of darkness.

Besides, dear Friends, it is well that we should have these changes
because, if we did not, we might, all of us, become unwatchful. I do
not know anything that helps more to take away the freshness and vigor
with which a man does a thing than for him to do that particular thing
every day. The same kind of thing happens when he does something many
times that at first is very trying. If you put a man into one of the
big boilers over in Southwark when they are putting in the
rivets–well, I would not like to be that man, for the hammering is apt
to make him deaf. Yet I am told by those who have to be inside the
boiler to hold the rivet head, that they do not know anything about the
great noise, for they have got used to it. They are like the
blacksmith's dog that will go to sleep under the anvil when the sparks
are flying all around him–and it is possible to get used to anything
in life. The sentinel who stands still in his box must not be very
severely blamed if he goes to sleep. It is a good thing for him if he
has a little walk to take, so that he can go to and fro with his rifle
on his shoulder and thus may be able to stay awake by a change of
posture. He may have a difficulty in

doing that, however, if the watch is continued too long. The mill horse
that goes round and round perpetually in a certain track, learns to
sleep as he goes his round. There was a prisoner who was sentenced to
the cruel punishment of being awakened every quarter of an hour
throughout the night, but, at last, he learned to answer to the knock
and still sleep right on–and so was not disturbed one whit!

I can well understand how, abiding in one state, we may get to be
mechanical as a matter of routine, with no life and no vigor. I wonder
how some of you would feel if you had to preach as often as I do? I
wonder whether you would not find that it was apt to become rather
mechanical? That is one of the things which I dread almost beyond all
else and I trust that it will never become so with me, for I feel that
if our ministry ever becomes merely mechanical, our usefulness will be
completely destroyed. But the same thing may happen in Christian
life–you may get to live mechanically. I have seen professedly
Christian people who have done the right thing, but they have done it
while they have been sound asleep. Did you ever go into a
congregation–it has not been my lot to see such a sight often, but I
have seen such a sight– where the minister has been fast asleep and
the preaching has been nothing better than articulate snoring? There,
the people sing while they are asleep and pray while they are
asleep–there is no life, no force, no power, no change of any sort!
Well now, if you could burn that meeting house down and the good man
had to preach tomorrow in the little meadow by the side of it, why, he
would then be wide awake and so would all his people! The mere change
of position would do them good. Sometimes, sitting in a different seat
might help people to feel a little more attentive to the message. It is
for this reason that the Lord comes and shakes us up, and we begin to
awake out of sleep and each one says, "Where am I? New troubles have
given me new Grace and new comforts, so, Lord, I bless You for them.
Give me new praises." Thus the change begins to do us good! It lifts us
out of the old ruts and sets us doing something different from what we
have done before–which we are able to do with a measure of freshness
which we have not previously known. That may be one reason why we have
changes.

Another reason is this–if we have no changes in our pilgrimage, it is
quite clear that we shall make no progress. If the children of Israel
had remained at Horeb they would never have reached the land of Canaan.
We cannot stay in one place and go on to another at the same time! So,
shifts and changes often promote growth. Look, there is a tree which
has grown in the place it now occupies as much as it can grow there
because there is not much earth there. And besides, there is a pan of
rock just underneath it from which it cannot derive any nutriment. Now,
if with care the husbandman lifts the tree and shifts it to another
position where the soil is deeper and richer, the tree will develop
wondrously! And, sometimes, it is so with us. We have grown as big in
Christ as we ever shall grow in that particular position, so now we
must be shifted into a new one. Why, our very comforts may be like a
pan of rock under the tap-root of our soul! We cannot get down any
deeper and it may be that our circumstances shut us in like huge walls
through which the roots of our spiritual being cannot penetrate to get
fresh nourishment. To make us grow, it is a good thing that we do not
always remain in one position.

And, moreover, I believe that our moves help us to grow in proportion,
for one condition of life may make us grow only in one way. There is
one set of trials that we have and they develop a certain set of
Graces. Or there is one kind of service that we perform which brings
out one special faculty and strengthens and sanctifies it. But God does
not want His children to grow so as to have their arms twice as long as
their toes! And He does not want the trees of His own right-hand
planting to be lop-sided trees, sending all their branches out either
toward the East or the West, and having no boughs for the other points
of the compass. God would have us to be developed as manhood should
be–each faculty and limb and muscle having its fair share of
harmonious growth–and the whole keeping up that equilibrium which is
characteristic of all God's works.

My dear Brothers and Sisters, you have been in a very comfortable
position for a long time and you know that you have never had a trial
to test your patience. The result is that you have not any patience!
You are very impatient if you have even a little trouble. Now the Lord
is going to shift you into a place where you will need a great deal of
patience, but He will give it to you! And there is another side of your
character of which you know next to nothing–and which none of your
friends suppose that you possess–but the Lord is going to bring that
out. He has painted one part of your portrait and He is now going to
turn His attention, by His blessed Spirit, to another side of it, that
it may be seen that you are a representation of all the Graces of the
Christian character! You ought to be glad that it is so, for who knows

how much of Glory God is about to get from you through this change,
which, perhaps, you are looking upon with the greatest possible dread?

Once more, and then I shall have given reason enough why we must expect
changes. It may be, Brothers and Sisters, that we undergo changes in
order that we may do more good. Some Christian, perhaps, who has long
been in one position, has practically brought to Christ all who ever
will be brought in by him in that place. I know that it is so with
ministers. We sow our seed and we reap our harvest, but it would be
very wise of some Brothers if they would just take their sickles and go
off to another field–and sow and reap there. After you have been a
long while fishing in one pond and have caught all the best of the
fish, it will be a weary task to go on fishing there, so, do as a wise
angler would do– take your rod and line off to another pond and try
there! Changes for God's servants are not at all things for which they
ought to be blamed. At least I know some ministers whom I would not
blame if they were to make a change. And neither do I think that the
people of their charge would be particularly anxious to retain them. It
is the same with us in our Christian life. It may be that we have done
all the good we can do in our own family at home. Well, then, God is
going to put us into another family! It may be that from our present
standpoint we are only capable of a certain form of good–so the Lord
is going to shift us and make different men and women of us, that we
may be fitted for another form of service. And it is a blessed thing to
be furnished and equipped for all the work of the Lord, whatever it may
be that He commits to our charge.

II. And now, secondly, and very briefly, THE LORD'S PEOPLE ARE TO BE
CAREFUL THAT THEY DO NOT

MAKE CHANGES WITHOUT DIVINE AUTHORIZATION–"The LORD our God spoke unto
us in Horeb, saying, You have dwelt long enough in this mountain."

The children of Israel had a fiery cloudy pillar to guide them in their
many wanderings. And if the pillar did not move, they stopped. Whether
it was a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, they stopped while the
pillar stopped. And when the pillar moved, then they moved, even though
they had scarcely pitched their tents. And, Brothers and Sisters, let
us, also, always seek Divine guidance. Let us put ourselves under the
protection of Providence–especially in making changes. Some make
changes out of mere love of novelty.

Some make changes because they think that anything new will be better
than what they have at present. My dear Brother, you know the
temptations that now assail you, so I would not advise you to seek to
have a new set, about which you know nothing. My dear Sister, the cross
that you have been carrying did not, at first, seem to fit your
shoulders, but your shoulders have by degrees become fitted to it, so
you had better keep that cross than seek another. There are many people
who leap out of the frying pan into the fire, as our old proverb says.
They think that things are going to be much better with them as soon as
they make a change, but they had better "let well enough alone," as
another proverb says, for "as a bird that wanders from her nest, so is
a man that wanders from his place." There have been many people who
have changed from side to side, just as sick persons restlessly move to
and fro, merely shifting their position, yet all the while keeping
their pain. One of the greatest blessings that we can have is a
contented mind–if we have that, we shall not be anxious for a change.

Do not change because of a mere whim–let not that be your reason for
altering your position. Do not change from worldly motives and be not
always seeking the best for yourself. Do not change because of
distrust, or because of anger with your God. If He bids you stand where
you are, stand there and die at your post if necessary. But if He bids
you go, then go, though it would make a tear as if your very heart were
cut in two. It will be better for you thus to suffer then to disobey
your Lord. We do not make many mistakes in life where we absolutely
give ourselves up to God's guidance because, though we do not hear a
voice speaking out of the oracle, and we have not our way mapped out
for us as on a chart, yet, somehow or other, if we are honestly seeking
to do right and yet are about to make a mistake, God graciously
interposes and prevents the mistake! Or He overrules what evidently was
a mistake in such a way that it turns out to be the right thing, after
all. Commit your way unto the Lord! Trust also in Him and He shall
bring it to pass. You are not fatherless. You are not left without a
Guide. Poor tempest-tossed and weather-beaten boat, you still have a
Helmsman! You are not a derelict left to drift upon the sea at the
mercy of every current and every gale. There is within you, O Believer,
One who is strong of hand and keen of eye who steers you through the
fiercest storms and direst tumults of the sea, making even these to
contribute to your progress towards the desired haven! Be not swift to
change because of any reason of your own, but be not slow to change if
God bids you do so. When the time comes and you have dwelt long

enough in this mountain, up with the stakes, roll up the tent lines and
put the canvas on the camel's back and be off to the next place which
the Lord has marked out for you, for He has gone before you to prepare
your way!

III. I will not dwell longer upon that topic, but pass on to notice
that THERE ARE SOME PLACES, SPIRITUALLY, IN WHICH GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE
DWELT QUITE LONG ENOUGH. I wish to speak to the heart of everyone
here–take home what belongs to you and may the Spirit of God be
pleased to apply it to your soul!

Some of you know that you are not happy and that you lack something,
but you do not know what it is that you lack Some of you used to be
very happy, at one time, in the pleasures of the world, but, somehow,
either they have changed or else you have. You now have an empty space
in your heart and you cannot fill it. The glass seems to have come off
the world's amusements and your businesses, which used to occupy you
from morning to night, has become distasteful to you. You feel that you
needed something, but you do not know what that something is. Let me
tell you that what you really need is your God. Surely you have lived
long enough without Him! You have lived long enough in sin. You have
lived long enough in impenitence. You have lived long enough in danger
of the wrath to come! O prodigal son, your Father calls you to come
home! You surely have had enough of riotous living, enough of the
swine-trough and the company of the hogs, enough of the citizens of
that country and their scorn and cruelty, enough of rags and enough of
the husks that the swine feed upon. Say right now, "I will arise and go
to my Father!" And if you say this, the Spirit of God helping you to do
so, this very hour you shall be in the embrace of your God, you shall
receive the kisses of His love, the best robe shall be put upon you and
you shall be welcomed home even as the prodigal in the parable was!

The mountain mentioned in our text was Mount Horeb, or Sinai–the
mountain that burned with fire, the mountain around which they set
boundaries so that if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it would
be stoned or thrust through with a dart! It was that mountain from
which they heard the thunder pealing while the Law of God was being
proclaimed in a voice so terrible that they entreated that they might
not hear it anymore! I believe there are some here–I had almost said
that I hope there are–who have been long standing at the foot of
Sinai. You have heard the thunder of that dreadful voice and you have
felt condemned. Your soul is in bondage even now. If ever there was a
slave in this world, you are one. You have the fetters on you and you
have the cruel whip perpetually flagellating your conscience! Sometimes
other slaves have rest, but you get none–you are tortured and
tormented–you are almost like the fiend, himself, when he walked
through dry places seeking rest and finding none!

Well do I remember when I was in your present condition and I was in
it, oh, so long! And blessed was the day when my Lord said to me, "You
have dwelt long enough in this mountain," and then I came to Calvary
and the blood of sprinkling, and I had done with Sinai! Yet I have
never felt regret that I lingered so long at the foot of Sinai. I shall
regret it if any of you do so, but I do not regret it in my own case
because I think it was necessary for one who was to be a public
teacher, that he should have more depression of spirit and more trials
than anybody else–so that he might know the ins and outs of this
matter in his own experience and so be able to help others who may be
tortured in a similar way. But there is no reason why you, my Friend,
should have this experience, for it may be that you are not to be a
public teacher and it would be well for you if, this very moment, the
spirit of bondage were cast out of you and the Spirit of adoption took
possession of your soul! You need not remain at the foot of Sinai, for,
as I found out, there is another hill called Calvary. You need not
listen to the threats of the Law, for there is another voice–the voice
of the blood of Jesus–"which speaks better things than that of Abel."
If you will, by simple faith, but listen to that voice, you will learn
that it speaks peace, not punishment, and cries out for mercy, not for
justice! O tempted, distressed, despairing soul, you have dwelt long
enough in Mount Sinai! At this glad hour, the silver trumpet proclaims
a Jubilee for you! Your inheritance, which you have forfeited, has been
redeemed and you, yourself, once sold into slavery, are now freed, for
the price of your redemption has been paid to the utmost farthing!

There is another mountain, a little further on, to which some of my
friends have come–the mountain of Little Faith. They do now believe in
God. They have looked to Jesus and have been lightened, yet they still
see men as trees walking. Now and then they have high days and holidays
and then they know whom they have believed and have great joy in the
Lord! But at other times, they get down in the dumps and sing–or
rather, moan–

"'Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought– 'Do I
love the Lord, or no?

'Am I His, or am Inot?'"

Some of these are the very best people in the world and I would sooner
see a man always doubling his interest in Christ and walking humbly and
carefully before God than presuming upon his own safety and getting
proud–and then venturing into temptation and falling into sin! There
are some of God's children who are truly His, but who seem to be like
those flowers that grow best in shady places. If they had too much
sunshine, I do not know what might become of them. But these people do
not allow themselves that luxury. They are constantly troubled. They
say that they believe, yet the petition always has to be added, "Lord,
help our unbelief!"

Now, my Brother or my Sister, if you are in this condition, do you not
think that you have dwelt long enough in this mountain? I knew you when
you used to be raising such doubts and questions five years ago. Is it
not time that you abandoned that bad habit? You never complain of a
baby for cutting its teeth and you do not wonder if it has a lot of
little complaints while it is a baby, but you do not expect it to cut
its teeth and to have all these little infantile diseases when it gets
to be a man! Do you not think that it is time that you had grown from
being little children to become young men? And should not the young men
begin to grow into fathers in the Christian Church? We watch and tend
you while you are the lambs of the flock, but are you always going to
be lambs? You, who are forty, fifty, 60 years of age and who ought to
set an example to others by being courageous and full of confidence,
are you always going to be Feeble-Minds and Ready-to-Halts? What? Are
you always going to use crutches? Will you never outgrow them? Must we
always wheel you about in a baby carriage of rich consolation? Will you
never walk alone? Will you never outgrow your days of weakness? You
have dwelt long enough and far too long in this mountain! Remember that
Jesus Christ declared that He had come that His people "might have
life." Well, you have that, have you not? But He added, "and that they
might have it more abundantly." You have not that–do not rest
satisfied until you have it!

There is another company of professors–men of brain, but with less
heart than brain–men of the Thomas order who need a great deal of
evidence to convince them–who tarry in the Mountain of Questioning. We
have some persons of this kind, who, we trust, are Christians, but they
always have some question to ask–and they come to see the pastor about
it. And after that one is answered, they ask another, and then another
and another. We are very glad to see them so thoughtful–we wish
everybody was thoughtful and we do not want people to take things for
granted just because we say them–we like to have them enquiring. But
these people are always enquiring and they seem to have been always
enquiring! If I have lost my way on a foggy night, I do not mind
enquiring, but I like to move on a little and not stand still and keep
on enquiring which is the way! There are some people who are always in
a fog and always enquiring–and every new heresy that is started gives
them a new set of enquiries! It is a wretched life that they lead,
themselves, and other people, too–and I may well say to them, "You
have dwelt long enough in this mountain."

Just think, my Christian Brother, while you have been vainly trying to
find out how many angels can stand on the point of a needle, your
Brother has been winning souls for Jesus Christ! You have been sitting
up at night seeking to discover the meaning of the tenth toe of the
great image mentioned in the book of Daniel and of the little horn and
the fourth beast! And you have been puzzling yourself as to what is
going to happen at a certain period of the world's history, but you
have not found out much yet. Now, if you had been visiting the sick,
the poor and the ignorant, and going after the lost sheep of the house
of Israel, would not your occupation have been much more remunerative?
Would it not have brought you a brighter crown at the Last Great Day?
Enquire, certainly, as to all Truth of God revealed in the Scriptures,
but many of you have already dwelt quite long enough in that Mountain
of Questioning! It is time that you had ascertained that there are some
things that are settled! I spoke with a man some time ago who said that
he made his creed every week. I thought that he must be a disciple of
the moon, though I did not call him a lunatic, yet he was very like
one, and you might as well measure the moon for a suit of clothes as
judge such a man by the creed which he is constantly changing!

Oh, but there are some things about which we are sure! And I bless God
that some of us can say that the Gospel which we preached more than 20
years ago is precisely the same Gospel that we preach now! We are not
conscious of having shifted our ground with regard to any of its
doctrines, precepts, warnings, or invitations! It is a grand thing when
an old Divine is able to say, as my own dear grandfather said to me not
long before he died, "For 60 years I have preached the Gospel. And the
sermon that I preached the first time I went into the pulpit, I could
have preached the last time I went there, for I have made no alteration
in my sentiments. The Truths that God taught me at the beginning, I

have held fast, though I have been continually learning more and more
of the meaning of them." It is very necessary, though, if we are to do
any good to others, that we go to the Mountain of Enquiry for a while,
that we should feel that there comes a time when we have made up our
minds and have learned something which we never mean to question
again–we have dwelt long enough in that mountain!

At Horeb, Moses divided the people and marshaled them and said that
such-and-such a tribe should go first, and another second, and another
last. He drilled them as an army, yet they were not always to be
content with being marshaled and drilled–they were to go forward and
possess the land of Canaan! They had dwelt long enough in that mountain
of marshalling and drilling, and some of you Christian people have had
quite enough marshalling and drilling! Is it not time for those of you
who are not doing anything for Christ, to begin to do something for
Him? I do not think that when a young man is converted, he ought, at
first, to begin working for Jesus Christ as the main business of his
life. He should go to Christ's school and try to learn something that
he can afterwards talk about to others. I was very pleased with a dear
Brother, a working man, who joined the church here a month or two ago.
When I put to him the question, "What are you doing for Christ?" he
said, "Well, Sir, I have the heart to do a good deal and I hope I shall
yet do it, but, at the present time I am trying to learn more about
Him, for, if I were to go and speak to some of my mates about Jesus
Christ, they would be more than a match for me and I should not like to
have my Savior made a subject of ridicule." I thought there was
sanctified common sense in that answer and I would advise other young
Christians to go and do likewise–only do not forget to serve your
Master when you have learned the way to do it! You, Mr. Recruit, have
surely practiced "the goose step" long enough–can you not now go
forward? To my certain knowledge you have been in the army for a dozen
years–could you not do a little fighting if you were to try? Could you
not learn to load a gun and fire it? Have you been studying the
properties of gunpowder all this time and done nothing else to prove
that you are a soldier? Shame on you!

I fear that the Church of Christ as a whole has been tarrying far too
long in the Mountain of Marshalling and Drilling. Some clever Brother
draws up a fine plan and the next thing is to form a committee, with a
president and a vice-president and all manner of officers. You are
getting on, now, like a house afire and that is how the thing usually
ends– in smoke! There is the paraphernalia. There is the marshalling.
There is the grand parade and there is the army–on paper! But when
will the army begin the battle in real earnest? When will the Church of
Christ get to close quarters with sinners? When will every Christian
man and woman really begin working for Christ and cease talking about
it? We have had the resolutions which have been proposed and
seconded–and carried unanimously–and then forgotten! It is
significant that there is no book containing the resolutions of the
Apostles, but we have the Acts of the Apostles! And there will be
something worth recording in the Lord's "Book of Remembrance" if we
turn our good resolutions into acts of holy service. Let us get to
work, for we have tarried long enough in this mountain!

There are many other "mountains" that I might mention, but I do not
think I need to do so. Unto whatever Truth of God you have attained,
dear Friend, make sure of that and then go on to something beyond. Do
not stop anywhere, for you have not yet attained, neither are you yet
perfect. You can buy a box of the patent perfection paint and cover
over all the knots and imperfections in the wood, but the wind and the
rain will test your fine looking house and you will find the paint
cracking and the bad joints and the holes in the wood showing before
long. At least it is so with me in a spiritual sense. Imperfections
will reveal themselves very soon and the paint will not answer after
all. But, Brother, never be satisfied with yourself, for
self-satisfaction is the end of all progress.

A painter said to his wife, one morning, "I shall never paint again."
"Why, my husband?" asked the good woman. "Because the picture that I
have just finished perfectly satisfies me–it realizes my ideal and,
therefore, I know that, now, my genius is exhausted." When a man says,
"Yes, I am a splendid fellow. I will tell everybody what I am, only I
will do it very cunningly and say this is what Divine Grace has done
for me. I will thank God for it, for the Pharisee in the Temple had
Grace enough to do that!" Then depend upon it, Brother, the very power
to grow has gone from you, for, if you were growing, you would have
growing pains! You would feel like the chick in the egg that needs to
get out. Oh, how often my soul feels cribbed, cabined and confined
within my imperfect self! She will get completely free one day and, in
anticipation of that blessed time, I joyously sing–

"Welcome, sweet hour of full discharge, That sets my longing soul at
large,

Unbinds my chains, breaks up my cell, And gives me with my God to
dwell!"

Till that "sweet hour" arrives when you will dwell with God forever, do
not delude yourself with the notion that you have got where you may
stop. "Forward, onward," must still be your motto! O eagle of God, if
you are of the true royal breed, though you have looked the very sun in
the face with undimmed eyes and soared till you have left the clouds
far below you, yet still higher, higher, higher must you soar! If you
could distance the sun, himself, and reach a yet more distant orb,
still higher, higher must you soar! "Excelsior" is the motto of every
Christian until, at last, he comes into the very Presence of his God
and sees Him face to face! You never see an eagle roosting upon a thorn
bush and saying, "I can get no higher." And if any of God's birds of
paradise do that, I would bid them beware of the fowler! My
self-satisfied Brother, he is after you and his big net will enclose
you if you are not careful! Mount higher, Brother! Higher yet, for
however high you have ascended, you have dwelt long enough in that
mountain and must advance to something higher and still better! May God
help you to do so for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.