Jericho Captured
PREACHED AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,
BY C. H. SPURGEON, ON BEHALF OF THE BAPTIST IRISH SOCIETY.
"And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I ha ve given into your hands
Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor. And you shall
compass the city, all you men of war and go round about the city once.
Thus shall you do six days." Joshua 6:2,3.
I SEE many ministering Brothers here. I think I shall follow the
example of Martin Luther who observes that he frequently saw in the
church at Wittenberg sundry learned doctors and there usually sat Dr.
Justus Jonas and others of whom he said were infinitely greater and
more wise than himself. "But," said Martin, "I do not, therefore, alter
my style of preaching–I do not preach to them–I preach to those
peasants who come in from the country and to the citizens of
Wittenberg. For then I am quite certain that if they can understand me,
Dr. Justus Jonas and the learned divines can understand me, too, if
they like."
I shall, moreover, adopt what is said to have been Mr. Wesley's
exhortation to his preachers, namely, aim low. "There is more
likelihood," he says, "of hitting the men than when you fire high." I
may also frankly confess I am reduced to that precept by necessity
since I have no capabilities of firing high and must therefore shoot
low. We shall take our text now and try, if we can, to get something
out of it which may be applicable to the present position of our
Society and see if we cannot draw some words and thoughts from it which
may strengthen, encourage and nerve us for future action in this good
work of God.
The Irish Society has to do with one of the citadels of Romanism and it
strikes me that there is a very evident parallel between our efforts
and the work which Israel had to do against this city of Jericho.
Jericho was a strongly defended city and shut up so that none went in
or came out. And Romanism seems to have accomplished this admirably. It
shuts up its disciples so that they are scarcely accessible and
converts from it are few and far between. None, I was about to say, go
in–very few, indeed, from us–and there are very few who ever come out
again.
Jericho was the frontier city. That being captured, the conquest of the
rest of Canaan would be comparatively easy. And Popery is very much the
frontier city, the Jericho of our warfare–it stands in the way of the
evangelization of the world–it is the great impediment to the spread
of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let Jericho fall and Canaan
may weep and howl, for her day has come. And let Rome be subdued–let
Romanism be conquered–and the world shall soon be at the feet of that
Jesus whom it once despised.
We are attacking, I think, in the Irish Society, a Jericho, indeed, and
we have been long at it. But it has been a very weary task and the
Brethren have sometimes been apt to cry, "Let it be given up." I will
speak of this on the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the
fifth–perhaps on the sixth day of the week, to cry to these
Brethren–"Courage, go on still with your rams' horns! Bear your
testimony and carry the Ark of the Lord round about this city, for the
Lord has delivered it unto your hands. Only be obedient and courageous
and abide His time, for your victory is absolutely sure."
I shall divide what I may have to say this evening into these three
parts. It strikes me that the narrative before us teaches us that God
would have His people work and wait and win. And this is what we have
to do today as they had of old.
I. First of all God would have His people WORK. A little upon that. We
preach the Doctrines of Grace, and the Doctrines of Grace are always
the best soil in which to grow good works. We daily insist upon it that
works do not make a man live, but we equally insist upon it that
spiritual life continually manifests itself by holy deeds. The soldiers
of God's army, after they had crossed the Jordan, were not to lie still
in luxurious ease till Jericho's walls should crumble down by slow
degrees. And though God determined to send Jericho to sudden
destruction, yet His people were not to sit still upon some neighboring
knoll and expect the catastrophe–they were to labor and Jericho would
fall as the result of their toil.
Their work is to consist of a daily procession. They are to go in
cavalcade round about the wall. The priests are to exercise their
functions. The ark must be carried upon men's shoulders. The men of war
are to be there to defend the ark, to clear the way, and to follow,
also in the rear to guard it against any sudden attack or any eruption
from the city. They are to march thus the whole of the six days–not
one day without its parade–not one day without obedience to the great
Captain of the host.
So, Brethren, must it be with us. We are to win the world for Christ!
This is our high ambition and it shall be in Christ's name our grand
attainment. But it must be by work, by testimony-bearing, by the
preaching of the Gospel, by continual prayer, by encompassing the city,
perpetually serving God and walking in the path of obedience. Let us
look at this work a little in connection with this narrative. You will
observe that the work to be done by Israel was universal. There was a
place for each one to occupy. The men of arms were to go round the
city, and with them the priests were to march.
Both the ecclesiastical and the military castes shall be represented
here. They must neither of them sit still. It is an ill day for God's
Church when we conceive that some few are to fight the Lord's battles
and that the rest of us may look on and criticize or applaud. You are,
all of you, my Brethren, called to serve God. You recognize this in
your creed. You know yourselves to be priests and you hate the lie
which lifts some men into a priesthood and puts the rest down as, "the
laity," as though they were nothing better than stones. You feel that
you are all called to bear the vessels of the Lord– that you are a
"royal priesthood, a peculiar people."
You know that you are all set apart for the service of God. But while
this is our creed, I am afraid it is not our practice. How many take
their seats in the pew, and when they have once made themselves
comfortable consider that their work is entirely wrapped up in
listening to sermons or perhaps fumbling in their pockets for a
solitary coin on collection occasions for the Missionary Society? It
may be now and then–now and then–assisting in some enterprise of
usefulness, but this only as an exception to the rule.
We shall never see the Church become strong and mighty till every
single member of the Church shall realize his responsibility. We must
all encompass this city. Observe, when the Lord fed the multitude He
did not take some of the five loaves, or one of the fishes, but He took
all the loaves, though they were barley and both the fishes, though
they were small. And He took care to break all and to divide all among
the people. Nothing of a stock-in-hand was kept in the larder, nothing
was laid by–all was used.
And then, by the multiplying power of God, there was sufficient food
for all. And so we must rummage the larder, we must bring out the
barley cakes, we must bring forth the fishes–all must be devoted to
the Master's cause. And, in the use, ability will be multiplied! And in
the exercise, Divine Grace will be increased and we shall yet be
sufficient for the world's needs.
It has been said, and I think a little calculation will show you that
it is correct, that if God were to enable the Christians in this huge
city of ours to feel their responsibility and if every individual
Christian were made the means of the conversion of one other–starting
with fifty thousand Christians in London, (and let us hope there are as
many Believers as that–for it is a very small proportion of the
professing multitude)–then, considering that there are three million
souls in London, six years would be sufficient for the conversion of
the whole by the simple agency of each disciple bringing in one of the
stray sheep.
This does not seem as if it were an impossible thing. Only Divine Grace
is wanted from on high. We must plead with God to bring down the
blessing. And when the blessing comes on each man's labor, there
certainly is no hindrance in the matter of time, or in the matter of
exertion–for, with God's blessing–the conversion of a soul is not a
matter that requires us to relinquish business, or that compels us to
give up all our time to it. Some five minutes have been, by Divine
Grace, a sufficient length of time and half-a-dozen words have proven
enough. Courage, my Brethren! Vast as the work is, if we all go to it,
with God's blessing it will be speedily accomplished.
Our police served us all with a notice the other day, when the snow was
on the ground, that we were each one to sweep before our own doors. It
was very right that the passenger should go along the footpath without
being smothered with the mud and snow commingled. Now what an expense
it would have been to clean the streets of London by any other process!
It would be difficult for a contractor to undertake it by the year,
since he would scarcely know how often he would be called to work. How
could an army of men be kept ready to do the work which comes in so
strange a fashion–sometimes but once in the year and sometimes fifty
times?
But each man sweeps before his own door and then it is all done early
in the morning and you walk the streets in comfort! Oh that we could
but feel that we are to sweep before our own door! Oh that every man
would build the dilapidated wall of Jerusalem before his own house! And
when this is done, then shall God send victory to His hosts. But I fear
it will not be till then. God would have His people work universally.
But next, He would have them work in His own appointed way. They are
not to go in a scramble–in a boyish race–round Jerusalem. There must
be the soldiers in their troops, the priests in their array and then
again, the men of war to bring up the rear. God would have His people
work according to His revealed will. We must be very tender and jealous
here. Whatever may be the opinions about the alteration of the
constitution of our Missions, I do trust that we shall, all of us, when
we come together, recognize the authority of God and feel that we can
only expect to have His guidance, His help, His blessing, when we walk
according to the path which He has marked for us.
If I go upon a tour I do not expect to see certain sights which have
been guaranteed to me by my friend unless I agree to follow the little
chart which he has mapped out for me. I cannot expect to have that
sublime view of the Alps if I refuse to climb a certain spot and stand
there and view the glacier and the snow peak glittering in the sun. And
I cannot expect to have God's blessing in my ministry and in the Sunday
school class unless I keep to, "It is written," and in all things have
a tender conscience and am jealous of myself lest I err.
How much more, then, in this greater work in which the whole Church is
engaged! My Brothers and Sisters, let us see to it that in all things
we compass this city of Jericho according to the Divine order! For only
so may we expect to see her walls come crumbling down. Then, again,
remember they encompassed the city daily. So does God call His Church
to work daily. It is very easy for us, in a moment of excitement, to
accomplish a great work. And the most of Christian work now-a-days is,
I fear, merely spasmodic. We build chapels by a series of fits. We pay
off missionary society debts by stupendous efforts and we relapse again
into debt and difficulties.
I am afraid that as a denomination we are not fond of working too
tryingly. We know the value of ourselves, of our time and of our money
and we are not apt to wear ourselves out by any excessive exertion. We
have never, I believe, at any period since the unhappy days of Munster,
been accused of an excess of zeal! We are rather to be accused of
quarreling about points on which we differ than of excessive love of
sticking to the practical business of fighting the devil and winning
the world to Christ. But we must come to this, for mark you, if we are
to conquer the world we must each of us have our daily work and keep to
it as God shall give us Grace.
The wheel must revolve again and again and again–it is that perpetual
motion of industry which produces wealth and it must be the ceaseless
energy of our zeal which shall produce spiritual conquest. We have
sharpened our swords and fleshed them well. The younger men among us
have had a brush with the foe and we are beginning to think, like our
sober sires, we may be quiet. But it must not be so–we must agitate
for all the Truth of God, for all the doctrines we hold dear and for
the peculiar Truths of God we hold as a denomination. We must keep on
fighting for Christ and fighting for Christ every day.
We must sleep in our armor! We must begin to feel that the sword
cleaves to our hand and cannot be separated from it. We must give
ourselves so entirely to the work to which God has called us that
wherever we are, whatever we may be engaged in, men may take knowledge
of us as to what is our work and calling. In this Irish Society there
must be no standing still, no ceasing of the trumpet, no withdrawing of
so much as a single ram's horn. The testimony must still be kept up,
the witness-bearing must become more constant. We must preach and teach
and pray and work and live and, if necessary, die daily until this
Jericho is stormed.
Nor have we exhausted the metaphors with which our text supplies us,
for surely we may add that God would have His people work in faith. We
are told by Paul that, "by faith the walls of Jericho fell down." It
seems to me that was a grand spectacle when the first man went forward
step by step, and all the rest followed, the priests too, all of them
confident that they were doing the best thing to make Jericho's
ramparts fall to the ground. "Why," the fool might have said, "you are
doing nothing. You are not loosening a single stone!" And at the end of
the fifth or sixth day, I suppose it was suggested by many, "What is
the good of it all?"
But at least the most of those who encompassed the city were men of
faith–or else it could not have been said, "by faith the walls of
Jericho fell down." "Yes," they seemed to say, "she will come down! She
will come down! She stands like a rock. She has not moved. There is not
a beam loosed, nor a cord broken–not a house in ruins, nor a tent that
has fallen–not a single stone that has crumbled from her battlements.
But she shall come down!" And on they went with steady tramp–and
though they saw no corpses blocking up their pathway and though their
arms were not red with blood. Though they heard no shriek of those that
flee and could utter no shout of victory–yet they were as confident as
they were when the walls actually began to rock and the dust and smoke
went up to Heaven–and the shrieks of the slain made glad their ears.
We must encompass this city in full faith. Brethren, is the preaching
of the Gospel a power? If you think it is not, never try it again. Is
the Gospel mighty to save? Will the Gospel come out victorious? If you
have any doubt, slink back to your cowardly repose and let the man whom
God sends never doubt. If you have achieved no successes, if after
fifty years your trumpet of jubilee is exceedingly small. If after
fifty years it is something like a ram's horn that has not been bored
and can not make any noise at all, yet still go on! Your time for
shouting has not yet come, but your time for compassing the city is
always present. Get on with it! Get on with it and God will not permit
you to end till you have won the victory!
So let us notice once more under this head of work–they worked with
patience and courage. God kept this people laboring in the presence of
difficulty. They were compassing the city, taking their walks, but
always with the formidable walls of Jericho close under their eyes.
Surely they must have had these walls photographed on their eyes and on
their brains. "I shall know every stone in it," says one. "Six times I
have been round, no, twelve times and the walls have not begun to
rock–twelve times! Seven is a perfect number, but we have gone beyond
it and yet the walls do not stir." "Mark well her bulwarks and count
the towers on her."
These men were practical surveyors of Jericho. They could well
understand the strength of the battlements, how many feet long the huge
stones were at the corners and how near the stars the loftiest towers
were raised. They had the difficulty, I say, always before them! Yet
they kept on in simple faith, going round the city. Sometimes we get
into the habit of shutting our eyes to difficulty. That will not
do–faith is not a fool! Faith does not shut her eyes to difficulty and
then run headlong against a brick wall–never!
Faith sees the difficulty, surveys it all and then she says, "By my God
will I leap over a wall." And over the wall she goes. She never brings
out the flaming accounts of, "signs of the times," in her favor. She
does not sit down and say that evidently public sentiment is changing.
She does not reckon upon any undercurrents that may be at work which
she is told by Mistress Gossip really are doing great things. Faith
just looks at it and does not mind how bad the thing is reported to be.
If anybody can exaggerate the difficulty, Faith is of the same noble
mind as that famous warrior who, when told there were so many thousand
soldiers against him, replied, "There are so many more to be killed."
Faith reckons–"So many more difficulties, so many more things to be
overcome." And even impossibilities she puts down as only so much
burden to be cast upon Him with whom nothing is impossible! She keeps
Jericho's walls before her. And I would that we, dear Friends, knew
more than we do–the perfect hopelessness of our work of seeking to
convert Ireland to the Gospel–for there never was a task undertaken, I
think, that had less hopefulness about it! I want you to be driven more
and more to think, as far as the agency of man is concerned, that the
thing is almost out of the category of the possible and out of the
category of the probable altogether!
And when you can get to that point and hear the voice, "Compass the
city seven days," yet still have courage to go on, on,
on–notwithstanding all the manifest difficulties–then when God has
taught you your nothingness and brought you to feel that if victory is
given it is all His and that Divine Omnipotence and Sovereignty must
wear the crown–then, I say, He will make the old rampart rock! And the
harlot of the seven hills shall rue the day when Israel shouts, when
her sons are slain and God shall triumph right gloriously! God,
however, would have His people work– that is the first point–we are
agreed on that. Let us unite to carry it out.
"The sermon is not done" said one, when he came out of Church–"it is
all said, but it is not all done." So let me close this head with
saying that it is not done, it is only said. I have said that God would
have His people work. Let us go and work. Let us begin tonight. If we
have been lazy up to now–if there are any Issachars here like the
strong ass crouching down between two burdens–just get up, Sir
Issachar, and carry your burden! If there is any Brother here that has
been saying, "God will have His own," let him mind what he is doing, or
God will never have him, for God's own do not talk at that rate and do
not say that God's purposes are to be an excuse for man's indifference.
Let him shake that off, for he cannot take such a plea as that before
the judgment bar. He knows he cannot. Therefore do not let him try it
here. Let us try and work well for God. You in your Sunday school
classes, you in your preaching stations, you in your tract
distributions, you here in England. You, my Brethren, across the sea
and you in the Emerald Isle still compassing the city seven times.
II. We now come, in the second place, to consider that God would have
His people WAIT. The delay must have sorely tried the faith and
patience of the Israelites. "Time flies," and time is very precious.
These Israelites must have thought, "Why make us wait? If we have to
tarry a long while before the walls of Jericho, why then, what a time
it will take to conquer all the interior. And if we begin with a long
delay, our enemies may gather courage and before we have made our
entrenchments behind which we may shield ourselves, the host will be
upon us and we shall be cut to pieces."
It must have seemed to every merely thoughtful person in the camp of
Israel that it was imperative that the first city should be taken as
speedily as possible so that the people might be encouraged and their
enemies scattered. And it would give to those weary pilgrims some
settled place to which they might retire with comfort, for they were, I
suppose, still in their tents and longing for the time when, like the
rest of the people of the land, they might dwell in their own houses.
But they must keep quiet. And, according to present appearances, they
must remain so indefinitely. The people could not tell how long they
were to tarry there. And just observe, my Brethren, how very trying it
must have been to them to wait. I do not know so much about the
priests, for I am afraid priests are apt to be very contented with
doing nothing, but not so with soldiers! There are a great many
Brethren who seem to be perfectly satisfied to rest at ease. But men of
war do not generally seem to be of that temperament.
When I was in the military prison at Dublin I observed a form of
punishment there. Men were carrying large shot. A man took up a large
shot and carried it to the end of the yard and he afterwards had to
pick that shot up and bring it back again. I said, "How is it that you
do not let them take all the shot to that end and pile them up there?"
The officer said, "We used to do so but it was no use, for when the
fellows had piled them up they felt they were doing something. But now
we make them carry the shot from one end of the yard to the other and
then back again and back again and they feel they have to work hard and
do nothing. That is always miserable work to a soldier."
Many of our soldiers at Sebastopol made bitter complaints at not being
led to battle. And you will often hear young military men say that they
hate the inactivity of peace–they want to be doing something. Now
these men of war were kept for six days marching round and round the
city and they must have felt themselves to have been doing very little
all that week. That is what I feel with regard to this Irish Society
and there are many of us, too, who, if we speak plainly, must say that
we think that we have done very little, sorry little.
We remember two or three things that have been successes. And two or
three things that have been a very long way from success. Sometimes we
have complained that there have been asylums provided for Brethren sent
yonder and we have wondered why such Brethren were sent at all. We have
said, "Well, if this do-nothing affair is to keep on much longer, we
must get others who will do something–for at present we are in this
position–'What is John doing?' 'Nothing.' 'What is Tom doing?'
'Helping John.' " We want to see something done and therefore it is
hard to wait. but we must check ourselves. Our vehemence should urge us
to use all proper means, though it should never be of that sort which
would make us relax our efforts because we do not immediately achieve
all the success which we desire.
My Brethren in Christ Jesus, though as men of war we would rather come
to close quarters and see more done, yet as men of God we must keep to
our posts of duty and learn how to wait. Besides this, what rendered
the waiting so very galling was, (what must have struck their reason,
if it did not assail their faith), the utter desperateness of the case.
How could they hope to win that city by simply going round and round?
"Give me a good ladder," says one, "a rope ladder, and a couple of good
irons at the end of it! Just let me hear the clank upon the top stone
and I am your man to lead the 'forlorn hope!' And there are fifty
thousand of us to follow and we will soon have Judah's standard waving
on the top and make the sons of Jericho know what the sons of Abraham
can do."
But no. They must just march round the place till they have compassed
the city twelve times. And so, Brethren, there are certain spirits apt
to say, "Could not we do more by adopting these methods and such other
expedients." See how certain of our Brethren of another denomination
feel that if they can but get a golden ladder–if they get the
assistance of the regium donum–in this way Jericho's walls may be
scaled. And there is the temptation to look about us and ask for some
assistance over and above the power which lies in the simple
Gospel–but we must not do it! Away with our methods and State-crafts
and policies. Away with the suggestions of the crafty and cunning and
all the wisdom of the worldly! God forbid that we should glory but in
the Cross of Christ!
With the simplicity of children let us still believe that our Father's
means are the best. And though as soldiers we cannot understand it, yet
as children let us believe it and keep on compassing the city for
Jericho's walls must fall–as sure as God is in Heaven. And I think
there is another thing which must have made it difficult and it is
this, that most probably the citizens of Jericho insulted them from the
walls. I should think they kept far enough off to be out of
arrow-shot–but yet it is just possible that if they could not hear the
taunt, "What are these feeble Jews doing," yet they must have seen the
tokens of impudence and impertinence which came from over the wall.
This, mark you, is very galling to men of arms. We feel our hands
fumbling at the hilts of our swords when provoked by the taunts and
jeers of our enemies. "What have you done," they say, "you soupers and
Protestants and Methodists and Presbyterians, against the invincible
bulwarks of Rome? Your paper bullets–what have they accomplished
against the iron walls of Babylon?" We can hear their jeers. We know
the sound of revelry and mirth. But what of this? Though, again, I say,
as soldiers we might grow courageous and dash rashly to the fight, or
retire from it because there is nothing to be earned but dishonor–yet,
as Christians we will do what seems absurd to reason–but what is ever
justifiable to faith. We will keep on in God's own style. We will fight
His battles by His methods and we doubt not that though it does seem a
strange, mad thing–to attempt to drive out the priests from Ireland by
the simple proclamation of the Truth of God–yet the day shall come
when Wisdom shall be justified of all her children.
Now, Brethren, we know that God has His reasons for making us wait. It
is for His own Glory, we doubt not. We know that all things work
together for good and we believe it will be ultimately for our profit.
When I have read some masterly tragic poem, and verse after verse has
dwelt upon the horrible portion of the tale, did I wish it shortened?
Would I have had the author leave out one of those dark verses? Not I!
It is true when the poem ended with a shout of victory and with the
tramp of martial men through the city–when they returned in
triumph–our heart leaped! We rejoiced when we came to that last
stanza, but we wished the poem not shortened. We never wanted to have
any of those verses blotted out.
God is writing a great poem of human history. The subject is the
victory of His Truth, the destruction of AntiChrist. Let the history be
long. Who wants it shortened? Who wants a brief story on so exceedingly
interesting a subject as this, from so great an Author? No, let it drag
on what some may call its weary length–we are sure that when we come
to read it, as God will write it, we shall wish the story longer! We
will not complain of its extent, for the result is we shall see more of
God and learn more of His mind. You want the millennium to come
tomorrow, do you? May you get it, but I think it is probable you will
not. I do not know how history appears to you who profess to understand
it, but it does not read to me like a thing which is going to end just
yet.
I have always been told about the "signs of the times." There always
were such speculations–in 1766 and 1666– but the times of the end did
not come. And I think they will not come now. It strikes me that we
shall have something more elaborate yet than has ever come from the
Divine pen and we may have to go not only through another canto, but
through several more books before we shall come to the end of the
story. One reason why I think the world's present state will not wind
up for the present is because all the "prophets" say it will! And they
have always been a lying generation, from the first even to the last. I
mean the prophets who make the business profitable–who only use
Scripture as the Norwood Gipsy uses the cards–who shuffle texts to
foretell fortunes for nations and men.
We shall go on many a day yet. We may have to wait for another century,
yes, another twenty centuries, perhaps! We cannot tell. But our
business is still to remember that it shall be, after all, for our
eternal benefit and for God's everlasting Glory to keep on–to wait,
wait, wait till we grow well-near weary. But the victory comes as
surely, after all, as though it came at first. While we are waiting,
however, I think it is well to take a little comfort from what we are
doing. We are waiting–that is the posture of this Irish Society. But
we may console ourselves in it, as the men who were compassing Jericho
might have done. "Well," they could say, "we have not taken Jericho,
but there is Rahab that has believed–there are a few saved–you can
count them on your fingers almost, but they are very precious and they
are of the kind which should be esteemed very valuable.
There is Rahab. Her name is illustrious and her story, when it is told,
has made many another Rahab seek and find a Savior. Not altogether
without result was that attack on Jericho. And you have not lost your
money, you that have subscribed to our Irish Society. There has been
many a sinner saved and many can tell of eternal love that has sought
out with eyes of patience eternity's choice jewels. They can tell of
Divine Sovereignty that has made its crown to glisten and glitter
forever with those precious things when found. You have had Rahab, yes,
and you have had some that God has made useful to others. I can bear
witness that there have come from Ireland some of the most earnest
young men upon whom my eyes ever rested–good men and true–who love
their Lord and Master and whose highest delight is to speak well of His
name. You may wait patiently on that reflection.
Moreover, the men of arms may say, "We do not take the city, it is
true, but yet we keep our ground." If we were to leave Jericho we
should be giving up our foothold in Canaan. And if we forsake Ireland,
we might relinquish all hope of the Papacy falling. But we keep our
foothold–at least we take our stand on the rock! We have taken legal
possession of the land and, though little, it is like the handful which
William the Conqueror took up when he said, "I have taken the seizin of
England hereby." And though you may amalgamate the management of this
Society with another, you will not give up the distinctive aim and
object of the Society which is to keep a corner at least of the Emerald
Isle for God and for His Christ.
And then, again, they can say, "We are bearing testimony." Every man
that looks over the wall of Jericho can see the Ark of the Covenant. He
can see the troopers of God with their swords upon their thighs. They
see what they never saw before! Oh, worshippers of idols, you see today
the Ark of the true God borne round your walls! Oh you that bow to Baal
and adore Ashtaroth, the gods of wood and stone, the true God, the
Mighty One, Jehovah, is come out against you and the trumpets sound
defiance to your power while the warriors of God shout for your
overthrow! You are bearing testimony against the sin of Ireland. If you
do not succeed, the time has not yet come for the shaking off the dust
of your feet! In the meantime you must preach the Gospel for a
testimony against them.
And one thing more, I think the men at arms felt," We are on the spot
when anything does occur." As they went round the wall they said, "It
stands strong and stern, but it will yield and then we are all ready
when the breach is made." You do not know what God may have in store
for Ireland, or for any nation. According to the law which seems to
regulate human society, there comes, every now and then, a great
change. Who would have dreamed of the convulsions of 1848 that thrones
would have been so unsettled and that crowns would fall from monarchs'
heads? Such convulsions may come again. No, unless the course of nature
is changed, must come.
Then we are ready. We stand watching for the gap. O God, in Your
eternal Providence be pleased now, even now, to send a convenient
season. But if not, we will have the men ready when Your appointed time
shall come. It was a grand thing when the earthquake came to shake the
prison of Philippi that there should be a Paul and a Silas there ready
to preach the sermon to the trembling jailor and his household! And so
when the earthquake comes to Ireland, as it will come, we shall have a
Paul and a Silas there. We may have many such, I trust. The more the
better and all ready to stand up with, "Thus says the Lord!"
Why what cannot God do? Has not He lately given you an installment of
what He can accomplish in the revival which seemed to shake the North
of Ireland? It is true it occurred in a part where Romanism is less
strong–but the same power which can move the stolidity of
Protestantism can stir the fiery zeal of what is genuine religion in
its way–I mean genuine, though mistaken–because like Paul they think
they do God a service. The hearty spirit of the Irishman with his
popery may certainly be reached by Divine Omnipotence, as well as the
soul of the Irishman of the North with his much colder creed.
Let us have hope and go on compassing the city, not changing anything
that is right and not neglecting that which is according to Scripture,
but waiting till the time shall come. Now upon this I think I shall say
no more, except again to ask friends practically to carry it out. Let
us try and wait–wait patiently–not wait idly, but continue your
subscriptions, continue your prayers, continue your interest in the
Society, for God would have you wait.
III. And, thirdly, God would have His people WIN. I shall not say much
about this. We will postpone that till the time when it occurs and then
we shall not need to have any sermons about it but can all come
together and hold a meeting to praise and bless God. Only let us say
that if the analogy is carried out according to the siege of Jericho,
the victory is very sure and, when it comes forth, very complete.
Nothing could be more so. It may be very sudden, also, and it will be
very glorious.
But we shall get nothing by it, for when Jericho fell nobody gained
anything except to offer it unto the Lord–so we have to persevere in
disinterested service–just toiling on for the Master, remembering that
when success comes, it will be all His–every single atom of it. The
Glory will be to Him and not to us and He will take care to send the
success in such a manner that nobody shall be able to say, "Glory be to
the Irish Society." Nobody shall be able to say, "Well done, Baptist
denomination." No single minister or Evangelist shall be able to say,
"Well done, myself." The one shout that shall go up to Heaven will be,
"Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!"
I have thus spoken for the Society. I was asked to preach for it and I
am obliged, I think, to preach with a text that bears somewhat on the
subject. I observe many sermons that are preached for Societies might
just as well be preached any other day of the week before any other
assembly on any other occasion. I do not know that is exactly what is
needed, so if we have not dived deep into the doctrines of everlasting
love, if we have not taken you to the Savior's Cross and offered you
the invitations of the Gospel. If we have not done this and fifty
thousand other things, there is a time for every purpose under Heaven.
And to everyone there is a season and if we can keep the constituency
of this Society working and waiting and make it in this way to come to
be among the winning, we shall rejoice exceedingly!
Brethren, let us begin to carry out the sermon now by our
contributions. Let us begin to do so by our prayers. Let us act out the
spirit of it by trying to tell others what the Gospel is. Be this the
motto of us all–
"Now will I tell sinners round What a dear Savior I have found. Point
them to the redeeming blood, And cry, 'Behold the way to God.'" Yet I
dare not sit down till I say to every soul here, and especially to you
who cannot take an interest in God's work because you are not saved
yourself–remember we do not ask you to save and look after the souls
of Irishmen. Your own soul must be the first concern. And the way of
salvation is simply this–"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you
shall be saved."
He it is who stands in the gap and makes an atonement for sin. Take
Christ to be your Atonement, your Justifier, your Salvation and your
All. And believing in Him you are saved! This is your duty and must not
be postponed any longer. You must begin the work at home. Enlist on the
side of Israel by following Israel's Leader. Our heavenly Joshua is the
Son of God, believe on Him and you shall find salvation through His
blood and acceptance before God through Christ. Then go out to be the
means of saving others and God speed you through His blessed Spirit.
Amen.