Mary's Magnificat
(No. 2941)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL
22, 1875.
"And Mary said, My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savor." Luke 1:46, 47.
MARY'S Magnificat was a song of faith. You have thought, perhaps, that
you could easily have sung this song if you had been as highly favored
as she was, but are you sure that you could have done so? Have you ever
realized the difficulties under which this hymn was composed and sung?
If not, permit me to remind you that the wondrous birth which had been
promised to her had not then been accomplished and in her mind there
must have been a consciousness that many would doubt her statements.
The visitation of the angel and all its consequences would seem to be
ridiculous and even impossible to many to whom she might venture to
mention the circumstances–no, more than that–would subject her to
many cruel insinuations which would scandalize her character! And that
which conferred upon her the highest honor that ever fell to woman
would, in the judgment of many, bring upon her the greatest possible
dishonor. We know what suspicions even Joseph had and that it was only
a Revelation from God that could remove them. Mary would have been
sorely troubled if she had been influenced by her natural feelings and
had been swayed by external circumstances.
It was only her wondrous faith–in some respects, her matchless faith,
for no other woman had ever had such a blessed trial of faith as she
had–it was only her matchless faith that she should be the mother of
the holy Child Jesus, that sustained her. Truly blessed was she in
believing that and blessed, indeed, was she in that even before there
was an accomplishment of the things that were told her by the angel,
she could sing, "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior." Unbelief would have said, "Wait." Fear
would have said, "Be silent." But faith could not wait and could not be
silent! She must sing and sing she did most sweetly. I call your
attention to this fact because when we ourselves have a song to sing
unto the Lord, we may perhaps be tempted not to sing it till our hopes
are accomplished and our faith has been exchanged for fact. Brothers
and Sisters, if this is your case, do not wait, for your song will
spoil if you do! There is another song to be sung for the accomplished
mercy, but there is a song to be sung now for the promisedmercy!
Therefore, let not the present hour lose the song which is due to it.
I am not going to expound the text so much as to ask you to practice it
with me. So, first, let us sing. Secondly, let us sing after Mary's
manner And, thirdly, let us sing with Mary's purpose.
I. Firstly, then, LET US SING.
Let us sing, first, because singing is the natural language of joy. Do
not even the ungodly sing when their corn and wine increase? Have they
not their harvest hymns and vintage songs? Do they not sing right
merrily when they go forth to the dance? And if the wicked sing thus,
shall the righteous be silent? Are the jubilant songs all made for the
ungodly and the dirges for us? Are they to lift high the festive strain
and we to be satisfied with the "Dead March" in Saul, or some such
melancholy music as that? No, Brothers and Sisters, if they have joy,
much more have we! Their joy is like the crackling of thorns under a
pot, but ours is the shining of a star that shall never be quenched.
Let us sing, then, for our joy abounds and abides. Therefore, "Rejoice
in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." If the joy of the Lord
is your strength, why not express it in holy song? Why should not your
joys have a tongue as well as the joys of ungodly men? When warriors
win victories, they shout. Have we won no victories through Jesus
Christ our Lord? When men celebrate their festivals, they sing. Are
there any festivals equal to ours–our Paschal Supper, our passage of
the Red Sea, our Jubilee, our expectation of the coronation of our
King, our hymn of victory over all the hosts of Hell? Oh surely if the
children of earth sing, the children of Heaven ought to sing far more
often, far more loudly, far more harmoniously than they do! Come, then,
let us sing because we are glad in the Lord!
Let us sing, too, because singing is the language of Heaven. It is thus
that they express themselves up yonder. Many of the songs and other
sounds of earth never penetrate beyond the clouds. Sighs and groans and
clamors have never reached those regions of serenity and purity! But
they do sing there. Heaven is the home of sacred song and we are the
children of Heaven. Heaven's light is in us! Heaven's smile is upon us!
Heaven's all belongs to us and, therefore–
"We would begin the music here,
And so our souls should rise.
Oh, for some Heavenly notes to bear
Our passions to the skies!"
The music of joy and the music of Heaven should often be upon our lips
in the form of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Let us also sing because singing is sweet to the ears of God. I think I
may venture to say that even the song of birds is sweet to Him, for in
the 104th Psalm, where it is written, "The Lord shall rejoice in His
works," it is also mentioned that the birds "sing among the branches."
Is there anything sweeter in the world than to wake up, about four or
five o'clock in the morning, just at this time of the year and hear the
birds singing as if they would burst their little throats and, pouring
out in a kind of contest of sweetness, their little hearts in joyous
song? I believe that in the wild places of the earth, where no human
foot has ever defiled the soil, God loves to walk. When I have been
alone among the fir trees, inhaling their sweet fragrance, or have
wandered up the hill where the loudest voice could not be answered by
another voice, for no man was there, I have felt that God was there and
that He loved to listen to the song of birds that He had created. Yes,
even the harshly croaking ravens He hears when they cry!
I do not think that mere music is sweet to God's ears when it comes
from man in lewdness, attended with lascivious thoughts. And even
sacred music which is sweet in itself, when used for mere amusement,
must be an abomination to the Most High when it is so degraded. But He
loves to hear us sing when we sing His praises from our hearts. Do you
not delight to hear your own children sing and is there anything
sweeter than a song from a child? At the Orphanage, the other day, they
brought me a little boy who had just been taken in. I felt a special
interest in him because his father had been a minister of the Gospel.
They told him to sing to me and it was a very sweet song–one of Mr.
Sankey's hymns– which came from his lips. His singing quite touched my
heart. Had it been my own child, I do not doubt that it would have
touched my heart still more! And God loves to hear His children sing.
Even your discords, as long as they do not affect your heart, but are
only of sound and not of soul, shall please Him. What a beautiful
simile is used in the 22nd Psalm–"O You that inhabit the praises of
Israel!" Just as God's ancient people, during the feast of tabernacles,
dwelt under booths made from the branches of trees, so Jehovah is
represented as having made for Himself a tabernacle out of the praises
of His people! They are only like fading branches that soon turn brown,
yet the great Lord of All condescends to sit beneath them and as we,
each one, bring a new branch, plucked from the tree of Mercy, we help
to make a new tabernacle for the Most High to dwell in!
One reason why they sing in Heaven is because all there are seeking to
please the heart of God. They sing not merely that they may practice
Psalmody and have their voices in good order, or that they may interest
the strangers who are constantly arriving from these nether lands, or
even that they may please each other and delight the angels, but unto
the Lord is their perpetual song, for He delights in it. Let us also
sing unto Him as long as we live. Sometimes it would be well for us to
make hymns, rather than to repress the making of them, as we often do.
The Moravians were accustomed to gather up in their churches the very
poorest rhymes and dibbles that were made by the brethren–and they
used to shape them as best they could into something like a singable
form. Their hymnbook has in it a great number of hymns that I should
not like to hear you sing! But, for all that, I like the spirit that
was in the early Moravians. "Let us each one try to make a hymn," they
said. "Let us encourage one another to express some personal experience
of our life, for we have each one of us had some special point of God's
Grace illustrated in us." I would that the men who can so well write
popular songs and give to the people attractive words and tunes to sing
in the street or in the home, would consecrate their talents to a
better purpose by writing hymns and spiritual songs to the praise and
glory of God. We would then be the richer in our Psalmody, as, indeed,
we always are when God sends us a true revival of religion, for
revivals of religion always bring with them new hymns and spiritual
songs.
But if we cannot ourselves compose hymns, let us sing those that
somebody else has made and let us sing the right ones–those that suit
us best. There are some hymns that I cannot sing at present–they are
too high for me, but I shall sing them, by-and-by. There are others
that are too low for me–I cannot get down to such depths of doubt and
trembling as the poets seem to have been in when they composed them.
Every Christian should have some particular hymn that he loves best, so
that when his heart is merriest, he should sing that hymn. How many
good old people I have known who used to sit and sing, or walk about
the house, just humming or crooning–
"When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes."
Some have other favorites, but whatever our choice is, I think it is
well to have a hymn which, although we have not ourselves written it,
has, nevertheless, been made our own by our circumstances and
experiences. When we have fixed on such a hymn as that, let us sing it
unto the Lord again and again!
Let us not be among these who make excuses for not singing. One says
that he has no voice. Then, sing with your heart, Brother! Perhaps even
your voice would improve if you used it more, but if there is such a
grating noise about it that you dare not sing when another person is
listening, get alone and sing to the Lord.
Do not say that you are unable to sing because you are always in
company. I would have you make it your general rule to sing in almost
any company where your lot may be cast, though, sometimes it is not
right to cast your pearls before swine. Watch your opportunity. If all
in the room are silent, perhaps you had better be silent, too. But if
one of your workfellows feels that he must sing a song and he has taken
the liberty to do it, now is your turn and you may sing, too. I
remember being on Mount St. Bernard, spending a night with the monks at
the hospice. There was a piano which had been given by the Prince of
Wales, and the different persons who were spending the night there,
sang and played by turns. One sang a Spanish hymn and another a German
hymn. And when it came to our turn, we sang–
"There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins."
And why should we not sing it? Had we not as much a right to sing as
the other people had? Do not abate your rights and privileges, dear
Friends, but if others sing, you sing, too, and never mind who listens!
It will do no man any harm to hear the praises of the Lord!
And do not say that you cannot sing because of your occupation! Your
hands may be just as busy as usual even while the songs of Zion are
rising from your lips. You may even be writing, or otherwise mentally
occupied and yet, at the same time, your heart may be ascending to God
in praise!
Make no excuse because you are ill. Sometimes a little song between the
sheets is very sweet in the ears of God, even though it has to be
accompanied by sighs and groans. Pain makes every note come out with
great effort, yet I believe God bends down His ears to hear such
singing as that. I have known birds in cages sing better than those
outside–and the Lord sometimes puts us in a cage on purpose that He
may hear us sing the sweeter. He loves to hear His sick children sing
His praises upon their beds and His high praises in the midst of the
furnace of affliction. Are you very poor? Then sing from your heart to
the Lord and your music shall be better than silver and gold unto God!
Even death, itself, need not stay our songs–let us sing right up to
this side of the Glory gate–there is no fear about our keeping on with
our song on the other side! As long as we can sing here, let us do so,
praising the Lord right up to the last hour of our lives–then shall
our voices be tuned immediately to noble songs, for in a moment, we
shall–
"Sing with rapture and surprise His loving-kindness in the skies!"
II. Now, passing on to our second point, LET US SING AFTER MARY'S
MANNER, as far as that manner may be transferable to us. No bird ought
to try to sing exactly like another. The blackbird ought not to imitate
the thrush, nor the thrush the canary–let them all keep to their own
notes and let each one of us sing his own song unto the Lord. Yet I
think we shall see that there is something about Mary's music that will
suit us all.
First, let us sing reverently Mary was very joyful, but there was
nothing in her song that would strike you as being irreverent, vulgar,
or commonplace. I am not squeamish about music, but I must confess that
I hardly like to hear the
high praises of God sung to the tune of a comic song or of a dance.
There is a certain congruity about things that must be observed and
some good music may have associated with it such strange ideas that we
had better let it alone till those associations have died out, lest,
haply, while we are uttering holy words, some people may be reminded by
the tune of unholy things! Mary sings very reverently and so should we.
And though I like some of the new tunes very much and am glad that they
are so popular, yet, for my own part, I like a good old Psalm tune much
better. It seems to me like going away from the snows of Lebanon to
seek after the stale cisterns of earth when we leave the old music, and
the old hymns, and the old Psalms for any of your modern melodies.
Still, if you can praise God better with the new songs, do so, but let
it always be done reverently.
But, secondly, Mary praised God with personal devotion. Notice how
intensely personal her song is. Elizabeth is there, yet Mary sings as
though she were all alone–"My soul does magnify the Lord, and my
spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." It seemed as though her song
meant something like this, "Elizabeth is glad, but I, Mary, am also
glad, and I have a gladness which is all my own, which even Elizabeth
cannot know. 'My soul does magnify the Lord.'" It ought to be so in our
congregations–we should join with our fellow Christians in their songs
of praise, but we must always mind that our personal note is not
omitted–"My soul does magnify the Lord." Do you not think that some of
you too often forget this? You come to hear sermons and sometimes you
do not come to the assembly as much as you ought for the purpose of
directly and distinctly praising God in your own personality and
individuality. The music is delightful to us as it rises from thousands
of voices, but to God it can be pleasant only as it comes from each
heart. "My soul"–whether other people are praising the Lord or
not–"mysoul"–for I have a personal indebtedness to You, my God, and
there is a personal union between You and me. I love You and You love
me and, therefore, even if all other souls are dumb, "my soul does
magnify the Lord." In this fashion, dear Brothers and Sisters, have a
song to yourself and mind that it is thoroughly your own.
Thirdly, in Mary's song we see great spirituality. You observe how she
puts this matter twice over–"My soul does magnify the Lord, and my
spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." She is far from being content
with mere lip service. Her language is poetic, but she is not satisfied
with her language. I have no doubt that her voice was exceedingly
sweet, but she does not say anything about that, but she does speak of,
"my soul," and, "my spirit." O dear Friends, let us never be satisfied
with any kind of worship which does not take up the whole of our inner
and higher nature! It is what you are within, that you really are
before the living God! And it is quite a secondary matter how loud the
chant may be, or how sweet the tune of your hymn, or how delightfully
you join in it unless your spirit, your soul, truly praises the Lord!
You can sometimes do this in "songs without words"–and he that has no
voice for singing can, after this fashion, magnify the Lord with his
soul and spirit.
Mary also praised the Lord intelligently Notice how she sings, "My soul
does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."
You observe that she varies the names which she uses and she varies
them with great propriety. She magnifies Jehovah. She makes Him great,
which is the proper thing to do concerning Jehovah. But she rejoices in
God, her Savior. In that aspect, her Lord comes nearer to her and
becomes more immediately the object ofjoy to her, so she rejoices in
God her Savior. She dwells first upon Jehovah's power to save–"My soul
does magnify the Lord." Then she dwells upon His willingness to
save–"My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." She seems to see the
two points–the greatness and the goodness of the Lord Jehovah, yet her
Savior. The Ruler and Lawgiver, yet the gracious One who pardons and
blots out sin.
Mary praised God enthusiastically, for the reduplication of the terms,
"My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my
Savior," indicates the fervor and ardor of her praise. It is natural to
us to repeat ourselves when we begin to glow with holy gladness, so
Mary stays, "My soul, my natural life–my spirit, my newborn, my
intense, diviner life–my soul, my mind, my intellect–my spirit, my
affections, my heart, my emotions, my entire being, my soul and spirit
praise the Lord." She did not need to add that her body praised the
Lord, for the very sound of her voice bore witness that her body was
joining with her soul and spirit–so that her triple nature was
magnifying the Lord. There was enthusiasm in her song and if ever any
of us ought to be stirred to the very depths of our spirit, it is when
we are praising the Lord. Sing, Brothers and Sisters, sing sweetly, but
sing loudly, too, unto God, your strength!
Further, we may sing, as Mary did, Divinely. I mean, of course, with
regard to the object of her song. So let it be with us. "My soul does
magnify"–a Doctrine? A church! A priest?–God forbid! "My soul does
magnify the Lord and
my spirit has rejoiced in"–the success of my pastor's ministry? Yes,
it may do so, but that is one of the inferior themes for joy. "My
spirit has rejoiced in" my own success in casting out devils and
working miracles? Yes, it may do that, but still, it would be better to
rejoice that our names are written in Heaven. The subject of Mary's joy
is nothing low, nothing less than Heavenly–"My spirit has rejoiced in
God my Savior." If that is your declaration, you may well lift up your
voice and sing–
"Go up, go up, my heart, Dwell with your God above."
Note, again, that Mary sang evangelically and we must mind that we
always do the same, for I am afraid that there are some popular hymns
which have something that is not Gospel in them. And whenever there is
a hymn that has the slightest taint of that sort in it, we ought to
abandon it forever, however sweet its poetry may be. Mary sings, "My
spirit does rejoice in God my Savior." She was no Socinian and she was
no Romanist–she knew that she needed a Savior and that she needed a
God for her Savior, so her spirit rejoiced in God, her Savior. When we
reach the highest point in our devotions, we still need a Savior. I do
not at all like the boastful talk about "the higher life" in which some
people seem to revel. We cannot have too high a life, but, "God be
merciful to me a sinner," is about as big a prayer as I can manage at
present. And often does my soul pray the dying thief's prayer with such
earnestness that his petition is forced to my lips, "Lord, remember me
when You come into Your Kingdom." The place of the perfect does not
suit me yet, at any rate, but the place of the publican and of the
penitent more becomes me, as I think it does the most of us. Oh, yes,
we still need a Savior! So, like Mary, we will sing about our Savior
and even if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we cannot do
without the blood of Jesus Christ constantly cleansing us from all
sin–for we do still sin.
Once more, Mary praised the Lord with assurance. It is a grand thing to
be able to sing, "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God"–"who will, I hope, and pray, and sometimes believe,
be my Savior"? I have spoilt the music–have I not–by putting in those
words of my own? It goes better as Mary sang it, "My spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior." She was quite assured of that fact and had
not any doubts or fears concerning it! It is well to get such a firm
grip of the Savior that we rest in Him completely and so can sing to
His praise. "Oh!" says one, "I cannot praise Jesus as I would because
of my sins." And I reply to that remark–But my dear Friend, would you
praise Him if you had no sins? Would He be needed by you and wanted by
you then? Could He be of any use to you then? Would you feel any
gratitude to Him? If you were not sinners, of what use would a Savior
be to you? But we praise Him because though we are conscious of sin, we
are equally conscious of cleansing in His precious blood! We take Him
to be our All-in-All because we ourselves are nothing at all! If we had
been of any account, He would have been just so much less, but, since
we are nothing, there is the opportunity for Him to be All-in-All to
us. Let us sing, then, to His praise! May God the Holy Spirit teach us
to do so, even as He taught the Virgin Mary!
III. Now, thirdly, and briefly, LET US SING WITH MARY'S PURPOSE. That
was twofold–"My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced
in God my Savior."
The first part of our PURPOSE, then, should be, "Magnify the Lord. "How
can we do that? We cannot really make God great, though that is the
meaning of the word. How, then, can we magnify Him?
Well, first, let us think of His greatness. It will be really praising
Him if we thus thinkof Him. You need not speak, but just ponder, weigh,
consider, contemplate, meditate, ruminate upon the attributes of the
Most High. Begin with His mercy if you cannot begin with His holiness,
but take the attributes one by one and think about them. I do not know
a single attribute of God which is not wonderfully quickening and
powerful to a true Christian. As you think of any one of them, it will
ravish you and carry you quite away. You will be lost in wonder, love
and praise as you consider it. You will be astonished and amazed as you
plunge into its wondrous depths and everything else will vanish from
your vision. That is one way of making God great–by often thinking
about Him!
The next way to make God great is by often drinking Him into yourself.
The lilies stand and worship God simply by being beautiful–by drinking
in the sunlight which makes them so charming and the dewdrops which
glisten upon them. Stand before the Lord and drink Him in–do you
understand what I mean by this expression? You go down to the seaside,
when you are sickly, and you get out on a fine morning and there is a
delightful breeze coming up from the sea. And you feel as if it came in
at every pore of your body and you seem to be drinking in health at
every breath you breathe! Do just like that in a spiritual sense with
God–go down to the great sea of Godhead–magnify it by thinking how
great it is and then take it into your very soul. God cannot be greater
than He is, but He can be greater in you than He is at present! He
cannot increase–there cannot be more of God than there is–but there
may be more of God in you. More of His great love, more of His perfect
holiness, more of His Divine power may be manifested in you and more of
His likeness and light may be revealed through you. Therefore, make Him
great in that respect.
And when you have done that, by His help, then try to make Him great by
what you give forth, even as the rose, when she has satisfied herself
with the sweet shower, no sooner does the clear shining come after the
rain than she deluges the garden all around with her delicious perfume.
Do you the same–first drink in all you can of the Deity and then
exhale Him–breathe out again, in your praise, in your holy living, in
your prayers, in your earnest zeal, in your devout spirit, the God whom
you have breathed in! You cannot make more of God than He is, but you
can make God more consciously present to the minds of others and make
them think more highly of God by what you say and what you do!
I should like to be able to say, as long as I live, "My soul does
magnify the Lord." I should like to have this as the one motto of my
life from this moment until I close my eyes in death, "My soul does
magnify the Lord." I would gladly preach that way! I would gladly eat
and drink that way. I would even sleep that way, so that I could
truthfully say, "I have no wish but that God should be great, and that
I should help to make Him great in the eyes of others." Will not you
also, dear Friends, make this the motto of your life-Psalm?
Then Mary added, "and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." Is
there any true praise without joy? Is not praise twin brother to joy?
And do not joy and praise always dwell together? Rejoice, then,
Beloved, not in the scenes you see, for they are fleeting, but rejoice
in your Savior–in Him above everything else! Never let any earthly
thing or any human being stand higher in your joy then Jesus Christ of
Nazareth! Rejoice in Him as most surely yours, for, dear Brothers and
Sisters, as a Believer, Christ isyours. If you are resting in Him, He
belongs to you, so rejoice in your own Savior, for all of Christ is
yours–not half a Savior, not one of His wounds for you and one for me,
but all His wounds for you, and all for me! Not His thoughtful head for
you, and His loving heart for me, but His head and His heart all for
you and all for me–He is my Savior, He is your Savior–from His feet
that were pierced by the nails to His head that was crowned with
thorns!
Oh, how we ought to rejoice in Him, whatever our union with Him may
cost us! Mary did not know what that wondrous visitation would cost
her–and it was to cost her much, as Simeon said to her–"Yes, a sword
shall pierce through your own soul also." But even though the sword
must go through her soul, it mattered not to her, for unto her a Child
was to be born, unto her a Son was to be given, who was to be called
"Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace." So, if the fact that Christ is ours involves the
bearing of the Cross, we are glad to bear it. It may involve suffering
and shame and a thousand temptations and trials–if it is so, each true
Believer can say with Mary, "'My spirit has rejoiced in God my
Savior'–in what He is, in what He is to me, in what He is to all His
elect, in what He is to poor sinners, in what He is to God, in what He
will be when He comes again and in what He will be throughout
eternity." If a little bird has nothing else to do but sing, it has a
great deal to do. And if you and I should have, tonight, when we get
home, nothing to do but to praise the Lord, we have the best employment
out of Heaven! We must not think that Christians are wasting time when
they pray and praise. Some fussy folk seem to imagine that we must
always be talking, or attending meetings, or giving away tracts. Well,
do as much as you can of all good things, but still, there must be
times for quiet meditation, times for reading, times for praying and
times for praising. There is no waste about such things–they are among
the best spent hours that we ever have. To work is the stalk of the
wheat, but to praise is the full corn in the ear. You and I, Beloved,
are living to praise God. This is the culmination, the very apex of the
pyramid of existence, pointing straight up to Heaven–that we praise
God with all our heart and soul.
So then, to conclude, here is something for every child of God to do.
You can all magnify the Lord and you may all rejoice in Him. You cannot
all preach. If you could, who would there be to hear you? If all were
preachers, where would be the hearers? But you can all praise God. If
there is any Brother or Sister here who has only one talent, let not
such an one say, "I cannot do anything." You can magnify the Lord and
you can rejoice in Him! To be happy in Him is to praise God. The mere
fact of our being happy in the Lord makes music in His ears. If you are
one of His children, you can be happy in Him, so get out of those
doleful dumps and cast out that spirit of murmuring and complaint which
so often possesses you! Pray the Lord to help you shake off your
natural tendency to look on the dark side of everything, and say,
"No, no, I must not do that. After all, I am not on the road to Hell–I
am on the way to Heaven! And this world is the ante-room to Heaven, so
my soul shall magnify the Lord and my spirit shall rejoice in God my
Savior."
I believe that if we could brighten the faces of all the saints and
anoint them with the oil of gladness, we would do more than anything
else could do to spread Christianity. I mean if we could make the
children of the King rejoice, we should cause worldlings to ask, "Where
does this joy come from?" And as they asked this question, we would
give them the answer and so the Gospel would be sure to spread.
My closing word is concerning those who cannot magnify the Lord and
cannot rejoice in God their Savior, those who cannot sing to God's
praise and who never have any joy in the Lord. Then how can they be His
children? God has many children and they have many infirmities, but He
never yet had a dumb child. They can, every one, say, "God be merciful
to me a sinner," and they can all sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain." Prayer and praise are two of the sure signs of a true-born heir
of Heaven. If you never praise God, my Friend, you can never go to
Heaven. Till the Lord has taken out of you the praise of other things,
the love of other things and given you the Grace to love Him and praise
Him, you cannot enter into His Glory. May some poor soul here that has
not anything for which it could praise itself, begin now to praise that
God who freely forgives the greatest sin and who is willing to cleanse
the very blackest sinner, for He has given Christ to die, the Just for
the unjust, that He may bring them unto God! Oh, begin to magnify Him
and rejoice in Him now, and you will never want to leave off doing so,
world without end! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE1:39-56.
Verses 39-41. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill
country with haste, into a city of Judah and entered into the house of
Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth And it came to pass, that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb;
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit We do not read that Mary
was filled with the Holy Spirit, possibly because she was always in
that condition, living very near to God in hallowed fellowship. Some of
us have occasional fillings with the Holy Spirit, but blessed are they
who dwell in Him, having been baptized into Him and enjoying continual
nearness to God as the blessed result.
42, 43. And she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this
granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?Those who
are most holy are most humble. You will always find those two things go
together. Elizabeth was the older woman, but, inasmuch as Mary was more
highly favored than she was, she asked, "Why is this granted to me,
that the mother of my Lord should some to me?" Genuine Christians do
not exalt themselves above their fellow Believers, but they have a
self-depreciatory spirit and each one esteems others better than
himself.
44, 45. For, lo, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my
ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that
believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were
told her from the Lord. What a benediction that is! If any of us truly
believe God's Word, we are blessed from that very fact, for God's
promise never misses its due performance. Men find it convenient to
forget their promises, but God never forgets–He takes as much delight
in keeping His promise as He does in making it.
46. And Mary said. We do not read that she spoke with a loud voice.
Occasionally, the visitation of the Spirit causes excitement. Thus
Elizabeth spoke with a loud voice, but Mary, though full of a rapturous
joy, spoke calmly and quietly, in a royal tone of holy calm. "Mary
said"–
46. My soul does magnify the Lord. She was weary, for she had come a
long journey, but she was like Abraham's servant who said, "I will not
eat until I have told my errand." So Mary will not eat until she has
sung the praises of her God! "My soul does magnify the Lord."
47, 48. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior For He has regarded
the low estate of His handmaiden: for behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed. Some have done so to the grief of
genuine Christians, for they have apostatized from the faith and made
Mary into a kind of goddess and, therefore, Protestant Christians have
gone to the other extreme and have not always given her the respect
which is due her.
49, 50. For He that is mighty has done to me great things, and holy is
His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to
generation. Notice how Mary quotes Scripture. Her mind seems to have
been saturated with the Word of God, as though she had learned the
Books of Scripture through and had them "by heart" in more senses than
one. And it in significant that though the Holy Spirit was speaking by
her, yet even He quoted the older Scriptures in preference to uttering
new sentences. What honor He put upon the Old Testament by so
continually quoting it in the New Testament, even as the Lord Jesus
also did. Let us, too, prize every part of God's Word. Let us soak in
it till we are saturated with Scriptural expressions! We cannot find
any better ones, for there are none.
51-53. He has showed strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud
in the imagination of the hearts. He has put down the mighty from their
seats, and exalted them of low degree. He has filled the hungry with
good things; and the rich He has sent away empty. Mary's song reminds
us of the Song of Hannah, yet there is a different tone in it. Hannah's
has more of exultation over enemies cast down, but Mary's is more
becoming to the new dispensation as Hannah's was to the old. There is a
gentle quietness of tone about the Magnificat all through, yet even
Mary cannot help rejoicing that the Lord "has filled the hungry with
good things; and the rich He has sent away empty."
54-56. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed forever And
Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
Wondrous as her future was to be, she would not neglect the duties of
her home. When any of you are privileged to share high spiritual
enjoyments, mind that you always return to your own home fit for your
domestic duties. We read that David, after he had danced before the
Ark, "returned to bless his household." We must never set up God's
altar in opposition to the lawful duties of our home. The two together
will make us strong for service and enable us to glorify the name of
the
Lord!