Mercy, Omnipotence, and Justice
A Sermon
(No. 137)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 21, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all
acquit the wicked."–Nahum 1:3.
WORKS OF ART require some education in the beholder, before they can be
thoroughly appreciated. We do not expect that the uninstructed should
at once perceive the varied excellencies of a painting from some master
hand; we do not imagine that the superlative glories of the harmonies
of the prince of song will enrapture the ears of clownish listeners.
There must be something in the man himself, before he can understand
the wonders either of nature or of art. Certainly this is true of
character. By reason of failures in our character and faults in our
life, we are not capable of understanding all the separate beauties,
and the united perfection of the character of Christ, or of God, his
Father. Were we ourselves as pure as the angels in heaven, were we what
our race once was in the garden of Eden, immaculate and perfect, it is
quite certain that we should have a far better and nobler idea of the
character of God than we can by possibility attain unto in our fallen
state. But you can not fail to notice, that men, through the alienation
of their natures, are continually misrepresenting God, because they can
not appreciate his perfection. Does God at one time withhold his hand
from wrath? Lo, they say that God hath ceased to judge the world, and
looks upon it with listless phlegmatic indifference. Does he at another
time punish the world for sin? They say he is severe and cruel. Men
will misunderstand him, because they are imperfect themselves, and are
not capable of admiring the character of God.
Now, this is especially true with regard to certain lights and shadows
in the character of God, which he has so marvelously blended in the
perfection of his nature: that although we can not see the exact point
of meeting, yet (if we have been at all enlightened by the Spirit) we
are struck with wonder at the sacred harmony. In reading holy
Scripture, you can say of Paul, that he was noted for his zeal–of
Peter, that he will ever be memorable for his courage–of John, that he
was noted for his lovingness. But did you ever notice, when you read
the history of our Master, Jesus Christ, that you never could say he
was notable for any one virtue at all? Why was that? It was because the
boldness of Peter did so outgrow itself as to throw other virtues into
the shade, or else the other virtues were so deficient that they set
forth his boldness. The very fact of a man being noted for something is
a sure sign that he is not so notable in other things; and it is
because of the complete perfection of Jesus Christ, that we are not
accustomed to say of him that he was eminent for his zeal, or for his
love, or for his courage. We say of him that he was a perfect
character; but we are not able very easily to perceive where the
shadows and the lights blended, where the meekness of Christ blended
into his courage, and where his loveliness blended into his boldness in
denouncing sin. We are not able to detect the points where they meet;
and I believe the more thoroughly we are sanctified, the more it will
be a subject of wonder to us how it could be that virtues which seemed
so diverse were in so majestic a manner united in one character.
It is just the same of God; and I have been led to make the remarks I
have made on my text, because of the two clauses thereof which seem to
describe contrary attributes. You will notice that there are two things
in my text: he is "slow to anger," and yet he "will not at all acquit
the wicked." Our character is so imperfect that we can not see the
congruity of these two attributes. We are wondering, perhaps, and
saying, "How is it he is slow to anger, and yet will not acquit the
wicked?" It is because his character is perfect that we do not see
where these two things melt into each other–the infallible
righteousness and severity of the ruler of the world, and his
loving-kindness, his long-suffering, and his tender mercies. The
absence of any one of these things from the character of God would have
rendered it imperfect; the presence of them all, though we may not see
how they can be congruous with each other, stamps the character of God
with a perfection elsewhere unknown.
And now I shall endeavor this morning to set forth these two attributes
of God, and the connecting link. "The Lord is slow to anger;" then
comes the connecting link, "great in power." I shall have to show you
how that "great in power" refers to the sentence foregoing and the
sentence succeeding. And then we shall consider the next attribute–"He
will not at all acquit the wicked:" an attribute of justice.
I. Let us begin with the first characteristic of God. He is said to be
"SLOW TO ANGER." Let me declare the attribute and then trace it to its
source.
God is "slow to anger." When Mercy cometh into the world, she driveth
winged steeds; the axles of her chariot-wheels are glowing hot with
speed; but when Wrath cometh, it walketh with tardy footsteps; it is
not in haste to slay, it is not swift to condemn. God's rod of mercy is
ever in his hands outstretched; God's sword of justice is in its
scabbard: not rusted in it–it can be easily withdrawn–but held there
by that hand that presses it back into its sheath, crying, "Sleep, O
sword, sleep; for I will have mercy upon sinners, and will forgive
their transgressions." God hath many orators in heaven; some of them
speak with swift words. Gabriel, when he cometh down to tell glad
tidings, speaketh swiftly; angelic hosts, when they descend from glory,
fly with wings of lightning, when they proclaim, "Peace on earth, good
will toward men;" but the dark angel of Wrath is a slow orator; with
many a pause between, where melting Pity joins her languid notes, he
speaks; and when but half his oration is completed he often stays, and
withdraws himself from his rostrum, giving way to Pardon and to Mercy;
he having but addressed the people that they might be driven to
repentance, and so might receive peace from the scepter of God's love.
Brethren, I shall just try to show you now how God is slow to anger.
First I will prove that he is "slow to anger;" because he never smites
without first threatening. Men who are passionate and swift in anger
give a word and a blow; sometimes the blow first and the word
afterward. Oftentimes kings, when subjects have rebelled against them,
have crushed them first, and then reasoned with them afterward; they
have given no time of threatening, no period of repentance; they have
allowed no space for turning to their allegiance; they have at once
crushed them in their hot displeasure, making a full end of them. Not
so God: he will not cut down the tree that doth much cumber the ground,
until he hath digged about it, and dunged it; he will not at once slay
the man whose character is the most vile; until he has first hewn him
by the prophets he will not hew him by judgments; he will warn the
sinner ere he condemn him; he will send his prophets, "rising up early
and late," giving him "line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a
little and there a little." He will not smite the city without warning;
Sodom shall not perish, until Lot hath been within her. The world shall
not be drowned, until eight prophets have been preaching in it, and
Noah, the eighth, cometh to prophesy of the coming of the Lord. He will
not smite Nineveh until he hath sent a Jonah. He will not crush Babylon
till his prophets have cried through its streets. He will not slay a
man until he hath given many warnings, by sicknesses, by the pulpit, by
providences, and by consequences. He smites not with a heavy blow at
once; he threateneth first. He doth not in grace, as in nature, send
lightnings first and thunder afterward; but he sendeth the thunder of
his law first, and the lightning of execution follows it. The lictor of
divine justice carries his axe bound up in a bundle of rods, for he
will not cut off men, until he has reproved them, that they may repent.
He is "slow to anger."
But again: God is also very slow to threaten. Although he will threaten
before he condemns, yet he is slow even in his threatening. God's lips
move swiftly when he promises, but slowly when he threatens. Long rolls
the pealing thunder, slowly roll the drums of heaven, when they sound
the death march of sinners; sweetly floweth the music of the rapid
notes which proclaim free grace, and love, and mercy. God is slow to
threaten. He will not send a Jonah to Nineveh, until Nineveh has become
foul with sin; he will not even tell Sodom it shall be burned with
fire, until Sodom has become a reeking dung-hill, obnoxious to earth as
well as heaven; he will not drown the world with a deluge, or even
threaten to do it, until the sons of God themselves make unholy
alliances and begin to depart from him. He doth not even threaten the
sinner by his conscience, until the sinner hath oftentimes sinned. He
will often tell the sinner of his sins, often urge him to repent; but
he will not make hell stare him hard in the face, with all its dreadful
terror, until much sin has stirred up the lion from his lair, and made
God hot with wrath against the iniquities of man. He is slow even to
threaten.
But, best of all, when God threatens, how slow he is to sentence the
criminal! When he has told them that he will punish unless they repent,
how long a space he gives them, in which to turn unto himself! "He doth
not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men for naught;" he
stayeth his hand; he will not be in hot haste, when he hath threatened
them, to execute the sentence upon them. Have you ever observed that
scene in the garden of Eden at the time of the fall? God had threatened
Adam that if he sinned he should surely die. Adam sinned: did God make
haste to sentence him? Tis sweetly said, "The Lord God walked in the
garden in the cool of the day." Perhaps that fruit was plucked at early
morn, mayhap it was plucked at noontide; but God was in no haste to
condemn; he waited till the sun was well nigh set, and in the cool of
the day came, and as an old expositor has put it very beautifully, when
he did come he did not come on wings of wrath, but he "walked in the
garden in the cool of the day." He was in no haste to slay. I think I
see him, as he was represented then to Adam, in those glorious days
when God walked with man. Methinks I see the wonderful similitude in
which the Unseen did vail himself: I see it walking among the trees so
slowly–ay, if it were right to give such a picture–beating its
breast, and shedding tears that it should have to condemn man. At last
I hear its doleful voice: "Adam, where art thou? Where hast thou cast
thyself, poor Adam? Thou hast cast thyself from my favor; thou hast
cast thyself into nakedness and into fear; for thou art hiding thyself
Adam, where art thou? I pity thee. Thou thoughtest to be God. Before I
condemn thee I will give thee one note of pity. Adam, where art thou?"
Yes, the Lord was slow to anger, slow to write the sentence, even
though the command had been broken, and the threatening was therefore
of necessity brought into force. It was so with the flood: he
threatened the earth, but he would not fully seal the sentence, and
stamp it with the seal of heaven, until he had given space for
repentance. Noah must come, and through his hundred and twenty years
must preach the word; he must come and testify to an unthinking and an
ungodly generation; the ark must be builded, to be a perpetual sermon;
there it must be upon its mountain-top, waiting for the floods to float
it, that it might be an every-day warning to the ungodly. O heavens,
why did ye not at once open your floods? Ye fountains of the great
deep, why did ye not burst up in a moment? God said, "I will sweep away
the world with a flood." why, why did ye not rise? "Because," I hear
them saying with gurgling notes, "because, although God had threatened,
he was slow to sentence, and he said in himself, Haply they may repent;
peradventure they may turn from their sin;' and therefore did he bid us
rest and be quiet, for he is slow to anger."
And yet once more: even when the sentence against a sinner is signed
and sealed by heaven's broad seal of condemnation, even then God is
slow to carry it out. The doom of Sodom is sealed; God hath declared it
shall be burned with fire. But God is tardy. He stops. He will himself
go down to Sodom, that he may see the iniquity of it. And when he gets
there guilt is rife in the streets. Tis night, and the crew of worse
than beasts besiege the door. Does he then lift his hands? Does he then
say, "Rain hell out of heaven, ye skies?" No, he lets them pursue their
riot all night, spares them to the last moment, and though when the sun
was risen the burning hail began to fall, yet was the reprieve as long
as possible. God was not in haste to condemn. God had threatened to
root out the Canaanites; he declared that all the children of Ammon
should be cut off; he had promised Abraham that he would give their
land unto his seed for ever, and they were to be utterly slain; but he
made the children of Israel wait four hundred years in Egypt, and he
let these Canaanites live all through the days of the patriarchs; and
even then, when he led his avenging ones out of Egypt, he stayed them
forty years in the wilderness, because he was loth to slay poor Canaan.
"Yet," said he, "I will give them space. Though I have stamped their
condemnation, though their death warrant has come forth from the court
of King's Bench, and must be executed, yet will I reprieve them as long
as I can;" and he stops, until at last mercy had had enough, and
Jericho's melting ashes and the destruction of Ai betokened that the
sword was out of its scabbard, and God had awaked like a mighty man,
and like a strong man full of wrath. God is slow to execute the
sentence, even when he has declared it.
And ah! my friends, there is a sorrowful thought that has just crossed
my mind. There are some men yet alive who are sentenced now. I believe
that Scripture bears me out in a dreadful thought which I just wish to
hint at. There are some men that are condemned before they are finally
damned; there are some men whose sins go before them unto judgment, who
are given over to a seared conscience, concerning whom it may be said
that repentance and salvation are impossible. There are some few men in
the world who are like John Bunyan's man in the iron cage, can never
get out. They are like Esau–they find no place of repentance, though,
unlike him, they do not seek it, for if they sought it they would find
it. Many there are who have sinned "the sin unto death," concerning
whom we can not pray; for we are told, "I do not say that ye shall pray
for it." But why, why, why are they not already in the flame? If they
be condemned, if mercy has shut its eye forever upon them, if it never
will stretch out its hand, to give them pardon, why, why, why are they
not cut down and swept away? Because God saith, "I will not have mercy
upon them, but I will let them live a little while longer; though I
have condemned them I am loth to carry the sentence out, and will spare
them as long as it is right that man should live; I will let them have
a long life here, for they will have a fearful eternity of wrath for
ever." Yes, let them have their little whirl of pleasure; their end
shall be most fearful. Let them beware, for although God is slow to
anger he is sure in it.
If God were not slow to anger, would he not have smitten this huge city
of ours, this behemoth city?–would he not have smitten it into a
thousand pieces, and blotted out the remembrance of it from the earth?
The iniquities of this city are so great, that if God should dig up her
very foundations, and cast her into the sea, she well deserveth it. Our
streets at night present spectacles of vice that can not be equaled.
Surely there can be no nation and no country that can show a city so
utterly debauched as this great city of London, if our midnight streets
are indications of our immorality. You allow in your public places of
resort–I mean you–my lords and ladies–you allow things to be said in
your hearing, of which your modesty ought to be ashamed. Ye can sit in
theaters to hear plays at which modesty should blush; I say naught of
piety. That the ruder sex should have listened to the obscenities of La
Traviata is surely bad enough, but that ladies of the highest
refinement, and the most approved taste, should dishonor themselves by
such a patronage of vice is indeed intolerable. Let the sins of the
lower theaters escape without your censure, ye gentlemen of England,
the lowest bestiality of the nethermost hell of a playhouse can look to
your opera-houses for their excuse. I thought that with the pretensions
this city makes to piety, for sure, they would not have so far gone,
and that after such a warning as they have had from the press itself–a
press which is certainly not too religious–they would not so indulge
their evil passions. But because the pill is gilded, ye suck down the
poison; because the thing is popular, ye patronize it: it is lustful,
it is abominable, it is deceitful! Ye take your children to hear what
yourselves never ought to listen to. Ye yourselves will sit in gay and
grand company, to listen to things from which your modesty ought to
revolt. And I would fain hope it does, although the tide may for a
while deceive you. Ah I God only knoweth the secret wickedness of this
great city; it demandeth a loud and a trumpet voice; it needs a prophet
to cry aloud, "Sound an alarm, sound an alarm, sound an alarm," in this
city; for verily the enemy groweth upon us, the power of the evil one
is mighty, and we are fast going to perdition, unless God shall put
forth his hand and roll back the black torrent of iniquity that
streameth down our streets. But God is slow to anger, and doth still
stay his sword. Wrath said yesterday, "Unsheath thyself, O sword;" and
the sword struggled to get free. Mercy put her hand upon the hilt, and
said, "Be still!" "Unsheath thyself, O sword!" Again it struggled from
its scabbard. Mercy put her hand on it, and said, "Back!"–and it
rattled back again. Wrath stamped his foot, and said, "Awake, O sword,
awake!" It struggled yet again, till half its blade was outdrawn;
"Back, back!" said Mercy, and with manly push she sent it back rattling
into its sheath; and there it sleeps still, for the Lord is "slow to
anger, and plenteous in mercy."
Now I am to trace this attribute of God to its source: why is he slow
to anger?
He is slow to anger because he is infinitely good. Good is his name;
"good"–God. Good is his nature; because he in slow to anger.
He is slow to anger, again, because he is great. Little things are
always swift in anger; great things are not so. The surly cur barks at
every passer-by, and bears no insult; the lion would bear a thousand
times as much; and the bull sleeps in his pasture, and will bear much,
before he lifteth up his might. The leviathan in the sea, though he
makes the deep to be hoary when he is enraged, yet is slow to be
stirred up, while the little and puny are always swift in anger. God's
greatness is one reason of the slowness of his wrath.
II. But to proceed at once to the link. A great reason why he is slow
to anger, is because he is GREAT IN POWER. This is to be the connecting
link between this part of the subject and the last, and therefore I
must beg your attention. I say that this word great in power connects
the first sentence to the last; and it does so in this way. The Lord is
slow to anger; and he is slow to anger because he is great in power.
"How say you so?"–says one. I answer, he that is great in power has
power over himself; and he that can keep his own temper down, and
subdue himself, is greater than he who rules a city, or can conquer
nations. We heard but yesterday, or the day before, mighty displays of
God's power in the rolling thunder which alarmed us; and when we saw
the splendor of his might in the glistening lightning, when be lifted
up the gates of heaven and we saw the brightness thereof, and then he
closed them again upon the dusty earth in a moment–even then we did
not see any thing but the hidings of his power, compared with the power
which he has over himself. When God's power doth restrain himself, then
it is power indeed, the power to curb power, the power that binds
omnipotence in omnipotence surpassed. God is great in power, and
therefore doth he keep in his anger. A man who has a strong mind can
bear to be insulted, can bear offenses, because be is strong. The weak
mind snaps and snarls at the little; the strong mind bears it like a
rock; it moveth not, though a thousand breakers dash upon it, and cast
their pitiful malice in the spray upon its summit. God marketh his
enemies, and yet he moveth not; he standeth still, and letteth them
curse him, yet is he not wrathful. If he were less of a God than he is,
if he were less mighty than we know him to be, he would long ere this
have sent forth the whole of his thunder, and emptied the magazines of
heaven; he would long ere this have blasted the earth with the wondrous
mines he hath prepared in its lower surface; the flame that burneth
there would have consumed us, and we should have been utterly
destroyed. We bless God that the greatness of his power is just our
protection; he is slow to anger because he is great in power.
And, now, there is no difficulty in showing how this link unites itself
with the next part of the text, "He is great in power, and will not at
all acquit the wicked." This needs no demonstration in words; I have
but to touch the feelings, and you will see it. The greatness of his
power is an assurance, and an assurance that he will not acquit the
wicked. Who among you could witness the storm on Friday night without
having thoughts concerning your own sinfulness stirred in your bosoms?
Men do not think of God the punisher, or Jehovah the avenger, when the
sun is shining, and the weather calm ; but in times of tempest, whose
cheek is not blanched? The Christian oftentimes rejoiceth in it; he can
say, "My soul is well at ease, amid this revelry of earth; I do rejoice
in it; it is a day of feasting in my Father's hall, a day of high-feast
and carnival in heaven, and I am glad.
"The God that reigns on high,
And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas,
This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our love,
He shall send down his heavenly powers,
To carry us above."
But the man who is not of an easy conscience will be ill at ease when
the timbers of the house are creaking, and the foundations of the solid
earth seem to groan. Ah! who is he then that doth not tremble? Yon
lofty tree is riven in half; that lightning flash has smitten its
trunk, and there it lies for ever blasted, a monument of what God can
do. Who stood there and saw it? Was he a swearer? Did he swear then?
Was he a Sabbath-breaker? Did he love his Sabbath-breaking then? Was he
haughty? Did he then despise God? Ah! how he shook then! Saw you not
his hair stand on end? Did not his cheek blanch in an instant? Did he
not close his eyes and start back in horror when he saw that dreadful
spectacle, and thought God would smite him too? Yes, the power of God,
when seen in the tempest, on sea or on land, in the earthquake or in
the hurricane, is instinctively a proof that he will not acquit the
wicked. I know not how to explain the feeling, but it is nevertheless
the truth; majestic displays of omnipotence have an effect upon the
mind of convincing even the hardened, that God, who is so powerful,
"will not at all acquit the wicked." Thus have I just tried to explain
and make bare the link of the chain.
III. The last attribute, and the most terrible one, is, "HE WILL NOT AT
ALL ACQUIT THE WICKED." Let me unfold this, first of all; and then let
me, after that, endeavor to trace it also to its scarce, as I did the
first attribute.
God "will not acquit the wicked." How prove I this? I prove it thus.
Never once has he pardoned an unpunished sin; not in all the years of
the Most High, not in all the days of his right hand, has he once
blotted out sin without punishment. What! say you, were not those in
heaven pardoned? Are there not many transgressors pardoned, and do they
not escape without punishment? Has he not said, "I have blotted out thy
transgressions like a cloud, and like a thick cloud thine iniquities?"
Yes, true, most true, and yet my assertion is true also–not one of all
those sins that have been pardoned were pardoned without punishment. Do
you ask me why and how such a thing as that can be the truth? I point
you to yon dreadful sight on Calvary; the punishment which fell not on
the forgiven sinner fell there. The cloud of justice was charged with
fiery hail; the sinner deserved it; it fell on him; but, for all that,
it fell, and spent its fury; it fell there, in that great reservoir of
misery; it fell into the Saviour's heart. The plagues, which need
should light on our ingratitude, did not fall on us, but they fell
somewhere; and who was it that was plagued? Tell me, Gethsemane; tell
me, O Calvary's summit, who was plagued. The doleful answer comes,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" "My God, my God, why hart thou forsaken
me?" It is Jesus suffering all the plagues of sin. Sin is still
punished, though the sinner is delivered.
But, you say, this has scarcely proved that he will not acquit the
wicked. I hold it has proved it, and proved it clearly. But do ye want
any further proof that God will not acquit the wicked? Need I lead you
through a long list of terrible wonders that God has wrought–the
wonders of his vengeance? Shall I show you blighted Eden? Shall I let
you see a world all drowned–sea monsters whelping and stabling in the
palaces of kings? Shall I let you hear the last shriek of the last
drowning man as he falls into the flood and dies, washed by that huge
wave from the hill-top? Shall I let you see death riding upon the
summit of a crested billow, upon a sea that knows no shore, and
triumphing because his work is done; his quiver empty, for all men are
slain, save where life floats in the midst of death in yonder ark? Need
I let you see Sodom with its terrified inhabitants, when the volcano of
almighty wrath spouted fiery hail upon it? Shall I show you the earth
opening its mouth to swallow up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram? Need I take
you to the plagues of Egypt? Shall I again repeat the death-shriek of
Pharaoh, and the drowning of his host? Surely, ye need not to be told
of cities that are in ruins, or of nations that have been cut off in a
day; ye need not to be told how God has smitten the earth from one side
to the other, when he has been wroth, and how he has melted mountains
in his hot displeasure. Nay, we have proofs enough in history, proofs
enough in Scripture, that "he will not at all acquit the wicked." If ye
wanted the best proof, however, ye should borrow the black wings of a
miserable imagination, and fly beyond the world, through the dark realm
of chaos, on, far on, where those battlements of fire are gleaming with
a horrid light–if through them, with a spirit's safety, ye would fly,
and would behold the worm that never dies, the pit that knows no
bottom, and could you there see the fire unquenchable, and listen to
the shrieks and wails of men that are banished for ever from God–if,
sirs, it were possible for you to hear the sullen groans and hollow
moans, and shrieks of tortured ghosts, then would ye come back to this
world, amazed and petrified with horror, and you would say, "Indeed he
will not acquit the wicked." You know, hell is the argument of the
text; may you never have to prove the text by feeling in yourselves the
argument fully carried out, "He will not at all acquit the wicked."
And now we trace this terrible attribute to its source. Why is this ?
We reply, God will not acquit the wicked, because he is good. What!
doth goodness demand that sinners shall be punished? It doth. The Judge
must condemn the murderer, because he loves his nation. "I can not let
you go free; I can not, and I must not; you would slay others, who
belong to this fair commonwealth, if I were to let you go free; no, I
must condemn you from the very loveliness of my nature." The kindness
of a king demands the punishment of those who are guilty. It is not
wrathful in the legislature to make severe laws against great sinners;
it is but love toward the rest that sin should be restrained. Yon great
flood-gates, which keep back the torrent of sin, are painted black, and
look right horrible; like horrid dungeon gates, they affright my
spirit; but are they proofs that God is not good? No, sirs; if ye could
open wide those gates, and let the deluge of sin flow on us, then would
you cry "O God, O God! shut-to the gates of punishment again, let law
again be established, set up the pillars and swing the gates upon their
hinges; shut again the gates of punishment, that this world may not
again be utterly destroyed by men who have become worse than brutes."
It needs for very goodness' sake that sin should be punished, Mercy,
with her weeping eyes (for she hath wept for sinners), when she finds
they will not repent, looks more terribly stern in her loveliness than
Justice in all his majesty; she drops the white flag from her hand, and
saith–"No; I called, and they refused; I stretched out my hand, and no
man regarded; let them die, let them die;"–and that terrible word from
the lip of Mercy's self is harsher thunder than the very damnation of
Justice. O, yes, the goodness of God demands that men should perish, if
they will sin.
And again, the justice of God demands it. God is infinitely just, and
his justice demands that men should be punished, unless they turn to
him with full purpose of heart. Need I pass through all the attributes
of God to prove it? Methinks I need not. We must all of us believe that
the God who is slow to anger and great in power is also sure not to
acquit the wicked. And now just a home-thrust or two with you. What is
your state this morning? My friend, man or woman, what is thy state?
Canst thou look up to heaven and say, "Though I have sinned greatly I
believe Christ was punished in my stead,
"My faith looks back to see,
The burden he did bear,
When hanging on the cursed,
And knows her guilt was there?"
Can you by humble faith look to Jesus, and say, "My substitute, my
refuge, my shield; thou art my rock, my trust; in thee do I confide?"
Then, beloved, to you I have nothing to say, except this, Never be
afraid when you see God's power; for now that you are forgiven and
accepted, now that by faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the
power of God need no more terrify you, than the shield and sword of the
warrior need terrify his wife or his child. "Nay," saith the woman, "is
he strong? He is strong for me. Is his arm brawney, and are all his
sinews fast and strong? Then are they fast and strong for me. While he
lives, and wears a shield, he will stretch it over my head; and while
his good sword can cleave foes, it will cleave my foes too, and ransom
me." Be of good cheer; fear not his power.
But hast thou never fled to Christ for refuge? Dost thou not believe in
the Redeemer? Hast thou never confided thy soul to his hands? Then, my
friends, hear me; in God's name, hear me just a moment. My friend, I
would not stand in thy position for an hour, for all the stars twice
spelt in gold! For what is thy position? Thou hast sinned, and God will
not acquit thee; he will punish thee. He is letting thee live; thou art
reprieved. Poor is the life of one that is reprieved without a pardon!
Thy reprieve will soon run out; thine hour-glass is emptying every day.
I see on some of you death has put his cold hand, and frozen your hair
to whiteness. Ye need your staff: it is the only barrier between you
and the grave now; and you are, all of you, old and young, standing on
a narrow neck of land, between two boundless seas–that neck of land,
that isthmus of life, narrowing every moment, and you, and you, and
you, are yet unpardoned. There is a city to be sacked, and you are in
it–soldiers are at the gates; the command is given that every man in
the city is to be slaughtered save he who can give the password. "Sleep
on, sleep on; the attack is not to-day; sleep on, sleep on." "But it is
to-morrow, sir." "Ay, sleep on, sleep on; it is not till to-morrow;
sleep on, procrastinate, procrastinate." "Hark! I hear a rumbling at
the gates; the battering-ram is at them; the gates are tottering."
"Sleep on, sleep on; the soldiers are not yet at your doors; sleep on,
sleep on; ask for no mercy yet; sleep on, sleep on!" "Ay, but I hear
the shrill clarion sound; they are in the streets. Hark, to the shrieks
of men and women! They are slaughtering them; they fall, they fall,
they fall!" "Sleep on; they are not yet at your door." "But hark, they
are at the gate; with heavy tramp I hear the soldiers marching up the
stairs! "Nay, sleep on, sleep on; they are not yet in your room." "Why,
they are there; they have burst open the door that parted you from
them, and there they stand!" "No, sleep on, sleep on; the sword is not
yet at your throat; sleep on, sleep on!" It is at your throat, You
start with horror. Sleep on, sleep on! But you are gone! "Demon, why
toldest thou me to slumber? It would have been wise in me to have
escaped the city when first the gates were shaken. Why did I not ask
for the password before the troops came? Why, by all that is wise, why
did I not rush into the streets, and cry the password when the soldiers
were there? Why stood I till the knife was at my throat? Ay, demon that
thou art, be cursed; but I am cursed with thee for ever!" You know the
application; it is a parable ye can all expound; ye need not that I
should tell you that death is after you, that justice must devour you,
that Christ crucified is the only password that can save you; and yet
you have not learned it–that with some of you death is nearing,
nearing, nearing, and that with all of you he is close at hand! I need
not expound how Satan is the demon, how in hell you shall curse him and
curse yourselves because you procrastinated–how, that seeing God was
slow to anger you were slow to repentance–how, because he was great in
power, and kept back his anger, therefore you kept back your steps from
seeking him; and here you are what you are!
Spirit of God, bless these words to some souls that they may be saved!
May some sinners be brought to the Saviour's feet, and cry for mercy!
We ask it for Jesus, sake. Amen.