A Sermon
(No. 10)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 28th, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on
the earth."–Revelation 5:10.
MUSIC HATH Charms." I am sure sacred music has; for I have felt
something of its charms whilst we have been singing that glorious hymn
just now. There is a potency in harmony; there is a magic power in
melody, which either melts the soul to pity, or lifts it up to joy
unspeakable. I do not know how it may be with some minds; they possibly
may resist the influence of singing; but I cannot. When the saints of
God, in full chorus, "chaunt the solemn lay," and when I hear sweet
syllables fall from their lips, keeping measure and time, then I feel
elevated; and, forgetting for a time everything terrestrial, I soar
aloft towards heaven. If such be the sweetness of the music of the
saints below, where there is much of discord and sin to mar the
harmony, how sweet must it be to sing above, with cherubim and
seraphim. Oh, what songs must those be which the Eternal ever hears
upon his throne! What seraphic sonnets must those be which are thrilled
from the lips of pure immortals, untainted by a sin, unmingled with a
groan: where they warble ever hymns of joy and gladness, never
intermingled with one sigh, or groan, or worldly care. Happy songsters!
When shall I your chorus join? There is one of your hymns that runs–
"Hark! how they sing before the throne!"
and I have sometimes thought I could "hark! how they sing before the
throne." I have imagined that I could hear the full burst of the swell
of the chorus, when it pealed from heaven like mighty thunders, and the
sound of many waters, and have almost heard those full-toned strains,
when the harpers harped with their harps be fore the throne of God;
alas, it was but imagination. We cannot hear it now; these ears are not
fitted for such music; these souls could not be contained in the body,
if we were once to hear some stray note from the harps of angels. We
must wait till we get up yonder. Then, purified, like silver seven
times, from the defilement of earth, washed in our Saviour's precious
blood, sanctified by the purifying influence of the Holy Spirit–
"We shall, unblemished and complete,
Appear before our Father's throne,
With joys divinely great."
"Then loudest of the crowd we'll sing,
Whilst heaven's resounding mansions ring
With shouts of sovereign grace."
Our friend John, the highly favoured apostle of the Apocalypse, has
given us just one note from heaven's song; we shall strike that note,
and sound it again and again. I shall strike this tuning-fork of
heaven, and let you hear one of the key notes. "And hast made us unto
our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth." May the
great and gracious Spirit, who is the only illumination of darkness,
light up my mind whilst I attempt, in a brief and hurried manner, to
speak from this text. There are three things in it: first, the
Redeemer's doings–" and hast made us; secondly, the saints' honors–"
and hast made us kings and priests unto our God;" and, thirdly, the
world's future–" and we shall reign upon the earth."
I. First, then, we have THE REDEEMER'S DOINGS. They who stand before
the throne sing of the Lamb–the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who took
the book and broke the seals thereof–" Thou hast made us kings and
priests unto our God." In heaven they do not sing
"Glory, honor, praise, and power
Be unto ourselves for ever;
We have been our own Redeemers;–Hallelujah!"
They never sing praise to themselves; they glorify not their own
strength; they do not talk of their own free-will and their own might;
but they ascribe their salvation, from beginning to end, to God. Ask
them how they were saved, and they reply, "The Lamb hath made us what
we are." Ask them whence their glories came, and they tell you, "They
were bequeathed to us by the dying Lamb." Ask whence they obtained the
gold of their harps, and they say, "It was dug in mines of agony and
bitterness by Jesus," Inquire who stringed their harps, and they will
tell you that Jesus took each sinew of his body to make them. Ask them
where they washed their robes and made them white, and they will say–
"In yonder fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins.'"
Some persons on earth do not know where to put the crown; but those in
heaven do. They place the diadem on the right head; and they ever
sing–" And he hath made us what we are."
Well, then, beloved, would not this note well become us here? For "
what have we that we have not received?" Who hath made us to differ? I
know, this morning, that I am a justified man; I have the full
assurance that
"The terrors of law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view."
There is not a sin against me in God's book they have all been for ever
obliterated by the blood of Christ. and cancelled by his own right
hand. I have nothing to fear; I cannot be condemned. "Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect?" Not God, for he hath justified;
not Christ. for he hath died. But if I am justified, who made me so? I
say–"And hath made me what I am." Justification from first to last. is
of God. Salvation is of the Lord alone.
Many of you are sanctified persons, but you are not perfectly
sanctified, you are not redeemed altogether from the dross of earth;
you have still another law in your members, warring against the law of
your mind; and you always will have that law while you tabernacle in
faith; you never will be perfect in your sanctification until you get
up yonder before the solemn throne of God, where even this imperfection
of your soul will be taken away, and your carnal depravity rooted out.
But yet, beloved, there is an inward principle imparted; you are
growing in grace–you are making progress in holiness. Well, but who
made you have that progress? Who redeemed you from that lust? Who
ransomed you from that vice? Who bade you say farewell to that practice
in which you indulged? Cannot you say of Jesus, "And hath made us!" It
is Christ who hath done it all, and to his name be honor, and glory,
and praise, and dominion.
Let us dwell one moment on this thought, and show you how it is that it
can be said that Christ hath made us this. When did Christ make his
people kings and priests? When could it be said, "And hath made us
kings and priests unto our God?"
1. First of all, he made us kings and priests, virtually, when he
signed the covenant of grace. Far, far back in eternity, the Magna
Charta of the saints was written by the hand of God, and it needed one
signature to make it valid. There was a stipulation in that covenant
that the Mediator should become incarnate should live a suffering life,
and at last endure a death of ignominy; and it needed but one
signature, the signature of the Son of God, to make that covenant
valid, eternal, and "ordered in all things and sure." Methinks I see
him now, as my imagination pictures the lofty Son of God grasping the
pen. See how his fingers write the name; and there it stands in
everlasting letters–" THE SON!" O sacred ratification of the treaty;
it is stamped and sealed with the great seal of our father in heaven. O
glorious covenant, then for ever made secure! At the moment of the
signature of this wondrous document, the spirits before the throne–I
mean the angels–might have taken up the song, and said of the whole
body of the elect, "And hast made you kings and priests unto your God;"
and could all the chosen company have started into existence, they
could have clapped their hands and sung, "Here we are by that very
signature constituted kings and priests unto our God."
2. But he did not stop there. It was not simply agreeing to the terms
of the treaty; but in due time he filled it all–yes, to its utmost jot
and tittle. Jesus said, "I will take the cup of salvation;" and he did
take it–the cup of our deliverance. Bitter were its drops;gall lay in
its depths;there were groans, and sighs, and tears, within the red
mixture but he took it all, and drank it to its dregs, and swallowed
all the awful draught. All was gone. He drank the cup of salvation, and
he ate the bread of affliction. See him, as he drinks the cup in
Gethsemane, when the fluid of that cup did mingle with his blood, and
make each drop a scalding poison. Mark how the hot feet of pain did
travel down his veins. See how each nerve is twisted and contorted with
his agony. Behold his brow covered with sweat; witness the agonies as
they follow each other into the very depths of his soul. Speak, ye
lost, and tell what hell's torment means; but ye cannot tell what the
torments of Gethsemane were. Oh! the deep unutterable! There was a
depth which couched beneath, when our Redeemer bowed his head, when he
placed himself betwixt the upper and nether millstones of his Father's
vengeance, and when his whole soul was ground to powder. Ah! that
wrestling man-God–that suffering man of Gethsemane! Weep o'er him,
saints–weep o'er him; when ye see him rising from that prayer in the
garden, marching forth to his cross; when ye picture him hanging on his
cross four long hours in the scorching sun, overwhelmed by his Father's
passing wrath–when ye see his side streaming with gore–when ye hear
his death-shriek, "It is finished,"–and see his lips all parched, and
moistened by nothing save the vinegar and the gall,–ah! then prostrate
yourselves before that cross, bow down before that sufferer, and say,
"Thou hast made us–thou hast made us what we are; we are nothing
without thee." The cross of Jesus is the foundation of the glory of the
saints; Calvary is the birth-place of heaven; heaven was born in
Bethlehem's manger; had it not been for the sufferings and agonies of
Golgotha we should have had no blessing. Oh, saint! in every mercy see
the Saviour's blood; look on this Book–it is sprinkled with his blood;
look on this house of prayer–it is sanctified by his sufferings; look
on your daily food–it is purchased with his groans. Let every mercy
come to you as a blood-bought treasure; value it because it comes from
him; and ever more say, "Thou hast made us what we are."
3. Beloved, our Saviour Jesus Christ finished the great work of making
us what we are, by his ascension into heaven. If he had not risen up on
high and led captivity captive, his death would have been insufficient.
He "died for our sins," but he "rose again for our justification." The
resurrection of our Saviour, in his majesty, when he burst the bonds of
death, was to us the assurance that God had accepted his sacrifice; and
his ascension up on high, was but as a type and a figure of the real
and actual ascension of all his saints, when he shall come in the
clouds of judgment, and shall call all his people to him. Mark the
man-God, as he goes upward towards heaven; behold his triumphal march
through the skies, whilst stars sing his praises, and planets dance in
solemn order; behold him traverse the unknown fields of ether till he
arrives at the throne of God in the seventh heaven, Then hear him say
to his Father, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;
behold me and the children thou hast given me; I have fought a good
fight, I have finished my course; I have done all; I have accomplished
every type; I have finished every part of the covenant; there is not
one iota I have left unfulfilled, or one tittle that is left out; all
is done." And hark, how they sing before the throne of God when thus he
speaks: "Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall
reign on the earth."
Thus have I briefly spoken upon the dear Redeemer's doings. Poor lips
cannot speak better; faint heart will not rise up to the height of this
great argument. Oh! that these lips had language eloquent and lofty,
that they might speak more of the wondrous doings of our Redeemer!
" Crown him! crown him!
Crowns become the Saviour's brow."
II. Now, secondly, THE SAINT'S HONORS: "and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests." The most honorable of all monarchs have ever been
esteemed to be those who had a right not only to royal, but to
sacerdotal supremacy–those kings who could wear at one time the crown
of loyalty, and at another the mitre of the priesthood, who could both
use the censer and hold the sceptre–who could offer intercession for
the people, and then govern the nations. Those who are kings and
priests are great indeed; and here you behold the saint honored, not
with one title, or one office, but with two. He is made not a king
merely, but a king and a priest; not a priest merely, but a priest and
a king. The saint has two offices conferred upon him at once, he is
made a priestly monarch, and a regal priest.
I shall take, first of all, the royal office of the saints. They are
KINGS. They are not merely to be kings in heaven, but they are also
kings on earth; for if my text does not say so, the Bible declares it
in another passage: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood."
We are kings even now. I want you to understand that, before I explain
the idea. Every saint of the living God, not merely has the prospect of
being a king in heaven, but positively, in the sight of God, he is a
king now; and he must say, with regard to his brethren and himself,
"And hast made us," even now, "unto our God kings and priests; and we
shall reign upon the earth." A Christian is a king. He is not simply
like a king, but he is a king, actually and truly. However, I shall try
and show you how he is like a king.
Remember his royal ancestry. What a fuss some people make about their
grand fathers and grandmothers, and distant ancestors. I remember
seeing in Trinity College, the pedigree of some great lord that went
back just as far as Adam, and Adam was there digging the ground–the
first man. It was traced all the way up. Of course I did not believe
it. I have heard of some pedigrees that go back further. I leave that
to your own common sense, to believe it or not. A pedigree in which
shall be found dukes, marquises, and kings, and princes. Oh! what would
some give for such a pedigree? I believe, however, that it is not what
our ancestors were, but what we are, that will make us shine before
God; that it is not so much in knowing that we have royal or priestly
blood in our veins, as knowing that we are an honor to our race–that
we are walking in the ways of the Lord, and reflecting credit upon the
church, and upon the grace that makes us honorable. But since some men
will glory in their descent, I will glory that the saints have the
proudest ancestry in all the world. Talk of Caesars, or of Alexanders,
or tell me even of our own good Queen: I say that I am of as high
descent as her majesty, or the proudest monarch in the world. I am
descended from the King of kings. The saint may well speak of his
ancestry–he may exult in it, he may glory in it–for he is the son of
God, positively and actually. His mother, the Church, is the Bride of
Jesus; he is a twice-born child of heaven: one of the blood royal of
the universe. The poorest woman or man on earth, loving Christ, is of a
royal line. Give a man the grace of God in his heart, and his ancestry
is noble. I can turn back the roll of my pedigree, and I can tell you
that it is so ancient, that it has no beginning; it is more ancient
than all the rolls of mighty men put together; for, from all eternity
my Father existed: and, therefore, I have indeed a right royal and
ancient ancestry.
And then, again, the saints, like monarchs, have a splendid retinue.
Kings and monarchs cannot travel without a deal of state. In olden
times, they had far more magnificence than they have now; but even in
these days we see much of it when royalty is abroad. There must be a
peculiar kind of horse, and a splendid chariot, and outriders; with all
the etceteras of gorgeous pomp. Ay! and the kings of God, whom Jesus
Christ has made kings and priests unto their God, have also a royal
retinue. "Oh!" say you, "but I see some of them in rags; they are
walking through the earth alone, sometimes without a helper or a
friend." Ah! but there is a fault in your eyes. If you had eyes to see,
you would perceive a body-guard of angels always attending every one of
the blood-bought family. You remember Elijah's servant could not see
anything around Elijah, till his master opened his eyes; then he could
see that there were horses and chariots round about Elijah. Lo! there
are horses and chariots about me. And thou, saint of the Lord: where'er
thou art, there are horses and chariots. In that bed-chamber, where I
was born, angels stood to announce my birth on high. In seas of
trouble, when wave after wave seems to go over me, angels are there to
lift up my head; when I come to die, when sorrowing friends shall,
weeping, carry me to the grave, angels shall stand by my bier; and,
when put into the grave, some mighty angel shall stand and guard my
dust, and contend for its possession with the devil. Why should I fear?
I have a company of angels about me; and whenever I walk abroad, the
glorious cherubim march in front. Men see them not, but I see them; for
"faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen." We have a royal retinue: we are kings, not merely by ancestry,
but by our retinue.
Now, notice the insignia and regalia of the saints. Kings and princes
have certain things that are theirs by perspective right. For instance,
Her Majesty has her Buckingham Palace, and her other palaces, her crown
royal, her sceptre, and so on. But, has a saint a palace? Yes. I have a
palace! and its walls are not made of marble, but of gold; its borders
are carbuncles and precious gems; its windows are of agates; its stones
are laid with fair colours; around it there is a profusion of every
costly thing; rubies sparkle here and there; yea, pearls are but common
stones within it. Some call it a mansion; but I have a right to call it
a palace too, for I am a king. It is a mansion when I look at God, it
is a palace when I look at men; because it is the habitation of a
prince. Mark where this palace is. I am not a prince of Inde–I have no
inheritance in any far-off hand that men dream of–I have no El Dorado,
or Home of Prester John; but yet I have a substantial palace. Yonder,
on the hills of heaven it stands; I know not its position among the
other mansions of heaven, but there it stands; and "I know that if the
earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a building of
God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Have Christians a crown too? O yes; but they do not wear it every day.
They have a crown, but their coronation day is not yet arrived. They
have been anointed monarchs, they have some of the authority and
dignity of monarchs; but they are not crowned monarchs yet. But the
crown is made. God will not have to order heaven's goldsmiths to
fashion it in after-time; it is made already hanging up in glory. God
bath "laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Oh, saint, if thou
didst just open some secret door in heaven, and go into the treasure
chamber, thou wouldst see it filled with crowns. When Cortes entered
the palace of Montezuma, he found a secret chamber bricked up, and he
thought the wealth of all the world was there, so many different things
were there stowed away. Could you enter God's secret treasure-house,
what wealth would you see!" " Are there so many monarchs," you would
say, "so many crowns, so many princes?" Yes, and some bright angel
would say, "Mark you that crown? It is yours;" and if you were to look
within, you would read, "Made for a sinner saved by grace, whose name
was–;" and then you would hardly believe your eyes, as you saw your
own name engraved upon it. You are indeed a king before God; for you
have a crown laid up in heaven. What ever other insignia belong to
monarchs, saints shall have. They shall have robes of whiteness; they
shall have harps of glory; they shall have all things that become their
regal state; so that we are indeed monarchs, you see; not
mock-monarchs, clothed in purple garments of derision, and scoffed at
with "Hail, king of the Jews;" but we are real monarchs. "He hath made
us kings and priests unto our God."
There is another thought here. Kings are considered the most honorable
amongst men. They are always looked up to and respected. If you should
say, "a monarch is here!" a crowd would give way. I should not command
much respect if I were to attempt to move about in a crowd; but if any
one should shout, "here is the Queen!" every one would step aside and
make room for her. A monarch generally commands respect. Ah! beloved,
we think that worldly princes are the most honorable of the earth; but
if you were to ask God, he would reply, "my saints, in whom I delight,
these are the honorable ones." Tell me not of tinsel and gewgaw; tell
me not of gold and silver; tell me not of diamonds and pearls; tell me
not of ancestry and rank; preach to me not of pomp and power; but oh!
tell me that a man is a saint of the Lord, for then he is an honorable
man. God respects him, angels respect him, and the universe one day
shall respect him, when Christ shall come to call him to his account,
and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy
of thy Lord." You may despise a child of God now, sinner; you may laugh
at him; you may say he is a hypocrite; you may call him a saint, a
methodist, a cant, and everything you like; but know that those titles
will not mar his dignity–he is the honorable of the earth, and God
estimates him as such.
But some persons will say, "I wish you would prove what you affirm,
when you say that saints are kings; for, if we were kings, we should
never have any sorrows; kings are never poor as we are, and never
suffer as we do." Who told you so? You say if you are kings, you would
live at ease. Do not kings ever suffer? Was not David an anointed king?
and was lie not hunted like a partridge on the mountains? Did not the
king himself pass over the brook Kedron, and all his people weeping as
he went, when his son Absalom pursued him? And was he not a monarch
when he slept on the cold ground, with no couch save the damp heather?
O yes, kings have their sorrows–crowned heads have their afflictions.
Full oft
"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
Do not expect that because you are a king, you are to have no sorrows.
"It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor
for princes strong drink." And it is often so. The saints get but
little wine here. It is not for kings to drink the wine of pleasure; it
is not for kings to have much of the intoxicating drink and the
surfeits of this world's delight. They shall have joy enough up yonder,
when they shall drink it new in their Father's kingdom. Poor saint! do
dwell on this. Thou art a king! I beseech thee, let it not go away from
thy mind; but in the midst of thy tribulation, still rejoice in it. If
thou hast to go through the dark tunnel of infamy, for Christ's name;
if thou art ridiculed and reviled, still rejoice in the fact, "I am a
king, and all the dominions of the earth shall be mine!"
That last idea, and I have done with this part of the subject. Kings
have dominion. Do you know I am a fifth monarchy man? In Cromwell's
time some said there had been four monarchies, and the fifth would come
and overturn every other. Well, I never wish to do as they did; but I
believe with them, that a fifth monarchy shall come. There have now
existed four great empires, arrogating universal dominion, and there
never shall be another world-wide monarchy until Christ shall come.
Jesus, our Lord, is to be King of all the earth, and rule all nations
in a glorious spiritual, or personal reign. The saints, as being kings
in Christ, have a right to the whole world. Here am I this morning, and
my congregation before me. Some persons say, "Keep to your own place
and preach," and I have heard the advice, "Do not go out of your
parish." But Rowland Hill used to say he never went out of his parish
in his life; his parish was England, Scotland, and Wales, and he never
went out of it. I suppose that is my parish, and the parish of every
gospel minister. When we see a city full of sin and iniquity, what
should we say? That is ours, we will go and storm it. When we see a
street or some crowded area, where the people are very bad and wicked,
we should say, "That is our alley, we will go and take it." When we see
a house where people will not receive the gospel, we should say, "That
is our house, we will go and attack it." We will not go with the strong
arm of the law; we will not ask the policeman, or government to help
us; but take with us "the weapons of our warfare." which "are not
carnal, but spiritual, and mighty through God, to the pulling down of
strongholds." We will go, and by God's Spirit we shall overcome. There
is a town where the children are running about the street, uneducated;
we will go and take those children–kidnap them for Christ. We will
have a Sabbath school. If they are ragged urchins who cannot come to a
Sabbath school, we will have a ragged school. There is a part of the
world where the inhabitants are sunk in ignorance and superstition: we
will send a missionary to them. Ah! those who do not like missionary
enterprise, do not know the dignity of the saint. Talk of India; talk
of China.; "it is mine," saith the saint. All the kingdoms of the earth
are ours. "Africa is my washpot–I will triumph over Asia. They are
mine! they are mine!" "Who shall bring me into the strong city?" Is it
not thou, O Lord? God shall give us the kingdom of Christ. The whole
earth is ours; and by the power of the Holy Ghost, Bel shall bow, Nebo
shall stoop, the gods of the heathen, Budha and Brahma, shall be cast
down, and all nations bow before the sceptre of Christ. "He has made us
kings."
Our second point, upon which I shall be very brief, is, "He hath made
us kings and PRIESTS." Saints are not only kings, but priests. I shall
go to it at once, without any preface.
We are priests, because priests are divinely chosen persons, and so are
we. "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of
God, as was Aaron." But we have that calling and election; we were all
ordained to it from the foundations of the world. We were predestinated
to be priests, and in process of time we had a special effectual call,
which we could not and did not resist, and which at last so overcame
us, that we became at once the priests of God. We are priests, divinely
constituted. When we say we are priests, we do not talk as certain
parties do, who say they are priests, wishing thereby to arrogate to
themselves a distinction. I always have an objection–I must state it
strongly–to calling a clergyman, or any man that preaches, a priest.
We are no more so than you are. All saints are priests. But, for a man
to stand up and say he is a priest, any more than those he preaches to,
is a falsehood. I detest the distinction of clergy and laity. I like
scriptural priestcraft; for that is the craft or work of the people,
who are all priests; but all other priestcraft I abhor. Every saint of
the Lord is a priest at God's altar, and is bound to worship God with
the holy incense of prayer and praise. We are priests, each one of us,
if we are called by divine grace; for thus we are priests by divine
constitution.
Then, next, we are priests, because we enjoy divine honors. None but a
priest might enter within the vail; there was a court of the priests
into which none might ever go, except the called ones. Priests had
certain rights and privileges which others had not. Saint of Jesus!
heir of heaven! thou hast high and honorable privileges, which the
world wots not of! Hast thou ever been within the vail in communion
with Christ? Hast thou ever been in the court of the Lord's house, the
court of the priests, where he has taught thee, and manifested himself
to thee? Hast thou? Yes, thou knowest thou hast; thou enjoyest constant
access to God's throne; thou hast a right to come and tell thy griefs
and sorrows into the ear of Jehovah. The poor worldling must not come
there; the poor child of wrath has no God to tell his troubles to. He
must not go within the veil; he has no wish to go: but thou mayest;
thou mayest come to God's ear, swing the censer before the throne, and
offer thy petition in the name of Jesus. Others have not these divine
honors. Thou art divinely honored, and divinely blessed.
Then another remark, to finish up with, shall be, we have a divine
service to perform; and as I want you all, this morning, to turn this
chapel into one great altar–as I want to make you all working priests,
and this the temple for sacrifice–hook earnestly at your service. You
are all priests, because you love his dear name and have a great
sacrifice to perform; not a propitiation for your sins, for that has
been once offered, but a sacrifice this day of holy thanksgiving. Oh!
how sweet in God's ear is the prayer of his people! That is the
sacrifice that he accepts; and when their holy hymn swells upwards
towards the sky, how pleasant it is in his ears; because then he can
say, "My hosts of priests are sacrificing praise." And do you know,
beloved, there is one point in which most of us fail in our oblations
before God? We offer our prayer, we present our praise; but how little
do we sacrifice of our substance unto the Lord! I had thought this
morning, seeing I desire to make you amazingly liberal, to have made
this my text, "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the
first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with
plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine;" and I had
thought of showing that our substance was the Lord's, that we were
bound to devote no small portion of it to him, and that if we did do so
we might expect prosperity even in worldly business, for he would make
our barns full and our presses burst with new wine. However, I conceive
it to be needless to preach a collection sermon–I thought I would
rather tell your about your honor and dignity, and then you shall just
give what you like, for the only free-will I like, is a free-will
offering. Suffer, ye beloved, a few words. God has said in his Word
that you are to honor him with your substance. As a priest of the Lord,
will you not sacrifice something to the Lord this day? Here we have a
great object before us; we want more room for the crowds who come to
hear the gospel. It seems important, when such a throng is gathered,
that none should go away. Ought we not to bless God that they come?
There was a time you were few indeed, and the cry was," Who hath
believed our report?" But God has given us great success, the ministry
here has been blessed to the conversion of not a few souls; I have many
cases, now in this chapel, of broken hearts and contrite spirits;
doubtless, there are many more than I know of, and I believe the
blessed Spirit will bring them out in due time. Oh! do you not grieve
that any should have to turn away from the voice of the ministry–that
any who come here should have to go away, perhaps to spend the Sabbath
in sin. You know not where they have to go, when they cannot get within
these walls. The thing is, we have come to the resolution that this
chapel should be enlarged, so that there should be accommodation for a
larger number. Now, ye priests, sacrifice to the Lord. Let the priests
build the house of Lord; let those who worship in the sanctuary take up
the trowel today; let the mortar and the brick be laid, and let this
house be once more filled with the glory of the Lord, and an abundant
congregation.
III. Now, I have to close up with THE WORLD'S FUTURE. "We shall reign
on the earth." I have not much time for this, and I dare say it is
expected that I shall tell you about the millennium and the personal
reign of Christ. I shall not at all, because I don't know anything
about it. I have heard a great many people talk of it; and, if anybody
shows me a book on the millennium, I say, "I cannot read it just yet."
A good man has lately written a book on it, and a gentleman recommended
it to me so strongly, that I could not but buy it out of courtesy; but
I elevated it to the aristocratic region of library, in the higher
ranks, and there it rests in quiet repose. I do not think myself
capable of threading the labyrinths of the subject, and I do not
believe the very respectable author can do it. It is a subject so dark,
and I have read so many different views upon it, that it is all a
phantasmagoria with me. I believe all the Bible says of a glorious
future, but I cannot pretend to be a maker of charts for all time. Only
this I gather as a positive fact, that the saints will one day reign on
the earth. This truth appears to me clear enough, whatever may be the
different views on the millennium. Now, the saints do not reign
visibly; they are despised. They were driven, in old times, into dens
and caves of the earth: but the time is coming when kings will be
saints, and princes the called ones of God–when queens shall be the
nursing mothers, and kings the nursing fathers of Christ's church. The
hour is coming when the saint, instead of being dishonored, shall be
honored; and monarchs, once the foes of truth, shall become its
friends. The saints shall reign. They shall have the majority; the
kingdom of Christ shall have the upper hand; it shall not be cast
down–this shall not be Satan's world any longer–it shall again sing
with all its sister stars, the never ceasing song of praise. Oh! I
believe there is a day coming when Sabbath bells shall sprinkle music
over the plains of Africa–when the deep thick jungle of India shall
see the saints of God going up to the sanctuary; and, I am assured that
the teeming multitudes of China shall gather together in temples built
for prayer, and, as you and I have done, shall sing, to the ever
glorious Jehovah,
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
Happy day! happy day! May it speedily come!
Now, to close up, one very practical inference. Ye are kings and
priests unto your God. Then how much ought kings to give to the
collection this morning? Thus speak ye to yourselves. "I am a king; I
will give as a king giveth unto a king." Now, mark you, no paltry
subscriptions! We don't expect kings to put down their names for
trifles. Then, again: you are a priest. Well, priest, do you mean to
sacrifice? "Yes." But you would not sacrifice a broken-legged lamb, or
a blemished bullock, would you? Would you not select the best of the
flock? Very right, then select the very best of the Queen's coins, and
offer, if you can, sheep with golden fleece. Excuse my pressing this
subject. I want to get this chapel enlarged; so do you; we are all
agreed about it; we are all rowing in one boat. I have set my mind on
£50, and I must, and will, have it to-day, if possible. I hope you
won't disappoint me. It is not my own cause, but my Master's–at other
times you have given liberally–I am not afraid of you–but hope to
come forward, next Sabbath morning, with the cheering announcement that
the £50 is all raised, and then I think my spirits will be so elevated,
that, by the help of God, I will venture to promise you one of the best
sermons I am capable of delivering.
The Christian reader will be pleased to learn, that after this appeal,
the sum of £50 0s. 11½d. was collected at the doors, towards defraying
the expenses of the enlargement. Should any reader of the New Park
Street Pulpit desire to contribute to this excellent object, any sum
will be thankfully received by MR. WILLIAM OLNEY, Secretary, at the
Chapel.