What and Whence Are These?

Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, February 25th, 1872, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

'And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which
are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him,
Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.''Revelation 7:13-14.

TOWARDS SOME SUBJECTS even the best of men need that their attention
should be drawn. Certain themes need an introduction to our
contemplations. We often see and yet do not see: we see that which upon
the surface attracts the eye, but we fail to penetrate into the inner
and more precious truth. Even in heaven, it would seem that the mind
needs directing, and wants a friend to suggest inquiry; he who sees the
whiterobed host may yet need to be led to the consideration of who and
what they are. It is very gracious on the part of our heavenly Father
that he condescends to send us messengers of different kinds to awaken
our attention, to guide our inquiry, and to lead us to search deeper
than we might otherwise have done. John looked at the long ranks of
triumphant spirits and admired their glory, but his thoughts had not
penetrated deep enough, and therefore an elder was sent to speak with
him. That personage asked him a question, and this he did that John
might confess his ignorance, might feel a desire to know more, and
might be led to inquire upon the point which it was most needful for
him to consider. While we are dwellers here below our minds are very
apt to be engrossed with the things which surround us, and we want some
one to direct our thoughts to the upper world; and in the same way the
mind of a person dwelling above would naturally be most occupied with
the things around it in the glory land, and it might be needful to bid
him remember facts concerning the lower world. We generally take that
view of a matter which is most consistent with our own present
circumstances, whereas to see a thing completely we need to view it
from many angles. Hence the elder suggests to John that he should see
these glorified spirits from another point than that which naturally
suggested itself to him. He was led to consider them, not as they then
were, but as they had been. The question was therefore suggested him,
'Who are these, whence came they? What was their earthly character?
What manner of men were they in the days of their pilgrimage? Were they
cherubim, or children of men? Did they come hither on wings of fire, or
came they hither as do the sons of Adam? Who are these that now have
attained to such dignity and bliss, as to be now wearing the white robe
of innocence, and waving the palm of victory?' To that enquiry I hope
to lead your attention this morning; may it be as profitable to you as
doubtless it was to John.

We are frequently tempted to think that our Lord Jesus was not in very
truth a man like ourselves. His actual and proper humanity is believed
among us, but not fully realized. We are apt to fancy that his was
another flesh and another manhood from our own, whereas he was in all
things made like unto his brethren, and was tempted in all points like
as we are, though without sin. It is, therefore, needful again and
again and again to set out the true brotherhood and kinship of Christ.
The same spirit of error leads us into the feeling that those holy men
who have attained to felicity must have been something different from
ourselves. We set the apostles up in twelve niches, and look upon them
as very superior beings. We can hardly imagine that they were partakers
of our flesh and blood; and, as we see the whole white-robed host, we
imagine in our hearts that they must have been far different from
ourselves. They did well and valiantly we admit, and we rejoice that
they have attained to a blessed reward; but we dream that we ourselves
cannot do as well, nor win as great a recompense. Without exactly
defining the feeling, we in some way persuade ourselves that something
in their persons or in their circumstances entirely separated the
glorified saints from us, and gave them an advantage over us, and
therefore we despair of ever achieving their triumphs. Now, this error
must be overcome, because it furnishes convenient excuses for
indolence, and represses those holy ardours which are the life of
elevated piety. Brethren, the point to which the elder drew John's
attention is the one we are now driving at; he would have him note that
those were glorified in heaven who were once tried and tempted as we
are; they were, in fact, men of like passions with us. I grant you it
would be very delightful for us to contemplate the present condition of
joy and immortality possessed by yonder bright spirits, but for the
moment it will be more practically useful for us to consider what they
were and how they came to be what they now are, so that finding that
they were of old what we now are, we may follow in their track, and may
obtain to the same blessed rank as that which they now enjoy.

Our sermon on this occasion will consist of an answer to these two
questions,''Whence come they?' for though that was the second question
asked, it was the first answered; and, secondly, 'Who are these?' Our
third point shall be, 'What of all this?'

I. Concerning the bright spirits in heaven'WHENCE CAME THEY? These
bearing the palms'whence came they? Reason itself suggests that they
came from battle. It is not according to the wont of God to use emblems
without a meaning. The palm, the ensign of triumph, indicates most
certainly a conflict and conquest. As on earth palm would not be given
if not won, we may conclude that the Lord would not have distributed
the prize unless there had been a preceding warfare and victory. A
conflict for a temporal crown is severe; how much more for an unfading
palm in heaven. The winners of these palms must have passed through a
battle of battles, an agony of agonies, a great tribulation. Palms
which may be waved even before the throne of the august majesty of
heaven are not easily come by. From the very fact that the glorified
carry palms, we may infer that they did not come from beds of sloth, or
gardens of pleasure, or palaces of peace, but that they endured
hardness, and were men trained for war. The inference is well
warranted, for it is even so; and the answer to the question, 'Whence
came they?' is this: 'These are they which came out of great
tribulation.'

1. They were then like ourselves, for, in the first place, they were
tried like others. They came out of great tribulation. Note, then, that
the saints now glorified were not screened from sorrow. I saw to-day a
number of lovely flowers they were as delightful in this month of
February as thee would have been in the midst of summer; but I did not
ask, 'Whence came they?' I know very well that they were the products
of the conservatory; they had not been raised amid the frosts of this
chill season, else they had not bloomed as yet. But when I look upon
God's flowers blooming in heaven, I understand from the voice of
inspiration that they enjoyed no immunity from the chill breath of
grief; they were made to bloom by the master hand of the Chief
Husbandman, in all their glory, amid the afflictions, and adversities,
and catastrophes which are common to men. God's elect are not pampered
like spoiled children, neither are they like 'the tender and delicate
woman who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the
ground for delicateness.' They are, it is true, secured from all fatal
injury, but they are not protected from the rough winds and rolling
billows which toss every barque which bears a son of Adam. Turn over
the roll of the worthies of the Lord from the first hero of faith to
the last, and you shall not meet with a sorrowless name. Great are
their privileges, but immunity from trouble is not among them. Was Adam
God's elect? We hope he was, but certainly in the sweat of his face he
ate his bread, and through his tears he saw the mangled body of his
second son. Did God honor Abraham, and call him his friend? He was not
without family afflictions, among the chief of which was the call to
take his son, his only son, and offer him up for a sacrifice. Moses was
king in Jeshurun, but his yoke, as a servant of the Lord, was a very
heavy one; for all the day long was he vexed with the rebellions of a
wayward people. Was David, the man after God's own heart? You know how
deep called unto deep, while all God's waves and billows went over him.
Speak ye of the prophets; which of them escaped without trial? Come ye
to the apostles; which of these enjoyed a life of ease? Did they not
all of them but one pass through the gates of death, wearing the
martyr's crown? And he who died of old age, had not he been an exile in
Patmos? Where, from their day down to this, among the elect of heaven
do you find a single child of God unchastened, a solitary branch of the
heavenly vine unpruned, or one ingot of precious gold untried with
fire? Through flood, and through the fire, lies the pathway of the
chosen. Through troops we must cut our way, and over walls we must
leap, for to none is there a luxurious path to heaven. We must fight if
we would reign.

True, God's people have been found in all ranks, but; in every position
they have had their sorrows. You find Esther, a queen beloved of God,
but what were the tremblings of her heart when, with her life in her
hand, she went in unto the king to plead against that wicked Haman?
Lazarus was in the opposite stage of human circumstance, but he lay
suffering at the gate of his ungenerous neighbor, and the dogs came and
licked his sores. In palace or in cottage the rod is the sure portion
of all the heirs of salvation. Each state to the believer produces
bitter herbs peculiar to itself, he shall never need to search far for
the appointed accompaniments to the paschal lamb. I have heard that a
great statesman once stopped his horse on a plain to speak with a
shepherd who was resting in the midst of his flock. Thinking of his own
heavy anxieties, he expressed his envy of the shepherd, because his
life was so free from vexation. 'Sir,' said the shepherd, 'I may not be
troubled exactly as you are, but I have my own worries; do you see that
black ewe there?' 'Yes.' 'If she were dead,' continued the shepherd, 'I
might be a perfectly happy man; but she is a plague to me, for every
now and then she takes to going astray, and all the rest are sure to
follow her.' Rest assured, that there is a black ewe in every flock.
Man is born to trouble. All the sons of God in heaven passed by
'weeping-cross.' Such burdens as we are now carrying on earth once
pressed the shoulders of those now in glory. Our crosses are
reproductions of the old yoke of Christ. Under our personal and
relative griefs the glorified have smarted, and our sinkings of heart
and fears of soul they have experienced. 'Through much tribulation'
they have inherited the kingdom.

Note, next, that they were not even screened from temptation. To the
child of God, temptation to sin is a greater grievance than the
suffering of pain. The saint has often said, 'I could endure adversity,
but it is misery to be day after day solicited to evil, to have the
bait perpetually dangling before me, and to feel something in my soul
which half consents to sin, and would altogether surrender were it not
for watchful grace.' Brethren, temptation to the pure mind is very
grievous; to be sifted in Satan's sieve is a sore trial. Storms on any
sea are to be dreaded; but a whirlwind raised by Satan on the black sea
of corruption is horrible beyond conception. Yet do not say you cannot
enter heaven because you are tempted, for all those snowwhite bands
attained their glorious standing through much temptation, as well as
through much affliction. They, like their Master, were tempted in all
points as you are. Let me take you again to the old records, and ask
you whether you find a single saint untempted? Oh, ye young men, who
lament that you are so often allured to evil, have ye forgotten Joseph
in Potiphar's house? Ye who dread the persecutor's frown, have ye
forgotten Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? Ye of riper years, who feel
your feet almost gone, do ye not remember David, and how he was
tempted; ay, and worse, how he fell, and with broken bones had to limp
his way to heaven? Which of the saints has been unassailed by the fiery
darts of the wicked one? Has not the fowler spread his nets to entangle
every one of them? Has he not laid snares for every faithful soul?
Review all the ranks of the white-robed squadrons, and enquire of every
glorified spirit. Say to each one, 'And thou? wert thou also tempted?
Did the world seek alternately to fascinate and frighten thee? Hadst
thou a body of sin and death to drag thee down? Hadst thou foes among
thine own household? Didst thou also cry, 'Woe is me, for I dwell in
Meshech?'' To such questions each one of the perfected saints would
reply that their perils were such as ours, and had it not been for
Almighty grace, they would have utterly perished from the way. The
shields of the mighty, which are now so highly exalted, were once
battered by the blows of temptation, even as ours are at this hour.

We may add to all this, again, that they were men who as keenly felt
trial and temptation as we do. Too frequently, when we are forced to
admit that the trials of the saints were similar to our own, we
persuade ourselves that their natures were less tender, their feelings
less sensitive, their spirits less vulnerable than our own. We imagine
that these ancient heroes wore some secret armor, or had their hearts
steeled within, or wore a charmed life; and yet we know right well that
all flesh of man has the same power to suffer, that a wound in another
man's body bleeds even as it would in our own, and that reproach is as
bitter to one spirit as to another. As face answereth to face in water,
so the heart of man to man. Good men, because they are good, are not
the less sorrowful when their beloved ones are taken from them:
gracious men are not by grace petrified so as to despise the
chastening, of the Lord. Jacob mourned for Rachel, and David for
Jonathan. You do not find the saints less troubled than other men when
friendship turned to treachery, and love to hate. Tears flowed as
readily from holy eyes as from the eyes of the ungodly. They were sons
of men, born of women as we are, and subject to the same passions and
emotions. Oh, no, they were not Stoics, nor men of iron, but, made of
the same earth as ourselves, their hearts palpitated to the same tune.
Daughter of grief, dost thou say, 'I wish I were as the holy women of
old, that in my trouble I might not be so cast down?' Read thou the
history of Hannah, and mark how her adversary 'vexed her sore to make
her fret.' She, too, was a woman of a sorrowful spirit. That story in
the commencement of the First Book of Samuel I am sure must often have
cheered the daughters of affliction when they have prayed in the
bitterness of their souls, for they have said, here was a woman,
tempted like as we are and smarting as we do under unkind remarks and
slanderous reports and ungenerous treatment, and yet she rejoiced in
God's salvation. If your spirit is constitutionally sorrowful, and its
wounds are often wantonly opened by those about you, read the story of
Jeremiah, and his plaintive notes in the Lamentations will both help
you to express your woes and furnish you with sympathy in them. Read,
too, the sorrowful bemoanings of Job. That grand old patriarch of Uz is
very stout, and plays the man right gloriously; he is no puling child,
whining and wincing, at a gentle touch of the rod; but patient as he is
and a very king, among men, yet how bitterly he curses the day of his
birth, and how heavily he complains. Nor were New Testament saints less
tender, for Mary and Martha wept, Magdalene was bowed down with sorrow
at her Lord's death, and the heart of the Virgin was pierced as with a
sword. Peter wept bitterly, and Paul had continued heaviness.
Tribulations abounded and afflictions were multiplied to the first
disciples, and we wrong both themselves and us if we dream that it was
easier for them to suffer than for us. I grant you that they possessed
a secret something which enabled them to endure, but that something was
not homeborn in their nature any more than it is in ours. They were
fortified by a secret strength which they found at the throne of God in
prayer, a patience which the Holy Ghost wrought in them, and which he
is equally ready to work in us.

But, perhaps, it may be thought by some that those holy men who now
wave the palm-branch were spared some of the keener and more refined
tribulations; to which I reply, it certainly was not so. David
especially appears to have compassed the whole round of affliction. He
could say, 'all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.' From all
quarters his trials arose; and from his youth to his death they
assailed him. Let me remind you of that special grief which came upon
him when his darling son excited rebellion against him, and his own
chosen friend and counsellor, Ahithophel, betrayed him, and to this add
the scene when that same darling son was slain in red-handed rebellion
against his father, and David cried aloud, 'O Absolom, my son, my son!
would God I had died for thee! O Absolom, my son, my son!' I should not
feel that I had ventured too far if I said that there is no trouble
known to any person in this audience which would not find its parallel
in the case of the afflicted writer of the Psalms. But, perhaps, you
tell me that yours is a spiritual grief, and that such a wound is the
deepest of all. Turn, then, to the life of the apostle Paul, and, as
far as he unveils his experience, you shall find him to be the subject
of internal strifes and spiritual contentions of the sharpest kind.
Remember, especially, when with the thorn in his flesh he prayed thrice
to God to have it taken away, but it was not removed; sufficient grace
was given him, but he had to bear the inward smart; for, through much
tribulation even of that kind must the chief of the apostles follow his
Lord. What need of multiplying words? It is plain to every man that
understandeth, that the children of God have been tried like others,
and they who have won the victory fought a real battle, armed only as
we may be, and assailed neither more nor less as we are, by the same
enemies and the same weapons. As the church militant we claim
indisputable kinship with the church triumphant. We are their
companions in tribulation.

2. Next, we believe that the saints who are not in heaven needed trial
like others. The word used in our translation is 'tribulation,' and you
know that the word tribulatio is used by the Romans to signify a
threshing instrument. When they beat out the corn from the straw, they
called it tribulatio; and so tribulation is sent to us to separate our
chaff from our wheat. Since the same tribulation happened to those who
are now in heaven, we infer that they needed it as much as ourselves.
To what end do men need tribulation? We reply, they often require it to
arouse them; and yonder saints who serve God day and night in his
temple, once slept as do others, and needed to be bestirred. Were they
not apostles who slept Gethsemane? Yea, were they not three of the
chief of the apostles who slumbered within a stone's cast of their
Master in his agony? The best of men are prone to slumber, and need to
be awakened by the buffetings of sorrow. They needed trial to chasten
them. What son has God ever had, save his firstborn and well-beloved,
that did not need chastening? Inasmuch as we are all sinners, we have
need in our Father's house to suffer from the rod. They wanted
tribulation as we do to loosen them from the earth, else they would
have struck their roots into this poor soil, and tried to live as if
this world were their portion. Affliction was also necessary to
develope their graces; even as spices need bruising to bring forth
their smell, and rose leaves require distilling to draw forth their
sweetest perfume. They required adversity to educate them into complete
manhood, for they too were once babes in grace. It is in the gymnasium
of affliction that men are modelled and fashioned in the beauty of
holiness, and all their spiritual powers are trained for harmonious
action. It was meet also that they should suffer, in order to complete
their service. Like their Lord, they had to be made perfect through
suffering; and if they had not suffered they had not finished the work
which he had given them to do. They needed tribulation, moreover, that
they might be made like their Savior; for a saint untroubled, how can
he be like the man who wore the thorn crown? Never smitten, never
slandered, never despised, never mocked at, never crucified, then how
could we be like our Head? Shall the servant be above his Master, or
the disciple above his Lord? They who are in heaven passed through
tribulation, and they needed it as much as we do. Let us think of all
this, for it may encourage us to press forward. They were knights of
the same order as ourselves, and by the self-same methods obtained the
honors which they wear.

3. Again, the children of God who are in heaven in their trials had no
other support than that which is still afforded to all the saints. A
miracle was here and there wrought I grant you; but then there are
other things to be said on our side, for the Spirit of God was not
given then as fully as we possess him now, and Christ had not then
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel so that what
little advantage they had in miracle is far outweighed by the advantage
we have in the gospel dispensation. What was it that upheld the saints
of old who are now before the throne? Their faith was sustained by the
promise of God, but we have the promise too. They rested on God's
faithful word; that word is faithful still. We have more promises by
far than most of them had received. They had but here and there a word
of inspiration, we have the whole volume of consolation; yea, we have a
double portion, for we have two books full of choice and gracious
words. We have, therefore, more to cheer us than they had. They had the
Spirit of God, you say; but, I reply, so have we. They had him with
them, we have him in us. He visited them occasionally; he dwelleth in
us; he never removeth from his people but abideth in them for ever. You
will tell me that God worked with them: God works with us. Providence
was on their side; and is not providence on our side also? All things
worked together for their good; they work together for our good in the
same manner. The Lord who was at the helm of their vessel when storms
assaulted it, still stands at the helm for us and holds the tiller with
a strong hand. He who walked the waves of Gennesaret, and came to the
rescue of the storm-tossed disciples, still saith to us, 'It is I; be
not afraid.' I see no point in which they had superior resorts to those
which are open to ourselves, for the Lord of hosts is with us; the God
of Jacob is our refuge. Their rest lay where our rest still lies; their
peace and comfort were the same as our own. The Prince of Wurtenberg on
one occasion in the midst of certain kings and great men heard them
boasting, one of the mines which enriched his dominions, another of his
forests, another of his vineyards. Now the Prince of Wurtenberg was
poor, but he said, 'I have a jewel in my country which I would not
exchange for all your wealth,' and, when they questioned him, he said,
'If I were lost in any forest of my territory, or could not find my way
along a lonesome road, if I said to the first peasant that I met that I
was his king, I could lean my head upon him and lie down to sleep, and
sleep securely there, feeling certain that he would watch over his king
as he would over his child.' So we feel, and so the saints of old felt
a delightful security any where beneath the blue heavens of God. If we
have not riches, if we have not honor, if we have nothing that flesh
could desire, we can lie down anywhere and feel that we are perfectly
safe in the divine keeping. The angels watch over us and protect us,
for we are the children of God: all things work for our good; the
beasts of the field are our friends, and stones of the field are in
league for our defense. This was the portion of those who are now
above; it is our portion still.

4. Very hurriedly I must notice, before I leave this first point, that
if there was any difference between those saints and our selves, it lay
in their enduring superior tribulations, for 'these are they that came
out of great tribulation.' If, I say, we must distinguish them from
ourselves at all, it lies in this, that some of them were martyred as
we are not, resisted unto blood as we have not, and were put to death
by cruel torments as probably we shall not be. Theirs was the battle's
brunt. For them the furnace was heated seven times hotter. My brethren,
if their faith sustained them and won them the palm branch, why should
not ours do the like for us? The text says, 'These are they that come
out of the great tribulation,' for so it is in the original. It may
mean some peculiarly severe tribulation which has befallen, or is about
to befall the church; and, if so, it is consoling to observe that the
saints shall come out of it unscathed: but I rather take it to mean the
one long tribulation of God's Saints in all ages. It is all one; it is
all a part of the sufferings of the body of Christ; the saints in glory
have had their share in the great tribulation, and, if anything, a
greater share than we. We feel persuaded then, that as they were men
like ourselves, who suffered as we suffer, and were supported as we are
supported, we shall, through the same grace, win the same victory.

II. I will not detain you longer on that point, though there is much to
be said, but I must take you to the second, and that is, WHAT ARE
THESE? John beheld them all in white robes; and the question to be
answered was, 'Who are these,'these in heaven?' The reply was 'They
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb;'
from which we gather, first, that all those in heaven were sinners, for
they all needed to wash their robes. No superfluity would have been
written down in this book; but had the robes been perfectly white,
there had been no necessity to cleanse them, certainly not to cleanse
them in, Jesus' blood. They were sinners then, those glorious ones were
sinners like ourselves. Look up at them now! Observe their ravishing
beauty! See how guiltless they are! And then, remember what they were.
Oh, ye trembling sinners, whose bruised hearts dare not indulge a hope
of the divine favor, those fair ones were once like you, and you are
to-day what they were once. They were all shapen in iniquity as you
were: they were everyone of them of woman born, and, therefore,
conceived in sin. They were all placed in circumstances which allured
them to sin; they had their temptations, as we have shown, and they
lived in the midst of an ungodly generation, even as you do. What is
more, they all sinned, for mere temptation would not have soiled their
robes, but actual sin defiled them. There were thoughts of sin, there
were words of sin, there were acts of sin in all of them. Did you
observe that bright one who sang most sweetly of them all? Shall I tell
you a part of his earthly history? He was one of the chief of sinners;
he takes rank now amongst the chief of choristers, because he has most
to sing about, since he had most forgiven and loved most. He will not
tell you that he was naturally a saintly spirit, and that by
mortification, and self-denial, and diligent perseverance he won his
place in heaven. No, he will confess that his salvation was all of
grace, for he was like others a sinner, and had transgressed above
many. You will say, perhaps, that none of the saints had committed sins
like yours, but there I must flatly contradict you. Amongst that
illustrious company there are those who were once sinners of the
deepest dye'the adulterer, the thief, the harlot, the murderer; some
who were such are now glorified, for we have such characters mentioned
in infallible Scripture as having been forgiven, sanctified, and at
length glorified. Whatever your sin may be, and I will not mention it,
for the mention of sin does not help to purify us from it; whatever it
is, all manner of sin and blasphemy have been forgiven unto men, and
the precious blood of Jesus has brought into eternal glory men stained
with every form of sin. Jesus has cleansed crimson sinners, deep
ingrained with iniquity, and scarlet sinners, whose crimes were of the
most glaring hue. They all in heaven were sinners, such as we are.

Secondly, they all who are in heaven needed an atonement, and the same
atonement as we rely upon. They have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Not one of them became white through
his tears of repentance, not one through the shedding of the blood of
bulls or of goats. They all wanted a vicarious sacrifice, and for none
of them was any sacrifice effectual, except the death of Jesus Christ
the Lord. They washed their robes nowhere but in the blood of the Lamb.
O sinner, that blood of the Lamb is available now. The fountain filled
with blood, drunk from Immanuel's veins, is not closed, nor is its
efficacy diminished. Every child of Adam now in heaven came there
through the blood of the great substitute. This was the key that opened
heaven's door,'the blood, the blood of the Lamb, it was the one
purification of them all, without one exception. If I were in thy case,
O sinner, God helping me, I would in the blood as they did, and enter
heaven as they have done.

You will further notice that the saints in haven realised the atonement
in the same way as we must do. They washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. The act which gave them the virtue
which lies in the atonement was the act of faith. They did not bring
anything to the blood, any merit, or feeling, or preparation; they only
brought their filthy garments to the blood, and nothing else. They
washed and were clean. That was all. They did not give, they took; they
did not impart, but they received. In this same way I have realised the
merit of my Savior's passion, and I know that every believer here will
confess that this is his hope, he has washed and he is clean. There is
nothing to do, and nothing to feel, and nothing to be, in order to
forgiveness; we have but to wash and the filth is gone. Every child of
God in heaven whether he were king or prophet, or seer, or priest, came
there through simply relying and depending upon the blood of Jesus
Christ, the Lamb, and that is all,'all. You must not dare to add to it,
or you will sin against the all-sufficient sacrifice.

The text tells that the sole reason for the saints being in heaven at
all was because they washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb:
'Therefore are they before the throne of God.' But, is not one of them
there because he had not sinned? There is no answer from all the
shining hosts. Is not one of them glorified because a long life of
consecration wiped out the small offenses of his youth? No response
comes to the enquiry. But, if you ask whether they were there because
they have washed in the blood, the 'Yes' which comes from them all is
like the voice of many waters, and like great thunders.

III. Now, beloved, WHAT OF ALL THIS? Why, first of all, we must not
draw the conclusion that trouble and temptation are any argument that a
man will get to heaven. Perhaps I may be misunderstood this morning and
therefore I add a caution. There is a groundless notion abroad, that
those who are badly off in this world will certainly have it made up to
them in the world to come; and I have heard the parable of Lazarus and
Dives quoted as though it taught that those who are poor here will be
rich hereafter. There is not a shadow of reason for any such belief.
You may go through much tribulation to hell as well as to heaven; and
as a man may have two heavens, here and hereafter, by living near to
God, so may a man have two hells, the hell which he bringeth upon
himself in this life by his extravagances, his wickedness, and his
lust, and the hell that shall be his punishment for ever in the world
to come. Believe me, many a ragged, loathsome beggar has been damned;
he was as poor as Lazarus, but not as gracious as he, and therefore no
angels carried him to Abraham's bosom. There is no efficacy in the
tongues of dogs to lick away sin, neither can a hungry belly atone for
a guilty soul. Many a soul has begged for crumbs on earth, and has
afterwards craved in vain for water in hell. You must take care not to
suck poisonous error out of the flowers of truth.

I would, however, have you learn that no amount of trial which we have
to suffer here, if we are believers in Jesus, should lead us to
anything like despair, for however trouble may encompass us to-day,
those in heaven came through as great a tribulation, and why may not
we? If messengers should come one after the other with swift feet to
bring us heavy tidings, if all our property should melt, and our
children should die, and even the partner of our bosom should tempt us
to curse God, we must still hold fast our confidence. Our faith's motto
should be, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.' God may smite
his children, but he never can cast off his children. He must love
them, and he will love them for ever and for ever. Let us also
understand that no amount of sin of which we may have been guilty ought
to lead us to despair of pardon, salvation, and ultimate entrance into
heaven, if we also wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb. Those who
are in heaven have washed their robes white by faith in Jesus, and so
may we. I may be addressing some one who has written his own death
warrant. I thank God that the Lord has never written it. You may have
said, 'I know that I never shall have mercy.' Who told thee that God
had set a limit to his grace? Who has been up to heaven and found that
thy name is not written among his chosen? Oh, do God the justice to
believe that he delighteth in mercy, and that it is one of his greatest
joys to pass by iniquity, transgression, and sin. And, suppose this day
you should have in your own person trouble and sorrow united; suppose
you should be going through the great tribulation, and at the same time
you should have committed sin which has defiled your garment most
conspicuously; though the gall and the wormwood be both in your cup and
both be bitterest of the bitter, yet do not despair, for the saints
whom John saw had the double blessing of deliverance and cleansing, and
why should not you? I make bold to tell you that if your troubles were
tenfold what they are, and your sins also were multiplied ten times,
yet there is power in the eternal arm to bear you up under the
tribulation, and there is efficacy in the precious blood to remove your
sinful stains. By an act of faith cast yourselves upon God in Christ
Jesus. If you do so, you shall take your place amongst the white-robed
bands when this life ends.

I was led to these reflections this morning by the remembrance of the
few short days ago since our beloved brother, Mr. Dransfield, whose
mortal remains we committed to the tomb last Monday, was among us. You
remember his accustomed seat, just here, at the prayer meeting; you
remember how there was never an empty seat just over yonder at any of
our public services. He was always among us, and he was just like
ourselves. I am sure we all felt at home in his presence. He did not
walk among us at all as a stilted personage or a supernatural being; he
was a father among us; we loved him, esteemed him, revered him, but he
was a man of men among us. I have tried to realize the same spirit
before the throne of God, and I think I have been able to grasp the
thought. I know he was like ourselves; I am equally certain that he is
yonder, and that he is rejoicing in Christ; none of us doubt that. Now
let us make a practical, common sense use of that fact and feel, I,
too, resting, where he rested'for, oh, how sweetly did he rest in his
dying Lord'I, too, hoping as he hoped, shall bear up under troubles as
he did during his painful illness, and I, too, shall have a joyful
death as he did, for his soul triumphed in his God beyond measure. Why
should not all of us, his brethren, enter where he is gone? Dear
sister, why should not you? You who are consumptive, you who know that
death is drawing near to you, because you carry a disease about you
which will take you home? Just realize the fact now before us. Our dear
and well-known friend is really gone to the better land. You shook
hands with that dear brother a few days ago, and now he is with God,
and is waving the palm and wearing the white robe. It is not a dream, a
fiction, or a fancy. It is not the delusion of high-blown fanaticism.
It is not a wondrous attainment for some few special and renowned
saints. Oh, no, it is for every one of us who believe in Jesus. They in
heaven are those who came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is not
said, 'These are they that were emperors,' not 'These are they who were
reared in marble halls,' not 'these are they who were great scholars,'
not 'These are they who were mighty preachers,' not 'These are they who
were great apostles,' not 'These are they who lived spotless lives;'
no, but these are they who came through the tribulation of life, and
were cleansed from their sins, as others must be, in the precious blood
of Jesus; therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple.

Dear brother Dransfield, thou wast bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh, and yet thou art perfected before the throne. We thy brethren
are on the way and shall be with thee soon. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Revelation 14.

As a very large number of friends from a distance desire occasionally
to attend the Tabernacle, but do not like to encounter the crowds at
the doors, the deacons have resolved to issue early admission tickets,
which will admit the holder before the general public, during the month
of issue. They will be purchasable at the price of one shilling, and
can be had by letter, enclosing twelve penny stamps, and one half-penny
stamp for postage, of Mr. C. Blackshaw, Tabernacle, Newington Butts.
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Mercy's Master Motive

A Sermon