The Luther Sermon at Exeter Hall

The Luther Sermon at Exeter Hall

(No. 1750)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 11, 1883,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT EXETER HALL.

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor
uncircumcision; but faith which works by love." Galatians 5:6.

PAUL makes a clean sweep of that trust in the externals of religion
which is the common temptation of all time. Circumcision was a great
thing with the Jew and, oftentimes he trusted in it. But Paul declares
that it avails nothing. There might be others who were glad that they
were not Jews, but Paul declares that their uncircumcision avails no
more than its opposite! Certain matters connected with godliness are
external and yet they are useful in their places–especially is that
the case with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the assembling of
ourselves together, the reading of the Word of God and public prayer
and praise. These things are proper and profitable, but none of them
must be made, in any measure or degree, the ground of our hope of
salvation, for this text sweeps them all away and plainly describes
them as availing nothing if they are made to

be the foundations of our trust.

In Luther's day superstitious confidence in external observances had
overlaid faith in the Gospel. Ceremonies had multiplied excessively
under the authority of the Pope. Masses were said for souls in
"purgatory" and men were actually selling indulgences for sin in the
light of day! When God raised up Martin Luther, who was born four
centuries ago, he bore emphatic testimony against salvation by outward
forms and by the power of priestcraft, affirming that salvation is by
faith, alone, and that the whole Church of God is a company of priests,
every Believer being a priest unto God.

If Luther had not affirmed it, the doctrine would have been just as
true, for the distinction between clergy and laity has no excuse in
Scripture, which calls the saints, "God's kleros"–God's clergy, or
heritage. Again we read, "You are a royal priesthood." Every man that
believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is anointed to exercise the Christian
priesthood and, therefore, he need not put his trust in another, seeing
the supposed priest is no more than any other man. Each man must be
accountable for himself before God. Each one must read and search the
Scriptures for himself and must believe for himself–and when saved, he
must offer up himself as a living sacrifice unto God by Jesus Christ,
who is the only High Priest of our profession.

So much for the negative side of the text, which is full of warning to
this Ritualistic age. The chief testimony of our great Reformer was to
the justification of a sinner in the sight of God by faith in Jesus
Christ and by that alone. He could fitly have taken this as his motto,
"In Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor
uncircumcision but faith which works by love." He was in the
Augustinian monastery at Wittenberg, troubled and perturbed in mind,
and he had there, in an old Latin Bible, this text, "The just shall
live by faith." It was a new idea to him and by its means spiritual
light entered his soul in some degree. But such were the prejudices of
his up-bringing and such the darkness of his surroundings, that he
still hoped to find salvation by outward performances.

He therefore fasted long, till he was found swooning from hunger. He
was exceedingly zealous for salvation by works. At last he made a
pilgrimage to Rome, hoping to find, there, everything that was holy and
helpful. He was disappointed in his search, but yet found more there of
what he looked for. On the pretended staircase of Pilate, while in the
act of climbing it upon his knees, the Wittenberg text again sounded in
his ears like a thunderclap–"The just shall live by faith." Up he
started and descended those stairs, never to grovel upon them again!
The chain was broken, the soul was free! Luther had found the L of God
and, therefore, from that day on it became his life's business to flash
that Light upon the nations, crying evermore, "The just shall live by
faith."

The best commemoration which I can make of this man is to preach the
doctrine which he held so dear. And you who are thus saved can best
assist me by believing the doctrine and proving its truth in your own
cases. May the Holy Spirit cause it to be so in hundreds of instances!

I. First, let us inquire WHAT IS THIS FAITH? We are always talking
about it, but what is it? Whenever I try to explain it, I am afraid
lest I should confuse rather than expound. There is a story told
concerning John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." Good Thomas Scott, the
Commentator, wrote notes to it. He thought the "Pilgrim's Progress" a
difficult book and he would make it clear. A pious cottager in his
parish had the book and she was reading it when her minister called. He
said to her, "Oh, I see, you are reading Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
Do you understand it?" She answered innocently enough, "Oh, yes Sir, I
understand Mr. Bunyan very well, and I hope that one day I shall be
able to understand your explanations."

I am afraid lest you should say when I have done, "I understand what
faith is, as I find it in the Bible, and one day, perhaps, I may be
able to understand the preacher's explanation of it." Warned by this, I
will speak as plainly as I can! And first, it is to be remembered that
faith is not a mere creed-holding. It is very proper to say, "I believe
in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth," and so forth.
But you may repeat all that and be no "Believer" in the Scriptural
sense of that term. Though the creed is true, it may not be true to
you–it would have been the same to you if the opposite had been true,
for you put the truth away like a paper in a pigeon-hole and it has no
effect upon you. "A very proper doctrine," you say, "a very proper
doctrine," and so you put it to sleep. It does not influence your
heart, nor affect your life.

Do not imagine that professing an orthodox creed is the same thing as
faith in Christ! A truthful creed is desirable for many reasons, but if
it is a dead, inoperative thing, it cannot bring salvation. Faith is
belief of the Truths of God, but it is more. Again, faith is not the
mere belief that there is a God, though that we must have, for we
cannot come to God except we "believe that He is and that He is a
Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." We are to believe in God–
that He is good, blessed, true, right and, therefore, to be trusted,
confided in and praised. Whatever He may do, whatever He may say, God
is not to be suspected, but believed in. You know what it is to believe
in a man, do you not? To believe in a man so that you follow him and
confide in him and accept his advice?

In that same way faith believes in God–not only believes that He is,
but finds rest in His Character, His Son, His promise, His Covenant,
His Word and everything about Him. Faith livingly and lovingly trusts
in her God about everything! Especially must we believe in what God has
revealed in Scripture–that it is verily and, indeed, a sure and
Infallible testimony to be received without question. We accept the
Father's witness concerning Jesus and take heed, thereto, "as unto a
light that shines in a dark place." Faith has specially to believe in
Him who is the sum and substance of all this Revelation, even Jesus
Christ, who became God in human flesh that He might redeem our fallen
nature from all the evils of sin and raise it to eternal felicity.

We believe in Christ, on Christ, and upon Christ–accepting Him because
of the record which God has given to us concerning His Son–that He is
the Propitiation for our sins. We accept God's unspeakable Gift and
receive Jesus as our All in All. If I wanted to describe saving faith
in one word, I should say that it is trust. It is so believing God and
so believing in Christ that we trust ourselves and our eternal
destinies in the hands of a reconciled God. As creatures we look up to
the great Father of Spirits. As sinners we trust for the pardon of our
sins to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As being weak and feeble we
trust to the power of the Holy Spirit to make us holy and to keep us
so. We venture our eternal interests in the vessel of Free Grace,
content to sink or swim with it. We rely upon God in Christ.

The Word employed to set forth faith in the Scriptures sometimes
signifies to lean. We lean with all our weight upon our God, in Jesus
Christ. We hang upon Christ as a vessel hangs upon a nail. "Recumbency"
was a term by which the old Puritans used to describe faith–a lying,
or leaning upon something out of ourselves. Guilty as I am, I believe
God's Word that, "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from
all sin." Trusting to that blood I know that I am cleansed from all
sin. God sets forth Christ to be a Propitiation–we believe that He is
a Propitiation and we take Him to be our Propitiation. By that
appropriation our sin is covered and we are free! Faith is the
grasping, the appropriating, the receiving into one's self of the Lord
Jesus Christ.

I sometimes illustrate it by that passage of Paul where he says, "The
word is near you, even in your mouth." When a morsel is in your mouth,
if you desire to possess it so as never to lose it, what is the best
thing to do? Swallow it! Let it go down into the inward parts. Now the
word that we preach is, according to the Apostle, "in your
mouth"–suffer it, then, by God's Grace, to go down into your heart,
and you shall find it true that, "with the heart man believes unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
This is the faiths which saves the soul.

II. In the second place we will consider WHY FAITH IS SELECTED AS THE
WAY OF SALVATION. I would remind you that if we could not answer this
question it would not matter–since the Lord has appointed believing as
the way of Grace, it is not ours to challenge His choice. Beggars must
not be choosers! Let us trust, if so the Lord ordains. But we can
answer this question in a measure. First, it is clear that no other way
is possible. It is not possible for us to be saved by our own merits,
for we have already broken the Law of God and, future obedience, being
already due, cannot make up for past defects–

"Could my tears forever flow, Could my zeal no respite know, All for
sin could not atone You must save, and You alone."

The road of good works is blocked up by our past sins and it is sure to
be further blocked up by future sins–we ought, therefore, to rejoice
that God has commended to us the open road of faith! God has chosen the
way of faith that salvation might be by Divine Grace. If we had to do
anything in order to save ourselves, we would be sure to impute a
measure of virtue to our own doing, or feelings, or prayers, or
almsgivings and we would thus detract from the pure Grace of God. But
salvation comes from God as a pure favor–an act of undeserved
generosity and benevolence–and the Lord will, therefore, only put it
into the hand of faith, since faith arrogates nothing to herself.
Faith, in fact, disowns all idea of merit, and the Lord of Grace
therefore elects to place the treasure of His love in the hands of
faith.

Again, it is of faith that there may be no boasting, for if our
salvation is of our doing or feelings, we are sure to boast. But, if it
is of faith, we cannot glory in self. "Where is boasting, then? It is
excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith." Faith is
humble and ascribes all praise to God. Faith is truthful and confesses
her obligation to the Sovereign Grace of God. I bless the Lord that He
has chosen this way of faith because it is so suitable for poor
sinners. Some among us, tonight, would never have been saved if
salvation had only been prepared for the good and righteous. I stood
before my God guilty and self-condemned. No youth ever had a keener
sense of guilt than I had.

When I was convicted of sin, I saw my thoughts and desires to be vile
in the sight of God–and I also became vile in my own eyes. I was
driven to despair and I know that I could never have been cheered by
any plan of salvation except that which is of faith. The Covenant of
Works by reason of our weakness affords us no suitable way of hope at
any time and, under certain circumstances, we see this very vividly.
Suppose that you were in the last article of death? What good works
could you do? Yonder dying thief found it a happy thing that by faith
he could trust the Crucified One–and before the sun set could be with
Him in Paradise! Faith is a suitable way for sinners and especially for
sinners who are soon to die!

In some sense we are all in that condition and some of us, perhaps, are
especially so. What man among us knows that he will see tomorrow's
dawn? I bless God, again, that the way of salvation is by faith because
it is a way open to the most unlearned. What fine theology we get
nowadays–deep thinking they call it. The men go down so deep into
their subjects and so stir the mud at the bottom, that you cannot see
them and they cannot see themselves! I apprehend that teachers of a
certain school do not, themselves, know what they are talking about.
Now, if salvation were only to be learned by reading through huge
folios, what would become of multitudes of poor souls in Bow, and
Bethuel Green, and Seven Dials? If the Gospel had consisted of a mass
of learning, how could the unlearned be saved?

But now we can go to each one of them and say, "Jesus died"–

"There is life in a look at the Crucified One! There is life at this
moment for you!" However little you may know, you know that you have
sinned. Know, then, that Jesus has come to put away sin and that
whoever believes in Him is immediately forgiven and enters into eternal
life. This brief and blessed Gospel is suitable to all cases, from
princes to peasants, and we wonder not that faith was selected as the
way of salvation.

III. But now, thirdly, I want to say a good deal, tonight, upon another
question–HOW DOES FAITH OPERATE? For according to our text, it is,
"Faith which works by love." It is a living, laboring, loving faith
which, alone, saves the soul. I cannot tell you what hard things I have
heard about this doctrine of Salvation by Faith. They say that it is
immoral. I have heard immoral men say so and surely they ought to know!
They say that it will lead to sin and those who say so would, I should
think, be rather pleased with it for that reason if they believed their
own statement. I have never heard a holy man charge faith with leading
him into sin. I know no man that follows after God and lives near to
Him who is under fear that faith in God will tempt him to sin!

The fact is, faith does nothing of the kind! Its action is most
distinctly the reverse. Like the prudent wife in Proverbs, faith will
do a man good and not harm all the days of his life. First, it touches
the mainspring of our nature by creating love within the soul. What is
needed, now, for the degraded classes in London? Sanitary regulations?
Certainly, if they are not allowed to be a dead letter for the need of
someone to carry them out. New houses? By all manner of means–the more
the better. Lower rents? Assuredly, for no one has a right to get an
excessive rent for unhealthy accommodations. Higher wages? Certainly,
we could all of us do with a little more.

Many other things are needed. While yonder gin-palaces remain at the
corners of the streets, you will not make much headway in lifting up
the masses and I suppose the drink-shops will always flourish while the
taste for drink remains. Suppose the licensed poison-shops were shut
up–would that suffice? I think not. There are men and women in London,
and thousands of them, who, if they were put into the cleanest houses
and were a mile away from a gin-shop, would still drink and still turn
their houses into pigsties! What is needed? Oh, if you could make
Christians of them! Suppose they could be born-again? Suppose they
could be made to love the things which they now hate, and hate the
things which they now love? New hearts and right spirits are the need
of London's outcasts!

How can these be produced? In the hand of God, the Holy Spirit–this is
exactly what faith works in the heart! Here is a watch. "It needs
cleaning." Yes, clean it. "It does not work. It needs a new crystal."
Well, put in a new crystal. "It still does not work. It needs new
hands." Get new hands by all means! Still it does not run. What is the
matter with it? The maker says that it needs a mainspring. There's the
seat of the evil–nothing can be right till that is rectified. Set all
other matters going, but do not forget that the mainspring is the chief
part of the business! Faith supplies the soul with a powerful spring of
action. It says to the man, "You are forgiven through the blood of
Christ who died for you–how do you feel towards Him?"

The man replies, "I love the Lord for redeeming me." Loving Jesus, the
man has now within his soul the seed of every good. He will become a
holier and a better being, for he has begun to love, and love is the
mother of holiness. Is any service in the world like the service of
love? You have a servant in your house, fawning and obsequious, but if
you were to reduce his wages, he would show you the rough side of his
tongue and seek another employer! You do not expect any more of him
than that, but if you did, you would not get it. How different was an
old servant I have heard of, who, when his master went down in the
world, was content with half-pay! And when he was sorrowfully told that
he must go, for his master could not afford him clothes, he made his
old ones last him, for he would not leave his master in his old age.

He would rather have earned bread for his old master than have left
him! He was an attached servant worth his weight in gold! There are few
such servants nowadays, for there are not many such masters. This kind
of service cannot be purchased, but its price is above rubies. When the
Lord leads us to believe in Jesus, we become, from then on, His loving
servants and serve Him not for reward, but out of gratitude! It is no
longer with us so much work and so much pay–we do not fear the threat
of Hell for disobedience, nor do we look to Heaven as won by works. No,
no, our salvation is a free gift! It is furnished for us through
infinite love and supreme compassion and, therefore, we return our
heart's warmest affection. Our heart clings to that dear side which was
opened for us. We feel a tender love to those dear pierced feet. We
could kiss them every day.

Those blessed hands of the Crucified! If they do but touch us, we are
strengthened, honored, comforted. Jesus is altogether lovely to us, our
bosom Friend and Lord! Faith, instead of being a poor, paltry thing, as
some imagine, is the grandest cause of love and so of obedience and
holiness. Know, again, that faith puts us into a new relation. We are
bound by nature to be the servants of God, but faith whispers in our
ear, "Say, 'Our Father,'" and when the heart has received the Spirit of
adoption, the aspect of service is entirely changed–mercenary service
is succeeded by loving obedience and our spirit is altered! To become
an heir of God, a joint-heir with Jesus, is to elevate work into
delight, labor into fellowship with God! The Law is no fetter to a
child of God–it is his delight! Faith removes from the heart that form
of selfishness which before seemed necessary.

So you hope to be saved by what you do, do you? May I ask you, Friend,
whom you are serving in all this? I will tell you. You are serving
yourself! All that you do is to win happiness for yourself. How, then,
are you serving God? You are living a selfish life, though it is tinged
with the color of spirituality. What is done by you in the matter of
religion has no objective but that you may be saved and go to Heaven.
Your most zealous work is all for self. Suppose I say to you, "I know
that I am saved. I know that Jesus has put away my sin. I know that He
will not permit me to perish"? Why, then,

there is room in my case for the serving of the Lord because of what He
has done for me! Now I have not myself to save– I have Christ to
serve!

Gratitude is the motive of the Gospel and under its power, unselfish
virtue is possible, but not upon the ground of legal service. Pure
virtue, it seems to me, is a sheer impossibility till a man is saved
because it always must partake, till then, of the low and groveling
view of benefiting himself by what he is doing. When once the great
transaction is done, and you are saved, then you are lifted up into a
nobler sphere and you say–

"Then why O blessed Jesus Christ, Should I not love You well? Not for
the hope of winning Heaven, Nor of escaping Hell! Not with the hope of
gaining anything, Not seeking a reward, But as You have loved me, O
ever-loving Lord, So would I love You, dearest Lord, And in Your praise
will sing Solely because You are my God, And my Eternal King."

Therefore faith inspires us with a higher motive than the Law can
suggest. Faith soon creates love for man, for, if the Lord Jesus has
saved you, my Brothers and Sisters, you will speedily desire that
others may be saved, also. You have tasted of this honey and the
sweetness upon your own tongue prevails you to invite others to the
feast. He who has been brought into the liberty of Free Grace would set
free every captive sinner if he could.

When well worked out, faith means harmony with God. It creates an
agreement with the Divine will, so that whatever pleases God pleases
us. If the Lord should set the Believer on a dunghill with Job, he
would still bless His name. Faith agrees with the Divine Precept which
it desires to obey; with the Divine Doctrine which it desires to know
and publish. Yes, whatever is of God, Faith says, "It is the Lord, let
Him command, teach, or do what seems Him good." I have shown you that
faith is not the trifling principle which its deprecators describe as,
"Only believe." Oh, that they knew what it is to only believe! It is
the setting free of the mind from fetters. It is the dawn of Heaven's
own day. It is a lifelong struggle, this "Only believe." It is "the
work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent."

Brothers and Sisters, I believe that a humble, persevering faith in God
is one of the highest forms of adoration that ever reaches the Throne
of God. Though cherubim and seraphim salute the Lord with their, "Holy,
holy, holy;" though the whole host of shining ones surround the Throne
of God with perpetual hallelujahs, there is no more hearty reverence
given to God than when a poor sinner, black as night, cries
believingly, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." To believe in
the pardon of sin is a wonderful adoration of the mercy and power of
God! To believe in a constant Providence is a sweet way of worshipping
God in His power and goodness!

When a poor laborer in his cottage, needing bread for his children,
kneels down and cries, "Lord, it is written, 'Your bread shall be given
you, and your water shall be sure!' I believe Your Word and, therefore,
I look to You in my necessity." He renders a homage to the truth and
faithfulness of God such as Gabriel could not give, for Gabriel never
knew the pinch of hunger. To believe that God will keep us to the end
and raise us to His Glory is more honoring to God than all the hymns of
the glorified! From us dying sons of earth, when we confide in His
promise, there arises up to Heaven incense of a sweet smell, acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ.

To my mind there is also this about faith–that it has a marvelous
power over God. Do you ask me to retract that expression? Let it stand!
I will explain it. Faith overcomes the Highest upon His Throne. Faith
in an inferior can hold a superior fast. Some years ago I was walking
in the garden, one evening, and I saw a stray dog about whom I had
received information that he was in the habit of visiting my grounds
and that he did not, in the least, assist the gardener and, therefore,
his attentions were not desired. As I walked along one Saturday
evening, meditating upon my sermon, I saw this dog busily doing
mischief. I threw my stick at him and told him to go home. But what do
you think he did? Instead of baring his teeth at me, or hurrying off
with a howl, he looked at me very pleasantly, took up my stick in his
mouth and brought it to me! And then, wagging his tail, he laid the
stick at my feet!

The tears were in my eyes–the dog had beaten me. I said, "Good dog!
Good dog, you may come here when you like after that." Why had the dog
conquered me? Because he had confidence in me and would not believe
that I could mean him any hurt. To turn to grander things–the Lord
Himself cannot resist humble confidence. Do you not see how a sinner
brings, as it were, the rod of Justice to the Lord, and cries, "If You
smite me, I deserve it; but I submit to You." The great God cannot
spurn a trustful heart. It is impossible! He were not God if He could
cast the soul away that implicitly relies on Him! This is the power of
faith, then, and I marvel not that the Lord should have chosen it, for
believing is a thing most pleasing to God!

O that you would all trust Him! God lifts His sword against you–run
into His arms! He threatens you–grasp His promise! He pursues you–fly
to His dear Son! Trust at the foot of the Cross in His full Atonement
and you must be saved!

IV. Now, I am going to finish in a way suitable to this Luther
memorial. You have heard a great deal about Luther's preaching
salvation by faith alone. Now, LET US TURN TO LUTHER'S LIFE and see
what Luther himself meant by it. What kind of faith did Luther himself
exhibit by which he was justified? First, in Luther's case, faith led
him to an open avowal of what he believed. Luther did not mean to go up
to Heaven by the back stairs, as many young men hope to do. You wish to
be Christians on the sly, so as to escape the offense of the Cross.
Luther did not refuse to confess Christ and take up his cross and
follow Him. He knew that he, who with his heart believes, must also
with his mouth make confes-sion–and he did so right nobly.

He began teaching and preaching the Truth of God which had enlightened
his own soul. One of his sermons displeased Duke George of Saxony, but
as it saved a lady of high rank, Luther did not fret. He was not the
man to conceal the Truth of God because it was dangerous to avow it.
Tetzel came with his precious indulgences and his releases for souls in
"purgatory." Thousands of good Catholics were indignant, but no one
would bell the cat. Luther called Tetzel, "servant of Pope and of the
devil," and declared, "As he came among us practicing on the credulity
of the people, I could not refrain from protesting against it and
opposing his odious career." Without mimicking words, or attempting to
speak politely, Luther went at him, fearless of the consequences. He
believed in the blessings of Grace, "without money and without price,"
and he did not conceal his convictions! He nailed his Theses to the
Church door where all might read them.

When astronomers require a new constellation in the heavens let it be
"the hammer and nails." O you who make no profession, let this man's
outspoken faith rebuke you! His dauntless valor for the Truth of God
caused him to be greatly hated in his own day with a ferocity which has
not yet died out. Luther is still the best hated man in certain
quarters. Witness the vile tracts which have been produced, during the
last fortnight, to the disgrace of the press which they defile! I can
say no worse nor better of them than that they are worthy of the cause
in whose interest they are issued. Mention the name of Luther and the
bond-slaves of Rome gnash their teeth! This intense ill-feeling proves
Luther's power. Young men, I do not know what your ambition may be, but
I hope you do not wish to be in this world mere chips in the porridge,
giving forth no flavor whatever.

My ambition does not run in that line. I know that if I have no intense
haters, I can have no intense lovers–and, by His Grace, I am prepared
to have both. When right-hearted men see honest love of the Truth of
God in a man, they cry, "He is our Brother. Let him be our champion!"
When the wrong-hearted reply, "Down with him!" we thank them for the
unconscious homage which they thus pay to decision of character. No
child of God should court the world's approbation. Certainly Luther did
not. He pleased God and that was enough for him. His faith was of this
kind, also–that it moved him to a hearty reverence for what he
believed to be Holy Scripture. I am sorry that he was not always wise
in his judgment of what the Bible contains, but to him Scripture was
the last court of appeal. If any had convinced Luther of error out of
that Book, he would gladly have retracted.

But that was not their plan–they simply said, "He is a heretic.
Condemn him or make him retract." To this he never yielded for an
instant! Alas, in this age numbers of men are setting up to be their
own inspired writers. I have been told that every man who is his own
lawyer has a fool for his client, and I am inclined to think that when
any man sets up to be his own savior and his own revelation, much the
same thing occurs. That conceited idea is in the air at this present
time–every man is excogitating his own bible. Not so Luther! He loved
the Sacred Book! He fought by its help. It was his battle-ax and his
weapon of war. A text of Scripture fired his soul, but the words of
tradition he rejected. He would

not yield to Melancthon, or Zwingli, or Calvin or whoever it might
be–however learned or pious. He took his own personal faith to the
Scripture and, according to his light, he followed the Word of the
Lord. May many a Luther be in this place!

The next thing I note was the intense activity of his faith. Luther did
not believe in God doing his work, so as to lie by in idleness. Not a
bit of it! A disciple once said to Mohammed, "I am going to turn my
camel loose and trust in Providence." "No," said Mohammed, "trust in
Providence, but tie up your camel carefully." This resembled Oliver
Cromwell's Puritan precept, "Trust in God, but keep your powder dry."
Luther believed above most men in keeping his powder dry. How he
worked! By pen, by mouth, by hand! He was energetic almost beyond
belief. He seemed a many-handed man. He did works which would have
taxed the strength of hundreds of smaller men. He worked as if
everything depended upon his own activity and then he fell back in holy
trust upon God as though he had done nothing! This is the kind of faith
which saves a man both in this life and in that which is to come.

Again, Luther's faith abounded in prayer. What supplications they were!
Those who heard them tell us of his tears, his wrestling, his holy
arguments. He would go into his closet, heavy at heart, and remain
there an hour or two, and then come forth singing, "I have conquered, I
have conquered!" "Ah," he said one day, "I have so much to do today
that I cannot get through it with less than three hours' prayer." I
thought he was going to say, "I cannot afford to give even a quarter of
an hour to prayer"–but he increased his prayer as he increased his
labor. This is the faith that saves–a faith that lays hold on God and
prevails with Him in private supplication.

His was a faith that delivered him entirely from the fear of man. Duke
George is going to stop him. "Is he?" said Luther. "If it were to rain
Duke Georges, I would go." He is exhorted not to go to Worms, for he
will be in danger. If there were as many devils in Worms as there were
tiles on the housetops, he would be there! And he was there, as you all
know, playing the man for the Gospel and for his God. He committed
himself to no man, but kept his faith in God pure and unmingled! Popes,
emperors, doctors, electors were all as nothing to Luther when they
stood against the Lord. Be it so with us, also! His was a faith that
made him risk all for the Truth of God. There seemed no hope of his
ever coming back from Worms alive. He was pretty sure to be burned like
John Russ–and the wonder is that he escaped. His very daring brought
him safety from peril! He expressed his regret that the crown of
martyrdom would, in all probability, be missed by him, but the faith
which is prepared to die for Jesus was within him. He, who in such a
case saves his life, shall lose it, but he that loses his life for
Christ's sake shall find it unto life eternal! This was the faith that
made Luther a man among men and saved him from priestly affectations.

I do not know whether you admire what is thought to be very superior
religion. It is a thing of beauty, but not of use. It ought always to
be kept in a glass case–it is made up for drawing-rooms and religious
meetings, but would be out of place in a shop or on a farm. Now,
Luther's religion was with him at home–at the table us well as in the
pulpit. His religion was part and parcel of his common life and that
life was free, open, bold and unrestrained. It is easy to find fault
with him from the superfine standpoint, for he lived in an honest
fearlessness. My admiration kindles as I think of the hearty openness
of the man! I do not wonder that even ungodly Germans revere him, for
he is all German, and all man! When he speaks, he does not take his
words out of his mouth to look at them, and to ask Melancthon whether
they will do. No, he hits hard and he has spoken a dozen sentences
before he has thought whether they are polished or not!

Indeed, he is utterly indifferent to criticism and speaks what he
thinks and feels. He is at his ease, for he feels at home. Is he not
everywhere in his great Father's house? Has he not a pure and simple
intent to speak the Truth of God and do the right? I like Luther with a
wife and children. I like to see him with his family and a Christmas
tree, making music with little Johnny Luther on his knee. I love to
hear him sing a little hymn with the children and tell his pretty boy
about the horses in Heaven with golden bridles and silver saddles.
Faith had not taken away his manhood, but sanctified it to noblest
uses. Luther did not live and move as if he were a mere cleric, but as
a brother to our common humanity!

After all, Brothers and Sisters, you must know that the greatest
divines have to eat bread and butter like other people. They shut their
eyes before they sleep and they open them in the morning, just like
other folks! This is matter of fact, though some stilted gentleman
might like us to doubt it. They feel and think like other men. Why
should they seem as if they did not? Is it not a good thing to eat and
drink to the glory of God and show people that common things can be
sanctified by the Word of God and prayer? What if we do not wear
canonicals and so on? The best canonicals in the world are thorough
devotion to the Lord's work! And if a man lives aright, he makes every
garment a vestment, every

meal a sacrament and every house a temple! All our hours are canonical!
All our days holy days! Every breath is incense, every pulse music for
the Most High!

They tell us that Luther ignored good works. It is true he would not
allow good works to be spoken of as the means of salvation, but of
those who professed faith in Jesus he demanded holy lives! Luther
abounded in prayer and charity. What an almsgiver Luther was! I fear he
did not, at all times, dimly regard the principles of the Charity
Organization Society! As he goes along, if there are beggars, he
empties his pockets for them. Two hundred crowns have just come in,
and, though he has a family about him, he cries, "Two hundred crowns!
God is giving me my portion in this life." "Here," he says to a poor
Brother minister, "take half! And where are the poor? Fetch them in. I
must be rid of this!" I am afraid that his Catherine was forced, at
times, to shake her head at him, for, in truth, he was not always the
most economical husband that might be. In almsgiving he was second to
none and in all the duties of life he rose far beyond the level of his
age. Like all other men, he had his faults, but as his enemies harp on
that string and go far beyond the truth, I need not dwell upon his
failings. I wish that the detractors of Luther were half as good as he.
All the glory of his grand career was unto the Lord, alone!

Lastly, Luther's faith was a faith that helped him under struggles that
are seldom spoken of. I suppose that never man had greater
soul-conflict than Luther. He was a man of heights and depths.
Sometimes he went up to Heaven and he sang his hallelujahs. And then he
went down, again, into the abyss with his "Miserere." I am afraid that
great, vigorous man that he was, he had a bad liver. He was grievously
afflicted in body in ways which I need not mention. And he was
sometimes laid aside for months together, being so racked and tortured
that he longed to die. His pains were extreme and we wonder how he
endured them so well. But always, between the attacks of illness,
Luther was up again preaching the Word of God. Those desperate
struggles with the devil would have crushed him but for his faith. The
devil seems to have been constantly assailing him and he was constantly
assailing the devil.

In that tremendous duel he fell back upon his Lord and, trusting in
Omnipotence, he put Satan to rout. Young men, I pray that a Luther may
spring up from your ranks. How gladly would the faithful welcome him!
I, who am more a follower of Calvin than of Luther, and much more a
follower of Jesus than of either of them, would be charmed to see
another Luther upon this earth! God bless you, Brothers and Sisters,
for Christ's sake. Amen.