How “The Unspeakable” is Spoken of

How "The Unspeakable" is Spoken of

(No. 1828)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 15, 1885,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON OCTOBER 9, 1884.

"And men shall speak of the might of Your terrible acts: and I will
declare Your greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your
great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness." Psalm 145:6, 7.

In this Psalm David has reached the Beulah land of his songs where we
hear nothing else but praise. He begins, "I will extol You, my God, O
King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day will I
bless You; and I will praise Your name forever and ever." And he closes
with, "My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh
bless His holy name forever and ever." Happy is our condition when the
glory of God fills both heart and tongue! Oh, to swim in a sea of
gratitude, to feel waves of praise breaking over one's joyful head–and
then to dive into the ocean of adoration and lose one's self in the
ever-blessed God!

The royal singer strikes a high note as he repeats the stanza, "Great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is
unsearchable." We never reach the height of that great argument until
we confess that it is far above us and altogether unsearchable. We have
not apprehended God if we imagine that we have comprehended Him.

Next David found comfort in the thought that he was not the only
worshipper of the Lord and that the praise of God would not cease when
he fell asleep in death. He foresees an endless line of praiseful
hearts and utters this sure prophecy, "One generation shall praise Your
works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts." But, as if he
would not and could not leave the blessed task to others, but must
continue his own joyful hallelujahs, he cries, "I will speak of the
glorious honor of Your majesty, and of Your wondrous works." Whatever
happens, we must, each one, extol the Lord! Whether the world grows
atheistic or devout, our duty and our joy are one and the same–we are
still to magnify the Lord our God. We do not wish to avoid this
profound pleasure; no, rather we would abound in it more and more!

All this leads up to a consideration of the various ways in which men
speak of the Lord and His acts when their minds are moved in that
direction. All see not the same points of His greatness, neither do
they see with the same eyes, nor speak in the same spirit. It is ours,
at this time, to review the various orders of mankind, and to observe
how the revelation of God to them affects their minds and moves their
tongues. There is an ascending scale in the four sentences of our text,
as the poet-Prophet observes and records the ascending forms of human
thought and speech.

I. We begin at the lowest step of the ladder. "Men shall speak of the
might of Your terrible acts." We mingle with the multitude during a
great occasion of national calamity, or upon the receipt of thrilling
news from a foreign land–and we hear THE AWE-STRUCK TALK of the
throng. We join a sobered and thoughtful company–they have come
together under a common fear and they speak, one to another, of the
terrible acts of God because they impress them at the moment. They are
of the Athenian kind, desiring continually to say and hear some new
thing, and now they have found a novel subject which has the piquant
devour of terror. God has been doing terrible things and they cannot
help speaking of them–they have overlooked His mercies, but they must
notice His judgments, as it is written, "Lord, when Your hand is lifted
up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed." Not only
shall they see, but they shall speak, too–"Men shall speak of the
might of Your terrible acts."

There have been times in human history when this text has been
fulfilled with tremendous emphasis. The first men who lived after the
flood must have been affected with the solemn memory of the universal
deluge. They must have often spoken to one another concerning God's
terrible acts, when He drew up the sluices of the great deep and burst
open the

reservoirs of Heaven to drown a guilty world. They that dwelt over
against the five cities of the plain, once so prosperous and rich,
withal so luxurious and vicious–they, I say, that dwelt in the
neighboring cities must have said, one to another, "Have you heard what
has happened–how God has rained fire out of Heaven upon those wicked
cities?" Men, after all these ages, can scarcely go that way and mark
how desolation rules over the Dead Sea, without speaking in bated
breath to one another, and saying, "Here vengeance triumphed."

Egypt was full of this talk, once, when the plagues followed each other
like terrible claps of thunder. One peal had not ceased before another
blast astounded them! The noise thereof went beyond Egypt and, in many
a palace, monarchs heard how Jehovah had gotten unto Himself honor upon
Pharaoh. It was as Moses sang, "Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed;
the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the
inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon
them; by the greatness of Your arm they shall be as still as a stone;
till Your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which
you have purchased."

So was it, also, when the sword of Joshua was taken from its scabbard
in the name of the Most High, and Jehovah began to deal out execution
against the nations that had gone into uncleanness and given themselves
over to abominable lusts. When Israel went from city to city, as the
appointed executioner of the Most High, then men everywhere spoke, one
to another, of the might of Jehovah's terrible acts, "until their
hearts melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore."

These are but early instances in the gray old past, but they are
typical of like judgments which are scattered throughout history. The
terrible acts of the Lord are few, but no age is quite left without
them, for the Lord still lives and He is always the same. He punishes
nations in this present life. Seeing that there will be no resurrection
for nations as nations, and no Judgment Day for nations as nations,
they are judged in time and their sins are followed up by national
judgments. Have you not heard of the might of His terrible acts that
happened to Babylon? Know you not that He made Nineveh to be such a
heap of ruins that for many a century it was altogether hidden away
from mortal sight?

Have you not heard what God did to the colossal empire of Rome, when it
had filled up the measure of its iniquity? Do you not remember how He
broke it in pieces as with a rod of iron? No Englishman should ever
forget, in modern times, how the Armada of Spain was given as chaff to
the wind and that cruel, persecuting power was degraded from her
pre-eminence. Men have spoken, again and again, to one another as they
have hidden away from the scourge of war, or as they have stood weeping
at the graves of their beloved ones slain by the pestilence which walks
in darkness. And they have said, "Behold the might of Jehovah's
terrible acts!" Men will speak of that side of the Lord's dealings if
they are dumb concerning His innumerable benefits.

When God's judgments are abroad in the world, the inhabitants shall
learn righteousness. And this is a consolation in times of disaster and
death. None of us would dare to desire these judgments– we are of
another spirit from Elijah, who, in holy jealousy for Jehovah, His God,
could pray that there should be no rain by the space of three years
except according to his word. But yet, the thought must have crossed
the mind of many a faithful follower of God that atheistic nations
ought to feel the rod to startle them into thoughts of God and
oppressing peoples ought, themselves, to taste the bitter cup of
tyranny. "By terrible things in righteousness will You answer us, O
God." "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto
Him?" Will He not smite the beast and the false prophet and put down
falsehood and wickedness? It shall be so in due time!

The least that we can do, whenever these terrible acts are abroad, is
to turn them into special prayer and cry mightily to God that men may
speak of the might of His terrible acts and may learn to, "kiss the
Son, lest He be angry, and they perish from the way, when His wrath is
kindled but a little." It behooves us, when we see the black clouds
overhead, to pray that they may break in mercy upon the nations and
that God, Himself, may appear in infinite love, though He should make
the clouds His chariot and ride upon the wings of the wind.

"Men shall speak of the might of Your terrible acts." These things
leave a mark and make, for a while, a manifest impression. Such,
however, is the heart of man that oftentimes the impression is as when
one lashes the water and no scar remains, for it is natural to fallen
man to forget God! Sinners pray in a storm and curse, again, in the
calm. When the pestilence is abroad, they tremble and adore–but they
become atheists when the graves are all filled–and things return to
their usual course. When God sends forth pestilence, (and He has of
late scourged cities that are scarcely a day's ride from us), let us
pray that the scourge may not fall upon our own land. Yet I do
remember, when first I came to this city, how many days and nights I
stood at the bedside of men and women dying of cholera. And though it
was a grievous thing

and this neighborhood felt the scourge very heavily, yet I noticed that
infidelity was singularly quiet and that persons who never entered a
place of worship, before, began to attend our services.

Bibles were routed out of the dust in those times and religious talk
was tolerated. The minister, who was formerly the subject of their
caricatures and jokes, was viewed with reverence, for the time being,
and his visits were sought for in the hour of sickness. It is amazing
how men laugh on the other side of their mouths when God begins to deal
with them–how those who scoffed the loudest are the first to wince
when the lash falls on them! The boldest blasphemers are the first to
cry out when the Lord binds them with His cords. They cannot bear the
touch of God's finger and yet they have often dared to challenge His
hand to be laid upon them! O Lord, men shall speak of the might of Your
terrible acts when they are driven in utter dismay to bow their ungodly
heads and acknowledge that the Lord reigns!

Dear Friends, whenever you find sickness in a house, or death in a
darkened chamber, seize the opportunity to speak for your Lord. Your
voice for the Truth of God will likely be heard, for God Himself is
speaking, and men must hear Him whether they will or not! Meanwhile,
plead earnestly that the hammer of God may only break hard hearts and
that the fire of God may consume nothing but that which is evil. Pray
that the Holy Spirit may work with the chastisement to produce health
and healing to the souls of men.

II. Be ready with the second part of our subject, which is this–THE
BOLD DISCOURSE. Observe how the one follows the other–"Men shall speak
of the might of Your terrible acts: and I will declare Your greatness."
After the many have spoken in awe, I will deliver my soul with courage.
Come in, O single testifier for God, for now you will be welcomed! When
they have advanced so far as to tremble at God because He has begun to
smite them, you step forward and declare His greatness! The might of
His terrible acts has made them see the greatness of His power–they
perceive what plagues are in His quiver and how easily He can draw them
forth like arrows, shoot them from His bow–and never miss the mark!
They are obliged to confess all this and thus a good groundwork is
prepared for something more.

Tell them of the greatness of His justice and how He will by no means
spare the guilty. Tell them of the greatness of His Grace and how, in
the Person of Jesus Christ, He passes by iniquity, transgression and
sin. Tell them of the greatness of His fatherly love and how He presses
returning prodigals to His bosom and kisses away their tears. Tell them
of the greatness of His saving power to lift up men from the dunghill
and set them among princes, even the princes of His people! Speak
exceedingly brave concerning the greatness of His sovereignty, how He
can create or can destroy. Tell them that, "He will have mercy on whom
He will have mercy, and He will have compassion on whom He will have
compassion." Point to the greatness and splendor of His love–how He
receives sinners, how He gives Grace to the graceless and how His Son,
in due time, died for the ungodly.

I heard it said of a certain preacher by one who was no ill judge,
though a simple countryman, "I have heard many preachers, but I never
heard one that seemed to make God so great as that man does." I would
like to have such praise, or at least, to deserve it, for I think it
should be the main objective of the preacher to make God great in men's
esteem. Today, my Brothers and Sisters, the most approved preaching
makes much of man. Philanthropy, which is good enough in its place, has
supplanted loyalty to Jehovah! The Second Table of the Law of God is
put before the First and, in that position, it genders idolatry–the
worship of man–which is only a form of self-adoration. All divinity is
now to be shaped according to man and from man's point of view. And men
are to think out their theology and not take it from God's mouth, or
from the Book inspired by the Spirit of God.

Men are such wonderful beings in this 19th Century that we are called
upon to tone down the Gospel to "the spirit of the age"–that is, to
the fashions and the follies of human thought, as they vary from day to
day! This, by God's help, we will never do–no, not by one diluting
drop, nor by the splitting of a hair! What have I to do with suiting
the 19th Century any more than the 9th Century? We have to do with the
Immutable God and with the fixed Truths which He has revealed to us!
Having taken our foothold upon the Rock, we shall not stir from it, by
God's help, while there is breath in our body. Yet so it is–man has
made man his god and Jehovah is dethroned in his thoughts. I believe in
God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob–if there is another
god, newly come up, let those worship him who will–my resolve is to
always magnify the stern God of the Old Testament, the loving God of
the New Testament!

Time may yet come when men will hear the old Gospel once more, but
whether they do or not, I will declare Jehovah's greatness! There are
many shifts and changes, but if we stand still and bide our time, the
current which runs this way, today, will set in an opposite direction
tomorrow! And if it should not do so, what is that to us? We are not
ac-

countable for popular opinion, but only for our own loyalty to the
Truth of God! He who is faithful to his God and declares His greatness
in this evil time, shall be accepted as a faithful servant in the day
of the last account. Of course he will be stigmatized, today, as,
"behind the times," and be little esteemed by those who deem themselves
cultured and advanced, but of this he may make small account.

Thus I have taken you over two of the sentences. I have shown you an
awe-struck people talking together of God's terrible acts and then the
child of God coming in with his personal testimony, saying, "I will
declare Your greatness."

III. In the third sentence you see a company of godly people together
and in their talk you mark THE GRATEFUL OUTPOURING of thankful spirits.
"They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness."

The Hebrew word has something to do with bubbling up–it means they
shall overflow, they shall gush with the memory of Your great
goodness–and in handling this sentence I should like to dwell only
upon that metaphor. A Christian man in reference to the goodness of God
to him should resemble a springing well. There should always be fresh
matter from him upon that blessed subject–"the memory of Your great
goodness." Did you ever tell the story of your life to the fullest to
anybody? Did you ever write it? I am sometimes not a little amused,
certainly not surprised, when I get, as I did this week, a letter upon
foolscap [large sheet of paper measuring 13 by 6 inches]–both sides,
24 pages–all filled up with the story of a man I never saw, who lives
far away in the backwoods. Nothing will do but he must tell somebody or
other what God has done for him and he has selected me to be the
receiver of the narrative!

He has only followed the example of many others. I regret that so many
of these autobiographies come to me, for such good things ought to be a
little more evenly distributed. I have scarcely the time to get through
that length of writing and, having so many other epistles, it is
possible that I am not as grateful for this one as I ought to be. But
it is a good theme of which we cannot weary. I would encourage all
Believers to abundantly utter what they remember of the Lord's
love–and if they cannot tell it viva voce, they must write it. You
need not send me the manuscript–but do not let it be lost. Tell your
friends the happy tale of Jesus and His love!–

"Oh, bless the Lord, my Soul, Nor let His mercies lie Forgotten in
unthankfulness, And without praises die."

I like the instinct (and I think it is always an instinct of a child of
God) that makes a man feel, "I must tell what the Lord has done for
me."

They shall abundantly utter, they shall gush, they shall overflow with
the memory of Your great goodness. Now, if somebody could give you all
his time to listen to you about what God has done for you, could you
not keep on forever? I was about to blunder and say I could keep on
forever, and then begin again! I feel like David, when he said that he
would praise God's name forever and then said, "and ever," as if he
could spend two "forevers" in God's praise. We can never exhaust it. We
may tell it forever and yet it shall remain untold. It is so fresh, so
new, that no fountain can excel it.

See, too, how freely a true testimony of holy experience is given out
by grateful Believers. It is refreshing to yourself to proclaim it.
Fountains never grudge their streams–they sparkle and they flash,
their crystal diamonds glitter in the sunlight–they are things of
beauty and joys forever. Even so it is a holy recreation to let our
gratitude well up and overflow to the praise of God. Is it not a
refreshment to those who come within the sound of it? Oftentimes you
might relieve a Brother's woe if you told him how God relieved you.
There may be sitting in your own pew some person with a very heavy
heart whom you could readily relieve if your tongue were not
frost-bitten. Oh, that out of the midst of your soul would flow rivers
of living water! Child of God, you may be carrying in your bosom that
key of Doubting Castle which will open every door and will not only let
you out of it, but your companion in tribulation, too, so that the two
of you shall come forth and fairly escape from the giant by the use of
the key!

They shall abundantly utter, they shall overflow with the memory of
Your great goodness, O Lord! Does not this imply a measure of
continuance? Let us now praise the Lord. Use your memory at this hour.
Go over your life story. You have not kept a diary. I suppose not, I
almost hope not, for such daily records are apt to grow stilted. People
feel that they must put something down every day and, perhaps, they
write the most when they have least to say. But, at any rate, in your
memory you ought to retain the recollection of the Lord's deeds of love
and Grace to you–and you should utter them as they come fresh to your
memory at this moment.

Such utterances would help us in reference to the former sentences of
the text. When men are speaking of the terrible acts of God with bated
breath, then you come in and say, "But He is good! These acts of
judgment are few and far between. It is not often that we have a
thunderstorm. What soft, bright mornings; what clear days; what dewy
evenings we have and only now and then a tempest!" Tell them of God's
great goodness. And when, at other times you have declared His
greatness, it will be wise to change the strain and soften down the
terror of His grandeur by speaking of the majesty of His love. I do not
think you should abundantly utter His terrible acts–you need not
abundantly utter His greatness, but you may dwell with peculiar
emphasis, freeness and fullness upon His goodness–His goodness to you!
This third rung of our ladder is a golden one and I am loath to leave
it, for it is my joy to utter the memory of the Lord's great goodness
to me.

IV. And now, you see, all the while it has been talk, but now, in the
fourth part, we rise a stage higher, for we come to singing. Listen to
THE SELECT SONG. "They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great
goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness."

When good men talk of God, they soon find that the tongue leaps with
liberty, for the strings that held it are broken. Then they cannot be
satisfied with talking to men–they must rise to something better and
talk with God in holy song. "They shall sing." Singing is the language
of joy, the special vehicle of praise, the chosen speech of Heaven!
Singing is language married to music, words winged with melody. Verily
the Lord's redeemed may well have much of it, for it every way becomes
their state and their prospects. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord."

But is not this a very singular text? Do you not wonder at the subject
of their song? "They shall sing of Your righteousness." You remember in
the 51st Psalm, David says, "My tongue shall sing aloud of Your
righteousness"? That is a strange theme. Why didn't he say, "They shall
sing of the memory of Your great goodness"? Certainly that is a choice
topic for song, but yet the more select, the higher subject for music,
is the righteousness of God. Is it not a singular choice? Probably a
large part of my audience will not understand how it can be regarded as
a joyful subject. The righteousness of God is a theme of terror to
many–they wish He were not righteous! He will by no means spare the
guilty, but will hold His plummet to every bowing wall and tottering
fence. And His hail shall sweep away all the refuges of lies! And
because of this, men dread the Lord and turn away from Him! And yet,
you see, there are hearts that can sing of His righteousness and who,
having other themes, having God's terrible acts, having God's
greatness, having God's goodness to sing of, yet prefer this for their
song–"They shall sing of Your righteousness."

What is there to sing about in this?

Before I answer that question, I want you to notice how this subject of
God's righteousness is put and how it is connected. Let me read you the
sentence before it and the sentence afterwards, and you will see how
this singing of His righteousness is, so to speak, sandwiched in
between two other themes. Look, now–"They shall abundantly utter the
memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger and of
great mercy." Here are two cakes of honey and my text is put between
them. Here is a blessed supper for you at this hour if you do but know
how to feed upon it! Between the two testimonies of goodness and of
Grace comes in this of righteousness–and I greatly delight in the
thought that the great subject of song, here, is a righteousness which
is encompassed about with goodness–a righteousness which does not
hinder compassion!

This righteousness is surrounded by mercy and, therefore, the mercy is
not unrighteous, but is strictly just. Oh, Friends, the very glory of
the Gospel is that righteousness and peace have kissed each other in
it–that the sword of justice is not snapped across the knee of mercy,
but it is sheathed in the scabbard of the Atonement, there to abide in
its majestic rest, never to be brought out again to smite a soul for
whom Christ has died! Oh, the joy of getting hold of a righteousness
perfectly consistent with the goodness and Grace of God!

What is there concerning this righteousness that we are able to sing
about? Just let me enlarge upon it for a minute or two. I count it a
very great joy to every Christian that God is essentially righteous.
What an awful thing it would be to have an unrighteous God! If the
heathen who worshipped Jupiter, for instance, had sat down and
deliberately studied the character of Jupiter, as taught to them by
their own priests, they would have felt it a degrading thing to be
under the rule of such a detestable being as Jove was said to be. A
licentious god–fancy that! An unrighteous god who could do what he
pleased and pleased to do iniquity! What a horror!

God in His infinite sovereignty is to be admired because it is not
possible for Him, in the exercise of His sovereignty, to do anything
that is unrighteous! No creature of His shall ever have just cause to
blame the deeds of the Most High. He does as He wills and He gives no
account of what He does, for He has absolute dominion and none can call
Him to his bar–but His will is holiness, justice and
righteousness–and His Being is love. I delight to think that I serve a
righteous God. An unrighteous God? That were to remove the foundations
upon which all things must rest, for, after all, the Character of God
must be the basis of our confidence. If He were not righteous, what
reliance could we place upon Him? His promises of Grace might be
broken; His Covenant might be a fiction; the Atonement, itself, might
turn out to be a sham and save nobody–unless the contract involved in
it had been made by a righteous God.

He is righteous! Let us be sure of it and sing about it–righteous in
all that He reveals. There is no Revelation of God in the Bible, or
anywhere else, that is unrighteous. A man says, "This is revealed to
me, but it is not consistent with the perfect righteousness of God." We
know that he sees not the Light of God at all and knows not what he
says! There is nothing revealed by God concerning Himself and His
dealings with men but what is perfectly righteous "The Word of the Lord
is pure."

Again, there is nothing commanded by Him but what is perfectly
righteous. He has not commanded sin–He has not in, all those Ten
Commandments put down a single precept which is contrary to integrity.
Everything that He bids us do is safe to do, for it is right and just.
If He is a holy Master, so is His service perfect holiness.

Neither is God unrighteous in His decrees. We cannot climb to Heaven
and turn over those folded leaves, where everything that is, and has
been and is yet to be, will be found written by His prescient pen–but
there is nothing in those decrees which savors of injustice. We may be
sure of that. Nothing could come forth from the heavenly court but that
which is perfectly right and just. And this makes us sing–we feel
right glad that everything can be trusted with our Lord and King. He
shall judge the world in righteousness and the people with His Truth.
Let Him do what He wills and ordain what He pleases–our spirit bows
before Him and cries, "It is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to
Him," for "the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His
works," and blessed be His name forever!

It is the same with God's doings. The Lord has never performed an
unrighteous act. I want you people of God, especially, to feel this, so
that if you have lost anyone very dear to you, you may hold your peace,
like Aaron, even if you cannot go further and bless the Lord in the
midst of your trials. Nothing harsh or unduly severe has come from the
Divine hand. He has not dealt with you according to your desert, for if
He had done so, you would be, now, where His mercy is gone forever!
Beloved, let us feel that this is a settled point, concerning which no
question can be raised. Let us have no quarrels with God! I would not
merely say that He is righteous to you, His dear people, but more, that
He is invariably tender and kind. That surgeon's knife of His does but
remove a cancer. That bitter medicine does but heal you of a disease
that otherwise would be your death. Therefore, accept all that comes
from God and kiss the hand that smites and honor the lips which
upbraid.

And here is matter to sing about. The Lord is righteous in all His
judgments. You may not need this fact at the present, but you may
require it in some darker hour when you lie under a false charge and
your defense is not believed. You have been doing your best in your
situation, but you are accused of dishonesty and you cannot clear
yourself. Perhaps the circumstantial evidence is against you, though
you are as innocent of the deed as the Angels of Light. If you have
faith enough, you may now sing of the righteousness of God. Some of us
have sung of it when everybody has misrepresented us and we have been
sustained thereby. It little matters what men say, for they are not our
judges. To our own Master we stand or fall! The Lord is righteous and
we can afford to leave our case in His hands–He will defend the right
and rectify the wrong. If we have acted with single-eyed honesty and
uprightness, we may appeal to His court and calmly abide in His
decision. He will execute judgment for the oppressed and, therefore,
the children of God sing concerning His righteousness.

But the loudest song and the sweetest is concerning the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. He would not, even to save His own elect, do an
unjust thing! Even that His mercy might be glorified, He would not
stain His justice. Forth came His Son, His other Self, to take upon
Himself the nature of man, that man's guilt might be imputed to Him and
that He might bear the penalty upon the Cross. The Cross is, at once,
the loudest proclamation of Divine righteousness and the most plain
proof of Divine love! The Lord is able to save to the uttermost, but He
is not able to retract His declaration, "The soul that sins, it shall
die." He must punish, even though He must pardon. It is necessary that
the authority

of Law should be sustained and, therefore, the Lord will not withdraw
from the execution of justice upon the ungodly though it is His strange
work and He desires it not. On His Son He has executed justice for all
those who are in Him. The Man, Christ Jesus, was the federal Head of
His own chosen and He has borne their grief and carried their sorrows.
He has finished their transgression and made an end of their sin–and
brought in for them an everlasting righteousness.

And now, at this time, I want you to sing of the Divine righteousness,
because the righteousness of Christ is yours. If you are Believers, you
can joyfully wrap yourselves up in the righteousness of God, Himself!
"This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our
Righteousness." See Jeremiah 33:16. Notice the feminine–it is not,
"wherewith He shall be called," but, "wherewith she shall be called."
The wife takes the husband's name–the Church is named after Christ,
her Bridegroom. It is a wonderful sentence to be in God's Book–that
His Church shall bear His name and Jesus Christ, the Eternal God, shall
become the righteousness of poor sinners like ourselves! He is made of
God unto us, righteousness at this hour. "Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Let us sing in our
hearts concerning that glorious wedding dress which adorns us, at this
very moment, and shall adorn us in the day when we enter into the joy
of our Lord!

"They shall sing of His righteousness." If you do not sing about the
righteousness which God imputes to you, when will you sing?–

"Jesus, Your blood and righteousness My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my
head."

But I must close, and I want, therefore, to say to you, dear Friends,
that I conceive this singing of God's righteousness to be the choicest
evidence of real conversion, reconciliation to God and of likeness so
God. If we were more sanctified, we should be less tempted to quibble
at the righteousness of God. Here is a man who takes down his Bible and
he reads, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." "Can't
stand it," he says. It is because you do not fully know the mind of
God, or else, terrible as it is, you would say, "It must be right if
God determines it." Instead of that, the man assumes to judge God and
dares to weigh the Word of God in his scales and say, "This does not
suit my inner consciousness and, therefore, it is wrong." Is our inner
consciousness infallible? Is Revelation a nose of wax to be shaped by
our inner whimsies? When a man once alters the Word of God a little,
within a year he alters it again!

I have noticed brethren who have began their wanderings from orthodoxy
with the life-in-Christ theory and who have now reached the restitution
of all things, devils included! Why preachers who believe this last
theory keep on preaching, I do not know, for there is no practical
reason why they should! If what they say is untrue, they had better
hold their tongues. And if what they say is true, their occupation is
gone, for clearly, it is only a matter of time and everybody will come
right! Let people swear and live as they like–what difference can it
make if, in a short time, they will all be restored? As well be wicked
as righteous, since, in the long run, one shall be as the other!

I see how it is. God's Word is nothing–these new notions are
everything. The modern men blot out what they like and tear out what
they please from the Book. Or they lay the Book aside altogether–for
they, themselves, make their own bible and every man is his own
inspiration and will, before long, proclaim himself to be his own god.
But when the soul is brought to know God, it does not question His Word
or His doings any longer. It sits down before a great mystery and
cries, "I do not understand this! I cannot measure it. Oh, the depths!
But what God says I believe. What God does I accept."

Brothers and Sisters, let me not deceive you by pandering to the idle
prattle of the times. Men dream and then assert that their visions are
the Truth of God. If there is anything of conjecture and of "larger
hope," so be it. I may conjecture and I may imagine–but for me to
preach my conjectures and my imaginations as doctrines would be
damnable! It is an atrocious disloyalty to the majesty of Revelation to
add to it the maunderings of our poor fallible judgments! The better
thing is always to feel as a little child at his father's knee when we
are reading the Scriptures–and to ask to be taught of the Spirit.
Whatever the Truth of God may be, I shall never quarrel with God!
However terrible His acts, if I am unable to rejoice in the Light of
His face, yet in the shadow of His wings will I rejoice!

When He seems to spread that great wing and hide the sun, I will go and
nestle beneath Him and cry, "It is the Lord, and it must be right."
Paul was known to silence those who had objections to offer concerning
the ways of the Lord–he did not argue, but he simply said–"No but, O
man, who are you that replies against God?" "Bad argument," modern

thinkers dare to say. Yet it is the best that such people deserve and
the best that Inspiration deigns to offer them. The cricket on the
hearth is not to be debated with when it questions the sun for shining,
or the thunders for having a voice louder than its own.

My Brethren, say, each one of you, unto the Lord, "I will sing of Your
righteousness." It is an awful Truth of God! It is a Truth that makes
me tremble as I utter it; but I read in the Revelation, concerning
those that are tormented day and night, that it is, "in the presence of
the holy angels, and in the Presence of the Lamb." Whatever that
torment may be, it must be right. Nothing in the presence of the angels
of God can be contrary to their joy over repenting sinners– nothing in
the Presence of the Lamb can be contrary to His ineffable love! The
Lord shall judge the world by that same Jesus who came into the world
that the world, by Him, might be saved. Love will inflict the sentence
of justice. Nothing with regard to the future of the impenitent can
come from God but that which will be supremely righteous. It is not for
us to explain to others, or even to understand for ourselves, all that
the Lord does or is. But it is our duty, as His subjects, our pleasure
as His children, to bow before Him and adore!

Oh, eternal God, I do not understand You! If I could comprehend You,
You were not God, or I not man! The parts of Your ways which You have
revealed stagger and almost slay me, but, as I fall at Your feet as
dead, my heart cries, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." For
the Lord is good and righteous are all His ways. Hallelujah, though the
world should perish! Hallelujah, though my soul should die with fear!
The Lord shall forever be extolled. My Hearer, when you speak thus from
your heart, you are a converted man! There is no mistake about it–you
are reconciled to God, indeed, when you thus honor Him!

Alas, many are only reconciled to the half of God, or to the 10th part
of God! Indeed, I fear that many have shaped a god for themselves and
are not reconciled to the true God at all! We want a conversion which
shall make us run in parallel lines with the God who has revealed
Himself by His Prophets and Apostles–and by His always-to-be-adored
Son. So may it be with each one of us, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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