A Stanza of Deliverance

A Stanza of Deliverance

(No. 2241)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 31, 1892,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY
31, 1890.

"He brought them forth, also, with silver and gold: and there was not
one feeble person among their tribes." Psalm 105:37.

THIS verse has been making music in my heart for several days and, at
times, it has even claimed utterance from my tongue. I have caught
myself singing a solo, with myself as the only hearer, and this has
been the theme, "He brought them forth, also, with silver and gold: and
there was not one feeble person among their tribes." I love texts which
sing to me and make me join in! If this verse should get into your
hearts and set you singing in a similar way, you will be entertaining a
very pleasant visitor–and it will brighten a dark day for you!

Egypt may very fairly represent those states of sorrow and sadness,
depression and oppression, into which God's people come far too
frequently. Specially is the house of bondage a true picture of our
condition when we are convicted of sin, but are ignorant of the way to
escape from its guilt and power! Then, sin, which was once our Goshen
of pleasure, becomes our iron furnace of fear. Though we yield to sin
when under conviction, yet we are no longer its willing subjects–we
feel that we are slaves and we sigh by reason of sore bondage. Glory be
to God, He has now brought us out from that state of slavery, and we
can sing of freedom given by His own right hand!

Since then we have been permitted, in the order of God's Providence, to
live among evil persons who have had power over us and have used it
maliciously. They have hated our God and, therefore, they have hated
us, and shown their dislike of us in many harsh and exacting ways. We
find no rest with them, but our soul is among lions. They seem as
though they would devour us, or else frighten us from following the
road to Heaven.

Full often has our gracious God delivered His persecuted people from
such a sorrowful condition and brought them into a large room wherein
He has made them happy with Christian fellowship and enabled them to go
about holy work without let or hindrance. At such times, when God's
people have come out from under the yoke of their oppressors, the Lord
has "brought them forth, also, with silver and gold: and there has not
been one feeble person among their tribes."

It is possible to go down into Egypt by reason of our own depression of
spirit, inward conflict and despondency. If you are like the preacher,
you are by no means a stranger to inward sinking. Though you do not
give up your faith, but are, still, like father Jacob, keeping your
hold while the sinew is shrinking, yet you are, "sorely broken in the
place of dragons." You feel that you are like that bush in the desert
which burned with fire and, only through a miracle, was not consumed.
When under temptations of the flesh and memories of old sins, Satan,
himself, comes in with his fiery darts, and you have a hard time of it.
He will insinuate dark and dreadful thoughts–and you will be haunted
by them, day after day–till you feel like the poor Israelites under
the lash of the Egyptian taskmaster. Your covenant with God will bring
you out of that state of anguish and distress–and when He does so, you
will sing–"He brought them forth, also, with silver and gold: and
there was not one feeble person among their tribes."

God forbid we should repeat that senseless and wicked trust in man
which once made us do down into Egypt for help! We will not go there
for pleasure–what have we to do with drinking the waters of the muddy
river? We drink of a better river than the Nile, even of the river of
the Water of Life! But we shall go to the region of weakness and pain
to die. Unless the Lord should suddenly come in His Glory, we shall
close our eyes in death as Jacob and Joseph did. Then when we go into
the tomb, which will be a kind of Egypt for our body, we shall only
tarry there for a season. We shall slumber for a while, each one in his
bed of dust, but the trumpet of the archangel shall awaken us and our
bodies shall rise again! We shall not, however, come from the grave so
poor and feeble as we went in! No, we shall be great gainers by

our sojourn in the dark abode. Those who see the saints in the day of
Resurrection, ascending to their thrones from the Egypt of death, may
fitly say, "He brought them forth, also, with silver and gold: and
there was not one feeble person among their tribes."

I am going to try to handle my very delightful subject in the following
way–First, the deliverances of God's people are always worked by
Divine Power. Lay the stress on the first word–"HE brought them
forth." Secondly, their deliverances are attended with enrichment. "He
brought them forth, also, with silver and gold." And, thirdly, their
deliverances are accompanied by a remarkable degree of strength. "There
was not one feeble person among their tribes." May the Holy Spirit make
rare music for you upon this harp of three strings!

I. First, then, when we are led out of the Egypt of our sorrow, OUR
DELIVERANCE IS BY DIVINE POWER. When Israel came out of Egypt, it was
Jehovah who brought forth her armies. When any man is saved from
spiritual bondage, it is the Lord Jesus who loosens the captive. Some
little time ago I delivered an address at the Mildmay Park Conference
upon, "Following Jesus in the dark," and the Lord was pleased to bless
that word to a great many who were then under a cloud. For this cause,
I greatly rejoice, but from this happy result I have also had to suffer
many things in the following way–it seems as if persons everywhere,
having read that address, must write to me an account of their trouble,
despondency and darkness of the soul.

Having written the doleful narrative, they very naturally ask me
endless questions by way of trying to find light for themselves out of
my experience and knowledge. I have been delighted to answer those
questions as far as I can, but there is a limit to human power. I have
lately been like a doctor who has suddenly had a new practice handed
over to him, when he was already as busy as he could be, both night and
day! He finds his door besieged by patients who cannot be dismissed
with just a word of hope and a dose of medicine, but require a long
time in which to tell their griefs and to receive their comfort.
Spiritually, my night bell is always ringing–and when I visit a sick
soul, it requires long and weary nursing. I know, therefore, from that,
as well as from my own experience, that if ever a man is delivered from
spiritual bondage of heart, it is not by any easy work, or by a hasty
word.

No, all the power of sympathy and experience will fail with some souls.
God, alone, can take away the iron when it enters into the soul! It is
of small use for those afflicted in mind to write to me, or to others,
if their distress is spiritual, for only God can deliver them. If they
are in the dark, we can strike a match as well as anyone else–but
since they need the shining of the Sun–that remains with the Lord who
alone creates the light. Oh, that the Sun of Righteousness would rise
with healing beneath His wings on every soul that now sits in the
midnight of despair! Deliverance from a cruel captivity, like that of
Israel in Egypt, must be worked by the hand and outstretched arm of
Jehovah, alone! When such a liberation is performed, then do we
rapturously sing, "HE brought them forth!"

But this does not exclude the use of means. The Lord used Moses and
Aaron–and Moses used his rod and his tongue. Truly, Jehovah brought
forth Israel, and neither Moses nor Aaron nor the rod in Moses' hand,
but yet the Lord's instruments were employed in the service. If the
Lord delivers you, my dear afflicted Friends, the work will not be done
by the preacher, not by a consoling book, nor by any other means so as
to prevent its being the Lord, alone! The use of instrumentality does
not hide Divine Power, but even makes it more apparent! The man Moses
was not only very meek, but he was also so slow in speech that he
needed Aaron's help–yet the Lord used him! Aaron was even inferior to
Moses, but the Lord used him! As for the rod, it was probably nothing
more than a hazel stick which had been used by Moses in walking and
keeping sheep–but it pleased the Lord to make of that rod a very
remarkable use, so that no scepter of kings was ever so greatly
honored! The Lord took care to employ means which could not pretend to
share the honor with Himself. Notwithstanding Moses, Aaron and the rod,
"HE brought them forth," and HE, alone!

This work of the Lord does not exclude the action of the will. The
people of Israel came forth freely from the country which had become
the house of bondage. "He brought forth His people with joy, and His
chosen with gladness." They set out exultingly, glad to escape from the
intolerable oppression of Pharaoh who was, to them, a tyrant, indeed!
God does not violate the human will when He saves men–they are not
converted against their will, but their will, itself, is converted! The
Lord has a way of entering the heart, not with a crowbar, like a
burglar, but with a master key which He gently inserts in the lock and
the bolt flies back–the door opens and He enters! The Lord brought
Israel forth, but they had cried unto the Lord by reason of their sore
bondage, and they did not receive the blessing without the desiring it,
yes, and sighing for it! And when it came, they joyfully accepted it
and willingly trusted themselves with him whom the Lord

had made to be their mediator and leader, even Moses. They did not
share the honor of their deliverance with God, but still they gave
their hearty assent and consent to His salvation. Willingly as they
were to move, it was still true, "HE brought them forth."

Brothers and Sisters, he must have brought them forth, for they could
never have come forth by themselves. If you have read enough of
Egyptian history to understand the position and power of the reigning
Pharaohs, you will know how impossible it was for a mob of slaves, like
the Israelites, to make headway against the imperious monarch and his
absolute power. If they had clamored and rebelled, the only possible
result would have been to slaughter many–and the still further
enslavement of the rest. There was no hope for the most distinguished
Israelite against the tyranny of the Pharaoh! He could simply cry, "Get
you unto your burdens," and they could do no less. Pharaoh crushed even
his own Egyptians–much more the strangers! You cannot look upon the
pyramids and other vast buildings along the Nile and remember that all
these were built with unpaid labor, with the whip continually at the
workman's back–without feeling that a pastoral, unarmed race, long
held in servitude–could ever have obtained deliverance from the power
of Pharaohs if the Omnipotent Jehovah had not espoused their cause. "HE
brought them forth!"

Beloved, we can never escape from the bondage of sin by our own power.
Our past guilt and the condemnation consequent thereon, have locked us
up in a dungeon, whose bars we can never break! The Prince of Darkness,
also, has such power over our evil natures that we cannot overcome him,
or escape from under his dominion of ourselves. If we are ever set free
from sin and Satan, it will be eternally and infinitely true that the
Lord brought us forth out of the house of bondage. "Salvation is of the
Lord."

Moreover, the spirit of the people was too crushed to have dared to
come forth, even if they could have achieved liberty by a brave revolt.
Four hundred years of slavery had ground the very spirit out of the men
of Israel. They toiled, they toiled, they toiled–and when Moses came
and talked to them about freedom, at first they listened and they
hoped–but in a few hours they began to murmur and to complain of Moses
and to cry–"Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians." That
abject condition was ours before conversion! We were not easily
awakened to seek redemption. I remember hearing the Gospel and getting
a little comfort from it and, almost immediately, falling back into my
former hopelessness. And I said in my soul, "I may as well enjoy the
pleasures of sin while I can, for I am doomed to perish for my
iniquities." The slavery of sin takes away manliness and courage from
the spirit–and where bright hope smiles upon us, we answer her with
the sullen silence of despair!

Was it not so with you, my Brothers and Sisters, in those gloomy days?
Therefore, it must be true, that if the prisoners of sin have some
forth, the Lord, Himself, brought them forth. They had not the spirit
of men who could dare to care about their freedom–they were too
enfeebled by their own servile spirit. There may be some before me, at
this moment, before whom God has set an open door and yet they dare not
go through it. Christ is put before you–you may have Him for your
trusting–you may have Him at once! But you dare not take Him. You are
commanded to believe, but you dare not believe what you know to be
true! You hear us sing the hymn–

"Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now,"

but you dare not trust the Lord Jesus, though this is your only hope of
obtaining salvation! Your sin has left you paralyzed with despair! O
God, bring forth these prisoners, even now! Though they lie in the
inner prison, with their feet fast in the stocks, may it be said on
earth and sung in Heaven, "HE brought them forth!"

Yet the Lord did bring them forth. Not in part, but as a whole, He
redeemed His people. Every one of them was set free! Not only all the
human beings, but all their cattle came forth, according to the Word of
the Lord, "Not a hoof shall be left behind." Christ Jesus, in redeeming
His people, will have all or none! All that the Father gave Him shall
come to Him! Nor shall the power of sin, death and Hell be able to hold
in captivity one whom Jesus has effectually redeemed, nor one whom His
Father chose! All the covenanted ones shall be His in the day when He
makes up His jewels. He has paid too much for them to lose one of them!
In the loss of one of them, too much would be involved–His Word, His
Covenant, His power, His faithfulness, His honor would all suffer
should one of His little ones perish! Therefore, He makes their
deliverance effectual and in every deed He brings them forth.

This deliverance came when the lamb was slain. Pharaoh held Israel
captive during all the plagues, but he could not go beyond a certain
point. On that same night when they saw the lamb slain and roasted with
fire while they sat in their

houses protected by the blood sprinkled upon the lintel and the two
side posts of their doors–that same night they left Egypt! They went
forth under that seal of redemption, the blood-red mark of
substitutionary sacrifice. My dear Hearer, perhaps this very night you
will also go forth into glorious liberty! I know you will, if you will,
by faith, look to Jesus as the Lamb slain for you! Will you now accept
Him as your own and trust Him to be your redemption? Behold, then, the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! Take His precious
blood and let it be sprinkled on your door, yes, and upon yourself,
that the angel of vengeance may pass you by! Can you come and feed on
Christ at once, as the Lamb of God's Passover? Do you say that this
would be a bold and venturesome faith? Yet be so bold and venturesome!
Blessed to the name of the Lord, none were ever rejected who dared to
trust Jesus! We will sing about you and others if you have faith in the
great sacrifice–and this will be our song–"HE brought them forth!"

Israel cannot remain under slavery to Egypt when once the redemption
price has been accepted and the blood has been sprinkled! None know
freedom from sin but those who trust the atoning blood! God forbid that
I should point you to any way of hope but this one path–for without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins!

I have perhaps said enough on this point, but assuredly I have fallen
short unless I have made you know, each one, that deliverance from sin
is solely by the power of God! "It is not of him that wills, nor of him
that runs, but of God that shows mercy." Unless a supernatural power is
put forth in it, any form of deliverance from sin is worth nothing! If
you have been born again from below, you will go below–you must be
born again from above if you are to go above! There is no true liberty
but that of which Christ makes you free. "If the Son shall make you
free, you shall be free, indeed." Do you know what it is, dear Friends,
to be brought out of prison by a miracle of Grace, by a revelation of
the Holy Spirit, by the blood of Jesus shed for many? If so, you will
join with all the saints in singing, "As for His people, HE brought
them forth!"

II. But now we reach a very pleasing part of our theme, We have now to
note that OUR DELIVERANCE WAS ATTENDED WITH ENRICHMENT–"He brought
them forth, also, with silver and gold." "Oh," says one, "I remember
all that about that translation! That is the silver and gold which they
borrowed from the Egyptians with no intent of repaying the loan. I have
always though that was a thievish trick." It was a very unfortunate
mistake of our translators when they rendered the original by the word,
"borrowed," for it is not the correct word. Our Revised Version has it
more accurately, "And the children of Israel did according to the word
of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels
of gold, and raiment: and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight
of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked."

Even if you were forced to read the word, "borrowed," it might mean
nothing amiss, for all borrowing and nonpayment is not thieving. "Oh,"
you say, "that is a new doctrine!" Let me state the case. If I borrow
upon the security of my property and leave the property in the hand of
the lender, he will not complain if the security is worth more than the
loan. These Israelites had lands and houses and other property which
they could not carry with them–and now that their sudden removal
involved a forced sale–they could say to those who lived near them,
"Here is our land, what will you give us for it?" The people took the
immovable property of the Israelites–and they granted them a loan for
it– they were well aware of what they were doing and were not
defrauded. But we have no need to defend Israel. The Great Proprietor
of all things bade them ask and influenced the minds of their neighbors
to give! It was just that these poor people, who had been working
without fee or reward and had, thereby, screened the native Egyptians
from much forced labor.

The people of Egypt were, in part, afraid of them and of their God and
were, also, in measure, sympathetic with them under their cruel
oppression. And so they forced presents upon the Israelites hoping to
get their blessing before they departed, to save them from further
plague which might visit the land. The natives as good as said, "Take
whatever you please from us, for we have treated you badly. Only leave
us alone–for plagues and deaths fall upon us thick and fast so long as
Pharaoh detains you here." However, this is not my point. I am dealing
with more spiritual things. When God brings His people out of bondage,
they come out enriched in the best and most emphatic sense.

This seemed very unlikely. It looks to the afflicted as if they could
not be profited by trials such as theirs. If they can only escape by
the skin of their teeth, they will feel perfectly satisfied. Depressed
spirits cannot lift their thought so high as to think of the gold of
increased joy, or the silver of enlarged knowledge, or the jewels of
holy graces. "I am," said one, "quite prepared to sit down behind the
door in Heaven, or at the feet of the least of the saints, so long as I
may but

get there." In some respects this is a very proper feeling. But this is
not God's way of acting–He did not lead forth His people in a
poverty-stricken way, but, "He brought them forth, also, with silver
and gold." Your Deliverer means to enrich you spiritually when He sets
you free from your sorrow and trouble!

It was very far from being the design of their enemies to enrich
Israel. Pharaoh had intended to work them down to the last ounce of
strength and keep them in abject poverty. In fact, one chief object of
his oppression was to kill down the race, lest they should too greatly
multiply. But the Lord turned the curse into a blessing! "The more they
afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." And the harder they
worked, the healthier they became, so that "there was not one feeble
person among their tribes." This was not according to their enemies'
will, but the will of the Lord is paramount! Even so it is not the
devil's will to drive a man nearer to Christ, but yet his temptations
and assaults are often used of the Lord to make the best and most
experienced Christians. Satan is the dishwasher in God's kitchen and he
has to scour the vessels of mercy. Trials and afflictions, which
threaten to kill us, are made to sanctify us! And sanctification is the
best form of enrichment. How much we owe to sorrow and sickness,
crosses and losses! Our bondage ends in our coming forth with much that
is better than silver and gold!

Thus do we come forth from conviction of sin. "Now tell me," asks one,
"what does man gain by being in a desponding, sorrowful condition,
convicted of sin and full of fears?" By the work of the Holy Spirit he
will gain much. He will obtain a clearer knowledge of the evil of sin.
This is a rare thing, nowadays, when we have so many Believers who were
never penitent. It is a great thing for a child who has a habit of
stealing apples, to get himself well filled with the sourest of them
and feel the gripes strong within him. He will never touch such fruit
anymore! It is a great thing for a man, in his early days, to know what
a sour apple sin is and to feel heartache and soul-anguish because of
the exceeding bitterness of his evil ways. It is a lasting lesson! As
the burnt child dreads the fire and the scalded dog is afraid, even, of
cold water, so the discipline of conscience, through Divine Grace,
breeds a holy caution and even a hatred of sin! We have few Puritans
because we have few penitents. An awful sense of guilt and an
overwhelming conviction of sin may be the foundation stone of a
gloriously holy character!

The tried and tempted man will also see clearly that salvation is all
of Grace. He feels that if he ever rises from his despondency, he can
never dare to take an atom of the honor of deliverance to himself–it
must be of Free Grace only. He can do nothing and he knows it! When a
child of God can spell GRACE and can pronounce it clearly, as with the
true Jerusalem accent, he has gained a great deal of spiritual silver
and gold. I have heard a Brother stutter over that word, "Free Grace,"
till it came out very much like, "free will." As for myself, that
Shibboleth I pronounce without faltering, for my free will is that
which I daily try to master and I bring it into complete subjection to
the will of God–to Free Grace I owe everything! Blessed is that man,
who, by his experience, has been made to know that Free Grace is the
source of every blessing and privilege–and that salvation is all of
Grace from first to last! By a knowledge of the great Gospel principle
of Grace, men are brought forth, also, with silver and gold.

Such persons gain by their soul trouble a fund of healthy experience.
They have been in prison and have had their feet made fast in the
stocks. "Well," says one, "I do not want to feel that sort of
treatment." No, but suppose you had felt it–the next time you met with
a Brother who was locked up in the castle of the Giant Despair, you
would know how to sympathize with him and help him. You who never felt
a finger ache cannot show much sympathy with broken bones! I take it to
be a great gain to a man to be able to exhibit sympathy towards
sufferers of all kinds, especially towards spiritual suffers. If you
can enter into the condition of a bondsman because you have, yourself,
been a bondsman in Egypt and God has brought you out, then you will be
qualified to comfort those who mourn.

Thus, you see, in various ways, the Lord's people are enriched by the
sorrows from which they are delivered by God. "HE brought them forth,
also, with silver and gold." Persons who come to Christ suddenly and
find peace immediately, have much to be grateful for–and they may be
helpful to others of a similar character. But those who suffer long
law-work and have deep searching of the heart before they can enter
into rest, have equal reasons for thankfulness, since they obtain a
fitness for dealing with special cases of distressed consciences. Where
this is the result of severe trial, we may well say that the Lord has
brought them forth with silver and gold.

Thus do saints come out of persecution. The Church is refined by the
fires of martyrdom. The heap on the Lord's threshing floor is more
largely made up of real wheat after the winnowing fan has been used
upon it. Individual piety is also deeper, stronger and nobler in
persecuting times than in other seasons. Eminent saints have usually
been produced

where the environment was opposed to the Truth of God and godliness. To
this day the bride of Christ has for her fairest jewels the rubies of
martyrdom. Out of each period of fierce persecution the Lord has
brought forth His people the better for the fires. "HE brought them
forth, also, with silver and gold."

Thus do Believers come out of daily afflictions. They become wealthier
in Grace and richer in experience. Have you noticed how real those men
are who have known sharp trials? If you want an idle evening of
chit-chat, go and talk to the gentleman with a regular income, constant
good health and admiring friends–he will amuse your leisure hour. But
if you are sad and sorrowful and need conversation that will bless you,
steer clear of that man's door! Look into the faces of the frivolous
and turn away as a thirsty man from an empty cistern. He that has never
had his own cheeks wet with tears cannot wipe my tears away! Where will
you go in the day of trouble? Why, to that good old man whose sober
experience has not robbed him of cheerfulness, though it has killed his
sinful folly! He has been poor and he knows the inconvenience of
straightened means. He has been ill and can bear with the infirmities
of the sick. He has buried his dearest ones and has compassion for the
bereaved. When he begins to talk, the tone of his voice is that of a
sympathetic friend. His lips drop fatness of comfort. What a gain is
his spiritual acquaintance!

A man of God, whose life has been full of mental exercises and
spiritual conflict, as well as outward tribulation, becomes, through
Divine Grace, a man of a large wealth of knowledge, prudence, faith,
foresight, wisdom and he is, to the inexperienced, like some great
proprietor by whom multitudes of the poorer classes are fed, guided,
housed and set to work. Those who have been much tried are in the
peerage of the Church! A man who has been in the furnace and has come
out of it is a marked man. I think I should know Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, even now, if I were to meet them! Though the smell of the
fire had not passed upon them, I feel sure that it left a glow upon
their countenances and a glory upon their persons which we find no
where else! They are, henceforth, called, "the three holy
children"–they were holy before, but now men acknowledge it! Do you
not think that they were great gainers by the furnace? And is it not
true of all the godly whose lives have been made memorable by special
tribulation–"HE brought them forth, also, with silver and gold"?

When you and I reach the shores of Heaven, thus shall we come into
Glory. When we come forth out of our graves, it will not be with loss,
but with enrichment. We shall leave corruption and the worm behind us
and, with them, all that earthly grossness which made us groan in these
mortal bodies! God will bring us forth, also, with silver and gold.
What golden songs we will sing! What silver notes of gratitude will we
pour forth! What jewels of communion with one another and of communion
with our Lord will adorn our raiment! If we, too, have been men of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, how much more fully shall we enter
into the joy of our Lord because we entered into His sorrow! We also
have suffered for sin and have done battle for God and for His Truth
against the enemy. We, also, have borne reproach and become aliens to
our mother's children. We, too, have been bruised in the heel and yet,
in death, have conquered death, even as He did–only by His Grace.
Hence the joy of fellowship with Him through eternity! What news we
shall have to tell to angels and principalities, and powers! The gems
of our grateful history will be our trials and deliverances. Coming up
from death to eternal life, this will be the sum of it, "HE brought
them forth, also, with silver and gold."

Dear Friends, I am anxious to pass on to the third point, for time is
flying fast, but I cannot neglect the application of what I have said.
I beg those of you who are sad and despondent to notice the Truths of
God I have advanced. I want you to believe that your present affliction
is for your enrichment! You will come out of this Egypt with much
profit of Grace. "Let me out," cries one, "only let me out!" I pray
you, be not impatient. Why rush out naked, when a little patience will
be repaid with silver and gold? If I were laboring in Egypt and I heard
that it was time for me to start for the land of Canaan, I should be
eager to be gone at once. But if I found that I must be hindered for an
hour or two, I should certainly utilize the delay by disposing of my
lands and endeavoring to get together treasures which I could carry
with me! The delay would not be lost time. Therefore, beloved Friend,
if you cannot at once obtain comfort, make good use of your affliction!
Be always more earnest to profit by your trials than to escape from
them! Be more earnest after the heavenly silver and gold than about
hurrying away from the scene of conflict and temptation.

III. Thirdly, here is a very wonderful thing. OUR DELIVERANCE IS
ACCOMPANIED WITH HEALTH AND

STRENGTH–"There was not one feeble person among their tribes." In the
thousands of Israel there was not one person who could not march out of
the land keeping rank as an efficient soldier! Everyone was fit for the
journey through the wilderness. They numbered hard upon two millions,
if not more, and it is a very surprising fact that there should not

have been one feeble person among their tribes! Mark the word, not only
no one sick, but no one, "feeble"–none with the rheumatism or other
pains which enfeeble walking, or palsies which prevent bearing burdens!
This was nothing less than a sanitary miracle, the like of which was
never know in the natural order of things!

This fact is typical of the health and strength of the newly saved. The
Lord's people, at conversion, are, as a rule, wonderfully strong in
their love to Jesus and their hatred of sin. In most cases our young
converts, when they have truly come to Christ, even if they are a
little timid, are vigorous, much in prayer, abounding in zeal and
earnest in speaking out the Gospel! Many of them, I believe, would die
at the stake readily enough, while they are in their first love. In
their earliest days, nothing is too hot or too heavy for them, for the
sake of Jesus Christ, their Lord! If I need a bit of work to be done
which requires dash and self-sacrifice, give me a set of Israelites who
have just come out of Egypt, for there is not one feeble person among
their tribes!

After they have gone some distance into the wilderness, they are apt to
forget the right hand of the Lord and to get to fretting and worrying.
Very soon many of them are sick through being bitten by fiery serpents,
or smitten with the plague. They begin grumbling and complaining and
run into all sorts of mischief in a short time. But when they first
came out, they were so excellent that even the Lord said, "I remember
you, the love of your espousals." I have known some of you, after you
have been members of the Church for a few months, greatly need a nice
cushion to sit upon and the cozy corner of the pew–whereas once you
could stand in the aisle and not know that you were standing! You have
grown wonderfully particular about the singing, the tunes and the
length of the prayer–and the preacher's attitude– and especially the
respect paid to your own dear self! Only very choice service suits
you–it would almost insult you if you were put to common work! You
were not like that when you were first converted.

Do you remember how the crowd pressed upon you and yet you were so
absorbed in listening to the preacher's voice that you never minded it?
What walks you took, then, to reach the service! I notice, my Friend,
that when your grace grew short, the miles grew long. When you first
joined the Church, I said to you, "I fear you live too far off to
attend regularly." But you took me up very quickly and said, "Oh, that
is nothing, Sir! If I can only get spiritual food, distance is no
object." When you get cold in hearts, you find it inconvenient to come
so far and you go to a fashionable place of worship where your musical
tastes can be gratified. Yes, when Divine Grace declines, fancy rules
the mind and love of ease controls the body–and the soul loses
appetite and grows greedy for empty phrases–and weary of the Word of
God. May the Lord grant you Grace to be among those of whom it is said,
"There was not one feeble person among their

tribes."

Full often it is so with the persecuted. I do not wish that any of you
should experience persecution, but I am persuaded it would do some of
you good to have a touch of it. A man who has fulfilled an
apprenticeship to this hard master is likely to be a man, indeed. If he
has endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he will be fit
to become an officer in the army and an instructor of recruits! If I
could, by the lifting of my finger, screen every Believer from
persecution at home and in the workshop, I would long hesitate before I
did it, since I am persuaded that the Church is never more pure, more
holy, more prayerful, or more powerful than when the world is raging
against her! The dogs keep the wolves out! The hypocrite declines to
enter the Church where he will gain nothing by reproach, or worse. When
there were stakes at Smithfield, Protestantism meant heroism! When the
Lord's covenanting people were meeting among the hills and mosses of
Scotland, there were no "moderates" or "modern-thought" men among them!
They knew and loved the Truth of God for which they fought and that
Truth of God made them strong!

It could be a glorious day if it were so with all God's people, that
there were none feeble. We should, as a Church, labor to reach this
high standard. We would have the weakest to be as David and David as
the Angel of the Lord! We would have our babes become young men and our
young men, fathers in Christ! Do we reach this standard at the
Tabernacle? Alas, we do not by a very long way! There are numbers of
very feeble persons among our tribes. I will not say a word against
them, dear Hearts! For I trust they are sincere, though feeble. How
greatly I wish that they were more concerned about their own
feebleness, for it is a real loss to the cause we have at heart! The
feeble hinder the strong. We need all the strength of the host for
storming the enemies' ramparts, whereas some of us have to stay behind
and nurse the infirm. We should not mind this so much, only these are
the same poor creatures that were nursed 20 years ago–and they have
not made any advance! May the Lord strengthen us all till we shall all
be made fit for the service of Jesus!

Oh, when we meet in the Home Country, when we once get to Glory, what a
delight it will be that there will be no sin or weakness there! When
the Lord has once brought us forth from the world and all its troubles,
then all sinful weakness shall be unknown! We shall all be raised in
power and shall be as angels of God! Are you going there, dear Friends?
"Yes," says one, "I hope that I am going there, but I am a feeble
person." Thank God that you are on the right road, even if you limp! It
is better to enter into life crippled, maimed and feeble, than to run
and leap in the way of death! If I can give a lift to anyone who is
feeble, I am sure I will. At the same time, I would urge you to cry to
the Lord to make you strong–and bid you trust in Christ for the power
which He, alone, can give, of faith to overcome doubts and fears.

If any of you have not believed unto eternal life, put your trust in
the Lord Jesus now. They serve a good Master who trust only in Jesus
and take up their cross and follow Him. In Him is life for the
perishing, joy for the sorrowing, rest for the weary and liberty for
the captives! Are you shut up, like a prisoner in a castle? Do but
trust in Jesus and He will batter the dungeon door and bring you out!
Yes, and He will not give you a penniless liberty, a liberty to perish
of need! No, it shall be said of you, and of others like you, "HE
brought them forth, also, with silver and gold." Amen, so be it! So be
it, even at this moment, good Lord!

Port/on of Scripture Read before Sermon–Psalm 105.