Homage Offered to the Great King

Homage Offered to the Great King

(No. 3100)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1908.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK.

"And He shall live, and to Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba;
prayer also shall be made for Him continually; and daily shall He be
praised." Psalm 72:15.

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same verse is #717, Volume
12–PRAY FOR JESUS]

I BELIEVE we must refer the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy to
the times of the latter-day Glory when Jesus Christ shall again appear
upon the earth. Then "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from
the river unto the ends of the earth." Then "they that dwell in the
wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the dust."
It has been a great question as to whether Jesus Christ is to come
again in Person or by His Spirit. Many passages of Scripture seem to
point to His actual and Personal coming and, somehow or other, it does
delight my soul to anticipate that Christ may yet come to the scene of
His former battles and make it the scene of His future triumphs. I am
rejoiced to think that His head, once crowned with thorns on earth, may
on earth itself wear a crown of Glory and that His feet that were once
wearied in His pilgrimage here with the flinty stones of Jerusalem may
yet "stand on the Mount of Olives," while He ushers in "the day of the
Lord in the valley of decision." And that His shoulders which once wore
the purple robe in mockery may yet be visibly clothed with the royal
attire of universal empire when "the Lord shall be King over all the
earth."

I am somewhat confirmed in this conviction by the words of the text,
"And He shall live." It does strike me that such a prophecy as that
would not be necessary concerning Jesus Christ, either as God or Man,
if it were not that He is again to visit the earth. It is quite certain
that, as God, "He shall live," for God over all, blessed forever, only
has in Himself immortality and it is quite impossible that the Godhead
should ever expire while, as Man, Jesus Christ must live, for when the
just are raised, they die no more, but have life eternal–and when they
ascend up into Heaven, as Jesus has done, they have a life that God
confers upon them which becomes as immortal as the very life of Deity
itself! So that it does appear to me that neither in respect to His
Manhood or His Godhead, would it have been necessary to say, "He shall
live," unless we are to understand it in the same sense that we should
read it if it was written of His first coming–He shall live as the
God-Man. He shall live on earth as other men do. He shall live here
below. And I do think that no exegesis can fully explain the passage
unless we interpret it as to His actually living, residing here as very
Man upon the earth once more.

Be that as it may, the text, we trust, has a fulfillment in your ears
this night and has been, in a certain manner, fulfilled ever since the
time when it was written, "to Him," to Christ Jesus, there is "given of
the gold of Sheba." To Him prayer is also made and to Him praise
continually ascends. Here are three things which are, throughout all
time, even till the dawning of eternity, always to be bestowed on
Christ! The first is the gift of property–the gold of Sheba. The
second is the gift of prayer and the third is the gift of praise.

I. To commence with the first, I shall be allowed here to make some
remarks with reference to THE PECUNIARY MATTERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
because no man on earth will ever suspect me of making any personal
allusion either to my own Church or congregation, or with regard to
myself or any institution connected with this place of worship. In
nothing have I to find fault with my Church and people! Let it go forth
to Christendom at large that in their collections and contributions to
the cause of God, they stand second to no Church beneath the blue sky.
I have simply to tell them that such-and-such a thing is needed for
sacred purposes–and forth comes their money. It is always

bestowed at the time it is required and, therefore, it cannot be
suspected that in anything I say, there is the least allusion to them,
except it be to their honor.

It is written that "to Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba." I
think that this ought continually to be impressed upon the minds of all
Christians. Since Jesus Christ is the Son of God and their Savior, and
has given Himself for them, they are not their own, but are bought with
a price. Their possessions as well as themselves are the absolute
property of their Redeemer! They have, in fact, nothing whatever in
their own private right. They have made over themselves to the Lord
Jesus, to have and to hold them through life and even till death and
forever and ever. They are not to call their own their purse, their
lands, their houses, nor anything that they have–but to give up
everything to their Lord. From the moment when He Himself comes to them
and unfolds their interest in His Covenant, they are henceforth to
consider themselves as His servants, as His children, "having nothing,
yet possessing all things," because they have all things in Christ.

Were this well considered, my Friends, how much greater liberality
should we find among Christians, especially in the support of Gospel
ministers? When God sends an ambassador into the world, wherever He
sends him, the people are bound to receive him in some kind of honor
and respect. Jehovah Himself has said that the mouth of the ox that
treads out the corn is by no means to be muzzled. But it is the
disgrace of our denomination, as well as of many others, that not a few
of the best of God's servants are toiling weekday after weekday and
Sabbath after Sabbath upon a miserable pittance scarcely sufficient to
maintain the family of a day-laborer! I thought, the other day, when
reading Martin Luther's "Table Talk," that it was rather too bad for
him to say what he did, but since then I have myself felt similar
indignation when I have thought upon this subject. He said, "If I were
God, and the world were to behave so wickedly to me as it does to Him,
I would kick it all to atoms." I thought it was a dreadful thing to
say, but I have myself been almost inclined to say that had I been the
everlasting God and sent ambassadors down from Heaven, and had they
been treated as they are now, I would have called every one of them
back straightway and would have said, "Is that the way you despise My
sent servants? Will you show them no honor? Will you do them despite as
you have always done?" Yes, I thought, I would call them back, revoke
their charters and say, "Henceforth I will send no more ambassadors."
But, Beloved, ambassadors are not thus received by you and they ought
not to be anywhere! God's servants should have what they require and it
should always be said, "Christ lives, and to Him in the person of His
ministers–is always given of the gold of Sheba."

It is a terrible thought to me that although God's Word says, "Owe no
man anything," yet that the Church should be more in debt than any
corporation in England! I do not think that the debts of all the people
put together would equal the debts of professing Christians–debts
which they have entered into often on account of religion. I would
stand fast by the practice of owing no man anything and if I did not
see the means of doing anything for my God, I would stop till I did.
"Owe no man anything," is a Christian principle, and one that we are
bound most decidedly and continually to observe. Therefore should the
Churches be in debt? Why should there not be money to send forth
missionaries abroad? It is just this–there is not enough of the love
of Christ in the Church and there is not enough of preaching Christ–
otherwise there would be more of Christian giving! Where Christ is
exalted, there will be a willing, generous people.

I do not believe it is so much the fault of Christians that they have
not given more to the cause of God, as it has been the fault of
ministers that they have not more fully preached Jesus Christ. They
have not extolled His name. They have kept back His Doctrines and put
them in the background. This is why God has allowed His Church to
become poor and suffered her funds to dwindle down. And it serves her
right, for if she does not love her Husband, she ought to be poor! And
if she does not extol Jesus, there ought to be no funds! But can you
find a Christ-exalting people, among whom the Gospel is preached in all
its fullness, whose necessities God does not supply? There may indeed
be some cases where it is so, when God tries them for their good. But I
believe, as a rule, that once let our pulpits have the clear Gospel
sound in them. Once let the good old Doctrines of the Puritans come
forth. Once let the Gospel be preached in all its fullness– none of
your shams, for we have abundance of them–but the blessed Gospel of
Christ! Once let this fidelity prevail and God will provide the funds,
God will open the hearts of the people to pour the money into your
coffers. The silver and the gold are His and the cattle on a thousand
hills–and it is the fault of the Church herself that she has become
poor! When God restores to her the language of Canaan. When Christ is
exalted in His people's hearts and they can hear the sweet and savory
notes of Jesus Christ preached, then they will say, "Can we refuse to
do anything for such a Gospel as

this?" Half-hearted preachers beget half-hearted professors! A lukewarm
Gospel has made people's hearts lukewarm! We must have a reform–a
lasting reform by the help of God's Spirit–otherwise, who knows
whereunto this bankruptcy of Christendom shall tend? And who can tell
what shall eventually become of the Church? Once let Jesus be preached
thoroughly, here, there and everywhere, and then "to Him shall be given
of the gold of Sheba," and as much as ever His Church shall need shall
be continually offered as a willing tribute!

Thus much, then, about money have I felt constrained to say, for I do
believe that many of my Brothers are half ashamed to speak out about
the temporal claims of religion. For myself, I always deem it one of
the noblest things we can do to give to the cause of God. Everyone
knows what value we attach even to some little flower given by the hand
of a friend, and God loves the little gifts of His people. As one of
our old divines says, "It is not the value of the gift so much as the
intention of the giver that is prized. For we should keep an old
cracked sixpence if given to us by a friend–not because we think much
of the sixpence–that, perhaps, we would scarcely have stooped to pick
up–but because a friend has given it to us and for his sake we never
spend it or give it away." So the little that we give to God is of
great esteem in His sight. Every little gift we give to Him is
remembered and at last He will take us and say, "My child, on
such-and-such a day you gave Me this." "Why, Lord, I scarcely thought
of it! I found such a cause requiring help, and I assisted it." "Ah, My
child! Here is your gift–I have stored it up here to show to you when
you came to Me. Have I forgotten your little acts of affection? No, I
have stored them up in the cabinet of My memory–they are tokens of
your love to Me, even as you have had numberless tokens of My love to
you." But what few memorials of your love some of you will have to look
upon when you get there! You only give a trifle now and then–that is
all. God grant that you may have the heart to give unto Jesus "of the
gold of Sheba" in far greater abundance!

II. Then comes the second offering. The gold first, and THE PRAYER
afterwards–not because the gold is the more valuable, but because, in
some respects, gold, when it is given with a true heart, is the better
test.

"Prayer also shall be made for Him continually." Notice those words
again, "Prayer also shall be made for Him." Now we all know that prayer
is continually made unto Jesus Christ. We are accustomed to address the
Second Person of the Trinity as God in the form of prayer and, more
frequently, prayer is made through Him when we address the First Person
of the united Godhead through the mediation of the Son. But the
Psalmist says, "Prayer also shall be made for Him." We can understand
how Jesus Christ should pray for us but, at first, it does seem to
stagger us that we should be allowed to pray forHim. That He should be
our Intercessor, that He should bend His knees on our behalf and point
to our names engraved on His breastplate is a Truth of God so
frequently mentioned in Scripture that we receive it unhesitatingly.
But for us to become intercessors forChrist, to bind the breastplate on
our breast, to wave the censer on His behalf, to plead for Him, pray
for Him and beg for Him–this does somewhat astonish us! And yet our
surprise is due rather to the expression than the fact, for it is a
thing we are doing every day. Prayer is made for Christ continually.

Let me tell you that you virtually pray for Christ, Beloved, whenever
you pray for one of His people. Will you understand me if I say that
Jesus Christ has gone through a great many editions? Every one of the
Lord's people is but another copy of their blessed Master. They are, as
it were, particles of Christ beaten out into humanity again–pieces of
that mighty wedge of gold beaten out into plate afterwards. They are
partakers of Christ's Nature, they are part of His fullness. And
whenever we do a kindness to one of them, we do it unto Him. Whenever
we pray for one of His servants, we pray for Christ! You prayed for
that poor miserable looking penitent who was afraid to call himself a
Christian, though he was so in deed and in truth. Do you know that you
then prayed for Christ? You interceded for that simple-minded woman who
did not know the way to Heaven and who asked you to put up a prayer to
God that she might be taught. Do you know that you then prayed for
Christ, for she was part of His flesh and blood and was afterwards
brought into His family. Do you know that whenever you put up a
petition, even for the weakest and most despised of His little ones,
you are praying for Him? What a physician does to the remotest member
of my body, is done to the entire frame. Whatever is done to any part
of my flesh is done to myself. And when we pray for Christ's people,
the members of His body, we are really praying for Christ.

We pray for Christ, also, when we pray for the spread of the Gospel and
for the increase of His Kingdom. When we implore of God, at our
Missionary Prayer Meetings, that all His mighty promises may be
fulfilled–that the people may fall under Him as willing captives–that
the idols may be hurled from their thrones–that the Mother of harlots
and abominations may receive her sudden doom and the merchandise of her
seven-hilled city cease forever–that

Mohammedanism and all false superstitions may be overturned–when we
pray in the simple words which our Savior taught us, "Your Kingdom
come. Your will be done, in earth, as it is in Heaven"–then we are
praying for Christ in full sympathy with all saints, by whom prayer is
made for Him continually! And, best of all, when we bend our knees and
cry out for His Second Coming–when we beg of Him to cleave the skies
and come to Judgment–or when, with other and more literal
expectations, we ask Him to come and reign upon the earth and make His
people kings and princes unto Him–when we ask the Ancient of Days to
come and reign gloriously on earth with His ancients, then we are
praying for Christ!

We ought to do so. Recollect, O Christian, in your prayers, whatever
you forget, always to pray for your Redeemer! It is your privilege to
have your name written in the list of those for whom He pleads and it
is your honor to be allowed to plead for Him. Stop a moment–a worm
pleading for God? The finite asking a blessing on the head of the
Infinite? Less than nothing begging that the Eternal All may be
blessed? Oh, were it not told you in Scripture, it would be blasphemy
to attempt it! You may pray to Him with the most dread and solemn
awe–and you may prostrate yourself at His feet. But to pray for Him,
to beg on His behalf, how amazing this seems! For Jesus to take your
petition to His Father gives a glory and a dignity to your very poorest
prayer–but for you to turn petitioner to the King of kings on behalf
of His own Son–do you not admire the condescension that permits that?
I think I see you coming, poor, weak, helpless one, and God says, "For
whom do you plead?" You say, "I plead for Jesus." "What? You, a poor
beggar? What? You, full of sin, littleness, nothingness–do you plead
for My eternal Son? Are you making supplication for Him?" Do you not,
yourself, think it amazing that you should be allowed to ask for a
blessing on His head? Yes, then never slight this privilege! Never
forget it–with your prayer, continually mingle His name.

III. Now comes the last point and here we must be somewhat longer, for
we shall have, we hope, more thoughts– "Daily shall He be PRAISED."
Jesus is not only continually to have gold and prayer, but He is to
have daily praise ascribed to Him. Let me go over the list of things
which prove that Jesus Christ shall daily be praised.

First, I think, Jesus daily shall be praised as long as there is a
Christian ministry. There have been professed ministers who have never
exalted Christ at all. There have been some who took upon themselves
the office for a morsel of bread, not being called by God–but has
there ever been a time when there have not been faithful men of God?
Has there ever been a season when God has not sent His Prophets
throughout the land to speak in living words, from burning hearts and
fervid souls, the very Word of God? No and there never shall be! If God
should now put out those lights that shine in London or elsewhere–if
He were now to say to the Churches, "Your candlesticks shall be removed
out of their places, I will take those ministers away," by tomorrow He
would send others! And if the enemy should come and cut off the heads
of all those who now speak God's Word, would that be able to stop the
perpetual thunders of the Gospel? No, for God would tomorrow find men
who should rise up and even in the palaces of kings should yet dare to
speak the name of God!

Men have thought they could put down the Gospel. They have used the
rack and brought forth the stake, but what have they accomplished? They
have but spread it more! All they have ever done to stop that mighty
stream and bank it up has failed. It has retarded it a little while
till, with overwhelming might, the stream has swept away the rock,
dashed down the hillside and carried everything before it! They have
attempted to amalgamate the Gospel with free will, carnal reason,
natural philosophy and such-like doctrines of men, which would, if it
were possible, frustrate the counsels of God. They have spoken ill of
the Gospel, they have given hard names to those who preach it–but have
they been able to stop it, or shall they? No, never, while there is a
God, He shall have His Calvins and His Luthers! He shall have His Gills
and His Scotts, He shall have His devoted servants who are not ashamed
or afraid of the Gospel of Christ! There never shall come a day when
the Church shall be bereft of mighty champions for the Truth, who shun
not to declare the whole counsel of God, but continually, to the latest
period of time, men shall be raised up to preach Free Grace in all its
Sovereignty, in all its Omnipotence, in all its perseverance, in all
its Immutability! Until the sun grows dim with age and the comets cease
their mighty revolutions–till all nature does quake and totter with
old age and, palsied with disease, does die away–the voice of the
ministry must and shall be heard, "and daily shall He be praised."

Men cannot put out the light of Christianity! The pulpit is still the
Thermopylae of Christendom and if there were but two godly ministers,
they would stand in the pass and repulse a thousand, yes, ten thousand!
All the hosts of mankind shall never vanquish the feeble band of
Christ's followers, while He sends forth His ministers. On this we rely
as a sure

word of prophecy, "Your teachers shall not be removed into a corner
anymore." And we believe that, by this ministry, Christ shall be
praised daily!

But suppose the pulpit were to fail? We still have other means whereby
Jesus Christ's name would still be praised. The ordinances that He has
instituted will always continue to perpetuate His praise. There are two
Scriptural ordinances, in both of which Jesus Christ is very much
praised. There is, first, that holy ordinance of Believers' Baptism in
which Jesus Christ is much honored, for it has a special relation to
Him. "Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life." When you descend into the pool at Baptism, you hear these sacred
words pronounced, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit." And you are especially reminded there that
unless you have believed in Jesus with all your heart, you have no
right to this sacred avowal of fellowship with Christ, but are sinning
against God in so doing. The Scriptures have taught us that whoever
dares to administer that ordinance to any but those who believe with
their heart and profess with their mouth, dares to touch with
sacrilegious hands, God's own institution, and is guilty of breaking
down the hedges of the Church and throwing open to the world that which
was never intended but for the Lord's own family! We solemnly admonish
you to have an eye to Jesus Christ in that blessed ordinance! We bid
you, before you come, to examine yourselves whether you are in the
faith. And when you are there, we remind you that afterwards you are
bound to live unto Christ–you have now passed the Rubicon of life–you
have now come on the other side of the flood that divides the world
from the Church! You have now, as it were, taken the veil and renounced
the world–you are dead with Christ, you have been buried with Him by
Baptism into death. By that very ordinance you honor the name of the
Savior–and while that ordinance lasts, Jesus Christ shall be praised!

Nor less at the blessed Supper of the Lord shall the name of Jesus be
praised. I think the moments we are nearest to Heaven are those we
spend at the Lord's Table. I have sometimes looked at your faces, my
Brothers and Sisters, at the Lord's Table, and if anyone wanted to see
men's faces when they looked as if angels themselves were smiling in
their eyes, such have your faces been when I have broken the bread and
the wine has been passed to you! When those morsels have been in our
lips, simple as the sign was–and when we have drunk the wine, simple
and unceremonious as the whole affair was–what a sweet and holy
influence it has had upon our hearts and how we did feel that we could
praise God! I have thought, sometimes, that I could almost have leaped
from the Table and have said, "Oh, let us praise the glorious
Redeemer!" When we have seen Him on the Cross and beheld Him as our
Substitute, we have felt our hearts were burning hot, that they could
scarcely be held within our bodies and we wanted all to rise up and
sing–

"All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall– Bring
forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of All!" Even if the pulpit
is gone, there still remain these two ordinances in each of which Jesus
Christ "shall be praised."

But suppose that these were to cease? Suppose it possible that we could
not meet together in our public assemblies to celebrate these sweet
memorials, or to hear the Word of God? Yet there is another opportunity
for praising God–there is the family of Christians–and while there is
a family on earth where Christ's name is named, it shall be daily
praised. I trust there is no Christian here who has a house without a
family altar. If I came into your house and heard that you had no
fireplace in the winter time, I would certainly advise you to build
one. And if I heard that any of you had not a family altar, I would
say, "Go home and lay the first brick tonight–it will be a good thing
if you do so, I am sure." We had some beautiful instances, last night,
at our Church Meeting, of young persons who, even though their parents
were not godly, boldly started family prayer in the house. And we
heard, in many cases, that the parents felt that they had no objection,
and never wished to have it stopped! After they have once had the
incense smoking in their house, they do not want to have it put out. My
Brothers and Sisters, I cannot make out how you Christians live who
have not family prayer in your houses! When I step into a Christian's
house in the morning and we have a passage of Scripture, and a little
prayer to God, it seems to put the heart and mouth into play for the
whole day–there is nothing like it! And when we sit and talk of what
Jesus said and did, and suffered for us here below, as old Dyer says,
it is like locking the heart up by

prayer in the morning and bolting the devil out! We cannot get on half
as well when we have not had that prayer in the morning.

And then, how do you get through at night? I do not understand at all
how you professing Christians can get through the day without prayer
and have no family prayer at night. I would feel like the good man who
stopped at an inn and when he heard there was no family prayer, said,
"Get my horses out! I can't stay in a house where there is no family
prayer!" It does seem to me terrible that you should go on without
prayer, that there should be no morning and evening sacrifice. I cannot
make out how you live without it. I could not. I cannot understand how
your piety gets on, nor what it feeds upon. I think wherever there is a
Christian family, there should be daily praise in it. And mark this and
solemnly hear me tonight–I do not speak unadvisedly with my lips–you
will find that where sons and daughters have turned out a curse to
their parents, when they have been a shame and disgrace to their
parents and those parents have been Christians, it might have been set
down to this–that while the parents have been Christians, they were
not Christians at home! They had not family prayer, they never reared a
family altar. I believe nine out of ten of such cases can be explained
in that way without in the least touching the text, "Train up a child
in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from
it."

Well, supposing we had no family prayer. Suppose we had no ordinances
in the house and the altar did not smoke there? Yet daily should Jesus
Christ be praised, for still there would be our own hearts and we could
praise Christ there. If they put us in prison and we could not speak to
one another, we could still praise Him! Or if our tongues were dumb,
there is a language of the heart which can be heard in Heaven. With
stammering words, or with actions which speak louder than words, our
hearts shall always praise Him! Beloved Brothers and Sisters, do you
think you will ever have done praising Christ as long as you are alive?
I knew a woman who said to me, "Sir, if Jesus Christ does save me, He
shall never hear the last of it." I thought it was a good saying. And
shall He ever hear the last of it from you, Beloved? The last of it?
Never! When we lie dying, the last word we give Him on earth shall be
praise–and the first word we begin in Heaven shall be instinct with
praise. And while eternity lasts and immortality endures, we will
ascribe praise, honor and blessing to Him forever! Can we who are
pardoned rebels, liberated slaves–can we whose souls are quickened
from the dead by His Spirit, whose sins are washed away by His precious
blood–can we ever cease to praise Him? No! Surely the very stones
would speak if our lips were silent, or our hearts refused to pay Him
grateful homage! Daily, daily, daily, "Daily shall He be praised."–

"I'll praise Him while He lends me breath, And when my voice is lost in
death, Praise shall employ my noblerpowers! My days of praise shall
never be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality
endures."

But, then, supposing the innumerable company of His redeemed could
perish and their immortality were swallowed up in death, yet even then,
Christ would be praised daily! If all of us had departed from the
boundless sphere of being, look up yonder and see the mighty cohorts of
cherubs and seraphs. Let men be gone and they shall praise Him! Let the
troops of the glorified cease their notes and let no sweet melodies
ever come from the lips of sainted men and women–yet the chariots of
God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, who always chant His
praise! There is an orchestra on high, the music of which shall never
cease, even were mortals extinct and all the human race swept from
existence–

"Immortal angels, bright and fair,

In countless armies shine!

At His right hand, with golden harps,

They offer songs Divine!"

Again, if angels were departed, still daily would He be praised, for
are there not worlds on worlds, and systems on systems that could
forever sing His praise?Yes! The ocean–that place of storms–would
beat to His Glory! The winds would swell the notes of His praise with
their ceaseless gales! The thunders would roll like drums in the march
of the God of armies! The illimitable void of ether would become vocal
with song and space itself would burst forth into one universal chorus,
"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent
reigns!" And if these were gone– if creatures ceased to exist, He who
always lives and reigns, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
dwelt, would

still be praised! Praised in Himself and glorious in Himself the Father
would praise the Son and the Spirit would praise Him and, mutually
blessing One Another, and rendering each Other beatified, still daily
would He be praised!

Now, dear Friends, I am conscious that I have not been able to enter
into this mighty subject, but here are three things which we, as
Christians, are bound to give to Christ–the gold of Sheba, our prayers
and our praises. It is for us to see what we have given to Him. I wish
we could keep a little book to see what our gifts to Jesus Christ come
to in a year. I am afraid, dearly Beloved, that with some of you it
would be a very miserable amount. I would lend you a small piece of
paper out of my waistcoat pocket to put it down on–and there would be
room enough. But it is not so with some of you, I know. You often pray
for Christ, you often praise Him and you are often ready to give Him
"of the gold of Sheba." That is well, but let me tell you this one
thing–there are none of you who need be afraid of praising Jesus
Christ too much! We do sometimes praise men too much–we say so much in
their favor, so much in their praise and then, afterwards, we find out
they never deserved it. But I will be bondsman for my blessed Master
tonight that you will never praise Him more than He deserves! If you
like to speak of Him in the most unmeasured phrases. If you borrow all
the tongues of men and angels and talk about Him forever. If you praise
Him and call Him God. If you call Him the most perfect of men, if you
style Him, The Wonderful, The Counselor, The Mighty God–you will never
say too much of Him!

So, Christian, begin to praise Jesus Christ now. You need not be afraid
that you will be too extravagant in the praise you bestow upon Him, for
when your hair begins to be white with the sunlight of Heaven gleaming
on it, you will find that you never said enough about Him. Let the
hoary-headed patriarch speak. Now he comes near his end. He totters and
stoops and lifts his eyes to Heaven, and says, "Praise Christ too much?
I thought Him lovely when I first knew Him. I knew Him to be lovely a
little afterwards, when He helped me along, and I lived to prove that
He was most lovely. But now I have got still further and I can say, 'He
is altogether lovely, and there is none to be compared with Him.' I
thought at first that each sweet mercy demanded a fresh song and I did,
sometimes, feel a glow of devotion to Him. I then thought I must praise
Him more and dedicate myself more to His service. But now," he says,
"could I give my body to be burned for Jesus, I feel that He deserves
it! His love in times past, His manifold helpings, His continual
unchangeableness render me devoted to Him forever." And, like the
servant of whom we spoke on Monday night, the old Christian feels that
he is ready to have his ear bored to the doorpost forever! He never
wants to go away.

I have said this because many persons nowadays say, "Ah, So-and-So is
young–he'll be sobered down, by-and-by." I am sure, Beloved, it is a
great pity if he should be. There are very few people in the present
day who need much sobering with regard to religion. There is not so
much fear of religious enthusiasm as there is of religious torpor and
sleep. I should like to see a few enthusiastic Christians–"not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess–but filled with the Spirit." But what do
men say? Why, "the man has got no moderation–he is mad!" A person,
passing by here the other day, said to another, "You know who preaches
there, don't you?" "No, I do not." "Why, everybody knows that fellow!
Everybody goes to hear him, but, you know, he's rather touched in the
brain." "Yes," said a friend of mine, "and I'll tell you another little
thing, by way of a secret–he's rather touched in the heart, too–and
that's better still." Well, Beloved, we do not mind what they say about
our being "touched in the brain." We believe it is well to be "touched
in the heart" too! We may be mad, but it is a sweet madness, it is a
blessed delusion, it is a most excellent "touch." And we only pray that
the Master may touch us all. "Touched in the brain!" Ah, we have
precious need to be in these days, for the brains are wrong enough
originally! "Touched in the brain!" Most decidedly we require it, for
most men's brains are very far from what they should be. "Touched in
the brain!" May God "touch" every man's brain and every man's heart!
And the more we are touched of God, whether it is touched in the brain,
or touched in the hand, or touched in the purse, or touched anywhere,
it is always good so long as we are touched of God!

You know it was objected against David that he must not go and fight
Goliath because his brother said he had come to see the battle in the
pride of his heart. He did not stop to give an answer. The best answer
he could give was to go and cut Goliath's head off and bring it back in
triumph! So, many of you who are young in years and full of zeal, are
advised not to do this and that and the other. Do not mind what they
say! Go forth in the name of your God and you shall do great exploits.
If the great and trained veterans are afraid of the battle, then raw
and inexperienced recruits must stand in the forefront. While it is
written, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have You ordained
strength," let it be known and proclaimed, let it be thundered forth
from the skies and let earth re-echo the sound that Christ must and
shall be praised! If one class of ministers will not do it, another
shall! What the learned will not do, the ignorant must! What the polite
and refined cannot do, the rough and untutored must, for, verily, it
must and shall be done! If those who stand up with all their boasted
prestige among men cannot exalt Christ, He will raise up humble but
devoted followers and by the weak things of the world, confound the
mighty! Of old He raised up a shepherd to be a king, a herdsman to be a
Prophet and a fisherman to be an Apostle! Those who dishonor Him shall
be lightly esteemed–but those who honor Him, He will honor! Go,
Christian, and exalt Christ! Love Him and exalt Him! Love your Master,
talk about your Master, preach of your Master and, by the help of the
Spirit, you shall yet come off more glorious than your foes, if not
here, yet in that day "when He shall come to be glorified in His
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."