Little, But Lovely

Little, But Lovely

(No. 3549)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1917.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom." Luke 12:32.

How kind and tender Jesus was towards His disciples! When He spoke
sternly, it was to the outside multitude. Many a time was His spirit
moved to rebuke them sharply. Very familiarly, however, did He unbend
Himself in the presence of the few attached followers who were gathered
round Him and drew near to Him–His chosen, His beloved. To them He
unveiled His heart. To them He disclosed the things which He had
received of the Father. From then, He kept back nothing that pertained
to their welfare. "If it were not so, I would have told you," was once,
at least, His confidential expression. He thus abode with them as a
Friend, as an elder Brother, as a loving Father. It is really pleasant
to observe how much He thought of them–how deeply He sympathized with
them–how far He was from despising them. The great ones of the earth
would have shrugged their shoulders and sneered at the poor helpless
band that gathered around the Prophet of Nazareth. Not so the Divine
Master. Without for a moment concealing the fact that they were a
little flock, He looks upon them fondly and applies to them invitingly
the very epithet their enemies would have used resentfully–
"little"–as He says, "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Few in number they were, He calls them a flock. Thus He takes upon
Himself the office of a shepherd and by implication He guarantees to
them feeding and folding, solace and safeguard! And He speaks of
"little" with a liking. As we often employ diminutive words to express
endearment, calling those we love by little names, so does the Savior
here seem to dwell upon the littleness of those He loves. The original
word might be properly rendered, "very little." "Fear not, tiny flock."
There is a double diminutive on which He seems to harp, although it had
a pleasant ring about it. So mothers are known to call their baby
children by bantling names in their fondness for the wee creatures. But
far surpassing woman' s love, our Savior's strong affection can no
rival know. In mild accents, He seems to say, "Never mind how few you
are, or how despised. Your feebleness gives you a warmer place in My
heart and makes Me press you more closely to My bosom. Hush, hush. Be
still. Fear not, little flock."

And, oh, how ready He is with a reason to revive their confidence! "It
is your Father's good pleasure." Thus does our beloved Lord recognize
His own intimate relation with His disciples. "It is your Father's good
pleasure." And who was their Father but the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ? He might have said, "It is My Father's good
pleasure"–but then this was the sweeter way of putting it–"It is your
Father's good pleasure." They would know that their Father was His
Father when He thus said, "yourFather." But had He said, "MyFather,"
they might not have so quickly recollected that He was also their
Father or, pondering it, they might have had some doubt on the subject.
What He does, therefore, is, in effect, to call Himself their Brother,
for if His Father is their Father, then He, Himself, must be their
Brother. They are near kinsmen! He puts Himself on an equal footing
with them when so speaking! At once He lifts them up to Himself while
He goes down to them. "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom." Must it not have been delightful to be on such friendly
terms with the blessed Lord of Life when He was Incarnate here on
earth–to have been able to say with John, "The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory– the Glory as of the
Only-Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and truth"? Not that we have
any need to fret because we have not that privilege, for we have a
higher one, inasmuch as Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go
away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." It
was better, therefore, for us that Jesus should go in order that we
might have the abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit, not only to dwell
with us, but also to be in us! Oh, that we might realize and enjoy the
Comforter's Presence at this time! It were ill for us to miss the
Savior's company without having the consolation of the Spirit! To be
without the bodily Presence of the Lord and without the
spiritual'Presence of the Holy Spirit were a double loss! Rather let us
rejoice that He is in us, and shall be with us evermore. In the
Presence of the Comforter we have a higher grade of communion with God
than even in the solacing society of the Son of Man. He has gone from
us, but He has left the words of His comfort to cheer us. In the power
of the Holy Spirit, then, let us talk with one another concerning these
words, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom."

Our attention is here drawn, first, to a little flock and a Great
Shepherd. And then to a great fear–what if I say a variety of
fears–and a still greater consolation.

I. IT WAS A LITTLE FLOCK to whom the Savior spoke. Did He mean, by so
designating them, that they were few in point of number? Our Savior's
ministry, so far as conversion was concerned, was far from being
prolific in its immediate results. The zeal of the Great Preacher
painfully contrasted with the apathy of the hearers. The Prophet had
foreseen the haze that would overhang the mental atmosphere. "Who has
believed our report?" He exclaimed! How few out of Israel were gathered
to Him as the fruit of words such as never man spoke, and works such as
none but God ever did! It is not recorded of our Savior that He ever
preached a sermon through which three thousand were converted. He left
that to one of His servants, as if He meant to fulfill that word,
"Greater things than these shall you do, because I go unto My Father."
He would put that honor on His servants and take the disappointment, as
He did the shame and the suffering, to Himself. Such is always His
loving way. He will take the bleak side of the hill and the rough part
of the battle for Himself. If there is any softer road to take, or any
higher honors to win, He will give them to His servants. His converts
were few–they were a little flock. Some of you may be residing in
localities where there are but a few Believers meeting together. The
company looks slender. Do not, I pray you, give place to despondency.
You can surely worship God in sincerity and truth, though you may lack
the excitement of a crowd. Perhaps you live where there are so few that
you can hardly assemble a congregation. Why think yourself denied the
privilege of communion with Christ because there are only one or two
gathered together in His name? Some of the happiest days Believers have
ever known have been alone with Christ! The richest displays of
Christ's love have been unfolded to the twos and threes and the small
family gatherings. He has kept His word to the letter, "Where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of
them." Should you happen to belong to a larger company, you are not,
therefore, shut out from the promise bequeathed to the few. A church of
five or 5,000 Brothers and Sisters is still a little flock! Compared
with the vast outlying mass of unbelievers, it is positively
infinitesimal! Think of the millions that know not God–the hundreds of
millions that are content to worship idol gods that their own hands
have made! Take all Christendom into account and assume for the moment
that every nominal professor were a true convert to Christ–the Church
would form but a feeble minority– it would be but a little flock.
Though the day shall come when the Lord will multiply us and increase
us greatly in the earth beyond all present computation, yet to this
hour the Church of God is only a little flock–and this is sometimes an
excuse for distrust and a cause of fear.

Not merely in their number were our Lord's immediate followers little.
They did not represent much of this world's wealth.They had left all
that they had. But their little all did not count for much. An old boat
or two upon the lake, some nets, a little fishing tackle, and a few et
ceteras–surely they were not much to leave! Their capital and their
income were alike limited. Their treasurer never had a heavy purse to
carry, though he took care to help himself out of its contents. The
disciples of Jesus were poor, very poor. They were somewhat akin to
their Master, who had not where to lay His head.

Nor from their socialposition could they exert much influence. Most of
them were Galileans–countrymen from the most countrified part of the
whole country and, as such, little esteemed. They spoke, no doubt,
broad country dialects, and were looked upon as unlearned and ignorant
men by those who heard them. When the Holy Spirit was on them, they
spoke with great power, but there was not a "D. D." among them, nor yet
a professor from any university! They had not a solitary rabbi that
could be put in the front, neither was there one that could have been
called rabbi, if others had chosen to call him so. No prestige did they
derive from rank or title, no princes of the blood, no knights or
esquires were associated with them–they were all common peasants and
fishermen. And I daresay many fears would cross their minds and many
gloomy apprehensions would haunt them as they contemplated the strange
adventure on which they were called to go forth. They were to preach
the Christ of God, and to convert the world to Him–yet see what lowly
people they were! Had they been brought up in the schools of
philosophers, had they been the sons of kings or princes, had they the
wealth of Croesus at their control, they might have said, "We can do
something!" But poverty, ignorance and obscurity combined to make them
seem little in the eyes of their fellow men! Therefore, the Savior
says, "Fear not, little flock!" Against all adverse circumstances,
there stands the actual promise! Be sure of this–the Kingdom of God is
yours and you will win the day! Your father in Heaven can do without
the dignity, the wealth and the learning of this world. He has resolved
to give you the Kingdom, so you shall assuredly have it!

Now the Church of God has not much improved in those respects. The
aristocracy of the age and the celebrities of the time, those who
occupy high places in fashion or in talent, look down contemptuously on
the followers of Jesus. We are not put out of countenance. We know full
well that not many great men after the flesh, not many mighty are
chosen. Still, God has chosen the poor of this world. Meek and lowly
though they are, He enriches them with the gifts of His Kingdom. The
Church in the aggregate, like its individual members, is small–small
in number and in influence–a "little flock." And there is another
littleness which is common among Christ's followers. They are very
little in matters of Grace.They think and know themselves to be little.
The greatest among them generally think themselves the least. One who
came not behind the chief of Apostles thought himself not worthy to be
called an Apostle, such was his sense of un-worthiness. Little and
little worth the Lord's people account themselves to be. But in point
of age, of growth, of experience, some of them are little–very little.
They have only lately been born-again. They are babes in Grace. Jesus
meant them when He said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom"–yes, you– you who are
new-born sons and daughters! Some, too, are little, not so much because
they have been recently converted, as because they have made slow
progress. They are of a desponding spirit, and their faith is very
feeble. Perhaps they have not walked with God as they should and yet,
although they may have little love, little hope, and little joy, little
usefulness, and little holiness, compared with what they ought to have,
still if they are Believers, if they are the sheep that hear Christ's
voice, know their Shepherd and follow Him–even to them He says, "Fear
not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom." He will not destroy you because you are not what you
should be in point of attainment! What though you are as smoking flax
when you ought to be a burning and a shining light, He will not quench
you! Though you are a broken reed in the music when you ought to be a
full pipe organ, pouring forth volumes of praise, He will not break
you, but He will make something of you yet! Though you have such little
faith that you do not know whether you have any or not, He knows! A
drop of water is as much water as the whole volume of water in the sea,
and a particle of Grace is as truly Grace as the great store of Grace
laid up in the Everlasting Covenant! A diamond as small as a pin's head
is as much a diamond as the Koh-I-Noor, so the smallest faith, though
it is like a grain of mustard seed, is faith which can move mountains!
Jesus knew this–hence He would speak comfortably to those who are
little as yet, "Fear not, you weak and trembling ones! It is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Your weakness shall not
witness against you."

Now is not this very precious, that little as the flock may be, the
Great Shepherd speaks to them so kindly? "Fear not, little flock," He
says. And, oh, how His greatness must have struck them as He thus
spoke! They looked on Him and saw that He was not little. He had become
like themselves in poverty and obscurity, but still there was a
Divinity in His Character that could not be eclipsed. He was not little
in His birth. "Where is He," asked the wise men from the East, "who is
born King of the Jews?" Nor was He little in His wisdom, for when but
12 years old, the doctors in the Temple were astonished at His
understanding and answers! He was not little in His power. Did He not
teach as one having authority? Did He not heal all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease as though no symptom could baffle His skill
or resist His fiat? He was not little in His influence over men's
hearts–He could turn their current like rivers of water whichever way
He would. They had a Great Shepherd–He could protect them, He could
provide for them, He could lead them on–He could give them the victory
and surely bring them into the rest which He had promised them! I feel
just now as though the Master stood among us and we were the little
flock, conscious that we could do nothing, devise nothing, develop
nothing apart from Him. Are there great destinies before us? Is the
world to be converted? Surely we are the last people that could ever be
able to accomplish it! His Presence is our encouragement. Looking up
here and seeing Him standing in the midst, hard by these emblems of His
body and blood, we hear His voice saying, "All power is given unto Me
in Heaven and in earth. Go you, therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit." Behold the baptized Christ giving to His own baptized
disciples His own commission! "Go, preach the Gospel to every
creature." He vouchsafes, moreover His own authority, "He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved; He that believes not shall be
condemned." He is the Commander-in- Chief of the little company of
nonconformists to the world's religion, the Leader of the little band
of those who desire to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, the Lord and
Master of all those who espouse His Cross, rejoice in His name and are
not ashamed to bear His reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation! The Lord grant that the sweetness of these words may come
home to the hearts of all of you who are the people of His pasture and
the sheep of His hand. Let us turn our attention to–

II. THE GREAT FEAR AND THE GREAT CONSOLATION IMPLIED IN OUR text. "Fear
not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom."

One fear which often agitates God's servants is that which is alluded
to in the foregoing paragraph–an undue anxiety about temporal things.
A fretfulness that distracts one's own mind and greatly dishonors
God–a disposition utterly unworthy of the sincere Believer! Christ
deals with it in these words, "Seek not what you shall eat, or what you
shall drink; neither be you of a doubtful mind. Why, child, know this,
it is not only your Father's good pleasure to give you bread and water,
but the kingdom!" You ask, "Will His bounty provide me with food
convenient and raiment fit?" No, question it not, since He thus
promises to put a crown upon your head and give you a mansion in the
skies! Surely He who takes the trouble to give you a Kingdom hereafter
will not let you starve on the road to it! When Saul went out to seek
his father' s donkeys, Samuel met him and anointed him to be king, and
after that Saul never fretted about his father' s donkeys anymore! Are
you worrying yourselves about the losses you have had, and the best way
of trying to recover them? Here are tidings for you. It is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Does not that awaken a
new and nobler ambition in your breasts? Never mind the donkeys, now,
we have other aims and other prospects to engage our thoughts! Affairs
of high estate have drawn my mind away from paltry things. Oh, heir of
Heaven, you cannot afford to pine and chafe over the little annoyances
of this fleeting life! I remember hearing of a crossing-sweeper who was
pursuing his humble avocation with great diligence. He had a valuable
broom, which he would not have lost or spoiled without much grief. To
him the few pence that purchased it were of great importance. But
someone–a solicitor of the town tapped him on the shoulder and said,
"My good Friend, is your name So-and-So?" "Yes." "Did your father live
in such a place?" "He did." "Does your brother live in such a place?"
"He does." "Then I have the pleasure to tell you that you have come
into an estate worth £10,000 a year." I have been told he walked away
without his broom! And I can hardly doubt it, for I do not think I
would have shouldered the broom, myself, if I had been in his position!
Oh, Christians, let me pluck you by the sleeve and tell you of princely
possessions for which you may well turn aside from your present paltry
pickings! They are not worthy to be compared! Jesus Christ informs you
that "your Father has given you a kingdom which is infinitely more than
all the gold of this world." You may well say–"Let those who will,
fret about these earthly things–I will not. I have a kingdom in
waiting! I will look out for that inheritance and I will begin to
rejoice in it." Thus does Christ put to sleep one of His people's
fears!

Another fear we have arises from watching the clouds, forecasting
storms and anticipating trouble. Some of us must confess that we have
our desponding moments. One is vexed because he sees his trade
gradually slipping away and he anxiously asks, "What shall I do in
future years?" Another, with a large family growing up around him,
perplexes himself with the question, "What shall I do with those boys
and girls of mine?" As he watches the various tendencies in the young
people, he wonders which way they will go, and he begins to fret. He
does not commit his cause to God, but he disquiets himself in vain.
This is unwise. Others find that their health declines–symptoms of
consumption or some other fell disease alarm them, and they say, "What
shall I do when this gets worse? How shall I bear it?" "Perhaps I may
have painful operations to endure," says one. "Perhaps," says another,
"I may have to lie bedridden by the year, together–what shall I
do–oh, what shall I do?" Our Lord Jesus Christ counsels you what to
do. He says, "Let not your heart be troubled." Don't fear. Have you not
always found up to now that God has helped and succored you in every
grievous plight? You have been foolish enough to dread a thousand
dreary ills that never happened to destroy your peace, save in your
dreams–like boys in a fog, before whose eyes huge monsters seem to
rise, till they come up to the objects of their dread surprise–and
find they are not monstrous scares, but modest friends who come to
greet them. You have often been the victims of your own credulity in
the past, cheated by your fears! May it not be the same in the dilemma
to which just now your gloomy fancy points? This I know–when we are in
our right mind, we cast our care on God. Let the Lord do as He wills to
us! He will never be unkind to us! He has always been our Friend–He
will never be our foe! He will never put us into the furnace unless He
means to purge the dross out of us. Nor will there be one degree more
heat in that furnace than is absolutely necessary–there will always be
mercy to balance the misery–and strength supplied to support the
burden to be borne. Cheer up, then! "Fear not, little flock." Let us,
for the time being at any rate, shake off all these fears and let us
revel in our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Rough may
be the road, but sure will be the end–we are going to the kingdom!
When they fetch a foreign princess over to this land to be married to a
princely husband, the ship may be tossed on the sea and the tempest
rage with fury, but doubtless the bride would say, "I may well bear
this slight inconvenience with equanimity–I am on the way to be made a
queen." We are on board ship today. We are going to a land where we
shall all be princes and kings–as many as believe in Jesus! Come, let
us pluck up heart! What though the accommodation are sparse, the
passage rough and the wind boisterous, there is a kingdom in prospect!
So let us make the best of the voyage. Be not faint-hearted yourself,
but help others to be cheerful. With a pilgrimage, rather than a voyage
in his view, our sacred songster has helped our mirth in his hymn as he
sings–

" With a scrip on my back and a staff in my hand,

I march on in haste through an enemy's land–

The way may be rough, but it cannot be long,

So 1ll smooth it with hope, and 1ll cheer it with song" And somewhere
or other in this congregation, I think I can hear the hoarse voice of a
desponding Believer saying, "Ah, I am not troubled about worldly
things! I am not distressed about any trials that may or may not happen
to me here below. I have a worse fear haunting me! My terror is more
terrible. Suppose I should not be in Christ after all?" The fear lest I
have not really believed in Jesus, that I have not experienced a saving
repentance, that I have not laid hold upon eternal life, distracts me.
Well, precaution is better than presumption–it is better to go fearing
to Heaven than to go presuming to Hell! I would rather be haunted with
fears all my life and yet found, at length, when the shadows flee,
among those who are God's delight, than I would be inflated with a
dauntless confidence all my days, but undeceived at last when the light
breaks in and be left in lonely horror, the victim of despair! Tell me
now, dear Friend, what it is you fear. Do you fear Hell? Let me ask you
another question–Do you fear sin? If you fear sin, the Lord takes
pleasure in you. The Lord takes pleasure in them who fear Him, and in
them who hope in His mercy. Your doubts are very painful to bear, no
doubt, but for all the distress they cause they will not destroy your
soul! Doubting, like a toothache, is more distracting than dangerous. I
never heard of its proving fatal to anybody yet. There are fluids of
the body which serve as safety valves to the constitution. They ward
off worse ills. An anxious solicitude whether you are, indeed, a child
of God, of which we would by all means have you relieved as soon as
possible, may have a salutary effect, nevertheless, upon your mind. It
may make you walk more carefully, pray more fervently and live more
scrupulously as one who pines for communion with God! I think I have a
commission to say to everyone here who fears sin, and trembles lest he
or she should not be found at God's right hand when He gathers His
saints together to Himself, "Fear not, for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom." If you fear because you feel your
unworthiness, it is a blessed fear! Trust in the worthiness of Christ
and your fear shall give place to faith! Of if you fear because you
perceive your feebleness, I am not surprised. Look to Christ's strength
and His succor shall be your solace! Your heavenly Father will, of His
own good pleasure, give you the Kingdom of God.

Or do I hear anyone say, "Well, Sir, my fear is not as to the sincerity
of my present profession. I trust I am a Christian. I know that I have
believed in Jesus, and I do believe in Him. But my serious misgiving is
lest I should not hold on to the end." Beloved Friend that is a fear
you ought not to entertain! Never fear it again as long as you live! If
there is anything taught in Scripture for certain, it is the Doctrine
of the Final Perseverance of the Saints! I am as sure that Doctrine is
as plainly taught as the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ. Words cannot
put it more distinctly than God has graciously revealed it. Hear what
Christ says. "I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they shall never
perish; neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." "Being confident
of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ"–cast not, I beseech you, any
suspicion upon the fidelity of our Lord! A question may be raised
whether the work is begun by Him, but if He has begun it, there can be
no question about His completing it! He never forsakes the work of His
hands, or begins to build, and then proves unable or unwilling to rear
the superstructure. Lay that fear aside and account it a folly! Do you
doubt–whether you are now saved, or whether you shall hold out to the
end? Then I counsel you to go back to the Cross and begin again as a
penitent sinner, to put your trust in a pardoning Savior. Full many a
time I have to do that. I see my evidence cut down like the grass,
wither like hay and perish like the green herb. What else, then, can I
do, but hurry off to the foot of the Cross, there to stand, and thus to
say, "Here I come, a sinner, seeking succor from You, my Lord, from
You. I come afresh as though I had never come to You before. If You
have never washed me, wash me now! If I have never rested in You, here
do I lay me down beneath Your shadow. To Your Cross I cling." You will
find your fears vanish when you come to the Cross anew. Do this, I pray
you, Brothers and Sisters, as often as you get into the dark for a
while, for, notwithstanding all fears to the contrary, it really is
"your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." You have not to
earn it by your labor, or merit it as a prize–else you might despond,
or even despair. What is now amiss, I cannot guess, since He will give
it to you freely of His own Grace. It is not the Judge's good pleasure
to award you the kingdom, but it is "your Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom." Therefore, repose in the Grace of God, rely on
the precious blood of Christ and cast your fears to the winds!

I think I hear a sigh. It is a sickly thought, and it comes from one
who has a sickly frame. "My fear is about dying. How shall I stand the
last dread hour of parting life? Shall I bear up in the weakness of
that mortal agony? Perhaps, after all, I shall sink as one who is
vanquished in the fray." Beloved Brother, there is a peril more
perilous than death! "What is that?" you ask. Why, I answer, Life! To
live! To live well! There is the point–to live well. If you do succeed
in this, you shall find that to die is nothing but just closing up your
life's story. Be it your main care to run the race with honor, then you
shall finish your course with joy! You may leave the dying till the
time to die comes, if you will see to the living while the time to live
lasts! There is one kind of Grace of which we have no immediate need
today, that is dying Grace. We shall not require the timely succor till
the time of our departure is at hand. Or if we crave it we shall not
have it. Does any one of you put himself on his dying bed in
imagination, to forestall the terrors that his fancy paints? He does a
very foolish thing. You cannot know what sort of summons you will get
to quit your fleshly tabernacle–what sharp pains you may be called to
bear–or what sweet comfort may be provided to cheer your spirit when
heart and flesh shall fail. Serve God now with all your strength! Rest
in the precious blood now! Seek present communion with your living,
loving Lord. Doubt not that He will supply you with sufficient Grace
for all your future needs! You know not of the good He has in store. As
time and space contract, your mind will expand to survey the eternity
beyond. As the film comes over these dull organs of sight, the eyes of
your understanding will be opened. As you near the banks of Jordan, the
fair fields on yonder side will break on your ravished view. You know
nothing of them yet. Full many, I guarantee you, who depart this life
hear the songs of angels long before their ears are closed to the
sounds of earth! And oh, how precious Christ becomes to them! We have
seen the flush of glory on their faces! I should think they hardly knew
at what moment they entered Heaven, for before they left earth, the
radiance of that bright realm dawned upon them in such visions of
Glory! They were lifted up to Pisgah' s summit and they looked down on
this poor earth from an elevation at which we who still sojourn in the
valley do greatly marvel–

"Jesus cam make a dying bed

Seem soft as downy pillows are!

While on His breast Ilean my head,

And breathe my life out sweetly there." Why, some of us have known
Believers who, after trembling all their days, triumphed in their last
hours! In the prime of their strength they were frightened of a
mouse–but in the extremity of their weakness they became so strong
that they could face a legion of foes! Nothing could dismay them. Mr.
Fearing, who fell over a straw, and said he should never reach the
Celestial City, was the very man who died like a giant, singing and
shouting with all his might! God is pleased to let some of His servants
live in the dark–and die in the light. I think some of us have our
candle lit at one watch of the night, some at another. You may have
begun your spiritual life in the dark and your path has grown brighter
and brighter. Or you may have begun in the light and have since passed
through seasons in which darkness has prevailed, or the lamp that
guides your feet has dimly burned. God puts some of His bravest
servants to bed in the dark because they can bear it, but others
cannot. They cross over the river and angels come to meet them. Do not
darken your days with direful dreams of dreaded death! Perhaps you will
die in your sleep and never know a pang. Perhaps you never will
die–Christ may come and take you to Himself. It may prove such a
glorious thing to die, that you may say, with Halliday, "Call this
dying? Then it is worthwhile to live, to die like this!" Death may have
more of translation than of dissolution in it. If the dogs of Hell howl
at you, bid them hold their tongue. Your Father's good pleasure will
not be frustrated–your fair prospects will not be disappointed. Does
Conscience accuse you of slips and falls? Tell Conscience of the
precious blood, and say, "My Father's good pleasure will rescue His
ransomed child from all his sins." Do doubts and fears come up like a
swelling torrent? Stem them all with this blessed assurance–"God's
counsel will stand, and He will do all His pleasure. We who have put
our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ shall assuredly possess the Kingdom
of God forever and ever!"

Oh, how I wish you, all of you, belonged to the number of Christ's
sheep! Oh, that everyone of you had the promise of the kingdom! The
Lord bring you to the feet of Jesus! May the Lord show you what sinners
you are and what a Savior He is! Would to God you might all believe in
Him and pass from death unto life! The fearless transgressor shall fail
without help, while the fearful disciple shall be fondled with Fatherly
care. Herd together, you little ones, as a flock–the heritage is
reserved for you. "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom."