A Harp of Ten Strings

A Harp of Ten Strings

(No. 2219)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 30, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And Mary said, My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior." Luke 1:46, 47.

IT is very clear that Mary was not beginning a new thing, for she
speaks in the present tense, and in a tense which seems to have been
present for a long time, "My soul does magnify the Lord." Ever since
she had received the wonderful tidings of the choice which God had made
of her for her high position, she had begun to magnify the Lord. And
when once a soul has a deep sense of God's mercy and begins magnifying
Him, there is no end to it. This grows by what it feeds upon–the more
you magnify God, the more you can magnify Him. The higher you rise, the
more you can see. Your view of God is increased in extent and, whereas
you praised Him somewhat at the bottom of the hill, when you get nearer
and nearer to the top of His exceeding goodness, you lift up the strain
still more loudly and your soul does more fully and exultantly magnify
the Lord!

"My soul does magnify the Lord." What does it mean? The usual meaning
of the word, "magnify," is to make great, or to make to appear great.
We say, when we use the microscope, that it magnifies so many times.
The insect is the same small and tiny thing, but it is increased to our
apprehension. The word is very suitable in this connection. We cannot
make God greater than He is. Nor can we have any conception of His
actual greatness. He is infinitely above our highest thoughts! When we
meditate upon His attributes–

"Imagination's utmost stretch In wonder dies away."

But we magnify Him by having higher, larger, truer conceptions of Him,
by making known His mighty acts and praising His glorious name so that
others, too, may exalt Him in their thoughts. This is what Mary was
doing–she was a woman who was given, in later life, to pondering.
Those who heard what the shepherds said concerning the Holy Child
Jesus, wondered, but, "Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in
her heart." They wondered–Mary pondered. It is only the change of a
letter, but it makes a great difference in the attitude of the soul–a
change from a vague flash of interest to a deep attention of heart. She
pondered. She weighed the matter. She turned it over in her mind. She
thought about it. She estimated its value and result. She was like that
other Mary, a meditative woman who could quietly wait at her Lord's
feet to hear gracious words and drink them in with yearning faith.

It is no idle occupation, then, to get alone and in your own hearts to
magnify the Lord–to make Him great to your mind, to your
affections–great in your memory, great in your expectations. It is one
of the grandest exercises of the renewed nature! You need not, at such
a time, think of the deep questions of Scripture. You may leave the
abstruse doctrines to wiser heads, if you will, but if your very soul
is bent on making God great to your own apprehension, you will be
spending time in one of the most profitable ways possible to a child of
God. Depend upon it, there are countless holy influences which flow
from the habitual maintenance of great thoughts of God–just as there
are incalculable mischiefs which flow from our small thoughts of Him!
The root of false theology is belittling God and the essence of true
Divinity is greatening God, magnifying Him and enlarging our
conceptions of His majesty and His Glory to the utmost degree.

But Mary did not mean, by magnifying the Lord, merely to extol Him in
her own thoughts. Being a true poetess, she intended to magnify the
Lord by her words. No, I must correct myself–she did not intend to do
it–she had been doing it all along! She was doing it when she came,
panting and breathless, into her cousin Elizabeth's house. She said,
"My soul does magnify the Lord. I am now in such a favored condition
that I cannot open my mouth to talk to you, Elizabeth, without speaking
of my Lord. My soul now seems filled with thoughts of Him. I must
speak, first of all, about Him and

say such things of His Grace and power as may help even you, my goodly
elder sister, still to think grander thoughts of God than you have ever
before enjoyed. My soul does magnify the Lord."

We must recall the fact that Mary was highly distinguished and honored.
No other woman was ever blessed as she was. Perhaps no other could have
borne the honor that was put upon her–to be the mother of the Human
Nature of our Savior. It was the highest possible honor that could be
put upon mortal and the Lord knew, at the appointed time, where to find
a guileless, lowly woman who could be entrusted with such a gift and
yet not seek to filch away His Glory. She is not proud. No, it is a
false heart that steals the revenues of God and buys the intoxicating
cup of self-congratulation. The more God gives to a true heart, the
more it gives to Him. Like Peter's boat, which sank into the waters the
more deeply, the more fully it was laden with fish, God's true children
sink in their own esteem as they are honored by their Lord! God's
gifts, when He gives Grace with them, do not puff us up–they build us
up. A humble and lowly estimate of ourselves is added to a greater
esteem of Him. The more God gives you, the more do you magnify Him and
not yourself. Be this your rule–"He must increase and I must
decrease." Be you less and less. Be you the Lord's humble handmaid, yet
bold and confident in your praise of Him who has done for you great
things! From now on and forever, let this be the one description of
your life–"My soul does magnify the Lord; I have nothing else to do
any more but to magnify Him and to rejoice in God my Savior."

A week might be profitably employed were I to attempt to preach upon
each part of Mary's song, but with quite another purpose in view I am
going to present it to you as a whole. As I put before you this
instrument of ten strings, I will ask you, just for a minute or two, to
place your fingers on each of them as they shall be indicated and see
whether you cannot wake some melody to the praise of the great King,
some harmony in His honor–whether you cannot, at this good hour,
magnify the Lord and rejoice in God your Savior! Luther used to say
that the glory of Scripture was to be found in the pronouns and it is
certainly true of the text. Look at the personal touch of them, how it
comes over and over again! "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my
spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."

At one of our Orphanage Festivals, I put before our many friends who
were gathered together, several reasons why everybody should contribute
to the support of the children. Indeed, I said, nobody ought to go off
the ground without giving something. I was struck with one Brother who
had no money with him, but who brought me his watch and chain. "Oh," I
said, "do not give me these, these things sell for so little compared
with their value." But he insisted upon my keeping them and said, "I
will redeem them tomorrow, but I cannot go away without giving
something now." How glad I would be if every child of God here would be
as earnest in adoration and say, "I am going to give some praise to God
at this service–out of some of those strings I will get music–perhaps
out of them all. I will endeavor with my whole heart to say, at some
portion of the sermon, and from some point of view, 'My soul does
magnify the Lord!'" Do I hear you whisper, "My soul is very heavy."
Lift it up, then, by praising the Lord! Begin a Psalm, even if at first
the tune must be in a minor key! The strain will soon change and the
"Miserere" will become a "Hallelujah Chorus."

I. The first string which Mary seems to touch and which, I trust, we,
too, may reach with the hand of faith, is that of THE GREAT JOY WHICH
THERE IS IN THE LORD. "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior." Let us bless God that our religion is not
one of gloom! I do not know of any command anywhere in Scripture,
"Groan in the Lord always, and again, I say, Groan." From the conduct
of some people we might almost imagine that they must have altered
their New Testament in that particular passage and thus woefully
changed the glory of the original verse, "Rejoice in the Lord always,
and again I say, Rejoice." The first I ever knew of Christ, my Master,
truly, was when I found myself at the foot of His Cross with the great
burden that had crushed me, effectually gone. I looked round for it,
wondering where it could be and, behold, it was tumbling down into His
sepulcher! I have never seen it since, blessed be His name, nor do I
ever want to see it again! Well do I remember the leaps I gave for joy
when first I found that all my burden of guilt had been borne by Him
and was now buried in the depths of His grave–

"Many days have passed since then; Many changes I have seen."

I have been to a great many wells to draw water, but when I have drawn
it, and tasted it, it has been brackish as the waters of Marah. But
whenever I have gone to this well–"my God, my Savior"–I have never
drawn one drop that was not sweet and refreshing! He who truly knows
God must be glad in Him–to abide in His house is to be still praising
Him–yes, we may exalt in Him all day long! A very notable Word of God
is that which is found in the mouth of

David–"God, my exceeding joy." Other things may give us pleasure. We
may be happy in the gifts of God and in His creatures, but God,
Himself, the spring of all our joys, is greater than them all!
Therefore, "Delight yourself, also, in the Lord." This is His
command–is it not a lovely one? Let no one say that the faith of the
Christian is not to be exultant! It is to be a delight and so greatly
does God desire us to rejoice in Him, that to the command is added a
promise, "And He shall give you the desires of your heart."

What a religion is ours, in which delight becomes a duty–in which to
be happy is to be obedient to a command! Heathen religions exact not
only self-denials of a proper kind, but tortures which men invent to
accustom themselves to misery. But in our holy faith, if we keep close
to Christ, while it is true that we bear the cross, it is also true
that the cross ceases to be a torture! In fact, it often bears us as we
bear it–we discover in the service of our Master that "His yoke is
easy and His burden is light," and, strange to say–His burden gives us
rest and His yoke gives us liberty! We have never had anything from our
Master but it has ultimately tended to our joy. Even when His rod has
made us smart, He has intended it to work for our good and so it has!
Praise Him, then, for such goodness!

Our religion is one of holy joy, especially with regard to our Savior.
The more we understand that glorious word, "Savior," the more are we
ready to dance with delight. "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."
The good tidings of great joy have reached us and as we, by His Grace,
have believed them, He has saved us from sin, death and Hell! He has
not simply promised to do it some day, but He has done it–we have been
saved! What is more, we have, many of us, entered into rest by faith in
Him. Salvation is to us a present experience at this hour, though we
still wait for the fullness of it to be revealed in the world to come.

Oh, come, let us joy in our Savior! Let us thank Him that we have so
much for which to thank Him! Let us praise Him that there is so much
that we may rejoice in! No, so much that we must rejoice in! Let us
adore His dear name that He has so arranged the whole plan of
salvation–that it is calculated to bring Heaven to us while we are
here–and to bring us who are here, into Heaven hereafter! Thus we lift
up our hearts because of the great joy there is laid up for us in God.
This is the first string. Touch it. Think of all the joy you have had
in God. Praise Him for all the holy mirth He has given you in His
House–the bliss of communion with Him at His table–the delights of
fellowship with Him in secret. Sing to Him with a grateful heart,
saying, "My soul does magnify the Lord."

II. The second string we would desire to lay our fingers on is THE
GODHEAD OF OUR SAVIOR. "My soul does magnify the Lord." I have not a
little Lord. "And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." I know that
my Savior is a Man and rejoice in His Humanity, but we will contend to
the death for this–that He is more than Man–He is our Savior! One
human being could not redeem another, or give to God a ransom for his
brother. An angel's arm could not bear the tremendous load of the
disaster of the Fall, but Christ's arm is more than angelic! He whom we
magnify as our Savior counted it not robbery to be equal with God. And
when He undertook the wondrous task of our redemption, He brought the
Godhead with Him to sustain Him in the more than Herculean labor. Our
trust is in Jesus Christ, very God of very God! We shall never cease,
not only to believe in Him, but to speak of Him, rejoice in Him and
sing of Him as the Incarnate Deity. What a frozen religion that is
which has not the Godhead of Christ in it! Surely, they must be men of
a very sanguine and imaginative temperament who can pretend to receive
any comfort out of a Christianity which has not the Divine Savior as
its very center. I would as soon think of going to an iceberg to warm
myself, as to a faith of that kind to find comfort! Nobody can ever
praise up Christ too much for you and for me–they can never say too
much of His wisdom, or of His power. Every Divine attribute ascribed to
Christ makes us lift up a new song unto Him, for, whatever He may be to
others, He is to us God over all, blessed forever! Amen.

I wish that I could sing instead of speaking to you of Him who was with
the Father before all worlds began, whose delights, even then, were
with the sons of men in prospect of their creation. I wish that I could
tell the wonderful story of how He entered into Covenant with God on
the behalf of His people and pledged Himself to pay the debts of those
His Father gave to Him. He undertook to gather into one fold, all the
sheep whom He pledged Himself to purchase with His precious blood. He
engaged to bring them back from all their wanderings and fold them on
the hilltops of the Delectable Mountains at His Father's feet. This He
vowed to do and He has gone about His task with a zeal that clothed Him
as a cloak–and He will achieve the Divine purpose before He delivers
up the Kingdom to God, even the Father. "He shall not fail nor be
discouraged."

It is our delight to hear this Son of God, this Son of Mary, this
wondrous Being in His complex Nature as our Mediator, exalted and
extolled, and made very high. Have you not sometimes felt that if the
minister preached more about Jesus Christ, you would be very glad to
hear him? I hope that is your inclination, yet I am afraid that we talk
a great deal about many things rather than about our Master. Come, let
me hear of Him! Sing to me or talk to me of Jesus, whose name is honey
in the mouth, music in the ear and Heaven in the heart! Oh, for more
praise to His holy name! Yes, some of us can touch this string and say
with Mary, "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced
in God my Savior."

III. The third string has softer, sweeter music in it, and it may suit
some of us better than the more sublime themes

that we have already touched. Let us sing and magnify the LORD'S LOVING
CONDESCENSION, for so the blessed

virgin did when she went on to say, "for He has regarded the low estate
of His handmaiden." Here is something to sing about, for ours was not
only a low estate, but perhaps some here would have had to say, like
Gideon, "My family is poor, and I am the least in my father's house"
and, like he, you would have been passed over by most of the people.
Perhaps even in your own family you were counted as nobody. If there
was a jest uttered, you were sure to be the butt of it, and generally
you were misunderstood and your actions misinterpreted. This was a
trying experience for you, but from this you have been gloriously
delivered. It may have been that, like Joseph, you were a little dreamy
and, perhaps, you were a trifle too fond of telling your dreams. Yet,
though because of this you were much put upon, the Lord, at last,
raised your head above those round about you. It may have been that
your lot in life was cast among the very poorest and lowest of mankind,
yet the Lord has looked upon you in infinite compassion and saved you!
Will you not, then, magnify Him?

If Christ wanted a people, why did He not choose the kings, princes and
nobles of the earth? Instead of that, He takes the poor and makes them
to know the wonders of His dying love! And instead of selecting the
wisest men in the world, He takes even the most foolish and instructs
them in the things of the Kingdom of God–

"Wonders of Grace to God belong, Repeat His mercies in your song."

All of us who have been saved by Grace must still strike a more tender
note, for we were sinful as well as lowly. We went astray like lost
sheep and, therefore, we magnify the Lord who bought us, sought us and
brought us back to His fold. It may be painful to remember what we once
were, but it is well, sometimes, to go back in our thoughts to the time
past when we lived in sin, that we may the better appreciate the favor
of which we have been made partakers. When the Apostle Paul wrote out a
catalog of those who shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, he added,
"And such were some of you: but you are washed." Oh, let us bless the
name of the Lord and magnify Him for this! Who else could have cleansed
us from our sin, or in what other Fountain save that opened to the
house of David could we have plunged to rid us of our awful defilement?
He stoops very low, for some of God's elect were once the offscouring
of all things–and even when converted, many of them remained so, in
the estimate of the world which sneers at humble Christians.

If the professed followers of Christ happen to meet in some fine
building and worship God with grand music and gorgeous rituals, then
the people of the world put up with them! They may go even so far as to
patronize them, though, even then, their respect is chiefly called
forth, not on behalf of the people, but because of the building, the
fine music and the carriages. The carriages are especially important,
for without a certain number of them at the door, it is deemed
impossible to have a proper display of cultured Christianity! But the
more God's people cling to the Lord, the less likely are they to be
esteemed by the vulgar judgment of unholy men. Yet the Lord has chosen
such, blessed be His name! It is a great wonder to me that the Lord
ever chose some of you–but it is a far greater wonder that He should
ever have chosen me. I can somehow understand His love for you when I
look at the gracious points in your character, though I am fully aware
that they are only worked by Grace, but I cannot understand the love
which He has displayed to me, who am the least of all the saints. "Oh!"
you say, "that is what we were going to say about ourselves." Yes, I
know. I am trying to put it into your mouths, so that we may all join
in adoring gratitude! It is a miracle of mercy that He should have
loved any of us, or stooped in His Grace to have raised such beggars
from the dunghill to set us among the princes at His right hand–

"Why was I made to hear Your voice, And enter while there's room;

When thousands make a wretched choice, And rather starve than come."

IV. The next string, however, is THE GREATNESS OF GOD'S GOODNESS, for
Mary goes on to sing–"He has regarded the low estate of His
handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed." Oh, the Lord has done great things for His people! "He that
is mighty has done to me great things; and holy is His name." God has
made you blessed. You were once under the curse, but for you there is
now no condemnation, for you are in Christ Jesus. If the curse had
withered you, like some lightning-blasted oak, you would not have
wondered, but, instead thereof, the gracious Lord has planted you by
the rivers of water and He makes you to bring forth your fruit in your
season and your leaf does not wither. "The Lord has done great things
for us; whereof we are glad." To be lifted up from that horrible pit is
such a great thing that we cannot measure it–but to be set up on that
Throne of Mercy exceeds our highest thought–who can measure that? Take
your line and see if you can fathom the depth of such Grace, or measure
the height of such mercy! Shall we be silent when we behold such
marvelous loving kindness? God forbid it! Let us break forth in our
hearts, now, with gladsome hallelujahs to Him who has done such
wonderful things for us!

Think, Brothers and Sisters, you were blind–He has made you see! You
were lame–He has made you leap! Worse than that, you were dead–He has
made you live! You were in prison–and He has made you free! Some of us
were in the dungeon with our feet fast in the stocks. Can I not well
remember when I did lie in that inner prison, moaning and groaning,
without any voice to comfort me, or even a ray of light to cheer me in
the darkness? And now that He has brought me out, shall I forget to
utter my deep thanks? No! I will sing a song of deliverance that others
may hear, and fear, and turn unto the Lord! But that is not all. He has
not only taken us from the prison, He has raised us to the Throne of
God–you and I could go in and out of Heaven tonight if God called us
there–and every angel would treat us with respect! If we entered into
Glory, even though we had come from the poorest home in London, we
would find that the highest angels are only ministering servants to the
chosen people of God! Oh, He has done wonders for us!

I am not so much attempting to preach as trying to wake up your memory,
that you may think of the goodness of the Lord's Grace and say, "Oh,
yes, it is so, and my soul does magnify the Lord!" Not one of the
wonders of Divine Grace has been worked for us without deep necessity
for its manifestation. If the very least Grace which may, perhaps, up
to now have escaped your attention, were taken from you, where would
you be? I often meet with people of God who used to be very happy and
joyful, but who have fallen into despondency, and who now talk about
the mercies of God's Covenant love in such a way as to make me blush.
They say, "I thought I once had that blessing, Sir, and I am afraid I
have not got it now, though there is nothing I long for more. Oh, what
a precious thing it would be to be able to have access to God in
prayer! I would give my eyes to be able to know that I am really a
child of God."

Yet those of us who have those blessings do not half value them. No,
Brothers and Sisters, we do not value them a thousandth part as much as
we ought! Our constant song should be, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily
loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." Instead of
that, we often take the gifts thoughtlessly and unthankfully from His
hands. When a man is in the ocean, he may have much water over his head
and not feel it, but when He comes out, if you then put a little pail
of water on his head, it becomes quite a burden as he carries it. So
some of you are swimming in God's mercy–you are diving into it and you
do not recognize the weight of the Glory which God has bestowed upon
you. But if you should once get out of this ocean of joy and fall into
a state of sadness of heart, you would begin to appreciate the weight
of any one of the mercies which now do not seem to be of much
consequence, or to make any claim upon your gratitude. Without waiting
to lose the sense of God's Grace, in order that we may know the value
of it, let us bless Him who has done such inconceivably great things
for us, and say, "My soul does magnify the Lord."

V. The fifth string that I would touch is THE COMBINATION OF GRACE AND
HOLINESS that there is in what

God has done for us. "He that is mighty has done great things for me;
and holy is His name." I may not even hint at the peculiar delicacy of
Mary's case, but she knew that it was wholly holy and pure. Now, when
the Lord has saved you and me, who did not deserve saving, He did a
very wonderful act of Sovereign Grace in making us to differ, but the
mercy is that He did it all justly. Nobody can say that it ought not to
be done. At the Last Great Day, what God has done in His Grace will
stand the test of justice, for He has never, in the splendor and
lavishness of His love, violated the principles of eternal
righteousness, even to save His own elect. "He that is mighty has done
to me great things; and holy is His name."

Sin must be punished–it has been punished in the Person of our
glorious Substitute. No man can enter into Heaven unless he is
perfectly pure–they who are redeemed shall take no unclean thing
within the gates. Every rule and mandate of the Divine empire shall be
observed. The Law-Maker will not be the Law-Breaker even to save the
sinner! But His Law

shall be honored as surely as the sinner shall be saved. Sometimes I
feel that I could play on this string for an hour or two. Here we have
Justice magnified in Grace and holiness rejoicing in the salvation of
sinners! The attributes of God are like the amazing crystal shining out
with its clear white light, but which may be divided into all the
colors of the prism, each different and all beautiful. The dazzling
radiance of God is too glorious for our mortal eyes, but each
Revelation teaches us more of His beauty and perfectness. In the ruby
light of an atoning Sacrifice we are enabled to see how God is just and
yet the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus. Glory be to His name
for the power of Grace mingled with holiness! My soul does magnify the
Lord for this wonderful salvation in which every attribute shall have
its glory–justice as well as mercy, wisdom as well as might. "Mercy
and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each
other." Who could have invented such a plan and who could have carried
it out when it was thought of? Only He who came "with dyed garments
from Bozrah." "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior."

VI. The sixth string is one which should be sweet in every way. Mary
now goes on to touch the string of GOD'S MERCY. "And His mercy is on
them that fear Him." The saints of old often touched this string in the
Temple. They often sang it, lifting up the refrain again and
again–"His mercy endures forever!"–

"For His mercy shall endure, Ever faithful, ever sure."

Mercy! Sinner, this is the silver bell for you–it is of the Lord's
mercies that you are not consumed–because His compassions fail not.
Listen to the heavenly music that calls you to repent and live! God
delights in mercy. He waits to be gracious. Mercy! Saint, this is the
golden bell for you, for you still need mercy. Standing with your foot
upon the jasper doorstep of Paradise, with the pearly gate just before
you, you will still need mercy to help you over the last step. And when
you enter the choir of the redeemed, mercy shall be your perpetual
song! In Heaven you will chant the praises of the God of Grace whose
mercy endures forever.

Do you mourn over your own backsliding? God will have mercy upon you,
dear child, though you have wandered since you have known Him! Come
back to Him this very hour! He would woo you again. He would press you
to His bosom. Have you not often been restored? Have you not often had
your iniquities put away from you in the years gone by? If so, again,
this moment, touch this string–a child's finger can make it bring
forth its music–touch it now! Say, "Yes, concerning mercy, mercy to
the very chief of sinners, my soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit
has rejoiced in God my Savior."

VII. Time would fail us if we tried to dwell at any length upon these
wondrous themes, so we pass to the next string, number seven, GOD'S
IMMUTABILITY, because in the verse we have already touched upon, there
are two notes. Mary said, "His mercy is on them that fear Him from
generation to generation." He that had mercy in the days of Mary, has
mercy today–"from generation to generation," He is the same God. "I am
the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed."
You that once delighted in the Lord, do not suppose that He has
changed! He still invites you to come and delight in Him! He is "Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." What a poor
foundation we would have for our hope if God could change! But He has
confirmed His Word by an oath, "that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."

The God of my grandfather, the God of my father, is my God this
day–the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of every Believer!
He is the same God and is prepared to do the same–and to be the same
to us as to them! Look back into your own experience. Have you not
found God always the same? Come, protest against Him, if you have ever
found Him to change! Is the Mercy Seat altered? Do the promises of God
fail? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Will He no more be favorable?
No, even "if we believe not, yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny
Himself!" And when all things melt away, this one eternal Rock abides!
Therefore, "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced
in God my Savior." It is a blessed string to touch! If we had time, we
would play upon it and evoke such harmonies as would make the angels
want to join us in the chorus!

VIII. The next string which will awaken a responsive echo in your
hearts is GOD'S POWER. "He has showed strength with His arm; He has
scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts." This string
gives us deep bass music and requires a heavy hand to make it pour
forth any melody. What wonders of power God has worked on the behalf of

His people, from the days of Egypt, when the horse and his rider He
cast into the Red Sea, even till now! How strong is His arm to defend
His people!

In these days some of us have been driven to look to that power, for
all other help has failed. You know how it was in the dark ages–it
seemed as if the darkness of popery would never be removed–but how
soon it was gone when God called forth His men to bear witness to His
Son! What reason we have to rejoice that He "scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts"! They thought that they could readily burn
up the heretics and put an end to this Gospel of theirs, but they could
not do it. And today there is a dark conspiracy to stamp out the
evangelical faith. First, on the part of some who go after their
superstitions, they set up the crucifix to hide the Cross and point men
to sacraments instead of to the Savior.

And then, worse than these, are those who undermine our faith in Holy
Scripture–they tear from the Book this chapter and that, deny this
great Truth of God and the other–and try to bring the inventions of
man into the place that ought to be occupied by the Truth of God. But
the Lord lives! Jehovah's arm has not waxed short! Depend upon it,
before many years have passed, He will take up the quarrel of His
Covenant and will bring the old banner to the front again! We shall yet
rejoice to hear the Gospel preached in the most plain terms,
accentuated by the Holy Spirit, Himself, upon the hearts of His people.
Let us touch this string again! The Almighty God is not dead! "Behold,
the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear
heavy, that it cannot hear."

IX. The next string is one that some friends do not like. At least they
do not say much about it–it is DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. Listen to it. You
know how God thunders it out. "I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
God's will is supreme! Whatever the wills of men may be, God will not
be driven from His Throne, nor will His scepter be made to quiver in
His hands! After all the rebellious acts of men and devils, He will
still be eternal and supreme, with His Kingdom ruling over all. And
thus the virgin sings, "He has put down the mighty from their seats,
and exalted them of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good
things; and the rich He has sent empty away." Who can speak the wonders
of His Sovereign Grace? Was it not strange that He should ever have
chosen you?–

"What was there in you that could merit esteem,

Or give the Creator delight?

'Twas even so, Father,'you must ever sing,

Because it seemed good in Your sight.'" Is it not strange that the Lord
should not take the Kings and mighty ones, but should so order it, that
the poor have the Gospel preached to them? God is King of kings and
Lord of lords–and He acts like a king. "He gives not account of any of
His matters." But He lets us see right clearly that He has no respect
to the greatness and fancied goodness of man–that He does as He
pleases and that He pleases to give His mercy to them that fear Him and
bow before Him! He dispenses His favors to those who tremble at His
Presence, who come humbly to His feet and take His mercy as a free
gift–who look to His dear Son because they have nothing else to look
to and, as poor, guilty worms, find in Christ their life, their wisdom,
their righteousness, their all! Oh, the splendor of this great King!

X. The tenth string is GOD'S FAITHFULNESS. "He has helped His servant
Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spoke to our fathers, to
Abraham, and to his seed forever." God remembers what He has said. Take
those three words, "As He spoke." Whatever He said, though it was
thousands of years ago, it stands fast forever and ever! God cannot
lie. Beloved, are any of you in trouble? Search the Scriptures till you
find a promise that suits your case. And when you get it, do not say,
"I hope that this is true." That is an insult to your God! Believe it,
believe it up to the hilt! Do as I have seen boys do in the swimming
hole–take a header and go right into the stream of God's mercy! Dive
as deeply as you can–there is no drowning here! These are "waters to
swim in" and the more you can lose yourself in this blessed crystal
flood of promised mercy, the better it shall be! You shall rise up out
of it as the sheep come from the washing! You shall feel refreshed
beyond measure in having cast yourself upon God!

When God's promises fail, let us know of it, for some of us have lived
so long on those promises that we do not care to live on anything else!
And if they can be proved to be false, we had better give up living
altogether! But we delight to know that they are all absolutely
true–what God said to our fathers stands good to their children–and
will stand good even to the end of time and to all eternity.

If any of you have not been able to touch even one of these strings, I
would bid you get to your knees and cry to God, and say, "Why is it
that I cannot magnify You, O Lord?" I should not be surprised if you
discovered the reason to be that you are so big, yourself. He never
magnifies God who magnifies himself! Belittle yourself and magnify your
God! Down with self to the lowest depths and up, higher and still
higher, with your thoughts of God!

Poor Sinner, you that have not yet laid hold on God, there is sweet
music even for you in the virgin's song. Perhaps you are saying, "I am
nothing but a lump of sin and a heap of misery." Very well. Leave the
lump of sin and the heap of misery and let Christ be your All-in-All!
Give yourself up to Christ. He is a Savior–let Him do His own
business. If a man sets up to be a lawyer and I have a case in court, I
should not think of giving him the case and then, afterwards, go into
court and begin to meddle with it for myself! If I did, he would say,
"I must drop the case if you do not let it alone."

Sometimes the idea may come into your mind that you will do something
towards saving yourself and have some share in the glory of your
salvation. If you do not get rid of that idea, you will be lost!
Surrender yourself to Christ and let Him save you! And then,
afterwards, He will work in you to will and to do of His own good
pleasure, while you shall make melody in your heart unto the Lord–and
from this harp of ten strings shall proceed such delightful music that
many shall listen with such rapture that they shall go to your Master
and take lessons in this heavenly music for themselves!

The Lord bless you, Beloved, and send you away happy in Him!

PORTION OFSCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Luke 1:39-80.