A Voice From Heaven

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from
Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from now on: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labors, and their works follow them." Revelation 14:12,13.

THE text speaks of a Voice from Heaven which said, "Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord." The witness of that voice is not needed
upon every occasion, for even the most common observer is compelled to
feel, concerning many of the righteous, that their deaths are blessed.
Balaam, with all his moral shortsightedness, could say, "Let me die the
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." That is the
case when death comes in peaceful fashion. The man has lived a calm,
godly, consistent life. He has lived as long as he could well have
wished to live and, in dying, he sees his children and his children's
children gathered around his bed.

What a fine picture the old man makes, as he sits up with that snowy
head supported by snowy pillows. Hear him as he tells his children that
goodness and mercy have followed him all the days of his life and now
he is going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever! See the seraphic
smile which lights up his face as he bids them farewell and assures
them that he already hears the harpers harping with their harps–bids
them stop those tears and weep not for him but for themselves–charges
them to follow him so far as he has followed Christ and to meet him at
the right hand of the Judge in the day of His appearing. Then the old
man, almost without a sigh, leans back and is present with the Lord!–

"Heaven waits not the last moment; Owns her friends on this side death,
And points them out to men; A lecture silent but of sovereign power! To
vice, confusion–and to virtue peace."

Even the blind bat's-eyed worldling can see that, "blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord" in such a fashion as that! Nor is it difficult
to perceive that this is the case in many other instances. We have,
ourselves, known several good men and women who were afraid of death
and were, much of their lifetime, subject to bondage. But they went to
bed and fell asleep and never woke again in this world. And as far as
appearances go, they could never have known so much as one single pang
in departure, but fell asleep among mortals to awake amid the angels!
Truly, such gentle loosing of the cable. Such fording of Jordan dry
shod. Such ascents of the celestial hills with music at every step are
desirable beyond measure! And we need no Voice out of the excellent
Glory to proclaim that blessed are the dead who in such a case die in
the Lord.

But that was not the picture which John had before his mind. It was
quite another–a picture grim and black to mortal eyes. The sounds
which meet the ear are not those of music, nor the whispered
consolations of friends, but quite the reverse. All is painful,
terrible and the very opposite of blessed, so far as strikes the eyes
and ears. Therefore it became necessary that there should be a Voice
from Heaven to say, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." I will
give you the picture. The man of God is on the rack. They are turning
that infernal machine with all their might. They have dragged every
bone from its place. They have exercised their tortures till every
nerve of his body cries with agony! He is flung into a dark and
loathsome dungeon and left there to recover strength enough to be led
in derision through the streets.

Upon his head they have placed a cap painted with devils and all his
garments they have bedizened with the resemblance of fiends and flames
of Hell. And now, with a shaveling priest on each side, holding up
before him a superstitious emblem, and bidding him adore the Virgin or
worship the cross, the good man, loaded with chains, goes through the
streets, say, of Madrid or Antwerp, to the place prepared for his
execution. "An act of faith," they call it–an auto da

fe–and an act of heroic faith it is, indeed, when the man of God takes
his place at the stake, in his shirt, with an iron chain about his
loins, and is fastened to the stake where he must stand and burn "quick
to the death."

Can you see him as they kindle the wood beneath him and the flames
begin to consume his quivering flesh till he is all ablaze and
burning–burning without a cry–though fiercely tormented by the fire?
Now assuredly is that Voice from Heaven needed, and you can hear it,
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord"–blessed even when they
die like this! "Here is the patience of the saints" and, in the esteem
of angels and of glorified spirits, such a death may, under many
aspects, be adjudged to be more blessed than the peaceful deathbed of
the saint who had some fellowship with Jesus, but was not made to drink
of His cup and to be baptized with His Baptism, as to die a painful and
ignominious death as a witness for the Truth of God.

It must have been a dreadful thing to watch the rabble rousers hurrying
to Smithfield, to stand there and see the burning of the saints. It
would have been a more fearful thing, still, if possible, to have been
in the dungeons of the Low Countries and seen the Anabaptists put to
death in secret. In a dungeon dark and pestilential there is placed a
huge vat of water–and the faithful witness to Scriptural Baptism is
drowned–drowned for following the Lamb where ever He goes! Drowned
alone–where no eyes could pity and no voice from out of the crowd
could shout a word of help and comfort. Men hear only the coarse jests
of the murderers who have given the dipper his last dip–but the ear of
faith can hear ringing through the dungeon, the Voice, "Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord."

True, through the connection of their names with a fanatic band, these
holy ancestors of ours have gained scant honor here, yet their record
is on high! Blessed they are, and blessed they shall be! Where ever on
this earth, whether among the snows of Piedmont's valleys or in the
fair fields of France, saints have died by sword or famine, or fire or
massacre, for the testimony of Jesus because they would not bear the
mark of the beast either in their forehead or in their hand, this Voice
is heard sounding out of the third heavens, "Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord." It matters not, my Brothers and Sisters, where they
die, who die in the Lord! It may be that they have not the honor of
martyrdom in man's esteem, but yet are witnesses for the Lord in
poverty and pain.

Here is the patience and here, also, is the blessedness of the saints.
Yonder poor girl lies in an attic, where the stars look between the
tiles, and the moon gleams on the ragged hangings of the pallet where
she largely suffers and, without a murmur, gradually dissolves into
death. However obscure and unknown she may be, she has been kept from
the great transgression. Tempted sorely, she has yet held fast her
purity and her integrity. Her prayers, unheard by others, have gone up
before the Lord and she dies in the Lord, saved through Jesus Christ.
None will preach her funeral sermon, but she shall not miss that Voice
from Heaven, saying, "Write, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord." We repeat it, it matters not where you die nor in what
condition–if you are in the Lord, and die in the Lord–right blessed
are you!

Now, it is quite certain that very soon every one of us must leave this
world. We know that we are no more immortal than our fellow men. Though
by a sad piece of imposition upon ourselves, we count all men mortal
but ourselves, right surely mortal we are! And each one of us shall, in
due time, pass away out of this world. The saints, themselves, must
die, though to them death is far different than to sinners. It is
greatly wise to be ready for our undressing, prepared for the sweet
sleep in Jesus. And if we are not in Christ, it is all the more
imperative upon us to consider our latter end, that we rush not forward
in the dark.

I therefore want, for a few minutes only, to disengage your mind from
the too abundant snares of this world and the thralldom of human cares,
that you may look across the border into the great future so surely
yours, perhaps so nearly yours. Oh, that you might be helped to prepare
for that future, that by such preparation, through Divine Grace, you
may be numbered among the blessed who die in the Lord! First, we shall
briefly describe their character, then mention the rest which
constitutes their blessedness, and conclude by meditating upon the
reward, which is a further part of that blessedness.

I. First, then, let us describe THE CHARACTER. "Here is the patience of
the saints." To be blessed when we die, we must be saints. By nature we
are sinners and by Divine Grace we must become saints if we would enter
Heaven, for it is the land of saints and none but saints can ever pass
its frontiers. Since death does not change character, we must be made
saints here below if we are to be saints above.

We have come to misuse the term, "saint," and apply it only to some few
of God's people. What does it mean but this–holy? Holy men and holy
women–these are saints! It is not Saint Peter and Saint John
merely–YOU are a saint,

dear Brother, if you live unto the Lord. You are a saint, my Sister,
however obscure your name, if you keep the Lord's way and walk before
Him in sincere obedience. We must be saints–and in order to be this we
must be renewed in spirit, for we are sinners by nature–we must, in
fact, be born again. All unholy and unclean, we are by nature nothing
else but sin–and we must be created anew by the power of the Holy
Spirit, or else holiness will never dwell in us.

Our loves must be changed so that we no longer love evil things, but
delight only in that which is true, generous, kind, upright, pure,
godlike. We must be changed in every faculty and power of our nature by
that same hand which first made us. And across our brows must be
written these words, "Holiness unto the Lord." The word, saint, denotes
not merely the pure in character, but those who are set apart unto
God–dedicated ones, sanctified by being devoted to holy uses–by
being, in fact, consecrated to God alone.

My dear Hearer, do you belong to God? Do you live to glorify Jesus? Can
you honestly put your hand on your heart and say, "Yes, I belong to Him
who bought me with His blood and I endeavor, by His Grace, to live as
He would have me live. I am devoted to His honor, loving my fellow men
and loving my Lord, endeavoring to be like He is in all things"? You
must be such, for, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." "But
how am I to attain to holiness?" You cannot rise to it except by Divine
strength. The Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier. Jesus, who is our
Justifier, is also made unto us sanctification and if we, by faith, lay
hold on Him, we shall find in Him all that we need. Let this be a
searching matter with everyone here present, as I desire to make it
with myself–and may God grant we may be numbered with the saints!

But the glorified are also described in our text as patient ones–"Here
is the patience of the saints," or, if you choose to render it
differently, you may lawfully do so–"Here is the endurance of the
saints." Those who are to be crowned in Heaven must bear the cross on
earth. "No cross, no crown," is still most true. Many would be saints
if everybody would encourage them. But as soon as a hard word is
spoken, they are offended. They would go to Heaven if they could travel
there amidst the hosannas of the multitude, but when they hear the cry
of, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," straightway they desert the Man of
Nazareth, for they have no intention to share His Cross, or to be
despised and rejected of men. The true saints of God are prepared to
endure scoffing, jeering and scorning–they accept this Cross of Christ
without murmuring, remembering Him who endured such contradiction of
sinners against Himself.

They know that their Brethren who went before, "resisted unto blood,
striving against sin," and as they have not yet come to that point,
they count it foul scorn that they should be ashamed or confounded in
minor trials, let their adversaries do what they may. Those who are to
sing Christ's praise in Heaven must first have been willing to bear
Christ's shame below! They must be numbered with Him in humiliation, or
they cannot expect to be partakers with Him in

Glory.

And now, dear Brothers and Sisters, how is it with us? Are we willing
to be reproached for Christ's Glory? Can we bear the sarcasm of the
wise? Can we bear the jest of the witty? Are we willing to be pointed
at as Puritanical, punctilious and precise? Do we dare to be singular
when to be singular is to be right? If we can do this, by God's Grace,
let us further question ourselves. Could we endure this ordeal if its
intensity were increased? Suppose it came to something worse–to the
thumbscrew or the rack–could we bear it, then? I sometimes fear that
many professors would cut a sorry figure if persecuting times should
come, for I observe that to be excluded from what is called, "society,"
is a great grievance to many modern Christians!

When they settle in any place, their enquiry is not, "Where can I hear
the Gospel?" but, "Which is the most fashionable place of worship?" And
the question with regard to their children is not, "Where will they
have Christian associations?" but, "How can I introduce them to
society?"–introduction to society frequently being an introduction to
temptation and the commencement of a life of levity. Oh, that all
Christians could scorn the soft witcheries of the world, for, if they
cannot, they may be sure that they will not bear its fiery breath when,
like an oven, persecution comes forth to try the saints! God grant us
Grace to have the patience of the saints–that patience of the saints
which will cheerfully suffer loss rather than do a wrong thing in
business!

God grant us that patience of the saints which will pine in poverty
sooner than yield a principle though a kingdom were at stake! That
patience of the saints which dreads not being unfashionable if the
right is reckoned so! That patience of the saints which courts no man's
smile and fears no man's frown–but can endure all things for Jesus'
sake and is resolved to do so! Can you cleave to your Lord when the
many turn aside? Can you witness that He has the Living Word and none
upon earth beside? Can you watch with Him when all forsake Him and
stand by Him when He is the butt of

ribald jest and scorn? Can you bear the sneer of science, falsely so
called, and the politer sarcasm of those who say they "doubt," but mean
that they utterly disbelieve?

Blessed is that preacher who shall be true to Christ in these evil
days! Blessed is that Church member who shall follow Christ's Word
through the mire and through the slough, over the hill and down the
dale, caring for nothing but to be true to His Master! This must be our
resolve! If we are to win the Glory, we must be faithful unto death.
God make us so! "Here is the patience of the saints"–it comes not by
nature–it is the gift of the Grace of God. Farther on these saints are
described as, "they that keep the commandments of God." This expression
is not intended, for a moment, to teach us that these people are saved
by their own merits. They are saints to begin with and in Christ to
begin with, but they prove they are in Christ by keeping the
commandments of God.

Let us search ourselves upon this matter. Brothers and Sisters, we
cannot hope to reach the end if we do not keep the way. No man is so
unwise as to think that he would reach Bristol if he were to take the
road to York. He knows that to get to a place he must follow the road
which leads there. There is a way of holiness in which the righteous
walk and this way of obedience to the Lord's commands must and will be
trodden by all who truly believe in Jesus and are justified by
faith–for faith works obedience! A good tree brings forth good fruit.
If there is no fruit of obedience to God's commands in you, or in me,
we may rest assured that the root of genuine faith in Jesus Christ is
not in us at all.

In this age the keeping of Christ's commandments is thought to be of
very little consequence. It is dreadful to think how Christians, in the
matter of the law of God's House, do not even pretend to follow Christ
and His appointments. They join a Church and they go by the law of that
Church, though that Church's rule may be clean contrary to the will of
Christ! But they answer to everything, "That is our rule, you know."
But then who has a right to make rules for you or for me, but Christ
Jesus? He is the only Legislator in the kingdom of God and by His
commands we ought to be guided. I should not, I could not, feel grieved
if Brethren arrived at contrary conclusions to mine, I being fallible
myself. But I do feel grieved when I see Brethren arrive at
conclusions, not as the result of investigation, but simply by taking
things just as they find them.

Too many professors have a happy-go-lucky style of Christianity.
Whichever happens to come first, they follow. Their fathers and mothers
were this or that, or they were brought up in such-and-such a
connection, and that decides them. They do not pray, "Lord, show me
what You would have me to do." Brothers and Sisters, these things ought
not to be! Has not the Master said, "Whoever shall break one of the
least of these, My commandments, and teach men so, the same shall be
least in the kingdom of Heaven"? I would not stand here to condemn my
fellow Christians for a moment. In so doing I should condemn myself,
also, but I plead with you, if you do, indeed, believe in Jesus, be
careful to observe all things He has commanded you, for He has said,
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you
will, and it shall be done unto you." And again, "If you love Me, keep
My commandments."

A worldling once said to a Puritan, "When so many great men make rents
in their consciences, cannot you make just a little nick in yours, for
peace sake?" "No," he said, "I must follow Christ fully." "Ah, well,"
you say, "these things are non-essential." Nothing is non-essential to
complete obedience! It may be non-essential to salvation, but it is
selfishness to say, "I will do no more than I know to be absolutely
necessary to my salvation." It is essential to a good servant to obey
his master in all things–and it is essential for the healthiness of a
Christian's soul that he should walk very carefully and prayerfully
before the Lord–otherwise he will miss the blessing of them of whom it
is said, "These are they which follow the Lamb where ever He goes." To
be blessed in death we must keep the commandments of God.

The next mark of the blessed dead is, that they kept "the faith of
Jesus." This is another point upon which I would speak thunderbolts, if
I could, for to keep the faith of Jesus is an undertaking much
ridiculed nowadays. "Doctrines," one says, "we are tired of
doctrines!"–

"For forms and creeds let graceless bigots fight, He can't be wrong
whose life is in the right." The opinion is current that to be fluent
and original is the main thing in preaching and, provided a man is a
clever orator, it is a proper thing to hear him. The Lord will wither
with the breath of His nostrils that cleverness in any man which
departs from the simplicity of the Truth of God! There is a Gospel and,
"there is also another gospel which is not another, but there are some
that trouble you." There is a yes, yes, and there is a no, no–and woe
unto those whose preaching is yes and no, for it shall not stand in the
Great Day when the Lord shall try every man's work of what sort it

is. Search, my Brothers and Sisters, and know what the Gospel is–and
when you know it, hold it–hold it as with a hand of iron and never
relax your grasp!

Grievous wolves have come in among us, wolves of another sort to what
were used to be in the Churches, yet, verily, after the same fashion
they come disguised in sheep's clothing! They use our very terms and
phrases, meaning all the while something else! They take away the
essentials and vitalities of the faith and replace them with their own
inventions, which they brag of as being more consistent with modern
thought and with the culture of this very advanced and enlightened age,
which seems by degrees to be advancing, half of it to Paganism with the
Ritualists and the other half of it to Atheism with the Rationalists.
From such advances may God save us! May we be enabled to keep the faith
and uphold the Truths of God which we know, by which, also, we are
saved!

I, for one, cannot desert the grand doctrines of the atoning blood, the
substitutionary work of Christ and the Truths which cluster around
them. And why can I not desert these things? Because my life, my peace,
my hope hang upon them. I am a lost man if there is no Substitutionary
Sacrifice, and I know it! If the Son of God did not die, "the Just for
the unjust, to bring us to God," I must be damned! And, therefore, all
the instincts of my nature cling to the faith of Jesus. How can I give
up that which has redeemed my soul and given me joy and peace and a
hope hereafter? I beseech you, do not waver in your belief, but keep
the faith, lest you be like some in old time, who "made shipwreck of
faith and a good conscience," and were utterly cast away. Woe unto
those who keep not the doctrines of the Gospel, for in due time they
forget its precepts, also, and become utterly reprobate! In departing
from Christ men forsake their own mercies both for life and death. The
blessed who die in the Lord are those who "keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus."

Notice that these people continue faithful till they die. For it is
said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Final perseverance
is the crown of the Christian life. "You did run well; what did hinder
you that you should not obey the Truth?" Vain is it to begin to
build–we must crown the edifice–or all men will deride us. Helmet and
plume, armor and sword–are all assumed for nothing unless the warrior
fights on till he has secured the victory. Those who thus entered into
rest, exercised themselves in labors for Christ. For it is said, "They
rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." The idle
Christian can have little hope of a reward. He who serves not his
Master can scarcely expect that his Master will at the last gird
Himself and serve him!

If I address any here who are not bringing forth fruit unto God, I can
say no less than this, "Every tree that brings not forth fruit is hewn
down and cast into the fire." "Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." The rule is invariable.
It must be so. If there are no works and no labors for Christ, no
suffering or patient endurance, we lack the main evidence of being the
people of God at all! To close this description of character, these
people who die in the Lord were in the Lord. That is the great point!
They could not have died in the Lord if they had not lived in the Lord.

But are we in the Lord? Is the Lord, by faith, in us? Dear Hearer, are
you resting upon Jesus Christ only? Is He all your salvation and all
your desire? What is your reply to my enquiry? You are not perfect, but
Jesus is! Are you hanging upon Him as the vessel hangs upon the nail?
You cannot expect to stand before God with acceptance in yourself, but
are you, "accepted in the Beloved"? That is the question–"accepted in
the Beloved." Are you in Christ, and is Christ in you by real vital
union–by a faith that is the gift of God and the work of the Holy
Spirit in your soul? Answer, I charge you, for if you cannot answer
these things before one of your own flesh and blood, how will you
answer in your soul when the Lord, Himself shall come?

II. So much with regard to the character. And now a very few words with
regard to THE BLESSEDNESS which is ascribed to those who die in the
Lord. "They rest from their labors." By this is meant that the saints
in Heaven rest from such labors as they performed here. No doubt they
fulfill service in Heaven. It would be an unhappy Heaven in which there
should be nothing for our activities to spend themselves upon. But such
labors as we can do here will not fall to our lot there. There we shall
not teach the ignorant, or rebuke the erring, or comfort the
desponding, or help the needy.

There we cannot oppose the teacher of error, or do battle against the
tempter of youth. There no little children can be gathered at our knee
and trained for Jesus. No sick ones can be visited with the Word of
comfort, no backsliders led back, no young converts confirmed, no
sinners converted. They rest from such labors as these in Heaven. They
rest from their labors in the sense that they are no longer subject to
the toil of labor. Whatever they do in Heaven will yield then

refreshment and never cause them weariness. As some birds are said to
rest upon the wing, so do the saints find, in holy activity, their
serenest repose. They serve Him day and night in His Temple and therein
they rest.

Even as on earth, by wearing our Lord's yoke, we find rest unto our
souls, so in the perfect obedience of Heaven, complete repose is found.
They rest, also, from the woe of labor, for I find the word has been
read by some, "they rest from their wailing." The original is a word
which signifies to beat and, therefore, as applied to beating on the
breast it indicates sorrow. But the beating may signify conflict with
the world, or labor in any form. The sorrow of work for Jesus is over
with for all the blessed dead. Nothing is allowed to approach to molest
their sweet peace. They shall no more say that they are sick, neither
shall adversity afflict them. Their rest is perfect.

I do not know whether the idea of rest is cheering to all of you, but
to some of us whose work exceeds our strength, it is full of
pleasantness. Some have bright thoughts of service hereafter and I hope
we all have, but to those who have more to do for Christ than the weary
brain can endure–the prospect of a rest has in it the ocean of rest
and very pleasant. They rest from their labors. To the servant of the
Lord it is very sweet to think that when we reach our heavenly home we
shall rest from the faults of our labors. We shall make no mistakes
there! We shall never use too strong language or mistaken words, nor
err in spirit, nor fail through excess or lack of zeal. We shall rest
from all that which grieves us in the retrospect of our service.

Our holy things up there will not need to be wept over, though now they
are daily salted with our tears. We shall, there, rest from the
discouragements of our labor. There, no cold-hearted Brethren will damp
our ardor, or accuse us of evil motives. No desponding Brethren will
warn us that we are rash when our faith is strong and obstinate when
our confidence is firm. None will pluck us by the sleeve and hold us
back when we would run the race with all our might. None will chide us
because our way is different from theirs–and none will foretell
disaster and defeat when we confidently know that God will give us the
victory. We shall also rest from the disappointments of labor. Dear
Brother ministers, we shall not have to go home and tell our Lord that
none have believed our report!

We shall not go to our beds sleepless because certain of our members
are walking inconsistently and others of them are backsliding, while
those that we thought were converted have gone back again to the world.
Here we must sow in tears–there we shall reap in joy! There we shall
wear the crown, or rather cast it at our Master's feet. But here we
must plunge deep into the sea to fetch up the pearls from the depths,
that they may be set in His diadem. Here we labor, there we shall enjoy
the fruits of toil where no blight or mildew can endanger the harvest.
It will be a sweet thing to get away to Heaven, I am sure, to rest from
all contentions among our fellow Christians. One of the hardest parts
of Christ's service is to follow peace and to maintain His Truth at the
same time.

He is a wise chemist who can, in due proportions, blend the pure and
the peaceable. He is no mean philosopher who can duly balance the
duties of affection and faithfulness and show us how to smite the sin
and love the sinner–to denounce the error and yet to cultivate
affection for the Brother who has fallen into it. We shall not
encounter this difficulty in yon bright world of Truth and Love, for
both we and our Brethren shall be fully taught of the Lord in all
things! We shall be free from the clouds and mists of doubt which now
cover the earth and clear of the demon spirits which seek to ruin men's
souls beneath the shadow of deadly falsehood. Blessed be God for this
prospect! It will be joy, indeed, to meet no one but a saint! To speak
with none but those who use the language of Canaan! To commune with
none but the sanctified! Truly blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord, if they reach to such as this–

"To this our laboring souls aspire, With ardent pangs of strong
desire." "Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem."

III. The last matter for our consideration is THE REWARD of the blessed
dead–"They rest from their labors and their works do follow them."
They do not go before them–they have a Forerunner infinitely superior
to their works, for Jesus and His finished work have led the way. "I
go," He says, "to prepare a place for you." In effect He says to us,
"Not your works, but Mine. Not your tears, but My blood. Not your
efforts, but My finished work shall lead the van." How, then, do our
works come? Do they march at our right hand or our left as subjects of
cheering contemplation? No, no, we dare not take them as companions to
comfort us!

They follow us at our heels. They keep behind us out of sight and we,
ourselves, in our desires after holiness, always outmarch them. The
Christian should always keep his best services behind, always going
beyond them, and never setting

them before his eyes as objects for congratulation. The preacher should
labor to preach the best sermons possible, but he must never have them
before him so as to cause him, in self-satisfaction, to say, "I have
done well." Nor should he have them by his side, as if he rested in
them, or leaned upon them–for this were to make antichrists of them.
No, let them come behind! That is their proper place. Believers know
where to put good works–they do not despise them, they never say a
word to depreciate the Law, or undervalue the Graces of the Holy
Spirit–but still they dare not put their holiest endeavors in the
place of Christ. Jesus goes before, works follow after.

Note well, that the works are in existence and are
mentioned–immortality and honor belong to them. The works of godly men
are not insignificant or unimportant as some seem to think. They are
not forgotten, they are not as the sere leaves of last year's summer.
They are full of life and bloom profusely. They follow the saints as
they ascend to Heaven, even as the silver trail follows in the wake of
the vessel. I pictured, just now, a man burning at the stake. His
enemies thought they had destroyed his work, but they only deepened its
hold upon the age in which he suffered–and projected his influence
into the effect for ages to come! They made a pile of his books and, as
they blazed before his eyes, they said, "There is an end of you and
your heresies."

Ah, what fools men have become! Truth is not vanquished with such
weapons, no, nor so much as wounded! Think of the case of Wycliffe,
which I need not repeat to you. They threw his ashes into the
brook–the brook carried them to the river and the river to the
sea–till every wave bore its portion of the precious relics, just as
the influence of his preaching has been felt on every shore!
Persecutors concluded beyond all question that they had made an end of
a good man's teaching when they had burned him and thrown away his
ashes–but they forgot that the Truth of God often gathers a more
vigorous life from the death of the man who speaks it–and books once
written have an immortality which laughs at fire!

Thousands of infidel and heathen works have gone, so that not a copy is
to be found–I hope they never may be unearthed from the salutary
oblivion which entombs them–but books written for the Master and His
Truth, though buried in obscurity, are sure of a resurrection! Fifty
years ago our old Puritan authors' writings, yellow with age and
arrayed in dingy bindings, wandered about in sheep-skins and
goat-skins, destitute, afflicted, tormented–but they have been brought
forth in new editions! Every library is enriched with them! The most
powerful religious thought is affected by their utterances and will be
till the end of time! You cannot kill a good man's work, nor a good
woman's work, either, though it is only the teaching of a few children
in Sunday school. You do not know to whom you may be teaching Christ,
but assuredly you are sowing seed which will blossom and flower in the
far off ages.

When Mrs. Wesley taught her sons, little did she think what they would
become. You do not know who may be in your class, my young Friend. You
may have there a young Whitfield and, if the Lord enables you to lead
him to Jesus, he will bring thousands to decision. Yes, at your breast,
good woman, there may be hanging one whom God will make a burning and a
shining light! And if you train that little one for Jesus, your work
will never be lost. No holy tear is forgotten, it is in God's bottle.
No desire for another's good is wasted, God has heard it.

A word spoken for Jesus, a mite cast into Christ's treasury, a gracious
line written to a friend–all these are things which shall last when
yonder sun has blackened into a coal and the moon has curdled into a
clot of blood. Deeds done in the power of the Spirit are eternal!
Therefore, "Be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord." Good works follow Christians and they will be rewarded. The
rewards of Heaven will be all of Grace, but there will be rewards. You
cannot read the Scripture without perceiving that the Lord, first,
gives us good works, and then, in His Grace, rewards us for them! There
is a, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and there is a
proportionate allotment of reward to the man who was faithful with five
talents and the man who was faithful with two.

You who live for Jesus may be quite certain that your life will be
recompensed in the world to come. I repeat it, the reward will not be
of debt, but of Grace–but a reward there will be. Oh, the joy of
knowing, when you are gone, that the Truth of God you preached is still
living! I think the Apostles, since they have been in Heaven, must
often have looked down on the world and marveled at the work which God
helped 12 poor fishermen to do! And they must have felt a growing
blessedness as they have seen nations converted by the Truth which they
preached in feebleness. What must be the joy of a pastor in Glory to
find his spiritual children coming in, one by one! I think, if I may, I
shall go down to the gate and linger there to look for some of you.
Yes, not a few shall I welcome as my children there, blessed be the
name of the Lord, and what a joy it will be!

You teachers–you, my good Sister, who has brought so many to Christ–I
cannot but believe that it shall multiply your Heaven to see your dear
ones entering it! You will have a Heaven in every one of those whose
feet you guided there! You will joy in their joy and praise the Lord in
their praise. No, no, the good old cause shall never die and the Truth
of God shall never perish! As I have lately read many hard things that
have been spoken against the Gospel, and as in going up and down
throughout this land I have seen the nation wholly given to idolatry, I
have felt something of the spirit of the Pole who, wherever he wanders,
says to himself, "No, Poland, you shall never perish!" Despite the
darkness and ill-savor of the times, the Gospel nears its triumph. It
can never perish!

Great men may fall, great reputations may grow obscure, grand
philosophies may be cast into the shade, monstrous infidelities may win
popularity and old superstitions may come back, again, to darken us,
but Your Cross, Emmanuel, Your pure and simple Gospel, the faith our
fathers loved and died for, must continue to be earth's brightest
light–her daystar–till the day dawns and the shadows flee away! The
vessel of the Church can never be wrecked! She rocks and reels in the
mad tempest, but she is sound from stem to stern, and her Pilot steers
her with a hand Omnipotently wise! Her bow is in the wave, but look,
she divides the sea and shakes off the mountainous billows as a lion
shakes the dew from his mane! Fiercer storms than those of the present
have beat upon her and yet she has kept her eye to the wind–and in the
very teeth of Hell's tremendous tempests she has plowed her glorious
way!

And so she will till she reaches her appointed haven. The Lord lives
and the Lord reigns, and Christ from the Cross has gone to the
Throne–from Gethsemane and Golgotha up to Glory–and all power is
given unto Him in Heaven and in earth. We have nothing to do but to go
on preaching the Gospel and baptizing in His name, according to His
bidding. And the day shall come when the might shall be with the right
and the Truth–and the right hand of Jesus with the iron rod shall
break His adversaries and reward His friends.

The Lord acknowledges every one of us who are on His side, but if we
are not on His side, oh, that we may speedily become so by repentance
and faith! May the Lord turn us and we shall be turned, for if,
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord," depend upon it, cursed
are they that die out of Christ–yes, cursed with a curse–and their
works shall follow them or go before them, unto judgement, to their
condemnation! May Infinite Mercy save us from being howled at by our
works in the next world, save us from being hunted down by the wolves
of our past sins risen from the dead! Remember, unless we are forgiven,
our transgressions will rise from the grave of forgetfulness and gather
around us, and tear us in pieces–and there shall be none to deliver.

May we fly, even now, to Jesus, and through faith in His blood be
delivered from all evil, that we also may have it said of us, "Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord." The Lord bless you for Christ's
sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Revelation 16. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–878, 853, 852.