Life’s Need and Maintenance

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 18, 1876,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"None can keep alive his own soul" Psalm 22:29.

WE must commence by noticing the connection so that we may arrive at
the first meaning of the words. There is a day coming when the true God
will be acknowledged as Lord and God by all mankind, for the 27th verse
tells us–"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the
Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before You." In
that day the greatest of men will bow before Him. The verse from which
we cull our text says, "All they that are fat upon earth shall eat and
worship." The prosperous ones, those who have grown rich and great,
shall receive good at the hands of the Savior and shall rejoice to
adore Him as the Author of their fatness! Kings shall acknowledge Him
as their King and lords accept him as their Lord.

Then shall not only the riches of life, but the poverty of death, also,
render Him homage, for as men shall go down to the dust of the grave,
in their feebleness and weakness they shall look up to Him for strength
and solace, and shall find it sweet to worship Him in death. Men shall
know that the keys of death are in His hands. "All they that go down to
the dust shall bow before Him," and it shall be known all the world
over that the issues of life are in the hands of Jesus Christ. They
shall understand that He is appointed as Mediator to rule over all
mortal things, for the government shall be upon His shoulders. He shall
open and no man shall shut, and shut and no man shall open, for it is
His Sovereign prerogative to kill and to make alive. "None can keep
alive his own soul."

I pass on from this meaning with the hopeful belief that this
dispensation is not to end, as some suppose, without the conquest of
the world to Christ. Surely "all kings shall bow before Him, all
nations shall serve Him." The shame of the Cross shall be followed by
honor and glory–"men shall be blessed in Him, all nations shall call
Him blessed." The conviction grows with me every day, the more I read
the Scriptures, that the disheartening views of some interpreters are
not true, but that before the whole of prophecy shall be worked into
history, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of His Christ.

Leaving this, we come to consider a more spiritual meaning which we
believe to be as truly the sense of the passage as the other. You will
notice, if you read the Psalm carefully, when you come to its close,
that our Savior seems to delight Himself in being made food for the
saved ones among the sons of men. In the 26th verse He says, "The meek
shall eat and be satisfied." Here, He is thinking of the poor among
men, to whom He has ever been the source of abounding comfort. To them
His Gospel has been preached and thousands of them have found, in Him,
food for their souls which has satisfied them, filled their months with
praise and made their hearts live forever.

The poor from the highways and hedges feast to the full at His royal
table! Yes, the blind, the cripple and the lame– the very beggars of
the streets–are among His household guests! Christ is very mindful of
the poor and needy. He redeems their soul from deceit and violence, and
their blood is precious in His sight. Especially do the poor in spirit
feed on Jesus. Over them He pronounced the first benediction of the
Sermon on the Mount and of them He declares, "theirs is the kingdom of
Heaven." What a feast do poor perishing spirits enjoy in Jesus when His
flesh becomes to them meat, indeed, and His blood is drink, indeed!

Nor is this all the feeding upon Christ, for in the 29th verse we hear
of it again. Not only the poor feed upon the Bread of Heaven, but the
great, the rich and the strong live upon Him, too–"all they that are
fat upon earth shall eat and worship." There is no other way of life
for them, for, "none can keep alive his own soul." The saints, too,
when they have grown in Grace. When they have satisfied their hunger
and are fat and flourishing in the courts of the Lord's House, must
still eat of the same heavenly food. The fat need Jesus as much as the
lean, the strong as much as the feeble, for none

can do without Him–"none can keep alive his own soul." Thus the rich
and the poor meet together and Jesus is the Food of them all. The empty
and the full, alike, draw near to the Redeemer's fullness and receive
Grace for Grace.

Among those who feel their need of Jesus, there are some of a mournful
type of character who count themselves ready to perish. They dare not
number themselves among the meek who shall eat and be satisfied, much
less could they think of themselves as the fat upon earth who shall eat
and worship. No, they stand back from the feast as utterly unworthy to
draw near. They dare not believe themselves to be spiritually alive
unto God. They reckon themselves among those that go down into the Pit.
They bear the sentence of death in themselves and are prisoners under
bondage through fear. Their sense of sin and personal unworthiness is
so conspicuous–and so painful–that they are afraid to claim the
privileges of the living in Zion.

They fear that their faith is expiring, their love is dying out, their
hope is withered and their joy departed. They compare themselves to the
smoking flax and think themselves to be even more offensive than the
nauseous smell given forth by the smoking wick. To such comes the Word
which precedes my text–"They that go down to the dust shall bow before
Him." Christ shall be worshipped, even by them! Their last moments
shall be cheered by His Presence. When, through depression of spirit,
through the assaults of Satan and through inability to see the work of
the Spirit in their souls, they shall be brought so low as to be down
to the dust, they shall be lifted up from their misery and made to
rejoice in the Lord, their Redeemer, who will say to them–"Shake
yourself from the dust. Arise and sit down. Loose yourself from the
bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion."

When souls are thus brought down, they begin to learn for themselves
that, "none can keep alive his own soul." A poor broken-hearted spirit
knows this, for he fears that the inner filth within his soul is at its
last gasp, and he is afraid that his faith, love and all his graces
will be as bones scattered at the grave's mouth. But then he learns
what I trust we shall believe at this time without such a painful
experience to teach it to us, namely, that none of us can keep our own
soul alive, but that we must have food continually from above and
visitations of the Lord to preserve our spirits. Our life is not in
ourselves, but in our Lord!

Apart from Him we could not exist spiritually, even for a moment. We
cannot keep our own soul alive as to Divine Grace. That is to be the
subject of this morning's meditation and may the Holy Spirit render it
profitable to us!

I. The first point of consideration out of which the rest will come is
this–THE INNER LIFE MUST BE SUSTAINED BY GOD. We are absolutely
dependent upon God for the preservation of our spiritual life. We, all
of us, know that none of us can make his own soul live. You have
destroyed yourself, but you can not make yourself live again. Spiritual
life must always be the gift of God–it must come from without–it
cannot arise from within. Between the ribs of death, life never takes
its birth. How could it? Shall the ocean beget fire, or darkness create
light? You shall go to the morgue as long as you please, but, unless
the trumpet of the Resurrection shall sound there, the dry bones will
remain in their corruption. The sinner is "dead in trespasses and sins"
and he will never have even so much as a right desire towards God, nor
a pulse of spiritual life, until Jesus Christ, who is "the Resurrection
and the Life," shall quicken him.

Now, it is important for us to remember that we are as much dependent
upon the Lord Jesus and the power of His Spirit for being kept alive as
we were for being made alive in the first place. "None can keep alive
his own soul." Do you remember when you first hung upon Christ for
everything? That same dependence must be exercised every day of your
life, for there is need of it. You remember your former nakedness, your
poverty, your emptiness, your misery, your death, apart from Christ?
Remember that the case is not one whit better if you could now be
separated from sin. If now you have any Grace, or any holiness, or any
love, you derive it entirely from Him and from moment to moment His
Grace must be continued to you. For if connection between you and
Christ should by any possibility be severed, you would cease to live
spiritually. That is the Truth of God we want to bring forward.

Here let us remark that this is not at all inconsistent with the
undying nature of the spiritual life. When we were born-again there was
imparted to us a new and higher nature called the spirit. This is a
fruit of the Spirit of God and it can never die. It is an
"incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever." When it is
imparted to the soul it makes us partakers of the Divine Nature. And it
keeps us, so that the Evil One touches us not so as utterly to destroy
us. Yet this fact is quite consistent with the assertion that we cannot
keep our own soul alive, for it is because the Lord keeps us alive. The
newborn nature is safe because the Lord protects it–it survives the
deadly influences of the world because the Lord continues to quicken
it.

Our new nature is united to the Person of Christ and we live because He
lives. We are not kept alive by independent power, but by perpetual
renewal from the Lord. This is true of every man living. "None can keep
alive his own soul"– no, not one. You young people think, perhaps,
that old Christians get on better than you do. You imagine that their
experience preserves them, but, indeed, they cannot keep their own
souls alive anymore than you can! You tried and tempted ones sometimes
look with envy upon those who dwell at ease, as though their
spirituality was self-supporting! But no, they cannot keep their own
souls alive anymore than you can! You know your own difficulties, but
you do not know those of others. Rest assured, however, that to all men
there are these difficulties and that no man can keep his own soul
alive.

This is the Truth of God at all times–at no one moment can we keep
ourselves alive. While sitting in this House of Prayer you may dream
that assuredly you can keep yourself here, but it is not so. You might
sin the foulest of sins in your heart while sitting here! And you might
grieve the Holy Spirit and cloud your life for years while worshipping
among the people of God. You are not able to keep your own soul alive
in your happiest and holiest moments! From your knees you might rise to
blaspheme and from the Communion Table you might go to the seat of the
scorner if you were left to yourself–

"All our strength at once would fail us, If deserted, Lord, by You.
Nothing, then, could use us, Certain our defeat would be And those who
hate us Their desires would see."

I seldom find myself so much in danger as when I have been in close
communion with God. After the most ecstatic devotion, one is hardly
prepared for the coarse temptations of this wicked world. When we come
down, like Moses from the mountain, if we encounter open sin we are apt
to grow indignant and break all the commandments in the vehemence of
our wrath. The sudden change from the highest and holiest
contemplations to the trifles and vexations of earth subjects the soul
to so severe a trial that the poet did well say–

"We should suspect some danger near When we perceive too much delight."
Even when our delight is of a spiritual kind we need to be on our guard
after having been filled with it–for then Satan avails himself of the
opportunity. We are never safe unless the Lord keeps us.

If we could take you, my Brothers and Sisters, and place you in the
society of saints. Give you to keep perpetual Sundays, make every meal
a sacrament and set you nothing to say or do but what should be
directly calculated to promote the glory of God, yet even then you
could not keep your own soul alive! Adam in perfection could not keep
himself in Paradise! How can his imperfect children be so proud as to
rely upon their own steadfastness? Among angels there were those who
kept not their first estate. How shall man, then, hope to stand unless
he is held up? Why is this? How do we know that our text is true?

We gather arguments from the analogies of Nature. We do not find that
we can keep our own bodies alive. We need Divine preservation, or
disease and death will deftly make us their prey. We are not
self-contained as to this mortal existence, any one of us, no, not for
five minutes can we live upon ourselves. Take away the atmospheric air
and who could keep himself alive? The heaving lungs need their portion
of air and if they cannot be satisfied, man soon becomes a corpse!
Deprive us of food–leave us for a week without meat or drink–and see
if we can keep our natural body alive. Take away from us the means of
warmth in the time when God's cold rules the year and death would soon
ensue.

Now, if the physical life is not to be sustained by itself, much less
can the higher and spiritual life! It must have food. It must have the
Spirit to sustain it. The Scriptures present to us this figure of the
body which dies if severed from the vital organs, and of the branch
which is dried up if cut off from the stem. Toplady versifies the
thought and sings–

"Quickened by You, and kept alive, I flourish and bear fruit. My life,
I from Your sap derive, My vigor from your root. "I can do nothing
without You!

My strength is wholly Yours. Withered and barren should I be If severed
from the Vine."

Yonder lamp burns well, but its future shining is dependent upon a
fresh supply of oil. The ship in rapid motion borrows force from the
continuance of the wind, but the sails hang idle if the gale ceases.
The river is full to the bank, but if the clouds should never again
pour out their floods it would become a dry trail. All things depend on
others and the whole upon the Great Supreme! Nothing is self-sustained!
Unless God, Himself, sustains it, no being exists. Even immortal souls
are only so because He has set His seal upon them and declared that
they shall inherit eternal life, or in consequence of sin shall sink
into everlasting punishment. Hence we are sure that "none can keep
alive his own soul."

But we need not rely upon analogy, we can put the matter to the test.
Could any Believer among us keep any one of His graces alive? You,
perhaps, are a sufferer and, up to now you have been enabled to be
patient. But suppose the Lord Jesus should withdraw His Presence from
you and your pains should return again? Ah, where will your patience
be? Or, I will suppose you are a worker and you have done great things
for the Lord. Like Samson you have been exceedingly strong. But let the
Lord be once withdrawn and leave you to attempt His work alone and you
will soon discover that you are as weak as other men and will utterly
fail!

Holy joy, for instance, take that as a specimen. Did you rejoice in the
Lord, this morning, when you awoke? It is very sweet to wake up and
hear the birds singing within your heart. But you cannot maintain that
joy, no, not even for an hour, do what you will. "All my fresh springs
are in You," my God, and if I am to joy and rejoice, You must anoint me
continually with the oil of gladness! Have you not, sometimes, thought
in the morning, "I feel so peaceful and calm, so resigned to the Divine
will. I think I shall be able to keep up this placid spirit all day
long." Perhaps you have done so and, if so, I know you have praised God
for it. But if you have become perturbed, you have learned, again, that
to will is present with you, but how to perform that which you would,
you find not.

Well, if for any one fruit of the Spirit we are dependent upon the
Lord, how much more will this be true as to the essential life from
which each of these Graces springs? This Truth of God is equally
illustrated by our need of help in every act of the Divine life. Dear
Friends, have you ever tried what it is to perform any spiritual act
apart from the Divine power? What a dull, dead affair it becomes! What
a mechanical thing prayer is without the Spirit of God! It is a
parrot's noise and nothing more! It is a weariness, a slavish drudgery.
How sweet it is to pray when the Spirit gives us feeling, unction,
access with boldness, pleading power, faith, expectancy and full
fellowship! But if the Spirit of God is absent from us in prayer, our
infirmities prevail against us, and our supplication loses all
prevalence.

Did you ever resolve to praise God and come into the congregation where
the sweetest Psalms were being sent to Heaven? Could you praise God
till the Holy Spirit came like a Divine Wind and loosened the fragrance
of the flowers of your soul? You know you could not! You used the
sacred Words of the sweet singers of Israel, but hosannas languished on
your tongue and your devotion died. I know that it is dreadful work to
be bound to preach when one is not conscious of the aid of the Spirit
of God! It is like pouring water out of bottomless buckets, or feeding
hungry souls out of empty baskets! A true sermon such as God will
bless, no man can preach of himself! He might as well try to sound the
archangel's trumpet. We must have You, O blessed Spirit, or we fail! O
God, we must have Your power, or every action that we perform is but
the movement of a robot and not the acceptable act of a living,
spiritual man!

Have you ever, dear Friends, had to know that you cannot keep alive
your own soul by your own blundering and failures when you have
resolved to be very wise and correct? Did you ever get into a
self-sufficient state and say, "Now, I shall never fall into that
temptation, again, for I am the burnt child that dreads the fire"? And
yet into that very sin you have fallen! Have you not said, "Well, I
understand that business. There is no need to wait upon God for
direction in so simple a matter, for I am well up in every particular
relating to it and I can manage the affair very well"? And have you not
acted as foolishly in the whole concern as the Israelites did in the
affair of the Gibeonites, when they were deceived by the old shoes and
clothes and the moldy bread, and asked no counsel of the Lord? I tell
you, our strength, whenever we have any, is our greatest weakness! And
our fancied wisdom is our real folly.

When we are weak we are strong! When, in a sense of entire dependence
upon God, we dare not trust ourselves, we are both wise and safe! Go,
young man, even you who are a zealous Christian–go without your
morning prayer, into the house of business–and see what will befall
you! Venture, my Sister, down into your little family without having

called upon God for guidance and see what you will do! Go with a strong
resolve that you will never be guilty of the weakness which dishonored
you a few days ago–and depend upon the strength of your own will and
the firmness of your own purpose–and see if you do not, before long,
discover to your shame how great your weakness is! No, try none of
these experiments, but listen to the Word which tells you, "None can
keep alive his own soul."

And now, should any think that he can keep his own soul alive, let me
ask him to look at the enemies which surround him. A sheep in the midst
of wolves is safe compared with the Christian in the midst of ungodly
men! The world waylays us, the devil assaults us! Behind every bush
there lurks a foe. A spark in mid ocean is not more beset, a worm is
not more defenseless. If the sight of foes without are not enough to
make us confess our danger, look at the foes within. There is enough
within your soul, O Christian, though you are one of the best of
saints, to destroy you in an hour unless the Grace of God guards you
and keeps your passions in check–and prevents your stubborn will from
asserting its own rebellious determinations.

Oh, what a powder keg the human heart is, even at its best! If some of
us have not been blown up, it has been because Providence has kept away
the sparks, rather than because of there being any lack of powder
within. Oh, may God keep us, for if He leaves us, we need no devil to
destroy us–we shall prove devils to ourselves–we shall need no
tempters except the lusting after evil which now conceals itself so
craftily within our own bosom! Certainly, dear Brothers and Sisters, we
may be quite sure that "none can keep alive his own soul" when we
remember that in the Gospel, provision is made for keeping our soul
alive! The Holy Spirit is given that He may continually quicken and
preserve us–and Jesus Christ, Himself, lives, that we may live, also.

To what purpose would be all the splendid provisions and the special
safeguards of the Covenant of Grace for the preservation of the
spiritual life, if that spiritual life could preserve itself? Why does
the Lord declare, "I, the Lord, do keep it," if it can keep itself? The
granaries of Egypt, so full of corn, remind us that there is a famine
in the land of Canaan! The treasures laid up in Christ Jesus assure us
that we are in need of them! God's supplies are never superfluous, but
are meant to meet real needs. Let us, then, all acknowledge that no man
among us can keep alive his own soul.

II. This brings me, secondly and briefly, to notice that THIS TRUTH
BRINGS GLORY TO CHRIST. "None can

keep alive his own soul." Weak-minded professors are prone to trust in
man, but they have, here, an evident warning against such folly! How
can they trust in a man who cannot keep alive his own soul? Shall I
crouch at the feet of my fellow man and ask him to hear my confession
and absolve me when I know that he cannot keep alive his own soul?
Shall I look up to him and call him, "father in God," and expect to
receive Divine Grace from the laying on of his hands, when I learn that
he is a weak, sinful being like myself?

He cannot keep alive his own soul! What can he do for me? If he lives
before God, he has to live upon the daily charity of the Most
High–what can he have to give me? Oh, look not to your fellow virgins
for the oil of Grace, for they have not enough for themselves! And
whatever name a man may dare to take, whether it is priest, "Father,"
or Pope– look not to him–but look to JESUS in whom all fullness
dwells! The Glory which accrues to Christ from our daily dependence is
seen in His becoming to us our daily Bread. His flesh is meat, indeed,
and His blood is drink, indeed! And we must feed upon these continually
or die! Eating is not an operation to be performed only once, but
throughout life, and so we have to go to Jesus again and again and find
sustenance in Him as long as life lasts.

Beloved, we honored our Master when He first saved us–and through
being daily dependent upon Him we are led to honor Him every day. If
our hearts are right, we shall honor Him more and more every day, as we
more and more perceive our indebtedness to Him. He is our daily Bread
upon which we feed continually, and the Living Water of which we
continually drink. He is the light which everlastingly shines upon us.
He is, in fact, our All in All daily to us and all this prevents our
forgetting Him. As at the first He saved us, so He still saves us! And
as at the first we prized Him, we still prize Him. More than that, as
our life is maintained, not only by Him, but by our abiding in union
with Him, this leads us to abide in love towards Him. Union is the
source of communion and love.

The wife remains a happy wife by loving fellowship with her husband.
When the betrothed one is married to her beloved, the wedding day is
not the end of it all. The putting on of the ring is the beginning, not
the end. And so, when we believe in Jesus, we are saved, but we must
not idly feel, "it is all done, now." No, it is only just begun! Now is
the life of dependence, the life of faith, the life of obedience, the
life of love, the life of union commenced and it is to be continued
forever! This makes us love, honor and adore our Lord Jesus, since we
only live by being one with Him. We have, also, to

remember that our life is daily supported by virtue of what the living
Redeemer is still doing for us, as well as by receiving the fruit of
His death and of our spiritual union with Him.

He ever lives to make intercession for us and, therefore, He is "able
to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him." The life of
the ascended Redeemer is intimately bound up with our life–"Because I
live, you shall live, also." How this honors Christ, for we are thus
led to realize a living Savior, and to love Him as a living, breathing,
acting Person. It is a pity when men only think of a dead Savior, or of
a baby Savior carried in the Virgin's arms, as the Church of Rome does.
It is our joy to have a LIVING Christ, for while He lives, we cannot
die! And while He pleads, we cannot be condemned! Thus we are led to
remember Him as a living Savior and to give Him honor He is due.

But oh, my Brothers and Sisters, what must be the fullness of Christ
when all the Grace which the saints have must come out of Him and, not
merely all they have had, but all they obtain every day comes from Him?
If there is any virtue. If there is any praise. If there is anything
heavenly. If there is anything Divine–all this of His fullness have we
received and Grace for Grace! What must be that power which protects
and preserves millions of saints from temptation and keeps them amid
perils as many as the sands of the sea? What must be that patience
which watches over the frail children of God in all their weaknesses
and wanderings, in all their sufferings, in all their infirmities? What
must be His Grace which covers all their sins and what His strength
which supports them under all their trials? What must the Fountainhead
be, when the streams which flow to any one of us are so deep that we
cannot fathom them, so broad that we cannot measure them?

Yet millions of happy spirits are, each one, receiving as much as any
one of us may be, and still there is a fullness abiding in Christ the
same as before, for it has pleased the Father that in Him should all
fullness dwell! Not a saint lives a moment apart from Him, for, "None
can keep alive his own soul." The cries of babes in Grace and the
shouts of strong men who divide the spoil all come from the life which
He lends and the strength which He gives! Between the gates of Hell and
the gates of Heaven in all those pilgrims whose faces are towards the
royal city–all the life is Christ's life and all the strength is
Christ's strength–and He is in them, working in them to will and to do
of His own good pleasure! Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus who
thus supplies all His people! Does not this display the exceeding
riches of His Grace?

III. Thirdly and practically, THIS SUBJECT SUGGESTS THE PATH OF WISDOM
FOR OURSELVES. "None

can keep alive his own soul." Then, my dear Brothers and Sisters, what
manner of persons ought we to be? Let me have your earnest thoughts on
this point for a minute. Do not let anyone among us look back to a
certain day and say, "On that occasion I was regenerated and converted,
and that is enough." I fear that some of you get into a very bad
condition by saying, "If I can prove that I was converted on
such-and-such a day, that will do."

This is altogether unjustifiable talk! Conversion is a turning onto the
right road–the next thing is to walk in it. The daily going on in that
road is as essential as the beginning if you would reach the desired
end. To strike the first blow is not all the battle–to him that
overcomes the crown is promised! To start in the race is nothing. Many
have done that who have failed! But to hold out till you reach the
winning post is the great point of the matter. Perseverance is as
necessary to a man's salvation as conversion. Remember this, you not
only need Grace to begin with, but Grace with which to live in Christ
Jesus.

Learn, also, that we should diligently use all those means whereby the
Lord communicates fresh support to our life. A man does not say, "Well,
I was born on such-and-such a day, that is enough for me." No, the good
man needs his daily meals to maintain his existence. Being alive, his
next consideration is to stay alive and, therefore, he does not neglect
eating nor any operation which is essential to life. So you, dear
Friends, must labor for the meat which endures to eternal life–you
must feed on the Bread of Heaven. Study the Scriptures daily–I hope
you do not neglect that. Be much in private prayer–your life cannot be
healthy if the Mercy Seat is neglected. Do not forsake the assembling
of yourselves together, as is the manner of some. Be eager to hear the
Word of God and endeavor both to understand and practice it.

Gather with God's people in their many spiritual meetings, when they
join in prayer and praise, for these are healthful means of sustaining
the inner life. If you neglect these, you cannot expect that Grace will
be strong within you–you may even question if there is any life at
all. Still, remember that even if a man should eat and drink, that
would not keep him alive without the power of God! Many die with whom
there is no lack either of air or food. You must, therefore, look
beyond the outward means, to God, Himself, to preserve your soul. Let
it be your daily prayer, "Oh Savior, by whom I began to live, daily
enable me to look to You that I may draw continuous life from Your
wounds and live because You live." Take these things home and practice
them.

Keep, dear Friends, also, clear of everything which has a tendency to
destroy life. A sane man does not willingly take poison. If he knew it,
he would not touch the cup in which it had been contained. We are
careful to avoid any adulteration in our food which might be injurious
to life and health. We have our chemists busily at work to analyze
liquids, lest inadvertently we should imbibe death in the water which
we drink. Brethren, let us be equally careful as to our souls! Keep
your chemist at work analyzing the things of this life. Let conscience
and understanding fit up their laboratory and prove all things. Analyze
the sermon of the eloquent preacher lest you drink in novelties of
doctrine and falsehoods because he happens to put them prettily before
you.

Analyze each book you read lest you should become tainted with error
while you are interested with the style and manner, smartness and
elegance of your author. Analyze the company you keep. Test and try
everything lest you should be committing spiritual suicide, or
carelessly squandering life away. Ask the Lord, the preserver of men,
above all things, to keep you beneath the shadow of His wings that you
may not be afraid of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the
destruction which wastes at noonday. Because His Truth has become your
shield and buckler, you are safe. Watch your life carefully, but look
to Jesus Christ from day to day for everything.

Do not become self-satisfied so as to say, "Now I am rich and increased
in goods." If ever a child of God imitates the rich man in the parable
and says, "Soul, take your ease, you have much goods laid up for many
years," he is a fool as much as the rich man was! I have known some
become very exalted in spiritual things. The conflict is almost over
with them–temptation has no power, they are masters of the
situation–and their condition is of the most elevated kind. Well,
ballooning is very pleasant to those who like it, but I think he is
safest who keeps on the ground! I fear that spiritual ballooning has
been very mischievous to a great many and has altogether turned their
heads. Their high conceit is falsehood.

After all, my Friend, to tell you the truth very plainly–you are no
better than other people, though you think you are and in one point I
am sure you miserably fail–humility. When we hear you declare what a
fine fellow you are, we suspect that you wear borrowed plumes and are
not what you seem. A peacock is a beautiful bird, what can be more
brilliant? But I am not enraptured with his voice, nor are you! And so
there may be fine feathers about certain people, perhaps a little too
fine, but while they are showing themselves off, we know that there is
a weak point about them and we pray that it may not cause dishonor to
the cause of Christ. It is not our part to be hunting about for the
failings of our fellow Christians, yet boasting has a tendency to make
us examine the boaster!

The practical thing is to believe that when we are proud, ourselves,
there is something wrong with us. Whenever we stand before the mirror
and think what fine fellows we are, we had better go, at once, to the
Great Physician and beseech Him to give us medicine for our vanity! Mr.
Peacock, you are certainly very handsome, but you should hear yourself
croak! Professor, there are fine points about you, but there are sorry
ones, too! Be humble and so be wise. Brother, if you get an inch above
the ground you are just that inch too high! If you have anything apart
from Christ–if you can live five minutes on past experience–if you
think that you can live on yesterday's Grace you are mistaken!

You put the manna away so very carefully. You stored it up in the
cupboard with such self-content. Go to it tomorrow morning, instead of
joining the rest of your Brethren in gathering the fresh manna which
will fall all around the camp. Go to the cupboard where you stored up
yesterday's manna! Ah, as soon as you open the door you close it again!
Why did you shut that door so quickly? Well, we need not look inside
the cupboard–the smell is enough! It has happened as Moses foretold
it–it has bred worms and it stinks as he said it would. Cover it up as
quickly as you can. Dig a deep hole and throw it all in and bury it!
That is the only thing to do with such rottenness. Day by day go to
Christ and you will get your sweet manna. But begin to live on past or
present attainments and they will breed worms and stink as sure as you
are a man. Do not try it, for, "none can keep alive his own soul."

IV. Last of all, THIS SUBJECT INDICATES A WAY OF USEFULNESS for
everyone here present who is a child of God. I think the great business
of the Christian's life is to serve God and he can do that, mainly, by
aiming at the conversion of sinners! It is a grand thing to be blessed
of God to turn sinners from the error of their ways. But listen,
Brothers and Sisters, there is equally good work to be done by helping
struggling saints. The old Roman said he thought it as much an honor to
preserve a Roman citizen as to slay an enemy of his country–and he was
right. There is as much acceptance before God in the work of
instrumentally preserving souls, alive, as in being made the means of
making souls to live in the first place.

The upholding of Believers is as necessary an exercise for Christian
workers as the ingathering of unbelievers. I want you to think about
this. If there is a person nearly drowned, a man will leap into the
water to bring him out. And he gets great credit for it and deserves
it. And so when a man saves a soul from death by earnest ministry, let
him be glad and thank God. But if a man is starving and ready to die,
and you give him bread. Or if he is not reduced to that point, but
would have been so had you not interfered, you have done as good an
action in preserving life as the other friend who snatched life from
between the jaws of death! You must never think little of the work
which instructs the ignorant Christian, which clears the stumbling
blocks out of the way of the perplexed Believer, which comforts the
feeble-minded and supports the weak. These necessary works must be
done, while soul-saving must not be left undone!

Perhaps some of you never will be the means of the conversion of many.
Then try to be the means of comfort to as many as you can. To be the
means, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, of nurturing the life which God
has given, is a worthy service and very acceptable with God. I would
urge the members of this Church to watch over one another. Be pastors
to each other! Be very careful over the many young people that have
come among us and, if you see any backslide–in a gentle and
affectionate manner endeavor to bring them back. Do you know any
despondent ones? Lay yourselves out to comfort them! Do you see faults
in any? Do not tell them of them hastily, but labor, as God shall help
you, to teach them a better way. As the Lord often preserves you by the
help of others, so in return seek to be, in God's hands, the means by
which He shall keep your Brethren from going astray, from sinking in
despair, or from falling into error.

I hold it out to you as a good and blessed work to do–will you try to
accomplish it? Now, if you say, "Yes," and I think every Christian,
here, says, "Yes," then I am going to speak to you concerning the
collection, Brothers and Sisters. This is Hospital Sunday and we must
contribute our full share! Do you see any connection between this
subject and the collection? I think I do. Here are these poor sick
folks who will die unless they are carefully looked to, unless medicine
and a physician's skill are provided for them. I know you are ready,
enough, to look after sick souls–the point to which I have brought you
is one which involves such readiness.

Well, now, he who would look after a sick soul will be sure to care for
a sick body! I hope you are not of the same class as the priest in the
fable who was entreated by a beggar to give him a crown. "By no means,"
said the reverend father, "why should I give you a crown?" "Will you
give me a shilling, Holy Father?" No, he would not give him a shilling,
nor even a penny. "Then," said he, "Holy Father, will you, of your
charity, give me a farthing?" No, he would not do anything of the sort.
At last the beggar said, "Would not, Your Reverence, be kind enough to
give me your blessing?" "Oh yes, my Son, you shall have it at once!
Kneel down and receive it." But the man did not kneel down to receive
it, for he reasoned that if it had been worth a farthing the "holy
father" would not have given it to him. And so he went his way.

Men have enough practical sense to always judge that if professed
Christians do not care for their bodily needs, there cannot be much
sincerity in their zeal for men's souls. If a man will give me
spiritual bread in the form of a tract, but would not give me a piece
of bread for my body, how can I think much of him? Let practical help
to the poor go with the spiritual help which you render to them! If you
would help to keep a Brother's soul alive in the higher sense, be not
backward to do it in the more ordinary way. You have an opportunity of
proving your sincerity and gratifying your charity, for the boxes will
go round at once!

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psalm 22. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–103 (VER. III), 407. 668.
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A Prince and a Savior