JOHN M. KELLY LIBRARY
Donated by
The Redemptorists of the Toronto Province
from the Library Collection of Holy Redeemer College, Windsor
University of St. Michael's College, Toronto
*Eflf£M£*
SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
Spurgeon's Illustrative Anecdotes
Selected and Classified by
REV. LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D. D.
Author of "Anecdotes and Morals," "Windows for Sermons," etc.
NEW YORK AND LONDON
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1906,
BY FUNK & WAGNAIXS COMPANY
[Printed in the United States of America] Published May, 1906
COMPILER'S PREFACE
The name of Charles H. Spurgeon stands before the whole world as the highest since the name of Wesley and Whitefield as a successful preacher of the several gospels in such a way as to win men to Christ. His individual sermons are still selling by hundred thousands and men are still being converted to Christ in all parts of the world through the reading of his printed words. It cannot help but be of interest to the preacher who desires to be a soul winner to become acquainted with the anecdotes and illus trations used by this man who was so marvelously blessed of God in the salvation of souls. In this book I have gathered Spurgeon's stories. Some of them were repeated again and again in his volumes of sermons and show the value which he places on them and the success with which he used them. I send them forth with a warm-hearted desire that on the tongue of the multitude of preachers everywhere they shall go forth with new life and continue to be winged arrows of the gospel.
Louis ALBERT BANKS.
Denver, Col.
Contents
AFFLICTION PAGE
Blessings of Affliction 1
Affliction the Test of Sonship 1
AMBITION
Seek the Higher Things 2
True Greatness 3
Noble Aspiration 3
Lofty Ambition 4
APPEARANCES
Appearances Deceptive 5
ATONEMENT
The Christian's Ruby Ring 5
Christ the Sin- Bearer 5
Our Substitute 6
Christ Wins Us by Dying For Us 7
The Atonement a Sword 8
The Atonement Must be Proclaimed 8
A Joyous Verdict 9
Christ Suffering in Our Stead 9
The Sinner's Ransom 10
BACKSLIDERS
A Lost Fellowship 10
Backsliders Reclaimed 11
THE BIBLE
The Charm of the Bible 11
The Light of the Bible 12
The Neglected Bible 13
Bible Precious Through Use 13
Eating God's Word 14
BLESSINGS
The Chain of Blessings 14
Christ Bringing Blessings 15
The Secret of Finding Blessing 15
CHRIST
Christ Best Known in Heaven 16
Drop Christ's Arms 17
The Triumph of Jesus 17
Christ the Bond of Union 19
Christ our Priest 20
The Soul's Food and Drink 20
Wear Christ's Uniform 21
vii
CONTENTS
PAGE
Christ in the Dying Hour 22
Sanctuary in Christ 22
Christ in the Heart a Disinfectant 23
For Christ's Sake 24
Christ Always New 24
" Bleating of the Sheep " 25
Yoked with Christ 26
Christ Grows on the Growing Christian 26
Running Into Christ's Arms 27
Not Works but Christ 27
A True Friend 27
The Elder Brother 28
The Savior 29
Christ's Tender Care 30
Christ Seeking After Sinners 30
< Christ Pulling at Our Hearts 31
X Christ a Victor 31
, Christ Ever the Same 32
» Christ Seeking the Lost 32
"* The Humiliation of Christ 33
No Caste to Christ 33
Christ Our Only Resting Place 34
Christ the True Physician 34
Jesus Belongs to All Humanity 35
Christ's Joy in Soul-saving 35
Christ's Ownership in His People 35
Christ the Outcast's Saviour 36
Overpowering Love of Christ 36
Christ as Engraver 37
The Lost Child 37
The Seeking Shepherd 37
The True Shepherd 38
Christ the Plant of Renown 38
Christ as King 39
Christ the Sinner's Only Physician 40
Christ Inspires Enthusiasm 41
Christ's Delight in His People 41
Christ Sufficient for All Kinds of Sinners 42
Christ as a Ferryman 43
Christ the Door 43
Suffering for Christ 44
Christ the Root 45
Christ Grows on His Disciples 46
Christ the Pole Star 47
Christ our Banner 48
Christ the Center of Attack 49
Christ Our Guide 49
Loyalty to Christ 50
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
Christ Trustworthy 51
Christ Bringing Men Back 52
Immediate Healing 53
Christ the Only Ark of Safety 53
CHRISTIANS
Prosperity Dangerous 54
The Idle Christian a Hindrance 55
The Righteous Safe 55
Impressions Easily Wear Away 56
Perseverance 57
Did not Really Wish to Die 58
The Christian's Secret 58
Vagrant Thoughts 59
Persecution the Fertilizer of Religion 60
Sham Religion 60
Indifference to Slander 60
A Christian Home 61
A Worldly Christian 62
The Christian's Victory 63
Unwilling Doubts not Sins 63
Making Idols of Children 64
Attractive Christians 64
Changeable Christians 64
Folly of " the Blues " 65
Sent of God - 65
The Martyr's Victory 66
Run When You Cannot Fly 67
God's Special Care 67
Gloomy Days Our Own Fault 67
Present Victory 68
The Common Christian Soldier 68
The Man Holding the Rope 69
An Impregnable Fortress 69
A Son's Boldness 70
The Marks of Discipleship 71
The Christian's Walk 71
Quarreling with God 71
Christian Fragrance 71
The Christian's Apparel 72
The Rooted Christian 72
Faith which Cannot be Shaken 73
Sham Christians 74
The Hidden Fountain 74
The Christian Can Afford to be Poor 75
The Christian Defying Satan 75
CHRISTIANITY
Persecution Futile Against Christianity 76
The Democracy of Christianity 76
CONTENTS
CHURCH PAGE
The Power of a Live Church 77
The Layman's Privilege 78
A Sleeping Church 79
CONSCIENCE
Conscience Needs Illumination 80
A Fearful Conscience 80
True to His Conscience 81
CONVERSATION
Vapid Conversation 81
CONVERSION
Look and Live 82
Christ at the Door 82
Man's Convent not Christ's 83
A Stranger Finding Christ 83
Joy in Heaven over a Child's Conversion 84
A Strange Conversion 85
Conversion Necessary 85
Transformation through Conversion 86
Diamonds Out of Pebble Stones 86
Changed by Conversion 87
An Infidel's Conversion 87
A Notable Conversion 89
A New Creature 90
The Brand Plucked Out of the Fire 90
Better than He Expected 91
Came to Scoff but Remained to Pray 91
Joy of Conversion 92
THE CROSS
The Token of the Cross 92
Salvation at the Foot of the Cross 93
The Cross a Stumbling-block 94
The Plea of the Cross 94
DEATH
Death the End of Probation 95
Dying Grace 95
Death Certain 96
Death the Christian's Awakening 97
Certainty of Death Should Humble Us 97
Death a Mercy 97
Death Like Going to Bed 98
Death Sets Us Free 98
A Messenger from the Grave 99
Death Can Do No Real Harm 99
Dying without Hope 100
Death of the Wicked 101
CONTENTS
DECISION PAGE
Indecision 101
The Great Decision 102
Solemn Decisions 103
Prompt Decision 104
DUTY
Day by Day 104
Our Duty to Our Neighbor 105
Steadfast in Duty 105
The Duty at Hand 106
EARNESTNESS
Wasted Zeal 106
Christian Earnestness 107
Refreshed by Enthusiasm 107
Earnestness 108
EXERCISE
Exercising Our Faith 108
Need of Spiritual Exercise 109
FAITH
Fear and Faith 109
Faith and Joy 110
Faith and Healing 110
Faith and Feeling Ill
Unknown Heroes of Faith Ill
The Riches of Christian Faith 112
Superficial Unbelief 112
Faith and Reason 113
Danger of Unbelief 1 14
Faith Awakened Through God's Kindness 114
" Little Faith " 115
A Sham Faith 116
The Rope of Faith 116
Solid Footing for Faith 117
The Leap of Faith 118
Confidence and Heroism 119
Pioneers of Faith 119
Faith Honored 119
Obedience of Faith 121
Faith in Tribulation 122
FORGIVENESS
A Sure Pardon 123
A Free Pardon 124
The Returning Prodigal 124
The Forgiveness of God 125
Christ's Instant Pardon 126
GOD
Knowing God 126
For His Son's Sake . 127
xii CONTENTS
PAGE
The Love of God 128
God Like a Mother 128
A Father's Heart 129
God Ever Present 129
God's Tenderness 130
Responsibility to God 130
God's Call 131
God More Careful than a Mother 132
Helpfulness without God 132
Depth of a Father's Love 133
God Our Deliverer 133
God Our Defender 134
The Father's Love 134
God's Consideration 135
God's Pity 135
God's Fatherhood 136
At Home in God's Arms 136
God's Defense of His Children 137
The Patience of God 137
Imitating God 138
Under the Divine Shadow 138
Chastening a Pledge of Fatherly Love 139
Give God the Rudder 140
GOODNESS
Genuine Piety 140
Good, but Good for Nothing 141
GRATITUDE
Gratitude for Spiritual Blessings 142
Gratitude for Salvation 142
Expressing Gratitude 143
HEARERS
Hearers, but not Doers 144
Personal Application of Truth 144
Deaf Hearers 145
HEART
Writing on the Heart 145
The Burglar in the Heart 145
Tainted Food 146
Keeping the Heart Pure 147
The Wicked Heart 147
The Trouble Within 148
Gospel Hardened 148
The Hardening Heart 149
HEAVEN
Only the Good would be Happy in Heaven 149 .
Not Yet Due in Heaven 150
No Strife in Heaven 151
CONTENTS xiii
PAGE
Recognition of Friends in Heaven 152
Memory of Earth's Mercies a Joy in Heaven 152
The Rewards of Heaven 152
HINDRANCES
Overcoming Hindrances 154
Overcoming Difficulties 155
Meet Difficulties Bravely 155
HOPE
Hope " The Swimming Thought " 156
Hope of Immortality 156
The Fountain of Hope 156
Saved though Blasted Hopes 157
HUMILITY
Humility Necessary 158
Humility in Prayer 158
IMMORTALITY
The Healing of Death 159
Immortality 159
The Land of the Living 160
INFIDELITY
Paul not an Agnostic 160
Infidelity a Frail Support 160
IMITATION
The Pearl of Great Price 162
The Bell of Welcome 163
" Whosoever Will " 163
Whosoever 164
JOY
Christian Gladness 164
Afraid of Gladness 164
Superiority of Christian Joy 165
The Honey of Christian Experience 165
Overflowing Christian Joy 166
Joy without Bitterness 167
JUDGMENT
Judgment Warped by Personal Consideration 167
LIFE
Human Kindness 168
True Wisdom 168
Known by Our Deeds 169
Idle Dreams 169
A Wasted Life 169
Light Needed for the Feet 170
The Blessedness of Old Age 170
Making Our Own Epitaph 171
The Frailty of the Human Body 171
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
Frailty of Human Life 172
The Loneliness of Life 172
Uncertain Tenure of Life 173
LOVE
Loving Our Neighbors 174
Christian Love Needed 174
MERCY
The Music of Mercy 175
The Stream of Mercy 176
Covenant Mercies 176
Mercy through Christ 176
God's Mercy for All 180
PEACE
The Peace of God 181
A Peaceful Mind 182
Peace in Jesus Only 183
PRAYER
Empty Prayers 183
Exaltation in Prayer 184
Revival through Prayer 185
Praying for the Lost 186
A Poor Woman's Throne 187
A Spiritual Birthplace 187
The Pledge of Security 188
Secret Prayer 189
Won through Prayer 189
Culture through Prayer 190
Weak through Lack of Prayer 19 1
Led by the Spirit in Prayer 191
Scoffers at Prayer 192
Telling Everything to Jesus 192
Praying for Special Things 193
Definite Aim in Prayer 193
Prayer about Common Mercies 194
Praying for Our Friends 194
Frequent Prayer 195
Heaven's Gate Always Open to the Praying Chris tian 195
A Futile Prayer 196
Paying and Praying 196
A Prayerless Man 196
God Listening to Prayer 196
Persistent Prayer 197
Praying for Individuals 198
PREACHER
The Power of a Definite Purpose 198
Meditation 199
CONTENTS xv
PAGE
Saved by a Stray Sermon 199
The True Preacher 200
Magnifying the Ministry 201
Christ in the Sermon 201
Falling on the Promises 202
Sermons Born of Feeling 202
Keep the Light Burning „ 203
A Preacher Converted 203
A Child's Religion 204
Sad results of Careless Conduct 204
A sermon that went to the Mark 206
Hiding Behind Christ 206
Too Much Red Tape 20<5
A Word in Season 207
A Dumb Dog 207
Fishing but Never Catching 207
A Faithful Messenger 208
The Preacher God's Messenger to the Conscience 208
PRIDE
Insidious Flattery 209
Wicked Pride 210
Danger of Self-Confidence 210
Need of God's Help 211
Danger of Pride 211
THE PROMISES
Pleading God's Promises 212
Lying on the Promises 213
God's Promises 214
PROPHECY
A Marvelous Prophecy 215
PROVIDENCE
A Providence 217
Look at Both Sides 218
Special Providences 218
Providence as a Detective 219
PUNISHMENT
The Reckoning 220
The Fate of the Self-righteous 221
A Lost Soul 221
The Trifler's Doom 222
Doom of the Unstable 223
The Mocker's Doom 223
REGENERATION
Need of a New Birth 224
REPENTANCE
Personal Repentance 224
False Repentance 225
xvi CONTENTS
RESURRECTION PAGE
The Resurrection Glory 226
God's Cup 227
Resurrection of the Body 227
SALVATION
Free Salvation Suits All 228
The Day of Probation 228
The Great Salvation 229
Salvation only through Christ 229
The Sinner's Savior 230
Sinner's Clothed with Christ 231
The Key to Salvation 231
Bread Without Price 232
Folly of Rejecting Salvation 233
Permanence of Grace 233
No Condemnation for the Saved 234
Not by Works but Grace 234
Saved by Submission 235
Knocking for Mercy 235
Running into God's Arms 236
Hungry for Salvation 237
Only Candidates Elected 237
Insecure Foundations 237
The Water of Life 238
Our Part in Salvation 239
Universal Amnesty 239
Safe in the Ark 239
SATAN
Resist the Devil 240
Defeating the Devil 240
Satan and our Weak Spot 242
The Devil's Advocate 243
SERVICE
The Blessedness of Service 243
The Joy of Service 244
Persevering Service 245
The Service of Love 245
SIN
Time Cannot Cover Sin 246
The Sting of Death 246
Sin's Cruel Work 248
Afraid of Sin 249
A True Sight of Sin 249
Sin Must be Abandoned 250
Danger of Little Sins 250
Secret Love for Sin 251
The Thistle-seed 251
Hidden Sin 252
CONTENTS xvii
PAGE
Sin will not stay hidden 253
Sin Will Out 253
Presumptuous Sins 254
The Bravado of Sin 255
Cutting Sin's Traces 255
The Wolves of Sin 256
Breakling the Cart Ropes of Sin 256
Hiding Sin from God 257
Sin a Poison of the Blood 258
The Weight of Sin 259
Sin Must be Given Up 259
Sin Means Anarchy 260
The Scar of Sin 261
Recklessness of Sin 262
Breaking off Sin 262
Secret Sin 263
The Wages of Sin 263
Insincere Conviction of Sin 264
SINNERS
Keep out of Temptation 265
The Greatest Loss of All 265
Too-late ! 266
Hope for Sinners 267
The Sinner Seeing Double 267
Deceiving one's Own Soul 268
Heathen in Cities 269
A Hospital for Sinners 269
Secret Sinners 270
A Houseless Soul 271
Transient Feeling 272
True Religion Only Safeguard of Character 272
The Point of View 273
Three Fools 274
Serving against Light 275
The Lost 275
The Sinner's Emancipation 276
God's Message through Mothers 277
Be Sure of the Foundation 277
Foolish Objections 278
Christ Drawing the Sinner 279
The Hypocrite 279
A Note of Warning 280
The Sinner's Down Hill 280
The Folly of the Caviller 281
Ingratitude of the Sinner 281
The Foolish Builder 281
The Sinner's Refuge 282
The Sinner's Folly 28S
xviii CONTENTS
PAGE
The Folly of Sinners 283
The Doom of the Impenitent 284
SORROWS
Sorrow changed to Song 285
SOUL WINNING
Sowing and Reaping 286
Won by His Parents' Love 286
Fitting Ourselves to Save Others 287
Saved Souls Most Useful 288
The Lost Redeemed 288
Christ Rejoices when the Christian Saves a Soul .... 289
Joy of Soul-Winning 290
HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit Invincible 291
Influence of the Spirit 291
The Loving Comforter 292
STRENGTH
Husks of Men 292
Consecration Source of Strength 293
Strength in Consecration 294
Our Strength in God 294
Strong When God Leads 295
Strength Distributing Sweetness 296
Strength through Weakness 296
SYMPATHY
Christian Sympathy 297
Superficial Sympathy 298
Sympathy Born of Experience 299
Sympathy 299
TALENTS
Do What You can Do Best 300
Every Man in His Place 300
TESTIMONY
Won by his Wife's Faith .'.... 300
Tell your Own Story 3
An Old Saint's Inspiring Testimony 302
Value of Testimony 302
Bearing Testimony 3
Experience of Aged Christians 303
TRIALS
Comfort in Trial 304
Saved as by Fire 30J
Growing Great Through Trial 306
Rest Through Conflict 307
Strong through Struggle 30i
CONTENTS xix
TRUST PAGE
Work and Trust 308
The Wisdom of Trust in God 309
Trust the Key to Life's Problem 309
Trust in God 310
Trust and Service 310
WEAKNESS
The Appeal of Weakness 310
WEALTH
Seeking Heavenly Riches 311
Drowned by Riches 311
Debased by Wealth 312
The Idolatry of Money 313
1
Spurgeon's Illustrative Anecdotes
AFFLICTION
Blessings of Afflict ion.— God has beauties for every part of the world; and he has beauties for every place of ex perience? There are views to be seen from the tops of the Alps that you can never see elsewhere. Ay, but there are beauties to be seen in the depths of the dell that ye could never see on the tops of the mountains; there are glories to be seen on Pisgah, wondrous sights to be beheld when by faith we stand on Tabor; but there are also beauties to be seen in our Gethsemanes, and some marvelously sweet flowers are to be culled by the edge of the dens of the leopards. Men will never become great in divinity until they become great in suffering. " Ah ! " said Luther, " affliction is the best book in my library ; " and let me add, the best leaf in the book of affliction is that blackest of all the leaves, the leaf called heaviness, when the spirit sinks within us, and we can not endure as we could wish.
Affliction the Test of Sonship.— Affliction is the seal of the Lord's election. I remember a story of Mr. Mack, who was Baptist minister in Northamptonshire. In his youth he was a soldier, and calling on Robert Hall, when his regiment marched through Leicester, that great man became interested in him, and procured his release from the ranks. When he went to preach in Glasgow, he sought out his aged mother, whom he had not seen for many years. He knew his mother the moment he i
2 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
saw her; but the old lady did not recognize her son. It so happened that when he was a child, his mother had accidentally wounded his wrist with a knife. To com fort him she cried, " Never mind, my bonnie bairn, your mither will ken you by that when ye are a man." When Mack's mother would not believe that a grave, fine-look ing minister could be her own child, he turned up his sleeve and cried, "Mither, mither, dinna ye ken that?" In a moment they were in each other's arms. Ah, breth ren, the Lord knows the spot of his children. He ac knowledges them by the mark of correction. What God is doing to us in the way of trouble and trial is but his acknowledgment of us as true heirs, and the marks of his rod shall be our proof that we are not bastards, but true sons.
AMBITION
Seek the Higher Things.— Some years ago, there was a crossing-sweeper in Dublin, with his broom, at the cor ner, and in all probability his highest thoughts were to keep the crossing clean, and look for the pence. One day, a lawyer put his hand upon his shoulder, and said to him, "My good fellow, do you know that you are heir to a fortune of ten thousand pounds a year? " " Do you mean it?" said he. "I do," he said. "I have just received the information; I am sure you are the man." He walked away, and he forgot his broom. Are you astonished? Why, who would not have forgotten a broom when suddenly made possessor of ten thousand a year? So, I pray that some poor sinners, who have been thinking of the pleasures of the world, when they hear that there is hope, and that there is heaven to be had, will forget the deceitful pleasures of sin, and fol low after higher and better things.
AMBITION
True Greatness. — I had a good friend who preserved the axle-tree of the truck in which he wheeled home his goods when he first came to London. It was placed over his front door, and he never blushed to tell how he came up from the country, worked hard, and made his way in the world. I like this a deal better than the affected gentility which forgets the lone half-crown which pined in solitude in their pockets when they entered this city. They are indignant if you remind them of their poor old father in the country, for they have discovered that the family is very ancient and honorable; in fact, one of their ancestors came over with the Conqueror. I have never felt any wish to be related to that set of vagabonds; but tastes differ, and there are some who think that they must be superior beings because they are descended from Norman freebooters. Nobodies suddenly swell as if they were everybody. Observe that Jacob does not say, " Years ago I was at home with my father Isaac, a man of large estate." Nor does he talk of his grandfather Abraham as a nobleman of an ancient family in Ur, of the Chaldees, who was entertained by mon- archs. No, he was not so silly as to boast of aristocracy and wealth, but he frankly owns his early poverty:— " With my staff, a poor, lonely, friendless man, I crossed this Jordan, and now I am become two bands." It hum bles him to think of what he was, but at the same time it strengthens him in prayer; for in effect he pleads, " Lord, hast thou made two bands of me that Esau may have the more to destroy? Hast thou given me these children that they may fall by the sword?" So again I say, that which humbled also encouraged him : he found his strength in prayer in those very things which fur nished motives for lowliness.
Noble Aspiration. — I have often used an illustration taken from a person who teaches the art of growing taller. I do not believe in that art: we shall not add a cubit to
4 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
our stature just yet. But part of this professor's exer cise is, that in the morning, when you get up, you are to reach as high as ever you can, and aim a little higher every morning, though it be only the hundredth part of an inch. By that means you are to grow. This is so with faith. Do all you can, and then do a little more: and when you can do that, then do a little more than you can. Always have something in hand that is greater than your present capacity. Grow up to it, and when you have grown up to it, grow more. By many little additions a great house is built. Brick by brick up rose the pyramid. Believe and yet believe. Trust and have further trust. Hope shall become faith, and faith shall ripen to full assurance and perfect confidence in God Most High.
Lofty Ambition.— " Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this ? " Rise to the utmost possible height. Fulfill your calling to its loftiest degree. Not only do all that you are sure you can do, but aim at something which as yet is high up among the questions. Say to yourself, "Who knoweth?" That is what the ambitious man says when he aspires to be great. When Louis Napoleon was shut up in the fortress of Ham, and everybody ridiculed his foolish attempts upon France, yet he said to himself, "Who knows? I am the nephew of my uncle, and may yet sit upon the imperial throne," and he did so before many years had passed. I have no desire to make any man ambitious after the poor thrones, and honors, and riches of this world; but I would fain make you all ardently ambitious to honor God and bless men. Who knows? Does anybody know what God may do by you? Does anybody know what capacities slumber within your bosom?
ATONEMENT
APPEARANCES
Appearances Deceptive.— I remember conversing with a person, who was concerned in one of the great specu lations which brought loss and ruin to many, and as I looked into his honest face and heard his open-hearted talk, I said to myself, " This is not a man who is capable of robbery. He is a plain, blunt, farmer-like sort of a man, who might even be the victim of the confidence trick." I afterward learned that this is the usual style of a man who puffs a company, or betrays a trust. Of course if a man looks like a thief, you button up your pockets, and smile if he invites you to take shares; but you are off your guard when the man appears to be the embodiment of simple honesty.
ATONEMENT
The Christian's Ruby Ring.— One of our kings once gave a ring to his favorite, and said to him, " I know that at the council to-morrow a charge of heresy will be brought against you ; but, when you come in, answer them if you will, but you need be in no fear; if you find yourself brought to a strait, simply show them the ring, and they will go no further." It is even so with us; the Lord has given us the precious blood of Christ to be like a ruby ring upon our finger, and now we know how far conscience may go, and how far accusations from Satan may go; we have only to produce that token and bar all further proceedings. " He that believeth in him is not condemned," neither can he be.
Christ the Sin-Bearer.— An old servant was once carrying a large bough of a tree to have it cut into pieces to make a fire. A little boy, one of the family, seeing the end of it dragging along the ground and making it very
6 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
heavy, came and took hold of the end, and the burden grew light. Then said the servant, " Ah ! Master Frank, I wish you could take hold of one end of the greater burden that I have to carry : I have a burden of sin ; the more I drag it about, the heavier it becomes. I wish Jesus Christ would take hold of one end of it." The lit tle boy said, " My mother told me, yesterday, that Jesus Christ carries all our sins; therefore you do not want Jesus Christ to drag one end of it : he will take the whole of it." The poor woman, who had been long seeking rest, found it by that remark of the child. Yes, Jesus does take your sins. If thou trustest Christ, this is the evidence that all thy sins are laid on him.
" Sinner, nothing do, Either great or small; Jesus did it, did it all, Long, long ago."
Our Substitute. — You remember that in Prussia there was a law which exempted the only son of a widow from going to war; but it is said that so closely were they driven for recruits, that the law was for a time rescinded, and the widow's only son was taken. Suppose such a thing happened here, and there should be a widow whose only son was demanded of her. See her come forward, saying, " Ay, take him ; my country is dearer to me even than he is." She puts him forward, and says, " Go forth, my son, to die if it be necessary; I give thee up, I give thee willingly." You see the red, red eye of the widow; she hath wiped it dry, but she hath wept in se cret; and if we steal behind the door when her son is gone, and see her pouring out whole floods of sorrow, we can tell how great must have been her love for her coun try which made her give up him — her all. Beloved, we never should know Christ's love in all its heights and
ATONEMENT
depths if he had not died ; uor could we tell the Father's deep affection if he had not given his Son to die. Christ Wins Us by Dying for Us.— There is a story told of the Covenanters — of one named Patrick Welwood — whose house was surrounded at a time when a minister had for security been hidden there. Claverhouse's dra goons were at the door, and the minister had fled. The master of the house was summoned, and it was demanded of him, " Where is the minister ? " " He is gone ; I can not tell whither, for I know not." But they were not satisfied with that; they tortured him, and since he could not tell them where he was (for in reality he did not know), they left him, after inflicting upon him the tor ture of the thumbscrew ; and they took his sister, a young girl who was living in the house. I believe she did know where the minister was concealed, but on taking her they asked her, and she said, "No, I can die myself, but I can never betray God's servant, and never will, as he may help me." They dragged her to the water's edge, and making her kneel down, they determined to put her to death. But the captain said, " Not yet ; we will try to frighten her ; " and sending a soldier to her, he knelt down, and applying a pistol to her ear, she was bidden to betray the minister or die. The click of the pistol was heard in her ear, but the pistol was not loaded. She slightly shivered, and the question was again asked of her. " Tell us now," said they, " where he is, or we will have your life." " Never, never," said she. A sec ond time the endeavor was made; this time a couple of carabines were discharged, but into the air, in order to terrify her. At last they resolved upon really putting her to death, when Trail, the minister, who was hidden somewhere near, being aroused by the discharge of guns, and seeing the poor girl about to die for him, sprang forward, and cried, " Spare that maiden's blood, and take mine; this poor innocent girl, what hath she done? "
8 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
The poor girl was dead even then with the fright; but the minister had come prepared to die himself, to save her life. 0, my friends, I have sometimes thought that her heroic martyrdom was somewhat like the blessed Jesus. He comes to us, and says, "Poor sinner, wilt thou be my friend?" We answer, "No." "Ah! I will make thee so," saith he, " I will die for thee ; " and he goes to die on the cross.
The Atonement a Sword.— When a man gets a sword, you cannot be quite certain how he will use it. A gentleman has purchased a very expensive sword with a golden hilt and an elaborate scabbard; he hangs it up in his hall, and exhibits it to his friends. Occasionally he draws it out from the sheath ,and he says, "Feel how keen is the edge ! " The precious blood of Jesus is not meant for us merely to admire and exhibit. We must not be content to talk about it, and extol it, and do nothing with it; but we are to use it in the great crusade against unholiness and unrighteousness, till it is said of us, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb." This precious blood is to be used for overcoming, and consequently for holy warfare. We dishonor it if we do not use it to that end.
The Atonement Must be Proclaimed.— The other day, when I was inquiring about the welfare of a certain congregation, my informant told me that there had been few additions to the church, altho the minister was a man of ability and industry. Furthermore, he let me see the reason of the failure, for he added, "I have attended there for several years, and during all that time I do not remember hearing a sermon upon the sacrifice of Christ. The atonement is not denied, but it is left out." If this be so, what is to become of our churches? If the light of the atonement is put under a bushel, the darkness will be dense. In omitting the cross you haVe cut the tendon Achilles of the church : it can-
ATONEMENT
not move, nor even stand, when this is gone. Holy work falls to the ground: it faints and dies when the blood of Jesus is taken away. The cross must be put in the front more than ever by the faithful, because so many are unfaithful.
A Joyous Verdict. — You may have seen a well-painted picture called "Waiting for the Verdict." What in terest is displayed on every face! What fear and trem bling upon the countenance of the prisoner! In his wife and the friends around him, what anxiety is seen! " Waiting for the Verdict " is a sad picture ; but what another might be drawn of The Favorable Verdict Received! The prisoner is acquitted! O what joy! It is not possible to bring in a verdict of " Not Guilty " for you and for me, for we are undoubtedly guilty; but yet it is possible by the process of substitution and divine grace to bring in a just verdict by which it is witnessed that " There is now no condemnation."
Christ Suffering in our Stead. — You know the story, the very excellent story, which I think was first told by Mr. Moody, of the man who in the French war was drawn for a soldier, but a friend stepped in, and was accepted as his substitute. That substitute served in the war till he was slain in battle. The man for whom he served was drawn a second time, but he declined to serve. He appeared before the court, and pleaded that he had been drawn once, had served in the war by his substitute, and must now be regarded as dead, because his representa tive had been killed. He pleaded that his substitute's service was practically his service, and it is said that the law allowed his plea. Assuredly it is according to divine equity, even if it be not according to human law. No criminal can be hanged a second time; one death is all the law requires: believers died in Christ unto sin once, and now they penally die no more. Our condemnation has spent itself upon our gracious representative. The
io SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
full vials of divine wrath against sin have been poured upon the head of the great Shepherd, that this sheep might go free; and therein is our joy, our comfort, our security. " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."
The Sinner's Ransom.— But there stands forth on our behalf "the Wonderful, the Counsellor;" he takes his brief in hand and begins to plead. Hark what he says, and see how all opinion is turned at once ! " I confess," says he, "that every word is true that the last accuser has said. My client pleads guilty to every charge; but I have a full pardon signed by God's own hand, pur chased by my own blood ; " and, stripping himself, he shows his breast, and bares his arm, and says, " These were given to me of my Father before the foundation of the world. I bare their sins in my own body on the tree. My Father justified them; I pardoned them." And then, mounting to the highest point, he reaches the climax of grace as he exclaims, " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Canst thou, 0 God? Hast thou not justified? I cannot, for I died." Then he sits down, in triumph, saying, " Whom he justified, them he also glorified. Nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God." Shall not each ransomed sinner shout with joy?
BACKSLIDERS
A Lost Fellowship.— I once asked a brother how long it was since he had enjoyed fellowship with Jesus. His reply was remarkable. "I feel sorry," said he, "you have asked me that question, and yet I must thank you. Had you asked me whether I continued in prayer, I would have said ' Yes/ for, with more or less fervor, I do constantly pray. Had you inquired whether I en deavored to walk honestly and uprightly before my
THE BIBLE n
fellow creatures, I should have said, ' Yes, thank God, I hope I have not slipped with my feet ; ' but when you say, ' How long is it since you really have had fellow ship with Jesus ? ' I blush to own that many a day has passed since I have known this high privilege." Is that so with you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ? If so, it is very, very sad.
Backsliders Reclaimed.— I remember one Monday after noon, when we had been waiting upon the Lord in prayer ever since seven o'clock in the morning, that there came a most remarkable wave of prayer over the assembly. And then two backsliders got up and prayed one after the other. According to their own account, they had been very bad fellows indeed, and had sorely transgressed against God; but there they were, broken-hearted and fairly broken down. It was a sight to make angels re joice as their tears flowed. Certainly their sobs and cries touched the hearts of all of us who were assembled. I thought to myself, " Then God is blessing us, for when backsliders come back it is a proof that God has visited his people.
THE BIBLE
The Charm of the Bible. — There is such a charm about the Bible, that he who reads it little may never perhaps feel the whole of it. It is something like the Maelstrom you have heard of, only in a different and more excel lent sense. The Maelstrom is a great whirlpool on the coast of Norway. A ship at a long distance from it will feel a little of its attracting influence, a very little, yet enough to make it veer from its course; but the nearer it floats to the centre the stronger becomes the current, and the more forcibly is the vessel carried along by it, until at last, if the ship should be so unhappy as to near it, it would whirl round at a tremendous rate until it was thoroughly engulphed in its depths. In a higher
12 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
and better sense the like is true of the Bible. The nearer you go to it, and the more closely you study it, the more rapidly do you revolve in its circles, the more voraciously do you devour its contents, until at last you are swallowed up in its glory, and long for nothing else than to prove the heights and depths of this bliss un fathomable — the love of God revealed to us in Christ, in his sacred Word. Truly, of this book, we may say, " Thou hast the dew of thy youth."
The Light of the Bible.— I recollect a story of Mr. Hume, who so constantly affirmed that the light of reason is abundantly sufficient. Being at a good minister's house one evening, he had been discussing the question, and declaring his firm belief in the sufficiency of the light of nature. On leaving, the minister offered to hold him a candle to light him down the steps. He said " No ; the light of nature would be enough; the moon would do." It so happened that the moon was covered with a cloud, and he fell down the steps. " Ah ! " said the minister, "you had better have had a little light from above, after all, Mr. Hume." So, supposing the light of nature to be sufficient, we had better have a little light from above, too, and then we shall be sure to be right. Better have two lights than only one. The light of creation is a bright light. God may be seen in the stars; his name is written in gilt letters on the brow of night; you may discover his glory in the ocean waves, yea, in the trees of the field; but it is better to read it in two books than in one. You will find it here more clearly revealed; for he has written this book himself, and he has given you the key to understand it, if you have the Holy Spirit. Ah, beloved, let us thank God for this Bible ; let us love it ; let us count it more precious than much fine gold.
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The Neglected Bible.-— And I recollect a person once com ing to me in private; I spoke to her about her soul, she told me how deeply she felt, how she had a desire to serve God, but she found another law in her members. I turned to a passage in Romans, and read to her, " The good that I would I do not; and the evil which I would not that I do!" She said, " Is that in the Bible? I did not know it." I did not blame her, because she had no interest in the Bible till then; but I did not wonder that there could be found persons who knew nothing about such a passage. Ah! you know more about your ledgers than your Bible; you know more about your day-books than what God has written; many of you will read a novel from beginning to end, and what have you got? A mouthful of froth when you have done. But you cannot read the Bible; that solid, lasting, substan tial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect; while anything that man writes, a catch of the day, is greedily devoured.
Bible Precious Through Use. — That young man over there says it is a " bore ; " that is the word he uses. He says, " My mother says to me, when you go up to town, read a chapter every day. Well, I thought I would please her, and I said I would. I am sure I wish I had not. I did not read a chapter yesterday, or the day before. "We were so busy, I could not help it." You do not love the Bible, do you ? " No, there is nothing in it which is interesting." Ah, I thought so. But a little while ago I could not see anything in it. Do you know why? Blind men cannot see, can they? But when the Spirit touches the scales of the eyes, they fall off; and when he puts eye-salves on, then the Bible becomes precious. I remember a minister who went to see an old lady, and he thought he would give her some precious promises out of the word of God. Turning to one, he saw writ ten in the margin " P.," and he asked, " What does this
14 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
mean?" "That means precious, sir." Further down, he saw " T. and P.," and he asked what the letters meant. "That," she said, "means tried and proved, for I have tried and proved it." If you have tried God's word and proved it — if it is precious to your soul, then you are Christians; but those persons who despise the Bible, have " neither part nor lot in the matter." Eating God's Word.— I have many an old book in my library in which there have been book-worms, and I have sometimes amused myself with tracing a worm. I do not know how he gets to the volume originally, but being there he eats his way into it. He bores a hole in a direct line, and sometimes I find that he dies before he gets half-way through the tome. Now and then a worm has eaten his way right through from one wooden cover to another; yes, and through the cover also. This was a most successful book-worm. Few of us can eat our way quite so far. I am one of the book-worms that have not got half-way into my Bible yet; but I am eating my way as fast as I can. This one thing I have proved to myself beyond all question: I shall never, never exhaust this precious Book; much less shall I ex haust the wondrous person of my divinely-blessed Lord. He is that bread which came down from heaven. He is utterly inexhaustible.
BLESSINGS
The Chain of Blessings.— You sometimes see a railway carriage or truck, fastened on to what goes before; but there is also a great hook behind. What is that for? Why, to fasten something else behind, and so to lengthen the train. Any one mercy from God is linked on to all the mercy that went before it; but provision is also made for adding future blessing. All the years to come are guaranteed by the ages past.
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Christ Bringing Blessings.— I saw a fine carriage stop ping the other day at a very humble hovel; and I thought to myself, " that carriage is not stopping there to collect rent, or to borrow a broom." Oh, no; that lady yonder is calling round and visiting the poor, and I doubt not she has taken in some nourishment to an invalid. I hope it was so: and I am sure my Lord Jesus Christ's carriage never stops at my door to get anything out of me : whenever he comes he brings count less blessings with him.
The Secret of Finding Blessing.— Do you remember the story of Mr. Erskine and the good lady who went to hear him preach at the communion? It was such sweet preaching, she thought she had never heard the like. So, after service, she asked, Who the gentleman was that preached to-day; and, on being told that it was Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, she said, " I will come and hear him again next Sunday morning." She went, she listened, and she thought to herself,— " Well, this is veiy dry, very heavy preaching." She was not at all comforted by it; then, like a foolish woman, as I should think she must have been, she went into the vestry, and said, " Oh, Mr. Erskine, I heard you last Sabbath with much pleasure, sir; I never was so edified; and I came again this morning, but I have been dreadfully disappointed." So the good man said, very calmly, " Pray, madam, when you came to the kirk last Sunday, what did you come for?" She said, "I came to communion, sir." "To have fellowship with Christ, I suppose ? " he asked. " Yes, sir." " Well, you came for it, and you had it. And pray, what did you come here this morning for? " Said she, "I came to hear you, sir." "And, you had it, woman," said he, " you had it, and you had not any thing more than that." Well, now, when people come merely to hear a minister, or for custom's sake, or for form's sake, do they not always get what they come
16 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
for? If people come to find fault, we always give them plenty of our imperfections to be entertained with, so they need not be disappointed. If others come merely out of custom, they say, " Well, this is my work, I have performed my duty." Of course it is, but if you had come in through the door — that is, looking to Christ, looking for Christ, desiring not to see the preacher but the Lord, not to get the word of man but the Word of God, to your soul — I believe you would have found pasture. Brethren, the sheep want pasture. No other food will suit them. So your soul wants heavenly truth, and if you come to the house of God through Christ, you will get it. If you turn to the Bible through Christ, you will find it a rich storehouse. If you come to prayer through the door of Christ, you will find it comforting, and so you shall find pasture.
CHRIST
Christ Best Known in Heaven. — Christ will be best known in eternity. The riches of Christ are not so much to be enjoyed here as there. He will give you by the road and on the way to heaven all your needs; your place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure; but it is there, there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast. My dear hearer, if you get Christ, you have obtained riches which you can take with you in the hour of death. Tie rich man clutched his bags of money, and as he laid them on his heart, he murmured, l i They will not do ; they will not do ; take them away ! " If you receive Jesus into your heart, he will be death's best antidote. When your disembodied spirit quits this poor clay car cass, as it must, what will your silver and gold do for you then? What will your farms and your broad acres
CHRIST I?
do for you then? You must leave them all behind. Even if men buy you a coffin of gold, or bury you in a sarcophagus of marble, yet of what avail will that be? But oh! if you have Christ, you can fly up to heaven to your treasure, and there you shall be rich to all the in tents of bliss, world without end.
Drop Into Christ's Arms. — Your condition is like that of a child in a burning house, who, having escaped to the edge of a window, hung on by the window-sill. The flames were pouring out of the window underneath, and the poor lad would soon be burnt, or falling would be dashed to pieces; he therefore held on with the clutch of death. He did not dare to relax his grasp till a strong man stood underneath, and said, " Boy ! drop ! drop! I'll catch you." Now, it was no saving faith for the boy to believe that the man was strong — that was a good help towards faith — but he might have known that and yet have perished; it was faith when the boy let go and dropped down into his big friend's arms. There are you, sinner, clinging to your sins or to your good works. The Savior cries, " Drop ! drop into my arms ! "
The Triumph of Jesus.— When a Roman general had performed great feats in a foreign country, his highest reward was that the Senate should decree him a triumph. Of course there was a division of spoil made on the battle-field, and each soldier and each captain took his share; but every man looked forward rapturously to the day when they should enjoy the public triumph. On a set day the gates of Rome were thrown open ; the houses were all decorated; the people climbed to the roofs, or stood in great crowds along the streets. The gates were opened, and by and by the first legion began to stream in with its banners flying, and its trumpets sounding. The people saw the stern warriors as they marched along the street returning from their blood-red fields of battle.
i8 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
After one half of the army had thus defiled, your eye would rest upon one who was the center of all attraction : riding in a noble chariot, drawn by milk-white horses, there came the conqueror himself, crowned with the laurel crown and standing erect. Chained to his chariot were the kings and mighty men of the regions which he had conquered. Immediately behind them came part of the booty. There were carried the ivory and the ebony, and the beasts of the different countries which he had sub dued. After these came the rest of the soldiery, a long, long stream of valiant men, all of them sharing the triumphs of their captain. Behind them came banners, the old flags which had floated aloft in the battle, the standards which had been taken from the enemy. And after these, large painted emblems of the great vic tories of the conqueror. Upon one there would be a huge map depicting the rivers which he had crossed, or the seas through which his navy had found their way. Everything was represented in a picture, and the popu lace gave a fresh shout as they saw the memorial of each triumph. And behind, with the trophies, would come the prisoners of less eminent rank. Then the rear would be closed with sound of trumpet, adding to the acclamation of the throng. It was a noble day for old Rome. Children would never forget those triumphs; they would reckon their years from the time of one tri umph to another. High holiday was kept. Women cast down flowers before the conqueror, and he was the true monarch of the day.
Now, our apostle had evidently seen such a triumph, or read of it, and he takes this as a representation of what Christ did on the cross. He says, " Jesus made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Have you ever thought that the cross could be the scene of a triumph? Most of the old commentators can
CHRIST 19
scarcely conceive it to be true. They say, " This must certainly refer to Christ's resurrection and ascension." But, nevertheless, so saith the Scripture, even on the cross Christ enjoyed a triumph. Yes! while those hands were bleeding, the acclamations of angels were being poured upon his head. Yes, while those feet were being rent with the nails, the noblest spirits in the world were crowding round him with admiration. And when upon that blood-stained cross he died in agonies unutterable, there was heard a shout such as never was heard before for the ransomed in heaven, and all the angels of God with loudest harmony chanted his praise. Then was sung, in fullest chorus, the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, for he had indeed cut Rahab and sorely wounded the dragon. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Christ the Bond of Union.— I have often noticed that as soon as we begin to discourse upon the atoning death of our divine Lord, we are at home with one another. There may be brethren present from various churches, and they may not be well at ease when we handle other subjects, but when we come to the precious blood we come to the heart of the matter, and are all at one. This is one of the secret signs of our spiritual free masonry. I have had my heart warmed and cheered against my own will sometimes by devout writers, whose doctrinal theories I do not believe, and whose church I could not join, and yet when they write about my Lord they win my heart. " Aliquid Christi," as one old di vine used to say: the something of Christ in them awak ens our affections and draws us nigh. Even books which are corrupt with sacramentarianism have oc casionally such a sweet savor of Christ in them that we
20 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
cannot utterly cast them away, but feel bound very carefully to pare the apple, and cut out the rotten places, and remove the objectionable core, for the sake of the sweet morsels flavored with the love of Christ. As the sweet honey-bearing flowers attract the bees, so does the name of Jesus draw all his saints to him, and so to each other. Give me your hand, my brother, if you also know my Lord we belong to the same family, the infallible mark of the redeemed is upon us both.
Christ our Priest.— If her Majesty should give me the title-deeds of an estate, signing the transfer with her own hand and seal, I should smile at the lackey who should kindly offer to add his authority to her Majes ty's act and deed. Where the word of a king is there is power, and this is preeminently true where the word of the King of kings is concerned. I have believed in Jesus Christ as he is set forth on the authority of God himself, and who are you, Sir Priest, to come between me and God?
The Soul's Food and Drink.— Consider, too, that if Christ be both meat and drink, what need we have of him! because there is no need in the world, I suppose, that is greater than the need of meat and drink. You hear the shout of " Fire ! " in the street, and it startles you ; but those who have ever heard the cry of " Bread I" in a bread riot, say that the alarm of " Fire ! " is noth ing to it. There is something so sharp, so awful, so determined, so ferocious, so like the yell of wild beasts, about men and women that scream for bread, that it is the most awful of sounds. And " Drink ! " What a word that must be for a number of poor wretches shut up as they were in the Black Hole of Calcutta, raving through those little windows at the guard outside for drink ; and stretching out their hands and beseeching them to turn their carbines upon them, and shoot them,
CHRIST at
rather than let them die there a lingering death of suffo cation and thirst! How when a little water was passed in they fought and struggled for it, if so be a man might but get a drop, or suck a handkerchief that had been dipped into it, and linger on a little longer. Now, nobody can have a greater need than an actual want of bread and want of water; but that is what you want, my dear friends who are without Christ; your soul wants bread and water. Think not that you are rich and increased in goods if you have not Christ, for in truth you are naked, and poor, and miserable. If you do not trust him, love him, serve him, your poor soul has not even a drop to drink.
Wear Christ's Uniform.— You know how the recruiting sergeant makes a soldier: not by asking the man to give him something, but by getting him to take the Queen's shilling. Take Christ — that is God's enlisting money — and you are enlisted. Do not bring any thing, but take the water of life freely. If you will trust the Lord Jesus, and take him to be your salvation, you are then enlisted as a soldier of Jesus. Oh! may you have grace to do that! But recollect, all soldiers have to fight. One of the first things you will have to do, if you be come a Christian, is to carry a cross. Ah! you do not like it. " His yoke is easy, and his burden is light ; n take it upon you: and yet to carnal shoulders the cross is very galling, and nothing but grace can make it light. You will have to give up your sins; you will have to give up your empty pleasures; you will have henceforth to bear witness for Christ before a crooked and perverse generation. Do not think to be Christ's soldier, and yet not wear his livery. No, you must put on his regi mentals ; you must wear his crest — his crest is the cross ; you must take his shield, the shield of faith; and his sword, which is the sword of the Spirit, the word of
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God, and resting alone on him, depending alone upon his merit, you shall certainly win the victory.
Christ in the Dying Hour. — There is a young girl jn heaven now, once a member of this church. I went with one of my beloved deacons to see her when she was very near her departure. She was in the last stage of con sumption. Fair and sweetly beautiful she looked, and I think I never heard such syllables as those which fell from that girl's lips. She had had disappointments, and trials, and troubles, but all these she had not a word to say about, except that she blessed God for them; they had brought her nearer to the Savior. And when we asked her whether she was not afraid of dying, " No," she said, " the only thing I fear is this, 1 am afraid of living, lest my patience should wear out. I have not said an impatient word yet, sir; I hope I shall not. It is sad to be so very weak, but I think if I had my choice, I would rather be here than be in health, for it is very precious to me; I know that my Redeemer liveth, and I am waiting for the moment when he shall send his chariot of fire to take me up to him." I put the ques tion, " Have you not any doubts ? " " No, none, sir ; why should I? I clasp my arms around the neck of Christ." "And have not you any fear about your sins?" "No, sir, they are all forgiven; I trust the Savior's precious blood." " And do you think that you will be as brave as this when you come actually to die?" "Not if he leaves me, sir, but he will never leave me, for he has said, * I will never leave thee nor forsake thee/"
Sanctuary in Christ.— I saw the other day a remark able picture, which I shall use as an illustration of the way of salvation by faith in Jesus. An offender had committed a crime for which he must die, but it was in the olden time when churches were considered to be
CHRIST 23
sanctuaries in which criminals might hide themselves and so escape. See the transgressor — he rushes tow ards the church, the guards pursue him with their drawn swords, all athirst for his blood ; they pursue him even to • the church door. He rushes up the steps, and just as they are about to overtake him and hew him in pieces on the threshold of the church, out comes the bishop, and holding up the crucifix, he cries, . " Back, back ! stain not the precincts of God's house with blood ! stand back ! " and the guards at once respect the emblem and stand back, while the poor fugitive hides himself behind the robes of the priest. It is even so with Christ. The guilty sinner flies to the cross — flies straight away to Jesus, and though Justice pursues him, Christ lifts up his wounded hands and cries to Justice, " Stand back ! stand back! I shelter this sinner; in the secret place of my tabernacle do I hide him; I will not suffer him to perish, for he puts his trust in ,me."
Christ in the Heart a Disinfectant.— Myrrh, again was used as a disinfectant. When the fever is abroad, we know people who wear little bags of camphor about their necks. They may be very good; I do not know. But the Orientals believed that, in times of pest and plague, a little bag of myrrh worn between the breasts would be of essential service to whoever might carry it. And there doubtless is some power in myrrh to preserve from infectious disease. Well, brethren, certain I am it is so with Christ. You have to go into the world, which is like a great lazar-house; but if you carry Christ with you, you will never catch the world's disease. A man may be worth never so much money — he will never get worldly if he keepeth Christ on his heart. A man may have to tug and toil for his livelihood, and be very poor — he will never be discontented and murmuring if he lives close to Christ. Oh you who have to handle
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the world, Bee to it that you handle the Master mor* than the world. Some of you have to work with drunken and swearing men; others are cast into the midst of frivolities; oh, take my Master with you! and sin's plagues can have no influence upon your moral nature.
For Christ's Sake.— I met, in one of Samuel Rutherford's letters, an extraordinary expression, where he speaks of the coals of divine wrath all falling upon the head of Christ, so that not one might fall upon his people. " And yet," saith he, " if one of those coals should drop from his head upon mine, and did utterly consume me, yet if I felt it was a part of the coals that fell on him, and I was bearing it for his sake, and in communion with him, I would choose it for my heaven." That is a strong thing to say, that to suffer with Christ would be his heaven, if he assuredly knew that it was for and with Christ that he was suffering. Oh! there is indeed a heavenliness about suffering for Jesus. His cross hath such a majesty and mystery of delight in it, that, the more heavy it becometh, the more lightly doth it sit upon the believer's shoulders.
Christ Always New.— To-day, stepping in to see a gentle man, I observed a table which had upon it a great va riety of objects. I wondered what they were, and took the liberty of asking him. He told me that he had some beautiful stereoscopic views there which had been taken at an immense expense in Egypt, in the Holy Land, and in all parts of the world; and he showed me one or two Scriptural subjects which very much inter ested me. They were certainly preeminently excellent as works of art. He said, " There, sir, I never get tired of looking at those things. I could look at them constantly, and never get tired of them." " Well," I said, "I quite understand that; they are excellent; for
CHRIST 25
really there is the study of half an hour in this on« picture; and then one might begin again, it is so full of beauty, and it seems so true to the original." But I thought to myself, " Excellent as they are, I think, if I call to see my friend in a year's time he will tell me that he has had to buy a fresh lot of views, for he has been looking at these so often, that he has become alto gether tired of them. They would have no freshness to him, because he had seen them so many times. But mark; the reason why he could look at them so often was because they were so excellent. If they had been bad views, if there had not been great skill and great art bestowed upon them, he would soon have become tired of looking at them. There are some views in nature which a man might look at a hundred times, and yet always wonder at them; but the reason is, because they are so beautiful. There are other things which might strike one's eye at first, but which when they are looked into would lose their freshness, because there would be no real ground for admiration, because there was no excellency. But Christ Jesus will always have the dew of his youth, because he is always so excellent.
Bleating of the Sheep."— If you learn of Jesus you will have rest from the fear of men. I recollect, before I came to London, being at a prayer-meeting where a very quaint brother prayed for me that I might be delivered from the " bleating of the sheep." I understood it after awhile, he meant that I might live above the fear of man, that when such a person said " How much we have been edified to-day," I might not be puffed up; or if another said, " How dull the discourse was to-day," I might not be depressed. You will be delivered from "the bleating of the sheep" when you have the spirit of the Good Shepherd.
26 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
Yoked with Christ.— When bullocks are yoked, there are generally two. I have watched them in Northern Italy, and noticed that when two are yoked together, and they are perfectly agreed, the yoke is always easy to both of them. If one were determined to lie down and the other to stand up, the yoke would be very uncom fortable; but when they are both of one mind you will see them look at each other with those large, lustrous, brown eyes of theirs so lovingly, and with a look they read each other's minds, so that when one wants to lie down, down they go, or when one wishes to go forward, forward they both go, keeping step. In this way the yoke is easy. Now I think the Savior says to us, " I am bearing one end of the yoke on my shoulder; come, my disciple, place your neck under the other side of it, and then learn of me. Keep step with me, be as I am, do as I do. I am meek and lowly in heart; your heart must be like mine, and then we will work together in blessed fellowship, and you will find that working with me is a happy thing ; for my yoke is easy to me, and will be to you. Come, then, true yoke-fellow, come and be yoked with me, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me/'
Christ Grows on the Growing Christian. — Like the trav eler ascending the Alps to reach the summit of Mont Blanc; at first he observes that lord of the hills as one horn among many, and often in the twistings of his upward path he sees other peaks which appear more elevated than that monarch of mountains; but when at last he is near the summit, he sees all the rest of the hills beneath his feet, and like a mighty wedge of ala baster Mount Blanc pierces the very clouds. So, as we grow in grace, other things sink and Jesus rises. They must decrease, but Christ must increase; until he alone fills the full horizon of your soul, and rises clear
CHRIST 27
and bright and glorious up into the very heaven of God.
0 that we may thus see " Jesus only ! "
Running Into Christ's Arms.— It was a brave saying of Martin Luther's, when he said, " I would run into Christ's arms even if he had a drawn sword in his hand." Now, he has not a drawn sword, but he has his wounds hi his hands. Run into his arms, poor sinner. " Oh," you say, " May I come ? " How can you ask the question ? you are commanded to come. The great command of the gospel is, " Believe on the Lord Jesus." Those who disobey this command disobey God. It is as much a command of God that man should believe on Christ, as that we should love our neighbor.
Not Works but Christ.— Remember what that eminent Scotch divine said, when he was dying. Some one said to 'him, "What are you doing now?" Said he, "I am just gathering all my good works up together, and I am throwing them all overboard; and I am lashing my self to the plank of free grace, and I hope to swim to glory on it." So do you do; every day keep your eye only on Christ; and so long as your eye is single, your whole body must and shall be full of light. But if you once look crosseyed, first to yourself and then to Christ, your whole body shall be full of darkness.
A True Friend.— Young lady, you speak of a dear friend whom you acquired last night in a ball-room. Do not,
1 beseech you, misuse the word; he is not a friend if he was acquired merely there; friends are better things than those which grow in the hot-house of pleasure. Friendship is a more lasting plant than those. You have a friend, have you? Yes; and he keeps a pair of horses, and has a good establishment. Ah! but your best way to prove your friend is to know that he will be your friend when you have not so much as a mean
28 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
cottage, and when, houseless and without clothing, you are driven to beg your bread. Thus you would make true proof of a friend. Give me a friend who was born in the winter time, whose cradle was rocked in the storm ; he will last. Our fair weather friends shall flfee away from us. I had rather have a robin for a friend than a swallow; for a swallow abides with us only in the summer time, but a robin cometh to us in the winter. Those are tight friends that will come the nearest to us when we are in the most distress; but those are not friends who speed themselves away when ill times come. Believer, hast thou reason to fear that Christ will leave you now? Has he not been with you in the house of mourning1? You found your friend where men find pearls, " in caverns deep, where darkness dwells ; " you found Jesus in your hour of trouble. It was on the bed of sickness that you first learned the value of his name; it was in the hour of mental anguish that you first did lay hold of the hem of his garment; and since then, your nearest and sweetest intercourse has been held with him in the hours of darkness.
The Elder Brother.— It is saying a great thing to affirm that " there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother ; " for the love of brotherhood has produced most valiant deeds. We have read stories of what brotherhood could do, which, we think, could hardly be excelled in the annals of friendship. Timoleon, with his shield, stood over the body of his slain brother, to de fend him from the insults of the foe. It was reckoned a brave deed of brotherhood that he should dare the spears of an army in defense of his brother's corpse. And many such instances have there been, in ancient and modern warfare, of the attachment of brethren. There is a story told of a Highland regiment, who, while marching through the Highlands, lost their way; they
CHRIST ag
were overtaken by one of the terrible storms which will sometimes come upon travelers unawares, and blinded by the snow, they lost their way upon the mountains. Well nigh frozen to death, it was with difficulty they could continue their march. One man after another dropped into the snow and disappeared. There were two brothers, however, of the name of Forsythe; on« of them fell prostrate on the earth, and would have lain there to die, but his brother, tho barely able to drag his own limbs across the white desert, took him on his back, and carried him along, and as others fell, one by one, this brave, true-hearted brother carried his loved on his back until at last he himself fell down over come with fatigue, and died. His brother, however, had received such warmth from his body that he was enabled to reach the end of his journey in safety, and so lived. Here we have an instance of one brother sacrificing his life for another. I hope there are some brothers here who would be prepared to do the same if they should ever be brought into the same difficulty. It is saying a great thing, to declare that " there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
Christ's Tender Care. — A queer thing I once read in an old book about God's children and people being a part of Christ and in union with him. The writer says — " A father sitteth in his room, and there cometh in a stranger: the stranger taketh up a child on his knee, and the child hath a sore finger: so he saith, 'My child, you have a sore finger ; > ' Yes ! ' l Well, let me take it off, and give thee a golden one ! ' The child looketh at him and saith, ' I will not go to that man any more, for he talks of taking off my finger: I love my own finger, and I will not have a golden one instead of it.' So the saint saith, ' I am one of the members of Christ, but
SO SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
I am like a sore finger, and he will take me off and put a golden one on.' ' No/ said Christ, 'No, no; I can not have any of my members taken away; if the finger be a sore one, I will bind it up ; I will strengthen it/ " The Savior. — I had a friend, who, standing by the side of a piece of frozen water, saw a young lad in it, and sprang upon the ice in order to save him. After clutch ing the boy, he held him in his hands and cried out, " Here he is ! Here he is ! I have saved him." But, just as they caught hold of the boy, he sank himself, and his body was not found for some time afterwards, when he was quite dead. Oh! it is so with Jesus. My soul was drowning. From heaven's high portals he saw me sinking in the depths of hell; he, in his supreme mercy, plunged in:
"He SANK beneath his heavy woes,
To raise me to a crown; There's ne'er a gift his hand bestows, But cost his heart a groan."
Ah! we may indeed regret our sin, since it slew Jesus. Christ Seeking After Sinners.— A friend of mine, who has been a clergyman in Ireland related it to me himself as a veritable narrative. A clergyman of an Irish parish said, that "he went round to visit all his parish ioners, but," said he, "there was one poor woman in the parish who had been an abandoned character, and I dared not go to visit her, because I thought it would ill become my position, so I passed by. Ah! brother," he said, " I know it was an evil pride, or else I should have gone after the chief of sinners, for the care of her soul was in some measure committed to my hands." One day he saw her in church, and he thought he heard her repeating the responses, and fancied he saw the
CHRIST 31
tears rolling down her cheek. 0 how his bowels yearned for her soul! He longed to speak with her, but he dared not. She came there month after month, a con stant worshiper, and yet he passed by her door and did not visit her. At last one day she came to the door, and said, " Sir, I want you ; " he then went in, and she put out her hand, and taking hold of his, said, " 0, sir ! if your Master had been in this village half as long as you have, I am sure he would have been to see me, for I am the worst sinner in the parish, and therefore I want his help the most; but tho you have not been to see me, I know who has said: * This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.7 "
Christ Pulling at Our Hearts.— Remember that pretty par able given by one of our ministers, of the boy's kite. He made it fly aloft: it rose up so high that he could - no longer see it. Still he said he had a kite, and he held fast by it. " Boy, how do you know you have a kite?" "I can feel it pull," said he. This morning we feel our Jesus pull. He draws us with a far greater force than a mere string. He is gone into heaven, and he draws us after him. 0 Lord, draw us with greater power than ever.
Christ a Victor.— I know of no better theme to stir the pulses of my soul with holy exultation than the thought that Jesus is victor. I have heard of wounded men crushed amid a heap of bleeding bodies lying on the battle-field, and rousing all the life that remained in them when they saw the great Napoleon come riding over the plain. With their legs gone, they raised them selves upon their arms once more to salute their captain. Poor souls! to be thus enthusiastic for one who shed their blood like water; far more wise is our enthusiasm for him who shed his blood for us. If I knew that I
32 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
must die in a ditch, and be forgotten or slandered and abhorred of men, I would yet rejoice and cry "Ho- sanna " at the prospect of my Lord's sure victory. Yea I will salute him now with my most hearty praises, and be glad, because I know that he is even now King of kings and Lord of lords. Hallelujah! He of whom they said, " Crucify him, crucify him," is now head over all.
Christ Ever the Same.— Men in the days of Toplady looked back to the days of Whitfield; men in the days of Whitfield looked back to the days of Bunyan; men in the days of Bunyan wept because of the days of Wycliffe, and Calvin, and Luther; and men then wept for the days of Augustine and Chrysostom. Men in those days wept for the days of the Apostles; and doubtless men in the days of the Apostles wept for tht days of Jesus Christ; and no doubt some in the days of Jesus Christ were so blind as to wish to return to the days of prophecy, and though more of the days of Elijah than they did of the most glorious day of Christ. Some men look more to the past than the present. Rest as sured, that Jesus Christ is the same to-day as he was yes terday, and he will be the same for ever.
Christ Seeking the Lost.— "I am lost," said Mr. White- field's brother to the Countess of Huntington. " I am delighted to hear it," said the Countess. " Oh," cried he, "what a dreadful thing to say!" "Nay," said she, " ' for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost ; ' therefore I know he is come to save you.'' 0 sinner, it would be unreasonable to despair. The more broken thou art, the more ruined thou art, the more vile thou art in thine own esteem, so much the more room is there for the display of infinite mercy and power.
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The Humiliation of Christ.— Never was there a poorer man than Christ; he was the prince of poverty. He was the reverse of Croasus — he might be on the top of the hill of riches, Christ stood in the lowest vale of poverty. Look at his dress, it is woven from the top throughout, the garment of the poor ! As for his food, he oftentimes did hunger; and always was dependent upon the charity of others for the relief of his wants! He who scattered the harvest o'er the broad acres of the world, had not sometimes wherewithal to stay the pangs of hunger? He who digged the springs of the ocean, sat upon a well and said to a Samaritan woman, " Give me to drink ! " He rode in no chariot, he walked his weary way, foot sore, o'er the flints of Galilee ! He had not where to lay his head. He looked upon the fox as it hurried to its burrow, and the fowl as it went to its resting-place, and he said, " Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but I, the Son of man, have not where to lay my head." He who had once been waited on by angels, becomes the servant of servants, takes a towel, girds himself, and washes his disciples' feet! He who was once honored with the hallelujahs of ages, is now spit upon and despised! He who was loved by his Father, and had abundance of the wealth of affection, could say, "He that eateth bread with me. hath lifted up his heel against me." Oh, for words to picture the humiliation of Christ!
No Caste to Christ.— I recollect in Martin Luther's life that he saw, in one of the Romish churches, a picture of the Pope, and the cardinals, and bishops, and priests, and monks, and friars, all on board a ship. They were all safe, every one of them. As for the laity, poor wretches, they were struggling in the sea, and many of them drowning. Only those were saved to whom the good men in the ship were so kind as to hand out a
34 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
rope or a plank. That is not our Lord's teaching: his blood is shed " for many," and not for the few. He is not the Christ of a caste, or a class, but the Christ of all conditions of men.
Christ Our Only Resting-PIace.— I spoke to a friend this week who is sore sick, and I said, " You are resting in Christ, my brother," He replied^ " I have nothing else to rest in." I said, " Your hope is in the atoning sacri fice of Christ," and he answered, "What other hope could I have?" While we have fifty ways of salvation we shall be lost; but when we see that "other founda tion can no man lay than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ the righteous," then we shall build upon it and be safe.
Christ the True Physician. — Have you been to Doctor Ceremony? He is, at this time, the fashionable doc tor. Has he told you that you must attend to forms and rules? Has he prescribed you so many prayers, and so many services? Ah! many go to him, and they persevere in a round of religious observances, but these yield no lasting ease to the conscience. Have you tried Doctor Morality? He has a large practice, and is a fine old Jewish physician. " Be good in outward character," says he, " and it will work inwardly, and cleanse the heart ! " A great many persons are supposed to have been cured by him and by his assistant, Doctor Civility, who is nearly as clever as his master: but I have it on good evidence that neither of them apart, nor even the two together, could ever deal with an inward disease. Do what you may, your own doings will not stanch the wounds of a bleeding heart. Doctor Mortification has also a select practice; but men are not saved by denying themselves until they first deny their self -righteousness. Doctor Excitement has many patients, but his cures seldom outlive the set of sun. Doctor Feeling is much
CHRIST 35
sought after by tender spirits; these try to feel sorrow and remorse; but, indeed, the way of cure does not lie in that quarter. Let everything be done that can be done apart from our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, and the sick soul will be nothing bettered. You may try human remedies for the space of a lifetime, but sin will remain in power, guilt will cling to the conscience, and the heart will abide as hard as ever.
Jesus Belongs to AH Humanity.— I admire the Welch sis ter who was of opinion that the Lord Jesus must be Welch. When they asked her how she proved it, she said that he always spoke to her heart in Welch. Doubt less it was so, and I can, with equal warmth, declare that he always speaks to me in English. Brethren from Ger many, France, Sweden, Italy — you all claim that he speaks to you in your own tongue.
Christ's Joy in Soul-Saving. — Some of you have been sal mon fishing in the Scotch rivers; you have fished on and on until you have hooked a huge fish, and by the time you have landed him, on taking out your watch, you dis cover that it is long past your dinner hour, and you are surprised that you had not noticed that you were almost faint. Your excitement kept you going: only when it was over did you begin to hunger. Thus the Master was so taken up with soul-saving that he had meat to eat that others knew not of.
Christ's Ownership in His People. — If I possess a love- token that some dear one has given me, I may rightly desire to have it with me. Nobody can have such a right to your wedding-ring, good sister, as you have yourself; and are not Christ's saints, as it were, a sig net upon his finger, a token which his Father gave him of his good pleasure in him? Should they not be with Jesus where he is, since they are his crown jewels and his glory? We in our creature love lift up our hands
36 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
and cry, "My Lord, my Master, let me have this dear one with me a little longer. I need the companionship of one so sweet, or life will be misery to me." But if Jesus looks us in the face, and says, " Is thy right better than mine ? " we draw back at once. He has a greater part in his saints than we can have.
Christ the Outcast's Savior. — One said to me the other day, talking of her sin, and of her repentance, " Yet, sir, I am an outcast." That word pierced my heart like a dagger. I said, "Yes, but the Church of Christ was made on purpose to be a home for outcasts: here is a new household for you, new brothers and sisters for you, a new future for you; for now you are one of the solitary ones whom the Lord in His infinite wisdom, will set in families."
Overpowering Love of Christ. — " They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it." The words are true to the letter. Take a case: Peter went a fishing; and if he had caught a few fish, his boat would have floated high on the lake; but when the Master came into the boat and told him where to throw the net so that he pulled up a multitude of fish, then the little barque began to sink. Down, down, it went, and poor Peter went down with it, till he fell at Jesus' feet and cried, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord." He was con fused and overwhelmed, or he would never have asked the blessed Master to leave him: Christ's goodness had fairly beaten him till he was afraid of his Benefactor. Know ye not what it is to be weighted down with infin ite goodness, oppressed with mercy, swept away by an avalanche of love. I, at least, know what it means, and I know of no experience which has made me so little in mine own eyes.
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Christ as Engraver.- - 1 was surprised when I was told, the other day, by a friend, who was a maker of steel-plate engravings, how much of labor had to be put into a finely-executed engraving. Think of the power that has cut lines of beauty in such steel as we are! Think of the patience that lent its arm, and its eye, and its heart, and its infinite mind, to the carrying on of the supreme work of producing the image of Christ in those who were born in sin! Think of the skill which makes heirs of God out of heirs of wrath !
The Lost Child. — If you have ever been in a house with a mother and father, and daughters and sons, when a little child has been lost, you will never forget the agi tation of each member of the household. See the father as he goes to the police-station, and calls at every likely house, for he must find his child or break his heart. See the deep oppression and bitter anguish of the mother; she is like one distracted till she has news of her darling. You now begin to understand what Jesus feels for one whom he loves, who is graven on the palms of his hands, whom he looked upon in the glass of his fore knowledge, when he was bleeding his life away upon the tree; he hath no rest in his spirit till his beloved is found. He hath compassion like a God, and that doth transcend all the compassion of parents or of brothers, — the compassion of an infinite heart brimming over with an ocean of love. This one thought moves the pity of the Lord — " if he lose one of them."
The Seeking Shepherd.— -A son is taken ill far away from home. He is laid sick with a fever, and a telegram is sent home. His mother says she must go and nurse him; she is wretched till she can set out upon the journey. It is a dreary place where her boy lies, but for the moment it is the dearest spot on earth to her. She joys to leave the comforts of her home to tarry
38 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
among strangers for the love of her boy. She feels an intense joy in sacrificing herself; she refuses to retire from the bedside, she will not leave her charge; she watches day and night, and only from utter exhaus tion does she fall asleep. You could not have kept her in England, she would have been too wretched. It was a great, deep, solemn pleasure for her to be where she could minister to her own beloved. Soul, remember you have given Jesus great joy in his saving you. He was forever with the Father, eternally happy, infinitely glorious, as God over all; but yet he must needs come hither out of boundless love, take upon himself our na ture, and suffer in our stead to bring us back to holi ness and God. " He layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." That day the shepherd knew but one joy. He had found his sheep, and the very pressure of it upon his shoulders made his heart light, for he knew by that sign that the object of his care was safe beyond all question.
The True Shepherd.— " The sheep follow him, for they know his voice; and a stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers." I remember hearing a brother tell how he disproved the notion that sheep only know the shepherd by his dress. When in Palestine he asked a shepherd to allow him to put on his clothes. Then he began to call the sheep, but never a one would come, not even a lamb. The most sheep ish of the flock had sense enough left to know that he was not the shepherd, and even the youngest kept aloof, heedless of the stranger's voice. He might have called till he was hoarse, but they would not come. So God's people know their Lord, and they know the kind of food which he gives them.
Christ the Plant of Renown. — Did you ever hear the leg end of a man whose garden produced nothing else but weeds, till at last he met with a strange foreign flower
CHRIST 39
of singular vitality. The story is that he sowed a hand ful of this seed in his overgrown garden, and left it to work its own sweet way. He slept and rose, and knew not how the seed was growing till on a day he opened the gate and saw a sight which much astounded him. He knew that the seed would produce a dainty flower and he looked for it; but he had little dreamed that the plant would cover the whole garden. So it was: the flower had exterminated every weed, till as he looked from one end to the other from wall to wall he could see nothing but the fair colors of that rare plant, and smell nothing but its delicious perfume. Christ is that plant of renown. If he be sown in the soil of your soul, he will gradually eat out the roots of all ill weeds and poisonous plants, till over all your nature there shall be Christ in you.
Christ as King. — Christ in us is Christ reigning. It re minds me of Mr. Bunyan's picture of Mansoul, when the Prince Immanuel laid siege to it, and Diabolus from within the city strove to keep him out. It was c, hard time for Mansoul then; but when at last the battering rams had broken down the gates, and the silver trum pets sounded, and the prince's captains entered the breach, then on a day the prinea himself did ride down the city's streets, while liberated citizens welcomed him with all their hearts, hung out all their streamers, and made the church towers rock again as the bells rang out merry peals, for the king himself was come. Up to the castle of the heart he rode in triumph, and took his royal throne to be henceforth the sole lord and king of the city. Christ in you is a right royal word. Christ swaying his scepter from the center of your being over every power and faculty, desire and resolve, bringing every thought into captivity to himself, oh, this is glory begun, and the sure pledge of heaven. Oh for more
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of the imperial sovereignty of Jesus; it is our liberty to be absolutely under his sway.
Christ the Sinner's Only Physician.— Suppose that a man has heard of a great physician who understands his com plaint. Ha has travelled a great many miles to see this celebrated doctor; but when he gets to the door they tell him that he is out. " Well," says he, " then I must wait till he is in." "You need not wait," they reply, "his assistant is at home." The suffering man, who has been often disappointed, answers, " I do not care about his assistant, I want to see the man himself: mine is a desperate case, but I have heard that this physician has cured the like; I must, therefore, see him. No assistants for me." "Well," say they, "he is out; but there are his books ; you can see his books." " Thank you," he says, "I cannot be content with his books, I want the living man and nothing less. It is to him that I must speak, and from him I will receive instructions." "Do you see that cabinet? " " Yes." " It is full of his med icines." The sick man answers, "I dare say they are very good, but they are of no use to me without the doctor: I want their owner to prescribe for me, or I shall die of my disease." " But see," cries one, " here is a person who has been cured by him, a man of great experience, who has been present at many remarkable operations. Go into the inquiry-room with him, and he will tell you all about the mode of cure." The af flicted man answers, " I am much obliged to you, but all your talk only makes me long the more to see the doc tor. I came to see him, and I am not going to be put off with anything else. I must see the man himself, for myself. He has made my disease a specialty; he knows how to handle my case, and I will stop till I see him." Now, dear friends, if you are seeking Christ, imitate
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this sick man, or else you may be sure you will miss the mark altogether.
Christ Inspires Enthusiasm. — When great commanders are known to have come into a camp what a thrill of joy it causes among their trusty warriors. When the soldiers have been much dejected it has been whispered in their tents —
" The king has come to marshal us, All in his armor dressed,"
and from that moment every man has cheered up. At the sight of the king as he comes riding into the camp the host raises a great shout. What means it? It is a shout of loyal love — they are glad to welcome their leader. So is it with us when we sing —
"The King himself comes near,"
we are all as glad as glad can be. Those who cannot come out to see their prince, because they are lying on their sick beds in hospital, clap their hands, while even the little children in their mothers' arms join in the general joy. " The king is come," say they, and his presence kindles their enthusiasm till they make the hills ring again. You know how the stern Ironsides felt when Cromwell came along; every man was a hero when he led the way. They were ready for any ad venture, no matter how difficult, as long as their great chief was there. That enthusiasm which was inspired by Alexander, and by Napoleon, and by other great commanders, is the earthly image of the spiritual fervor felt by the church when the Lord Jesus vouchsafes to be in the midst of it.
Christ's Delight in His People.— When Cyrus took the Greek ambassador through his garden, he challenged him to admire its charms. The Spartan approved all
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he saw, but still his admiration was cool and critical. " This garden," said its master, " yields me more pleasure and satisfaction than you can imagine or I can express.'1 " And why ? " asked the visitor. " Because," replied Cy rus, "I planted every tree in it myself. I planned all the paths, and all the flowers have I reared. No hand but mine has dug the soil, tended the plants, pruned the trees, or done aught beside but my own." His toil and his trouble thus endeared the place to the king. So, truly, Christ can say when he looks upon his people, " There is a fruitful bough there : I pruned that. He was sick, long laid aside from business, he feared his family would be starved: I was pruning him then; but I love the fruit that is on him because I know how it came there. That plant yonder which is blooming now and shedding such a sweet perfume of love, well do I recollect when it was drooping and ready to die. I came and watered it. She, timid disciple, would say, l Blessed be the gentle hand that shed the dew and poured nour ishment on my poor, parched, and withered root ! " Yes, the Savior gives us " grace for grace " that we may produce grace. I leave the thought with you for medi tation, and the issues for your edification, only praying earnestly that his Holy Spirit may work in you " grace for grace."
Christ Sufficient for AH Kinds of Sinners.— A worthy, consistent, industrious woman was married to a low, worthless, dissipated husband. Both of them, however, were alike ignorant of the gospel. They came together to the house of prayer; they heard together the tidings of mercy; they each believed, and each of them received the Savior, and they both were saved the same way; they both found mercy on the same terms. To the rich, free, sovereign grace of God they vied with one another in ascribing the praise.
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Christ as a Ferry-Man. — A negro was once sent by his master on an errand that did not suit him; he did not want to go. So when he came to a river he turned back, and said, " Master, I came to a river, and I could not swim across it." "Well, but was there not a ferry boat?" "Yes, there was a ferry-boat, but the man was on the other side." " Well," said the master, " did you call to the ferry-man to come and take you across? " No, he did not think of doing that, for, as he did not wish to go over, he was glad to find an excuse. Now, it is true, sinner, that you cannot save yourself, but there is One who can. There is a ferry-boat and there is a Ferry -man. Cry to him ! Cry to him,— " Master, across this river be pleased to take me; I cannot swim it, but thou canst bear me over it. Oh ! do for me what I can not do for myself! Make me to be accepted in the Be loved ! " If you seek the Lord he will be found of you.
Christ the Door. — I read a story the other day of some Russians crossing wide plains studded over here and there with forests. The villages were ten or a dozen miles from each other, the wolves were out, the horses were rushing forward madly, the travelers could hear the baying of the wolves behind them; and, tho the horses tore along with all speed, yet the wolves were fast behind, and they only escaped, as we say, "by the skin of their teeth," managing just to get inside some hut that stood in the road, and to shut-to the door. Then they could hear the wolves leap on the roof; they could hear them dash against the sides of the hut; they could hear them gnawing at the door, and howling, and making all sorts of dismal noises; but the travelers were safe, because they had entered in by the door, and the door was shut. Now, when a man is in Christ, he can hear, as it were, the devils howling like wolves, all fierce and hungry for him ; and his own sins, like wolves^
44 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
are seeking to drag him down to destruction. But ht has got in to Christ, and that is such a shelter that all the devils hi the world, if they were to come at once, could not start a single beam of that eternal refuge: it must stand fast, tho the earth and heaven should pass away. Now, to every man and woman Christ says that if they have entered in by the door, they shall be saved.
Suffering for Christ.— There was a certain king whose son was sent upon an errand to a far country, and when he came into that country, altho he was the lawful prince of it, he found that the citizens would not acknowledge him. They mocked at him, jested at him, and took him and set him in the pillory, and there they scoffed at him and pelted him with filth. Now, there was one in that country who knew the prince, and Le clone stood up for him when all the mob was in tumult raring against him. And when they set him on high as an object of scorn, this man stood side by side with him to wipe the filth from that dear royal face; and when from cruel hands missiles in scorn were thrown, this mm took his full share ; and whenever he could lie thrust Limself before the prince to ward off the blows from him if possible, and to bear the scorn instead of him. Now it came to pass that after awhile the prince went on his way, and in due season the man who had been the prince's friend was called to the king's palace. And on a day when all the princes of the court were round about, and the peers and nobles of the land were sitting in their places, the king came to his throne and he called for that man, and he said, "Make way, princes and nobles! Make way! Here is a man more noble than you all, for he stood boldly forth with my son when he was scorned and scoffed at! Make way, I say, each one of you, for he shall sit at my right hand with my own son. As he
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took a share of his scorn, he shall now take a share of his honor." And there sat princes and nobles who wished that they had been there, ay ! envied the man who had been privileged to endure scorn and scoffing for the prince's sake! You need not that I interpret the par able. May you make angels envious of you, if envy can ever pierce their holy minds. You can submit for Christ's sake to sufferings which it is not possible for seraphim or cherubim to endure.
Christ the Root.— I like that story of the Sandwich Island ers who had been converted through some of our mis sionaries, and the Gospel had been preached to them for years. At last, two or three gentlemen in long black gowns landed there, and the people asked them what they had come for. They said they were come to in struct them in the true faith, and to teach them. Well, they said, they should be glad to hear it. If their teach ing was true, and like the Scriptures, they would listen to them. By and by, a little diagram was exhibited to the natives after the similitude of a tree. This tree had many branches. The twigs which were farthest of.! were the different saints, the believers, those who do good works; then the limbs, which were a little larger, were the priests; the bigger boughs were bishops; the biggest boughs were the cardinals; and, at last, these all joined on to the trunk, which was the Pope, and that went all the way down to the bottom, till it came to Peter, who was the root, deriving his authority immediately from Christ. So the natives asked about all these twigs, and branches, and specially about certain rotten branches that were tumbling off into a fire. What were they? They were Luther, and Calvin, and other heretics who had been cut off from the true tree of the church. " Well," said one of the islanders, " and pray what is the root of the tree?" Of course? that was allowed to
46 SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
be Jesus Christ. So they clapped their hands at once for joy, and said, " Never mind about the branches, and stems, and twigs; we have never heard of them, but we have got the root, and that will do to grow on." In like manner, brethren, we can say to-night, if we have got Christ, we have got " the root out of the dry ground." We have got the root of the matter, the basis, the sum, the substance of it.
" Let others trust what forms they please, Their hopes we'll not contest."
Christ Grows on His Disciples. — So, when we were car nal, and did not know King Jesus, we esteemed him to be very much like anybody else, but now we begin to know him, we find out that he is much greater, infinitely greater than we thought he was. And as we grow in grace, we find him to be more glorious still. A little star to our view at first, he has grown in our estimation into a sun now, a blazing sun, by whose beams our soul is refreshed. Ah! but when we get near to him, what will he be*? Imagine yourself borne up on an angel's wing to take a journey to a star. Traveling at an in conceivable rate you open your eyes on a sudden and say — " How wonderful ! Why, that which was a star just now has become as large to my vision, as the sun at noon-day." " Stop," says the angel ; " you shall see greater things than these," and, as you speed on, the disc of that orb increases, till it is equal to a hundred suns; and now you say, " But what f " Am I not near it now?" "No," says the angel, "that enormous globe is still far, far away," and when you come to it, you would find it to be such a wondrous world, that arithmetic could not compute its size; scarcely could imagination belt it with the zone of fancy. Now, such is Jesus Christ. I said he grows upon his people here, but what must
CHRIST 47
it be to see him there, where the veil is lifted, and we be hold him face to face?
Christ the Pole Star.— There are some of the stars that are extremely useful to sailors. I scarcely know how else the great wide sea would be navigated, especially if it were not for the Polar Star. Jesus is the Polar Star to us. How the poor negro in the olden times, when the curse of slavery had not been taken away, must have blessed God for that pole star — so easy to find out. Any child with but a moment's teaching will soon know how to discover it in the midst of its fellows at night, and when the negro had once learned to distinguish the star that shone over the land of freedom, how he followed it through the great dismal swamps, or along the plains which were more dreadful still; how he could ford the streams, and climb the mountains, always cheered by the sight of that pole star. Such is Jesus Christ to the seeker. He leads to liberty; he conducts to peace. Oh! I wish you would follow him, some of you who are go ing about a thousand ways to find peace where you will never find it. There is never a Sunday but I try to speak, sometimes in gentler tones, and at other seasons with thundering notes, the simple truth that Jesus Christ came into the world to save shiners. I do try to make it plain to you that it is not your prayers and tears, your doings, your willings, your anything, that can save you, but that all your help is laid upon one that is mighty, and that you must look alone to him. Yet, sinners, you are still looking to yourselves. You rake the dung hills of your human nature to find the pearl of great price which is not there. You will look beneath the ice of your natural depravity to find the flame of comfort which is not there. You might as well seek in hell itself to find heaven as look to your own works and merits to find some ground of trust. Down with them! Down
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with them, every one of them ! Away with all these con fidences of yours, for
"None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good."
Just reverse that helm; and shift that sail, and tack about! Follow not the wrecker's beacon on yonder shore luring you to the rocks of self-delusion, but where that pole star guides, thither let your vessel drift, and pray for the favoring gales of the blessed Spirit to guide you rightly to the port of peace.
Christ Our Banner.— The banner was ever a source of consolation to the wounded. There he lies, the good knight; right well has he fought without fear and with out reproach; but a chance arrow pierced the joints of his harness, and his life is oozing out from the ghastly wound. There is no one there to unbuckle his helmet or give him a draught of cooling water; his frame is locked up in that hard case of steel, and tho he feels the smart he cannot gain the remedy, He hears the cries, the mingled cries, the hoarse shouts of men that rush in fury against their fellows : and he opens his eyes — as yet he has not fainted with his bleeding. Where, think you, does he look? He turns himself round. What is he looking for? For friend? For comrade? No. Should they come to him he would say, " Just lift me up, and let me sit against that tree awhile, and bleed here; but go you to the fight." Where, where is that • restless eye searching, and what is the object for which it is looking? Yes, he has it; and the face of the dying man is brightened. He sees the banner still waving, and with his last breath he cries, " On ! on ! on ! " and falls asleep content, because the banner is safe. It has not been cast down. Tho he has fallen, yet the banner is se cure. Even so every true soldier of the cross rejoices in
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its triumph. We fall, but Christ does not. We die, but the cause prospers. As I have told you before, when my heart was most sad — sad as if never was before nor since — that sweet text, " Him hath God the Father exalted, and given him a name that is above every name," quite cheered my soul, and set me again in peace and comfort.
Christ the Center of Attack.— Whenever the old Knights of the Red Cross fought the Saracens they always endeav ored to make their steel ring upon the helmet of men whose hand held the crescent, the standard of Moham med; ever the fight was bloodiest around the standard. * Sometimes, when the battle was over, if you walked the field you would see it strewn with legs and arms and mangled bodies everywhere. In one place there would be a heap where they were piled one upon another, a great mountain of flesh and armor, broken bones and smashed skulls, and you would ask, " What is this? How came they here? How trampled they so one upon another, and fought in pools of human blood?" The answer would be, " ;Twas there the standard-bearer stood, and first the adversary made a dash and stole the ban ner, and then fifty knights vowed to redeem it, and they dashed against their foes and took it by storm, and then again hand to hand they fought with the banner between them, first in one hand and then in another, changing ownership each hour. Well, dear friends, we must remember that Christ Jesus has always been the object of attack.
Christ our Guide.— When Mr. Andrew Fuller was going to preach before an association, he rode to the meeting on his horse. There had been a good deal of rain, and the rivers were very much swollen. He got to one river which he had to cross. He looked at it, and he was half afraid of the strong current, as he did not know the
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depth. A fanner, who happened to be standing by, said —"It is all right, Mr. Fuller; you will get through it all right, sir; the horse will keep its feet." Mr. Fuller went in, and the water got up to the girth, and then up to the saddle, and he began to get uncomfortably wet. Mr. Fuller thought he had better turn round, and he was going to do so, when the same farmer shouted — " Go on, Mr. Fuller ; go on ; I know it is all right ; " and Mr. Fuller said, " Then I will go on ; I will go by faith." Now, sinner, it is very like that with you. You think that your sins are too deep, that Christ will never be able to carry you over them ; but, I say to you — It is all right, sinner; trust Jesus, and he will carry you thro hell itself, if it were needful and possible. If you had all the sins of all the men that have ever lived, and they were all yours, if you could trust him, Jesus Christ would carry you through the current of all that sin. It is all right, man! Only trust Christ. The river may be deep, but Christ's love is deeper still. It is all right, man! Do not let the devil make you doubt my Lord and Master. He is a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies, but my Master is faithful and true. Rest on him and it is all right. Herein lies the supreme con solation of this earthly life.
Loyalty to Christ.— Dr. Payson had once been out to tea with one of his people, who had been particularly hos pitable to him, and when he was going, the doctor said : — " Well, now, Madam, you have treated me exceedingly well, but how do you treat my Master ? " That is a question I should like to put to some of you. How do you treat my Master? Why, you treat him as if he were not Christ, as if you did not want him. But, you do need him. May you find him soon, for when you come to die, you will want him then, and perhaps then you may not find him.
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Christ Trustworthy.— There came to me the other day a young man who wished to speak with me about his soul troubles, and he began thus, " Dear sir, I cannot trust Christ." To which I answered, "Have you found out something fresh in his character? Has he ceased to be trustworthy? Pray let me know all about it, for it is a serious matter to me; I have trusted him with everything I have for time and for eternity, and if he is not fit to be trusted I am in a terrible case." He looked at me, and he said, "I will not say that again, sir; I see I have made a mistake. Truly the Lord Jesus is in every way trustworthy." "Well, then," I said, "Why can not you trust him?" I left him with that unanswerable question. A man is certainly able to trust one whom he regards as trustworthy. My young friend saw that at once, and asked me further : " But may I trust Christ to save me? Am I permitted to trust my soul with him?" I said to him, "Is not this the command of the gospel: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved? And are you not warned that if you do not believe in him you will be damned? How can we doubt that we are permitted to do that which is com manded us of the Lord? I am to preach the gospel to every creature, and this is the gospel:— "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ! " He said, " So, then, if I trust Christ, he will save me?" and I replied, " Certainly he will ; he is the Savior of all them that put their trust in him. He says, ' Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out/ It is written, 1 He that believeth on him hath everlasting life ; ' he that trusts in Jesus is saved." He thanked me, and saying that he had found out the secret, he went on his way rejoicing. I told him the gospel; he received it; and he entered into rest.
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Christ Bringing Men Back.— Ah! we cannot always tell when we are driving poor souls away from Christ Often, when we think we are wooing we are driving them away; when we would be winning to the Savior, some harsh expression of ours frightens sinners away from him. Ah! poor soul, hast thou been driven awayf Dost thou understand and sympathize with what I have said? Before I knew the Lord, I could declare that I was driven away. Once, under a powerful sermon, my heart shook within me, and was dissolved in the midst of my bowels; I thought I would seek the Lord, and I bowed my knee and wrestled, and poured out my heart before him. I ventured within his sanctuary to hear his word, hoping that in some favored hour he would send a precious promise to my consolation; but, ah! that wretched afternoon I heard a sermon wherein Christ was not; I had no longer any hope. I would have sipped at that fountain, but I was driven away; I felt that I would have believed in Christ, and I longed and sighed for him. But, ah ! that dreadful sermon and those dread ful things that were uttered; my poor soul knew not what was truth, or what was error; but I thought the man was surely preaching the truth, and I was driven back. I dared not go, I could not believe, I could not lay hold on Christ; I was shut out, if no one else was. Ts there some one here who has been driven away? I may have done it, and I will weep before God in secret on account of it. But let me cheer you. Hear this : " I will bring again that which was driven away." As surely as you ever did come once you will be brought back again; that heavenly hour shall once more return; that blessed day shall dawn afresh; Christ shall appear, and his love and mercy shall be bestowed on you. He has drawn you once and he will draw you again, for God never fails. He may, for wise ends and purposes, suf-
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fer you to be driven away once; but he will ultimately bring you to himself, for he has said, " I will bring again that which was driven away."
Immediate Healing. — We love the physician who heals speedily. If you find a skillful physician who can heal you of a sad disease even in years, you go to him, and are thankful. But suppose some wondrous man who with a touch could heal you, who with the very glance of his eyes could make you well at once, and stanch that blood or stop that disease, or turn aside that evil thing and make you well, would you not go to him, and feel that he was a great physician indeed? So with Christ. There shall be a man standing there with all his sins upon his head, and he may yet go down these stairs just, complete in Christ, without a sin, freed from its damning power, delivered from all his guilt and iniquity, in one single instant! It is a marvelous thing, beyond our power and comprehension. It is done in an instant. God stamps it; the man is pardoned. He goes away in that same instant justified, as the publican did when he said, "Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner," and re ceived the mercy for which he sued.
Christ the Only Ark of Safety.— Some animals, like the camelopard, whose heads are higher than other animals, might have to bow their necks to go in by the same entrance as the waddling ducks, who naturally stoop, even as they enter a ba"rn; and so, some of the lofty ones of this world must bend down their stiff necks, and bow their proud heads, if they would enter into the church by Christ. Thus, again, the swift horse and the slow-paced snail must enter by one door; so, too, the scribes and pharisees must come in the same way as the publicans and harlots, or be for ever excluded.
All the beasts God had chosen went in by the one door and if any had stood without, and said, "We shall not
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oome in that way," they would have been standing with out till the flood overtook and destroyed them; for there was only one door. There is only one way of salvation, and there is only one means of getting into it. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," but " he that believeth not," whoever he be, must " be damned." There is no hope of any other way of salva tion. He that cometh in by the door shall be saved; and Jesus saith, " I am the door."
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Prosperity Dangerous.— Ships never strike on rocks out in the great deeps. Children, perhaps, may fancy that a shallow sea is the safest, but an old/ sailor knows bet ter. While he is off the Irish coast the captain has to keep a good look out, but while he is crossing the At lantic he is in far less danger. There he has plenty of sea-room, and there is no fear of quicksands or of shoals. When the sailor enters the Thames he encounters first one sand bank and then another, and he is in danger, but out in the deep water, where he finds no bottom, he is but little afraid. So, mark you, in the judgments of God. When he is dealing out affliction to us it is the safest possible sailing that a Christian can have. " What," says one, "trial safe?" Yes, very safe. The safest part of a Christain's life is the time of his trial. " What, when a man is down do you say he is safe ? " Yes, for then he need fear no fall; when he is low he need fear no pride; when he is humbled under God's hand then he is less likely to be carried away with every wind of temptation. Smooth water on the way to heaven is al ways a sign that the soul should keep wide awake, for danger is near. One comes at last to feel a solemn dread creeping over one in times of prosperity. " Thou shalt fear and tremble because of all the good that God
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shall make to pass before thee," fearing not BO much lest the good should depart as lest we should make an ill use of it, and should have a canker of sloth, or self- confidence, or worldliness growing up in our spirits. We have seen many professed Christians make shipwreck, in some few instances it has been attributable to overwhelm ing sorrow, but in ten cases to the one it has been at tributable to prosperity.
The Idle Christian a Hindrance. — Many church members think that if they do nothing wrong, and make no trouble, then they are all right. Not at all, sir; not at all. Here is a chariot, and we are all engaged to drag it. Some of you do not put out your hands to pull; well, then, the rest of us have to labor so much the more ; and the worst of it is we have to draw you also. While you do not add to the strength which draws, you in crease the weight that is to be drawn. It is all very well for you to say, " But I do not hinder ; " you do hinder, you cannot help hindering. If a man's leg does not help him in walking, it certainly hinders him.
The Righteous Safe. — A certain carping infidel, after hav ing argued with a poor countryman who knew the faith, but who knew little else, said to him, " Well, Hodge, you really are so stupid that there is no use of arguing with you, I cannot get you out of this absurd religion of yours." " Ah ! well," said Hodge, " I dare say I am stupid, master, but do you know we poor people like to have two strings to our bow ? " " Well," said the critic, "what do you mean by that?" "Master, Til show you. Suppose it should all turn out as you say; suppose there is no God, and there is no hereafter, don't you see I am as well off as you are? Certainly, it will not be any worse for me than it will be for you, if we both of us get annihilated. But don't you see if it should happen to be true as I believe, what will become of
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you! " Clearly in either case it must be right with the righteous; for if he should have ignorantly received a cunningly devised fable, yet, seeing according to his own experience, it makes him a better and a happier man, so far so good — he is no loser here ; and he will be cer tainly at the last in no worse a position than the man who rejected the holy and comfortable influences of what he styled a deception. While, if the religion of Jesus should be true — ah ! ghastly IF for you who doubt it? — if it should all be true, ah ! then your weeping and your wailing at the discovery will be a terrible contrast to the joy and glory which God has reserved for them that love him. Upon the very lowest possible ground it will be well with the righteous, as well at any rate as with the best of other men.
Impressions Easily Wear Away. — I stood once by the side of a poor boy, whom I had taught as a Sunday-school teacher; he had received very little good training at home, and tho he was but a lad of seventeen, he became a drunkard and drank himself to death at one debauch. I saw him, and talked to him, and tried to point him to the Savior, and heard at last the death-throttle in his throat, and as I went down stairs I thought everybody a fool for doing anything except preparing to die. I began to look upon the men who drove the carts in the streets the men who were busy at their shops, and those who were selling their wares, as being all foolish for doing anything except their eternal business, and myself most of all foolish for not pointing dying sinners to a living Christ, and inviting them to trust in his precious blood. And yet, in an hour all things took their usual shape, and I began to think that I was not dying after all, and I could go away and be, I fear, as heartless as before.
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Perseverance. — How do I know the winner at the foot race? There are the spectators, and there are the run ners. What strong men ! what magnificent muscles ! what thews and sinews! Yonder is the goal; and there it is that I must judge who is the winner: not here, at the starting-point; for "They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize." I may select this one, or that other person, as likely to win, but I cannot be abso lutely sure until the race is over. There they fly! See how they press forward, with straining muscles! But one has tripped, another faints, a third is out of breath, and others are far behind. One only wins — and who is he? Why, he who continued to the end. So I may gather from the analogy, which Paul constantly allows us, from the ancient games, that only he who continueth till he reaches the goal may be accounted a Christian at all. A ship starts on a voyage to Australia: if it stops at Madeira, or returns after reaching the Cape, would you consider that it ought to be called an emigrant ship for New South Wales? It must go the whole voyage, or it does not deserve the name. A man has begun to build a house, and has erected one side of it: do you consider him a builder if he stops there, and fails to cover it in or to finish the other walls? Do we give men praise for being warriors because they know how to make one desperate charge, but lose the campaign? Have we not, of late, smiled at the boasting despatches of commanders, in fights where both combatants fought with valor, and yet neither of them had the common sense to push on to reap the victory? What was the very strength of Wellington, but that, when a triumph had been achieved, he knew how to reap the harvest which had been sown in blood? And he only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who con tinueth till war's trumpet is blown no more. It is
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with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, " Conquest has made me what I am, and con quest must maintain me." So, under God, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto must be, " Excelsior ; " or, if it be not, you have not learned the noble spirit of God's princes.
Did Not Really Wish to Die. — A missionary told me the story of an old negro woman in Jamaica who used to be continually singing, " Angel Gabriel, come and take Aunty Betsy home to glory," but when some wicked wag knocked at the door at the dead of night, and told her the angel Gabriel was come for Aunty Betsy, she said, " She lives next door." I am afraid it may possibly be so with us, that though we think we wish the waves of Jordan to divide that we may be landed on the other shore, we linger on the bank shivering still.
The Christian's Secret.— I have looked at this rest after rest as being a treasure concealed in a precious box. The Lord Jesus give to his people a priceless casket, called the gift of rest; it is set with brilliants and inlaid with gems, and the substance thereof is of wrought gold ; who soever possesses it feels and knows that his warfare is accomplished and his sin is pardoned. After awhile the happy owner begins to examine his treasure. It is all his own, but he has not yet seen it all, for one day he detects a secret drawer, he touches a hidden spring, and lo! before him lies a priceless Koh-i-noor surpassing all the rest. It had been given him it is certain, but he had not seen it at first, and therefore he finds it. Jesus Christ gives us in the gift of himself all the rest we can enjoy, even heaven's rest lies in him; but after we have received him we have to learn his value, and find out by the teach ing of his Spirit the fulness of the rest which he bestows.
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Vagrant Thoughts. — I remember a certain narrow and crooked lane in a certain country town, along which I was walking one day, while I was seeking the Savior. On a sudden the most fearful oaths that any of you can conceive rushed through my mind. I put my hand to my mouth to prevent the utterance. I had not, that I know of, ever heard these words; and I am certain that I had never used in my life, from my youth up, so much as one of them, for I had never been profane. But these things sorely beset me; for half an hour together the most fear ful imprecations would dash through my brain. Oh, how I groaned and cried before God. That temptation passed away ; but ere many days it was renewed again ; and when I was in prayer, or when I was reading the Bible, these blasphemous thoughts would pour in upon me more than at any other time. I consulted with an aged godly man about it. He said to me, " Oh, all this many of the peo ple of God have proved before you. " But," said he, "do you hate these thoughts'?" "I do," I truly said. " Then," said he, " they are not yours ; serve them as the old parishes used to do with vagrants — whip them and send them on to their own parish. Groan over them, re pent of them, and send them on to the devil, the father, to whom they belong — for they are not yours." Do you not recollect how John Bunyan hits off the picture? He says, when Christian was going through the valley of the shadow of death, " There stepped up one to him, and whispered blasphemous thoughts into his ear, so that poor Christian thought they were his own thoughts; but they were not his thoughts at all, but the injections of a blas phemous spirit." So when you are about to lay hold on Christ, Satan will ply all his engines and try to destroy you. He cannot bear to lose one of his slaves; he will invent a fresh temptation for each believer, so that he muy not put his trust in Christ."
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Persecution the Fertilizer of Religion.— George Whitefield said, when he preached on Kennington Common, where they threw dead cats and rotten eggs at him, " This is only the manure of Methodism, the best thing in the world to make it grow ; throw away as fast as you please." And when a stone cut him on the forehead, he seemed to preach the better for a little blood-letting.
Sham Religion.— It was but a little while ago that I had in my house a gentleman, an excellent man, and I believe a true child of God, who told me he had been brought seri ously under impression, on account of sin, through hear ing a sermon of late. " But," said he, " I was baptized in my childhood. When I was but young, there was a revival in our village, in New England. Mine was the hardest heart in our village; but I was found out at last. There was scarcely a girl or boy that did not join the church, and I was at last brought under deep impression. I used to weep before God, and pray to him. I went to the minister and told him I was converted, deceived him, and was baptized." And then he went on to tell me that he had dived into the blackest crimes, and gone far away, even from the profession of religion; that after going to college he had been struck off the church-roll on ac count of wickedness, and that up to this time he had been an infidel, and had not so much as thought of the things of the kingdom. Take heed, many of you, that you do not get a sham religion. Many jump into godliness as they would into a bath; but they are very glad to jump out of it again, when they find the world pays them better.
Indifference to Slander.— It often happens, when the devil cannot ruin a man by getting him to commit a sin, he attempts to slander him ; he sends a hawk after him, and tries to bring him down by slandering his good name. I will give you a piece of advice, I know a good, minister,
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now in venerable old age, who was once most villainously lied against and slandered by a man who had hated him only for the truth's sake. The good man was grieved; he threatened the slanderer with a lawsuit, unless he apologized. He did apologize. The slander was printed in the papers in a public apology; and you know what was the consequence. The slander was more believed than if he had said nothing about it. And I have learned this lesson — to do with the slanderous hawk what the little birds do, just fly up. The hawk can not do them any hurt while they can keep above him — it is only when they come down that he can injure them. It is only when by mounting he gets above the birds, that the hawk comes sweeping down upon them, and destroys them. If any slander you, do not come down to them; let them slander on.
A Christian Home.— A religious house is the best proof of true piety. It is not my chapel, it is my house — it is not my minister, it is my home-companion who can best judge me ; it is the servant, the child, the wife, the friend, that can discern most of my real character. A good man will improve his household. Rowland Hill once said, he would not believe a man to be a true Christian if his wife, his children, the servants, and even the dog and cat, were not the better for it. That is being re ligious. If your household is not the better for your Christianity — if men cannot say, " This is a better house than others," then be not deceived — ye have nothing of the grace of God. Let not your servant, on leaving your employ, say, "Well, this is a queer sort of a religious family; there was no prayer in the morning, I began the day with my drudgery; there was no prayer at night, I was kept at home all the Sabbath-day. Once a fort night, perhaps, I was allowed to go out in the after noon, when there was nowhere to go where I could hear
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a gospel sermon. My master and mistress went to a place where of course they heard the blessed gospel of God — that was all for them ; as for me, I might have the dregs and leavings of some overworked curate in the afternoon." Surely, Christian men will not act in that way. No! Carry out your godliness in the heart of your own family.
A Worldly Christian.— No man can serve God and mam mon because there is not enough life in the heart to serve the two. Alas! many people try this, and they fail both ways. I have known a man who has tried to let some of his heart run into the world, and another part he allowed to drip into the church, and the effect has been this: When he came into the church he was suspected of hypocrisy. " Why," they said, " if he were truly with us, could he have done yesterday what he did, and then come and profess so much to-day ? " The church looks upon him as a suspicious one : or if he deceive them they feel he is not of much use to them, because they have not got all his heart. What is the effect of his conduct in the world? Why, his religion is a fetter to him there. The world will not have him, and the church will not have him; he wants to go between the two, and both despise him. I never saw anybody try to walk on both sides of the street but a drunken man: be tried it, and it was very awkward work indeed; but I have seen many people in a moral point of view try to walk on both sides of the street, and I thought there was some kitid of in toxication in them, or else they would have given it up as a very foolish thing. Now, if I thought thh world and the pleasures thereof worth my seeking, I wouM just seek them and go after them, and I would not pietend to be religious; but if Christ be Christ, and if God b<9 God, let us give our whole hearts to him, and not go shares with the world.
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The Christian's Victory.— Victory ! There is something beautiful in that word. The death of Sir John Moore, in the Peninsular war, was very touching: he fell in the arms of triumph; and sad as was his fate, I doubt not that his eye was lit up with luster by the shout of victory. So also, I suppose, that Wolfe spoke a truth, when he said, " I die happy "— having just before heard the shout, " they run, they run." I know victory, even in that bad sense — for I look not upon earthly victories as of any value — must have cheered the warrior. But, ah ! how cheered the saint, when he knows that victory is his! I shall fight during all my life, but I shall write " vici " on my shield. I shall be " more than conqueror through him that loved me." Each feeble saint shall win the day; each man upon his crutches; each lame one; each one full of infirmity, sorrow, sickness, and weakness, shall gain the victory. " They shall come with singing into Sion; as well the blind, and lame, and halt, and the woman with child, together." So saith the Scripture. Not one shall be left out ; but he shall " bring forth judg ment unto victory." Victory! victory! victory! This is the lot of each Christian: he shall triumph through his dear Redeemer's name.
Unwilling Doubts not Sins.— You that are vexed at your own doubts are not to come to the conclusion that the Lord utterly rejects you. He discriminates between the folly of a child and the wickedness of a rebel : he knows what is in your heart, and knows that you are his. You are like a ship that is well anchored, and tho the tide ia rushing in, and makes your vessel roll from side to side, so that you yourself stagger, yet the vessel is not loosed from its moorings, neither are you in any danger. Your faith is fixed on Christ, and this anchor holds you; tho you are tossed about a little, you will suffer no ship wreck because of sin, but much sea-sickness because of folly.
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Making Idols of Children. — A mother who had lost her babe fretted and rebelled about it. She happened to be in a meeting of the Society of Friends, and there was nothing spoken that morning except this word by one female Friend, who was moved, I doubt not, by the Spirit of God, to say, " Verily, I perceive that children are idols." She did not know the condition of that mourn er's mind, but it was the right word, and she to whom God applied it knew how true it was. She submitted her rebellious will, and then, as if it were magic, was at once comforted.
Attractive Christians.— They used in the old times to catch pigeons and send them out with sweet unguents on their wings: other pigeons followed them into the dovecote for the sake of their perfume, and so were captured. I would that every one of us had the heavenly anointing on our wings, the divine perfumes of peace, and joy, and rest; for then others would be fascinated to Jesus, allured to heaven.
Changeable Christians.— I knew a Christian man right well to whom I was accustomed to use one salutation whenever I saw him. He was a good man, but change able. I said to him, " Good morning, friend ! what are you now ? " He was once a valiant Arminian, setting young people right as to the errors of my Calvinistic teaching. A short time after, he became exceedingly Calvinistic himself, and wanted to screw me up several degrees; but I declined to yield. Anon he became a Baptist, and agreed with me on all points, so far as I know. This was not good enough, and therefore he be came a Plymouth Brother: and after that he went to the Church from which he originally set out. When I next met him I said, " Good morning, brother, what are you now?" He replied, "That is too bad, Mr. Spur-
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geon; you asked me the same question last time." I replied, "Did I? But what are you now? Will the same answer do t " I knew it would not. I would earnestly say to all such brethren, "Be sober." It can not be wise to stagger all over the road in this fashion. Make sure of your footing when you stand ; make doubly sure of it before you shift.
Folly of " the Blues."— A sick and suffering brother re buked me the other day for being cast down. He said to me, " We ought never to show the white feather : but I think you do sometimes." I asked him what he meant, and he replied, " You sometimes seem to grow despond ing and low. Now I am near to die, but I have no clouds and no fears." I rejoiced to see him so joyous, and I answered, " That is right, my brother, blame me as much as you please for my unbelief, I richly deserve it." "Why," he said, "you are the father of many of us. Did you not bring me and my friend over yonder to Christ* If you get low in spirit after so much bless ing, you ought to be ashamed of yourself." I could say no other than, " I am ashamed of myself, and I desire to be more confident in the future." Brethren, we must hope, and not fear.
Sent of God. — Strengthen your soul upon the persuasion that God has sent you, and then go forward. If God has sent you, who can stand against you? A Queen's messenger claims that we clear the road for him. An officer who bears the Queen's authority is authorized to lay all persons under orders to speed him. He who rides on royal business has precedence over all others. Get to feel, Christian friend, that Jesus has sent you, and herein will lie food for your courage. Know that you have a mission, and go at it; and let it be unsafe for any one to stand in your way. Let opposers know that somebody will have to clear out; for if God sent
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you, in that sending there is a force and an energy which nothing can safely resist. Do not make a noise. For bear all blustering; but quietly set yourself to work. If God has sent you, you will be like the greater Sent One, of whom we read, " He shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets," but at the same time " he shall not fail, nor be discouraged." The Martyr's Victory.— There is a martyr in prison : the chains are on his wrists, and yet he sings. It has been announced to him that to-morrow is his burning day. He claps his hands right merrily, and smiles while he says, " It will be sharp work tomorrow, I shall breakfast below on fiery tribulations, but afterward I will sup with Christ. Tomorrow is my wedding day, the day for which I have long panted, when I shall sign the testimony of my life by a glorious death." The time is come; the men with the halberts precede him through the streets. Mark the serenity of the martyr's countenance. He turns to some who look upon him, and exclaims, " I value these iron chains far more than if they had been of gold; it is a sweet thing to die for Christ." There are a few of the boldest of the saints gathered round the stake, and as he unrobes himself, ere he stands upon the fagots to receive his doom, he tells them that it is a joyous thing to be a soldier of Christ, to be allowed to give his body to be burned; and he shakes hands with them, and bids them " Good-by " with merry cheer. One would think he were going to a bridal, rather than to be burned. He steps upon the fagots; the chain is put about his mid dle; and after a brief word of prayer, as soon as the fire begins to ascend, he speaks to the people with man ful boldness. But hark! he sings whilst the fagots are crackling and the smoke is blowing upward. He sings, and when his nether parts are burned, he still goes on chanting sweetly some psalm of old. " God is our refuge
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and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."
Run When You Cannot Fly. — Now, you are not com manded in the text to be always in such a high, exalted, rapturous state of mind as that. " Rejoice evermore," but you cannot always rejoice at that rate. I have said that you cannot, and I mean it literally. There is a physical impossibility in it. The strain upon the mind would be much too great. We could not live in such a condition of excitement and tension. Sometimes we can swim in the deep waters; but who can always swim? We can take to ourselves the wings of eagles, and soar beyond the stars; but we are not condors, and cannot always fly: we are more like the sparrows which find a house near the altar of God. When we cannot mount as on wings, we think it quite sufficient if we can run with out weariness, and walk without fainting.
God's Special Care.— I think that many of you may say, " Though I am least of all his saints, yet in some respects the Lord hath specially blessed me hitherto." I believe that every flower in a garden, which is tended by a wise gardener, could tell of some particular care that the gar dener takes of it. He does for the dahlia what he does not for the sunflower; somewhat is wanted by the rose that is not required by the lily; and the geranium calls for an attention which is not given to the honeysuckle. Each flower wins from the gardener a special culture. The vine has a dressing all its own, and the apple-tree a pruning peculiar to itself.
Gloomy Days Our Own Fault. — We have a deep river of delights in the covenant of grace, yet we are content to paddle about its shores. We are only up to our ankles, the most of us, whereas the waters are "waters to swim in." A great sun of everlasting love shines upon the
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globe of our life with tropical force, but we get away to the North Pole of doubt and fear, and then com plain that the sun has such little heat, or that he is so long below the horizon. He who will not go to the fire ought not to complain that the room is cold. Present Victory.— We have seen the artist make with his pencil, or with his charcoal, a bare outline of his pic ture. It is nothing more, but still one could guess what the finished picture will be from the sketch before you. One acquainted with the artist could see upon the canvas all the splendor of color peeping through the dark lines of the pencil. Now, I want you to-day to see " the pat terns of things in the heavens." We have much of heaven here; at any rate, we have the Lamb who is the glory of the eternal city; we have the presence of him that sits upon the throne among us CTCU now; we have if not the perfect holiness of heaven, yet a justification quite as complete as that of the glorified; we have the " white robes," for " the blood of the Lamb " has washed them even now ; and if we have not yet the palm branches of final victdry, yet thanks be to God, we are led in triumph in every place, and even now "this is the vic tory that overcometh the world, even our faith." There fore —
" I would begin the music here, And so my soul should rise; Oh, for some heavenly notes to bear My passions to the skies."
The Common Christian Soldier.— In a great battle the general's name is mentioned; but what could he have done without the common soldiers'? Wellington will al ways be associated with Waterloo; but, after all, it was a soldiers7 battle. What could the commander have done if those in the ranks had failed him? The commander-
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in-chief might very well have touched his hat to the least subaltern or to the humblest private, and have said, " I thank you, comrade. Without you we could not have conquered." The chief troubles of the great day of Waterloo arose from certain very doubtful allies, who wavered in the hour of battle — those were the general's weakness; but his hope and strength lay in those regi ments which were as an iron wall against the enemy. Even thus the faithful are our joy and crown; but the unstable are our sorrow and weakness. Every minister ing servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is in much the same condition as Paul; true, We are of a lower grade, and our work is on a smaller scale; but our needs are just as great. We have not all the grace which Paul pos sessed; but for that very reason we make the more pa thetic an appeal to you, our friends and fellow-helpers, while we use the apostle's language, and cry, " We be seech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with us in your prayers to God for us."
The Man Holding the Rope.— It is like one who is willing to go into a far country, bearing his life in his hands; but he plaintively exclaims, " You won't forget me, will you? Tho you stay at home, you will think of me!" It reminds us of Carey, who says, when he goes to India, " I will go down into the pit, but brother Fuller and the rest of you must contribute something — you must hold the rope."
An Impregnable Fortress.— But David felt also great safety from his enemies. When he climbed the rock, and crept into his cavern, he knew that his enemies could not follow him. Had Saul come with all Israel at his back, David's band could have kept armies at bay. He must often have felt like the eagle when it has flashed upward to its nest on the craggy rock and from
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thence looks down upon the hunters. He is almost out of sight, but he can see all the movements of the foe. However long the range of the rifle, the noble bird knows no fear, for he is beyond range. I think I see him sit ting there quietly eyeing the enemy, of whom he knows no dread. Thus may a child of God defy the great ad versary. "Let us sing," said Luther, "the forty -sixth Psalm, and defy the devil." The devil's restless nature is fretted by the serenity of the firm believer in God; and let him be fretted. His utmost rage is insufficient to hurt a single hair of the head of a believer. No adversary can carry by storm our impregnable strong hold. Tyre stood a siege of thirteen years, but our fort ress has been beleaguered throughout the ages and never captured.
A Son's Boldness. — Religious people sometimes start back from the prayers of a true saint, and say, " He is too familiar." Of course a child is too familiar for the imitation of a stranger; but have you ever blamed a child for clambering his father's knee? And yet you would not think of copying him. Boy, dost thou know what thou art at? Thou art playing with a learned judge, before whom prisoners tremble, and courts are hushed. Even wise counselors speak to him as " My Lord." That urchin does not say " My lord." Look! He is plucking him by the beard; he is kissing his cheek. What presumption! No! he is the judge's child ; he who is judge to others is " father " to him. So the saints of God say, " Our Father, which art in heaven," ever reverentially, but yet with sweet familiarity. They are at home with him. Beloved, may you know what that means by the teachings of the Spirit of sonship for only he can teach us the blessed freedom of being at home with God.
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The Marks of Discipleship.— Somebody, years ago, ut tered an atrocious lie against me — an abominable slan der. I was very low and heavy of spirit at the tune; but when I read it I clapped my hands for joy, for I felt, " Now I have one of the marks and seals of a child of God, for it is written, ' Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.7 " The love of the Lord's brethren and the hatred of the Lord's enemies are two things to be desired.
"The Christian's Walk."— Oh, that our way may be strewn with gracious acts, as when a cloud passes over a thirsty land, and blesses it with silver showers! I have known in a certain village a spot called " The Poet's Walk," and another called "The Lovers' Walk." Oh, that ours may be tl The Christian's walk ! " May the good Lord perfect us in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is profitable and well-pleasing in his sight!
Quarrelling With God.— I was greatly struck with a story a dear sister told me yesterday. She was very nearly being removed from the church: she had quarreled with the Lord for taking away her husband, and she would not go to any place of worship, she felt so angry about her loss. But her little child came to her one morning, and said, " Mother, do you think Jonah was right when he said, * I do well to be angry, even unto death ' "? " She replied, " 0 child, do not talk to me," and put the little one away, but she felt the rebuke, and it brought her back to God, and back to her church again, humbly rejoicing in him who had used this instrumentality to set her right with her Lord.
Christian Fragrance.— You know the Persian story of the scented clay. One said to it, " Clay, whence hast thou thy delicious perfume ? " It answered : " I was afore time nothing but a piece of common clay, but I lay
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long in the sweet society of a rose till I drank in its fragrance and became perfumed myself." Oh, if you dwell much with God in seasons of retirement, and abide with him in all the affairs of life, you will be changed into his image. As surely as the type will make its im press upon the paper, and the seal will stamp itself upon the wax, so will the Lord impress himself upon you, and stamp his image upon you if you dwell in him.
The Christian's Apparel.— The glory of God ! How shall I describe it! I must set before you a strange Scrip tural picture. Mordecai must be made glorious for his fidelity to his king, and singular is the honor which his monarch ordains for him. This was the royal order. " Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor." Can you not imagine the surprise of the Jew when robe and ring were put upon him, and when he found himself placed upon the king's horse. This may serve as a figure of that which will happen to us: we shall be glorified with the glory of God. The best robe, the best of heaven's array, shall be appointed unto us, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
The Rooted Christian — I saw one day a number of beech trees which had formed a wood: they had all fallen to the ground through a storm. The fact was they leaned upon one another to a great extent, and the thickness of the wood prevented each tree from getting a firm hold of the soil. They kept each other up and also con-
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strained each other to grow up tall and thin, to the neglect of root-growth. When the tempest forced down the first few trees, the others readily followed, one after the other. Close to that same spot I saw another tree in the open, bravely defying the blast, in solitary strength. The hurricane had beaten upon it but it had endured all its force unsheltered. That lone, brave tree seemed to be better rooted than before the storm. I thought, " Is it not so with professors ? " They often hold together, and help each other to grow up, but if they have not firm personal roothold, when a storm arises they fall in rows. A minister dies, or certain leaders are taken away, and over go the members by departure from the faith and from holiness. I would have you be self-contained, growing each man into Christ for himself, rooted and grounded in love and faith and every holy grace. Then when the worst storm that ever blew on mortal man shall come, it will be said of your faith, "It could not shake it."
Faith Which Cannot be Shaken.— We read that when the flood beat upon the wise man's house "it could not shake it." That is very beautiful. Not only could it not carry it away, but "it could not shake it." I see the man : he lost his money and became poor, but he did not give up his faith : " It could not shake it." He was ridiculed and slandered, and many of his former friends gave him the cold shoulder ; but " It could not shake it." He went to Jesus under his great trial and he was sustained : " It could not shake it." He was very sick and his spirit was depressed within him, but still he held his confidence in Christ : " It could not shake it." He was near to die ; he knew that he must soon depart out of this world, but all the pains of death and the certainty of dissolution could not shake him. He died as he lived, firm as a rock, rejoicing as much as ever, nay, rejoicing
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more, because he was nearer to the kingdom and to the fruition of all his hopes. "It could not shake it." It is a grand thing to have a faith which cannot be shaken.
Sham Christians.— The character of Talkative in Pilgrim's Progress is ably drawn. I have met the gentleman many times, and can bear witness that John Bunyan was a photographer before photography was invented. Chris tian said of him " He talketh of prayer, of repentance, of faith, and of the new birth; but he knows but only to talk of them. I have been in his family, and his house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savor." We have too many such persons around us who are, as to what they say, everything that is to be desired, and yet, by what they are proven to be, mere shams. As tradesmen place dummies in their shops, papered and labelled to look like goods, while yet they are nothing of the sort, so are these men marked and labelled as Christians, but the grace of God is not in them.
The Hidden Fountain.— - You have seen a noble fountain in a continental city adorning a public square. See how the water leaps into the air; and then it falls into a circular basin which fills and pours out its fulness into another lower down, and this again floods a third. Hear the merry plash as the waters fall in showers and cata racts from basin to basin! If you stand at the lower basin and look upon it and say, " Herein is water ; " that is true, and will be true of the next higher one, and so forth; but if you would express the truth as to where the water really is, you may have to look far away, perhaps upon a mountain's side, for there is a vast reservoir from which pipes are laid to bring these waters and force them to their height that they may descend so beautifully. Thus the love we have to our fellow-creatures drops from us like the descending silvery
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cataract from the full basin, but the first source of it is the immeasurable love of God which is hidden away in his very essence, which never changes, and never can be diminished. Herein is love! If you and I desire to love our fellow Christians and to love the fallen race of man, we must be joined on to the aqueduct which con ducts love from this eternal source, or else we shall socn fail in love.
The Christian Can Afford to be Poor.—" I can afford to be poor," said Dr. Gill, when one of his subscribers threatened to give up his seat, and would not attend, if the doctor preached such-and-such a doctrine. So says the Christian, " I can afford to be poor ; I can afford to be despised; I have in heaven a better and more en during substance." So, by the use of this blessed hel met, he is protected from the threatenings of the wicked world. ^
The Christian Defying Satan.— Martin Luther, you know, often used to defy Satan to battle. I care not to do that ; but he used to say, in his queer, quaint way, " I often laugh at Satan, and there is nothing makes him so angry as when I attack him to his face, and tell him that through God I am more than a match for him; tell him to do his worst, and yet I will beat him, and tell him to put forth his fury, and yet I will overcome him." This would be presumption if in our own strength. It is only faith in the providence of God that can enable us to say so. He that has made God his refuge need fear no storm; but just as sometimes in Christmas weather the wind and snow and storm outside make the family fire seem warmer, and the family circle seem happier, so the trials and temptations of Satan do sometimes seem to add to the very peace and happiness of the true believer while he sits wrapped up in the man tle of godly confidence.
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CHRISTIANITY
Persecution Futile Against Christianity.— God has chosen the weak things to confound the yfciglity. " Oh ! " said Cassar, "we will soon root up this Christianity; — off with their heads ! " The different governors hastened one after another of the disciples to death, but the more they persecuted them the more they multiplied. The pro consuls had orders to destroy Christians; the more they hunted them the more Christians there were, until at last men pressed to the judgment-seat and asked to be permitted to die for Christ. They invented torments; they dragged the saints at the heels of wild horses; they laid them upon red-hot gridirons; they pulled off the skin from their flesh piece by piece; they were sawn asunder; they were wrapped up in skins and daubed with pitch, and set in Nero's gardens at night to burn; they were left to rot in dungeons; they were made a spectacle to all men in the amphitheatre ; the bears hugged them to death, the lions tore them to pieces, the wild bulls tossed them upon their horns — and yet Christianity spread. All the swords of the legionaries which had put to rout the armies of all nations, and had overcome the invincible Gaul and the savage Briton, could not with stand the feebleness of Christianity; for the weakness of God is mightier than men.
The Democracy of Christianity.— A diamond is a dia mond, whatever its size may be, and so little faith and great faith are of the same essence. Whether it be a grain of mustard-seed or a mountain-moving faith, it is still faith of the operation of God, faith in the same ob ject, and faith working to the same end. Hence John, speaking to his converts, prays, " That you may have fel lowship with us: and truly our fellowship with the Fath-
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er, and with his Son Jesus Christ." If them art a believer, thou hast a right to the same fellowship with God as the apostle had, thou hast the same perfect cleansing by the precious blood, thou hast the same adoption, the same regeneration, thou standest in the same place of love and acceptance, thou shalt be blessed with the same blessings on earth, and thou shalt enter into the same joy at the right hand of God.
CHURCH
The Power of a Live Church.— A healthy church kills error, and tears in pieces evil. Not so very long ago our nation tolerated slavery in our colonies. Philan thropists endeavored to destroy slavery; but when was it utterly abolished1? It was when Wilberforce roused the church of God, and when the church of God ad dressed herself to the conflict, then she tore the evil thing to pieces. I have been amused with what Wilber force said the day after they passed the Act of Emanci pation. He merrily said to a friend when it was all done, " Is there not something else we can abolish ? " That was said playfully, but it shows the spirit of the church of God. She lives in conflict and victory; her mission is to destroy everything that is bad in the land. See the fierce devil of intemperance how it devours men 1 Earnest friends have been laboring against it, and they have done something for which we are grateful, but if ever intemperance is put down, it will be when the entire church of God shall arouse herself to protest against it. When the strong lion rises up the giant of drunken ness shall fall before him. " He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain." I augur for the world the best results from a fully aroused church. If God be in her there is no evil which she cannot overcome,
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The Layman's Privilege.— There is a poor prisoner in a cell. His hair is all matted, over his eyes. A few weeks ago the judge put on the black cap, and commanded that he should be taken to the place from whence he came, and hung by the neck until dead. The poor wretch has his heart broken within him, whilst he thinks of the pinion, of the gallows, and of the drop, and of after- death. 0 ! who can tell how his heart is rent and racked, whilst he thinks of leaving all, and going he knoweth not where! There is a man there, sound asleep upon a bed. He has been asleep there these two days, and under his pillow he has that prisoner's free pardon. I would horsewhip that scoundrel, horsewhip him soundly, for making that poor man have two days of extra misery. Why, if I had had that man's pardon, I would have been there, if I rode on the wings of lightning to get at him, and I should have thought the fastest train that ever run but slow, if I had so sweet a message to carry, and such a poor heavy heart to carry it to. But that man, that brute, is sound asleep, with a free pardon under his pillow, whilst that poor wretch's heart is breaking with dismay! Ah! do not be too hard with him: he is here today. Side by side with you this morning there is sitting a poor penitent sinner; God has pardoned him, and intends that you should tell him that good news. He sat by your side last Sunday, and he wept all the sermon through, for he felt his guilt. If you had spoken to him then, who can tell? He might have had comfort; but there he is now — you do not tell him the good news. Do you leave that to me do do? Ah! sirs, but you can not serve God by proxy; what the minister does is nought to you; you have your own personal duty to do, and God has given you a precious promise. It is now on your heart. Will you not turn round to your next neigh bor, and tell him that promise? 0! there is many an
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aching heart that aches because of our idleness in telling the good news of this salvation.
A Sleeping Church. — There is a fortress, yonder, far away in India. A troop of those abominable Sepoys have sur rounded it. Bloodthirsty hell-hounds, if they once gain admission, they will rend the mother and her children, and cut the strong man in pieces. They are at the gates : Their cannon are loaded, their bayonets thirst for blood, and their swords are hungry to slay. Go through the fortress, and the people are all asleep. There is the warder on the tower, nodding on his bayonet. There is the captain in his tent, with his pen in his hand, and his dispatches before him, asleep at the table. There are soldiers lying down in their tents, ready for the war, but all slumbering. There is not a man to be seen keeping watch, there is not a sentry there. All are asleep. Why, my friends, you would say, " Whatever is the matter here? What can it be? Has some great wizard been waving his wand, and put a spell upon them all? Or are they all mad? Have their minds fled? Sure, to be asleep in wartime is indeed outrage ous. Here! take down that trumpet; go close up to the captain's ear, and blow a blast, and see if it does not awake him in a moment. Just take away that bayonet from the soldier that is asleep on the walls, and give him a sharp prick with it, and see if he does not awake." But surely, surely, nobody can have patience with people asleep, when the enemy surround the walls and are thundering at the gates.
Now, Christians, this is your case. Your life is a life of warfare; the world, the flesh, and the devil; that hellish trinity, and your poor flesh is a wretched mud- work behind which to be intrenched. Are you asleep? Asleep, when Satan has fire-balls of lust to hurl into the windows of your eyes — when he has- arrows of tempta-
8o SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
tion to shoot into your heart — when he has snares into which to trap your feet? Asleep, when he has under mined your very existence, and when he is about to apply the match with which to destroy you, unless sov ereign grace prevents? Oh! sleep not, soldier of the cross! To sleep in war-time is utterly inconsistent. Great Spirit of God forbid that we should slumber.
CONSCIENCE
Conscience Needs Illumination. — I do not hesitate to say, that we all unwittingly allow ourselves in practices, which clearer light would show to be sins. Even the best of men have done this in the past. For instance, John Newton, in his trading for slaves in his early days, never seemed to have felt that there was any wrong in it; and Whitefield in accepting slaves for his orphanage in Georgia, never raised or dreamed of raising the question as to whether slavery was in itself sinful. Perhaps advancing light will show that many of the habits and customs of our present civilization are essentially bad, and our grandsons will wonder how we could have acted as we did. It may need centuries before the national conscience, or even the common Christian conscience, will be enlightened up to the true standard of right; and the individual man may need many a chastisement and re buke from the Lord ere he has fully discerned between good and evil.
A Fearful Conscience.— I have heard of a man who was so constantly in debt, and continually being arrested by the bailiffs, that once upon a time, when going by some area railings, having caught his sleeve upon one of the rails, he turned round and said, " I don't owe you any thing, sir." He thought it was a bailiff. And so it is with unforgiven sinners, wherever they are, they think they are going to be arrested. They can enjoy nothing.
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Even their mirth, what is it, but the color of joy, the crackling of thorns under the pot? there is no solid, steady fire. But when once a man is forgiven, he can walk anywhere. He says, " to me it is nothing whether I live or die, whether ocean depths engulf me, or whether I am buried beneath the avalanche; with sin forgiven, I am secure. Death has no sting to him. His conscience is at rest.
True to His Conscience. — I know a man whose master had tried to make him go against his conscience; but he said, "No, sir." And the master thought, "Well, he is a very valuable servant; but I will beat him, if I can." So he threatened that if he did not do as he wished he would turn him away. The man was dependent on his master, and he knew not what he should do for his daily bread. So he said to his master honestly at once, " Sir, I don't know of any other situation ; I should be very sorry to leave you, for I have been very comfortable, but if it comes to that, sir, I would sooner starve than submit my conscience to any one." The man left, and the master had to go after him to bring him back again. And so it will be in every case. If Christians are but faithful, they must win the day.
CONVERSATION
Vapid Conversation. — Brothers, I leave it to yourselves to judge whether your communications with one another are always such as they should be. Are they always worthy of you? What communications have ye had this morning? Can I make a guess? "Nice and fresh this morning." " Quite a change in the weather." Is not this the style? How often we instruct each other about what we all know! When it rains so as to soak our garments we gravely tell each other that it is very wet. Yes, and if the sun shines we are all eager to communi-
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oate the wonderful information that it is warm. Dear me, what instructors of our generation we are! Could we not contrive to change the subject? Is it because we have nothing to say of love, and grace, and truth that we meet and part without learning or teaching any thing? Perhaps so. I wish we had a little more small change of heavenly converse: we have our crowns and sovereigns for the pulpit, we need groats and pence for common talk, all stamped with the image and super scription of the King of heaven. 0 Holy Spirit enrich us after this sort.
CONVERSION
Look and Live.— We shall never forget the day, some of us, when we left off self-righteousness and believed in Christ to the salvation of our souls. The marvel was done in a minute, but the change was so great that we can never explain it, or cease to bless the Lord for it.
"Happy day! Happy day! When Jesus washed my sins away."
I recollect the morning when salvation came to me as I sat in a little Primitive Methodist chapel under the gallery, and the preacher said, " That young man looks unhappy;" and added, "Young man, you will never find peace except you look to Christ;" and he called out to me, " Look ! " With a voice of thunder he shouted, " Young man, look ! Look now ! " I did look, I turned the eye of faith to Jesus at once. My burden disap peared, and my soul was merry as a bird let loose from her cage, even as it is now as often as I remember the blessed salvation of Jesus Christ.
Christ at the Door. — I saw a young woman from America in the vestry some little time ago who came in great concern of soul to know the way of salvation, and I said
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to her, " Do you not see it ? If you trust Christ, you are saved." I quoted the Scriptures which teach this great truth and made them plain to her, until the Holy Spirit opened her eyes; light came on her face in a mo ment, and she said, " I do see it. I trust Christ with all my heart: and I am to believe that I am saved because I trust Jesus, and he has promised to save believers'? " " Yes," I replied, " You are getting on the rock now." " I feel," she said, " a deep peace beginning in my soul, but I cannot understand how it can be, for my grand father belonged to the old school Presbyterians, and he told me he was six years before he could get peace, and had to be put into a lunatic asylum, for he was so mis erable." Ah, yes, I have no doubt such cases have hap pened. Some will go seventeen thousand miles round about merely to go across a street, but there is no need for it. There it is — " The word is nigh thee, on thy lips and in thy heart. If with thy heart thou wilt believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and with my mouth make con fession of him, thou shalt be saved."
Man's Convert, Not Christ's.— You have heard Mr. HilTs story of meeting a man in the street one night, who hiccuped up to him and said, " How do you do, Mr. Hill ? I am one of your converts." " Yes," said Row land, " I should say you are, but you are none of God's, or else you would not be drunk." Converts of that sort are far too numerous.
A Stranger Finding Christ.—- Some three years ago I was talking with an aged minister, and he began fumbling about hi his waistcoat pocket, but he was a long while before he found what he wanted, At last he brought out a letter that was well nigh worn to pieces, and he said, " God Almighty bless you ! God Almighty bless you!" And I said, "Friend, what is it?" He said, "I had a son. I thought he would be the stay of my
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old age, but he disgraced himself, and he went away from me, and I could not tell where he went, only he said he was going to America. He took a ticket to sail for America from the London Docks, but he did not go on the particular day that he expected." This aged min ister bade me read the letter, and I read it, and it was like this : — " Father, I am here in America. I have found a situation, and God has prospered me. I write to ask your forgiveness for the thousand wrongs that I have done you, and the grief I have caused you, for, blessed be God, I have found the Savior. I have joined the church of God here, and hope to spend my life in God's service. It happens thus: I did not sail for America the day I expected. I went down to the Tabernacle to see what it was like, and God met with me. Mr. Spur- geon said, ' Perhaps there is a runaway son here. The Lord call him by his grace.' And he did." " Now," said he, as he folded up the letter and put it in his pocket, " that son of mine is dead, and he is in heaven, and I love you, and I shall do so as long as I live, be cause you were the means of bringing him to Christ $ " Joy in Heaven Over a Child's Conversion. — A poor neg lected little boy in ragged clothing had run about the streets for many a day. Tutored in crime, he was paving his path to the gallows; but one morning he passed by a humble room, where some men and women were sitting together teaching poor ragged children. He stepped in there, a wild Bedouin of the streets; they talked to him; they told him about a soul and about in eternity — things he had never heard before; they sppke of Jesus, and of good tidings of great ioy to this poor friendless lad. He went another Sabbath, and another; his wild habits hanging about him, for he could not get rid of them. At last it happened that his teacher said to him, one day, " Jesus Christ receiveth sinners" That little
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boy ran, but not home, for it was but a mockery to call it so — where a drunken father and a lascivious mother kept a hellish riot together. He ran, and under some dry arch, or in some wild unfrequented corner, he bent his little knees, and there he cried, that poor crea ture in his rags, "Lord, save me, or I perish;" and the little Arab was on his knees — the little thief was saved ! He said —
" Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly; "
And up from that old arch, from that forsaken hovel, there flew a spirit, glad to bear the news to heaven, that another heir of glory was born to God.
A Strange Conversion. — I knew a preacher of the Gospel who was converted in a theatre. He was listening to a play, an old-fashioned piece, that ended with a sailor's drinking a glass of gin before he was hung, and he said, " Here's to the prosperity of the British nation, and the salvation of my immortal soul ; " and down went the curtain ; and down went my friend too, for he ran home with all his might. Those words, " The salvation of my immortal soul, had struck him to the quick ; and he sought the Lord Jesus in his chamber. Many a day he sought him, and at last he found him, to his joy and confi dence.
Conversion Necessary. — Furthermore, it is quite certain that human nature cannot be made better, for many have tried it, but they have always failed. A man, trying to improve human nature, is like trying to change the po sition of a weathercock, by turning it round to the east when the wind is blowing west; he has but to take his hand off and it will be back again to its place. So have I seen a man trying to restrain nature — he is an angry, bad-tempered man, and he is trying to cure himself a bit and he does, but it comes out, and if it does not burn
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right out, and the sparks do not fly abroad, yet it burns within his bones till they grow white with the heat of malice and there remains within his heart a residuum of the ashes of revenge.
Transformation Through Conversion.-— I know a village, once, perhaps, the most profane in England — a village inundated by drunkenness and debauchery of the worst kind, where it was impossible almost for an honest traveler to stop in the public house without being an noyed by blasphemy; a place noted for incendiaries and robbers. One man, the ringleader of all listened to the voice of God. That man's heart was broken. The whole gang came to hear the gospel preached, and they sat and seemed to reverence the preacher as if he were a God and not a man. These men became changed and re formed; and every one who knows the place affirms that such a change had never been wrought but by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Diamonds Out of Pebble Stones.— There was a poor man about sixty years old; he had been a rough sailor, one of the worst men in the village; it was his custom to drink, and he seemed to be delighted when he was cursing and swearing. He came into the chapel, however, one Sabbath day, when one nearly related to me was preach ing the text concerning Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. And the poor man thought, "What! did Jesus Chrsit ever weep over such a wretch as I am ? " He thought he was too bad for Christ to care for him. At last he came to the minister, and said, " Sir, sixty years have I been sailing under the standard of the devil; it is time I should have a new owner; I want to scuttle the old ship and sink her altogether! then I shall have a new one, and I shall sail under the colors of Prince Imman- uel." Ever since that moment that man has been a praying character, walking before God in all sincerity.
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Yet, he was the very last man you would have thought of. Somehow God does choose the last men; he does not care for the diamond, but he picks up the pebble stones, for he is able, out of " stones, to raise up children unto Abraham." God is more wise than the chemist: he not only refines gold, but he transmutes base metal into precious jewels; he takes the filthiest and the vilest, and fashions them into glorious beings, makes them saints, whereas they have been sinners, and sanctifies them, whereas they have been unholy.
Changed by Conversion. — You have read of James Hal- dane. Once, when unconverted, he threw a ship's tum bler at the head of a person who ^insulted him ; but when regenerated on another occasion of insult, he simply said, " I would resent it, but I have learned to forgive injuries and overlook insults." Men were obliged to say of him, " There is something in religion which can bring such a lion as that down, and make him such a lamb." Thus you will confirm the witness of Christ, if you bear up against persecution.
An Infidel's Conversion. — I received a long letter from a certain city, from one who has been one of the leaders of the secular society in that place. The writer says, " I purchased one of the pamphlets entitled ' Who is this Spurgeon?' and also your portrait (or a portrait sold as yours) for 3d. I brought these home, and ex hibited them in my shop window. I was induced to do so from a feeling of derisive pleasure. The title of the pamphlet is, naturally, suggestive of caricature, and it was especially to incite that impression that I attached it to your portrait and placed it in my window. But I also had another object in view. I thought by its at traction to improve my trade. I am not at all in the book or paper business, which rendered its exposure and my motive the more conspicuous. I have taken it down
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now: I am taken down, too. ... I had bought one of your sermons of an old infidel a day or two previous. In that sermon I read these words:— ( They go on; that step is safe — they take it ; the next is safe — they take it; their foot hangs over a gulf of darkness/ I read on, but the word darkness staggered me. It was all dark with me. ' True, the way has been safe so far, but I am lost in bewilderment. No, no, no, I will not risk it.' I left the apartment in which I had been musing, and as I did so, the three words, 'Who can tell?7 seemed to be whispered at my heart. I determined not to let another Sunday pass without visiting a place of wor ship. How soon my soul might be required of me I knew not, but felt that it would be mean, base, cowardly, not to give it a chance. Ay, my associates may laugh, scoff, deride, call me coward, turncoat, I will do an act of justice to my soul. I went to the chapel; I was just stupefied with awe. What could I want there? The doorkeeper opened his eyes wider, and involuntarily de manded, 'It's Mr.- - isn't it?' 'Yes,' I said, 'it is.' He conducted me to a seat, and afterward brought me a hymn-book. I was fit to burst with anguish. ' Now,' I thought, ' I am here, if it be the house of God, heaven grant me an audience, and I will make full surrender. 0 God, show me some token by which I may know that thou art, and that thou wilt in no wise cast out the vile deserter who has ventured to seek thy face and thy pardoning mercy.' I opened the hymn-book to divert my mind from feelings that were rending me, and the first words that caught my eyes were,
"'Dark, dark indeed the grave would be, Had we no light, O God, from thee.' "
After giving some things which he looks upon as evi dences that he is a true convert of religion, he closes up
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by saying, " 0 sir, tell this to the poor wretch whose pride, like mine, has made him league with hell; tell it to the hesitating and to the timid; tell it to the cooling Christian, that God is a very present help to all that are in need.
A Notable Conversion.— The chaplain of a jail, a dear friend of mine, once told me a surprising case of con version in which a knowledge of the covenant of grace was the chief instrument of the Holy Spirit. My friend had under his charge a man most cunning and brutal. Hs was singularly repulsive, even in comparison with other convicts. He had been renowned for his daring, and for the utter absence of all feeling when committing acts of violence. I think he had been called " the king of the garotters." The chaplain had spoken to him several times, but had not succeeded even in getting an answer. The man was sullenly set against all instruc tion. At last he expressed a desire for a certain book, but as it was not in the library the chaplain pointed to the Bible, which was placed in his cell, and said, " Did you ever read that Book ? " He gave no answer, but looked at the good man as if he would kill him. The question was kindly repeated, with the assurance that he would find it well worth reading. " Sir," said the convict, " you would not ask me such a question if you knew who I was. What have I to do with a Book of that sort ? " He was told that his character was well known to the chaplain, and that for this very reason he recommended the Bible as a Book which would suit his case. " It would do me no good," he cried, " I am past all feeling." Doubling up his first he struck the iron door of the cell, and said, " My heart is as hard as that iron; there is nothing in any book that will ever touch me." " Well," said the chaplain, " you want a new heart. Did you ever read the covenant of grace ? " To
go SPURGEON'S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
which the man answered sullenly by inquiring what he meant by such talk. His friend replied, " Listen to these words — ' A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you/ " The words struck the man with amazement, as well they might; he asked to have the passage found for him in the Bible. He read the words again and again; and when the chaplain came back to him next day, the wild beast was tamed. " Oh, sir," he said, "I never dreamed of such a promise! I never believed it possible that God would speak in such a way as that to men. If he gives me a new heart it will be a miracle of mercy; and yet I think," he said, " he is going to work that miracle upon me, for the very hope of a new nature is beginning to touch me as I never was touched before." That man became gentle in manner, obedient to authority, and childlike in spirit.
A New Creature.— Is it not said of Augustine that after his conversion he was met by a fallen woman who had known him in his sin, and he passed her by? She said, " Austin, it is I ; " and he turned and said, " But I am not Austin. I am not the man you once knew, for I have become a new creature in Christ Jesus." That is what the Lord Jesus Christ can do for you. Do you not believe it? It is true, whether you believe it or not. Oh that you would look to Jesus and begin to live! It is time a change was made; is it not? Who can change you but the Lord Jesus?
The Brand Plucked Out of the Fire. — There was one who went to hear, I believe, Mr. Toplady preach, the very day when he was aged a hundred. He had been a con stant neglecter of the house of God, but when he arrived at the age of a hundred, attracted by the fame of Mr. Toplady, who was an exceedingly popular, as he certainly was a highly evangelical, preacher, and happened to be preaching in the town where the man lived, he said he
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would go on that day to hear him, that he might recol lect his birthday. He went, and that day God in his grace met with him. I remember, too, the instance of a man who was converted by a sermon which he heard Mr. Flavel preach, and which was blessed to him eighty- three years after he had heard it, when he was at the age of ninety-eight. The word came with power to his soul after all that interval of time. Just as he was on the borders of the tomb, he was made to enter into eter nal life. May the God of infinite mercy give such a bless ing to aged ones here, and they will be brands plucked out of the fire.
Better Than He Expected.— It does not matter why the people come to hear the gospel; God can bless them in any case. If Christ is preached, men will be saved, even if they come to disturb. " Sir," said one to me, " I had been to bargain about a pair of ducks on Sunday morning, and I passed by the door, and I thought I would just look in. There and then the Lord met with me, and those ducks were forgotten, for I found a Savior."
Came to Scoff but Remained to Pray. — I read in the Life of John Wesley a story of Methodists meeting in a barn, and how certain of the villagers, who were afraid to break through the door, resolved to place one inside who would open the door to them during the service, that they might disturb the congregation. This person went in before service began, and concealed himself in a sack in a corner of the barn. When the Methodists began to sing, he liked the tune so well that he would not get out of the sack till he had heard it through. Then fol lowed a prayer, and during that prayer God worked on the man in the sack, so that he began to cry for mercy. The good people looked around, and were astonished to find a sinner in a sack seeking his Savior. The door
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was not opened to the mob after all ; for he who intended to do so was converted.
Joy of Conversion. — I remember hearing Dr. Alexander Fletcher, when speaking to children, tell them a simple anecdote in order to illustrate the joy of a man when he gets delivered from sin. He said, " I saw upon the pavement three or four little chimney-sweeps jumping about