Did Charles Spurgeon actually say this? Well... no... and, yes.
I believe the quote truly does originate with Charles Spurgeon, but has been simplified fore ease, clarity, and quotability. The closest Spurgeon comes to this quote is in his sermon number 542 where is talks about the apostle Paul, his cloak, and his books from 2 Timothy 4:13.
The specific excerpt this quote is modified from says,
"Now, it must be, “Especially the parchments” with all our reading. Let it be especially the Bible. Do you attach no weight to this advice? This advice is more needed in England now than almost at any other time, for the number of persons who read the Bible, I believe, is becoming smaller every day. Persons read the views of their denominations as set forth in the periodicals. They read the views of their leader as set forth in his sermons or his works. But the Book, the good old Book, the divine fountainhead from which all revelation wells up—this is too often left. You may go to human puddles, until you forsake the clear crystal stream which flows from the throne of God. Read the books, by all means, but especially the parchments. Search human literature, if you will, but especially stand fast by that Book which is infallible, the revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
“The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments.” 2 Timothy 4:13.
“They wrestled hard as we do now With sins, and doubts, and fears,”
“Trust Him, He will ne’er deceive you,Though you hardly of Him deem.He will never, never leave you,Nor will let you quite leave Him.”
Before our friend who leads us in singing begins, we sometimes hear his tuning-fork. He is getting the keynote into his ear. When he comes forward, he often sounds out that keynote before he begins to sing. This is what David does in this wonderful psalm. He sounds the tuning-fork with this clear note—" Bless the Lord, O my soul." It is well for all to be ready to sing harmoniously: it is a pity when those who gather to worship do not know what they are at. I wish I could always have you spiritually in tune, and keep in tune myself. Alas ! I fear we are often half a note too flat. The words before us are the keynote of this psalm, and all the music is set to it, and closes with it. Notice that the psalm begins, " Bless the Lord, O my soul," and it ends in the same way, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, " as if to show us that praise is the Alpha and the Omega of a Christian life. Praise is the life of life. So we begin ; so we continue ; so shall we end, world without end. This psalm has just as many verses in the original as there are letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It is an alphabetical psalm as to number, and so I may say that the A of it is " Bless the Lord, O my soul, " and the Z of it is " Bless the Lord, O my soul. " Oh, that our infancy would bless the Lord, and our childhood and our youth bless the Lord, and our manhood and our old age bless the Lord ! From the cradle to the tomb one line of sapphire, one streak of sparkling crystal should run through the entire mass of life-and that should be praise unto God.
Oh, to have heaven's employment and heaven's enjoyment here below by never-ceasing praise! We need never make a pause in that of which we shall never make an end.
As I said in the exposition, there is no prayer in this psalm: it is all praise right through. There are times in a Christian's life when he feels as if praise employed the whole of his faculties, and his own wants and faults and all about himself sank into insignificance. Usually we mix prayer and praise, and they make up a delightful incense of mingled fragrance; but sometimes, when on Tabor's top we stand transfigured with the light of God's goodness, all we can do is to praise his name. All that is within us is blessing him, and there is no faculty left with which to pray him to bless us. This is an anticipation of the occupation and enjoyment of heaven, where forever and forever we shall bless and praise and magnify the Thrice- holy God.
At this time I pray that, while I talk about this verse, I may be carrying it out; and may you be each one carrying it out, too, if, indeed, the Lord has blessed you! Let us preach and hear with harps in our hands, and songs in our hearts. If I am to lead your thoughts, I will lead them to the place of adoration. If you are his blessed people, be his blessing people. If he has blessed you for many a day, bless him this day.
I. I call your attention, then, first, to THE BLESSED OCCUPATION. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." A truly wonderful word this! How can we bless the Lord? For God to bless me I can understand and enjoy; but that it ever should be mentioned in Scripture that I can bless God is one of those incomprehensible things, which are certainly true, but are not to be explained. For man to bless God is a sort of incarnation—God in human flesh. God blessing me—that is divine: but myself blessing him, there is something of the human, but also somewhat of the divine. The divine blesses the human, or the human could not bless the divine. God is with us, or we could not be thus with God: our blessing him can only be the echo of his blessing us. The more you turn it over, the more you will wonder at it. If it had said, "Praisethe Lord, O my soul," that would have been reasonable; but "Bless the Lord, O my soul," rises out of the region of reason into a still higher and more spiritual atmosphere. These are heavenly words—”Bless the Lord, O my soul."
But how can we bless God? We cannot add to his happiness, or increase his greatness, or enlarge his goodness. "O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not unto thee!" What can our poor drops contribute to the ocean? What can our nothingness bring to his all-sufficiency? What can our darkness contribute to his light? And yet, if the Bible says so, it must be so, for it never speaks in vain. Idle words are in the speech of man, not in the writings of Jehovah. If the Scripture teaches us to say, " Bless the Lord, O my soul," then it is a correct word. We may wonder at it, but we may not dispute over it.
How, then, can we bless God?
I answer, first, God blesses us by thinking well of us, and we bless God by thinking well of him. When the Lord says in his heart, "This people shall be blessed," before ever he has stretched out his hand to give anything, we are blessed by his favourable regard for us. I beg you, in the same respect, to bless God by sweet, holy, adoring, loving, grateful thoughts of him. Think well of him who thinks so graciously of you. This, surely, is no task, no burden. Such thinking is the happiest exercise of the mental powers. To think of what God has done to me—why, it makes my heart begin to beat more quickly than usual! My God! The very word is music! My Lord! How pleasant the sound! How sweet it is to speak of our Father, who is in heaven! "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!" To turn over thoughts of what God is, what he has done, what he has been, how he has dealt with us, how he has revealed himself unto us, how he has glorified his holy name—why, this is a heavenly pleasure! Some of the best moments of devotion I have ever been able to enjoy I have spent in entire silence, looking up. I sat still, and wondered that God should ever love me, and I found a dew gathering about my eyes. I thought of how he loved me, and what that love had wrought in me and for me; till, not venturing to speak, I have been content to be silent before the Lord in rapture inexpressible. It was not possible for me to see him, but yet I felt that he was specially near, and I looked up to him as my Father, my Friend, my All in all. My heart felt an inward glow under a sense of divine love, and I could not have been happier if I had possessed ten thousand worlds. Oh, this is blessing God, when your heart, not venturing to use words, has learned with every pulse to beat his praise, and with every throb to mean an inward love to him. Spend some time in that quiet, rapt devotion which gets beyond the use of words into a communion of gratitude and love. Words are weak when love has to load them with her treasures ; and therefore she is content to spare them the burden. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." My soul shall do what my tongue cannot. Think deeply of what the Lord has done. Do not pass his mercies over superficially, but look into them. Pry into their very heart: look into the deep things of God. Do not cease to think of the covenant of electing love, of everlasting faithfulness, of redeeming blood, of pardoning grace, and all the ways in which eternal love has shown itself since that day when you first heard it speak in your ear, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." To think well of God is one of the chief ways in which we can bless him.
We also bless God when we wish him well. You can do a great deal in this way of wishing well, and desiring great things for the Lord's honour and glory. God's wishes are all practically carried out. We cannot carry out ours; but, at the same time, we ought to indulge them freely. He that taught us to pray, bade us begin, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Our prayers are not sufficiently directed to the glory of the Lord. How seldom do we begin with praying for God's name and kingdom! We put that last which should always be first. We ought to pray far more than we do for the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it not written, "Prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised"?
Do you continually pray for Jesus, and daily praise him? Pray for yourself certainly, "Give us this day our daily bread"; but this comes after, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." Sit down and wish that all men knew God, that all men worshiped him; and let your wishes blaze up into prayers. Wish that all idols were abolished, and that Jehovah's name would be sung through every land by every tongue. Wish well for his name, his glory, his truth. Lay home to your hearts the burden of his church, and long for the success of its work. When you see his truth dishonoured, and his Word itself defamed and despised, be grieved; for this is a way of blessing him, when you abhor all that dishonours him. Wish well to his church, his cause, his truth, his people, and all that concerns his glory. Pray without ceasing, "Father, glorify thy Son." Turn your wishes into prayer; and, as the first stage of thinking well is a blessing of God by meditation, so this second stage of wishing well will be a blessing of God by supplication. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Think well, wish well.
Then, next, you can bless God by speaking well of him. Perhaps you say very little about him. Chide yourself for your reticence. Perhaps you have even spoken against him, though you are his child. I mean that you have fallen into such a state of heart that you imagine that he deals hardly with you. Ah! This is the opposite of blessing him. Perhaps you have lost your husband or child, or in health or property you are a sufferer; and it may be that the devil says to you, "Curse God and die." Surely, you will not listen to this vile suggestion. No, no. A thousand times "No." Beloved, if you be his child, far be it from you to curse your Father; and yet, in a modified sense, you may do it by inward quarreling with the will of the Lord in his providential acts towards you. God's people provoke his Holy Spirit when they murmur against him in their hearts. A murmuring spirit is the very reverse of blessing the Lord; especially when the murmurs take a loud voice-when they are not merely choked and concealed within the bosom, but when, every time you speak, you complain bitterly of how the Lord deals with you, and think that he acts in a very hard and trying way. Away with every rebellious thought. " Bless the Lord, O my soul." "He hath not dealt with us after our sins." "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" said Jeremiah in his Lamentations. Let us lament for sin, but let us not complain because of chastisement. Indeed, some of us have nothing to complain of. We have everything for which to praise him; and if we do not do so, we deserve to be banished to the Siberia of Despair. How can we complain? If we are not in hell, everything is mercy. If you, a pardoned sinner, had to spend the rest of your days on earth in a stone cell, with no food but bread and water, performing the labour of a convict; yet, so long as you know that you are pardoned, and delivered from going down to hell, you have a thousand reasons why you should bless the Lord, and you have no single reason to complain. So long as you can say, "His mercy endureth forever," you have enough cause for unceasing praise. But when the Lord gives you all things to enjoy; when you have food to eat, and raiment to put on; when you come up to his house in peace, and hear the gospel, and have it sweetly applied to your own heart, why, beloved, you ought to speak well of the Lord who deals so bountifully with you. Have you said anything to praise God to-day?
"I have had nobody to speak to," says one. Do you mean to say that you have not said anything today to the Lord's praise? What, my dear brethren and sisters, have you been quite silent all day? You are a rare sort of people: how quiet your houses must be! You have said something, I am sure. Do you not think that God ought to have a tithe of our words, at the very least, and that somehow or other, to somebody or other, we ought to speak well of his dear name every day?
"I have nothing to say," says one. Do not say it, then; but some of us have a great deal to say, and we dare not be silent about it. The wicked speak loudly enough against God. You cannot quiet them. Why should we be silent in any company? We have as much right to speak for God as they have to speak against him. If they ever complain of singing hymns in the street, they have little cause to find fault, for they sing in the street quite enough; and some of them at very unseemly hours. If they say that we obtrude our religion, some of them obtrude their blasphemies, and assuredly we may take as much liberty as they take. We shall not be muzzled like dogs either to please the world or its master. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Speak well of his name, and let men know that thou hast a good God, who is gracious to thee in a wonderful manner.
Once more, be not satisfied with thinking well, and wishing well, and speaking well, but act well for God. "Bless the Lord, O my soul," and as he blesses thee with real gifts, with gifts unspeakably precious, bless his name by acts and deeds of holy service and consecration. Sometimes indulge thyself with the delight of breaking an alabaster box, very precious, and pouring its fragrance on thy Lord Jesus. Fetch out something rare and costly from thy store, and give to his cause, and bless his name. Every now and then think to thyself, I must do something fresh for Jesus. Let thy heart say—
"Oh, what shall I do my Saviour to praise?"
Invent for thyself some little thing which may give pleasure to the Well-beloved Lord, that he may not say to thee, Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices." "Bless the Lord, O my soul," and do it with hand, and purse, and substance, and sacrifice. If thou dost truly bless him, thou wilt not be content with singing hymns, such as—
"Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel,"
but thou wilt long to put a feather or two into the wing of the gospel to make it fly abroad. Thou wilt not only say, "All hail the power of Jesus's name," but thou wilt be wanting to make that name known to others. Thou wilt endeavour to spread abroad his praise by work in the Sabbath-school, or at the village- station, or on the tract-district, or at the Dorcas-meeting. Bless the Lord not in word only, but in deed and in truth, even as he blesses thee. "Bless the Lord, O my soul.”
I cannot enlarge farther. I have given you hints, bare hints, but they may show you how you may bless the Lord after the manner in which he blesses you, though the measure be far below what he doeth. As the whole heavens may be reflected in a drop of water, so may infinite love be mirrored in our affections.
II. And now, secondly, let us consider THE COMMENDABLE MANNER mentioned. Half the virtue of a thing lies in the way in which it is done. Indeed, there is usually a good deal more in the manner of an action than in the action itself. One person would relieve a poor man in such a way as to break his heart; and another will give him nothing. and yet cheer him up. You can praise a man till he loathes you, and censure him till he loves you. Now, in the service of God, it is not only what you bring, but in what spirit you bring it. The Lord loves adverbs as much as adjectives. How is as important as What. So here it is, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
That mode of blessing God to which we are called is very spiritual— a matter of soul and spirit. I am not to bless God with my voice only, nor merely with the help of a fine organ, or a trained choir; but I am to do it after a far more difficult manner. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Soul music is the soul of music. The music of the soul is that which pleases the ear of God: the great Spirit is delighted with that which comes from our spirit. Why! you do not think that even the music of the best orchestra, majestic though it be, affords pleasure to God, in the sense in which sweet sounds are pleasing to us. all human melody, it must seem so imperfect to the All-glorious One, that it is no more to him than the grating of an old saw to Mozart or Beethoven. His idea of music is framed on a far higher and nobler platform of taste than ever can be reached by mortal man. The songs of cherubim and seraphim infinitely exceed all that we can ever raise, so far as mere sound is concerned ; and mere sound is as nothing to God. He could set the winds to music, tune the roaring of the sea, and harmonize the crash of tempests. If he needed music, he would not ask of human lips and mouths. A heart that loves him makes music to him. A heart that praises him has within itself all the harmonies that he delights in. The sigh of love is to him a lyric, the sob of repentance is melody, the inward cries of his own children are an oratorio, and their heart-songs are true hallelujahs. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." The unheard of man is often best heard of God. Speechless praise : the heart's deep meaning-this is what he loves. Spiritual worship! Spiritual worship! Spiritual worship! And how often this is neglected! You can go to a very fine church, where there is a very grand service, and there may be spiritual service there; but, alas ! it is more than probable that there will be no trace of it. You may go to a Quaker's room, where there are four bare whitewashed walls, and a window with a holland blind drawn down, and there may be spiritual worship there; and, on the other hand, there may be stolid indifference, and a formalism as fatal as the gorgeous ceremonial. It is neither the outward sumptuousness nor the plainness that will ensure spirituality; and yet this is the life of all worship. Only the conscious presence of the Spirit of God will enable us to worship with the soul; and that is the main thing; yes, the only important thing. I do not greatly care whether a man wears a plain coat or a gown in worship. I shall not make a fool of myself by putting on a gown, I assure you; but I do not think that even if I did it would make much difference, so long as the heart was right in the sight of God. If one man feels that he can worship God best in one way, and another feels that he can worship him best in another way, it is not for his brother to judge him let each have his own way only let each see to it that he worships God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. This is the vital point—the heart must be in every word; the spirit must go with every note. Everything which does not arise from a devout exercise of the mental powers, and even with the full occupation of the spiritual faculties, falls short of that to which we exhort you at this time. The right note is, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." It is spiritual worship: it is worship—not from the teeth outwards, but from the heart that lies deep within the man.
When we bless God, the sacred exercise should be intense. “All that is within me, bless his holy name." We ought not to worship God in a half-hearted sort of way; as if it were now our duty to bless God, but we felt it to be a weary business, and we would get it through as quickly as we could, and have done with it; and the sooner the better. No, no; "All that is within me, bless his holy name." Come, my heart, wake up, and summon all the powers which wait upon thee! Mechanical worship is easy, but worthless. Come, rouse yourself, my brother! Rouse thyself, O my own soul! That is within me, bless his holy name. " What we need is a universal suffrage of praise from every member of our manhood's commonwealth. Every faculty within our nature is to praise God—our memory, our hope, our fear, our desire, our imagination; all our capacities, and all our graces. There is no one part of a man's constitution, which is really a part of his manhood, which should not praise God. Ay, even the sense of humour should be sanctified to the service of the Most High! Whatever faculty God has given thee, O my soul, it has its place in the choir! Summon it to praise. If Nebuchadnezzar praised his idol god with flute, harp, sackbut, dulcimer, psaltery, and all kinds of music, mind that thou praise thy God with every faculty that thou hast within thee, so that there be no part or power of thy nature which is not used in Jehovah's praise. All that in me is, be stirred up his holy name to magnify and bless.
What a difference there is between a man unconcerned, and a man really awakened! In your own case, I can believe you to be bright and intelligent; but your portrait-I will say nothing about it. When the photographer fits that iron rest at the back of your head, and keeps you waiting ten minutes, while he gets his plates ready, why, your soul goes out of town, and nothing remains but that heavy look! When the work of art is finished, it is you, and yet it is not you. You were driven out by the touch of that iron. Another time, perhaps, your portrait is taken instantaneously, while you are in an animated attitude, while your whole soul is there; and your friends say, "Ay, that is your very self!" I want you to bless the Lord with your soul at home as in that last portrait. I saw a book to-day, wherein the writer says in the preface, "We have given a portrait of our mother, but there was a kind of sacred twinkle about her eyes which no photograph could reproduce." Now, it is my heart's desire that you do praise God with that sacred twinkle, with that feature or faculty which is most characteristic of you. Let your eyes praise him. Let your brow praise him. Let every part of your manhood be aroused, and so aroused as to be in fine form. I would have your soul rise to high-water mark. Give me a man on fire when God is to be praised. Let "all that is within me, bless his holy name." God is not to be half praised. A whole God, and a holy God, should have the whole of our powers engaged in blessing his holy name. Our blessing of God must be intense; so intense that all our powers, faculties, and forces are unanimous in it.
The text seems to remind me that we ought to do this repeatedly, because in my text the word "bless" occurs twice. "Bless the Lord, O my soul: bless his holy name." And in the next verse there is "bless the Lord" again. He is a triune God: render him triune praise. Bless him; bless him; bless him: be always blessing him. How you have looked at that dear child at times, you loving mother! You have pressed him to your bosom, and you have said, "Bless him, and bless him, and bless him again." Shall our children enjoy such affectionate repetitions, and will we not bless God, and bless him, and bless him, and bless him again? "Oh," say you," it is a very little thing to do!" I know it is little in itself; but take care that you do not rob him of it. If your gratitude can only render a small return , this must not be a reason for withholding it. Thank him; praise him; bless him. Begin your days with blessing him. Begin your meals with blessing him. Go not to your beds without blessing him. Wake not in the morning without blessing him. Even at dead of night, if you lie sleepless, still bless him. Oh, what happy lives we should live if we were always blessing him! Let us resolve to institute a new era, and from this hour commence the age of praise.
I will praise him in life; I will praise him in death; And praise him as long as he lendeth me breath.
May this be the holy resolution of every blood-bought one in this assembly! We are all needed for this work. Who among us would like to be excused so honourable a service?
Thus have I shown you the blessed occupation, and the commendable manner of it. May the Holy Spirit help us to love praise, and live praise, till we perfect praise!
III. But I ask your attention earnestly for a minute to a third point, and that is THE SACRED OBJECT of this blessing. The text is, in the original, "Bless Jehovah, O my soul." In the reading of the psalms, as a rule, I frequently put the word "Jehovah" before you instead of "the Lord "; for you know that wherever we get “THE LORD" in capital letters, it is Jehovah in the original; and why should we not know that the sacred name is used by the inspired writer? I am afraid that a great many so- called Christians do not worship Jehovah at all. The god of the present period is a new god, newly sprung up. The Old Testament is looked upon by some as if it were a worn-out book, and the God of Israel is regarded as a deity of the olden time, and not the only living and true God. "Ah!" they say, "he is a very imperfect revelation"; and then they go on to reverence their own effeminate version of the Godhead. For my own part I know nothing of a new god. I adore the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God that made the heavens and the earth. I worship the God that cut Rahab, and wounded the crocodile at the Red Sea, the God that led his people through the wilderness, the God that gave them the land of Canaan for a heritage. "This God is our God for ever and ever. He shall be our guide, even unto death." "Bless Jehovah, O my soul." Let who will worship Baal or Moloch; let who will turn to the gods of Greece or Rome; my soul, bless Jehovah, and adore his sacred name! The gods of evolution and agnosticism are none of mine. These invented deities, or demons, I leave to those who dote on them. Be it mine to lead the great congregation with such a psalm as this:—
But the text says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." What is meant by blessing his name? The name of God is that by which he reveals himself, so that the God we have to worship is the Jehovah of revelation. Here, again, we fall foul of many. They worship the god of reason, the conception of the cultured mind, the god whom they have invented for themselves by their great wisdom. The god whom men find out for themselves is not the true God. I trow that this day it is true, as in Paul's day, "The world by wisdom knew not God." "Canst thou by searching find out God?" As well mightest thou search for the springs of the sea, as expect to find out God by science. I often hear people say. "They go from nature up to nature's God." It is a very long step-too far for human strength. Stand on the highest Alp, and you will perceive that you will never step into heaven from thence. It is far easier to go from nature's God to nature, and far safer to believe in him who stoops out of the heavens, and reveals himself to you.
However, let me say to all believers—"Bless his holy name," that is, bless the God who is revealed to us, and bless him as he is revealed to us. Do not look around you after another god. Begin with the God with whom the Bible begins. Read its first word—"In the beginning God." Begin with the God with whom the New Testament begins in the gospel of John—"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Keep you to revelation. There is God's name spelled out in capitals. Believe the inspired Word, for it will never mislead you. O friends, if I did not believe in the infallibility of Scripture-the absolute infallibility of it from cover to cover, I would never enter this pulpit again! If it is left to me to discriminate and to judge how much of this Book is true, and how much false, then I must myself become infallible, or what guide have I? If my compass always points to the north, I know how to use it; but if it veers to other points of the compass, and I am to judge out of my own mind whether it is right or not, I am as well without the thing as with it. If my Bible is right always, it will lead me right; and as I believe it is so, I shall follow it, God helping me. I will not judge the Book; the Book judges me.
God has revealed himself in divers ways and manners through his prophets and apostles, and as such let us bless him tonight. We rejoice in him who, in the person of the Lord Jesus, and in the Scriptures of truth, has graciously unveiled his face. "Bless his holy name."
But then, notice that the psalm dwells especially upon one point. "Bless his holy name." Now, a babe in grace can bless God for his goodness, but only a grown believer will bless God for his holiness. His holiness is an august attribute, an attribute which comprehends all the rest, for it means his wholeness, his perfection, his holiness. It is an attribute which looks darkly on sinful men. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, it seems to thunder and lighten against the sinner; but as for those of us who are reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it smiles upon them. These see holiness resplendent in the great Sacrifice of Calvary, for they perceive howGod would not even pardon sin so as to violate his justice, but in his infinite holiness would sooner die himself upon the cross than that his law should not be vindicated. Saints conspicuously see God's holiness? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, we worship thee; we bless thee! Beloved, do you love a holy God? Do you bless a holy God? While you bless him for his mercy, do you equally bless him for his holiness? You bless him for his bounty, but do you feel that you could not thus bless him if you were not fully aware that he is perfectly righteous? "Bless his holy name."
Ay, when that holiness burns like fire, and threatens to devour the guilty, let us still bless his holy name! When we see his holiness consuming the great Sacrifice, we bow before the Lord in deep dread of soul, but we still bless his holy name. An unholy God! It were absurd to think of such a being; but a Thrice-holy God-let us bless and praise him. When men or women can say, "We love, and bless, and praise a holy God," there is something of holiness in them. God, the Holy Spirit, has begun to make you holy; since to appreciate holiness you must yourself be holy. No man can see the beauty of holiness until his eyes have been washed in the river of the water of life; and if God has made you pure, so that you can praise his holiness, he has given you to be a partaker of his holiness.
So I have put before you in a few words the truth that the one blessed object of your praise is—the God of Abraham, the God of the Old and New Testaments, who has revealed his name, the God of perfect holiness. "Bless Jehovah, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
IV. I have done when I add this fourth point. Let us remember THE SUITABLE MONITOR. In the text a suitable monitor appears. A Christian man who wants somebody to look after him is a very imperfect Christian man; for he who has the love of God in his soul will look after himself. Who is it that says to David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul"? Why, it is David talking to David. The man speaks to himself. Beloved, may my voice be useful to you at this time; but the proof of it will be that henceforth your own voice will suffice, and you will often give yourself the exhortation—"Bless the Lord, O my soul."
Some of you go out preaching, or you teach a class in a Sunday School. Keep on with that; but do not forget to look after one pupil of yours who needs your care very greatly. I mean, look to yourself; and every now and then say, "My soul, bless the Lord." What are you at? You have been grumbling of late. Wake up, and say, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." You have been dull and cold-hearted of late. Chide yourself, for this will not do.
If you have this monitor, you will have one that is always at home. You will not have to send across the road for a minister. Here is a spiritual chaplain who will be resident with you, and always ready with his personal advice. Will you not try to practice your ministry upon yourself, and begin at once to apply to yourself all that you would say to another whom you would excite to bless the Lord?
Ought you not to do it? Are you not afraid of growing cold in this holy service? "No," say you, "I am not." Then I am afraid that you are cold already. "No," say you, "I am full of life." Will you always be so? Man's security is the devil's opportunity. Whenever you say to yourself, "All is well with me," I fear for you. A foul fiend is watching for your halting, and he laughs as he sees how you delude yourself. You are not all you think you are. yourself, and praise the Lord.
Practice this praising of God when you are stimulated by the example of others. If you hear others praising God, say to yourself, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Do not let any man praise God more than you do. When you see your brethren aglow with praising God, do not grovel in the dust, and moan, "Our souls can neither fly, nor go, to reach eternal joys"; but stretch your wing, and rise to hallelujahs. Rest not till a gracious example has stimulated you.
But if you happen to be where there is nobody to stimulate you, and where everybody goes the other way, then praise God alone. to yourself, "Bless the Lord, O MY soul. I dwell amongst lions. none the less for their roaring, bless the Lord, O my soul." That will stop the lions' mouths. What if you are in prison, like Paul and Silas; bless the Lord. Nothing shakes prison-walls, and breaks jailers' hearts, like the praises of the Lord. Here I am where everybody doubts the holy God. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and be all the firmer, and all the bolder. If everybody sneers at divine truth, bless the Lord, O my soul. Let all men know that there is one in the world who does not sneer at revelation. Let opposition be like a strong blast to make the furnace seven times hotter. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." What have I to do with whether other people bless God or not? I must praise him all the more if others are dumb before him. This, dear friends, is how it ought to be from me personally. If I do not praise the Lord, the stone in the wall will cry out against me; and it will complain of you also if you be silent. You owe him more than many. If all forget, yet do you remember.
This is pleasant as well as profitable. Praise is not medicine, it is meat and drink. It is salutary, and it is also sweet. Is any other occupation comparable to blessing the Lord? Is there anything that you can do which surpasses the spending of your life in magnifying the Lord? If you practice it, it will be profitable to you. It will make you grow in grace; it will make your burden light; it will make your way to heaven seem short; it will make you fearlessly face the world. If you have God within your heart, and you are blessing his name, you will not mind your outward circumstances. Whether God gives or takes, you will continue to bless him. This will be useful to you in saving others. A praiseful heart is a soul-winning heart. If we bless God more, we shall bless our neighbours more. A happy Christian attracts others by his joy.
Lastly, to bless God will prepare us for heaven. Praise is the rehearsal of our eternal song. By grace we learn to sing, and in glory we continue to sing. What will some of you do when you get to heaven, if you go on grumbling all the way? Do not hope to get to heaven in that style. But now begin to bless the name of the Lord.
I have not spoken thus to all of you. Some of you cannot bless the Lord as yet. Will you try? Think how sad it is to be in a state of mind in which you cannot render acceptable praise. You must be born again before you can bless the Lord. May the Lord convince you of the necessity that he should bless you before you can bless him! May you receive his blessing in a moment by faith in the Lord Jesus! The Lord grant it , for Jesus' sake! Amen.
BELOVED READERS, —My New Year's wish for you is this: May the Lord bless you, and may you bless the Lord! To this end may the sermons ever be helpful! Beginning the Thirty- sixth Volume, I feel grateful and hopeful. For the past and the future I would bless the Lord: for the one received by experience; for the other grasped by faith. May 1890 be the best year we have ever lived!
Yours, for Christ's sake,
C. H. SPURGEON.
Mentone, Dec. 27, 1889.
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"WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?"
A Christmas Question
by J.C. Ryle
MATTHEW 22:42
Reader, Christmas is a season which almost all Christians observe in one way or another. Some keep it as a religious season. Some keep it as a holiday. But all over the world, wherever there are Christians, in one way or another Christmas is kept.
Perhaps there is no country in which Christmas is so much observed as it is in England. Christmas holidays, Christmas parties, Christmas family-gatherings, Christmas services in churches, Christmas hymns and carols, Christmas holly and mistletoe, who has not heard of these things? They are as familiar to English people as anything in their lives. They are among the first things we remember when we were children. Our grandfathers and grandmothers were used to them long before we were born. They have been going on in England for many hundred years. They seem likely to go on as long as the world stands.
But, reader, how many of those who keep Christmas ever consider why Christmas is kept? How many, in their Christmas plans and arrangements, give a thought to Him, without whom there would have been no Christmas at all? How many ever remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of Christmas? How many ever reflect that the first intention of Christmas was to remind Christians of Christ's birth and coming into the world? Reader, how is it with you? What do you think of at Christmas?
Bear with me a few minutes, while I try to press upon you the question which heads this tract. I do not want to make your Christmas merriment less. I do not wish to spoil your Christmas cheer. I only wish to put things in their right places. I want Christ Himself to be remembered at Christmas!
Give me your attention while I unfold the question— "What think ye of Christ?"
Reader, I dare say the demands upon your time this Christmas are many. You have friends to see. Your holidays are short. You have much to talk about. But still, in the midst of all your hurry and excitement, give a little time to your soul. There will be a Christmas some year, when your place will be empty. Before that time comes, suffer me, as a friend, to press home on your conscience the inquiry, "What think ye of Christ? "
1. First, then, let us consider why all men ought to think of Christ.
This is a question which needs to be answered at the very outset of this tract. I know the minds of some people when they are asked about such things as I am handling today. I know that many are ready to say, "Why should we think about Christ at all? We want meat, and drink, and money, and clothes, and amusements. We have no time to think about these high subjects. We do not understand them. Let parsons, and old women, and Sunday school children mind such things if they like. We have no time in a world like this to be thinking of Christ." Such is the talk of thousands in this country. They never go either to church or chapel. They never read their Bibles. The world is their God. They think themselves very wise and clever. They despise those whom they call "religious people."
But whether they like it or not, they will all have to die one day. They have all souls to be lost or saved in a world to come. They will all have to rise again from their graves, and to have a reckoning with God. And shall their scoffing and contempt stop our mouths, and make us ashamed? No, indeed! Not for a moment!
Listen to me and I will tell you why.
All men ought to think of Christ, because of the office Christ fills between God and man. He is the eternal Son of God, through whom alone the Father can be known, approached, and served. He is the appointed Mediator between God and man, through whom alone we can be reconciled with God, pardoned, justified and saved. He is the Divine Person whom God the Father has sealed to be the giver of everything that man requires for his soul. To Him are committed the keys of death and hell. In His favour is life. In Him alone there is hope of salvation for mankind. Without Him no child of Adam can be saved. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." And ought not man to think of Christ ? Shall God the Father honour Him, and shall not man?
I tell every reader of this tract that there is no person, living or dead, of such immense importance to all men as Christ. There is no person that men ought to think about so much as Christ. All men ought to think of Christ, because of what Christ has done for all men.
He thought upon man, when man was lost, bankrupt, and helpless by the fall, and undertook to come into the world to save sinners. In the fullness of time He was born of the Virgin Mary, and lived for man thirty-three years in this evil world. At the end of that time He suffered for sin on the cross, as man's substitute. He bore man's sins in His own body, and shed His own life-blood to pay man's debt to God. He was made a curse for man, that man might be blessed. He died for man that man might live. He was counted a sinner for man that man might be counted righteous. And ought not man to think of Christ?
I tell every reader of this tract that if Christ had not died for us, we might all of us, for anything we know, be lying at this moment in hell.
All men ought to think of Christ, because of what Christ will yet do to all men. He shall come again one day to this earth with power and glory, and raise the dead from their graves. All shall come forth at His bidding. Those who would not move when they heard the church-going bell, shall obey the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God. He shall set up His judgment-seat, and summon all mankind to stand before it. To Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord. Not one shall be able to escape that solemn assize. Not one but shall receive at the mouth of Christ an eternal sentence. Every one shall receive according to that he has done in the body, whether it be good or bad. And ought not men to think of Christ?
I tell every reader of this tract, that whatever he may choose to think now, a day is soon coming when his eternal condition will hinge entirely on his relations to Christ. But why should I say more on this subject?
The time would fail me if I were to set down all the reasons why all men ought to think of Christ. Christ is the grand subject of the Bible. The Scriptures testify of Him. Christ is the great object to whom all the Churches in Christendom profess to give honour. Even the worst and most corrupt branches of it will tell you that they are built on Christ. Christ is the end and substance of all sacraments and ordinances. Christ is the grand subject which every faithful minister exalts in the pulpit. Christ is the object that every true pastor sets before dying people on their death-beds. Christ is the great source of light and peace and hope. There is not a spark of spiritual comfort that has ever illumined a sinner's heart, that has not come from Christ. Surely it never can be a small matter whether we have any thoughts about Christ.
Reader, I leave this part of my subject here. There are many things which swallow up men's thoughts while they live, which they will think little of when they are dying. Hundreds are wholly absorbed in political schemes, and seem to care for nothing but the advancement of their own party. Myriads are buried in business and money matters, and seem to neglect everything else but this world. Thousands are always wrangling about the forms and ceremonies of religion, and are ready to cry down everybody who does not use their shibboleths, and worship in their way.
But an hour is fast coming when only one subject will be minded, and that subject will be Christ!
We shall all find, and many perhaps too late, that it mattered little what we thought about other things, so long as we did not think about Christ.
Reader, I tell you this Christmas, that all men ought to think about Christ. There is no one in whom all the world has such a deep interest. There is no one to whom all the world owes so much. High and low, rich and poor, old and young, gentle and simple, all ought to think about Christ.
2. Let us examine, secondly, the common thoughts of many about Christ.
To set down the whole list of thoughts about Christ, would indeed be thankless labour. It must content us to range them under a few general heads. This will save us both time and trouble. There were many strange thoughts about Christ when He was on earth. There are many strange and wrong thoughts about Christ now, when He is in heaven. The thoughts of some people about Christ are simply blasphemous. They are not ashamed to deny His Divinity. They refuse to believe the miracles recorded of Him. They pretend to find fault with not a few of His sayings and doings. They even question the perfect honesty and sincerity of some things that He did. They tell us that He ought to be ranked with great Reformers and Philosophers, like Socrates, Seneca, and Confucius, but no higher. Thoughts like these are purely ridiculous and absurd. They utterly fail to explain the enormous influence which Christ and Christianity have had for eighteen hundred years in this world. There is not the slightest comparison to be made between Christ and any other teacher of mankind that ever lived . The difference between Him and others is a gulf that cannot be spanned, and a height that cannot be measured . It is the difference between gold and clay, between the sun and a candle. Nothing can account for Christ and Christianity, but the old belief that Christ is very God.
Reader, are the thoughts I have just described your own? If they are, take care! The thoughts of some people about Christ are vague, dim, misty, and indistinct. That there was such a Person they do not for a moment deny. That He was the Founder of Christianity, and the object of Christian worship, they are quite aware. That they hear of Him every time they go to public worship, and ought to have some opinion or belief about Him, they will fully admit. But they could not tell you what it is they believe. They could not accurately describe and define it. They have not thoroughly considered the subject. They have not made up their minds! Thoughts such as these are foolish, silly, and unreasonable. To be a dying sinner with an immortal soul, and to go on living without making up one's mind about the only Person who can save us, the Person who will at last judge us, is the conduct of a lunatic or an idiot, and not of a rational man.
Reader, are the thoughts I have just described your own? If they are, take care! The thoughts of some men about Christ are mean and low. They have no doubt a distinct opinion about His position in their system of Christianity. They consider that if they do their best, and live moral lives, and go to church pretty regularly, and use the ordinances of religion, Christ will deal mercifully with them at last, and make up any deficiencies. Thoughts such as these utterly fail to explain why Christ died on the cross. They take the crown off Christ's head, and degrade Him into a kind of makeweight to man's soul. They overthrow the whole system of the Gospel, and pull up all its leading doctrines by the roots. They exalt man to an absurdly high position; as if he could pay some part of the price of his soul! They rob man of all the comfort of the Gospel; as if he must needs do something and perform some work to justify his own soul! They make Christ a sort of Judge far more than a Saviour, and place the cross and the atonement in a degraded and inferior position!
Reader, are the thoughts I have just described your own? If they are, take care! The thoughts of some men about Christ are dishonouring and libellous. They seem to think that we need a mediator between ourselves and our Saviour! They appear to suppose that Christ is so high, and awful, and exalted a Person, that poor sinful man may not approach Him! They say that we must employ an Episcopally ordained minister as a kind of go-between, to stand between us and Jesus, and manage for our souls! They send us to saints, or angels, or the Virgin Mary, as if they were more kind and accessible than Christ! Thoughts such as these are a practical denial of Christ's priestly office. They overthrow the whole doctrine of His peculiar business, as man's Intercessor. They hide and bury out of sight His especial love to sinners and His boundless willingness to receive them. Instead of a gracious Saviour, they make Him out an austere and hard King.
Reader, are the thoughts I have just described your own? If they are, take care! The thoughts of some men about Christ are wicked and unholy. They seem to think that they may live as they please, because Christ died for sinners! They will indulge every kind of wickedness, and yet flatter themselves that they are not blameworthy for it, because Christ is a merciful Saviour! They will talk complacently of God's election, and the necessity of grace, and the impossibility of being justified by works, and the fulness of Christ, and then make these glorious doctrines an excuse for lying, cheating, drunkenness, fornication, and every kind of immorality. Thoughts such as these are as blasphemous and profane as downright infidelity. They actually make Christ the patron of sin.
Reader, are the thoughts I have described your own? If they are, take care!
Reader, two general remarks apply to all these thoughts about Christ of which I have just been speaking. They all show a deplorable ignorance of Scripture. I defy anyone to read the Bible honestly, and find any warrant for them in that blessed Book. Men cannot know their Bibles, when they hold such opinions. They all help to prove the corruption and darkness of human nature. Man is ready to believe anything about Christ except the simple truth. He loves to set up an idol of his own, and bow down to it, rather than accept the Saviour whom God puts before him. I leave this part of my subject here. It is a sorrowful and painful one, but not without its use. It is necessary to study morbid anatomy, if we would understand health. The ground must be cleared of rubbish before we build.
3. Let us now count up, lastly, the thoughts of true Christians about Christ.
The thoughts I am going to describe are not the thoughts of many. I admit this most fully. It would be vain to deny it. The number of right thinkers about Christ in every age has been small. The true Christians among professing Christians have always been few. If it were not so, the Bible would have told an untruth. "Strait is the gate," says the Lord Jesus, "and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth unto destruction, and many there be that go in thereby." " Many walk," says Paul, "of whom I tell you, even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction." (Matt. 7:13, 14; Phil. 3:18, 19.) True Christians have high thoughts of Christ. They see in Him a wondrous Person, far above all other beings in His nature, a Person who is at one and the same time perfect God, mighty to save, and perfect man, able to feel. They see in Him an All-powerful Redeemer, who has paid their countless debts to God, and delivered their souls from guilt and hell. They see in Him an Almighty Friend, who left heaven for them, lived for them, died for them, rose again for them, that He might save them for evermore. They see in Him an Almighty Physician, who washed away their sins in His own blood, put His own Spirit in their hearts, delivered them from the power of sin, and gave them power to become God's children. Happy are they who have such thoughts!
Reader, have you?
True Christians have trustful thoughts of Christ. They daily lean the weight of their souls upon Him by faith, for pardon and peace. They daily commit the care of their souls to Him, as a man commits a treasure to a safe keeper. They daily cling to Him by faith, as a child in a crowd clings to its mother's hand. They look to Him daily for mercy, grace, comfort, help, and strength, as Israel looked to the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness for guidance. Christ is the Rock under their feet, and the staff in their hands, their ark and their city of refuge, their sun and their shield, their bread and their medicine, their health and their light, their fountain and their shelter, their portion and their home, their door and their ladder, their root and their head, their advocate and their physician, their captain and their elder brother, their life, their hope, and their all. Happy are they who have such thoughts!
Reader, have you?
True Christians have experimental thoughts of Christ. The things that they think of Him, they do not merely think with their heads. They have not learned them from schools, or picked them up from others. They think them because they have found them true by their own heart's experience. They have proved them, and tasted them, and tried them. They think what they have felt out for themselves. There is all the difference in the world between knowing that a man is a doctor or a lawyer, while we never have occasion to employ him, and knowing him as "our own," because we have gone to him for medicine or law. Just in the same way there is a wide difference between head knowledge and experimental thoughts of Christ. Happy are they who have such thoughts!
Reader, have you?
True Christians have loving and reverent thoughts of Christ. They love to do the things that please Him. They like in their poor weak way to show their affection to Him by keeping His words. They love everything belonging to Him, His day, His house, His ordinances, His people, His book. They never find His yoke heavy, or His burden painful to bear, or His commandments grievous. Love lightens all. They know something of the mind of Mr. Standfast, in "Pilgrim's Progress," when he said, as he stood in the river, "I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and whenever I have seen the print of His shoe in the earth, then I have coveted to set my foot over it." Happy are they who have such thoughts!
Reader, have you?
True Christians have hopeful thoughts of Christ. They expect yet to receive far more from Him than they have ever received yet. They hope that they shall be kept to the end, and never perish. But this is not all. They look forward to Christ's second coming and expect that then they shall see far more than they have seen, and enjoy far more than they have yet enjoyed. They have the earnest of an inheritance now in the Spirit dwelling in their heart. But they hope for a far fuller possession when this world has passed away. They have hopeful thoughts of Christ's second Advent, of their own resurrection from the grave, of their reunion with all the saints who have gone before them, of eternal blessedness in Christ's kingdom. Happy are they who have such thoughts! They sweeten life, and lift men over many cares.
Reader, have you such thoughts?
Reader, thoughts such as these are the property of all true Christians. Some of them know more of them and some of them know less. But all know something about them. They do not always feel them equally at all times. They do not always find such thoughts equally fresh and green in their minds. They have their winter as well as their summer, and their low tide as well as their high water. But all true Christians are, more or less, acquainted with these thoughts. In this matter churchmen and dissenters, rich and poor, all are agreed, if they are true Christians. In other things they may be unable to agree and see alike. But they all agree in their thoughts about Christ. One word they can all say, which is the same in every tongue. That word is " Hallelujah,” praise to the Lord Christ! One answer they can all make, which in every tongue is equally the same. That word is, "Amen," so be it!
And now, reader, I shall wind up my Christmas tract, by simply bringing before your conscience the question which forms its title. I ask you this day, "What think you of Christ?"
What others think about Him, is not the question now. Their mistakes are no excuse for you. Their correct views will not save your soul. The point you have before you is simply this, "What do you think yourself?"
Reader, this Christmas may possibly be your last. Who can tell but you may never live to see another December come round? Who can tell but your place may be empty, when the family party next Christmas is gathered together? Do not, I entreat you, put off my question or turn away from it. It can do you no harm to look at it and consider it. What do you think of Christ?
Begin, I beseech you, this day to have right thoughts of Christ, if you never had them before. Let the time past suffice you to have lived without real and heartfelt religion. Let this present Christmas be a starting point in your soul's history. Awake to see the value of your soul, and the immense importance of being saved. Break off sharp from sin and the world. Get down your Bible and begin to read it. Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and beseech Him to save your soul. Rest not, rest not till you have trustful, loving, experimental, hopeful thoughts of Christ.
Reader, mark my words! If you will only take the advice I have now given you, you will never repent it. Your life in future will be happier. Your heart will be lighter. Your Christmas gatherings will be more truly joyful. Nothing makes Christmas meetings so happy, as to feel that we are all traveling on towards an eternal gathering in heaven.
Reader, I say for the last time, if you would have a happy Christmas, have right thoughts about Christ.
I remain,
Your affectionate Friend,
J.C. Ryle
Stradbroke Vicarage, Suffolk, Dec., 1863
The question usually comes up whenever this comic is posted on social media, “Who are the Johns in the picture?” I'm hoping this clears it up once and for all!
From left to right we have: Brian the barista, John Foxe, John Wycliffe, John Charles Ryle, John the Baptist, John Bunyan, John Calvin, and John Knox.
For those of you wondering about the spelling on the cup, in true "Big Box" coffee shop fashion:
Mystery solved!
Your cartoonist in Christ,
Paul
Interested in a print of this toon? Click here!
]]>In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God’s visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God’s wonderful works towards them, remained (as Deut. 32:28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text.—The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.
1. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction. (Psalm 73:18)”
2. It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? (Psalm 73:18-19)”
3. Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.
4. That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God’s appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.
The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this.—“There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.”—By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.—The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.
1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.—He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God’s enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?
2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God’s using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?” Luke 13:7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s mere will, that holds it back.
3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. “He that believeth not is condemned already. ”(John 3:18) So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John 8:23. “Ye are from beneath,” and thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God’s word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law, assign to him.
4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth; yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell.—So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.
6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell-fire, if it were not for God’s restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell-fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in Scripture compared to the troubled sea, (Isaiah 57:20). For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further,” but if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God’s restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so, if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
7. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God’s hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case.
8. Natural men’s prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men’s own wisdom is no security to them from death; that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world, and others, with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death: but how is it in fact? “How dieth the wise man? even as the fool.” (Eccl. 2:16.)
9. All wicked men’s pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.
But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, “No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself: I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief: Death outwitted me: God’s wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me.”
10. God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant.
So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men’s earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.
So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ.—That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies. God’s creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff of the summer threshing floor.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.
The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.—And consider here more particularly,
1. Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. “The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul.
(Prov. 20:2) ” The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. “And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him. (Luke 12:4-5)”
2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in “According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries. (Isaiah 59:18) ” So “For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. (Isaiah 66:15)” And in many other places. So, we read of “the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Rev. 19:15)” The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, “the wrath of God,” the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is “the fierceness and wrath of God.” The fury of God! The fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also “the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worm that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!
Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. “Therefore will I also deal in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them. (Ezekiel 8:18)” Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only “laugh and mock, (Proverbs 1:25-26), etc.”
How awful are those words, which are the words of the great God. “I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. (Isaiah 63:3) ” It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, viz. contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that, he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
3. The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego; and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? (Romans 9:22) ” And seeing this is his design, and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it. “And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites, (Isaiah 32:12-14)”.
Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. (Isaiah 66:23-24)”
4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: for “who knows the power of God’s anger?”
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas! Instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition, that shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time! Your damnation does not slumber; it will come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give for one day’s opportunity such as you now enjoy!
And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?
Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? And so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God’s mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God.—And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness.— And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?
And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God’s word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favor to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men’s hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God’s Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire.
Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”
]]>In this video I talk about the three books I recommend for every Christian.
Links to these resources are in the video description on the RefToons YouTube channel.
Let me know in the comments if you would add any books to this list!
Thanks for watching,
Paul
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This quote by John Calvin is a good reminder nothing is more important than knowing Christ and that all of Scripture points to Him.
It wasn’t until 11 years ago that I realized that the Old Testament points to Christ in the New Testament. Our pastor encouraged us to read our Bibles backwards, because we get a clearer picture of how Christ is the fulfillment of the law by reading the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament.
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27
It happens every time I post this toon. Someone asks who each of the characters are. Most of the characters are guessed correctly, but there are always a couple characters who elude the best guessers. Below is a definitive list of each Bible character featured in this toon!
Your cartoonist in Christ,
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Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work. And our Saviour tells us how his Father deals with every branch in him that beareth fruit, every true and living branch. “He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit,” John 15:2.
He prunes it, and that not for a day or two, but whilst it is a branch in this world. And the apostle tells you what was his practice, 1 Cor. 9:27, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.” “I do it,” saith he, “daily; it is the work of my life: I omit it not; this is my business.”
And if this were the work and business of Paul, who was so incomparably exalted in grace, revelations, enjoyments, privileges, consolations, above the ordinary measure of believers, where may we possibly bottom an exemption from this work and duty whilst we are in this world?”
John Owen 1616-1683
The Mortification of Sin in Believers
The comic ends with Owen exclaiming, “Maranatha,” which is latin for, “Come, Lord.” The sentiment of this word reinforces the fact that we won’t be done struggling with sin until our Lord comes back. | |
The tombstone at the freshly dug grave was intentionally left blank. It is between the reader and God which sin will be mortified and buried here. |
In the words of John Owen, “Mortify! Make it your daily work. Be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work. Be killing sin or it will be killing you! Your being dead with Christ by identification and your being quickened with Him will not excuse you from this work.”
Your cartoonist in Christ,
"Mr RefToons"
"Kill Sin" art print available here!
The Mortification of Sin Paperback available at Banner of Truth
Free ebook from Chapel Library
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"Now if you enjoy God as your portion, if your soul can say with the Church in Lamentations 3:24: 'The Lord is my portion, saith my soul', why should you not be satisfied and contented like God?
God is contented, he is in eternal contentment in himself; now if you have that God as your portion, why should you not be contented with him alone?
Since God is contented with himself alone, if you have him, you may be contented with him alone, and it may be, that is the reason why your outward comforts are taken from you, that God may be all in all to you.”
Jeremiah Burroughs 1600 - 1646
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
Unsatisfied with this first idea, I put on my thinking cap and went back to the drawing board. You might say I was discontent, but contentment would soon come.
Despite the reviews, this thinking cap worked splendidly. I took it off and began to sketch out the new idea. I would illustrate Burroughs in a sequence of discontentment leading to his final posture of contentment in the God of all comfort. The sequence goes as follows:
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I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at my recent Jeremiah Burroughs comic. For more context surrounding this quote, follow the link below to read “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” for free from the fine folks at Monergism.
“If this be the Word of God, what will become of some of you who have not read it for the last month? “Month, sir! I have not read it for this year.” Ay, there are some of you who have not read it at all. Most people treat the Bible very politely . They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket-handkerchief round it and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat, and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write “damnation” with your fingers. There are some of you who have not turned over your Bibles for a long, long while, and what think you? I tell you blunt words, but true words. What will God say at last? When you shall come before him, he shall say, “Did you read my Bible?” ”No.“ “I wrote you a letter of mercy; did you read it?” ”No.” “Rebel! I have sent thee a letter inviting thee to me; didst thou ever read it?” “Lord, I never broke the seal; I kept it shut up.”“Wretch!” says God, “then, thou deservest hell, if I sent thee a loving epistle, and thou wouldst not even break the seal; what shall I do unto thee?” Oh, let it not be so with you. Be Bible-readers; be Bible-searchers.”
Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon’s Sermons Volume I, 1855
John Foxe (1516/1517 - April 18, 1587)
Devoted his life to documenting the martyrs of Christians from the first century through the reign of Queen “Bloody” Mary in his book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Titus 1:9 (ESV)
"That he may be able. The pastor ought to have two voices one, for gathering the sheep ; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both; for he who is deeply skilled in it will be able both to govern those who are teachable, and to refute the enemies of the truth. This twofold use of Scripture Paul describes when he says, That he may be able to exhort and to convince adversaries. And hence let us learn, first, what is the true knowledge of a bishop, and, next, to what purpose it ought to be applied. That bishop is truly wise, who holds the right faith; and he makes a proper use of his knowledge, when he applies it to the edification of the people.
This is remarkable applause bestowed on the word of God, when it is pronounced to be sufficient, not only for governing the teachable, but for subduing the obstinacy of enemies. And, indeed, the power of truth revealed by the Lord is such that it easily vanquishes all falsehoods. Let the Popish bishops now go and boast of being the successors of the apostles, seeing that the greater part of them are so ignorant of all doctrine, as to reckon ignorance to be no small part of their dignity."
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
]]>“The written word tells us, that the best expedient to inward peace and tranquillity of mind under puzzling and distracting troubles, is to commit ourselves and our case to the Lord; so you read, Psalm 37:5-7 and Prov. 16:3. And as you have read in the word, so you have found it in your own experience.
O what a burden is off your shoulders when you have resigned the case to God! Then doth Providence issue your affairs comfortably for you The difficulty is soon over when the heart is brought to this. Thus you see how scriptures are fulfilled by providence in these few instances I have given of it. Compare them in all other cases and you shall find the same; for all the lines of providence lead from the scripture and return thither again, and do most visibly begin and end there.”
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]]>"Let me ask, in the fifth place, WHETHER WE KNOW ANYTHING BY EXPERIENCE OF CONVERSION TO GOD.
Without conversion there is no salvation. "Except you be converted, and become as little children — you shall never enter the kingdom of Heaven." — "Except a man be born again — he cannot see the kingdom of God." — "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ — he is none of His." — "If any man be in Christ — he is a new creature." (Matthew 18:3, John 3:3, Romans 8:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are all by nature so weak, so worldly, so earthly-minded, so inclined to sin — that without a thorough change we cannot serve God in life, and could not enjoy Him after death. Just as ducks, as soon as they are hatched, take naturally to water — so do children, as soon as they can do anything, take to selfishness, lying, and deceit; and none pray or love God, unless they are taught. High or low, rich or poor, gentle or simple, we all need a complete change — a change which is the special office of the Holy Spirit to give us. Call it what you please — new birth, regeneration, renewal, new creation, quickening, repentance — the thing must be had if we are to be saved; and if we have the thing — it will be seen.
Sense of sin and deep hatred of it,
faith in Christ and love to Him,
delight in holiness and longing after more of it,
love for God's people, and
distaste for the things of the world —
these, these are the signs and evidences which always accompany conversion. Myriads around us, it may be feared, know nothing about it. They are, in Scripture language, dead, and asleep, and blind, and unfit for the kingdom of God. Year after year, perhaps, they go on repeating the words of the creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit;" but they are utterly ignorant of His changing operations on the inward man. Sometimes they flatter themselves they are born again, because they have been baptized, and go to church, and receive the Lord's Supper; while they are totally destitute of the marks of the new birth, as described by John in his first Epistle. And all this time the words of Scripture are clear and plain — "Except you be converted, you shall in no case enter the kingdom." (Matthew 18:3).
In times like these, no reader ought to wonder that I press the subject of conversion on men's souls. No doubt there are plenty of sham conversions in such a day of religious excitement as this. But bad coin is no proof that there is no good money: no, rather it is a sign that there is some money current which is valuable, and is worth imitation. Hypocrites and sham Christians are indirect evidence that there is such a thing as real grace among men. Let us search our own hearts then, and see how it is with ourselves. Once more let us ask, in the matter of conversion, "How do we do?"
Augustine of Hippo converses with Pelagius regarding the ordo salutis (order of salvation).
]]>"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
- C. S. Lewis
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