Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

66

66

about another world, and considered how you shall face your Lord at the last great day? The gospel says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," which in other words means "Trust him." Repent; confess your sin, forsake it and look to Christ for cleansing. That is the way of salvation," He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." You know all about the way of life. I am telling you a tale which you have heard a thousand times, but the question is, when is it going to be done? Soon, sir," you say. But were you not here when this Tabernacle was opened? "Yes," you say, "I think I was." You said "soon" then, and you say "soon" now. You will say "soon" I expect until that word "soon" will be met with the heavy sentence, "Too late, too late ; ye cannot enter now." Take heed that this be not your case before this day has closed. Some men die very suddenly. A sister came to me this morning and said, "My father is dead: he was well in the morning, he came home from the shop, seemed a little ill, and died on a sudden." Seeing that life is so precarious, would it not be best that you should immediately seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near? I would suggest that you do not begin gossiping and talking on the way home to-day, but that you get alone a little while quietly. Do you reply that you have no place where you can be alone: this is not true, you can find some place or other. I recollect a sailor who used to find his prayer closet at the masthead: nobody came up there to disturb him. I knew a carpenter who used to get down a sawpit to pray. There are many such places. The streets of London when crowded are about as lonely as anywhere, and Cheapside may be as good as the mountain side if your heart desires real solitude.

Some of you, I fear, never think at all. As far as thinking goes, if your brains were taken out, many of you would get on almost as well without them. The brains of some people are only useful as a sort of salt, to keep them from rotting by death. Little thinking is done by the great mass of the people except the thought, "What shall we eat and what shall we drink?" Do, I pray you, think a little. Pause and consider what God the Lord sets before you. Be a doer of the work. Do what God bids you. As he bids you repent, repent; as he bids you believe, believe; as he bids you pray, pray; as he bids you accept his grace, God helping you, do it. Oh, that it might be done at once, and to the Lord shall be praise world without end. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-James i.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"-483, 538, 992.

If those who profit by these sermons will promote their circulation they may be doing as much good as if they preached themselves. The preacher in returning to his pulpit would feel greatly cheered if he found that the circulation of the sermons largely increased. A judicious word may gain a subscriber to whom the reading may be useful. Would not some of our readers find the distribution of the discourses an easy and efficient mode of Christian service?

THE PHILOSOPHY AND PROPRIETY OF

ABUNDANT PRAISE.

A Sermon

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 18TH, 1879, BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness."-Psalm cxlv. 7.

THIS is called "David's Psalm of praise," and you will see that all through it he is inflamed by a strong desire that God may be greatly magnified. Hence he uses a variety of expressions, and repeats himself in his holy vehemence. Run your eye down the psalm and notice such words as these: "I will extol thee"; "I will bless thy name "; " Every day will I bless thee"; "I will praise thy name for ever and ever"; "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised "; " One generation shall praise thy works to another"; "I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty"; "Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts," and other words of like import, down to the last verse: My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever." David is not content with declaring that Jehovah is worthy of praise, or with pleading that his praise ought to be felt in the heart, but he will have it publicly spoken of, openly declared, plainly uttered, and joyfully proclaimed in song. The inspired Psalmist, moved by the Holy Ghost, calls upon all flesh, yea, and upon all the works of God to sound forth the praises of the Most High. Will we not heartily respond to the call?

[ocr errors]

În following out his design of praise, David had spoken in verse five of the majesty of God, the glorious King. His eye seems to be dazzled by the glorious splendour of the august throne, and he cries, "I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty." Then he bethinks himself of the power of that throne of majesty and of the force with which its just decrees are carried out, and so in verse six he exclaims, "Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness." Here he speaks in brief both as to the majesty and the might of the dread Supreme, but when he turns his thoughts to the divine goodness, he enlarges and uses words which indicate the stress which he lays upon No. 1,468.

his subject, and his desire to linger over it. "They shall abundantly utter," saith our text, "the memory of thy great goodness." Now, our desire this morning is that we also may praise and magnify the name of the infinite Jehovah without bound or stint, and may especially have our hearts enlarged and our mouths opened wide to speak abundantly of his great goodness. O that in the whole of this congregation the text may become true-"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness"; and having uttered it in plain speech may we all rise a stage higher, and with gladsome music sing of his righteousness.

You see our object, an object in which I trust you all sympathise. Come, one and all, and praise the Lord. Is the invitation too wide? Observe the ninth verse: "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee," I will not limit the invitation of the Lord; since you all drink of the river of his bounty, render to him all of you such praises as you can.

But there is a special invitation to his saints. Come ye and bless his name with spiritual, inward, enlightened praise. "Bless the Lord, O house of Israel. Ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord." In your heart of hearts extol, adore, and make him great, for it is written-"Thy saints shall bless thee." Verily this shall not be written in vain, for our souls shall bless the Lord this day as the Holy Ghost shall move within us.

We shall speak upon two things that we may promote the object we have in view. The first is, the method of securing the abundant utterance of God's praise as to his goodness; and, secondly, the motives for desiring to secure this abundant utterance.

I. THE METHOD OF SECURING THE ABUNDANT UTTERANCE OF THE DIVINE PRAISE CONCERNING HIS GOODNESS. Our text gives us the mental philosophy of abounding praise, and shows us the plan by which such praise may be secured. The steps are such as the best mental philosophy approves. First, we shall be helped to abundant praise by careful observation. Notice the text-"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness." Now, in order to memory there must first of all be observation. A man does not remember what he never knew; this is clear to all, and therefore the point is virtually implied in the text. In proportion as a fact or a truth makes an impression upon the mind, in that proportion is it likely to abide in the memory. If you hear a sermon, that which you remember afterwards is the point which most forcibly strikes you while you are listening to the discourse. At the time you say, "I will jot that down, for I should not like to forget it, for it comes so closely home to me; and whether you use your pencil or not, memory obeys your wish and makes a record upon her tablets. It is so with the dealings of God towards us. If we want to remember his goodness we must let it strike us; we must notice it, consider it, meditate upon it, estimate it, and allow it to exert its due influence upon our hearts; and then we shall not need to say that "we must try and remember," for we shall remember as a matter of course. The impression being clearly and deeply made will not easily fade away, but we shall see it after many days. The first thing, therefore, towards the plentiful praising of God is a careful observation of his goodness.

Now, see what it is that we are to observe-it is God's goodness. Too many are blind to that blessed object. They receive the bounties of

providence but they do not see the hand of God in them. They are fed by his liberality and guided by his care, but they attribute all that they receive to themselves, or to secondary agents. God is not in all their thoughts, and consequently his goodness is not considered. They have no memory of his goodness because they have no observation of it. Some, indeed, instead of observing the goodness of God, complain of his unkindness to them, and imagine that he is needlessly severe. Like the unprofitable servant in the parable, they say, "I knew thee, that thou art an austere man." Others sit in judgment upon his ways, as we find them recorded in Holy Scripture, and dare to condemn the Judge of all the earth. Denying the goodness of Jehovah, they attempt to set up another God than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who for this enlightened nineteenth century is a God much too sternly just. In this house, however, we worship Jah, Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and none other than he. In many a place of worship at this day they adore new gods, newly come up, which our fathers knew not; not like unto the God of the Old Testament, who in the opinion of modern philosophers is as much out of date as Jupiter himself. This day we say with David, "This God is our God for ever and ever." "O come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand." As we find the Lord revealed both in the Old and the New Testament, making no division in the revelation, but regarding it as one grand whole, we behold abundant goodness in him. Mingled with that awful justice which we would not wish to deny, we see surpassing grace, and we delight that God is love. He is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. We have no complaints to make against him, we wish to make no alteration in his dealings or in his character; he is our exceeding joy; our whole heart rejoices in the contemplation of him. "Who is like unto thee, O God? Among the gods who is like unto thee?" We are then to consider, what many will not so much as believe, that there is great goodness in Jehovah, the God of creation, providence, and redemption; the God of Paradise, of Sinai, and of Calvary. We are thoroughly to acquaint ourselves with him as he has made himself known, and we are continually to consider his great goodness, that we may retain the memory of it.

If we are willing to see we shall not lack for opportunities of beholding his goodness every day, for it is to be seen in so many acts that I will not commence the catalogue, since I should never complete it. His goodness is seen in creation; it shines in every sunbeam, glitters in every dewdrop, smiles in every flower, and whispers in every breeze. Earth and sea and air, teeming with innumerable forms of life, are all full of the goodness of the Lord. Sun, moon, and stars affirm that the Lord is good, and all terrestrial things echo the proclamation. His goodness is also to be seen in the providence which ruleth over all. Let rebellious spirits murmur as they may, goodness is enthroned in Jehovah's kingdom, and evil and suffering are intruders there. God is good towards all his creatures, and especially towards the objects of his eternal love, for whom all things work together for good. It is, however, in the domain of grace that the noblest form of divine goodness is

seen. Begin with the goodness which shines in our election, and follow the silver thread through redemption, the mission of the Holy Spirit, the calling, the adoption, the preservation, the perfecting of the chosen, and you will see riches of goodness which will astound you. Dwell where you may within the kingdom of redemption, and you will see rivers, yea, oceans of goodness. I leave your own minds to remember these things, and your own lips abundantly to utter the memory of the Lord's great goodness in the wonders of his salvation; for it is not my design to speak for you, but to stir you up to speak for yourselves.

The point which struck the Psalmist, and should strike us all, is the greatness of the goodness. The greatness of the goodness will be seen by the contemplative mind upon a consideration of the person upon whom the goodness lights. "Whence is this to me?" will often be the utterance of a grateful spirit. That God should be good to any of his people shows his mercy, but that he should make me to be one of his, and deal so well with me, herein his goodness doth exceed itself! Whence is this to me? Is this the manner of man, O Lord? What am I, and what is my father's house? It is great goodness since it visits persons so insignificant, yea more, so guilty and so deserving of wrath. Blessed be God that he is good to persons so ungrateful, to persons who cannot even at the best make any adequate return, who, alas, do not even make such return as they could. Ah, Lord, when I consider what a brutish creature I am it is easy to confess the greatness of thy goodness.

The greatness of the goodness becomes apparent when we think of the greatness of God the benefactor. "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?" That God himself should bless his people, that he should come in the form of human flesh to save his people, that he should dwell in us, and walk in us, and be to us a God, a very present help in trouble, is a miracle of love. Is not this great goodness? I can very well understand that the infinity of his benevolence should commit us to the charge of angels, but it is amazing that it should be written, "I the Lord do keep it: I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Oh, the greatness of such personal condescension, such personal care. of heaven, from the fountain of all goodness shalt thou drink, and not from its streams alone. God himself is thy portion, and the lot of thine inheritance; thou art not put off with creatures, the Creator himself is thine. Wilt thou not remember this, and so keep alive the memory of his goodness?

O heir

The greatness of the goodness is on some occasions made manifest by the evil from which it rescues us. Nobody knows so well the blessing of health as he who has but lately been tortured in every limb; then for his restoration he blesses Jehovah Rophi, the healing Lord. None know what salvation from sin means like those who have been crushed beneath the burden of guilt, and have been racked by remorse. Did you ever feel yourself condemned of God, and cast out from his presence? Did the pangs of hell commence within your startled conscience? Did your soul long for death rather than life, while thick clouds and darkness enshrouded your guilty spirit? If so, when the Lord has put aw sin, and said, "Thou shalt not die;" when he has brought

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »