covenant of salvation by works, and you had fulfilled those works up till now, yet you would not be sure. Are you seventy years of age, and have you kept your standing till now? Well, you have done a great deal more than father Adam did, for though he was a perfect man without any natural corruption, I do not suppose that he kept his first estate for a day. But after all you have done for these long years you may lose everything before you have finished your next meal. If your standing depends upon your own works you are not safe, and can never be safe till you are out of this present life, for you might sin, and that one offence against the conditions would destroy the covenant. "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby." But see the excellence of salvation by grace, for when you reach the ground of faith in the promises you are upon terra firmâ, and your soul is no longer in jeopardy. Here is a sure foundation, for the divine promise cannot fail. If my salvation depends upon the Lord, and is received by me on the ground that the Lord hath decreed it, promised it in covenant, and ensured it to me by the blood of Jesus Christ, then it is so mine that neither life nor death nor Satan nor the world shall ever rob me of it. If I live to the age of Methuselah my faith will have the same promises to rest upon, and clinging there she will defy the lapse of years to change her immutable security. The promise would not be sure to one of the seed by any other means than that of grace through faith, but now it is sure to all.

Moreover, if the promise had been made to works there are some of the seed to whom most evidently it never could come. One of the seed of Abraham hung dying upon a cross, and within an hour or two his bones were broken that he might the more quickly die and be buried. Now, if salvation to that poor dying thief must come by works, how can he be saved? His hands and feet are fastened up and he is in the very article of death, what can he do? The promise would not have been sure to him, my brethren, if there had been any active condition; but he believed, cast a saving eye upon the Lord Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me," and the promise was most sure to him, for the answer was "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Many a chosen one of God is brought into such a condition that nothing is possible to him except faith, but grace has made the act of believing divinely possible. Well was it for those bitten by serpents that all that was asked of them was a look, for this was possible even when the hot venom made the blood to boil and scalded all the frame with fever. Faith is possible to the blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb; faith is possible to the almost idiot, the desponding and the guilty; faith can be possessed by babes and by the extremely aged, by the illiterate as well as by the instructed; it is well chosen as the cup to convey the living water, for it is not too heavy for the weak, nor too huge for the little, nor too small for the full-grown.

Now, brothers and sisters, I have done when I have said just this. I will ask you who have believed in Christ one question,-you who are resting in the promise of God, you who are depending upon the finished work of him who was delivered for your offences-how do you feel? Are you rejoicing in your unquestionable safety? As I have turned this matter over, and thought upon it, my soul has dwelt

in perfect peace. I cannot conceive anything that God himself could give to the believer which would make him more safe than the work of Christ has made him. God cannot lie, are you not sure of this? He must keep his promise, are you not certain of this? What more do you want? As a little child believes its father's word without any question, even so would we rest on the bare, naked promise of Jehovah, and in so doing we become conscious of a peace that passeth all understanding, which keeps your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. I dare not say otherwise, nor be silent, for I am conscious of being able to say, "Therefore being justified by faith, I have peace with God." In that ace of the soul much love springs up, and inward unity to God and conformity to Christ. Faith believes her God and trusts him for time and eternity, for little things and great things, for body and for soul, and this leads on to still higher results. O blessed God, what a union of desire, and heart, and aim exists between thee and the soul that trusts thee! How are we brought into harmony with thy mind and purposes! How is our heart made to delight in thee! How completely is our soul "bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of the Lord our God"! We grow up into him in all things who is our Head, our life, our all.

I charge you, dear children of God, "as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him." Live in his peace, and abound in it more and more; do not be afraid of being too peaceful, "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." When you have to condemn yourself for shortcomings, yet do not question the promise of the Lord. When sin overcomes you, confess the fault, but do not doubt the pardon which Jesus still gives you. When sharp temptations and severe trials arise from divers quarters do not suffer them to carry you by storm; let not the stronghold and castle of your spirit be captured-"let not your heart be troubled." Stagger not at the promise through unbelief, but hold to it whether you walk in the sunshine or in Egyptian darkness. That which the Lord has promised he is able also to perform, do not doubt it. Lean hard on the faithful promise, and when you feel sad at heart lean harder and harder still, for "faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it."

Last of all, you sinners here this morning, who have heard all about this salvation by trusting; I charge you do not rest till you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, and rested in the great promises of God. Here is one: "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more for ever.' Here is another which is very cheering: "Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Čall upon him in prayer, and then say, "Lord, I have called, and thou hast said I shall be saved." Here is another gracious word: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Attend thou to these two commands, and then say, "Lord, I have thy word for it that I shall be saved, and I hold thee to it." Believe God, sinner. Oh that he would give thee grace this morning by his Holy Spirit to say, "How can I do otherwise than believe him? I dare not doubt him." O poor tried soul, believe in Jesus so as to trust thy guilty soul with him. The more guilty thou feelest thyself to be the more is it in thy power to glorify God, by believing that he

can forgive and renew such a guilty one as thou art. If thou liest buried like a fossil in the lowest stratum of sin, yet he can quarry for thee and fetch thee up out of the horrible pit, and make thy dry, petrified heart to live. Believest thou this? "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Trust the promise that he makes to every believer that he will save him, and hold thou to it, for it is not a vain thing, it is thy life. "But what if I obtain no joy or peace?" Believe the promise still, and joy and peace will come. "But what if I see no signs?" Ask for no signs, be willing to trust God's word without any other guarantee but his truthful character, and thou wilt thus give him glory. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Believe that Jehovah cannot lie, and as he has promised to forgive all who believe in Jesus, hang on to that word and thou shalt be saved. Sinners, I have set before you the way of salvation as simply as I can, will you have it or not? May the Spirit of God sweetly lead you to say, " Have it, ay, that I will." Then go in peace, and rejoice henceforth and for ever. God bless you. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-Colossians ii.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"-230, 242, 233.

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CHRIST'S GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS,

Set forth in Seven Sermons,

By C. H.

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THE GREAT HOUSE AND THE VESSELS IN IT.

A Sermon

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 8TH, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."-2 Timothy, ii. 20, 21.

ONE of the most serious calamities which can befall a church is to have her own ministers teaching heresy: yet this is no new thing, it has happened from the beginning. Paul and Peter and James and John in their epistles had to speak of seducers in the churches, even in those primitive days, and ever since then there have arisen in the very midst of the house of God those who have subverted the faith of many, and led them away from the fundamental truths into errors of their own inventing. The apostle compares this to a gangrene, which is one of the most dangerous and deadly mischiefs which can occur to the body. It is within the body, it eats into the flesh deeper and deeper, festering and putrefying, and if it be not stopped it will continue its ravages till life is extinguished by "black mortification." False doctrine and an unchristian spirit in the midst of the church itself must be regarded as such a gangrene, a silent wolf ravenously gnawing at the heart, the vulture of Prometheus devouring the vitals: no external opposition is one-half so much to be dreaded. Yet here is our comfort when distressed at the evils of the present age, among which this is one of the chief, that the truth abides for ever the same, "The foundation of God standeth sure." There is no moving that. Whether ten thousand oppose it or promulgate it, the truth is still the same in every jot and tittle; even as the sun shineth evermore, as well when clouds conceal its brightness as when from a clear sky it pours abroad a flood of glory. The lovers of profane and vain babblings have not taken away from us, nor can they take from us, the eternal verities: the Lord liveth, though they have said, "There is no God." The precious blood of Jesus has not lost its efficacy, though divines have beclouded the atonement; the Spirit of God is not less No. 1,348,

mighty to quicken and to console though men have denied his personality; the resurrection is as sure as if Hymeneus and Philetus had never said that it is passed already; and the eternal covenant of grace abides for ever unbroken though Pharisees and Sadducees unite to revile it. The foundation of God standeth sure, and moreover the foundation of the church remains sure also, for, blessed be God, "the Lord knoweth them that are his." All that God has built upon the foundation which he himself has laid keeps its place, not one living stone that he ever laid upon the foundation has been lifted from its resting place. Earthquakes of error may test the stability of the building and cause great searching of heart, but sooner shall the mountains which are round about Jerusalem start from their seats than the work or word of the Lord be frustrated. The things which cannot be shaken remain unaltered in the very worst times.

"After all," says the apostle in effect, though in fewer words, "it is not such a very great wonder that there should be persons in the church who are not of the sterling metal of sincerity, nor of the gold and silver of truth, which endures the fire. You must not look at Hymeneus and Philetus as if they were prodigies, there have been many like them and there will be many more; these ill weeds grow apace, in all ages they multiply and increase." Where, dear brethren, beneath the skies shall we find absolute purity in any community? The very first family had a Cain in it, and there was a wicked Ham even in the select few within the ark. In the household of the father of the faithful there was an Ishmael; Isaac, with all his quiet walk with God, must be troubled with an Esau, and ye know how in the house of Jacob there were many sons that walked not as they should. When the church of God was in the wilderness and had a barrier of desert between it and the outer world, yet ye know how Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were there, beside many other troublers in Israel; yea, even amidst the most select part of the visible church of God, in the priesthood, there were found those that dishonoured it. Nadab and Abihu were slain with fire before the Lord; and Hophni and Phineas died in battle, because they had made themselves vile, though God's anointed priests. Even when our divine Master had formed for himself

"A little garden, walled around,

Chosen, and made peculiar ground,"

in which there were but twelve choice trees, yet one of them bore evil fruit. "I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." In the great field which Christ has sown, tares will spring up among the wheat, for the enemy takes pains to sow them; neither is it possible for us to root them up. In the king's garden briars will grow, thorns also and thistles will the most sacred soil yield to us. Even the lilies of Christ grow among thorns. You cannot keep the best of churches altogether pure, for though the Lord himself has prepared a vineyard, and make a winepress, and built a wall about it, yet the foxes come and spoil the vines; and though our great Lord has an orchard which yieldeth rare fruit, yet when he cometh to visit it he finds a barren fig tree, digged about and dunged it is true, but barren still. Look to Christ's fold on earth, and behold there are wolves in sheep's clothing there; look to the