|
The Kingly Priesthood of the Saints
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 28th, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth."Revelation 5:10.
"Music hath charms." I am sure sacred music has; for I have felt something of its charms whilst we have been singing that glorious hymn just now. There is a potency in harmony; there is a magic power in melody, which either melts the soul to pity, or lifts it up to joy unspeakable. I do not know how it may be with some minds; they possibly may resist the influence of singing; but I cannot. When the saints of God, in full chorus, "chaunt the solemn lay," and when I hear sweet syllables fall from their lips, keeping measure and time, then I feel elevated; and, forgetting for a time everything terrestrial, I soar aloft towards heaven. If such be the sweetness of the music of the saints below, where there is much of discord and sin to mar the harmony, how sweet must it be to sing above, with cherubim and seraphim. Oh, what songs must those be which the Eternal ever hears upon his throne! What seraphic sonnets must those be which are thrilled from the lips of pure immortals, untainted by a sin, unmingled with a groan: where they warble ever hymns of joy and gladness, never intermingled with one sigh, or groan, or worldly care. Happy songsters! When shall I your chorus join? There is one of your hymns that runs
"Hark! how they sing before the throne!"
and I have sometimes thought I could "hark! how they sing before the throne." I have imagined that I could hear the full burst of the swell of the chorus, when it pealed from heaven like mighty thunders, and the sound of many waters, and have almost heard those full-toned strains, when the harpers harped with their harps be fore the throne of God; alas, it was but imagination. We cannot hear it now; these ears are not fitted for such music; these souls could not be contained in the body, if we were once to hear some stray note from the harps of angels. We must wait till we get up yonder. Then, purified, like silver seven times, from the defilement of earth, washed in our Saviour's precious blood, sanctified by the purifying influence of the Holy Spirit
"We shall, unblemished and complete,
Appear before our Father's throne,
With joys divinely great."
"Then loudest of the crowd we'll sing,
Whilst heaven's resounding mansions ring
With shouts of sovereign grace."
Our friend John, the highly favoured apostle
of the Apocalypse, has given us just one note from heaven's song; we shall strike that
note, and sound it again and again. I shall strike this tuning-fork of heaven, and let you
hear one of the key notes. "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we
shall reign on the earth." May the great and gracious Spirit, who is the only
illumination of darkness, light up my mind whilst I attempt, in a brief and hurried
manner, to speak from this text. There are three things in it: first, the Redeemer's
doings" and hast made us; secondly, the saints' honors"
and hast made us kings and priests unto our God;" and, thirdly, the world's
future" and we shall reign upon the earth."
I. First, then, we have THE REDEEMER'S DOINGS. They who stand before the throne sing of
the Lambthe Lion of the tribe of Judah, who took the book and broke the seals
thereof" Thou hast made us kings and priests unto our God." In heaven they
do not sing
"Glory, honor, praise, and power
Be unto ourselves for ever;
We have been our own Redeemers;Hallelujah!"
They never sing praise to themselves; they glorify not their own strength; they do not talk of their own free-will and their own might; but they ascribe their salvation, from beginning to end, to God. Ask them how they were saved, and they reply, "The Lamb hath made us what we are." Ask them whence their glories came, and they tell you, "They were bequeathed to us by the dying Lamb." Ask whence they obtained the gold of their harps, and they say, "It was dug in mines of agony and bitterness by Jesus," Inquire who stringed their harps, and they will tell you that Jesus took each sinew of his body to make them. Ask them where they washed their robes and made them white, and they will say
"In yonder 'fountain filled with
blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins.'"
Some persons on earth do not know where to
put the crown; but those in heaven do. They place the diadem on the right head; and they
ever sing" And he hath made us what we are."
Well, then, beloved, would not this note well become us here? For " what have we that
we have not received?" Who hath made us to differ? I know, this morning, that I am a
justified man; I have the full assurance that
"The terrors of law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view."
There is not a sin against me in God's book
they have all been for ever obliterated by the blood of Christ. and cancelled by his own
right hand. I have nothing to fear; I cannot be condemned. "Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect?" Not God, for he hath justified; not Christ. for he hath
died. But if I am justified, who made me so? I say"And hath made me what I
am." Justification from first to last. is of God. Salvation is of the Lord alone.
Many of you are sanctified persons, but you are not perfectly sanctified, you are not
redeemed altogether from the dross of earth; you have still another law in your members,
warring against the law of your mind; and you always will have that law while you
tabernacle in faith; you never will be perfect in your sanctification until you get up
yonder before the solemn throne of God, where even this imperfection of your soul will be
taken away, and your carnal depravity rooted out. But yet, beloved, there is an inward
principle imparted; you are growing in graceyou are making progress in holiness.
Well, but who made you have that progress? Who redeemed you from that lust? Who ransomed
you from that vice? Who bade you say farewell to that practice in which you indulged?
Cannot you say of Jesus, "And hath made us!" It is Christ who hath done it all,
and to his name be honor, and glory, and praise, and dominion.
Let us dwell one moment on this thought, and show you how it is that it can be said that
Christ hath made us this. When did Christ make his people kings and priests? When could it
be said, "And hath made us kings and priests unto our God?"
1. First of all, he made us kings and priests, virtually, when he signed the covenant of
grace. Far, far back in eternity, the Magna Charta of the saints was written by the hand
of God, and it needed one signature to make it valid. There was a stipulation in that
covenant that the Mediator should become incarnate should live a suffering life, and at
last endure a death of ignominy; and it needed but one signature, the signature of the Son
of God, to make that covenant valid, eternal, and "ordered in all things and
sure." Methinks I see him now, as my imagination pictures the lofty Son of God
grasping the pen. See how his fingers write the name; and there it stands in everlasting
letters" THE SON!" O sacred ratification of the treaty; it is stamped and
sealed with the great seal of our father in heaven. O glorious covenant, then for ever
made secure! At the moment of the signature of this wondrous document, the spirits before
the throneI mean the angelsmight have taken up the song, and said of the whole
body of the elect, "And hast made you kings and priests unto your God;" and
could all the chosen company have started into existence, they could have clapped their
hands and sung, "Here we are by that very signature constituted kings and priests
unto our God."
2. But he did not stop there. It was not simply agreeing to the terms of the treaty; but
in due time he filled it allyes, to its utmost jot and tittle. Jesus said, "I
will take the cup of salvation;" and he did take itthe cup of our deliverance.
Bitter were its drops;gall lay in its depths;there were groans, and sighs, and tears,
within the red mixture but he took it all, and drank it to its dregs, and swallowed all
the awful draught. All was gone. He drank the cup of salvation, and he ate the bread of
affliction. See him, as he drinks the cup in Gethsemane, when the fluid of that cup did
mingle with his blood, and make each drop a scalding poison. Mark how the hot feet of pain
did travel down his veins. See how each nerve is twisted and contorted with his agony.
Behold his brow covered with sweat; witness the agonies as they follow each other into the
very depths of his soul. Speak, ye lost, and tell what hell's torment means; but ye cannot
tell what the torments of Gethsemane were. Oh! the deep unutterable! There was a depth
which couched beneath, when our Redeemer bowed his head, when he placed himself betwixt
the upper and nether millstones of his Father's vengeance, and when his whole soul was
ground to powder. Ah! that wrestling man-Godthat suffering man of Gethsemane! Weep
o'er him, saintsweep o'er him; when ye see him rising from that prayer in the
garden, marching forth to his cross; when ye picture him hanging on his cross four long
hours in the scorching sun, overwhelmed by his Father's passing wrathwhen ye see his
side streaming with gorewhen ye hear his death-shriek, "It is
finished,"and see his lips all parched, and moistened by nothing save the
vinegar and the gall,ah! then prostrate yourselves before that cross, bow down
before that sufferer, and say, "Thou hast made usthou hast made us what
we are; we are nothing without thee." The cross of Jesus is the foundation of the
glory of the saints; Calvary is the birth-place of heaven; heaven was born in Bethlehem's
manger; had it not been for the sufferings and agonies of Golgotha we should have had no
blessing. Oh, saint! in every mercy see the Saviour's blood; look on this Bookit is
sprinkled with his blood; look on this house of prayerit is sanctified by his
sufferings; look on your daily foodit is purchased with his groans. Let every mercy
come to you as a blood-bought treasure; value it because it comes from him; and ever more
say, "Thou hast made us what we are."
3. Beloved, our Saviour Jesus Christ finished the great work of making us what we are, by
his ascension into heaven. If he had not risen up on high and led captivity captive, his
death would have been insufficient. He "died for our sins," but he "rose
again for our justification." The resurrection of our Saviour, in his majesty, when
he burst the bonds of death, was to us the assurance that God had accepted his sacrifice;
and his ascension up on high, was but as a type and a figure of the real and actual
ascension of all his saints, when he shall come in the clouds of judgment, and shall call
all his people to him. Mark the man-God, as he goes upward towards heaven; behold his
triumphal march through the skies, whilst stars sing his praises, and planets dance in
solemn order; behold him traverse the unknown fields of ether till he arrives at the
throne of God in the seventh heaven, Then hear him say to his Father, "I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do; behold me and the children thou hast given
me; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; I have done all; I have
accomplished every type; I have finished every part of the covenant; there is not one iota
I have left unfulfilled, or one tittle that is left out; all is done." And hark, how
they sing before the throne of God when thus he speaks: "Thou hast made us unto our
God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
Thus have I briefly spoken upon the dear Redeemer's doings. Poor lips cannot speak better;
faint heart will not rise up to the height of this great argument. Oh! that these lips had
language eloquent and lofty, that they might speak more of the wondrous doings of our
Redeemer!
" Crown him! crown him!
Crowns become the Saviour's brow."
II. Now, secondly, THE SAINT'S HONORS: "and hast made us unto our God kings and
priests." The most honorable of all monarchs have ever been esteemed to be those who
had a right not only to royal, but to sacerdotal supremacythose kings who could wear
at one time the crown of loyalty, and at another the mitre of the priesthood, who could
both use the censer and hold the sceptrewho could offer intercession for the people,
and then govern the nations. Those who are kings and priests are great indeed; and here
you behold the saint honored, not with one title, or one office, but with two. He is made
not a king merely, but a king and a priest; not a priest merely, but a priest and a king.
The saint has two offices conferred upon him at once, he is made a priestly monarch, and a
regal priest.
I shall take, first of all, the royal office of the saints. They are KINGS. They are not
merely to be kings in heaven, but they are also kings on earth; for if my text does not
say so, the Bible declares it in another passage: "Ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood." We are kings even now. I want you to understand that,
before I explain the idea. Every saint of the living God, not merely has the prospect of
being a king in heaven, but positively, in the sight of God, he is a king now; and he must
say, with regard to his brethren and himself, "And hast made us," even now,
"unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign upon the earth." A Christian
is a king. He is not simply like a king, but he is a king, actually and
truly. However, I shall try and show you how he is like a king.
Remember his royal ancestry. What a fuss some people make about their grand fathers
and grandmothers, and distant ancestors. I remember seeing in Trinity College, the
pedigree of some great lord that went back just as far as Adam, and Adam was there digging
the groundthe first man. It was traced all the way up. Of course I did not believe
it. I have heard of some pedigrees that go back further. I leave that to your own common
sense, to believe it or not. A pedigree in which shall be found dukes, marquises, and
kings, and princes. Oh! what would some give for such a pedigree? I believe, however, that
it is not what our ancestors were, but what we are, that will make us shine before God;
that it is not so much in knowing that we have royal or priestly blood in our veins, as
knowing that we are an honor to our racethat we are walking in the ways of the Lord,
and reflecting credit upon the church, and upon the grace that makes us honorable. But
since some men will glory in their descent, I will glory that the saints have the proudest
ancestry in all the world. Talk of Caesars, or of Alexanders, or tell me even of our own
good Queen: I say that I am of as high descent as her majesty, or the proudest monarch in
the world. I am descended from the King of kings. The saint may well speak of his
ancestryhe may exult in it, he may glory in itfor he is the son of God,
positively and actually. His mother, the Church, is the Bride of Jesus; he is a twice-born
child of heaven: one of the blood royal of the universe. The poorest woman or man on
earth, loving Christ, is of a royal line. Give a man the grace of God in his heart, and
his ancestry is noble. I can turn back the roll of my pedigree, and I can tell you that it
is so ancient, that it has no beginning; it is more ancient than all the rolls of mighty
men put together; for, from all eternity my Father existed: and, therefore, I have indeed
a right royal and ancient ancestry.
And then, again, the saints, like monarchs, have a splendid retinue. Kings and
monarchs cannot travel without a deal of state. In olden times, they had far more
magnificence than they have now; but even in these days we see much of it when royalty is
abroad. There must be a peculiar kind of horse, and a splendid chariot, and outriders;
with all the etceteras of gorgeous pomp. Ay! and the kings of God, whom Jesus Christ has
made kings and priests unto their God, have also a royal retinue. "Oh!" say you,
"but I see some of them in rags; they are walking through the earth alone, sometimes
without a helper or a friend." Ah! but there is a fault in your eyes. If you had eyes
to see, you would perceive a body-guard of angels always attending every one of the
blood-bought family. You remember Elijah's servant could not see anything around Elijah,
till his master opened his eyes; then he could see that there were horses and chariots
round about Elijah. Lo! there are horses and chariots about me. And thou, saint of the
Lord: where'er thou art, there are horses and chariots. In that bed-chamber, where I was
born, angels stood to announce my birth on high. In seas of trouble, when wave after wave
seems to go over me, angels are there to lift up my head; when I come to die, when
sorrowing friends shall, weeping, carry me to the grave, angels shall stand by my bier;
and, when put into the grave, some mighty angel shall stand and guard my dust, and contend
for its possession with the devil. Why should I fear? I have a company of angels about me;
and whenever I walk abroad, the glorious cherubim march in front. Men see them not, but I
see them; for "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen." We have a royal retinue: we are kings, not merely by ancestry, but by our
retinue.
Now, notice the insignia and regalia of the saints. Kings and princes have certain
things that are theirs by perspective right. For instance, Her Majesty has her Buckingham
Palace, and her other palaces, her crown royal, her sceptre, and so on. But, has a saint a
palace? Yes. I have a palace! and its walls are not made of marble, but of gold; its
borders are carbuncles and precious gems; its windows are of agates; its stones are laid
with fair colours; around it there is a profusion of every costly thing; rubies sparkle
here and there; yea, pearls are but common stones within it. Some call it a mansion; but I
have a right to call it a palace too, for I am a king. It is a mansion when I look at God,
it is a palace when I look at men; because it is the habitation of a prince. Mark where
this palace is. I am not a prince of IndeI have no inheritance in any far-off hand
that men dream ofI have no El Dorado, or Home of Prester John; but yet I have a
substantial palace. Yonder, on the hills of heaven it stands; I know not its position
among the other mansions of heaven, but there it stands; and "I know that if the
earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Have Christians a crown too? O yes; but they do not wear it every day. They have a crown,
but their coronation day is not yet arrived. They have been anointed monarchs, they have
some of the authority and dignity of monarchs; but they are not crowned monarchs yet. But
the crown is made. God will not have to order heaven's goldsmiths to fashion it in
after-time; it is made already hanging up in glory. God bath "laid up for me a crown
of righteousness." Oh, saint, if thou didst just open some secret door in heaven, and
go into the treasure chamber, thou wouldst see it filled with crowns. When Cortes entered
the palace of Montezuma, he found a secret chamber bricked up, and he thought the wealth
of all the world was there, so many different things were there stowed away. Could you
enter God's secret treasure-house, what wealth would you see!" " Are there so
many monarchs," you would say, "so many crowns, so many princes?" Yes, and
some bright angel would say, "Mark you that crown? It is yours;" and if you were
to look within, you would read, "Made for a sinner saved by grace, whose name
was;" and then you would hardly believe your eyes, as you saw your own name
engraved upon it. You are indeed a king before God; for you have a crown laid up in
heaven. What ever other insignia belong to monarchs, saints shall have. They shall have
robes of whiteness; they shall have harps of glory; they shall have all things that become
their regal state; so that we are indeed monarchs, you see; not mock-monarchs, clothed in
purple garments of derision, and scoffed at with "Hail, king of the Jews;" but
we are real monarchs. "He hath made us kings and priests unto our God."
There is another thought here. Kings are considered the most honorable amongst men.
They are always looked up to and respected. If you should say, "a monarch is
here!" a crowd would give way. I should not command much respect if I were to attempt
to move about in a crowd; but if any one should shout, "here is the Queen!"
every one would step aside and make room for her. A monarch generally commands respect.
Ah! beloved, we think that worldly princes are the most honorable of the earth; but if you
were to ask God, he would reply, "my saints, in whom I delight, these are the
honorable ones." Tell me not of tinsel and gewgaw; tell me not of gold and silver;
tell me not of diamonds and pearls; tell me not of ancestry and rank; preach to me not of
pomp and power; but oh! tell me that a man is a saint of the Lord, for then he is an
honorable man. God respects him, angels respect him, and the universe one day shall
respect him, when Christ shall come to call him to his account, and say, "Well done,
good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." You may despise a
child of God now, sinner; you may laugh at him; you may say he is a hypocrite; you may
call him a saint, a methodist, a cant, and everything you like; but know that those titles
will not mar his dignityhe is the honorable of the earth, and God estimates him as
such.
But some persons will say, "I wish you would prove what you affirm, when you say that
saints are kings; for, if we were kings, we should never have any sorrows; kings are never
poor as we are, and never suffer as we do." Who told you so? You say if you are
kings, you would live at ease. Do not kings ever suffer? Was not David an anointed king?
and was lie not hunted like a partridge on the mountains? Did not the king himself pass
over the brook Kedron, and all his people weeping as he went, when his son Absalom pursued
him? And was he not a monarch when he slept on the cold ground, with no couch save the
damp heather? O yes, kings have their sorrowscrowned heads have their afflictions.
Full oft
"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
Do not expect that because you are a king,
you are to have no sorrows. "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to
drink wine; nor for princes strong drink." And it is often so. The saints get but
little wine here. It is not for kings to drink the wine of pleasure; it is not for kings
to have much of the intoxicating drink and the surfeits of this world's delight. They
shall have joy enough up yonder, when they shall drink it new in their Father's kingdom.
Poor saint! do dwell on this. Thou art a king! I beseech thee, let it not go away from thy
mind; but in the midst of thy tribulation, still rejoice in it. If thou hast to go through
the dark tunnel of infamy, for Christ's name; if thou art ridiculed and reviled, still
rejoice in the fact, "I am a king, and all the dominions of the earth shall be
mine!"
That last idea, and I have done with this part of the subject. Kings have dominion.
Do you know I am a fifth monarchy man? In Cromwell's time some said there had been four
monarchies, and the fifth would come and overturn every other. Well, I never wish to do as
they did; but I believe with them, that a fifth monarchy shall come. There have now
existed four great empires, arrogating universal dominion, and there never shall be
another world-wide monarchy until Christ shall come. Jesus, our Lord, is to be King of all
the earth, and rule all nations in a glorious spiritual, or personal reign. The saints, as
being kings in Christ, have a right to the whole world. Here am I this morning, and my
congregation before me. Some persons say, "Keep to your own place and preach,"
and I have heard the advice, "Do not go out of your parish." But Rowland Hill
used to say he never went out of his parish in his life; his parish was England, Scotland,
and Wales, and he never went out of it. I suppose that is my parish, and the parish of
every gospel minister. When we see a city full of sin and iniquity, what should we say?
That is ours, we will go and storm it. When we see a street or some crowded area, where
the people are very bad and wicked, we should say, "That is our alley, we will go and
take it." When we see a house where people will not receive the gospel, we should
say, "That is our house, we will go and attack it." We will not go with the
strong arm of the law; we will not ask the policeman, or government to help us; but take
with us "the weapons of our warfare." which "are not carnal, but spiritual,
and mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds." We will go, and by God's
Spirit we shall overcome. There is a town where the children are running about the street,
uneducated; we will go and take those childrenkidnap them for Christ. We will have a
Sabbath school. If they are ragged urchins who cannot come to a Sabbath school, we will
have a ragged school. There is a part of the world where the inhabitants are sunk in
ignorance and superstition: we will send a missionary to them. Ah! those who do not like
missionary enterprise, do not know the dignity of the saint. Talk of India; talk of
China.; "it is mine," saith the saint. All the kingdoms of the earth are ours.
"Africa is my washpotI will triumph over Asia. They are mine! they are
mine!" "Who shall bring me into the strong city?" Is it not thou, O Lord?
God shall give us the kingdom of Christ. The whole earth is ours; and by the power of the
Holy Ghost, Bel shall bow, Nebo shall stoop, the gods of the heathen, Budha and Brahma,
shall be cast down, and all nations bow before the sceptre of Christ. "He has made us
kings."
Our second point, upon which I shall be very brief, is, "He hath made us kings and
PRIESTS." Saints are not only kings, but priests. I shall go to it at once, without
any preface.
We are priests, because priests are divinely chosen persons, and so are we.
"No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron." But we have that calling and election; we were all ordained to it from the
foundations of the world. We were predestinated to be priests, and in process of time we
had a special effectual call, which we could not and did not resist, and which at last so
overcame us, that we became at once the priests of God. We are priests, divinely
constituted. When we say we are priests, we do not talk as certain parties do, who say
they are priests, wishing thereby to arrogate to themselves a distinction. I always have
an objectionI must state it stronglyto calling a clergyman, or any man that
preaches, a priest. We are no more so than you are. All saints are priests. But, for a man
to stand up and say he is a priest, any more than those he preaches to, is a falsehood. I
detest the distinction of clergy and laity. I like scriptural priestcraft; for that
is the craft or work of the people, who are all priests; but all other priestcraft I
abhor. Every saint of the Lord is a priest at God's altar, and is bound to worship God
with the holy incense of prayer and praise. We are priests, each one of us, if we are
called by divine grace; for thus we are priests by divine constitution.
Then, next, we are priests, because we enjoy divine honors. None but a priest might
enter within the vail; there was a court of the priests into which none might ever go,
except the called ones. Priests had certain rights and privileges which others had not.
Saint of Jesus! heir of heaven! thou hast high and honorable privileges, which the world
wots not of! Hast thou ever been within the vail in communion with Christ? Hast thou ever
been in the court of the Lord's house, the court of the priests, where he has taught thee,
and manifested himself to thee? Hast thou? Yes, thou knowest thou hast; thou enjoyest
constant access to God's throne; thou hast a right to come and tell thy griefs and sorrows
into the ear of Jehovah. The poor worldling must not come there; the poor child of wrath
has no God to tell his troubles to. He must not go within the veil; he has no wish to go:
but thou mayest; thou mayest come to God's ear, swing the censer before the throne, and
offer thy petition in the name of Jesus. Others have not these divine honors. Thou art
divinely honored, and divinely blessed.
Then another remark, to finish up with, shall be, we have a divine service to perform;
and as I want you all, this morning, to turn this chapel into one great altaras I
want to make you all working priests, and this the temple for sacrificehook
earnestly at your service. You are all priests, because you love his dear name and have a
great sacrifice to perform; not a propitiation for your sins, for that has been once
offered, but a sacrifice this day of holy thanksgiving. Oh! how sweet in God's ear is the
prayer of his people! That is the sacrifice that he accepts; and when their holy hymn
swells upwards towards the sky, how pleasant it is in his ears; because then he can say,
"My hosts of priests are sacrificing praise." And do you know, beloved, there is
one point in which most of us fail in our oblations before God? We offer our prayer, we
present our praise; but how little do we sacrifice of our substance unto the Lord! I had
thought this morning, seeing I desire to make you amazingly liberal, to have made this my
text, "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine
increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with
new wine;" and I had thought of showing that our substance was the Lord's, that we
were bound to devote no small portion of it to him, and that if we did do so we might
expect prosperity even in worldly business, for he would make our barns full and our
presses burst with new wine. However, I conceive it to be needless to preach a collection
sermonI thought I would rather tell your about your honor and dignity, and then you
shall just give what you like, for the only free-will I like, is a free-will offering.
Suffer, ye beloved, a few words. God has said in his Word that you are to honor him with
your substance. As a priest of the Lord, will you not sacrifice something to the Lord this
day? Here we have a great object before us; we want more room for the crowds who come to
hear the gospel. It seems important, when such a throng is gathered, that none should go
away. Ought we not to bless God that they come? There was a time you were few indeed, and
the cry was," Who hath believed our report?" But God has given us great success,
the ministry here has been blessed to the conversion of not a few souls; I have many
cases, now in this chapel, of broken hearts and contrite spirits; doubtless, there are
many more than I know of, and I believe the blessed Spirit will bring them out in due
time. Oh! do you not grieve that any should have to turn away from the voice of the
ministrythat any who come here should have to go away, perhaps to spend the Sabbath
in sin. You know not where they have to go, when they cannot get within these walls. The
thing is, we have come to the resolution that this chapel should be enlarged, so that
there should be accommodation for a larger number. Now, ye priests, sacrifice to the Lord.
Let the priests build the house of Lord; let those who worship in the sanctuary take up
the trowel today; let the mortar and the brick be laid, and let this house be once more
filled with the glory of the Lord, and an abundant congregation.
III. Now, I have to close up with THE WORLD'S FUTURE. "We shall reign on the
earth." I have not much time for this, and I dare say it is expected that I shall
tell you about the millennium and the personal reign of Christ. I shall not at all,
because I don't know anything about it. I have heard a great many people talk of it; and,
if anybody shows me a book on the millennium, I say, "I cannot read it just
yet." A good man has lately written a book on it, and a gentleman recommended it to
me so strongly, that I could not but buy it out of courtesy; but I elevated it to the
aristocratic region of library, in the higher ranks, and there it rests in quiet repose. I
do not think myself capable of threading the labyrinths of the subject, and I do not
believe the very respectable author can do it. It is a subject so dark, and I have read so
many different views upon it, that it is all a phantasmagoria with me. I believe all the
Bible says of a glorious future, but I cannot pretend to be a maker of charts for all
time. Only this I gather as a positive fact, that the saints will one day reign on the
earth. This truth appears to me clear enough, whatever may be the different views on the
millennium. Now, the saints do not reign visibly; they are despised. They were driven, in
old times, into dens and caves of the earth: but the time is coming when kings will be
saints, and princes the called ones of Godwhen queens shall be the nursing mothers,
and kings the nursing fathers of Christ's church. The hour is coming when the saint,
instead of being dishonored, shall be honored; and monarchs, once the foes of truth, shall
become its friends. The saints shall reign. They shall have the majority; the kingdom of
Christ shall have the upper hand; it shall not be cast downthis shall not be Satan's
world any longerit shall again sing with all its sister stars, the never ceasing
song of praise. Oh! I believe there is a day coming when Sabbath bells shall sprinkle
music over the plains of Africawhen the deep thick jungle of India shall see the
saints of God going up to the sanctuary; and, I am assured that the teeming multitudes of
China shall gather together in temples built for prayer, and, as you and I have done,
shall sing, to the ever glorious Jehovah,
"Praise God from whom all blessings
flow."
Happy day! happy day! May it speedily come!
Now, to close up, one very practical inference. Ye are kings and priests unto your God. Then how much ought kings to give to the collection this morning? Thus speak ye to yourselves. "I am a king; I will give as a king giveth unto a king." Now, mark you, no paltry subscriptions! We don't expect kings to put down their names for trifles. Then, again: you are a priest. Well, priest, do you mean to sacrifice? "Yes." But you would not sacrifice a broken-legged lamb, or a blemished bullock, would you? Would you not select the best of the flock? Very right, then select the very best of the Queen's coins, and offer, if you can, sheep with golden fleece. Excuse my pressing this subject. I want to get this chapel enlarged; so do you; we are all agreed about it; we are all rowing in one boat. I have set my mind on ?50, and I must, and will, have it to-day, if possible. I hope you won't disappoint me. It is not my own cause, but my Master'sat other times you have given liberallyI am not afraid of youbut hope to come forward, next Sabbath morning, with the cheering announcement that the ?50 is all raised, and then I think my spirits will be so elevated, that, by the help of God, I will venture to promise you one of the best sermons I am capable of delivering.
The Reformed Reader Home Page
Copyright 1999, The Reformed Reader, All Rights Reserved |