Isaiah 52

Isaiah 52:10

The Great Revival March 28th, 1858 by C. H. (1834-1892) “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."— Isaiah 52:10 . When the Heros of old prepared for the fight they put on their armour; but when God prepares for battle he makes bare his arm. Man has to look two ways—to his own defence, as well as to the offence of his enemy; God hath but one direction in which to cast his eye—the overthrow of his foeman, and he disregards all measures of defence, and scorns all armour. He makes bare his arm in the sight of all the people. When men would do their work in earnest, too, they sometimes strip themselves, like that warrior of old, who, when he went to battle with the Turks, would never fight them except with the bare arm. “Such things as they,” said he, “I need not fear; they have more reason to fear my bare arm than I their scimitar.” Men feel that they are prepared for a work when they have cast away their cumbrous garments. And so the prophet represents the Lord as laying aside for awhile the garments of his dignity, and making bare his arm, that he may do his work in earnest, and accomplish his purpose for the establishment of his church.

Now, leaving the figure, which is a very great one, I would remind you that its meaning is fully carried out, whenever God is pleased to send a great revival of religion. My heart is glad within me this day, for I am the bearer of good tidings. My soul has been made exceedingly full of happiness, by the tidings of a great revival of religion throughout the United States.

Some hundred years, or more, ago, it pleased the Lord to send one of the most marvellous religious awakenings that was ever known; the whole of the United States seemed shaken from end to end with enthusiasm for hearing the Word of God; and now, after the lapse of a century, the like has occurred again. The monetary pressure has at length departed; but it has left behind it the wreck of many mighty fortunes. Many men, who were once princes, have now become beggars, and in America. more than in England, men have learned the instability of all human things. The minds of men, thus weaned from the earth by terrible and unexpected panic, seem prepared to receive tidings from a better land, and to turn their exertions in a heavenly direction. You will be told by any one—who is conversant with the present state of America, that wherever you go there are the most remarkable signs that religion is progressing with majestic strides. The great revival, as it is now called, has become the common market talk of merchants; it is the theme of every newspaper; even the secular press remark it, for it has become so astonishing that all ranks and classes of men seem to have been affected by it.

Apparently without any cause whatever, fear has taken hold of the hearts of men; a thrill seems to be shot through every breast at once; and it is affirmed by men of good repute, that there are, at this time, towns in New England where you could not, even if you searched, find one solitary unconverted person. So marvellous—I had almost said, so miraculous—has been the sudden and instantaneous spread of religion throughout the great empire, that it is scarcely possible for us to believe the half of it, even though it should be told us.

Now, as you are aware, I have at all times been peculiarly jealous and suspicious of revivals. Whenever I see a man who is called a revivalist, I always set him down for a cipher. I would scorn the taking of such a title as that to myself. If God pleases to make use of a man for the promoting of a revival, well and good; but for any man to assume the title and office of a revivalist, and go about the country, believing that wherever he goes he is the vessel of mercy appointed to convey a revival of religion, is, I think, an assumption far too arrogant for any man who has the slightest degree of modesty. And again, there are a large number of revivals, which occur every now and then in our towns, and sometimes in our city, which I believe to be spurious and worthless. I have heard of the people crowding in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening, to hear some noted revivalist, and under his preaching some have screamed, have shrieked, have fallen down on the floor, have rolled themselves in convulsions, and afterwards, when he has set a form for penitents, employing one or two decoy ducks to run out from the rest and make a confession of sin, hundreds have come forward, impressed by that one sermon, and declared that they were, there and then, turned from the error of their ways; and it was only last week I saw a record of a certain place, in our own country, giving an account, that on such a day, under the preaching of the Rev.

Mr. So-and-so, seventeen persons were thoroughly sanctified, twenty-eight were convinced of sin, and twenty-nine received the blessing of justification.

Then comes the next day, so many more; the following day, so many more; and afterwards they are all cast up together, making a grand total of some hundreds, who have been blessed during three services, under the ministry of Mr. So-and-so. All that I call farce! There may be something very good in it; but the outside looks to me to be so rotten, that I should scarcely trust myself to think that the good within comes to any very great amount. When people go to work to calculate so exactly by arithmetic, it always strikes me they have mistaken what they are at. We may easily say that so many were added to the church on a certain occasion, but to take a separate census of the convinced, the justified, and the sanctified, is absurd. You will, therefore, be surprised at finding me speaking of revival; but you will, perhaps, not be quite so surprised when I endeavour to explain what I mean by an earnest and intense desire, which I feel in my heart, that God would be pleased to send throughout this country a revival like that which has just commenced in America, and which, we trust, will long continue there.

I should endeavour to mark, in the first place, the cause of every revival of true religion; secondly, the consequences of such revival; then, thirdly, I shall give a caution or two, that we make not mistakes in this matter, and conceive that to be God’s work which is only man’s; and then I shall conclude by making an exhortation to all my brethren in the faith of Christ, to labour and pray for a revival of religion in the midst of our churches.

I. First, then, THE CAUSE: OF A TRUE REVIVAL.

The mere worldly man does not understand a revival; he cannot make it out. Why is it, that a sudden fit of godliness, as he would call it, a kind of sacred epidemic, should seize upon a mass of people all at once? What can be the cause of it? It frequently occurs in the absence of all great evangelists; it cannot be traced to any particular means. There have been no special agencies used in order to bring it about—no machinery supplied, no societies established; and yet it has come, just like a heavenly hurricane, sweeping everything before it. It has rushed across the land, and of it men have said, “The wind bloweth, where it listeth; we hear the sound thereof, but we cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.” What is then, the cause?

Our answer is, If a revival be true and real, it is caused by the Holy Spirit, and by him alone. When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and preached that memorable sermon by which three thousand persons were converted, can we attribute the remarkable success of his ministry to anything else but the ministry of the Holy Spirit?

I read the notes of Peter’s discourse; it was certainly very simple; it was a plain narration of facts; it was certainly very bold, very cutting, and pointed, and personal, for he did not blush to tell them that they had put to death the Lord of life and glory, and were guilty of his blood; but on the mere surface of the thing, I should be apt to say that I had read many a sermon far more likely to be effective than Peter’s; and I believe there have been many preachers who have lived, whose sermons when read would have been far more notable and far more regarded, at least by the critic, than the sermon of Peter. It seems to have been exceedingly simple and suitable, and extremely earnest, but none of these things are so eminently remarkable as to be the cause of such extraordinary success. What, then, was the reason? And we reply, once more, the same word which the Holy Spirit blesses to the conversion of one, he might, if he pleased, bless to the conversion of a thousand: and I am persuaded that the meanest preacher in Christendom might come into this pulpit this morning, and preach the most simple sermon, in the most uneducated style, and the Holy Spirit, if so he willed it, might bless that sermon to the conversion of every man, woman, and child, within this place: for his arm is not shortened, his power is not straitened, and as long as he is Omnipotent, it is ours to believe that he can do whatsoever seemeth him good. Do not imagine, when you hear of a sermon being made useful, that it was the sermon itself that did the work. Conceive not, because a certain preacher may have been greatly blessed in the conversion of souls, that there is anything in the preacher. God forbid that any preacher should arrogate such a thing to himself. Any other preacher, blessed in the same manner, would be as useful, and any other sermon, provided it be truthful and earnest, might be as much blessed as that particular sermon which has become notable by reason of the multitudes who by it have been brought to Christ. The Spirit of God, when he pleaseth, blows upon the sons of men.

He finds a people hard and careless; he casts a desire into their minds—he sows it broadcast in their spirits—a thought towards the house of the Lord, and straightway, they know not why, they flock in multitudes to hear the Word preached. He casts the seed, the same seed, into the preacher’s mind, and he knows not how, but he feels more earnest than he did before. When he goes to his pulpit, he goes to it as to a solemn sacrifice, and there he preaches, believing that great things will be the effect of his ministry. The time of prayer cometh round; Christians are found meeting together in large numbers; they cannot tell what it is that influences them, but they feel they must go up to the house of the Lord to pray. There are earnest prayers lifted up; there are earnest sermons preached, and there are earnest hearers. Then God the Almighty One is pleased to, soften hard hearts, and subdue the stout-hearted, and bring them to know the truth. The only real cause is, his Spirit working in the minds of men.

But while this is the only actual cause, yet there are instrumental causes; and the main instrumental cause of a great revival must be the bold, faithful, fearless preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus. Why, brethren, we want every now and then a reformation.

One reformation will never serve the church; she need’s continually to be wound up, and set a-going afresh; for her works run down, and she does not act as she used to do. The bold, bald doctrines that Luther brought out, began to be a little modified, until layer after layer was deposited upon them, and at last the old rocky truth was covered up, and there grew upon the superficial subsoil an abundance of green and flowery errors, that looked fair and beautiful, but were in no way whatever related to the truth, except as they were the products of its decay. Then there came bold men who brought the truth out again, and said, “Clear away this rubbish; let the blast light upon these deceitful beauties; we want them not; bring out the old truth once more!” And it came out. But the tendency of the church perpetually is, to be covering up its own naked simplicity, forgetting that the truth is never so beautiful as when it stands in its own unadorned, God-given glory. And now, at this time, we want to have the old truths restored to their places. The subtleties and the refinements of the preacher must be laid aside. We must give up the grand distinctions of the school-men, and all the lettered technicalities of men who have studied theology as a system, but have not felt the power of it in their hearts; and when the good old truth is once more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal from off the altar, this shall be the instrument, in the hand of the Spirit, for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in the land.

But added to this, there must be the earnest prayers of the church. All in vain the most indefatigable ministry, unless the church waters the seed sown, with her abundant tears.

Every revival has been commenced and attended by a large amount of prayer. In the city of New York at the present moment, there is not, I believe, one single hour of the day, wherein Christians are not gathered together for prayer. One church opens its doors from five o’clock till six, for prayer; another church opens from six to seven, and summons its praying men to offer the sacrifice of supplication. Six o’clock is past, and men are gone to their labour. Another class find it then convenient—such as those, perhaps, who go to business at eight or nine-and from seven to eight there is another prayer meeting. From eight to nine there is another, in another part of the city, and what is most marvellous, at high noon, from twelve to one, in the midst of the city of New York, there is held a prayer meeting in a large room, which is crammed to the doors every day, with hundreds standing outside.

This prayer meeting is made up of merchants of the city, who can spare a quarter of an hour to go in and say a word of prayer, and then leave again; and then a fresh company come in to fill up the ranks, so that it is supposed that many hundreds assemble in that one place for prayer during the appointed hour. This is the explanation of the revival.

If this were done in London-if we for once would outvie old Rome, who kept her monks in her sanctuaries, always at prayer, both by night and by day,—if we together could keep up one golden chain of prayer, link after link of holy brotherhood being joined together in supplication, then might we expect an abundant outpouring of the Divine Spirit from the Lord our God. The Holy Spirit, as the actual agent—the Word preached, and the prayers of the people, as the instruments—and we have thus explained the cause of a true revival of religion.

II. But now what are THE OF A REVIVAL OF ? Why, the consequences are everything that our hearts could desire for the church’s good. When the revival of religion comes into a nation, the minister begins to be warmed. It is said that in America the most sleepy preachers have begun to wake up; they have warmed themselves at the general fire, and men who could not preach without notes, and could not preach with them to any purpose at all, have found it in their hearts to speak right out, and speak with all their might to the people. When there comes a revival, the minister all of a sudden finds that the usual forms and conventionalities of the pulpit are not exactly suitable to the times. He breaks through one hedge; then he finds himself in an awkward position, and he has to break through another.

He finds himself perhaps on a Sunday morning, though a Doctor of Divinity, actually telling an anecdote—lowering the dignity of the pulpit by actually using a simile or metaphor—sometimes perhaps accidentally making his people smile, and what is also a great sin in these solid theologians, now and then dropping a tear. He does not exactly know how it is, but the people catch up his words. “I must have something good for them,” he says. He just burns that old lot of sermons; or he puts them under the bed, and gets some new ones, or gets none at all, but just gets his text, and begins to cry, “Men and brethren, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” The old deacons say, “What is the matter with our minister?” The old ladies, who have heard him for many years, and slept in the front of the gallery so regularly, begin to rouse, and say, “I wonder what has happened to him; how can it be?” Why, he preaches like a man on fire. The tear runs over at his eye; his soul is full of love for souls.” They cannot make it out; they have often said he was dull and dreary and drowsy. How is it all this is changed? Why, it is the revival.

The revival has touched the minister; the sun, shining so brightly, has melted some of the snow on the mountain-top, and it is running down in fertilizing streams, to bless the valleys; and the people down below are refreshed by the ministrations of the man of God who has awakened himself up from his sleep, and finds himself, like another Elijah, made strong for forty days of labour. Well, then, directly after that the revival begins to touch the people at large.

The congregation was once numbered by the empty seats, rather than by the full ones. But on a sudden—the minister does not understand it—he finds the people coming to hear him. He never was popular, never hoped to be. All at once he wakes up and finds himself famous, so far as a large congregation can make him so. There are the people, and how they listen! They are all awake, all in earnest; they lean their heads forward, they put their hands to their ears. His voice is feeble; they try to help him; they are doing anything so that they may hear the Word of Life. And then the members of the church open their eyes and see the chapel full, and they say, “How has this come about?

We ought to pray.” A prayer-meeting is summoned. There had been five or six in the vestry: now there are five or six hundred, and they turn into the chapel. And Oh! how they pray! That old stager, who used to pray for twenty minutes, finds it now convenient to confine himself to five; and that good old man, who always used to repeat the same form of prayer when he stood up, and talked about the horse that rushed into the battle, and the oil from vessel to vessel, and all that, leaves all these things at home, and just prays, “O Lord, save sinners, for Jesus Christ’s sake.” And there are sobs and groans heard in the prayer meetings. It is evident that not one, but all, are praying; the whole mass seems moved to supplication. How is this again? Why, it Is just the effect of the revival, for when the revival truly comes, the minister and the congregation and the church will receive good by it. But it does not end here. The members of the church grow more solemn, more serious.

Family duties are better attended to; the home circle is brought under better culture. Those who could not spare time for family prayer, find they can do so now; those who had no opportunity for teaching their children, now dare not go a day without doing it; for they hear that there are children converted in the Sunday school. There are twice as many in the Sunday school now as there used to be; and, what is wonderful, the little children meet together to pray; their little hearts are touched, and many of them show signs of a work of grace begun; and fathers and mothers think they must try what they can do for their families: if God is blessing little children, why should he not bless theirs?

And then, when you see the members of the church going up to the house of God, you mark with what a steady and sober air they go. Perhaps they talk on the way, but they talk of Jesus; and if they whisper together at the gates of the sanctuary, it is no longer idle gossip; it is no remark about, “how do you like the preacher? What did you think of him? Did you notice So-and-so?” Oh, no! “I pray the Lord that he might bless the word of his servant, that he might send an unction from on high, that the dying flame may be kindled, and that where there is life, it may be promoted and strengthened, and receive fresh vigour.” This is their whole conversation.

And then comes the great result. There is an inquirers’ meeting held: the good brother who presides over it is astonished; he never saw so many coming in his life before. “Why,” says he, “there is a hundred, at least, come to confess what the Lord has done for their souls! Here are fifty come all at once to say that under such a sermon they were brought to the knowledge of the truth.

Who hath begotten me these? How hath it come about? How can it be? Is not the Lord a great God that hath wrought such a work as this?” And then the converts who are thus brought into the church, if the revival continues, are very earnest ones. You never saw such a people. The outsiders call them fanatics. It is a blessed fanaticism. Others say, they are nothing but enthusiasts.

It is a heavenly enthusiasm. Everything that is done is done with such spirit. If they sing, it is like the crashing thunder; if they pray, it is like the swift, sharp flash of lightning, lighting up the darkness of the cold hearted, and making them for a moment feel that there is something in prayer. When the minister preaches, he preaches like a Boanerges, and when the church is gathered together, it is with a hearty good will. When they give, they give with enlarged liberality; when they visit the sick, they do it with gentleness, meekness, and love. Everything is done with a single eye to God’s glory; not of men, but by the power of God. Oh! that we might see such a revival as this!

But, blessed be God, it does not end here. The revival of the church then touches the rest of society.

Men, who do not come forward and profess religion, are more punctual in attending the means of grace. Men that used to swear, give it up; they find it is not suitable for the times. Men that profaned the Sabbath, and that despised God, find it will not do; they give it all up. Times get changed; morality prevails; the lower ranks are affected. They buy a sermon where they used to buy some penny tract of nonsense. The higher orders are also touched; they too are brought to hear the word.

Her ladyship, in her carriage, who never would have thought of going to so mean a place as a conventicle, does not now care where she goes so long as she is blessed. She wants to hear the truth; and a drayman pulls his horses up by the side of her ladyship’s pair of grays, and they both go in and bend together before the throne of sovereign grace.

All classes are affected. Even the senate feels it; the statesman himself is surprised at it, and wonders what all these things mean. Even the monarch on the throne feels she has become the monarch of a people better than she knew before, and that God is doing something in her realms past all her thought—that a great King is swaying a better sceptre and exerting a better influence than even her excellent example. Nor does it even end there. Heaven is filled. One by one the converts die, and heaven gets fuller; the harps of heaven are louder, the songs of angels are inspired with new melody, for they rejoice to see the sons of men prostrate before the throne.

The universe is made glad: it is God’s own summer; it is the universal spring. The time of the singing of birds is come; the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Oh! that God might send us such a revival of religion as this!

I thank God, that we, as a people, have had great cause to thank him that we had great measure of revival of this kind, but nothing compared with what we desire. I have heard of revivals, where twenties, and thirties, and forties, and fifties, were gathered in; but, tell it to the honour of our God, there is never a month passes, but our baptismal pool is opened, and never a communion Sabbath, but we receive many into the fold of the Lord. As many as three hundred in one year have we added to the church, and still the cry is, “They come! they come!” and were but our new sanctuary built, I am persuaded, that in six months from its erection, instead of having twelve hundred members, I should be the pastor of at least two thousand. For I believe there are many of you who attend this hall in the morning, who find it quite impossible to crowd into the chapel in the evening, and are only waiting and anxious, that you may tell to me and to the brethren, what God has done for your souls. This I know, the Lord hath been very gracious to us, and to him be the honour of it. But we want more.

Our souls are greedy—covetous for God. Oh! that we might be all converted! “We long to see the churches full, That all the chosen race, May with one voice, and heart, and tongue, Sing his redeeming grace.” And we have to thank God, too, that it has not ended there; for we had last Sabbath evening, Exeter Hall full, Westminster Abbey full, and this place full too; and though we may not altogether agree in sentiment with all that preach, yet God bless them all!

So long as Christ is preached, I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice; and I would to God that every large building in London were crowded too, and that every man who preached the Word were followed by tens of thousands, who would hear the truth. May that day soon come! and there is one heart which will rejoice in such a day more than any of you—a heart that shall always beat the highest when it sees God glorified, though our own honour should decrease.

III. Now we shall have to turn to the third point, which was A CAUTION. When Christmas Evans preached in Wales, during a time of revival, he used to make the people dance; the congregation were so excited under his ministry that they positively danced. Now I do not believe that dancing was the work of the Spirit. Their being stirred in their hearts might be the Holy Spirit’s work, but the Holy Spirit does not care to make people dance under sermons; no good comes of it. Now and then among our Methodist friends there is a great break out, and we hear of a young woman in the middle of a sermon getting on the top of a form and turning round and round in ecstasy, till she falls down in a fainting fit, and they cry, “Glory be to God.” Now we do not believe that is the work of the Spirit; we believe it is ridiculous nonsense, and nothing more. In the old revivals in America a hundred years ago, commonly called “the great awakening,” there were many strange things, such as continual shrieks and screams, and knockings, and twitchings, under the services.

We cannot call that the work of the Spirit. Even the great Whitfield’s revival at Cambuslang, one of the greatest and most remarkable revivals that were ever known, was attended by some things that we cannot but regard as superstitious wonders. People were so excited, that they did not know what they did. Now, if in any revival you see any of these strange contortions of the body, always distinguish between things that differ. The Holy Spirit’s work is with the mind, not with the body in that way. It is not the will of God that such things should disgrace the proceedings. I believe that such things are the result of Satanic malice. The devil sees that there is a great deal of good doing; “Now,” says he, “I’ll spoil it all.

I’ll put my hoof in there, and do a world of mischief. There are souls being converted; I will let them get so excited that they will do ludicrous things, and then it will all be brought into contempt.” Now, if you see any of these strange things arising look out. There is that old Apollyon busy, trying to mar the work. Put such vagaries down as soon as you can, for where the Spirit works, he never works against his own precept, and his precept is, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” It is neither decent nor orderly for people to dance under the sermon, nor howl, nor scream, while the gospel is being preached to them, and therefore it is not ’the Spirit’s work at all, but mere human excitement.

And again, remember that you must always distinguish between man and men in the work of revival. While, during a revival of religion, a very large number of people will be really converted, there will be a very considerable portion who will be merely excited with animal excitement, and whose conversion will not be genuine. Always expect that, and do not be surprised if you see it. It is but a law of the mind that men should imitate one another, and it seems but reasonable, that when one person is truly converted, there should be a kind of desire to imitate it in another, who yet is not a possessor of true and sovereign grace. Be not discouraged, then, if you should meet with this in the midst of a revival.

It is no proof that it is not a true revival; it is only a proof that it is not true in that particular case.

I must say, once more, that if God should send us a great revival of religion, it will be our duty not to relax the bonds of discipline. Some churches, when they increase very largely, are apt to take people into their number by wholesale, without due and proper examination. We ought to be just as strict in the paroxysms of a revival as in the cooler times of a gradual increase, and if the Lord sends his Spirit like a hurricane, it is ours to deal with skill with the sails, lest the hurricane should wreck us by driving us upon some fell rock that may do us serious injury. Take care, ye that are officers in the church, when ye see the people stirred up, that ye exercise still a holy caution, lest the church become lowered in its standard of piety by the admission of persons not truly saved.

IV. With these words of caution, I shall now gather up my strength, and with all my might labour to stir you up to seek of God a great revival of religion throughout the length and breadth of this land.

Men, brethren and fathers, the Lord God hath sent us a blessing. One blessing is the earnest of many. Drops precede the April showers. The mercies which he has already bestowed upon us are but the forerunners and the preludes of something greater and better yet to come.

He has given us the former, let us seek of him the latter rain, that his grace may be multiplied among us, and his glory may be increased. There are some of you to whom I address myself this morning who stand in the way of any revival of religion. I would affectionately admonish you, and beseech you, not to impede the Lord’s own work. There be some of you, perhaps, here present to-day who are not consistent in your living. And yet you are professors of religion; you take the sacramental cup into your hand and drink its sacred wine, but still you live as worldlings live, and are as carnal and as covetous as they. Oh, my brother, you are a serious drawback to the church’s increase.

God will never bless an unholy people, and in proportion to our unholiness, he will withhold the blessing from us. Tell me of a church that is inconsistent, you shall tell me of a church that is unblest.

God will first sweep the house before be will come to dwell in it. He will have his church pure before he will bless it with all the blessings of his grace. Remember that, ye inconsistent ones, and turn unto God, and ask to be rendered holy. There are others of you that are so cold-hearted, that you stand in the way of all progress. You are a skid upon the wheels of the church. It cannot move for you. If we would be earnest, you put your cold band on everything that is bold and daring. You are not prudent and zealous; if you were so, we would bless God for giving you that prudence, which is a jewel for which we ought ever to thank God, if we have a prudent man among us.

But there are some of you to whom I allude, who are prudent, but you are cold. You have no earnestness, you do not labour for Christ, you do not serve him with all your strength. And there are others of you who are imprudent enough to push others on, but never go forward yourselves. O ye Laodiceans, ye that are neither hot nor cold, remember what the Lord hath said of you—“So then, because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” And so will he do with you. Take heed, take heed, you are not only hurting yourselves, but you are injuring the church. And then there are others of you who are such sticklers for order, so given to everything that has been, that you do not care for any revival, for fear we should hurt you.

You would not have the church repaired, lest we should touch one piece of the venerable moss that coats it. You would not cleanse your own garment, because there is ancient dirt upon it.

You think that because a thing is ancient, therefore it must be venerable. You are lovers of the antique. You would not have a road mended, because your grandfather drove his waggon along the rut that is there. “Let it always be there,” you say; “Let it always be knee-deep.” Did not your grandfather go through it when it was knee deep with mud, and why should not you do the same? It was good enough for him, and it is good enough for you. You always have taken an easy seat in the chapel. You never saw a revival; you do not want to see it. You believe it is all nonsense, and that it is not to be desired. You look back; you find no precedent for it.

Doctor So-and-so did not talk about it. Your venerable minister who is dead did not talk so, you say; therefore it is not needed. We need not tell you it is scriptural; that you do not care for. It is not orderly, you say. We need not tell you the thing is right; you care more about the thing being ancient than being good. Ah, you will have to get out of the way now, it isn’t any good; you may try to stop us, but we will run over you if you do not get out of the way. With a little warning we shall have to run over your prejudices and incur your anger. But your prejudices must not, cannot, restrain us.

The chain may be never so rusty with age, and ever so stamped with authority, the prisoner is always happy to break it, and however your fetters may shackle us, we will dash them in pieces if they stand in the way of the progress of the kingdom of Christ.

Having thus spoken to those who hinder, I want to speak to you who love Jesus with all your hearts, and want to promote it. Dear friends, I beseech you remember that men are dying around you by thousands. Will you let your eye follow them into the world of shades? Myriads of them die without God, without Christ, without hope. My brother, does not their fearful fate awake your sympathy. You believe, from Scriptural warrant, that those who die without faith go to that place where “their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched.” Believing this, is not your soul stirred within you in pity for their fate? Look around you to-day. You see a vast host gathered together, professedly for the service of God.

You know also how many there are here who fear him not, but are strangers to themselves and strangers to the cross. What! Do you know yourself what a solemn thing it is to be under the curse, and will you not pray and labour for those around you that are under the curse to-day? Remember your Master’s cross. He died for sinners; will not you weep for them? “Did Christ o’er sinners weep; And shall your cheek be dry?” Did he give his whole life for them, and will not you stir up your life to wrestle with God, that his purposes may be accomplished on their behalf? You have unconverted children—do you not want them saved? You have brothers, husbands, wives, fathers, that are this day in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity; do you not want a revival, even if it were only for their sakes? Behold, how much of robbery, of murder, of crime, stains this poor land.

Do you not want a revival of religion, if it were merely for quenching the flames of crime? See how God’s name every day is blasphemed. Mark how, this day, trades are carried on, as if it were man’s day, and not God’s. Mark how multitudes are going the downward course, merry on their way to destruction. Do you not feel for them? Are your hearts hard and stolid? Has your soul become steeled? Has it become frozen like an iceberg?

O sun of righteousness arise, and melt the icy heart, and make us all feel how fearful it is for immortal souls to perish; for men to be hurried into eternity without God, and without hope. Oh, will you not now, from this time forth, begin to pray that God may send forth his Word and save them, that his own name may be glorified?

As for you that fear not God, see how much ado we are making about you. Your souls are worth more than you think for. O that ye would believe in Christ, to the salvation of your souls!

Isaiah 52:12-13

© Copyright 2006 by Tony Capoccia. This updated file may be freely copied, printed out, and distributed as long as copyright and source statements remain intact, and that it is not sold. All rights reserved. Verses quoted, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW VERSION, ©1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. This sermon, preached by Tony Capoccia, is now available on Audio CD and MP3: www.gospelgems.com Needless Fears

June 11, 1874 By

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

“Who are you that…live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?” [ Isaiah 52:12-13 ] Things often influence us out of proportion to their value because of their closeness. For instance, the moon is a very small insignificant body compared with the sun, yet it has far more influence over the tides and many other matters in the world than the sun has, simply because it is so much closer to the earth than the sun is. The life that is to come is infinitely more important than the life that now is, and I hope that, in our innermost hearts, we consider that the things that are seen and temporal are mere trifles compared with the things which are not seen and eternal; yet it often happens that the less important matters have a greater influence over us than those which are far more important, simply because the things of earth are so much closer to us. Heaven is infinitely more to be desired than any joy on earth, yet it seems so far off, and therefore these fleeting joys here may give us greater present comfort. The wrath of God is far more to be dreaded than the anger of man, yet sometimes a frown or a rebuke from a fellow creature will have more effect upon our minds than the thought of the anger of God.

This is because the one appears to be remote, while, being in this body of flesh, we are so near to the other. Now, beloved, it will sometimes happen that a matter, which is scarcely worthy of the thought of an immortal spirit, will trouble and worry us from day to day. There is some oppressor, as the text puts it, whom we dread and continually fear, yet we forget the almighty God, who is on our side, who is stronger than all the oppressors who have ever lived, and who has all people and all things under his control. The reason why we act this way is because we think of God as if he were far off, while we can see the oppressor with our eyes, and we can hear with our ears his threatening words. I want, this morning, to be the means in the hands of God of turning the thoughts of his people away from the distress of the present to the joy and comfort which, though more remote, ought still to be more powerful over the mind and heart because of the real inherent greatness. I. And, first, I want to speak upon this point – that MANY FEARS, WHICH ARE BY MEN AND WOMEN, ARE REALLY . Our text says, “You live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction, but where is the wrath of the oppressor?” The probable meaning of this verse is that the oppressor never came, so those living in fear never did feel the force of his fury; and, in like manner, many of God’s people are constantly under apprehensions of calamities which will never occur to them, and they suffer far more in merely dreading them than they would have to endure if they actually came upon them. In their imagination, there are rivers in their way, and they are anxious to know how they shall wade through them, or swim across them. There are no such rivers in existence, but they are agitated and distressed about them. An old proverb says, “Don’t cross the bridge till you come to it;” but these timid people are continually crossing bridges that only exist in their foolish fancies.

They stab themselves with imaginary daggers, they starve themselves in imaginary famines, and even bury themselves in imaginary graves. We are such strange creatures that we probably suffer more under blows which never fall upon us than we do under those which do actually come. The rod of God does not strike us as sharply as the rod of our own imagination does; our groundless fears are our chief tormentors, and when we are able to abolish our self-inflictions, all the worries of the world become light and easy. However, it is a pity that Christians who have the gift of faith in Christ given to them, should fall into so guilty and at the same time so painful a habit as this of fearing the oppressor who does not come, and who never will come. Some people are very troubled by the fear of man. That is exactly the case mentioned in our text: “the wrath of the oppressor.” He was a very oppressive man, hard, unfeeling, proud, strong, exacting, and they were afraid of him. In addition to this, he must have been a person of impulsive temper, one with whom you could not reason, and so passionate that they were not merely afraid of the oppressor, but of “the wrath of the oppressor.” He is the kind of person whom you don’t know how to meet, or how to escape from him. If you run away from him, he will pursue you in his wrath. If you remain quiet, your patience will not make him quiet; and if you resist him, his wrath will be so much the greater. That appears to have been the character of the oppressor feared by those with whom the Lord was reasoning with at the time; and we have known believers who have been afraid of what a certain powerful person might do if they acted as their conscience told them they ought to act.

He would evict them from their property, or they could lose their jobs as a result of this person’s influence. Perhaps the fearful one is some young person who has a relative who hates religion, and what this powerful relative may do they cannot imagine; or the oppressor is an arbitrary employer, and if his employees don’t obey his orders exactly, even though those orders happen to be wrong, they will lose their jobs. They may be out of work for months, and they and their children may then go without food. They imagine a long series of trials and troubles that will come upon them because of “the wrath of the oppressor.” Now, sometimes, there is a reason for this kind of fear, for men sometimes act in a very intimidating manner to others, and the very persons who talk most about being liberal in their views are generally the greatest persecutors. If I must have a religious enemy, let me have a professed and avowed bigot, but not one of the “free thinkers” or “liberal theologians” as they are called, for there is nobody who can hate like they can; and these lovers of liberal-mindedness who have no creed at all, think it is their special duty to be particularly contemptuous to those who have some degree of principle. There is no doubt that there are still trials of cruel mockings to be borne by those who are true to Christ. “The cold shoulder” is given in society; in other company, harsh words are used, and coarse jokes are made. Christians must expect to bear the opposition of men and women. It has always been this way, and it always will be. If you turn from the ways of the world, and basically accuse the world of being wrong, the world will resent it. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” [ John 15:19 ] But, in the end, isn’t there a great deal more attention given to this matter than there should be, for “where is the wrath of the oppressor?” I have known young Christians afraid of someone, and thus are afraid to share the convicting truths of the Scriptures, and when they finally built up enough courage to do so, they have been surprised that the person they expected to oppose them has been quite favorable to them. A wife has been afraid to mention to her husband that she desires to unite with the local church, but when he hears of it, he thinks that he too will go and hear the minister. I remember a man and his wife who came to join our church. They were each afraid to tell the other of what they had planned to do, and when they met each other on the night that they were present with other new member candidates, they were greatly surprised to find that, instead of having any reason to be afraid of one another, they had the utmost cause to rejoice in one another. They said that it was like a new marriage to them when each found the other to be in Christ Jesus, yet each of them had thought the other to be so strongly opposed to Christianity that they had dared not to mention their conversion until thus they made their mutual discovery. Perhaps, dear friend, you have no more need to be afraid than they had. Go on, and the giant that stands in your way may turn out to be only a shadow, or if he really is a giant, God will help you to fight against him, and make you more than a conqueror. Some have a fear of another kind—not of any opposition to themselves, but they are afraid for the Church and the truth it teaches being utterly destroyed by the opposition of wicked men and women. Haven’t you many times noticed a kind of panic going through the churches because of some supposed discovery in science, or some new doctrinal error that has appeared?

One Christian meets another, and begins trembling as he talks about what was going to happen. He said, “Oh, the old days were so much better than these, and here is a new danger, how are we going to fight against it? It was anxiously asked, a few years ago, “How are we to meet these new discoveries of geology?” Yet we hardly ever hear about them now; or, if we do, we don’t trouble ourselves about them. At that time, a Dr. Colenso had made certain calculations which were very terrifying to timid folk, and Huxley tried to prove that we had descended or ascended from monkeys; but who cares about their theories now? Yet I have met with nervous people who greatly feared the wrath of this tyrant, Science, which was to utterly destroy us; but has had no effect whatever against the truth. Today, as you are well aware, it is the belief of a great many people that, owing to the spread of Ritualism in the Church, that the candle that Latimer lit will be blown out, and we shall all be in the dark, or at least shall have nothing better than the ceremonial candles of the Roman Catholic Church to light us. I constantly receive articles that prophesy the most terrible times; according to them, some of us will no doubt be burned alive at the stake. Well, I know that the devil can blow very hard, but I don’t believe that he can blow out the candle that God lights; much less can he blow out the bright sunshine of the gospel which has burned on now for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Blow, devil, blow as hard as you can, but you will never be able to blow out this light, for it will still shine on to the end of time. You may blow in a cloud or two which partially obscures the light, but the light itself will be as bright as ever. It may be that, in the place where you live, there has arisen a new doctrinal error. Somebody has discovered that men are nothing but a species of large apes, and that only those who believe in Christ are immortal, all the rest will die out eventually; annihilation is to be their doom. Many are dreadfully frightened by that doctrine, but I believe it is too contemptible a doctrine to alarm anybody who studies the Scriptures. It is a very pretty toy, and many will play with it, but after a certain time, there will come another pretty toy, and they will play with that; and so it will be till Christ himself comes, and breaks up all the toys, and brings his Church back to the grand old truth which will stand firm in spite of all the assaults of men or demons. But you and I needn’t fear, beloved, because of any of these things; what is there, after all, to cause us to worry or tremble for the church of the Living God? Just nothing at all. Never let any member of this church start whining in this way, and saying that the gospel will die out.

The heavens and the earth will pass away, but the Word of the Lord shall endure forever; that which the Lord has declared in his blessed Book shall stand firm throughout all eternity. Another fear which sometimes comes over truly godly people is that, perhaps, in time, they will lose their salvation, and perish forever. There may come a temptation which will find the Christian’s weak point, and conquer them. Their ship through life has sailed well up till now, though not without a few rough seas and storms; but, perhaps, it will strike a rock, and be utterly broken into pieces. They know how weak and frail they are, and how many temptations surround them; how treacherous and cunning the devil is; how compelling the world is with its many enticements. King David feared that he would perish one day by the hand of Saul, and these fearful souls, as they pass into some new phase of life, or encounters some new trial, are terrified, for fear that the day may come when grace would not be sufficient for their needs, and they would come to a wretched end. I know this fear; who among us has not felt it? Who among us can honestly examine his own heart, and not feel it?

Yet, dear friends, there is really nothing in it to trouble the true child of God. If our Christianity is a religion of our own making, it will perish; and the sooner is goes, the better; but if our religion is truly from God, we know that he never takes back what he gives, and that, if he has begun his good work in us by his grace, he will never leave it unfinished.

If the covenant God made with us was based upon works, it would fail; if it depended upon us, it would surely fail but if it is the “everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part” [ 2 Samuel 23:5 ], then it can never fail. If the promise, is the promise of God, who cannot lie, then he will surely keep his promise to the very end. Therefore, we ought not to be burdened with this anxiety, but simply go on in our daily walk being watchful with humble dependence upon the preserving power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall find that we shall get safely into heaven in the end. We have known some, too, who have been afflicted with a fear of poverty coming upon them as a result of a loss of income. One says, “The giant of poverty will surely seize me! I don’t have enough money put away to furnish me with a adequate living.” I have known some people who even dread not having enough money for their own funeral; as if that would be a concern of theirs at that time. The living will surely take care to bury the dead. I have known others who say, “If I were to lose my job; if such-and-such a thing were to happen; if so-and-so were to die, what would I do?” Ah! and if we fret over all the “if’s” that we can imagine, we shall certainly never be without apprehension; but where is your dependence, Christian, for this world? Have you placed it upon man? Then I don’t wonder that you are full of fear, but why don’t you simply trust your body where you trusted your soul?

If you have trusted Jesus to be the Savior of your immortal spirit, can’t you also trust him to be the Provider for this poor flesh which eventually perishes? God feeds the ravens; won’t he feed you? Up till this very moment, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe has never failed, for the billions of living creatures have received from his hand all they have required; then is he likely to forget you? He has never done so yet; your food has been given to you, your water has been sure, why should he change his practice, and let his own dear child to starve. “Oh, but!” say you, “the brook that Elijah depended on for water dried up.” Yes, but when the brook dried up, God sent his servant Elijah to Zarephath, where there was a widow who would provide food and water for him. When one door shuts, another opens; and if one well goes dry, the water bubbles up somewhere else. The means may change, but the God of the means does not change. He will supply your needs. Live wherever he places you, do your duty, obey his will, and he will not fail you, but bring you safely to the place where you will never fear again. Another fear is the fear of death. Some even among God’s people try hard not to think of dying. It is a dreary requirement with them that they must die, and they needlessly fret and trouble themselves about it; but, beloved, if we had perfect peace with God, we would not fear dying.

I have known some who have thought that they would rather be taken to heaven like Elijah was, in a chariot of fire being pulled by horses of fire, but I wouldn’t. If I were out walking tomorrow evening, and I saw horses of fire and chariots of fire standing ready to take me up, I would feel a great deal more fearful about getting into a fiery chariot than about going home to my bed and lying down to die. If my Lord and Master shall choose to let me live till he comes, and so prevent my death, his will be done, but the Holy Spirit says, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” [ Revelation 14:13 ], so let us be content with that blessedness. But there is a fear of death in some Christians’ minds, and they cannot always shake it off; yet, beloved, there is nothing in it. If you are in Christ, you will never know anything about dying. I don’t believe that Christians feel anything in death. If there are pains, as there often are, they are not the pains of dying, but of living. Death ends all their pains. They shut their eyes on earth, and open them in heaven.

They have shaken off the burdensome clay of this mortal body, and found themselves disembodied, in a instant, before the throne of the Most High, there to wait till the trumpet of the resurrection shall sound, and they shall put on their bodies once again, transformed and glorified like the body of their Lord. Get rid of that fear of death, beloved, for it is not becoming in a Christian. The believer’s heart should be so focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, that they should leave themselves in their Heavenly Father’s hands to live or die, or to wait till the Lord comes, whatever is the will of the Lord. II. My second observation is this. THERE ARE SOME FEARS WHICH WOULD DIE IF WE DARED TO THEM. Did you notice that our text is a question? “Who are you that…live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?” My dear friends, did you ever question your fears? I mean you, Miss Despondency over there, and you, Mr. Much-afraid.

Did you ever question your fear? If not, question it right now, put it through interrogation. Suppose it is the Church of our Living God that is afraid of the oppressor, let the Church ask, Where is the oppressor of which she needs to be afraid? Is it a doctrinal error? Well, the Church was once overrun with Arianism that denied that Jesus was truly God, and it did seem as if the heretics had killed the doctrine of the Deity of Christ; but the Lord was pleased to raise up his valiant servant Athanasius, and very soon Arianism was defeated. The Church of our Precious Christ scarcely remembers or understands the scars of all the conflicts through which she has passed. Those which threatened to destroy her have never really injured her, rather she has come out of the furnace all the more pure. As for persecution, has it not been commonly proved that the more the saints have been persecuted the more they have prospered, and that the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the Church? Suppose there should again come days when Christians will be martyred, suppose there should again come days of heresy; well, the Church has had such days before, yet she has survived them. The grand old ship has been in many hurricanes and storms before now, yet she still sails steady and true to her final destination.

Therefore, why should she be afraid now? Ask the question again, “Where is the wrath of the oppressor?” And the answer comes, it is under the control of God. Even Satan, your fiercest foe, was created by God; God rules over him, God does with him just as he pleases. Then as to that poverty of which you are afraid, it will not come unless God permits it; and if it does come, the Lord can alleviate it. You are afraid you will lose a very dear child; but you will not lose her unless the Lord takes her. You are fretting because you fear that a special friend of yours will soon be taken away; but he cannot be taken away till the Lord takes him. What are you afraid of? Is it your own death? Learn to sing good old John Ryland’s hymn, — “Plagues and deaths around me fly, Till he commands I cannot die; Not a single arrow can hit Till the God of love sees fit.” Again, the Lord asks us, “Where is the wrath of the oppressor?” Some man oppresses you; well, he shall die, perhaps soon.

The trouble that now upsets you will soon be gone in the twinkling of an eye. If not soon so far as this life is concerned, yet, when you get to heaven (and that will not be long), how short a time will your trial seem to have lasted! “Our light and momentary troubles,” says the apostle, “are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” [ 2 Corinthians 4:17 ]. You fret about your trouble, and continually worry yourself about it, but our text seems to ask you, “Where is it?” It is a meteor that flashes across the sky, and is gone. Ask your troubles such questions as these, and they will soon vanish. I will ask you a few more questions. You have fears with regard to a great trouble that threatens you. Well, will it separate you from the love of Christ? If you cannot answer that question, let Paul answer it for you: “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” [ Romans 8:38-39 ]. You say that your enemies slander you; but will Christ believe them? They are trying to destroy your good name and reputation; but will your Lord think any less of you?

Will HE be deceived by their lies? You say that friends are forsaking you; but will they take Jesus away, and make him forsake you? You say that your enemies are doing all that they can to destroy you, but can they destroy the divine promises? The Lord has promised to give his sheep eternal life; can they take that promise from you, or make it of no value? They may fight against you, but can they keep you out of heaven? They may threaten you, but can they make the covenant of grace to be of no effect? Since eternal things are safe, we can be content to let other things come or go just as God wills. Again, can anyone do anything to you which God does not permit? And if God permits it, can any real harm come to you? God’s Word says, “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?” [ 1 Peter 3:13 ]. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” [ Romans 8:28 ]. Then how can anything work against you if you are really the Lord’s? Can anyone curse those whom God blesses? Are you like those foolish persons who are afraid of a witch’s curse, or of some spell that the wicked may cast over you?

Even Balaam said, “There is no sorcery that can succeed against Jacob, no divination that can affect Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel” [ Numbers 23:23 ]. Balak might summon Balaam to his aid, and the two together might stand and look on Israel, and wish to curse them, but they cannot curse those whom God has blessed. If all the demons in hell could fill your house, and seek to injure you, there is no need for you to fear or tremble more than Martin Luther did when his friends were afraid for him to go and be examined by the Roman Catholic leaders who were trying to get him to recant, but Luther said to his friends, “If there were as many devils there as there are tiles on the roofs of the houses, I would face them all in the name of God.” And you may say the same. If all the armies of the earth came against you, and all the demons in hell, had come up to join with the world against you, you could still say, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge;” and charge them in the name of the Most High, and cause all of them to flee in defeat, because the One who is in you is greater than the ones who are against you [ 1 John 4:4 ]. III. Now, lastly, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if these fears are groundless, and if a few questions will remove them, I appeal to you who are fearful to CRY OUT TO GOD TO DELIVER YOU FROM THIS STATE OF BONDAGE. If there is no basis for your fears, what is the use of tormenting yourself for no reason at all, and if God is indeed with you, don’t you dishonor him by your apprehensions and your fears? What would you think of a little child, in its mother’s arms, who was always afraid that it was not safe there? Would it not look as if there was a complete lack of the child’s loving confidence in its mother? God is able to keep that which you have committed to him; so, if you don’t trust him, you really dishonor him. The commander of an army, who would see his soldiers turning pale with fear and trembling as they marched to the conflict, would say to himself, “These soldiers of mine are no credit to their leader;” and will you, who have a Captain who is so completely able to protect you, show your complete lack of courage because of fear?

Shall a cowardly spirit be permitted in the service of our Holy God? Shall the Captain of our salvation have to lead a fearful army to the fight with the powers of darkness? I have sometimes thought, when I have heard about the fears of God’s people concerning the times in which we live, and what is going to become of them; surely they did not know that the King is in our midst, that the Lord is as a wall of fire all around us, and his glory is in our midst; for if they only knew that he is our Protector and Defender, they could not be so fearful as they are. Besides, in addition, you who are of an anxious spirit, often grieve other Christians. There are others who are like you, and they become even more fearful by coming into contact with you. Your anxiety is catching, like a disease. Every now and then, I meet with Christians who like to hear sermons that make them miserable. I had a letter from one, some time ago, who said that, as soon as he came here, and saw how cheerful the people looked, he felt certain that he was not among the suffering people of God, so he went away, and turned into a little chapel where there were only fifteen or sixteen people, and he heard a good sermon about the corruption of the heart, and there he felt at home. For my part, I like such texts as these, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.” We have plenty of troubles and trials, and if we like to fret over them, we can always do that; but, then, we have far more joys than troubles, so our songs should exceed our sighs. We have a good God, who has promised that, as our days, so shall our strength be. “Why should the children of a King Go mourning all their days?” “Ah!” says one, “but this is a wailing wilderness.” Yes, if you wail in it, it will wail back in response; but if you sing in it, it will sing back to you.

Remember the ancient promise, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus” [ Isaiah 35:1 ]. “Then let our songs abound, And every tear be dry: We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground To fairer worlds on high.” And lastly, don’t you think that a dull, heavy, murmuring spirit is a great hindrance to the unconverted? If they find you in this state, they will say, “This person’s religion does not appear to do him much good.” Worldly people often say that Christians are the most miserable people in the world. I think that is a great mistake on their part, and that they don’t really know us; for if they knew some of us, they would find that we have cheerful spirits in spite of a good deal that might depress us. Don’t any of you Christians cause the world say that Christ is a hard master. I would not like to ride a horse that was all skin and bones, for people would say that it was because his master didn’t take care of him and give him food to eat. I would not like to have, in my house, a servant who was always wringing her hands, and whose eyes were usually full of tears. Visitors would say, “Her mistress is a wretched woman, you may be sure of that;” and if professing Christians are always seen to be in a wretched, unhappy state, people are sure to say, “Ah, they serve a hard master! The ways of Christ are ways of unpleasantness, and all his paths are misery and wretchedness.” Sinner, that is not true; but it is true that “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart” [ Psalms 97:11 ], and we earnestly wish that you would come and prove the truth of it for yourself.

Believing in Jesus, you would have a perfect peace, and a bliss that nothing can destroy; you would have a little heaven below, and a great heaven above. You would be able to take your troubles to your God, and leave them there; and you would march along with songs of rejoicing till you come to that blessed place where there are pleasures for evermore.