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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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<h4 style="text-align: center">
A Sermon<br>
(No. 229)<br>
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 19th, 1858, by the<br>
REV. C.H. SPURGEON<br>
At the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.<br>
</h4>
<p class="scripture">
"We love him, because he first loved us."— <a name=
"268"></a><a onClick="return mV('1Jo', 4, 19);">1Jo 4:19</a>
</p>
<p class="indent">
DURING the last two Sabbath days I have been preaching the
gospel to the unconverted. I have earnestly exhorted the very
chief of sinners to look to Jesus Christ, and have assured them
that as a preparation for coming to Christ, they need no good
works, or good dispositions, but that they may come, just as
they are, to the foot of the cross, and receive the pardoning
blood and all-sufficient merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
thought has since occurred to me, that some who were ignorant
of the gospel might, perhaps, put this query:—Is this
likely to promote morality? If the gospel be a proclamation of
pardon to the very chief of sinners, will not this be a license
to sin? In what respects can the gospel be said to be a gospel
according to holiness? How will such preaching operate? Will it
make men better? Will they be more attentive to the laws which
relate to man and man? Will they be more obedient to the
statutes which relate to man and God? I thought, therefore,
that we would advance a step further, and endeavour to show,
this morning, how the proclamation of the gospel of God, though
in the commencement it addresses itself to men who are utterly
destitute of any good, is, nevertheless, designed to lead these
very men to the noblest heights of virtue, yea, to ultimate
perfection in holiness. The text tells us, that the effect of
the gospel received in the heart is, that it compels and
constrains such a heart to love God. "We love him, because he
first loved us." When the gospel comes to us it does not find
us loving God, it does not expect anything of us, but coming
with the divine application of the Holy Ghost, it simply
assures us that God loves us, be we never so deeply immersed in
sin; and then, the after effect of this proclamation of love
is, that "we love him because he first loved us."
</p>
<p class="indent">
Can you imagine a being placed halfway between this world and
heaven? Can you conceive of him as having such enlarged
capacities that he could easily discern what was done in
heaven, and what was done on earth? I can conceive that, before
the Fall, if there had been such a being, he would have been
struck with the singular harmony which existed between God's
great world, called heaven, and the little world, the earth.
Whenever the chimes of heaven rang, the great note of those
massive bells was <i>love</i>; and when the little bells of
earth were sounded, the harmonies of this narrow sphere, rang
out their note, it was just the same—<i>love</i>. When the
bright spirits gathered around the great throne of God in
heaven to magnify the Lord, at the same time, there was to be
seen the world, clad in its priestly garments, offering its
sacrifice of purest praise. When the cherubim and seraphim did
continually cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of armies," there
was heard a note, feebler, perhaps, but yet as sweetly musical,
coming up from paradise, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
armies." There was no jar, no discord; the thunder peals of
heaven's melodies were exactly in accord with the whispers of
earth's harmonies. There was "glory to God in the highest," and
on earth there was glory too; the heart of man was as the heart
of God; God loved man, and man loved God. But imagine that same
great Spirit to be still standing between the heavens and the
earth, how sad must he be, when he hears the jarring discard,
and feels it grate upon the ear! The Lord saith, "I am
reconciled to thee, I have put away thy sin;" but what is the
answer of this earth? The answer of the world is, "Man is at
enmity with God: God may be reconciled, but man is not. The
mass of men are still enemies to God by wicked works." When the
angels praise God, if they list to the sounds that are to be
heard on earth, they hear the trump of cruel war; they hear the
bacchanalian shout and the song of the lascivious, and what a
discord is this in the great harmony of the spheres? The fact
is this,—the world was originally one great string in the
harp of the universe, and when the Almighty swept that harp
with his gracious fingers there was nothing to be heard but
praise; now that string is snapped, and where it has been reset
by grace, still it is not wholly restored to its perfect tune,
and the note that cometh from it hath but little of sweetness,
and very much of discord. But, 0 bright Spirit, retain thy
place, and live on. The day is hastening with glowing wheels,
and the axle thereof is hot with speed. The day is coming, when
this world shall be a paradise again. Jesus Christ, who came
the first time to bleed and suffer, that he might wash the
world from its iniquity, is coming a second time to reign and
conquer, that he may clothe the earth with glory; and the day
shall arrive, when thou, O Spirit, shall hear again the
everlasting harmony. Once more the bells of earth shall be
attuned to the melodies of heaven; once more shall the eternal
chorus find that no singer is absent, but that the music is
complete.
</p>
<p class="indent">
But how is this to be? How is the world to be brought back? How
is it to be restored? We answer, the reason why there was this
original harmony between earth and heaven was, because there
was <i>love</i> between them twain, and our great reason for
hoping that there shall be at last re-established an
undiscordant harmony between heaven and earth is simply this,
that God hath already manifested his love towards us, and that
in return, hearts touched by his grace do even now love him;
and when they shall be multiplied, and love re-established,
then shall the harmony be complete.
</p>
<p class="indent">
Having thus introduced my text, I must now plunge into it. We
shall notice the <i>parentage</i>, the <i>nourishment</i>, and
the <i>walk of love</i>; and shall exhort all believers here
present, to love God, because he hath first loved them.
</p>
<p class="indent">
1. In the first place, THE PARENTAGE OF TRUE LOVE TO
GOD. There is no light in the planet but that which
cometh from the sun; there is no light in the moon but that
which is borrowed, and there is no true love in the heart but
that which cometh from God. Love is the light, the life, and
way of the universe. Now, God is both life, and light, and way,
and, to crown all, <i>God is love</i>. From this overflowing
fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must
spring. This must ever be a great and certain truth, that we
love him, for no other reason than because he first loved us.
There are some that think that God might be loved by simple
contemplation of his works. We do not believe it. We have heard
a great deal about admiring philosophers, and we have felt that
admiration was more than possible when studying the works of
God. We have heard a great deal about wondering discoverers,
and we have acknowledged that the mind must be base indeed
which does not wonder when it looks upon the works of God; and
we have sometimes heard about a love to God which has been
engendered by the beauties of scenery, but we have never
believed in its existence. We do believe that where love is
already born in the heart of man, all the wonders of God's
providence and creation may excite that love again, it being
there already; but we do not and we cannot believe, because we
never saw such an instance, that the mere contemplation of
God's works could ever raise any man to the height of love. In
fact, the great problem has been tried, and it has been solved
in the negative. What saith the poet,
</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
"What though the spicy breezes blow soft o'er Java's isle;<br>
Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile."
</p>
<p>
Where God is most resplendent in his works, and most lavish in
his gifts, there man has been the vilest and God is the most
forgotten.
</p>
<p class="indent">
Others have taught, if not exactly in doctrine, yet their
doctrine necessarily leads to it, that human nature may of
itself attain unto love to God. Our simple reply is, we have
never met with such an instance. We have curiously questioned
the people of God, and we believe that others have questioned
them in every age, but we have never had but one answer to this
question, "Why hast thou loved God?" The only answer has been,
"Because he first loved me." I have heard men preach about
free-will, but I never yet heard of a Christian who exalted
free-will in his own experience. I have heard men say, that men
of their own free-will may turn to God, believe, repent, and
love, but I have heard the same persons, when talking of their
own experience, say, that they did not so turn to God, but that
Jesus sought them when they were strangers, wandering from the
fold of God. The whole matter may look specious enough, when
preached, but when felt it is found to be a phantom. It may
<i>seem</i> right enough for a man to tell his fellow that his
own free-will may save him; but when he comes to close dealing
with his own conscience, he himself, however wild in his
doctrine, is compelled to say, "Oh! yes, I do love Jesus,
because he first loved me." I have wondered at a Wesleyan
brother, who has sometimes railed against this doctrine in the
pulpit, and then has given out this very hymn, and all the
members of the church have joined in singing it most heartily,
while at the same time they were tolling the death-knell of
their own peculiar tenets; for if that hymn be true Arminianism
must be false. If it be the certain fact, that the only reason
for our loving God is that his love has been shed abroad in our
hearts, then it cannot be true anyhow, that man ever did or
ever will love God, until first of all God has manifested his
love towards him.
</p>
<p class="indent">
But without disputing any longer, do we not all admit that our
love to God is the sweet offspring of God's love to us? Ah!
beloved, cold admiration every man may have; but the warmth of
love can only be kindled by the fires of God's Spirit. Let each
Christian speak for himself, we shall all hold this great and
cardinal truth, that the reason of our love to God is, the
sweet influence of his grace. Sometimes I wonder that such as
we should have been brought to love God at all. Is our love so
precious that God should court our love, dressed in the crimson
robes of a dying Redeemer? If we had loved God, it would have
been no more than he deserved. But when we rebelled, and yet he
sought our love, it was surprising indeed. It was a wonder when
he disrobed himself of all his splendours, and came down and
wrapt himself in a mantle of clay; but methinks the wonder is
excelled yet, for after he had died for us, still we did not
love him; we rebelled against him; we rejected the proclamation
of the gospel; we resisted his Spirit; but he said, I
<i>will</i> have their hearts; and he followed us day after
day, hour after hour. Sometimes he laid us low, and he said,
"Surely they will love me if I restore them!" At another time
he filled us with corn and with wine, and he said "Surely they
will love me now," but we still revolted, still rebelled. At
last he said, "I will strive no longer, I am Almighty, and I
will not have it that a human heart is stronger than I am. I
turn the will of man as the rivers of water are turned," and
lo! he put forth his strength, and in an instant the current
changed, and we loved him, because we then could see the love
of God, in that he sent his Son to be our Redeemer. But we must
confess, beloved, going back to the truth with which we
started, that never should we have had any love towards God,
unless that love had been sown in us by the sweet seed of his
love to us. If there be any one here that hath a love to
Christ, let him differ from this doctrine here, but let him
know that he shall not differ hereafter; for in heaven they all
sing, praise to free grace. They all sing, "Salvation to our
God and to the Lamb."
</p>
<p class="indent">
II. Love, then, has for its parent the love of God shed abroad
in our hearts. But after it is divinely born in our heart it
must be divinely NOURISHED. Love is an exotic;
it is not a plant that will nourish naturally in human soil.
Love to God is a rich and rare thing; it would die if it were
left to be frost-bitten by the chilly blasts of our
selfishness, and if it received no nourishment but that which
can be drawn from the rock of our own hard hearts it must
perish. As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly
bread. It cannot exist in this wilderness, unless it is
nurtured from above, and fed by manna from on high. On what,
then, does love feed? Why, it feeds on <i>love</i>. That which
brought it forth becomes its food. "We love him because he
first loved us." The constant motive and sustaining power of
our love to God is his love to us. And here let me remark that
there are different kinds of food, in this great granary of
love. When we are first of all renewed, the only food on which
we can live is milk, because we are but babes, and as yet have
not strength to feed on higher truths.
</p>
<p class="indent">
The first thing, then, that our love feeds upon, when it is but
an infant, is a sense of favours received. Ask a young
Christian why he loves Christ, and he will tell you, I love
Christ because he has bought me with his blood! Why do you love
God the Father? I love God the Father because he gave his Son
for me. And why do you love God the Spirit? I love him because
he has renewed my heart. That is to say we love God for what he
has given to us. Our first love feeds just on the simple food
of a grateful recollection of mercies received. And mark,
however much we grow in grace this will always constitute a
great part of the food of our love.
</p>
<p class="indent">
But when the Christian grows older and has more grace, he loves
Christ for another reason. He loves Christ because he feels
Christ deserves to be loved. I trust I can say, I have in my
heart now a love to God, These men did not merely love Christ
because of what he had done for them; but you will find in
their sonnets and in their letters—that their motive of
love was, that he had communed with them, he had showed them
his hands and his side; they had walked with him in the
villages; they had lain with him on the beds of spices; they
had entered into the mystic circle of communion; and they felt
that they loved Christ, because he was all over glorious, and
was so divinely fair, that if all nations could behold him,
sure they must be constrained to love him too.
</p>
<p class="indent">
This, then, is the food of love; but when love grows
rich—and it does sometimes—the most loving heart
grows cold towards Christ. Do you know that the only food that
ever suits sick love, is the food on which it fed at first. I
have heard say by the physicians, that if a man be sick there
is no place so well adapted for him as the place where he was
born; and if love grow sick and cold, there is no place so fit
for it to go to as the place where it was born, namely, the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Where was love born? Was
she born in the midst of romantic scenery, and was she nursed
with wondrous contemplations upon the lap of beauty? Ah! no.
Was she born on the steeps of Sinai, when God came from Sinai
and the holy one from mount Paran, and melted the mountains
with the touch of his foot, and made the rocks flow down like
wax before his terrible presence? Ah! no. Was love born on
Tabor, when the Saviour was transfigured, and his garment
became whiter than wool, whiter than any fuller could make it?
Ah! no; darkness rushed o'er the sight of those that looked
upon him then, and they fell asleep, for the glory overpowered
them. Let me tell you where love was born. Love was born in the
garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus sweat great drops of blood,
it was nurtured in Pilate's hall, where Jesus bared his back to
the ploughing of the lash, and gave his body to be spit upon
and scourged. Love was nurtured at the cross, amid the groans
of an expiring God, beneath the droppings of his blood—it
was there that love was nurtured. Bear me witness, children of
God. Where did your love spring from, but from the foot of the
cross? Did you ever see that sweet flower growing anywhere but
at the foot of Calvary? No; it was when ye saw "love divine,
all loves excelling," outdoing its own self; it was when you
saw love in bondage to itself, dying by its own stroke, laying
down its life, though it had power to retain it and to take it
up again; it was there your love was born; and if you wish your
love, when it is sick, to be recovered, take it to some of
those sweet places; make it sit in the shade of the olive
trees, and make it stand on the pavement and gaze, while the
blood is still gushing down. Take it to the cross, and bid it
look and see afresh the bleeding lamb; and surely this shall
make thy love spring from a dwarf into a giant, and this shall
fan it from a spark into a flame.
</p>
<p class="indent">
And then, when thy love is thus recruited, let me bid thee give
thy love full exercise; for it shall grow thereby. You say,
"Where shall I exercise the contemplation of my love, to make
it grow?" Oh! Sacred Dove of love, stretch thy wings, and play
the eagle now. Come! open wide thine eyes, and look full in the
Sun's face, and soar upward, upward, upward, far above the
heights of this world's creation, upwards, till thou art lost
in eternity. Remember, that God loved thee from before the
foundation of the world. Does not this strengthen thy love? Ah!
what a bracing air is that air of eternity? When I fly into it
for a moment, and think of the great doctrine of
election—of
</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
"That vast unmeasured love,<br>
Which from the days of old,<br>
Did all the chosen seed embrace,<br>
like sheep within the fold."
</p>
<p>
It makes the tears run down one's cheeks to think that we
should have an interest in that decree and council of the
Almighty Three, when every one that should be blood-bought had
its name inscribed in God'a eternal book. Come, soul, I bid
thee now exercise thy wings a little, and see if this does not
make thee love God. He thought of thee before thou hadst a
being. When as yet the sun and the moon were not,—when the
sun, the moon, and the stars slept in the mind of God, like
unborn forests in an acorn cup, when the old sea was not yet
born, long ere this infant world lay in its swaddling bands of
mist, then God had inscribed thy name upon the heart and upon
the hands of Christ indelibly, to remain for ever. And does not
this make thee love God? Is not this sweet exercise for thy
love? For here it is my text comes in, giving, as it were, the
last charge in this sweet battle of love, a charge that sweeps
everything before it. "We love God, because he first loved us,"
seeing that he loved us before time began, and when in eternity
he dwelt alone.
</p>
<p class="indent">
And when thou hast soared backward into the past eternity, I
have yet another flight for thee. Soar back through all thine
own experience, and think of the way whereby the Lord thy God
has led thee in the wilderness, and how he hath fed and clothed
thee every day—how he hath borne with thine ill
manners—how he hath put up with all thy murmurings, and
all thy longings after the flesh-pots of Egypt—how he has
opened the rock to supply thee, and fed thee with manna that
came down from heaven. Think of how his grace has been
sufficient for thee in all thy troubles—how his blood has
been a pardon to thee in all thy sins—how his rod and his
staff have comforted thee. And when thou hast flown over this
sweet field of love, thou mayest fly further on, and remember
that the oath, the covenant, the blood, have something more in
them than the past, for though "he first loved us," yet this
doth not mean that he shall ever cease to, love, for he is
Alpha and he shall be Omega, he is first, and he shall be
<i>last</i>; and therefore bethink thee, when thou shalt pass
through the valley of the shadow of death, thou needest fear no
evil, for he is with thee. When thou shalt stand in the cold
floods of Jordan, thou needest not fear, for death cannot
separate thee from his love; and when thou shalt come into the
mysteries of eternity thou needest not tremble, for "I am
persuaded that neither principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And now, soul is not
thy love refreshed? Does not this make thee love him? Doth not
a flight over those illimitable plains of the ether of love,
inflame they heart, and compel thee to delight thyself in the
Lord thy God? Here is the food of love. "We love him, because
he first loved us," and because in that first love there is the
pledge and promise that he will love us even to the end.
</p>
<p class="indent">
III. And now comes the third point, the WALK OF
LOVE. "We love him." Children of God, if Christ were
here on earth, what would you do for him? If it should be
rumoured to-morrow that the Son of Man had come down from
heaven, as he came at first, what would you do for him? If
there should be an infallible witness that the feet that trod
the holy acres of Palestine were actually treading the roads of
Great Britain, what would you do for him? Oh, I can conceive
that there would be a tumult of delighted hearts—a
superabundance of liberal hands—that there would be a sea
of streaming eyes to behold him. "Do for him!" says one; "Do
for him! Did he hunger, I would give him meat, though it were
my last crust. Did he thirst, I would give him drink, though my
own lips were parched with fire. Was he naked, I would strip
myself and shiver in the cold to clothe him. Do for him! I
should scarcely know what to do. I would hurry away, and I
would cast myself at his dear feet, and I would beeeech him, if
it would but honour him, that he would tread upon me, and crush
me in the dust, if he would but be raised one inch the higher
thereby. Did he want a soldier, I would enlist in his army; did
he need that some one should die, I would give my body to be
burned, if he stood by to see the sacrifice and cheer me in the
flames." O ye daughters of Jerusalem! would ye not go forth to
meet him? would ye not rejoice with the tabret, and in the
dance? Dance then ye might, like Miriam, by the side of Egypt's
waters, red with blood. We, the sons of men, would dance, like
David before the ark, exulting for joy, if Christ were come.
Ah! we think we love him so much that we should do all that;
but there is a grave question about the truth of this matter
after all. Do you not know that Christ's wife and family are
here? And if ye love him, would it not follow as a natural
inference, that you would love his bride and his offspring?
"Ah!" says one, "Christ has no bride on earth." Has he not? Has
he not espoused unto himself <i>his church</i>? Is not his
church, the mother of the faithful, his own chosen wife? And
did he not give his blood to be her dower? And has he not
declared that he never will be divorced from her, for he hates
to put away, and that he will consummate the marriage in the
last great day, when he shall come to reign with his people
upon the earth. And has he no children here? "The daughters of
Jerusalem and the sons of Zion who hath begotten me these?" Are
not they the offspring of the everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace, the child born, the son given? Surely they are; and if
we love Christ, as we think we do, as we pretend we do, we
shall love his church and people. And do you love his
<i>church</i>? Perhaps you love the part to which you belong.
You love the hand. It may be a hand that is garnished with many
a brilliant ring of noble ceremonies, and you love that. You
may belong to some poor, poverty-stricken denomination—it
may be the foot—and you love the foot; but you speak
contemptuously of the hand, because it is garnished with
greater honours. Whilst perhaps ye of the hand are speaking
lightly of those who are of the foot. Brethren, it is a common
thing with us all to love only a part of Christ's body, and not
to love the whole; but if we love <i>him</i> we should love all
his people.
</p>
<p class="indent">
When we are on our knees in prayer, I fear that when we are
praying for the church we do not mean all that we say. We are
praying for <i>our</i> church, our section of it. Now, he that
loves Christ, if he be a Baptist, he loves the doctrine of
baptism, because he knows it to be Scriptural; but, at the same
time wherever he sees the grace of God to be in any man's
heart, he loves him because he is a part of the living church,
and he does not withhold his heart, his hand, or his house from
him, because he happens to differ on some one point. I pray
that the church in these days may have a more loving spirit
towards herself. We ought to delight in the advance of every
denomination. Is the Church of England rousing from its sleep?
Is she springing like a phoenix, from her ashes? God be with
her, and God bless her! Is another denomination leading the
van, and seeking by its ministers to entice the wanderer into
the house of God? God be with it! Is the Primitive Methodist
labouring in the hedge and ditch, toiling for his Master? God
help Him! Is the Calvinist seeking to uphold Christ crucified
in all his splendours? God be with him! And does another man
with far less knowledge preach much error, but still hold that
"by grace are ye saved through faith," then God bless him, and
may success be with him evermore. If ye loved Christ better ye
would love <i>all</i> Christ's church, and all Christ's people.
</p>
<p class="indent">
Do you not know that Christ hath now a mouth on earth, and hath
left a hand on earth and a foot on earth still, and that if ye
would prove your love to him, ye would not think that ye cannot
feed him—ye need not imagine that ye cannot fill his hand,
or that ye cannot wash his feet? Ye can do all this to-day. He
has left his poor and afflicted people, and their mouths are
hungry, for they need bread, and their tongue is parched for
they need water. You meet them; they come to you; they are
destitute and afflicted. Do ye refuse them? Do you know who it
was ye denied at your door? "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one
of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it not to me." In
rejecting the petition of the poor when you might heve helped
them, you rejected Christ. Christ was virtually the man to whom
you parsimoniously refused the needed alms, and your Saviour
was thus rejected at the door of one for whom he himself had
died. Do you want to feed Christ? Open your eyes, then, and you
shall see him everywhere; in our back streets, in our lanes, in
our alleys, in all our churches, connected with every branch of
Christ's people, ye shall find the poor and the afflicted. If
ye want feed Christ, feed <i>them</i>. But ye say that ye are
willing to wash Christ's feet Ah! well, and ye may do it. Has
he no fallen children? Are there no brethren who have sinned,
and who are thus defiled? If Christ's feet were foul, ye say ye
would wash them; then if a Christian man has stepped aside,
seek to restore him, and lead him once more in the way of
righteousness. And do you want to fill Christ's hands with your
liberality? His Church is the treasure-house of his alms, and
the hand of his church is outstretched for help, for she always
needs it. She has a work to do which must be accomplished. She
is straitened because your help is withheld from her; pour your
gifts into her treasury, for all that ye can give unto her is
given to the Lord Jesus Christ.
</p>
<p class="indent">
Finally, to stimulate your love, let me remind you that Christ
Jesus had two trials of his love, which he endured with
firmness, but which are often too much for us. When Christ was
high, and glorious, I marvel that he loved <i>us</i>. I have
known many a man who loved his friend when he was in the same
low estate; but he has risen, and he has disdained to know the
man at whose table he had fed. A lofty elevation tries the love
which we bear to those who are inferior to us in rank. Now,
Christ Jesus, the Lord of heaven and the King of angels,
condescended to notice us before he came on earth, and always
called us brethren: and since he has ascended up to heaven, and
has re-assumed the diadem. and once more sits down at the right
hand of God, he never has forgotten us. His high estate has
never made him slight a disciple. When he rode into Jerusalem
in triumph, we do not read that he disdained to confess that
the humble fishermen were his followers. And "now, though he
reigns exalted high, his love is still as great;" still he
calls us brethren, friends; still he recognizes the kinship of
the one blood. And yet, strange to say, we have known many
Christians who have forgotten much of their love to Christ when
they have risen in the world. "Ah!" said a woman, who had been
wont to do much for Christ in poverty, and who had had a great
sum left her, "I cannot do as much as I used to do." "But how
is that?" said one. Said she, "When I had a shilling purse I
had a guinea heart, and now I have a guinea purse I have only a
shilling heart." It is a sad temptation to some men to get
rich. They were content to go to the meeting-house and mix with
the ignoble congregation, while they had but little; they have
grown rich, there is a Turkey carpet in the drawing-room, they
have arrangements now too splendid to permit them to invite the
poor of the flock, as once they did, and Christ Jesus is not so
fashionable as to allow them to introduce any religious topic
when they meet with their new friends. Besides this, they say
they are now obliged to pay this visit and that visit, and they
must spend so much time upon attire, and in maintaining their
station and respectability, they cannot find time to pray as
they did. The houae of God has to be neglected for the party,
and Christ has less of their heart than ever he had. "Is this
thy kindness to thy friend?" And hast thou risen so high that
thou art ashamed of Christ? and art thou grown so rich, that
Christ in his poverty is despised? Alas! poor wealth! alas!
base wealth! vile wealth! 'Twere well for thee if it should be
all swept away, if a descent to poverty should be a restoration
to the ardency of thine affection.
</p>
<p class="indent">
But once again: what a trial of love was that, when Christ
began to suffer for us! There are many men, I doubt not, who
are true believers, and love their Saviour, who would tremble
to come to the test of suffering. Imagine yourself my brother,
taken to-day into some dark dungeon of the Inquistion; conceive
that all the horrors of the dark ages are revived, you are
taken down a long dark staircase, and hurried you know not
whither, at last you come to a place, far deep in the bowels of
the earth, and round about you see hanging on the walls the
pincers, the instruments of torture of all kinds and shapes.
There are two inquisitors there who say to you, "Are you
prepared to renounce your heretical faith, and to return to the
bosom of the church?" I conceive my brethren and sisters, that
you would have strength of mind and grace enough to say, "I am
not prepared to deny my Saviour." But when the pincers began to
tear the flesh, when the hot coals began to scorch, when the
rack began to dislocate the bones; when all the instruments of
torture were wreaking their hellish vengeance, unless the
supernatural hand of God should be mightily upon you, I am sure
that in your weakness you would deny your Master, and in the
hour of your peril would forsake the Lord that bought you.
True, the love of Christ in the heart, when sustained by his
grace, is strong enough to bear us through; but I am afraid
that with many of us here present, if we had no more love than
we have now, we should come out from the inquisition miserable
apostates from the faith. But now, remember Christ. He was
exposed to tortures, which were really more tremendous, far.
There is no engine of Romish cruelty that can equal that
dreadful torture which forced a sweat of blood from every pore.
Christ was scourged and he was crucified; but there were other
woes unseen by us, which were the soul of his agonies. Now, if
Christ in the hour of sore trial had said, "I disown my
disciples, I will not die," he might have come down from the
cross; and who could accuse him of evil? He owed us nothing; we
could do nothing for him. Poor worms would be all that he would
disown. But our Master, even when the blood-sweat covered him
as with a mantle of gore, never thought of disowning
us—NEVER. "My Father," said he once, "if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me." But there was always the "If it be
possible." If it be possible to save without it, let the cup
pass; but if not thy will be done. You never hear him say in
Pilate's hall one word that would let you imagine that he was
sorry he had undertaken so costly a sacrifice for us; and when
his hands are pierced, and when he is parched with fever, and
his tongue is dried up like a potsherd, and his whole body is
dissolved into the dust of death, you never hear a groan or a
shriek that looks like going back. It is the cry of one
determined to go on, though he knows he must die on his onward
march. It was love that could not be stayed by death, but
overcame all the horrors of the grave.
</p>
<p class="indent">
Now, what say we to this? We who live in these gentler times,
are we about to give up our Master, when we are tried and
tempted for him? Young man in the workshop! it is your lot to
be jeered at because you are a follower of the Saviour; and
will you turn back from Christ because of a jeer? Young woman!
you are laughed at because you profess the religion of Christ,
shall a laugh dissolve the link of love that knits your heart
to him, when all the roar of hell could not divert his love
from you. And you who are suffering because you maintain a
religious principle, are you cast out from men; will you not
bear that the house should be stripped, and that you shall eat
the bread of poverty, rather than dishonour such a Lord? Will
you not go forth from this place, by the help of God's Spirit,
vowing and declaring that in life, come poverty, come
wealth—in death, come pain, or come what may, you are and
ever must be the Lord's; for this is written on your heart, "We
love him, because he first loved us."
</p>
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