Sermon 1748. Jehovah Has Spoken-will You Not Hear?

(No. 1748)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 4, 1883,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Hear you, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before He causes darknessand before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death andmakes it gross darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and my eyes shallweep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive." Jeremiah 13:15-17.

IN this chapter Jeremiah had proclaimed the judgment of God against His sinful people under two very striking figures. Israelhad been to God what a sash is to a man-the people had been bound closely about Him in His great love and favor. But on accountof their sin, the Lord would put them away and they should be hidden by the Euphrates till their beauty was marred-until,in fact, like a rotten sash, their whole state had become decayed. "Thus says the Lord, After this manner will I mar the prideof Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem."

Then He spoke to them by a second parable-"Every bottle shall be filled with wine"-and he showed how God's wrath would comeupon the people to fill them with a judicial drunkenness, so that they should become drunk, and in their delirium should strive,one with another, to their mutual undoing. The Lord declared that thus He would "dash them one against another, even the fathersand the sons together." Thus, under two homely but exceedingly terrible figures, Jeremiah preached the Law of God to the people,that they might be humbled under a sense of sin.

Had they but felt the force of this teaching, they would have begun to mourn for their sin and, under dread of wrath, theywould have cried for mercy. Taking it for granted that this might be the case, though, alas, it did not so happen, the Lordgave to His Prophet an interval for proclaiming mercy. After those two great thunderclaps of judgment came a gracious showerof Grace. The Prophet, in what we may venture to call an evangelistic style, exhorts the people and addresses to them thecharacteristic Gospel precept-"Hear you, and give ear; for Jehovah has spoken."

His words remind us of Isaiah's exhortation-"Incline your ears and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live." And again-"Hearkendiligently unto Me, and eat you that which is good." Under the Gospel, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word ofGod-and so Jeremiah does, as it were, in these verses preach the Gospel to the backsliding house of Judah. This is alwaysGod's design in threatening judgment-He desires to prepare the people for His Grace.

I would take up the Prophet's strain, by the help of the Lord, praying to be a partaker of his earnest and tender Spirit.Oh, that today those who have never heard the voice of the Lord in the inward parts of their being may hear it and live! OHoly Spirit, work to that end!

I. We will enter upon our subject at once, for there is much to speak of. The first head will be this-listen, O my Hearers,with deep attention, for THERE IS A REVELATION. Read the text-"Hear you, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord has spoken."If the Lord had not spoken, the silence would have deepened and established your natural darkness. And if you had been inquiringafter God, your heart would have cried, "Oh, that He would break this dreadful silence!" How sad would have been our stateif the only way to find God depended upon our seeking Him! Shall man, by searching, find God? Who among us could reason ourselvesinto the knowledge of the Lord? Or imagine the thoughts of His mind?

But here you have the great source of comfort and instruction-"Jehovah has spoken." Is not this a just call for the attentionof all His creatures? The voice which we are bid to hear is a Divine voice! It is the voice of Him that made the heavens andthe earth, whose creatures we are! Jehovah has spoken! If it were but the voice of Prophets apart from their Master, it mightbe but a slight sin to refuse what they say. But since Jehovah has spoken, shall men dare to be deaf to

Him? Shall they turn away from Him that speaks from Heaven? He that spoke us into being has spoken to our being! He by whoseWord the heavens stand and at whose word both Heaven and earth shall pass away, has spoken, and His voice is to the sons ofmen! It is God who says, "I have written to him the great things of My Law." The sacred Scriptures are the record of whatGod has spoken-receive them with the reverence which they deserve as coming from God, and as being, therefore, pure truth,fixed certainty, and unerring right.

It is a Word most clear and plain, for Jehovah has spoken. He might have taught us only by the works of His hands, in whichthe invisible things of God, even His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen. What is all creation but a hieroglyphicscroll in which the Lord has written out His Character as Creator and Provider? But since He knew that we were dim of sightand dull of comprehension, the Lord has gone beyond the symbols and hieroglyphs and used articulate speech such as a man useswith his fellows-Jehovah has spoken! A man may act before us his mind in symbols and we may fail to perceive his meaning.But when he speaks, we understand his communications by language, since such modes of expression are suitable to the humanintellect.

Speech is the fit manner of commerce between mind and mind and it is, therefore, most delightful that the all-glorious Jehovahshould stoop from writing in starry letters across the sky-and from mirroring His form in tempests on the sea-and speak withus as a man speaks with his friends! Jehovah is no dumb Deity-He has spoken to us in sweet and chosen words by His Spirit.Oh, when there is a testimony so clear and plain that he who runs may read, well may the Prophet exhort us, saying, "Hearyou, and give ear; for Jehovah has spoken." Let it not be said of us, as of the sinners long ago, "I spoke unto you, risingup early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you answered not."

Moreover, I gather from the expression in the text that the Revelation made to us by the Lord is an unchangeable and abidingword. It is not today that Jehovah is speaking, but Jehovah has spoken-His voice by the Prophets and Apostles is now silent,for He has revealed all His Truth which is necessary for salvation. The Lord might fitly say to us this day, "What I havewritten I have written." He changes not His Word, and though Heaven and earth pass away, His Word abides. We are not livingin a period of gradual Revelation, as some imagine-Jehovah has spoken and He opens not His mouth a second time. He has closedthe canon of Scripture with a curse upon him that shall add to or take from the Words of the Book of this prophecy.

Jehovah has spoken! You have not to go on making discoveries of new Truth outside of Scripture. Your duty lies in diligentlyreceiving the completed testimony of the Lord God, for the Word of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. He has fullytold you your relation to your God and the way by which you may be reconciled to Him and be at peace. "Add not unto His words,lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar." Jehovah has spoken! And it is written in His Law, "You shall not add unto theword which I command you." Beloved, this Revelation is pre-eminently a condescending and cheering word. The Lord might havetrodden us down to destruction without a word when we sinned against Him! He might have left us to that natural testimonywhich is borne upon the face of creation and which is also reflected in the conscience of all men-and when we rejected thosetestimonies He might have allowed us to travel on in tenfold night.

But instead thereof, in the plenitude of His Grace, Jehovah has spoken-and be it always remembered that while of old He spokein sundry times and different manners by the Prophets, He has in these last times spoken unto us by His Son. The very factthat the great God speaks to us by His Son indicates that mercy, tenderness, love and hope are the burden of His utterance!His Son Jesus is full of Grace and Truth and, therefore, that which He now speaks to us is not only Truth, but Grace. It istruthful Grace and gracious Truth which God speaks to us by Jesus Christ. Oh, the richness of that message-the height anddepth of love which it contains! Who can refuse to listen to the heavenly music of mercy?

The Lord's voice on the first day of creation said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And now this second voice,this voice to the spiritual world, gives us light, life, love and every necessary, conceivable, desirable gift! The wordsof God, as they are recorded in this Book, have a unfathomable fullness about them-they are spirit and life! In Christ, bywhom He speaks, there is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! The Prophet asked no more than was perfectly reasonablewhen he said, "Hear, and give ear; for Jehovah has spoken." When the kings who dwell at the utmost ends of the earth hearthat Jehovah has spoken, they would do well to quit their thrones and make a journey, like the Queen of Sheba, to hear ofthe Divine wisdom!

If all workmen should throw down their tools and say, "We will hear what God the Lord shall speak," and if merchants shouldclose their shops and counting-houses for a while and come together without delay crying, "Everything must stop till we haveheard what the Lord has spoken," would it be any more than right reason would suggest to thoughtful and right-minded men?O Sirs, if God has spoken, every ear should surrender itself to attention, for surely never could the sense of hearing bemore honorably and profitably employed! Jehovah has spoken and His Word is true-"The grass withers and the flower thereoffalls away: but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." Thereis a way of salvation arranged and determined by the Lord! It is not to be guessed at, but we are to learn it from InfallibleWisdom-Jehovah has spoken!

There is an atonement prepared, provided, designated and set forth. We have not to search for it, or add to it- Jehovah hasspoken! There is no point of necessity, nor even of real interest to the heart of man but what Jehovah has spoken to it-andif there is any Truth of God upon which He has not spoken, it is because it is to His Glory to conceal the thing-and for ourprofit that we do not pry into it! Upon all that is essential to our full preparation for our eternal destination, Jehovahhas spoken! He has said it and here it is recorded-in the volume of the Book it is written-and blessed are they that readand keep the Words of the Book of this prophecy!

II. Secondly-and I have already anticipated it-since there is a Revelation, IT SHOULD BE SUITABLY RECEIVED. If Jehovah hasspoken, then all attention should be given. Yes, double attention! Incline your ears; listen diligently; surrender your soulto the teaching of the Lord God and be not satisfied till you have heard His teaching-have heard it with your whole beingand have felt the force of its every truth! "Hear you," because the Word of God comes with power. "Give ear," because youwillingly receive it. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, I fear that we give far more attention to the distracting voices of the worldthan to the soul-satisfying voice of the God of All Grace!

How eager men are after the treasure which melts before their eyes-how they will drink in every syllable by which they maylearn how to be rich! But when God speaks, who brings in both His hands eternal and abiding riches, men are deaf as the adder,careless as the beasts of the field! He says, "I have called and you refused; I have stretched out My hand and no man regarded."Is this right or wise? Surely, if Jehovah speaks, we are bound by all that is just, good and grateful to wait in reverentsilence till we know His mind! Let a general hush go through the universe and let all ears, with solemn reverence, await thesound of the voice of the Lord!

Then it is added, as if by way of directing us how suitably to hear this Revelation-"Give glory to Jehovah your God." Thereought to be in hearing and reading the Revelation of God a constant giving of glory to the Lord. His speaking is a manifestationof His Glory as when the sun rises his light is spread abroad. You and I are to reflect that light even as the valleys rejoicein his brightness of the noontide. Let us stand, as it were, this morning, to be shone upon by the Lord-ready, each one ofus-to reflect that light which comes from on high! Give glory to God at once by worthily hearing His Gospel. How is that tobe done? Stand still and hear the Word of the Lord! Glorify the Lord by accepting whatever He says to you as being infalliblytrue! Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established; believe His Prophets, so shall you prosper. Know what theLord has said and let it stand to you as sure and steadfast truth. Seek for no further reasons to sustain your faith, butlet, "Thus says the Lord" stand to you in the place of all arguments.

To me, a sentence of Scripture is the essence of logic, the proof positive, the Word of God which may not be questioned. Eyesand ears may be doubted, but not the written Word, inspired of the Holy Spirit! Blessed are those who sit at Jesus' feet andreceive His Words. It is our wisdom to know nothing of ourselves, but to be taught of the Holy Spirit-to think nothing ofourselves, but to have the mind of God-and think after Him whose thoughts are as high above our thoughts as the heavens areabove the earth! We give glory to God in reference to Revelation when we receive it, every jot and tittle of it, and bow ourminds before it.

In these days this virtue is lightly esteemed, for the Savior's Words are still true-"He that loves Me not keeps not My sayings."In all its length and breadth, whatever the Lord says, we believe, and we desire to know neither less nor more than He hasspoken. We must receive the Word of God, however, in a hearty and honest manner so as to act upon it. We must therefore repentof the sin which the Lord condemns and turn from the way which He abhors. We must loathe the vice which He forbids and seekafter the virtue which He commands. We give glory to God when we penitently confess that we have broken His holy Law and grievebecause we have done so. Did not Joshua bid Achan give glory to God by confession of his sin? And so must we.

By confession we glorify God's Justice, Omniscience and Truth-and yet further we glorify His mercy when, confessing sin, weask for pardon through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus should every human being receive the Revelation of God bringing forth fruitsnecessary for repentance. Your light has shone upon me, O my God, and therefore I see my darkness! O remove it! You have lita candle, and by its light I discover my spots and stains. I acknowledge them in Your sight- "Against You, You only, haveI sinned, and done this evil in Your sight: that You might be justified when You speak and be clear when You judge." Thushumbling ourselves on account of sin, we receive the Word of God aright, and give God glory.

But we must go further than repentance and the acceptance of the Truth of God as Truth. We must further reverence the graciousvoice of God when He bids us believe on Christ and live. He has couched that message of love in so blessed a form that hewho does not accept it must be wantonly malicious against God and against his own soul. For the Lord does not demand thatby penances, acts of mortification and feelings of misery and despair we are to purge ourselves from sin-He has graciouslydeclared-"He that believes on Him is not condemned." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." If Jehovahhas spoken in such a manner; if the sum and substance of what He has spoken is that, "God has set forth His Son Jesus Christto be a propitiation through faith in His blood," then we must and will listen to Him! He says, "Come now, and let us reasontogether, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson,they shall be as wool."

If this is the heavenly Word of God, how can we refuse to hear it with our whole hearts? Give glory to the Lord by answering,"Lord, I joyfully obey Your call! I am glad of a Savior, glad of the atoning blood, glad to cast myself at those dear feetthat were nailed to the Cross for me-and to find, in the Lord Jesus my salvation and my all." This is the way in which weought to receive this Revelation and we ought to go on to complete obedience. We should humbly inquire, "Lord, what furtherwould You have me know; what further would You have me do? Is there still left in me a part of my nature unsubdued? I wouldhumble myself under Your mighty hand. Is there in me anything unrenewed, of pride revolting, or of the flesh rebelling? Thenconquer it in me, for I desire Your Word to be my rule, my law, my guide. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!I wish in all things to be obedient to Your gracious will."

There is no part of God's Word at which the human mind should kick. If our hearts were in a right state we would fling openall the doors of our mind and say, "Come in, O sacred Truth, come in! You are welcome to my heart of hearts since you comefrom my God." If Jehovah speaks, ought we not, instead of quibbling, questioning, disputing and raising difficulties, justsay, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears"? When the Lord says to us, "Seek you My face," our heart should at once reply,"Your face, Lord, will I seek."

I think that point is clear. There is a Revelation and that Revelation ought to be suitably received.

III. But thirdly, PRIDE IN THE HUMAN HEART PREVENTS SUCH A RECEPTION. The text runs, "Hear you, and give ear; be not proud:for the Lord has spoken." And further on the Prophet says, "If you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places foryour pride." The Prophet, here, puts his finger upon the blot. Why is it, my dear Hearers, that there are any among you thisday who have heard God's Word, year after year, and yet have not received it? The secret reason is your pride! Perhaps prideprompts you indignantly to deny the accusation. In some, it is the pride of intellect. They do not wish to be treated likechildren-they are not content to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child- and so, when Jesus says, "Except you are convertedand become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven," they reply that they intend to think out aGospel for themselves.

To lay the inventiveness of thought on one side and simply to believe what Jesus teaches is not to their mind-they will nothumble themselves to a fact so little self-exalting. Well, Sirs, if you shut the door of the Kingdom against yourselves becauseyou are too wise to enter-be this known to you-that the poor have the Gospel preached to them and they receive it! God hashid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. God has chosen things that are despised and thingsthat are not, to bring to nothing the things that are-that no flesh may glory in His Presence! If your wisdom is greater thanthe wisdom of God, it were better for you to be foolish! If you will destroy yourself to indulge your own conceit, well, soit must be, but the day shall come in which your regret shall know neither measure nor end! Oh, let none of us be so proudas to lift up ourselves in opposition to that which Jehovah has spoken!

In some others it is the pride of self-esteem. "No," they say, "this Gospel which we have heard so often is too simple! Weare capable of something more elaborate. It humbles us; it represents us as fallen; as depraved. It says that we can do

nothing; it lays us in the very dust; it makes nothing of us-it excludes all hope of boasting and glorying-we cannot stoopso low! Salvation by Divine Grace, is it? Then Free Grace, Sovereign Grace is not to our mind! We care not to be saved likepaupers! We care not to be freely forgiven as those who have nothing to pay. That no composition will be accepted, not evena farthing in the pound of our own merit-it is a doctrine too lowering to our dignity!" They set the Gospel on one side becauseit sets them on one side. They are too great to be saved!

O Sirs, if you must be proud, at least do not throw away your souls to indulge that propensity! Surely, something less costlymay suffice for a sacrifice to the demon of vainglory! It is a dreadful thing that men should think it better to go to Hellin a dignified way than to go to Heaven by the narrow road of a child-like faith in the Redeemer! Those who will not stoopeven to receive Christ, Himself, and the blessings of eternal life, deserve to perish! God save us from such folly! It maywell make us weep to think that any man should be so far gone astray from right reason as to throw away eternal bliss in orderto walk with haughty steps through this poor life.

Some have a pride of self-righteousness. They are good. They have kept the Commandments from their youth up. They have attendedto religion; they have seen to it that all rites and ceremonies have been duly performed upon them and they thank God thatthey are not as other men are! This righteousness of theirs is a garment respectable enough for them to wear and, therefore,they reject the righteousness of God! O you proud fool! I would to God you knew that you are naked, poor and miserable! Iwould to God you understood that your fig-leaf righteousness will never cover your nakedness in the sight of God, for if youknew this, you would seek after the perfect righteousness of Christ and be robed and adorned with it! While sin ruins manyin the outside world, I fear self-righteousness ruins more among those who attend places of worship. They say, "we see," and,therefore, their eyes are not opened. They cry, "we are clean," and, therefore, they are not washed from their iniquity. Ohthat they would cease from this vanity and give glory to the Lord their God instead of taking glory themselves! How can theybelieve while they seek honor, one from another?

In some, too, it is the pride of self-love. They cannot deny their lusts. To cut off right-hand sins and pluck out right-eyeiniquities cannot be endured by them. Their hearts are set upon a certain evil pleasure and they cannot give it up. The Gospelof Jesus Christ demands of those who receive it that they shall be saved not in their sins, but from their sins! It comesto give us renewal as well as rest, purity as well as pardon, sanctity as well as safety. But there are many who, becauseof their foolish self-indulgence, cannot deny themselves any seeming joy, but must fill themselves with the poisoned sweetswhich delight the flesh. O Friend, I wish that this pride were taken from you and that it seemed wisdom to you to deny yourselflife, itself, for the present, rather than miss the hope of eternal life!

The pride of self-will also works its share of ruin among men. "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" is the cryof many beside Pharaoh! The unrenewed heart virtually says-"I shall not mind these commands. Why should I be tied hand andfoot and ruled, and governed? I intend to be a free thinker and a free liver-I will not submit myself." Just so, and you arefree to lose all hope of Heaven, my Friend! Free to destroy yourself. If this is your choice, then who is to hinder you init? I know that I cannot. Oh, that the Lord will lead you to a better mind. Would God that the Lord would change your willand renew your heart! But if you are so proud that you reject the testimony of God against yourself, then who is to blamewhen you fall into eternal destruction? Who is to blame but yourself?

And so I pass from mournfully considering this great evil which prevents the Revelation of God from being properly received.

IV. Fourthly, THERE COMES AN EARNEST WARNING. The Prophet has put it-"Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness,and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains." I desire to explain this with deep humiliation of spirit on my ownpart-and with much trembling lest anyone of you should ever, by experience, know the truth of these words. Listen, my Friend,you who have rejected God and His Christ till now! You are already out of the way, among the dark mountains! There is a King'shighway of faith and you have refused it. You have turned aside to the right hand or to the left, according to your own imagination.Being out of the way of safety, you are in the path of danger even now.

Though the sunlight shines about you and the flowers spring up profusely under your feet, yet you are in danger, for thereis no safety off the King's road. If you will walk according to His bidding, you shall be quiet from fear of danger, for nolion shall be there, but, inasmuch as you are now your own keeper and your own law and you follow in your own ways, you arein great peril. The unbeliever is condemned already, because he has not believed on the Son of God. Escape,

I pray you, while you may, and enter upon that one road which is strait and narrow, but leads to eternal life -the way offaith in Jesus! If you will still pursue your headlong career and choose a path for yourself, I pray you remember that darknessis hovering around you. The day is far spent! Around your soul there are already hanging mists and glooms- and these willthicken into the night-damps of bewilderment!

Thinking, but not believing, you will soon think yourself into a horror of great darkness. Refusing to hear what Jehovah hasspoken, you will follow other voices which shall allure you into an Egyptian night of confusion. You will go on meditatingand carefully thinking, or criticizing and trifling till you are enveloped in a cloud of doubts, wrapped as in a dense smokeof speculation and well near smothered in exhalations of unbelief! You shall not know what to do, nor what to think, nor whatto say, nor what to do with yourself, for you will have renounced your Guide and quenched your torch. At the same time, itmay be there will come upon you a darkness of distress-you will be sick and sorry; you will be faint and weary; you will betried and troubled-and your soul will see no help or deliverance.

To which of the saints will you turn? Upon whom will you call in the day of your calamity? And who will help you? Then yourthoughts will dissolve into vanity and your spirit shall melt into dismay. "Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will make you aterror to yourself, and to all your friends." You shall grope after comfort as blind men grope for the wall! And because youhave rejected the Lord and His Truth, He, also, will reject you and leave you to your own devices. Meanwhile, there shallcloud over you a darkness bred of your own sin and willfulness. You shall lose the brightness of your intellect. The sharpclearness of your thought shall depart from you. Professing yourself to be wise, you shall become a fool.

You shall no longer be able to boast of yourself because of the clearness of your judgment, but you shall find your conceptionsthrown into confusion. You shall ask of others, but they shall know no more than yourself, or if they know, you shall notunderstand what they tell you! You shall be in an all-surrounding, penetrating blackness. Hence comes the solemnity of thiswarning, "Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness." While as yet you have not absolutely turned away fromthe Truth of God and rejected God's Word, accept it in your heart by a living faith and give Him glory, lest, by continuinga procrastinator and a halter between two opinions, you are gradually made to slide, little by little, away from the brightnessof the Truth till you are shut up in a sevenfold night out of which there shall be no escape. For after that darkness therecomes a stumbling, as says the text, "before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains."

He who is going to think out his own way apart from Revelation will meet with mysteries which he cannot surmount. There aremysteries in Revelation, but these rise before us like hills of light-while to those who trifle with the Word of the Lordthere shall arise mountains of gloom. I care not what philosophy you take, whether it is old or new, openly profane or faintlysprinkled with Christianity, you will never get rid of mystery-it is essential to the limited capacity of the human mind confrontedby boundless Truths of God. There must be difficulties in every man's way, even if it is a way of his own devising. But tothe man who will not accept the Light of God, these difficulties must necessarily be dark mountains with sheer abysses, pathlesscrags and impenetrable ravines. He has refused the path which wisdom has cast up and he is justly doomed to stumble wherethere is no way. Beware of encountering mysteries without guidance and faith, for you will stumble either into folly or superstitionand only rise to stumble again. Those who stumble at Christ's Cross are likely to stumble into Hell.

There are also dark mountains of another kind which will block the way of the wanderer-mountains of dismay, of remorse, ofdespair. Woe to that man who finds himself traveling at midnight without a guide, without a road-and in the midst of tremendousmountains impassable to human feet! Ah, when a man comes into the land of doubt, which is a land of darkness, as darknessitself, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness- how terrible his case! I say nomore-thank God, my Hearers, you are not there yet! Therefore listen to Jehovah's voice and give glory to God before He sendsa thick darkness over your soul-even darkness that may be full and your feet stumble, never to rise again.

After that stumbling there will come bitter disappointment. The man finding that he cannot discover his way, sits down awhileand says to himself, "I will wait till the moon rises, or the day dawns. Many before me have come to a pause-no doubt lightwill come." He looks and looks and looks again, but all in vain, for thus says the Prophet, "While you look for light, Heturns it into the shadow of death." Dread word-death! Terrible shade which death casts

over men's minds! That shadow is coming on the man as years advance and he has no light with which to dispel it. The physiciancannot remove the death shadow-the disease is incurable. The sinner's face is pale with anguish and his heart melts like waxin the midst of his insides, for the shadow now upon him chills him to the marrow of his bones!

What will he do, now that the arrow is rankling in his heart? What will he do, now that eternal night is descending? He cowersdown and waits, but nothing comes except the thickening of the death shadows-and the weeping of those whom he must leave.He is anticipating the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth which are to be his endless portion! And now a paralyzingdespair seizes him, for God makes the darkness to be, "gross darkness," black, palpable, as it were a solid thing. The manis shut up and he cannot come forth. The darkness is within the chambers of his soul! It is in his brain! It is in his heart-heis drowning in a Black Sea. This is a just ending this for one who hated the Light of God!

Oh, I pray you, before any of you pass into that state, give glory to God and receive His Word! I beseech you believe beforeyour doubt has utterly destroyed you! Accept the witness of God before you become hardened in skepticism. I do not know whatmay ever happen to me in this life-perhaps it shall come to pass that I may be visited with severe physical infirmities andpossibly these may cause me mental depression and anguish. But this one thing I know, I have committed my mind, my heart,my whole intellectual nature to His keeping who has promised to preserve His own! I desire to believe nothing but what Hetells me; to do nothing but what He bids me and to yield myself to no influence but that which He ordains for my direction!And, therefore, it seems to me that having done this for many a day, I can with un-staggering confidence say, at the last,"Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit."

I think I may confidently hope to cast anchor forever in that haven which is no new refuge to me, but the daily travel mapof my soul. Can a man be safer as to his soul's condition than when he has ceased from depending upon himself and has takenthe great Lord to be the Shepherd at whose heels he follows? What shield can so well protect you as the Divine faithfulness?Under what rock can you find such shelter as under the truthfulness of God? I am at a pass with all new ideas in religion-Iwill have none of them! If this grand old Book fails me, I am content to fail! If the Lord shall desert me, I resign myselfto be deserted! If God lies, then there is an end of all things and we all, alike, flounder in chaos!

But we tolerate no such fears. Believing in God, I am not fearful of the future. Neither dark mountains nor dark death cancause the Believer to stumble, for he cries, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep thatwhich I have committed unto Him against that day." But oh, if God is true, what will become of you who will not hear Him?If the Bible is true, what must be your portion, who pretend to be wiser than the Holy Spirit? You must assuredly wander intothat endless captivity from which there can be no redemption!

V. So now I have to close, but not till I have delivered my burdened heart once more. If the people would not submit

to God, the Prophet determined what he would do. THERE REMAINS FOR THE FRIENDS OF THE IMPENITENT

BUT ONE RESORT. The loving Prophet cries, "If you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; andmy eyes shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive." He cannot do anythingmore! He has no other message to deliver. He cannot hope that God will overlook their insults and invent another way of savingthem! He has told them the Truth and if they refuse it, he will lay no flattering unction to their souls. He will deliverthe Word of the Lord once more and if they, again, refuse, he will go home to mourn for them even as Samuel mourned for Saulwhen the Lord had put him away.

Observe that he does not say in the first clause, "my eyes shall weep," but, "my soul shall weep." Bitter tears make red theeyes, but what must be the brine of those tears which are wept by the soul itself-a soul in anguish over willful men who persistin destroying themselves! Those soul-sorrows showed themselves in floods of tears which drenched the Prophet's cheeks, forhe loved the people and could not bear to look upon the ruin which was coming upon them. Like our Lord in later times, theProphet beheld the city and wept over it-he could do no less, he could do no more. Alas, his sorrow would be unavailing; hisgrief was hopeless! He could not help those who would not be helped by God!

If they refused to hear, he does not speak to them of a "larger hope" yet to be revealed. He speaks not of "purgatory" andanother season of probation, or a future Revelation which would override the present Word of God. Ah no, he loved men toowell to invent for them fools' paradises! He dared not imitate the old serpent in the garden by insinuating, "You shall notsurely die." I fear that the garments of many modern divines are steeped in the blood of souls whom they are deluding withtheir, "larger hope," which is but a larger snare of Satan! Jeremiah had a brave, though tender heart-he did not bow to menand sing pretty ditties to them, as preachers, nowadays, are prone to do.

He told them they would stumble in the darkness and that nothing remained for him but to sigh out his soul over their ruin.Let us each one learn to sympathize with this holy man-

"Arise, my tender thoughts, arise,

Though torrents melt my streaming eyes!

And you, my heart, with anguish feel

Those evils which you cannot heal!

See human nature sunk in shame-

See scandals poured on Jesus 'name!

The Father wounded through the Son;

The world abused and souls undone!

See the short course of vain delight

Closing in everlasting night

In flames that no abatement know,

Though briny tears forever flow." Observe that the Prophet did not expect to obtain sympathy in this sorrow of his. He says,"My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride." He would get quite alone, hide himself away and become a recluse. Alas,that so few even now care for the souls of men! Many ignore their danger, forgetting or else denying it. And few mourn overthe ungodly and seek-

"With cries, entreaties, tears to save, To snatch them from the fiery wave." Hearts are hardened, pride is flattered, falsehoodsare cried up! And what can the faithful do but seek their God and weep in secret places? Solitude and weeping are a poor solace,and yet there is no other.

This also puts a pungent salt into the tears of the godly, that the weeping can do no good, since the people refuse the oneand only Remedy. Jehovah has spoken and if they will not hear Him, they must die in their sins! O Sirs, if you will not haveChrist-if all the saints in the world prayed for you, yes, all the saints that ever lived, or ever shall live-if they allprayed for you and if in one great river, the tears of the whole Church flowed on forever, they could not help you nor bringyou hope of salvation! You must have Christ or die! You must believe in the Lamb of God or perish forever! Does it stand soaccording to the Scriptures? Then none can change it! Do not dash yourselves against this rock! Fall not upon this stone!

What a burden it is that so many should cause us this unnecessary sorrow, for if men turned to God, our joy would exceed allbounds! O my Hearers, why will you distress me? Turn, turn-why will you die? What excuse can you urge for your folly in choosingto perish? What motive can be strong enough to make you leap into the fire when Christ is waiting to be gracious to you? Wehave labor enough in preparing and delivering our weighty messages without the added grief of seeing you reject them to yourown destruction! Our throes of heart are sometimes grievous enough before we preach a sermon lest we should not preach aright-whymust we be driven to this further misery?

We exhaust ourselves while pleading with you! Why should we have to sit down in sorrow because you will not believe our report?O blessed Spirit of God, touch all hearts this day, for Jesus' sake. Amen.