Bible Commentaries
Matthew 10

Verse 22

Perseverance: Enduring to the End February 14, 1864

by

C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

© Copyright 2003 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 INTERNATIONAL VERSION © 1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

“He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:22

This particular text was originally addressed to the apostles when they were sent out to teach and preach in the name of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps magnificent visions floated before their minds, of honor and esteem among men. It was a great honor to be among the twelve first heralds of salvation to the sons of Adam. Was a restraint needed to their high hopes? Perhaps so. Lest they should enter upon their work without having counted its cost, Christ gives them a very complete description of the treatment which they might expect to receive, and reminds them that it was not the beginning of their ministry which would win them their reward, but rather “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” It would be good if every young candidate to the gospel ministry would remember this, if merely to put our hand to the plow proved us to be called of God, how many would be considered called to the ministry; but sadly, too many look back and prove themselves unworthy of the kingdom. The command of Christ to believers, is a very necessary exhortation to every young minister: “Be faithful, even to the point of death.” (Revelation 2:10 ). It is not to be faithful for a time, but to be “faithful, even to the point of death,” which will enable a man to say, “I have fought the good fight.” Oh, how many dangers surround the Christian minister! Just as the officers in an army are the chosen targets of the sharpshooters, so are the ministers of Christ. The king of Syria said to his servants, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel;” in the same way the Prince of Darkness makes his main attack upon the ministers of God.

From the first moment of his call to the ministry, the preacher of the Word will be familiar with temptation. While he is still in his youth, there are large numbers of the subtle temptations to turn the head and trip the feet of the young preacher of the cross; and when the flattery of early popularity have passed away, and it will, then the harsh grumble of slander, and the adder’s tongue of ingratitude attack him, he finds himself criticized and unpopular where once he was flattered and admired; yes, the poison of hatred overpowers the sweet crumbs of praise. Now, let him prepare himself for action and fight the good fight of faith. In his later years of ministry, to provide fresh material Sunday after Sunday, to lead as in the sight of God, to watch over the souls of men and women, to weep with them who weep, to rejoice with those who rejoice, to be a nurturing father to young converts, sternly to rebuke hypocrites, to deal faithfully with backsliders, to speak with solemn authority and fatherly sorrow to those who are in the first stages of spiritual decline, to carry about with him the care of the souls of hundreds, is enough to make him grow old while he is still young, and to mar his face with the lines of grief, till, like the Savior, at the age of thirty years, men will consider him nearly fifty. “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!” [John 8:57 ] said the adversaries of Christ to him when he was only thirty-two.

If the minister should fall, my brothers and sisters; if, set upon a pinnacle, he should be thrown down; if, standing in slippery places, he should falter; if the standard-bearer falls, what great harm is done to the Church, what shouts are heard among the adversaries, what dancings are seen among the daughters of the Philistines! God’s banner has been stained in the dust, and the name of Jesus thrown into the mire! When the minister of Christ becomes a traitor, it is as if the pillars of the house start to tremble; every stone in the structure feels the shock. If Satan can succeed in overturning the preachers of the Word, it is as if a great Oak tree would suddenly fall beneath the axe; prone in the dust it lies to wither and rot; but where are the birds of the air which made their nests among its branches, and where did those animals of the field go which found a peaceful shadow beneath its branches? Dismay has seized them, and in great fear they run away. All who were comforted by the preacher’s word, strengthened by his example, and edified by his teaching, are filled with humiliation and grief, crying, “Sad, Oh, so sad, my brother.” Because of these various dangers and weighty responsibilities, we justly appeal to you who feed under our ministry, and beg you, “Brothers and Sisters, pray for us.” Clearly, we know that though our ministry has been given to us by the Lord Jesus, and if up till now we have been kept faithful by the power of the Holy Spirit, yet it is only the person who stands firm to the end who will be saved.

But, my brothers and sisters, how glorious is the sight of the man who stands firm to the end as a minister of Christ. Right now I have a picture on my heart, a portrait of one very, very dear to me, and I think I will venture to produce a rough sketch of him, as a good example of how honorable it is to endure to the end. This man began while still a youth to preach the Word. Sprung from his ancestors who had loved the Lord and served his Church, he felt the glow of holy enthusiasm. Having proved his capabilities, he entered college, and after the close of its course, settled in a spot where for more than fifty years he continued his labors. In his early days, his sober earnestness and sound doctrine were used by God in many conversions both at home and abroad. Assailed by slander and abuse, it was his privilege to live it all down. He outlived his enemies, and though he had buried a generation of his friends, yet he found many warm hearts clustering around him to the very end. Visiting his flock, preaching in his own pulpit, and making many journeys to other Churches, years followed one another so rapidly, that he found himself the head of a large tribe of spiritual children and grandchildren, most of them walking in the truth. At the age of 80, he still preached on, until weighed down with ill-health, but still as joyful and as cheerful as in the prime of his life, but his time had come to die. He was able to say truthfully, when he last spoke to me, “I do not believe that my testimony for God has ever been altered, as to the fundamental doctrines; I have grown in experience, but from the first day until now, I have not had to teach any new doctrines to my congregation. I have not had to make any confessions of error on vital points, but have held fast to the doctrines of grace, and can now say that I love them more than ever.” This faithful minister was very much like the Apostle Paul, longing to preach as long as his tottering knees could bear him to the pulpit. I am thankful that I had such a grandfather. He fell asleep in Christ only a few hours ago, and on his death bed talked as cheerfully as men do in the full vitality of their health. He talked most sweetly of the preciousness of Christ, and of the security of the believer; the truthfulness of the promise; the immutability of the covenant; the faithfulness of God, and the infallibility of the divine decree. Among other things which he said at the end was this, which is, I think worth treasuring in our memories. He said, “Dr Watts sings in his hymn

‘Firm as the earth thy gospel stands, My Lord, my hope, my trust.’

What, Doctor Watts, is it not firmer than that? Could you not find a better comparison? Why, the earth will give way beneath our feet one day or another, if we rest on it. The comparison will not do. The Doctor was much nearer the mark, when he said

“Firm as his throne his promise stands, And he can well secure What I’ve committed to his hands. ‘Till the decisive hour.’”

“Firm as his throne,” he said, “he must cease to be king before he can break his promise, or lose his people. Divine sovereignty makes us all secure.” He then quietly fell asleep in Christ, for his day was over, and the night had come, what could he do better than to go and rest in Jesus? May God allow us to preach the Word, so long as we breathe, standing firm to the end in the truth of God; and if we don’t see our sons and grandsons testifying to those doctrines which are so dear to us, yet may we see our children walking in the truth. I know of nothing, dear friends, which I would choose to have, as the subject of my ambition for life, than to be kept faithful to my God till death, still to be a soul-winner, still to be a true messenger of the cross, and testify the name of Jesus to the very last hour. It is only these kind of men in the ministry who are truly saved ministers.

Our text, however, occurs again in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, in the thirteenth verse, which this time is not addressed to the apostles, but to the disciples. The disciples, looking at the huge stones which were used in the construction of the Temple, greatly admired the buildings, and expected their Lord to utter a few words of passing praise; instead he, who came not to be an admirer of architecture, but to cut living stones out of the quarry of nature, to build them up into a spiritual temple turned their remarks to practical account, by warning them of a time of affliction, in which there would be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. He said that many false prophets will appear and deceive many people, and that the love of most people would grow cold, and warned them that only “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” So we can see, from the words of Jesus, that this solemn truth applies to every one of us.

A Christian man or woman, though not called to be a pastor or preacher who must publicly preach and teach the grace of God, is still destined in their own lives to testify concerning Jesus, and in their proper sphere and place, to be a burning and a shining light. They may not have the cares of a Church, but they have far more, the cares of business or the home: they are mixed up with the world; they are compelled to associate with the ungodly. To a great degree, they must, at least six days in the week, walk in an atmosphere that is disagreeable with their nature: they are compelled to hear words which will never provoke them to love and good works, and to see examples of people’s actions that are obnoxious. They are exposed to temptations of every kind, for this is the lot of the followers of the Lamb. Satan knows how useful a consistent follower of the Savior is, and how much damage to Christ’s cause an inconsistent Christian may bring, and therefore he empties out all his arrows from his quiver in order that he may wound, even to death, the soldier of the cross.

My brothers and sisters, many of you have been Christians for a much longer time than myself; you know how severe the battle of the Christian life is, how you must contend, even to the shedding of blood, in your struggle against sin. Your life is one continued scene of warfare, both

on the outside and within; perhaps even now you are crying out with the apostle, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” [Romans 7:24 ] A Christian’s career is always fighting, never ceasing; always plowing ahead in the stormy sea, and never resting till they reach the port of glory. If my God preserves you, and preserve you he must, or else you are not his; if he will keep you, and keep you he will if you have committed your souls to his faithful guardianship, what an honor awaits you!

I am just now thinking of one who has been associated with this Church for about sixty years, and who this week, full of years, and ripe for heaven, was carried by angels into the Savior’s arms. Called by divine grace, while still young, he was united with the Christian Church early in life. By divine grace, he was enabled to maintain a consistent and honorable character for many years; as an officer of this Church, he was acceptable among his brethren, and useful both by his godly example and sound judgment; all the while in various parts of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, he earned himself a good reputation. He went last Sunday, twice to church where he was accustomed in these latter years to worship, enjoying the Word, and feasting at the Communion-table with much delight. He went to his bed without having any serious illness, having spent his last evening on earth in cheerful conversation with his daughters. But before the morning light, with his head leaning on his hand, he had fallen asleep in Christ, having been admitted to the rest which remains for the people of God. As I think of my dear brother, though these past few years I have only seen him a few times, I can rejoice in the grace which illuminated his pathway. When I saw him, the week before his death, although full of years, there was little or no failure in his mind. He was just the picture of an aged saint waiting for his Master, and willing to work in his cause while life remained. I refer, as most of you know, to Mr. Samuel Gale. Let us thank God and take courage thank God that he has preserved in this case, a Christian so many, many years, and take courage to hope that there will be found in this Church, many, at all periods, whose grey heads will be crowns of glory. “He who stands firm to the end” and only he “will be saved.”

But, dear friends, perseverance is not the experience of the few; it is not for just the faithful preachers of the Word, or only for the elders or deacons of the church, rather it is the common experience of every true believer in the Church. It must be so, for only by persevering in the faith can they prove that they are believers. It must be so, for only by their perseverance can the promise be fulfilled, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” [Mark 16:16 ]. Without perseverance, they cannot be saved; and if they are truly saved then they will persevere through divine grace.

I will now, with brevity and earnestness, as God enables me, show from our text that: perseverance is the badge of true saints the target of our spiritual enemies the glory of Christ and the great concern of all believers.

I. First, then, PERSEVERANCE IS THE BADGE OF TRUE SAINTS.

It is their Scriptural mark. How can I tell who a true Christian is? By their words? Well, to some degree, words betray the person; but a person’s speech is not always a reflection of their heart, for many are able to deceive with smooth language. What does our Lord say? He says, “You will know them by their fruits.” But how am I to know a person’s fruits? By watching them one day? I may, perhaps, form a guess of their character by being with them for an hour, but I could not confidently state a person’s true state even by being with them for a week. George Whitfield was asked what he thought of a certain person’s character. “I have never lived with him,” was his answer. If we take the course of a person’s life, say for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and, if by carefully watching, we see that they produce the fruits of grace through the Holy Spirit, then we can make a safe conclusion. Just like the truly magnetized needle in the compass, with many deflections, yet really and naturally points to the pole; so, if I can see that despite weaknesses, my friend sincerely and constantly aims at holiness, then I may conclude with almost certainty, that they are a child of God. Although works do not justify a person before God, they do justify a person’s profession before his peers. I cannot tell whether you are justified in calling yourself a Christian except by your works; by your works, therefore, as James said, “A person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” [James 2:24 ]. You cannot by your words convince me that you are a Christian, much less by your experience, which I cannot see but must take on trust from you; but your actions will, unless you are an unmitigated hypocrite, speak the truth, and speak the truth loudly too. If your course is like the “…first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day,” [Proverbs 4:18 ] then I know that yours is the path of the just. All other conclusions are only the judgment of kindness such as we are bound to exercise; but we can give the judgment of certainty when a person’s life has been consistent for many years.

Moreover, analogy shows us that it is perseverance which must characterize the Christian. How do I determine the winner in a footrace?

There are the spectators, and there are the runners. What strong men! what magnificent muscles! But at the end of the course is the finish line, and there at that point is where I must judge who the winner is, not here, at the starting line, for “In a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?” [1 Corinthians 9:24 ] I may select this one, or that other person, as likely to win, but I cannot be absolutely sure until the race is over. There they fly! see how they press forward with straining muscles; but one has tripped, another faints, a third is out of breath, and others are far behind. One only wins and who is he? Why, he who continues to the end.

So I can gather from the analogy, which Paul constantly makes, from the ancient games, that only he who continues until he reaches the goal can be considered a Christian at all. A man has begun to build a house, and has erected one side of it do you consider him a builder if he stops there, and fails to finish the other walls? Do we give men praise for being warriors because they know how to make one desperate charge, but lose the campaign? Have we not, of late, smiled at the boasting messages of commanders, in fights where both combatants fought with valor, and yet neither of them had the common sense to push on to reap the victory? What was the very strength of Wellington, but that when a triumph had been achieved, he knew how to reap the harvest which had been sown in blood? And he only is a true conqueror, and will be crowned at the end, who continues until the war is over and has been won. It is the same with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, “Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.” So, under God, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto as a Christian must be, “Excelsior;” which means “Upward and Onward,” or if it is not, then you don’t possess the noble spirit of

God’s princes. But why do I give so many illustrations, when the entire world rings with the praise of perseverance?

Furthermore, commonsense tells us, that those who merely begin and do not persevere, will not be saved.

Why, if every person would be saved who began to follow Christ, who would be damned? In such a country as this most people have at least one religious spasm in their lives. I suppose that every person before me this morning, have at some time or other in their lives considered themselves to be a Christian. You, Mr. Pliable, were induced by a Christian friend, who had some influence with you, to go with him for a while, until you came to the Swamp of Despondency and Discouragement, and you thought you were very wise when you scrambled out on that side which was nearest to your own home. And even you, Mr. Obstinate, are not always rigid; you have times of thoughtfulness and intervals of tenderness. My friends, how blessed you were at the prayer meeting! how excited you were at that revival service when you heard a zealous brother preach and the results that were produced! Oh! yes; you did not swear or get drunk for nearly a month, but then you could not hold out any longer.

Now, if those who started off good were saved, why would they feel secure, though they are presently far removed from anything like Christianity, as far removed as the darkness at midnight is from the blazing light of the noonday sun? Besides, common sense shows us, that a person must persevere, or else they cannot be saved, because the very worst of people are those who begin and then give up. If you would look through all the black pages of bad characters, to find the name of the son of hell, where would you find it? Why, among the apostles. The man who had performed miracles and preached the gospel, sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver Judas Iscariot, betrays the Son of Man with a kiss. Where is a worse name than that of Simon Magus? Simon “believed too,” says the Scripture, and yet he offered the apostles money if they would sell the Holy Spirit to him. What wicked notoriety Demas has obtained, who loved the present evil world! How much damage did Alexander the metalworker do to Paul? “He did me a great deal of harm, he said, “the Lord will repay him for what he has done.” [2 Timothy 4:14 ] And yet that Alexander once exposed himself to danger in the theater at Ephesus, that he might rescue the apostle [Acts 19:33 ]. There are none so bad as those who once seemed to be good. “If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” [Matthew 5:13 ] That which is best when ripe, is worst when rotten; juice which is sweet in one stage, becomes sour in another.

Don’t let him that puts on his armor boast just like the ones that take it off after the battle has been won; for even common sense teaches you, that it is not just to begin, but to continue to the end which truly identifies the child of God.

But we needn’t look to analogy and to mere common sense. Scripture is clear enough. John says, “They went out from us.” Why? Were they true saints? Oh! no “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” [1 John 2:19 ]. They were not Christians, or else they would not have abandoned the faith. Peter said, “Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud,’ [2 Peter 2:22 ] indicating most clearly that the dog, though it did vomit, always was a dog. When men vomit up their sins unwillingly, not giving them up because they dislike them, but because they cannot keep them; if a favorable time comes, they will return to swallow once more what they seemed to abandon. The sow that was washed yes, bring it into the parlor, introduce it among society; it was washed, and well-washed too; no one ever saw so respectable a member of the honorable community of swine before? Bring it in! Yes, but will you keep it there? Wait and see. Because you have not transformed it into a man, on the first occasion it will be found wallowing in the mud. Why? Because it was not a man, but a sow. And so we can learn from many other passages, if we had time to quote them, that those who go back into the world of sin were not Christians at all, for perseverance is the badge of the righteous. “The righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger” [Job 17:9 ]. We not only get life by faith, but faith sustains it; God’s Word declares, that the “righteous ones will live by faith. And if they shrink back, God will not be pleased with them” [Hebrews 10:38 ].

What we have learned from Scripture, dear friends, has been abundantly confirmed by observation. Each day I bless God that in our very large congregation we have comparatively so few who have proved false; but I have seen enough, and the Lord knows, more than enough, to make me very jealous over you with a godly jealousy. I could tell of many an instance of men and women who seemed to be running a good race for a while. But then, someone, “Cut in on them and kept them from obeying the truth?” [Galatians 5:7 ].

I remember a young man of whom I thought as highly of as any of you, and I believe he did at that time deserve our favorable judgment. He walked among us, one of the most hopeful of our sons, and we hoped that God would make him serviceable to his cause. But then he fell into bad company. There was enough conscience left, after a long course of secret sin, to make him feel uncomfortable in his wickedness, though he didn’t give it up; and when finally his sin stared him in the face, and others knew it, he was so ashamed, that, though he bore the Christian name, he took drugs that he might escape the shame which he had brought on himself. He was rescued rescued by skill and the good providence of God; but where he is today, and what he is, God only knows, for he had taken another drug more deadly than before which made him the slave of his own lusts.

However, don’t think it is only the young. It is a very regrettable fact that there are, in proportion, more backslidings among the old than the young; and, if you want to find a great sinner in that respect, you will find him, surely, nine times out of ten, with grey hairs on his head. Have I not frequently mentioned that you do not find in Scripture, many cases of young people going astray. You do find believers sinning, but they were all older men. There is Noah not a youth. There is Lot, when drunken not a child. There is David with Bathsheba, not a young man in the heat of passion. There is Peter denying his Lord no boy at the time. These were men of experience and knowledge and wisdom. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!” [1 Corinthians 10:12 ].

With sorrow we remember one whom, years ago, we heard pray among us, and sweetly too; respected and trusted by us all. I remember a dear brother saying very kindly, but not too wisely, “If he is not a child of God, then neither am I.” But where did he go, my brothers and sisters, to our shame and sorrow, but to the very worst and foulest of sins, and where is he now? Perhaps he lives in the bars or even worse places. Just as we have seen in life, the earth’s sun may be eclipsed, and the earth’s stars may go out, and all the human glory can melt into shame. Yet, no true child of God can ever lose their salvation and be cast into hell never forget that; but this is the badge of a true child of God: that they will endure to the end; and if they don’t hold on, but creep back to their old master, and once again puts on the old collar of the Satanic yoke, then that is sure evidence that they have never come out of the spiritual Egypt through Jesus Christ, their leader, and have never obtained that eternal life which will never end or be taken away, because it is born of God.

Dear friends, I believe that I have said enough to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the true badge of the Christian is perseverance, and that without it, no one can proved themselves to be a true child of God.

II. Secondly, PERSEVERANCE IS THEREFORE, THE TARGET OF ALL OUR

The world does not object to us claiming to be Christians for a while; it will cheerfully overlook all such assertions, if we will today shake hands with the world and be as we used to be. Your old companions who used to call you such good persons, when in reality you were really bad persons, wouldn’t they quickly forgive you for having acted like a Christian, if you would just go back and be as you were in the past? Oh! certainly, they would look on your religion as a freak of folly, and they would very easily overlook it, if you would give it up for the future. “Oh!” says the world, “come back; come back to my arms once more; love me again, and though you have spoken some harsh words against me, and done some cruel deeds against me, I will cheerfully forgive you.” The world is always stabbing at the believer’s perseverance. Sometimes she will bully them back; she will persecute them with her tongue cruel mockings will be used; and at other times, she will flatter them, “Come back to me; O come back! Why should we disagree? You are made for me, and I am made for you!” And she beckons so gently and so sweetly, like a former immoral lover. She has one goal , and that is that you would cease your Christian walk to heaven, and settle down in this world and enjoy her many pleasures.

The second enemy of your perseverance, is the flesh.

What is its aim? “Oh!” cries the flesh, “we have had enough of this; it is hard work being a Christian, come, give it up.” Laziness says, “Sit still where you are. Enough is enough, at least of this tedious thing.” Then, lust cries out, “Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least, a rest from this constant warfare?”

Then comes in the devil.

Our enemy the devil sometimes beats the big drum, and cries out with a thundering voice “There is no heaven; there is no God; you are a fool to persevere.” Or, changing his tactics, he cries out, “Come back! I will treat you better than I did before. You thought I was a hard master, but that was a misrepresentation; come back and try me again; I am a different devil from what I was ten years ago; I am now respectable. I don’t want you to go back to the bars or the casino; come with me, and be a respectable lover of pleasure. I promise you, I can dress you in expensive clothes, and I can take you into the very courts of kings. O just come back!” he says, and make yourself one of mine again.”

So this hellish trinity, the world, the flesh, and the devil, all stab at the Christian’s perseverance.

The enemies will frequently attack the Christian’s perseverance in ministry and service:

They will say “What profit is there in serving God?” The devil will say to me sometimes, as he did to Jonah, “Flee to Tarshish, and don’t stop in Nineveh; they will not believe your words, though you speak in God’s name?” To you he will say, “Why, you are so busy six days of the week, what good is there in spending your Sundays trying to teach a bunch of noisy brats in a Sunday School? Why go around trying to share the gospel with people? Not much good will come from it. Wouldn’t you be better off with taking a little rest?”

Oh! my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that word rest some of us are very fond of it; but we ought to remember that we spoil it if we try to get it here, for rest is only beyond the grave. We will have plenty of rest when we come into the presence of our Lord.

The devil would, if he could, destroy our perseverance in ministry, but if he cannot stop us in ministry, then he will try to prevent our perseverance in suffering.

“Why be patient any longer?” he says; “why sit among the ashes, scraping your sores with a broken piece of pottery? curse God, and die. You have always been poor since you have been a Christian; your business does not prosper; you see, you cannot make money unless you do as others do. You must go with the times, or else you will not make it. Give it all up. Why continue to suffer like this?”

Or you may have taken up some good cause, and the moment you open your mouth, many laugh and try to put you down. “Well,” says the devil, “be put down what is the use of it? Why make yourself look like an oddball, and expose yourself to perpetual martyrdom? It is all very nice,” he says, “if you want to be a martyr, to be quickly burned at the stake; but to hang and be roasted over a slow fire for days, is not comfortable. Why,” says the tempter, “why be always suffering give it up.” You see, then, dear friends, that it is also perseverance in suffering which the devil shoots at.

Or, perhaps, it is perseverance in commitment.

The love of many has grown cold, but you remain zealous. “Well,” Satan says, “what is the good of your being so zealous? Other people are good enough people, you shouldn’t criticize them: why do you want to be more righteous than they are? Why should you be pushing the Church into a more holy walk? Do as the rest of the Christians do; be idle as they are. Sleep like the others, and let your lamp go out as other virgins do.” Thus Satan frequently attacks our perseverance in commitment.

Or else, Satan will attack our doctrinal sentiments.

“Why,” says Satan, “do you hold to these statements of faith and doctrine? Sensible Christians are getting more liberal, they are giving away what does not belong to them God’s truth; they are removing the old landmarks. Old doctrines are to be repealed, articles and creeds are to be laid aside as useless lumber, not necessary for this enlightened age; fall in with this, and be an ‘Anythingarian.’ Believe that black is white; hold that truth and a lie are very much akin to one

another, and that it doesn’t matter what we believe, for we are all right, though we flatly contradict each other; that the Bible is a very flexible book to fit any lifestyle; that it does not teach anything relevant, thus you can make it say anything you like. Do that,” he says, “and no longer be firm in your opinion.”

I think I have proved that perseverance is the target for all enemies. Carry your shield, Christian, therefore, put on your armor, and cry mightily to God, that by his Spirit you may endure to the end.

III. Thirdly, my brothers and sisters, PERSEVERANCE IS THE GLORY OF CHRIST.

It is to the honor of Christ that He makes all his people persevere to the end. If they would fall away and perish, every office, and work, and attribute of Christ would be stained in the mud. If any child of God would perish, then where were Christ’s covenant promises? What is he worth as a mediator of the covenant and the guarantee of it, if he has not made the promises sure to all the recipients? My brothers and sisters, Christ is made a leader and commander of the people, to bring many souls to glory; but if he does not bring them into glory, where is the captain’s honor? Where is the effectiveness of the precious blood, if it does not effectually redeem? If it only redeems for a time and then allows us to perish, where is its value? If it only blots out sin for a few weeks, and then permits that sin to return and to remain on us, where, I say, is the glory of Calvary, and where is the luster of the wounds of Jesus? He lives, he lives to intercede, but how can I honor his intercession, if it is fruitless? Didn’t he pray, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am;” [John 17:24 ] and if they are not finally brought to be with him where he is, where is the honor of his intercession? Hasn’t the Mediator failed and been dismissed without success? Is he not at this very moment in union with his people? But what is the value of union to Christ, if that union does not insure salvation? Is he not today at the right hand of God, preparing a place for his saints; and will he prepare a place for them, and then lose them on the road? Oh! can it be that he procures the harp and the crown, and will not save souls to use them?

My brothers and sisters, the perishing of one true child of God, would be such a dishonor to Jesus that I cannot think of it without considering it as blasphemy. One true believer in hell! Oh! what laughter in the pit what defiance, what unholy delight! “Oh! Prince of life and glory,”

says the prince of the pit, “I have defeated you; I have snatched the prey from the mighty; I have torn a jewel from your crown. See, here it is! You redeemed this soul with blood, and yet it is in hell.” Hear what Satan cries out “Christ suffered for this soul, and yet God makes it suffer for itself. Where is the justice of God? Christ came from heaven to earth to save this soul, and failed in the attempt, and I have him here. We have conquered heaven! We have destroyed the eternal covenant; we have foiled the purposes of God; we have defeated his decree; we have triumphed over the power of the Mediator, and cast his blood to the ground!”

Can this ever happen? What an awful question! It can never, ever happen. They who are in Christ are saved. They whom Jesus Christ has really taken into union with himself, will be with him where he is. But how are you to know whether you are in union with Christ? My brothers and sisters, you can only know it by obeying the apostle’s words, “Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure” [2 Peter 1:10 ].

IV. I close, therefore, with only a hint of the last point, PERSEVERANCE SHOULD BE THE GREAT CONCERN OF EVERY CHRISTIAN his daily and his nightly concern.

O beloved! I implore you by the love of God, and by the love of your own souls, be faithful unto death. Do you have difficulties? You must conquer them. Hannibal crossed the Alps, for his heart was full of fury against Rome; and you must cross the Alps of difficulty, for I trust your heart is full of hatred of sin. When Mr. Smeaton had built the second Eddystone lighthouse he looked out anxiously after a storm to see if the edifice was still there, and it was his great joy when he could see it still standing, for a former builder had constructed a lighthouse there on that very same spot and he thought that lighthouse was indestructible, and expressed a wish that he might be in it in the worst storm which ever blew, and he was, and neither himself nor his lighthouse were ever seen again.

Now you have to be exposed to many storms; you must be in your lighthouse in the worst storm which ever blew; therefore build firmly on the Rock of Ages, and make sure work for eternity, for if you do these things, you will never fall. For this Church’s sake, I pray that you do it; for nothing can dishonor and weaken a Church so much as the falls of those who profess Christ. A thousand rivers flow to the sea, and make the meadows rich, but no man hears their sound; but if there is one waterfall, its thunderous sound will be heard for miles, and every traveler will note the fall. A thousand Christians can scarcely give honor to their Master as much as one hypocrite can do to dishonor him. If you have ever tasted that the Lord is gracious, pray that your foot will not slip. It would be infinitely better to bury you in the earth than see you buried in sin. If I must be lost, God grant it may not be as an apostate. If I must, after all, perish, it would be better never to have known the way of righteousness than after having known the theory of it, and something of the enjoyment of it, turn again to the weak and miserable principles of the world?

Let your prayer not be against death, but against sin. For your own sake, for the Church’s sake, for the name of Christ’s sake, I pray you do this. But you cannot persevere except by many prayers in the closet, a great deal of carefulness over every action, a great dependence on the strong hand of the Holy Spirit who alone can make you stand. Walk and live as in the sight of God, knowing where your great strength lies, and depend on it you will yet sing that sweet doxology in Jude, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

A simple faith brings the soul to Christ, Christ keeps the faith alive; that faith enables the believer to persevere, and so they enter heaven. May that be your lot and mine for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Verse 30

Providence

April 11, 1858 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Matthew 10:30 .

During this week my mind has been much directed to the subject of Providence, and you will not wonder when I relate a portion of one day's story. I was engaged to preach last Wednesday at Halifax, where there was a heavy snow storm. Preparations had been made for a congregation of 8000 persons, and a huge wooden structure had been erected. I considered that owing to the severe weather, few persons could possibly assemble, and I looked forward to the dreary task of addressing an insignificant handful of people in a vast place. However, when I arrived, I found from 5000 to 6000 people gathered together to hear the Word; and a more substantial looking place it has not been my lot to see. It certainly was a huge uncomely building, but, nevertheless, it seemed well adapted to answer the purpose. We met together in the afternoon and worshipped God, and again in the evening, and we separated to our homes, or rather, we were about to separate, and all this while the kind providence of God was watching over us. Immediately in front of me there was a huge gallery, which looked an exceedingly massive structure, capable of holding 2000 persons. This, in the afternoon, was crowded, and it seemed to stand as firm as a rock. Again in the evening there it stood, and neither moved nor shook. But mark the provident hand of God: in the evening, when the people were about to retire, and when there was scarcely more than a hundred persons there, a huge beam gave way, and down came a portion of the flooring of the gallery with a fearful crash. Several persons were precipitated with the planks, but still the good hand of God watched over us, and only two persons were severely injured with broken legs, which it is trusted will be re-set without the necessity of amputation. Now, had this happened any earlier, not only must many more have been injured, but there are a thousand chances to one, as we say, that a panic must necessarily have ensued similar to that which we still remember, and deplore as having occurred in this place. Had such a thing occurred, and had I been the unhappy preacher on the occasion, I feel certain that I should never have been able to occupy the pulpit again. Such was the effect of the first calamity, that I marvel that I ever survived. No human tongue can possibly tell what I experienced. The Lord, however, graciously preserved us; the fewness of the people in the gallery prevented any such catastrophe, and thus a most fearful accident was averted. But we have a more marvellous providence still to record. Overloaded by the immense weight of snow which fell upon it, and beaten by a heavy wind, the entire building fell with an enormous crash three hours after we had left it, splitting the huge timbers into shivers, and rendering very much of the material utterly useless for any future building. Now mark this had the snow begun three hours earlier, the building must have fallen upon us, and how few of us would have escaped we cannot guess. But mark another thing. All day long it thawed so fast, that the snow as it fell seemed to leave a mass, not of white snow, but of snow and water together. This ran through the roof upon us, to our considerable annoyance, and I was almost ready to complain that we had hard dealing from God's providence. But if it had been a frost instead of a thaw, you can easily perceive that the place must have fallen several hours beforehand, and then your minister, and the greater part of his congregation, would probably have been in the other world. Some there may be who deny providence altogether. I cannot conceive that there were any partakers of the scene who could have done so. This I know, if I had been an unbeliever to this day in the doctrine of the supervision and wise care of God, I must have been a believer in it at this hour. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; he hath been very gracious unto us, and remembered us for good. Now, when we look abroad into the world we see, as we think, such abundant proofs that there is a God, that we are apt to treat a man who denies the existence of a God with very little respect or patience. We believe him to be willfully blind, for we see God's name so legible upon the very surface of creation, that we cannot have patience with him if he dares to deny the existence of a Creator. And in the matter of salvation: we have each of us seen in our own salvation such positive marks of the Lord's dealings with us, that we are apt to be somewhat censorious and harsh towards any who propound a doctrine which would teach salvation apart from God. And I think we shall be very apt this morning to think hardly of the man, who, having seen and heard of such a providence as that which I have just related, could fail to see God's hand. It seems to me that the hand of God in providence is as clear as in creation; and whilst I am sure that if saved at all I must be saved by God, I feel equally certain that every matter which concerns all of us in daily life, bears upon itself the evident trace of being the handiwork of Jehovah, our God. We must, if we would be true believers in God, and would avoid all atheism, give unto him the kingship in the three kingdoms of creation, grace, and providence. It is in the last, however, that I think we are the most apt to forget him; we may easily see God in creation if we be at all enlightened, and if saved, we cannot avoid confessing that salvation is of the Lord alone. The very way in which we are saved, and the effect of grace in our hearts, always compels us to feel that God is just. But providence is such a chequered thing, and you and I are so prone to misjudge God and to come to rash conclusions concerning his dealings with us, that perhaps this is the greatest stronghold of our natural Atheism a doubt of God's dealings with us in the arrangements of outward affairs. This morning I shall not be able to go deeply into the subject, but very heartily can I enter into it, after being so great a partaker of his wonder-working power. From the text I shall draw one or two points. First of all, the text says, "the very hairs of our head are all numbered." From this I shall infer the minuteness of providence. Again, inasmuch as it is said of believers that the hairs of their head are all numbered, I shall infer the kind consideration, the generous care, which God exercises over Christians. And then, from the text, and from our Saviour's reason for uttering these words, I shall draw a practical conclusion of what should be the spirit and temper of the men who believe this truth that the very hairs of their head are all numbered. I. First, then, our text very clearly teaches us THE MINUTENESS OF PROVIDENCE.

Every man can see providence in great things; it is very seldom that you find any person denying that when an avalanche falls from the summit of the Alps, the hand, the terrible hand of God is there. There are very few men who do not feel that God is present in the whirlwind, and in the storm. Most men will acknowledge that the earthquake, the hurricane, the devastation of war, and the ravages of pestilence, come from the hand of God. We find most men very willing to confess that God is God of the hills, but they forget that he is also Lord of the valleys. They will grant that he deals with great masses, but not with individuals; with seas in the bulk, but not with drops. Most men forget, however, that the fact which they believe of providence being in great things involves a providence in the little, for it were an inconsistent belief that the mass were in God's hand, whilst the atom was left to chance; it is indeed a belief that contradicts itself; we must believe all chance or else all God. We must have all ordained and arranged, or else we must have everything left to the wild whirlwind of chance and accident. But I believe that it is in little things that we fail to see God; therefore, it is to the little things that I call your attention this morning. I believe my text means literally what it says. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." God's wisdom and knowledge are so great, that he even knows the number of the hairs upon our head. His providence descends to the minute particles of dust in the summer gale; he numbers the gnats in the sunshine, and the fishes in the sea. While it certainly doth control the massive orbs that shine in heaven, it doth not blush to deal with the drop that trickleth from the eye. Now, I shall want you to notice, how little circumstances of daily life, when we come to put them all together, evidently betray their origin. I will take a Scripture history, and show how the little events must have been of God, as well as the great results. When Joseph was sent into Egypt by his brethren, in order to provide for them against a day of famine, we all agree with Joseph's declaration, "It was God that sent me hither." But now, if we notice each of the little ways through which this great result was brought to pass, we shall see God in each of them. One day, Joseph's brethren are gone out with the sheep; Jacob wants to send to them. Why does he send Joseph? He was his darling son; he loved him better than all his brethren. Why does he send him away? He sends him, however. Then why should it have happened at that particular time, that Jacob should want to send at all? However, he did want to send, and he did send Joseph. A mere accident you will say, but quite necessary as the basement of the structure. Joseph goes; his brethren are in want of pasture, and therefore leave Shechem, where Joseph expected to find them, and journey on to Dothan. Why go to Dothan? Was not the whole land before them? However Joseph goes there; he arrives at Dothan just when they are thinking of him and his dreams, and they put him into a pit. As they are about to eat bread, some Ishmaelites came by. Why did they come there at all? Why did they come at that particular time? Why were they going to Egypt? Why might they not have been going any other way? Why was it that the Ishmaelites wanted to buy slaves? Why might they not have been trading in some other commodity? However, Joseph is sold; but he is not disposed of on the road to Egypt, he is taken to the land. Why is it that Potiphar is to buy him? Why is it that Potiphar has a wife, at all? Why is it again that Potiphar's wife should be so full of lust? Why should Joseph get into prison? How is it that the baker and the butler should offend their master? All chance, as the world has it, but every link necessary to make the chain. They do both offend their master; they are both put into prison. How is it that they both dream? How is it that Joseph interprets the dreams? How is it that the butler forgets him? Why, just because if he had recollected him, it would have spoiled it all. Why is it Pharaoh dreams? How can dreams be under the arrangement of God's providence? However, Pharaoh does dream; the butler then thinks of Joseph; Joseph is brought out of prison and taken before Pharaoh. But take away any of those simple circumstances, break any one of the links of the chain, and the whole of the design is scattered to the winds. You cannot get the machine to work; if any of the minute cogs of the wheels are taken away, everything is disarranged. I think it seems very clear to any man who will dissect not only that, but any other history he likes to fix upon, that there must be a God in the little accidents and dealings of daily life, as well as in the great results that tell upon the page of history, and are recounted in our songs. God is to be seen in little things. We will now notice, in the minutiae of providence, how punctual providence always is. You will never wonder more at providence, than when you consider how well God keeps time with himself. To return to our history how is it that the Ishmaelites should come by just at that time? How many thousand chances there were that their journey might have been taken just before! There certainly was no special train to call at that station at that particular time, so that Joseph's brethren might arrange to go and call him. No such thing. And yet if there had been all this arrangement, it could not have happened better. You know Reuben intended to fetch Joseph out of the pit half an hour later, and "the child was not." God had these Ishmaelites ready: you do not know how he may have sped them on their journey, or delayed them, so as to bring them on the spot punctually at the identical moment. To give another instance, there was a poor woman whose son had been raised from the dead by Elisha; she, however, had left her country at the time of famine, and had lost her estate. She wanted to get it back; God determined that she should have it. How was it to be done? The king sends for Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, and he talks to him: he tells him one instance about a woman who had had a child raised from the dead. How strange! in comes the woman herself. My lord, this is the woman; she comes to obtain her suit. Her desire is granted, just because at the very moment the king's mind is interested concerning her. All chance, was it not? Nothing but chance? So fools say; but those who read Bibles, and those who have judgment, say there is something more than chance in such a coalition of circumstances. It could not be a mere coincidence, as men sometimes say; there must be God here, for it is harder to think that there is not God than that there is. And whilst a belief in God may be said by some to involve a great stretch of faith, the putting him out of such things as this, would involve an infinitely greater amount of credulity. No, there was God there. There is another instance that I remember in the New Testament history. Paul goes into the temple, and the Jews rush upon him in a moment to kill him. They drag him out of the temple, and the doors are shut against him. They are just in the very act of killing him, and what is to become of poor Paul's life? Five minutes longer and Paul will be dead, when up comes the chief captain and delivers him. How was it that the chief captain knew of it? Very probably some young man of the crowd who knew Paul and loved him, ran to tell him. But why was it that the chief captain was at home? How was it that the ruler was able to come on a moment's emergency? How was it that he did come at all? It was only just a Hebrew, a man that was good for nothing, being killed. How was it that he came, and when he came the streets were full; there was a mob about Jerusalem? How did he come to the right street? How did he come at the exact nick of time? Say, "It is all chance!" I laugh at you; it is providence. If there be anything in the world that is plain to any man that thinks, it is plain that God

"Overrules all mortal things, And manages our mean affairs."

But mark, that the running of the youth, and his arrival at the precise time, and the coming of the chief governor at the precise time, just proved the punctuality of Divine providence; and if God has a design that a thing shall happen at twelve, if you have appointed it for eleven, it shall not happen till twelve; and if he means it to be delayed till one, it is in vain that you propose any earlier or any later. God's punctuality in providence is always sure, and very often apparent. Nor is it only in the minutes of time that we get an idea of the minuteness of providence, but it is in the use of little things. A sparrow has turned the fate of an empire. You remember the old story of Mohammed flying from his pursuers. He enters a cave, and a sparrow chirps at the entrance, and flies away as the pursuers pass. "Oh," say they, "there is no fear that Mohammed is there, otherwise the bird would have gone a long while ago;" and the imposter's life is saved by a sparrow. We think, perhaps, that God directs the motions of the leviathan, and guides him in the sea, when he makes the deep to be hoary. Will we please to recollect, that the guidance of a minnow in its tiny pool, is as much in the hand of providence as the motion of the great serpent in the depths. You see the birds congregate in the autumn, ready for their flight across the purple sea. They fly hither and thither in strange confusion. The believer in providence holds that the wing of every bird has stamped upon it the place where it shall fly, and fly with never such vagaries of its own wild will, it cannot diverge so much as the millionth part of an inch from its predestinated track. It may whirl about, above, beneath, east, west, north, south wherever it pleases; still, it is all according to the providential hand of God. And although we see it not, it may be, that if that swallow did not take the precise track which it does take, something a little greater might be affected thereby; and again, something a little greater still might be affected, until at last a great thing would be involved in a little. Blessed is that man who seeth God in trifles! It is there that it is the hardest to see him; but he who believes that God is there, may go from the little providence up to the God of providence. Rest assured, when the fish in the sea take their migration, they have a captain and a leader, as well as the stars; for he who marshals the stars in their courses, and guides the planets in their march, is the master of the fly, and wings the bat, and guides the minnow, and doth not despise the tiniest of his creatures. You say there is predestination in the path of the earth; you believe that in the shining of the sun there is the ordinance of God; there is as much his ordinance in the creeping of an insect or in the glimmering of a glow-worm in the darkness. In nothing is there chance, but in everything there is a God. All things live and move in him, and have their being; nor could they live or move otherwise; for God hath so ordained them. I hear one say, "Well, sir, you seem to be a fatalist!" No, far from it. There is just this difference between fate and providence. Fate is blind; providence has eyes. Fate is blind, a thing that must be; it is just an arrow shot from a bow, that must fly onward, but hath no target. Not so, providence; providence is full of eyes. There is a design in everything, and an end to be answered; all things are working together, and working together for good. They are not done because they must be done, but they are done because there is some reason for it. It is not only that the thing is, because it must be; but the thing is, because it is right it should be. God hath not arbitrarily marked out the world's history; he had an eye to the great architecture of perfection, when he marked all the aisles of history, and placed all the pillars of events in the building of time. There is another thing that we have to recollect also, which will strike us perhaps more than the smallness of things. The minuteness of providence may be seen in the fact, that even the thoughts of men are under God's hand. Now, thoughts are things which generally escape our attention, when we speak of providence. But how much may depend upon a thought! Oftentimes a monarch has had a thought which has cost a nation many a bloody battle. Sometimes a good man has had a thought, which has been the means of rescuing multitudes from hell, and bearing thousands safely to heaven. Beyond a doubt, every imagination, every passing thought, every conception, that is only born to die, is under the hand of God. And in turning over the page of history, you will often be struck, when you see how great a thing has been brought about by an idle word. Depend upon it, then, that the will of man, the thought of man, the desire of man, that every purpose of man, is immediately under the hand of God. Take an instance Jesus Christ is to be born at Bethlehem; his mother is living at Nazareth: he will be born there to a dead certainty. No, not so. Caesar takes a whim into his head. All the world shall be taxed, and he will have all of them go to their own city. What necessity for that? Stupid idea of Caesar's! If he had had a parliament, they would have voted against him. They would have said, "Why make all the people go to their own peculiar city to the census? Take the census where they live; that will be abundantly sufficient." "No," says he, "it is my will, and Caesar cannot be opposed." Some think Caesar mad. God knows what he means to do with Caesar. Mary, great with child, must take a laborious journey to Bethlehem; and there is her child born in a manger. We should not have had the prophecy fulfilled, that Christ should be born at Bethlehem, and our very faith in the Messiah might have been shaken, if it had not been for that whim of Caesar's. So that even the will of man; the tyranny, the despotism of the tyrant, is in the hand of God, and he turneth it whithersoever he pleaseth, to work his own will. Gathering up all our heads into one short statement, it is our firm belief that he who wings an angel guides a sparrow. We believe that he who supports the dignity of his throne amidst the splendors of heaven maintains it also in the depths of the dark sea. We believe that there is nothing above, beneath, around, which is not according to the determination of his own counsel and will; and while we are not fatalists, we do most truly and sternly hold the doctrine, that God hath decreed all things whatsoever that come to pass, and that he overruleth all things for his own glory and good; so that with Martin Luther, we can say,

"He everywhere hath sway, And all things serve his might; His every act pure blessing is, His path unsullied light."

II. The second point is, THE KIND CONSIDERATION OF GOD, IN TAKING CARE OF HIS PEOPLE.

In reading the text, I thought, "There is better care taken of me than I can take care of myself." You all take care of yourselves to some extent, but which of you ever took so much care of himself as to count the hairs of his head? But God will not only protect our limbs, but even the excrescence of hair is to be seen after. And how much this excels all the care of our tenderest friends! Look at the mother, how careful she is. If her child has a little cough, she notices it: the slightest weakness is sure to be observed. She has watched all its motions anxiously, to see whether it walked right, whether all its limbs were sound, and whether it had the use of all its powers in perfection; but she has never thought of numbering the hairs of her child's head, and the absence of one or two of them would give her no great concern. But our God is more careful of us, even than a mother with her child so careful that he numbers the hairs of our head. How safe are we, then, beneath the hand of God! However, leaving the figure, let us again notice the kind, guardian care, which God exerts over his people in the way of providence. I have often been struck with the providence of God, in keeping his people alive before they were converted. How many are there here who would have been in hell at this hour, if some special providence had not kept them alive till the time of their conversion! I remember mentioning this in company, and almost every person in the room had some half-miracle to tell, concerning his own deliverance before conversion. One gentleman, I remember, was a sporting man, who afterwards became an eminent Christian. He told me, that a little time before his conversion he was shooting, and his gun burst in four pieces, which stood upright in the earth as near as possible in the exact form of a square, having been driven nearly a foot into the ground, while he stood there unharmed and quite safe, having scarcely felt the shock. I was noticing in Hervey's works, one day, a very pretty thought on this subject. He says, "Two persons who had been hunting together in the day, slept together the following night. One of them was renewing the pursuit in his dream, and, having run the whole circle of the chase, came at last to the fall of the stag; upon this he cries out with a determined ardor, I'll kill him, I'll kill him; and immediately feels for the knife which he carried in his pocket. His companion happening to awake, and observing what passed, leaped from the bed. Being secure from danger, and the moon shining in the room, he stood to view the event, when, to his inexpressible surprise, the infatuated sportsman gave several deadly stabs in the very place where a moment before the throat and the life of his friend lay. This I mention, as a proof, that nothing hinders us, even from being assassins of others, or murderers of ourselves, amidst the mad sallies of sleep, only the preventing care of our Heavenly Father." How wonderful the providence of God with regard to Christian people, in keeping them out of temptation. I have often noticed this fact, and I believe you are able to confirm it, that there are times when if a temptation should come you would be overtaken by it; but the temptation does not come. And at other times, when the temptation comes, you have supernatural strength to resist it. Yes! the best Christian in the world will tell you, that such is still the strength of his lust, that there are moments when if the object were presented to him, he would certainly fall into the commission of a foul sin; but then the object is not there, or there is no opportunity of committing the sin. At another time, when we are called to go through a burning fiery furnace of temptation, we have no desire towards the peculiar sin, in fact we feel an aversion to it, or are even incapable of it. Strange it is, but many a man's character has been saved by providence. The best man that ever lived, little knows how much he owes for preservation to the providence as well as to the grace of God. How marvellously too has providence arranged all our places. I cannot but recur to my own personal history, for, after all, we are obliged to speak more of what we know of ourselves as matters of fact than of others. I shall always regard the fact of my being here to-day as a remarkable instance of providence. I should not have occupied this hall probably, and been blessed of God in preaching to multitudes if it had not been for what I considered an untoward accident. I should have been at this time studying in College, instead of preaching here, but for a singular circumstance which happened. I had agreed to go to College: the tutor had come to see me, and I went to see him at the house of a mutual friend; I was shown by the servant into one drawing-room in the house, he was shown into another. He sat and waited for me for two hours; I sat and waited for him two hours. He could wait no longer, and went away thinking I had not treated him well; I went away and thought that he had not treated me well. As I went away this text came into my mind, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not." So I wrote to say that I must positively decline, I was happy enough amongst my own country people, and got on very well in preaching, and I did not care to go to College. I have now had four years of labor. But, speaking after the manner of men, those who have been saved during that time would not have been saved, by my instrumentality at any rate, if it had not been for the remarkable providence turning the whole tenour of my thoughts, and putting things into a new track. You have often had strange accidents like that. When you have resolved to do a thing, you could not do it any how; it was quite impossible. God turned you another way, and proved that providence is indeed the master of all human events. And how good, too, has God been in providence to some of you, in providing your daily bread. It is remarkable how a little poverty makes a person believe in providence, especially if he is helped through it. If a person has to live from hand to mouth, when day by day the manna falls, he begins to think there is a providence then. The gentleman who sows his broad acres, reaps his wheat and puts it into his barn, or takes his regular income, gets on so nicely that he can do without providence; he does not care a bit about it. The rents of his houses all come in, and his money in the Three per Cents is quite safe what does he want with providence? But the poor man who has to work at day labor, and sometimes runs very short, and just then happens to meet with somebody who gives him precisely what he wants, he exclaims, "Well, I know there is a providence I cannot help believing it; these things could not have come by chance." III. And now, in conclusion, brethren and sisters, if these things be so, if the hairs of our head are all numbered, and if providence provides for his people all things necessary for this life, and godliness, and arranges everything with infinite and unerring wisdom, what manner of persons ought we to be? In the first place, we ought to be a bold race of people. What have we to fear? Another man looks up, and if he sees a lightning-flash, he trembles at its mysterious power. We believe it has its predestined path. We may stand and contemplate it; although we would not presumptuously expose ourselves to it, yet can we confide in our God in the midst of the storm. We are out at sea, the waves are dashing against the ship, she reels to and fro; other men shake, because they think this is all chance; we, however, see an order in the waves, and hear a music in the winds. It is for us to be peaceful and calm. To other men the tempest is a fearful thing; we believe that the tempest is in the hand of God. Why should we shake? Why should we quiver? In all convulsions of the world, in all temporal distress and danger, it is for us to stand calm and collected, looking boldly on. Our confidence should be very much the same, in comparison with the man who is not a believer in providence, as the confidence of some learned surgeon, who, when he is going through an operation, sees something very marvellous, but yet never shudders at it, while the ignorant peasant, who has never seen any thing so wonderful, is alarmed and fearful, and even thinks that evil spirits are at work. We are to say let others say what they please "I know God is here, and I am his child, and this is all working for my good; therefore will not I fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Especially may I address this remark to timid people. There are some of you who are frightened at every little thing. Oh! if you could but believe that God manages all, why, you would not be screaming because your husband is not home when there is a little thunder and lightning, or because there is a mouse in the parlour, or because there is a great tree blown down in the garden. There is no necessity you should believe that your brother-in-law, who has gone to Australia was wrecked, because there was a storm when he was at sea. There is no need for you to imagine, that your son in the army was necessarily killed, because he happened to be before Lucknow; or, if you think the thing necessary, still, as a believer in God's providence, you should just stand and say that God has done it, and it is yours to resign all things into his hands. I may say to those of you also who have been bereaved if you believe in providence you may grieve; but your grief must not be excessive. I remember at a funeral of a friend hearing a pretty parable which I have told before, and will tell again. There was much weeping on account of the loss of a loved one, and the minister put it thus. He said, "Suppose you are a gardener employed by another; it is not your garden, but you are called upon to tend it, and you have your wages paid you. You have taken great care with a certain number of roses; you have trained them up, and there they are, blooming in their beauty. You pride yourself upon them. You come one morning into the garden, and you find that the best rose has been taken away. You are angry: you go to your fellow-servants, and charge them with having taken the rose. They will declare that they had nothing at all to do with it; and one says, "I saw the master walking here this morning; I think he took it." Is the gardener angry then? No, at once he says, "I am happy that my rose should have been so fair as to attract the attention of the master. It is his own: he hath taken it; let him do what seemeth him good." It is even so with your friends. They wither not by chance; the grave is not filled by accident; men die according to God's will. Your child is gone, but the Master took it; your husband is gone, your wife is buried, the Master took them; thank him that he let you have the pleasure of caring for them and tending them while they were here, and thank him that as he gave, he himself has taken away. If others had done it, you would have had cause to be angry; but the Lord has done it. Can you, then, murmur? Will you not say

"Thee at all times will I bless; Having thee I all possess; How can I bereaved be, Since I cannot part with thee."

And pardon me when I say, finally, that I think this doctrine, if fully believed, ought to keep us always in an equable frame of mind. One of the things we most want is, to have our equilibrium always kept up. Sometimes we are elated. If I ever find myself elated I know what is coming. I know that I shall be depressed in a very few hours. If the balance goes too much up, it is sure to come down again. The happiest state of mind is to be always on the equilibrium. If good things come, thank God for them; but do not set your heart upon them. If good things go, thank God that he has taken them himself, and still bless his name. Bear all. He who feels that everything cometh to pass according to God's will, hath a great main-stay to his soul. He need not be shaken to and fro by every wind that bloweth; for he is fast bound, so that he need not move. This is an anchor cast into the sea. While the other ships are drifting far away, he can ride calmly through. Strive, dear friends, to believe this, and maintain as the consequence of it, that continual calm and peace which renders life so happy. Do not get fearing ills that may come to-morrow; either they will not come, or else they will bring good with them. If you have evils to-day, do not multiply them by fearing those of to-morrow. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Oh, I would to God, that some of you who are full of carking care and anxiety, could be delivered from it by a belief in providence; and when you once get into that quiet frame, which this doctrine engenders, you will be prepared for those higher exercises of communion and fellowship with Christ, to which distracting care is ever a fearful detriment, if not an entire preventive. But as for you who fear not God, remember, the stones of the field are in league against you; the heavens cry to the earth and the earth answereth to the heavens, for vengeance upon you on account of your sins. For you there is nothing good, everything is in rebellion against you. Oh that God might bring you into peace with him, and then you would be at rest with all beside. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." The Lord bless you in this, for Jesus' sake. Amen.