Part 27
We may rest assured that whatever God commands He will be
quite certain to justify. He knew it would be no cruelty to Hagar or
Ishmael to be driven into independence, and He gave a promise
which secured them everything which they desired. "Also of the
son of the bondwoman will I make a great nation." And again, "I
have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly. Twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a
great nation." Had they both been able to go forth from Abraham's
tent in faith they might have trod the desert with a joyous footstep,
fully assured that He who bade them go, and He who promised that
He would bless them, would be certain to provide all things
necessary for them.
Early in the morning they were sent forth on their journey with as
much provision as they could carry, and probably they intended to
make their way to Egypt, from which Hagar had come. They may
have lost their way. At any rate, they are spoken of as wandering.
Their store of food became exhausted, the water in the skin bottle
was all spent. Both of them felt the fatigue of the wilderness and
the heat of the pitiless sand. They were both faint and weary, and
the younger utterly failed. As long as the mother could sustain the
tottering, fainting footsteps of her boy, she did so.
When she could do so no longer, he swooned with weakness, and
she laid him down beneath the slight shade of the desert tamarisk,
that he might be as far as possible screened from the excessive heat
of the sun. Looking into his face and seeing the pallor of coming
death gathering upon it–knowing her inability to do anything
whatever to revive him, or even to preserve his life–she could not
bear to sit and gaze upon his face.
So she withdrew just far enough to still be able to watch with all a
mother's care. She sat down in the brokenness of her spirit. Her
tears gushed forth in torrents, and heartrending cries of agony
startled the rocks around. It was necessary that the high spirit of the
mother and her son should be broken down before they received
prosperity–the mother had been, on a former occasion, graciously
humbled by being placed in much the same condition. But she had
probably relapsed into a haughty spirit and had encouraged her boy
in his insolence to Sarah's son, and therefore she must be chastened
yet again.
And it was equally necessary that the high-spirited lad should for
a little time bear the yoke in his youth, and that he who would grow
up to be the wild man, the father of the unconquerable Arab, should
feel the power of God before he received the fulfillment of the
promise given to him in answer to Abraham's prayer. If I read the
text aright, while the mother was thus weeping, the child, almost
lost to all around, was nevertheless conscious enough of his own
helpless condition, and sufficiently mindful of his father's God to
cry in his soul to Heaven for help. And the Lord heard not so much
the mother's weeping (for the feebleness of her faith, which ought
to have been stronger in memory of a former deliverance, hindered
her prayer), but the silent, unuttered prayers of the fainting lad went
up into the ears of Elohim, and the angel of Elohim appeared, and
pointed to the well.
The child received the needed draught of water, was soon
restored, and in him and his posterity the promise of God received
and continues to receive a large fulfillment. I am not about to speak
upon that narrative except as it serves me with an illustration for
the subject which I would now press upon you. Behold the
compassion of a mother for her child expiring with thirst–and
remember that such a compassion ought all Christians to feel
towards souls that are perishing for lack of Christ, perishing
eternally, perishing without hope of salvation. If the mother lifted
up her voice and wept, so also should we.
And if the contemplation of her dying child was all too painful for
her, so may the contemplation of the wrath to come, which is to
pass upon every soul that dies impenitent, become too painful for
us. But yet at the same time it should stimulate us to earnest prayer
and ardent effort for the salvation of our fellow men. I shall speak,
this morning, upon compassion for souls, the reasons which justify
it, the sight it dreads, the temptation it must fight against, the paths
it should pursue, the encouragement it may receive.
COMPASSION FOR SOULS–THE REASONS WHICH
JUSTIFY IT, NO, COMPEL IT. It scarcely needs that I do more
than rehearse in bare outline the reasons why we should have
tender compassion for the perishing sons of men. For first, observe
the dreadful nature of the calamity which will overwhelm them.
Calamities occurring to our fellow men naturally awaken in us a
feeling of commiseration. But what calamity under Heaven can be
equal to the ruin of a soul? What misery can be equal to that of a
man cast away from God, and subject to His wrath world without
end?
Today your hearts are moved as you hear the harrowing details of
war. They have been dreadful, indeed. Houses burnt, happy
families driven as vagabonds upon the face of the earth, domestic
circles and quiet households broken up, men wounded, mangled,
massacred by thousands, and starved. I was about to say, by
millions. But the miseries of war, if they were confined to this
world alone, are nothing compared with the enormous catastrophe
of tens of thousands of spirits accursed by sin, and driven by
Justice into the place where their worm dies not, and their fire is
not quenched.
The edge of the sword grows blunt at last, the flame of war dies
out for want of fuel, but, lo, I see before me a sword which is never
quiet, a fire unquenchable! Alas, that the souls of men should fall
beneath the infinite ire of Justice. All your hearts have been moved
of late with the thought of famine, famine in a great city. The dogs
of war, and this, the fiercest mastiff of them all, have laid hold
upon the fair throat of the beautiful city which thought to sit as a
lady forever and see no sorrow.
You are hastening with your gifts, if possible, to remove her
urgent want and to avert her starvation. But what is a famine of
bread compared with that famine of the soul which our Lord
describes when He represents it as pleading in vain for a drop of
water to cool its tongue tormented in the flame? To be without
bread for the body is terrible, but to be without the bread of life
eternal–none of us can tell the weight of horror which lies there!
When Robert Hall, in one of the grand flights of his eloquence
pictured the funeral of a lost soul, he made the sun to veil his light,
and the moon her brightness. He covered the ocean with mourning
and the heavens with sackcloth, and declared that if the whole
fabric of nature could become animated and vocal, it would not be
possible for her to utter a groan too deep, or a cry too piercing to
express the magnitude and extent of the catastrophe.
Time is not long enough for the sore lamentation which should
attend the obsequies of a lost soul. Eternity must be charged with
that boundless woe, and must utter it in weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth. Not the tongues of Prophets, nor of seraphs
could set forth all the sorrow of what it is to be condemned from
the mouth of Mercy, damned by the Savior who died to save,
pronounced accursed by rejected Love. The evil is so immense that
imagination finds no place, and understanding utterly fails.
Brethren, if our hearts do not yearn for men who are daily
hastening towards destruction, are we men at all? I could
abundantly justify compassion for perishing men, even on the
ground of natural feelings. A mother who did not, like Hagar, weep
for her dying child–call her not, "mother"–call her "monster." A
man who passes through the scenes of misery which even this city
presents in its more squalid quarters, and yet is never disturbed by
them, I venture to say he is unworthy of the name of man. Even the
common sorrows of our race may well suffuse our eyes with tears,
but the eternal sorrow, the infinite lake of misery–he who grieves
not for this, write him down a demon–though he wears the image
and semblance of a man.
Do not think the less of this argument because I base it upon
feelings common to all of woman born, for remember that Divine
Grace does not destroy our manhood when it elevates it to a higher
condition. In this instance what nature suggests Grace enforces.
The more we become what we shall be, the more will compassion
rule our hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the pattern and
mirror of perfect manhood–what did He say concerning the sins
and the woes of Jerusalem? He knew Jerusalem must perish. Did
He bury His pity beneath the fact of the Divine decree, and steel
His heart by the thought of the Sovereignty or the Justice that
would be resplendent in the city's destruction?
No, not He! With eyes gushing like founts, He cried, "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your
children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings!
And you would not." If you would be like Jesus, you must be
tender and very pitiful. You would be as unlike Him as possible if
we could sit down in grim content, and, with a Stoic's philosophy,
turn all the flesh within you into stone.
If it is natural, then, and above all, if it is natural to the higher
grace-given nature, I beseech you, let your hearts be moved with
pity! Do not endure to see the spiritual death of mankind! Be in
agony as often as you contemplate the ruin of any soul of the seed
of Adam. Brethren, the whole ruin and current, and tenor and spirit
of the Gospel influences us to compassion. You are debtors, for
what were you if compassion had not come to your rescue? Divine
compassion, all undeserved and free, has redeemed you from your
vain conversation.
Surely those who receive mercy should show mercy–those who
owe all they have to the pity of God should not be pitiless to their
Brethren. The Savior never for a moment tolerates the self-
righteous isolation which would make you despise the prodigal,
and cavil at his restoration, much less the Cainite spirit which cries,
"Am I my brother's keeper?" No doctrine is rightly received by
you if it freezes the genial current of your Christian compassion.
You may know the truth of the doctrine, but you do not know the
doctrine in the Truth of God if it makes you gaze on the wrath to
come without emotions of pity for immortal souls.
You shall find everywhere throughout the Gospel that it rings of
brotherly love, tender mercy, and weeping pity. If you have, indeed,
received it in its power, the love of Christ will melt your spirit to
compassion for those who are despising Christ, and sealing their
own destruction. Let me beseech you to believe that it is necessary
as well as justifiable that you should feel compassion for the sons
of men. You all desire to glorify Christ by becoming soul-winners–
I hope you do–and be it remembered that, other things being equal,
he is the fittest in God's hand to win souls who pities souls most.
I believe he preaches best who loves best, and in the Sunday
school and in private life each soul-seeker shall have the blessing
very much in proportion to his yearning for it. Paul becomes a
savior of many because his heart's desire and prayer to God was
that they may be saved. If you can live without souls being
converted, you shall live without their being converted. But if your
soul breaks for the longing that it has towards Christ's Glory and
the conversion of the ungodly. If like her of old you say, "Give me
children, or I die," your insatiable hunger shall be satisfied–the
craving of your spirit shall be gratified.
Oh, I would to God there should come upon us a Divine hunger
which cannot stay itself except men yield themselves to Jesus! An
intense, earnest, longing, panting desire that men should submit
themselves to the Gospel of Jesus! This will teach you better than
the best college training how to deal with human hearts. This will
give the stammering tongue the ready word. The hot heart shall
burn the cords which held fast the tongue. You shall become wise
to win souls, even though you never exhibit the brilliance of
eloquence or the force of logic. Men shall wonder at your power–
the secret shall be hidden from them, the fact being that the Holy
Spirit shall overshadow you, and your heart shall teach you
wisdom, God teaching your heart.
Deep feeling on your part for others shall make others feel for
themselves, and God shall bless you, and that right early. But I
stand not here any longer to justify what I would far rather
commend and personally feel–
"Did Christ over sinners weep,
And shall our cheeks be dry?
Let floods of consecrated grief
Stream forth from every eye."
Is God all love, and shall God's children be hard and cold? Shall
Heaven be compassionate and shall not earth that has received His
mercy send back the echo of compassion? O God, make us
imitators of You in Your pity towards erring men!
II. We shall pass on to notice THE SIGHT WHICH TRUE
COMPASSION DREADS. Like Hagar, the compassionate spirit
says, "Let me not see the death of the child," or as some have read
it, "How can I see the death of the child?" To contemplate a soul
passing away without hope is too terrible a task! I do not wonder
that ingenious persons have invented theories which aim at
mitigating the terrors of the world to come to the impenitent.
It is natural they should do so, for the facts are so alarming as
they are truthfully given us in God's Word, that if we desire to
preach comfortable doctrine and such as will quiet the consciences
of idle professors, we must dilute the awful Truth of God. The
Revelation of God concerning the doom of the wicked is so
overwhelming as to make it penal, no, I was about to say damnable,
to be indifferent and careless in the work of evangelizing the world.
I do not wonder that this error in doctrine springs up just now when
abounding callousness of heart needs an excuse for itself.
What better pillow for idle heads than the doctrine that the finally
impenitent become extinct? The logical reasoning of the sinner is,
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." And the professing
Christian is not slow to feel an ease of heart from pressing
responsibilities when he accepts so consolatory an opinion. Get rid
of this sleeping draught, I pray you, for in very deed the sharp
stimulant of the Truth itself is abundantly necessary.
Even when thus bestirred to duty we are sluggish enough, and
need not that these sweet but sleep-producing theories should
operate upon us. For a moment, I beseech you, contemplate that
which causes horror to every tender heart! Behold, I pray you, a
lost soul –lost beyond all hope of restitution. Heaven's gates have
shut upon the sanctified, and the myriads of the redeemed are
there–but that soul is not among them, for it passed out of this
world without having washed its robes in Jesus' blood. And
therefore there are no harps of gold, no thrones of glory, no
exultation with Christ–for that soul all the bliss of Heaven is
forever excluded.
This punishment of loss were a heavy enough theme for
contemplation. The old divines used to speak much of the poena
damni, or the punishment of loss. There were enough in that phase
of the future to make us mourn bitterly, as David did for Absalom.
My child shut out of Heaven! My husband absent from the seats of
the blessed! My sister, my brother not in Glory! When the Lord
counts up His chosen, my dear companions outside the gates of
pearl, outside the jeweled battlements of the New Jerusalem! O
God, it is a heartbreaking sorrow to think of this!
But then comes the punishment added to the loss. What says the
Savior? "Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched."
"These shall go away into everlasting punishment." And yet again,
"And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites." And yet again, "Into outer darkness: there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth." "Metaphors," you say! It is true,
but not meaningless metaphors. There is a meaning in each
expression–and rest assured though man's metaphors sometimes
exaggerate, God's never do.
His symbols everywhere are true. Never is there an exaggeration
in the language of Inspiration. Extravagances of utterance? He uses
them not! His figures are substantial Truth. Terrible as the
Scriptural emblems of punishment are, they set forth matters of
undoubted fact–which if a man could look upon this day–the sight
might blanch his hair, and quench his eyes. If we could hear the
wailings of the pit for a moment, we should earnestly entreat that
we might never hear them again.
We have to thank God that we are not allowed to hear the
dolorous cries of the lost, for if we did they would make our life
bitter as gall. I cast a veil over that which I cannot paint. Like
Hagar I cannot bear to look at the dread reality which it breaks my
heart to think upon. How all this gathers intensity, when it comes to
be our own child, our own friend! Hagar might, perhaps, have
looked upon a dying child, but not upon her dying Ishmael. Can
you bear now to think for a moment of the perdition of your own
flesh and blood? Does not your spirit flinch and draw back with
horror instinctively at the idea of one of your own family being
lost?
Yet, as a matter of stern fact, you know that some of them will be
lost if they die as they are now living! At God's right hand they
cannot stand unless they are made new creatures in Christ Jesus.
You know it! Do not try to forget it. It will greatly add to your
feeling of sorrow if you are forced to feel that the ruin of your child
or of any other person may have been partly caused by your
example. It must be a dreadful thing for a father to feel, "My boy
learned to drink from me. My child heard the first blasphemous
word from his father's lips."
Or Mother, if your dying daughter should say, "I was led into
temptation by my mother's example." What a grief will this be! O
parents converted late in life, you cannot undo the evil which you
have already done. God has forgiven you, but the mischief worked
in your children's characters is indelible, unless the Grace of God
steps in. I want you to seek after that Grace with great earnestness.
As you must confess that you have helped to train your child as a
servant of sin, will you not long to see your evil work undone
before it ends in your child's eternal destruction?
If we shall have to feel that the ruin of any of our friends or
relations is partly occasioned by our own personal neglect of
religion, it will cause us bitter pangs. If our example has been
excellent and admirable in all respects, but that we have forgotten
the Lord and His Christ, it will have been none the less injurious to
men's souls. I sometimes think that these examples are the very
worst in their effect.
Immoral, ungodly men can hardly work the same measure of
mischief as moral but unchristian men. I will tell you why. The
ungodly quote the orderly life of the moralist as an argument that
there can be goodness apart from Christianity, and this often helps
men to rest satisfied apart from Christ Jesus. And what, O Moralist,
though you never taught your child a vice, if you taught it unbelief,
and if your example helped to harm its heart in bold rebellion
against God? Ah, then, how will you blame yourself when you are
converted, or curse yourself if both you and your child perish.
Dear Friends, it makes a terrible addition to the sight of a soul
being lost if we have to feel we were under responsibility
concerning it, and have been, in any measure, unfaithful. I cannot
bear the idea of any of my congregation perishing, for in addition
to the compassion I hope I feel, I am influenced by a further
additional consideration, for I am set as a watchman to your souls.
When any die, I ask myself, "Was I faithful? Did I speak all the
Truth? And did I speak it from my very soul every time I
preached?"
John Walsh, the famous Scotch preacher, was often out of bed in
the coldest night, by the hours together, in supplication. And when
someone wondered that he spent so many hours upon his knees, he
said, "Ah, man, I have three thousand souls to give account of in
the Day of Judgment, and I do not know but what it is going very
ill with some of them." Alas, I have more than that to give account
of, and well may I cry to God that I may not see you perish! O may
it never be that you shall go from these pews to the lowest Hell.
You, too, my fellow Christian, have your own responsibilities,
each one in your measure–your children, your school classes, your
servants, yes, and your neighbors–for if you are not doing any good
and do not assume any responsibility towards the regions in which
you dwell, that responsibility rests upon you, none the less. You
cannot live in a district without being responsible to God for doing
something towards the bettering of the people among whom you
reside. Can you endure it, then, that your neighbors should sink
into Hell? Do not your hearts long for their salvation? Is it not an
awful thing that a soul should perish with the Gospel so near?
If Ishmael had died, and the water had been within bow shot, and
yet unseen till too late, it had been a dreadful reflection for the
mother. Would she not have torn her hair with double sorrow? And
yet many of you are being lost with the Gospel ringing in your ears.
You are perishing while Christ is lifted up before you! You are
dying in the camp through the serpent's bite, though the bronze
serpent is yonder before your eyes! And with many tears we cry to
you, "Look unto Jesus Christ, and live!"
Ah, woe is me, woe is me, if you perish when salvation is brought
so close home to you! Some of you are very near the kingdom of
God. You are very anxious, very concerned, but you have not
believed in Jesus. You have much that is good, but one thing you
lack. Will you perish for lack of only one thing? A thousand pities
will it be if you make shipwreck in the harbor's mouth and go to
Hell from the gates of Heaven! We must add to all this the
remembrance that it is not one soul which is lost, but tens of
thousands are going down to the pit.
Mr. Beecher said in one of his sermons, "If there were a great bell
hung high in Heaven which the angels swung every time a soul was
lost, how constantly would its solemn toll be heard!" A soul lost!
The thunder would not suffice to make a knell for a lost spirit. Each
time the clock ticks a soul departs out of this world, perhaps oftener
than that, and out of those who make the last journey, how few
mount to the skies. What multitudes descend to endless woe! O
Christians, pull up the sluices of your souls and let your hearts pour
out themselves in rivers of compassion.
III. In the third place, I said I would speak upon COMPASSION
FOR THE SOULS OF MEN–THE TEMPTATION IT MUST
RESIST. We must not fall into the temptation to imitate the
example of Hagar too closely. She put the child under the shrubs
and turned her gaze away from the all too mournful spectacle. She
could not endure to look, but she sat where she could watch in
despair.
There is a temptation with each one of us to try to forget that
souls are being lost. I can go home to my house along respectable
streets, and naturally should choose that way, for then I need not
see the poverty of the lowest quarters of the city. But am I right if I
try to forget that there are Bethnal Greens and Kent Streets, and
such like abodes of poverty? The close courts, the cellars, the
crowded garrets, the lodging houses–am I to forget that these exist?
Surely the only way for a charitable mind to sleep comfortably in
London is to forget how one half of the population lives.
But is it our object to live comfortably? Are we such brute beasts
that comfort is all we care for? Like swine in their sty? No,
Brethren, let us recall to our memories the sins of our great city–its
sorrows and griefs, and let us remember also the sins and sorrows
of the wide, wide world–and the tens of thousands of our race who
are passing constantly into eternity. No, look at them! Do not close
those eyes! Does the horror of the vision make your eyeballs ache?
Then look until your heart aches, too, and your spirit breaks forth
in vehement agony before the Lord.
Look down into Hell a moment! Open the door wide. Listen, and
listen yet again. You say you cannot, it sickens your soul. Let it be
sickened! And in its swooning let it fall back into the arms of Christ
the Savior, and breathe out a cry that He would hasten to save men
from the wrath to come. Do not ignore, I pray you, what exists. It is
a matter of fact that in this congregation many are going down to
Hell–that in this city there are multitudes who are hastening as
certainly to perdition as time is hastening to eternity.
It is no dream, no fiction of a fevered brain that there is a Hell. If
you think so, then why dare you call yourselves Christians?
Renounce your Bible, renounce your Baptism, renounce your
profession if one spark of honesty remains in you. Call not
yourselves Christians when you deny the teaching of your Master!
Since assuredly there is a dreadful Hell, shut not your eyes to it!
Put not the souls of your fellows away among the shrubs, and sit
not down in supineness. Come and look, come and look, I say, till
your hearts break at the sight! Hear the cries of dying men whose
consciences are awakened too late.
Hear the groans of spirits who are feeling the sure consequences
of sin, where sin's cure will never avail them. Let this stir you, my
Brethren, to action–to action immediate and intense. You tell me I
preach dreadful things. Yes, and they are wanted, they are wanted.
Was there ever such a happy age as this? Were there ever such
sleepy persons as ourselves? Take heed lest you take sad
precedence of all others in the accusations of conscience, because
knowing the Gospel, and enjoying it, you nevertheless use so little
exertion in spreading it abroad among the human race. Let us shun
the temptation which Hagar's example might suggest.
IV. I will now speak upon THE PATH WHICH TRUE
COMPASSION WILL BE SURE TO FOLLOW. And what is that?
First of all, true pity does all it can. Before Hagar sat down and
wept, she had done her utmost for her boy. She had given him the
last drop from the bottle. She had supported his tottering footsteps.
She had sought out the place under the shrubs where he might be a
little sheltered. She had laid him down gently with soothing words,
and then, but not till then, she sat herself down.
Have we done all that it is possible for us to do for the
unconverted around us? There are preventable causes of men's
ruin. Some causes you and I cannot touch–but there are some we
ought at once to remove. For instance, it is certain that many perish
through ignorance. It ought never to be that a soul should perish of
ignorance within a mile of where a Christian lives. I would even
allot a wider area in regions where the people dwell not so thickly.
It should at least be the resolve of each Christian, "Within this
district where I live, so far as my ability goes, everybody shall
know the Gospel by some means or other. If I cannot speak to each
one, I will send something for him to read. It shall not be said that a
man lost his way forever because he had no Bible. The Holy Spirit
alone can lead men into the Truth, but it is our part to put the letter
of the Word before all men's eyes."
Prejudice, too, is another preventable cause of unbelief. Some
will not hear the Gospel, or listen to it, because of their notions of
its sternness, or of the moroseness of its professors. Such a
prejudice may effectually close their hearts. Be it yours to remove
it. Be kind to the ungodly. Be loving, be tender, be affable, be
generous to them, so that you may remove all unnecessary
antipathy to the Gospel of Jesus. Do them all the good you can for
their bodies, that they may be the more likely to believe in your
love towards their souls. Let it be said by each one here, "If a soul
perishes, I, at least, will have done all in my power to reclaim it."
But what does compassion do next? Having done all it can, it sits
down and weeps over its own feebleness. I have not the pathos
wherewith to describe to you the mother sitting there and pouring
out her tears, and lifting up her plaintive voice over her child. The
voice of a broken heart cannot be described, it must be heard. But,
ah, there is wonderful power with God in the strong crying and
tears of His people! If you know how to weep before the Lord, He
will yield to tears what He will not yield to anything besides.
O you Saints! Compassionate sinners–sigh and cry for them! Be
able to say, as Whitfield could to his congregation, "Sirs, if you are
lost, it is not for want of my weeping for you, for I pour out my
soul day and night in petitions unto God that you may live." When
Hagar's compassion had wailed itself out, she looked unto God,
and God heard her. Take care that your prayers are abundant and
continuous for those who are dying without hope. And then what
else does Hagar teach us? She stood there ready to do anything that
was necessary after the Lord had interposed.
The angel opened her eyes–until then she was powerless, and sat
and wept, and prayed. But when he pointed to the well, did she
linger for a minute? Was she unprepared with the bottle to draw
water? Did she delay to put it to her child's lips? Was she slack in
the blessed task? Oh, no! With what eagerness did she spring to the
well! With what speed did she fill the bottle! With what motherly
joy did she hasten to her child and give him the saving draught!
And so I want every member here to stand ready to mark the
faintest indication of Grace in any soul. Watch always for the
beginning of their conversion. Be ready with the bottle of promise
to carry a little comfort to their parched lips. Watch with a mother's
earnestness! Watch for the opportunity of doing good to souls–
yearn over them–so that when God shall work, you shall work with
Him instantly, and Jesus shall not be hindered because of your
carelessness and want of faith. This is the path which the true
Christian should pursue. He is earnest for souls, and therefore he
lays himself out for them.
If we did really know what souls are, and what it is for them to be
cast away, those of us who have done very little or nothing would
begin to work for Christ directly. It is said in old classic story that a
certain king of Lydia had a son who had been dumb from his birth.
But when Lydia was captured, a soldier was about to kill the king,
when the young man suddenly found a tongue, and cried out,
"Soldier, would you kill the king?" He had never spoken a word
before, but his astonishment and fear gave him speech.
And I think if you had been dumb to that moment, if you, indeed,
saw your own children and neighbors going down into the pit, you
would cry out, "Though I never spoke before I will speak now!
Poor Souls, believe in Christ, and you shall be saved." You do not
know how such an utterance as that, however simple, might be
blessed. A very little child once found herself in company with an
old man of eighty–a fine old man who loved little children, and
who took the child upon his knee to talk to it. The little one turning
round to him said, "Sir, I got a grandpa just like you, and my
grandpa loves Jesus Christ, do you?"
He said, "I was eighty-four years of age and had lived always
among Christian people, but nobody ever thought it worth his while
to say as much as that to me." That little child was the instrument
of the old man's conversion! So have I heard the story–he knew he
had not loved the Savior, and he began to seek Him. And in his old
age he found salvation. If as much as that is possible to a child, it is
possible to you. O dear Brothers and Sisters, if you love Jesus,
burst the bonds of timidity, or they may become lethargic–snap all
fetters! And from this day on, feel that you cannot bear to think of
the ruin of a soul, and must seek its salvation if there is in earth or
Heaven ways and means by which you can bring a blessing to it.
But I must close, and the last point shall be THE
ENCOURAGEMENT WHICH TRUE COMPASSION FOR
SOULS WILL ALWAYS RECEIVE. First take the case in hand.
The mother compassionated, God compassionated, too. You pity,
God pities. The motions of God's Spirit in the souls of His people
are the footfalls of God's eternal purposes about to be fulfilled. It is
always a hopeful sign for a man that another man prays for him.
There is a difficulty in getting a man to Hell whom a child of God
is drawing towards Heaven by his intercessions.
Satan is often defeated in his temptations by the intercession of
the saints. Have hope, then, that your personal sense of compassion
for souls is an indication that such souls God will bless. Ishmael,
whom Hagar pitied, was a lad about whom promises had been
made large and broad. He could not die. She had forgotten that, but
God had not. No thirst could possibly destroy him, for God had
said he would make of him a great nation. Let us hope that those
for whom you and I are praying and laboring are in God's eternal
purpose secured from Hell because the blood of Christ has bought
them, and they must be the Lord's.
Our prayers are ensigns of the will of God. The Holy Spirit leads
us to pray for those whom He intends effectually to call. Moreover,
those we pray for–we may not know it–but there may be in their
souls at this time a stirring of Divine life. Hagar did not know that
her son was praying, but God did. The lad did not speak, but God
heard his heart cry. Children are often very reticent to their parents.
Often and often have I talked with young lads about their souls,
who have told me that they could not talk to their fathers upon such
matters.
I know it was so with me. When I was under concern of soul the
last persons I should have elected to speak to upon religion would
have been my parents–not out of want of love to them, nor absence
of love on their part. But so it was. A strange feeling of diffidence
pervades a seeking soul, and drives it from its friends. Those whom
you are praying for may be praying, too, and you do not know it.
But the time of love will come when their secret yearnings will be
revealed to your earnest endeavors.
The lad was preserved, after all. The well of waters was revealed,
and the bottle put to his lips. It will be a great comfort to you to
believe that God will hear importunate prayers. Your child will be
saved! Your husband will be brought in yet, good Woman–only
pray on! Your neighbor shall be brought to hear the Truth and be
converted–only be earnest about it.
I do not know how to preach this morning. The tongue cannot
readily speak when the heart feels too much. I pray that we may
have a great revival of religion in our midst as a Church. My spirit
longs and pants for it. I see a great engine of enormous strength,
and a well-fashioned machine–the machine cannot work by itself–it
has no power in it. But if I could get the belt to unite the machine
with the engine, what might be done!?
Behold, I see the Omnipotence of God, and the organization of
this Church. O that I could get the belt to bind the two together!
The belt is living faith. Do you possess it? Brethren, help me to
pass it round the fly wheel, and oh, how God will work, and we
will work through His power, and what glorious things shall be
done for Christ! We must receive power from on High, and faith is
the belt that shall convey that power to us. The Divine strength
shall be manifest through our weakness. Cease not to pray! More
than you ever have done, intercede for a blessing, and the Lord will
bless us–He will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear
Him. Amen. PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE
SERMON –Romans 10. And Genesis 21:1-21
Ge 21:19 • Eyes Opened
ERMON 1461
Eyes Opened
"And God opened her eyes."
Genesis 21:19
THERE was a well of water close to Hagar, all the while, though
she saw it not. God did not cleave the earth and cause new waters
to gush forth, nor was there need. The well was already there, but
for all practical purposes it might not have been there, for she could
not see it. The water was gone in her bottle, her child was dying of
thirst and she was ready to faint–and yet the cool spring was
bubbling up hard by the spot! It was necessary that she should see
the well, quite as necessary as that the well should be there and,
therefore, the Lord, in great compassion, led her to see it, or, as the
text puts it, "God opened her eyes."
This was a small matter compared with the creation of a new-
form rain, but our God does very little things as well as very great
things when there is need for them. The same God who divides the
Red Sea and makes the Jordan to be dried up, opens a poor
woman's eyes. The same God who came with all His chariots of
fire to Paran and with all His holy ones to Sinai and made the
mountain utterly to smoke in His Presence, is He of whom we read,
"and God opened Hagar's eyes." The Infinite Lord is at home in
doing little things. He counts the stars, but He also numbers the
hairs of our heads. Remember that the same God who molded the
orb on which we dwell, also fashions every tiny dewdrop! And He
who makes the lightning bolt to fly through the midst of Heaven,
wings every butterfly and guides every minnow in the brook!
He prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, but He also prepared a
little worm to destroy the gourd. How condescending He is, since
He carefully attends to minor matters for His children and not only
kills for them the fatted calf, but puts shoes on their feet.
Sometimes very little things become absolutely necessary, for they
act as the hinges of history, the pivots upon which the future turns.
How frequently the whole course of a man's career has been
affected by a moment's thought. The word of a child has affected
the destiny of an empire–the chance expression of a speaker–as
men talk of chance, has fired races with a new passion and changed
times and shaken kingdoms.
The Lord works gloriously by agents and events small and
despised. God, by opening Hagar's eyes, secured the existence of
the Ishmaelite race, which even to this day remains–from the little
comes the great. There may be persons present who need but very
little to enable them to enter into eternal life–they need only that
their eyes should be opened! May the Lord grant them that favor!
O that He may now bid many a Hagar see His salvation! Why
should the thirsty souls wait any longer? Everything is ready–they
are on the borders of salvation–but they need that their eyes should
be opened.
Our subject at this time shall be the opening of eyes, taking rather
a wide range, because it is a wide subject, and hoping that both to
those who see and to those who cannot see, there may come a
gracious opening of the spiritual eye.
Our first head shall be that IF OUR EYES WERE FURTHER
OPENED, THE RESULT TO ANY ONE OF US WOULD BE
VERY REMARKABLE. We are at present limited in our range of
sight. This is true of our natural or physical vision, of our mental
vision and of our spiritual vision. And in each case, when the range
of sight is enlarged, very remarkable discoveries are made. God has
been pleased to open the natural eyes of mankind by the invention
of optical instruments. What a discovery it was when, first of all,
certain pieces of glass were arranged in connection with each other
and men began to peer into the stars!
What a change has come over the knowledge of our race by the
invention of the telescope! How much of truly devout, adoring
thought and of deep, intense, unutterable reverence has been born
into the world by the Lord's having, in this sense, opened men's
eyes! When he turned his telescope upon the nebulae and
discovered that these were innumerable stars, what a hymn of
praise must have burst from the reverent astronomer's heart! How
infinite You are, most glorious Lord! What wonders have You
created! Let Your name be had in reverence forever and ever!
Equally marvelous was the effect upon human knowledge when
the microscope was invented. We could never have imagined what
wonders of skill and of taste would be revealed by the magnifying
glass and what marvels of beauty would be found compressed
within a space too small to measure! Who dreamed that a butterfly
wing would display art and wisdom and a delicacy never to be
rivaled by human workmanship? The most delicate work of art is
rough, crude, raw, compared with the most common object in
Nature! The one is the production of man, the other the handiwork
of God!
Spend an evening with the microscope and if your heart is right,
you will lift your eye away from the glass to Heaven and exclaim,
"Great God, You are as wonderful in the little as You are in the
great and as much to be praised for the minute as for the
magnificent!" While we say, "Great are You, O God, for You made
the great and wide sea and the leviathan whose lot it is to play
there," we feel that we can also say, "Great are You, O Lord, for
You made the drop of water and have filled it with innumerable
living things."
Our physical eyes opened by either glass, reveal strange marvels
and we may infer from this fact that the opening of our mental and
spiritual eyes will discover to us equal wonders in other domains
and thus increase our reverence and love towards God. Suppose,
dear Brothers and Sisters, that our eyes could be opened as to all
our past lives. We have seen them, for we have traveled through
them. But it was very cloudy when I went that way–I do not know
how it was with you. None of us have our eyes thoroughly opened
yet–we have up to now been traveling through life as men who
journey in a mist. Even the things which have come close to us and
have most affected us, have been hidden, as it were, in that which is
not light, but visible darkness.
And now, if we could look back upon the whole length of life–40,
or 50, or 60, or 70 years with our eyes opened–how amazing it
would look! Our childhood–how different that period would now
appear with God's light upon it! Those early struggles for a
livelihood–we thought them difficult–but we already begin to see
what discipline there was in them and how necessary they were for
us. Those losses and crosses–why even with our present partial
sight we can see how much they were for our good! Yet there
remains in life some singular things which we cannot, as yet,
explain.
Why was the favorite son taken away just when all our hopes
were to have been fulfilled in him? Why was the husband struck
down when the little children were so dependent? Why was the
wife removed when a mother's care was most needed? Why fell
that daughter sick so suddenly? Why were we, ourselves, balked in
the moment of success? If our eyes could be opened so that we
could see what would have been if things had gone differently, we
would, all of us, thank God that our lives were ordered as they have
been! Have you never heard of one who was grievously lamenting
the death of his favorite son and, falling asleep, dreamed that he
saw his boy alive, again, and that he beheld the life which that son
would have led?
It was such a life that he wept in his dream and, waking, he
blessed God that his son could never act according to what he had
seen in vision–it was better that he should be dead. Repine no
more, my sorrowing Friend, for that which you would have kept in
your bosom might have turned into a viper! That which you
thought a treasure might have burned in your heart like coals of
fire! Providence has ordered all things wisely and if our eyes were
opened, we would bow in adoring reverence and magnify the God
who has done all things well! Our vision will be strengthened one
day so that we shall see the end from the beginning–and then we
shall understand that the Lord makes all things work together for
good to them that love Him.
And now suppose, again, our eyes should be opened upon the
future. Yes, would you not like to spy into destiny? My curiosity is,
probably, as great as yours, but still it is balanced by another
faculty and I declare that if I could see into tomorrow I would
refuse to look! There is a desire in man to know what lines are
written for him in the book of fate–whether they shall be bright or
dark. Ah, dear Friend, if your eyes could be opened as to all that is
to happen, what would you do? If you were wise and knew your
future, you would commit it unto God–commit it to Him though
you do not know it! If you were wise you would wish to spend that
future in His service if you knew it–spend it in His service though
it is hidden from you!
If you knew what would happen, you would feel great need for
faith–you do not know what will happen, but your need of faith is
precisely the same! Trust in God, come what may! This thing is
certain–that to live unsaved and unforgiven is a very dangerous
condition! God help you to get out of it at once by flying to Jesus
for present salvation and finding it on the spot! If you knew the
future, it might make you idle, but it ought to make you diligent! If
you knew the future, it might make you vain, but it should make
you humble! If you knew the future, it might make you despondent,
but it should make you trust! At any rate, knowing nothing at all
about it, obey the voice of the Holy Spirit who says, "Commit your
ways unto the Lord: trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass:
and He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your
judgment as the noon-day."
If our eyes were opened, again, on another point, as to the
existence of angels, we would see marvels! We will enter into no
speculations but what a sight would be before us if suddenly we
could behold all the creatures that are round about us! The Prophet
of old prayed for a young man that his eyes might be opened and
immediately he saw horses of fire and chariots of fire round about
Elisha! So do angels encircle the people of God! "The angel of the
Lord camps round about them that fear Him." "He shall give His
angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways: they shall
bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone."
"Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them
that are heirs of salvation?"
Millions of spiritual creatures walk this earth, both when we sleep
and when we wake and, if we were more like those pure spirits and
more familiar with their Master, we should feel more gratitude to
Him for setting them round about us. Fear not, you are not alone, O
child of God! Your Father never calls off your bodyguard! The evil
spirit comes to tempt you, but the Lord has set His sentinel angel to
keep watch that no ill may approach you. If the Lord opened the
eyes of His greatly beloved servants to see how many of these
mighty intelligences are silently guarding them, they would cease
to complain of loneliness while in the midst of such a thronging
ministry of willing friends!
And what, once more, if your eyes could be opened to look into
Heaven? Where it is we do not know. It is not very far away. At any
rate, the glorified know what we do here, for they rejoice over one
sinner that repents! Evidently, too, it takes not long to travel there,
for it was eventide when Jesus told the thief that he should be with
Him in Paradise that very day and you may be sure he was there!
Oh, that we could see the place of unveiled Glory and unmingled
bliss as we shall see it in an instant when our Father's messenger,
called Death, shall strike the scales from our eyes, or rather,
remove these dim optics with which we blunderingly see and let
our naked spirit gaze on the reality of things without these
hindering eyes which do but inform us of their outward show!
Oh, what glories shall we see then! What splendor above the light
of the sun! What music, sweeter than harpers harping with their
harps! What glory! Solomon knew not the likes of this! There is the
Light of all lights, the Delight of all delights, the Heaven of
heavens, the Sun of our soul, our All in All–Jesus Christ, the Truth
of God! What bliss to be with Him–with Him forever and ever!
Break, eternal morning! Break even now! Would God that, at least
for once, till the day breaks and the shadows flee away, we had our
eyes opened to see the Glories beyond–then this poor world would
be despised by us–we would forget its pains and pleasures!
We would rise superior to all its influences and we would rise to
be heavenly ourselves! Wait awhile, Brothers and Sisters. Wait for
a very little while. Wait a "wee and dinna weary," as the Scottish
woman said, and you shall see it all–
"Just when You will, O Bridegroom, say,
'Rise up, My love, and come away!'
Open to me Your golden gate
Just when You will, or soon or late."
So far, I have wandered from the text, but now, in my second
head, I will come back to it.
II. IN SOME THINGS OUR EYES MUST BE OPENED. Those I
have spoken about are desirable in a measure, but these are
absolutely necessary. For instance, as to Divine salvation, our eyes
must be opened. Hagar's case is a strange one. Picture it. She is
thirsty and her boy is dying–her instincts are quickened by her love
to her child and yet she cannot see a well of water. There it is!
Close to her! Do you not see it? Just there! She cannot see it till her
eyes are opened. It is as plain as a pikestaff, but she does not
perceive it.
Now, this is a graphic representation of the position of many a
seeking sinner. There is the way of salvation and, if there is
anything plain in the world, it is that road of life! The fact that two
times two make four is no plainer than–"Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved." "Look unto the Son of God and
live"–what can be more simple? And yet nobody did ever
understand the doctrine of, "believe and live," till God opened his
eyes! The well is there, but the thirsty soul cannot see it. Christ is
there, but the sinner cannot see Him. There is the Fountain filled
with blood, but he does not know how to wash in it.
There stand the words, "Believe and live"–simple words that need
no explanation! They are legible by their own the darkened
eyeballs of the sinner, he cannot and he will not perceive the self-
evident Truth of God! Why this inability to see? I suppose Hagar's
eyes were somewhat darkened by her grief. She was broken-
hearted, poor woman and, therefore, her eyes were not so clear as
usual.
So some souls have such grief for sin; such sorrow for having
offended God; such fear of wrath to come that they cannot perceive
the Truth of God which would comfort them. What ails you, poor
Soul? What ails you? It is well that you grieve for sin, but Christ
has come to put it away! It is well that you mourn your lost estate,
but Christ has come to save you and there He is, right before you if
you can but see Him! It was unbelief, too, that darkened Hagar's
eyes. God had appeared to her years before, you remember, when
she was in very much the same plight, and He had given her a
promise that He would make of her son that was to be born a great
nation. She might have reflected that this could never happen
unless the boy's life was preserved–and since he could not live
without a drink of water she should have felt confident that water
would be forthcoming.
She was unbelieving, but it is not ours to judge her for, alas, we
are unbelieving, too! Anxious Soul, is that your case? Oh, if you
could believe! Truly, you have good cause! It should not be hard to
believe what God says, for He cannot lie! But, still, unbelief
darkens many an eye. There are many who cannot see because of
self-conceit. When great Self feasts his eyes upon his own good
works or religious performances, of course he cannot see the way
of salvation by Christ alone! The Lord take these scales from your
eyes, poor Sinner, for Self is a great maker of darkness! Nothing
more surely holds a soul in gloom than a conceit of its own powers.
How I wish I could so put the Gospel as to win men from self! I
preach the plan of salvation as plainly as ever I can. I use very
homely metaphors. I have sometimes even employed what the
more refined call vulgar expressions–I would be more vulgar, still,
if I could thereby help a soul to see Christ!
I tell you Jesus is near to you and within your reach and that
salvation is close at your feet! You have but to trust in the Lord
Jesus Chris, and you shall be saved! But I know that, after all is
said and done, if you ever see Christ, it will be because the Holy
Spirit opens your eyes. I cannot open them, nor any other mortal
man! Since the world began it has not been known that any man
has opened the eyes of one that was born blind. Oh, that the Lord
would be pleased, now, to open the eyes of every sinner here to see
salvation in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
III. I must leave that point and finish with one more. IN OUR
PRESENT CASE IT IS VERY DESIRABLE THAT OUR EYES
SHOULD BE OPENED. To many it is imperatively necessary at
this very moment, for if not now recovered from their blindness
they will die in their sins! In this great throng there are some to
whom it is pre-eminently desirable that their eyes should be opened
at once to see what the inevitable result of their present mode of
life will be, for their blindness is the source of great peril to them.
That young gentleman who is spending his money upon the race
course and loose society–I should think he might see with half an
eye what will come of his conduct! The devil never runs express
trains to Hell–there is no need for them–for you can go there fast
enough by racehorses!
The turf has furnished to many an express method of ruining their
fortunes and their souls! Get into that line of things–and all it
means and all the society that goes with it–and your future needs
no prophet. Many young men do not think till it is too late to think.
I wish I could put a cool hand upon that hot brow and stop that
young man and make him stand still and consider. O that the Lord
would open his eyes! And that young woman who has begun to
look (not much, as yet) on what is called gaiety. Ah, the Lord stop
you, my Sister, and open your eyes before you go one step farther–
for one step farther may be your ruin!
And that tradesman who has begun–no, he has not quite begun as
yet–but he is thinking about a course of trade which will land him
in something more shameful than bankruptcy. I pray the Lord to
open his eyes that he may see matters in the true light. I see a man
before me who is about to commit moral suicide. O for a gleam of
light, just now, and a touch of that finger which can open blind
eyes! I cannot particularize and go into every case, but I have upon
me a strong impression that I am speaking to some young man
whose future depends upon his prudent pausing and careful
consideration before he puts his foot down again. One step more
and you fall! I beseech you, stand still and hear what God would
speak to you! Turn, turn from your sins and seek your Savior, now,
and He will be found of you at once and there shall be a life
honorable and bright before you to His Glory! But if you go one
step farther in the way in which the tempter's charms, like siren
music, would entice you, you are lost forever! God help you,
therefore, to stop, and may it be said of you, "God opened his
eyes."
Now, leaving all these themes of thought, I would remind you
that we are about to gather at the Communion Table and there we
should sit with opened eyes. Those who love the Lord cannot
endure to sit as blind men in His palace, but they long for all the
sight which Grace can give them. First, we would have opened
eyes that we may see Jesus to be very near us. Do not think of Him,
just now, as if He were far away in Heaven. He is there in His
glorious Personality, but His spiritual Presence is here, also. Did He
not say, "Lo, I am with you always" and, "If I go away I will come
again"? He abides with us by His Spirit forever! Come, let us sit
while this sacramental feast is going on, and sing –
"Amidst us our Beloved stands,
And bids us view His pierced hands.
He points to His wounded feet and side,
Blest emblems of the Crucified.
If now with eyes defiled and dim,
We see the signs but see not Him,
Oh may His love the scales displace,
And bid us see Him face to face!
Our former transports we recount,
When with Him in the holy mount,
These cause our souls to thirst anew,
His marred but lovely face to view."
We desire that you may have your eyes opened to see what you
are in Christ. You complain that you are black in yourselves–but
you are most fair in Him! You lament that you are so wandering,
yes, but you are fixed in Him! You mourn that you are so weak–yet
you are strong in Him! A good man went, the other day, to visit a
poor child who was dying–a child whom the Lord had taught many
things–and the dear little fellow, as he put out his wasted hand said,
"So strong in Christ." He could hardly lift a finger and yet he knew
that his weakness was clothed with power in Christ!
We are poor puny things, but we can do all things through Christ!
We are poor foolish things, but we are wise in Christ. We are good-
for-nothing things, but we are so precious in Christ, so dear to God
in Christ as to be numbered with His jewels and known as the
Lord's peculiar portion! We are sinful creatures in ourselves and
yet we are perfect in Christ Jesus and complete in Him. These are
strong expressions, but as they are Scriptural, they are assuredly
true. How blessed we are in our Covenant Head! The Lord open
our eyes to see this.
Lastly, dear Friends, may the Lord open your eyes to see what
you will be in Him. Ah, what will you be in Christ? In a very little
while we shall be with Him. Many of our members have gone
home to Jesus and one very earnest Brother, very diligent in
working for the Master–a young man of whom we expected much–
has been swept away by the receding tide while bathing in the sea.
He has gone to his rest, I doubt not. Older friends have also
ascended to God just lately, rejoicing to enter into the joy of the
Lord.
Between now and next month's Communion some of us will,
probably, have departed to the Father. Let our eyes be opened to
behold, by faith, the Glory soon to be revealed. It may almost make
you laugh for joy to think of your head wearing a crown–that poor
head of yours! These poor aching knees and weary feet–there will
be no more toil for them! That poor scantily furnished room, hard
fare, narrow means and weary labor will all be exchanged for
mansions of rest, bread of bliss and new wine of delight! You know
each pavement stone between here and your house, for you come
so often to the Tabernacle–but you will be walking the streets of
gold before long to the eternal Temple above! Instead of noisy
streets you will traverse paths of rest amid the songs of seraphs and
the Psalms of the redeemed and that, perhaps, within a month.
Yes, in less than it takes the moon to fill her horns you shall be
where the Lord God and the Lamb are the eternal Light! Certain of
us are nearer Heaven than we think. Let our hearts dance for joy at
the bare thought of such speedy joy! Let us go on our way blessing
and magnifying Him who has opened our eyes to see the Glory
which He has prepared for them that love Him, which shall be ours
before long. God bless you for Christ's sake. PORTION OF
SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Genesis 21:1-21.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–852, 785.
LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON:TO MY FRIENDS IN
ENGLAND,
Until yesterday the weather here has been so unsettled that it was
not favorable to my complaint, but now I hope it has taken a turn
for the better and will be more suitable for rheumatic joints. It has
taken me six weeks to get rid of the disease and now I hope to
spend the rest of my sojourn here in gathering strength. If it may
please God to permit me to return in full vigor to my delightful
work, I shall indeed rejoice! Till then be so good as to maintain by
your prayers and liberality the good works over which I have so
long presided, so that there may be no lack. College, Orphanage,
Colportage and Evangelists are all work and must not be forgotten.
May the Lord's own blessing rest on them all. Yours heartily, C. H.
SPURGEON, Mentone, February 28, 1879
Ge 21:19 • A Welcome Discovery
ERMON 1123
A Welcome Discovery
"God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went
and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink."
Genesis 21:19
You know the story of Hagar–of her being sent out from
Abraham's tent with her son Ishmael. It was necessary that they
should be sent away from the child of promise. God, nevertheless,
had designs of good towards Ishmael and his mother. Still He tried
them. Whether we are saints or sinners, we shall meet with
tribulation. Whether it is Sarah or Hagar, no life shall be without its
affliction. To Hagar the affliction came in a very painful manner,
for the little water that she had brought with her in her bottle was
spent. She must give her child drink, or it would die and then she,
byand-by, must follow. She laid the boy down, giving him up in
despair and began to weep what she thought would be her last
flood of tears.
Still there was no real cause for her distress. She need not have
thirsted. She was close by a well! In her grief she had failed to see
it. The distraction of her spirit had made her look everywhere
except the one place where she would have found exactly what she
needed. God therefore spoke to her by an angel, and after having
done that He opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, which, I
suppose, had always been there. When she saw it, she went at once
to it, filled her bottle, gave her child a drink and all her sorrows
were over. It seemed a very simple remedy for a very sad case. It is
but an illustration of what is often happening in human life.
Men and women come into sore trouble, and yet, if they could see
all around them they need not be in trouble. They actually come to
death's door, in their own judgment, and yet there really is, if they
understood all things, no cause for their distress. They will escape
out of their present trial as soon as ever their eyes are opened, for
they will see that God has made provision for their necessities,
prepared comfort for their griefs and made such a way of escape
from their fears that they need by no means give way to despair.
I desire to speak to persons who are in trouble. There are three
things I shall bring before them. The first is that it often happens
with seeking persons and troubled persons, that, as in Hagar's case,
the supply of their necessities is close at hand–the well is near.
Secondly, it often happens that that supply is as much there as if it
had been provided for them and for them only, as this well seemed
to have been. And, thirdly, no great exertion is needed to procure
from the supply already made by God all that we need. She filled
her bottle with water–a joyful task to her–and she gave the lad
drink.
It often happens that when we are in trouble and distress THE
SUPPLY OF OUR NEED AND THE CONSOLATION FOR OUR
SORROW ARE VERY NEAR AT HAND. There is a well close at
our feet, if we could but see it. We miss it, perhaps, not because it
is far away, but because our eyes are not open. There is no
necessity for God to make a well–that has been done. What is
necessary is that He should open our eyes that we may see what is
already there. How true this often is in Providence with Christian
people. We have known them to be in sore alarm at some
approaching ill, or in the most fearful distress on account of some
troublous circumstances which already surround them. They have
said, "We don't know what we shall do tomorrow." They have
inquired. "Who shall roll away the stone?"
They know not that God has already provided for tomorrow and
has rolled the stone away. If they knew all, they would understand