would put the whip in the manger and feed God’s people, then they would be able to run the heavenly race. But now it is all whip and no grain, and no creature can subsist upon that. No child of God can ever grow strong in grace with mere exhortation, if it is not associated with good old fashioned doctrine. I would like to hear all our pulpits sounding with the old fashioned doctrine of John Owen, and of such men as Bunyan, and Charnock, and Goodwin, and those men of olden time who knew the truth and dared to preach it fully. There were giants in those days. In every parish church in the city of London, and in this borough too, you might have found men who were not children in divinity, but masterly men, each of them able to declare the word of God with the authority of a master in Israel. Now where do we find such? We labour and we strive, we dig, we toil, we seek to be something, and we end in being nothing. And so it must be as long as hands are weak and knees are feeble; and so also must this be as long as good doctrine is denied to us, and truth is kept back in the ministry. Feed God’s children well; give them comfort; give them much to feed upon of the sweet things of the kingdom of God; and then they will grow strong, then they will begin to work.
17. But, again, fear is the great weakness of men’s knees; doubt and distrust are the great relaxers of the strength of men’s hands. He who has faith in God is almost omnipotent; he who has might in prayer (through the Holy Spirit), is quite so. He who believes God with all his heart, there is no one in the world that can overpower him; and he who prays to God with all fervency of soul, may overcome the divine omnipotence itself, and move the arm that moves the world. Give a man faith, and he is in the midst of his enemies, like a lion amid a herd of dogs; he sweeps them away. With what an easy motion of his gigantic strength he rips them open and lays them dead. Nothing can stand against the man who believes. He plants his standard in the midst of rocks: he stands beside it and draws his sword, and cries, “Come one, come all: this rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I, I am a match for you, I believe, and therefore I have spoken, I believe still, and therefore I speak again; and I will not move though hell and earth come against me,” But when a man becomes doubting and timid, where is his strength? The moment you doubt, away goes your might. Strong feet make a man mighty, but a strong knee makes him mightier still. Christ’s soldiers always win their battles on their knees. On their feet they may be conquered, but on their knees they are invincible. The praying legion is the thundering legion. Napoleon sent out his old guard in the last extremity of the battle of Waterloo. They had always carried victory with them, but they were at last defeated. But the old guard of the church of Christ is the legion of prayer. The men who are mighty on their knees, these never have been defeated. When they march on in steady phalanx, they are mightier than the push of bayonet, though British arms and British hearts should drive the bayonet home. Nothing can stand against the men who pray. Just let the church fall on its knees, and it shall have might to make the enemy fall on ITS knees — not in prayer, but in terror and dismay. Other warriors say, “Up soldiers and attack them!” Our cry is, “Down soldiers on your knees and attack them!” There on your knees you become mighty; you draw near to the great seat of God, and then you draw near to the fountain of your strength and of your triumph. Then fear must be gotten rid of. We must labour with God, that he would be pleased to give us strong faith; that we may not doubt the word of God, nor doubt our interest, nor doubt his love, nor doubt our perseverance, but may believe and become mighty, having no longer weak hands and feeble knees.
18. Let me add one more thought only; namely this, that sloth may make a man weak in his hands and in his feet. Arms become strong by using them. The blacksmith gets a brawny hand by constantly using his hammer. He who climbs the mountain, or walks many a mile a day, becomes strong in his feet. Those who sit still and walk only a little while are wearied with a few miles; but those who have tramped through continents are not quickly wearied. Use makes us strong, but sloth enfeebles us. There are many of you who might be stronger if you laboured more. What a lazy corporation the church of Christ is! Considering everything, I think there are more lazy people in the church of Christ than there are to be found in any other body of men. There are some who do valiantly and serve God, but how many of you are there who are quite content to occupy your seats and hear sermons without doing anything for God’s cause. I do not hesitate to say that I believe there are many of you here who have never won a soul to Christ in your lives, and scarcely ever tried to do so. You never lay poor souls to heart; you never go to God in heart and prayer for your poor perishing neighbours. Now and then, if you see a drunken man, you say “it is a great pity”; and if you hear of a murder, you say “it is a dreadful thing.” But you care about it very little. You do not agonize and cry for the iniquity of this land. What do you do? You put a sixpence in the plate now and then, and that is your gift to God’s cause; you sing a hymn or join in prayer, and that is your service to God. The custom with our religious people is, they pay their seat rent, they attend the chapel, and then they have done their duty. And even in the ministry itself you hear of a clergyman speaking of doing his duty, when he reads his prayer and when he has finished his preaching. But we need to have warmer hearts, and more active lives, or else, surely, the church must die of sloth. Oh that everyone of you would think you had something to do for Christ in this life, and that you must do it. If your knees are feeble, serve God the best you can with them; if your hands hang down, then do the best you can with the hands hanging down, and pray to God to strengthen them, until you become mighty, and then you will be able to do more. But each of you please do something. If England expects everyone to do his duty, how much more may the church demand of every professor that he should be doing something for his Master. Do not think it is enough to be good; do good. The candle must soon be extinguished that is shut up without fresh air. Give your light plenty of air, and it will burn all the brighter; and others seeing your light will be able to rejoice in it. You are not to eat your morsel alone; if you do you will become weak, for God has so ordained it; that if we keep our religion to ourselves it will become feeble. The man who hoards his gold grows no richer, but he who puts it out to usury, will grow richer himself and help to enrich other men. Do so with your religion; put it out to usury, and you will grow richer, water men’s souls, and you shall be watered. The most practical way for religious people is to do something; visit the sick, help the poor, teach the ignorant, help the distressed and in all these ways you will find that God will bless you, and your hands shall become strong, and your knees shall not totter. Above all, cry for the Holy Spirit to strengthen you, for without him all is in vain.
The Bed And Its Covering
No. 244-5:153. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Evening, January 9, 1859, By C. H. Spurgeon, At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
For the bed is too short to stretch out on: and the covering so narrow that he cannot wrap himself in it. {Isaiah 28:20}
1. God has so made men, that there are two things essential for their comfort, if not for their very existence, namely, sleep and clothing. Had God so pleased it, he might have made man an everlasting watcher, upon whose eyes the mists of night never should descend, and upon whose eyelids the fingers of sleep never should be placed. Perhaps angelic spirits never sleep. Day without night they circle God’s throne rejoicing, and they chant his praise ceaselessly. Perhaps their unflagging wings are always outstretched for duty, and their untiring voices are always occupied with song. But obviously it is not so with man. We need “kind nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep.” If we could not sleep, then would we not even wish for death? If sleep was long withheld from our eyelids, if we had no other disease, our strength must become prostrate, and the fire of life would smoulder into the ashes of death. Therefore sleep is essential even to the very existence of our bodies on earth. Clothing also is needful for our comfort, and, at least in some climates, absolutely necessary for our very existence. God has made the animal creation of such a kind, that they grow their clothing upon their own backs. For the horse and for the sheep no loom works, nor does the shuttle hasten in its course. Their backs are their own webs, and they make their own garments, as if to teach us, that man alone is imperfect, and needs something beyond himself. Other creatures can readily find their own habitations, and produce for themselves out of themselves; but man feels his nakedness, and must either seek for the fig leaf of his own righteousness, or else the Lord
