warfare there were special rewards given for special works. There was the mural crown for the man who first scaled the rampart and stood upon the wall. I am looking on this great congregation with a thought in my mind which agitates my spirit. Young men! young men! is there not one among you that can win a mural crown? Have I not one true Christian heart here that is set for work and labour? Have not I one man that will devote himself for God and for his truth? Henry Martyn! you are dead; and is your mantle buried with you? Brainard, you sleep with your fathers; and is your spirit dead too, and shall there never be another Brainard? Knibb, you have ascended to your God; and is there nowhere another Knibb? Williams, your martyred blood still cries from the ground; and is there nowhere another Williams? What! not among this dense mass of young and burning spirits? Is there not one that can say in his heart, “Here am I, send me?” “Lo, this hour, by God’s grace being saved, I give myself up to him, to go wherever he shall please to send me, to testify his gospel in foreign lands?” What! are there no Pauls now? Have we no one who will be apostles for the Lord of hosts? I think I see one who, putting his lips together, makes this silent resolve — “By God’s grace I this day devote myself to him; through trouble and through trial I will be his, if he will help me; for missionary work or for anything else I give up my all to God; and if I may die as Williams did, and wear the blood red crown of martyrdom, I will be proud; and if I may live to serve my Master, like a Brainard, and die at last worn out, here I am, take me, Master; give me the honour of leading the forlorn hope, of leading the vanguard of Christianity; here I am, send me.” Oh Lord, accept that young man! Lo, I consecrate him this day in your name for that service; these outstretched hands this morning give a benediction to you, young hero of the cross! Your brother’s heart beats with you; go, and go to victory; and if it must be mine to stay here to labour in a more easy and pleasant part of the vineyard, which I dare not leave, still I will envy you, that you have the honour of going to far distant lands, and I will pray for you, that your success may be great, and that through you the kingdoms of this world may be brought to Christ, and the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth. But we will all pray this prayer in our houses alone — “Let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.”
20. You who are enemies to God, beware, beware, beware! It will be a hard thing to be found on the side of the enemy in the great battle of right.
Regeneration
No. 130-3:185. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, May 3, 1857, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. {John 3:3}
1. In daily life our thoughts are most occupied with things that are most necessary for our existence. No one murmured that the subject of the price of bread was frequently on the lips of men at a time of scarcity, because they felt that the subject was one of vital importance to the mass of the population, and therefore they did not murmur, though they listened to continual declamatory speeches, and read perpetual articles in the newspapers concerning it. I must offer the same excuse, then, for bringing before you this morning the subject of regeneration. It is one of absolute and vital importance; it is the hinge of the gospel; it is the point upon which most Christians are agreed, yes, all who are Christians in sincerity and truth. It is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation. It is the very groundwork of our hopes for heaven; and since we ought to be very careful of the foundation of our structure, so should we be very diligent to take heed that we are really born again, and that we have made sure work of it for eternity. There are many who fancy they are born again who are not. It well becomes us, then, frequently to examine ourselves; and it is the minister’s duty to bring forward those subjects which lead to self-examination, and have a tendency to search the heart and try the reins of the children of men.
2. To proceed at once, I shall first make some remarks upon the new birth; secondly I shall note what is meant by not being able to see the kingdom of God if we are not born again; then I shall go further on to note why it is that “unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of God”; and then expostulate with men as God’s ambassador before I close.
3. I. First, then, THE MATTER OF REGENERATION. In endeavouring to explain it, I must have you notice, first of all, the figure that is employed. It is said a man must be born again. I cannot illustrate this better than by supposing a case. Suppose that in England there should be a law passed, that admission to royal courts, preference in office, and any privileges that might belong to the nation, could only be given to people who were born in England — suppose that birth in this land was made a sine qua non, and it was definitely declared that whatever men might do or be, unless they were native born subjects of England they could not enter into her Majesty’s presence, and could enjoy none of the advantages or offices of the state, nor any of the privileges of citizens. I think if you suppose such a case I shall be able to illustrate the difference between any changes and reforms that men make in themselves and the real work of being born again. We will suppose, then, that some man — a red Indian, for instance — should come to this country, and should endeavour to obtain the privileges of citizenship, well knowing that the rule is absolute and cannot be altered, that a man must be a born subject, or else he cannot enjoy them. Suppose he says “I will change my name, I will take up the name of an Englishman — I have been called by my high sounding title among the Sioux; I have been called the son of the Great West Wind, or some such name; but I will take an English name, I will be called a Christian man, an English subject.” Will that admit him? You see him coming to the palace gates and asking for admission. He says, “I have taken an English name.” “But are you an Englishman born and bred?” “I am not,” he says. “Then the gates must be shut against you, for the law is absolute; and though you may have the name of even the royal family itself upon you, yet because you have not been born here you must be shut out.” That illustration will apply to all of us who are here present. At least, nearly the whole of us bear the professing Christian name; living in England, you would think it to be a disgrace to you if you were not called Christian. You are not heathen, you are not an infidel; you are neither Mohammedans nor Jews; you think that the name, Christian, is a creditable one to you, and you have taken it. Be quite assured that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian, and that your being born in a Christian land, and being recognised as professing the Christian religion is of no avail whatever, unless there is something more added to it — the being born again as a subject of Jesus Christ.
4. “But,” says this red Indian, “I am prepared to renounce my dress, and to become an Englishman in fashion; in fact, I will go to the very top of the fashion; you shall not see me in anything differing from the accepted style of the present day. May I not, when I am arrayed in court dress, and have decorated myself as etiquette demands, come in before her Majesty? See, I will doff this plume, I will not shake this tomahawk, I renounce these garments. The moccasins I cast away for ever; I am an Englishmen in dress, as well as name.” He comes to the gate, dressed up like one of our own countrymen; but the gates are still shut in his face, because the law required that he must be born in the country; and without that, whatever his dress might be, he could not enter the palace. How many are there of you, who do not barely take the Christian name upon you, but have adopted Christian manners; you go to your churches and your chapels, you attend the house of God, you take care that there is some form of religion observed in your family, your children are not left without hearing the name of Jesus! So far so good; God forbid that I should say a word against it! But remember, it is bad because you do not go further. All this is of no avail whatever for admitting you into the kingdom of heaven, unless this also is complied with — the being born again. Oh! dress yourselves never so grandly with the garments of godliness; put the garland of benevolence upon your brow, and gird your loins with integrity; put on your feet the shoes of perseverance, and walk through the earth an honest and upright man; yet, remember, unless you are born again, “what is of the flesh is flesh,” and you, not having the operations of the Spirit in you, still have heaven’s gates shut against you, because you are not born again.
