King's Business - 1917-10

THE KING’S BUSINESS

895

that they come through the channel of grace alone. As long as I am put of hell, I have no right to grumble; and if I were in hell, I should have no right to complain, for I feel, when convinced of sin, that never creature deserved, to go there more than I do. We have no cause to murmur; we can lift up oilr hands, and say, “Night, thou art dark, but thou mightst have been darker. I am poor, but if I could not have been poorer, I might have been sick. I am poor and sick—well I have some friend left, my lot cannot be so bad, but it might have been worse.” And therefore, Chris­ tian, you will always have one thing to sing about—“Lord, I thank Thee, it is not all darkness!” Besides, Christian, how­ ever dark the night is, there is always a star or moon. There is scarce ever a night that we have, but there are just one or two little lamps burning up there. However dark it may be, I think you may find some little comfort, some little joy, some little mercy left, and some little promise to cheer thy spirit. The stars are not put out, are they? Nay, if thou canst not see them, they are there; but methinks one or two must be shining on thee;. therefore give God a song in the night. If thou hast only one star, bless God for that one, perhaps' He will make it two; and if thou hast only two stars, bless God for the two stars, and perhaps He will make them four. Try, then, if thou canst not find a song in the night. ■ ■ .. . v THE DAY THAT IS TO COME But, beloved, there is another thing of which we carl sing yet more sweetly; and that is, we can sing of the day that is to come. I am preaching to-night for the poor weavers of Spitalfields. Perhaps there are not to be found a class of men in London who are suffering a darker night than they are; for while many classes have been befriended and defended, there are few who speak up for them, and (if I am rightly informed) they are gen­ erally ground down within an inch of their lives. I suppose that their masters intend that their bread shall be very sweet, on

toward thee! W hat! didst thou never have a sickness like that which thou art suffer­ ing now, and did He not raise thee up from that? Wast thou never poor before, and did He not supply thy wants? Wast thou never in straits before, and did He not deliver thee ? Come, man! I beseech thee, go to the river of thine experience, and pull up a few bulrushes, and weave them into an ark, wherein thy infant faith may float safely on the stream. I bid thee not forget what God hath done. What! hast thou buried thine own diary? I beseech thee, man, turn over the book of thy remembrance. Canst thou not see some sweet hill Mizar? Canst thou not think of some blessed hour when the Lord was with thee at Hermon? Hast thou never been on the Delectable Mountains? Hast thou never escaped the jaw' of the lion and the paw of the bear? Hast thcu never been fetched from the den of lions? Nay, O man, I know thou hast; go back, then, a little way, and take the mercies of yester­ day; and though it is dark now, light up the lamps of yesterday, and they shall glit­ ter through the darkness, and thou shalt find that God hath given thee a song in the night. SOMETHING TO. SING ABOUT But I think, beloved, there is never so dark a night, but there is something to sing about, even concerning that night; for there is one thing I am sure we can sing about, let the night be ever so dark, and that! is, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, and because His compassions fail not.” If we cannot sing very loud, yet we can sing a little low tune, something like this: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” “O h!” says one, “1 do not know where to get my din­ ner from to-morrow. I am a poor wretch.” So you may be, my dear friend; but you are not so poor as you deserve to be. Do not be mightily offended about that; if you are, you are no child of God; for the child of God acknowledges that he has no right to the least of God’s mercies, but

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