A Lesson from the Great Panic 2
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What then? Will you hold up your hands and cry, "The church of God is gone?" Forbear the foolish utterance; God’s church is safe enough. Look yonder, there stands the church of God upon a stormy prominence, where the sea always dashes and perpetually rages on all sides, and yet she fears no undermining, because she is built on no clay cliff, but on a rock against which the waves of hell shall not prevail.
There, let your earth-born, state-propped churches go! Swallow them up, O sea of time, swallow them all up, and leave no wreck behind! But the church of the living God shall stand all the more glorious, because of the ruin, which has overtaken her rivals and discovered their human origin. I need not, however, enlarge, because you can all see it is so, if you look back in history; and you may rest assured that what was true a hundred years ago will be true now, and that the more there is of strife against the gospel, the more the gospel will prevail; therefore let us not fear, but rejoice confidently in our God.
III. The principle may be applied in a third direction: THE REAL IN OUTWARD PROFESSION STANDS, NOTWITHSTANDING TIMES OF SHAKING.There are seasons when the professing church undergoes fearful trials. She suffered in olden times the ordeal of persecution. Edicts and writs were issued, forbidding all worship in the name of Jesus; cruel penalties were the reward of those who were faithful to the doctrine of the cross. The rough wind howled dreadfully; but the result was that the church, which had been overgrown with hypocrisy, was speedily freed from pretenders; and only those remained whose faith could bear the fire. The church was thus refined by persecution, and might have thanked her persecutors for having put her through the blessed process. Now-a-days we are not so much subject to this test, but the world hates us still. It now fawns upon the Christian; it invites him to share her joys; and bids him be no longer rigid and strict. It offers him rich rewards and soft speeches, if he will but compromise a little, and not be too sternly pure and upright. What of this?
Is it not the same purifying process? Let those who love the world go to it by all means, and let those who value the world’s pleasures have them. If it were possible for me to put a hedge all round this church, so that none of you should be tempted to enter the theater, or enter into giddy company; if I could put a wall all round, so that none of you should ever be tempted into the gin-palace or the play-house, I should not dare to do it, for what would you then be? You would only cease from these things because you could not get at them. The taste for such vanities, if it be in your hearts, would be unchanged. If you were hypocrites you would not be so likely to be found out, if never tried. And those of you who are genuine would never grow into strong men, but remain Christian babies- nursed and dressed by others, but not at all able to run alone. The blandishments of the world are only another form of that fan which is in Christ’s hand, with which he purges the great visible heap lying upon the threshing-floor of his church.
When some of you fall into temptation, though we cannot but weep over you, yet we do not know but what your outwardly falling into temptation may only have discovered the rottenness and wickedness of your heart, and so we may be well rid of you. And you yourself, in the long run, may have your eyes opened to much secret evil, which otherwise you would never have detected.
At certain times discord has marred our churches. Blessed be God we have not felt it here, but when it does come, I am not certain that that is altogether a matter of regret. There are parties and strifes, and all this is sin, but when the church is shaken, those that can be shaken will be shaken, and they will slide off, some this way and some that; but those who cannot be shaken will stand fast in their integrity, and defend the faithonce committed to the saints. There may also happen great fallings into sin– some who have been prominent in the church may make shipwreck, and when this occurs, woe indeed is it to the whole community, and sorrow to every member. But still I am not certain but what there may be a gain even in the loss, for then those are discovered whose faith may have stood in the wisdom of man, who have been depending on human countenance, and not following holiness for its own sake, and others who have merely been led by associations and not by principle, are led to great searchings of heart.
I would sorrow in all cases of failure, but not as though I had no consolation, for, my brethren, those only are shaken that may be shaken; but those who are rooted and grounded in Christ, and are truly what they profess to be, will stand fast unto the end! That old oak in the forest is one of the noblest works of God. Look at it just now bursting into full leaf, bearing well its verdant honors, and making a picture worthy of the artist’s rarest skill. What are these dry pieces of wood which strew the ground beneath it? What are these large branches which rot under its shade? It is needless to ask, for we all know that they fell from the tree during winter’s storms.
Is it a cause of regret for the sake of the tree that those rotten branches were broken off? It may be a lamentation as far as concerns the broken boughs, but the tree itself had never been so healthy, and never looked so complete if the rotten branches had been allowed to abide. When the hurricane came howling through the woods, the old tree shivered in the gale, and mourned as it heard the cracking of its boughs, yet now it is thankful because the sound healthy branches with sap and life in them are all there, and the withered ones no longer encumber the trunk.
Summing this matter up in a word or two, I do not think times of storm to a church are in the long run to be regretted– a calm is much more dangerous. The plague bearing miasma settles and festers in the valley until the atmosphere becomes deadly, even to the casual passenger. But the storm fiend, as men call him, leaps from the mountains into the sunny glades of the valley; and with terrific vigor hurls down the habitations of men, and tears up the trees by the roots. But meanwhile all is superabundantly compensated by the effectual purging which the atmosphere receives. Men breathe more freely, and heaven smiles more serenely now that the heaviness of the death-damp is gone, and the poisonous vapor clings no longer to the river’s bank and the valley’s side.
IV. We will further apply the principle to OUR OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Beloved friends, this principle, which is true without, is equally sure within.
There will come to every sincere Christian a time of inward shaking, testing, and convulsion! We have included much in our experience, which is not real; we think we know a great deal, which is nothing better than boastful ignorance. How many times we have imbibed the conceit that we were becoming very humble, when we were never more proud than when we thought so! We have felt as if we were conquering all our besetting sins; at that very moment Satan was laughing at us because we mistook a sleeping sin for a dead sin. We are puffed up with the fancy that we are rich and increased in goods– whereas all that we have put in at the front door has been stolen at the back door, and more. We have put our spiritual money into a bag that is full of holes. We have been heaping up that which is not bread, and spending our labor for that which profits not. The soul’s conflictcomes, and we are troubled because we do not care to be disturbed in our false peace. But ah, how much we need disturbing! I know some of you do not relish soul-searching sermons. When I give you one which acts like the refiner’s fire, you can scarcely endure it; you want to have the soft pillows of the promises laid under your head, and savory meat placed by your side. But searching sermons you wish to be few and far between. But these times of self-examination are fully as necessary as times of nourishing and comfort; and when they visit your inner man they are loaded with blessings, and are to be received with gratitude and thanksgiving.
Dear friends, let me mention a few methods of soul-shaking. Affliction is one of them. The man thought that he had resigned everything to God- death came and took away his child; where was his resignation then? Perhaps it stood that trial; but lo, the Lord removes another. How now, good sir? A second time, -do you still bear it? Alas, the third shaft smites another beloved one– can you still in all this resign to him? Do you still stand to the surrender? You say, "Yes." May it prove so when the trials come! You said the other day, dear friend, "I do not think I am worldly-minded– I hope my affection is set upon things above, and not on things on the earth." How have you found it during the last two or three feverish days? You sang the other day, as we sang this morning- "Let mountains from their seats be hurled Down to the deep, and buried there; Convulsions shake the solid world; Our faith shall never yield to fear."
How stood your faith on Friday when the bank suspended payment? Did you play the man or play the fool? When the great waters were let loose, was your ark seaworthy, or did it prove a poor leaky hulk? We have, I fear, much more resignation in name than in fact, and more faith in fancy than inreality. You think sometimes that now you really do love God with all your heart, and soul, and strength, and that nothing can come in to make you think harshly of him. But will not a sharp blow from the rod alter your tune? Do you kiss the rod, or do you begin to kick like a wilful child? Can you say with Job, "Though ho slay me, yet will I trust in him. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord"?
Tribulations, losses, crosses, sicknesses, and bereavements, are very stern trials, and the things within us which may be shaken will be shaken by them; but if we can bear them well and trustingly, and yet praise and bless God for all, we have evidence of possessing gracious qualities which cannot be shaken, and therefore will remain.
What a shake temptation gives us! How commonly is it the lot of God’s people! Temptations will assail us of a sort that we never dreamed of. We are tempted to deny God, to doubt the Deity of Christ, to mistrust the truth of Scripture; tempted to presumption, to every form of sin; and there are times when temptations follow each other so quickly that we do not know which way to look nor where to turn. We use the great shield of faith as best we can, but it seems us if it could not avail us to ward off the innumerable darts. Ah, what shall we do then?
Why, brethren, we shall then know whether our grace is the grace of God or the grace of man; we shall now see whether we have the faith of God’s elect or not. The faith of God’s elect can write "Invincible!" upon its escutcheon; it is unconquered and unconquerable; but the faith which springs from mere human reason will speedily give way like a pasteboard helmet, or a wooden sword. O sharp temptations! terrible as you are to me, yet I thank God for you, because the trial of my faith, which is much more precious than that of gold which perishes, though it be tried by fire, shall redound to the glory of God and to my own comfort.
There is a time of shaking coming which none of us shall be able to avoid. If we should live without affliction and without temptation, which I think will be impossible, yet we cannot enter into the promised land without passing through the river of death, unless the Lord shall come. What a testing-time will the death-hour be! Beloved friends, certain professors cannot endure to have a suspicion raised concerning the sincerity, vitality, and power of their godliness. They say, "Why should the minister set me questioning myself as to whether I am saved or not? Is it not best for me to believe that I am saved, and so go on cheerfully until I die? Beloved, may this tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth before I shall knowingly assist
any of you in being comfortable in presumption. True faith can bear examination, and even courts it. The preaching which says to its hearer, "You are not to examine yourself, take it for granted that it is all well with you," is a preaching that comes from the bottomless pit and does the devil’s work; but it is not a ministry which God has sent. If my faith will not bear human examination it will never bear God’s examination; and if when I am inhealth I dare not sit down by the hour together to look over my soul’s estate, what shall I do in the swellings of Jordan? If even now I am half afraid, what shall I be then? and if I dare not now look certain texts of Scripture in the face, but am obliged to forget that they are in the Bible in order to be at peace in my own heart, oh! what shall I do when those texts will force themselves upon me, and will not take my indifference for an answer, but will demand of my conscience that it should feel their power?
Let me beseech you while you rest simply and alone upon Christ, be sure that you do rest sincerely and with your whole heart upon him. Do not make mistakes about your soul’s eternal matters, for mistakes here will be fatal! Be built upon the rock, and be surely built on it; do not be afraid of being shaken now, because you must be shaken before long. That silent chamber must be tenanted by you, and on that bed you must be stretched.
You will hear the warning voice of death in the silent tread of those who expect your departure, and in the faint whisper of the physician, as he warns your friends that there is no hope. You will be compelled to gaze into worlds unknown; you will hear the booming of the deep sea of eternity; and oh, if a fear should molest you, then how dark will be your descent into the valley!
But oh, beloved, if you can be confident then, with what joy will you face your last hour, and with what triumph enter into eternity!
How can you expect to be confident then if you are self-indulgent now,
and will not dare to test your estate? Come, have a friendly trial as it were in the heavenly chancery between your soul and your hopes today, lest there should be a fatal suit against you, a suit brought on by divine justice, which shall end in your total bankruptcy throughout eternity. God grant that we may not be afraid of being shaken, for if we cannot bear shaking now what shall we do at the last?
What has been the result of all the shaking through which we have passed hitherto? I think it has been this: we have had a great deal removed from us which was of no use to us. We could boast once rather more loudly than we dare to do now. I must confess that the longer I live the more of a fool I feel myself to be. I am in myself weaker, more distrustful, more conscious of sin, more hopeless of self-help than ever. The more strength I get from God the weaker I discover myself to be, in and of myself. There were a few things that I thought I knew once, but except those things, which God has taught me, I now find that I know nothing. I suppose that the further we proceed in the way to heaven the more we shall be dissatisfied with ourselves, because our daily trials and troubles have the effect of bursting many of those bubbles in which we once put our confidence.
All the wooden centers must be taken away from our masonry, for God builds his arches so that they will stand without supporting frameworks.The supports must all be knocked away from our ship, for it is not meant to be high and dry on the shore; it is to be launched upon a sea of everlasting glory. The dross is consuming; blessed be God for that, for the precious metal gains by the loss. Our outward man decays, but the inward man is renewed day by day. Go on, Great Shaker of heaven and earth, and shake from me my mere pretensions, my presumptions, and empty professions, for the genuine work of grace will be helped thereby!
V. I must now bring before you, ALL THAT YOU HAVE IN POSSESSION. The things, which can be shaken, will be removed, but things that cannot be shaken will remain. We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them. The poorest man among us has many providential blessings for which to be grateful this morning, but the richest among us has nothing earthly upon which he can depend. Wife and children make glad our hearth; we have a little place, which may be very homely, but it is our home, and we love it. Some of you are prospering and thriving traders, others are merchants who have almost accumulated a competency; be grateful for all this, but do not forget that these are things which may be shaken! The cheek of the wife may grow pale, the lustrous eyes of the little ones may soon become dim, the house may be left a heap of ashes, the property may take to itself wings and fly away. There is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies — change is written upon all things.
Yet, my brethren, some of us have certain "things which cannot be shaken," and I invite you this morning to read over the catalogue of them, that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain. In the first place, whatever your losses may have been, you enjoy present salvation. You are this morning standing at the foot of his cross, trusting alone in the merit of Jesus’s precious blood, and no rise or fall of the markets can interfere with your salvation in him; no breaking of banks, no run upon your credit, can touch that. A sinner saved! I recollect the time when I thought that if I had to live on bread and water all my life, and to be chained in a dungeon all my days, that I would cheerfully submit to it if I might but get rid of my sins; when sin haunted and burdened my spirit, I am sure I would have counted the martyr’s death to be preferable to a life under the lash of a guilty conscience. Now, your sins are all gone, there isnot one left in God’s book; through Jesus’ blood you are clean, and that is a comfort which cannot be removed. "Once in Christ, in Christ for ever; Nothing from his love can sever."
In the next place, you are a child of God today. God is your Father. No change of circumstances can ever rob you of that! If you were a peer of the king, you might be degraded; if you have walked among the rich you might be thrust out from their society; father and mother might forsake you, but you can never lose this joyous fact, that you are an heir of God, joint-heir with Jesus Christ! Coming out of losses and poverty, stripped bare, you can say, "He is my Father still. Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; but to my Father shall I return, and in my Father’s house are many mansions; therefore will I not be troubled."
You have this day another permanent blessing, namely, the love of Jesus Christ. He who is God and man loves you with all the strength of his affectionate nature! Now, nothing can rob you of that. You can look to the cross, and know that he who died on it, died for you! and he who reigns in heaven reigns for you and pleads for you. No catastrophes can deprive you of that. Austria and Prussia may go to war, if they please, and Italy or France may join in the turmoil; blood may flow like water; established rule may be shaken by revolution, and a fierce mob may ride roughshod over the world, but these things shake not the fact that Jesus loves you! "My beloved is mine, and I am his."
Plagues on all the cattle may come, and mildews may blast all the rising crops; but though the fig tree may not blossom, and the flocks may cease from the field, and the herds from the stall, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, for Jesus loves me still! Jesus still is faithful, Jesus still is true.
Beloved, you have another thing, namely this truth, that whatever may happen to you, you have God’s faithful promise, which holds true that allthings, shall work for your good. Do you believe this? You need it just now, and therefore let me recall it to your recollection. It is true that you cannot see the good in the trouble itself, but it works for good. Sometimes deadly poisons may be antidotes against other poisons, and the worst afflictions may be antidotes against far worse ones. The ship rocks! -What a wave was that! What a sea the vessel sails! She rocks again, the sails fly to ribbons. How the ropes are snapping! The masts will go by the board. The frail bark will be wrecked; the danger is imminent, she must be wrecked. The rocks are ahead, and she must be dashed upon them!
Not so, passenger in the ship of Providence, not so. Do you see who it is that is at the helm, and do you not know that he who steers the ship also wings the winds and gives force to the waves? God is not the God of the vessel only, but of the stormy sea also. Therefore go where you may be quiet, betake yourself to the hind part of the ship near to the steersman, and go to sleep in peace. It is the best thing you can do, for the ship is safe!
"Though winds and waves assault her keel,
He does preserve it, he does steer,
Even when the bark seems most to reel,
Storms are the triumph of his art,
He will not close his eyes, nor yet his heart."
Once more, if everything should melt away, yet you have "a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Sometimes foreign princes when they have been afraid of a revolution have invested all their money in the English funds, and then they have said, "Now come what may, my prosperity is safe." Ah, well, it is a blessed thing to invest all your wealth in the heavenly funds, and then let the earth go to ruin, our treasure is safe!
Let the world, like an old water-logged hulk, go down if she will, it is a wonder that she keeps afloat so long- let her go, I am in the life-boat which can never sink! And soon I shall be on shore where tempests cannot blow. Oh, to rest in assured hope, the hope that makes not ashamed, the hope that shall never be confounded; the hope that when days and years are passed, we shall see the face of Jesus and dwell with him for ever! Courage, brethren, our best portion and richest heritage remains, and cannot be moved! Rejoice in this, and be of good cheer this day.
Ah! there are some of you who have nothing but what may be moved, and you are therefore sure to lose your all! Go away and mourn and lament. Better still, go to the cross, stand under the foot of it, and you cannot be shaken there. Look up to the flowing of the Savior’s blood, and trust him, for nothing can ever shake you then.
As for those of us who possess the things which cannot be shaken, let us stand fast and be of good courage. Whatever may happen during this week, let us play the man, let us show that we are not such little children as to be cast down by what may happen in this poor fleeting state of time. Our country is Immanuel’s land, our hope is above the sky, and therefore calm as the summer’s ocean, we will see the wreck of everything and yet rejoice in the God of our salvation!
The Lord fill us with his peace for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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