What are the Clouds? 2
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Ah! it does not matter how heavy troubles are—if you can cast them on the Lord. The heavier they are so much the better, for the more you have got rid of, and the more there is laid upon the Rock. Never be afraid of troubles. However heavy they are, God’s eternal shoulders can bear them. He, whose omnipotence is verified by upholding revolving planets, and systems of enormous worlds—can well sustain you! Is his arm shortened, that he cannot save? Or is he weary, that he cannot uphold you? Your troubles are nothing to God, for the very "clouds are the dust of his feet." And this cheers me, I assure you, in the work of the ministry; for any man who has his eyes open to the world at large, will acknowledge that there are many clouds brooding over England, and over the world.
I received lately a letter from a gentleman at Hull, in which he tells me that he sympathizes with my views concerning the condition of the CHURCHat large. I do not know whether Christendom was ever worse off than it is now. At any rate, I pray God it never may be. Read the account of the condition of the Suffolk churches where the gospel is somewhat flourishing, and you will be surprised to find that they have had scarcely any increase at all in the year. So you may go from church to church, and find scarcely any that are growing. Here and there a chapel is filled with people; here and there you find an earnest minister; here and there an increasing church; here and there a good prayer-meeting; but these are only like green spots. Wherever I have gone through England, I have been always grieved to see how the glory of Zion is under a cloud; how the precious saints of Zion, comparable to fine gold have become like earthen pitchers—the work of the hands of the potter.
It is not for me to set myself up as universal censor of the church, but I must be honest and say, that spiritual life, and fire, and zeal, and piety, seemed to be absent in ten thousand instances. We have abundance of agencies, we have good mechanisms—but the church, now-a-days is very much like a large steam engine, without any fire, without any hot water in the boiler, without any steam. There is everything but steam, everything but life. England is veiled in clouds. Not clouds of infidelity. I care not one fig for all the infidels in England. Nor am I afraid of popery for old England. I do not think she will go back to that—I am sure she never will. But, I am afraid of this deadness, this sloth, this indifference, that has come over our churches! The church needs shaking, like the man on the mountain-top does when the cold benumbs him into a deadly slumber. The churches are gone to sleep for lack of zeal, for lack of fire. Even those who hold sound doctrine are beginning to slumber. Oh may God stir the church up! One great black cloud, only broken here and there by a few rays of sunlight, seems to be hanging over the entire of this our happy island.
But, beloved, there is comfort, "for the clouds are the dust of his feet." He can scatter them in a moment. He can raise up his chosen servants, who have only to put their mouth to the trumpet, and one blast shall awaken the sleeping sentinels, and startle the sleeping camp. God has only to send out again some evangelist, some flying angel, and the churches shall wake up once more, and she who has been clothed in sackcloth, shall doff her garments of mourning and put on a garment of praise, instead of the spirit of heaviness. The day is coming, I hope, when Zion shall sit, not without her diadem, crownless; but with her crown on her head, she shall grasp her banner, take her shield, and, like that heroic maiden of old who roused a whole nation, shall go forth conquering and to conquer. We hope thus much, because "the clouds are the dust of his feet."
Yes, and what clouds rest on the WORLD at large! What black clouds of Catholic superstition, Mohammedanism, and idolatry. But what are all these things? We do not care about them at all, brethren. Some say that I am getting very enthusiastic about the latter-day glory, and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. Well, I don’t know. I get all the happier the more enthusiastic I am, so I hope I shall keep on at it, for I believe there is nothing so comforts a servant of God as to believe that his Master is coming. I hope to see him. I should not be surprised to see Jesus Christ tomorrow morning. He may come then. "In such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes." He who learns to watch for Christ, will never be surprised when he comes. Blessed shall that servant be, whom, when his Lord comes, he shall find busy about his duty. But some say he cannot come yet; there are so many clouds, and so much darkness in the sky, it cannot be expected that the sun will rise yet. Is that a fair reason? Do the clouds ever impede the sun? The sun moves on despite all the mists; and Jesus Christ can come—clouds or no clouds. We do not need light before he appears; he will come and give us light, afterwards, scattering the darkness with the glory of his own eyes.
But you say, "How are these idolatrous systems to be cast down?" God could do it in an hour if he pleased. Religion never moves by years and weeks. Even false religions grow like mushrooms; much more true ones. False religions attained colossal proportion in a very few years. Take the case of Mohammedanism—the new-born faith of Islam became the religion of millions in an increditable short period; and if a false religion could spread so quickly, shall not a true one run along like fire amidst the stubble, when God shall speak the word? Clouds are but "dust of his feet."
A little while ago some of us were fretting about this Mormonism, and we said, "It will never be broken up." Some stupid fellows in America began to kill the poor Mormonites. Christians trembled, and said, "What can this be? We shall have Sodom over again." But did you read the Times newspaper of Thursday last? You will there see a wonderful instance of how God can scatter the clouds and make them dust of his feet. He has caused to come out of the ground, near Salt Lake, at Utah, thousands of crickets, and all kinds of noxious insects, that devour the crops; creatures that have not been seen in Utah before, with swarms of locusts, have made their appearance; and the people, being so far from civilized nations, cannot of course carry much corn across the desert, so that they will be condemned to starve or else separate and break up. It seems to all appearance that the whole settlement of the Mormonites must entirely be broken up, and that by an army of caterpillars, crickets, and locusts!
III. Now, one more remark. "The clouds are the dust of his feet." Then we learn from that, that THE MOST TERRIBLE THINGS IN NATURE HAVE NO TERROR TO A CHILD OF GOD. Sometimes clouds are very fearful things to mariners; they expect a storm when they see the clouds and darkness gathering. A cloud to many of us, when it forebodes a tempest is a very unpleasant thing. But let me read my text, and you will see what I mean by my remark that the most terrible things in nature are not terrible to the saints. The clouds are the dust of HIS feet"—of God’s feet. Do you not see what I mean? There is nothing terrible now, because it is only the dust of my Father’s feet! Did you ever know a child who was afraid of the dust of his father’s feet? No! If the child sees the dust of his father’s feet in the distance, what does he do? He rejoices because it is his father, and runs to meet him. So the most awful things in nature, even the clouds, have lost all their terror to a child of God, because he knows they are but the dust of his Father’s feet. If we stand in the midst of the lightning storm, a flash shatters yon cedar, or splits the oak of the forest; another flash comes, and then another, until the whole sky becomes a sea of flame. We fear not, for they are only the flashes of our Father’s sword as he waves it in the sky. Listen to the thunder as it shakes the earth and exposes the forests; we don’t shake at the sound.
"The God who rules on high,
And thunders when he please,
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas.
This awesome God is ours,
Our Father and our love!"
We are not afraid, for we hear our Father’s voice. And what favored child ever quaked at his Father’s speech. We love to hear that voice; although it is deep, bass, sonorous—yet we love its matchless melody, for it issues from the depths of affection. Put me to sea, and let the ship be driven along—that wind is my Father’s breath! Let the clouds gather—they are the dust of my Father’s feet! Let the waterspout appear from heaven—it is my Father dipping his hand in the laver of his earthly temple. The child of God fears nothing. All things are his Father’s! And divested now of everything that is terrible, he can look upon them with delight, for he says, "The clouds are the dust of his feet."
"He drives his chariot through the sky,
Beneath his feet his thunders roar;
He shakes the earth, he veils the sky,
My soul, my soul, this God adore—
He is your Father, and your love."
Fall down before his feet and worship him, for he has loved you by his grace. You know there are many fearful events which may befall us; but we are never afraid of them, if we are believers, because they are the dust of his feet! Pestilence may ravage this fair city once again; the thousands may fall, and the funeral march be constantly seen in our streets. Do we fear it? No! The pestilence is but one of our Father’s servants, and we are not afraid of it, although it walks in darkness. There may be no wheat, the flocks may be cut off from the herd and the stall; nevertheless, famine and distress are our Father’s doings—and what our Father does we will not view with alarm. There is a man there with a sword in his hand—he is an enemy, and I fear him! But my father has a sword, and I fear him not; I rather love to see him have a sword, because I know he will only use it for my protection.
But there is to come a sight more grand, more terrific, more sublime, and more disastrous than anything earth has yet witnessed; there is to come a fire, before which Sodom’s fire shall pale to nothingness; and the conflagration of continents shall sink into less than nothing and vanity. In a few more years, my friends, Scripture assures us, this earth and all that is therein, is to be burned up! That deep molten mass which now lies in the bosom of our mother earth is to burst up—the solid matter is be melted down into one vast globe of fire; the wicked—shrieking, wailing, and cursing, shall become a prey to these flames that shall blaze upward from the bosom of earth! Comets shall shoot their fires from heaven; all the lightnings shall launch their bolts upon this poor earth, and it shall become a mass of fire. But does the Christian fear it? No! Scripture tell us we shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air, and shall be forever with the Lord.
IV. To conclude. The fourth observation is, ALL THINGS IN NATURE ARE CALCULATED TO TERRIFY THE UNGODLY MAN. Ungodly men and women now present in this place of worship—it is a very solemn fact that you are at enmity with God; that having sinned against God, God is angry with you—not angry with you today, but angry with you every day, angry with you every hour and every moment. It is, moreover, a most sad and solemn fact that there is a day coming, when this anger of God will burst out, and when God will utterly destroy and devour you! Now listen to me for a moment, while I try to make all nature preach to you a solemn warning, and the wide world itself a great high priest, holding up its finger and calling you to flee for mercy to Jesus Christ, the King of kings.
Sinner, have you ever seen the clouds as they roll along the sky? Those clouds are the dust of the feet of Jehovah. If these clouds are but the dust—what is he himself! And then, I ask you, O man, are you not foolish in the extreme to be at war with such a God as this? If the clouds are the dust of his feet—how foolish are you to be his enemy. Do you think to stand before his majesty? I tell you, he will snap your spear as if it were but a straw! Will you hide yourself in the mountains? They shall be melted at his presence; and though you cry to the rocks to hide you, they would fail to give you anything of concealment before his burning eyes! O do but consider, my dear fellow creatures, you who are at enmity with God—would it not be folly if you were to oppose yourself to a mighty angel? Would it not be the utmost stupidity if you were to commence a war even with her majesty the Queen? I know it would, because you have no power to stand against them; but consider how much more mighty is the Eternal God. Why, man, he could put his finger upon you at this moment and crush you as I could an insect! Yet this God is your enemy! You are hating him, you are at war with him!
Consider, moreover, O man, that you have grievously rebelled against him; that you have incensed his soul, and he is angry, and jealous, and furious against every sinner. Consider what you will do in that great day, when God shall fall upon you. Some of you believe in a God who has no anger, and no hatred towards the wicked. Such a God is not the God of Scripture? He is a God who punishes the ungodly. Let me ask the question of Scripture: Can you stand before his indignation? Can you abide the fierceness of his anger? When his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him—do you think you, sinner—it will be a good thing to be in the hands of the Almighty, who will rend you in sunder? Will you think it easy to lie down in hell with the breath of the Eternal fanning the flames? Will you delight yourself to think that God will invent torments for you, sinner, to make your doom most cursed, if you do not repent and turn to him? What, man! are the terrors of Jehovah nothing to you? Do you not tremble and shake before the fierceness of his fury?
Ah! you may laugh now—you may go away, my hearer, and smile at what I have said; but the day shall declare it. The hour is coming—and it may be soon—when the iron hand of the Almighty shall be upon you; when all your senses shall be the gates of misery, your body the house of lamentation, and your soul the epitome of woe! Then you will not laugh and despise him!
But now to finish up, let me just give you one word more; for, beloved, why do we use these threats? Why do we speak of them? It is but the word of the angel, who, pressing Lot upon the shoulder, said, "Look not behind you! Do not stay in the plain!" and then pointing to the fire behind, said, "On! on! lest the fiery sleet overtake you, and the hail of the Eternal shall overwhelm you!" We only mentioned that fire behind, that the Spirit might make you flee to the mountain, lest you should be consumed. Do you ask where that mountain is? We tell you there is a cleft in the Rock of Ages where the chief of sinners may yet hide himself—Jesus Christ came down from heaven for our salvation! And whoever here this morning is a sinner, we now invite to come to Christ. You Pharisees who do not own the title, I preach no gospel to you; you self-righteous, self-sufficient ones, I have nothing whatever to say to you, except what I have said—the voice of threatening.
But, whoever will confess himself a sinner, has the warrant this morning to come to Jesus Christ. Sinnership is the only title to salvation. If you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners, Christ died for you. And if you put your trust in him, and believed that he died for you, you may rely upon him, and say, "Lord, I will be saved by your grace." Your merits are good for nothing; you can get no benefit by them. Your own good works are useless; you err like the man in the prison working the treadmill—you never get any benefit to yourself. Come to Jesus Christ. Believe in him; and after you have believed in him, he will set you working—working a new work. He will give you works, if you will have but faith—even faith is his gift. O may he give it to you now, my hearers, for; he gives liberally and upbraids not." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and you shall be saved!"
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