 Sermon 191 of Charles Spurgeon. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Mark Barnes, www.414.org.uk Spurgeon Sermons from May 1858. Sermon 191 by Charles Spurgeon. Christ glorified as the builder of his church. Delivered on Sabbath morning May 2 1858 by the Reverend C.H. Spurgeon at the music hall Royal Surrey Gardens. He shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory. Zechariah 6 verse 13 There's music in all things if man had ears. This world is but the echo of the spheres. Heaven singeth ever more. Before the throne of God angels and redeemed saints extolled his name. And this world is singing too. Sometimes with the loud noise of the rolling thunder, of the boiling sea, of the dashing cataract, of the lowing cattle and often with that still solemn harmony which floweth from the vast creation when it's silence it praises God. Such is the song which gushes in silence from the mountain lifting its head to the sky covering its face sometimes with the wings of mist and at other times unveiling its snow-white brow before its maker and reflecting back his sunshine, gratefully thanking him for the light with which it has been made to glisten and for the gladness of which it is the solitary spectator as in its grandeur it looks down upon the laughing valleys. The tune to which heaven and earth are set is the same. In heaven they sing, the Lord be exalted, let his name be magnified forever. And the earth singeth the same. Great art thou in thy works, O Lord, and unto thee be glory. It would seem, therefore, a strange anomaly if the church, the temple of the living God, should be void of song. And we bless God that such an anomaly doth not exist, for day and night they praise God in his temple. And while it is true the ceaseless circles of the starry heavens are praising him without cessation, it is also true that the stars of earth, the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, are each of them ever more singing their hymns of praise to him. Today in this house thousands of voices shout his name and when the sun of today shall set it shall rise upon another land where Christian hearts awakened shall begin to praise as we have just concluded. And when tomorrow we shall enter upon the business of the week we will praise him when we rise, we will praise him when we retire to rest and we will solace ourselves with the sweet thought that when the link of praise here is covered with darkness another golden link is sparkling in the sunshine in the lands where the sun is rising when it sets upon us. And mark how the music of the church is set to the same tune as that of heaven and earth. Greet God, thou art to be magnified. Is not this the unanimous song of all the redeemed below? When we sing, is not this the soul burden of the Hosannas and hallelujahs? And to him that liveth and siteth upon the throne and to him be glory world without end. Now my text is one note of the song. May God help me to understand and to make you to understand it also. He shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory. We all know that the Lord Jesus Christ is here alluded to in the context runs Behold the man whose name is the branch which title is ever applied to the Messiah Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He grew up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a priest upon his throne and the council of priests shall be between them both. Now we shall notice this morning first of all the temple that is the church of Christ. We shall notice next it's builder. He that is Jesus shall build the temple. Then we shall stop a moment and pause to admire his glory. He shall bear the glory. Then we shall attempt under the good hand of the Holy Spirit to make some practical applications of the subject. The first point is the temple. The temple is the church of God and here let me begin by just observing that when I use the term church of God I use it in a very different sense from that in which it is sometimes understood. It is usual with many Church of England people to use the term church as specially applied to the bishops, arch-deacons, rectors, curates and so forth. These are said to be the church and the young man who becomes a pastor of any congregation is said to enter the church. Now I believe that such a use of the term is not scriptural. I would never for one moment grant to any man that the ministers of the gospel constitute the church. If you speak of the army the whole of the soldiers constitute it. The officers may sometimes be spoken of first and foremost but still the private soldier is as much a part of the army as the highest officer and so it is in the church of God. All Christians constitute the church. Any company of Christian men gathered together in holy bonds of communion for the purpose of receiving God's ordinances and preaching what they regard to be God's truths is a church and the whole of these churches gathered into one in fact all the true believers in Christ scattered throughout the world constitute the one true universal apostolic church built upon a rock against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. Do not imagine therefore when I speak at any time of the church that I mean the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of London and some twenty other dignitaries and a whole host of ministers. No. Nor when I speak of the church do I mean the deacons, the elders and pastors of the Baptist denomination or any other. I mean all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth for these make up the one universal church which hath communion in itself with itself not always in the outward sign but always in the inward grace. The church which was elect of God before the foundation of the world which was redeemed by Christ with his own precious blood which has been called by his spirit which is preserved by his grace and which at last shall be gathered in to make the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. Well now, this church is called the temple of God and Christ is said to be its builder. Why is the church called the temple? I reply very briefly because the temple was the place where God especially dwelt. It was true that he did not wholly dwell in a temple made with hands of man's building which Solomon piled upon the Mount of Zion but it is true that in a special sense the infinite majesty there held its tapernacle and its dwelling place. Between the wings of the overshadowing cherubim there did shine the bright light of the shekinah the type, the manifestation and the proof of the special presence of Jehovah the God of Israel. It is true he is everywhere in the highest heavens and in the deepest hell God is to be found but especially did he dwell in his temple so that when his people prayed they were bidden to turn their eye toward the temple as Daniel did when he opened his window toward Jerusalem and offered his prayer. Now, such is the church if you would find God he dwelleth on every hilltop and in every valley God is everywhere in creation but if you want a special display of him if you would know what is the secret place of the tapernacle of the host high the inner chamber of divinity you must go where you find the church of true believers for it is here he makes his continual residence known in the hearts of the humble and contrite who tremble at his word. Again, the temple was the place of the clearest manifestation he who would see God the best of all must see him in his temple. I repeat, he was to be discovered everywhere if you stood on Carmel's top and looked towards the great sea wherein all the ships and the great leviathan he has made to play therein there might God be discovered in his great strength. If you turned your eye on the same hill and looked toward the veil of Estralon there was God to be seen in every blade of grass in every sheep feeding by the stream God was everywhere to be discovered but if you would see hint it is not on bashan it is not on sermon it is not on tabel it was on Mount Zion that the Lord God loved to make a special display of himself it is so with the church God is to be seen in the midst of her her helper, her strength, her teacher her guide, her deliverer her sanctifier in holy communion in the breaking of bread in the pouring out of wine in holy baptism in the immersion of believers into the Lord Jesus Christ in the preaching of the word in the constant declaration of the great salvation of Jesus in the lifting up of the cross in the high exulting of him that died upon it in the preaching of a covenant in the declaration of the grace of God here is he to be seen here is his name written in brighter letters and in clearer lines than elsewhere the wide world are hence his church is said to be his temple O Christian people you know this for God dwelleth in you and walketh with you and you dwell in him and he dwells in you the secret of the Lord and he will show them that fear him and he will show them his covenant it is your happy privilege to walk with God he manifests himself to you as he does not unto the world he takes you into his inner chamber he manifests his love the song of Solomon is sung in your courts and nowhere else it is not the song of the wide world it is the sonnet of the inner chamber the song of the house of wine the music of the banquet you understand this that you have been brought into near acquaintance with Christ you have been made to lean your head upon his boson you have been taught to look into his heart and to see eternal thoughts of love here towards you you know well better than we can tell you what it is to be the temple of the living God and once more we should fail to describe the reason why the word temple is used to picture the church if we did not observe that the church is like the temple a place of worship there was a law passed by God that no offering should be presented to him except upon the one altar in his temple at Jerusalem and that law is extent to this day no acceptable service can be offered to Christ except by his church only those who believe in Christ can offer songs and prayers and praises that shall be received of God whatever ordinances you attend to who are without Christ in your hearts you do belie that ordinance and prostitute it you do not honour God therein two men go up to the temple to pray the one a believer the other an unbeliever he that is an unbeliever may have the gifts of oratory the mightiest fluency of speech but his prayer is an abomination unto God whilst the feeblest utterance of the true believer is received with smiles by him that sits upon the throne two persons go to the master's table the one loveth the ordinance in its outward sign and reverence it with superstition but he knows not Christ the other believes in Jesus and knows how to eat his flesh and drink his blood as a worthy partaker in that divine ordinance God is honoured in the one the ordinance is dishonoured in the other two persons comes a holy baptism the one loves the master believes in his name and trusts him he is baptised he honours Christ another comes perhaps an unconscious infant one who is incapable of faith or hath no faith he dishonours the ordinance in venturing to touch it when he is not one of the church and therefore hath no right to offer sacrifice of prayer and praise unto the Lord our God there is only one altar that is Christ and there is only one set of priests namely the church of God the men chosen out of the world to be clothed in white robes to minister at his altar and who so ever besides pretendeth God worshipeth him not a right his offering is like that of Cain God hath no respect to his sacrifice for without faith it is impossible to please God we care not who it is that doth the act unless he believeth he cannot will pleasure from God nor shall his sacrifice be accepted I have thus noted the reasons why the church is said to be the temple and there was only one temple and so there is only one church that one church is his holy place where God dwells where God accepts worship where songs of praise are daily uttered and the smoking incense of prayer continually comes up before his nostrils with acceptance number two now we have an interesting subject in the second part of our text he shall build the temple of the Lord Christ is the church's only builder now I shall want to make a parallel between Christ's build in the church and Solomon as the builder of the first temple when Solomon built the temple the first thing he did was to obtain instructions with regard to the model upon which he should build it Solomon was exceed in wise but I do not think he was his own architect the Lord who had shown the pattern of the old tabernacle in the wilderness to Moses doubtless showed the pattern of the temple to Solomon so that the pillars and the roof and the floor thereof were all ordained of God and every one of them settled in heaven now Christ Jesus in this is no Solomon with this exception that being God over all blessed forever alone architect Christ has made the plan of his church you and I have made a great many plans for the building up of that church the Presbyterian makes his plans extremely precise he will put an elder in every corner and the Presbytery is the great groundwork the pillar and the ground of truth and right he is in doing so to an extent the Episcopalian builds his temple too he will have a bishop at the doorpost and he will have a priest to shut the gates he will have everything built according to the model that was seen by Cranmer in the Mount if he ever was there at all and those of us who were of severe a discipline and have a simpler style must have Christchurch always built in the congregational order every congregation distinct and separate and governed by its own bishop and deacons and elders but Mark Christ does not attend to our points of church government for there is one part of Christchurch that is Episcopalian and it looks as if a bishop of the church of England had ordered it another part is Presbyterian another Baptist another congregational and yet all these styles of architecture somehow fused into one by the great architect make that goodly structure which is called the temple of Christ the church of the fire in God the pillar and ground of truth Christ must be his own architect he will bring out different points of truth in different ways why I believe that different denominations are sent on purpose to set out different truths there are some of our brethren a little too high they bring out better than any other people the grand old truths of sovereign grace there are some on the other hand a little too low they bring out with great clearness the great and truthful doctrines of man's responsibility so that two truths that might have been neglected either the one or the other if only one form of Christianity existed are both brought out both made resplendent and the different denominations of God's people who are alike chosen of God and precious to him God forbid I should say anything that would bolster up any in their errors nevertheless God's people even in error are a precious people even when they seem to be as earthen pitchers the work of the hands of the potter they are still comparable to fine gold rest assured that the Lord has deep designs to answer even by the divisions of his church we must not interfere with Christ's reasons nor with his style of architecture every stone that is in the temple Jesus Christ ordain should be put where it is even those stones that are most contemptible and unseen were put in their places by him there is not one board of cedar one piece of burnished pinnacle that was not foreseen and prearranged in that eternal covenant of grace which was the great plan that Christ the almighty architect did draw up for the building of the temple to his praise man is the only architect and he shall bear the glory for he designed the building now you remember that when Solomon set to work to build his temple he found a mountain ready for his purpose Mount Mariah the top of it was not quite broad enough he had therefore to enlarge it so that there might be room for the beautiful temple the joy of the whole earth when Jesus Christ came to build his temple he found no mountain on which to build it he had no mountain in our nature he had to find a mountain in his own and the mountain upon which he has built his church is the mountain of his own unchangeable affection his own strong love his own omnipotent grace and infallible truthfulness it is this that constitutes the mountain upon which the church is built and on this the foundation have been digged and the great stones laid in the trenches with oaths and promises and blood to make them stand secure even though earth should rock and all creation suffer decay then after Solomon had his mountain ready and the foundation building the next trouble was he had no trees near at hand there were however fine trees growing in Lebanon but his servants had not skill enough to cut them down he had therefore to send for Hiram king of Tyre with his servants to cut down the trees upon Lebanon which after being shaped according to the model were to be sent by rafts or floats to Jopper then there is port to Jerusalem and there brought a short distance over land for the building of the temple he had to do the same with the stones of the quarry for the different stones that were needed for the building had to be hewn out of the quarry his servants assisted by some of Solomon's people who had inferior skill and therefore were set about the more laborious and rougher parts of the work the same fact you will notice if you will read the history of the building of Solomon's temple occurred with regard to the making of the vessels of the house it is said that Hiram did cast them and Solomon found the gold and the moles were made in the great plain and Solomon did cast them there with Hiram for his chief designer and director ah, but here in Solomon fails to be a type of Christ Christ builds the temple himself there stand the cedars of Lebanon that the Lord have planted but they are not ready for the building they are not cut down nor shaped nor made into those planks of cedar whose Ode Ferris beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord in paradise no Jesus Christ must cut them down with the axe of conviction he must cut them up with a great saw of his law he must plane and polish them with his holy gospel and when he hath made them fit to be pillars in the house of the Lord then they shall be carried across the sea to heaven they shall be placed in his temple forever no Hiram is needed the axe is in his hand the plane is in his hand too he understandeth well that business was he not a carp into our earth and spiritually he shall be the same to his church forever and ever it is even the same with the stones of the temple we are like rough stones in the quarry behold the hole of the pit whence we were digged and the rock whence we were hewn but we were hewn out of that rock by no hand but Christ's out seed unto Abraham out of the stones of the pit it was his own hammer that broke the rock in pieces and his own arm of strength that wielded the hammer when he dashed us from the rock of our sin though we are each of us being polished so that we may be ready for the temple yet there is nothing that polishes but Christ afflictions cannot sanctify us except as they are used by Christ as his mallet and his chisel our joys and our efforts cannot make us ready for heaven apart from the hand of Jesus who fashionetheth our hearts a right and prepareeth us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light thus you notice that here in Jesus Christ excels Solomon for he provides all the materials he hues them thyself he roughcast them first and then afterwards during life polishes them till he makes them ready to transport them to the hill of God whereon his temple is to be built I was thinking what a pretty figure was that floating of the trees of Lebanon after being hewn into planks and being made ready to be fixed as pillars of the temple what a fine emblem of death is it not just so with us here we grow and are at length cut down and made ready to become pillars of the temple across the stream of death we are ferried by a loving hand and brought to the port of Jerusalem where we are safely landed to go no more out forever but to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord now you know the Tyrians floated the rafts but no stranger no foreigner shall float us across the stream of death it is remarkable that Jesus Christ always uses expressions with regard to his people which impute their death to him alone you will recollect the expression in the revelation thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe but when he begins to reap not the vintage which represents the wicked that were to be crushed but the harvest which represents the godly then it is said he that sat upon the throne thrust in the sickle he did not leave it to his angels he did it himself it is so with the bringing of those planks and the moving of those stones I say no king of Tyre and Sidon shall do it Jesus Christ who is the death of death and hell's destruction he himself shall pilot us across the stream and land us safe on Canaan side he shall build the temple of the Lord well after these things were brought Solomon had to employ many thousand workmen to put them in their proper places you know that in Solomon's temple there was no sound of hammer heard for the stones were made ready in the quarries and brought all shaped and marked so that the masons might know the exact spot in which they were to be placed so that no sound of iron was needed all the planks and timbers were carried to their right places and all the catches with which they were to be linked together were prepared so that there might not even be the driving of a nail everything was ready beforehand it is the same with us when we get to heaven there will be no sanctify in us there no square in us with affliction no hammer in us with a rod no make in us we must be made meet here and blessed be his name all that Christ will do beforehand when we get there we shall not need angels to put this member of the church in one place and that member in another Christ who brought the stones from the quarry and made them ready shall himself place the people in their inheritance in Paradise for he has himself said I go to repair a place for you and if I go away I will come again and I will receive you unto myself Christ shall be his own usher he shall receive his people himself he shall stand at the gates of heaven himself to take his own people and to put them in their allotted heritage in the land of the blessed I have no doubt you have read many times the story of Solomon's temple and you have noticed that he overlaid all the temple with gold he provided much of the substance but his father David brought him a good store now Jesus will overlay all of us with gold when he builds us in heaven do not imagine we shall be in heaven what we are today no beloved if the cedar could see itself after it had been made into a pillar it would not know itself if you could see yourselves as you shall be made you would say it does not yet appear how great we must be made nor were these pillars of cedar to be left naked and unadorned though they had been fair and lovely then they were overlaid with sheets of gold social weebie it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body plated with pure gold no longer what it was but precious, lustrous glorified and in the temple we understand there was a great brazen sea in which the priest did wash themselves and there were other brazen seas in which they washed the lambs and bullocks when they were offered in heaven there is a great lava in which all our souls have been washed for they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb now Christ himself prepares this sacred sea he filled it with blood from his own veins as for our prayers and praises the great lavering which they are washed was also made and filled by Christ so that they with us are clean and we offer acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ our Lord I say again before I leave this head there is no part of the great temple of the church which was not made by Christ there is a great deal in the church on earth that Christ had nothing to do with but there is nothing in his true church and nothing especially in his glorified church which was not put there by him therefore we may well come to the conclusion on the last head here he shall bear all the glory for he was the only builder of it number three now this sweet thing it is to try and glorify Christ I am happy this morning to have a subject that will magnify my master but is it not a sad thing that when we would magnify Christ most our poor failing lips refuse to speak oh if you would know my master's glory you must see it for yourselves for like the Queen of Sheba can never be told you even by those who know him most and love him best half his glory never can be told pause a while and let me endeavour to endress to you a few loving words your master oh ye saints of the Lord has prepared you and will build you into his temple speak and say he shall have all the glory let us note first that the glory which he shall have will be a weighty glory Doctor Jill says the expression implies that the glory will be a weighty one for it said he shall bear the glory they shall hang says another expression upon him all the glory of his father's house and in another place we are told that there is an exceeding weight of glory which is prepared for the righteous how great then the weight of glory which shall be given to Christ oh think not that Christ is to be glorified in such humble measure as he is on earth the songs of heaven are nobler strains than ours the hearts of the redeemed pay him loftier homage than we can offer try not to judge of the magnificence of Christ by the pomp of kings or by the reverence paid to mighty men on earth his glory far surpasses all the glory of this time and space the honor which shall be bestowed upon him is as the brightness of the sun the honors of the earth are but the twinkling of a fading star before him at this very day principalities and powers do bow themselves 10,000 times 10,000 seraphim weight at his footstall the chariots of the lord are 20,000 even thousands of angels and all these weight his back and his command and as for his redeemed how do they magnify him never stay in, never changing never weary in they raise their shout higher and higher and higher and yet louder and louder still the strain is lifted up and evermore it is the same to him that liveth and was dead and is alive for evermore and to him be glory world without end and note again that this glory is undivided glory in the church of Christ in heaven no one is glorified but Christ he who is honored on earth has someone to share the honor with him some inferior helper who labored with him in the work but Christ has none he is glorified and it is all his own glory oh when you get to heaven you children of God will you praise any but your master Calvinists today you love John Calvin will you praise him there Lutheran today thou dost love the memory of that stern reformer willst thou sing the song of Luther in heaven follower of Wesley thou hast a reverence for that evangelist willst thou in heaven have a note for John Wesley none none giving up all names and all honors of men the strange shall rise in undivided and unjar in unison unto him that loved us that washed us from our sins in his blood unto him be glory for ever and ever but again he shall have all the glory all that can be conceived all that can be desired all that can be imagined shall come to him today you praise him but not as you can wish in heaven you shall praise him to the summit of your desire today you see him magnified but you see not all things put under him in heaven all things shall acknowledge his dominion there every knee shall bow before him and every tongue confess that he is Lord he shall have all the glory but to conclude on this point this glory is continual glory it says he shall bear all the glory when shall this dominion become effect when shall this promise be so fulfilled that it is put away as a worn out garment never while life and thought and being last or immortality endu us to believe off praise in Christ we think we can almost guess how we shall feel when we get to heaven with regard to our master we thinks if I should ever be privileged to behold his blessed faith with joy I shall want nothing but to be allowed to approach his throne and cast what little honour I may have before his feet and then be there and evermore adore the matchless splendour of his love suppose someone entering were to say to the redeemed suspend your songs for a moment you have been praising Christ lo these 6000 years many of you have without cessation praised him now these many centuries stop your song a moment pause and give your songs to someone else for an instant oh can you conceive the scorn with which the myriad eyes of the redeemed would smite the tempter stop from praising him no never time may stop for it shall be no more the world may stop for its revolutions must cease the universe may stop its cycles and the movings of this world but for us to stop our songs never never and it shall be said halleluia halleluia halleluia the Lord God unipotent Reyneth he shall have all the glory and he shall have it forever his name shall endure forever his name shall continue as long as the sun men shall be blessed in him and all generations shall call him blessed therefore shall they praise him for ever and ever number four now in conclusion let us make a practical application of our text brothers and sisters are we today built upon Christ can we say that we hope that we are a part of his temple that his handy work has been exhibited upon us and that we are built together with Christ if so listen to one word of excitation let us ever more honour him oh me thinks every beam of cedar and every slab of gold and every stone of the temple felt honoured when it was raised up to be a part of the fabric for Jehovah's praise and if that cedar that marble could have been vocal in that day when the flame descended from heaven the token of Jehovah's presence the store and the cedar and the gold and the silver and the brass all would have burst out into song and would have said we praise thee O God for thou hast made the gold more than gold and the cedar more than cedar in as much as thou has consecrated us to be the temple of thine indwelling and now will you not do the same oh my brothers and sisters God has highly honoured you to be stones in the temple of Christ when you think of what you were and what you might have been how you might have been stones in the black dungeons of vengeance forever dank dark stones where the mobs and the greed and the slimy things from whatever might have lived disgraced, abandoned cast away in blackness of darkness forever when you think of this and then remember that you are stones in Jehovah's temple oh ye must say that ye will praise him for man is more than man now that God dwelleth in him daughters of Jerusalem rejoice you are more than women now sons of Israel rejoice for your manhood is exalted he hath made you temples of the Holy Ghost God dwelling in you and you in him go out from this place and sing his praise go forth to honour him and while the dumb world wants you to be its mouth go and speak for the mountain for the hill, for the lake for the river, for the oak and for the insect speak for all things for you are to be like the temple the seat of worship of all worlds you are to be like the priests and offerers of the sacrifices of all creatures let me address myself last of all to others of you alas my hearers I have many here who have no portion in Israel neither any lot in Jacob how many of you there are who are not stones in the spiritual temple never to be used in the building up of God's Jerusalem let me ask you one thing it may seem a slight thing today to be left out of the muster role in Christchurch will it seem a slight thing to be left out when Christ shall call for his people when you are all assembled round his great white throne at last and the book shall be opened oh how dread the suspense when name after name is read how dreadful your suspense when it comes to the last name and yours has been left out that verse of our hymn has often impressed me very solemnly I love to meet among them now before thy gracious feet to bow the vilest of them all but can I bear the piercing thought what if my name shall be left out when thou for them shall call sinner conceive it the list is read and thy name unmentioned laugh at religion now scoff at Christ now now that the angels are gathering for the judgment now that the trumpet sounds exceedingly loud and long now that the heavens are red with fire that the great furnace of hell or leaps its boundary and is about to encircle thee in its flame now despise religion ah no, I see thee now with stiff knees are bending now thy bold forehead for the first time is covered with a hot sweat of trembling now thine eyes that once were full of scorn are full of tears thou dost lock on him whom thou disdispise and thou art weeping for thy sin O sinner it will be too late then there is no cutting of the stone after it gets to Jerusalem where thou fallest there thou liest where judgment ends thee there eternity shall leave thee time shall be no more when judgment comes and when time is no more change is impossible in eternity there can be no change no deliverance, no signing of a quittle once lost lost forever once damned, damned to all eternity willst thou choose this and despise Christ or wilt thou have Christ and have heaven I charge you by him I shall judge the quick and the dead whose I am and whom I serve who is the searcher of all hearts choose ye this day whom ye will serve if sin be best serve sin and reap its wages if you can make your bed in hell if you can endure eternal burnings be honest with yourself and look at the wages while you do the work but if you would have heaven if you would be amongst the many who shall be glorified with Christ believe on the Lord Jesus Christ believe now today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation kiss the son lest ye be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little men brethren and fathers believe and live cast yourself at Jesus feet put your trust in him renounce thy works and raise with grief and fly to this most sure relief giving up all you are to come to him to be saved by him now and saved eternally O Lord bless my weak but earnest appeal for Christ's sake Amen CERMAN 192 of Charles Spurgeon This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Andy Minter Spurgeon's sermons from May 1858 CERMAN 192 CERMAN 192 by Charles Spurgeon The Sunday School Teacher A Steward Delivered on Tuesday evening May 4, 1858 by the Reverend C.H. Spurgeon at Bloomsbridge Apple on behalf of the Sunday School Union The text is taken from the Gospel according to St Luke chapter 16 verse 2 given account of thy stewardship given account of thy stewardship given account of thy stewardship given account of thy stewardship We have heard many times in our lives that we are all stewards to Almighty God We hold it as a solemn truth of our religion that the rich man is responsible for the use which he makes of his wealth that the talented man must give an account to God of the interest which he geteth upon his talents that every one of us, in proportion to our time and opportunities must give an account for himself before Almighty God But, my dear brothers and sisters our responsibility is even deeper and greater than that of other men We have the ordinary responsibility which falls upon all professors of religion to give an account of all we have to God But besides this you and I have the extraordinary responsibilities of our official standing You as teachers for Christ in your classes and others of us as preachers for him at the Catholic Congregation The first responsibility is too heavy for any man to fulfil Apart from divine grace it is not possible that any man should so use all that God has given him as to be accepted at last with a well done, now good and faithful servant Yet even if that were possible it would still remain an utter impossibility for us fully to sustain the fearful weight of responsibility which rests upon us as teachers to give the word of God to our fellow immortals Upon our necks there are two yolks Sovereign grace can make them light and easy But apart from that they will gall our shoulders for they are of themselves too heavy for us to bear Common responsibility is as Solomon's whip but extraordinary responsibility derived from official standing when not regarded will be the union of Rehoboam Its little finger shall be thicker than its father's loins Woe unto the watchman who warns them not Woe unto the minister who fails to teach the truth Woe unto the Sabbath school teacher who is unfaithful to his trust Now let us try to stir one another up upon this seriously important matter You will pray for me while I preach that I may utter some things too good to all now present and I will labour that God may, in answer to your prayers give me words and thoughts which will be blessed to you Now first let me show the meaning of our being stewards then let us consider what kind of account we shall have to give and lastly let us notice the days of reckoning when we ought to cast up our account and the days of reckoning when we must give in our account first then the steward what is he in the first place the steward is a servant he is one of the greatest of servants but he is only a servant perhaps he is the bailiff of a farm and looks to all intents and purposes like a country farmer he rides over his master's estate and has many men under him still he is only a servant he is under authority he is only a steward perhaps he is steward in the house of some gentleman who employs him to see after the whole of his establishment in order that he may be free from cares in that capacity he is himself a master but still he is a servant for he has won over him let him be as proud as he pleases he has little to be proud of for the only rank he holds in life is the rank of a servant now the minister and the Sunday school teacher will initially stand in the rank of servants why we are none of us our own masters we are not independent gentlemen who may do as we please our classes are not our own farms which we may tell in our own manner and neglect if we please out of which we may produce any harvest or none at all at our own discretion no, we are nothing better than stewards and we are to labour for our master in heaven what a strange thing it is to see a minister or a teacher giving himself fine airs as if he were everybody in the world and might do as he pleased is it not an anomaly how is he to talk about the sacrifices that he makes when he is spending only his master's property how is he to boast about the time which he expends when his time is not his own it is all his masters he is a servant and therefore do what he may he only discharges the duty he is well rewarded he has no reason to be proud or to lord it over others for whatever his power among them may be he is himself neither more nor less than a servant let each of us try to recollect that henceforth I am only a servant if a superintendent puts a teacher to a class which she does not like she will recollect that she is a servant she does not allow her servants at home to say they are not going to do scullery work but will only work at table they are servants and must do as they are bidden and if we felt that we were servants we should not object to do what we are told for Christ's sake though we would not do it at the dictation of men yet for Christ's sake we do it as unto the Lord we do not suppose that our servants will come to us at night and expect us to say to them you have done your work very well today imagine that they will look for constant commendation they are servants and when they get their wages that is their incomeium on their work they may judge that they are worth their money or else we should not keep them when you do your work for Jesus recollect you are only a servant do not expect always to have that encouragement which some people are constantly crying after if you get encouragement from your pastor from other teachers from your friends be thankful but if you do not get it go on with your work notwithstanding you are a servant and when you receive your reward that is of grace and not of debt then you will have the highest incomeium that can be passed upon you the plaudit of your Lord and eternal glow with him who's you are and whom you desire to serve but still while the steward is a servant he is an honourable one it does not do for the other servants in the house to tell him that he is a servant he will not endure that he knows it and feels it he desires to act and work as such but at the same time he is an honoured servant now those who serve Christ in the office of teaching are honourable men and women I remember to have heard a very unseemly discussion between two persons as to whether the minister was not superior to the sabbath school teacher it reminded me of that talk of the disciples as to who among them was the greatest why we are all of us the least if we feel the right and though we must each of us exalt our office as God hath given it to us yet I see not anywhere in the Bible anything that should lead me to believe that the office of preacher is more honourable than that of the teacher it seems to me that every Sunday school teacher is right to put Reverend before his name as much as I have or if not if he discharges his trust he is certainly a right honourable he teaches his congregation and preaches to his class I may preach to more and he to less but still he is doing the same work though in a smaller sphere I am sure I can sympathise with Mr Carey when he said of his son Felix who left the missionary work to become an ambassador Felix has driveled into an ambassador meaning to say that he was once a great person as a missionary but that he had afterwards accepted a comparatively insignificant office so I think we may say of the Sabbath school teacher if he gives up his work because he cannot attend to it on account of his enlarged business he drivels into a rich merchant if he forsakes his teaching because he finds there is so much else to do he drivels into something less than he was before with one exception if he is obliged to give up to attend to his own family and makes that family his Sabbath school class there is no driveling there he stands in the same position as he did before I say they who teach they who seek to pluck souls as brands from the burning are to be considered as honoured persons second far to him from whom they received their commission and some sweet sense lifted up to become fellows with him for he calls them his brethren and his friends the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth but I have called you friends for all things I have heard of my father I have made known unto you only one more thought here the steward is also a servant who has very great responsibility attached to his position a sense of responsibility seems to be a right man always a weighty thing to do a thing when there is no responsibility involved at all is a very slight matter and hence we find in ordinary affairs that the labour which involves no trust is but poorly paid but where there is a large amount of trust reposed the labour is paid in proportion now the work of the Sabbath school teacher is one of the most responsible in the world it has sometimes staggered me to think how greatly God trusts you and me you remember the story of the prodigal it finds a counterpart in each of us who after long wandering in sin have come home to Jesus I sometimes think that a prudent father when the prodigal was restored to his house could receive him to his heart would press him to his bosom and give him a share of all his wealth but would be very slow to trust him in any matter of responsibility the next market day the old gentleman would say now John, I love you with all my heart but you know you ran away once and spent your living riotously I must send your elder brother to market I cannot trust you with my purse I love you, I have totally forgiven you at the same time I cannot yet rely upon you why does not God say so to us instead of that when he takes poor prodigals to his heart he trusts us with his most precious jewels he trusts us with immortal sins he trusts us with immortal sins he trusts us with immortal souls he permits us to be the means of seeking his lost sheep and then allows us to feed the lambs after they are gathered he puts the prodigal into the most important station and hath confidence in him then my brothers and sisters seeing he hath been gracious enough to repose confidence in such unworthy persons shall we deceive him? oh no let us earnestly labour us stewards that every part of the estate committed to us shall be found in good order when our master comes that every jot and tittle of our account shall be found correct when he sums it up on the great day of the audit before his throne our office is a very, very solemn one some think little of it some take it upon themselves very lightly giddy youths are enticed into the school are not rendered more sober by their connection with it let such depart from us we want none but those who are sober none but those who solemnly weigh what they are doing and who enter upon the work as a matter involving life or death not as a trivial affair which concerns the interests of time but an awfully solemn thing which even an angel would be incapable of performing unless he had the abundant assistance of God, the Holy Spirit I have thus endeavoured very simply to set forth the idea couched in the word stewardship we are servants highly honoured very responsible and much trusted two and now the account give an account of thy stewardship let us briefly think of this giving an account of our stewardship let us first notice that when we shall come to give an account of our stewardship before God that account must be given in personally by every one of us while we are here we talk in the mass but when we come before God we shall have to speak as individuals you hear persons boasting about our Sabbath school many persons are wicked enough to call the Sabbath school their school when they never see it by the year together they say I hope our school is flourishing when they never subscribe a hipony when they never give the teachers a word of encouragement or even a smile for how many children the school contains yet they call it theirs thieves that they are taking to themselves that which does not belong to them well but we in our measure make the same mistake as a ministry we often talk of the doings of the body and what wonders have been done by the denomination now let us recollect when we come before God there will be no judging us in denominations no dealing with us in schools and in churches but the account must be given for each one by himself so then thou that has the infant class thou will have to give thine own account it was but the other day thou was finding fault with the conduct of the senior class and thou was told then to look at home conscious told thee so but at last when thou shall have to stand before God thou will have no account to give of the senior class but of that infant class committed to thee and you my sister you have been seven or eight years a teacher you must give an account for yourself not for that other teacher of another class of whom you have often boasted because she has been the means of bringing six or seven children to Christ lately remember her six won't be put in with your non at all in order to make the total at the year's end look respectable but there will stand your great blank at the end of your labours and there will remain the dark mark for your negligence for your unpunctuality your carelessness in your class without the relief of the bright side of the diligent teacher's success you must be judged each for yourself not in parties but one by one this makes it terrible work for a man to be looked at all alone I have known people who could not bear to stand up in a pulpit the very fact of so many eyes looking upon them seemed so horrible but how will it be when we must stand up and hear our hearts read by the all searching eye of God and when the whole of our career in the offices which we now hold will be published before the sun and that I repeated without the salve of the success of others without any addition to our labours derived from the diligence of other teachers come Mr Stewart what is your account not that one sir not that one your account Lord I have brought in the account of the Sunday school books no not that the account of your own class well my master I have brought in the account of the class for the last 25 years showing how many were converted no not that the account of your own class while you were its teacher well I have brought in the account of the class during the time I was teacher with so and so no not that the account of the class while you were the teacher of it alone the account of how you taught what you taught how you prayed how earnestly you laboured how diligently you studied and what you sought to do for Christ not the addender of the other teacher who helped you in another part of the duty but your own personal account alone must be brought in before God give an account of thy stewardship putting it in this light what account will some of you give in at the last and great day just let me stop a minute to charge your memories what kind of account will it be I trust a very large number here can humbly in their hearts say I have done but little but I did that sincerely and prayerfully may God accept it through Jesus Christ but I fear there are some others who if they are true to their consciences will say I have done but little I did that little carelessly I did it without prayer I did it without the help of the Holy Spirit then my brother and sister I hope you will add after that oh my God forgive me and help me from this good hour to be diligent in this divine business fervent in my spirit serving the Lord and may God bless you in that prayer make no resolve but offer a prayer which is better far and may you be heard in heaven the dwelling place of God and note again that while this account must be personal it must be exact you will not when you present your account before God present the gross total but every separate item when thou giveest in thine account of thy stewardship it will be thus thou hadst so many children what didst thou say to this child and to this and to this and to the other how often didst thou pray for that child with his bitter temper for that child with his unbending obstinacy for that child with its quickness and its sweet affection for that child the sulky one for that child the headstrong vicious one that had learnt all the evils of the street and seemed to taint others what didst thou do for each one of these how didst thou labour for the conversion of every one and to make the account still more particular it will run thus what didst thou do for each child on each Sabbath thou heardest one child utter an ill word didst thou reprove it thou sawest another child oppress a little one didst thou deliver the less out of his hand and reprove him and teach both children to love one another didst thou notice the follies of each and strive to understand the temperament of each so that thou shouldst fit thy discourse or thy prayer to each didst thou travel in birth for the conversion of each one didst thou agonise in prayer with God and then didst thou agonise in exhortation with them beseeching them to be reconciled to Christ now I believe the account will be far more minute than this when God shall come to try our hearts and reigns as well as our works and ways my poor way of putting it does but be cloud the truth which I seek to bring forth but nevertheless so shall it be a special and exact account shall be given and then there shall be an account given for every opportunity not only for every child but for every opportunity of doing good to the child did you avail yourself of that afternoon when the child was in a peculiarly solemn frame because his little brother lay at home dead did you seek to send the arrows home when Providence had made a wound in his little heart because he had lost his dear mother did you seek to turn every event which occurred in the school to account whether it was joyous or the reverse God gave you the opportunity and he will at last ask you what you did with it we shall many of us make but a sorry account for we have neglected much that we ought to have done and the general confession must be ours teachers we have done those things which we ought not to have done and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and then remember again the account will be exact as to everything we did we shall not only be examined as to how we addressed the school we may have had peculiar gifts for that and we may have done well it will be how did you address your own class and not that alone but how did you study the lessons if thou hadst no time it will not be required of thee to do what thou couldst not do but if thou hadst much leisure how didst thou spend it was it for thy children for thy masters good that thou mightest find polished shafts to shoot forth from thy bow that God might bless thee by giving thee strength to send them home into the heart and then what didst thou do in thy closet was thou cold and careless there were thy children forgotten or didst thou bring them on thy heart and in thy arms and with tears and cries commend them to Christ our Sunday school teachers your closet shall be turned into the open air one day and the contents of your secret chambers shall be published before the sun oh ye who's cobweb closets witness against you oh ye against whom the beam out of the wall explaineth because your voice has not been heard there against whom the very floor might bear witness because it hath never felt the weight of your knees how will you stand this searching test how will you endure this day of burning when God shall try you for everything you did and everything you did not do which you ought to have done in connection with the work of teaching your children the account must be exact and precise as well as personal I shall not stop to enlarge upon that your own conscience and judgement can enlarge upon it at home now remember once again that the account must be complete you will not be allowed to leave out something you will not be allowed to add anything perhaps some of you would like to begin with tomorrow or next Sabbath day and strike out the past no Sunday school teacher when God says give an account of thy stewardship you will have to begin with the day when you were first a teacher oh my God how many there are who professed to you how many there are who professed to teach the word who might well beg that that would let many a year of their ministry be buried in forgetfulness oh might not some of us fall upon our knees and say lord let me give account of my diligence years not of my idle years but we must begin with our ordination we must end with our death and you must begin with the first hour when you sat down in your class and you must end when life ends and not till then does this not put a very solemn aspect on your account some of you you are always saying I will be better tomorrow will that blot out yesterday I must be more diligent in future will that redeem the lost opportunities which have departed in the years gone by no if you have loitered long and lingered much you will find the hardest running of today will not make up for the loitering of yesterday there have been some men who after spending many years in sin have been doubly diligent for Christ afterwards but they have always felt that they have only done the days work in the day and they mourned over those years which the locusts had eaten has gone beyond recall oh catch the moments as they fly Sunday school teachers use the days as they come do not be talking about making up for the badness of the first part of the account by the brilliant character of the conclusion you cannot do it you must give an account for each day separately for each year by itself and do what you may to retrieve your losses the losses still stand upon the book and the master will say at last how came these here and though they are all covered up in sovereign grace if thou believest in Christ Jesus yet thou wouldst not wish to have any of the more stains for that because Christ hath washed thee thou dost not desire to make thyself filthy because he hath atoned thou dost not desire to commit sin no live my brothers and sisters as Sunday school teachers should live live as if your own salvation depended upon the strictness of your fulfilling your duty and yet recollect your salvation not depend on that but on your personal interest in the everlasting covenant and in the all prevailing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who is Israel's strength and redeemer three and now though there are many other things I might say I fear lest I might weary you therefore let me notice some occasions when it will be well for you all to give an account of your stewardship and then notice that you must give an account of it you know there is a proverb that short reckonings make long friends and a very true proverb it is a man will always be at friendship with his conscience as long as he makes short reckonings with it it was a good rule of the old puritans that of making frank and full confession of sin every night not to leave a weak sin to be confessed on Saturday night or Sabbath morning but to recall the failures imperfections and mistakes of the day in order that we might learn from one day of failure how to achieve the victory on the morrow and that washing ourselves daily from our sins we might preserve the purity and whiteness of our garments brothers and sisters do the same make short reckonings and it will be well for you every Sabbath evening or at any other time if it's so pleased with you to make a reckoning of what you do on the Sabbath I do not say this in order that you may be encouraged to any self-righteous congratulation that you have done well because if you make your reckoning correct you will never have much cause to congratulate yourself but always cause to mourn that you did your duty so ill compared with what you ought to have done when the Sabbath is over and you have been twice to the house of God to teach your class just sit down and try to recollect what were the points in which you failed perhaps you exhibited a hasty temper you spoke to a boy too sharply when he was a little rebellious perhaps you were too complacent you saw sin committed and ought to have reproved it and you did not do so if you find out your own failing that is half the way to occur next Sabbath you can try and set it right then there are times which Providence puts in your way which will be excellent seasons for reckoning for instance every time a boy or girl leaves the school there is an opportunity afforded you of thinking to yourselves well how did I deal with Betsi how did I treat John did I give William such teaching as will help him in his future life to maintain integrity in the midst of temptation and preserve righteousness when he shall be subjected to imminent perils how did I teach the girl did I so teach her that she will know her duty when she goes into the world did I strive with all my might to lead her to the foot of the cross there are many solemn questions which you may put concerning the child and when you meet with any of them grown up in after years you will find that a very proper season for giving an account of your stewardship to your conscience by seeing whether you really did with that person when a child as you could have desired then there is a peculiar time for casting up accounts when a child dies ah what a host of thoughts cluster around the dying bed of a child whom we have taught next to the father and the mother I should think the sabbath school teacher will take the most interest in the dying one you will recollect there lies withering the flower which my hand hath watered there is an immortal soul about to pass the portals of eternity whom I have taught oh God have I taught this dying child the truth or have I deceived him have I dealt faithfully with him have I told him of his ruin have I set before him how he was fallen in Adam and depraved in himself have I told him about the great redemption of Christ have I shown him the necessity of regeneration and the work of the Holy Spirit or have I amused him with tales about the historical parts of the Bible and pieces of morality and kept back the weightier matters of the law can I put my hand into his dying hand and silently lifting my heart to heaven can I say oh God thou knowest I am clear of his blood ah that is a thing which stings the minister often when he recollects that any of his congregation are dying when I stand sometimes by the dying bed of any of the ungodly in my congregation it brings many a tearful thought to me have I been as earnest as I ought to have been did I cry to this man escape for thy life look not behind thee stay not in all the plain flee to the mountains did I pray for him weep over him tell him of his sin preach Christ simply, plainly, boldly to him was there not an occasion when I used lightness when I ought to have been solemn might there not have been a season when I uttered something by mistake which may have been a pillow for the armhole of his conscience on which he might rest have I not helped to smooth his path to hell instead of putting blocks in his way and chains across his path that he might be turned out of it and led to the saviour ah while we know that salvation is all of grace let none of us imagine we are free from the blood of souls unless we warn them with diligence unless we preach with faithfulness for this same Bible which tells me that Christ shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied tells me that if I warn them not their blood, if they perish shall be required at my hand but now teacher let me tell you an occasion when you must give in your account you may put off all these seasons if you like you may live as carelessly as you please but if you have a particle of heart in you you will have to give an account when you are sick and cannot go to your class if your conscience is worth having which some people's consciences are not for they are dead and seared if your conscience is an awakened one when you are put out of your work you will begin to think how you did it you should read the letters of that holy man Rutherford if ever there was a man who preached the Gospel sweetly and with divine unction I think it must have been he and yet when he was shut up in Aberdeen and could not go out to his much-loved flock he began to say ah, if the Lord will let me go out to preach again I will never be such a dull drone as I was want to be I will preach with tears in my eyes so that the people may be comforted and the sinners converted perhaps when you are lying ill in your bedroom little Jane comes to see you and says I hope you will soon get well teacher or William or Thomas calls and inquires about you every Sunday afternoon and asks the servant to give his love to you and hopes that teacher will soon come back again then is the time when I know you will be sure to cast up your account you will say ah when I get back to my class I won't teach them as I used to do I will study my lesson more I will pray more I won't be so hot or so fast with them I will bear with their ill manners ah, if my master will give me like Hezekar another 15 years of labour and will give me more grace I will strive to be better you will be sure to cast up your accounts when you are sick but if you do not do it then I will tell you when you must that is when you come to die what a dreadful thing it must be to be an unfaithful preacher on a dying bed oh, that I may be saved from that to be upon one's bed when life is over to have had great opportunities mighty congregations and to have been so diligent about something else as to have neglected to preach the full and free gospel while Lord Jesus Christ me thinks as I lie in my bed a dying I should see spectres and grim things in the room one would come and stare upon me and say ah, you are dying remember how many times I sat in front of the gallery and listened to you but you never once told me to escape from the wrath to come you were talking to me about something I did not understand but the simple matter of the gospel you never preached to me and I died in doubt and trembling and now you are coming to me to the hell which I have inherited because you were unfaithful and when in our grey and dying age we see the generations which have grown up around our pulpits we shall think of them all we shall think of the time when as striplings we first began to preach we shall recollect the youth that then crowded and then the grey heads that passed away and me thinks as they come on in grim procession they will everyone leave a fresh curse upon our conscience because we were unfaithful the deathbed of a man who has murdered his fellows of some grim tyrant who has let the bloodhounds of war loose upon mankind must be an awful thing when the soldier and the soldier's widow and the murdered man of peace rise up before him when the smoke of devastated countries seem to blow into his eyes and make them sore and red when the blood of men hangs on his conscience like a great red pawl when bloody murder the grim chamberlain draws red turns round his bed and when he begins to approach the last end where the murderer must inherit his dreary doom it must be a fearful time indeed but me thinks to have murdered souls must be more awful still to have distributed poison to children instead of bread to have given them stones when they asked us for right food to have taught them error when we ought to have taught them the truth as it is in Jesus with cold listnessness when earnestness was needed oh how your children seem to curse you when you lie there and have been unfaithful to your charge yes, you will have to cast up your account then and let me tell you though your hope must all be fixed on Jesus and that must be the consolation of your life and death yet it will be very sweetest remember when you come to die that you have been successful in winning souls to Christ ah that will bring a little life into the cheek of the consumptive teacher who sickens young when you remind her that there was a little girl who a year before she was taken ill kissed her hand and said goodbye teacher we shall meet in heaven do you not recollect teacher telling me the story of Jesus on the cross and taking me home one Sunday afternoon and putting your arms around my neck and kneeling down and praying that God would bless me oh my teacher that brought me to Jesus yes teacher when you are lying on your bed pale and consumptive you will recollect that there is one up there beside your saviour who will receive you into eternal habitations that young spirit who has gone before you who by your means was emancipated from the wickedness and bondage of a sinful world happy is the teacher who has the hope of meeting a whole band of such in heaven such a thought often cheers me let the world say what it will I know when I die there is many a spirit that will think of me in after years as the man who preached the gospel to him many a drunkard brought to Jesus and many a harlot reclaimed and to the teacher it must be the same to think that when he claps his wings and mounts from this lower valley of earth to heaven he will see a bright spirit coming down to meet him and he will hear the spirit saying sister spirit come away and when he opens his eyes he will see that the song came from the lips of one to whom he had been blessed as the means of conversion happy you who shall be welcomed at the gates of paradise by your spiritual sons and daughters and who shall have beside your master's welcome the welcome of those whom he has given you to be jewels in your crown of glory for ever and ever now to conclude we must all give an account to God in the day of judgment that is the thing which makes death so terrible oh death if thou were't all what art thou but a pinch and it all is over but after death the judgment this is the sting of the dragon to the ungodly the last great day is come the books are opened men, women and children are assembled many have come and some on the right and some on the left have already heard the sentence it is now your turn teacher what account will you render in the first place are you in Christ yourself or have you talked to others yourself have I any such here doubtless I have for alas there are many such in our schools oh my friend what wilt thou say when the master opening the book shall ask thee what hadst thou to do to declare my statutes will you look at him and say lord I taught in thy schools and thou hast eaten and drunk in our streets if you should say so he will say verily I never knew you depart from me ye cursed then what will you have to say with regard to your schools for although our statutes at last will really be settled according to our interest in Christ you will be judged by your works as evidences the scripture always says that we are to be judged according to our works well then the book is opened you have heard your own name read and you hear that one brief sentence inasmuch as thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord oh heaven of heavens and this is the reward of the little trouble of teaching a few children oh master thou givest ingots of gold for our grains of dust our fragments of service thou rewardest with crowns and kingdoms but he turns to others and to you he says inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these my brethren ye did it not unto me depart from me and to everlasting fire in hell prepared for the devil and his angels which of these two shall be said to me which of these two shall be said to you oh as in God's sight I charge you by him who is the judge of quick and dead by the swiftness of his chariot wheels which now are bringing him here by the solemnity of his awful tribunal by that sentence which shall never be reversed judge yourselves for then ye shall not be judged give an account of your stewardship to your conscience and to your God confess your sins seek his help and begin from this hour by his holy spirit to undertake his work afresh so shall ye stand before his faith clothed in the righteousness of your redeemer and washed in his blood though not boasting in your works you shall be able to stand accepted in him and your work shall follow when you rise from your labours and you shall be among the blessed that die in the Lord