3378. God’s Prison, Warden, and Prisoner

A Sermon Published On Thursday, October 30, 1913.

Keep yourselves in the love of God. {Jude 1:21}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1286, “Weighty Charge, A” 1277}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3378, “God’s Prison, Warden, and Prisoner” 3380}

   Exposition on Jude 1 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2412, “Special Benediction, A” 2413 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Jude 1 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2994, “Jude’s Doxology” 2995 @@ "Exposition"}

1. This exhortation is not addressed to all who are present here. It is only addressed to those who “are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.” It is, in fact, addressed only to the true Christian, who has passed from death to life, who is a new creature in Christ Jesus, and in whom dwells the Holy Spirit. To such people the apostle Jude says in the text, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” To other people, we have this to say, “You cannot keep yourselves in the love of God,” for you never knew what it was to be in it. You have lived — may it be spoken with shame and sorrow! — you have lived all this while in a world that is full of God, and yet you have never perceived him! You have been a pensioner on his bounty, clothed by his charity, protected by his providence, and yet you have been altogether forgetful of the God whom you ought to have loved with all your heart, and soul, and strength. Ah! little do you know what you have lost by living without the love of God! The love of God is what fills our mortal existence with the brightness of heaven, and makes us feast on immortal joys, even in this vale of tears. If some men were born and bred in mines, where they did not see the light of day, I can suppose that they would think themselves possibly better off than those who had lived above, and who had walked abroad in the light. I can suppose them to be even conceited, because they found themselves better able to find their way around in the gloomy caverns below than those would be whose eyes had been used to the light. They would be more at home there in the gloomy bowels of the earth, than the sons of light who had lived above. I can imagine them becoming very conceited because of their enjoying the darkness which is beneath. But still, what a miserable life would it be always to live in that gloom, and what a change to be taken suddenly, and for the first time, from the dark pit out into the light, to look over the green fields, the god of day, the flashing waves of the sea, and the glories of the starry night! So I can conceive many of my hearers having lived so long in the dark world where there is no light, that they have acquired the art of living in this gloom until they are “wiser in their generation than the children of light.” They can do a thousand things better than God’s people can do them, and they, therefore, perhaps despise the Christian. But oh! my friends, if you could only be brought out into the world of love, the world of light, where God, the blessed Sun of Love, who floods the earth with peace and blessedness, could shine on those darkened eyes of yours — if you could only “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” — you would think that you had never lived before, and would pity yourselves to think you could have spent so many years without knowing what true life means. May that happen to some tonight! Pray, Christian, pray for those who do not know God, so that he may be found by them. Ask for them that mighty grace may come and find them, and that they may also begin to understand what “the love of God” means.

2. But the text is spoken to Christians, and we must restrict it to them, and come at once to apply it to the believer. The word “keep,” which is used here, has in it, in the Greek, the idea of keeping under a guard, or of keeping a prisoner in custody. There is the thought of watchfully regarding one who is likely to escape, and so we are told to keep ourselves in the love of God, as the warden keeps his prisoner in his cell. I do not like to use such a metaphor in connection with so sweet a text, and yet I must, and so we will have three thoughts. First, we will speak a little about this prison — oh! that we may be always shut up in it! — “the love of God.” Secondly, about the earnest warden who is told to keep the prisoner; and then, thirdly, about the free prisoners, “keep yourselves in the love of God.” Keep yourselves in heavenly custody, being never so free and never so happy, as when shut up in this divine enclosure. I really do not like to use the text with such a meaning, but I cannot very well bring out the meaning of it in any better way.

3. I. Let us speak, then, first of: — THE HEAVENLY PRISON OF “THE LOVE OF GOD.”

4. There is no restraint about this prison. He who gets into it finds, for the first time, true liberty. Then his mind is free from all its bondage: then his faculties find themselves in a sea where they may swim. Then his purest longings are gratified: then his passions are allowed to take wing, and mount as they wish. Then the soul has room to float upwards, and when it comes fully into the love of God, the new-born soul is in its element.

5. But what is the meaning of this “love of God,” in which we are to keep ourselves? It means, first, believer, that you are to keep in your memory the love of God for you. We, alas! forget too often what a friend we have above. Keep up, Christian, the memory of what the Father did for you when he chose you before all worlds. Be continually mindful of what the Son did for you when he poured out his precious blood on the cross, and gave his life a ransom for many. Be never unmindful of what the Holy Spirit did for you when he called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Around the neck of memory let the glittering pearls of God’s mercy always hang. Take care, whatever else you may forget, that you do not forget the love of God for you. As the Krishna said: — 

   Let every idol be forgot;

   But oh! my soul, forget him not.

6. Let your ear be bored to this door-post of God’s love for you! Set this as a seal on your arm, and as a signet on your finger. Brand it into your innermost heart, and let your soul’s core always wear in it the thought of God’s love for you. Queen Mary said that when she died they would find the word “Calais” written on her heart, for the loss of that town had grieved her so much; but while the Christian lives — for he shall not die — there shall always be inscribed on his heart the name of Christ, for the love of Christ shall remain there. Yes, we will remember you; “we will remember your love, for your love is better than wine!”

7. The apostle also means, keep yourselves in the assurance of the divine love. Brothers and sisters, you have known that Christ loves you. You have had it proved to you as clearly as a mathematical proof, that God loves you. You have even been able to speak in the singular, and say, “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” There have been blessed moments when no ripple of doubt disturbed the glossy surface of your calm and peaceful soul. Oh! keep that assurance! Pray that no evil doubt may come in to make you think that God does not love you. Ask that you may be always able to say, “This is my Beloved: my Beloved is mine, and I am his.” Do not sometimes climb the mount and then slip down again into the treacherous mists of the valley, but ask that you may always bathe your forehead in the sunlight of the divine assurance of the love of God for you. And so keep yourselves in the love of God.

8. It means next, keep yourselves in the enjoyment of the love of God. No one knows what the enjoyment of the divine love is except the man who has experienced it. Oh! the calm which a sense of that divine love will bring to the heart! Our Lord said to the noisy billows of the lake, “Be still,” and they quickly hushed their raging, and there was a great calm; but the love of Christ is more than even peaceful: it is joyful, it is inspiring! The man who has it has a cup filled to the brim and running over. And he who drinks of that holy chalice can say, “There is nothing like it.” Like the water of the well of Bethlehem by the gate, if any of God’s people should not be able to get it, they will sigh for it, and say, “Oh! that one would give me a drink of that water again!” Some of us know what mirth means; we are of a congenial nature, and can enter into the common joys of men. We can sit around the social hearth, and feel the joys of childhood’s prattle, and the glee of the little ones. We thank God we are not stoics: we can share the joys that are common to mankind, but oh! we do protest and bear our witness that all the joys of earth heaped together are as nothing compared with the bliss of having the love of God shed abroad in the heart. The others are only common joys, but the love of God is heaven’s own joy. They are only husks, which are well enough in their way, but the kernel of felicity lies in a full understanding of the love of God in the soul. Oh! that we could always live on it; that this manna dropped from heaven every morning, that we gathered our omer of it as soon as the sun dawned, and fed on it until the sun went down! Happy Christians, seek to keep yourselves like this in the love of God.

9. But, brethren, this is not all. The apostle also means, “keep yourselves in the power of the love of God.” Oh! the power of the love of God has in governing and influencing a man! Nothing can master a strong temper, a forceful will, an obstinate disposition, or a wayward heart, like the love of God. Even God’s law is only a frail reed compared with God’s love, which is the rod of omnipotence. If the love of God is shed abroad in the heart the idols will soon depart, and the love of sin will take its flight, and the wickedness which you and I could not conquer without it will be driven out with this two-edged sword of the power of the love of God revealed in the soul. I love to feel myself bowed down under this power until I would sacrifice my own interest, relinquish all self-seeking, abandon all care of being obedient to my own will, and be passive in the hand of the omnipotent Ruler to mould me, rule me, and govern me just as he wishes. We are not like the horse and the mule that have a bit in their mouths, and that require the rod, but when love impels us, our willing feet in swift obedience move, and we feel it to be a blessed thing to obey his commandments, or even his gentle leadings by his gracious Spirit.

10. Brethren, please take this exhortation in its practical, as well as its experiential form. Keep yourselves in the love of God, in the display of it. Love the souls of your fellow men. Pity the poor and needy. Have compassion on the ignorant and the wicked. Let no strangeness nor excess of sin prevent your loving the sinner, and let no extravagance or unkindness either prevent your forgiving each other, even to seventy times seven. Keep yourselves in the love of Christ under provocations as multiplied as those who fell on your Master’s shoulders, and so prove that your love suffers long and is kind, hopes all things, endures all things, because it is not mere human love, beautiful as that is, but is the love of God reigning and commanding your heart. “Keep yourselves in the love of God” in your relationships with each other. May no root of bitterness spring up in this church, nor in any other. Love each other as one happy family. Love each other, for you will have to dwell together for ever in heaven. Bear with each other, as you hope to be borne with by your loving Saviour. Be knit together in brotherly love. Be as one man; be forceful like a phalanx of soldiers marching on to victory. Let the love of God reign in your hearts; let it gleam from your eyes; let it flash radiantly from your countenance; let it bedew your lips; and let its savour sweeten your words. Let it give a holy blessedness to your deeds and your thoughts.

11. Keep yourselves, in all these senses, in the love of God. It is a wonderful prison for a man to be in — a blessed paradise for him to walk in. Paradise had a gate, and once Adam never wanted to get out of it; just in that sense keep yourselves in this blessed paradise of the love of God, and do not wander from it.

12. II. And now, secondly and briefly, let us say two or three words about: — THE EARNEST WARDEN WHO IS TO KEEP HIMSELF IN THE LOVE OF GOD.

13. This warden is not the minister. The minister has to preach and assist me, but the minister is not to take care of my soul as though I had nothing to do with it. I do not believe in any such nonsense as that you can be responsible for other people’s souls, so that others may assist you with their vigilance. Never, I beseech you, Englishmen and Englishwomen, never be such fools as to put yourselves at the foot of a priest! Believe that you have as much prevalence with God as these pretenders have, and that if you go to God, and take your burden of sin, you will get it taken off; but if you go roundabout to seek relief and pardon through them, you will never get it, for you insult God in the way by which you go to work. Oh! may God grant that we may never live to see our countrymen so foolish as to put their necks under the Roman Catholic yoke once again! May England never be beneath the Pope’s feet, but may we always have too much manliness ever to fall to the snare of this cunning fowler. May we always be kept from it, and so may always keep ourselves in the love of God.

14. And now, Mr. Warden, we are to say a word or two to you. See, then, your prisoner. He is one, alas! who is very apt at escaping from the gracious prison. So infatuated does he become with worldly joys, that he will often let his God, his Saviour, go. And besides this, there are many who are prison-breakers, and who will break his prison bars for him? Shall I tell you their names? There is one fellow called sin. Sin will soon prevent your enjoying the love of God. Let the Christian linger to walk disorderly, and he will soon begin to talk lightly of his wickedness, and this, again, will soon stop his communion with God. Though the Christian shall not perish, yet many of his joys shall; though God will keep him so that he shall not be utterly destroyed, yet the cheering sense of the love of God will soon depart when sin comes in to lead astray.

15. And so it shall be when another breaks the prison, namely, those under the command of idolatry. Let your hearts begin to idolize an earth-born creature, and very soon you will not be able to keep yourselves in the love of God. Father, that dear child of yours may become as much an idol to you as even the golden calf was to the Israelites. Husband, wife, friends, acquaintances, brothers, sisters, our goods, our persons, our body, our reputation — any one of these may become our idol, and when this is the case there is no keeping the heart in the love of God, for the prison doors are opened, and the prisoner, unhappily, escapes.

16. Warden, if you wish to keep your prisoner, remember he cannot well escapes, except through the doors, and therefore, watch well the door by which he has communications with the outward world. If you wish to keep yourself in the love of God, Christian, watch yourself well when you are in business; watch yourself when you are in the family; watch the door in private; watch the communications which you have with the ungodly, and as it is here that you wish to be apt to fritter away your joys and lose the richness of your communion, be all the more watchful here.

17. And, warden, watch in the night, when it is dark in your soul, for many a prisoner has made his escape at nightfall. Watch well when trouble comes, lest doubts and fears should come in. And if you wish to lock your prisoner securely in, and keep him from escaping from the all-surrounding love of God, watch yourself carefully at all times, lest by any means you slip from this good way. And, warden, I would recommend to you to take care that every bolt in the prison door be securely fastened. God has given you certain gospel ordinances, and if you wish to keep yourself in the love of God, read his Word, for it will stir you up to bind yourself to him. Be much in private prayer, for this has a force like a bolt to keep out the world and keep you in.

18. Come to the communion table, for at the time when Christ is known in the breaking of bread, another bolt is put between you and the world. In summary, whatever he says to you, do it, for in keeping of his commandments there is great reward.

19. And, warden, since you have a prisoner to keep who needs much watching, load him down well with chains. Do you think this is a harsh suggestion? The chains are such that the more of them the prisoner wears, the more free, and light, and happy he will be. Shall I tell you how to forge them? Forge them on the anvil of meditation. Think of what God did, even before the earth was. Think of eternal love before the day-star had begun to shine. Think of what Jesus did for you in the covenant, and in the suretyship engagements of eternity. Bind around your soul the chain of the Saviour’s pangs and griefs. If you wish to keep your heart a blessed prisoner in the love of God, nail it with nails which pierced the hands of Christ, and bind it to the pillar where the Lord was scourged. Make every drop of blood which Jesus sweat in the garden and shed on the cross, to be a mighty net bound around your heart, to hold it a secure prisoner for ever.

20. Oh brothers and sisters, we have indeed enough to bind us to Christ, if we were not the most wilfully forgetful men and women in the world! Oh! what has Jesus done for me? Rather, what has he not done for me? He is all in all, and being to me more than all, let me bind the sacrifice with cords, even with cords to the horns of the altar. Let the hands of a man and the cords of love be cast around this prisoner, so that he may never get out of the divine enclosure of the love of God.

21. I cannot set before you as I wish, nor with all the earnestness I want to command, the necessity of binding your heart to the love of Christ, but I will add this. Warden, take care to call in help, and remember there is One who can help you very efficiently. It is the Holy Spirit. You keep yourself in the love of God? Indeed, you cannot do it, unless you call in divine power. If ever you receive the love of God in your heart, go down on your knees and ask the Holy Spirit to keep it always there. You shall never catch this bird, and shall never be able to keep it, unless the Holy Spirit helps you. Oh! to be crucified with Christ! We may well desire it — to be fastened to his cross, so that we shall never again desire to wander, but feel ourselves the happy bondslaves, the free servants, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

22. III. And now, time flies, and we have, thirdly, to say a word or two about: — THE FREE, THE HAPPY, AND THE BLESSED PRISONER who is exhorted to keep himself in the love of God.

23. My dear brothers and sisters, if by the help of God we shall be able to do this, how happy we shall be. I would make no stipulation of any kind if God would grant me one request, namely, that he would keep me in his love. If I might only have this request granted, I am sure it would be equal to me whether he may have appointed me life or death, or whether he may have appointed me weal {wealth} or woe.

24. It would make no difference, where one lived, if one lived in the love of God. It would make no difference either, whether one were in wealth or poverty, if the love of Christ had consumed all care about self. When once the love of God, like a devouring flame, has consumed and destroyed all care about self, then we are perfectly happy. It is impossible to be miserable then, so that all the heart wants is to be kept in the love of God, for then it would always be in a state of true blessedness. Dear brothers and sisters, how important it is that we should be happy! Moses, without the brightness of his face would be little more than other men. And a Christian without holy joy — what is he? I am certain that nothing has done more mischief to Christianity than the loss of joy of some professors. Why, there are some of you who only dishonour your religion by your constant moans and groans! If we are not happy, who ought to be? Children of God, heirs of heaven, accepted in the Beloved, all our sins forgiven, and we ourselves on the way to heaven — if we do not sing, who can sing? If there is no holy mirth in our hearts, no joyful songs set to glorious tunes in our souls as we go along our pilgrimage to heaven, then it must be a miserable world indeed. But a happy Christian entices others to Christ. His very face and bearing are a gospel ministry of invitation to others, and those others say, “We will go with you, for we perceive that the Lord is with you.”

25. And there is another thing. If you are kept in the love of God, besides being happy, you will be so useful. If we do not enjoy the love of God ourselves, we cannot do much good to others. You will be blessed to your families; you will be blessed to the ungodly, and you will be blessed wherever you are, if you are kept in the love of God. I can conceive that a man with the love of God in his heart, if he saw a stranger here, would be pretty sure to have a word with him, and, perhaps, the stranger would be very glad. I am sure there are here every Sabbath a great many people who would be quite willing to have a little talk about divine things, and to whom a little private conversation might be far more useful than any sermon that I could deliver. You who have the love of God in you will look after such; you cannot help it. You love, and God loves. God is blessing you, and you want to bless men, and you will pine and pant to bring others to the Saviour. I want you, the members of this church, particularly to have the love of God in your hearts just now, so that those daily prayer meetings of ours may be times of great and miraculous power. When a cold heart comes into the prayer meeting, if it does not hinder, at any rate it brings them no help; but every warm and loving heart that comes increases the general fire. You each bring your bundle of wood, as it were, and put it on the hearth, and so it makes one great blaze. Oh! when a thousand hearts that are full of love come together, then prayer is sure to prosper.

26. If your heart is full of the love of God, it will keep on going up to heaven in prayer, even when you are at your business or your work, as well as when you are in the house of God. Brothers and sisters, we shall have great times yet. God is going to bless us, and we shall see greater things than the world has even beheld since the day of Pentecost. I trust we are seeking for it, and expecting it, and if so, we shall get it. Let us seek to have the blessing in ourselves, and ask to be kept in the love of God.

27. It would not do for the farmer to have his men sick in harvest time, but they must be strong, and hearty, and robust, when they have to reap. Oh! that you and I may be made strong to reap here! At such times they bring out the big bottle, and though some of us do not think that that is the best thing that could be done for the workman, yet I should like tonight to bring out among you the big bottles of the promises, of which you may drink without any fear of getting intoxicated. Oh! that you could drink of such a promise as this, “I will be with you,” and then, full of strength, go out into the fields and work for Christ without weariness! When heaven begins to open its golden gates, and throw up its windows, and cast out its blessings, then, in any case, let us open the doors of our hearts, throw them wide open in expectancy, and open the doors of our mouths wide, so that God may fill them. Let us come up to this house, and go to our own houses too, with the love of God plenteously shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and let this always be our prayer: — 

   Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,

      With all thy quickening powers;

   Come, shed abroad a Saviour’s love,

      And that shall kindle our’s.

28. Now, to many here. I am afraid I have been talking about something which is no more understood by them than Latin or Greek would be! You could not understand it, but there is one thing I want you to understand before you go tonight, and that is this, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” and whoever here believes in him — that is, trusts Christ to save him — shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Whatever his past life may have been, however black his character may be, if he will only come to the heavenly Father, through Christ, trusting in Christ, who bore the punishment for sin, such a man shall be forgiven, shall be saved, shall be made a new creature, shall go on his way rejoicing, filled with the love of God, and with all the blood-washed shall pass through the pearly gates, and in heaven shall join with them in singing about the love of God, world without end. May you and I have a portion there, for Christ’s sake.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Joh 14}

1. “Do not let your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.

You will be troubled; that cannot be helped. But do not let your heart be troubled. You are like a ship, and all the water in the sea cannot harm a ship, if it is kept outside of her. Do not let your heart be troubled. How are you to prevent it? Faith is the remedy. You believe already; believe more. “You believe in God; believe also in me.” “You have a trust in the infinite power of God; believe in me as the incarnation of his infinite love.”

2. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

There is no room for you on earth; there will be in heaven. If troubles should so multiply that it seems impossible to live in them, you shall be carried away where you shall live above them. “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” You may depend on the love of Christ beloved, for if there were anything dark, mysterious, distressing, which would lead you to despair, he would not have kept it back. He treats you frankly. “If it were not so I would have told you. I go, and you are sorry that I go. It is one source of your sorrow. But I go to prepare a place for you.”

3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; so that where I am, there you may be also.

Oh! this is a basis for sweet comfort, and it ought to yield it to us tonight. He has gone, but he will come again; he has not left us for ever. Distance separates us for a while; but, skipping over the mountains like a roe and a young hart, he will come again, even to this poor world, and to us, his waiting church, he will come again. Therefore, have patience. Do not let your heart be troubled. Jesus Christ will come very soon.

4. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

You know where Christ is gone. You know how to get to him. The throne on which he sits is the throne of grace. He is gone to the Father, and your prayers will find the Father. You know the way. Then frequent it; and though as yet in your bodies you cannot reach him, yet in spirit you can. “Where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5. Thomas says to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; and how can we know the way?”

This contradicted his Master, which Thomas ought not to have done. He should have put it much rather in the form of a question for explanation, than of such a flat denial. His Master said, “Where I go you know.” He said, “We do not know where you are going.” But we must take care that we do not contradict Christ. Our unbelief would be shamed out of us, if we were to look at it and examine it. I am persuaded that your faith will be justified the more you examine it, until you will discover that faith in God is nothing, after all, but sanctified common sense. So unbelief will appear to be more shameful the more you examine it, until you discover at length that it is nothing but garish folly. An outrage on the first principles of wisdom is doubt of God.

6, 7. Jesus says to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from now on you know him, and have seen him.”

This, then, is the main point of knowledge with us, to know Christ. All the studies in the world are vain, compared with the study of Christ crucified. This is the most excellent of all the sciences. He who knows Christ knows the way, the truth, the life, yes, and God himself.

8, 9. Philip says to him, “Lord show us the Father, and it suffices us.” Jesus says to him, “Have I been so a long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; and why do you say then, ‘Show us the Father?’

The best view of God we can ever have is Christ. In the person of his Son there is more seen of God than in all nature; indeed and in all history added to nature. God has given us a full-length portrait of himself in Jesus; while in all his works, we have no more than a mere miniature of him. Oh! that we knew Christ more; then we should know the Father.

10-12. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak by myself: but the Father who dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘He who believes in me, the works that I do he shall do also; and he shall do greater works than these; because I go to my Father.’

Oh! what strength there is in faith. These are the same people who are not to be troubled. They are to rise so much above trouble of heart, that they are to become performers of works like Christ. Yes, and since Christ has gone, and he has endowed us with the Holy Spirit, we are to do even greater works than he did. Oh! to know the possibilities of our nature; to know what God can do by us. What appears to us as we are, as unable to be done, we may be enabled to do through the Spirit of God who is in Christ Jesus.

13, 14. And whatever you shall ask in my name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.

It does not mean that every prayer will be answered. The power to ask a thing in Christ’s name is not given to everyone. It is not merely to say at the end of your prayer, “for Christ’s sake.” It is another thing; it is to be able to feel that, as Christ stood in your place, so you dare stand in Christ’s place; and what you have asked, you have asked in his name, feeling that what you have asked is such that Christ would have asked it. Now, when you can feel that, and can feel that Christ puts his seal on what you have asked for, then, you ask in his name. A person cannot always speak in the name of another; he cannot do it at all unless he has received an authorization to do so. Then he stands as that person’s deputy; stands in his place; speaks in his name. I am sure that nine out of ten of the prayers of Christians are not offered in the name of Christ, and could not be. It would be a sin against Christ for such prayers to be supposed to be the prayers of Christ. But when we talk about the Spirit of God, and we dare ask in the name and use the seal of Christ, to set his signature at the bottom of our petition, then, brethren, depend on it Christ will do it.

15. If you love me, keep my commandments.

Oh! some of us would have liked him to have said, “If you love me, give all your money; go into a convent. If you love me, perform some wonderful action. Go into the streets and preach; where you would be hooted. Go to some foreign country and become a martyr.” No, no; “If you love me, keep my commandments. Stay at home near your father and mother. If you love me, love my disciples. Let love rule you. And in that place in life in which I have set you, try to honour my name by exhibiting my character. If you love me, keep my commandments.”

16-19. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, so that he may remain with you for ever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him, neither knows him: but you know him: for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.

“Yet a little while and the world sees me no more; but you see me.” Now, when the world does not see him, we still see him. He is present to our faith, though passing from our sight. “Because I live, you shall live also.” Is he a dead Christ? Then he has a dead people for his church. He is a living Saviour: he has a living people; and they shall no more die than he shall die; “for he, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more dominion over him.” “Because I live, you shall live also.”

20. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

What a wonderful union this is — Christ in the Father; the saints in Christ, and Christ in the saints. These are riddles which are not meant for the children of this world; but those who are the children of God shall understand them, shall live on them.

21. He who has my commandments, and keeps them, it is he who loves me:

Not he who preaches about them, talks much about them; boasts about a higher life and all kinds of things; but “he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me: and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

21, 22. And he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.” Judas says to him, not Iscariot, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”

If you do reveal yourself to us, who are only a few poor fishermen, you do not extend your kingdom very much; but if you would reveal yourself to the world in all your glory, surely they would be surprised and overwhelmed, and your kingdom would come. But that is not Christ’s way. His visitations are for his own: not for glitter, but for edification. He comes to bless them; not that he may be ostentatious among men.

23. Jesus answered and said to him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.

Oh! what an honoured man that — for the Father and the Son to be his guests, to make an abode in his heart.

24-28. He who does not love me does not keep my sayings; and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. I have spoken to you these things while still present with you. But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your memory, whatever I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said to you, ‘I go away, and come again to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, ‘I go to the Father: for my Father is greater than I.’

Christ had stooped to take a lower place for our sakes.

29-31. And now I have told you before it happens, so that, when it does happen, you might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing on me. But that the world may know that I love the Father: and just as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”

Feathers for Arrows; or, Illustrations for Preachers and Teachers, from my Note-Book. By C. H. Spurgeon. Cloth. Published at 6d., offered at 2s.

Barbed Arrows, from the Quiver of C. H. Spurgeon. A Collection of Anecdotes, Illustrations and Similes. With Preface by Pastor C. Spurgeon, A companion Volume to “Feathers for Arrows.” Cloth. Published at 2s. 6d., offered at 2s.

Illustrations and Meditations; or, Flowers from a Puritan’s Garden. Distilled and dispensed by C. H. Spurgeon. Cloth. Published at 2s. 6d., offered at 2s.