A LETTER FROM PASTOR C. H. SPURGEON.
DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-,the wheels of my mind have been revolving without grinding anything, because I could not find the grist for the mill in the form of a subject. At last I have found one very near home in the name of the classes to which you belong. You are members of BIBLE-CLASSES, and therein lies much that is worth considering. the Bible is the best of studies; may you be the best of students. It deserves at your hands reverence, attention, meditation, obedience, and imitation: if these be rendered to it, the Bible will render hack to you a choice return. the warning of our Lord concerning hearing the word is equally true of the reading of it; he said, “take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you; and unto you that hear shall more be given.”
Certain insects assume the color of the leaves they feed upon; and they are but emblems of a great law of our being: our minds take the hue of the subjects whereon they think. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
Readers of trash become trashy; lovers of sceptical books become sceptical; and students of the Bible, who are in real earnest, become
biblical, and display the qualities ,of the Bible. If you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the word of God, the qualities of that word will be
displayed in you. A- man fed on Bibline is a man indeed. In the history of heroes, there are none who show so much moral muscle and spiritual sinew as those who make the word of God their necessary ‘food.
At this time I would remind you of one of the most striking characteristics of the Bible, namely, its holiness. On the back of nearly every copy of the Sacred Scriptures we read the words HOLY BIBLS. It is not the only holy thing or holy book in the world; but yet the Bible is pre-eminently holy, because of its holy Author, its holy subjects its holy spirit, and its holy tendency. It is a :book for holy men, and a book to make men holy. You
are, then, members of Holy Bible-classes; may the classes be holy as well as the Bible, and may you all be holy members of Bible-classes.
Hard-by this word Holy Bible lies my subject; indeed, it grows out of it. I want you to exhibit holy happiness. the devil has cunningly persuaded many young people that holiness means mopishness and misery. No falsehood is more entirely baseless than this; and yet it is commonly
accepted, and works a world of mischief. For youthful minds are fascinated by the idea of happiness, and frightened with the notion of melancholy; and therefore the evil one tries to blacken the fair face of holiness with the
‘smoke of this slanderous suggestion —that godly people are gloomy people. the fact is that true holiness is the only source of real happiness. No man can be thoroughly and lastingly happy unless he is holy; and if he be holy, no man can be utterly or lastingly miserable. Holiness and happiness are so joined together by the hand of God that they never can be long apart. through various causes they may for awhile be sundered; but they are so wedded that they are sure to meet again. I desire greatly that all of you who are believers in the Lord Jesus may prove by your happy and holy lives that this is the case. I would have the warmth of your zeal for God attended by the light of your joy in God. I would have the sharp sword of your convictions adorned with the golden hilt of your delight in the Lord.
this will cause you to honor God, and make you useful to others. I have heard that of old they would smear the wings of a dove with delicious perfume, and thus attract flocks of others to the dove-cote. Joyful
Christians are attractive Christians, and my prayer is that all of you may be such.
You will see clearly that holiness and happiness must walk hand in hand if you will remember that the most holy being in existence, namely, the Lord our God himself, is also the happiest of beings. He is the blessed God because his name is “. Holy,. holy, holy!” We may be sure, then, that those who become like God in holiness will become like him in happiness.
Holiness draws them near to God, makes them enjoy more of the love of God, and makes them more full of God, and hence it gives them fellowship with the bliss of God, in whose presence there is fullness of joy. the next happiest beings are holy angels: and these are supremely happy because they are wholly sanctified unto God: they have harps in their hands and hallelujahs on their lips because they have holiness :in their hearts. My observation proves to me that the happiest of men are those whose lives are “holiness unto the Lord.” they have sorrows and trials which the
wicked do not share; but, they have also an exceeding store of happiness with which the ungodly cannot meddle. Certainly there are no people in this world that I have ever envied except those whom I have known to be remarkable for their holy lives. I have never longed to be a king, nor wished to be an emperor, but I have sighed, and cried, and prayed to be like the excellent of the earth, in whom is all my delight. Next, it must seem highly probable to you that God would have created us so that obedience to himself would yield us satisfaction, and disobedience would bring with it disquietude and sorrow. And, indeed, he has con- stituted us upon that principle, so that righteousness is peace to a man, and sin is misery. This order has been greatly disturbed by the Fall, and by the existence of wicked men; and hence it occurs that apparently the wicked have the, best of it, and the gracious are sorely tried: still it remains true that when we are in accord with the Lord our mind enjoys peace, and when we quarrel with him we quarrel with ourselves. In this lies the essence of happiness or misery, for if there be peace within the bosom, no outward trouble can disturb our joy; and if there he no rest within, no external comforts can cheer the heart. Conscience is a deadly foe to happiness when men indulge in sin. ]?oily full often bears with it a temporary pleasure like the crackling of thorns under a pot; it yields a passing gratification as the meteor flashes for a moment; but, after all, the utmost enjoyments that come of sin are so short- lived and so mean that they are not worthy of immortal man.
Pleasures which we share with swine are but of small account. the deep content which springs from being right and doing right is a jewel worth more than all the mirth which ever stirred the soul of the gayest of the gay at the height of their hilarity. the human mind cannot find a quiet anchorage except in the roadstead of full fellow- ship with God: it is so formed and fashioned that as long as it is sinful it is like the troubled sea which cannot rest. If you have ever come home at night from a place of questionable amusement, I am sure you have felt much disquiet when {eft alone; you have forgotten all your merriment when your companions have departed, and in the pain of reflection you have made a resolve never to go again.
How different your thoughts upon returning home from a Bible-class, or a prayer-meeting, where you have enjoyed the presence of God! You have felt a deep repose of heart, and a true joy, which needed no noisy company or boisterous shouting to keep it up. this is the happiness which I wish you always to feel—a joy which can be weighed in the scales of judgment, tried by the tests of reason, enjoyed in solitude, ay, and enjoyed on a dying bed.
God, I say, has so made you that happiness comes to you through holiness.
Believe :me, except you are holy, you shall never know what real happiness means. Again, it would appear to be according to the universal rule of nature that a man who obeys the laws of God should be happy, and that he who rebels against :them should find it hard to kick against the pricks.
Outward nature teaches us that harmony is produced by obedience to law.
Sun, moon, and stars, and all the elements are invariably obedient to their Maker’s will. Since the hour when he established the heavens and the earth they have kept his ordinances without a single breach, and consequently they have continued to stand fast and abide in their places. If there could be a planet uncontrolled by gravitation, what would become of it? Now, if a man sets himself in opposition to the course of creation and the custom of the universe, must he not in many ways come into collision with God. and with the forces under his control, and so meet with damage and injury? For my part, I find my rest in being at one with the one God, and in being a loyal subject of the blessed and only Potentate. I like to look up to the silent stars and feel that the God who made them all is my Friend, and that!
desire to order my life in accordance with his will. this gives me great happiness; but if I were compelled to confess myself the enemy of that All- wise and Almighty One, who rides upon the wings of the wind, and makes the clouds the dust of his feet, I should feel. that I had entered upon a contest for which I am altogether unequal, and that it would surely involve me in pains and penalties which I am not able to bear.
Those who talk of holiness as being necessarily mopishness have no reason by which they can justify their statement. What is there in a gracious life that should involve misery? A holy man is pardoned: is there anything in the forgiveness of sins to produce distress of mind’? A holy man is changed in heart: is there anything g to be deplored in a new heart and a right spirit?
A holy man is a child of God, beloved of his heavenly Father, guarded by holy angels, comforted by the Holy Spirit, made an heir of God, and joint heir with Jesus Christ: is there anything in all this to excite sorrow? A holy man knows that all his present affairs are in the hands of God, that even his trials and afflictions are sanctified to his good, and that God will never leave him, nor forsake him, world without end: what is ;here in this state of things to make him feel unhappy? the Christian is on his way to a peaceful death, a glorious resurrection, and an eternal life of immeasurable felicity,
— will such an outlook make him wretched? to my mind there are ten thousand times ten thousand reasons why every genuine Christian should be happy as the days are long; and there is not one single reason in holiness
why a man should ever exhibit a doleful countenance. Alas! it is our unholiness Which troubles us: it is because we cannot be as holy as we wish that we are not as happy as we wish. When we shall be perfectly holy we shall be perfectly happy.
But it is not a matter of mere argument and supposition. I have seen for myself, ay, and enjoyed for myself, the happiness which comes of holiness.
I have seen very poor Christian persons far more happy than rich
worldlings, because they have walked with God. I have visited bed-ridden persons, full of pain and near to death, who have been almost as happy as the angels in heaven, and have sent me out of their bed-chambers refreshed with their psalms of delight. Yes, and I have seen, dying with consumption and other diseases, young people like yourselves, who have displayed in the hour of their departure far more exquisite joy than I have witnessed at wedding-feasts. When I have myself been able to plead successfully with God in prayer, when I have overcome a temptation to evil in my own heart, when I have been able to do the work of the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully and truly, — then have I felt that holiness is happiness; and therefore I speak positively upon this point.
If any of you still entertain a doubt, I would say, “0 taste and see that the Lord is good!” As Samson brought the honey in his hands to his father and mother, so would I tell you of my happiness, that you may enjoy the like.
No knowledge is so sure as that which comes of personal experience: why should we not obtain such knowledge, each one for himself? Hasten by humble prayer to the Lord Jesus, and put your trust in him: his atonement is the lifeblood of holiness. His Spirit will create :in you that clean heart which is the.well-spring of a holy life. thus washed and renewed you shall go forth with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into slurring, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
I am rejoiced to hear that some of your number have been converted to God, and have lately put on Christ. to you I would more especially say — let your holiness be always clothed in the silken garments of happiness. Be pictures of Christ in your lives, and let the pictures be hung in the golden frames of cheerfullness. Be not frivolous, but be joyful; gravely, heartily, deeply joyful. Is it not written, Let the righteouse glad; let them rejoice before God; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice “? Happiness is the light which flashes from the glittering armor of righteousness. If holiness be the
priest, let happiness be the ephod of blue, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, hung with bells and pomegranates, which he wears for glory and for beauty. Spend your days, not in sighing over the present, but in singing about the future; not in finding fault with others, but in finding help for them; not in moaning and groaning over your hard work or your ill-health, but in praising and blessing God for the comforts of your station, and for the possibilities of glorifying his name. Be most happy when you are most engaged in holy service: then is the time for the high-sounding cymbals.
Have happy Sundays, happy Bible-classes, happy prayer-meetings, and happy school-addresses. May all these be preludes of that happiest of days when you shall see the face of the happy God, and be with him for ever and ever.
Yours very heartily, C. H. SPURGEON.