A SOLEMN WARNING FOR ALL
CHURCHES
A Sermon
Delivered on Sabbath Morning,
REV. C.
H. SPURGEON,
At New
"Thou hast a few names even in
Y
LEARNED AND EMINENTLY pious predecessor, Dr. Gill, is of opinion that the
different churches spoken of in the Book of Revelation are types of different
states through which the church of God shall pass until it comes into the
Philadelphia state, the state of love, in which Jesus Christ shall reign in its
midst, and afterwards, as he thinks, shall pass into the state of Laodicea, in
which condition it shall be when suddenly the Son of Man shall come to judge
the world in righteousness and the people in equity. I do not go with him in
all his suppositions with regard to these seven churches as following each
other in seven periods of time; but I do think he was correct when he declared
that the church in
- GENERAL DEFILEMENT. The
holy apostle, John, said of the church in
The first charge of general defilement he brings against the church in
Then the next charge was, that there was a want of zeal throughout
the church of Sardis. He says, "Be watchful." He looked on the church
and saw the bishops slumbering, the elders slumbering, and the people
slumbering; they were not, as once they were, watchful for the faith, striving
together and earnestly contending for it, not wrestling against the enemy of
souls, labouring to spread their Master's kingdom, but the apostle saw
sleepiness, coldness, lethargy; therefore he said, "Be watchful." Oh!
John, if from thy grave thou couldst start up, and see the church as thou didst
at Sardis, having thine eyes anointed by the Spirit, thou wouldst say it is
even so now. Ah! we have abundance of cold, calculating Christians, multitudes
of professors; but where are the zealous ones? where are the leaders of the
children of God? where are your heroes who stand in the day of battle? where
are your men who "count not their lives dear unto them," that they
might win Christ, and be found in him? where are those who have an impassioned
love for souls? How many of our pulpits are filled by earnest, enthusiastic
preachers? Alas! look, at the church. She has builded herself fine palaces,
imitating popery; she hath girded herself with vestments; she has gone astray
from her simplicity; but she has lost the fire and the life which she once had.
We go into our chapels now, and we see everything in good taste: we hear the
organ play; the psalmody is in keeping with the most correct ear; the gown and
the noble vestments are there, and everything is grand and goodly, and we think
that God is honored. Oh for the days when Whitfields would preach on tubs once
more, when their pulpits should be on Kennington Common, and their roofs the
ceiling of God's sky. Oh for the time when we might preach in barns again, or
in catacombs either, if we might but have the life of God that once they had in
such places. What is the use of garnishing the shell when you have lost the
kernel. Go and whitewash, for the life is gone. Garnish the outside of your cups
and platters; but ye have lost the pure word of God. Ye have it not for a piece
of bread; they flinch to speak the whole truth, or if they seem to speak it, it
is with cold, meaningless, passionless words, as if it were nothing whether
souls were damned or saved, whether heaven were filled or heaven depopulated,
or whether Christ should see of the travail of his would and be satisfied. Do I
speak fierce things? I can say as Irving once did, I might deserve to be broken
on the wheel if I did not believe what I say to be the truth; for the utterance
of such things I might deserve the stake; but God is my witness, I have
endeavoured to judge and to speak impartially. With all that universal cant of
charity now so prevalent I am at arm's length; I care not for it. Let us speak
of things as we find them. WE do believe that the church has lost her zeal and
her energy. But what do men say of us? "Oh! you are too excited."
Good God! excited! when men are being damned; Excited! When we have the
mission of heaven to preach to dying souls. EXCITED! preaching too much!
when souls are lost. Why should it come to pass that one man should be
perpetually labouring all the week, while others are lolling upon their
couches, and preach only upon the Sabbath-day? Can I bear to see the laziness,
the slothfulness, the indifference of ministers, and of churches, without
speaking. No! there must be a protest entered, and we enter it now. Oh! Church
of God, thou has a name to live, and art dead; thou art not watchful. Awake!
awake! arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
The third charge which John brought against Sardis was that they did
not "look to the things that remained and were ready to die." I
take it that this may related to the poor feeble saints, the true children of
God, who were sorrowing, mourning, and groaning in their midst, who were so
oppressed with sorrow on account of the state of Sardis, that they were
"ready to die." And what does the church do now? Do the shepherds go
after those that are wounded and sick, and those that are weary? Do they carry
the lambs in their bosom, and gently lead those that are with young? Do they
see to poor distressed consciences, and speak to those who feel their deadness
in trespasses and sins? Yes, but how do they speak? They tell them to do things
they cannot do—to perform impossible duties—instead of "strengthening the
things that remain and are ready to die" In how much contempt are the
truly new-born children of God held in these times! They are called peculiar
men, scouted as Antinomians, hissed at as being oddities, high doctrine men who
have departed from the usual mode of pulling down God's word to men's fancies;
they are called bigots, narrow-minded souls, and their creed is set down as
dry, hard, rough, severe Calvinism. God's gospel called hard, rough, and
severe! The things for which our fathers died are not called infamous things!
Mark whether, if ye stand out prominently in the truth, you will not be
abhorred and scouted. If you go into a village, and hear of poor people who are
said to be doing a deal of mischief, are they not the people who understand
most of the gospel? Go and ask the minister who are the persons that he most
dislikes? and he will say, "We have a nasty lot of Antinomians here."
What does he mean by that? Men who love the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, and will have it, and are therefore called a nasty set of
Antinomians. Ah! we have lost what once we had. We do not now "strengthen
the things that remain and are ready to die;" they are not looked after as
they ought to be, not beloved, not fostered. The salt of the earth are now the
offscouring of all things; men whom God has loved, and who have attained a high
standing in godliness—these are the men who will not bow the knee to Baal, and
who therefore are cast into the fiery furnace of persecution and slander. O
Sardis! Sardis! I see thee now. Thou hast defiled thy garments. Thank God,
there are a few who have not followed the multitude to do evil, and who shall
"walk in white, for they are worthy."
Another charge which God has brought against the church is, that they
were careless about the things which they heard. He says, "Remember,
therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast; and repent."
If I am wrong upon other points, I am positive that the sin of this age is
impurity of doctrine, and laxity of faith. Now you know you are told every
Sunday that it does not signify what you believe; that all sects and
denominations will be saved; that doctrines are unimportant things; that as to
the doctrines of God's grace, they are rather dangerous than otherwise, and the
less you inquire about them the better; they are very good things for the
priests, but you common people cannot understand them. Thus they keep back a portion
of the gospel with cautious reserve; but having studied in the devil's new
Jesuitical college, they understand how to call themselves particular Baptists,
and then preach general doctrines, to call themselves Calvinists, and preach
Arminianism, telling the people that it does not signify whether they preach
damnable heresies instead of the truth of God. And what do the congregations
say? "Well, he is a wise man, and ought to know." So you are going
back into as bad a priestcraft as ever. Presbyter has become priest written
large, and minister has become priest in many a place because persons do not
search for themselves and endeavour to get hold of the truth of God. It is
everywhere proclaimed that we are all right; that though one says God loved his
people from before the foundation of the world, and the other that he did not;
though one says that God is changeable and turns away from his people, and the
other, that he will hold them fast to the end; though the one says that the
blood of Christ avails for all for whom it was shed and the other, that it is
inefficacious for a large number of those for whom he died; though one says
that the works of the law are in some measure necessary, or at any rate that we
must endeavour to improve what we have, and then we shall get more, while the
other says, that "by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of
ourselves, it is the gift of God," yet both are right. A new age this,
when falsehood and truth can kiss each other! New times these when fire and water
can become friendly! Glorious times these when there is an alliance between
hell and heaven, though God knows, we are of vastly different families. Ah!
now, who cares for truth except a few narrow-minded bigots as they are called.
Election—horrible! Predestination—awful! Final perseverance—desperate!
Yet, turn to the pages of the Puritans, and you will see that these truths were
preached every day. Turn to the Fathers; read Augustine, and you will see that
these were the truths for which he would have bled and died. Read the
Scriptures, and if every page is not full of them I have not read them aright,
or any child of God either. Ay, laxity of doctrine is the great fault now; we
solemnly protest against it. You may fancy that I am raising an outcry about nothing
at all. Ah! no; my anxious spirit sees the next generation—what will that be. This
generation—Arminianism. What next? Pelagianism. And what next? Popery. And what
next? I leave you to guess. The path of error is always downward. We have taken
one step in the wrong direction; God knows where we shall stop. If there had
not been sturdy men in ages gone by, the Lord would not have left to us a
remnant even now; all grace must have died, and we had become like unto
Gomorrah and unto Sodoma. Oh, church of the living God, awake! awake! Once more
write truth upon thy banner; stamp truth upon thy sword; and for God and for
his word, charge home. Ye knights of truth, and truth alone, shall sit king
over the whole world!
But now I have lifted up the whip, I must have another lash. Look on
any section of the church you like to mention, not excepting that to which I
belong; and let me ask you whether they have not defiled their garments. Look
at the church of England. Her articles are pure and right in most respects; yet
see how her garments are defiled. She hath made the Queen her Head instead of
God; she bows before the state, and worships the golden calf that is set up
before her. Look at her abominations, her pluralities, her easy living bishops
doing nothing; look at her ungodly clergymen in the country, living in sin. The
churchman who does not know that his church has defiled her garments is partial
to his mother, as indeed he ought to be, but he is too partial to speak the
truth. But good churchmen themselves weep, because what I say is true. Then
look at John Wesley's body; have not they defiled their garments? See how they
have lately been contending with a despotism as accursed as any that ever
brooded over the slaves in America? See how they have been rent in sunder, and
how imperfect in doctrine they are too after all, professedly at least, not
holding the truth of God. Look into what denomination you please, Independent,
or Baptist, or any other—have they not all defiled their garments in some way
or other? Look at the churches around, and see how they have defiled their
garments by giving baptism to those who whom it was never intended, and
degrading a holy church ordinance to become a mere sop with which they feed
their babes. And see how they have taken away Christ's honor, how they have
taken the bread that was meant for the children, and cast it to ungodly
persons. Look at our own denomination: see how it has deserted the leading
truths of the gospel. For a proof hereof, I refer you to hundreds of our
pulpits. Oh church of God! I am but a voice crying in the wilderness, but I
must cry still, "How art thou fallen from heaven, thou son of the morning!
how art thou fallen!" "Remember how thou hast received and heard, and
hold fast, and repent." If thou dost not watch, thy Master will come upon
thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour he will come unto thee.
- But now we come to far
easier work; not because we would shun what we conceive to be our duty,
even at the expense of offending many now present, but because we always
delight to speak well if we can. "Thou has a few names even in Sardis
that have not defiled their garments." He we have SPECIAL
PRESERVATION. Mark, "Thou hast a few names." Only a few; not so
few as some think, but not as many as others imagine! A few compared with
the mass of professors; a few compared even with the true children of God,
for many of them have defiled their garments. They were but a few,
and those few were even I Sardis. There is not a church on earth that is so
corrupt but has "a few." You who are always fighting so much for
your denomination, you think other denominations are Sardis; but there are
a few even in Sardis. Even if the denomination is the worst of all
Protestant sections, there are a few in Sardis; and perhaps that is as
much as we can say of our denomination: so we will treat them all alike.
There are a few in Sardis—mark that. Not in what you conceive to be
Philadelphia, your own blessed church, but in Sardis—there are a few
there. Where there is heresy and false doctrine, where there are many
mistakes about rites and ceremonials, there are a few there; and even
where they cringe before the state, there are a few there—ay, and a goodly
few too, a few whom we love, with whom we can hold communion. This makes
us severe against the whole body, but it makes us very loving towards all
the dear people of God everywhere. There are a few even in Sardis. Well,
when I meet a brother who lives in Sardis, I will hope he is one of the
few; and when you meet such, do you say, "Ah! well, I know my brother
comes out of a bad church, but there are a few in Sardis, and very likely
he is one of them." That is the kind of charity God loves; not the
universal charity which says Sardis is all right, but that which says, some
in her are sincere. We stand this morning like old Elijah, when he stood
before God and said, "I, only I, am left, and they seek my
life." But God whispers, "I have yet reserved unto myself
seventy thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal." Take heart,
Christian, there are a few in Sardis—do not forget that—who have not
defiled their garments. Take heart. It is not all rotten yet; there is a
soundness in the core after all; there is "a remnant according to the
election of grace;" there is "salt," and for the sake of
that salt, many who have defiled their garments in a measure will be
saved. They will enter into heaven even as these few will; but unto the
few there will be special honor and special blessing. Take heart then; and
whenever you go to your chamber and mourn over the sad condition of the
church, think you hear that good old woman in her closet groaning and
crying; think you hear that minister faithfully dispensing the word; think
you see that valiant deacon standing up for God's truth; think you see
that young man strong in the midst of temptation; think of these few in
Sardis, and they will cheer you. Do not be quite downcast. Some heroes
have not turned their backs in the day of battle; some mighty men still
fight for the truth. Be encouraged; there are a few in Sardis. But be
careful, for perhaps you are not one of the few. Since there are but a
few, there ought to be great searchings of heart. Let us look to our
garments and see whether they be defiled. If they be not, we shall walk in
white, for we are worthy through Jesus. Be active; be prayerful. The fewer
the workmen to do the work the greater reason is there that you should be
active. Be instant in season and out of season, because there are so few.
Oh! if we had hundreds behind us, we might say, "Let them do
the work;" but if we stand with only a few, how should each of those
few rush hither and thither! A city is besieged: it is full of
inhabitants; half of them are asleep; the others watch the walls, and thus
they relieve each other. Another city has but a few defenders: see how
that champion rushes first to that breach and routs the enemy; now he
brings his might to another place; a bastion is assaulted, and he is
there; now a postern is attacked—there he is with all his force behind
him; he is here, he is there, he is everywhere, because he feels there is
but a handful of men who can gather round him. Take courage, take heart;
stir yourselves up to the sternest activity, for verily there are but a
few in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. Above all, be
prayerful. Put up your earnest cries to God that he would multiply the
faithful, that he would increase the number of chosen ones who stand fast,
that he would purify the church with fire in a furnace seven times heated,
so that he might bring out her third part through the fire; cry unto God
that the day may come when the much fine gold shall be no longer dim, when
the glory shall again return unto Zion. Beg of God to remove the cloud, to
take away "the darkness that may be felt." Be doubly prayerful,
for there are but a few in Sardis who have not defiled their garments.
- This brings us to the
third point, which is a PECULIAR REWARD. "They shall walk in white,
for they are worthy." The attentive reader will observe, that in quoting
the passage just now, I left out two of the sweetest words in the passage.
It reads: "They shall walk with me in white, for they are
worthy." That is the very pith of the honor; if the rest of it be
gold this is the jewel. "They shall walk with me in
white." That is to say, communion with Christ on earth shall be the
special reward of those who have not defiled their garments. Now, I must
say a very hard thing again, but it is a true one. Go into what company
you please, do you meet with many men who hold communion with Christ?
Though they may be godly men, upright men, ask them if they hold communion
with Christ, and will they understand you? If you give them some of those
sweetly spiritual books, that those who hold fellowship love to read, they
will say they are mystical, and they do not love them. Ask them whether
they can spend an hour in meditation upon Christ, whether they ever rise
to heaven and lay their head on the breast of the Saviour, whether they
ever know what it is to enter into rest and get into Canaan; whether they
understand how he has raised us up together and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus; whether they can often say,
Abundant sweetness while I
sing
Thy love, my ravish'd heart o'erflows;
Secure in thee my God and King
Of glory that no period knows."
Ask them that, and they will say, "We don't comprehend you."
Now, the reason of it is in the first part of my sermon—they have defiled their
garments, and therefore Christ will not walk with them. He says, "Those
that have not defiled their garments shall walk with me." Those who
hold fast the truth, who take care to be free from the prevailing sins of the
times, "These," he says, "shall walk with me; they shall
be in constant fellowship with me; I will let them see that I am bone of
their bone, and flesh of their flesh: I will bring them into the
banqueting-house; my banner over them shall be love; they shall drink wine on
the lees well refined; they shall have the secrets of the Lord revealed unto
them, because they are the people who truly fear me: they shall walk with me
in white." Oh, Christian! if thou wouldst have communion with Christ, the
special way to win it is by not defiling thy garments, as the church has done.
But we must dwell on the rest of the passage. "They shall walk
with me in white, for they are worthy." A good old author says there is a
reference here to that fact, that the rabbis allowed persons to walk in white
who could trace their pedigree without a flew; but if they found any blot on
their escutcheon, and could not trace their birth up to Abraham, they were not
allowed to walk in white on certain days. Well, he says he thinks the passage
means that those who have not defiled their garments will be able to prove
their adoption, and will walk in white garments as being sure they are
the sons of God. If we would be certain that we are the people of God, we must
take care that we have no blots on our dress, for each one of those spatterings
of the mire of this earth will cry out, and say "Perhaps you are not a
child of God." Nothing is such a father of doubts as sin; sin is the very
mother of our distress. He who is covered with sin must not expect to enjoy
full assurance, but he who liveth close to his God, and keeps his garments
unspotted from the world—he shall walk in white, knowing that his adoption is
sure.
But chiefly we should understand this to refer to justification.
"They shall walk in white;" that is, they shall enjoy a constant
sense of their own justification by faith; they shall understand that the
righteousness of Christ is imputed to them, that they have
A matchless robe which far
exceeds
What earthly princes wear;"
that they have been washed and make whiter than snow,and purified and
made more cleanly than wool.
Again, it refers to joy and gladness: for white robes were
holiday dresses among the Jews. They that have not defiled their garments,
shall have their faces always bright; they shall understand what Solomon meant
when he said, "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
a merry heart. Let thy garments be always white, for God hath accepted thy
works." He who is accepted of God shall wear white garments, being
received by the Father—garments of joy and gladness. Whence so many doubts, so
much distress, and misery, and mourning? It is because the church has defiled
her garments; they do not here below walk in white, because they are not
worthy.
And lastly, it refers to walking in white before the throne of God.
Those who have not defiled their garments here, shall most certainly walk in
white up yonder, where the white-robed hosts sing perpetual hallelujahs to the
Most High. If thou hast not defiled thy garments, thou mayest say, "I know
whom I have believed;" not for my works, not by way of merit, but as the
reward of grace. If there be joys inconceivable, happiness beyond a dream,
bliss which imagination knoweth not, blessedness which even the stretch of
desire hath not reached, thou shalt have all these: thou shalt walk in white,
since thou art worthy. Christ shall say to thee "Well done, good and
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
But what shall be done with such persons as live in the church, but are
not of it having a name to live, but are dead? What shall be done with mere
professors who are not possessors? What shall become of those who are only
outwardly religious but inwardly are in the gall of bitterness? We answer, as
good Calvin did once: "They shall walk in black, for they are unworthy."
They shall walk in black—the blackness of God's destruction. They shall walk in
black—the blackness of hopeless despair. They shall walk in black—the blackness
of incomparable anguish. They shall walk in black—the blackness of damnation.
They shall walk in black for ever, because they were found unworthy. O
professors, search yourselves. O ministers, search yourselves. O ye, who make a
profession of religion now, put your hands within your hearts, and search your
souls. You live in the sight of a rein-trying God. Oh! try your own reins, and
search your own hearts. It is not a matter of half-importance for which I
plead, but a matter of double importance. I beseech you, examine and
cross-examine your own souls, and see whether ye be in the path, for it will go
ill with you if ye shall find at last that ye were in the church, but not of
it, that ye make a profession of religion, but it was only a cloak for your
hypocrisy—if ye should have entered into his courts below, and be shut out of
the courts above. Remember, the higher the pinnacle of profession the direr
your fall of destruction. Beggared kings, exile princes, crownless emperors,
are always subjects of pity. Professor, what wilt thou think of thyself when
thy robes are taken from thee, when thy crown of profession is taken from thy
head, and thou standest the hiss of even vile men, the scoff of blasphemers,
the jeer of those who, whatever they were, were not hypocrites, as thou art?
They will cry to thee, "