Mr. W. J. Orsman, 153. Downham Road, London, N., thankfully acknowledges the following Donations for General Expenses Fund : Mr. Spurgeon acknowledges the receipt of the following sums for relief of Baptist A Working Man A Friend Mr. Romang. Mr. R. Mills Mr. Higgs Mr. Passmore S J. M. Miss Gilbert Mr. Keen Brethren in Paris: 1 0 0 Mr. D. Kemp 1 0 0 Pax 0 10 0 Mr. and Mrs T. 1 0 0 Mr. Rainbow Miss Maria Wright Mr. J. Lang . S. K. 0 5 0 Mrs. Smith 5 0 0 Mrs Aaron Brown Miss Long 1 0 0 Miss Harvey 1 0 0 096 050 0.10 0 0.10 0 300 500 640 15 6 Erratum in January Number.-Donations 10s. from Mr. Power, should have been Mr. Parr. Orphanage Infirmary. £ & d 050 010 100 100 10 0 0 0106 440 220 500 5 For Boys at Orphanage.-A Friend, 18.; Annie, 18.; T. W., 6d.; Aunt Patty, 3s. 6d.; Lame Johnnie, 18. ed.; Miss Hibbard, 18.; Saville Villa, 2s.: W., 18.; Tottridge, £1. Presents for the Orphanage.-A parcel of flannel Shirts, The Misses Dransfield; One Hundred pairs of Knitted Socks, The Misses Sanderson; Twelve Wool Comforters, A Widow; Nine pairs of Worsted Socks, per "S. W. R."; Eight Straw Hats, Miss Bateman; Two Shrubs for the Garden, Anon. For Boys' Library-Two Scrap Books, Mrs. Chew; A Parcel containing Twenty-four Books, Seven Wall Texts, One Hymn, mounted, Messrs. Morgan, Chase & Scott; Fourteen Books, Mr. R. F. Young, per Ditto; Some Tracts and Small Books, per Ditto. For Sale Room.-A Parcel containing, One Cushion, Two Parasol Covers, a Bag, and Twelve Needle Cases, A Friend. THE s s SWORD AND THE TROWEL. APRIL 1, 1871. Alone, yet not Alone. BY C. H. SPURGEON. "Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me."-John xvi. 31, 32. D 10 ye now believe?" Then it seems that faith held them fast to Christ, but as soon as fear prevailed they were scattered, and left their Master alone. Faith has an attracting and upholding power. It is the root of constancy, and the source of perseverance, under the power of God's Spirit. While we believe we remain faithful to our Lord; when we are unbelieving we are scattered, every man to his own. While we trust, we follow closely; when we give way to fear, we ungratefully forsake our Lord. May the Holy Spirit maintain our faith in full vigour, that it may nourish all our other graces! Faith being strong, no faculty of the inner man will languish, but if faith declines, the energy of our spiritual nature speedily decays. If ye believe not, ye shall not be established, but "the just shall live by faith," to the fullest force of life. This being noted, our meditation shall now be fixed alone upon the Saviour's loneliness, and the measure in which the believer is brought into the same condition. THE LONELINESS OF THE SAVIOUR. Note the fact of it. He was left alone-alone when most as man he needed sympathy. Solitude to him during his life was often the cause of strength; he was strong in public ministry because of the hours spent in secret wrestling with God on the lone mountain side; but when he came to the hour of his agony his perfect humanity pined after human sympathy, and it was denied him. He was alone in the garden; though he took the eleven with him, yet must he leave eight of them outside at the garden gate; and the three, the choice, the elite of them all, though they were brought somewhat nearer to his passion, yet even they must remain at a stone's cast distance. None could enter into the inner circle of his sufferings, where the furnace was heated seven times hotter. In the bloody sweat and the agony of Gethsemane the Saviour trod the winepress alone. They might have watched with him, wept with him, prayed for him, but they did neither. They left his lone prayer to ascend to heaven unattended by sympathetic cries. He was alone too when put upon his trial. False witnesses were found against him, but no man stood forward to protest to the honesty, quietness, and goodness of his life. Surely one of the many who had been healed by him, or of the crowds that had been fed by his bountiful hand, or likelier still some of those who had received the pardon of their sins and enlightenment of their minds by his teaching might have come forward to defend him. But no, his coward followers are silent when their Lord is slandered. He is led to slaughter, but no pitying voice entreats that he may be delivered; true, his judge's wife persuades her husband to have nothing to do with him, and her vacillating husband offers to liberate him if the mob will have it so, but none will raise the shout of "loose him and let him go." He was not alone literally upon the cross, yet he was really so, in a deep spiritual sense. Though a few loving ones gathered at the cross' foot, yet these could offer him no assistance, and probably dared not utter more than a tearful protest. Perhaps the boldest there was that dying thief who called him, "Lord," and expostulated with his brother malefactor, saying, "This man hath done nothing amiss." Few indeed were the voices that were lifted up for him. From the time when he bowed amid the deep shades of the Mount of Olives, till the moment when he entered the thicker darkness of the valley of death-shade, he was left to suffer alone. Here was the fact, what was the reason for it. We conclude that fear overcame the hearts of his disciples. It is natural that men should care for their lives. They pushed this instinct of self-preservation beyond its legitimate sphere, and when they found that the Master was taken, and that probably the disciples might share his fate, they each one, in the panic of the moment, fled in haste. They were not all traitors, but they were all cowards for the time. They meant not to desert their Lord, they even scorned the thought when it was put to them in calmer moments, but they were taken by surprise, and like a flock of sheep they fled from the wolf. They rallied after a little, and mustered courage enough to follow him afar off; they did not quite forget him; they watched him to his latter end, they kept together after he was dead; they united to bury him, and they came together instinctively on the first day of the week. They had not cast off altogether their loyalty to their Lord and Master, for he was still keeping those whom the Father had given him that none of them might be lost, yet fear had defeated their faith for awhile, and they had left him alone. There was a deeper reason, however, for this; it was a condition of his sufferings that he should be forsaken; desertion was a necessary ingredient D us. in that cup of vicarious suffering which he had covenanted to drink for We deserved to be forsaken, and therefore he must be. Since our sins against man deserved that we should be forsaken of men, he bearing our sins against man is forsaken of men. sinner should enjoy true friendship. Sin is a separating thing, and so It cannot be that a when Christ is made the sin-bearer his friends must leave him. Besides this was one jewel in the crown of his glory. It was said in triumph by the great hero of old, who typified our Lord, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me." To make that true in the severest sense, it was needful that the Captain of our salvation should by his single arm defeat the whole of hell's battalions. His the sole laurels of the war; for his own right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory. Can you for a moment enter into the sorrow of that loneliness! There are men to whom it is a small matter to be friendless; their coarse minds scorn the gentle joys of fellowship. Sterner virtues may tread beneath their iron heel the sweet flowers of friendship; and men may be so defiantly self-reliant that like lions they are most at home amid congenial solitudes. Sympathy they scorn as womanish, and fellowship as a superfluity. But our Saviour was not such: he was too perfect a man to become isolated and misanthropical. His grand gentle nature was full of sympathy towards others, and therefore sought it in return. You hear the voice of grief at the loss of brotherly sympathy in the mournful accents of that gentle rebuke, "what, could ye not watch with me one hour?" How could they sleep whilst he must sweat; how could they repose while he was exceeding sorrowful even unto death? He showed the greatness of his soul even in its depression when he lovingly excused them by saying, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." How sad to him it was that they should desert him! The brave Peter and all the rest of them, all taking to their heels! Worse still was it to receive the traitor's kiss with the word, repeated, as the son of perdition betrayed his friend to win the bloodMaster, Master," twice money! David lamented the villainy of Abithophel, but the Saviour even more keenly felt the treachery of Judas, inasmuch as he was of a more tender spirit than the Son of Jesse. For Peter to say he knew him not, and with cursing and swearing to deny him three times in succession, this was cruel. There was such an element of deliberation about that denial, that it must have cut the Saviour to the very quick. But where was John-John who leaned on his bosom-that disciple whom Jesus loved-where was John? Did he not say a word, nor interject a single syllable for his dear friend? his David? The Master might have said, "Thy love to me Has Jonathan forgotten wonderful-passing the love of women," but alas, John is gone; he has nought to say for his Master!" to the last, yet even he cannot defend him. Jesus is ail alone, all alone; Though he remains at the cross' foot and the sorrow of his lonely heart none of us can fully fathom. was This is a painful meditation, and therefore let us notice the result of our Saviour's loneliness. Did it destroy him? Did it overwhelm him? It pained him but it did not dismay him. "Ye shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone" saith he "because the Father is with me." The effect of that solace in his soul was wonderful. Our Saviour |