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For a Christmas Festival at the Orphanage.-Seven Oaks, 38.; Rev. J. Jacobs, 10s.; M. V. 98. ; A. Friend, 1s.; Mrs. Murtry, £1; Mrs. Hetherton, 38; Mrs. Toller, 10s.; Mrs. Freason, 2s. 6d. ; Mr. A. Chivers, 28.; M. A. T. M, 58.; A Christmas Dinner for the Boys, given by Lizzie and Willie Hunt, Two Orphans, as a Thankofering, per Mr. Huntley, £6 158.; Mr. W. Ricketts, £1: A Friend, 59.; A Friend, 10s.; Mattic and Lottie, 2s,; Mr. W. T. Aldridge, 2s. 6d.; Miss J. Matthews, 2s. 6d. ; M., 10s.

Received for the Orphanage.-A Sack of Flour, Mr. Mackey, per Mr. Murrell; Two Cwt. of Sailors' Biscuits, Mr. Murrell; A sin all bag of Rice, a small box of Sugar, and a parcel of Goods for the Sale Room, Mrs. Hamilton; Two half Boxes of Valencias, Mr. Lockhart; A Small Bag of Split Peas, Anon; Thirteen Shirts, Sarah; One Van Load of Firewood, Mr. Keen; Two Parcels of back numbers of Magazines, Executor; Six Boys' Straw Hats, Miss Bateman; A Christmas Tree, Mr. Fryer; One Cws, of Houey, Anon; One Basket of Apples, “Salesman,' Spitalfields; One Box of Oranges, per Mr. Hunn; One Hundred Eggs, Anon; One Hundred and Twenty Eggs, and Fourteen lbs. of Cornflour, Mr. Potier; Seventeen Boys' Shirts, Mrs. Bigg; Two Hundred Spurgeon's Almanacks," Mr. Passmore; Twenty-five Sheet Almanacks, Mr. Simpson; A Parcel containing Twenty-one pairs of Worsted Stockings, Five Shirts, Five Comforters, A Pair of Wool Mats, and Two Yards of Stuff, Anon; A Parcel of Books, containing, One Family Bible, Six Vols. of Popular Elucator," Eight Vols of English History," Two Vols. of "Natural History," One Set of Four Drawing Books, One Set of Fourteen Copy Books. One Illustrated Catalogue, and Tweaty-one E-lucational Text Books, T. D. Galpin, Es; Fifty Boys' Shirts, Miss Dransfield,

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THE

SWORD AND THE TROWEL.

FEBRUARY 1, 1871.

A Discourse upon one of the Master's choice sayings.

BY C. H. SPURGEON.

"But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart."-Matthew xiv. 16.

F course the Master was right, but he appeared to speak unreasonably. It seemed self-evident that the people very much needed to depart. They had been all day long hearing the preacher, the most of them had not broken. their fast, and they were ready to faint for hunger. The only chance of their being fed was to let them break up into parties and forage for themselves among the surrounding villages. But our Lord declared that there was no necessity for them to go away from him, even though they were hungry, and famished, and in a desert place. Now, if there was no necessity for hungry hearers to go away, much less will it ever be needful for loving disciples to depart from him. If these who were hearers only-and the bulk of them were nothing more, a congregation collected by curiosity and held together by the charm of his eloquence and by the renown of his miracles-if these needed not depart, much less need they depart who are his own friends and companions, his chosen and beloved. If the crowds needed not through hunger to depart bodily, much less need any of the saints depart spiritually from their Lord. There is no necessity that our communion with Christ should ever be suspended.

To walk with Christ from morn till eve,

In him to breathe, in him to live,

is no mere wish, no visionary's prayer; it may be realised; we need not decline from Jesus. There is no need that the spouse of Jesus should

wander from beneath the banner of his love. Mary may always sit at Jesus' feet. There is no law which says to holy fellowship, "Hitherto shalt thou go, but no further, here shalt thou cease!" There is no set hour when the gate of communion with Christ must inevitably be closed. We may continue to come up from the wilderness, leaning on the Beloved. We need not depart. Yet is it so commonly thought to be a matter of course that we should wander from our Lord, that I shall ask for strength from heaven to combat the injurious opinion.

I. Brethren, THERE IS NOT AT THIS HOUR, to you who love the Lord, ANY PRESENT NECESSITY FOR YOUR DEPARTING FROM CHRIST.

At this moment we may truthfully say of all the saints of God, "They need not depart." There is nothing in your circumstances which compels you to cease from following hard after your Lord. You are very poor, you say, but you need not depart from Christ because of penury, for in the depths of distress the saints have enjoyed the richest presence of their once houseless Lord. Being poor, your poverty at this moment may be pinching you: to be relieved from that pinch you need not break away from Jesus, for fellowship with him may be maintained under the direst extremity of want; indeed, your want increases your necessity to walk closely with your Lord, so that patience may have its perfect work, and your soul may be sustained by the mighty consolations which flow out of nearness to Jesus. Want shall not separate the soul from communion with him who hungered in the wilderness and thirsted on the cross. You tell me that in order to relieve your necessities you are compelled to exercise great care and anxiety; but all the cares which are useful and allowable are such as will allow of a continuance of fellowship with Christ. You may care as much as you ought to careand I need not say how little that is-and yet you need not depart from him who careth for you. But you tell me that in addition to deep thought you have to spend much labour to provide things honest in the sight of all men. Yes, but you need not depart for that reason. The carpenter's Son is not ashamed of the sons of toil; he who wore the garment without seam does not despise the smock or the apron. Labour is no enemy to communion; idleness is a far more likely separater of the soul from Christ. Not to the idlers in Herod's court did Jesus reveal himself, but to hard-working fishermen by the lake of Galilee. If Satan is never far away from the idle, it is pretty plain that it is no disadvantage to be busy. A toil amounting to slavery may weaken the body, and prostrate the spirit; but even when heart and flesh fail, the heart may call the Lord its portion. There is no service beneath the sun so arduous that you need depart from Christ in it; but the rather while the limbs are weary the spirit should find its rest in drawing nearer to him who can strengthen the weak and give rest to the labouring.

Do you tell me that you are rich? Ah, indeed, how often has this made men depart!

"Gold and the gospel seldom do agree;

Religion always sides with poverty."

So said John Bunyan, and his saying is true. Too often the glitter

of wealth has dazzled men's eyes so that they could not see the beauty of Christ Jesus; but, O ye few wealthy saints, ye need not depart. The camel can go through the needle's eye, for with God all things are possible. Men have worn coronets on earth and inherited crowns in heaven. He who was the man after God's own heart swayed a sceptre. To grow rich in substance does not make it inevitable that you should become poor in grace. Do riches bring you many responsibilities and burdens, and are you so much occupied by them that your fellowship with the Lord grows slack? It should not be so; you need not depart. You can bring those responsibilities and the wealth itself to Jesus, and communion with him will prevent the gold from cankering, and the responsibility from involving you in sin. Very often the servant of God, who ministers for the church of Christ, finds so much to do in watching for the souls of others, and in caring for the various wants of the flock, that he is in danger of losing his own personal enjoyment of his Lord's presence; but it need not be so. We can make all our many works subservient to our personal communion with our Lord, and as the bee flies to many flowers and gathers honey from each one, so may we out of many forms of service extract a sweet conformity to him who was ever about his Father's business. We need not be cumbered with much serving or much suffering. Our surroundings are not to be our victors, but our subjects. We are in all these things to be more than conquerors through him who hath loved us.

Brethren, you need not depart because of anything in Christ Jesus. Those whom we love would not desire us to be always with them, and never out of their sight. A guest is very welcome, but the proverb says that after three days he is stale. A mother does not always want her child in her arms; its face is the epitome of beauty, but at eventide she is glad that those dear blue eyes no longer shine upon her; she is happy to lay her treasure in its cradle casket. We do not always wish for the company of those whom we compassionate; if they will condense their request, and do their errand rapidly, we are best content. But Jesus Christ says to each one of us, his poor dependants, his crying children, "Ye need not depart." When we are weeping, he will lay us in his bosom and give us rest; when we are famishing, he will entertain us at his royal table, till we forget our misery. He is a friend who sticketh closer than a brother in this respect, for we need not in his instance heed the wise man's caution, "Go not into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity," for we may at all times and seasons resort to him. We may ask, "Where dwellest thou?" and when we receive an answer, we may go forth and dwell with him, and make his house our home. Do you not remember his words, "Abide in me;" not merely "with me," but "abide in me." The closest contact may be maintained with the utmost constancy.

Ye need not depart, ye may tarry for aye,
Unchanged is his heart, he invites you to stay;
He does not despise nor grow weary of you,
You're fair in his eyes, and most comely to view.
Then wish not to roam, but abide with your Lord,
Since he is your home, go no longer abroad;
Lie down on his breast in unbroken repose,
For there you may rest, though surrounded with foes.

II. Secondly, NO FUTURE NECESSITY EVER WILL ARISE TO COMPEL YOU TO DEPART FROM JESUS. It will always be true, "Ye need not depart." You do not know what your wants will be, yet though you be no prophet, your words will be true if you affirm that no want shall ever necessarily divide you from Jesus, because your wants will rather bind you to him. "It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." We will draw nearer to him in time of need to obtain the grace we want. We shall never be forced to go elsewhere to find supplies for our spiritual wants. There stands another trader over the way, who fain would have you deal with him-his Infallible Holiness, as he styles himself-but, ah! if you want infallibility, you need not wander from him who is "the Truth;" and if you desire holiness, you need not withdraw from him who is the Holy Child Jesus. To gain all that the superstitious profess to find in Babylon, you need not depart from the Son of David who reigns in Zion. They tell us that we must confess our sins to a priest; we will stay at home, and lay bare our hearts to the High Priest, who sprang out of Judah, who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities. They teach that we must receive absolution from one chosen from among men to forgive sins; we go at once to him who is exalted on high to give repentance and remission. They tell us that we should continue in morning and evening prayers; we do so, and offer our matins and our vespers where no bells call us save the bells upon our High Priest's garments. Our daily office may not be according to the use of Sarum, but it is according to the use of those who worship God in spirit and in truth. They cry up their daily sacrifice of the Mass, but in him who offered one sacrifice for sins for ever we find our all in all. His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. You need not depart to pope, priest, church, or altar, for you may rest assured that there dwells in the man Christ Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, all that your spiritual wants shall need for their supply, and on no occasion, for any wants that shall by possibility arise, need you go down into Egypt, or stay yourself on Assyria.

You will experience great trials as well as great wants. That young man fresh from the country has come to town to live in a godless family, and last night he was laughed at when he knelt down to pray. My young friend, you need not forsake the faith, for other saints have endured severer ordeals than yours and have still rejoiced in the Lord. Yours are only the trials of cruel mockings; they were stoned and sawn asunder, yet neither persecution, nakedness, nor sword, divided them from the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord. Many also are those with whom providence deals severely; all God's waves and billows go over them, through much tribulation they inherit the kingdom, and everything in the future forebodes multiplied adversities, but yet they need not depart from Jesus their friend. If, like Paul, you should come to a place where two seas meet; if you should experience a double trouble, and if neither sun nor moon should give you cheer, yet you need not suspend, but may rather deepen your fellowship with the Man of Sorrows. Christ is with you in the tempest-tossed vessel, and you and those who sail with you, shall yet come to the desired haven; therefore be of good courage, and let not your hearts be troubled The Son of God will be with you in the seven-times heated furnace.

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