Proving God

“Prove me now.” — Malachi, iiL 10

According to the laws of our country, no man can be condemned until his guilt is proved. It were well if wo all car* ried out the same justice toward God which we expect from our fellow-men; but how frequently will men condemn the acts of their God as being hard and unkind! They do not say so — they dare not; they scarcely avow that they think so; but there is a kind of lurking imagination hardly amounting to a deliberate thought, which leads them to fear that God has forgotten to be gracious, and will be mindful of them no more. Let us never, my friends, think hardly of our God, till we can prove anything against him. He says to all hia unbelieving children who are doubtful of his goodness and his grace, “Prove me now. Hast thou aught against me? Canst thou prove aught that will be dishonorable to me? Wherein have T ever broken my promise? In what have I ever failed to fulfil my word? Ah, thou canst not say that. Prove me now, if thou hast aught against me — if thou canst say anything against my honor — if thou hast hitherto not received answei’S to prayer and blessings according to promise. Set me not down as false, I beseech thee, untU thou hast so proved me.” “Prove me now,” says the Lord to all bis saints.

Moreover, not only is it unjust to think ill of any one, until we can prove something against him, but it is extremely cnwise to be always suspicious of our fellow-creatures. Though there is much folly in being over credulous, I question if there is not far more in being over-suspicious. He who believes o«ery man, will soon be bitten; but he who siispooti

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every man, will not only be bitten, but devoured. Tie who lives in peipeLual distrust of his fellow-creatures cannot be happy; he has defrauded himself of peace and happiness, and assumed a position in which he cannot enjoy the sweets oi friendship or affection. I would rather be too credulous towards my fellow-creatures than too suspicious, I had rathei they should impose upon me by making me believe them better than they are, than that I should impose upon them by thinking them worse than they are. It is better to be cheated sometimes ourselves than that we should cheat others; and it is cheating others to suspect those on whose characters there resteth no suspicion. We acknowledge such moraUty among men, but we act not so towards God; we believe any liar sooner than we believe him. “When we are in trial and trouble we will believe the devil, when he says God will forsake us. The devil, who has been a liar from the beginning, we will credit; but if our God promises anything, we say, “Surely this is too good to be true,” and we doubt the fulfilment, because it is not brought to pass exactly at the time and in the way we anticipate. Let us never harbor such suspicions of our God. If we say in our haste, “All men are liars,” let us preserve this one truth, “God cannot lie.” His counsel is immutable, and he hath confirmed it by an oath, that “we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” in Christ Jesus; let not our faith then dally with a fear; let us rather seek grace, that we may confidently believe and assuredly rely on the words which the lips of God do speak. “Prove me now, if any of you are suspicious of my word.” If you think my grace is not sweet, “taste and see that the Lord is gracious.” If you think that I am not a rock, and that my work is not perfect, come now, tread upon the rock, and see if it be not firm; build on the rock, and see if it be not solid. If thorn thinkest mine arm shortened that I cannot save, come, ask, and I will stretch it out to defend thee. If thou thinkest that mine ear is heavy that I cannot hear, come, try it; call upon me, and I will answer thee. If thou art suspicious, make proof of my promises, so shall thy suspicions be removed. Bi”t, oh.

doubt me not, until thou hast found me unworthy of trust. “Prove me now.”

In these words I find 2k fact couched, a challenge given, a time mentioned, and an argument suggested. Such are the four points I propose this morning to consider.

I. First, then, we have the fact, that God allows himself to be proved — “Prove me now.” In meditating on this subject it has occurred to me that all the works of creation are proofs of God; they evidence his eternal power and godhead. But inasmuch as he is not only the creator, but the sustainer of them all, they make continual pi-oof of him, his goodness, hi? faithfulness, and his care. Methinks, when God launched the sun from his hand and sent him on his course, he said, “Prove me now;” see. Oh sun, if I do not uphold thee till thou hast done thy work, and finished thy career; rejoice thou mayest, “as a strong man to run a race,” but while thou fulfillest thy circuits, and nothing is hid from thy heat, thou shalt prove my glory and shed light upon my handiwork. When the Almighty whirled the earth in space, methinks he said, “Prove me now,” O earth, see if I do not perpetuate thy seasons, and give thee “seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night,” refreshing thee with incessant jjrovidence. And to each creature he made, I can almost think the Almighty said, “Prove me now.” Tiny gnat, thou art about to dance in the sunshine; thou shalt prove my goodness. Huge leviathan, thou shalt stir up the deep, and make it frothy; go forth, and prove my power. Ye creatures, whom I have endowed with various instincts, wait on me; I v.dll give you your meat in due season. And you, ye mighty thunders and ye swift lightnings, go, teach the world reverence, and show forth my omnipotence. Thus, I think, all God’s creatures are not merely proofs of his existence, but proofs of his manifold wisdoui, his loving kindness, and his grf.co. The meanest and thr- mightiest of his created works, eacr and all, in some lepree, prove his love, and teach us how maifelousia £.3 nature; but he has given to man this high prerogative abolc all the Avoi’ks of his hands, that he alone should make designed and uitelligent proof. They do but prove him uuin tcntionally. The things of earth prove God, yet they have na uitt;ntion of so doing. The beasts jjraise God; the cattle on a thousand hills low forth his honor, and the very lions roar his praise; yet they do it not with intent, and judgment, and will; and although the sun proveth the majesty and the might of his Master, yet the sun hath neither mind n’^’ thought, and it is not his intention to glorify God. But the Kiuit doth it intentionally.

It is a great fact, beloved, that God will have all his children proofs of the various attributes of his nature. I do not think any one of the children of God proves all of God, but that they are all proving diflerent parts of his one grand character, so that when the whole history of providence shall be written, and the lives of all the saints shall be recorded, the title of the book will be, “Proofs of God.” There wall be one compendious proof, that he is God, and changeth not; that with hiru there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” You will remember how one saint peculiarly proved the long-suffering of God, in that he was permitted to pursue his career to the utmost verge of destruction; while he hung on the cross, the patience that had borne with him so long, brought salvation to him at last. He was “in the article of death,” falling into the pit, when sovereign grace broke the fall, everlasting arms caught the soul, and Jesus himself conducted him to paradise. Then again, you will remember another saint who plunged into a thousand sins, and indulged in the foulest lust, but she was brought to Christ; out of her did he cast seven evU spirits, and Mary Magdalene was made to prove the richness of our Saviour’s pardoning grace, as well as the sweetness of a pardoned sinner’s gratitude. It is a fact that the Loi’d is ready to forgive, and this woman is a great proof of it. There was Job, who was tortured with ulcers and made to scrape himself with a potsherd; he proved the Lord, that “he is very pitiful and of tender mercy;” from him we get evidence that God is able to sustain us amidst unparalleled Bufterings. Let me note how Solomon proved the bounty of God. When he asked wisdom and knowledge, the Lord not only granted hia request, but added riches and wealth and

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honor to his store; and how diti Solomon magnify this prool of divine bounty as he translates the experience of his dream into the counsel of his proverbs? While he advises us to got wisdom, he assures us that, “length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor.” And then once more, how great a proof of God’s spcci:il providence in maintaining in this world “a renmant according to the election of grace,” do we derive from the history of Elijah. There sat the venerable seer, beneath a juniper tree, in the lone desert, — a great but grievous man, — an honored but a dejected prophet of the Most High. Do you mark him as he comes to Horeb, takes up his lodging in a cave, and complains in the awful soUtude of his soul, “I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away?” Oh, had his fears been realized, what a blank would earth have been without a saint! But Elijah proved from the mouth of God the impossibility. He learnt for our sakes, as well as his own, what a reservation God has made in seasons of direst persecution. It is proved that there shall ever be still a church in the world while earth’s old pillars stand.

Nor need we suppose that the testimony of the witnesses is closed. Each of God’s saints is sent into the world to prove some part of the divine character. Perhaps I may be one of those who shall live in the valley of ease, having much rest, and hearing sweet birds of promise singing in my ears. The air is calm and balmy, the sheep are feeding round about me, and all is still and quiet. Well, then, I shall prove the love of God in sweet communings. Or, perhaps, I may be called to stand where the thunder clouds brew, where the lightnings play, and tempestuous winds are howling on the mountain top. Well, then, I am born to prove the power and majesty of our God; amid dangers he will inspire me with courage; amid toils he will make me strong. Perhaps it shall be mine to preserve an unblemished character, and so prove the power of sanctify-ing grace in not being allowed to backslide from my professed dedication to God. I shall then be a proof of the omnipotent power of grace, which alone can save from the power as well as the guilt )f sin. The divers cases of all tha

Lord’s family are intended to illustrate different parts of his ways; and in Leaven I do think one part of our blest employ will be to read the great book of the experience of all the saints, and gather from that book the whole of the divine character as having been proved and illustrated. Each Christian man is a majiifestation and display of some position or other of God; a different part may belong to each of us, but when the whole shall be combined, when all the rays of evidence shall be brought, as it were, into one great sun, and shine forth with meridian splendor, we shall see in Christian experience a beautiful revelation of our God.

Let us remember, then, as an important fact, that God intends us to live in this world to prove him, and let us seek to do so, always endeavoring as much as we can to be finding out and proving the attributes of God. Remember, we have all the promises to prove in our lifetime; and it shall be found in the last great day that every one of them has been fulfilled. As the promises are read through now, it may be asked, “Who is a proof of Buch a promise?” Peradventure the question relates to some promise of almost universal application, and millions of saints will rise and say, “I prove the truth of that.” Or there may be a promise in the Bible that it will seldom fall to the lot of one of God’s children to prove: it is so peculiar, and few shall have been able thoroughly to understand it. But mark, there will be some witnesses to attest it, and all the promises shall be fulfilled in the united experience of the church. Such, then, the fact — God allows his children to prove him.

II. And now, secondly, we have here a cuallenge given to ua — “Prove me now.” “You who have doubted me, prove mo. You who mistrust me, prove me. You who tremble at the enemy, prove me. You who are afraid you cannot accomplish your work, believe my promise, and como and prove me.”

Now, 1 must exj)lain this challenge to you, as to the way in which it has to be carried out. There are different sorts of promises given in God’s word, which have to be proved in difierent ways. In the Bible there are three kinds of promise.

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fn the first class I will place the conditional promises, such as are intended for certain characters, given alone to them, and them only on certain conditions. There is a second class, referring exclusively to the future, the fulfillment of which does not relate to us at the present time. While there is a third and most glorious class, called absolute promises, which have no conditions Alhatever, or which graciously supjjly the requirements that the conditional promises demand. Now, each class of these promises must be proved in a different and peculiar way. To begin with conditional promises: we can not prove a conditional promise in the same vray as an absolute one. The manner of proving must accord with the character of the promise to be proved. Let me mention, for example — “Ask and ye shall receive.” Here it is quite obvious that I must ask in order to verify the promise. I have a condition to fulfill in order to obtain a benefit. The way to test the fiuthfulness of the promiser, and the truth of the promise, is plainly this — comply with the stipulation. Very different is the promise, and equally different the proof, vrhen God says, “I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” Here we have the simple — %oill — of the Almighty. Such a promise is to be proved in a very diflerent manner from the fulfillment, on our part, of a condition; but of this more anon.

In order to prove conditional promises, then, it is necessary for us to fulfill the condition that God has annexed to them. He says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith.” No man can ))rove God with reference to this promise, till he has brought all the tithes into the storehouse; for it is herewith this promise has to be i)roved. Suppose the Lord says, “Call upon me in the time of ti’ouble,-! will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me;” the only way of proving him is by calling upon him in the time of trouble. We nuiy stand as long as we like and say, “God will fulfill that promise;” ay, that he will, but we must fulfill the condition, and it behoves us to seek grace of him to enable us to do so; for we cannot prove such promises unless we fulfill the conditioni appended to them. There are many very sweet conditional promises; one of them helped to set my soul at rest, it ^,vag this, “Look mito me, and be ye saved, all je ends of the earth.” The condition there is, “Look imto me;” but ye can not prove it, unless you do look unto Christ. Here is another, “He that calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” What a blessed promise that is! But then you can not prove the promise unless you call on the name of the Lord. So that whenever we see a promise to which a condition is attached, if we wish to prove it in our own experience, we must ask of God to give us grace to fulfill the condition. That is one way of proving God.

But some will say, do not these conditions restrict the liberality and graciousness of God’s promises? Oh no, beloved! for first the conditions are often put to describe the persons to whom the promises are made. Hence, my brother, when it is written, “He foi-getteth not the cry of the humble,” the promise fits thy chastened soul. When it saith, “To this man will I look, even to him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word,” thou canst perceive, as it were, a description of thine own state. And when it saith, “I will satisfy her poor with bi-ead,” ye can some of yon take comfort that the promise finds you in the tit condition to receive the blessing. But again, if the condition be, not a state, but a duty; then, let it be prayer — he gives the spirit of prayer; let it be faith — he is the giver of faith; lot it be meekness- -he it is that clothes thee with meekness. Thus the conditions serve to commend the promises to God’s own children, and to show the bounty of him who giveth grace for grace.

The second class of promises I will mention is future.^ and we cannot fully prove them yet, nor do we always wish it. Such a promise as this, “I know that my Redeemer livelh, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” We cannot prove this yet, for Christ has not appeared. We are told, and we know there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness at that day; how can we prove

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that? DepQnd upon it, we ought to prove it, for yse are commnmled to prove God, and we must prove each of liig promises. Wo must prove it, then, by patient waiting foi him. I must say in myself, “All the days of my appointed pilgrimage I will wait, till my change come;” and I doubt not he will give me victory in death, for he has promised that he will make us sing aloud upon our beds, and will cheer us when we are passing through the valley of the shadow of death, Chiistian, prove God’s promise of future blessedness, by a Grm belief in it, and a patient waiting for it! Does Christ say he will come again “a second time without sin unto salvation?” Prove it by being among the number of those who look for his appearing, who ijatiently wait and hope for his advent. Does he say, that when we die we shall sleep in Jesus? We do prove this when we feel so confident of 8leephig in Jesas that we are prepared to depart at any moment. You see that this kind of promise is to be proved in a different way from the conditional.

But then there is the absolute promise, and that is the largest and best promise of all, for if they were all conditional promises, and the conditions rested with us to fulfill, we should all be damned. If there were no absolute promises, there would not be a soul saved; if they were ail made to characters, and no absolute promise were made that the characters should be given, we should perish, notwithstanding all God’s promises. If he had simply said, “He that believeth shall be saved,” we should all be lost, for wo could not believe without strength; but when he says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee,” there is an absolute promise to back up the condition. If he hath told us that if we repent we shall be saved, there is the promise that he will give us a new heart — that he will draw us to himself and make us his peo])le. Now, the absolute promise is not to be proved by doing any thing, but by believing in it. All I can do with an absolute promise is to believe. If I were to try to fulfill a condition, it would not be accepted by God, because no condition is appende 1 to that kind of promise. He might well say to me, “If thou hast fulfilled the condition of another promise, thou shalt have it; but stay, 1 have 2)ut no condition to this. I have said, “I will put my Spirit within them, and they shall walk in my ways; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” There is a promise without any condition. Although the child of God may have sinned, yet the promise stands good, that he shall he brought to know his error, to reient, and be wholly forgiven. Such a promise we can only believe; we can not fulfill any condition relating to it. We must take it to God, and say. Hast thou said that Christ shall “see of the travail of his soul?” (Isa. liii. 11.) Lord, we believe; let him see of the travail of his soul. Dost thou say, “My word shall not return unto me void?” Lord, do as thou hast said. Thou hast said it; Lord, do it. Has he said, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no-wise cast out V” Then go and say, “Lord, I come now; do as thou hast said.” On an absolute promise, I can tell thee, faith gets good foothold. Conditional promises often cheer the soul; but it is the absolute promise which is the rock that foith delights to stand upon. It is the firm, unfailing — shall — which asks nothing, but which is irresistible, just as it was said, “Let there be light, and there was light,” by his own omnipotent fiat.

Now, beloved friends, what promise has been laid this day to your hearts? Many of you have got one that God gave you when you arose from your beds. What is thy promise, then? Is it a conditional one? — Say, “Lord, I beseech thee, fulfill the condition;” and if the promise be applied to thy soul with a condition, he will give thee the condition and the promise both, for he never gives by halves. Has he put into thy soul, “Let the wicked man foi’sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts?” He will give you grace to forsake your ways and your thoughts too He will not give you the conditional promise without in due time giving you the condition too. Is it laid on your heart? Well, ask of Him that ye may forsake your wicked ways and your unrighteous thoughts, and return to God. But hast thou an absolute promise laid to thy soul? Then thou art a happy man. Has God laid to thine inmost spirit some of those great and precious promises, such as this: “The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed”? Pause not to ask lor conditions; take the promise just as it is. GLo on thy knees and say, “Lord, thou hast said it.” Again, hath the Lord promised, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;” plead it. Or art thou in trouble — search out the suitable promise. Thou hast said, “When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.” I believe thee, Lord J I am tried; but thou hast said I shall have no trial that I am not able to bear. Lord, give me all-suliicient grace, and make rae more than conqueror. Go and prove God. Be not afraid with any amazement. If he gives a promise, he gives you an inatation to prove it. If he gives you a single word, he means that you should biing it to him and tell it to him again; for you know he has said, “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” Do, I beseech you, put the Lord in mmd of his own promises, and he will most assuredly fulfill them. Here is a challenge to all the redeemed — “Prove me now.”

III. In the third place, there is a season mentioned — ‘’ Prove me 7iow.^^ Do you know what is the most perilous time in a Christian’s life? I think I could hit upon it in a moment — “now.” Many peisons — I might well nigh say all Christians — are ever most apprehensive of the present hour. Suppose they are in trouble, though they may have had ten times worse troubles before, they forget all about them, and now is the most critical day they ever knew. Or, if they are at ease, thpy say —

“Far more the treacherous calm I dread
Than tempests rolliug o’er my head;”

Bnd they think no position in life more dangerous than “now.’ The lions are before them — how great their .danger! An when, a little while ago, they lost their roll in the arbor of ease, how” dreadful it was then! iVnd when they got to the slippery ground, gouig down hill, “now” seemed their greatest danger. When they get a little further, and Apollyon meets them, “Here,” they say, “is the worst trial of all.” Then comes the valley of the shadow of death, and the’ say, “Now this is the most serious period of my life.” In fact i-; is right that we should feel in some degree that “now “is just the time we ought to be guarded; yesterdays and to-morrows we may leave, but,” now” is the tinie we must be watchful. God has made no promises for yesterdays and to-morrows; he only makes such promises as he applies to our heaHs now, God never lays to-morrow’s promise on my heart to-day, because I am not in immediate want of it; the promises are given in the tlme in the 2Jlcice, and in the onaJiner he has designed and intended they should be answered. But no doubt some of you will sympathize with me when I say that “now” is just the time when the Christian thinks he can trust God the least. “Oh!” says he,” if I were in the same state as I was before, I should be happy. I do believe that I could have trusted my Master better then; but just now I can not lay my head so confidently on the Saviour’s breast I remember when I was sick how sweet the promises were. I could then say —

“‘Sweet to lie passive in his hands,
And know no will but his.’

But now I am altered. Somehow or other a languor lias come over me. I can not believe that I am a Christian.” You compare yourself with some brother, and feel quite sure that if you were like him you would have faith. Go and speak to this brother, and he will say, “If I were like you I KJiould be better off.” And so they would change experiences, each failing to trust God under his own circumstances. But the Lord is pleased always to give us a word that suits the parlicular position we may be in: “Pi-ove me now.” To allegorize a moment. There is a ship upon the sea. It is the ship which the Lord has launched, and which he has said shall come to its dfrsired haven. The sea is snooth; the waves ripple gently, and bear the bark steadily along. “Prove me now,” says the Lord. The mariner stands on the deck and gays, “Lord, I thank thee that thou hast given me such Bmooth sailing as this; but ah! my Master, perhaps this very ease and comtbrt may destroy my grace.” Aild a voice says, “i*rove me now, and see if I car; not kt-ep thee amidst the Etorm.” Anon the heavens have gathered blackness, the winds have begun to bluster, and the waves lift up their voice, while the poor ship is tossed to and fro op the yawning deep. Amid the screaming of the tempest and the howling of the winds, I hear a voice which says, “Prove me now.” See, the shij) is on the rock. She has been dashed upon it; she has been broken well nigh in sunder, and the mariner sees her hold tilling with water, while all his pumps can not keep her emjay. The voice still cries, “Prove me now,” Alas! she w<.’ll nigh sinks; another wave will be enough to swamp her; it seems as if one more drop would submerge her. Still the voice cries, “Prove me now,” And the mariner does prove God, and he is delivered safely from all his distresses, “They reel to and fro,” and “stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end;” but “so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.” Now the ship is scudding merrily along before the wind, and, lo! she cometh to the verge of the horizon. The mists have gathered round h’er; strange phantoms dance to the waves of night; a lurid light flits through the shades; and anon the darkness comes again. Something broods about the ship that the mariner hath never seen before. The water is black beneath his vessel’s prow; the air hangs damp and thick above him; the very sweat is clammy on hi? face. Fresh fear has got hold of him that he never felt before. Just then, when he knows not what to do, a voice cries, “Prove me now;” and so he does: he cries unto the Lord and is saved.

Ah, dear friends, I might give you a hundred illustrations, I think this old Bible speaks to me to-day, J have M-ielded it in your midst as God’s soldier. This sword of the epiiit hath been thrust into many of your hear’*?, and though they were hard as adamant, it has spht them in sunder. Some of you have had sturdy spirits broken in pieces by this good old Terisalem blade. jVIany a man j’ns come during my ministra’ tions, armed to his very teeth, and having on a coat of mail, yet hath this tried weapon cleft him in twain, and pierced to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow. “Prove me now,” says God, “go and prove me before blasphemers; go and prove me before reprobates, before the vilest of the vile, and the filthiest of the filthy; go and prove me now.” Lift up that life-giving cross, and let it again be exhibited; into the regions of deaths go and proclaim the word of life; into the most plague-smitten parts of the city, go and carry the waving censer of the incense of a Saviour’s merits, and prove now whether he is not able to stay the plague and remove the disease. But wdiat does God say to the church? “You have proved me aforetime, you have attempted great things; though some of you were flxint-hearted, and said, we should not have ventured, others of you had faith and proved me. I say again, Prove me now.” See what God can do, just when a cloud is falling on the head of him whom God has raised up to preach to you; go and prove him now — see if he will not pour out such a blessing as ye had not even dreamed of — see if he will not give you a Pentecostal blessing. “Prove me now.” Why should we be unbelieving? Have we one thing to make us so? “We are weak; what of that? Are we not strongest in our God when we are weakest in ourselves? We are fools, it is said, and so we are, we know it; but he maketh fools to confound the wise. AVe are base, but God has chosen the base things of the world. We are unlearned, —

“We know no schoolman’s subtle art,”

yet we glory in infirmity when Christ’s power doth rest upon us. Let them represent us as worse than we are; let them give us the most odious character that hath ever been given to man, we will bless them, and wish them good. What though the weapon be a stone, or even the jaw-bone of an ass, if the Lord direct it? Do you noi know, say some, what wise men say? Yes, Ave do, but v>’e can read their oraclesi backwards. Their words are the offspring of their wishes, We know who has instructed them, and we know le is a liai irom the beginning. O fools, and slow of heart! do you shrink from the truth, or do ye shrink from obloquy and disgrace? In either case ye have not the love to your Master you should have. If ye be brave men and true, go on and conquer. Fear not, ye shall win the day yet; God’s Holy Gospel shall yet shake the earth once more. The banner is liftetl up, and multitudes are flocking to it — the Pharisees have taken counsel together — the learned stand confounded — the sages are baffled. They know not what to do. The little one God has made great, and he that was despised is exalted. Let us trust him, then. He will be with us even to the end, for he has said, “Lo, I vnll be with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

IV. The last division of my subject is an argument, and I have trenched on that already — “Prove me now.” Why should we prove God? Because, beloved, it will glorify hhn if we do. Nothing glorifies God more than proving him. When a poor hungry child of God, without a crust in the cupboard, says, “Lord, thou hast said bread shall be given me, and water shall be sure; I will prove thee,” — more glory is given to God by that simple proof of him than by the hallelujahs of the archangels. When some i)oor despairing sinner, who has been fluttermg round the word, in hopes that he may —

“Light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure defence against despair,”

when such a one giveth credence to God’s promise, in the very teeth of evidence against him, staggering not at the promise through unbeUef, then he glorifies God. If thou art this morning in thy own apprehension an almost damned sinner, and thou feelest thyself to be the vilest of all, if thou wilt believe this, that Christ loves thee, and that Christ came to save thee, sinner as thou art, thou wilt glorify God as much by doing that as thou wilt be able to do. when thy fingers shall sweep across the strings of the golden hai-ps of Paradise is in being singularly qualified i“or t’:.e duties of our holy Christian warfare, in being singularly courageous, and singularly ready, with the martyr-spirit, to peril ourselves for hia service, that we may bring glory to God. God says, “Prove me now.” Sauit, wilt thou i-ob him of his honor? Wilt thou rob him of his honor? Wilt thou not do that which shall crown him, in the estimation of the world, with many more crowns? Oh, prove him, for by so doing thou wilt glorify his name.

Prove him again, for thou hast proved him before. Canst thou not remember that thou wast brought veiy low, and yet thou canst say, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” What! wilt thou not prove him again? Mindest thou not the goodness thou hast proved? When thou saidst, “My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped,” did he not support thee, saying, “Nevertheless, I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand?” Has thy foot slipped? Canst thou not thus far witness to his mercy? then trust in it to hold thee up still. If he had once failed thee, I should not advise thee to trust him again; but since thou hast never found him fail thee, therefore, I say, go and prove him once more.

Again, accept this challenge, prove God’s word, as he has called thee to do, and how much blessing it will give to thyself! Beloved brethren, we endure ten times as much anxiety in this world as we need, because we confide not in divine promise half as much as we might. If we were to live more on God’s promise, and less on creature feelings, we should be happier men and women, all of us. If we were to get hold of a promise, and say, “There, let me abide by this; though the world says it is not true, I will believe it.” Could we live aiway in faith on the promises, the shafts of the enemy could never reach us. Let us constantly, then, seek to prove him. IIow much good Mr. Müller has done by proving God. He is called by God to a special work. What does he do? Ho builds an asylum and trusts to God. He has no regular in come; but he says, I will prove to the world that God heart prayer. So he lives in the exercise of prayer; and though ha

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may al Ihncs bo hroug).t to his last shilling, yet there is never a meal that his chiklrcc sit down to without sufficient bread. Our work may be dilierent to his; but let us seek, whatevei our work is, so to do it, that when any one reads of it he will say, he tried God in such and such a promise, and his life was a standing proof that that promise did not fail. Whatever your promise is, let your life be seen to be the working out ol the problem which has to be proved, and like any one proposition of Euclid, which is stated at the beginning and proved at the end, so may we find a text put at the beginning of our lives as a promise to be fulfilled and seen at the close, demon strated, proved, and carried out.

But, dear friends, I have really done. Let me just conclude by asking those here who have been brought to know their lost and ruined state, to remember this promise, “Prove me now.” Thus saith my God unto thee, O sinner, “He that calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” My dear hearer, art thou lost and ruined? Prove God now. Pie says, “Call upon me, and I will answer thee;” come now, and call upon him. He hath said, “Seek, and ye shall find;” oh, seek him now. “Knock,” he says, “and it shall be opened unto you;” lift up the knocker of heaven’s door and sound it with all thy might; or, suppose thou art too weak to knock, let the knocker lUU down of itself. He has said, “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Go, and prove the promise now. Try to prove it. He has said, “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are freely justified.” Oh, poor soul, prove it. Art thou a poor, sick, and wounded sinner? You aie told that Jesus Christ is able and willing to heal your wounds, and extract the poison from your veins. Prove him, prove him, poor soul. Thou thinkest thyself to be a lost one; therefore, I urge thee in Christ’s name to ])rove this promise, “T, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will not remember thy Bins.” Take this to him. Say, Thou hast said, O Lord, that “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the woild to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” O God, I want faith to trust thy word; I know thou dost mean what thou hast said; thou hast said this morning by the mouth of thy minister, “Prove me now;” Lord, I will prove thee now, this very day, even till nightfall if thou dcsst not answer me. I will still keep fast by thy promise —

•’ Lo, I must maintain my hold;
‘Tis thy goodness makes me bold;
I can no denial take,
Since I plead, for Jesus’ sake.”

Go, my beloved, and ye will not be gone long before you will be able to sing —

“I’m forgiven, I’m forgiven;
I’m a miracle of grace.”

Now, do not stand still and say, “God will not hear such an one as I; my disease is too bad for hira to cure.” Go and see, put your hand on the hem of his garment, and then, if the blood does not stanch, go and toll the world that thou hast proved God, and proved him wrong. Go and tell it, if thou durst. But oh! thou canst not. If thou dost touch the hem of his garment, I know what thou wilt say: “I have tasted that the Lord is gracious. He said, ‘Trust in me, and I will deliver thee.’ I have trusted in Him, and he has delivered me;” for the promise will always hale its fulfillment — “Prove me cr,w.” “Prove me now,” says God.