Jesus was blest with the dew of his youth

JESUS WAS BLEST WITH THE DEW OF HIS YOUTH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Psalm110:3
New International Version
Your troops will be willing on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come
to you like dew from the morning's womb.
New Living Translation
When you go to war, your people will serve you
willingly. You are arrayed in holy garments, and your
strength will be renewed each day like the morning
dew.
English StandardVersion
Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of
your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the
morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.

Berean Study Bible
Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,
to You belongs the dew of Your youth.
THE DEW OF CHRIST’S YOUTH NO. 2724
A SERMON INTENDEDFOR READING ON LORD’S-DAY, APRIL 28,
1901. DELIVERED BYC. H. SPURGEON, AT NEW PARK STREET
CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A THURSDAY EVENING, EARLY IN THE
YEAR 1859.
“You have the dew of Your youth.” Psalm 110:3.
WHEN you have walkedin the garden, early in the morning, you must have
noticed the singular freshness and beauty which a summer’s morning always
seems to give to the earth. The dewdrops, like tears standing in the eyes of the
flowers, as if they wept for joy to see the sun againafter the long night of
darkness, sparkle in the sun! The greenness ofvegetationhas about it a more
than emerald hue and every “thing of beauty” looks more beautiful in the
morning than at any other season. Youhave gone out again, perhaps, at noon,
and you have noticedhow dry and dusty everything appears, for the sun has
risen and by his burning heat he has exhaled the dew and the freshness of the
morning has departed in the drought of noon. Now, this is just a picture of all
things here below—yes, and also a picture of ourselves. Whenwe first behold
many things, they have the dew upon them and they sparkle, but in a little
while all their brightness is gone and their brilliance scattered. Some ofyou

have entered into pleasure and you have found it a delusion—you have
intermeddled with all kinds of knowledge and you have found that in the
making and reading of books, there was much pleasure, but, before long you
have discoveredthat in reading many books and in making them, there was
no end and much study was a weariness to the flesh. Everything terrestrial
has its dew in the morning, but its burning heatat noon, and we too,
beloved— I mean those of us who have receivedthe anointing of the Holy
Spirit—is not this too much the case evenwith us? When we were first
converted, what a sparkling dew there was upon our leaf! We could not sing
God’s praises loudly enough! We could not sufficiently leap for joy before the
Ark of the Lord. All the exultations of those who came before seemedutterly
insufficient for us. There was, to us, such unction and savorin the Word of
God that we could feastupon it everyday—yes, and all night long— and yet
never be weary!We ran in the way of God’s commandments without
weariness andwe mounted aloft as on the wings of eaglesand never thought
that we could ascendtoo high. But, alas, beloved, is it not the case with many
of us that much of that early freshness ofthe morning of our youth is
scattered, and some, at least, of our excellence has proved to be like the early
cloud and the morning dew? Though in some things we trust that we have
grown, yet we are compelledto confess thatin some other things we have
diminished. While in the depths of self-knowledgewe feelthat we have made
progress, yetin the heights of joy in Christ, in the sublimities of a full devotion
to Him, we sometimes fear that we have gone backwardand that we have not
the bliss of our youth, the dew of the morning. Our text, speaking of our
Lord Jesus Christ, says He has the dew of His youth. We are certain that it is
Jesus Christ who is spokenof in this Psalm, for, in arguing with the Pharisees,
He quoted the first verse and applied it to Himself—“The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit you at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
So that no doubt this third verse also alludes to Him—“Your people shall be
willing in the day of Your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of
the morning: You have the dew of Your youth.” Having, therefore, set
ourselves and all terrestrial matters in contrastwith Him, it only remains for
me to now enter, as fully as God may help me, into the sweetdoctrine of this
text—that Jesus Christalways has had, and always will have, the early dew,
freshness and brilliance of His youth. First, permit me to state the fact.

Secondly, to show the reasons forit. And, thirdly, to deduce the lessons from
it.
2 The Dew of Christ’s Youth Sermon #2724
2 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 47
I. First of all, let me STATE THE FACT, THAT CHRIST HAS THE DEW
OF HIS YOUTH. Let me first speak ofChrist personally. Has He not all the
freshness, allthe vigor, all the strength of ancient times? His goings forth were
of old, even from eternity and, behold, He still goes forth, everyday, in the
preaching of His Word, and in the ministrations of His Spirit. In the chariots
of salvationHe still rides forth and among the goldencandlesticks He still
walks. Have we everimagined that He has lostthe strength of His youth? Do
His steps falter? Has His arm begun to feel the palsying influence of old age?
Is there any sign of decrepitude or of wasting awayupon His majestic brow?
When John saw Him in Patmos, “His head and His hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow,” forHe is the eternalof Ages!Yet, as says the spouse in the
Canticles, “His locks are bushy, and black as a raven,” for He has the strength
of a youth, while He has the ages ofeternity upon Him! Well might He now
rise up before us and ask concerning Himself personally, “Is My earheavy
that I cannothear? Is My arm shortened that I cannotsave? Am I not today
what I was yesterday? Was I the Creatorof the world? Did I speak it out of
nothingness and am I not still its Sustainer? Was I the Redeemerof the
Church? Did I purchase her with My own blood and do not still sustain with
powerthose whom I redeemedwith blood? Did I not on earth, with cries and
groans, offerup My prayer before My Father and do I not now plead, not
with less vigor but with greaterstrength, when with authority I advocate My
people’s cause before His throne?” Nor is this freshness confinedto Christ in
His person—itis the same if you think of Him as revealedin His doctrine. We
have Christ among us now, not incarnate in flesh, but incarnate in doctrine.
The doctrines of grace are, in a certain sense, the body of Christ. We speak
sometimes of a Body of divinity, but if any man would know what the true
Body of divinity is, let him learn that it is neither Calvin’s “institutes,” nor
Dwight’s “Theology,”nor Gill’s “Bodyof Divinity”—it is Christ who is the
Body of Divinity! His was the only body Divinity ever took when it became

incarnate. But taking Divinity, in another sense, to mean Divine doctrine,
what Christ saidand what He did—that is, the gospel—is the only body which
Divinity ever will take!The gospelis always fresh. There are many subjects,
beloved, that get exhaustedafter awhile, but who ever heard of the gospel
being exhausted? You have, some of you, come up to the house of God these
30 or 40 years—did you everfeel that you neededanything newerthan the
gospel? Did you ever say, as you went out, after you had heard a gospel
sermon, “I would like to have some improvements made upon it”? No! If you
have heard God’s truth proclaimed, have you not said, “That was the food of
my childhood in grace, it is my food now that, by reasonof years, I am able to
discern betweenthat which is goodand that which is evil—and it shall be my
food all through the wilderness—anduntil I eat of the corn of the kingdom on
the other side of Jordan”? It is a wonderful thing, I have often thought, that
any man should be able, day after day, and week afterweek, to attract
thousands of people to hear him talk. I do not believe any man could do it with
any other subject exceptthe gospel. I have the most intense respectfor that
greatman and mighty orator, Mr. Gough, but, with all his ability, if he were
to deliver a teetotallecture twice every Sabbath, in any pulpit in England, he
could not command a congregationfor21 years at a stretch! But the Christian
minister, with only one subject—Christ crucified—may not only keepon for
21 years, but if he should live as long as Methuselah, he might still keepon
preaching Jesus Christand Him crucified—and he would still find that the
people of God would come to hearhim and never crave for a fresh subject!
Let any great historian open, if he pleases, a lecture room and attempt to
deliver two lectures upon history every week, and let him see whether he does
not find the congregationwhich might, at first, gatheraround him, speedily
diminished! We have had an instance, in London, of one who has delivered an
amusing lecture a thousand times, always to greatmultitudes, but then they
were different persons every time. No one thought of going to hear him lecture
upon the same subject the whole thousand times—it would have become a
most intolerable penance even to have heard Albert Smith delivering his
lecture upon Mont Blanc so often, however interesting it might have been once
or twice. It would certainly pall upon the mind if we heard it so many times—
but the Christian minister may keepon, and on, and on with the same
theme—Christ Jesus, ChristJesus, the same cross, the same crown of thorns,

the same bleeding wounds—from the first time that he enters his pulpit to the
last when he lays down his charge—andthe people may always say, and he
can always feel—thatthe gospelhas the dew of its youth upon it and is always
fresh and new!
Sermon #2724 The Dew ofChrist’s Youth 3
Volume 47 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. 3
Our text is also especiallytrue of Christ as revealed in the Bible. There are
many other valuable books that have been written, but, as a rule, however
valuable they may be, when you have read them half-a-dozen times, you may
be quite satisfied that you need not read them anymore. Next to the Bible, the
book that I value most is John Bunyan’s, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” andI imagine
I may have read that through perhaps a hundred times. It is a book of which I
never seemto tire, but then the secretof that is, that John Bunyan’s,
“Pilgrim’s Progress,”is the Bible in another shape. It is the same heavenly
watertaken out of this same well of the gospel, yet you would tire even of that
book at last. You would say, “I know all that this volume contains and I need
something more. Here is the experience of the Christian pilgrim—I know it is
true, and I delight in it, but I want to go somewhatfurther.” The mind would
crave for something else. But read the Bible and, strange to say, the more you
read it, the more satisfiedyou will be with it. When you begin to read the
Bible, perhaps you need 50 other books in order that you may become a
thorough Bible student, but your library will gradually diminish until, at last,
the more you understand the Bible, the fewer books you will need, and you
will come to say, “If I might have all my days over again, this should be the
only book that I would study. And I would concentrate allmy powers upon
the understanding of this one volume.” You can getto the bottom of all other
books—youdive into them and, at first, they seemto be very deep—but every
time you plunge, they appear to getshallowerand shalloweruntil, at last, you
can see the bottom at a glance. But in God’s Word, every time you dive, the
depths grow deeper! The first time you read a text, in your ignorant conceit
you fancy you have learned the full meaning of it. But you look at it againand
you find that though you had the meaning in one sense, yet you had not the
full meaning—and you dive again, and again, and again—andyou find, each

time you dive, that the meaning is still far beyond your reachand that the
Bible is altogetherabove your comprehension! It expands, it grows, it
continually increases ininterest. There is such a charm about the Bible, that
he who reads it but little can never feel the full force of it. It is something like
the maelstromyou have heard of, only in a different and more excellentsense.
The maelstrom is a greatwhirlpool on the coastof Norway. A ship, at a long
distance from it, will feelsomething of its attractive influence—a very little,
yet enoughto make it veer from its course. But the nearerit gets to the
whirlpool, the strongerbecomes the current and the more forcibly is the vessel
carried along by it, until, at last, the ship is drawn near, whirled round at a
tremendous rate, and then engulfed in its depths. In a higher and better sense,
the same is true of the Bible. The nearer you go to it, the more closelyyou
study it, the more voraciouslyyou devour its contents, the more rapidly do
you revolve in its circles until, at last, you are swallowedup in its glory and
seemto long for nothing else than to prove the heights and depths of this
unfathomable bliss —the love of God in Christ Jesus as revealedto us in His
sacredWord! Truly, we may say to the Bible, “You have the dew of your
youth.” Again, I may add, everything that has to do with Christ is always
young. The beds of spices where He lies are always green. The trees planted
by Him will never wither, their fruits will always come to perfection.
Everything lives where He is, for He is life and in Him there is no death at all.
And because He is life, He is always full of freshness and, therefore, does He
scatterliving force whereverHe goes. All this we shall best know when we
shall follow Him to the living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all
tears from our eyes. II. Now let us turn to the secondpoint and inquire,
WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THIS FRESHNESS?Whatis the reasonwhy
Christ Jesus and His gospel, and His Word, and all things about Him are
always so fresh? Why have we always an abiding dew upon these holy things?
I answer, first, no man who understands what it is to have Christ in His heart
will ever gettired of Him through want of variety. The reasonwhy we get
tired of a thing is generallybecause, as we say, there is a samenessaboutit.
There are many men who have a weighty messageto deliver, consisting of
very goodmatter, but, dear me, it is a pain to sit and listen to them because
they deliver all their words in a monotone—theyalways speak as if they were
striking a bell—and word follows word, with no difference of tone. Now, the

human earloves variety. It cannot bearmonotony. And so is it with the whole
of our manhood—nothing monotonous will long retain its freshness. However
sweetthe music might be, if we always heard the same notes, we would most
assuredlybe as disgustedwith even the music of an archangel, if we were
compelled to hear it all day and all night long, as we are with the cackling ofa
goose!Everything is apt to lose its interest when it is repeatedover and over
again. But there is no fear of any monotony or tautologyin Christ. You may
look at Christ a thousand times and you shall have, if you please, a thousand
different aspects ofHis beauty! If you turn to the Old Testament, you can see
Him in a vast variety of forms. You cansee Him as the paschallamb and as
the scapegoat. You cansee Him at one time as the bullock, strong to labor,
and at another time as the lamb, patient to endure. You cansee Him as the
dove, full of innocence. You cansee Him in the blood sprinkled, in the incense
burning, in the laver filled with water, in Aaron’s rod that budded, in the
golden pot that was full of manna, in the ark. You can see Him having the law
within His heart and over the ark. You can see the goldenlight of the
Shekinahabove the mercy seat, and say, “Christ is here.” In every type you
may see Christ, and in so many different shapes, too, that you can say, “Turn
this whicheverway I like, there is always something fresh in it.” Christ, if I
may compare so glorious a person to so humble a thing, is like the
kaleidoscope.As often as you look through it, you see a fresh arrangementof
colors and a new design and, in like manner, as often as you look at the Lord
Jesus Christ, you always discoversome new beauty in Him. When you have
done with looking at Him typically, look at Him officially. You have not time
to considerall His glories as a Priest—youhave hardly passedyour eyes over
His flowing vesture and His glittering breastplate, and listened to the ringing
of the bells and markedthe beauty of the pomegranates, before you see Him
come forth as a King—and you can scarcelystopto look at the many crowns
on His head before He comes forth as a Prophet! And you have hardly time to
admire Him as a Prophet before He comes forth as Mediator, as Shepherd, as
Captain of our salvation, as Head of the Church, as the everlasting Father, the

Prince of Peace. If you go further and look at His person, you will see what a
wonderful variety there is in Him. You see Him as the Child born, the Son
given. When He comes into this world, you know Him to be God, and you are
lost in admiration of His Deity. You also know Him to be man, and you still
stand astonishedwhen you regard Him in that aspectas bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. The reasonwhy everything else loses its freshness to us is
because ofits need of variety. You may go to any exhibition that has ever been
opened to attract attention and awakeninterest, but you will find that, after a
certain time, there is a need of variety in it. But with Christ there never is
such a lack, and, therefore, to the mind’s eye He always has the dew of His
youth. There is also another reasonChrist has the dew of His youth—
because ofHis excellence.Today, stepping in to see a gentleman, I observeda
table which had upon it a greatvariety of objects. I wonderedwhat they were
and took the liberty of asking him. He told me that he had some beautiful
stereoscopicviews there which had been takenat an immense expense in
Egypt, in the Holy Land, and in all parts of the world. He showedme one or
two Scriptural subjects which very much interestedme. They were certainly
preeminently excellent as works of art. He said, “There, sir, I never get tired
of looking at these slides. I could examine them constantlyand never be weary
of them.” “Well,” I said, “I can quite understand that. They are so excellent,
for, really, there is half-an-hour’s study in this one picture—and then one
might begin again, it is so full of beauty, and it seems so true to the original.”
But I thought to myself, “Excellentas they are, I think, if I call to see my
friend in a year’s time, he will tell me that he has had to buy a fresh setof
views, for he has been looking at these others so often that he has become
altogethertired of them.” They would not have any freshness to him because
he had seenthem so many times. But mark, the reasonwhy he could look at
them so often was because theywere so excellent. If they had been poor
pictures. If there had not been great skilland art bestowedupon them, he
would soonhave become weary of looking at them. There are some views in
nature which a man might gaze upon a hundred times and yet always wonder
at them. But the reasonis because they are so beautiful. There are other
things that might strike one at first, but which, when they were lookedinto
more closely, would lose their freshness becausethere would be no real
ground for admiration, no excellence in them. But Chris Jesus will always

have the dew of His youth because He is always so excellent! Ah, brothers
and sisters, you thought Christ was sweetwhenfirst you tastedHim, but you
will know Him to be sweeter, still, when you know more of Him and taste and
see that He is good!But you cannever know all His sweetness,for you can eat,
and eat, and eatto the fullest and yet not discoverit all! Possibly, scarcelyin
heaven itself will you know all the sweetnessofChrist. You imagine, perhaps,
that you know how greatis His love to you, but remember, it passes
knowledge!You think that you have
fully proved His faithfulness, but you have not proved it as you will yet do. All
the tests to which you have ever put the Savior, it may be, are but little
compared with those that are to come later. You have proved Him with the
footmen, you shall soonprove Him with the horsemen. You have proved Him
in the land of peace, you shall soonprove Him in the swellings ofJordan. But
the more you test and try Him, the more shall you discover that He is excellent
and worth the proving. And because His excellence shallbecome more and
more manifest, the more you look at Him, you shall say to Him continually,
“You have the dew of Your youth. I find You better and better. Fairestof the
sons of men, You grow fairer everyday! Breadof heaven, You become sweeter
to my taste every hour! You were once like wafers made with honey—You are
now sweeterthan angels’food. Waterof life, you continually grow more
cooling to my tongue, and more refreshing to my thirst! I loved You as soonas
I knew You, but I love You more now. I delighted in You once, but I delight in
You more fully now.” Still, I do not know but that the most excellentthing
you and I have ever seenwould, in time, lose its freshness to us because we
would discover all its excellence. ButChrist will never lose His freshness to us
because He is divine. Whateveris not divine, in due time must lose its
freshness. Suppose the Lord should give to us, to engross ourattention and to
interest us, the whole fields of space. Suppose, in eternity, the Lord should say,
“Now I will give to you the works of My creationto be forever the objects of
your attention.” My dear friends, there is enoughin a single flower, the
botanist tells us, to occupy a man’s wonder and admiration for a number of

years!There is so much skill and wisdom in but a single flower of the field,
that a man might look and wonder as long as that. Well, just put togetherall
the flowers and all the creatures of this world, and all the mighty rocks that
are full of such marvelous secrets, andimagine that these are to be the objects
of our eternal study and interest. I can suppose that a man would exhaust all
the knowledge ofthis world in due time—it might take him thousands upon
thousands of years, yet I can imagine that he might so fully examine
everything that is noble and grand in this world that, at last, he could sit
down, and say, “I know every secretofnature here upon the earth. I have
made every rock tell out its story. I have dived into every mine of truth, and I
have ransackedallits secrettreasures—butthere are the stars for me yet to
look at.” So picture the man going from star to star and discovering all the
wonders of God in the seemingly boundless universe! Here is a great
conceptionfor you—imagine that all these stars were inhabited and all full of
fresh wonders!Yet I can understand that, after myriads and myriads of years,
all these marvels might be exhausted. Some stupendous mind, growing by that
upon which it fed, might at last say, of all the secrets ofGod’s works, “Iknow
them all. I have found out every wonder and all the storehousesofGod’s
wisdom have I ransacked.” But, beloved, Jesus Christ is such a boundless field
of knowledge—inHim there is such a gathering up of all the secretsofGod
that the whole of eternity would be exhaustedbefore we could learn them all!
He will have, He must have, forever, the dew of His youth because He is
divine. The wing of knowledge, thoughit had all the fields of space to fly in,
must at last reacha boundary. The ship of wisdom, though it should sail
across the sea that seems without a shore—the as yet unnavigated sea of
ether—must at last reacha haven. But give a man Christ to be the subject of
study, the object to awakenhis interest, and excite his wonder, and then you
have, indeed, shot an arrow which shall never reach its mark! It shall fly on,
on, on, and shall never stop! You have bid the man plunge into a bottomless
ocean!You have launched him, like Noah’s ark, upon a sea without a shore.
He may go on, and on, and on, but he can never reach the end of that voyage!
Christ must foreverbe full of interestto him because He is divine and,
therefore, inexhaustible! Another reasonwhy Christ will always have the
dew of His youth is because He meets all the cravings of our nature. Suppose I
am introduced into a place full of the wonderful works of man. I look and I

look on—but why is it that I gettired of them, howeverinteresting they may
be? Becausethey only appeal to my eyes. But suppose that there is the
sweetestmusic at the same time, then I have something for my ears. Why is it
that, eventhen, I get tired? BecauseI have another craving—I hunger and I
thirst. But suppose I have the richest dainties setbefore me and I sit and feast,
and look, and hear sweetsounds all the time? Why is it that, even then, I
would, after a time, howeverexcellentmight be the entertainment, grow
tired? Why, because I have other propensities that are not brought into play
and other desires which have not their fair room for exercise. Butsuppose I
become like Solomon, so that I have all which the eyes, or the ears, or the
passions candelight in? Should I, after all, be tired? Yes! Solomontried it,
and said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Why? Because there were other
cravings in Solomon which all these things did not satisfy. His mind was
hungering after knowledge andwhen Solomon satisfiedthat, for he spoke of
all things, from the hyssop on the wall up to the cedarof Lebanon, there was
one thing that was still not satisfied—thatwas his soul. His immortal spirit
was longing for communion with his God! There was a hunger and thirst after
something higher than mere mental food. His mind could not be contentwith
wine to drink and meat to eat, for it needed knowledge. And his spirit could
not be satisfiedwith mere knowledge, forit needed something higher than
that—the etherealand celestialambrosia of the glorified! His spirit was
panting for communion with God and, therefore, Solomonfelt that all here
was vanity because it could not satisfy that craving. Give me Christ and I
have no desire for anything beyond Him, for Christ is all! Whateverof good
we may wish for, it is all in Christ—it is impossible for the mind that is filled
with Christ to imagine anything else!And in the day when we shall getto
heaven—we talk a greatdeal about golden harps, golden crowns and golden
streets—Iimagine we shall find that all those harps and crowns and streets
are containedin that one word, “Christ.” When we really have Christ, we feel
that we have nothing else that we can wish for. He that drinks, desires to eat,
but he that drinks Christ drinks food. He that eats desires to be clothed, but

he that feeds on Christ is clothed at the same time. He that is clothed needs
something wherewithalto adorn himself, but he that is clothed in the
righteousness ofChrist is robed in the court dress of heaven and has all the
jewels of divinity upon him! He that is adorned yet needs something
wherewithalto wash himself and keephimself beauteous. But he that is
clothed in the righteousnessofChrist, and adorned with God’s grace, is
washedand is cleanevery whit. He that is cleanneeds to be kept clean—and
he that has Christ shall be kept clean!Dearfriends, there is nothing that a
sinner can need, there is nothing that a saint can need that is not in Christ!
There are many things that we think we need that are not in Him, but nothing
we really need that is not in Him, for “in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godheadbodily.” And the fullness of the Godheadmust be more than
sufficient fullness for manhood. “It pleasedthe Fatherthat in Him should all
fullness dwell.” And if all fullness cannot meet our needs, what can?
Therefore, we shall never be weary of Christ because every craving of the
heart is satisfiedin Him. I will mention only one other reasonwhy Christ will
always have the dew of His youth. We shall never be tired of Christ because
the need that we have of Christ cannever cease. While I am on earth, I shall
never cease sinning—therefore Ishall never ceaseto need the fountain filled
with blood where I canwashaway all my guilty stains. So long as I am here,
my conscience willnever leave off accusing me—therefore I shall always need
an Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christthe righteous. While I am
here, I shall never be free from trouble—therefore I shall always need Him
who is the ConsolationofIsrael. While I am here, I shall never getrid of
weakness—therefore I cannever bear to be without Him who is my strength.
While I am here, I shall never, I fear, ceasefrom backsliding in some
measure— therefore I can never ceaseto love Him who restores my soul and
leads me in the paths of righteousness forHis name’s sake. You have heard,
perhaps, the story of a party of travelers who were crossing the desert. They
had exhaustedall their supply of waterand they knew not where they should
find any. But, at last, after some days’ march, they came near a turbid stream
of the filthiest water, and in dashedthe camels and defiled it still worse!Yet
the poor travelers, who had come across the arid desert, were so thirsty that
they drank what was more earth than water, and thought it sweeterthan any
wine they had ever tasted!But after they had satisfiedtheir thirst, did they

still think so? Did they then say the water was sweet?No, they understood,
then, what it was they had been drinking, and after their thirst was once
quenched, you could not have compelledthem to drink there againuntil the
thirst returned in all its force. And as long as the Christian is here, he will
always have the pangs of hunger, he will always have all the sufferings of
spiritual thirst if Christ is removed from him, and therefore that longing will
always make Christ sweetto Him. Our Lord must always have the dew of His
youth upon Him, because we shall always have an appetite for Him as long as
we are here. Or if we lose it for a little while—for fools will abhor all manner
of meat sometimes—yetthat appetite must and shall return and we shall
againfly to those living Waters as with the wings of a dove, and hastenagain
to those cooling streams with all the speed
of the panting hart that longs after the water brook, for it must drink or die.
Therefore, beloved, you see yet again that because we shallalways need
Christ, therefore will He always be fresh to us. “But,” says one, “we shallnot
need Him in heaven.” Who told you that? Whoevertold you so has certainly
misled you. Not need Christ in heaven? Why, beloved, if you could take Christ
awayfrom heaven, you would take heavenaway, altogether, and leave every
saint in hell! They do not “need” Christ in heaven, in one sense of the word,
because they have Him—therefore they do not “need” Him as the Scotchuse
the word “need.” But they still need to have Christ with them every hour, for
He is the sum and substance of heaven. If I shall not need Christ to cleanse me
in heaven, yet I shall need Christ to commune with me. If I shall not need His
blood to washme, yet I shall need the offering of praise wherewithto bless
and honor God. If I shall not need to pray to Him, I shall need to praise Him.
If I shall not need Him to forgive me, yet I shall need Him to embrace me. If I
shall not need Him as a Shepherd, I shall need Him as a Husband, as a Priest,
as a King so that I may forever serve Him with joy and gladness! III. WHAT
ARE THE LESSONS WE SHOULD LEARN FROM THIS TRUTH? The
first is for the pulpit, a lessonof admonition. Dear brothers, we who occupy
the pulpit must take care that we never, for a moment, entertain the idea that

the gospelhas become worn out. It still has the dew of its youth. There is a
gooddeal of nonsense talkedabout a gospeladapted to the times. People say
that the way Whitefield preached, and the way that John Berridge and
RowlandHill preachedwas all wrong. True, many sinners were converted
under their ministry, but, you know, sinners were different, then, from the
sinners of these day, who do not need the same sort of preaching. Some say
that the devil himself is improved, but I find him worse if anything—
improved the wrong way! They saythat sinners are improved and do not need
to be addressedwith the same fiery, burning words as of old. They saythat
they do not need the same simple preaching of Christ. The 19th Century has
become so learned that it has advanced beyond the simple knowledge of
Christ crucified! It has become so erudite, that the simplicity of the gospelis
far behind it! It has marched on so far aheadthat it has left the cross miles in
the rear! Do not believe them for a moment, my dear brothers—if you want
to wake up the people of England, preach the old-fashioned gospel!If you
want to crowd your halls and gatherthousands round you, it is the truth of
God as it is in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, that you
must preach! As for the manner and style of your preaching, you may leave
that to the occasion, but stick to your subject, the simple gospelin all its
freshness and glory. Pentecostalyouth shall be seenin the gospelagainwhen
it is preached in all its fullness and purity. I know why some preachers like to
be obscure—itis because it gives a man a peculiar kind of popularity. I believe
some people like to hear a man whom they cannot understand and some,
when they hear a man they can just barely comprehend, are very flattered,
because the minister seems to say to them, “Now, youknow that you are all
very cleverpeople. I must, therefore, preach you a very clever sermon.” And
then they feel pleasedthat the minister should have such a goodopinion of
them and should think them so clever. But when you go to hear some plain
blunt man, who just simply tells out the gospeland who believes that to try to
be eloquent when he is preaching would be just as stupid as to paint the rose
or to whitewashthe lily, then you say, “Well, now, he did not compliment me!
Why, he talked to me and all of us as if we had been a common lot of clod-
hoppers and crossing-sweepers. He told us just the simple story of the cross
and there is nothing flattering in that.” Yes! And, by the grace ofGod, I trust
that from our pulpits there will never be anything taught that is flattering to

you! I hope eachone of us will be able to say, with the apostle Paul, “I
determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And I was with you in weakness, andin fear, and in much
trembling. And my speechand my preaching were not with enticing words of
man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Be you
assuredthat there will be more unction resting upon the enunciation of the
simple truths of the gospel—there willbe more freshness to the hearers—than
there will be upon the most polished oratory garnishedwith almost seraphic
eloquence and elaborateduntil it grows far beyond the comprehensionof
ordinary intellects! That lessonis for the pulpit.
The secondlessonis a caution, a lessonof self-examinationto eachone here
present. Do you, dear friend, take less interest in the gospelthan you used to?
Do you find that it has become dull to you and that even Christ Himself has
lost His freshness to you? Christ has not really lost His freshness, though you
may have lost yours. What you should ask yourself is, “Have I found the right
Christ? If the Christ I have found has lost His freshness, is it not very likely
that I have found a wrong Christ, one of my own making, one of my own
conception? Forthe real Christ is always fresh, always interesting, and always
new. Have I not either laid hold of the wrong truth, or held it in the wrong
way?” I said, “the wrong truth.” Have I contradictedmyself? Yet that is the
palpable contradiction of this age. One man says, “Yes,” andanother man
says, “No.” Iam told that it is uncharitable to say that another man is wrong
if I am right, but I cannot make it out how both are to be right, or how yes
and no are to be made to agree together. He is a clever man who is able to tie
the tails of yes and no togetherand make them run in the same row! The fact
is, if you have lostyour interest in the gospel, it is not the right one that you
have received, or else you never really acceptedit. If you have lost your
interest in Christ, it is because it is not the Christ of God in whom you were
interested. It is very probable that if your former zeal and your former delight
in Christ have departed, you have made a mistake—andit is wellthat you

should question yourselves very solemnly lestyou should be found building
upon the sand when you thought you were building upon the Rock of ages. I
have just another word to add, and that is, a word of aspiration. If Christ has
the dew of His youth upon Him, let us, my dear friends who serve the Lord
Jesus Christ, aspire to show the world that we do too. In the olden times, the
dew of Christ’s youth made His people love Him so much that they were
ready to die for Him—they gave all their substance to Him—they lived a life
of shame and they were prepared to die a death of pain. Now let us prove to
the world that Christianity has not lost its ancient vigor, that there is a godly
seedyet left in the earth and that the arm of the Church is not withered. Let
us prove to the world that as Christ made His people holy in olden times, He
makes His people holy now. And that as the religion of Christ made men
devoted to Him, zealous for His cause, preparedthem to live and helped them
to die, it cando so now. It is for you and for me to prove to the world that our
religion has not lost its force by letting them see its influence in our daily life!
Emulate the noble army of martyrs, the glorious hostof confessors!Seek to
live like the goodly fellowshipof the prophets and like that noble company of
the apostles!And when you shall live the holy and devoted lives they did, then
shall all the world say, “These menhave been with Christ, for they have the
dew of the youth of Christianity upon them. They are like the early
Christians, and therefore, the old religion has not grown old, so as to be likely
to depart and pass away.”
Adapted from The C. H. SpurgeonCollection, Version1.0, Ages Software.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

The Day Of Christ's Power
Psalm110:3
S. Conway
Luther calls this psalm "the true high main psalm of our beloved Lord Jesus
Christ." Our Lord himself attests that it is inspired of the Holy Ghost, and
there is no other Scripture in the Old Testamentthat is so frequently quoted
in the New. The occasionof the psalm seems to have been the greatfestival of
the bringing up of the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem.
On that day David assumedthe double function of priest and king, for he was
vestedin priestly raiment, and fulfilling the priestly office, whilst at the same
time he was the victorious king. But this double characterwhich in this day
David bore became the prefigurement and type of the twofold characterof
him who was to be in all respects a King infinitely more glorious than David,
and a Priestwhose office should never fail. It is of the vision of him that this
psalm tells. The sacredpoetpictures our Savioras a mighty monarch
surrounded by his youthful warriors, bright and numberless as the dew-drops
on a summer's morn, willing to shed their heart's blood in his service, each
one rated as a priest, eachone a soldierof God. That is what is foretold of
Christ. Let us speak of -
I. THE DAY OF CHRIST'S POWER, His resurrection-day; Pentecost;all
days when Christ is vividly realized by the soul; - such are days of his power.
And there is yet a future day which will emphatically deserve to be thus
called. Then the vision of this psalm finds fulfillment; there is the glad rush of
the young to his standard, and their willing surrender to his service. And in
the history of the Church there have been from time to time such blesseddays.
Eternal things became real to his people, the old words and truths shone out
with a new luster. Christ drew near to his people's souls, and they welcomed
him as their Lord. Such days have come to scatteredcongregations andto
individual believing souls. The secretof all real revivals of religion with which
the Church has once and againbeen blessedhas been this - that Christ came
to them, as at Pentecost, in power. And if his presence were more hungered
after, there would be more of such days.

II. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
1. The spontaneity and willingness with which the people offer themselves.
They have not to be draggedto his service, forcedto do his will.
2. Their sanctity. They are vested "in the beauties of holiness." Theyare to be
priests of God as well as his soldiers. When this is the case with the Church,
then indeed it will be a day of Christ's power. It is what the world waits to see,
and insists upon it that it as yet cannot see.
3. Their numbers; as the drops of dew on a summer morning, innumerable;
and heaven-born, and for the earth's refreshment and fertility. Nota solitary
convert here and there as now, but they shall come in multitudes.
4. Their youthfulness. Not worn-out lives and faded energies are offered, but
"the dew of thy youth." Do we not long to see sucha day? Fervent, believing,
persevering, and obedient prayer shall surely bring such days. - S.C.
Biblical Illustrator

Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.
Psalm110:3
Christ subdues a people to Himself
C. Greig, M. A.
The glory of a king consists in the multitude of his people. Messiahis a king,
but He is described as ruling in the midst of His enemies. Has He, then, none
but these over whom He is to reign — none that willingly do Him service?
Was He to spend His labour in vain, His time and strength for that which
profiteth nothing? No! He should see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied,
and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in His hand. Jehovahpromises to
Him, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power."
I. THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF MESSIAH'S SUBJECTS.
They are His people —
1. Becausethey are given to Him by the Father.
2. Becausethey are bought with a price, even with His own precious blood.
3. Becausethey are createdanew by His Holy Spirit, and so fitted for His
service here, and for the full enjoyment of heavenhereafter.
II. THE PREDICTIONREGARDINGTHEM. They"shall be willing."
Worldly kingdoms have often been establishedby violence — they rule over
the body only, they govern by fear and terror. In all these respects, Christ's
kingdom is not of this world. His people are willing to enter into His kingdom
in the way of His ownappointment, they are willing to obey the laws of His
kingdom, and they are willing to submit to that discipline which His infinite
wisdom sees meetfor them.
III. THE TIME WHEN, AND THE MEANS BY WHICH, THEY SHALL BE
MADE WILLING. "In the day of Thy power." The exertion of Messiah's
poweris requisite to bring the most amiable of the human race cordially to
submit to Him as their rightful Lord; and by the exertion of this power, the
most hardened rebel may be transformed into a willing subject.

(C. Greig, M. A.)
Christ's triumph and our glory
J. B. Donaldson, D.D.
I. CHRIST'S TRIUMPH.
1. Christ triumphs through us, manifesting His power to destroy sin in the
flesh, and to restore the God-like image. He works in us, enabling us to will
and to do His goodpleasure.
2. His triumph waits upon us. BecauseHe lives, His people shall live for ever.
3. There will come a day when we shall be willing —(1) To learn of Him. To
receive with meeknessthe truth; to be taught of Him.(2) To suffer with Him.
We shall be willing to humble ourselves, and sacrifice everyheart's desire and
ambition to His glory.(3) To follow Him, in going out after all the lost and
erring ones.(4)To do His will, promptly and perfectly as the angels, who stand
around the throne, awaiting His bidding.
II. OUR GLORY. We have a victorious Leader. Our King will come forth in
the beauties of holiness. His reign will be refreshing and quickening as dew,
every drop reflecting all heaven. He will leadHis people gloriously, while they
shout their song of triumph. Christ is also our royal priest, the mystery of His
birth and successionbeing prefigured in the person of Melchizedek. His Word
is our battle-axe, which strikes devastating blows in the ranks of the enemy.
We read of the triumphal entrance of Pompey into Rome, when for two days
the processionmoved along the Via Sacra. At the head of the processionwere
carried the brazen tablets, engraven with the names of the conquered nations,
the recordof the wealthamassed, and the vastincrease in the revenues of the
empire. The captives followedthe triumphal chariot, and as many trophies
were displayed as there had been victories gained, either by Pompey or his
officers. But how vastly more magnificent and dazzling will be the procession
of the heavenly hosts of the redeemedof all nations and kindreds and people

and tongues as they enter the New Jerusalemwith their King of kings, to
crownHim Lord of all.
(J. B. Donaldson, D.D.)
Soldier priests
A. Maclaren, D. D.
We have here the very heart of the Christian charactersetforth as being
willing consecration;then we have the work which Christian men have to do,
and the spirit in which they are to do it, expressedin that metaphor of their
priestly attire; and then we have their refreshing and quickening influence
upon the world.
I. THE SUBJECTSOF THE PRIEST-KING ARE WILLING SOLDIERS.
We are all soldiers, and He only has to determine our work. We are
responsible for the spirit of it, He for its success.Again, there are no
mercenaries in these ranks, no pressedmen. The soldiers are all volunteers.
"Thy people shall be willing." Constrainedobedience is no obedience. The
word here rendered "willing" is employed throughout the Levitical law for
"freewillofferings." This glad submission comes from self-consecrationand
surrender.
II. THE SOLDIERS ARE PRIESTS. "The beauties ofholiness" is a frequent
phrase for the sacerdotalgarments, the holy festalattire of the priests of the
Lord. So considered, how beautifully it comes in here. The conquering King
whom the psalm hymns is a Priestfor ever; and He is followed by an army of
priests. The soldiers are gatheredin the day of the muster, with high courage
and willing devotion, ready to fling awaytheir lives; but they are clad not in
mail, but in priestly robes, like those who wait before the altar rather than
like those who plunge into the fight, like those who encompassedJericho with
the ark for their standard and the trumpets for all their weapons. "The
servant of the Lord must not strive." We cannot scoldnor dragoonmen to
love Jesus Christ. We are to be gentle, long-suffering, not doing our work with
passionand self-will, but remembering that gentleness is mightiest, and that

we shall best adorn the doctrine of Godour Saviour when we go among men
with the light caughtin the inner sanctuary still irradiating our faces, andour
hands full of blessings to bestow on our brethren.
III. THE SOLDIER-PRIESTSARE AS DEW UPON THE EARTH. There
are two points in this lastclause which may occupy us — that picture of the
army as a band of youthful warriors;and that lovely emblem of the dew as
applied to Christ's servants. As to the former — there are many other words
of Scripture which carry the same thought, that he who has fellowship with
God, and lives in the constantreception of the supernatural life and grace
which come from Jesus Christ, possesses the secretofperpetual youth. If we
live near Christ, and draw our life from Him, then we may blend the hopes of
youth with the experience and memory of age;be at once calm and joyous,
wise and strong, preserving the blessednessofeachstage of life into that
which follows, and thus at lastpossessing the sweetnessand the goodof all at
once. We may not only bear fruit in old age, but have blossoms, fruit, and
flowers — the varying product and adornment of every stage oflife united in
our characters.Then, with regardto the other point in this final clause — that
emblem of the dew comes into view here, I suppose, mainly for the sake ofits
effectupon the earth. It is as a symbol of the refreshing which a wearyworld
will receive from the conquests and presence of the King and His host, that
they are likened to the glittering morning dew. We are meant to gladden, to
adorn, to refresh this parched, prosaic world, with a freshness brought from
the chambers of the sunrise.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
A willing people and an immutable Leader
I. A PROMISE MADE TO CHRIST'S PEOPLE. Here is a promise of time:
"in the day of Thy power." Here is a promise of people: "Thy people." Here is
a promise of disposition: "Thy people shall be willing." Here is a promise of
character:"Thy people shall be willing in the beauties of holiness." And here
is a majestic figure to show the manner in which they shall be brought forth.
By a very bold metaphor, they are said to come out as mysteriously as the

dew-drops from the womb of the morning. We know not how, but they are
produced by God. Philosophy has laboured to discover the origin of dew, and
perhaps has guessedit; but to the Eastern, one of the greatestriddles was, out
of whose womb came the dew? Who is the mother of those pearly drops? Now,
so will God's people come mysteriously. It will be said by the bystander,
"There was nothing in that man's preaching; I thought I should hear an
orator; this man has been made the means of salvationto thousands, and I
thought I should hearan eloquent man, but I have heard a greatmany
preachers far more intelligent and intellectual than he; how were these souls
converted?" Why, they have come from the womb of the morning,
mysterously. Again, the dew-drops — who made them? God speaks;He
whispers in the ears of nature, and it weeps for joy at the glad news that the
morning is coming. That is how God's people shall be saved; they come forth
from the "wombof the morning" divinely called, divinely brought, divinely
blessed, divinely numbered, divinely scatteredoverthe entire surface of the
globe, divinely refreshing to the world, they proceedfrom the "womb of the
morning."
II. A PROMISE MADE TO CHRIST. "Thou hast the dew of Thy youth." Ah!
believer, this is the greatsource of Gospelsuccess,that Christ has the dew of
His youth. Jesus Christ, personally, has the dew of His youth. Certain leaders
in their young days have led their troops to battle, and by the loudness of their
voice, and the strength of their bodies, they have inspired their men with
courage;but the old warrior hath his hair sownwith grey; he begins to be
decrepit, and no longercan lead men to battle. It is not so with Jesus Christ.
He has still the dew of His youth. The same Christ who led His troops to battle
in His early youth leads them now. The arm which smote the sinner with His
Word smites now; it is as unpalsied as it was before. The eye which looked
upon His friends with gladness, and upon his foemenwith a glance most stern
and high — that same eye is regarding us now, undimmed, like that of Moses.
He has the dew of His youth. So also doctrinally, Christ hath the dew of His
youth. Usually, when a religion starts it is very rampant, but it afterwards
decays. Look at the religion of Mahommed. For one hundred years or more it
threatened to subvert kingdoms, and overturn the whole world, but where are
the blades that flashed then? Where are now the willing hands that smote

down the foes of Mahommed? Why, his religionhas become an old worn-out
thing; no one cares about it; and the Turk, sitting on his divan, with his legs
crossed, smoking his pipe, is the best image of the Mahommedan religion —
old, infirm, effete. But the Christian religion, — ah, it is as fresh as when it
shafted from its cradle at Jerusalem;it is as hale, and hearty, and mighty, as
when Paul preached it at Athens, or Peterat Jerusalem.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ's people, a willing people
T. Boston, D.D.
There is here —
1. Something supposed. Namely, that Christ hath a people in the world where
He erects His standard, that He hath a specialrelationto, and interest in.
"Thy people," even His people (Matthew 1:21). He hath bought them with His
blood (John 10:15). It is supposedalso, that He finds these unwilling to submit
to Him, as well as the rest of the world. The corruption of the will is common
to them with others.
2. Something ensured to the Mediator, respecting this people of His; namely,
that these unwilling people shall be willing, Hebrew, "willingnesses";which
imports that they shall submit to Him, and give awaythemselves to Him;
acknowledge the right which Christ hath to them, and be His people by their
own consent(Isaiah49:18, and Isaiah 55:5).
3. The time when, and the wayhow this shall be done. "In the day of Thy
power." That is, in a day of the Gospel's coming with power. "Forthe Gospel
is the powerof God unto salvation."
I. THAT CORRUPTION OF THE WILL, WITH WHICH CHRIST FINDS
HIS PEOPLE, AS WELL AS OTHERS, POSSESSED.
1. There is a weaknessin their will; they cannotwill what is spiritually good
and acceptable to God.

2. An aversionto good.
3. A proneness to evil, a woful bent of the will carrying it to sin.
4. A contrariety in the will, to the will of God.
5. Contumacy: the will is wilful or obstinate in evil.
II. THE WILLINGNESS OF THE SOUL SUBMITTING TO CHRIST. What
makes the change? Theyare made, they do not make themselves willing. The
Lord changes their wills, takes awaythe evil qualities of their will, and gives
new qualities.
1. They are willing to part with sin.
2. They are willing to go out of themselves;to castoff all confidence in their
attainments and duties; to come to Christ empty, with nothing in them or on
them to recommend them to Him but misery.
3. They are willing to take Christ as their Saviour, and to submit to His
righteousness.
4. They are willing to take on the yoke of Christ's commandments.
5. Willing to bear Christ's Cross, to cleave to Him and His ways, and to follow
Him through fire and water.
6. Willing to go awaywith Christ, for altogether, home to His Father's house.
III. THE DAY OF POWER.
1. Though the Gospelmay be long preachedunto a people, yet there are some
specialseasons thatmay be lookedon as days of power. Days when the Gospel
is new to a people, days of persecution, days when there is a spirit of prayer
poured out, and times of sealing ordinances, these are more likely than others
to be days of power.
2. There is an appointed time for the inbringing of all the electof God, and
that is the particular day of power to them.
3. A dark night usually goes before this day of power.

4. Wheneverthis day of powercomes, the soul is made willing, the fort of the
heart is taken, and the King of glory enters in state, turns out the old
inhabitants, and puts in new.
(T. Boston, D.D.)
The necessityand claims of the missionary enterprise
D. Young.
I. THE NATURE OF THE WORK ITSELF. The Gospelis just a voice from
heaven calling on the Church to evangelize the world.
II. THE NECESSITYOF THIS WORK. Ill. THE PROSPECTSOF THIS
WORK.
IV. THE RELATION IN WHICH CHRISTIANS STAND TO THIS WORK.
(D. Young.)
The willingness of God's people
J. Jones.
I. GOD HAS A PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, AND THERE NEVER WAS A
PERIOD WHEN HE HAD NOT.
II. THERE IS A DAY OF HIS POWER THAT SHALL PASS ON THEM
FOR THEIR REGENERATION AND CONVERSION.
1. It is a day, not a natural day of twenty-four hours, that is interrupted by
night, but I conceive it means three things —
(1)A period destined for the conversionof His people,
(2)A period perfectly clearto God,
(3)A period limited to time.

2. It is the day of His power. To the perishing sinner the Gospelcomes, "notin
word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."
It is an arresting power; it meets the sinner, and stays his mad career, as in
the case ofSaul of Tarsus. It is a convincing power; it teaches the sinner that
he is ruined in every respect, and leads him to cry out, "Whatshall I do to be
saved?" It is a life-giving power; it quickens dead souls, and will eventually
bring the dead bodies from their graves.
III. THE RESULT; that they shall be brought to Him, made willing to part
with all things, and to be His voluntary subjects and followers in the world.
The powerof God does not do away with the liberty of the will, nor does the
liberty of the will render unnecessarythe exercise of the power of God.
(J. Jones.)
The law of leastresistance
H. Macmillan, D.D.
I. THE DAY OF CHRIST'S POWER. The day of our Lord's power was the
day when, like Samson, He burst the greenwithes of death, and carried the
gates ofthe grave up the hill of God. The day of His powerwas proclaimed to
all the world when He ascendedup on high and satdown at the right hand of
God; and the day of Pentecostwitnessed, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
upon the assembledthousands, that, the work of Christ was finished and
accepted, and had achieved all the mighty results for which it was undertaken.
Ever since then, the day of Christ's power has continued. All power on earth
and in heaven has been given to Him for the purpose of carrying on His
mediatorial work.
II. THE WILLINGNESS OF THE PEOPLE IN THE DAY OF THE LORD'S
POWER. Whata world of meaning is there in that word "willing"! It denotes
the condition of one who offers the leastresistanceto the saving power of
Jesus, and in whom, therefore, that powerfinds it easiestto work and to carry
on its gracious purposes. Sucha person has no self-will, giving it freely up to
be moulded by the Divine will; willing to give up all — to give first the heart

and then the life, a living sacrifice.. Sucha person is not compelledby law, but
impelled by love. "Notmy will, but Thine be done," is his rule not only in
regard to the salvation of his soul, but also in regardto all the duties and
relations of life. Christ will bless such an one up to the fulness of His own
loving heart, because there is nothing in his heart to prevent it.
III. WHAT WILL THE DAY OF POWER DO FOR THEM? It will adorn
them with the beauty of holiness, and it will renew their youth. The will of
God is our sanctification. The dearestwishof His heart is that the fair image
in which He createdus, and which we have marred by our sin, should be
restored. He wishes us to place ourselves unreservedly in His hands, that He
may create us anew in Christ Jesus. The gloryof the Godheadshines in Him
who assumedour nature; and all poweris given to Him in order that He may
make us conformable to His image. Who would not accepta king to reign over
them who could thus make them what they were meant to be — sons of God
and heirs of heaven; who could fulfil here and hereafter, to the fullest extent,
their prayer, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us"? But, besides
the beauties of holiness, perpetual youthfulness is also what the grace of
Christ will produce in those who are willing in the day of His power. In His
service the dew of their youth, the brightness of life's morning, will be ever
upon them. He who has the powerof an endless life, who is the same
yesterday, today, and for ever, will renew their strength from day to day from
the fountainhead of His own strength. Eternallife is eternal youth; and He
who takes awaythe old nature of sin and gives the new nature of grace, with it
makes all things new.
(H. Macmillan, D.D.)
The increase ofthe Messiah'skingdomprophetically anticipated
W. Hutchings.
I. THE PROSPECTWHICH THE TEXT AFFORDS.

1. Its nature. Light pours in upon his understanding — Divine influence
renews his heart. The kingdom of God is within him, and he is swayedby the
sceptre of redeeming love.
2. Its effects. True holiness is, in strict propriety of expression, the holiness of
truth — it is excellence ofcharacter, producedby excellence ofprinciple. Its
moral influence is Divinely designedto be, and actually has been in every age,
for the healing of the nations.
3. Its extent. The subjects of the Redeemer's kingdomshall be numerous as
the drops of morning dew, which sparkle upon the grass in countless
profusion when the day breaks, and the glory of the rising sun is poured over
the earth. Sinners of every class willperceive so much beauty and evidence in
Divine truth, that they will have no more power to resistits illumination, to
elude its force, and to remain longer in subjectionto their errors, their vices,
and their prejudices.
II. THE CERTAINTYOF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT.
1. The immutability of Jehovah's counsel.
2. The perfection of the Redeemer's atonement.
3. The invincibility of Divine grace.
(W. Hutchings.)
The Gospeldispensationone of power
A. J. Morris.
I. LOOK AT ITS EXTENT. Superstitions the most powerful and beloved, —
systems of philosophy the most specious andplausible, — opinions which are
congenialto the human heart, and have been entertained for ages, — and
habits, strengthened not merely by personalindulgence, but by the influence
of the most remote antiquity, — all give way before the Cross. Conversionof
the most degradedand ignorant tribes takes place, — the change effected, and
the contrastfurnished by it, being more visible, and, therefore, more

impressive than former dispensations have witnessed. And the most glorious
displays are yet future. The close ofthis day of poweris to be most excessive in
its brightness, — at eventide there is to be the purest and the fullest light.
II. THE PRODUCTION AND INCREASE OF PIETYIN MEN'S SOULS IS
MORE NATURAL TO THIS DISPENSATION THAN THE PRECEDING
ONES. Whatwas made known under them is not to be compared with what
has been made known since, for explicitness and fulness.
III. IT IS THE DISPENSATIONOF THE SPIRIT. He is the official agentin
the conversionand sanctificationof men.
(A. J. Morris.)
When God marshals His
A. Maclaren, D.D.
forces:— The word rendered "power" has the same ambiguity which that
word has in the English of the date of our translation, and for a century later,
as you may find in Shakespeare andMilton, who both used it in the sense of
"army." We do not employ "powers" in that meaning, but we do another
word which means the same thing, and talk of "forces," meaning thereby
"troops." "The day of thy power" is not a mere synonym for "the time of thy
might," but means specifically "the day of thine army"; that is, the day when
thou dost muster thy forces, and setthem in array for the war. The King is
going forth to conquest.
(A. Maclaren, D.D.)
In the beauties of holiness
The excellence ofChristian morality
W. Bennet.

The words of the text evidently describe the subjects of the MessiahThey
illustrate the most distinguishing features of their characterand principles.
They display the predicted, expected, and now realized superiority of the
morality of the Gospel.
I. ITS PRINCIPLES. Strictly speaking, religionand true morality are in
substance the same. In the Scriptures, the application of religion to practice is
expressedby the term "holiness," and the maturity or perfectionof its
principles, appearing in the demeanour and actions of men, is elegantlycalled
"the beauties of holiness." Religionrefuses not the aid of reason, when
unsophisticated;of the moral sense, whenenlightened; or of the eternal
distinctions of things, when rightly understood. Nay, religion requires,
employs, and retains them all in her service. But above these she exalts, as her
peculiar principles of morality.
1. The authority of an all-perfect Being.
2. The operation of faith. True faith is the offspring of light, and the parent of
purity. It originates in knowledge and in reason. It is cherished by inquiry and
research. It is perfectedin the free and full assentof the will, communicated
by the Spirit of God, when men are "made willing in the day of His power."
3. Supreme love to God.
4. To live to the glory of God.
II. ITS EXTENT. Socialand relative duties are unquestionably of high
importance in morality, and politicians and legislators will everregard them
as the most valuable part of religion, because they are most immediately
conducive to the external peace and order of states. But shall philosophers,
admirers of wisdom, and students of virtue, pious and aspiring inquirers,
extend no farther their conceptions ofmorality? Let persons of this character
prosecute their researcheswith candour and fidelity, and in the Scriptures of
truth they shall soonattain to many new and elevating discoveries. In that
sacredvolume, does not the greatGod and our Saviour demand assent, not
merely to the common position, that He exists, but require that the conviction
of His perfections and presence should affect all our actions? DoesHe not

reveal, not merely His counsels, but challenge an active and universal
obedience to His will? Does He not claim, not merely respectfor His laws, but
zeal for His glory? not merely the homage of the body, but fervour of the
spirit in serving Him; not merely submission, but confidence;not merely
gratitude, but joy; not merely hope, but assurance;not merely desire, but
delight in His communion?
III. ITS EFFICACY. The Gospelis, in more respects than one, like the
principle of light to which it has been so justly compared. It may be distorted
by a false medium, or obscured by the intervention of clouds, yet still it assists
vision, still it may be beneficial, still it is light, and preferable, in every case, to
darkness. Orit is like the element of heat, which, even though unseen, may
latently support and invigorate life. Thus even the worstcorruptions of the
Christian religion have not utterly extinguished its beneficial tendency. To
what but the influence of the Gospelis Europe indebted for her boasted
superiority of civilization? What has exalted the whole female sex to
respectability, to deference. and to love? Without a question it was
Christianity. What has mitigated the horrors of war, civilized the manners of
nations, attempered the powerof the great, and exalted the condition of the
poor? It was the same cause. And no system of philosophy, before its
appearance, everproduced any similar effects, or ever even attempted such
designs.
IV. ITS CONSEQUENCES.
1. Exemption from the power of sin and the practice of vice (Romans 6:14;
John 8:36).
2. A willing mind in the performance of every duty, with its attendant
satisfactionand delight, follows this exemption from the dominion of sin.
3. The evidence thus established, that we are in a state of grace and
acceptancewith God, is a new consequence andfruit of this invaluable
morality. Upon no other presumption can the persuasionof this opinion be
founded, than the evidence of our conformity to the standards and precepts of
the Gospel, the palpable and genuine proof that we are actually redeemed

from sin, exempted from its dominion, habituated to holiness, active in virtue,
and made willing in a favoured time of power.
4. The true enjoyment of life results from these principles. Without them all is
dark, cheerless, anduncertain. With their support, all is light, joyous, and
secure.
5. How delightful a talk would it be to describe the peculiar resourcesin
affliction, which flow from these principles, and the triumph in the arms of
death, to which they lead!
6. The preparation for heaven, which they confer, the anticipation of its joys,
and consequentlythe proof of its assuredexistence, whichthey afford, is their
last and most important consequence.
(W. Bennet.)
The secretofmoral beauty
W. L. Watkinson.
If you would make your life truly graceful, truly beautiful, you must go back
to conscience, principle, conviction;there must be within you reality, a true
godliness and a true consecrationto God and to man. You often meet with
people whose beauty disappoints you — I mean their moral beauty. They are
excellentpeople, charming people, but somehow orother you are not satisfied
with them. What is the matter? There is more amiability than energy. You
never like to speak discouraginglyabout nice people, because there are so few
of them; but really some people who are exceedinglyamiable are exceedingly
unsatisfying. What is the matter with them? It is this — lack of depth, reality,
force. They have gotmore graciousnessthan they have grit. They make a
greatmany gracious concessions thatat lastquestion their conscientiousness.
They have a supply of amiability about them that makes you suspecta
flabbiness within. No amiability is really satisfactoryto men except as it
springs from deep, radical, organic conscientiousness,conviction, and
devotion. To see lilywork upon a pillar is admirable, but frosted work on a

bride-cake is another thing altogether. And I say to you that if you would
make your characteras you are anxious to make it — graceful, noble,
beautiful — there is no way for you but to go back to the roots and
foundations of life. If you wish to make yourself right, I sayto you: Don't
paint your face;see to it that there is health in the central organs. Don't revise
your etiquette; see to it that you are transformed in the spirit of your mind.
Out of the heart are the issues oflife, and out of the love of God and the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit spring at last
the realmajesty and sweetnessofhuman character.
(W. L. Watkinson.)
Thou hast the dew of thy youth
The youth of Godhead
John Pulsford.
Everything young and fresh, everything bright and smiling, everything
buoyant and happy, may be traced to the perpetual youth of Godhead, which
streams forth for everand ever, impregnating all receptive souls and
substances with its own quality; and it is owing to the unchangeable youth of
the Sonof God, that every new-born babe, after thousands of years, preserves
the freshness and the beauteous innocence of the first-born child of Adam.
The fulness of life which rises and dances in every young heart, and the living
sunbeams which play upon the face of youth, are from the same one and only
eternal source. And after myriads of springtimes in myriads of planets, each
succeeding spring is as fresh and full of young vigour and beauty as were the
springs before the flood. Every babe, and every spring, and every new
morning, are world-types of the everlasting youth of our God. There is no
light like the early morning light, there is no air like the early morning air,
there is no waterlike the dew of early morning, and when do the birds sing as
they sing in the opening day? Every morning is a new sermon on the youth of
Jesus. And the new life that rises with us in the morning, after our nightly

death in sleep, is a daily demonstrationthat life continues young and fresh in
its fountain-head.
(John Pulsford.)
The dew of Christ's youth
I. CHRIST HAS THE DEW OF HIS YOUTH.
1. Let me speak first of Christ personally; has He not all the freshness, all the
vigour, all the strength of ancient times?
2. It is the same if you think of Him as revealedin His doctrine. The Gospelis
always fresh.
3. Our text is also speciallytrue of Christ as revealedin the Bible. There are
many other valuable books that have been written; but, as a rule, however
valuable they may be, when you have read them half-a-dozen times, you may
be quite satisfied that you need not read them any more. You can getto the
bottom of all other books;you dive into them, and at first they seemto be very
deep; but every time you plunge, they appear to getshallowerand shallower,
until at last you cansee the bottom at a glance. But in God's Word, every time
you dive, the depths grow deeper.
4. Everything that has to do with Christ is always young. Everything lives
where He is; for He is life, and in Him there is no death at all; and because lie
is life, He is always full of freshness, and therefore doth He scatterliving force
wheresoeverHe goeth.
II. WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THIS FRESHNESS?
1. No man, who understands what it is to have Christ in his heart, will ever get
tired of Him through want of variety. You may look at Christ a thousand
times, and you shall have, if you please, a thousand different aspects ofHis
beauty.
2. Christ has the dew of His youth because of His excellence. Ah, you thought
Christ was sweetwhenfirst you tasted Him; but you will know Him to be

sweeterstill when you know more of Him, and taste and see that He is good;
but you can never know all His sweetness, foryou can eat, and eat, and yet not
discoverit all; possibly, scarcelyin heavenitself will you know all the
sweetness ofChrist.
3. Christ will never lose His freshness to us, because He is Divine, and
therefore inexhaustible.
4. Another reasonwhy Christ will always have the dew of His youth is,
because He meets all the cravings of our nature. When we really have Christ,
we feel that we have nothing else that we can wish for.
5. We shall never be tired of Christ, because the need we have of Christ can
never cease."But," says one, "we shallnot need Him in heaven." Who told
you that? Not need Christ in heaven! Why, if you could take Christ awayfrom
heaven, you would take heavenawayaltogether. If I shall not need Christ to
cleanse me in heaven, yet I shall want Christ to commune with Him. If I shall
not need to pray to Him, I shall want to praise Him. If I shall not need Him as
a Shepherd, I shall need Him as a Priest, as a King, that I may for everserve
Him with joy and gladness.
III. WHAT ARE THE LESSONS WE SHOULD LEARN FROM THIS
TRUTH?
1. Forthe pulpit, a lessonof admonition. We who occupy the pulpit must take
care that we never entertain the idea that the Gospelhas become worn out. It
still has the dew of its youth.
2. A lessonofself-examination to eachone here present. What you should ask
yourself is, "Have I found the right Christ?"If the Christ I have found has lost
His freshness, is it not very likely that I have found a wrong Christ, one of my
own making, one of my own conception? Forthe real Christ is always fresh,
always interesting, always new. Have I not either laid hold of the wrong truth,
or held it in the wrong way?
3. A word of aspiration, if Christ has the dew of His youth upon Him, let us,
my dear friends who serve the Lord Jesus Christ, aspire to show the world
that we do so.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The dew of youth
J. M. Gibson.
1. Make sure that your life's morning is fresh as the dew. The first thing which
strikes us in the dew is its transparency. Is your soul transparently clear? Is
your consciencewithout offence towardGod and towardmen? How is this
purity and beauty of soul to be had? Look at the dew-drop againand ask
whence comes its jewelledbrightness. It is all the sun's doing. Now, Christ is
the Sun of Righteousness.He is wooing you now from all that is low and
unworthy, even as the sun woos the vapour from the murky pool. It cannot
resists — you can;but will you?
2. Make sure that you keepthe freshness of the dew. First by never allowing a
stain to remain on your conscienceand in your life. That stains will come is
inevitable. But let them not remain. But it is not enough to keepclearof
stains, or when stains are contractedto have them at once washedaway;there
must also be a constantrenewalof life. You cannotlive on the strength of
yesterday; you must have the strength of to-day for the work of to-day. Live in
time, and for time, and your morning will soonchange to sultry noon, to sad
afternoon, darkening down to the blackness ofnight. But acceptthe eternal
life which God gives you in His SonChrist Jesus, and lo! the freshness ofthe
morning is about you all through life.
(J. M. Gibson.)
The dew
James Stewart.
I. THE DEW DESCENDS FROMHEAVEN.
1. Every moral production of the earth is impure. Man — systems —
institutions — maxims.

2. The productions of the earth may be known by their distinguishing
characteristics. The naturalist knows the country of an animal. The botanist,
of a plant. The moralist, of a sentiment, or action, or character.
3. The characterof the believer proves him not of the world. "They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world."
4. The Bible tells his native country.
(1)He is Divine in his parentage.
(2)The Spirit comes down to regenerate him.
(3)Grace comes downto animate and actuate, etc.
5. Do you feel heaven-born and home affections towards heaven?
II. THE DEW DESCENDSDURING THE NIGHT.
1. The present is to the heavenly state as night to day. It is now that the
believer is regeneratedand sanctified.
2. A seasonof suffering is to one of personaljoy, as night is to day. It is in
suffering that the believer is most effectuallypurified.
III. THE DEW-DROPSARE VERY PLENTIFUL.
1. Believers are a little flock, in any past time — at present — at any one given
time.
2. They shall be more numerous during the latter-day glory.
3. They shall be very numerous in heaven.
IV. THE DEW-DROPSREFRESHTHE VEGETABLE WORLD.
1. Believers, being themselves refreshed, refreshothers.
(1)By their conversation.
(2)By their example.
(3)By their prayers.

(4)By their deeds of kindness.
2. Are you to your neighbourhood as a dew from the Lord?
V. EACH DEW-DROP REFLECTSTHE SUN'S IMAGE.
1. Man originally bore God's image.
2. When renewedhe againbears it.
3. What is it to have God's image?
(1)The same views — Bible views.
(2)The same objects — His glory in redemption.
(3)The same character — in heart and life.
4. When the believer thinks of God, how high is the attainment of bearing His
image!
5. Do you love His law — doings — designs — character— fellowship —
people?
VI. THE DEW REASCENDS TO HEAVEN WHEN IT HAS REFRESHED
THE EARTH.
1. Even now the believer soars aloft — in thought — desire — conversation—
hope — confident anticipation.
2. At death, his soulascends — a constantascension.
3. At the resurrection, his body ascends.
4. Are your tendencies heavenward?
VII. WHEN THE DEW ASCENDS,IT IS IN PERFECTPURITY, FREED
FROM ANY MIXTURE OF EARTH.
(James Stewart.)

COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(3) This difficult verse runs, literally, Thy people willingnesses (or, willing
offerings)in the day of thy force in holy attire, from the womb of morning
dew of thy youth.
The first clause is tolerably clear. The word rendered force means either
“strength” or “an army;” and the noun willingnesses appears as a verb in
Judges 5:9, to express the alacrity with which the northern clans mustered for
battle. We may therefore translate:Thy people will be willing on thy muster-
day.
As to the next two-words there is a variation in the text. Many MSS. read, by
the slightestchange of a Hebrew letter, “on the holy mountains” (this was
also, according to one version, the reading of Symmachus and Jerome), and,
adopting the reading, we have a picture of the people mustering for battle
with alacrity on the mountains round Zion, under the eye of Jehovah Himself,
and in obedience to the outstretched sceptre.
The secondclause is not so clear. By themselves the words “from the womb of
morning dew of thy youth,” would naturally be taken as a description of the
vigour and freshness of the person addressed:“thine is the morning dew of
youth.” With the image compare—
“The meek-eyedmorn appears;mother of the dews.”
THOMSON.
(Comp. Job 38:28.)
But the parallelism directs us still to the gathering of the army, and the image
of the dew was familiar to the language as an emblem at once of multitude
(2Samuel17:11-12), of freshness and vigour (Psalm 133:3;Hosea 14:5), and
was especiallyapplied to Israel as a nation in immediate relation to Jehovah,

coming and going among the nations at His command (Micah 5:7). Here there
is the additional idea of brightness—the array of young warriors, in their
bright attire, recalling the multitudinous glancing of the ground on a dewy
morning: thy young warriors come to thee thick and bright as the morning
dew.
Milton has the same figure for the innumerable hosts
of angelwarriors:—
“An host
Innumerable as the stars of night
Or stars of morning, dewdrops, which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flower.”
MacLaren's Expositions
Psalms
SOLDIER PRIESTS
Psalm110:3.
It is no part of my present purpose to establish the reference of this psalm to
our Lord. We have Christ’s own authority for that.
It does not seemto be typical-that is to say, it does not appearto have had a
lowerapplication to a king of Israelwho was a shadow of the true monarch,
but rather to refer only to the coming Sovereign, whom David was helped to

discern, indeed, by his ownregal office, but whose office and character, as
here setforth, far surpass anything belonging to him or to his dynasty. The
attributes of the King, the union in His case ofthe royal and priestly dignities,
His seatat the right hand of God, His acknowledgedsupremacyoverthe
greatestJewishruler, who here calls him ‘my Lord,’ His eternal dominion,
His conquestof many nations, and His lifting up of His head in triumphant
rule that knows no end-all these characteristics seemto forbid the possibility
of a double reference, and to demand the acknowledgmentofa distinct and
exclusive prophecy of Christ.
Taking that for granted without more words, it strikes one as remarkable that
this description of the subjects of the Priest-King should be thus imbedded in
the very heart of the grand portraiture of the monarch Himself. It is the
anticipation of the profound New Testamentthought of the unity of Christ
and His Church. By simple faith a union is brought about so close and
intimate that all His is theirs, and the picture of His glory is incomplete
without the vision of ‘the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all.’ Therefore, betweenthe word of God which elevates Him to
His right hand, and the oath of God which consecrates Him a priest for ever,
is this description of the army of the King.
The full force of the words will, I hope, appear as we advance. For the present
it will be enough to say that there are really in our text three co-ordinate
clauses, alldescriptive of the subjects of the monarch, regardedas a band of
warriors-andthat the main ideas are these:-the subjects are willing soldiers;
the soldiers are priests; the priest-soldiers are as dew upon the earth. Or, in
other words, we have here the very heart of the Christian charactersetforth
as being willing consecration;then we have the work which Christian men
have to do, and the spirit in which they are to do it, expressedin that
metaphor of their priestly attire; and then we have their refreshing and
quickening influence upon the world.

I. The subjects of the Priest-King are willing soldiers.
In accordance withthe warlike tone of the whole psalm, our text describes the
subjects as an army. That military metaphor comes out more clearly when we
attachthe true meaning to the words, ‘in the day of Thy power.’The word
rendered, and rightly rendered, ‘power,’ has the same ambiguity which that
word has in the English of the date of our translation, and for a century later,
as you may find in Shakespeare andMilton, who both used it in the sense of
‘army.’ Singularly enough we do not employ ‘powers’in that meaning, but we
do another word which means the same thing-and talk of ‘forces,’meaning
thereby ‘troops.’By the way, what a melancholy sign it is of the predominance
of that infernal military spirit, that it should have so leavenedlanguage, that
the ‘forces’of a nation means its soldiers, its embattled energies turned to the
work of destruction. But the phrase is so used here. ‘The day of Thy power’is
not a mere synonym for ‘the time of Thy might,’ but means specifically‘the
day of Thine army,’ that is, ‘the day when Thou dost muster Thy forces and
setthem in array for the war.’
The King is going forth to conquest. But He goes notalone. Behind Him come
His faithful followers, all pressing on with willing hearts and high courage.
Then, to begin with, the warfare which He wages is one not confined to Him.
Alone He offers the sacrifice by which He atones;but, as we shall see, we too
are priests. He rules, and His servants rule with Him. But ere that time comes,
they are to be joined with Him in the greatwarfare by which He wins the
earth for Himself. ‘As Captain of the Lord’s host am I now come.’He wins no
conquests for Himself; and now that He is exalted at God’s right hand, He
wins none by Himself. We have to do His work, we have to fight His battles as
goodsoldiers of Jesus Christ. By powerderived from Him, but wielded by
ourselves;with courage inspired by Him, but filling our hearts; not as though
He needed us, but inasmuch as He is pleasedto use us, we have to wage
warfare for and to please Him who hath chosenus to be soldiers. The Captain
of our salvationsits at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be

made His footstool. He has bidden us to keepthe field and fight the fight.
From His height He watches the conflict-nay, He is with us while we wage it.
So long as we strike for Him, so long is it His powerthat teaches ourhands to
war. Our King’s flag is committed to our care; but we are not left to defend it
alone. In indissoluble unity, the King and the subjects, the Chief and His
vassals, the Captain and His soldiers, are knit together-and wheresoeverHis
people are, in all the danger and hardships of the long struggle, there is He, to
keeptheir heads in the day of battle, and make them more than conquerors.
Then, again, that warfare is sharedin by all the subjects. It is a levy en masse-
an armed nation. The whole of the people are embodied for the battle. It is not
the work of a selectfew, but of every one who calls Christ ‘Lord,’ to be His
faithful servant and soldier. Whatevervarieties of occupationmay be setus by
Him, one purpose is to be kept in view and one end to be effectedby them all.
Every Christian man is bound to strive for the reduction of all human hearts
under Christ’s dominion. The tasks may be different, but the result should be
one. Some of us have to toil in the trenches, some of us to guard the camp,
some to lead the assault, some to stay by the stuff and keep the
communications open. Be it so. We are all soldiers, and He alone has to
determine our work. We are responsible for the spirit of it, He for its success.
Again, there are no mercenaries in these ranks, no pressedmen. The soldiers
are all volunteers. ‘Thy people shall be willing.’ Pause for a moment upon that
thought.
Dearbrethren! there are two kinds of submission and service. There is
submission because you cannothelp it, and there is submission because you
like it. There is a sullen bowing down beneath the weight of a hand which you
are too feeble to resist, and there is a glad surrender to a love which it would
be a pain not to obey. Some of us feelthat we are shut in by immense and
sovereignpowerwhich we cannotoppose. And yet, like some raging rebel in a

dungeon, or some fluttering bird in a cage, we beatourselves, allbruised and
bloody, againstthe bars in vain attempts at liberty, alternating with fits of
cowedapathy as we slink into a cornerof our cell. Some of us, thank God! feel
that we are enclosedonevery side by that mighty Hand which none can resist,
and from which we would not stray if we could, and we joyfully hide beneath
its shelter, and gladly obey when it points. Constrained obedience is no
obedience. Unless there be the glad surrender of the will and heart, there is no
surrender at all. God does not want compulsory submission. He does not care
to rule over people who are only crushed down by greaterpower. He does not
count that those serve who sullenly acquiesce becausetheydare not oppose.
Christ seeksforno pressedmen in His ranks. Whosoeverdoes not enlist
joyfully is not reckonedas His. And the question comes to us, brethren!-What
is my relation to that loving Lord, to that RedeemerKing? Do I submit
because His love has won my heart, and it would be a pang not to serve Him;
or do I submit because I know Him strong, and am afraid to refuse? If the
former, all is well; He calls us ‘not servants but friends.’ If the latter, all is
wrong; we are not subjects, but enemies.
There is anotheridea involved in this description. The soldiers are not only
marked by glad obedience, but that obedience rests upon the sacrifice of
themselves. The word here rendered ‘willing’ is employed throughout the
Levitical law for ‘freewill offerings.’And if we may venture to bring that
reference in here, it carries us a step farther in this characterisationofthe
army. This glad submission comes from self-consecrationandsurrender. It is
in that host as it was in the army whose heroic self-devotionwas chaunted by
Deborahunder her palm-tree, ‘The people willingly offered themselves.’
Hence came courage, devotion, victory. With their lives in their hands they
flung themselves on the foe, and nothing could stand againstthe onsetof men
who reckednot of themselves. There is one grand thing even about the devilry
of war-the transcendent self-abnegationwith which, howeverpoor and
unworthy may be the cause, a man casts himself away, ‘what time the
foeman’s line is broke.’The poorest, vulgarest, most animal natures rise for a
moment into something like nobility, as the surge of the strong emotion lifts
them to that height of heroism. Life is then most glorious when it is given

awayfor a greatcause. Thatsacrifice is the one noble and chivalrous element
which gives interest to war-the one thing that can be disentangled from its
hideous associations, andcan be transferred to higher regions of life. That
spirit of lofty consecrationandutter self-forgetfulnessmust be ours, if we
would be Christ’s soldiers. Our obedience will then be glad when we feel the
force of, and yield to, that gentle, persuasive entreaty, ‘I beseechyou,
brethren! by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice.’There is ‘one Sacrifice for sin for ever’-which never can be
repeated, nor exhausted, nor copied. And the loving, faithful acceptanceof
that sacrifice ofpropitiation leads our hearts to the response of thank-
offering, the sacrifice and surrender of ourselves to Him who has given
Himself not only to, but for us. It cannotbe recompensed, but it may be
acknowledged. Letus give ourselves to Christ, for He has died for us. Let us
give ourselves to Christ, for only in such surrender do we truly find ourselves.
Let us give ourselves to Christ, for such a sacrifice makes alllife fair and
noble, and that altar sanctifies the gift. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for
without such sacrifice we have no place in the host whom He leads to victory.
‘Thy people shall be willing offerings in the day of Thy power.’
Still further, another remarkable idea may be connectedwith this word. By a
natural transition, of which illustrations may be found in other languages,it
comes to mean ‘free,’ and also ‘noble.’ As, for instance, it is used in the fifty-
first Psalm, ‘Uphold me with Thy free Spirit’-and in the forty-seventh, ‘The
princes of the people are gatheredtogether.’And does not this shading of
significations-willing sacrifices, free, princely-remind us of another distinctly
evangelicalprinciple, that the willing service which rests upon glad
consecrationraises him who renders it to true freedom and dominion? Every
man enlisted in His body-guard is noble. The Prince’s servants are every other
person’s master. The King’s livery exempts from all other submission. As in
the old Saxon monarchies, the monarch’s domestics were nobles, the men of
Christ’s household are ennobled by their service. Theywho obey Him are free
from every yoke of bondage-’free indeed.’ All things serve the soul that serves
Christ. ‘He hath made us kings unto God.’

II. The soldiers are priests.
That expression, ‘in the beauties of holiness,’is usually read as if it belonged
either to the words immediately preceding, or to those immediately following.
But in either case the connectionis somewhatdifficult and obscure. It seems
better regarded as a distinct and separate clause, adding a fresh trait to the
description of the army, and what that is we need not find any difficulty in
ascertaining. ‘The beauties of holiness’is a frequent phrase for the sacerdotal
garments, the holy festalattire of the priests of the Lord. So considered, how
beautifully it comes in here! The conquering King whom the psalm hymns is a
Priestfor ever; and He is followedby an army of priests. The soldiers are
gatheredin the day of the muster, with high courage and willing devotion,
ready to fling awaytheir lives; but they are clad not in mail, but in priestly
robes-like those who waitbefore the altar rather than like those who plunge
into the fight-like those who compassedJericho with the ark for their
standard, and the trumpets for all their weapons. We canscarcelyfail to
remember the words which echo these and interpret them: ‘The armies which
were in heaven followedHim on white horses, clothedin fine linen, white and
clean’-a strange armour againstsword-cutand spear-thrust.
The main purpose, then, of this part of our text seems to be to bring out the
priestly characterofthe Christian soldier-a thought which carries with it
many important considerations, onwhich I can barely touch.
Mark, then, how the warfare which we have to wage is the same as the priestly
service which we have to render. The conflict is with our own sin and evil; the
sacrifice we have to offer is ourselves. As soldiers, we have to fight againstour
selfishdesires and manifold imperfections; as priests, we have to lay our
whole selves on His altar. The task is the same under either emblem. We have
a conflict to wage in the world, and in the world we have a priestly work to do,

and these are the same. We have to be God’s representatives in the world,
bringing Him nearer to men’s apprehensions and hearts by word and work.
We have to bring men to God by entreaty, and by showing the path which
leads to Him. That priestly service for men is in effectidentical with the
merciful warfare which we have to wage in the world. The Church militant is
an army of priests. Its warfare is its sacerdotalfunction. It fights for Christ
when it opposes the messageofHis grace and the power of His blood to its
own and the world’s sins-and when it intercedes in the secretplace for the
coming of His kingdom.
Does not this metaphor teachus also, what is to be our defence and our
weaponin this warfare? Notwith garments rolled in blood, nor with brazen
armour do they go forth, who follow Him that conquered by dying. Their
uniform is the beauties of holiness, ‘the fine linen cleanand white, which is the
righteousness ofsaints.’Many great thoughts lie in such words, which I must
pass over. But this one thing is obvious-that the greatpowerwhich we
Christian men are to wield in our loving warfare is-character. Purity of heart
and life, transparent simple goodness, manifestin men’s sight-these will arm
us againstdangers, and these will bring our brethren glad captives to our
Lord. We serve Him best, and advance His kingdom most, when the habit of
our souls is that righteousness withwhich He invests our nakedness. Be like
your Lord, and as His soldiers you will conquer, and as His priests you will
win some to His love and fear. Nothing else will avail without that. Without
that dress no man finds a place in the ranks.
The image suggests,too, the spirit in which our priestly warfare is to be
waged. The one metaphor brings with it thoughts of strenuous effort, of
discipline, of sworn consecrationto a cause. The other brings with it thoughts
of gentleness and sympathy and tenderness, of still waiting at the shrine, of
communion with Him who dwells betweenthe Cherubim. Whilst our work
demands all the courage and tension of every power which the one image
presents, it is to be sedulouslyguarded from any tinge of wrath or heat of

passion, such as mingles with conflict, and is to be prosecutedwith all the pity
and patience, the brotherly meekness ofa true priest. ‘The wrath of men
workethnot the righteousness ofGod.’ If we forget the one characterin the
other, we shall bring weaknessinto our warfare, and pollution into our
sacrifice. ‘The servant of the Lord must not strive.’ We must not be animated
by mere pugnacious desire to advance our principles, nor let the heatof
human eagernessgive a false fervour to our words and work. We cannot scold
nor dragoonmen to love Jesus Christ. We cannotdrive them into the fold
with dogs and sticks. We are to be gentle, long-suffering, not doing our work
with passionand self-will, but remembering that gentleness is mightiest, and
that we shall best ‘adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour’ when we go among
men with the light caught in the inner sanctuary still irradiating our faces,
and our hands full of blessings to bestow on our brethren. We are to be
soldier-priests, strong and gentle, like the ideal of those knights of old who
were both, and bore the cross on shield and helmet and sword-hilt.
He, our Lord, is our pattern for both; and from Him we derive the strength
for each. He is the Captain of our salvation, and we fight beneath His banner,
and by His strength. He is a merciful and faithful High Priest, and He
consecratesHis brethren to the service ofthe sanctuary. To Him look for your
example of heroism, of fortitude, of self-forgetfulness. To Him look for your
example of gentle patience and dewy pity. Learn in Christ how possible it is to
be strong and mild, to blend in fullest harmony the perfection of all that is
noble, lofty, generous in the soldier’s ardour of heroic devotion; and of all that
is calm, still, compassionate, tenderin the priest’s waiting before God and
mediation among men. And remember, that by faith only do we gain the
powerof copying that blessedexample, to be like which is to be perfect-not to
be like which is to fail wholly, and to prove that we have no part in His
sacrifice, norany share in His victory.
III. The final point in this description must now engage us for a few moments.
The soldier-priests are as dew upon the earth.

Jesus was blest with the dew of his youth

Jesus was blest with the dew of his youth

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