NOTES OF A SERMON,

PREACHED AT SOUTHBOROUGH, ON FRIDAY EVENING,
MAY 9TH, 1873, BY MR. ASHDOWN.

"For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."—ISAIAH li. 3.

THE Holy Ghost, dear friends, uses various figures that we are familiar with, to set forth His gracious work in sinners' hearts. Remember, there is nothing that will stand the great judgment day but what God works in us; everything of natural teaching withers in the dying hour, and all our carnal building for eternity is vain. Therefore the Lord says: "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Psa. cxxvii. 1). But every particle of the work of the Holy Ghost in a sinner's heart will stand every trial and trouble, and live to the praise of a Triune Jehovah, and to the salvation of that sinner that has it. It is not the quantity of our religion, but the truthfulness of it; therefore we must consider how the Lord works, because He says, "The Lord shall comfort Zion." Zion sets forth the Church of the living God, sought out and gathered to His feet by separating grace, made known by the fear of God, and a godly life, walk, and conversation; therefore it is written: "Come out from among them," that is, from among the ungodly, "and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" (some don't care to look at it in that way), "and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters." Only of such as are saved from iniquity is it said, they are "children that will not lie: so He was their Saviour (Isa. lxiii. 8). There you see the power and love of God in a sinner's heart has a saving effect; for by nature we are all alike in the world till God's grace brings us out. When thus brought out, a man becomes a citizen of Zion, and will need the comforting influences of the Spirit which the Lord has promised; for He says "I will send you another Comforter. even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John xiv. 16-18). For, as Job says of man, so it is with the Christian after regeneration; he "is born to trouble No. 31, NEW SERIES, JULY, 1881.

as the sparks fly upwards;" for, "in the world ye shall have tribulation," but in the Lord Jesus peace (John xvi. 33). Then, seeing they are "born to trouble," what a mercy God has said He will comfort them. "The Lord shall comfort Zion." There is room for comfort, because she is full of troubles, hence it is said: "O, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear and from terror; for it shall not come near thee" (Isa. liv. 11-14). The Lord makes room in a sinner's heart for His mercy; he by nature has nothing but death, then this makes room for life; it is written: "I give unto my sheep eternal life" (John x. 28). Thus a sinner, once regenerated, can never finally fall; it is impossible; for

"Whom once He loves He never leaves,

But loves him to the end."

And, therefore, this Zion, mark you, is His delight; for He says: "My delight is in her." But these citizens, which the Lord will comfort, will get into a wilderness, and therefore there is a promise for them in every state which they may come into.

When the Lord, by His grace, separates a sinner from this world, it is often such a gradual work, that he does not know what it is; but I will tell you what you will find, if you are the subject of it. You will find an uneasiness, and sometimes the world seems stamped with vanity, and never gives what it promises; there is a vacuum in your heart which the world can never fill; God has made that vacuum if you have it, and nothing but God's love and mercy will fill it up. But how shall I know I have it? You may have comforts in your husband, in your wife, in your family, or in your business. Things may go on smoothly; and yet, at times, in the silent watches of the night, there will be a disquietude, and the soul will not find rest, for there is a little spot within which the world cannot touch. Now such a sinner not being comfortable in his feelings, longs for some one to tell him what is the matter: "If there be an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness" (Job xxxiii. 23), that is God's uprightness; how God can be just and yet justify sinners, such as he feels himself to be, he has an anxious inquiry in his heart respecting this, and it is written: 'They shall ask their way to Zion, with their faces thitherward "

(Jer. 1. 5). Every soul which has that little secret mark is taught of God the Holy Ghost. The Lord will mark His servants in their forehead. Thus the Lord has marked the soul of every elect vessel of mercy with a living desire, which nothing can satisfy but God's mercy in Christ, and if you have it, you are a blessed soul, though you may have much to contend with; but when your affections and desires move after God, your body moves, and by and by you come to the house of God; and more than that, your soul moves in desires after mercy, and by and by your body moves into a secret corner, to pour out your heart to the Lord for mercy. As Mr. Hart says

"Mercy is welcome news indeed,

To those who guilty stand;
Wretches who feel what help they need,

Will bless the helping hand."

Some professors think they shall push in among a crowd and get to heaven; they think because a great many go they shall. But it is written, that the "flocks shall again pass under the hands of Him that telleth them (Jer. xxxiii. 13), "and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats: And the King shall say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father" (Matt. xxv. 32-34). Now, the soul who has the Lord's mark will never die but you will feel you are dead when in a wilderness state. Í have sometimes felt to be twice dead, and have numbers of times feared my religion was wrong altogether, and have cried to God to give me a right religion; and, do you know, God has by a touch revived His work in my poor soul; then I knew it was from the Lord, and could bless and praise His holy name, for His goodness and mercy to unworthy me. It is written: "They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon " (Hos. xiv. 7). If God's people had no death, they would want no reviving. Paul says: "We had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raiseth the dead;" they shall grow as the vine. In the winter the vine looks very dry and dead :

"Though bleak winds the boughs deface,
The rooted stock will still remain ;
Leaves may languish, fruit decrease,
But more shall grow again;"

but let the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing beneath His wings, and let the soft breezes from the celestial mountains, or the comforting influence of the Holy Ghost come, then we find the buddings of hope, and living desires again spring forth; but look at a poor sinner when God hides His face, what a poor

forlorn mortal-no buddings of hope or bloom, or fruit of peace; all seems gone, and he, as Mr. Hart says

"To his own sad place returns,

His wretched state to feel."

But let the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, come and shine upon that soul, and hope begins to spring up directly; and if His presence is enjoyed long, we shall find the poor soul praising and blessing God. And it is written: "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God" (Psa. 1. 23). Thus David says of the wicked: "Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God."

"My soul through many changes goes,

His love no variation knows."

"Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand, they sat down at His feet. Every one shall receive of Thy Word; and one said, when he had received it: " Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart" (Jer. xv. 16).

This City was chosen in God's dear Son, set apart in the counsels of eternity, and is gathered by the Holy Ghost in regeneration. When the soul has known the condemning power of the law, then he seeks with sighs and groans, and the Lord answers: "Look unto me," and hope begins to spring up, with "Who can tell, it may be the Lord will have mercy.' I well remember the times when the Lord has allured my soulsometimes in reading, sometimes in prayer, my soul had this little hope: "Who can tell, it may be I shall know His Name." O what vehement desires such an one will feel; these are the allurings of the Holy Spirit, drawing the soul unto Jesus and into the realities of vital godliness.

"For the Lord shall comfort Zion, He shall comfort all her waste places;" when the poor sinner gets this, then prayer is in season, and the house of God is in season. Did you ever know the time when you sought a secret place to pour out your heart to the Lord, and had a few hours when prayer was so seasonable, and you longed to get alone to pray? Having a little hope, you wanted a greater measure of it; the soul that is brought here sometimes hopes and trusts soon to know and see the Lord; but by and by the Lord removes or withholds His influence, the night comes on, and the beasts of the forest come forth.

The hypocrite never has the plague of the heart; but if you feel this plague and then a famine added to it, it will break down all your self-confidence and fleshly wisdom. There is at such a

time poverty itself stamped upon the soul, and "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. v. 3). And this is the way "the Lord trieth the righteous;" but He "is angry with the wicked every day." Have you had your religion tried and did you ever know the day when you had nothing but nothingness, sin and misery in your soul?

"He will comfort all her waste places." There are the waste places where nothing grows, they are trodden down and no one takes any account of them; just so the poor sinner's heartthere is the foot of lust which treads it down, the foot of pride, of infidelity and carnality, and the feet of every foul beast; as Mr. Hart says―

Swarms of ill thoughts their bane diffuse,
Proud, envious, false, unclean,

And every ransacked corner shows

Some unsuspected sin

Our staggering faith gives way to doubt,
Our courage yields to fear;

Shock'd at the sight, we straight cry out

'Can ever God dwell here ?'

"No!" says carnal reason, "God's people are holy, and you are a guilty sinner;" this is a waste place, but "He will comfort all her waste places." Now, the question arises, how can He do it? dear Hart says—

"When Jesus with His mighty love,

Visits my troubled breast,

My doubts subside, my fears remove,
And I'm completely blest;

and the Lord says, "I will restore comforts unto him," and the soul knows in a moment when the Lord touches him with the finger of His power; it may be under a sermon, or in the night when he has been agonizing and crying, "Lord don't let me be deceived, save my soul;" the poor soul is in earnest, he wants these waste places comforted; now the Lord comes and touches the soul, and directly God comes, it is within, as when the Lord touched the blind man, He opened his eyes-to see what? “I see men as trees walking," he sees in the covenant of grace a glimmering of hope for his soul, and in proportion to the measure of hope thus revealed, the soul is comforted. These waste places are different to the wilderness; you who have been any time in the pathway, if you look into your heart, you will find you have had many waste places. Sometimes a poor soul gets into self. Hart says

"Save us from the rocks and shelves,
Save us chiefly from ourselves."

There is nothing but misery for a poor sinner while getting into