The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon
seeing in Trinity College, the pedigree of some great lord that went back just as far as Adam, and Adam was there digging the ground — the first man. It was traced all the way up. Of course I did not believe it. I have heard of some pedigrees that go back further. I leave that to your own common sense, to believe it or not. A pedigree in which shall be found dukes, marquises and kings, and princes. Oh! what would some give for such a pedigree? I believe, however, that it is not what our ancestors were, but what we are, that will make us shine before God; that it is not so much in knowing that we have royal or priestly blood in our veins, as knowing that we are an honour to our race — that we are walking in the ways of the Lord, and reflecting credit upon the church, and upon the grace that makes us honourable. But since some men will glory in their descent, I will glory that the saints have the proudest ancestry in all the world. Talk of Caesars, or of Alexanders, or tell me even of our own good Queen: I say that I am of as high descent as her majesty, or the proudest monarch in the world. I am descended from the King of kings. The saint may well speak of his ancestry — he may exult in it, he may glory in it — for he is the son of God, positively and actually. His mother, the Church, is the Bride of Jesus; he is a twice born child of heaven: one of the blood royal of the universe. The poorest woman or man on earth, loving Christ, is of a royal line. Give a man the grace of God in his heart, and his ancestry is noble. I can turn back the roll of my pedigree, and I can tell you that it is so ancient, that it has no beginning; it is more ancient than all the rolls of mighty men put together; for, from all eternity my Father existed: and, therefore, I have indeed a right royal and ancient ancestry.
14. And then, again, the saints, like monarchs, have a splendid retinue. Kings and monarchs cannot travel without a deal of state. In olden times, they had far more magnificence than they have now; but even in these days we see much of it when royalty is abroad. There must be a peculiar kind of horse, and a splendid chariot, and outriders, with all the etceteras of gorgeous pomp. Indeed! and the kings of God, whom Jesus Christ has made kings and priests to their God, have also a royal retinue. “Oh!” say you, “but I see some of them in rags; they are walking through the earth alone, sometimes without a helper or a friend.” Ah! but there is a fault in your eyes. If you had eyes to see, you would perceive a bodyguard of angels always attending every one of the blood bought family. You remember Elijah’s servant could not see anything around Elijah, until his master opened his eyes; then he could see that there were horses and chariots around Elijah. Lo! there are horses and chariots about me. And you, saint of the Lord: wherever you are, there are horses and chariots. In that bedchamber, where I was born, angels stood to announce my birth on high. In seas of trouble, when wave after wave seems to go over me, angels are there to lift up my head; when I come to die, when sorrowing friends shall, weeping, carry me to the grave, angels shall stand by my bier; and, when put into the grave, some mighty angel shall stand and guard my dust, and contend for its possession with the devil. Why should I fear? I have a company of angels about me; and whenever I walk abroad, the glorious cherubim march in front. Men do not see them, but I see them; for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We have a royal retinue: we are kings, not merely by ancestry, but by our retinue.
15. Now, notice the insignia and regalia of the saints. Kings and princes have certain things that are theirs by perspective right. For instance, Her Majesty has her Buckingham Palace, and her other palaces, her crown royal, her sceptre, and so on. But, has a saint a palace? Yes. I have a palace! and its walls are not made of marble, but of gold; its borders are carbuncles and precious gems; its windows are of agates; its stones are laid with fair colours; around it there is a profusion of every costly thing; rubies sparkle here and there; yes, pearls are but common stones within it. Some call it a mansion; but I have a right to call it a palace too, for I am a king. It is a mansion when I look at God, it is a palace when I look at men, because it is the habitation of a prince. See where this palace is. I am not a prince of India — I have no inheritance in any far off land that men dream of — I have no El Dorado, or Home of Prester John; but yet I have a substantial palace. Yonder, on the hills of heaven it stands; I do not know its position among the other mansions of heaven, but there it stands; and “I know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
16. Have Christians a crown too? Oh yes; but they do not wear it every day. They have a crown, but their coronation day is not yet arrived. They have been anointed monarchs, they have some of the authority and dignity of monarchs; but they are not crowned monarchs yet. But the crown is made. God will not have to order heaven’s goldsmiths to fashion it in the after life; it is made already hanging up in glory. God has “laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” Oh, saint, if you just opened some secret door in heaven, and go into the treasure chamber, you could see it filled with crowns. When Cortes entered the palace of Montezuma, he found a secret chamber bricked up, and he thought the wealth of all the world was there, so many different things were stowed away there. If you could enter God’s secret treasure house, what wealth you would see! “Are there so many monarchs,” you would say, “so many crowns, so many princes?” Yes, and some bright angel would say, “See that crown? It is yours”; and if you were to look within, you would read “Made for a sinner saved by grace, whose name was — ”; and then you would hardly believe your eyes, as you saw your own name engraved upon it. You are indeed a king before God, for you have a crown laid up in heaven. Whatever other insignia belong to monarchs, saints shall have. They shall have robes of white; they shall have harps of glory; they shall have all things that become their regal state, so that we are indeed monarchs, you see; not mock monarchs, clothed in purple garments of derision, and scoffed at with “Hail, king of the Jews”; but we are real monarchs. “He has made us kings and priests to our God.”
17. There is another thought here. Kings are considered the most honourable among men. They are always looked up to and respected. If you should say, “A monarch is here!” a crowd would give way. I would not command much respect if I were to attempt to move about in a crowd; but if anyone should shout, “Here is the Queen!” every one would step aside and make room for her. A monarch generally commands respect. Ah! beloved, we think that worldly princes are the most honourable of the earth, but if you were to ask God, he would reply, “My saints, in whom I delight, these are the honourable ones.” Do not tell me about tinsel and a gaudy trifle; do not tell me about gold and silver; do not tell me about diamonds and pearls; do not tell me about ancestry and rank; do not preach to me about pomp and power; but oh! tell me that a man is a saint of the Lord, for then he is an honourable man. God respects him, angels respect him, and the universe one day shall respect him, when Christ shall come to call him to his account, and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.” You may despise a child of God now, sinner; you may laugh at him, you may say he is a hypocrite; you may call him a saint, a Methodist, a cant, and everything you like; but know that those titles will not mar his dignity — he is the honourable of the earth, and God estimates him as such.
18. But some people will say, “I wish you would prove what you affirm, when you say that saints are kings; for, if we were kings, we would never have any sorrows; kings are never poor as we are, and never suffer as we do.” Who told you so? You say if you are kings, you would live at ease. Do not kings ever suffer? Was not David an anointed king? and was he not hunted like a partridge on the mountains? Did not the king himself pass over the brook Kidron, and all his people weeping as he went, when his son Absalom pursued him? And was he not a monarch when he slept on the cold ground, with no couch except the damp heather? Oh yes, kings have their sorrows — crowned heads have their afflictions. Too often
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
19. Do not expect that because you are a king, you are to have no sorrows. “It is not for kings, oh Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink.” And it is often so. The saints get very little wine here. It is not for kings to drink the wine of pleasure, it is not for kings to have much of the intoxicating drink and the surfeits of this world’s delight. They shall have joy enough up yonder, when they shall drink it new in their Father’s kingdom. Poor saint! do dwell on this. You are a king! I beseech you, let it not go away from your mind; but in the midst of your tribulation, still rejoice in it. If you