Proverbs 11:25. The Waterer Watered

A sermon (Number 626) delivered on Sunday Morning, April 23, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon.

*“He that waters shall be watered also himself.”*—Proverbs 11:25.

The general principle is that in living for the good of others, we shall be profited also ourselves. We must not isolate our own interests, but feel that we live for others. This teaching is sustained by the analogy of nature, for in nature there is a law that no one thing can be independent of the rest of creation, but there is a mutual action and reaction of all upon all. All the constituent parts of the universe are bound to one another by invisible chains, and there is not a single creature in it which springs up, or flourishes, or decays for itself alone. The very planets, though they float far from one another, exercise attraction; and the fixed stars, though they seem to be infinitely remote, are still linked to one another by mysterious bonds. God has so constituted this universe that selfishness is the greatest possible offense against his law, and living for others, and ministering to others, is the strictest obedience to his will. Our surest road to our own happiness is to seek the good of our fellows. We store up in God's own bank what we generously expend on the behalf of our race. The little spring bubbling forth from the ancient pipe on the hillside overflows the stone basin, and liberally supplies all the villagers with pure and cooling drink. In its flowing it does not waste itself, for the deep fountains in the bowels of the earth continue unceasingly to supply it, and both in winter's frost and summer's drought the spring-head yields its crystal stream. The little brook which babbles through the wood, hiding among stones, leaping down the moss-grown rocks, and anon deepening and swelling its stream, pours all its gatherings into the river hoarding not a drop, and though its treasure is constantly being lavished with unstinting liberality, yet heaven and earth see to it that the brook shall never fail to sing its joyous song,

‒Men may come and go But I go on for ever.”

The river hastens with its greater floods towards the all-receiving ocean, pouring itself out every hour with happy plenteousness as though it only existed to empty itself; yet the abundant tributaries which come streaming from the hills and draining the valleys are careful that the river shall know no lack, but shall be kept constantly brimming, a joyous and bounding river evermore. The ocean perpetually sends up its steaming exhalations to the sky, grudging nothing it puts no doors to its roiling waves, but uncovers all its treasure to the sun, and the sun makes large drafts upon the royal exchequer of the deep; nevertheless the ocean is not diminished, for all the rivers are constantly conspiring to keep the sea full to the shore. The clouds of heaven when they are full of rain empty themselves upon the earth, and yet the clouds cease not to be, for “they return after the rain,” and the ocean down below seems but to be too glad to be continually feeding its sister ocean on the other side the firmament. So as wheels with bands are made to work together, as wheels with cogs working upon one another, the whole watery machinery is kept in motion by each part acting upon its next neighbor, and the next upon the next. Each wheel expends its force upon its fellow, and the whole find a recompense in their mutual action upon one another. The same truth might be illustrated from other departments of nature. If we view this microcosm, the human body, we shall find that the heart does not receive the blood to store it up, but while it pumps it in at one valve it sends it forth at another. The blood is always circulating everywhere and is stagnant nowhere; the same is true of all the fluids in a healthy body, they are in a constant state of expenditure. If one cell stores for a few moments its peculiar secretion, it only retains it till it is perfectly fitted for its appointed use in the body, for if any cell in the body should begin to store up its secretion, its store would soon become the cause of inveterate disease; nay, the organ would soon lose the power to secrete at all if it did not give forth its products. The whole of the human system lives by giving. The eye cannot say to the foot I have no need of you and will not guide you, for if it does not perform its watchful office the whole man will be in the ditch, and the eye will be covered with mire. If the members refuse to contribute to the general stock the whole body will become poverty-stricken, and be given up to the bankruptcy of death. Let us learn then from the analogy of nature, the great lesson that to get we must give; that to accumulate we must scatter; that to make ourselves happy we must make others happy; and that to get good and become spiritually vigorous we must do good and seek the spiritual good of others. This is the general principle.

The text suggests a particular personal application of the general principle. We shall consider it first in its narrowest sense, as belonging to ourselves personally; secondly, in a wider sense as it may refer to us as a Church; then thirdly, in its widest sense as it may be referred to the entire body of Christ, showing that still it is true that as it waters so it shall be watered itself.

1. First then, *in reference to ourselves personally*.

There are some works my brethren, in which we cannot all engage. Peculiar men are called to be God's great woodmen, to clear the way with the axe, to go before his army like our sappers and miners—such men as Martin Luther, and Calvin, and Zwingle—that glorious trio of heroes marching in front of reformation and evangelization; they are cutting down the tall trees, tunnelling the hills, and bridging the rivers, and we smaller men feel that there is little of this work for us to do. But when the backwoodsmen have cleared the forest, after all the roots are grubbed and the soil is burned and ploughed, then comes the sowing and the planting, and in this all the household can take a place; and when the plants have sprung up and need water, it is not only the stalwart man with the axe who can now apply himself to watering, but even the little children can take a share in this lighter work. Watering is work for persons of all grades and all sorts. If I cannot carry about me some ponderous load as the Eastern water-bearer can, yet I will take my little waterpot, my little jug or pitcher, and go to the well; for if I cannot water the forest tree I may water the tiny plant which grows at its root. Watering is work for all sorts of people; so then, we will make a personal application to every Christian here this morning: you can all do something in watering, and this promise can therefore be realized by you all, “He that waters shall be watered also himself.”

All God's plants more or less want watering. You and I do. We cannot live long without fresh supplies of grace. Hence the value of the promise, “ I, the Lord, do keep it; I will water it every moment.” There are no rills at our root as we grow in the soil of nature; it is only in the garden of grace that we are “ like trees planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth our fruit in our season.” If the Lord Jesus who is the stem of the vine should cease to supply us with the fresh sap of grace, should we not be like the withered branch which is cast over the wall to be burned in the fire?

The Lord's people usually get this watering through instrumentality. God does not speak to us out of heaven with his own voice—perhaps the thunder might appal us; he doth not write texts of Scripture with his own finger in letters of fire across the sky, but he waters us by instrumentality, by his Word written and his Word preached, or otherwise uttered by his servants. His Holy Spirit waters us by the admonitions of parents, by the kind suggestions of friends, by the teaching of his ministers, by the example of all his saints. The Holy Spirit waters us, but he takes care to do it by our fellow-workers, putting an honor upon his own servants by using them in instrumentality.

This being fully believed by us all, we may proceed to another truth, namely that some of his servants especially want watering and should therefore be the objects of our constant care. Some plants need watering from their peculiar nature. A gardener will tell you that certain flowers require very little water, perhaps for months they will grow in a stony soil, but others must be watered regularly and plenteously or they will soon droop. Some of you, my dear brothers and sisters, are so desponding that if you did not receive much comfort you would hardly hold up your heads at all; you are so weak in the faith that if you were not fed with milk continually you would scarcely be alive. “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God”—is especially applicable to the mourners in Zion. Their constitutional temperament is such that to maintain the lamp of their joy they require much oil of comfort.

Perhaps too they are ignorant, and the ignorant want much watering. If they knew the doctrines of grace more fully they might go to the wells themselves: but not knowing where the water is, or feeling like the woman at the well that the well is deep, and that there is nothing to draw with, they cannot get the water; and we who are instructed in the way of God must take care that we bring up the water for them with our longer length of the line of knowledge, so that they may not fail to be watered.

It may be the need is not so much caused by the nature of the plant, but by the position in which it is placed. Many of you, dear brethren, are very happily situated where you can constantly attend the means of grace, where the family altar smokes with sweet perfume, where you cannot well help growing for you are like plants in a hothouse. But there are others on the contrary who live in houses where the jeer is far more frequently heard than the voice of praise; where instead of being helped in your devotions you are hindered; your spirit is driven to and fro with distractions; from the very closet where you wanted to commune with God, you are forced out by cruel mocking. We ought to be very tender over your condition, as being planted on no fruitful hill, but on a very thirsty land where no water is; your position should lead God's people to watch you with deepest interest, and see to it that you are well watered.

I may mention also the sick. When our dear friends are tried with bodily pain, when they are shut up week after week from the public gatherings, then they want watering. Their position is such that we ought to be specially mindful of them. It is written, “He carrieth the lambs in his bosom, and gently leadeth those that are with young;” and we must note the peculiar condition of the saints of God, being most careful of those who most need our tenderness.

Let me also suggest the young to you. These want watering, both, let me say, from their character and from their position. With little experience and little knowledge they are prone to wander or to be seized by the wolf. Tend them with parental affection. When slips of flowers are first put into the ground they want more water than they will do afterwards; when they have sent out more roots, and these roots have abundant fibres searching through the soil for moisture, they may not require much of the gardener's care; but just now they must have it or die. Therefore I say, let the feeble, the weak, the young, the sick, the persecuted, be watered most anxiously and lovingly by you all.

Certain dear friends need watering, not so much from their position and character, as from the present trials through which they are passing. Certain plants, after long standing in the sun, droop their leaves and look as if they must wither and die; but as soon as water is poured to their roots it has sometimes perfectly surprised me to see how they will recover. I could scarcely think that they were the same plants, their recovery was so sudden. The little roots beneath sent the message up to the main roots and said, “We have found out moisture, a friendly hand has given us a supply,” and the root talked to the stem, and the stem rejoiced, and the great leaves drank up their share, and the little leaves sucked up their drops, till the whole plant to the very summit was verdant once more and rejoiced. Times will come to all of us when we want water. I myself get very desponding at seasons, as I suppose you do. Unbelief dries us up. Oh that devil of unbelief! Why, if that demon were dead the other devil we might very well contend with. Personal affliction, losses, crosses, burdens, make us just like the withering shrub, and then we want to have the consolations of some kind friend to water us.

Dear friends, sometimes there are those in the Church who particularly want watering because they are actually withering. It is not to maintain verdure in their case, but to restore it. Those backsliding ones, those who have slipped with their feet, do not cast them off, for God casts not off the backsliding one. When they begin to forsake the House of God, do not forsake them; follow them with your tears. In such a Church as this if you do not exercise mutual oversight over one another we shall simply become a mass of corruption, instead of being a mountain of holiness. Watch over your brethren as soon as you see the first signs of declension. When they forsake the prayer-meetings, gently give them a hint of the evil of lukewarmness, and the danger of falling by little and little. When you mark the first sign in their outward carriage of laxity with regard to divine things, when you see coldness where there was formerly zeal, be sure to give a gentle word of earnest, pathetic admonition. As I look around this Tabernacle, I can but compare these rising seats to shelves in the conservatory, and you are the plants which must all be watered or you will languish and wither; and I who have to be my Master's under-gardener am very anxious to say to all of you who have any water in your watering-pots, help me to water these plants, that by the gracious operations of God the Holy Ghost they may be kept fruitful, green, verdant in spiritual things even to the end.

We now enter more thoroughly into our text and observe that all believers have power to water others. You may not have much ability or influence, but you all have some power in this matter. In thinking over what Solomon meant, it struck me that he had in his mind's eye the plan of irrigation which is followed in some Eastern countries. The rivers at certain seasons overflow their banks. The careful husbandmen whose farms are close along the sides of the bank, have large tanks and reservoirs in which they store up the water. After the flood, the river is comparatively empty, and the little farms, the vineyards, and pastures on the banks begin to cry out for water; then the careful husbandman lets out the water from his tank or reservoir by slow degrees, and uses it with great economy. It would sometimes happen that one of these farmers would have his reservoirs filled, and his next neighbor, perhaps through the bursting of a tank, or the falling down of the bank of earth, might have little or no water. At such times a churlish man would say, “I shall want all my water for myself, I will not lend or give so much as a drop of it. I have none to spare.” But the generous man says, “I do not know whether God may be pleased to send a drought or no, but I cannot let my neighbor lose all his crops for the want of a little water while I have a good stock in hand;” so he pulls up the sluice and lets such a stream as he thinks he can spare flow into his neighbor's channel, that he may water his fields therewith. Now Solomon says that those who water others shall be watered; hence, next season it may happen that this good man may have no water himself; well then, all the farmers round about will say, “Why, he helped us when his tank was full, and we will return his kindness into his bosom.” “Ah,” says one, “he saved me from ruin; I should not have had a crop at all last season if it had not been for him.” So they all lend a portion till he finds no difficulty whatever; even in a season of drought when men cannot get water for love or money, he is sure to have it. The common feeling of men, as a usual rule, recognizes the law of gratitude, and men say, “He watered others, he shall be watered himself.” My dear brother, you may be a man of talent, you may be a man of wealth: just turn on the big tap and let your ignorant or poor neighbors benefit a little by your abundance; pull up the flood-gates and let the more needy brethren be enriched by your fullness: open that mouth of yours that your wisdom may feed many; tell of what God has done for your soul that the humble may hear thereof and be glad. Do not be a reservoir brimmed up till the banks are ready to burst out through the weight which presses upon them, but just let some of the treasure run out, and when your need of it shall come—and who knows when it may overtake any of us?—you shall find willing friends who shall run with swift feet to cheer your adversity.

This simile needs to be supplemented by another: many true saints are unable to do much. See then the gardeners going down to the pond and dipping in their watering-pots to carry the refreshing liquid to the flowers. A child comes into the garden and wishes to help; and yonder is a little watering-pot for him. Now, see that little water-pot, though it does not carry so much, yet carries the same water; and it does not make any difference to the half-dozen flowers which get that water whether it came out of the big pot or the little pot, so long as it is the same water and they get it. You who are like children in God's Church, you who do not know much, yet try and tell to others what you do know, and if it be the same gospel truth and it be blessed by the same Spirit it will not matter to the souls who get blessed by you whether they were blessed by a man of one or ten talents. What difference will it make to me whether I was converted to God by means of a poor woman who was never made a blessing to anybody else, or by one who had brought his thousands to the Savior's feet? Go, my dear brethren, and exercise the holy art of watering. You say “How?” Why, a word may do it, a look may do it, an action may do it; only zealously desire to offer sympathy, to afford instruction, to give needed help, to impart what you may be favored with to others, and you shall be watering yourselves.

The main point is that in so watering others we shall be watered ourselves. I am sure we shall, for God promises it and he always keeps his promise. If I want to get water I must give water. Though that seems a strange way of self-serving, I pray you try it. Was not that a very singular thing that when the poor woman of Sarepta had nearly exhausted all her meal, the prophet asked for a cake for himself? She had been very saving of it; I dare say she had eaten only a mouthful or two every day. She and her poor boy were looking very thin. They had come to the last handful. She thought, “I will make one cake for my son and myself and then we will die.” She is outside picking up sticks that she may bake this cake. God intends to bless her. How does he do it? There comes his prophet, the hairy man, and the first word he says to her is, “Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel that I may drink.” She is quite ready to serve any one, and away she hastens for the water, when Elijah cries aloud, “Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.” What, out of that little handful—only enough for one? “Yes,” he says, “make me thereof a little cake first, and after make for you and your son.” “After that!” she might have said, “what will be left after that? When there is only a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, not enough for one, am I to give that to you and afterwards see to myself and child?” Faith enabled her to obey, and from that very moment neither she nor her son ever knew what want was. She gave from her little, and her little multiplied. The case of the woman of Zarephath is but one of thousands establishing the rule of God's mode of action with his Church, a rule which shall not be broken till the end shall come.

Let me show you how you will get watered yourself. In the first place, if you try to do good to others it will do you good by waking up your powers. Thousands of men do not know what they are made of. You have no idea what a fine fellow you are, young man, till you begin to shake yourself a little and go forth to fight the Lord's battles. We do not know what sinews we have till we climb the mountains; we do not know what strength there may be in our backs and arms till we have to carry a ponderous load, and then we find it out. You have latent talents, dormant faculties which would work wonders if you could call them forth. Some people are not awake more than skin deep; all underneath the skin is sound asleep. They are like the great candle which I showed you one night with a small wick, which was only melted a little in the middle while all the outside was still cold hard tallow, and did not contribute to the light. You have not become warmed through yet, your whole souls have not been wound up to the right pitch for serving God, you have only a little earnestness, a little zeal; but if you ventured upon holy enterprises you would bestir yourself so thoroughly that you would scarcely know yourself again. That would be a blessing indeed.

But next you would often find that in trying to water others, you gained instruction. Go talk to some poor saint to comfort her, and she will tell you what will comfort you. Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures, we came away blushing that we knew so little of them. We went to talk experimental truth, and we found we were only up to the ankles while here were God's poor saints breast-deep in the river of divine love. We learn by teaching, and our pupils often teach us.

You will also get comfort in your work. Rest assured that working for others is very happy exercise. Like the two men in the snow; one chafed the other's limbs to keep him from dying, and in so doing he kept his own blood in circulation, and his own life was preserved. Comfort God's people and the comfort will return into your own soul.

Watering others will make you humble. You will find better people in the world than yourself. You will be astonished to find how much grace there is where you thought there was none, and how much knowledge some have gained while you as yet have made little progress with far greater opportunities.

You will also win many prayers. Those who work for others get prayed for, and that is a swift way of growing rich in grace. Let me have your prayers and I can do anything! Let me be without my people's prayers, and I can do nothing. You Sunday-school teachers, if you are blessed to the conversion of the children, you will get your children's prayers. You that conduct the larger classes, in the conversion of your young people you will be sure to have a wealth of love come back into your own bosoms, swimming upon the stream of supplication. You will thus be a blessing to yourselves.

In watering others you will get honor to yourselves, and that will help to water you by stimulating your future exertions. The Romans appointed censors in their State, not only to censure men for gross immoralities, but to require every man to give an account of what he was doing for the good of the Republic. We have deacons and elders—would it not be an additional blessing to have censors in the Church to go round and ask the members, all of them, what they are doing for the good of the Christian Church? A Greek historian desired very intensely to say a word about the people of the city where he was born. He felt he could not write his history without saying something of his own native place, and accordingly he wrote this— “While Athens was building temples and Sparta was waging war, my countrymen were doing nothing.” I am afraid there are too many Christians of whom, if the book were written as to what they are doing in the Church, it would have to be said they have been doing nothing all their lives. You would be delivered from that reproach if you began to water others.

Let me cease from this subject by saying while you are watering others, you will be manifesting and showing your love to Christ, and that will make you more like him, and so you will be watered while you are seeking to benefit your neighbors. To serve Jesus! what need I say of that? Look into that face bedewed with bloody sweat for you, and can you not sweat for him? Look to those hands pierced for you, and shall your hands hang idly down and not be used for him? Look at those feet fastened to the wood with nails for you! Can I ask of you any pilgrimage too long to repay the toil which those feet endured for your sake? My brethren and sisters, remember what Christ Jesus has done for you, from whence he came, the riches which he left, to what he came, the poverty and shame which he endured, and how he went down into the depths that he might take us up to the heights. If you will think of these, you will have the best motive methinks for beginning to look after his lambs and fighting with those lions which seek to devour his flock; and in that moving motive will be the main means by which you shall be conformed to his image, and shall become like him, self-sacrificing, doing your Father's business.

I wish I could speak more powerfully this morning but the matter ought to speak for itself with Christians. If we love Jesus we shall not want any pleading with to water his plants. If you really love him it will not be a question of whether you shall do something, the only question will be “What can I do?” and you will say in your pew this morning, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” He has spared your lives, he has given you health and strength, provided you with spirituals and temporals, he has made your heart leap for joy at the sound of his name, he has plucked you out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay, he has taken you out of the black bondage of the prince of darkness and made you his sons and daughters; he has put the ring of his eternal love upon your finger, your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace—

“This world is yours, and worlds to come, Earth is your lodge, and heaven your home.”

There is a crown for your head and a palm branch for your hand and pavements of gold for your feet, and felicities forever for your entire soul; and even your body is to be raised again from the dust and fashioned like Christ's glorious body. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for you.” Now what will you do for him? Will you not win the promise that your soul shall be watered by seeking to water the souls of others?

2.*a brief exhortation* shall suffice for the second point—this general principle is worthy of a wider application.

We as a Church, dear friends, have enjoyed singular prosperity. While many Churches have been depressed and decreased in numbers, we have increased. While other Churches have had the hectic flush of a spurious revival, we have had one perpetual revival lasting for nearly twelve years. I do not know that we have increased at a more or a less rapid rate; we could not increase more quickly for we have not officers enough, or time enough to see the converts as it is; we have never, I think, increased less, for the work seems to have ever the same prosperity about it. I praise God that I can say of my ministry in this place and elsewhere, that to this day it has the dew of its youth upon it, and there are as many rejoicing to find Christ through the agencies employed in this Church today as in the first day when we came among you in the freshness and vigor of our youth. We have had no schism; we have had no division; we have not been vexed with heresy. We have been blessed with something like persecution, but this has only bound us the faster to one another till we are like a threefold cord which cannot be broken, and like iron bars made red hot in the furnace and hammered together, we are not soon to be sundered from one another. Now, dear friends, up to this time the policy which we have pursued has been this: if members of other Churches want to know, we hereby tell them, we have endeavored to water others. Your minister has journeyed all over the three kingdoms preaching the Word, and you have not grumbled at his absence. We have undertaken many enterprises for Christ; we hope to undertake a great many more. We have never husbanded our strength; we have undertaken enterprises that were enough to exhaust us, to which we became accustomed in due season, and then we have gone on to something more. We have never sought to hinder the uprising of other Churches from our midst or in our neighborhood. It is with cheerfulness that we dismiss our twelves, our twenties, our fifties, to form other Churches. We encourage our members to leave us to found other Churches; nay, we seek to persuade them to do it. We ask them to scatter throughout the land to become the goodly seed which God shall bless. I believe that so long as we do this we shall prosper. I have marked other Churches that have adopted the other way, and they have not succeeded. This is what I have heard from some ministers: “I do not encourage village stations, or if I do, I do not encourage their becoming distinct Churches and breaking bread together. I do not encourage too many young men going out to preach, for to have a knot of people who can preach a little may very soon cause dissatisfaction with my own preaching.” I have marked those who have followed this course, and I have seen that the effect of trying to keep all the blood in the heart is to bring on congestion, and very soon the whole body has been out of health. My brethren, if you can do more good elsewhere than you can do here, for God's sake, go, and happy shall I be that you have gone. If you can serve my Master in the little rooms in the neighborhood, if by forming yourselves into smaller Churches you can increase the honor of my Master's name, I shall love you none the less for going, but I shall delight to think that you have Christ's spirit in you, and can do and dare for his name's sake. At the present moment we rejoice to know that many a Sunday School in this neighborhood is indebted to the members of this Church for teachers. It is right. We do not want you at home, and are therefore glad to see you at work elsewhere. No matter, so long as Christ is preached, whether you throw your strength into that Church or into this Church. Here, as being members with us, we have the first claim upon you; but when we do not need you by reason of our abundance of men, go and give your strength to any other part of Christ's Church that may desire you.

While I speak thus much in your praise my brethren and sisters, let me say we must keep this up. If we say, “We have the College to support, and we do as much as other Churches for various societies, and we can be content to sit still,” this Church will begin to go rotten at the core the moment we are not working for God with might and main. Sometimes I get a pull at my coat-tail by very kind, judicious friends, who think I shall ask you to do too much. My brethren are welcome to pull my coat-tail, but it will come off before I shall stand back for a moment. As long as I live I must serve my Master with my whole soul, and when you think I go too fast, you can stand back if you dare, for mark, you will be responsible to God if you do; you may start back if you will and if you dare, but I must go on, must go, MUST go on, or else you and I that are worthy of the day in which you live will follow me, step by step, in any good project, and though I should seem too rash, you will redeem me from the charge of rashness by the enthusiasm and the earnestness with which you carry out my plans. Here is this great city! Was there ever such spiritual destitution? A million of people who could not go to a place of worship, if they had the heart to go there! And here we have the priestcraft of the Church of England increasing the spiritual destitution by building fresh Churches—not providing for it, but increasing it I say, for I reckon that wherever Puseyism is preached there is an increase of spiritual destitution; wherever broad Churchism comes, there is an increase of spiritual destitution, and it is little better where they go who preach the gospel in the pulpit, and read Popery at the font, the grave, and the bedside. In this last case public morality is shocked by the perjury of those who swear to a Prayer Book in which they do not believe. Much as I respect and even love believers in the Anglican Establishment, I can only feel that their presence in so corrupt a body is the reason why it exists; and I therefore think them to be doing mischief by buttressing a falling and ruinous cause. True Protestants, we must take upon ourselves to work for London, as if there were no other agencies at work except those of the Free Churches; for the Hagar Church, the Church which has a mortal for its head, the harlot Church which lives in alliance with the State, has too many sins of her own to repent of to be of much use in this hour of peril. The good she can do is so insignificant that it is not worth while to compute it, because the monstrous evil which she fosters and perpetrates is a more than sufficient set-off against it. We must work and toil and labor to scatter in every lane, amid alley and court of London, the pure gospel of the blessed God; and let men know that Sacramentarianism is a lie, and that there is no salvation but in the uplifted cross of Christ, and no salvation through ceremonies but only through a simple faith in him who loved us and gave himself for us. If you, among others, are come to the kingdom for such a time as this, it shall be well with you; but if not, you shall be put away as things abhorred, and this place shall be a hissing and a byword in generations yet to come, and it shall be said of you, there lived a people who were led by a man, who, with all his faults, was in earnest and was honest, and they would not follow him, but proved unworthy of him, and they have passed away, and their names are written in water. They had opportunities which they did not use; work was allotted them which they were not worthy to take up, God said to them in answer to their request to be excused, “You shall be excused;” and they went back—

“To the vile dust from whence they sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.”

But it shall not be so with you my brethren, though I thus speak; I know your zeal, and love, and earnestness, and that you will continue to water others, and then you shall be watered yourselves. We will pray and strive together for the faith once delivered to the saints; we will cleave closer and closer to one another, and foot to foot, and shoulder to shoulder, we will march to battle for God and for his truth, and come what may, whoever may prove cravens in these days of charity and compromise, we will be found, in God's name, by the help of God's Spirit, faithful and true.

3. And now dear friends, another sentence or two will close the sermon.

On the widest scale, this is true. This is true of our denomination and of every Church. If we will water others, we shall be watered. From the very day when Carey, and Fuller, and Pearce went forth to send the gospel to the heathen, a blessing rested upon our denomination, I believe, and if we had done more for the heathen we should have been stronger to do more at home. You may rest assured, though some may not think it, that our missionary operations are an infinite blessing to the churches at home—that relinquishing them, giving them up, staying them, would bring such a blight and a curse that we had need to go down on our knees and pray, God send the missionary work back again. Give us an outlet for our liberality and our zeal, for without it we become like a pool dammed up, that is full of filth, and toads, and frogs, and all sorts of foul things. Lord, open the river for our zeal and let us once again have an opportunity to serve thee for the nations that are far away!” But I must leave you to preach on that point for my time has gone, and you can do so more practically than I can. My sermon is reported, and I will undertake that what you preach shall not be forgotten, it shall all be taken down in those boxes which shall be passed round. Say each of you as much as ever you can upon this subject by your contributions, and remember, “He that waters others, shall himself be watered.”

A sermon (Number 626) delivered on Sunday Morning, April 23, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon.

"He that waters shall be watered also himself." — Proverbs 11:25.

The general principle is that by living for the good of others, we also benefit ourselves. We must not isolate our own interests, but recognize that we exist for others as well. Nature itself supports this teaching, because no single thing in creation is independent of the rest. Everything acts and is acted upon by everything else. All parts of the universe are bound together by invisible chains, and not a single creature springs up, flourishes, or decays for itself alone. Even the planets, though they float far apart, exert gravitational pull on one another, and the fixed stars, though they seem infinitely remote, are still linked by mysterious bonds. God has built this universe so that selfishness is the greatest possible offense against His law, while living for others and serving others is the truest obedience to His will. Our surest path to our own happiness is to seek the good of our fellow human beings. What we generously spend on behalf of others, we store up in God's own bank. Consider the little spring bubbling from an ancient pipe on a hillside: it overflows the stone basin and freely supplies all the villagers with pure, cool water. In flowing, it does not waste itself, for deep fountains in the earth continuously supply it, and through both winter frost and summer drought, the spring never stops yielding its clear stream. The little brook that babbles through the wood — hiding among stones, leaping down moss-covered rocks, then deepening and swelling — pours all it gathers into the river, hoarding not a drop. Yet though its treasure is constantly spent with unstinting generosity, heaven and earth ensure that the brook never fails to sing its joyous song.

"Men may come and go, but I go on forever."

The river rushes with its great floods toward the all-receiving ocean, pouring itself out every hour with joyful abundance as though its only purpose is to empty itself. Yet the many tributaries streaming down from the hills and draining the valleys ensure the river knows no lack, but stays constantly full — a joyous, bounding river forevermore. The ocean perpetually sends up its steaming vapors to the sky, holding nothing back. It opens all its treasure to the sun, and the sun draws heavily from the ocean's vast reserve. Yet the ocean is not diminished, because all the rivers constantly conspire to keep the sea full to its shores. When the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth — and yet they do not cease, for "they return after the rain," and the ocean below seems only too glad to keep feeding its sister ocean on the other side of the sky. Like wheels connected by belts, or gears meshing with one another, the whole watery system is kept in motion by each part acting on the next, and the next on the one after that. Each part expends its energy on its neighbor, and the whole finds its reward in this mutual action. The same truth can be seen in other parts of nature. Look at the human body, that small universe: the heart does not receive blood in order to store it, but pumps it in at one valve and sends it out at another. Blood circulates everywhere and is stagnant nowhere. The same is true of all fluids in a healthy body — they are in a constant state of outflow and renewal. If a cell stores its secretion for a moment, it only holds it until it is ready for its appointed use. If any cell began storing its secretion permanently, that store would soon cause serious disease. In fact, an organ that stops releasing its products eventually loses the ability to produce them at all. The entire human body lives by giving. The eye cannot say to the foot, "I have no need of you and will not guide you" — because if it stops doing its watchful work, the whole person falls into a ditch, and the eye itself is covered with mud. If the body's members refuse to contribute to the whole, the entire body becomes impoverished and surrenders to the bankruptcy of death. Let us learn from nature's analogy the great lesson that to receive we must give, that to accumulate we must scatter, that to make ourselves happy we must make others happy, and that to grow spiritually we must do good and seek the spiritual good of others. This is the general principle.

The text calls for a specific personal application of this general principle. We will first consider it in its narrowest sense — as it applies to us personally. Second, we will consider it in a wider sense as it applies to us as a church. Third, we will consider it in its widest sense as it applies to the entire body of Christ, showing that even then it remains true: as it waters, so shall it itself be watered.

1. First, in reference to ourselves personally.

There are some works, dear friends, in which not all of us can take part. Certain people are called to be God's great woodsmen — to clear the way with the axe, to march ahead of His army like engineers. Men like Martin Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli — that glorious trio of heroes leading the way in reformation and evangelization — are cutting down tall trees, tunneling through hills, and bridging rivers. We smaller men have little of this heavy clearing-work left to do. But once the backwoodsmen have cleared the forest, after all the roots are dug out and the soil is burned and plowed, then comes the sowing and planting — and in this work the whole household can find a place. When the plants have sprung up and need water, it is not only the strong man with his axe who can water them. Even the little children can take part in this lighter work. Watering is work for people of every kind and every level. If I cannot carry the heavy load of the Eastern water-bearer, I will take my little watering pot, my small jug or pitcher, and go to the well. If I cannot water the great forest tree, I can at least water the tiny plant growing at its root. Watering is work for all kinds of people. So let us make a personal application to every Christian here this morning: you can all do something in watering, and this promise can therefore be realized by every one of you — "He that waters shall be watered also himself."

All of God's plants need watering to some degree. You and I do. We cannot live long without fresh supplies of grace. This makes the promise precious: "I, the Lord, do keep it; I will water it every moment." Growing in the soil of our natural selves, we find no streams at our roots. It is only in the garden of grace that we are "like trees planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth our fruit in our season." If the Lord Jesus, who is the vine's stem, were to stop supplying us with the fresh sap of grace, would we not become like the withered branch cast over the wall to be burned in the fire?

The Lord's people usually receive this watering through instruments and means. God does not speak to us directly from heaven in His own voice — the thunder might terrify us. He does not write Scripture verses with His own finger in letters of fire across the sky. Instead, He waters us through means: through His written Word and His preached Word, and through what His servants otherwise speak. His Holy Spirit waters us through a parent's warnings, a friend's kind counsel, a minister's teaching, and the example of all His saints. The Holy Spirit waters us, but He chooses to do it through our fellow workers — honoring His own servants by using them as His instruments.

With this firmly in mind, we can move on to another truth: some of God's servants especially need watering and should therefore be the constant objects of our care. Some plants need watering because of their particular nature. A gardener will tell you that certain flowers need very little water — they can grow in stony soil for months — while others must be watered regularly and generously or they will quickly wilt. Some of you, dear brothers and sisters, are so prone to discouragement that without much comfort you would hardly hold your heads up at all. Your faith is so weak that without being fed with milk continually, you would barely survive. "Comfort, comfort My people, says your God" — this word is especially for the mourners in Zion. Their natural disposition is such that to keep the lamp of their joy burning, they need a great supply of the oil of comfort.

Perhaps too they are ignorant, and the ignorant need much watering. If they knew the doctrines of grace more fully, they could go to the wells themselves. But not knowing where the water is — or feeling, like the woman at the well, that the well is deep and they have nothing to draw with — they cannot get the water. Those of us who are better instructed in God's ways must draw up the water for them, using our deeper knowledge, so that they are not left unwatered.

Sometimes the need is not so much about the nature of the plant but about where it is planted. Many of you, dear friends, are happily situated where you can constantly attend the means of grace, where family worship fills the home with a sweet atmosphere, and where you almost cannot help growing — like plants in a greenhouse. But others live in houses where mockery is far more common than praise. Instead of being helped in your devotions, you are hindered. Your spirit is tossed about by distractions, and you are driven out of the very prayer closet where you longed to meet with God — driven out by cruel mocking. We ought to be deeply tender toward your situation, for you are planted not on a fruitful hill but on a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. Your circumstances should lead God's people to watch over you with the deepest concern and make sure you are well watered.

I should also mention the sick. When dear friends are suffering with physical pain and are shut in week after week from public worship, they need watering. Their situation calls for our special attention. It is written, "He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will carry the lambs in His bosom and gently lead the nursing ewes." We must notice the particular needs of God's saints and be most careful with those who most need our tenderness.

Let me also bring the young to your attention. They need watering — both because of who they are and because of where they are in life. With little experience and little knowledge, they are quick to wander or to be seized by the wolf. Tend them with parental affection. When young flower cuttings are first put in the ground, they need more water than they will later. Once they have sent out more roots with abundant fibres searching through the soil for moisture, they may not need as much of the gardener's attention. But right now, they must have it or they will die. Therefore I say: let the feeble, the weak, the young, the sick, and the persecuted be watered most eagerly and lovingly by you all.

Some dear friends need watering not so much because of their character or position, but because of the trials they are currently going through. Certain plants, after standing long in the sun, droop their leaves and look as though they must wither and die. But as soon as water is poured to their roots, their recovery can be astonishing. I could barely believe they were the same plants, the recovery was so swift. The tiny roots below sent the message up to the main roots: "We have found moisture — a friendly hand has given us a supply." The root spoke to the stem, the stem rejoiced, the large leaves drank up their share, the small leaves took in their drops, and the whole plant to the very top turned green and flourished again. Times come to all of us when we need watering. I myself grow very despondent at times, as I imagine you do. Unbelief dries us up. Oh, that devil of unbelief! If that one demon were dead, the rest we could contend with well enough. Personal suffering, losses, setbacks, and burdens make us like a wilting shrub, and then we need the comfort of some kind friend to water us.

Dear friends, there are sometimes those in the church who especially need watering because they are actually withering. In their case, the goal is not to maintain spiritual health but to restore it. Do not cast off those who are backsliding, those who have slipped — God does not cast off the backslider. When they begin to stop coming to the house of God, do not abandon them. Follow them with your tears. In a church like this one, if we do not exercise mutual care for one another, we will simply become a mass of corruption rather than a community of holiness. Watch over your brothers and sisters the moment you notice the first signs of decline. When they stop attending prayer meetings, gently point out the danger of growing lukewarm and slipping away bit by bit. When you first notice signs of spiritual carelessness in their everyday behavior — coldness where there was once zeal — be sure to offer a gentle, earnest, heartfelt word of encouragement. As I look around this Tabernacle, I can only compare these rising tiers of seats to shelves in a greenhouse, and you are the plants that must all be watered or you will languish and wither. As my Master's under-gardener, I am very eager to urge all of you who have any water in your watering pots: help me water these plants, so that through the gracious work of God the Holy Spirit they may be kept fruitful, green, and spiritually vigorous to the very end.

We now go deeper into our text and observe that all believers have the power to water others. You may not have great ability or influence, but you all have some power in this matter. Thinking over what Solomon meant, it struck me that he had in mind the irrigation methods used in some Eastern countries. Rivers in those regions overflow their banks at certain seasons. Careful farmers whose fields lie along the riverbanks have large tanks and reservoirs in which they store the water. After the flood, the river runs comparatively low, and the small farms, vineyards, and pastures along the banks begin to cry out for water. Then the careful farmer slowly releases water from his tank or reservoir, using it with great economy. It could happen that one farmer's reservoirs would be full while his neighbor's — perhaps because a tank had burst or an earthen bank had collapsed — had little or no water. In such a situation, a selfish man would say, "I will need all my water for myself; I will not lend or give away a single drop. I have none to spare." But the generous man says, "I don't know whether God will send a drought, but I cannot let my neighbor lose all his crops for want of a little water when I have a good supply on hand." So he opens the sluice and lets out as much as he thinks he can spare into his neighbor's channel, so that his neighbor can water his fields. Now Solomon says that those who water others will be watered in return. So perhaps the next season this generous man has no water himself. Then all the farmers around him will say, "He helped us when his tank was full, and we will return his kindness." "He saved me from ruin," says one. "I would not have had a crop at all last season if it had not been for him." So they all contribute a portion, and he has no difficulty at all. Even in a season of drought, when men cannot get water for love or money, he is sure to have it. The common sense of gratitude, as a general rule, recognizes this principle, and people say, "He watered others — he shall be watered himself." Dear friend, if you are a person of talent or wealth, open the big tap and let your less knowledgeable or poorer neighbors benefit from your abundance. Lift the floodgates and let the more needy brothers and sisters be enriched by your fullness. Open your mouth so that your wisdom may feed many. Tell what God has done for your soul, so that the humble may hear and be glad. Do not be a reservoir so full that the banks are about to burst under the pressure. Let some of the treasure flow out. When your own time of need comes — and who knows when it may come to any of us? — you will find willing friends who will run swiftly to comfort you in your trouble.

This picture needs to be completed by another illustration: many true saints are not able to do very much. Picture the gardeners going down to the pond and filling their watering cans to carry the refreshing water to the flowers. A child comes into the garden wanting to help, and there is a little watering can just for him. Now, that little watering can does not hold as much, but it carries the same water. And it makes no difference to the half-dozen flowers that receive that water whether it came from the big can or the little one — as long as it is the same water and they actually get it. You who are like children in God's church, who do not know very much — still try to share with others what you do know. If it is the same gospel truth and it is blessed by the same Spirit, it will not matter to the souls who are blessed by you whether their blessing came through a person of one talent or ten. What difference will it make to me whether I was brought to God by a poor woman who was never a blessing to anyone else, or by someone who had led thousands to the Savior's feet? Go, dear friends, and practice the holy art of watering. You ask, "How?" A single word may do it, a look may do it, an action may do it. Simply be eager to offer sympathy, provide instruction, give needed help, and share what you have received — and in doing so, you will be watering your own soul.

The main point is that in watering others, we will be watered ourselves. I am certain of it, for God has promised it and He always keeps His promises. If I want to receive water, I must give water. Though this seems a strange way of helping yourself, I urge you to try it. Was it not a remarkable thing that when the poor woman of Zarephath had nearly used up all her flour, the prophet asked her for a cake for himself? She had been very careful with it — no doubt eating only a mouthful or two each day. She and her poor son had grown very thin. They had come down to the last handful. She thought, "I will make one last cake for my son and myself, and then we will die." She was outside gathering sticks to bake this cake. God intended to bless her. How did He do it? His prophet appeared — that rugged man — and his first words to her were, "Please bring me a little water in a jar so that I may drink." She was quite ready to serve anyone, and she hurried off for the water. But then Elijah called out, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." Out of that little handful — barely enough for one? "Yes," he said. "First make me a small cake from what you have, and after that make something for yourself and your son." "After that!" she might have said. "What will be left after that? When there is only a handful of flour and a little oil in a jar — barely enough for one person — am I to give that to you and then see to myself and my child?" Faith enabled her to obey, and from that very moment neither she nor her son ever knew what want was. She gave from her little, and her little multiplied. The story of the woman of Zarephath is just one of thousands that establish the pattern of how God deals with His church — a pattern that will not be broken until the end comes.

Let me show you how you will be watered yourself. First, trying to do good for others will benefit you by awakening your abilities. Thousands of people have no idea what they are truly capable of. Young man, you have no idea what kind of person you are until you stir yourself and go out to fight the Lord's battles. We do not know what strength we have until we climb mountains. We do not know how strong our backs and arms are until we have to carry a heavy load — then we find out. You have hidden talents and dormant abilities that would accomplish wonders if you could bring them out. Some people are not truly awake below the surface. Everything underneath is sound asleep. They are like a great candle I once showed you — with a small wick, only melting a little in the middle while all the outer wax remained cold and hard, contributing nothing to the light. You have not yet been warmed through. Your whole soul has not been stirred to the right pitch for serving God. You have only a little earnestness and a little zeal. But if you ventured upon holy undertakings, you would rouse yourself so thoroughly that you would barely recognize yourself. That would be a true blessing.

Next, you would often find that in trying to water others, you gained instruction. Go and speak to some poor saint to bring her comfort, and she will say things that comfort you. What gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures and came away ashamed at how little we actually knew. We went to speak from personal spiritual experience and found we were only up to our ankles while these poor saints of God were standing breast-deep in the river of God's love. We learn by teaching, and our students often teach us.

You will also find comfort in your work. Be assured that working for others is a very joyful exercise. Think of two men lost in the snow: one rubbed the other's limbs to keep him from dying, and in doing so kept his own blood circulating and his own life was preserved. Comfort God's people, and the comfort will flow back into your own soul.

Watering others will also make you humble. You will discover better people in the world than yourself. You will be surprised to find how much grace exists where you expected to find none, and how much knowledge some have gained while you, with far greater opportunities, have made little progress.

You will also win many prayers. Those who work for others get prayed for, and that is a swift way of growing rich in grace. Give me your prayers and I can do anything! Deprive me of my people's prayers and I can do nothing. Sunday school teachers, if you are blessed to see children come to faith, those children will pray for you. Those who lead the older classes will, in the conversion of their young people, surely find a wealth of love flowing back into their own hearts, carried on the stream of their prayers. In this way you will be a blessing to yourselves.

In watering others, you will also gain honor — and that honor will itself water you by motivating your future efforts. The Romans appointed censors in their state not only to punish men for serious wrongdoing, but to require every citizen to give an account of what he was doing for the good of the republic. We have deacons and elders. Would it not be an additional blessing to have censors in the church who would go around and ask every member what he or she is doing for the good of the Christian church? A Greek historian was very eager to say something about the people of his hometown. He felt he could not write his history without mentioning his native city, so he wrote this: "While Athens was building temples and Sparta was waging war, my countrymen were doing nothing." I am afraid there are too many Christians of whom, if a book were written recording what they have done in the church, it would have to be said that they did nothing their entire lives. You would be delivered from that shame if you began to water others.

Let me close this first point by saying this: while you are watering others, you will be showing your love for Christ — and that love will make you more like Him, so you will be watered even as you seek to bless your neighbors. To serve Jesus — what more need I say? Look into that face covered with drops of blood in the garden, shed for you — can you not sweat in service for Him? Look at those hands pierced for you — will your hands hang idly at your side and not be used for Him? Look at those feet nailed to the cross for you! Can I ask of you any journey too long to repay the suffering those feet endured for your sake? Brothers and sisters, remember what Christ Jesus has done for you — where He came from, the riches He left behind; where He came to, the poverty and shame He endured; and how He descended into the depths so that He might bring us up to the heights. If you keep these things in mind, you will have the strongest possible motive for caring for His lambs and fighting the lions that seek to devour His flock. That moving motive will also be the chief means by which you are conformed to His image and become like Him — self-sacrificing, doing your Father's business.

I wish I could speak more powerfully this morning, but the subject ought to speak for itself to every Christian. If we love Jesus, we will need no persuading to water His plants. If you truly love Him, the question will not be whether you should do something. The only question will be "What can I do?" And you will say in your pew this morning, "What shall I give back to the Lord for all His benefits to me?" He has spared your lives, given you health and strength, provided both spiritual and material blessings, made your heart leap for joy at the sound of His name, pulled you out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, rescued you from the dark bondage of the prince of darkness and made you His sons and daughters. He has placed the ring of His eternal love on your finger, and your feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace —

"This world is yours, and worlds to come, Earth is your lodge, and heaven your home."

There is a crown for your head, a palm branch for your hand, pavements of gold for your feet, and endless joy for your entire soul. Even your body will be raised from the dust and made like Christ's glorious body. "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." Now, what will you do for Him? Will you not pursue the promise that your soul will be watered by seeking to water the souls of others?

2. A brief word will be enough for the second point — this general principle deserves a wider application.

We as a church, dear friends, have enjoyed remarkable prosperity. While many churches have declined and lost members, we have grown. While other churches have had the feverish flush of a superficial revival, we have had one continuous revival lasting nearly twelve years. I do not know that we have grown at a faster or slower rate than before. We could not grow more quickly — we do not have enough officers or time to meet with the new converts as it is. Yet I do not think we have grown more slowly either, for the work seems to carry the same blessing throughout. I praise God that I can say of my ministry here and elsewhere that it still has the freshness of its early days — there are just as many people rejoicing to find Christ through the work of this church today as there were on the very first day when I came among you in the energy of my youth. We have had no division. We have had no schism. We have not been troubled by heresy. We have been blessed with something like persecution, but this has only bound us more tightly together, until we are like a three-stranded cord that cannot be broken — like iron bars heated red-hot in the furnace and hammered together, not easily pulled apart. Now, dear friends, I want members of other churches to know what policy we have followed up to this point: we have made it our aim to water others. Your minister has traveled all across the three kingdoms preaching the Word, and you have not complained about his absence. We have undertaken many enterprises for Christ, and we hope to undertake many more. We have never held back our strength. We have taken on work that was enough to exhaust us, grown accustomed to it in due course, and then pressed on to something more. We have never tried to prevent new churches from forming out of our own congregation or in our neighborhood. We gladly send out groups of twelve, twenty, or fifty to form other churches. We encourage our members to leave us in order to start new churches. In fact, we actively urge them to do so. We ask them to scatter throughout the land and become the good seed that God will bless. I believe that as long as we do this, we will continue to prosper. I have observed other churches that have taken the opposite approach, and they have not succeeded. I have heard some ministers say: "I do not encourage village outposts, or if I do, I do not encourage them becoming independent churches that break bread together. I do not encourage too many young men going out to preach, because having a group of people who can preach a little may soon lead to dissatisfaction with my own preaching." I have watched those who have followed this course, and I have seen that trying to keep all the blood in the heart produces congestion — and soon the whole body is out of health. Brothers and sisters, if you can do more good somewhere else than here, then for God's sake go, and I will be glad you went. If you can serve my Master in the small meeting rooms in the neighborhood, if by forming yourselves into smaller churches you can bring greater honor to my Master's name, I will love you no less for leaving. In fact, I will rejoice that you carry Christ's spirit in you and are willing to do and dare for His name's sake. Right now we know that many a Sunday school in this neighborhood depends on members of this church for teachers. That is exactly right. We do not need you all at home, and so we are glad to see you at work elsewhere. It does not matter whether you pour your strength into that church or into this one — as long as Christ is preached. As members with us, you have a primary commitment here. But when we have enough workers and do not need you, go and give your strength to any other part of Christ's church that needs you.

While I speak well of you, brothers and sisters, let me also say this: we must keep it up. The moment we say, "We support the College, we do as much as other churches for various societies, and we can afford to sit still," this church will begin to rot at its core. Sometimes very kind and well-meaning friends tug at my coat to suggest I am asking too much of you. My friends are welcome to tug, but the coat will come off before I take one step back. As long as I live I must serve my Master with my whole soul. If you think I am going too fast, you may stand back if you dare — but know that you will be answerable to God if you do. You may hold back if you choose, but I must go on — must go, MUST go on. Those among you who are truly worthy of the day in which you live will follow me step by step in every good undertaking. Even if I seem too rash, your enthusiasm and earnestness in carrying out these plans will prove the charge of rashness wrong. Look at this great city! Has there ever been such spiritual emptiness? A million people who could not find a place of worship even if they wanted to! And here we have the established church increasing that spiritual emptiness by building new church buildings — not meeting the need, but deepening it. I say this because wherever Puseyism is preached, spiritual emptiness grows. Wherever broad Churchism spreads, spiritual emptiness grows. And it is little better where people preach the gospel from the pulpit but read the language of popery at the baptismal font, the graveside, and the deathbed. In this last case, public morality itself is wounded by the dishonesty of those who swear to a Prayer Book they do not actually believe. Much as I respect and even love those who are genuine believers within the Anglican establishment, I can only conclude that their presence within so corrupt a body is the reason it continues to stand. I therefore believe they are doing harm by propping up a falling and ruinous cause. As true Protestants, we must take it upon ourselves to work for London as though no other agencies existed apart from the Free Churches. The church that has a mortal as its head — the church living in alliance with the state — has too many of her own sins to repent of to be of much use in this hour of crisis. Whatever good she can do is so insignificant that it is not worth calculating, because the enormous evil she fosters and perpetuates far outweighs it. We must work and toil and labor to spread the pure gospel of the blessed God into every lane, alley, and courtyard in London. We must let people know that sacramentalism is a lie, and that there is no salvation except through the lifted-up cross of Christ — no salvation through ceremonies, but only through a simple faith in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. If you are among those brought to this place for such a time as this, it will go well with you. But if not, you will be set aside as things rejected. This place will become a byword of shame for generations to come, and it will be said of you: here lived a people who were led by a man who, for all his faults, was earnest and honest — and they would not follow him. They proved unworthy of him, passed away, and their names are written in water. They had opportunities they did not use. Work was assigned to them that they were not worthy to take up. God answered their request to be excused with the words, "You are excused" — and they turned back —

"To the vile dust from whence they sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung."

But it will not be so with you, my brothers and sisters, though I speak in this way. I know your zeal, your love, and your earnestness, and that you will continue to water others — and then you will be watered yourselves. We will pray and strive together for the faith once delivered to the saints. We will draw closer and closer to one another, and shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot, we will march into battle for God and for His truth. Whatever may come, whoever may prove cowardly in these days of easy charity and endless compromise — we will be found, in God's name and by the help of God's Spirit, faithful and true.

3. And now, dear friends, another sentence or two will close the sermon.

On the widest scale, this principle holds true. It is true of our denomination and of every church: if we will water others, we will be watered. From the very day when Carey, Fuller, and Pearce went out to carry the gospel to the nations, I believe a blessing has rested on our denomination. If we had done more for the nations, we would have been stronger for the work at home. You may be certain — though some may doubt it — that our missionary work is an immense blessing to the churches here at home. If we abandoned it, gave it up, or brought it to a halt, such a blight and curse would follow that we would need to fall on our knees and beg God to send the missionary work back. Give us an outlet for our generosity and our zeal! Without it, we become like a pond that has been dammed up — stagnant and full of filth and foul things. "Lord, open the river for our zeal, and give us once again the opportunity to serve You among the nations that are far away!" But I must leave that point for you to preach on, for my time is gone — and you can apply it more practically than I can. My sermon is recorded, and I will guarantee that what you preach will not be forgotten. It will all be taken down in those boxes that will be passed around. Let each of you say as much as you can on this subject through your contributions — and remember: "He that waters others shall himself be watered."