THE DAY-THE SONG-AND THE LAND. A Sermon PREACHED IN GROVE CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 12TH, 1879, BY THOMAS BRADBURY, "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah."-Isaiah xxvi. 1. “HE E that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread" is the declaration of Divine inspiration by Solomon (Prov. xxviii. 19). This is blessedly true concerning the land of Divine revelation and spiritual promise. He who tills that land shall have plenty of bread. The quotation of this portion need cause no alarm, for it is not my intention to diverge from my loved employ of preaching God's free-grace, to lay any burdens upon, you either light or heavy. Burdens sufficient are experienced by Zion's pilgrims who are travelling to that glorious rest which God has provided for them; so there is no necessity for the ministers of the New Testament, those who are "the messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ,' to lay burdens upon the tried and tempted children of the living God. That is a precious Scripture in Psalm lvii. 2: "I will cry unto God Most High that performeth all things for me." The Worker, the Tiller, the Husbandman is God, according to the word of our Lord to His sorrowing disciples: "My Father is the Husbandman" (John xv. 1). He sows His seeds of new covenant truth wherever He wills, and they are carried by the heavenly Wind, His own blessed Spirit, into those plots of good ground of His own preparing, where He will cause fruits of righteousness to abound by Jesus Christ. It has pleased Him also to sow light for the righteous in many portions of His blessed Word (Psalm xcvii. 11). New covenant truth is couched beneath the letter of the Word, to be brought to sight in His own set time of favour for the instruction and edification of His own people. Yes, in many portions of the written Word No. 111-PRICE ONE PENNY. seeds of Divine truth are sown which shall yield abundant fruit for the comfort and establishment of true Zionists. From these precious portions seed shall be conveyed to the ground of God's preparing, which He calls "An honest and good heart" (Luke viii. 15). This is a heart of His own giving-a heart which has experienced the piercing power of the ploughshare of the Divine law-a heart that knows something of the crushing power of the harrow of tribulation breaking up and preparing the ground for the seed of God. Sometimes He sows, and in a comparatively short space of time His fruit appears. At other times He sows, and as the Divine Husbandman He patiently waits for the fruit which shall abound by His own skill, wisdom, and power. We have a nice little patch of new covenant ground laid out before us in the portion I have read for our meditation this morning, and if it be His gracious will to reveal to us the precious things which can only be brought forth by the Sun, we must of necessity retire from this place with rejoicing hearts, blessing and thanking Him for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation by whom we are privileged to enjoy the presence and preciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are three things in the text which we will noticeI.—THE DAY—" In that day." II. THE SONG "Shall this song be sung." III. THE LAND-" In the land of Judah. I. THE DAY-"In that day." We read of many days in God's blessed Word. Turn to Gen. i. 5: "And the evening and the morning were the first day." This consisted of twentyfour hours. The evening being named first conveys a fund of spiritual instruction to the Spirit-taught children of the living God. In Psalm lxxiv. 16, the Psalmist says, "The day is Thine, the night also is Thine: Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.' Look at Psalm civ. 19-23: "He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth His going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening." Those who are brought into spiritual oneness with Christ in His sufferings know something of the experimental realities contained in that Psalm. When the Sun of Righteousness descends beneath our spiritual horizon, we are distressed and annoyed with the creepings forth of gloomy fears, dreary doubts, accursed unbelief, and wretched indifference. We also know the prowlings of conceit and pride, deceit and falsehood. Yes, we know something of those evil beasts described in Gal. v. 19-21. Look over them at your leisure, and if you are guided by God the ever-blessed Spirit, you will know and feel that your wretched flesh can produce nothing better. As we look through the blessed Book, we notice the record of many memorable days. That was a glorious one when JEHOVAH by His mighty hand and outstretched arm brought His ancient people Israel out of Egypt. "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt" (Exodus xii. 41 and 51). The great day of atonement was a day of rest and rejoicing to all true Israelites (Lev. xxv. 9). That was a remarkable day when God by His mighty hand delivered the Jews from the crafty plottings of cruel Haman. "The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast, and a good day" (Esther viii. 16, 17). That was a momentous day when our blessed Lord and Saviour presented Himself before the powers of darkness, bearing His people's sins into the land of never-ending forgetfulness, and crying from the ends of the earth, "IT IS FINISHED!" Salvation was an accomplished fact-Satan was defeated-sin was put away-heaven was filled with rejoicing-hell with dismay-and to the elect of God throughout all time was secured, perfection in Christ, acceptance in the Beloved, and completeness in Him. There was another day, brought before us in Psalm cxviii. 24, from which Dr. Watts composed his precious hymn,— "This is the day the Lord hath made, He calls the hours His own; But the hymn restricts the truth of God to one of the seven days of the week. Look at the words of inspiration: "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." What day is that? What day is that? Is it a period of time confined within the short space of twenty-four hours? Nay! It is that day, dispensation, or era existing from the moment Christ rose again from the dead as the living and accepted Surety of the covenant, to His coming again to take His people home to Himself. It is this dispensation of grace during which His power and glory shall be revealed in the hearts of His people, drawing therefrom prayers for mercies designed and praises for blessings bestowed." As we look through the prophecies, especially those of the minor prophets, we shall find these expressions oftentimes: "That day," "The day of the LORD," or, "That great day of the LORD." In each case the expression must be governed, understood, and explained by its preceding and succeeding context. Many of these portions are shrouded in mystery, for many of them refer to circumstances that are passed, or, it may be, to events which shall yet come to pass. If we look for a literal interpretation in many of these Scriptures, we shall find ourselves in a labyrinth of confusion and uncertainty. But it is ours to look at them in a higher, a heavenly, and spiritual light. Every prophecy given to us contains a glorious spiritual promise of JEHOVAH to His eternally-loved, elect, and redeemed people. When we are brought by the Holy Spirit into a right understanding and apprehension of revealed truth, we receive that which teaches, edifies, and establishes our souls in covenant verities. We will notice a few Scriptures where this expression, "In that day," occurs. In one place we see a day of trouble; in another, a day of deliverance; in one, a day of sorrow; in another, a day of rejoicing; in one, a day of darkness; in another, a day of light; in one, a day of distress and despair; in another, a day of salvation and delight. In Isaiah ii. 12-17, the day is one of trouble, anxiety, and perplexity: "For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day." Turn to chap. iv. 1, and there you will see a description of a dreadful day! "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." This is what I have ofttimes styled, "The Perfection of Hypocrisy," and this very perfection of hypocrisy reigns on every hand in this day of flaming profession. We see those who will feed upon fleshly free-will husks, gird themselves with the rags of their own fancied righteousness, and be called Christians, after the name of Christ, while their hearts are full of enmity against Christ, His salvation, His truth, and His people. All this is because it is anything but respectable not to be considered a Christian. Come to chap. xiii. 6: "Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand: it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." : You will find a very remarkable expression in Jer. xxx. 7: "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." Now Jacob was dead, buried, and lost to sight many long years before Jeremiah uttered this prophecy. The Jacob of this prophecy is a representative character, found in those persons spoken of in Mal. iii. 6: "For I am the LORD, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Turn to Joel ii. 11, 31: "And the LORD shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executeth His word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible: and who can abide it? The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come." Some of you may be ready to say, Oh! you are leading us to portions of prophecies with which we have nothing whatever to do. Do not be too rash in your conclusion, my friends, for it is my desire in every quotation I make to find something therein with which I have to do, and with which JEHOVAH may have to do with you in the testimony flowing from this exercised heart of mine. If you will look at Acts ii. 16-21, you will see how Peter, by the Holy Ghost, quoted this very prophecy to prove the descent of the Holy Ghost in His convincing power upon the three thousand, who, in consternation and almost wild despair, cried out, "What shall we do?" Mark you! "The great and notable day of the LORD had come" to them. Eternal realities stared them in the face. God, in His hatred and abhorrence of sin, was revealed to their wondering hearts. JEHOVAH, in His fury, indignation, and wrath, not on Gospel ground, but on that of law with its curses and condemnation, occupied their despairing spirits. Convinced and law-condemned sinners know by painful experience that that day is great, so that there is none like unto it, that it is the day of Jacob's trouble: yet, blessed be God, he shall be saved out of it. Know ye anything feelingly of such a day as this? Amos, in his fifth chapter, 20th verse, says: "Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark and no brightness in it?" Tell me, ye who know anything of the convicting power of God the ever-blessed Spirit, Was not that a dark day when He brought before you in terrible review the sins and follies of your past life? Ay, indeed it was. Also when He gave you to feel the plague of your own heart, the enmity of your carnal mind against God, and the rebelliousness of your whole nature against Him, despising His Word, discarding His authority, and calling into question the glory, honour, dignity, and sovereignty of His Christ. Then you could see and feel sin to be exceeding sinful, and dreaded the terrors of a sin-hating God, knowing that you deserved to suffer His frown and fiery indignation in your own persons, and that left to yourselves there was no standing for you in His sacred and solemn presence. So it is when the blessed Spirit comes home and reveals the matchless purity of JEHOVAH on old covenant ground. Dark, gloomy, and terrible is the experience of the awakened sinner, so that Amos might well say, "Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it to you? the day of the LORD is darkness and not light." Now turn with me to that glorious new covenant chapter, Zeph. iii., which has often been a precious one to me. But notice first of all chap. i. 14-18: "The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers." It is the day of |