Bless The Lads

Bless the Lads

Joseph was one by himself. In Jacob's family he was like a swan in a duck's nest; he seemed to be of a different race from the rest, even from his childhood. He was the son of old age, the son of the elders—that is, a child who was old when he was young, in thoughtfulness and devotion. He reached an early ripeness, which did not end in early decay. In consequence of this, Joseph was one by himself in the peculiarity of his trials. Through his brothers' hatred of him he was made to suffer greatly, and at last was sold into slavery, and underwent trials in Egypt of the severest kind. "The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him." But, see the recompense; for he had blessings which were altogether his own. "His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." He was as distinguished by the favour of God as by the disfavour of his brethren. When Jacob is old and about to die, Joseph gave him a blessing all to himself, in addition to that which he received with his brothers. In the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis we read, "Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father." And they did so, and received as a family such blessings as their father's prophetic eye foresaw; but before this, "by faith Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph" at a private interview specially granted to them. Had not his tribulations abounded, his consolations would not have so abounded. Do you seem yourself to be marked out for peculiar sorrows? Do the arrows of affliction make your life their target, and are you chastened above all other men? Do not be regretful, for the arrows are winged by covenant love, which designs by their wounds to prepare you for a special work which will lead up to a special benediction from your Father who is in Heaven.

Jacob blessed Joseph, and we perceive that he blessed him through blessing his children. Joseph is doubly blessed by seeing Ephraim and Mannaseh blessed. Dear young people, your fathers can say, "We have no greater joy than this, that our children walk in the truth." If any of you who are unconverted knew the deep searching of heart of your parents about you, I think you would not long be careless and indifferent about Divine things; and if you could conceive the flashes of heavenly joy that would light up your parents' hearts if they saw you saved in the Lord, it would be an inducement to you to consider your ways, and turn unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. God Himself, next to giving to His chosen the covenant of grace, can do them no greater earthly kindness than to call their children by His grace into the same covenant. Will you not think of this?

Young men and women usually feel great interest in their father's life-story—if it be a worthy one—and what they hear from them of their personal experience of the goodness of God will abide with them. We all read biographies, and we value the results of experience which we find there, but the biographies of our own relatives are peculiarly treasured; and when these biographies are not read, but spoken, what wonderful force they have! I recollect in my younger days hearing a minister, blind with age, speak at the communion table, and bear witness to us young people, who had just joined the church, that it was well for us that we had come to put our trust in a faithful God; and as the good man, with great feebleness and yet with great earnestness, said to us that he had never regretted that he had given his heart to Christ as a boy, I felt my heart leap within me with delight that I had such a God to be my God. His testimony was such as a younger man could not have borne: he might have spoken more fluently, but the weight of those eighty years at the back of it made the old man eloquent to my young heart. We who are growing grey in our Master's service ought not to be backward to speak well of His name. You will not be able to do so much good in Heaven as you can on earth, for they all know about it up there; but men here need our witness to the God whom we have tried and proved. Let us make occasions in which we may speak well of the Lord, even the God who has fed us all our life long, and redeemed us from all evil. This is one of the best ways in which to bless the lads. The benediction of Jacob was intertwisted with his biography; the blessing which he had himself enjoyed he wished for them, and as he invoked it he helped to secure it by his personal testimony.

One thing further: I want you to note that Jacob, in desiring to bless his grandsons, introduced them to God. He speaks of "God, before whom my fathers did walk: God who blessed me all my life long." This is the great distinction between man and man: there are two races—he that feareth God, and he that feareth Him not. The religion of this present age, such as it is, has a wrong direction in its course. It seeks after what is called "the enthusiasm of humanity," but what we want far more is enthusiasm for God. We shall never go right unless God is first, midst, and last. I despair for benevolence when it is not based upon devotion. We shall not long have love to man if we do not first and chiefly cultivate love to God. What boys need in starting in life is God; if we have nothing else to give them, they have enough if they have God. What girls want in quitting the nurture of home, is God's love in their hearts, and whether they have fortunes or not, is a small matter. In fellowship with God lies the essence of true human life: life in God, life by the knowledge of the Most High, life through the Redeeming Angel—this is life indeed.

Jacob died as one who had been delivered from all evil—ay, even the evil of old age. His eyes were dim; but that did not matter, for his faith was clear. I love to think that we are going where our vision of God will not be through the eye, but through the spiritual perceptions. These were brighter in Jacob in his old age than ever before; his faith and love, which are the earthly forms of those perceptions, were apprehending God in a more forcible manner than ever, and it therefore signified little that the eyes which he would need no longer were failing him. We cannot say that he was in decay, after all; for he was losing what he only needed in this world of shadows, and was gaining fitness for the higher state. His gracious faculties grew as his bodily faculties declined; and therefore he felt that his life was ending in a fulness of blessing such as he wished for the children of his dearest son. How ardently do I wish the like blessing for all young people! The Lord God Almighty bless you! When your earthborn faculties fail, may heavenly graces more than supply their place!

"God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk." As with a pencil he sketches the lives of Abraham and Isaac. He does not fill in with colouring, but the outline is perfect; you see the two men in their whole career in those few words. They were men who recognized God and worshipped Him beyond all others of their age. God was to them a real existence; they spake with God, and God spake with them; they were friends of God, and enjoyed familiar acquaintance with Him. No agnosticism blinded their understandings, and deadened their hearts. They were worshippers of the one living and true God. Happy children who have such fathers! Happier children who are like such fathers!

They not only recognized God, but they owned Him in daily life. I take the expression, "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk," to mean that He was their God in common life. They not only knelt before God when they prayed, but they walked before Him in everything. When they went forth from their tents, and when they returned from their flocks, they walked before God. They were never away from His service, or without His presence. He was their dwelling-place. Whether they sojourned under an oak or dwelt by a well, whether they entertained strangers or walked in the field to meditate, they lived and moved in God. This is the kind of life for you and for me: whether we live in a great house or in a poor cottage, if we walk before God we shall lead a happy and a noble life, whether that life be public or obscure. Oh, that our young people would firmly believe this!

They walked before God; that is, they obeyed His commands. His call they heard, His bidding they followed. Abraham quitted country and kindred to go to an unknown land which God would show him; yea, more, he took his son, whom he greatly loved, and stood prepared to sacrifice him at God's command. Isaac also yielded himself up to be slain, if so Jehovah willed. To them the will of the Lord was paramount: He was law and life to them, for they loved and feared Him. They were prompt to hear the behests of God, and rose up early to fulfil them. They acted as in the immediate presence of the All-seeing. To the full they trusted Him. In this sense they always saw Him. We sometimes talk about tracing Him. We cannot trace Him, except as we trust Him; and because they trusted, they traced Him. Notwithstanding all the danger and difficulty of their pilgrim state, they dwelt in perfect security in an enemy's land, for the Lord had said, "Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm." They were serene and tranquil because they walked before God, knowing Him to be their friend, and that He was their shield and their exceeding great reward. For temporal things they had no anxiety, for they lived upon the All-sufficient God. Therefore these two men, Abraham and Isaac, though much tried, led peaceful lives: they conversed with Heaven, while they sojourned on earth.

They enjoyed the favour of God, for this also is intended by walking before Him. His face was towards them: they sunned themselves in His smile. God's love was their true treasure. We read that God had blessed Abraham in all things, and of Isaac we hear even the Philistines say, "We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee." God was their wealth, their strength, their exceeding joy. I say again, happy sons who have such ancestors! Happier still if they follow in their track! So Jacob spoke of Abraham and Isaac, and so can some of us speak of those who went before us. Those of us who can look back upon godly ancestors now in Heaven must feel that many ties bind us to follow the same course of life. Had they transgressed against the Lord our duty would have caused us to quit the ways of the family, even as Abraham left his kindred who dwelt on the other side of the flood; but as their way was right, we are doubly called to follow it, because it is the good old way, and the way our godly fathers trod. There is a charm about that which was prized by our fathers. Heirlooms are treasured, and the best heirloom in a family is the knowledge of God. When I spoke, the other day, with a Christian brother, he seemed right happy to tell me that he sprang of a family which came from Holland during the persecution of the Duke of Alva, and I felt a brotherhood with him in claiming a like descent. I daresay our fathers were poor weavers, but I had far rather be descended from one who suffered for the faith than bear the blood of all the emperors within my veins. There should be a sacredness to young people in the faith for which their ancestors suffered. Choose not the society of Egypt, and its wealth and honours, but keep to the stock of Israel, and claim the inheritance of Jacob, as Ephraim and Manasseh did. Let it not be said that as your family increased in riches it departed from the living God. Shall the goodness of God be perverted into a reason for apostasy? The way of holiness in which your fathers went is a fitting way for you, and it is seemly that you maintain the godly traditions of your house. In the old times they expected sons to follow the secular calling of their fathers; and although that may be regarded as an old-world mistake, yet it is well when sons and daughters receive the same spiritual call as their parents. Grace is not tied to families, but yet the Lord delights to bless to a thousand generations. Very far are we from believing that the new birth is of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man. The will of God reigns here supreme and absolute; but yet there is a sweet fitness in the passing on of holy loyalty from grandsire to father, and from father to son. I like to feel that I serve God "from my fathers." If our fathers were wrong we ought boldly to dissent from them, and obey God rather than man; but where they are right we are bound to follow them. I stood in a sort of dream as I gazed upon my much-beloved grandfather's place of sepulture. I was encouraged by seeing the record of his fifty-four years of service in the midst of one church and people, and I rejoiced that, could he rise from the dead, he would find his grandson preaching that self-same old-fashioned and much-despised Calvinistic doctrine of the grace of God, which was his joy in life and his comfort in death. A godly ancestry casts responsibility upon young people. These Ephraims and Manassehs perceive that their fathers knew the Lord, and the question arises, Why should they not know Him? Beloved young friends, the God of your fathers will be found of you and be your God. The prayers of your fathers have gone before you; let them be followed by your own. Be hopeful of being heard at that mercy-seat where they found grace to help in every time of need. They died in the hope that you would fill their places; shall not their hopes become facts? Do I speak to some who have godly parents in Heaven, and yet they are themselves pursuing the ways of sin or of worldliness? Registered upon that file are your mother's prayers. I trust they will yet be heard. Even now they stand like a hedge about you, making it hard work for you to go to hell. Will you force your way to perdition over a father's grave? Will you, by a desperate effort, push aside your pleading mother's form, and pursue your dreadful road to ruin? If so, you will involve yourselves in tremendous guilt. I beseech you hear the tender voice of love which now invites you to be blest! A godly ancestry should invest a man's case with great hopefulness. May he not argue, "If God blessed my ancestors, why should He not bless me? If they sought mercy, and found it, why should not I? My father and my mother were not perfect, any more than I am; but they had faith in God, and He accepted them and helped them. If I have faith in God He will accept me, and be faithful to me. They were saved as sinners trusting in the blood of Jesus, and why should not I?" I beseech you put this argument to the test, and you will find it hold good.