June 29

Arise, he calleth thee. - Mark 10:49.

WHEN our Saviour was passing along the road, a blind man who sat by the wayside begging cried out, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me.” And he stood still, and commanded him to be brought; and the multitude then said to the man, “arise, he calleth thee.” It is just the same with regard to many things now. He is thus calling many now. A season of affliction is a time in which he may be now, as he often has been, found. And how concerned we should be not to suffer such a season to pass unseized and unimproved. Do we feel our purposes broken off? even the thoughts of our hearts, and all our worldly schemes laid bare? We are thus addressed: “Arise, he calleth thee;” and by these things he bids us to arise and depart hence, to turn from the world, which is vanity and vexation of Spirit, and seek “a better, even a heavenly country;” and seek to know that we have in ourselves “a better and an enduring substance.” When invaded by sickness, it is still, “Arise, he calleth thee,” for by this messenger of mortality he says, “now you see there is but a step betwixt you and death;” now “the Judge standeth at the door;” or when bereaved of beloved connections, these bereaving providences say to us, “Arise, he calleth thee.” Yes, he now says:

“Why should this earth delight you so,

Why should you fix your eyes

On these low grounds where sorrows grow,

And every pleasure dies?”

When these are saying to us, “You see your idol now, what can it do for you?” then may we say, “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” And when we see Christians supported under their trials, that they are happy without those things after which the multitude are so eagerly pursuing; that while others are saying, “Who will show us any good?” they have found it, and have acquainted themselves with God, and are at peace- by these we are also addressed, “arise, he calleth thee.” Let these, he in affect says, let these be instances and examples of my sustaining and supporting grace, to excite and encourage you.

O when we are alone, when God comes to us, as he did to Adam, “in the cool of the day;” when our heart, by these trials, is softened, and when powerfully impressed by the word we have been hearing, why then are we also thus addressed: “Arise, he calleth thee.” O then may we say, “Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.” “Lord, I am thine, save me.”