Pearls From Philpot

Man's religion & God's religion

Man's religion is to build up the creature.

God's religion is to throw the creature down in

the dust of self-abasement, and to glorify Christ.

What a mystery are you!

"So I find this law at work--When I want to do

good, evil is right there with me." Rom. 7:21

Are you not often a mystery to yourself?

Warm one moment--cold the next!

Abasing yourself one hour--

exalting yourself the following!

Loving the world, full of it, steeped up to

your head in it today--crying, groaning, and

sighing for a sweet manifestation of the love

of God tomorrow!

Brought down to nothingness, covered with

shame and confusion, on your knees before

you leave your room--filled with pride and self

importance before you have got down stairs!

Despising the world, and willing to give it all

up for one taste of the love of Jesus when in

solitude--trying to grasp it with both hands

when in business!

What a mystery are you!

Touched by love--and stung with hatred!

Possessing a little wisdom--and a great deal of folly!

Earthly minded--and yet having the affections in heaven!

Pressing forward--and lagging behind!

Full of sloth--and yet taking the kingdom with violence!

And thus the Spirit, by a process which we may feel

but cannot adequately describe--leads us into the

mystery of the two natures perpetually struggling

and striving against each other in the same bosom.

So that one man cannot more differ from another,

than the same man differs from himself.

But the mystery of the kingdom of heaven is this--

that our carnal mind undergoes no alteration, but

maintains a perpetual war with grace. And thus,

the deeper we sink in self abasement under a

sense of our vileness, the higher we rise in a

knowledge of Christ, and the blacker we are in

our own view--the more lovely does Jesus appear.

What stupid blockheads!

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.

Matthew 15:16

What lessons we need day by day to teach

us anything aright, and how it is for the most

part, "line upon line, line upon line--here a

little, and there a little." O . . .

what slow learners!

what dull, forgetful scholars!

what ignoramuses!

what stupid blockheads!

what stubborn pupils!

Surely no scholar at a school, old or young,

could learn so little of natural things as we seem

to have learned of spiritual things after . . .

so many years instruction,

so many chapters read,

so many sermons heard, so many prayers put up,

so much talking about religion.

How small, how weak is the amount of

growth--compared with all we have read

and heard and talked about!

But it is a mercy that the Lord saves whom

He will save--and that we are saved by free

grace--and free grace alone!

Take me as I am with all my sin and shame

"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;

save me, and I shall be saved." Jer. 17:14

Here is this sin! Save me from it!

Here is this snare! Break it to pieces!

Here is this lust! Lord, subdue it!

Here is this temptation! Deliver me out of it!

Here is my proud heart! Lord, humble it!

Here is my unbelieving heart! Take it away,

and give me faith; give me submission to

Your mind and will.

Take me as I am with all my sin and

shame and work in me everything well

pleasing in Your sight.

Nothing but a huge clod of dust

"Set your affection on things above--not

on things on the earth." Colossians 3:2

Everything upon earth, as viewed by the eyes

of the Majesty of heaven--is base and paltry.

Earth is after all, nothing but a huge clod of

dust, and as such, as insignificant in the eyes

of its Maker as the small dust of the balance,

or the drop of the bucket.

What, then, are . . .

its highest objects,

its loftiest aims,

its grandest pursuits,

its noblest employments,

in the sight of Him who inhabits

eternity; but base and worthless?

Vanity is stamped on all earth's attainments.

All earthly pursuits and high accomplishments . . .

wealth,

rank,

learning,

power, or

pleasure,

end in death!

The breath of God's displeasure soon

lays low in the grave all that is rich

and mighty, high and proud.

But that effectual work of grace on the heart,

whereby the chosen vessels of mercy are

delivered from the power of darkness and

translated into the kingdom of God's dear

Son, calls them out of . . .

those low, groveling pursuits,

those earthly toys,

those base and sensual lusts in which other

men seek at once their happiness and their ruin.

How can they escape?

"He will keep the feet of His saints."

1 Samuel 2:9

The Lord sees His poor scattered pilgrims

traveling through a valley of tears--journeying

through a waste-howling wilderness--a path

beset with baits, traps, and snares in every

direction.

How can they escape?

Why, the Lord 'keeps their feet'. He carries them

through every rough place--as a tender parent

carries a little child. When about to fall--He

graciously lays His everlasting arms underneath

them. And when tottering and stumbling, and

their feet ready to slip--He mercifully upholds

them from falling altogether.

But do you think that He has not different ways

for different feet? The God of creation has not

made two flowers, nor two leaves upon a tree

alike--and will He cause all His people to walk

in precisely the same path? No. We have . . .

each our path,

each our troubles,

each our trials,

each peculiar traps and snares laid for our feet.

And the wisdom of the all-wise God is shown by His

eyes being in every place--marking the footsteps of

every pilgrim--suiting His remedies to meet their

individual case and necessity--appearing for them

when nobody else could do them any good--watching

so tenderly over them, as though the eyes of His

affection were bent on one individual--and carefully

noting the goings of each, as though all the powers

of the Godhead were concentrated on that one

person to keep him from harm!

God will meet all your needs

"And my God will meet all your needs according

to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19

Until we are brought into the depths of poverty,

we shall never know nor value Christ's riches.

If, then, you are a child of God, a poor and

needy soul, a tempted and tried believer in

Christ, "God will meet all your needs."

They may be very great.

It may seem to you, sometimes, as though there

were not upon all the face of the earth such a

wretch as you--as though there never could be

a child of God in your state . . .

so dark,

so stupid,

so blind and ignorant,

so proud and worldly,

so presumptuous and hypocritical,

so continually backsliding after idols,

so continually doing things that you

know are hateful in God's sight.

But whatever your need be--it is not beyond the

reach of divine supply! And the deeper your need,

the more is Jesus glorified in supplying it.

Do not say then, that . . .

your case is too bad,

your needs are too many,

your perplexities too great,

your temptations too powerful.

No case can be too bad!

No temptations can be too powerful!

No sin can be too black!

No perplexity can be too hard!

No state in which the soul can get, is beyond

the reach of the almighty and compassionate

love, that burns in the breast of the Redeemer!

That sympathizing, merciful, feeling,

tender, and compassionate heart

"For we do not have a High Priest who is unable

to sympathize with our infirmities." Hebrews 4:15

The child of God, spiritually taught and convinced,

is deeply sensible of his infirmities. Yes, that he is

encompassed with infirmities--that he is nothing else

but infirmities. And therefore the great High Priest

to whom he comes as a burdened sinner--to whom

he has recourse in the depth of his extremity--and

at whose feet he falls overwhelmed with a sense

of his helplessness, sin, misery, and guilt--is so

suitable to him as one able to sympathize with

his infirmities.

We would, if left to our own conceptions, naturally

imagine that Jesus is too holy to look down in

compassion on a filthy, guilty wretch like ourselves.

Surely, surely, He will spurn us from His feet. Surely,

surely, His holy eyes cannot look upon us in our . . .

blood,

guilt,

filth,

wretchedness,

misery,

and shame.

Surely, surely, He cannot bestow . . .

one heart's thought,

one moment's sympathy,

or feel one spark of love

towards those who are so unlike Him.

Nature, sense, and reason would thus argue,

"I must be holy--perfectly holy--for Jesus to love;

I must be pure--perfectly pure--spotless and

sinless, for Jesus to think of. But . . .

that I, a sinful, guilty, defiled wretch;

that I, encompassed with infirmities;

that I, whose heart is a cage of unclean birds;

that I, stained and polluted with a thousand iniquities;

that I can have any inheritance in Him--or that He can

have any love or compassion towards me--nature, sense,

reason, and human religion in all its shapes and forms,

revolts from the idea."

It is as though Jesus specially address Himself to the

poor, burdened child of God who feels his infirmities,

who cannot boast of his own wisdom, strength,

righteousness, and consistency--but is all weakness

and helplessness. It seems as if He would address

Himself to the case of such a helpless wretch--and

pour a sweet cordial into his bleeding conscience.

We, the children of God--we, who each knows his own

plague and his own sore--we, who carry about with us

day by day a body of sin and death, that makes us

lament, sigh, and groan--we, who know painfully what

it is to be encompassed with infirmities--we, who come

to His feet as being nothing and having nothing but sin

and woe--"we do not have a High Priest who is unable

to sympathize with our infirmities," but One who carries

in His bosom that . . .

sympathizing,

merciful,

feeling,

tender, and

compassionate heart.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

"Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so

disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for

I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."

Psalm 42:11

Do you forget, O soul, that the way to heaven

is a very strait and narrow path--too narrow for

you to carry your sins in it with you?

God sees it good that you should be cast down.

You were getting very proud, O soul.

The world had gotten hold of your heart.

You were seeking great things for yourself.

You were secretly roving away from the Lord.

You were too much lifted up in SELF.

The Lord has sent you these trials and difficulties

and allowed these temptations to fall upon you,

to bring you down from your state of false security.

There is reason therefore, even to praise God

for being cast down, and for being so disturbed.

How this opens up parts of God's Word which

you never read before with any feeling.

How it gives you sympathy and communion

with the tried and troubled children of God.

How it weans and separates you from dead professors.

How it brings you in heart and affection,

out of the world that lies in wickedness.

And how it engages your thoughts, time after time,

upon the solemn matters of eternity--instead of being

a prey to every idle thought and imagination, and

tossed up and down upon a sea of vanity and folly.

But, above all, when there is a sweet response from

the Lord, and the power of divine things is inwardly

felt, in enabling us to hope in God, and to praise His

blessed name--then we see the benefit of being cast

down and so repeatedly and continually disturbed.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so

disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for

I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."

Psalm 42:11

Treasure in earthen vessels

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels."

2 Corinthians 4:7

Do not be surprised if you feel that in yourself

you are but an earthen vessel--if you are made

deeply and daily sensible of your frail body.

Do not be surprised . . .

if your clay house is often tottering;

if sickness sometimes assails your mortal tabernacle;

if in your flesh there dwells no good thing;

if your soul often cleaves to the dust; and

if you are unable to retain a sweet sense

of God's goodness and love.

Do not be surprised nor startled . . .

at the corruptions of your depraved nature;

at the depth of sin in your carnal mind;

at the vile abominations which lurk and work

in your deceitful and desperately wicked heart.

Bear in mind that it is the will of God that this

heavenly treasure which makes you rich for

eternity, should be lodged in an earthen vessel.

We have ever to feel our native weakness--and

that without Christ we can do nothing--that we may

be clothed with humility, and feel ourselves the

chief of sinners, and less than the least of all saints.

We thus learn to prize the heights, breadths,

lengths, and depths of the love of Christ, who

stooped so low to raise us up so high!

All trials, all temptations,

all strippings, all emptyings

The very trials and afflictions, and the sore

temptations through which God's family pass,

all eventually endear Christ to them.

And depend upon it, if you are a child of God,

you will sooner or later, in your travels through

this wilderness, find your need of Jesus as "able

to save to the uttermost."

There will be such things in your heart, and such

feelings in your mind--the temptations you will

meet with will be such--that nothing short of a

Savior that is able to save to the uttermost

can save you out of your desperate case and

felt circumstances as utterly lost and helpless.

This a great point to come to. All trials, all

temptations, all strippings, all emptyings

that do not end here are valueless--because

they lead the soul away from God.

But the convictions, the trials, the temptations,

the strippings, the emptyings, that bring us to

this spot--that we have nothing, and can do

nothing, but the Lord alone must do it all--these

have a blessed effect, because they eventually

make Jesus very near and dear unto us.

No fear!

"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Romans 3:18

Those who have every reason to fear as to

their eternal state before God, have for the

most part, no fear at all. They are secure,

and free from doubt and fear.

The depths of human hypocrisy,

the dreadful lengths to which profession may go,

the deceit of the carnal heart,

the snares spread for the unwary feet,

the fearful danger of being deceived at the last;

these traps and pitfalls are not objects of anxiety

to those dead in sin.

As long as they can pacify natural conscience,

and do something to soothe any transient

conviction--they are glad to be deceived!

God does not see fit to disturb their quiet.

He has no purpose of mercy towards them;

they are not subjects of His kingdom;

they are not objects of His love.

He therefore leaves them carnally secure, as

in a dream--from which they will not awake

until the day of judgment.

These difficulties . . .

"From all your idols will I cleanse you." Ezekiel 36:25

When there are no crosses, temptations, or trials,

a man is sure to go out after and cleave to idols.

It matters not what experience he has had. If once he

ceases to be plagued and tried, he will be setting up

his household gods in the secret chambers of his heart.

Profit or pleasure, self-indulgence or self-gratification,

will surely, in one form or another, engross his thoughts,

and steal away his heart.

Nor is there anything too trifling or insignificant to

become an idol. Whatever is meditated on preferably

to God--whatever is desired more than He--whatever

more interests us, pleases us, occupies our waking

hours, or is more constantly in our mind--becomes

an idol, and a source of sin.

It is not the magnitude of the idol, but its existence

as an object of worship--that constitutes idolatry. I have

seen some 'Burmese idols' not much larger than my hand;

and I have seen some 'Egyptian idols' weighing many tons.

But both were equally idols--and the comparative size had

nothing to do with the question.

So spiritually, an idol is not to be measured by its size,

or its relative importance or non-importance. A flower may

be as much an idol to one man, as a chest full of gold to

another.

If you watch your heart, you will see idols rising and setting

all day long, nearly as thickly as the stars by night.

But God sends . . .

trials,

difficulties,

temptations,

besetments,

losses,

afflictions,

to pull down these idols--or rather

to pull away our hearts from them.

These difficulties . . .

pull us out of fleshly ease,

make us cry for mercy,

pull down all rotten props,

hunt us out of false refuges, and

strip us of vain hopes and delusive expectations.

Idolatry!

"They tell how you turned to God from idols

to serve the living and true God." 1 Thes. 1:9

Nothing is too small or too insignificant

which, at times, may not be an idol.

What is an idol?

Something my carnal mind loves.

How may I know whether my carnal mind loves it?

When we think of it, and are very much pleased with

it. We pet it, love and fondle it, dallying and playing

with it, like a mother with her babe. See how she

takes the little thing and gazes at it. Her eyes are

fixed on it--she dotes upon it because she loves it.

Thus we may know an idol if we examine our own

hearts--by what our imagination, desires and secret

thoughts are going out after.

Instead of being spiritually minded, having his

heart and affections in heaven, he has something

in his mind which it is going out after--something

or other laying hold of the affections.

The child of God has, more or less, all these evil

propensities working within. There is idolatry in

every man's heart. How deep this idolatry is

rooted in a man's heart! How it steals upon his

soul! Whatever is indulged in--how it creeps over

him, until it gets such power that it becomes master.

A man does not know himself--if he does not

know what power this idolatry has over him.

None but God can make the man know it--and

when the Lord delivers him, he then turns to

God and says, "What a vile wretch I have been!

What a monster to go after these idols, loving

this thing, and that. A wretch--a monster of

iniquity, the vilest wretch that ever crawled

on the face of God's earth--for my wicked

heart to go out after these idols!"

When the soul is brought down to a sense of its

vileness and loathsomeness--and God's patience

and forbearance--it turns to God from idols, to

serve the only living and true God, who pardons

the idolater.

Through the inward conflicts,

secret workings

Through the inward conflicts, secret workings,

mysterious changes, and ever-varying exercises

of his soul, the true Christian becomes established

in a deep experience of . . .

his own folly and God's wisdom,

his own weakness and Christ's strength,

his own sinfulness and the Lord's goodness,

his own backslidings and the Spirit's recoveries,

his own base ingratitude and Jehovah's patience,

the aboundings of sin and the super-aboundings of grace.

He thus becomes daily more and more confirmed in . . .

the vanity of the creature,

the utter helplessness of man,

the deceitfulness and hypocrisy of the human heart,

the sovereignty of distinguishing grace,

the fewness of heaven-taught ministers,

the scanty number of living souls,

and the great rareness of true religion.

Wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores

"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there

is no soundness in it--but only wounds, and bruises,

and putrefying sores. They have not been closed,

neither bound up, neither soothed with ointment."

Isaiah 1:5-6

Every thought, word, and action is polluted by sin.

Every mental faculty is depraved.

The will chooses evil.

The affections cleave to earthly things.

The memory, like a broken sieve,

retains the bad and lets fall the good.

The judgment, like a bribed or drunken judge,

pronounces mindless or wrong decisions.

The conscience, like an opium eater, lies

asleep and drugged in stupefied silence.

When all these 'master faculties of the mind' are

so drunken and disorderly--need we wonder that

the bodily members are a godless, rebellious crew?

Lusts call out for gratification.

Unbelief and infidelity murmur.

Tempers growl and mutter.

Every bad passion strives hard for the mastery.

O the evils of the human heart, which, let loose,

have filled earth with misery, and hell with victims;

which deluged the world with the flood--burnt

Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven--and

are ripening the world for the final conflagration!

Every sin which . . .

has made this fair earth a 'present hell';

has filled the air with groans; and

has drenched the ground with blood;

dwells in your heart and mine!

Now, as this is opened up to the conscience by the

Spirit of God--we feel indeed to be of all men most

sinful and miserable--and of all most guilty, polluted,

and vile. But it is this--and nothing but this--which

cuts to pieces our 'fleshly righteousness, wisdom, and

strength'--which slays our delusive hopes--and lays us

low at the footstool of mercy--without one good thought,

word, or action to propitiate an angry Judge.

It is this which brings the soul to this point--

that if saved, it can only be saved by the

free grace, sovereign mercy, and tender

compassion of Almighty God.

The wilderness wanderer

"They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary

way; they found no city to dwell in." Psalm 107:4

The true Christian finds this world to be a wilderness.

There is no change in the world itself.

The change is in the man's heart.

The wilderness wanderer thinks it altered--a

different world from what he has hitherto known . . .

his friends,

his own family,

the employment in which he is daily engaged,

the general pursuits of men--

their cares and anxieties,

their hopes and prospects,

their amusements and pleasures, and

what I may call 'the general din and whirl of life',

all seem to him different to what they were--and

for a time perhaps he can scarcely tell whether the

change is in them, or in himself.

This however is the prominent and uppermost feeling

in his mind--that he finds himself, to his surprise--a

wanderer in a world which has changed altogether its

appearance to him. The fair, beautiful world, in which was

all his happiness and all his home--has become to him

a dreary wilderness.

Sin has been fastened in its conviction on his conscience.

The Holy Spirit has taken the veil of unbelief and ignorance

off his heart. He now sees the world in a wholly different

light-and instead of a paradise it has become a wilderness--

for sin, dreadful sin, has marred all its beauty and happiness.

It is not because the world itself has changed that the Christian

feels it to be a wilderness--but because he himself has changed.

There is nothing in this world which can really gratify or satisfy

the true Christian. What once was to him a happy and joyous

world has now become a barren wilderness.

The scene of his former . . .

pursuits,

pleasures,

habits,

delights,

prospects,

hopes,

anticipations of profit or happiness--

is now turned into a barren wasteland.

He cannot perhaps tell how or why the change has

taken place, but he feels it--deeply feels it. He may

try to shake off his trouble and be a little cheerful

and happy as he was before--but if he gets a little

imaginary relief, all his guilty pangs come back upon

him with renewed strength and increased violence.

God means to make the world a wilderness to every

child of His, that he may not find his happiness in it,

but be a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth.

Temptation

"The Lord knows how to deliver the godly

out of temptations." 2 Peter 2:9

Few will sincerely and spiritually go to the Lord,

and cry from their hearts to be delivered from the

power of a temptation--until it presses so weightily

upon their conscience, and lies so heavy a burden

upon their soul, that none but God can remove it.

But when we really feel the burden of a temptation;

when, though our flesh may love it, our spirit hates

it--when, though there may be in our carnal mind a

cleaving to it, our conscience bleeds under it, and

we are brought spiritually to loathe it and to loathe

ourselves for it--when we are enabled to go to the

Lord in real sincerity of soul and honesty of heart,

beseeching Him to deliver us from it--I believe, that

the Lord will, sooner or later, either remove that

temptation entirely in His providence or by His grace,

or so weaken its power that it shall cease to be what

it was before, drawing our feet into paths of darkness

and evil.

As long, however, as we are in that state of which

the prophet speaks, "Their heart is divided--now

shall they be found faulty" (Hosea 10:2)--as long

as we are in that carnal, wavering mind, which James

describes--"A double minded man is unstable in all

his ways;" as long as we are hankering after the

temptation, casting longing, lingering side glances

after it, rolling it as a sweet morsel under our tongue;

and though conscience may testify against it, yet not

willing to have it taken away, there is . . .

no hearty cry,

nor sigh,

nor spiritual breathing of our soul,

that God would remove it from us.

But when we are brought, as in the presence of a heart-

searching God, to hate the evil to which we are tempted;

and cry to Him that He would--for His honor and for our

soul's good--take the temptation away, or dull and

deaden its power--sooner or later the Lord will hear

the cry of those who groan to be delivered from those

temptations, which are so powerfully pressing them

down to the dust.

Idling life away like an idiot or a madman

When one is spiritually reborn, he

sees at one and the same moment . . .

God and self,

justice and guilt,

power and helplessness,

a holy law and a broken commandment,

eternity and time,

the purity of the Creator, and

the filthiness of the creature.

And these things he sees--not merely as

declared in the Bible--but as revealed in

himself as personal realities, involving all

his happiness or all his misery in time and

in eternity. Thus it is with him as though

a new existence had been communicated,

and as if for the first time he had found

there was a God!

It is as though all his days he had been asleep,

and were now awakened--asleep upon the top of

a mast, with the raging waves beneath--as if all

his past life were a dream, and the dream were

now at an end. He has been . . .

hunting butterflies,

blowing soap bubbles,

fishing for minnows,

picking daisies,

building houses of cards, and

idling life away like an idiot or a madman.

He had been perhaps wrapped up in a religious

profession--advanced even to the office of a deacon,

or mounted in a pulpit. He had learned to talk about

Christ, and election, and grace, and fill his mouth

with the language of Zion.

But what did he experimentally know of these

things? Nothing, absolutely nothing!

Ignorant of his own ignorance (of all kinds of

ignorance the worst)--he thought himself rich,

and increased with goods, and to have need of

nothing--and knew not that he was wretched,

and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

This wily devil!

What a foe to one's peace is one's own spirit!

What shall I call it? It is often an infernal spirit.

Why? Because it bears the mark of Satan upon it.

The pride of our spirit,

the presumption of our spirit,

the hypocrisy of our spirit,

the intense selfishness of our spirit,

are often hidden from us.

This wily devil, SELF, can wear such

masks and assume such forms!

This serpent, SELF, can so creep and crawl,

can so twist and turn, and can disguise itself

under such false appearances--that it is often

hidden from ourselves.

Who is the greatest enemy we have to fear? We all

have our enemies. But who is our greatest enemy?

He whom you carry in your own bosom--your daily,

hourly, and unmovable companion, who entwines

himself in nearly every thought of your heart--who . . .

sometimes puffs up with pride,

sometimes inflames with lust,

sometimes inflates with presumption, and

sometimes works under pretend humility and fleshly holiness.

God is determined to stain the pride of human glory.

He will never let SELF, (which is but another word for

the creature,) wear the crown of victory. It must be

crucified, denied, and mortified.

To bathe in the ocean of endless bliss!

"Blessed are those whose strength is in You,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, ("weeping")

they make it a place of springs;

the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength,

until each appears before God in Zion."

Psalm 84:5-7

Every living soul that has been experimentally taught

his lost condition--that has known something of a resting

place in Christ--that has turned his back upon both the

world and the professing church--and gone weeping

Zionward, that he may . . .

live in Jesus

feel His power,

taste His love,

know His blood,

rejoice in His grace;

every such soul shall, like Israel of old, be borne safely

through this waste howling wilderness--shall be carried

through this valley of tears--and taken to enjoy eternal

bliss and glory in the presence of Jesus--to bathe in the

ocean of endless bliss!

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty!

"Your eyes will see the King in His beauty!"

Isaiah 33:17

Where in heaven or on earth can there be found such

a lovely Object as the Son of God? If you have never

seen any beauty in Jesus . . .

you have never seen Jesus,

He has never revealed Himself to you,

you never had a glimpse of His lovely face,

nor a sense of His presence,

nor a word from His lips,

nor a touch from His hand.

But if you have seen Him by the eye of faith--and

He has revealed Himself to you even in a small

measure--you have seen a beauty in Him beyond

all other beauties, for it is . . .

a holy beauty,

a divine beauty,

the beauty of His heavenly grace,

the beauty of His uncreated and eternal glory.

How beautiful and glorious does He show Himself to be

in His atoning blood and dying love. Even as sweating

great drops of blood in Gethsemane's gloomy garden,

and as hanging in torture and agony upon Calvary's

cross--faith can see a beauty in the glorious Redeemer,

even in the lowest depths of ignominy and shame!

"How is your Beloved better than others?"

"My Beloved is dark and dazzling, better

than ten thousand others!" Song 5:9-10

Can the Ethiopian change his skin?

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the

leopard its spots? Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil."

Jeremiah 13:23

Before the soul can know anything about salvation,

it must learn deeply and experimentally the nature of

sin--and of itself, as stained and polluted by sin.

The soul is proud--and needs to be humbled.

The soul is careless--and needs to be awakened.

The soul is alive--and needs to be killed.

The soul is full--and requires to be emptied.

The soul is whole--and needs to be wounded.

The soul is clothed--and requires to be stripped.

The soul is, by nature . . .

self-righteous,

self-seeking,

buried deep in worldliness and carnality,

utterly blind and ignorant,

filled with . . .

presumption,

arrogance,

conceit,

and enmity.

It hates all that is heavenly and spiritual.

Sin, in all its various forms, is its natural element.

To make man the direct opposite of what he originally is . . .

to make him love God--instead of hating Him;

to make him fear God--instead of mocking Him;

to make him obey God--instead of rebelling against Him;

to make him to tremble at His dreadful majesty--

instead of defiantly charging against Him;

to do this mighty work, and to effect this wonderful

change--requires the implantation of a new nature by

the immediate hand of God Himself!

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the

leopard its spots? Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil."

Jeremiah 13:23

That Heavenly Teacher

We do not learn that we are sinners merely

by reading it in the Bible. It must be wrought--

I might say, burnt into us.

Nor will anyone sincerely and spiritually cry for

mercy--until sin is spiritually felt and known . . .

in its misery,

in its dominion,

in its guilt,

in its entanglements,

in its wiles and allurements,

in its filth and pollution, and

in its condemnation.

Where the Holy Spirit works, He kindles . . .

sighs,

groans,

supplications,

wrestlings, and pleadings

to know Christ, feel His love, taste the efficacy

of His atoning blood, and embrace Him as all

our salvation and all our desire.

And though there may, and doubtless will be,

much barrenness, hardness, deadness, and

apparent carelessness often felt--still that

heavenly Teacher will revive His work--though

often by painful methods--nor will He let the

quickened soul rest short of a personal and

experimental enjoyment of Christ and His

glorious salvation.

Preserving grace before regeneration

"To those who have been called,

who are loved by God the Father

and preserved in Jesus Christ."

Jude 1

What a mercy it is for God's people that before

they have a 'vital union' with Christ--before they

are grafted into Him experimentally--they have an

'eternal, immanent union' with Him before all worlds.

It is by virtue of this eternal union that they come

into the world . . .

at such a time,

at such a place,

from such parents,

under such circumstances,

as God has appointed.

It is by virtue of this eternal union that the circumstances

of their lives are ordained. By virtue of this eternal union

they are preserved in Christ before they are effectually

called.

They cannot die until God has brought about a vital

union with Christ!

Whatever sickness they may pass through--whatever

injuries they may be exposed to--whatever perils assault

them on sea or land--die they will not, die they cannot;

until God's purposes are executed in bringing them into

a vital union with the Son of His love.

Thus, this eternal union watched over every circumstance

of their birth, watched over their childhood, watched over

their manhood, watched over them until the appointed

time and spot, when "the God of all grace," according to

His eternal purpose, was pleased to quicken their souls,

and thus bring about an experimental union with the Lord

of life and glory.

Free!

"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

John 8:36

To be made free implies a liberty from the WORLD

and the spirit of covetousness in the heart. If we

were to follow into their shops some who talk much

of 'gospel liberty', we might find that the world's

fetter had not been struck off their heart--that they

had a 'golden' chain, though invisible to their own

eyes, very closely wrapped round their heart.

And there is a being made free from the power of SIN.

I greatly fear, if we could follow into their holes and

corners, and secret chambers, many who prattle about

gospel liberty, we would find that sin had not yet lost

its hold upon them, that there was some secret or open

sin that entangled them, that there was . . .

some lust,

some passion,

some evil temper,

some wretched pride or other,

that wound its fetters very close round their heart.

And also there is a being made free from SELF . . .

proud self,

presumptuous self,

self-exalting self, flesh-pleasing self,

hypocritical self,

self in all its various shapes and turns,

self in all its crooked hypocrisy and windings.

"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

These fugitive, transitory things

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man

who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:17

There is a reality in true religion, and indeed,

rightly viewed, a reality in nothing else. For every

other thing passes away like a dream of the night,

and comes to an end like a tale that is told. Now

you cannot say of a thing that passes away and

comes to an end--that it is real. It may have the

appearance of reality--when in fact it is but a shadow.

Money, jewels, pictures, books, furniture, securities,

are transitory. Money may be spent, jewels be lost,

books be burnt, furniture decay, pictures vanish by

time and age, securities be stolen.

Nothing is real but that which has an abiding substance.

Health decays,

strength diminishes,

beauty flees the cheek,

sight and hearing grow dim,

the mind itself gets feeble,

riches make to themselves wings and flee away,

children die,

friends depart,

old age creeps on,

and life itself comes to a close.

These fugitive, transitory things are then mere shadows.

There is no substance, no enduring substance in them. They

are for time, and are useful for a time. Like our daily food

and clothing, house and home--they support and solace us

in our journey through life. But there they stop--when life

ends they end with it.

But real religion--and by this I understand the work of God

upon the soul--abides in death and after death, goes with

us through the dark valley, and lands us safe in a blessed

eternity. It is, therefore, the only thing in this world of

which we can say that it is real.

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man

who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:17

A sad motley mixture

(The following is an excerpt from Philpot's letter to

a church which desired him to come as their pastor)

"I am less than the least of all God's people."

Ephesians 3:8

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;

of whom I am the worst." 1 Timothy 1:15

Many are foolishly apt to think that a minister is more

spiritual than anyone else. But I am daily more and more

sensible of the desperate wickedness of my deceitful heart,

and my miserable ruined state as a sinner by nature and by

practice. I feel utterly unworthy of the name of a Christian,

and to be ranked among the followers of the Lamb.

I have no desire to palm myself off on any church, as

though I were anything. I am willing to take a low place.

The more you see of me, you will be sure to find out more of

my infirmities, failings, waywardness, selfishness, obstinacy,

and evil temper. I am carnal, very proud, very foolish in

imagination, very slothful, very worldly, dark, stupid, blind,

unbelieving and ignorant.

I cannot but confess that I am a strange compound--a sad

motley mixture of all the most hateful and abominable vices

that rise up within me, and face me at every turn.

When You shall enlarge my heart.

"I will run the way of Your commandments, when

You shall enlarge my heart." Psalm 119:32

The Word of God is full of precepts--but we are totally

unable to perform them in our own strength. We cannot,

without divine assistance, perform the precept . . .

with a single eye to the glory of God,

from heavenly motives, and

in a way acceptable to the Lord,

without special power from on high.

We need an extraordinary power to be put forth in our

hearts--a special work of the Spirit upon the conscience,

in order to spiritually fulfill in the slightest degree, the

least of God's commandments.

None but the Lord Himself can enlarge the heart

of His people. None but the Lord can expand their

hearts Godwards, and remove that narrowedness

and contractedness in divine things--which is the

plague and burden of a God-fearing soul.

When the Lord is absent,

when He hides His lovely face,

when He does not draw near to visit and bless,

the heart contracts in its own narrow compass.

But when the Lord is pleased to favor the soul with His

own gracious presence, and bring Himself near to the

heart, His felt presence opens, enlarges, and expands

the soul--so as to receive Him in all His love and grace.

Our refuge!

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my

deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take

refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my

salvation--my stronghold." Psalm 18:2

On every side are hosts of enemies ever

invading our souls--trampling down every

good thing in our hearts--accompanied by

a flying troop of temptations, doubts, fears,

guilt and bondage sweeping over our soul.

And we, as regards our own strength,

are helpless against them.

But there is a refuge set before us in the

gospel of the grace of God. The Lord Jesus

Christ, as King in Zion, is there held up

before our eyes as . . .

the Rock of our refuge,

our strong Tower,

our impregnable Fortress;

and we are encouraged by every precious promise

and every gospel invitation when we are overrun

and distressed by these wandering, ravaging,

plundering tribes--to flee unto and find a safe

refuge in Him.

"Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge."

Psalm 16:1

"O Lord my God, I take refuge in You; save

and deliver me from all who pursue me."

Psalm 7:1

Supernatural light

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out

of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give

the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in

the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6

Until, then, this supernatural light of God

enters into the soul, a man has no saving

knowledge of Jehovah. He may . . .

say his prayers,

read his Bible, attend preaching,

observe ordinances,

bestow all his goods to feed the poor,

or give his body to be burned;

but he is as ignorant of God as

the cattle that graze in the fields!

He may--call himself a Christian, and be

thought such by others--talk much about

Jesus Christ, hold a sound creed--maintain

a consistent profession--pray at a prayer

meeting with fluency and apparent feeling,

stand up in a pulpit and contend earnestly

for the doctrines of grace--excel hundreds

of God's children in zeal, knowledge and

conversation.

And yet, if this ray of supernatural light has

never shone into his soul--he is only twofold

more the child of hell than those who make

no profession!

Little heathen?

(from Philpot's biography, written by his son)

There was nothing my father mistrusted more

than 'childhood piety.' He insisted that children

should never be taught or allowed to use the

language of 'personal possession' in reference

to God. To sing, for instance, "Rock of Ages,

cleft for ME" or, "MY Jesus".

Herein he was most logical. For by early influence

and example you can train up a child to be . . .

a little patriot,

a little Catholic,

a little Calvinist, or

a little Bolshevist.

But no power on earth can make him a child of God.

He took great care that we, his children, attended

the means of grace, and never missed chapel or

family prayers. But he never expected us to be

anything but little heathen. We had, it is true,

to be well behaved little heathen. If not, we got

"the stick", or its equivalent.

"Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the

flesh, nor of the will of man--but of God." John 1:13

My desire is . . .

to exalt the grace of God;

to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone;

to declare the sinfulness, helplessness and

hopelessness of man in a state of nature;

to describe the living experience of the

children of God in their . . .

trials,

temptations,

sorrows,

consolations

and blessings.

And how is he lost?

"O visit me with Your salvation." Psalm 106:4

Salvation only suits the condemned--the lost.

A man must be lost--utterly lost--before he

can prize God's salvation.

And how is he lost? By . . .

losing all his religion,

losing all his righteousness,

losing all his strength,

losing all his confidence,

losing all his hopes,

losing all that is of the flesh;

losing it by its being taken from him,

and stripped away by the hand of God.

Wearied, torn, and half expiring

The poor sheep has gone astray; and having

once left the fold, it is pretty sure to have gotten

into some strange place or other. It has fallen

down a rock--or has rolled into a ditch--or is

hidden beneath a bush--or has crept into a

cave--or is lying in some deep, distant ravine,

where none but an experienced eye and hand

can find it out.

Just so with the Lord's lost sheep. They

get into strange places. They . . .

fall off rocks,

slip into holes,

hide among the bushes, and

sometimes creep off to die in caverns.

When the sheep has gone astray, the shepherd

goes after it to find it. Here he sees a footprint;

there a little lock of wool torn off by the thorns.

Every nook he searches--into every corner he looks-

until at last he finds the poor sheep wearied, torn,

and half expiring, with scarcely strength enough to

groan forth its misery. The shepherd does not beat

it home, nor thrust the goad into its back--but he

gently takes it up, lays it upon his shoulder, and

brings it home rejoicing.

I am weak and ignorant, full of sin

I am weak and ignorant, full of sin and

compassed with infirmity. But I bless God

that He has in some measure shown me

the power of eternal things, and by free

and sovereign grace stopped me in that

career of vanity and sin in which, to all

outward appearance, I was fast hurrying

down to the chambers of death.

By the grace of God

"By the grace of God I am what I am."

1 Cor. 15:10

What but sovereign grace--rich, free and

super-abounding grace--has made the

difference between you and the world

who cannot receive Him?

But for His divine operations upon your

soul, you would still be of the world, hardening

your heart against everything good and godlike,

walking on in the pride and ignorance of unbelief

and self-righteousness, until you sank down into

the chambers of death!

The outpouring of the everlasting wrath of God

"The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

Isaiah 53:6

What heart can conceive, what tongue express

what the holy soul of Christ endured when "the

Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all?"

In the garden of Gethsemane . . .

what a load of guilt,

what a weight of sin,

what an intolerable burden of the wrath of God,

did that sacred humanity endure, until the pressure

of sorrow and woe forced the drops of blood to fall

as sweat from His brow!

When the blessed Lord was made sin (or a sin offering)

for us, He endured in His holy soul all the pangs of . . .

distress,

horror,

alarm,

misery, and

guilt that all the elect would have felt in hell forever

as they would have experienced under the outpouring

of the everlasting wrath of God . . .

the anguish,

the distress,

the darkness,

the condemnation,

the shame,

the guilt,

the unutterable horror.

What heart can conceive--what tongue express--the

bitter anguish which must have wrung the soul of our

suffering Substitute under this agonizing experience?

Struggling against the power of sin?

How many poor souls are struggling against the

power of sin, and yet never get any victory over it!

How many are daily led captive by . . .

the lusts of the flesh,

the love of the world,

and the pride of life,

and never get any victory over them!

How many fight and grapple with tears, vows,

and strong resolutions against their besetting

sins, who are still entangled and overcome by

them again and again! Now, why is this?

Because they do not know the secret of spiritual

strength against, and spiritual victory over them.

It is only by virtue of a living union with the

Lord Jesus Christ--drinking into His sufferings

and death--and receiving out of His fullness,

that we can gain any victory over . . .

the world,

sin,

death,

or hell.

Sin is never really or effectually subdued in any other way.

It is not by legalistic strivings and earnest resolutions,

vows, and tears--the vain struggle of 'religious flesh'

to subdue 'sinful flesh'--that can overcome sin.

But it is by a believing acquaintance with, and a

spiritual entrance into the sufferings and sorrows

of the Son of God--having a living faith in Him,

and receiving out of His fullness supplies of grace

and strength.

The anointing

"But the anointing which you have received from

Him abides in you." 1 John 2:27

All the powers of earth and hell are combined against

this holy anointing, with which the children of God are

so highly favored. But if God has locked up in the bosom

of a saint one drop of this divine unction, that one drop

is armor against . . .

all the assaults of sin,

all the attacks of Satan,

all the enmity of self, and

all the charms, pleasures, and amusements of the world.

Waves and billows of affliction may roll over the soul--

but they cannot wash away this holy drop of anointing oil.

Satan may shoot a thousand fiery darts to inflame all

the combustible material of our carnal mind--but all his

fiery darts cannot burn up that one drop of oil which

God has laid up in the depths of a broken spirit.

The world, with all its charms and pleasures, and its

deadly opposition to the truth of God, may stir up waves

of ungodliness against this holy anointing--but all the

powers of earth combined can never extinguish that

one drop which God has Himself lodged in the depths

of a believer's heart.

And so it has been with all the dear saints of God.

Not all their . . .

sorrows,

backslidings,

slips,

falls,

miseries, and

wretchedness,

have ever--all combined, drunk up the anointing that

God has bestowed upon them. If sin could have done

it--we would have sinned ourselves into hell long ago;

and if the world or Satan could have destroyed it or

us--they would long ago have destroyed both. If our

carnal mind could have done it--it would have swept

us away into floods of destruction.

But the anointing abides sure, and cannot be destroyed;

and where once lodged in the soul, it is secure against

all the assaults of earth, sin, and hell.

"But the anointing which you have received from

Him abides in you." 1 John 2:27

Can I be a child of God, and be thus?

Perhaps you are a poor, tempted creature--and

your daily sorrow, your continual trouble is that

you are so soon overcome--that . . .

your temper,

your lusts,

your pride,

your worldliness, and

your carnal, corrupt heart

are perpetually getting the mastery.

And from this you sometimes draw bitter conclusions.

You say, in the depth of your heart, "Can I be a child

of God, and be thus? What mark have I of being in

favor with God when I am so easily--so continually

overcome?"

But the Spirit reveals Christ--taking of the things of

Christ, and showing them unto us--applying the word

with power to our hearts, and bringing the sweetness,

reality, and blessedness of divine things into our soul.

It is only in this way that He overcomes all unbelief

and infidelity, doubt and fear, and sweetly assures

us that all is well between God and the soul.

Faith keeps eyeing the atonement--faith looks not

so much to sin, as to salvation from sin--at the way

whereby sin is pardoned, overcome, and subdued.

The truth shall make you free!

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall

make you free!" John 8:32

To a spiritual mind, sweet and self-rewarding is the task, if

task it can be called, of searching the Word as for hidden

treasure. No sweeter, no better employment can engage

heart and hands than, in the spirit of prayer and meditation,

of separation from the world, of holy fear, of a desire to

know the will of God and do it, of humility, simplicity,

and godly sincerity--to seek to enter into those heavenly

mysteries which are stored up in the Scriptures--and this,

not to furnish the head with notions, but to feed the

soul with the bread of life.

Truth, received in the love and power of it . . .

informs and establishes the judgment,

softens and melts the heart,

warms and draws upward the affections,

makes and keeps the conscience alive and tender;

is the food of faith,

is the strength of hope,

is the main-spring of love.

To know the truth is to be made blessedly free . . .

free from error;

free from the vile heresies which everywhere abound;

free from presumption;

free from self-righteousness;

free from the curse and bondage of the law;

free from the condemnation of a guilty conscience;

free from a slavish fear of the opinion of men;

free from the contempt of the world;

free from the scorn of worldly professors;

free from following a multitude to do evil;

free from companionship with those who

have a name to live, but are dead.

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall

make you free!" John 8:32

Sin cannot be subdued in any other way.

"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by

faith in the Son of God." Galatians 2:20

There is no way except by being spiritually immersed

into Christ's death and life--that we can ever get a

victory over our besetting sins. If, on the one hand,

we have a view of a suffering Christ, and thus become

immersed into His sufferings and death--the feeling,

while it lasts, will subdue the power of sin.

Or, on the other hand, if we get a believing view of

a risen Christ, and receive supplies of grace out of

His fullness--that will lift us above sin's dominion.

If sin is powerfully working in us, we need one of

these two things to subdue it.

When there is a view of the sufferings and sorrows,

agonies and death of the Son of God--power comes

down to the soul in its struggles against sin--and

gives it a measure of holy resistance and subduing

strength against it.

So, when there is a coming in of the grace and love

of Christ--it lifts up the soul from the love and power

of sin into a purer and holier atmosphere. Sin cannot

be subdued in any other way. You must either be

immersed into Christ's sufferings and death--or you

must be immersed into Christ's resurrection and life.

A sight of Him as a suffering God--or a view of Him as

a risen Jesus--must be connected with every successful

attempt to get the victory over sin, death, hell, and the

grave.

You may strive, vow, and repent--and what does it

all amount to? You sink deeper and deeper into sin

than before. Pride, lust, and covetousness come in

like a flood--and you are swamped and carried away

almost before you are aware!

But if you get a view of a suffering Christ, or of a

risen Christ--if you get a taste of His dying love--a

drop of His atoning blood--or any manifestation of

His beauty and blessedness--there comes from this

spiritual immersion into His death or His life a subduing

power--and this gives a victory over temptation and

sin which nothing else can or will give.

Yet I believe we are often many years learning this

divine secret--striving to repent and reform, and cannot;

until at last by divine teaching we come to learn a little

of what the Apostle meant when he said, "The life I now

live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God." And

when we can get into this life of faith--this hidden life,

then our affections are set on things above.

There is no use setting to work by 'legal strivings'--they

only plunge you deeper in the ditch. You must get Christ

into your soul by the power of God--and then He will

subdue--by His smiles, blood, love, and presence--every

internal foe.

Two kinds of repentance

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to

salvation and leaves no regret--but worldly

sorrow brings death." 2 Cor. 7:10

There are two kinds of repentance which need to be

carefully distinguished from each other, though they

are often sadly confounded--evangelical repentance,

and legal repentance.

Cain, Esau, Saul, Ahab, Judas, all repented--but their

repentance was the remorse of natural conscience--not

the godly sorrow of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

They trembled before God as an angry judge--but were

not melted into contrition before Him as a forgiving Father.

They neither hated their sins nor forsook them--they

neither loved holiness nor sought it.

Cain went out from the presence of the Lord;

Esau plotted Jacob's death;

Saul consulted the witch of Endor;

Ahab put honest Micaiah into prison;

and Judas hanged himself.

How different from this forced and false repentance of

a reprobate, is the repentance of a child of God--that true

repentance for sin, that godly sorrow, that holy mourning

which flows from the Spirit's gracious operations.

This repentance does not spring from a sense of the wrath of

God in a broken law--but from His mercy in a blessed gospel--

from a view by faith of the sufferings of Christ in the garden

and on the cross--from a manifestation of pardoning love;

and is always attended with self-loathing and self-abhorrence,

with deep and unreserved confession of sin and forsaking it,

with most hearty, sincere, and earnest petitions to be kept

from all evil, and a holy longing to live to the praise and

glory of God.

Have we nothing to give to Christ?

Yes!

Our sins,

our sorrows,

our burdens,

our trials, and above all,

the salvation and sanctification of our souls.

And what has He to give us? What? Why . . .

everything worth having, everything worth a moment's anxious thought,

everything for time and eternity!

After you have suffered a while

"But the God of all grace, who has called us unto

His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have

suffered a while--make you perfect, establish,

strengthen, settle you." 1 Peter 5:10

There is no divine establishment, no spiritual

strength, no solid settlement--except by suffering.

But after the soul has suffered, after it has felt

God's chastising hand, the effect is . . .

to perfect,

to establish,

to strengthen,

and to settle it.

By suffering, a man becomes settled into a solemn

conviction of the character of Jehovah as revealed

in the Scripture, and in a measure made experimentally

manifest in his conscience. He is settled in the persuasion

that "all things work together for good to those who love

God, and are the called according to His purpose"--in the

firm conviction that everything comes to pass according

to God's eternal purpose--and are all tending to the good

of the Church, and to God's eternal glory.

His soul, too, is settled down into a deep persuasion of

the misery, wretchedness, and emptiness of the creature;

into the conviction that the world is but a shadow--and

that the things of time and sense are but bubbles that

burst the moment they are grasped--that of all things

sin is most to be dreaded--and the favor of God above

all things most to be coveted--that nothing is really worth

knowing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified--that all

things are passing away--and that he himself is rapidly

hurrying down the stream of life, and into the boundless

ocean of eternity.

Thus he becomes settled in a knowledge of the truth,

and his soul remains at anchor, looking to the Lord to

preserve him here, and bring him in peace and safety

to his eternal home.

In this scene of confusion and distraction

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for--but the

Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words

cannot express." Romans 8:26

"We do not know what we ought to pray for." How

often do we find and feel this to be our case . . .

darkness covers our mind;

ignorance pervades our soul;

unbelief vexes our spirit;

guilt troubles our conscience;

a crowd of evil imaginations, or foolish or worse

than foolish wanderings distract our thoughts;

Satan hurls in thick and fast his fiery darts;

a dense cloud is spread over the mercy-seat;

infidelity whispers its vile suggestions,

until, amid all this rabble throng, such confusion

and bondage prevail that words seem idle breath,

and prayer to the God of heaven but empty mockery.

In this scene of confusion and distraction, when

all seems going to the wreck--how kind, how gracious

is it in the blessed Spirit to come, as it were, to the

rescue of the poor bewildered saint, and to teach

him how to pray and what to pray for.

He is therefore said "to help our weaknesses," for

these evils of which we have been speaking are not

willful, deliberate sins, but wretched infirmities of

the flesh. He helps, then, our infirmities--by subduing

the power and prevalence of unbelief--by commanding

in the mind a solemn calm--by rebuking and chasing

away Satan and his fiery darts--by awing the soul with

a reverential sense of the power and presence of God--

by presenting Jesus before our eyes as the Mediator at

the right hand of the Father--by raising up and drawing

forth faith upon His Person and work, blood and

righteousness--and, above all, by Himself interceding

for us and in us "with groans that words cannot express."

His own sore and his own afflictions

"When a prayer or plea is made by any of Your people

Israel--each one aware of his own sore and his own

afflictions, and spreading out his hands toward this

Temple--then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place.

Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he

does, since You know his heart, for You alone know

the hearts of men." 2 Chronicles 6:29-30

The man for whom Solomon prays is he who

knows and feels, painfully feels, his "own sore"

and his "own afflictions"--whose heart is indeed

a grief to him--whose sins do indeed trouble him.

How painful this sore often is!

How it runs night and day!

How full of ulcerous matter!

How it shrinks from the probe!

Most of the Lord's family have a "sore"--each

some tender spot--something perhaps known

to himself and to God alone--the cause of his

greatest grief. It may be . . .

some secret slip he has made,

some sin he has committed,

some word he has spoken, or

some evil thing he has done.

He has been entangled, and entrapped, and cast

down--and this is his grief and his sore which he

feels--and that at times deeply before God.

For such Solomon prays, "then hear from heaven,

Your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each

man according to all he does, since You know his

heart, for You alone know the hearts of men."

Yes--God alone knows the heart--He knows

it completely--and sees to its very bottom.

What are we, when we have no trials?

The Lord h