Loving Allegiance
'Master!'—John Xjc. 16. I THINK this is the very epitome of love. Love understands love; it needs no talk. Sunlight needs no paraphernalia of pipes, and wicks, and burners; it just shines out, direct and immediate. And the dewdrop flashes it back in the same way. The sparkle may be tiny, but it is true and immediate; it needs no vehicle. 'I have called thee by thy name.'1 That was quite enough. The powerful sunshine of His love was focussed into that white beam of sevenfold light, and the whole soul was concentrated into the responsive love-flash, 'Master!' When that word has truly gone up from the soul to Christ, then we have felt what we can never put into any other words. It is the single diamond of soul-expression,3 and we have cast it at His feet for ever. He accepts it; for how wonderfully sweetly falls His direct answer, 'Ye call Me Master and Lord:
1 Isa. xliii. i. 2 Ps. xvi, 2.
and ye say well; for so I am." Think of this seal of approval being set upon the name we so love to give Him. 'Ye say well.' He reserves it to Himself, for He says, 'One is your Master, even Christ.'3 It is sacred to Him in all its depths of meaning. He has put His hand upon our offering, claiming it as only His own ;* and now it can never be another's. It includes the whole attitude of soul towards our beloved Lord. 1. Love.—There is a great hush; we have not any words at all. We cannot even tell Him we love Him, because we are dazzled with a glimpse of His love,4 and overwhelmed with our unworthiness of it. Our eyes fill, and our bosom heaves. The tide has risen too high for verbal prayer or praise; we have to be 'silent in love '5—the very silence being an echo of the eternal depth of calmness of the exceeding great love in which He rests. There is only one word which does not jar with the still music of such a moment,—' Master!' 2. Adoration.—For the breathing of the name is all we can do to express the unexplainable recognition of His glory.8 Already He is ' admired in all them that believe " with the admiration of astonishment. 'We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory.' And yet we only uttered the one word, ' Master!'
1 John xiii. 13, - Matt, xxiii. 8,10. 3 j Sam. xxv, 35. ?* 2 Sam. I. 26; Eph. iii. 19. 6 Zeph. iii. 17, margin.
3. Allegiance.—The true utterance of it is the very oath of allegiance. We cannot, must not, dare not, will not, henceforth serve ' two masters,'1 nor the still more subtle 'many masters." The word has been breathed into His heart, and He will treasure it there, and keep it for us. It has been said, and the sound-waves can never be recalled; they will vibrate through the universe for ever. God grant that no traitorous whisper may ever cross them!
4. Confidence.—We have found One whom we can trust implicitly, and rest upon entirely. We have put our lives into His hand. We have burned the bridge behind us, because we are quite sure He is the Captain of our salvation.3 We have entered His service for ever.* We have given our allegiance unreservedly, because we confide in Him unreservedly.5 There is no question about it. 'I know whom I have believed,'6 and therefore I say, 'Master!' 5. Obedience.—All a mockery without this! Not only our lips, but our lives must say, ' Master!' And by His own grace they shall say it; the name shall be emblazoned on every page of our lives. For Jesus Himself will 'make it plain' upon our tablets, so 'that he may run that readeth it." This is the test, the fruit, the manifestation of love.8 But oh, how sweet that we may fearlessly say the word which pledges us to it, knowing that the Master Himself will enable us to fill it up with the practical obedience which, above all things, we
1 Matt. vi. 24. 2 Jas. iii. i; Isa. xxvi. 13. 3 Heb. ii. 10. ^ Ex. xxi. 6. 61 Chron. xii. 18. * 2 Tim. i. 12. 7 Hab. ii. 2. 8 John xiv. 15; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.
want so intensely to yield to Him! It is like throwing our alpenstock up to a higher ledge of rock, and then giving ourselves up to the strong arm of the guide to draw us up after it. Never shall we have to say, like the Amalekite's servant, 'My master left me ! '* He is our good Master,2 our 'own Master'3 and He will reveal to His weak servants all that He means in His own faithful endorsement of the name* which His Spirit has taught us to call Him.5 'O Master, at Thy feet I bow in rapture sweet! Before me, as in darkling glass, Some glorious outlines pass Of love, and truth, and holiness, and power, I own them Thine, O Christ, and bless Thee for this hour.'
1 I Sam. XXX. 13, 2 Mark x. 17. ^ Pom. xiv. 4. 4 John xiii, 13. 5 i Cor. xii, 3,
Seeking for His Commandments
'Keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God.'—i Chron. xxviii. 8. IS not this precept too often halved? We acknowledge our obligation to keep, but what about seeking for'all the commandments of the Lord our God? Are we doing this?
'Thy commandment is exceeding broad,' 1and our horizon must be continually widening if He is making us to go in the path of His commandments.' Even when, by His grace, we have been led to take the seven beautiful steps in that path mentioned in that grand gush of Bible love, the 119th Psalm, believing them,3 learning them, longing for them, loving them,* delighting in them, keeping them,5 and not forgetting them,6 there remains yet this further step, seekingfor all of them.
Perhaps we have even a little shrinking from this. We are afraid of seeing something which might be peculiarly hard to keep; it seems as if it might be enough to try to keep what commandments we have seen without seeking for still more, and as if seeing more to keep would only involve us in heavier obligations and in more failures to keep them. And we almost wish we had never seen this added command, forgetting that shedding of blood was needed for sin 'through ignorance.'7 But we have seen it, even if we never noticed it before; it is shown us to-day, and we have no alternative but obedience or disobedience to it. Does not a loving child like to find out what its dear father wishes it to do? does it not feel sorry that it did not know all he wished in time to avoid doing just the contrary? How little we must love His will if we would rather not know it, lest it should clash with our own!8 Even to take the lowest ground, all His commandments are ' for our
1 Ps. cxix. 96. 2 Ps. cxix. 35. 3 Ps. cxix. 66. < Ps. cxix. 73, 131, 127. 5 Ps, cxix. 47,115. ^ Ps. cxix. 176. 7 Lev. iv. 27-35. 8 Ps. xl. 8.
good,'1 and 'in keeping of them there is great reward ;" so that we are clearly missing unknown good or unknown reward by remaining in ignorance of any of them. Nay, more, 'it is your life ' * to observe to do all the words of His law.
We need not fear being left to struggle with newly discovered impossibilities; for, with the light that reveals a command, the grace to fulfil it will surely be given. It is very humbling when the Spirit's light flashes upon some command of our God which we have never 'observed,' much less ' done ; ' * and yet it is a very gracious answer to the prayer, 'Teach me to do Thy will.'5 I In reading His word, let us steadily set ourselves to seek for all His yet unnoticed commandments, noting day by day what we find; and thus knowing more of His will, will be a step towards doing more of it./ Let us not be content with vaguely praying, 'Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" but set to work to see what He has already said'1 we are to do, and then, 'Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.'8
1 Deut. X. 13. 2 Ps. xix. 11. 3 Deut. xxxii. 47. ^ Deut. xi. 32 ; xv. 5, etc. 6 Ps. cxliii. 10. ^ Acts ix, 6. ? Hab. ii. i. ^ John ii. 5.
Recognizing His Commandments
'And this is His commandment.'—I John iii. 23. WE may be quite sure of three things,—first, that whatever our Lord commands us, He really means us to do ;1 secondly, that whatever He commands us is 'for our good always;'2 and, thirdly, that whatever He commands us, He is able and willing to enable us to do, for 'all God's biddings are enablings.'5 But do we practically recognize all His commandments as commandments, and the breach of any one of them as sin?* As we read each precept, let us solemnly say to ourselves, * This is His commandment;' and oh, what a touchstone of guilt will it be! How we shall see that what we have been excusing as infirmity and natural weakness which we could not help, and shortcomings with regard to impossible standards, has been all sin, transgression, disobedience, needing to be bitterly repented of, needing nothing less than blood, the precious blood of Christ,5 for atonement and cleansing,
^ Deut. xii. 32. 2 Deut. vi. 24. 3 2 Cor. ix. 8, xii. 9. ^ Ps. cxix. 4; Jas. ii. 10. 5 Heb. ix. 22.
needing nothing short of Omnipotence to strengthen us against it.1 Perhaps this is the sad secret of many a mourning life among God's children. They are calling sin by other names.2 They think it is only natural temperament and infirmity, for which they are to claim sympathy, to go on doubting and distrusting their Saviour and their God; yet 'this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ,'3 and this, 'Trust in Him at all times.'4 They think they are to be tenderly pitied for having such a burden to bear, and such sadness of heart; yet this is His commandment, 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord;'5 and this, 'Rejoice in the Lord alway.' * They do not think they can exactly help their hearts being so cold that they do not know whether they love Him or not; yet this is His commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." They almost feel as if their state were a rather interesting one. Yet, oh! dear friend, if the Lord has indeed commanded these things, it is a state of disobedience. If He has said them, He means you to do them. Oh, come face to face with His word; do not shrink from the terrible shock of seeing sin where you only thought of infirmity. It is by the word that He has spoken that you will be judged,8 not by man's excusing euphemisms. You are committing sin in doubting Him; you are directly disobedient in not trusting Him, not casting your
1 Isa. xl. 29. 2 Heb. xii. i, 2. 3 i John iii. 23. ?4 Ps. Ixii. 8. 5 Ps. Iv. 22. 6 Phil. iv. 4. ' Matt. xxii. 37. 8 John xii. 48.
burden upon Him; not rejoicing alway in Him; you are a transgressor of His ' first and great commandment 1 in not loving Him. 'Thou art become a transgressor of the law,' 'guilty of all.'2 Oh! if the Holy Spirit flashes the light which He only can flash upon these commandments, and shows you the sins which, child of God though you are, you have never yet recognized as such, you cannot and will not rest in them, if indeed 'the root of the matter is found '3 in you. It will wring from you an agony cry of 'Lord, have mercy upon me, and incline my heart to keep this law,' as He turns that terrible and yet merciful light on each. If you do not yet 'see it quite so strongly,' ask that blessed Spirit to show you, at any cost, what He has, sooner or later, to show you. For He will not show you the sin without the remedy. And never will the precious blood of Christ have been so precious to you as when, after such an entirely startling revelation of the guilt of your position of disobedience, you come, despairing of yourself, to the Fountain,* and find the cleansing and sanctifying and overcoming power of the blood of the Lamb.5 In that power make haste and delay not to keep His commandments,6 and then shall you not be ashamed when you have respect unto All His commandments.7
1 Matt. xxii. 38. - Jas. ii. 10, 11. 2 Job xix. 28. * I John i. 9. 6 Rev. xii. zi. * Ps. cxix. 60. ^ Ps. cxix. 6.
The Means of Growth
'Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'—2 Pet. iii. 18. THE very thing we are longing to do, and perhaps mourning over not doing, and perhaps praying every day that we may do, and seeming to get no answer! But when God has annexed a means to the fulfillment of a command, we cannot expect Him to enable us to fulfill that command if we are not using His means. In this case the means are wrapped in another command: 'Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.'1 Real desire must prove itself by action; it is no use desiring the milk and not drinking it. 'Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.TM Let us to-day, and every day henceforth, 'go forward,' and use in faith and honest earnestness this His own great means of growth.
1 1 Pet. ii. 1. 2 Ex. xiv. 15.
By the word we shall 'grow in grace.' The beginning of grace in our souls was by the same; for it is written, 'Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth;'1 'Being born again, . . . by the word of God.'2 At every step it is the same word which develops the spiritual life. The young man shall 'cleanse his way' by it. The entrance of it giveth light and understanding.3 The result of hiding it in our hearts is, that we 'might not sin against Thee;'* and how often by His word has He 'withheld thee from sinning against Me ! '5 Again and again we have said, 'Thy word hath quickened me.'6 For it comes to us 'not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." It is 'able to make thee wise unto salvation,'8 and its intended effects of reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, rise to what would seem a climax of growth, 'that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. '9 And yet there is a still more glorious result of this 'word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe;'1" for by 'His divine power' 'are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.'" This is indeed the climax, for what can rise beyond this most marvelous effect of this blessed means of growth in grace! Oh, to use it as He would have us use it, so that every day we 'may grow thereby'!
1 Jas. i. 18. 2 I Pet. U 23. 3 Ps. cxix. 9; ib. cxix. 130. 4 Ps. cxix. 11. 5 Gen. XX. 6. 6 pg, cxix. So. 7 i Thess. i. 5. 8 2 Tim. iii. 15. 9 2 Tim. iii. 17. 10 i Thess. ii. 13. ?U 2 Pet. i. 3; ib. i. a.
By the word we shall also grow in the knowledge of Christ. The mere surface of this is obvious. For how do we come to know more of any one whom having not seen, we love ?1 is it not by reading and hearing what he has said and written and done? How are we to know more of Jesus Christ, if we are not taking the trouble to know more of His word?
He hath said, 'Search the Scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of Me. '2 Are we really searching, or only superficially reading, those Old Testament Scriptures of which He spoke? He says they testify of Him, i.e. tell us all about Him; are we acting as if we quite believed that? 'Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in All the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Then there are things about Jesus in all the Scriptures—not just only in the Psalms and Isaiah, but in every book! How very much there must be for us to find! Let us ask the Holy Spirit to take of these things of Jesus and show them unto us,4 that we may grow in 'the knowledge of the Son of God.'5
'The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life '6—quickening and continually life-giving words. We want to be permeated with them; we want them to dwell in us richly,7 to be the inspiration of our whole lives, the very music of our spirits, whose melodious overflow may be glory to God and goodwill to man.8 Jesus Himself has given us this quick and powerful word of God, and our responsibility is tremendous. He has told us distinctly what to do as to it; He has said, 'Search!" Now, are we substituting a word of our own, and merely reading them? He did not say, 'Read them,' but' Search / " and it is a most serious thought for many a comfortable daily reader of the Bible, that, if they are only reading and not searching, they are distinctly living in disobedience to one of His plainest commands. What wonder if they do not 'grow thereby '!
Let me then be always growing, Never, never standing still, Listening, learning, better knowing
Thee, and Thy most blessed will; That the Master's eye may trace, Day by day, my growth in grace.
1 I Pet. i. 8, 2 John. v. 39. ^ Luke xxiv. 27. ?* John xvi. 15. 5 Eph. iv. 13. ' John vi. 63. T Col. iii. 16. 8 Luke ii. za.
Mental Food
'Eat ye that which is good.'—IsA. lv. 2. 'QO foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before Thee,'3 or this commandment would not have been needed. Good, wholesome, delicious food set plentifully before us, and yet we have to be told to eat that which is good, and to let rubbish and poison alone 1 Is it not humiliating?
1 John V. 39. 2 isa, xxxiv. 16. 8 Ps. Ixiii. 33.
We know too much about feeding on that which is not good, and what profit had we in those things whereof we are now ashamed?1 The Lord has had to testify of us, 'He feedeth on ashes,'2 ' feedeth on wind,'3 'feedeth on foolishness.'* Most gracious was His decree, 'They shall eat, and not have enough;'5 'Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied.'6 He would not let us be satisfied. And now, if we have tasted that the Lord is gracious,7 we cannot be satisfied with the old ashes and wind. But what about our daily practical obedience to this command? How much are we going to eat today of that which is good, in proportion to that which satisfieth not? Will it be a question of minutes for the word by which we live,' and hours for books which are at best negative as to spiritual nutriment? What is our present obedience to the parallel command, 'Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby' ?9 What about our appetite for the 'strong meat,'10 'the deep things of God '?" If other books contain 'necessary food '" mentally, and we are called to use them, so that by study of His works, His providences natural, mental, moral, we may be more meet for the Master's use,18 do we practically and consciously esteem the words of His mouth more? Can we say, they are 'in my mouth as honey for sweetness'?"
1 Rom. vi. 21, 2 Isa. xliv. .20. 3 pjos. xii. i. * Prov, XV. 14. 6 Hos. iv. 10. ' Mic. vi. 14. 7 I Pet. ii. 3. 8 Matt. iv. 4. 9 1 Pet. ii. 2. 10 Heb. V. 12, 14. 11 I Cor. ii. 10. 12 Job xxiii. is *• 2 Tim. ii. 21. l^ Ezek. iii. 3.
But perhaps we are even purposing to eat that which is not good. We may argue that there is no harm in certain readings, and that if we don't read what others do we shall get narrow and lose conversational influence, and that people will think nothing of our opinion if we can't say we have read such and such books, and so forth. But all the time, do we not know, down in our heart of hearts, that this is all sophistry ? 1 We know, though we do not like to acknowledge, that the books in question do blunt our spiritual appetite and hinder our close communion with Jesus; that the influence we profess to want is not purely desired 'for Jesus' sake only,'2 and to be used 'all for Jesus,'—in short, we like the reading, and we do not want to resist pleasing ourselves.3 And so we deliberately disobey the command to eat that which is good, excusing ourselves by pretending that we 'saw that the tree was good for food,'* when the truth was that we simply saw that it was 'pleasant.' We are solemnly responsible for the mental influences under which we place ourselves. 'Take heed what ye hear '5 must include ' take heed what ye read.' 'Lead us not into temptation ' is 'vain repetition" when we walk straight away into it, hoodwinking our own eyes because we are drawn away and enticed by our own desires.7 Do we feel that we are not strong enough to resist? 'The way of the Lord is strength to the upright;'8 and His 'way to escape' is, 'Eat ye that which is good." Perhaps if Eve had fully availed herself of God's permission, 'Thou mayst
1 Job xiii. 7 2 John xii. 9. 3 Rom. xv. 1-3. * ^ea, iji. 6. 5 Mark iv, 24. « Matt. vi. 7, 13. ' Jasr i^. 8 Prov. X. 29. * i Cor. x. 13.
freely eat,'1 she would not have been so ready to disregard His prohibition. If we 'eat in plenty'* of ' angels' food," of course we shall not care about the 'onions and the garlick.'* Just fancy wanting them / When we are 'satisfied,' of course, there is no craving.5 The devil is very fond of persuading us that we have ' no leisure so much as to eat '6 when it is a question of Bible study. He never says that if we have a novel ' of the earth, earthy, '7 or a clever magazine of 'modern thought' on hand! He knows better. He wants us not to ' let' our souls delight themselves in fatness. Jesus, our Wisdom, says, 'Come, eat of My bread;'8 'Eat, O friends." One is utterly ashamed that it should ever be an effort to obey this loving invitation. How weak we are 1 But His hand touches us, and He says, 'Arise, and eat.'10 May He open our eyes to see and rejoice in the provision so close beside us, the feast that He has made for us. Not only His word, but the happy doing of His will11 shall be our meat, and we shall 'afterward eat of the holy things, because it is His food.'" He will give us to eat of the tree of life and of the hidden manna.13 And He will give us Himself, the living Bread which came down from heaven, saying, 'He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.'14 Is not this enough?
1 Gen. ii. i6. 2 Joel ii. 26. 3 Ps. Ixxviii. 25. <Num. xi. 5. 5 Jer. xxxi. 14. 6 Mark vi. 31. ^ I Cor. XV. 47. 8 Prov. ix. 5. 9 Cant. v. i. 10 I Kings xix. 5. " |ohn iv.34. 12 Lev. xxii. 7. i3 Rev. ii. 7, 17. 14 John vi. 51, 57.
The Transferred Burden
'If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live ?'—Ezrk. xxxiii. 10. IF they are upon us, how can we live? For 'mine iniquities are . . . as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.'1 'The burden of them is intolerable.' It is not the sense, but the burden itself which cannot be borne; no one could bear his own iniquities without being sunk lower and lower, and at last to hell by it. It is only not felt when the very elasticity of sin within us keeps us from feeling the weight of the sin upon us; as the very air in our bodies prevents our feeling the otherwise crushing weight of the atmosphere with its tons upon every inch. Or (thank God for the alternative !) when the whole burden, our absolutely intolerable burden, is known to be laid upon another. If this burden is upon us, we cannot walk in newness of life,2 we cannot run in the way of His commandments,3 we cannot arise and shine.4 The
1 Ps. xxxviii. 4. 2 Rom. vi. 4. ' Ps. cxix. 32. 4 Isa. Ix. I.
burden is ' too heavy' for these manifestations of life; we do but ' pine away' in our sins, whether consciously or unconsciously; and the sentence is upon us, They shall 'consume away for their iniquity.'1 For there is no curse so terrible and farreaching as, 'He shall bear his iniquity." 'If!' but is it? It is written, 'The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'3 On Jesus it has been laid, on Him who alone could bear the intolerable burden ;* therefore it is not upon His justified ones who accept Him as their sinbearer. This burden is never divided. He took it all, every item, every detail of it. The scapegoat bore 'upon him all their iniquities.'5 Think of every separate sin, each that has weighed down our conscience, every separate transgression of our most careless moments, added to the unknown weight of all the unknown or forgotten sins of our whole life, and all this laid on Jesus instead of upon us! The sins of a day are often a burden indeed, but we are told in another type, 'I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity.'6 Think of the years of our iniquity being upon Jesus! Multiply this by the unknown but equally intolerable sin-burdens of all His people, and remember that ' the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,n and tfcen think what the strength of His enduring love must be which thus bare ' the sins of many. '8 Think of His bearing them 'in His own body on the tree,'9 in that flesh and blood of which He
1 Ezek. iv. 17. 2 Lev. v. 17. 3 Jsa. liii. 6. 4 Isa. liii. II. 6 Lev, xvi. 22. * Ezek. iv. 5. 7 Isa. liii. 6. 8 Heb. ix. 28. » i Pet. ii. 24.
took part, with all its sensitiveness and weakness, because He would be made like unto His brethren in all things ;1 and that this bearing was entirely suffering (for He 'suffered for sins '2), and praise the love which has not left' our sins . . . upon us.' We cannot lay them upon Him; Jehovah has done that already, and 'His work is perfect:" 'nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it.' * 'The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all; '5 'He hath done this.'6 We have only to look up and see our Great High Priest bearing the iniquity of our holy things for us;7 to put it still more simply, we have only to believe that the Lord has really done what He says He has done.8 Can we doubt the Father's love to us, when we think what it must have cost Him to lay that crushing weight on His dear Son, sparing Him not,* that He might spare us instead ?10 The Son accepted the awful burden, but it was the Father's hand which 'laid it upon' Him.11 It was death to Him, that there might be life to us. For 'if our transgressions and our sins' were upon us, there could be no answer to the question, 'How should we then live?' for we could only 'pine away in them' and die. 'Ye shall die in your sins.'12 But being 'laid on Him,'13 how shall we now live? 'He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.'1* Unto Him,15 by Him,1* in Him,1 for Him, now; and with Him,* where He is, for ever and ever!
1 Heb. ii. 14, 17. 2 i Pet. iii. 18. 3 Deut. xxxii. 4. ?* Eccles. iii. 14. 5 Tsa. liii. 6. 6 Pg xxii. 31. "^ Ex. xxviii. 38. 8 Isa. j^liv. 23. ^ Rom. viii. 32. 10 Mai. iii. 17. u i Pet. ii. 24. 12 John viii. 24. ^3 2 Cor. V. 15. w Rom. xiv. 8. i* Gal. ii. 20. 16 Phil. i. 21
On Thee, the Lord My mighty sins hath laid; And against Thee Jehovah's sword
Flashed forth its fiery blade. The stroke of justice fell on Thee, That it might never fall on me.
The Recall
'O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.'—Hos. xiv. I. THANK God that He does not let His children go on comfortably when they wander and fall !3 Have we not known (God grant we may never again know!) a wretched mental nausea, a sense of discomfort and restlessness, a misgiving that something is wrong, though we can't say what? no actual pain, no acute attack of anything, but a nameless uncomfortableness, most easily described by a negative, that we are not' as in months past.'4 5 If this is the present state of any reader, do let
1 John xvii. 24. 2 i Thess. iv. 17. 3 Hos. ii. 6-
me most earnestly and affectionately entreat you not to remain one day—no, not one hour—in this most dangerous state, the beginning of back-sliding, and already a fall from your ' own steadfastness' and your 'first love.'1 'Remember from whence thou art fallen ;" look unflinchingly at your position, and recognize frankly the difference between to-day, and the past days of closer walking and happy abiding. Do not let yourself drift on, or you 'will revolt more and more' till 'the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." Every day's delay will make your case worse. Do not shrink from asking Him to show you how and why it is that you have fallen. The ' beautiful crown ' * which He put 'upon thine head' in 'the time of love,'5 would not have 'fallen from our head,' but ' that we have sinned." It is 'by thine iniquity' that ' thou art fallen,"—iniquity personal and real, though very likely un-guessed by any one, and hidden even from thine own eyes. Perhaps the knowledge of this is already sent; if so, listen !' And I said, after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me." And again, though you may have gone after other ' lovers,' '"yet return again to me, saith the Lord.'9 Oh forsake the thoughts as well as the way, and return unto the Lord, and he will abundantly pardon.10 For when 'He showeth them their work and their transgressions,' He also 'commandeth that they return from iniquity.'11
1 2 Pet. iii. 17. 2 Rev. ii. 4, 5. 8 Isa. i. 5. * Kzek. xvi. 12. 6 Kzek xvi. 8. * Lam. v. 16. 7 Hos. xiv. 1. 8 Jer. iii. 7. * Jer. iii. 1. 10 Isa. lv. 7. 11 Job xxxvi. 9, 10
And why? Five infinitely gracious reasons are given. 'Return! . . .for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity;" the very thing which seemed the barrier to return !' Return! . . .for I am merciful, saith the Lord.'2 'Return! . . .for I have redeemed thee."3 'Return! . . . for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.'* 'Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us.'5 All these gracious words for you! and the Lord Himself waiting that He may be gracious!' Will you keep Him waiting till a more 'convenient season' ?7 To whom are you called to return? Ah! think of that—not to a state or position merely; not only 'to thy rest,'8 but to 'the Lord thy God," thy God, 'our own God; '10 to Him who has betrothed you unto Him for ever;11 to Him who chose you unto Himself to be His peculiar treasure ;u to Him who remembers better than you do from whence you have fallen. Hear Him saying, 'I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals.'13 'How shall I give thee up?What pathetic yearning this is over you, even you! Will you not say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.'15 Is intention enough in this matter? Listen again to the arousing words of your Lord, 'If tfrou wilt return, . . . saith the Lord, return unto Me; '16
1 Hos. xiv. I. 2 Jer. iii. 12. 3 Isa. xliv. 22. * Ps. cxvi. 7. 5 Hos. vi. i. 6 Isa. xxx. 18. f Acts xxiv. 25. 8 Ps. cxvi. 7. ' Hos. xiv. i. 10 Ps. Ixvii. 6. 11 Hos. ii. 19. 12 Ps. cxxxv. 4.
in other words, 'Now, then, do it.'1 Stay no more at being willing to return, but ' Return ye NOW!" It will be harder to-morrow—nay, harder an hour hence than now. He who first caused you to approach,3 will cause you to return ;4 so you shall not be left unaided, for 'In Me is thine help '5 even for returning from self-destruction.6 And then—oh, what wealth of promises to the returning one! what robes and rings and heavenly music !7 'If thou return, . . . thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity . . . ; then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.8 . . . He shall hear thee, . . . Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: the light shall shine upon thy ways.' For He hath said, 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.'9
Return! O fallen; yet not lost! Canst thou forget the life for thee laid down, The taunts, the scourging, and the thorny crown? When o'er thee first my spotless robe I spread And poured the oil of joy upon thy head, How did thy wakening heart within thee burn! Canst thou remember all, and wilt thou not return?
1 2 Sam. iii. i8. ^ Jer. xviii. ii. 3 Ps. Ixv. 4. * Jer. XXX. 3. 5 Hos. xiii. 9. 6 Lam. v. 31. ^ Luke XV. 22, »5. 8 job xxii, 23-28. 9 Hos. xiv. 4.
The Conditions of Effectual Prayer
'And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.'—Matt. xxi. 22. HAVE we not sometimes been tempted to think that here, at least, is a case in which our Lord has not literally and always kept His word? in which we do not get quite so much as the plain English of the promise might lead us to expect? If so, well may He say to us, 'Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God ?'1 If we had known the Scriptures by searching, we might have known more of the power of God by experience in this matter. For this is no unconditional promise; this marvellous 'whatsoever' depends upon five great conditions; and, if we honestly examine, we shall find that every case of seeming failure in the promise can be accounted for by our own failure in one or more of these. 1. 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.'2 Really, not verbally only, in the name of Jesus; asking not in our own name at all;
1 Mark xii. 24. 2 John xiv. 13; ib. xiv. 6.
signing our petition, as it were, with His name only;1 coming to the Father by our Advocate, our Representative.2 Do we always ask thus? 2. 'Believing, ye shall receive." The faith heroes of old 'through faith . . . obtained promises,'* and there is no new way of obtaining them. Is it any wonder that, when we stagger at any promise of God through unbelief,5 we do not receive it? Not that the faith merits the answer, or in any way earns it or works it out, but God has made believing a condition of receiving, and the Giver has a sovereign right to choose His own terms of gift. 3. 'If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'6 Ah! here is a deeper secret of asking and not having, because we ask amiss.7 Not, have we come to Christ? but, are we abiding in Him?— not, do we hear His words? but, are they abiding in us? Can we put in this claim to the glorious 'whatsoever'? And, if not, why not? for 'this is His commandment,' 'Abide in Me.'8 And this leads us to see the root of our failure in another condition, for,— 4. 'Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.'s Only as we are abiding in Him can we bring forth the fruit of obedience, for without (/'. e. apart from) Him we can do nothing;10 only in walking by faith can we
1 Phil. ii. 10 (Gr.) 8 I John ii. I. 8 Matt. xxi. 22. 4 Heb. xi. 33. 6 Rom. iv. 20. « John xv. 7. r Jas. iv. 3. 8 John xv. 4. • 1 John Hi. 22; Ps. lxvi. 18. 10 John xv. 4.
do those things that are pleasing in His sight,1 for without faith it is impossible to please Him.2 5. 'If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us." When what we ask is founded on a promise or any written evidence of what the will of the Lord is,4 this is comfortingly clear. But what about petitions which may or may not be according to His will? Surely, then, the condition can only be fulfilled by a complete blending of our own will with His ;6 by His so taking our will, so undertaking it and influencing it for us, that we are led to desire and ask the very thing He is purposing to give. Then, of course, our prayer is answered; and the very pressure of spirit to pray becomes the pledge and earnest of the answer, for it is the working of His will in us.
Two comforting thoughts arise. First, the very consciousness of our failure in these great conditions shows us the wonderful kindness and mercy of our King, who has answered so many a prayer in spite of it, according to His own heart, and not according to our fulfilment, giving us 'of His royal bounty'6 that to which we had forfeited all shadow of claim. Secondly, that He who knoweth our frame7 knows also the possibilities of His grace, and would never tantalize us by offering magnificent gifts on impossible conditions. 'Will he give him a stone?'8 Would an earthly parent? Wou\&you? Therefore the very annexing of these intrinsically most blessed
1 2 Cor, V. 7. 2 Heb. xi. 6. 3 i John v. 14. < Eph. V. 17. 6 Phil. ii. 13. 6 i Kings x. 13. 7 Ps. ciii. 14 J Phil. iv. 13. 8 Luke xi. 11.
conditions implies that His grace is sufficient* for their fulfilment, and should lure us on to a blessed life of faith, abiding in Jesus,* walking in obedience 'unto all pleasing,'3 and a will possessed by His own divine will.
Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much.
Newton.
The Privilege of Intercession
'Pray one for another.'—Jas. v. 16. HERE our divine Master takes up an impulse of natural affection,* raising it to the dignity of a 'royal commandment,'6 and broadening it to the measure of His own perpetual intercession.* For, unless a heart has reached the terrible hardening of being 'without natural affection" as well as 'without God,'8 it must want to pray for those it loves. The Lord would sanctify and enlarge this impulse, making it 'full of the blessing of the Lord.'9 It is a plant which He hath planted in the human heart,
^ 2 Cor. xii. 9. 2 I John ii. 27. ' Col. i. 10. < Esther i. 19. 5 i Tim. ii. i. * Hcb. vii. 25. ' Rom. i. 31. 8 Eph. ii. 12. 9 Deut. xxxiii. 23.
and therefore it shall not be rooted up, but He will water and increase it.1 What are the indications of His will in the matter, and how far are we following them out? P'irst, are we asking for each other the special thing annexed to the command ?' That ye may be healed.'2 Prayer for physical healing is clearly included.3 How many around us are not spiritually healed! are we definitely asking this for them? Of how many of His own people is the Lord saying, 'They knew not that I healed them !' 4 Not 'knowing what was done in' them,5 they are not witnessing to the power of the Healer; not seeing, like the Samaritan, that they were healed, they are not giving Him thanks.6 Are we asking that they may realize the healing, so that they may glorify the Healer?7 We maybe greatly 'helping together by prayer,'8 by agreement in intercession.* The very fact of having 'agreed'10 is a great stimulus and reminder. It is the Lord's own indicated way. 'Two of you.'11 It took two to hold up Moses' hands steadily.12 When he let down one hand, Amalek prevailed. So Aaron and Hur were both wanted.13 Intercession should be definite and detailed. Vagueness is lifelessness. St. Paul besought the Romans to pray for him, and then told them exactly what he wanted, four definite petitions to be presented for him.14 It is a help to reality of intercession when ministers or other workers who ask our prayers will tell us exactly what they want. General prayers for ' blessing' are apt to become formal.
1 Matt. XV. 13. 2 Jas. v. 16. 3 Gen. xx. 17. 4 Hos. xi. 3. 5 Mark v. 29, 33. 6 Luke xvii. 15. "^ Ps. ciii. 1-3. 8 2 Cor. i. 11. 9 Dan. ii. 17, 18. 10 Esther iv. 16. n Matt, xviii. 19. 12 Eccles. iv. 9. 18 Ex, xvii. II, 12. 14 Rom. xv. 30, 32.
We must not yield to the idea that, because we are feeble members, doing no great work, our prayers 'won't make much difference.'1 It may be that this is the very reason why the Lord keeps us in the shade, because He hath need of us3 (though we feel no better than an ' ass's colt'3) for the work of intercession. Many of us only learn to realize the privilege of being called to this by being called apart from all other work. When this is the case, let us simply and faithfully do it, 'lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting,' * blessing His name who provides this holy and beautiful service for those who 'by night stand in the house of the Lord!6 See how wonderfully St. Paul valued the prayers of others. He distinctly expresses this to every Church but one to whom he wrote. Would he have asked their prayers so fervently if he thought it would not 'make much difference '? Intercession is a wonderful help to forgiveness of injuries. See how the personal unkindness of brother and sister stirred up Moses to pray for each;s and how repeatedly the wrong feeling, speaking, and acting of the people against himself was made the occasion of prayer for them.7 Let us avail ourselves of this secret of his meekness. Also it is an immense help to love. Do we not find that the more we pray for any one, the more we love?
1 I Cor. xii. 22. * Mark xi. 2, 3. 3 J0D xi. 12. * 1 Tim. ii. 8. 6 Ps. cxxxiv. 1. • Num. xii. 2, 13; Deut. ix. 18-20. f Num. xiv. 2, 19; ib. xvi. 19, 22; ib. xii. 3.
Let us intercede ' while we have time.'1 'The night cometh, when no man can work.'2 Those for whom we might be praying to-day may be beyond the reach of prayer to-morrow. Or our own day of prayer may have passed; for the only intercession that we have ever heard from the other side was in vain—never granted.3 It is considerable practical help if we make our intercession systematic, especially if the Lord gives us many to pray for. If every day has its written list of special names to be remembered, we shall be less likely to forget or drop them. Each several name was engraved on the breastplate of the highpriest, that it might be borne upon his heart continually.4 See the two-fold rewards of intercessory prayer. First, blessing for others: 'He shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.'5 Compare St. Paul's prayers for the Thessalonians, in his First Epistle, with the exact and abounding answers for which he gives thanks in the Second, after a very short interval. Secondly, blessing for ourselves: 'The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.'* Something very like a turning of our captivity is granted7 when, amid oppression and darkness, we pray for our friends. Often it is like a leap into the free sunshine. 'Pray unto the Lord for it' (the city whither they were
1 Gal. vi. lo (old translation). 2 John ix. 4. ' Luke xvii. 27-31. 4 Ex. xxviii. 21, 29, 6 I John v. 16. 6 Job. xlii «o. ' Ps. cxxvi. 1-3.
carried away), 'for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.'1 Specially true is it in this, that 'he that watereth shall be watered also himself.' *
'O Saviour Christ, their woes dispel; For some are sick, and some are sad, And some have never loved Thee well,
And some have lost the love they had. And some are pressed with worldly care, And some are tired with sinful doubt,
And some such grievous passions tear That only thou canst cast them out.
And some have found the world is vain, Yet from the world they break not free;
And some have friends that give them pain, Yet have not sought a friend in Thee.'
Henry Twells.
Trusting in Darkness
'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon His God.'—ISA. 1. 10. BEFORE we take this peace and strength-giving precept, with its enfolded promise, to ourselves, let us examine ourselves as to the conditions: fear of the Lord, and obedience to the voice of His servant. They are very clear. If we are not casting off fear;1 if we have this 'beginning of wisdom,'a this perhaps not sufficiently recognized 'treasure," the fear of the Lord;4 and if we have sincerity of purpose about obeying the voice of His servant,5 and are not persisting in some known and wilful disobedience,6 which causes a different kind of darkness, the darkness that blindeth our eyes,7 then we are called to listen to all the comfort of this commandment.
'Let him trust in the name of the Lord.' What name? 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.'8 What name? 'Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.'9 What name? Just this, JESUS !10 But how can we trust in what we do not much consider?"" Trust needs a very broad and strong foundation for its repose; it cannot poise itself on an inverted pyramid. But if we walk about that foundation, and go round about it, and mark well the bulwarks,12 we shall put ourselves in the way of realizing what reason we have to trust.13
1 Job XV. 4. 2 Ps_ cxi. 10. 5 Isa. xxxiii. 6. ^ Ps. cxix. 69, 6 Josh. xxiv. 24. ^ John iii. 20. ^ I John ii. II. 8 Kx. xxxiv. 6. 7. 9 Isa. ix. 6. 10 Matt. i. 21. 11 Ps ix. 10; ib. cxix. 55. 12 Ps. xlviii. 12, 13. 13 Prov. xviii. 10. 14 Pg. xx. 7.
Is it dark now, dear friend? Will you, as a little child, simply do what I ask you this morning? Take this Name of the Lord," in all its varied ful ness, 'shut thy door," and kneel down without hurry. Then, asking first the Spirit's promised help,3 pray over every separate part of it as so beautifully revealed for our comfort. And as you take up each word in petition, tell the Lord that you will, you do trust that, even though you cannot see or feel all the preciousness of it.8
Trusting in the name of the Lord, the Triune Jehovah—Father, Saviour, Comforter—will lead you on, not perhaps to any great radiance of light as yet, but to staying upon your God; for mark the added pronoun, first only ' the Lord,' then 'his God.' Both the trusting and staying may be at first in the dark, but they will not be always in the dark. He that believeth on Him shall not abidein darkness. * Unto him 'there ariseth light in the darkness.'5 But the promises are progressive: we must follow the light as soon as we see it, for 'he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness." But, meanwhile, even the trusting and staying shall be blessed, for 'blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'7 'Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him; '8 and 'all' of course includes you. There may be very much unconscious blessing apart from sensible light and joy.* The visible, light-bearing rays of the spectrum are not the whole beam. It is not they which make the plant grow_; it is the dark rays with their mysterious, unseen vibrations that bring heat and chemical power.
1 Matt. vi. 6. 8 Rom. viii. 26; Zech. xii. 10. 8 Isa. xii. 2; Fs. xci. 2; xxxi. 1; Cant. i. 3. * John xii. 46. 6 Ps. cxti. 4. 6 John viii. 12. » John xx. 29. 8 Ps. ii. 12. 9 Ps. xxili. 4.
The first conscious blessing is not linked with even the trust, but with the' staying '1 which grows out of it. 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.'a Then, again, the staying, and the certainly resulting, because absolutely promised, peace lead on to fuller and more settled trust: 'Trust ye in the Lord for ever." How we do love a little child that nestles up to us from its cot in a dark room, and kisses the hand that it cannot see, and pours out all sorts of little confidences which it did not tell in the broad daylight! Do we not fondle it with a special gush of affection? However much we loved the little thing before, we think we love it more than ever! When the Father's little children come to Him in the dark, and simply believe His assurance that He is there, although they cannot see,' will He be less loving, less kind and tender?
'I cannot hear Thy voice, Lord,
But Thou dost hear my cry; I cling to thine assurance
That Thou art ever nigh. I know that Thou art faithful
I trust, but cannot see That it is still the right way
By which Thou leadest me.'
1 Jer. xvii. 7. 2 isa. xxvi. 3. 3 Isa. xxvi. 4. * John XX. 29 ; Ps. xxxiii. 21,
Fear Not
'Fear not.'—Luke xii. 32, etc. THERE need be no difficulty in distinguishing between the holy and blessed 'fear of the Lord,'1 which is our ' treasure,' and which is only as the sacred shadow cast by the brightest light of love and joy, and the fear which 'hath torment," and is cast out by perfect love and simple trust.
'Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then Have nothing else to fear!'
precisely expresses the distinction. But it is a very solemn thought how ' verily guilty '* we are as to this most absolute command of our King, reiterated by messengers angelic and human, and by His own personal voice, perhaps more often than any other. No wonder that we are left to suffer the fruit of our own thoughts when we do not even see our disobedience, much less cease from it. 'Fear NOT.' There is no qualification, no exception, no modification; it is as plain a command as,
1 Isa. xxxiii. 6; Acts ix. 31. 2 j John iv. 18. ' Gen. xlii. 21.
'Thou shalt not steal.'1 What excuse have we for daring to regard it as a less transgression, or even no transgression at all? If the heinousness of a crime might, to human judgment, be measured by its penalty, what must the true heinousness of this everyday sin be when God hath said, 'The fearful shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone!'2
Why should what seems only a natural infirmity be catalogued with the blackest sins? Because, if we honestly examine it, it is always and only the fruit of not really believing God's words, not really trusting His love and wisdom and power. It is a bold, 'Yea, hath God said? '3 to Hisabundant and infinitely gracious promises; it is a tacit denial that He is what He is! Only let us sincerely and thoroughly trace down every fear to its root, and we shall (if the Holy Spirit guide our search4) be convinced of its sinfulness, and 'by the commandment' it will 'become exceeding sinful.'5 'Let Thy judgments help' us, O Lord,6 in this matter. But now for the brighter side! Would our King tell us again and again, 'Fear not!' if there were any reason at all to fear? Would He say this kind word again and again, ringing changes as of the bells of heaven upon it, only to mock us, if He knew all the time that we could not possibly help fearing? Only give half an hour to seeking out the reasons He gives why we are not to fear, and the all-inclusive circumstances in which He says we are
1 Ex. XX. 1$. 2 Rev, xxi. 8. 3 Gen. iii. lo; Luke xix. 21; 2 Sam. vi. 8, 9. ^ John xvi. 8, 9. ?6 Rom. vii. 13. 6 Ps. cxix. 175.
not to fear; see how we are to fear nothing, and no one, and never, and nowhere; see how He Himself is in every case the foundation and the grand reason of His command, His presence and His power always behind it; and then shall we hesitate to say, 'I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me' ?1 Shall we even fancy there is any answer to those grand and forever unanswered questions, 'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid ?'2 There is a 'Fear not' for every possible case and kind of fear; so that we have never any answer to give when He asks, ' Why are ye fearful ?' * but we are 'without excuse." It is part of His 'holy covenant' that we should ' serve Himwithoutfear.'5 It is one of His 'precious promises' that ' thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear.' * It is one of the blessed results of His reign that His flock ' shall fear no more.' * It is no impossible thing, but the simple and natural consequence of really seeking and really trusting the Lord, that He will deliver us not from some, but from 'all' our fears.8 He did this for David, will He be less kind to you and me? The Lord Jesus gives a very tender and gentle expression of the same command when He says, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'9 Ah! we too often let our hearts be afraid:
1 Isa. xli. 10, xliii. 1-5; Matt. x. 28; Lam. iii. 57; Rev. i. 17; ib. ii. 10; Isa. li. 12,13; Gen. XV. I; Matt. xiv. 27; Isa. xxxv. 4 ; Ps.xxiii.4. 2 Ps. xxvii. I. 3 Matt. viii. 26. 4 Rom. i. 20. 6 Luke i. 74. 6 Job xi. 15. "^ Jer. xxiii. 4. 8 Ps. xxxiv. 4; Heb. xiii. 8. 9John xiv. 27.
we yield without even a parley; a fear arises, and we do not recognize it as an enemy of our King, we just let it enter and sit down, instead of unsheathing the sword of the Spirit and attacking it in the power of His might, and in the Name that always conquers. No matter how powerless we feel about it, strength comes with determination to obey.1 Let us say this morning, now, 'I will trust and not be afraid ;' * and then let us ' say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; . . . He will come and save you.'3
Is God for me? I fear not, though all against me rise! When I call on Christ my Saviour, the host of evil flies. My Friend, the Lord Almighty, and He who loves me—God! What enemy shall harm me, though coming as a flood?
Paul Gerhardt.
1 Eph. vi. 17; ib. vi. 10; Ps. xliv. 5; Luke x. 17; Mark iii. 5. 3 Isa.. xii. 2. 3 Isa. xxxr. 4.
The Strength-Giving Look
* And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might.'—Judges vi. 14. FOR the might of a look of the Lord is enough r for anything! Only, we must meet His look; our eyes must be ever toward the Lord,1 and then we shall not miss it: for He says, 'I will set Mine eyes upon them for good.'2 So, if we are indeed His people, we can never look up to Him without His look of grace and goodness and guidance meeting ours. It will not trouble us as it 'troubled the Egyptians ' * when that mysterious look of the Lord fell upon them 'through the pillar of fire and of the cloud;' that look of judgment is not for His Israel. Yet for them there is the solemn look of searching, when He ' lookethon the heart.'* For them, too, the look of expectation, when He comes to His vineyard and looks 'that it should bring forth grapes ; '5 when He comes to 'see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear,' with the beautiful promise in His hand, 'There will I give thee My loves."
1 Ps. XXV. 15. 2 Jer. xxiv. 6. s Ex. xiv. 24. * I Sam. xvi. 7. 6 Jsa. v. 2.
For them the unspeakable power and tenderness of His look of recall.2 One who, after denial of the faith, had felt the might of that look, said to a lad who stood awed by the manly tears: 'Ah, Willie, it's forgiven sin that breaks a man's heart!' How many a wanderer has been called back even by the record that 'the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.' Then the look of healing and help? Have we as simple faith as the father who besought Jesus to look upon his only son, as if even a look from the dimly recognized Master should be enough ?* And so it was! the 'word only,' the touch, the look, were enough for health and cure in cases to which this was a terrible climax.6 Then the look of blessingand love. 'Look down . . .and bless Thy people,'6 prayed Moses. And what a look of blessing that was when Jesus 'looked round about on them which sat about Him,' and 'stretched forth His hand toward' them, and gave them the right of the nearest and dearest relationships!1 Oh! let us take time (make time, if need be) to 'sit about Him ' 8 and listen to His teaching and meet His look. And, last of the seven, there is for His people the special look of strengthening? There is so much in it. Suppose you are called to take part in some busy and complicated arrangements; it is all new
1 Cant. vii. 12. 2 Luke xxii. 61. 3 Mark ix. 24. * Luke ix. 38. 6 Matt. viii. 8; Mark v. 28; ib. ix. 20, 21. 6 Deut. xxvi. 15. 7 Mark iii. 34; Matt. xii. 49. s l)eut. xxxiii. 3; Luke x; 39. 8 Judg. vi. 14.
to you; you are not quite sure you are doing the right thing in the right way; you hesitate and go on slowly and uncertainly, with no sense of freedom and power. All at once you catch the eye of the one who is leading and organizing !1 The look is enough; there is direction, approval, confidence, encouragement, in that one glance, and you work away altogether differently. Very graciously does the Master sometimes give this strengthening look— giving, in a way no one could convey to another, just what we needed for our special work. We know that our Lord has looked upon us, and the look has flashed electric strength into heart and hand; and we go on our way rejoicing, not at all in feeling any more able than before, but in the brightness of His power, saying, 'I will go in the strength of the Lord God." And then His own strength is ours, and He says, 'Go in this thy might,' for 'thy God hath commanded thy strength ;'3 and yet we know more distinctly than ever that it is His strength which is made perfect in our weakness.4 Who is it that shall have the strengthening look of the Lord ?' To this man will I look,' saith Jehovah, 'even to him that is poof and of a contrite spirit.'6 It was he who said, 'What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?' who ' did ea*. continually at the king's table."
1 Ps. xxxii. 8. 2 Ps. xliv. 3; ib. Ixxi. 16; ib. Ixxxvi. 16. 3 Ps. Ixviii. 28. 4 Isa. xlv. 4; 2 Cor. xii. 9. 5 Isa. Ixvi. 2. '2 Sam, ix. 8; ib. ix. 13.
All-Sided Guidance
'And guided them on every side.'—2 Chron. xxxii. 22. SEE the completeness of Jehovah's guidance! It is so different from human guidance. How seldom we feel that a human counsellor has seen our difficulty from every point of view, balanced all its bearings, and given guidance which will meet all contingencies, and be right not only on one side, but 'on every side.' But 'His work is perfect'1 in this as in all other details; He will guide 'when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Perhaps we have gone about as Ely mas did in his mist and darkness, 'seeking some to lead him by the hand," putting confidence in earthly guides, and finding again and again that 'it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,'* and getting perplexed with one-sided counsels. Let us to-day put our confidence in His every-sided guidance. Very often, the very recoil from an error lands us in an opposite one; because others, or we ourselves, have gone too far in one direction, we thenceforth
1 Deut. xxxii. 4. 2 Isa. xxx. 21. * Acts xiii. II. •* Jer. x. 23.
do not go far enough, or vice versa: excess re-acting in defect, and defect in excess; a received truth overshadowing its equally valuable complementary one; the fear of overstepping the boundary line of the narrow track of truth and right, on the one side, leading us unconsciously to overstep it on the other side. But the promise which we should claim is, that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth, 'on every side.'1 How intensely restful is this completeness of guidance! There is nothing outside of God's all inclusive promises about it. 'I will direct all his ways." 'I will direct their work in truth." Not only the general course, but 'the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ;'1 and what is less than a single step! Just realize this: every single little step of this coming day ordered by Jehovah! And lest you should sigh, 'This is not for me, because I am not good,' He repeats the same assurance still more simply: 'The Lord directeth his steps." Now if we really believe these words, need we feel worried because we cannot see the steps ahead which Jehovah is going to direct, if we will let Him ?« If we will let Him! Yes, this is no fatalistic leading. The guidance is conditional. He says, 'I will guide thee with Mine eye;" but then we must look up to meet His eye. 'Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel ;'8 but then we must listen for and listen to His counsel. 'He shall direct thy paths;"
1 John xvi. 13. 2 isa. xlv. 13. 3 isa. Ixi. 8. ^ Ps. xxxvi. 23. 5 Prov. xvi. 9. * Isa. xlii. 16. ' Ps. xxxii. 8. 8 Ps. Ixxiii. 24. 9 Prov. viii. 34.
but it is when we acknowledge Him in all our ways.2 He does not lead us whether or no! Suppose a little child is going with its father through an untracked wood. If it walks ever such a little way apart, it will make many a lost step; and though the father will not let it get out of sight and hearing, will not let it get lost, yet he may let it find out for itself that going just the other side of this tree leads it into a hopeless thicket, and stepping just the other side of this stone leads it into a muddy place, and the little steps have to be retraced again and again, till at last it asks the father to hold its hand, and puts and leaves its hand in his. Then, and not till then, there will be no lost step, for it is guided 'on every side.' Need the little child go on a little longer by itself first? Had it not better put its hand into the father's at once? Will you not do so ' from this time '?2 from this morning? Give up trying to pick your way; even if the right paths in which He leads you are paths that you have not known, say, 'Even there shall Thy hand lead me.'3 Let Him teach you His paths,4 and ask Him to make not your way, but 'Thy way straight before my face. '5 So shall you find the completeness and the sweetness of His guidance. For 'the Lord shall guide thee continually," 'by the springs of waters shall He guide' thee ;T He shall be the guide of your youth, and carry you even unto your old age ;8 He will be your guide even unto death,9 and beyond: for one strain of the song of the victorious ones that stand upon the sea of glass mingled with fire1 shall be, 'Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy Holy habitation."
'I know not the way I am going, But well do I know my guide; With a childlike trust I give my hand
To the Mighty Friend at my side: And the only thing that I say to Him As He takes it, is: "Hold it fast;
Suffer me not to lose my way, And lead me home at last."'
Ruler, because Deliverer
'Rule thou over us, . . . for thou hast delivered us.'— Judges viii. 22. ALTHOUGH the passage in which these words occur cannot be considered a typical one, yet we may perhaps take them as illustrating and epitomizing the desire of every one whom Christ has delivered. But what about this deliverance which precedes the prayer, 'Rule thou over us'? Is it ours? Do we not know whether He has delivered us or not? It is no doing of ours, for 'we have not wrought any deliverance.'1 We have only His word about it, but that is indeed enough, in its absolute and unmistakable assurance: 'Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come ; '2 'Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.'3 This grand deliverance is accomplished, and Jesus Himself proclaims it. Will you doubt His own proclamation of His own act? He has opened the prison doors, and now bids the captives go free, and know that they are free.4 He has vanquished the foe and broken the bands of his yoke, and now tells you that He givethyou the victory which He has already won. What can He do more? He will do no more, because He has done all; therefore, if you do not accept the deliverance which He has wrought, there is no other for you, and 'nothing can be put to it.'5 Only believe it, and then you will joyfully say, 'He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.' 6
But you will not stop there. Merely to be 'in peace '7 is not the end and aim of deliverance. If we are truly delivered, the Deliverer will soon be more to us than even the deliverance, and the gratitude and love will seek expression in obedience. Soldiers are ready to follow the captain who has won the victory anywhere and everywhere; they will not want to be in any other service, least of all in that of his foe.
1 Isa. xxvi. i8. 2 I Thess. i. lo. 3 Col. i. 13. 4 Isa. xlii. 7 ; ib. Ixi. i. 6 Eccles. iii. 14. ^ Ps. Iv. 18. ' Luke i. 74.
We may take this as a test of the reality of our own participation in the deliverance which Chi ist has wrought for us. If we are saying, 'Rule Thou over us,' it is a sure proof that we may add, 'for., Thou hast delivered us;' for it is His people who are willing in the day of His power.1 This ruling is indeed the completion of the deliverance. It is not merely that the enemy is conquered and expelled from the stronghold, but that the citadel is occupied by a stronger than he; * otherwise the garrison would be left headless and defenceless, and open at any moment to the fatal return of the foe. So the Saviour, who has redeemed our life from destruction,3 is the Jesus who shall save His people from their sins,* who shall cast down imaginations, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.5 The Deliverer who comes to Zion is He who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.* If we are not willing for this, we may well doubt whether we have any part or lot in the matter, and fear that we are yet in the bond of iniquity;7 for Christ will not arrange a partial salvation to meet our partial desire.8 He will not be our refuge from the penalty of sin, if we do not want Him as our refuge from the power.* When the elders of Gilead turned to Jephthah in their distress, that he might lead them to victory over their oppressors, what was his condition ?10—' If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Amnion, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head?'''
1 Ps. ex. 3. * Luke xi. 22. 8 Ps. ciii. 4. * Matt. i. 21. 6 2 Cor. x. 5. 6 Isa. Jix. 20. 7 Acts viii. 21 ; ib. viii. 23. 8 Rom. vi. l, 22. • T1tus ii. 14. 18 Judg. xi. 4-8.'
Lord Jesus, Thou art exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour,* and as such I need Thee and I desire Thee. 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death," therefore! pray Thee to deliver my feet from falling, that I may ' run the way of Thy commandments.'4 Oh, sit and rule upon Thy throne in my heart;5 reign there until Thou hast put all enemies under Thy feet! 19
Separation Unto Seemefh it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself?'—Num. xvi. 9. THE thought of separation, so inseparable from true and growing Christian life,7 is sometimes invested with an unnecessary sternness, because it is only viewed in one aspect. Young Christians are tempted to think 'separation from ..." a hard thing, because they do not see how it is far more than outweighed by 'separation unto.'9 Let us think a little of this bright and beautiful side of it.
1 Judg. xi. 9. 2 Acts V. 31. 3 Ps. Ivi. 13. 4 Ps. cxix. 32. 5 Zech. vi. 13. ^ i Cor. xv.25. 7 John xvii. 16; i John ii. 15. 8 Rom. i. i.
There is no true separation from the things which Jesus calls us to leave,1 without a corresponding separation unto things which are incomparably better.2 One hardly likes to speak of it as compensation, because the 'unto' is so infinitely more than the 'from;' it is like talking of a royal friendship compensating for dropping a beggar's acquaintance, or the whole Bank of England for a brass farthing, or palace life for ' giving up' workhouse life I* First, and chiefly, we are separated unto the Lord Himself.* He wants us not only for servants, but for friends;5 and He makes the friendship a splendid and satisfying reality. He wants to bring us 'near to Himself,' that we may be 'a people near unto Him.'6 He will not have a half possession in us, and so He says He hath 'severed you from other people," why? 'that ye should be Mine!' 'chosen unto Himself,' 'His peculiar treasure,'8 'separated from among all the people of the earth to be Thine inheritance." Is it 'a small thing' thus to be the Lord's Nazarite, 'holy unto the Lord all the days of his separation'?10 is any earthly crown to be compared to ' the consecration ( margin, separation ) of his God upon his head '?11 We are separated also to far happier human friendships than the world knows." There is no isolation intended. 'The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."5 Those who separated themselves
I Matt. iv. 19, 20. 8 Mark x. 29, 30. 8 Phil. Hi. 8; 1 Cor. ail. 21-23. * Num. vi. 2; Ps. iv. 3. 6 John xv. 15. 6 Ps. cxlviii. 14. 7 Lev. xx. 26. 8 Ps. cxxxv. 4. 8 1 Kings viii. 53; Titus ii. 14. 10 Num. vi. 8. II Num. vi. 7. 12 e. g. 1 Thess. ii. 17-20, iii. 9; 2 John i. I2 13 2 Chron. xxv. 9.
from the people of the land unto the law of God, 'they clave to their brethren.'1 That is just it; we may lose 'people,' but we find brethren," with all the love and pleasure and freedom of intercourse —yes, and even mirth—which that relationship brings. Is not this 'much more' than the society of 'people 7 But we do not get this, perhaps do not even guess its existence, as long as we try for both.3 Both means neither, in this case; we are conscious of the hollowness of the one, and we are not separated unto, and therefore cannot possibly know the enjoyment of, the other. Then we are separated unto work, 'the work whereunto I have called them;'* very different kinds, but to every man his own work,5 and thereby an end of all the gnawing purposelessness, and down-weighing uselessness, and miserable timekilling, and sense of helpless waste of life. Ennui is no part of a separated life; there is no room for that wretchedness any more. 'Whose I am, and whom I serve,'6 fills it up. Some are separated more especially ' to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord.'7 Some only- to stand before Him, it may be 'by night,'8 so that 'songs in the night'9 may ascend to His glory. Some in a thousand ways ' to minister unto Him,' to His poor, to < His prisoners,'10 spiritually or temporally; always 'unto Him '11 in His representatives. But all' to bless in1 Neh. X. 28, 29. 2 Markx. 30; i John iii. 14. ' Matt. vi. 24 ; Jas. iv. 4. ^ Acts xiii. 2. 5 Mark xiii. 34. ^ Acts xxvii. 23. T Jsa. Iii. 11; Deut. x. 8. 8 Ps. cxxxiv. I. ^ Job XXXV. 10. 10 Ps. Ixix. 33. 11 Matt. XXV. 40.
His name;'1 for praise is the invariable service of separation. 'Ye see your calling is it not a high one? 'Seemeth it but a small thing to you? ' 5 Seemeth it too stern a thing? Is it not rather a 'better thing' than fallen man could have dreamt of aspiring to?* a brighter life than has entered into the natural heart of man even to imagine? Is it for you? Listen !' Be ye separate,' and, what then? '/will receive you.'5 'This is His commandment '6 to you, and this is His promise. Will you obey? Then you shall know a little, but every day more and more, of that unspeakable blessing of being 'received' by the Father, until the day when Jesus shall come again and receive you unto Himself for the grand separation of eternity with Him.8
'As by the light of opening day The stars are all concealed, So earthly pleasures fade away When Jesus is revealed.'
John Newton.
1 I Chron. xxiii. 13. 2 i Cor. i. 26; Phil. iii. 14. 8 Num. xvi. 9. 4 I Cor. ii. 9, 10. 5 2 Cor. vi. 17. • I John iii. 23. 7 John xiv. 3. 8 John xvii. 24*
Manifesting the Life of Jesus
'That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.'—2 Cor. iv. II. IS not this a 'high' and 'holy ' and 'heavenly' calling P1 Yet 'even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps." 'Hereunto,' to do just as He would have done, sometimes even just as He did do in like circumstances; to show not our patience, but 'the patience of Jesus Christ,"—not mere human meekness and gentleness, but' the meekness and gentleness of Christ,'* and so on with all the other beautiful and holy qualities which shone in 'the life also of Jesus.' While our 'life is hid with Christ in God,'5 His life is to be 'manifest in our mortal flesh,'—yes, 'magnified in my body.'6
1 Phil. iii. 14 ; 2 Tim. i. 9; Heb. iii, i. - 1 Pet. ii. 21. 3 Rev. i. 9. 4 2 Cor. x. i. 5 Col. iii. 3. * Phil. i. 20. ^ Eph. iii. 17.
'How shall this be?' First, Jesus Himself must dwell in our hearts by faith,7 or His life cannot be 'manifest.' He has said He will do so, but it is on conditions which He specifies: i. Hearing His voice; 2. Opening the door to Him; 3. Loving Him; 4. Keeping His words.1 Not one of these can we fulfil without His grace, but not one of them will He deny us grace to fulfil, and the real desire to fulfil them is the beginning of that grace. Therefore let us 'open unto Him immediately,' and let Him come in and 'abide with us,'2 so that henceforth it may be, 'Not I, but Christ liveth in me.'3
We want Him to make us vessels meet for this great use ;4 pure and transparent vessels through which His glorious life may shine; so transparent, that, like clear glass, they may be altogether lost sight of in the light which streams through them; so pure, that they may not dim the radiance of His indwelling. The word 'manifest' is more than mere showing; it implies a bringing to light, shining forth, and comes from the idea of a torch or lantern. We can only shine as lights in the world by bearing the Light of the world within us.5 But it is a grand and solemn responsibility. Our Lord Jesus is hidden from the eyes of the world; they do not see Him, they only see us, and our lives are to show them what His life is. What a tremendous trust our Master has given us! Who is sufficient for this thing?' It is very real. He, our precious Lord, will be held in more or less esteem this day; His power, His grace, His sweetness will be judged of according to what the outsiders see in our lives. This day it rests with us to bring fresh reproach and discredit on His dear name, by caricaturing His life, or so truly to manifest it 'that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.'1
Thy life in me be shown! Lord, I would henceforth seek To think and speak Thy thoughts, Thy words alone, No more my own!
1 Rev. iii. 20; John xiv. 23. 2 Luke xii. 36 ; ib. xxiv. 29. 3 Gal. ii 20. 4 2 Tim. ii. 21. s Phil. ii. 15 ; John viii. 12. 6 2 Cor. ii. 16.
The Yoke-Destroying Anointing
'The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.'— ISA. x. 27. THE Assyrian yoke of old was not so real, so tangible, so continually felt a yoke, as that under which many a child of God is writhing; yet they are 'called unto liberty,' even 'the glorious liberty of the children of God.'2 And if the yoke of sin is felt to be real, the promised destruction of it surely will not be less so. If it is, as we know by sorrowful experience, no imaginary bondage, neither shall the deliverance be imaginary.
1 2 Thess. i. 12. 2 Gal. v. 13 ; Rom. viii. 21.
You feel the yoke, but how shall it be destroyed? 1. Because of the grand anointing of our Lord Jesus Christ by God Himself 'with the Holy Ghost and with power" to proclaim liberty to the captives; 2 the grace and might of the triune Jehovah thus combining in the proclamation of the liberty which Jesus purchased by taking upon Him the form of a slave and becoming obedient to death.8 2. 'Because of the anointing' which we 'have received of Him,'* because the precious ointment upon our High Priest's head goes down to the skirts of His garments,5 shared by His least and lowest members. Perhaps we stop here and say, * But I cannot realize that I have received it, because my yoke is heavy upon me.' Then see how you shall receive it; there is only one way—not by fresh revelation or special voice from heaven, but simply by faith— 'that ye might receive the promise of the spirit through faith." Give glory to God, and be fully persuaded that what He has promised He is able also to performand His 'free Spirit' will be faithful to His promise, and the yoke, even your yoke, 'shall be destroyed because of the anointing.'8 All other yokes are sub-included in the yoke of our sins, and this is exactly what Jesus came to save us from; the very first, as it is the all-inclusive New Testament promise, 'Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save H1s people from their sins." Are all His wonderful promises about this
1 Acts X. 38. 2isa. Ixi. 1. 3 phil. ii. 7, 8. 4 I John ii. 27. 6 Ps. cxxxiii. 2. 6 Qal. iii. 14. ' Rom. iv. 20, 21. 8 Ps, li. 12 ; Heb. x. 23. 9 Matt. i. 21.
mere empty words, with no power or reality in them? Are they the exceptions to His declaration that 'My words shall not pass away'?1 the only promises which are not Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus ? * Listen! they need no note or comment. 'Sin shall not have dominion over you.' 'Ye were the servants of Sin, but, . . . being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." 'Now being made free from sin,' 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.'* 'Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'5 Let us look at the context of each (only not quoted for want of space), and, if our experience has nothing answering to all this purpose of His goodness'8 let us ask Him to show us His own meaning and His own royal intention, and to 'reveal even this unto you " by the unction from the Holy one,8 who convinces all the more deeply of sin when He convinces also of the practical power of Christ's blood to cleanse from all sin, and of the reality of His present salvation.3 Do not hug the yoke which He has promised to destroy. 'And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt . . . say, How hath the oppressor ceased!'10 'In that day . . . his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder.'
1 Matt. xxiv. 35. 2 2 Cor. i. 20. 8 Rom. vi. 14; ib. vi. 17, 18. 4 Rom. vi. 22; ib. viii. 2. 6 John viii. 34, 36. • Eph. i. 4. 7 Phil. iii. 15. 8 , John ii. 20. • John xvi. 8; 1 John i. 7. 10 Isa. xiv. 3, 4.
But 'that day' may be this day! Why not ?' For now will I break his yoke from off thee." 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;" and He hath said, 'Ask, and ye shall receive." Recognize the anointing by faith, and then 'stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage;'* for 'this is His commandment.' Then you shall 'walk at liberty,'6 and give Him the glad 'offering of a free heart,' rejoicing in His easy yoke,* and (shall we not add), 'proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor."
Upon Thy promises I stand,
Trusting in thee: Thine own right hand
Doth keep and comfort me I My soul doth triumph in Thy word; Thine, Thine be all the praise, dear Lord,
As Thine the victory.
Love perfecteth what it begins;
Thy power doth save me from my sins;
Thy grace upholdeth me. This life of trust, how glad! how sweet! My need and Thy great fullness meet,
And I have all in thee.
Jean S. Pigott.
Our Works in God's Hands
'Commit thy works unto the Lord.'—Prov. xvi. 3. SUPPOSE an angel were sent down to tell us this morning that he was commissioned to take all our work under his charge to day, that we might just be easy about it, because he would undertake it, and his excellent strength and wisdom1 would make it all prosper a great deal more than ours, how extremely foolish it would be not to avail ourselves of such superhuman help! What a holiday it would seem, if we accepted the offer, as we went about our business with the angel beside us! what a day of privilege and progress ! and how we should thank God for the extraordinary relief His kindness had sent! Far higher is our privilege this day; not merely permitted, but pressed upon us by royal commandment, ' Commit thy works unto Jehovah!' Yet this is but the third strand of a golden cord which is strong enough (if yielded to) to draw us up out of all the miry clay of the ' pit of noise,'' where
1 Ps. ciii. 20. 2 Ps. xl. 2
the voices of fear and anxiety and distrust make such a weary din. We are to commit the keeping of our souls to Him ;1 then we shall be ready for the command to commit our way unto Him, and then our works.2 Then, having obeyed, we may exchange the less confident expression, ' Unto God would I commit my cause,'3 for the bright assurance, 'I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.'4 Of course He is! Not an angel, but Jehovah bids us this day commit our works to Him. It is not approving the idea, nor thinking about it, nor even asking Him to take them, that is here commanded, but committing them: a definite act of soul, a real transaction with our Lord. Suppose you have an interview with another worker, and, having had a distinct understanding as to what you wish him to undertake for you, you verbally and explicitly transfer to him the management and responsibility of some work. You are not actually in sight of it, you have no tangible objects to hand over, you might do it in a dark room, but the transaction is real. The burden of the work is no longer upon you, if only you have confidence in the one to whom you have committed it. And if you have the further confidence that he is considerably more capable than yourself, and can do it all a great deal better, you are not only relieved but rejoiced. Just such a definite transaction does our Lord bid us make with Him this morning. Will you do it? Will you not, be fore venturing away from your quiet early hour, 'commit thy works' to Him definitely, the special things you have to do to-day, and the unforeseen work which He may add in the course of it?
11 Pet. iv. 19. 2 Ps. xxxvii. 5. 3 Job V. 8. 4 2 Tim. i. 12.
And then, leave it with Him! You would not have the bad taste to keep on fidgeting about it to the friend who had kindly undertaken your work for you! If we would only apply the commonest rules of human courtesy and confidence to our intercourse with our Divine Master! Leave details and results all and altogether with Him. You see, when you have committed it to Him, your 'works are in the hand of God.'1 Really in His Hand! and where else would you wish them to be? Would you like to have them back in your own? Do you think His grasp is not firm enough, or the hollow of His hand2 not large enough, to hold your little bits of work quite securely? Even if He tries your faith a little, and you seem to have labored in vain and spent your strength for nought, cannot you trust your 'own Master' enough to add, 'Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God ' ?3 Especially as He says, 'Thou art my servant, in whom I will be glorified ;' * by which 'ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.'5 That for the past work. For the present, 'I will direct their work in truth.' 6 And for all our future work, a singular shining in the eastern horizon: 'Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.'1
1 Eccles. ix. I. 2 Isa. xl. 12. 3 Isa. xlix. 4. ?* Isa. xlix. 3. 6 I Cor. xv. 58. 6 Isa. Ixi. 8. ' Isa. Ixv. 22.
Oh to be nothing, nothing! Only to lie at His feet, A broken and emptied vessel,
For the Master's use made meet. Emptied, that He may fill me.
As forth to His service I go; Broken, that so unhindered
His life through me might flow. Oh to be nothing, nothing! Only as led by His hand; A messenger at His gateway,
Only waiting for His command. Only an instrument ready
His praises to sound at His will; Willing, should He not require me,
In silence to wait on Him still. G. M. Taylor.
The Secret of Fulfilled Desire
'Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart.'—Ps. xxxvii. 4. ONE often hears this promise quoted without its conditional precept;1 but we have no right to put asunder anything that God has joined together. Every heart has desires, but not even every Christian heart delights itself in the Lord. This is the reason of the great wail of unfulfilled desire—the very howl, one might say, which makes a howling wilderness of this fair world.
1 Prov. x. 24.
It stands to reason; if our delight is absolutely and entirely in the Lord, all our desires will be not only ' before Him,'1 but the whole 'desire of our soul' will be concentrated upon Him,2 radiating from that centre along the bright rays of His ' good and perfect and acceptable will.'8 Now, of course, His will must and will be carried out; for 'He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand.'4 So, if we delight truly in the Lord, and thereby have our desires so harmonized with His will that they float out on the same great tide of perfect music, there will be no damper upon their vibrations, but they will be fulfilled for us because His will is fulfilled.5 His will is not, as we are tempted practically to think, something quite separate and apart from Himself, so that we may think Him gracious, and yet think His will rather stern; or so that we may love Him, and yet very much dislike His will. His will is the very essence of Himself going forth in force; it is the primary difference between what we know of Jehovah and what the Hindoo imagines of Brahma. We must not overlook the important word 'also.'6 This points us to a preliminary condition:
1 Ps. Ixxiii. 25 ; ib. xxxviii. 9. 2 Jsa. xxvi. 8, 9 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 3 Rom. xii. 2. ?* Dan. iv. 35. 5 Eph. v. 17. ^ Ps. xxxvii.3.
'Trust in the Lord, and do good." Trust, evidenced by obedience, is the stepping-stone to delight in the Lord, and the only one. Obedience is the result of trust, and the condition of delight. Two great cases of this condition of delight are distinctly given us—one spiritual, the other practical. 1. 'If thou return to the Almighty, . . . then thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty." It is not said to saints, but to repentant sinners3—not to the eldest son, but to the returning prodigal.4 To me, the wanderer, it is offered. To me, the backslider, it is held out. We can never say: 'The Lord does not mean such a one as I to delight in Him; that sort of thing is only meant for those who have always been consistent Christians.' If so, He would not have said, 'If thou return.'6 Without true returning, there cannot be delight in the Lord; but, conversely, if there is no delight, ought we not to 'consider our ways,'6 lest some 'returning ' should be needed? 2. 'If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.'7 On our knees before Him let us examine ourselves as to every clause of this great condition. Perhaps here we shall find the joints in the
1 Isa. xii. 2, 3. 2 Job xxii. 23, 26. 3 Matt. ix. 11, 13. 4 Luke XV. 2, 32. 5 Job xv. 11. 6 Hag. i. 7. 7 Isa. Iviii. 13, 14.
harness, the secret controversy1 which hinders the realization of delight in the Lord, and therefore of the annexed promise. A word about the delight itself. There is something so real, and natural, and childlike about it. It is joy realized—joy in flower, bright, growing, alive, beautiful. It is the sparkle of the upspringing fountain in the clear sunlight. This childlike delight is to be in the Lord Himself. It is quite another thing to delight in what He does for us. The Israelites 'delighted themselves in Thy great goodness.' Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled.' Not under the shadow of even a Godgiven gourd,3 but under His own shadow, may you sit down ' with great delight.' * Then all His fruits shall be sweet to your taste; you shall delight in His will, in His comforts, in His commandments, and in His people.5 You shall desire 'what His soul desireth,' * and ' He shall give thee the desires of thine Heart."
Oh, blessed life!—the heart at rest When all without tumultous seems— That trusts a higher will, and deems
That higher will, not mine, the best. Oh, blessed life!—heart, mind, and soul, From self-born aims and wishes free, In all at one with Deity,
And loyal to the Lord's control. W. T. Matson.
1 Micah vi. 2. 2 Neh. ix. 25, 26. 3 Jonah iv. 6. 4 Cant. ii. 3. ^ Ps. xl. 8; ib. xciv. 19 ; ib. cxix. 47 ; ib. xvi. 3. 6 Job xxiii. 13. ^ Ps.cxlv. 19.
Taking God at His Word
'I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.'— Acts xxvii. 25. THEN, of course, St. Paul could be calm, and bright, and confident, 'with a heart at leisure from itself' to cheer and counsel others. Yet could any circumstances have been more depressing ?—a miserable and crowded ship, to which our most wretched steamer would be a palace, exceedingly tossed with tempest, not a gleam of sun or star for many days, all reckoning lost, driving wildly on to certain shipwreck, and the graphic and suggestive touch of 'long abstinence.' Whatever this day may bring forth, there can be nothing like this for us. Yet even the lesser trials of our own journey may and must be met with the same simple and sufficient secret of calm, simple belief in what God has said. It is strange and surprising even to ourselves how absolutely enough we always do find it, just to believe that it shall be even as God has told us, and 'rest' on His word.1
Prov. xvi. 3. ,
The 'it' may be for us one thing to-day, another to-morrow, according to the circumstances He sends; but the 'shall be' cannot be severed from it. He has 'told us' so much, that we have only to recognize our special need, to find at once that He has already 'told' us exactly what we want. Glance at the needs of this day—our weakness, our openness to temptation, our liability to fall,1 our besetting sins, our ignorance, our present or possible troubles, our longing for Himself, which includes all other holy longing—seven pressing realities.2 Now let us hush our hearts to listen to the reality of His corresponding replies: 'I will strengthen thee." 'Ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.'* 'Able to keep you from falling'5 (Gr. 'stumbling'). 'He shall save His people from their sins'6 (/'. e. just your own special ones). 'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.'7 'I will not leave you comfortless.' 'I will come to you.'8 Can we read these words—His own words, and say, 'I do not believe God!' Even the recoil from such an expression may help a trembling one to the joyful and only alternative: 'I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.' Not less, not almost as, but 'even as,' with God's own fullness of meaning in each word of each promise.
1 I Pet. V. 8. 2 Ps, Ixxiii. 22 ; ib. Ix. 11; ib. Ixiii. i. 3 Isa. xli. 10. 4 Epb. vi. 16. 5Jude24. 6 Matt. i. 21. '* Ps. xxxii. 8. 8 John xiv. 18.
David prayed: 'Do as Thou hast said. . . . For Thou, O my God, hast told Thy servant that Thou wilt build him an house: therefore Thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before Thee.' And because God had 'promised this goodness,' he prayed on confidently: 'Now therefore let it please Thee to bless . . . :for Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.'1 Has He not 'told' us of blessings beyond those for which David pleaded, and may we not claim these in the name of Jesus with a childlike, ' Do as Thou hast said'?
The ground of St. Paul's belief was not something, but Some One. Simply, 'I believe God''! An earnest worker said the other day, 'Oh, I am so glad it does not say, "I know what I have believed," but, "I know whom I have believed " !'a This belief, of course, includes all His messages, written or spoken. 'If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established," is a word of continual application to the trembling or wavering steps of our daily path. But ' this is His commandment,'* 'Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." And then, 'Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were toldhzr from the Lord.'6 'Even as it was told me.' 'And so it came to pass. '7
11 Chron. xvii. 23, 25. 2 2 Tim. i. 12. * Isa. vii. 9. * 1 John iii. 23. 6 2 Chron. xx. 20. • Luke i. 45. * Acts xxvii. 25,44.
Our Commission
'And let him that heareth say, Come.'—Rev. xxii. 17. "THEY delivered the king's commissions unto i. the king's lieutenants.'1 Have some of us thought it would be easier to work for God if a definite commission were delivered to us, so that we could know exactly what we were to do and say*— a commission so explicit, that there could be no mistake either in its personal delivery to ourselves or in our execution of it? Then here it is! To whom is it delivered? Simply to 'him that heareth.' 'The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.'3 Then, if this blessed call has been heard by you, for you is the commission intended, and to you it is given. Not, are you a fit and polished instrument? not, are you a practised worker? not, are you already a trained soldier, and therefore very capable of enlisting others?4 not, have you a special gift of speech or pen?6 but simply and solely, have you heard for yourself the one sweet call, 'Come ' ?6
1 Ezra viii. 36. 2 Josh. i. 16. 3 Rev. xxii. 17. * 2 Tim. ii. 2, 3. ^ 1 Cor. xii. 7-11. 6 Matt. xi. 28.
Now you see that the commission is for you, do you not? But what is it? Can anything be more simple and explicit? You are to 'say, Come'! That is all; but, in simple obedience to this command of your King, what possibilities of blessing and success, of gladness to you and glory to Him, are enfolded! You are to 'say, Come.' Are you saying it? Not, are you exercising a general good influence? not, do you try to lead and keep the conversation in profitable channels? not, do you speak about 'good things' or even about Christ? not, are you giving time and money to the furtherance of some branch of His work ?—you may be doing all this, and yet be distinctly disobeying His command, distinctly faithless and disobedient to your commission. You are missing the present privilege and unspeakable happiness of winning souls, and foregoing the glorious reward annexed to it.1 For, assuredly, it is those who are literally saying 'Come,' who are really ' turning many to righteousness;'2 not because they are more gifted, but because God's powerful blessing is given with their obedience to His definite command. Why should we be at a loss what to say, when He has given us the very word? We have but to transmit the echo of His own call, 'Come unto Me ;' 'Come and see; '3 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.' * Whatever the position of the one to whom we speak, there is always a suitable 'Come.' 'Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.'5 'Come and see Him whom we have found.'1 'Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.'2 Then, for those who have come, there is still always a ' Come up higher.'3 'Come up with me . . . that we may fight against the Canaanite.'* 'Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.'5 Oh, how such a call may be blessed to a weak-handed and feeble-footed Christian? And still there is a 'come' of special beauty and power for those who have yielded themselves to Him: 'Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near.'' And let us not shrink from faithfully echoing with no 'uncertain sound," 'Come out from among them,'8 remembering that when the heavenly Bridegroom says, 'Come with Me,' He adds, 'from Lebanon . . . from the lions' dens." He who gives the commission always gives opportunities of exercising it; but it is our part faithfully lo seek and watch for these, and courage and faith will increase as they widen. The servant who was sent at first only to say ' Come' to the bidden guests, was next sent to bring them in from a wider range, and then to 'compel them to come in' from a wider still.10 The commission is laid before you this day; it is inscribed with your own name, signed by your King's own hand, and sealed by the Spirit, who bears witness with your Spirit that His ' Come ' has been heard by you." Do you accept it? or do you refuse it? There is no third alternative!
ljohni.46. SJer.l. 5. 8Prov. xxv. 7. * J i1dg. i. 3. 6 Isa. ii. 5. • 2 Chron. xxix. 31. 7 1 Cor. xiv. 8. 8 2 Cor. vi. 17. v Cant. iv. 8. ly Luke xiv. 17; ib. xiv. 21; ib. xiv. 23. U Horn. viii. 16.
Ye who hear the blessed call Of the Spirit and the liride, Hear the Master's word to all,
Your commission and your guide: * And let him that heareth say, Come,' to all yet far away.
'Come!' alike to age and youth; Tell them of our Friend above, Of His beauty and His truth,
Preciousness, and grace, and love. Tell them what you know is true, Tell them what He is to you.
Brothers, sisters, do not wait, Speak for Him who speaks to you! Wherefore should you hesitate? This is no great thing to do.
Jesus only bids you say, 'Come !' and will you not obey?
Beholding and Declaring
'Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.'— Ezek. xl. 4. WHETHER the mysterious Measurer was a created angel or the divine Angel of the Covenant, 'we cannot tell.'1 But the message which he here gives to Ezekiel seems to illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take both the words and the things of Christ and shew them unto us.2 'Eye hath not seen,' yet 'behold with thine eyes; ' 'nor ear heard,' yet 'hear with thine ears;' * neither have entered into the heart of man,' * yet 'set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee.' For 'God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.'3 To Ezekiel should be shown the wonderful temple, with its measurements, its laws, and its mystical services. To us shall be revealed the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,5 and (as if to let the ladder down a step lower) 'for him that waiteth for Him." Afterward, he beheld 'the glory of the God of Israel,' and 'he heard Him speaking unto' him.7 And we, by the Spirit, are to behold the glory of the Lord,8 and to 'hear His voice' calling us by name.3 This would seem to be all promise and privilege, rather than commandment; something with which we have nothing at all to do but to wait and see if it comes! Nay! 'Behold with thine eyes.' 'Go forth and bshold '10 your King! And when we accept the seemingly impossible command, the Spirit will open our eyes that we may see. 'Hear with thine ears !'11 And with (not even after) the obedient inclination of the ear, the still small voice will out-ring not only 'earth's drowsy chime,' but all other voices. He says: 'They shall hear My
1 Matt. xxi. 27. 2 John xiv. 26; ib. xvi. 15. 8 1 Cor. ii. 9. * 1 Cor. ii. 10. 6 1 Cor. ii. g. • Isa. Ixiv. 4. * Ezek. xliii. 1, 2 ; ib. xliii. 6. 82 Cor. iii. 18. * John x. 3. 10 Cant. iii. 11. 11 Iii. Iv. 3.
voice ;'1 'they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak.'2 For the Spirit will unstop the ears of the deaf. When He thus makes us behold and hear, He will finish the work and enable us to 'set' our wandering hearts upon all that He will show us. But the responsibility will still be ours to follow the enabling. It will act and react. The more we set our hearts the more He will show us; and the more He shows us, the more our hearts will surely there be fixed. 'All that I shall shew thee.' What a vista of revelation opens before us !' He shall take of Mine and shall shew it unto you,"—My love, My grace, My wisdom, My acts, My covenant, My goodness, My glory! He 'will shew thee the truth.' * He 'will shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.' 6 'He will shew you things to come." Do we not feel like little children, wondering, in delighted expectation, what it is that we are going to see? Like little children, too, we have been brought hither, on purpose that He may show us all this. 'Hither,' to the very place, the very point, where we now are. We did not come of ourselves; we were 'brought.' Very likely we should have gone to some other place, and aimed at some other point. But He brought us hither with gracious intent of revelation. It may have been a stiff climb up the 'very high mountain ;" but who minds that, if they really believe in the promised view?
1 John X. 16. 2 Isa. lii. 6. 3 John xvi. 15. * Ps, xvii. 7; ib, ciii. 7; ib. xxv. 14 ; Ex. xxxiii. 18, 19 ; Dan. xi. 2r 5 Jer, xxxiii. 3. 6 John xvi. 13. ^ Ezek. xl. 2.
As commands always lead up to privileges, so privileges again lead on to further commands. Not for ourselves alone are we to 'see' and ' hear.' We are to declare all that we see.1 When we have seen the house, we are to ' shew the house." When we have seen the Saviour, we are to make known abroad the saying which was told us concerning Him.3 When we have seen the King, weare to ' tell it out' that He reigneth. 'Hear with thine ears, and go . . . and speak.'* 'What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light.'5 Do not let us begin quibbling about how much we can tell, or how much we ought to tell. Let us very simply and very humbly bow before this ' His commandment,' and ask Him to enable us to obey it exactly as He means us to obey it, neither losing the spirit in the letter nor ignoring the letter in the spirit.*
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak In living echoes of Thy tone; As thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children, lost and lone. Oh teach me, Lord, that I may teach The precious things Thou dost impart;
And wing my words that they may reach The hidden depths of many a heart.
Oh fill me with Thy fulness, Lord, Until my very heart o'erflow, In kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
1 I John i. 3. 2 Ezek. xliii. 10. ' Luke ii. IV. 4 Ezek. iii. 10, 11. ^ Matt. x. 27. « 2 Cor. iw. 15.
Telling of the Hand of God
'Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.'—Neh. 2:18. ""THEN they that feared the Lord spake often i- one to another.'1 Yet many hold back from what they call 'talking about religion,' under colour that they fear it too often leads to talking about self. And yet, what about the general conversation which is about 'other things,'2 not 'the things which are Jesus Christ's ' ?3 Are the 'other things' free from self and wholly profitable? Is it 'with grace, seasoned with salt'? Yet this is what we are commanded that our speech should 'always' be.4 Let us lay aside this unscriptural notion of 'talking about religion,' which may only be controversy and criticism, and see what our Lord would have us talk about. The sum of our conversation should be, as recorded of Anna, 'She . . . spake of Him.'5
1 Mai. iii, i6. 2 Mark iv. 19. 3 Phil. ii. 21, * Job. XV. 3; Col. iv. 6. ^ Luke ii. 38.
Here is our keynote, and what wealth of melody and fulness of harmony spring from it!—the melodies of His word 'in linked sweetness, long drawn out,' for the right hand; the harmonies of His works, in ever-varying marvels, for the left. Why, we have topics for all eternity, much more for our occasional hours and minutes of converse, unfolding more and more as we receive more and more of His fulness 1 But there is the point. If we do not want to 'speak of Him,'1 let us beware of plausibly persuading ourselves that it is because we do not want to speak about ourselves. Let us be honest, and own that the vessel does not overflow because it is not very full of faith and love.8 Christ said, 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.'3 Men say, 'No such thing! one does not speak when one's heart is full!' Yet 'let God be true, but every man a liar,'* and let us see whether our unwillingness to speak of Him does not arise from our having nothing to say. Nehemiah had something to tell. 'I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me.'5 Nothing about his ' own arm,' but 'Thy right hand and Thine arm,' and what that had done, the wonderful answer to his prayer, and the way made plain before his face.6 And see how it stirred up his listeners forthwith! They said, 'Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." Have we nothing to tell to those
1 John i. 16. 2 Eccles. xi. 3. ^ Matt. xii. ,»*- •* Rom. iii. 4, 5 Neh. ii, iS. .« Ps xliv. 3 ; Neh. i. 10; ib. ii. 4, 8. 7 Neh, ii. 18.
whom we meet this day of what the hand of our God has done?1 David said, 'Come and hear, . . . and I will declare what He hath done for my soul; " and no doubt then, as now, the story of His gracious doings resulted in stimulus and blessing to other souls. When thus 'confession* with the mouth is made,' it is very, very often 'unto salvation " for the listeners. We must first know and 'consider how great things He hath done for' us;4 and then the voice of Jesus says not only 'Shew,' but 'Tell how great things the Lord hath done for thee,'5 that thus showing, and thus telling, 'the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. '6 We have also less personal but not less vivid testimony to bear. 'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad," will put a new song in many another's mouth,8 and confirm their faith in the living God. Thus did Moses, and the result was not only that Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done,* but that he rose to the grand confession, 'Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods.'10 It is not to be only a one-sided telling, but a free and pleasant interchange; for we are distinctly commanded, 'Talk ye of all His wondrous works.' Who can exhaust that 'all'7U While we 'talk together of all these things,'" communing together
1 Ps. Ixxvii. 12. * Ps. lxvi. 16. 8 Rom. x. 10. * t Sam. xii. 24. 6 Mark v. 19; Luke viii. 39. • Philem. 6. 7 Ps. cxxvi. 3. 8 ps. xl. 3. • Ex. xviii. 8. 10 Ex. xviii. 11. I1 Ps.cv.2; ib.lxxvii. 12. >2 Luke xxiv. 14.
like the disciples on the Emmaus road, how often does Jesus Himself draw near and go with us! I think He always does, only our eyes are not always open to recognize Him. Verily, in keeping of this commandment (and it is a commandment), 'there is great reward."
'Make me to understand*the way of Thy precepts: so shall I talk of Thy wondrous works.'
Have you not a word for Jesus? not a word to say for Him? He is listening through the chorus of the burning seraphim! He is listening; does He hear you speaking of the things of earth, Only of its passing pleasure, selfish sorrow, empty mirth? He has spoken words of blessing, pardon, peace, and love to you, Glorious hopes and gracious comfort, strong and tender, sweet and true; Does He hear you telling others something of His love untold, Overflowings of thanksgiving for His mercies manifold?
1 Ps. xix. II; ib. cxix. 27.
Telling of the Hand of God
'Then I told them of . . . the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.'—Neh. ii. 18. HOW naturally we should not only treasure, but 1f, any royal words spoken to ourselves! They would be more to us than any other utterances, and they would ensure the interest of our listeners. How natural for Nehemiah to tell of the king's words which he had spoken unto him, though only an earthly and alien sovereign! Now, ought it not to be just as natural, delightful, and interesting to tell of the words of our own, our heavenly King, especially when He has commanded, 'He that hath My word, let him speak my word faithfully' ?1 Not that we can ever tell all that passes in the secret audience chamber; nor would it be well that we should try to do so: for ' the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.'2 The King has gifts for us with shining inscriptions which ' no man knoweth saving he that receiveth' * them, whispers which cannot resound in words.
1 Jer. xxiii. 28. !Ps. xxv. 14. • Rev. ii. 17; Prov. xvii. 8.
But very much, perhaps most, of His gracious communications to the soul come in the very form which is most easily grasped, remembered, and repeated— His own written words brought to our remembrance by His good Spirit, and applied to our conscious or unconscious need.1 Do not let us give our own memories the credit, instead of giving Him the praise, when He so kindly sends any of His own words freshly and forcibly into our minds. Have we not often defrauded Him of the glory due unto His name* in this matter, by mistaking His voice for our mere observation or recollection? Now it is these words of the King, spoken to our hearts as they are not spoken to the world, which we may profitably tell others, thus becoming * the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message,'* and spreading the knowledge of His words. Nehemiah did not tell of the king's words which he had spoken unto somebody else, but 'which He had spoken unto me.' So, if we would tell the King's words, we must first hear them. Ask that, like Ezekiel, the Spirit may enter into us when He speaks unto us, so that we may hear Him that speaks unto us.4 'These words shall be in thine heart;'5 and then, after that, comes the command: 'Talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.'* Watch to see what He will say,7 and no fear but
1 John xiv. 26; Acts xx. 35. 2 Ps. xxix. 2. 3 Hag. i. 13. * Ezek. iii. 10. ^ Deut. vi. 6. 6 Deut. vi. 7. 1 Hab. ii. 1.
that His words will be heard, and that more and more. For it is when He hath spoken unto us that we shall be strengthened, and say, 'Let my Lord speak.'1 And then He will say more to us, and show us 'that which is noted in the Scripture of truth.'a It seems a truism to say that this telling of the King's words will be ever so much more useful and resultful than our own words. Yet do we always act upon this? When we try to 'speak a word for Jesus '3 to a friend, does it not sometimes seem as if we were a little 'ashamed of His words' ?* Is there not sometimes a little shrinking from giving a text? Has it not seemed an easier course to talk about a sermon? If we have visited a cottage, have we not sometimes thought our duty discharged by a little general good advice and kindly sympathy, and not always 'told them of the King's words,' which are spirit and life,5 and which should not have returned void *—seed words, by which dead souls might have been born again; 'sincere milk,' by which babes in Christ might ' grow ' ?7 Surely there is no more precious talent entrusted to us,8 none with which we may trade with more certain success and splendid increase, than these words of our King. What we hear from Him let us commit to others, 'that they may be able to teach others also.'" A simple text thus passed on (and who cannot do this!) may be the immediate means of wonderful spiritual help and quickening,
1 Dan. -x.. Tc). 2 Dan. x. 21. 3 Jer. xxiii. 28. 4 Mark viii. 38. 5 John vi. 63, 6 isa. Iv. 11. '' I Pet. i. 23; ib. ii. 2. 8 Matt. xxv. 16. 8 2 Tim. ii. 2.
and 'the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God' (not some otherwise concocted comfort) may comfort many 'which are in any trouble,'1 without even one word of man as its vehicle. Yes, we have a word for Jesus! Living echoes we will be Of Thine own sweet words of blessing, of Thy gracious 'Come to Me.' Jesus, Master! yes, we love Thee, and to prove our love would lay Fruit of lips which Thou wilt open, at Thy blessed feet to-day. Many an effort it may cost us, many a heart-beat, many a fear, But Thou knowest, and will strengthen, and Thy help is always near. Give us grace to follow fully, vanquishing our faithless shame, Feebly it may be, but truly, witnessing for Thy dear name.
Evil Speaking
'Speak not evil one of another, brethren.'—Jas. iv. II. ONE of the most difficult of 'His commandments,'2 and yet one which is in a peculiar degree 'for our good' and personal happiness, as well as for those around us! The more difficult, the more need of grace; and the more need, the more the full supply.3
* 2 Cor. i. 4. 8 Deut. x. 13. 8 2 Cor. xii. 9; Phil. iv. 19.
Well might St. Paul say, 'Put them in mind to speak evil of no man,'1 for do we not easily fail to keep this in mind? The command is 'exceeding broad;" let us not seek to narrow it, but humbly bow to our Master's distinct orders in all their exactness. Do we really wish to know them fully, that we may obey fully? Then what are they?' Speak evil of no man." Shall we venture practically to say, 'Yes, Lord, except of So-and-so'? 'Laying aside all evil speakings.'* Does not this include the very least? 'Let all bitterness, . . . and evil speaking, be put away from you ;'6 then does He give us leave to cherish even one little hidden root of that bitterness from which the evil speaking springs ? * 'Put away' implies resolute action in the matter,—have we even tried to 'put away all'? But this great clause of the 'royal law" is broader still: 'Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour.'8 And the characteristic of that charity, without which we are only 'sounding brass' and 'nothing,' is, that it 'thinketh no evil." Is not this the root from which the far-poisoning fruit springs? We have first disobeyed another order: 'Whatsoever things are of good report; . . . think on these things."0 Instead of that, we 'think' about the bad reports that we may have heard; we develop the unkind
1 Titus iii, 2. 2 Ps, cxix. 96. 3 Titus iii. 2. 4 I Pet. ii. I. 6 Eph. iv. 31. 6 Heb. xii. 15. 7 Jas. ii. 8. 8 Zech. vii. 10; ib. viii. 17. 0 I Cor. xiii. z; ib. xiii. 2 ; ib. xiii. 5. 10 Phil. iv. 8.
hint into suspicion, and perhaps into accusation, by thinking about it, instead of thinking on and thinking out the probable 'other side' of the case. This thinking has tempted us not to 'refrain our tongue;'1 and thus we have set some one else 'thinking,' and thereby to more speaking evil one of another. At last the little fire has kindled a great matter,3 and we come ourselves and bring others under the condemnation of taking up 'a reproach against his neighbour," instead of not enduring nor receiving it (see the striking marginal reading). And what is the just penalty annexed by implication ? Not to abide in His tabernacle, not to dwell in His holy hill !* How very often we speak evil of things which we, more or less, 'understand not'5—ah, even of 'things which they know not'!*—instead of obeying another part of the royal law, 'Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come," when the very person whom we have been condemning shall 'have praise of God!' This often arises from disobedience to two other plain commands: 'Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself, and discover not a secret to another :'8 and, 'go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.'9 Yet away we go, and tell somebody else about it instead! Let us guard against the negative form of evil speaking, generally the most dangerous and cruel, even when the most thoughtless. Absalom was extremely clever in this. Who could quote any actual
1 I Pet. iii. lo. 2 Jas, iii. 5. 8 Ps. xv, 3. * Ps. XV. I. S 2 Pet. ii. 12. * Jude 10. 7 z Cor. iii. 5. 8 Prov. xxv. 9. • Matt, xviii. 15.
evil speaking against his royal father?1 Who could charge him with speaking evil of dignities?2 And yet by insinuation, by his way of putting things, by his very manner, he wrought a thousand-fold more cruel harm than any amount of speaking out could possibly have done. Oh to be watchful as to such omissions to speak well, as amount to speaking evil! watchful as to the eloquence of even a hesitation, watchful as to the forcible language of feature and eye! Of course the question arises: 'But what about cases in which wrong-doing must be spoken of for the sake of truth and justice?' Clear as crystal are our instructions here: i. We are to speak 'the truth." TJie truth, not such part of it as will best prove our case, and nothing else! Not what we suppose to be the truth. 2. 'In love.' Does all our testimony stand this test? 3. 'In the name of the Lord Jesus.'* Would not this check many a word against another? 4. 'To the glory of God." Failure in any one of these four rules brings us in guilty of sin. Oh may He give us grace to keep our heart with all diligence,' and Himself set a watch this day before our mouth, and keep the door of our lips !7 May we cease to 'reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches wherewith we can do no good.8
Take my lips, and let them be. Filled with messages from Thee.
1 2 Sam. XV. 3-5. s 2 Pet. ii. lo. * Eph. iv. 15. 4 Col. iii. 17. & I Cor. x. 31. « Prov. iv. 23. ' Ps. cxli. 3. 8 Job XV. 4.
Hindering
'Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.'—I Cor. ix. 12. MANY an active and willing helper in the Church is too often an unconscious hinderer of the gospel. Let us each try to find out how we may have hindered, that we may do so no more. A vexation arises, and our expressions of impatience hinder others from taking it patiently. Disappointment, ailment, or even weather depresses us; and our look or tone of depression hinders others from maintaining a cheerful and thankful spirit. We let out a fearing or discouraged remark, and another's hope and zeal is wet-blanketed. 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.'1 We say an unkind thing,2 and another is hindered in learning the holy lesson of charity that ihinketh no evil.* We say a provoking thing,* and our sister or brother is hindered in that day's effort to be meek. 'Make straight paths {ox your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. '5
1 Deut. XX. 8; Judg. vii. 3. 2 Jas. iv. 11. 3 I Cor. xiii. 5. "* Jas. i. 26. 6 Heb. xii. 13.
We yield an inch in some doubtful matter, and another is emboldened to take an ell. We do an inexpedient thing, and another improves upon the supposed example, and feels justified in doing an unlawful thing.1 'Abstain from all appearance of evil." 'Let not your good be evil spoken of.'3 We miss an opportunity of speaking 'a word for Jesus;' and our pleasant, commonplace talk has checked a half-formed wish for something better, and hindered the light of the glorious gospel from shining into a heart.4 We do not heed the thoughtful look on some household face just after family prayer or public worship, and our needless chat about ' earthly things '6 acts the fowls of the air. We make a critical remark about a preacher qr writer, and it is brought back by the enemy in swift temptation, at the very moment when a word in season was about to find entrance.6 'Them that were entering in, ye hindered." Oh, terrible condemnation !' Let not those that seek Thee be confounded for my sake. '* We need, too, to be shown whether we are quite unconsciously hindering in even lesser ways; for many have little peculiarities, of which they are hardly or not at all aware, which nevertheless annoy, fidget, depress, or chill those with whom they have much intercourse, and thus hinder the calm reign of peace in their spirits. 'Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake.'9
1 I Cor. X. 23 ; ib. viii. 13. 2 i Thess. v. 22. 8 Rom. xiv. 16. 4 2 Cor. iv. 4. 6 Phil. iii. 19 ; Matt.xiii. 4. 6 P:». cxLx. 130. ' Luke xi. 52. 8Ps. ixix. 6. •* Ps. Ixix. 6.
How sadly, too, we may hinder without word or act! For wrong feeling is more infectious than wrong-doing; especially the various phases of illtemper—gloominess, touchiness, discontent, irritability,—do we not know how catching these are? If the Lord asked us, ' Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel' in this way, should we not be utterly without excuse?1 What if he asked each hindered one, ' Who did hinder you?" —are our consciences sure that our names would escape mention? Shall we not watch and pray that this day we may only help and not hinder in the least thing, and that no one may have virtually to say to us, 'Hinder me not' !s May we never be the helpers of the great hinderer! When 'Satan hindered' St. Paul, he probably found human agents.4 Let us ask that the Lord Jesus would so perfectly tune our spirits to the key-note of His exceeding great love,5 that all our unconscious influence may breathe only of that love, and help all with whom we come in contact to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.6 'And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works."
1 Num. xxxii. 7. 2 Gal. v. 7. 3 Gen. xxiv. 56. 4 I Thess. ii, 18. * 2 Cor. iv. xo. ^ 2 Thess. i. 8. 7 Heb. X. 24.
Strengthening Hands
'Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.'—Isa. xxxv. 3. 'T_TE that is not with Me is against Me: and he -ti- that gathereth not with Me scattereth.'1 So it is not enough merely not to hinder; we must help: for not helping generally amounts to hindering. Perhaps we tried yesterday not to be hinderers; today let us 'go on to completeness,' and try to be helpers.2 'Strengthen ye the weak hands.' Plenty of these around us; for where is one real worker who does not feel his weakness, even in very proportion to what seems to us his strength ?3 It does not the least follow that those who are altogether much stronger than ourselves are not perhaps realizing their weakness much more.4 We ' should not think of such a thing ' as aiming to strengthen their hands, and so very much mutual ministry is left undone. A little child may strengthen the hands of a giant and veteran in the faith, and it is just the giants and
1 Luke xi. 23. 2 Heb. vi. i (Gr,). 8 2 Cor. xii. 1. 4 I Cor. ii, 3,
veterans who do not say to the more feeble members, 'I have no need of you.'1 'David sent to comfort Hanun by the hand of his servants.'2 St. Paul received the comfort of God by the coming of Titus, his 'own son ' in the faith ;3 and he seems to have had a great deal of both comfort and joy (which certainly are most strengthening), at second hand, by the ' fervent mind toward' him of the Corinthians, so that 'exceedingly the more joyed we.' * Again, those very near us often need strengthening; are we right if they have practically to look farther for the strengthening which it might be ours to give? There may be a spiritual application of providing specially for those of our own house.5 Again, are there not sometimes such very ' weak hands,'6 that we almost get tired of trying to strengthen them, and feel inclined to think it is no use dealing with such hopeless feebleness? What if our Master did this to us? How shall we set about it? First, by prayer, as Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses.7 'Helping together by prayer.'8 This reaches all. Who knows how much of the weakness of hands, which distresses or even annoys us, may be laid at our door because we talked about it instead of praying about it? Very likely, names will occur to us now; then take those names at once to the Mighty One, and ask Him this morning to strengthen those weak hands and confirm those feeble knees.
1 I Cor. xii. 21, 22. 2 2 Sam. x. 2. ^7. Cor. vii. 6; Titus i. 4. 4 2 Cor. vii. 7. 61 Tim. v. 8. 6 Rom. xv. i. T Ex. xvii. 13. 8 2 Cor. i. 11, • Jas. v. 16.
Secondly, by personal contact. I suppose we never come in contact with one who is really strong in the Lord1 without being strengthened, whether we feel it or not. But we should not be content with the unconscious influence which it is our singular privilege to radiate. 'Jonathan arose, and went to David in the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.'2 Arising always implies a little effort. Then make it! What are our orders? 'Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.'3 How are we to do it? 'Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem.' * What comes from the heart goes to the heart. 'Speak;' don't hint and beat about the bush. When the arrow is feathered with love and weighted with wisdom, it must fly straight. What are we to say ?' Say ... Be strong, fear notj behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you.' 5 'Cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.'6 Examine these two wonderful messages, and see if they do not actually include everything required for your fulfilment of this commandment. You may amplify them, but that is all. Take with you His words, and then you may say without presumption, 'I would strengthen you with my mouth.' * Before we can really lift up other hands, our own must have been lifted up by His good Spirit,8 and our own feeble knees must have been confirmed by much bowing at His footstool.9 'When thou art
1 Eph. vi. 10. ' I Sam. xxiii. i6. sjsa. xl. i. * Isa. xl. 2, margin, 6 Isa. xxxv. 4, 6 isa. xl. 2. "f Job xvi. 5. 8 Heb. xii. 12, 13. 0 Eph. iii. 13, 16.
converted, strengthen thy brethren." 'Uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach.'' It is the climax of the grand procession of promises in that magnificent close of the words of Eliphaz. If we acquaint ourselves with God,3 receive His law, return to Him, and put away iniquity, then 'when men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up.'* May our record on high be: 'Thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.'
Oh lead me, Lord, that I may lead The wandering and the wavering feet;
Oh feed me, Lord, that I may feed Thy hungering ones with manna sweet Oh strengthen me, that while I stand Firm on the Rock, and strong in Thee,
I may stretch out a loving hand To wrestlers with the troubled sea.
1 Luke xxii, 32. 2 Ps. U. 12, 13. 8 Job xxii. 3i'-t9. 4 Job iv. 4.
Seeking to Excel
'Seek that ye may excel.'—I Cor. xiv. 12. AN almost startling command; yet it is addressed to 'all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord," therefore unmistakably to ourselves. Very likely our thoughts have been quite different from God's thoughts about it.* We have been thinking it was useless to seek to excel, because we saw no likelihood of doing so; that it was presumptuous to think of such a thing; that it was even positively wrong to aim at it; yet, all the time, there the commandment stood, 'Seek that ye may excel 1' For its right fulfilment, there must be one preliminary and one object. The preliminary is, that we must be 'zealous of spiritual gifts." It is only when we are coveting earnestly the best gifts4 that the exercise and development of all others comes in its right place; that is, we must be eagerly desiring and heartily striving and using His own means to
1 I Cor. i. s. 2 Isa. lv. 8. • 1 Cor. xiv. 12. * l Cor. xii. 31.
grow in grace,1 to receive always more and more of His fulness,* more light and love, more faith and power, more, above all, of His Spirit. Even when this is the case, how often we set some human standard before us, and say: 'Ah! if I only had half as much grace as So-and-so!' Comparing ourselves among ourselves, we are not wise;3 it is a fruitful source of limitation and hindrance. We are not to aim at 'half as much grace,' nor even as much, but at excelling the fair self chosen standard, which after all is so far below the 'exceeding abundantly'* which He is able to do for us. Let us give it up, once for all, and strike out into God's more excellent way, and 'seek to excel." Let us open our mouth wide that He may fill it,6 asking for such great gifts that His royal bounty may be magnified because of our very poverty;1 asking for such excellency of power that it may be seen to be of Him and not of us;" asking that He would so fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us.3
Then, the one object. 'Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.'10 But 'seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church.' Apart from this, seeking to excel would inevitably become sin. Emulation, ambition, pride, would come in like a flood; envying and strife would follow, 'leading to confusion and every evil work.'11 'All things edify not,'—should not this guide the
1 I Pet. ii. 2 ; z Pet. iii. i8. 2 John i. i6, ^2 Cor. x. 12. 4 Eph. iii. 20, 6 I Cor. xii. 31. * Ps. Ixxxi. 10, 7 2 Cor. ix. II. 8 2 Cor. iv. 7. ^ 2 Thess. i. 11, la. l** Jer. xlv. 5. ^^ Jas. iii. 16; i Cor. x. 23.
directions in which we seek to excel? For this end only let every good gift,1 spiritual or mental, inward or even outward, be continually cultivated and carefully used. Let us this day and henceforth aim at nothing lower. Perhaps He grants us power to excel in some seemingly very little things, some little peculiar gifts which we don't think much of. 'He that is faithful in that which is least,'"' will be enabled to use even that for the edifying of some part of the Church. Those who have no hand in raising the strong pillars, may yet be called to give a delicate touch to the lily work which shall crown them.3 'To every man his work and in that, even if it is only running little errands for the skilled workmen, we may excel to the edifying of the Church. There are 'diversities of gifts,'5 but none are without any. 'Every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." If we think it humble to profess, or are humble enough really to believe, that we have but the 'one talent," that is the more reason why we should eagerly make the very most of it for our Lord; for if it is only one, it is not our own, but 'our Lord's money.'
1 Jas. i. 17. 2 Luke xvi. lo. 3 i Kings vii. 22, 4 Mark xiii. 34. 5 i Cor. xii. 4. * 1 Cor. vii. 7, "i Matt. XXV. 15.
What the Will of the Lord Is
'Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.'—Eph. v. 17. ARE we not apt to connect the thoughts of God's will with efforts to submit to what is not very pleasant to us? Is this fair, when all that He Himself tells us of His will should make us love and admire and rejoice in it? Truly our thoughts are not His thoughts1 about it, or there would not be so many a sigh over that glorious petition, 'Thy will be done." Let us see what He says it is, for He hath 'made known unto us the mystery of His will;" and in proportion as we are filled with the knowledge of it, shall we walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.4 1. It was the good pleasure of His will to predestinate us unto the adoption of children,5 that we should be His own 'sons and daughters,' His own 'dear children." And if He had told us no more than this, ought not 'Thy will be done' to peal forth as an 'Amen chorus' from all His adopted ones?
1 Tsa. Iv. 8. 2 Matt. vi. 10. 3 Eph. i. 9. < Col. i. 9; ib. i. 10. & Eph. i. 5. ^2 Cor. vi. 18; Eph. v. i.
2. It was the will of God our Father that the Lord Jesus Christ should give Himself for our sins, 'that He might deliver us from this present evil world.'1 Jesus said, 'Lo, I come to do Thy will,2 O God,' and 'gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity." And day by day He is delivering those who believe that He 'doth deliver,' and 'trust that He will yet deliver;'* for this is 'the will of the Lord.' 3. By this will we are sanctified.5 Sanctification is the continual fulfilling of the good pleasure of His goodness in us. It is the making us partakers of His holiness and of the divine nature itself. It is making us like Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifest even in our mortal flesh.6 It is granting the desire, the thirst of thirsts, of every renewed heart.7 And 'this is the will of God, even your sanctification !'8 4. It is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us, that in every thing we should give thanks, 'always for all things.'9 This implies a life full of cause for praise, and full of power to praise;—can any one describe a brighter ideal? Yet this is the will of God concerning^*. 5. Perishing, failing, dying,—how the very words 'everlasting life "° shine out to us in the darkness! a resplendent gift purchased for us by the one transcendent gift of God!" It includes everlasting salvation, light, joy, love, glory; and it is for every one 'which seeth the Son and believeth on Him :' for Jesus says, ' This is the will of Him that sent ME.
1 Gal. i. 4. 2 Heb. x. 9. 3 Titus ii. 14. * 2 Cor. i. TO. 5 Heb. x. 10. 6 2 Cor. iv. 11. 7 Matt. V. 6. 81 Thess. iv. 3. 9 Eph. v. 20. 10 John iii. 16. " 2 Cor. ix. 15.
6. Is not this enough? is there yet a misgiving and a haunting fear lest we should lose this great gift? Again the glorious will of God is our security; for, though our numb hand might let it slip, we are ourselves in the grasp of a Hand which holds us and our eternal life too; for, of all which the Father hath given Him, He 'shall lose nothing," 'not the least grain shall fall upon the earth,' not you, not I: for 'this is the Father's will." 7. Now for the climax; and this time it is the Son, our own Lord Jesus Christ, who tells His Father that He is one with Him, and then, in His own divine name, declares His divine will :4 'I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am. This is the consummation of His will concerning us, that we should be for ever with the Lord!6 Shall we like 'strangers'7 'submit to this'? Shall we bow to this? Shall we dare to sigk over 'Thy will be done'? Shall we not rather 'submit ourselves wholly to His holy will and pleasure,'8 bow under the very load of the benefits of His will in deepest adoration and intensest thanksgiving, and not wait for 'the happier shore,' but here and now sing out of the abundance of a simply believing heart, 'Thy will be done'?9 For truly it is 'good will to men;' and may we be so 'transformed by the renewing of our minds,' that we may daily and joyfully 'prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.'1
1 John vi. 40. 2 John vi. 39. 3 Amos ix. 9. 4 John xvii. 22, 5 John xvii. 24. ^ j Thess. iv. 17. 7 Ps. xviii. 44. 8 Ps. Ixviii. 19. * Luke ii. 14.
With quivering heart and trembling will The word hath passed thy lips, Within the shadow, cold and still,
Of some fair joy's eclipse. 'Thy will be done!' Thy God hath heard, And He will crown that faith-framed word.
Thy prayer shall be fulfilled,—but how? His thoughts are not as thine; While thou wouldst only weep and bow,
He saith, 'Arise and shine!' Thy thoughts were all of grief and night, But His of boundless joy and light.
Thy Father reigns supreme above; The glory of His name Is Grace and Wisdom, Truth and Love,
His will must be the same. And thou hast asked all joys in one, In whispering forth, 'Thy will be done 1'
His Last Commandment
'This do in remembrance of me.'—Luke xxii. 19. HIS last commandment! Do we not desire to obey it in its very fullest meaning, to do exactly what He meant us to do, and all that He meant us to do in it?1 Let us pray that He may open our eyes to behold wondrous things in it, and enable us to rise through the letter to the spirit.* It is not simply 'This do.' We may obey so far month by month or week by week, and yet never once have obeyed our Lord's dying wish or fulfilled His desire. He said, 'This do in remembrance of Me.' We cannot remember what we do not know. We must know the Lord Jesus Christ8 before we can truly remember Him at His table; for He does not say that we are to do it in remembrance of what He said, or even of what He did. That is quite a different thing. We may remember what we have heard or read of Ridley and Latimer, and we might commemorate their martyrdom; but we cannot remember them, because we never knew them,
1 Ps. cxix. 19. 2 John vi. 63. 3 Phil, iii, 8.
except as matter of history. But we know the Lord Jesus Christ as we know no man after the flesh.1 'We do know that we know Him," and 'the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'3 is our very life; it is the joy with which no stranger intermeddleth.4 Without this personal knowledge of Him, there can be no true remembrance of Him in the Lord's Supper. Let us seek to 'know Him,' so that we may be able to remember Him; then the sweet remembrance of Himself5 and His exceeding great love will include remembrance of the words and ways of the Lord Jesus then it will arouse our love into a vivid reality of personal affection; then He will draw nigh to us:7 for 'Thou meetest Him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember Thee in Thy ways.'8 Have we not sometimes gone rather to get something for ourselves than simply to remember Him? and may not this account for some of the disappointment, which is no uncommon experience, that we did not run exactly in the way of His commandment ?3 We went to get strengthening and refreshing. We went perhaps vaguely expecting some peculiar manifestation of Himself, some almost sensible consciousness of His presence which is quite outside of His written promise or command. We went expecting something because we went, a sort of reward in and for the outward act. We remembered our weakness, and our wants, and our
1 2 Cor. V. 16. 2 I John ii. 3. 3 2 Pet. iii. 18. 4 Prov. xiv. lo. 6 Cant. i. 4. ^ John xiv. 26, xvi. 4. 7 Lam. iii. 57. 8 isa. Ixiv. 5. 8Ps. cxix. 33.
wishes, and we forgot that He commanded 'one thing'—the remembrance of Himself. Shall we not ask the Holy Spirit next time to fix our hearts, so that the whole desire of our soul may be 'to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee ' ?l There was no 'remembrance' in that first celebration of the Lord's Supper, that first solemn evening communion: for He was bodily present as the Master of the feast.2 The very word was a shadow cast before of the time when He should 'be taken from them.'3 But now 'the bright light which was in the cloud'4 shines all along the dim waiting time, revealing 'this same Jesus;'5 for He whom we specially 'remember' at His table, is with us 'alway,' all the days, 'the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.'6 He loves us now as He loved us when He prayed for 'all them which shall believe on Me" in 'the same night in which He was betrayed.'8 He loves us now as He loved us when He would not come down from the cross to save Himself.* Love is the link between the remembrance and the anticipation; for the two melt into each other, and form one hallowed radiance of present great delight. 'For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come.TM So perhaps some will be showing it forth at the very moment when He comes! What a transition of unimaginable blessedness! It is almost too dazzlingly beautiful to think of.
1lsa.xxvi.S. 2Markxiv.17; Matt. xxvi. 20; Lukexxii.11. •Matt. ix. 15. * Job xxxvii. 21, 'Acts i. 11. « Heb. xiii. 8. 7 John xvii. 20. « 1 Cor. xi. 23. 4 Mark xv. 30. »« 1 Cor. xi. 26.
Luther said: 'I feel as if Jesus Christ died yesterday.' So fresh, so vivid, be our love and thankfulness! But may we add: 'And as if He were coming to-day!' Then our lives would indeed be rich in remembrance and radiant in anticipation,1 'looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.'2
According to Thy gracious word, In deep humility, This will I do, my gracious Lord,
I will remember Thee. Remember Thee, and all Thy pains, And all Thy love to me; Yes, while a breath, a pulse remains,
Will I remember Thee.
- James Montgomery.
The Great Reward
'In keeping of them there is great reward.'—Ps. xix. II. NOT, * Because I keep them I shall have a great reward;' but 'In keeping of them there is great reward.' God Himself wants us to keep them, because He loves us. He says: 'O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them' !1 This reward is an indisputable, though too often not fully recognized, fact of every Christian's experience. That we may have to keep His commandments in the very teeth of trial, loss, opposition, or distress does not touch the matter ;2 for, nevertheless, not afterward, but in the keeping of His words, He takes care to keep His word that there shall be great reward.
If there is not great reward, it only shows that there is not real keeping. The essence of true keeping of God's commandments is love.3 (See how many times keep and love are joined together in all parts of His word.)* Now, if we have only been obeying in mere form and letter, because we were afraid to disobey, this is nol the heart-obedience which is always crowned with blessings. So, if we cannot quite set to our seal that God is true to this promise,5 let us be quite sure that it is because we have not fulfilled His condition. And let us now, at once, ask Him to write His laws in our hearts,* and so to shed abroad His love in us by the Holy Ghost,7 that we may begin at once to keep them for very love to our glorious Lawgiver and Mediator.8 Then we shall know for ourselves that they are not grievous,9 but that they are 'for our good, always.'10
1 Deut. V, 29. 2 Matt. xix. 29, 3 John xiv. 24. 4 Ex. XX. 6; Deut, xi. i; John xiv. 15, etc. 6 John Hi. 33. * Heb. viii. 10. ^ Rom. v, 5. 8 Deut. v. 27. 8 I John V. 3. l*' Deut. vi. 24.
Yet surely we may appeal to the experience of every one of the King's servants, that, however feeble and imperfect our obedience has been, we do know something about 'great reward,' not for it, but in it. As in the days of Hezekiah, when the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king, the result was great gladness, great joy, great blessing, and great prosperity, so is it now in the spiritual reign of our King.1 Not outward and visible reward, though even that He very often adds, far more exceeding; but inward and spiritual reward. Not in general only, but in minutest particulars. Having pledged Himself to this, He is 'not unrighteous to forget '2 the least act of Spirit-wrought obedience. Sometimes he puts such wonderful sweetness into the doing of or the refraining from some little thing for His sake, that we wonder what makes us so happy about it, and cannot but be conscious that it is not exactly one's mere natural feeling. Is not this a precious experience of' great reward,' all the greater because it came through some very little thing? Let us put together into a bright bit of Biblemosaic the scattered gems which are part of this great present reward, 'the promise of the life that now is," the hundred-fold which we are to receive 'now in this time' :*—i. Strength: 'Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments . . . that ye may be strong ;'s for 'the way of the Lord is strength to the upright!1
1 2 Chron, XXX. 12, 21, 26; ib. xxxi. 10, 21; Job xxxvi. 11. 2 Heb. vi. 10. 3 I Tim. iv. 8. 4 Mark x. 30. 6 Deut. xi. 8.
2. Safety: 'Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing," much less be hurt by it! 3. Liberty: 'I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts.'3 Every commandment kept is a fetter of Satan broken by the grace and might of the 'stronger than he.'* 4. Peace: 'Great peace have they that love Thy law. '5 And in proportion as we hearken to His commandments, does our peace flow as a river.6 Disobedience dries it all up instantly. 5. Life and Health: Perhaps more literally than we suppose; for it stands to reason there is less friction and wear and tear even of our nerves and physique when we keep His peacebearing commands to trust and not be afraid,7 to be without carefulness and anxious thought.8 'Let thine heart keep My commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.'* 'It is your life."0 'It shall be health.'11 'I know that His commandment is life everlasting.'18 6. Knowledge: 'If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine."3 'If ye continue in My word, ... ye shall know the truth.' 7. Answered Prayers: 'Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments.'" 8. Gladness: Again and again we find this the result of seeking out and keeping the commands of God.15 9. The Father's Love: 'He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be
1 Prov. X. 29. 2 Eccles. viii. 5. 3 Pg, cxix. 45. < Luke xi. 22, 5 Ps. cxix. 165. 6 Isa. xlviii. 18. 7 Ps. Ixii. 8. 8 I Pet. V. 7; I Cor. vii. 32; Matt. vi. 25-34. ^ Prov. iii. i, 2. 10 Deut. xxxii. 47. " Prov. iii. 8. ^2johnxii. 50. 13 John vii. 17. 14 John viii. 31, 32. 15 i John iii. 22.
loved of My Father.'1 10. The Manifestation of Jesus: 'And I will love Him, and will manifest Myself unto Him." 11. The indwelling of the Triune God: 'And we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." 12. The Witness of the Spirit to this indwelling: 'He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.'4 'What shall I more say ? '5 Verily, in keeping of them there is great reward!
Ps. cxii. I. 1 Neh. viii. 14,17, etc. 2 John xiv. 21. 3 John xiv. 23. 5 I John iii. 24. 6 Heb. xi. 3
'And King Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty.'—I Kings X. 13. ALL God's goodness to us is humbling. The more He does for us, the more ready we are to say, 'I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant.'1 The weight of a great answer to prayer seems almost too much for us.' The grace of it is ' too wonderful " for us. It throws up in such startling relief the disproportion between our little, poor, feeble cry, and the great shining response of God's heart and hand, that we can only say: * Who am I, O Lord God, that Thou hast brought me hitherto? Is this the manner of man, O Lord God ? '* But it is more humbling still, when we stand face to face with great things which the Lord hath done for us and given us,5 which we never asked at all,8 never even thought of asking—royal bounty, with which not even a prayer had to do. It is so humbling
1 G«n. xxxti. 10. * Luke v. 8, 9. * Job xlii. 3. * 2 Sam. vit. 18. * Fs. cxxvi. 3. • 1 Kings iii. 13.
to get a view of these, that Satan tries to set up a false humility to hinder us from standing still and considering how great things the Lord hath done for us ;x thus he also contrives to defraud our generous God of the glory due unto His name.8 For, of course, we do not praise for what we will not recognize. Let us try to baffle this device to-day, and give thanks for the overwhelming mercies' for which we never asked. 'Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.' * Just think of them deliberately (they are far too many to think of all in a flash); and how many did we actually ask for? Even that poor little claim was never brought to bear on thousands of them. 5 To begin at the beginning, we certainly did not ask Him to choose us in Christ Jesus before the world began,8 and to predestinate us to be conformed to the image of His Son.7 Was not that 'royal bounty' indeed? Then, we certainly did not ask Him to call us by His grace ;8 for before that call, we could not have wished, much less asked, for it." Then, who taught us to pray,10 and put into our entirely corrupt and sinful hearts11 any thought of asking Him for anything at all?" Was not all this 'royal bounty?' Look back at our early prayers. Has He not more than granted them? did we even know how much He could do for us? did He not answer prayer
1 I Sam. xii. 7, 24. 2 Ps.xxix. 2. s isa. Ixiii. 7. 4 Ps. Ixviii. 19 ; ib. ciii. 2. 62 Thess. ii. 13. « Eph. i. 4. T Rom. viii. 29. 82 Tim. i. 9. 9 Rom. i. 6. W Luke xi. i. " Job xxxvii. 19. " Rom. viii. 26.
by opening out new vistas of prayer before us, giving us grace to ask for more grace, faith to plead for more faith?1 Why, it is all 'royal bounty' from beginning to end! And this is going on now, and will go on forever, when He has brought us with gladness and rejoicing into His own palace.* Not till then shall we understand about those riches of glory in Christ Jesus,3 out of which He is even now pouring out the supply of all our need. The marginal reading is very beautiful; it is, 'that which he gave her according to the hand of King Solomon.' We may link this with David's grateful words: 'According to Thine own heart hast Thou done all these great things; '* and again: 'Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word."' His hand, His heart, His word—what an immeasurable measure of His bounty! The great hand that holds the ocean in its hollow6is opened to satisfy our desire,7and to go beyond that exceeding abundantly,* giving us according to the heart that 'so loved the world," and according to the wordTM which is so deep and full that all the saints that ever drew their hope and joy from it cannot fathom its ever upspringing fountain. Perhaps nobody knows the Bible well enough to know the full significance of saying, 'Be it unto me according to Thy word;'" how much less can we imagine what shall be the yet unrevealed royal bounty according to His heart of infinite love and
* John i. 16 ; Rom. i. 17 ; Luke xvii. 5. 2 pg, xlv. 15. 8 Phil. iv. 19. * 2 Sam. vii. 21. ^ Ps. cxix. 65. 8 Isa. xl. 12. 7 Ps. cxlv. 16. 8 Eph. iii. 20, ' John iii. 16. ^0 John iv. 11, 14. " Luke i. 38.
hand of infinite power !' What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.'1 'And ye shall ... be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you."
When this passing world is done, When has sunk yon glaring sun, When we stand with Christ in gloIy, Looking o'er life's finished story, Then, Lord, shall I fully know— Not till then—how much I owe!
R. M'cheyne.
IJohnxiii. 7. Joel ii. 26.
The Opened Treasure
'The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.'— Deut. xxviii. 12. WHEN the wise men 'opened their treasures,' they brought out gold and frankincense and myrrh.1 When Jehovah opens unto us His good treasure, we shall see greater things than these.2 The context of this rich promise seems to make 'the heaven' the treasure-house; and in its primary and literal sense, the fertilizing rain is the first outpouring of the opened treasure, soon after expanded into beautiful details of the 'precious things of heaven and . . . the precious things of the earth.'* But the spiritual blessings are closely interwoven with the temporal in the whole passage, and the faithful Israelites who did not ' look only for transitory promises ' * may well have claimed the opening of heavenly treasure through this promise.5 What shall He ' open unto thee?' In a word, 'the unsearchable riches of Christ." In Him
1 Matt. ii. 1t. * John i. 50. 9 Deut. xxxiii. 13-16. * Deut. xxviii. 1-14. 6 Art. vii. 6 Eph. iii. 8.
'are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," but the Lord shall open them unto thee. Riches of goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering* shall be meted out in infinitely gracious proportion to our sins, and provocations, and repeated waywardness; exceeding riches3 of grace for all our poverty now, and riches in glory4 enough and to spare for all the needs of glorified capacities though all eternity. 'All are yours' in Him.5 Faith is the key to this infinite treasury, and in giving us faith8 He gives us treasure for treasure. He is ready to make us ' rich in faith," and then still to 'increase our faith '8 'unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding." Ask for this golden key, and then put it into the Lord's hand, that He may turn it in the lock. He shall open unto thee the good treasure not only of the living Word, but of the written word.10 This is indeed ' treasure to be desired,"1 'more to be desired than gold; "2 and when Jehovah the Spirit opens this to us, we shall, we do, rejoice 'as one that findeth great spoil."3 Christ, the true Wisdom, has said, ' I will fill their treasures,"* and 'the chambers shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches."5 So that when He has done this we are ' made treasurers over treasuries,"6 and may 'bring forth out of' our ' treasure things new and old.'"
‘The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.’— Deut. xxviii. 12.
WHEN the wise men ‘opened their treasures,’ they brought out gold and frankincense and myrrh.1 When Jehovah opens unto us His good treasure, we shall see greater things than these.2
The context of this rich promise seems to make ’the heaven’ the treasure-house; and in its primary and literal sense, the fertilizing rain is the first outpouring of the opened treasure, soon after expanded into beautiful details of the ‘precious things of heaven and . . . the precious things of the earth.’* But the spiritual blessings are closely interwoven with the temporal in the whole passage, and the faithful Israelites who did not ’ look only for transitory promises ’ * may well have claimed the opening of heavenly treasure through this promise.5
What shall He ’ open unto thee?’ In a word, ’the unsearchable riches of Christ." In Him
> Matt. ii. IT. 2 John i. 30. 8 Deut. xxxiii. 13-16.
- Deut. xxviii. x-14. 6 Art. vii. * Eph. iii. 8.
‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," but the Lord shall open them unto thee. Riches of goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering* shall be meted out in infinitely gracious proportion to our sins, and provocations, and repeated waywardness; exceeding riches3 of grace for all our poverty now, and riches in glory4 enough and to spare for all the needs of glorified capacities though all eternity. ‘All are yours’ in Him.5
Faith is the key to this infinite treasury, and in giving us faith8 He gives us treasure for treasure. He is ready to make us ’ rich in faith," and then still to ‘increase our faith ‘8 ‘unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding." Ask for this golden key, and then put it into the Lord’s hand, that He may turn it in the lock.
He shall open unto thee the good treasure not only of the living Word, but of the written word.10 This is indeed ’ treasure to be desired,“1 ‘more to be desired than gold; “2 and when Jehovah the Spirit opens this to us, we shall, we do, rejoice ‘as one that findeth great spoil.“3 Christ, the true Wisdom, has said, ’ I will fill their treasures,”* and ’the chambers shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.“5 So that when He has done this we are ’ made treasurers over treasuries,“6 and may ‘bring forth out of’ our ’ treasure things new and old.’”
1 Col. ii. 3. 2 Rom. ii. 4. » Eph. ii. 7.
- PhiL iv. 19. 6 I Cor. iii. 22. ^ Eph, ii. 8.
’ Jas. ii, 5. 8 Luke xvii. 5. * Col. ii. 2.
^0 Luke xxiv. 32. 11 Prov. xxi. 20. 12 Ps. xix. 10.
W Ps. cxix.162. 1* Prov. viii. 21. 16 Prov. xxiv.
W Neh. xiii. 13. ^t Matt. xiii. 52.
It is only with God-given treasure that we can enrich others. When we want to give a word to another, it generally seems to come with more power if, instead of casting about for what we think likely to suit them, we simply hand over to them any treasure word which He has freshly given to ourselves. When He opens to us some shining bit of treasure, let us not forget: ‘Freely ye have received, freely give.‘1
Also, let us not stand idly waiting for some further opening of the treasure,2 but ’let there be search made in the king’s treasure-house,” ‘in the house of the rolls where the treasures were laid up,’* where the ‘decrees’ and ‘records’ of our King are to be’found.‘5 They are truly’hidden riches.‘8 Neither must we trust in our own store of spiritual treasures, whether of memory, experience, or even of grace,7 for we shall soon come under the condemning word, ‘O backsliding daughter, that trusted in her treasures ! ‘8 No, it is only continual drawing from His good treasure that will profit us, even ’the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’* And ’ we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.’ 10
4 Ezra vi. I. 5 Ezra vi. 2. 6 Isa. xlv. 3.
7 Jer. xlviii. 7. 8 Jer. xlix. 4. 9 Cor. iv. 6.
10 2 Cor. iv, 7
The King's Signature and Seal
'The writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.'—Esther viii. 8. SUCH is the writing which by God's great goodness is the glory of our land and the treasure of our hearts, full of exceeding great and precious promises,1 of commands not less great and not less precious,' and of words of prophecy (which are only words of promise a little farther off) ' more sure' than the testimony of an apostle's senses to the excellent glory and the heavenly voice.3 It is written in the King's name. The living Word of God, who came to declare, to manifest, and to glorify the Father,' has imprinted His own name upon the same testimony as written by the Spirit, and has given it to us as the ' word of God.'5 It is sealed with the King's ring. Sealing is a special work of the Holy Spirit, exercised in different ways and how clearly has He sealed this great
1 2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Ps. cxix. 97. 8 2 Pet. i. 17-19.
4 John i. I; ib. xvii. 4, 6, 26. 6 John xvii. 14. .
6 Eph. i. 13, etc. _
writing with the King's ring, engraved with His own image and superscription, the convincing token of its being indeed from Himself, and sent forth in unchangeable authority and power !1 It is a double sealing, without and within2—first, the external and distinctly visible declaration that the writing is 'by the Holy Ghost;,s and then the all-convincing evidence that it is so by its effectual working4 in our own hearts with a power which, we know for ourselves, cannot be less than almighty and therefore divine.1 It is thus written in the King's name, and 'sealed with His own signet," not only that we may know it to be His, but that we may have the right humbly, yet confidently, to show Him, so to speak, His own name and His own signet as our claim for the fulfilment of all contained therein.7 He will never fail to acknowledge them. This royal writing ' may no man reverse.' The King Himself cannot reverse it, for He changes not;8 He 'cannot lie,'9 'He cannot deny Himself: '10 for unchangeable truth is not only an essential attribute, but the very essence of His Deity." This one great 'cannot' is the security for all that He 'can' and will do. And if God 'cannot,' who can? All 'the craft and subtilty' of devil or man is powerless against one syllable of this royal writing. 'The word of our God shall stand for ever,'" and the hoarse recoil of every furious
1 John xii. 48. 2 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. * 1 Thess. ii. 13. 6 Heb. iv. 12. 7 Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18, 25, 26. 9 Titus i. 2. M> 2 Tim. ii. 1j.
12 Isa. xl. 8. 8 Mark xii. 36; 1 Pet. i. 11. c Dan. vi. 17. 8 Mai. iii. 6. 11 John xiv. 6.
wave that is shattered into foam against this everlasting rock only murmurs, 'I cannot reverse it.'1 And is it not a most blessed and comforting thought that we ourselves cannot reverse it, though this is the quarter from which we are practically most tempted to dread its reversal? For,* 'if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful.' All the earthborn or devil-breathed fogs and clouds of doubt, from the fall till this hour, have not been able to touch the splendor of one star that He has set in the unassailable firmament of His eternal truth. All the promises of God are yea and Amen8— where?—'in Him,' the Son of God.4 He holds these stars in His right hand; He has held the great promise of eternal life for us6 since God gave it to Him for us before the world began, and every other is subincluded. And it is one of His offices 'to confirm the promises.'6 Signed, sealed, held, and confirmed thus, should not ' It is written ' be enough for our present' light, and gladness, and joy, and honour?" Another clause of this beautiful verse is too striking to be passed over: 'Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring.'8 Does not this remind us of another writing of our King: 'If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.' He places His own name and His own signet at the disposal of His 'abiding' ones, and says:3
1 2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Ps. cxix. 97. 8 2 Pet. i. 17-19.
4 John i. I; ib. xvii. 4, 6, 26. 6 John xvii. 14. .
6 Eph. i. 13, etc. _
'Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.'1 'Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.' Should not this encourage us in intercession? Perhaps we are saying, like Esther,2 'How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?' Have we as yet fully availed ourselves of 'the King's name,' and 'the King's ring?'
For He hath given us a changeless writing, Royal decrees that light and gladness bring,
Signed with His name in glorious inditing, Sealed on our hearts with His own signet ring.
1 Job xxii. 28. 2 Esther viii, 6.
The Candour of Christ
'Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ ?'—John iv. 29. YES! it is not merely a vague general belief in Christ as the Teacher who ' will tell us all things " which suffices for heart conviction of 'the reality of Jesus Christ,' but the individual knowledge of Him as the Searcher who ' told me all things that ever I did.'a This was what led the woman of Samaria to exclaim, 'Is not this the Christ?' this was to her the irresistible proof of His Messiahship. What about ourselves? If we know anything of true intercourse with the Lord Jesus our experience will not be unlike hers.3 When He who 'searches Jerusalem with candles" turns the keen flame of His eyes upon the dark corners of our hearts, and flashes their far-reaching, all-revealing beam upon even the far-off and long-forgotten windings of our lives; when in His light we see the darkness, and in His purity we see the sin that has been, or that
* John iv. 25. 2 John iv. 29.
3 Zeph. i. 12. * Rev. ii. i8, 23.
is; when He 'declareth unto man what is his thought," and then convinces that 'as he thinketh in his heart, so is he," then we know for ourselves that He 'with whom we have to do" is 'indeed the Christ.' * He does not merely show us; it is something more than that. It is not merely an invisible hand drawing away a veil from hidden scenes, and a light brought to bear upon them, so that we can see them if we will j it is more personal, more terrible, and yet more tender than that. He tells us what we have done; and, if we listen, the telling will be very clear, very thorough, very unmistakable. At first we are tempted not to listen at all; we shrink from the still small voice which tells us such startlingly unwelcome things. Many feel what one expressed: 'Whenever I do think about it, I feel so horribly bad that I don't like to think any more.' Ah, 'if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,'5 that it was not mere ' thinking about it,' but the voice of the Saviour beginning to tell thee what would have cleared the way for 'the things which belong unto thy peace,'6 what blessing might not the patient and willing listening have brought! Oh, do not stifle the voice, do not fancy it is only uncomfortable thoughts which you will not encourage lest they should make you low-spirited! Instead of that, ask Him to let His voice sound louder and clearer, and believe 'that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
* John iv. 25. 2 John iv. 29.
3 Zeph. i. 12. * Rev. ii. i8, 23.
repentance.'1 Only listen, and He will tell you not only all things that ever you did, but all things which He has done for you. He never leaves off in the middle of all He has to tell, unless we wilfully interrupt Him. Perhaps we have gone through all this, and known the humbling blessedness of being searched and 'told,'2 and then pardoned and cleansed ;3 and now again there is something not right. We hardly know what,* only there is a misgiving, a dim, vague uneasiness;5 we 'really don't know of anything in particular,'6 and yet there is something unsatisfied and unsatisfactory. There is nothing for it but to come to our Messiah afresh, and ask Him to tell us what we have done, or are doing, which is not in accordance with His will.7 It will be useless coming if we are not sincerely purposed to let Him tell us what He will, and not merely what we expect ;a or if we hush up the first word of an unwelcome whisper, and say, 'Oh, that can't have anything to do with it!' or, 'I am all right there, at any rate!' We must simply say, 'Master, say on; and perhaps He will then show us, as He did Simon,10 that we have not done Him the true and loving service which some poor despised one has rendered. Oh, never shrink from the probings of our beloved Physician." Dearer and dearer will the hand become as we yield to it.12 Sweeter and sweeter will
* John iv. 25. 2 John iv. 29.
3 Zeph. i. 12. * Rev. ii. i8, 23.
be the proofs that He is our own faithful Friend, who only wounds that He may perfectly heal.1
Only this I know, I tell Him all my doubts, and griefs, and fears; Oh, how patiently He listens, and my drooping soul He cheers! Do you think He ne'er reproves me? What a false friend He would be, If He never, never told me of the sins which He must see! Do you think that I could love Him half so well, or as I ought, If He did not tell me plainly of each sinful deed and thought? No! He is very faithful, and that makes me trust Him more; For I know that He does love me, though He wounds me very sore.Ellen Lakshmi Goreh.
1 Prov. xxvii. 6.
From Death Unto Life
'Is passed from death unto life.'—John V. 24. TWO distinct states with nothing between. No broad space between the two where we may stand, leading to the one or to the other; only a boundary line too fine to balance upon. Not many steps—not even two or three from one to the other, but one step from death unto life;1 the foot lifted from the hollow crust over the volcanic fire, and set upon the Rock of salvation.2 How tremendously important to know whether this step is taken; but how clear and simple the test: 'He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto life.' Are you trembling and down-hearted, wanting some very strong consolation for your very weak faith?3 Lay hold of this.4 See how the rope is let down low* enough to meet the hand which you can scarcely lift.5
» Acts xxvi. 18. 3 Ps. xl. 2. • Heb. vi. 18. • » Tim. vi. 13. 6 Heb. xii. la.
'He that heareth My word.' Can you say you have not heard? You have heard His word as His word, recognizing it as such, receiving it 'not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.'1 It 'is come unto you,' because it ' is sent' unto you.' The word of Jesus is heard by your innermost self, and you would not be hearing and recognizing it if you were still dead. A marble statue hears not.
'And believeth on Him that sent Me.' 'But that is the very question,' you say; 'if I were sure I believed, 1 should know I had everlasting life." Why should you know? Because He says so, and you could not but believe what He says. Then listen now to what He says: 'The father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.'* Do you not believe this? Did the Father not send the Son? Did He not so love the world ?s Let the very recoil from such plain English of unbelief show you the sin and folly of doubting any more. You do hear His word, you do believe on the Father who sent the Son to be your Saviour,6 will you not now believe that Jesus means what He says in threefold assurance: 'Hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto Not 'is passing,' but 'is passed;' a fact whose full blessedness cannot be fully realized here, while we only 'know in part '8 God's great gift of eternal life,3 but not affected by varying degrees of realization.
» Acts xxvi. 18. 3 Ps. xl. 2. • Heb. vi. 18. • » Tim. vi. 13. 6 Heb. xii. la.
See your position,—or rather, take His word about it,—and give Him thanks—oh, give Him thanks— for having lifted you in your blindness and helplessness over that solemn boundary line when you could not even step over it. 'Sing . . . for the Lord hath done itand when you begin to sing and to praise,2 the Lord's own ambushments of promises will start up before your eyes {there all the time, only you did not see them), and the shadowy hosts of fears and doubts shall flee away, and you shall 'know'1 that you have passed from death unto life.5 From death—cold, dark, hopeless, useless, loveless; the death in trespasses and sins ;* the death that lives (strange paradox) forever in the lake of fire'—unto life with its ever-increasing abundance ;• life crowned with light and love ; life upon which only a shadow of death can ever pass, and that only the shadow of the portal of eternal glory life in Jesus, life for Jesus, life with Jesus. This is your position now—made nigh instead of far off ;8 reconciled to God instead of 'enemies in your mind;" found instead of lost ;10 fellow-citizens with the saints instead of strangers and foreigners;11 sometimes darkness, but now light in the Lord ;l2 passed from death unto life. And all because Jesus passed from life unto death, even the death of the cross, for you ;13 because it was the Father's will that He should come as the only required 'sacrifice for sin ;'1 and He, our Lord Jesus Christ, was 'content to do it."
1 Isa. xlivw 23. 2 2 Chron. xx. 22. ^ j John iii. 14.
*Eph. ii. I. 6Rev. XX. 14. 6John x. 10.
7Ps. xxiii. 4. 8Eph. ii. 13. 9 Col. i. 21.
10 Luke XV. 32. 11 Eph. ii. 19. ^ Eph. v. 8. isphil. ii. 8.
There is life for a look at the Crucified One; There is life at this moment for thee; Then look, sinner—look unto Him, and be saved—
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree. Oh, doubt not thy welcome, since God has declared There remaineth no more to be done; That once in the end of the world he appeared,
And completed the work He begun. But take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once, The life everlasting He gives: And know with assurance, thou never canst die,
Since Jesus, thy righteousness, lives. A. M. Hull.
Justified
'And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.'— Acts xiii. 39. 'A ND.' For justification does not come first. The robe of righteousness1 is not put on until the sinner is 'purged from his old sins." So this is God's order—first, 'Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins;' and then, * By Him all that believed are justified.' But ' in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." 'For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.'* But we have not 'obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us.'5 So 'that no man is justified-by the law in the sight of God, it is evident;" for'by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.'7 'How then can man be justified with God ? '8 'The law was our schoolmaster to bring
1 Isa. Ivi. 10. 22 Pet. i. 9. '^ Ps. cxliii. 2.
*Rom. ii. 13. 6 Dan. ix. 10. ^Gal. iii. 11.
^Rom. iii. 20. 8 Job xxv. 4.
us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 1 This glorious justification by faith is sevenfold. We are justified, i. 'By His grace n—the grace of God the Father, one of whose most wonderful titles is, 'The Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." 2. 'By His blood '*—that precious blood which has to do with every stage of our redemption and effectuated salvation; from the writing of our names ' in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,'5 till the chorus of the 'new song" is full in heaven. 3. 'By the Righteousness of One'{pi the One), 'by the obedience of One;by which the free gift, the unspeakable gift of eternal life—nay, of Christ Himself to be our life8—'came upon all men unto justification of life. 4. "By the resurrection of Jesus our Lord, who 'was raised again for our justification,' the grand token that our Substitute had indeed fulfilled all righteousness for us.10 5. 'By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.'1' For true faith is founded upon the knowledge of Him, and * this is life eternal.'13 6. By faith; just only believing God's word, and accepting God's way about it.14 7. By works; because these are the
* For God released our Surety
To show the work was done.'11
necessary and inseparable evidence that faith is not mere fancy or talk.1 We are 'justified by faith without the deeds of the law," the old dead galvanic struggle to do duties and keep outward obligations; but not without works, which 'do spring out necessarily from a true and lively faith;' for ' faith without works is dead.'' 'Therefore, being justified by faith,' what then? i. 'We have peace with God.'* 2. 'We shall be saved from wrath through Him.'5 3. We are made heirs of eternal life.6 4. We shall be glorified by Him and with Him for ever.7 What about my own part and lot in the matter? Whom does God thus justify? and may I hope to be among them? He begins indeed at the lowest depth, so that none may be shut out; for He ' would justify the heathen through faith,'8 and He 'justifieth the ungodly." The publican who could only cry, 'God be merciful to me the sinner,"0 was justified. I can come in here, at all events. But how shall I be actually and effectually justified now? Let God speak and I will listen 'Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe :12 for there is no difference.' 'By Him all that believe are justified.'" 'I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord.' Do I? 'Lord, I believe.'1* Then His righteousness is upon me, and I am justified.
1 Jas. ii. 24. 2 Rom. iii. 28 ; Gal. ii. 16; ib. v. 4.
8jas. ii. 26. * Rom. v. i. ^ Rom. v. 9.
6 Titus iii. 7. ^ Rom. viii. 30; John xrii. 22.
8 Heb. vii. 25; Gal. iii. 8. ^ Rom. iv. §. 10 Luke xviii. 14.
11 Ps. Ixxxv. 8. 12 Rom. iii. 22. 13 Acts xiii. 39.
14 Mark ix. 24.
'Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.'1 And now, 'He is near that justifieth me." 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.'3
By the grace of God the Father, thou art freely justified,—* Through the great redemption purchased by the blood of Him who died,—5 By His life, for thee fulfilling God's command exceeding broad,—* By His glorious resurrection, seal and signet of our God.7 Therefore, justified for ever by the faith which He hath given,8 Peace, and joy, and hope abounding smooth thy trial-path to heaven:9 Unto Him betrothed for ever, who thy life shall crown and bless,10 By His name thou shalt be called, Christ, * The Lord out Righteousness.'11
1 Gal. ii. i6. 2 Isa. 1. 8. 3 Rom. viii. 33.
4 Rom. iii. 24. 6 Rom. v. 9, ' Rom. x. 4.
7 Rom. iv. 25. 8 Rom. v. i. ' Rom. xv. 13.
10 Hos. ii. 19. 11 Jer. xxxiii. 16.
The Royal Wine
'Thy love is better than wine.'—Cant. i. 2. WINE is the symbol of earthly joy; and who that has had but one sip of the love of Christ does not know this 'royal wine,'1 this true 'wine of the kingdom,'" to be better than the best joy that the world can give! How much more, then, when deeper and fuller draughts are the daily portion, as we ' follow on to know's the love 'which passeth knowledge ! ' * It is the privilege not of a favoured few, but of ' all saints,' to comprehend something of what is incomprehensible.5 i. The breadth, contrasted with the narrowness of earthly love and all its joy. Perhaps it is not so much by looking at His love to all the redeemed ones whom no man can number,' that we realize this, as by seeing that the love of Jesus was broad enough to reach and include'even me.' 'Who loved me;n is not that more incomprehensible than that He loved all the saints and angels?
1 Esther i. 7. 2 John xiv. 27. 3 Hos. vi. 3.
4 Eph. Hi. 19. 5 Eph. iii. 18. ^ Rev. vii. 9.
7 Gen. xxvii. 38; Gal. ii. 20.
2. The length, contrasted with the passing shortness of the longest earthly love and joy. What is the length? 'Unto the end.'1 And even that is not the full measure, for His immeasurable love is everlastingand when inconceivable ages have passed, we shall be no nearer 'the end' than now. 3. The depth, contrasted with the shallowness which is always felt, however disguised, in the world's best.3 Down to the very depth of our fall went that wonderful love of Christ, to the depth of our sin, to the depth of our need, to the depth of those caverns of our own strange inner being which we ourselves cannot fathom, and which only His love can fill. 4. The height, contrasted with the lowness and littleness of all that is represented by the world's wine. This all ends in self, which is like a low vaulted roof, keeping down every possibility of rising; and so the earthly joy can take but a bat-like flight, always checked, always limited, in dusk and darkness. But the love of Christ breaks through the vaulting, and leads us up into the free sky above, expanding to the very throne of Jehovah, and drawing us 'still upward" to the infinite heights of glory. Is there any height beyond, 'As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you' t These measures (so to speak) of Christ's love are those of the unsearchable perfection of God Himself. 'It is as high as heaven, deeper than hell" (thank God for that word deeper), 'longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.'
1 Esther i. 7. 2 John xiv. 27. 3 Hos. vi. 3.
4 Eph. Hi. 19. 5 Eph. iii. 18. ^ Rev. vii. 9.
7 Gen. xxvii. 38; Gal. ii. 20.
For whom is this love? Oh how glad we are that it is not for the worthy and the faithful, so that we must be shut out, but for His own, though the chief of sinners J1 It is ' the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.' Has it been so with us, that we have been looking away from Jesus to heart-idols and 'other lords,'2 and loving some earthly 'flagons of wine'—other love, other pleasures, other joys, ' other things,' which are not Jesus Christ's? Then only think of ' the love of the Lord toward' us! Well may we say, 'Thy love to me was wonderful,'3 and own it to be' better than wine,' 'above my chief joy.'* He proved His love to you and me to be 'strong as death ;' and when all God's waves and billows went over Him, the many waters could not quench it.s In His love and in His pity He redeemed us; in the same love He bears us and carries us all the day long.6 He ' loveth at all times," and that includes this present moment; now, while your eye is on this page, His eye of love is looking on you, and the folds of His banner of love are overshadowing you.8 Is there even a feeble pulse of love to Him? He meets it with, 'I love them that love Me.'9 'I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.' And
1 I Tim. i. 15. 2 Isa. xxvi. 13. 3 2 Sam, i. 26,
* Ps. cxxxvii. 6, 6 Cant. viii. 6; Ps. xlii. 7; Cant. viii. 7.
6 Isa. Ixiii. 9 ; ib. xlvi. 4. ? Prov. xvii. 17. 8 Cant. ii. 4.
8 Prov. viii. 17.
so surely as the bride says, 'Thy love is better than wine,' so surely does the heavenly Bridegroom respond with incomprehensible condescension: 'How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine." May this love of Christ constrain us to live unto Him ' who loved me and gave Himself for me.'2
0 Christ, He is the fountain, The deep, sweet well of love!
The streams on earth Pre tasted, More deep I'll drink above. There to an ocean-fulness
His mercy doth expand, Where glory, glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land. Oh! I am my Beloved's, And my Beloved is mine! He brings a poor vile sinner
Into ' His house of wine.' 1 stand upon His merits; I know no safer stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.
A. B. Cousin.
The Gift of Peace
'My peace I give unto you.'—John xiv. 27. '"PEACE I leave with you' is much; 'My A peace I give unto you ' is more. The added word tells the fathomless marvel of the gift—' My peace.' Not merely 'peace with God ;" Christ has made that by the blood of His cross, and being justified by faith we have it through Him.2 But after we are thus reconciled, the enmity and the separation being ended, Jesus has a gift for us from His own treasures; and this is its special and wonderful value, that it is His very own} How we value a gift which was the giver's own possession! what a special token of intimate friendship we feel it to be! To others we give what we have made or purchased; it is only to very near and dear ones that we give what has been our own personal enjoyment or use. And so Jesus gives us not only peace made and peace purchased, but a share in His very own peace, —divine, eternal, incomprehensible peace,—which dwells in His own heart as God, and which shone in splendour of calmness through His life as man. No wonder that it 'passeth all understanding.'1
But how? Why does the sap flow from the vine to the branch? Simply because the branch is joined to the vine.* Then the sap flows into it by the very law of its nature. So, being joined to our Lord Jesus by faith, that which is His becomes ours, and flows into us by the very law of our spiritual life. If there were no hindrance, it would indeed flow as a river.8 Then how earnestly we should seek to have every barrier removed to the inflowing of such a gift! Let it be our prayer that He would clear the way for it, that He would take away all the unbelief, all the self, all the hidden cloggings of the channel. Then He will give a sevenfold blessing :* 'My peace,' 'My joy,' ' My love,' at once and always, now and for ever; 'My grace' and ' My strength' for all the needs of our pilgrimage; 'My rest' and 'My glory' for all the grand sweet home-life of eternity with Him.
Thy reign is perfect peace, Not mine, but Thine;
A stream that cannot cease, For its fountain is Thy heart. Oh, depth unknown! Thou givest of Thine own,
Pouring from Thine, and filling mine.
1 Phil. iv. 7. 2 John xv. 5.
3 Isa. xlviii. 18. * John xv. 10,11.
The Abiding Joy
'These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.'—John Xv. II. "WHO that has known anything of joy in the Lord but has asked, 'But will it last?' And why has the question been so often the very beginning of its not lasting? Because we have either asked it of ourselves or of others, and not of the Lord only. His own answers to this continually recurring question are so different from the cautious, chilling, saddening ones which His children so often give. They are absolute, full, reiterated. We little realize how unscriptural we are when we meet His good gift of joy to ourselves or to others with a doubtful, and therefore faithless, 'If it lasts!' 'To the law and to the testimony,'1 O happy Christian! there you shall find true and abundant answer to your only shadow on the brightness of the joy. So long as you believe your Lord's word about it, so long it will last.8 So soon as you ask of other counsellors, and believe their word instead,
» Isa. viii. 20. 8 Isa. vii. 9.
known anything of joy in the so soon it will fail. Jesus meets your difficulty explicitly. He has provided against it by giving the very reason why He spoke the gracious words of His last discourse, 'That My joy might remain in you.'1 Is not this exactly what we were afraid to hope, what seemed too good to be true, that it 'might remain'? And lest we should think that this abiding joy only meant some moderate measure of qualified joy, He adds, 'And that your joy may be full,'' repeating in the next chapter, and intensifying it in the next. And lest we might think this was said with reference only to an exceptional case, He inspired His beloved disciple to echo the words in his general epistle: 'That your joy may be full,' and ' the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you.' Never in His word are we told anything contradicting or explaining away this precious and reiterated promise. All through we are brightly pointed not merely to hope of permanence, but to increase. 'The meek shall increase (not merely shall keep up) their joy in the Lord.'3 There are mingled promises and commands as to growth and increase in grace, knowledge, love, strength, and peace, and does not increase of these imply and ensure joy ?4 Is joy to be the only fruit of the Spirit of which it may not be said that it 'sprang up and increased?'
John XV. II. 2 John xvi. 24. 3 Isa. xxix. ig.
*2 Pet. iii. i8; Col. i. 10; i Thess. iii. 12; iv. 10; Isa. xl. 29; ib. ix. 7; Gal. V. 22. 6 Mark iv. 8.
When it is suggested that we ' cannot' (some even say, 'must not') 'expect to be always joyful,' remember that ' it is written,' 'Rejoice in the Lord' (not 'sometimes,' but) 'alway.'1 'As sorrowful, yet ahvay rejoicing.'2 When we are told that ' it would not even be good for us,' remember that ' it is written again,' 'The joy of the Lord is your strength.' Perhaps in that word 'of lies the whole secret of lasting joy; for it is more than even 'joy in the Lord:' it is His own joy flowing into the soul that is joined to Himself, which alone can 'remain ' in us, not even our joy in Him. 'That they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.'3 Let us, then, seek not the stream, but the fountain ; not primarily the joy, but that real and living union with Jesus by which His joy becomes ours.
Let us not, either for ourselves or others, acquiesce in disobedience to any of His commandments. See how absolute they are I 'Serve the Lord with gladness;'* ' Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous,'5 and many others. Turn to the terribly distinct condemnation, 'Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, . . . therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, . . . and He shall put a yoke of iron on thy neck until He have destroyed thee.'6 No one need be cast down because they cannot yet tell of abiding joy, or because others cannot tell of it. Thank God, our experience is not the measure of His promises; they are all yea and Amen in Christ Jesus,7 and our varying, short-falling experience touches neither their faithfulness nor their fulness. Forget the things which are behind, and
1 Phil. iv. 4. 2 2 Cor. vi. 10. 3 John xvii. 13.
4Ps. c. 2. 6 Ps. xcvii. 12. 6Deut. xxviii. 47, 48.
2 Cor. i. 20.
press on to firmer grasp and fuller reception of Christ and His joy.1 Then it shall be always 'praise . . . more and more,' 'more grace,' 'grace for grace," 'from strength to strength,'3—yes, even 'from glory to glory.'* Then you shall indeed * hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.'5 May I earnestly ask every reader who is saying, 'Will it last?' to seek ' out of the book of the Lord' for themselves; taking a concordance, and looking out, under the words, Joy, Rejoice, Gladness, etc., the overwhelming reiterations of promises and commands which can leave them in no doubt as to God's answer.
1 Phil. in. 13. 2 Jas. iv. 6. sps. Ixxxiv. 7.
*2 Cor. iii. i8. ^Heb. iii. 6.
The Sure Afterward
'Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.' —Heb. xii. II. THERE are some promises which we are apt to reserve for great occasions, and thus lose the continual comfort of them. Perhaps we read this one with a sigh, and say: 'How beautiful this is for those whom the Lord is really chastening! I almost think I should not mind that, if such a promise might then be mine. But the things that try me are only little things that turn up every day to trouble and depress me.' Well, now, does the Lord specify what degree of trouble, or what kind of trouble, is great enough to make up a claim to the promise? And if He does not, why should you? He only defines it as ' not joyous, but grievous.' Perhaps there have been a dozen different things to-day which were ' not joyous, but grievous' to you. And though you feel ashamed of feeling them so much, and hardly like to own to their having been so trying, and would not think of dignifying them as 'chastening,' yet, if they come under the Lord's definition, He not only knows all about them, but they were, every one of them, chastenings from His hand; neither to be despised and called 'just nothing,' when all the while they did 'grieve ' you; nor to be wearied of; because they are working out blessing to you and glory to Him. Every one of them has been an unrecognized token of His love and interest in you; for ' whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.'1 Next, do not let us reserve this promise for chastenings in the aggregate. Notice the singular pronoun, 'Nevertheless, afterward IT yieldeth,' not 'they yield.' Does not this indicate that every separate chastening has its own special' afterward '? We think of trials as intended to do us good in the long-run, and in a general sort of way; but the Lord says of each one, 'It yieldeth.' Apply this to 'the present.' The particular annoyance which befell you this morning ; the vexatious words which met your ear and 'grieved' your spirit; the disappointment which was His appointment for today; the slight but hindering ailment; the presence of some one who is ' a grief of mind ' to you; whatever this day seemeth not joyous, but grievous, is linked in 'the good pleasure of His goodness,'2 with a corresponding afterward of 'peaceable fruit;' the very seed from which, if you only do not choke it, this shall spring and ripen.
1 Heb. xii. 6. 2 2 Thess. i. ix.
If we set ourselves to watch the Lord's dealings with us, we shall often be able to detect a most beautiful correspondence and proportion between each individual 'chastening' and its own resulting' afterward.' The habit of thus watching and expecting will be very comforting, and a great help to quiet trust when some new chastening is sent: for then we shall simply consider it as the herald and earn-f est of a new 'afterward.'
Lastly, do not let us reserve this promise for some far future time. The Lord did not say ' a long while afterward,' and do not let us gratuitously insert it. It rather implies that, as soon as the chastening is over, the peaceable fruit shall appear ' unto the glory and praise of God.'1 So let us look out for the ' afterward' as soon as the pressure is past. This immediate expectation will bring its own blessing if we can say, 'My expectation is from Him," and not from any fruit-bearing qualities of our own; for only ' from Me is thy fruit found." Fruit from Him will also be fruit unto Him.
What shall Thine afterward be, O Lord? I wonder, and wait to see (While to thy chastening hand I bow) What peaceable fruit may be ripening now,
Ripening fast for Thee!
1 Phil. i. II. 2 Ps. Ixii. 5. 3 Hos. xiv, 8.
No Hurt
'Nothing shall by any means hurt you.'—Luke X. 19. IS not this one of those very strong promises which we are apt to think are worded a little too strongly, and off which we ' take a great discount'? Now, instead of daring a 'Yea, hath God said ' ?l let us just take all the comfort and rest and gladness of it for ourselves. Let us believe every word, just as our beloved Master uttered it to the simplehearted seventy who were so surprised to find His name so much more powerful than they expected. Nothing! If He said 'nothing,' have we any right to add, 'Yes, but except . . . '? Nothing can hurt those who are joined to Christ, 'for with me thou shalt be in safeguard,'2 unless anything could be found which should separate us from Him. And 'who shall separate us ?'3 Earthly tribulations, even the most terrible, shall not do it, for 'in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.' * Yet a farther reaching and,
1 Gen. iii. i. 2 j Sam. xxii. 23.
3 Rom. viii. 35. * Rom. viii, 37.
indeed, entirely exhaustive list is given, none of which, 'nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us.' Let us take everything that possibly could hurt us to that list, and see for ourselves if it is not included, and then rejoice in the conclusion, based and built upon Christ's bare word, but buttressed and battlemented by this splendid utterance of His inspired apostle that it is indeed so—' nothing shall by any means hurt you.' But He who knows our little faith never gives an isolated promise. He leaves us no chance of overlooking or misunderstanding any one, except by wilful neglect, because it is always confirmed in other parts of His word. So He has given the same strong consolation in other terms. 'The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil' (do you believe that?'). 'There shall no evil happen to the just.'1 'In seven (troubles) there shall no evil touch thee." Then see how He individualized it to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, even in the burning fiery furnace, 'They have no hurt;' to Daniel among the lions, 'They have not hurt me ;' to St. Paul among turbulent men with a care-nought governor, 'No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.'3 We are not likely to be more exposed to ' hurt' than these, and we have the same God, 'who keepeth His promise for ever.'* He is the 'wall of fire round about5 us; and what fortification so impenetrable— nay, so unapproachable! And 'He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye'6—the very least touch is felt by the Lord, who loves us and is mighty to save! Well may He say, 'And who is he that will harm you?'
1 Prov. xii. 21. 2 Job v. 19. 3 Acts xviii. 10.
4 Ps. cxlvi. 6. 5 Zech. ii. 5. 6 Zech. ii. 8.
'Nothing shall by any means hurt you,' for ' no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; u man's curse shall be turned into God's blessing. Jehovah Himself, watering His vineyard every moment, says: 'Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.'2 Again, the promise, with a solemn condition, takes an even stronger form: 'Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing.'3 Is not all this enough? It might well be, but His wonderful love has yet more to say—not only that nothing shall hurt us, but that all things work together for our good ;* not merely shall work, but actually are working. All things, if it means all things, must include exactly those very things, whatever they may be, which you and I are tempted to think will hurt us, or, at least, may hurt us. Now will we this evening trust our own ideas, or Christ's word? One or other must be mistaken. Which is it? Christ, my own Master, my Lord and my God, has given a promise which meets every fear; therefore, 'I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety,'5 and ' nothing shall by any means hurt ' me.
1 Isa. liv. 17, 2 Isa. xxvii. 3. ^ Eccles. viii. 5.
4 Rom. viii. 28. 5 Ps. iv. 8.
The Putting Forth of the Sheep
'When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.'—John x. 4. WHAT gives the Alpine climber confidence in wild, lonely, difficult passes or ascents, when he has 'not passed this way heretofore ' ?1 It is that his guide has been there before; and also that in every present step over unknown and possibly treacherous ice or snow, his guide ' goeth before.'2 It is to Christ's 'own sheep' that this promise applies; simply those who believe and hear His voice. It is when He putteth them forth that it comes true; not when they put themselves forth, or when they let a ' stranger '3 lure them forth, or such traitors as self-cowardice or impatience drive them forth. Sometimes it is a literal putting forth. We have been in a sheltered nook of the fold, and we are sent to live where it is windier and wilder.
1 Josh. iii. 4. 2lsa. xlv. 2. sjohn x. 26, 27; ib. x. 3.
The home nest is stirred up,1 and we have to go (it may be only for a few days, it may be for years, it may be for the rest of our lives) into less congenial surroundings, to live with fresh people, or in a different position, or in a new neighborhood. We do not put ourselves forth, we would rather stay; but it has to be. But Jesus 'goeth before.' He prepares the earthly as well as the heavenly places for us. He will be there when we get to the new place. He went in the way before to search us out a place to pitch our tents in2 (and perhaps we were forgetting that they were tents and not palaces).3 If we wilfully persisted in staying where we were when He said, ' Arise and depart, for this is not your rest,'* we should find that Presence was gone which only could cause us to rest. He is not sending us forth away from Him, but only putting us forth with His own gentle hand, saying, 'Rise up, My love, and come away,'5 'Come with Me.' Sometimes it is putting forth into service. We had such a nice little quiet shady corner in the vineyard, down among the tender grapes, with such easy little weedings and waterings to attend to. And then the Master comes and draws us out into the thick of the work, and puts us into a part of the field where we never should have thought of going, and puts larger tools into our hands, that we may do more at a stroke. And we know we are not sufficient for these things,6 and the very tools seem too heavy for us, and the glare too dazzling, and the vines too tall. Ah ! but would we really go back?
IDeut. xxii. II. 2Deut. i. 33. 3 Heb. xiii. 14.
4 Micah ii. lo. ^ Cant. ii. lo: ib. iv. 8. ^3, Cor. ii. i6.
He would not be in the old shady corner with us now; for when He put us forth He went before us, and it is only by close following that we can abide with Him. Without Him we could do nothing if we perversely and fearfully ran back to our old work. With Him, 'through Christ which strengthened' us, we 'can do all things' in the new work. Not our power, but His presence will carry us through.1 Sometimes it is putting forth into the rough places of suffering, whether from temptation, pain, 'or any adversity.' Not one step here but Jesus has gone before us; and He still goeth before us, often so very close before us, that even by the still waters3 we never seemed so near Him. 'He Himself hath suffered, being tempted." How strangely comforting to remember that He has passed even that way before us !' The things which He suffered' include and cover, and stretch wide on every side beyond, all possible 'sufferings of this present time.'4 It is in patient suffering, rather than in doing, that we are specially called 'to follow His steps.'5 'The footsteps of Thine anointed have lain through reproach,' and 'the reproach of Thy servants' is no light part of 'the fellowship of His sufferings.' How specially tender the Master's hand is when it is laid upon us to put us forth into any path of suffering! How specially precious, then, to know that it is indeed His own doing!
1 Zech. iv. 6, 2 Ps. xxiii. 2. SHeb. ii. 18.
4Roin. viii. 18. 5 i Pet. ii. 21,
Sooner or later, perhaps again and again, He puts forth His own sheep into a position of greater separation—forth from an outer into an inner circle, always nearer and nearer to the great Centre. Let us watch very sensitively for such leading. Every hesitation to yield to His gentle separation from the world results in heart separation from Him. When He thus goeth before, shall we risk being left behind?
He will put forth His own sheep at last into the path which none of them shall ever tread alone, because He trod it alone. 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.'1 Our ' Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.'2 Jesus knows every single step of that valley; and when His people enter it, they will surely find that 'their King shall pass before them ; '3 and the Comforter will say, 'He it is that doth go before thee.'*
Safe Stepping.
'Thy foot shall not stumble.'—Prov. iii. 23. MANY a Christian says: 'I shall be kept from falling at last; but, of course, I shall stumble continually by the way.' But' have ye not read this Scripture,'' Thy foot shall not stumble' ?1 And if we have only once read it, ought not the 'of course' to be put over on the other side? for ' hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good ? '2 'And the Scripture cannot be broken." 'But as a matter of fact we do stumble, and though he riseth up again, yet even the just man falleth seven times.'* Of course we do; and this is entirely accounted for by the other ' of course.' God gives us a promise, and, instead of humbly saying, 'Be it unto me according to Thy word,'5 we either altogether overlook or deliberately refuse to believe it; and then, 'of course,' we get no fulfilment of it. The measure of the promise is God's faithfulness; the measure of its realization is our faith. Perhaps we have not even cried, ' Help Thou mine unbelief as to this promise, much less said, 'Lord, I believe.'6 It does not stand alone; it is reiterated and varied. He knew our constant, momentary need of it. He knew that without it we must stumble, and fall too; that we have not the least power to take one step without a stumble—or, rather, that we have no power to take one single onward step at all. And He knew that Satan's surest device to make us stumble would be to make us believe that 'it can't be helped.' We have thought that, if we have not said it. But 'what saith the Scripture?" 'When thou runnest' (the likeliest pace for a slip), 'thou shalt not stumble.'8
1 Mark xii. lo. 2 Num. xxiii. 19. 3 John x. 35.
< Prov. xxiv. 16. 5 Luke i. 38. 'Mark ix. 24.
? Rom. iv, 3. 8 Prov. iv. 12,
'He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.'1 'He will keep the feet of His saints." 'He led them . . . that they should not stumble.'3 Can we say, 'Yea, hath God said? '*to all this? Leave that to Satan; it is no comment for God's children to make upon His precious promises. If we do not use the power of faith, we find the neutralizing power of unbelief.
'But how can I keep from stumbling?' You cannot keep from stumbling at all; but He is ' able to keep you from falling,'5 which in the Greek is strongly and distinctly 'without stumbling.' The least confidence in, or expectation from, yourself not only leads to inevitable stumbling, but is itself a grievous fall. But again we are met with the very promise we need to escape this snare: 'For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.'6 'Still, how shall I be kept?' Jesus Himself has answered: 'If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world." 'Walk in the light,' 'looking unto Jesus,' and so shall we be 'kept by the power of God through faith.' We tell a little child to look where it steps and pick its way; but Christ's little children are to do just the opposite: they are to look away to Him. 'Let thine eyes look,' not down, but ' right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.'8 Why? Because ' He it is that doth go before thee," and it is on Him, the Light of the world, that the gaze must be fixed.
iPs. cxxi. 3. SiSam. ii. 9. sj^a. Ixiii. 13,
*Gen. iii. i. Bjude 24. cprov. iii. 26.
I John xi. 9. 8 Prov. iv. 25. » Deut. xxxi. 8.
'Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved," let us use them. Let us turn them into prayers of faith. 'Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not" (did David add the whisper, 'But nevertheless, of course, they will slip ' ?). 'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.' 'When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up' (not 'picked me up ').s Then comes the New Testament echo: 'Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.'* But take 'all the counsel of God; '5 for this, too, is needed: 'And thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear.' Now if these promises are worth the paper they are written on, ought we not to believe and accept and give thanks for them, and go on our way rejoicing, claiming His promise not once for all, not for to-morrow, but always for the next step of the way ?' Thy foot shall not stumble!' Jesus is now 'upholding all things by the word of His power; '6 shall our unbelief make us the exception? Shall we not rather say, 'Uphold me, according to Thy word' 8
1 2 Cor. vii. I. 2Ps. xvii. 5. ^Vs. cxix. 117; ib. xciv. 18.
<Rom. xiv. 4. 6 Acts xx. 27. ^Heb. i. 3. 8Ps. cxix, 116.
Thine
'I am Thine.'—Ps. cxix. 94. THIS is a wonderful stone for the sling of faith. It will slay any Goliath of temptation, if we only sling it out boldly and determinately at him. When self tempts us (and we know how often that is), let it be met with 'not your own,'1 and then look straight away to Jesus with ' I am Thine.' If the world tries some lure, old or new, remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said :2 ' If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ;3 . . . but I have chosen you out of the world ; '* and lest the world should claim us as ' his own,' look away to Jesus, and say, 'I am Thine.'1 Is it sin, subtle and strong and secret, that claims our obedience? Acknowledge that 'ye were the servants of sin ;' but now, 'being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness,'5 and conquer with the faith-shout, ' I am Thine/' Is it a terrible hand-to-hand fight with Satan himself, making a desperate effort to reassert his old power? Tell the prince of this world that he hath nothing in Jesus,6 and that you are 'in Him that is
11 Cor. vi. 19. 2Acts xx. 35. 3John xv. 19.
*Johnxvii. 16. 5Rom. vi. 17, 18. ^Johnxiv. 30.
true,'1 a member of His body, His very own; and see if he is not forced to flee at the sound of your confident 'I am Thine!' But after all, 'I am Thine' is only an echo, varying in clearness according to faith's atmosphere and our nearness to the original voice. Yes, it is only the echo of 'Thou art Mine," falling in its mighty music on the responsive, because Spirit-prepared, heart. This note of heavenly music never originated with any earthly rock. It is only when God sends forth the Spirit of His Son in our hearts that we cry, 'Abba, Father." It was when the anointed but not yet openly crowned king had gone out to meet Amasai, and the Spirit came upon him, that he said, 'Thine are we, David.' Therefore do not overlook the Voice, in the gladness of the echo. Listen, and you will hear it falling from the mysterious heights of high-priestly intercession: 'They are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine.'4 This is no vague and general belonging to Christ, but full of specific realities of relationship. 'I am Thine' means, 'Truly I am Thy servant.'5 Iam one of Thy 'dear children." I am Thy chosen soldier.7 I am Thy ransomed one.8 I am Thy 'own sheep.' I am Thy witness. I am Thy friend.9 And all these are but amens to His own condescending declarations. He says we are all these, and we have only to say, 'Yes, Lord, so I am.' Why should we ever contradict Him?
1 1 John V. 20. 2 Isa. xliii. i. 3 Rom. viii. 15.
4 John xvii. 9, 10. &Ps. cxvi. 16. ^Eph. v. 1.
7 2 Tim. ii. 4. 8 Isa. xxxv. jo. * John x. 4.
In deeper humility and stronger faith let us listen further to the voice of our Beloved, as He breathes names of incomprehensible condescension and love. Shall we contradict Him here, in the tenderest outflow of His divine affection, and say, * Not so, Lord'? Shall we not rather adoringly listen, and let Him say even to us in our depths of utter unworthiness, 'My sister, My spouse,' 'My love, My dove, My undefiled,' answering only with a wondering, yet unquestioning, 'I am Thine,' 'I am all that Thou choosest to say that I am'? The echo may vary and falter (though it is nothing short of atrocious ingratitude and unbelief when it does), but the Voice never varies or falters. He does not say, 'Thou art Mine' to-day, and reverse or weaken it to-morrow. We are 'a people unto Thee for ever,'1 and why grieve His love by doubting His word, and giving way to a very fidget of faithlessness? Love that is everlasting cannot be ephemeral; it is everlasting, and what can we say more? The more we by faith and experience realize that we are His own in life and death, the more willing we shall be that He should do what He will with His own, and the more sure we shall be that He will do the very best with it, and make the very most of it. May we increasingly find the strength and rest of this our God-given claim upon God. 'I am Thine, save me!" And 'He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love."
1 Ps. cxix. 94. 2 Zeph, iii. 17.
'Not your own!' but His ye are,
Who hath paid a price untold For your life, exceeding far
All earth's store of gems and gold. With the precious blood of Christ, Ransom-treasure all unpriced, Full redemption is procured, Full salvation is assured.
'Not your own I' but His by right,
His peculiar treasure now, Fair and precious in His sight,
Purchased jewels for His brow. He will keep what thus He sought, Safely guard the dearly bought, Cherish that which He did choose, Always love and never lose.
Unto Thee Forever
'What one nation in the earth is like Thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for Thy land, before Thy people, which Thou redeemedst to Thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee for ever: and Thou, Lord, art become their God.'—2 Sam. vii. 23, 24. ONE thought, containing three thoughts, seems to pervade this epitome of the history of God's people. The one thought is 'Unto Thee I' The three thoughts contained in it are—Redeemed, Separated, Confirmed unto Thee. Let us take them in order. 1. God 'went to redeem' His people. It was no easy sitting still, no costless fiat: 'Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine anointed.'1 These 'goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity,'2 and we have seen by faith these 'goings of my God, my King." It was not only to purchase them out of bondage and death, as one might buy a captive thrush on a winter evening, and let it loose into the hungry cold, and think no more about it; it was to redeem them unto Himself, to be His own portion and inheritance and treasure and delight, to be a 'people near unto Him,' to be the objects on which all His divine love might be poured out, to be the very opportunity of His joy. His glory and our good were inseparably joined in it. He did it 'to make Him a name;' and we may reverently say, that even the very Name which is above every name * could not have been the crown of the exaltation of the Son of God but for this. He also did it because He would 'do for you great things and terrible,'—great things in mercy, 'terrible things in righteousness,'—bringing all His sublimely balanced attributes to bear on His great work 'for you.' 'Before His people,' that we might see, and know, and believe, and praise. 2. This redemption to Himself necessarily involved separation 'from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.'
1 Hab. iii. 13. 2 Micah v. 2
sPs. Ixviii. 24. *Phil. ii. 9.
We cannot have the ' to' without the ' from,' any more than we could go to the equator and not come away from the arctic regions. And the test and proof of the 'to Thee' lies in the 'from Egypt.' But what do we want with Egypt? what is there to attract us to the house of bondage and its old taskmasters? Did we not have enough of them? and shall we not gratefully accept redemption 'from the nations,' 'out of them, from the tyranny of ' the customs of the people,' 'from our vain conversation,'1 and say henceforth, 'Thy people shall be my people'?' 'What have / to do any more with idols,'3 when God Himself has redeemed me ' from their gods'? Yes, has redeemed me, for He says so. 'Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it!' He ' gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.'* 3. How magnificently God seals all His transactions! So He has not only redeemed and separated us unto Himself, but 'Thou hast confirmed to TJiyself Thy people Israel.' He, not we. His hands laid the foundation, and His hands shall also finish it. He stablisheth us in Christ, and He 'hath also sealed us.' He 'shall also confirm you to the end ; '6 your life shall be one great Confirmation Day of continual defending and strengthening and blessing; He avouching you this day and every day to be His peculiar people, 'as He hath promised,' and establishing you an holy people unto Himself, and you avouching the Lord to be your God and to walk in His ways.
t 1 Pet. i. 18. 2 Ruth i. 16. 8 Hos. xiv. 8. * Titus ii. 14. * 1 Cor. i. 8.
Not' this day, only'for we are confirmed to Him 'to be a people unto Thee for ever.' 'Thine for ever!' 'For I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever ;" so, having done this, it must be ' for ever!' Fling this at the enemy when he tempts you to doubt your complete and eternal redemption—' Unto Thee forever !' when he tempts you to regret or tamper with your separation— 4 Unto Thee for ever!' when he tempts you to quiver about your confirmation ' to the end '—' Unto Thee for ever /' For ' the Lord is faithful.'2 'And now, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken . . . establish it for ever, and do as Thou hast said."
In full and glad surrender, I give myself to Thee, Thine utterly and only,
And evermore to be. O Son of God, who lovest me,
I will be Thine alone, And all I have and all I am
Shall henceforth be Thine own.
lEccles. iii. 14. ^?z Thess. iii. 3. 3 2 Sam. vii. 25.
Captive Thoughts
'Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.'—2 Cor. X. 5. ARE there any tyrants more harassing than our own thoughts? Control of deeds and words seems a small thing in comparison ; but have we not been apt to fancy that we really can't help our thoughts? Instead of our dominating them, they have dominated us; and we have not expected, nor even thought it possible, to be set free from the manifold tyranny of vain thoughts, and still less of wandering thoughts. Yet, all the time, here has been God's word about this hopeless, helpless matter, only where has been our faith? It is very strong language that the inspiring Spirit uses here—not ' thoughts' in general, but definitely, and with no room for distressing exceptions, 'every thought.'1 Must it not be glorious rest to have every thought of day and night brought into sweet, quiet, complete captivity to Jesus, entirely ' obedient to the faith,'' to His holy and loving influence, to His beautiful and perfect law? We should not have dared to hope or dream of such a rest unto our souls; we should not have guessed it included in that promise to those who take the yoke of Christ upon them ; and if we could find one text stating that it was not any part of God's infinitely gracious purposes for us, we should only say, 'Of course, for it stands to reason it could not be!' To reason, perhaps, but not to faith; for words cannot be plainer than these in which St. Paul sets forth this marvellous privilege not of himself personally, but of all God's children, if they are only willing and simply believing in the matter. For while ' the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus" is the measure of the fulness of His promises, 'according to your faith'2 is the appointed measure of their reception and benefit by ourselves. 'Lord, increase our faith." But there is an order in their effectual working, and we must not begin at the wrong end. Before this triumph-leading of every thought can take place, there is the ' casting down imaginations,' * or, as in the more correct margin, 'reasonings.' As long as we are reasoning about a promise, we never know its reality. It is not God's way. It is the humble who hear thereof and are glad.6 Have we not found it so? Did we ever receive the powerful fulfilment of any promise so long as we argued and reasoned, whether with our own hearts or with others, and said, 'How can these things be?" Has it not always been, that we had to lay down our arms and accept God's thought and God's way instead of our own ideas, and be willing that He should 'speak the word only,' and believe it as little children believe
1 Phil. iv. 19. 2 Matt, ix, 29. 3 Luke xvii. 5.
*a Cor. X. 5. 6 Ps, xxxiv. 2. * John hi. 9.
our promises? Then, never till then, the promise and the privilege became ours not only in potentiality but in actuality. Now, how is it that we do not yet understand, and apply the same principle to every promise or privilege which as yet we see only afar off? It is the old way and the only way: 'Who through faith . . . obtain promises." It is a solemn thought that the alternative of' the obedience of Christ'' is disobedience. Thoughts that are not brought into the one are in the other; for 'the thought of foolishness is sin," nothing less or lighter; and when the Holy Spirit 'declareth unto man what is his thought,' unsuspected sin and unrecognized guilt come terribly to light. But' how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?'* The Conqueror, the always triumphing Saviour, stands at the door and knocks ; shall we not 'open unto Him immediately,' and now cast down the reasonings which hinder His present triumph, and yield up to Him 'who alone can order them' the unruly will and affections, and deliver into His victorious hands the unmanageable thought-garrison (reserving no private slaves, who would quickly again become our masters), and then let Him dwell in our hearts by faith as absolute Captain of our salvation ?5 Then He will garrison our hearts with the peace of God which passeth all understanding.6
Let every thought Be captive brought, Lord Jesus Christ, to Thine own sweet obedience;
That I may know, In ebbless flow, The perfect peace of full and pure allegiance.
1 Heb. xi. 33. 2 2 Cor. x. 6. 3 Prov. xxiv. 9.
* Jer. iv. 17. 6 Heb. ii. 10. « Phil. iv. 7.
The Imagination of the Thoughts of the Heart
'Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare (margin, stablish) their heart unto Thee.'—I Chron. xxix. 18. THE words are probably more familiar to us in another connection: * And God saw . . . that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." There is Satan's work through the fall; now let us look at God's work through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.' What was to be kept for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart? Something that God had put there; for you cannot keep a thing in any place till it is first put there. The people had responded to the appeal of their king, 'Who then is I willing to consecrate his service this day unto the 1 Lord ? '3 As the expression of this service, they ! had offered willingly and rejoicingly to the Lord. 'What they had offered was all His own: 'Of thine
1 Gen, vi. 5. 2 Rom. iii. 24. 3 i Chron. xxix. 5.
own have we given Thee.'1 And David acknowledges that it was all of Him that they were enabled (margin, obtained strength) 'to offer so willingly after this sort.' Was all this consecration and joy to be a thing of a day? Nay! in his grand inspired prayer, David, foreshadowing the Royal Intercessor, by whom alone we 'offer up spiritual sacrifices,' prays, 'O Lord God, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people.' Now, does not this precisely meet the fear, the desire, and the need of our souls? I may have yielded myself unto God to-day, I may have sincerely presented myself a living sacrifice to Him2 to-day, but what about to-morrow? My heart is so treacherous, I dare not trust it, I cannot even know it. Who that has consecrated himself to the Lord has not had some such thought! In too many instances, the thought is brooded over till it grows into doubt of His power; and then, of course, we begin to sink, for only by faith do we stand or walk in the bright path of consecration. Doubt indulged soon becomes doubt realized. He who by His free grace and mighty power put it into our hearts must be equally willing and able to keep it there. If He can keep it there for one day,—nay, for one hour,—He can keep it—how long? Two days? A whole year? What saith the Scripture?' For Ever.' Yes, but He only; not ourselves. We cannot 'keep ' it one minute. The more totally we distrust our own ability to put or to keep any right thing whatever in our minds, the more we shall see that we may and must totally trust His power.
11 Chron. xxix. 14. 2 Rom. vi. 13; ib. xii. i.
There is real comfort in knowing that every imagination of the thoughts of the natural heart is only evil continually, because this shows how really He is working in us when we find Him putting and keeping holy things in our minds. We may be quite sure no Godward thought comes natural to us; but His new covenant is: 'I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.'1 The words are very remarkable and far-reaching. We feel that they go to the very depths, that it is our whole mental being which is to be thus pervaded with the incense of consecration; not that it is to be kept only in some inner recess of the heart, and not equally so in the mental consciousness. 'Keep this for ever in the imagination,' so that the mind (margin, imagination) may be stayed on Thee, and the keeping in perfect peace may result.2 Just the very thing that seems most curbless, the mental lightning that seems too quick for us! The flashing wings that used to bear us too swiftly whither we would not, shall be folded over the golden purpose of consecration. 'In the imagination of the thoughts' 'Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.' And then the peace of God enters in to garrison the heart and thoughts (for it is the same word, here translated ' mind '). 'In the imagination of the thoughts of the heart,' the very central self, the inner citadel of the soul.
1 Heb. viii. 8-10. 8 Isa. xxvi, 3.
That shall be ' established with grace,' stablished unblameable in holiness, 'fixed ' so that it shall sing and give praise; for Thou, Lord, 'hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt establish their heart.' We rejoice in His omniscience; for, because'the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts,'1 we are fully persuaded that what He has promised He is able also to perform.2
'Only for Jesus!' Lord, keep it for ever Sealed on the heart and engraved on the life;
Pulse of all gladness, and nerve of endeavour, Secret of rest, and the strength of our strife.
The Everlasting Service
'And he shall serve him for ever.'—Ex. xxi. 6. A PROMISE only differenced from a threat by one thing, love! But that makes all the difference. To those who are still 'enemies in their minds,'* the prospect of serving for ever would be anything but pleasant. But when the enmity is slain by the
11 Chron. xxviii. 9. 8 Rom. iv. 21. 8 Col. i. 21.
cross of Christ,1 and all things are become new,3 and the love of Christ constraineth,8 then it is among the brightest of our many bright anticipations, and everlasting joy and everlasting service become almost synonymous. Rest is sweet, but service (in proportion to our love) is sweeter still. Those who have served much here cannot but anticipate the fuller and more perfect service above. Those who have to do little more than 'stand and wait' here, will perhaps revel even more than others in the new experience of active service, coming at once, as it were, into its full delight. The Hebrew servant had trial of his master's service for six years, and in the seventh he might go out free if he would. But then, 'if the servant shall plainly say' (plainly, avowedly, no mistake about it), 'I love my master, . . . I will not go out free,' then, publicly and legally, he was sealed to his service ' for ever.' It all depended on the love. He would say, 'I will not go away from thee;* because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee.' How this meets our case, dear fellow-servants! We do not want to 'go away from' Jesus, because we love Him ; and we love His house too,—not only, * the house of God' with which so much of our service is connected, but * His own house,' the 'spiritual house,' 'the blessed company of all faithful people.' And are we not 'well' with Him? Where else so well ? where else anything but ill?
1 Eph. ii, 16. 2 2 Cor. v. 17.
8 2 Cor. V. 14. * Deut. xv. 16.
Has He not dealt well with His servants?1 What a chorus it would be if we all spoke out, and said, ' I love my Master, and it hath been well for me with Him '! Why don't we speak out, and let people know what a Master He is, and what a happy service His is? Who is to speak out, if we have not a word to say about it! Let us stand up for Jesus and His service, every one of us! Perhaps, when we do speak out, we shall realize the joy of this promise as never before. It was not till the servant had owned his love, and given up 'the rest of his time in the flesh,' and had his ear bored, that the word was spoken, 'He shall serve him for ever; '2 and it is only the loving and consecrated heart that leaps up for joy at the heavenly prospect: 'And His servants shall serve Him." Think about it a little. What will it be to be able at last to express not only all the love we now feel, but all the perfected love of infinitely enlarged capability of loving in the equally perfected service of equally enlarged capability of serving ?—able to show Jesus a love which would burst our hearts if poured into them now! Able to put all the new rapture of praise into living action for Him! Able to go on serving Him day and night,4 without any weariness in it, and never a hateful shadow of weariness of it; without any interruptions ; without any mistakes at all ; without any thinking how much better some one else could have done it, or how much better we ought to have done it; above all, without the least mixture of sin in motive or deed— pure, perfect service of Him whom we love and see face to face! What can be more joyful?
1 Ps. cxix. 65, 2 Ex. xxi. 6.
8 Rev. xxii. 3. * Rev. vii. 15.
We are not told much about it, we could not understand it now; the secrets of this wonderful service will only be told when we are brought to His house above, and see what are the heavenly 'good works which God hath before ordained' (margin, prepared) for us. How full of surprises the new service will be !— new powers, new and entirely congenial fellowworkers, new spheres, new ministries; only two things not new, if our earthly service has been true, —no new power, and no new end and aim, but the same, even His power and His glory! Then shall come the full accomplishment of the Messianic prophecy: 'A seed shall serve Him ; " and still we shall say (only I think we shall sing it), 'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." 'Whose I am and whom I serve' for ever!3
My Lord hath met my longing With word of golden tone, That I shall serve for ever
Himself, Himself alone. 'Shall serve him,'—and ' for ever!'
Oh hope most sure, most fair! The perfect love outpouring,
In perfect service there!
I Ps. xxii. 30. 2 Matt. vi. 13. 8 Acts xxvii. 23.
Most Blessed Forever
'Thou hast made him most blessed for ever, Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.'—Ps. xxi. 6. PROBABLY every one who reads this has at least one of those golden links to heaven which God's own hand has forged from our earthly treasures. It may be that the very nearest and dearest that had been given are now taken away. And how often 'no relation, only a dear friend' is an * only' of heart-crushing emphasis! Human comfort goes for very little in this; but let us lay our hearts open to the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God1 Himself about it. There is not much directly to ourselves; He knew that the truest and sweetest comfort would come by looking not at our loss, but at their gain. Whatever this gain is, it is all His own actual and immediate doing. 'Thou hast made him' (read here the name of the very one for whom we are mourning) 'most blessed.'
1 2 Cor. i. 4.
'Most!' How shall we reach that thought? Make a shining stairway of every bright beatitude in the Bible, blessed upon blessed, within and also far beyond our own experience. And when we have built them up till they reach unto heaven, still this ' most blessed' is beyond, out of our sight, in the unapproachable glory of God Himself. It will always be 'most,' for it is 'forever'—everlasting light without a shadow, everlasting songs without a minor.
No more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.1 'And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.'2 No more sunsets, no more days of mourning. The troubling of the wicked and the voice of the oppressor ceased for ever.3 No more memory of troubles; no more tears. No more anything that defileth! All this only the negative side of our dear one's present blessedness. Then, the rest for the weary one, the keeping of the sabbath that remaineth, and yet the service free and perfect and perpetual. The crowns of life, of righteousness, and of glory. The great reward in heaven, full of love-surprise to the consciously unprofitable servant. The far more exceeding weight of glory4 borne by some to whom the grasshopper had been a burden.5 The scene of all the blessedness,—the better country, the continuing city, the King's palace, the Father's house, the prepared mansions (perhaps full of contrasts to the past pilgrimage)—all summed up in the transcendent simplicity and sublimity of His words, 'That where I am, there ye may be also.'
1 Rev. xxi. 4. 2Isa. xxxiii. 24. 8Job Hi. 17, 18.
* 2 Cor. iv. 17. * Eccles. xii. 5.
The music ! What will all the harps of heaven be to the thrill of the One Voice, saying, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father!" and, ' Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'2 Our dear ones have heard that! and that one word of the King must have made them most blessed for ever.
But more yet. 'Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.' 'Hast,' for it is done. At this moment they are exceeding glad, and the certainty of it stills every quiver of our selfish love. The glory and joy of our Lord Christ are revealed to them, and they are ' glad also with exceeding joy," rejoicing together with Jesus. How can they help reflecting His Divine joy when they see it no longer by faith and afar off, but visibly, actually ' face to face ! '* nay, more, 'eye to eye,' that very closest approach of tenderest intercourse too deep for words. They see Him 'as He is;' in all His beauty and love and glory; through no veil, no glass, no tear-mist. The prayer for them, 'The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee," is altogether fulfilled, and they are ' full of joy with Thy countenance.' And every other prayer we ever prayed for them is fulfilled exceeding abundantly, above all we asked or thought. We may not pray any more for them, because God has not left one possibility of blessedness unbestowed.
'Breaking the narrow prayers that may Befit your narrow hearts, away In His broad, loving will.'
—E. B. Browning.
1 Matt. xxv. 34. 2 Matt. xxv. 21, 23. * Luke xv. 6. * 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 6 Num. vi. 26.
God Himself, their exceeding joy, has done and is doing His very best for them. 'Even so, Father!" For I know That they who are not lost, but gone before, Are only waiting till I come; for death Has only parted us a little while, And has not severed e'en the finest strand In the eternal cable of our love: The very strain has twined it closer still, And added strength. The music of their lives Is nowise stilled, but blended so with songs Around the throne of God, that our poor ears No longer hear it.
Do Thou For Me
'Do Thou for Me.'—Ps. cix. 21. THE Psalmist does not say what he wanted God to do for him. He leaves it open. So this most restful prayer is left open for all perplexed hearts to appropriate 'according to their several necessities.' And so we leave it open for God to fill up in His own way. Only a trusting heart can pray this prayer at all: the very utterance of it is an act of faith. We could not ask any one whom we did not know intimately and trust implicitly to ' do' for us, without even suggesting what.
Only a self-emptied heart can pray it. It is when . we have come to the end of our own resources, orf rather, come to see that we never had any at all, that we are willing to accept the fact that we can 'do nothing,' and to let God do everything for us. Only a loving heart can pray it. For nobody likes another to take them and their affairs in hand, and 'do' for them, unless that other is cordially loved. We might submit to it, but we should not like it, and certainly should not seek it. So, if we have caught at this little prayer as being just what we want, just what it seems a real rest to say, I think it shows that we do trust in Him and not in ourselves, and that we do love Him really and truly. There is sure to be a preface to this prayer. 'Neither know we what to do.'1 Perhaps we have been shrinking from being brought to this. Rather let us give thanks for it. It is the step down from the drifting wreck on to the ladder still hanging at the side. Will another step be down into the dark water? Go on, a little lower still, fear not! The next is, 'We know not what we should pray for." Now we have reached the lowest step. What next? 'Do Thou for me.' This is the step into the captain's boat. Now He will cut loose from the wreck of our efforts, ladder and all will be left behind, and we have nothing to do but to ' sit still' and let Him take us to our 'desired haven,' probably steering quite a different course from anything we should have thought best. Not seldom 'immediately the ship is at the land whither' we went.
1 2 Chron. xx. 12. 2 Rom. viii. 26.
What may we, from His own word, expect in answer to this wide petition? 1. 'What His soul desireth, even that He doeth.'1 Contrast this with our constantly felt inability to do a hundredth part of what we desire to do for those we love. Think of what God's desires must be for us, whom He so loves, that He spared not His own Son.' 'That He doeth!' 2. 'He performeth the thing that is appointed for me.'3 This is wonderfully inclusive; one should read over all the epistles to get a view of the things present and future, seen and unseen, the grace and the glory that He has appointed for us. It includes also all the 'good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.' It will not be our performance of them, but His; for He 'worketh in you to will and to do,'* and 'Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.'5 3. The beautiful old translation says, He 'shall perform the cause which I have in hand.'6 Does not that make it very real to us to-day? Just the very thing that ' I have in hand,' my own particular bit of work to-day—this cause that I cannot manage, this thing that I undertook in miscalculation of my own powers, this is what I may ask Him to do 'for me,' and rest assured that He will perform it. 'The wise and their works are in the hand of God!'>1Job xxiii. 13. 2 Rom. viii. 32. 3 Job xxiii. 14. 4 Phil. ii. 13. 5 Isa. xxvi. 12. 6 Ps. lvii. 2.
4. He 'performeth all things for me.'1 Does He mean as much as this? Well, He has caused it to be written for us 'that we might have hope;,' and what more do we want? Then let Him do it. Let Him perform all things for us. Not some things, but all things ; or the very things which we think there is no particular need for Him to perform will be all failures—wood, hay, and stubble to be burnt up. One by one let us claim this wonderful word; 'the thing of a day in his day,' 'as the matter shall require,' being always brought to Him with the God-given petition, 'Do Thou for me.' Do not wait to feel very much 'oppressed ' before you say, 'O Lord, undertake for me." Far better say that at first than at last, as we have too often done! Bring the prayer in one hand, and the promises in the other, joining them in the faith-clasp of 'Do as Thou hast said ! '* And put both the hands into the hand of Him whom the Father heareth always, saying, * Do Thou for me, O Lord God, for Thy name's sake,' for the sake of JehovahJesus, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, yet the Saviour of sinners.
1 Ps. lvii. 2. 2 Rom. xv. 4. 3 Isa. xxxviii. 14. 4 2 Sam. vii. 2.
Marvelously Helped
'Marvelously helped.'—2 Chron. xxvi. 15. UZZIAH seems to have been the type of a variously busy and successful man. He had all sorts of irons in the fire. So many energetic interests and tastes, with both faculty and opportunity for developing them, must have made his life much more agreeable and lively than most royal careers. His architecture and his agriculture, his war organizations and his engineering, spread his name far abroad. For ' as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.' Yet the end of his story is a strange contrast—a leper, dwelling in a several house, and cut off from the house of the Lord. Where was the turning-point? Probably in the words, 'He strengthened himself exceedingly.' It had been God's help and strength before, and he had risen very high. Then he thought he was strong, and he was brought fearfully low. 'Marvellously helped till he was strong.' Then who would not be always weak, that they might be always 'marvellously helped!' * Marvellously!' For is it not wonderful that God should help us at all? Have we not wondered hundreds of times at the singular help He has given? If we have not, what ungrateful blindness! For He has been giving it ever since we were helpless babies. 'Through Thee have I been holden up ever since I was born.'1 How much of His help has been forgotten or altogether unnoticed. The very little things, the microscopical helpings, often seem most marvellous of all, when we consider that it was Jehovah Himself who stooped to the tiny need of a moment. And the greater matters prove themselves to be the Lord's doing, just because they are so marvellous in our eyes. Why should we fear being brought to some depth of perplexity and trouble when we know He will be true to His name, and be 'our Help,' so that we shall be even 'men wondered at' because so marvellously helped! It is not a mere expression. The Bible always means what it says; and so the help to Uzziah, and the same help with which God makes us to prosper, is literally ' marvellous.' We do wonder at it, or ought to wonder at it. Wonder is one of the Godgiven faculties which distinguish us from the beasts that perish. And He gives us grand scope for its happy exercise not merely in His works in general, but in His dealings with us in particular. But wonder is always founded upon observation. We do not wonder at that which we do not observe. So, if we have not wondered very much at the help He has given us, it is because we have not noticed, nor considered very much, how great things He hath done for us.
Let us turn our special attention to it each day. We are wanting help of all kinds all day long ; now just observe how He gives it! Even if nothing the least unusual happens, the opened and watching eye will see that the whole day is one sweet story of marvellous help. And perhaps the greatest marvel will be, that He has helped us to see His help after very much practical blindness to it. And then the marvelling will rise into praising 'the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you.'1 The times of marvellous help are times of danger. 'When thou hast eaten and art full, . . . and all that thou hast is multiplied,' 'beware lest' 'then thy heart be lifted up.'2 'When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.'3 Unclasp the ivy from the elm, and it is prostrate at once. Thank God, if He keeps us realizing, amidst the busiest work, and the pleasantest success, that we have no power at all of ourselves to help ourselves! Then there will be nothing to hinder His 'continual help.' As long as we say quite unreservedly, 'My help cometh from the Lord,'* the help will come. As long as we are saying, 'Thou art my help,' 'He is our help,' 'a very present help.' Then we shall not 'be holpen with a little help,' which is too often all we really expect from our omnipotent Helper, just because we do not feel that we have 'no might.' Peter was a good swimmer, but he did not say, 'Lord, help me to swim!' He said, 'Lord, save me! '5 and so the Master's help was instant and complete.
1 Joel ii. 26. 8 Deut. viii. 11-14. 3 2 Chron. xxvi. 16. * Ps. cxxi. 2. 6 Matt. xiv. 30, 31.
'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'1
The Lord hath done great things for thee! All through the fleeted days Jehovah hath dealt wondrously;
Lift up thy heart and praise! For greater things thine eyes shall see,
Child of His loving choice! The Lord will do great things for thee;
Fear not, be glad, rejoice!
Thou Understandest
'Thou understandest my thought.'—Ps. cxxxix. 2. WHO does not know what it is to be misunderstood? Perhaps no one ever is always and perfectly understood, because so few Christians are like their Master in having the spirit of 'quick understanding.'2 But this does not make it the less trying to you; and you do not feel able to say with St. Paul, 'With me it is a very small thing.'3 But this precious Word, which meets every need, gives you a stepping-stone which is quite enough to enable you to reach that brave position, if you will only stand on it. 'Thou understandest my thought.'
1 2 Cor. xii. 9. 8 Isa. xi. 3. 8 1 Cor. iv. 3.
Even if others 'daily mistake' your words, He understands your thought, and is not this infinitely better? He Himself, your ever-loving, ever-present Father, understands. He understands perfectly just what and just when others do not. Not your actions merely, but your thought—the central self which no words can reveal to others. 'All my desire is before Thee.'1 He understands how you desired to do the right thing when others thought you did the wrong tiling. He understands how His poor weak child wants to please Him, and secretly mourns over grieving Him. 'Thou understandest' seems to go even a step further than the great comfort of 'Thou knowest.' 'His understanding is infinite." Perhaps you cannot even understand yourself, saying, 'How can a man then understand his own way?" Even this He meets, for 'He declareth unto man what is His thought.'* But are you willing to let Him do this? He may show you that those who have, as you suppose, misunderstood you, may have guessed right after all. He may show you that your desire was not so honest, your motives not so single as you fancied; that there was self-will where you only recognized resolution, sin where you only recognized infirmity or mistake. Let Him search, let Him 'declare' it unto you. For then He will declare another message to you: 'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
1 Ps. xxxviii. 9. 2 Ps. cxlvii. 5.
8 Prov. XX. 24, 4 Amos iv. 13.
Then, when all is clear between Him and you, 'nothing between' (and let that 'when' be 'now!'), how sweet you will find it in the light of His forgiveness, and the new strength of His cleansing, to look up and say,'Thou understandest!' and wait patiently for Him to let you be understood or misunderstood, just as He will, even as Jesus did. For who was ever so misunderstood as He? Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Proof of His Purpose
'No man can come unto me, except it were given him of my Father.'—John vi. 65. PERHAPS we have hardly counted this as any part of the royal comfort of our King. And yet it is full of 'strong consolation." If some of us were asked, 'How do you know you have everlasting life?' we might say, 'Because God has promised it.'1 But how do you know He has promised it to you? And then if we answered, not conventionally, nor what we think we ought to say, but honestly what we think, we might say, 'Because I have believed and have come to Jesus.'2 And this looks like resting our hope of salvation upon something that we have done, upon the fact of our having consciously believed and consciously 'come.' And then, of course, any whirlwind of doubt will raise dust enough to obscure that fact and all the comfort of it.
Yet there is grand comfort not in it, but in the glorious chain of which even this little human link is first forged and then held by Jehovah's own hand. Apart from this, it is worth nothing at all. Do not shrink from the words; do not dare to explain them away; the Faithful and True Witness spoke them, the Holy Ghost has recorded them for ever: 'No man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father.'3 There it stands; reiterated and strengthened instead of softened, because many even of His disciples murmured at it. So our coming to Jesus was not of ourselves; it was the gift of God.4 How did the gift operate? Not by driving, but by drawing. 'No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me, draw him.'5 Here comes in the great ' Whosoever will.'6
1 I John ii. 25. 2 John iii. i6. 3 John vi. 60-66.
4 Eph. ii. 8. 6 John vi. 44. « Rev. xxii. 17.
For unless and until the Father drew us, no mortal born of Adam ever wanted to come to Jesus. There was nothing else for it; He had to draw us, or we never should have thought of wishing to come; nay, we should have gone on distinctly willing not to come, remaining aliens and enemies. Oh, the terrible depth of depravity revealed by that keen swordword, 'Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." Settle it, then, that you never wanted to come till He drew you, and praise Him for thus beginning at the very beginning with you. You were not ready for the 'whosoever will' before. But no one ever had a glimmer of a will to come, but that shining ' whosoever'2 flashed its world-wide splendour for their opening eyes. By your will, now being wrought upon more and more by His Spirit, the Father drew you, 'with cords of a man, with bands of love." Just examine now,—was it not so? was it with anything but loving-kindness that He drew you? Remember the way by which He led you; * it may have been hedged with thorns, but was it not 'paved with love?' were not the very stones laid 'with fair colours?'5 Can you help seeing 'the loving-kindnesses of the Lord' all along? and what were they lavished for, but to draw you? That being acknowledged, what next? Lovingkindness is the fruit and expression and absolute proof of everlasting love. There is no escape from this magnificent conclusion,—' Yea, I have loved thee' (personally thee) 'with an everlasting love,'
1 John V. 40. 2 John iii. 15, 16. 3 Hos. xi. 4.
4 Deut. viii. a. 5 Isa. liv. 11.
for 'therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee' (personally thee).1 The coming was personal and individual; it may have been 'in the press," but we had nothing to do with the rest of the throng; we know in ourselves that we, you and I, individually, have come. That personal coming was because of God the Father's personal drawing. I do not know how He drew you, you do not know how He drew me; but without it most certainly neither you nor I ever could have come, because we never would have come. This personal drawing by personal loving-kindness was because of personal and individual everlasting love. Coming only because drawn, drawn only because loved! Here we reach, and rest on, the firm foundation of the electing love of God in Christ, proved by His drawing, resulting in our coming! When we know that this sun is shining in the heaven of heavens, should we be watching every flicker of our little farthing candle of faith?
From no less fountain such a stream could flow, No other root could yield so fair a flower:
Had He not loved, He had not drawn us so; Had He not drawn, we had nor will nor power
To rise, to come,—the Saviour had passed by Where we in blindness sat without one care or cry.
1 Jer. xxxi. 3. 2 Mark v. 27.
The Garnering of the Least Grain
'I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.'— Amos ix. 9.
THERE is double comfort here, as to others and as to ourselves.
As to others,—have not some of us had a scarcely detected notion, as if to some extent the salvation of others depended upon our efforts ? Of course, we never put it in so many words \ but has there not been something of a feeling that if we tried very hard to win a soul we should succeed, and if we did not try quite enough it would get lost? And this has made our service anxious and burdensome.
But what says Christ ? *A11 that the Father giv-eth Me shall come to Me.'^ They shall come, for the Father will draw them, and Jesus will attract them, and the Holy Spirit will lead them. And the purpose precedes the promise, even as the promise precedes the call, and the call precedes the coming. Thus God first planned and proposed the ark for the salvation of Noah from the flood. Then He said, *Thou shalt come into the ark.'^
1 John vi. 37. 2 Gen. vi- 13, 16; ib. ver. 18.
Long after that, when all things were ready, He said, * Come thou and all thy house into the ark.'^ And then Noah went in; and then * the Lord shut him in.'^
Now let us, in our work, practically trust our Lord as to His purposes, promises, and calls; quite satisfied that He * will work, and who shall let it ? '^ that He will not accidentally miss anybody, or lose anything of all that the Father hath given Him, for this is the Father's own will.*
It may seem a great trial of trust very often, but who is it that we have to trust thus unquestioningly and quietly ? Jesus Christ! Cannot we trust Hirn whom the Father trusted with the tremendous work of redemption ? Shall He not do right ? Cannot we trust the Good Shepherd about His own sheep ? Why should it actually seem harder to trust Him about His own affairs than about our own ? ^ Trust in Him at all times,'^ includes the time when we almost fancy the salvation of a dear one depends on our little bits of prayers and efforts. Not that this trust will tend to easy-going idleness. It never does this when it is real. The deepest trust leads to the most powerful action. It is the silencing oil that makes the machine obey the motive power with greatest readiness and result.
Then the comfort for ourselves. Satan has desired to have us, that he may sift us as wheat f but the Lord Himself keeps the sieve in His own hand, and pledges His word that not the least grain shall fall on the earth.''
1 Gen. vii. i. 2 Gen. vii. 7, 16. 8 Isa. xliii. 13.
4 John vi. 39. 6 Ps. Ixii. 8. « Luke xxii. 31.
7 Amos ix. 9.
We are so glad of that word, 'not the least;^ not even me, though less than the least of all s<aints,^ though feeling as if my only claim upon Christ Jesus is that I am the chief of sinners.'^
' Not the least grain; * for He says, * Ye shall be gathered one by one.' Think of His hand gathering you separately and individually out of His million-sheaved harvest; gathering you, one by one always, into His garner, even in that tremendous day of sifting, when He shall thoroughly purge His floor.^ You may feel a little overlooked sometimes now; only one among so very many, and perhaps not first nor even second in anybody's love, or care, or interest, but He is watching His * least grains* all the time. A flock of sheep look most uninterestingly alike and hopelessly undistinguishable to us, but a good shepherd knows every one quite well. Yes, the Good Shepherd calleth His own sheep by name here,* and * in Zion every one of them ap-peareth before God.'^
For as He said at first, 'AH that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me ; '^ so He says they ' shall come from the east and west*^ to receive the eternal welcome to the great feast of His kingdom ; His ' sons shall come from far,'^ ' they shall co77ie up with acceptance ;' till every one (and that means you and I) has heard His own ' Come, ye blessed of My Father,'^ and has come into the fulness of all that He has prepared for us.
1 Eph. iii. 8. 2 i Tim. i. 13. 3 Matt. iii. 12.
4 John X. 3. 6 Ps. Ixxxiv. 7. * John vi. 37.
» Matt. viii. ii. 8 isa. Ix. 4, 7. « Matt. xxv. 34,
Our Saviour and our King,
Enthroned and crowned above, Shall with exceeding gladness bring
The children of His love.
All that the Father gave
His glory shall behold; Not one whom Jesus came to save
Is missing from His fold.
Vindication
'And they shall know.'—Ezek. vi. 10; xxxvi. 38, etc. 'IF they only knew!' How often we say or think A this when 'they ' misunderstand and misjudge a person, a position, or an action, just because £ they' do not know what we know! How we chafe against their speaking evil of things which they know not, and most of all when 'they' speak wrongly or unworthily of a person whom we know much better than 'they' do! Ah! if they only knew! This grieving sense of the injustice of ignorance rises to a feeling which needs much tempering of faith and patience when we see our God Himself misunderstood and misjudged. Oh, how they ' daily mistake' His words and His character, and how it does pain us! How we do want them to know what He is, even so far as we are privileged to know Him 1 How every word whicli shows they do not know His exceeding great love and absolute goodness, and the sublime balancing of all His attributes, jars upon us and distresses us, and causes a quick up-glance of His little children who have known the Father, and an involuntary closer nestling of their hand in His, as if they wanted to give Him fresh assurance of their love and confidence, just because these others do not know Him! What an added grandeur it gives to our anticipations of the day when every eye shall see Him, that He, our Father, will be known at last to be what He is, and that Jesus, our Lord and Master, will be seen in His own glory, and can never, never be misunderstood any more? One revels in the thought of this great and eternal vindication of Him whom we love ; His ways, His works, His word all justified, and Himself revealed to the silenced universe, henceforth only to receive honour and glory and blessing! It seems as if we should almost forget our own share in the glory and joy of His coming in this transcendent satisfaction. 'And they shall know!' It is one of the shining threads that run all through the Bible, a supply indeed for the heart's desire of those who delight in the Lord. It is never long out of sight, judgments and mercies being alike sent for this great purpose, that men may know that Jehovah is Most High over all the earth. For this the waters of the Red Sea receded and returned again; for this Jordan was dried up; for this Goliath was delivered into David's hand; for this 185,000 of the Assyrians were smitten by God's angel; and many more instances. Throughout Ezekiel it seems the very keyword, recurring seventy-five times as the divine reason of divine doings, that they may 'know that I am the Lord.'1 Is there not a peculiar solace in this?
His word, too, shall be vindicated, for ‘ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.”
His ways shall be vindicated, for ‘ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it.” ‘Thou shalt know hereafter.’ *
His house shall be vindicated, for He will answer the prayers ascending from it, ’that they may know that thy name is called upon this house.’
And He will not leave His own children out of the great vindication; for ’the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants.‘5 ‘All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." More than that, the whole world shall ‘know that Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me," and ‘I will make them … to know that I have loved thee.‘8 Is not this super abounding compensation for any tiny share we may now have in the world-wide misunderstanding of our Father’s wisdom and our Saviour’s love?
‘And they shall know,’ is not only for those who do not know at all; for ’ at that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you,’—revelations of the mysteries of Godhead and
1 Ezek. XV. 7, etc. 2 Ezek. xvii. 21. 3 Ezek. xiv. 23.
4 John xiii. 7. 5Isa. Ixvi. 14. 6Isa. Ixi. 9.
7 John xvii. 23. 8 Rev. iii. 9. ^^
of the ineffable union of Christ with His people, which have not yet entered into our hearts to conceive. ‘Then shall we know (if we follow on to know) the Lord.‘1 ‘For now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
Oh ! the joy to see Thee reigning,Thee, my own beloved Lord! Every tongue Thy name confessing, Worship, honour, glory, blessing,
Brought to Thee with glad accord 1 Thee, my Master and my Friend,
Vindicated and enthroned, Unto earth’s remotest end,
Glorified, adored, and owned!
Wakeful Hours
'Thou holdest mine eyes waking.'—Ps. Ixxvii. 4. IF we could always say, night after night, 'I will both lay me down in peace and sleep," receiving in full measure the Lord's quiet gift to His beloved, we should not learn the disguised sweetness of this special word for the wakeful ones. When the wearisome nights come, it is hushing to know that they are appointed. But this is something nearer and closer-bringing, something individual and personal; not only an appointment, but an act of our Father: 'Thou holdest mine eyes waking."
» Hos. vi. 3. » X Cor. xiii. j». » P&. v$. 8.
It is not that He is merely not giving us sleep; it is not a denial, but a different dealing. Every moment that the tired eyes are sleepless, it is because our Father is holding them waking. It seems so natural to say, 'How I wish I could go to sleep!' Yet even that restless wish may be soothed by the happy confidence in our Father's hand, which will not relax its 'hold' upon the weary eyelids until the right moment has come to let them fall in slumber. Ah! but we say, 'It is not only wish, I really want sleep.' Well; wanting it is one thing, and needing it is another. For He is pledged to supply 'all our need, not all our notions.' And if He holds our eyes waking, we may rest assured that, so long as He does so, it is not sleep but wakefulness that is our true need. Now, if we first simply submit ourselves to the appointed wakefulness, instead of getting fidgeted because we cannot go to sleep, the resting in His will, even in this little thing, will bring a certain blessing. And the perfect learning of this little page in the great lesson-book of our Father's will, will make others easier and clearer. Then, let us remember that He does nothing without a purpose, and that no dealing is meant to be resultless. So it is well to pray that we may make the most of the wakeful hours, that they may be no more wasted ones than if we were up and dressed.
1 Ps. xxiii. 14.
They are His hours, for 'the night also is Thine.'1 It will cost no more mental effort (nor so much) to ask Him to let them be holy hours, filled with His calming presence, than to let the mind run upon the thousand 'other things' which seem to find even busier entrance during the night.
'With thoughts of Christ and things divine Fill up this foolish heart of mine.'
It is an opportunity for proving the real power of the Holy Spirit to be greater than that of the Tempter. And He will without fail exert it, when sought for Christ's sake. He will teach us to commune with our own heart upon our bed, or perhaps simply to 'be still," which is, after all, the hardest and yet the sweetest lesson. He will bring to our remembrance many a word that Jesus has said, and even 'the night shall be light about" us in the serene radiance of such rememberings. He will so apply the word of God that the promise shall be fulfilled: 'When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.'* He will tune the silent hours, and give songs in the night, which shall blend in the Father's ear with the unheard melodies of angels. Can we say, 'With my soul have I desired Thee in the night '?5 and, 'By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth ' ?6 Then he will fulfil that desire; the very wakefulness should be recognized as His direct dealing, and we may say,
1 Ps. Ixxiv. 16, 2 ps. iv. 4. 3 Ps. cxxxix. 11.
Prov. vi. 22. 6 Isa. xxvi. 9. ^ Cant. iii. x, 4.
'Thou hast visited me in the night.'1 It is not an angel that comes to you as to Elijah, and arouses you from slumber, but the Lord of angels. He watches while you sleep, and when you are awake you are still with Him who died for you, that whether you wake or sleep, both literally and figuratively, you should live together with Him.
Midnight Rememberings
'When I remember Thee upon my bed.'—Ps. lxiii. 6. MEMORY is never'so busy as in the quiet time while we are waiting for sleep; and never, perhaps, are we more tempted to useless recollections and idle reveries than * in the night watches.' Perhaps we have regretfully struggled against them; perhaps yielded to effortless indulgence in them, and thought we could not help it, and were hardly responsible for 'vain thoughts ' at such times. But here is full help and bright hope. This night let us 'remember Thee.' We can only remember what we already know; oh praise Him then, that we have material for memory!
There is enough for all the wakeful nights of a lifetime in the one word 'Thee.' It leads us straight to ' His own self;' dwelling on that one word, faith, hope, and love, wake up and feed and grow. Then the holy remembrance, wrought by His Spirit, widens. For 'we will remember the name of the Lord our God," in its sweet and manifold revelations. 'I will remember the years' and 'the works of the Lord.' 'Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old." Most of all 'we will remember Thy love,' the everlasting love of our Father, the 'exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour,' the gracious, touching love of our Comforter. And the remembrance of all this love will include that of its grand act and proof, 'Thou shalt remember that . . . Jehovah thy God redeemed thee.'3 „ Perhaps we know what it is to feel peculiarly weary-hearted and dispirited 'on our beds.' But when we say, 'O my God, my soul is cast down within me;' let us add at once, ' There/ore will I remember Thee.'* And what then? what comes of thus remembering Him ?' My soul' (yes, your soul) 'shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches.'6 What can be a sweeter, fuller promise than this!—our heart's desire fulfilled in abundant satisfaction and joyful power of praise! Yet there is a promise sweeter and more thrilling still to the loving, longing heart.
1 Ps. XX. 7. 2 Ps. Ixxvii. 10, II. 3 Deut. xv. 15.
4 Ps. xlii. 6. 6 Ps. Ixiii. 5, 6.
'Thou meetest. . . those that remember Thee in Thy ways.'1 And so, this very night, as you put away the profitless musings and memories, and remember Him upon your bed, He will keep His word and meet you. The darkness shall be verily the shadow of His wing, for your feeble, yet Spirit-given remembrance, shall be met by His real and actual presence, for ' hath He said and shall He not do it?'' Let us pray that this night ' the desire of our soul' may be ' to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee:1
The Bright Side of Growing Older
'And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.'—Job xi. 17. I SUPPOSE nobody ever did naturally like the idea of getting older, after they had at least 'left school.' There is a sense of oppression and depression about it. The irresistible, inevitable onward march of moments and years without the possibility of one instant's pause—a march that, even while on the uphill side of life, is leading to the downhill side—casts an autumn-like shadow over even many a spring-birthday; for perhaps this is never more vividly felt than when one is only passing from May to June,—sometimes earlier still. But how surely the Bible gives us the bright side of everything! In this case it gives three bright sides of a fact, which, without it, could not help being gloomy.
1 Isa. Ixiv. 5. 2 Num. xxiii. 19. 3 jsa. xxvi. 8.
First, it opens the sure prospect of increasing brightness to those who have begun to walk in the light. Even if the sun of our life has reached the apparent zenith, and we have known a very noonday of mental and spiritual being, it is no poetic 'western shadows' that are to lengthen upon our way, but 'our age is to be clearer than the noonday.'1 How suggestive that word is! The light, though intenser and nearer, shall dazzle less; 'in Thy light shall we see light,'2 be able to bear much more of it, see it more clearly, see all else by it more clearly, reflect it more clearly. We should have said, 'At evening-time there shall be shadow ;' God says, 'At evening-time there shall be light.'3 Also we are not to look for a very dismal afternoon of life with only some final sunset glow; for He says it' shineth more and more unto the perfect day ; '* and 'more and more ' leaves no dark intervals; we are to expect a continually brightening path. 'The future is one vista of brightness and blessedness' to those who are willing only ' to walk in the light.'
1 Job xi. 17. 2 Ps. xxxvi. 9. ^ Zech. xiv. 7. ^ Prov. iv. 18.
Just think, when you are seven, or ten, or twenty years older, that will only mean seven, or ten, or twenty years' more experience of His love and faithfulness, more light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and still the 'more and more unto the perfect day,'1 will be opening out before us! We are 'confident of this very thing ! '2
The second bright side is increasing fruitfulness. Do not let us confuse between works and fruit. Many a saint in the land of Beulah is not able to do anything at all, and yet is bringing forth fruit unto God beyond the busiest workers. So that even when we come to the days when 'the strong men shall bow themselves,'3 there may be more pleasant fruits for our Master, riper and fuller and sweeter, than ever before. For 'they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; '* and the man that simply ' trusteth in the Lord' 'shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.'5
Some of the fruits of the Spirit seem to be especially and peculiarly characteristic of sanctified older years; and do we not want to bring them all forth? Look at the splendid ripeness of Abraham's 'faith' in his old age; the grandeur of Moses' 'meekness,' when he went up the mountain alone to die; the mellowness of St. Paul's 'joy' in his later epistles; and the wonderful 'gentleness' of St. John, which makes us almost forget his early character of 'a son of thunder,' wanting to call down God's lightnings of wrath. And 'the same Spirit' is given to us, that we too may bring forth 'fruit that may abound,'6 and always ' more fruit.'7
1 Prov. iv. 18. 2 Phil, i, 6. SEccles. xii. 3. 4 Ps. xcii. 14.
6 Jer. xvii. 7, 8. « phii. iy. 17. ? John xv. 2.
The third bright side is brightest of all: 'Even to your old age, I am He;'1 always the same Jehovah-Jesus; with us ' all the days,' bearing and carrying us ' ail the days;' reiterating His promise —' even to hoar hairs will I carry you . . . ; even I will carry and will deliver you,'2 just as He carried the lambs in His bosom.3 For we shall always be His little children, and 'doubtless '* He will always be our Father. The rush of years cannot touch this!
Fear not the westering shadows, O Children of the Day! For brighter still and brighter,
Shall be your homeward way. Resplendent as the morning,
With fuller glow and power, And clearer than the noonday,
Shall be your evening hour.
The Earnests of More and More
'He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.'—Joel ii. 23. GOD keeps writing a commentary on His Word in the volume of our own experience. That is, in so far as we put that volume into His hands, and do not think to fill it with our own scribble. We are not to undervalue or neglect this commentary, but to use it as John Newton did, when he wrote—
'His love in time past forbids me to think He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink; Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.'
The keywords of what the Spirit writes in it are, 'He hath,' and therefore ' He will.' Every record of love bears the great signatures, 'I am the Lord, I change not;n 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.'4 Every Hitherto of grace and help is a Henceforth of more grace and more help. Every experience of the realities of faith widens the horizon of the possibilities of faith. Every realized promise is the stepping-stone to one yet unrealized. This principle (and it is a very delightful one) of arguing from what God has done for us to what He will do for us, comes up perpetually in all parts of His word. If He hath given us the former rain, it is the pledge and proof that ' He will cause to come down for us the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain; " the blessing already given shall be continued or repeated, and a fuller future one shall be certainly added. Manoah's wife argued well: 'If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not . . . have showed us all these things, nor told us such things as these.'* Oh consider what things the Lord has shown and told you and me ! are they not abounding proofs of His purposes towards us?
1 Mai. iii. 6. 2 Heb. xiii. 8. 3 Joel ii. 26. 4 Judges xiii. 23.
David made frequent use of the thought, arguing from the less to the greater: 'The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.'1 St. Paul gives a close parallel, rising from temporal to spiritual deliverance: 'I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work.'2
'Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." 'The Lord hath heard the voice of my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.'* 'The Lord hath dealt bountifully with me,' comes first; then follows, 'Deal bountifully with Thy servant;' and then, 'Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.' 'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad,'6 leads us on to the prophecy, 'Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things.'6 The same argument is used in prayer. 'Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy people, . . . as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death ; wilt Thou not deliver my feet from falling?'8 So in the lovely typical request of Achsah to her father, 'Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water.'9
1 I Sam. xvii. 37. 2 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18. 3 2 Cor. i. 10,
* Ps. vi. 9. 6 Ps. cxxvi. 3. 6 Joel ii. 21.
' Num. xiv. 19. 8 Ps. Ivi. 13. » Judges i. 15.
Turn now to the basis of such expressions of trust and petition. 'He that spared not His own Son,' —there is the entirely incontrovertible fact of what He hath done: 'shall He with Him also freely give us all things,'1—there is the inspired conclusion of what He will do. 'Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.'2 'He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.'3 For how true is the type, both as to each individual temple of the Holy Ghost, and 'all the building that groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord :'*—' The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, his hands shall also finish it,'5—' His own house, whose house are we.'6 Our Lord Jesus Christ endorses it in the very amen of His great prayer: 'I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it." Only let us simply receive and believe what He shows us and tells us, and then to every Nathanael who comes to Him, He will say, ' Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.'8 Then we shall have, personally and indeed, 'showers of blessing.'9
Unto him that hath Thou givest Ever more abundantly; Lord, I live because Thou livest,
Therefore give more life to me, Therefore speed me in the race, Therefore let me grow in grace.
1 Rom. viii. 32. 2 John xiii. i. 3 Phil. i. 6.
* Eph. ii. 21. 6 Zech. iv. 9. 6 Heb. iii. 6.
? John xvii. 26. 8 John i. 50. 8 Ezek. xx.xiv. 26.
The Perpetual Presence
'Lo, I am with you alway.'—Matt, xxviii. 20. SOME of us think and say a good deal about 'a sense of His presence;' sometimes rejoicing in it, sometimes going mourning all the day long because we have it not; praying for it, and not always seeming to receive what we ask; measuring our own position, and sometimes even that of others, by it; now on the heights, now in the depths about it. And all this April-like gleam and gloom instead of steady summer glow, because we are turning our attention upon the sense of His presence, instead of the changeless reality of it! All our trouble and disappointment about it is met by His own simple word, and vanishes in the simple faith that grasps it. For if Jesus says simply and absolutely, 'Lo, I am with you alway,' what have we to do with feeling or'sense' about it? We have only to believe it, and to recollect it. And it is only by thus believing and recollecting that we can realize it. It comes practically to this: Are you a disciple of the Lord Jesus at all? If so, He says to you, *I am with you alway.' That overflows all the regrets of the past and all the possibilities of the future, and most certainly includes the present. Therefore, at this very moment, as surely as your eyes rest on this page, so surely is the Lord Jesus with you. 'I am,' is neither ' I was,' nor ' I will be.' It is always abreast of our lives, always encompassing us with salvation. It is a splendid perpetual 'Now.' It always means 'I am with you now,' or it would cease to be ' I am' and ' alway.' Is it not too bad to turn round upon that gracious presence, the Lord Jesus Christ's own personal presence here and now, and, without one note of faith or whisper of thanksgiving, say, 'Yes, but I don't realize it!' Then it is, after all, not the presence, but the realization that you are seeking— the shadow, not the substance! Honestly, it is so! For you have such absolute assurance of the reality, put into the very plainest words of promise that divine love could devise, that you dare not make Him a liar and say, ' No! He is not with me!' All you can say is, 'I don't feel a sense of His presence.' Well, then, be ashamed of doubting your beloved Master's faithfulness, and ' never open thy mouth any more" in His presence about it. For those doubting, desponding words were said in His presence. He was there, with you, while you said or thought them. What must He have thought of them! As the first hindrance to realization is not believing His promise, so the second is not recollecting it, not 'keeping it in memory.'2 If we were always recollecting, we should be always realizing.
1 Ezek. xvi. 63, 2 x Cor. xv. 2.
But we go forth from faith to forgetfulness, and there seems no help for it. Neither is there, in ourselves. But ' in Me is thine help.'1 Jesus Himself had provided against this before He gave the promise. He said that the Holy Spirit should bring all things to our remembrance.' It is no use laying the blame on our poor memories, when the Almighty Spirit is sent that He may strengthen them. Let us make real use of this promise, and we shall certainly find it sufficient for the need it meets. He can, and He will, give us that holy and blessed recollectedness, which can make us dwell in an atmosphere of remembrance of His presence and promises, through which all other things may pass and move without removing it. Unbelief and forgetfulness are the only shadows which can come between us and His presence; though, when they have once made the separation, there is room for all others. Otherwise, though all the shadows of earth fell around, none could fall between; and their very darkness could only intensify the brightness of the pavilion in which we dwell, the Secret of His Presence. They could not touch what one has called ' the unutterable joy of shadowless communion.' What shall we say to our Lord to-night? He says, 'I am with you alway.' Shall we not put away all the captious contradictoriness of quotations of our imperfect and double-fettered experience, and say to Him, lovingly, confidingly, and gratefully, 'Thou art with me!"
1 Hos. xiii. 9. 2 John xiv. 26. 8 Ps. xxiii. 4.
'I am with thee!' He hath said it, In His truth and tender grace! Sealed the promise, grandly spoken, With how many a mighty token
Of His love and faithfulness! * I am with thee!' With thee always All the nights and ' all the days;' Never failing, never frowning, With His loving-kindness crowning,
Tuning all thy life to praise.
The Fame-Excelling Reality
'Thou exceedest the fame that I heard.'—2 Chron. ix. 6. THOU! Lord Jesus ! for whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.1 Thou! who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in Thine own blood. Thou! who hast given Thyself for me. Thou! who hast redeemed me, called me, drawn me, waited for me. Thou! who hast given me Thy Holy Spirit to testify of Thee. Thou! whose life is mine, and with whom my life is entwined, so that nothing shall separate or entwine it. 'Thou exceedest the fame that I heard!' Yet I heard a great fame of Thee. They told me Thou wert gracious. They told me as much as they could put into words. And they said, ' Come and see.'1 I tried to come, but I could not see. My eyes were holden,* though Thou wast 'not far.'3 Then I heard what Thou wast to others, and I knew that Thou wast the same Lord. But now I believe, not because of their saying, for I have heard Thee myself, and know that Thou art indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world—my Saviour. Thee, 'whom \shall see for myself,'* I now know for myself; my Lord and my God.5
I did not understand how there could be satisfaction here and now. It seemed necessarily future, in the very nature of things. It seemed, in spite of Thy promises, that the soul could never be filled with anything but heaven. But Thou fillest, Thou satisfiest it.
Now it wonderingly rejoiceth, Finds in Thee unearthly bliss, Rests in Thy divine perfection,
And is satisfied with this. Altogether fair and lovely, Evermore the same to me; Precious, infinite Lord Jesus,
I am satisfied with Thee!' —Jean S. Pigott.
1 John i. 46. " 2 Luke xxiv. 16. 3 Acts xvii. 27.
* Job xix. 27. ^ John xx. 28.
For Thou exceedest the fame that I heard. I find in Thee more than I heard, more than I expected, 'more than all.' The excellency of the knowledge of Thee, Christ Jesus my Lord, not only includes all other treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but outshines them all. Every other fame that I heard has had some touch of disappointment; imagination could always flash beyond reality, even if actual expectation, quieted by experience, had kept within the mark. But 'now I see" that Thou exceedest all that God-given mental powers can reach; every glimpse is but an opening vista, all the music is but a prelude; what I know of Thee only magnifies the yet unknown. All the God-implanted craving for something beyond, all the instinct for the infinite, is met, responded to, satisfied in Thee. There is no part of my being but finds its full scope and its true sphere in Thee.
Thou exceedest all that I heard in every respect. No one could tell me what Thy pardoning love, Thy patience, Thy long-suffering would be to me. No one could tell me how Thy strength, Thy grace, Thy marvellous help would fit into the least as well as the greatest of my continual needs. No one could tell me what grace was poured into Thy lips for me.' Thou art All to each of Thy children; a complete and all excelling Christ to every one, as if it were only for each one. Thy secret is with each.3 Thou givest the white stone and the new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.4 And if Thou exceedest all that I heard, now and here amid the shadows and the veils, how far more exceeding will be Thy unshadowed and unveiled glory! Lord Jesus, I bless Thee for Thy promised eternity. For I shall need it all to praise Thee, that Thou exceedest the fame that I heard!
1 John ix. 25. 2 Ps. xlv. 2.
8 Ps. XXV. 14. 4 Rev. ii. 17,
The Giver of the Invitation
'Come unto Me.'—MATT. xi. 28. THIS is the Royal Invitation. For it is given by the King of kings. We are so familiar with the words, that we fail to realize them. May the Holy Spirit open our ear that we may hear the voice of our King in them,1 and that they may reach our souls with imperative power." Then, 'they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak. 'Lord, to whom shall we go ? '* Not 'to what shall we go.' For the human heart within us craves a personal, living rest and refuge. No doctrines, however true; no systems, however perfect; nothing mental, moral, or spiritual, will do as the answer to this question of every soul that is not absolutely dead in trespasses and sins.5 As surely as you and I are persons, individualities, real separate existences, so surely must we have a Person, no less real and individual, to whom to go in our more or less conscious need of salvation. And so the great word of Invitation, Royal and Divine, is given to us, ' Come unto Me'
1 John X 27. 2 I Thess. i. 5. S Isa. lii. 6.
* John vi. 68. 6 Eph. ii. i.
'Unto Me.' Just think what that one word means! Seek out all the great and wonderful titles of Christ for yourself, and write after each one—'And He says, Come unto Mel' Unto Me, 'the mighty God," nothing less than that! 'Mighty to save " and 'ready to save me." Then seek out all the exquisitely winning beauties of the character and words and ways of Him who went about doing good,* till you 'have heard Him and observed Him '6 all through those years of patient and perfect ministry, and recollect all the time that it is He who says to you, 'Come unto Me/'6 Unto Him, the man Christ Jesus,1 full of compassion, and tender yet royal grace. Then look at the great central scene of the universe,—the central moment not of a world's history only, but of eternity;—look at the Saviour, who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,8 bowing His bleeding head under that awful burden,9 because His faithfulness was unto the death,10 and His love was strong as death !11 'Behold your God,'1! and 'Behold the Man,'13 who loved you and gave Himself for you;" hear His own touching call,' I said, Behold Me, behold Me!'15 Look away from all the 'other things,' look at the Crucified One, and, as you gaze, remember that He says, 'Come unto Me!'
1 Isa. ix. 6. 2 Isa. lxiii. 1. 3 Isa. xxxviii. 2o. J Acts x. 38. 5 Hos. xiv. 8. « Matt. xx. 28. 7 1 Tim. i1. 5. 8 1 Pet. ii. 24. 9 Isa. liii. 6. 10 John xiii. 1. 11 Cant. viii. 6. I2 Isa. x\. 9. IS John xix. 5. 14 Gal. ii. 20. 15 Isa. txv. 1.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by,1 that both from the depth of sorrow and from the height of glory this Royal Invitation comes to you? For it is the call not only of Jesus Crucified, but of Jesus Reigning and Jesus Coming. 'See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh,'2for He is coming to judge the quick and the dead.3 He is reigning now, and there are no neutrals in His kingdom.4 All are either willing and loyal subjects, or actual rebels,— those who have obeyed the King's call, and come, and those who have 'made light of it," and not come. Which are you? Think of the day when the great white throne is set,6 and when the Son of man shall come in His glory;7 when all will be gathered before Him, and He shall separate them one from another,8 and know that it is ' this same Jesus " who now says to you, 'Come unto Me'
Just as I am—without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come!
1 Lam. i. 12. 2 Heb. xii. 25. 3 Acts x. 42.
* Luke xi. 23. 5 Matt. xxii. 5. 6 Rev. xx. 11.
' Matt. XXV. 31. 8 Matt. xxv. 32. 9 Acts i. 11.
What is Coming?
'Come unto Me.'—Matt. xi. 28. 'BUT what is "coming "?' One's very familiarity with the terms used to express spiritual things, seems to have a tendency to make one feel mystified about them. And their very simplicity makes one suspicious, as it were, that there must be some mysterious and mystical meaning behind them,1 because they sound too easy and plain to have such great import. 'Come' means 'come,'—just that! and not some occult process of mental effort. What would you understand by it, if you heard it to-day for the first time, never having had any doubts or suppositions or previous notions whatever about it? What does a little child understand by it? It is positively too simple to be made plainer by any amount of explanation. If you could see the Lord Jesus standing there, right before you, and you heard Him say, 'Come!' * would you say, 'What does "come" mean?' And if the room were dark, so that you could only hear and not see, would it make any difference?
1 I Cor. ii. 14. 2 Matt. xiv. 29.
Would you not turn instantly towards the 'Glorious Voice' ? 1 Would you not, in heart, and will, and intention, instantaneously obey it?2—that is, if you believed it to be Himself.* For 'he that cometh to God must believe that He is.' 4 The coming so hinges on that, as to be really the same thing. The moment you really believed, you would really come; and the moment you really come, you really believe. Now the Lord Jesus is as truly and actually 'nigh thee '5 as if you could see Him. And He as truly and actually says 'Come' to you as if you heard Him. Fear not, believe only,8 and let yourself come to Him straight away! 'Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.'1 And know that His answer is, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'8 Do you still feel unaccountably puzzled about it? Give a quiet hour to the records of how others came to Him. Begin with the eighth of St. Matthew, and trace out all through the Gospels how they came to Jesus with all sorts of different needs, and trace in these your own spiritual needs of cleansing, healing, salvation, guidance, sight, teaching. They knew what they wanted, and they knew Whom they wanted. And consequently they just came.
1 Isa. XXX. 30. 2 Jer. iii. 22. 3 Heb. xi. 6.
* John vi. 35. 5 Deut. xxx. 14. 6 Luke viii. 50.
< Hos. xiv. 2. 8 John vi. 37.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you want and Whom you want, and you will talk no more about what it means, you will just come.1 And then you will say, * Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world;'2 and you will say, 'My Lord and my God.'3
All Things Are Ready
'Come; for all things are now ready.'—Luke xir. 17. ALL things! God the Father is ready to save you.4 Jesus Christ is ready to receive you.5 The Holy Spirit is ready to dwell in you.6 Are you ready? All things. The 'great salvation ' is ready for you.7 The full atonement is made for you.' The eternal redemption is obtained for you.3 Are you ready? All things. The cleansing fountain is opened for you.10 The robe of righteousness is wrought for you." The way into the holiest is consecrated for you.1' Are you ready?
1johnxii. 32. 2 John iv. 42. 3 John xx. 28. 4 lsa. xxxviii. 20. 5 John vi. 37. 6 Rom. viii. 9. 'Heb. ii. 3. 8 Rom. v. 11. 9 Heb. ix. 12. 10 Zech. xiii. 1. "Rom. iii. 22. U Heb. x. 19, 2o.All things. All things that pertain unto life and godliness are given you by His Divine power.1 Exceeding great and precious promises are given you.' The supply of all your need is guaranteed to you.3 Strength and guidance, teaching and keeping, are provided for you. Even the good works in which you shall walk are prepared for you.4 A Father's love and care and a Saviour's gift of peace are waiting for you. The feast is spread for you.5 All these things are ready for you.6 Are you ready for them? Even if you did not heed nor believe any other words of Jesus, could you—can you—doubt His dying words? Surely they are worthy of all acceptation !7 What are they? 'It Is Finished ! '8 What is finished ?' I have finished the work that Thou gavest Me to do.'9 And what is that work? Simply the work of our salvation. That is the reason why all things are now ready, because Jesus has finished that all-inclusive work. When a thing is finished, how much is there left to do? The question sounds too absurd with respect to ordinary things. We hardly take the trouble to answer, 'Why nothing, of course!' When Jesus has finished the work, how much is there left for you to do? Do you not see? Nothing, of course! You have only to accept that work as really finished, and accept His dying declaration that it is so.10 What further assurance would you have? Is not this enough? Does your heart say Yes, or No?
1 I Tim. iv. 8. 22 Pet. i. 3, 4. 3 Phil. iv. 19.
* Eph. ii. 10. 5 Isa. xxv. 6. ^ Matt. xxii. 4.
7 I Tim. i. 15. ^ John xix, 30. 9 John xvii. 4. 10 2 Tim. ii. 13.
'Do ye now believe?'1 Settle that; and then what follows? Hear another word of the Faithful Witness.2 Remember, it is no less true than the other. The Holy Lips that spoke that grand truth on the cross spoke nothing that could deceive or mislead. 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." What does this mean? Just what it says, and nothing less! It means that even if you never believed before—even if you never had a spark of faith or glimmer of hope before—yet if you have now given your heartassent to Jesus and His finished work, you have now everlasting life I* That heart-assent is believing ;5 and 'he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.'6 And this 'believing' is 'coming;" and thus coming you shall find for yourself that all things are indeed ready. What now? Shall praise be the only thing not ready? Will you not now prove your acceptance of the great gift of eternal life8 by pouring out your thanks9 at once for it, and prove your trust in the finished work10 by praising the Saviour who died to finish it for you?"
1 John xvi. 31; Mark ix. 24. 2 Rev. i. 5. 3 John vi. 47.
* Acts viii. 32-39. 5 John iii. 16. 6 John iil. 36.
f John vi. 35. 8 Rom. vi. 23; 2 Cor. ix. 15. 9 Cor. i. 12.
W Isa. xii. I, 2. 11 I Pet. ii. 9.
From the cross uplifted high, "Where the Saviour deigns to die, "What melodious sounds I hear, Bursting on my ravished ear! Love's redeeming work is done; Come, and welcome ! sinner, come ! Spread for thee the festal board, See with richest dainties stored; To thy Father's bosom pressed, Yet again a child confessed, Never from his house to roam; Come, and welcome! sinner, come!Thomas Haweis.
Now ' Come now.'—Isa. i. 18.
ALL things are now ready, therefore come now!
Experience does not run on rails laid regularly down, and readers do not always go hand in hand and heart to heart with the writer. I only wish they did. Then we might try to lead on more quickly, instead of reiterating the one call, in the hope that it may, first or last, be heard and obeyed.1 Please do not imagine, because there are twenty-seven more chapters on the same subject, that there is any sort of slow necessary progress, any set of ideas and feelings to be gone or got through, gradually working up to the climax of 'coming.' This is all cut short by the simple word, 'Come now!' Nothing can be plainer. Therefore, if you postpone coming, you are calmly disobeying God. When we bid a child to 'come,' we do not count it obedience unless it comes at once, then and there. It is not obedience if it stops to consider, and coolly tells you it is 'really thinking about coming,' and waits to see how long you will choose to go on calling it.1
What right have we to treat our holy Lord as we would not think of letting a naughty child treat us?3 He says, 'Come now.' And ' now' does not mean to-morrow.3 'To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.'* Put it to yourself, what if this night God should require your soul of you,5 and you had not 'come?' What if the summons finds you still far off, when the Precious Blood was ready, by which you might have been made nigh?6 You do not know what a day may bring forth.7 There are plenty of things besides immediate death which may just as effectually prevent your ever coming at all if you do not come now. This might be your last free hour for coming. To-morrow the call may seem rather less urgent, and the 'other things entering in'8 may deaden it, and the grieved Spirit may withdraw* and cease to give you even your present inclination to listen to it, and so you may drift on and on, farther and farther from the haven of safety10 (into which you may enter now if you will), till it is out of sight on the horizon. And then it may be too late to turn the helm, and the current may be too strong; and when the storm of mortal illness at last comes, you may find that you are too weak mentally or physically to rouse yourself even to hear, much less to come. What can one do when fever or exhaustion are triumphing over mind and body? Do not risk it. Come Now! And ' though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'
1 Rom. X. 21. 2 Jer. vii. 13; Isa. Ixv. 2.
3 Jas. iv. 14. ?* Heb. iv. 7. 5 Luke xii. 20.
6 Eph. ii. 13. '^ Prov. xxvii. i ^ Mark iv. 19.
» Eph. iv. 30. 10 Ps. li. n.
Coming into the Ark
'Come thou, and all thy house, into the Ark.'—Gen. vii. I. NO need to repeat the story! We knew it all at six years old. To-day the words are sent to you, 'Come thou! /' We are either inside or outside the Ark. There is no half-way in this. Outside is death, inside is life.' Outside is certain, inevitable, utter destruction.4 Inside is certain and complete safety.4 Where are you at this moment? Perhaps you dare not say confidently and happily, 'I am inside;' and yet you do not like to look the alarming alternative in the face, and say, 'I am outside!' And you prefer trying to persuade yourself that you do not exactly know, and can't be expected to be able to answer such a question.
1 Isa. i. 18. 2 Deut. xxx. 15-19.
3 John iii. 36. * z Johu v. 12.
And you say, perhaps with a shade of annoyance, 'How am I to know?'1 God's infallible Word tells you very plainly, 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.'' 'A very severe test!' you say. I cannot help that; I can only tell you exactly what God says. 'I cannot reverse it," and you cannot alter it. So then, if old things have not passed away in your life, and if you are not a new creature,4 'born again,'5 altogether different in heart and life and love and aim,6you are not'in Christ." And if you are not 'in Christ,' you are out of Christ,8 outside the only place of safety.
'Come thou into the Ark!' It is one of the devices of the destroyer to delude you into fancying that no very decided step is necessary. He is very fond of the word 'gradually.' You are to become more earnest—gradually. You are to find salvation—gradually. You are to turn your mind to God—gradually. Did you ever think that God never once uses this word nor anything like it? Neither the word nor the sense of it occurs in any way in the whole Bible with reference to salvation.3 You might have been 'gradually' approaching the Ark, and 'gradually' making up your mind to enter; but unless you took the one step into the Ark, the one step from outside to inside, what I would have been your fate when the door was shut ?10
1 1 John v. 13. 2 2 Cor. v. 17. 3 Num. xxiii. 9o. * Gal. vi. '5. 6 John iii. 3. 61 John iii. 14. 7 Eph. ii. 12, 13. 8 Acls iv. 12. 9 Prov. xviii. 10. 10 Gen. vii. 21, 2a.
'Come thou into the Ark!' I want the call to haunt you, to ring in your ears all day and all night, till you come} For at this moment, if you are not in the Ark, you are in more awful danger than you can conceive. Just because you know it is so awful, you shut your eyes and try not to think of it! But there it is, all the same. Any moment the door may be shut for you.2 Any hour may be the sunset of your day of grace, with no twilight of possibilities of salvation beyond.3 And then, as the tree falleth, so it lieth.4 As death finds you, so the judgment will find you.5 Where it finds you, inside or outside the Ark, there the day of the Lord will find you, 'in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up. '6 What will you do then,7 when neither heavens nor earth afford even a standing place for you?8 But 'come thou into the Ark!' Jesus is the Ark. He is the hiding-place9 from that fiery tempest. 'I flee unto Thee to hide me '10 'from the wrath to come.'11 'Thou art my Hiding-place.'12 He who brings the flood13 has provided the Ark. And the door is open. It will be shut some day —it may be shut to-morrow. What will you do if you find yourself not shut in,u but shut out? Whose fault is it if you do not enter in and be saved?
1 Heb. xii. 25. 2 Matt. xxv. 10. 3 Luke xiii. 25-28. 4 Eccl. xi. 3. 5 Rev. xx. 12. 6 2 Pet. iii. 10. 7 Jer. v. 31. 8 Rev. vi. 17. 9 Isa. xxxii. 2. 10 Ps. cxliii. 9. 11 Matt. iii. 7. la Ps. xxxii. 7. 13 Gen. vi. 17. 1* Gen. vii. 16.
Noah did not put it off. He and his family entered the self-same day into the Ark.1 I wonder if any of Noah's acquaintances were thinking about coming when the flood overtook them, and even coming 'gradually' nearer! We are told that 'Noah only2 remained alive, and they that were with him in the Ark.' Then, once more, 'Come thou into the Ark,' that when the 'great and terrible day '3 comes, you may be 'found of Him in peace," 'found in Him.'6
The rising tempest sweeps the sky, The rain descends, the winds are high; The waters swell, and death and fear Beset thy path, no refuge near; Haste, traveller, haste!
Oh, haste! a shelter you may gain, A covert from the wind and rain, A hiding-place, a rest, a home, A refuge from the wrath to come: Haste, traveller, haste!
W. B. COLLYER.
1 Gen. vii. 13. 2 Gen. vii. 23. 3 Joel ii. 31.
Drawn into the Ark
‘Thou shalt come into the Ark.’—Gen. vi. 18. YOU would like to take this great step out of danger into safety; but you find it very hard, though it sounds very easy. You feel as if you had spiritual nightmare,—seeing the danger, and not able to stir hand or foot to escape it.1 Perhaps every one who comes to Christ has this sense of utter helplessness about it.2 This is because the Holy Spirit must convince us that the whole thing is God’s doing, and not ours, so that He may have all the glory of saving us from beginning to end.3 It is not at all because He is not willing to save us, but just because He is willing, that He lets us find out for ourselves that our own will is so numb that it cannot rouse and move without the fire of His love and grace.41 Rom. V. 6. 2 Deut. xxxii. 36.
3 Isa. xlii. 8; ib. lix. 16. * Eph. ii. i.
Now just trust His promise, ‘Thou shalt come into the Ark;’ in other words, believe that His power and love are even now being exerted upon you, and that your sense of helplessness is only part of His wonderful way of drawing you to Jesus. God the Father is ’not willing that any should perish,1 but that all should come to repentance.’’
Then why do any perish? Simply because they won’t come; because they will not yield to the winning love and the ‘drawing’ power which is now being put forth to save you, if, as you read this, you want to be saved. There is no sadder word in the Bible than ‘Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." But if you are saying, ever so feebly and faintly, ‘I will,’ God meets it with His strong and gracious ‘Thou shalt.‘1 Do not fear to take the ‘Thou’ to yourself. Remember the great ‘Whosoever will," and look up at this star of promise in the dark, ‘Thou shalt come into the Ark.’ Jesus said, ‘All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me.’’ And the Father says, ‘I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto Me?" Whose heart? Is it not yours? You would hardly be reading these pages, if your heart were not at all engaged to approach unto Him. And if it is so engaged, who engaged it? Who but the God from whom alone all holy desires do proceed? Then go on a few verses farther, and see the word of the Lord to you. ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’
1 2 Pet. iii. 9. 2 I Tim. ii. 4. 3 John v, 40. 4 Jer. iii. 19. 5 Rev. xxii. 17. 6 John vi. 37. 7 Jer. XXX. 21
Now do not wrong, and wound, and insult that tremendous love by refusing to believe it. He is at this moment giving you the personal proof of it, by ‘drawing" you even for these few minutes. Do not resist the half-formed wish to come to Jesus. It is very solemn to realize that this is no less than the Father’s own drawing of you to His dear Son.3 Without it you could not come, because you know you would have refused to come * but with it, if only you yield to it, ’thou sha/t come into the Ark.’ When the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and returned to Noah because the waters were on the face of the whole earth, ’then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in ‘5 (margin, ‘caused her to come’) ‘unto him into the Ark.’ What a beautiful picture is this little helpless tired dove6 of our helplessness and weariness, and the kind Hand, strong and tender, which does not leave us to flutter and beat against a closed window, but takes us, and pulls us ‘unto Him,7 into the Ark!’ So we have the willingness of the Father8 in one part of the type,9 and the willingness of the Son in another part,10—willingness to receive you into safety and rest.11 Then ‘Come thou into the Ark!
1 Jer. xxxi. 3. 2 Hos. xi. 4. 3 John vi. 44. 4 Luke xiii. 34. 5 Gen. viii. 9. 6 Isa. Ix. 8. 7 Luke xiv. 23. 8 Ezek. xviii. 23. 9 2 Cor. vi. 17. 10 Luke XV. 2. 11 John xii. 32. 12 Gen. vii. i.
Coming for Rest
'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'—Matt. Xl 28. THIS is not your rest.'1 God says so, and A therefore it is no use seeking or hoping or trying for it.3 You may as well give up first as last. The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot till she came to the ark ;* and neither will you. And the end of the dreary vista of unrest all through the years of a life without Christ, is,' They have no rest day nor night.'* 'The people shall weary themselves for very vanity." Do you know anything about that? 'They weary themselves to commit iniquity.'6 'Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way.'7 Do these words come home to you? Or, 'But now He hath made me weary; Thou hast made desolate all my company ? '8 Whether it is the weariness of sin or of sorrow, of vanity or of desolation (and sooner or later the one must lead into the other), the gentle call floats over the troubled waters, ' Come unto Me all ye that labor' (or ' are weary ') ' and I will give you rest.'
1 Mic. ii. 10. 2 Eccl. ii. 17-20. 3 Gen. viii. 9. 4 Rev. xiv. ii. 5 Hab.,ii. 13. 6 Jer. ix. 5. 7 Isa. Ivii. 10. 8 Job xvi. 7.
But stay; you may, or rather you must, put in a double claim to the promise. You may not be consciously, particularly weary or labouring; but whether conscious of it or not, you are heavy laden, unless the one great burden of sin is taken away from you.1 It is a fact, whether the Holy Spirit has convinced you of it or not as yet,3 that unless your iniquity is taken away by personal washing in the only Fountain,3 you are in the position described in the 38th Psalm, 'Mine iniquities are gone over my head: as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.'* So much too heavy for you, that if you do not accept Christ's offer of rest from that burden,5 you will never be able to find or follow the path of life.* But why bear it one minute longer when Jesus says, 'Come unto Me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'? 'He hath given us rest by His sorrow, and life by His death;' 'rest from thy sorrow and from thy fear, and from thy hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve." Come and take the gift! It is gloriously real. It is no mere slight and temporary sense of relief. 'We which have believed do enter into rest.'8 And He gives us 'rest on every side,"—complete rest, guarded and sheltered all round.10
1 Isa. i, 4; ib. liii. 6. 2 John xvi. 8, 9. 3 Zech. xiii. 1; i John i. 7. 4 Ps. xxxviii. 4. 5 Ps. Iv. 22 ; Ezeic. xxxiii. 10. 6 Ps. xvi. 11; i Pet ii. 24. ' Isa. xiv. 3. 8 Heb. iv. 3. » I Chron, xxii. 18. 10 i Kings v. 4.
It is not only rest from all the weariness and burdens, but rest in Himself. Jesus is spoken of in type as ' the Man of Rest,'1 'and His rest shall be glorious.'2 It is this, His own Divine rest, that He will give. 'This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest." Is it not worth having? Will you not come for it? You cannot have it without coming to Jesus ;* but only come, and it shall be yours —for there stands His word—and ' in returning and rest shall ye be saved. '5
I heard the voice of Jesus say, 'Come unto Me and rest; Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.' I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad; I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad. Dr. H. Bonar.
1 I Chron. xxii. 9, 2 Isa. xi. 10. 3 Isa. xxviii. 13. * Hos. xiii. 9. 5 Isa. xxx. 15.
Want of Will
'Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.'—John v. 40. IT is almost certain that some whose eyes glance over these pages will be conscious that they do not very much care to come to Christ, for this is at once the commonest and the most fatal hindrance. You cannot honestly say that you want to come. You perhaps go as far as to say, with momentary seriousness, 'I wish that I wished !' but no farther. In your inmost heart you would rather be 'let alone,'1 not considering that that is the most terribly certain beginning of doom. You are not perfectly comfortable, but you are not so uncomfortable as to feel inclined to make any effort. And as long as you can keep from thinking about it, you say you are 'very happy.' Now believe me, yours is a ten times worse and more dangerous state than if you were a condemned murderer, knowing his doom, realizing his sin and therefore seeking the Saviour and coming to Him ' with all the desire of his mind.'1 For so long as you are not willing, i.e., not actually and actively willing to come (for that is the meaning of the original), of course you cannot come. And without coming to Jesus you cannot have life.2 And if you do not have life, there is nothing but death for you,—the second death with all its unknown terrors, into the realities of which any moment may plunge you.3 Your not believing this makes no difference to the fact.4 Your doubting it makes no difference to its certainty. I assert it on the authority of the Word of God. 'I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death. Therefore choose life.'5 For in not willing life, you are willing death, and 'why will ye die?'" Why? Is it not utterly unreasonable? Would any but a lunatic walk with mirth and fun over the thin crust which hides unknown depths of boiling lava? Would you enjoy a picnic in the midst of it? Yet this is less mad than what you are doing. Then you will say, 'I can't help it! I can't make myself care!' Exactly so; and just in this fact lies, not your excuse, but your one hope and help. You cannot make yourself care to flee from the wrath to come.7 You cannot rouse yourself to be willing to come to Christ for salvation. But One can.8 And you may and can ask for the Holy Spirit to make you willing.
1 Deut. xviii. 6. 2 t John v. 12. 3 Rev. xxi. 8. * Rom. iii. 3, 4. 5 Deut. xxx. 19 ; Jer. xxi. 8. 6 £zek. xyiii. 31. 7 JV^att. iii. 7. 8 Hos. xiii. 9.
You can say, 'O God, give me Thy Holy Spirit to make me willing to come, for Jesus Christ's sake.' God makes no condition whatever as to giving this. The Blessed Spirit is promised most simply and unconditionally 'to them that ask Him.'1 This promise says nothing even about desiring or thirsting; it premises absolutely nothing, but comes to the lowest depths of sin-paralyzed will—it is only and simply, 'Ask.' Remember that one spirit or the other is now working in you. It is very awful to read of' the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience; " and what is more direct disobedience than not coming when Jesus calls? Therefore ask,' and ask at once, for the other spirit, the Holy Spirit, who can make you 'willing in the day f His power,"—God the Holy Ghost, who worketh in us to will.'* Think of Jesus saying, 'How often would I,' but ye would not.'5 He is willing. May He give you 'one heart to do the commandant of the King!"
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, With all Thy quickening powers! Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love, And that shall kindle ours!
Dr. Watts.
1 Luke xi. 9-13. 2 Eph. ii. 2. 3 Ps. ex. 3. 4 Phil. ii. 13. 5 Luke xiii. 34. * 2 Chron. xxx. la.
The Call of the Spirit
'And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.'—Rev. xxii. 17. HAVE you thought about 'the love of the Spirit' ?1 Have you realized that God's 'loving Spirit '' says to you, 'Come'? Are you conscious that if you refuse to listen to this gentlest call, you are 'grieving '3 the Holy Spirit of God, —' vexing '* Him by the rebellion to which this refusal really amounts,—' resisting '5 the Holy Ghost, whose power alone can work6 in you the holiness without which you can never see the Lord?7 Every ' Come !' in the Bible is the call of the Spirit. For 'all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,'8 and the ' holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. '* And every time that a still small voice in your heart says * Come,' it is the call of the Spirit.
1 Rom. XV. 30. 2 Ps. cxliii. lo, p. v. B. 3 Eph. iv. 30. 4 Isa. Ixiii. 10. 5 Acts vii. 51. 6 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Heb. xii. 14. * 2 Tim. iii. 16. 8 2 Pet. i. 21.
Every time the remembrance of the Saviour's sweetest spoken word floats across your mind, it is the Holy Spirit's fulfilment of our Lord's promise that 'He shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.'1 Last time those words, * Come unto Me,' came into your mind, whether in some wakeful night hour, or suddenly and unaccountably amid the stir of the day, did you think that it was the very voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in your heart? Or did you let other voices drown it, not knowing that the goodness of God was leading you by it?2 Every time an ambassador of Christ* bids you come, and every time that any one who loves Him tries to speak a word for Jesus to you, it is the call of the Spirit and the Bride; for the Bride is the Church of Christ,4 and she is the privileged instrument through which the clear music of the call is oftenest heard. What makes you take the trouble to read this book? Why is there any attraction at all for you in the subject? Is it not that the Holy Spirit is causing your heart to vibrate, it may be but very feebly as yet, at the thrill of His secret call? Your awakening wish to come is the echo of that call. If you stop and listen, it will be heard more distinctly and winningly. The call will grow fuller and stronger as you turn and yield, and follow it. And the same blessed Spirit will give you power to do this.5
1 John xiv. 26. 2 Rom. ii. 4. ^2 Cor. v. bo. * Eph. V. 25-32 ;2Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. ^ i Thcss. v. 24.
He will show you your need of Jesus, and He will testify of Jesus to you, so that you shall be willing to come.1 Do you feel very helpless about it?' Do you wish you had the mighty aid of the Almighty Spirit, so that you might rise and come while Jesus of Nazareth passeth by ?* Then why do you not ask for it? Who is to blame if you do not have what is to be had for the asking ?* Christ Himself has put the promise in the very plainest words: 'Ask, and it shall be given you,' and 'Every one that asketh receiveth.'6 What could you wish Him to say more? What could He possibly say more? Clearly, if you have not, it is because you ask not.6 But if you are asking for the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, you have already the earnest of the Spirit,7 and you shall have more and more.8 So take courage! But it is no light thing to put away a holy desire, however feeble; because it sprang not from your own heart, but is the voice of the Spirit saying, Come! It will not always speak, if not obeyed. Turn back from Revelation to Genesis, and you find the shadow of the bright light of the winning call in the unchanged warning note: 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man.'9 Not always, dear, unknown friend, whom I would fain win for my Lord,—not always / But He is striving now, He is calling now, 'To-day, if ye will hear His voice.'10 Listen, yield, come!
1 John XV. 26. 2 John v. 7. 3 Mark x 47-49. 4 Luke xi. 13. 5 Matt. vii. 7, 8. 6 Jas. iv. 2. 7 2 Cor, i, 22. 8 Matt. xiii. 12. 9 Gen. vi. 3; Prov. xxix, z. 10 Heb. iv. 7.
Come and See
' He (Jesus) saith unto them, Come and see.' * Philip saith unto him, Come and See.'—John i. 39, 46. WHEN Jesus had found Philip, Philip knew that he had found Him. And the next thing to knowing that * we have found Him' is to find some one else, and say, 'Come and see!' I say it now to you, dear friend, known or unknown, 'We have found Him!" 'We see Jesus!" If you only knew the irresistible longing,* the very heart's desire * that you should find and see Him too, you would pardon all the pertinacity, all the insistence, with which again and again we say, 'Come and see!' The woman of Samaria left her water-pot, and went her way into the city with the same message: 'Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.'5 And we to whom Jesus has said, 'I that speak unto thee am He,'6 cannot do otherwise or less.
1 John i. 45. 2 Heb. ii. 9. 3 2 Cor. v. 14. ^ Rom. X. X. 6 John ir. 28, 2q. 6 John iv. 26 ; i Cor. ix. 16.
It is not always very easy to say it. You little know how much it sometimes costs us !1 You do not know that though the few words seem so easily spoken, and you take them as a matter of course from us, because you know we are of 'that way" of thinking, they may have cost us not a little wrestling with God for faith and courage to utter them, and an effort which will leave us weary and exhausted. But 'we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard; " 'we also believe, and therefore speak. '* We have seen Jesus,5 and therefore we must tell you of the sight, and entreat you to ' come and see.' Understand or misunderstand us as you will, we must 'say, Come! But what is it that we are so burningly eager for you to see? Very likely you suppose it is just that we have a certain set of views that we have taken up, and we want you to hold the same. You think it is merely that we want to bring you over to our opinions, and that we want to have the satisfaction of getting you to agree with us! Oh, how wide of the mark! It is no such thing. We are not speaking of what we think, but 'we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." We have seen by faith8 the only sight that is worth gazing upon, the sight that satisfies the angels,9 the sight that is enough for the joy and satisfaction of immortal vision throughout eternity. One thing we know, that, whereas we were blind, now we see.10
1 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. 2 Acts xix. 9 ; ib. ix. 2. 3 Acts iv. 20. * 2 Cor. iv. 13. 5 I John i. 3. 6 Rev. xxii. 17. ' I John iv. 14; John iii. 11. 8 Heb. xi. 27. 9 x Tim. iii. 16. 10 John ix. 25.
We see Jesus, as our Lord and our God.1 We see Him as the very Saviour we need, and the very Friend we craved. We see Him as ' the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." We see Him wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities ;3 our Substitute and our Sin-bearer. We see Him, too, crowned with glory and honour,* and we rejoice in His glory and beauty ;5 we make our boast of Him.* If you say to us, 'What is thy Beloved more than another beloved?" we reply, 'My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousand. Yea, He is altogether lovely.' It is not at all only for your own sakes that we want you so very much to come and see. We do want you to look and be saved.8 But our earnestness has a stronger spring than even that. We love our Lord, so that we cannot bear Him not to be esteemed aright. We cannot bear Him to be thought little of, and to be misunderstood it is pain, real pain, to us when He is not appreciated and loved and adored,10—when all that He has done is treated as not worth whole-hearted gratitude and love,"—when His great and blood-bought salvation is neglected." For His own beloved sake, for His own glory's sake, we want you to come and see, that you may love and bless and glorify Him!
1 John XX. 28. 2 Gal. ii. 20. 3 Isa. Hii. 5. 4 Heb. ii; 9. 5 Zech. ix. 17. 6 Ps. xxxiv. a. ? Cant. V. 9, 10, 16, 8 Isa.xlv. 22, 9 i Pet. ii. 4. 10 Isa. liii. 3. 11 Lam. i. 12. 12 Heb. ii. 3.
But, remember, this is not only our feeble human entreaty; it is Jesus Himself who first said, and still says, ' Come and see!' He says, 'Behold Me, behold Me!'1 I know what you will say when you have come. You will say, 'Howbeit, I believed not their words until'I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me.' Thou exceedest the fame that I heard!"
O Master, blessed Master, it is hard indeed to know That thousands round our daily path misunderstand Thee so! Despised and rejected yet, no beauty they can see, O King of glory and of grace, beloved Lord, in Thee. O Saviour, precious Saviour, come in all Thy power and grace, And take away the veil that hides the glory of Thy face! Oh, manifest the marvels of Thy tenderness and love, And let thy name be blessed and praised all other names above.
1 1sa. Ixv. X. 2 z Kings X. 7. 3 2 Chron. ix. 6.
The Safe Venture
'Bid me come unto Thee. . . . And He said, Come.'—Matt. xiv. 28, 29. IF Jesus says, 'Come!' don't you think you may venture? Perhaps it is night in your soul,1—as dark as ever it can be. It would not be so bad if you could even distinctly see the waves of the troubled sea2 on which you are tossing. You do not know where you are. All seems vague and uncertain and wretched and confused.3 And though the Lord Jesus is very near you, though He has come to you walking on the water, and has said, 'It is I, be not afraid,'* you cannot see Him, and you are not at all sure it is His voice;5 or if it is, that He is speaking to you. So of course you are 'troubled.'6
1 Ps. evil. 14. a Job. xvi. 16. 3 Jer. xvii. 9. 4 Matt. xiv. 25. 5 Matt. xiv. 27. 6 Matt. xiv. 26.
And if, in this trouble, you go on trying to steer and row for yourself, these same waves will prove themselves to be awful realities, and you will be lost in the storm. Do not venture that; but venture out through the darkness and upon the waves at the bare word of Jesus. You do not need even to say, 'Lord, bid me come to Thee!' for He has done that already. Jesus has bid you ' Come !" and the bidding would be no more real if He opened the heavens, and said it again to you from the right hand of the throne of God. So the only question is, Will you venture? True, it is but a word, but think Whose word I3 Could the word that Jesus Christ Himself uttered be a vain deceit ?* Is not the Person the guarantee of the word?* 'The word only,'6 of the Son of God has proved enough for every one of the great multitude that no man could number,6 and it will be enough for you. It does not matter in the least that you cannot see, and that you cannot feel, and that you cannot hear or distinguish anything else at all.7 It does not matter in the least that you feel miserable and confused, and that you don't know what will come next.8 It does not matter in the least that you cannot exactly understand how this simple coming can result in calm, and peace, and safety, and finding yourself at the land.9 It does not matter in the least that the waters are casting up all the mire and dirt10 of all the sinfulness of heart and life, the 'old
1 Matt. xi. 28. 2 Matt. xxiv. 35. 3 John xii. 48. 4 Num. xxiii. 19. 5 Matt. viii. 8. 6 Rev. vii. 9. 7 Isa. 1. 10. 8 Isa. ix. 5 ; 2 Chron. xx. 12. 9 John vi. 21. 10 Isa. Ivii. 20.
It does not matter in the least that the waters are casting up all the mire and dirt10 of all the sinfulness of heart and life, the 'old sins,'1 and the besetting sins.3 It does not matter in the least that all the winds of doubt seem let loose upon you, boisterous and blowing from every point to which you turn.3 All this, and everything else that is 'contrary,'* is only so much the more reason for the simple venture. Just only you 'come!' And even if in the very act of coming you are afraid,5 and think you are beginning to sink, come on with the cry, 'Lord, save me ! '• and immediately Jesus will save you, and with the strong grasp of His hand the unanswerable question will come, 'Wherefore didst thou doubt?" You need not say, 'If I perish, I perish,'8 for you will not perish, and cannot perish, in this blessed venture of your soul upon His word.* He 'will cause you to know His hand and His might ;'10 'He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love,'" and you shall rest in His love, now and for ever. 'They shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak; behold, it is I.'
' They shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak; behold, it is I.'^* Come, ye weary, heavy laden, Lost and ruined by the fall; If you tarry till you're better, You will never come at all. Not the righteous, Sinners Jesus came to call. Lo ! the incarnate God, ascended, Pleads the merit of His blood; Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude. None but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good. Joseph Hart.
1 2 Pet. i. 9. 2 Heb. xii. i. 82 Tim. ii. 13. 4 Matt. xiv. 24. 5 Mark v. 33. 6 Matt. xiv. 30. 7 Matt. xiv. 31. 8 Esth. iv. 16. 9 John x, 27, 28. lOJer. xvi. 21. H Zeph. iii. 17. ^Isa. Hi. 6.
Coming Boldly
'Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.' —Heb. iv. 16. ""THEREFORE!' because we have 'such an "*• High Priest,'1 touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and in all points tempted like as we are ;2 because He is' a Priest upon His throne," ever living, with His royal power to save to the uttermost,* and His priestly power to make intercession; 'let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.'5 Boldness and faith go together; fear and unbelief go together.6 'If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.'1 It is always want of faith that is at the bottom of all fear.
1 Heb. vii. 26. 2 Heb. iv. 14, 15, 3 Zech. vi. 13. 4 Heb. vii. 25. 5 Heb. iv. 16.'.. 6 Rev. xxi..8.. 7 Isa. vii. 9.
'Why are ye fearful?' is the question for those 'of little faith.'1 So, in order to come boldly, and therefore joyfully, all we need is more faith in the Great High Priest who sits upon the throne of grace. Now, do not sigh, 'Ah, I wish I had more faith!' It will not come to you by languid lamentations about your want of faith. 'It is the gift of God.'2 And if thou knewest this gift of God,8 and who it is that only waits to be inquired of,* that He may give it thee, surely thou wouldst ask of Him! For He giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not,5 —not even with all your neglect of Him and His gifts. Just ask / and he says, 'It shall be given you.'6 'Ye have not, because ye ask not.'7 And let the least glimmer of dawning faith in your heart lead you to go on asking, and to pray continually, 'Lord, increase our faith.'8 Then you will be able to come boldly; for 'in Christ Jesus our Lord . . . we have boldness and access with confidence bythe faith of Him.'* People do not come for what they do not want. Until the Holy Spirit shows us our need of mercy, and puts reality into the Litany prayer, 'Have mercy upon us miserable sinners,'10 we shall never come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy. So, if you have never yet felt that you could sincerely say, 'God be merciful to me a sinner'11 (or, 'He that into God's kingdom comes, Must enter by this door.'
1 Matt. viii. 26. 2 Eph. ii. 8. 3 John iv. 10. * Ezek. xxxvi. 37. 5 Jas. i. 5. 6 Matt. vii. 7. ' Jas. iv. 2. 8 Luke xvii. 5. 9 Eph. iii. 11,12. *** Ps. li. I. H Luke xviii. 13.
So, if you have never yet felt that you could sincerely say, * God be merciful to me a sinner' " (or, as the Greek has it more emphatically, 'to me, the sinner'), and therefore have never yet felt particularly anxious to come to the throne of grace to obtain it, I would urgently entreat you to pray, 'Lord, show me myself!' When the Holy Spirit answers that prayer, you will be eager enough to come and obtain mercy! It will be the one thing1 then that you will be particularly anxious about.
Obtaining mercy comes first; then finding grace to help in time of need. You cannot reverse God's order. You will not find grace to help in time of need till you have sought and found mercy to save. You have no right to reckon on God's help and protection and guidance, and all the other splendid privileges which He promises to 'the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ,'* until you have this first blessing, the mercy of God in Christ Jesus; for it is 'in' Jesus Christ that all the promises of God are yea, and Amen.3 But He is 'rich in mercy,'* and 'delighteth in mercy.'5 All who have come to the throne of grace for it 'are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.'4 And then no less surely will they, and do they, 'find grace to help in every time of need."
'Let us therefore come boldly!' Behold the throne of grace! The promise calls me near; There Jesus shows a smiling face, And waits to answer prayer. My soul, ask what thou wilt, Thou canst not be too bold; Since His own blood for thee He spilt, What else can He withhold?
John Newton.
1 Luke X. 42. 2 Gal. iii. 26. 3 2 Cor. i. 19, ao. 4 Eph. ii. 4. 6 Mic. vii. 18. 6 i Pet. ii. 10. 7 Heb. iv. 16.
A Hindrance
'First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.'—Matt. V. 24. TT is a strange gift that we have to bring,—so *? strange, that it is in one sense 'nothing,' and yet in another sense everything. He asks us for it, saying, 'Give Me thine heart; " and this heart of ours, this gift that we are to bring, worthless and yet priceless,* is one mass of sins and burdens.3 Jesus asks for it just as it is, with all the sins and all the burdens; and the moment it is given over to Him, the sins are cleansed and the burdens are borne for us. Do you wish to come to Him with it, and yet find that there seems something preventing you from really doing so? If so, the verse at the head of this chapter may throw God's light upon the secret obstacle. 'Is there any secret thing with thee i '*
1 Prov. xxiii. 26. 2 Jer. xvii. 9. 3 Matt. XV. 19. 4 Job XV. ii.
Christ will either accept the gift altogether, or not at all.1 If there is something which you do not really mean to do right about,—some sin which you have no real intention of giving up,—it will be a fatal barrier. He forgives all or none. If you are but willing, His precious blood shall cleanse you from all sin.' But He does not save by halves; and if there is a sin knowingly kept back, then ' ye are yet in your sins," and ' thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.'* This may seem a very stern way of putting it; but when such tremendous issues hang upon it, is it not folly to shrink from looking the matter straight in the face? The Lord says, 'First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.' This may be literally your case. Some one may have somewhat against you,—an old quarrel, or a fresh misunderstanding,—and you are too proud to acknowledge your fault, or your share of it ;5 or you are too timid, or even too idle to do so. When there are faults on both sides, it is pretty often the one most in fault who is the least ready to forgive. Now do look into the matter, and see if you are truly6 ' in love and charity with all men." It is no use trying to explain away your daily words, 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us,'8 for Christ Himself has explained and emphasized them. He said, 'But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.' There is no evading this. There is absolutely no forgiveness for you, if you do not forgive; for 'who can forgive sins but God only?"
1 Hos. X. 2. 2 I John i. 7. 3 i Cor. xv. 17; ib. iil. 3. 4 Acts viii. 21. 5 Jas. v. 16. 6 Heb. xii. 14, 15. 7 I John iii. 10, 15. 8 Malt. vi. 15.
And it is no use saying,' Well, I will forgive, but I can't forget!' You know quite well in your heart that the very tone in which you say that, shows that you are not really forgiving, and God knows what is at the bottom of your 'can't forget!' Don't turn round fiercely, and say, 'But if I can't, I can't!' For 'the things which are impossible with men, are possible with God." Read the 45th of Genesis, and see how Joseph forgave ;s and remember that the same Spirit of God which was in him is freely promised to you for the asking. And then look at the still greater example of perfect forgiveness,—hear the smitten King in His lonely death-agony saying, 'Father, forgive them ! '* 'For He knew that forgiveness would raise them to the very level of His throne; so He must have literally loved His murderers with the love wherewith His Father loved Him. '5 Oh, it is hard to forgive anything, when one looks away to the forgiveness of Jesus.8
Then come and offer thy gift.
1 Mark ii. 7. 2 Luke xviii. 27. 3 Gen. xlv. 1-15. 4 Luke xxiii. 34. 5 John xvii. a6. 6 Eph. iv. 32.
The Entreaty to Come
'Come near to me, I pray you.'—Gen. xlv. 4. 'THERE stood no man with him, while Joseph A made himself known to his brethren. And he wept aloud.'1 They had hated him, conspired against him to slay him, very nearly killed him, sold him into exile and slavery, and here was the brother's recompense for all this—love! No such exquisite story of love and forgiveness was ever imagined by any writer; no such climax of tenderness as Joseph's words through his tears, 'Come near to me, I pray you.' Only one thing surpasses the type, and that is the anti-type. Our Elder Brother was more than 'very nearly killed.' He poured out His soul unto death.* We are not innocent of His blood ;* for ' He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.'* 'Christ died for our sins. Mark that,—not merely ' for us,' but 'for our sins,' for yours.
1 Gen. xlv. i. 2 Isa. liii. 12. 3 Zech. xiii. 6. 4 Isa. liii. 5. 5 I Cor. xv. 3.
And where has been the love and gratitude that you have owed Him all this time ?1 Where has been the mere acknowledgment of what He has suffered fcr your sins?' He did this for you, and because of you. And what have you done for Him, and because of Him ?* And what could you now expect from Him? What did Joseph's brothers expect after their behavior to him? Well may the Lord say, 'I know the thoughts that I think towards you—thoughts of peace, and not of evil.'* For just as Joseph's words to his brethren were not, 'Go away, I will have no more to do with you,' so the Lord Jesus ' upbraideth not,' but says, 'Come near to Me, I pray you.' His whole life says it. It is the epitome of all He said and did,—winning, beseeching, entreating the far-off to come nigh, giving His own blood that they might be made nigh.5 What is the eloquence of 'those wounds in Thine hands? Are they not always saying, 'I pray you'? For 'all day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." 'All day long,' while you are dressing, and eating, and talking, and laughing, and working or amusing yourself, Jesus is stretching forth His hands to you, calling you, waiting for you, looking for the first little thrill of recognition from you, saying, 'I am Jesus whom thou persecutest,8 whom thou neglectest, whom thou grievest.'
1 Ps. cxvi. 12; 2 Cor v. 15. 2 i Pet. iii. 18. 3 Phil. iii. 8. 4 Jer. xxix. n. 5 Eph. ii. 13. 6 Zech. xiii. 6. 1 Rom. x. 21. 8 Acts ix. 5.
Joseph's brethren were troubled at his presence.1 Do you reply, 'Therefore I am troubled at His presence; when I consider, I am afraid of Him Would you, honestly, rather flee from His presence? Stay and listen. 'Come near to Me, I pray you.' There is forgiveness with Him;* will you not come and receive it ?—Forgiveness for you, though every sin of yours that is forgiven had to be borne in His dying agony.5 His love has not changed from the moment when He said, 'Father, forgive them." What must that love have been! And what must it be for you and me, for whom He cannot make the gracious excuse, 'They know not what they do!' Come alone to Him, and Jesus will make known Himself and His forgiving love to you.
One there is above all others, Well deserves the name of Friend; His is love beyond a brother's, Costly, free, and knows no end : They who once His kindness prove Find it everlasting love. John Newton.
1 Gen. xlv. 3. 2 Job xxiii. 15. 3 Ps. cxxxix. 7. 4 Ps. cxxx. 4. S I Pet. ii. 34. 6 Luke xxiii. 34. 7 Gen. xlv. i.
The Command to Come
'Come unto me. . . . Now thou art commanded, this do ye, . . . and come.'—Gen. xlv. 18, 19. WE are too much inclined to forget that 'Come' is not merely an invitation, but a command. An ordinary invitation can be accepted or refused; but a Royal Invitation1 is always a Royal Command, giving no option, but requiring obedience. Therefore, just so long as we are hanging back, just so long as we have not come to Jesus, we are living in a state of actual disobedience to Him. Joseph, whose dealings with his brethren are among the most beautiful types, was to say to them not only, 'Come unto me,' but 'Now thou art commanded, this do ye,—and come 1' The Lord Jesus, the King of Glory, has said the very same words, 'Come unto Me !" to you and me. And so we are commanded. There is no excusing ourselves by any uncertainty about it.
1 Matt. xxii. z, 3. 2 Matt. xi. 28.
The very moment that 'Come'1 first fell on our heart, the command was upon us, and we were responsible for obeying it. And every moment since, we have been disobeying the plainest and sweetest word of command that ever fell on mortal ear, unless we have really and truly 'come to Jesus.' So it is not at all a light thing, but a heavy and tremendous sin in which we are living,—the sin of direct and continued disobedience to Christ. If one single and sudden act of disobedience was enough to lose Paradise2 and lead to incalculable consequences of misery,3 what about this persistence in refusal* to obey this strong and gentle command, clearly understood, continually reiterated, and unmistakably personal, Christ's personal command to you personally? 'Death without mercy' is as terrible a punishment as can well be imagined; but what must be the 'much sorer punishment' than that, which is denounced by the Word of our God on those who, instead of merely ' despising Moses' law,' have ' trodden under foot the Son of God ?'5 We must not and dare not leave out of sight, the awful revelation that it is the Lord Jesus Himself,6 the very same tender Saviour who now bids you 'Come,' who will take vengeance in flaming fire on them 'that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,7 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. '8
1 Deut. XXX. II, 14. 2 Gen. iii. 24. 3 Rom. v. 19. 4 Prov. i. 24-26. 5 Heb. x. 28, 29. * Acts i. ix. 7 2 Thess. i. 7-9. 8 Matt. xxv. 41, 46.
When I began to write this little book, I never meant to say all this. I only wanted to win you by the sweet, sweet music of my Master's call. I only meant to tell you of His patient, forbearing love,1 waiting so long for you, wanting you to come to Him.2 But what can I do? Half a truth is not 'the truth.' You may not like it; but I dare not speak to you only smooth things,* I dare not shun to declare unto you the whole counsel of God* in this matter. 'I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do /«\r.'5 I should come under the awful condemnation of those who 'take away from the words of the book," if I did not tell the whole message. The Lord has said, 'Diminish not a word," and so I entreat you to look for yourselves at the passages I have quoted, and 'hear the word of the Lord' in them. Oh, 'see that ye refuse not Him that speaketh 1" If you do not obey the 'Come unto Me,' there remaineth nothing for you but the 'Depart from Me."
Life alone is found in Jesus, Only there 'tis offered thee,— Offered without price or money, 'Tis the gift of God sent free: Take salvation, Take it now, and happy be.Albert Midlane.
1 Rom. X. 21. 2 Rom. ii. 4. 3 Isa. xxx. 10. 4 Acts XX. 27. 5 Num. xxii. 18. ^ Rev. xxii. 19.
Royal Largesse
'Come unto Me : and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. . . . Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.'—Gen. xlv. 18, 20. 'IF I become a Christian, I shall have to give up A so many things!" Spoken or unspoken, this is the invariable thought of every one who has not found Christ. The presence of this thought is an actual test as to whether you have come to Him or not; for the moment you have really come, you will know better! 'Giving up " this, that, and the other, is a downright unfair way of putting it; unless, indeed, the magnificent gain is distinctly set against the paltry loss. As well talk of an oak tree 'giving up' the withered leaves which have clung to the dry twigs all the winter, when the sap begins to rise fresh and strong, and the promise of all the splendour of summer foliage is near!
1 Matt. xix. 22. a Phil. iii. 7.
The sons of Jacob were called away from their famine-stricken fields by their brother, that they might be 'nourished '1 by him, and share his prosperity, and dwell 'in the best of the landreceiving from his hand a place and possessions far beyond what they had 'given up.' Of course they could not have all this till they had actually come to him! Before they came, they had only his bare word for it.3 But they considered his word enough, and they came; and he kept his word to the full.4 Not less, but infinitely more, does the Lord Jesus, our Lord and Brother, hold forth to you. Is His word worthy of less belief? Over and above :he unspeakable gift of eternal life,5 He promises to those who leave anything for His sake that they shall receive an hundred-fold now, in this time !'• Do you suppose He did not mean what He said? Listen again to the twin promises, negative and positive, in their all-inclusive simplicity: 'No good hing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly ;n and ' The Lord will give that which is ;ood.'8 And yet your secret feeling is, that if you come and give yourself up to Him, you will have o go without all sorts of things that you fancy are good and nice and pleasant, and that you will find yourself let in for all sorts of things which do not seem to you ' good' at all!9 Is this fair, when he as said positively just the opposite?
1 Gen. xlv. n. 2 Gen. xlvii. ii, 27. 3 Gen. xlvi. 31. * Gen. xlvii. ii, 12. 5 2 Cor. ix. 15. 6 Mark x. 30. ^ Ps. Ixxxiv. II. 8 Ps. Ixxxv. 12; Matt. vii. 11.
Listen again to what He says to those who have come, and who are His own: 'Whether . . . the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours ! n What do you make of that? It is not figurative, but perfectly true and literal. Only you will never be able to understand it, until the next verse is true of you: 'Ye are Christ's.'2 Then another verse will be true of you: 'Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God.'3 Ask for that blessed Spirit of God, and you will receive it,* and then you will understand.5 Knowing what he was purposing to do for them as soon as they came, Joseph naturally said to his brethren, 'Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.'6 Take this advice, 'regard not your stuff!' However much you have or may have to give up for Christ, oh, do believe the words of His prophet: 'The Lord is able to give thee much 7nore than this!" Can you not instinctively feel what a thrill of deep triumphant joy there is in St. Paul's words: 'Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ! '8 Did you ever feel anything like as glad as that? Christ Jesus my Lord is willing and waiting to give that same fulness of gladness and blessing to every one who will take Him at His word and come to Him.
1 1 Cor. iii. 22. 2 % Cor. iii. 23. 3 1 Cor. ii. 12. * Lute xi. 13. 6 Prov. xxviii. 5. « Gen. xlv. 20. 1 2 Chron. xxv. 9. 8 Phil. iii. 8.
Yes, to you ! Oh, the happiness arising From the life of grace within, When the soul is realizing
Conquests over hell and sin! Happy moments!
Heavenly joys on earth begin. On the Saviour's fulness living, All His saints obtain delight; With the strength which He is giving, They can wrestle, they can fight.
Happy moments, When King Jesus is in sight 1
Joseph Irons.
Tarry Not
'Come down unto me, tarry not.'—Gen. xlv. 9. IT is just this 'tarrying' that is hindering so many from coming to the Saviour. What reason could there be for Joseph's brethren to ' tarry,'1 and go on starving a little longer in their own land, when Joseph was waiting to settle them and their father and their whole families in the land of Goshen 'in the best of the land?"
I Gen. xliii. 1, 2. 2 Gen. xlvii. zx.
And what reason can there be for you to tarry, and go on starved and unsatisfied a little longer, when the Lord Jesus is waiting to receive you into the 'pleasant land'1 of His all-satisfying love? Why tarry in the 'far country'2 with the husks and the heart-loneliness? 'Ye shall haste!' said Joseph, for his heart was eager to do great things for them. If you grant the reality of Christ's love at all, do you not see that delay in coming down to Him, and hesitation in letting Him save you in His own way (and there is no other), and putting Him off from day to day, must be wounding His love ?* Why do you tarry? Have you any reason whatever to give Him? 'What wilt thou say ?'* Do not flatter yourself that all this delay and putting off is any preparation for coming, much less any part of coming to Him. There are no steps in coming to Jesus. Either you come, or you do not come. There is only the 'one step, out of self, into Christ.' There are no gradations of approach marked out in His Word. If you think there are, search and see; do not take my word for it; look for yourself, and see what is the Lord's word about it.5 You have nothing to gain, but very much, perhaps everything, to lose by 'tarrying.' You are accumulating the guilt of disobedience. You are, it may be very unconsciously, hardening your heart,* and making the great step more and more difficult. Instead of being in a better position for coming to-morrow, you will be in a worse one.7
1 Ps. cvi. 24. 2 Luke xv. 13, 16. ' Cant. v. 2, 6. 4 Jer. xiii. 21. 6 Acts xvii. 11, 12. 6 Acts xxiv. 25. 7 Heb. iii. 7, 8. **"
While you are doing nothing, the enemy is very busy strengthening his toils around you, and they will be stronger to-morrow than to-day. While you are, as you fancy, only lying still, you are drifting fast down the stream into the stronger current, nearing the rapids, nearing the fatal fall. It is a question of life and death. 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain.'1 It is the old story of 'If you tarry till you're better, You will never come at all.'
I do not know any one promise in all the Bible for the lingerers. And if you put yourself out of the sphere of God's promises, what have you to found any hope at all upon? 'Tarry not! '2 Oh, if I could but reach you and rouse you! 'And if I care For one unknown, oh how much more doth He !'*
For one who perishes through straightforward refusal, there are probably thousands who perish through putting off.K 'How shall we escape if we' refuse—no, if we merely 'neglect—so great salva-tion ?'5
Yet there is room! The Lamb's bright hall of song, With its fair glory, beckons thee along.
Yet there is room! Still open stands the gate, The gate of love; it is not yet too late.
Pass in, pass in! That banquet is for thee; That cup of everlasting love is free.
Ere night that gate may close, and seal thy doom; Then the last, low, long cry,—' No room, no room!'
Dr. H. Bonar.
1 Gen. xix. 17. 2 Heb. iv. 7. 3 2 Pet. iii. 9. 4 Matt. xxii. 3, 5. 5 Heb. xii. 25; Heb. ii. 3.
Without Christ
'At that time ye were without Christ'—Eph. ii. 12.
I COULD not do without Thee, O Saviour of the lost! Whose precious blood redeemed me At such tremendous cost. Thy righteousness, Thy pardon, Thy precious blood—must be My only hope and comfort, My glory and my plea. I could not do without Him! Jesus is more to me Than all the richest, fairest gifts Of earth could ever be. But the more I find Him precious, And the more I find Him true, The more I long for you to find What He can be to you. You need not do without Him, For He is passing by; He is waiting to be gracious, Only waiting for your cry. He is waiting to receive you,— To make you all His own! Why will you do without Him, And wander on alone? Why will you do without Him! Is He not kind indeed? Did He not die to save you? Is He not all you need? Do you not want a Saviour? Do you not want a Friend? One who will love you faithfully, And love you to the end? Why will you do without Him? The word of God is true: The world is passing to its doom, And you are passing too. It may be, no to-morrow Shall dawn for you or me, Why will you run the awful risk Of all eternity? What will you do without Him In the long and dreary day Of trouble and perplexity, When you do not know the way; And no one else can help you, And no one guides you right, And hope comes not with morning, And rest comes not with night? You could not do without Him, If once He made you see The fetters that enchain you Till He hath set you free; If once you saw the fearful load Of sin upon your soul,— The hidden plague that ends in death Unless He makes you whole! What will you do without Him When death is drawing near, Without His love—the only love That casts out every fear; When the shadow-valley opens, Unlighted and unknown, And the terrors of its darkness Must all be passed alone? What will you do without Him When the great White Throne is set, And the Judge who never can mistake, And never can forget,— The Judge whom you have never here As Friend and Saviour sought, Shall summon you to give account Of deed, and word and thought? What will you do without Him When He hath shut the door, And you are left outside, because You would not come before; When it is no use knocking, No use to stand and wait, For the word of doom tolls through your heart, That terrible ' Too late'? You cannot do without Him! There is no other name By which you ever can be saved,— No way, no hope, no claim! Without Him—everlasting loss Of love, and life, and light! Without Him—everlasting woe, And everlasting night. But with Him—oh! with Jesus !— Are any words so blest? With Jesus—everlasting joy And everlasting rest! With Jesus—all the empty heart Filled with His perfect love! With Jesus—perfect peace below, And perfect bliss above! Why should you do without Him ?— It is not yet too late; He has not closed the day of grace, He has not shut the gate. He calls you!—hush! He calls you !— He would not have you go Another step without Him, Because He loves you so. Why will you do without Him? He calls and calls again— 'Come unto Me! Come unto Me J' Oh, shall He call in vain? He wants to have you with Him; Do you not want Him too? You cannot do without Him, And He wants—even you!Come Away
'My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.'—CANT. ii. I0. WHAT a loving call! What astonishing condescension, that the Heavenly Bridegroom should use such words to—whom? Would you not like to be able to fill up that blank, and say, 'My Beloved spake, and said unto me !' Perhaps you think this is too much for you. You feel too sinful and unworthy to be so loved,—too defiled to be called 'my fair one.' If so, will you jrn to a wonderful picture of those upon whom He its His love,1 and of what His love does for them, sking the Holy Spirit to open your eyes while you ead it, that you may behold wondrous things out of it.3 I will not quote it here, because I want you to go o His own Book for it. See in it how the Lord esus goes down to the very depths, and begins at he very beginning.3 Your case is not deeper than hose depths; for it is even when we are dead* in ins that the great love wherewith God loved us eaches and raises us.5 He says, 'Awake, thou that leepest, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall ;ive thee light." You cannot be worse than 'dead ;' md the very sense of sin and death working in ('ou7 'is a proof 'that He has said unto you, : Live! '8 The call to arise and come away is a proof that He is passing by.9 And when Jesus passes by, He looks upon you, though you are not yet able to see Him. And He says that when He does this, it is 'the time of love.'10 And oh, what that implies! What will He not do, when the bright, warm, powerful rays of the love which passeth knowledge" are focussed upon you, and He says even to you, 'My love!' giving you the glorious right to respond, ' My beloved!,12 Read on, and see what He will do 'then!' 'Then' the 'thoroughly' washing13 and the anointing which
1 Ezek. xvi. 5,14. 2 Ps. cxix. 18. 3 Ps. xl. 2. * Eph. ii. 1. 5 Eph. ii. 4, 5. 6 Eph. v. 14. 7 Rom. vii. 13. 8 Ezek. xvi. 6. 9 Luke xviii. 37. 10 Ezek. xvi. 8. 11 Eph. iii. 19. 12 Cant. ii. 16. 13 Ps. li. 2.
prepares you for the delight of the King.1 * Then' the clothing, the girding, and the covering, each with their treasures of significance.2 Then 'also' the decking and the crowning, and the being made 'exceeding beautiful' and 'perfect through My comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God!" When He puts the beauty of the Lord our God upon us,4 then He can indeed say, 'My fair one! '5 'Fair' only with His comeliness ;e otherwise the fairest natural character that was ever seen is 'black as the tents of Kedar,"—those miserable goats'-hair tents, which are to this day the very type of the filthiest blackness. Yet with it, whatever your natural character, and whatever your added deformity through having been 'accustomed to do evil,'8 you will be 'comely as the curtains of Solomon,'—the type of all that is costly and beautiful in colours and workmanship. Let Him do all this for you !* Rise up and come away from all that pollutes and separates you from Him. 'Shake thyself from the dust, and arise!'10 'Arise, shine, for thy Light is come!'" 'Though ye have lien among the pots, yet' (when you come to the Light that is come so close to you), 'yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold,'" shining and gleaming as you rise and come away, resplendent in the beams of the Sun of righteousness.13 'Rise, He calleth thee! ' 'Come away!'
i Esth. ii. 12-14. 2 Isa. lxi. 10; Ps. xlv. I3. s Ezek. xvi. 14. * Ps. xc. 17. S Cant. iv. 7. 6 Rom. viii. 7. 1 Cant. 1. 5. 8 ler. xiii. 23. • Phil. ii. 13. 10 Isa. lii. 2. II Isa. Ix. 1. 1' Ps. lxviii. 13. "Mai. iv. 2. H Mark x. 49.
‘Come and follow Me.’—Matt. xix. 21. FOLLOWING is the only proof of coming.1 There is hardly a commoner lamentation than this: ‘I do not know whether I have come or not!" And nobody ever says that with a happy smile. It is always with a dismal look; and no wonder! When so much hinges upon it,—poverty or riches, safety or danger, life or death,—uncertainty must and will be miserable. Now, do you really want to know whether you have come or not? Our Lord gives you the test, ‘Come and follow Me!" If you are willing for that, willing with the will that issues in act and deed, then the coming is real.’
1 Ezek. xxxiii. 31. 2 i Kings xviii. 2x. 3 John X. 27. 4Matt. xx. 34.
If you are not willing to follow, then you may dismiss at once any idea that perhaps you have come or are coming: there is no reality in it, and there is nothing for you but to go away sorrowful, as the rich young man did, who ’ came,’ but would not’ follow.‘1 The following will be just as real and definite as the coming, if there is any reality in you at all; and if you are not deluding yourself with a deceitful cloudland of sentimental religion, without foundation and without substance, which is but a refuge of lies which the hail shall sweep away.2 Do not sit down in this most serious state of uncertainty, but ‘give diligence to make your calling and election sure.‘8 But you say, ‘How am I to know whether I am following?’ Well, following is not standing still. Clearly it is not staying just where you always were. You cannot follow one thing without coming away from something else.4 Apply this test. What have you left for Jesus?5 What have you left off doing for His sake ?6 If you are moving onward, some things must be left behind. What are ’ the things which are behind'7 in your life? If the supposed coming has made no difference in your practical daily life,8 do not flatter yourself that you have ever yet really come at all.9 Jesus says, ’ If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.‘10 What light does that saying throw upon your case? Be honest about it; all true coming to Jesus must issue in thus coming after Him.11
1 Matt. xix. 29. 2 Isa. xxviii. 17. 3 2 Pet. i. 10. 4 Rom. vi. 2,4,13, 22. 5 Matt. iv. 18-20. 6 Matt. ix. 9. f Phil. iii. 13. 8 Matt. vii. 21. 9 2 Cor. v. 17. 10 Matt. xvi. 24. 11 Luke xiv. 27.
Then look at it from the positive side. He has left us ’ an example that ye should follow His steps.‘1 As the beautiful collect puts it, ’ Give us grace that we may daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of His most holy life." Now, what are those steps? Perhaps you are not even looking to see what they are, let alone following them! Following the steps is quite a different thing from thinking to follow one’s own idea of the general direction of a course. If you would only take one Gospel, and read it through with the earnest pur pose of noting, by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, what the steps of Jesus are, you would soon see clearly whether you are following or not," far more clearly than by reading any amount of books about it, or consulting any number of human counsellors. Take for to-day only one indication of what those steps were. ‘Who went about doing good.’* Do your steps correspond with that ?5 It is not,‘went about doing no harm,’ but actively and positively ‘doing good.’ Oh, dear friends, they are ’ blessed ’ steps in all senses of the word! For His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace.* Once fairly and fully entered, the paradox is always solved, the self-denial is lost in the greater joy of pleasing Him,’ the cross becomes a sceptre in the hand of His ’ kings and priests.‘8 Then you shall ‘continue following the Lord your God." And the end of the following is, ’ that where I am, there shall also My servant be."
11 Pet. ii. 21. 2 John xiii, 15. 3 Matt. xi. 29. 4 Acts X. 38, 5 I John ii. 6. 6 Prov. iii. 17. 7 Phil. iii. 7. 8 Rev. i. 6.
Coming With Jesus 'Come with Me.'—Cant. iv. 8. 'COME away" is not all that the Lord Jesus has to say to us. 'Come unto Me '* and ' Come after Me,'5 only lead up to the even more gracious invitation, ' Come with Me.'6 'Ye see your calling;'7 it is nothing less than to come with Jesus. The enviable privilege of the twelve whom Jesus ordained ' that they should be with Him,'8 is freely offered to you. Will you avail yourself of it? Will you come with Jesus, walking with Him9 from this day every step of the way? Will you accept Him as the Guide with whom you will go, the Friend with whom you will commune by the way ?10 It will be no dreamy or nominal coming with Him, if only you are willing to come. You will find it very real in all respects.
I 1 Sam. xii. 14. * John xii. 26; Rev. xiv. 4. sCant. ii. 10.
* Matt. xi. 28. 5 Matt. xvl. 24. 6 2 Sam. xix. 33. II Cor. i. 26. 8Markiii. 14. 9 Rev. iii. 4. 21. , 10 John vi. 68; Ex. xxxiii. 14.
You can never be so really always with any earthly friend as you can be with Jesus, and as you will be, if you accept the invitation.1 For there are two sides to that 'with.' If you will but come 'with Him, He will come unto you and abide with you.2 Your natural fear lest, even when you consent to come to be with Him, you might not remain with Him, is met and completely settled by His promise, 'I will never leave thee." And of course if He never leaves you, you will always be with Him. And if He has said that, of course He will do it.4 So do not let that objection come up again!
It is a very common experience in great things and small, that the person or thing we most want is not there just when we most want him or it. Never shall we have to complain of this as to the promised perpetual presence of our Lord ;s for He says, 'I will be with him in trouble.'6 'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.'7 And in the deepest need of all, in the valley of the shadow of death, the soul that has yielded to the present call will be able to say, 'Thou art with me.'8 I do not think we consider enough how we disappoint the love of Jesus when we refuse to come with Him.' For He does truly and literally desire us to be with Him.10 Would He have made it the very climax of His great Prayer, representing it as the very culmination of His own rest and glory that His people should be with Him,11 if He did not so very much care about it, and was only seeking and saving us out of bare pity?
1 Prov. xviii. 24. 2 John xiv. 23. 3 Heb. xiii. 5. * Num. xxiii. 19. 5 Matt, xxviii. 20. 6 Ps. xci. 15. 1 Isa. xHii. 2. 8 Ps. xxiii. 4. 9 Luke xiii. 34. 10 Cant. V. 2. / 11 John xvii. 24.
No, it was in His love as well as in His pity that He redeemed us 11 And love craves nearness. This is the very thing that differences love from the lesser glow of mere pity, or kindness, whatever their degrees or combinations. The Lord Jesus would not say, 'Come with Me,' if He did not feel towards us something far beyond any degree of pity and kindness. It is the Royal Invitation of His kingly love. But now, what are you going to do about it? Hearing it, and thinking it very gracious, and all that, is not enough. You must come to a point about it.2 You must give as definite an answer to this as mere common courtesy demands to any earthly invitation. Giving no answer is an acknowledged insult. Will you treat the King thus? And if not what shall your answer be? You must give it yourself. Christ Himself is waiting for it.3 There is a beautiful type* which tells us how a maiden was chosen to be the bride of the son of a 'mighty prince '5 in a far-off land. She was to answer for herself about it, and so 'they said, We will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go."1 Shall this be your answer to-day?
1 Isa. lxiii. 9. 2 1 Kings xviii. 21. 3 John vi. 67. 4 Gen. xxiv. 6 Gen. xxiii. 6. 6 Gen. xxiv. 57,58.
The Living Water
'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.' -john vii. 37. THE Invitation could not have been given in any wider form. Neither could it have been iven in any form which so certainly concentrates 1 its light and warmth on one point, that point yourself! First, there is the grand sweep of the 'any' man, instead of amplifying this into a list of all possible varieties of 'rich or poor, old or young,' and soon, st never mind about these usual human paraphrases, which may-or may not seem to include you, id come face to face with the magnificently simple word of our Lord, 'Any !' and know that it means 'you !' for you cannot possibly get outside of this eat circle, described by the hand of Infinite Love, you cannot possibly say it does not include you. Words mean nothing, if this word does not mean at you, whose eyes now rest upon it, are included id intended. To you the Lord Jesus says, 'Let m come unto Me.' But another word is appended which seems at st sight to be a limitation. 'If any man thirst, let him come.'1 Is it a limitation? Ask your own heart! Is there any one who does not thirst?' In other words, is there any one who can say before God who searches the heart,3 'I am satisfied. I have no sense of thirst, no nameless craving'? Are you satisfied? I do not mean, are you tolerably contented and comfortable on the whole and in a general way when things are at their best? But, satisfied!—the deep under-the-surface rest and complete satisfaction of the very heart, the filling of its emptiness, the stilling of all its cravings; and this not during the false frothing of excitement or business, but when you are alone, when you lie awake in the night, when you are shut away from any fictitious filling of your cup, and when the broken cisterns have leaked out,* as they will, and do, and must,—are you satisfied then? Verily, He who knew what was in man6 knew that He was not narrowing the invitation when He said, 'Let him that is athirst, come !'6 Did you ever think why it is so utterly hopeless and useless to try to quench that inner thirst with anything but the living water, 'the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ' ?7 He has said plainly and positively that you shall not succeed !8 He hath said, 'Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." You see there is no chance for you, for His word cannot be broken, and He says you 'shall thirst again.'10 There are only two issues of that perpetual thirst.
1 Rev. xxi. 6. 2 Ps. cvii. 5. 3 Ezek. xi. 5. 4 Jer. ii. 13. 5 John ii. 25. 6 Rev. xxii. 17. ' Phil. i. 19. 8 John vii. 39. 9 John iv. 13. 10 John x. 35.
One is the unanswered entreaty for a drop of water, only so much as the tip of a finger may bear, not to quench the unquenchable thirst, but only to cool a flame-tormented tongue.1 The other, the only other, is, 'Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." And lest our slow perceptions should fail to grasp the fact in the figure, the Lord Jesus repeats the promise, and says, 'He that believeth on Me shall never thirst." Never! for ' He satisfieth the longing soul.'* 'Let him come unto Me, and drink.'5 You see there is only this one way of drinking of the living water: you must come to Jesus Himself, personally and really. Knowing all about it is not enough. Consulting Christian friends, and reading good books, and doing any amount of religious duties and exercising any amount of self-denial, will not stay the more or less conscious heart-thirst. The Lord says not a word about any channels; He only says, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.' And 'Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.'6 Will not you come?
1 Luke xvi. 24. 2 John iv. 14. 3 John vi. 35. * Ps. cvii. 9. SJohnvii. 37. 6 Rev. xxii. 17.
The Bread and Wine
'Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.'—Prov. ix. 5. IN several chapters of Proverbs the Lord Jesus Christisbeautifully described under the figure of Wisdom. For He is ' the Wisdom of God,' and He is ' made unto us Wisdom.'1 In this verse He gives a double Invitation,—to eat of His bread, and drink of His wine. These are the symbols of life and joy—His life and His joy. 'Come, eat of My bread.' 'Feed on Him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.' For Jesus Himself is the true Bread from heaven.2 And he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever. For He is the Bread of Life, life-giving and life-sustaining.* How shall we eat? It is the old story,—only coming, only believing! For ' he that cometh to Me shall never hunger,'* and ' we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.'5
1 1 Cor i. 24, 30. 2 John vi. 51. 3 Johtt vi. 48 ; Gal. ii. 20. 4 John vi. 35. 5 ijeb. iii. 14.
It is not amere tasting or a bare subsisting to which Christ invites us. He says, 'Eat, O friends ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.'1 For *I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly ;" fulness and vigour of life, abounding pulses of vitality, fresh and strong; life that shall not and cannot fail, for 'He ever liveth;,3 and 'because I live, ye shall live also.'* How often we have sung, 'He hath filled the hungry with good things! '5 Are you hungry ?* Come, eat of His bread, leaving the husks and ashes, and you shall know what it is to be filled with good things.7 For 'He filleth the hungry soul with goodness.'* It is not only the solid life-need of bread that is provided at the feast which the Lord has made for us, but Wine, the symbol of joy, 'that maketh glad the heart of man. '* 'Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,'10 because the price is already paid for it. His sorrow was the price of the joy offered to us. He poured out His soul unto death,11 that He might pour out His joy into our lives.12 He emptied the cup which His Father gave Him,15 that He might fill ours till it runs over." Without price to us,—but oh, the price to Him!1 Cant. V. I. 2 John x. lo. 3 Heb. vii. 25.
4 John xiv. 19. 5 Luke i. 53. 6 Luke xv. 16; Isa. xliv. 20. 7 Jer. xxxi. 14,25. 8 Ps. cvii. 9. 9 Ps. civ. 15. 10 Isa. Iv. I. 11 Isa. liii. 12. 12 John xv. 11. 13 John xviii. 11. 14 Ps. xxiii. 5. 24
The Lord Jesus says it is wine which He has mingled. Not all one kind, but mingled by Divine care and skill into a perfect draught of manifold gladness: 'If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.'1 Tfiat is the heritage of the servants of the Lord !3 Did you think it was so pleasant? Did you know that He meant you to spend your years in pleasures here,3 as well as to give you the pleasures for evermore hereafter?4 'Come, drink of the wine that He has mingled,' and you will find out what these pleasures are, and how exceedingly real they are! No wonder you are a little skeptical about it! for 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but,' notice now exactly what is said, ' God Hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.'s So, unless or until God reveals them to you by His Spirit, you cannot see or conceive what these pleasures are which He has prepared for those who love Him,—what this wine is which He has mingled for those who come to Him. Oh taste and see !8 Come and put your trust under the shadow of His wings;7 and then you shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house,8 and he shall make you drink of the river of His pleasures.
1 Job xxxvi. II; Ps. xc. 14. 2 Isa. Ixv. 13, 14. S Ps. iv. 7; Prov. iii. 17. * Ps. xvi. 11. 5 I Cor. ii. 9, 10. 6 Ps. xxxiv. 8. 7 Ps. xxxvi. 7, 8. 8 Ps. Ixiii. 5.
Will You Not Come?
'Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also.'—Ps. lxviii. 18.
WILL you not come to Him for life? Why will ye die, oh why? He gave His life for you, for you! The gift is free, the word is true! Will you not come? oh, why will you die? Will you not come to Him for peace— Peace through His cross alone? He shed His precious blood for you; The gift is free, the word is true! He is our Peace! oh, is He your own? Will you not come to Him for rest? All that are weary, come! The rest He gives is deep and true; 'Tis offered now, 'tis offered you! Rest in His love, and rest in His home. Will you not come to Him for joy,— Will you not come for this? He laid His joys aside for you, To give you joy, so sweet, so true! Sorrowing heart, oh drink of the bliss! Will you not come to Him for love— Love that can fill the heart, Exceeding great, exceeding free? He loveth you, He loveth me! Will you not come? Why stand you apart? Will you not come to Him for all? Will you not ' taste and see'? He waits to give it all to you; The gifts are free, the words are true! Jesus is calling, 'Come unto Me!'Come Near
'Come ye near unto Me.'—Isa. xlviii. 16. ' SHE obeyed not the voice; . . . she trusted O not in the Lord, she drew not near to her God.'' What was her portion ? 'Woe to her!' * But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, though we thus speak.'' For Jesus says that if He is lifted up. He will draw all men unto Him.*
And it is the Lord Jesus Himself (see context) who says, ' Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this !'1 No matter how far off you may be, this call of peace is to you who are far off.' And if you hearken, then shall your peace be as a river. * And if you have already come to Jesus, still He says to them that are nigh, 'Now ye have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near,'*—nearer still, closer and closer to the Lord who loves you.There is only one way of coming near or being made near, but that way is open for you. Not into the outer court of religious profession, but 'into the Holiest,' into the reality of most sacred nearness to your Lord, you may enter 'by the blood of Jesus.'5 The moment you claim by faith the power of that precious blood,6—the moment you let your Great High Priest put it upon you,7 that moment 'ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. '8 Then, having this High Priest,* and having this one blessed and unfailing means of access, 'let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.'10
Do not be discouraged from coming near because you feel far off. Take that rather as your very claim to be included in the call, for He says, 'Hear ye that are far off, what I have done!'" and take it as your very reason for coming; come just because you are 'a great way off,' for He says, 'They that are far off shall come.' 12
1 Isa. xlviii. 16. 2 Isa, lvii. 19. 3Isa. xlviii. 18. 4 2 Chron. xxix. 31. 5 Heb. x. 19. 6 Heb. xiii. 12. 7 Lev. xiv. 14; Heb. ix. 13, 14. 8 Eph. ii. 13. 9 Heb. iv. 14. 10 Rom. v. 9; Eph. iii. 12; Heb. x. 21, 22. 11 Isa. xxxiii. 13. 12 Zech. vi. 15.
If you feel very powerless about it, plead and claim the promise of His enabling grace, 'I will cause him to draw near.'1 And then you will find that 'blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee; " and your experience will be, ' It is good for me to draw near unto God." He who causes you to come near will keep you near. Joseph did not only say to his brethren, 'Come near to me,'* in that moment of tenderest love when he made himself known to them, but his promise was, 'And thou shalt be near unto me.'5 This is your calling. Never to be far off any more! Never any more distance and separation !6 Never any more wandering in the far country7 without God,8 but henceforth to be 'a people near unto Him I" 'No more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,"0 having found the very home of the weary heart, from which you shall no more go out.11
1 Jer. XXX. 21. 2 Ps. Ixv. 4. 3 Ps. Ixxiii. 28. 4 Gen. xlv. 4. 5 Gen. xlv. 10. 6 Rom. viii. 35-39. 7 Luke XV. 13. 8 Eph. ii. 12. 9 Ps. cxlviii. 14. 10 Eph. ii. 19. 11 Rev. iii. 12.
To The Uttermost
'But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore lie is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.'—Heb. vii. 24, 25. 'A ND suppose I do come, what then? Suppose I do receive all this blessedness to-day, what about to-morrow?' Something like this thought is very often in the minds of those who see the lions not only outside but inside the doors of the House Beautiful. But it is all met by that wonderful word, 'to the uttermost.' This does not only mean that the Lord Jesus is able to save out of the uttermost depth of need and misery and sin, and that He is able to save from the uttermost regions of distance and despair. It means all that, but more besides. It is not only bringing you up out of the horrible pit and miry clay, but setting your feet upon a rock, and establishing your goings.1 The word is one of those remarkable compound ones for which we have no equivalent. It means that He is able to save unto all completeness, unto the total perfection of saving.2
1 Ps. xl. 2. 2 Eccl. iii. 14 ; Isa. xlv. 17; Jer. xvii. 14.
Suppose I were drowning, and you drew me out of the deepest water, just in time to save my life, but then left me wet and shivering and exhausted on the bank, to run the more than risk of wretched after-effects of cold and rheumatism, from which I might never entirely recover! That would not be saving 'to the uttermost' in this sense of the word. But if you did the thing completely,—carrying me home, and doing everything necessary to restore me, and avert ill effects, and that effectually; never relaxing in care and effort, nor letting me go, till you had me safe and well, however long and difficult it might be, then you would have saved me 'to the uttermost,' in the true meaning of it. This is what Jesus is able to do for you. Your first coming to Him is only like letting Him grasp you in your terrible danger, and draw you out of the fatal depths. But ' because He continueth ever," always the same loving and faithful Saviour, He will complete what He begins.2 For we are 'confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Having saved you from destruction, His very name4 is the guarantee that He will not leave you to struggle helplessly with your sins, much less to 'continue in them, but that He shall save you from them.* You will find it a daily continual salvation, by which He will keep you by the power of God through faith,7 unto the consummated salvation of body and soul, 'ready to be revealed in the last time.'8
1 Heb. vii. 24. 2 i Thess. v. 24. 3 Phil. i. 6. 4 Matt. i. 21. 6 Rom. vi. i. * Ps. ciii. 3-5. 7 2 Pet. i. 4. 81 Pet. i. 5.
The Proof of Christ's Ability to Save
'Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.'—Heb. vii. 25. SEE what is the proof that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to save you thus, 'to the uttermost.' It is that He ever liveth to make intercession. For whom? For them ' that come unto God by Him.' Or, as He Himself said, in that wonderful prayer when He lifted the veil from His own Divine communing with the Father, and let us hear His mighty intercession: 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word,'1—thus again identifying 'coming' with believing. Then, if you come, the perpetual intercession of our ascended High Priest will be for you, always for you.2 Only think that this is what Jesus is now living for,—'liveth to make intercession'3 for you! Should we ever have dared to imagine such grace and love? Should we ever have conceived that such a privilege could be ours?
1 John xvii. 20. 2 Heb. iv. 14. 3 Rom. viii. 34; Heb. ix. 24.
Only think what security there must be in it! If the Lord Jesus is praying for you, can you perish?1 If He is praying for you, will not the Father's answer of blessing be beyond anything you would ask for yourself? Is not this enough to answer all your misgivings as to what you will find and how you will get on when you have come? There is a solemn side to it. He not only says nothing about making intercession for those who do not come, but He plainly and positively says, 'J pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me;" the proof of having been given to Christ being the coming to Him, for 'all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me." Then face the terrible position which is yours, if you will not come! Christ will not pray for you! you shut yourself out from the prayer of Him whom the Father heareth always..* He prays not for all alike, but only for those who receive His words. He says 'I pray for them; I pray not for the world.' You dare not and cannot explain this away. It is no mere inference, no question of differing 'views,' but spoken by Him whose words can never pass away.5 Will you not 'come,' and share in this unspeakable privilege of Christ's intercession? We must not overlook the fact that it is for those who 'come unto God by Him.' Your coming to Jesus is also coming to your Father. In our right earnestness to have clear views of the Trinity, we are liable to forget the Unity of the Godhead. 'I and My Father are one,'6 saith the Lord Jesus; and this blessed and glorious unity is our key to many an apparent difficulty.
1 John X. 28. 2 John xvii. 9. 3 John vi. 37. * John xi. 42. 6 Luke xxi. 33. ^ John x, 30.
Yet there is a Divine order in the approach which we invert at our eternal peril. It must be ' by Him,' or it is no coming at all. For He hath said, 'No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." The redemption of Christ is for them ' who by Him do believe in God." You cannot be made nigh to God except by the blood of Christ.3 You cannot reach the Father except through the Son, for it is through Him and in Him that we alone have access.4 You cannot offer thanks, any more than prayer, to God, except in the same way, for it is 'by Him' that we are to offer it.5 In one word, you cannot be saved any other way at all, except by Jesus,6 and it is no use talking about being simply saved by God's mercy, for God's own Word says, 'There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," so that fallacy is disposed of forever. So 'diminish not a word;'8 do not venture to leave out the words ' by Him,' but come in God's own appointed way, and you shall be saved in His own grand and perfect way, 'to the uttermost!'
1 John xiv. 6. 2 i Pet. i. 21, 3 Eph. ii. 13. 4* Eph. ii. 18. 5 Heb. xiii. 15. 6 Rom. v. 9, 10.
Continual Coming
'To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up, a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.' —i Pet. ii. 4. "TO whom coming.' Here is the secret of advance in the narrow way, after we have entered by the Strait Gate.1 It is not the having come once and to begin with, but the coming continually to Jesus. When we have once really come to Him, it is not only our privilege, but our constant joy, to come to Him about everything—to go on drinking at the fountain. It is a beautiful paradox which is realized and reconciled in the experience of those who come, that we may be continually coming afresh without ever going away, —always at the fountain-head, and yet always coming to it. As the first coming to Jesus gives us the true and only foundation,* so by the very same coming, continued with ever fresh peace and joy, we shall be built up in Him.*
1 Matt. vii. 14. 2 I Cor. iii. n. » Col. ii. 6, 7.
It is as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord that we are to walk in Him, and then we shall be rooted and built up in Him.1 Think what this building up implies! Coming to Him, you individually, as well as all who come collectively, shall be builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit,2 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,5 that your bodies may be the temple of the Holy Ghost.4 Coming to Him, you shall no longer be a loose stone, lying about and getting weatherworn, but you 'shall be built in the midst of My people,' saith the Lord.5 Coming to Him, you shall also be built up as a holy and royal priesthood.6 For He that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, hath made us kings and priests unto God.7 What does this priesthood involve, which the Lord has 'given unto you as a service of gift' ?8 Does it not involve the very point on which you had a misgiving, namely, 'if 1 do come to-day, what about tomorrow?' for the priests had everything provided for them.3 When they were set apart to the priest's office, they did not need to have a thought or a care about their maintenance in it all the rest of their lives.10 When once this 'service of gift' was theirs, they were joined unto the high priest himself, and shared his privileges and his provision; they were given to him, and he was given to them.11
1 1 Pet. ii. 5. 2 Eph. ii. 22. 3 Eph. iii. 17. 4 I Cor. vi. 19 5 Jer. xii. 16. 6 i Pet. ii. 5, 9. 7 Rev. i. 5, 6; ib. v. 10. 8 Num. xviii. 7. 9 Num. xviii. 9, 14. 10 Ezek. xliv. 28-30; 2 Cor. vi. 10. 11 Num. xviii. 2, 4.
This provision for them was * all the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, and the first-fruits,' besides 'all the best thereof of other things ;1 'for it is your reward for your service." And the Lord says, 'I will satiate the soul of my priests with fatness.'3 They shall be abundantly 'satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy house." For ' His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.'5 Coming to Him, you shall 'offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'6 You will offer by Him the sacrifice of praise continually and what can the angels do more? Continual praise must be continual gladness.8 And when you are able to say, 'O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me; behold, God is my salvation;' then, and 'therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.'* This is what is before you, as soon as you come to Jesus. Thenceforth it shall be continual coming, and that will be continual rest, continual peace, continual joy.10
1 Num. xviii. 12. 2 Num. xviii. 29, 31. 3 Jer. xxxi. 14. 4 Ps. xxxvi. 8, p.B.v. 5 2 Pet. i. 3. 6 I Pet. ii. 5 ; Rom. xii. i. "> Heb. xiii. 15. 8 Ps. Ixxi. 6, 14 ; ib. xxxiv. i. 9 Isa. xii. 1-3. 10 Phil. iv. 4, 6, 7.
Fellowship and Cleansing
'Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.'— A. ii. 5. IT is not only the Spirit but the Bride who says, 'Come.'1 And it is remarkable that the Bride never found saying 'Come' without including herself. 'Come with us; " ' Come, and let us join ourselves unto the Lord ;" 'Come, and let us return unto the Lord; '* 'Let us come boldly.'" It always 'us,' expressed or implied, though the speaker be patriarch, prophet, or apostle. And you may be very sure that those who venture to say, Come' to you, are truly and deeply feeling the need of continual coming for themselves. If the Master's call were not sounding very fresh and sweet in their own hearts, they would not be constrained to sound it out to you.* 'Come ye,' then, 'and let us walk in the light of the Lord." This is one of the blessed results and its of true following, as following is of coming.
1 Rev. xxii. 17. 2 Num. x. 29. 3 Jer. 1. 5. * Hos. vi. I. 5 Heb. iv. 16. 6 2 Cor. v. 14. ' Isa. ii. 5.
For the Lord says, ' He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'1 And the results of this walking in the light are fellowship and cleansing; and these, when fully accepted, are all that we can need for the brightest, happiest pilgrim course. 'If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." This is not merely fellowship with other Christians, though that, with all its warmth and pleasantness, is no doubt included.3 But scholars tell us that the true meaning is that we and the Lord have fellowship with each other—a marvellous mutual interchange of sympathy, interest, and love. 'Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.'* Fellowship implies a good deal more than even friendship; the word is really 'communion,' in its widest and yet closest sense. It is literally having all things in common. It is the Lord saying, 'Thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine." It is our responding, 'My Beloved is mine, and I am His." It is, 'All are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." It is the present fact, which yet we cannot fully apprehend,8 till 'at that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." 'Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord,' that this glorious fellowship may be ours.10
1 John viii. 12. 2 i John i. 7. 81 John iii. 14. 4 1 John i. 3. 5 Luke xv. 31. 6 Cant. ii. 16. 7 I Cor. iii. 22, 23. 8 Phil. iii. 12. 9 John xiv. 20. 10 Isa. ii. 5; Gen. v. 22 ; Rev. iii. 4.
But there can be no fellowship without the cleansing. For how 'can two walk together, except they be agreed?" And sin is the one great obstacle to this agreement. God never makes peace with sin.* No armistice, no truce, no compromise is possible! If you would read through Jeremiah or Ezekiel with your eyes open to observe what God thinks of sin, you would be perfectly startled. It leaves the impression that no language can convey His indignant loathing of 'this abominable thing which I hate.'3 But this one precious promise shows it all in a moment. 'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin !' * If anything less than the blood of His own Son could have cleansed us, would He not have spared Him?5 Nothing shows us the exceeding sinfulness of sin like this one word. But oh, thank God for the 'all'! As nothing less than the blood of Christ is needed for one single sin, so nothing more is needed for all sin.6 Ask the Holy Spirit to open out this one word to you.7 'All' the sin cleansed by it,8—'all'that separated between you and God put away by it,9— you yourself made nigh by it, and sanctified by it,10— the fellowship will be unbroken, the light will be unclouded, the following will be faithful,11 and the coming will be sealed.1'
1 Amos iii. 3. 2 Ps. Ixvi. 18. 3 Jer. xliv. 4. 4 I John i. 7. 5 Rom. viii. 32. 6 Heb. ix. 22. 7 Ps. cxix. 19. 8 Isa. lix. 2. ^ Eph. ii. 13. 10 Heb. xiii. 12. H Eph. v. 8. 12 2ech. x. 12.
The Perpetual Covenant
'Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.'—Jer. 1. 5. THIS is no external joining of church or congregation. 'He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." To this we are invited,2—to be so joined that nothing shall separate;8 to be made one with Christ in blessed and eternal union.4 The instrument, so to speak, of the joining, is our consent, in faith and obedience, to the perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.5 Herein lies the answer to all the distressing doubts about persevering in which we 'err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.'6 For see what the terms of the new covenant are! 'I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people." This seems all onesided. It is all what God undertakes to do. Not a word about what we undertake to do. How different from any human covenant!
1 1 Cor. vi. 17. 2 Num. xviii. 2. 3 Rom. via. 39. * Eph. v. 30; John xvii. 23. 6 Jer. 1. 5. 6 Matt. xxii. 29. 7 Heb. viii. 10.
Ah, the Lord tried us with the other way, and we failed; and so the old covenant of works came to naught.1 It was not only the children of Israel who 'continued not " in God's covenant; we have done just the same. We have proved in our own experience that we cannot keep any one condition of it, let alone the whole! * And so the Lord makes a new covenant, in which the marvellous terms are that He undertakes our part as well as His own, by promising to put His laws into our minds and write them upon our hearts, so that we may keep them and really obey them.4 And when He says He will be to us a God,5 He has promised in that one word more than mortal thought or mortal desire can reach. And when He says we shall be toHima people,6 He guarantees us all the safety and happiness, and all the privileges and blessings, in all certainty and perpetuity, which He promises to His people.7 He knows our total weakness,8 and our utter inability to persevere,9and so He stoops to undertake the whole thing for us, if we will only 'come, and join ourselves to the Lord,' consenting to His perpetual covenant, and accepting these wonderful provisions in simple faith. But remember, there is no such thing as drifting into this covenant. We shall never 'happen' to find ourselves included in it by waiting to see what turns up, or by dint of admiringly contemplating it.
1 Ter. xxxi. 32. 2 Heb. viii. 9. ^ 3 Rom. iii. 19, 23. * lsa. xxxviii. 14. 5 2 Cor. vi. 16; Rev. xxi.3. 6 Deut. xxxiii. 29. I 2 Cor. i. 20. 8 Ps. ciii. 14. 9 Jude 24.
We must 'come;' and we must join ourselves to the Lord in it by our own voluntary act and deed.1 Each must 'subscribe with his hand unto the Lord." This covenant requires the free individual signature of each participator, so that each shall be able to say, 'Yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.'' Do you ask for some proof that you may thus come and share its blessedness ?—some distinct evidence that the covenant is meant for you? The Lord, who has given all the rest, has given this too. You know the freeness of the call, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' * That is only the beginning of the Invitation. It goes on, without a break, still to every one,—' Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you."1
Oh, happy day that fixed my choice On Thee, my Saviour and my God 1
Well may this glowing heart rejoice, And tell its raptures all abroad.
'Tis done! the great transaction's done. I am my Lord's, and He is mine; He drew me, and I followed on,
Charmed to obey the Voice Divine. - Doddridge.
1 2 Cor. viii. 5. 2 Isa. xliv. 5. 82 Sam. xxiii. 5. * Isa. Iv. I. 5 Isa. Iv. 3.
The Consummation of the Invitation
'Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'—Matt. Xxv. 34.
'rT",HEN!' when the sure but as yet unseen hope A of the Church is fulfilled, and Jesus comes in His glory 'then !' when all are gathered before Him, and ' He shall separate them one from another:' 'then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come!''
The King—'this same Jesus," who now says, 'Come unto Me,' 'whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another'* (margin,not a stranger)—He shall utter with His own gracious lips5 the same sweet call; and we shall hear it, no longer by faith, but literally.
The call will be no longer, 'Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden ;'6 for the weariness and the burdens that have been cast upon Jesus will be at an end for ever.7 It will be, 'Come, ye blessed!'
1 Tit. ii. 13. 2 Matt. xxiv. 30, 31; ib. xxv. 32. * Acts i. ri, 4 Job xix. 27. 5 Luke iv. 23. 6 Matt. xi. 28. 7 Ps. Iv. 22; ib. xxxviii. 4.
Not * blessed' then for the first time, but * ye ' whose position already is that of ' the blessed of the Lord. '^ Every one who comes to Jesus takes that glorious position, and possesses all its manifold privileges.^ If you are only come to-day for the first time, ' thou art now the blessed of the Lord,'^ and you shall be among the blessed ones who stand, in their lot at the end of the days.* You are now made kings and priests unto God by Him who loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood f and then the King will call you to * inherit the kingdom.' For 'by faith in Christ Jesus' (which is the same thing, in other words, as coming to Christ), you are *the children of God.'® *And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." He will make you inherit the throne of His glory, and grant you to sit with Him in His throne,^ for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.^ Confess now, that this is doing for you exceeding abundantly above all you asked or thought ^^ To be permitted just to escape the terrible doom of * everlasting punishment,'"— just to get inside the door of the palace,^^—a sort of standing afar off, even in heaven,—is about as much as you really thought of! But look at the grandeur of His thought, and the riches of His love for you! He has prepared not only * a place,'^' and ' a city,'^* but a kingdom for you, and that not since you began to pray for salvation, but from the foundation of the world.^
1 Ps. cxv. 15. 2 Eph. i. 3. 3 Gen. xxvi. 29. 4 Dan. xii. 12, 13. 5 Rev. i. 5, 6. 6 Gal. iii. 26. 7 Rom. viii. 17. 8 Rev. iii. 21. 9 Luke xii. 32. 10 Eph. iii. 20. 11 Matt. xxv. 46. 12 Ps. xlv. 15. 13 John xiv. 2. 1* Heb. xi. 16.
And all this time this splendid and amaranthine inheritance has been reserved in heaven for you,^ and you are being kept by the power of God for it !^ Have you thanked Him for this? It is not too soon to do so. This is indeed the consummation of the Royal Invitation,—-the King on the throne of His glory-inviting you to come and reign with Him !* And ' this same Jesus' says to you to-day, * Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.'* Still shall the keyword ringing, echo the same sweet * Come!' * Come ' with the blessed myriads, safe in the Father's home; *Come !' for the toil is over; * come !' for the feast is spread; * Come!' for the crown of glory waits for the weary head.
1 Matt. XXV. 34; Eph. i. 4. 2 i Pet, i. 4, Gr. 8 I Pet. i. 5. 4 Rev. v. ro. 8 John vi. 37.