JEWELS from JAMES

(Choice devotional selections from
the works of John Angell James)

 

One gracious purpose of mercy!

"And we know that God causes everything to work
 together for the good of those who love Him
, and are
 called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28

Providence is God's government of the universe.

Providence is that mighty scheme . . .
  which commenced before time was born;
  which embraces the annals of other worlds besides ours;
  which includes the history of angels, men, and devils.

Providence comprises the whole range of events which
have taken place from the formation of the first creature,
to the last moment of time—with all the tendencies,
reasons, connections, and results of things.

Providence encompasses the separate existence of
each individual, with the continuation and influence
of the whole, in one harmonious scheme.

We are puzzled at almost every step, at the deep,
unfathomable mysteries of Providence!

How often is Jehovah, in His dealings with us, a God
who hides Himself! How often does He wrap Himself in
clouds, and pursue His path upon the waters, where we
can neither see His goings, nor trace His footsteps!
How many of His dispensations are inexplicable, and
of His judgments how many are unfathomable by the
short line of our reason!

But whatever we don't know now, we shall know hereafter.
The crooked will be made straight, the clouds of darkness
will be scattered, and all His conduct towards us placed in
the broad day-light of eternity.
 
We shall see how all the varying, and numerous, and
seemingly opposite events of our history, were combined
into one gracious purpose of mercy, which was most
perfectly wise in all its combinations.

Delightful, most delightful, will it be to retrace our winding
and often gloomy course, and discern at each change and
turning, the reason of the occurrence and the wisdom of God.
Delightful will it be to discern the influence which all our
temporal circumstances, all our disappointments, losses,
and perplexities, had upon our permanent and celestial
happiness. How much of divine wisdom, power, goodness,
and faithfulness, will our short and simple history present,
and what rapturous fervor will the discovery give to the
song of praise which we shall utter before the throne of
God and the Lamb!


 
All the misery

Sin is, in itself, an evil of enormous magnitude.
As committed against a Being whom we are under
infinite obligation to love, and serve, and glorify,
it must partake of infinite degrees of demerit.
Sin introduces the reign of confusion and misery.

All the misery which either is or ever will be
on earth, or in hell—is the result of sin.

Sin is the greatest evil—the only evil in the universe.

Sin is the opposite, and the enemy to God. Sin is
the contrast of all that is pure and glorious in His
divine attributes and ineffably beautiful perfections;
and as such it is that which he cannot but hate with
a perfect hatred.

Sin is the contrary of holiness, and thus the enemy
of happiness.


 
The secret of happiness

"I have learned to be content whatever the
 circumstances. I know what it is to be in need,
 and I know what it is to have plenty. I have
 learned the secret of being content in any and
 every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
 whether living in plenty or in need." Phil. 4:11-12

We should labor to be content with such things as
we have. Contentment is the secret of happiness,
whether we have much or little. The man who makes
up his mind to enjoy what he has, is quite as happy
as he who is possessed of twice as much.


 
Our evil temper

If we are as angry and revengeful, as proud and envious,
as selfish and unkind—as we were before our supposed
conversion
—we may be assured that it is but a supposed
conversion.

It does not matter that we go regularly to worship. It
does not matter that we strongly feel under sermons.
It does not matter that we have happy frames and
feelings—for a heart under the predominant influence
of petulant passions can no more have undergone the
change of the new birth, than one that is filled with a
prevailing lecherousness.

And where the heart is renewed, and the badness of
the temper is not constant, but only occasional—is not
prevailing, but only prominent—it is, in so far as it
prevails, a sad blot on real piety.

We must bring our mind under the influence of redeeming
grace—we must ascend the hill of Calvary, and gaze upon
that scene of love
, until our cold hearts melt, our hard
hearts soften, and all the cruel selfishness of our nature
relaxes into gentleness. The example of the meek and
lowly Jesus must be contemplated, admired, and copied.
And especially after all, must we breathe forth internal
longings for the influence of the Holy Spirit, who alone
can subdue our evil temper.


 
A cold, heartless and uninfluential religion!

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom
 all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
 a faith that can move mountains, but have not
 love
, I am nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:2

Many conclude that they are true Christians, because
of the clearness of their views, and their attainments
in biblical knowledge. They have a singular zeal for the
truth, and are great sticklers for the doctrines of grace.
They look upon all, besides a few of their own class,
as mere babes in knowledge. They themselves are the
eagles who soar to the sun, and bask in its beams!
While the rest of mankind are the moles that burrow,
and the bats that flutter in the dark!

Doctrine is everything to them! Clear views of the gospel
are their great desire. Puffed up with pride, selfish,
unkind, irritable, censorious, malicious
—they manifest
a total lack of that humility and kindness which are the
prominent features of true Christianity.

Let it be known, however, that clear views of Scripture are
of themselves no evidence of true religion. A professor of
religion be an enemy to God in his soul—with an evangelical
creed upon his tongue!

Their religion begins and ends in . . .
  adopting a form of sound words for their creed,
  approving an evangelical ministry,
  admiring the popular champions of the truth,
  and joining in the criticism of error.

As to any spirituality of mind; any heavenliness of affection;
any Christian love; any vital, elevating influence of those
very doctrines to which they profess to be attached—they
are as destitute as the greatest worldling! And like him, they
are perhaps as selfish, revengeful, implacable, and unkind!

This is the religion but too common in our churches—a cold,
heartless and uninfluential religion
—a sort of lunar light,
which reflects the beams of the sun, but not its warmth!

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom
 all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
 a faith that can move mountains—but have
 not love
, I am nothing!" 1 Corinthians 13:2

"Whoever does not love does not know God,
 because God is love." 1 John 4:8
 


 

The most crowded avenue to the bottomless pit!

Many
will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive
out demons and perform many miracles?" Then I will
tell them plainly, "I never knew you! Depart from
Me, you evildoers!"  Matthew 7:22-23

Delusion on the nature of true piety prevails to
a truly appalling extent! Millions are in error as
to the real condition of their souls, and think
that they are journeying to celestial bliss; when
in reality they are traveling to perdition!

Oh fearful mistake!

Oh fatal delusion!

What terrible disappointment awaits them!

What horror, and anguish, and despair, will take
eternal possession of their souls, in that moment of
truth, when instead of awaking from the sleep of
death amid the glories of the heavenly city—they
shall lift up their eyes, "being in torment!"

No pen can describe the overwhelming anguish of
such a disappointment! The imagination shrinks with
amazement and horror, from the contemplation of her
own faint sketch of the unendurable scene!

Millions of souls are irrecoverably lost by self-deception!

Delusion is the most crowded avenue to the bottomless pit!

Self-delusion is the 'common infatuation', the 'epidemic
blindness', which has fallen upon multitudes!


 
We are to pity them

The most perfect benevolence to men, is that which,
instead of looking with complacency on their errors,
warns them of their danger, and admonishes them
to escape. It is no matter that they think they are
right—this only makes their case the more alarming;
and to act towards them as if we thought their
mistaken views of no consequence, is only to
confirm their delusion, and to aid their destruction!

It is true we are neither to despise them nor persecute
them—we are neither to oppress nor ridicule them—we
are neither to look upon them with haughty scorn, nor
with callous indifference. But while we set ourselves
against their errors, we are to pity them with sincere
compassion, and to labor for their conversion with
unselfish kindness. We are to bear with unruffled
meekness all their provoking sarcasms; and to sustain,
with deep humility, the consciousness of our clearer
perceptions; and to convince them, that with the
steadiest resistance of their principles, we unite
the tenderest concern for their welfare.


 
Why is the life of the church so feeble?

Why are spirituality of mind, and heavenliness
of affection so low? Why have we such a race
of worldly-minded professors? Why?

The private reading and study of the Scriptures are
sadly neglected! Men are strangers to their Bibles!
The Bible was never more widely circulated—but at
the same time, never less devoutly read. Where are
the men and the women to whom the Bible is a book
of daily study and delight in the closet—to whom its
words are "sweeter than honey or the honeycomb,
and more desired than their necessary food?" The
magazine, the review, and the newspaper, and the
last new novel or tale, have so far pushed out the
Bible!


 
Floating to perdition on the stream of delusion!

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
 kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My
 Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day,
 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in
 Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from
 Me, you evildoers!'" Matthew 7:21-23.

This is really one of the most alarming passages of Holy Writ,
as showing how far people may go in self-deception, and how
perseveringly they may continue in it—even to death, and
through it, up to the very judgment seat of Christ!

I am truly alarmed and terrified at the thought of this state
of things, when multitudes are going down to the pit with a
lie in their right hand—floating to perdition on the stream
of delusion!


There are many paths to perdition in the broad way, some
of which are more cleanly and some more foul, yet they all
lead to the same end. And they shall as certainly arrive at
hell, who tread the cleanlier paths of a "refined hypocrisy",
as those who track through the mire and dirt of the
grossest abominations.

Under the most searching ministry, and the most alarming
sermons—a fatal delusion sends multitudes to perdition!

How dreadful will be the disappointment and remorse of the
hypocrite, when death, which closes his eyes to all the scenes
of earth, shall open them to those of the bottomless pit!

What horror, and surprise, and overwhelming disappointment
seize him who, when he expects to arise from the bed of death,
to the felicities of heaven—sinks from it to the miseries of hell!

Oh, the indescribable, overwhelming astonishment, consternation,
and horror of the hypocrite, who wakes up amid the scenes of the
bottomless pit! It is not for language to set forth nor imagination
to conceive the torment that will in a moment come over the
miserable soul, whose first words in eternity will be, "I am lost,
lost, lost, forever! I am in hell." The wretched spirit will look
through the vista of millions of ages, and see no glimmering
spark of this to relieve its present sense of unutterable woe!

"The hope of the hypocrite shall perish!" Job 8:13


 
Because He first loved us

"We love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

The work of the Holy Spirit is not only to reveal God's
love to us—but to produce in us love to God in return.

Wherever the Holy Spirit really gives a clear view and
deep sense of God's love to us, He, by the same operation
of His grace, subdues the enmity of the carnal mind, and
produces a genuine and supreme love to God.


 
Heavenly!

"Nothing impure will ever enter it." Rev. 21:27

What is heaven?

Heaven is a state where we shall see Christ as He
is, and be like Him. It is the region of moral purity.

Its inhabitants are holy—
  the holy Father,
  the holy Savior,
  the holy Spirit,
  holy angels,
  holy men.

Its occupations are holy—the service of God—the
song of cherubim and seraphim, crying "Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God Almighty!"—and all other things in
harmony with this sacred employment and felicity.

Every contemplation of this holy heavenly state,
tends to assimilate the soul to its likeness. While . . .
  gazing upon it,
  delighting in it,
  longing for it,
we grow in resemblance to it! The soul of the
believer turned heavenwards, becomes heavenly!

"Everyone who has this hope in him purifies
 himself
, just as Christ is pure." 1 John 3:3


 
The model of Christian holiness

The model of Christian holiness is Christ.

Christ . . .
  as the man of sorrows,
  as exposed to temptation,
  as subject to affliction,
  as the servant of God,
  as the Son learning obedience
    by the things which He suffered,
  as separate from sin and sinners,
    though dwelling in the midst of them.

Here is our model—the infinite, eternal, almighty
God, exhibited in the form of the perfect man,
presented in dimensions the eye can comprehend.

Christ, the divine man, the model man, must be
before us, and our eye must be ever upon our copy
and our page.


 
The ultimate object of redeeming mercy

"All who believe this will keep themselves
 pure, just as Christ is pure." 1 John 3:3.

Every view we can take of the work of redemption,
shows its connection with holiness.

The Father has "chosen us before the foundation
of the world, that we might be holy."

The Son did not die merely to save us from hell,
and bring us to heaven—but to "redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous for good works."

The Spirit is given to "create us anew unto good works."

If we are called, it is "with a holy calling."

If we are afflicted, it is that we might
"be partakers of God's holiness."

If we possess the Scriptures, it is "that
we might be sanctified by the truth."

Holiness is the image of God, stamped upon man's
soul at his creation—which Satan marred, when his
malignity could not reach the divine original.

And to restore us to holiness, is the ultimate object
of redeeming mercy
.

What would justification be without holiness—but
like throwing a vestment of purple and gold over a
leprous body?

What is heaven—but the region, the home, the
very center of holiness?

Take away holiness from an angel, and he becomes
a devil. Add holiness to the nature of a devil, and he
becomes an angel.

Were a man without holiness to enter heaven, its
blessed inhabitants would run from him with horror
and alarm—as we would run from a person with the
plague!

Without holiness, a soul in heaven would be like a
nauseated man at a feast. He would desire nothing,
taste nothing, relish nothing.


 
How insignificant, trivial, and paltry!

"This world is fading away, along with everything
 it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will
 live forever." 1 John 2:17

How insignificant, trivial, and paltry, are the
objects of worldly desire and expectation!

What are wealth, rank, fame, pleasure—compared
with the glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life,
which the believer looks for beyond the grave?

They are all of the earth, earthly—this is heavenly.

They are human—this divine.

They are transient—this everlasting.

They are unsatisfying, leaving the soul a void
unfilled—this replenishing its vast capacity.

They are fleeting, shadowy, and precarious
—this absolutely certain.

They are but the children's toys