Spurgeon's Sermon Notes
 

Volume 1. The Old Testament
 

PREFACE

1. Genesis 19:15. Hastening Lot

2. Genesis 32:28. Power with God

3. Genesis 32:29. "He blessed him there"

4. Genesis 33:9, 11. "I have enough"

5. Genesis 33:13. Gently! Gently!

6. Genesis 41:56. Joseph opening the Storehouses

7. Genesis 49:8. Judah

8. Exodus 12:3, 4. Too little for the Lamb

9. Exodus 14:15. Unseasonable Prayer

10. Exodus 32:26. Who is on the Lord's side?

11. Leviticus 4:29. Laying the Hand on the Sacrifice

12. Numbers 11:1. Against Murmuring

13. Deut. 32:36. Man's Extremity God's Opportunity

14. Joshua 24:19. Moral Inability

15. Judges 9:9. The Faithful Olive-tree

16. Ruth 1:16. Ruth deciding for God

17. 1 Samuel 17:47. The Battle is the Lord's

18. 1 Samuel 18:3 and 20:17. Love plighting Troth

19. 1 Samuel 30:20. David's Spoil

20. 2 Samuel 7:27. Prayer found in the Heart

21. 1 Kings 2:28, 30. Clinging to the Altar

22. 1 Kings 10:1. Consulting with Jesus

23. 1 Kings 10:2. Heart-Communing

24. 1 Kings 19:4. Elijah Fainting

25. 1 Kings 20:40. A Frivolous Excuse

26. 2 Kings 2:14. Where is the God of Elijah?

27. 2 Kings 6:17. Eyes Opened

28. 2 Kings 17:25, 33, 34. Half-Breeds

29. 1 Chronicles 13:8, 12, and 15:25. The Lesson of Uzza

30. 2 Chronicles 2:11. A King sent in Love

31. 2 Chronicles 12:14. Rehoboam the Unready

32. 2 Chronicles 20:4. Help asked and Praise rendered

33. 2 Chronicles 28:23. Ruins

34. Nehemiah 1:11. Those who desire

35. Nehemiah 8:10 and 12:43. The Joy of the Lord

36. Job 1:6. Satan among the Saints

37. Job 3:23. The Sorrowful Man's Question

38. Job 7:20. The Sinner's Surrender to his Preserver

39. Job 14:4. Out of nothing comes nothing

40. Job 19:25. Job's Sure Knowledge

41. Job 24:13. Rebelling against the Light

42. Job 27:10. The Hypocrite Discovered

43. Job 34:33. Conceit Rebuked

44. Job 34:33. Pride Catechized

45. Job 38:25–27. Rain and Grace: a Comparison

46. Psalm 9:18. Good Cheer for the Needy

47. Psalm 19:7. Revelation and Conversion

48. Psalm 37:39. Salus Jehovah

49. Psalm 84:3. Sparrows and Swallows

50. Psalm 91:11. Angelic Protection in Appointed Ways

51. Psalm 115:17, 18. Living Praise

52. Psalm 119:50. What is your Comfort?

53. Psalm 138:1–3. Open Praise and Public Confession

54. Psalm 143:9. Flight to God

55. Proverbs 15:19. The Thorn Hedge

56. Proverbs 16:2. "Things are not what they seem"

57. Proverbs 21:2. Pondering Hearts

58. Proverbs 23:23. To Heavenly Merchantmen

59. Proverbs 23:26. Wisdom's Request to her Son

60. Proverbs 25:2. God's Glory in Hiding Sin

61. Proverbs 25:25. Good News

62. Proverbs 27:10. The Best Friend

63. Proverbs 27:18. The Honoured Servant

64. Proverbs 29:25. Fear of Man or Trust in God

65. Ecclesiastes 8:4. The Word of a King

66. Solomon's Song 2:1. The Rose and the Lily

67. Solomon's Song 3:4. Constraining the Beloved

68. Solomon's Song 6:5. The Conquest of a Holy Eye

69. Isaiah 1:18. Invitation to a Conference

70. Isaiah 2:5. Walking in the Light

71. Isaiah 5:6. No Rain

72. Isaiah 14:32. Enquirers Answered

73. Isaiah 32:2. Our Hiding-place

74. Isaiah 32:2. Rivers in the Desert

75. Isaiah 38:17. The Bitter and the Sweet

76. Isaiah 45:22. The Life-Look

77. Isaiah 46:4. A Sermon for the Aged

78. Isaiah 49:20, 21. Church Increase

79. Isaiah 50:2–6. The Redeemer described by Himself

80. Isaiah 50:7. The Redeemer's Face set like a Flint

81. Isaiah 53:5. Christopathy

82. Isaiah 54:7–9. The Little Wrath and the Great Wrath

83. Isaiah 55:7. Repentance

84. Isaiah 55:7. Abundant Pardon

85. Isaiah 60:8. The Cloud of Doves

86. Jeremiah 3:12, 14, 22. Return! Return!

87. Jeremiah 3:19. Interrogation and Exclamation

88. Jeremiah 5:3. Decided Ungodliness

89. Jeremiah 6:16. Rest as a Test

90. Jeremiah 13:23. The Ethiopian

91. Jeremiah 18:11. Individual Repentance

92. Jeremiah 33:3. Prayer Encouraged

93. Jeremiah 51:50. Sacred Memories

94. Ezekiel 36:11. Better than at your Beginnings

95. Ezekiel 36:30, 31. Mistaken Notions of Repentance

96. Ezekiel 47:11. Marshes

97. Daniel 5:6. A man Troubled by his Thoughts

98. Daniel 9:17. Prayer for the Church

99. Hosea 2:6, 7. Ways Hedged up

100. Hosea 2:14. Strange Ways of Love

101. Hosea 2:23. A People who were No People

102. Hosea 8:7. What will the Harvest be?

103. Hosea 10:2. Heart-disease

104. Hosea 10:12. The Stroke of the Clock

105. Hosea 13:10. Theocracy

106. Joel 2:13. Inward more than Outward

107. Amos 7:7. The Plumbline

108. Obadiah 1:3. Self-deceived

109. Jonah 3:4. The Ninevites' Repentance

110. Micah 1:12. Maroth; or, the Disappointed

111. Micah 2:8. The Worst of Enemies

112. Micah 6:3,—The Lord's Appeal to his own People

113. Nahum 1:7. The Stronghold

114. Habakkuk 2:1–4. Watching, Waiting, Writing

115. Habakkuk 2:4. Pride the Destroyer

116. Habakkuk 2:4, Faith: Life

117. Zephaniah 2:3. May be

118. Zephaniah 3:2. Fourfold Fault

119. Haggai 2:13, 14. Defiled and Defiling

120. Zechariah 4:10. Small Things not to be Despised

121. Zechariah 7:5, 6. Self or God

122. Zechariah 9:2, 12. Prisoners of Hope

123. Zechariah 10:6. Perfect Restoration

124. Zechariah 10:12. Spiritual Convalescence

125. Zechariah 12:10. Mourning at the Cross

126. Zechariah 12:10. The Bitterness of the Cross

127. Zechariah 12:12–14. Apart

128. Malachi 1:2. Love Questioned and Vindicated

129. Malachi 4:2. Sunshine

I

Genesis 19:15—"When the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot."

Were these personages angels, or divine appearances? It matters not: they were messengers sent from God to save. In any case they teach us how to deal with men if we are to arouse and bless them. We must go to their homes—"They turned in unto Lot" (verse 3); they stated the case—"The Lord will destroy this city" (verse 14); they urged and persuaded—"Up, get you out of this place"; and they resorted to a loving violence—"The men laid hold upon his hand," etc. (verse 16). Picture the two angels with all their four hands occupied in leading out Lot and his wife and his two daughters.

I. The Righteous need to be hastened.

1. In what? In matters of obedience to their Lord. Few can say, "I made haste and delayed not to keep your commandments."

In coming out from the world. "He lingered." "His wife looked back" (verse 26). The urgency of the command which says—"Come out from among them; be you separate," shows how reluctant we are to "rise up and come away."

In seeking the good of their families. "Have you here any besides?" (verse 12).

In general quickness of movement in spiritual things. "Escape for your life" (verse 17). "Haste you" (verse 22).

2. Why? The flesh is weak. Lot was an old man, too much tinctured with worldliness, and he was away from Abraham, the nobler spirit, who had helped to keep him right.

Perseverance is difficult. "I cannot escape to the mountain."

Sodom has a sluggish influence. We often traverse the "Enchanted ground," where sleep seizes on the traveler.

When our worldly occupation is incessant, and takes up most of our thoughts, we are hindered from decision.

Idle leisure is still worse. Men with nothing to do in the world seldom do anything in religion.

3. By what means? By reminding them of their obligations, their opportunities, and the days already wasted.

By leading them to consider the flight of time and brevity of life.

By warning them of the sure ruin of their impenitent friends.

By setting before them the fact that delay in duty is sin, and leads to other sins.

II. The Sinners need to be hastened.

1. Sinners are very slow, and apt to linger.

They have settled down in the Sodom of sin. Like the sluggard, they desire "a little more folding of the arms to sleep."

They are bound by many ties to the City of Destruction.

They do not believe our warning. "He seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law" (verse 14).

They trifle with our message when they dare not contradict it.

Delay is Satan's grand device for their ruin.

Procrastination baffles our persuasions. Delays act like bales of wool dropped over the wall of a besieged city to deaden the blows of a battering-ram. Felix quieted his conscience by the idea of "a more convenient season."

2. Our business is to hasten them.

We must be in earnest ourselves, as these angels were.

We must also be patient, and repeat our pleadings.

We must be resolute, and lay hold on their hands.

3. We have many arguments with which to hasten them.

May the Holy Spirit make them see—

Their imminent danger while lingering.

The sin of loitering when God commands them to escape for their lives.

The fitness of the present above any possible future.

The uncertainty that any available future will come.

The supreme necessity of immediate decision with some; for it may be "now or never" with them: they will "die in their sins" if they do not hear the voice of God today.

Illustrative Odds and Ends

A Christian tradesman bethought him that he had never spoken to a certain regular customer about his soul, though the man had called at his shop for years. He determined to plead earnestly with him the next time he came in his way. There was no next time: his customer died suddenly, so that he saw him no more.

When a young man made an open profession of the gospel, his father greatly offended, gave him this advice: "James, you should first get yourself established in a good trade, and then think of the matter of religion." "Father," said the son, "Jesus Christ advises me differently; he says, 'Seek you first the kingdom of God.' "

Earnestly may we urge men to seek a present salvation since even the voluptuary pleads against delay in such words as these,—

"O, gather roses while they blow,

To-morrow's not today;

Let not one moment vainly flow,

Time flees fast away."

Much of the beauty of obedience lies in its being rendered at once, and without question. God's will is done in Heaven immediately, because love is perfect there. That child is disobedient who is slow in obeying.

"Brother," said a dying man, "why have you not been more pressing with me about my soul?" "Dear James," replied the brother, "I have spoken to you several times." "Yes," was the answer, "you are not to blame; but you were always so quiet over it; I wish you had gone on your knees to me, or had taken me by the neck and shaken me, for I have been careless, and have nearly slept myself into Hell."

The poor needle-woman with her inch of candle has work to finish. See how her fingers fly, for she fears lest she should be left in darkness, and her work undone.

Some Christians are slow to obey a command because it has not been laid home to their hearts with power. Fancy a child saying this to a father, or a soldier to his officer! Something else would soon be laid home with power.

Do not some professors cause sinners to loiter by their own loitering? A man taking a seat at the Tabernacle came to the minister and said, "Sir, do I understand that if I become a seat-holder I shall be expected to be converted?" "Yes," was the reply, "I hope you will, and I pray that it may be so. Do you object?" The answer was, "O Sir, I desire it above everything." Was not the man hastened by the general feeling of hopefulness which pervaded the Church? Assuredly there is much in the atmosphere which surrounds a man. Among warmhearted Christians it is hard for the careless to remain indifferent.

II

Genesis 32:28—"As a prince have you power with God."

Power with God is a sublime attainment: it leads to the possession of every form of power. No wonder that it is added "and with men." When Jacob had prevailed with God he had no reason to fear Esau. Observe that it is the power of a single individual, exhibited in a time of deep distress: how much more power will be found where two or three agree in prayer! Let us note,—

I. What this power cannot be.

Cannot be physical force. "Have you an arm like God?" Job 40:9.

Cannot be mental energy. "Declare if you have understanding": Job 38:4.

Cannot be magical. Some seem to fancy that prayers are charms, but this is idle. "He makes diviners mad": Isaiah 44:25. "Use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do": Matthew 6:7.

Cannot be meritorious. "Is it gain to him that you make your ways perfect?" Job 22:3. "If you be righteous, what give you him?" Job 35:7.

Cannot be independent. It must be given by the Lord. "Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me": Job 23:6.

II. Whence this power proceeds.

1. It arises from the Lord's nature: his goodness and tenderness are excited by the sight of our sorrow and weakness. A soldier about to kill a child put aside his weapon when the little one cried out, "Don't kill me, I am so little."

2. It comes out of God's promise. In his covenant, in the gospel, and in the Word, the Lord puts himself under bonds to those who know how to plead his truth and faithfulness. "Put me in remembrance; let us plead together": Isaiah 43:26.

3. It springs out of the relationships of grace. A father will surely hear his own children. A friend will be true to his friend. Story of the power of a child in Athens who ruled his mother and through her his father who was the chief magistrate, and so controlled the whole city; love thus made a babe to have power over a prince and his people. The love of God to us is our power with him.

4. It grows out of the Lord's previous acts. His election of his people is a power with him since he is unchanging in his purposes. Redemption, regeneration, calling, communion, are all arguments for our final preservation, for mercy will not forsake that which wisdom has commenced. Each blessing draws on another like links of a chain. Past mercies are the best of pleas for present and future aid.

III. How can it be exercised.

1. There must be a deep sense of weakness, "When I am weak then am I strong": 2 Corinthians 12:10.

2. There must be simple faith in the goodness of the Lord. "He who believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also" John 14:12. Faith is the prevailing grace,

"It treads on the world, and on Hell;

It vanquishes death and despair:

And, what is still stranger to tell,

It overcomes Heaven by prayer."

3. There must be earnest obedience to his will. "If any man does his will, him he hears": John 9:31.

4. There must be fixed resolve. "I will not let you go, except you bless me" (verse 26).

5. With this must be blended importunity. "There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (verse 24).

6. The whole heart must be poured out. "Yes he wept and made supplication": Hosea 12:4.

7. Increased weakness must not make us cease. Jacob was lame yet he prevailed. "The lame take the prey": Isaiah 33:23.

IV. To what use this power may be turned.

1. For ourselves.

For our own deliverance from special trial.

Our honorable preferment. "Your name shall be called Israel."

Our future comfort, strength, and growth, when, like Jacob, we are called to successive trials.

2. For others.

Jacob's wives and children were preserved, and Esau's heart was softened. If we had more power with God we should have a happier influence among our relatives.

In other instances, Abraham, Job, Moses, Samuel, Paul, &c., exercised power with God for the good of others.

We shall win souls for Jesus by this power. He who has power with God for men will have power with men for God.

O for a holy ambition to possess power with God!

If we have it, let us not lose it, but exercise it continually.

How terrible to have no power with God, but to be fighting against him with our puny arm!

Notes for Brightening

Jacob, though a man, a single man, a traveling man, a tired man, yes, though a worm, that is easily crushed and trodden under foot, and no man (Isaiah 41:14), yet in private prayer he is so potent, that he overcomes the Omnipotent God; he is so mighty, that he overcomes the Almighty. Thomas Brooks.

A stern father has been conquered by a tear in the eye of his daughter. An unwilling heart has relented and bestowed an alms at the sight of the disappointment caused by a refusal. Sorrow constrains to pity. When importunity takes the hand of grief, and the two go together to the gate of mercy, it opens of its own accord. Sincerity, earnestness, perseverance, confidence, and expectancy are all potent instruments of power with God.

How often have I seen a little child throw its arms around its father's neck, and win, by kisses and importunities and tears, what had else been refused. Who has not yielded to importunity, even when a dumb animal looked up in our face with suppliant eyes for food? Is God less pitiful than we?—Dr. Guthrie.

It were easy here to expatiate into a large history of the great exploits which prayer is renowned for in Holy Writ. This is the key that has opened and again shut Heaven. It has vanquished mighty armies, and unlocked such secrets as passed the skill of the very Devil himself to find out. It has strangled desperate plots in the very womb wherein they were conceived; and made those engines of cruelty prepared against the saints recoil upon the inventors of them; so that they have inherited the gallows which they did set up for others. At the knock of prayer prison-doors have opened, the grave has delivered up its dead; and the sea's leviathan, not able to digest his prey, has been made to vomit it up again. It has stopped the sun's chariot in the heavens, yes, made it to go back. And that which surpasses all, it has taken hold of the Almighty, when on his full march against persons and people, and has put him to a merciful retreat—W. Gurnall.

In a certain town (says the Rev. Mr. Finney), there had been no revival for many years; the church was nearly run out, the youth were all unconverted, and desolation reigned unbroken. There lived in a retired part of the town an aged man, a blacksmith by trade, and of so stammering a tongue that it was painful to hear him speak. On one Friday, as he was at work in his shop alone, his mind became greatly exercised about the state of the church, and of the impenitent. His agony became so great, that he was induced to lay aside his work, lock the shop door, and spend the afternoon in prayer. He prevailed, and on the Sabbath called in the minister and desired him to appoint a conference meeting. After some hesitation, the minister consented, observing, however, that he feared but few would attend. He appointed it the same evening, at a large private house. When evening came, more assembled than could be accommodated in the house. All were silent for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears, and said, if anyone could pray, he begged him to pray for him. Another followed, and another, and still another, until it was found that persons from every quarter of the town were under deep convictions. And what was remarkable, was that they all dated their conviction at the hour when the old man was praying in his shop. A powerful revival followed. Then this old stammering man prevailed, and as a prince, had power with God.

III

Genesis 32:29—"He blessed him there."

The main thing is to get a blessing. The angel did not gratify Jacob's curiosity when he asked his name; but he did bless him. May the same be the case with us at this time; even as it was with the disciples when they asked, "Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" and the Lord replied, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you." We need not know the future, but we do need power for the present.

I. What was Jacob's blessing in that place? "He blessed him."

1. He was saved from a great peril. Esau's attack. "For I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children" (verse 11).

2. He was forgiven a great wrong. His supplanting of Esau was condoned by his brother.

3. He was able to feel that a great breach was healed. "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept." Genesis 33:4.

4. He had won a new name and rank (verse 28). He was knighted on the spot, made a prince on the field.

5. He was now under a fresh anointing: he was a superior man ever after. "The angel redeemed him from all evil." Genesis 48:16.

II. What was the place? "He blessed him there."

1. A place of great trial (verses 6 and 7).

2. A place of humble confession. "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which you have showed to your servant" (verse 10).

3. A place of pleading (verses 1 and 12). "There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (verse 24).

4. A place of communion. "I have seen God face to face" (verse 30).

5. A place of conscious weakness. "As he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh."

All this is full of instruction to us, for we read in Hosea 12:4, "Yes, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spoke with us."

III. Are there other such places?

1. Before the earth was created the Lord blessed his chosen people in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1:3, 4.

See also Matthew 25:34: "Come, you blessed of my Father," etc.

2. At the cross, the tomb, and the throne of Jesus. "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Genesis 22:18.

3. In the heavenly places. "And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:6.

4. At conversion. "From this day will I bless you." "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven," etc. Psalm 32:1, 2.

5. In times of stripping, humbling, chastening, pleading, etc. "Blessed is the man that endures temptation," etc. James 1:12.

6. In times of prompt obedience. "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord," etc. Psalm 1.

"In keeping of them there is great reward."

7. At the ordinances. Acts 8:39. Luke 24:30, 31.

IV. Is this such a place?

Yes, if you are—

Willing to give up sin.

Willing to have Jesus for your all in all.

Willing to resign yourself to the Father's will.

Willing to serve God in his own way.

Go not away without a saving blessing. Believe for it. Wrestle for it. Only the Lord can give it, look to him alone for the blessing. What are means of grace unless the Lord blesses them, and blesses you in the use of them?

Remarks and Incidents

This blessing with which Christ here blessed Jacob was a divine blessing containing all other blessings within its affections. It was that blessing of the throne which comprehended in it the blessings of the foot-stool. Jacob had got already a great store of foot-stool mercies—much wealth, wives and children, etc. These worldly blessings would not (and indeed could not) content him: he tugs hard still, and must have some better mercy than these, even the throne mercy, to wit, peace with God; well knowing that this would bring peace with his brother, and all other good things; as Job says, "Acquaint now yourself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto you." Job 22:21. He knew that his power to prevail with Emmanuel himself would fill him with power to prevail with Esau. Christopher Ness.

It was with a young man a day of seeking, and he entered a little sanctuary and heard a sermon from "Look unto me and be you saved." He obeyed the Lord's command, and he blessed him there. Soon after he made a profession of his faith before many witnesses, declaring his consecration to the Lord, and he blessed him there. Anon he began to labor for the Lord in little rooms, among a few people, and he blessed him there. His opportunities enlarged, and by faith he ventured upon daring things for the Lord's sake, and he blessed him there. A household grew about him, and together with his loving wife he tried to train his children in the fear of the Lord, and he blessed him there. Then came sharp and frequent trial, and he was in pain and anguish, but the Lord blessed him there. This is that man's experience all along, from the day of his conversion to this hour: up hill and down dale his path has been a varied one, but for every part of his pilgrimage he can praise the Lord, for "he blessed him there."

I have here (said Mr. Fuller) two religious characters, who were intimately acquainted in early life. Providence favored one of them with a tide of prosperity. The other, fearing for his friend, lest his heart should be overcharged with the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches, one day asked him whether he did not find prosperity a snare to him. He paused and answered, "I am not conscious that I do, for I enjoy God in all things." Some years afterwards his affairs took another turn; he lost, if not the whole, yet the far greater part of what he had once gained, and by this disaster was greatly reduced. His old friend being one day in his company, renewed his question, whether he did not find what had lately befallen him to be too much for him. Again he paused and answered, "I am not conscious that I do, for now I enjoy all things in God." This was truly a life of faith. To him it was as true as to Jacob. "He blessed him there."—Arvine's Anecdotes.

IV

Genesis 33:9, 11—"Esau said, I have enough." "Jacob said, I have enough."

It is as rare as it is pleasing to meet with a man who has enough; the great majority are craving for more. Here we see two persons who were content. It is true they were both wealthy men, but these are often more greedy than the poor. To increase the wonder, we have here not only two men, but two brothers, and two brothers of dissimilar disposition, each saying "I have enough." Where shall we find two brothers like them? Surely their father's blessing was upon these contented twins. They were great wonders.

I. Here is an ungodly man who has enough.

Because Esau has other faults, there is no necessity that he should be discontented and grasping: contentment is a moral excellence as much as a spiritual grace. Unconverted men are sometimes contented with their lot in this life.

1. It is not always or often so: they are mostly a dissatisfied company.

2. It is sometimes so; as in the case of Esau.

This may arise from a want of energy.

Or from a naturally easy disposition, readily pleased.

Or from utter recklessness which only considers present pleasure.

3. It has some good points about it.

As preventing greed and the oppression which comes of it.

As often promoting a good-natured liberality, and the disposition to "live and let live."

4. Yet it has its evil side.

It leads men to boast of their wealth or acquirements who would not do so if they were craving for more.

It tends to breed a contempt for spiritual riches.

It may thus be a sign of having one's portion in this life.

II. Here is a godly man who has enough.

1. It is a pity that this is not true of every Christian man. Some appear to be eager after the world though they profess to be separated from it. This creates care, fretfulness, envy of heart and leanness of soul.

2. It is delightful to have enough. Contentment surpasses riches.

3. It is pleasant to have somewhat to spare for the poor; and this should be the aim of our labor: the apostle says (Ephesians 4:28) "Let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs."

4. It is blessed to have all this through our God. Jacob said, "God has dealt graciously with me, and I have enough."

5. It is best of all to have all things. In the margin we read that Jacob said, "I have all things." "All things are yours": 1 Corinthians 3:22.

All that the believer needs is promised in the Covenant.

All things in providence work together for his good.

In having God for his portion he has more than all.

Thus he has enough of strength and grace. Enough in Christ, in the Word, and in the Spirit. Enough in God's love, power and faithfulness, and an immeasurable supply in God himself, whose name is "God All-sufficient."

The child of God should be ashamed of discontent, since even a common sinner may be free from it.

He should be heartily satisfied; for he has all things, and what more can he desire? "O rest in the Lord": Psalm 37:7.

Illustrations

A poor Christian woman, who was breaking her fast upon a crust and a cup of water, exclaimed, "What! All this and Christ too!"

A Puritan preacher asking a blessing on a herring and potatoes, said, "Lord, we thank you that you have ransacked sea and land to find food for your children."

"The great cry with everybody is, 'Get on! get on!' just as if the world were traveling post. How astonished these people will be, if they arrive in Heaven, to find the angels, who are much wiser than they, laying no schemes to be made archangels!"—Maxims for Meditation.

"Is not the bee as well contented with feeding on the dew, or sucking from a flower, as the ox that grazes on the mountains? Contentment lies within a man, in the heart; and the way to be comfortable is not by having our barrels filled, but our minds quieted. The contented man (says Seneca) is the happy man.… Discontent robs a man of the power to enjoy what he possesses. A drop or two of vinegar will sour a whole glass of wine. T. Watson.

As a typical instance of the contentment of some unregenerate persons, note the following: "A captain of a whale-ship told one of the wretched natives of Greenland that he sincerely pitied the miserable life to which he was condemned. 'Miserable!' exclaimed the savage. 'I have always had a fish-bone through my nose, and plenty of train-oil to drink: what more could I desire?' "

V

Genesis 33:13—"And he said unto him, my Lord knows that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die."

Jacob could have kept pace with Esau had he been alone, but not with so many children and flocks. He did not expect Esau to travel at the slow rate which he was obliged to maintain, and therefore he desired to separate. Jacob, however, stated his reason plainly, and his brother felt the weight of it: if we must go different ways, let us cause our motive to be known, so that we may not be thought unkind. Matthew Henry says, "If friends cannot fall in with each other, they should see to it that they do not fall out." Jacob parted from his reconciled brother for the sake of his little ones, who were very dear to him.

I. Let us view Jacob as an example to us.

He displayed a tender consideration for the young and feeble; let us do the same. Let us consider,—

1. How we may overdrive?

Puzzling them with deep and controversial points of doctrine, and condemning them because they are not quite correct in their opinions. "Them that are weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations." Romans 14:1.

Setting up a standard of experience, and frowning at them because they have not felt all the sorrows or ecstasies which we have known.

Requiring a high degree of faith, courage, patience, and other graces which in their case can only be tender buds.

Preaching nothing but the severer truths, or constantly urging to duty by terrible threatenings while withholding the promises and the consolatory parts of the word.

Manifesting austerity of manner, suspicion, harshness, censoriousness of spirit, and contempt for weaker brethren.

Fault-finding and never commending. "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Colossians 3:21.

Dwelling always upon the trials, temptations, and woes of believers, and saying little about their joys and privileges.

In these and many other ways professed teachers show that they have need to go to school to Jacob to learn the shepherd's trade, and imitate his tender thoughtfulness.

2. Why we should not overdrive the lambs.

Common humanity forbids.

Our own experience when we were young should teach us better.

We may again become weak, and need great forbearance.

We love them too well to be hard with them.

Jesus thinks so much of them that we cannot worry them.

The Holy Spirit dwells in them, and we must be gentle towards the faintest beginning of his work.

We should be doing Satan's work if we did overburden them.

We should thus prove ourselves to have little wisdom and less grace. If we kill the lambs now, where shall we get our sheep from next year?

We dare not bear the responsibility of offending these little ones, for terrible woes are pronounced on those who do them wrong.

We remember how tender Jesus is: and this brings us to our second point.

II. Let us view Jacob as a picture of our Lord Jesus.

See his portrait in Isaiah 40:11. "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

1. The weak have a special place in his love.

2. He will not have it that any of them should die.

3. Therefore he never overdrives one of them.

4. But he suits his pace to their feebleness, "I will lead on softly."

Genesis 33:14. "I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now."

Has he not thus been very tender to us? "Your gentleness has made me great." Psalm 18:35.

Let us not fret and worry as though he were an exacter. We are not driven by Jehu, but led by Jesus. Let us rest in his love. At the same time let us not be slower than need be.

Towards others let us be tenderness itself, for we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Helpful Paragraphs

The Lord chooses under-shepherds for his flock among men subject to weakness and infirmity, that they may have a fellow-feeling for the feeble. Lelah Merrill, in his "East of the Jordan," describes the movement of an Arab tribe, and says, "The flocks of sheep and goats were mostly driven by small children. Sometimes there were flocks of lambs and kids driven by children not much older relatively than the lambs and kids themselves. Some of the men had in their arms two, three, four, or a whole armful of kids and lambs that were too young to walk; and among some cooking utensils there was a large saucepan, and in it was a pair of small kids that were too young for the journey."

When a candle is newly lighted and needs to be moved, it must be carried at a slow pace or it will be extinguished. A fire which is almost expiring may be revived by a gentle breath, but it will be blown out if the bellows are plied at their full force. You can drown a little plant by watering it too much, and destroy a lovely flower by exposing it to too much sun.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness: nothing so gentle as real strength. Francis de Sales.

Dr. Johnson declared that want of tenderness is want of parts, and that it is a proof of stupidity as well as of depravity.

At the Stockwell Orphanage the usual rule of walking is—little boys first. In this way the younger children cannot be overdriven or left behind, and moreover all the boys can see before them, whereas by the usual practice of putting the tall fellows first the view in front is shut out from all but the few who lead the way. Let the church have great care for the weaker brethren, and shape her action with a constant reference to them. A strong Christian might do a thousand things lawfully if he only thought of himself, but he will not do one of them because he wishes to act expediently, and would not grieve his brother, or cause him to stumble.

Even in our manner there should be tenderness. A truly kind act may be so performed as to cause as much grief as joy. We have heard of one who would throw a penny at a beggar and thus hurt him while relieving him. A heart full of love has a mode of its own by which its gifts are enhanced in value. There is enough misery in the world without our carelessly adding to it. Some persons are morbidly sensitive, and this is wrong on their part; but when we are aware of their failing we must be the more careful lest we cause them needless pain. A gouty man will cry out if we walk with heavy footstep across the room. Do we censure him for this? No, we pity him, and tread softly. Let us do the same for the sensitive.

VI

Genesis 41:56—"Joseph opened all the Storehouses."

The story of Joseph is full of interest; but it is chiefly useful to us as being marvelously typical of the life of our Lord Jesus.

Remark the bounty of providence in raising up Joseph to save the house of Israel, yes, and the whole world, from famishing. Then note the greatness of sovereign grace in raising up Jesus to save his people, and to be God's salvation to the ends of the earth.

Joseph had beforehand filled the vast storehouses, and our text shows us how he used the store, "Joseph opened all the storehouses." How much more has been done by Jesus! O to be partakers of his grace!

I. Joseph opened the Storehouses by Royal Authority.

1. The king was only to be approached through Joseph: "Go unto Joseph" (verse 55). So with Jesus. "No man comes unto the Father but by me": John 14:6.

2. The king commanded that Joseph should be obeyed: "What he says to you, do" (verse 55). "All men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father": John 5:23.

3. In all the land no other could open a storehouse save Joseph. "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand": John 3:35.

II. Joseph was a fit person to be thus authorized to open the Storehouses.

1. He planned the storehouses, and was justly appointed to control them. See verses 33 to 36. "Can we find such a one as this is?" (verse 38).

2. He carried out the storage, and so proved himself practical as well as inventive. "Joseph gathered corn as the sand" (verse 49).

3. He did it on a noble scale. He gathered corn "until he left numbering; for it was without number" (verse 49).

4. He had wisdom to distribute well

The parallel is easily drawn, for our Lord Jesus is that Housekeeper, one of a thousand, who has provided for our soul's famine; "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and of his fullness have all we received": Colossians 1:19; John 1:16.

III. Joseph actually opened the Storehouses.

1. For this purpose he filled them. Grace is meant to be used.

2. To have kept them closed would have been no gain to him.

3. He opened them at a fit time: "All the land of Egypt was famished"; "the famine was over all the face of the earth" (verses 55, 56).

4. He kept them open while the famine lasted. They were never closed while a hungering applicant drew near.

The corn held out through all the famine years.

The places of storage were convenient (verse 48).

There were appointed hours for distribution.

And proper arrangements to control and regulate the crowds.

All this is far exceeded in Jesus the Antitype, in whom a fulness-abides; who is ever near us; to whom we may come daily; and in whom every seeker finds a ready supply.

IV. Joseph opened the Storehouses to all Comers.

1. There was a special eye to Israel, "God sent me before you to preserve you"; but Joseph was also "a father unto Pharaoh," and the preserver of many nations.

2. It was a privilege to dwell near the granaries; but it would have been a dreadful thing if any had died within sight of them. Beware of being "hearers only." Read 2 Kings 7:19.

3. Yet many people came from far for food: "All countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn" (verse 57).

4. We read of none being sent empty away.

Yet Joseph did but sell while Jesus gives without money. Will you not come to him for heavenly bread?

V. Joseph acquired possession of all Egypt for the King.

The Egyptians gladly yielded their money, their lands, and their persons to Pharaoh, that their lives might be preserved. Even thus we surrender ourselves, our substance, our abilities, our time, our all to the Lord. Joseph's policy seems hard, but the design of Jesus is love itself. Our full submission and consecration are the grand result of infinite love.

Windows for Light

"This is the only hope of Egypt and all lands:—Joseph is exalted. Joseph is in authority. The residue of whatever supply may be available is with him. He has in his hands the keys. 'All countries came into Egypt to Joseph, for to buy corn' (verse 57). A perishing world hangs on this great fact, that Joseph reigns."—Dr. Candlish.

Dr. Conyers was for some years a preacher before he had felt the power of the gospel. As he was reading his Greek Testament he came to Ephesians 3:8: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." "Riches of Christ"! said he to himself, " 'Unsearchable riches of Christ'! What have I preached of these? What do I know of these?" Under the blessing of the Spirit of God he was thus awakened to a new life and a new ministry. Are there not some yet living who might put to their own consciences similar questions?

William Bridge says, "There is enough in Jesus Christ to serve us all. If two, or six, or twenty men be athirst, and they go to drink out of a bottle, while one is drinking, the other envies, because he thinks there will not be enough for him too; but if a hundred be athirst, and go to the river, while one is drinking, the other envies not, because there is enough to serve them all."

All the spiritual blessings with which the Church is enriched are in and by Christ. The apostle instances some of the choicest: Ephesians 1:3. Our election is by him (verse 4). Our adoption is by him (verse 5). Our redemption and remission of sins are both through him. All the gracious transactions between God and his people are through Christ. God loves us through Christ; he hears our prayers through Christ; he forgives us all our sins through Christ. Through Christ he justifies us; through Christ he sanctifies us; through Christ he upholds us; through Christ he perfects us. All his relations to us are through Christ; all we have is from Christ; all we expect to have hangs upon him. He is the golden hinge upon which all our salvation turns. Ralph Robinson.

If any of the people of Egypt had refused to go to Joseph, they would have despised not Joseph only, but the king; and would have deserved to be denied that sustenance which he only could give them. Are not the despisers of our great Redeemer in like manner despisers of his Father who has set him as his King upon the holy hill of Zion?… If Joseph had thrown open his storehouses before the Egyptians felt the pressure of hunger, they might soon have wasted the fruits of his prudent care.… Hunger, though very unpleasant, is often more useful than fullness of bread. They were very willing to give the price demanded for their food as long as their money lasted. What is the reason why so many are unwilling to come and receive wine and milk without money and without price? They feel no appetite for it. They are not sensible of their need of it—George Lawson.

VII

Genesis 49:8—"Judah, you are he whom your brethren shall praise: your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; your father's children shall how down before you."

We shall use Judah as a type of our Lord Jesus, who sprang out of Judah, who is the heir of the royal house of David, and the Shiloh to whom the gathering of the people shall be (verse 10). We use both the man Judah and the tribe of Judah in the parallel.

I. Judah's praise. "You are he whom your brethren shall praise."

They who know him best, to whom he is nearest in relationship, for whom he is most concerned, praise him most.

1. He is first in intercession.

This is his covenant blessing. "Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah." Deuteronomy 32:7.

This he proved in intercession with his father, Jacob. Genesis 43:3.

And in pleading with Joseph when he would have detained Benjamin. How touchingly he spoke! how earnestly he offered himself as a substitute! Genesis 44:14.

2. He is first in wisdom.

To Judah belonged the man who was filled with the spirit of God, by whom the tabernacle in the wilderness was erected. "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship." Exodus 31:2, 3.

To Judah came the legislative power. "Judah is my lawgiver." Psalm 60. "The scepter shall not depart from Judah" (verse 10).

3. He takes precedence in offering.

He who offered his offering the first day was of the tribe of Judah. See Numbers 7:12.

4. He takes precedence in march.

In descent or ascent, in battle or in progress, in the first place went the standard of Judah. Read Numbers 10:14, Judges 1:2.

5. In all things he has the pre-eminence.

David was chosen of the Lord to be king. "He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah." Psalm 78:67, 68.

II. Judah's triumphs abroad. "Your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies."

Illustrate by life of David—

He passed through severe conflicts. Read 1 Samuel 17:34–36.

He gained great victories. 2 Chronicles 13:14.

He founded a peaceful empire.

He utterly crushed the forces of his foes, and broke the neck of all opposition.

So has our Lord done by his life, death, resurrection, reigning power, and second coming.

III. Judah's honors at home. "Your father's children shall bow down before you."

1. He became the Head of the family.

2. He was clothed with lion-like power. "He couched as a lion, and as an old lion." See verse 9. "The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed." Rev. 5:5.

3. He is the center of our assembling. "To him shall the gathering of the people be" (verse 10).

4. His glory is his meekness. "Binding his foal," etc. (verse 11). "Your King comes, meek and sitting upon a colt the foal of an donkey." Matthew 21:5.

5. The wine bath at his first and second advent, makes him lovely in our eyes. Note verses 11 and 12; also "I have trodden the wine-press alone." Isaiah 63:1–3.

6. He is King to us forever. Hallelujah. See Hosea 11:12. "Ephraim compasses me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet rules with God."

Are we among the foes against whom he fights as a lion? Let us beware how we rouse him up (verse 9).

Are we among his friends for whom he fights? Let us praise him with all our hearts, and now bow down before him. Are we not his Father's children?

Do we hunger and thirst after heavenly food? See in the 12th verse how abundant are wine and milk with him.

Suggestions

There is abundance of suggestiveness in the text for three sermons from the one verse which we have selected as a text, and the following verses are peculiarly rich. Judah's name signifies praise; Judah in the person of David became the leader of praise. "God is praised for him, in him, and by him; and therefore his brethren shall praise him." See both the lion rampant and the lion couchant in our Lord Jesus, who, having spoiled principalities and powers, has gone up as a Conqueror and has couched down at the right hand of the divine majesty. "The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed."

Rutherford often cried, "O for a well-tuned harp!"

The following extract from Thomas Brooks may help the preacher to a measure of variety in setting forth our Lord's claim to our praise. "Christians, remember this, all the causes of prizing persons and things are eminently and only in Christ; therefore, set a very, very high price upon the Lord Jesus. You prize some for their beauty; why, the Lord Jesus Christ is the fairest among the children of men, Psalm 45:1, 2; Canticles 5:10, 'My beloved is white and ruddy, the chief;' or, the standard-bearer, 'among ten thousand.' You prize others for their strength: Isaiah 26:4, 'Trust you in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.' You prize others for bearing their father's image; why, the Lord Jesus is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person: Hebrews 1:3. You prize others for their wisdom and knowledge; such a one is a very wise man, you say, and therefore you prize him; and such a one is a very knowing man, and therefore you prize him; why, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ: Colossians 2:3. The truth is, all those perfections and excellencies that are in all angels and men, are all epitomized in Christ. All the angels in Heaven have but some of those perfections that be in Christ. All wisdom, and all power, and all goodness, and all mercy, and all love, &c., is in no glorified creature; no, not in all glorified creatures put together. But now in Christ all these perfections and excellencies meet, as all water meets in the sea, and as all light meets in the sun. Others you prize for their usefulness; the more useful persons and things are, the more you prize and value them. The Lord Jesus Christ is of universal use to his people; why, he is the right eye of his people, without which they cannot see; and the right hand of his people, without which they cannot do, etc. He is of singular use to all his people. He is of use to weak saints, to strengthen them; and he is of use to doubting saints, to confirm them; and he is of use to dull saints, to quicken them; and he is of use to falling saints, to support them; and he is of use to wandering saints, to recover them. In prosperity he is of use to keep his saints humble and watchful, spotless, and fruitful; and in adversity he is of use to keep them contented and cheerful. All which should very much engage our hearts to prize this Christ."

VIII

Exodus 12:3, 4—"They shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb."

The lamb was to be eaten, all eaten, eaten by all, and eaten at once. The Lord Jesus is to be received into the soul as its food, and this is to be done with a whole Christ, by each one of his people, and done just now. The whole subject of the Passover is rich in instruction; we will confine ourselves to the particulars within this verse.

I. The Text reminds us of a Primary Privilege.

1. That each man of Israel ate the Passover for himself; "every man according to his eating." So do we feed upon Jesus, each one as his appetite, capacity, and strength enable him to do.

2. But this same delicious fare should be enjoyed by all the family: "a lamb for an house." Oh, that each of the parents, and all the children and servants may be partakers of Christ! By teaching, training, prayer, and holy example, this favor may be secured, for the Holy Spirit will add his blessing.

Let not these two favors be despised. Let no man be content without personal salvation, nor without the salvation of his whole house. We have both promised in that famous text, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house."

II. The Text is silent as to a Certain Contingency.

1. The lamb was never too little for the family; and assuredly the Lord Jesus is never too little even for the largest families, nor for the most sinful persons.

2. There is no reason to stint our prayers for fear we ask too much.

3. Nor to stay our labors because the Lord Jesus cannot give us strength enough, or grace enough.

4. Nor to restrain our hopes of salvation for the whole family because of some supposed narrowness in the purpose, provision, or willingness of the Lord to bless.

"Every man according to his eating" may feast to the full upon Christ. Every believing sinner may take Christ to himself, and there is no fear that one will be refused, for "it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell."

III. The Text mentions a Possibility, and Provides for it.

There may be a want of persons to feed upon the Lamb, though there can be no lack of food for them to feed upon. The last thing that was supplied to the great marriage feast was guests. The oxen and the fatlings were killed, and all things were ready, long before "the wedding was furnished with guests."

1. One family is certainly too small a reward for Jesus—too little for the lamb.

2. One family is too little to render him all the praise, worship, service, and love which he deserves.

3. One family is too little to do all the work of proclaiming the Lamb of God, maintaining the truth, visiting the church, winning the world. Therefore let us call in the neighbor next unto our house.

Our next neighbor has the first claim upon us.

He is the most easy to reach, and by each calling his next neighbor all will be reached.

He is the most likely person to be influenced by us.

At any rate there is the rule, and we are to obey it. "Beginning at Jerusalem": Luke 24:47. We read of Andrew, "he first finds his own brother Simon": John 1:41. Those who repaired Jerusalem built every man over against his own house. Nehemiah 3:28.

If our neighbor does not come when invited, we are not responsible; but if he perished because we did not invite him, blood-guiltiness would be upon us. "If you do not speak … his blood will I require at your hand."—Ezekiel 33:8.

IV. The whole Subject suggests Thoughts upon Neighborly Fellowship in the Gospel.

1. It is good for individuals and families to grow out of selfishness, and to seek the good of a wide circle.

2. It is a blessed thing when the center of our society is "the Lamb."

3. Innumerable blessings already flow to us from the friendships which have sprung out of our union in Jesus. Church fellowship has been fruitful in this direction.

4. Our care for one another in Christ helps to realize the unity of the one body, even as the common eating of the Passover proclaimed and assisted the solidarity of the people of Israel as one nation. This spiritual union is a high privilege.

5. Thoroughly carried out, Heaven will thus be foreshadowed upon earth, for there love to Jesus and love to one another is found in every heart.

Let us be personal in our piety, and never be put off with a mere national religion or family profession.

Let us be generous in our religion, and never neglect our families, our friends, or the neighborhood in which we dwell.

Things of Interest

A little boy asked his mother which of the characters in The Pilgrim's Progress she liked best. She replied, "Christian, of course; he is the hero of the whole story." Her son said, "I don't, mother, I like Christiana best; for when Christian went on his pilgrimage he started alone, but when Christiana went she took the children with her."

"The Lord said unto Noah, come you and all your house into the ark." True religion thinks of the house. I once knew a man who walked a long distance to hear what he called "the truth." Neither his wife nor any of his children went to any place of worship, and when he was asked about them by me, he told me that "the Lord would save his own;" to which I could not help replying that the Lord would not own him. For this he demanded a warrant, and I gave him this:—"He who provides not for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." Does God acknowledge such persons as his elect?

A man was going to his work one morning, when he was told that the river had burst its banks, and was sweeping down the valley, carrying death and destruction wherever it went. His informant did not seem much concerned about the matter, but the brave workman immediately rushed off down to the lower part of the valley, shouting, "If that's so, somebody has got to let the people know." By his timely warning he saved the lives of many people.

Eating together is one of the most effectual symbols of fellowship; hence the Passover and the Lord's Supper remind us of our oneness in Christ. Never let us eat our morsel alone. When we eat the fat and drink the sweet, let us joyfully send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared.

IX

Exodus 14:15—"Wherefore cry you unto me?"

There may come a time when this question needs to be asked even of a Moses. There is a period when crying should give place to action: when prayer is heard and the Red Sea is dividing, it would be shameful disobedience to remain trembling and praying. Therefore Moses must lift his rod and speak to the children of Israel that they go forward. Every fruit of the Spirit comes in its season, and is then most precious: out of season, even prayer comes not to perfection. Ask, by all means; but prepare yourself to receive. Seek earnestly; but do not hold back when the hour arrives for you to find. Knock, and knock again; but hasten to enter as soon as the door is open.

When we ought to believe that we have the mercy, why do we continue to cry for it as though we had not obtained it? When increased faith is all that is wanted, why are we seeking the blessing which God places within reach of our faith? When duty is quite clear, why hesitate to perform it and make prayer an excuse for our delay?

The question should be asked of all who pray, "Wherefore cry you unto me?"

I. Sometimes the Answer will be Very Unsatisfactory.

1. Because I was brought up to do so. Some have perpetrated gross hypocrisy through repeating forms of prayer which they learned in childhood. We have heard of one who prayed for his father and mother in his old age. John 4:24.

2. It is a part of my religion. These pray as a Dervish dances or a Fakir holds his arm aloft; but they know nothing of the spiritual reality of prayer. Matthew 6:7.

3. It is a right thing to do. So indeed it is if we pray aright; but the mere repetition of pious words is vanity. Is. 29:13.

4. I feel easier in my mind after it. Ought you to feel easier? May not your formal prayers be a mockery of God, and so an increase of sin? Is. 1:12–15. Ezekiel 20:31.

5. I think it meritorious and saving. This is sheer falsehood, and a high offence against the merit and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.

II. Sometimes the Answer will betray Ignorance.

1. When it hinders immediate repentance. Instead of quitting sin and mourning over it, some men talk of praying. "To obey is better than sacrifice," and better than supplication.

2. When it keeps from faith in Jesus. The gospel is not "pray and be saved"; but "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." Matthew 7:21. John 6:47.

3. When we suppose that it fits us for Jesus. We must come to him as sinners, and not set up our prayers as a sort of righteousness. Luke 18:11, 12.

4. When we think that prayer alone will bring a blessing.

III. Sometimes the Answer will be Quite Correct.

1. Because I must. I am in trouble, and must pray or perish. Sighs and cries are not made to order, they are the irresistible outbursts of the heart. Psalm 42:1. Romans 8:26.

2. Because I know I shall be heard, and therefore I feel a strong desire to deal with God in supplication. "Because he has inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him": Psalm 116:2.

3. Because I delight in it: it brings rest to my mind, and hope to my heart. It is a sweet means of communion with my God. "It is good for me to draw near to God": Psalm 73:28.

4. Because I feel that I can best express the little faith and repentance I have by crying to the Lord for more.

5. Because these grow as I pray. No doubt we may pray ourselves into a good frame if God the Holy Spirit blesses us.

6. Because I look for all from God, and therefore I cry to him. Psalm 62:5. He will be inquired of by us. Ezekiel 36:37.

Where must those be who depend upon their own prayers?

What are those who live without prayer?

What are those who can give no reason for praying, but superstitiously repeat words without heart?

Cases in Point, etc.

An anxious enquirer to whom I had plainly put the great gospel command, "Believe in the Lord Jesus," constantly baffled my attempts to lead her out of self to Christ. At last she cried out, "Pray for me! pray for me!" She seemed greatly shocked when I replied, "I will do nothing of the kind. I have prayed for you before; but if you refuse to believe the word of the Lord, I do not see what I can pray for. The Lord bids you believe his Son, and if you will not do so, but persist in making God a liar, you will perish, and you richly deserve it." This brought her to her bearings. She begged me again to tell her the way of salvation, she quietly received it as a little child, her frame quivered, her face brightened, and she cried, "Sir, I can believe, I do believe, and I am saved. Thank you for refusing to comfort me in my unbelief." Then she said very softly, "Will you not pray for me now?" Assuredly I did, and we rejoiced together that we could offer the prayer of faith.

A good illustration of the need of following up prayer by effort may be found in the following anecdote:—

A scholar was remarkable for repeating her lessons well. Her school-fellow, rather idly inclined, said to her one day, "How is it that you always say your lessons so perfectly?" She replied, "I always pray that I may say my lessons well." "Do you?" said the other; "well then, I will pray, too": but alas! the next morning she could not even repeat a word of her usual task. Very much confounded, she ran to her friend, and reproached her as deceitful: "I prayed," said she, "but I could not say a single word of my lesson." "Perhaps," rejoined the other, "you took no pains to learn it." "Learn it! Learn it! I did not learn it at all," answered the first, "I thought I had no occasion to learn it, when I prayed that I might say it." The mistake is a very common one.

In a great thaw on one of the American rivers, there was a man on one of the cakes of ice, which was not yet actually separated from the unbroken mass. In his terror, however, he did not see this, but knelt down and began to pray aloud for God to deliver him. The spectators on the shore cried loudly to him, "Man, man, stop praying, and run for the shore." So I would say to some of you, "Rest not in praying, but believe in Jesus."—Quoted in "The Christian," 1874.

On one occasion, when Bunyan was endeavoring to pray, the tempter suggested "that neither the mercy of God, nor yet the blood of Christ, at all concerned him, nor could they help him by reason of his sin; therefore it was vain to pray." Yet he thought with himself, "I will pray." "But," said the tempter, "your sin is unpardonable." "Well," said he, "I will pray." "It is to no boot," said the adversary. And still he answered, "I will pray." And so he began his prayer, "Lord, Satan tells me that neither your mercy nor Christ's blood is sufficient to save my soul. Lord, shall I honor you most by believing you will and can? or him, by believing you neither will nor can? Lord, I would gladly honor you by believing that you can and will." And while he was thus speaking, "as if someone had clapped him on the back," that scripture fastened on his mind, "O man, great is your faith."

"Seek you your God alone by prayer,

And you shall doubt—perhaps despair;

But seek him also by endeavor,

And you shall find him gracious ever."

X

Exodus 32:26—"Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him."

Israel had rebelled against Jehovah, and had set up the golden calf. Moses appeared among them, and in great wrath threw down their idol and rebuked Aaron. The people were awe-struck by the presence of the servant of the Lord, and sought their tents, save only a number of the more hardened who brazened it out. Moses, feeling that this great rebellion must be crushed and punished, summoned the faithful to his standard, and those who came were of the tribe of Levi. These, with stern fidelity, fulfilled their mission, and hence were made teachers of Israel forever. Decision is that which the Lord looks for in his ministers, and when he sees it he will reward it. Remember the blessing of Levi, in Deut 33. "And of Levi he said, Let your Thummin and your Urim be with your holy one, whom you did prove at Massah, and with whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah; Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant. They shall teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law: they shall put incense before you, and whole burnt sacrifice upon your altar."

All true men ought to be decided, for a dreadful conflict is going on at this present day, and a curse will fall on neutrals.

I. The Conflict, and which is the Lord's Side.

Belief in God against Atheism and other forms of unbelief.

Scripture in opposition to false philosophy and "modern thought."

The gospel versus superstition.

Christ versus self-righteousness.

The commands of God versus self-pleasing.

Holiness and right, against sin and oppression.

II. The Lord's Friends and What They Must Do.

They must own their allegiance openly. "Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord," verse 29.

They should come out and rally to the standard: "Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me." We do this by open union with the church, by boldly rebuking sin, by testifying for truth, by not conforming to the world, and by conforming to Christ our Lord. 2 Corinthians 8:5.

They must be willing to be in a minority: one tribe against eleven, if need be.

They must become aggressive. "Put every man his sword by his side" (verse 27).

Their zeal must overmaster nature's ties. "Neither did he acknowledge his brethren," etc. Deuteronomy 33:9.

They must do what they are bidden. "And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses": Exodus 32:28.

III. The Lord's Host and its Encouragements.

Their cause is that of right and truth. A good cause is a firm foundation and a powerful stimulus of valor.

It is the cause of the Almighty God. "They have observed your word, and kept your covenant": Deuteronomy 33:9.

Christ himself is our Captain. Who can hesitate with such a Chieftain? "A leader and commander for the people": Is. 55:4.

The Angels are with us. Horses of fire and chariots of fire are round about the Lord's servants. 2 Kings 6:17.

Thousands of the best of men have been on this side. Hebrews 12:1.

It is the side of conscience, and of a clean heart.

It is that side of the warfare which ends in Heaven and victory, world without end. Rev. 19:14.

IV. The Question of the Text, and Proposals for Enlistment.

Take the shilling:—by faith receive the promise.

Put on the colors:—by confessing Christ openly in baptism.

Submit to drill:—be willing to learn, and yield to discipline.

Put on the regimentals:—wear the garments of holiness, the livery of love, the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6:13–18.

Gird on your sword:—"The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Enter on civil war first. Wage war within your own soul. Slay sin, conquer self, cast down high looks, etc.

March to the field. Fight with falsehood, superstition, cruelty, oppression, drunkenness, impurity, and sin of every sort, anywhere and everywhere.

Illustrative Extracts

"We trust the Lord is on our side, Mr. Lincoln," said the speaker of a delegation of Christian people to that good man, during one of the darkest days of the American Civil War. "I do not regard that as so essential as something else," replied Mr. Lincoln. The worthy visitors looked horror-struck, until the President added: "lam most concerned to know that we are on the Lord's side."

Mr. Lincoln was right The right side is not my side or your side. The Lord's side is the place to which every one of us should rally. His banner has right, truth, love, and holiness written on it Be sure you stand up for God's banner, even if you stand alone.

Guizot, in his life of St. Louis of France, says that the latter had many vassals who were also vassals of the King of England, and that many subtle and difficult questions arose as to the extent of the service which they owed to these kings. At length the French king commanded all those nobles who held lands in English territory to appear before him, and then he said to them, "As it is impossible for any man living in my kingdom and having possessions in England rightly to serve two masters, you must either attach yourselves altogether to me, or inseparably to the King of England." After saying this, he gave them a certain day by which to make their choice.

"The Son of God goes forth to war,

A kingly crown to gain;

His blood-red banner streams afar:

Who follows in his train?" etc.

"Set down my name, Sir." According to Bunyan, these were the words of the man who fought his way into the palace, and who was welcomed with the song—

"Come in, come in,

Eternal glory you shall win."

A dear friend of mine, the head of a family of grown-up sons and daughters, lately passed away very suddenly. The day before he died, all the members of the household were with him, including one who had recently, like the rest, experienced the power of saving grace. The father's joy was great, as he put his hand upon one after another of his offspring, saying with an overflowing heart, "And this one on the Lord's side!—and this one on the Lord's side!" How would it be with our hearer should he have to stand at the death-bed of a godly parent? Would that parent rejoice over him because he is on the Lord's side?

11

Leviticus 4:29—"He Shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering."

Here we have an emblem of the way in which a sacrifice becomes available for the offerer. The same ceremony is commanded in chapter 4:4, 15, 24, 33, and in other places: it is therefore important and instructive.

The question with many souls is how to obtain an interest in Christ so as to be saved by him. Never could a weightier question be asked.

It is certain that this is absolutely needful; but alas, it has been fearfully neglected by many. In vain did Christ die if he is not believed in.

It ought to be attended to at once.

The text gives us a pictorial answer to the question,—How can Christ's sacrifice become available for me?

Let us learn,—

I. The Intent of the Symbol.

1. It was a confession of sin: else no need of a sin offering.

To this was added a confession of the desert of punishment, or why should the victim be slain?

There was also an abandonment of all other methods of removing sin. The hands were empty, and laid alone upon the sin offering.

Do this at the cross; for there alone is sin put away.

2. It was a consent to the plan of substitution.

Some raise questions as to the justice and certainty of this method of salvation; but he who is to be saved does not so, for he sees that God himself is the best judge of its rightness, and if he is content we may assuredly be so.

Substitution exceedingly honors the law, and vindicates justice.

There is no other plan which meets the case, or even fairly looks at it. Man's sense of guilt is not met by other proposals.

But this brings rest to the most tender conscience.

"What if we trace the globe around,

And search from Britain to Japan,

There shall be no religion found

So just to God, so safe to man."

3. It was an acceptance of the victim.

Jesus is the most natural substitute, for he is the second Adam, the second head of the race; the true ideal man.

He is the only person able to offer satisfaction, having a perfect humanity united with his Godhead.

He alone is acceptable to God; he may well be acceptable to us.

4. It was a believing transference of sin.

By laying on of hands sin was typically laid on the victim.

It was laid there so as to be no longer on the offerer.

5. It was a dependence—leaning on the victim.

Is there not a most sure stay in Jesus for the leaning heart?

Consider the nature of the suffering and death by which the atonement was made, and you will rest in it.

Consider the dignity and worth of the sacrifice by whom the death was endured. The glory of Christ's person enhances the value of his atonement. Hebrews 10:5–10.

Remember that none of the saints now in Heaven have had any other atoning sacrifice. "Jesus only" has been the motto of all justified ones. "He offered one sacrifice for sins forever": Hebrews 10:12.

Those of us who are saved are resting there alone; why should not you, and every anxious one?

II The Simplicity of the Symbol.

1. There were no antecedent rites. The victim was there, and hands were laid on it: nothing more. We add neither preface nor appendix to Christ: he is Alpha and Omega.

2. The offerer came in all his sin. "Just as I am." It was to have his sin removed that the offerer brought the sacrifice: not because he had himself removed it.

3. There was nothing in his hand of merit, or price.

4. There was nothing on his hand. No gold ring to indicate wealth; no signet of power; no jewel of rank. The offerer came as a man, and not as learned, rich, or honorable.

5. He performed no cunning legerdemain with his hand. By leaning upon it he took the victim to be his representative; but he placed no reliance upon ceremonial performances.

6. Nothing was done to his hand. His ground of trust was the sacrifice, not his hands. He desired his hand to be clean, but upon that fact he did not rest for pardon.

Come then, dear hearer, whether saint or sinner, and lean hard upon Jesus. He takes away the sin of the would. Trust him with your sin, and it is forever put away. Put forth now your hand, and adopt the expiation of the redeeming Lord as your expiation.

Anecdotes and Illustrations

A poor blind woman in Liverpool, after her conversion, committed many hymns to memory. She was an occasional attendant upon the old Earl of Derby, the grandfather of the present Earl. She repeated one of her hymns to him. The old Earl liked it, and encouraged her to repeat more. But one day, when repeating the hymn of Charles Wesley, "All you that pass by," she came to the words:—

"The Lord in the day of his anger did lay

Your sins on the Lamb, and he bore them away."

He said, "Stop, Mrs. Brass, don't you think it should be—

'The Lord in the day of his mercy did lay'?"

She did not think his criticism valid; but it proved that she was not repeating her verses to inattentive ears, and other indications showed that the blind woman was made a blessing to the dying nobleman. Paxton Hood's Life of Isaac Watts.

"When Christmas Evans was about to die, several ministers were standing round his bed. He said to them, 'Preach Christ to the people, brethren. Look at me: in myself I am nothing but ruin. But look at me in Christ; I am Heaven and salvation.' "

It is not the quantity of your faith that shall save you. A drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean. So a little faith is as true faith as the greatest. A child eight days old is as really a man as one of sixty years; a spark of fire is as true fire as a great flame; a sickly man is as truly living as a healthy man. So it is not the measure of your faith that saves thee—it is the blood that it grips to that saves you. As the weak hand of a child, that leads the spoon to the mouth, will feed it as well as the strong arm of a man; for it is not the hand that feeds thee—albeit, it puts the meat into your mouth, but it is the meat carried into your stomach that feeds you. So if you can grip Christ ever so weakly, he will not let you perish.… The weakest hands can take a gift as well as the strongest. Now, Christ is this gift, and weak faith may grip him as well as strong faith, and Christ is as truly your when you have weak faith, as when you have come to those triumphant joys through the strength of faith. Welsh.

The Puritans speak of faith as a recumbency, a leaning. It needs no power to lean; it is a cessation from our own strength, and allowing our weakness to depend upon another's power. Let no man say, "I cannot lean;" it is not a question of what you can do, but a confession of what you cannot do, and a leaving of the whole matter with Jesus. No woman could say, "I cannot swoon:" it is not a matter of power. Die into the life of Christ; let him be all in all while you are nothing at all.

12

Numbers 11:1—"And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp."

Rehearse the historical fact. Observe how the mischief began in the outskirts among the mixed multitude, and how the fire of the Lord burned in the uttermost parts of the camp. The great danger of the church lies in her camp-followers or hangers-on: they infect the true Israel. Hence the need of guarding the entrance of the church, and keeping up discipline within it. Grumbling, discontent, ungrateful complaining,—these are grievous offences against our gracious God.

We shall consider the subject in a series of observations.

I. A Dissatisfied Spirit causes Displeasure to the Lord.

1. This we might infer from our own feelings, when dependents, children, servants, or receivers of alms are always grumbling. We grow weary of them, and angry with them.

2. In the case of men towards God it is much worse for them to murmur, since they deserve no good at his hands, but the very reverse. "Wherefore does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" Lamentations 3:39; Psalm 103:10.

3. In that case also it is a reflection upon the Lord's goodness, wisdom, truth, and power. See the complaint in verses 4, 5, 6.

4. The evil lusting which attends the complaining proves its injurious character. We are ready for anything when we quarrel with God. 1 Corinthians 10:5–12.

5. God thinks so ill of it that his wrath burns, and chastisement is not long withheld. See verse 33 of this chapter, and other parts of Scripture.

II. A Dissatisfied Spirit fancies it would find Pleasure in Things denied it.

Israel had manna, but sighed for fish, cucumbers, melons, onions, etc.

But to set an imaginary value upon that which we have not—

1. Is foolish, childish, pettish.

2. Is injurious to ourselves, for it prevents our enjoying what we already have. It leads men to slander angels' food and call it "this light bread." It led Haman to think nothing of his prosperity because a single person refused him reverence. Esther 5:13.

3. Is slanderous towards God, and ungrateful to him.

4. Leads to rebellion, falsehood, envy, and all manner of sins.

III. A Dissatisfied Spirit finds no Pleasure for Itself even when its Wish is fulfilled.

The Israelites had flesh in superabundance in answer to their foolish prayers, but,—

1. It was attended with leanness of soul. Psalm 106:15.

2. It brought satiety;—"until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you" (verse 20).

3. It caused death. He "slew the fattest of them": Psalm 78:31.

4. It thus led to mourning on all sides. Kibroth Hattaavah, or, "the graves of lust," was the name of this station: verse 34.

IV. A Dissatisfied Spirit shows that the Mind needs Regulating.

Grace would put our desires in order, and keep our thoughts and affections in their proper places, thus:—

1. Content with such things as we have. Hebrews 13:5.

2. Towards other things moderate in desire. "Give me neither poverty nor riches." Proverbs 30:8.

3. Concerning earthly things which may be lacking, fully resigned. "Not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39.

4. First, and most eagerly, desiring God. "My soul thirsts for God," etc. Psalm 42:2.

5. Next, coveting earnestly the best gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:31.

6. Following ever in love the more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:31.

Helpful Notes

I have read of Caesar, that, having prepared a great feast for his nobles and friends, it fell out that the day appointed was so extremely foul that nothing could be done to the honor of their meeting; whereupon he was so displeased and enraged, that he commanded all them that had bows to shoot up their arrows at Jupiter, their chief God, as in defiance of him for that rainy weather; which, when they did, their arrows fell short of Heaven, and fell upon their own heads, so that many of them were very sorely wounded. So all our mutterings and murmurings, which are so many arrows shot at God himself, will return upon our own pates, or hearts; they reach not him, but they will hit us; they hurt not him, but they will wound us therefore, it is better to be mute than to murmur; it is dangerous to contend with one who is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29. Thomas Brooks.

God has much ado with us. Either we lack health, or quietness, or children, or wealth, or company, or ourselves in all these. It is a wonder the Israelites found not fault with the want of sauce to their quails, or with their old clothes, or their solitary way. Nature is moderate in her desires; but conceit is insatiable. Bp. Hall

Murmuring is a quarreling with God, and inveighing against him. "They spoke against God." Numbers 21:5. The murmurer says interpretatively that God has not dealt well with him, and that he has deserved better from him. The murmurer charges God with folly. This is the language, or rather blasphemy, of a murmuring spirit,—God might have been a wiser and a better God. The murmurer is a mutineer. The Israelites are called in the same text "murmurers" and "rebels" (Numbers 17:10); and is not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft? 1 Samuel 15:23. You that are a murmurer are in the account of God as a witch, a sorcerer, as one that deals with the devil. This is a sin of the first magnitude. Murmuring often ends in cursing: Micah's mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away. Judges 17:2. So does the murmurer when a part of his estate is taken away. Our murmuring is the devil's music; this is that sin which God cannot bear: "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me?" Numbers 14:27. It is a sin which whets the sword against a people; it is a land-destroying sin: "Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer." 1 Corinthians 10:10. T. Watson.

Losing our temper with God is a more common thing in the spiritual life than many suppose. F. W. Faber.

Life is a field of nettles to some men. Their fretful, worrying tempers are always pricking out through the tender skin of their uneasiness. Why, if they were set down in Paradise, carrying their bad mind with them, they would fret at the good angels, and the climate, and the colors even of the roses. Dr. Bushnell.

I dare no more fret than curse or swear. John Wesley.

A child was crying in passion, and I heard its mother say, "If you cry for nothing, I will soon give you something to cry for." From the sound of her hand, I gathered the moral that those who cry about nothing are making a rod for their own backs, and will probably be made to smart under it.

13

Deuteronomy 32:36—"For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left."

To ungodly men the time of their fall is fatal; there is no rising again for them. They mount higher and higher upon the ladder of riches; but at last they can climb no higher, their feet slide, and all is over. This calamity hastens on. "To me belongs vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste" (verse 35).

But it is not so with three characters of whom we will now speak: they are judged in this world that they may not be condemned hereafter (1 Corinthians 11:32). Of each of them it may be said, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down": Psalm 37:24.

I. The Lord's own Church.

1. A church may be sorely tried—"power gone, none left."

By persecution the faithful may be cut off. Psalm 107:39.

By removals, death, poverty, a church may be depleted to a painful extent. Is. 1:8, 9.

Through the lack of a faithful ministry, there may be no increase; and those who remain may grow feeble and dispirited.

By general falling off of hearers, members, &c., a church may be sorely distressed. Various circumstances may scatter a people, such as internal dissension, pestilent heresy, and lack of spiritual life. Where there is no spiritual food hungry souls find no home. Job 15:23.

2. But it may then cry to God.

If indeed his people, the covenant stands, and he will judge them.

If still his servants, the bond holds on his side, and he will repent himself for them.

His eye is ever upon them, and their eye should be up to him.

3. He will return and revive his own church. He who killed will make alive (verse 39). He pities his children when he sees them broken down under their sorrows.

4. Meanwhile the trial is permitted,—

To find out his servants and drive out hypocrites. Is. 33:14.

To test the faith of sincere saints, and to strengthen it.

To manifest his own grace by supporting them under the trying times, and by visiting them with future blessing.

To secure to himself the glory when the happier days are granted.

II. The tried believer.

1. His power may be gone. Personally he becomes helpless. Bodily health fails, prudence is baffled, skill is taken away, courage sinks, even spiritual force departs. Lamentations 3:17, 18.

2. His earthly help may fail. "There is none shut up or left." A man without a friend moves the compassion of God.

3. He may be assailed by doubts and fears, and hardly know what to do with himself. Job 3:23–26. In all this there may be chastisement for sin. It is so described in the context.

4. His hope lies in the compassion of God: he has no pleasure in putting his people to grief. "He will turn again, he will have compassion." Micah 7:19.

Such sharp trials may be sent because—

Nothing less would cure the evil hidden within. Is. 27:9.

Nothing less might suffice to bring the whole heart to God alone.

Nothing less might affect the believer's future life. Is. 38:16.

Nothing less might complete his experience, enlarge his acquaintance with the Word, and perfect his testimony for God.

III. The convinced sinner.

He is cleaned out of all that wherein he prided himself.

1. His self-righteousness is gone. He has no boasting of the past, or self-trust for the future. Job 9:30, 31.

2. His ability to perform acceptable works is gone. "Their power is gone." "Dead in trespasses and sins." Ephesians 2:1.

3. His secret hopes which were shut up are now all dead and buried.

4. His proud romantic dreams are gone. Is. 29:8.

5. His worldly delights, his bold defiance, his unbelief, his big talk, his carelessness, his vain confidence, are all gone.

6. Nothing is left but the pity of God. Psalm 103:13.

When the tide has ebbed out to the very uttermost, it turns.

The Prodigal had spent all before he returned.

Empty-handed sinners are welcome to the fullness of Christ.

Since the Lord repents of the sorrows of the desponding, they may well take heed and repent of their sins.

Notes in Aid

The Church in New Park Street was sadly reduced in numbers, and from the position of its Meeting-house there seemed no prospect before it, but ultimate dissolution; but there were a few in its midst who never ceased to pray for a gracious revival. The congregation became smaller and smaller, but they hoped on, hoped ever. Let it never be forgotten that when they were at their worst the Lord remembered them, and gave to them such a tide of prosperity that they have had no mourning, or doubting, but more than thirty years of continued rejoicing.

Man's extremity is God's opportunity.

Extremities are a warrant for importunities.

A man at his wit's end is not at his faith's end. Matthew Henry.

Grandly did the old Scottish believer, of whom Dr. Brown tells us in his Horæ Subsecivæ, respond to the challenge of her pastor, regarding the ground of her faith. "Janet," said the minister, "what would you say if after all he has done for you, God should let you drop into Hell?" "E'en's (even as) he likes," answered Janet: "if he does, he'll lose more than I'll do,"—meaning that he would lose his honour for truth and goodness. Therefore, the Lord cannot leave his people in the hour of their need.

"Every praying Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel."

He brings his people into a wilderness, but it is that he may speak comfortably to them; he casts them into a fiery furnace, but it is that they may have more of his company. T. Brooks.

A person who could not swim had fallen into the water. A man who could swim sprang in to save him. Instead, however, of at once taking hold of the struggling man, he kept at some distance from him until he had ceased struggling; he then laid hold of him, and pulled him ashore. Upon the people on the pier asking him why he did not at once take hold of the drowning person, he replied, "I could not attempt to save a man so long as he could try to save himself." The Lord acts thus towards sinners: they must cease from themselves, and then he will display the power of his grace upon them.

So long as a sinner has a moldy crust of his own he will not feed upon heavenly manna. They say that half a loaf is better than no bread; but this is not true, for on half a loaf men lead a starvation existence, but when they have no bread they fly to Jesus for the food which came down from Heaven. As long as a soul has a farthing to bless itself with, it will foolishly refuse the free forgiveness of its debts; but absolute poverty drives it to the true riches.

"'Tis perfect poverty alone

That sets the soul at large;

While we can call one mite our own

We get no full discharge."

14

Joshua 24:19 "And Joshua said unto the people, You cannot serve the Lord."

In answer to Joshua's challenge, the people had said, "We will serve the Lord, for he is our God." But Joshua knew them too well to trust them, and reminded them that they were undertaking what they could not perform. They did not believe him, but cried, "Nay, but we will serve the Lord"; but their after history proved the truth of Joshua's warning. God's word knows us better than we know ourselves. God's omniscience sees each part of our being as an anatomist sees the various portions of the body, and he therefore knows our moral and spiritual nature most thoroughly. A watchmaker is the best judge of a watch; and he who made man has the best knowledge of his condition and capacity. Let us dwell upon his verdict as to human ability.

I. The Certainty of the truth that Unrenewed Men cannot serve God.

It is not a physical but a moral inability, and this is not in their nature, but in their fallen nature; not of God, but of sin. It may be said that they could serve God if they liked; but in that "if" lies the hinge of the whole question. Man's inability lies in the want of moral power so to wish and will as actually to perform. This leaves him with undiminished responsibility; for he ought to be able to serve God, and his inability is his fault. Jeremiah 13:23.

1. The nature of God renders perfect service impossible to depraved men. "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God." See context.

2. The best they could render as unrenewed men would lack heart and intent, and therefore must be unacceptable. Without love and faith men cannot please God. What are the prayers, alms, and worshipings of a Christless soul? Is. 1:15.

3. The law of God is perfect, comprehensive, spiritual, far-reaching: who can hope to fulfill it? If a look may commit adultery, who shall in all points keep the law? Matthew 5:28.

4. The carnal mind is inclined to self-will, self-seeking, lust, enmity, pride, and all other evils. "It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Romans 8:7.

5. Let men try to be perfectly obedient. They will not try it. They argue for their ability, but they are reluctant enough to exert it.

II. The Discouragement which arises from this truth.

It is alleged that this will drive men to despair, and our reply is that the kind of despair to which it drives men is most desirable and beneficial.

1. It discourages men from an impossible task.

They might as well hope to invent perpetual motion as to present a perfect obedience of their own, having already sinned. If a man should try to hold up a ladder with his own hand, and at the same time climb to the top of it, he would have less difficulty than in causing his evil nature to attain to holiness.

2. It discourages from a ruinous course.

Self-righteousness is a deadly thing; it is a proud refusal of mercy, and a rebellion against grace. Self-confidence of any sort is the enemy of the Savior.

3. It discourages reliance upon ceremonies or any other outward religiousness, by assuring men that these cannot suffice.

4. It discourages from every other way of self-salvation, and thus shuts men up to faith in the Lord Jesus. Nothing better can befall them. Galatians 2:22, 23.

III. The Necessities of which we are reminded by this truth.

Unregenerate men, before you can serve God you need,—

A new nature, which only the Spirit of God can create in you: the old man cannot serve the Lord. An impure fountain must pour out foul streams. The tree must be made good, or the fruit will not be good.

Reconciliation. How shall an enemy serve his king? There must be forgiveness, friendship, mutual delight. God and you must be made friends through the Mediator, or else you cannot be the servant of God.

Acceptance. Until you are accepted, your service cannot please God. Only a perfect righteousness can make you accepted of a holy and jealous God; and none but Jesus can give you a complete justification.

Continued aid. This you must have to keep you in the way when once you are in it. 1 Samuel 2:9.; Jude 24–25.

If you cannot serve God as you are, yet trust him as he manifests himself in Christ Jesus; and do this just as you are.

This will enable you to serve him on better principles.

This change of your nature will be effected by the Holy Spirit, who will come and dwell in you.

This will fit you for Heaven, where "his servants shall serve him."

Striking Pieces

No wasp will make honey; before it will do that it must be transformed into a bee. A sow will not sit up to wash its face like the cat before the fire; neither will a debauched person take delight in holiness. No devil could praise the Lord as angels do, and no unregenerate man can offer acceptable service as the saints do.

Their inability was wholly of the moral kind. They could not do it because they were not disposed to do it, just as it is said of Joseph's brethren (Genesis 37:4) that they "could not speak peaceably unto him," so strong was their personal dislike to him.… But an inability arising from this source was obviously inexcusable, on the same grounds that a drunkard's inability to master his propensity for strong drink is inexcusable. In like manner, the "cannot" of the impenitent sinner, in regard to the performance of his duty, is equally inexcusable. George Bush, in Notes on Joshua.

The existence of sin within us entails on us certain consequences which we have no more power to evade than the idiot has power to change his look of idiocy; or the palsied hand has power to free itself from its torpor. B. W. Newton.

"A little girl when reproved by her mother for some fault, and told that she should teach her little brothers to do right, replied, 'How can I do right when there is no right in me?' Did not Paul make the same confession?" Romans 7:18.

"Man cannot be saved by perfect obedience, for he cannot render it; he cannot be saved by imperfect obedience, for God will not accept it."

A man deeply exercised about his soul was conversing with a friend on the subject, when the friend said, "Come at once to Jesus, for he will take away all your sins from your back." "Yes, I am aware of that"; said the other: "but what about my back?" I find I have not only sins to take away, but there is myself; what is to be done with that? And there is not only my back, but hands and feet, and head and heart are such a mass of iniquity that it's myself I want to get rid of before I can get peace. British Evangelist.

It is possible I may do an occasional service for one whose servant I am not, but it were mean that a great person should be served only by the servants of another lord. John Howe.

"Run, run, and work, the law commands,

But gives me neither feet nor hands;

But sweeter sounds the gospel brings,

It bids me fly, and gives me wings."

15

Judges 9:9—"But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?"

The fable teaches that temptations will come to us all, however sweet, or useful, or fruitful, even as they came to the fig, the olive, and the vine. These temptations may take the shape of offered honors; if not a crown, yet some form of preferment or power may be the bribe.

The trees were under God's government and wanted no king; but in this fable they "went forth," and so left their true place. Then they sought to be like men, forgetting that God had not made them to be conformed to a fallen race. Revolting themselves, they strove to win over those better trees which had remained faithful.

No wonder they chose the olive, so rich and honored; for it would give their kingdom respectability to have such a monarch; but the olive wisely declined, and gave its reason.

I. Apparent Promotions are not to be snatched at.

The question is to be asked, Should I? Let us never do what would be unfitting, unsuitable, unwise. Genesis 39:9.

Emphasis is to be laid on the I. Should I? If God has given me peculiar gifts or special grace, does it become me to trifle with these endowments? Should I give them up to gain honor for myself? Nehemiah 6:11.

A higher position may seem desirable, but would it be right to gain it by such cost? Jeremiah 45:5.

It will involve duties and cares. "Go up and down among the trees" implies that there would be care, oversight, traveling, etc.

These duties will be quite new to me; for, like an olive, I have been hitherto planted in one place. Should I run into new temptations, new difficulties, &c., of my own wanton will?

Can I expect God's blessing upon such strange work? Put the question in the case of wealth, honor, power, which are set before us. Should we grasp at them at the risk of being less at peace, less holy, less prayerful, less useful?

II. Actual Advantages are not to be trifled with.

"Should I leave my fatness?" I have this great blessing, should I lightly lose it?

It is the greatest advantage in life to be useful both to God and man. "By me they honor God and man." We ought heartily to prize this high privilege.

To leave this for anything which the world can offer would be great loss. "Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon?" etc. Jeremiah 18:14; 2:13.

Our possession of fatness meets the temptation to become a king. We are happy enough in Christ, in his service, with his people, and in the prospect of the reward. We cannot better ourselves by the move; let us stay as we are.

We may also meet it by the reflection,—

That the prospect is startling—"Shall I leave my fatness?" For an olive to do this would be unnatural: for a believer to leave holy living would be worse. John 6:68.

That the retrospect would be terrible—"leave my fatness." What must it be to have left grace, and truth, and holiness, and Christ? Remember Judas.

That even an hour of such leaving would be a loss. What would an olive do even for a day if it left its fatness?

That it would all end in disappointment; for nothing could compensate for leaving the Lord. All else is death. Jeremiah 17:13.

That to abide firmly and reject all baits is like the saints, the martyrs, and their Lord; but to prefer honor to grace is a mere bramble folly.

III. Temptation should be turned to account.

Let us take deeper root. The mere proposal to leave our fatness should make us hold the faster to it.

Let us be on the watch that we lose not our joy, which is our fatness. If we would not leave it, neither can we bear that it should leave us.

Let us yield more fatness, and bear more fruit: he who gains largely is all the further removed from loss. The more we increase in grace the less are we likely to leave it.

Let us feel the more content, and speak the more lovingly of our gracious state, that none may dare to entice us. When Satan sees us happily established he will have the less hope of over-throwing us.

Memoranda

Many to obtain a higher wage have left holy companionships, and sacred opportunities for hearing the word and growing in grace. They have lost their Sabbaths, left a soul-feeding ministry, and fallen among worldlings, to their own sorrowful loss. Such persons are as foolish as the poor Indians who gave the Spaniards gold in exchange for paltry beads. Riches procured by impoverishing the soul are always a curse. To increase your business so that you cannot attend week-night services is to become really poorer; to give up heavenly, pleasure, and receive earthly cares in exchange is a sorry sort of barter.

Sir Edward Coke, Chief Justice of England in the time of James I., was a man of noble spirit, and often incurred the displeasure of the king by his patriotism. On one occasion, when an unworthy attempt was made to influence his conduct, he replied, "When the case happens I shall do that which shall be fit for a judge to do." Oh, that all Christians in trying moments would act as shall be fit for followers of Christ to do!

In Tennyson's story of the village maiden, who became the wife of the Lord of Burleigh, we see how burdensome worldly honors may prove, even when though unsought they have been honorably gained.

"But a trouble weighed upon her,

And perplexed her, night and morn,

With the burden of an honor

Unto which she was not born."

"Were it not better to bestow

Some place and power on me?

Then should your praises with me grow,

And share in my degree.

How know I, if you should me raise,

That I should then raise you?

Perhaps great places and your praise

Do not so well agree."—

George Herbert.

Say not this calling and vocation to which God has appointed me if too small and insignificant for me. God's will is the best calling, and to be faithful to it is the worthiest. God often places great blessings in little things. Should your proud heart learn humility and resignation by this humble work, would you not have high wages for your low service?—From the German.

16

Ruth 1:16—"And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after you: for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge: your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

This is a brave, outspoken confession of faith, and it is made by a woman, a young woman, a poor woman, a widow woman, a foreigner. Her mother-in-law, ought to have been cheered, notwithstanding her sharp afflictions, because her great temporal loss was accompanied by a greater spiritual gain. She lost her home in Moab, but found the soul of her daughter. Naomi's return to her true place brought Ruth to a decision: when Christians become consistent, their children and friends frequently become converted.

I. Affection for the godly should influence us to godliness.

Many forces combine to effect this:—

1. There is the influence of companionship. We ought to be affected by godly people more than we are by the wicked, since we should lend ourselves to their influence.

2. The influence of admiration. Imitation is the most sincere praise: what we favor we follow. Let us therefore copy the saints.

3. The influence of instruction. When we learn from a teacher we are affected by him in many ways. Instruction is a kind of formation.

4. The influence of reverence. Those who are older, wiser, and better than we are create in us a profound respect, and lead us to follow their example.

5. The influence of desire to cheer them. This should lead many of us to be attentive to the word, willing to go with Christian friends to worship, and happy to hearken to their conversation; for we know that this will greatly please them.

6. The influence of fear of separation. It will be an awful thing to be eternally divided from the dear ones who seek our salvation; it is even painful to have to leave them at the Lord's Table, when they partake and we do not.

II. Resolves to godliness will be tested.

1. By the poverty of the godly and their other trials. Naomi was penniless, but Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you." Poor saints are often despised saints, and young people are apt to decline the religion of the poor.

2. By counting the cost. You yourself will have to come out from your friends, as Ruth did. You will have to share the lot of God's people, as Ruth shared with Naomi. Hebrews 11:24–26.

3. By the drawing back of others. Orpah turned back with a kiss, as many do who promised well for a time. The return of Pliable must not discourage Christian.

4. By the duties involved in religion. Ruth must work in the fields. Some proud people will not submit to the rules of Christ's house, nor to the regulations which govern the daily lives of believers.

5. By the apparent coldness of believers. Naomi does not persuade her to keep with her, but the reverse. She was a prudent woman, and did not wish Ruth to come with her by persuasion, but by conviction.

6. By the silent sorrow of some Christians. Naomi said, "Call me not Naomi, but call me Bitterness." Persons of a sorrowful spirit there always will be; but this must not hinder us from following the Lord.

III. Such godliness must mainly lie in the choice of God.

1. This is the believer's distinguishing possession. "Your God shall be my God."

2. His great article of belief. "I believe in God."

3. His ruler and lawgiver. "Make me to go in the path of your commandments." Psalm 119:38.

4. His instructor. "Teach me your way, O Lord." Ps 28:2.

5. His trust and stay. See Ruth 2:12. "This God is our God for ever and ever, he will be our guide even unto death." Psalm 48:14.

IV. But it should involve the choice of his people. "Your people shall be my people."

They are ill spoken of by the other kingdom.

Not all we could wish them to be.

Not a people out of whom much is to be gained.

But Jehovah is their God, and they are his people.

Our eternal inheritance is part and parcel of theirs.

A near kinsman is among them. The true Boaz is willing to take us to himself, and to redeem our inheritance.

Let us make deliberate, humble, firm, joyful, immediate choice for God and his saints; accepting their lodging in this world, and going with them where they are going.

What say our hearers to this? Will you cling to your godly relatives? Or do you now take another road, and so choose an end far removed from theirs?

Lights

Often have I met with cases where love to mother has created in the young bosom a desire to know mother's God. The idea of never seeing again a departed father has full often led children to seek the Lord. Is not human love a highly suitable means for heavenly love to use? Babes are induced to walk by their desire to be in their mother's arms; many have made their first essays at faith because they would gladly give a dear parent delight.

The converted freedman gave happy expression to his decided adhesion to Christ when he said, "I have got safe past de go-back corner. I'm going' all de journey home. And if you don't see me at de first of them twelve gates up dere, just look on to de next one, for I'm bound to be dere." Alas! for thousands in all our congregations; they never get by the "go-back corner."—Dr. Cuyler.

The power of Christian character shining forth from the face, form, and through the speech of a Christian man, is finely illustrated in the following incident:—An Afghan once spent an hour in the company of Dr. William Marsh, of England. When he heard that Dr. Marsh was dead, he said: "His religion shall now be my religion; his God shall be my God; for I must go where he is, and see his face again."

I know his sackcloth and ashes are better than the fool's laughter. Rutherford.

In a memoir of the Rev. G. G. Letters, it is stated that he was converted at a prayer-meeting one Sabbath evening. That same evening as his mother sat with her children by the fire, she talked of the delight it would give her if they, as one family, were traveling together on the King's highway. Suddenly, George sprang up, and looking around him, said, with calm resolute voice, "I, for one, have decided for Christ."—Wesleyan Methodist Magazine.

Open union with the people of God is most desirable. It would argue disloyalty in a soldier if he would not wear his regimentals, and refused to take his place in the ranks. True, he might fight alone, but it would probably turn out to be a sorry business. If God's people will not be ashamed of us we need not be ashamed of them. I should not like to go into a public assembly disguised in the dress of a thief; I prefer my own clothes, and I cannot understand how Christians can bear themselves in the array of worldlings.

17

1 Samuel 17:47—"And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."

There are always two ways of handling the same doctrine. The truth in the text may be used as a narcotic or as a stimulant Some are so wicked as to say that if it be the Lord's battle, we are excused from fighting: as if, seeing the harvest is the Lord's, we might justly refuse to sow or reap. We see how David used this truth: it fired his soul and nerved his arm. We are all battling on one side or the other, and the worst of all are those who boast their neutrality. To the Christian men these words are so true that he may emblazon them on his banner, and write them as the headline of "the book of the wars of the Lord."

I. The great fact: "The battle is the Lord's."

1. Inasmuch as it is for truth, right, holiness, love, and all those things which the Lord loves, the battle is the Lord's. Psalm 45:4.

2. His name and glory are the object of it. It is his honor to see righteousness established in the earth. The gospel greatly glorifies God: men strike at the divine honor when they oppose it, and the Lord will vindicate his own name; thus our conflict becomes God's battle. Isaiah 40:5.

3. We fight only by his power. The Holy Spirit is our strength; we can do nothing without the Lord: hence the battle is his in the highest degree. 2 Chronicles 13:12; 2 Chronicles 20:12.

4. He has bidden us fight. At our monarch's bidding we go upon this warfare. We are not free-lances on our own account, but warriors under his command. 1 Timothy 6:12.

5. He has bound himself to fight this battle. The reward promised to his Son, the covenant of grace, and the distinct pledges of his word, make it his battle. His fidelity is engaged to cause the Lord Jesus to divide the spoil with the strong. He must bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Romans 16:20.

6. When the battle is fully won, the glory will be unto the Lord alone. Psalm 98:1. "He has triumphed gloriously": Exodus 15:1.

II. Its influence on our minds.

1. We make light of opposition. Who can stand against the Lord?

2. We are not cowed by our weakness. "When I am weak then am I strong." The Lord will make us mighty in his own fight.

3. We throw ourselves into the work heartily. We owe so much to the Lord Jesus that we must fight for him. 1 Corinthians 16:13.

4. We choose the best weapons. We dare not fire the Lord's cannons with the devil's powder. Love, truth, zeal, prayer, and patience should be at their best in God's battle. 2 Corinthians 10:4.

5. We are confident of victory. Can the Lord be defeated? He vanquished Pharaoh, and he will do the same with Satan in due season. 1 Corinthians 15:25.

III. Lessons in connection with it.

Make it God's cause. Never let it sink into a selfish matter.

By your motive. Aim at his glory only. Keep clear of all sinister designs.

By your method. Contend for the faith as Jesus would have contended, and not in a way which the Lord would disapprove.

By your faith. Can you not trust God to fight his own battles?

Do not forget that it is the Lord's cause.

Or you will bring self into it.

You will begin to judge the conflict; and as it is on too huge a scale for human comprehension, you will fall into many errors, expecting defeat where victory is sure, or hoping for success in ways which lead to disaster.

You will be enervated by fear, for the battle must end in your destruction if the Lord's hand be not with you.

Since it is his battle,—

Be happy if personally defeated; for Jesus is still highly exalted.

Be calm and confident always; for there cannot be the smallest cause for fear as to the ultimate issue. "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength": Isaiah 30:15.

This assembly does know that the battle is the Lord's. Does it not? Are all in this assembly on the conquering side? Why not look to him who is himself our salvation? He needs not our sword or spear; but will himself deliver those who trust in him.

Aids to Attention

Mr. Oncken told me that he was summoned before the burgomaster of Hamburg, who bade him cease from holding religious meetings. "Do you see that little finger?" cried he. "As long as I can move that finger I will put down the Baptists." "Yes," said Oncken, "I see your little finger, and I also see a great arm which you cannot see. As long as the great arm of God is lifted on our behalf, your little finger will have no terror for us."

We are like William of Orange, with a few followers and an empty purse, making war against the master of half the world, with the mines of Peru for a treasury. But like William, too, when questioned concerning our resources, we can reply, "Before we took up this cause we entered into a close alliance with the King of kings."—David Gracey, in "The Sword and the Trowel."

When Tarik the Saracen went to vanquish Spain, he informed his followers that he had been favored by Heaven with a dream which had given him the fullest assurance of success. He had seen the prophet Mohammed surrounded by those holy saints and faithful companions who had adhered to his cause while he was an exile in Medina. They stood close by his couch with their swords unsheathed and their bows bent, and he heard the prophet say, "Take courage, O Tarik, and accomplish what you are destined to perform." He then saw the prophet and his companions entering Spain as if to herald the way for the faithful followers of Islam, With a truer vision and more confident assurance may we enter the lists, go on to the struggle, and engage in the warfare of those who are fighting beneath the leadership of the cross. For, as surely as day conquers night, the cause of Heaven shall prevail, and he shall reign whose right it is to reign. G. McMichael, in "The Baptist Magazine."

It is not the will of God that his people should be a timorous people. Matthew Henry.

It has been said of the persecuted Quakers, that, looking steadfastly at the strength of their Almighty leader, they

"Said not, who am I? but rather,

Whose am I, that I should fear?"

"Annals of the Early Friends."

Luther's strength lay in the way in which he laid the burden of the Reformation upon the Lord. Continually in prayer he pleaded, "Lord, this is your cause, not mine. Therefore, do your own work; for if this gospel do not prosper, it will not be Luther alone who will be a loser, but your own name will be dishonored."

Our Lord does not expect us to go a warfare at our own charges. No soldier finds himself in rations or ammunition. Our King is never ungenerous: if he sends us to battle he will go with us, both to cover our head and nerve our arm. If we will but care for his cause, he will care for us. Queen Elizabeth requested a merchant to go abroad on her service, and when he mentioned that his own business would be ruined, she replied, "You mind my business and I will mind yours." If it be but the Lord's battle, we may be sure that he will see us through with it.

18

1 Samuel 18:3—"Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul."

1 Samuel 20:17—"And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul."

Why so many sermons on Jonah, and so few on Jonathan? Are the cross-grained more worthy of study than the gentle and generous? This noble prince counted it his joy to further the interests of the man who was to be preferred before him. There was something very beautiful in Jonathan, and this came out in his unselfish, magnanimous love of David. How much more beauty is there in the unparalleled love of Jesus to us poor sinners!

I. Great love desires to bind itself to the beloved one. "Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him."

The covenant was made, not so much because of their mutual love, but because Jonathan loved David. "Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women": 2 Samuel 1:26.

1. Jesus bound himself to us by covenant bonds. He undertook the charge of us as our Surety in the covenant of grace.

He entered into our nature to represent us, thus becoming the second Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:47.

He pledged himself to redeem us with the sacrifice of himself. "He loved me, and gave himself for me": Galatians 2:20.

He took us into union with himself. "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones": Ephesians 5:30.

He has bound up our future lives with his own. "Your life is hid with Christ in God:" Colossians 3:3. "Because I live, you shall live also": John 14:19; "Father, I will that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am": John 17:24. "You in me and I in you." Seven golden words.

He has made us share in all that he has, changing garments with us, as in this narrative. 1 Samuel 18:4.

He could not come nearer to us, or he would.

In all these covenant deeds he proves his perfect love.

2. Jesus would have us bound to him on our part: therefore he would have us,—

Submit ourselves to the saving power of his love.

Love him for his great love; even as David loved Jonathan.

Own that we are his by choice, purchase, and power; and do this deliberately and solemnly, as men make a covenant.

Join ourselves to his people; for he reckons them to be himself.

Show kindness to all who are his, for his sake; even as David was good to Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 9.

More and more merge our interests in his, and find our gain in advancing his honor. 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15. "Bound in the bundle of life with the Lord your God": 1 Samuel 25:29. What an expression! Yet how true!

3. If this be our Lord's desire, shall we not fulfill it?

Let the bonds be mutual and indissoluble. Song of Sol. 2:16.

Let us accept the priceless gifts of the Prince, and then give ourselves to him without reserve.

Let us love him as we love ourselves, for he loved us better than himself. Matthew 27:42.

Let this be a time of love, a season for renewing our vows, a time of fuller self-merging into Jesus. Galatians 2:20.

II. Great love desires renewed pledges from its object. "Jonathan caused David to swear again."

Not out of selfishness, but from a sacred jealousy. "The Lord your God is a jealous God." See also Canticles 8:6.

It is the only return love can receive. We can love Jesus, we can do no more. "O love the Lord, all you his saints": Psalm 31:23.

It is for our highest benefit. Bound to the horns of the altar we are free. Wedded to Christ we are blessed.

We are so chill already that we have need to renew the flame of affection with fresh coals of loving communion.

We are so tempted and assailed that the more solemnly and the more often we renew our vows, the better for us.

We are most unhappy if drawn aside: every backsliding is misery. Therefore, let us be bound firmly to our Lord.

Hence he invites us to new pledges. Song 4:8.

Our first surrender was attended with a solemn dedication.

Our baptism was his own appointed token of our being one with him in his death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:4.

Our communions should be hallowed renewals of our covenant.

"Let every act of worship be,

Like our espousals, Lord, to you;

Like the dear hour when from above,

We first received your pledge of love."

Our restorations from sickness ought to be remembered with special praise, and we should pay our vows in the presence of the Lord's people. Psalm 116:8, 14.

Our fresh conditions should be attended with extraordinary devotion. Removal, promotion, marriage, birth of children, death of relatives, &c., are notable seasons for re-dedication.

Our times of spiritual revival, when we are full of hearty fellowship with the Lord and his saints, should be new departures.

Come and let us renew our loves at this good hour.

Let us get alone, and express our pure desires before our Well-beloved, when only he can hear.

Let us think of some special act of devotion by which to express our affection, and let us carry it out at once. Have we no alabaster box? Can we not wash the Beloved's feet, and kiss them with reverent affection?

Windows of Agate

A little girl was playing with her doll in a room where her mother was busily engaged in some literary work. When she had finished her writing, she said, "You can come now, Alice, I have done all I want to do this morning." The child ran to her mother, exclaiming, "I am so glad, for I wanted to love you so much." "But I thought you were very happy with dolly." "Yes, mother, I was, but I soon get tired of loving her, for she cannot love me back." "And is that why you love me—because I can love you back?" "That is one why, but not the first or best why." "What is the first and best why?" "Because you loved me when I was too little to love you back." Mother's eyes filled with tears as she whispered, "We love him because he first loved us."

Lord Brooke was so delighted with the friendship of Sir Philip Sydney that he ordered to be engraved upon his tomb nothing but this—"Here lies the friend of Sir Philip Sydney."

Christ and the believer that loves him live as if they had but one soul between them. It is not the distance between earth and Heaven that can separate them: true love will find out Christ wherever he is. When he was upon the earth, they that loved him kept his company; and now that he is gone to Heaven, and out of sight, those that love him are frequently sending up their hearts unto him. And, indeed, they never think themselves intelligent in anything that is worth the knowing, until they have made their souls much acquainted and familiar with their crucified Savior, 1 Corinthians 2:2. "The Morning Exercises."

"Love you me?" "Feed my sheep." It was a tender act on our Lord's part to allow Peter three times to speak his love, and then all the rest of his life to exercise that love by giving him work to do. Jesus, the Friend, asks thrice, and then appoints a token: Peter, out of sincere love, answers thrice, and renders the life-long token. Love is conspicuous on either side.

Saints are to look upon themselves as wholly the Lord's, in opposition to all competitors. The Lord will not divide with rivals; if you take him these must go. The soul until it comes within the covenant is in a restless case, like a bee going from flower to flower, or a bird from bush to bush; but when it is married to Christ it is settled with him, and breaks its league with all others.

Remember, the covenant you have entered into is an offensive and defensive league. You are to have common friends and common foes with the Lord. His people must be your people, and his enemies your enemies.

Remember that your ears are bored to the Lord's doorposts, you have opened your mouth to the Lord, and you cannot go back. You must be his without end, and without interruption. It is a laudable practice of saints to go over the bargain again, hold by it, seal it afresh, and evermore look at themselves as the Lord's. There is a backsliding disposition in the best; but a renewal of our covenant is an antidote for this poison. Moreover, he who has truly made such a covenant has given himself to Christ without reserve, and has put a blank into the Lord's hand, saying, with Paul, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" This is well-pleasing unto our God. Thomas Boston.

19

1 Samuel 30:20—"This is David's spoil."

We see in David a type of the Lord Jesus, in his conflicts and victories, and as in a thousand things beside, so also in the spoil. To him as a warrior against evil the spoils of war belong. Jehovah saith, "I will divide him a portion with the great; and he shall divide the spoil with the strong": Is. 53:12. We may say of him, "You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey": Psalm 76:4.

I. All the good that we enjoy comes to us through Jesus.

All that we held under the law the spoiler has taken.

By our own efforts we can never gain what we have lost.

Our great Leader has made us share the spoil.

1. It was for David's sake that God gave success to the hosts of Israel.

2. It was under David's leadership that they won the battle.

Even thus is Jesus the Captain of our salvation. Hebrews 2:10.

Within us he has wrought a great deliverance. He has overcome the strong man, taken from him all his armor, and divided his spoils. Luke 11:22. He can say with Job, "I plucked the spoil out of his teeth": Job 29:17.

We had lost all by sin, but Jesus has restored it: "Then I restored that which I took not away": Psalm 69:4. "David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away": verse 18.

Our very selves were captive; he has set us free. "David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them": verses 18 and 19.

Our eternal heritage was forfeited; he has redeemed it. Ephesians 1:14. The prey is taken from the mighty. "David recovered all."

Our enemies have been made to enrich us, and to glorify his name. "Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it": Colossians 2:15. Now is fulfilled the promise, "They that spoil you shall be a spoil": Jeremiah 30:16.

III. That which is over and above what we lost by sin comes by Jesus. "And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil": verse 20.

As Jesus has made us more safe than we were before the fall, so has he also made us more rich.

1. The exaltation of humanity to kinship with God. This was not ours at the first, but it is acquired for us by the Lord Jesus.

Election, sonship, heirship, spiritual life, union to Christ, espousal to Jesus, fellowship with God, and the glory of the future wedding-feast,—all these are choice spoils.

2. The fact that we are redeemed creatures, for whom the Creator suffered, is an honor belonging to none but men, and not to men except through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 2:16.

As ransomed persons we are bound to our Redeemer by special ties. "You are not your own, for you are bought with a price": 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.

3. Our singular condition as creatures who have known sin, and have been delivered from it, comes by our Lord Jesus Christ. Our perfection will be that of voluntary agents, who will forever abhor the evil from which they have been saved, and love the good unto which they have been wedded by the grace of God. This belongs not to the angels.

"Never did angels taste above

Redeeming grace and dying love."

4. Our resurrection, which is a gem not found in the crown of seraphs, comes by our risen Lord. 2 Corinthians 4:14.

5. Our relation to God, and yet to materialism, is another rare gift of Jesus. We are kings and priests unto God on behalf of the universe; the sanctification of mind and matter is consummated in our favored persons.

6. Our manifestation of the full glory of the Lord. Our experience will declare to all intelligent beings the choicest wisdom, love, power, and faithfulness of God. Ephesians 3:10.

Truly all these things make us cry, "I rejoice at your word, as one that finds great spoil": Psalm 119:162.

II. That which we willingly give to Jesus may be called his spoil.

1. Our hearts are his alone forever. Hence, all that we have and are belongs to him. "This is David's spoil,"—the love and gratitude of our lives. 1 John 4:19.

2. Our special gifts. Our tithes and dedicated things are for him. Let us give plentifully. Malachi 3:10. Abraham gave Melchizedek the tenth of the spoil. Genesis 14:20.

3. Our homage as a Church is to him. He is Head over all things to his Church. It is his reward to reign in Zion.

4. Our race must yet bow before him; all thrones and powers acknowledge his supremacy. This also is our David's spoil.

Yield to Jesus now, and find in him your safety, your Heaven.

What say you? Are you David's spoil?

If not, sin and Satan are spoiling you every day.

Notabilia

1. Sin contracts no guilt that grace does not more than remove. 2. Sin deforms no beauty that grace does not more than renew. 3. Sin loses no blessedness that grace does not more than restore. Outline of Sermon on Romans 5:20, by the late Charles Vince.

In 1741, at the Northampton Assizes, a poor Irishman was sentenced to death for murder. Dr. Doddridge believed him innocent, and so exerted himself in his behalf that a respite was obtained. Nothing could be more touching than the poor fellow's expressions of gratitude. He said, "Every drop of my blood thanks you, for you have had compassion on every drop of it. You are my deliverer, and you have a right to me. If I live I am your property, and I will be a faithful servant"

We all remember the poem of "The man of Ross." Every good thing in the place came from him. Ask who did this or that,

" 'The man of Ross,' each lisping babe replies."

Even so, as we survey each blessing of our happy estate, and ask whence it came, the only answer is, "This is Jesus' spoil. The crucified hand has won this for us."

A Pastor in Cumberland has formed in his church a Good Intent Society, composed of poor persons who have no money to give, but yet desire to do something for the Lord Jesus. These give one hour in the week to some charitable work, or to some labor by which they earn a few pence which is given to the service of the Lord. Each one, according to her several ability, does something distinctly for Jesus. These people find a blessing in so doing. Should we not each one regularly and systematically set aside a portion for our Lord and Savior, and say, "This is David's spoil"?

20

2 Samuel 7:27 "For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, I will build you an house: therefore has your servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto you."

How often God does for his servants what they desire to do for him! David desired to build the Lord a house, and the Lord built him a house.

When God's servants are not accepted one way, they are another. Neither do they take it ill that the Lord puts them off from the work upon which they had set their desires; but they learn his will, bow before it, and praise him for it. David went in and sat before the Lord, and offered prayer, for he felt moved in heart, so that he could not do otherwise. When the Lord promises, we should supplicate: his giving times should create for us special asking times.

I. How did he come by his prayer? He "found in his heart to pray this prayer."

He found it, which is a sign he looked for it. Those who pray at random will never be accepted: we must carefully seek out our prayers. Job 13:4.

In his heart—not in a book, nor in his memory, nor in his head, nor in his imagination, nor only on his tongue. Psalm 84:2.

It is proof that he had a heart, knew where it was, could look into it, and did often search it. Psalm 77:6.

It must have been a living heart, or a living prayer would not have been within it.

It must have been a believing heart, or he would not have found "this prayer" in it.

It must have been a serious heart, not flippant, forgetful, cold, indifferent, or he would have found a thousand vanities in it, but no prayer. Question—Would prayer be found in your heart at this time? Hosea 7:11.

It must have been a humble heart, for such was the prayer.

Is this the way you pray? Do you answer—"I never pray"? God grant you may yet find it in your heart to do so.

Is this the way you pray? Do you answer—"I say my prayers"? How can prayers which do not come from your heart ever reach God's heart?

II. How did his prayer come to be in his heart?

Through the Lord's being there, and putting it there.

1. The Lord's own Spirit instructed him how to pray.

By giving him a sense of need. Great blessings teach us our necessity, as in David's case.

By giving him faith in God. When sure that God will keep his promise we are moved to plead it.

By bringing before his mind the appropriate promise. "You have revealed;.… therefore has your servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto you."

2. The Lord inclined him to pray.

It has been said that an absolute promise would render prayer needless; whereas the first influence of such a promise is to suggest prayer. The Lord inclined David's heart—

By warming his heart. Prayer does not grow in an ice-well.

By gladdening him with bright prospects. Prayer comes flying in by the open window of hope.

By communing with him. When God speaks to us we are moved to speak to him.

3. The Lord encouraged him to pray, by means of—

A promise spoken. "I will build you an house."

A promise sealed home to the heart. "You have revealed to your servant."

His covenant is ordained on purpose to excite prayer. "I will yet for this be inquired of": Ezekiel 36:37.

His former great mercy, his previous answers to our petitions, his immutable goodness, his undiminished power, and his unquestioned faithfulness, all lead us to pray.

His Son Jesus is an Intercessor who is always pleading with success, and this puts it into our heart to pray.

His Holy Spirit has undertaken to help our infirmity in prayer, and this again suggests prayer.

III. How may you find prayer in your hearts?

Look into your heart, and make diligent search.

Think of your own need, and this will suggest petitions.

Think of your ill-desert, and you will humbly cry to the Lord.

Think of the promises, the precepts, and the doctrines of truth, and each one of these will summon you to your knees.

Have Christ in your heart, and prayer will follow. Acts 9:11.

Live near to God, and then you will often speak to him.

Do you find prayers and other holy things in your heart? Or is it full of vanity, worldliness, ambition, and ungodliness?

Remember that you are what your heart is. Proverbs 23:7.

Things to the Point

In prayer the lips never act the winning part,

Without the sweet concurrence of the heart. R. Herrick.

On the cover of his "Kyrie Eleison," the great musician, Beethoven, wrote, "From the heart it has come: to the heart it shall penetrate."

The Asiatic Russians say that it is only upon the Baikal—an exceedingly dangerous lake in Siberia—in autumn, that a man learns to pray from his heart.

"A great part of my time," said M'Cheyne, "is spent in getting my heart in tune for prayer."

It is not the gilded paper and good writing of a petition that prevails with a king, but the moving sense of it And to that King who discerns the heart, heart-sense is the sense of all, and that which he only regards; he listens to hear what that speaks, and takes all as nothing where that is silent All other excellence in prayer is but the outside and fashion of it; this is the life of it. Leighton.

I asked a young friend, "Did you pray before conversion?" She answered that she did after a sort. I then inquired, "What is the difference between your present prayers and those before you knew the Lord?" Her answer was, "Then I said my prayers, but now I mean them. Then I said the prayers which other people taught me, but now I find them in my heart."

There is good reason to cry "Eureka!" when we find prayer in our heart. Holy Bradford would never cease praying or praising until he found his heart thoroughly engaged in the holy exercise. If it be not in my heart to pray, I must pray until it is. But oh, the delight of pleading with God when the heart casts forth mighty jets of supplication, like a geyser in full action! How mighty is supplication when the whole soul becomes one living, hungering, expecting desire!

Remember, God respects not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how long they are; nor the music of our prayers, how methodical they are; but the divinity of our prayers, how heart-sprung they are. Not gifts, but graces, prevail in prayer. Trapp.

21

1 Kings 2:28—"Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar."

30—"And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said unto him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here."

Joab's conscience pricks him when he hears that Solomon is dealing with other offenders.

Joab was a remorseless warrior, yet when his own turn comes he flies from death.

Joab had little enough of religion, yet he flies to the altar when the sword pursues him.

Joab refuses to quit his shelter, and falls slain at the altar.

Many are for running to the use of external religion when death threatens them. Then they go to greater lengths than Scripture prescribes; they not only go to the tabernacle of the Lord, but they roust needs cling to the altar.

I. An outward resort to Ordinances avails not for Salvation.

If a man will rest in external rites he will die there.

Sacraments, in health or in sickness, are unavailing as means of salvation. They are intended only for those saved already, and will be injurious to others, 1 Corinthians 11:29.

Religious observances: such as frequenting sermons, attending prayer-meetings, joining in Bible-readings, practicing family-prayer: all these put together cannot save a man from the punishment due to his sins. They are good things, but the merely formal practice of them cannot save.

Ministers. These are looked upon by some dying persons with foolish reverence. In the hour of death resort is made to their prayers at the bedside. Importance is attached to funeral sermons, and ceremonials. What superstition!

Professions. These may be correct, long, reputable, and eminent; but yet they may not be proofs of safety. Connection with the most pure of churches would be a poor ground of trust.

Orthodoxy in doctrine, ordinances, and religious practices is much thought of by some; but it is terribly insufficient.

Feelings. Dread, delight, dreaminess, despondency: these have, each in its turn, been relied upon as grounds of hope; but they are all futile.

What an awful thing to perish with your hand on the altar of God!

Yet you must, unless your heart is renewed by divine grace.

The outward altar was never intended to be a sanctuary for the guilty. Read Exodus 21:14, where it is said of the criminal, "You shall take him from mine altar, that he may die."

II. A spiritual resort to the true Altar avails for Salvation.

We will use Joab's case as an illustration.

1. His act: he "caught hold on the horns of the altar."

We do this spiritually by flying from the sword of Justice to the person of Jesus.

And by taking hold upon his great atoning work, and thus through faith uniting ourselves to his atoning sacrifice .

2. The fierce demand of his adversary, "Thus says the king, Come forth!" This is the demand of

Unbelieving Pharisees who teach salvation by works.

Accusing Conscience within the man.

Satan, quoting Holy Scripture falsely.

3. The desperate resolve of Joab, "Nay, but I will die here."

This is a wise resolution, for we

Must perish elsewhere.

Cannot make our case worse by clinging to Christ.

Have nowhere else to cling. No other righteousness or sacrifice.

Cannot be dragged away if we cling to Jesus.

Receive hope from the fact that none have perished here.

4. The assured security. "He who believes on the Son has everlasting life": John 3:36.

If you perished trusting in Jesus your ruin would

Defeat God.

Dishonor Christ.

Dishearten Sinners from coming to Jesus

Discourage Saints, making them doubt all the promises.

Distress the Glorified, who have rejoiced over penitents, and would now see that they were mistaken.

Come, then, at once to the Lord Jesus, and lay hold on eternal life.

You may come; he invites you.

You should come; he commands you.

You should come now; for now is the accepted time.

cases in Point, etc.

During an epidemic of cholera, I remember being called up, at dead of night, to pray with a dying person. He had spent the Sabbath in going out upon an excursion, and at three on Monday morning I was standing by his bed. There was no Bible in the house, and he had often ridiculed the preacher; but before his senses left him he begged his servant to send for me. What could I do? He was unconscious; and there I stood, musing sadly upon the wretched condition of a man who had wickedly refused Christ, and yet superstitiously fled to his minister.

"Will you put it down in black and white what I am to believe?" wrote a lady to the Rev. Robert Howie. "I have been told of many different texts; and they are so many that I am bewildered. Please tell me one text, and I will try to believe it." The answer came, "It is not anyone text, nor any number of texts that saves, any more than the man who fled to the City of Refuge was saved by reading the directions on the fingerposts. It is by believing on the person and work of the Lord Jesus that we are brought into life; and, once born again, are kept in that life."

When a man goes thirsty to the well, his thirst is not allayed merely by going there. On the contrary, it is increased by every step he goes. It is by what he draws out of the well that his thirst is satisfied. Just so it is not by the mere bodily exercise of waiting upon ordinances that you will ever come to peace, but by tasting of Jesus in the ordinances, whose flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed. M'Cheyne.

The Lord Jesus is well pleased that poor sinners should fly to him, and lay hold upon him; for this is to give him due glory as a gracious Savior, and this is to fulfill the purpose for which he has set himself apart. He claims to be a Deliverer; let us use him as what he professes to be, and so do him that honor which he most esteems. A Pilot loves to get the helm in his hand, a Physician delights to be trusted with hard cases, an Advocate is glad to get his brief; even so is Jesus happy to be used. Jesus longs to bless, and therefore he says to every sinner, as he did to the woman at the well, "Give me to drink." Oh to think that you can refresh your Redeemer! Poor sinner, haste to do it.

22

1 Kings 10:1—"And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions."

We may profitably consider the Queen of Sheba in her visit to Solomon, for she is given as a sign to us. Matthew 12:42. Surely she came from Arabia the Happy; but it is to be feared that many around us are dwellers in Arabia the Stony, for their hearts are hard as rocks. Jesus is greater than Solomon in wisdom, for he knows the Father himself, and all the riches of wisdom and knowledge are treasured up in him. It will be to our advantage to go to Jesus with all our doubts and troubles, and prove his love and wisdom.

I. Let us admire the Queen's mode of procedure.

1. She would prove the king's wisdom by learning from him. The best way of knowing Christ is by becoming his disciple.

2. She would prove him with many questions. Many are the knots in the line of life. "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God."

3. Those she asked were hard questions.

Beyond herself.

Beyond her wise men.

But not beyond the capacious mind of Solomon.

To ask such questions was to use the rare opportunity before her.

Great wisdom deserves hard questions.

Use Jesus as he is. "An Interpreter, one among a thousand."

To be asked such questions would please Solomon.

Would show her belief in the report of his glory and learning.

Would also ease her own mind; for many a perplexity would be removed forever. The same is true of Jesus.

II. Let us imitate her example, and prove our greater Solomon with hard questions.

Here are a few of them to begin with,—

1. How can a man be just with God?

2. How can God be just and the Justifier of him that believes?

3. How can a man be saved by faith alone without works, while yet it is true that a saved man must have good works?

4. How can a man be born when he is old?

5. How is it that God sees all things, and yet no more sees the sins of believers?

6. How can a man see the Father, who is invisible?

7. How can it be true that that which is born of God sins not, and yet men born of God daily confess sin?

8. How can a man be a new man, and yet have to sigh because of the old man?

9. How can a man be sorrowful yet always rejoicing?

10. How can a man's life be in Heaven while yet he lives on the earth?

We read that Solomon told her all her questions, and we may rest assured that Jesus will teach us all that we need to know, for "in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge": Colossians 2:3.

III. Let us attend to certain questions of a truly practical character.

How can we come to Christ?

How can we ask hard questions of Christ?

How can he reply to us?

By his Word, his Spirit, his Providence.

How is it that none can come but those whom Jesus draws, and yet him that comes to him he will in no wise cast out? Try both truths in your own experience, and they will prove themselves.

How is it that there is a set time and a limited day, and yet the Lord bids us come to Jesus at once? Come and see.

How is it that we have not come long ago?

Why should we not come at this very moment?

Apples of Gold for Baskets of Silver

When Haydn was in London, a nobleman came to him for lessons in music, but found fault with all that Haydn said. At last, out of patience, the musician exclaimed, "I see, my lord, that it is you who are so good as to give lessons to me, and I am obliged to confess that I do not merit the honor of having such a master."

Do not suppose that Wisdom is so much flattered at having you for a pupil that she will set you easy lessons, and yet give you the gold medal. T. T. Lynch.

An example of the strange riddles of Christian experience is given in one of Ralph Erskine's "Gospel Sonnets":—

"I'm sinful, yet I have no sin;

All spotted o'er, yet wholly clean;

Blackness and beauty both I share,

A hellish black, a heavenly fair."

The pilgrims when staying in the house of Gaius spent their time in asking and answering such riddles.

Those who lose their way because they will not ask are rather to be blamed than pitied. Men pay a great deal to obtain the opinion of a great physician; what shall we say of sick persons who will not consult the infallible Healer, though his cures are without fee? Jesus waits to be inquired of; but the most of men had rather follow their own crude thoughts than accept his infallible teachings. Let us not be among, these; but having the golden opportunity of fellowship with such a. Teacher, let us bring before him every difficulty, and, like Mary, sit at Jesus' feet, and learn of him.

The hard questions of life prove us, and make us see our own ignorance and folly. Yet we would not be without them, for they also prove Jesus and display to us his knowledge and wisdom. We can remember hard questions in Providence which we could not answer, but he has made them clear as noonday; hard questions of inward conflict, which he has fully resolved; hard questions as to apparently unfulfilled promises, which we now comprehend; and hard questions of gospel doctrine, which we now see to be the truth in himself. Let us go on proving our Lord, but yet never tempting him. Every fair test, though it be far more stringent than those which Sheba's Queen imposed upon Solomon, Jesus is more than able to endure.

23

1 Kings 10:2—"And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart."

It is not generally a wise thing to tell out all your heart. Samson reached the climax of folly when he did this to Delilah. Yet if we could meet with a Solomon who could solve all our difficulties, we might wisely do so.

We have a greater than Solomon in Jesus, who is incarnate Wisdom. The mischief is, that with him we are too silent, and with worldly friends too communicative. This evil should be rectified.

I. We ought to commune with him of all that is in our heart.

1. Neglect of fellowship with Jesus is very unkind; for he invites us to talk with him, saying, "Let me see your countenance, let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your countenance is lovely": Solomon's Song 2:14. Shall our heavenly Bridegroom be deprived of the fellowship of our souls?

2. To conceal anything from so true a Friend betrays the sad fact that there is something wrong to be concealed.

3. It shows a want of confidence in his love, or his sympathy, or his wisdom, if we cannot tell Jesus all that is in or upon our hearts. Between bride and Bridegroom there should be no secrets, or love will be wounded.

4. It will be the cause of uneasiness to ourselves if we withhold anything from him. The responsibility will all rest with us, and this will weigh heavily.

5. It will involve the loss of his counsel and help; for when we unbosom ourselves to him, he meets our case. If we hide our trouble, he may leave us to fret until we confide more fully in him.

6. Reticence towards Jesus is greatly aggravated by our usual eagerness to tell our troubles to others. Will we make a confidant of man, and hide the matter from our God?

II. We need not cease communing for want of topics.

1. Our sorrows. He knows what they are, will comfort us under them, help us to profit by them, and in due time remove them.

2. Our joys. He will sober and salt them. Joy without Jesus is the sun without light, the essence of it is gone. Joy without Jesus would be as evil as the golden calf which provoked the Lord to jealousy.

3. Our service. He was a Servant, and therefore he knows our heart, and will sympathize with our difficulties. Let us speak freely.

4. Our plans. He had zeal and ardor, and was quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord: he will gladly commune with us concerning all that is in our hearts to do for the Father.

5. Our successes and failures should be reported at head-quarters. The disciples of the martyred John took up the body, and went and told Jesus. Matthew 14:12. Our Lord's own evangelists returned and told what had been done: Luke 9:10.

6. Our desires. Holiness, usefulness, Heaven: all these awaken the sympathy of Jesus: he prays for us about these things.

7. Our fears: fears of falling, needing, failing, fainting, dying. To mention these to Jesus is to end them.

8. Our loves. Of earth and of Heaven, towards others and to himself. That love which we dare not tell to Jesus is an evil lusting.

9. Our mysteries: incomprehensible feelings, undefinable uneasinesses, and complex emotions, will be all the better for being ventilated in Jesus' presence.

III. Nor shall we cease communing for want of reasons.

1. How ennobling and elevating is fellowship with the Son of God!

2. How consoling and encouraging is fellowship with him who has overcome the world!

3. How sanctifying and refining is union with the perfect One, who is the Lord our righteousness!

4. How safe and healthy is a daily walk with the ever-blessed Son of man!

5. How proper and natural for disciples to talk with their Teacher, and saints with their Savior!

6. How delightful and heavenly is rapturous converse with the Beloved of our souls!

Warning to those who never speak with Jesus. Will he not say at the last, "I never knew you"?

Complaint of those who seldom commune with him. "Is this your kindness to your friend?"

Hint to those who usually live in communion with him. Be sure to keep up the holy fellowship; and to this end be very thorough, unlock every room in your house, and let Jesus enter.

Congratulation of those who have long enjoyed his fellowship.

Things to Strike and Stick

A workman in time of need would part with everything before his tools; for to lose them would be to lose all. Reading the Word of God and prayer are the tools of the Christian's craft: without them he is helpless. How is it, then, that when time presses, he so often foregoes these, or shortens them? What is this but to sell his tools?

If there be anything I do, if there be anything I leave undone, let me be perfect in prayer. Henry Martyn.

Blessed be God that I may pray. David Brainerd.

He oft finds help who does his grief impart.

And to tell sorrow halfens sorrow's smart. Spenser.

What would be said of a member of a family who refused to speak with his father or his brother? What a source of unhappiness to have such a person in the house! What, then, must be thought of a professed spouse of Jesus who has had no personal fellowship with him by the month together? Lack of holy communion is a very grievous thing. True love is communicative; it cannot bear to keep its secrets from its Beloved, nor to be restrained in its converse with him. Let the believer see to it that he is not like one of whom we asked, "How long is it since you had fellowship with Jesus?" and he answered, "It is so long ago that I have almost forgotten it." Was not this an evil sign?

"Let us be simple with him then,

Not backward, stiff, or cold;

As though our Bethlehem could be

What Sinai was of old."

The believer should be familiar in the house over which Christ is set, and draw near with full assurance of faith. Come and tell him all your wants and desires freely, without concealing anything from him, for that would argue distance and distrust. The stronger faith is, the more wants it tells, and the more fully it tells them. Do you want anything of which you cannot tell your Lord? It argues either no real need, or else little faith. Strong faith has free communion with Heaven, and conceals nothing, but tells all. Ephesians 3:12. "In whom we have boldness." The word translated boldness is "telling all."—Thomas Boston.

Sing a hymn to Jesus, when the heart is faint;

Tell it all to Jesus, comfort or complaint:

If the work is sorrow, if the way is long,

If you dread'st the morrow, tell it him in song;

Though your heart be aching for the crown and palm,

Keep your spirit waking with a faithful psalm.

E. Paxton Hood.

24

1 Kings 19:4—"But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."

We may learn much from the lives of others. Elijah himself is not only a prophet but a prophecy. His experience is our instruction. Sometimes we enter into a strange and mysterious state of depression, and it is well to learn from Scripture that another has been in that Valley of Deathshade. Weary, and sick at heart, sorely tried ones are apt to faint. At such a time they imagine that some strange thing has happened unto them; but, indeed, it is not so. Looking down upon the sands of time they may see the print of a man's foot, and it ought to comfort them when they learn that he was no mean man, but a mighty servant of the Lord. Let us study—

I. Elijah's weakness. "He requested for himself that he might die."

1. He was a man of like passions with us. James 5:17.

He failed in the point wherein he was strongest; as many other saints have done. Abraham, Job, Moses, Peter, etc.

This proved that he was strong not by nature, but in divine strength. He was no unfeeling man of iron, with nerves of steel. The wonder is not that he fainted, but that he ever stood up in the fierce heat which beat upon him.

2. He suffered from a terrible reaction. Those who go up go down. The depth of depression is equal to the height of rapture.

3. He suffered grievous disappointment, for Ahab was still under Jezebel's sway, and Israel was not won to Jehovah.

4. He was sadly weary with the excitement of Carmel, and the unwonted run by the side of Ahab's chariot.

5. His wish was folly. "O Lord, take away my life."

He fled from death. If he wished to die, Jezebel would have obliged him, and he needed not to have fled.

He was more needed than ever to maintain the good cause.

That cause was also more than ordinarily hopeful, and he ought to have wished to live to see better times.

He was never to die. Strange that he who was to escape death should cry, "Take away my life!" How unwise are our prayers when our spirits sink!

6. His reason was untrue. It was not enough: and the Lord had made him, in some respects, better than his fathers.

He had more to do than they, and he was stronger, more bold, more lonely in witness, and more terrible in majesty.

He had more to enjoy than most of the other prophets, for he had greater power with God, and had wrought miracles surpassed by none.

He had been more favoured by special providence and peculiar grace, and was yet to rise above all others in the manner of his departure: the chariots of God were to wait upon him.

II. God's tenderness to him.

1. He allowed him to sleep: this was better than medicine, or inward rebuke, or spiritual instruction.

2. He fed him with food convenient and miraculously nourishing.

3. He made him perceive angelic care. "An angel touched him."

4. He allowed him to tell his grief (see verse 10): this is often the readiest relief. He stated his case, and in so doing eased his mind.

5. He revealed himself and his ways. The wind, earthquake, fire, and still small voice were voices from God. When we know what God is we are less troubled about other matters.

6. He told him good news: "Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel": verse 18. His sense of loneliness was thus removed.

7. He gave him more to do—to anoint others by whom the Lord's purposes of chastisement and instruction should be carried on.

Let us learn some useful lessons.

It is seldom right to pray to die; that matter is best left with God; we may not destroy our own lives, nor ask the Lord to do so.

To the sinner it is never right to seek to die; for death to him is Hell. The willful suicide seals his own sure condemnation.

To the saint such a wish is allowable, only within bounds. He may long for Heaven, but not for the mere sake of getting away from service or suffering, disappointment or dishonor.

To desire death may be proper under some aspects; but not to pray for it with eagerness.

When we do wish to die, the reason must not be impatient, passionate, petulant, proud, or indolent.

We have no idea of what is in store for us in this life. We may yet see the cause prosper and ourselves successful.

In any case let us trust in the Lord and do good, and we need never be afraid.

Selections

What is this we hear? Elijah fainting and giving up! that heroic spirit dejected and prostrate! He that durst say to Ahab's face, "It is thou and thy father's house that trouble Israel"; he that could raise the dead, open and shut the heavens, fetch down both fire and water with his prayers; he that durst chide and contest with all Israel; that durst kill the four hundred and fifty Baalites with the sword,—doth he shrink at the frowns and threats of a woman? Doth he wish to be rid of his life, because he feared to lose it? Who can expect an undaunted constancy from flesh and blood when Elijah fails? The strongest and holiest saint upon earth is subject to some qualms of fear and infirmity: to be always and unchangeably good is proper only to the glorious spirits in heaven. Thus the wise and holy God will have his power perfected in our weakness. It is in vain for us, while we carry this flesh about us, to hope for so exact health as not to be cast down sometimes with fits of spiritual distemper. It is no new thing for holy men to wish for death: who can either marvel at or blame the desire of advantage? For the weary traveler to long for rest, the prisoner for liberty, the banished for home, it is so natural, that the contrary disposition were monstrous. The benefit of the change is a just motive to our appetition; but to call for death out of a satiety of life, out of an impatience of suffering, is a weakness unbecoming a saint. It is not enough, O Elijah! God has more work yet for you: your God has more honored you than your fathers, and you shall live to honor him.

Toil and sorrow have lulled the prophet asleep under this juniper tree; that wholesome shade was well chosen for his repose. While death was called for, the cozen of death comes unbidden; the angel of God waits on him in that hard lodging. No wilderness is too solitary for the attendance of those blessed spirits. As he is guarded, so is he awaked by that messenger of God, and stirred up from his rest to his repast; while he slept, his breakfast is made ready for him by those spiritual hands: "There was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head." Oh, the never-ceasing care and providence of the Almighty, not to be barred by any place, by any condition! When means are wanting to us, when we are wanting to ourselves, when to God, even then does he follow us with his mercy, and cast favor upon us, beyond, against expectation! What variety of purveyance does he make for his servant! One while the ravens, then the Sareptan, now the angel, shall be his caterer; none of them without a miracle: those other provided for him waking, this sleeping. O God! the eye of your providence is not dimmer, the hand of your power is not shorter: only teach you us to serve you, to trust thee. Bp. Hall.

Elijah "arose and went for his life." But better he had stood to his task as a prophet, and answered as Chrysostom did when Eudoxia the empress threatened him. "Go tell her," said he, "I fear nothing but sin"; or as Basil did, when Valens, the Arian emperor, sent him word that he would be the death of him: "I would he would," said he: "I shall but go to Heaven the sooner." Luther had his fits of fear, though ordinarily he could say, "I care neither for the Pope's favor nor fury." Gregory doubted not to say, that because Elijah began to be tickled with high conceits of himself for the great acts which he had done, he was suffered thus to fear, and to fall beneath himself, for his humiliation. The like we see in Peter, scared by a silly wench: to show us how weak, even as water, we are, when left a little to ourselves. John Trapp.

Who told Elijah it was "enough"? God did not; he knew what was enough for Elijah to do and to suffer. It was not enough. God had more to teach him, and had more work for him to do. If the Lord had taken him at his word, and had also said "it is enough," Elijah's history would have wanted its crowning glory. Kitto.

It cannot be denied, that in the expression "it is enough!" we behold the anguish of a soul which, disappointed in its fairest expectations, seems to despair of God and of the world, and is impatient and weary of the cross; a soul which, like Jonah, is dissatisfied with the dealings of the Almighty, and by desiring death, seeks, as it were, to give him to understand, that it is come to such an extremity, that nothing is left but the melancholy wish to escape by death from its sufferings. Nevertheless, a Divine and believing longing accompanied even this carnal excitement in the soul of Elijah, which, thirsting after God, struck its pinions upwards to the eternal light; yes, the key-note of this mournful lamentation was the filial thought that the heart of his Father in Heaven would be moved towards him, that his merciful God would again shine forth upon his darkness, and comfort the soul of his servant. Thus we see, in the prayer of our prophet, the elements of the natural and of the spiritual life fermenting together in strange intermixture. The sparks of nature and of grace, mutually opposing each other, blaze up together in one flame. The metal is in the furnace, the heat of which brings impurity to light; but who does not forget the scum and the dross at the sight of the fine gold?—F. W. Krummacher.

I. The cause of Elijah's despondency. 1. Relaxation of physical strength. 2. Second cause—Want of sympathy. "I, even I only, am left" Lay the stress on only. The loneliness of his position was shocking to Elijah. 3. Want of occupation. As long as Elijah had a prophet's work to do, severe as that work was, all went on healthily: but his occupation was gone. Tomorrow and the day after, what has he left on earth to do? The misery of having nothing to do proceeds from causes voluntary or involuntary in their nature. 4. Fourth cause—Disappointment in his expectations of success. On Carmel the great object for which Elijah had lived seemed on the point of being realized. Baal's prophets were slain—Jehovah acknowledged with one voice: false worship put down. Elijah's life-aim—the transformation of Israel into a kingdom of God, was all but accomplished. In a single day all this bright picture was annihilated. II. God's treatment of it. 1. First, he recruited his servant's exhausted strength. Read the history. Miraculous meals are given—then Elijah sleeps, wakes, and eats: on the strength of that, he goes forty days' journey. 2. Next, Jehovah calmed his stormy mind by the healing influences of nature. He commanded the hurricane to sweep the sky, and the earthquake to shake the ground. He lighted up the heavens until they were one mass of fire. All this expressed and reflected Elijah's feelings. The mode in which nature soothes us is by finding more fit and nobler utterances for our feelings than we can find in words—by expressing and exalting them. In expression there is relief. 3. Besides, God made him feel the earnestness of life. What do you here Elijah? Life is for doing. A prophet's life for nobler doing—and the prophet was not doing, but moaning. Such a voice repeats itself to all of us, rousing us from our lethargy, or our despondency, or our protracted leisure, "What do you here?" here in this short life. 4. He completed the cure by the assurance of victory. "Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So, then, Elijah's life had no failure after all. F. W. Robertson.

25

1 Kings 20:40—"And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the King of Israel said unto him, So shall your judgment be; yourself have decided it."

A man must be hard run indeed when lie cannot forge an excuse. This is a very common one for the loss of the soul, "I was very busy, and had no time to attend to religion." They say, "a bad excuse is better than none:" this is very questionable. Here is an excuse which condemned the man who made it. The man in the prophet's story was ordered to keep a prisoner, and it became his first duty to do so; but he preferred to follow out his own wishes, and attend to his private concerns, and so the prisoner "was gone." It is clear that he had power to have attended to the king's business, for he attended to his own. His excuse was a confession that he was willfully disobedient.

I. It is an excuse which some cannot use.

1. They have but little to occupy them. They are noblemen, or ladies with no occupation, or persons of large leisure, or invalids who can do nothing for a livelihood, and therefore have ample time for reflection and reading.

2. They have done all their hard work, and are retired upon their savings, and find it hard to pass their time.

3. They are never busy, for they are idlers whom nothing could provoke to industry. They kill time.

II. It is an excuse which is not valid.

1. There was no absolute need to be so busy. Many people make slaves of themselves with a view to gain, when they could earn enough for their needs, and yet have abundant leisure to care for their souls.

2. To have believed in the Lord would have lessened the needful care of life, and so the pressure of business would have been lightened. The fact is that no man can afford to neglect his soul, for thus he hinders his own life-work.

3. You find time for other necessaries,—to eat, drink, dress, converse, and sleep. And have you no time to feed your soul, to drink the living water, to put on the robe of righteousness, to talk with God, and to find rest in Christ?

4. You have time for diversion. Think of the many hours wasted in idle chat, unprofitable reading, or worse. If offered a holiday, or an evening's entertainment, you make time if you cannot find it. You have, then, time for weightier matters.

5. You find time for judging others, questioning great truths, spying out difficulties, and quibbling over trifles. Have you no time for self-examination, study of the Word, and seeking the Lord? Of course you have; where is it?

III. It is an excuse which accuses the person who makes it.

1. You have enjoyed many mercies in your daily work, for you have been able to attend to your business; should not these have won your gratitude?

2. You have seen many trials while busy here and there; why did they not lead you to God?

3. You have abilities for business; and these should have been used for God. Did he not give them to you? Why expend them on your own selfish money-getting?

IV. It is an excuse which will wound the memory of some.

To have worked hard for nothing: to live hard, and lie hard, and yet to fail, and die poor at last, will be sad.

To have to leave all when you have succeeded in accumulating wealth will be wretched work. Yet so it must be.

V. It is an excuse which cannot restore the loss.

If you have lost the time, you certainly had it entrusted to you, and you will be called to account for it: but you cannot regain it, nor make up for its loss.

How wretched to have spent a life in idly traveling, collecting shells, reading novels, &c., and to have therefore left no space for serving God, and knowing the Redeemer!

Men do worse than this: they sin, they lead others to sin, they invent ways of killing time, and then say they have no time.

They give their minds to skeptical thought, to propagating atheism, undermining Scripture, or arguing against the gospel, and yet have no time to believe and live!

Call to the young to use time while time is theirs.

Call to the aged to spend the remnant of their days well.

Call to Christians to look well to their children's souls, lest they slip from under their influence while they are busy here and there.

Call to experienced believers to see to their own joy in the Lord, lest they lose it in the throng.

In London, such is the hum of business, that the great clock of St. Paul's may strike many times and not be heard. God speaks often, and men hear him not because other voices deafen them. A great earthquake happened when two armies were in the heat of battle, and none of the combatants knew of it. Preoccupation of mind will prevent the most solemn things from having due weight with us.

Nero, when Rome was famishing, sent ships to Alexandria, not to bring corn for the starving people, but to fetch sand for the arena. He fiddled while Rome was burning. Are not many thus cruel to themselves? Are they not spending, on fleeting merriments, precious hours, which should be used in seeking after pleasures for evermore?

Whatever negligence may creep into your studies, or into your pursuits of pleasure or of business, let there be one point, at least, on which you are always watchful, always alive: I mean, in the performance of your religious duties. Let nothing induce you, even for a day, to neglect the perusal of Scripture. You know the value of prayer; it is precious beyond all price. Never, never neglect it. Buxton to his Son.

King Henry the Fourth asked the Duke of Alva if he had observed the great eclipse of the sun which had lately happened. "No," said the Duke, "I have so much to do on earth, that I have no leisure to look up to Heaven." Ah, that this were not true of professors in these days! It is sad to think how their hearts and time are so taken up with earthly things, that they have no leisure to look after Christ and the things that belong to their everlasting peace. Thomas Brooks.

A treatise on the excellence and dignity of the soul, by Claude, Bishop of Toul, ends thus: "I have but one soul, and I will value it"

"Moments seize;

Heaven's on their wing: a moment we may wish,

When worlds want wealth to buy."—Young.

Grotius, the historian, cried in death, "Ah, I have consumed my life in a laborious doing of nothing. I would give all my learning and honor for the plain integrity of John Urick" (a poor man of eminent piety).

A dying nobleman exclaimed, "Good God, how have I employed myself! In what delirium has my life been passed! What have I been doing while the sun in its race, and the stars in their courses, have lent their beams, perhaps only to light me to perdition! I have pursued shadows, and entertained myself with dreams. I have been treasuring up dust, and sporting myself with the wind. I might have grazed with the beasts of the field, or sung with the birds of the woods, to much better purpose than any for which I have lived."

26

2 Kings 2:14—"And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"

The great object to be desired is God, Jehovah, Elijah's God. With him all things flourish. His absence is our decline and death.

Those entering on any holy work should seek for the God who was with their predecessors. What a mercy that the God of Elijah is also the God of Elisha! He will also be with us, for "this God is our God, forever and ever, he will be our guide even unto death." Psalm 48:14.

In great difficulties no name will help but that of God. How else can Jordan be divided but by Jehovah, God of Elijah?

Elisha sought first for the Lord, and inquired, "Where is he?" Elijah was gone, and he did not seek him, but his God.

He used Elijah's old mantle, and did not invent novelties; desiring to have the aid of the same God, he was content to wear the mantle of his predecessor. The true is not new.

Still we do not need antiquities from the past, nor novelties of the present, nor marvels for the future; we only want the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we shall then see among us wonders equal to those of Elijah's age. "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" The old mantle, used with faith in the same God, parted the waters hither and thither. The power is where it used to be.

I. The Question turned into Prayer. It is as though he cried—O you, who were with Elijah, be you also with me! At this day our one need is Elijah's God

1. The God who kept him faithful must make us stand firm should we be left alone in the truth. 1 Corinthians 1:8.

2. The God who heard his prayer must give us also the effectual inwrought prayer of the righteous man. James 5:16.

3. The God who provided for him at Cherith and Zarephath, and in the wilderness, must also supply all our needs. Psalm 23:1.

4. The God who raised the dead by him must cause us to bring men up from their death in sin. 1 Kings 17:23.

5. The God who answered by fire must put life, energy, and enthusiasm into our hearts. 1 Kings 18:38.

6. The God who gave him food for a long journey must fit us for the pilgrimage of life, and preserve us to the end. 1 Kings 19:8.

7. The God who gave him courage to face kings must also make us very bold, so as to be free from the fear of man. 1 Kings 21:20.

8. The God who divided Jordan for the prophet will not fail us when we are crossing into our Canaan. 2 Kings 2:8.

9. The God who took him away in a chariot of fire will send a convoy of angels, and we shall enter into glory.

II. The Question Answered. The Lord God of Elijah is not dead, nor sleeping, nor on a journey

1. He is still in Heaven regarding his own reserved ones. They may be hidden in caves, but the Lord knows them that are his.

2. He is still to be moved by prayer to bless a thirsty land.

3. He is still able to keep us faithful in the midst of a faithless generation, so that we shall not bow the knee to Baal.

4. He is still in the still small voice. Quietly he speaks to reverent minds: by calm and brave spirits he is achieving his purposes.

5. He is still reigning in providence to overturn oppressors (1 Kings 21:18, 19), to preserve his own servants (2 Kings 1:10), and to secure a succession of faithful men. 1 Kings 19:16.

6. He is coming in vengeance. Hear you not his chariot-wheels?

He will bear away his people, but, sorely, O you unbelievers! shall you rue the day wherein you cried in scorn, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"

Oh, to be so engaged that we can court the presence of God!

Oh, to be so consecrated that we may expect his blessing!

Oh, to have that presence, so as to be girded with his strength!

Oh, to live so as never more to ask this question!

Auxiliary Extracts

"God of Queen Clotilda," cried out the infidel Clovis I. of France, when in trouble on the field of battle, "God of Queen Clotilda! grant me the victory!" Why did he not call upon his own God? Saunderson, who was a great admirer of Sir Isaac Newton's talents, and who made light of his religion in health, was, nevertheless, heard to say in dismal accents on a dying-bed, "God of Sir Isaac Newton, have mercy on me!" Why this changing of gods in a dying hour?—"Addresses to Young Men," by Rev. Daniel Baker.

1. The God of Elijah gave him the sweet experience of keeping warm and lively in a very cold and dead generation; so that he was best when others were worst.… But where is the Lord God of Elijah in these dregs of time, wherein professors generally are carried away, with the stream of impiety, from all their liveliness and tenderness that aforetime have been among them, when the more wickedness sets up its head, the more piety is made to hide its head? It is a sad evidence that God is gone from us, when the standard of wickedness makes advances, and that of shining holiness is retreating, and can hardly get hands to hold it up.

2. The God of Elijah gave him the sweet experience of the power of prayer: James 5:17.… But where is the God of Elijah, while the trade with Heaven by prayer is so very low? Alas, for the dead, cold, and flat prayers that come from the lips of professors at this day, so weak and languishing that they cannot reach Heaven!

3. The God of Elijah gave him the experience of the sweet fruits of dependence on the Lord, and of a little going far, with his blessing: 1 Kings 17:16.… But where is the God of Elijah at this day, when what we have seems to be blown upon, that it goes in effect for nothing? Our table is plentifully covered, yet our souls are starved; our goodness sometimes looks as a morning cloud, it blackens the face of the heavens, and promises a heavy shower, but quickly proves as a little cloud, like unto a man's hand, which is ready to go for nothing; yes, this generation is blinded by the means that have a natural tendency to give light Ah! "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"

4. The God of Elijah gave him the experience of a gracious boldness to face the most daring wickedness of the generation he lived in, though it was one of the worst. This eminently appeared in his encounter with Ahab: 1 Kings 18:1.… But where is the God of Elijah now, while the iniquities of our day meet with such faint resistance, while a brave brow for the cause of God, a tongue to speak for him, and a heart to act, are so much wanting? The wicked of the world, though they have an ill cause in hand, yet they pursue it boldly; but, alas! the people of God shame their honest cause by their cowardice and faint appearing in it. If God give us not another spirit, more fitted for such a day, we shall betray our trust, and bring the curse of the succeeding generation on us.

5. The God of Elijah gave him the experience of a glorious and powerful manifestation of himself in a solemn ordinance, even at the sacrifice on Mount Carmel, which was ushered in with the spirit of prayer in Elijah: 1 Kings 18:37–39.… But where is the God of Elijah, when so little of the Spirit's influences is found in ordinances, even solemn ordinances? Here is the mantle, but where is the God of Elijah? Here are the grave-clothes, in which sometimes the Lord was wrapt up, but where is he himself? Communion-days have sometimes been glorious days in Scotland, and sometimes the gospel hath done much good, so that ministers have had almost as much to do to heal broken hearts as now to get hard hearts broken; but where now is the God of Elijah?

6. The God of Elijah gave him the experience of being enabled to go far upon a meal: 1 Kings 19:8. But where now are such experiences, while there is so little strength in the spiritual meals to which we now sit down? This is a time wherein there is much need of such an experience; the Lord seems to be saying to his people, "Rise and eat, for the journey is long"; and what a hard journey some may have, before they get another meal, who knows? Oh, for more feeding power in the doctrine preached among us!

7. The God of Elijah gave him the experience of the Lord's removing difficulties out of his way, when he himself could do nothing at them: Jordan divided. So Peter had the iron gate opened to him of its own accord: for when the Lord takes the work in hand, were it never so desperate as to us, it will succeed well with him. Sure we have need of this experience this day. How is the case of many souls so embarrassed at this day that they cannot extricate themselves, by reason of long and continued departures from God, so that all they can do is that they are fleeing and going backward! Ah! where is the God of Elijah, to dry up those devouring deeps? Enemies have surrounded the church, and brought her to the brow of the hill, ready to cast her over; where is the God of Elijah, to make a way for her escape?—Thomas Boston.

27

2 Kings 6:17—"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

Faith serves the believer for eyes, and makes him see what others cannot. This keeps the man himself quiet and calm, and enables him to check the fears of those who cry, "Alas, my master! how shall we do?" verse 15.

From this narrative we learn how much may be about us, and yet it may be invisible to the natural eye. We shall use it to teach—

I. That the natural eye is blind to heavenly things.

God is everywhere; yet sin-blinded eyes see him not.

His law touches the thoughts and intents of the heart; yet its wonderful spiritual meaning is not perceived.

Men themselves are evil, guilty, fallen; yet they see not their own wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.

Their danger is imminent; yet they sport on, blindly dancing at hell's mouth. There is a man at Brighton who wears a placard about his neck, on which are these words, "I am quite blind." This might suit such foolish ones.

Jesus is near, and ready to help; but their eyes are held so that they know not that it is Jesus. He is altogether lovely, and desirable, the sun of the soul, yet is he altogether unknown.

This want of spiritual discernment makes man ignoble. Samson blinded is a sorry spectacle: from a judge in Israel he sinks to a slave in Philistia.

This keeps a man content with the world: he does not see how poor a thing it is, for which he sweats, and smarts, and sins, and sacrifices Heaven.

This causes many men to pursue the monotonous task of avarice; never more aspiring after better things, but pursuing the dreary round of incessant moil and toil, as blind horses go round and round the mill.

This makes men proud. They think they know all things because they see so little of what can be known.

This places men in danger. "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch": Matthew 15:14.

II. That God alone can open man's eyes.

We can lead the blind, but we cannot make them see; we can put truth before them, but we cannot open their eyes; that work remains with God alone.

Some use artificial eyes, others try spectacles, telescopes, colored glasses, &c., but all in vain, while the eyes are blind. The cure is of the Lord alone.

1. To give sight is the same wonder as creation. Who can make an eye? In the sinner the faculty of spiritual vision is gone.

2. The man is born blind. His darkness is part of himself. "Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind": John 9:32.

3. The man is willfully blind. None so blind as those who will not see. "The blind people that have eyes": Is. 43:8.

4. Opening of the eyes is set down as a covenant blessing. The Lord has given his Son "for a covenant of the people, to open the blind eyes": Is. 42:6, 7.

Satan counterfeited this in the garden when he said, "Your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods": Genesis 3:5.

III. That we may pray him to open men's eyes. We ought to cry, "Lord, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see."

1. When we see sinners in trouble it is a hopeful sign, and we should pray for them with double importunity. Is. 26:2.

2. When we hear them inquiring, we should inquire of the Lord for them. Their prayer should call up ours.

3. When we ourselves see much, we should see for them.

4. When their blindness astonishes us, it should drive us to our knees.

5. The prayers of others availed for us, and therefore we ought to repay the blessing to the prayer-treasury of the church.

6. It will glorify God to open their eyes; let us pray with great expectancy, believing that he will honor his Son.

IV. That God does open men's eyes.

1. He has done it in a moment. Notice the many miracles performed by our Lord on blind men.

2. He specially opens the eyes of the young. "The Lord opened the eyes of the young man." See the text.

3. He can open your eyes. Many are the forms of blindness, but they are all comprehended in that grand statement, "The Lord opens the eyes of the blind": Ps 146:8.

4. He can in an instant cause you to see his grace in its all-sufficiency and nearness. Hagar and the well: Genesis 21:19.

V. That even those who see need more sight. Elisha's young man could see; yet he had his eyes more fully opened

1. In the Scriptures more is to be seen. "Open you mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law": Psalm 119:18.

2. In the great doctrines of the gospel there is much latent light.

3. In Providence there are great marvels. To see God's hand in everything is a great attainment, specially glorifying to his name. Psalm 107:24.

4. In self, sin, Satan, &c., there are depths which it were well for us to see. May we be men with our eyes opened.

5. In Christ Jesus himself there are hidden glories. "Sir, we would see Jesus": John 12:21. Hebrews 2:9.

Have you spiritual sight? Then behold angels and spiritual things. Better still,—Behold your Lord!

Gleanings

One of the saddest conditions of a human creature is to read God's word with a veil upon the heart, to pass blindfolded through all the wondrous testimonies of redeeming love and grace which the Scriptures contain. And it is sad, also, if not actually censurable, to pass blindfolded through the works of God, to live in a world of flowers, and stars, and sunsets, and a thousand glorious objects of nature, and never to have a passing interest awakened by any of them. Dean Goulbourn.

A lady once said to Turner, when he was painting: "Why do you put such extravagant colors into your pictures? I never see anything like them in nature." "Don't you wish you did, madam?" said he. It was a sufficient answer. He saw them, if she did not So believers, like the prophet, see many divine wonders which worldlings cannot perceive.

If his word once teach us, shoot a ray

Through all the heart's dark chambers, and reveal

Truths undiscerned but by that holy light,

Then all is plain.

Cowper.

The dying prayer of William Tyndale, the martyr, uttered "with a fervent zeal and a loud voice," was this: "Lord open the king of England's eyes!"

28

2 Kings 17:25, 33, 34—"And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them."

"They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

"Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel."

It is as needful to warn you against the false as to urge you to the true. Conversion, which is a divine change, is imitated, and the spurious palmed off as genuine. This answers the devil's purpose in several ways; it eases the conscience of the double-minded, adulterates the church, injures its testimony, and dishonors true religion.

I. Their first estate. "They feared not the Lord."

1. They had little or no religion of any sort.

2. They were not troubled about serving the true God.

3. Probably they even ridiculed Jehovah and his people.

4. But they were near a God-fearing people, and near to king Hezekiah, under whom there had been a great revival. Such influence creates a great deal of religiousness.

II. Their sham conversion. "They feared the Lord."

1. They were wrought upon by fear only: the "lions" were their evangelists, and their teeth were cutting arguments.

2. They remained in ignorance of the character of Jehovah, and only wished to know "the manner of the God of the land." Outside religion is enough for many; they care not for God himself.

3. They were instructed by an unfaithful priest; one of those who had practiced calf-worship, and now failed to rebuke their love of false gods. Such persons have much to answer for.

4. They showed their conversion by outward observances, multiplying priests, and setting up altars on high places.

5. But their conversion was radically defective: for—

There was no repentance.

No expiatory sacrifice was offered on God's one altar.

The false gods were not put away. "Every nation made gods of their own" (verse 29). While sin reigns grace is absent.

They showed no love to God. They feared, but did not trust or love.

They rendered no obedience to him. Even their worship was will-worship. "They feared the Lord, and served their own gods": a very significant distinction.

They did not abandon false trusts: they looked not to the Lord.

Give cases.

The religious drunkard. See him weep! Hear him talk! He has a dread of God, but he serves Bacchus.

The unchaste hypocrite, whose real worship goes to the vilest lusts, and yet he dreads to be found out.

The pious Sabbath-breaker. Very devout, but serves out poison on Sundays, or prefers recreation to regeneration.

The saintly skinflint. He has "a saving faith" in the worst sense.

The slandering professor. Under pretense of greater holiness he abuses the righteous.

III. Their real state. "They fear not the Lord."

1. They own him not as God alone. The admission of other gods is apostasy from the true God. He will be all or nothing.

2. They do not really obey him; for else they would quit their idols, sins, and false trusts.

3. He has no covenant with them. They ignore it altogether.

4. He has not wrought salvation for them.

5. They act so as to prove that they are not his. See the future history of these Samaritans in the book of Nehemiah, of which these are the items:—

They desire to unite with Israel for the sake of advantage;

They become enemies when refused;

They grow proud and judge the true Israel. They say they are better than "those who profess so much." They measure the corn of the sincere with the bushel of their own deceit.

In real conversion there must be

Idol-breaking. Sin and self must be abandoned.

Concentration. Our only God must be adored and served.

Christ-trusting. His one sacrifice must be presented and relied upon.

Full surrender. Our heart must yield to God and delight in his ways.

29

1 Chronicles 13:8—"And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets."

1 Chronicles 13:12—"And David was afraid of God that day, saying, how shall I bring the ark of God home to me?"

1 Chronicles 15:25—"So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy."

David loved his God and venerated the symbol of his presence. He desired to restore the Lord's appointed worship, and to place the ark where it should be, as the most sacred center of worship. But right things must be done in a right manner, or they will fail. In this case the failure was sad and signal, for Uzza died, and the ark turned aside to the house of Obed-edom.

I. The Failure. First Text. 1 Chronicles 13:8.

Here were multitudes, "David and all Israel," and yet the business came to nothing. Crowds do not ensure blessing.

Here was pomp,—singing, harps, trumpets, &c., yet it ended in mourning. Gorgeous ceremonial is no guarantee of grace.

Here was energy: "they played before God with all their might."

This was no dull and sleepy worship, but a bright, lively service, and yet the matter fell through.

But there was no thought as to God's mind. David confessed, "we sought him not after the due order": 1 Chronicles 15:13.

There was very little spiritual feeling. More music than grace.

The priests were not in their places, nor the Levites to carry the ark: oxen took the place of willing men. The worship was not sufficiently spiritual and humble.

There was no sacrifice. This was a fatal flaw; for how can we serve the Lord apart from sacrifice?

There was little reverence. We hear little of prayer, but we hear much of oxen, a cart, and the too familiar hand of Uzza.

Now, even a David must keep his place, and the Lord's command must not be supplanted by will-worship. Therefore the Lord made a breach upon Uzza, and David was greatly afraid.

May we not expect similar failures unless we are careful to act obediently, and serve the Lord with holy awe? Are all the observances and practices of our churches scriptural? Are not some of them purely will-worship?

II. The Fear. Second Text. 1 Chronicles 13:12.

The terrible death of Uzza caused great fear. Thus the Lord slew Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire; and the men of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark. The Lord has said, "I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified": Leviticus 10:3.

His own sense of wrong feeling caused this fear in David, for we read, "and David was displeased" (verse 11). We are too apt to be displeased with God because he is displeased with us.

His own sense of unworthiness for such holy work made him cry, "How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?"

His feeling that he failed in that which God expected of his servants created a holy fear. "Sanctify yourselves, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God": 1 Chronicles 15:12.

He meant well, but he had erred, and so he came to a pause; yet not for long. The ark of God remained with Obed-edom three months, but not more. Verse 14.

Some make the holiness of God and the strictness of his rule an excuse for wicked neglect.

Others are overwhelmed with holy fear; and therefore pause a while, until they are better prepared for the holy service.

III. The Joy. Third Text. 1 Chronicles 15:25.

1. God blessed Obed-edom. Thus may humble souls dwell with God and die not. Those houses which entertain the ark of the Lord shall be well rewarded.

2. Preparation was made and thought exercised by David and his people when a second time they set about moving the ark of the covenant. Read the whole of the chapter.

3. The mind of the Lord was considered. "And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereof, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord." Verse 15.

4. The priests were in their places. "So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves." Men and methods must both be ruled by God. Verse 14.

5. Sacrifices were offered. "And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams" (verse 26). The great and perfect sacrifice must ever be to the front.

6. Now came the exceeding joy. Verse 28.

Do we draw near to God in all holy exercises after this careful, spiritual, reverent fashion?

If so, we may safely exhibit our delight, and our hearts may dance before the Lord as king David did. Verse 29.

For Emphasis

When after long disuse ordinances come to be revived, it is too common for even wise and good men to make some mistakes. Who would have thought that David should have made such a blunder as this, to carry the ark upon a cart? (verse 7). Because the Philistines so carried it, and a special providence drove the cart (1 Samuel 6:12), he thought they might do so too. But we must walk by rule, not by example, when it varies from the rule; no, not those examples that providence has owned. Matthew Henry.

1. The matter and right manner of performing duties are, in the command of God, linked together. He will have his service well done as well as really done. We must serve God with a perfect heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts, and under-stands all the imaginations of the thoughts. Masters on earth challenge to themselves a power to oblige their servants, not only to do their work, but to do it so-and-so; and though they do the thing itself, yet if not in the manner required, it cannot be accepted.

2. The doing of a duty in a wrong manner alters the nature of it, and makes it sin. Hence "the ploughing of the wicked is sin" (Proverbs 21:4). Hence prayer is accounted a howling upon their beds (Hosea 7:14). Unworthy communicating is not counted as eating the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11:20). If a house be built of never so strong timber and good stones, yet if it be not well founded, and rightly built, the inhabitant may curse the day he came under the roof of it.

3. Duties not performed according to the right order are but the half of the service we owe to God, and the worst half too. Thomas Boston.

30

2 Chronicles 2:11—"Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord has loved his people, he has made you king over them."

Such was the character of Solomon, that even Huram could see that he was a blessing to the people over whom he ruled. Be it ours to bless others, whatever our station may be. May it be observed concerning us that, because the Lord loved the family he made us heads of it, friends to it, or servants in it; and so forth.

Even a heathen could trace great blessings to God's love; what heathens those are who do not speak of the Lord's goodness, but talk of "chance" and "good luck"!

It is a great blessing when communications between rulers savor of a pious courtesy, as these between Solomon and Huram.

This verse may well be applied to our Lord Jesus. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditation thereon.

I. The love of God has made Jesus our King.

1. It is not, then, a burden to be under law to Christ: his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3.

2. Jesus did not need us for subjects, but we needed to be under the rule and headship of Jesus. It is for our guidance, comfort, honor, growth, success, peace, and safety.

3. It brings us great happiness to obey our Prince. His laws are simply indications of where our felicity lies.

4. The personal character of our King is such that it is a great blessing to his subjects to have him as their Monarch.

So wise: therefore able to judge and to direct.

So powerful: therefore able to enrich and to defend.

So gracious: therefore laying himself out to benefit us all.

So holy: therefore elevating and purifying his people. In this Solomon failed, but Jesus succeeded.

5. His relationship to us makes it a great blessing to have him for our King. We are not under the tyranny of a stranger; but to us is fulfilled the word of the prophet, "Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them": Jeremiah 30:21.

The Lord Jesus is, to all of us who are believers—

Our Brother. Therefore it is no bondage to follow him.

Our Redeemer. Therefore it is joy to own his property in us.

Our Husband. Who would not do the bidding of one so loving?

It is a delight to obey him in all things who has blessed us in all things.

II. The love of God has made us the subjects of Jesus.

1. We see this in the choice which the Lord has made of us.

We were like Israel—

Insignificant in rank, power, or wisdom.

Erring, and continually apt to revolt from our King.

Poor, and therefore unable to pay him any great revenue.

Feeble, and therefore no help to him in his grand designs.

Fickle, and consequently a wretched people to rule and lead.

2. We see this in his subduing us.

We began with rebellion, but our Prince conquered us, and brought us under happy subjection because of his great love.

3. We see this in the healthy order he maintains. It is good for us to be under so wise a rule. Love gives rebels a powerful, gracious, and forbearing ruler. A firm hand and a loving heart will tame the unruly, and be a blessing to them.

4. We see this in the peace which he creates: the quiet within and without: in the heart and in the church. 1 Kings 4:24.

5. We see this in the plenty which he scatters. "And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycamore trees that are in the valley for abundance": 2 Chronicles 1:15. Far greater are the riches of grace which the reign of Jesus brings to us.

6. We see this in the honor he puts upon us, making us all to be kings and priests with him. Rev. 1:5, 6.

III. Our love to God makes the reign of Jesus blessed to us.

1. It makes his courts our delight.

2. It makes his service our recreation.

3. It makes his revenue our riches.

4. It makes his glory our honor.

5. It makes his cross our crown.

6. It makes himself our Heaven.

Lord, bless your people, by keeping them loyal and obedient.

Lord, bless rebellious ones, by bringing them to bow before so gracious and wise a Prince.

Lord, we now bless you for exalting Jesus, to be a Prince and a Savior to us. May his Spirit rest upon us!

31

2 Chronicles 12:14—"And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord."

This is the summing up of Rehoboam's life: he was not so bad as some, but he did evil in various ways, not so much from design as from neglect.

The evil effects of the father's sin and the mother's idolatry were seen in their son, yet there was another cause, namely, a want of heart-preparation. The son of Solomon very naturally desired many wives—2 Chronicles 11:23; and it was no marvel that the child of Naamah the Ammonitess allowed images and groves to defile the land; yet there was a deeper cause of his life's evil, and that lay in himself. His heart was not thorough with the Lord, and he, himself, was not carefully consecrated to the worship of Jehovah. He might have done well had he not been Rehoboam the Unready.

I. He did not begin life with seeking the Lord.

1. He was young, and should have sought wisdom of God; but he went to Shechem to meet the people without prayer or sacrifice. 2 Chronicles 10:1. That which commences without God will end in failure.

2. He leaned on counselors, saying, "What advice give you?" Of those counselors he chose the worst, namely, the younger and prouder nobles. 2 Chronicles 10:8. Those who reject divine wisdom generally refuse all other wisdom.

3. He committed great folly by threatening the people, and refusing their just demands; and that while as yet he had not been accepted as their king. 2 Chronicles 10:13, 14. He had none of his father's wisdom. How can they act prudently and prosperously who are not guided of the Lord?

II. He showed no heart in seeking the Lord afterwards.

1. He obeyed the prophet's voice when the man of God forbade him to fight with Israel; yet afterwards he forsook the law of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 12:1. He is said to have been "young and tender-hearted," which means soft. 2 Chronicles 13:7.

2. He winked at the most horrible crimes among the people whom he ought to have judged. 1 Kings 14:24.

3. He fell into his father's sins.

4. He busied himself more for the world than for God. We hear nothing of his worship but much of his building, nothing of his faith but much of his fickleness. 2 Chronicles 11:5–12.

III. He was not fixed and persevering in his seeking the Lord.

1. For three years his loyalty to his God made him prosper, by bringing into Judah all the better sort of people who fled from Jeroboam's calf-worship. (2 Chronicles 11:13–17), yet he forsook the Lord who had prospered him.

2. He grew proud, and God handed him over to Shishak. Verse 5.

3. He humbled himself and was pardoned, yet he stripped the Lord's house to buy off the king of Egypt.

4. He wrought no great reforms and celebrated no great Passover, yet he owned, "the Lord is righteous." Verse 6.

IV. He had no care to seek the Lord thoroughly.

Yet no man is good by accident: no one goes right who has not intended to do so. Without heart, religion must die.

1. Human nature departs from the right way, especially in kings, who are tolerated in more sin than others.

2. Courtiers usually run the wrong way, especially the young, proud, and frivolous. Rehoboam loved the mirthful and proud, and gave himself up to their lead.

3. Underlings are apt to follow us and applaud us if we go in an evil path, even as Judah followed Rehoboam. Thus those who should lead are themselves led.

The kind of preparation required by me, in order to the diligent and acceptable seeking of the Lord, my God, is somewhat after this fashion:—

To feel and confess my need of God in the whole of my life.

To cry unto him for help and wisdom.

To yield to his guidance, and not to follow the counsel of vain persons, nor to bluster at those around me.

To be anxious to be right in everything, searching the Scriptures, and seeking by prayer, to know what I should do.

To serve the Lord carefully and earnestly, leaving nothing to chance, passion, fashion, or whim.

Are there any professors among us of the same sort as Rehoboam?

Are there any hopeful young men who lack whole-hearted devotion to the Lord?

Are there any older men who have suffered already from vacillation, hesitation, or double-mindedness?

Are there any just escaped from such trouble who nevertheless are not firm, and ready even now?

Oh, for a clear sense of the evil and folly of such a condition!

Oh, for the confirming power of the Holy Spirit!

Oh, for vital union with the Lord Jesus!

Examples

Before the University Boat-race comes off, the men undergo a long and severe training. They would not think of contending for the mastery without preparation; and do we imagine that we can win the race of life at a venture, without bringing under the body and cultivating the mind? The preacher studies his discourse carefully, though it will only occupy part of an hour; and is our life-sermon worthy of no care and consideration? A saintly life is a work of far higher are than the most valuable painting or precious statue, yet neither of these can be produced without thought. A man must be at his best to produce an immortal poem, yet a few hundred lines will sum it all up. Let us not dream that the far greater poem of a holy life can be made to flow forth like impromptu verse.

Well known to me was a kindly, well-disposed gentleman, who, like Rehoboam, was tender-hearted or persuasible. He was a worldling of pleasing manners, who delighted in the esteem of the circle which surrounded him. He had a great respect for religious persons, and especially for ministers; but he could not afford to be a godly man himself, for then he might have become unpopular with a large circle of worldly fashionables. He once left an assembly which I addressed, because he said, "I felt almost on the go, and should soon have been converted if I had not rushed out." "There," said he, "Spurgeon, I am like an india-rubber doll when you are preaching; you can make me into any shape you like; but then I get back into my old form when you have done." He was an accurate reproduction of the soft-souled son of Solomon: a very Pliable, easily persuaded to set out on pilgrimage, but equally ready to return at the world's call.

The parable of the two sons will come in here. Rehoboam said, "I go, Sir"; but he went not. The modern Rehoboam is a perfect gentleman: if he did but know his own mind, he would also be a man. He is inclined to obey God, but others incline him to keep in the fashion. He is like the pear which the French call Bon Chrétien, very promising, but apt to become sleepy, and to rot at the core. This sort of people is not of much use either to the good cause or to its opposite.

32

2 Chronicles 20:4—"And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord."

The sudden news of a great invasion came to Jehoshaphat, and, like a true man of God, he set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast. The people came together with all speed, and the whole nation earnestly cried to the Lord for his aid.

Let us notice carefully—

I. How they asked help.

They expressed their confidence; Jehoshaphat cried, "Are not you God in Heaven? In your hand is there not power and might?" (Verse 6.)

They pleaded his past acts. "Are not you our God, who did drive out the inhabitants of this land?" (Verse 7.)

They urged the promise given at the dedication of the temple. Read verse 9. "You will hear and help."

They confessed their condition: humbly did they acknowledge their danger and their impotence. They had—

No power. "We have no might against this great company."

No plan. "Neither know we what to do." (Verse 12.)

No allies. Their wives and their little ones only increased their care. (Verse 13.)

They then lifted their souls to God. "Our eyes are upon you." Where could they look with more certainty?

II. How they received it.

By renewed assurance. "The Lord will be with you." (Verse 17.)

By the calming of their fears. "Be not afraid." "Fear not, nor be dismayed." Courage keeps the field, but fear flies.

By urging them to greater faith. "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established." (Verse 20.)

By distinct direction. "Tomorrow go you down against them; you shall find them at the end of the brook." (Verse 16.)

By actual deliverance. The Moabites and Ammonites slew the Edomites, and Israel triumphed without striking a blow.

It shall be greatly to our joy to see the right hand of the Lord getting us the victory.

III. How they acted by this help

They worshiped. With every sign of reverence, the king and his people bowed before Jehovah (verse 18). Worship girds us for warfare.

They praised. Before they received the mercy, "He appointed singers unto the Lord." Read verse 21.

They went forth, preceded by the singers, until they reached "the watch-tower in the wilderness." (Verse 24).

They saw the promise fulfilled. "They looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies." (Verse 24.)

They gathered the spoil. "They were three days in gathering, of the spoil, it was so much." (Verse 25.)

They blessed the Lord. (Verse 26.) The valley of Berachah heard their joyful notes, and then they returned to the house of the Lord with harps and psalteries and trumpets.

They had rest. "So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about" (Verse 30.) God's victories end the war. The fear of God fell on all the kingdoms, and they dared not invade Judah.

Let us when in difficulties have immediate resort to the Lord.

Let us do this in the spirit of confidence and praise.

Is there not a cause for our assembling even now to plead against the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites of superstition, worldliness, and infidelity?

Observations

This chapter, which begins with danger, fear, and trouble all round, ends with joy, peace, quiet, and rest. Two words seem to stand out in this chapter—Praise and Prayer—twin sisters which should always go together. One word links them here—Faith.

"Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord." His good example was soon followed. "Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord." What a prayer-meeting—a real one, a united one, with a definite object, and the king presiding! Notice the prayer (verse 5). It is a pattern one. Jehoshaphat felt his weakness and need; but he recognized that God is all, and over all, and has all power and might. He brings forward every plea and argument He appeals to God's power and promises, to his justice and love, and winds up with simple yet prevailing faith in God himself. "We have no might, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon you" (verse 12). Placing all the responsibility on God, and they just looking to him, waiting for him: God answered at once. Captain Dawson, in "Thoughts in the Valleys."

33

2 Chronicles 28:23—"But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel."

Narrate the actual circumstances. Ahaz turned away from Jehovah to serve the gods of Damascus, because Syria enjoyed prosperity. "For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel."

The consequent introduction of false deities and defilement of the worship of God became the ruin of Ahaz and his kingdom.

We fear lest this should be the ruin of England; for the idols of the Papists and the doctrines of Rome are again being set up in our land. Though no country prospers in which these prevail, yet besotted minds are laboring to restore the gods of the Vatican. This subject deserves many faithful sermons.

At this time we shall turn the text to more general use.

I. The man ruining himself. Ahaz is the type of many self-destroyers. "O Israel, you have destroyed yourself." Hosea 13:9.

He would be his own master. This ruined the prodigal, and will ruin millions more.

He was high-handed in sin. "He walked in the way of the kings of Israel": 2 Kings 16:3, 4. This is a race to ruin.

He lavished treasure upon it. He spent much but gained little. Profligacy and many other wrong ways are expensive and ruinous.

He defied chastisement. "In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord": 2 Chronicles 28:22. This defiance of correction leads to sure ruin.

He was exceedingly clever, and curried favor with the great. He made a copy of a classic altar, and sent it home. More men perish through being too clever than by being simple.

He was a man of taste. He admired the antique, and the aesthetic in religion.

He had officials to back him. "Urijah, the priest, built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus": 2 Kings 16:11. Bad ministers are terrible destroyers.

He imitated prosperous sinners. The king of Assyria became his type. This is ruinous conduct.

He abandoned all worship of God. "He shut up the doors of the house of the Lord" (verse 24). This is the climax of rebellion, and the seal of ruin.

But he did not prosper; the false gods were the ruin of him.

II. The man in ruins. We leave Ahaz to think of some around us.

The man becomes eaten up with secret vice. A rotting ruin haunted by bats and owls, and foul creatures of the night.

The man of drinking habits, not fit for society, a brute, a fiend.

The man of evil company and foul speech: likely to be soon in prison, or an outcast.

The man of unbelieving notions and blasphemous conversation, lost to God, to goodness, and moral sense.

All around us we see such spiritual ruins.

Turned from holy uses to be moldering wastes.

The man is ruined in—

Peace, character, usefulness, prospects. Worst of all, he is himself a ruin, and will be so forever.

A ruin suggests many reflections.

What it was! What it might have been!

What it is! What it will be!

Meditations among ruins may be useful to those who are inclined to repeat the experiment of Ahaz.

III. Others ruined with him. "They were the ruin of him, and of all Israel."

Designedly. Some men by example create drunkards, by teaching make infidels, by seduction ruin virtue, by their very presence destroy all that is good in their associates.

Incidentally; even without intent they spread the contagion of sin. Their irreligion ruins the young, their conduct influences the unsettled, their language inflames the wicked.

Sin will ruin you if persisted in.

Your downfall will drag down others.

Will you not endeavor to escape from ruin?

Jesus is the Restorer of the wastes.

Relics

There is an Australian missile called the boomerang, which is thrown so as to describe singular curves, and to return at last to the hand of the thrower. Sin is a kind of boomerang, which goes off into space curiously, but turns again upon its author, and with tenfold force strikes the guilty soul that launched it.

We might illustrate the evil of sin by the following comparison:—"Suppose I were going along a street, and were to dash my hand through a large pane of glass, what harm would I receive?" "You would be punished for breaking the glass." "Would that be all the harm I should receive?" "Your hand would be cut by the glass." "Yes; and so it is with sin. If you break God's laws, you shall be punished for breaking them; and your soul is hurt by the very act of breaking them."—J. Inglis.

I have heard that a shepherd once stood and watched an eagle soar out from a cliff. The bird flew far up into the air, and presently became unsteady, and reeled in its flight. First one wing dropped, and then the other; presently, with accelerated speed, the poor bird fell rapidly to the ground. The shepherd was curious to know the secret of its fall. He went and picked it up. He saw that when the eagle lighted last on a cliff, a little serpent had fastened itself upon him; and as the serpent gnawed in farther and farther, the eagle in its agony reeled in the air. When the serpent touched its heart, the eagle fell. Have you never seen a man or woman in the church, or in society, rising and rising; the man becoming more and more influential, apparently strong, widely known, asserting power far and near; but, by and by, growing unsteady, uncertain, reeling, as it were, in uncertainty and inconsistency, and at last falling to the earth, and lying there in hopeless disgrace, a spectacle for angels to weep over, and scoffers and devils to jeer at? You do not know the secret of the fall, but the omniscient eye of God saw it. That neglect of prayer, that secret dishonesty in business, that stealthy indulgence in the intoxicating cup, that licentiousness and profligacy unseen of men, that secret tampering with unbelief and error, was the serpent at the heart that brought the eagle down. T. Cuyler.

Sages of old contended that no sin was ever committed whose consequences rested on the head of the sinner alone; that no man could do ill and his fellows not suffer. They illustrated it thus:—"A vessel, sailing from Joppa, carried a passenger, who, beneath his berth, cut a hole through the ship's side. When the men of the watch expostulated with him, saying, 'What do you, O miserable man?' the offender calmly replied, 'What matters it to you? The hole I have made lies under my own berth.' " This ancient parable is worthy of the utmost consideration. No man perishes alone in his iniquity; no man can guess the full consequences of his transgression.

34

Nehemiah 1:11—"O Lord, I beseech you, let now your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who desire to fear your name."

Nehemiah believed that there were others praying besides himself. He was not so gloomy, so self-opinionated, so uncharitable as to think that he alone loved the house of the Lord, and prayed for it. He believed that the Lord had many praying servants besides himself. In this he was more hopeful than Elijah. 1 Kings 19:10, 18.

Nehemiah valued the prayers of his fellow-servants, and felt supported in his own supplications by the fact that he was one of a crowd of pleaders.

Even those of the feebler sort, who could get no further than desiring to fear God, were prized by this holy man when they lifted up their prayers. The littles of supplication, when multiplied by the number of those who present them, help to turn the scale.

Who are the persons that make up this class—"who desire to fear your name"? We will try to find them out.

I. This includes all who have any true religion.

1. True godliness is always a matter of desire.

Not of custom, fashion, habit, excitement, passion, or chance.

Nor of unwilling dread, or compulsion, or bribery.

Nor of boasted full attainment and conceited self-satisfaction.

2. Every part of it is a matter of desire.

Repentance, faith, love, etc. None of these can be found in a man unless he desires to have them.

Prayer, praise, service, alms, and all good deeds, are matters of the heart's desire. Oh, to abound in them!

Progress and maturity of grace are never so far attained as to content us. They are still matters of desire.

So, too, usefulness among our fellows, the prevalence of truth, the prosperity of the church, and the spread of Christ's kingdom ever remain things of desire.

The same may be said of Heaven, of resurrection, and of the future glories of Christ's reign on earth.

Good men are like Daniel, men of desires (Daniel 9:23, margin.) Desire is the life-blood of piety, the egg of holiness, the dawn of grace, the promise of perfection.

3. The desire is accepted where there can be no more.

In giving, in working, in self-dedication, the Lord takes the will for the deed where the power to perform is absent. To him the essence of even the most self-sacrificing action is found, not in the suffering involved, but in a desire for God's glory.

4. But without even the desire, man is in a condition of spiritual death, and all that he does is as dead as himself.

II. This includes many grades of grace.

Not the merely temporary wishers and resolvers, for these are only blossoms, and the bulk of blossoms never turn to fruit; of such we may say with Solomon, "The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing": Proverbs 13:4. But

1. Those who earnestly and heartily long to be right with God, though afraid to think themselves saved. These are always desiring.

2. Those who do believe, but fear lest there should be presumption in their calling themselves God's people. Their faith shows itself far more in desire than in a sense of having obtained the object of their search.

3. Those who know that they fear God, but desire to fear him more. Some of the best of men are of this order.

4. Those who wish to serve the Lord with greater freedom, constancy, delight, and power. What would they not do if they could but obtain their heart's desire?

5. Those who delight in the ways of God, and long to abide in them all their days. No man perseveres in holiness unless he desires to do so. Tender desires breed watchful walking, and, by God's Spirit, lead to consistent living.

Now all these people can pray acceptably: indeed, they are always praying, for desires are true prayers.

We need the prayers of all these people, as well as of advanced saints. The rank and file are the main part of the army. If none but eminent believers prayed, our treasury of supplication would be scantily furnished.

We should gratefully associate such beginners with us in our cries for prosperity to the cause of God: their struggling petitions will excite us all to pray better, and the exercise will increase their own prayer-power.

Lastly, let us pray now—all of us, great and small. In the Holy Spirit let us pray, and thereby support our ministers, missionaries, and other workers, who, like Nehemiah, lead the way in holy service.

Spices

This description of God's servants—"who desire to fear your name"—reminds us how largely their religion in this world consists of "desire." They have real piety, but are dissatisfied with their attainments, and aspire to better things. Their desire is, however, to be carefully distinguished from that of many who substitute occasional good wishes for actual piety. The real Christian's desire impels him to the diligent use of all those means by which a higher life is reached. He "exercises himself unto godliness"; and what he attains he employs in spiritual and moral living. But the word used rather signifies "delight," expressing the pleasure which God's servants feel in their religion. Pulpit Commentary.

That which we desire when we have it not we delight in when we obtain it. At least, this is the case in matters which are really worth desiring. Those who never pine for grace will never prize grace.

When Napoleon returned from Elba, a man at work in a garden recognized the emperor, and at once followed him. Napoleon welcomed him cheerfully, saying, "Here we have our first recruit." When even one person begins to pray for us, however feeble his prayers, we ought to welcome him. He who prays for me enriches me.

The gospel ministry is so dependent upon the power of prayer that it should be a pastor's main object to educate the praying faculty among his people. There should be numerous prayer-meetings, and these of a varied order, that women, youths, children, and illiterate persons may unite in the holy exercise. Every little helps. Grains of sand and drops of rain combine for the greatest of purposes, and achieve them. There may be more real prayer in a little gathering of obscure desirers than in the great assembly where everything is done with ability rather than with agony of desire.

Never let your pastor lose his prayer-book. It should be written in the hearts of his people. If you cannot preach, or give largely, or become a church-officer, you can, at least, pray without ceasing.

35

Nehemiah 8:10—"Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be you sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Nehemiah 12:43. "Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced; so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off."

The people who had wept before, under a sense of sin, were now called upon to rejoice. Holy mourning prepares the way for spiritual mirth. Clear shining follows rain.

It was well that they kept themselves under such control that they could weep or rejoice as they were bidden.

Their joy was remarkable for its spirituality and universality, and in these and other ways it was an example for us.

I. There is a Joy of Divine Origin. "The joy of the Lord."

1. It rejoices in God himself, his character, his doings, his commands, and all that makes up his glory. It rejoices especially that he himself is ours. "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord": Philippians 3:1.

2. It possesses a deep sense of reconciliation, acceptance, adoption, and union with Christ Jesus. Joy mist necessarily flow from all these founts of blessing: Isaiah 12:3.

3. It enjoys assurance of future perseverance, victory, and perfection, by reason of the finished work of Christ, and the immutability and omnipotence of divine grace. Hebrews 6:17, 18.

4. It is exalted by the present personal fellowship with God out of which it springs. "We also joy in God": Romans 5:11.

5. It is happy in the honor of service. 1 Timothy 1:12.

6. It is acquiescent in the divine will, in providence, affliction, disappointment, etc. Romans 5:3.

7. It is full of hope for the future:—a well of delight.

II. That Joy is a Source of Strength. "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

1. It arises from considerations which strengthen. The same truths which make us glad also make us strong.

2. It is sustained by a life which is strong, even the life of Christ within us, maintained by the Holy Spirit.

3. It fortifies against temptation, or persecution, or affliction, and so it proves a present strength in time of need.

4. It fits for abounding service. He who is joyous of heart himself will seek the good of others.

5. It forbids all fear by giving a sense of ability to face every enemy.

It is calm, constant, humble, real, deep-seated strength.

III. That Strength which comes of holy Joy leads to Practical Results.

1. Praise. "Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God; and all the people answered, Amen, Amen." (Verse 6.)

2. Sacrifices of joy. "They offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced."

3. Expressions of joy. "God had made them rejoice with great joy."

4. Family happiness. "The wives also and the children rejoiced."

5. This joy ensured the notice of the neighbors: "so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off."

IV. That Joy is Within Reach.

It was God's gift, but it came by—

Hearing attentively. "The ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." (Verse 3.)

Worshiping devoutly. "They bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord." (Verse 6.)

Mourning penitently. "All the people wept, when they heard the words of the law." (Verse 9.)

Understanding clearly. "Great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them." (Verse 12.)

Obeying earnestly. "They made booths, and sat under the booths," etc. (Verse 17).

Let us seek after joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement; for this is a true, safe, sanctifying joy. It is such an ornament as well becomes the thoroughly devoted believer while on earth, and prepares him to unite in the hallelujahs of Heaven.

There is such a thing as a joyless heart. God help us to have no personal experience of it!

There are also deadly joys. From these let us flee to the living joys of grace.

Sparkles

It is a bad fireplace where all the heat goes up the chimney: true religion spreads joy over all around Yet the fire warms first the chimney in which it burns, and grace comforts the heart in which it dwells. Nobody will be warmed by a cold hearth.

Faith is the key of happiness; use it at the gates of the Lord's house, and chambers of bliss shall open to you. If your religion only admits you into vaults and dungeons it must be very incomplete. Christ comes from ivory palaces, and leads his chosen into banqueting houses.

That the Christian religion is favorable to human happiness, is, I believe, the secret conviction even of many who may not openly confess it; hence it is no uncommon thing to hear even the openly wicked say, "I believe that the real Christian is the happiest man in the world." I recollect the remark of a certain skeptic, made to myself, in the hour of affliction, "Oh, sir, you Christians have the advantage of us." "Addresses to Young Men." By Rev. Daniel Baker.

Mr. Moody says:—"I never knew a case where God used a discouraged man or woman to accomplish any great thing for him. Let a minister go into the pulpit in a discouraged state of mind, and it becomes contagious: it will soon reach the pews, and the whole church will be discouraged. So with a Sabbath-school teacher: I never knew a worker of any kind who was full of discouragement, and who met with great success in the Lord's work. It seems as if God cannot make large use of such men."

When we are weakened by sadness we do not speak attractively. Our statements lack certainty, and energy. We are apt to quarrel over trifles, to be turned aside by discouragements, and in general to do our work badly. Soldiers march best to music, and sailors work most happily when they can join in a cheery note; and I am sure we do the same.

Joyful Christians set the sinner's mouth a watering for the dainties of true religion. When the prodigal returned, he was shod, and clothed, and adorned, but we do not read that the servants were to put meat into his mouth. Yet they were to feed him, and they did so by themselves feasting:—"Let us eat and be merry." This would be the surest way to induce the poor hungry son to make a meal. It saints were happier, sinners would be far more ready to believe.

36

Job 1:6—"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them."

It is idle to inquire what day this was—perhaps it was a special Sabbath kept both in earth and Heaven, a day of solemn convocation. In the earliest ages the godly gathered together for worship, with the Lord as their center. Both in Heaven and earth they so gather: the communion Of saints is one. Alas, how soon the evil entered among the righteous! There is no need that the devil should have been in Heaven as a place; but looking down from his throne the Lord saw Satan mingling with those who worshiped him; and he had a word for him. In a rightly-ordered congregation even the wicked have their portion.

From Satan's presence among the sons of God we learn:—

I. That the mere assembling of ourselves with God's People is of no value.

1. Very clearly, it is not acceptable worship to God: for nothing that Satan does can be accepted. His presence among the sons of God is presumption, and not reverence.

2. It is not beneficial to the person's own self; for the fallen spirit remained a devil, and acted like one, even in the presence of God. We must come to the Lord by faith, or our worship is dead and unprofitable.

3. It may be the occasion of more sin; for in the assembly Satan belied Job, and plotted his destruction.

From this we learn:—

II. That the best Assemblies are not free from Evil Ones.

1. This should make us continue to meet with the saints even though we know of some in the assembly who are false to their profession. Should the sons of God cease to meet because Satan may come among them?

2. This should cause great heart-searching and the prompt inquiry, "Lord, is it I?" Out of twelve apostles one was a devil, and he was with the Lord at his farewell Passover.

3. This should make us watchful even while we are praying.

4. This should make ministers faithful, so that the devil may not be at home in the congregation, but may be annoyed by the truth which he hates.

5. This should make us long for the perfect assembly above, where there will be no mixture, but a sinless congregation.

III. That Satan may assemble with the Sons of God.

1. To do mischief to saints.

By accusing them before the Lord, even in their holy things.

By calling off their thoughts from heavenly concerns, and making them heavy of heart and distracted with care.

By setting them to criticize instead of hearing to profit.

By sowing dissensions even in their holy service.

By exciting pride in preachers, in singers, in those who publicly pray, and in those who give. This is shown in different persons in their style, their tone, their dress, etc.

By cooling down their ardor, abating their love, chilling their praise, freezing their prayer, and, in general, killing their zeal and joy.

2. To do mischief to unconverted hearers.

By distracting attention from saving truth.

By raising doubts; by suggesting skeptical ideas, raising dark questions, and putting the man before the Master.

By suggesting delay to those who may be impressed.

By quenching prayer, hindering enjoyment, preventing profit, deadening feeling, and robbing God of glory.

By taking away the word which had been sown; as birds peck up the seed scattered on the highway.

IV. That it is possible to be all the more Satanic for assembling with the Sons of God.

Satan showed the cloven foot in that sacred gathering more than ever.

1. He was brazenly impudent with his Maker.

2. He railed at God's people, even at one of the best of them, whom the Lord himself called "perfect."

3. He resolved to tempt him, to torture him, and to lead him into rebellion against God, if he could.

The devil is here at this moment.

Let us not yield to his suggestions.

Let us cry to the Lord at once, and trust in the Lord Jesus, who can preserve us from the evil one, even when he is present.

Addenda

As soon as the sower goes forth to sow his seed, the birds of the air go forth also. The more good is being done in any place, the more surely will Satan oppose it. Unusual provocations will be given to lukewarm professors by those whose zeal is aroused; and so there will be bickerings. Ready offence will be taken by cross-grained brethren during a revival; for things are apt to be a little out of the regular order; and here is another root of bitterness. Unusually large numbers of hypocrites will come forward, just as snails and slugs come creeping forth on a rainy day. Unusual bitterness will be felt by worldlings, and, as a consequence, unusual slanders will be current against the more active assailants of the enemy's kingdom. You cannot destroy a wasp's nest without being attacked in return. Yet this is better than stagnation. In a slumbering church it is the adversary's chief business to rock the cradle, hush all noise, and drive away even a fly which might light upon the sleeper's face; Satan's great dread is lest the church should be aroused from her dreamy slumbers.

Since Satan will enter our assemblies, it behooves us to see (1) that no one of us brings him in our company; (2) that no one gives place to him when he enters the congregation; (3) that, like Abram with the ravenous birds, we drive him away; or (4) that we pray with all the more earnestness, "Deliver us from the evil one."

George Marsh, who was martyred in the reign of Queen Mary, in a letter to some friends at Manchester, wrote:—"The servants of God cannot at any time come and stand before God, that is, lead a godly life, and walk innocently before God, but Satan comes also among them, that is, he daily accuses, finds fault, vexes, persecutes, and troubles the godly; for it is the nature and property of the devil always to hurt, and do mischief, unless he be forbidden of God; but unless God does permit him, he can do nothing at all, not so much as enter into a filthy hog."—Fox's Book of Martyrs.

Did Satan review himself at the end of that Sabbath? Did he feel any compunction at having defied his Maker, at having intruded among the saints, and at having done them wrong in their own Father's Palace? We suppose not. But hearers, who are not Satan's, would do well to lay to heart the character of any one of their Lord's-days as God sees it. Sabbath sins well weighed and studied furnish plentiful material for repentance. Perhaps if this theme were well applied to the conscience it might arouse the heart to penitence, and lead it to faith.

Luther was in great danger of being stabbed by a Jew; but a friend sent him a portrait of the assassin, and so he was put upon his guard. We ought to be forearmed by being forewarned. The great enemy cannot now pounce upon us at unawares while we are at our devotions; for we are not ignorant of his devices. We are bidden to watch as well as pray, to watch before we pray, and to watch when we pray.

XXXVII

Job 3:23—"Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?"

Job's case was such that life itself became irksome. He wondered why he should be kept alive to suffer. Could not mercy have permitted him to die out of hand? Light is most precious, yet we may come to ask why it is given. See the small value of temporal things, for we may have them and loathe them; we may have the light of life and prefer the darkness of death under the sorrowful conditions which surround us. Hence Job asks, "Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures?"

We hope that our hearers are not in Job's condition; but if they are, we desire to comfort them.

I. The case which raises the Question, "A man whose way is hid, and whom God has hedged in." He has the light of life, but not the light of comfort

1. He walks in deep trouble, so deep that he cannot see the bottom of it. Nothing prospers, either in temporals or in spirituals. He is greatly depressed in spirit. He can see no help for his burden, or alleviation of his misery. He cannot see any ground for comfort either in God or in man. "His way is hid."

2. He can see no cause for it. No special sin has been committed. No possible good appears to be coming out of it. When we can see no cause we must not infer that there is none. Judging by the sight of the eyes is dangerous.

3. He cannot tell what to do in it. Patience is hard, wisdom is difficult, confidence scarce, and joy out of reach, while the mind is in deep gloom. Mystery brings misery.

4. He cannot see the way out of it. He seems to hear the enemy say. "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in": Exodus 14:3. He cannot escape through the hedge of thorn, nor see an end to it: his way is straitened as well as darkened. Men in such a case feel their griefs intensely, and speak too bitterly.

If we were in such misery, we, too, might raise the question; therefore let us consider,—

II. The Question itself: "Why is light given?" etc.

This inquiry, unless prosecuted with great humility and child-like confidence, is to be condemned:—

1. It is an unsafe one. It is an undue exaltation of human judgment. Ignorance should shun arrogance. What can we know?

2. It reflects upon God. It insinuates that his ways need explanation, and are either unreasonable, unjust, unwise, or unkind.

3. There must be an answer to the question; but it may not be one intelligible to us. The Lord has a "therefore" in answer to every "wherefore"; but he does not often reveal it; for "he gives not account of any of his matters": Job 33:13.

4. It is not the most profitable question. Why we are allowed to live in sorrow is a question which we need not answer. We might gain far more by inquiring how to use our prolonged life.

III. Answers which may be given to the Question.

1. Suppose the answer should be, "God wills it" Is not that enough? "I opened not my mouth; because you did it": Psalm 39:9.

2. To an ungodly man sufficient answers are at hand.

It is mercy which, by prolonging the light of life, keeps you from worse suffering. For you to desire death is to be eager for Hell. Be not so foolish.

It is wisdom which restrains you from sin, by hedging up your way, and darkening your spirit It is better for you to be downcast than dissolute.

It is love which calls you to repent Every sorrow is intended to whip you Godward.

3. To the godly man there are yet more apparent reasons. Your trials are sent,—

To let you see all that is in you. In deep soul-trouble we discover what we are made of.

To bring you nearer to God. The hedges shut you up to God; the darkness makes you cling close to him. Life is continued that grace may be increased.

To make you an example to others. Some are chosen to be monuments of the Lord's special dealings; a sort of lighthouse to other mariners.

To magnify the grace of God. If our way were always bright we could not so well exhibit the sustaining, consoling, and delivering power of the Lord.

To prepare you for greater prosperity. Without your life being preserved, you could not reach that halcyon period which is reserved for you; nor would you be fitted for it if you were not disciplined by previous trials.

To make you like your Lord Jesus, who lived in affliction. For him death was no escape from his burdens: he said, "It is finished," before he gave up the Spirit.

Be not too ready to ask unbelieving questions.

Be sure that life is never too long.

Be prepared of the Holy Spirit to keep to the way even when it is hid, and to walk on between the hedges when they are not hedges of roses, but fences of briar.

Suggestions

When it is asked why a man is kept in misery on earth, when he would be glad to be released by death, perhaps the following among others may be the reasons, (1.) Those sufferings may be the very means which are needful to develop the true state of his soul. Such was the case with Job. (2.) They may be the proper punishment of sin in the heart, of which the individual was not fully aware, but which may be distinctly seen by God. There may be pride, and the love of ease, and self-confidence, and ambition, and a desire of reputation. Such appear to have been some of the besetting sins of Job. (3.) They are needful to teach true submission, and to show whether a man is willing to resign himself to God. (4.) They may be the very things which are necessary to prepare the individual to die. At the same time that men often desire death, and feel that it would be a relief, it might be to them the greatest possible calamity. They may be wholly unprepared for it. For a sinner, the grave contains no rest; the eternal world furnishes no repose. One design of God in such sorrows may be to show to the wicked how intolerable will be future pain, and how important it is for them to be ready to die. If they cannot bear the pains and sorrows of a few hours in this short life, how can they endure eternal sufferings? If it is so desirable to be released from the sorrows of the body here,—if it is felt that the grave, with all that is repulsive in it, would be a place of repose, how important is it to find some way to be secured from everlasting pains! The true place of release from suffering, for a sinner, is not the grave; it is in the pardoning mercy of God, and in that pure Heaven to which he is invited through the blood of the cross. In that holy Heaven is the only real repose from suffering and from sin; and Heaven will be all the sweeter in proportion to the extremity of pain which is endured on earth. Barnes.

38

Job 7:20—"I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men?"

Job could defend himself before men, but he used another tone when bowing before the Lord: there he cried, "I have sinned." The words would suit any afflicted saint; for, indeed, they were uttered by such an one; but they may alto be used by the penitent sinner, and we will on this occasion direct them to that use.

I. A Confession. "I have sinned."

In words this is no more than a hypocrite, nay, a Judas, might say. Do not many call themselves "miserable sinners" who are indeed despicable mockers? Yet seeing Job's heart was right his confession was accepted.

1. It was very brief, but yet very full. It was more full in its generality than if he had descended to particulars. We may use it as a summary of our life:—"I have sinned." What else is certain in my whole career? This is most sure and undeniable.

2. It was personal. I have sinned, whatever others may have done.

3. It was to the Lord. He addresses the confession not to his fellow-man but to the Preserver of men.

4. It was a confession wrought by the Spirit. See verse 18, where he ascribes his grief to the visitation of God.

5. It was sincere. No complimentary talk, or matter of ritualistic form, or passing acknowledgment. His heart cried, "I have sinned," and he meant it.

6. It was feeling. He was cut to the quick by it. Read the whole chapter. This one fact, "I have sinned," is enough to brand the soul with the mark of Cain, and burn it with the flames of Hell.

7. It was a believing confession. Mingled with much unbelief Job still had faith in God's power to pardon. An unbelieving confession may increase sin.

II. An Inquiry. "What shall I do unto you?"

In this question we see,—

1. His willingness to do anything, whatever the Lord might demand, thus proving his earnestness.

2. His bewilderment: he could not tell what to offer, or where to turn; yet something must be done.

3. His surrender at discretion. He makes no conditions, he only begs to know the Lord's terms.

4. The inquiry may be answered negatively.

What can I do to escape you? You are all around me.

Can past obedience atone? Alas! as I look back I am unable to find anything in my life but sin.

Can I bring a sacrifice? Would grief, fasting, long prayers, ceremonies, or self-denial avail? I know they would not.

5. It may be answered evangelically—

Confess the sin. "If we confess our sins," etc.

Renounce it. By his grace we can "cease to do evil and learn to do well."

Obey the message of peace: believe in the Lord Jesus and live.

III. A Title. "O you Preserver of men!"

Observer of men, therefore aware of my case, my misery, my confession, my desire for pardon, my utter helplessness.

Preserver of men.

By his infinite long-suffering refraining from punishment.

By daily bounties of supply, keeping the ungrateful alive.

By the plan of salvation, delivering men from going down into the pit, snatching the brands from the burning.

By daily grace, preventing the backsliding and apostasy of believers.

We must view the way and character of God in Christ if we would find comfort; and from his gracious habit of preserving men we infer that he will preserve us, guilty though we be.

Address upon the point in hand,—

The impenitent, urging them to confession.

The unconcerned, moving them to inquire, "What must we do to be saved?"

The ungrateful, exhibiting the preserving goodness of God as a motive for love to him.

Cross Lights

No sooner had Job confessed his sin, but he is desirous to know a remedy. Reprobates can cry, "Peccavi," I have sinned; but then their proceed not to say as here, "What shall I do?" They open their wound, but lay not on a plaster, and so the wounds made by sin are more putrefied, and grow more dangerous. Job would be directed what to do for remedy: he would have pardoning grace and prevailing grace, upon any terms. Trapp.

Job was one of those whom Scripture describes as "perfect," yet he cried, "I have sinned." Noah was perfect in his generation, but no drunkard will allow us to forget that he had his fault. Abraham received the command, "Walk before me and be you perfect," but he was not absolutely sinless. Zechariah and Elizabeth were blameless, and yet there was enough unbelief in Zechariah to make him dumb for nine months. The doctrine of sinless perfection in the flesh is not of God, and he who makes his boast of possessing such perfection has at once declared his own ignorance of himself and of the law of the Lord. Nothing discovers an evil heart more surely than a glorying in its own goodness. He who proclaims his own praise publishes his own shame.

Man is in himself so feeble a creature, that it is a great wonder that he has not long ago been crushed by the elements, exterminated by wild beasts, or extirpated by disease. Omnipotence has bowed itself to his preservation, and compelled all visible things to form the Body-guard of Man. We believe that the same Preserver of men who has thus guarded the race, watches with equal assiduity over every individual. Our own life contains instances of deliverance so remarkable, that the doctrine of a special providence needs to us no further proof. Kept alive, with death so near, we have been compelled to cry, "This is the finger of God!" Now, this preserving grace is a fair ground for hope as to forgiving love. He who has been thus careful to keep us in being must have designs for our well-being. Marvelously has he protected us, sinners though we be; and, therefore, we need not question his willingness to save us from all iniquity.

The unconditional surrender implied in the question, "What shall I do unto you?" is absolutely essential from every man who hopes to be saved. God will never raise the siege until we hand out the keys of the city, open every gate, and bid the Conqueror ride through every street, and take possession of the citadel. The traitor must deliver up himself and trust the prince's clemency. Until this is done the battle will continue; for the first requisite for peace with God is complete submission.

39

Job 14:4—"Who can bring a clean tying out of an unclean? Not one."

Job had a deep sense of the need of being clean before God, and indeed he was clean in heart and hand beyond his fellows. But he saw that he could not of himself produce holiness in his own nature, and, therefore, he asked this question, and answered it in the negative without a moment's hesitation. The best of men are as incapable as the worst of men of bringing out from human nature that which is not there.

I. Matters of impossibility in nature.

1. Innocent children from fallen parents.

2. A holy nature from the depraved nature of any one individual.

3. Pure acts from an impure heart.

4. Perfect acts from imperfect men.

5. Heavenly life from nature's moral death.

II. Subjects for practical consideration for every one.

1. That we must be clean to be accepted.

2. That our fallen nature is essentially unclean.

3. That this does not deliver us from our responsibility: we are none the less bound to be clean because our nature inclines us to be unclean; a man who is a rogue to the core of his heart is not thereby delivered from the obligation to be honest.

4. That we cannot do the needful work of cleansing by our own strength.

Depravity cannot make itself desirous to be right with God.

Corruption cannot make itself fit to speak with God.

Unholiness cannot make itself meet to dwell with God.

5. That it will be well for us to look to the Strong for strength, to the Righteous One for righteousness, to the Creating Spirit for new-creation. Jehovah brought all things out of nothing, light out of darkness, and order out of confusion; and it is to such a Worker as He who we must look for salvation from our fallen state.

III. Provisions to meet the case.

1. The fitness of the gospel for sinners. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." The gospel contemplates doing that for us which we cannot attempt for ourselves.

2. The cleansing power of the blood. Jesus would not have died if sin could have been removed by other means.

3. The renewing work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit would not regenerate us if we could regenerate ourselves.

4. The omnipotence of God in spiritual creation, resurrection, quickening, preservation, and perfecting. This meets our inability and death.

Despair of drawing any good out of the dry well of the creature.

Have hope for the utmost cleansing, since God has become the worker of it.

Observations

The word which we render "clean" signifies shining, beautiful: a substance so pure and transparent that we may see through it, so pure that it is free from all spot or defilement, from all blackness and darkness. Who can bring such a clean thing out of an unclean? The Hebrew word (Tama) comes near the word (contaminatum), which is used by the Latins for "unclean," and it speaks the greatest pollution, the sordidness and filthiness of habit, the gore of blood, the muddiness of water, whatever is loathsome or unlovely, noisome or unsightly. All these meet in and make up the meaning of this word, "Who can bring a clean thing out of this uncleanness?"—Caryl.

The depravity of man is universally hereditary. Adam is said to have begotten "a son in his own likeness," sinful as he was as well as mortal and miserable. Yes, the holiest saint upon earth communicates a corrupt and sinful nature to his child: as the circumcised Jew begat an uncircumcised child; and as the wheat, cleansed and fanned, being sown comes up with a husk. John 3:6. Gurnall.

It would be labor in vain to endeavor to cleanse the stream of a polluted fountain. No, the source must be changed, or the flow will be unaltered. Prune the crab as you please, it will not bring forth apples: nor will a thorn under the best cultivation produce figs. Regeneration is a change of nature, but it is by no means a natural change; it is supernatural in its origin, execution, and consequences. It must be wrought by a power from above, since there is neither will nor power to work it from below.

40

Job 19:25—"For I know that my Redeemer lives."

Difficulties of translation very great. We prefer a candid reading to one which might be obtained by pious fraud. It would seem that Job, driven to desperation, fell back upon the truth and justice of God. He declared that he should be vindicated somehow or other, and even if he died there would certainly come a rectification after death. He could not believe that he would be left to remain under the slanderous accusations which had been heaped upon him. He was driven by his solemn assurance of the justice and faithfulness of God to believe in a future state, and in a Vindicator who would one day or other set crooked things straight. We may use the words in the most complete evangelical sense, and not be guilty of straining them; indeed, no other sense will fairly set forth the patriarch's meaning. From what other hope could he obtain consolation but from that of future life and glory?

I. Job had a true Friend amid cruel friends. He calls him his Redeemer, and looks to him in his trouble

The Hebrew word will bear three renderings, as follows,—

1. His Kinsman.

Nearest akin of all. No kinsman is so near as Jesus. None so kinned, and none so kind.

Voluntarily so. Not forced to be a brother, but so in heart, and by his own choice of our nature: therefore more than brother.

Not ashamed to own it "He is not ashamed to call them brethren": Hebrews 2:11. Even when they had forsaken him he called them "my brethren": Matthew 28:10.

Eternally so. Who shall separate us? Romans 8:35.

2. His Vindicator.

From every false charge: by pleading the causes of our soul.

From every jibe and jest: for he who believes in him shall not be ashamed or confounded.

From true charges, too; by bearing our sin himself and becoming our righteousness, thus justifying us.

From accusations of Satan. "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan!" Zechariah 3:2. "The accuser of our brethren is cast down": Rev. 12:10.

3. His Redeemer.

Of his person from bondage.

Of his lost estates, privileges, and joys, from the hand of the enemy.

Redeeming both by price and by power.

II. Job had real property amid absolute poverty. He speaks of "my Redeemer," as much as to say, "Everything else is gone, but my Redeemer is still my own, and lives for me."

He means,—

1. I accept him as such, leaving myself in his hands.

2. I have felt somewhat of his power already, and I am confident that all is well with me even now, since he is my Protector.

3. I will cling to him forever. He shall be my only hope in life and death. I may lose all else, but never the Redemption of my God, the Kinship of my Savior.

III. Job had a living Kinsman amid a dying family. "My Redeemer lives."

He owned the great Lord as ever living,—

As "the Everlasting Father," to sustain and solace him.

As Head of his house, to represent him.

As Intercessor, to plead in Heaven for him.

As Defender, to preserve his rights on earth.

As his Righteousness, to clear him at last.

What have we to do with the dead Christ of the church of Rome? Our Redeemer lives.

What with the departed Christ of Unitarians? Our divine Vindicator abides in the power of an endless life.

IV. Job had absolute certainty amid uncertain affairs. "I know." He had no sort of doubt upon that matter. Everything else was questionable, but this was certain

His faith made him certain. Faith brings sure evidence; it substantiates what it receives, and makes us know.

His trials could not make him doubt Why should they? They touched not the relationship of his God, or the heart of his Redeemer, or the life of his Vindicator.

His difficulties could not make him fear failure on this point, for the life of his Redeemer was a source of deliverance which lay out of himself, and was never doubtful.

His caviling friends could not move him from the assured conviction that the Lord would vindicate his righteous cause.

While Jesus lives our characters are safe. Happy he who can say, "I know that my Redeemer lives."

Have you this great knowledge?

Do you act in accordance with such an assurance?

Will you not at this hour devoutly adore your loving Kinsman?

Rough Thoughts

"My Redeemer." The word has the general meaning "ransomer," "deliverer," and specially denotes one who takes up a man's cause and vindicates his rights, either by avenging him on his foes, or by restoring him or his heirs to possessions of which he has been defrauded. Job has already expressed a wish that there might be an umpire between him and God: then he goes further, and desires an advocate: then declares that he has a witness, one who exactly knows his rights, in Heaven: then calls upon God himself to be his advocate. He now takes a stronger position, and declares his certainty that there is One who adds to all these conditions that which gives them solidity, and assures his final triumph: there lives One who will vindicate his righteousness, and clear his cause completely. Speaker's Commentary.

In times of sharp trials believers are (1.) Driven out of themselves to look to their God, their Redeemer. (2.) Driven to look within themselves for a knowledge sure and unquestioning—"I know." (3.) Driven to hold by personal faith to that which is set forth in the covenant of grace—"my Redeemer." (4.) Driven to live much upon the unseen—the living Redeemer, and his advent in the latter day.

Tried saints, when greatly in the dark, have been led to great discoveries of comfortable truth. "Necessity is the mother of invention." Here Job found an argument from the justice of God for his own comfort. God could not leave his sincere servant under slander: therefore if he died undefended, and years passed away so that the worms consumed his body, yet a Vindicator would arise, and the maligned and injured Job would be cleared. Thus the Spirit revealed to the afflicted patriarch a future state, a living Next-of-Kin, a future judgment, a resurrection, and an eternal justification of saints. Great light came in through a narrow window, and Job was an infinite gainer by his temporary losses.

A weak faith is glad to look off from all difficulties, for it shrinks back at them: as Martha, considering Lazarus was four days dead, and began to putrefy, her faith began to fail her; it was too late now to remove the gravestone. But Faith in its strength considers all these, urges these impossibilities, and yet overcomes them: as Elijah, in his dispute with Baal's priests, took all the disadvantages to himself. "Pour on water," said he; and again, "Pour on more water;" faith shall fetch fire from Heaven to inflame the sacrifice. "So," says Job, "let me die, and rot, and putrefy in the grave, nay, let the fire burn my body, or the sea swallow it, or wild beasts devour it, yet it shall be restored to me; death shall be like the lion that killed the prophet, and then stood by his body, and did not consume it" Job's faith laughs at impossibilities, is ashamed to talk of difficulties; with Abraham, considers not his own dead body, but believes above and against hope; knew God would restore it. R. Browning.

These words are ushered in with a solemn preface, containing in them some notable truth: "Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know," &c. Surely such a passionate preface will become no other matter so well as the great mystical truths of the Christian faith.

Faith is, or should be, strongly persuaded of what it believeth. It is an evidence, not a conjecture; not a surmise, but a firm assurance. We should certainly know what we believe: "We know that thou art a Teacher come from God," John 3:2. "We believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God," John 6:69. "We know that we have a building of God," 2 Cor. 5:1. "We know that we shall see him as he is," 1 John 3:2. "Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord," 1 Cor. 15:58. Invisible things revealed by God should be certainly known, because God hath told us that such clear, firm apprehensions become us. Faith is not a bare conjecture, but a certain knowledge; not "we think," "we hope well," but "we know" is the language of faith. It is not a bare possibility we go upon, nor a probable opinion, but a certain, infallible truth. I put you upon this, partly because we have a great argument in the text If Job could see it so long before it came to pass, should not we see it now? Believers of old shame us, who live in the clear sunshine of the gospel. Job lived long before the gospel was revealed; the redemption of souls was at that time a great mystery, being sparingly revealed to a few; only one of a thousand could bring this message to a condemned sinner, that God had found a ransom. Job 33:23. Manton.

If we are sure about anything, let it be concerning the Redeemer. If we have an indefeasible claim to anything, let it be to our Redeemer. If we cling with tenacity to any truth, let it be our Redeemer's resurrection and life. Everything hangs here; this is the keystone of the gospel, the foundation of our faith, and the pinnacle of our hope, "Because I live ye shall live also." Oh for more of Job's certainty, even if the cost were Job's afflictions!

XLI

Job 24:13—"They are of those that rebel against the light."

These evidently had the light, and this should be esteemed as no small privilege, since to wander on the dark mountains is a terrible curse. Yet this privilege may turn into an occasion of evil.

Most of us have received light in several forms, such as instruction, conscience, reason, revelation, experience, the Holy Spirit. The degree of light differs, but we have each received some measure thereof.

Light has a sovereignty in it, so that to resist it is to rebel against it. God has given it to be a display of himself, for God is light; and he has clothed it with a measure of his majesty and power of judgment.

Rebellion against light has in it a high degree of sin. It might be virtue to rebel against darkness, but what shall be said of those who withstand the light? resisting truth, holiness, and knowledge?

I. Detect the Rebels.

Well-instructed persons, who have been accustomed to teach others, and yet turn aside to evil: these are grievous traitors.

Children of Christian parents who sin against their early training; upon whom prayer and entreaty, precept and example are thrown away.

Hearers of the word, who quench convictions deliberately, frequently, and with violence.

Men with keen moral sense, who rush on, despite the reins of conscience which should restrain them.

Lewd professors who, nevertheless, talk orthodoxy and condemn others, thereby assuredly pronouncing their own doom.

II. Describe the forms of this Rebellion.

Some refuse light, being unwilling to know more than would be convenient; therefore they deny themselves time for thought, absent themselves from sermons, neglect godly reading, shun pious company, avoid reproof, etc.

Others scoff and fight against it, calling light darkness, and darkness light. Infidelity, ribaldry, persecution, and such like, become their resort and shelter.

Persons run contrary to it in their lives; of set purpose, or through willful carelessness. Walking away from the light is rebelling against it. Setting up your own wishes in opposition to the laws of morality and holiness, is open revolt against the light.

Many presume upon their possession of light, imagining that knowledge and orthodox belief will save them.

Many darken it for others, hindering its operations among men, hiding their own light under a bushel, ridiculing the efforts of others, etc.

All darkness is a rebellion against light. Let us "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

III. Denounce the Punishment of this Rebellion.

To have the light removed.

To lose eyes to see it even when present.

To remain unforgiven, as culprits blindfolded for death, as those do who resist the light of the Holy Spirit.

To sin with tenfold guilt, with awful wilfulness of heart.

To descend forever into that darkness which increases in blackness throughout eternity.

IV. Declare the Folly of this Rebellion.

Light is our best friend, and it is wisdom to obey it: to resist it is to rebel against our own interest.

Light triumphs still. Owls hoot, but the moon shines. Opposition to truth and righteousness is useless; it may even promote that which it aims to prevent.

Light would lead to more light. Consent to it, for it will be beneficial to your own soul.

Light would lead to Heaven, which is the center of light.

Light even here would give peace, comfort, rest, holiness, and communion with God.

Let us not rebel against light, but yield to its lead; yes, leap forward to follow its blessed track.

Let us become the allies of light, and spread it. It is a noble thing to live as light-bearers of "the Lord and Giver of Light."

Let us walk in the light, as God is in the light; and so our personal enjoyment will support our life-work. Light must be our life if our life is to be light.

Lights

Off the coast of New Zealand, a captain lost his vessel by steering in the face of the warning light, until he dashed upon the rock immediately beneath the lighthouse. He said that he was asleep; but this did not restore the wreck, nor save him from condemnation. It is a terrible thing for rays of gospel light to guide a man to his doom.

The sins of the godly have this aggravation in them, that they sin against clearer illumination than the wicked. "They are of those that rebel against the light": Job 24:13. Light is there taken figuratively for knowledge. It cannot be denied that the wicked sin knowingly; but the godly have a light beyond other men, such a divine, penetrating light as no hypocrite can attain to. They have better eyes to see sin man others; and for them to meddle with sin, and embrace this dunghill, must needs provoke God, and make the fury rise up in his face. Oh, therefore, you that are the people of God, flee from sin; your sins are more enhanced, and have worse aggravations in them, than the sins of the unregenerate. Thomas Watson.

Sins of ignorance are truly sins, for every lawgiver takes it for granted that his subjects seek to know his laws. But the deliberate commission of known trespass, and the willful neglect of known duty, have in them elements of great disloyalty. He who knew his Lord's will and did it not was beaten with many stripes. If a man puts his hand into the fire knowing that it burns, no one will pity him; if he wantonly enters a pest-house, no one can wonder that he is smitten with disease. When the ice is marked "Dangerous," the warning should be sufficient for any reasonable man; and when the notice is repeated at every corner, and set up in great capital letters, he who ventures on the rotten ice will be not only a fool but a suicide, should he perish in his rashness.

XLII

Job 27:10—"Will he always call upon God?"

A hypocrite may be a very neat imitation of a Christian. He professes to know God, to converse with him, to be dedicated to his service, and to invoke his protection: he even practices prayer, or at least feigns it. Yet the cleverest counterfeit fails somewhere, and may be discovered by certain signs. The test is here, "Will he always call upon God?"

I. Will he Pray at all Seasons of Prayer?

Will he pray in private? Or is he dependent upon the human eye, and the applause of men?

Will he pray if forbidden? Daniel did so. Will he?

Will he pray in business? Will he practice ejaculatory prayer? Will he look for hourly guidance?

Will he pray in pleasure? Will he have a holy fear of offending with his tongue? Or will company make him forget his God?

Will he pray in darkness of soul? Or will he sulk in silence?

II. Will he Pray Constantly?

If he exercises the occasional act of prayer, will he possess the spirit of prayer which never ceases to plead with the Lord? We ought to be continually in prayer, because we are

Always dependent for life, both temporal and spiritual, upon God.

"Long as they live should Christians pray,

For only while they pray they live."

Always needing something, nay, a thousand things.

Always receiving, and therefore always needing fresh grace with which to use the blessing worthily.

Always in danger. Seen or unseen danger is always near, and none but God can cover our head.

Always weak, inclined to evil, apt to catch every infection of soul-sickness, "ready to perish": Isaiah 27:13.

Always needing strength, for suffering, learning, song, or service.

Always sinning. Even in our holy things sin defiles us, and we need constant washing.

Always weighted with other men's needs. Especially if rulers, pastors, teachers, parents.

Always having the cause of God near our heart if we are right; and in its interests finding crowds of reasons for prayer.

III. Will he Pray Importunately?

If no answer comes, will he persevere? Is he like the brave horse who will pull at a post at his master's bidding?

If a rough answer comes, will he plead on? Does he know how to wrestle with the angel, and give tug for tug?

If no one else prays, will he be singular, and plead on against wind and tide?

If God answer him by disappointment and defeat, will he feel that delays are not denials, and still pray?

IV. Will he continue to Pray throughout the Whole of Life?

The hypocrite soon gives up prayer under certain circumstances.

If he is in trouble, he will not pray, but will run to human helpers.

If he gets out of trouble, he will not pray, but quite forget his vows.

If men laugh at him, he will not dare to pray.

If men smile on him, he will not care to pray.

1. He grows formal. He is half asleep, not watchful for the answer. He falls into a dead routine of forms and words.

2. He grows weary. He can make a spurt, but he cannot keep it up. Short prayers are sweet to him.

3. He grows secure. Things go well and he sees no need of prayer; or he is too holy to pray.

4. He grows infidel, and fancies it is all useless, dreams that prayer is not philosophical.

Illustrations

We have heard of a child who said her prayers, and then added, "Good bye, God; we are all going to Saratoga, and pa and ma won't go to meeting, or pray any more until we come back again." We fear that many who go to the seaside, or other holiday resorts, give God the go-by in much the same manner.

There was a celebrated poet who was an atheist, or at least professed to be so. According to him there was no God—the belief in a God was a delusion, prayer a base superstition, and religion but the iron fetters of a rapacious priesthood. So he held when sailing over the unruffled surface of the Aegean Sea. But the scene changed; and with the scene his creed. The heavens began to scowl on him; and the deep uttered an angry voice, and, as if in astonishment at this God-denying man, "lifted up his hands on high." The storm increased until the ship became unmanageable. She drifted before the tempest. The terrible cry, "Breakers ahead!" was soon heard; and how they trembled to see death seated on the horrid reef—waiting for his prey! A few moments more, and the crash comes. They are overwhelmed in the devouring sea? No. They were saved by a singular Providence. Like apprehended evils, which in a Christian's experience prove to be blessings, the wave, which flung them forward on the horrid reef, came on in such mountain volume as to bear and float them over into the safety of deep and ample sea room. But before that happened, a companion of the atheist—who, seated on the prow, had been taking his last regretful look of Heaven and earth, sea and sky—turned his eyes down upon the deck, and there, among Papists, who told their beads and cried to the Virgin, he saw the atheist prostrated with fear. The tempest had blown away his fine-spun speculations like so many cobwebs, and he was on his knees, imploring God for mercy. Guthrie.

The hypocrite is not for prayer always. He will pray when he sees his own time. He will stint God in time as well as in measure. He will be master, not only of his own time, but of God's too. "When will the Sabbath be gone?" Amos 8:5. Sometimes he will delight himself in the Almighty: but will he always call upon God? Everyone that knows him can make the answer for him, "No, he will not:" especially in secret, where none but God's eye can behold him. Upon some extraordinary occasions, in extraordinary cases, he may seem very devout; but he is modest, he will not trouble God too far, nor too often. Ahaz will not ask a sign, even when God bids him, lest he should tempt the Lord (Isaiah 7:10–12): a great piece of modesty in show; but a sure symptom of infidelity. He would not ask a sign because he could not believe the thing; not to avoid troubling of God, but himself. He seems very mannerly, but shows himself very malapert.

Thus, this hypocrite will serve God only by fits and starts, when he himself lists. He never troubles God but when God troubles him. In health, wealth, peace, he can comfort himself. He never prays but in trouble: in his affliction he will seek God early. Hosea 5:15. God is gladly to go away, and return to his place, else this man would never look after him. When God has touched him, he acquaints God with his misery, but when times grow better with him, he excludes God from his mirth. Samuel Crook.

XLIII

Job 34:33—"Should it be according to your mind?"

The verse is written in language of the most ancient kind, which is but little understood. Moreover, it is extremely pithy and sententious, and hence it is obscure. The sense given in our version is, however, that which sums up the other translations, and we prefer to adhere to it.

I. Do men really think that things should be according to their mind?

1. Concerning God. Their ideas of him are according to what they think he should be; but could he be God at all if he were such as the human mind would have him to be?

2. Concerning providence on a large scale, would men re-write history? Do they imagine that their arrangements would be an improvement upon infinite wisdom? In their own case they would arrange all matters selfishly. Should it be so?

3. Concerning the Gospel, its doctrines, its precepts, its results, should men have their own way? Should the atonement be left out, or the statement of it be modified to suit them?

4. Concerning the Church. Should they be head and lord?

Should their liberal ideas erase inspiration?

Should Baptism and the Lord's Supper be distorted to gratify them? Should gaudy ceremonies drive the Lord's homely ordinances out of doors? Should priestcraft crush out spiritual life? Should taste override divine commands?

Should the Ministry exist only for their special consolation, and be molded at their bidding?

II. What leads them to think so?

1. Self-importance, and selfishness.

2. Self-conceit, and pride.

3. A murmuring spirit which must needs grumble at everything.

4. Want of faith in Christ leading to a doubt of the power of his gospel.

5. Want of love to God, souring the mind and leading it to kick at a thing simply because the Lord prescribes it.

III. What a mercy that things are not according to their mind!

1. God's glory would be obscured.

2. Many would suffer to enable one man to play the Dictator.

3. We should, any one of us, have an awful responsibility resting upon us if our own mind had the regulation of affairs.

4. Our temptations would be increased. We should be proud if we succeeded, and despairing if we met with failure.

5. Our desires would become more greedy.

6. Our sins would be unconnected; for we should never allow a rod or a rebuke to come at us.

7. There would be universal strife; for every man would want to rule and command (James 4:5). If it ought to be according to your mind, why not according to mine?

IV. Let us check the spirit which suggests such conceit.

1. It is impracticable; for things can never be as so many different minds would have them.

2. It is unreasonable; for things ought not so to be.

3. It is unchristian; for even Christ Jesus pleased not himself, but cried, "Not as I will": Matthew 26:39.

4. It is atheistic; for it dethrones God to set up puny man.

Pray God to bring your mind to his will.

Cultivate admiration for the arrangements of the Divine mind.

Above all, accept the gospel as it is, and accept it now.

Helps

Should it be according to your mind? Many appear to think so. If we may judge by their conduct, they think that the Most High should have consulted their ease, their fancy, and their aggrandizement The gospel is not just what they would like it to be. Providence does not work as they desire. Few things are exactly as they should be.

Complaining mortal! Should it be according to your mind? Is not your mind carnal? Is it not selfish? Is it not prejudiced? If it were according to your mind, would not God's glory be obscured? Would not others suffer? Would not your lusts be fed? Would not your temptations be stronger? Would not your danger be greater?

Is not your God wiser, kinder, and holier than you are? Does he not over just? Are not his mercies over all his works? True, you may be afflicted, you may be poor, you may be sickly; what then? You are wishing for health, for a competency, for freedom from trials; but, "should it be according to thy mind?"

Beloved, let us guard against such a spirit. It is common, but it is unreasonable, it is criminal, it is dangerous. The thing is impracticable. Your God must govern, he is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. His ways are just, his plans are wise, his designs are merciful, and when the work is complete, every part will reflect his glory. James Smith.

We are all very apt to believe in Providence when we get our own way; but when things go awry, we think, if there is a God, He is in Heaven and not upon the earth. The cricket, in the spring, builds his house in the meadow, and chirps for joy because all is going so well with him. But when he hears the sound of the plough a few furrows off, and the thunder of the oxen's tread, then his sky begins to darken, and his young heart fails him. By-and-by the plough comes craunching along, turns his dwelling bottom-side up, and as he goes rolling over and over, without a house and without a home, "Oh," he says, "the foundations of the world are breaking up, and everything is hastening to destruction." But the gardener, as he walks behind the plough, does he think the foundations of the world are breaking up? No. He is thinking only of the harvest that is to follow in the wake of the plough; and the cricket, if it will but wait, will see the husbandman's purpose. My hearers, we are all like crickets. When we get our own way, we are happy and contented. When we are subjected to disappointment, we become the victims of despair. Dr. A. B. Jack, in "The Preacher and Homiletic Monthly."

Man would have God go according to his mind in chastening and afflicting him. He would have God correct him only in such a kind, in such a manner and measure as he would choose. He says in his heart, If God would correct me in this or that, I could bear it; but I do not like to be corrected in the present way. One says, If God would smite me in my estate I could bear it, but not in my body; another says, If God should smite me with sickness, I could bear it, but not in my children; or, If God would afflict me only in such a degree, I could submit; but my heart can hardly yield to so great a measure of affliction. Thus we would have it according to our minds as to the measure or the continuance of our afflictions. We would be corrected for so many days; but to have months of vanity and years of trouble, is not according to our mind.

Man would have God govern (not only himself, but) the whole world according to his mind. Man has much of this in him. Luther wrote to Melancthon, when he was so exceedingly troubled at the providence of God in the world, "Our brother Philip is to be admonished that he would forbear governing the world." We can hardly let God alone to rule that world which Himself alone has made. Caryl.

XLIV

Job 34:33—"Should it be according to your mind? He will recompense it, whether you refuse, or whether you choose; and not I: therefore speak what you know."

It is never wise to dispute with God.

Especially upon the matter of salvation.

No sinner seeking pardon should be so foolish as to dispute with his Sovereign Savior.

I. A question. "Should it be according to your mind?"

Should salvation be planned to suit you? Should beggars be choosers? Should those who profess penitence become dictators?

1. What is it to which you object?

Is there something objectionable in the plan of salvation? Is it too much of grace? Is it too simple? Is it too general? Is it too humbling? Do you dislike the method of substitution? Do you rebel against the Deity of the Savior?

Is there a cause of stumbling in the working out of salvation? Does the cross scandalize you? Do you dislike the work of the Holy Spirit? Are his operations too radical? Is regeneration too spiritual? Is holiness irksome?

Are its requirements too exact? too Puritanical?

Are its statements too humiliating? too denunciatory?

Is its term of service too protracted? Would you prefer a temporary faith? a transient obedience?

2. Should not God have his way? He is the Donor of salvation; shall he not do as he wills with his own?

3. Is not God's way best? Is not the Infinitely Good the best Controller, the best Ruler of the feast?

4. Should it be according to a mind that is ignorant? Fickle? Feeble? Selfish? Short-sighted? Is not yours such?

5. Why is your mind to be supreme? Why not another man's mind? You see the absurdity in that case—why not in your own?

II. A warning. "He will recompense it, whether you refuse, or whether you choose."

Whether sinners accept or refuse salvation,—

1. God will perform his pleasure.

2. God will punish sin.

3. God will glorify Christ by conversions.

4. God will magnify his own name before an assembled universe.

5. God will carry on his work of mercy in the one way which he has chosen, and he will not alter one jot or tittle to please vainglorious man.

III. A protest. "And not I."

1. I am not the person to be disputed with: you are not dealing with man but with God. "He will recompense it … and not I." Therefore there is no use in deceit or in defiance: thus you may overcome a mortal, but not the Eternal.

2. I will not be responsible for you. You yourself are sinning, and must answer for it, and no friend or minister can stand for you when God recompenses your sin upon you.

3. I will not share in your rebellion. "Not I." We must keep clear of complicity with the obstinate man who dictates to his God. It is a grand thing to be able to say distinctly, "Not I."

IV. An invitation. "Therefore speak what you know."

1. Exercise your freedom. Choose or reject; it is at your own peril.

2. Exercise your reason. Be sure that you know by personal observation and experience, and let your decision be based upon unquestionable knowledge.

3. Exercise your influence and speak as you think; but mind what you do; for an account must be given of your words.

4. Better exercise your truthfulness and bear witness to facts, rather than criticize the methods of the Lord.

Do not cavil at God's methods of grace, for certainly you cannot alter them; and if you could alter them you would not improve them.

Join not with others in their cavilings. It may be fashionable to criticize and doubt, but it is mischievous, presumptuous, and rebellious. Doubters may be in great repute among their own class, but they are poor creatures after all. Those who are wiser than God are fools in capitals.

Decide for yourself, but let it be with knowledge and thought; and when you have decided do not think that everybody else is to bow to your judgment. Bow before the Lord, and let your judgment be more eager to obey the truth for itself, than to rule over others.

XLV

Job 38:25–27—"Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?"

God challenges man to compare with his Maker even in the one matter of the rain. Can he create it? Can he send a shower upon the desert, to water the lone herbs which else would perish in the burning heat? No, he would not even think of doing such a thing. That generous act comes of the Lord alone.

We shall work out a parallel between grace and rain.

I. God alone gives rain, and the same is true of grace.

We say of rain and of grace,—God is the sole Author of it.

He devised and prepared the channel by which it comes to earth.

He has "divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters."

The Lord makes a way for grace to reach his people.

He directs each drop, and gives each blade of grass its own drop of dew,—to every believer his portion of grace.

He moderates the force, so that it does not beat down or drown the tender herb. Grace comes in its own gentle way. Conviction, enlightenment, &c., are sent in due measure.

He holds it in his power. Absolutely at his own will does God bestow either rain for the earth, or grace for the soul.

II. Rain falls irrespective of men, and so does grace.

Grace waits not man's observation. As the rain falls where no man is, so grace courts not publicity.

Nor his co operation. It "tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men": Micah 5:7.

Nor his prayers. Grass calls not for rain, yet it comes. "I am found of them that sought me not": Isaiah 65:1.

Nor his merits. Rain falls on the waste ground.

"Ah, grace, into unlikeliest hearts,

It is your accustomed to come;

The glory of your light to find

In darkest spots a home."

III. Rain falls where we might least have expected it.

It falls where there is no trace of former showers, even upon the desolate wilderness: so does grace enter hearts which had hitherto been unblest, where great need was the only plea which rose to Heaven. Isaiah 35:7.

It falls where there seems nothing to repay the blessing. Many hearts are naturally as barren as the desert. Isaiah 35:6.

It falls where the need seems insatiable; "to satisfy the desolate." Some cases seem to demand an ocean of grace; but the Lord meets the need; and his grace falls where the joy and glory are all directed to God by grateful hearts. Twice we are told that the rain falls "where no man is." When conversion is wrought of the Lord, no man is seen: the Lord alone is exalted.

IV. This rain is most valued by life

The rain gives joy to seeds and plants in which there is life. Budding life knows of it; the tenderest herb rejoices in it: so is it with those who begin to repent, who feebly believe, and thus are just alive.

The rain causes development Grace also perfects grace. Buds of hope grow into strong faith. Buds of feeling expand into love. Buds of desire rise to resolve. Buds of confession come to open avowal. Buds of usefulness swell into fruit.

The rain causes health and vigor of life. Is it not so with grace?

The rain creates the flower with its color and perfume, and God is pleased. The full outgrowth of renewed nature comes of grace, and the Lord is well pleased therewith.

Let us acknowledge the sovereignty of God as to grace.

Let us cry to him for grace.

Let us expect him to send it though we may feel sadly barren, and quite out of the way of the usual means of grace.

To interest the hearer

A lady traveling in Palestine writes:—"Rain began to fall in torrents Mohammed, our groom, threw a large Arab cloak over me, saying 'May Allah preserve you, O lady! while he is blessing the fields.' "

Oh, how pleasant are the effects of rain to languishing plants, to make them green and beautiful, lively and strong, fragrant and delightful! So the effects of Christ's influences are most desirable to drooping souls, for enlightening and enlivening them, for confirming and strengthening them, for comforting and enlarging them, for appetizing and satisfying them, transforming and beautifying them. John Willison.

Be not to me as a cloud without rain, lest I be to you like a tree without fruit. Spurstowe.

My stock lies dead, and no increase

Does my dull husbandry improve:

O let your graces without cease

Drop from above!

The dew does every morning fall;

And shall the dew outstrip your Dove?

The dew, for which grass cannot call,

Drop from above!

—George Herbert.

The grass springs up; the bud opens; the leaf expands; the flowers breathe forth their fragrance as if they were under the most careful cultivation. All this must be the work of God, since it cannot even be pretended that man is there to produce these effects. Perhaps one would be more deeply impressed with a sense of the presence of God in the pathless desert, or on the boundless prairie, where no man is, than in the most splendid park, or the most tastefully cultivated garden which man could make. In the one case, the hand of God alone is seen; in the other, we are constantly admiring the skill of man. Barnes.

The careful providence of God extends itself to all places, even to places uninhabited. This consideration may strengthen our dependence on God; though we are brought into a wilderness condition, where there is no man to pity us, or give us a morsel of bread. Surely the Lord that feeds the wild beasts where there is no man, can and will provide for his own people, when the hearts of all men are shut up against them; he can make the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to bring them food, as the ravens did to Elijah. Caryl.

This should tend to humble human pride: humanity is not the only creature that God cares for. Man is not the center and pivot of the world. God cares for oxen, birds, insects, and everything that lives. He works the mystic machinery of Heaven to water meadows untrodden of the foot of man. No flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness; for God sees it, and that is enough. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and man is but one servitor out of the many which are created for God's pleasure. Let him take his place as one among many servants, and no longer dream that all things are made for him, and that they are wasted if he does not derive some benefit from them.

XLVI

Psalm 9:18. "For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever."

The practical value of a text very much depends upon the man to whom it comes. The song of the troubadour was charming to Richard Cœur-de-Lion because he knew the responsive verses. The trail is full of meaning to the Indian, for his quick eye knows how to follow it: it would not mean a tithe as much to a white man. The sight of the light-house is cheering to the mariner, for from it he gathers his whereabouts. So will those who are spiritually poor and needy eagerly lay hold on this promise, prize it, and live upon it with content.

It is literally true that the needy are remembered of God; and though they may be overlooked by man's laws, the Lord will rectify that error at the last. In better times also he will so order Governments that they shall look with peculiar interest upon the poor. Using the text spiritually we see—

I. Two bitter experiences ended.

1. "The needy shall not always be forgotten." You have been forgotten—

By former friends and admirers.

In arrangements made, and plans projected.

In judgments formed, and in praises distributed.

In help estimated, and reliance expressed.

In fact, you have not been a factor in the calculation; you have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind. This has wounded you deeply, for there was a time when you were consulted among the first.

This will not be so always.

2. "The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever." You have been disappointed—

In your natural expectation from justice, gratitude, relationship, age, sympathy, charity, etc.

In your confidence in man.

In your judgment of yourself.

In your expectations of providence.

This disappointment shall only be temporary. Your expectation shall not perish forever: you shall yet receive more than you expected.

II. Two sad fears removed. Fears which are naturally suggested by what you have already experienced.

1. Not forever shall you be forgotten—

You shall not meet with final forgetfulness.

In the day of severe trouble.

In the night of grief and alarm for sin.

In the hour of death.

2. Nor shall your expectation perish—

Your weakness shall not frustrate the power of God.

Your sin shall not dry up the grace of God.

Your constitutional infirmities shall not cause your overthrow.

Your future trials shall not be too much for you.

III. Two sweet promises given.

1. "Not always be forgotten;" you shall not be overlooked—

In the arrangements of providence.

At the mercy-seat, when you are pleading.

From the pulpit, and in the Word, when your soul is hungering.

At the Breaking of Bread, when you long for communion with your Lord.

In your sufferings and service, when to be thought of by the Lord will be your main consolation.

By the angels, or by any other spiritual agencies.

By the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

2. "Expectation shall not perish forever." You shall not be disappointed—

Peace shall visit your heart.

Sin shall be vanquished without and within.

Mercy shall deliver in trial and out of trial.

Assurance shall be gained, and all its strong confidence.

Eminent joys shall be obtained, and an abundant entrance into glory.

Let the poor man hope in God.

Let him feast on the future if he find the present to be scant.

Above all, let him rest in the promise of a faithful God.

Illuminators

The pain of being forgotten is forcibly expressed in the words ascribed by Cowper to Alexander Selkirk in his solitude—

"My friends, do they now and then send

A wish or a thought alter me?

O tell me I yet have a friend.

Though a friend I am never to see."

An aged Christian, lying, on his death-bed in a state, of such extreme weakness that he was often entirely unconscious of all around him, was asked the cause of his perfect peace. He replied, "When I am able to think, I think of Jesus; and when I am unable to think of him, I know he is thinking of me."

Thirty years ago, before the Lord caused me to wander from my father's house and from my native place, I put my mark upon this passage in Isaiah: "You shall know that I am the Lord," etc. (chapter 49:23.) Of the many books I now possess, the Bible that bears this mark is the only one that belonged to me at that time. It now lies before me, and I find that, although the hair which then was dark as night has meanwhile become as sable silvered, the ink which marked this text has grown into intensity of blackness as the time advanced, corresponding with, and in fact recording, the growing: intensity of the conviction that "they shall not be ashamed" who wait for You. I believed it then, but I know it now, and I can write "Probatum est" with my whole heart over against the symbol which that mark is to me of my ancient faith.… Under many perilous circumstances, in many most trying scenes, amid faintings within and fears without, and under tortures that rend the heart, and troubles that crush it down, I have waited for You, and lo! I stand this day as one not ashamed. Dr. John Kitto.

In choosing a minister, and in all other church acts, let us be sure to remember the poor of the flock: they should, in fact, have double consideration, for the Lord would not have them to be overlooked. Do not let them suppose that they are forgotten.

Let us beware of disappointing a needy person. He sets great store by a promise when he greatly needs the help, and if it does not come in due time it causes him sharp distress. Let us never disappoint one of the Lord's poor, for the Lord will never do so himself.

What recompenses there will be in the eternal state, and what changes of position! Reputations will have a resurrection as well as bodies. Dishonor and neglect shall be rewarded with glory and honor. Disappointment through unjust withholding shall be doubly repaid by surprises of unlooked-for happiness. The wheel will turn, and that part of it which touched the dust shall mount aloft. Those words, "not always," are a wonderful abatement to present ingratitude; and those, "not forever," are an equal solace under this life's trials.

XLVII

Psalm 19:7—"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

Trees are known by their fruit, and books by their effect upon the mind. It is not the elegance of its diction but the excellence of its influence by which a book is to be estimated.

By "the law of the Lord" David means the whole revelation of God, as far as it had been given in his day; but his remark is equally true of all that God has since been pleased to speak by his Spirit.

This holy law may be judged of by its effect upon our own selves. It touches man's very soul, with the best conceivable result; and hence the Psalmist speaks of it in the most eulogistic manner as both perfect and sure. Its effects prove it to be complete and certain.

I. The work of the Word of God in conversion.

Not apart from the Spirit, but as it is used by the Spirit for divers ends, all needful to salvation.

1. To convince men of sin: they see what perfection is, that God demands it, and that they are far from it.

2. To drive men from false methods of seeking salvation, to bring them to self-despair, and to shut them up to God's method of saving them.

3. To reveal the way of salvation, by grace, through Christ, by faith.

4. To enable the soul to embrace Christ as its all in all. By setting forth promises and invitations, which are opened up to the understanding and sealed to the heart, etc.

5. To bring the heart nearer and nearer to God. Emotions of love, desires for holiness, devotion, self-searching, love to men, humility, &c. these are all excited, sustained, and perfected in the heart by the Word of God.

6. To restore the soul when it has wandered. Renewing tenderness, hope, love, joy, &c., by its gentle reminders.

7. To perfect the nature. The highest flights of holy enjoyment are not above or beyond the Word. Nothing is purer or more elevated than Holy Scripture. The Word also slays all sin, promotes every virtue, prepares for every duty, etc.

II. The excellence of this Work done by the Word.

The operations of grace by the Word are altogether good and not evil; and they are timed and balanced with infinite discretion. The Word of the Lord works marvelously, perfectly, and surely.

1. It removes despair without quenching repentance.

2. Gives pardon, but does not create presumption.

3. Gives rest, but excites the soul to progress.

4. Breathes security, but engenders watchfulness.

5. Bestows strength and holiness, but begets no boasting.

6. Gives harmony to duties, emotions, hopes, and enjoyments.

7. Brings the man to live for God, before God, and with God; and yet makes him none the less fitted for the daily duties of life.

III. The consequent excellence of the Word.

1. We need not add to it if we would secure conversion in any special case, or on the largest scale.

2. We need not keep back any doctrine for fear of damping the flame of a true revival.

3. We need not extraordinary gifts with which to preach it: the Word will do its own work.

4. We have but to follow the Word to be converted. It would be useless to run after new doctrine in the hope of being more powerfully affected. The old is better, and nothing better than the old Gospel can be imagined. It fits a man's needs as a key fits a lock.

5. We have but to keep to it to become truly wise: wise as the aged, wise as necessity requires, wise as the age, wise as eternity demands, wise with the wisdom of Christ.

Cling to the Scripture.

Study the whole revelation of God,

Use it as your chief instrument in all holy service.

"Modern Instances"

A remarkable proof that the Bible is its own witness is given by a writer from Oporto, who records the following reply of a man he met crouching in a ditch, to an inquiry as to what book he was reading:—"Well, if you won't betray me, I acknowledge that this is a New Testament. I bought it of a man who was selling such books, and determined to know something of its contents. I dare not tell anybody that I have it, not even my wife. So I have no one to teach me. Yet it is not difficult to understand, for as I read it makes itself plain to me."

"The process of enlightenment in many Romanist minds," says an observer, "is shadowed forth by the experience of one whom I saw but last week. He sat down to read the Bible an hour each evening with his wife. In a few evenings he stopped in the midst of his reading, and said 'Wife, if this book is true, we are wrong.' He read on, and in a few days longer, said, 'Wife, if this book is true, we are lost.' Riveted to the book, and deeply anxious, he still read, and in a week more joyfully exclaimed, 'Wife, if this book is true, we may be saved.' A few weeks more reading, and taught by the Spirit of God through the exhortations and instructions of a City Missionary, they both placed their faith in Christ, and are now rejoicing in hope."—Christian Treasury.

I have many books that I cannot sit down to, read; they are, indeed, good and sound, but, like halfpence, there goes a great quantity to a small amount; there are silver books, and a very few golden books; bat I have one book worth them all, called the Bible. John Newton.

It is the Book of God. What if I should

Say, God of Books?

Let him that looks

Angry at that expression, as too bold,

His thoughts in silence smother

Until he find such another.

Christopher Harvey.

The longer I live the higher is my estimate of an expository ministry, embracing the whole Word of God. I have on purpose tried certain truths to see if they will produce conversion, and I have not failed in any case. Outlying doctrines meet with certain outlying minds which could not be reached by the usual range of teaching. What would seem to be the eccentricities of truth are all needed for impressing eccentric conditions of thought and heart. I prayerfully preached the Resurrection and many were raised to spiritual life; I preached divine sovereignty when a revival was in full swing and it deepened and continued the work. The omission of certain truths from certain ministries may account for their barrenness. O that ministers would believe that the Word needs no improving, but is already perfect, "converting the soul"; and that it requires no suiting to the times, for it still makes wise the simple.

If there is any knowledge fully in our possession, it is certainly that which comes to us by experience. That a certain material will float in the water may be proved by a knowledge of its specific gravity; but we will feel more fully assured of the fact if we have seen it tried, and we will regard our answer to an objector, "I have seen it floating in water frequently," as simply sufficient to silence all objections. Ay we will regard such a statement as fully more conclusive than "It must float, for its specific gravity is lighter than water." On this same principle—and it is the principle of common sense—how fully we can prove that the Bible is the Word of God! Yes, every Christian carries the proof with him in his own experience. A poor Italian woman, a fruit-seller, had received the Word of God in her heart, and became persuaded of the truth of it. Seated at her modest stall at the head of a bridge, she made use of every moment in which she was unoccupied in her small traffic, in order to study the sacred volume. "What are you reading there, my good woman?" said a gentleman, one day, as he came up to the stall to purchase some fruit. "It is the Word of God," replied the fruit-vendor. "The Word of God! Who told you that?" "He told me so Himself?" "Have you ever spoken with Him, then?" The poor woman felt a little embarrassed, more especially as the gentleman insisted on her giving him some proof of what she believed. Unused to discussion, and feeling greatly at a loss for arguments, she at length exclaimed, looking upward, "Can you prove to me, sir, that there is a sun up in the sky?" "Prove it!" he replied, "Why, the best proof is that it warms me, and that I can see its light." "So it is with me," she replied joyously, "the proof of this Book's being the Word of God is that it warms and lights my soul,"—Bertram's Homiletic Encyclopedia.

McCheyne somewhere says, "Depend upon it it is God's word, not man's comment on God's word, which converts souls." I have frequently observed that this is the case. A discourse has been the means of conviction or of decision but usually upon close inquiry I have found that the real instrument was a scripture quoted by the preacher. A large fruit may contain and nourish a tiny seed; when the fruit falls into the ground and the shoot springs up, the real life was in the central pip, and not in the juicy fruit which encompassed it. So the divine truth is the living and incorruptible seed: the sermon is as needful as the apple to its pip; but still the vitality, the energy, the saving power, was in the pip of the Word, and only in a minor sense in the surrounding apple of human exposition and exhortation.

XLVIII

Psalm 37:39—"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord."

Salvation is a very large term, and describes the whole life of true believers—their whole experience, from their first consciousness of the ruin of the fall to their entrance into glory. They feel their need of being perpetually saved from self, sin, Satan, and the world. They trust, in God for preservation, and their end is peace (verse 37).

The prosperous sinner is on another tack, and comes to another conclusion: he disowns all need of salvation, and considers his success to be of his own winning. Alas, there comes to him a turning of the tables before long; according to the preceding verse: "The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off." God is not with the unrighteous; they have neither safety, nor strength, nor salvation in their time of trouble.

Our text contains a broad statement, of which we may say,—

I. This is the essence of sound doctrine.

The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, even of the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in—

1. The planning.

2. The providing.

3. The beginning.

4. The carrying on.

5. The completion.

II. This is a necessary fact. The saints recognize it; for.

1. Their inward conflicts make them know that God alone must work salvation. They are too fickle and feeble to save themselves.

2. Their outward temptations drive them to the same conclusion. They are well kept whom God keeps, but none else.

3. The world's hate drives them away from all hope in that quarter. God is greater than a world in arms.

4. Their daily trials and afflictions would crush them if Omnipotence did not sustain them. Only God's grace can be all-sufficient

5. The perishing of hypocrites is a sad proof of how little man can do. Temporary believers perish like blossoms which never knit to fruit, and therefore fall from the tree.

III. This is a sweet consolation. This truth, that unto God the Lord belongs the salvation of his saints, acts graciously,—

1. Leading them to solid trust.

2. Exciting them to believing prayer.

3. Urging them to look out of self.

4. Inspiring them with great thoughts of God, and

5. Leading them to offer adoring praise unto their Redeemer.

IV. This is a reason for humility.

1. It strips the righteous of all pride in the fact of their being saved.

2. Of all exultation in self because they continue in their integrity.

3. Of all undue censure of the fallen; for they, themselves, would have failed had not the Lord upheld them.

4. Of all self-confidence as to the future, since their weakness is inherent and abiding.

5. Of all self-glorying, even in Heaven, since in all things they are debtors to sovereign grace.

V. This is a fruitful ground of hope.

1. In reference to our own difficulties: God can give us deliverance.

2. In reference to our tried brethren: the Lord can sustain, sanctify, and deliver them.

3. In reference to seeking souls: we may leave their cases in the Savior's hands. He is able to save to the uttermost

4. In reference to sinners: they cannot be too degraded, obstinate, ignorant, or false; God can work salvation even in the worst.

Golden Bells

"Salvation is of the Lord." This is the sum of Jonah's discourse; one word for all; the very moral of his history. The mariners might have written upon their ship, instead of Castor and Pollux, or the like device, Salvation is the Lord's; the Ninevites in the next chapter might have written upon their gates, Salvation is the Lord's; and alt mankind, whose cause is pitted and pleaded by God against the hardness of Jonah's heart, might have written in the palms of their hands, Salvation is the Lord's. It is the argument of both the Testaments, the staff and support of Heaven and earth. They would both sink, and all their joints be severed, if the salvation of the Lord were not. The birds in the air sing no other note, the beasts in the field give no other voice than Salus Jehovah, Salvation is the Lord's.… And "what shall I more say?" as the Apostle asked (Hebrews 11) when he had spoken much, and there was much more behind, but time failed him. Rather, what should I not say? for the world is my theater at this time, and I neither think nor can feign to myself anything that has not dependence upon this acclamation, Salvation is the Lord's. King on Jonah.

Thus the saints hold Heaven. Not by conquest, but by heritage. Won by another arm than their own, it presents the strongest imaginable contrast to the spectacle in England's palace that day when the King demanded to know of his assembled nobles by what title they held their lands? What title! At the rash question a hundred swords leapt from their scabbards. Advancing on the alarmed monarch, "By these," they said, "we won, and by these will keep them." How different the scene which Heaven presents! All eyes are turned on Jesus with looks of love; gratitude glows in every bosom, and swells every song; now with golden harps they sound his praise; and now, descending from their thrones to do him homage, they cast their crowns in one glittering heap at the feet which were nailed on Calvary. From this scene, learn in whose name to seek salvation, and through whose merits to hope for it; and with a faith in harmony with the worship of the skies, be this your language—"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name give glory."—Dr. Guthrie.

"This brook will soon run dry," said one. "Nay," quoth his fellow, "it flows from a living spring, which was never known to fail in summer or in winter." A man was reputed to be very rich by those who saw his expensive houses, and horses, and charges; but there were others who judged that his name would soon be in the Gazette, for he had no capital. "There is nothing at the back of it," said one, and the saying meant much. Now, the believer has the eternal deep for his spring of supply, and the all-sufficiency of God as the substance of his wealth. What cause has he to fear?

If salvation were partly of God and partly of man it would be as sorry an affair as that image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which was part of iron and part of clay. It would end in a break-down. If our dependence were upon Jesus in a measure, and our own works in some degree, our foundation would be partly on the rock and partly on the sand, and the whole structure would fall. O to know the full meaning of the words, "Salvation is of the Lord"!

Experience alone can beat this truth into men's minds. A man will lie broken at the foot of the precipice, every bone dislocated by the fall, and yet hope to save himself. Piles of sin will fall upon him and bury him, and yet his self-trust will live. Mountains of actual transgression will overwhelm him, and yet he will stir himself to self-confident effort, working like the Cyclops with Etna heaped upon them. Crushed to atoms, every particle of our nature reeks with conceit. Ground to powder, our very dust is pungent with pride. Only the Holy Spirit can make a man receive that humbling sentence, "Salvation is of the Lord."

XLIX

Psalm 84:3—"Yes, the sparrow has found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God."

David, as an exile, envied the birds which dwelt around the house of the Lord. So the Christian, when debarred the assembly of the saints, Kit under spiritual desertion, will pine to be once more at home with God.

These birds found in the sanctuary what we would find in God.

I. Houses for, themselves.

That they should find houses in and around the Lord's house is remarkable, and David dwelt on it with pleasure.

1. Consider what they were. Sparrows.

Worthless creatures. Five for two farthings.

Needy creatures, requiring both nests, food, and everything else.

Uninvited guests. The temple did not need them, it might have been all the better without them.

Numerous creatures; but none were driven away.

2. Consider what they did. "Found a house,"—a comfortable, suitable, permanent abode.

They looked for it, or they could not have been described as having found it.

It was there already, or they could not have found it.

They appropriated it. Their right lay in discovery; they found a house and occupied it without question. O for an appropriating faith!

3. Consider what they enjoyed?

Safety.

 

Rest.

Abode.

All this in the house of God, hard by his altars. Thus do believers find all in Christ Jesus.

Delight.

Society.

Nearness.

 

And So, secondarily, they find the same things in the assembly of the saints, in the place where God's honor dwells.

We come to the house of the Lord with joy.

We remain in it with delight.

We sit and sing in it with pleasure.

We commune with our fellow-songsters with much content.

It is not every bird that does this. The eagle is too ambitious. The vulture too foul. The cormorant top greedy. The hawk too warlike. The ostrich too wild. The barn-door bird too dependent upon man. The owl too fond of darkness.

These sparrows were little and loving.

II. Nests for their young.

Some persons are not so much in need pf a house for themselves; for, like swallows, they live on the wing, and are active and energetic; but they need a nest for their young, for whom they are greatly anxious. They long to see the young people settled, happy, and safe in God.

Children should be housed in the house of God. The sanctuary of God should be the nursery of the young.

1. They will be safe there, and free there. The swallow, the "bird of liberty," is satisfied to find a nest for herself near the altars of God. She is not afraid of bondage there either for herself or her young.

2. They will be joyful there. We should try to make our little ones happy in God, and in his holy worship. Dull Sabbaths and dreary services should not be mentioned among us.

3. They are near the blessing, when we bring them near the house of the Lord.

4. They are in choice society; their companions will be the companions of Jesus.

5. They are likely to return to the nest, as the swallows do; even as the young salmon return to the rivulet where they were hatched.

Young folks remember their first impressions.

6. Children truly brought to Christ have every blessing in that fact.

They are rich: they dwell in God's palace.

They are educated: they abide in the Lord's temple.

They are safe for time and eternity.

The second blessing of a nest for our young often follows on the first, or getting a house for ourselves.

But it needs prayer, example, and precept. Children do not take to religion as ducks to water: they must be led and trained with earnest care.

Are you sighing alter Christ for yourself and your children?

Are you content without Christ? Then you are not likely to care about your children.

Do you already possess a home in Jesus? Rest not until all yours are housed in the same place.

Fragments

Sir Thomas More used to attend the parish church at Chelsea, and there, putting on a surplice, he would sing with the choristers at matins and high mass. It happened, one day, that the Duke of Norfolk coming to Chelsea to dine with him, found him at church thus engaged. As they walked home together arm-in-arm, after service, the duke exclaimed, "My Lord Chancellor a parish clerk! A parish clerk! you dishonor the King and his office!" "Nay," he replied, smiling, "your Grace cannot suppose that the King, our master, will be offended with me for serving his Master, or thereby account his office dishonored."

"I'm only a little sparrow,

A bird of low degree;

My life is of little value,

But the dear Lord cares for me."

Tennyson plaintively refers to the song of the linnets:—

"I do but sing because I must,

And pipe but as the linnets sing:

And one is glad—her note is mirthful—

For now her little ones have ranged;

And one is sad—her note is changed—

Because her brood is stolen away."

The feeling of the linnets may serve as an analogue. Christian parents have a mirthful note when their little ones have ranged at their sweet will in the paths of duty; but their note must be one of sadness when the brood is stolen away from truth and righteousness. W. Norris.

"God fails not," as one has beautifully said, "to find a house for the most worthless, and the nest for the most restless of birds." What confidence this should give us! How we should rest! What repose the soul finds that casts itself on the watchful, tender care of Him who provides so fully for the need of all His creatures! We know what the expression of "nest" conveys, just as well as that of "a house." Is it not a place of security, a shelter from storm, a covert to hide one's self in, from every evil, a protection from all that can harm, "a place to rest in, to nestle in, to joy in"?—Things New and Old.

A custom, existing among several nations of antiquity, is deemed capable of illustrating the present passage. For birds whose nests chanced to be built on the temples, or within the limits of them, were not allowed to be driven away, much less to be killed, but found there a secure and undisturbed abode. W. K. Clay.

As a rule, the children of godly parents are godly. In cases where this is not the case there is a reason. I have carefully observed and detected the absence of family prayer, gross inconsistency, harshness, indulgence, or neglect of admonition. If trained in God's ways, they do not depart from them.

L

Psalm 91:11—"For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."

The Lord gave his people shelter in the time of pestilence, for he had promised, "There shall no evil befall you; neither shall any plague come near your dwelling." The former verses celebrate the Passover of those who dwell in God.

After the Passover came a journey to Canaan; and the promise of the covenant angel and his keeping them in all their ways, fitly follow upon the rescue from the plague.

We, too, are pilgrims on our way to Canaan. He who set us free by the Passover deliverance also provides for our journey to the land which flows with milk and honey. All the way to the promised land is covered by this divine safe-conduct.

I. There are ways which are not in the promise.

"All your ways" are mentioned; but some tracks are not to be followed by children of God, and are not their ways.

1. Ways of presumption. In these men court danger, and, as it were, defy God. "Cast yourself down," said Satan to our Lord, and then urged this promise. Matthew 4:6.

2. Ways of sin, dishonesty, lying, vice, worldly conformity, etc. We have no permit to bow in the house of Rimmon. Ephesians 5:12.

3. Ways of worldliness, selfishness, greed, ambition. The ways by which men seek personal aggrandizement are usually dark, arid crooked, and are not of God. Proverbs 28:22; 1 Timothy 6:9.

4. Ways of pride, self-conceit, boastful promisings, pretended perfection, etc. "Pride goes before destruction."

5. Ways of will worship, wilfulness, obstinacy, fancy, day-dreaming, absurd impulse, etc. Jeremiah 2:18.

6. Ways of erroneous doctrine, novel practice, fashionable ceremonial, flattering delusion, etc. 2 Timothy 3:5.

II. There are ways in which safety is guaranteed

1. The way of humble faith in the Lord Jesus.

2. The way of obedience to divine precepts.

3. The way of childlike trust in providential guidance.

4. The way of strict principle, and stern integrity.

5. The way of consecrated service, and seeking God's glory.

6. The way of holy separation, and walking with God.

III. These ways lead us into varied conditions

1. They are changeful and varied: "all your ways."

2. They are sometimes stony with difficulty: "foot against a stone."

3. They may be terrible with temptation.

4. They may be mysteriously trying. Devils may throng the path,—only to be met by holy angels.

5. They are essentially safe, while the smooth and easy roads are perilous.

IV. But while walking in them all believers are secure.

1. The Lord Himself concerns Himself about them:—"He shall give his angels charge over you." He will personally command those holy beings to have an eye to His children. David charged his troops to spare Absalom, but his bidding was disregarded. It is not so with God.

2. Mysterious agencies protect them: angels bear them up in their hands, as nurses carry little children. Wonderful tenderness and power! Angels acting as servants to men!

3. All things are on their side, both visible and invisible. Command is laid on all to protect the saints. "You have given commandment to save me": Psalm 71:3.

4. Each one is personally watched over. "Charge over you to keep you." Isaiah 42:6; Genesis 28:15.

5. That watchfulness is perpetual—"All your ways." Psalm 121:3, 4.

6. This guard also confers honor. How noble a thing to have the courtiers of Heaven for a corps de garde!

7. All this comes to them by Jesus, whose the angels are, and whom they serve. Isaiah 43:4.

See how the lowest employment is consistent with the highest enjoyment:—Keeping guard over the Lord's stumbling children is no discredit to angels.

How cheerfully we should watch over others! How vigorously should we hold them up whenever it is in our power! To cast off a stumbling brother is not angelic, but the reverse.

How safe we ought to feel, how fully trustful we ought to be! Alexander slept soundly, "for," said he, "Parmenio wakes."

How holy we should be with such holy ones for watchers! Great privileges involve heavy responsibilities.

Garnishing

While King William, at a battle in Flanders, was giving orders in the thickest of the fight, he saw, to his surprise, among his staff one Michael Godfrey, a merchant of London, and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, who had thus exposed himself in order to gratify his curiosity The king, riding up to him, said, "Sir, you ought not to run these hazards; you are not a soldier, you can be of no use here." "Sire," answered Godfrey, "I run no more hazard than your majesty." "Not so," said William, "I am here where it is my duty to be, and I may, without presumption, commit my life to God's keeping; but you——." The sentence needed no completion, for at that very moment a cannon ball laid Godfrey lifeless at the king's feet. He had been wise had he restricted himself to the ways of his calling and duty.

Old Humphrey has a good paper against wandering from the path of duty, suggested by a notice at the entrance of a park:—"Take notice. In walking through these grounds, you are requested to keep the footpath." Bunyan has supplied the same theme for solemn warning, in the pilgrim straying into Bye-path meadow. Bowes.

Angels our servants are,

And keep in all our ways;

And in their watchful hands they bear

The sacred sons of grace:

Unto that heavenly bliss

They all our steps attend,

And God himself our Father is,

And Jesus is our Friend.

—Wesley.

A dying saint asked that his name should be put upon his tombstone, with the dates of his birth and death, and the one word, "Kept."

Our protection is in other hands than our own. In the way of duty we are as safe as in Heaven. Not alone in great dangers, but in little ones we are secure if we are in the right way—for we are kept from stumbling-stones as well as from fiery darts. Our guards are such as no enemy can resist, for they are strong; such as no evil can escape, for they are swift; such as no weariness can tire, for they are never weary. We have a body-guard of Immortals, each one of them invincible, unflagging, loyal, loving, and full of fire. Each angel may truly say,

"A charge to keep I have."

Keep it he will until the Lord Himself shall receive our spirit. No angel will give in his account with sorrow, saying, "I could not keep him; the stones were too many, his feet too feeble, the way too long." No, we shall be kept to the end; for in addition to angels, we have the safeguard of their Lord;—he keeps the feet of His saints. 1 Samuel 2:9.

LI

Psalm 115:17, 18—"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord."

The living God should be adored by a living people. A blessing God should be blessed by a blessing people. Whatever others do, we ought to bless Jehovah. When we bless him we should not rest until others do the same: we should cry to them, "Praise the Lord." Our example and our persuasion should rouse them to praise.

I. A Mournful Memory. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." This reminds us—

1. Of silenced voices in the choirs of Zion. Good men and true who neither sing nor speak among us any longer.

2. Of our own speedy silence: so far as this world is concerned we shall soon be among the dead and silent ones.

3. Of the ungodly around us, who are already spiritually dead, and can no more praise the Lord than if they were dumb.

4. Of lost souls in Hell. Never will these bless the Lord.

II. A Happy Resolution. "But we will bless the Lord."

In heart, song, testimony, action, we are resolved to give the Lord our loving praise; because—

1. We live. Shall we not bless him who keeps us in being?

2. We live spiritually, and this demands perpetual thanksgiving.

3. We are blessed of the Lord: shall we not bless him?

4. He will bless us. More and more will he reveal his love to us: let us praise him more and more. Be this our steadfast vow, that we will bless the Lord, come what may.

III. An Appropriate Commencement. "We will bless the Lord from this time forth."

1. When the heathen ask, "Where is now their God?" (verse 2). Let us reply courageously to all atheistic questions, and meet infidelity with joyous adoration.

2. When under a sense of mercy, we are led to sing—"The Lord has been mindful of us" (verse 12), let us then bless him.

3. When spiritually renewed and comforted. When the four times repeated words, "He will bless," have come true in our experience, and the Lord has increased us with every personal and family blessing (verses 12–14), then let all that is within us bless the holy name of the Lord.

4. When led to confess Christ. Then should we begin the never-ending life-psalm. Service and song should go together.

5. When years end and begin—new-years' days, birthdays, &c., let us bless God for

Sin of the year forgiven.

Need of the year supplied.

Mercy of the year enjoyed.

Fears of the year removed.

Hopes of the year fulfilled.

Let us from this very moment magnify the name of the Lord. Let our hearts turn each beat into music as we inwardly bless him. We have robbed him of his glory long enough.

IV. An Everlasting Continuance: "from this time forth and for evermore."

1. Weariness shall not suspend it. We will renew our strength as we bless the Lord.

2. Final falling shall not end it: the Lord will keep our soul in his way, and make us praise him all our days.

3. Nor shall death so much as interrupt our songs, but raise them to a purer and fuller strain.

4. Nor shall any supposable calamity deprive the Lord of our gratitude. "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord:" Job 1:21.

One by one the singers in the consecrated choir steal away from us, and we miss their music: let us feel as if baptized for the dead.

Will no one here engage in the choir, and rehearse on earth the sonnets of Heaven?

Joy-Notes

Praise is the highest function that any creature can discharge. The Rabbis have a beautiful bit of teaching buried among their rubbish about angels. They say that there are two kinds of angels, the angels of service and the angels of praise, of which two orders the latter is the higher, and that no angel in it praises God twice; but having lifted up his voice in the psalm of Heaven, then ceases to be. He has perfected his being, he has reached the height of his greatness, he has done what he was made for; let him fade away. The garb of legend is mean enough, but the thought it embodies is that ever true and solemn one, without which life is nothing: "Man's chief end is to glorify God."—Dr. Maclaren.

There is no Heaven, either in this world, or in the world to come, for people who do not praise God. If you do not enter into the spirit and worship of Heaven, how should the spirit and joy of Heaven enter into you? Selfishness makes long prayers, but love makes short prayers, that it may continue longer in praise. Pulsford.

King of glory, King of peace,

I will love you:

And that love may never cease,

I will move you.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,

I will praise you.

In my heart, though not in Heaven,

I can raise you.

Small it is, in this poor sort

To enrol you:

Even eternity is too short

To extol you.

George Herbert.

On Thursday evening, March 29th, 1883, for above an hour all who had occasion to use the telephone in Chicago found it vibrating to musical tones. Private and public telephones, and even the police and fire-alarm instruments, were alike affected. The source of the music was a mystery until the following day, when it was learned that a telegraph wire, which passes near most of the telephone wires, was connected with the harmonic system, that tunes were being played over it, and that the telephone wires took up the sounds by induction. If one wire carrying sweet sounds from place to place could so affect another wire by simply being near to it, how ought Christians, in communication with their Father in Heaven, to affect all with whom they come in contact in the world! The divine music of love and gentleness in their lives should be a blessing to society. The Pulpit Treasury, New York.

When we bless God for mercies we prolong them, and when we bless him for miseries we usually end them. When we reach to praise we have compassed the design of a dispensation, and have reaped the harvest of it. Praise is a soul in flower, and a secret, hearty blessing of the Lord is the soul fruit-bearing. Praise is the honey of life, which a devout heart sucks from every bloom of providence and grace. As well be dead as be without praise: it is the crown of life.

LII

Psalm 119:50—"This is my comfort in my affliction: for your word has quickened me."

In some respects the same event happens to us all: to good men, to great men, to well-instructed men, as well as to the wicked, the obscure, and the ignorant. Each of these can speak of "my affliction." "The heart knows his own bitterness": Proverbs 14:10.

It is a grand matter when "my affliction" is in each case balanced by "my comfort." I: was so in David's case, and he is a fair representative of all believers. How is it with each one of our hearers?

I. Believers have their Peculiar Comfort. Each tried child of God can say, "This is my comfort."

1. This, as different from others. Worldly men get their drops of comfort from such sources as they prefer; but the godly man looks to his experience of the Word, and says, "This is my comfort." Psalm 4:6.

2. This, as understanding what it is. He knew his consolation as well as he knew his tribulation. He was not like Hagar, who could not see the well which was so near her. Genesis 21:19.

3. This, as having it near at hand. He does not say that, as if he pointed it out in the distance; but this, as grasping it.

4. This, as pleading in prayer that which he had enjoyed; urging upon the Lord the mercy already received.

II. That Comfort comes from a Peculiar Source. "Your word has quickened me."

1. In part it is outward.

The word of God, full of promises, is our comfort. Romans 15:4.

The word of God, full of records of his goodness, is the confirmation of our confidence. Psalm 77:5–10.

The word of God, full of power, is our strength. Ecclesiastes 8:4.

2. In part it is inward: "Your word has quickened me."

In past experience he had felt the power of the word in raising him,—

Into life from death. Psalm 116:8.

Into energy from lethargy. Canticles 6:12.

Into higher life from lower. Psalm 119:67.

In all things it had been a source of quickening to him.

In present experience he was then feeling its power in making

His mind less worldly.

His heart more prayerful.

His spirit more tender.

His faith more simple.

If the word has done and is doing all this, we may expect it to do more, and to magnify its power in our complete rescue.

III. That Comfort is Valuable under Peculiar Trials.

1. Hope deferred. Study the context. "Remember the word unto your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope:" verse 49. Quickening enables us to hope on.

2. Trial endured: verse 50. Comfort is most needed in trouble, and there is no comfort like quickening.

3. Scorn suffered. "The proud have had me greatly in derision:" verse 51. We care nothing for mockers when we are lively in spiritual things.

4. Sin of others. "Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked:" verse 53. More grace will enable us to bear up under abounding sin.

5. Changes. Read carefully verse 54. The Bible has a song for all seasons, and a psalm for all places.

6. Darkness: "in the night:" verse 55. There is no night-light like the Word, enlightening and enlivening the heart.

IV. That the Form of our Comfort is a Test of Character.

1. Some look to wealth: when their corn and their wine are increased, they say, "This is my comfort." They mind the main chance: they are worldly. Luke 12:19.

2. Some seek to dreams and visions, omens and fancies, impressions and presentiments: they are superstitious.

3. Some run to sin, drink, gaming, worldly company, dissipation, opium: they are wicked.

4. Some resort to their fellow-men for advice and assistance: they are unwise, and will be disappointed. Jeremiah 17:5.

What is your comfort?

Has this blessed volume quickened you?

If so, look to it under all trials, for it will never fail you.

The Rev. E. Paxton Hood says: "When I visited one day, as he was dying, my beloved friend Benjamin Parsons, I said, 'How are you today, sir?' He said, 'My head is resting very sweetly on three pillows—infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom.' Preaching in the Canterbury Hall in Brighton, I mentioned this some time since; and, not many months after, I was requested to call upon a poor but holy young woman, apparently dying. She said, 'I felt I must see you before I died. I heard you tell the story of Benjamin Parsons and his three pillows; and when I went through a surgical operation, and it was very cruel, I was leaning my head on pillows, and as they were taking them away, I said, 'Mayn't I keep them?' The surgeon said, 'No, my dear, we must take them away.' 'But,' said I, 'you can't take away Benjamin Parsons' three pillows: I can lay my head on infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom.' "

"My word"—"The best relief that mourners have,

It makes our sorrows blessed;

Our fairest hope beyond the grave,

And our eternal rest."

"Speak to me now in Scripture language alone," said a dying Christian. "I can trust the words of God; but when they are the words of man, it costs me an effort to think whether I may trust to them."

I would, when dying comforts fly,

As much as when they present were,

Up in my living joy rely:

Help, Lord, for here I daily err. Ralph Erskine.

I was questioning my spiritual life, I who have so long been a preacher to others. I entered a little rustic assembly. An unlettered man preached the gospel, he preached it heartily; my tears began to flow; my soul leaped at the very sound of the Word of the Lord. What a comfort it was to me! How frequently have I thought of it since! The Word did revive me; my heart was not dead to its influence; I was one of those happy people who know the joyful sound. Assurance was bright in my soul,—the Word had quickened me.

What energy a text will breathe into a man! There is more in one divine sentence than in huge folios of human composition. There are tinctures of which one drop is more powerful than large doses of the common dilutions. The Bible is the essence of truth; it is the mind of God, the wisdom of the Eternal. By every word of God men are made to live, and are kept in life.

LIII

Psalm 138:1–3—"I will praise You with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto You. I will worship towards Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth: for You have magnified Your word above all Your name. In the day when I cried You answerered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul."

David was vexed with rival gods, as we are with rival gospels. Nothing is more trying to the soul of a true man than to be surrounded with vile counterfeits, and to hear these cried up, and the truth treated with contempt.

How will David act under the trial? For so should we act Our text informs us. He will,—

I. Sing with whole-hearted praise. "I will praise you with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto you."

1. His song would openly show his contempt of the false gods: he would sing whether they were there or no. They were such nothings that he would not change his note for them.

2. It would evince his strong faith in the true God. To the teeth of the adversary he glorified Jehovah. His enthusiastic wholehearted song was better than denunciation or argument.

3. It would declare his joyful zeal for God: he sang to show the strong emotion of his soul. Others might be pleased in Baal, he greatly rejoiced in Jehovah.

4. It would shield him from evil from those about him; for holy song keeps off the enemy. Praise is a potent disinfectant. If called to behold evil, let us purify the air with the incense of praise.

II. Worship by the despised rule. "I will worship toward your holy temple."

1. Quietly ignoring all will-worship, he would follow the rule of the Lord, and the custom of the saints.

2. Looking to the Person of Christ, which was typified by the Temple. There is no singing like that which is directed towards the Lord Jesus, as now living to present it to the Father.

3. Trusting in the one finished Sacrifice, looking to the one Great Expiation, we shall praise aright.

4. Realizing God himself; for it is to God he speaks, "towards your holy temple." Music which is meant for the ear of God is music indeed.

III. Praise the questioned attributes. "I will praise your name for your loving-kindness, and for your truth."

1. Loving-kindness in its universality.

Loving-kindness in its speciality.

Grace in everything. Grace to me. Grace so much despised of Pharisees and Sadducees, but so precious to true penitents.

Concerning the grace of God, let us cling close to the doctrine and spirit of the gospel all the more because the spirit of the age is opposed to them.

2. Truth. Historic accuracy of Scripture.

Absolute certainty of the gospel.

Assured truthfulness of the promises.

Complete accuracy of prophecy.

It is ours in these evil days to hold to the infallible inspiration of the Word, and to affirm it in unmistakable terms. No wonder that men rush off to find an infallible church in Popery, or rely upon their own infallible reason, when once they doubt the plenary inspiration of the Bible.

IV. Reverence the honored word. "You have magnified your word above all your name."

God has magnified His sure word of testimony beyond all such revelations as we receive through creation and providence, though these declare God's name. The Gospel word is—

1. More clear. Words are better understood than nature's hieroglyphs.

2. More sure. The Spirit Himself sealing it.

3. More sovereign. Effectually blessing believers.

4. More complete. The whole of God is seen in Christ.

5. More lasting. Creation must pass away, the Word endures forever.

6. More glorifying to God. Specially in the great Atonement.

V. Prove it by personal experience. "In the day when I cried you answerered me," etc.

He had used his knowledge of God derived from the Word.

1. By offering prayer. "I cried." What do men know of the truth and grace of God and the virtue of His Word if they have never prayed?

2. By narrating the answer. "You answerered me," etc. We are God's witnesses, and should with readiness, care, frequency, and courage testify what we have seen and known.

3. By exhibiting the strength of soul which was gained by prayer. This is good witness-bearing. Show by patience, courage, joy, and holiness what the Lord has done for your soul.

Our Lord is above all others.

Our joy in Him surpasses all other joy.

Therefore will we delight in Him and extol Him beyond measure.

Jottings

Singing unto Jehovah before the gods was good for David's own soul. It is perilous to attempt a secret fidelity to God, it is so apt to degenerate into cowardice. A converted soldier tried at first to pray in bed, or in some secret corner, but he found it would not do; he must kneel down in the barrack-room before the others, and run the gauntlet of the men's remarks; for until he had done so he had not taken his stand and he felt no peace of mind. It is needful for our spiritual health that we come out distinctly upon the Lord's side.

The effect of whole-heartedness is very manifest. Even prejudiced persons put up with a great deal in a service when they see that those engaged in it are enthusiastic. "It was very singular," said one who attended a Revival Service, "and I should have laughed outright, only I saw the tears running down an old sailor's cheeks as he sung the hymn with all his might."

Observe carefully the little points in a divine command: worship "towards the holy temple." Nothing is little when God's will is concerned. I knew a youth who had wished to be baptized, but his friends kept him back. When he fell ill, he fretted because he had not confessed his Lord according to the Scripture. "But Isaac," said his mother, "you know baptism will not save you." "No, mother," he replied, "of course it will not, for I am saved. But when I see Jesus in Heaven I should not like Him to say, 'Isaac, it was a very little thing I asked of you; did you not love Me enough to do it?' " It is the non-essentiality of the precept which makes it such an important test of obedience.

We do not intend to place Scripture on a lower level than science: on the contrary, we claim for it the chief place. By science the name and character of the Lord may be dimly read; but His Word is magnified above all other manifestations, for therein the revelation is more full and clear. Observations made by sunlight are not to be revised by moonlight glances: the reverse is the correct process. You tell me what you gather from my Father's works; but I have His mind in His own words, written with His own pen, and I prefer my information to yours.

LIV

Psalm 143:9. "I flee unto you to hide me."

What a mercy it is for us all that David was not an untried man! We have all been enriched by his painful experience. He was

"A man so various that he seemed to be

Not one, but all mankind's epitome."

May it not be a blessing to others that we also are tried? If so ought we not to be right glad to contribute our quota to the benefit of the redeemed family?

David may be our example; let us flee unto God as he did. We shall profit by our foes if we imitate this prudent warrior in his habitual way of escaping from his enemies.

The great point is, however, not only to see what David did, but to do the like promptly, and constantly. What, then, is essential in order to our copying the man of God?

I. A perception of danger. No man will flee if he is not afraid; there must be a knowledge and apprehension of danger, or there will be no flight

1. Men perish in many instances because they have no sense of danger. The noxious air is not observed, the sunken reef is not seen, the train rushes to collision unwarned. Ignorance of danger makes the danger inevitable.

Men will dare to die without fear of Hell.

Men will sin and have no dread of any ill consequences.

Men will play with an evil habit and will not believe in its power to enslave them.

Men will toy with a temptation and refuse to see how certain it is to lead them into actual wrong-doing.

2. Every man is really in danger. The sinner is asleep on the top of a mast. Young and old are both in jeopardy. Even the saints are in peril of temptation from many sources.

3. Some dangers are slowly perceived. Those connected with sweet sin, those which grow out of a boastful mind, those which are countenanced by the example of others, etc. The more dangerous the serpent, the less likely to be seen.

4. The spiritual man is led to perceive dangers by inward monitions, by a spiritual sensitiveness which is the result of devotion, by experience, by perceptible declensions, or by observing the effect of certain things upon others.

II. A sense of weakness. No man will flee for hiding if he feel able to fight the matter through in his own strength.

1. We are all weak and unable to cope with sin.

2. Some think themselves mighty men of valor, but these are among the very weakest of the weak.

3. Past failure should teach us not to trust our own strength.

4. In a deep sense of weakness we are made strong: in imagined strength lies the worst form of weakness.

III. A prudent foresight. "I flee unto you to hide me."

1. He would not venture into the danger or wait until it overtook him; but he took time by the forelock and fled. Often this is the highest form of courage.

2. Escape through fear is admirable prudence. It is not a mean motive; for Noah, "moved by fear, prepared an ark"

3. While we can flee we should; for time may come when we shall be unable. David says, "I flee": he means—"I am fleeing, I always do flee unto you, my God."

A man should not live like a beast, who sees no further than the meadow in which he feeds. He should foresee evil and hide himself; for this is common prudence. (Proverbs 22:3)

IV. A solid confidence. "To you to hide me." He was sure,

1. That there was safety in God.

2. That he might flee to God.

3. That he might flee there and then.

V. An active faith. He did not lie passive, but aroused himself.

This may be clearly seen,

1. In his fleeing to God. Directness, speed, eagerness.

2. In his after-prayers. "Teach me to do your will; lead me; quicken me." See verses following the text.

Expect your share of enemies, and prepare for them.

Secure your best friend. Be reconciled to Him in Christ Jesus.

Make constant use of Him. Flee to Him at all times.

Feathers for wings

From some sins there is no safety but in flight. Our French school book represented Mentor as saying to his pupil in the court of Calypso, "Fly, Telemaque; there remains no other mode of conquest but by flight!" "Flee youthful lusts"; they are not to be wrestled with, but fled from. Flight being thus needful, where shall we flee but to our God? Who will so surely welcome, so securely defend, so permanently entertain? As the bird to its nest, and the coney to its rock, let us flee unto our God that we may be secure from every foe.

God's people often find by experience that the places of their protection are places of destruction. Well, when all other places fail, Christ will not fail. See how it was with David, Psalm 142:4, 5. But when his hiding-place at Ziklag was gone, yet his Savior was not gone; "He encouraged himself in the Lord his God": 1 Samuel 30:6. It is a mighty encouragement to believers that Christ is a hiding-place. 1. He is a safe and strong hiding-place: Isaiah 33:16; Christ is a rock, and he who is in Christ is in the munitions of rocks. 2. He is a large hiding-place; there is room enough for his elect; his skirt is large. 3. He is a hiding-place to the soul as well as to the body. 4. He has undertaken to hide us; God has committed all his elect to Christ, that He should hide them. Ralph Robinson.

Under the influence of great fear the most timid creatures have sometimes fled to men for security. We have heard of a dove flying into a lady's bosom to escape from a hawk, and even of a have running to a man for shelter. The confidence of the feeble secures the guardianship of the strong. He would be brutal indeed who would refuse protection to such simple reliance. Surely, if in our need we fly into the bosom of our God, we may be sure that love and majesty will unitedly smile upon us. There can be no question of that man's security who challenges by his faith the protection of the God of love. "He has trusted me and I will not fail him," has been the resolve of many an honorable man; how much more will it be the determination of the Lord!

A little party assembled in a shepherd's house in Nithsdale to hear Mr. Peden expound the Word of God. While thus engaged, the bleating of a sheep was heard. The noise disturbed the little congregation, and the shepherd was obliged to go out and drive the sheep away. While so engaged, he lifted up his eyes and saw, at a distance, horse soldiers coming towards his cottage. He hastened back to give the alarm. All instantly dispersed and hid themselves. Mr. Peden betook himself to the Cleft of the Rock, the Cave of Garrickfells, and soon the clatter of horses' hoofs and the ring of armor told him that his foes were at hand. But safe in the Cleft he sat unmoved, and through an opening saw them gallop past, without any suspicion that he whose life they sought was so near. From "Sunday Readings," by James Large.

LV

Proverbs 15:19—"The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain."

It has been said that the shrewdness of the Scotch nation is owing to the pretty general study of the Book of Proverbs in that country. Of this I am not a judge; but certainly, if carefully followed, the Proverbs of Solomon make men wise for this world with a high order of prudence. God would have his people wise. There is no credit in being a fool, even if you have the grace of God in your heart. To me it seems a duty to make as much of myself as I can, since I am a servant of the Lord: I do not want everybody to think that all my Lord's children are short of wit. In meditating upon this two-leaved proverb, we shall—

I. Take the text in its temporal bearings.

1. It is clear from the apposition that a slothful man is the opposite of righteous. Certainly he is so. His sins of omission abound. He breaks his word, he vexes others, Satan finds him mischief to do; he is, in fact, ready for every bad word and work.

2. It is not enough to be diligent unless we are righteous; for though the curse is to the idle, the blessing is not to the active, but to the righteous. It is diligence in the service of God, under the Holy Spirit, which wins the reward of God.

3. A slothful man's way is net desirable. "A hedge of thorns."

It is difficult in his own apprehension: a rough and thorny road, and he cannot have too little of it. He would sooner look at it a month than run in it an hour.

It becomes really thorny before long. His neglects hedge him up, involve him in difficulties, bring losses, and create hindrances.

It becomes painful: he is poor, mistrusted, harshly dealt with by weary creditors, and at last without a livelihood.

It becomes blocked up: he does not know where to turn; he cannot dig, and he tries begging. Laziness gets little pity, and charity itself repels it.

4. A righteous man's way is under a blessing.

It becomes plain as he proceeds in it diligently.

God makes it so.

He makes it so himself.

Other people become willing to aid him, or, at least, to trust him, employ him, and recommend him.

II. Take the text in its spiritual bearings.

1. The spiritual sluggard.

Takes the way of indifference, carelessness, indecision, and unbelief; and this, though it may seem easy, is as full of sorrow as a thorn-hedge is full of pricking points.

He will have his own way; and self-will and obstinacy are briar hedges indeed: besides, his frowardness provokes others to oppose him, and the thorns thicken.

He chooses the way of sin, and he soon finds it full of sorrows, difficulties, perplexities, entanglements, and snares.

By his evil ways, and the inevitable consequences of his sins, he is shut out from God and Heaven.

2. The righteous man.

His way is that of faith and obedience.

It has its impediments: these are swept away.

It is frequently mysterious; but it is cleared up.

It is sometimes hilly; but it is the King's highway,

Wherein we are right.

Wherein we are protected.

Wherein we are secured of a blessed end.

Are you wonderfully easy in religion, taking things as they come, in a slovenly way? Then your way will soon become a hedge of thorns. Neglect is quite sufficient to produce an immense crop of thorns and briars.

Do you seek to be righteous? Do you love holiness? Do you know Christ as your Way? Then go on without fear; for your way will be made plain, and your end will be peace. Psalm 37:37.

Confirmations

"The way of the slothful man," the course which the sluggard takes in going about his affairs, "is as a hedge of thorns," is slow and hard; for he goes creeping about his business, yes, his fears and griefs prick him and stay him like thorns and briars. "But the path of the righteous is as a paved causeway." The order which the godly man takes is most plain and easy, who so readily and lustily runs on in the works of his calling as if he walked on a paved causeway. P. Muffet.

Who can tell the pains which lazy people take? the muddles into which they bring themselves? They are driven to falsehood to excuse their sloth, and one lie leads on to more. Then they scheme and plot, and become dishonest. I knew one who fell out with hard work, and soon he fell in with drink and lost his position. Since then, to earn a scanty livelihood he has had to work ten times as much as was required of him in his better days, and he has hardly had a shoe to his foot. Meanwhile, a simple, plodding man has gone onward and upward, favored, as he confesses, by Providence; but, best of all, upheld by his integrity and industry; to him there has been success and happiness. He works hard, but his lot is ease itself compared with the portion of the sluggard.

Nobody rides to Heaven on a feather-bed. Grace has made a road to Heaven for sinners, but it does not suit sluggards. Those who reach the Celestial City are pilgrims and not lie-a-beds. Neglect is a sure way to Hell; but we must strive to enter in at the strait gate, and so run that we may obtain. If you let your farm alone it will be overrun with weeds, and if your heart be let alone it will be eaten up with sins. Nothing comes of sloth but rags and poverty here, and damnation hereafter. Let idlers in Zion note this.

It is wonderful how difficulties vanish from the path of the righteous! In traveling up the Rhine you appear to be landlocked, but as the steamer proceeds you perceive a clear passage; a sudden bend enables you to see the opening between the hills. The road of Israel seemed blocked at the Red Sea, and again at the Jordan; but as they were following the Divine Leader, he made a way for them through the waters. Old Roman roads are still visible which were thrown up along the sides of hills and across valleys; these were plain enough to be followed by the least familiar traveler: even so has the Lord cast up the road-way of his people and they shall not miss it. "The way-faring man, though a fool, shall not err therein."

The spiritually negligent involve themselves in much sorrow. Neglecting prayer and other means of grace, they seek spiritual ease; but if they are God's children they do not find it, but sow for themselves abundant thorns of regret and depression. I know of a surety that the diligent Christian is the only happy Christian. True religion is above all other things a business which is not only worth doing but is worth doing well. High farming in the fields of the soul is the only farming which pays.

LVI

Proverbs 16:2—"All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the spirits.

Occasionally in seasons of collapse and disaster great discoveries are made concerning those who appeared to be commercially sound but turn out to be rotten. Then the whole machinery of financing is laid bare, and things which directors and managers have thought to be right have been seen to be utter robbery. All looked solid and substantial until the inevitable crash came, and then no man felt that he could trust his neighbor. No doubt these schemers thought their ways "clean," but the event discovered their dirty hands.

Spiritual failures of like kind occur in the church. Great reputations explode, high professions dissolve. Men readily cajole themselves into the belief that they are right, and are doing right. They misapply Scripture, misinterpret providence, and, in general, turn things upside down; but the inexorable judgment overtakes them: a weighing time comes and their professions are exposed. Niagara is at the end of the fatal rapid of self-deception: the self-satisfied pretender descends with a plunge to sure destruction.

Let us practically consider some of the "ways" which appear to be "clean," but are not so, when the Lord comes to weigh the spirits.

I. The ways of the openly wicked. Many of these are "clean" in their own eyes.

To effect this self-deception—

They give pretty names to sin.

They think ill of others, making them out to be much worse than themselves, and finding in this an excuse for themselves.

They claim to have many admirable qualities, and fine points.

They urge that if imperfect they cannot help it.

They also seriously resolve to amend; but never do so.

Men do with themselves as financiers do with companies—

They put down doubtful assets as certain property.

They reckon expectations as receipts.

They tear out pages from the account-book.

They conceal damaging facts, and ruinous entanglements.

They cook the accounts in all sorts of ways, and make groundless promises.

The Lord's trial will be thorough and decisive. He weighs with accurate balances and weights; and he looks not only to the open way but to the inner spirit

II. The ways of the godless.

These often boast that they are better than the religious.

They pretend that their superior intellects prevent their being believers: they must doubt because they are clever.

They extol regard to the second table of the Law as being far more important than any service rendered to God himself.

They will not be held accountable for their creed, or be judged for rejecting a few crabbed dogmas.

But all these shall be weighed in the balances and found wanting.

III. The ways of the outward religionist. These seem "clean."

His observance of ceremonies.

His regular attendance at worship.

His open profession of religion.

His generosity to the cause, and general interest in good things.

Thus ministers, deacons, members, &c., may boast, and yet when the Lord weighs their spirits they may be castaways.

IV. The ways of the covetous professor. His ways are specially "clean"

His greed keeps him from expensive sins, and therefore he gives himself credit for self-denial.

He stints the cause of God and the poor.

He oppresses his workmen in their wages.

He makes hard bargains, drives debtors to extremes, takes undue advantage, and is a skinflint to all around him.

The Lord says of him, "covetousness which is idolatry."

V. The ways of the worldly professor. He thinks himself "clean."

Let him honestly consider whether he is "clean"—

In his secret life? In his private and hidden indulgences?

In his pleasures and amusements?

In his company and conversation?

In his forsaken closet, forgotten Bible, lukewarm religion, etc.

What a revelation when the weighing of his spirit comes!

VI. The ways of the secure backslider. He dreams that his way is "clean," when a little observation will show him many miry places:

Decline in private prayer. Job 15:4.

Sin gradually getting the upper-hand. Jeremiah 14:10.

Conversation scantily spiritual. Ephesians 5:4.

Scriptures little read. Hosea 8:12.

Heart growing hard. Hebrews 3:13.

Religion almost destitute of life. Rev. 3:1.

Pride cropping up in many directions. Deuteronomy 8:14.

The Lord gives him a weighing in trial and temptation; then there follows an opening-up of deceit and hypocrisy.

VII. The ways of the deceived man. He writes pleasant things for himself, and yet all the while he is a spiritual bankrupt

Failed in true faith in Jesus.

Failed in real regeneration.

Failed in heart-work and soul-service for the Lord.

Failed forever. Will our hearer do this?

Comparisons

How beautiful all things look when winter has bleached them! What a royal bed is to be seen in yonder corner! The coverlet is whiter than any fuller on earth could white it! Here might an angel take his rest, and rise as pure as when he reclined upon it. Pshaw! it is a dunghill, and nothing more.

All the ships that came into the harbor were claimed by one person in the city. He walked the quay with a right royal air, talked largely about owning a navy, and swaggered quite sufficiently had it been so. How came he to be so wealthy? Listen, he is a madman. He has persuaded himself into this folly, but in truth he has not a tub to call his own. What absurdity! Are not many the victims of even worse self-deception? They are rich and increased in goods according to their own notion; yet they are naked, and poor, and miserable.

"This must be the right way, see how smooth it is! How many feet have trodden it!" Alas, that is precisely the mark of the broad road which leads to destruction.

"But see how it winds about, and what a variety of directions it takes! It is no bigot's unbending line." Just so; therein it proves itself to be the wrong road; for truth is one, and unchanging.

"But I like it so much." This also is suspicious; for what an un-renewed man is so fond of is probably an evil thing. Hearts go after that which is like themselves, and graceless men love graceless ways.

"Would you have me go that narrow and rough road?" Yes, we would; for it leads unto life; and though few there be that find it, yet those who do so declare that it is a way of pleasantness. It is better to follow a rough road to Heaven than a smooth road to Hell.

LVII

Proverbs 21:2—"The Lord ponders the hearts."

The heart among the Hebrews is regarded as the source of wit, understanding, courage, grief, pleasure, and love. We generally confine it to the emotions, and especially the affections, and, indeed these are so important and influential that we may well call them the heart of a man's life.

Now we cannot read the heart, much less ponder or weigh it. We can only judge our fellow-men by their actions; but of motive, and actual condition before God, we cannot form a true estimate, nor need we do so. This, however, the Lord can do as easily as a goldsmith judges silver and gold by weight. He knows all things, but he is pleased to show us the strictness of his examination by the use of the metaphor of weighing. He takes nothing for granted, he is not swayed by public opinion, or moved by loud profession, he brings everything to the scale, as men do with precious things, or with articles in which they suspect deception. The Lord's tests are thorough and exact. The shekel of the sanctuary was double that which was used for common weighings, so at least the Rabbis tell us; those who profess to be saints are expected to do more than others. The sanctuary shekel was the standard to which all common weights ought to be conformed. The law of the Lord is the standard of morals. The balances of God are always in order, always true, and exact.

I. The weighing of hearts.

1. God has already performed it. Every man's purpose, thought, word, and action is put upon the scale at the first moment of its existence. God is not at any instant deceived.

2. The law under which we live daily weighs us in public and in private, and by our disobedience discovers the short weight of our nature, the defect of our heart.

3. Trials form an important order of tests. Impatience, rebellion, despair, backsliding, apostasy, have followed upon severe affliction or persecution.

4. Prosperity, honor, ease, success, are scales in which many are found wanting. Praise arouses pride, riches create worldliness, and a man's deficiencies are found out. Proverbs 27:21.

5. Great crises in our own lives, in families, in religious thought, in public affairs, &c., are weights and scales. A man's heart can hardly be guessed at when all goes on steadily.

6. Truth is ever heart-searching. Some left Jesus when he preached a certain doctrine. Hearts are weighed by their treatment of the truth. When they refuse God's word that word condemns them.

7. The moment after death, and specially the general judgment, will be heart-weighing times.

II. The hearts which are weighed.

They greatly vary, but they may be divided roughly into three classes, upon which we will dwell, hoping that our hearers will judge themselves.

1. Hearts which are found wanting at once.

The natural heart. All who have been unchanged come under this; even "the good-hearted man at bottom."

The double heart. Undecided, double-minded, false. "Their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty": Hosea 10:2.

The heart-less heart. No decision, energy, or seriousness. He is "a silly dove without heart": Hosea 7:7.

The perverse heart. Rebellious, willful, sinful.

The unstable heart. Impressions forgotten, promises broken, etc.

The proud heart. Self-righteous, confident, arrogant, defiant.

The hard heart. Unaffected by love or terror. Obstinate Resisting the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. Hearts which turn out to be wanting on further weighing.

"Another heart," such as Saul had. A new phase of feeling, but not a new nature.

A humbled heart, like that of Ahab when Elijah had prophesied his ruin. Humbled, but not humble; turned, but not turned from iniquity.

A deceived heart. Thinks itself good, but is not.

3. Hearts which are of good weight.

The trembling heart: penitent, afraid of sin, etc.

The tender heart: sensitive, affectionate, longing.

The broken heart: mourning, pining, humble, lowly.

The pure heart: loving only that which is good and clean, mourning sin in itself and others, sighing for holiness.

The upright heart: true, just, sincere, etc.

The perfect heart: earnest, honest, resolute, consecrated, intent, united, etc.

The fixed heart: resting firmly, abiding steadfastly, etc.

Is your heart ready for the weighing? Have you no fear of the final trial? Is this confidence well founded?

Is Jesus enthroned therein by faith?

If so, you need not fear any weighing.

If not, what will you do when the King sets up the final scales?

Sundry helps

Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings, but himself,

That hideous sight, a naked human heart.

—Young.

In the reign of King Charles I. the goldsmiths of London had a custom of weighing several sorts of their precious metals before the Privy Council. On this occasion, they made use of scales, poised with such exquisite nicety, that the beam would turn, the master of the Company affirmed, at the two-hundredth part of a grain. Noy, the famous Attorney-General, replied, "I shall be reluctant, then, to have all my actions weighed in these scales." "With whom I heartily concur," says the pious Hervey, "in relation to myself; and since the balances of the sanctuary, the balances in God's hand, are infinitely exact, O! what need have we of the merit and righteousness of Christ, to make us acceptable in his sight, and passable in his esteem."

My balances are just,

My laws are equal weight;

The beam is strong, and you may trust

My steady hand to hold it straight.

Were your heart equal to the world in sight,

Yet it were nothing worth, if it should prove too light.

But if you are ashamed

To find your heart so light,

And are afraid you shall be blamed,

I'll teach you how to set it right.

Add to my law my gospel, and there see

My merits your, and then the scales will equal be.

—Christopher Harvey, "Schola Cordis."

In the mythology of the heathen, Momus, the God of fault-finding, is represented as blaming Vulcan, because in the human form, which he had made of clay, he had not placed a window in the breast, by which whatever was done or thought there might easily be brought to light. We do not agree with Momus, neither are we of his mind who desired to have a window in his breast that all men might see his heart. If we had such a window we should pray for shutters, and should keep them closed.

LVIII

Proverbs 23:23. "Buy the truth, and sell it not."

When describing the pilgrims passing through Vanity Fair, Mr. Bunyan says:—

"That which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was, that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares; they cared not so much as to look upon them; and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears and cry, 'Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity;' and look upwards, signifying that their traffic was in Heaven.

"One chanced, mockingly, beholding the carriage of the men, to say unto them, 'What will you buy?' But they, looking gravely upon him, said, 'We buy the truth.' "

The true Christian is like the merchantman who sought goodly pearls: he sought them to buy them; he bought them with all that he had.

Let us carefully consider

I. The Commodity: "the truth."

1. Doctrinal Truth. The Gospel. The three R's—Ruin, Redemption, and Regeneration. The doctrines of grace.

These are the genuine articles; but counterfeits are in the market.

A gospel buyer must learn to discriminate, so as to reject

Salvation without Christ as God.

Pardon without an atoning sacrifice.

Life without the new birth.

Regeneration without faith.

Faith without works.

Safety without perseverance in holiness.

2. Experimental Truth. The new birth and the heavenly life are real gems. But of these there are base imitations.

Discriminate between true religion and

Faith without repentance.

Talk without feeling.

Life without struggles.

Confidence without examination.

Perfection without humility.

3. Practical Truth. Truth as a matter of act and deed.

Take care not to seem what you are not.

Never do what you are ashamed of.

Never be willfully ignorant of what you should know.

II. The Purchase: "buy the truth." Here let us at once

1. Correct an Error. Strictly speaking, truth and grace cannot be either bought or sold. Yet Scripture says: "buy wine and milk without money and without price."

2. Expound the word. It is fitly chosen; for in order to be saved we should be ready to buy truth if it were to be bought:

To give up every sin, fulfill all righteousness, and give that we have, if such were the price.

To be right with God by earnest watchfulness as much as if everything depended upon ourselves.

To be ready to endure every test, make every search, etc.

To run every risk, bear every cross, give up every worldly pleasure in order to be true to Jesus.

3 Paraphrase the Sentence.

Buy what is truly the Truth.

Buy all the Truth.

Buy only the Truth.

Buy the Truth at any price.

Buy now the Truth.

4. Give reasons for the Purchase.

It is in itself most precious.

You need it at this moment for a thousand useful purposes.

You will need it in time and in eternity.

5. Direct you to the Market.

"Buy of Me," says Christ.

The Market-day is now on, "Come, buy."

6. Repeat the Text: "Buy the Truth."

Not merely hear about it.

Nor rest content with commending it to others.

Nor satisfied just to know about it.

Nor content with heartily wishing for it.

Nor be content with intending to buy it.

But, "Buy the Truth": down with the cash, conclude the bargain, secure the estate.

III. The Prohibition: "Sell it not" Purchase it as a permanent investment, not to be parted with

Some sell it for a livelihood; for respectability; for repute of being scientific and thoughtful; to gratify a friend; for the pleasure of sin; for nothing at all but mere wantonness; but you must hold to it as for life itself.

Buy it at any price and sell it at no price.

You still need it.

It has well repaid you hitherto.

You cannot better yourself by bartering it for the whole world.

You are lost without it. Sell it not!

Hints to Buyers

Solomon bids us "buy the truth," but does not tell, us what it must cost, because we must get it though it be never so dear. We must love it both shining and scorching. Every parcel of truth is precious as the filings of gold; we must either live with it, or die for it. As Ruth said to Naomi, "Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part you and me" (Ruth 1:16, 17); so must gracious spirits say, Where truth goes I will go, and where truth lodges I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part me and truth. A man may lawfully sell his house, land, and jewels, but truth is a jewel that exceeds all price, and must not be sold; it is our heritage: "Your testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever": Psalm 119:111. It is a legacy which our forefathers have bought with their blood, which should make us willing to lay down anything, and to lay out anything, that we may, with the wise merchant in the gospel (Matthew 13:45) purchase the precious pearl, which is more worth than Heaven and earth, and which will make a man live happy, die comfortably, and reign eternally. Thomas Brooks.

"Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town where this lusty fair is kept; and he who would go to the City, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the world. The Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this town to His own country, and that upon a Fair-day too. Yes, and as I think, it was Beelzebub, the chief Lord of this Fair, that invited Him to buy of its vanities: yes, would have made Him Lord of the Fair, would he but have done him reverence as He went through the town; yes, because He was such a person of honor, Beelzebub had Him from street to street, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure that blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities; but he had no mind to the merchandise, and therefore left the town, without laying out so much as one farthing upon these vanities. This Fair, therefore, is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great Fair."—Bunyan.

LIX

Proverbs 23:26—"My son, give me your heart."

It is wisdom that here speaks. Wisdom is but another name for God, or, better still, for the Lord Jesus, who is incarnate wisdom. The request is for the heart, the affections, the center of our being. "Give me your heart" is the first, the daily, the chief, the ultimate demand of the good Spirit.

I. Love prompts this request of wisdom.

1. Only love will thus seek love. What cares indifference for the love of others? If it can serve its turn by their hands, their hearts may go where they choose.

2. Only for love would wisdom seek the hearts of such poor things as we are. What service can we render to him whom angels adore? What matters our love or hate to him?

3. Yet wisdom gains a son when the heart is given to it; for no one is a true son who does not love. "He who loves is born of God."

4. If a son already, God's love bids us become yet more wise by a more complete yielding of the heart to God, to Christ, to wisdom. We cannot push this precept too far.

II. Wisdom persuades us to obey this loving request.

It is for our lasting good to love the Lord and his wisdom.

1. Evil lovers will seek us, and our hearts will be given to one or other. To our ruin or our ennobling the choice will be. He who has the heart has the man.

2. It is well to be engaged with the highest love that we may overcome the lower. God's servant cannot be Satan's slave.

3. It will please God for us to love him; a father is charmed with the love of his little child. What an honor, a heritage, a Heaven, to be allowed to love the Lord!

4. Nothing else can please him. Whatever we do without our hearts will grieve him; it will be an empty formality. Fish were never offered to God, for they could not come to the altar alive. The heathen reckoned it to be a fatal omen when the heart of the victim was not sound.

5. He deserves our heart, for he made it, he keeps it beating, he cheers it, he bought it, he prepares it for Heaven; he gives heart for heart—his own love for ours.

6. There is no getting wisdom without giving the heart to it. God will not give himself to the heartless. Nothing can be done: well unless the heart is thrown into it.

III. Love would have us obey the request wisely.

At once—give God your heart. Delay is wicked and injurious.

Freely—give God your heart; it cannot be done else. Force cannot compel love; the gift must be spontaneous.

Altogether give God your heart. Half a heart is no heart. A divided heart is dead. "God is not the God of the dead."

Once for all give him your heart, and let it remain in his keeping forever.

Where is your heart now?

What state is it in? Is it not cold, worldly, restless?

Come and believe in Jesus, that you may receive power to become a son of God, and serve him with loving heart.

Choice Quotations

Of all the suitors which come unto you, it seems there is none which has any title to claim the heart but God, who challenges it of you, calling you by the name of a son, Malachi 1:6, as if he should say, You shall give it to your Father, which gave it to you. Are you my son? My sons give me their hearts, and by this they know that I am their Father, if I dwell in their hearts, for the heart is the temple of God, 1 Corinthians 6:16: therefore, if you be his son, you will give me your heart.

Can you deny him anything, whose goodness created us, whose favor elected us, whose mercy redeemed us, whose wisdom converted us, whose grace preserved us, whose glory shall glorify us? Oh, "if you knew," as Christ said to the woman of Samaria, "If you knew who it is that says unto you" give me your heart, you would say unto him, as Peter did when Christ would wash his feet (John 13:9), "Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head;" not my heart only, but all my body, and my thoughts, and my words, and my works, and my goods, and my life: take all that you have given.

If you ask me, why you should give your hearts to God? I do not answer like the disciples which went for the donkey and colt, "The Lord has need" (Matthew 21:3), but you have need. If ever the saying were true (Acts 20:35), "It is more blessed to give than to take," more blessed are they which do give their hearts to God than they which take possession of the world. Henry Smith.

"My son, give me your heart." For two reasons:—Because, 1. Unless the heart be given, nothing is given; Hosea 7:14; Matthew 15:8, 9. 2. If the heart be given, all is given; 2 Chronicles 30:13–20. Hugh Stowell.

No possible compromise. Now, most people think, if they keep all the best rooms in their hearts swept and garnished for Christ, that they may keep a little chamber in their heart's wall for Belial on his occasional visits; or a three-legged stool for him in the heart's counting-house; or a corner for him in the heart's scullery, where he may lick the dishes. It won't do! You must cleanse the house of him, as you would of the plague, to the last spot. You must be resolved that as all you have shall be God's, so all you are shall be God's. John Ruskin.

"My guilt is damnable," exclaimed an humble saint, "in withholding my heart; because I know and believe his love, and what Christ has done to gain my consent—to what?—my own happiness."—C. Bridges.

Give you mine heart? Lord, so I would,

And there's great reason that I should,

If it were worth the having:

Yet sure you will esteem that good

Which you have purchased with your blood,

And thought it worth your craving.

Lord, had I hearts a million,

And myriads in every one

Of choicest loves and fears;

They were too little to bestow

On you, to whom I all things owe,

I should be in arrears.

Yet, since my heart's the most I have,

And that which you do chiefly crave,

You shall not of it miss.

Although I cannot give it so

As I should do, I'll offer it though:

Lord, take it; here it is.

—Christopher Harvey, "Schola Cordis."

It is said that during the persecution of the Papists by Queen Elizabeth, certain of the wealthy Catholics desired to save their lives by an open compliance with her intolerant laws though they remained Romanists at heart. To their inquiry for direction it is reported that the Pope of that day replied, "Only let them give me their hearts, and they may for this time do as they are compelled to do." Whether the story is true or not, we may be sure that if the evil one can but keep the heart, he cares little what outward religion is practiced.

LX

Proverbs 25:2. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."

We will first give the usual interpretation. It is God's glory to conceal many things, and the honor of kings to search them out.

But this must be taken in a limited sense. It is not absolutely for God's glory to conceal, or why a revelation at all? Many things it would not be to his glory to conceal. Most mysteries are not so much concealed by any act of God, as hidden from their very nature and from our want of capacity to understand them. The Divine nature, the filiation of the Son of God, the complex person of Jesus, the procession of the Holy Spirit, the eternal decrees, and so forth, are not so much to be understood as believed.

But it is true that what is concealed it is for God's glory to conceal.

His eternal purpose as to individuals, who as yet abide in sin.

The future, and especially the day of the second coming.

The connecting link in doctrine, between predestination and free agency, and a thousand other matters. These are concealed, and there is wisdom in the concealment, therefore we need not wish to know.

But to me this seems not to be the meaning.

The antithesis is not complete. It is rather for wise men than kings to search out the secrets of nature and grace. Moreover, the following verse would not allow the antithetical sense.

We will therefore go upon another tack, and first ask,—What things ought kings to search out? Here is the pith of the matter.

When justice is baffled, hoodwinked by bribes, or misled by prejudice, or puzzled by falsehood, it is to a king's damage, and dishonor, and he is bound to search the matter to the bottom. A magistrate's honor lies in the discovery of crime, but the glory of God lies in his graciously and justly hiding guilt from view.

With God no search is needful, for he sees all; his glory is to cover that which is plain enough to his eye, to cover it justly and effectually.

I. That it is God's glory to cover sin.

1. The guilt, aggravations, motives, and deceits of a life, the Lord is able to remove forever by the atoning blood.

2. Sin which is known and confessed, he yet can cover so that it shall not be mentioned against us any more forever.

3. He can do this justly through the work of Jesus.

4. He can do this without compensation from the offender himself, because of what the Substitute has done.

5. He can do this without any ill effect on others: no man will think that God connives at sin, seeing he has laid its punishment on Jesus.

6. He can do this without injury to the man himself. He will hate sin none the less because he escapes punishment; but all the more because of the love of the atoning Lamb.

7. He can do this effectually and forever. Sin once put out of sight by the Lord shall never be seen again. Glorious Gospel this for guilty ones.

II. This should be a great encouragement to seeking souls.

1. Not to attempt to cover their own sin, since it is God's work to hide their iniquities, and they may leave it with him.

2. To give God glory by believing in his power to conceal sin, even their own crimson sin.

3. To believe that he is willing to do it at this moment for them.

4. To believe at once, so as to have sin covered once for all.

III. This should be a mighty stimulus to saints.

1. To glorify God in covering their sin. Let them talk of pardon with exultation, and tell how the Lord casts sin behind his back, casts it into the depths of the sea, blots it out, and puts it where if it be sought for it cannot be found. Jesus "made an end of sin."

2. To aim at the covering of the sins of others by leading them to Jesus that their souls may be saved from death.

3. To imitate the Lord in forgetting the sins of those who repent. We are to put away forever of any wrong done to ourselves, and to treat converts as if they had not disgraced themselves aforetime. When we see a prodigal let us "bring forth the best robe and put it on him," that all his nakedness may be concealed and his rags forgotten

Come and lay bare your sin that the Lord may conceal it at once.

Studs of Silver

Thomas Brooks discussing the question, Whether the sins of the saints shall be publicly declared at the judgment-day, argues that they will not. His fifth argument is this:—It is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression: "The discretion of a man defers his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression" (Proverbs 19:11) or to pass by it, as we do by persons or things we know not, or would take no notice of. Now is it the glory of a man to pass over a transgression, and will it not much more be to the glory of Christ, silently to pass over the transgressions of his people in that great day? The greater the treasons and rebellions are that a prince passes over and takes no notice of, the more is it his honor and glory; and so doubtless, it will be Christ's in that great day, to pass over all the treasons and rebellions of his people, to take no notice of them, to forget them, as well as to forgive them.

The heathens have long since observed, that in nothing man came nearer to the glory and perfection of God himself, than in goodness and clemency. Surely if it be such an honor to man, "to pass over a transgression," it cannot be a dishonor to Christ to pass over the transgressions of his people, he having already buried them in the sea of his blood. Again, said Solomon, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing," Proverbs 25:2. And why it should not make for the glory of divine love to conceal the sins of the saints in that great day I know not.

Of this truth we may say, what Young says of redemption—

"A truth so strange! 'twere bold to think it true;

If not far bolder still to disbelieve."

Mrs. Elizabeth Fry's labors among the female prisoners at Newgate owed much of their success to her tenderness in dealing with them. "I never ask their crimes, for we have all come short," was her quiet reproof to someone curious about a prisoner's offence.

German rationalists, discussing the sins of the patriarchs, were designated by Dr. Duncan: "Those Ham-like writers"! He often said, "Let us speak tenderly of the faults of the Old Testament saints."

There is no pardon so complete as that of God. He forgets as well as forgives. He restores to favor, and he does not think he has done enough when he withdraws his anger, for he manifests his love. An act of amnesty and oblivion has been passed concerning the believer's transgressions, neither can any of them be justly charged against him any more. The atonement makes it as just for God to pass by iniquity as it would have been to punish it. The wound is so healed that no scar remains. O Jehovah, who is a God like unto you? In this glorious forgiveness none can compare with you.

LXI

Proverbs 25:25—"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."

It is only on hot summer days that we can appreciate the illustration, here employed; for we dwell in a well-watered country where thirst is readily assuaged. Yet we can imagine ourselves in the condition of Hagar, Ishmael, and Samson; or of a caravan in the desert; or of poor sailors in a boat upon the salt sea dying for a draught of water.

When separated from friends by their journeying, or by our own, or when we have a trading interest in foreign ports, or a holy concern in missions, good news from a far country is eminently refreshing.

We shall use the text in three ways.

I. Good news for sinners from God.

Sin put men into a far country, but here is the good news,—

1. God remembers you with pity

2. He has made a way for your return.

3. He has sent a messenger to invite you home.

4. Many have already returned, and are now rejoicing.

5. He has provided all means for bringing you home.

6. You may return at once. "All things are ready."

If this good news be received it will be exceedingly refreshing to thirsty souls. To others it will be commonplace.

II. Good news for saints from Heaven.

1. News does come from Heaven. By the Spirit's application of the Word, and by the sweet whispers of Jesus' love.

2. To keep up this fellowship is most refreshing, and it is very possible; for Jesus delights to commune with us, the Father himself loves us, and the Holy Spirit abides with us forever.

3. If for a while suspended, the renewal is sweeter than ever, even as cold water is doubly refreshing to a specially thirsty soul.

4. The news itself may thus be summarized:—

The Father on the throne of Providence works all things for your good.

The Lord Jesus is interceding, preparing a place for you, and representing you before God.

He will shortly come in his glory.

Many like yourself are with him in the Father's house above.

You are wanted there: they cannot be a perfect family until you are brought home.

Receive this, and feel the attractions of Heaven drawing you above the distractions of earth.

III. Good news for Heaven from earth.

It gives joy to the home circle to hear that—

1. Sinners are repenting.

2. Saints are running their race with holy diligence.

3. Churches are being built up and the Gospel is spreading.

4. More saints are ripening and going home.

Let us accept the message of love and be happy in the Lord.

Let us tell the glad tidings to all around.

Scraps of News

The Hawaiian notions of a future state, where any existed, were peculiarly vague and dismal, and Mr. Ellis says that the greater part of the people seemed to regard the tidings of endless life by Jesus as the most joyful news they had ever heard, "breaking upon them," to use their own phrase, "like light in the morning." "Will my spirit never die? and can this poor weak body live again?" an old chieftain exclaimed, and this delighted surprise seemed the general feeling of the natives. From "Six Months in the Sandwich Islands," by Miss Bird.

Thirst is a blessed thing, if cold water be at hand; cold water is a blessed thing to those who thirst Needy sinners get, a gracious Saviour gives. When thirst drinks in cold water, when cold water quenches thirst, the giver and the receiver rejoice together. While the redeemed obtain a great refreshment in the act, the Redeemer obtains a greater; for himself was wont to say, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."—W. Arnot.

The words remind us of the scanty fellowship in the old world between wanderers and the home they had left. The craving for tidings in such a case must be as a consuming thirst, the news that quenched it as a refreshing fountain. Speaker's Commentary.

Dr. Field, in his "Journey through the Desert," speaks of being upon Mount Sinai, and writes, "Here in a pass between rocks under a huge granite boulder is a spring of water, which the Arabs say never fails It was very grateful in the heat of the day, especially as we found snow in a cleft of the rocks, which, added to the natural coldness of the spring, gave us ice-water on Mount Sinai."

LXII

Proverbs 27:10—"Your own friend, and your father's friend, forsake not."

A man may have many acquaintances, but he will have few friends; tie may count himself happy if he has one who will be faithful to him in time of trouble. If that person has also been kind to his father before him, he should never be slighted, much less alienated. Real friends Are to be retained with great care, and, if need be, with great sacrifice. The wisdom of the world teaches this, and inspiration confirms it.

If we rise into a higher sphere, it is much more so. There we have one Friend—the Friend of sinners, who in infinite condescension has called us friends, and has shown that greatest of all love—laying down his life for his friends. To him we must cleave in life and death. To forsake him would be horrible ingratitude.

I. Descriptive Title. "Your own friend and your father's friend."

1. "Friend:" this implies kindness, attachment, help.

2. "Father's friend:" one who has been faithful, unchanging, patient, wise, and tried, and this in the experience of our own father, on whose judgment we can depend. In many cases the best medical man you can have is the family physician, who knows your parents' constitutions as well as your own. The friend of the family should ever be a welcome guest.

3. "Your own friend," with whom you have enjoyed converse, in whom you can safely place confidence, with whom you have common objects, to whom you have made private revelations.

4. Do not forget the other side of friendship: you must be a friend to him whom you call your friend. "He who has friends must show himself friendly."

In all these points our Lord Jesus is the best example of a friend, and it is well for us to set him in the forefront, as a "Friend that sticks closer than a brother." "This is my beloved, and this is my friend."

II. Suggestive Advice. "Forsake not."

1. What it does not suggest. It gives no kind of hint that he will ever forsake us. Has he not said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you"?

2. In what sense can we forsake him? Alas, some professed friends of Jesus become traitors, others follow afar off, grow cold, turn to the world, lose fellowship, do not defend his cause, etc.

3. What seasons tempt us to it? Both prosperity and adversity. Times of spreading heresy, worldliness, infidelity, etc.

4. What is the process of forsaking? Gradual cooling down leads on to utter turning away. By degrees we see his poor people despised, his doctrine doubted, his ways forgotten, his cause no longer aided, and, at last, profession given up.

5. What are the signs of this forsaking? They can be seen in the heart, heard in the conversation, marked in the absence of zeal and liberality, and at length detected in actual sins.

6. What reasons cause forsaking? Pride, deadness of heart, neglect of prayer, love of the world, fear of man, etc.

7. What arguments should prevent it? Our obligations, his faithfulness, our vows, our danger apart from him, etc.

8. What in the end comes of such forsaking?

All manner of evils follow, to ourselves, to his cause, to other friends, to the worldlings around us.

III. Consequent Resolve. I will cleave to him.

Let us cling to Jesus.

In faith, resting alone in him.

In creed, accepting his every teaching.

In confession, declaring our loyalty to him.

In practice, following his footsteps.

In love, abiding in fellowship with him.

Forsake not Christ when he is persecuted and blasphemed.

Forsake him not when the world offers gain, honor, ease, as the price of your defection.

Forsake him not when all men seem to desert him, and the church is decaying and ready to die.

Good Words

He has the substance of all bliss,

To whom a virtuous friend is given;

So sweet harmonious friendship is,

Add but eternity, you'll make it Heaven.

John Norris.

Hewitson writes:—"I think I know more of Jesus Christ than of any earthly friend." Hence one who knew him well remarked, "One thing struck me in Mr. Hewitson:—He seemed to have no gaps—no intervals in his communion with God."—G. S. Bowes.

The Prime Minister of Madagascar presiding at a missionary meeting, July nth, 1878, said, "I don't like to speak about my own father here before you all, but I remember one young woman whom my father taught to read the Bible, and trained to be a Christian. When the persecution came again she was accused, convicted, and sentenced to death for being a Christian. She was brought here to be thrown over this rock, and at the last moment was offered her life if she would recant. But she refused, crying out, 'No, throw me over, for I am Christ's.' " Chronicle of the London Missionary Society.

We must not forsake our own friend, for that would be to forsake our second self; and we must not forsake our father's friend, for that would make us guilty of a double ingratitude of the basest sort that we can practice towards men. Our fathers' friends, if they are honest, are the best possessions that they can leave us; and if Naboth would not sell, for any price, the inheritance left him by his father, but kept it in spite of an Ahab and a Jezebel, until he was stoned, shall we show such irreverence to the memory of our fathers, as to give up, without any price, the most precious possessions which they have bequeathed us? Solomon carried on his father's friendly fellowship with Hiram, and spared a traitor to his crown and dignity, because he had shared with his father in all his afflictions. Rehoboam would have been a wiser and happier man if he had followed the example and precept of his father. Dr. G. Lawson.

Old family friends. I. Consider some of our father's old friends. 1. The Sabbath. 2. The Sanctuary. 3. The Savior. 4. The Scriptures. II. Consider some reasons for being true to them. 1. Because of what they have done for those who are dear to us. 2. Because of what they promise to do for us. 3. Because of what they have already done for some of us. Biblical Museum.

LXIII

Proverbs 27:18—"Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured."

The general rule is that service brings reward. The man tended the fig tree, and it bore him fruit: faithful service usually brings its recompense. Masters, if at all worthy of their position, will honour those servants who do their duty to them.

I. Christ is our Master.

1. Our sole master. We serve others, that we may serve him: we de not divide our service. "One is your master, even Christ."

2. Our choice Master. There is not such another in the universe.

3. Our chosen Master. We cheerfully take his yoke: to serve him is to us a kingdom. "I love my master:" Ex. 21:5.

4. Our gracious Master: bearing with our faults, cheering us when faint, aiding us when weary, tending us in sickness, instructing us with patience, promising a great reward, &c.

5. Our life Master. Our ear is bored to his door-post: we are his to all eternity.

II. Our business is to serve Him.

1. Expressed by the sense of "keeping the fig tree." We are to see to our Lord as a good body-servant watches over his master.

Remaining with him. Never quitting his side, or getting out of communion with him.

Defending him. Allowing none to speak against him, or to injure his honour while we have a tongue in our heads.

Guarding his interests. Making his cause our own, his business our business.

Cherishing his family. Loving the least of them, and labouring for the good of all.

Striving for his objects. Consecrating ourselves to carry out the grand purposes of our Lord, and laying aside everything which would hinder us in this one pursuit.

2. Expressed by the words "waits on his master."

Waiting his word. "Speak, Lord; for your servant hears:" 1 Samuel 3:9. Psalm 85:8.

Seeking his smile. "Make your face to shine upon your servant:" Psalm 31:16.

Depending upon him for strength. "Give your strength unto your servant:" Psalm 86:16.

Expecting the fulfillment of his promises. "Remember the word unto your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope:" Psalm 119:49.

Consecrated to his service, "body, soul, and spirit." Having no private ends. 1 Chronicles 12:18.

Acquiescent in his will. Ready either to suffer or to labor as he may appoint. Luke 17:7–10.

The contrary of this is

Self-seeking. Lusting after honor, wealth, ease, pleasure.

Self-guiding: doing your own will, and yet pretending to serve the Lord.

Self-applauding: robbing our Lord of the glory which belongs to him alone.

III. Our service will bring honor.

1. Among your fellow-servants here below.

2. Even among enemies, who will be forced to admire sincerity and fidelity.

3. From our Lord, who will give us a sweet sense of acceptance even here below.

4. At the judgment-day, before the assembled universe.

5. Throughout eternity, among angels and glorified spirits.

Let us grieve that we have not served him better.

Let us repent if we have not served him at all.

Let us pray him to receive us into his service this day.

Concerning the Master

How sweetly does My Master sound! My Master!

As ambergris leaves a rich scent

Unto the taster:

So do these words a sweet content,

An oriental fragrancy, My Master.

George Herbert.

"Two aged ministers met one Saturday at a station in Wales as they were going to preach in their respective places on Sunday. 'I hope,' said Mr. Harris, of Merthyr, to Mr. Powell, of Cardiff, 'I hope the Great Master will give you his face tomorrow.' 'Well, if he does not,' replied Mr. Powell, 'I will speak well of him behind his back.' "

Rutherford, speaking of how his Lord encouraged him with sweet fellowship while he was serving him, says in his quaint way, "When my Master sends me on his errands, he often gives me a bawbee for myself"; by which he meant that as sure as ever God employed him he gave him a penny for reward, as we do to boys who go upon our errands.

An old highlander, Hugh Chisholm, was one of the personal attendants of Prince Charles in his wanderings. Lord Monboddo was much attached to this interesting old man, and once proposed to introduce him to his table at dinner, along with some friends of more exalted rank. On mentioning the scheme to Mr. Colquhoun Grant, one of the proposed party, that gentleman started a number of objections, on the score that poor Chisholm would be embarrassed and uncomfortable in a scene so unusual to him, while some others would feel offended at having the company of a man of mean rank forced upon them. Monboddo heard all Mr. Grant's objections, and then assuming a lofty tone, exclaimed: "Let me relieve you, Mr. Grant: Hugh Chisholm has been in better company than either yours or mine!" The conscience-stricken Jacobin had not another word to say. Memoir of Robert Chambers.

There will be a resurrection of credits, as well as of bodies. We'll have glory enough by-and-bye. Richard Sibbes.

A dog which follows anybody and everybody belongs to no one, and no one cares for it. The more it shows its devotion to its master the greater is the man's attachment to it. In domestic service we should not care to keep a body-servant who spent half his time in waiting upon another employer.

Old and faithful servants grow to look upon all their master's property as their own. One such said, "Here comes our carriage, and there are our dear children coming home from school!" Our Lord Jesus loves to see us feel a fellowship—a community of interests with himself. He makes such service to be its own reward, and adds Heaven besides. He will not cast off his old servants, but he will grant them to be with him in his glory, as they have been with him in his humiliation.

LXIV

Proverbs 29:25—"The fear of man brings a snare: but whoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe."

We have here a double proverb: each half is true by itself; and, put together, the whole is forcible and full of teaching. He who fears man is in great danger from that very fact; he who trusts in the Lord is in no danger of any sort; trusting in the Lord is the great antidote against the fear of man.

I. Here is a very Common Evil. "The fear of man brings a snare."

1. It is thought by some to be a good; but it is in the best instance doubtful. Even virtue followed through dread of a fellow-creature loses half its beauty, if not more.

2. It leads men into great sins at times, snaring them, and holding them like birds taken by a fowler. Aaron yielded to popular clamor and made the calf. Saul cared more to be honored among the people than to please the Lord. Pilate feared that a charge would reach Caesar, and so he violated his conscience. Peter denied his Master for fear of a silly maid.

3. It keeps many from conversion: their companions would ridicule, their friends would be annoyed, they might be persecuted, and so they are numbered with the "fearful, and unbelieving."

4. It prevents others avowing their faith. They try to go to Heaven through a back door. Remember, "With the mouth confession is made, unto salvation": Romans 10:10.

5. It lowers the dignity of good men. David was a poor creature before Achish, and even Father Abraham made but a poor figure when he denied his wife.

6. It holds some believers in equivocal positions. Illustrations are far too abundant. Men fail to carry out their principles for fear of men.

7. It hampers the usefulness of very many: they dare not speak, or lead the way, though their efforts are greatly needed.

8. It hinders many in duties which require courage. Jonah will not go to Nineveh because he may be thought a false prophet if God forgives that city. Galatian preachers went aside to false doctrine to be considered wise, etc.

9. It is the cause of weakness in the Church. It is cowardly, shameful, dishonorable to Jesus, idolatrous, selfish, foolish. It should not be allowed by any man in his own case.

II. Here is a very Precious Safeguard. "Whoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe."

Not slavish fear of man, but childlike trust in the Lord will be the protection of the believer.

1. The truster is safe from fear of man.

God is with us, therefore we are strong, and need not fear.

We are determined, and will not fear.

We pray, and lose our fear.

We prepare for the worst, and fear vanishes.

2. The truster is safe from the result of man's anger.

It often never comes. God restrains the persecutor.

The loss which it inflicts if it does come is less than that which would be caused by cowardice.

When we trust in God any such loss is joyfully borne.

After all, what is there to fear? What can man do unto us?

God being with us, our safety is perfect, continuous, eternal, even though the whole human race should besiege us.

III. Here is a very Glorious Doctrine. We may take in the widest sense the doctrine of the second sentence, "Whoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe"—

From the damning and conquering power of sin.

From the overcoming force of temptation.

From the deadening effect of sorrow.

From the destroying force of Satan.

From death, and Hell, and every evil.

From all injury which men can inflict.

Will you fear a worm, or trust your God?

Break the snare in which fear has entangled you.

Enter the palace of safety by the door of trust.

Warnings

The soul that cannot entirely trust God, whether man be pleased or displeased, can never long be true to him; for while you are eyeing man you are losing God, and stabbing religion at the very heart. Manton.

"Fear of man." Grim idol—bloody-mouthed—many souls he has devoured and trampled down into Hell! His eyes are full of hatred to Christ's disciples. Scoffs and jeers lurk in his face. The laugh of the scorner growls in his throat. Cast down this idol. This keeps some of you from secret prayer, from worshiping God in your family, from going to lay your case before ministers, from openly confessing Christ. You that have felt God's love and Spirit, dash this idol to pieces. Who are you, that you Should be afraid of a man that shall die? "Fear not, you worm, Jacob." "What have I to do any more with idols?"—M'Cheyne.

The difficulties attending an open confession of Christ are the occasion of multitudes making shipwreck of their souls. In many hopeful characters, that Scripture, "the fear of man brings a snare," is verified. Cato and the philosophers of Rome honored the gods of their country though unbelievers in the superstitions of their country. Plato was convinced of the unity of God, but dared not own his convictions, but said, "It was a truth, neither easy to find, nor safe to own." Even Seneca, the renowned moralist, was forced by temptation to dissemble his convictions, of whom Augustus said, "He worshiped what himself reprehended, and did what himself reproved." At the interruption which was given to the progress of the Reformation by the return of the Papists to power, some, as they went to mass, would exclaim, "Let us go to the common error." Thus, conviction is not conversion where there is no confession of Christ. Salter.

One fire puts out another. Nothing so effectually kills the fear of man as abundance of the fear of God. Faith is an armor to the soul, and, clothed with it, men enter the thick of the battle without fear of wounds. Fear of man deadens conscience, distracts meditation, hinders holy activity, stops the mouth of testimony, and paralyzes the Christian's power. It is a cunning snare which some do not perceive though they are already taken in it.

VOLUME 2

Ecclesiastes To Malachi

LXV

Ecclesiastes 8:4—"Where the word of a king is, there is power."

Kings were autocratic in Solomon's day. We may be glad that we are not under bondage to any absolute monarch, but enjoy the blessings of constitutional government. We are by no means slow to say to any one of our governors, "What do you?" And such a question, wisely put, is good both for him and for us.

God alone is rightfully sovereign without limit. He is King in the most absolute sense; and so it should be; for he is supremely good, wise, just, holy, etc.

As he is Maker of all, dominion over his creatures is a matter of natural right.

He has infinite power with which to carry out his royal will.

Even in his least word there is omnipotence.

Let us consider this,—

I. To excite our awe.

Let us carefully think of—

1. His creating word, by which all things arose out of nothing.

2. His preserving word, by which all things abide.

3. His destroying word, by which he will shake earth and Heaven.

4. His word of prerogative by which he kills and makes alive.

5. His word of everlasting promise, which is our comfort.

6. His word of terrible threatening, which is our warning.

7. His word of prophecy and fore-ordination, which is a great deep, full of solemn teaching to the lowly in heart.

Who can stand before any of these without trembling adoration? Power attends them to the fullest degree, for each one is the word of a King.

II. To ensure our obedience.

1. No divine command is to be treated as non-essential, for it is the word of Jehovah, the King. See verses 2 and 3.

2. Each precept is to be obeyed at once, heartily, to the full, by every one, since the King commands.

3. His service must not be shunned, for that were to rebel against our Sovereign. Jonah did not find this succeed: for the Lord will not be trifled with, and will make runaways know that his arm is long.

4. Disobedience is to be repented of. If we have fallen into sin, let the King's word have a gracious power to subdue us to hearty grief.

III. To inspire our confidence.

1. That he is able to give to the penitent, pardon; for he has promised in his word to do so.

2. That he will give to the believing, power to renew their lives. "He sent his word, and healed them," is true, spiritually.

3. That he will give to the tempted, power to overcome temptation. God ensures the believer's victory over every assault of Satan through the word. This weapon Jesus used in the wilderness.

4. That he will give to the suffering, power to endure with patience, and to gather profit from the trial.

5. That he will give to the dying, hope, peace, beatific vision, etc. One word from the Lord of life robs death of its sting.

IV. To direct our Christian effort.

1. In all we do we should respect the King's word. Churches should own Christ's headship, obey his laws, and acknowledge no other lawgiver. This would be a source of power, as the opposite is the cause of weakness.

2. We must look nowhere else for power. Education, oratory, music, wealth, ceremonialism, are weakness itself, if depended on.

3. We must rely upon the word of our King as the instrument of power whenever we seek to do works in his name.

Preach it: for nothing else will break hard hearts, comfort the despairing, beget faith, or produce holiness.

Plead it in prayer: for the Lord will surely keep his own promises, and put forth his power to make them good.

Receive it into our mind and heart: for where divine truth is treasured, there will be a wealth of spiritual power.

Practice it: for none can gainsay a life which is ordered according to the precepts of the Lord. An obedient life is full of a power before which men and devils do homage.

4. We shall see its power in various ways.

Gathering congregations. After all, the many do not go to listen to mere human teachings, but the cross attracts everywhere.

Gaining true converts. No conversion is worth anything unless it is wrought by the word of truth.

Keeping such converts to the end. The incorruptible seed alone produces an incorruptible life.

Order is created and preserved in the church by God's word.

Saints are instructed, edified, sanctified, and fed by the word.

Love, joy, peace, and every grace, are begotten and fostered by the word.

Read much the royal word.

Speak more than ever the King's word, which is the gospel of peace.

Believe in the word of King Jesus, and be bold to defend it.

Bow before it, and be patient and happy.

Experiences

No language ever stirs the deeps of my nature like the Word of God; and none produces such a profound calm within my spirit. As no other voice can, it melts me to tears, it humbles me in the dust, it fires me with enthusiasm, it fills me with felicity, it elevates me to holiness. Every faculty of my being owns the power of the sacred Word: it sweetens my memory, it brightens my hope, it stimulates my imagination, it directs my judgment, it commands my will, and it cheers my heart. The word of man charms me for the time; but I outlive and outgrow its power; it is altogether the reverse with the Word of the King of kings: it rules me more sovereignly, more practically, more habitually, more completely every day. Its power is for all seasons: for sickness and for health, for solitude and for company, for personal emergencies and for public assemblies. I had sooner have the Word of God at my back than all the armies and navies of all the great powers; ay, than all the forces of nature; for the Word of the Lord is the source of all the power in the universe, and within it there is an infinite supply in reserve.

Believers know the life-giving power of the Word, for they can say, "Your word has quickened me"; and its life-sustaining power, for they live "by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God"; and its power against sin, for they can say, "Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

"His word was with power" in Capernaum of old, and it will be with the same power in any place nowadays. His word cannot fail; "it shall not return void; it shall prosper." Therefore, when our "words fall to the ground," it only proves that they were not his words. Miss Havergal.

LXVI

Song of Solomon 2:1—"I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valleys."

Here we have the Bridegroom praising himself, and this is a thing to be considered with careful attention.

This self-praise is not tainted with pride: such a fault could not find a place in the lowly Jesus. His ego-ism is not egotism. He does not commend himself for his own sake, but for our sakes. He sets himself forth in glowing terms because:—

In condescension he desires our love. What a poor thing it is for him to care about! Yet he thirsts after it.

In wisdom he uses the best way to win our love.

In tenderness he deigns to describe himself that we may be encouraged by his familiarity in praising himself to us. This is one of the most effectual proofs of lowliness.

Of necessity he describes himself, for who else can describe him? "No man knows the Son, but the Father": Matthew 11:27.

Moreover, he here states a fact which else might not be believed, seeing he makes himself so common a flower of earth, so graciously a joy for men, that all may have him.

We will not take up your time by trying to discover what flowers these may have been in the eastern flora: we may select those most like them in our own western land, and do our Lord no wrong.

I. The exceeding delightfulness of our Lord.

He compares himself, not only, as in other places, to needful bread, and refreshing water, but to lovely flowers. In Jesus there are all delights as well as all necessities.

1. He is now all that he ever was, for his "I am" runs through all eternity in unabated force.

2. He is in himself the delight of men. He speaks not of offices, gifts, works, possessions, but of himself. "I am."

3. He is delightful to the eye of faith, even as flowers are to the bodily sight. What more beautiful than roses and lilies?

4. He is delightful in the savor which comes of him. In him is a delicious, varied, abiding fragrance.

5. In all this he is the choicest of the choice: the rose—yes, Sharon's rose: the lily—yes, the most delicious lily of the valleys There is none like him. He is indeed "a plant of renown.

Yet blind men see no color, and men without scent perceive no odor in the sweetest flowers; and carnal men see no delights in Jesus. Roses and lilies require eyes and light before they can be appreciated, and to know Jesus we must have grace and gracious dispositions. He says, "I am the Rose of Sharon;" and so he is essentially; but the grave question is, "Is he this to you?" Yes, or no.

II. The sweet variety of his delightfulness.

1. Of the rose, majesty: of the lily, love.

2. Of the rose, suffering: of the lily, purity.

3. Of both a great variety: all the roses and all the lilies, all the beauties of Heaven and earth meet in Jesus.

4. Of both the very essence. Of all the creatures, all the excellencies, virtues, and blessings, which may be found in them, come from Jesus, and abide in Jesus without limit. Many eyes are wanted to spy out the whole of Christ. No eye, nor all eyes, can see all that lies in his varied perfections.

5. Of all these a perfect proportion, so that no one excellence destroys another. He is all a rose should be, and yet not the less perfect as a lily.

Hence he is suitable to all saints, the joy of all, the perfection of beauty to each one.

III. The exceeding freeness of his delightfulness.

1. Meant to be plucked and enjoyed as roses and lilies are.

2. Abundant as a common flower. He is not as a rare orchid, but as the anemones which covered Sharon's plains, and as the lilies which abounded in all the valleys of Palestine.

3. Abiding in a common place, as roses in Sharon, and lilies in the valleys, where every passer-by was free to gather according to his own sweet will. Not found on inaccessible steeps, or within guarded enclosures, Jesus is out in the open: a flower of the common. This is a leading idea of the text. Those who desire Christ may have him.

4. Scattering fragrance, not over a room or a house, but far and wide, perfuming every wandering wind.

5. Yet roses and lilies fail to set forth our Beloved, for his is unfading virtue. They are soon withered, but "He dies no more."

In all things look for Jesus. See him in primroses and daisies.

In Jesus look for all things of beauty and sweetness: lilies and roses are in him.

Listen much to Jesus, for he can tell you most about himself; and, coming at first hand, it will be surely true, and come with great force and unction. Hearken, and hear him say, "I am the Rose of Sharon."

Observations

"I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys;" words most seemly in the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom it is not robbery from others, but condescension and grace, to commend himself to the sons of men. "I am meek and lowly," would be the utterance of pride in Gabriel, but it is humility in Jesus, who has stooped that he might become meek and lowly. "I am the true Vine," "I am the good Shepherd," etc., are the expressions alike of truth and grace, and so here. A. Moody Stuart.

Not to flowers which only the rich and great can possess, but to those easily obtainable, does he liken himself; for always did he stoop to the lowliest, and the common people ever heard him gladly. His presence on earth never failed to bring comfort to the needy, and refreshment to the downcast spirit, just as sweet odors float around roses and lilies, and minister solace to the organ of smell, while their fair forms and rich and delicate colors gratify the eye. H. K. Wood, in "The Heavenly Bridegroom and his Bride."

We believe there can be little doubt that the rose is really intended by the Hebrew word. Even if in the general sense it should mean but a flower, we should still infer that, when applied in a particular sense, it means a rose, for this would be according to the usage of the East. Thus the Persian word gul describes a flower in general, and the rose par excellence. This suffices to show the estimation in which the rose is held in the East. In the Persian language, particularly, there is perhaps no poem in which allusions to it, and comparisons drawn from it, do not recur even to repletion.… The extreme fragrance and beauty of the rose in some parts of Western Asia have attracted the notice of many travelers. It is also cultivated, not merely as a garden plant for pleasure, but in extensive fields, from the produce of which is prepared that valued and delicious perfume called rose-water. The size of the rose-trees, and the number of the flowers on each, far exceed in the rose-districts of Persia, anything we are here accustomed to witness.

Pictorial Bible.

LXVII

Song of Solomon 3:4—"It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me."

The first position is, "I passed from them." We must go beyond the fellowship of the best of men, and commune with him whom our soul loves. Our love must lead to action, "I sought him." Those who love Jesus seek his presence with an agony of desire.

After this seeking, we read at first, "I found him not." Sad, but needful disappointment. But this lasts not forever; we soon come into the region of our text, where everything is bright with sunlight. Three flashes of delight follow each other: "I found him"; "I held him"; "I brought him." May these be our joyous experience! To that end let us muse upon them, and pray the Holy Spirit to help us.

I. "I found him": or, love in fellowship.

1. I was inquiring for him.

2. I had got beyond all men and means, and could not be content with any but himself.

3. I beheld his person. He drew near in his Word and ordinances. I perceived him by the Spirit. Faith saw him clearly.

4. I was assured of his presence. My heart felt peculiar influences operating upon it. It was a time of love.

5. I knew him to be mine. There were no doubts and fears. He was "my Beloved," and I was all his own.

6. I was filled with content. I looked for no one else, for in finding him I had found my all for earth and Heaven.

Do we know what this blessed finding means?

If not, let us never rest until we do.

II. "I held him": or, love in possession.

1. By my heart's resolve, determining never to lose him again.

2. By my tearful pleas, entreating him not to make me wretched by withdrawing. I pleaded—

My joy in his society.

My need of his gracious protection.

My love to him, which made me hunger for him.

His love to me, which surely would not let him leave me.

3. By making him my all in all. He stays where he is prized, and I set him on a high throne in my spirit.

4. By renouncing all other loves, sins, idols, etc. He is jealous, and I kept myself altogether for him.

5. By a simple faith: for he is pleased with trust; and dwells where he is rested in.

6. By his own power. "I would not let him go," because I held him by his promise, and by the power which it gave me.

If you have Jesus, hold him.

He is willing to be constrained. See how often, in his life on earth, "they constrained him," and he yielded to their will.

III. "I brought him": or, love in communication.

The love of Jesus creates in our hearts love to our fellow-believers for their Redeemer's sake.

The church of God is our mother: the holy assembly is her chamber, where we were born unto God, and nurtured in his fear. We are to labor to promote communion with Christ among those who are our brethren, taking Jesus with us whensoever we go up to the gatherings of the faithful.

This we should do—

1. By our own spirit: communing with Jesus before we go to public worship, and going there with him in our company.

We shall always find him in the church if we take him in our hearts to its hallowed services.

2. By our words: we should so speak as to set forth Jesus, and promote fellowship with him. Alas, how many speak controversially, or without savor, or with carnal oratory wherein is no room for the Beloved! Oh, for a crucified style of speech!

3. By our prayers we should bring him into the assembly; ay, bring him into society where hitherto he has been unknown. The world also was once our mother. Oh, that we could introduce the Lord Jesus into her chambers, that he might reign and rule there! "Your Kingdom come." By loving violence we will constrain him to come with us in his presence and power.

See what the church needs!—Christ in her midst.

See how he is likely to come!—he must be brought.

See what must first be done!—he must be held.

See who alone can do this!—those who have found him.

Yet see, also, who may find him!—all who love him, and seek him. Are we among the number?

Further Suggestions

Hold him by not offending him. First, by sloth. When the soul turns sleepy or careless, Christ goes away. Secondly, by idols. You cannot hold two objects. Thirdly, by being unwilling to be sanctified. Fourthly, by an unholy house. "I brought him into my mother's house." Remember to take Christ home with you, and let him rule in your house. If you walk with Christ abroad but never take him home, you will soon part company for ever. McCheyne.

"I found him;" I, a man, found the Lord of Glory; I, a slave to sin, found the great Deliverer; I, the child of darkness, found the Light of life; I, the uttermost of the lost, found my Savior and my God; I, widowed and desolate, found my Friend, my Beloved, my Husband. Go and do likewise, sons and daughters of Zion, and he will be found of you; for "then shall you find when you search with all your heart."

But we have another mother, and other brethren, in the human family from which we are sprung. The Church has the first, not the only claim on our affections; the perishing world has its right to a large share of our pity and our prayers. Comparatively, it is not hard for us to bring Jesus into the Church, which is his mother's house as well as ours. But the world hates Christ, has nothing in common with him, is aware that he rightfully claims the dominion, is sensitively jealous of the claim, and lives with its doors barred against him night and day. No criminal keeps so vigilant a watch against the officers of justice, no lonely widow makes her gates so fast against the midnight robber, no miser spurns so haughtily the beggar from his door, as the unrenewed heart keeps watch and ward against the entrance of Jesus, and scornfully sends him away when he asks for a lodging in the soul. To introduce him, therefore, into this home of our mother is a work demanding effort, watchfulness, patience. There is much to provoke him to turn away; we must plead with him, hold him, and not let him go; and with our mother's children we must also plead with "the soft tongue that breaks the bone," for they are offended with us as well as with him. So sought and prevailed the Bride of the Lamb, until she brought her own Beloved into the midst of her mother's children, by whom she had been herself so hardly entreated, requiting evil with good. Have you attempted this? Are you engaged in the effort now? If not, rise and commence such a work of faith and labor of love on behalf of the lost. A. Moody Stuart.

68

Song of Solomon 6:5—"Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me."

Much of our life's business consists in overcoming evil, but here we have to deal with overcoming him who is perfect good.

It is not to be supposed that there is any opposition in the heavenly Bridegroom, nor any unwillingness to be overcome by his bride: no, it is the loving heart of Jesus which is readily overcome by the love of his chosen one.

Let us learn from this most remarkable exclamation,—

I. That looking upon his church has overcome the heart of the Lord Jesus.

1. He left Heaven to be one with her. He could not bear to see her ruin, but left his Father that he might share her lot.

2. He died to redeem her: "found guilty of excess of love."

3. His delight is in her now; she is lovely in his sight.

4. His eternal joy is to spring from her: he will see in her the result of his death-agony: "he will rest in his love."

Jesus is so overcome that he still gives all that he is, and has, yes, and his own self, to his beloved.

II. That the eyes of his chosen still overcome the Lord Jesus.

Because his eyes are full of love, therefore is he overcome by our eyes when we are—

1. Looking up in deep repentance.

At first seeking for pardon.

At times when we pine for restoration from backsliding.

Whenever we are struggling to maintain fellowship, and mourning our breaches of it.

Whenever we groan under inbred sin, and would be free from it.

2. Looking at him by faith for salvation.

At first, by a desperate act, daring to glance with feeble hope.

Afterwards, in simplicity, day by day gazing at his wounds.

In deep distress still hoping on, and never removing our eyes.

3. Looking for all things to his love alone.

When in sore trouble, patiently submitting.

When in humble hope, quietly waiting.

When under severe tests, firmly believing.

When in full assurance, joyfully expecting.

4. Looking in prayer.

In personal trouble, like Jacob, pleading the promise, and saying, "I will not let you go." The Lord says, "Let me go."

In holy compassion pleading for others, like Moses, to whom the Lord said, "Let me alone."

5. Looking in rapturous, restful love.

He is altogether lovely, and all mine: my eyes swim with tears of delight as they gaze on him, and thus they overcome him.

My heart burns with love to him, and I adore him; and this wins everything from him.

6. Looking in sacred longing for his appearing.

Pining for a personal revelation of himself to me by his Spirit.

Most of all, sighing for his speedy coming in the glory of the Second Advent. He replies, "Behold, I come quickly!"

Oh, the power of a spiritual man with Jesus!

Oh, the power of a church with Heaven! The Lord will deny nothing to the prayer of his elect.

III. That if the church would but look to her Lord more she would overcome the world more.

To overcome the Lord is the greater thing, and when this is done, the church may well go forth conquering and to conquer all that is less than her Lord. The eyes of the church should be set on Jesus, and then she would overcome. If we were—

1. Weeping for dishonor done to him, he would see this, and retrieve our defeat.

2. Depending on him for our strength, our faith would give us victory through Jesus' love.

3. Obediently following his commands, he would then feel it right to give honor to his own truth, and to reward obedience to his own precepts.

4. Confidently expectant of victory, Jesus would make bare his arm for us. Faith's eyes calmly watching, or flashing with exultant expectancy, would be as flames of fire to the foe.

5. Eagerly pleading for his interposition, our tearful, earnest eyes would soon succeed with our gracious God.

See the secret of strength. Look to Jesus, and overcome.

Let us lament our infrequent use of this conquering weapon.

Now for a long and loving look at the Bridegroom of our souls.

Help us, O Holy Spirit, to whom our eyes owe their sight!

hints

Who has not felt the power of the eye? The beggar looked so imploringly that we gave him alms; the child's eye so darkened with disappointment that we indulged his desire; the sick man gazed so sadly at our departure that we turned back, and lengthened our visit. But the eyes of those we love master us. Does a tear begin to form? We yield at once. We cannot endure that the beloved eyes should weep. Our Lord uses this figure to most encouraging purpose. The weeping eyes of prayer move the loving heart of Jesus. Matthew Henry says, "Christ is pleased to borrow these expressions of a passionate lover to express the tenderness of a compassionate Redeemer, and the delight he takes in his redeemed, and in the workings of his own grace in them."

We read in Matthew 15 that the Lord Jesus said to the Canaanite woman, "O woman, great is your faith; be it unto you even as you will." He seems to surrender at discretion, conquered by that faith which he had himself put into her heart. Now, faith is the eye of the soul, and here is an instance of the eyes overcoming the Lord. We cannot vanquish him with the works of our hands, or the eloquence of our lips; but we can win the victory by the pleadings of our eyes,—those eyes, which are as the eyes of doves, seeing afar,—the eyes of true faith.

Some devout persons find it a profitable exercise to bow the knee, and to look up. Using few words, they commune through a long, upward, pleading glance. One only cried, "My God," and at another time, "God be merciful to me, a sinner"; and yet he came forth from his closet as one who had bathed in Heaven.

"Have you a glimpse of Christ now that you are dying?" was the question asked of an old Scottish saint, who, raising himself, made the emphatic reply, "I'll have none o' your glimpses now that I am dying, since that I have had a full look at Christ these forty years."—Annals of the Early Friends.

LXIX

Isaiah 1:18—"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

The sinful condition of men is terrible in the extreme. This is set forth vividly in previous verses of the chapter. They are altogether alienated from their God.

God himself interposes to produce a change. The proposal of peace is always from his side.

He urges that a conference be held at once, "Come, and let us reason together."

That conference is to be held at once: "Come now," for the danger is too great to admit of a moment's delay. God is urgent; let us not procrastinate.

In our text we have,—

I. An invitation to a conference.

Sinful men do not care to think, consider, and look matters in the face; yet to this distasteful duty they are urged.

If they reason, they rather reason against God than together with him; but here the proposal is not to discuss, but to treat with a view to reconciliation. This also ungodly hearts decline.

1. They prefer to attend to ceremonial observances. Outward performances are easier, and do not require thought.

2. Yet the matter is one which demands most serious discussion, and deserves it; for God, the soul, Heaven, and Hell are involved in it. Never was wise counsel more desirable.

3. No good can come of neglecting to consider it. It is one of those matters which will never drift the right way of itself.

4. It is most gracious on the Lord's part to suggest a conference. Kings do not often invite criminals to reason with them.

5. The invitation is a pledge that he desires peace, is willing to forgive, and anxious to set us right.

6. The appointment of the immediate present as the time for the reasoning together is a proof of generous wisdom. "Just as you are," come to God in Christ, just as he is. Love invites you in all your sin and misery.

II. A specimen of the reasoning on God's part.

1. The one main ground of difference is honestly mentioned, "though your sins be as scarlet." God calls the most glaring sinners to come to him, knowing them to be such.

2. This ground of difference God himself will remove, "they shall be as white as snow." He will forgive, and so end the quarrel.

3. He will remove the offence perfectly, "as snow—as wool."

He will remove forever the guilt of sin.

He will discharge the penalty of sin.

He will destroy the dominion of sin.

He will prevent the return of sin.

4. He explains by his own Word how this is done.

Free forgiveness obliterating guilt.

Full atonement averting punishment.

Regeneration by the Spirit breaking the power of sin.

Constant sanctification forbidding its return.

See, then, the way of your return to God made easy.

Consider it carefully, and talk with God about it at once.

III. This specimen reasoning is an abstract of the whole argument.

Each special objection is anticipated.

1. The singular greatness of your sins, "red like crimson." This is met by a great atonement, which cleanses from all sin.

2. The long continuance of your sins. Cloth dyed scarlet has lain long in the dye-vat. The blood of Jesus cleanses at once.

3. The light against which your sins were committed. This puts a glaring color upon them. But "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men."

4. The grieving of the Holy Spirit. Even this is removed by Jesus.

5. The failure of your attempts to whiten your soul. Crimson and scarlet cannot be removed by the art of man; but the Lord says, "I have blotted out your sins."

6. The despair which your sins create: they are so glaring that they are ever before you, yet they shall be washed out by the blood of the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

Come now. Your minister pleads with you on God's behalf.

Can it be right to slight God's invitation?

What harm can come of a conference with him?

Must it not be right to be reconciled with your Maker?

What if this day should see you made "white as snow"?

Enforcements

A husband and wife had parted, and had been for years separated. He on several occasions entreated her to meet him, and talk over their differences with a view to reconciliation. She steadily declined an interview, and would not enter upon the subject of their alienation. Are you surprised when we add that the fault from the beginning lay with her? You cannot doubt that the sin of their continued division was her's alone. The parable is easy to be interpreted.

Certain scarlet cloth is first dyed in the grain, and then dyed in the piece; it is thus double-dyed. And so are we with regard to the guilt of sin; we are double-dyed, for we are all sinners by birth, and sinners by practice. Our sins are like scarlet, yet by faith in Christ they shall be as white as snow: by an interest in Christ's atonement, though our offences be red like crimson, they shall be as wool; that is, they shall be as white as the undyed wool. "Friendly Greetings."

When a dye enters into the very substance of the stuff, how can it be removed? Our own laundresses, by continually removing common stains, at length destroy the fabric of our linen; but what is to be done where are, and labor, and time have mingled the color and the cloth, into one? With man this may be impossible, but not with God. When a man has taken up sin into him, until it is as much himself as his black skin is part and parcel of the Ethiopian, yet the Lord can put the sin away as thoroughly as if the negro became a fair Caucasian. He takes the spots out of human tigers, and leaves not one of them.

Consider how the Tyrian scarlet was dyed; not superficially dipped, but thoroughly drenched in the liquor that colored it, as your soul in custom of sinning. Then was it taken out for a time and dried, put in again, soaked and sodden the second time in the vat; called therefore twice-dyed; as you complain you have been by relapsing into the same sin. Yes, the color so incorporated into the cloth, not drawn over, but diving into the very heart of the wool, that, rub a scarlet rag on what is white, and it will bestow a reddish tincture upon it; as, perhaps, your sinful practice and precedent have also infected those which, were formerly good, by your badness. Yet such scarlet sins, so solemnly and substantially colored, are easily washed white in the blood of our Savior. Thomas Fuller.

LXX

Isaiah 2:5—"O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light of the Lord!"

Oh that the literal "house of Jacob" would walk in the light of Jehovah by acknowledging Jesus, who is the Dayspring from on high! Alas, they refuse the light, for the veil is upon their hearts! Let us pray for the ingathering of the tribes of Israel. Surely "it shall come to pass in the last days." Verse 2.

We will treat at this time of the spiritual Israel, even of the children of God at this hour.

I. Here is an invitation. "Come you, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah."

It is singular that the people of Jehovah should need such an invitation, for it seems natural that they should live in him, rejoice in him, and learn of him, seeing he is their own God.

It is a still more singular invitation in that it comes from the nations to the house of Jacob. The word of the Lord goes forth from Jerusalem, converts the nations, and then returns to the people from whom it first came. The parallel is found when the invitation comes to those of us who are believers,—

1. From those to whom we have ministered. How it rewards and encourages us to hear such a call from those who once refused the invitations of the gospel! When there is a move among the dry bones, we hope for the best results.

2. From new converts, who in their burning zeal urge on older saints, and thus create joy, and hint a gentle rebuke.

3. From saints bent on mutual edification. "Come you, and let us." Here are willing brethren calling to others who are equally willing. Would God we had more of this!

Such invitations as these are healthy signs. We should encourage their production by mutual fellowship upon holy things.

II. Let us accept this invitation. "Let us walk in the light of the Lord."

No other light is comparable to it; especially for the Lord's own people. Jehovah should be the light of Jacob.

No other walking is so safe, so gladsome.

No other people are so able to walk in the light of God: their eyes are opened, their feet are strengthened, their hearts are purified, their actions suit the day.

1. In this light we find certainty for the mind.

Reason makes guesses, or confesses that she knows nothing.

Fanaticism dotes on dreams and superstitions.

Human authority blunders.

Revelation alone is sure, infallible, unalterable. All other light is darkness when compared with it.

2. In this light we find rest for the conscience.

We see Jesus, his blood, and the perfect pardon which it procures.

We see his perfect righteousness covering us, and making us lovely before God.

3. In this light we find direction for the judgment.

We see sin, love, providence, the future, &c., in their true colors, and know how to act in reference to them.

We learn to know the right way, and the wise course.

We discover the hidden snares, and are led to avoid them.

4. In this light we find delight for the soul.

In the purposes of the Lord. "Predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."

In our personal condition in Christ. "Complete in him."

In the dealings of our Father's hand. "All things work together for good to them that love God," etc.

In the struggling which goes on within, which as a symptom of grace yields us comfortable hope.

In the future of death and eternity, which else would distress us.

5. In this light we find communion for the heart.

We see God, and feel perfect peace.

We see grace within, and enjoy full assurance.

We see Jesus, and are in conscious union with him.

We feel the Spirit of God, and are workers with him.

We see the saints, and delight in their graces.

Beloved hearers, may the Holy Spirit lead you—

To enter into the light of God.

To remain in it, walking therein quietly from day to day.

To make progress in it, walking onward toward perfection.

Come you, and let us even now walk together in this light.

It shines perpetually, and we are the children of light.

Living in it here will prepare us for enjoying it in all its glorious brightness, where "the Lamb is the light."

Oil for the Light

A weary and discouraged woman, after struggling all day with contrary winds and tides, came to her home, and flinging herself into a chair, said: "Everything looks dark, dark."

"Why don't you turn your face to the light, aunty dear?" said a little niece who was standing near.

The words were a message from on high, and the weary eyes were turned toward him who is the Light and the Life of men, and in whose light alone we see light.

A man who looks toward the light sees no shadow; a man who walks toward the light leaves darkness behind him. People get in darkness by turning away from the light. They hide in obscure corners; they bury themselves in nooks where the rays of the Sun of Righteousness cannot reach them; they close their blinds and shutters, and wonder that they have no light.

A house may be dark, but it is not the fault of the sun. A soul may be dark, but it is not because the Light of the world does not shed beams abroad. He who follows Christ "shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." But if our deeds are evil, we shall turn away from God, and love darkness rather than light; while if we are willing to be reproved, corrected, and guided in the right way, we shall find that "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Walking in the light, as Christ is in the light, we have fellowship with the Father, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. The Boston "Christian."

It is worth noting how plants and trees turn to the light; how bleached vegetation becomes if it be shut up in darkness. The utter dark is dreadful to men, it may even be felt, so does it press upon the mind. The dimness of a foggy day depresses many spirits more than trouble or pain. The cry of the sick man, "Would God it were morning!" is the groan of all healthy life when gloom surrounds it. What then can be said, if there be light, and we refuse it? He must have ill work on hand who loves the darkness. Only bats, and owls, and unclean and ravenous things are fond of the night. Children of light walk in the light, and reflect the light.

"Where the sun does not enter, the physician must"; so say the Italians, and their witness is true. Sunlight has not only a cheering but a health-giving influence. Along the Riviera, invalids owe everything to the sun; and when it is gone, they shrink into their own rooms. Chambers to which his warmth does not come are at a discount: the light is essential to restoration as well as to enjoyment.

71

Isaiah 5:6—"I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."

Rain essential for growth of seed and fruit, and its withdrawal for a length of time a terrible temporal judgment, especially in hot climates.

The spiritual rain of the Holy Spirit's influence essential to a spiritual life, in its beginning, growth, ripening, perfecting.

Its withdrawal the last and most terrible of judgments. (See whole verse.)

Especially is it a mark of anger for clouds to be overhead, and yet to drop no rain: to have the means of grace, but no grace with the means.

Let us consider,—

I. What it means.

1. Ministers allowed to preach, but without power.

2. Ordinances celebrated, but without the blessing of the Lord.

3. Assemblies gathered, but the Lord not in the midst.

4. The Word read, but with no application to the heart.

5. Formality of prayer kept up, but no pleading with God.

6. The Holy Spirit restrained, and grieved.

This has been the case full often, and may be again with any church or person if sin be tolerated after warning. Is it so in the present assembly, or with any one in it?

The clouds, ordained to rain, are commanded not to do so; commanded by God himself, with whom is the key of the rain; commanded altogether to withhold their refreshing showers. There is no necessary connection between outward ordinances and grace; we may have clouds of the first, and no drops of the second.

II. What it involves.

1. No conversions, for these are by the Spirit.

2. No restorations of backsliders. Withered plants are not revived when there is no rain.

3. No refreshing of the weary: comfort and strength come not except by the dew of Heaven.

4. No spiritual activities. Lukewarmness reigns through routine unto death. The workers move like persons walking in their sleep.

5. No holy joys, delights, triumphs.

As everything pines when there is no rain, so do all good things suffer when there is a spiritual drought.

Nothing can make up for it.

Nothing can flourish without it.

III. How it manifests itself.

A parched season spiritually has its own signs in the individual.

1. The soul experiences no benefit under the Word.

2. The man feels glutted with the gospel, and wearied with it.

3. He begins to criticize, carp, cavil, and despise the Word.

4. Soon he is apt to neglect the hearing of it.

5. Or he hears and perverts the Word, either to boasting, to ridicule, to controversy, or to ill-living.

It is a horrible thing when that which should be a savor of life unto life becomes a savor of death unto death, when even the clouds refuse to rain.

Is it so with any one of us?

IV. How it can be prevented.

Let us humbly use the means without putting our trust in them, and then let us,—

1. Confess our ill-desert. The Lord might justly have withheld his grace from us.

2. Acknowledge our dependence upon the heavenly showers of spiritual influence.

3. Pray incessantly, until, like Elijah, we bring down the rain.

4. Look alone to Jesus. "He shall come down like rain."

5. Value the least sign of grace, watching for it as the prophet did from the top of Carmel, until he saw the little cloud arise from the sea.

6. Use the blessing more diligently when it returns, bringing forth fruit unto God.

Let this act as an incentive to gratitude to those who are wet with showers of blessing.

And as a warning to those who are losing their interest in the gatherings of the Sabbath.

anecdotes and aphorisms

God's grace can save souls without any preaching: but all the preaching in the world cannot save souls without God's grace. Benjamin Beddome.

The hearer sometimes complains that there is no food for his soul; when the truth is that there is no soul for the food. Joseph Parker.

Every preacher must have felt that in certain places his labor is in vain. For some cause unknown to him, there is no response to his appeals, no fruit of his teaching. I knew a place from which Mr. Whitefield was chased away, and it was said of it that ever since there appeared to be a blight upon it; and indeed it seemed so. I have seen churches acting wrongly, and becoming withered from that time. On the other hand, we feel when there is dew about, and we know when there is a sound of abundance of rain. I have preached at times with the absolute certainty of success because a grace-shower was on saint and sinner, on preacher and people.

In a newspaper we met with the following:—

"There was an old turnpike-man, on a quiet country road, whose habit was to shut his gate at night, and take his nap. One dark, wet midnight I knocked at his door, calling, 'Gate, gate!' 'Coming,' said the voice of the old man. Then I knocked again, and once more the voice replied, 'Coming.' This went on for some time, until at length I grew quite angry, and jumping off my horse, opened the door, and demanded why he cried 'Coming' for twenty minutes, and never came. 'Who is there?' said the old man, in a quiet, sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes. 'What Did you want, sir?' Then awakening, 'Bless your, sir, and ax your pardon, I was asleep; I gets so used to hearing 'em knock, that I answer "coming" in my sleep, and take no more notice about it.' "

Thus may the ministry accomplish nothing because the habitual hearer remains in a deep sleep, out of which the Spirit of God alone can awaken him. When the secret influence from Heaven ceases to speak to the heart, the best speaking to the ear avails little.

72

Isaiah 14:32—"What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it."

It is clear that Zion attracts attention. The messengers of the nations inquire concerning her.

The church excites attention by—

The peculiarity of her people.

The speciality of her teaching.

The singularity of her claims.

The greatness of her privileges.

It is so good a thing to have this attention excited, that one should be ever ready to give an answer, for this is the way by which the truth is spread in the earth.

Oh that all nations would send messengers to inquire concerning our King, and his reign! Perhaps they will when we are what we ought to be, and are ready to answer their inquiries.

I. What do the messengers ask?

They come as the ambassadors from Babylon to see everything.

They ask questions, as did the Queen of Sheba.

Concerning Zion, or the church, they ask:—

1. What is her origin? (Psalm 78:68, 69.)

2. What is her history? (Psalm 87:3.)

3. Who is her King? (Psalm 99:2.)

4. What is her charter? (Galatians 4:26.)

5. What are her laws? (Ezekiel 43:12.)

6. What is her treasure? (Psalm 147:12–14; Rev. 21:21.)

7. What is her present security? (Psalm 48:13.)

8. What is her future destiny? (Psalm 102:16.)

There is nothing about Zion which is unworthy of their inquiry.

There is nothing about Zion which is closed against inquiry.

II. Why do they ask?

1. Some from mere contempt. "What do these feeble Jews?" They would see the nakedness of the land. Perhaps when they know more their contempt will evaporate.

2. Some from idle curiosity. Yet many who come to us from that poor motive are led to Christ. Zaccheus comes down from his tree as he did not go up.

3. Some from hearty admiration. They inquire, "What is your Beloved more than another beloved?" They have seen his star, and are come to worship, asking, "Where is he?"

4. Some from a desire to become citizens. How can they be initiated? What is the price of her franchise? What will be required of her burgesses? Is there room for more citizens?

They are wise thus to ask, and count the cost.

Men can hardly remain indifferent when the true Church of God is near them: for some reason or another they will inquire.

III. Why should they be answered?

1. It may silence their cavils.

2. It may win them to God.

3. It will do us good to give a reason for the hope that is in us.

4. It will glorify God to tell of what his grace has done for his church and of what it is prepared to do.

The answers should be prudently suited to the enquirer.

They should be clear, bold, truthful, and joyous.

We should think before we give an answer. "What shall one answer?" Our manner in answering should be gracious. (1 Peter 3:15.)

The answer should refer rather to God than to ourselves: it is so in the text now before us.

IV. What should be the answer?

1. That God is all in all to his church, "The Lord has."

2. That her origin is from him, "The Lord has founded Zion."

3. That his people are poor in themselves, and rely upon another. It is a city to which the poor flee for refuge, as many fled to the cave of Adullam who were in debt and discontented.

4. That their trust is in the foundation which the Lord has laid.

5. That we resolve to abide in that trust, "The poor of his people shall trust in it."

If you ungodly ones would only ask the righteous concerning their hope, it would be well.

If you godly ones would tell enquirers your experience, it might do great good. "That we may seek him with you": Solomon's Song, 6:1.

Incentives

Visiting a vaulted passage in the palace of Nero, at Rome, we were shown certain frescoes upon the roof. To exhibit these a candle was lifted up upon a telescopic rod, and then moved along from picture to picture. Let the candle stand for the believer, and let him be willing to be so elevated in life as to shine upon those high mysteries of our holy faith which else had never been perceived by other men. Eminent saints in the past have served such a purpose: their lives have cast a light upon priceless truths, which else had been forgotten.

If a man should ask me, after I have recovered from an illness, by what means I had been healed, should I not tell him with pleasure? To monopolize such information would be monstrous. The church of Christ is not a close borough, or a club with exclusive rules. Its walls are for inclusion, not for exclusion; its gates shut out no refugees who would enter. All that we know we are glad to tell, for all that there is to tell is glad tidings to our fellow-men.

A young Kaffir, who was brought to England to be educated for mission-work in his own country, when taken to St. Paul's Cathedral, gazed up into the dome for some time as if lost in wonder, and when at length he broke silence, it was to ask, "Did man make this?" Those who obtain a view of the grandeur and glory of the spiritual temple may ask a similar question. We can tell them that its "Builder and Maker is God."

Enquirers should be answered. It is never well to be dumb to attentive ears. As someone has wisely said, "we shall have to give an account of idle silence, as well as of idle speech."

Our testimony should be bright and cheerful. The dismal tale some tell of trials and temptations is not likely to fetch home the prodigal from the far country: such lean and discontented followers will never make anybody say, "How many hired servants of my Father have bread enough, and to spare!"—Mark Guy Pearse.

To the matter of the safety of the church, through the presence of the Lord, we may apply the following dialogue between a heathen and a Jew:—"After the Jews returned from captivity—all nations round about them being enemies to them—a heathen asked a Jew how he and his countrymen could hope for any safety, 'because,' says he, 'every one of you is as a silly sheep compassed about with fifty wolves.' 'Ay, but,' says the Jew, 'we are kept by such a Shepherd as can kill all these wolves when he pleases, and by that means preserve his sheep.' "—Thomas Brooks.

73

Isaiah 32:2—"A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest."

God's best blessings to men have usually come by men.

When our Lord ascended on high, he received gifts for men, and these gifts were men. (Psalm 68:18. Ephesians 4:8, 11.)

Immense boons have come to nations by kings like David, prophets like Samuel, deliverers like Gideon, lawgivers like Moses.

But what are all good men put together compared with The Man Christ Jesus?

We are now to view him as our shield against ten thousand ills: the hiding-place and covert of his people.

Let us consider that,—

I. This life is liable to storms.

1. Mysterious hurricanes within, which cause the most dreadful confusion of mind. Winds, whose direction is uncertain, shaking everything, creating unrest and distraction. Frequently no definite cause can be assigned for them; the cause may be constitutional, or physical, or circumstantial.

2. Overwhelming tempests of spiritual distress on account of sin, wrong desire, conscious declension, unbelief, etc.

3. Fierce blasts of temptation, insinuation, suggestion, denunciation, etc., from Satan.

4. Wild attacks from human enemies, who taunt, slander, threaten, etc. David was accustomed to use this refuge. He says, "I flee unto you to hide me": Psalm 143:9.

5. Trying gales of temporal losses, bereavements, and other afflictions.

6. Above all, the storm of divine anger when we have grieved the Holy Spirit, and lost communion with God.

None of these winds and tempests are we able to bear: our only safety lies in getting out of them by finding a shelter where God has provided it (Is. 25:4, 26:20. Psalm 32:7.)

II. From these storms the Man Christ Jesus is our hiding-place.

1. As truly man. Sympathizing with us, and Bringing God near to us.

2. As more than man, ruling every tempest, covering every feeble traveler, as within the cleft of a rock.

3. As Substitutionary Man, interposing, breasting the storm for us, hiding us by being weather-beaten himself.

4. As Representative Man, more than conqueror, and glorified.

In him we are delivered from divine wrath.

In him we are covered from Satan's blasts.

In him we dwell above trial by happy fellowship with him.

In him we are victors over death.

5. As Ever-living Man: we live because he lives, and thus we defy the tempest of death. John 14:19.

6. As Interceding Man. He says, "I have prayed for you," when Satan is seeking to destroy any one of us: Luke 22:32.

7. As the Coming Man. We dread no political catastrophes, or social disruptions, for "he must reign." The end is secured. "Behold, he comes with clouds": Rev. 1:7.

III. Let us see to it that we take shelter in THE MAN.

1. Let him stand before us, interposing between us and the punishment of sin. Hide behind him by faith.

2. Let him daily cover us from all evil, as our Shield and Protector. Psalm 119:114.

3. Let us enter into him more and more fully, that we may be more hidden, that he may be more known to us, and that we may have a fuller sense of security.

O you that are out of Christ, the tempest is lowering! Come to this covert; hasten to this hiding-place!

He is an effectual shelter, tried and proved.

He is an open refuge, available now, for you.

He is a capacious hiding-place: "Yet there is room." As in Adullam all David's army could hide, so is Jesus able to receive hosts of sinners.

He is an eternal covert: our dwelling-place throughout all generations.

He is an inviting shelter, because he is Man, and therefore has compassion towards men, and a joy in their salvation.

Instances and instructions

Well do I remember being caught in the mistral at Hyeres, when it blew with unusual fury; it not only drove clouds of dust with terrible force, but boughs of trees, and all sorts of light material were propelled with tremendous force. One wondered that a tree remained upright, or a fence in its place. What a joy it was to hide behind a solid wall, and under its shelter to run along until we were safe within doors! Then we knew in some measure the value of a hiding-place from the wind. But what is that to a cyclone, which tears down houses, and lifts ships upon the dry land? Friends who have lived abroad have startled us with their descriptions of what wind can be, and they have made us cease to wonder that a hiding-place should be greatly prized by dwellers in eastern lands.

The tempest's awful voice was heard;

O Christ, it broke on you!

Your open bosom was my ward,

It braved the storm for me.

Your form was scarred, your visage marred;

Now cloudless peace for me. Sacred Songs and Solos.

I creep under my Lord's wings in the great shower, and the waters cannot reach me. Let fools laugh the fools' laughter, and scorn Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon to sing them one of the songs of Zion. We may sing, even in our winter's storm, in the expectation of a summer's sun at the turn of the year. No created powers in Hell, or out of Hell, can mar our Lord's work, or spoil our song of joy. Let us then, be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord, for faith had never yet cause to have tearful eyes, or a saddened brow, or to droop or die.

Samuel Rutherford.

A shelter is nothing if we stand in front of it. The main thought with many a would-be Christian is his own works, feelings, and attainments: this is to stand on the windy side of the wall by putting self before Jesus. Our safety lies in getting behind Christ, and letting him stand in the wind's eye. We must be altogether hidden, or Christ cannot be our hiding-place.

Foolish religionists hear about the hiding-place, but never get into it. How great is the folly of such conduct! It makes Jesus to be of no value or effect. What is a roof to a man who lies in the open, or a boat to one who sinks in the sea? Even the Man Christ Jesus, though ordained of God to be a covert from the tempest, can cover none but those who are in him. Come then, poor sinner, enter where you may; hide in him who was evidently meant to hide you, for he was ordained to be a hiding-place, and must be used as such, or the very aim of his life and death would be missed.

74

Isaiah 32:2—"A man shall be … as rivers of water in a dry place."

Our Lord Jesus is nearest and dearest to us as Man.

His manhood reminds us of—

His incarnation, in which he assumed our nature.

His life on earth, in which he honored our nature.

His death, by which he redeemed our nature.

His resurrection, by which he upraised our nature.

Consider the Word made flesh, and you have before you "rivers of water." "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell."

Though manhood seems to be a dry place, a salt and barren land, yet in the case of this Man it yields rivers of water,—numberless streams, abounding with refreshment.

Let us learn from the simile before us:—

I. That nature's drought does not hinder Christ's coming to men.

1. He came into the dry place of a fallen, ruined, rebellious world.

2. He comes to men personally, notwithstanding their being without strength, without righteousness, without desire, without life.

3. He flows within us in rivers of grace, though the old nature continues to be a dry and parched land.

4. He continues the inflowing of his grace until he perfects us, and this he does though decay of nature, failure, and fickleness prove us to be as a dry place.

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

II. That nature's drought enhances the preciousness of Christ.

1. He is the more quickly discovered; as rivers would be in a desert.

2. He is the more highly valued; as water in a torrid climate.

3. He is the more largely used; as streams in a burning wilderness.

4. He is the more surely known to be the gift of God's grace. How else came he to be in so dry a place? Those who are most devoid of merit are the more clear as to God's grace.

5. He is the more gratefully extolled. Men sing of rivers which flow through dreary wastes.

III. That nature's drought is most effectually removed by Christ.

Rivers change the appearance and character of a dry place. By our Lord Jesus appearing in our manhood as Emmanuel, God with us,—

1. Our despair is cheered away.

2. Our sinfulness is purged.

3. Our nature is renewed.

4. Our barrenness is removed.

5. Our trials are overcome.

6. Our fallen condition is changed to glory.

The desert of manhood rejoices and blossoms as the rose now that the Man Christ Jesus has appeared in it.

IV. That our own sense of drought should lead us the more hopefully to apply to Christ.

He is rivers of water in a dry place. The dry place is his sphere of action. Nature's want is the platform for the display of grace.

1. This is implied in our Lord's offices. A Savior for sinners. A Priest who can have compassion on the ignorant, etc.

2. This is remembered in his great qualifications. Rivers, because the place is so dry. Full of grace and truth, because we are so sinful and false. Mighty to save, because we are so lost, etc.

3. This is manifested by the persons to whom he comes. Not many great or mighty are chosen. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He calls "the chief of sinners." In every case the rivers of love flow into a dry place.

4. This is clear from the object which he aimed at, namely, the glory of God, and the making known of the riches of his grace. This can be best accomplished by working salvation where there is no apparent likelihood of it, or, in other words, causing rivers to water dry places.

Come to Jesus, though your nature be dry, and your case hopeless.

Come, for there are rivers of grace in him.

Come, for they flow at your feet, "in a dry place."

Come, if you have come before, and are just now in a backsliding condition. The Lord Jesus is still the same; the rivers of mercy in him can never be dried up.

Christ never seems empty to any but those who are full of themselves. He is dry to those who overflow with personal fullness, but he floods with his grace all who are dried up as to all self-reliance.

Rivulets

It is my sweetest comfort, Lord,

And will forever be,

To muse upon the gracious truth

Of your humanity. Edward Caswall.

Men that have dry land spare no cost, refuse no pains, to bring rivulets of waters through it, that it may be moistened. It will, they know, in a little time, quit all their cost, and recompense all their labor. Oh, that men would be as careful that their dry hearts might be watered!—Ralph Robinson.

The claims of Jesus Christ upon our gratitude and devotion are such that we gladly borrow language from any that may help us to utter his praise. Thus Dr. Marsh adopted Pope's lines, altering only the last words,—

Not bubbling waters to the thirsty swain,

Not rest to weary laborers, faint with pain,

Not showers to larks, not sunshine to the bee,

Are half so precious as your love to me—My Savior.

With what joy do travelers through the Bayuda desert come within sight of the Nile! While toiling over the burning sand they have dreamed of rivers, and the mirage mocks them with the image of their day-dream. The fiction enchants them because the fact would be so delightful. What must it be actually to drink of the stream after terrible hours of thirst? Hindus worship their rivers as gods, so precious do they conceive them to be. Do you wonder that the gratitude of the ignorant should take such a form? What would their hot country be without them? What would our hearts, our lives, our present, our future, be without Christ? What would be the outlook of the age—what the prospect of our nation—what the destiny of the world, without the Lord Jesus?

What we want in Christ, we always find in him. When we want nothing, we find nothing. When we want little, we find little. When we want much, we find much. But when we want everything, and get reduced to complete nakedness and beggary, we find in Christ God's complete treasure-house, out of which come gold and jewels to enrich us, and garments to clothe us in the richness and righteousness of the Lord. Sears.

LXXV

Isaiah 38:17—"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for you have cast all my sins behind your back."

Here is the case of a man who, as far as mortal help was concerned, was a dead man, and yet prayer prevailed for his recovery, and the lengthening of his life.

He records his experience for the glory of God, for his own refreshment, and for our encouragement.

In our deep depressions we have the same God to help us.

Hezekiah sets before us in this verse,—

I. Healthful Bitterness. "For peace I had bitter bitterness" (margin).

1. He had been in peace. Probably this had brought with it a dangerous state, in which the mind became carnally secure, self-contented, stagnant, slumbering, careless, worldly.

2. He underwent a change. It was sudden and surprising, "Behold." It broke up all his peace, and took the place of it.

3. His new state was one of emphatic sorrow, "Bitterness." "Great bitterness." In bodily condition and in mental emotion he tasted the wormwood and the gall. Read previous verses, and see how he mourned.

4. It wrought his health. "So will you recover me" (verse 16).

It led him to repentance for the past. He speaks of "my sins."

It brought him to his knees in prayer.

It revealed his inward decline, and weakness of grace.

It made him put away his defilements.

It deepened his faith in God. "The Lord was ready to save me" (verse 20).

5. Peace came back again, and with it songs of joy.

If any are now drinking the bitter cup, let them be of good cheer, for there is a cup of salvation in God's hand.

II. Delivering Love. "In love to my soul you have delivered it."

In its first meaning we see recovery from sickness, but it intends much more: upon the surface lies benefit to his soul.

Let us observe—

1. The deed of love. "You have loved my soul from the pit" (margin).

The Lord delivers the soul from the pit of Hell, of sin, of despair, of temptation, of death. He alone can do this.

2. The love which performed the deed.

Love suggested and ordained it.

Love actually performed it by its own hands. "In love to my soul you have loved it from the pit."

Love breaks the heart, and binds it up.

Love sets us free, and then holds us captive.

We are by love loved out of sorrow, rebellion, despondency, coldness, and weakness. Acknowledge this heartily.

Measure this love by your demerit, your danger, your present complete safety, and by the greatness of the Deliverer, and what the delivery cost him.

Treasure this love, and sing of it all the days of your life.

III. Absolute Pardon. "You have cast all my sins behind your back."

1. This was the cause of his restored peace. He was burdened while sin remained, but when that was gone, peace returned.

2. This removed the whole burden. "Sins"; "my sins"; "all my sins."

3. This involved effort on God's part. "You have cast." We remember the more than herculean labors of Jesus, who has hurled our load into the bottomless deep.

4. This is wonderfully described. "Behind your back": this is—

The place of desertion. God has gone from our sin never to return to it. He has left it forever, and it will never cross his path again, for he never moves backward.

The place of forgetfulness: he will not remember it any more.

The place of nonentity: nothing is behind the back of God.

Therefore we will tell others our story, as Hezekiah has told us his. Let us seek out one or more who will hear us with attention.

"Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments" (verse 20). At this hour let us lift up the voice of gratitude.

Enlargements

Thomas Bilney, the martyr, after his submission to the Papacy, being brought again to repentance, was, as Latimer reports, for a time inconsolable. "His friends dared not suffer him to be alone day or night. They comforted him as they could, but no comforts would serve; and as for the comfortable places of Scripture, to bring them to him was as though a man should run him through the heart with a sword."

Now friend, give me your answer: Is it best to see sin and guilt now, while you may see a Savior also; or to see sin and a judge hereafter, but no Savior? Sin you shall see, as we say, in spite of your teeth, will you, nil you. Oh, then, let me see sin and guilt now; Oh, now, with a sweet Savior, that I may have this woeful sight past when I come to die. Giles Firmin.

"You have cast," etc. These last words are a borrowed speech, taken from the manner of men, who are accustomed to cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see, regard, or remember. A gracious soul has always his sins before his face: "I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me"; and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back. A father soon forgets and casts behind his back those faults that the child remembers and has always before his eyes, so does the Father of spirits. Thomas Brooks.

I have read somewhere of a great divine (I think it was Oecolampadius), who being recovered from a great sickness, said, "I have learned under this sickness to know sin and God." Did he not know these before? Doubtless he could preach good sermons concerning God and sin; but the Spirit, it seems, in that sickness, taught him these otherwise than he knew them before. Giles Firmin.

Some of the pits referred to in the Bible were prisons; one such I saw at Athens, and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a hole at the top, which served for both door and window. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting state, and sometimes deep in mud. Isaiah speaks of "the pit of corruption," or putrefaction and filth. John Gadsby.

Dr. Watts, from his early infancy to his dying day, scarcely ever knew what health was; but however surprising it may appear, he looked on the affliction as the greatest blessing of his life. The reason he assigned for it was, that, being naturally of a warm temper, and an ambitious disposition, these visitations of divine providence weaned his affections from the world, and brought every passion into subjection to Christ. This he often mentioned to his dear friend, Sir Thomas Abney, in whose house he lived many years. John Whitecross.

LXXVI

Isaiah 45:22—"Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."

The nations have been looking to their idols for all these weary centuries, but in vain.

Many of them are looking to their boasted philosophies, and still in vain.

False religions, politics, alliances, theories, organizations, men—all will be in vain to save the nations.

They must look to God: the God of all the families of the earth.

Happy are we that we live in a time when God's command to the nations is proclaimed abroad. Be it ours to spread the saving truth, and bid men look and live.

The same principle applies to individuals. If they would be saved they must look to the Lord.

If you, O hearer, would be saved, here is the only method, "Look."

I. What means this word "look" in reference to God?

It includes many things; as for instance—

1. Admit his reality by looking to him. Consider that there is a God, and enthrone him in your mind as a real Person, the true God, and your Lord. Let the Invisible God be to you as real as that which you see with your eyes.

2. Address yourself to him by prayer, thanksgiving, thought, obedience, reverence, &c., looking to him so as to know him, and recognize his presence.

3. Acknowledge that from him only salvation can come. Regard him as the only possible Savior. "There is none else."

4. Anticipate that HE will bless you: look for his interposition.

5. Abide alone in HIM for salvation. Keep your eyes fixed on him, as the Morning Star of your day.

II. For what part of salvation are we thus to look?

For every part of it from beginning to end.

1. Pardon. This must be God's act, and it can only come through the atonement which he has provided in Christ Jesus.

2. Preparation for pardon, namely, life, repentance, faith. Grace must prepare us for more grace.

3. Renewal of heart is the Holy Spirit's work: look to him for it. Regeneration must be of the Lord alone.

4. Sustenance in spiritual life is of the Lord alone. All growth, strength, fruit, must be looked for from him.

5. Daily support in common things is as much a divine gift as great deliverances. Our look should be constant, and it should comprise expectancy for time as well as eternity.

Any one matter left to self would ruin us altogether.

III. What is our encouragement to look?

1. His command. He bids us look, and therefore we may look.

2. His promise. He says, "look, and be saved," and he will never run back from his own word.

3. His Godhead. "For I am God." All things are possible to him: his mercy is equal to our salvation, his glory will be manifest thereby.

4. His character, as "a just God and a Savior." (See verse 21.) This combination is seen by those who know the cross, and it is full of hope to sinners.

5. His broad invitation: "all the ends of the earth." Each seeking soul may be sure that he is included therein.

Who will refuse so simple an act as to look?

IV. What is the best time in which to look?

Look now, at this very moment.

1. The command is in the present tense: "Look unto me."

2. The promise is in the same tense: "and be you saved." It is a fiat, like "light be." It takes immediate effect.

3. Your need of salvation is urgent: you are already lost.

4. The present time is yours, no other time is yours to use; for the past is gone, and the future will be present when it comes.

5. Your time may soon end. Death comes suddenly. Age creeps on us. The longest life is short.

6. It is the time which God chooses: it is ours to accept it.

This is a great soul-saving text: give earnest heed to it.

All who have obeyed it are saved: why should you not at once be saved? This is the one command, "Look! Look!"

Stories and Brevities

A striking example of prayer unto "gods that cannot save" is given by Miss Isabella Bird, who describes a service in a Buddhist temple in Japan, when a popular priest preached to a vast congregation on future punishment, that is, the tortures of the Buddhist hells. When he concluded, the people, slightly raising the hands on which the rosaries were wound, answered with the roar of a mighty response, "Eternal Buddha, save!"

To this text, under God, I owe my own deliverance from despair. An explanation of the work of Jesus, given by a humble, unlettered lay preacher, was followed by a direct appeal to me. "Young man, you are miserable, and you will never be happy unless you obey this message. Look! Look!" I did look, and in that instant lost my crushing load of guilt. It was all clear to me. Jesus had taken the sins of all believers. I believed, and knew that he had taken mine, and therefore I was clear. The matchless truth of the substitution of the divine Lord for me was light and liberty to my soul. A look saved me, and for my present salvation I have no other resort but still to look. "Looking unto Jesus," is a motto both for penitent and preacher, for sinner and saint. C. H. S.

There is an affecting story of a celebrated literary man, Heinrich Heine, who was prematurely disabled by disease, and utterly heart-sick and weary. In one of the art-palaces of Paris there is the famous statue called the Venus of Milo, the bewitching goddess of pleasure, which, by the rude accident of time, has lost both her arms, but still preserves much of her supreme, enchanting beauty. At the feet of this statue Heine cast himself down in remorse and despair, and, to use his own words, "There I lay a long time, and wept so passionately that a stone must have had compassion on me. The goddess looked down compassionately upon me, but she was helpless to console me. She looked as if she would say—'See you not that I have no arms, and that therefore I can give you no help?' " So, vain and useless is it to look to any for spiritual help and comfort, except to him of whom it is declared, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save."

Some divines would need a week in which to tell you what you are to do to be saved: but the Holy Spirit only uses four letters to do it. Four letters, and two of them alike—"Look!"

Be not like the man, in the Interpreter's house, whose eyes were fixed on the ground where he was raking together straws and dust, and who would not look up to him who was offering him a celestial crown. Look up! Look up!

77

Isaiah 46:4—"And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."

The doctrine of the text is the unchanging nature of God, and the constancy of his kindness towards his people in providence and grace.

We need scarcely prove the unchanging nature of God's dealings with his people, during the short period of mortal life, when—

In nature we see many things unchanged during seventy or eighty years: sun, ocean, rocks, etc.

We see his Word and gospel to be still the same.

Prayer, praise, communion, and holy service are the same.

Our experience is similar to that of saints in the olden time.

Especially we remember that the very nature of God places mutability beyond the range of supposition.

Of the Lord's dealings in providence and grace it is scarcely necessary to prove the immutability, when we remind you—

That the mercies of one age are in the main identical with those of another; and the promises are altogether unaltered.

That holy men are ready to testify to the faithfulness of God, and that both now and in the past the witnesses to his divine truth and immutability are many.

That divine strength is not dependent on man's weakness; divine love is not changed by man's demerits; and divine truth is not affected by lapse of years.

That the completion of the body of Christ requires the preservation of all the saints, and therefore the Lord must abide the same to every one of them.

Yet without doubt "old age" has its peculiarities, which do but serve to evidence the firmness of God's grace.

I. It has its Peculiar Memories.

1. It remembers many joys, and it sees in them proofs of love.

2. It remembers many visits to the house of sickness, and it recollects how the Lord cheered its desolate chamber.

3. It remembers many trials in its loss of friends, and its changes of condition, but it sees HIM to have been ever the same.

4. It remembers many conflicts with temptation, doubt, Satan, the flesh, and the world; but it remembers how HE covered its head in the day of battle.

5. It remembers its own many sins; and it is not forgetful how many professors have made shipwreck of faith; but it clearly sees covenant faithfulness in its own preservation.

All our recollections are unanimous in their testimony to an unchanging God.

II. It has its Peculiar Hopes.

It has now few things to anticipate; but those few are the same as in younger days, for the covenant abides unaltered.

1. The Ground of its hope is still Jesus, and not long service.

2. The Reason of its hope is still faith in the infallible Word.

3. The Preservation of its hope is in the same hands.

4. The End of its hope is still the same Heaven, the same crown of life and blessedness.

5. The Joy of its hope is still as bright and cheering as before.

III. It has its Peculiar Solicitudes.

Cares are fewer, for business is curtailed, and the needs which remain only serve to show that God is the same.

1. The Body is infirm, but grace makes amends for the departed joys of youth, health, and activity.

2. The Mind is weaker, the memory less retentive, and the imagination less vivid; but gracious doctrines are more sweet than ever, and eternal verities sustain the heart.

3. Death is nearer, but then Heaven is nearer too. Earth may be less lovely, but the home-country is dearer, since more loved ones have entered it, and have left us fewer ties to earth.

4. Preparation by Examination is now more imperative, but it is also more easy, since repetition has removed its difficulties, faith has more constancy, and tried promises afford richer comfort.

All these prove God the same.

IV. It has its Peculiar Blessedness.

Deprived of certain enjoyments, age is enriched with others.

1. It has a long experience to read, proving the promise true.

2. It has less wavering in its doctrines, knowing now what once it only guessed.

3. It has less to fear in the future of life, seeing the way is shorter.

4. It has more divine unveilings of the celestial regions, for it is now in the land Beulah.

5. It has less business on earth, and more in Heaven, and hence it has an inducement to be more heavenly minded.

Here is divine love made manifest as still the same.

V. It has its Peculiar Duties.

These are proofs of divine faithfulness, since they cause men to bring forth fruit in old age. They are—

1. Testimony to the goodness of God, the unchangeableness of his love, and the certainty of his revelation.

2. Comfort to others who are battling, assuring them that they will come off safely.

3. Warning to the wayward: such warning coming with tenfold force from the aged saint.

4. And frequently we may add—

Instruction, since the old man's experience has opened up many a mystery unknown before.

From the whole we gather—

A Lesson to the young to make this God their God, since he will never forsake his people.

A Solace for men in middle life to persevere, for they shall still be carried in the arms of grace.

A Song for the aged, concerning undying love and unchanging mercy. With mellowed voice let it be sung.

To the point

Dr. O. W. Holmes says, "Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay." This is true; but Christian men should be sweet from the hour that they are renewed in heart. Yet even then maturity brings a special mellowness.

Of the Christian it has been said, "The decay, and wasting, and infirmities of old age will be, as Dr. Guthrie called these symptoms of his own approaching death, only 'the land-birds, lighting on the shrouds, telling the weary mariner that he is nearing the desired haven.' "

It is a favorite speculation of mine that, if spared to sixty, we then enter on the seventh decade of human life, and that this, if possible, should be turned into the Sabbath of our earthly pilgrimage, and spent Sabbatically, as if on the shores of an eternal world, or in the outer courts, as it were, of the temple that is above, the tabernacle that is in heaven. Dr. Chalmers.

78

Isaiah 49:20, 21—"The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

"Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?"

A hopeful mood becomes the church of God, for the memories of the past, the blessings of the present, and the promises of the future are full of good cheer.

"All the promises do travail with a glorious day of grace."

The church lives, progresses, conquers by her faith; let her abandon despondency, as her weakness, her sin, her greatest hindrance.

The prophet, to remove all fear, reminds us that,—

I. In the church there are decreases. "I have lost my children," etc. This is frequently the bitter cry of a church.

1. Death invades the house of God, and takes away those who were its pillars and ornaments. But those who depart go to swell the chorus of Heaven.

2. Providence takes away useful persons by removal, or by excessive occupation which keeps them from holy service. The removed ones go to build up the church elsewhere: those who are lawfully detained by business are still doing the Lord's will.

3. Sin causes some to backslide, wander away, or become inactive. But they go from us because they are not of us.

This decrease is painful, and it may go so far that a church may feel itself to be "desolate," and "left alone." Yet the Lord has not forgotten his church, for he is her Husband.

II. In the church we should look for increase. "The children which thou shalt have."

Let us not be absorbed in lamenting losses; let us rejoice by faith in great gains which are surely coming.

1. Increase is needful, or what will become of the church?

2. Increase is prayed for, and God hears prayer.

3. Increase can only come through God, but he will give it, and be glorified by it.

4. Increase is promised in the text, and in many other Scriptures.

5. Increase is to be laboured for with agony of heart. "As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children."

III. In the church increase often causes surprise.

So narrow are our hearts, so weak our faith, that we are amazed when conversions are numerous

1. Because of the time: "Behold, I was left alone."

2. Because of their number: "Who has begotten me these?"

3. Because of their former character: "These, where had they been?" They were not after all so very far off.

Some of them were quite near to us and near to the kingdom, in the family, school, class, congregation, enquiry-room.

Others were far off in irreligion, and open sin.

Others were opposed through rationalism, superstition, or self-righteousness.

4. Because of their good nurture: "Who has brought up these?"

5. Because of their eagerness and courage. "Shall say again in your ears, The place is too strait for me."

6. Because of their constancy. "Give place to me that I may dwell." They come to remain.

Where had they been? Say rather, "Where had we been?" that we had not long ago looked after them, and welcomed them.

IV. In the church increase should be prepared for.

We make ready for the coming of children. Is the church an unnatural mother? Will she not welcome new-born souls?

We must prepare for an increase—

1. By intense united prayer for it.

2. By the preaching of the gospel, which is the means of it.

3. By every form of Christian effort which may lead to it.

4. By enlarging our bounds: "The place is too strait for me." To provide a larger audience-chamber may be a true act of faith.

5. By welcoming all true-born children of God: who say, each one, "give place to me that I may dwell"

Oh, for a triumphant faith that the little one shall become a thousand!

Oh, for grace to act upon such faith at once!

"Believe great things; attempt great things; expect great things."

Notes

My observation leads me to believe that, where churches are duly careful in the admission of members, they will find that their best converts come in flocks. My impression is that, when very few come forward, everybody leans towards a less exact judgment than in times when many are forthcoming. Bad fish are more likely to be taken home when fish are scarce than when they are plentiful; for then the fisherman feels more free to make a rigid selection. I say nothing about the severity or laxity of a church in receiving members, but it is incidental to human nature that when we are in a revival we become more guarded, and in dull times we are more apt to look at a convert with a hope which is rather eager than anxious. Thus I account for what I believe to be a fact, that rare converts are frequently bare converts; and that the best sheep come to us in flocks.

Dr. Judson, the devoted missionary to Burmah, during his visit to Boston, was asked, "Do you think the prospect bright of the speedy conversion of the heathen?" "As bright," he replied, "as the promises of God."

Monday, December 22, 1800. Creesturo, Gokol and his wife, and Felix Carey gave us their experience tonight. Brother C. concluded in prayer after we had sung, "Salvation, oh, the joyful sound!" … Brother Thomas is almost mad with joy. Diary of the Rev. W. Ward, of Serampore.

"I am inclined to think that a single soul is never born again, apart from the tender concern and anxiety of some creaturely heart or hearts.… Probably Saul was converted in answer to the prayers of the disciples at Damascus. John Pulsford.

Dr. Isaac Barrow, when a lad, was most unpromising. Such was his misconduct, and so irreclaimable did he seem, that his father, in despair, used to say that "if it pleased God to remove any of his children, he wished it might be his son Isaac." What became of the other and more hopeful children of the worthy linen-draper, we cannot tell; but this unworthy son lived to be the happiness and pride of his father's old age, to be one of the most illustrious members of the university to which he belonged, and one of the brightest ornaments of the church of which he became a minister.

79

Isaiah 50:2–6—"Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinks, because there is no water, and dies for thirst.

"I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sack-cloth their covering.

"The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens mine ear to hear as the learned.

"The Lord God has opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting."

There was no one to take up the divine challenge: no one to answer for guilty man. To the call of God for one who could save, there was no answer but the echo of his voice.

See who it is that comes to rescue man! Jehovah interposes to save; but he appears in a special manner.

The Lord himself draws the portrait. View it with solemn attention.

I. Behold the Messiah as God!

1. He comes in fullness of power. "Is my hand shortened at all?"

2. His power to save is equal to that with which he destroys. Let Egypt be the instance: "I dry up the sea," etc.

3. His power is that which produces the phenomena of nature. "I clothe the heavens with blackness."

4. This should excite deep gratitude, that he who rebukes the sea was himself rebuked; he who clothes the heavens with blackness was himself in darkness for our sake.

5. This should excite confidence; for he is evidently Lord of the sea and the sky, the dark and the gloom.

II. Behold him as the Appointed Teacher!

1. Instructed and endowed: "the Lord has given me the tongue of the learned." He knows, and he imparts knowledge.

2. Condescending to the needy: "to him that is weary."

3. Watchful of each case: "that I should know how to speak a word in season." This is a rare gift: many speak, and perhaps speak in season, but have not learned the right manner.

4. Constantly in communion with God: "he wakens morning by morning." "He who has sent me is with me."

Should we not be heartily attentive to his teachings? "I will hear what God the Lord will speak."

III. Behold him as the Servant of the Lord!

1. Prepared by grace: "he wakens mine ear to hear." He spoke not his own words, but those which he had heard of his Father.

2. Consecrated in due form: "has opened mine ear," boring it to the door-post. This was publicly done in his baptism, when in outward symbol he fulfilled all righteousness.

3. Obedient in all things: "I was not rebellious." In no point did Jesus refuse the Father's will, not even in Gethsemane.

4. Persevering through all trials: "neither turned away back." He did not relinquish the hard task, but set his face as a flint to carry it through.

5. Courageous in it all: as we see in the verse following our text.

What a model for our service! Consider him, and copy him.

IV. Behold him as the Peerless Sufferer!

1. His entire submission; his back, his cheeks, his hair, his face.

2. His willing submission: "I gave my back to the smiters." "I hid not my face."

3. His lowly submission, bearing the felon's scourge, and the utmost of scorn: "shame and spitting."

4. His patient submission. Not a word of reproach, or resentment. Grace had taught him effectually, and he suffered perfectly.

It may bring out important truths very vividly if we make combinations of the four subjects which have come before us.

Place the first and the last together: the God and the Sufferer. What condescension! What ability to save!

Place the two middle terms together: the Teacher and the Servant, and see how sweetly he serves by teaching, and teaches by serving.

Put all together, and let the blended characters ensure ardent affection, obedient reverence, and devout delight.

A Golden Lecturer's Word

I imagine myself placed in the world at the time when the Christ was expected, commissioned to announce to it that God was about to send his own Son, having endowed him with "the tongue of the learned." What excitement in all the schools of philosophy! What gatherings of the sages of the earth! What expectations of the discoveries with which science was about to be enriched! "Now," say they, "shall long-hidden secrets be revealed: now shall we penetrate the laboratories of nature, and observe all those processes of which, at present, we see only the results. For what purpose can the tongue of the learned have been given to a Divine Person, if not that he may expound mysteries to the world, that he may tell us what the wise have been unable to detect, and the studious labored in vain to unfold?"

But this Divine Person shall speak for himself to the assembled throng of philosophers and sages. "Yes, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned; and I have descended that I might speak with that tongue to every nation of the earth. But he has not given me the tongue that I might tell how stars and planets roll, or settle the disputes of the wise. He has not given me the tongue that I should know how to speak a word to you, you disputers of this world; but simply that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." Oh, how fallen are the expectant countenances of philosophers and sages! "Is this all?" they exclaim. "Was it only for this that the tongue of the learned was bestowed? Does this require, or can this employ, the tongue of the learned?"

Nay, men of science, turn not angrily away. With all your wisdom you have never been able to do this. The weary have sought to you in vain. They have found no "word in season," no word of comfort and sustainment; and why then should you be indignant at the province here assigned to "the tongue of the learned"?

What tongue but "the tongue of the learned" could speak "a word in season" to a world oppressed with this universal weariness? The tongue must be one which could disclose the mysteries of the Godhead, prove the immortality of the soul, and be charged with intelligence as to the pardon of sin, and the mode of reconciliation between man and his Maker: things into which angels had in vain striven to look. Condensed from Henry Melvill.

LXXX

Isaiah 50:7—"For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."

There was no flint in the heart of Jesus, but there was much in his face. He was as resolute as he was submissive. Read verse 6 and this verse together—"I hid not my face from shame and spitting … I have set my face like a flint." Gentleness and resolve are married.

In Luke 9:51, we read, "he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." In our Lord there was no turning aside, though none helped him, and every one hindered him. He was neither confounded by thoughts within his own soul, nor rendered ashamed by the scorn of others.

Let us consider our Lord's stern resolution thus,—

I. His steadfast resolve tested.

He declared his determination in the language of our text, and by many an ordeal this declaration was justified. He was tried—

1. By the offers of the world. They would make him a king. His triumphant ride into Jerusalem proved how easily he could have become a popular leader. By a little compromise he might have won an enthusiastic following as a religious teacher.

2. By the persuasions of friends. Peter rebuked him. All the disciples marveled at his determination. His relatives sought a very different career for him. Many yield to well-meaning friends; but Jesus set his face like a flint.

3. By the unworthiness of his clients.

He who ate bread with him betrayed him.

His disciples forsook him and fled.

The whole race conspired to put him to death.

4. By the bitterness which he tasted at his entrance upon his great work as a substitutionary sacrifice. Gethsemane, the betrayal, the false accusation, the mockery: these were sharp commencements, and many have shrunk when the fire has begun to kindle upon them; but Jesus stood firm.

5. By the ease with which he could have relinquished the enterprise.

Pilate would have released him had Jesus pleaded.

Legions of angels would have come to his rescue.

He might himself have come down from the cross.

He was not held to his work by inability to quit it, but only by that love which is strong as death. He said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me": the impossibility lay in his resolve to redeem his people.

6. By the taunts of those who scoffed.

The people: "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save him."

The priests, etc.: "If he be the King of Israel," etc.

The thieves: "If you be Christ, save yourself and us."

Strong men have been overcome by ridicule; but not so Jesus.

7. By the full stress of the death-agony.

The pain, thirst, fever, fainting, desertion, death: none of these moved him from his invincible resolve.

II. His steadfast resolve sustained.

As man, our Lord owed his glorious steadfastness to several things, and he gives us in the text two "therefores." It was due—

1. To his divine schooling. See verse 4.

2. To his conscious innocence. "I know that I shall not be ashamed." See verse 5.

3. To the joy that was set before him. He would overcome for his people. "Who will contend with me?" See verse 8.

4. Specially to his unshaken confidence in the help of the Lord God.

We have this both in the text and in verse 9.

Even to his cry of "It is finished" he never flinched, but held to his grand purpose.

III. His steadfast resolve imitated.

1. Our purpose must be God's glory, as his was.

2. Our education must be God's teaching, as his was.

3. Our life must combine active and passive obedience, as his did. See verses 5 and 6.

4. Our strength must lie in God, as his did.

5. Our path must be one of faith, as his was. Note verse 10, and its remarkable connection with the whole subject.

6. Our resolve must be carefully made, and steadily carried out until we can say, "It is finished," in our manner and degree.

Close with a warning to the men of this world from verse 11.

The ungodly must have present light, from earth, from a fire of their own kindling, from mere momentary sparks.

Their resolve will end in eternal regrets; they shall lie down as for the night; their bed shall be sorrow; they shall never rise from it.

Addenda

A secret divine support was rendered to the human nature of our Redeemer; for the great work in which he was engaged required abundant strength. One has well said that "it would have broken the hearts, backs, and necks of all the glorious angels in Heaven, arid all the mighty men upon earth, had they engaged in it." Upon the Father's aid the Lord Jesus relied, according to our text; and this enabled him to contemplate the tremendous woes of the passion with a resolve of the most steadfast kind. Faith in God is the best foundation for a firm resolution, and a firm resolution is the best preparative for a great undertaking. There is nothing so hard but that it can be cut by that which is harder: against his hard labor our Lord set his harder determination. His face was as a flint; you could not turn him to leave his work, nor melt him to pity himself. He was set upon it: he must die because he must save his people; and he must save his people because he loved them better than himself.

The saints endeavor to imitate the strong resolve of their Lord to yield themselves up. For instance, a Scottish peasant, dying as a martyr on the scaffold, said, "I came here to die for Christ, and if I had as many lives in my hand as I have hairs on my head, I would lay them all down for Christ."

Oh, what a sea of blood, a sea of wrath, of sin, of sorrow and misery, did the Lord Jesus wade through for your internal and eternal good! Christ did not plead, "This cross is too heavy for me to bear; this wrath is too great for me to lie under; this cup, which has in it all the ingredients of divine displeasure, is too bitter for me to sup off, how much more to drink the very dregs of it!" No, Christ stands not upon this; he pleads not the difficulty of the service, but resolutely and bravely wades through all, as the prophet shows. Christ makes nothing of his Father's wrath, the burden of your sins, the malice of Satan, and the rage of the world, but sweetly and triumphantly passes through all. Ah, souls, if this consideration will not raise up your spirits above all the discouragements that you meet with, to own Christ and his service, and to stick and cleave to Christ and his service, I am afraid nothing will! A soul not stirred by this, not raised and lifted up by this, to be resolute and brave in the service of God, notwithstanding all dangers and difficulties, is a soul left of God to much blindness and hardness. Thomas Brooks.

81

Isaiah 53:5—"With his stripes we are healed."

What a chapter! A Bible in miniature. The Gospel in its essence.

When our subject brings us near to the passion of our Lord, our feelings should be deeply solemn, our attention intensely earnest.

Hark, the scourge is falling! Forget everything but "his stripes."

We have each one a part in the flagellation: we wounded him, for certain; is it as certain that "with his stripes we are healed"?

Observe with deep attention,—

I. That God here treats sin as a disease.

Sin is a great deal more than a disease, it is a willful crime; but the mercy of our God leads him to consider it under that aspect, in order that he may deal with it in grace.

1. It is not an essential part of man as he was created: it is abnormal, disturbing, and destructive.

2. It puts the faculties out of gear, and breaks the equilibrium of the life-forces, just as disease disturbs the bodily functions.

3. It weakens the moral energy, as disease weakens the body.

4. It either causes pain, or deadens sensibility, as the case may be.

5. It frequently produces visible pollution. Some sins are as defiling as the leprosy of old.

6. It tends to increase in the man, and it will prove fatal before long.

Sin is a disease which is hereditary, universal, contagious, defiling, incurable, mortal. No human physician can deal with it. Death, which ends all bodily pain, cannot cure this disease: it displays its utmost power in eternity, after the seal of perpetuity has been set upon it by the mandate: "He who is filthy, let him be filthy still."

II. That God here declares the remedy which he has provided.

Jesus is his Son, whom he freely delivered up for us all.

1. Behold the heavenly medicine: the stripes of Jesus in body and in soul. Singular surgery, the Healer is himself wounded, and this is the means of our cure!

2. Remember that these stripes were vicarious: he suffered in our stead.

3. Accept this atonement, and you are saved by it.

Prayer begs for the divine surgery.

Belief is the linen cloth which binds on the plaster.

Trust is the hand which secures it to the wound.

Repentance is the first symptom of healing.

4. Let nothing of your own interfere with the one medicine. You see the proper places of prayer, faith, and repentance; do not misuse them, and make them rivals of the "stripes." By the stripes of Jesus we are healed, and by these alone.

One remedy, and only one, is set forth by God. Why seek another?

III. That this divine remedy is immediately effective.

To the carnal mind it does not appear to touch the case.

But those of us who have believed in the stripes of Jesus are witnesses to the instant and perfect efficacy of the medicine, for we can speak from experience, since "We are healed."

1. Our conscience is healed of its smart: eased but not deadened.

2. Our heart is healed of its love of sin. We hate the evil which scourged our Well-Beloved.

3. Our life is healed of its rebellion. We are zealous of good works.

4. Our consciousness assures us that we are healed. We know it, and rejoice in it. None can dispute us out of it.

Application.

1. Friend, you are by nature in need of healing.

You do not think so: this disease affects the mind, and breeds delusions.

You ridicule such teaching: your disease leads to madness.

You oppose it. Thus do the sick refuse medicine, and the insane hate their friends.

2. Friend, you are either healed or sick.

Do you not know which is your condition?

You ought to know. You may know.

3. Why are you not healed?

There is power in the remedy, for you, for you now.

4. If you are healed, behave accordingly.

Quit diseased company.

Do a healthy man's work.

Praise the Physician, and his singular surgery.

Publish abroad his praises.

Suggestive Paragraphs

The Balsam-tree sheds its balm to heal the wounds of those that cut it; and did not our blessed Savior do the like? They mock him, and he prays for them; they shed his blood, and he makes it a medicine for their healing; they pierce his heart, and he opens therein a fountain for their sin and impurity. Was it ever heard, before or since, that a physician should bleed, and thus heal his patient; or that an offended prince should die to expiate the treasons of his rebellious subjects?

Our heavenly Balsam is a cure for all diseases. If you complain that no sins are like yours, remember that there is no salvation like Christ's. If you have run the complete round of sin, remember that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. No man ever perished for being a great sinner, unless he was also an unbelieving sinner. Never did a patient fail of a cure who accepted from the great Physician the balm of his atoning blood.

See how Christ, whose death was so bitter to himself, becomes sweetness itself to us. Rejection was his, but acceptance is ours; the wounding was his, but the healing is ours; the blood was his, but the balm is ours; the thorns were his, but the crown is ours; the death was his, but the life is ours; the price was his, but the purchase is ours. There is more power in Christ's blood to save than in your sin to destroy. Do but believe in the Lord Jesus, and your cure is wrought. Modernized from Spurstow's "Spiritual Chemist."

The Hebrew word here, and the Greek word the Apostle Peter uses in his quotation of this passage which we render "stripes" (1 Peter 2:24), denote properly the marks which stripes or wounds leave upon the body, or as we say, scars. The scars in his hands, feet, and side, and perhaps other marks of his many wounds, remained after his resurrection. And John saw him, in vision, before the throne, as "a Lamb as it had been slain." All these expressions and representations, I apprehend, are designed to intimate to us that, though the death of the Messiah is an event long since past, yet the effects and benefits are ever new, and to the eye of faith are ever present. How admirable is this expedient, that the wounds of one, yes, of millions, should be healed by beholding the wounds of another! Yet this is the language of the gospel, "Look, and live!" "Look unto me, and be you saved!" Three great wounds are ours, guilt, sin, and sorrow; but by contemplating his weals, or scars, with an enlightened eye, and by rightly understanding who was thus wounded, and why, all these wounds are healed.

You who live by this medicine, speak well of it. Tell to others, as you have opportunity, what a Savior you have found. It is usual for those who have been relieved, in dangerous and complicated diseases, by a skillful physician, to commend him to others who are laboring under the like maladies. We often see public acknowledgments to this purpose. If all the persons who have felt the efficacy of a dying Savior's wounds, apprehended by faith, were to publish their cases, how greatly would his power and grace be displayed!—John Newton.

He cures the mind of its blindness, the heart of its hardness, the nature of its perverseness, the will of its backwardness, the memory of its slipperiness, the conscience of its benumbedness, and the affections of their disorder, all according to his gracious promises: Ezekiel 36:26, 27. John Willison.

Trajan, it is said, rent his clothes to bind up his soldiers' wounds. Christ poured out his blood to heal his saints' wounds, and tears his flesh to bind them up. Gurnall.

Dr. Cheyne was an eminent as well as a pious physician; but he was supposed to be severe in his regimen. When he had prescribed, and the patient began to object to the treatment, he would say, "I see you are not bad enough for me yet." Some are not bad enough for Christ yet—we mean, in their own apprehension; but when they find and feel that they are entirely lost, and have no other help or hope, they will cordially acquiesce in his recommendations, however mysterious, however humbling, however trying. Jay.

Four travelers, not very well acquainted with the cross-road over which they were journeying, began to look out for a finger-post. Soon after this, one of them cried out, "I think I can see one yonder in the distance"; and "I believe that I can see it too, about half-a-mile off," rejoined another; and "I am almost certain that I can see it," added a third, "it stands up higher than the hedges." "Well, well," said the fourth, "you may be right, or you may be wrong; but we had better make the best of our way to it, for while we keep at such a distance, whether it be a finger-post or not, it will be of little use to us.

Now I want you all to draw near to the Savior of sinners, and not to be satisfied with "thinking," or "believing," or being "almost certain," that he is your Redeemer; I want you to see him as your Savior, as distinctly as you can see the sun in the skies, and to break out with all the conviction and fervency of Thomas, the Apostle, "My Lord, and my God!"—George Mogridge.

82

Isaiah 54:7–9—"For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.

"In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer.

"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you."

This text is the property of all believers. Their title to it is seen at the end of the chapter (verse 17). Let them not fail to enjoy it. It follows upon the prophecy of their Lord's great griefs. (Isaiah 53.) We are never so able to believe a great promise as when we have been at the cross.

The people of God are often greatly tried, and their griefs are sometimes spiritual, and more deep than those of the wicked.

Their grand comfort lies in this, that in all their afflictions there is no penal wrath, no great indignation, no final judgment from the Lord.

We shall speak upon,—

I. The little wrath, and its modifications.

The Lord calls it "a little wrath," and speaks of the time of its continuance as "a moment," "a small moment."

1. Our view of it differs from the Lord's. To us it appears to be an utter forsaking, and the hiding of his face forever.

We are too foolish, too agitated, too unbelieving, to judge aright.

God's view is truth itself, therefore let us believe it.

2. The time of it is short. What is less than "a small moment"?

As compared with eternal love.

When looked back upon in after years of holy peace.

In reality it only endures for a little while.

It will soon be over if we repent and pray.

3. The recompense is great. Jehovah vows to give "mercies," many, divine, everlasting, great, effectual: "with great mercies will I gather you."

4. The wrath itself is little. A Husband's wrath, a Redeemer's wrath a Pitier's wrath; wrath occasioned by holy love.

5. The expression of it is not severe.

Not set my face against you; nor change my mind.

But hide my face, and that only for a moment.

Thus God views the matter of our chastisement, seeing the end from the beginning.

6. It is quite consistent with eternal love. This love will endure forever, is present during the little wrath, is the cause of the wrath, and will continue unchanged forever.

The chastened child is none the less loved.

7. It does not change our relationship to the Lord. He is still our Redeemer (verse 8), and we are still the redeemed of the Lord.

Our duty is to grieve because of the Lord's anger; to be humbled and sanctified by it; but not to faint, or despair under it.

II. The great wrath, and our security against it.

1. The wrath of God against his people can no more break out upon them than can Noah's flood return to go over the earth. That flood has not returned during these many centuries, and it never will. Seed-time and harvest continue, and the bow is in the cloud. We have no dread of another universal deluge of water, nor need believers fear a return of divine wrath. (Enlarge on verse 9.)

2. The great flood of wrath has broken forth once for all. On our Lord it has burst, and thus it has been ended forever. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us": Galatians 3:13. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us": Psalm 103:12. "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ that died": Romans 8:34. "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found": Jeremiah 50:20. This is real, true, effectual, eternal atonement.

3. We have the oath of God that it shall not return: "so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you." In a way of punishment there shall not even be a hard word uttered—"nor rebuke you."

4. We have a covenant of peace as sure as that made with Noah, and of a higher order, for it is made with Jesus our Lord.

5. We have pledges of immutable, immovable mercy: "the mountains and the hills": verse 10. These may depart and be removed, but never the kindness of the Lord.

6. All this is spoken to us by Jehovah the Merciful: "says the Lord that has mercy on you."

How wicked it is to doubt and distrust!

How safe is the condition of the covenanted ones!

How glorious is our God of everlasting kindness!

How careful should we be that we do not grieve him!

Cheering Words

Ah, Zion's daughters! do not fear

The crosse, the cords, the nails, the spear,

The myrrh, the gall, the vinegar;

For Christ, your loving Savior, has

Drunk up the wine of God's fierce wrath;

Only there's left a little froth,

Less for to taste, than for to show

What bitter cups had been your due,

Had he not drunk them up for you. Herrick.

The darkness of sorrow has often been shown to be but "the shadow of God's wing as he drew near to bless."

We cannot have fertilizing showers on the earth without a clouded Heaven above. It is thus with our trials.

O Lord! let me have anything but your frown; and anything with your smile. R. Cecil.

A learned minister, attending an aged Christian in humble life, when in his last illness, remarked that the passage in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," was much more emphatic in the original language than in our translation, inasmuch as it contained no fewer than five negatives in proof of the validity of the divine promise, and not merely two, as it appears in the English version; intending by this remark, to convey to him that, in consequence of the number of negatives, the promise was expressed with much greater force in the original language than in the English. The man's reply was very simple and striking: "I have no doubt, sir, that you are quite right, but I can assure you that if God had only spoken once, I should have believed him just the same."

LXXXIII

Isaiah 55:7—"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him."

This is the great chapter of gospel invitation. How free! How full! How plain and pressing are the calls to receive grace!

Yet the necessity of repentance, in its most practical form, is not cast into the background. Turning, or conversion, is insisted on.

Gospel provisions are presented freely (verses 1 and 2).

A Savior is provided and proclaimed (verses 3 and 4).

Saved nations are absolutely promised to him (verse 5).

Men are encouraged to seek and find the Lord (verse 6).

But the call to conversion follows close after, and is intended to be the necessary inference from all that preceded it. Men must return to God: his very mercy makes it imperative.

Very earnestly, therefore, let us turn our thoughts to,—

I. The necessity of conversion.

The text makes this clear, but it may also be inferred from—

1. The nature of God. How can a holy God wink at sin, and pardon sinners who continue in their wickedness?

2. The nature of the gospel. It is not a proclamation of tolerance for sin, but of deliverance from it. It contains no single promise of forgiveness to the man who goes on in his iniquity.

3. The facts of the past. No instance has occurred of pardon given to a man while obstinately persisting in his evil way. Conversion always goes with salvation.

4. The needs of society. It would be unsafe to the common-weal of the universe to show mercy to the incorrigible offender. Sin must be punished, or else virtue will perish.

5. The well-being of the sinner himself requires that he should quit his sin, or feel its penalty. To be favored with a sense of divine pardon, while obstinately abiding in sin, would confirm the man in sin; and sin itself is a worse evil than its penalty.

6. The work of the Holy Spirit would be set aside, for he is the Sanctifier.

7. The design of our Lord Jesus would be overborne, for he comes to save from sin.

8. The character of Heaven requires that a sinner's nature be renewed, and his life purged, before he can enter the holy place where God, and holy angels, and perfect saints abide.

"Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven": Matthew 18:3.

II. The nature of conversion.

1. It deals with the life and conduct. The man's "way."

His natural way; that into which he runs when left to himself.

His habitual way; to which he is accustomed.

His beloved way; wherein his pleasures lie.

The general way; the broad road in which the many run.

This, our text says, he must "forsake." He must have done with sin, or he will be undone. It will not suffice for him to—

Own that it is wrong;

Profess to be sorry for following it;

Resolve to leave it, and end in resolve; or,

Move more cautiously in it.

No, he must forsake it, altogether, at once, and forever.

2. It deals with the "thoughts." A man must forsake—

His unscriptural opinions, and self-formed notions—

About God, his law, his gospel, his people.

About sin, punishment, Christ, self, etc.

His contemplations, so far as they lead him—

To find pleasure in evil;

To indulge in conceit and self-sufficiency; or,

To harbor wrong thoughts of God.

His evil resolves:—

To continue in sin, to delay repentance, to be a free-thinker, to be his own master, to defy God, etc.

Such thoughts are to be forsaken; he must flee from them.

3. It deals with the man in reference to God. "Let him return unto the Lord."

It bids him cease from pride, neglect, opposition, distrust, disobedience, and all other forms of alienation from the Lord. He must turn and return: wandering no further, but coming home.

III. The gospel of conversion.

1. A sure promise is made to it. "He will have mercy upon him."

2. Divine power is exercised to effect it. "Turn you us unto you, O Lord, and we shall be turned": Lamentations 5:21. A man converts when grace converts him.

3. It is itself promised to faith in Jesus. Acts 5:31; 13:38, 39.

4. The pardon which comes with it is the result of a full atonement, which renders the pardon abundant, just, safe, and easy of belief to the awakened conscience.

Oh, that the sinner would consider the need of a total change of thought within, and way without! It must be thorough and radical or it will be useless.

Total and terrible ruin must ensue if you continue in evil.

May this hour see the turning-point in your life's course! God says, "Let him return." What does hinder you?

A Story

William Burns was preaching one evening, in the open-air, to a vast multitude. He had just finished, when a man came timidly up to him, and said, "O Sir! will you come and see my dying wife?" Burns consented; but the man immediately said, "Oh! I am afraid when you know where she is you won't come." "I will go wherever she is," he replied. The man then tremblingly told him that he was the keeper of the lowest public-house in one of the most wretched districts of the town. "It does not matter," said the missionary, "come away." As they went, the man, looking up in the face of God's servant, said earnestly, "O Sir! I am going to give it up at the term." Burns replied, "There are no terms with God." However much the poor trembling publican tried to get Burns to converse with him about the state of his soul, and the way of salvation, he was unable to draw another word from him than these—"There are no terms with God." The shop was at last reached. They passed through it in order to reach the chamber of death. After a little conversation with the dying woman, the servant of the Lord engaged in prayer, and while he was praying the publican left the room, and soon a loud noise was heard, something like a rapid succession of determined knocks with a great hammer. Was this not a most unseemly noise to make on such a solemn occasion as this? Is the man mad? No. When Burns reached the street, he beheld the wreck of the publican's sign-board strewn in splinters upon the pavement. The business was given up for good and all. The man had in earnest turned his back on his low public-house, and returned to the Lord, who had mercy upon him, and unto our God, who abundantly pardoned all his sins. Nothing transpired in his after-life to discredit the reality of his conversion. William Brown, in "The Joyful Sounds."

84

Isaiah 55:7—"Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

The prophet is setting forth the mission of Jesus (verses 4 and 5).

Immediately he makes an appeal to sinners, for Jesus comes to sinners. He proclaims pardon to them, for this Jesus brings: his coming is as the morning, bedewing the earth with delight.

The call is practically to faith and repentance; immediate, frank, spiritual, complete.

The inducement presented is an abundant free-grace pardon: "he will abundantly pardon."

There is no more likely argument with which to persuade souls.

I. Let us contemplate the abundance of divine pardon.

We may do so the better if we consider,—

1. The abundance of the attribute from which it springs. All the attributes of God are infinite and harmonious, but we are told that "God is love," and this is not said of justice, or power. "Your mercy is great above the heavens": Psalm 108:4. "The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy": Psalm 119:64. "His mercy endures forever." Psalm 136.

2. The abundance of the objects of the pardon. Since the days of Adam and even until now God has pardoned multitudes among all nations, classes, and ages.

We quickly lose patience when many offend, but it is not so with our God. "You have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now": Numbers 14:19.

3. The abundant sins which are pardoned. Who can count the thoughts, words, and deeds which are pardoned?

These repeated ad nauseam. Is. 43:24. Rev. 3:16.

Sins against law and gospel, light and love, in youth and old age.

Yet these God removes, like the countless locusts blown away by the wind, or as the drops of dew exhaled by the sun.

4. The abundant sin of the sins which are pardoned.

Some sins are planned and deliberated on, and each plotting and devising entails sin.

Some are a spider's nest, swarming with many sins.

Some are proud, wanton, cruel, blasphemous, impudent.

Some are repeated, aggravated, and persisted in.

Yet the intensified venom of epitomized sin the Lord removes.

5. The abundant means of pardon.

The atonement of his Son, and his righteousness.

The infinite merit of the ever-living Advocate.

The Holy Spirit ever present to apply gospel provisions.

6. The abundant ease of the terms of pardon.

No hard conditions of penance or purgatory.

Only ask and have; repent and trust.

Even the repentance and faith required are also given.

7. The abundant fullness of the pardon.

It covers all sin, past, present, and to come.

It is most effectual, and sure.

It is perpetual, and irreversible.

It is accompanied with imputed righteousness. Pardon washes, and justification clothes and beautifies.

8. The abundant blessings which attend it.

Liberation from spiritual prison, legal bonds, etc.

Freedom from the reigning power of inbred sin.

Adoption into the heavenly family.

Acceptance so full that we may challenge accusers.

Employment in services of trust.

Communion with the thrice-holy God.

Reception of answers to our prayers, as true and certain as if we were perfectly pure.

Ultimate admission into glory itself with the perfect ones.

II. Let us consider its proper inferences: and these shall furnish the practical conclusion of our discourse.

1. Then there is no room for despair. If the Lord only pardoned now and then, it were well to seek his favor even on the bare chance of obtaining it; but now let us return unto him in sure and certain hope of pardon.

2. Then there is a loud call to repent, for who would offend so good, so kind a Lord? Let our relentings be kindled, since he is so forward to promise us pardon.

3. Here is a special call to the greatest sinners, since abundant mercy is most appropriate to their case: and no less should the less guilty come, since there must be room for them.

4. Such a much-forgiving God deserves to be much loved, and the lives of the pardoned should prove that to whom much is forgiven, the same loves much.

5. If such mercy be slighted, we may be sure it will entail great wrath.

Inviting Sounds

That sin which is not too great to be forsaken, is not too great to be forgiven.

Mercy in us, it is no more than a drop; but in God it is an ocean: in us it is no more than a little stream; in God it is a springing and flowing fountain. A spring continually runs, an ocean is never drawn dry. What is a little sparkle of fire, if it fall into the main sea? The same are the sins of a penitent person when dealt with by the mercy of God. Thomas Horton.

One of the captive followers of the Duke of Monmouth was brought before James the Second. "You know it is in my power," said the king, "to pardon you." "Yes," said the man, who well knew his cruel character, "but it is not in your nature." However unwise this answer was, its truth was soon seen. Happily, we know that God has not only the power but the disposition to show mercy. "Also, unto you, O Lord, belongs mercy."

Mr. Fleming, in his "Fulfilling of the Scriptures," relates the case of a most hardened sinner who was put to death in the town of Ayr. It pleased the Lord to bring him to repentance when in prison, and so full was his assurance of pardoning mercy that, when he came to the place of execution, he could not help crying out to the people, under the sense of pardon, "Oh, he is a great Forgiver! He is a great Forgiver!" and he added, "Now has perfect love cast out fear. I know God has nothing to say against me, for Jesus Christ has paid all; and those are free whom the Son makes free."—G. S. Bowes.

Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning. Thus I am always in extremities: either my sins are so small that they need not any repentance, or so great that they cannot obtain your pardon. Lend me, O Lord, a reed out of your sanctuary, truly to measure the dimension of my offences. But O! as you reveal to me more of my misery, reveal also more of your mercy; lest, if my wounds, in my apprehension, gape wider than your tents (plugs of lint), my soul run out at them. If my badness seem bigger than your goodness but one hair's breadth, but one moment, that is room and time enough for me to run to eternal despair. Thomas Fuller.

85

Isaiah 60:8—"Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"

In the days when the Lord shall visit his church, multitudes will come to seek him.

It is a great blessing when they do so: a matter for admiring praise.

They will come from far to learn of Jesus, flying in a straight line, as pigeons when they return to their homes.

Jesus is the great attraction, and when he is faithfully lifted up, men will hasten to him in flocks, flying like clouds before a gale.

Yet will it astonish those who see it, and they will ask questions such as those which follow.

I. Who are these converts that they should be so many? "As a cloud."

The answers are many and easy.

1. Are not sinners many?

2. Is not Christ's redemption great?

3. Are not his blessings attractive?

4. Shall Satan have the pre-eminence in numbers at the last? We cannot think it will be so.

5. Is not the Spirit of God able to draw many?

6. Is not Heaven great, and is there not room for hosts of souls?

Naturalists tell us of vast clouds of pigeons in America. Oh, to see such a cloud of converts!

II. Who are they that they should fly?

Why are they in such eager haste as to speed like doves when coming homeward to their cotes?

This also is plain.

1. They are in great danger.

2. Their time is very short.

3. They are driven by a great wind. The Spirit, like a heavenly breath, impels souls to seek salvation.

4. They are moved by strong desire: a great hunger is on them to reach their home, where they shall be fed and housed.

Doves fly straight, swiftly, surely. They neither linger nor loiter, but hasten home.

III. Who are they that they should fly together?

They fly in such a flock that they appear like a cloud: why is this?

1. They are all in one common danger.

2. They have no time to quarrel while seeking safety.

3. They have one common object: they seek one Savior.

4. They are wafted by the same heavenly wind. The Spirit works in each according to his own will.

5. They find comfort in each other's society.

6. They hope to live together forever above.

IV. Who are they that they should fly this way?

They are doves, and so they come to their usual abodes in the clefts of the rock, or to the openings of the dove-house.

1. Seeking safety in Jesus, from the hawks which pursue them.

2. Desiring rest in his love, for they are wearied, and find no other rest for the soles of their feet.

3. Finding a home in his heart. Swallows go to another home in winter, but saints abide in Christ forever.

4. Their companions are there: doves congregate, and so do saved sinners love fellowship with each other.

5. Their young are there. "The swallow has found a nest for herself, where she may lay her young": Psalm 84:3. Believers love to have their children housed in Christ.

6. Their food is there. Where else can we find provender?

7. Their all is there. Christ is all.

V. But who are they individually?

1. Some are our own children.

2. Some are from the Sabbath-school.

3. Some are old hearers, who were gospel-hardened.

4. Some are quite strangers, outsiders.

5. Some are backsliders returning.

6. Some are those whom we sought in prayer, and personal address.

Dear hearer, are you one of them?

Have you not reason to fly from the wrath to come?

Fly first to Jesus, and then without delay hasten to his church.

Feathers

This text has been well illustrated by Morier. "In the environs of the city (Ispahan), to the westward, near Zainderood, are many pigeon-houses, erected at a distance from habitations. They are large, round towers, rather broader at the bottom than at the top, and crowned by conical spiracles, through which the pigeons descend. The interior resembles a honey-comb, pierced with a thousand holes, each of which forms a snug retreat for a nest. The extraordinary flights of pigeons, which I have seen upon one of these buildings, afford perhaps a good illustration of the passage. The great numbers, and the compactness of the mass, literally looked like a cloud at a distance, and obscured the sun in their passage." What gives an additional value to this illustration is the probability that similar dove-houses were in use among the Hebrews, for they certainly were so among their Egyptian neighbors. Kitto's Pictorial Bible.

God's children love communion and fellowship one with another, that they may mutually be comforted and edified in faith: "they fly like a cloud, and as doves to their windows"; that is, to the house or church of God. Benjamin Keach.

Those that are weak want supply and support from others. Nature teaches this lesson. The weakest creatures among fish, or birds, or beasts, go usually in flocks and companies. G. Swinnock.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Everybody knows that large flocks of pigeons assemble at the stroke of the great clock in the square of St. Mark, Venice. Believe me, it is not the music of the bell which attracts them, they can hear that every hour. They come, Mr. Preacher, for food, and no mere sound will long collect them. This is a hint for filling your meeting-house; it must be done, not merely by that fine, bell-like voice of yours, but by all the neighborhood's being assured that spiritual food is to be had when you open your mouth. Barley for pigeons, good sir; and the gospel for men and women. Try it in earnest, and you cannot fail; you will soon be saying, "Who are they that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?"—From "Feathers for Arrows," by C. H. Spurgeon.

A writer in "Nature" states that the small birds, that are unable to fly the three hundred and fifty miles across the Mediterranean Sea, are carried over on the backs of cranes. When the first cold weather comes, the cranes fly low, making a peculiar cry. Little birds of every species fly up to them, while the twittering of those already settled may be distinctly heard. But for this provision, many species of small birds would become extinct. So, many converts that are young and feeble need much assistance in seeking Christ. Let those that are strong help the weaker ones in their spiritual flight.

86

Jeremiah 3:12, 14, 22—"Return, you backsliding Israel, says the Lord.

"Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord.

"Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings."

It is a fearful thing that a believer should backslide.

Such mercy has been shown to him.

Such love has been enjoyed by him.

Such prospects lie before him.

Such comfort is sacrificed by his backsliding.

It is a wretched business for the man himself, since by it nothing is gained, and everything is endangered.

It is injurious to the whole church to which the backslider belongs.

It is mischievous to the outside world.

What is the immediate duty of the backslider? the immediate remedy for his backsliding?

One word sums it up, and it is God's word, "Return."

Let us earnestly note,—

I. Wonder awakened by the call.

There would seem to be many reasons why the Lord should not invite the backslider to return. We will follow the guidance of the chapter, which will richly repay a careful exposition.

1. The usual jealousy of love. Note the terrible imagery of verse 1. A wanton adulteress is allowed to return to her husband.

2. The abundance of the sin: "You have polluted the land"—(verse 2). The very earth felt the leprosy of the idolatry.

3. The obstinate continuance in evil, notwithstanding chastisements (verse 3). "You refused to be ashamed."

4. The refusal of tender persuasion. "Will you not?" etc. (verse 4.)

5. The perversion of mercy. God did not reserve his anger for ever, and they sinned the more because of his long-suffering (verse 5).

6. The warnings which had been despised. Judah saw Israel doomed, and yet followed her evil ways (verses 6–11). It is a great increase of iniquity when we perceive the suffering which it causes others, and yet persevere in it ourselves.

Is it not marvelous that God should be so full of mercy as to bid such revolters return, and repeat the exhortation again and again?

II. Memories aroused by the call.

Does it not remind you of other days?

1. When you first came to Jesus.

2. When you were happy with other believers.

3. When you could teach and warn others.

4. When you began to go aside, a little.

5. When you have sinned grievously through this backsliding.

Indulge these memories until they affect your heart.

III. Reasons urged for obeying the call.

1. It is God himself who utters it. Twice we read, "says the Lord."

2. Anger will be removed: "I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you" (verse 12).

3. Love continues: "I am married unto you" (verse 14).

4. Healing will be given: "I will heal your backslidings" (verse 22).

Each verse yields its own forcible argument.

IV. Directions given to make obedience to the call easy.

1. "Only acknowledge your iniquity" (verse 13). What a simple matter!

2. Lament the evil: "Weeping and supplications" (verse 21). Do you not mourn your sin even now?

3. Own the sad result. "We lie down in our shame," etc. (verse 25.)

4. Trust in God for restoration: "Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel" (verse 23).

5. Heartily renew allegiance: "Behold, we come unto you; for you are the Lord our God" (verse 22).

These things, carefully and immediately attended to, will restore the fallen to their first estate. "Return! Return!" says the Lord.

Oh, that the Holy Spirit may lead them to it!

V. Promises made to those answering to the call.

Such shall obtain—

1. Special guidance: "I will bring you to Zion" (verse 14).

2. Suitable food: "Feed you with knowledge" (verse 15).

3. Spiritual insight. (See verses 16 and 17.)

4. Childlike spirit: "You shall call me, 'My father' " (verse 19).

The whole subject needs pressing upon all believers, for we may have already backslidden more than we are aware.

Upon the conscious backslider the three-fold call should be pressed, "Return!" "Turn!" "Return!"

Turns of Expression

There is a play upon words, or rather upon senses, in the original, "Return, you backsliding children," more literally, "Turn, you turned-away sons, and I will heal your turnings," as in Hosea 14:4.

God invites and does not drive; he here exchanges threats for promises. God will "heal," not simply receive his children. God alone can heal their apostasies. Man repents of sin, but God cures it. It is our part to turn from evil, God's to destroy that evil. Sin is washed out, not by tears of penitence, but by the blood of Christ. The healing is of the apostasies themselves, not simply of their painful effects Christ saves from sin. The Pulpit Commentary.

I was weary of a cold heart towards Christ, and his sacrifice, and the work of his Spirit—of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer, and in study. For fifteen years previously I had felt my heart burning within, as if going to Emmaus with Jesus. On a day ever to be remembered by me, as I was going from Dolgelly to Machynlleth, and climbing up towards Cadair Idris, I considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray, however hard I felt my heart, and however worldly the frame of my spirit was. Having begun in the name of Jesus, I soon felt as it were the fetters loosening, and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as I thought, mountains of frost and snow dissolving, and melting within me. This engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Spirit. I felt my mind relieved from some great bondage: tears flowed copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God, by restoring to my soul the joy of his salvation. Christmas Evans.

I am sometimes downright staggered at the exceeding riches of his grace. How Christ can go on pardoning day after day, and hour after hour; sometimes I feel almost afraid to ask, for shame. A. L. Newton

Man-like is it to fall into sin,

Fiend-like is it to dwell therein,

Christ-like is it for sin to grieve,

God-like is it all sin to leave. Longfellow.

Yet sovereign mercy calls, "Return!"

Dear Lord, and may I come?

My vile ingratitude I mourn—

O take the wanderer home!—Steele.

87

Jeremiah 3:19—"But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall not turn away from me."

Man thinks lightly of sin; but not so the Lord.

Man thinks lightly of grace; but not so the Lord.

Man trifles where God wonders.

Man forgets where God considers.

The text may be viewed as written with a note of interrogation (?), or a note of exclamation (!).

Let us treat it somewhat in that blended fashion.

I. Here is a difficult question.

Many knotty questions are involved in it.

1. As to the holy Lord. "How shall I put you among the children?" How, in consistency with justice and purity, shall the Holy One place in his family persons of such character? They have forgotten, despised, forsaken, rejected, and insulted their God and can he treat them as if they had loved and obeyed?

2. As to the unholy person. "How shall I put you among the children?" Shall you be adopted after being—

A rebel so set on mischief, willfully disobeying?

A sinner so open, so presumptuous, so obstinate?

A desperado so profligate, profane, and persecuting?

A criminal "condemned already" by your unbelief?

Such persons do obtain mercy, but how is it done?

3. As to the family. "How shall I put you among the children?"

What will the children say? "A fine brother, certainly!"

What will the world say? Will not observers exclaim, "See what characters are received into the household of God!" May it not even seem like trifling with iniquity? May not the wicked hope for impunity in their sinning?

What can I myself say to justify such a course? How shall I make this appear to be the act of the Judge of all the earth?

4. As to the inheritance: "and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage?" Is not this too good for such?

Shall you have peace and happiness below?

Shall you have all that my favored children enjoy?

Shall you be admitted into Heaven?

It is a question which none but the Lord would ever have thought of.

He himself asked it long ago, as if to let us see that it was no small matter which he proposed.

He himself answered the question, or it had been unanswerable.

II. Here is a wonderful answer.

1. It is from God himself, and is therefore a perfect answer.

2. It is in the divine style: "You shall"; and "you shall not." Omnipotence speaks, and grace reveals its unconditional character.

3. It is concerning a divine work. God himself puts sinners among his children, and none beside can do it.

The Lord infuses a new spirit—a filial spirit.

This spirit expresses itself by a new call: "My Father."

This creates new bonds: "and shall not turn away from me."

4. It is effectual for its purpose.

Those who heartily cry "My Father" may safely be put among the children.

Those who do not turn away from their father must be children. Servants go, but sons abide.

Thus the wisdom of our gracious God, by regeneration and adoption, answers the difficult question.

III. Here, without question, is a matchless privilege.

We are put among the children.

1. We are indeed made children of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

2. We are as much loved as the children.

3. We are treated as the children.

We are forgiven as a father forgives his children.

We are clothed, fed, and housed as children.

We are taught, ruled, and chastened as children.

We are honored and enriched as children.

4. We are placed under filial obligations,—

To love, honor, obey, and serve our Father.

This should be regarded as a high honor, and not as a burden.

Let us admire the grace which puts us into the family.

Let us enjoy the privileges which this secures to us.

Let us act as loving children should do.

Extracts

God seems, as it were, to be at a stand. "How shall I act so as to save these sinners, and yet not wrong myself?" This should greatly humble us for our sins. As if a child should do much evil, and bring himself into grievous troubles, so that if his tender father would help him he must be put to abundance of difficulties, and is gladly to beat his brains, and laboriously study how he shall contrive to save his poor, foolish child from utter undoing. Now, if the child has any ingenuousness in him, he will not think, "My father's anxiety is no great matter, so long as I am delivered"; but he will cry—"Alas, this will break my heart! What troubles have I brought my father into! I cannot bear to think of it!" It should be thus with us in reference to our God, who in this text speaks after the manner of men. Jeremiah Burroughs.

In the second century, Celsus, a celebrated adversary of Christianity, distorting our Lord's words, complained, "Jesus Christ came into the world to make the most horrible and dreadful society; for he calls sinners, and not the righteous; so that the body he came to assemble is a body of profligates, separated from good people, among whom they before were mixed. He has rejected all the good, and collected all the bad." "True," said Origen, in reply, "our Jesus came to call sinners—but to repentance. He assembled the wicked—but to convert them into new men, or rather to change them into angels. We come to him covetous, he makes us liberal; lascivious, he makes us chaste; violent, he makes us meek; impious, he makes us religious."

Regeneration is not a change of the old nature, but an introduction of a new nature. Not "Ishmael changed," but "Isaac born," is the son of the promise.

Whom God adopts, he anoints; whom he makes sons, he makes saints. Watson.

One of my parishioners at East Hampton, converted after having lived, through three or four revivals, to the age of fifty, and having given up hope, used to exclaim for several weeks after his change, "Is it I? Am I the same man who used to think it so hard to be converted, and my case so hopeless? Is it I? Is it I? Oh, wonderful!"—Dr. Lyman Beecher.

LXXXVIII

Jeremiah 5:3—"They have refused to return."

There is about all men the primary evil of sin.

This is greatly increased by a refusal to return to their allegiance.

This is intensified by the rejection of pressing invitations.

I. Who have refused to return?

1. Those who have said as much. With unusual honesty or presumption, they have made public declaration that they will never quit their sinful ways.

2. Those who have made a promise to repent, but have not performed it.

3. Those who have offered other things instead of practical return to God:—ceremonies, religiousness, morality, and the like.

4. Those who have only returned in appearance. Formalists, mere professors, and hypocrites offer the counterfeit for the genuine; and thus in a veiled manner really refuse to repent.

5. Those who have only returned in part. Hugging some sins while hanging others is a wretched method of continuing rebellion while feigning submission.

II. What this refusal unveils.

1. An intense love of sin. Suppose the prodigal had refused to leave the famine-stricken country, it would have proved his insane attachment to those with whom he had spent his substance.

2. A want of love to the great Father, who bids them return.

3. A disbelief of God: they neither believe in what he has revealed concerning the evil consequences of their sin, nor in what he promises as to the benefit of returning from it.

4. A despising of God: they reject his counsel, his command, and even himself.

5. A resolve to continue in evil. This is their proud ultimatum, "they have refused to return."

6. A trifling with serious concerns. They are too busy, too fond of gaiety, etc. There is time enough yet. There is no need to be so earnest. No doubt things will come right. Thus they treat God's command as a light matter.

III. What deepens the sin of this refusal?

1. When correction brings no repentance.

2. When conscience is violated, and the Spirit of God is resisted. Repentance is seen to be right, but yet refused: duty is known but declined.

3. When repentance is known to be the happiest course, and yet it is obstinately neglected against the plainest reasons.

4. When this obstinacy is long-continued, and is persevered in against convictions and inward promptings.

5. When vile reasons are at the bottom: such as secret sins, which the sinner dares not confess or quit; or the fear of man, which makes the mind cowardly.

IV. What is the real reason of this refusal?

1. It may be ignorance, but that can be only in part, for it is plainly a man's duty to return to his Lord. No mystery surrounds this simple precept, "Return."

2. It may be self-conceit: perhaps they dream that they are already in the right road.

3. It is at times sheer recklessness. The man refuses to consider his own best interests. He resolves to be a trifler; death and Hell and Heaven are to him as toys to sport with.

4. It is a dislike of holiness. That lies at the bottom of it: men cannot endure humility, self-denial, and obedience to God.

5. It is a preference for the present above the eternal future.

Oh, do not refuse the reasonable request to return when God tenderly invites you to come to himself! Is it not right? Is it not wise?

Life or death hangs on your choice! Why will you die?

Let a sweet consent be given. Say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." You will never regret obedience to such a suggestion.

What is the riotous living of the far country compared with the joy of your Father's house?

From the cross the Lord Jesus calls on you to return. Hasten home!

Morsels

The door of Heaven shuts from below, not from above. "Your iniquities have separated," says the Lord. Williams, of Wern.

Lord Byron, a short time before death, was heard to say, "Shall I sue for mercy?" After a long pause, he added, "Come, come, no weakness; let's be a man to the last!"

The reason why a wicked man does not turn unto God is not because he cannot (though he cannot), but because he will not. He cannot say at the day of judgment, "Lord, you know I did my best to be holy, but I could not." The man that had not on a wedding-garment could not say, "Lord, I was not able to get one." But he was "speechless"—W. Fenner.

89

Jeremiah 6:16—"Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls."

It is the distinguishing feature of the good old way that in it we find rest for our souls. This is one of the tokens by which we may discern the false from the true.

Rest was the promise of the Savior. "I will give you rest."

Rest is the point in which the law failed. Moses could not lead the people into Canaan, neither can the works of the law conduct us into the rest of God.

Rest has been enjoyed by believers, and it is now enjoyed by them.

Rest is never found apart from the gospel, and faith in Jesus.

Rest comes not from wealth, health, honor, or any other earthly thing.

I. In "the good way" we find rest if we walk therein.

We walk by faith in the gospel way, and are rested.

1. The way of pardon by an atonement gives rest to the conscience.

2. The way of believing the Word as a little child gives rest to the understanding.

3. The way of trusting our affairs with God gives rest to the mind.

4. The way of obedience to divine commands gives rest to the soul.

5. The way of communion with Christ gives rest to the heart.

It is no little matter which can rest the desires, the fears, the regrets, the questionings, of our manhood; but gospel doctrines, promises, and precepts, and the gospel spirit accomplish this.

II. Rest found by walking in "the good way" is good for the soul.

Some forms of rest rust and injure the soul; but this does not.

1. It brings satisfaction, but not self-satisfaction.

2. It brings a sense of safety, but does not lead to presumptuous sin.

3. It creates content, but also excites desires for progress.

4. It removes legal fears, but supplies superior motives for holiness.

It is actually beneficial to a man to walk in the good way, for as a saved believer his possession of salvation—

Supplies him with an answer to the bribes of Satan; for what can Satan offer which could be preferable to assured salvation?

Sets him free from personal anxiety, and thus enables him to serve the Lord without distraction, since he is himself saved.

Engenders intense love to his Savior for his completed work.

Excites him to holy imitation of his heavenly Father, who is so gracious as to afford rest to the weary.

III. Rest of this kind should be enjoyed now.

It is so enjoyed by many of us, and it is a grievous error when it is not the case with all real Christians.

1. You should be in the way, know that you are there, and try to keep to the very middle of the road. Truly believe in Jesus, and perfect rest must come. "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God": Romans 5:1.

2. You should have no doubt that the way is good, and that it is the way of the Lord. This is the assurance of understanding.

3. You should lay aside all anxious care because "he cares for you."

4. You should feel an intense satisfaction in Jesus. You will do so unless you live at a distance from him, and so miss his presence and smile. A present Christ is a well of delight.

5. You should indulge the largest anticipations concerning your future blessedness, both in time and in eternity.

We challenge Romanists, sacramentarians, self-justiciaries, and the like, to say that they have any rest. Rome does not promise it even to her own votaries, either in this world or in the world to come; but goes on saying her masses for the repose of the souls of her own departed cardinals, who evidently are not at rest. If her most eminent divines go to purgatory, where do the common people go?

We invite all the laboring and laden to come and try the Lord Jesus, and see if he does not rest them at once, and forever.

We bear our own willing testimony to the sweetness, safety, perpetuity, and truthfulness of the rest of faith.

Way-marks

It is called "the good way." It is not the easy way: the idle and the foolish ask for that, but it is not worth seeking for, since it leads to poverty and perdition. Neither is it the popular way, for few there be that find it. But it is the good way, made by a good God, in infinite goodness to his creatures; paved by our good Lord Jesus, with pains and labors immeasurable; and revealed by the good Spirit to those whose eternal good he seeks. It is the way of holiness, of peace, of safety, and it leads to Heaven. Is it not good? It has been traversed by the best of men since time began, and the unclean do not pass over it. It is good at its commencement, for at its entrance men are born again; it is good in its continuation, for they are righteous who hold on their way; and it is good in its termination, for it leads to perfection, to bliss, to God himself.

In this good old way you shall find rest if you have never enjoyed it before; traveling you shall rest, as certain birds are said to rest upon the wing. Joy shall be upon your head, peace shall prepare the place of your feet. It is wisdom's dominion, and concerning her we read, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Rest for the conscience comes to those who enter God's way of salvation; rest of heart arises out of their love to him who is the Way; rest of brain from their acceptance of his teaching; rest of desire from their satisfaction with his person,—in a word, the soul rests in all its powers and faculties. Nor does it alone rest in the present; the future is guaranteed beyond all fear. C. H. S.

Here there is a well-beaten track under our feet. Let us keep it. It may not be quite the shortest way; it may not take us through all the grandeur and sublimity which bolder pedestrians might see: we may miss a picturesque waterfall, a remarkable glacier, a charming view: but the track will bring us safe to our quarters for the night. Dr. Dale.

Dr. Judson once sent for a poor Christian convert, who was about to engage in something which he feared would not be for her spiritual good. "Look here," he said, snatching a ruler from the table, and tracing a not very straight line upon the floor; "here is where you have been walking. You have made a crooked track, to be sure—out of the path half the time; but then you have kept near it, and not taken to new roads; and you have, to a certain extent, grown in grace. And now here you stand. You know where this path leads. You know what is before you: some struggles, some sorrows, and finally, eternal life, and a crown of glory. But to the left branches off another very pleasant road, and along the air floats, rather temptingly, a pretty bubble. You do not mean to leave the path you have walked in fifteen years; you only want to step aside, and catch the bubble, and think you will come back again; but you never will." The solemn warning was not given in vain.

XC

Jeremiah 13:23—"Can the Ethiopian change his skin?"

Jeremiah had spoken to these people, and they would not hear; he had wept over them, and they would not consider. Even God's judgments had failed to move them, and he came to the conclusion that they were incorrigible, and could no more improve than a black man, could become white.

Jeremiah's figure was most probably suggested to him by the Ethiopians in the king's court, one of whom attended more to him than his countrymen ever did. (Jeremiah 38:7–13.) Persons of color were no doubt more notable among an exclusive people like the Jews than they would be among us.

I. The question and its answer. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" The expected reply is, "He cannot do so."

The outward impossibility is the Ethiopian's changing the color of his own skin: a physical experiment never yet accomplished.

The inward impossibility is a change of heart and character by one "accustomed to do evil."

Can he—will he—change himself? Never.

The difficulty in the sinner's case lies—

1. In the thoroughness of the operation. The Ethiopian can wash, or paint; but he cannot change that which is part and parcel of himself. A sinner cannot change his own nature.

2. In the fact that the will is itself diseased by sin. The man cannot do good, for he has no mind to it, no wish that way. In man's will lies the essence of the difficulty: he can-not means that he does not will to have it done. He is morally unable.

3. In the strength of habit. Use is second nature. Practice in transgression has forged chains, and bound the man to evil.

4. In the pleasure of sin, which fascinates and enslaves the mind.

5. In the appetite for sin, which gathers intensity from indulgence. Drunkenness, lechery, covetousness, &c., are a growing force.

6. In the blindness of the understanding, which prevents men from seeing the evil of their ways, or noting their danger. Conscience is drugged into a deep sleep, out of which the man cannot arouse himself.

7. In the growing hardness of the heart, which becomes more stolid and unbelieving every day, until nothing affects it.

8. In the evident fact that outward means prove ineffectual: like "soap" and "nitre" on a negro, they fail to touch the living blackness.

For all these reasons we answer the question in the negative: sinners can no more renew themselves than Ethiopians can change their skins.

Why then preach to them?

It is Christ's command, and we are bound to obey. Their inability does not hinder our ministry, for power goes with the word.

Why tell them that it is their duty to repent?

Because it is so: moral inability is no excuse: the law is not to be lowered because man has grown too evil to keep it.

Why tell them of this moral inability?

To drive them to self-despair, and make them look to Christ.

II. Another question and answer. Can the Ethiopian's skin be changed? Or, can the sinner be made anew?

This is a very different affair, and in it lies the door of hope for men.

Assuredly the Lord can make a black man white.

The greatest sinner can be transformed into a saint.

The grounds for so believing are many.

Here are a few of them,—

1. All things are possible with God. Matt. 19:26.

2. The Holy Spirit has special power over the human heart.

3. The Lord Jesus has determined to work this wonder, and for this purpose he came into this world, and died, and rose again. "He shall save his people from their sins": Matt. 1:21.

4. Many such jet-black sinners have been totally changed: among ourselves there are such and in all places such may be found.

5. The gospel is prepared with that end. It does more than change the skin; for it affects the head, the heart, the understanding, the conscience, the motives, the desires, the hopes, the fears; and through these, the whole conduct, so that those who were accustomed to do evil become expert in doing good.

6. God has made his church long for such transformations, and prayer has been offered that they may now be wrought. Will not the Lord hear us?

Herein lies hope for the most inveterate sinner.

Not in the bath of baptism;

Nor in the scalding tears of remorse;

Nor in the medicine of vows and pledges:

But in his word of power, who does great wonders of grace.

Chips

Dirt contracted may be washed off, but we cannot alter the natural color of a hair (Matthew 5:36), much less of the skin; and so impossible is it, morally impossible, to reclaim and reform these people. Matthew Henry.

If it were possible for those who have been for ages in Hell to return to the earth, (and not to be regenerated,) I firmly believe that, notwithstanding all they have suffered for sin, they would still love it, and return to the practice of it. John Ryland.

The Christian sects in Syria appear to consider a true case of Druze conversion to Christianity as out of the question. "The wolf's whelps," they say, "are not tamed." The conversion of many sinners appears equally impossible, and yet how many such triumphs of grace are recorded as that which John Newton described in himself: "I was a wild beast on the coast of Africa once, but the Lord Jesus caught me, and tamed me, and now people come to see me as they would go to look at the lions in the Tower."

O endless misery!

I labor still, but still in vain,

The stains of sin I see

Are woaded all, or dyed in grain.

There's not a blot will stir a jot,

For all that I can do.

There is no hope in fuller's soap,

Though I add nitre too.

I many ways have tried,

Have often soak'd it in cold fears;

And when a time I spied,

Pour'd upon it scalding tears:

Have rins'd and rubb'd, and scrap'd and scrubb'd

And turn'd it up and down;

Yet can I not wash out one spot;

It's rather fouler grown.

Can there no help be had?

Lord, thou art holy, thou art pure:

Mine heart is not so bad,

So foul, but thou canst cleanse it, sure.

Speak, Blessed Lord, wilt thou afford

Me means to make it clean?

I know thou wilt: thy blood was spilt.

Should it run still in vain?

Christopher Harvey, in "Schola Cordis."

XCI

Jeremiah 18:11—"Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."

This is the voice of mercy, anxious about each individual.

Justice might slay the sinner in his sin; but mercy would slay the sin, and spare the sinner.

Yet it is the voice of holiness, opposed to each man's special evil way; and claiming of each man an acceptable life. The Lord Jesus has not come to be the Minister of sin, but the Destroyer of it.

Let us hear each one for himself on this occasion, for have we not every one some evil way of his own?

It is Jehovah's voice, and concerning its message we enquire,—

I. What? "Return."

This includes three things.

1. Stop! Stand still! Go not a foot further in your evil way.

2. Turn round! Face towards God, holiness, heaven, &c.

3. Hasten back! Practically move in the right way, and continue in that good course which is the reverse of your present one.

II. When? "Return ye now."

1. Every step makes so much more to retrace.

2. Every step makes it more difficult to return.

3. Further wandering will be wanton and willful; a presumptuous rejection of the warning which is now so earnestly given.

4. Never again may you have an opportunity to return.

There is nothing certain about life save its uncertainty.

Joy is being lost by this procrastination; you are missing present peace of mind.

God is robbed of your service, and you cannot make up the loss.

Man is being injured by your example.

Every reason pleads for now, but for delay there is no excuse.

III. Who? "Return you now every one."

The personality of the call to each hearer of it is necessary, for—

1. Each man has his own peculiar way of sin.

2. Each man is apt to think of his neighbor's sin more than his own.

3. Each man needs a special effectual call before he will turn.

4. Each man is now lovingly invited to return.

IV. From what? "From his evil way."

"We have turned every one to his own way": Is. 53:6. This way of your own you are to return from,—

From your own personal sin.

From your constitutional sin.

From your most frequent sin.

To many it will be important to be able to discover this favorite sin.

1. It is that into which you are most easily led.

2. It is that which has already been most indulged by you.

3. It is that about which you are most irritated if you are rebuked concerning it. Darling sins must not be touched, or their fond friends grow angry.

4. It is that for which you give up other sins; a covetous person will not be extravagant, a hypocrite will deny himself, etc.

5. It is that with which you are most reluctant to part.

6. It is that on which you spend most money, energy, etc.

From such a darling sin each man must turn.

V. To what? "Make your ways and your doings good."

Negative religion is not enough, there must be positive goodness.

1. Your general habits or ways must be made good as a whole.

2. Your ways in reference to yourself.

3. Your doings towards both God and man.

Personal examination of the utmost importance.

Practical repentance an absolute necessity.

Yet how difficult is the way back. To descend into sin is easy, but to retrace your steps, this is the work, this is the labor.

Only by faith in the Lord Jesus can it be accomplished, a look at his cross breeds more repentance than anything in the world besides.

To those who believe in Jesus, he will send the Holy Spirit to lead them in the way everlasting.

Explanatory

There are two things proper to a man that returns: first, to go a way clean contrary to the way he went before; secondly, to tread out and obliterate his former steps … First, I say, he must go a way clean contrary to his former way. Many men think that the way to Hell is but a little out of the way to Heaven, so that a man in a small time, with small ado, may pass out of the one into the other; but they are much deceived: for as sin is more than a stepping aside, namely, a plain, a direct going away from God; so is repentance, or the forsaking of sin, more than a little coasting out of one way into another. Crossings will not serve; there is no way, from the road of sin to the place we seek, but to go quite back again the way we came. The way of pleasure in sin must be changed for sorrow for the same. He who has superstitiously worshiped false gods must now as devoutly serve the true; the tongue that has uttered swearings, and spoken blasphemies, must as plentifully sound forth the name of God in prayer and thanksgiving; the covetous man must become liberal; the oppressor of the poor as charitable in relieving them; the calumniator of his brother a tender guarder of his credit; in fine, he who hated his brother before must now love him as tenderly as himself. Joseph Mede.

"Now," you resolve, "I will hereafter look to it better than I have done before." Alas, this will for hereafter is no will! First: because it is only to shuffle off the willing of the present. The heart is unwilling to obey, and therefore it puts off the commandment to the future, not for any desire that it has to do it hereafter, but only because it is unwilling to do it for the present; like a man that is unwilling to lend. "I'll lend you hereafter," says he, only because he would shuffle off lending at all. Secondly: this will for hereafter is no will, because it goes without God's will. God's will is now; your is hereafter. "He who will not when he may, when he would he shall have 'Nay.' " Take heed lest when you would gladly be pardoned, and cry, "Lord, open to me," you do find yourself too late. William Fenner.

A missionary in India, addressing the natives on the question of sin, asked, "What say your own shasters?—

'I a sinner, you a sinner, sinners every one;

Sinless—none are found who dwell beneath the sun.' "

1. He who leaves not all sin; 2. He who leaves sin only outwardly; 3. He who leaves sin because he cannot commit it; 4. He who leaves sin out of sinister respects; 5. He who leaves one sin for another; 6. He who leaves sin but for a time; 7. He who leaves sin, but does not endeavor to subdue it; 8. He who so turns from sin as not to turn to God—has not had complete repentance. Clarkson.

Many would kill the adder, and spare the viper; as in Hudibras, they—

"Compound for sins they are inclined to,

By damning those they have no mind to." C. H. S.

92

Jeremiah 33:3—"Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not."

This is a prison-word: let those who are spiritually in prison prize it.

This was the second time the Lord had spoken to the prophet while in the dungeon. God leaves not his people because of their being in ill odor with the world, nor even when they are put into prison. Nay, rather, he doubles his visits when they are in double trouble.

The first prison-word was a trial of Jeremiah's faith by obedience: he was to redeem the field at Anathoth; and this he did.

This second word tested his faith by prayer, and we doubt not that he endured the test, for in after days he saw great and mighty things, even as the Lord had promised.

The text belongs to every afflicted servant of God.

It encourages him in a threefold manner,—

I. To continue in prayer. "Call unto me!"

1. Pray, though you have prayed. See previous chapter at 16th verse and onward.

2. Pray concerning your present trouble. In chapter 32:24 the prophet mentions "the mounts" which were raised against Jerusalem, and in verse 4 of this chapter the Lord answers on that very point.

3. Pray though you are still in prison after prayer. If deliverance tarries, make your prayers the more importunate.

4. Pray; for the word of the Lord comes to you with this command.

5. Pray; for the Holy Spirit prompts you, and helps you.

We need this precept because of our backwardness, forgetfulness, want of spirituality, and tendency to unbelief.

This precept is sent to us because of the Lord's wisdom, love, and condescending thoughtfulness for our welfare.

II. To expect answers to prayer. "I will answer you, and show you."

Usually the promise is to "hear" us: but when we are in trouble the promise is special: "I will answer you."

The Lord will answer us because—

1. He has appointed prayer, and made arrangements for its presentation and acceptance. He could not have meant it to be a mere farce: that were to treat us as fools.

2. He prompts, encourages, and quickens prayer; and surely he would never mock us by exciting desires which he never meant to gratify. Such a thought well near blasphemes the Holy Spirit, who indites prayer in the heart.

3. His nature is such that he must hear his children.

4. He has given his promise in the text; and it is often repeated elsewhere: he cannot lie, or deny himself.

5. He has already answered many of his people, and ourselves also.

We know that the only limit to the prevalence of prayer is our heavenly Father's wise and loving will; which, to his loving children, is really no limit whatever. Let us ask in faith, and look up in hope.

III. To expect great things as answers to prayer. "I will show you great and mighty things."

Read the previous chapter from verse 18, and learn from it that we are to look for things—

1. Great in counsel: full of wisdom and significance.

2. Mighty in work: revealing might, and mightily effectual.

3. New things to ourselves, fresh in our experience, and therefore surprising. We may expect the unexpected.

4. Divine things: "I will show you." These are enumerated in the verses which follow the text, even to the end of the chapter; such as these—

Health and cure (verse 6).

Liberation from captivity (verse 7).

Forgiveness of iniquity (verse 8).

See how prayer increases the knowledge of those who know best.

See how saints may advance in experience by calling unto God.

See how sufferers may win unexpected deliverances.

See how workers may achieve surprising marvels.

See how seekers may find more than they dare expect.

Further Encouragements

Many years ago, the late Duchess of Gordon called on good Harrington Evans, and said, "I have just five minutes, but I could not leave town without calling to say 'good-bye'!" "Five minutes," said Mr. Evans, with that solemn and impressive manner by which he was distinguished; "five minutes! Then pray! Pray! Pray! Good morning." "I felt so struck with these words," said the Duchess to a friend, "that I could not forget them; and, as I thought on them, I was led to study prayer, as a means of grace as well as an act of worship, and ever after my chief work in the Lord's service became the promotion of prayer-meetings."

A young engineer was being examined, and this question was put to him: "Suppose you have a steam-pump constructed for a ship, under your own supervision, and know that everything is in perfect order, yet, when you throw out the hose, it will not draw; what should you think?" "I should think, sir, there must be a defect somewhere." "But such a conclusion is not admissible; for the supposition is that everything is perfect, and yet that the pump will not work." "Then, sir," replied the student, "I should look over the side of the ship to see if the river had run dry." Even so it would appear that if true prayer is not answered the nature of God must have changed.

God's praying people get to know much more of his mind than others; like as John, by weeping, got the book opened; and Daniel, by prayer, had the king's secret revealed unto him in a night vision. "Bene orasse, est bene studuisse," said Luther; who, as he had much communion with God by prayer, so holy truths were daily more and more made known unto him, he knew not how or which way, as himself said. Trapp.

Sir Walter Raleigh one day asking a favor from Queen Elizabeth, the latter said to him, "Raleigh, when will you leave off begging?" To which he answered, "When your Majesty leaves off giving." Ask great things of God. Expect great things from God. Let his past goodness make us "instant in prayer."—New Cyclopædia of Illustrative Anecdote.

Thomas Brooks, alluding to the old classical myth of Daedalus, who, being imprisoned in the island of Crete, made wings for himself, by which he escaped to Italy, says, "Christians must do as Daedalus, who, when he could not escape by a way upon earth, went by a way of Heaven." Holy prayers are the wings of the soul's deliverance.

The dungeon of the Mamertine, where a probable tradition declares that Paul was for a while confined, is entered through a round hole in the floor of another dungeon above. The uppermost apartment is dark enough, but the lower one is darkness itself, so that the apostle's imprisonment was of the severest kind. We noticed, however, a strange fact:—in the hard floor there is a beautiful fountain of clear crystal water, which doubtless was as fresh in Paul's day as it is now; of course the Papists believe the fountain to be miraculous: we who are not so credulous of traditions rather see in it a symbol full of instruction:—there never was a dungeon for God's servants which was without its well of consolation. C. H. S.

93

Jeremiah 51:50—"Let Jerusalem come into your mind."

The captives in Babylon are charged to remember Jerusalem,—

Because the temple of their God was there;

To keep them from settling down in Babylon;

To make them long for the holy city; and

To keep them prepared to return to it.

There are equally good reasons for our remembering the New Jerusalem.

We are too apt to forget our spiritual citizenship, and hence we will meditate on our text under two aspects.

I. There is a Jerusalem here below which should come into our mind.

The church of the living God is our holy city, the city of the Great King, and we should have it in mind,—

1. To unite with its citizens. We should join with them in open profession of faith in Christ, in Christian love and mutual help, in holy service, worship, communion, etc.

2. To pray for its prosperity. Whenever it is well with us in prayer, we should let the cause of God be on our mind. Our window, like that of Daniel, should be opened towards Jerusalem.

3. To labor for its advancement. We should remember it in the allotment of our money, the use of our time, the employment of our talents, the exercise of our influence, etc.

4. To prefer its privileges above earthly gain. We ought to consider these privileges in our choice of our residence, occupation, etc. With many professors this is a very small matter.

5. To act consistently with her holy character. We must not dishonor the place of our citizenship. God's people must not degrade his name and cause by living in sin.

6. To lament its declensions and transgressions. Remember how our Lord wept over Jerusalem, and Paul wept over enemies in the churches. Luke 19:41. Philippians 3:18.

Oh, that all Christians took a deeper interest in the church of God!

It were well if into all our joys and sorrows the cause of God were interwoven like a thread of gold. He is a poor patriot who forgets his country, and he is no Christian who does not bear the church upon his heart.

II. There is a Jerusalem above which should come into our mind.

1. Let the believer's thoughts often go thither, for Jesus is there, our departed brethren are there, our own home is there, and thither our hopes and desires should always tend.

It should be upon our minds—

In our earthly enjoyments, lest we grow worldly.

In our daily trials, lest we grow despondent.

In our associations, lest we idolize present friendships.

In our bereavements, lest we grieve inordinately.

In old age, that we may be on the watch for the home-going.

In death, that visions of glory may brighten our last hours.

In all seasons, that our conversation may be in Heaven.

2. Let the unconverted permit such thoughts to come into their mind, for they may well inquire of themselves thus,—

What if I never enter Heaven?

Shall I never meet my godly relatives again?

Where then must I go?

Can I hope that my present life will lead me to Heaven?

Why am I not taking the right path?

Unbelievers perish: why am I one of them? Do I wish to perish?

How can I hope to enter Heaven if I do not so much as think about it, or the Lord who reigns in it?

Such thoughts will come to our minds if we will let them.

Shall we not open the door of our minds at once, and let the heavenly visitors enter and abide?

Reminders

The undying love of the Jews for their Fatherland, and their ineradicable desire to return to it, are displayed in an affecting manner on the day of atonement, which is still observed by them with great solemnity. The services of the day close with the beseeching shout, "when next year comes, may we all be in Jerusalem!" We could almost make this prayer our own as we think of the "Jerusalem above."

I have been endeavoring to establish among us what are called "Aaron and Hur Societies," that is, little collections of four or five or more persons, who meet before service on Sabbath morning, to spend an hour in prayer for a blessing on the minister and the ordinances. They began on New Year's Day, and we seemed to have an immediate answer, for the meeting was unusually solemn, and we have reason to hope that the word was not preached in vain. Dr. Payson.

My soul shall pray for Zion still,

While life or breath remains;

There my best friends, my kindred dwell;

There God my Savior reigns. Watts.

The church of God should come into our minds as spontaneously as the recollection of our wife or mother. When we look at a map of any country, we should think of how the cause of God prospers in that region. If we make a profit in business, one of our first thoughts should be, "now I can do something more for the work of the Lord." When the newspaper is read, it should be in relation to the progress of the kingdom of God. This one thing should tinge all other things with its own color, and draw all other thoughts into its net. The cause of Christ should be an all-absorbing maelstrom, into which all our thoughts and pursuits should be drawn. A man of one idea sees the universe by the light of it, and he who loves the church of God with all his heart will do the same. How can we say, "Lord, remember me," to Christ in Heaven, if we do not remember his church on earth?

It may be a sin to long for death, but I am sure it is no sin to long for heaven. Matthew Henry.

Blessed are the home-sick, for they shall come at last to the Father's house. Heinrich Stillings.

John Eliot was once on a visit to a merchant, and finding him in his counting-house, where he saw books of business on the table, and all his books of devotion on the shelf, he said to him, "Sir, here is earth on the table, and Heaven on the shelf. Pray don't think so much of the table as altogether to forget the shelf."

"Here I sit the whole day with the visage of the church ever before me, and the passage 'Why have you made all the sons of men in vain?' How horrible a form of God's anger is that abominable kingdom of the Roman Antichrist! I abhor my own hardness of heart that I am not dissolved in tears, and that I do not weep fountains of tears for the slain sons of my people. But is there no one to arise, and cleave to God, and make himself a wall for the house of Israel in this last day of his wrath? God have mercy on us! Wherefore, be you meanwhile instant as a minister of the Word, and fortify the walls and towers of Jerusalem until they shall assail thee."—From a letter to Melancthon, written by Luther, at the Castle of the Wartburg.

44

Ezekiel 36:11—"I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the Lord."

When other nations fall they rise no more, but to the covenanted people a future still remains.

Even the land given by covenant has an entailed blessing on it, for these words are to the "mountains of Israel."

To hypocrites and formalists an end comes; but true children of God rise again after decays and declensions. As says the prophet, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me": Micah 7:8.

A greater blessing than that which they have lost may yet be granted to restored wanderers.

The text contains a great promise. Oh, that we may enjoy it!

I. What was there so good in our beginnings?

As Israel's land in the beginning flowed with milk and honey, so our first estate had a singular richness about it. Oftentimes, in looking back, we sing,—

"Where is the blessedness I knew

When first I saw the Lord?

Where is the soul-refreshing view

Of Jesus, and his Word?"

1. We enjoyed a vivid sense of free and full forgiveness.

2. We had a delicious proof of the joy of true religion.

3. We gained repeated victories over sinful inclinations, and outward temptations; and this made us jubilant in Christ.

4. We felt great delight in prayer, the Word, communion, etc.

5. We abounded in zeal and service, and the joy of the Lord was our strength.

6. We were in our first love, and everything was lively, intense, hopeful, wonderful, to our humble, happy mind. We were simple-hearted and confiding, had not yet found out the imperfections of our brethren, and were too humble to look for them. We have not gained much by losing that confidence if in its room we have received suspicion.

We read of "the first ways of David": 2 Chronicles 17:3. We are bidden to do our "first works": Rev. 2:5.

II. Can we enjoy something better than our beginnings?

Assuredly we shall if the Lord will fulfill this promise; and that he is sure to do if we walk more closely with him.

1. Our faith will be stronger, more steadfast, and intelligent.

2. Our knowledge will be fuller and deeper.

3. Our love will be more constant, practical, enduring.

4. Our prayer will be more prevalent.

5. Our usefulness will be more extended, more abiding.

6. Our whole being will be more mature.

We are to shine more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18.

Growth in grace brings with it many good things.

III. How can we secure this betterness?

There must be a re-settlement according to our old estates in our own souls, and then there will be a renewed settlement by the act of God.

1. We must return to our first simple faith in Jesus.

2. We must quit the sins which alienated us from God.

3. We must be more thorough, and earnest.

4. We must seek after closer fellowship with Christ.

5. We must more resolutely strive to advance in divine things.

Admire the liberality of our God! He promises to do better unto us than at our beginnings. What more can he do?

See the constancy of his love—how he maintains ancient settlements, and restores old estates! Covenant heritages are entailed upon their holders by the unchanging grace of God.

Mark with what tenderness he woos us to return to his fellowship: he draws, he allures, he wins by greatness of love!

Let us, in the power of his Holy Spirit, return to him!

Doors of Hope

God's dealings with his people are best at last; they may have much kindness and mercy in the morning, but they shall have more in the evening. "I will settle you after your old estates," etc. The Jews had the best wine at last; they had milk and honey before, but the feast of fat things full of marrow, and of wines on the lees well-refined, were at the latter end of their day given in; they had Christ and the Gospel at last. Abraham had much of the world at first, and his Isaac afterward. "God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning." Simeon in his latter days saw Christ, and had him in his arms. Wm. Greenhill.

No instance of backsliding can be more aggravated than that of the apostle Peter, and yet no recovery was more signal. While that stands upon record, no traitor to his Lord and Master is justified in saying, "The door of hope is closed against my return." The Scriptures contain several instances in which the lamentable and disgraceful lapses of God's people are shown to be followed by their recovery and restoration. Frequently such characters, after they have been corrected and chastened of the Lord, have risen to stations of great eminence in his church. David in the Old Testament, and Peter in the New, while both illustrating the shame and sorrow of a backsliding state, stand forth as monuments of that sovereign grace which can forgive the penitent wanderer, and once more infuse into his heart the "peace that passes all understanding."—Leifchild.

Fractures well cured make us more strong. Herbert.

The joy of conversion is great—

"Earth has a joy unknown to Heaven,

The new-born peace of sins forgiven!

Tears of such pure and deep delight,

You angels! never dimmed your sight:"

but there are wondrous joys as yet unknown to the inexperienced soul, and concerning which the most advanced believer has to sing—

"I have a heritage of joy

That yet I must not see:

The hand that bled to make it mine,

Is keeping it for me."

Those that will not return to the duties they have neglected, cannot expect to return to the comforts they have lost. G. S. Bowes.

He is a skillful physician indeed who, finding a man sorely afflicted, not only succeeds in restoring him to health, but actually causes him to be better than he was before, dealing with his medicine, not only with the disease which caused pain, but with some other which lay deeper, but had scarcely been perceived by the patient. Such is the medicine of mercy. Thus graciously does God deal with repenting sinners. He must be worse than a brute beast who would turn this into an argument for sinning. A true child of God feels the water standing in his eyes when he thinks of such superabounding love.

95

Ezekiel 36:30, 31—"And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

"Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations."

The day of manifested mercy is to be the day of hearty repentance. "Then." When God loads you with benefits you shall loathe yourselves.

The Lord speaks as one who is supreme in the region of free agency, and able to work his will with human minds: "Then shall you," etc.

His processes of grace are such as, in the nature of things, lead up to the end which he proposes.

He declares that he will conquer by love,—love so wonderful that the objects of it must of necessity yield to its power, and change their minds and their conduct.

Repentance is wrought in the heart by a sense of love divine.

This sets repentance in its true light, and helps us to meet a great many mistakes which have darkened this subject. Many are kept from Christ and hope by misapprehensions of this matter. They have—

I. Mistaken ideas of what repentance is.

They confound it with—

1. Morbid self-accusation, which is the fruit of dyspepsia, or melancholy, or insanity. This is an infirmity of mind, and not a grace of the Spirit. A physician may here do more than a divine.

2. Unbelief, despondency, despair: which are not even a help to repentance, but tend rather to harden the heart.

3. Dread of Hell, and sense of wrath: which might occur even to devils, and yet would not cause them to repent. A measure of this may go with repentance, but it is no part of it.

4. Satanic temptations. These are by no means like to repentance, which is the fruit of the Spirit.

5. A complete knowledge of the guilt of sin; which even advanced saints have not yet obtained.

6. Entire abstinence from all sin,—a consummation devoutly to be wished, but by no means included in repentance.

It is a hatred of evil

a sense of shame

a longing to avoid sin

}

wrought by a sense of divine love.

II. Mistaken ideas of the place which repentance occupies.

1. It is looked upon by some as a procuring cause of grace, as if repentance merited remission: a grave error.

2. It is wrongly viewed by others as a preparation for grace; a human goodness laying the foundation for mercy, a meeting of God half way; this is a deadly error.

3. It is treated as a sort of qualification for believing, and even as the ground for believing: all which is legality, and contrary to pure gospel truth.

4. Others treat it as the argument for peace of mind. They have repented so much, and it must be all right. This is to build our confidence upon a false foundation.

Repentance attends faith, and is a precious gift of the Spirit of God.

III. Mistaken ideas or the way in which it is produced in the heart.

It is not produced by a distinct and immediate attempt to repent.

Nor by strong excitement at revival meetings.

Nor by meditating upon sin, and death, and Hell, etc.

But the God of all grace produces it—

1. By his free grace, which by its action renews the heart (verse 26).

2. By bringing his great mercy to our mind.

3. By making us receive new mercy (verses 28–30).

4. By revealing himself and his methods of grace (verse 32).

Every gospel truth urges repentance upon the regenerate. Election, redemption, justification, adoption, eternal love, etc., are all arguments for loathing every evil way.

Every gospel privilege makes us loathe sin: prayer, praise, the reading of Scripture, the fellowship of saints, the table of the Lord, etc.

Every gospel hope purifies us from sin, whether it be a hope for more grace in this world, or for glory in the next.

Oh, that we might feel the touch of love, and weep ourselves away for having grieved our Lord! This would work in us a revenge against all our sins, and lead us to entire consecration to our holy Lord.

Rectifications

There are no arguments like those that are drawn from the consideration of the great and glorious things Christ has done for you; and if such will not take with you, and win upon you, I do not think the throwing of hell-fire in your faces will ever do it. Thomas Brooks.

The Roman Catholic definition of penitence is not a bad one, though they draw bad conclusions from it—"Confessio oris, contritio cordis, satisfactio vitæ"—that is, for true repentance there should be confession with the mouth, grieving in the heart, and amendment made for our faults as far as possible in our life. Richard Glover.

Repentance,—the tear dropped from the eye of faith.

God's loving-kindnesses and mercies do work more with sinners than his judgments do. All the time the Jews were in Babylon, their hearts were never so affected for their sins as after God brought them out, settled them in Canaan, and showed much love unto them; then they should remember their evil ways, before they minded them not; then they should loathe themselves. Mercies in Zion are more efficacious with sinners than judgments in Babylon; God's favor melts hard hearts sooner then the fire of his indignation; his kindness is very penetrative, it gets into the hearts of sinners sooner than his threats and frowns; it is like a small soaking rain, which goes to the roots of things, whereas a dashing rain runs away, and does little good. It was David's kindness that brake the heart of Saul, 1 Samuel 24; and it is God's kindness which breaks the hearts of sinners. The milk and honey of the gospel affect the hearts of sinners more than the gall and worm-wood of the law; Christ on Mount Zion brings more to repentance than Moses on Mount Sinai. William Greenhill.

Cowper, the poet, in his own memoirs of his early life, describes the time when he reflected on the necessity of repentance. "I knew that many persons had spoken of shedding tears for sin; but when I asked myself whether the time would ever come when I should weep for mine, it seemed to me that a stone might sooner do it. Not knowing that Christ was exalted to give repentance, I despaired of ever attaining it." A friend came to his bed-side, and declared to him the gospel. He insisted on the all-atoning efficacy of the blood of Jesus, and his righteousness for our justification. "Then," says Cowper, "while I heard this part of his discourse, and the Scriptures on which he founded it, my heart began to burn within me; my soul was pierced with a sense of my bitter ingratitude to so merciful a Savior; and those tears, which I thought impossible, burst forth freely."

"Some people," says Philip Henry, "do not wish to hear much of repentance, but I think it so necessary that, if I should die in the pulpit, I wish to die preaching repentance; and if out of the pulpit, practicing it."

XCVI

Ezekiel 47:11—"But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not he healed; they shall be given to salt."

The prophet saw in vision the flow of the life-giving river, and marked its wonderful and beneficial effects.

Let the chapter be read, and a brief abstract of it be given.

The prophet also observed that here and there the river carried no blessing: there were marshes which remained as barren as ever.

I. There are some men whom the gospel does not bless.

1. It stagnates in them: they hear in vain; learn but do not practice; feel but do not decide; resolve but do not perform.

2. It mingles with their corruptions, as clear water with the mire of the marshes. They see with blinded eye, understand in a carnal manner, and receive truth but not in the power of it.

3. It becomes food for their sins, even as rank sour grass is produced by the stagnant waters of "miry places."

Their unbelief makes mysteries into apologies for infidelity.

Their enmity is stirred by the sovereignty of grace.

Their impenitence takes liberties from grace, and makes excuses out of divine mercy.

Their carnal security feeds on the fact of having heard the gospel.

4. It makes them worse and worse. The more rain, the more mire.

The more grace misused, the more wicked the heart.

The more unsanctified knowledge, the greater the capacity for evil.

The more false profession, the more treachery.

II. Some of these we have known.

These marshes are at no great distance. They constitute an eye-sore, and a heart-sore, near at hand.

1. The talkative man, who lives in sin: flooded with knowledge, but destitute of love: fluent expression but no experience.

2. Those critics who note only the faults of Christians, and are quick to dwell on them; but are false themselves.

3. Those who receive orthodox truth, and yet love the world.

4. Those who feel impressed and moved, but never obey the word. They delight to hear the gospel, and only the gospel, and yet they have no spiritual life.

5. Those who are mere officials, and attend to religion in a mechanical manner. Judas is both treasurer and traitor, apostle and apostate. His descendants are among us.

III. Such persons are in a terrible plight.

Their condition is more than commonly dreadful.

1. Because they are not aware of it: they think it is well with them.

2. Because the ordinary means of blessing men have failed in their case. That which is a river of life to others is not so to them.

3. In some instances the very best means have failed. A special river of gracious opportunity has flowed down to them, but its streams have visited them in vain.

4. No known means now remain: "What shall I do unto you?" What more can be hoped for from the economy of mercy?

5. Their ruin appears certain: they will be given over; left to themselves, to be barren marshes.

6. Their ruin is as terrible as it is sure: much like that of the cities of the plain—given to salt; only their doom will be less tolerable than that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

IV. From these we may learn—

1. A lesson of warning, lest we ourselves be visibly visited by grace-streams, and yet never profit thereby.

2. A lesson of arousing, lest we rest in ordinances, which in themselves are not necessarily a saving blessing.

3. A lesson of gratitude: if we are indeed healed by the life-river, let us bless the effectual grace of the Lord our God.

4. A lesson of quickening to ministers and other workers, that they may look well to the results of their labor, and not be making marshes where they wish to create fields rich with harvest.

Apropos

No persons appear less likely to be saved than your religious unbelievers. They wear an armor of proof. You cannot tell them anything new and striking, their heads are helmeted with religious knowledge; you cannot touch their hearts, for they wear the breast-plate of gospel-hardening. They bow assent to every truth, and yet believe nothing; they attend to every religious observance, and yet have no religion. No other suit of plate armor is one half so effective for warding off the strokes of truth as that which is forged in the arsenals of religion. I have more hope of an avowed infidel than of a gospel-proof hearer. C. H. S.

Either the waters came not to these marshes; or if they did, they refused them, and so were given to salt, made like Sodom, barren and accursed. Some places have not the waters of the sanctuary, the doctrine of the gospel, and they are barren, and perish for want of the same, as Tyre and Sidon. Other places have them, and because they are impenitent, and will not receive the truth with the love of it, because they will not drink in these waters, therefore they are given to salt, they are barren, and must perish. So it was with Capernaum and Jerusalem (Matthew 11:23, and 23:37, 38); and so is it with many places in this nation, I fear. William Greenhill.

Certain persons are to be met with, at revival services, who are the first to enter the enquiry-room, but when full inquiry is made about their history it will be found that they are old practitioners, and have undergone conversion of a sort many times before. These are the plague and disgrace of a religious awakening. Easily affected, their piety itself is an affectation: they are not exactly hypocrites, but yet there is so little depth in them that they are next door to it. We heard of one who had been healed of lameness, so he said, but within a few days he took to his crutches again, and thereby cast grave doubt upon the professed healer. Even thus do these wretched converts raise a cry against admirable movements. They are a sort of people whom even the gospel does not bless,—marshes, which even the river of life does not fertilize.

Who is the most miserable man on earth, and where shall we go to seek him? Not to the tavern; not to the theater; not even to the brothel; but to the church! That man, who has sat, Sabbath after Sabbath, under the awakening and affecting calls of the gospel, and has hardened his heart against these calls, he is the man whose condition is the most desperate of all others. "Woe unto you, Chorazin! woe unto you, Bethsaida! And you, Capernaum, which are exalted to Heaven, shall be thrust down to hell."—Richard Cecil.

The Latins used to say, "The corruption of what is best is the worst of all things."

Of all compounds of human weakness and depravity, the most repulsive is a bonfire of religious cant, which is all feeling and no principle, all talk and no character, all prayer and no life, all Sunday and no weekday. "You whited sepulchers!" "You generation of vipers!" The holiest of men join the indignant outcry of the world against such nauseating hypocrisy. That is a wise and always timely petition of the Church of England: "From the deceits of the world, from the crafts of the devil, good Lord, deliver us!"—Augustine Phelps.

97

Daniel 5:6—"His thoughts troubled him."

To many men thinking is an unusual employment.

Yet it is a distinction of man that he can think.

No wonder that when thought is forced on some men they are troubled.

This trouble from thought is beneficial: by it conviction and conversion may come; and, in any case, troubled thought is as the sounding of the tocsin, arousing the mind, and warning the soul.

Let us think of Belshazzar, and of ourselves. Of us, too, it may have been said, "His thoughts troubled him." We must be in a bad way if we dare not face our own thoughts about ourselves. What must God's thoughts of us be?

I. It did not appear likely that his thoughts would trouble him.

1. He was an irresponsible and reckless monarch. He came of a fierce nation, and was born of a father who had been punished for his haughty spirit.

2. He had hardened his heart with pride (verses 22 and 23). Daniel said, "you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of Heaven."

3. He was drinking wine, and it had worked upon him (verse 2).

4. He was rioting in mirthful company: "his princes, his wives, and his concubines." Such comrades as these usually chase all thought away, and help their leader in his recklessness.

5. He was venturing far in profanity (verse 3); daring to abuse the sacred vessels, in his banquets, as an expression of his contempt for Israel's God, whom he despised in contrast with his "gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." Perhaps he had mentioned these in detail as the gods who had triumphed; at any rate, the prophet brings them forward with detestation in verse 4.

No man is rendered wise or thoughtful by the wine-cup.

No man is out of the reach of the arrows of God.

No conscience is so dead that he cannot arouse it.

Many other men in far lower positions exhibit equal pride of station and success; this is stimulated in much the same manner, and exhibited with much the same contempt for the things of God.

A parallel is easily drawn between Belshazzar and other proud ones.

II. Yet well might his thoughts trouble him.

1. For what he saw was appalling: "fingers of a man's hand over against the candlestick" (verse 5).

God sometimes gives men warnings which they must notice.

2. For what he could not see was suggestive. Where was the hand?

Where was the writer? What had he written? What did it mean? A terrible mystery was involved in his vision.

God gives men hints of something behind, which is yet to appear

3. For what he had done was alarming.

His own past flashed before him. His cruel wars, oppressions, blasphemies, and vices.

What he knew of his father's career increased his terror.

What he had himself failed to do came before him: "The God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, have you not glorified" (verse 23).

What he was then in the act of doing startled him. He was wantonly defying Jehovah, the God of Israel.

See him trembling before whom all trembled.

He has drunk a strange draught out of those holy cups.

III. And might not your thoughts trouble some of you?

1. You are careless, riotous, fond of feasts, given to much wine. Does wantonness ever end well?

2. You are prosperous. Are not beasts fattened for the slaughter?

3. You are trifling with holy things. You neglect, or ridicule, or use without seriousness the things of God. Will this be endured? Will not the Lord be provoked to avenge this contempt?

4. You mix with the impure. Will you not perish with them?

5. Your father's history might instruct you, or at least trouble you.

6. The sacred writing "over against the candlestick" is against you. Read the Holy Scripture, and see for yourself.

7. Specially, you have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting. Conscience beholds the scales in the hand of the infallible Judge.

Take heed that you do not fall into Belshazzar's condition, to whom Daniel gave no counsel, but simply interpreted the sentences which sealed his doom.

As yet we dare preach the gospel to you, and we do. God's thoughts are above your thoughts. He bids you repent of sin, and believe in his Son Jesus; and then your thoughts will cease to trouble you.

Thoughts and Facts

Such mystery of iniquity within,

That we must loathe our very thoughts, but for the cure

He has devised,—the blessed Tree

The Lord has shown us, that, cast in, can heal

The fountain whence the bitter waters flow.

Divinest remedy

Whose power we feel,

Whose grace we comprehend not, but we know.

Miss Havergal.

Conscience, from inaction, is like a withered arm in the souls of many; but the Lord of conscience will one day say to it. "Be you stretched forth, and do your appointed work."

As the ant-hill, when stirred, sets in motion its living insects in every direction, so the conscience of the sinner, disturbed by the Spirit, or judgments of God, calls up before its vision thousands of deeds which fill the soul with agony and woe. McCosh.

The Duke of Wellington once said that he could have saved the lives of a thousand men a year, had he had chaplains, or any religious ministers. The uneasiness of their minds reacted on their bodies, and kept up continual fever, once it seized upon their frames. It is our blessed office to tell of One who can "minister to a mind diseased," whose grace can deliver from "an evil conscience," and through whom all inward fear and trouble are removed.

Charles IX. of France, in his youth, had humane and tender sensibilities. The fiend who had tempted him was the mother who had nursed him. When she first proposed to him the massacre of the Huguenots, he shrunk from it with horror: "No, no, madam! They are my loving subjects." Then was the critical hour of his life. Had he cherished that natural sensitiveness to bloodshed, St. Bartholomew's Eve would never have disgraced the history of his kingdom, and he himself would have escaped the fearful remorse which crazed him on his death-bed. To his physician he said in his last hours, "Asleep or awake, I see the mangled forms of the Huguenots passing before me. They drip with blood. They make hideous faces at me. They point to their open wounds, and mock me. Oh, that I had spared at least the little infants at the breast!" Then he broke out in agonizing cries and screams. Bloody sweat oozed from the pores of his skin. He was one of the very few cases in history which confirm the possibility of the phenomenon which attended our Lord's anguish in Gethsemane. That was the fruit of resisting, years before, the recoil of his youthful conscience from the extreme of guilt. Augustine Phelps.

XCVIII

Daniel 9:17—"Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant, and his supplications, and cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake."

This true-hearted man lived not for himself. Daniel was a fervent lover of his country.

He had been personally faithful, and in consequence he had been honored, but he did not rest content with personal ease.

He had visions of God, but he was not visionary.

He had searched and studied, but now he prayed. Supplication should ever be the outcome of our meditation.

His prayer is instructive to us.

It suggests our fervent entreaties for the church of God in these days.

I. The Holy Place. "Your sanctuary."

The temple was typical, and for our edification we shall read the text as if the spiritual house had been meant. There are many points in the type worthy of notice, but these may suffice:—

1. The temple was unique; and as there could only be one temple for Jehovah, so there is but one church.

2. The temple was "exceeding magnifical"; and in the eyes of God, and of holy beings, the church is the house of God's glory.

3. The temple was the fabric of wisdom. King Solomon built it; and of the church we may say, "a greater than Solomon is here."

4. The temple was the result of great cost and vast labor: so was the church built by the Lord Jesus at a cost which can never be estimated.

5. The temple was the shrine of God's indwelling.

6. The temple was the place of his worship.

7. The temple was the throne of his power: his word went forth from Jerusalem; there he ruled his people, and routed his foes.

The church of Jesus Christ in the latter day shall be more accurately the anti-type of the temple, as the present church is of the tabernacle in the wilderness.

II. The earnest prayer. "Cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary that is desolate."

1. It rose above all selfishness. This was his one prayer, the center of all his prayers.

2. It was the child of thought (verse 2).

He had thought over the sins, calamities, prospects of his people.

Such prayers show the way in which a man's mind is running, and are more full of force than unprepared expressions.

3. It cast itself upon God. "O our God."

4. It was a confession that he could do nothing of himself. Honest men do not ask God to do what they can do themselves.

5. It asked a comprehensive blessing. "Cause your face to shine."

This would mean many things which we also implore for the church of God.

(1.) Walls rebuilt and securely standing.

(2.) Ministers in their places, faithful in their service.

(3.) Worship presented with acceptance.

(4.) Truth proclaimed in its clearness. God's face cannot shine upon falsehood or equivocation.

(5.) Holiness displayed in its beauty. Where the Holy God is smiling, his servants are holy.

(6.) Delight in fellowship: the saints walking with God.

(7.) Power in testimony. When God is pleased, his word is mighty, and all holy endeavors are prospered.

6. It asked needful things.

For the church; unity, life, purity, power, joy, etc.

For the world; enlightenment and conversion. A desolate church is a defeated church.

For ourselves; edification. We cannot prosper in soul when Zion languishes.

For our children; salvation. Our sons and daughters are not likely to be saved in a desolate church.

7. It asked with a mighty plea: "For the Lord's sake."

III. The consistent conduct. This is suggested by such a prayer.

1. Let us consider the state of Zion (verse 23). Let us form a careful estimate of the condition of true religion.

2. Let us lay it earnestly to heart. Whether for joy or sorrow, let the condition of the church concern us deeply.

3. Let us do all we can for her, or our prayer will be a mockery.

4. Let us do nothing to grieve the Lord; for all depends upon his smile. "Cause your face to shine."

5. Let us pray much more than we have done. Let each one of us be a Daniel.

Incitements

During the troublous times of Scotland, when the Popish court and aristocracy were arming themselves to suppress the Reformation in that land, and the cause of Protestant Christianity was in imminent peril, late on a certain night John Knox was seen to leave his study, and to pass from the house down into an enclosure to the rear of it. He was followed by a friend, when, after a few moments of silence, his voice was heard as if in prayer. In another moment the accents deepened into intelligible words, and the earnest petition went up from his struggling soul to Heaven, "O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die!" Then a pause of hushed stillness, when again the petition broke forth, "O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die!" Once more all was voiceless and noiseless, when, with a yet intenser pathos the thrice-repeated intercession struggled forth, "O Lord, give me Scotland, or I die!" And God gave him Scotland, in spite of Mary and her Cardinal Beatoun; a land and a church of noble loyalty to Christ and his crown.

"At the time the Diet of Nuremburg was held," says Tholuck, "Luther was earnestly praying in his own dwelling; and at the very hour when the edict, granting full toleration to all Protestants, was issued, he ran out of his house, crying out, 'We have gained the victory.' "

The church may be sick, yet not die. Die it cannot, for the blood of an eternal King bought it, the power of an eternal Spirit preserves it, and the mercy of an eternal God shall crown it. Thomas Adams.

Prayer was a universal habit among the heathen people of Samoa, and they manifested considerable intelligence in their conception of prayer. For example, when on their boat-journeys, those who were sitting as passengers in the boat were expected to pray for those who were plying the paddles. The passengers would repeatedly thank the rowers in these words: "Thanks for your strong strokes"; to which the rowers immediately made answer, "Thanks for your intercessory prayers," recognizing, it will be seen, the principle that their power to ply the paddles was dependent upon the prayers of the passengers. The Congregationalist.

XCIX

Hosea 2:6, 7—"Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths."

"And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now."

This is a parenthesis of mercy in a passage of threatening.

It relates to a people to whom the Lord was united by bonds of covenant love, who had, nevertheless, been faithless and rebellious.

Strangely enough, it begins with a "therefore"; and the logic of it lies in the immutable resolve of the unchanging God never to renounce his covenant, nor utterly to cast away his chosen; as, also, in his unchangeable determination to win them to himself.

The words might still be spoken in reference to the chosen but sinning people of God.

Let us note carefully,—

I. The stubborn character of many sinners.

This appears in their case, as in that of Israel, in several ways:—

1. Ordinary means have missed their aim. The details are given in previous verses; and then we read "therefore": showing that because of former failures the Lord is about to try further measures.

2. Extraordinary means are now to be used, and attention is called to their speciality by the word "behold." God's wonderful ways of grace prove the wonderful obstinacy of sinners.

3. Even these means are to fail. Providence uses strange ways, like making hedges and walls; and yet for a while the sinner defeats the gracious design. "She shall follow after her lovers," etc. Men will leap hedges, and scale walls, to get at their darling sins.

4. Only divine power can overcome the hardened one. God says, "I will", and adds "she shall not", and "she shall"; proving that the omnipotence of love had now entered the lists, and intended to conquer the rebellious and obstinate transgressor. God himself must personally interpose, or none will turn to him.

What sinners those must be whom neither hedge nor wall will stop unless God be there also in omnipotence of grace!

II. The means which God uses to reclaim them.

These, when used by God himself, become effectual, though they would have accomplished nothing of themselves.

1. Sharp afflictions: "I will hedge up your way with thorns." Many are checked, and made to think by being made to smart. Travelers tell us of the "wait-a-bit thorn," which puzzles the most cautious walker. When in full pursuit of evil, the Lord can bring the sinner to a pause.

2. Insurmountable difficulties: "and make a wall." The Lord of love places effectual stoppages in the road of those whom he means to save: if men break down hedges, his persevering love builds walls, so that they may find it hard to persevere in sin.

3. Blinding perplexities: "she shall not find her paths." He can make the ways of sinful pleasure to be difficult and bewildering, until even the broad road seems to be barricaded.

4. Utter failures: "she shall follow after, but not overtake." We know persons with whom nothing is going right; even the utmost diligence in their case fails to secure prosperity: and all because their ways are not pleasing to God, and he means to bring them out of them. Such men hunt after sinful success, but it flees from them.

5. Bitter disappointments: "she shall seek them, but shall not find them." Pleasure shall be no longer found by them even in those amusements where once it danced around them.

These severe chastenings are frequently made useful in the early days of religious impression: they are the ploughing before the sowing.

III. The blessed result which is at last attained.

The wandering, wanton spirit is led to return to her God.

1. Remembrance aroused: "it was better with me."

2. Confession of sad loss extorted: "then was it better with me than now." She thinks upon happier times, now that her days are clouded over.

3. Resolution formed: "I will go and return."

4. Affection stirred: "I will return to my first husband."

She owns the bands of love; she sorrows that she has strained them so terribly.

When the matter has come so far, the sad breach is healed, the work of reclaiming love is done.

Let us turn to the Lord before he uses thorns to stop us.

If already hedged up, let us consider our ways.

In any case, let us by faith turn to Jesus, and rest in him.

Cuttings

"I will hedge up your way."—There is a twofold hedge that God makes about his people. There is the hedge of protection, to keep evil from them; and the hedge of affliction, to keep them from evil. The hedge of protection you have in Isaiah 5:5, where God threatens that he "will take away the hedge" from his vineyard; and it is said of Job, that God had "hedged him about." But the hedge here meant is the hedge of affliction. "I will hedge up your way," that is, I will bring sore and heavy afflictions upon you to keep you from evil.

When a gardener sees passengers make a path in his ground where they ought not, and so spoil the grass or the corn, he lays thorns in the way that they cannot go into his corn; or if they do, they shall go with some pain and trouble: "so," says God, "I will hedge up your way with thorns."—Jeremiah Burroughs.

Consider the good effects of a wounded conscience, privative for the present, and positive for the future. First, privative; this heaviness of your heart (for the time being) is a bridle to your soul, keeping it from many sins it would otherwise commit. You that now sit sad in your shop, or stand sighing in your chamber, might perhaps at this time be drunk, or wanton, or worse, if not restrained by this affliction. God says to Judah, "I will hedge up your way with thorns," namely, to keep Judah from committing spiritual fornication. A wounded conscience is a hedge of thorns; but this thorny fence keeps our wild spirits in the true way, which otherwise would be straggling; and it is better to be held in the right road with briars and brambles than to wander on beds of roses in a wrong path which leads to destruction. Thomas Fuller.

A popular and successful young minister in America became entangled in the meshes of infidelity, left the pulpit, joined an infidel club, and derided the name he had preached to others as the Savior of the world. But he sickened, and came to his death-bed. His friends gathered round him, and tried to comfort him with their cold and icy theories, but in vain. The old thought came back to him—the old experience came before him. He said, "Wife, bring me my Greek Testament." Upon his bed he turned to the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. When he had finished the chapter, great tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. He closed the Book, and said, "Wife, back again at last upon the old rock to die."

C

Hosea 2:14—"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."

In the former part of the chapter we find words of accusation and threatening most justly uttered towards a guilty nation.

In this second portion we come to a passage of unmixed grace.

The person dealt with is the same, but she is dealt with under another dispensation, even that covenant of grace of which we find an abstract in verse 23.

God, intending to deal with his sinful people in love, speaks words which are of the most extraordinary tenor.

I. Here is, for his deeds of love, a reason beyond all reason.

The text begins with "therefore." God always has a reason.

The context describes the grossest sin, and how should God find a reason there?

1. God finds a reason for grace where there is none. Why else did he bless Israel, or any one of us?

2. God makes a reason which overrides all other reasons. Because his people will persist in being so evil, he will display more love until he wins them from their wanderings.

3. God creates a reason for out of reasons against. "She forgot me, says the Lord. Therefore I will allure her." (See all preceding verses.) The great sin which is in itself a reason for judgment is by divine grace turned into an argument for mercy

4. God justifies his own reasoning with men by a reason. According to the margin, "I will speak to her heart," is the promise of the text, and the Lord gives a "therefore" for it. He has a gracious reason for reasoning with us in love.

The sovereign grace of God had chosen his people, and his immutable love resolves to win this people to itself, therefore it sets about the work.

II. Here is a method of power beyond all power. "I will allure her."

1. Allurement of love surpasses in power all other forces.

It appears that other methods had been used, such as,—

Affliction with its thorny hedge (verse 6).

Instruction with all its practical application (verse 8).

Deprivation even of necessities (verse 9).

Exposure of sin beyond all denial (verse 10).

Sorrow upon sorrow (verses 11 and 12).

The sweet allurement of tenderness would succeed where these failed.

2. Allurement of love overcomes the will to resist.

Assaulted we defend, allured we yield.

3. Allurement of grace has many conquering weapons.

The person, work, offices, and love of Jesus lead men captive.

The freeness and abundance of divine pardon vanquish opposition.

The grace and truth of the covenant defy resistance.

The adoption and inheritance so graciously bestowed subdue the heart by overwhelming force of gratitude.

The sense of present peace, and the prospect of future glory, allure us beyond all things.

III. Here is a condition of company beyond all company.

1. She is made to be alone. Free from tempting, distracting, or assisting company. All her lovers far from her. Her hope in them is gone.

2. Alone with God. He becomes her trust, desire, aim, love.

3. Alone as in the wilderness. Illustrate by Israel, who, in the wilderness, knew the Lord as Deliverer, Guide, Guard, Light, Manna, Physician, Champion, central Glory, and King.

4. Alone for the same purpose as Israel, for training, growth, illumination, and preparation for the promised rest: above all that they might be the Lord's own separated ones.

IV. Here is a voice of comfort beyond all comfort. "And speak comfortably to her."

1. Real comfort is given to souls alone with God. The divine speech is applied to the heart, and so its comfort is understood, and appropriated, and effectually touches the affections.

2. Abundant comfort is bestowed, received, and acknowledged,—

By renewed gratitude: "she shall sing there as in the days of her youth." See verse 15.

By a more confiding spirit: "you shall call me Ishi," etc. See verses 16 and 17.

By an established peace. See verse 18.

By a clearer revelation of eternal love. See verses 19 and 20.

By a surer sense of the eternal future, and its marriage-union of endless bliss; for betrothal prophesies marriage.

Now let all this be known and felt, and we are sure the heart is won: there can be no revolting after this.

Let the prayer of each one of us be,—

O heavenly love, my heart subdue,

I would be led in triumph too;

Allured to live for God alone,

And bow submissive at his throne.

Jottings

When God's free grace has pitched upon its object, it often solicits that soul in its own peculiar way: I mean that grace woos and wins by its own graciousness, it conquers not by arms but by allurement. Have you not seen a mother allure her child to run into her bosom with the promise of a kiss? Have you never heard the little birds alluring their mates with rapturous song? Know you not the way of love by which it wins its victories? If so, you also understand why the beloved one is to be spoken with in the wilderness. Love is shy, and shuns the crowd: solitude is her element. When a soul is made to be alone with God, it shall hear many things which for the present could not be spoken to it. Speaking to the heart is reserved for retirement; it were not meet to display the secrets of divine communion to a mingled concourse. Understand, therefore, O lonely one, why you are made to be one by yourself; and now surrender your heart to the sacred allurements of sovereign grace!—C. H. S.

Some years ago an affecting incident was reported in reference to the ex-Empress Charlotte, an Austrian princess, whose husband was for a short time Emperor of Mexico. In the year 1867 he was shot by the revolutionists, and his unhappy widow became the victim of melancholy madness, which her physicians gave up all hope of curing. As in similar cases, she returned to the tastes and habits of childhood, one of which was a passion for flowers, and she spent most of her time over them. Their attractiveness for her was touchingly manifested on the occasion in question, when, having eluded the watch of her attendants, she had fled from the castle. When overtaken it was found impossible to induce her to return, except by the use of means which would certainly have proved hurtful. One of her physicians happily bethought himself of her intense affection for flowers; and by showing them from time to time before her, she was gradually lured on her way back to her home. May not this story be taken as an illustration of the way in which God allures wandering souls back to himself by the invitations and promises of the gospel?

CI

Hosea 2:23—"I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are my God."

Romans 9:25, 26—"As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God."

We accept the supreme authority of Holy Scripture: every word of it is truth to us.

Yet we attach special weight to words which are the personal utterance of the Lord God; as in this case, where God himself is the Speaker, in the first person.

Still more are we impressed when a divine message is repeated; as in this instance, where Paul writes:—"As he says also in Hosea."

God "says" still what he said long ago.

Come then, anxious souls, and hear the story of God's grace to his chosen, in the hope that he may do the like for you.

Observe with attention, concerning the Lord's people,—

I. Their original state: "not obtained mercy,—not my people."

1. They not only were not "beloved," but they were expressly disowned.

"It was said unto them, you are not my people." Their claim, if they made any, was negatived.

This is the worst case that can be: worse than to be left alone.

This, conscience, providence, and the Word of God all appear to say to men who persist in sin.

2. They had no approval of God.

They were not numbered with his people.

They were not "beloved," in the sense of the love of delight

3. They had not in the highest sense "obtained mercy."

For they were under providential judgment.

That judgment had not become a blessing to them.

They had not even sought for mercy.

4. They were the types of a people who as yet—

Have felt no application of the blood of Jesus;

Have known no renewing work of the Spirit;

Have obtained no relief by prayer; perhaps have not prayed;

Have enjoyed no comfort of the promises;

Have known no communion with God;

And possess no hope of Heaven, or preparation for it.

It is a terrible description, including all the unsaved.

It is concerning certain of such that the unconditional promise is made in the text: "I will call them my people." Who these are shall be seen in due time by their repentance and faith, which shall be wrought in them by the Spirit of God. There are such people, and this fact is our encouragement in preaching the gospel, for we perceive that our labor will not be in vain.

II. Their new condition. "You are my people."

1. Mercy is promised: "I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy." This is absolutely free.

2. A divine revelation is pronounced: "I will say, You are my people."

This is done by the Spirit of God in the heart.

This is supported by gracious dealings in the life.

3. A hearty response shall be given: "they shall say, You are my God." The Holy Spirit will lead them to this free acceptance.

As a whole, they will say this with one voice.

Each individual will say it for himself in the singular, "You."

4. A declaration of love shall be made: "I will call her beloved, which was not beloved." (Romans 9:25.) Love shall be enjoyed.

5. This shall be perceived by others: "There shall they be called the children of the living God."

Their likeness to God shall make them to be called the children of God, even as the peacemakers in Matthew 5:9.

Thus every blessing shall be theirs, surely, personally, everlastingly.

Reflections arising from all this:—

We must give up none as hopeless; even though they be marked out by terrible evidence to be not the people of God.

None may give up themselves in despair.

Sovereign grace is the ultimate hope of the fallen.

Let them trust in a God so freely gracious, so omnipotent to save, so determined to bring in those whom it seemed that even he, himself, had disowned, whom everybody had abandoned as not the people of God.

Notabilia

"Have you ever heard the gospel before?" asked an Englishman, at Ningpo, of a respectable Chinaman, whom he had not seen in his mission-room before.

"No," he replied, "but I have seen it. I know a man who used to be the terror of his neighborhood. If you gave him a hard word, he would shout at you, and curse you for two days and nights without ceasing. He was as dangerous as a wild beast, and a bad opium-smoker; but when the religion of Jesus took hold of him, he became wholly changed. He is gentle, moral, not soon angry, and has left off opium. Truly, the teaching is good!"—Word and Work.

It will give a kind of exaltation to the saint's happiness to look down upon that moral depth from which he was taken. A man on the edge of a precipice, at night, cannot clearly see it; but when the morning dawns, he will be able to see the danger he has been in. So the saint cannot, while on earth, conceive the depth of sin from which he has been raised; but he will be able to measure it by the light of Heaven, and he may go down ages before he comes to the place where he once was: and then to think what he is—how deep once, but how high now—it will augment the sense of happiness and glory:—and then to recollect who has been the cause—and every time he looks down at what he was, it will give greater emphasis to the ascription, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father: to him be glory and dominion forever and ever."—John Foster.

The announcement made by Brownlow North to his old friends of his sudden change, whether orally or in writing, created no small sensation among them. Some thought he had gone out of his mind, others thought it was a temporary impression or excitement, and that it would soon pass off; and this was specially the case with those of them who were acquainted with his previous convictions, and temporary reformation, while, in some of the newspapers, it was even said, after he began his public work, that the whole thing was done for a wager, and that he had taken a bet to gather a certain number of thousands or tens of thousands of hearers in a given time. So little do carnal men understand the workings of the Spirit of God, even when they see the most striking and manifest proofs of it. From Brownlow North's Life-story, by Rev. K. Moody-Stuart, M.A.

102

Hosea 8:7—"for they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it has no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up."

Life is a seed-time. Of all men it may be said, "they have sown."

Prudent men put the question, "What will the harvest be?"

The hope of harvest is the joyful encouragement of the righteous.

The certainty of harvest should be a solemn warning to the godless.

It is well to follow worldly lives to their issues that we may avoid them. Here we see what evil seed will produce.

I. The result of certain sowings will be terrible. "They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."

The sowing was careless, or mischievous, or changeable; and the harvest was of the same reckless, ruthless, mingled character, only terribly intensified. Wind grew into whirlwind.

1. Vicious men sow their wild oats, and we need not say what they reap. The debauched, drunken, and profligate are around us, bearing already in their own persons the first-fruits of the fearful harvest of transgression.

2. Oppressors in a nation are sure to be repaid with revolt, bloodshed, etc., as may be seen in the French Revolution, and many other dreadful historical incidents. Wars bring an awful harvest of poverty and death. Oh, that our nation would cease to be so eager for the fray!

3. Immoral theories go far beyond their original intent. The speculation was an airy nothing, but the outcome is a whirlwind, breaking down all that is built up.

4. Heresies in the church also lead to unexpected evils. Apparently trifling errors grow to grievous evils. The use of a symbol develops into idolatry. A little laxity increases into absolute immorality. Small disputes lead on to heart-burnings and divisions.

5. Tolerance of sin in a family is a fruitful source of overwhelming evil. See the case of Eli. Mind it is not your own.

6. Toleration of sin in yourself. Occasional indulgence becomes habit, and habit is as the Simoom of the desert, before which life expires, and hope is swept away. Even allowable acts may grow into dangerous excess.

Let no man think that he can measure, much less limit, the consequences of sin as to himself, his family, the church, or the world. When once the winds are up, who can still them?

II. The result of some sowings is manifest failure. "It has no stalk."

The seed feebly tries to grow, but it comes to nothing.

1. Self-conceit vainly endeavors to produce a reputation.

2. Self-righteousness strives unsuccessfully to obtain salvation.

3. Human wisdom idly struggles to make a new gospel.

4. Mere idlers and talkers affect to be useful, but it is a delusion. What appears to be accomplished soon vanishes away. Great talk, but "no stalk."

5. He who spends his life without faith in Christ, and obedience to his will, may dream of a happy future, but he will be deceived: "it has no stalk."

Wherefore do men live for folly, and dote on vanity?

III. The result of many sowings is unsatisfactory. "The bud shall yield no meal."

"The devil's meal is all bran," so they say, and it is true.

1. The man lived for pleasure, and found satiety.

2. He lived for fame, and gathered vanity.

3. He lived for self, and found misery.

4. He lived by his own works and religiousness, but reaped no peace of mind, and no real salvation.

IV. The result of many sowings is personal disappointment. "If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up."

1. The man spends his life as a common toiler, who earns much for his master, but nothing for himself, and this is a poor result if there be no higher object in life.

2. He invents, devises, and commences, but another gains the profit.

3. He heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them. His heirs forget him, and strangers swallow up his savings without gratitude.

Without God, nothing is wise, or strong, or worth the doing.

Only to live unto God is a wise sowing.

May the Lord destroy utterly all our sowings to the flesh, lest we reap corruption! Galatians 6:8.

May the Lord Jesus supply us with good seed, and bless us in the sowing! Oh, for a consecrated life!

Incidents

An Eastern apologue tells us of Abdallah, to whom an evil spirit came at first as a fly, sipping an atom of syrup. He did not drive away the creature, and to his surprise it increased to the size of a locust. Being further indulged, the creature went on growing, and made such rapid increase that it became an enormous monster, devoured his substance, and in the end murdered him, leaving in the garden, where it slew its victim, a footprint six cubits long. Thus does sin grow upon men, until it becomes a giant habit, and slays them.

Augustine tells us of a young man who thought that the devil had made flies, and such like tiny things. By the influence of this apparently insignificant error, he was led on, step by step, until in the end he ascribed everything to Satan, and ceased to believe in God. Thus does error sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. Scrupulous correctness of faith is as much a duty as careful practice in morals.

David Hume, the historian, philosopher, and skeptic, spent his life in traducing the Word of God. In his last moments he joked with those around him; but the intervals were filled up with sadness. He wrote, "I am affrighted and confounded with the forlorn solitude in which I am placed by my philosophy. When I turn my eye inward, I find nothing but doubt and ignorance. Where am I, and what? I begin to fancy myself in the most deplorable condition imaginable, environed in the deepest darkness."—New Cyclopædia of Anecdote.

The history of the Rev. Caleb Colton, M.A., the author of "Lacon," may serve as a striking illustration of the truth of our text. He was a clergyman at Tiverton, popular and clever, but very fond of field-sports. One day, however, a friend suddenly expired while uttering most impious language. The awe-struck minister abjured dogs and guns, and vowed to live henceforth for his sacred calling. For months his preaching was earnest, but at the end of that time he resumed the sporting life. He had, moreover, acquired a love for gambling. A presentation to the vicarage of Kew and Petersham brought him to London, and while numbers were reading with delight his "Lacon; or, Many Things in Few Words; addressed to those who think," the wretched author was sitting far into the night among swindlers. His passion for play involving him in financial difficulties, he was forced to abscond, and his living was declared void. After leading a vagabond life, he perished by his own hand at Fontainebleau, in 1832.

103

Hosea 10:2. "Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty."

Israel, as a nation, divided its allegiance between Jehovah and Baal, and so became good for nothing, and was given up to captivity.

God has made one heart in man, and the attempt to have two, or to divide the one, is in every case injurious to man's life.

A church divided into parties, or differing in doctrine, becomes heretical, or contentious, or weak and useless.

A Christian, aiming at another object besides his Lord's glory, is sure to spend a poor, unprofitable life. He is an idolater, and his entire character will be faulty.

A seeker after Christ will never find him while his heart is hankering after sinful pleasures, or self-righteous confidences: his search is too faulty to be successful.

A minister, aiming at something else besides his one object, whether it be fame, learning, philosophy, rhetoric, or gain, will prove to be a very faulty servant of God.

In any case this heart-disease is a dire malady. A broken heart is a blessing; but a divided heart is a mortal malady.

Let us seriously consider,—

I. The disease. "Their heart is divided."

This evil is to be seen—

1. In their idea of their state: they say they are "miserable sinners", but they believe themselves to be exceedingly respectable.

2. In the ground of their trust: they profess faith in Christ, and yet they rely upon self: they try to mix grace and works.

3. In the aim of their life: God and mammon, Christ and Belial, Heaven and the world.

4. In the object of their love. It is Jesus and some earthly love. They cannot say "Jesus only."

5. In the decision of their will. They are never settled; they halt between two opinions; they do not know their own mind: they have two minds, and so no mind at all.

The disease complained of is in the central fountain of life, and it affects every part of their manhood. It is fearfully common, even in those who make a loud profession. If not cured it will end fatally, and perhaps suddenly, as heart-disease is very apt to do.

II. The evil effect of it. "Now shall they be found faulty."

In all sorts of ways the fault will show itself.

1. God is not loved at all when not wholly loved.

2. Christ is insulted when a rival is admitted.

3. No grace reigns within the soul if the heart be not wholly won.

4. The life limps and halts when it has not a whole heart behind it.

5. Before long the man goes over entirely to the wrong side.

This secret evil must sooner or later prove the whole profession to be faulty from beginning to end. It will be an awful thing if this be never discovered until death is close at hand.

III. Attempts at a cure.

Let it be seriously considered by the double-hearted man—

1. That he condemns himself by yielding so much of his heart to God. Why any if not all? Why go this way at all, if not all the way?

2. That his salvation will require all his thought and heart; for it is no trifling matter. "The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence": Matthew 11:12. The righteous scarcely are saved: 1 Peter 4:18.

3. That the blessing he seeks is worthy of all his soul and strength.

4. That Jesus gave his whole heart to our redemption, and therefore it is not consistent for us to be half-hearted.

5. That all potent beings in the universe are undivided in heart.

Bad men are eager for their pleasure, gains, etc.

The devil works evil with his whole power.

Good men are zealous for Christ.

God is earnest to bless.

6. That faith in Christ is an act of the whole heart, and therefore a divided heart is not capable of saving faith, and consequently shuts itself off from the Savior.

From this time forward pray that you may have an undivided heart.

Read, hear, pray, repent, believe with your whole heart, and you shall soon rejoice with all your heart.

Helps toward Application

A minister in Brooklyn was recently called upon by a business man, who said to him, "I come, sir, to inquire if Jesus Christ will take me into the concern as a sleeping partner." "Why do you ask?" said the minister. "Because I wish to be a member of the firm, and do not wish anybody to know it." The reply was: "Christ takes no sleeping partners."

Some talk that the devil has a cloven foot; but whatever the devil's foot be, to be sure his sons have a cloven heart: one half for God, the other half for sin; one half for Christ, the other half for this present world. God has a corner in it, and the rest is for sin and the devil. Richard Alleine.

As to the evil of being neither one thing nor the other, one finds an illustration in the water-ways of Southern China, which in winter-time are quite useless for purposes of commerce. The temperature is most tantalizing, for it is neither cold enough to freeze the canals, so that the ice would be able to bear traffic; nor warm enough to thaw them, so that they could be navigable by boats.

Some great king or potentate, having a mind to visit his imperial city, the harbinger is ordered to go before, and mark out a house suitable to entertain his majesty's retinue. The prince will only come to a house where he may dwell alone: if he cannot have the whole house, he will go elsewhere. The herald finds one house where the master desires to entertain the king, but he must have but one small chamber, wherein to lodge his wife and children. The herald will not accept his offer. Then he entreats the benefit of some by-place, to set up a trunk or two, full of richer goods than ordinary. "No," says the harbinger, "it cannot be; for if your house were as big again as it is, it would be little enough to entertain the king and all his royal train." So it is that every man's body is a temple of God, and his heart the sanctum sanctorum of that temple. His ministers are sent out into the world to inform us that Christ is coming to lodge there, and that we must clear the rooms, that this great King of glory may enter in. God will have the whole heart, the whole mind, the whole soul,—and all will be too little to entertain him, and the graces of his Holy Spirit, which are attendant on him. "Let it be neither mine nor your; divide it": was the voice of a strange woman (1 Kings 3:26), and such is that of the present world; but God will take nothing by halves: he will have the whole heart or nothing. John Spencer.

On one occasion, when a former ruler of Montenegro was supposed to have received the offer of peace and a sum of money if he would acknowledge himself a vassal of the Porte, it is said that the chief men of the people waited on him to remind him that he was at perfect liberty to take service with the Sultan, but that no servant of the Sultan could be Gospodar of the Black Mountaineers. Travels in the Sclavonic Provinces of Turkey.

CIV

Hosea 10:12—"Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, until he come and rain righteousness upon you."

What should we think of a farmer who allowed his finest fields to lie fallow year after year?

Yet men neglect their souls; and besides being unprofitable, these inward fields become full of weeds, and exceedingly foul.

You see to everything else, will you not see to your souls?

It is God who calls you to break up the fallow ground of your uncultivated heart, and he waits to aid you therein.

Regard attentively the argument which he uses: "for it is time to seek the Lord." Thus God reasons with you. To this he adds instructions which deserve our best attention.

I. When is it time? "It is time."

1. In the very first hour of responsibility it is none too soon.

2. At the present it is late, but not too late. "It is time."

3. When chastening has come, seek the Lord instantly; for now it is high time, "lest a worse thing come unto you": John 5:14.

4. Before trial comes, let mercy and gentleness lead to gratitude. Why should we need to be flogged to our God? Isaiah 1:5.

5. Have you not sinned long enough? May not the time past suffice for us to have served the flesh? 1 Peter 4:3.

6. When you assume great responsibilities, and enter on a new stage of life:—married, made a master, a father, etc.: 1 Chronicles 22:19.

7. When God's Spirit is specially at work, and therefore others are saved. Acts 3:19.

When you yourself feel holy stirrings in your conscience, and hope in your heart. Psalm 27:8. 2 Samuel 5:24.

When the gospel is aimed at you by an earnest minister or friend.

II. What is the peculiar work?—"to seek the Lord."

1. To draw near unto God; seeking him in worship, prayer, etc Psalm 105:4.

2. To ask pardon at his hands through the atonement of Jesus. Isaiah 55:6.

3. To obtain the blessings connected with the new birth. John 1:12, 13.

4. To live for his glory: seeking his honor in all things. Matthew 6:33.

III. How long shall this be done? "Until he come and rain righteousness upon you."

1. Until the blessing of righteousness be obtained: "until he come."

2. Until it be plenteously received: "rain righteousness."

3. Until your soul is saturated: "rain righteousness upon you."

Suppose a pause between the seeking and the blessing, do not look in some other direction, but seek the Lord still.

What else can you do? John 6:68.

Is not God a Sovereign? May he not give when he pleases?

Even now some rain of grace falls on you. Be thankful for it.

Is it not worth waiting for this grace of life?

It is sure to come. He will come, and will not tarry. Hebrews 10:37.

IV. What will come of it?

1. He will come. This is implied in the expression "until he come." God's coming in grace is all you need.

2. He will come in righteousness. You need purity and holiness, and he will bring these with him.

3. He will come in abundance of grace meeting your obedient sowing. Mark the precept, "Sow in righteousness." Then note the promise, "and rain righteousness upon you."

4. In consequence of the Lord's coming to you in righteousness, you shall "reap in mercy." With joy you shall gather the fruits of his love; not because of your own righteousness, but because of his righteousness, which he rains upon you; not as merit, but as mercy.

Come then, and seek the Lord at this very hour!

If you would find him, he is in Christ. Believe, and you have found him, and righteousness in him. Romans 3:22.

Quickeners

While Christ calls, it is not too late to come. Do you object, "Is there not a set day, which, if sinners neglect, the door is shut?" I answer,—There is truth in this; but yet there is no day but a sinner ought to come in it. Though you may think the day of Christ's acceptance to be over, yet is not the day of your submission over. Your time to be subject to the divine precept is not over while you live. You are still under the command, and bound to yield obedience to God whatever he bid you do.… So long as God calls you, the day is not over. This should encourage you to come at once, driven by duty, and drawn by grace. Ralph Robinson.

Sir Thomas More, while he was a prisoner in the Tower, would not so much as suffer himself to be trimmed, saying that there was a controversy between the king and him for his head, and until that was at a happy end, he would be at no cost about it. Let us but scum off the froth of his wit, and we may make a solemn use of it; for certainly all the cost we bestow upon ourselves, to make our lives pleasurable and joyous to us, is but mere folly, until it be decided what will become of the suit between God and us, what will be the issue of the controversy that God has against us, and that not for our heads, but for our souls, whether for Heaven or Hell. Were it not, then, the wisest course to begin with making our peace; and then we may the sooner lead a happy life? It is said, "He who gets out of debt grows rich." Most sure it is that the pardoned soul cannot be poor; for as soon as peace is concluded, a free trade is opened between God and the soul. If once pardoned, we may then sail to any port that lies in God's dominions, and be welcome. All the promises stand open with their treasures, and say, "Here, poor soul, take in full lading of all precious things, even as much as your faith can bear and carry away!"—John Spencer.

A little maiden stood trembling, weeping, timidly knocking at the door of a minister's library. "Come in," said a cheerful voice. The door handle slowly turned, and there she stood, sobbing with emotion. "What is the matter, my dear child?" said the sympathizing pastor. "Oh, sir," was the reply, "I have lived seven years without Jesus!" She had just been celebrating her seventh birthday. The British Messenger.

Moments seize;

Heaven's on their wing: a moment we may wish,

When worlds want wealth to buy.

Young.

Thomas Fuller says, "God invites many with his golden scepter whom he never bruises with his rod of iron." If the invitations of his grace were more freely accepted, we should often escape the chastisements of his hand. Oh, that men did but know that a time of health, and happiness, and prosperity is as fit a season as can be for seeking the Lord! Indeed, any hour is a good time in which to seek the Lord, so long as it is present with us. He who would be wise will find no better day in the calendar for casting away folly than that which is now with him. But let no man trifle with time, for in an instant the die may be cast, and then it is written concerning the ungodly, "I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear comes": Proverbs 1:26.

105

Hosea 13:10—"I will be your king."

This was God's declaration to Israel, meeting a great want, and saving the people from a great burden.

They were to be spared the expense and danger arising from a human monarch, and to find government and headship in God himself.

This did not content their unspiritual nature, and they desired a king, like the nations around them. By this desire they angered the Lord, and missed a great privilege.

To us the Lord presents the same privilege in a high spiritual sense, and if we are wise we shall accept it.

I. The craving of nature. "Give me a king."

We do not go into the political question of the right or wrong of monarchy in the abstract: that would be too vexed a discussion, and unsuitable for our present engagement. We are quite content with the form of government of our own land.

But we speak morally and spiritually of individual need.

Man was happy in the garden while God was his King; but when he became a rebel against the King of kings, he was forced to accept another lord.

"Give me a king" is—

1. The cry of weakness. Man needs someone to look up to.

2. The sigh of distress. In straits he sighs for the wise and the strong to counsel and support him.

3. The prayer of thoughtfulness.

Anarchy of soul is terrible; each passion fights for mastery.

A kingless, aimless life is misery. Idleness is hard work: the purposeless are unhappy.

King Self is a poor, mean, despicable despot, foolish and feeble.

The World is a cruel and ungrateful master.

4. The desire of experience.

Folly proved makes us desire a Lawgiver.

Danger felt makes us long for a Protector.

Responsibility weighing upon us makes us sigh for a Superior, who will undertake to choose our way, and direct us in it.

II. The royal answer of grace. "I will be your King."

1. Eminently condescending. Our God comes to rule over—

A ruined, bankrupt, desolated realm.

Torn to pieces by contending pretenders.

Surrounded by mighty and relentless enemies.

Full of unruly members.

Nothing but infinite love could prompt him to assume such a throne, or to wear a crown which cost him so dear. "Behold your King!"

2. Abundantly satisfactory; for—

He has power to subdue every inward rebel.

He has a character worthy of dominion. It is a great honor to submit to such a Prince.

He has more than the wisdom of Solomon to arrange every matter.

He has goodness to bless, and he is as ready as he is able to make his reign a period of happiness, peace, and prosperity.

He has love with which to command affectionate obedience.

3. Infinitely consoling—

To be protected by his omnipotence.

To be ruled by absolute perfection.

To be governed by a King who can neither be defeated, nor die, nor abdicate, nor change.

To find in God far more of greatness and goodness than could be dreamed of as existing in the best of earthly sovereigns.

4. Gloriously inspiring—

To live and die for such a Leader.

To claim possession of human hearts for such a Benefactor.

To have such an Example for obedient imitation.

To be forever linked with a Potentate so majestic.

III. The delight of loyalty. Our answer to the promise of the text is this—"You are my King, O God": Psalm 44:4.

If we unreservedly accept our King—

1. We look to see and share his glory before long. Isaiah 33:17.

2. We expect present deliverances. Psalm 44:4.

3. We repose in delicious confidence in the wisdom, goodness, and immutability of all his arrangements.

4. We seek to extend his dominions. Matthew 6:10.

5. We glory in his name with unspeakable delight. His history is our meditation, his promise is our sustentation, his honors are our glory, and his person is our adoration. His throne is our haven and our Heaven. He, himself, is all our salvation, and all our desire. 2 Samuel 23:5.

Pleas for Homage

Is Jesus in very deed and truth my King? Where is the proof of it? Am I living in his kingdom of "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" now? (Romans 14:17.) Am I speaking the language of that kingdom? Am I following "the customs of the people" (Jeremiah 10:3) which are not his people? or, do I "diligently learn the ways of his people"? (Jeremiah 12:16.) Am I practically living under the rule of his laws? Have I done heart-homage to him? Am I bravely and honestly upholding his cause, because it is his, not merely because those around me do so? Is my allegiance making any practical difference to my life to-day?—Miss Havergal.

God is the ultimate foundation of all human society; without him you can neither cement nor govern society. The mad attempt, if you remember, was made in France. The governing council decreed that there was no God. What was the result? Anarchy, confusion, license, bloodshed, terror. Robespierre, one of the leading spirits of the Revolution, had to declare to his comrades in conclave assembled, "If there be no God, we must make one—we cannot govern France without him."—J. Cynddylan Jones.

What, then, shall we render for this inestimable favor, in taking us to be his subjects? Oh, let us offer him not only the tenths of our labors, but the first-fruits of our affections: let us open not only the doors of our lips, but the gates of our hearts, that the King of glory may come in. And when you vouchsafe, O my Lord, to come with your high majesty under my low roof; and to work a miracle, by having that greatness, which the world contains not, contained in a little corner of my breast; grant also to send your grace for the harbinger of your glory!

Possess me wholly, O my Sovereign! Reign in my body, by obedience to your laws; and in my soul, by confidence in your promises: frame my tongue to praise you, my knees to reverence you, my strength to serve you, my desires to covet you, and my heart to embrace thee. Sir R. Baker, on "The Lord's Prayer."

The Lord in our text assumes the throne, not so much by the election of his subjects as by his election of them; and the act is not an ascent to a higher dignity than that which he naturally possesses, but a descent of love to a position which is for our gain rather than his own. He comes to us with this sweet willingness to reign over us, and it is our wisdom joyfully to accept the infinite privileges of his endless dominion.

106

Joel 2:13—"Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God."

Explain the oriental custom of rending robes.

People were ready enough to use the outward signs of mourning when, as in the present instance, locusts appeared to devour their crops, or when any other judgment threatened them.

They failed in mourning as to the Lord, and in rendering spiritual homage to his chastising rod. Hence the language of the text.

Let us revolve in our minds,—

I. The general doctrine that true religion is more inward than outward.

The expression "Rend your heart, and not your garments", casts somewhat of a slur upon the merely outward.

1. This respects forms and ceremonies of men's devising. These are numerous and vain. "Not your garments" may in their case be treated in the most emphatic manner. Will-worship is sin.

2. It bears also upon ordinances of God's own ordaining if practiced without grace, and relied upon as of themselves effectual.

Among good things which may become unprofitable we may mention—

The regular frequenting of a place of worship.

The practice of family prayer in one's own home.

The reading of Holy Scripture.

The holding of an orthodox creed.

The practice of private prayer.

The attendance upon sacraments.

All these good things should have their place in our lives; but they do not prove saint-ship: since a sinner may practice them all, after a sort. The absence of a true heart will make them all vain.

II. The further doctrine that man is more inclined to the outward observance than to inward matters.

Hence he needs no exhortation to rend his garments, though that act might in certain cases be a fit and proper expression of deep repentance, and holy horror for sin.

Man is thus partial to externals—

1. Because he is not spiritual, but carnal by nature.

2. Because the inward is more difficult than the outward, and requires thought, diligence, care, humiliation, etc.

3. Because he loves his sin. He will rend his robes, for they are not himself; but to rend off his beloved sins is like tearing out his eyes.

4. Because he cares not to submit to God. Law and gospel are both distasteful to him; he loves nothing which necessitates the obedience of his heart to God.

Many throng the outer courts of religious observance who shun the holy place of repentance, faith, and consecration.

III. The particular doctrine that heart-rending is better than any external act of piety.

1. Heart-rending should be understood. It is—

To have the heart broken, contrite, tender, sensitive.

To have the heart grieving over past evils.

To have the heart rent away from sin, as by holy violence.

To have the heart torn with holy horror and indignation in the presence of temptation. The sight of sin should rend the heart, especially when it is seen by the light of the cross.

2. Heart-rending is to be preferred to external observances, for—

These are not commanded for their own sakes.

They are good or evil as the heart may be.

Their observance may co-exist with sin, even with great sin.

Outward signs may even be Antichrists keeping us from Christ.

They can never supply the place of Jesus himself.

3. Heart-rending should be practiced. "Rend your hearts."

This would need a great tug. Can a man rend himself?

This drives us to look to a higher power.

This is met only by Jesus. Looking to him whom we have pierced, our hearts are rent.

This, when fully done, leaves us at his feet, who alone "heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds."

Ad rem

An old Hebrew story tells how a poor creature came one day to the Temple, from a sick bed, on tottering limbs. He was ashamed to come, for he was very poor, and he had no sacrifice to offer; but as he drew near he heard the choir chanting, "You desire not sacrifice; else would I give it: you delight not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Other worshipers came, pressed before him, and offered their sacrifices; but he had none. At length he prostrated himself before the priest, who said, "What will you, my son? Have you no offering?" And he replied, "No, my father, for last night a poor widow and her children came to me, and I had nothing to offer them but the two pigeons which were ready for the sacrifice." "Bring, then," said the priest, "an ephah of fine flour." "Nay, but, my father," said the old man, "this day my sickness and poverty have left only enough for my own starving children; I have not even an ephah of flour." "Why, then, are you come to me?" said the priest. "Because I heard them singing, 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.' Will not God accept my sacrifice if I say, 'Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner'?" Then the priest lifted the old man from the ground, and he said, "Yes, you are blessed, my son; it is the offering which is better than thousands of rivers of oil."—"The World of Proverb and Parable," by E. Paxton Hood.

If this hypocrisy, this resting in outward performances, was so odious to God under the law, a religion full of shadows and ceremonies, certainly it will be much more odious under the gospel, a religion of much more simplicity, and exacting so much the more sincerity of heart, even because it disburdens the outward man of the performances of legal rights and observances. And therefore, if we now, under the gospel, shall think to delude God Almighty, as Michal did Saul, with an idol handsomely dressed instead of the true David, we shall one day find that we have not mocked God, but ourselves; and that our portion among hypocrites shall be greater than theirs. William Chillingworth.

As garments to a body, so are ceremonies to religion. Garments on a living body preserve the natural warmth; put them on a dead body and they will never fetch life. Ceremonies help to increase devotion; but in a dead heart they cannot breed it. These garments of religion upon a holy man are like Christ's garments on his own holy body; but joined with a profane heart, they are like Christ's garments on his crucifying murderers. Ralph Brownrig.

Rending the clothes was a common and very ancient mode of expressing grief, indignation, or concern; and as such is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures.… It is said that the upper garment only was rent for a brother, sister, son, daughter, or wife, but all the garments for a father or mother. Maimonides says that the rents were not stitched up again until after thirty days, and were never sewed up well. There is no law which enjoins the Jews to rend their clothes; yet in general they so far think it requisite to comply with this old custom as to make a slight rent for the sake of form. Pictorial Bible.

107

Amos 7:7—"Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand."

The metaphors of Amos are very forcible, though homely and simple.

He was God-taught; or, as men say, self-taught.

Let his vision come before us, as though we saw it ourselves.

What the Lord had done was according to rule: "he stood upon a wall made by a plumbline." His past dealings are just and true.

The Lord continues to use the same infallible rule: wherever he is, he has a plumbline in his hand.

The plumb of lead falls in a straight line, and therefore the line is the best test as to whether a wall is truly perpendicular. The plumbline shows whether it bows outward, or inclines inward. It never flatters, but by its own certainty of truth it reveals and condemns all deviations from uprightness: such is the judgment of the Most High.

We shall treat the plumbline as the emblem of truth and right.

I. A plumbline is used in building.

In all that we build up, we must act by the sure rule of righteousness.

1. In God's building it is so.

He removes the old walls when tested by the plumbline, and found faulty. Truth requires the removal of falsehood.

He builds in truth and reality. Sincerity is his essential.

He builds in holiness and purity.

He builds to perfection according to the rule of right.

2. In our own life-building it should be so.

Not haste, but truth should be our object.

Not according to the eye of man, but according to fact.

We should build by the Word; in God's sight; after Christ's example; by the Spirit; unto holiness. Only thus shall we be using the plumbline.

3. In our building of the church it should be so.

Teaching the Scriptures only in all things.

Preaching nothing but the gospel.

Laying sinners low by the law, and exalting the grace of God.

Leading men to holiness and peace by the doctrines of truth.

Exercising discipline that the church may be pure.

II. A plumbline is used for testing.

That which is out of the upright is detected by the plumbline, and so are men tested by the truth.

1. We may use it—

On the wall of self-righteousness, conceit, boasting, etc.

On the wall of careless living.

On the wall of trust in ceremonials.

On the wall of reliance upon merely hearing the gospel.

On the wall of every outward profession.

2. God uses it in this life. He tests the hearts of men, and tries their doings. They are often detected in the act of deception. Time also proves them, and trials test them.

3. He will use it at the last.

4. Let us use it on ourselves.

Are we born again? Are we without faith, etc.? Are we without holiness? Or is the work of the Spirit to be seen in us?

III. A plumbline will be used for destroying.

Strict justice is the rule of God's dealing on the judgment-seat.

The same rule will apply to all.

1. Even the saved will be saved justly through our Lord Jesus, and in their case every sin will be destroyed, and every trace of evil will be removed before they enter Heaven.

2. No one will be condemned who does not deserve it. There will be a trial, with witnesses, and pleadings, and an infallible Judge. The righteous are saved by sovereignty, but the wicked are condemned by righteousness alone.

3. Not a pain will be inflicted unjustly.

Differences will be made in the cases of the condemned.

There will be the strictest justice in each award.

Every circumstance will be taken into account.

Knowledge or ignorance will increase or abate the number of stripes. Luke 12:47, 48.

4. Rejectors of Christ will find their doom intolerable, because they, themselves, will be unable to deny its justice. Luke 19:27. The lost know their misery to be deserved.

5. Since every sentence will be infallible, there will be no revision. So impartial and just will be each verdict that it shall stand forever. Matthew 25:46.

Are we able to endure the test of the plumbline of perfect truth?

Suppose it to be used of God at this moment.

Will it not be wisest to look to Jesus, that we may have him for a foundation, and be built up in him?

Sayings and Sentences

The question, "What is truth?" was proposed at a Deaf and Dumb Institution, when one of the boys drew a straight line. "And what is falsehood?" The answer was a crooked line. G. S. Bowes.

That will be a wretched day for the church of God when she begins to think any aberration from the truth of little consequence. J. H. Evans.

Whitefield often affirmed that he would rather have a church with ten men in it right with God, than one with five hundred at whom the world would laugh in its sleeve. Joseph Cook.

Livingstone, as a missionary, was anxious to avoid a large church of nominal adherents. "Nothing", he wrote, "will induce me to form an impure church. 'Fifty added to the church' sounds well at home, but if only five of these are genuine, what will it profit in the Great Day?"—Blaikie.

Set your heart upright, if you would rejoice,

And please yourself in your heart's pleasing choice:

But then be sure your plumb and level be

Rightly applied to that which pleases me. Christopher Harvey.

Sinners on earth are always punished less, and in Hell never more, than their iniquities deserve. Benjamin Beddome.

It is said of the Areopagites, in Athens, that their sentence was so upright that none could ever say he was unjustly condemned of them. How much more true is this of the righteous judgment of God, who must needs therefore be justified, and every mouth stopped!—Trapp.

When a building is noticed to bulge a little, our builders hasten to shore it up with timbers; and before long the surveyor bids them take it down. Should we not see great changes in our churches if all the bowing walls were removed? Yet this would be no real loss, but in the Lord's sight an actual gain to the City of God.

When a man is afraid of self-examination, his fear is suspicious. He who does not dare to apply the plumbline to his wall may rest assured that it is out of perpendicular. A sincere man will pray, "Lord, let me know the worst of my case." It is far better to suffer needless distress than to be at ease in Zion, and then perish of the dry-rot of self-deceit.

108

Obadiah 1:3—"The pride of your heart has deceived you."

This is true of all proud persons, for pride is self-deceit.

There may be proud persons in this congregation.

Those who are sure that they have no pride are probably the proudest of all. Those who are proud of their humility are proud indeed.

The confidence that we are not deceived may only prove the completeness of the deception under which we labor.

In considering the case of the Edomites, and the pride of their hearts, let us look to ourselves that we may profit withal.

I. They were deceived.

The prophet mentions certain matters in which they were deceived.

1. As to the estimate formed of them by others. They thought themselves to be had in honor, but the prophet says, "You are greatly despised." See verse 2.

You might not be pleased if you knew how little others think of you; but if you think little of others you need not wonder if you are yourself greatly despised, for "with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again": Matthew 7:2.

2. As to their personal security. They felt safe, but were near their doom. "Who shall bring me down?" "I will bring you down, says the Lord" (verses 3 and 4). Dwelling in their rock-city of Petra was no real security to them: neither may any one of us think himself proof against misfortune, sickness, or sudden death.

3. As to their personal wisdom. They talked of "The wise man out of Edom" (verse 8); but the Lord said, "There is none understanding in him" (verse 7).

Those who know better than the Word of God know nothing.

4. As to the value of their confidences. Edom relied on alliances, but these utterly failed. "The men that were at peace with you have deceived you" (verse 7). Rich relatives, influential friends, tried allies—all will fail those who trust in them.

II. Their own pride deceived them.

1. In each of the points mentioned above, pride lay at the bottom of their error.

2. In every way pride lays a man open to being deceived.

His judgment is perverted by it: he cannot hold the scales.

His standard is rendered inaccurate: his weights are false.

His desires invite flattery, and his folly accepts it.

3. In every case a proud man is a deceived man: he is not what he thinks himself to be; and he is blind to that part of his character which should cause him to be humble.

4. In spiritual cases it is emphatically so.

The self-righteous, self-sufficient, perfectionists, etc., are all deceived by the pride of their hearts.

III. This pride led them into evil ways.

1. They were full of defiance. "Who shall bring me down to the ground?" This self-asserting spirit provokes hostility, and leads to wars and fightings, and all manner of emulations and contentions.

2. They were destitute of compassion. "You stood on the other side." See verses 9–12. Those of kindred race were being slain, and they had no pity. Pride is stony-hearted.

3. They even shared in oppression. See verses 13 and 14. This is not unusual among purse-proud religionists. They are not slow to profit by the nurseries of God's poor people.

4. They showed contempt of holy things. "You have drunk upon my holy mountain" (verse 16). God will not have his church made into a tavern, or a play-house: yet something like this may be done even now by proud hypocrites and formalists.

IV. These evil ways secured their ruin.

1. Their defiance brought enemies upon them.

2. Their unkindness was returned into their own bosom. Verse 15 shows the lex talionis in action.

3. Their contempt of God made him say, "there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau" (verse 18).

How different the lot of despised Zion! See verses 17 and 21.

Let us seek him who in Zion is above all others "the Savior."

Hating all pride, let us humbly rest in him.

Then we shall not be deceived, for Jesus is "the Truth."

Warnings

There is something intensely amusing, according to our notions, in the name which the Eskimo bestow upon themselves. It appears they call themselves the "Innuit,"—that is, "the people" par excellence.

Stranger, henceforth be warned; and know that pride,

However disguised in its own majesty,

Is littleness: that he who feels contempt

For any living thing, has faculties

Which he has never used; that thought with him

Is in its infancy. Wordsworth.

If a man is a perfectionist, and thinks he is sinless, it is a proof not that he is better, but only that he is blinder, than his neighbors.

Richard Glover.

When a proud man thinks best of himself, then God and man think worst of him; all his glory is but like a vapor, which climbs as though it would go up to Heaven, but when it comes to a little height, it falls down again, and never ascends more. So Adam thought that the fair apple should make him like his Maker, but God resisted his pride, and that apple made him like the serpent that tempted him with it. Absalom thought that rebellion would make him a king, but God resisted his pride, and his rebellion hanged him on a tree. Henry Smith.

The Venetian ambassador wrote of Cardinal Wolsey:—"I do perceive that every year he grows more and more in power. When I first came to England, he used to say, "His Majesty will do so and so"; subsequently, he said, "We shall do so and so"; but now he says, "I shall do so and so." But history records how Wolsey's pride went before destruction, and his haughty spirit before a fall.

Napoleon Bonaparte, intoxicated with success, and at the height of his power, said, "I make circumstances." Let Moscow, Elba, Waterloo, and St. Helena, that rocky isle where he was caged until he fretted his life away, testify to his utter helplessness in his humiliating downfall. J. B. Gough.

As God has two dwelling-places, Heaven and a contrite heart, so has the devil—Hell and a proud heart. T. Watson.

109

Jonah 3:4—"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

Matthew 12:41—"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here."

Our Lord never lost patience with an audience, and never brought railing accusation against any man: his rebuke was well deserved.

Nineveh under Jonah was indeed a reproof to the Jerusalem of our Lord's day, for the Jews, though favored with his divine ministry, did not repent, but wickedly crucified the Messenger of peace.

Might not our Lord rebuke the unbelievers of our day in the same way? Is not Nineveh a reproach to England?

Let us see.

The men of Nineveh repented, and turned to God; and yet—

I. Their calls to repentance were not many.

Many unbelievers have been warned and entreated times without number, and yet they remain impenitent; but—

Nineveh enjoyed no privileges: it was in heathen darkness.

Nineveh heard but one prophet; and he was none of the greatest, or most affectionate.

Nineveh heard that prophet only once; and that was an open-air sermon, very short, and very monotonous.

Nineveh had heard no word of good tidings; she heard the thunder of the law, but nothing else.

Yet the obedience to the warning was immediate, universal, practical, and acceptable, so that the city was spared.

II. The message of the prophet was not encouraging.

1. He proclaimed no promise of pardon.

2. He did not even mention repentance; and consequently he held out no hope to the penitent.

3. He foretold a crushing and final doom: "Nineveh shall be overthrown." His message began and ended with threatening.

4. He mentioned a speedy day: "yet forty days."

Yet out of this dreadful message the people made a gospel, and so acted as on it to find deliverance; while to many of us the rich, free, sure promise of the Lord has been of no force through our unbelief.

Those who heard the teaching of Jesus were, like ourselves, highly favored, for "never man spoke like this Man"; and, like us, they were grievously guilty in that they repented not.

III. The prophet himself was no helper to their hope.

Jonah was no loving, tender pastor, anxious to gather the lost sheep.

1. He disliked the ministry in which he was engaged, and no doubt discharged it in a hard, harsh manner.

2. He uttered no word of sympathetic love, for he had none in his heart. He was of the school of Elijah, and knew not the love which burned in the heart of Jesus.

3. He offered no prayer of loving pity.

4. He was even displeased that the city was spared.

Yet these people obeyed his voice, and obtained mercy through hearkening to his warnings. Does not this rebuke many who have been favored with tender and loving admonitions? Certainly it rebuked those who lived in our Lord's day, for no two persons could afford a more singular contrast than Jonah and our Lord.

Indeed, a "greater", better, tenderer than Jonah was there.

IV. The hope to which the Ninevites could reach was slender. It was no more than, "Who can tell?"

1. They had no revelation of the character of the God of Israel.

2. They knew nothing of an atoning sacrifice.

3. They had received no invitation to seek the Lord, not even a command to repent.

4. Their argument was mainly negative.

Nothing was said against their repenting.

They could not be the worse for repenting.

5. The positive argument was slender.

The mission of the prophet was a warning: even a warning implies a degree of mercy: they ventured upon that bare hope, saying, "Who can tell?"

Have we not all at least this much of hope?

Have we not far more in the gospel?

Will we not venture upon it?

Monitions

I saw a cannon shot off. The men at whom it was leveled fell flat on the ground, and so escaped the bullet. Against such blows, falling is all the fencing, and prostration all the armor of proof. But that which gave them notice to fall down was their perceiving of the fire before the ordnance was discharged. Oh! the mercy of that fire, which, as it were, repenting of the mischief it had done, and the murder it might make, ran a race, and out-stripped the bullet, that men (at the sight thereof) might be provided, when they could not resist to prevent it! Thus every murdering-piece is also a warning-piece against itself.

God, in like manner, warns before he wounds; frights before he fights. "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Oh, let us fall down before the Lord our Maker! Then shall his anger be pleased to make in us a daily pass-over, and his bullets leveled at us must fly above us. Thomas Fuller.

"I have heard," says Mr. Daniel Wilson, in a sermon of his, "of a certain person whose name I could mention, who was tempted to conclude his day over, and himself lost; that, therefore, it was his best course to put an end to his life, which, if continued, would but serve to increase his sin, and consequently his misery, from which there was no escape; and seeing he must be in Hell, the sooner he was there the sooner he should know the worst; which was preferable to his being worn away with the tormenting expectation of what was to come. Under the influence of such suggestions as these, he went to a river, with a design to throw himself in; but as he was about to do it, he seemed to hear a voice saying to him, 'Who can tell?' as if the words had been audibly delivered. By this, therefore, he was brought to a stand; his thoughts were arrested, and thus began to work on the passage mentioned: 'Who can tell? (Jonah 3:9) namely, What God can do when he will proclaim his grace glorious. Who can tell but such an one as I may find mercy? or what will be the issue of humble prayer to Heaven for it? Who can tell what purposes God will serve in my recovery?' By such thoughts as these, being so far influenced as to resolve to try, it pleased God graciously to enable him, through all his doubts and fears, to throw himself by faith on Jesus Christ, as able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, humbly desiring and expecting mercy for his sake, to his own soul. In this he was not disappointed; but afterwards became an eminent Christian and minister: and, from his own experience of the riches of grace, was greatly useful to the conversion and comfort of others."—Religious and Moral Anecdotes.

110

Micah 1:12—"For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem."

The village of the bitter spring (for such is probably the meaning of the name Maroth) experienced a bitter disappointment.

The more eager and patient their careful waiting, the more distasteful the draught of evil which they were compelled to drink.

Their trust in man proved to be vain, for the Assyrian swept over them, and stopped not until he reached the gate of Jerusalem, where Hezekiah's faith in God made the enemy pause and retreat.

Let us consider, as suggested by the text,—

I. Sad disappointments—"waited carefully for good: but evil came."

Disappointments come frequently to the sanguine, but they also happen to those who wait, wait carefully, and expect reasonably.

1. Disappointments are often extremely painful at the time.

2. Yet could we know all the truth, we should not lament them.

3. In reference to hopes of several kinds they are certain. As for instance, when we expect more of the creature than it was ever meant to yield us, when we look for happiness in sin, when we expect fixity in earthly things, etc.

4. In many cases disappointments are highly probable. Conceited hopes, groundless expectations, speculations, etc.

5. In all cases they are possible. "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip."

6. They should be accepted with manly patience.

7. They may prove highly instructive, teaching us—

Our fallibility of judgment.

The uncertainty of sublunary things.

The need of reserve in speaking of the future. James 4:14.

The duty of submitting all our projects to the divine will.

8. They may be greatly sanctified.

Sometimes they have turned the current of a life.

They are intended to wean us from the world.

They tend to make us prize more the truthfulness of our God, who fulfills the desire of them that fear him.

They bring us precious things which can only come of experience.

They save us from unknown evils which might ruin us.

II. Strange appointments.

The text tells us, "evil came down from the Lord."

1. The expression must not be misunderstood. God is not the author of moral evil. It is the evil of sorrow, affliction, calamity that is here meant.

2. It is nevertheless universally true. No evil can happen without divine permission. "I make peace, and create evil": Isa 45:7.

3. Some evils are distinctly from the Lord. "This evil is of the Lord": 2 Kings 6:33.

For testing men, and making their true character to be known.

For chastening the good. 1 Chronicles 21:7.

For punishing the wicked. Genesis 6:5–7, 19:24, 25.

4. Hence such evils are to be endured by the godly with humble submission to their heavenly Father's will.

5. Hence our comfort under them: since all evils are under divine control, their power to injure is gone.

6. Hence the antidote for our disappointments lies in the fact that they are God's appointments.

III. Expectations which will not end in disappointment.

1. Hopes founded on the promises of God. Hebrews 10:23.

2. Confidence placed in the Lord Jesus. 1 Peter 2:6.

3. Desires presented in believing prayer. Matthew 21:22.

4. Harvest hopes in connection with sowing seed for the Lord. Psalm 126:5, 6.

5. Expectations in falling asleep in Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:14.

Is your life embittered by disappointment?

Cast the cross into the bitter water, and it will become sweet.

Gatherings

During the period when lotteries were unhappily allowed to flourish in this country, a gentleman, looking into the window of a lottery-office in St. Paul's Churchyard, discovered to his joy that his ticket had turned up a £10,000 prize. Intoxicated with this sudden accession of wealth, he walked round the churchyard, to consider calmly how he should dispose of his fortune. On again, in his circuit, passing the lottery-office, he resolved to take another glance at the charming announcement in the window, when, to his dismay, he saw that a new number had been substituted. On inquiry, he found that a wrong number had at first been posted by mistake, and that after all he was not the holder of the prize. His chagrin was now as great as his previous pleasure had been. W. Haig Miller's "Life's Pleasure Garden."

It is wise, when we are disappointed in one thing, to set over against it a hopeful expectancy of another, like the farmer who said, "If the peas don't pay, let us hope the beans will." Yet it would be idle to patch up one rotten expectation with another of like character, for that would only make the rent worse. It is better to turn from the fictions of the sanguine worldling to the facts of the believer in the Word of the Lord. Then, if we find no profit in our trading with earth, we shall fall back upon our heart's treasure in Heaven. We may lose our gold, but we can never lose our God, The expectation of the righteous is from the Lord, and nothing that comes from him shall ever fail.

I knew one who had made an idol of his daughter, and when she sickened and died, he was exceedingly rebellious, and the result was that he died himself. Expectations which hang upon the frail tenure of a human life may fill our cup with wormwood if we indulge them. Could this father have owned the Lord's hand in the removal of his child, and had he beforehand moderated his expectations concerning her, he might have lived happily with the rest of his family, and have been an example of holy patience. C. H. S.

Who has not muttered "Marah" over some well in the desert which he strained himself to reach, and found to be bitterness? Have you found no salt waters where you thought to find sweetness and joy? Love, beauty, the world's bright throngs, marriage, home, the things which once wooed you, and promised to slake the thirst of your soul for happiness, are they all Elims, sweet springs and palms? Oh, what fierce murmurings of "Marah" have I heard from hearts wrung with anguish, from souls withered and blasted by a too fond confidence in anything or any being but God! Believe it, no man, with a man's heart in him, gets far on his wilderness way without some bitter soul-searching disappointment; happy he who is brave enough to push on another stage of the journey, and rest in Elim, where there are twelve springs, living springs of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees. J. B. Brown.

Disappointments in favorite wishes are trying, and we are not always wise enough to remember that disappointments in time are often the means of preventing disappointments in eternity. William Jay.

111

Micah 2:8—"Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy."

When men are in trouble they are apt to blame God.

But the blame lies with themselves. "Are these his doings?" (verse 7.) Does the good Lord arbitrarily cause sorrows? No, they are the fruit of sin, the result of backsliding.

The Lord here answers Israel's complaint of him by a deeply truthful complaint of them.

They should not have wondered that they suffered, for they had become enemies to God, and thus enemies to themselves.

I. Let us listen to the grievous charge.

There is a deep pathos about this as coming from the God of love.

1. They were his own people. "My people." God has enemies enough without his own beloved ones becoming such. It is horrible ingratitude and treachery for the chosen to rebel.

2. They had risen up "as an enemy." Faithless friends wound keenly, and are often more bitter than other antagonists. For favored ones to rise up as foes is cruel indeed.

3. They had lately done this: "even of late,"—"yesterday," in the margin. The sin is fresh, the wound is bleeding, the offence is rank. A fit of wilfulness was on them.

4. They had done this wantonly. (See latter part of verse.) They picked a quarrel with One who is "averse from war." God would have our love, yet we turn against him without cause.

How far may this indictment lie against us?

II. Let us hear the more grievous evidence by which the charge is substantiated.

Taking the words "my people" as referring to all professing Christians, many of them "rise up as an enemy" from the fact of—

1. Their separation from their Lord. "He who is not with me is against me": Matthew 12:30. They walk not in communion with him, neither are they diligent in his service, nor careful in obedience, nor consecrated to his cause.

2. Their worldliness. By this the Lord's jealousy is moved, for the world is set up as his rival in the heart. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God": James 4:4.

3. Their unbelief, which stabs at his honor, his veracity, his immutability. 1 John 1:10. A man cannot treat another more maliciously than by calling him a liar.

4. Their heresies, fighting against his revealed truth. It is wretched work when the church and its ministers oppose the gospel. It is to be feared that this is by no means uncommon in these degenerate days.

5. Their unholiness. Unholy professors are, par excellence, "the enemies of the cross of Christ": Philippians 3:18.

6. Their lukewarmness: by which they sicken their Savior (Rev. 3:16), grieve his Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), encourage sinners in sin (Ezekiel 16:54), and discourage seekers.

By these, and other miserable courses of action, those who should be the friends of God are often found to be "risen up as an enemy."

III. Let us hearken to most grievous warnings.

No good can possibly come of opposition to the Lord; but the most painful evils will inevitably ensue.

1. In the case of true Christians, there will come to them heavy chastisements and humiliations. If we walk contrary to the Lord, he will walk contrary to us. Leviticus 26:23, 24.

2. With these will come the keenest regrets, and agonies of heart. It may be pleasant to go down By-path Meadow, but to return to the King's highway will cost many a groan and tear.

3. In the case of mere professors, there will soon come abandonment of profession, immorality, seven-fold wickedness, etc.

4. To such may also come special punishments, which will make them a terror to the universe of God.

Be anxious to be truly reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus.

Abide in peace with God by yielding to his Spirit.

Increasingly love and honor him, that no root of bitterness may ever spring up between him and you.

Home-thrusts

It is not, perhaps, that we are determinately his enemies, but his love is so great that he feels very keenly the slightest swerving of our hearts from him. So much so that he who is not with him is against him, he who turns aside from his friendship is felt to be "an enemy."—From "Wounded in the House of his Friends," by F. M.

Sin will cause repenting work, even for the children of God. The sins of the wicked pierce Christ's side, but the sins of the godly plunge the spear into his heart.

Carlyle, speaking of the changes made by time, says, "How tragic to me is the sight of old friends; a thing I always really shrink from!" Sin has made still more painful changes in some once numbered among the friends of God.

Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, the king of Pontus, sending a crown to Caesar at the time he was in rebellion against him, he refused the present, saying, "Let him first lay down his rebellion, and then I will receive his crown." There are many who set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession, and yet plant a crown of thorns upon his head by an evil conversation. Secker.

After poor Sabat, an Arabian, who had professed faith in Christ by the means of the labors of the Rev. H. Martyn, had apostatized from Christianity, and written in favor of Mohammedanism, he was met at Malacca by the late Rev. Dr. Milne, who proposed to him some very pointed questions, in reply to which, he said, "I am unhappy! I have a mountain of burning sand on my head. When I go about, I know not what I am doing!" It is indeed an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord our God. Bate's Cyclopædia.

Blow, blow, you winter wind,

You are not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Your tooth is not so keen,

Because you are not seen,

Although your breath be rude.

Freeze, freeze you bitter sky,

You do not bite so near

As benefits forgot:

Though more the waters warp,

Your sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not. Shakespeare.

112

Micah 6:3—"O my people, what have I done unto you? and wherein have I wearied you? testify against me."

This is a portion of Jehovah's pleading with his people.

He has called upon the mountains and the strong foundations of the earth to hear the suit between him and Israel.

Far be it from us to trifle when God has a controversy with us, for to him it is a matter of deep solemnity. In condescending grace he makes much of the affection of his people, and he will not lose it without effort.

We have before us,—

I. A piteous exclamation. "O my people!"

Is it not remarkable that such language should be used by the Eternal God?

1. It is the voice of solemn earnestness.

2. It is the cry of sorrow. The interjection is wet with tears.

3. It is the appeal of love. Love injured, but living, pleading, striving, entreating.

4. It is the language of desire. Divine love yearns for the reconciliation of the rebel: it pines to have his loyal affection.

The Lord calls a revolted nation "my people" still. Grace is stronger than sin. Eternal love is not founded upon our merits.

II. A painful fact. "Wearied you."

Israel acted as if they were tired of their God.

1. They were weary of his name. Baal and Ashtareth had become the fashion, and the living God was despised.

2. They were weary of his worship. The sacrifice, the priest, the holy place, prayer, praise, etc.; all these were despised.

3. They were weary of obedience to his laws, though they were right, and just, and meant for their good.

4. They were weary of his restraints: they desired liberty to ruin themselves by transgression.

The parallel between ourselves and Israel lies upon the surface.

In the following points, and many more, certain professors prove their weariness of God,—

They give up nearness of communion.

They abandon preciseness of walking.

They fail in fullness of consecration.

They cool down from intensity of zeal.

They lose the full assurance of faith, and other joys.

And all this because they are in reality weary of their God.

This is a sorrow of sorrows to the great heart of love.

III. A patient inquiry. "What have I done unto you?" etc.

Amazing love! God himself puts himself upon trial.

1. What single act of God could induce us to forsake his way? "What have I done unto you?"

2. What continuous way of the Lord could have caused us weariness? "Wherein have I wearied you?"

3. What testimony of any kind can we bear against God? "Testify against me."

No answer is possible except the most unreserved confession that the Lord has done us no ill.

The Lord is goodness itself, and unmingled kindness.

He has not wearied us with demands of offerings.

He has not burdened us with austerities.

He has not tired us with monotonies.

He has not denied us rest, but has even commanded it.

If wearied with our God, it is—

Because of our foolish waywardness.

Because of our fickle fancy.

Because of our feeble love to himself and holiness.

Or because we have misunderstood his commands.

By all that God has already done for us, let us cling to him.

By the superlative excellence of Jesus, let us be bound to him.

By the sacred power of the Holy Spirit, may we be kept loving to the end.

Quotations

Now there is one thing to which we need to call the attention of backsliders; and that is,—that the Lord never forsook them; but that they forsook him! The Lord never left them; but they left him! And this, too, without a cause! He says: "What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me?" Is not God the same today as when you came to him first? Has God changed? Men are apt to think that God has changed; but the change is with them. Backslider, I would ask you, "What iniquity is there in God, that you have left him, and gone far from him?"

Love does not like to be forgotten. You mothers would break your hearts if your children left you, and never wrote you a word, or sent any memento of their affection for you: and God pleads over backsliders as a parent over loved ones who have gone astray; and he tries to woo them back. He asks, "What have I done that you should have forsaken me?" The most tender and loving words to be found in the whole of the Bible are from Jehovah to those who have left him without a cause. D. L. Moody.

Let those tempted to depart from the Lord remember the answer of Christian to Apollyon, when the latter sought to persuade him to turn back, and forsake his Lord: "O you destroying Apollyon, to speak truth, I like his service, his wages, his servants, his government, his company, and country, better than your; and, therefore, leave off to persuade me further: I am his servant, and I will follow him."

Polycarp, being required by an infidel judge to blaspheme Christ, made him this witty and devout answer: "Eighty-six years have I lived, neither did he once harm me in any one thing; why, then, should I blaspheme my God, which has neither hindered me nor injured me?" We cannot charge our God with any wrong, our gracious Lord with any hardness, injury, or unkindness towards us; but must always, with Polycarp, acknowledge his exceeding bounty and unspeakable goodness. Richard Meredeth.

"O my people, what have I done unto you?" or, rather, what have I not done to do you good? "O generation, see you the word of the Lord," and not hear it only; was ever anything more evidencing and evincing than what I now allege? "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?" Jeremiah 2:31. May I not well say unto you, as Themistocles did to his ungrateful countrymen, "What? are you weary of receiving so many benefits from one man?" But say, What hurt have I ever done you? and wherein have I wearied you, or been troublesome to you? unless it be by daily loading you with loving-kindnesses (Psalm 68:19), and bearing with your provocations? Forgive me that injury (2 Corinthians 12:13). Trapp.

"O my people," etc. If subjects quit their allegiance to their prince, they will pretend, as the ten tribes did when they revolted from Rehoboam, that his yoke is too heavy for them; but can you pretend any such thing? What have I done to you that is unjust or unkind? Wherein have I wearied you with the impositions of service, or the exactions of tribute? Have I made you to serve with an offering? Isaiah 43:23. Matthew Henry.

113

Nahum 1:7—"The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in him."

Here we come upon an island in Nahum's stormy lake. All is calm in this verse, though the whole context is tossed with tempest.

The text is full of God, and brims over with his praise.

I. God himself. "Jehovah is good."

1. Good; in himself essentially and independently.

2. Good; eternally and unchangeably.

3. Good in each person: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

4. Good in all his acts of grace.

5. Good in all former acts of providence.

6. Good in his present act, be it what it may.

7. Good for a stronghold: to be trusted in trouble.

8. Good to his own people, who find their goodness in him.

Let us praise him as good in the most emphatic and unlimited sense. Whoever else may or may not be good, we know that the Lord is good. Yes, "there is none good but one, that is, God": Matthew 19:17.

II. God to us. "A strong hold in the day of trouble."

1. Under special circumstances our resort.

The day of trouble, when trial is special and vehement.

The day of trouble: temporary, but yet long enough to last through our life unless the Lord prevent.

The day of trouble: when within, without, around, there seem to be only care, and fear, and want, and grief.

2. Securing our safety at all times: for a stronghold is always strong, even when there is no immediate war.

3. Maintaining our peace. Within the walls of a castle men walk at ease, for they are shut in from enemies.

4. Defying our foes, who dare not attack such a fortress.

5. Abiding forever the same: always a sure refuge for the needy.

Let us run to him, as the poor people of the open country fly to the walled towns in the time of war.

III. God with us. "He knows them that trust in him."

The term "he knows them" includes—

1. His intimate acquaintance with their persons, conditions, etc.

2. His tender care to supply all their necessities.

3. His divine approval of them. To others he says, "I know you not" Luke 13:25.

4. His loving communion with them, which is the best proof that they are known to him, and are his beloved friends.

5. His open acknowledgment: he owns them now, and will confess them before assembled worlds: Rev. 3:5.

Let us believe in the goodness of the Lord even when we cannot discern it with the eye of sense.

Let us fly to his protection when storms of trouble fall.

Let us confide in his loving care when hunted by our enemies.

Let us take care that we rely upon him, in Christ Jesus, for salvation.

Testimonies

The only place of safety in this world is the one in which we are sure to meet God, and to be "under the shadow of his wing." The Bible sets forth, in grand metaphor, this idea, by speaking of a "fortress into which the righteous runs, and is safe"; and of "a strong tower," and of "the shadow of a great rock." When we were in the Yosemite Valley, lately, our driver told us of a series of terrific earthquakes, which visited the valley several years ago. The few inhabitants who dwelt there were thrown out of their beds in the night. Frail cottages were overturned. Loose rocks were hurled down from the precipices into the valley. These shocks were repeated for several days until the people were panic-stricken and ready to despair. "What did you do?" we inquired. The driver (pointing to the mighty and immovable rock, El Capitan, which rises for three thousand feet on the south side of the valley, and has a base of three solid miles) replied: "We determined to go and camp under old Capitan; for if that ever moved we knew the world would be coming to an end."—Dr. Cuyler.

Tamar may disguise herself, and walk in an unaccustomed path, so that Judah may not know her; Isaac, through the dimness of his sight, may bless Jacob, and pass over Esau; want of time may make Joseph forget, or be forgotten of, his brethren; Solomon may doubt to whom of right the child belongs; and Christ may come to his own, and not be received: but the Lord knows them that are his, and his eye is always over them. Time, place, speech, or apparel cannot obscure or darken his eye or ear. He can discern Daniel in the den; and Job, though never so much changed, on the dung-hill. Let Jonah be lodged in the whale's belly, Peter be put into a close prison, or Lazarus be wrapped in rags, or Abel rolled in blood, yet can he call them by name, and send his angels to comfort them. Ignorance and forgetfulness may cause love and knowledge to be estranged in the creature, but the Lord is not incident to either, for his eye, as his essence, is everywhere; he knows all things. Spencer's "Things New and Old."

A safe stronghold our God is still,

A trusty shield and weapon;

He'll help us clear from all the ill

That has us now o'ertaken.

The ancient Prince of Hell

Has risen with purpose fell;

Strong mail of craft and power

He wears in this hour,

On earth is not his fellow.

With force of arms we nothing can,

Full soon were we down-trodden;

But for us fights the proper Man,

Whom God himself has bidden.

Ask you, "Who is this same?"

Christ Jesus is his name,

The Lord Zebaoth's Son,

He and no other one

Shall conquer in the battle. Martin Luther.

Many talk of trusting God when indeed they know nothing of real faith. How are we to know who is, and who is not, a believer? This question is hard to answer in times of prosperity, but not in the day of trouble: then the true truster is calm and quiet in his God, and the mere pretender is at his wits' end. Our text seems to hint as much. Everybody can find a bird's nest in winter when the trees are bare, but the green leaves hide them; so are believers discovered by adversity. One thing, however, should never be forgotten: whether we know believers or not, God knows them. He does not include one hypocrite in the number, nor exclude one sincere truster, even though he be of little faith. He knows infallibly, and universally. Does he know me, even me, as one of those who trust in him? The Lord knows them that are his, and they know him as their stronghold. Have I such knowledge?

114

Habakkuk 2:1–4—"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch, to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

"And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it.

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

The promise of God tarried, and the ungodly triumphed.

Here was the old problem of David in another form. "Wherefore look you upon them that deal treacherously?" (Habakkuk 1:13) is but a repetition of "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." (Psalm 73:3.)

This same problem occurs to ourselves, and this text may help us.

Observe with understanding,—

I. The sense in which there is a delay in the promise.

It is not every apparent delay which is real. Our time and God's time are not measured upon the same dial.

1. Each promise will bide its due season for fulfillment: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time."

2. Each promise in the end will prove true: "At the end it shall speak, and not lie."

3. Each promise will repay our waiting: "Though it tarry, wait for it."

4. Each promise will really be punctual to its hour: "It will surely come, it will not tarry."

The word of the Lord is as true to the time as to the thing.

To him its time of ripening is short: only to us is it long.

II. The attitude of a believer while the promise delays.

We should watch for the appearing of the Lord in fulfillment of his promise, and should be prepared to receive reproof as well as blessing.

The prophet took up—

1. A determined and thoughtful attitude: "I will stand, and set me."

2. An attentive attitude: "and will watch to see what he will say unto me." He is engrossed in this one pursuit: he only desires to be taught of the Lord.

3. A patient attitude: "I will set me upon the tower." It is as if he had been set as a sentinel, and would remain at his post.

4. A solitary position if need be. He speaks of himself alone.

5. A humble and submissive frame of mind: "what I shall answer when I am reproved."

In all respects the man of God is ready for his Lord.

The delay is evidently a blessing to him.

The blessing will be the greater when it comes.

III. The work of the Lord's servant while the promise delays.

1. By faith see the vision. Realize the fulfillment of the divine word in your own soul. "Watch to see what he will say."

2. Declare it as certain: record it in black and white, as a fact not to be questioned. "Write the vision upon tables."

3. Declare it plainly, so that the runner may read it.

4. Declare it practically, so that he who reads may run in consequence of it.

5. Declare it permanently. Write down the matter for a record to be referred to: engrave it on tablets for perpetuity.

Sham faith prudently declines to mention her expectations.

It is deemed presumptuous, fanatical, and imprudent to be positive that God will keep his promise; and still more to say so.

The real believer thinks not so, but acts with the Lord's promises as he would deal with engagements made in business by honest men: he treats them as real, and would have others do the like.

IV. The difference seen in men when the delay of the promise tests them.

1. The graceless man is too proud to wait on God as the Lord's servant will do. "His soul is not upright in him."

He is himself dishonest, and so suspects his God.

This prevents his finding comfort in the promise.

2. The just man believes the word of a holy God.

He waits serenely, in full assurance; and

He lives in the highest sense by his faith.

"My soul, wait you only upon God": Psalm 62:5.

What can he do who has no faith in his Maker? Hebrews 11:6.

From our Tablets

It was a custom among the Romans for the public affairs of every year to be committed to writing by the pontifex maximus, or high priest, and published on a table. They were thus exposed to public view, so that the people might have an opportunity of being acquainted with them. It was also usual to hang up laws approved and recorded on tables of brass in their market-places, and in their temples, that they might be seen and read. (Tacitus.) In like manner, the Jewish prophets used to write, and expose their prophecies publicly on tables, either in their own houses, or in the temple, that every one that passed by might go in and read them. Burder.

And though it linger until the night,

And round again until morn,

My heart shall never mistrust your might,

Nor count itself forlorn.

Do thus, O you of Israel's seed.

You of the Spirit born indeed;

Wait for your God's appearing!—Martin Luther.

Good old Spurstow says that "some of the promises are like the almond-tree—they blossom hastily in the very earliest spring; but," says he, "there are others which resemble the mulberry-tree—they are very slow in putting forth their leaves." Then what is a man to do, if he has a mulberry-tree promise, which is late in blossoming? Why, he is to wait until it does blossom; since it is not in his power to hasten it. If the vision tarry, exercise the precious grace called patience, and the appointed time shall surely bring you a rich reward. C. H. S.

God's promises are dated, but with a mysterious character; and, for want of skill in God's chronology, we are prone to think God forgets us; when, indeed, we forget ourselves in being so bold as to set God a time of our own, and in being angry that he comes not just then to us. Gurnall.

If we were more humble, we should be more patient. A beggar, who is worn with hunger, will wait at the rich man's gate for many an hour with the hope of getting broken victuals; but my lord, who is in no need, will soon be gone if the door does not open to his knock. We have kept the Lord waiting long enough, and we need not wonder if he tries our faith and patience by apparent delays. In any case, let us settle this in our hearts, that he must and will fulfill his promises. Our text shows us a punctual God, a patient waiter, and a published confidence; but it finishes up with a proud unbeliever. Or, if you will, it is man uttering a brave resolve, and the Lord answering to his faith; reasons presented to patient faith, and rebukes to impatient pride.

115

Habakkuk 2:4—"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

Delay of deliverance is a weighing of men.

Suspense is very trying, and constitutes a searching test.

This divides men into two classes by bringing out their real character.

The proud and the just stand out in relief: the uplifted and the upright are far as the poles asunder; and the result of trial in the two cases is as different as death from life.

The tarrying of the promise—

I. Reveals a great fault—"his soul which is lifted up."

The man is impatient, and will not endure to wait. This is pride full-blown, for it quarrels with the Lord, and dares to dictate to him.

1. It is very natural to us to be proud. So fell our first father, and we inherit his fault.

2. Pride takes many shapes, and among the rest this vainglorious habit of thinking that we ought to be waited on at once.

3. In all cases pride is unreasonable. Who are we that God should make himself our servant, and take his time from our watch?

4. In every case pride is displeasing to God, and specially when it interferes with the sovereign liberty of his own grace. Shall he be dictated to in the matter of his own love? "Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God?" Romans 9:20.

II. Betrays a sad evil—"his soul is not upright in him."

1. He does not know the truth. His mind is out of the perpendicular, his knowledge is incorrect, and his judgment is mistaken. He puts "bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter": Is. 5:20.

2. He does not seek the light. His heart is not upright: the affections are perverted. He has a bias towards conceited views of self, and does not wish to be set right. Obadiah 1:3.

3. His whole religion is warped by his false mood of heart and mind. The very soul of the man is put out of order by his vanity.

4. He will not endure the test of waiting; he will sin in his haste to be delivered; he will rush from God to other confidences; he will show by his life that his real self is not right with God.

III. Discovers a serious opposition.

He grows tired of the gospel, which is the sum of the promises, and he becomes averse to the exercise of the faith which it requires.

His pride makes him reject salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.

1. He is too great to consider it.

2. He is too wise to believe it.

3. He is too good to need it.

4. He is too advanced in "culture" to endure it.

Most of the objections to revealed truth arise from a mind thrown out of balance by pride of intellect, or pride of purse, or pride of heart.

IV. Directs us to a pleasing contrast.

1. The man who is really just is truly humble. The text implies a contrast in this respect between the proud and the just.

2. Being humble, he does not dare to doubt his God, but yields to his word an implicit faith.

3. His faith keeps him alive under trial, and conducts him into the joys and privileges of spiritual life.

4. His life conquers the trial, and develops into life eternal.

The Believer has the blessing promised, and truly lives while he lives.

The Unbeliever misses the blessing, and is dead while he lives.

What folly to refuse faith because of pride, and so to miss eternal life and all its felicities!

Quotations

"I think it is decidedly unscriptural to fix any time with God for his doing anything. The times and seasons the Father has put in his own hand. The Man Christ Jesus has asked for the heathen, and he will get them, but he has waited eighteen hundred years already, and has told us that as Man he knows nothing of the 'when.' Pray on, and believe; you shall reap."—From a letter of Brownlow North to a Christian worker.

Strange that the mortal, who cannot believe in the healing power of the sparkling Jordan, will often willingly go down to the muddiest creek of Abana and Pharpar!—Edward Garrett.

As the first step heavenward is humility, so the first step Hellward is pride. Pride counts the gospel foolishness, but the gospel always shows pride to be so. Shall the sinner be proud who is going to Hell? Shall the saint be proud who is newly saved from it? God had rather his people fared poorly than live proudly. Mason.

Poverty of spirit is the bag into which Christ puts the riches of his grace. Rowland Hill.

We must be emptied of self before we can be filled with grace; we must be stripped of our rags before we can be clothed with righteousness; we must be unclothed that we may be clothed; wounded, that we may be healed; killed, that we may be made alive; buried in disgrace, that we may rise in holy glory. These words, "Sown in corruption, that we may be raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, that we may be raised in glory; sown in weakness, that we may be raised in power," are as true of the soul as of the body. To borrow an illustration from the surgeon's are: the bone that is set wrong must be broken again, in order that it may be set aright. I press this truth on your attention. It is certain that a soul filled with self has no room for God; and like the inn at Bethlehem, crowded with meaner guests, a heart pre-occupied by pride and her godless train, has no chamber within which Christ may be born in us "the hope of glory."—Guthrie.

A heart full of pride is but a vessel full of air; this self-opinion must be blown out of us before saving knowledge be poured into us. Humility is the knees of the soul, and to that posture the Lamb will open the book; but pride stands upon tip-toes, as if she would snatch the book, and unclasp it herself. The first lesson of a Christian is humility; and he who has not learned the first lesson is not fit to take out a new. Thomas Adams.

But for pride, the angels, who are in Hell, should be in Heaven (Jude 6); but for pride, Nebuchadnezzar, who is in the forest, should be in his palace (Daniel 4.); but for pride, Pharaoh, who lies with the fishes, should be with his nobles (Exodus 14.); no sin has pulled so many down as this, which promised to set them up. Of all the children of pride, the Pope is the father, which sits in the temple of God, and is worshiped as God (2 Thessalonians 2:4.).… But for pride, the Pharisees would have received Christ as gently as his disciples; but for pride, Herod would have worshiped Christ as humbly as the shepherds; but for pride, our men would go like Abraham, and our women like Sarah, as they would be called their children; but for pride, noblemen would come to church as well as the people; but for pride, gentles would abide reproof as well as servants; but for pride, you would forgive your brother, and the lawyers should have no work. Henry Smith.

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Habakkuk 2:4—"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

Romans 1:17—"For therein is the righteousness of God reveled from faith to faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11—"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38—"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."

When the Spirit of God frequently repeats himself, he thereby appeals for special attention.

A doctrine so often declared must be of the first importance.

A doctrine so often declared should be constantly preached.

A doctrine so often declared should be unhesitatingly received by each one of our hearers.

I. We will treat the four texts as one.

The teaching is clear. "The just shall live by his faith."

1. Life is received by the faith which makes a man just.

A man begins to live by a full acquittal from condemnation, and from penal death, so soon as he believes in Jesus.

A man begins to live as one raised out of spiritual death so soon as he has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

No form of works, or profession, or knowledge, or even of natural feelings, can prove him to be an absolved and quickened man; but faith does this.

2. Life is sustained by the faith which keeps a man just.

He who is forgiven and quickened lives ever afterwards as he began to live—namely, by faith. Neither his feelings, nor devotions, nor acquirements ever become his trust: he still looks out of himself to Jesus. He is nothing except so far as he is a believer.

He lives by faith as to all the forms of his life,—

As a child, and as a servant;

As a pilgrim progressing, and as a warrior contending;

As a pensioner enjoying, and as an heir expecting.

He lives by faith in every condition,—

In joy and in sorrow; in wealth and in poverty;

In strength and in weakness; in laboring and in languishing; in life and in death.

He lives best when faith is at its best, even though in other respects he may be sorely put to it. He lives the life of Christ most blessedly when most intensely he believes in Christ.

Hearty belief in God, his Son, his promises, his grace, is the soul's life, neither can anything take its place. "Believe and live" is a standing precept both for saint and sinner. "Now abides faith." 1 Corinthians 13:13.

II. We will treat the four texts separately.

If we read with precision, we shall see that Scripture contains no repetitions. The context gives freshness of meaning to each apparent repetition.

1. Our first text (Habakkuk 2:4) exhibits faith as enabling a man to live on in peace and humility, while as yet the promise has not come to its maturity. While waiting, we live by faith, and not by sight.

We are thus able to bear up under the temporary triumphs of the wicked. See the first chapter of Habakkuk's prophecy.

We are thus preserved from proud impatience at delay.

We are thus filled with delight in confident expectation of good things to come.

2. Our second text (Romans 1:17) exhibits faith as working salvation from the evil which is in the world through lust. The chapter in which it stands presents an awful view of human nature, and implies that only faith in the gospel can bring us life in the form of—

Mental enlightenment of life as to the true God: Romans 1:19–23.

Moral purity of life: Romans 1. verse 24, and onward.

Spiritual life and communion with that which is divine and holy.

Naturally men are dead and corrupt. The law reveals our death, see Romans 3:10–20; but the gospel imparts spiritual life to those who receive it by faith.

3. Our third text (Galatians 3:11) exhibits faith as bringing to us that justification which saves us from the sentence of death.

Nothing can be plainer, more positive, more sweeping than this declaration that no man is justified before God except by faith. Both the negative and the positive are plain enough.

4. Our fourth text (Hebrews 10:38) exhibits faith as the life of final perseverance.

There is need of faith while waiting for Heaven (verses 32–36).

The absence of such faith would cause us to draw back (verse 38).

That drawing back would be a fatal sign.

That drawing back can never occur, for faith saves the soul from all hazards, keeping its face heavenwards even to the end.

What can you do who have no faith?

In what other way can you be accepted with God?

On what ground can you excuse your unbelief in your God?

Will you perish sooner than believe him?

Breviates

The Jews in the Talmud have the saying, "The whole law was given to Moses at Sinai, in six hundred and thirteen precepts." David, in the fifteenth Psalm, brings them all within the compass of eleven. Isaiah brings them to six (Isaiah 33:15); Micah to three (Micah 6:8); Isaiah, again, to two (Isaiah 56); Habakkuk to this one, "The just shall live by his faith."—Lightfoot.

The soul is the life of the body. Faith is the life of the soul. Christ is the life of faith. Flavel.

Inscribed upon the portal from afar

Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,

Legible only by the light they give

Stand the soul-quickening words—Believe and live. Cowper.

To believe God is not a little thing: it is the index of a heart reconciled to God, and the token of true spirituality of mind; it is the essence of true worship, and the root of sincere obedience. He who believes his God in spite of his sins, does him more honor than cherubim and seraphim in their continual adoration. A little thing faith! How is it then that unbelief is so great a crime that it is marked out for reprobation as the one damning evil which shuts men out of Heaven? Despise not faith lest you despise God. Whatever else you put in the second place, give faith the lead; it is not a vain thing, for it is your life.

117

Zephaniah 2:3—"Seek you the Lord, all you meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger."

There is a "may be" about all temporal things; and in pleading for them we ask with much diffidence.

Yet we may plead confidently when our appeal is made to God in the day of his anger. Then our need is pressing: it is for our life that we are pleading, and the Lord is very gracious in our extremities.

In spiritual things we may draw encouragement from the faintest sign of hope when it proceeds from God: "it may be you shall be hid."

The seeking for refuge, here commanded, is directed only to the meek and righteous; but it is our joy to proclaim a hiding-place for the guilty, and to bid them seek the Lord even on the least encouragement.

The three seekings commanded are:—

"Seek the Lord;" or, repent, and trust in Jehovah.

"Seek righteousness." Directed as it is in the text to those who are already righteous, it bids them persevere in righteousness.

"Seek meekness." Spoken to the meek, it bids them bow even more humbly before the chastening hand of God.

But our point is this: that we may seek the Lord upon the faintest encouragement. There are strong inducements and large promises; but if we cannot grasp these we may come even with a "may be."

I. In many a recorded instance "may be" has prompted and justified a right action.

From the cases which we will mention lessons may be learned.

1. A "may be" led Jonathan to attack the garrison of the Philistines. 1 Samuel 14:6. "It may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." This should nerve saints for holy enterprises.

2. A "may be" cheered David when Absalom rebelled, and Shimei cursed. 2 Samuel 16:12. "It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction." Let us hope in God in our darkest hours.

3. A "may be" induced the lepers to visit the Syrian camp. 2 Kings 7:4. Their desperate venture should be laid to heart by those who are in like condition. They can but perish in any case; let them seek the Lord, and try whether he does not save.

4. A "may be," diluted with an "if so be," moved the afflicted to humble himself. See Jeremiah's Lamentations 3:29. Let no tried soul refuse the like hope.

5. A "may be," in the form of "Who can tell?" brought all Nineveh to repentance. Jonah 3:9.

If others have acted so vigorously upon such slender encouragement, may not we, when dreading the ruin of our souls, act with like decision and hopefulness? If we fly to Jesus by childlike faith, there is more than a "may be" that the result will be happy.

II. In the instance of a sincere seeker the "may be" is of unusual strength.

There is every probability of the penitent obtaining salvation if we—

1. Consider the gracious nature of our God. Micah 7:18.

2. Consider the glorious work of Christ for sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15.

3. Consider the mercy they have already received. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed": Lamentations 3:22.

4. Consider the number and character of those who have been saved. Rev. 5:9, 7:9. 1 Corinthians 6:11.

5. Consider the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. John 3:8.

6. Consider the glory which is to be the Lord's at the last: surely it will come by saving souls, and saving many of them.

III. But in the seeker's case he has far more to go upon than a mere "may be."

There are innumerable sure promises in the Word of God, and these are made to—

Repentance. Proverbs 28:13. Isaiah 55:7.

Faith. Mark 16:16. John 3:18. Acts 16:31.

Prayer. Matthew 7:7. Acts 2:21.

Let these promises be studied, and their encouragement accepted by immediate compliance with their requirements.

Consider that God foresaw all events when he made these promises, and accordingly he has not made them in error.

Consider that he cannot withdraw his promise.

Consider that he is the same as when he made the promise, and so in effect makes it again every day.

Consider that it will be a crime to doubt the Lord our God, and an act of reverence to believe him. Venture now upon the bare promise of God, who cannot lie. Titus 1:2.

O sinner, seek the Lord!

He comes to you in Christ Jesus. Look to him at once, and live.

Cheering Words

Possibly you may be hid from punishment, probably you shall escape sorrow: but pardon of sin you shall be sure of; mitigation also of sorrow, if not prevention of it. Saved you shall be, or more gently handled, or so inwardly calmed, that you shall be able to call your souls to rest when others are at their wits' ends. You shall be safe under the cover of God's wings, and in the hollow of his hand; when others, that are without God in the world, shall be as a naked man in a storm, as an unarmed man in the field of battle, or as a ship at sea without an anchor, subject to dash and split against rocks and quicksands. Trapp.

Dr. John Duncan was once heard thus addressing a beggar-woman in Edinburgh:—"Now, you'll promise me that you'll seek: but mind, seeking will not save you, yet it is your duty; and if you seek you'll find, and finding will save you."

Our hope is not hung upon such untwisted thread as "I imagine so", or, 'it is likely"; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of him who is eternal verity; our salvation is fastened with God's own hand, and Christ's own strength, to the strong stake of God's unchanging nature. Rutherford.

How long a beggar will wait, and how eagerly he will plead, although he has no promise of an alms, but only the bare chance of winning a penny from a passer-by! How laboriously will fishers cast their nets again and again, though nothing has been taken as yet, and their only encouragement is the possibility that fish may come that way! How desperately will men dive into the sea with the expectation of finding pearls in oyster-shells, encountering fierce monsters of the deep with the uncertain hope of being enriched! And will not men draw near to God when their outlook is so much more bright, their expectation so much more justifiable? As for me, I will lay down my sick soul at Christ's feet, in sure and certain belief that he will heal me, and then I will follow him wherever he goes, in calm assurance that he will lead me to his eternal kingdom and glory. C. H. S.

117

Zephaniah 3:2—"She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God."

When the Lord is judging men he does not spare those who are called his people: Moab and Ammon and Nineveh are visited, and Jerusalem is not spared.

There are sins which outsiders cannot commit, such as those of the text. When peculiar privileges only create peculiar sins, they will be followed by peculiar punishments.

The offences mentioned in this verse are to be found in nations, churches, and individuals unto this day: and in a measure among God's own people.

I. In the text we perceive four manifest sins.

1. We will make upon them, as a whole, four observations.

Sins of omission are sure to exist where there are sins of commission. Jerusalem is said to be "filthy and polluted," and then these omissions are recited.

Sins of omission rank with the blackest of offences. Consider the context, and see with what fearful crimes omissions are catalogued, as if to mark their vileness.

Sins of omission go in clusters. "She obeyed not." "She received not instruction." "She trusted not." "She drew not near to her God." How many foul birds may dwell in one nest! One sin never goes alone.

Sins of omission are none the less when they are mainly spiritual. Such are those mentioned in the text, and they are cited among crimes of deepest dye.

2. We will note each one of the four separately.

They heard God speak, but they took no heed. This included rebellion, hardness of heart, presumption, and defiance of the Lord; and all this after solemn warnings, great instruction, and tender invitation.

They felt correction, but were not instructed. This involved greater persistence in rebellion, and still more obduracy of heart.

They were unbelieving and distrustful, and relied upon idols, and not upon the Lord. Unbelief is a master-sin.

They had no communion with their God. "Her God" implies existence of covenant-relationship, in name at least; but there was no worship, love, or service.

These four sins abound around us, and among us.

Inattention, Obstinacy, Unbelief, and Aversion to God are all common.

They involve men in misery in this life, and in eternal ruin in the world to come. Are they not destroying some of you?

II. In the text we spy out four hidden encouragements to seek better things.

Let those who confess their sin look at the text with hope, for it is clear that—

1. God does speak to men. He may speak to us again.

2. God corrects for our good. It is meant for instruction, not for destruction. (See the margin.)

3. God would have us trust him. He would not blame us for not trusting if we were not permitted to trust him.

4. God would have us draw near to him. Else it were not mentioned as our sin that we do not draw near to him.

All this applies to us at this day.

Still the Lord is in the midst of us, reading our inmost souls.

Let us lay our sins to heart, and seek his face through Christ Jesus.

A few small Fishes

Remember, O my soul, the fig-tree was charged, not with bearing noxious fruit, but no fruit. Thomas Fuller.

The last words that Archbishop Usher was heard to say were these—"Lord, forgive my sins, especially my sins of omission."

Sins of commission are usual punishments for sins of omission. He who leaves a duty may soon be left to commit a crime. Gurnall.

No sin is ever alone. Dr. Macdonald says, "There is no fault that does not bring its brothers and sisters and cousins to live with it."

Oh, how rare it is to find a soul still enough to hear God speak!—Fenelon.

Grace turns the serpent into a rod; but sin turns the rod into a serpent. The former turns poison into a remedy; but the latter turns the remedy into poison. Benjamin Beddome.

Sorrow is sent for our instruction, just as we darken the cages of birds when we would teach them to sing. Jean Paul Richter.

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Haggai 2:13, 14—"Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

"Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean."

The prophet makes the priests witness against themselves and the people. This was a powerful means of forcing home the truth.

It is clear from verse 12 that the mere bearing of a holy thing did not enable the bearer to communicate consecration.

But the priests owned that the touch of an unclean person did communicate impurity.

What a picture! An unclean person making everything unclean wherever he laid his hand! He could not move without spreading defilement on all sides.

Such were the erring people of Haggai's day in the judgment of their God, and he never judges too severely.

Such are sinful men at this day.

I. The terrible impurity. Here we keep to our text.

For a New Testament exposition, read Titus 1:15.

1. Common things are polluted by men of unclean nature.

Nothing is common or unclean naturally; for every creature of God is good. (1 Timothy 4:4.) But in divers ways the things of ordinary life are made to be unclean,—

By making gods of them, saying, "What shall we eat?" etc.

By gluttony, drunkenness, etc.

By excess in the use of them.

By excess in the keeping of them. A miser's goods are accursed.

By ingratitude concerning them. Then they remain unblessed.

2. Holy things are polluted by men of unclean nature.

They use the gospel as an excuse for sin.

They offer prayer in solemn mockery.

They make praise into a musical performance.

They turn the sacraments into hypocrisy or worse.

There is nothing so holy but that sin can defile it.

3. Good works are polluted when they come from evil men: "so is every work of their hands."

They can be charitable for ostentation.

They can be religious to be seen of men.

They can be sternly righteous in order to be revenged.

They can be humble to gain their ends.

4. Sacrifices are polluted when offered by unclean men: "and that which they offer there is unclean."

Their public thanksgivings are a falsehood.

Their solemn fasts are a mere comedy.

What a wretched condition is he in who even in his holiest acts is defiling everything! He may well pause and humble himself before God, for the more he does in his present state the more does he defile.

Sin has cast a serpent's trail over the whole universe, making the creation itself subject to vanity. What does man touch which he does not degrade and pollute? Here is a wide field for thought, and abundant cause for humiliation.

II. The all-sufficient remedy. Here we go beyond our text.

In Numbers 19 we have the type of the great remedy, and a fuller account of the impurity which it removed.

In the rites used for purifying the unclean—

1. There was a sacrifice (Numbers 19, verses 2–4): "A red heifer without spot." This must be slain. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Hebrews 9:22.

2. There was a burning: verses 5 and 6. Sin is hateful, and we must see it to be such; it must be burned without the camp.

3. There was a water of separation. Having been purged with blood of sacrifice, we must be sprinkled with water of sanctification.

4. There was an application with hyssop. Faith must receive the cleansing. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean."

5. This must cleanse our whole nature. See verse 19. There was a washing of the whole man and his garments.

All that this type intended may be found,—

In the water and the blood which flowed from the side of our Lord; manifesting the doubly cleansing power of his sacrifice: and

In the efficacious work of the Holy Spirit.

See, O sinner, your need of cleansing before you attempt anything.

Before this, nothing you are, or have, or do, is clean before God.

After this, all things shall be holy to you.

See to this cleansing at once, and all else will follow in due course.

Vivacities

"My friends say everywhere that I am not a Christian. I have just given them the lie direct by performing my Easter devotions (mes paques) publicly, thus proving to all my lively desire to terminate my long career in the religion in which I was born, and I have fulfilled this important act after a dozen attacks of consecutive fever, which made me fear I should die before I could assure you of my respect and my devotion."—Voltaire, to Madame Du Barri. (What a specimen of polluted holy things!)

Those whose devotions are plausible, but whose conversation is wicked, will find their devotions unable to sanctify their enjoyments, but their wickedness prevailing to pollute them.

When we are employed in any good work, we should be jealous over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions and mismanagements. Matthew Henry.

Diogenes, standing beside a foul bath, was heard to exclaim, "Where shall those be washed who wash here?" When even the religious duties of men are defiled, what hope can they have of making themselves clean? Those who turn prayer into a mockery, and sacraments into a show, have turned medicine into poison; and how shall they be healed?

A child has taken an infectious disease. He comes to fondle you, and you push him away. He moves the furniture, and you command him to take his hands off. He must be shut up, and kept from contact with the household. Suppose he persists in leaving his room, and joining with the rest of the family. No matter how kind his motive, he is doing wrong, and acting mischievously. The more industriously he works about the house, and runs to and fro, the more does he spread the disorder. The household work which he does would be well enough if he were but in health: as it is, his every movement is a danger, and his best endeavors are perilous. The child must be healed before he can do real good in the family: while he is infected he pollutes all that he touches, and injures all whom he approaches. Oh, that unconverted men were wise enough to see that what they need, at first, is not so much work to do, as cleansing from pollution, in order that they may be able to do good works.

At one of the Ragged-schools in Ireland, a clergyman asked the question, "What is holiness?" After some pause, a poor Irish convert, in dirty, tattered rags, jumped up, and said, "Plaise your Riverence, it's to be clane inside."—G. S. Bowes.

120

Zechariah 4:10—"For who has despised the day of small things?"

Great numbers of persons do despise "the day of small things."

If they were wise, they would not do so; for it is not wise to despise anything, and to despise a thing because it is small is great folly.

A small thing may be greatly good, or terribly evil; and in neither case would it be prudent to despise it.

It is usually God's way to begin his great works with a day of small things.

Thus it is seen that there is nothing in the means themselves.

Thus the divine power is more fully displayed.

Thus faith is exercised, and made to learn many lessons.

Why should men despise what God ordains?

Who are those persons who dare act thus contemptuously? They are not entitled to give themselves such airs: yet they dare to do so.

They show their contempt in various ways.

They affect pity for such feebleness. Nehemiah 4:2.

They decry, and find fault. 1 Samuel 17:28.

They sneer, and ridicule. Matthew 13:55. Acts 17:18.

They leave alone, with silent neglect. Acts 5:38.

It is a sad pity when this contempt is poured upon a beginner in grace, for it may cause him sad distress and discouragement.

Our object at this time is to reprove those who despise the earlier and weaker works of grace in the soul. True it is "the day of small things," but this is to be rejoiced in, and is not to be despised.

Let us commune with—

I. Those who despise others who are in the day of small things.

1. Do you not know that there are babes in grace, and that these are true children of God? Do you doubt that evident fact?

2. Were you not once such little ones yourselves? If you never were, who are you to despise your betters?

3. Were not the greatest of the saints once very feeble? Would you have acted thus to them?

4. May not the strong be glad at times to be as sure of salvation as these little ones? Why despise those whom you may yet envy?

5. Does not our Lord care tenderly for the lambs? Is. 40:11.

6. Has he not threatened all proud despisers? Matthew 18:6.

Who then dares despise the day of small things?

Who are those who are so wicked? They are the proud, the ignorant, the thoughtless, the unfeeling, the profane, and such like.

II. Those who despise the day of small things in themselves.

1. They will frequently fail to notice and nurture thoughts and feelings which would lead them to Christ.

2. They cannot believe that salvation can come by ordinary means, or through their present knowledge and emotions: these are too small in their esteem, they crave for signs and wonders.

3. Therefore they endeavor to kill their own thoughtfulness at its birth, and quench the spark of desire before it can become a flame. Yet these despised things might have led on to salvation.

4. If they would nurture their weak desires, and feeble resolves, and faint beliefs, and trembling hopes, good would come of them.

5. No doubt many think ill of their own condition when God thinks well of them. They judge that little faith, and little life, and little strength are useless; but the Lord thinks not so.

It is wise to look away, both from small things and great things, to Jesus. Let us see his day, and be glad. John 8:56.

Let us trust in his finished work, and rejoice in his continued work. "Rejoice, and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel." See context.

III. Those who do not despise the day of small things.

1. Hopeful pastors. We are looking out for gracious signs, and are more apt to be misled by our sanguine hopes than to fall into the opposite fault of despising the day of small things.

2. Anxious parents. They long to see buds of grace in their children. The smallest signs of spiritual life would charm them.

3. Wise soul-winners. They rejoice to see "first the blade."

4. Jesus himself. He loves the little ones. Mark 10:14.

Come you to him, all you trembling souls!

Multum in Parvo

When the boy began to draw portraits upon his slate, and to sketch with charcoal, the great artist was in him in embryo. It was not every eye that could perceive his budding genius, but he who did so, and encouraged the youth to pursue are as his vocation, found a life-long satisfaction in having helped him. Had he sneered at the young draughtsman, he would have lived to see his folly; but now he takes pleasure in every triumph of the renowned painter. Some such joy, only of a higher and more spiritual order, will be yours if you stimulate early piety, and teach the tender heart the way to peace and holiness. To repress desires which are heavenward, because they are attended with something of childishness, is wicked cruelty: prune the vine of its wild shoots, but do not uproot it. Foster and nurture even the tiniest sign of grace. "Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it": Is. 65:8.

Feeblemind. I do not yet know all the truth; I am a very ignorant Christian man; sometimes, if I hear some rejoice in the Lord, it troubles me because I cannot do so too. It is with me as it is with a weak man among the strong, or as with a sick man among the healthy, or as a lamp despised. "He who is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease": Job. 12:5. So that I know not what to do.

Great-heart. But, brother, I have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded, and to support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will wait for you, we will lend you our help, we will deny ourselves of some things, both opinionative and practical, for your sake; we will not enter into doubtful disputations before you, we will be made all things to you rather than you shall be left behind. (Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, 9:22.)—Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress."

One afternoon, I noticed a young lady at the service, whom I knew to be a Sunday School teacher. After the service, I asked her where her class was. "Oh," said she, "I went to the school, and found only a little boy, and so I came away." "Only a little boy!" said I; "Think of the value of one such soul! The fires of a Reformation may be slumbering in that tow-headed boy; there may be a young Knox, or a Wesley, or a Whitefield in your class."—D. L. Moody.

The little lichen imperceptibly deposits the first layer of soil upon barren rocks in mid-ocean, from which grow up all the luxuriant wealth and beauty of the spice-island. Ferns have seeds so extremely diminutive that for a long time it was doubted if they existed at all. Yet such a seed, altogether invisible to the naked eye, floats on long journeys through the air, and falls on some lichen-covered island, where it immediately fructifies, and covers the place with vegetation.

The moss is but a very little plant, yet when its seeds fall on deep, swampy, treacherous morasses, they grow up, and bind the ground together with such bands that it becomes quite safe to pass over,—building, in fact, a broad and durable bridge. "Throughout creation the grandest and most complicated ends are obtained by the employment of the simplest means."—James Neil, in "Rays from the Realms of Nature."

121

Zechariah 7:5, 6—"Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto me, even to me?

"And when you did eat, and when you did drink, did not you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?"

The acceptableness of religious duties must not be taken for granted.

We should ask searching questions about them, for the Lord himself does so. It behooves hearers to be very attentive to close personal inquiries as to their holy things.

During long years, "even those seventy years," pious observances may have been kept up, and yet there may have been no virtue in them.

This fact makes it wise for us all to question ourselves, for we may have been habitual religionists, and yet may also never have done anything as "unto the Lord."

Two reflections rise before our mind:—

I. Religious observances should be unto the Lord. "Did you at all fast unto me, even to me?"

1. They should be attended to out of respect to his command. Ceremonies which are not of his ordaining are mere will-worship. We partake of ordinances, not because of custom, or church rule, but "unto the Lord." Romans 14:6.

2. They should be carried out with a dependence upon God's grace to make them useful to us, for outward forms are nothing of themselves. Unless the Spirit of God apply them to us, they are empty buckets drawn up from a dry well. John 6:63.

3. They should be fulfilled with such an eye to God as their nature and meaning suggest: as for instance, in fasting there should be sorrow towards God for having grieved him; and in holy feasting the joy must not be carnal, but "joy in the Lord."

4. They should be accompanied with that spiritual understanding without which they are mere play-acting in the sight of God. There must be the true fasting, which is abstinence from sin; and the true feasting, which is the reception of Christ with joy.

5. They should be attended to with a view to glorifying God in them. For this end come we to baptism, communion, praise, etc.

If these things are not done unto the Lord, what are they but the rites of atheism?—or a sort of witchcraft, a repetition of incantations, genuflexions, and the like? Isaiah 66:3.

II. Religious observances may be unto ourselves. "Did not you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?"

They are so most clearly—

1. When the spiritual element is absent. Then even in the Sacred Supper there is nothing more than mere eating and drinking, as in the case of the Corinthian church. How generally have religious festivals become mere excuses for banqueting!

2. When the ordinance is attended to because it brings personal credit. Motives of custom, respectability, or dignity, may lead men even to the table of the Lord. This is eating for ourselves.

3. When the outward observance is used as a means of pacifying the conscience, and taken as a spiritual opiate. Without drawing near to God, the man feels easier because he has performed a bit of pious ritual. This is eating and drinking for ourselves.

4. When outward ritual is practiced in the hope that we shall be saved thereby. The motive is religious selfishness, and the act must be unacceptable.

5. When there is no intent to please God therein: for as the intent is, such is the act; and when there is no intent toward God, the whole matter falls short of acceptance with God.

See how vain are the religious performances of unbelievers. Read verses 1 to 3 of this chapter.

Let us come to Jesus, who is the sum and substance of all fasts, and feasts, and all else of right observance.

Let us live as unto the Lord. Romans 14:8.

Striking Paragraphs

If, after you have heard so many masses, matins, and even-songs, and have received holy bread and holy water, and the bishop's blessing, or the cardinal's, or the pope's, you will be more kind to your neighbor, and love him better, and be more obedient to your superiors, more merciful and ready to forgive; if you do more despise the world, and are more athirst for spiritual things, then do such things increase grace. If not, they are a lie. Tyndale.

A certain king would build a cathedral, and, that the credit of it might be all his own, he forbade anyone to contribute to its erection in the least degree. A tablet was placed in the side of the building, and on it his name was carved as the builder. But one night he saw in a dream an angel, who came down, and erased his name; and the name of a poor widow appeared in its stead. This was three times repeated, when the enraged king summoned the woman before him, and demanded, "What have you been doing, and why have you broken my commandment?" The trembling widow replied, "I loved the Lord, and longed to do something for his name, and for the building up of his church. I was forbidden to touch it in any way, so in my poverty I brought a wisp of hay for the horses that drew the stones." Then the king saw that he had labored for his own glory, but the widow for the glory of God, and he commanded that her name should be inscribed upon the tablet. Cyclopædia of Illustrative Anecdotes.

In no part of the great universe is any being fervently devout by accident. Everywhere, even in Heaven, creatures are devout from purpose, design, endeavor. Eminently is this true on earth; no man ever happened to be religious. Dr. Stoughton, in "Lights of the World."

*There is an Eastern story of a Sultan who overslept himself, so as not to awaken at the hour of prayer. So the devil came, and waked him, and told him to get up and pray. "Who are you?" said the Sultan. "Oh, no matter!" replied the other; "my act is good, is it not? No matter who does the good action, so long as it is good." "Yes," replied the Sultan, "but I think you are Satan. I know your face; you have some bad motive." "But," said the other, "I am not so bad as I am painted. I was an angel once, and still keep some of my original goodness." "That's all very well," replied the sagacious and prudent Caliph, "but you are the tempter: that's your business; and I wish to know why you want me to get up and pray." "Well," said the devil, with a flirt of impatience, "if you must know, I will tell you. If you had slept and forgotten your prayers, you would have been sorry for it afterwards, and penitent; but if you go on as now, and do not neglect a single prayer for ten years, you will be so satisfied with yourself that it will be worse for you than if you had missed one sometimes, and repented of it. God loves your fault mixed with penitence more than your virtue seasoned with pride."

What is all righteousness that men devise,

What—but a sordid bargain for the skies?

But Christ as soon would abdicate his own,

As stoop from Heaven to sell the proud a throne. Cowper.

122

Zechariah 9:11, 12—"As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

"Turn you to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will renter double unto you."

Let us commence our meditation with the description of our Lord which is given us in verses 9 and 10.

Here we see his kingdom, his character, his power to save, his lowliness, the weapons of his conquest—"speak peace unto the heathen," and the ultimate extent of his dominion—"to the ends of the earth."

Because of him, and through him, there is mercy for the oppressed and troubled ones in Zion—"as for you also," verse 11.

This is a wonderful text for those who are in the lowest possible state of mind. May the Lord make it a blessing to them!

Our subjects of thought shall be,—

I. Condition of the sorrowing ones. "Prisoners in the pit wherein is no water."

They are described as—

1. Prisoners: bound, freedom gone, unable to do as they would, in the power of another, miserable.

2. Prisoners in a pit: escape impossible, darkness intolerable, fate unavoidable, present discomfort terrible.

3. Prisoners in a pit wherein is no water: comfortless, and likely to perish of thirst. They find no comfort in sin, nor indeed in anything else. They are, however, though less comfortable, all the less likely to be drowned when there is no water. Comfort in sin is deadly: the absence of that comfort is hopeful.

Thus are many oppressed souls helplessly in the power of despair until the Lord comes to rescue them.

II. Cause of their deliverance. "I have sent forth your prisoners."

1. The Lord Omniscient spies them out in their dungeon, and he knows whose prisoners they are.

2. He has the power and the right to set free prisoners. Who can shut up those whom he delivers?

3. He sends them forth from the pit. He grants life, light, and liberty to them. Their feet are free, and they are on free soil.

4. He sends them forth by "the blood."

By the expiation made for sin before God.

By the peace created in the conscience of the penitent.

5. He sends them forth by what is called "the blood of your covenant"—the covenant made between Zion and her King.

Let a soul once know the blessedness of "the covenant," and the sealing power of "the blood," and it is a prisoner no longer.

III. Course commended to the delivered ones. "Turn you to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope."

They are out of the pit of despair, but not "out of the wood" of trouble: they have hope of salvation, but they need salvation itself. It will be their wisdom—

1. To make hope their characteristic. When they feel like prisoners, let them hope, and so become "prisoners of hope."

2. To make Christ their Stronghold.

3. To turn to him every day, and all the day.

4. To turn to him specially when they feel like prisoners.

When a man is freed from death and despair, he is still to come to Jesus more and more. "To whom coming," etc. (1 Peter 2:4.)

IV. Comfort given to those who turn to the stronghold. "Even today do I declare that I will render double unto you."

1. God is speedy in his comforts to those who turn to Jesus. "Even today do I declare."

2. God is abundant in his mercy: "I will render double unto you."

The double of your trouble. Job 42:10.

The double of your expectation. Is. 61:7.

The double of your attainments: "grace for grace" (John 1:16).

The double of your largest faith. Ephesians 3:20.

3. God is consoling in his promise; for it is—

Plain: "I declare."

Present: "Even today do I declare."

Positive: "I declare that I will."

Personal: "I will render unto you."

Let us glorify the Lord for lifting us out of the pit.

Let us glorify the Lord Jesus for being our Stronghold.

Let us glorify the Lord for that double portion which he allots us.

Free Thoughts

Here God the Father speaks to Christ with relation to some covenant between them both; and what covenant can that be but the covenant of redemption? All the temporal, spiritual, and eternal deliverances which we enjoy, they swim to us through the blood of that covenant that is passed between the Father and the Son. By virtue of the same blood of the covenant, with which we are reconciled, justified, and saved, were the Jews delivered from their Babylonish captivity. The Babylonish captivity, thraldom, and dispersion, was that waterless pit, that dirty dungeon, that uncomfortable and forlorn condition, out of which they were delivered by virtue of the blood of the covenant; that is by virtue of the blood of Christ, figured by the blood that was sprinkled upon the people, and by virtue of the covenant confirmed thereby, Exodus 24:8; Psalm 74:20; Hebrews 13:20. Look, as all the choice mercies, the high favors, the noble blessings, that the saints enjoy, are purchased by the blood of Christ; so they are made sure to the saints by the same blood; "by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners." Whatever desperate distresses, and deadly dangers, the people of God may fall into, yet they are "prisoners of hope," and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant. Thomas Brooks.

With what gratitude and joy should these intimations of hope be received by those who are naturally in so miserable a condition! It is a celebrated story that, when Titus Flamininus, at the public games, proclaimed the liberty of Greece, after it had been conquered by the Romans, the auditors were at first lost in a silent amazement, and then burst out into one continued shout for two hours together, "Liberty! Liberty!" Methinks such joy, and greater than this, should appear among miserable sinners when these proclamations for liberty are made. And are they not now made? Have I not been telling you, from the Word of God, that though you were condemned under the righteous sentence of the law, through a Redeemer that sentence may be reversed, your souls may be restored to life and happiness? Have I not been proving that, though Satan held you in a dark captivity, yet by the law of the great Redeemer you may be rescued from his hands, and made more than conquerors through him? Have I not told you that, notwithstanding the painful and the fruitless struggle which you have hitherto had with the feebleness and corruptions of a depraved nature, you may still receive those communications of the Spirit which will purify and strengthen you, and enable you to perfect holiness in the fear of God?… Prisoners of hope, will you despair?—Dr. Doddridge. Sermon on this text.

123

Zechariah 10:6—"I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them."

The manner in which hope can come to sinners: "I have mercy upon them." Mercy abides in the heart of God even after the hope of it has left the human bosom.

The token that God's mercy is coming, and that it is indeed come, is prayer. "Behold he prays" is the sure indication of coming deliverance. Acts 9:11.

God had observed prayer in them, for he said, "I will hear them."

The result of mercy's coming is exceedingly delightful: "They shall be as though I had not cast them off."

This promise may be applied,—

I. In general, to all penitent sinners.

God's mercy in many ways restores men to their lost position: and in some senses even to their pristine condition before the fall.

1. The forgiveness of sin, and justification by faith, make them as acceptable as if they had never transgressed.

2. The renovation of nature, by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, creates in them as pure an inner life as Adam ever had.

3. Restoration to paradise Even now we dwell with God in a blessed state, for the Lord has raised us to the heavenlies in Christ.

4. Redemption from the curse. The curse is clean gone for ever, through him who was made a curse for us. Galatians 3:13. The anger of God is removed from us forever.

5. Engagement in service. We are honorably employed, and could not have been more so had we never sinned.

6. Communion with God. This we enjoy as truly as unfallen humanity could have done. Indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in the regenerate, and this is not said of Adam.

7. Eternal life. We are preserved from penal death. As Jesus lives so must we. John 14:19. There is no fear that we shall eat and die, for the Lord has given us eternal life, and we shall never perish. John 10:28.

The further working out of the likeness between the state of the saved and that of Adam in the garden, may be made highly instructive.

II. In particular, to penitent backsliders. Only return unto God, and live in his fear, and you shall enjoy all the blessedness of your best spiritual state.

You shall again enjoy—

1. The complete removal of your guilt, and shall have no more consciousness of sin; thus shall you return to rest of soul.

2. Renewed joy, as in the days of your first love.

3. Restored purity of heart, as in the times before you wandered.

4. Fresh communion with God, and guidance from his Holy Spirit. Is not this your cry, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me"? Psalm 51:11.

5. New usefulness. You shall teach transgressors the pardoning, ways of Jehovah. Psalm 51:13.

6. Restoration to the church, from which you may have been excluded. Your brethren will rejoice over you, and so will your God.

7. Future upholding. You shall watch against temptation all the more earnestly, and so you shall stand the more firmly through grace. God can make use of your unhappy fall to teach you many precious lessons.

Suppose this invitation to turn unto the Lord should be refused—

It will be a wanton rejection of generous love.

There can never be a fairer offer.

This will increase the uneasiness of a guilty conscience.

This will lead to the fear that the refuser is not one of the Lord's chosen.

But we hope better things of you, and things which accompany salvation, though we thus speak. We are jealous lest you miss the day of grace.

At once confess your sin, and humbly plead the word of the Lord, "I have mercy upon them."

Then cry out in prayer, for it is written, "I will hear them."

Then, in faith in the name of Jesus, hang upon the promise, "They shall be as though I had not cast them off."

By the mercy of God, we entreat you to seek his face at once, with true heart, and resolute importunity.

Selections

The fall is a greater mystery than the Redemption. He who has had experience of the one may well accept the revelation of the other. C. Vaughan.

Now you have avenged

Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing

Temptation, have regain'd lost Paradise,

And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.

He never more henceforth will dare set foot

In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke:

For, though that seat of earthly bliss be fail'd,

A fairer Paradise is founded now

For Adam and his chosen sons, whom you,

A Savior, are come down to reinstall,

Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be,

Of Tempter and temptation without fear. Milton.

The end of the gospel is life and perfection.… It is to make us partakers of the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness.… God himself cannot make me happy, if he be only without me; unless he give me a participation of himself and his own likeness unto my soul. Cudworth.

He raised me from the deeps of sin,

The gates of gaping Hell,

And fixed my standing more secure

Than 'twas before I fell. Watts.

A man upon the way, having accidentally lost his purse, is questioned by his fellow-traveler where he had it last. "Oh!" says he, "I am confident that I drew it out of my pocket when I was in such a town, at such an inn." "Why, then!" says the other, "there is no better way to have it again than by going back to the place where you last had it." This is the case of many a man in these loose, unsettled times; they have lost their love to Christ, and his truth, since their corn and wine and oil have increased; since outward things are in abundance added unto them they have slighted the light of God's countenance. When they were poor and naked of all worldly comfort, then they sought God's face both early and late, and nothing was more dear and precious unto them than the truth of Christ. What, then, is to be done to recover this lost love to Christ? Back again, back again directly where you last had it! Back to the sign of the broken and contrite heart! There it was that you drew it out into good words and better works; and though it be since lost in the crowd of worldly employments, there and nowhere else, you shall be sure to find it again. Spencer's "Things New and Old."

124

Zechariah 10:12—"And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, says the Lord."

Enlarge upon the reference of the text and of the whole chapter to the Lord's ancient people, the Jews.

They are so much forgotten, and so often persecuted, and so generally despised, that we do well to think upon the prophecies of a glorious future, which the Lord God has spoken concerning them.

But the heritage of the natural and typical Israel belongs, in its spiritual meaning, to the spiritual Israel; and this promise is ours.

To those who lament their weakness the promise of the text is peculiarly cheering.

I. Divine strengthening promised. "I will strengthen them in the Lord."

1. It is painfully needed.

We are naturally weak as water.

After soul-sickness we are sadly feeble.

In the presence of great labors we feel our weakness.

We want strength for watching, walking, working, and warring.

2. It is freely promised. See also verse 6.

Justice might have left us to ourselves.

Tender love observes our need.

Infinite power abundantly supplies it.

3. It is divinely bestowed: "I will strengthen them." Hence it is—

Certain in accomplishment.

Honorable in reception. How ennobling to receive strength immediately from the Lord Jehovah!

Unlimited in communication, if we have but faith to receive it.

4. It is gradually received. We go from strength to strength.

By use of the means of grace: prayer, communion with God, spiritual exercise, experience, etc.

By the silent operations of the Holy Spirit.

By the growth of each holy grace, and the increase of life within.

5. It is delightfully perceived.

An excellent illustration is that of a sick man recovering strength.

As in his case, so in ours,—

Appetite returns: we relish the Word.

Difficulties vanish: burdens grow light, etc.

Employment is desired: strength pines for exercise.

Expansive views are obtained. We walk abroad with delight, and leave the narrow chamber in which a sickly soul is shut up.

Pleasure is enjoyed, and gratitude is excited.

6. It is sufficiently continued.

God continues to strengthen us day by day.

He increases our strength as it is required.

He makes his strength more and more apparent in our weakness, until we know no power but his.

II. Christian activity predicted. "They shall walk up and down in his name."

1. They shall enjoy ease,—implied in walking up and down.

2. They shall possess freedom: it is the gait of liberty.

3. They shall be active for the Lord, in varied forms of service.

4. They shall persevere in such activity, walking up and down; and evermore crying joyously, "Onward and Upward!"

5. They shall consecrate that activity with care: "they shall walk in his name,"—doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Sick souls shall exhibit the activities of convalescence when the Lord imparts strength to them. Those who are recovering from sickness know how happy such a condition usually is.

III. Both blessings guaranteed.

1. Here is the divine "I will" of omnipotent grace.

2. Here is the divine "they shall" of consecrated free-agency.

3. Here is the divine "says the Lord" of infallible faithfulness.

All these united make our text a glorious one.

Are you sick, sorry, weak? This sacred text is for you.

See where your strength lies! Look to the Strong for strength.

Believe in Jesus to obtain it! He is ready to bestow it.

When you have it—use it abundantly! Help the weak, bear the burdens of others, serve the Lord with gladness, and glorify God.

Words of a great Preacher

Sir Walter Scott relates in his autobiography that, when he was a child, one of his legs was paralyzed, and when medical skill failed, a kind uncle induced him to exert the muscles of the powerless limb by drawing a gold watch before him on the floor, tempting him to creep-after it, and thus keeping up and gradually increasing vital action and muscular force. So God deals with us in our spiritual childhood, and the weakness of our faith. How weak our efforts; how slow our movements! But spiritual vitality is elicited, developed, strengthened by those efforts and movements, slow and weak as they are.

Every man needs strength. We ask for daily bread: and we ask for it as a means of renewing our strength. We have as much need to ask for strength, as for deliverance from evil, and for the forgiveness of our trespasses. There are certain things to be done, certain things to be endured, and things to be resisted, which can be performed, and borne, and stood against, only by power of a certain kind, and by that power in a certain degree. Nor is strength needful merely for doing and for suffering. It is also necessary for enjoyment. Weakness is so much less of life. The feeble live but in a low degree.

Lack of strength is more serious than lack of any kind of outward possession. A weak rich man is in a far worse position than a strong poor man; and the strong poor man is really the wealthier. Weakness lessens work, reduces enjoyment, and greatly aggravates suffering of any kind. In many instances, moreover, it is the cause of wickedness,—leading directly to transgression, and exposing the individual to fierce and exceedingly dangerous temptations. So that, as a means of preserving ourselves against sin, we should ask daily for strength.

Every man needs strength; but no man has within him strength equal to the demands that are made upon him. He requires strengthening.

The Christian is no exception to this rule. He needs strength. His conversion was not translation to inactivity, to ease, and to unbroken quiet. His work is not the ceaseless singing of psalms while he reclines upon green pastures, and sits beside still waters. There are times when he lies down in green pastures; but he lies down wearied; and he lies down that he may rise again a stronger man, to enter upon fiercer battles, and to do harder work. We rest, not for resting's sake, but that we may work again.

Brethren, a Christian's strength can come only by his being strengthened. There is not within the man, as a man, nor within him as a Christian, any stock or store of strength given him at the commencement of his life. Day by day, stage after stage, first as a babe, then as a young man, and then as a father in Christ, does the man need strengthening. And what a glorious thing it is that, instead of our resources being given to us at the beginning of our Christian life, they are supplied to us as we need them. Does not this arrangement keep us in close communion with the Father of our spirits, and with the Source of all energy and wisdom? So that the very application to God, apart from the things which application always secures, tends to strengthen you. Samuel Martin.

125

Zechariah 12:10—"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."

Note the remarkable change of persons: "look upon me," and "mourn for him." Such changes indicate unity and distinctness; and afford us a hint as to the Unity of the Godhead, and the Trinity of the Persons.

He who speaks is Jehovah, "which stretches forth the heavens," (see verse 1,) and yet he says "me, whom they have pierced."

It is Jehovah-Jesus who is pierced, and pours out the Spirit of grace.

It is a marvel that Jesus should be crucified when the Jewish law required stoning; and that, when crucified, the Roman soldier, though ignorant of the prophecy, should pierce him with his spear.

The conversion of the Jews is here promised: they will be converted to a crucified Christ.

They, by their unbelief and hatred, were guilty of his death: let us pray that they may be saved by it right speedily.

Our text reveals their way of repentance, and this must also be ours.

Evangelical sorrow for sin is to be our subject at this time.

We shall remark that,—

I. It is created by the Holy Spirit. "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications."

1. It is not produced by mere conscience, nor by terror, nor by the use of a form of penitence; much less by music, pictures, etc.

2. It comes as a gift of grace: "I will pour." The understanding is enlightened, the heart renewed, &c., by a distinct act of the Spirit of God, sent forth by the Father.

3. It is attended by prayer: "grace and of supplications." In this differing from remorse, which never prays.

4. It is continuous, for it comes with abiding things, such as the fountain opened (see next chapter); and it flows from an abiding source, for the Spirit of grace and of supplications abides in the saints.

II. It is caused by looking to Jesus. "They shall look upon me, whom they have pierced."

It cannot, therefore, prepare for that look: we look to Jesus as we are, and the look makes penitents of us.

1. We see the horrible hatred which sin bears toward purity, for it slew the Holy One, and that when he was arrayed in the most lovely and attractive form.

2. We see its ingratitude to love. Sin repays infinite compassion with inveterate hate, and therefore crucifies Jesus.

3. We see its abhorrence of God. It would slay him if it could, and it did so in effect. Sin is Deicidal in intent and tendency.

4. We see that such is the terrible guilt of our sin that nothing but an infinite sacrifice could atone for it.

5. We see that we have entered into the sin of Calvary by our conduct towards the Lord Jesus in our rejecting and resisting him and his cause. We have repeated the crime of the cross.

III. It is the chief of sorrows. "They shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son."

1. Comparable to a terrible parental agony, for an only son, or for a first-born child: both very special sources of grief.

2. Comparable also to the national mourning for Josiah. See verse 11. Never nation sustained greater loss than Judah when it lost Josiah, and the people showed it by the national lamentation. Such is a penitent's sorrow at the death of Jesus.

3. It is personal and private. See verses 12 to 14.

4. It is spreading and social. "The land shall mourn": verse 12.

IV. It is not in itself the cleansing for sin.

By it we confess the crime, but cannot thereby remove it. Conviction is a glass to show our spots, not a bath to cleanse them.

1. It acknowledges our need of the fountain; but it is not itself a fountain of cleansing.

2. It goes with the saving look to Jesus, but it is no rival to it.

3. It leads away from self, and even from its own self.

4. It leads to Jesus: we mourn for him; and this linking us with Jesus is most operative upon our hearts.

Come, bleeding heart, and look to Jesus for healing!

Come, hard heart, and look to Jesus for brokenness!

Come, careless heart, for the sight of Jesus may arrest even you!

For variety we add a second outline on the same text

126

Zechariah 12:10—"They shall be in bitterness for him."

When the Jews receive Jesus as Messiah, they shall look upon him as pierced and slain: and the first result will be bitter repentance. It is the same with us. Of all sights, a sight of Jesus crucified is the sweetest; but at the same time it causes bitterness.

I. Our first sight of Christ brings bitterness.

1. For not having known his preciousness before. What a loss!

2. For having slighted such love so long. What crime upon crime!

3. From fear lest he should not be ours after all. This causes a bitter pang, an anxious grief of soul.

4. Sin, its greatness, and its effects, are seen in his cruel death; and this makes us deplore our guilt, and his woes.

5. The wrath of God, its justice and terribleness, are also seen at the cross, and we tremble.

6. Dread of never being forgiven, and a sense that we can never forgive ourselves, are mingled in one bitter draught.

II. Our continued sight of Christ works in us throughout life a measure of the same bitterness.

1. His great love, when better known, brings deeper grief for sin.

2. It inspires a direr dread of grieving him.

3. It creates a deeper regret for our present unworthiness.

4. It inspires a greater horror at man's rejection of him, while we see thousands around us perishing by that madness.

5. It promotes a more overwhelming sympathy with Jesus in his striving against the evil which he died to destroy.

III. This bitterness has most gracious effects.

1. It works great hatred of sin, and a tender and careful avoiding of it.

2. It makes Christ very sweet.

3. It makes worldly joys and temptations tasteless.

4. It removes the bitterness of affliction, pain, and death.

5. It prevents the sinful bitterness of anger, etc., at persecution.

6. It has an unutterable sweetness in it. We come to relish repentance, and to feel a pleasure in lowly grief for Jesus.

Nails

I see the crowd in Pilate's hall, I mark their wrathful deportment;

Their shouts of "Crucify!" appal, with blasphemy between,

And of that shouting multitude I feel that I am one;

And in that din of voices rude, I recognize my own.

I see the scourges tear his back, I see the piercing crown,

And of that crowd who smite and mock I feel that I am one;

Around yon cross, the throng I see, mocking the Sufferer's groan,

Yet still my voice it seems to be,—as if I mocked alone.

'Twas I that shed the sacred blood, I nailed him to the tree,

I crucified the Christ of God, I joined the mockery;

Yet not the less that blood avails to cleanse away my sin,

And not the less that cross prevails to give me peace within.

We must nail our sins to the cross of Christ, fasten them upon the tree on which he suffered. Sin will begin to die within a man upon the sight of Christ on the cross, for the cross of Christ accuses sin, shames sin, and by a secret virtue destroys the very heart of sin. We must use sin as Christ was used when he was made sin for us; we must lift it up, and make it naked by confession of it to God; we must fasten the hands and feet of it by repentance, and pierce the heart of it by godly sorrow. Byfield.

Now, to make and keep the heart soft and tender, the consideration of Christ's dolorous passion must needs be of singular use and efficacy; as the sight of Caesar's bloody robes greatly affected the people of Rome, and edged them on to revenge his death. Trapp.

I am no preacher, let this hint suffice—

The cross once seen is death to every vice;

Else he who hung there suffered all his pain,

Bled, groaned, and agonized, and died, in vain. Cowper.

Newton's hymn, "In evil long I took delight," describes the experience of one who was brought to repentance and salvation by the sight of Christ crucified.

It is a sweet saying of one of old, "Let a man grieve for his sin, and then joy for his grief."—Thomas Brooks.

127

Zechariah 12:12–14—"And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

"The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

"All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart."

True repentance is attended with mourning. It may not in itself be sorrow, but a repentance which did not include sorrow for sin would be a mere pretense. It is a change of mind, and that change involves sorrow for the past.

We have need to stand in doubt of that repentance which has no tear in its eye, no mourning in its heart.

Even when Christ is clearly seen, and pardon is enjoyed, mourning for sin does not cease; say rather, it is both deepened and purified.

This mourning has one special characteristic that it is personal, the act of each individual, and the act of the individual apart from any of his fellows. Its watchword is "apart."

I. The individualizing effect of sorrow for sin. Observe the many times in which we here have the word "apart."

1. It is seen even when that mourning is universal. "The land shall mourn, every family apart." The widest spread of grace will not diminish its power over each separate person.

2. It will be seen in the separation of one family from another when the mourning is common, and most families repent. How much more when only a few households worship God!

3. It is seen in the distinction between family and family even when both fear the Lord. Each family has its peculiar sin, and a speciality must be made in the confession of each one.

The royal family: or rich: or influential: "the family of the house of David apart."

The prophet's family: the family at the manse: "the family of the house of Nathan apart."

The priest's family: the family of the church-officer, or the teacher, etc.: "the family of the house of Levi apart."

The ordinary family: the household of the trader, workman, etc.: "the family of Shimei apart."

Each family has its neglected duties, evil habits, differences, unconverted members, besetments, etc.

4. It is seen in the individualizing of those nearest akin: "and their wives apart." These are one flesh; but when their hearts are made flesh, each one mourns alone.

Common sin in husbands and wives should be mourned in common; holy joy, and holy grief, and much of devotion should be united; but in seeking the Lord by repentance each one must come alone.

This personality of holy grief has been stigmatized as morbid, self-conscious, and selfish; but those who thus speak are strangers to spiritual facts, and cavil for the mere sake of caviling.

II. How does this individuality show itself?

Of course, from the nature of things, it differs in each case, but—

1. Each individual sees most his own sin: he is alone as to character.

2. Each individual desires to be alone as to place. No matter where, whether at the bed-side, or in the field, or in the barn: but solitude is desired, and must be obtained.

3. Each individual has his own time. At once the penitent must mourn, whether it be morning, noon, or night: he cannot be timed by regulation.

4. Each individual has his own manner. Some are silent; others cry aloud. One weeps, another cannot literally do so, and is all the more sad. One feels broken in heart, another laments his hardness, etc.

5. Each individual has his own secret. None can enter into it even if they would do so. Each mourner has a secret hidden away in his own soul, and he cannot reveal it to men.

III. How do we account for this individuality?

1. In part it is accounted for by a natural and justifiable shame, which prevents our confessing all our sins before another.

2. The heart desires to come to God himself, and the presence of a third person would be an interruption.

3. The man is conscious that his guilt was all his own, and as he dissociates everyone else from it, he instinctively comes to God apart, and solely on his own account.

4. This is the sign of sincerity. Sham piety talks about religion as national, and delights to display itself in the assembly, or in the street; true godliness is of the heart, and being "in spirit and in truth," it is deeply personal.

5. This is the mark of spiritual life with its individual emotions, needs, struggles, desires, regrets, confessions, etc. No two living men are quite alike outwardly, and certainly none are so inwardly: therefore, before the Lord they must exhibit a separate personal existence.

Practice much self-examination; minute, and searching.

Realize the fact that you must die apart, and, in a sense, be judged, and sentenced apart. Never forget your own individuality. You must have Christ for yourself, and be born again yourself, or you are lost.

Go forth and bless all the world when you are yourself prepared for such work. Light your own torch, or you cannot enlighten others. There is no selfishness in seeking to be made unselfish, and that is what grace alone can do for you.

Personalities

Let the question of eternity have a monopoly in you. It is an intensely personal question; but instead of making you selfish, it will expand your heart. He who has never felt for his own soul cannot feel for another's. Brownlow North.

Personal private faults must be privately confessed. It is not meet a wife should know all the bosom-sins of him in whose bosom she lies. Perhaps being now offended for not hearing her husband's prayers, she would be more offended if she heard them. Nor has she just cause to complain, seeing herein Nathan's wife is equal with Nathan himself; what liberty she allows is allowed her, and she may, as well as her husband, claim the privilege privately and apart, to pour forth her soul unto God in her daily devotions. Yet man and wife, at other times, ought to communicate in their prayers, all others excluded. Thomas Fuller.

The question "Guilty?" or "Not Guilty?" must be put to each prisoner separately, and each one must answer to his name, and put in his personal plea. Should a pardon be granted, it must bear the individual's name, and it must be issued distinctly to him, or it will be a document of no value to him. In every case, the guilt and the pardon must have a personal bearing: but how hard it is to make a man see this! Oh, that we could preach in the "thou-and-you" style, and could make each hearer feel that we were as personal as Nathan when he said, "You are the man"! If our hearers will not cry, "Lord, is it I?" we must go to them with the word, "I have a message from God unto you."

128

Malachi 1:2—"I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us?"

Israel under Malachi was in a captious, querulous condition; his brief prophecy is full of unbelieving questions, in which man seems bent upon having the last word with God.

The text might be treated as bearing upon our own favored nation, for God has been very gracious to Britain, and Britain is sadly ungrateful.

We prefer to consider Israel as the type of the election of grace.

It occurs even to the chosen, when grace runs low, to fall into an ill humor, and to appear beaten down, depressed, and full of sullen unbelief. This is a very wretched state of affairs.

With this state of heart we deal.

I. God's love declared. "I have loved you, says the Lord."

To every believer the special love of God is declared in the Scriptures, and to that love the text refers. This is clear if we observe the words which follow:—"Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau." This is the precise language used by Paul when speaking of the election of grace. Romans 9:13.

To every believer this love has been shown in—

1. Election in Christ Jesus from of old.

2. Covenant engagements made by Christ on his behalf.

3. Accomplished Redemption by the Lord Jesus.

4. Regeneration and the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

5. Pardon of sin, justification by faith, adoption, sanctification, etc.

6. Preservation to this hour, and promise for all future time.

This is a scanty list of the ways by which the Lord has said to each regenerate soul, "I have loved you."

Do we not remember times of love when this was personally sealed upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit?

Even now the Lord speaks thus to his redeemed by his Word, and by his Spirit. Do they not hear it? Are they not touched with so gracious and condescending an avowal of love?

II. God's love questioned. "Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us?"

This is a shocking and disgraceful thing; but, alas, it indicates a condition of heart which has been seen far too frequently.

Such a question has been asked—

1. Under great afflictions in which there seemed no relief. Petulantly the sorrowing one has questioned divine love.

2. In sight of the prosperous wicked in their day of pride many a poor despised believer has rashly doubted the special love of God.

3. In times of grievous doubt as to one's personal salvation, and under heavy temptations of Satan, the same doubt has arisen.

4. Alas, this has also happened when, immersed in worldliness, the man for the time has lost all sight and sense of spiritual things, and has treated distinguishing love as though it were a fiction!

This is a grievous wounding of the Lord of love.

It pours despite upon amazing mercy.

It exposes the questioner to fearful peril.

III. God's love considered.

When we solemnly turn, and meditate upon these things, we see—

1. Love lamenting. Is God to be thus treated? Shall he mournfully cry, "I have loved you. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us?"

2. Love entreating. Does not each accent say, "Return to me"?

3. Love abounding. Our question shames us God loves us in ten thousand ways; loves us so as to be patient even when we wickedly question his love.

4. Love conquering. We bow at Jehovah's feet with shame, and yield our heart's best love in return for his love.

Come, you cast down ones, leave your sullen questionings!

Run into his arms, and receive the quietus of all your fears.

Love-notes

A child has willfully disobeyed. For this offence he has been chastised, and confined to his own room. He is very sullen and obstinate, and his father reasons with him, and tells him with tears that he is greatly grieved with him, and feels wounded by the ingratitude which he receives after all his love. The boy angrily replies that he does not believe in his father's love: if he loved him, why did he whip him, and send him to bed? This would be a very rebellious speech; but it would be pitched in the same key as our text. It would also set forth the spirit which is often seen in Christians when they measure the Lord's love by their temporal circumstances, and ask in rebellion whether their poverty, their pains, and their persecutions are fit fruits of divine favor. The Lord knows how foolish we are apt to be when our soul is vexed with bitter anguish, and therefore he does not destroy us for our presumption, but he patiently reasons with us that he may bring us to a better mind.

If it would be marvelous to see one river leap up from the earth full-grown, what would it be to gaze upon a vast spring from which all the rivers of the earth should at once come bubbling up, a thousand of them born at a birth? What a vision would it be! Who can conceive it? And yet the love of God is that fountain, from which all the rivers of mercy, which have ever gladdened our race—all the rivers of grace in time, and of glory hereafter—take their rise. My soul, stand you at that sacred fountain-head, and adore and magnify forever and ever God, even our Father, who has loved us. C. H. S.

What is more tender than a mother's love

To the sweet infant fondling in her arms?

What arguments need her compassion move

To hear its cries, and help it in its harms?

Now, if the tenderest mother were possessed

Of all the love within her single breast

Of all the mothers since the world began,

'Tis nothing to the love of God to man. John Byrom.

A very tender parent had a son, who, from his earliest years, proved headstrong and dissolute. Conscious of the extent of his demerits, he dreaded and hated his parent. Meanwhile, every means was used to disarm him of these suspicions, so unworthy of the tenderness and love which yearned in his father's bosom, and of all the kindness and forbearance which were lavished upon him. Eventually the means appeared to be successful, and confidence, in a great degree, took the place of his ungenerous suspicions. Entertained in the family as one who had never trespassed, he now left his home to embark in mercantile affairs, and was assured that if in any extremity he would apply to his parent, he should find his application kindly received. In the course of years it fell out that he was reduced to extremity; but, instead of communicating his case to his parent, his base suspicion and disbelief of his tenderness and care again conquered him, and he neglected to apply to him. Who can tell how deeply that father's heart was rent at such depravity of feeling? Yet this is the case of the believer, who, pardoned and accepted, yet refuses to trust his heavenly Parent, throws away his filial confidence, and with his old suspicions stands aloof in sullen distrust. Oh, how is God dishonored by this sinful unbelief!—Salter.

Dr. Chalmers used to say that "As soon as a man comes to understand that 'God is love,' he is infallibly converted."

CXXIX

Malachi 4:2—"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall."

There is one grand distinction among men—"him that serves God, and him that serves him not." See last verse of previous chapter.

Fearing God is the mark which distinguishes man from man far more than wealth, rank, or nationality.

The coming of Christ is a calamity or a blessing to men according to their character.

What a change of figures! To the wicked "an oven"! (See verse 1.) To God-fearing men a "Sun"!

Our text was fulfilled at our Lord's first coming.

It awaits a far larger fulfillment at his second coming.

It is always true as a general principle, and it is felt to be true when the Lord Jesus spiritually draws near to his people.

I. Let us think of our Lord as the Sun.

1. He is the center of the whole system of grace.

2. He is to us the Grand Attraction, and Holdfast, keeping us in our places, as the sun keeps the planets in their orbits.

3. He is the source of all good. His beams are righteousness: all that emanates from him is good: all good emanates from him; even as all light and heat come, directly or indirectly, from the sun.

4. He is without variableness or shadow of turning. James 1:17. In himself he is forever the same, shining on without ceasing.

5. To us he has his risings, and his settings. If for a while we are in the shade, let us look for his arising.

6. To those who fear him not he never rises, for they are blind, and know no day, and see no light.

What the world would be without the sun, that should we be without our Lord. Can we conceive the gloom, the death, etc.?

II. Let us enjoy the blessings which he scatters.

1. What light of knowledge, what warmth of love, what radiance of joy we receive from him! Let us walk in it.

2. What health he gives! Healing for the sick, health for the strong.

Every sunbeam is medicinal, every word of Christ is life.

The earlier we come to Christ the better: his rising is attended with sparkling dews of joy.

The more we commune with him the better: let us bask in the sunlight.

3. What liberty he brings! "You shall go forth."

When the sun has reached a certain point in his annual course, the cattle which have been stalled are led forth to the mountain pastures; so the Lord Jesus sets his people free, and they go forth—

To enjoy spiritual privileges.

To perform spiritual duties.

To reach spiritual attainments.

To carry abroad spiritual influences.

4. What growth he fosters!—"and grow up as calves of the start."

When the Lord Jesus is with his people—

They are abundantly fed.

They are comfortably housed.

They are regularly tended.

They advance rapidly to maturity.

A heart which communes with Jesus possesses a freshness of youth, an ease of life, and other advantages, which admirably fulfill the comparison of "calves of the stall."

As all this comes of fearing the Lord, let us be diligent in worship, careful in obedience, and reverent in spirit.

As all this comes through our Lord Jesus, let us abide under his sweet influences, and never move out of his sunshine into that far off country, where the Arctic winter is never cheered by the Sun of righteousness.

We have not to make a Sun, or move the Sun, or buy the Sun; but only to step into the free and blessed sunshine. Why do we hesitate?

Why do we not by faith pass from darkness into his marvelous light?

Sunbeams

The late Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, called upon a friend just as he had received a letter from his son, who was surgeon on board a vessel then lying off Smyrna. The son mentioned to his father that every morning, about sunrise, a fresh gale of air blew from the sea across the land, and, from its wholesomeness and utility in clearing the infected air, this wind is always called the Doctor. "Now," says Mr. Robinson, "it strikes me that the prophet Malachi, who lived in that quarter of the world, might allude to this circumstance when he says that 'the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.' The Psalmist mentions 'the wings of the wind,' and it appears to me that this salubrious-breeze, which attends the rising of the sun, may be properly enough considered as the wings of the sun, which contain such healing influences, rather than the beams of the sun, as the passage has been commonly-understood."—Burder's "Oriental Customs."

There is a beautiful fable of the ancient mythology, to the effect that Apollo, who represents the sun, killed a huge poisonous serpent by arrows surely aimed, and shot from afar. It intimates that sunbeams, darted straight from heaven, destroy many deadly things that crawl upon the ground, and so make the world a safer habitation. The parable is, in this respect, a stroke of truth, and it coincides with a feature of the eternal covenant. Light from the face of Jesus, when it is permitted to stream, right into a human heart, destroys the noisome things that haunt it, as Apollo's arrows slew the snake. W. Arnot.

In all the departments of vegetable, animal, moral, and spiritual life, light stands out as the foremost blessing and benefit which God confers. In physical existence this is especially true. Thousands die for lack of light. No vigorous vegetable life, no healthy animal life, can long exist without light. The pestilence "walks in darkness".… Sir James Wylie, late physician to the Emperor of Russia, attentively studied the effects of light as a curative agent in the hospital of St. Petersburg, and he discovered that the number of patients who were cured in rooms properly lighted was four times that of those confined in dark rooms. These different results are due to the agency of light, without a full supply of which plants and animals maintain but a sickly and feeble existence. Light is the cheapest and best of all medicines. Nervous ailments yield to the power of sunshine. Pallid faces grow fresh and ruddy beneath its glow. The sun's rays have wonderful purifying power. H. L. Hastings.

"Heaven be praised! I have once more seen the sun," said Dr. Hayes, in his record of the experience of a certain Arctic day, when he, with others had visited a point from which they could see the sun come up for the first time from his long winter isolation. "Off went our caps with simultaneous impulse, and we hailed this long-lost wanderer of the heavens with loud demonstrations of joy."

A man scoffingly asked, "What advantage has a religious man over anyone like myself? Does not the sun shine on me as on him, this fine day?" "Yes," replied his companion, a pious laborer, "but the religious man has two suns shining on him at once,—one on his body, the other on his soul."—The Biblical Treasury.