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 •^y/ 
 
 

 THE SEEKING SAVIOUR. 
 
THE SEEKING SAVIOUR, 
 
 
 ^nh other ^ible Phones. 
 
 (CANADIAN EDITION.) 
 
 BV THE LATE 
 
 DR. W. P. MACKAY, M. A., 
 
 0/ Hull. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "grace AND TRUTH," "ABUNDANT GRACE," 
 ETC.; EDITOR OF "THE BRITISH EVANGELIST." 
 
 TORONTO, CANADA: 
 
 S. R. BRIGGS, 
 Toronto Willakd Tract Depository, 
 
 Cor. Yoage and Temperancs Streets. 
 [All rights reserved.] 
 
[fsm 
 
 PKINTBD AT THE TIMBS OPPICB, 34 QUBEN STREET, PARKDALB. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 making the following collection of articles on 
 various Scripture subjects we are only carrying out 
 thd design of the author. He had commenced the 
 w;ork and spoken of it several times. Methinks, if he had 
 got a glimpse into the future at the dawn of this year, the 
 book would have been in the hands of friends and lovers 
 of the truth some months ago. We believe the great enemy 
 and deceiver tried in various ways to prevent the departed 
 one using his pen ; he knew well how his ranks had been 
 thinned through the pages of " Grace and Truth," and there- 
 fore his wisdom was to try by all means to prevent anything 
 of a similar aim being produced. The composition in many 
 parts is blunt and homely. One literary friend wrote 
 regarding it : " It is difficult to prune without hurting the 
 vigour ; " so as we prefer having it in its native vigour, we 
 rather give it to you unpruned. 
 
 The title we have chosen is one which perhaps the Son 
 of man, Who so often gave Himself this name, rejoices in 
 more than any other. God commenced the seeking ; as soon 
 as there was a wandering sinner to be sought, we hear, 
 " Adam, where art thou ? " and it has never ceased since then. 
 And now through these pages our desire and prayer is that 
 many lost ones may be found and safely sheltered in the 
 fold of the Good Shepherd. 
 
 The Great Shepherd of the twenty-third Psalm, we believe, 
 was more frequently preached upon than any other sub- 
 ject in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America; it was 
 
 i:i n ^\ 
 
_;^, 
 
 
 VI 
 
 Preface. 
 
 always fresh and beautiful, suited to all classes and kinds 
 of people, the aged and the youDg. 
 
 " The Claims of the Man Jesus " was a subject that was 
 studied and preached upon ten years ago ; there was mani- 
 fest power and blessing on the evening on which it was 
 first delivered. As the congregation were asked, " Who 
 believes in this rejected Man ? " hundreds rose to their feet 
 in testimony of their faith in Him. 
 
 The study of " The Writing on the Cross " was done in 
 student days twenty years ago ; may the Holy Ghost blees 
 it to the strengthening of the faith of some in the precious 
 Word which is our unerring chart ! 
 
 The thoughts given on " The Name of God " and " His 
 Name's Sake " comprise many years' study ; "His Name's 
 Sake" was written about two years ago. We remember 
 well the triumph with which the writer held it up in manu- 
 script, because he always felt he had gained a victory when 
 he got his fast-flowing thoughts vmtten on paper. 
 
 " The Glory of God " was the subject of his last sermon 
 on earth ; the one Lord's Day hie revelled in preaching on 
 "The Glory," and the next he had entered the pearly gates 
 and was beholding His glory. There was no theme that he 
 more rejoiced in than God's exaltation. Man was nothing 
 in his view, nowhere— a failure in every position ; but he 
 had L'inse apprehension and appreciation of God. A 
 friend said after enjoying his preaching for some months, 
 " I have learned one thing since I came here, — I have learned 
 to know God." As the voice is heard no more, may the 
 printed pages have a similar result, and to His Name will 
 be all the praise. 
 
 M. L. MACKAT. 
 
 10, MORNINGSIDE DRIVE, 
 
 Edinbubqb, Nov, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE ; y 
 
 THE SEEKING SAVIOUR 1 
 
 THE GREAT SHEPHERD 15 
 
 " UNTIL " 26 
 
 SERVING AND FOLLOWING 31 
 
 THE SACRIFICE, THE PRIEST, AND THE SAVIOUR . 42 
 THE POWER THAT THE WORLD KNOWS NOTHING 
 
 ABOUT .60 
 
 christ the power of god . . . .74 
 "say not in thine heart" . . . .86 
 righteousness, human and divine . . .95 
 job's question and Paul's answer . , . 104 
 the claims of the man jesus . . . .116 
 the writing on the cross 146 
 
 ^ 
 
r 
 
 m 
 
 9 
 
 viil' Contents. 
 
 fAoa 
 THE NAME OF QOD 159 
 
 EMMANUEL-JESUS 180 
 
 HIS NAME 185 
 
 MT name's sake 194 
 
 THE OLOBT OF OOD 206 
 
 THE TWO ANTHEMS 235 
 
 "LORD JESUS, come'* •••••. 242 
 "FOR ever" . 244 
 
 ■/ 
 
TBE SEEKING 8AVI0UB. 
 
 " For the Son of Man is come to seek and to, oave that 
 which was lost." — Luke xix. 10, 
 
 LL Christians rejoice in the reality of 
 the divinity of our Lord and Saviour 
 JesuB Christ; but is it not of great 
 importance to keep in our hearts the reahty of 
 His humanity, especially when Holy Scripture 
 tells us that "Every spirit that confesseth that 
 Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God " ? 
 Among all the accounts of our Lord's life on 
 earth, Luke presents Him most fully as a Man. 
 Matthew traces His genealogy only up to 
 Abraham, and presents Him as a real Jew; 
 Mark gives us no genealogy, but begins with 
 His Gospel-ministry, and John gives what 
 might be called His Divine genealogy — " The 
 Word was God ; " Luke t: js His genealogy 
 up to Adam, thus showing Him to be the Son 
 of Man. 
 
 Our theme is the Son of Man, and His work 
 as told to us in Luke xix. 10 : " For the Son 
 of Man is come to seek and to save that which 
 was lost.** There is a beautiful because 
 Divine fitness in Luke communicating to us 
 
 . 1 
 
 <■ 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
■' .% 
 
 The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 this statement in its connection. Luke was 
 not au apostle. Very little is known of him 
 hesides his being ** the beloved physician," 
 who certainly obeyed the second part of the 
 evan^cfelioal commission — " to heal the sick," 
 although we do not hear much of his preach- 
 ing "the kingdom of God." It is a precious 
 thought that the Saviour Himself, in sending 
 out the twelve, thought of man both with 
 regard to his spiritual and bodily needs. A 
 Christian physician above all men is able to 
 look at men as men. Has he to cure disease ? 
 He sees man as^ made in the image of God, 
 and knows nothing of difference between the 
 best and the worst. He is as careful in setting 
 the fractured limb of the burglar as in minis- 
 toriug to the lameness of au empress. And 
 where he sees an opportunity he can mo :3b 
 deftly plase a woid that may be of spiritual 
 power to his patient. Thus Luke the recorder 
 has been chosen with Divine wisdom to give 
 us many characteristic accounts of God's love 
 to men. Only Luke tells us of the Good 
 Samaritan ; the Shepherd going after the lost 
 sheep ; the woman seeking for the coin that 
 was lost ; the Father receiving the prodigal ; 
 the Pharisee and the publican ; Christ's inter- 
 view with Zacchgeus ; the penitent thief, and 
 many other wonders of grace. 
 
 In the nineteenth chapter of Luke we find 
 that Zacohseus, the chief among the tax- 
 gatherers, was very anxious to see this wonder- 
 
 i.-^\ 
 
 % \% 
 
 flttW 
 
The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 ful Man of whom he had heard, namely Jesus. 
 There was a crnw.1, and he was little; but 
 neither his own inability nor the presence of 
 the crowd conquered him. He found a point 
 of vantage on a sycamore tree, and our Lord, 
 fully understanding the wish of Zacchseus and 
 the small grain of faith that was workiug in 
 him, told him He was to become his Guest. 
 All murmured, not knowing the grace of the 
 Saviour, and to the murmurings Zacchaeus 
 answered by a vindication of himself. Fifty 
 per cent, of wnat he had he gave to the poor, 
 not a mere legal ten per cent. ; and had he 
 taken anything wrongfully from any one, he 
 gave him four times its value — a most con- 
 scientious, upright man. This we hold to 
 have been the practice of his life before he 
 met Jesus, and his vindication of his moral 
 uprightness when they all murmured at Jesus 
 going to him. 
 
 Jesus, however, makes very short work of 
 all this self-vindication, as He did with Nico- 
 demus, thiit very good natural man who came 
 and paid Him the highest compliments, and 
 who received this answer : " Ye must be born 
 again." 
 
 The conduct of Zacchaeus was very proper 
 and commendable, but our Lord says, " This 
 day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch 
 as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son 
 of Man is come to seek and to save that 
 which was lost.'^ Let us now look at this 
 
 r. 
 
 '■m 
 
>^' 
 
 The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 Divine reason for salvation coming to a self- 
 righteous sinners house : 
 
 First, the Person—'' The Son of Man.'* 
 
 Second, His work — " is come to seek and to 
 save J" 
 
 Third, the objects of His work — " that 
 which was lost.'' 
 
 I. The Person. — The Son of Man. This is 
 a wonderful name, and a name that cur Lord 
 seems always desirous of being used. Does it 
 not tell us of at least three things ? 1. Humi- 
 liation ; 2. Perfection ; 3. HeirsMp. 
 
 1. Humiliation. — He reached His crown by 
 the cross. Before His honour was humility. 
 He, ** being in the form of God, thought it 
 not robbery to be equal with God : but made 
 Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him 
 the form of a servant, and was made in the 
 likeness of men : and being found in fashion 
 as a man. He humbled Himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 cross." Ho passed by angels, for He never 
 became an angel ; passed by all the princi- 
 palities and powers in heavenly places, all the 
 peers of gloiy, and came in the strength of 
 His own strong love to be the Son of Man, to 
 be one of us, in order that He might be one 
 with us. He laid aside the crown and the 
 sceptre of the universe to enter into lae circum- 
 stances, sorrows, and responsibilities of man; to 
 handle the saw and the axe, and to be the work- 
 ing man in the midst of His own great work : 
 
;:i( 
 
 The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 *" The foxes found rest-, and the birds had their neat 
 In the shade of the cedar tree, 
 But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God I 
 In the deserts of Galilee." 
 
 2. His Ferfection. — Can one man live to 
 the glory of God, and without sin ? Behold 
 the perfect, sinless Son of Man. ** holy, harm- 
 less, undefiled, separate from sinners." Adam 
 failed, by the temptation to become as a god. 
 The Son of Man prevailed, by taking the 
 subject part of a man. He answered the 
 devil's temptation by no appeal to His divinity, 
 but to the Scripture given for man's use. Tne 
 first man, through her who was to have been 
 a help-meet for him, fell by indulging in the 
 lust of the flesh ("the tree was good for 
 food *'), the lust of the eyes (" it was pleasant 
 to the eyes"), and the pride of life ("a tree 
 to be desired to make one wise "). 
 
 The Son of Man showed His perfection when 
 tempted by the devil, manifesting Himself as 
 THE promised Seed. The Son, in resisting by 
 the Word of God the temptations of the 
 devil, rested upon the written Word : " By 
 the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the 
 paths of the destroyer." When the lust of 
 the flesh was suggested. He answered : " It is 
 written, Man shall not live by bread alone." 
 When the lus,t of the eye was before Him \ "It 
 is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
 God, and Him only Shalt thou serve.'* And 
 when the pride of life was temptingly exposed: 
 
 M 
 
The Seeking Saviozir. 
 
 "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the 
 Lord thy God." 
 
 Have we seen His humiliation as Son of 
 / Man ? We also soe His perfection in exalta- 
 ii'/ tion as claimed by Him in this title ; for He 
 claimed in it that which had been written 
 by the prophet Daniel : " I saw in the night 
 visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man 
 came with the clouds of heaven, and came to 
 the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him 
 near before Him. And there was given Hirn 
 dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
 people, nations, and languages should serve 
 Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion 
 which shaU not pass away, and His kingdom 
 that which shall not be destroyed." 
 
 3. Heirship. — The Son of Man is Heir of 
 man. We have great exactness in 1 Cor. xv. 
 45-47, where Ch;'ist is spoken of as " the last 
 Adam," and ** the second man;" that is to 
 say, there are two men, the first one a total 
 failure, the second his Son and Heir, " the 
 Lord from heaven," in " Whom is all perfec- 
 tion." And there never will be another 
 representative head (Adam), for '* the last 
 Adam" has come, and has been known as 
 " a quickening Spirit." Cain is not spoken 
 of as the son of man, neither is Abel nor Seth ; 
 the Seed of the woman alone secures this title, 
 and with it serves Himself Heir to all man's 
 possessions. And what are these ? ** The 
 cattle upon a thousand hills " are the Lord's. 
 
:^^..-,^--.-.,> V.V' ;-.> 
 
 The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 The gold in all the mines and the pearls in all 
 the oceans belong to their Maker. Wnat, then, 
 is man's possession, and what can he leave as 
 peculiarly his own to his son and heir? Only- 
 one thing, and that is his sin. Behold the 
 Son of Man in anguish under it ! Behold 
 Him bearing '' our sins in His own body on 
 the tree I " '' Behold the Lamb of God, Who 
 taketh away the sin of the world ! " If there 
 had been no sin to bear, there would have been 
 Son of Man ; if there had been no Son of 
 
 no 
 
 Man, there would have been no sin put 
 
 away. 
 
 II. His WoiiK. — When He has become Son 
 of Man, we find Him doing a work commen- 
 surate with this wonderful title. 
 
 1. He has come. 2. He has come to seek. 
 3. He has come to save. 
 
 1. He has come. — How precious is the word 
 *' come " as found in Scripture : " Come now 
 and let us reason together," says the con- 
 descending and loving Jehovah. " Come unto 
 Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden," 
 is the word of the Son of Man. '' Come, ye 
 blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you." will be the glad summons 
 of the Judge of all the earth. But however 
 precious "Come" may be, "«6* come " is 
 much more so, and can alone make the invita- 
 tion possible. Tliat is to say, the Son of Man 
 did not say to man, *' Come," till He Himself 
 had come. 
 
^ 
 
 ( 
 
 
 8 
 
 TJie Seeking Saviour. 
 
 '■■>. 
 
 No sooner had the tempter ruined Creation 
 work, than the Redeemer-God began His 
 work, and came to seek the wandering Adam 
 in these words of pathetic tenderness: "Adam, 
 where art thou ? " And through type and 
 symbols God has been coming to man, and 
 at last " the Son of Man is come." Glorious 
 event in the annals of eternity I Glorious 
 cHmax of the history of time I Glorious mani- 
 festation of the God of heaven I Glorious 
 pi'ovision for the sons Of men! He has 
 spanned all the distance between heaven and 
 earth. He has bridged all the chasm between 
 an a^gry God and a guilty sinner. He has. in 
 His own person shown the true Jacob's ladder 
 stretching from the throne of God to the 
 rock-bound cover of the sinner's tomb. The 
 lifeboat's noble crew do not invite the ship- 
 wrecked sailors to come to the life-boat until 
 the life-boat has gone to them ; so Christ 
 does not say, "Come," until He Himself 
 " is come.*' He has annihilated the distance. 
 He can say, " I came down from heaven." 
 " The Son of Man came not to be ministered 
 imto, but to minister, and to give His life 
 a ransom for many." He came not "to call 
 the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'* 
 " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners." Christ Jesus came 
 from His Father and His eternal love, His 
 crown, His throne, " into the world," this 
 
 V 
 
The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 distant, fallen, groaning, sin-doomed, God- 
 hating world. 
 
 2. He came to Beek. — " Seek ye the Lord," 
 is a Divine injunction, and as a duty is bind- 
 ing on all creatures whom God has made. 
 The law given to Israel discovered how loth 
 man was to seek God, so that we find in 
 Eomans iii. 11, among the various accusations 
 brought against man, this one is prominert, 
 *' I'here is none that seeketh after God." But 
 now grace has revealed to us this wonderful 
 fact, that God in the person of the Son is 
 seeking the sinner. Adam ran from God 
 when he fell, but God went after him, seeking 
 him, as much as to say. If ye flee from Me, 
 and if ye prefer the devil's lie to My truth, 
 and prefer to do without Me, I come to seek 
 you. I wish you back. I do not wish to do 
 without you, — "Adam, where art thou? " He 
 sought out the fishermen and their friends at 
 Galilee's sea. He sought for little Zacchaeus 
 in the midst of a crowd as he was on the 
 sycamore-tree. Reader, He is seeking for you 
 now, as you may be seated in the tree of your 
 own self-righteousness or self-importance or 
 self-greatness. But it is only as one descend- 
 ing from all such morality trees or self- 
 sufficiency trees that you can be found by 
 the seeking Saviour. 
 
 3. He has come to save as well as to seek. — 
 "The grace of God that bringeth salvation 
 hath appeared to all men." His mission is 
 
 /'-: 
 
lO 
 
 The Seeking Saviour. 
 
 ii' 
 
 very specific ; Hia work is very exact : He 
 came not to instruct men in science or art^ 
 to teach them how to use the geologist's 
 hammer, the astronomer's telescope, or the 
 student's microscope. All these could be dis- 
 covered and employed by the reason of man. 
 He came not to solve or settle the questions 
 arising between science a^^d religion. Ho 
 came not to teach politics, or to decide 
 whether unlimited monarchy or constitutional 
 government or democracy is the best method. 
 He came to save — to sxive us from the loenalty 
 of sin by His atonement. ** For by grace are 
 ye saved through faith ; and that not of your- 
 selves ; " "receiving the end of your faith, 
 even the salvation of your souls ; " to save 
 us from the poioer of sin by His Holy Spirit, 
 by Whom we work out our *' own salvation 
 with fear and trembling," knowing that *' it 
 is God Who worketh in us, both to will and 
 to do of His good pleasure ; " to save us from 
 the preseiice of sin by the completed top- stone 
 put upon Hie work. For '' to them that look 
 for Plim shall He appear the second time 
 without sin unto salvation." 
 
 Salvation-work has been His great work 
 since creation-work was marred. Salvation- 
 work is the work revealed from Genesis to 
 Eevelation. Salvation was the work of the 
 Father till the Son appeared (for " My Father 
 worketh hitherto "). In type and sacrifice, 
 in blood and fire, in history and prophecy, 
 
 I ' 
 
 n-f-niiTni i iiiriniT jmrirrf nrif i n i i i 
 
 
The Seekmg. Saviour. 
 
 II 
 
 salvation was the work. When the Son came 
 it was still to worl^ at salvation, by tnreoept 
 and example, by lessons and parables, by 
 suffering, and finally at the Cross to say, 
 <* It is finished." The Son of Man is come 
 to save ; and since His day the Third Person 
 of the blessed Trinity, the Holy Ghost, has 
 come to unfold .o us this salvation, to carry 
 on this Divine work among men, this heavenly 
 work on earth, this eternal work in time, and 
 by letter and instruction and unseen and un- 
 heard influence to convey to us conviction, 
 repentance, conversion, regeneration, salva- 
 tion ; and to the Father, Son, and Holy 
 G-host we bow as to the God of our salva- 
 tion. 
 
 Ill Those interested in this work, The 
 Lost. 
 
 Lost has bound up in its letters (1) the idea 
 guilty; (2) the idea corrupt; (3) the idea 
 valued. 
 
 1. The lost is guilty. — " All we like sheep 
 have gone astray," etc. We' have left the 
 fountrdn of living waters, and hewed out for 
 ourselves " broken cisterns, that can hold no 
 water." We have offended; and he who 
 offendeth '* in one point is guilty of all." The 
 holy law as an impartial jury has brought in 
 the verdict ** Guilty." And thus we are lost 
 to Him Who created us. We have brought 
 ourselves under the curse of His holy law. 
 Yea, we are guilty, as bound up in the same 
 
12 
 
 The Seeking Saviour, 
 
 d' 
 
 // 
 
 humanity of the apostoh'o accusation, "Ye 
 have killed the Prince of Life." 
 
 2. The lost is corrupt. — Intended for the 
 Creator's use, we are now by nature and 
 practice of no use to Him, utterly " unprofit- 
 able : " the fine gold has become dim. In- 
 tended to show His power and Godhead in 
 this world, we have sunk beneath the level 
 of beasts; so that humanity has even wor- 
 shipped '* birds, four-footed beasts, and creep- 
 ing things." We have not only been guilty 
 of specific breakings of God's holy law, by 
 which we are seen to be transgressors, but 
 our natures are fallen, we are depraved and 
 corrupt, the imagination of the thoughts of 
 the heart only evil continually. And the 
 work of a seeking Saviour is required not only 
 to pardon our transgressions, but to cover our- 
 sin. Self-will, self-seeking, and self-pleasing 
 have taken the place of God's will, God-seek- 
 ing, and God-pleasing ; and thus while self is 
 gratified we are lost to God. 
 
 3. The lost is valued. — While passing 
 through the street, if a straw dropped from my 
 hand I should think nothing and say nothing 
 about it. But should I lose a five-pound note, 
 I should at once think of and speak of my 
 loss. And why ? Because I knew its value, 
 and could do very badly with its loss. "I 
 have lost the sheep," says the shepherd, be- 
 cause to him it was valuable. "I have lost 
 my piece of silver," says the woman, because 
 
The Seeking Saviour, 
 
 13 
 
 she could ill afford to lose it. '^ I have lost 
 my hoy," says the father, heoause he loved the 
 hoy. The lost is valued, the lost is loved. 
 Oh, what love is in that little word 01 one 
 syllable, " lost I " You even may not feel that 
 you have lost God ; hut the grace and value 
 and appreciation all begin on His side. You 
 have chosen the world, the devil, and the 
 flesh; but God says: I love you, I do not 
 wish to do without you. I feel I have lost 
 something. Suns and stars, planets and 
 com(3ts, day and night, summer and winter, 
 are all under My control. The reins of ten 
 thousand stars and systems are held in My un- 
 created hands. Angels that excel in strength 
 rejoice to do My will, and obey My command- 
 ments. The sea hears My voice and calms its 
 waves. " The floods clap their hands " to 
 My glory. The forests shake at My presence 
 Flowers bloom to reflect the beauty of the 
 Eternal. Yea, even " fire, hail, snow, and 
 vapours " fulfil My words ; '* fruitful trees, and 
 all cedars ; beasts and all cattle," join in alle- 
 giance. Oh, thou vicegerent of God, made in 
 His image, placed at the head of creation I I 
 have Lost thee. Still I love thee, have so 
 loved thee that I have said. Thou art lost to 
 Me ; so loved thee that I have sent My only- 
 begotten Son to seek thee. And only the lost 
 sinner lies in, the pathway of the seeking 
 Saviour. 
 What is the answer, my fellow lost one, 
 
 / 
 

 '4 
 
 T/ie Seeking Saviour. 
 
 that you and I have to make ? Let us do it 
 together; for "there is no difference : for all 
 have sinned and come short of the glory of 
 • , God." Yes, Lord, we are guilty; we are 
 corrupt; we are lost. We would write ''Lost " 
 on the palms of our hands, on the soles of our 
 , feet ; in all we do and wherever we go we are 
 lost. "Lost" we engrave on our intellects, 
 our wills,, our affections ; at all times, under 
 all circumstances, and in all our faculties, we 
 but say " Lost." We wait not for the judg- 
 ment-bar to hear the doom. We accept Thy 
 judgment, "Lost." But we joyfully .h ^ar 
 through that word the echo from the eteiaal 
 realities, "Loved " We hear it from the in- 
 carnate Word, "It is finished." And as we 
 are and where we are we joyfully believe the 
 message that Thou, Father, hast sent by 
 the Spirit to us, that "the Son of Man is 
 come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
 And on our part we take the lost sinner's 
 place., and claim the lost sinner's Saviour. 
 
 ■■■■Mlli 
 
THE GREAT SHEPHERD, 
 
 Psalm xxiii. 
 
 HIS subject is au old theme, one which 
 most of us have boeu acquainted with 
 ^^^ from the time we sat ou our mother's 
 knee. The twenty-third Psahn is one of the 
 most perfect lyrical gems that the world has 
 0ver seen. We have read it many a time, 
 but it is always fresh. 
 
 ■ *' The Lord is my Shepherd I " It is a 
 wonderful thing that He should condescend 
 to make Himself our Shepherd. Three times 
 in the New Testament is the Lord spoken of 
 as a Shepherd : once in the Gospel of John, 
 once in the First Epistle of Peter, and 
 once in that wonderful letter to the Hebrews. 
 In John X. 11 you read, ** I am the Good 
 Shepherd ; " in Hebrews xiii. 20, " Now the 
 God of peace, that brought again from the 
 dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of 
 the sheep, through the blood of the everlast- 
 ing covenant, make you perfect in every good 
 work to do His will; " and lastly, if you look 
 at the First Epistle of Peter v. 4, you will 
 find this written, " And when the Chief 
 
;«v' 
 
 i6 
 
 The Great Shepherd. 
 
 Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a 
 crown of glory that fadeth not away." Each 
 mention of the word has a distinct adjective, 
 one the " Good Shepherd," one the " Great 
 Shepherd," and the third the " Chief Shep- 
 herd." 
 
 Now we shall look first at the twenty-third 
 Psalm in its glorious setting. It is a perfect 
 gem. Most gems look well or not just as the 
 setting they are in sets them olf properly or 
 not. But this gem, which would he beautiful 
 in any setting, shines out all the more here 
 on account of the inimitable lustre of its 
 setting. With the twenty-second Psalm on 
 the one hand and the twenty-fom-th on the 
 other, it could not fail to be beautiful. The 
 twenty-second, you know, is the psalm of that 
 wonderful hour of Calvary. It was the psalm 
 used by our Lord during His crucifixion ; and 
 it is thus the expression of our Saviour's feel- 
 iugs at that d:eadful hour. Then we come 
 into the twenty-third Psalm, the psalm of 
 Christian experience, the psalm of the journey, 
 the psalm of the desert, the psalm of the 
 wildernesSc And then there is the glorious 
 tweuty-fourth Psalm. It is not the dying 
 psalm I nor the weariiiess and the weeping of 
 the desert ; but desert cares are over, and 
 weeping gone ; and we have the magnificent 
 psalm of the glory of the King. 
 
 V7e have the Good Shepherd in the twenty- 
 second Psalm, the Great Shepherd in the 
 
'Ihe Great Shepherd. 
 
 17 
 
 twenty-third Psalm, and the Chief Shepherd 
 in the twenty-fourth Psalm. We have 
 
 CrosSy desert, and croion. 
 
 The cross, that is the twenty-second PsaJm; 
 the wilderness, that is the twenty-third; the 
 crown, that is the twenty-fourth. First, then, 
 we have the Good Shepherd laying down His 
 life with the cry, *' Why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me?" Then we have the Great Shepherd. 
 For He must needs be a Great Shepherd, with 
 such a great flock of sheep, and- very stupid ones, 
 too, sometimes, to look after. We are going 
 through this great wilderness, wandering about, 
 and the Lord is the Great Shepherd looking 
 after His flock. And then in the twenty-fourth 
 Psalm we h ^ve the Chief Shepherd, who 
 rewards all the under- shepherds. Looking 
 then at its setting, the Good Shepherd on the 
 one hand and the Chief Shepherd on the 
 other, we look at the guidance of the Great 
 Shepherd. And in passing let me say a word 
 on one point. We hear a great deal at the 
 present time of the goodness of God. They 
 have made out that God is so good that 
 He will never punish any one. Atid this 
 belief is gaining ground daily, even among 
 Christians, I am sorry to say; they try to 
 explain away Christ's doctrine of everlasting 
 punishment. Some go so far as to say that 
 r,o one will be eternally punished; that all 
 will be let off. But Christ says, **I am the 
 Good Shepherd, and I lay down My life for 
 
 2 
 
 m. i 8 
 
 
 ;*. 
 
i8 
 
 The Great Shepherd. 
 
 
 the sheep." There is no letting off there. 
 There is the punishment of sin in the cruci- 
 fixion of the Son of God for His sheep. 
 
 Now in the psalm of the wilderness we have 
 a wonderful perfection. The first verse is the 
 theme of it all, and the challenge of faith. 
 The Psalmist puts the Lord between him and 
 circumstances, and boldly challenges any one 
 or anything to come between him and God.* 
 It is the challenge of faith. " Come what 
 may," the believer can say, "I shall not 
 want." I have not in the past wt^nted any- 
 thing, or do not at the present want anything, 
 but "I shall not want," because the Lord is 
 my Shepherd. Of course our human nature 
 will perhaps want many things ; it may want 
 the very necessaries of life ; but those are not 
 real wants. God says that they who trust in 
 Him shall never want any good thing. 
 
 The last verse is the summation of the 
 whole matter, as the first is the challenge. 
 The second verse makes provision for our 
 
 Weakness^ and speaks about the pastures 
 where the Great Shepherd leads His sheep. 
 The great thing in a shepherd is to know all 
 the best pastures, and where the greenest 
 grass grows, so that his sheep may get the 
 best possible food. Now Christ leads us into 
 the greenest pastures, and by the still waters. 
 The thoughtfulness of knowledge with the 
 preparedness of power makes the guidance 
 perfect. There is not a difficulty that has 
 
The Great Shepherd. 
 
 19 
 
 arisen, is arising, or will arise, but the Lord 
 has anticipated it, and met it, and provided 
 for it. His wisdom anticipated it ; His power 
 provided for it. But the believer may say, 
 " I am weak, I am going through the desert, 
 and I can get nothing from the earth," for 
 there is nothing that springs from the earth 
 that will feed your faith. In other words, 
 'there are no waving cornfields in the desert. 
 What will He send you ? Manna down from 
 heaven. He will send you better than angels* 
 food. " He maketh me to lie down in green 
 pastures; He leadeth me beside the still 
 waters." The pillar-cloud of His own eye 
 leads me. 
 
 ** He maketh me to lie down." This is the 
 quietness of perfect confidence. The hungry 
 sheep does not lie down in green pastures ; 
 only the satisfied one ' does so. This is 
 conscious communion with God, not the 
 activity of service. We cannot always fight ; 
 we must have communion. In warfare you 
 must not put on the sleeping dress, but the 
 fighting dress. Our loins girt about with 
 truth, having on the breastplate of righteous- 
 ness, and our feet shod with the preparation 
 of the gospel of peace, and above all the 
 shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, 
 and lastly the sword of the Spirit, — that is 
 the armour we are to wear when we go forth 
 to the battle. That is the activity of battle. 
 But if you are always battling, you will find 
 
 'm 
 
 t4-h1 
 
^ 
 
 20 
 
 T/ie Great Shepherd. 
 
 
 
 that you cannot always stand. The more we 
 are in the quietness of perfect communion, the 
 more shall we be able to stand the hardships 
 of war. 
 
 You often hear of believers, especially young 
 disciples, who get up into the heights of bliss, 
 and want to stay there. They mount up with ' 
 wings as eagles ; and you may let them stay 
 there, for they will be brought down to the 
 daily fight of fife soon enough. And after the 
 mounting what is there ? " They shall run 
 and not be weary." And then shall they 
 mount again? No, "they shall walk and not 
 faint." That is a patient continuance in well- 
 doing. And it is sometimes harder to do that 
 than to mount with eagles' wings ; to keep 
 amid the storms, and troubles, and sunshme of 
 life a steady Christian walk and conversation. 
 God's ways are various. It is not always 
 sowing and reaping. He sometimes, after a 
 time of refreshing and revival, sends a winnow- 
 ing time ; and noce but those who are firmly 
 resting on the Kock of Ages will stand through 
 it all. 
 
 But after this you would think that was 
 enough; but no, having done all, we are to 
 ** stand" — stand ! Yes, it needs grace to stand. 
 Sometimes when the battle is pressing against 
 us hard, we cannot do more than keep our 
 ground, and it requires almighty grace to 
 enable us to do even that. And after the 
 mounting, and after the running, and after 
 
 
■'■■"«' 
 
 The Great Shepherd, 
 
 21 
 
 the walking, and after the standing, you might 
 think that was surely enough. But there is 
 a lower step yet. "He maketh me to lie 
 down** in the quietness of confidence and 
 communion. 
 
 The third verse points us to the question of 
 
 Sin still present in the believer, and requir- 
 ing daily cleansing. Here it is no question 
 of quickening, but of cleansing. But this He, 
 the Great Shepherd, had also anticipated and 
 met, so "He restore th my soul. He leadeth 
 me in the paths of righteousness for His 
 name*s sake.** There is my weakness ; He 
 gives me food. He thought I would be sinful, 
 — "He restoreth my soul." 
 
 Then in the fourth verse, when the Psalmist 
 comes to speak about this awful'thing, 
 
 Deathf there is a transition in iihe form of 
 speech. At first, you notice he spoke about 
 God; now he changes and speaks to God. 
 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of 
 the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for 
 Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff, 
 they comfort me.** Does he not say 
 
 "For 
 He will be with me'*? No. "For Thou 
 art with me." "He" sounds as though He 
 were high up in the heavens, — " Thou,** 
 that He is close beside me, down on our 
 earth. "Thou art with me,** A Friend, 
 more intimate than a.iy friend on earth — a 
 Friend, more dear tha- any friend on earth, 
 a Friend to dry every t3ar, a Friend who will 
 
 
 ni 
 
 u 
 
^ 
 
 22 
 
 The Great Shepherd. 
 
 stand by the grave and will weep with you 
 and with me. He has a human heart, and 
 He will not only stand by you, but He will 
 weep with you, for He is a Man of sorrows 
 and acquainted with grief. 
 
 It is not " I am going to tread the valley 
 of death after awhile." I do not believe the 
 deathbed is the valley of the shadow of death. 
 I believe we enter it from our cradle. The 
 Hebrew word could be rendered quite as cor- 
 rectly, "I am now treading the valley of 
 death." John Bunyan, in the Pilgrim^ s Pro- 
 gress, makes Christian go through a river of 
 death, which he finds deep and rapid and 
 difficult to get through. Now according to 
 the illustration of Joshua's crossing of Jordan, 
 the Christian goes through dry-shod, and he 
 can triumphantly sing — 
 
 " Where are thy waves, O Jordan ? 
 
 Thy emptied bed lies dry, 
 And all thy power is broken, 
 
 Thy waters stand on high. 
 I fear not Jordan's river ; 
 
 Its flood is pass'd for me , 
 And, hasting dry-shod over, . 
 
 I soon at rest shall be. , 
 
 ' *♦ I do not dread death's valley, ; 
 
 To me a pasture green ; 
 For there, beside still waters. 
 
 Is laid its peaceful scene. 
 I do not fear death's shadow, 
 
 A shadow ne'er can harm ; 
 I must rejoice in Jesus, 
 
 When resting on His ann.* 
 
TJie Great Shepherd. 
 
 23 
 
 •'* I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me ; 
 Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." 
 We need both the rod and the staff, the 
 rod to correct and the staff to support, and 
 they both comfort. 
 
 In the fifth verse we come to owr enemies — 
 principalities and powers in heavenly places. 
 These He has thought of and met as my 
 Great Shepherd. Both lion and bear are 
 known to Him and met by Him, and there 
 is nothing left for me but to sit at His table 
 under His banner of love. " Thou preparest 
 a table before me in the presence of mine 
 enemies." He gives me the place of a royal 
 priest beside Him. " Thou anointest my head 
 with oil." Surely we have now reached the 
 running over of our blessings, ** My cup runneth 
 over.*' The Lord hath filled it to overflowing. 
 There is water from the overflowing cup to 
 refresh the earth, and there is incense from 
 the adoring heart to ascend to God in worship. 
 And let me say, in passing, to all Christian 
 workers, Sunday-school teachers, and others, 
 you will do very little good except with the 
 overflow. We must ourselves be so filled 
 with Divine truth, that we cannot contain it 
 all, so that it will overflow, and the overflow 
 will bless others. Unless you are filled to 
 overflowing yourselves, never try to fill others, 
 because you will need all you have got, and 
 have none to spare. 
 
 This is the finishing of it all — myself not 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 /" 
 
'4 
 
 The Great Shepherd. 
 
 I 
 
 wanting, but running over to bless others. 
 What more do we want? We have seen 
 everything met: weakness, sins, death, and 
 foes. What more can we want ? Yes, there 
 is still something more. We have to look at 
 our footprints left in the sands of the desert. 
 He thought of this ; therefore ** surely good- 
 ness and mercy shall follow me all the days 
 of my life ; and I will dwell in the house of 
 the Lord for ever." Before us we have Him- 
 self: " Thou leadest me." Then *' Thou art 
 with me," the Lord protecting either flank. 
 We are guarded, you see, in the Jjront, and 
 on either side, but there is stili the un- 
 protected rear. " Surely goodness and mercy 
 shall follow me all the days of my life." 
 These great twin-brothers, goodness ari 
 mercy, follow us from behind. And it does 
 not say they have followed us merely in the 
 past, but they shall follow us all the days of 
 our life. The Psalm opened with the bold 
 challenge, " I shall not want." " Find out 
 anything, if you can, that I want." Now 
 it closes with another challenge, which no 
 one can gainsay, " Goodness and mercy 
 shall follow me all the days of my life.** 
 We are protected on every side; and then 
 there is nothing before us but the bright 
 city of God, " the house of the Lord for 
 
 ever. 
 
 " City of the pearl-bright portal, 
 City of the japper wall, 
 
The Great Shepherd. 
 
 25 
 
 City of the golden pavement, 
 
 Seat of endless festival, 
 Citv of Jehovah, Salem, 
 
 City of eternity, 
 To thy bridal hall of gladness 
 
 From this prison would I flee ; 
 Heir of gloir, 
 
 That shall be for thee and me." 
 
 
 r 
 
 /' 
 
 . e 
 
 
 * !| 
 
><■ 
 
 " until:' 
 
 1. liSBSlHE shepherd seeks the lost sheep 
 * * UNTIL he find it ' ' (Luke xv. 4). And 
 it is only the lost sheep that lies in 
 the pathway of the seeking shepherd. If I take 
 the place of a lost sinner, and nothing else, it 
 is not so much my part to seek Christ as His 
 to seek me. This is grace. He seeks until 
 He finds; He does not stop in His search 
 until He and we meet. Alas I our part is 
 only straying. 
 
 The word of law would he, ** They that 
 seek Me early shall find Me " (Prov. viii. 17). 
 And the consequence of man being put on 
 this ground is stated by God Himself: *' There 
 is none that seeJceth after God " (Rom. iii. 11). 
 
 The holy, just, and good law of God came 
 demanding of us love to God, and proved that 
 what God justly demands &om man He has 
 not got, and cannot get, so that, without 
 exception, it may be said of all men who 
 ought to have sought after God, " There is 
 none that seeJceth after Ood.** 
 
 Gbace comes in now, and says, " I will 
 seek you, and I will seek until I find." Thank 
 God, it is He who breaks in, upon us, and not 
 
" Untiir 
 
 27 
 
 we upon Him. We would willingly remain 
 among those who ** forget " God. Our wills 
 are free only to wander, and get further from 
 Him. In fact, the first thing God does in 
 breaking in upon our enmity is "to make us 
 willing." 
 
 Our part is to take the place of a sinner 
 and nothing else. Most people believe they 
 are sinners, but comparatively few believe that 
 they are sinners and nothing else but sinners. 
 
 As truly as He hath shown us that we are 
 lost, and nothing but lost, so surely can we 
 gladly claim that seeking Shepherd, for He 
 seeks until He finds. 
 
 Nothing stops Him in His search; not all 
 the hatred of man or devils ; not all the 
 malice and spite and envy of the chief priests ; 
 not all the murmurings of the Pharisees and 
 scribes; not all the waywardness of the 
 wandering sheep ; nor the indifference and 
 degradation of those for whom He is search- 
 ing. He will have His joy, the joy that 
 rejoices not until it finds. 
 
 2. But there is another and an awfiil 
 " UNTIL " in Luke xvii. 27 : ** They did eat, 
 they drank, they married wives, they were 
 given in marriage, until the day that Noah 
 entered into the ark, and the flood came and 
 destroyed them all ; and as it was in the 
 days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the 
 Son of Man." 
 
 That little word " until " tells out the sad 
 
 ■ml 
 
 
 s 
 
 - ii 
 
 
"^- 
 
 28 
 
 " Untiir 
 
 story of what man is. Men will please them- 
 selves, let God's claims or God's grace be 
 where they may. And thus will they go on 
 "until!" 
 
 But every history has its until. The course 
 of the vilest infidel is brought to a close by an 
 UNTIL. The world's race to destruction will 
 be consummated in that until. Vain are the 
 thoughts of those who think of the gradual 
 conversion of the world. They go on as Jesus 
 Christ said they would — careless, and wholly 
 engrossed with their own afifairs, until the 
 Lord comes. 
 
 This is not each man knowing the Lord 
 from the least to the greatest. The world 
 goes on in rebellion and self-pleasing until the 
 Lord comes a,nd sweeps them away as with 
 the besom of destruction. May we be now 
 as men that believe this, and tell out the 
 virtues of a Christ for sinners until that 
 day ! 
 
 Few of us, I fear, realise that there is a 
 way of keejping out of hell, but no way of 
 getting out of it. 
 
 That vain imagination, that the punish- 
 naent of the wicked will not be eternal, 
 is sapping the very foundations of Christian 
 action. What is the use of Christian effort ? 
 let us take things quietly if, after su£fering 
 for a while in a purgatorial hell, all are to be 
 restored ! 
 
 May God have mercy on us for our lukewarm- 
 
" Untiir 
 
 29 
 
 ness, and stir us all up to believe His simple 
 word, that until Jesus comes men will go on 
 in their mad career, but that this is the limit 
 to their proud waves ; for we again read, that 
 
 3. The heavens will receive Jesus Christ 
 ** UNTIL the times of restitution of all things 
 which God hath spoken," etc. And this 
 untily while bringing glorious and final salva- 
 tion to the Christ-receiver, restoration to God's 
 ancient people, and emancipation to a groan- 
 ing creation, is the time of destruction of all 
 Christ's rejecters. For God says (Acts iii. 21, 
 23), that in the time of the restitution of all 
 things ** it shall come to pass that evenj soul 
 which will not hear that Prophet (Jesus) shall 
 be DESTROYED from among the people." 
 
 " Let God be true, and every man a liar." 
 Christ will remain away until this time of 
 mingled salvation and destruction : salvation 
 to all who were sought out and found by Him ; 
 destruction to all who rejected Him, it being 
 one of God's impossibilities to renew, such to 
 repentance. Solemn words I May we make 
 our calling and election sure ! 
 
 '* He came not to call the righteous, but 
 sinner s.^^ Thus called and thus saved, we can 
 patiently wait, leaning on the precious word, 
 while even some that profess Christ's name 
 are leaning to their own understandings, and 
 taking their own ideas as their light, or, while 
 a godless, reckless world is posting on to de- 
 struction, taking no warning, dancing madly. 
 
 ■:''?; ill 
 
30 
 
 ♦' Untiir 
 
 blindly on, until (and what an .until it will 
 be!) — until He shall gird His sword on His 
 thigh, to slay, and not to heal ; and, in the 
 midst of their calamity and dreadful fear. His 
 word is : — " I will laugh at your calamity ; I 
 will mock when your fear comety ^ (Fiov. i. 26). 
 
 Hfl 
 
m 
 
 8EBVING AND FOLLOWING. 
 
 " If any man serve Me, let him follow Me." — John xii. 26. 
 
 E are quite prepared to hear this, " If 
 any man follow Me, he ought to serve 
 Me," but it is the converse of this we 
 have in this text. Is there not much Christ- 
 less energy, restlessness, and activity among 
 workers simply because there is so little follow- 
 ing of Christ ? Who are Christian workers ? 
 should every child of God not be a Christian 
 worker ? The mothers and daughters at home 
 work lor the Lord as well as the evangelist 
 and preacher. 
 
 Every member of the body should work, 
 and if from not working some joint has become 
 stiff, it has to be brought into working trim 
 by gradually giving it a little to do day by 
 day. Christ says to the sinner, Come to Me, 
 and I will give you rest ; He says to the 
 worker, Take My yoke and learn of Me, and 
 you v^ill find rest. 
 
 As the former part of this gracious passage 
 shows how the sinner is to get rest, so this 
 shows how the worker is to find his rest. 
 This, therefore, could never refer to an un- 
 
 mi 
 
 
 . ; m 
 
32 
 
 Serving and Following. 
 
 saved man, and should never be applied 
 to any except to those who are consciously 
 converted. A dead horse could never be 
 harnessed to draw the plough. You would 
 not put a yoke on a cold corpse : and an 
 unsaved man is dead (Eph. ii. 1) ; therefore 
 you cannot apply the yoke to him. 
 
 But to such as have life, these words must 
 be very potential, very solemn, very encourag- 
 ing, '* Take My yoke upon you.'^ What a 
 feUowship ! What grace to give us to be 
 sharers in His yoke ! And what was His 
 yoke? I think we obtain some indications 
 of its meaning if we do not dislocate the 
 passage from its preceding context, but view 
 it in the connection in which it stands. In 
 the former verses He was upbraiding the cities 
 wherein most of His mighty works had been 
 done ; where He had been working good 
 works, and had been called a devil; relieving 
 men, and blamed for so doing, as one who had 
 fellowship with Satan. Scornfully *' despised 
 and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief." This wa? His "yoke," 
 rejection, when acting in p; < ;Tace ! And 
 this is the yoke we are to Ial. Do good to 
 men, and be blamed for it. Do many good 
 things, get many reproaches ; lavish your love 
 on this world, and be content to be misunder- 
 stood; lavish your goods as to God, and get 
 no return but side-looks from men. **Take 
 My yoke," says our Lord and Master. The 
 
-7-. 
 
 Serving and Following. 
 
 ZZ 
 
 road may be thorny, but it has been trodden 
 before by Him. Do you know "the fellowship 
 of His sufferings"? He says, "If any man 
 will come after Ale, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross, and follow Me." Are you 
 under His yoke, and no other yoke ? Not the 
 yoke of a Grod- dishonouring legalism ; not the 
 yoke of conformity to the world in its fashions, 
 its smiles, its sneers, its gentilities, its ways 
 of acting, its manner of judging, and its 
 opinions of this and that. " My yoke " is 
 all the Christian needs, and all the Christian 
 wants. 
 
 '•''liearn of Ife." Here again we have this 
 beautiful, comprehensive Me. Keader, do you 
 know its power ? It is Ms. Not My servants, 
 not My angels, not My prophets, but Me. 
 How many sit and learn of some great saint, 
 generally taking his distinctive fUults, like 
 cracks in reflecting mirrors, rather than his 
 graces. A dear brother said one day, he 
 believed the. memoir of a distinguished saint 
 "had done much harm." "How can that 
 be ? " I asked. " Because," said he, " men 
 wish to get into hie experience, and then 
 think they will get his feelings. If they 
 could only pray as often, read so much of 
 the Bible, get up at such an hour, conform 
 to all the rules he laid down for his conduct, 
 it would be all right with them, instead of 
 going directly to the Lord Himself." There 
 is real truth in this. 
 
 3 
 
 
 s. 
 
34 
 
 Serving and Following. 
 
 " Learn of Me," says Jesus. Do it by 
 praying, by communing, by singing, by read- 
 ing, by meditating, by watching His wondrous 
 hand, — it matters little in what way it is 
 done, but, at all costs, get to the only worthy 
 pattern "• Me," and " learn of Me." 
 
 " Fori am meek and lowly in heart.^' How 
 unlike the maxims and practice of men — every 
 man for himself ! Stand up for your rights ! 
 Let no man trample upon you ! Do not be 
 reckoned a fool! Get a character for being 
 sharp, shrewd, and that no one is able to over- 
 reach you ! How different this from the 
 simplicity of the child vith the single eye, 
 learning of Jesus to be '' meek and lowly ; " 
 following Him who, " when He was reviled, 
 reviled not again," but was dumb before His 
 accusers. 
 
 The true Christian walk is to learn of Jesus 
 to be least of all and servant of all, without 
 being proud of the service. *' Bearing all 
 things, believing all thing, hoping all things, 
 enduring all things ; " content to be nothing, 
 or to do anything, for Christ ; to stand still, 
 to advance, or to go whither that lustrous 
 guiding Eye directs. Thus, and only thus, 
 "ye sh&ll find rest unto your souls." 
 
 How calmly and joyously did Jesus, who had 
 said, " Lo, I come to do Thy will," turn li'om 
 earth's rejections, earth's scorn and hardness, 
 after He had done many mighty works, to His 
 •Father, saying, " I thank Thee, Father ! " 
 
 % 
 
Serving and Following. 
 
 35 
 
 In the parallel passage iu. Luke we are 
 informed that *' Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and 
 said, I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven 
 and earth, that Thou hast liid these .things 
 from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed 
 them unto habes. Even so. Father ; for so it 
 seemed good in Thy sight " (Matt. xi. 25 ; 
 Luke X. 21). 
 
 Cast out by men, He found His rest in God; 
 and this yoke of His He asks you to bear, and 
 this is the rest He asks you to find. Our rest 
 is not in service, not in much doing, not in 
 a restless unbelief, not in an uneasy annoyance 
 at not having a great crowd to speak to, ?nd 
 thus have an opportunity of doing a greater 
 amount of good, but in His Father. 
 
 How many of the true saints of God are 
 in bondage to their little bit of service, in 
 their own little corner of the mighty vine- 
 yard ! 
 
 Our particular ways of doing things are 
 often a yoke. Alas ! is it not the common sin 
 of all the workers for God, that they get under 
 yokes to their work, and when the character 
 or sphere of their work changes, they are 
 fretted and disconcerted, instead of resting in 
 calm, childlike, simple faith on the unchanging 
 Father ? 
 
 Are we first following, then serving ? Are 
 we serving Him in the following ? We fear 
 that there are more who serve but do not 
 follow tiian those who follow and. do not 
 
 T , i r 
 
 ' V> 
 
 
 i \ 
 
 [:>.! 
 
 J ■■' 
 
36 
 
 Serving and Following. 
 
 serve. Hew much Christless work there is I 
 How much this following Jesus, this learning 
 of Him, this bearing His yoke, strips us of all 
 that is of self 1 Live only for others — ^live as 
 Christ lived — walk behind Him, and be of no 
 reputation — cheerfully spend for Him — cheer- 
 fully want with Him — need nothing else but 
 Him. 
 
 My fellow Christian, only in thus following 
 Jesus can you find rest. You have tried many 
 other things. Long ago you found none in 
 the world ; since then you have been seek- 
 ing rest in this and that. Have you perfect 
 rest in the yoke-bearing of Jesus ? Only thus 
 will you find that His yoke is easy and His 
 bur'-^en liglit. Nothing else will suit that 
 Divme life which God has implanted but His 
 yoke. And this is a rest not to be got once 
 for all, but is a rest we are to be ever seeking, 
 and ever finding. ^ 
 
 There is a rest that is obtained at first, and 
 it is for ever ; that is the rest in the atone- 
 ment and person of Jesus, — rest fc ^m the 
 consciousness of all guilt imputed and con- 
 demnation to be incurred. For there neither 
 is, nor can be, any condemnation to us, who 
 are **in Christ Jesus;" for He has eternally 
 settled that question for us eighteen hundred 
 years ago, and He ** dieth no more." 
 
 But there is this day-by-day 7?7id?m^ of rest 
 to our souls in bearing His yoke. The more 
 yoke-bearing the more rest-finding. In these 
 
Serving and Following. 
 
 37 
 
 days of restless activity in every department 
 of 'the Church and world, activity in business, 
 politics, science, art, and religion, in the 
 desire for the novelty, and the consequent un- 
 rest, there is much need of standing still and 
 listning to the voice of God's aged prophet, as 
 with freshness he echoes the words of our 
 blessed Lord through these many centuries. 
 <* Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, 
 and see, and ask for the old paths, where is 
 the good way, and ivalh therein, and ye shall 
 find rest for your souls *^ (Jer. vi. 16). 
 
 These paths Jesus trod — in these paths His 
 followers, those who have come and got rest as 
 guilty sinners, love to walk. In Philippians ii. 
 w( get Christ's humiliation, the worker's 
 example; in Philippians iii., Christ in exalta- 
 tion, the worker's aim. Philippians is the 
 letter of Christian experience, and twenty- 
 eight times **joy " or ** rejoice," or some such 
 word, is used; and Paul wrote it from a 
 Komish prison chained to a soldier. He had 
 already sung himself and Silas out of the prison 
 at Philippi, and no doubt the jailer would 
 appreciate this call to universal joy. How 
 could Paul thus joy in his chains? Simply 
 because he put God between him and all cir- 
 cumstances. Sense and unbelief put circum- 
 stances between us and God., Faith, that thus 
 brings real joy, puts God between me and 
 my riches, me and my poverty, me and my 
 adversity, me and my prosperity — perhaps a 
 
 h 
 
 <t • 
 
 1 m 
 
 
 III m 
 
38 
 
 Serving and Following, 
 
 ;'«' 
 
 i I 
 
 more difficult thing — and, whatever comes, 
 faith puts God first. 
 
 " Let nothing he done through strife or 
 vain-glory ; hut in lowliness of mind let each 
 esteem other better than themselves." Paul 
 understood the frailties and jealousies of Chris- 
 tian workers — amongst their equals, not among 
 either their superiors or inferiors. In the same 
 letter he says, "I beseech Euodias, cind beseech 
 Syntyohe, that they be of the same mind in 
 the Lord." Possibly both had been energetic 
 in sending contributions to Paul, but perhaps 
 had been at variance as to their districts, or 
 some other disputed point. In Luke ix. the 
 apostles, with all authority and power, could 
 not cast out a devil ; and the reason was, they 
 were contending who should be greatest. God 
 often cannot own, or show that He does own, 
 Christian workers, because it would minister 
 to their pride. 
 
 *' Let this mind be in you, which was also 
 in Christ Jesus." This is the true spirit of a 
 Christian worker following in service, imitat- 
 ing the perfect "Worker. 
 
 The Perfect Woekeb. 
 
 *' Who, being in the form of God, thought it 
 not robbery to be equal with God." Here we 
 have His highest glory. He is contrasted 
 with Adam, who desired to be on an equality 
 with God by an act of robbery; but Christ 
 Jesus had it by right, and not by grasping 
 
Serving and Following. 
 
 39 
 
 robbery; and in the path of perfect service 
 the first thing He did was — 
 
 ** He made Himself of no reputation ; " and 
 this is the very thing that most servants of 
 Christ aim at making — a reputation. This 
 is what the great mass of Christians encourage 
 the servants to make — a reputation ; and this 
 is where we find the root of the total failure 
 of Christian workers, the desire to make a 
 reputation. He has great reputation as a 
 teacher, evangelist, preacher, visitor, or any- 
 thing else. Then let him beware, and study 
 Philippians ii. 
 
 He is but a poor Sunday-school teacher ! 
 then, praise God, he may be in the place to 
 be used without his ambition or self-conceit 
 being added to. A little taper may kindle a 
 big fire. He is but a poor preacher, weak 
 minister, or only an insignificant layman ; 
 then let him read for his joy Phil. ii. '' But 
 I have a reputation to make," says one ; *' I 
 have a name to get as a popular preacher, an 
 intellectual preacher, a logical preacher, an 
 oratorical preacher, a profound preacher, an 
 attractive preacher ; ' ' then look out, my friend, 
 and read Phil, ii., and let this mind be in 
 you which was in Christ Jesus, who *' made 
 Himself of no reputation." Until we find 
 that we have to please God alone^ independent 
 of self and self's ambition, we shall have 
 little of Christ's mind. He stepped from the 
 throne which He had by right to the servant's 
 
 . 
 
 i 'W 
 
 hi 11 
 
 '■'I 
 
 HI 
 
 fell 
 
 
40 
 
 Set'ving and Following. 
 
 
 M 
 
 place, which He entered by choice, to show 
 what obedience was, obedience in life, 
 obedience in death, and obedience even in 
 glory, when He takes the crown from the 
 Father. But when He "took upon Him 
 the form of a servant," He did not be- 
 come an angel, but came down to the lower 
 service. 
 
 '* Was made in the likeness of men," and 
 was there seen, not as man in his strength 
 and glory, but being found in fashion as a 
 man, " He humbled Himself, and became 
 obedient unto death ; ' ' and when death 
 came did not choose the death of peace 
 or honour, but the felon's death, the deaoh 
 of shame, ** even the death of the cross." 
 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted 
 Him. 
 
 Fellow- worker, this is the path to the Well 
 done ! This is the following Him in which 
 true serving is found. Let this mind be in 
 you. 
 
 May we day by day be seeking to trace every 
 footstep, bear His light and easy yoke along 
 the path of His perfect obedience — that only 
 good, comfortable, safe path for His disciples 
 — and sing each day with calm confidence 
 and joyful lips : — 
 
 (( 
 
 I ^ove to kiss each print where Christ 
 
 Did set His pilgrim feet ; 
 Nor can I fear that blessed path 
 
 Whose traces are so sweet. 
 
Jf 
 
 Serving and Following. 
 
 41 
 
 <» "^saA on, lead on triumphantly, 
 O blessed Lord ! lead on ; 
 Faith's pilgrims' sons behind Thee seek 
 The road that Thou hast gone. 
 
 •* He always wins who sides with God, 
 To him no chance is lost ; 
 God's will is sweetest to him when 
 It triumphs at his cost. 
 
 " 111 that God blesses is our good, 
 And unblest good is ill ; 
 And all is right that seems most wrong, 
 If it be His sweet will." 
 
 i'\ 
 
 m 
 
THE SACEIFICE, THE PBIEST, AND 
 THE SAVIOUB, 
 
 E see these three — Sacrifice, Priest, and 
 Saviour — connected in that wondrous 
 chain of doctrine in the end of Heb. 
 ix. 24-28, where we find the word appear three 
 times repeated — 
 
 1. He appeared to put away sin as the 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 2. He appears befor- xod for us as the 
 Priest. 
 
 3. He shall appear the second time for final 
 salvation. 
 
 Each of these has a difi'erent word in the 
 Greek, used, as we might expect, with a Divine 
 propriety, in each case serving only to eluci- 
 date the different aspects under which the 
 Lord Jesus is here seen. 
 
 1. He appeared, that is, became manifest as 
 the One who ever existed, but now came to be 
 visible. 
 
 2. He appears, that is, officially; for He 
 always appeared before God, but now it is 
 "/or us,^' Compare Exod. xxxiii. 13, where 
 this word is used in the Septuagint. . ♦ 
 
.•'*« 
 
 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 43 
 
 3. He sihall appear, that is, shall be seen face 
 to face, as a man with his friend. This is the 
 word used in connection with Christ risen 
 (1 Cor. XV. 5), etc. 
 
 1. The Sactiifioe. 
 
 '* Now once, in the end of the world, hath 
 He appeared to put away sin hy the sacri- 
 fice of Himself." He who was the invisible 
 God took to Himself a true body, and became 
 manifest to this world, not merely a manifes- 
 tation of God, but God Himself manifest in the 
 flesh. Wondrous thought 1 God has appeared; 
 God has been manifested; God has been seen; 
 God has been treading this earth, and has 
 been seen by mortals' eyes. When was He 
 here? On w^at errand did He come? How 
 did He perform His work ? 
 
 1. The time tvhen He appeared — ** Now, 
 once, at the end of the world." What? Has 
 the world come to its end ? Yes, Christ 
 gathered up the lines of all the past ages. 
 He appeared at the end of the world, as under 
 the period of man's trial. Man was proved 
 utterly bad by Christ's coming, and His cross 
 is the end of man's probation. 
 
 '' In these last days God hath spoken to us 
 by His Son." He sent His Son '' last," He 
 is the ''last Adam." The last and worst 
 thing against man is now out. He would kill 
 God if he could. He killed God manifest in 
 the flesh. This has brought the world to its 
 end. The world is " condemned already." 
 
 
 m^i 
 
 m 
 
 n:;« 
 
 i 
 
 .1 
 
 V -»1 
 
44 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 
 
 God is only delaying the execution of the 
 sentence to manifest His grace. After a man 
 is condemned, his history is done. What of 
 all the vaunted histories and progress of the 
 race ? God looks at the period since the Cross 
 as a blank — as a timeless gap, in ■which there 
 is no earth-history, but a wondrous unearthly, 
 heavenly calling going on, gathering people out 
 of the world to share the throne with His Son. 
 
 Now. Yes, during these eighteen centuries 
 the relative position of parties has remained 
 fixed, the world doomed, and God, saving, 
 out of it. ** Now is the day of salvation." It 
 has been one great long-suffering noio since 
 Calvary. If we belong to the world, we are 
 doomed — we are at our end already. If we 
 are only in the world, but not of it, our sin 
 is gone — we are safe. 
 
 2. The Vvork done. "He appeared, to put 
 away sin." What ? Was sin put away eighteen 
 hundred years ago? If it was not, Christ's 
 mission failed, for He came to put away sin. 
 He died in vain if sin be not put away. Friend, 
 do ' you not realise this fact, that sin was 
 put away by Christ before you were born? 
 Are not all your efforts to try to get sin away? 
 Is all your unrest not occasioned by the feel- 
 ing that sin is not put away ? If you are 
 trying to put away your sin, or to get your sin 
 put away, you know nothing about the gospel. 
 Let us look at a few things that this does not 
 mean. 
 
■h 
 
 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 45 
 
 (1) It does not oiean that, as to its 
 'presence in this tvorld, sin has been put away. 
 Alas! no one can look to our streets, our jails, 
 our asylums, our infirmaries, our newspapers, 
 and dream of such a thought. It has been 
 left to the too-wise Neologist to shut his eyes, 
 and call evil good. I have just been wonder- 
 ing why they don't deny the existence of death. 
 They deny the resurrection; they deny the 
 existence of sin, why not of death ? Is death 
 not a rpere idea? Is death a reality? No 
 philosopher ever felt death and told us what it 
 is. The fact that I see it could be as easily 
 got over as the fact of hundreds having seen 
 a man risen from the dead is got over. Eeason, 
 so called, gets over anything. When they 
 have got rid of the servant, sin, it should be 
 very easy to get rid of the wages, death. Is 
 it not wonderful that they still let God speak, 
 though they do try to tell us about the debt 
 of nature ? They still must know chat death 
 is the wages of sin, the Divine appointment. 
 "It is appointed to men once to die." Sin 
 exists all around as really as its wages, death ; 
 therefore that its existence is done awav with 
 m the world is not meant by the expression 
 here. And moreover, God has settled the 
 matter, for after Christ died and put away sin, 
 He says, "If we say we have not sinned, we 
 make Him a liar." 
 
 (2) It does not mean that, a^ to its presence 
 in the heart of any man, sin is put away. We 
 
 h l¥*r 
 
 I ' 
 
 
 
• •* 
 
 46 The Sacrifice, Priesi, and Saviour. 
 
 appeal to every man who knows what sin is, 
 and, though he is the oldest saint in the 
 world, he, if conscientious, must confess that 
 in him, that is, in his flesh, there dwells no 
 good thing. One of the greatest signs of 
 growth in grace is the judgment of sin within. 
 
 It is as walking in the light that we detect 
 our sin, and, above all, the God of truth has 
 said, *'If we say we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves, and the truth is not in us " (1 John 
 i. 8). Therefore all your ideas of trying to 
 get rid of the feeling of sin are absurd, and all 
 your efforts in that direction are worse than 
 useless. If you did not feel any sin in you, it 
 would be the worst sign possible. Don't try 
 to get rid of the feeling of sin. Look to God's 
 Christ, who has put it away.' 
 
 What does this mean ? Mark, it is not that 
 He put away sms — "Behold the Lamb of God, 
 that taketh away" (not the sins, butj "the 
 sin of the world." Look at it from God's 
 point of view, and you will be able to get a 
 more scriptural grasp of the thought. Take 
 away your mind irom yourself, or any other 
 sinner — your ruin or your salvation. Look at 
 the existence of sin in the moral government 
 of God. God is not the Author of it. God's 
 name has been dishoiioured ; God's glory has 
 been assailed ; God's character has been com- 
 promised. The foul blot, sin, has been put on 
 the fair creation of God. Ciirist comes, say- 
 iug, I will put it away ; I will erase the dark 
 
' f 
 
 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 47 
 
 blot ; I will vindicate Thy name ; I will mani- 
 fest Thy character. And, in prospect of it 
 completed, He exclaimed, " I have glorified 
 Thee upon the earth." Mark, this is al- / 
 together mdependent of any single man's 
 salvation. 
 
 Had every soul from Adam down to the last 
 man rejected God's offered mercy, Christ 
 would, by His death, have glorified God by 
 the putting away of sin. Man is always taken 
 up with himself ; but the first note from the 
 choirs in harmony with the chorus of heaven 
 is, " Glory to God in the highest ; " then, bless 
 His name I "Peace on earth." ■ 
 
 And is it not of far more consequence that 
 God should be glorified than that sinners 
 should be saved ? Thanks be to God, both 
 are accomplished by Chkist ; but the latter 
 has its value only as the former is its foun- 
 dation. 
 
 Since God has been glorified as to the 
 existence of sin, and in the person of His 
 Son it has been put away. He can send forth 
 His heralds, proclaiming a righteous way, by 
 which the vilest sinner, born in sin, steeped 
 in sin, may approach to Himself. He can 
 now tell the messengers to go into all the 
 world and tell the good news, that there is 
 a way in which God is just, and can not only 
 pardon, but justify sinners. He is now held 
 forth as the meeting-place between God and 
 any sinner in the wkole world. 
 
 : -vm 
 
 j 1 ' 
 
 \ nil 
 
 ' ! f 
 
 ! i'lr 
 
 .■ 
 
 lA 
 
48 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour, 
 
 " How did you see the truth ? " I once 
 asked a man. 
 
 "From an expression you once used in 
 preaching." 
 
 " What was that ? " 
 
 "That God was dealing with us now in 
 the gospel, not on the sin-question, but the 
 Son-question." 
 
 Blessed he God, this is His good news. 
 Of course, if we refuse to accept of His Son, 
 we remain in our condemned state under all 
 our sins, with the superadded one of rejecting 
 God's offered salvation. 
 
 Suppose a harbour of refuge has been made, 
 everything is ready to let in the ships that 
 are riding out in the dtormy ocean, the 
 ponderous gates that are swung across its 
 entrances being opened. Any ship, now, in 
 all the ocean may get into the harbour through 
 these gates, but the actual state of each is 
 in no way changed if it remains outside — only 
 this, they know of safety, and won't take it. 
 Thus has our Lord Jesus Christ taken away 
 the barrier — the legal just barrier — sin be- 
 tween man and God, glorifying God. Any 
 poor, heavy-laden, tempest-tossed soul may 
 come to Him, and through Him to eternal 
 rest. 
 
 Nothing will all this avail for them but 
 only as they are in Him. He Himself is 
 offered for the acceptance of all, and how shall 
 we escape if we neglect so great salvation? 
 
The Sacrifice, Priest , and Saviour, j\g 
 
 Without money and without price are His 
 conditions. He will in no wise cast out 
 whoever comes. Though sins he like scarlet, 
 He can make them white as snow; though 
 red like crimson, they shall he as wool. The 
 chief of sinners is in heaven ; therefore God 
 cannot he dealing with us individually on 
 the sin-question. The platform is entirely 
 changed. God's law has heen magnified ; 
 God Himself has been glorified. Sin has 
 been put away as the barrier between God 
 and the sinner. Sin has been put away as 
 the platform on which God now transacts 
 business with man. 
 
 His one question now is — What have you 
 to do with My Son ? Do you accept Him ? 
 Do you accept My way of putting away sin ? 
 Do you accept of His putting away of sin 
 as the putting away of your sins ? Then you 
 are justified, accepted, complete, in Him. 
 Do you neglect Him ? Then how great must 
 be your condemnation. " This is the condem- 
 nation that Hght is come into the world, and 
 man loved darkness rather than light." Better 
 would it have been for you never to have heard 
 of such a Saviour, than, having heard of Him, 
 to refuse to receive Him. '* He that believeth 
 on Him is not condemned ; but he that be- 
 heveth not is condemned already, because he 
 hath not believed in the name of the only- 
 begotten Son of God." How shall we escape 
 if we neglect so great salvation ? 
 
 'mu 
 
 II; 
 
 i m 
 
 ■ li 
 
^, 
 
 |0 The Sacrifice, Priest , and Saviour, 
 
 3. The Person sacrificed, — " Himself." 
 Wonderful truth I Had millions of angels, 
 and tens of millions of the highest created 
 intelligences, been sacrificed, they never could 
 have put sin away. It required Himself, and 
 Himself did it. It did not require our agency, 
 for our agency was useless ; but Himself did 
 it. Poor ignorant man tries by his own 
 sacrifice to please God. Man's efforts are 
 always to try, like Adam, to make a covering 
 for himself; God's way is to cover us first, 
 and then ask us to work. Not all the 
 offerings of Old Testament days could put 
 away a single sin ; but no sooner did sin 
 and the great Sin-bearer meet, than He 
 burned it up by His own intrinsic essential 
 merit. 
 
 Man, when he touched a leper, was defiled ; 
 Christ, when He touched a leper, was not 
 only not defiled, but cured the leper. When 
 we touch sin, we are contaminated ; when 
 Christ touched sin, He consumed it. Himself 
 is the central word of all the revelation and 
 the counsels of God. Himself is the alone 
 sacrifice. Himself is the sum of every 
 believer's creed — the Alpha, the Omega, the 
 beginning, the ending, the first, and the last, 
 of all his theology. We think much of His 
 work, because it is that which is more close 
 to us. It is that on which we stand; but 
 what is the work without the Person? We 
 stand on the work, but the work stands on 
 
The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 51 
 
 the Person. God has given us first Himself, 
 and in Himself the work. 
 
 The first note of all true scriptural preach- 
 ing is Himself, The power with the anxious 
 is giving them Himself, and in Himself , His 
 work. The power to raise the straggling 
 believer is knowing Jesus Himself, the One 
 who was dead and is now alive for evermore. 
 And the centre of all worship, the su'ojeot of 
 all praise, the object to fill every eye in the 
 coming glory, will be Himself seen as the 
 Man of Calvary, who now once in the end 
 of the world appeared to put away sin by 
 the sacrifice of Himself. 
 
 n. The Priest. 
 
 In these days of apostacy, it is well to 
 consider Jesus Christ as our great High 
 Priest, who hath entered for us within the 
 veil. Are there any priests, then, on earth ? 
 Yes. All true believers are priests ; and no 
 minister, no pastor, no teacher can be called a 
 priest in any other sense than that in which 
 all Christians are. All Christians are not 
 pastors, are not teachers, but all Christians 
 are priests (Rev. i. 6, and xx. 6) ; and any 
 Christian who assumes a special priesthood 
 over other Christians is denying the High- 
 priesthood of Christ, He hath made us unto 
 our God a kingdom of priests made nigh, with 
 the power and in the place where we can 
 worship and serve as the royal priesthood. 
 Wondrous truth 1 
 
 
5a The Sacrifice^ Priest^ and. Saviour, 
 
 But we are to consider not the priesthood 
 of Christians, but the priesthood of Christ as 
 now exercised for us, and as keeping us right 
 all the way through our journey. And we 
 see this in the second use of the word 
 " ajppear " in Heb. ix. 
 
 "For Christ is not entered into the holy 
 places made with hands, the figures of the 
 true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in 
 the presence of God for us." And is not this 
 what we need when we come to understand 
 that sin has been put away, that our sins 
 have been borne by the great Sacrifice ? We 
 have been brought into the presence of God 
 by faith, but that very presence reveals to us 
 that we are ever prone to sin and get defiled. 
 God knows this, and God provided, and His 
 provision is, that Jesus as our Priest now 
 " appears " in the presence of God for us. 
 
 Sin has been put away by Him as the 
 Victim. Wrath has been poured out upon 
 Him. The wrath, the condemnation, the 
 judgment that were prepared against the sinner 
 who believes, are gone now in Christ. There 
 is no cup of wrath for the beHever now. 
 There is now no condemnation — he shall not 
 come into judgment ; for Christ has appeared 
 and put away sin. The Victim's blood has been 
 shed, and is accepted for us. We need Him 
 now as our Priest appearing in the true holy 
 place, and who offers there His own blood; 
 and peace, pardon, and reconciUation are the 
 
The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour, 53 
 
 only notes that are heard from the throne 
 of God, coming to every believer over that 
 offered blood. Let us consider — 
 
 1st, Where He appears. He " appears in 
 the presence of God." He was always in the 
 bosom of His Father ; now He has taken our 
 place, and representatively, according, not to 
 the value of what He had as God, but of what 
 He has acquired as the God-man who put 
 away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He is 
 in the presence of perfect holiness, perfect 
 light; and this is our place maintained, as 
 procured, by the value of the precious Blood. 
 Do we really believe that the sanctuary is our 
 place? In the resplendent light of this 
 Holiest of the holies, we learn the meaning of 
 two words. These words are sin and lioliness. 
 
 We begin to get into God's thoughts about 
 sin. We begin to realise that " whatsoever is 
 not of faith is sin." Solemn words ! It was 
 because Jesus prayed for Peter that he was 
 convinced of his sin. Christ's advocacy shows 
 me what I am, leads me to judge my ways, 
 my sins, myself, in the light of God. Every- 
 thing inconsistent with the Ught of the 
 *' Holiest" is set aside when we understand 
 what the *' Holiest" is, and realise that our 
 walk is there. 
 
 We begin to understand what holiness is — 
 that holiness without which no man shall see 
 the Lord. As to our standing, we know that 
 Christ is our sanotification, perfect and un- 
 
 ij-ii 
 
 '3 
 
54 The Sacrifice^ Priest, and Saviour, 
 
 changeable ; but in our walk with God in the 
 light, we cannot see God unless we are walk- 
 ing in practical holiness. Place the smallest 
 coin over the eye of the best-seeing man, and 
 in the midst of the all-pervading light around, 
 lie will be in darkness. Place the slightest 
 unconfessed sin on the spiritual eye of the 
 strongest believer as he walks in the light, 
 and we can realise that without holiness no 
 man shall see the Lord. Blessed be His name, 
 all is done that we may be partakers of His 
 holiness, and His advocacy will not cease in 
 the Holiest till that is accomplished. 
 
 2nd, When He appears. " Christ is entered 
 . . . into heaven itself now, to appear " — now 
 in the midst of all our wilderness experience ; 
 now, just when we require Him most ; now, 
 when we are sinners. It was when Satan 
 desired to sift Peter that Jesus prayed. In 
 the coming glory, when we shall be with, and 
 perfectly like our Lord, while we stand upon 
 His merit, we shall require no more His 
 advocacy, His precious blood to wash out 
 stains; but it is now that we require Him, 
 and it is now that He appears in the presence 
 of God for us. Not only did He once appear 
 on earth and put away sin, but He now appears, 
 at this present hour, before God on our behalf. 
 
 He has not to come out of heaven at each 
 suing of His believing one, and die over again; 
 but He has with Him where He is the merit 
 of His death, which has the continued efficacy 
 
The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 55 
 
 before God. It is not that Christ has washed 
 my sins all away, and now tells me to make 
 my way to heaven, which I'll reach if I hold 
 on, but now He appears, now, after I have be- 
 lieved; now I see Him by faith ever presenting 
 to the eye of God His own precious blood, 
 which cleanseth me from all sin. 'Now in the 
 midst of the opposition of the world, the temp- 
 tation of Satan, and the un-subject evil nature 
 still within, Jesus is for us before God. iVow; 
 as we rise each morning, afresh to the battle 
 and the defeat, to the triumph and the conflict, 
 we can go forward with the certainty that 
 God is for us. 
 
 3rd, For ivliom He appears. "For us." He 
 never required to leave heaven to die, and to 
 return to His native home for Himself. It was 
 for us He came, for us He died, for us He has 
 again entered heaven. It is not for angels He 
 appears; they stand on their own creature 
 merit. He appears for us. We put in no 
 claim but as He presents it. He looks 
 after all our interests, for it is for us He 
 appears. 
 
 He . does not appear for the unsaved. He 
 died for the unsaved, but He has entered into 
 heaven for us, the saved. We claim Christ at 
 Calvary as unsaved. We claim Christ in the 
 Holiest as saved sinners. We must be justified 
 before we can claim the merits of what is now 
 being carried on before God. In other wordp, 
 we must first be sons before we can lay claim 
 
 IkW 
 
^ 
 
 ii 
 
 56 The^ Sacrifice^ Priest, and Saviour. 
 
 to Christ's advocacy, which is God's provision 
 for the walk of His own children. 
 
 Neither is it " for us " as pure and spotless, 
 and perfectly holy. We shall not be like Him 
 till we see Him as He is. But it is for us as 
 journeying through the wilderness, in which 
 "we are apt to contract sin, and if any of us 
 (saved ones) sin, we have Him as our Advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 
 
 in. The Saviour. 
 • " As it is appointed unto men once to die : 
 
 " And after this the judgment : 
 
 ** Sc Christ was once offered to hear the 
 sins of many : 
 
 *' And to them that look for Him shall He 
 appear the second time without sin unto 
 salvation." 
 
 This is the Divin^^^. Proportion, or Kule of 
 Three- the grtjat parallel God has drawn be- 
 t^c3u the TWO MEN, the only two men that 
 weri^ seen by Him, the first Adam and the 
 last Adam. The first two factors tell us what 
 we have in Adam, death and judgment : death 
 as the end of this state, judgment as the be- 
 ginning of another and an eternal state. The 
 second two factors tell us what we have in 
 Christ — our sins borne and salvation given; 
 our sins borne as the ^nd of our Adam state, 
 salvation, complete and final, as the beginning 
 of our glorified state, and v 
 
 As (in the case of meuy all sprung from 
 Adam) 
 
The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 57 
 
 Death IB to judgment i 
 
 80 (in the case of saints, all sprung from 
 the Second Adam, all born of God) 
 
 Christ bearing sin is to 
 
 Christ appearing the second time for salva- 
 tion. 
 
 In the day thou eatest thou shalt die. Adam 
 ate ; therefore it is appointed unto men once 
 to die, and after death the judgment, which 
 must be eternal wrath. David trembled at 
 the thought, and said, " Enter not into judg-. 
 ment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall 
 no man living be justified" (Psalm cxliii. 2). If 
 God judges me I am condemned. Blessed be 
 God for ever ! this is not our place. We do 
 not stand in the first Adam. The first factors 
 of the proportion are not ours in Christ ; 
 death and judgment are past for us in Him ; 
 we are ''dead" (Col. iii. 3) ; " we shall nob come 
 into judgment " (John v. 24). 
 
 Instead of death, we have '* Christ was 
 once offered," and He not only put sin away, 
 but He bore our sins. All our sins, beheving 
 in Him, were on Him when He bore the wrath 
 due to sin. They are gone for ever ; there- 
 fore, since the sin is gone, the death is gone 
 for the believer. He may be put asleep by 
 Jesus, but we (Christians) shall not all sleep 
 (1 Cor. XV. 51). There is no necessity for any 
 Christian dying. There is a Divine appoint- 
 ment for men as men dying. We know that 
 some saved men have not died, and many saved 
 
 1 
 
 if J! 
 i 
 
 ; I ;i 
 
 \ 
 
 1 
 
 ; M 
 
 \ M 
 
 II 
 
 -. -.■.■_'i,us.----.\;v.-.u, ... 
 
■sC' 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 58 T/te Sacrifice y Priest^ and Saviour. 
 
 men will not die. But this fearful doom hangs 
 over all men out of Christ — death, and they 
 cannot get rid of it. Gnash at it, groan at it, 
 philosophise about it, as they may, there it 
 stands calmly as the appointment of God. 
 
 Instead of judgment we have " Christ ap- 
 pearing the second time without sin unto 
 salvation.'* As truly as the enemy Death, 
 which men know well abcut, stands across 
 the path, so surely will the yword of judgment 
 fall on every Christless soul; but in Christ 
 we look not for judgment, but far salvation. 
 There is no question of sin no^. He put ^ 
 away. He bore our sins. Sin and sins have 
 been dismissed. He had to do with them 
 the first time He appeared, but the last time 
 He appears He will have no sin on Him. 
 He will enter into no question of sin, death, 
 or judgment with His own, but salvation^ final 
 and perfect, will bo His great work then. We 
 shall then be perfectly saved as to our bodies, 
 as we are now as to our souls. 
 
 As He appeared and put away sin, so 
 only as sinners "without strength," "un- 
 godly," " lost," " condemned," " dead," could 
 we claim Him. As He now appears for us 
 only as the ransomed of the Lord, the re- 
 deemed from men, the royal priesthood, so 
 He will appear the second time only to them 
 that look for Him. 
 
 Of that day or hour no man knows ; but 
 He that shall come will come and will not 
 
TJie Sacrifice, Priest^ and Saviour. 59 
 
 tarry. His first appearing to put away sin 
 was death to all Laen, merely men, and to us 
 who are the sons of God, now helieving in His 
 Qame, it is the hearing of .our sins. His 
 appearng the second time is judgment to all 
 men, merely men, and is salvation to us who 
 look for Him. Knoiving that He is coming, 
 and looking for Him, are two things quite 
 different. The head may teU us the former ; 
 the heart must be exercised for the latter. 
 He shall come as the great Saviour, saving us 
 by power out of the enemy's hand. This 
 salvation is our hope ; this salvation is nearer 
 than when we belie^;ed. Insi^ead of judgment 
 we are to be saved out of the midst of the 
 whole doomed scene. Is this not a blessed 
 hope — His glorious appearing ? At death our 
 bodies are still left in the hands of the enemy, 
 but His appearing is our hope. 
 
 Friend, are you a man ? Then your end is 
 death. '* It is appointed unto men once to 
 die, and after death the judgment." Your only 
 chance is to accept Christ, and then you will 
 look for Him and His salvation which lie 
 shall bring, every trace of sin being gone. 
 
 Look back to Him as the Sacrifice, who 
 appeared once and put away your sin. 
 
 Look up to Him now as the Priest appearing 
 in the presence of God, keeping us ever clean 
 there. 
 
 Look forward for Him who will appear the 
 second time without sin unto salvation. 
 
 n 1 ) 
 
 i :: 
 
THE POWER THAT THE WORLD 
 KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT. 
 
 " For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it 
 is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth." — Eom. i. 16. 
 
 [HIS was the reason Paul gave for his 
 readiness to preach the gospel at Borne, 
 the centre of the world's wisdom, to 
 Greeks or to barbarians, to wise or unwise. 
 For, let man be cultivated or uncultivated, 
 "wise or ignorant, he is lost; let him be rich 
 or poor, he is lost, and needs nothing less 
 than salvation. But the gospel is sufficient, 
 however contemptible in the eyes of the great 
 men at Eome, however foolish to human 
 wisdom. It is the sufficient and sole power 
 God now uses. Let us look. 
 
 1st. The power God is using. His gospel. 
 
 2nd. The purpose God is working out. 
 Salvation. 
 
 3rd. The people God is blessing. ' Every 
 one that believes. 
 
 I. The Power God is using. 
 
 His gospel. This is the only moral engine 
 God is using to reclaim lost man. Man has 
 
The Power the World knows r, Hhing about 6i 
 
 his hundreds of schemes, his philaathropio 
 societies, his improvement of man as he ia, 
 his reformation or alleviation of the first Adam, 
 his many levers or helps to the gospel. God 
 has but one powej-, which requires no help, 
 and that is "His gospel." The words, **of 
 Christ," are not in the best manuscripts, 
 though certainly it is the gospel of Christ 
 (2 Cor. X. 4), but the thought in Rom. i. is, 
 that it is God's own good news, ** the gospel 
 of God*' (i. 1). Good news to bad men is 
 the wonderful and solitaiy lever God is using. 
 The reception of a testimony outside of us 
 is the only way by which we can deal with 
 God. Therefore, since it is news to us, we 
 have nothing whatever in it but hearing it. 
 It is not that in itself the good news has any 
 intrinsic power, but the message that this 
 good news brings .is ** concerning Jesus Christ 
 our Lord" (v. 3). The good news tells of 
 God's justice perfectly satisfied, God's law 
 magnified, God*s demands all met, and God 
 glorified, while sin has been put away, for 
 G d's Son is risen. Had He but died, there 
 would- have been no good news: the good 
 news is ** Christ has died ; yea rather, is risen." 
 God is now proclaimed as just, while justifying 
 sinners. It is because the gospel tells of 
 God's demands being met that it is of use 
 to the sinner's conscience. 
 
 For God's demands are first. The need of 
 the sinner, the good of man, the elevation 
 
 m 
 
 : «« }';i 
 
 f <^^ 
 
 kl 
 
 f'ii-i 
 
 
^\ 
 
 62 The Power the World knows nothing about. 
 
 of the race, the progress of mankind, are not 
 the first questions, but the glory of God, the 
 vindication of His name, the equipoise of all 
 His attributes preserved, an all-perfect, all- 
 equal, because all-infinite God. 
 
 The gospel proclaims His perfect love and 
 His perfect hate : His perfect love to the 
 sinner, His perfect hatred against sin. Man 
 could be satisfied with the exhibition of love, 
 but tries to get out of the reach of the 
 demands of justice against sin. In our day- 
 there is a great deal of talk about the love 
 of God, though what is meant is not love at 
 all, but the overlooking and winking at sin, 
 the toleration of evil. 
 
 This is the cause of the deep-seated hatred 
 to *' the blood theology." We hear a great 
 deal concerning following in the footsteps of 
 the great Example, Christ, following Him in 
 His devotion to God ; but where in all this is 
 there rest to the conscience of a man who 
 instinctively feels that God is just, and, come 
 what may, that that justice must be upheld, 
 though it should entail the eternal perdition 
 of every creatm^e ? God can by no means 
 clear the guilty. There is a great deal of 
 whining sentimentality about God being so 
 good, and so loving, and so merciful, forget- 
 ting that His justice is equal to His love, His 
 righteousness to His grace, because each is 
 infinite. 
 
 There is no such thing as God having a 
 
The Power the World knows nothing about. 63 
 
 a 
 
 darling attribute. It is a human invention, 
 measuring God by man. He is certainly 
 showing His grace, a love all His own, in 
 seeking out the vilest, and putting them on 
 the throne of His Sou, and taking them to 
 His own heart ; but it is a grace that flows 
 through righteousness, through the settling of 
 His every righteous demand, and the gospel 
 comes revealing this. The law came demand- 
 ing man's perfect obedience to God ; the 
 gospel comes revealing God's perfect provision 
 for man. 
 
 All the grounds of the gospel have beer-, 
 laid; therefore it can be preached. Every- 
 thing on God's part has been done ; therefore 
 it has only to be proclaimed. Nothing can be 
 added to make the work more God-glorilying, 
 for God would not order His terms to be 
 preached till they were perfectly adjusted. 
 He is the offended party. He has made the 
 conditions ; He has satisfied the conditions ; 
 and now He proclaims that all has been 
 adjusted for our acceptance. Ours is the 
 place of simple acquiescence. 
 
 Hence the good news is God's power. If 
 it fail to reclaim the vilest, then nothing will 
 succeed. It has saved the vilest, and it is 
 waste of time in a Christian to be at anything 
 except this gospel. 
 
 Let the world reform itself : all very well ; 
 we are thankful for it. Let the dead bury 
 their dead, and if they do it decently we are 
 
 !» ■ 
 
 C I 
 
^ 
 
 64 The Power the World knows nothing about. 
 
 very glad ; but the voice to us from Jesus is, 
 "Follow Me." How many dear Christians 
 waste their energies at all sorts of worldly 
 mixed plans, instead of using the pne lever — 
 God's own one power— His Gospel. 
 
 In reading this text, we seem to see the" 
 apostle, as it were, standing on the quarter- 
 deck of a small contemptible ship, built on a 
 new principle iirom all other ships of war, 
 with his flag, " the Gospel," nailed up, and 
 boldly saying, " Laugh on, ye wise, ye power- 
 ful ; this is in your eyes foolishness and 
 weakness ; but wait a little. I'm not ashamed 
 of it, and am prepared to bring it to Rome, 
 and lay it alongside all the heaviest gunboats 
 or men-of-war. For it is the power of God, 
 and will blow to pieces all that is of man." 
 
 Or, says Paul, '* I have got the true philo- 
 sopher's stone, that will not certainly change 
 everything it touches into gold, but will do 
 far more : it wiU change even the vilest sinner 
 whom it touches into an heir of God, will 
 raise him from the dunghill to the throne, will 
 make the beggar a prince." What a talisman 
 Paul and every believer carries with him, the 
 very power of God unto salvation I Fellow- 
 Christian, are we using this wondrous "power 
 of God," believing it is what it is ? Why is 
 there so little power? Because there is so 
 little gospel. In the gospel is the power of 
 God. Are we ashamed to stand up at all 
 times with it, and with it alone? 
 
The Power the World knows nothing about. 65 
 
 And is it not hard, over and over again, 
 dear brother, to go out with this same jaessage 
 of glad tidings, and repeat the old story, and 
 believe that it is the power of God ? Human 
 wisdom would suggest something else, some- 
 thing additional, but **the gospel" is all. 
 We do not go out to make experiments to 
 see whether the gospel is the power of God — 
 that is unbelief, and will not be blessed ; but, 
 starting on the ground that we have in our 
 hand, the only power God will use, in the 
 simplicity of confidence we proclaim His good 
 news to all. We can't save a man; let us 
 tell the story that God can use. We can't 
 give the blow, but we can hold the instrument 
 straight, on which the hammer descends which 
 will rend the rock. How often is preached 
 what God could not bless, except by making 
 the hearers disbelieve it ! 
 
 II. The Purpose God is working out. 
 
 It is the power of God unto salvation, God 
 is not come to help them who help themselves, 
 nor ^to give pity or good advice, reformation 
 or amelioration, but to give salvation. The 
 force of the original word is " extrication." 
 
 Many people seem to think that preaching 
 the gospel gives people a nice easy pillow to 
 lie down on and enjoy themselves — that it 
 gives chem an easy short cut to heaven, and 
 now thoy caii take their ease. In other words, 
 people look at salvation as equivalent to 
 toleration to continue in the world, and of 
 
 5 
 
 s i. 
 
 i ! 
 
66 The Power the World knows nothing about. 
 
 the world, with a good prospect for eternity, 
 rather than an extrication out of 'the world 
 and its ways. Unless we are extricated from 
 the world, our religion is useless. "If any 
 man love the world, the love of the Father 
 is not in him." 
 
 Salvation is a deep and wide word. It is 
 deep, and goes to the root of every principle 
 that is away from God. It lays the axe at 
 the root of every tree. It is wide and all- 
 emhracing. It is often confounded with 
 justification, but is much wider. Hence the 
 confusion in some minds. Salvation, which 
 from first to last is of God, begins with a man 
 as he is, and never leaves him till he is set on 
 the throne of Christ. There are three aspects 
 in salvation to every Christian. 1st. A past 
 salvation, 2nd. A present salvation, 3rd. A 
 future salvation. 
 
 1st. A past salvation. — Every Christian can 
 say, "By grace I am a saved person.'* "I 
 have received the end of my faith, even the 
 salvation of my soul." This salvation is equi- 
 valent to justification. It has extricated us 
 for ever out of the state of condemnation, and 
 saved our souls from the grasp of him in 
 whose arms lies the whole world. This can 
 never be added to, aufl, blessed be God, can 
 never be taken from. So the apostle could 
 say, " Unto us who are saved " (1 Cor. i. 18). 
 Thank God, it is not merely pardon of sin, 
 but a taking of our souls out of the prison of 
 
m 
 
 an 
 
 an 
 
 lild 
 
 The Power t/te World knows nothing about. 67 
 
 condemnation, where we wer6 legally held, 
 and placing us in the place of sons, in His 
 own beloved Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 This is the foundation of salvation, our 
 perfect justification, unto which the gospel is 
 the power of God — a justification in a new 
 life out of death ; our souls made alive, quick- 
 ened together with Christ, for it is a resur- 
 rection salvation, from first to last; now of 
 our souls, by-and-hye of our bodies. 
 
 The moment a man believes, he is perfectly 
 saved as to his soul, as sate as tho^e in hea\en, 
 for Jesus has Himself taken upon Him the 
 responsibility of presenting us at His Father's 
 house. 
 
 2nd. There is a present salvation. — I mean 
 by that a salvation which is going on in the 
 believer from day to day. The former was an 
 act, this is a work; so that it can be said, 
 "Work out your own salvation.** Not cer- 
 tainly work /or ity but work out what God has 
 wrought in, and be sure it is "your own" 
 first. This is the gradual extrication of our- 
 selves from all that is around and within 
 opposed to our Father-God. 
 
 The first was the salvation of the soul of a 
 condemned sinner; this is the extrication of 
 an accepted son from aU that is against the 
 place into which he has been brought. Before 
 a man has received the first, the enmity is 
 between him and God ; afterwards, and during 
 this second process, the enmity is between 
 
 .*'' 
 
 ■^ ' 
 
 n 
 
 
 m 
 
 ' ' ■■■■'■ J 
 
 L it Jl 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 i' :i i 
 
 
 I , 
 
68 The Power the World knows nothing about. 
 
 him and himself. This is his progressive 
 sanctification or growth in grace, and the 
 good news from God is still God's power to 
 extricate him thus day by day in his walk. 
 It is a mere idle fable of sell-deceived ones 
 who dream or suppose that even any child of 
 God in this world can live without having sin 
 in him. 
 
 We have been asked if we did not believe 
 that a Christian could reach sinlessness (entire 
 sanctification, it is called, which, in this sense, 
 is unscriptural and very dangerous teaching), 
 tha't is to say, living perfectly in love, without 
 having any sin in him, and if it was to be 
 beli ed, because a man said so ; but no, all 
 such statements are to be judged by the Word, 
 and if the- greatest saint on earth came to us, 
 and said that he had reached a point of perfect 
 sanctification, that is, that he did not now sin, 
 we would simply and conclusively quote, '* If 
 we say we have no sin^ we deceive ourselves^ 
 and the truth is not in us.^' 
 
 In the one aspect of sanctification — separa- 
 tion to God by blood — all believers are perfectly 
 sanctified the moment they believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 There is a sickly and unejcriptural notion of 
 perfect sanctification by attainment, spreading 
 among some who talk of reaching to and 
 {attaining this so-called sanctification; suffice 
 it to say that it is not in Scripture, and is 
 merely the competitive spirit of the flesh 
 
The Power the World knows nothing about. 69 
 
 brought into the things of God, by which 
 we would wish to be before our fellow-Chrip- 
 tians, and profess to have attained an undefined 
 something, unlike the apostle, " not as though 
 I had already fittained." 
 
 Against such we must give no uncertain 
 sound. No Christian ever reaches perfect 
 sanctification. The perfect sanctification 
 which he has in Christ is common to all 
 believers, and is by faith the moment he is 
 converted. There is no other except his 
 gradual and progressive daily mortification of 
 his earthly members, his gradual extrication 
 out of all around that is inconsistent with the 
 Divine nature implauted at regeneration. And 
 in this aspect the righteous scarcely are saved 
 (1 Peter iv. 18), but our God of salvation is 
 able to save to the uttermost of 'time (Heb. 
 vii. 25), And at every stage, to every saint, 
 it will be always necessary to say, **Be ye holy, 
 as God is holy," which proves he is not yet 
 and v/ill not be in the body ; therefore *' work 
 out your own salvation with fear and trem- 
 bling, for it is God" (not Paul or yourself) ""- 
 '* that worketh in you, both to will and to do 
 of His good pleasure." 
 
 3rd. A future salvation. This is accom- 
 plished, not even at death; though then the 
 soul of the believer, being perfect in holiness, 
 is absent from the body and present with the 
 Loru, yet his body rests in the grave till the 
 resurrection — the final extrication at the last 
 
 '("fill,'! 
 
 1 
 
 
70 The Power the World knows nothing about. 
 
 of the man from the last power that holds — 
 for the last enemy that will be put under is 
 death. This is our hope. We are eaved by 
 hope, not as to our souls, but as to our bodies, 
 our all. The salvation which is at the end 
 of our faith is that of our muh ; the salvation 
 which is at the end of our hope is that of 
 our bodies. This is the salvation unto which 
 we are ** kept by the power of \jrod ** (1 Peter 
 i. 6). And it is this salvation that is " nearer 
 than when we believed." Death is not our 
 hope. Death does not end our scene here. 
 There is the claiming, the redemption by 
 power of the purchased possession. This is 
 our hope, " When He shall appear, we shall 
 be like Him," and not till then. So "to 
 them that look for Him shall He appear the 
 second time without sin unto salvation.*' 
 
 There is no question of sin whatever, then, 
 but final perfect salvation of the whole body 
 of Christ by power, as well as by pui^rchase 
 and practice. 
 
 Thus we are saved, we are being saved, 
 and we are to be saved ; saved by faith, saved 
 by working, saved by hoping. May we rightly 
 divide the word of truth ! (2 Tim. ii. 15). We 
 can never be justified by hoping. That is by 
 faith ; we have for a helmet the hope of salva- 
 tion, and God*s great purpose with us is to extri- 
 cate, to dehver us from this present evil world, 
 and to deliver us from condemnation and 
 wrath, from the power and presence of our evil 
 
. . i'i 
 
 The Power the World knows nothing about. 71 
 
 hearts, and the power and dominion of Satan — 
 from death and him that had the power of death. 
 
 Blessed, glorious Divine purpose I He will 
 have us before Him, but as holy and without 
 blame, in love, according to the necessities of 
 His own nature. He will have us to Himself 
 as dear children, according to the purpose of 
 His grace. 
 
 May He give us plainly to see our perfect 
 salvation in Christ, to diligently press forward, 
 working out our own salvation, and to patiently 
 wait for the salvation that will be revealed ! 
 
 And His own good news is His own power 
 unto this. His own Divine salvation. Is 
 salvation not of God? Is our God not the 
 God of salvation ? And this leads us to our 
 third point. Who are the happy recipients of 
 this salvation? 
 
 Ill, The People God is blessing. 
 
 ** To every one that beheveth." It has 
 no y^r'&y and yet it has a limit. It has no 
 \m}X) i>\ its ofier; it is to every one. It has 
 H. IIi)^it in its application ; it is to every one 
 that i ieveth. It is *' unto all " in its offer; 
 b'.*^ I'l is only "upon all that believe " in its 
 application. There is no question about 
 anterior fitness, or felt want or position in 
 respect to weaUh or righteousness. 
 
 The offer is to all, high or low, rich or 
 poor. It is on the principle of faith alone 
 this salvation is secured ; but all who do 
 believe have. This is what humbles man. 
 
 i! 
 
 ! ! 
 
 1* 
 
 > \ 
 
 !;. V 
 
 fl3 
 
 
 ! ' I S. 
 
 
 "I 
 
 ■'ii! 
 
,r 
 
 ! 
 
 /:>. 
 
 72 The Power the World knows nothing about* 
 
 This is what makes it to be of graoe, for it 
 is of faith that it might be of grace. 
 
 " Are you saved ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then you never heard the gospel ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, I sit under an • evangelical 
 minister." 
 
 " I don't doubt it, neither do I doubt but 
 that he has preached the gospel, very likely, 
 every Lord's-day in your ears, but you never 
 heard it." 
 
 " How do you make that out ? " 
 
 " Because God says, -Hear, and your soul 
 shall hve." 
 
 *' What am I to hear ? " 
 
 " 'News ; that is, something you never 
 knew before — you could not have known 
 before or guessed at before. News from God 
 to you ; not news for sinners merely, but news 
 for you. Not only news, but good news. 
 Good news, not concerning you; for if you 
 or I were in it, there would be no news, far 
 less good news ; but ' good news concerning 
 his Son Jesus (-hrist our Lord ' (Kom. i. 3). 
 That Christ is for you, simply because you 
 are a sinner." 
 
 " What, Chfist for me individually, as if 
 there were not another sinner in the world? " 
 
 "Exactly, and when you receive and rest 
 on Him, by believing the good news for your- 
 self, you will say, Well, I never thought that 
 was all — it is so simple — I am content no 
 
The Power the World knows nothing about. 73 
 
 longer to strive to acquire, but quietly to 
 acquiesce in the God-made plan. God laid 
 my sin on Christ. God did all the work. 
 God said, *It is finished.* God comes with 
 His own gospel, His own power, His own 
 salvation ; and better news you never heard, 
 and never will hear ; believe, then, where you 
 are, and as you are, as news, as good news. 
 Believe and live, for * the gospel is the power 
 of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth; to the Jew first and also to the 
 Greek. For therein is the righteousness of 
 God revealed from faith to faith.' " 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 . 
 
 
 ■ 'i 
 
,.].<■ t i-y .f^Vf 
 
 ■X. 
 
 CHBI8T THE FOWEB OF GOB. 
 
 N considering this subject, the power 
 of God, one would at first think that 
 we should look to the manifestation 
 of His power as seen in the rolling river, the 
 majestic Niagara, roaring, rushing over with 
 its millions and millions of tons of water, 
 eclipsing all the steam-power that man could 
 put together; or we may take our stand by 
 the ocean and see it tossing the ships that 
 man has built, and dashing them to pieces as 
 children's toys, or the thunderstorm and the 
 lightning flash, and say, Look what a God 
 we have ! or we might take the telescope, and 
 direct your eye away from this little speck 
 called earth, to look at the stars at night, and 
 see there millions and millions beyond what 
 the naked eye can see revolving, the nebulas 
 that we observe in the galaxy of the heavens, 
 and to know that He upholds all these by the 
 Word 0^ His power, and that He keeps the 
 reins of the government of millions of stars, 
 of many times larger dimensions than this 
 little speck of creation, in His grasp. 
 
 When we think of all this, well may we 
 
Christ the Power of God. 
 
 75 
 
 exclaim, " When I consider Thy heavens, the 
 work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, 
 which Thou hast ordained, what is man ? " 
 We are lost in silent wonder. Let us also 
 take the microscope and rub off the dust from 
 the butterfly's wing, and we shall find that 
 each speck of dust is a gorgeously chiselled 
 feather, and the Hving God who has chiselled 
 these feathers in the most perfect and beauteous 
 form has counted the hairs of your head and 
 mine, and has named every sparrow. His 
 power is seen in what He can condescend to, 
 as well as in wha-t He upholds, in the majesty 
 of His might. 
 
 But we are not to contemplate the power of 
 the God of creation, to study His grandeur, 
 though it is profitable for us to do so. Man 
 has drifted from God, and so our little planet 
 is bounded by death. Death goes round about 
 it ; death envelops it physically. Seven miles 
 up there is death. No man can live there. 
 A band of death is round our globe ; but in a 
 more real sense our fallen creation is bounded 
 by the grave. Man's power can do much. 
 He can almost annihilate time and space. 
 He can tie the globe with a string, and take 
 the lightning and send it as his message. He 
 can bring creation under his feet, and do 
 mighty things, but he is limited by the grave ; 
 the tomb he has never been able to pass 
 through ; the grave he has never been able to 
 span ; but the peculiar manifestation of the 
 
 
 ' t 
 
 ■ \ 
 
iiil 
 
 '/(> 
 
 Christ the Power of God. 
 
 power of our King begins where man's power 
 ends. 
 
 I. The Power of the Cross. — In 1 Cor. i. 18: 
 ** For the preaching of the cross is to them 
 that perish foohshness ; but unto us which 
 are saved it is the power of God." The cross 
 was not only death, but the most shameful 
 death — the death of the felon — and this death, 
 sufiered by Jesus, becomes the power of God ; 
 for the moment that creation work was marred, 
 the Lord God came in with the promise of 
 the bruising of the serpent's head, setting 
 forth that it was through death the new crea- 
 tion was to be begun — showing that it was by 
 death His new power was to be set forth, and 
 that as soon as creation work was marred 
 redemption work was begun. 
 
 When the Lord v^as here and was found 
 fault with, and challenged on the creation 
 Sabbath for w^orking, those men who found 
 fault with Him, as the destroyer of disease 
 and of death, did not see that while God 
 never can go against His commands. He can 
 rise up in His power above all ; and that He 
 who has seen His creation manned has begun 
 in another sphere, in another work, aiid in 
 another country, the country beyond the 
 grave, through death and resurrection. So 
 He tells us : '* My Father worketh hitherto, 
 and I work " — working in the activity of His 
 redeeming love ; and then He goes on to say, 
 because He is the Son of God, that now we 
 
Christ the. Power of God. 
 
 11 
 
 may meet Him aB Quickener through the 
 grave, or we mutt; meet Him as the Judge, 
 the Son of Man, and then we shall have to 
 meet the doom that is ours. Thus we ap- 
 proach the cross as the power of God to 
 guilty men. '' For after that, in the wisdom 
 of God, the world by wisdom knew not God 
 it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching 
 to save them that believe. For the Jews 
 require a sign, and the Greeks seek after 
 wisdom; but we preach Ch'ist crucified, unto 
 the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the 
 Greeks foolishness ; but unto thom which are 
 called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power 
 of God." Christ the power of God has come 
 into the domain of death, and met the de- 
 mand of de th, and this is why Christ is the 
 power of God unto salvation. The blood has 
 paid the debt, the blood that runs in a 
 scarlet line from the gates of Eden to the 
 great white throne, and which then is the 
 theme of the redeemed to all eternity. "Thou 
 hast redeemed us with Thy blood " — the blood 
 which tells of a life taken for a life forfeited. 
 That is what satisfies God, although it is a 
 stumbling-block to the Jew and foolishness to 
 the Greek, both ancient and modern. To the 
 one who requires a sign in these days, the 
 blood will still be a scandal. To the man who 
 wants wisdom, the blood puts all his wisdom 
 in the dust. Why? Because it tells that 
 Christ has entered into the domain where 
 
 IbujiQMt 
 
78 
 
 Christ the Power of God. 
 
 neither man's wisdom nor power is available. 
 In the grave man has no knowledge and no 
 power — the cross is the power of God. But — 
 
 II. The Tower of the Besurrection. — " And 
 declared to be the Son of God with power, 
 according to the Spirit of holiness, by the 
 resurrection from the dead " (Eom. i. 4). 
 This is abstract — not His own resurrection, 
 but by resurrection from the dead. He has 
 authority over the grave, the resurrection of 
 good and bad — the resurrection that He has 
 in His own right and in His own power, in 
 which God raised Him from the dead — the 
 resurrection that quickens us to go with Him, 
 and the resurrection that He has of the 
 ungodly to quicken them, and to bring them 
 to the bar of judgment, whether they wiU or 
 ^ot, — all resurrection declares Him to be the 
 Son of God, and thus in the resurrection we 
 have the Lord Jesus Christ shown to be the 
 powerful One. 
 
 If He went into the grave, He has been 
 raised on the other side of the doom of sin ; 
 if He went into the domain of death. He is 
 declared now to be the Son of God in power 
 by resurrection. He went into the monster's 
 jaws and plucked out the sting. He was 
 there in the power of the eternal God, and 
 He is raised again from the dead, beyond all 
 the powers of Satan and the grave, and is 
 now raised to the throne of God, as we read 
 in Eph. i. 18 : *' That ye may know what is 
 
/! 
 
 Christ t/ie Power of God. 
 
 79 
 
 the hope of His calling, and what the riches 
 of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 
 and what is the exceeding greatness of His 
 power to us- ward who heiieve, according to 
 the working of His mighty power, which He 
 wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from 
 the dead." He was crucified in weakness, 
 but was raised by power. We have seen Him 
 thus in the power of the cross, also in the 
 power of the empty tomb, the power of the 
 resurrection, but we again see — 
 
 III. The Power of His Quickening. — ^For 
 we are quickened together with Him. He 
 is revealed not only as the risen One, but 
 as the quickening One. He that was dead 
 /or- sin, and we that are dead in sin, were 
 quickened together by the Spirit of power. 
 The power of God is thus given to men who 
 were dead. God would have been for ever 
 incommunicable to dead sinners unless Jesus 
 Christ, who was the life, had come into the 
 place of death, and had been raised by the 
 glory of the Father ; but now are we kings 
 together with Him. One other thought in 
 Heb. vii. the 14th to the 25th verse inclu- 
 sive. 
 
 IV. The Poy)er of His Intercession. — Christ 
 intercedes for His own, whom He has 
 justified and quickened. On high He is the 
 Great High-priest, entering in with His 
 own blood to appear in the presence of God 
 for us, now to keep us clean, and He is there 
 
 fet I, ; J, 
 
 fHl 
 
8o 
 
 Christ the Power of God, 
 
 making intercession, according to the un- 
 sullied holiness of the presence of God. There 
 He is, "ever living to make intercession." 
 It is He who has hegun it at the cross, with 
 whom we are quickened together from the 
 tomb. He goes on to the end of our experi- 
 ences, difficulties, and dangers. He is up 
 yonder on the Throne to . save to the utter- 
 most, that is to say, of time. He is our 
 Advocate with the Father. He :'i our High- 
 priest before God. ** It is Christ that died, 
 yea rather, that is risen again, who is ever 
 at the right hand of God, who also maketh 
 intercession for us. Who shall separate us 
 from the love of Christ ? " 
 
 V. ffis Indwelling Tower. — Romans viii. 
 26: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our 
 infirmities : for we know not what we should 
 pray for as we ought : but the Spirit Himself 
 maketh intercession for us with groanings 
 which cannot be uttered." If we have an 
 Intercessor yonder, we have an Intercessor 
 here ; and as the Intercessor yonder is for 
 His people, the Intercessor here is in His 
 people. The Spirit does not dwell in an 
 unconverted man. He quickens the uncon- 
 verted. He seals, and dwells in, the beHever. 
 There is a Christ for every sinner, and a 
 Spirit ready to quicken him in connection 
 with that Christ, but the Spirit only makes 
 intercession within those who are the Lord's. 
 So WQ haVe Christ in His power dwelling 
 
Christ the Power of God. 
 
 U 
 
 in us here by His Spirit, and we have Christ 
 in His power appealing for us yonder; and 
 in His power we go onward and pray that 
 we may know the power of His resurrection 
 and the fellowship of His suffering — to know 
 that we are thus identified with the risen One. 
 This. is our standing and state here on earth; 
 now on account of that power within us — the 
 holy God — we boldly affirm that sin shall not 
 have dominion over us. Keckon yourselves 
 dead indeed unto sin. Of course it does not 
 say sin shall not have its presence ; but it is 
 a question of its dominion. Why ? Because 
 the Spirit of God is within us. " Reckon '* 
 yourselves — it is not "feel" yourselves dead. 
 If I were really dead, and felt dead, it would 
 be absurd to tell me to reckon myself dead 
 to sin. Suppose I go to a registrar and 
 say — 
 
 ** There is a man in this parish who wants 
 a vote." 
 
 " What is his name ? " 
 
 " James Blank." 
 
 **Why, he is dead more than a year ago, 
 and he can't have a vote." 
 
 That is what you and I have to say to our 
 old nature. 
 
 "You have no vote; you have nothing to 
 do with the government of me now. We are 
 dead to sin, and the obsolete man is off the 
 register" — ^the old man has gone, so far as 
 voting is concerned. It is only the new man 
 
 I 
 
 
 ii 
 
 ;ji( 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 • ! 
 
82 
 
 Christ the Power of God, 
 
 in Christ Jesus who has a right to my service. 
 Let me take a familiar illustration. When 
 the man with the palsy was healed, he did 
 not merely get healing hut power. **Rise, 
 take up thy bed, and walk," and so he carried 
 his bed. Before this the bed carried him. 
 He was dependent upon his bed, and upon 
 those who each took a corner; but now, as 
 soon as we have got into Christ, it is, Rise, 
 take up thy bed, and walk. Take the case of 
 the reformed drunkard. Why, when he used 
 to pass public-houses, the cursed desire for 
 drink was paramount over his conscience and 
 the interests of wife and family; but now, 
 being dead to sin, he says to this craving, 
 " You have no vote." He carries the obsolete 
 man to the prayer or conference meeting, 
 instead of the old man carrying him into the 
 public-house. • So it is with us, " Rise, take 
 up thy bed." We have power now, and sin 
 shall not have dominion over us. 
 
 VI. The Power of His Gospel— '''Fox I 
 am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ : 
 for it is the power of God unto ' salvation 
 to every one that believeth; to the Jew 
 first, and also tc the Greek." Christ speaks 
 through us, and now we can use the power 
 He has given us. In order to have this 
 power we let God speak as much as possible, 
 and ourselves to speak a3 little as possible. 
 In the days of His humiliation He gave 
 all power and authority fco His apostles — 
 
Christ the Power of God. 
 
 83 
 
 power and authority to oast out devils, and 
 one came to Him and said, *' Your apostles 
 could not do it." Why? Because there 
 arose a reasoning among them as to which 
 should be greatest. I believe that we often 
 lose our power by thinking we are some- 
 thing. There are Peter and Andrew; the 
 man comes to be healed, but neither of them 
 can do it. Peter could not be trusted with 
 seeing that devil under him. Peter might 
 say, " I am sorry for my dear brother Andrew, 
 but if he had been like me he would have 
 been successful." Brethren, in the holy work 
 of God, the "holy self" often comes in. 
 Whatsoever there is of self, let us cast it from 
 us, and lean wholly and solely upon the Lord, 
 and trust in the power of His might. Self- 
 seeking is all the fouler when it enters 
 the domain of God. By nature we all wish 
 to be above and beyond our fellows ; may we 
 have the desire to lift high the banner of the 
 cross, and in its fold conceal the standard- 
 bearer. May the standard-bearers be all hid, 
 and Christ alone seen. Then, indeed, should 
 we feel that we had in our hands the Gospel 
 of God, which is the power of God unto 
 salvation. We pray much for the Holy Ghost 
 — the working power, and always ought to 
 do so, but I would say, *' Go to your knees and 
 ask God to show you what the Gospel is," for 
 God has said that the Gospel is the power. 
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 Christ the Power of God, 
 
 the instrament by which God can do it. We 
 need nothiiig to add to that old Gospel, and 
 nothing to be taken from it. When Paul was 
 about to bring it to the walls of Borne, he 
 said, '^ I am not ashamed to take it to Borne 
 also, for it is the power of God," and we have 
 it thus still. 
 
 VII. The Power of His Beturn, — Lastly, 
 the revelation which is to come is the mani- 
 fested power of our King. It is hidden 
 just now, and why? Christ has been re- 
 jected. "And I heard a loud voice saying 
 in heaven, Now is come salvation, and 
 strength, and the kingdom of our God, and 
 the power of His Christ: for the accusar of 
 our brethren is cast down, which accused them 
 before our God day and night " (Bev. xii. 10). 
 His power shall be from the river to the ends 
 of the earth, when all nations shall be blessed 
 in Him and call Him blessed, when He shall 
 have broken His enemies to pieces, when His 
 power shall be manifested in all its majesty. 
 
 And now tc are waiting for Him in the 
 midst of His foes — waiting for the power of 
 our King to be seen in all its glory, when 
 He shall reign, and we with Him, and when 
 He shall put down all rule, and all authority 
 and power; for He must reign till He hath 
 put all enemie,' under His feet, and delivered 
 up the kingdom to God, even the Father, 
 and then shall be seen to all His adoring 
 saints. His loyal subjects, the principaUties 
 
Christ the Power of God, 
 
 8s 
 
 and powers of heaven, the wonderful power of 
 oar King in its majestic reach from Gross to 
 Crown. 
 
 What a glorious hope is ours, reserved for an 
 everlasting inheritance! while we know that 
 this sin-stricken earth is reserved for fire. In 
 Jude we have the judgment at the beginning 
 of the day of the Lord, wbon the Lord oometn 
 with the myriads of His saints. We who have 
 been caught up previously, according to 1 
 Thess. iv., — our blessed hope — come with Him 
 to execute judgment on all. 2 Peter iii. 10 
 gives us the judgment at the end of the same 
 day. The day of grace has already lasted nearly 
 two millenniums. The day of the Lord's reign 
 is, according to Scripture, a thousaid years. 
 In the evening of this day **the heavens shall 
 pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
 shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also 
 and the works that are therein shall be burned 
 up. Seeing that all these things shall be dis- 
 solved, what manner of persons ought we to be 
 in all holy conversation and godliness, looking 
 for and hasting unto the coming of the dav of 
 God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall 
 be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with 
 fervent heat ? Nevertheless, we, according to 
 His promise, look for new heavens and a new 
 earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'' 
 
 I 
 
 
 
-V ••' 
 
 4' 
 
 ''8AY NOT IN THINE EEABT:* 
 
 Bonos X. 6. 
 
 fAN always begins to suggest the remedy 
 for himself; God has expected that 
 man wiU say something in his heart, 
 SO He advises him not to do it. 
 
 " Say not in thine heart," — for this is the 
 one thing man begins to do, to guess, to say 
 ** peradventure," " perhaps," and " I hope so." 
 " Say not in thine heart." You and I have 
 to meet God whether we wish it or like it or 
 not, how long soever we may put it off (for 
 we have the fatal freedom to put it off), it is 
 coming, we must meet the God with whom 
 we have to do ; there is a hereafter, and you 
 and I have to be in it ; and our condition in 
 that hereafter is to be fixed now, and you and 
 I have something to do with tlie conditions 
 which fix that state; therefore "say not in 
 thine heart " 
 
 This is what the righteousness of faith 
 speaketh with authority. As an oracle from 
 God it comes, asking you and me to hear 
 because it speaks. 
 
 I. It speaks to us negatively; it tellB ns 
 what not to do. 
 
 V :■ , 
 
■J v 
 
 ** Say not tn thine Heart" 
 
 87 
 
 II. It speaks to as positively ; it tells us 
 what to do. 
 
 The former verse tells us that "Moses de- 
 Boribeth the righteousness which is of the law, 
 That the man which doeth these things shall 
 live by them." No man ever did them, so no 
 man ever lived by them, and Moses does not 
 describe the maw, but the "righteousness of 
 the law which saith," an idea which has never 
 had a tangible reality; the word which the 
 Divine writer has chosen is ** describeth," 
 painteth the righteousness of the law, but the 
 righteousness of faith comes speaking and 
 asking us to believe. No man ever kept the 
 law, so no man ever lived by it, but the 
 righteousness of faith comes speaking on this 
 wise, " Say not in thine beart." Most people 
 anxious about their salvation are communing 
 with their own hearts, and not listening to the 
 conditions which God lays down. 
 
 A young man during the last week entered 
 my room, and paused some time before he 
 spoke. At last he said he had applied to 
 several people, "but all had passed him on to 
 some one else, saying it was not their business. 
 He said, " I have read several religious books, 
 yours among the rest, and I want to know 
 how to get my soul saved." 
 
 I replied, ** I will not pass you on, for it is 
 my business to heal you if I can. What is 
 your disease? " He hesitated, so I said, "You 
 cannot feel as you would like to do ; is that 
 
 
 >*> -i 
 
 
 |ll 
 
m 
 
 ''Say not in thine Hearth 
 
 it ? *' " Yes, that is it ; I cannot feel right." 
 I said, " You have to do with the just and 
 holy God, who will never change His laws for 
 as, a God of iufinite majesty, and you begin 
 to talk of yovix feelings ; would it not be better 
 to find out the conditions He has laid down ? 
 
 " If you owed illOO, would it not be better 
 to try and work with your hands to pay it off 
 than to talk of how yon feel about your debt? 
 Or suppose I appoint you by letter to come to 
 my house at twelve to-morrow; you come, 
 and are told that I have been out half-an-hour 
 and shall not return for two hours. When I 
 see you, I say, * Oh, I felt you would not 
 come.* You show me my own letter, and 
 say, *You appointed me to come at twelve.' 
 We have nothing to do with feelings; we have 
 to do with the Book, and what God says in it. 
 It is not my feelings or yours. What is the 
 use of that when there are conditions laid 
 down ? " 
 
 Submission is the point, not the details so 
 much, not the clearness of reception, as the 
 submission to the dictates of another, so the 
 longing soul will be satisfied. I believe no 
 one went to hell who longed for Christ The 
 devil would say, " Go away ; we have no room 
 for Christ here." I said to the young man, 
 " Will you submit ? It is all laid down here ; 
 you have only to endorse the cheque ; we have 
 it here payable to sinner or bearer, a blank 
 cheque signed and sealed in blood, and any 
 
*' Say not in thine Heart'' 
 
 89 
 
 man oan lift it up out of this verse, *That 
 if tbou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
 Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath 
 raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be 
 saved ; ' he oan endorse it on the back, and it is 
 payable on demand." He saw he had to look 
 away from himself to what had been done by 
 another, that God was pleased to say He was 
 satisfied with the work done on Calvary's 
 Cross, and if He is pleased I may be thankful 
 to accept it. I think the young man went 
 away rejoicing in Christ's finished work. 
 
 If I could have a trumpet tongue which 
 would sound from one end of Britain to the 
 other, there is one thing I should like to say 
 to one class of people : not to Christians, for 
 they have got to the root of the matter, and 
 they will, " some on boards and some on 
 broken pieces of the ship,'* all get safe to 
 land; not to the godless, for they do not 
 care, and I may not have the capacity to 
 reach them; but to a large class, a middle 
 class, not careless nor doubting, not running 
 to excess of rioting, but not F'^anding on the 
 rook; and the text I would preach from to 
 them would be, ** Say not in thine heart ; " 
 go not by what thy heart says. To turn men 
 in to what they feel, instead of out to what 
 God has done and said, is the crying heresy 
 of the present day, and this is our mission — 
 to come with the oracles of God as contrasted 
 with feelings. " Say not in thine heart," be- 
 
 mi' 
 
 ! 
 
 I 
 
 jii 
 
 J ■ If 
 
90 
 
 '* Say not tn thine Heart.'' 
 
 it 
 
 cause all men are ready to go by what they 
 feel, and three-quarters of evangelic preaching 
 is founded upon this sensational religion, 
 "Do you feel God's Spirit working within 
 you ? Do you feel getting better ? — then go 
 on and get to heaven.'* Many good men have 
 said it, but it is not in my Bible from G-enesis 
 to Kevelation. I have searched from board to 
 board, and the wordfeeUng in. connection with 
 salvation is not to be found in it. I beUeve it 
 has been got from the devil. The adversary 
 of souls goes with the preacher, night after 
 night, and does all he can to thwart the 
 Word ; he comes as an angel of light, not 
 as the serpent, for then you would not listen 
 to him ; he comes neither outwardly immoral, 
 nor outwardly out-and-out for Christ. If he 
 came as a liar, you would say, ** Get thee 
 behind me, Satau ; " if he came and said the 
 Bible was not true, and there was no hell and 
 no heaven, you would say, '* Get thee behind 
 me, Satan; " all these are lies, and you would 
 find them out soon ; so he will not do this 
 with you who are better taught, but he will 
 come as an angel of light ; or if he sees you 
 inclined to one line of things, he will give 
 you what will please you, lest you should 
 hear and be saved. 
 
 Our whole powers are devoted week after 
 week to get people saved ; his whole work is 
 to bhnd people, for ^* if our gospel be hid, it 
 is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god 
 
 ■>i .. 
 
** Say not in thine Heart." 
 
 91 
 
 of this world hath blinded the minds of them 
 which believe not, lest the light of the glorious 
 gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, 
 should shine unto them." What a diabolical 
 work, to keep people unsaved I Like those 
 wreckers that rear the beacon-light on the 
 iron-bound shore, that the sailor may be 
 dashed to pieces, even so he rears a beacon- 
 light, but it leads to death, ruin, and desola- 
 tion. 
 
 Satan has substituted two things for the 
 gospel which is the power of God. To 
 those who have a traditional Christianity he 
 finds he must do other things than contra- 
 dict the Bible; so he comes and substitutes 
 one truth for another, and there are two 
 great lines of truth which he has taken 
 and put in the place of one and the same 
 truth. The one is the life of Christ; this 
 was one great thing I was taught in early 
 life, and my idea was that in order to be 
 saved I must live a life like His ; children are 
 taught this still, for the devil has taken that 
 grand truth that we should imitate the life of 
 Christ, and he has put it in the place of 
 Calvary and Golgotha, and the dying Lamb 
 of God. We need not begin with Christ at 
 Bethlehem; He began with us there; we 
 begin with His death, and having secured 
 His death, we go back and retrace the steps 
 of His life ; I believe Satan has invented no 
 greater error than that of substituting the life 
 
 \ iii^ 
 
92 
 
 ^* Say not in thine Hearth 
 
 of Christ for His death. The Apostle Paid 
 says, " God forbid that I should glory save in 
 the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ/' not the 
 manger. 
 
 The next truth he has put in a false position 
 is the worli of the Holy Ghost in me, in place 
 of Christ's work for me. I believe that the 
 work of God the Spirit, in every regenerated 
 man, in bearing witness that he is a child of 
 God, is quite a step in advance of being saved. 
 Israel was saved, but the people were never 
 called the children of God; Abraham and Moses 
 never had the spirit of sonship whereby we cry, 
 " Abba, Father ; " but we must never put the 
 work of the Spirit of God in the place of the 
 work of the Son of God ; we must never think 
 that what the Spirit works in us is to be taken 
 as the ground of peace. I know the fearful 
 Slough of Despond, the fearful darkness and 
 despair a man gets into by looking into his 
 own heart: the more conscientious a man is 
 who looks into hii^self, the more despairing 
 he gets if he is taught to look into his own 
 heart, and into the work of God the Holy 
 Ghost there, as the foundation on which to 
 rest his hope of eternal life. The less the 
 conscience speaks, the more peace the man 
 gets ; the keener the conscience is, the more 
 despair the man is plunged into. I have seen 
 conscientious people almost driven to madness, 
 because they were neve^* satisfied with God's 
 work going on in their heart, and I have heard 
 
 r. 
 
"Say not in thine Heart'* 
 
 93 
 
 others glibly talk of being satisfied with them- 
 selves, and this because their consciences had 
 never placed before them an eternal hell; 
 " Say not in thine heart," for the righteous- 
 ness of faith speaks, and you are to listen 
 to it. 
 
 Po not try to rear a ladder from earth to 
 heaven because God has fixed a ladder from 
 heaven to earth. I am never, and should 
 never be, satisfied with the work of the Holy 
 Ghost in me, but I am, and should bC) satis- 
 fied with the work of Christ for me on the 
 cross. The work of Christ on the cross is the 
 ground of cur salvation, and we may be satis- 
 fied with that alone; the more the Holy Ghost 
 works in a man the more will he be dissatisfied ; 
 the more faith a man has the more loudly will 
 he cry, '* Increase my faith ; " it is too good 
 to get only a little of; the more hope, the 
 more love he has wrought in him by the Holy 
 Ghost, the more he is dissatisfied with them 
 and longs for their increase. Of faith, hope, 
 and love we may desire more, but we can 
 never say this of the work on Calvary's Cross — 
 the more we see of it the more we are satisfied 
 with it. 
 
 " The cross still stands unchanged, 
 
 Though heaven is now His home } 
 ' The mighty stone is rolled away. 
 But yonder is His tomb. 
 
 And yonder is my peace, 
 The grave of all my woes I 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 •I 1 1 
 
 AM 
 
 ■ ■' .11 
 ■ .',1 
 
 
94 
 
 ** Say noi in thine Heart." 
 
 
 I know the Son of Ood has come, 
 I know He died and rose. 
 
 I change, He changes not, 
 The Christ can never die, 
 His love, not mine, the resting-place^ 
 His truth, not mine, the tie." 
 
 / . .* 
 
^■.v^rj^,.;^f. 
 
 BIGHTE0USNE8S, HUMAN AND 
 
 DIVINE. 
 
 <t 
 
 The righteousaeaa which b of faith." — Eomans x. 26. 
 
 HIS is a remarkable expression ; the 
 righteousness which is of the law can 
 be well understood ; it is the right doing 
 between man and man, and between God and 
 man. If you buy a good article from a man 
 and pay him his just demands for it, you are 
 neither obliged to, nor obliging, him ; in other 
 words, you are equally righteous according to 
 the righteousness which is of the law — ^it is a 
 straightforward business transaction, you doing 
 your part rightly, and he doing Ms ; it is pay- 
 ing twenty shillings in the pouna. 
 
 But what is the righteousness wh~ h is of 
 faith? We shall see it — 
 
 1. As contrasted with the righteousness 
 which is of the law : " He that doeth these 
 things shall live by them." The righteousness 
 of faith is not on the same line of rails at all; 
 it is in contrast. 
 
 2. This righteousness which is of faifch, when 
 it speaks o this wis^, tells us what has to be 
 done that i may b.- exhibited, nothing less 
 
 ■/f 
 
 f s" 
 
 i &!. 
 
 t * ' 
 
 
taam 
 
 /•' 
 
 96 Righteousness^ Human and Divine, 
 
 than the incarnation and resurrection of 
 Christ. 
 
 3. We see the utter uselessness and need- 
 lessness of all man's efforts to do this work 
 which the righteousness which is of faith 
 demands : " Say not in thine heart, Who shall 
 ascend mto heaven ? (that is, to hring Christ 
 down) ; or, Who shall descend into the deep ? 
 (that is, to hring up Christ again from tne 
 dead)." 
 
 4. We shall find the part which man plays 
 in securing the righteousness which is of faith. 
 ** If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
 Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart 
 that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved." 
 
 5. We shall see not only the part which 
 man plays, but the medium wrdch unites him 
 to this righteousness of faith : ** The word is 
 nigh thee, even in thy mouth and thy heart," 
 that is, the word of faith. 
 
 6. We shall see why this righteousness of 
 faith thus benefits men : " For with the heart 
 man believeth unto righteousness, and with 
 the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 
 
 7. We shall see, lastly, the ground of it all : 
 " For there is no difference between the Jew 
 and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is 
 rich unto all that call upon Him." 
 
 (1) The righteousness which is of faith is 
 contrasted with the righteousness which is of 
 the law. It is utterly useless for any one of 
 
!■;*' 
 
 Righteousness, Human and Divine. 97 
 
 ns to attempt to roc are righteouRness on the 
 ground of law-keeping, for if from this moment 
 until we were a hundred years old we never 
 committed one sin, it would he all up with 
 us; we have sinned in the past, the line of 
 continuity is hroken, and we must get upon 
 another line altogether; the righteousness 
 which is of faith comes in when the righteous- 
 ness which is of the law is hroken. The doing 
 and the living go together, for the law does not 
 say. Do, and he saved, it Joes not imply that 
 the man is lost, but " he that doeth those 
 things shall live by them," and the moment 
 the doing is not perfected according to the law 
 the man is lost. 
 
 Men study the laws of G?d in nature, and 
 think how exact He is, and yet they think His 
 moral laws can be broken with impunity. He 
 never puts summer in the place of winter ; the 
 sun always rises and sets to a minute, so that 
 men can predict its course for a thousand years 
 at any part of the earth's surface, for it has 
 never been known to be a second before or 
 behind time. The stars come to their meridian 
 to the one-thousandth part of a second, and 
 their exactitude is so great that the difference 
 of a hair's breadth in their place in the heavens 
 would be far too large a divergence, — so exact 
 is God. Are His moral laws likely to be less 
 exact ? 
 
 (2) Now we want to look into the work that 
 has to be done, — Christ has to come out of 
 
 I 7 
 
 If 
 
 1:*? 
 
 iii 
 
 I- '1-. 
 
 M 
 
 (;; 
 
 m 
 
 
><^ 
 
 98 Righteousness, Hunan and Divine. 
 
 heaven to go to the grave , to come out of the 
 grave and to go into heaven before this 
 righteousness which is of Mth can be ac- 
 complished. Hence, in the 
 
 3rd place, we see the uselessness and need- 
 lessness of men trying to accomplish it. Can 
 you go up to heaven to bring Christ down? 
 can you descend into the deep to bring up 
 Christ again from the dead ? It is needless, 
 inasmuch as the work is done ; it is hopeless, 
 inasmuch as man has no power to do it. 
 Therefore we see, in the 
 
 4th place, that the part which man plays 
 in securiDg this righteousness is v^ry simpk. 
 " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
 Lord Jesus," made Lord by incarnation and 
 resurrection," and shalt believe in thine heart 
 that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
 shait be saved." We see the medium, 
 
 6th. 'J'he word, the simple act of faith 
 which links him to Jesus Christ, because 
 
 6th, "With the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness, and with the mouth confession 
 is made unto salvation," and the ground 
 
 7th, Is, that there is no difference. This 
 truth is at the root of all revelation from God 
 to sinful men. There is no difference. St. Paul 
 uses this expression twice : the first time in 
 the third chapter of Komans, " There is no 
 difference, for all have sinned and come short 
 of the glory of God." Man does not like this 
 truth when it is preached; it is often de- 
 
 i I 
 
',"•■ r:-.-«^, 
 
 Righteousness, Human and Divine, 99 
 
 DOUDced as absurd and heretical, but it has 
 stood since Paul's day. Cultivated men do 
 not like to be brought down to the level of the 
 murderer and drunkard; and without doubt 
 there is a difference in the degree^ but not in 
 the guilt of moral delinquency. There is a 
 difference as to the depth in which men are 
 down in the mud, but all are together in the 
 horrible pit and miry clay. 
 
 People waste their time in mud-measuring. 
 One says, " My foot is only covered with the 
 mud, but look at that fellow, he is ankle-deep 
 in it ; " the one who is ankle-deep in mud 
 says, **Look at that man, he is up to the 
 knees in mud ; " while he, in his turn, says, 
 " I am not* so bad as that man, he is up to the 
 neck in mud." It is of no use to talk like 
 that : here is a rope-ladder to help you all up 
 from the pit. **0h," says one, **I am as 
 good as my neighbour, and better than many." 
 Very true, perhaps, but that is only the differ- 
 ence between being up to the knees in mud or 
 up to the neck ; if you are in the pit, you need 
 a rope-ladder that you may get out and place 
 your feet on a rock, for there is nb difference. 
 One man with decent boots on, and only one 
 foot a little muddy, says, " I do not believe 
 there is no difference. Do you mean to say 
 I am no better than that fellow there up to 
 his neck in mud ? " No, my friend ; and very 
 likely the man up to his neck will get hold of 
 the ladder first, for he is so shocked at the 
 
 X 
 
 '-: I 
 
 1 \ 
 
 
 '!i 
 
 I 
 
 
 ■If 
 
 4 
 
!..i'' 
 
 loo Righteousness^ Human and Divine, 
 
 mud that lie is glad to get out of it ; while 
 the respectahle man spends his time in argu- 
 ing about the depth of mud he is in. It is not 
 mud-measuring, but salvation, we have to do 
 with, for " there is no difference, for all have 
 sinned and come short of the glory of God." 
 
 Here in the 10th chapter we have the other 
 '* no difference," and it is about God's grace. 
 There is no difference this time, for the same 
 free God has the same free grace for every 
 sinner out of hell : this is the foundation 
 for the righteousness of faith being given to 
 us. ! 
 
 The work that has to be done is no other 
 and no less than the incarnation and resur- 
 rection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Incarna- 
 tion alone is useless, death alone is useless ; 
 resurrection is what makes the righteousness 
 of faith applicable to us. It is significant 
 that while man has invented, and annually 
 celebrates, what he calls the day of Christ's 
 nativity or Christmas, and another day 
 which he calls Good Friday, or the day of 
 Christ's death, God has appointed no such 
 days, but one day to be celebrated, not yearly, 
 but weekly, to keep in memory, not the birth 
 of Christ, which would condemn us, nor the 
 death of Christ, which would bring us in 
 guilty of murder, but the resurrection of 
 Christ, which shows what God is for the sinner 
 — the Lord's day, which tells us of resurreo- 
 
Righteousness^ Human and Divine. loi 
 
 tion, and assures us that we have not to asoend 
 irto heaven to bring down Christ, nor descend 
 into the deep, to bring Him up from the dead, 
 but that the Lord became incarnate in order 
 that He might rise. It does not say any- 
 thing of death, because it is implied in re- 
 surrection. 
 
 If you and I accept the righteousness which 
 is of faith, we gain it by the incarnation and 
 lesurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many 
 people think they will reach heaven by a sort 
 of guess-road ; you ask a man, '* If you were 
 to drop down dead in an hour's time, where 
 would your soul be ? " 
 
 "What is tiie use of frightening me like 
 that? what do you mean by it?" 
 
 **If God were to withdraw His hand for one 
 moment, and your heart were to stop beating, 
 you would be a corpse ; then where should you 
 be?*' 
 
 " Oh, I hope " he would most likely say, 
 
 but " I Iwpe " is nothing ; it is a miser a,ble 
 wriggle out of the difficulty. " Have you gone 
 up to heaven or down to the deep? for the 
 righteousness which is of faith says that work 
 has to be done." 
 
 "I trust God will be merciful.'* 
 
 You never read of mercy at the day of 
 judgment. " Inasmuch as ye did it ... in- 
 asmuch as ye did it not." ..." Come, ye 
 blessed, . . . depart, ye cursed;" not one word 
 of mercy, for there is no mercy at the judg- 
 
 ■t: I 
 
 f 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 If 
 
 \% \*A 
 
j^'^\ 
 
 102 RtghteousnesSy Human and Divine, 
 
 ment-seat of God. We know the whole of 
 the elements which enter into the judgment. 
 We do not know who are saved or who are 
 lost : all we can say of the best man on earth 
 is that he professes to be converted, and we 
 do not see anything in his conduct which is 
 contrary to that profession. Human beings 
 have to judge others by their actions, not by 
 their faith. God only sees the heart ; and 
 we are not to get a verdict from human judges, 
 or from our own feelings, but to await the 
 sentence of the unerring Judge. 
 
 How may I get a favourable one ? God has 
 instituted the Lord's day to this end, that 
 those who are saved may come and wo/ship, 
 and that those who are not saved may hear 
 what they are to do. Just as the business of 
 the week-days must be done, so the business 
 of this day must be done. This business is 
 not to hear a sermon and criticise it. If I 
 were a salesman, 1 should not hke a person to 
 come into my shop, and spend an hour and a 
 half in looking over all my good^, and then 
 go away without buying anything — that is not 
 business. I want to do business for eternity. 
 I want not to write nor preach what people 
 like, but to get hold of a man's conscience, 
 and to ask him. Have you the righteousness 
 which is of faith ? Are you resting on the 
 incarnation and resurrection of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ? 
 
 Think of the day and the ordeal of judg- 
 
RighteoustvesSy Human and Divine. 103 
 
 ment. Will you plead guilty or not guilty ? 
 Guilty, not of living a wretchedly bad life as 
 a thief or a murderer, but of breaking God's 
 law in one point ? You say, *' I must acknow- 
 ledge breaking it at one point." Then you 
 are guilty. Have you any excuse to make ? 
 " Yes, much." Have you prayed ? " Yes, 
 all my life." Then pray on. Have you been 
 charitable: "Oh yes, I give to the Hull 
 Infirmary and to the Indian Famine Fund." 
 Then sell all you have and give to the poor. 
 You say, " That is very hard." Yes, but 1 can- 
 not help it : such is the way you have chosen 
 with your excuses, prayers, and good works. 
 Another man pleads '* guilty" at once. Have 
 you any excuses, any prayers, any good deeds, 
 any endeavours to do right to plead in your 
 behalf? "No." Have you nothing good to 
 say for yourself? Are you only fit to be 
 cast away from God ? "I have not a single 
 excuse or palliation to present." Then God 
 says, " I have nothing but a Saviour for one 
 so bad as you are." If you come as a sinner 
 alone, not sinner and company, God will give 
 you Christ, for it is grace now, as it will be 
 judgment then. The righteousness which is 
 of faith is for any man who will take the place 
 where righteousness can flow — the place of 
 the lost sinner now ; for " Behold, now is the 
 accepted time; behold, now is the day of 
 salvation." 
 
 t •;■ I'!. 
 
y 
 
 JOB'S QUESTION AND PAUL'S 
 AN8WEB. 
 
 [OB, in his distress, raised this question, 
 " How should man be just with God ? " 
 (ix. 2). The divinely-appointed sacri- 
 fices in Israel, the ancient idolatries and 
 sacrifices of Greece and Kome, the modem 
 abominations to false gods in heathenism, all 
 tell out that conscience as well as law ever 
 keeps before fallen man this fundamental 
 question. Man has never, even to his own 
 sadsfaction, answered this question ; so that, 
 where he is conscientious, his whole life is 
 taken up in seeking for an answer in his own 
 efforts, and fiDding none. 
 
 Paul has answered it, or rather God the 
 Holy Ghost, by the pen of Paul, in the letter 
 to the Komans (iii. 26), where he tells us that 
 Christ came, and shows how God Himself can 
 be "just, and the Justifier of him who believe th 
 in Jesus." Under several aspects do we find 
 justification in the Scripture : — 
 
 1st, Justification by God. 
 
 2nd, Justification by grace. 
 
 3rd, Justification by blood. 
 
 4th, Justification by resurrection. 
 
 J 
 
 I J. -J {-. 
 
Job's Question and Paul's Answer. 105 
 
 6th, Justification of life. 
 
 6th, Justification by faith. 
 
 7th, Justification by works. ' 
 
 Ist^ Justification by God. — What a wondrous 
 truth I God steps in Himself and justifies the 
 sinner. The process by which this is accom- 
 plished, and the vindicatic n and manifestation 
 of all His attributes in this justification, we 
 shall shortly consider ; hnt the fact is the first 
 thing to take hold of, that God has come in 
 for our justification. '• Even as David also 
 describeth the blessedness of the man unto 
 whom God imputeth righteousness without 
 works" (Eom. iv. 6). So also Isaiah (liii. 6), 
 " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of 
 us all." God is " the Justifier of him who 
 believe th in Jesus" (Kom. iii. 26). "Who 
 shall lay anything to the charge of God*s 
 elect? Shall God that justifieth?" (Rom. 
 viii. 83). And He only has the right to lay 
 to our charge — but He justifies us. He is 
 spoken of as ^^ Him that justifieth the un- 
 godly" (Rom. iv. 5). Man is going about 
 trying to secure his justification ; he will not 
 stand still and let God justify him. Jesus 
 told the religious people of His day (Luke xvi. 
 15), *' Ye are they which justify yourselves; ** 
 and as long as we are attempting to justify 
 ourselves, we cannot submit to let God justify 
 us. We excuse, palliate, cover over our sin, 
 until we understand this fact, that it is God 
 that justifies. 
 
 ID 
 
io6 Job's Question and Paul's Answer. 
 
 2ndf Justification by grace. — God could 
 point to mf alien angels, and say against all 
 accusers, ** These staiid in creature righteous- 
 ness," but He could not justify them by grace, 
 for they never required it. In order to see 
 the meaning of this expression, we must 
 understand what and where man is when God 
 steps in to justify him. In the Epistle to the 
 Eomans, it is not until all men in the toorld — 
 good, bad, and indifferent—have been brought 
 in guilty before God, that God opens up His 
 secret. It is not until man at his extremity 
 cries. How then shall men be just with God ? 
 in the sight of His inflexible justice and 
 stern, unbending judgment, that God steps 
 in and answers his question by opening up 
 the treasures of His grace. The criminal has 
 been found guilty at the bar, the judge has 
 pronounced the sentence, the convict now 
 awaits execution; his prayers, his tears cannot 
 save him; he is condemned. It is in vain 
 that he loudly calls for mercy, and promises 
 amendment for the future ; the sentence has 
 been passed ; the law is inflexible, and his 
 blood is demanded : now is the time for grace. 
 That Judge who has condemned has planned 
 the way by which the condemned criminal 
 may become a loyal subject. He wishes to 
 show the exceeding riches of His grace in 
 His kindness to that condemned man. The 
 thought arises in the Judge's heart ; for it is 
 for His own name's sake that He does it ; and 
 
it/'.- 
 
 V > 
 
 JoUs Question and Paul's Answer, 107 
 
 thus we are "justified freely by His grace** 
 (Eom. iii. 24 ; Titus iii. 7). But what of the 
 justice of the Judge ? Is it to be sacrificed ? 
 What of the inflexible character of His law ? 
 Is it to be tampered with ? Nay, verily. 
 This leads us to consider — 
 
 Srd, Justification by blood. — He spared not 
 His Son, but gave Him up to the death 'for 
 us (blood being the emblem for " life taken "). 
 So we are sipoken of as " being now justified 
 by His blood'' (Rom. v. 9). Death has been 
 demanded. Clirist has died ; the penalty has 
 been paid. So if we are justified freely by 
 His grace, it is " through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath sot forth 
 a propitiation through faith in His blood^* 
 (Rom. iii. 24, 25). Man could tolerate a 
 certain kind of grace, or an interest in Christ's 
 holy life, but he cannot bear the " blood " 
 theology. But the key-note of God's justifica- 
 tion is blood. Blood is the procuring cause, 
 as this passage proves to a demonstration. 
 The Judge was gracious; therefore He gave 
 His Son for the criminal. The Judge "VTas 
 just ; therefore He could not spare the life of 
 His Son. God's justice is now displayed to 
 the universe in the blood of His Son, as no- 
 where, else it could be seen. It is according 
 to the positive value of this precious blood 
 that we are now justified. God's justice de- 
 manded death; God's grace provided blood. 
 So the obedient One, under all the load, says^ 
 
 ii 
 
 ■I'.: 
 
 I! 
 
 
 i I 
 
 :-'ii 
 
I 'i 
 ! 
 
 ! 
 I 
 
 1 08 Job's Question and Paul's Answer, 
 
 " But Thou art holy, Thou that inhabitest 
 the praises of Israel I '* (Psalm xxii.). He 
 vindicates God while He feels the judgment- 
 stroke pouring out His precious blood, and thus 
 puts away the sin that He bore ; and thus His 
 precious ** hlood cleanseth us from all sin," 
 sins of omission as well as sins of commission. 
 Some seem to think that something less or 
 something else than His blood can cleanse 
 from the sin of failing to come up to obey 
 His precepts, while the blood is required only 
 for the sin of actual commission ; but sins of 
 omission are as really sin as sins of commis- 
 sion; and blessed be God, "His blood cleanseth 
 us from ALL sin." And we are justified by His 
 blood as the alone procuring, efficacious, 
 meritorious cause. To nothing else in Scrip- 
 ture is justification attributed as a meritorious 
 cause. " By Him all who believe are justified 
 from all things " (Acts xiii. 39). 
 
 Athf Justification by resurrection. — " Jesus 
 our Lord was delivered for our offences, was 
 raised again for our justification*' (Rom. iv. 
 25). Christ was made sin for us, went into 
 our very place of condemnation under the 
 wrath of God ; but God in justice to Him has 
 raised Him out of that place, thus justifying 
 Him, and thus openly preaching to every clime, 
 where the fact of His resurrection is known, 
 that the legal barrier between Him and any 
 sinner accepting Christ has been removed. 
 It is not that there is merit or value in the 
 
Job's Queslton and Paul's Answer, 109 
 
 putting away of sin in Christ's resurrection — 
 the precious blood alone does that — but there 
 is the exhibition of the satisfaction of God's 
 justice in the finished work of Christ. Christ, 
 on Calvary, reckoned up the penalty demanded, 
 gave Himself as an equivalent, paid thus in 
 equivalent the amount demanded; but God, 
 in raising Christ from the dead, has as it were 
 with His own hand receipted the account, so 
 that not only have we it paid by our Surety, 
 but settled by Him Who made tiio just demand. 
 It was for our offences that He was delivered. 
 It was for our justification Ho was raised . How 
 vague and imperfect are the ideas of justification 
 entertained by many Christians, may be seen in 
 the infrequent use of the resurrection of Christ, 
 which is here so intimately linked with justi- 
 fication. *' If Christ be not raised, ye are yet 
 in your sins " (1 Cor. xv. 17) ; and conversely, 
 " If Christ is raised, ye are not in your sins." 
 His resurrection tells us that God is for us, 
 and that God is for us in consistency, yea, in 
 exhibition of His own majestic justice ; so in 
 Eom. X. 9 the righteousness of faith speaks 
 thus, ** Say not in thine heart, Who shall 
 ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ 
 down from above) ; or, Who shall descend into 
 the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again 
 from the dead)," for the Word tells us, that **if 
 thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
 Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God hath raised Him froin the deadj thou 
 
 i - t 
 
 
'■\-;,' ■ 
 
 1 10 JoUs Qtiestion and Paul's Answer, 
 
 shalt be saved.*' " Who is he that con- 
 demneth ? " (Christ most certainly should). 
 *' Shall Christ that died, yea, rather y that is 
 risen again ? '* (Kom. viii. 34). " If when we 
 were enemies we were reconciled to G-od by the 
 death of His Son, much morey being reconciled^ 
 we shall be saved by His life" {H.is-resurreC' 
 Hon life) (Eom. v. 10). Thus there is the most 
 intimate and necessary connection between 
 justification and resurrection. The Judge's 
 Son, Who, according to the Judge's grace, 
 took the place of the condemned criminal, 
 has shed His blood, but has been raised from 
 the dead, and now stands beyond the forfeit of 
 His life, and the living One is the assurance 
 to the condemned one that there is no con- 
 demnation. "He was raised /or" (not on 
 account of, but for) " our justification." 
 
 &thy Justification of life (Itom. v. 18).— (Lit.) 
 "As by one offence judgment came upon all 
 men to condemnation, even so by one right- 
 eousness the free gift came upon " (rather to 
 or towards) "all men, unto justification of 
 life.'' This carries us a step further in the 
 perfect exhibition of the justification of the 
 believer. Not only did Christ come to save, 
 not only did He shed Hip piecious blood, not 
 only did He stand my Surety, not only was He 
 raised from the dead as my Head and Kepresen- 
 tative, but I am quickened together with Him 
 in this risen life. We are reckoned as having 
 died, and now been raised together with Christ 
 
 ;; 
 
Job's Question and Paul's Answer, ni 
 
 (Eph. ii.)« Says the Psalmist, " Enter not into 
 judgment with Thy servant": for in Thy sight 
 shall no man living be justified " (Psalm cxliii. 
 2). I am justified, not as living in the first 
 Adam life, but as having iied out of the Adam 
 state, and now being raised and quickened with 
 Christ. Eomans vi. is the full exhibition of this. 
 We do not get justification and acceptance 
 now before God by a simple restoration to us of 
 that which was lost in Adam. After the penalty 
 has been paid by our Surety, and He has been 
 raised, we are, as in Christ, taken out of the 
 old condemnation-place, and set down in a 
 a resurrection (therefore justified) life, 
 
 new 
 
 and in the very place that Christ occupies, in 
 virtue of what He has done. In other words, 
 the old things are blotted out as by the cold 
 hand of the grave. We make an entirely new 
 start, as men that have been dead and are now 
 ahve again, living the life of Christ. This is 
 "justification of life.*' This is the " newness 
 of life " — not freshness, or a merely sanctified 
 walk, but life in entirely new circumstances, 
 Christ's resurrection-life, in which we are now 
 to walk, as those who have died to sin. So 
 we are caUed on to "reckon ourselves dead 
 indeed to sin, but alive unto God, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord'* (Rom. vi. 11); and 
 (ver. 7) "he that is dead is justified from 
 sin." It is only as those who have died (in 
 Christ), and who are alive in a Life that knows 
 no condemnation (Christ's risen life), that we 
 
 
 -;• M 
 
 h 
 1 1 
 
 
 ji; 
 
 ; i 
 
 Kill 
 
 
112 Job's Question and Paul's Answer, 
 
 can say we are justified from sin. Such is the 
 bearing of* Christ's death and resurrection on 
 our justification of life. 
 
 Eph. i. 6 tells us that we are " accepted in 
 the Beloved, in whom we have redemption 
 through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." 
 Here we have three things — forgiveness, 
 redemption, acceptance. We are not yet 
 redeemed by power; but, so far. as our sins 
 and their forgiveness are concerned, we do 
 have redemption. And is there One in whom 
 God dehghts, whom God loves, in all His 
 universe ? We are accepted in that beloved ' 
 One — not in the Adamic state perfected, 
 not in the angelic state communicated; but 
 accepted in Him Who is the beloved Son, in 
 His resurrection state — quickened with Him 
 after all the responsibilities of the Adamic 
 state had been justly met — children in Jesus 
 Christ to God Himself. And as Christ is (not 
 was), so are we in this world. If we continue 
 our illustration, it will be only to show how far 
 surpassing man's power is God's justification. 
 Not only has the Judge in His grace given His 
 Son, Whose blood was shed, and Who was raised 
 from the dead, but through that risen Son He 
 communicates life to the condemned criminal, 
 who therefore takes his place as a son — not by 
 some gratuitous assumption or temporary adop- 
 tion, but by an innate right, having now a 
 son's life, and hence a son's position. This 
 is "justification of life." 
 
Job's Question and Paul's Answer, 113 
 
 6^^, Justification hy faith. — "Being justified 
 by faith, we have peace with God "'(Kom. v. 1). 
 Faith is the acceptance of God's method of 
 justification; faith appropriates what graoe 
 provides; faith apprehends what graoe pre- 
 sents. It is not faith that justifies ; but by 
 grace are ye saved through faith. All has 
 been finished centuries ago. Faith now gives 
 credence and credit to the record, and accepts 
 the scheme for the individual sinner — accepts 
 God's condition of death and resurrection in 
 the Surety, and is thus counted for righteous- 
 ness, as apprehending all that God's justice 
 has demanded and grace has provided. The 
 moment we accept Christ we are justified from 
 all things ; we can never be more justified (we 
 then only begin to grow in grace), but it must 
 be hy faith ^ not by feeling. Many anxious 
 ones are looking for the feeling of peace 
 within, supposing that to be faith : the ex- 
 perience of what goes on within me is sense, 
 it is not faith. Faith believes not what 
 we feel, but what God says — **He that 
 believeth not God hath made Him a liar; 
 because he believeth not the record that God 
 gave of His Son. And this is the record, that 
 God hath given to us eternal life, and this life 
 is in His Son " (1 John v. 11). It is of faith 
 that it might be of grace. To make it abso- 
 lutely free and open to any kind of sinner, 
 no condition was imposed. God comes with a 
 free gift, and only asks us to accept it. The 
 
 8 
 
 
 
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 ■~" ' ! ' ' 
 
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 ^4 
 
*"t"'■i^■«.w^■'^■ yf'r? 
 
 '^■"■" .??':■ 
 
 1 14 Job's Question and Paul's Answer, 
 
 moment we do, we have peace (not with our- 
 selves) with God, for Christ is our peace. 
 
 Ith^ Justified by works (James ii. 24).— 
 Certainly these are not deeds of the law — 
 " By the deeds of the law there shall no fiesh 
 be justified in His sight " (Rom. iii. 20). They 
 are works of faith, (Look at the instances 
 in James' Epistle, — Abraham's seemed to be 
 against the law of the sixth commandment.) 
 The works of faith show to men that there is 
 faith, just as the figs on a tree show that the 
 root is a fig root. If a man say he has faith — 
 I say to him. Show me your works. (It is not, 
 Show God. He can see faith — I can't.) My 
 works justify my faith before men, as my faith 
 justifies myself before God. A Christian is in 
 a low state when he is searching for this faith 
 among his works. He is in a doubtful state 
 when he has to persuade other men that he 
 has faith, who fail to see it m his works. My 
 faith rests on Jesus Christ alone for salvation, 
 and the words concerning Him for the know- 
 ledge of salvation. My exhibition to men of 
 faith stands on my works of faith alone. The 
 condemned criminal has accepted the terms, 
 the provision of the Judge, — that is, justifica- 
 tion by faith. He now lives as the Judge's 
 son, honours the Judge's will, obeys the Judge's 
 commandments, walks, acts, speaks, as be- 
 comes the son's place, so that men at once 
 see that he is living in the Judge's home as 
 the Judge's son. 
 
cv: 
 
 Job!s Question and Paul's Answer. 115 
 
 God justifies us as the Author and Executor. 
 
 Grace justifies us as the reason in God. 
 
 Blood justifies us as the meritorious cause. 
 
 Eesurrection justifies us as God's own assur- 
 ance. 
 
 Life (in resurrection) justifies us as our 
 position before God. 
 
 Faith justifies us as the instrument. 
 
 Works justify us as the evidence to others. 
 
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 :-t it 
 
TEE CLAIMS OF THE MAN JE8U8, 
 
 ** The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we 
 stone Thee not, but for blasphemy ; and because that Thou, 
 being a man, makeet Thyself God." — John 1 33. 
 
 JHIS is a very solemn statement — "Thou, 
 being a man, makest Thyself God." 
 That was the opinion, at any rate, that 
 the Jews had of Christ's own claims when 
 He came into the world. 
 
 They had no difficulty in knowing what He 
 professed to be ; but they had great difficulty 
 in believing that it was true. They had no 
 difficulty in knowing what His claims were, 
 but they had great difficulty in granting them. 
 They were not like modern Unitarians, who 
 would make out that God had not said in His 
 Bible that the Messiah would come as " God 
 manifest in the flesh ; " they allowed that, but 
 said that it was blasphemy in Him to say that 
 of Himself. That was what Judaism said, and 
 what it says still. They should have been 
 aware that there was a text in Zechariah 
 which says, " Awake, sword, against my 
 Shepherd, and against the man that is my 
 Fellovj, saith the Lord of Hosts" — that there 
 Jehovah's fellow was a man. Over and over 
 
The Ccaims of the Man Jesus. 117 
 
 again did the Jews attempt to kill Him be- 
 cause He called Himself God, or the Son of God 
 in a way in which no human created being 
 is so — the Uncreated, Eternal Son — ^the Son 
 of God. This is what these rulers impeached 
 Him for saying of Himself. Here it is strongly 
 put, "Because that Thou, b^ing a man, makest 
 Thyself God." In the 6th of John we read 
 at the 18th verse, "Therefore the Jews sought 
 the more to kill Him, because He not only had 
 broken the Sabbath, but said also that God 
 was His Father, making Himself equal with 
 God." The claim was fellowship with God. 
 " He made Himself equal with God." 
 
 Then, if we pass on to His crucifixion, we 
 shall find that this was the head and front 
 of His accusation. John xix. 7, " The Jews 
 answered Him, We have a law, and by our 
 law He ought to die, because He made Him- 
 self the Son of God." This was His death- 
 warrant — what they put upon His indictment 
 as the greatest of all His crimes. In the 
 Gospel by Matthew, xxvi. 63-66, He is indicted 
 and condemned for the same thing, — "But 
 Jesus held His peace. And the high-priest 
 answered and said unto Him, I adjure Thee, 
 by the living God, that Thou tell us whether 
 Thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus 
 saith unto him, Thou hast said : nevertheless 
 I say unto you. Hereafter shall ye see the Son 
 of man sitting on the right hand of power, and 
 coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the 
 
 
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 ii8 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
 high-priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath 
 spoken hlasphemy; what further need have 
 we of witnesses ? behold, now ye have heard 
 His blasphemy. What think ye? They 
 answered and said. He is guilty of death.'* 
 In the high-priest's estimation it seemed a 
 greater sin than claiming to be the Son of 
 God, that He pictured Himself coming in the 
 clouds of heaven, and sitting on the right hand 
 of power as Son of man ; that He, as the Son 
 of man, would be raised up to be Head over 
 every created thing ; and that He would sit, 
 and reign, and govern with God as man. 
 This was great blasphemy to their minds. 
 
 Then we come to the title and accusation 
 put upon the cross. " The superscription of 
 His accusation was written over, The King of 
 the Jews" Mark does not give us any other 
 part — not even '' Jesus of Nazareth." The 
 chief part of the accusation was that He was 
 the Kirg of the Jews — the Messiah promised 
 to the fathers, to fulfil all the promises made 
 to Abraham and David. As such He was to 
 sit on the throne of Israel — King of the Jews 
 — God's own chosen people. 
 
 Thus we find a three-fold claim made by 
 Christ ; and all the three claims were dis- 
 allowed by the Jews : — 
 
 First, '' that He, being a man, made Him- 
 self God," as John tells us, the Son of God, 
 equal with God, very God Himself. 
 
 Second, that He was the Son of man. Who 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus. 119 
 
 would yet put everything on earth that opposed 
 Him under His feet, and govern the whole 
 creation. 
 
 Third, that He was the King of the Jews, 
 Who should establish the throne of Israel, and 
 at last sit thereon. 
 
 These are the three great naroes which are 
 the centres of all His powers and greatest 
 claims on this earth: — 
 
 The Son of God, by which He has wrought 
 out redemption for His people. 
 
 The King of the Jews, to establish them in 
 their own land in the latter day. He will 
 restore Israel, and reign over His own people 
 m His title of King of the Jews. 
 
 The Son of man, under which title He is to 
 be Lord of all- creation. All shall then know 
 Him, even from the least to the greatest, and 
 give Him obedience. 
 
 We read in the^ 8th Psalm, " Thou hast 
 put all things under His feet ; all sheep and 
 oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl 
 of the air, and the fish of the sea." These 
 are representative of the different classes of 
 creatures — the oxen and sheep, or domesti- 
 cated animals ; the beasts of the field, or wild 
 animals ; the feathered tribe ; and the fish of 
 the sea ; and all are to be under Him. Though- 
 we see not yet all things put under Him, stiU 
 m counsel they are put under Him. This was 
 so far seen while He was on earth. When He 
 was tempted of the devil it was among the 
 
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 1 20 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
 wild beasts of the desert, but they did not 
 touch Him. When baptised, a dove was used 
 by the Holy Ghost. When asked to pay the 
 unjust tax, He said. Go and open that fish's 
 mouth, and there was the money. When 
 He required a quadruped to ride into Jeru- 
 salem, there was the colt of an ass just at 
 hand. And when He wanted to rebuke Peter 
 in the midst of his blasphemy, the cock was 
 ready to crow. Whether birds of the air, 
 fish of the sea, or animals, wild or tame, all 
 were subject to Him as the Son of man. 
 
 The Son of God. 
 
 Such claims as He advanced have never 
 been advanced by any man before nor since. 
 We are so accustomed by traditional upbringing 
 to a sort of hereditary belief of truth that we 
 are apt to take it second-hand, and lose its 
 power. We are in danger of having this 
 blessed book more in our heads than in our 
 hearts, from being brought up in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord. It is good to 
 be so brought up, but what we have by custom 
 we generally have not so firm a grasp of. So 
 that when infidelity assails us we have to fall 
 back again on the pure Eevelation of God — 
 what saith the Lord? We have a sort of 
 traditional belief that the Bible is all right, 
 ■ and that Christ is the only Saviour, and that 
 the way by which evangelical preachers tell 
 us to go to heaven is the correct one. In- 
 
Tfie Claims of the Man Jesus. 121 
 
 deed, we take for granted that to believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ is the way to be saved. 
 But to believe {^11 that about Christ is not 
 the same as believing in Him. To believe 
 in Him is the saving thing. No matter 
 what I have been : if I believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ* I shall be saved; and if I 
 don't, and do everything else, I shall be 
 damned. If you do everthing else, you are 
 damned if you don't do that. He has made 
 this the crucial, testing point, " Believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
 saved." If that had been all, it would not 
 have been so testing, but the opposite is 
 equally true, for it is written, " He that be- 
 Ueveth not shall be damned." The stately 
 king that believes not shall be damned. The 
 poor peasant that believes not shall be damned. 
 The rich man and the poor alike that believe 
 not shall be damned. The learned and un- 
 learned shall be equally damned that do not 
 believe in Christ. Be he the least sinner 
 that ever lived, or the greatest sinner that 
 ever lived; I cannot help it; he shall be 
 damned if he believe not on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. If I had been judge, I would 
 have said the good moral man will get to 
 heaven and the gross offender only go to 
 hell; but I am here not to make the rule 
 of life, but to declare it. He that believeth 
 not shall be damned, and I canuot alter it. 
 It will not make it true if I preach something 
 
 
 
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122 The Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
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 else. So upon faith in Christ turns the 
 whole question between God and man ? The 
 blackest sinner that believes on Christ and 
 claims Him as his own Saviour is saved 
 for ever, and the best man on earth that 
 comes to God without Christ must be damned. 
 Thus you see Christ is made the turning point. 
 The question to us, therefore, is. Do you 
 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? We have 
 no new gospel to bring before you, though 
 we trust we shall be enabled to give you 
 some fresh aspect of it. 
 
 I have been revolving this text very much 
 in my mind — ** Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and ti\ou shalt be saved." 
 
 I don't know another in all creation that I 
 believe in. We cannot believe in our dearest 
 friends. I will tell you why, — it is because 
 we do not believe in ourselves. After that it 
 is not likely we will believe in them. But I 
 do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can 
 believe in you so far, and you can believe in 
 me so far. If I say, I will come and preach to 
 you, I will come as far as lies in my power. 
 Nothing short of some catastrophe will prevent 
 me coming ; and you believe me thas far. 
 But to believe wholly in any man or woman 
 out of heaven we cannot, we dare not, because 
 we do not believe in ourselves. Let me bring 
 an instance before you. You remember the 
 claimant that was so notoriously before the 
 
 public not long 
 
 ago. 
 
 He advanced great 
 
'I he Claims of i/ie Man Jesus. 123 
 
 claims, and put people to a great deal of 
 trouble, and perplexed the minds of many 
 people as to whether or not he was what he 
 professed to be. I thought he was the 
 genuine article for a time. During the first 
 trial, and up to a certain stage in it, I believed 
 in him. I thought he was the real Sir Eoger 
 Tichborne. The trial went on, and fair play 
 fifty times told vvas given him, but it would 
 not do ; his roguery came out bit by bit, till it 
 became more and more evident that he was 
 an impostor. All that could be got in his 
 favour was hunted up and brought forward. 
 Every witness that could be trusted was heard 
 on his side. Still his case would not hold 
 water. It was patent that he was not the 
 true heir of the estates. Moreover, those who 
 had most to do with it, and heard and knew 
 all the outs and ins of the case, formed in- 
 dependent judgments solemnly, unanimously, 
 and heartily against him. The impartiality of 
 the judge and jury was patent to all ; and 
 they, as well as the great voice of the English 
 people, pronounced that no such blackguard 
 has appeared for many years. Who believes 
 in him now that he is proved guilty ? In 
 fact, nobody, unless very peculiarly con- 
 stituted can any longer have faith in him. 
 I do not believe in him. He came forward 
 claiming these estates, and has put their 
 rightful possessors to extraordinary trouble 
 and expense, as well as the country at large ; 
 
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 I :>■: 
 
 1 24 The Claims of the Man Jesus, 
 
 but it has now been proved that he is no 
 more Sir Roger Tichborne than I am. 
 
 The Greatness of His Claims. 
 
 ■ But the One whom I ask you to believe in 
 makes far greater claims than those of that 
 impostor. His claims were nothing to the 
 claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. The throne 
 of the Jewish nation is His Who was born 
 King of the Jews. And more than that, the 
 throne of the whole earth is His as the Son of 
 man. And not only that, but the throne of 
 the universe is His as the Son of God. Did 
 you ever hear of such claims? He claimed 
 by birth the throne of His father David, King 
 of the Jews, and was crucified as such. He 
 claimed also that, as Son of man, He would 
 sit on the right hand of the power of God, and 
 put all His enemies under His feet ; that as 
 the Second Man — the last Adam — He would 
 restore all that the first Adam lost ; that all 
 on earth, both small and great, should yet bow 
 down to Him as rightful King of nations. 
 And not only that, but that He was the Son 
 of God — equal with the Father — God Himself, 
 the Creator of all things ; that He is Lord 
 of all that ever was or will be encircled round 
 the throne of God, and Possessor of everything 
 in the universe as Heir of God. Did you ever 
 hear of such claims as thes^ ? The question 
 is, Who believes in Him as such ? The Jews 
 did not. 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus, 125 
 
 He oame to His own nation that He professed 
 to be King of, and they would not have Him. 
 They cried, " Away with Him ; onicify Him, 
 crucify Him." They preferred Barahbas to 
 Him. What is Barabbas ? He was a robber. 
 Did you ever look at the history of the 
 Jewish nation from that day to this ? If you 
 do, and look also at their Bible history as 
 a nation, you will find it to be one of robbery 
 from beginning to end. I can never read 
 accounts of them anywhere, and especially in 
 their own serials, without repeating the word 
 "robbery." Their robber king, ever since 
 they chose him, has ruled them with a dreadful 
 consistency — robbery, robbery, robbery, has 
 been the one history of the nation. Thus the 
 Jews, His owTt nation and people to whom He 
 came, would not have Him. They clung to a 
 Gentile monarch, crying, ** We have no king 
 but Caesar." 
 
 Then, again, the world was made by Him 
 as the Son of man, and the world did not 
 know Him, and hence did not believe in Him. 
 The Jews would not have the Son of David, 
 nor would the Gentiles have the Son of man ; 
 for once, both Jew and Gentile were united 
 to cast Him out. All refused to hav^ Him. 
 This introduces the weak side of our Client's 
 case. A good counsel always labours to get 
 evidence to support the weak side of his 
 client's case. Now I am pleading the cause 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. I shall bring strong 
 
 5 ■ ' 
 
 
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 n. 
 
W^^i'Y 
 
 126 T/ze Claims of the Man Jesus, 
 
 evidence to prove what is supposed to be the 
 weak side of His olaijis ; and I am to put the 
 case before you as jurymen, and ask you to 
 give a candid decision as before the living 
 God. I care not if the enemy, Satan, himself 
 be called ; I am quite prepared to meet him 
 with unchallengeable evidence. Though the 
 devil comes with all these six thousand years* 
 experiences against us, I shall put the case 
 as fairly as I can, and I fear not the issue. 
 
 When He came to this earth He was bom 
 in the worst of all circumstances. Although 
 really the King of the Jews, the Son of man, 
 and the Son of God, He was born among the 
 beasts in a despised part of the land called 
 Bethlehem. He spent the greater part of His 
 life on earth in great seclusion. He was a 
 carpenter working at the planes and saws ; 
 and for thirty years He did not pubHcly 
 advance His claims. Then when He entered 
 on His ministry, and came forward as the 
 King of the Jews, they would not recognise 
 Him. I cannot put it very much stronge 
 against Him than that. He came to JBj ■ 
 own estates, and His own servants would not 
 receive Him. He came to His own house 
 and p(j^sessions, and His people kept Him out 
 of both. So much for His claim as King of 
 the Jews. 
 
 The Jews to a man rejected Him, except 
 a few broken- down fishermen and others. 
 Just a few of these ignorant, p<Jor people 
 
 1 
 
The Claims of the Man J^sus, 127 
 
 stood up for Him. Just a few of those senti- 
 mental, weeping people, who had not much 
 head, such alone dared to cry Hosanna in His 
 presence. He never drew any great people 
 round ahout Him. He went about despised 
 and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and 
 acquainted with grief. He was in the world, 
 and the world was made by Him, and yet 
 it knew nothing about Him. And when He 
 came to His departure out of this world the 
 Jews forsook Him, and the Gentiles, too, 
 mocked and scourged Him. His friends even, 
 who, we would have thought, would have 
 stood up for Him, — even His friends left Him. 
 His disciples forsook Him and fled. One 
 betrayed Him ; another swore that he never 
 blew Him ; not one of them stood by Him. 
 And every man on earth left Him. We can 
 see nothing around Him but a mob of infuri- 
 ated Jews, and Gentile soldiers with their 
 spears at His breast. 
 
 AU on earth left Him, and all hell was let 
 loose upon Him. He has come *20w to the 
 crisis. Now is the crucial point, for He is to 
 be given into the hands of God to be tested. 
 Now we shall see if He is an impostor. He 
 has been given into the hands of men, and 
 they nailed Him to a tree ; now He is in the 
 hands of God ; and hearken to His cry, ** My 
 God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " 
 He is not only forsaken by all on earth, and 
 all in hell, by Jews and Gentiles, by foes and 
 
 
 
 
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 128 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus, 
 
 friends, but He is -forsaken by God Himself. 
 Does this not prove against Him? I am 
 pleading the opposite side just now, because 
 I am determined to give you all that can be 
 said against Him first. Now it is perfectly 
 
 ^ sure that His claim has been disallowed. 
 
 ■ Therefore " we did esteem Him stricTceUj 
 smitten of God, and afflicted," That is what 
 the Jews said. You see, say they, that He is 
 an impostor, for God has smitten Him for His 
 imposition, and for saying that He was the 
 Christ, the Son of God. His history now 
 seems to prove Him an impostor. Jews and 
 Gentiles all say He is an impostor. In fact, 
 heaven, earth, and hell seem now against His 
 claims. 
 
 His Claims Disallowed. 
 
 Have you anything else to say against 
 Him? Not one of His claims has been 
 allowed. All has been against Him as the 
 one who claims to be the King of the Jews, 
 the Son of man and equal with God. What 
 have we now to say on His behalf? Well, 
 we have just one short question to ask, and 
 upon it we hang all our case. As to what 
 you have said ^.gainst Him, we admit it all ; 
 it is all true. We shall see what you, the 
 jury, say when we bring forward our evidence. 
 Eemember, my readers, you will all give a 
 verdict as you read. It must be one way or 
 other before God. We are now to put our 
 
Tfie Clavns of the Man Jesus, 129 
 
 case before you, and speak for our Client. 
 We have not a long speech to make. Nor 
 are we to try to convince you by any outburst 
 of eloquence. Oratorical machinery never 
 yet convinced a sinner of his sins, any more 
 than it convinced a conscientious jury that a 
 man was guilty against clear evidence to the 
 contrary. If I were a juryman I should want 
 nothing but the facts of the case. Well, I 
 have only one short question to ask my 
 opponents, and one question is all we need to 
 ask. On that we hang all our case, and 
 demand a verdict in favour of our Client. 
 What is this question ? We quite allow all 
 that has been said — that He was rejected, 
 crucified, slain, and buried ; but we now ask, 
 Where is He ? Where is He now ? In vain 
 do you go to the sepulchre, and search the 
 tomb for Him.* Where is He? 
 
 "Well,*' says my opponent, "I thought you 
 would ask that ; but my answer is, The dis- 
 ciples carried away His body during the night." 
 
 " Would you kindly give evidence for that, 
 because I have some rebutting evidence ? *' 
 
 **Well, I have a strong military leader, 
 with his band of soldiers, who were set as a 
 watch over His sealed grave." 
 
 " Eoman soldiers, I know you are true men ; 
 what do you know of this matter ? Is it true 
 that you were set there as a watch ? " 
 
 /* Yes, we were, and that on pain of death 
 to every one of us should He be removed." 
 
 9 
 
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 1: - 
 
 •m 
 
1 30 TJie Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
 " And is it true that there was a stone rolled 
 to the mouth of His grave ? " 
 
 " Yes, a huge stone, in order that no ordi- 
 nary force should break into it." 
 
 "And more than that, this stone was sealed 
 with the governor's seal, that none should 
 dare to touch it. Well, you did everything 
 that you possibly could to make it secure ?'* 
 
 " Yes, we did." 
 
 By the way, my friends, you see how the 
 wriggling of the serpent always discovers itself. 
 A straightforward, conscientious man can 
 never be deceived by the devil, because he 
 goes in a straight line. The line of downright, 
 genuine honetty and the line of Satan's pro- 
 cedure can never go together — they are the 
 opposite of parallel. The reason is, because 
 Satan always uses crooked, round-about 
 arguments; and if you meet him with clear 
 and correct statements of truth, he will flee 
 from you. So if the world had not taken such 
 precautions against all possibility of Christ's 
 body being stolen — setting a great stone, the 
 governor's seal, and a strong guard to watch it 
 — it would not have been so easy now to prove 
 that He was raised from the dead. 
 
 " Well, then, soldier No. 1, do you mean to 
 say, after [all that, that the disciples stole the 
 body of Christ out of the tomb ? " 
 
 "Yes, they took it away when we were 
 sleeping." 
 
 " Indeed ! And in what way did they do it ?" 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus. 131 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 Well, we cannot exactly say." 
 Worse and worse ! And how do you know 
 that they did it at all ? " No answer. 
 You see, when a man is guilty, he makes him- 
 self ridiculous all round. I ask you, jurymen, 
 what is the strength of such evidence as that ? 
 " You step down, sir ; your evidence is worse 
 than useless. 
 
 " Soldier No. 2, come up 1 How do you 
 account for the removal of Jesus of Nazareth 
 out of the tomb ? Is He risen ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ; He is not risen." 
 
 "Where is He, then?" 
 
 " Well, V d happened to fall asleep a bit, 
 and His disciples came and stole the body 
 away." 
 
 ** Did you see them through your sleep ? " 
 
 '* No, but we are all agreed that it was 
 they who took it away." 
 
 I need not waste your time, jurymen, be- 
 cause if we bring them all forward, they 
 have all the same story to tell. Having heard 
 one, you have heard them all. It is evident 
 there has been some bribery behind the scene. 
 Their theory is that His disciples took it 
 away, and buried it somewhere else. If you 
 ask each of them, he is sure of it ; and he is 
 sme of it because he was sound asleep when 
 it was done. Satan, have you any other 
 theory for the defence of your position? 
 Have you any other way of accounting for 
 this body being removed, in spite of this 
 
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 I 
 
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132 The Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
 stone, and the royal seal, and the guard of 
 Boman soldiers ? No, he has not. His case 
 rests on the evidence of a few sleeping soldiers I 
 Do you maintain, on such evidence as that, 
 that His disciples took His body out of that 
 sepulchre, and embalmed it, and stowed it 
 away in some secluded place out of every- 
 body's reach and ken 2 In vain shall ye search 
 for it there. Jews and Gentiles, men and 
 devils, in vain shall ye search for it ; for He 
 is not there at all. He is risen ; and I shall 
 now prove it by unimpeachable evidence. 
 
 Proof that He is risen from the Dead. 
 
 Bring in Mary to the witness-box. 
 
 " Now, Mary, what have you to say ? Who 
 was it that you saw on that first day of the 
 week, who said, * Touch me not, but go and 
 tell my brethren ' ? " 
 
 **That was my Lord and Master. I saw 
 Him with my own eyes risen from the dead, 
 and no man will convince me that it was not 
 so. And He also showed Himself to Peter 
 and John, and the rest of the disciples, as 
 was said." 
 
 " That will do, Mary, from you. That is 
 very good evidence, but we want better still." 
 Some may say that she was a poor sentimental 
 woman, and her evidence cannot be trusted. 
 
 Bring forward the Old Testament witnesses 
 next. I do not found so much on it, though 
 it is strong, circumstantial, corroborative 
 
 '! ,». 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus, 133 
 
 evidence. You will observe all my witnesses 
 say He rose on the third day. Well, all the 
 Old Testament witnesses say He would do so. 
 Whence this corroboration? How does it 
 happen that all Christendom from that day to 
 this sets aside the first day of the week to 
 worship God instead of the Sabbath or seventh 
 day? There is a strong coincidence, unac- 
 countable on any ground but that Christ rose 
 on that day. 
 
 Here come now His disciples and apostles. 
 
 " What have you to say on this question ? " 
 
 " Well, we were all assembled together on 
 the first day of the week, and our Lord ap- 
 peared right in the midst of us, and said, 
 * Peace be unto you.' He showed Himself 
 unto us, risen from the dead on that Lord's 
 day. We are all eye-witnesses of that fact. 
 There is, and can be, no doubt about it what- 
 ever." 
 
 " Well, that will do for you ; that is good 
 sound evidence." We are simply letting 
 you hear the evidence, without comment, 
 because we have many more good witnesses. 
 
 Here is another one ; let us question him. 
 
 " What is your name, sir ? *' 
 
 " My name is Thomas." 
 
 " What are you ? " 
 
 ** I was born a sceptic. I am the greatest 
 doubter of all the apostles. They used to call 
 me sceptical Thomas." (You see, God made 
 use of the scepticism of Thomas to p?:ove 
 
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 1^1 
 
1 34 The Claims of the Man Jesus, 
 
 His resurreotion. The testimony of a sceptic 
 is the very best evidence.) 
 
 " Well then, Thomas, are you convinced 
 that this Jesus of Nazareth is alive from the 
 dead ? " 
 
 " Well, I was a great doubter as to that. 
 I did not believe every story about it that I 
 heard; nor would I take it from the testimony 
 of two, three, or four witnesses; but my doubts 
 are all- clean gone now, because I know for 
 certain that He is risen from the dead." 
 
 " How do you know that so well now ? '* \ 
 
 " Because I saw Him with mine own eyes, 
 and thrust my own fingers into the prints of 
 the nails in His body." 
 
 " So you are perfectly sure it was the 
 Lord ? " 
 
 " Yes, perfectly sure ; and there is no man 
 will ever convince me that it was not. As 
 long as life lasts my scepticism as to that is 
 gone." 
 
 WeU then, readers, we hope you will give 
 that testimony its due weight in forming your 
 verdict. We have now a large multitude of 
 five hundred brethren that saw Him at once. 
 You can question any of them for their 
 evidence. So we may dismiss these five hun- 
 dred brethren without further examination. 
 
 Paul's Evedenoe. 
 
 Here is a noble-looking man, with a deter- 
 mined look, closed lips, and silvered hair. 
 
'■• (. 
 
 The Claims of the Man Jesus, 135 
 
 " Who art thou ? " 
 
 **I am Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles. 
 I was once Saul the persecutor, a blasphemous 
 and injurious person. I haled to judgment 
 and death all who believed in this crucified 
 Man, and was exceeding mad against them." 
 
 ** Why, I thought you would have been 
 called as a witness for the opposition, since 
 you did everything within your reach to 
 destroy the hated and despised sect who 
 believed in this Man. How is it that you 
 have come over to be a witness on His side ? " 
 
 "Well, as I was going on in my career 
 of persecuting His followers, a light brighter 
 than a midday sun struck me to the ground, 
 and there I saw this Man of Calvary in 
 the brightest effulgence of the glory of God. 
 He is on the throne of God. Ah I ye poor 
 soldiers of Eome, how did He get up 
 there ? Did His disciples make a ladder up 
 to that throne, in order to place Him there ? 
 There He is now. How got He there, if He 
 be an impostor ? " 
 
 "Tell us, Paul the aged, did He say any- 
 thing to you?" 
 
 *' He said, ' I am Jesus, whom thou perse- 
 cutest.' And from that day to this He has 
 made me another and a new man ; and I am 
 now going onward to that crown." 
 
 Is he not a noble witness — Paul ? I think 
 he is the first man in heaven I should like to 
 see after our blessed Lord. What a clean out 
 
 
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 Ml 
 
/^ 
 
 136 The Claims of the Man Jesus 
 
 he made with the devil, and what a bold stand 
 for Christ 1 He oounted all his gain, position, 
 and prospects but dung, and went abroad 
 everywhere preaching the faith he once de- 
 stroyed; working even with his own hands 
 to make the gospel preaching free of charge. 
 One time he had preached some eighteen 
 months and had got nothing, and they took 
 him outside the city to give him his wages, 
 and gave him thirty-nine lashes with a whip. 
 " Forty stripes save one " he gloried in when 
 standing up for this rejected Man. And when 
 he got them, he sang hallelujah. ' Our light 
 affliction, which is but for a mono worketh 
 for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory.*' There is a witness who believes 
 in our Client ! having suffered the loss of all, 
 and the torture of thirty-nine lashes with the 
 whip thrice told, and then sung hallelujah 
 over it all. 
 
 " You may now go, Paul ; your evidence 
 will carry its own weight with it.'* 
 
 Stephen's Evidence. 
 
 Here is another true witness. He is a great 
 preacher. But he is not an apostle, nor is 
 he an elder, but just a deacon, and withal a 
 sensible, peaceful-looking man. 
 
 " What is your name ? " 
 
 He looks down very humbly and replies, 
 "I am deacon Stephen.** 
 
 " What were you ? ** 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus. 137 
 
 '*I happen to be the first martyr of this 
 dispensation among those who believe and 
 preach that this Jesus of Nazareth is the 
 Christ, the Son of God. And for this they 
 dragged me out and stoned me." 
 
 " Were you not very much afraid when you 
 saw the great crowds gathered, and the huge 
 stones coming upon you ? " , 
 
 " Not I. I never saw one of them.'* 
 
 " What so filled your gaze that you did not 
 see them ? " 
 
 " I saw heaven opened." 
 
 **That is something wonderful! And it 
 was that, that did not let you see the stones 
 when they were flying on you, breaking your 
 bones and taking your life ? You had heard 
 the angel choirs singing, and saw the blood- 
 washed throng, with palms in their hands and 
 crowns of gold ? It is a grand place, heaven, 
 with its gates of pearls and streets of gold. 
 Were you not very much impressed with the 
 sight ? " 
 
 ** I did not see one of them. I saw the 
 Son of man standing on the right hand of 
 God." 
 
 " Well, I am just taking evidence for that 
 very purpose now; are you sure you saw 
 Him?" , 
 
 "Yes; I saw neither angel nor saint, but 
 I did see the Son of man — the crucified Man 
 of Calvary — with the prints of the nails in 
 His hands, standing on the right hand of God. 
 
 I i 
 
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 138 T/^ Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
 I saw nothing of the sorrows of earth, nor 
 of the glory of heaven, hut the Man of Calvary 
 standing on God's right hand." 
 
 Jurymen, are you now ready to give your 
 verdict ? You have heard numerous com- 
 petent witnesses declare that they have seen 
 Him alive from the dead ; and some that they 
 have seen Him in heaven itself, standing at 
 God's right hand. Shall I now ask your 
 verdict ? Are you satisfied with the evidence? 
 No, I shall not ask it yet, because I have my 
 best Witness to call still. I shall bring my 
 best Witness last. 
 
 I have brought a woman, a sceptic, five 
 hundred brethren, a converted persecutor, 
 and a martyred deacon, but I ca-nnot bring 
 a single unconverted man who saw Christ 
 after His resurrection. Paul saw Him when 
 unconverted, but the sight converted him. 
 Not one of my witnesses is from that regiment 
 which is going on the broad way to destruction. 
 Satan dare not put some of his witnesses into 
 the box. They have such bad characters , but 
 you can examine the characters of all mine, 
 and you will find them true to the core — they 
 are kings and priests unto God. 
 
 The Witness op tee Spieit. 
 
 Well, I have my best Witness last, and that 
 is not Peter, nor John, nor Paul, but tlio Third 
 Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He 
 came down when Christ was glorified. Now 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus. 139 
 
 with deepest reverence and worshipping awe 
 we ask Him who He ia? and He replies, — 
 
 •*I am the Spirit of Truth, come to take 
 of the things of Christ, and publish them.** 
 
 ** Why art Thou hsre on earth ? " 
 
 ♦* I have come out from the throne of God, 
 because the Man, Christ Jesus, was glorified 
 there." 
 
 '' Is He glorified ? '* 
 
 ** I could not have come down here unless 
 He, as glorified Man, had taken His place 
 on the throne of God ; but now He has sent 
 Me to gather together in one what He has 
 purchased mth His own blood, and to form 
 a habitation of God on the earth." 
 
 "So it is settled, then, that the Man of 
 Calvary is on the throne of His Father, God, 
 in heaven? *' 
 
 " Yes. ' Being found in fashion as a man. 
 He humbled Himself, and became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the cross. 
 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, 
 and ^iven Him a name which is above every 
 name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow, of thinsfs in heaven, and things 
 in earth, and things under the earth ; and that 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
 is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' " 
 
 " Thou hast come down to tell this, 
 then ? " 
 
 " Yes. * This is He that came by water and 
 blood, even Jesus Christ ; not by water only, 
 
 : -(.. 
 
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 i .M V 
 II i 
 
 
 140 The Claims of the Man Jesus. 
 
 but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit 
 that beareth witness * " (1 John v. 6). 
 
 What can we have after such evidence? 
 This is the true witness of the Third Person 
 of the Trinity— concerning an exalted Christ. 
 " He shall not speak of Himself." That is 
 plain. And why was that? In order that 
 we should not build upon His work in our 
 hearts, but upon Christ's work, of which He 
 testifies. I used to make a gross mistake in 
 thinking that the witness of the Spirit was 
 what I felt within me. What is the witness 
 of the Spirit ? Is it what you feel your heart 
 saying ? No, that is the evidence of a liar. 
 My friend, I cannot tell you all that His 
 witness takes in, but I can tell you that what 
 your heart says is not the witness of the 
 Spirit. And in case there should be any 
 mistake about His witness, it is v;ritten — ^it is 
 all printed. I have not time to read over all 
 that He has said of this risen Christ, but you 
 can read it for yourselves. You will see it 
 from the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles to the 22nd chapter of the Kevelation. 
 There is His evidence. That is the witness 
 of the Spirit, which He indited after His 
 descent at Pentecost. 
 
 Christ ascended, and the Spirit has come 
 to bear witness to the fact, and all that He 
 says is laid before you to be received as 
 evidence. Now, are you to believe the evi- 
 dence of your own erring heart? or the evidence 
 

 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus, 141 
 
 ■I ^^— — — ^— ^^— « 
 
 of this Spirit ? I don't believe my own heart 
 as to any Divine truth . Whenever mjr heart 
 contradicts the testimony of the Spirit I say 
 to it, You are a liar, and there the controversy 
 ends. 
 
 Who believes in Him now? 
 
 Well, friends, who believes in this rejected 
 Man now? Who believes in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ? Does every one of my readers believe 
 in Him? I ask you at least to believe in 
 Him notOj if you never did before, and in 
 your inmost soul say so to the living God. 
 In spite of all the infidels on earth and devils 
 in hell, I believe in Him that He is the Christ, 
 the Son of God. If never before, I say, Christ 
 for me. Friend, do you say that ? We may 
 indeed be reckoned as fools for believing in 
 Him — greater fools than those who still 
 believe in a false claimant. After our Hero's 
 own people would have nothing to do with 
 Him, after He has been forsaken by man 
 and God, condemned and persecuted, no 
 wonder if we are counted fools for believing 
 in Him. Think how few do believe iii 
 Him. Surely we are credvilous. The whole 
 world is against Him, and lieth in the wicked 
 one. Well, now, do you believe in my Client ? 
 1 have said what I can for Him, and am 
 determined to hve, and if need be die be- 
 lieving in Him. Christ for me ! 
 
 My friends, tl^e devil has great skill and 
 
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 142 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus* 
 
 mighty power in deceiving souls, but we do 
 not fear him more than our own hearts. If 
 you meet him always with God's firm testi- 
 mony, that will silence him. 
 
 If we are identified with this rejected Man, 
 we must be rejected by the world, the devil, 
 and the flesh ; and we have no sword where- 
 with to fight them but the sword of the 
 Spirit, which is the Word of God. Though 
 you should be the most ignorant man living — 
 not able to put .two lines together, or spell your 
 own name — if you use that Word of God yqu 
 will gain the battle. 
 
 Look at the poor Jewish nation. ** We 
 did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and 
 afiiicted." They went wrong by not receiving 
 and using both sides of the truth. They took 
 the black side, and left the bright. " We did 
 esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and 
 afflicted, hutr I Hke the little '' buts " of the 
 Bible. A " but " shunts the train off one line 
 of rails on to the other — off from the line of 
 danger to the line of safety. The *' buts " of 
 ibe Bible are the shunting-points of the Bible. 
 *'But" — another line of rails altogether—. 
 " He was wounded for our transgressions, 
 He was bruised for our iniquities, the chas- 
 tisement of our peace was upon Him, and 
 with His stripes we are healed." "For He 
 was delivered for our offences, and raised again 
 for our justification." Ah, there is the gospel. 
 It is not as if we had nothing to believe in. 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus. 143 
 
 How many of us are prepared to stand up and 
 say, I believe in this murdered Man — Jesus 
 of Nazareth ? Everything is against us. If 
 the world were consistent it would stand and .. 
 laugh at us. That is the offence of the cross. 
 And if you are not getting insults thrown at - 
 you, and getting reviled and laughed at, you 
 are not accepting the Christ of Calvary ; for 
 the world is not one whit changed from what 
 it was when it cried out, " Away with Him, 
 away with Him ; crucify Him, crucify Him." 
 It is the same at heart. 
 
 Jurymen, will you give your verdict now ? 
 Do you believe in Christ ? Will you give 
 your vote for Him? He that beheveth is 
 saved. Believe now ! Give your verdict for 
 Him, and you are saved for ever. Now, are 
 you to answer this appeal with, Christ for me ? 
 or are you to believe the devil's lie ? He is 
 the father of Hes, and aU the evidences for his 
 case are a few sleeping soldiers. Think of all 
 the evidences the Spirit has advanced to prove 
 that He is risen from the dead. And re- 
 member all rests on the question of His 
 resurrection. If Christ be not raised, we are 
 stiU in our sins, and our faith is vain. But 
 if Christ be raised from the dead, we are not in 
 our sins. Are you, my friend, identifying 
 yourself With this outcast Man of Calvary; 
 then, since He is raised from under your sins, 
 your standing is not in your sins, but in Him. 
 
 Well, I think you surely can have no 
 
 i^« 
 
 
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 i# 
 
li 
 
 144 The Claims of the Man Jesus, 
 
 hesitation in giving your verdict in His favour 
 now. Do you believe in Christ or no ? Every 
 man on earth believes in somebody — either 
 in Christ, or in some other person, or in 
 himself. 
 
 Look at the Papist ; he believes in the 
 Pope. He believes everything the Pope says. 
 Not what the Bible says, but what Mother 
 Church says, and that interpreted by the 
 Pope, whom, of course, he believes to be in- 
 fallible I 
 
 Then look at the Kationalist ; you cann9t 
 ^Ti him down to believe in anything, or aiiy 
 one but himself. The Secularist, Unitarian, 
 and so-called Eationalist, beUeve in none 
 but themselves. They croak and cry oat 
 about the self-evident absurdities of the 
 Gospel ; yet scarcely two of them believe 
 the same thing, and nothing is sure but 
 that they beheve in themselves. 
 
 WeU, now, you may not believe in tlij Pope, 
 but take care lest you beheve in your own 
 heart. Beware of Eomanism on the one 
 hand, trusting in another besides Christ, and 
 scepticism on the other, which is trusting 
 in yourself; but ''beheve on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Yes, believe 
 in Him against your own heart. Men of the 
 world, will you have Him ? It is not that 
 you are a great sinner or a little one. We 
 don't ask anything about what you are. It 
 is not, Do you beheve in this or that church, 
 
The Claims of the Man Jesus, 145 
 
 or creed, or religion ? No ; and that is why 
 Christ is made the test for every man. You 
 see, it is belief in a Person ; just giving your 
 verdict for Christ. " Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.** 
 Friend, do you say, Christ for me? Yes, I 
 do, with all my heart ; Christ for me. Well, 
 thank God, you are saved for ever; for God 
 says, "He that heareth My word, and believeth 
 on Him Who sent Me, hath everlasting life, 
 and shall not come into condemnation; but 
 is passed from death unto life." 
 
 And if your own heart, after that, says to 
 you, or any man or devil or angel says to you, 
 You may not be saved after all, just reply, 
 " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of 
 us all ; " and He who bore my sins on the 
 cross is now on the throne of God. Christ is 
 risen; therefore I am not in my sins. 
 
 
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 10 
 
 
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THE WRITING ON THE CB088. 
 
 Hi 
 
 Pi 
 
 I EAT God has given us by inspired men 
 a perfect revelation of His mind, to be 
 communicated to us by the Holy Ghost, 
 is not believed by many who profess the name 
 of Christ. 
 
 A very good Christian brother rather startled 
 me (he is now with his Lord) some years ago 
 by pointing out the discrepancies of the four 
 Evangelists with regard to the writing on the 
 cross, and after careful study I wrote the 
 following to a perplexed enquirer. 
 
 " I have been thinking over the conversa- 
 tion that we had about the word of God, and 
 am more and more convinced that our only 
 sure standing ground is on the fact that we 
 have a Divine and certain communication of 
 God's mind, expressed in words that we can 
 understand. You may remember that we 
 were not meeting the arguments of those who 
 deny the truths of the Scripture altogether — 
 the avowed and open infidel — but considering 
 the position of those who believe in some way 
 or other that we have God's ideas, but with no 
 Divine certainty as to language in which it is 
 told to us. 
 
The Writing on the Cross, 
 
 iM 
 
 <'To the former class, the out-and-oat 
 unbeliever, the only thing we can say is what 
 a brother wrote to one of them, * Do you know 
 that your only chance of escaping heU. is, that 
 the Bible is a parcel of lies ? ' Many of this 
 class are ignorant because they wish so to be, 
 or at least have not taken the trouble to 
 investigate the facts, and for this neglect they 
 will be judged. If a man is not responsible 
 for his beliefs^ he is responsible for the atten* 
 Hon he has given to investigate the whole 
 question. But the will is concerned. They 
 hear or read what have been the stock objec- 
 tions of infidels in every age, and bring these 
 forward with great pretensions to originality, 
 as if they had got something new and fresh. 
 They have all been answered centuries ago, 
 but it would not suit their one-sided enlighten- 
 ment to take the trouble to investigate the 
 pro and the con. The light having been thus 
 rejected, darkness, as just judgment, must' 
 follow. The after-sincerity of the man may 
 be the surest sign and seal of his darkness. 
 God pronounces a solemn word over such as 
 are thus willingly ignorant, a word to which 
 aU of us ought to take heed, because true 
 for every rejected light (1 Cor. xiv. 36, 87). 
 In speaking of the reception of Paul's writ- 
 ings as from God, the Holy Ghost thus 
 flmshes, ^ If any man be ignorant, let him 
 be ignorant.* 
 " But very many Christians, while shudder- 
 
 
 
 if 
 
 }i 
 
 if 
 
m 
 
 148 
 
 Tke Writing on the Cross 
 
 ing at such audacity, and believing that with- 
 out a Divine communication there can be no 
 faith, have still very unfixed notions, very 
 vague ideas concerning the fact that we have 
 the very Wobd of God now in our hands. 
 They believe God has in some sort of way 
 communicated His mind to man; that we 
 have the substance, the ideas from God. 
 Well, if even this be allowed, if these ideas 
 are searched, we shall find in Scripture its 
 idea of its own inspiration as to its nature and 
 extent. Scripture is its own interpreter, its owji 
 proof. I shall tell you what made me receive 
 the Bible as the Word of God. In the first 
 place, it alone gave me a photograph of myself 
 as I knew myself. It told me that every 
 imagination of my heart was only evil con- 
 tinually, and no system of philosophy ever 
 did so. It then showed me the only remedy 
 consistent with God's love, justice, and holi- 
 ness — substitution and the implantation of a 
 new life ; all this was Divine. The Bible alone 
 met my case ; I received it. It has evidences, 
 external and internal, I believe, that cannot 
 be answered. I have investigated them for 
 myself. I have found them more than satis- 
 factory, but the great evidence is that which 
 comes to my conscience. The sun needs no 
 rushlight to show that it shines. You can 
 never define red to a blind man. 
 
 " Scripture is God's Word to man ; in it, 
 therefore, we see a perfect union of the Divine 
 
The Writing on the Cross. 
 
 149 
 
 » 
 
 and human, as in the incarnate Logos ^ very 
 God, very man. Every word is Divine ; every 
 word is human. It is not man's word, and it 
 is no mechanical inspiration. It is God using 
 man's faculties to write His Word. What a 
 rest for our weary souls, as they have fluttered 
 for years, like the dove above the waste of 
 waters, with the mournful cry. What is truth ? 
 to be able to settle on the ark, with conscience 
 at rest, the reason satisfied, and the heart 
 filled, on such a ground. * All Scripture is 
 given by the inspiration of God [theopneust], 
 and is profitable for doctrine,' etc. 
 
 ** Could the idea of the certain revelation of 
 God be put in a form of words more absolute 
 than this, spoken by the apostle Paul, * Which 
 things also we speak, not in the words which 
 man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
 Ghost teacheth ' ? 
 
 "A great German scholar was discussing 
 some point with an EngUsh divine. The 
 Englishman, to support his point, appealed to 
 something Paul had written. The German, 
 in deep thought, said : * Paul — Paul ! oh, yes, 
 I have read some of his letters, but I do not 
 agree with him.' 
 
 **The poor wise man, I suppose, had not 
 heard of a Holy Ghost who spoke the words, 
 not Paul. And this is the school of advanced 
 thought, this is the school from which we are 
 to get our theology ! 
 
 " * Prophecy came not in old time by tho 
 
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 : 
 
 
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 if 
 
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 ■ m 
 
150 The Writing on the Cross, 
 
 will of man; but holy men of God spake, 
 moved by the Holy Ghost ' (2 Peter i. 21). 
 
 " * Paul also, according to the wisdom given 
 unto him, hath written unto you, . . . which 
 they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, 
 as they do also the other scriptures ' — which 
 are God-breathed — which are a unity — scrip- 
 tures which * cannot be broken.' 
 
 " * God . . . spaTce in time past unto the 
 fathers by the prophets* (Heb. i. 1). 
 
 " Jesus said to His disciples, * It is not ye 
 that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
 which speaketh in you' (Matt. x. 20). And 
 Paul coidd appeal to the same truth : * Since 
 ye seek a proof oi Christ speaking in me ' (2 
 Cor. xiii. 3). 
 
 ** John say^ * He that knoweth God heareth 
 us ; he tita-t is not of God heareth not us ' 
 (1 John IT- 6). Ir was not Peter, it was not 
 Paul, it was not John, it was God through 
 and by each of these. 
 
 " * He that despiseth, despiseth not man, but 
 God, who hath also given unto us His Holy 
 Spirit ' (1 Thess. iv. 8). 
 
 " * For this cause also thank we God 
 without ceasing, becaiise v/hen ye received 
 the Word cf God which y(^ hoarr? of us, ye 
 received it not as the woid of men, but as it 
 is in truth, the "VYord of God.' 
 
 " We have got the Scriptures, the words of 
 God. May God teach us to search them more, 
 and know His mind I There are difficulties— 
 
,'/ 
 
 The Writing on the Cross. 
 
 151 
 
 difficulties on every hand. How could it be 
 otherwise ? Can the finite so easily deal with 
 the Infinite, and comprehend His thoughts ? 
 But let us, as beings in the infancy of oui 
 existence, conscious of ignorance, patiently 
 sit at the feet of the great Teacher, and many, 
 if not all, will disappear. But let us cling to 
 this great broad principle — that God has 
 spoken, that He has spoken in human lan- 
 guage, distinctly, definitely, certainly, unmis- 
 takably ; that the Scriptures are the words of 
 God. This is the great sheet-anchor to our 
 souls. We may be tossed up and down on 
 the billows, but the anchor holds, and it alone 
 will keep us from drifting without compass, 
 without chart, without pilot, among the rocks, 
 shoals, and quicksands of this dark tempestuous 
 night of doubt, lawlessness, and infidelity. 
 These days of trial need tried material. 
 ' Nothing will stand the fire but asbestos.' 
 That asbestos is the Word of God ; for empires 
 will totter, kingdoms crumble, heaven be rolled 
 back as an old garment, earth melt with fire, 
 but the only asbestos, the Word of God, will 
 endure for ever. We are therefore jealous 
 over every sentence, every word, for not an 
 iota of it shall perish. Therefore it is that I 
 said to you, that I had been so happy to see 
 the beautiful harmony, of the writing on the 
 cross, which has been a pet theme in the hands 
 of loose interpreters, to show the fallacy of 
 the position we have indicated above. 
 
 i 
 
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 ill 
 
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 If 
 
152 
 
 The Writing on the Cross. 
 
 " One night, while looking at the passage 
 with some brethren in the Lord, one theory 
 after another was advanced, which did not 
 satisfy some of us. One writer on the Gospel 
 wfctc brought forward, who said, that by this 
 one simple illustration he could show the 
 absurdity of holding that 'every word and 
 phrase of the Scripture is absolutoly true.* 
 Others, while going in for the doctrine of * the 
 Words of God,' say, with a strange inconsis- 
 tency, ' Well, the difference is so sHght ; but 
 the sense is here.' I cannot understand the 
 logic of such a statement, which sayp, 'The 
 substance (!) of the story ^*s told in four 
 distinct sets of terms, though not giving the 
 words' — I think this gives up tho whole point. 
 Ail allow the substance is there ; but we 
 hold there is more. It is not a story ; it is an 
 exact writing. I need hardly notice another 
 theory which twists out the four from the three 
 different languages in which the words were 
 written. Let us now look at the Word itself. 
 You are aware that the harmony of the 
 Gospels is a moral harmony, showing the 
 character of our Lord Jesus Christ under 
 four aspects, not merely supplementary, but 
 divinely, giving the story of the Son of David 
 — the King (Matthew) ; the Son of God, the 
 servant of man (Mark) ; the Son of man for 
 this world (Luke) ; and God manifest in the 
 flesh, very God of very God (John). 
 
 ** It was asked, while we were looking at 
 
■■'■'ta 
 
 The Writing on the Cross 
 
 153 
 
 the words over the cross, 'If the four daily 
 papers of a city had given as different an 
 account of a certain writing, we should have 
 said, " The substance is in all, but the exact 
 words are not given." ' Now this looks 
 specious; but let us look at it. The four 
 Evangelists are nut as four daily papers, to 
 give curious particulars to mankind; nor is 
 there one mind breathing through these four 
 papers, making their diversity a unity, as in 
 the Evangelists. But you coald suppose four 
 writers giving a correct history of the Ufe of 
 a man ; one describing him as a poet, another 
 as a military tactician, another as a kind 
 benefactor, another his connection with a 
 noble genealogy. 
 "Now suppose there was written on his 
 
 tomb this epitaph — * Here lies A B , 
 
 son of C^ D , and father of E 
 
 F . He was a pure and simple poet, a 
 
 wise and skilful officer, a kind and thoughtful 
 benefactor.' The first historian describing 
 him as a poet, might write, * On his tombstone 
 were written these words, "He was a pure 
 and simple poet ; " ' the second describing 
 the military man, * On his tombstone were 
 these words — " He was a wise and skilful 
 officer ; " ' the third telling his story to the 
 poor he had benefited — * He was a kind and 
 thoughtful benefactor ; ' and the fourth proving 
 his position from the genealogical tree, would 
 say, * On his tombstone is written — " He was 
 
 
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 iiJ 
 

 154 
 
 The Writing on the Cross, 
 
 C- 
 
 >> » 
 
 D- 
 
 and father of E- 
 
 Would any of these be wrong ? 
 would they not all give the words ? There is 
 not this discrepancy among the four accounts 
 we have before us. Of course we must keep in 
 mind that the differences between the four 
 Evangelists on this matter are of the minutest 
 character. If each of them had said that 
 they gave the whole writing on the cross, 
 there would then have been some diflSculty ; 
 but if you will notice the formulas with which 
 each introduces the writing, you will find that 
 they are all different; not one says exactly 
 that he gives just what the other gives. It 
 will not do to turn and say, ' But these mean 
 all the same thing — they are just the same.' 
 
 *'If I were adjusting a microscope, and on 
 looking through it you saw nothing but a con- 
 fused haze, and if I then gave the slightest 
 turn to the adjusting-screw, and you were to 
 say, * You have scarcely touched it,' — look at 
 the object now, and it is in perfect focus. If 
 the difference is very small, the disturbing 
 cause must be very small also. AU confess 
 the smallness of the difference between the 
 Evangelists' accoimt ; all that we show is that 
 they do not say exactly in words that they 
 give just the same thing. The weight and 
 import of the particular formula remain with 
 the philologist and exegete to discuss ; we 
 merely point out the fact. We get the true 
 WORDS, and nothing but the true words, from 
 
 I :.,. 
 
The Writing on the Cross, 
 
 M 
 
 155 
 
 each ; we get all the wobds (at least as many 
 as God wishes us to get) from their united 
 testiTPony. 
 
 "Matthew says it was *His accusation 
 written — 
 
 This is Jesus, .... the King of the Jews.' 
 
 ** Mark says, ' The superscription of His 
 accusation was written over, 
 
 THE King op thjb Jews. 
 
 (the impo}:tant part of the accusation). 
 
 " Luke says, ' A superscription also was 
 written, 
 
 This is the King op the Jews.* 
 
 *' John says, * Pilate wrote a title ' (he tlone 
 puts in Nazareth), 
 
 •. . Jesus op Nazaeeth, the King op the Jewb.* 
 
 " Thus the accusation, the superscription, 
 the title, is, * This is Jesus of Nazareth, the 
 King of the Jews.' There is the most per- 
 fect harmon) in seeming diversity. The spirit 
 alone can show us the beauty. These thmgs 
 are spiritually discerned. We have got greater 
 confidence in the words of our blessed Father- 
 God since we saw the perfect unity of mind in 
 all the book." 
 
 Matthew, who tells us that the Old Testa- 
 ment Emmanuel (God with us) is now trans- 
 lated into the name Jesus (Jehovah our 
 Saviour) — for none but God could save, and 
 
 i 
 
 IfU 
 
 i; 
 
 ■ i »i 
 
 \ I 
 
 
 
 ■f 
 
 i i - 
 
'><^' 
 
 156 
 
 The Writing on the Cross. 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 if God condescends to be with us it must be 
 as a Saviour — ^informs us that the Crucified 
 One is Jesus, and that this accusation written 
 was set up over His head, *' This is Jesus the 
 King of the Jews." Note carefully that each 
 reports Him as " The King of the Jews." 
 
 Mark, who relates to us the servant work of 
 our Lord, says nothing about " Jesus " as the 
 Messiah promised to the fathers, but gives us 
 the " head and front of His offending " to the 
 Jews, not His accusation, but the superscrip- 
 tion of His accusation, " The King of the 
 Jews." 
 
 Let us now notice what Luke writes. As 
 Matthew wrote specially for Jews, so Luke 
 wrote for Gentiles. He does not write of the 
 accusation, nor the superscription of His accu- 
 sation. Gentiles had nothing to do with that, 
 but he tells us that "a superscription was 
 written over Him in letters of Greek, and 
 Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the 
 Jews." 
 
 John, whose writing was about God manifest 
 in the flesh coming to His own kingdom, and 
 His o^Ti Jews receiving Him not, and being 
 in the world of which He was Creator, and 
 the men of the world not knowing Him, tells 
 us of the title that Pilate wrote. 
 
 In no other Evangelist do we read of the 
 despised name, the Nazarene. *' Can any good 
 thing come out of Nazareth? " Very God of 
 very God. John's great message was to be 
 
The Writing on the Cross, 
 
 157 
 
 ■ 
 
 branded on His cross of shame with the despised 
 of all despised titles, not as the grand titles of 
 earth which men covet. Thus we have it in 
 fuU, with the exception of " This is," but in 
 perfect accord with the scope of the Gospel, 
 *' Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 
 The chief priests of the Jews are reported in 
 this Gospel to have objected to this ; but what 
 Pilate wrote, God kept for all time. I would 
 not have dwelt on this matter so fully, had it 
 not been that so honest and faithful a com- 
 mentator as Dean Alford, has given the power 
 and influence of his great and good name to 
 those who deny plenary inspiration, and takes 
 this theme as a test point. I quote from the 
 sixth edition of his full Commentary (1868), 
 page 20, " The title over the cross was written 
 in Greek. According, then, to the verbal in- 
 spiration theory, each Evangelist has recorded 
 the exact words of the inscription, not the 
 general sense, but the inscription itself — not a 
 letter less or more." It is very strange that 
 a teacher of such ability should have lost sight 
 of the fact that not one Evangelist says he 
 gave the inscription itself in the general 
 sense. 
 
 Surely, apart from inspiration, we must give 
 a man credit for saying what he means, and 
 meaning what he says. If I say to a friend, 
 I went to the top of Ben Nevis, and he was 
 interested only in the locality, I would be 
 perfectly correct. If I said to a meteorological 
 
 II' 
 
 'M 
 
 \ : 
 
 ,! it 
 
 ' .-i 
 
•■\ 
 
 1 58 
 
 The Writing on the Cross. 
 
 friend, I went ta the top of Ben Nevis and 
 examined the instruments, I am still verbally 
 and absolutely correct. If I said to another 
 doctor friend, I went to the top of Ben Nevis 
 to examine one of the observers who was not 
 in health, I would be still correct. K I told a 
 preacher friend that I went to the top of Ben 
 Nevis to give away some copies of the British 
 Evangelist f would not this be correct ? and all 
 contained in the one visit. And thus our 
 faith is all the more strengthened when we 
 find false witness against the Scriptures. Not 
 one of the Evangelists says that he gives the 
 whole inscription. What they do profess to 
 give, they give in Divine peifectness. 
 
 His Accusation. 
 
 The SuPERSwiiiPTioN op His Accusation. 
 
 A Superscription. 
 
 A Title. 
 
 We are not affirming that we understand 
 all that is meant in these distinctions. We 
 merely state them for study. 
 
THE NAME OF GOD. 
 
 ** The name of the Lord is a strong tower : the righteoas 
 runneth into it, and are safe." — Fboyebbs xviii. 10. 
 
 I HAT name which was written, that He 
 could by no means clear the guilty, is 
 the strong tower to us, into which we 
 run and are safe. 
 
 A rock commands the city of Edinburgh, 
 and on the top is a castle, and if you look 
 at that castle from the streets around, — ^you 
 will see the frowning guns pointing down 
 and .commanding every street. If an enemy 
 entered that city, and attempted to attack 
 the garrison, those inside could sweep every 
 street, and woe to the men outside. But 
 walk up the esplanade, cross the draw- 
 bridge, climb the steps up to the castle, and 
 then you will find yourself standing by the 
 side of the flag-staff, inside the auns; that 
 ip where the righteous are in Christ. By 
 nature we see Gtd against us ; we see Mount 
 Sinai and hear the Lord's imperative words, 
 *'Thou Shalt," and "Thou shalt not," arid "He 
 that offends in one point is guilty of all," and 
 " He can by no means clear the guilty." 
 Where can the poor sinner stand ? But look 
 
 r^. 
 
 it' 
 
 :| 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
i6o 
 
 The Name of God^ 
 
 to Him who came from the Father — the Way, 
 the Truth, and the Life came from the centre 
 of God down to the sinner's place, and in Him 
 we go hack to the very centre of God, and 
 find ourselves inside the guns. For the very 
 attributes of God that were against us — His 
 righteousness, holiness, justice, truth — are 
 now the very things that are for us, and we 
 are ma'^.e the very righteousness of God in 
 Christ. God is just ; that is the pillow on 
 which the believer lies every night. Not that 
 God is merely loving and merciful; but thalb 
 God is so righteous, so just, so truthful, so 
 holy, that He will not visit us with the doom 
 He visited on His Son. 
 
 " Payment God will not twice demand- 
 First from my bleeding Surety's hand, 
 And then again from me." 
 
 You may be aware that through Scripture 
 .there are different names given to the great 
 God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and 
 our Saviour. His name is that by which God 
 reveals His personal presence in certain rela- 
 tions to man, His self-manifestations in certain 
 characters, that side of His nature which He 
 is pleased to turn to man. 
 
 God. 
 
 The first, and most comprehensive, is the 
 name God. You generally find out a man's 
 theology by the name he uses for God. The 
 
The Name of God, 
 
 i6i 
 
 ^ 
 
 name that the mere philosopher uses is Nattvre; 
 he speaks of the laws of nature. We know 
 only of the laws of our God, ?>nd ** nature ** 
 is an idea that these philosophers have intro- 
 duced to get rid of the great Creator and God. 
 And then you will find others, who do not look 
 so much at nature, who have another name 
 for God: they call Him Providence. Gk) to 
 the unconverted farmer, and ask him why in 
 the spring-time he throws away his grain? 
 It is because he believes in Providence, a 
 providential God, who will look after food for 
 man and beast. It is the name for God he 
 believes in, and he trusts it accordingly. 
 " They that know Thy name will put their 
 trust in Thee ; " and it is according as we 
 know the name of God we trust in Him. The 
 philosopher knows that the tides ebb and flow, 
 the sur and moon rise and set; he knows 
 the name Nature, and he trusts accordingly. 
 The man that knows Providence^ and knows 
 no other, trusts accordingly. 
 
 But the name we first get revealed to us in 
 Scripture, and the most comprehensive of all 
 names, is the name God. If you look into 
 the first chapter of Genesis, you will find this 
 first name, and you find no other name in 
 that chapter. We there see God, the great 
 originating cause of all things — God, the great 
 and glorious One, fashioning and furnishing 
 all things, perfecting all things by the word 
 of His power. You find Him making light 
 
 11 
 
 i 1 
 
 
 :; 'H: 
 
 '• V 
 
1^2 
 
 The Name of God. 
 
 spring out of darkness, form out of chaos, and 
 repletion out of the void. Adam was put 
 under responsibility to walk manifesting that 
 power, made in the image of God, with 
 dominion over the creatures ; at the fall he 
 lost the liheness of God, but the image of God 
 he stUl has. An image has not necessarily 
 likeness ; and man stands at the head of all 
 creation, and separated from all creation. 
 Let the philosophers try to bring this to 
 the smallest limit they can, man is still 
 the image God, with dominion over the 
 crcatior. 
 
 Almighty. 
 
 Secondly, we come to another name, 
 which you will find in the 17th chapter of 
 Genesis. " The Lord appeared to Abraham 
 and said unto him, I am the Almighty God." 
 This is the second circle within the first, 
 telling out a little more of what God is. He 
 is almighty. Abraham was to come out 
 before that God, and to walk before Him 
 perfect. He says, ** Walk before me, and be 
 thou perfect." As Adam walked in the image 
 of God manifesting God's name, we find that 
 Abraham was to walk manifesting in perfec- 
 tion the attributes in which h^ was related 
 to God, and especially glorifying the almighti- 
 ness of God ; against hope he believed in 
 hope. One might have said to Abraham, 
 "You play a fooUsh part." ''Nay," he 
 
The Name of God, 
 
 163 
 
 might have replied ; '* I am manifesting what 
 the Almi^xity God is." That name was the 
 tower into which Abraham went. In all the 
 difficulties of his path afterwards, we see 
 the almightiness of God manifested through 
 him, the human instrument that God had 
 chosen. 
 
 Jehovah. 
 
 Thirdly, we come to another name brought 
 out more fully, which we find in the 6th 
 chapter of Exodus. ** Then the Lord said 
 unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will 
 do to Pharaoh : for with a strong hand shall 
 he let them go, and with a strong hand shall 
 he drive them out of his land. And God 
 spake unto Moses, and said, I am Jehovah : 
 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, 
 and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, 
 but by my name Jehovah was I not known to 
 them." This is a new name. He is dealing 
 on the ground of redemption. The word that 
 composed the name Jehovah was known 
 before, but God adopted it as His new 
 relationship name with the children of Israel, 
 whom He was to redeem. He did not assume 
 it until the era of redemption came. We 
 find two explariations of this name in the 
 book of Exodus: this name that is a strong 
 tower, into which the righteous run and are 
 safe. You will find the first explanation of 
 
 ■f 
 
 i \i 
 
 i !'H 
 

 
 ill 
 
 il 
 
 r64 
 
 TAe Name of God, 
 
 this name that Israel knew in Exod. vi. 6, 
 with these seven " I wills " : — 
 
 " Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, 
 I am Jehovah, 
 
 ** And I will hring you out from under the 
 burdens of the Egyptians, 
 
 " And I will rid you out of their bondage, 
 
 "And I will redeem you with a stretched- 
 out arm, and with great judgments, 
 
 "And I will take you to me for a people, 
 
 " And I will he to you a God" [not merely a 
 redemption /rowi something, but to an obje(^t 
 — ^to God HimseK] . ' * And ye shall know that I 
 am the Lord your God, which bringeth you 
 from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 
 
 "And I will hring you in unto the land, 
 concerning the which I did swear to give it to 
 Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ; 
 
 " And 1 will give it you for a heritage. I 
 am Jehovah." 
 
 This is the strong name of Jehovah, and it 
 was into this name Moses ran and was safe. 
 By it he brought a,ll the judgments upon 
 Pharaoh; he opened the sea, and he went 
 through all the desert under the shadow of 
 this name Jehovah. So, now, we find that 
 Israel was to walk in the perfect manifestation 
 of that Jehovah-name, for we read in Deu- 
 teronomy xviii. 13, " Thou shalt he perfect with 
 Jehovah thy God." They were not only to 
 know Jehovah, but they were to manifest His 
 name before the nations and amongst the 
 
I, I 
 
 The Name of God, 
 
 165 
 
 nations : " Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah 
 thy God.'* Thus it was they fought against 
 Amalek, and thus it was they not only prayed 
 for the destruction of the nations, but with 
 the sword accomplished it ; and it would have 
 been their sin to have spared one of them, 
 because they were manifesting His name 
 Jehovah. 
 
 Let us look at the other aspect of this name, 
 the other half of that name Jehovah. In the 
 sixth chapter of Exodus, we have the part 
 that tells us of His redeeming power ; but in 
 the thirty-third chapter we read, " And he 
 (Moses) said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy 
 glory. And He said, I will make all my 
 goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim 
 the name of Jehovah before thee ; and will be 
 gracious to horn I will be gracious, and 
 will show mercy o^. whom I will show mercy " 
 — not merely 01 i'ci'eeming power, but good- 
 ness or pa den.rtg love. We find it re- 
 vealed ^n ib^i LfV- verse of the thirty-fourth 
 chapter. * A ^ - .novah descended in a cloud, 
 and stood with mm there, and proclaimed the 
 name of Jehovah. And Jehovah passed by 
 bifore him " — we shall use that word Jehovah, 
 because there is another word in the Hebrew 
 which means Lord, and which might confuse 
 some — " and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah- 
 God, merciful and gracious, long-sufifering 
 and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and 
 
 i 
 
 .+1 
 
 
 I 
 
 ;*3 
 
y^ 
 
 1 66 
 
 The Name of God, 
 
 transgression, and sin, and that will by no 
 means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity 
 of the fathers upon the children, and upon 
 the children's children, unto the third and to 
 the fourth generation." You see, the gracious 
 character of Jehovah here manifested is not 
 that of one looking over sin. God can look 
 over nothing ; blessed be His name. He can 
 forgive anything. All must be brought to the 
 light on the ground of that precious blood 
 of the Crucified but now Eisen One, that blood 
 which cleanseth us from all sin. Jehovah is 
 the name all through the wanderings of the 
 children of Israel, and if we search in the Old 
 Testament history, we find that this is the 
 name used all along until Christ came. We 
 find He is 
 
 Jehovah Jireh — Jehovah will provide (Gen. 
 xxii. 14) ; 
 
 Jehovah Rophecha — Jehovah that healeth 
 thee (Exod. xv. 26) ; 
 
 Jehovah Nissi — Jehovah my banner, when 
 Israel was fighting with Amalek, for the flesh 
 lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against 
 the flesh (Exod. xvii. 1-5) ; 
 
 Jehovah Shalom — Jehovah send peace 
 (Judges vi. 24) ; 
 
 Jehovah Shammah — Jehovah is there. 
 When Ezekiel was looking at the departing 
 glory, and onward to the coming glory, he 
 saw the city having Jehovah as its light 
 (Ezek. xiviii. 35). 
 
 .W::|,'y'l 
 
it; 
 
 TJie Name cf God. 
 
 167 
 
 Jehovah Tsidhenu — Jehovah our righteous- 
 ness (Jer. xxiii. 6). 
 
 Thus we see God hringing out of the secrets 
 of His own heart further and further manifes- 
 tations of what He is Himself. Is He not a 
 strong tower into which the righteous run and 
 are safe — safe for ever ! 
 
 The Names Elohim and Jehovah, God 
 AND Lord. 
 
 Many critics, not seeing the wonderfully 
 Divine purpose in the use of " God " and 
 "Lord" in the hook of Genesis, \i2^nq fancied 
 and ^wesse^Z that there were two documents, and 
 that '' the way in which the two names are used 
 can OTiZ^/be due to difference of authorship I " 
 The man who believes he has God's words and 
 Christ's Bible cares little whether there were 
 two documents or two hundred, for to him 
 they are words " which the Holy Ghost, 
 teacheth ; " but to say that the use of two 
 
 names " can only be due to difference ot 
 authorship " is the presumption of ignorance. 
 If we have the Word of God, who can say 
 positively to what it can be due unless God 
 the Author informs us ? Let us suppose the 
 following as an illustration. A gentleman 
 enters his office and says to a clerk, " Sit down. 
 I wish a history of this business to be written 
 out, and write as follows : — ' The master y 
 finding his business rapidly increasing, 
 gathered his men, and said, We must have a 
 
 1 jl 
 
 1 
 
 !>' 1 
 
 n! 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 If 
 
 
 1 
 
 «4? 
 
 
 'Us 
 
 
 ii:X 
 
 
 -''i 
 
 i 
 
 ;,";'■ >. 
 
 
 • Si 
 
 
 •ill 
 
 
 . ii§ 
 
 •\ ( 
 
 I i 
 
1 68; 
 
 The Name of God. 
 
 I 
 
 
 new warehouse, and the master drew plans, 
 and the master superintended the erection, and 
 when the building was finished the master 
 gave a great supper to the men (among whom 
 was his son). And he said to his son, I 
 intend to depart for a foreign land, and you, 
 having had practical experience, are to be 
 manager till I come back; and the /a^^er 
 gave instructions to the son, and the father 
 in the presence of the men gave all authority 
 to the son, and the father departed, and the 
 son took his place, and every month the 
 father wrote to the son, and the son to the 
 fatJiery and the men were very much interested 
 in the travels of their master," and so on with 
 the history. 
 
 We have two names used here, ** master " 
 and *' father." How much would we think of 
 the common sense of the man who said, 
 "The way in which the two names are used can 
 only be due to two clerks having been used " ? 
 
 In Genesis i. we have the name " God," 
 because it is the Creator in the widest display 
 of His wisdom and power. In Genesis ii. we 
 have "Lord God," due to the fact that here 
 we have God in moral relation to His creature 
 and creation. Juit as in the above illustra- 
 tion we had " master " with the men and 
 " father " with the son, so we have hsre 
 "Creator" (God) with the creation, and 
 " Creator Master " (Lord God) with His 
 created servant. 
 
The Name of God, 
 
 169 
 
 Turn up a few passages where the natues 
 are together. Genesio vii. 16, " They that 
 went in, went in male and female of all flesh, 
 as Grodi had commanded him : and tlie Lord 
 shut him in." What can be more mechanical 
 and contemptible than the double document 
 idea here ? What can be more appropriate 
 and instructive than to see Divine design in 
 the ohan ge ? The God of creation commanded 
 lion and lamb to come to the ark when Noah's 
 voice would have been powerless, but the 
 Lord, to whom Noah wur responsible, for 
 whom Noah wrought, and to whom Noah was 
 especially related as contrasted with crea- 
 tion, this Lord looked after him and shut 
 him in. 
 
 1 Sam. xvii. 47 : David was to slay Goliath 
 that all the earth may know that there is a 
 
 God in Israel " (the Creator of all the earth 
 alone could be known by the heathen in His 
 power, but Israel had to learn more), " and all 
 this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth 
 not with sword and spear." 
 
 2 Chron. xviu. 31 : '* Jehoshaphat cried out, 
 and the Lord helped 7wm, and Qod moved 
 them to depart." The Creator was only God 
 to the heathen. He was in addition to this 
 Lord in Israel (we retain the English names, 
 as we write for those who have no pretensions 
 to Hebrew), so the Lord helped Jehoshaphat 
 and God moved the enemy. The boy spoke 
 to his fri.ther, and his father, the master, gave 
 
 (( 
 
H' ■V, 
 
 170 
 
 TAe Name of God. 
 
 commandment to the servants. Can we use 
 such language, and may God not be allowed 
 to do it without the necessity of employing 
 two documents ? 
 
 We quite grant that there maij have been 
 any number of traditions, documents, and 
 direct statements from God. The first chapter 
 necessarily is a pure and simple revelation 
 from God without any man's aid, documentary 
 or traditional. But to say there must have 
 been two documents we consider to manifest 
 a mere superficial acquaintance with the words 
 of the book, and a lamentable exhibition of 
 ignorance as to what is in it. 
 
 Psalm vi. 9 says, " They that know Thy 
 name will put their trust in Thee," and a 
 scriptural apprehension of what is in the name 
 will give the only key to the propriety and 
 purpose of its use. 
 
 "■ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the 
 Most High shall abide under the shadow of 
 the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah^ He is 
 my refuge and my fortress : my Godj in Him 
 will I trust." 
 
 But as we have been coming into circle 
 after circle of this great name, God, ihe 
 Creator — God, the Almighty — Jehovah, the I 
 Am, we have still another name ; but it was 
 not revealed by Adam, it was not revealed by 
 Abraham, nor by Moses. He kept it for Him- 
 self to reveal ; so He sayr -i^ rhe 22nd Psalm, 
 *' I will declare Thy nai,'/. unto iiv brethren." 
 
 
// 
 
 The Name of God. 
 
 171 
 
 He is promising us something more than 
 Gl-od. He is promising us something more 
 than Almighty. He is promising us some- 
 thing more thd^n Jehovah. " I have another 
 name to reveal, and I will do it myself." 
 This is the promise ; and the fulfilment of 
 it yoti find in John xx. 17 : " Jesus saith unto 
 her, Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended 
 to my 
 
 Fatheb. 
 
 But go to my brethren, and say unto them, 
 I ascend unto my Father, and yowr Father ; 
 and to my God, and your God." " I ascend 
 unto my Father," that s the eternal relation- 
 ship; but think of this, "and your Father." 
 That is a name v/e have no right to claim by 
 nature. We can all call Him Ood^ and ought 
 to, as His creatures, but Father is only known 
 in resurrection. The great opposition to the 
 glorious truth of God now is, that men are 
 taught that they have a universal Father, 
 ready to forgive and pardon all their sin, and 
 so merciful and loving, that He can never 
 think of damning any one. Look at Calvary's 
 cross, see Him who hangs there, hear His 
 cry, " My God, my God, why hast Thcu 
 forsaken me ? " It is at Calvary we get 
 the truth of that great name, at Calvary 
 we know what it cost God. It is there that 
 we get the awful truth of condemnation. 
 The God-man had to cry, ** If it be possible 
 
 'i 
 
172 
 
 The Name of God, 
 
 let this cup pass from me." Can God spare 
 any when He was not spared? K it were 
 possible, would not God have let Him go free 
 who had no sin of His own ? " How shall we 
 escape if we neglect so great salvation?*' 
 Calvary settles all arguments. Let us keep 
 close to Calvary. 
 
 After Calvary He says, " My Father *' — the 
 eternal relationship — and *'your Father." 
 And He gives us the secret of how we get into 
 this relationship. Until He had come to the 
 furthest limit of creation, yea, until He was 
 made sin for us, and was on the cross, for- 
 saken by God, cast out from heaven and earth, 
 He never had called His Father, God; but 
 now in that hour of darkness, in agony He 
 cries, " My God, my God, why hast Thou 
 forsaken me ? " " My God " was the word 
 He took in that suffering, and substitution, 
 and atonement. " My Go^," we should have 
 cried for ever in an eternal hell. He took our 
 creature relation, and said, " My God," that 
 we might be able to say, ** Our Father'' ** I 
 ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; 
 and to my God, and your God." Has He not 
 revealed the name ? Yes. He it was who 
 was with the Father from all eternity. In 
 this circle of names we have got to the inner 
 circle now, not the most comprehensive but 
 the most intensive; the most comprehensive 
 is God, the most intensive is Father. Circle 
 after circle He passes in His outward journey 
 
// 
 
 TAe Name of God. 
 
 173 
 
 ix> seek ns'the lost ones, for He came from 
 the Father, but not only from the Father, 
 but the innermost oircle of that circle, for He 
 came from '^ the bosom of the Father ; " and 
 He has come down with all His love to the 
 sinner's place, that He r^ight call this Father 
 God, that He might never rest until He had 
 set us down in His retracing journey, with a 
 thief as His first trophy, into the very bosom 
 of the Father. 
 
 *' The love wherewith He loves the Son, 
 Such is His love to me." 
 
 That is our place for ever. We can go no 
 more out ; we are in the bosom of the Father 
 for ever. 
 
 Is it not remarkable that two of the greatest 
 revelations that ever came from heaven to 
 earth were entrusted not to great scholars, or 
 even great theologians, but to two humble 
 women ? At Sychar's well — ** I that speak 
 unto thee am He " — was told to a poor 
 weeping penitent the great fact of the advent 
 of the Messias, and with it, to her ear 
 alone, that remarkable revelation of the 
 sweeping away of Judaism, that " God is 
 a Spirit, and they that worship Him must 
 worship Him in spirit and in truth." The 
 other was in resurrection to Mary. Even 
 Peter and John had rushed off, and were thus 
 deprived of being the bearers of the tidings 
 of an opened heaven, and * 1 ascend to My 
 
 ?^f 
 
 I % I 
 
 ^ ■ \i 
 
 \ 
 
 t 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ill 
 
J 74 
 
 The Name of God. 
 
 Father and your Father, to My God and your 
 God," was again given to a weeping woman. 
 The moral condition of these helpless vessels 
 which He chose shows the line that we must 
 go on if we are to get into the mind of God 
 concerning His truth. Leave God out, and 
 then we have nothing but a human compila- 
 tion; bring Him in, and we have a Divine 
 book, perfect in every part, to be interpreter', 
 on Divine principles, as containing Divine 
 facts, and manifesting Divine purposes. 
 
 As the God of Adam, He is the God ,cf 
 Creation ; as the God of Abraham, He is the 
 Almighty ; as the God of Israel, He is Jeho- 
 vah ; but as the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, He is our God and Father in 
 Him. 
 
 To each of those names there is a perfection 
 corresponding. Matt. v. 43 is left for us who 
 were to be His believing ones, when He went 
 away : "Ye have heard that it hath been said, ' 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine 
 enemy. But I saj^ unto you, Love your 
 enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
 to them that hate you, and pray for them that . 
 despitefuUy use you and persecute you : that 
 ye TYiay he the children of your Father which 
 is in heaven ; for He maketh His sun to rise 
 on the evil and on the good, and sendeth ruin 
 on the just and on the unjiiHfc. Be ye there- 
 fore ^er/ec^, even as your Father which is iu 
 heaven is perfect." This is not acquirement; 
 
 
// 
 
 The Name of God. 
 
 175 
 
 it is manifestation. You never could reach 
 up to be sons; but now that you are sons, 
 you are called to manifest whkt the Son was 
 manifesting when He was here in a world that 
 rejected Him. And we are to manifest Him, 
 and so ** ye shall be the children of your 
 Father which is in heaven." For "if ye love 
 them which love you, what reward have ye ? 
 do not even the publicans the same ? And if 
 ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more 
 than others ? do not even the pubhcans so ? 
 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
 which, is in heaven is perfect." 
 
 Look at that beautiful word, *' perfect." 
 Some people dream of reaching a state of 
 sinless perfection here — speak of reaching 
 it by prayer, or faith, or some other road. 
 This undefined it is nowhere in Scripture. 
 Such only show their ignorance of how 'perfect 
 is used in Scripture. God has definitely fixed 
 His word against such a dangerous doctrine 
 in these words : *' If we (who are walking in 
 the Ught, and, in the former verse, have been 
 cleansed from all sin) say that we have no 
 sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John i. 9), 
 thus most conclusively proving that being 
 cleansed from sin is not cleansed from the 
 existence of sin within, as many would 
 attempt to teach. Perfection is manifesting 
 on earth what God has revealed to us from 
 heaven, according to the relationship into 
 which God has called us, and which He 
 
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 wiBnes men to know through us. Thus we 
 see each is called to manifest according to 
 what is revealed. 
 
 Adam perfect hefore God (Gen. ii. 19). 
 
 Abraham perfect before the Almighty (Gen. 
 xvii. 1). 
 
 Israel perfect before Jehovah (Deut. xviii. 
 13). 
 
 Saints now perfect before the Father (Matt. 
 V. 48). 
 
 Job is called perfect by God ; and what do 
 we find? The man that God calls perfect 
 abhors himself. What a glorious lesson for 
 us, that as Christ is, so are we ! yet we abhor 
 ourselves. We know little of perfection in 
 Christ if we are not more and more, day by 
 day, abhorring ourselves. "Be ye therefore 
 perfect," not as the Almighty, not as Jehovah, 
 but, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your 
 Father which is in heaven is perfect." We 
 are to be manifesting perfect grace coming out 
 of the Father's heart to a world of sinners, 
 telling out the love He has to a poor lost 
 world — doing good to them that hate us, 
 walking in His steps, and not bearing the 
 character of loving our friends and hating our 
 enemies ; but " love your enemies, bless them 
 that curse you, do good to them that hate 
 you, and pray for them which despitefully use 
 you and persecute you." 
 
 Thus we find that the character even of the 
 little babes in Christ is, "they have known 
 
The Name of God. 
 
 177 
 
 the Father," and are mauifesting the perfect 
 grace of the Father down here. But we find 
 in 2 Corinthians, chap, vi., that we have lost 
 nothing in comprehensiveness while gaining in 
 intensity; we have reached the very bosom 
 of the Father; and all that is His is ours. 
 "What agreement hath the temple of God 
 with idols ? for ye are the temple of the 
 living God; as God hath said, I will dwell 
 in them, and walk in them ; and I will be 
 their God, and they shall be ray people. 
 Wherefore, come out from among them, and 
 be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not 
 the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 
 and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall 
 be my sons and daughters, saith Jehovah the 
 Almighty.'' We have God, Jehovah, and the 
 Almighty, and here is our Father ; for Ho is 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 " They that know Thy name will put their 
 trust in Thee." It is as the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ we now trust Him, 
 and He is our God and Father in Him ; and 
 le.t us never dissociate these two names, God 
 and Father, which He bears to us. 
 
 Because He is the God of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, we stand as it were at the top of the 
 highest height of all His glory, far above all 
 principalities and powers. We look down and 
 say. What has God wrought ! He has brought 
 poor sinners from the dunghill to the throne. 
 Some seem inclined to quarrel with God 
 
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 178 
 
 The Name of God. 
 
 because they are bom sinners. Friend, it is 
 no misfortune to be bom a sinner., for if we 
 had not been bom sinners we could never 
 have had the hope of being seated on the 
 throne, even as He is on His Father^s throne. 
 The misfortune is, that ^^ light is come into 
 the world, and men loved darkness rather 
 than light, because their deeds were evil." 
 There is a Saviour for every sinner, but He 
 had to say, when amongst sinners, " Ye will 
 not come to Me that ye might have life." We 
 who have come to Him are beyond angels an^ 
 beyond all creation, because we are identified 
 with the lost sinner^s Saviour, and in Him 
 stand at the very height of the glory of 
 God. 
 
 Because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, we look upward into an infinity and 
 eternity of love — a love thafc is all for us — a 
 love that is fed by itself — a love that ever 
 in its activities is being exercised for our 
 needs, pouring out its rivers on the most 
 arid hearts, taking the greatest pains and 
 carewith the unworthy — a love all Divine, all 
 unearthly — a love that is before and above all 
 the glory — a love that planned the glory for 
 us, and prepared us for the glory — a love that 
 was manifested by the glory ; as Jesus says — 
 " The glory thou gavest me I have given 
 them" — for what purpose ? — *^that the world 
 may beUeve that Thou hast loved them, as 
 Thou hast loved Me " — a love that has saved 
 
The Name of God. 
 
 179 
 
 us, borne with us, cleanses us, and will present 
 us spotless in that glory — a love that will be 
 our study for ever — a love that passeth know- 
 ledge, an ocean without a bottom and without 
 a shore. 
 
< 
 
 • ■ / , 
 
 I I 
 
 EMMANUEL-JESUS. 
 
 I HE angel of the Lord appeared unto 
 him in a dream, saying, Joseph . . . 
 thou shalt call His name Jesus, for 
 He shall save His people from their sins. Now 
 all this was done that it might he fulfilled which 
 was spoken of the Lord hy the prophet, saying, 
 . . . They shall call His name Emmanuel, 
 which being interpreted is, God with us ' ' 
 (Matt. i. 20-23). 
 
 If we look at this prophecy and thi. fulfil- 
 ment, we find two most important truths. 
 
 1st. If we are to have a Saviour, that 
 Saviour must be God. 
 
 2nd. If God is to be with us, it must be as 
 our Saviour. 
 
 1st. If we are to have a Saviour, He must 
 be God. Jesus came to His own — He came 
 to save His own. This refers primarily to the 
 Jews, who are said to be Jehovah's own, and 
 to belong to none others ; this shows that 
 Jesus is Jehovah. But further, ohis calling of 
 the Son of Mary Jesus, Saviour, is the fulfil- 
 ling of that text, *' God with us." If heaven 
 had been searched from end to end, no angel 
 
Emmanuel-Jesus, 
 
 x8i 
 
 could have saved a lost sinner. If heaven 
 had been omptied, and every intelligent being 
 that God had created had been offered up as 
 a sacrifice to God, no sinner could have been 
 saved. 
 
 If, added to this, all the human race and all 
 the lost angels, every creature existing, as 
 created by God in heaven, earth, and hell, 
 had been offered up on one tremendous sacri- 
 ficial altar, no sin would have been blotted 
 out. The most holy and perfect creature, or 
 the greatest number of creatures, could never 
 satisfy Divine justice as to the atonement of 
 one sin, simply because v:hen in the service of 
 God any creature is called upon by God to 
 give up his life, he merely does his duty, 
 merely gives God bacK what he received. 
 He has nothing over to atone for sin. 
 
 None but " God with us " could become 
 " Jesus our Saviour." The uncreated all- 
 creating One, in whom is life, could become 
 sin, could lay down His life, could give 
 Himself for our sins, could be the Saviour of 
 sinners. 
 
 2nd. If God is to be with us. He must be with 
 us as a Saviour. He is with angels, as they 
 do His will in angelic purity, as their Creator 
 and Master. He walked with Adam in inno- 
 cence in the intimacy of the garden, but all 
 this is lost. He cannot come now to train 
 and teach us. Cain made this fatal mistake. 
 He thought he was on the Eden ^-erms with 
 
 
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 i32 
 
 Emmanuel-Jesus. 
 
 God. Nicodemus made this mistake, leaving 
 out of count the Son of man lifted up; he 
 would have God with him as a Teacher. Not 
 so. He must be a Saviour, or He cannot be 
 "with men.*' 
 
 As that word "God with us" comes out 
 from the throne of God, and penetrates 
 through the thick vapour of sin that surrounds 
 this earth, it becomes changed into Jesus. 
 As the prophecy rolls onward to its accom- 
 plishment, the angel of Jehovah gives the 
 necessary translation of " God with us." Its 
 translation, not into Hebrew, or Greek, or 
 Latin, or English, or any other Babel tongue, 
 but into the language of the sinner's need, 
 let that sinner be barbarian, Scythian, bond 
 or free, black or white, " God with us," when 
 translated into this language of need, becomes 
 " Jesus— Saviour from sins." 
 
 And how truly we find Him coming to the 
 sinner's place, in order that He might be the 
 sinner's Saviour! Infidelity may stumble at 
 the genealogy of Matthew i. The needy 
 sinner reads it with joyful heart, as there 
 he reads that God became one of U3 that 
 He might become one with us, and so might 
 become Jesus our Saviour. When man writes 
 his genealogy, he tries to bring in the great 
 namefc' and leave out the unworthy. If he 
 could only get some of the blood-royal, or the 
 blood of the nobles, to appear in his genea- 
 logical tree, he would be exceedingly pleased. 
 
Emmahuel-Jesus. 
 
 The needy sinner watches with wondrous 
 interest what God has left out and what God 
 has added to that list of names. 
 
 God has intentionally left out the names of 
 three kings — Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah 
 — from the list. He has added three that did 
 not require to appear — Tamar, Kahab, and 
 the wife of Urias. Kead their histories in the 
 Old Testament, and then adore His sovereign 
 grace. To say no more about them, though 
 much might be said, they were all Canaanites, 
 belonging to the cursed son of Ham, who 
 were commanded to be extirpated root and 
 branch. Kuth is another who is added. She 
 was a Moabitess, and the Ammonite and 
 Moabite were not to come into the congrega- 
 tion of God for ever. 
 
 ii 
 
 " Sovereign grace o'er sin abounding, 
 Who its length or depth can tell ? 
 'Tis a deep that knows no sounding." 
 
 Thus our Saviour is God, and God is with 
 us as Saviour — really a Man, really the seed 
 of the woman — really one w th the sinner — 
 He who knew no sin made sin for us. Because 
 He is one with us He can come under sin, can 
 be made sin, can bear the penalty of sin, can 
 die for sin ; because He is God He can bear 
 our sins. He can put away sin. He can bear 
 its doom, He can destroy him that had the 
 power of death. He has risen; and this is 
 Emmanuel-Jesus, God with us — our Saviour. 
 
 
 i 
 
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i84 
 
 EmmanUel'Jesus, 
 
 Keador, none can save you but God. God 
 can treat with you on no ground until you 
 have accepted Him as your Saviour. Modern 
 rationalism easily gets away from this by 
 passing over the terrible factor **sin." 
 Modern ritualism brings religion to God, 
 while God is waiting to be " with us " as 
 Jesus the Saviour. 
 
I f ' 
 
 EI8 NAME. 
 
 [O continue the subject of the different 
 names of our Lord, we here give a 
 careful investigation of Scripture in 
 as few words of ours as possible. It is of great 
 importance to study all Scripture in such a 
 way as to derive our doctrines from Scripture, 
 and not make Scripture fit into our doctrines. 
 
 In our following study we have examined 
 fifteen names, titles, and combinations used 
 concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. There 
 are many others, such as Son of Man, Son of 
 God, King of kings, etc., which open up quite 
 a different line of things. 
 
 On pages 186 and 187 we give a table which, 
 in itself, is very instructive. We give the num- 
 ber of occurrences of each name before and after 
 Pentecost, as found in the New Testament. 
 
 What strikes us at the first glance is the 
 frequency of the simple name *• Jesus " before 
 Pentecost, and its rare occurrence after Pen- 
 tecost, and that " The Lord Jesus Christ^' is 
 never mentioned before Pentecost, and in one 
 form or another is usad 99 times after Pente- 
 cost. Take in connection with this one of the 
 first Pentecostal utterances (Acts ii. 36), 
 
 
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MENTIONS OF "HIS NMIE" 
 
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 Matthew .... 
 
 169 
 
 14 
 
 51 
 
 2 
 
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 92 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
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 • • • 
 
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 97 
 
 12 
 
 85 
 
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 19 
 
 43 
 
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 14 
 
 92 
 
 10 
 
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 Romans 
 
 
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 36 
 
 26 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 1 Corinthians 
 
 
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 47 
 
 53 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 Corinthians 
 
 
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 38 
 
 21 
 
 6 
 
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 25 
 
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 8 
 
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 17 
 
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i88 
 
 His Name, 
 
 ** God hath made that same Jesus whom ye 
 have crucified both Lord and Christ." 
 
 It will be beyond our power to go over 
 every passage. We shall therefore confine 
 ourselves to the exceptional cases. 
 
 1. Jesus occurs 614 times as the name of 
 the Babe from Bethlehem, the Man fi:om Naza- 
 reth, the Sufferer of Golgotha. The 62 times 
 after Pentecost — the proclamation of his Lord- 
 ship — are thus derived : — 
 
 In the Acts of the Apostles it is used 30 
 times after Pentecost, which we might have 
 expected, thus 'nearly taking up half the num- 
 ber, as showing to the Jew that Jesus was 
 the Messias promised to the fathers. 
 
 "Jesus of Nazareth ... ye have taken, 
 and by wicked hands have crucified and slain " 
 (Acts ii. 22). 
 
 " This Jesus hath God raised up " (ii. 32). 
 
 " God hath made that same Jesus whom ye 
 have crucified both Lord and Christ " (ii. 36). 
 
 " The God of Abraham hath glorified His 
 Son Jesus " (iii. 13). 
 
 " God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent 
 Him to bless you " (iii. 26). 
 
 " The Sadducees being grieved that they 
 taught the people, and preached through 
 Jesus the resurrection from the dead *' (iv. 2). 
 
 " They took knowledge of them that they 
 had been with Jesus " (iv. 13). 
 
 " Commanded them not to speak at all, nor 
 teach in the name of Jesus " (iv. 18). 
 
His Name. 
 
 189 
 
 " Against Thy holy Child Jesus, whom Thou 
 hast anointed " (iv. 27). 
 
 ** The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, 
 whom ye slew and hanged on a tree " (v. 30). 
 
 '* They commanded that they should not 
 speak in the name of Jesus " (v. 40). 
 
 ** We have heard him say that this Jesus of 
 Nazareth shall destroy this place " (vi. 14). 
 
 " Stephen saw the glory of G-od, and 
 Jesus standing on the right hand of God" 
 (vii. 55). 
 
 ''Philip preached unto him (the eunuch) 
 Jesus*' (viii. 35). 
 
 '' The Lord said (to Saul), I am Jesus,.whom 
 thou persecutest " (iz. 5). 
 
 *' He (Paul) had preached boldly at Damas- 
 cus in the name of Jesus " (ix. 27). 
 
 " Peter said, God anointed Jesus of Naza- 
 reth with the Holy Ghost " (x. 38). 
 
 " Paul said. Of this man's (David) seed 
 hath God, according to promise, i\ ised unto 
 Israel a Saviour, Jesus " (xiii. 23). 
 
 " He hath raised up Jesus again " (xl' )3). 
 
 " This Jesus, whom I (Paul) preach unto 
 you, is Christ " (xvii. 3). 
 
 " There is another King, one Jesus " (xvii. 
 
 7). 
 
 " He preached unto them Jesus and the 
 resurrection" (xvii. 18). 
 
 " bilas and T'imotheus testified to the Jews 
 that Jesus was Jhrist " 'jcviii. 5). 
 
 " Cert lin of Jie vagabond Jews, exorcis^-\ 
 
 ul 
 
 
 ' 
 
 ■t-H 
 
190 
 
 His Name. 
 
 \ i if 
 
 took upon them to call over them which had 
 evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, 
 We adjure you hy Jesus, whom Paul preach- 
 eth " (xix. 13). 
 
 '* Tne evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I 
 know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" 
 (xix. 15). 
 
 " He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, 
 whom thou persecutest " (xxii. 18). 
 
 **One Jesus, who war dead, whom Paul 
 affirmed to be alive " (xxv. 19). 
 
 " Contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth" (xxvi. 9). 
 
 " He said, I am Jesus, whom thou perse- 
 cutest " (xxvi. 15). 
 
 " Persuading them concerning Jesus" 
 (xxviii. 23). 
 
 In Komang it is used twice — 
 
 *' That He might be just, and the Justifier of 
 him who believe th in Jesus " (iii. 26). 
 
 " The Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus 
 from the dead " (viii. 11). 
 
 In 1 Corinthians twice in the verse xii. 3— 
 
 " No man speaking by the Spirit of God 
 calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can 
 say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 In 2 Corinthians five times : — 
 
 " Ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" 
 (iv. 6). 
 
 " That the life also of Jesus might be made 
 manifest in our body. For we which live 
 are always delivered unto death for Jesus' 
 
!HJ!^fVf<W^f^*"'^-*!i3^fy»T-?7?HW ' 
 
 His Name, 
 
 191 
 
 sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made 
 manifest in our mortal body" (iv. 10, 11). 
 
 " He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall 
 raise up us also by Jesus " (iv. 14). 
 
 In Ephesians once, " As the truth is in 
 Jesus'* (iv. 21). 
 
 In Philippians once, " At the name of Jesus* 
 every knee should bow " (ii. 10). 
 
 In 1 Thessalonians it appears three times — 
 
 " Jesus, who deUvered us from the wrath to 
 come " (i. 10). 
 
 **If we believe that Jesus died and rose 
 again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus 
 will God bring with Him " (iv. 14). 
 
 In Hebrews it appears eight times — 
 
 " We see not yet all things put under him, 
 but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower 
 than the angels ' ' (ii. 9). 
 
 "Seeing then that we have a great High- 
 priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus 
 the Son of God, let us hold fast our profes- 
 sion" (iv. 14). 
 
 " Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, 
 even Jesus" (vi. 20). 
 
 " By so much was Jesus made a Surety of 
 a better testament " (vii. 22). 
 
 " Having boldness to enter into the holiest, 
 by the blood of Jesus " (x. 19). 
 
 " Looking unto Jesus, the Author and 
 Finisher of faith " (xii. 2). 
 
 " Ye are come . c . to Jesus, the Mediator 
 of the new covenant " (xii. 24). 
 
 r 
 
\ ^ 
 
 192 
 
 Ifts Name. 
 
 " Jesus, that He might sanctify the people 
 with His own blood, suffered without the 
 gate " (xiii. 12). 
 
 In 1 John we find four mentions of 
 "Jesus"— 
 
 **Who is a har — biit he that denieth that 
 •Jesus is the Christ ? " (ii. 22). 
 
 *' Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the 
 Son of God, God dwelleth in Him" (iv. 15). 
 
 " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the 
 Christ is born of God " (v. 1). 
 
 " Who is he that overcometh the world 
 but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son 
 of God ? " (v. 5). 
 
 In Eevelation it is used six times — 
 
 "Here are they that keep the command- 
 ments of God and the faith of Jesus*' (xiv. 
 12). 
 
 * ' The blood of the martyrs of Jesus ' ' (xvii. 6). 
 
 " I am thy fellow servant and of thy bre- 
 thren that have the testimony of Jesus : 
 worship God : for the testimony of Jesus is 
 the spirit of prophecy " (xix. 10). 
 
 ** The souls of them that were beheaded for 
 the witness of Jesus " (xx. 4). 
 
 " I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify 
 unto you these things in the churches*' (xx:. 
 16). 
 
 In Galatians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 
 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 
 James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, 
 Jude, the name " Jesus " never appears alone. 
 

 His Name 
 
 193 
 
 From the consideration of these names, and 
 the timfe at which they were used, we may 
 gather that the names most in accordance 
 with Scripture, most commonly used after 
 Pentecost, and therefore most suitable for us 
 who live in these days, are either — " Christ," 
 "the Lord," ** Jesus Christ," or "the Lord 
 Jesus Christ.*' 
 
 V ■ 5 
 
 13 
 
y^ 
 
 ''MY NAME'S sake:* 
 
 MMEDIATELY after our Lord, in 
 teaching His disciples how to pray, 
 revealed to them their position as 
 children, though still, far from home, and thus 
 warranted to address His Father as their 
 Father, and say, " Our Father who art in 
 heaven," He instructed them to add, "Hal- 
 lowed be Thy name." We thus join in 
 worship with all the loyal universe of God, 
 animate and inanimate. 
 
 " Praise ye Him, all His a'^gels. Praise ye 
 Him, all His hosts. Praise yo Him, sun and 
 moon : praise Him, all ye stars of light. 
 
 " Praise ye Him, ye heaven of heavens, 
 end ye waters that be above the heavens. 
 Let them praise the name of the Lord. 
 
 ** Praise the Lord from the earth, ye 
 dragons, and all deeps : fire and hail, snow 
 and vapours; stormy winds, fulfilling Hip 
 word ; mountains and all hills ; fruitful trees 
 and all cedars ; beasts and all cattle ; creeping 
 things and flying fowl : kings of the earth, and 
 all people; princes, and all judges of the 
 earth : both young men and maidens ; old 
 men and children : let them praise the name 
 
''My Name's Sake, 
 
 195 
 
 of the Lord ; for His name alone is excellent ; 
 His glory is above the earth and heaven. . . . 
 Let everything that hath breath praise the 
 Lord. Praise ye the Lord." 
 
 While we are loving sons, we are devout 
 worshippers, and take our stand beside the 
 adoring living ones, who rest not day 
 and night, saying, "Holy, holjr, holy, Lord 
 God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to 
 come ; " and falling down before Him that 
 sits on the throne, we worship Him that liveth 
 for ever and ever, and cast our crowns before 
 the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy, 
 Lord, to receivf glory, and honour, and 
 power ; for Thou hast created all things, and 
 for Thy pleasure they are and were created." 
 And deeper still does our worship reach as we 
 enter into the hall of redemption, for we can 
 sing a new song, saying, " Thou art worthy to 
 take the book, and to open the seals thereof ; 
 for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
 God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
 tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made 
 us unto our God kings and priests ; and we 
 shall reign on the earth." And every creature 
 which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
 under the earth, and such as are in the sea, in 
 millennial glory will sing, "Blessing, and 
 honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him 
 that sitteth upon the throne for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 )) 
 
 ff, 
 
 
 " Hallowed be Thy name I ^' The name of 
 
 d 
 
M'-< 
 
 196 
 
 ''My Name's Sake!' 
 
 the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous 
 run into it, and are safe. "VV^hat is in a name ? 
 The revelation of the unrevealed to dark- 
 ened man; the photograph of the Eternal 
 sent into time ; earth's miniature of heaven's 
 glory. While the Uncreated One has revealed 
 Himself under many names, He has " in these 
 last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom 
 He hath appointed Heir of all things; by 
 whom also He made the worlds, being the 
 brightness of His glory, and the express image 
 of His person.' Only in Christ can we read 
 the true name of God. We purpose to draw 
 the attention of our readers to a few leading 
 lines of study connected with **His name," 
 and its bearing on us. 
 
 1. Forgiveness. — 1 John ii. 12, **I write 
 unto you, little children, because your sins are 
 forgiven you for ffis name^s sake^ The door 
 of admission now for every child of Adam into 
 the place of childhood with the Father is the 
 door of forgiveness. Education, moral culture, 
 reformation, sanctification are ail taught in- 
 side, but the only door is forgiveness. That 
 door has not been opened by our prayers, our 
 tears, our groans, our works, or our feelings, 
 but by His own hand, and for His name's sake. 
 We did not draw to Him till He came to us. 
 The debt was paid on Calvary's Cross; the 
 Eesurrection is the divinely-signed receipt for 
 the abolished debt. '* His name's sake '* is 
 the blank cheque handed down from and 
 
*'My Name's Sake." 
 
 197 
 
 signed by God Himself to every sin-burdened 
 soul, in which he can insert his own iniquity, 
 transgression, and sin. What is the value of 
 a cheque on a bank ? In itself only the value 
 of the paper and the penny stamp upon it. 
 But let a name be attached to it, and it then 
 has all the value of the full resources of the 
 one who has signed it. All heaven's resources 
 are opened to the sinner accepting this Divine 
 cheque. 
 
 Are the sins like scarlet? Is heaven not 
 now the resting-place of Him whose blood can 
 make the foulest clean, and for whose name's 
 sake they shall be white as snow ? Are they 
 red like crimson, the damning coloui- of the 
 hands of the murderer, red with the blood of 
 a spotless victim ? They shall be as wool, for 
 forgiveness was preached first to Jerusalem 
 mm'derers of the Prince of Life. Doet, the 
 black indictment of Isaiah xliii. 23, 24, cul- 
 minate in " Thou hast made me to serve with 
 thy sins ; thou hast wearied me with thine 
 iniquities " ? Are the resources of heaven 
 available for this ? Listen to the words of 
 the God of truth as He proclaims free pardon 
 to the most ungrateful of sinners : " I, even 
 I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions, 
 for Mine own sahe, and will not remember thy 
 sins." 
 
 Mark, it is not merely out of pity for us, far 
 less on account of any external activity, self- 
 righteous agility, or internal emotion on our 
 
 K M 
 
 
 :4i ■ 
 
iqS 
 
 ''My Name's Sake.'' 
 
 m<-'\ 
 
 E' ilsV ill 
 
 part, bnt for His own sake. GlorioTis founda- 
 tion; adamantine, everlasting, immovable 
 rook on which we build. In Him " we have 
 redemption through His blood, the forgive- 
 ness of sins, according to the riches of His 
 grace." 
 
 2. Guidance. — Psalm xxiii. .3, " Herestoreth 
 my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of 
 righteousness for His name's sake.'* The 
 justified man needs daily forgiveness. The 
 quickened soul needs to be restored. The re- 
 stored soul needs to be led. All this has been 
 anticipated, and all has been met, because all 
 is linked with His name, and '^His name shall 
 endure for ever : Hie name shall be continued 
 as long as the sun." All within and around 
 us is in constant change. Frames, feelings, 
 fancies, tears, prayers, resolution, faith, hope, 
 love, all have their ebbs and flows, but His 
 name is the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
 ever. 
 
 Has His blood been once presented at the 
 throne for us, and accepted by us for justifica- 
 tion before that throne ? It is of continued 
 and unceasing efficacy, and thus the blood of 
 Jesus Christ is cleansing us (at every breath 
 we breathe) from all sin. Am I prone to 
 wander, prone to make mistakes, prone to 
 follow the fleshly desires, prone to trip and 
 fall into the mire ? He restoreth my soul. 
 Would it be a disgrace for me to dishonour 
 my Saviour Kedeemier, and cast a blot on that 
 
• i 
 
 ''My Name's Sake.'' 
 
 199 
 
 name I bear? He leadeth me in the paths 
 of righteousness for His name's sake. His 
 honour is compromised, and He is my 
 Guardian Bedeemer. He upholdeth my steps, 
 because His name is in them. On my eagle's 
 wings He has committed .0 me His name. 
 In my unwearied running He has given me 
 His name to carry. In mine unfainting walk 
 His name supports me. In the day of oppo- 
 sition, in my single-handed combat, when, 
 having done all, I am now to stand, His name 
 is shield, sword, and helmet unto me ; and in 
 lying down in His green pastures, it is His 
 name which is my food. No turn of the way 
 but is known to Him. Let him that nameth 
 the name of Christ depart from all iniquity. 
 He leadeth me for His name's sake. 
 
 3. Communion. — Matt, xviii. 20, " Where 
 two or three are gathered together in My 
 name, there am I in the midst of them." 
 The forgiven and restored sinner is not con- 
 demned to tread a solitary path, even though 
 it lies through the wilderness. The Heaven- 
 blessed soul is not called to partake of his 
 joys alone. He has even in the desert a 
 fellowship of God with fellow-sinners, saved 
 by the same sovereign grace. He is to get 
 sympathy firom, and to have sympathy with, 
 others. Their numbers may be very small — 
 only two or three — but the communion is 
 very real. He requires no elaborate system 
 of regulations or code of rules to claim this 
 
 % 
 
 .i. J 
 
 i 
 
 i * \ 
 
 ! 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 ,^ 
 
 ifit 
 
200 
 
 ''My Names Sake:* 
 
 Divine communion on earth. "His name" 
 is enough. The most elaborate and costly 
 building that an ordinary man may have built 
 is only the grand mansion or castle of Mr. 
 Greatpurse ; but a lowly cottage in which 
 Her Majesty resides becomes a palace. The 
 most gorgeously architectured building with- 
 out God is a mere mass of building material. 
 But His name with His first disciples at 
 Jerusalem turned an upper ordinary family 
 room into a heavenly temple, a Divine palace. 
 The most eloquent preaching is but pleasing 
 talk springing from human brains rf "His 
 name " is not its burden. The poorest olo- 
 cutioniot brimful of His name brings all heaven 
 before the eyes of those who have the spiritual 
 faculty of seeing. The most elaborate prayers 
 may be but words of fancy, feeling, or edu- 
 cation; but- " His name," breathed with 
 stammering tongue and from groaning heart, 
 will open the windows of heaven, sending 
 down blessings, that we have not room enough 
 to receive. Magnificent music, splendid in- 
 struments, thoroughly trained singers, without 
 " His name " as the centre of all their praise, 
 may command the applause of the ear and 
 reach the rafters of the building, but they 
 have nothing pleasing to the ear of God ; but 
 in His name we offer the sacrifice of praise 
 continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, 
 giving thanks to His name. Let us exalt 
 His name together. 
 
''My Names Saker 
 
 201 
 
 4. Activity, — 3 John 7, **For His name's 
 sake they went forth, taking nothing of the 
 Gentiles." Accepted according to the Victim's 
 blood inside the veil, we are rejected with the 
 Victim's flesh outside the camp. Our happy 
 communion leads us to our living activity, 
 dependent entirely on His name, independent 
 of all the nations on the earth, their favours 
 or frowns, their support or spite, their patron- 
 age or persecution. There is a fellowship 
 through His name in this Divine activity on 
 the earth. There is a giving and receiving. 
 There is the Joshua wielding the sword, and 
 the Moses on the hill-top with arms uplifted 
 and arms upheld by Aaron and Hur. 
 
 " Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever 
 thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers, 
 who have borne witness of thy love before the 
 Church; whom, if thou bring forward on their 
 journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well ; 
 because that for His name's sake thev went 
 forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We, 
 therefore, ought to receive such, that we 
 might be fellow-helpers to the truth." This 
 was written by an Apostle who knew much 
 of His name, who in his younger days had 
 lain on His bosom, and knew what it was to 
 be independent of men, nature, or the world, 
 and now in his old age puts himself alongside 
 of the younger Gains the well-beloved, en- 
 couraging him that " we might be fellow 
 helpers to the truth." The older and more 
 
 ■V 
 
 m 
 
 i'! 
 
 . 1" 
 
 ; i 
 
 I H 
 
I '(' 
 
 li 
 
 [1 i , ' 
 
 202 
 
 '*My Names Sake.'' 
 
 experienced saint wrote this cheering word to 
 the younger. 
 
 Flattery is abominable, but cheering words 
 to solitary labourers in the activity of their 
 mission for Sis name are as water on the dry 
 desert. In works of faith, labours of love, 
 and patience of hope, we are all prone to get 
 disheartened. *'His name" of good cheer 
 warms us up again. So many mistakes, diffi- 
 culties, worries, and disappointments lie in 
 the path of the man who is endeavouring to 
 live for His name alone, that there is not a 
 Christian but occasionally needs a word of 
 God-cheer to support him and throw him on 
 His name. Suspicions, insinuations, cold- 
 shouldering, want of sympathy, malicious 
 words, silent ignoring, are common enough. 
 Let us imitate the more excellent way of 
 John the aged, drawing close to his hundredth 
 year, that we may be fellow-helpers to the truth. 
 
 6. Testimony. — Acts ii. 21, " Whosoever 
 shall call on the name of the Lord shall he 
 saved." '/The Lord said unto him (Ananias), 
 Go thy way, for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel 
 unto Me to bear My name before the Gentiles, 
 and kings, and the children of Israel " (Acts 
 -ix. 16). 
 
 Peter was the Apostle to the circumcision, 
 and he had to begin his testimony at Jeru- 
 salem, to be extended to Judssa, Samaria, and 
 thence unto the uttermost part of the earth. 
 Paul, on the other hand, was the Apostle to 
 
 m\ p 
 
** My Names Sake,^* 
 
 203 
 
 the Gentiles, and he was to testify inwards 
 towards the children of Israel. But the 
 subject of each was the same. They were 
 not left to choose their text. ** The name of 
 the Lord '* was the salvation preached by 
 Peter, the keynote of his testimony. ** My 
 name" was what Paul was to bear before 
 Gentiles, kings, and Israel's children. Arts 
 and sciences, politics and philosophy, earth's 
 ena' tments or human cultus, were all second- 
 ary " His name " was emblazoned on their 
 banner, and under that flag they had the royal 
 authority of Heaven to bear the testimony to 
 every creature. 
 
 We can sue for sufferance when we wish 
 men to listen to our opinions, ideas, or 
 thoughts, but with all the calm majesty and 
 full Divine authority of our message, we can 
 carry the standard that He gives us from 
 palace to hovel, from frozen iceberg to coral 
 strand, to barbarian, Scythian, black or white, 
 bond or free, Jew or Gentile, and looking 
 every responsible fellow-being steadfastly in 
 the face, can say on Heaven's authority, '* If 
 thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
 Jesus, and shalt believe in tliine heart that 
 God hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved*" 
 
 6. Shame. — Acts v. 41, '* And they departed 
 from th>3 presence of the council, rejoicing 
 that they were coimted worthy to suffer shame 
 for His name's sake.'' This is the only crown 
 
 
 ) 1 
 
 m 
 
rv: 
 
 204 
 
 ''My Name's Sake." 
 
 lis 
 
 that an unsympathetic world can give to 
 those who bear His name in testimony. It 
 is the crown of thorns in miniature — His 
 suffering for righteousness at the hands of 
 men. We can never touch His suffering at 
 the hands of God for sin. And this shame 
 carries with it a special blessing, because it is 
 for His name it is obtained. Peter, who was 
 foremost in bearing this shame for His name, 
 writes more fully of it in his first letter, in 
 the first chapter of which he tells us of the 
 Old Testament Scriptures foretelling "the 
 sufferings of Christ and the glory that should 
 follow." In the second chapter, " This is 
 thankworthy (or the character of grace), if a 
 man for conscience toward God endure grief, 
 suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if, 
 when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall 
 take it patiently ? But if when ye do well 
 and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is 
 acceptable with God," suffering as Christ 
 suffered. When He suffered He threatened 
 not, but committed Himself to Him that 
 judgeth righteously. In the third chapter, 
 *'If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy 
 are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, 
 neither be troubled." In the fourth chapter, 
 " Kejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
 Christ's sufferings. If ye be reproached for 
 the name of Christ, happy are ye. If any man 
 suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, 
 but let him glorify God on this behalf." 
 
''My Names Sake.'' 
 
 205 
 
 7. Glory, — Eev. xxii. 4, "They shall see His 
 face, and ffis name shall be in their fore- 
 heads." Soon the cross will give place to 
 the crown, the curse from the earth will be 
 removed, the glory wiU take the place of the 
 shame, the forgiving and forgiveness having 
 done their work for ever, the leading through 
 the desert finished, the isolated gatherings 
 now consolidated into one grand multitude — 
 all nations now blessed in Him, and calling 
 Him blessed, but still His name shall endure 
 for ever. The outstanding feature of saint- 
 ship will carry the imprer*^ of His name for 
 ever. Angels may excel m strength and in 
 wisdom, and may love to do His will ; but the 
 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 revealed to us in Him who is the Lamb of 
 God, taking away the world's sin, wiU be the 
 name by which saints are known through the 
 millennial age, and to the ages of ages, in 
 that hght which eclipses all human lights of 
 candle or all natural light of the sun, for' we 
 shine in the light of God, and His name shall 
 stamp each brow. 
 
 " They that know Thy Name will put their 
 trust in Thee." 
 
 "Hallowei: be Thy Name." 
 
 \ \ 
 
 ii 
 
■>. 
 
 i 
 
 THE GLOBY OF GOD, 
 
 ** Glory to God in the highest." — Ltjkb ii. 14. 
 
 "But God, who commanded the light to shine out of dark- 
 ness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light o£ the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the faco of Jesus Christ.'' 
 — 2 Cob. iv. 16. 
 
 jHE glory of God ! " is an expression 
 which is much used, but we have 
 little apprehension of the full length 
 and depth comprised in it, as manifesting the 
 excellency and perfection of God as revealed 
 at various stages to man. The best idea of it 
 will be got from tracing its history in the 
 Word. 
 
 When man had been placed before God ia 
 Eden, and he had failed, we find that God 
 came down, and in righteous execution of His 
 sentence. He drove him out of Paradise, and 
 placed the cherubim, and the sword, and the • 
 flame, and the gate to keep him out; and 
 no man dare now come to God but with 
 the recognition that He is a ''consuming 
 fire." He dare not come but recognizing the 
 claims of God on him as a sinner ; for the 
 Shekinah flame was between God and the 
 sinner. 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 207 
 
 mer ; for the 
 
 The olobt with Israel. 
 . We now see a glorious change in the rela- 
 tive position of the sinner, his God, and the 
 glory. Typical redemption put man typically 
 with God at the right side of the glory. This 
 we see in Israel redeemed from the earth. 
 
 1. In the wilderness. — The first time we 
 read of the sinner's position with regard 
 to this glory being changed is in Exod. xiii. 
 17, " And it came to pass, when Pharaoh 
 had let the people go, that God led them 
 not through the way of the land of the 
 Philistines, although that was near" (God 
 often does not take the nearest way. It would 
 have been a great pity if Christ had said to 
 Peter, "I have prayed the Father that you 
 should not be tempted.** Peter would have 
 lost a great deal) ; "for God said, Lest perad- 
 venture the people repent when they see war, 
 and they return to Egypt.*' We are not con- 
 verted to peace with ourselves^ but to peace 
 with Grod ; we are not converted to sleejpy but 
 to wear the helmet, and not to lie down, but 
 to go through the desert ; but if we have to go 
 through a desert, we have a constant untiring 
 leader. And this is the attitude in which we 
 now meet the pillar-cloud of the glory of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 A constant leader. — " And they took their 
 journey from Succoth, and encamped in 
 Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And 
 Jehovah went before them by day in a 'pillar 
 
208 
 
 The Glory of God, 
 
 of a cloudy to lead them the way; and by 
 night in a pillar of fire ^ to give them light ; to 
 go by day and night. He took not away the 
 pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire 
 by night, from before the people." 
 
 Protecting. — " And the angel of God, which 
 went before the camp of Israel, removed, and 
 went behind them ; and the pillar of the cloud 
 went from before their face, and stood behind 
 them. And it came between the camp of the 
 Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and it 
 was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave 
 light by night to these ; so that the one came 
 not near the other all night " (Exod. xiv. 19, 
 20). The redeemed people, those that had 
 been redeemed by the blood sprinkled, are 
 thus put at the Godward side of the flame, and 
 it is now placed between them and their foes ; 
 the flame that manifested the might of God has 
 now been transferred to the rear of the camp 
 of Israel, and God is visibly /or His people, 
 on the ground of redemption seen in the shed 
 blood. This refers to an earthly redeemed 
 people, yet it gives a glorious illustration 
 of where the heavenly people redeemed by the 
 precious blood of Jesus stand. God had put 
 up the flame now, and His people are seen at 
 the Godward side of the flame, and the enemy 
 at the far side. It guides the children of God 
 day and night, for by night and day, storm 
 and calm, He is always the same, independent 
 of circumstances. Peter saw the wavesy and 
 
The Glory of God, 
 
 209 
 
 began to sink. And really the waves had 
 nothing to do with it, for it is as easy to walk 
 on the top of the waves as on a sea of glass, 
 each impossible by nature. By day and by 
 night the pillar of the glory of Jehovah led 
 the Israelites, but it was darkness to the 
 Egyptians. Yes, many an unconverted man 
 would try to do what the Christian, the saved 
 one, does. It is a solemn text, *' Which the 
 Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.^' 
 What is light to a Christian, to the uncon- 
 verted one is darkness ; what is the pathway 
 to faith is destruction to unbelief. " If our 
 'gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost " 
 
 Avenging. — ** And it came to pass, that in 
 the morning- watch, Jehovah*' (this is His re- 
 lation-name to Israel — this is preferable to -'the 
 Lord *') " looked unto the host of the Egyptians 
 through the 'pillar of fire and of the cloudy and 
 troubled the host of the Egyptians." Not only 
 darkness, but trouble to that Egyptian host. 
 
 Providing food. — ** And it came to pass, as 
 Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of 
 the children of Israel, that they looked toward 
 the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of 
 Jehovah appeared in the cloud. And the 
 Lord spake unto Moses saying, I have heard 
 the murmurings of the children of Israel ; 
 speak unto them, saying. At evtn ye shall eat 
 flesh, and in the morning ye c'lall be filled 
 with bread " (Exod. xvi. 10-12). Manna and 
 quails were given from Jehovah, their God. 
 
 14 
 
 
 . ,: !■ 
 
 ■I ■ 
 
 M' 
 
210 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 \\m 
 
 In laiOj a devouring flame. — Look at chap, 
 xxiv. vers. 15, 16, *' And Moses went up into 
 the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 
 And the fflory of Jehovah abode upon Mount 
 Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days : and 
 the seventh day He called unto Moses out of 
 the cloud. And the sight of the glory of 
 Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top 
 of the mount in the eyes of the children 
 of Israel." 
 
 His name — in pardoning mercy. — Again we 
 read, in chap, xxxiii. ver. 18, " And he (Moses) 
 SMid, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.'' 
 Then in chap, xxxiv. vers. 4-7, "And Jehovah 
 descended in the cloudy and stood with him 
 there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah," 
 etc. This cloud went with Israel all the way 
 through; it was their token from Jehovah, 
 telling them when they were to move and 
 when to stop. They had no power over that 
 cloud ; it had the power over them ; and we 
 find that at the giving of the name of Jehovah, 
 Jehovah Himself descended to the place where 
 He was manifested — where His name was 
 known. 
 
 Filling the finished tabernacle. — Turn to 
 chap. xi. ver. 33, *' So Moses finished the work. 
 Then a clond covered the tent of the congre- 
 gation, and the glory of Jehovah filled the 
 tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter 
 into the tent of the congregation, because the 
 cloud abode thereon, and the glory of Jehovah 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 211 
 
 filled the tabernacle." It was the cloud that, 
 abode thereon. The cloud was above the taber- 
 nacle and as the cloud moved on, the glory 
 moved on, keeping its place ; for when the cloud 
 was taken up, the children of Israel went on ; 
 but if the cloud were not taken up, then they 
 went not on, " for the cloud of Jehovah was 
 upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it 
 by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, 
 throughout all their journey." Thus we see 
 the book of Exodus has ended in a contrast 
 with what the book of Genesis begins. In 
 Genesis, God was making a home for man; 
 in Exodus, man was making a home for God : 
 God in Genesis preparing a beautiful dwelling 
 on earth for man to manifest Him, but sin had 
 come in, and the consequence of sin has been 
 seen ; but now a most glorious thing has been 
 brought in, for God has come to dwell with 
 man, and the glory of God fills the place that 
 man had made, on the ground of redemption 
 — ^redemption by blood — ^redemption by the 
 power of God, through the Red Sea, bringing 
 them on through all their journeys, and the 
 glory of Jehovah is now under the roof that 
 man has made. 
 
 Gon8ecration.-—^\xroL now to Lev. ix. 22 : 
 "And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the 
 people, and blessed them, and came down 
 from offering of the sin-offering, and the burnt- 
 offering, and the peace-offerings. And Moses 
 and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the 
 
 i- ill 
 
 il 
 
 ' ir 
 
 
 
212 
 
 The Glory of God, 
 
 congregation, and came ont) and blessed the 
 people ; and the glory of Jehovah appeared 
 unto all the people. And there came a fire 
 . out from before Jehovah, and consumed upon 
 ' the altar the burnt-offering and the fat ; which 
 when all the people saw, they shouted, and 
 fell on their faces.*' Our God is always a 
 consuming fire. We see here a manifested 
 acceptance, showing that the offering was 
 well-pleasing to Jehovah. 
 
 Over the mercy -seat, — " And Jehovah said 
 unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, 
 that he come not at all times into the holy 
 place within the veil before the mercy-seat, 
 which is upon the ark, that he die not ; for I 
 will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat " 
 (Lev. xvi. 2). God appears now in His great 
 apostolic capacity, in the very holiest of all, 
 whither the blood was carried. Turn to 
 Numbers, where we get the arranging of the 
 host of Johovah. 
 
 The responsible adviser, — " And when the 
 cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many 
 days, then the children of Israel kept the 
 . charge of Jehovah, and journeyed not ' ' (Numb, 
 ix. 19). Look at the repetition of that word, 
 the cloudy the cloudy the cloud, the cloud; it 
 is, the glory of God, the glory of God, the 
 glory of God, the glory of God, ringing 
 through our ears at every stage and step of 
 our pilgrimage. 
 In needed discipline. — ^Alas that this mani- 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 213 
 
 festation of the glory should be required I It 
 comes in very solemnly here; we have dis- 
 cipline to exercise ; it is the same appearance, 
 the same glory of Jehovah. " And the Lord 
 came down in the 'pillar of the cloudy and 
 stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called 
 Aaron and Miriam : and they both came 
 forth;" and what waa it for now? "Our 
 Ood is a consuming fire." And He said, "Hear 
 now my words : If there be a prophet among 
 you, I, Jehovah, will make myseK known unto 
 him in a vision, and will speak unto him in 
 a dream " (Numb. xii. 5, 6). And Miriam was 
 smitten with leprosy. 
 
 In just vindication. — The majority went 
 against the faithful two. Majorities are not 
 always right. Joshua and Caleb were the 
 only two of the faithful minority , cast out by 
 the great majority, who met to stone them. 
 The congregation turned on them, and bade 
 them stone them with stones. What happened? 
 " And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the 
 tabernacle of the congregation before all the 
 children of Israel" (Numb. xiv. 10), and vindi- 
 cated these two. And still another more 
 solemn appearance. 
 
 In righteous judgment. — " And Korah 
 gathered all the congregation against them 
 unto the door of the tabernacle of the congre- 
 gation ; and the glory of Jehovah appeared 
 unto all the congregation " (Numb. xvi. 19). 
 "And there came out a fire from Jehovah, and 
 
 I: ' 
 
 .1 n 
 
214 
 
 The Glory of God, 
 
 
 consumed the two hundred and fifty men that 
 offered incense*' (ver. 35). And so now, as 
 we see, the judgment was manifested upon 
 them by the glory of Jehovah. The glory of 
 Jehovah is very silent. I have often been 
 asked, ** Is there any work of God going on at 
 such and such a place ? " My answer is, " I 
 never yet found God ceasing to work.'* I have 
 seen God working in power, when He was com- 
 ing with His breath, and sweeping hundreds 
 down, and converting people by scores at a 
 time. I have seen Him come with the wind, 
 winnowing the wheat from the chaff, sifting, 
 and seeing who will stand. That is the work 
 of God ; it is as really the work of God to find 
 out who are on the Lord's side, as to justify 
 the sinner believing in Jesus. Thank God for 
 sifting times, for winnowing work. Then God 
 may be working in His strange, but necessary, 
 work of discipline, vindication, or judgment. 
 But still He is the same God of all grace. 
 
 Providing water, — " And Moses and Aaron 
 went from the presence of the assembly unto 
 the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 and tiiey fell upon their faces ; and the glory 
 of Jehovah appeared unto them. And the 
 Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Take the rod, 
 and gather thou the assembly together, thou, 
 and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the 
 rook before their eyes ; and it shall give forth 
 his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them 
 water out of the rock ; so thou shalt give the 
 

 The Glory of God. 
 
 215 
 
 congregation and their beasts drink" (Numb. 
 XX. 6-8). 
 
 Unwearied to the end. — Leaders and human 
 guides may die, pass aivay, or change, but the 
 leading glory of Jehovah coutinues ever the 
 same to the journey's end — He saves to the 
 uttermost of time. Read Deut. xxxi. 14, 15, 
 '' And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy 
 days approach that thou must die : call Joshua, 
 and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the 
 congregation, that I may give him a charge. 
 And Moses and Joshua went and presented 
 themselves in the tabernacle of the congrega- 
 tion, and the Lord appeared in the tabernacle 
 in a pillar of a cloud, and the pillar of the 
 cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle." 
 Thus ends the wilderness march of the re- 
 deemed host, in which we have seen the pillar 
 of cloud, the glory of Jehovah, appearing at 
 all times for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
 tion, for instruction in righteousness ; whether 
 as looking to the enemy, as for God's claims, or 
 the congregation's need, all was under and 
 connected with that glory — their leader, their 
 responsible leader, their continuous leader, 
 their avenging leader, their leader to the end, 
 their provider of bread and water, their centre 
 of worship and acceptance, their meeting- 
 place with Jehovah, in holiness and grace, 
 smiting Miriam with leprosy, devouring the 
 apostates, or forgiving iniquity, transgression, 
 and sin. As we have thus traced the path of 
 
 
 '% 
 
 ill 
 
 1 '.' ! 
 
 :if 
 
2l6 
 
 The Oiory of God, 
 
 the glory through the wilderness, let us look 
 at it still as connected with Israel. 
 
 2. In the land,. — The tabernacle of the 
 wilderness changes, but the glory changes not, 
 for the glory of the tabernacle is the glory of 
 the temple, the glory of the wilderness is the 
 glory of the land, and the glory of the desert is 
 the glory of the kingdom. The moving glory 
 has become the permanent glory, but that 
 which led Israel through the pathless waste 
 was the same glory as in the days of David 
 and Solomon. " It came even to pass, as the 
 trumpeters and singers were as one, to make 
 one sound to be heard in praising and thank- 
 ing Jehovah ; and when they lifted up their 
 voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and 
 instruments of music, and praised Jehovah, 
 saying, For He is good; for His mercy en- 
 dureth for ever : that then the house was filled 
 with a cloudy even the house of Jehovah : so 
 that the priests could not stand to minister 
 by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah 
 had filled tlie house of God " (2 Chron. v. 13). 
 I think we have often too little worship, adora- 
 tion, praise; we are very earnest in 'prayer — 
 and I don't think we can be too earnest in 
 prayer — but let us not forget or neglect praise 
 to God. Let us know the meaning, of worship. 
 What is worship? Worship is noc telling 
 God what we are, or asking God to give us 
 anything, nor teaching saints, nor telling out 
 God*s love to sinners ; it is giving God back 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 217 
 
 His own, — giving God back I Yes ; and is it 
 not wonderful ? What was their worship ? 
 Praising and thanking Jehovah; ''And when 
 they lifted up their voices, . . . and praised 
 Jehovah, saying, For He is good, and His 
 mercy endure th for ever." This is the refrain, 
 the chorus through all their goings, ** He is 
 good, for His mercy endureth for ever." It 
 was thus giving Hiaa back His own, telling 
 Him concerning His all-forbearing mercy, in 
 spite of all their sin and failure. 
 
 And what have we to give Him back ? I 
 have often thought it was as when Jehovah 
 revealed His name. If you had heard those 
 dead rocks when each part was proclaimed, 
 the rocks echoed it back — "Jehovah, 
 Jehovah,'* the rocks echo; "Jehovah," 
 "merciful and gracious,*' "merciful and 
 gracious,*' "long-suffering," "long-suffering." 
 The echo of these cold stones was worship 
 to God. Look at sleeping Saint Dorcas ; she 
 is lying dead ; here stand some of the bene- 
 fited ones. Here is a mother with her little 
 daughter. "Ah I that saint was my best 
 friend." Oh! is it not pure religion "to 
 vint the fatherless and the widows in their 
 afiBliction " ? Jesus never sent a servant with 
 His gifts ; He came Himself, " and grace and 
 truth came by Jesus Christ." Do not hand 
 down your gifts, or send them by a servant — 
 visit. The weeping ones may have been 
 coming one by one to the house of Dorcas; 
 
 I? 
 
2l8 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 and a mother takes up a little dress : ** Look, 
 she made this, and that, and this other for 
 my dear little daughter." This was woiohip, 
 telling out what she made, what she did, what 
 she was ; and we come to our Father God, 
 and say. This is what He is, what He was, 
 what He did, for " He is good, and His mercy 
 endureth for ever." That is worship, — that 
 is the overflow of the full heart. 
 
 As the priests of old were' telling out what 
 He was and did, praising and thanking the 
 Lord when the singers were as one, " then the 
 house was filled with a cloud, even the house 
 of Jehovah. So that the priests could not 
 stand to minister by reason of the cloud ; for 
 the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of 
 God." There is nothing like the glory of 
 Jehovah for putting all the priests of God 
 on their faces. We must get the glory of 
 Jehovah not in the cloud of the Popish or 
 Kitualistic incense : if we attemnt it we are 
 crucifying Christ again, for if we use the type 
 we mean the Antitype has not come, but has 
 yet to come and be crTicified again ; but as 
 with on3 heart we know something about 
 ** the glory," and take our place imder *'the 
 glory,*' there is then no room lor the flesh; the 
 glory of Jehovah fills the house. But I must 
 take you to solemn but very real scenes at 
 which we must look. We have been tracing 
 the glory of Jehovah as telling out what 
 Jehovah "V7as to Israel in the desert and in the 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 219 
 
 : "Look, 
 other for 
 3 worohip, 
 did, what 
 ther God, 
 He was, 
 Flis mercy 
 bip, — that 
 
 out what 
 ,nking the 
 " then the 
 the house 
 could not 
 cloud ; for 
 3 house of 
 B glory of 
 ts of God 
 le glory of 
 Popish or 
 
 it we are 
 e the type 
 le, but has 
 in ; but as 
 ring about 
 mder *'the 
 3 flesh; the 
 But I must 
 L scenes at 
 3en tracing 
 
 out what 
 , and in the 
 
 land ; buu Israel is drifting into apostasy, and 
 carried into captivity and righteous judgment. 
 Israel is to be cut off as the vessel to contain 
 "the glory" on the earth, and so the glory- 
 must depart ; so we look now at this sad scene. 
 3. The glory departing, — Eead at B2:Ak. i. 
 4, *' And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind 
 came out of the north, a great cloudy and a 
 fire unfolding itself^ and a brightness was 
 about it, and out of the midst thereof as the 
 colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire." 
 " And above the firmament that was over their 
 heads was the Kkeness of a throne, as the 
 appearance of a sapphire-stone ; and upon the 
 Hkaness of the throne was the likeness as the 
 appearance of a man above upon it. And I 
 saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance 
 of fire round about within it ; from the appear- 
 ance of his loins even upward, and from the 
 appearance of his loins even downward, I saw 
 as it were the appearance of fire, and it had 
 brightness round about. As the appearance 
 of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of 
 rain, so was the appearance of the brightness 
 round about. This was the appearance of the 
 likeness of the glory of Jehovah" (vers. 
 26-28). 
 
 "Then I arose, and went forth into the 
 plain : and, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood 
 there, as the glory which I saw by the river 
 of Chebar ; and I fell on my face " (iii. 23). 
 " And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel 
 
 \ 
 
220 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 was there, according to the yision that I sa^ 
 in the plain *' (viii. 4). 
 
 " And the glory of the God of Israel was 
 gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, 
 to the threshold of the house " (Ezek. ix. 3). 
 Such is the departing glory; and we find 
 Ezekiel seeing it symbolised under revolving 
 wheels and fluttering wings, going away from 
 the house it had fiUed with so much beauty 
 and glory. All has failed in man's hands. 
 Whatever event of God rests to any extent 
 upon man is a failure ; what is of God solely 
 stands. Thus Israel under law was man under 
 trial— not to find out if he was a sinner, but 
 to see if he was a reclaimable sinner. Where, 
 then, was the law? It was added for the 
 sake of transgressions, until "the seed" 
 came to whom the promise was made, ordained 
 through angels in the hand of a Mediator; 
 but the Mediator implies two parties, for the 
 Mediator is not of one. If I have a bridge 
 remarkable for strength, however strong Cf 
 pier of the bridge may be, if the other pici 
 be weak, the whole bridge gives way. But 
 " God is owe," and there is one Mediator be- 
 tween God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. 
 God is one. It is not one pier sound, and the 
 other feeble. God is one, and we are in God, 
 for the God-man, Christ Jesus, spans the 
 distance. 
 
 But I will take you to another scene of this 
 glory, no longer in the midst of the beloved 
 
The Glory of God, 
 
 221 
 
 nation Israel, nor in faint shadow-symbol, but 
 in real manifestation. 
 
 The Globt n^ the Mak Chbist Jesus. 
 
 Turn to Luke ii. ver. 9, ** And, lo ! the angel 
 of Jehovah came upon them, and the glory of 
 Jehovah shone round about them." (They 
 were shepherds, not princes.) Ah! we have 
 not lost sight of it yet; the glory is back 
 again. "The glory of Jehovah shone round 
 about them, and they were sore afraid." The 
 blessed One is come. God is manifest in the 
 flesh. This is the true likeness of God, the 
 express image of His person. Well may the 
 anthems rise louder than at the temple's 
 dedication : " Glory to God in the highest, 
 on the eaith (not merely Israel) peace," etc. 
 
 But in another passago (Luke ix. vers. 28-32) 
 we get a little heaven, a glimpse, a specimen 
 of the glory, as the high-priest* s breastplate 
 was the glory in miniature. " And it came 
 to pass about an eight days after theco say- 
 ings, He took Peter, and James, and John, 
 and went up into a mountain to pray. And 
 as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance 
 was altered, and His raiment was white and 
 glistering. And, behold, there talked with 
 Him two men, which were Moses and Ellas, 
 who appeared in glort/y and spake of His 
 decease which He should accomplish at Jeru- 
 salem. But Peter and they that were with 
 him were heavy with sleep ; and when they 
 
 
 
 lil' 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
222 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 were awaks they saw ffis glory .''^ They had 
 then the specimen of the coming glory. He 
 had told them that there were some standing 
 there who would not taste of death till they 
 saw the kingdom of God. He now fulfils His 
 promise in the case of Peter, James, and 
 John, and gives them here the representation 
 of it. They saw Him in His glory. 
 
 Kead another text — John i. 14 (which of 
 course is the key to all the rest) : " And the 
 Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. 
 And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the 
 only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
 truth." This is the glory we now see, not 
 the glory of Jehovah merely — He was this— 
 but '* the glory of the Father, full of grace 
 and truth." " The law was given by Moses; 
 but grace and truth were given by Jesus 
 Christ '* ? no ; but " came by Jesus Christ," 
 for He was not the manifestation of God, as 
 the Eationalist would have us to believe, just 
 as good men are manifestations of God: no, 
 no ; He was God manifest in the flesh. " He 
 was the glory as of the only-begotten of the 
 Father, full jf grace and truth." God has. 
 come in the glory of His grace. And what 
 has man done with Him ? The only One on 
 whom God could look with unmixed com- 
 placency — the only One on whom God could 
 open heaven, man casts out, disowns, rejects, 
 cries concerning Him, **Away with Him I " we 
 will have nothing to do with Him ; we cannot 
 
The Glory of God, 
 
 223 
 
 rhey had 
 lory. He 
 ) standing 
 tiU they 
 fulfils His 
 ,mes, and 
 Bsentation 
 
 (which of 
 " And the 
 among ns. 
 y as of the 
 grace and 
 y see, not 
 was this— 
 11 of grace 
 by Moses ; 
 
 by Jesus 
 as Christ," 
 of God, as 
 )eheve, just 
 f God: no, 
 kesh. " He 
 tten of the 
 God has . 
 
 And what 
 >nly One on 
 mixed com- 
 
 God could 
 ?ms, rejects, 
 iHimr'we 
 
 ; we cannot 
 
 have on eai-th the glory of heaven. When 
 He came up from Jordan, heaven opened upon 
 Him ; it had never opened on anyone else. 
 He is the glory of heaven ; He is as the glory 
 for earth. 
 
 ** The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's 
 land." 
 
 He is the centre of heaven and earth. 
 
 When on the earth, as He stood there in the 
 
 place of confessed sin, God was looking, and 
 
 all were asked to look at Him; heaven opened 
 
 upon Him, and man would have nothing to 
 
 do with such glory, for it burns up man. And . 
 
 in man's deepest hate. He would say, **I have 
 
 glorified Thee upon the earth ; glorify Thou 
 
 Me with Thine own self, with the glory I had 
 
 with Thee before the world was." But if man 
 
 cast Him out, God said, " Sit Thou at my 
 
 right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy 
 
 footstool." The glory of Jehovah, the glory 
 
 of the Father, the fulness of grace and truth, 
 
 has been rejected by men, and is now in 
 
 he aven. If we are to see the glory of God 
 
 to hve under the glory of God, to work for 
 
 the glory of God, it must be as seeing the 
 
 unseen, living by faith, entering through the 
 
 veil into an opened heaven. 
 
 The Globt of God for us now as seen in 
 
 THE FACE OF JeSUS ChRIST. 
 
 In Acts vii., Stephen begins to speak about 
 the God of glory ; and they could not hear of 
 
 
 '.■( 
 
..^f-r.--i^' 
 
 % 
 
 224 
 
 T^ Glory of God, 
 
 that. He begins with the God of glory ^ and 
 ends with the glory of God. " When they 
 heard these things, they were cut to the 
 heart, and they gnashed on him with their 
 teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, 
 looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw 
 the glory of Gody and Jesus standing on the 
 right hand of God " (vers. 54, 55). If you and 
 I are to see the glory of God, it must be 
 through an open heaven. You wiU search in 
 vain for it on the earth^no glory of God 
 there. The conditions to see the glory of 
 God now are ai. open heaven, men full of tho 
 Holy Ghost, prepared for the martyr's doom. 
 Eemember there is no other place where you 
 can see Him. He is dead, and He is buried, 
 and He is alive again. Oh ! what a glorious 
 gospel we have to the glory of God! "The 
 Lord laid upon Him " my iniquity ; lor if I 
 had had to lay my sins, I might have left some 
 of them out ; but the Lord knew me better 
 than I knew myself — the Lord laid them on 
 Him. I remember the case of a young friend 
 to whom I was talking. I could not get him 
 to see the doctrine of the substitution of the 
 just for the unjust ; at last I quoted that text 
 to him. He saw it all. 
 
 *'0h!" said he, ''I like that text the 
 best." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Because there is nothing about believing 
 in it." 
 
The Glory of God, 
 
 225 
 
 If you and I have to get up faith, it is the 
 worst work we have to do. Some may say, 
 "I wish I had the right kind of faith.'* 
 Suppose you had, you would then come to 
 God and say, "Oh, lodi what nice faith I 
 have got ! " Faith is the fee they wish to 
 give God for saving them. "It is by grace 
 ye are saved through faith, and that not of 
 yourselves ; it is the gift of God." 
 
 Wondrous truth ! if any one has to be 
 condemned for my sin, it is the Lord Jesus 
 Christ; but blessed be God, He has been 
 condemned. He las been laid low, J3e was 
 wounded for my transgressions, He was 
 bruised for my iniquities, and the chastise- 
 ment of my peace was upon Kim, Where is 
 He now ? Heaven is opened, and He is the 
 Man yonder on the throne of God ; and I lose 
 sight of the glory of God, because I see the 
 glorious Man, I see Jesus. 
 
 " I will not- gaze on glory, 
 
 But on my Saviour's face ; 
 Not on the crown He giveth, 
 
 But on His pierced hand ; 
 The Lamb is aU the glory 
 
 Of Emmanuel's land." 
 
 " And he said, Behold, I see the heavens 
 opened, and the Son of Man standing on the 
 right hand of God " (vers. 55, 56). Was He 
 waiting for His own Jews yet to come back 
 before He finally sat down, until His enemies 
 were made His footstool ? 
 
 15 
 
 M 
 
 
226 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 Now we get that wonderful word with 
 which we started. When we see the glory 
 it is in the face of Jems Christy and it is the 
 manifestation of a MaUy the whole fulness of 
 grace and truth; gazing on a seated Christ, 
 with judgment gone and sin gone, and heaven 
 opened to the needy sinner down here ; it is 
 glory for ever, glory now in the face of Jesus 
 Christ. We are the temple of God on the 
 earth now (Eph. ii. 21). From us alone do the 
 rays of glory shine to a dead world ; hence we 
 read, **But we all with open face, beholding as 
 in a glass the glory of the Lordy are changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory" 
 (2 Cor. iii. 18). We gaze through an opened 
 heaven on Him ; the glory of His face is re- 
 flected from our faces to this poor world. 
 We were, in chap. iii. 2, " a letter ; " now we 
 are ** a mirror," and thus manifest glory 
 after glory of Him to the world. Just as 
 we remain by faith unveiled before Him, we 
 represent Him here. Alas ! how poorly we 
 have served this needy world 1 how little we 
 remain before Him! and how Httle do w<^ 
 therefore reflect Him ! Some think that, i^i 
 order to gain the world, we must assimilate 
 to their darkness. This would be like a mirror 
 being placed out of the light into the mi(Jst 
 of a dark room. The more we oppose the 
 world, the more we work for its good. The 
 more we sit before the glory, the more per- 
 fectly we shall shine it out on others. The 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 227 
 
 Lord give us to go on from glory to glory, 
 and to do all as under that glory I And better 
 days are coming : it is not to be always re- 
 jection ; it is not to be always the stones and 
 the martyrdom ; we can wait for our posses- 
 sions ; our time is coming. 
 
 The Glory that is yet to come. 
 
 You will find, as early as in Numbers xiv. 
 21, this word of promise, " As truly as I live, 
 all the earth shall be filled with the glory of 
 Jehovah ; " not merely shall we see it outside 
 the earth, through an open heaven, on the 
 throne of God, but the earth itself filled with 
 the glory of God. We know it has not as yet 
 been fiUed. It has been going on from bad 
 to worse ; but all the earth is to be filled with 
 this same glory. We work for that glory; 
 and if we work in any other way, or for any 
 other motive, we are not in the mind of God. 
 And now we are looking for the time when 
 the whole earth shall be filled with ihe glory 
 of Jehovah, But that time cannot come till 
 the glory comes back ; and there is no glory 
 but in the face of Jesus Christ ; and until 
 the face of Jesus Christ is seen, the glory 
 of Jehovah cannot fill this earth. 
 
 You find in Isaiah iv. 5 and 6, " And 
 Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place 
 of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a 
 cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of 
 
 "«i 
 
 ^^ £-1 
 
 
 
228 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 K flaming fire by night ; for upon all the glory 
 shall be a defence." 
 
 As we saw it departing in Ezekiel, so we 
 see it returning in EzeLiel xliii. 1 : " After- 
 wards he brought me to the gate, even the 
 gate that looketh toward the east; and, behold, 
 the glory of the God of Israel came from the 
 way of the east; and His voice was like a 
 noise of many waters ; and the earth shined 
 with His glory." 
 
 And still another in the prophet Haggai ii. 
 7-9, "And I will shake all nations, and the 
 desire of all nations shall come : and I will 
 fill this house with glory^ saith the Lord of 
 hosts. . . . The glory of this latter house 
 shall be greater than of the former, saith the 
 Lord of hosts." 
 
 And then, lastly, in the book of Bevelation 
 xxi. 10, " And he carried me away in the 
 spirit to a great and high mountain, and 
 showed me that great city, the holy Jeru- 
 salem, descending out of heaven from God, 
 having the glory of God; and her light was 
 like unto a stone, most precious, even like 
 a jasper stone." " And I saw no temple 
 therein ; for the Lord God Almighty and the 
 Lamb are the (Glory that is. Yet to Come) — 
 temple of it." The Lord God Almighty and 
 the Lamb, We are back to where we started. 
 The lamb in Egypt and the Lamb in glory ; 
 the lamb at the beginning and the Lamb in 
 the end. The Lamb brings in the thought of 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 229 
 
 blood, — life forfeited, life taken, redemption 
 aocomplished, and that is the ground of all 
 the glory. Do you know what the enemy is 
 at now? They are taunting us about our. 
 blood-theology. That is the point we shall 
 have to stand up for in this day. 
 
 I remember when at school we used to have 
 to work out long problems ; and I have often 
 worked out some problem in algebra, and at 
 the end come to a most absurd result. What 
 was the reason? Merely one line left out. 
 Our great Rationalistic thinkers have brought 
 out a wondrously stupid result with all their 
 thinking, a very unscriptural result ; and why? 
 They forget one factor, and that factor is sin. 
 The Bible is the history of sm, and the 
 doctrine of that Bible is the doctrine of nin 
 put away, from Genesis to Revelation. "With- 
 out shedding of blood " (bloody blood and sin 
 go together) "there is no remission of sin." 
 Thy tell us that we preach the theology of the 
 shambles. Let us stand by the blood-theology, 
 sound it in every ear. God first shed blood in 
 providing a covering for the sinner Adam ; 
 God last shed blood in sheathing His sword 
 in the Man His fellow. He is the Alpha and 
 Omega, the beginning and ending, the First 
 and the Last, the Author and Finisher, of the 
 "blood- theology." It is blood from Eden 
 down to the great white throne, and beyond 
 it. In that coming glory, it is Jehovah, God, 
 and the Lamb. *f The Lamb Himself is the 
 
 " 
 [ 
 
 
 i 
 
230 
 
 TJie Glory of God, 
 
 glory thereof, and the city hath no need of the 
 sun, neither of the moon, for the glory of God** 
 (have we not seen it?) " doth light it, and the 
 Lamh is the light thereof." 
 
 Let us apply this wonderful line of truth. 
 In the light of such glory we may well ask, 
 Who shall he able to stand ? (Rev. vi. 17). 
 
 Who shall be able to Stand? 
 
 Unconverted man ! have you come up to 
 the standard of the glory of God? "I am 
 better than my neighbour." Measure yourself 
 by the glory of God. If you are ' ual to 
 Christ, you are fit for heaven ; and ii i are 
 one inch short of it, you are unfit for heaven. 
 Good, moral people think there is some differ- 
 ence between what we call great sinners and 
 little sinners. God says there is no difference 
 in His sight. If a man comes and says, ^' I 
 cannot feel all this, that there is no difference 
 (who could?), but I believe it, for God has 
 said it," that man believes God and not his 
 own feehngs. 
 
 I was speaking to a lady some time ago. 
 She said, ** There must be a difference." I 
 said, *' God says there is none, as in Bomans 
 we have, ' For all have sinned, and come short 
 of tlie glory of Gody " and I tried to illustrate 
 it thus: — 
 
 Suppose there are some men wishing to get 
 into the Queen's body-guard, and the qualifi- 
 cation is that each must be six feet high. 
 
The Glory of God. 
 
 231 
 
 They are measuring themselves by themselves, 
 and comparing themselves with themselves, 
 which is not wise. One man says, '^ I am the 
 tallest man in the village ; 1 shall be admitted. " 
 Here is a man five feet six, eight, ten, eleven, 
 — they forgot one thing, they forgot to put 
 themselves along a six-foot rail and measure 
 themselves with it. So here is a sinner ; he 
 measures himself with his neighbours. Have 
 you measured yourselves with the glory of 
 God and said, "I am as He is " ? The day 
 of trial comes. The man of five feet six is 
 measured and rejected, likewise the next, till 
 the measurer comes to the five feet eleven man; 
 he takes him and puts him beside the six-foot 
 measure. He is short, and he is rejected too, 
 just as really as the five feet six man. What 
 Scripture tells us is this, there is no diflference, 
 "for all have sinned and come short of the 
 glory of God." And if you have come short 
 one inch, it is the same as if you came short 
 six feet. 
 
 And I ask you also this question, dear 
 brother in Christ— In the light of that glory, 
 who shall he able to stand ? 
 
 All the greatest of earth's history have 
 been prostrated before it. If we look at chap, 
 xx'. ver. 18 of Exodus, the redeemed people 
 were unable to stand; and in Hebrews xii. 
 21, when Moses speaks of this, he says, "I 
 exceedingly fear and quake." Then, again, in 
 Exod. xxxiii. 23, "And I will take away mine 
 
232 
 
 The Glory of God. 
 
 hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but 
 my face shall not be seen." 
 
 So that Moses was unable to stand. 
 
 Then, if we go on, as we read, in 1 Chron. 
 xxi. 16 we find another passage, " And David 
 lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the 
 Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, 
 having a dravm sword in his hand stretched 
 out over Jerusalem. Then David and the 
 elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, 
 fell upon their faces.*' 
 
 So that David was unable to stand. 
 
 And again, we find in 2 Chron. v. 14, " So 
 that the priests could not stand to minister 
 by reason of the cloud ; for the glory of tho 
 Lord had filled the house of God." 
 
 So that the 'priests were unable to stand. 
 
 When Job saw the glorious One, he had to 
 exclaim (xlii. 6), " Wherefore I abhor myself, 
 and repent in dust and ashes." 
 
 So Joh was unable to stand. 
 
 And, if we go on to Isaiah vi. 5, we find, 
 ** Then said I, Woe is me I for I am undone ; 
 because I am a man of unclean hps, and I 
 d\vell in the midst of a people of unclean Hps ; 
 for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord 
 of hosts." 
 
 Isaiah was unable to stand. 
 
 And in Ezekiel i. 28, we fiad, " And when 
 I saw it, I fell upon my face." 
 
 Ei'eJciel was unable to Soand. 
 
 And if we come to Daniel, that precious 
 
Tke Glory of God. 
 
 233 
 
 man who loved " the book," we find (chap. x. 
 8), " Therefore I was left ^.lone, and saw this 
 great vision, and there remained no strength 
 in me." 
 
 Daniel was unable to stand. 
 
 Then we find, in Matt. xvii. 6, " When the 
 disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and 
 were sore afraid." 
 
 The disciples were unable to stand. 
 
 And then, in Acts ix. 3, when the Apostle 
 Paul saw the glory, suddenly there shined 
 round about him a light from heaven; and 
 he fell to the earth. 
 
 Thus Paul was unable to stand. 
 
 And, last of all, in Kev. i. 17, " And when I 
 saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead." 
 
 Johrij who lay in His boaom, was unable to 
 stand seeing Him in glory. And then He 
 came with the touch of His almighty resur- 
 rection, glorious power, and put it on him, 
 and identified Himself with that power ; and 
 now not only was John able to stand, but to 
 see Him and all the judgments and torments, 
 and give the hallelujah to His God, as thus 
 being able to stand by His resurrection touch 
 in the glory of God ; and that is the place in 
 which we stand. John was then as much at 
 home in the midst of thundering and wrath 
 as on the tender breast of his loving Lord, 
 because he had been made able to stand. Do 
 you know the meaning, the power of the glory 
 of God? Have you beheld that glory by 
 
;<;v-(£\.w;;. r.v."-. ■; r^:t <-^^y ^ffr'H 
 
 234 
 
 TAe Glory of God, 
 
 faith in the face of Jesus Christ? Are you 
 reflectmg that glory ? Are you working under 
 the power of that glory, and that glory alone ? 
 Then, when that glory unclouded dawns, you 
 shall he ahle to stand. 
 
THE TWO ANTHEMS. 
 
 Luke ii. 13, 14. 
 "Glory to God in the 
 highest, 
 
 And on earth peace, 
 Goodwill toward men 
 (good pleasure in men). 
 
 n 
 
 LiTKE zix. 38, 39. 
 "Blessed be the King that 
 
 Cometh in the name of the 
 
 Lord. 
 Peace in heaven, 
 And glory in the highest." 
 
 IHE Lord Jesus had now finished His 
 public ministry, and was about entering 
 on the most momentous work the world 
 ever heard of ; the question of sin was to be 
 settled. His disciples, energised by the Spirit 
 of God, give the Omega Song, as angels had 
 sung the Alpha Song — the angels sang the 
 Song of Annunciation ; men, the Song of De- 
 parture, and fitly so. In the former we see 
 Christ a Divine Stranger coming upon a 
 mission to earth. In the latter we find the 
 Eejected One accomplishing His Father's will, 
 yet sent to a death of doom by wicked hands. 
 Let us put the two alongside and see — 
 
 I. The different choristers employed. 
 
 II. The change in the order of the words 
 in the two anthems. 
 
 III. The change in their substance. 
 
236 
 
 The Two Anthems. 
 
 i <\ 
 
 
 IV. What is common to botL 
 
 I. The choir that sang the first anthem 
 were angels. These heralded the coming of 
 Christ as a body-guard — the advent of Him 
 who had not where to lay His head. These 
 told out God's purposes of glory in the highest ; 
 peace, best of blessings, on earth ; God's good 
 pleasure in man — first in His Son, then in the 
 myriads saved by Him, who shall do His will 
 in heaven, when God shall see His good 
 pleasure fulfilled in men. In the Anthem of 
 Departure, the singers are men, those who 
 had clung to their Master through good and 
 evil report ; who had acknowledged His King- 
 ship, and received Him as sent from God. 
 Here we find redeemed hearts singing Him 
 back to heaven, as angels had sung Him down 
 from heaven. 
 
 II. We find a reversal in the order of the 
 words. The Anthem of Departure ends with 
 "glory in the highest." The Anthem of the 
 Annunciation commences with it. There is a 
 Divine propriety in this. Angels from heaven 
 begin with that which lies nearest them 
 — ^God's eternal purpose. Man begins with 
 that which is nearest to him — "Blessed be 
 the King." It is like the rainbow, but inverted. 
 One limb of the bow begins at the throne ; the 
 apex is on earth. Angels descend down one 
 limb ; redeemed sinners ascend by the other. 
 Peace, the apex, is on earth. We, inverting 
 the bow, commence with what is on earth, 
 
The Two Anthems, 
 
 237 
 
 and end with that which is in heaven, and so 
 We get the rainbow from heaven to earth. 
 
 III. We find a change in the substance of 
 the two anthems : peace in heaven in Luke 
 xix., peace on earth in Luke ii. Glory in the 
 highest in the former, glory to God omitted. 
 In the Anthem of Departure, God's good 
 pleasure in man omitted, and its place taken 
 by " Blessed be the King." This looks at the 
 representative character of the King who 
 comes to reign and accomplish God's good 
 pleasure in men. One clause of each anthem 
 is nearly alike ; another clause of each has a 
 different application ; while the third we find 
 opposed in each. 
 
 Men have not listened to the words of the 
 Departure Anthem, and so have got wrong 
 thoughts concerning peace. There never has 
 been peace on earth since Christ left, nor will 
 be till He returns. We cannot get peace 
 while the Prince of Peace is rejected, since 
 the world has said, " We will not have this 
 Man to reign over us." The peace of the 
 Christian now is in heaven. This is our 
 centre. Peace now is only to be got by faith 
 in a rejected Christ — He is our peace. The 
 saints of God have got their headquarters in 
 heaven, heavenly men sent back to earth, 
 takei) out of the world by faith in Christ's 
 death, sent back to it with a new life by faith 
 in His resurrection. We get from above — 
 (a) Our birth. 
 

 238 
 
 TAe Two Anthems, 
 
 m 
 
 (h) Our calling. 
 
 (c) Our testimony. 
 
 \d) Our blessings. 
 
 \e) Our worship. 
 
 If) Our hope. 
 
 Ig) Our home. 
 All these are heavenly witnesses for God 
 down here. We are to get our information 
 from the heavenly book, and so to bear testi- 
 mony for God among rebels who reject Him. 
 
 The Crimean War, the Franco-Germanic 
 War, the Turko-Russian War, are all fresh 
 in the memories of this generation. Has there 
 ever been universal peace in this world since 
 the days of Christ? The anthem of the 
 angelic host is perfect. 
 
 Nothing could be more perfect, comprehen- 
 sive, and intensive, than that beautiful Gloria 
 in Excelsis. 
 
 (1) "Glory to God in the highest." The 
 whole universe must re-echo this note. Not 
 a sun, nor planet, nor comet, nor system, but 
 sounds back this strain. Mountain, rock, 
 river, and ocean, peal forth its music. Forest 
 and field, and everything that hath breath, 
 add Amen. An(3l first, above, and beyond all 
 things for which Christ came, was the showing 
 glory to God in the highest, infinitely beyond 
 man*s interests or thoughts, hopes or fears. 
 But we descend fi:om the generic song of all 
 the universe to the specific note for earth. 
 
 (2) "On earth peace." We know the 
 
The Two Anthems. 
 
 239 
 
 desolation of war, the absurdity of war, the 
 unreasonableness of war, the inhumanity of 
 war. We have yet to learn the supreme, 
 God-like blessings of peace on earth. The 
 path of the Prince of Peace was correctly 
 notified by the angelic anthem. But men by 
 wicked hands took Him, imprisoned Him, and 
 murdered Him, finding no fault in Him. A 
 sense of the most common justice would tell 
 us that ** Peace on earth " must be postponed 
 till this murder of the Just One be investigated 
 and avenged, and He shall return in His glory 
 to establish His kingdom in peace. So He 
 taught us, " When ye shall hear of wars and 
 commotions, be not terrified, for these things 
 must-first come to pass. . . . And when these 
 things begin to come to pass, then look up 
 and lift up your head, for your redemption 
 draweth nigh." '* Our God shall come and 
 shall not keep silence." Men have to beat 
 their " ploughshares into swords" (Joel iii. 10) 
 before they beat their " swords into plough- 
 shares ** (Isa. ii. 4). Science can tell us much 
 of human steps rising up to heaven ; it can 
 tell us nothing of that ladder led down from 
 heaven to earth on which angels ascend and 
 descend. Nothing but " a sword " can be for 
 the earth till the Prince of Peace is accepted 
 as Lord, 
 
 " When the crowns that are now 
 Bound the false one's brow 
 Shall be worn by earth's rightful Lord.* 
 
 I 
 
:^'V^ ■■-'■ 
 
 
 240 
 
 The Two Anthems^ 
 
 Not only have we the widest circle, " the 
 highest," giving glory to God by the mission 
 of Christ, and the more limited one, " earth," 
 gaining peace, but we have the condition of 
 the individuals on earth detailed. 
 
 (3) " Good pleasure in men.*' For this, we 
 believe, is by far the most correct and satis- 
 factory explanation of the original. ** Good- 
 will to men " is in every way imsatisfactory, 
 weat, and untenable. We believe " God's 
 good pleasure in men" solves all the diffi- 
 oalties. The universe, the earth, and men, 
 are thus thought of in the three parts of this 
 ^^ Gloria.'^ It is the same thought as ** This 
 is My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased " (see eudoTcia, in Matt. xi. 26 ; Luke 
 X. 21 ; Eom. x. 1 ; Eph. i. 5-9 ; Phil. i. 15, ii. 
 13 ; 2 Thess. i. 11, besides the very frequent 
 use of the verb). God was now for the first 
 time well pleased with a Man ; saw His good 
 pleasure in a Man, and the divinely-given 
 guarantee that not only in this Man, but on 
 the many men to be saved by, identified with, 
 and sanctified through, this Man, His good 
 pleasure should rest with complacency. His 
 delight shall be in the sons of men, in indivi- 
 duals now, but in the whole earth as such by- 
 and-bye, when men shall be blessed in Him, 
 and call Him blessed ; when none shall say to 
 his neighbour. Know the Lord, because all 
 shall know Him, and universal peace shall be 
 on the earth, and this little planet shall choir 
 
The Two Anthems, 
 
 241 
 
 forth without discord among the other orbs of 
 God, its true note of praise blending with all 
 others in glory to God in the highest. 
 
 Our hope is Christ. The Jew rightly looked 
 for an earthly hope. Christ's feet shall again 
 stand on the Mount of Olives (Zeoh. xiv. 4). 
 We look for Him in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17). 
 Then we shall come with Him to share His 
 glory (Zech. xiv. 5). Then will peace be 
 brought to this poor earth. Then shall all 
 nations be blessed in Him. The Gospel is to 
 be preached as a witness to all nations, to 
 gather out a people for the Lord (Acts xv. 14). 
 Popular remedies are tried to effect that which 
 will only be effected when God brings in His- 
 Only-begotten into the world again, and sets 
 up a kingdom, the Bride, the Church, reigning 
 with her Lord (Eev. xx. 6). Peace has been 
 transferred to heaven, and will be there so 
 long as its Eepresentative is there. Then, 
 when He returns, shall be the consummation 
 of that of which the Annunciation Anthem 
 was the announcement ; then from every part 
 of God's creation — save from the banished lost 
 ones — shall the cry echo, " Glory to God in 
 the highest ! " Then shall the earthly and 
 heavenly choirs join in the universal song of 
 praise — 
 
 " Thou art coming ! we are waiting 
 With a hope that cannot fail, 
 Asking not the day nor hour ; 
 Besting on Thy word of power, 
 
 jl 
 
^,- ... . 
 
 242 
 
 '' Lord Jesus, Come! 
 
 Anchored safe within the veil 
 Time appointed may be long, 
 But the vision must be sure ; 
 Certainty shall make us strong, 
 Joyful patience can endure ! " 
 
 "LORD JE3T7S, COME." 
 
 "Surely I come quickly. 
 Bey. zzii. 20. 
 
 Amen." Even so, come, Lord Jesus." — 
 
 LoED Jesus, come! 
 Thy Spirit taught Thy bride 
 To long to be beside (Eoin. viii. 2, 3.) 
 
 Her Lord, who bought her with His blood, 
 Who in her place of doom once stood: 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 From idols turned, in grace, 
 We seek our Father's face ; (1 Thess. i. 9.) 
 
 We serve Him by His Spirit given; 
 We wait for Thee, our Lord from heaven: 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 
 Lord Jesus, come ! 
 Our hope, our joy, our crown, 
 Our glory and renown ; (1 Thess. iii. 13.) 
 
 Our hearts unblamable, do Thou 
 In holiness establish now : 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 
 Lord Jesus, cdme ! 
 The comfort of Thine own, 
 
 To claim Thy rightful throne, (1 Thess. iv. 16.) 
 Thy sleeping saints to raise; then we, 
 Who live, from earth caught up shall be: 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 
** Lord Jesus, Come'^ 
 
 243 
 
 Lord Jesus, come ! 
 Thy scattered nation lies 
 
 An outcast in our eyes, (Luke xxi. 24.) 
 
 But shall be gathered — this Thy word — 
 By Thee, as David's Son and Lord: 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 
 Lord Jesus, come ! 
 The whole creation's groan 
 Shall cease by Thee alone 
 Appearing un this earth again, 
 As Son of Man o'er earth to reign : 
 
 Lord Jesus, come! 
 
 (Luke viii. 35.) 
 
 Lord Jesus, come ! 
 Though many scoff and say, 
 Where is His coming day ? 
 And even virgins wise now sleep, 
 And for their Lord no vigil keep : 
 
 Lord Jesus, come I 
 
 (2 Peter iii. 4.) 
 
 Lord Jesus, come ! 
 May none of us e'er say. 
 That Thou dost long delay. 
 And live as those afar that roam ; 
 Thy Spirit and Thy bride say. Come: 
 
 Lord Jesus, come ! 
 
 (Luke xii. 45.) 
 
•f 
 
 
 
 ''FOB ever:' 
 
 JHO in every-day life, in the things of 
 men, falls into any mistake about the 
 words 'for ever,* or supposes that 
 
 * for ever ' always means the same duration ? 
 No, the context always decides the sense. 
 
 " A father gave to a child a plaything. 
 The child (but of five years old) asked, * How 
 long is this to be mine ? ' The father replied, 
 
 * For ev^r.' And the child aaid, * Then it is 
 Lay own, my \ c ry own , and I may burn it if 
 I like, o*" give it to my sister.' ... If I say, 
 God is 'tor ever, hovr long does this *for ever' 
 last ? 
 
 " ♦ 'Tis an endless for ever, the life of God.* 
 
 And if, when the earth and time are past, 
 God, in God's endless for ever^ declares some- 
 thing is to be * for ever,' 'tis an endless for 
 ever which God so pronounces, and will make 
 good too. The bhss and blessed j.o^^s if those 
 who love the Lord JesuR Christ is as endlesS 
 as is He wVo has loved them, and whom they 
 love ; and the woe of those brought up for 
 judgment after man's for overs have ceased, 
 and sent into torment, is to an endless for 
 
" For Ever. 
 
 245 
 
 ever, where their worm dieth not, and where 
 their fire is not quenched (Mark ix. 44). God's 
 Word does use the words ' for ever ' in the 
 same way ps do men for durations which have 
 an end ; but there it is said of something in 
 maris day, and not when man's day, with all 
 its subdivisions of time, is past {e.g.^ the 
 passover — a feast for an ordinance for ever 
 (Exod. xii. 14-17) — done away in Christ). The 
 * for ever ' of the Mosaic economy, with its 
 mediatorships, priesthood, sanctuary, nation, 
 etc., seeing that it all pointed on to Another, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, was necessarily hmited 
 to the duration of that economy. Just as the 
 *for ever' of a man's service to another was 
 limited to his life {e.g,^ 2 Kings v. 27, 'Leprosy 
 cleave to thee and to thy seed for ever'). 
 How difi'erent is the * for ever ' in the above 
 cases from its sense where it is used either of 
 
 " (1) God Himselfi 
 
 '' (2) Of the truth of His Word, 
 
 ** (3) Of the blessedness which awaits His 
 own people. That of which, when time is 
 done, and it is in God's eternity, the weal or 
 the woe is ' for ever,' is surely an endless 
 position, whether of the good bound up in 
 one bundle of life with the Christ of God, or 
 
 *' (4) Of those wicked, raised up in the day 
 of God, still haters of Him and of His Son. 
 
 " My statement is plain, and, I trust, 
 distinct. The words * for ever,' * ever,' etc., 
 if they are applied to any thing or person, in 
 
;..(-.» *}'.;rp". 
 
 246 
 
 ''For Ever!' 
 
 man's day, may be a duration limited by the 
 context, short or long. 
 
 ** But, if presented to us as being said of 
 God. oi of anything found in His presence 
 when man's day is past, then they are as 
 much for perpetuity as is the God who 
 announces them ; then for ever is as lon^r as 
 He endures." 
 
 Bom. i. "ilh. 
 
 For ever^ the lifetime of God, 
 The Maker and Monarch of all, 
 
 An endless for ever with Him, 
 We Him as the blessed shall call. 
 
 EoM. ix. 5. 
 
 For ever, our Lord Jesus Christ 
 
 Over all God blessed shall be : 
 The Man who was slain, now as crown'd 
 
 With glory and honour, we see. 
 
 Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 For ever, Chrisi; Jesus the same 
 
 To-day as He was yesterday, 
 On the cross or the great white throne, 
 
 Or now in our wilderness way. 
 
 1 Petbb i. 23-25. 
 
 For ever, the word of our God 
 Doth live holy, perfect, and sure; 
 
 What Jehovah in judgment or grace 
 Has spoken shall ever endure. 
 
 Gal. i. 5; Kev. iv. 9. » 
 
 For ever and ever to God 
 
 The glory and honour shall be. 
 To Him who is set on the throne. 
 
 The Lamb who was slain on the tree. 
 
y/ 
 
 r-'"w\ 
 
 ''For Every 
 
 247 
 
 Eev. xx. 10. 
 
 For ever and ever shall all. 
 
 Who neglected or scom'd at the light, 
 Be under the wrath of their God, 
 
 Tormented by day and by night. 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 17; Eev. xxii. 6. 
 
 For ever and ever shall all, 
 
 Who accepted the Christ that was slain, 
 Be like Him in whitest array, 
 
 And with Him eternally reign. 
 

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