/" ^■Wt w^^tm^in^ii^^^^ i^^mu^^^m^^^K IN rnK OCEAN CABILE. BV MAURICE S. BALDWIN, M.A. ^Uctor of the ^Jiirisli of JRontrcal, aub Canon of the CMiebral, ■Mtt 1 /VlONTREAL ; c V<!i, ^ iv,^,. DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. W \^ '.■■■.-. 1877. Price 26 Cents. NT i/ J ■'f.Hj, .flff^fH^ A.i ^ IN THE Ocean CABLE. BY MAURICE S. BALDWIN, M.a! Ilcctor of the Uarish of Montreal, mt Canon of the Cathcbrai. Montreal ; DAWSON BROTHERS/ PUBLISHERS. . 1877. ''Vy,. -.■•%. t ■■K'^ .•: A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. » • i Let us imagine that, by some accident, all the cables now uniting Europe and America were suddenly to break. What a complete dis- arrangement of all our plans would such a calamity cause ! Not only could no message on that day be transmitted from either side, but for weeks, and perhaps months, there could be no exchange of ideas, except through the tedious medium of the post. Two worlds must wait until the injury is repaired. In the mean- time anxious people, on either side the water, would find the suspension of intelligence un- bearable. Yesterday we could literally j^on- verse with our absent friends in London, Paris, or Berlin ; to-day, as far as news from them is concerned, all is silent as the grave. Europe, with her mighty capitals, is still beyond the sea ; her countless factories, and her Babel voices are still making the air vocal with the sounds 4 A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. * / of busy life. But of all this We have no imme- diate evidence. No wire flashes to us the longed-for intelligence from distant relatives or friends ; no message, instantaneously communi- cated, makes us feel as though hands had clasped. All that we can see or hear is the illimitable ocean, with its restless waters, ebbing and flowing for ever. . ^:^''^/^< :\'' [-''r.'' : .-V^:. ..-:■-.: \r-'^ Now, it is exactly the same with thousands in their spiritual relations to God. In nothing do they more firmly believe than in all the grand verities of the Christian religion. They belieA^e that Jesus died, and rose again ; that He ascended into Heaven, and is now seated at the Father's right hand in glory ; and yet, notwithstanding all this, they are conscious that no life whatever flows from God into their hearts. The sweet peace which comes from being justified by faith ; the joy which results from the indwelling of the Comforter ; the strong assurance which anticipates victory before the battle is fought : of all these blessed fruits of the Spirit, they know absolutely nothing, and the reason is : — ^ The spiritual and vital COMMUNION which once existed between GOD and^ MAN, and which, like a CABLE, bound Creator and creature together, has, b// the IiNBP:LIEFof man, been SEVERED. • A BREAK IN THE CCEAN CABLE. 5 • The utter want, therefore, of peace and joy and life, from which those of whom I speak suffer, is the result of this terrible rupture ; and so long as it remains unrepaired, that unrest and that death must inevitably continue. This may be the very case, dear reader, with you. The joy of believers is not your joy ; their hope not your hope. Your whole happiness, all you have within the limits of time, is staked on the beating of your heart, and that may cease now, and is sure to do so hereafter ; and yet you are indifferent about your soul, about eternity, about God. Perhaps this indifference astonishes you ; I am sure it wearies the long-suffering of God. If you ask me why it is so — why you have not the joy and peace and love that Christians have ? I can only answer : The [CABLE that should UNITE you to GOD is BROKEN, and until it is repaired in the way laid down by God in Holy Scripture, the spiritual death in which your soul now lies, will be perpetuated into eternity. By the cable, then, I understand that spiritual and visible communion which once existed between God and man, and which can now only be restored through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Broken it now is, and so completely, that no communication can possibly .take place while it is in this state. Joy and Q -A BRRAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. peace only come to the soul when it is in communion with God ; in order, therefore, dear reader, that you may become thus united to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, let me draw your attention to two questions, connected with the subject, of the deepest moment to us all. First ;~HOW WAS THE CABLE BROKEN ? Second:— RO^Y IS IT TO BE EEPAIRED? .'■..• .-:•:■;..- .^^■;•■^-'• .. ,.■„-.. !...;■•>•:,.-- ^ , In considering the first question — *' How was the cable broken " — the Scriptures teach us that there was a time when man was in direct and constant communication with God ; when God spoke freely to him, and he to God ; when the joy of Heaven was man's joy, and all that God expected of man, that he hasted to yield f when sin, which has since brought such fearful havoc into the world, was unknown to him, then was his peace as a river, and his righteousness as the waves of the sea. He saw God walking amid the bowers of Eden ; he knew His gracious voice ; he believed His word ; he obeyed Hi» commands. God was " The spring of all his joys," " *rhe life of his dcilighte," " The glory of his brightest day," " Ani comfort of his nights." "^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. |f: Such was man's state during that short, but happy period, in which he walked in sinless obedience to God. ..,;. „ ,^ ' v The one great characteristic of that most blessed life was — implicit FAITH in God's word. Our first parents, in their holy inno- cence, believed most sincerely, loved most fer- vently, and obeyed most faultlessly, all that God either promised or enjoined. . , , v.-. Now, as being absolutely essential to their own happiness, and to that of the countless millions who were to come after them, God positively required of them both that they should believe in a sentence of DEATH THREATENED. The sentence itself was as follows: — - . . ;. " The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt SURELY DIE." — Gen. ii. 17. Not only their happiness, but their life itself depended on their implicit faith in this most solemn utterance of God. And, therefore, so long as they did believe, and as a consequence, obeyed the Divine command, their peace flowed on uninterruptedly. Eden was their home, and 8 A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. God their Father and their Friend. This state, moreover, of perfect blessedness, might have remained to man until this day, for God, in His great love, had only restricted him in one par- ticular : — he was not to eat of the forbidden fruit. If he disobeyed, inevitable death was to be the consequence. Joy, peace, life, everything in fact, depended on their believing in this threat- ened sentence of death. All else that God had said was affirmative ; this was the one negative : " Thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The reason, therefore, that Adam and Eve abstained from eating the forbidden fruit, was, they BELIEVED : when they no longer be- lieved, they DISOBEYED. RUPTURE OF THE CABLE. Our great adversary, Satan, now appears upon the scene. He comes in the form of a serpent, and thus addresses Eve : — " Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" This is his first effort to introduce sin into the world. He does not, in this advance, even attempt to deny the truthfulness of God's word ; he only endeavours to inject into Eve's mind a doubt as to whether God ever uttered any such prohibition at all. He asks: — ^'Yea, halh God ."-■i -.,;■- ■ "- . ■■!-▼■ A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. ^ said ?" As if he would say, " Are you perfectly sure about this matter?" The temptation, ' insidious as it was, failed. Eye was sure as to the prohibition. She replied, " We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the- garden, Grod hath said, ' Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' " Finding this effort thus abortive, Satan now advances boldly to deny God's word itself : — " Ye shall not surely die," he says, " for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, know- ing good and evil." Here, then, were two state- ments before Eve : — God's : " THOU SHALT surely die." Satan's : " thou shalt NOT surely die." Up to this time. Eve had implicitly believed God's statement; she now hesitates, trembles, and then finally accepts Satan's. The deed was done ; for though she had not yet committed that high-handed act of disobe- dience, by which many were made sinners, and by which death was brought into the world,, yet she had let spring into existence that terrible principle of UNBELIEF, from which disobe- dience resulted as its natural and legitimate 10 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. fruit. First Eve, and then Adam, distrusted God. They believed, though they had G-od's own word directly to the contrary, that the eating of • the forbidden fruit would ameUorate their con- dition. It would make them, so the serpent said, as gods, knowing good and evil. Then it was the GREAT CABLE BROKE ! Man dis- ' trusting God; doubting Him, who is the I TRUTH itself The next question is :— HO W IS THE CABLE TO BE REPAIRED ? When the Atlantic cable snaps, ships are immediately sent to find out, if possible, where the break occurred. Sometimes, with incredible labour, the cable is raised, only to find they must go further ; but when at last they have firmly grappled the two broken ends, their work is virtually done, for that which remains is so easy of accomplishment, that it need cause them no anxiety. Now, precisely similar to this is the case of the great spiritual cable : where its BREAK occurred, there only can its parts be RE- JOINED. It would be of no avail for electricians to add plate to plate to their battery, in the fond liope that thus they could drive a message A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. H through the entire length of the broken cable. Only one way is open to them, and that is, to find out where the fault is, and there make the mend. Thus also is it with man in his spiritual relation to God. Where the spiritual cable broke, there only can its parts be re-joined. Now we have just learned that the cable was severed by UNBELIEF. The teaching of Scrip- ture is — it can only be united by FAITH. In order, however, that the reader may see more clearly God's way of peace, I will now place before him, both the break and the re-Joining :— i^m^— THE BREAK. God asked man, in the Garden of Eden, to believe in a sentence of death threatened. Man would not. On the contrary, he accepted a lying statement that he would NOT die, and that his condition generally would be much bettered by his sin. This led to his high-handed act of disobedience in plucking the forbidden fruit. The BREAK, however, occurred through his UNBELIEF. Second— TKE RE-JOINING. God now puts LIFE/r.<?/. Instead, therefore, of asking men Jirst to believe " in a sentence of 22 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. DEATH threatened" He commands us to believe in everlasting life., GOD'S GrIFT, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, in both these cases, God asks of man exactly the same condition — implicit faith in HIS WORD. The difference lies in this : — In the first instance, man had only death brought before him ; in the second he has good tidings OF eternal life. To-day^ life, glorious, unending life, is offered to the WORLD, and the whole world is bidden take it as a GIFT. A little while ago, and God, pointing to a tree, said : " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." To-day^ pointing to a fairer and better tree, the tree of life. He says : " The leaves of this tree are for the healing of the nations." " He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever." God does not say there is no death, but He affirms it will onhj be inflicted where there is an actual rejection of Christ. " He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." — Mark xvi. 16. To obtain, however, a thoroughly clear idea of the mode by which the re-joining is to be effected, tioo things are absolutely necessary : — A BREAK IN" THE OCEAN CABLE. ^^ First: We should understand what Scriptural teaching is, concerning our Lord Jesus - Christ. Second : We should also know what is meant by-^" Faith in the Son of God." As regards the first of these two most import, ant points, the Holy Scriptures teach :— ^a) The Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to be the Saviour of the world. Speaking to the Son, the Father says : " It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel : I will also give Thee for a light to the Grentiles, that Thou mayest be my SALVATION unto the END of the EARTH."— Isaiah xlix. 6. " Look unto ME, and be ye saved, all the ends OF THE EARTH I for I am G-od, and there is none else." — Isaiah xlv. 22. Appointing Paul as His apostle to the Gren- tiles, our Lord thus addresses him : — # ^ # ^' The GENTILES unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that ther/ may receive forgiveness of ' sins, and INHEKITANCE among them which 14 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. are sanctified by faith that is in Me." — Acts xxvi. 17, 18. " This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have EVERLASTINa LIFE."— John vi. 40. "And we have seen, and do testify that the Father sent the SON to be the SAVIOUR of the WORLD,"— 1 John, iv. 14. (b) That this honour of being the Saviour of the world is accorded to NONE OTHER. St. Peter, " filled with the Holy Ghost," thus bore witness to the Lord Jesus Christ before the elders of the Jews : — " This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the Head of the corner ; neither is there salvation IN any other : for there is NONE OTHER NAME under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."^-Acts iv. 11,12. (c) That Christ became the Saviour of the world by virtue of His death on the cross. " He was wounded for our transgressions ; He was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was UPON HIM, and with His stripes we are healed." — Isaiah liii. 5. A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. ^5 *#=*<= "JePiiS our Lord, ^ ^ who was DELIVERED foT OUT offences, and was raised again for our justification." — Eom. iv. 24, 25. " Who GAVE Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world ,^ according to the will of God and our Father." —Gal. i. 4. . " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made A CURSE FOR US : for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." — Gral. iii. 13. " Who, being in the form of G-od, 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, eveu the DEATH OF THE CROSS. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name : that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth."— Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. " Who His own self bore our sins in His own BODY on the TREE, that we being dead to sins,^ 25 A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. should live unto righteousness : by whose STRIPES ye were HEALED."—! Peter, ii 24. The Rong which John heard sung in heaven by the four " living creatures," and by the four and twenty Elders, was as follows ; — " Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast SLAIN, and hast redeemed us to aod by THY BLOOD out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." — Rev. v. 9. We now come to the consideration of the second point, namely, Scripture teaching concern- ing FAITH in our Lord Jesus Christ. First, I would have you notice that the people ivho are called upon to believe are the SPIRIT- UALLY DEAD. Untold thousands go astray here. They are sure they must DO something in order to be saved ; whereas the dead can DO NOTHING". They fancy they must first merit salvation before Grod will grant it ; and this they propose to effect by a thorough change of life in thought, word and deed. Should they ever accomplish so great a result, they believe that then they may, with all reason, sue for pardon and for peace. Now, what is the result of this terrible mistake ? That days, and months, and 3^ears roll away ; youth ripens into manhood, and A BREAK IN TUB OCEAN CABLE. yj manhood into old age, and yet the anticipated change never takes place. The heart grows harder, or remains as unchanged as the rocks they tread upon. Even those who have tried a thousand times to do all this, and failed in every eftort, will often still persist in believing that it can be accomplished, if only they are more persistent. It is an utter impossibility. " Can the Ethiopian," asks the Scripture, " change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." — Jer. xiii. 23. But people ask: "Why is this?" The answer is : All out of Christ are DEAD ; and the dead can do NOTHINa. "But may v/e not," ask they, "please G-od in some way or other, and thus obtain — if not life itself, at least a mitigated sentence ? For instance, by giving liberally to the poor — feeding the hungry — clothing the naked, and generally discharging all the obligations of life honourably — may we not please God, even if we be not personally united to the Lord Jesus Christ ?" The answer to this question is, emphatically, NO. However costly the gift a man may offer to God — however great his sacri- fice, or tremendous his effort — yet, if it be pre- sented to God without faith in the Redeemer, so far from pleasing Him, IT IS A SIN. " Whatso- ever is not of faith is sin." — Rom. xiv. 23. 23 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. %; ^r " Without faith,'^ says the Apostle Paul, " it is impossible to please Him." — Heb. xi. 6. And again : " They that are in the flesh can- not please God.'' — Rom. viii. 8. These works of mercy and of love, are unto God a " sweet savour^' when done by those who are in Christ. Indeed, believers are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto GOOD WORKS. But out of Christ nothing is acceptable, for the dead cannot please God. " If this be the case," say some, " are we to do NOTHING ?" You can DO nothing ; you are LOST. If you could do anything, you would not be lost. Men who have been shipwrecked, and have taken to their boats, may be in an extremely perilous position, but they are not lost. It i? far different, however, with you, reader, if you are out of Christ : you are lost. The Lord Jesus Christ has said : " He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the vrrath of God ahideth on Am."— John iii. 36. This, then, is the reason — the fact that all out of Christ are lost — why the great Redeemer announces that His mission was : to save the LOST. " The Son of Man," He says, " is come to seek and to save that which was lost." — Luke, xix. 10. But more than this, the lost are called the DEAD. sh» ; A UREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE, t Our Lord, speaking of the glorious life which He bestows, says : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and NOW IS, when the DEAD shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that HEAR shall LIVE."— John, v. 25. Of the believer, He affirms: "That he is passed from death unto lifer — John, v. 24. St. Paul also declares, in writing to the Ephe- t*ians : ♦' And you hath he quickened, who were DEAD in trespasses and sins." — Eph. ii. 1. Secondly : That the Agency made use of by God the Holy Ghost, in the quickening of dead souls, is the WORD. " Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that hear- eth My WORD, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."— John, v. 24. "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth.'' — James, i. 18. " Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.".— 1 Peter, i. 23. St. Paul says, writing to the Corinthians: " In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the GospeV'—l Cor. iv. 15. 20 •< BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. i -t Our Lord says: "Now ye are clean Ihrnugh the word which I have spoken unto yon." — / ~ - John XV. 3. Christ is said to have given Himself for the Church, " that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." — Eph. V. 26. God, in His own wisdom, brought Saul to the knowledge of Himself, bi/ a miracle ; but His regular agency is His ivord. People are not, therefore, to expect miracles to be wrought in their favour. Many do ; and the result is, they wait, and wait, for what never comes, and are thus eternally lost. No, dear reader, Grod gives only to the loorld what he gives to you, His word. And speaking of that Word, the Redeemer said : '* Thy word is Truth." — John, xvii. 17. Thirdly : The Word requires men to believe in the great PAST ACT of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great central truth in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, is — His death upon the Cross ; witnessed to, and accepted by the Father, as the propitiation for sin, in that He raised Hini from the dead. This is the great past act of the Lord Jesus Christ. When, there- fore, a sinner is saved, it is not because of ^ • ,' » • : . A BREAK m THE OCEAN CABLE. 21 something which Christ is to do for him in the FUTURE, but in virtue of what he has done for him IN THE PAST. Now, dear reader, what has Christ done for you in the past ? You reply : " He died for me." True ; but are you now — at this very moment f saved ? '* No," you say, " but I hope hereafter to be so." Now, here it is you are astray, and this is the point to which I wish to bring you. Is it possible that Jesus died for you in the past, and that you can only be saved in the future ? If you were in prison for debt, and a friend came and announced that he had paid every debt, and held a receipt from every creditor, surely you would then under- stand you had nothing to do but to go forth at once and show your gratitude to your friend. " But," yau say, " the two cases are wholly different. In the case of the prison, the receipts would shew me, as well as every one else, I was free ; but in the matter of my soul, I sur(ily have something to do. I have, for instance, to show God how deep is my sorrow for my past sins ; I have to cry earnestly to Him for pardon and peace ; and then, when I prove to Him, by my renewed life and incessant prayers, that I am thoroughly sincere, He will, I know, for Christ's sake, forgive me." Now, here it is you utterly 22 -4 BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. misunderstand the whole Grospel of Jesus Christ. Let me refer you to the Prophet Isaiah. In one verse he gives a complete summary of the Gospel : — '* All we, like sheep, have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own w^ay ; and the Lord hath laid on HIM the iniquity of US ALL." — Isaiah, liii. 6. Here, then, dear reader, your guilt was laid. There is no other offering for sin. He was wounded for our transgressions ; He was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him ; and with His stripes vje are HEALED."— Isaiah, liii. 5. "Without shedding of blood is no remis- siony — Heb. ix. 22. But the Blood that.clean- seth from guilt has been shed ALREADY. God asks for nothing more ; only your acceptance of this great truth by simple faith. He re- quires no moral qualification whatever in you. You are spiritually dead, and Christ is your resurrection and life, to raise you from death. No, dear reader, if God had left the least thing to be done by you, there could be no hope. It is a small thing to change a switch on a rail- way; but if an advancing train is expecting that little to . be done by one, who, at the time, is lying a corpse by the road-side, the train must inevitably be wrecked. So, too, if God left you, A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. 23 a spiritually dead man, until such time as you could fit yourself ,for salvation, your eternal doom would be settled. On the contrary. He brings you, and all the world of the unsaved, up to the Cross of Christ ; and pointing to His Son, says : " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." And now, I fancy the reader saying : " But what does this faith mean ?" It means nothing else than the complete RE-JOINING- of the BROKEN CABLE. God asks you, dear reader, to believe, not only that your sins were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ, but that the Saviour made a full satisfaction for them on the Cross. If you believe this, you are SAVED. Hear His word : — " God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever be- LIEVETH IN HuJi. should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE " — John. iii. 16. Again, in the same Gospel, our Lord says : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that HEARETH my words, and BELIEVETH on Him that sent Me, HATH everlasting life, and shall not como into con- demnation ; but IS passed from DEATH unto LIFE."— John, v. 24. It is not that you are to make some Suture treaty with God by prayers and supplications ; God points you to Christ on the Cross, and says : — Believe^ and live. " By 24 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God.'' — Eph. ii. 8. Observe, it is not a promise of life : it is present life. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me HATH everlasting Life." — John, vi. 47. It is not faith in feeling : it is faith in Christ. Many say : " 0, I cannot feel that I am saved." God does not ask you to feel : He asks you to believe simply in His WORD. Feelings will follow in Grod's time. Dear reader, I entreat you to take this life. You have not to cry aloud, and implore Grod to give you this blessed salvation. He gives it as a G-IFT to all who believe in His dear Son. " The wages of sin is death : but the gift of GrOD is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." — Rom. vi. 23. Now, if a friend oilers you a gift, you do not begin to ask him to bestow it ; you simply thank him for his kindness. And exactly thus is it with Grod. He offers you life as His GIFT. Take it, then, and praise Him for His love. ' Fourthly: Faith comes from HEARINO God's word. What Eve disbelieved, was Grod's word ; what G^od asks you now to believe is His word. The common idea with people is, they must do i' A BREAk IN THE OCEAN CABLE. 25 Bome thing to be saved ; whereas Crod's plan is simply that they should HEAR and BELIEVE. The Jews, we are told, came to our Lord, and said : " What shall we do, that w^e might work the works of Grod ?" Jesus answered and said unto them : " THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YE BELIEVE ON HIM WHOM HE HATH SENT."— John, vi, 29. Faith is said by the Apostle Paul to be " The gift of Grod." — Eph. ii. 8. He tells us also how that gift is bestowed ; and his information on this point comes as the deduction from all his previous reasoning : " So then, FAITH cometh by HEARING, and hearing by the WORD OF GOD." — Rom. X. 17. Faith, then, comes from the simple hearing of God's word, which is the blessed declaration of His will. Here then, dear reader, is life eternal placed before you. The Saviour, pointing to the uplifted serpent in the wilderness, said : " EVEN SO must the Son of Man be lifted up : that who- sover believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." He spake of a life which is communicated as instantaneously as it is freely. It is given, not merely without money, but abso- lutely without delay. 26 -4 BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. •'ils Moses lifted up the serpent in the lailderness, EVEN so must the Son of Man be lifted up." And how, think you, d,ear reader, was Christ lifted up, so as to resemble the serpent of brass ? Surely not when He was exalted above the Heavens, but when He hung upon the tree. Pointing you to that awful sacrifice, Grod says : BELIEVE and LIVE. Not that it will save you, provided only i/ou do this or that, but that, being God's eternal satisfaction for sin, it does NOW save you, the very MOMENT you accept it by FAITH Faith, then, in the Lord Jesus Christ, is accepting this truth ; it is believing that the Redeemer bore ALL your sins, and received their whole punishment in His own body on the tree. Ood asks nothing more ; He will receive nothing less. This satisfied the FATHER, for He raised Him from the dead to show the whole world how fully He accepted His work. It satisfied the SON, for, anticipating His death. He said : " I have glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do." It satisfied the HOLY OHOST, for ever since, to every saint of God, He has witnessed the saving efficacy of the BLOOD of Christ. What, therefore, satisfied the Father — what satisfied the Son — what satis- fied the Holy Ghost— let this, dear reador, satisfy A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. 27 YOU. Believe in what Christ did for you THEN, when He bowed His head and died, and you will be saved NOW. Faith, in other words, is believing, not hi YOURSELF, but in CHRIST— not a trusting in feelings, as in the memory of some past con- version, but in the blood whiqh satisfied Divine justice, the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. If, dear reader, you accept this statement, simply on the credibility of Grod's word, you will, at the moment of your acceptance, pass from DEATH unto LIFE— you will be SAVED And then, when this most blessed result has taken place, a wondrous change will be wrought in you. First, in your mind : You v^ill know you are saved, because you will have the simple state- ment of God's w^ord to that eiFect. When a man accepts Christ, he knows he is saved, because Go(Vs word says so. The Redeemer said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." Now, then, when I believe in Him, I know I am saved, because I know Him to be true. He has said: He that believeth is saved. I believe, therefore I KNOW I am saved. This is faith on Grod's word. It is not therefore dependent on 28 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. feeling or excitement of any kind ; it rests on ' that which is more stable than the eternal hills — on the word of God itself. Secondly, in your life: Then, at that very moment when you believe, you will receive the Holy Grhost ; you will become one with Christ, and Christ with you ; your whole life will be changed by this amazing union. The Scriptures are very explicit on this point. St. Paul says : " Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATUEE : old things are passed away ; be- hold, all things are become NEW." — 2 Cor. v. 17. Then, and not till then, will you begin to work for Christ, and your work will be acceptable to Him. It will not be dead, but living work, wrought through your vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You will work, not that you may be saved but because you are saved, and that labor will be sweet. Dear unsaved reader, delay not, for a single moment, accepting this life. " NOW is the accep- ted time, NOW is the day of salvation." What our first parents LOST through unbelief, namely, life eternal, that do you A'^CEPT, as GOD'S GIFT, THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. 21) THE QUICKENING OF THE BELIEVER. And now I wish to say a few words to the BELIE VEE, concerning his standing and walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. Firsty — It is quite possible that, owing to the coldness and Laodicean state of your soulr the cable, even in your case, may be broken. I by no means wish to imply that you are in an utterly lost condition, as though you had never accepted Christ, or had been ac- cepted by Him. Thai would be an utter impossibility, for the unalterable declaration of Ood's will is : " He that hath the Son HATH Life." — 1 John v. 12. The blessing which the Redeemer bestows on His people is Eter- nal Life. "I give unto them Eternal Life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." — John x. 28. God's gift is " Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." — Rom. vi. 23. Such is the salvation of the Son of God — life eternal ; not fading, evanescent life, coming and going, according to the moods and frames of our minds, but settled and fixed above all these in the eternity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The source of the believer's life is not prayer y nox earnestness , nor any faculty or energy within liim ; it is hidden in the awful 30 ^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. myUery of Christ's own being. "Because I LIVE, YE shall LIVE also," (John xiv. 19.) is His own definition of what our life is. Similar to this, is the language of St. Paul : — " For ye are dead, and your life is HID with CHRIST in GOD." Col. iii. 3. Seeing, therefore, that such is the teaching of Scripture, it behoves us to take no lower ground, but rather honor Him the more who is at once "our way, our truth, our LIFE." Secondly, — In agreement with the above, is the melancholy fact that some Christians are utterly destitute of all spiritual joy and peace in believing. They have no real commu- nion with Grod — no testimony of the Spirit as to their sonship ; they are practically dead while they live. Now this is what I mean when I say : " Even with the believer the cable may be broken." It is not so really : it <s so practically. This awful state of spiritual declension has been brought about by his not living wear Christ ; by allowing the world, Satan and the flesh to obtain a mastery over the soul, and thus a heavy dloud has settled down upon it, hiding the Father's face from him, and in this darkness of separa- tion from God the poor beUever exists. Bleak winter is howling where tropical summer might A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. 3]^ reign. Nothing can be more sad than such a state, because every hour that a believer con- tinues out of communion with God, the Holy Spirit is grieved, the Saviour is slighted, and the Father's love \vearit»d by the backsliding of His child. Such are the people to whom our Lord ad- dresses His most severe words of condemnation in his epistles to the churches — the Christians who shall be SAVED, but so as by fire — the Christians who doubtless will take A PLACE in the kingdom of Grod, but who will be there WITHOUT the glorious CROWN promised to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Our blessed Lord in the 15th chapter of St. John, describes the effect of union with Him- self thus: — "Every branch IN ME that beareth NOT fruit He taketh away : and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." — John xv. 2. Now here the Redeemer states the result of his children failing to bring forth fruit. Fruit is that which Grod expects. St. Paul says : " We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which Grod hath before ordain- ed that we should walk in them." — Eph. ii. 10. If therefore we do not bring forth fruit, Grod's order is perverted. We frustrate His high and 32 '^ BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. holy purpose in calling us out of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son. The Saviour Himself is not indifferent to the slight which is done Him in this matter; He cannot, and will not, allow any dishonour shown to His name. " His eyes are as a flame of fire," " He walks amid the seven golden candlesticks," " He searcheth the reins and hearts." When therefore the Lord sees a branch unfruitful, judicial sentence must follow. G-od the Father, as the heavenly husbandman, takes that branch awat/. He removes it from the position it once held, as being unworthy of His name. He will not use it, and the result is — moral night settles over the soul, and DEATH, (as far as peace and joy are concerned) takes place, and in this awful declension many Christians remain. They are not actually dead, but they are in a dead state. They have no gladness in their hearts, for God in whose presence is fulness of joy, is not with them. He is not using them, He has taken them away from the position they once held, and therefore, immersed in the cares, and sometimes even in the amusements of this world, they drag on a miserable existence, insult- ing on the one hand to the love of God, and utterly destructive on the other to the peace and happiness of their own souls. How are such souls to be quickened? This is the question A BREAK LV THE OCEAN CABLE. §3 with which, in conclusion, we are solely con- cerned. The answer Holy Scripture gives to this ques- tion is: — The revival of their faith by a personal coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. To the Laodicean Christians who had gone back to such a fearful exlent that they were " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," Our Lord counselled that they should buy of Him " gold tried in the fire, that they might be rich ; and white raiment, that they might be clothed, and that they should anoint their eyes with eye salve, that they might see." — Rev. iii. 18. If you, dear reader, should be one of these, I would earnestly implore of you to draw near afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both able and willing to save you to the uttermost. And then, instead of spiritual poverty, you wall have the gold which has been tried in the fire. Christ will be your portion. You will be complete in Him. Instead of nakedness, you will be clothed with His beauty. You wull be made "THE RiaHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM." Instead of blindness, "the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Christ is A 34 .-I IIRKAK'IN THE OCEAiV CABLE. indeed your portion now ; if you are a child of God, and in C^hrist, most assuredly are you complete ; but you ^vill be brought into the ' conscious enjoyment of all these precious truths, and thus into full communion with God. The groat truth the believer has to bear in mind is this : "We walk by FAITH, not by SIGHT." 2. Cor. V. 7. This has especially to be consid- ered in our ceaseless contest wi.h sin, in its ever varying forms. "We pray, (and no i^rayer could possibly be more needed) that God will com- pletely subject the flesh to the spirit. Now I can hardly imagine a prayer more in accordance with Scripture than this, and yet I think many may be mistaken as to the way in which God will answer such a prayer when offered up to Him in lowly faith. AYe naturally rise from our knees thinking henceforth we shall be wholly free from all those thoughts, tempers and sug- gestions which, wdth a rapidity greater than that of lightning, rush into our minds and lead us into sin. Yet this idea is founded on a mistake. The flesh, which is IN us, is in hopeless opposition to God. " It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." — Rom. viii. 7. We have therefore two distinct natures absolutely and inherently opposed to each other, namely — that which is born of the Spirit, and w^hich is, A BREAK IN THE OCEAX CABLE. 3.5 in the language of our Lord, spirit : and that which is born of the flesh, which is flesh. Ob- serve, no depth of earnestness, or devotion to the cause of Crod will ever make the flesh sp"nt, or even like the spirit. To the end of the terrible contest, the "flesh," that is, the nature which we inherited from Adam, and w^hich is called by St. Paul the " old man," will continue fiercely opposed to all the motions of the Spirit. When therefore we pray that the "flesh" may be subjected to the Spirit, we pray that " sin should not reign in our mortal body, that we should obey it in the lusts thereof." That sin is within us, and loill be in us to the end, is certain ; but we are not to let it guide or influence us ; we are not to let it KEIGrN in our hearts. The question then j)resents itself: How^ are we to prevent it reigning there ? — how are we to get the complete victory over it ? I arisw^er : By our Lord Jesus Christ ; who is able to make us more than conquerors, " according to the work- ing whereby He is ABLE even, to SUBDUE ALL THINGS unto HIMSELF." Now, we are most distinctly told by St. Paul, that "our old man" was crucified together with Christ. By the expression " our old man," he means the flesh, our natural carnal heart which 36 A BREAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. we inherited from Adam. His language is as follows : — " Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." — Rom. vi. 6. So also in the Epistle to the Gralatians, the same apostle declares : " I am crucified with Christ." — Gal. ii. 20 ; or, as it is more literally translated, " I have been crucified (co-crucified) with Christ." The meaning of these most remarkable words is to be sought in the position Our Lord occupied as the Repre- sentative of His people. When Our Lord Jesus Christ died, He was not only the bearer of th'3 sin of the world, but He was also the head and representative of all the redeemed. What therefore Christ did. His people are represented as having done also. Now, Our Lord died unto sin ONCE. In this death the believer partici- pates ; he is ONE with Christ in DEATH. As Christ died unto sin, so also did /tc, but in the person of His great representative. On the CROSS Christ died unto sin ; on the Cross the BELIEVER DIED ALSO. ''I have been co- crucified with Christ," said St. Paul ; that is, " I have with Christ died unto sin." The " I " means all that the Apostle was by nature — him- self in his natural unrenewed state. This, his carnal heart, the " old man " of Rom. vi. 6, died A BREAK TN THE OCEAN CABLE. 37 with His Lord on the Cross. Judicial sentence -J was then executed upon it : in the language of V Scripture, IT DIED. But believers ask — how J can the flesh have died, when we find its -; motions so strong in our heaiU to-day? I : answer : the " flesh " is judlciaUy dead^ because , the sentence of death w^as executed on it when ^ Christ our representative died. Observe the strong language of St. Paul : — " Knowing this that our old man w^as CRUCIFIED WITH HIM; that the body of sin might de DE- STROYED, that HENCEFORTH WE SHOULD NOT SERVE SIN." Here, then, is the glorious privilege of the believer — by ' his union with Christ in death, he is FREED from the dominion of sin. The Apostle says : — ;/ "He that hath DIED hath been SET FREE ^^ from sin." — Rom. vi. 7. (Alford.) The be- liever is now no longer compelled to serve sin ; he is to reckon himself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Two practical results flow from the just appre- ciation of this truth. Firsts — In our conflict with ourselves we know that that which would lead us captive, if it could, namely, our natural carnal heart, has - been CONDEMNED and CRUCIFIED with 3S A BRI'JAK IN THE OCEAN CABLE. % Christ. Ill other words, we know our greatest enemy is not supreme ; it is BENEATH the FEET of Christ. No outside enemy has half the X^ower to injure our spiritual life as the wicked heart within. But this *' wicked heart within " is beneath the power of Christ, our Deliverer and our God. Let us not, then, be discouraged, nor grow faint with weariness ; however strong, however insidious the flesh may be, IT IS NOT OUR MASTER. Our Master is Christ, not the ^jlesh. Why need I, then, be a CAPTIVE TO THE FLESH when I stand in the presence of Him who has OVERCOME THE FLESH, my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Second, — This truth teaches us how to regard the motions of sin. Sin is by no means dead in the believer, but the believer is dead to sin. AVhen, therefore, the passions of sin rise within you, reckon yourself DEAD to them. Give no phice to them ; and, turning to Him who has by His death freed you from the dominion of sin, realize your victory in Him. Then it is. He will make you MORE than a CONQUEROR. You will learn the meaning of this blessed assur- ance : " Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, but UNDER GRACE." — Rom. vi. 14. Be not discouraged, then, about the presence of sin in you. That A BREAK rx THE OCEAN CABLE. ;.]g which is " FLESH " will always CONTINUE " flesh," even though you were to live a thousand years on earth. Neither prayer, earnestness, nor zeal, will ever change the flesh : it may be SUBDUED ; it cannot be CHANGED. To the end, therefore, it will maintain its character — one of irreconcilable hostility to God. When :5t. Paul says to the Corinthians : " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," the Apostle means, the man has been made a NEW" ClIEA- TION ; that is, a totally new life has been im- parted to him, and this new life is the SPIRIT. The new creation is not, therefore, the '• flesh ". suddenly made holy — that were impossible — but a NEW SPIRIT, begotten of the Holy Ghost within him. When, therefore, sin rises within you, be not discouraged ; its motions belong to death, you to life. In such moments, turn to Him who is the AUTHOR of your life ; and the flesh, like winter's snow beneath the sun of Spring, will melt away. Remember the i^rom- ise is not — the *' flesh " will become spirit, but that SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU. Cheer up, then, my brother; be of good heart. Christ is not only your Redeemer, He is ygur VICTORY in every contest with sin. To Him, and to Him alone, look when sin, the " body of 40 ^ BRSAK JN rut: ocea^ CAnLH. this death," presses upon you, and your deliver- ance is sure. Above all, take this " strong con- solation " for your comfort :—" THANKS BE UNTO GOD, WHICH ALWAYS CAUSETH US TO TRIUMPH IN CHEIST."— 2 Cor.ii. 14. ; In conclusion, dear reader, let me urge you afresh to come to your Lord and Master for grace and strength to help in every time of need. To encourage you to do so, let me bring before you some of God's " ABLES," all of which are vours in Christ : — " ABLE to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." — Heb. vii. 25. •' ABLE to succour them that are tempted." — Heb. ii. 18. " ABLE to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." — Eph. iii. 20. " ABLE even to subdue all things unto Himself." — Phill. iii. 21. " ABLE to make all grace abound toward you ; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." — 2Cof. ix. 8. A BREAK IN THE OCEAN GABLE. ^\ " ABLE to keep you from falling, and to present jou faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy." — Jude 24. " ABLE to keep that which I have committed unto Him."— 2 Tim. i. 12. Such then are some of the exceeding great and precious promises ; and if, dear believer, you will only plead them at the throne of God, the broken cable will soon be restored, and you your- self be brought into FULL COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER AND WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. ;^<?.;'