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1 2 3

hvi

. iiV-,

LEAVES

FROM

A MINISTEE'S POETFOLIO.

EDINBtinOH :
PRINTED BY BALI.ANTYNE AND COMPANY,

Paul's work.

LEAVES

FROM

^^4

'S POfiTI'OLIO.

BV THE

REV. D. FRASER, A.M.

MINISTER OF THE FREE CHUROH, MONTREAL.

LONDON:

JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.

MONTREAL : B. DAWSON.

M.DCCC.LVIII.

■Wl

■

PEEFACE.

This little book contains no elaborate exposi-
tion or treatise. I have grouped together
sundry short papers on religious themes, medi-
tative and illustrative, which may prove suit-
able reading, as I trust, for a Sabbath afternoon
or 3vening at home. Anxious to avoid pro-
lixity, I have not attempted fully to discuss,
far less to exhaust my topics. If one may
borrow the title given by a great writer to a
remarkable book, I have wished to supply
" Aids to Eeflection "—hints, suggestions, and
outlines— rather than complete forms of truth.
Here, therefore, is no great mass of matter, but
a " httle dinner of herbs.''

D. F.

Montreal, 2Qth March 1868.

Pv I aw-'

■

3
XV

CONTENTS.

I. MEDITATION,

11. THR ANALOGIES BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW
CREATION,

III. THE LOST GOD,
rV. THE SOUL ASLEEP, .

V. THE THREEEOLD CONVICTION OF THE WORLD,
VI. THE DIVINE EDUCATION OF THE CHURCH,
VIL THE ISOLATION OF THE HEART
Vin. THE MYSTERIES OF GOD,
IX. THE ROD OF CHRIST'S STRENGTH,
X. THE URIM AND THUMMIM,

XI. OFFENCE IN CHRIST

' • • .

XII. THE PRE-EMINENCE OF JESUS CHRIST,

XIII. A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY, .

XIV. COMPENSATION,

XV. LESSONS FROM WINTER,
XVI. CHRIST AMONG THE WILD BEASTS,

XVII. FORGETFULNESS,
XVIII. LOOKING AT THINGS NOT SEEN,

PAoa
1

8
15
19
23
30
37
43
50
54
67
67
71
76
80
86
89
93

VIU

CONTENTS.

XIX. SEVEN WONDERS,
XX. HAND IN HAND,
XXI A LESSON IN SPIRITUAL WAR,
XXII. THE HEALING OF HUMANITY,

XXIII. THE VIVIFYIXO POWER OF THE OOSPEL,

XXIV. THE UNHROKEN HONES OF JESUS,
XXV. THE lord's VINEYARD,

XXVI. THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR,

PAOV

97
108
107
111
116
123
128
136

A PLEASA>,T glimpse of "the heir of promise" we get

from those sample words of Scripture, "W wen'

out to meditate m the field at the eventide." • It is an

mmple whieh we might profitably follow Isaac,"

.s rue. had advantages which we have not, for religious

et,rement and reflection. Heir to a rich inheritance

e was exempt from worldly care and the spirit-chafin,;

•struggles of modern busy life. He enjoyed rural quiet''

Withal he doubtless was largely endowed with those
powei. of abstraction, contemplation, and introvers i"
which have ever been characteristic of Oriental mind!'
The pattern of a man of so much leisure and peace

Nevertheless it is just in such an age as this, that
meditation is most needful to the religious mind and
to the neglect of this duty may safely be attributed 2

* Gen. xxiv. C3.
A

^ MEDITATION.

light, fickle, and immature character of much modern
piety.

Vain are the excuses oflfered for such neglect. To
urge that we have no time for quiet meditation on the
wonderful works and words of God, is virtually to say
that we have no time to attend to the very objects for
which time was given to us — the knowledge of God,
and the edification of our own souls. To say that we
have very little opportunity of retirement and quiet in
our occupied urban life, is only to state a reason for our
avoiding over-business, and studying to redeem time
for godly exercise. To confess that we cannot sustain
an interest in religious themes, is to betray our insuffi-
cient conversion to God. The language of a devout
heart is this, " My meditation of him shall be sweet :
I will be glad in the Lord." *

If the unquiet spirit of the times disadvantageously
afiects our religious habits of thought, we also, in these
last days, have advantages for " increasing in the know-
ledge of God" far superior to those enjoyed in the
early ages of the world. In Creation we may see, more
clearly than the ancients, the traces of Jehovah. In-
heriting the studies and discoveries of all preceding
times, we have a greatly increased acquaintance both
with the vastness and with the minuteness of "the
things that are made ;" and so have matter of medita-
tion on the being, wisdom, and power of the Divine

* Psalm civ. 34.

uch modern

MEDITATION. «

sessei In the observation of Providence, too we

possess a marked advantage. Centu,y afte cen;ur

he history of the Church and the world becomes n>o^'

fmtful .n :nstr„ctio„; and he who studies histo,y wift

a senous „.„d, and n,arks in our own time the col e

1' r /. ""'^' ■"''^ ^'^-^"-^ ''"""-i-t t-ce"
P e.dmgGod, and have solemn and "sweet meditation
01 Him who moulds and fashions the lot of man and
-da.ns and controls all things after the counsel o^ m

regard to Gods Holy Word. I„ our hands is the

ri D T:f '"'"'"^^- ^-- '^ - Bible a
aU and Davzd had one of far less extent and clearness
and fulness than we possess. Our pastures are wm!
and neher than the flock of God of old time enj^el

fll Ty. f rf "' *^ '''^' «^'<J "' Script J-ae
field that the Lord ha. blessed-we, if spirituaUy!

Rinded may have sweet meditation on His perfections
and on His most good and holy will

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Leader and Pattern of

Christians, was much given to meditation, and loved

ommumon with the Pather in heaven, h; was mu"h

abroad m grassy soUtudes-in eorn-fields_on high

mountams-on the shore and on the bosom of he

.ahlean Lake-and everywhere looked on nature 1

truths. He also mused on Providence, and taught Hi.,

MEDITATION.

disciples to do likewise, to the comfort and confirma-
tion of their souls : — " Consider the ravens : for they
neither sow nor reap ; which neither have storehouse
nor barn ; and God feedeth them : how much more are
ye better than the fowls ? . . . Consider the lilies how
they grow : they toil not, they spin not ; and yet I say
unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass,
which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into
the oven ; how much more will he clothe you, ye of
little faith ?" * Our Lord also meditated much on God's
written Wori,!. His human mind grew in wisdom and
knowledge by His familiarity with the Word — that
"volume of the book" in which it was written of Kim.
And every one must observe, that in His conversations
with the twelve, and His replies to the rulers and the
people, quotations from, and references to the Old Tes-
tament abound. This command of the Scriptures the
man Christ Jesus accpiired by study and reflection. In
perfection He combined thought and duty, meditation
and activity, and was nt once the most occupied and
the most devout Being that ever dwelt among men.

The Christians of the present day appear to fail in
meditation, more than they do in activity. But it is
un afe to neglect, in any particular, the example Christ
has given.

Lack of meditation keeps the mind always poor, the
* Luke xii. 24, 27, 28.

MEDITATION. 5

bulk of what is read or heard being suffered to slip
away unnoticed, and making no part of the permanent
possessions of the soul. There are many who have
enjoyed such advantages that they ought to be teachers
rather than learners, who yet have their minds unfur-
mshed, and their thoughts loose and scattered, just
because they have never formed the habit of pondering
well. They receive, but they do not retain knowledge
or apprehend the scope, beauty, order, and mutual con-
nexion of great truths. Many a valuable thought they
have had, but the thought is transient, and leaves no
lastmg impress on the soul-like sheet-lightning play-
ing on the horizon, then passing into darkness, or the
glance of a sunbeam on a dark wave of the sea.

The subject also intimately affects the progress of
piety. All the powers and virtues of the " new heart"
pme and are enfeebled, unless there is time given to
meditation with watching and prayer. Faith fails, and
hope grows dim, unless we dwell on the "precious pro-
mises," and on the faithfulness of the promisin^r God
And love waxes cold unless our hearts muse on Him
who " first loved us. ' To use the language of Jeremy
laylor, - This is a very great cause of the dryness and
expiration of men's devotion, because our souls are so
little refreshed with the waters and holy dews of medi-
tation. We go to our prayers by chance, or order, or
by determination of accidental occurrences, and we
recite them as we read a book ; and sometimes we pre

»?EDITATION.

sensible of the duty, and a flash of lightning makes the.
room bright, and our prayers end, and the lightning
is gone, and we as dark as ever. We draw our water
fi'om standing pools, which never are filled but with
sudden showers, and, therefore, we are dry so often ;
whereas, if we could draw water from the fountains of
our Saviour, and draw them through the channel of
diligent and prudent meditations, our devotion would
be a continual current, and safe against the barrenness
of frequent droughts," *

In every wise and pious heart religious musings
kindle a solen^n joy. It is " sweet" to meditate on the
Loving and Holy One —

" Sweet on Thy faithfulness to rest.
Whose love can never end ;
Sweet on Thy covenant of grace
For all things to depend !

" Sweet, in the confidence of faith,
To trust Thy truth divine ;
Sweet to lie passive in Thy hands,
And have no will but Thine ! "

The heathen poets fabled that the top of Olympus,
the seat of the gods, was always quiet and serene. And
this we may say, not in fable but in truth, of the top
of the mount of meditation, where the believer is with
God, and comes even to His seat. It is not easy to climb
the hill. A hundred distracting thoughts, and worldly
♦ Life of Christ, Part I. Disc. iii.

MEDITATION. y

cares, and devilish temptations, impede our way but
if we persevere, our meditation shall be sVeet ; on the
top of the mount we shall say, " < Lord, it is good for us
to be here,' for we behold Thy gloiy"_a cloud hides
the earth from us, and we have a prospect upward so
clear and calm, that we could almost think ourselves in
heaven.

THE ANALOGIES BETWEEN THE

II.

On the first page of the Bible we read of the old crea-
tion. A new creation is mentioned in other parts of
Holj Writ, as wrought upon the souls of men. We think
that ia the order of the old, the course of the new may
be traced. For our purpose it matters not whether the
six days of the first chapter of Genesis are understood
to be ordinary periods of twenty-four hours, in which,
ages after the matter of the universe had been called
into existence, this world was arranged, and furnished,
and garnished for the habitation of man ; or whether
they be supposed to express long periods of time, cor-
responding to the " geological periods " of science, re-
vealed to Moses in a sublime vision, and by him opti-
cally described — the fading light and the growing light
of the successive dioramic scenes making an evening
and a morning to the eye of the seer, and the divisions
of time being therefore called by him "six days."
Whatever be the interpretation of the term " days," our
use of the Mosaic narrative is the same — to mark in it

OLD AND THE NEW CEEATION. ^.

a picture, or rather a sketch, of the order of that in-
ward creation which " avails in Christ Jesus" to eternal
Hfe.

Before any chan|re, natural or spiritual, there must
needs be a groundwork laid. Now, before the changes
of the six days began, a basis of change existed. "In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Before the change of regeneration begins, a basis is also
laid m the sensitive and moral nature of man, the in-
telhgence, the conscience, the emotions, and the will,
whereon God's grace and truth are to work mightily.'
" By Him, and for Him, we are and were created."

Where, however, we might look for beauty and order
lo! there is chaos, disorder, with darkness on the deep'
"The earth was without fom, and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep." No gray cloud was
there, nor blue sky, nor green field, nor silver sea ; no
shores, no vales, no mountains. What a figure this of
the dark and disordered soul of man before his new
creation ! He has no calm peace, nor hvely hope, nor
clear apprehension of spiritual religion — tossed by
surging waves of fear and doubt-restless, dissatisfied-
chaos and darkness in his breast !

Had the world been left to itself, it would, so far as
we know, have continued in perpetual chaos, havino- no
mherent power to mould, and vivify, and adorn it^'self.
But lo ! a Power of God was there. The Ufe-giving
"Spirit moved— brooded— on the face of the waters."

THE ANALOGIES BETWEEN THE

Thus there bf.gan to be warmth, with some token of a
happier time; but as yet there was no light— darkness
hung upon the deep. So, on the soul that God is about
to regenerate, there is a moving of the Spirit, with
solemn brooding wing— there is an awe from the Lord,
a beginning of conviction, before any distinct ray of
light has come to guide, and gladden, and transform.

The time had now arrived for God's good and beau-
tiful work in the heaven and the earth. Then the first
gift He bestowed, the first influence He introduced,
was light— commanded to appear in words often noted
for their sublimity, " And God said, Light be ; and
light was.''

" Let were be light, said God; and forthwith light
Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure.
Sprung from the deep."

Who can imagine the startling change? On the
great chaos light arose— all things began to be new.
In like manner, God begins His new creation of the
soul, by causing light to arise. The ignorance and
self-deception which pertain to the state of darkness
are rolled away, and truths break on the mind as they
really are. The " Shorter Catechism " rightly teaches,
that the beginnings of " efiectual calling " are the con-
viction of sin and misery, and the enlightenment of the
mind in the knowledge of Christ. And the words in
which the apostle Paul describes his own spiritual en-
lightenment contain a distinct reference to the original

OLD AND THE NEW CREATION. 1 J

Divine gift of light to the world. " God, who com-
manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." *

At the close of the first day or period known, the
light shone on a chaos still. It was on the second day
that order began to reign. A firmament appeared, and
the waters were divided-watery vapours above, in
thick, massy clouds, and waters beneath, covering' the
earth ; for as yet no dry land was seen. Surely a
change analogous to this takes place in the soul that
God has enlightened-a new order begins where chaos
was-the waters are divided-there is a separation of
the higner affinities and capacities of the human spirit
from those that are lower and more earthly. Whereas
all hitherto was on one level, now there is elevation and
aspiration in the character ; there is a firmament in
the soul-a change (if one may so speak) of its atmo-
spheric conditions, so that there is a sky or a heaven as
well as an earth. The unregenerate man has only an
earth; but the regenerate has also a sky-a nether and
an upper department of character— an earth and a
heaven in the breast.

The third day continued the progress of order and
revealed the dry land, and covered it with abundant
specimens of vegetable life. Such also is the progress
of the new creation in the mind and heart of man. A

•2Cor. iv. 6.

THE ANALOGIES BETWEEN THE

new and various beauty is given to the character;
where there was barrenness, there comes fertility; where
there was nothing, life appears. Now is there tender
grass o» devotion, with the sweet herbs of pious desire,
and the fruits, varied after their kind, of a new and
loving obedience.

The fourth day disclosed to the eye of the seer " the
lights in the firmament," which thenceforth were to
illuminate the earth — the sun by day, and moon by
night, and the stars also. It was the period of the
organisation of light. So, in the continued progress
of the souFs ^ew creation, there ensues an habitual
reign of light— light that may, indeed, be obscured
thereafter by passing clouds of error or unbelief, but
that can never be quenched in thick and hopeless
gloom. Every man in Christ Jesus is a child of light,
illuminated from above with light to rule the day, and
light to rule the night. If he has the bright sunshine
of God's favour in the day of success, he is not left in
his night of sorrow without the gentle moon of conso-
lation and the glistening stars of promise.

When the world was lit up with its heavenly lamps,
it was made more and more to abound in creatures of
life. This was the event of the fifth day— the great de-
velopment of organic life. To this there is an obvious
parallel in the increasing vitality of the new-created
soul, which has received the light of life, and in all its
character and powers becomes more alive unto God.

OLD AND THE NEW CREATION. 13

The enlightened Christian has life more and more abun-
dantly, develops new energies, and, in all the higher
relations of his being, gives signs of new activity.

The same development of life continued on the sixth
day : then came Adam in the image of God, with
dominion over all the earth, and all that lived 'on its
surface. So with the soul which God has made the
subject of His new creation ; when it is enlightened
ordered, vivified, Christ the second Adam, the new
man, the image of the invisible God, is formed within.
This crowns the work of grace. " Christ in you, the
hope of glory,'' takes possession of the soul, has do-
minion over all its parts and all its living powers, is
the acknowledged Monarch of the character, the wel-
come Ruler of the clean heart and right spirit that God
has created within.

In this the mighty change is complete. As in nature
so in grace, the Lord will not at any point of imperfec-
tion forsake the work of His hands. He looks on His
accomplished work, and behold it is very good. Then,
as from Him came all the power that wrought such
effects, to Him redounds all the praise. What hath
God wrought ! Every instance of His new-creating
grace glorifies His name, gladdens*His militant Church
on earth, and His triumphant hosts in heaven. Then
the morning stars sing together, and aU the sons of God
shout for joy.

The figure of a man working and resting is employed

14 THE ANALOGIES BETWEEN THE OLD, ETC.

in Scripture to denote the procedure of Almighty God
at the first creation. " God rested from all his work
which he had made." After the same manner, the work
of the new creation issues in sweet sabbatic rest. God,
liaving " fulfilled all the good pleasure of his good-
ness, and the work of faith with power,"* rests in His
love, watching over the continued moral elevation and
culture of the renewed heart. The people of God cease
from their works as God did from His, and enter into
rest. Then cometh the end — the new creation is con-
summate—Grace, grace unto it ! It opened in Chaos, it
ends in Paradise. It opened in a confused and dark
abyss, it ends iri Eden, a well-watered garden of " plea-
sures, at God's right hand for evermore."

in 'l''lf

*2The8s. i. 11.

THE LOST GOD.

HI.

Lost soul-lost peace-lost hope-lost innocence-lost
happiness-lost heaven ; these are the terms often used
to express the woe of man. A view of that woe, more
sad and awful still, is suggested by the words, "a lost
trod. When sin entered and made its home in the
human breast, God departed-withdrew the strength
and joy of His presence from the seed of evil-doers
Not only is man lost to God, God is lost to man-a
stranger to his thoughts. It is true enough, that the
human race has not been, in any place or time, devoid
of religious ideas and instincts ; but such theologies and
rituals as men have devised only serve to shew how
darkened are their minds-how utterly they have lost
the true light of God. They feel after Him, and know
not how nor where to find Him. In the worship of
many gods, and goddesses, and demigods, the heathen
nations have sought to pacify their own accusing con-
sciences, and to connect themselves with the unseen
Infinitude ; but they could not reach to the Most High

THE LOST GOD.

i ,

or by searching find Him out. The imaginations of
philosophers, priests, and people, born in the most
pa'my days of heathenism, were vain, and their fooKsh
hearts were darkened. The Gentiles, as an apostle
affirms, had " no hope, and were without God in the
world." *

Alas ! what more or better can we say of many in
modern Christendom ? This darkness is on their path,
even as on the paths of the heathen. God may be
honoured with the lips, but He is outcast from the
thoughts and affections of a wicked and perverse gene-
ration. Now, it is in the tone of life and conversation
that this fearful fact is betrayed. The " course of this
world" moves without any serious reference to God.
The current of life flows on without religion, which,
indeed, is I'egarded, if not quite as an intrusion and
burden, still as an exceptional and secondary thing.
Business and study, toil and pleasure, politics and
literature of this world— all are without God. The
mind of man is averse to humble recognition of a
Divine Being, or resignation to a Divine will. Busy
thoughts people his brain, but no devout thought of
God ! Warm affections glow in his heart, but no thrill
of love to God !

The life of the natural man may, indeed, be carefully
guarded from all stains of gross, disreputable vice; and
yet it lies open to the charge of utter ungodliness. God

** Epb. ii. 12.

THE LOST GOD.

is unknow,,, absent, h,t. Earth seems the only reality
while heaven is regarded as a shado,vy land, and the
existence of heaven's Holy One little better than a
shadowy imagination, m, is the piactieal atheism
which aboundc : men live as they list; they are "with-
out God in the world." This is the great woe of the
human race Men, so long as they continue irreligious
must suffer disorder and misery, for they have lost the
Supreme Order and the Supreme Source of happiness.
They have the name of God, the Word of God, and the
house of God; and yet they have no God.

This is all the more shameful to man, since the sm--
roundmg creation, animate and inanimate, is not with-
out God The heavens declare His glory ; the firmament
shews His handywork. The earth displays IBs riches •
so does the "great and wide sea" The countless crea-
tures that people the knd, and air, and waters, wait on
God who gives them their meat in due season, and in
the ways appointed to them, render praise to Him
The stars in the sky. and the little flowers of the field'
unite in witnessing for God.

" The headlong torrents, rapid and profound
THe softer floods that lead the humid maze
Along the vale, and the ruajestio main,
Sound His stupendous praise."

There is not the same disjunction between God and
creation, as there is between God and the chief of ^hat
creation, man. But here is the poignant misery. It

THE LOST GOD.

li,:

is man who was formed and qualified for communion
with God; and now he has lost all — he has lost time
and eternity, he has lost his better 8' If — since he has
lost God.

" Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near." * How has the lost God
drawn near? Not with a voice of terror, shaking
earth and heaven— not with thick clouds, hailstones,
and coals of fire — not with sharp arrows or a glittering
sword. His v/ays are not as our ways, nor His thoughts
as our thoughts. He came in a holy babe at Beth-
lehem, nursed in a virgin's arms. He came as a gentle
Teacher and Hbaler of men, walking to and fro through
Judea and Galilee. He came very nigh to us in Jesus,
the crucified Man of Calvary. At the cross God may
be found, the lost Jehovah is near.

* Isa. Iv. 6.

THE SOUL ASLEEP.

IV.

Tm soni of the sinner is asleep. The spiritual powers
and susceptibilities are deadened and benumbed. W
ever awake and alert in earthly relations, the whJe
character .lethargic toward God and His eternal t™a
The man who abides in sin has eyes but sees not ea^

W Heisl',""'^'^ '"'' '' ™^-'-^ -i'hZ
heart. He is ld.e one overtaken by intolerable drowsi-

ne s who sleeps, amidst the snows of St Bernard a
quiet but fatal sleep. '

He who sleeps is oblivious of the past, and ignorant
of the present So is the sinner-forgetful of Z'Z
mip--ons of days gone by, and heedless of the vtt
of the tune that now is-not knowing it to be " the ac-
cepted time." His sleep is not altogether undistiw.
Natu al conscience sometimes alarms, and the sleeping
man turns and tosses on his bed; at times appears J

tTr TfV" '^'^'' '^"^^ ^'^'^'^ ^ "^-
tian. But he mutters. "A little more sleep, a little

more slumber, a little more folding of the k Jl to

THE SOUL ASLEEP.

iif

sleep," and stretches himself again upon the bed of
irreligious indifference and sloth. There may be dreams
of great activity, but still there is no movement; or a
mere somnambulism, an outward mechanical activity,
as of one who walks in sleep, while the spirit within is
still torpid and insensible.

Some awake from spiritual sleep only to perish.
Kefusing to be wise in time, they discover their danger,
with a start, when it is too late to seek salvation. In
the very agony of their awakening they are lost. So
is it with one who sleeps securely in his cabin at sea,
and the ship suddenly founders, and he is drowned
before he can even reach the deck.

" He wakes at the vessel's sudden roll,
And the rush of waters is in his soul."

So it is with the somnambulist, who is comparatively
safe while sleep continues, but may perish in the mo-
ment of sudden awaking. A young girl walked one
night in sleep, came out through a window upon the
house-top, and walked up and down the sloping roof
with fearless step. I^o one knew how to rescue her
from the fearful peril. Once and again she walked to
the very edge of the roof, still asleep, and appeared to
look over the verge. At that moment a light from an
opposite window flashed across her eyes; she woke
affrighted, and with a scream fell lifeless to the street.
Such a waking of fear may await many who now walk

THE SOUL ASLEEP.

gaily and fearlessly through the world, locked in spiiit-

hears

ual sleep

There is a better awakening
and obeys the effectual call of God-an awakening, not
of fear but of faith— not of despair but of hope— not
of horror but of joy and love. To know this by expe-
rience is the privilege of the sinner saved by grace ; to
awake and arise-to be startled in conviction, and to
be raised into "newness of life."

Alas! the soul of a saint, while on earth, may fall
asleep. Drowsy influences creep over the Church, and
overcome many that were truly awakened and converted
to God. The three disciples who slept in the garden
of Gethsemane are but sad types of Christians in every
age, who cannot watch one hour. At times a Ipnguor
or famtness creeps over pious hearts-the mind bccoi-Ps
torpid and forgetful, and its former zeal decays. On
the bed of overmuch security the unwatchful Christian
stretches himself, and soon falls fast asleep. And the
Church stands stiU because of the self-pleasing lethargy
of her members.

It is high time to awake out of sleep— to be alive to
all the great interests of Immanuel's kingdom, and to
be intent on the hope and joy of His appearing. It is
time to arise to the activities of the day of grace, and
watch for the splendours of the day of glory. " Watch-
man ! what of the night ? " Our prophetic watchman,
m the "burden of Dumah," answered, "The morning

l*i^

i)<0

THE SOUL ASLKEP

comotl.. mi.I also tlu> nlgl.t."* ]Jut tl.o apoNtclic watch-
nuui, in th(^ scrvico of (^l.rist uii,l M„. (^ImucI,, choorily
unswors. " Tlu. nioht is fui- spent, tl.- day Is at lian.l "f
Those words rin^- like a mornin^r 1,^1. l,i,Minir us wake
H'ul work. All tlii.isrs l„.^ria to stir-tho limvy clouds
nse—tlK" shadows floo away— the sun will soon l)e up—

" The shiniiiR (Iny, that buniisliM i)lay8
On rocks, niul l.illH. and towers, uiul muuVnug strcftms,
High K'lt'iuuing from afar I"

Would to (Jod that the peoph> of (^hrist were more
wakeful than they are, and more sensible of the sweet-
ness and .lionity of Hvinir in and to their Lord' Is
our salvation, in uts final triumphs, drawini. nearer
everyday? It is an aroun.ent for an increasing ardour
of soul. As the run.uT strains every nerve and limb
wJien ho uears the end of the course, an.l tlu> goal is in
Ins eye— as the sailor forgets the hardships of his lon.r
and weary way across the sea,, and works the ship with
new zeal and sleepless care so soon as he scents the
land breeze, or sees afar on the horizon the Ion- ex-
pected shore-so should we, having hope in {£rist
increase our diliger.ce. hold ourselves on the alert and'
press into the kingdom of God. So let us watch' and
walk, and work, and wrestle, and pray, as tlioso who
are nearing the '' inheritance of the saints in light,"
and would not lose it for worlds. ^

* Isii. xxi. 11, 12. t R,„n, ^jji 12.

TIIK TIIUKKFOLD C'ONVICTlOff OF THK WORLD. 23

^t Ifemfoli €Q\mm of tire WtMl

TUK IMy (llK,sfc, the (.^omfortor or Pamcleto, is «cnt
to the (Jhurch, but His work is imt (..nfined to tho
hearts of helievers. When He is conio. He operates, as
tho Lord Jesus foretold, o„ « tlu, world," eonvincing
It "of sill, righteoiisTiess, and judirinent."*

The worl.l is prey(>d upon by sin, and groans under
Its weight ; yet indulges it, and dislikes to be reproved
Restraints there are for the prevention of flagrant
offences-restraints of law, of eonseienec, of public
opinion, and of self-respe(«t. Yet by none of these is
the world convinced of dn. It may condemn crime
and bewail misery, but it has no sense of the l)ase and
dreadful character of sin as committed against the
Throne of God and of the Lamb. The scml of the
world ,s not pierced with contrition, nor the stiff neck
of its will taught to bow, without the action upon
It of a power from on high-the power of the Holy

(rhost. "^

* JoLnxvi. 8-11.

tt.

I* J

THE THREEFOLD CONVICTTON OF THE WORLD.

Eil

Our Saviour, in spcakiu^ir of tlie conviction of sin
avo.dcl vu^rne general cliarges, and specified the sin of
unbelief. Human law can take no cognisance of this—
natural conscience is slow to perceive any great evil in
It; and were it not for the demonstration of its wi(tked-
iiess by the Divine Spirit, it might pass for no sin at
all, wliereas it is a root and mother of all sins. Unbe-
lief is divinely exposcnl in its true character, as a sin thc^
most base, committed against the love of Ood and of
His dear Son-the most ruinous, as rejecting the very
remedy for ruin (.ffered in the gospel-and the most
comprehensive, as including all blindness and hardness
of heart, barring out the light of Oods countenance and
the sweetness of His salvation.

As the world knows not its sin, so it fails to form
any true conception of righteousness. All the world's
wisdom, before the descent of the " Comforter " knew
nothing of this. Philosophy, poetry, the modes of
religion, and the aspects of life, all were unable to teach
or exemplify righteousness. The Divine law, indeed
prescribed the will of the perfectly Righteous One, and
rebuked all unrighteousness of men. Yet they would
not learn— the world was not convinced.

The Comforter has come to shew righteousness to
the world; not its own righteousness, for it has none
but the righteousness of Him who has "gone to the'
Father." And as the sin of the world has been its
want of foith, so it can obtain righteousness only

THE THREEFOLD CONVICTION OP THE WORLD. 2

througli faitli. Unbelief and unrighteousness go to-
gether ; so do faith and righteousness.

Excellent are the words of the late Archdeacon Hare ',
— " As the sin of which the Comforter came to con-
vince the world, is of a totally different kind from
every thing that the world calls sin— as it is a sin
which the world, so long as it was left to itself, never
dreamed of as such, nor does any heart, left to itself
so regard it—while yet it is the one great all-in-all of
sm, the sin by which men are cut off and utterly
estranged from God, the sin through which they grow
downward toward hell instead of growing upward
toward heaven ;— so, on the other hand, is the righteous-
ness of which the Comforter came to convince the world,
totally different in kind from every thing that the world
accounts righteousness— a righteousness such as the
world, in the highest raptures of its imagination, never
dreamed of; a righteousness, moreover, by which the
effect of sin is done away, and man, hitherto cut off
and estranged from God, is reunited and set at one with
Him. The Comforter Ccime not to convince the world
of its own righteousness ; one might as fitly convince
a cavern at midnight of light. The Comforter is the
Spirit of truth, and can only convince of the truth
But the world's righteousness is a lie, hollow as a
whited sepulchre, tawdry as a puppet in a show. ....
Christ's going to the Father was indeed the fullest,'
completest, most damnatory of all proofs of the world's

26 THE THIiKKFOr.D (WNVKTION

OF Tirt! WOULD.

.""■,;il,h.„„.s,„.,H „,„| i„i,|„ity u ^^^ ,,__, ^^_._^^^^ ^1^^^^
lliMi, «h„n, th,. w,.,l,l ,.„„,1,,,„„,,1, (],„( j„,ti,i,,,| . ,|„,j
tho st„„., wliich tlu. Imihl..,., ,r.j,.,.te,l, (!,„! ,„„,1. tl,o

,";":;"',"" "'' •'"• '■'"•'"''■ ' t''"t "'••", who,,, th,. w,„l,l
lm.l lif(,.,l „|, „„ hish „„ a ..nias of „h,„„.., (io,| lift,,,i
up o„ l,,,«h to a th,-o„,. of „|,„y i„ ,,,,, ,„„„,,„, . „^^^^
H„„ who.,, th,. worl.l oast out, „aili,„; Ifh,, l,o(w....„
wo th,..ve», (io,l took to lli„,.s,.|f, „„,.s,.t l|i,„ i„ the
"•av..„ y ph..,..» fa,. al.ov.. all |„.i„n>ality a,„l pow,.,-,
..t, wh,l.. Ch,.i.sf» goh,« to th,. Kath..,. was a p,.,of „f
th.. ,>„,.,f;h(,.„„.s„o,,s a„,l ,h.sp,.,.ato wi,.k,.,h„.,.s„f the
wo,.hl, ,t W.US also a p,.o„f of .■|.|,t,.o„.s„„ss_„a„„,w of
His ow,. p„..e a„,l ,,.,.f,„.t a,„l .spotl,.s» ,.i«ht,.o„.s»;..ss
It was a p,.oof that Ho ,v,« tho Holy ()„o who oould
"ot soo ,.„r,.,,ptio„. It was a proof that ho ooul.l „ot
.H..SS. .ly 1,0 hol,lo„ I,y .loath a„y ,„o,o tha„ it woul.l l,o
p..ss,Wo to l,ol,l tho s„„ l,y a ol„i„ „f ,,„,,.k„,,, ,„„,
tl,o..oforo that, as Doath, tho ghastly sl,a.low whioh ovor
follows ,„sopa,.ably at tho hools of Si„, flo.l froi,, His
)..-e.so„oo, Ho „,„st „oo.ls l,o also without si„. It wa., a
l-'oof that, whilo tho wo,I,l ..losiro,! a .nurforor to ho
g,-a,.to.i to tho,,,,' Ho who,., they .ie,.io.l was the Holy
Oi,ea„<l tho J„st."» •'

To those soi.to.,ces we „oo,I a,i,l „othi,.g. The Corn-
too,- has oo..,e to don.onstrato to the worU the
ngl,too„s,^ss of the ascondo.1 Saviour-rigl,teo„s„o.s
alike m H.s personal character and in His public
• Mission of the Comforter, pp. 129, 130. A,ncric.i, edition.

Tin; TUHEKror.n conviction of the world. 27

representative ,,„«iti„„ us the Substitute a,,,! Surety of
».ai.<Ms. He Is ..the ,,,,1 of the law for righteousnes,
to every l.eliever "-rlKliteousnoss to clothe, as with
white r„i,„e„t, those who now ,,i„e an.l shiver in the
imkeiliiess of their sins.

The world also needs t,. be eonvineed of judf;ment—
t(. fe<.l that (J„,l eannot be mncked-tluit under Hi.,
government evil has no in,,.nnity_that the evil will
".-yitably be con.len.ned and cast out, while the good
•shall |,reva,l and triu.nph. The worhl has not, of it,
own w.s,lon., reaelu.d this conviction. No terror,, of
Hivinc or human law-no miseries of the vicious-no
testnuonies of ,,ast history, have snffied to convince
the world of .judgment. But the Holy Spirit cmvinces
by th,., ev,dence-..The prince of this worl.l is judged."
Ihe prince of this worhl is no rightful sovereign, but a
usurper an,l tyrant-" the spirit that worketh in the
children of di.sobedience." His comnu.nds arc thce-
Ihm. Shalt have as n.any go,ls as thou wilt, or no .rod
at all, according to thy plea.,ure. Thou .shalt have
images, and any mode of worship that thou wilt pro-
vided only that Christian simplicity be corrupted. Thou
Shalt take the name of Go,I in vain. Thou shalt break
the babbath. Thou shalt dishonour thy parents. Thou
Shalt kill. Thou Shalt commit adultery. Thou shalt
steal. Thou Shalt lie. Thou shalt covet." Such are the
ten commands of the prince of this world. Especially
he opposes himself to Christ, the Prince of Life • and

28 THE THREEFOLD CONVICTION OF THE WORLD.

an (}()(! lias uttored a New Tti.stainent comiiiand— " Tliat
we believe on tlie name of His Son, Jesus Christ"— the
prince and ood of this world has dared to utter a
counter-conunund, sayin^r, " Ye shall not believe ! "

But this ])rinee is jud^anl. The whole manifestation
of Christ, in His birth, in His holy life, and in His mira-
cles, especially His mastery over unclean spirits, was
a discomfiture of the })rince of this world. At last,
the lifting up of the Redeemer to die— which seemed
to be a victory for the Evil One— proved to be his utter
defeat. "Throu.i,di death, Christ destroyed him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil." * It is too
true that the prince^ of this world is still at work
in the hearts and homes of men ; thou<,di judged,
he is not yet bound, as he is to be ; but the contest
between good and ill is virtually decidetl. The Seed of
the woman has bruised the serpent's head.

Now, to minds convinced of the sin of unbelief and of
the righteousness of Him who has gone to the Father,
the Holy Spirit carries home this lesson also— that the
prince of this world is judged, and that all who walk
after the " course of this world " are included in the
same condemnation.

On these three points— sin, righteousness, and judg-
ment—the world now, as much as ever, needs strong
and deep convictions. Religious sermons, and books
that please the taste, but do not search and enlighten the
consciences of men, are preached and written in vain.

* Heb. ii. 14.

THE THREEFOLD CONVICTION OP THE WOULD. 20

Preaching and writinnr slioiil.I bo faithful and fearless,
and prayer should be made continually for the arresting
and convicting operations of the Holy Ohost.

It is interesting to observe that conviction is attri-
buted to the Comforter ; so has it comfort, if not
wrai)ped in its bosom, certainly close upon its steps.
Are we convinced of unbelief? There is no cause to
despair. Christ freely pardons all who truly repent of
that sin, and grants His grace to every one who says,
with sincerity, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine un-
belief" The conviction of righteousness carries conso-
lation too. Jesus is 'the Lord our righteousness;"
and if we cast away the sin of unbelief. His righteous-
ness is ours by faith. The conviction of judgment, too,
—the judgment of the prince of this world—has strong
consolation for those who desire deliverance from his
cruel yoke. As the conviction of righteousness con-
nects with the justification of believers, so the convic-
tion of judgment connects with their sanctification.
They are tempted to evil by the prince of this world,
and are at times so sore beset that their hearts begin
to fail, and they almost despair of ever being holy.
What comfort, then, in the conviction that the prince
of this world is judged ! The king of the house of
bondage is defeated. Jehovah hath judged him. Jesus
hath destroyed his power in the Red Sea. The friends
of Jesus shall partake of all His victory. "The God
of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."*

* fiom, xvi on

30 THE DIVINE EDUCATION OF THE CHUKCH.

VI.

The education of the Church has been gradual. Long
time she was treated as "under age/' placed under
restraints, subjected to a minute ritualistic training,
taught by line on Iftie, precept on precept, initiated by
slow degrees into " the mysteries of God." It is true
that piety of disposition was attainable in a very high
degree, and actually attained, in the days of old ; but
even in pious minds reUgious knowl- dge was Umited,
for the Church was yet in her elementary education!
Many things might have been told to her which were
not told, for the Lord perceived that she could not bear
them then.

When the Old Testament education was fulfiUed, and
devout persons— alas ! too few— were "waiting for the
consolation of Israel," John the Baptist appeared to
prepare the way of the Lord. Then Jesus came, ac-
knowledged even by such a one as Nicodemus to be a
" teacher come from God f and immediately the higher
and more spiritual education of the Church began. In

THE DIVINE EDUCATION OF THE CHUECH. 31

the sermon on the mount—in the parables— in His
answers to His enemies— in those occasional sayings of
His wisdom and love which distiUed as the drops of dew
—and in the discourse delivered after the Last Supper
the Lord Christ gave to the Church an immense supply
of new thoughts, of truly Divine conceptions. Yet the
disciples who heard Him were slow of heart, and the
multitude still more duU and prejudiced. Accordingly,
the Master saw meet not to express all the truth or
bearings of the truth, but to inclose much in figures
and enigmatic sayings, not to be understood till after
His death and resurrection. So long as His followers
were children in understanding, Christ fed them with
milk, not with strong meat. With calm penetration
of their mental and moral state. He said, "I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now."*

The unfinished education of His Church our Lord
has committed to the Holy Spirit. " When he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth."t This continues from age to age— the Spirit
who abides with the disciples, ever developing and
revealing more and more truth, out of the Word,
bringing latent or neglected doctrines to the vivid ap-
prehension of Christian minds, carrying forward to
perfection the Divine education of the Church.

It cannot be denied that gross heresies have arisen,

* John xvi. 12, 13.

f Ibid.

32 THE DIVINE EDUCATION OP THE CHURCH.

and that the Charch has again and again lost hold of
truths once firmly grasped. But gross heresies have
never been accepted by minds that were spiritually
taught, and truths lost by Christendom have been lost
only for a time. The history of great doctrines amply
sustains the general statement, that the Church is
educated by degrees. These doctrines all are inclosed
in the Bible, but did not at once shine out before the
eye of the Church. The Christian Church could not
bear them all at once— had not sufficient breadth of
capacity, or ripeness of spiritual judgment. Accord-
ingly, they have been evolved, one by one, generally in
connexion nn'th severe controversies, and through the
instrumentality of individual men, to whom the Spirit
ga\ c a special insight into particular truths. Thus the
calling of the Gentiles into the fellowship of the Church
was not apparent to the minds of the first disciples till
it was divinely revealed to Simon Peter, and there-
after clearly established by the arguments of Paul,
and by the decision of the Christian Council of Jeru-
s&iem.* In Hke manner the doctrines of the Holy
Trinity, of original sin, sovereign grace, the atonement,
and justification by faith, though easily pointed out by
us on the pages of the Bible, were not so clearly seen
there from the begiiming. But the Spirit of truth en-
abled and employed Athanasius to bring out the teaching
of Scriptm-e regarding the Tri-Unity of Ood— Augus-

* Acts X., xi., xiii., xv.

a]
B
si
r>i

cei

THE DIVINE EDUCATION OP THE CHURCH. 33

■ ^d the ongmal sm of .mn-An.elm to elucidate the

doctnne of the apostles regarding justification by faith

Tl,e Dmne education of the individual follows the

same general rule. The soul cannot bear to Icnl aU

nothing yet as he ought to know. The ,„ind of tl
rue Ch„st,an must never lose its docility; for only on
he docle and submissive mind the most subLe
^uhs are evolved, in due order and course, out of
Holy WnK by the Spirit of truth sent down fron
heaven. New light falls on old truths; and othe,"
never percexved before, shine out to view, 'often for le
first time, in some night of weeping-

" Night brings out stars, so sorrow shows «s truths."

Spat of truth IS to shew "the things of Christ" in
which are included all our Lord s perronal exedlenc s
and saving qualifications. These are declared inT

shewn by the Holy Ghost. He discovers Christ in His
2-.as veiyGodand very man; iuHisMess iahshlj
His love. His power. His gentleness. His zeal. His sin
bearing. His victory. His resurrection, ascension, in r-
cession, and coming agam to judge the quick and dJd

34 THE DIVINE EDUCATION OF THE CHURCH.

These things are not taught at once, and once for all.
The Spirit l(3ads us farther and farther into the know-
ledge of Christ, while we undergo the discipline and
training of an actual religious life. Are we crushed
under a sense of sin ? He shews us the wounds of our
Propitiation on the cross, and the power of our Advo-
cate on high. Are we in sickness ? He shews us the
grace and skill of our good Physician. Are we in
tribulation? He shews us the faithful Promiser and
unfailing Friend. Are we drooping or downcast in
heart ? He bids us lift our eyes and see the Beloved
leaping on the n^ountains, hasting to our help. Are
we at the Lord's Supper ? He enables us to discern
the Lord's body, and to know our Master in the break-
ing of bread. Are we on our deathbed? He shews
us the Conqueror of death, and bids us hear His voice,
saying, " Fear not ; I am the First and the Last : I am
he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive
for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hades and
of death."*

There is yet more to be said regarding the " things
of Christ" shewn by the Spirit of truth. Thus spake
the Saviour: "All things that the Father hath are
mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and
shew unto you."f The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and
glory; nevertheless, they are described in Scripture as

• Rev. i. 17, 18.

t John xvi. 15.

THE DIVINE EDUCATION OF THE CHUECH. 35

observing a gradation, or even subordination, one to
the other, in the plan and work of human redemption
Such subordination is not of any mherent necessity (so
far as we may judge), but by arrangement ; not essential
but economical and manifestative. In this manner
the Son is represented as receiving from and submissive
to the Father ; the Spirit as receiving from and sub-
missive to the Son. The Divine Father is the source
the Divine Son is the channel, and the Divine Spirit
IS the applier or imparter of redemption. The " all
things"— the plenitude of grace-we read of as pri-
marily possessed by the Father: "All things that the
Father hath ; " " My Father worketh hitherto." In the
fulness of time the Father sent the Son, commissioned
Him to be the Saviour of men; and then committed to
Him the "all things," that He might be the represen-
tative of the Father, work the Father's works, and ac-
complish the Father's wiU. This was often expressed
by our Lord: "AU things are delivered unto me of
my Father;" "My Father worketh hitherto, and I
work."* The Son came to save: as the messenger of
the Father, announcing His will; the servant of the
Father, finishing His work; the gift of the Father
evincing His love; the witness for the Father, glorify-
ing His name; and the trustee of the Father, holding
and exercising His plenitude of power and grac The
words of Paul, "It pleased the Father that in him
* See also John v. 1 P, 20, 26, sii. id, 50.

Kl-

36 THE DIVINE EDUCATION OP THE CHURCH.

should all fulness dwell," are in exact harmony with
our Lord's own words, "All things that the Father
hath are mine."

When the Son had finished His work, and gone up
to the excellent glory, having received of the Father all
power in heaven and in earth. He sent the Paraclete
—the Holy Ghost was "shed forth." Then the "all
things" committed by the Father to the Son were by
the Son committed to the Spirit, and by Him are now
shewn to the Church, and imi)rinted on the minds and
hearts of individual believers. " He shall receive of
mine, and shall shew it unto you."

Thus the education of the Church is accOiflplished after
a manner truly sublime. All grace and truth descend
from Father to Son, from Son to Holy Ghost, and by
the Holy Ghost are immediately revealed and imparted
to human souls, elect of God. Then glory ascends,
praise redounds from the Church of the enlightened
and saved by the Spirit to the Son, and through the
Son to the Father. In the glory of the Father all the
results of the redemptive dispensation are gathered up,
as from the love of the Father they flowed. " Then
Cometh the end, when Christ shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God, even the Father."*

* 1 Cor. XV. 24.

THE ISOLATION OP THE HEAKT.

VII.

®|^ Isotote 0f t\t |mt

Every human being is new, without exact precedent
or counterpart. No two human histories, no two
human cliaracters, entirely correspond. So vast are
the resources of the Creator, that He never repeats
Himself, even in forming generation after generation
—millions of men. As every face or every form, so also
every mind, every heart is a new product, and no
copy of any that pre-existed or that co-exists. Every
one has a course of experience and a way in life special
to himself— his own, and not another's. There is such
a community between man and man as lays a basis for
confidence, friendship, sympathy; but even where there
is a very cordial reciprocation of feeling, there is, there
must be, an individual inviolability, without which,
indeed, there could be no liberty, no dignity— perhaps
no personal virtue.

Unreserved confession to a fellow-man is not only an
impropriety, but an impossibiHty. I might teU to a
" ghostly father " all the sins my memory retains or my

THE ISOLATION OF THE HEAET.

■

language can express; but there is in me still that
which is incommunicable. I cannot expose my quiver-
ing heart; and, if I could, my fellow-man could not look
upon it. Jehovah only knows the heart. To search
the hidden recesses of man is His prerogative. As
John Foster finely said, " Each mind has an interior
ap.:rtment of its own, into which none but itself and
the Divinity can enter. In this secluded place the
passions mingle and fluctuate in unknown agitations.
Here projects, convictions, vows, are confusedly scat-
tered, and the records of past life are laid. Here, in
sohtary state, sits Conscience, surrounded by her own
thunders, which sometimes sleep and sometimes roar,
while the world does not know."

"The heart knoweth its own bitterness"— but one
heart cannot adequately express its grief to any other.

" Not even the tenderest heart, and next our own.
Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh."

The heart thirsts for sympathy, yet feels that it must
sorrow alone. Did not this appear in the " Dlan of sor-
rows acquainted with grief ? " He sought the society
and sympathy of His familiar followers, Peter, James,
and John, when in the garden "He began to be sore
amazed, and very heavy." And yet He was alone in
His agony. The disciples understood Him not. They
even feU asleep while He, isolated from all men, went
forward a little space alone, and, in the "bitterness" of
His soul, fell on the ground and prayed.

THE ISOLATION OF THE HEART.

Bitterness of grief such as Jesus felt no one knows,
or can possibly endure. But in every serious distress we!
too, have a craving for sympathy, and yet a necessity
to be alone. And, indeed, the more intense the grief,
the more we have it to ourselves. Let the spirit be
pierced to the quick, or stirred to its depths, and no
human being can suffice to be its comforter. Hannah
knew her own bitterness, but Eli knew it not ; and
instead of comforting, gave her a rash, unjust rebuke.
Job knew his own bitterness ; but the friends who
came to visit him in his affliction little knew how his
wounded spirit should be healed. Perhaps there is no
man of a deep emotional nature, who has been in much
affliction, that has not found the sympathetic expres-
sions of fellow-mortals, though perfectly well intended,
yet hackneyed and unsatisfyiinr_just because entire
i-eciprocity between heart and Heart is, in the present
life, impossible.

" One writes, that 'other friends remain,'
That * loss is common to the race '—
And common is the commonplace,
And vacant chaflF well meant for grain.

" That loss is common would not make
My own less bitter, rather more;
Too common ! Never morning wore
To evening but some heart did break ! "

No sympathy is sufficient for the human heart but
that of the Lord Jesus. He knows what is in man ;

Ifi

if!

THE ISOLATION OP THE HEART.

He looks upon the heart ; He never misunderstands our
case; and, whatever our peculiarity of temperament, He
is skilful to provide the very relief or consolation that
we need. The depth of His tenderness is not more won^
derful than its perfect adaptation to minds of different
orders, and of different degrees of strength and sensi-
bility. For a sorrow that utters itself in words, there is
the Saviour's open ear; for that which maybe soothed
by words, there are the Saviour's lips, pouring out
" gracious words ;" for that which cannot speak, which
is silent, tearful, Mary-like, there are drops of consum-
mate sympathy— there are the Saviour's tears !

The heart is isblated, not only in its sorrow, but
also in its joy; no " stranger intermcddleth" therewith.
Especially is this true of the -joy in the Lord." It
cannot be known without personal religious experience.
Unconverted persons may read of the "pleasures of
pi-ty," but are unable to form any just opinion regard-
ing them, and very often sneer at them, out of Iheer
ignorance, as delusive or fanatical. " The kingdom of
heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field ; th*e which
when -i man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that
field." * But one who traverses the field, and lights on
no treasure, cannot understand that joy of the trlasure-
finder— sympathises not, intermeddles not therewith.
Sometimes the young Christian is surprised to find

* Matt. xiii. 44.

THE ISOLATION OP THE HEART.

that he seems to stand so much alone; his ardent feel-
ings are not shared by others. But it is with the
heart's joys as with the heart's bitterness. One needs
not look for any perfect sympathy. It is no new
thing for those who rejoice greatly in God's service
to be misunderstood. King David's own wife scorned
and mocked his pious exultation. She despised him in
her heart, and she mocked him to his face. Michal had
" loved David," but she was a stranger to the highest
and deepest joys of the royal Psalmist's heart.*

Every one who has any real spiritual experience
knows that he has something which he can, something
also which he cannot tell. For the glory of God and
the good of the Church let there be an avowal of
mercy received; but let it be made discreetly, delicately,
humbly. Such declarations are not for the ears of the
ungodly. These are strangers, who must not inter-
meddle with our joy. The often-quoted language of
Psalm Ixvi. is addressed to those only who could under-
stand the feelings of a devout mind : " Come and hear,
all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath
done for my soul." But when the declaration is made,
there remains much untold. As great griefs are silent]
so also are the greatest joys. The most sacred emo-
tions are not to be "wrapped in coarse weeds of words,"
and paraded before every curious eye. An awe of God
casts a chastening veil of silence over the most perfect

*2Sam.vi. 16,20-23.

THE ISOLATION OF THE HEART.

hlisH The joy that flows thn.u^^h the new hcurt is not
H lmM.lin,ir. slmllow luook, l.ut, a do.,., |.lud(l .stream
moving' s(.ftly hvuvath the .sluidy trt'tvs.

In joy an in mutow wo find the only eonsunnnate
sympathy in Je.su.s. Thus the Church describes Ilin,
•• Ih.s ,s n.y lieloved. aiul this is my Friend. dau^di-
t^vs of Jerusalem !....! am my Beloved's, and his
■<lcsii-o IS toward me ! " *

* Caut. V. 16, vii. 10.

TUE MYSTEIIIES OF UOD.

VIII.

" Mystery " is a (jiuok word. In our hum- hsc it is
('in|)l()ye(l to cJiarju terisu sonietliiiig ytran<;e, dark, in-
coinprelR'iisil)!^ ; but this is not its meaning in the
New Testament. No passage ean be (quoted where tliis
word denotes a curious or inscrutable secret; and no
Scriptural warrant exists for the superstitious applica-
tion of the term to religious rites, as when the elements
in the Lord's Supper are called "tlie Holy Mysteries."
Indeed, the term •• mysteiy '' belongs not to rites at all,
but to facts and truths; and it has been correctly
d(}fined as " a sacred thing, hidden or secret, which is
naturally unknown to human reason, and becomes
known only by the revelation of God." The Scripture
calls that truth a mystery which it entered not into the
human heart to conceive, and which was for ages hid
fron^ >uman cognisance, but in due time Divinely
reveaJt '. The essential idea is, not inscrutable diffi-
culty of comprehension, but discovery to human minds
by superhuman wisdom ; and the " mysteries of God,"

THE MYSTERIES OF GOD.

of which the ministers of Christ are - stewards/' * are
not the unrevealed, unfathomable depths of theDivine
bemg and perfections, but the revealed truths concem-
mg God, His government, and all His ways of justice
and kindness with the sons of men.

At the same time, so much of the popular idea
regarding mysteries is to be retained, that we apply
the title, not to all religious truths, but to those of a
grand and impressive character-truths that transcend
the unassisted human conceptions, and which, while
revealed and understood in the fact of them, are yet
m the manner of them, far above us, and out of our
sight. *

Men have been, and are, who reject all mysteries as
superstitions, and repudiate all supernatural religion
This IS strange enough ; for the same m are compelled
every day to believe things the rationu 3 of which they
do not understand. Who among us really knows how
a blade of grass springs, or how each herb preserves its
pecuhar scent, or how the sunlight stimulates the growth
of plants ? Yet the facts are believed on sufficient evi-
dence. There is mystery in a flower that blows as truly
as m a st^r that burns. The old schoolmen said
"Omnia exeunt in mysterium /^ and truly there is
nothing known which does not . .ach out into the un-
known-nothing exists the aosolute ultimatum of
which is not lost in mystery.

* 1 Cor. iv. 1.

THE MYSTERIES OF GOD.

Let us distinguish between the "Quid" and the
" Quomodo." We must needs ascertain the " What,"
the import of that which we are asked to believe, and the
evidence by which it is attended ; but the " How," the
rationale, may not be within the range of our present
mental powers. Let reason have all her due province
in relation to revealed religious truths. No man can
be asked to receive or reject a doctrine alleged to be
from God mitil he understands the terms of the propo-
sition in which it is conveyed ; but the undt standing
of the proposition does not necessarily imply that we
can define with mathematiral exactness all its terms and
boundaries. Reason is an inquirer, and has an import-
ant function to perform in investigating the force of
evidence and the import of documents, but is not to
decide on the truth or falsehood of what is taught or
revealed by its own preconceptions and alleged intui-
tions, which may be no better than prejudices. Let
reason reject whatever is found to be without adequate
evidence, or to involve a contradiction in terms ; but
let it not presume to reject any doctrine or fact on the
ground that the rationale of it is not comprehended,
as if it sat on the bench in a Supreme Couit of Appeal
Human faculties cannot grasp infinite relations; the
mind of man cannot " by searching find out God.''

This is not all. Mysteries are not only admissible,
but necessary to a true religion. It is vain to say that
they are not characteristic of true relioior :

oil

.•Vl-VttTJV tXXX

M^..

THE MYSTERIES OF GOD.

'A 2

-J,

religions, even the most corrupt and degrading, have
set forth mysteries to impress and control the multi-
tude. Such a mode of attack on the Christian mys-
teries is grossly unjust. No analogy exists between
the pretended mysteries of Paganism and Popery on
the one side, and those of Christianity on the other.
The mysteries of ancient Paganism were secrets jeal-
ously preserved, to maintain the influence of the idols
and the priesthood ; and they were very often celebrated
with rites and practices of vile impurity. What is
there in common between such abominable inventions
and the mysteries of the pure and holy Christian
faith ? Equally unfair is it to compare the latter with
the false mysteries of Popery, of which the most pro-
minent is the astounding dogma of Transubstantiation.
This is not a mystery at all, but an arrant contradic-
tion. The Council of Trent thunders forth : " Si quis
negaverit, in venerabiH sacramento eucharisti^, sub
unaquaque specie, et sub singulis cujusque speciei
partibus, separatione facta, totum Christum contineri ;
anathema sit." But that the body of Christ— a body
having " flesh and bones," having a definite extent, cir-
cumference, and finitude— is literally and actually, at the
same moment, in heaven and in earth, on a thousand
altars at once, in every crumb of every consecrated wafer,
and every drop of consecrated wine,— all this is nd
mystery of faith, but a contradiction which has and
can have no evidence, and which no "anathema" can

THE MYSTERIES OF GOD.

compel a sane man really to believe. One may shut
his eyes to its real nature— may bow himself to acknow-
ledge it— may say "Yes" to the dogmatic assertion;
but no man can force his own spirit to believe self-
contradictory ideas. The mysteries of the Bible are
not so. They claim belief on evidence, as contained in
a well-authenticated revelation from God; and they
involve no contradiction, bidding no man to receive
them at the cost of violating the first principles of his
intellectual and moral nature.

Such are the mysteries which we affirm to be essen-
tial to a true religion. Man cannot give a religion to
himself, transparent and complete ; he cannot find his
way up the awful steeps toward the Divine Perfection.
Religion is learned by revelation of God, by the vo-
luntary communication of the Infinite with the finite.
The idea of God as " infinite" necessarily involves the
existence of mysteries. From Him they proceed ; in
Him they centre. And in so far as we have religion,
or come into relation to the Infinite One, we must walk
on the margin of the incomprehensible — we must sail on
the bosom of a sea whose depths our longest plummets
cannot sound.

Religious truths have not sprung to light in the
mind of man, but have been radiated forth from the
God of truth, at such times and in such measures as
have seemed good to His inscrutable wisdom. Hidden
from the Pagan world — hidden, in a great degree, tven

THE MYSTEEIES OF GOD.

hjr

from the Church of the Old Testament— they were
brought to light by the Gospel. Such are the cardinal
doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the work of
the Holy Ghost, and the resurrection of the dead. They
are so numerous as to check the presumptuous mind ;
they are not so numerous as to discourage any humble
inquirer. The mysteries and the simplicities go hand-
in-hand in Revelation. To use the words of Chateau-
briand, " Ce qu'il y a de vdritablement ineffable dans
I'Ecriture, c'est ce mdlange continuel des plus profonds
myst^res et de la plus extreme simplicit(^, caractk-es
d'oi^ naissent le touchant et le sublime." *

For the study of* " the mysteries of God " we need a
humble heart, since nothing is more blinding than
pride. Every one knows that the most successful
students of God's works have been men of a lowly and
childlike spirit. The same observation applies to the
study of God s Word. The most truly enlightened and
religious spirits are the most ready to acknowledge
ignorance, and the most impregnated with sincere
docility.

We also need a loving heart. Love is the wisest
interpreter of the revelation of God. The sky— to
take an illustration well employed by Vinet on this
very point— is garnished with millions of stars, spark-
ling through the night ; but a blind man sees them
not, and forms no conception of their beauty. Another

* Genie de CLristianisme.

THE MYSTEEIES OF GOD.

sky overshadows us in Holy Scripture, with stars of
truth shining from the azure depths ; but the blind
and carnal heart perceives them not. There must be
an eye of the heart, and that eye is love. The loving
heart beholds the mystic stars. »

THE ROD OF CHRIST'S STRENGTH.

IX.

The deliverer Moses, called of God in Midian, went
down into Egypt without pretence or pomp, l(>ading the
ass that bore his wife and little ones. But though he
seemed a poor weak old shepherd, he was mightier
than all Egypt, for the Lord was with him. He came
to scourge the most powerful kingdom of the world
that then was, and to set an enslaved nation free
Warranted to do this by a Divine command, he was
equipped with Divine might and strength. "And
Moses took the rod of God in his hand."* This rod
was no other than the simple shepherd's crook, which
Moses had with him on Mount Horeb when he 'tended
Jethro's flock. It pleased God to connect with that rod
a miracle-working power, saying, "Thou shalt take this
rod m thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs "f
From that hour, Moses regarded his pastoral crook as
invested with sacred dignity and worth, and called it
" the rod of God." This rod he stretched over the Red

• Exod. iy. 20. t Exod. iv. 17.

THE BOD OP CHRIST'S STRENGTH.

Sea, and the waters were divided; he stretched it out
again, and the waters returned to their place. With
this rod he smote the rock in Horeb, and a copious
stream gushed forth. This rod also he lifted up to
heaven till the going down of the sun, when he abode
all day long on the top of the hill, sustained by Aaron
and Hur, till Joshua had defeated Amalek with the
edge of the sword, and from the tents of Israel rose the
shouts of victory, echoing among the rocks, and resound-
ing far over the desert plains.

Herein is illustrated a principle on which all Divine
deliverances proceed. Tlie means and instruments are,
to outward appearances, feeble and inadequate, but
" the excellency of the power is of God," and the results
which He intends are sure. The shepherd's crook was
a feeble thing as "the rod of Moses," but io was mighty
as " the rod of God." In like wise, the gospel is a
feeble thing as the word of man, but it is mighty— even
omnipotent— as it is, "in truth, the word of God."

As Moses came without pomp on an errand of judg-
ment and mercy, on a mission of redemption, so came
Jesus to the world, so comes Jesus to the heart — without
noise or ostentation, but mighty to save. Do you ask
for a sign that He is sent of God ? Ask it not. While
He dwelt and ministered on earth, He indeed wrought
signs and wonders before many witnesses, and appealed
to them in attestation of His Divine mission, saying,
" BeHeve me for the very works' sake." But no longer

THE ROD OF CHRIST'S STRENGTH.

are such signs given. No miracles are wrought on
outward nature, or on the bodies of mankind. We have
that which is better and greater than signs. "The
Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stum-
bHngblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God, and the wisdom of God."*

The doctrine of His Holy Word, especially the truth
of His "dying love,'' is that rod of Christ's strength
which does exploits. It is "sent out of Zion"f for
judgment and for mercy. It is to subdue Christ's
enemies, and to rude His willing people in His day of
power. " With righteousness shaU he judge the poor,
and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and
he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked."+

Though preachers of the Gospel are weak, their
weapon is mighty through God. It was no power of
Moses, but the power of God with Moses, that punished
Pharaoh, and delivered Israel. So with the rod of
Christ's strength. It is administered now by feeble
hands, wielded by sinful men. But it is none the less
a rod of strength, a divider among men, for it is the
truth of the Mo«t High, and is accompanied by "the
demonstration of the Spirit and power."§ It is that

* 1 Cor. i. 22-24.
t Isa. xi. 4.

t Ps. ex. 2.
§ 1 Cor. ii. 4.

THE ROD OF CHRISTS STEENGTa

instrument whereby the Holy Ghost, applying the
redemption by Christ, works mighty changes in the
moral world, devastating the kingdom of evil, and
rescuing from cruel bondage the Church of the First-
bom — the " sacramental host of God's elect."

THE URIM AKD THUMMIM.

%ij Mm anlr f Iruntmim.

The higli priest in Israel bore tlic names of tlie twelve
tribes on liis slioultlers and on liis breastplate, encrraved
on precions stones. The Lord Jesus, " our Hi.rh'priest
over the housc^ of CJod," sets His people as a seal upon
His breast, and a seal upon His arm. He bears the
Church on the shoulders of His strength, not only l)e-
fore the face of man, but even before the face of God.
He also carries the Church upon his breast, as the object
of His love— binds believers to Himself with the jrolden
chains of His everlasting faithfulness.

On his breastplate, the high priest in the ancient
sanctuary bore the "Urini and Thummim." What
these precisely were no one knows ; but it is certain
that, through means of these, the Divine will was com-
municated to the high priest in solemn emergencies.
In the days of the theocracy, the Most High, as the
King of Israel, gave audience to His chief minister in the
secret place of His pavilion, and transmitted through
him His commands to His loyal subjects, the thousands

THE URIM AND THUMMIM.

of Israel. The words, " Urini and Thummiin " (" lights
and perfections "), appear to have denoted the clearness
of the directions given to the high priest, and the
perfect rectitude and wisdom of the decisions he was
accordingly enabled to pronounce.

In the liighest sense, the Urini and Thummim are
possessed by the " High Priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus." To this very symbol St Paul may have alluded
when he wrote, " In whom (Christ) are hid all the trea-
sures of wisdom and knowledge."* Among other
names of grace and glory, our Lord has this from the
pen of the prophet, " His name shall be called, Coun-
sellor." f His counsels are all good and perfect. He
had and has the most complete insight into the pur-
poses of Heaven, and into the cares and wants of all the
children of men. He needs not that any should testify
of man, for He knows what is in man. He needs not
that any should tell Him what is in God, for He knows
what is in God. His knowledge is infinite, His wisdom
is consummate ; and we are to receive, not only healing
by His stripes, and pardon through His blood, but also
the law at His mouth ; we are to learn of Him who is
meek and lowly in heart, that we may find rest to our
souls.

The guidance which Israel's high priest obtained by
Urim and Thummim, and communicated to the people,
was confined to great national occasions. But Christ

* Col. ii. 3. + Isa. ix. 6.

THE UKIM AND THUMMINf.

IS able aiul willing to give to His people who hiiinhly
ask Him, Divine direction in all the detailed ditHeul-
tiea and per])lexities of jieraonal and family life. Ah
many as rest upon the value of His sacrifice, an.l hope
m His continual intercession, receive freely the li^ht of
His Spirit, whereby they understand tlie Scriptures.
and are moulded in disposition, and si.eech, and conduct
according to the will of God. It is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps ; but the Christian man has
Christ, the Wonderful Counsellor, on whom to lean-
has in Christ, the Urim and Thummim, the treasures of
wisdom and knowkulge. at his prayerful command; so
that he cannot fat^ly err from the way of truth and
rectitude. Safely he is guided through the trials of the
«)uter and the temptations of the inner life, till he is
taken up, through death's dark gate, into the presence
of the High Priest, to join the fair ranks of those whom
He has made kings and priests to God, even His
Father— who slmXi reign for ever and ever.

OFFKNCK IN CHKI8T.

XI.

Mtm in (Kferist.

Thk Kock of Hiilvatioii hiiH over boon to many niinds
"a stuinl)lin^rstoiH3 and rock of oft'cnce." The blenned
Redounier, while He dwelt anion^ men, knew perfectly
that many were "offended in llim" — was well aware
of the o[)i)OHition to His character and clainiH — and yet
was not careful to reply to all objections — was content
to appeal to those jjositive evidences of His healinfjf
power and saving grace which might suffice to con-
vince an honest judgment — leaving opportunity to
others to (juestion and cavil as they pleased. In this
lies an obvious analogy between the Incarnate Word
and the written Word of (lod. Neither in the mani-
festation and life of the one, nor in the structure and
language of tlie other, has provision been made against
all possible offences. On the contrary, the claims of
Jesus Christ, like the claims of the Bible, are so jmt
forth as to try the spirit of man — not compelling assent
as by a mechanical necessity — not rendering (iavil and
objection impossible — but clothed in such evidence as

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

will test the moral fairness of each responsible human
mind.

The offence in Christ taken by the ancient Jews is
carefully recorded by the Evangelists for our admoni-
tion and warning; for men of the same dispositions
with those Jews exist among us, and are as much
offended as ever in the Lord Jesus. There never were
more Pharisees and Sadducees than now. The Phari-
sees are they to whom religion is a matter of self-
righteousness, or churchmanship, or laborious routine.
The Sadducees are they by whom rehgion is frittered
away in scepticism, intellectual vanity, and '' philosophy
falsely so called. '' To them must be added the large
class of men to whom religion is a deathbed shadow
and temporal success the only substance ; for the most
numerous sect in Christendom is the sect of the world-
lings, and the heresy most in vogue is the practical one
of secularism in all the feelings of the heart, and all
the aims and labours of the life.

The following were the chief causes of offence found
in the blessed Saviour of old time, and they are the
same in substance as those which prejudice many minds
and hearts against Him at the present hour :—

1. The constitution of His im-son as the God-maii.
—At M^hatever time the truth conceinino- our Lord as
"the only-begotten of the Father,^^ or as "God mani-
fested in the flesh," was affirmed, the Jews were offended
m Him. When, on a certain day, they "took up stones

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

to stone Him," it was on this charge, " For blasphemy,
because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."
There is evidence that almost any other claim on our
Lord's part would have been admitted, if He had sup-
pressed the claim of Divinity. The people received
Him as a great prophet, and were more than once
ready to make Him theii- king. But His assertion of
His Divine Sonship ruined His popularity, an ' finally
occasioned His condemnation to death in the court of
the high priest. Before Pilate He was accused of
treason ;* but before Caiaphas, tl^ charge on which
the Redeemer was condemned was blasphemy. " The
high priest asked him, and said unto him. Art thou the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed ? And Jesus said, I am ;
and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest rent his clothes," &c.f Thus the
Jewish ecclesiastics were offended in the Lord Jesus,
because of the assertion of the truth reffardina: His
person as at once the Son of the Blessed and the Son
of man. But He went to death rather than compro-
mise that truth.

Is not this an offence that continues to the present
hour ? If we now say that Jesus Christ, the Son of
man, was and is the Son of the blessed God, and that
the Son and the Father are one, J are there not some
ready to charge us with folly, perhaps with blasphemy ?

* Luke xxiii. 2.

t Mark xiv. 61-64.

t John X. 30.

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

W i

Do not the Ariaiis and Socinians, the whole body of
those who have assumed the title of Unitarians, just
prolong the very "offence" taken by the unbelieving
Jews ? Ask them to say precisely " wlio the Son of
man is," and their answers will vary as much as did
those of the Jews reported by the discij)les * Make
any claim for Christ other than that of Deity, and many
of them will hasten to cc»ucede it, and vie with you in
eulogistic and almost ador.ug language applied to the
Holy Jesus. But let us afT.rm that the Son of man is
the co-equal Son of the Blessed-let us say, with the
Apostle John, '' This is the true God, and Eternal Life,"
and straightway they resist us, and are offended in Him.
The apostle of Unitarianism is Caiaphas.

2. The loivhj state in which the Lord Jesus lived
and m which the Christian Church took its begiiming'
The meek and lowly Saviour, walking through the land
in humble guise, unnoticed by the magnates of this
world, attended by a few fishermen and peasants and
poor women, in no respect met the ambitious wishes
of His countrymen, and they were "offended in Him."
In "His own country," they said, "Is not this the
carpenter's son ? Is not his mother called Mary ? and
his brethren, and his sisters, are they not all with us ?

And they were offended in him."t Now it had

been easy for the Son of the Blessed to have chosen
His human birth in a higher station of life thaji that of

* Matt. xvi. 14.

t Matt. xiii. 55-57.

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

" the carpenter's house/' and His early human home at
Jerusalem, rather than at the proverbially despised
town of Nazareth — but He did not see meet to obviate
all occasion of offence. It pleased Him to take the form
of a servant, though He was Lord of all. It pleased
Him even to be of Galilee, out of which " cometh no
prophet."

The obscure condition of Christ's first disciples in-
creased this occasion of offence. The Jewish ecclesias-
tics and the whole sect of the Pharisees were especially
influenced by this ; for they felt, and took no pains to
conceal, an arrogant contempt for the common people.
Witness their reply to " the officers," who had refrained
from arresting Jesus, because never man spake like
Him — " Are ye also deceived ? Have any of the rulers
or of the Pharisees believed on him ? But this people
who knoweth not the law are cursed." *

This prejudice against a lowly Saviour, a companion
of the poor, a friend of the common people, has never
ceased. Advantage was taken of it by the early heathen
opponents of Christianity. Thus Celsus, who antici-
pated so many of the scoffs and gibes of modern infi-
dels, remarked with a sneer — men, " woollen manufac-
turers, shoemakers, curriers, and the like, the most
uneducated and boorish men, are zealous advocates of
this religion — men who cannot open their mouths be-
fore the learned." f In fact, nothing could reconcile
* John vii, 45-49. f Quoted by Neander.

OPPKNOB tN cnnisT.

the pro„d Jowisl, soctorio... ,„„1 cjually pro,,,) no„tilo
scophcs, to ,,1,0 tl,„„Kl,t, that f,»,„ „ .. ,,„.|,„„t,,.s I,,,,,.,,."
»ho„l,l ,,s.s,.e tl,o S.,vio,„- „f tl„. w,„-l.l, ,„„1 that ,,oor

ai,d ostol.l,.,!, „„ e,„.t,i, „ .. |,i„j,,,,„„ „f ,,_,,^^^,^_ „ j_^ ^^^^
ow„ t„„,.,s, tl,i8 „1,I ,.,n„,„. e,mti„„„„ to I,„ tVlt It is
«h..wu iu the bo„,tf„l 1„„«„„«, of „,„„„ ,^,,„ ,^„.,,,^ ^^^_
a.r of s„po>-,ority ,„„| p„t,.„„afi,. tow„r,l tl,o „po„tl...s of
««r L,u,i if „ot ..,„. I,,,,, „i,„,,|f. lUs si„.,v„, too,
... h.. fool,.sh ,l,,s„,, to eo„„ect tl... 0|„,,,.|, ,vitl, a ,so,.ial
oxo,l„«v<.„,.».s_to «.t a,,a,-t particular (Jhri.stia,, ,u,.dc»
or places as fa.shio„al,l. or patri,.ia„^pla,.i„^, the
lower orders at a .lista,„.e a„,l ,lisa,lva„ta.;,. i„ reli-
g,cms pnviletfes_despi»i„j, the el„„...|,es of tl„. p„„r

3. L.estnctue.',, .,/ our I.,„:,Vs doctrine and pre-
cepts.--mny w,.,e oHe.i.U.,! by the b„I,I, u„spari„K a„d
holy „„„ist,-y of J,.s,.s. The evil eo„seie„ce of' His
ge„e,-at,o„ was wo„„ded by His fidelity, a„d its ..olf-
md.,lse„co cliafed „„der His absolute elal„,s. Wl,e„
He preached of the hearts depravity, as Howi,,,. forth
ai.d defibns the n,a„, His disciples sai.l to' Hi,,.
" Jv,.owest thou .bat the Pharisees were often.led after
they hcwd this sayi„K? But he a,.swere,l a„d said
tvery pla„t, wliieh „,y h«,ve„ly Father hath „ot plauted'
shall be rooted „p. Let the,,. alo„e : they be bli„d'
leaaers of the bliud.- This was His u„fli„ehi„.
spirit. Let who would bo oftbuded, our Lord spared

* Matt. XV. 10-14.

OFFENCK IN CUlllST.

no sin, rccogiiim'd no liypocriiicul form of godlinciHs,
allowod no coniproini.so Ixitwwn (Uni and Munnnon,
di'injijidcd tlu! HuiR-nder and devotion of all tlu! heart;
and, aJiko in tlio i)rcc('i)ts Ho deliverod and tho ex-
ani})li>,s lie shcwtul, presented to His eonteniporaricH.
and to i\\\ ^^(>ne'ration.s, the hi;;he,st standard and purest
nio(h.'l of holine.sM. I Ind Me be(!n content to })re8cribe a
C(!reinonial strietne.s.s, a r\}ror(mH obMervan(3e of ext(!rnal
relijriouH uhh^vh, the Tharisees would have applanded
Ui.s zeal: had He, on the other hand, oneoura/red a
latitudinarian .spirit, the Sadduee(!.s would have lauded
His eharity, eonipliniented Hi,s .supciriority to the vul-
gar super.stition,s : but the eour.se that He took— the
inward holiness and righteousness that He inculcated,
displeased them all, because it (;ondemned them all ;
and with one accord those eainally-minded men were
"ofrendedin Him."

Assur(!(lly this remains a cause of ofFence to tho
present hour. The strict sanctity of (Christ's character
and precepts can never be congenial to the selfish, evil
heart of man. And men refuse to be (Jhristians, or
become bad and inconsistent (Jhristians, because, how-
ever desirous to be saved from hell, they are not will-
ing to part with their besetting sins, or to deny them-
selves, and daily take up the cross, following Jesus.

4. The manner and object of His death.-— Tim Evan-
gelists describe, with all plainness of speech, the igno-
miny to which our Lord was subjected, the coarse^de-

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

rision, and the tree of shame. The apostles also speak
of " His body on the tree," and His " being made a
curse for us." To enlightened Christians this has
always been cause of glorying ; but to others an occa-
sion of offence. Even the eleven disciples, truly loving
Jesus, could not bear that He should die as He did.
They laboured to dissuade Him from going up to Jeru-
salem to suffer ; and though they went up, resolved to
"die with Him," they all flinched in the trying hour.
" Then saith Jesus unto them. All ye shall be offended
because of me this night." * The thought of salvation
through a despised and rejected Sufferer was strange
to all minds, and qonfounded all expectations.

We have been wont, from our youth up, to think
of the death of Christ with thankfulness as a sacrifice
for the expiation of sins. But this continues to be
a stumbling-block to many. The modern Jews, when
they would express their contempt or hatred of the
Lord. Jesus, call Him " the Hanged One." The Deists,
and Unitarians, and Universalists, and a multitude
who have not formally ranged themselves under these
denominations, but whose sentiments are very far from
the evangelical standard, continue stoutly to resist the
doctrine of atonement or propitiation. The offence of
the Cross has not ceased.

5. The afflictions of His ^people. — Our Lord never
concealed from His followers that trials and deaths

* Matt. XX vi. 31.

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

awaited them ; and that certain hearers, not having root
m themselves, would be offended whenever "trH.ula-
tion or persecution should arise because of the word."*
He evinced the most tender desire that His chosen
disciples might stand firm in the day of rebuke and
promised to them the support of the Holy Ghost,' the
Comforter.

The like open persecutions do not ensue on our con-
fession of the name of Jesus ; but tribulation in some
form is appointed to all who are His. Many who
name His name incur an obloquy and derision very
hard to be borne. For this cause, some who are per-
suaded of the truth refuse or delay to take Christ's
yoke upon them, and are even "offended in Him."

6. The discords and divisions of His Churck-~la
the earliest times this was not so great an objection as
now, for the primitive Church, though no stranger
to factions and disputes, presented one front to the
heathens and the Jews. But, in modern days of con-
troversy and division, it is common to allege that it is
impossible to know who is right, and what is true ; and
on this ground to be offended in Christ. But it should
be considered that the discords and dissensions com-
plained of come not of the Spirit of Christ, form no
part of our holy religion, but spring out of the mis-
understandings, imperfections, and wilfulnesses of the
human mind. It should be noticed, too, in all fairness,

* Matt. xiii. 20, 21.

OFFENCE IN CHRIST.

that many of the existing diversities affect not at all
the essentials of the faith in Christ, but are connected
with views of Church polity, or with national or local
preferences, or with varieties in the forms of worship.
This at least we can say: In every Church, worthy of
the name, Christ is preached — the same Christ ; and it
is worse than folly, on account of subordinate questions
and variations among Christians, to reject Christ Him-
self, or be " offended in Him."

So long as, for any one of these reasons, or on any
other account, we hold aloof from Christ, conjurini-- up
difficulties and doubts, we shall never be without occa-
sions of offence ; we can never know a calm and settled
peace. But whenever, heeding them not, we go straight
to Christ, and rest on Him as offered to us in the
Gospel, all peri)lexities become plain, all theoretic ques-
tionings find their best solution in our gracious expe-
rience, and every day convinces us more deeply that
" Christ is all and in all." Wisdom is thus justified of
her children. And while the children of that worldly
Wisdom, which is foolishness with God, continue to
cavil and object, the children of heavenly Wisdom are
not confounded world without end ; — the dwellers on
the Eock sing a new song, even praise unto our God.

THE PKE-EMINENCE OF JESUS CHRIST.

XII.

As "the Image of the invisible God,- our Lord Jesus
Christ has the pre-eminence. His is the glory of the
only-begotten of the Father. He is the manifestation
of the inscrutable Jehovah— declaring the Divine
nature and wUl— administering the Divine government •
God with us, and God over all, blessed for evermore.

As the author of creation, and the upholder of all
that He has created, our Lord Jesus Christ has the pre-
eminence. Creation existed as an idea or plan in the
infinite mind of God : in due time it was carried into
effect by the power of the Logos, the only-begotten Son.
" AU things were made by hmi; and without him was
not any thing made that was made."* To us, all the
beauties and subHmities of creation, and all the har-
monies and intricacies of Providence, attest His pre-
eminence, and celebrate His praise. The bright worlds
that move in their courses, observing their times and
seasons, are made and ruled by the Christ of God. The

* Johu i. 3.

THE PRE-EMINENCE OF JESUS CHRIST.

vast universe reverently declares His pre-eminence; and
the praise of the First-born is set to the music of the
spheres. By the aiigt'ls u\ their majestic order, thrones,
dominions, pr'iicipalitios, and powers, He is acknow-
ledged ever pre-eminent; for "all the angels of God
worship Him."* His glorious name is written, too, on
this fair earth — its woods, and flowers, and gems, and
fruits, and wonders of the deep. In the order and
history of our earth, let us read the praise of Christ-
Christ in all present — Christ over all pre-eminent.
"All things were created by him, and for him ; and he
is before all things, and by him all things consist, "f

As the Source and Head of the Church, in His
capacity of Lord of the resurrection, Jesus Christ has
the pre-eminence.

He is the Ruler of the Church — governing the indi-
vidual Christian, as being "the Head of every man" —
governing also the Catholic Church, as its King and
Head. The pope is not head of the Church— the
sovereign is not head of the Church— the vox populi
is not head of the Church. No bishop nor archbishop
is primate of the Church of Christ. All such claims
are at variance with His own inalienable prerogatives.
He is the Head, holding all the members in subordina-
tion and harmony. He is also the Primate, the dpxn
of the nev/ creation — having both priority and supe-
riority; the Founder of the Church, the beginning of

Heb. i. 6.

+ Col. i. 16, 17.

'^fi'^'***^!^'^''^ <

THE PRE-EMINENCE OP JESUS CHRIST. 69

its existence, and source of the blessed influence whereby
it lives; and also the Chief, the Lord, the Leader and
Coniniunder of the Church; and so the Primate, the
only Primate, the first in authority and rank.*

He, too, is the Saviour of the Church; and in this
pre-eminent, unapproachable, alone. " Neither is there
salvation in any other." In the exercise of His saving
powers and prerogatives He manifests this pre-emi*^
nence. He sends to the Church the Holy Ghost, by
whose operation the world is convinced of sin, right-
eousness, and judgment ; the anxious are led to peace
in believing; the saints are edified; and the mourners
in Zion consoled. He reconciles sinners to God; for
in Him, the pre-eminent One, the sin-polluted find
cleansing blood— the lost have redemption— the guilty
have justification— and the far-off are made nigh. He
keeps His o-.vn from perishing. Other shephta-ds may
lose some of their flock; but the pre-eminent One, the
Shepherd and Bishop of souls, has said of His sheep,
"I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any one pluck them out of my
hand."f At last He brings His own to heaven. The
Church is in many struggles and infirmities; but her
Lord guides her by His counsel, and will receive her
to glory. The life of the Church is in the Head, and
the Head is "pre-eminent." With the Head, the
members shall be glorified together. "When Christ,

* Col. i. 18.

t Jolin X. 28.

■

THE PRE-EMINENCE OP JESUS CHRIST.

our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in }rlory."*

T(i take up the strain of Samnel Rutherford—" Oh
but Christ is heaven's wonder, and earth's wonder!
What marvel that His Bride saith, ' He is altogether
lovely'? Oh that I could invite thousands, an"l ten
thousand times ten thousand, of Adam's sons to flock
about my Lord Jesus, and to come and take their fill of
love : Pity for evermore, that there should be such a
One as Christ Jesus— so boundless, so incomparable in
excellency and sweetness— and so few to take Him !
Ho : why will ye not come hither, with your empty
souls, to this huge, fair, deep, sweet Well of Life, and
m all your vessels ? Come all and drink at this living
Well, and satisfy your deep desires with Jesus !"t

t Rutherford's Letters.

* Col. iii. 4.

A WOllD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY.

XIII.

JL mm^ in Btmm k il^t Wmi

A GOOD word is always a weapon of power, doubly so
when spoken at the right time in the right jilace. It
is a proverb of Solomon, "A word fitly spoken (7narg.,
' spoken upon his wheels ') is like apples of gold iii
pictures (network) of silver." * The beauty of "the sil-
ver basket gives a heightened attraction to the golden
fruit. So does the seasonableness of a true saying
nmch enhance its value and effect. "A word spoken
in due season, how good is it!"— a word apt to the
occasion, not forced or formal, but running as on
chariot wheels ! This was characteristic of the sayings
of the Lord Jesus. They had an aptitude to some pre-
sent event or want, or rose out of a conversation ; not
dragged in of set purpose ; but, running on in a manner
of inimitable ease and dignity, they were words upon
the wheels. Thus the discourse against covetousness
and worldly care rose out of the saying of " one of the
company," "Master, speak to my brother, that he divide

* Prov. XXV. 11.

iie—*

A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY.

the inheritance with me." * The successive parables of
the lost sheep, the lost drachma, and the prodigal son,
are.aU "words on the wheels," starting from that mur-
mur of the Pharisees and scribes, "This man receiveth
sinners, and eateth with them.'f The "gracious
words " in regard to the " Hving water" sprung from the
simple circumstance that a woman of Samaria came
to Jacob's well to draw water, and Jesus, sitting by the
weU, said to her, " Give me to drink " % From the be-
ginning, His words of spiritual instruction ran "upon
wheels." One instance more. Our Lord's discourse on
"the bread of Hfe " followed the miracle of multiplying
loaves in the wilderness, and took its rise most appro-
priately from this saying, " Ye seek me, not because ye
saw the mii-acles, but because ye did eat of the loaves,
and were filled. Labour not for the meat which
perisheth," &c. § So the word ran speedily.

The words of our Lord were sometimes swift and
sharp reproofs. The Holy One of God could not live
in this world for thirty years without finding much to
deplore and reprehend ; and nowhere can be found
language of more uncompromising denunciation than
that which the Lord Jesus employed against pretentious,
hypocritical, carnaUy-minded men. Yet, mainly and
characteristically, the work of Christ was a work of
gentleness— His mission, a mission of kindness— and

* Luke xii. 13.
X John iv. 7.

t Luke XV. 2.
§ Johu vi. 26, 27.

■WCTW jcip'- MWrtTiHr* I

A WOED IN SEASON TO THE WEARY.

His words distilled as seasonable dew on parched and
weary souls. The Man of sorrows was no stranger to
weariness, and he had compassion on the weary and
heavy laden. He knew how to speak to their hearts,
for "the Lord God had given him the tongue of the
learned."* He did not strive or cry in the streets.
His ministry was not one of clamour and noisy noto-
riety, of "lo! here, and lo! there." But, after the
whirlwind, and errthquake, and fire. He spoke with "a
stiU, small voice." He uttered terrible things to the
proud; but His ministry to the humble was mild,

patient, encouraging, with a mighty secret power

soul-moving, soul-melting, soul-healing, soul-cheering,
soul-winning — not understood by the stout-hearted,
but well suited to all the weary ones.

Reader! Are you weary under the burden of sin?
Has the pressure of a guilty consc'ence borne you down
to grief and shame? The Lord, "with the tongue of
the learned," has a wc rd in season for you. " Know
that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive
sins." " Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."

Reader ! Are you weary under vexation of spirit ?
Have you been deceived, disappointed, chagrined ? Has
the wretchedness of an unsatisfied heart fallen upon
you ? You detect the hollowness of worldly hopes and
joys, and yet have no better portion ; so are you jaded,
desolate, ill at ease. Weary one ! the " tongue of the

*Isa. 1. 4.

74 A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY.

learned " has a word in season for you. "Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I wil
give you rest."*

Reader ! Are you weary under the toil and care of
life ? Early and late do you labour for daily bread ?
Or, do difficulties rise before you, like threatening
spectres, and you know not how to face them ? All
day long you are embarrassed, and even by night, upon
your bed, you are vexed and sick at heart. ^Hearken
to "the tongue of the learned :"-" Seek not ye what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of
doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of
the world seek after : and your Father knoweth that ve
hpve need of these things." f

-Reader ! Are you weary under a weight of afflic-
tions ? Have bereavements and sorrows fallen on you
till your eyes are dim, and your heart is faint ? Have
earthly consolations failed you, and even dear earthly
friends proved miserable comforters all ? There is One
who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, who
loves to « comfort all that mourn," and who knows how
to speak a word in season to the spirit desolate.

" A bruised reed shall he not break." J We are not
as the solid rocks, or hoary hills ; rather as the blades
of grass, or as the reeds in a fen or by a river bank-
short-lived, slender, and susceptible. If we stand erect
m our seeming prosperity and strength, affliction, sent
* Matt. xi. 28. t Luke xii. 29, 30. ; Isa. xlii. 3.

A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY.

in mercy, reveals the frailty of our frame. Pressed with
disquietudes, bent with sorrows, man is a bruised reed
But then, when the reed is bruised, how delicate the
touch of our Saviour's hand ! He does not break, but
sustain ; He does not upbraid, but upbind ; He does
not discourage, but revive. It is man who is harsh
to man; but the Lord "healeth the broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds."*

The intercourse of Christians should be marked by
the gentleness as well as the faithfulness that dwelt in
Christ. That is the most truly " learned tongue," which
speaks in season healing words to the wounded, guiding
words to the anxious, reviving words to the weary. A
feeble Christian may, by a "word upon the wheels,"
give comfort to one much stronger, who for the time is
harassed and faint. Martin Luther said, " The word of
a brother, pronounced from Holy Scripture in time of
need, carries with it an inconceivable weight. Thus
Timothy, and Titus, and Epaphras, and the brethren
who met St Paul from Rome, cheered his spirit, how-
ever much they might be inferior to him in skill and
learning in the wcrd of God. The gre?,test saints have
their times of faintness, when others are strono-er than
they."

* Psalm cxivii. 3,

COMPli^ riOjN.

XIV.

A LAW of compensation pervades all nature. All things
that exist, organic and inorganic, in the explored uni-
verse, are, with extreme niceness and delicacy, ordered,
proportioned, collocated, and balanced, so as to maintain
the conditions necessary to the life and happiness of
the creatures, and effect, without flaw or failure, the
Creator's conii^rehensive and benevolent designs.

Beautiful is the working of the same law'in the life
of individual man, producing a balance of natural weU~
being, wonderfully equal in all countries and ranks.
No man is so ill off, but has something in his favour.
No man is so fortunate, but has some worm gnawing
the root of his enjoyment. Poverty is relieved by a
cheerful spirit — wealth burdened with many cares.
Hard toil is recompensed by sturdy health— luxury
punished by a feeble constitution. " The choicest plea-
sures of life lie within the ring of moderation."

No wise man will give place to discontent, when he
surveys the conditions of his feUow-men, and sees how

COMPENSATION.

easily advantages and disadvantages are balanced. He
who has eminence is exposed to envy. He who lives
in great state, foregoes the simple comforts of a home.
The honoured '^ar-ior leaves wife and children dear, to
face danger laid death. The ma i of thought and learn-
ing r'> • beneath a spirit overstrained. Truly, obscu-
rity has its compensations : and he is wise who, desir-
ing not high things, seeks the prize of happiness within
the charmed circle of content.

Consider even the undoubted sores and trials of this
mortal life. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." With
all pains and losses, there are sent blessings, or reme-
dies, or, at the least, alleviations, if we will only receive
them. Of old time was it not found, that what the
Church lost by martyrdom was more than repaid by
new accession of converts and new fervour of zeal?
The Church lost a Deacon, Stephen ; but how rich and
strange the compensation !— as from the Deacons
martyred dust there sprung an Apostle, Paul. For
he individual, too, as well as the community, disease
and calamity have their uses, their alleviations, even
their ample compensations. t/^ses~forasmuch as thev
serve to refine, humble, and hallow the character.
Alleviations — since ''God stayeth His rough wind in
the day of His east wind." * And even compensations
—for some help, some vantage, not seen at first, is sure
to reveal itself to those that are watchful and wise.

* Isa. xxvii. 8.

COMPENSATION.

When Paul came to Macedonia, his "flesh had no rest"
—"without were fightings, within were fears;" but
God comforted him " by the coming of Titus/' * Thus,
often, when we are in great straits, some unexpected
Titus comes— some friendly compensation— and we are
not weaker, rather stronger ; and after our tears— some-
times in our tears— we are happier than before. It is
true of life, as of nature, that with the dark cloud God
sets a rainbow in the sky.

Alas ! indeed, there is an awful incubus lying on the
life and happiness of earth and earthly beings. There
is a disorder that was not in our world when the
Creator pronounced it "very good." There is a dark-
ness that may be felt. There is an anguish at the
heart of humanity. In one word, there is moral evil
—there is sin. Because of this, man aches, and fears,
and dies. Because of this, the whole creation groans
and travails in pain. But God hath not left us without
help. There is a remedial plan revealed in the glorious
Gospel. There is a redeeming blood —there is a renew-
ing power. There is a Divine provision, whereby man,
though evil and wretched, may be made a new crea-
ture, and with him all sin-stained things made new.

The more we consider human life, the more vast
appears the action of the law of compensation. Evils
are permitted for a season to oppress the good ; but
the good are saved by hope, and the things hoped for

* 2 Cor. vii. 5, C.

^•^-'.

COMPENSATION.

^ bring the abundant recompeuce. One cannot think,
even from present appearances, that this is the final
state. Human life is evidently cut short—broken off,
fragmentary, and incomplete. The sowing time is now '
bui the reaping time, for the most part, after death.
The faintness of the long wilderness has compensation
in the milk and honey of the promised land. In fact,
the doctrine of compensation applied to men, both the
evil and the good, involves ".the doctrines" of judgment
and future states.

" Tliis world shall burn, and from her jishes sjirinj,'
New heaven and earth, wherein the just shall dwell ;
And, after all their tribulations long,
See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds."

LESSONS FROM WINTER.

XV.

In our Canadian climate, winter is not so gloomy as in
many other regions of the world. With bright skies
by day and night, crisp snow, and bracing air, the
season is cheerful, notwithstanding its inexorable
severity. Would that another Cowper were among us,
to sing of " The Winter Evening," " The Winter Morn-
ing Walk," and " The Winter Walk at Noon" ! Mean-
time, in such poor prose as we command, we inquire
what occasions of human life, and what lessons for
those occasions, the winter months suggest.

1. Is not the winter an obvious emblem of old age —
not necessarily cheerless, but chill, rigid, decayed ? The
trees are dry and bare— with no sap in their boughs,
and on them no foliage. So baldness comes on the old
man's head, his limbs stiffen, and the fire passes from
his blood, telling that life's last season has arri-ed.
Now, he who is wise will be careful not to repine under
the pressure of age, but, looking up to God. will say, in
submission of faith, " Thou hast made winter." Is He

LJISSONS FROM WINTER. gj

^e God of youth only? Nay; but of old age also
He has ordained the withering of age as truly and lov-
ingly as the budding and springing of youth. Nay
more. Winter does not extinguish Nature's life, but
secretly husbands her powers for a glorious revival It
IS so with the winter of old age among the people of
Cxod. In their roots is the sap of immortality In
their old age and dissolution there may seem to be a de-
cay of their life and hope; but this is only preparatory
to their glorious resurrection, and to an existence that
shaU never feel the icy breath of winter again. " Thou
hast made summer and winter.^' * And the summer
that God makes to follow the last winter of this earthly
hfe IS the summer of eternal joy at His right hand
under the beams, not of sun, or moon, or stars, but of
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb !

This thought need not be confined to actual old age
It may comfort every beHever who has by any cause
waxed early old, and lost the bloom and glow of life
Let him submit himself unto God, who makes both
winter and summer, and let him cleave to Christ in
whom aU the saints shaU be made alive : so wiU he
renew his youth after a manner that eye hath not seen
and ear hath not heard on earth; his "heart shall ever
live; and his very body, that dwelt in dust, shall awake
to sing, having a dew from the Lord as the dew of
herbs, when the earth shall cast out the dead.'^f His

* Psalm Ixxiv. 17.

t Isa. XX vi. 19.

LESSONS FROM WINTER.

winter shall be followed by the bright springtide of the
heavenly summer, that is never ended, never blighted,
in the promised land.

2. Is not the winter, bleak and bare, also a figure of
those times of bereavement and affliction, whereof
almost all have some experience? The leaves have
fallen, the woods are stript, the flowers are dead, the
open country is a waste of snow, and the flowing waters
are a frozen mass. So is it with the sons of sorrow.
As fade and fall the leaves, so "friend after friend
departs." Some that had children and relatives thick
around them are now alone, like naked trees, shivering
before the wind. Life now seems a wintry waste — no
landscape, no flowers, no flowing streams — and the
heart lies chill and hopeless.

But who hath done these things ? Surely it is the
Lord who made thy winter, son of sorrow ! and
made it for His glory and thy good, since " He doth
not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." *
He, also, He only, can make thy winter pass away.
Only be patient, prayerful, and of good cheer, and He
who made the winter will make a summer too ! The
Lord knows how to turn sorrow into joy, and shivering,
cheerless feebleness into cheerful godly confidence :
and as for those dear ones of whom we are bereaved.
He knows how to give them back to us in a home that
sorrow never enters, in a fellowship that death never

* Lament, iii. 33.

LESSONS FROM WINTER. 83

divides. " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall
be comforted."* In the coming summer, the trees of
righteousness shall be clothed anew with more than
they had ever lost, and the gentle flowers shall lift up
their heads to bloom again in an immortal youth.

3. May not the winter also illustrate those times of
spiritual hardness and coldness, through which even
godly persons sometimes pass ? It is rare to spend
all the Christian life under warm sunshine and among
clustering flowers. Seasons there are, in the experience
of many, when tl. pious aff-ections seem to be con-
gealed, if not extinct; hope languishes, love waxes
cold, and the very Sun of righteousness appears low
on the horizon, and greatly shorn of His power. When-
ever this chiU comes upon the soul, through unwatch-
fulness or relapse into sin, it is to be penitently be-
wailed; and it will not pass away without the softening
of contrition and the ardour of prayer. When it comes
not as the penalty of specific sinfulness, but according
to the sovereign will of God, who permits the feeHngs
of the human heart to undergo a sharp reaction after
religious joys, as though they fell from summer into
the cold bosom of winter, it is to be borne as the good
pleasure of Him who hath made summer and winter,
and it is to be accepted as a season, if of painful, still
cf useful discipline. Provided always that there is
grace in the heart, that there is union with the Prince

♦ Matt. V. 4.

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LESSONS FROM WINTER.

of life, such a winter of the soul as we now indicate
can be no more than the outward semblance of death.
It may kill noxious weeds that are not of Christ, but
cannot kill any plant that His heavenly Father has
planted. " Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world."* Whatsoever hath life spiritual from God
will live through the winter into spring. Whatsoever
hath a root in Christ wiU also have a flower.

One of the Olney Hymns gives expression to the
thought : —

" Winter and spring have each their use,
And each in turn God's people know;
One kills the weeds their hearts produce.
The other makes their graces grow.

" Though like dead trees awhile they seem,
Yet, having life within their root.
The welcome spring's reviving beam
Draws forth their blossoms, leaves, and fruit."

Happily these winters are not periodical; and the
more buoyant and diligent of God's people have them
much less frequently and severely than others. Nay,
one may "grow out'' of them altogether. As in the
progress of a new country's settlement, there is an ame-
lioration of climate, and the winters become less severe ;
so, in the progress of piety, the inward climate ame-
liorates, and it is rare for an advanced Christian to
undergo a long, unbroken winter of spiritual hea-siness.
More and more does the Light that lighteneth every

* 1 John V. 4.

to the

LESSONS FEOM WINTER. §5

man exert His powerful influence-kindling, reviving
and rejoicing the heart, until the last wintry month is
over and gone, the snows are melted, the storms are
hushed, and there opens on the saved soul an endless
summer of joy in the Lord.

^ Some have no sensitiveness to spiritual climate. It
IS because there is no Hf e in them. Life shrinks in the
cold, and basks in the sunshine ; but lifeless things
heed not the changes of the rolling year. The stones
shew no distress in winter, and in summer evince no
joy. Their surface may be slightly chilled or warmed
but no more. So insensible to spiritual climate are all
they who have a heart of stone, and not a heart of flesh
After all, to those who are Christ's, this earth must
ever be a bleak, wintry place; for they contrast it with
that heaven to which they hasten, where there is no
chill, no grief, no fading away. As Rutherford said,
"The land of Immanuel is an exceUent soU. Oh but
His heaven lies weU and heartsomely, nigh to the Sun
the Sun of righteousness ! The fruit of the land is
exceUf nt ; glory grows in the very outfields thereof
Oh, what pure, unmingled joys lie on those eternally-
spnngmg mountains, and in those gardens of spices '
And what do we here ? Why toU so much in gather-
mg sticks to our nest, when to-morrow we shall be gone
out of this ? " * WeU for us all to think less of our
earthly nests, and more of our heavenly home I

* Eutherford's Letters.

CHRIST AMONG THE WILD BEASTS.

' li

XVI.

Clirist mms Wit Mito ^mt$.

The Evangelist Mark, referring to our Saviour's sojourn
of forty days in the wilderness, affirms that He " was
with the wild beasts/' * This is not a mere incident
mentioned withou't purpose. It is characteristic of
Mark, who is no mere copyist or epitomiser of Matthew,
to record great matters in short clauses, and give hints
and glimpses of large truths in few and simple words.
The Lord Jesus was tempted in solitude. No human
being was near. Satan, the wild beasts, and the angels,
are said to have been with Him in the dreary wilderness.
It was at the outset of His ministry : the Seed of the
woman was about to begin the work of restoration.
Satan came to Him, not, however, in the disguise of a
serpent, but as prince of this world. The scene was
no garden of pleasures, but a wilderness: and the
beasts, once submissive to man, were "wild." But
Satan, and the wild beasts too, were made to feel that
the second Adam was there.

♦ Mark i, 13.

CHRIST AMONG THE WILD BEASTS.

On the foiling of Satan we may have often reflected
—not so on the mastery over the wild beasts. Herein
we have another glimpse of Christ's restoration of Para-
dise. When man lost the favour of God, he lost his con-
trol of the creatures. A certain temporary subjection
of them, indeed, appeared again in the times of Noah,
who prefigured the Saviour. But after the Deluge,'
they cast off the fear of man. If Daniel in the den
was unharmed, it was only because God had sent His
angel to stop the moutus of the lions. But Christ was
with the wild beasts, ruling them ty the energy of His
own will. The angels did not come to Him to minister
till after His wilderness trial was successfully past.*
He ruled t..e creatures as the second Adam. As the
Son of man. He had dominion over " the beasts of the
field," and all things were "put under His feet.^f

A golden age is promised to the Church, wherein
Satan shall be bound, and the lower creatures shall serve
man in peace. " The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the
calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together ; and
a little child shall lead them/' +

Meantime, in the victorious progress of the Gospel,
the devices of Satan are constantly being baffled, and
they that would rage against Christ are queUed. Strong
" bulls of Bashan," and ravening lions, are made to hold
their peace. Every knee shaU bow to the Lord Jesus
* Matt. iv. 11. t Paalm viii. d-8. + Jsa. xi. 6-9.

?^««waawKP

CHBIST AMONG THE WILD BEASTS.

—every tongue shall swear by Him ; ^*and all that are
incensed against Him shall be ashamed/' *

All this, on a smaller scale, takes place in every con-
verted soul. When into the wilderness of an unre-
newed heart Jesus comes in the power of the Spirit,
unruly passions are tamed by His presence. No longer
can there be the glare of hate, the sting of malice, the
ravening of violence or revenge. The wild beasts in
the human breast are mastered by grace. There also
the Devil, who riots in misrule and violence, is foiled.
The New Man gains the victory; and ministering
angels spread a feast of joy within the soul that be-
lieves, obeys, and loves. " The wilderness and the soli-
tary place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall
rejoice, and blossom as the rose."f

Isa. xl7. 23-25.

t laa. XXXV. 1.

FORGETFULNESS.

XVII.

The Almighty entered this grave charge against His
ancient favoured nation, "My people have forgotten
me days without number/'* The same charge lies
with too great force against all Christendom. Habitu-
ally the objects of human vanity and ambition are in
view and in recollection, while the Lord God is utterly
forgotten. The true secret of this lurks in the obsti-
nate ungodliness of the carnal mind of man. This
hinders the recollection of God in one or other, or
all, of the following modes : —

1. In habitual inattention to Divine truth, when
presented to the mind. The Bible confessedly treats of
momentous themes, and affects our highest interests;
yet it is opened with apathy, and I'ead or heard with
many wandering thoughts. It follows that no lasting
impression is made. Yet some try to excuse their igno-
rance of God and His inspired Word, pleading, " I have
such [a bad memorj^,'' when the memory is quite good

* Jer. ii. 32.

FORGETFULNESS.

I m

! ill

enough, if Divine truths were once weU lodged in it by
due and fixed attention. No memory, however excel-
lent, can retain that which was never allowed to make
an impression. As it is written, " We ought to give
the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip."*

2. In neglect of reflection on Divine truth read or
heard. It is to the want of after-thought, of mental
rumination on lioly things, that much spiritual leanness
must be traced. Where there is little meditation on
God and His Word, it is vain to expect a rich experi-
ence, or a solid religious chara-^ter. Those who add to
attention reflection, and in whom the Word abides, are
always the healthiest, and strongest, and wisest among
the children of grace.

3. In the occupation of the mind with comparative
trifles. Remembering a great deal that we ought to
forget, we forget a great deal that we ought to remem-
ber. Filling our measures with chaff", we leave no room
for good and soUd grain. The maid thinks of her
ornaments, and the bride of her attire. The young— and
not they only, but many to whom increasing years have
brought no wisdom— fiU their thoughis and conversation
with the fashions and cm dits of society, the equipages,
and amusements, and entertainments of the season j
and so can have, in their foolishly-occupied minds, no
grave recoUection of that God with whom they have to

.* Heb. ii. 1.

FORGETFULNESS.

iu it by
er excel-
to make

to give
WQ have

read or
mental
eaimess
tion on
experi-
• add to
ies, are
among

►arative
ight to
emem-
room
of her
f — and
's have
raation
ipages,
eason ;
ds, no
ave to

do. One of the first conditions of godly wisdom is the
riddance of the soul from the bondage of trifles. We
must hear many things as if we heard them not, and
learn to forget that we may learn to remember. It
was a judicious answer of Themistocles to Simonides,
who had offered to teach him the art of memory,
"Bather teach me the art of forgetfulness ; for the
things which I would not I remember, and cannot
forget the things I would."

4. In excess of worldly cares. Tlie minds of men,
forgetful of God, are not occupied entirely with trifles
and gaieties. There are grave anxieties regarding suc-
cess in business, or the attainment of a coveted position,
that so press upon the soul as to preclude the earnest
recollection of religious truth. Hence it happens that
shrewd men, who easily remember whatever affects the
markets and business of this world, cannot remember
how to " buy the truth;" and readily quoting the stocks
and share lists of commercial enterprise, cannot accu-
rately quote tie verses of the blessed Word of God.
No one can have a religious memory who does not
check and moderate his worldly cares.

To shew the evil of forgetfulness, let it be considered
how much a religiously stored and exercised memory
tells on the development of the Christian mind and
formation of the Christian character. It constitutes
knowledge, it deepens repentance, it fortifies faith, it
supplies comfort, and moves continual thankfulness.

«U '"

FORGETFULNESS.

It is a solemn thought, that every man's memory holds
more than it tells. In every mind it is secretly at
work, laying up its stores, to minister hereafter either
to eternal pain or to eternal joy. The memory of God's
mercy refused, God's Sabbaths broken, God's Word de-
spised, God's love trodden under foot, shall smite with
anguish the lost in hell. And the memory of God's
goodness and forbearance on earth— of the warn-
ings and the winnings, the bereavements and the bene-
fits, that He sent in love — shall contribute largely to
the joys of saints in heaven.

Yea, we surely shall remember

Hdw He quiukeii'd us from dtnith —
V How He fann'd the dying ember

With His Spirit's glowing breath.
We shall read the tender iiijaniug

Of the sorrows and alarms,
As we trod the desert, leaning

On His everlasting arms.

And His rest will be the dearer

When we tliiuk of weary ways;
And His light will seem the clearer

As we muse on cloudy days.
Oh ! 't will be a glorious morrow

To a dark and stormy day !
We shall recollect our sorrow

As the streams that pass away.

LOOKING AT THINGS NOT SEEN.

iry liolds
;retly at
r either
of Gods
/"ord de-
lite with
.f God's
} warn-
le bene-
rgely to

XVIII.

I00liiit8 at flings mi Sm.

TfflS, wliich seems a paradox, is the daily habit of reli-
gious minds. They are intent on objects that the eye
of the body has never seen — objects that have on them
the stamp of endurance, and that shine in the beauty
of holiness. No man has this elevation of mind by
nature. It is given to the Christian in his " effectual
calling." And indeed no man, though effectually called,
forms at once the habii of looking at things not seen.
All habits are formed by steps and degrees ; and this
is eminently true of the habits of the spiritual mind,
which must be progressively formed under sanctifying
grace, and confirmed and braced by the discipline of
actual Christian life. It is true that in the ardour of
young piety there is much looking upward — much
"converse with the skies." But impulses are not to be
relied on as habits ; and the habit of looking up, of
eyeing God's will ard glory, of aiming at spiritual ends
in temporal concerns, is one that characterises mature,
well-exercised believers. Young Christians need not
be discouraged because they have not such a habit.

LOOKING AT THINGS NOT SEEN.

Having the right impulse and desire, they will acquire
the habit in due time, if they eultivate vigilance and
prayer. To borrow a simile from Dr Cheever: An
albatross rising from the sea, runs u[)on the waves at
first ; but once risen and soaring, how sure and easy
the movement ! There is scarce a perceptible undula-
tion of the broad white pinions of the majestic bird.
Such are the wings of holy habit, wrought out by
Divine grace, and bearing the regenerated nature, after
its first struggles, calmly upward to the things not
seen, and to the very throne of the eternal God.

The habit of looking at the things not seen a« yet,
confers great benefits on the Christian.

It lifts him above a base, unworthy life. He who is
religious in the habits of his mind and heart, cannot
but live well. Whcntever charges may lie against men
professing religion whose profession is false, it can
never be— it would contradict the surest laws of the
human mind— that one should really and habitually
look to the things that are pure and heavenly, and yet
live in base vices, defiling his own conscience, and
belying the firmest convictions of his soul. Assuredly,
in whatever condition or rank of life he is placed by
Providence, a certain purity and dignity must attach
to that man's character, whose " citizenship is in
heaven,''* and whose eyes, anointed with eye-salve,
look within the veil.

♦ Phil. iii. 20.

ii.

LOOKING AT THINGS NOT SEEN.

[ acquire
nice and
^er: An
waves at
nd easy
undula-
tic bird,
out by
re, after
ngs not

I as yet,

} who is
, cannot
tist men
, it can
! of the
bitually
and yet
ce, and
suredly,
aced by
> attach
) is in
'e-salve.

This habit of mind also ministers comfort and guid-
ance to the Christian in changes and adversities. The
Apostie Paul felt his affliction to be light, and but for
a moment, while he looked at things not seen * The
same consolation will come to us from the same spring,
if we draw. The same i)ole-star will guide and cheer
us, if we, like Paul, look up. We may learn a lesson
from the good helmsman in a storm making for a safe
harbour. His eye is steady on the light that shews
the entrance. If the ship can keep her head to that
light, he is of good cheer. It is no matter how the
wind shrieks, and the vessel trembl in the heavy sea,
and the breakers thunder on the rocky beach. Not at
these dangers the helmsman looks, but ever at the port
of hope, and steers steadily on for the light, till, with a
throbbing heart, he takes his ship across the bar, and
gliding past the lighthouse, drops anchor in the smooth
water within. So should it be with the Christian,
when storm-tost and agitated among the cares and
pains of life. Looking at the things that are seen, he
looks only at waves and rocks, and cannot be com-
forted. But let him look at the things unseen and
eternal : let him steer straight for these— steer by that
light — and his soul, like a weather-beaten but well-
guided ship, shall ride over the rough foaming waves,
and at last drop anchor in the harbour of eternal rest.
Let it be added, that the habit referred to tends
* 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.

LOOKING AT THINGS NOT SEEN.

■ I a

greatly to prepare the Christian for his summons to
die. To die williout forethought and preparation is
the part of a fool. It is appointed unto men once [to
die ; and he who has any claim to be numbered with
the wise, will form and cherish the habit now of look-
ing forward to death, and the things that are after
death, —

" Walk thoughtful on the silent, solemn shore
Of that vast ocean we must sail so soon."

nons to
ation is
once [to
ed with
of look-
re after

SEVEN WONDERS.

XIX.

Sekn Mflitei

Great marvels meet in the character and life of a man
of God. Seven of these we shall mention. However
paradoxical they may sound, they are matters of solid
experience among the godly.* We speak throughout
not of the nominal, but of the converted, spiritually-
minded Christian.

1. His life in the flesh is a life of faith.t The
disciple of Jesus Christ must not "walk after the
flesh," in the sense in which it is opposed to "the
Spirit;" yet he must Hve in the flesh even as others;
and in this sphere he manifests the practical value and
power of faith. The Christian Hfe is one ; and faith in
the Son of God must animate and guide that life, even
in the most homely and prosaic pursuits.

Th3 object of faith is not a dead letter or prescribed
dogma, but the dying, living, loving Saviour— the Sm
of God, the suff"ering Surety for men. Him faith appre-

* See Mason's Select Remains-" The Mystery of a Christian "
t Gal. ii. 20.

S^SSaK;:

w ig i i 3 it Mm tiiii^wi»g«ai^8^

SEVEN WONDERS.

hends, and, indeed, appropriates, prompting the words,
" He loved me, and gave himself for me." On Him,
by faith, the Christian lives, eating the flesh and drink-
ing the blood of the Son of man ;* and in the strength
so received, overcomes the world, and quenches the
fiery darts of the Wicked.

2. He sins, and yet he cannot sin. It is written,
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us."f But it is also written,
" Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not ; whosoever
sinneth (is sinning) hath not seen him, neither known
him."i The most pious men on earth confess that they
sin daily. Any* other allegation would contradict both
Scripture and conscience. Yet he that abides in Christ
is characteristically, and in his style of thought and
practice, not a sinner but a saint, a new creature, " is
not sinning," lives not in habitual neglect of duty, or
wilful transgression of the right. Compassed, indeed,
with imperfections and infirmities, and bewailing his
frequent failures and inconsistencies, he yet sincerely
follows the Lord Jesus in the way of holiness, and
cannot do otherwise ; for the seed of his regeneration
remaineth in him, vital, influential, incorruptible, inde-
structible — he is "born of God."

3. The less his burden grows, the more he feels it.
We refer to the burden of indwelling sin. Every
man who is regenerated parts with the love of sin, and

• John vi. 53-57. + 1 John i. 8, J 1 John iii. 6.

SEVEN WONDERS.

le words,
On Him,
id drink-
strength
ches the

written,
)iirselves,
» written,
diosoever
T known
that they
diet both
in Christ
light and
bture, " is

duty, or
i, indeed,
liling his
sincerely
less, and
eneration
ble, inde-

B feels it.

Every

P sin, and

iii. 6.

not only obtains the blessing of pardon, but is cleansed
from inherent corruption. Yet the less the load
of this corruption becomes, the more does it vex and
oppress his soul. The reason is plain : his conscielice
has become tender ; his spiritual sensibility is more
delicate than before. As a little weight bearing on a
tender part of the body is more irksome than a^much
greater load pressing where bone and muscle are firm,
so does a comparatively small measure of sinfulness bear
heavily on the tender conscience of a godly man— more
heavily than heinous evil oppresses a mar unrenewed.
One does not hear boasts of sanctity from truly en-
lightened and godly persons. They are more ready to
bewail remaining corruption and hardness of heart, the
body of sin and death. Sighs of contrition rise from
the purest lips ; and confessions of hell-worthiness sin-
cerely issue from men whose souls are on the edge and
verge of heaven.

4. He is in the world, and yet not of the world. The
Christian is not only born into the world, as other men,
but also sent into the world by the Lord Christ. He
is not to shrink from duty in the world, and yet is not
to be of tlie world, as his Master, Jesus of Nazareth,
was not of the world. He is to mingle with general
society, and actively occupy his due position, and pur-
sue his daily avocations among men ; and, at the same
time, must not be " conformed to this world ;" must act
on unworldly principles ; must foUow, in midst of the

I ' l i' i w ii mi

100

SEVEN WONDERS.

agitations and competitions of this nineteenth century,
the unchangeable mandates of his Bible — a man with
his hands busy on earth, but his heart with his treasure
in heaven.

5. When he is weak, then is he strong. The heroes
of faith, in the days of old, " out of weakness were made
strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies
of the aliens."* The Lord Jesus Himself was no
stranger to this experience. The hours of His exhaustion
proved to be the hours of His triumph. It was when
worn out and an hungered by long fasting in the wil-
derness, that He encountered and defeated the tempter.
It was when sitting by Jacob's well, wearied with His
journey, that He awakened and instructed " the woman
of Samaria." It was when fainting on the cold ground
in Gethsemane, that He quelled all reluctance to drink
the bitter cup, "and there appeared an angel unto
Him from heaven, strengthening Him."-|* Yet once
more, it was in the hour of apparent exhaustion and
defeat, when stretched, pallid, a^ i bleeding, on the cross
— it was then that He was strong to bruise the serpent's
head, and destroy the works of the devil. The same
rule applies to all who follow Christ. Weak as they
are for the conflicts and distresses to which they are
ordained, they are supported by an invisible arm.
Sometimes, when they seem to be in extremity, ready
to faint and fail, they find themselves endowed with a
strength that nothing can bend or break. This is the

f Luke xxii. 43.

SEVEN WONDERS.

101

3eiitury,
an with
treasure

3 heroes
re made
Q armies
was no
laustion
IS when
the wil-
;empter.
dth His
woman
ground
:o drink
el unto
''et once
ion and
he cross
erpent's
lie same
as they
they are
le arm.
y, ready
I with a
s is the

power of Christ. Tliis is the might of the Spirit in the
inner man. This it is which gives firmness of principle,
coherence of religious character, fortitude and patience
in adversity. The Lord said unto Paul, " My grace is
sufficient for thee ; for my strength is made perfect in
weakness."*

6. His afflictions are his best friends. We have
adverted to the strength with which afflictions may be
borne. We now point to the good uses they subserve.
No affliction lights upon a child of God without a
merciful appointment. It is sent as a fatherly chastise-
ment or correction ; for " whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He re-
ceiveth."f Or, it is sent without reference to any
particular fault, to promote the believer's general sanc-
tification. Thus it helps the crucifixion of the flesh.
It is needful that the flesh, as the opponent of the
Spirit, be mortified and crucified with its affections and
lusts ; and every affliction, sent and blessed of God,
drives another nail into the slowly-dying " flesh," en-
feebling and exhausting its strength. Further, the
discipline of trial exercises, and so improves, the Chris-
tian graces and virtues. It gives an edge to conscience
and a fervency to prayer. In prosperity and ease, the
powers of the "new man" begin to languish; but
tribulation develops and braces the nobler powers of
the regenerated soul. '' Tribulation worketh patience ;
and patience, experience ; and experience, hope."j: Afflic-

* 2 Cor, xii. 9, 10. t Heb. xii. 6. + Rom. v. 3, 4.

iiryi^^ v^f 'i ' »'. t

• «»»*...

102

SEVEN WONDERS.

tion also tends, under the grace of the Spirit of God, to
wean the heart from this world, and prepare it for that
which is to come. In loving-kindness, the Lord puts
so'ne bitterness into the cup of earthly pleasure, lest we
drink it to our ruin. In very faithfulness. He cuts
away the tendrils of our affection and hope from the
earth, and, gathering them in His hand, trains them to
twine and clasp around His heavenly throne.

Sustained by such considerations and mercie«, the
godly man faints not in adversities ; he can smile
through his tears. In the deepest distress, the Com-
forter is with him, and assures him that the smiting
rod of God is ambng the best of the " all things " that
co-operate for his good.

7. He is content to live, yet wishing to die. Content
to live ! — to accomplish his appointed work, to do his
Lord's will, to promote His cause, and " abide in the
flesh " among His people for mutual " furtherance and
joy of faith." But he is wilKng to die —

" A pilgrim, panting for a rest to come ;
An exile, anxious for his native home !"

He must not in impatience or petulance call for death,
but he may welcome, and even desire it, whenever God
may see meet to send it, because it shall introduce him
to the very presence of the Lord Christ in paradise.
" We are confident, and willing rather to be absent
from the body, and to be present with the Lord." *

* 2 Cor. V. 8.

HAND IN HAND.

103

God, to
for that
)rd puts

lest we
He cuts
rom the
them to

;ie«, the
n smile
e Com-
smiting
js " that

Content
3 do his
e in the
nee and

r death,
rer God
ace him
aradise.
absent

XX.

The wicked join hand in hand, encourage one another
in evil modes and practices, concur in paths of sin.
The individual emboldens himself in ungodliness and
worldliness of life by the consideration that he is one of
a multitude, and that his friends are no better or more
godly than himself.

Even children greatly strengthen one another in
disobedience and sin; so much so, that many parents
are almost afraid to allow their sons and daughters to
have any associates whatever. Playfellows, of course,
they must have, but these cannot be too carefully
selected; for children will soil one another's hearts,
harden one another's consciences, educate one another
in evil thoughts and words, deceitful or profane. They
join their little hands together, the strength of many
overbearing the scruples of any single one. In public
schools, in street rambles, and in playgrounds, evil
communications corrupt the manners and defile the
hearts of those who are mere children.

104

HAND m HAND.

I
il

In the days of wilful and impetuous youth, the same
mutual encouragement in evil has a most powerful
eifect. Impatience of control is characteristic of that
stage of life. Regardless of the advice and experience
of their elders, the young, especially young men, delight
to cast off restraints, to walk on the edge of precipices,
or, cutting the moorings of their boat, without oar or
rudder, to go wildly down the stream, little thinking
of the rapids below in which so many have been lost.
This gross folly is seriously aggravated by the combina-
tion and clubbing together of youth, by hand joining
in hand. Does a young man, into whom good princi-
ples were instilled, begin to make light of them ; does
he begin to garble his speech with a few oaths, or
saunter through the streets or fields on Sabbath-days,
rather than attend the house of God; or take pride in
the reputation of being " a little wild," and of " staying
out late o' nights;" or look on the wine when it is
red, when it giveth its colour in the cup ? He has not
arrived at this perilous state of his own inclination
merely — companions have led him on; they joined
hand in hand, laughed at his scruples, took him by the
arm, and cried, " Come on, and be a man \" " To-morrow
shall be as this day, and much more abundant !" He
went with them, and now is become a fool even as
they. Alas ! he is also a tempter to others, persuading
them also to join hands, eager to have as many as pos-
sible in the same wickedness as himself.

;ii

HAND IN HAND.

105

the same
powerful
c of that
xperience
n, delight
recipices,
it oar or
thinking
»een lost,
combina-
1 joining
i princi-
im; does
)aths, or
ath-days,
pride in
" staying
hen it is
! has not
clination
y joined
u by the
-morrow
■,r He
even as
L'suading
' as pos-

In manhood, too, hand joins in hand. A conven-
tional morality is formed, to which individuals, not
presuming to be singular, are contented to conform.
It is held, that what one does another must do, else he
cannot cope with the world. So men corrupt each
other, countenancing one another's disingenuousness
and clever selfishness. Sometimes, in associations and
" companies," they carry out schemes with joined hands
which individually they would never undertake or
justify.

The aged are more reserved, and in their habits
more isolated than the young. But they also encou-
rage one another in old sins, and join hand in hand-
making a covenant with death that it shall not smite
them, and with "the overflowing scoui^ge," that it shall
not come unto them.

Holy Scripture says, " Though hand join in hand,
the wicked shall not be unpunished."* Numbers gain
no impunity from the Lord ; union is not strength
against Him. The sinner is not excusable because he
is one of many. However men form confederacies
against Jehovah, they shall be judged and punished
one by one.

Let the children of God learn a lesson, and join
hand in hand for the truth. If there is so much com-
bination of the wicked in their wickedness, let there be
combination of the righteous in their righteousness.

* Prov. xi. 21.

106

HAND IN HAND.

n 1

Those who have entered at the strait gate, whereto
they have attained, should walk by the same rule, and
mind the same thing. Those whom the Lord Jesus " is
not ashamed to call brethren," must not " fall out by
the way," but " strengthen the weak hands, and confirm
the feeble knees," — help and encourage one another in
the path of life. How fair the sight of the affectionate
children of an earthly family walking hand in hand,
the elder assisting the younger over the rough places
of the way ! We, too, as little children, hand in hand,
loving and helping each other, must enter into the
kingdom of heaven.

Union against the Lord is nought, but on the Lord's
side is strength. Souls prosper and gain victories by
synripathy and alliance with other faithful souls of
God's redeemed. How can religious people be cold or
unkind one to another — ready to suspect, to whisper
evil tales, or take part against brethren? "Beloved,
let us love one another: for love is of God ; and every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."*

* 1 Johu iv. 7, 8.

A LESSON IN SPIRITUAL WAR

107

whereto
rule, and
resus "is
[ out by

confirm
other in
3ctionate
In hand,
h places
in hand,
into the

e Lord's
ories by
souls of
3 cold or
whisper
Beloved,
very one
He that

XXI.

S Smon in gpiritol »L

There is a passage in the life of King David which
may teach us a great lesson in the art of spiritual war.
When the Philistines, burning to avenge a former de-
feat, invaded Palestine, the devout king "inquired of
the Lord." He had recourse to Divine counsel and
strength. He sought the Lord to be on the side of
Israel, "when men rose them to slay." The answer to
his inquiry bade him both do and wait* He was to
muster his armed men to attack the enemy from the
most advantageous quarter, making a forced march in
their rear, and falling upon them at a probably un-
guarded position. But, while acting to the best of his
military skill, David was to bear in mind that the
battle was the Lord's, and that He must give the vic-
tory. Therefore, after reaching his post under cover of
a grove or wood, the king was to wait and listen for a
sign of the Lord's presence and help—" the sound of
a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees."

* 2 Sam. V. 22-25.

Ill

ill

108

A LESSON IN SPIRITUAL WAn.

Obedient to the word of the Lord, David had a
glorious success. He did his part, gat him with his
troops to 'the place of watching and prayer : the ap-
pointed sign failed not; and the king, "bestirring"
himself, wliile giving the glory to God, "smote the
Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer." It
was their last struggle in the land of Israel. Dav^id
carried the war into the enemy's country, and com-
pletely subdued those restless and dangerous neigh-
bours.*

In every emergency of the soul, in every hour of
temptation, it is our wisdom to inquire of the Lord ;
and in every new trial, to inquire again. David, though
a brave and skilful general, inferior to no captain of
his age, moved not without prayer against invading
foes. So in the spiritual war, the contests of the inner
man : the Christian, however well trained and well fur-
nished in his own mind, needs not fight, cannot succeed,
without prayer. Moreover, he who prays will, like
David, get the victory through his own endeavour, and
yet not by his owti wisdom or strength, but by the
counsel and might of Jehovah. In the struggles and
conflicts of the spiritual life, victories are won not by
doing only or waiting only, but by doing and waiting —
waiting and doing. We Tnn<-,i- do our ^)'^rt, or God will
not help us. We mubo \\o,Lt on God for guidance and
help, or our best doings will miserably fail. The ten-

* 2 Sam. viii. 1-12.

A LESSON IN SriRITUAL WAR.

rid had a
I with his
: the ap-
estining "
smote the
azer." It
1. David
and corn-
US iieigh-

r hour of
he Lord;
d, though
aptain of

invading
the inner

well fur-
t succeed,
will, like
v^our, and
it by the
jgles and
n not by
^■aiting —

God will
lance and
The ten-

109

dency of the present times is to foster the working rather
than the waiting dispositions, and so to induce a b'ustUng
showy Christianity, that lacks the secret of success.

One should learn also to seize opportunity and push
advantage, when God indicates a favourable time, so
that there is " the sound of a going in the tops of 'the
mulberry-trees." In this way the apostles gained their
mighty victories. Though armed with "the M^hole
armour of God," they went not up at once to the great
contest with Jewish prejudice and G.ntile ignorance
and unbelief. They tarried in the appointed place
"for the promise of the Father;" and when, on the day
of Pentecost, they heard " the sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind, they knew that the Lord was
with them, and went on boldly" in the Christian cause.
So IS It in aU the progress of the Church. There are
periods of apparent inaction, which yet are far from
lost. The Church is then waiting at the mulbeny
grove. When the <' set time to favour Zion" comes
she "bestirs" herself, and makes advance. It is so'
also, in the life of the individual Christian. There are
favourable opportunities for which he must watch and
on the due improvement of which his religious progress
depends. He who arms himself will yet do nothing
unless he watches and prays.* But he who both arms
and waits, listening for prayer's answer, will hear a
rustling of the tree tops, the sound of the Lord going

. * Eph. vi. 10-18.

Mma

IPMH

110

A LESSON IN SPIRITUAL WAR.

^!;

before. Bestirring himself then, he will beat back his
foes, and in God's name do exploits.

Be admonished then, Christian ! to be at the place
of prayer, and have your arms and armour on, that you
may take advantage of the favourable hour, and rout
your spiritual foes. Have your sails spread, that when
the fair wind comes you may elude the pirates, and
stand well out from the quicksands and the rocks, and
speed forward to the safe harbour of your eternal rest.

t back his

THE HEALING OF HUMANITY.

Ill

the place
, that ymi

and rout
that when
rates, and
:ocks, and
rnal rest.

XXII.

%it fMitg 0f fumamts.

Sickness and sin are closely connected together. They
are disorders marring the original goodness of crea-
tion. In the primitive state, which was " very good,"
physical and moral perfections were united. In the
present condition of the human family, physical and
moral imperfections and evils are combined. Society,
corrupted by many vices, and ravaged by many dis-
eases, presents a terrible contrast to " the first estate."
We must distinguish, however, between a general
fact which we know, and particular individual applica-
tions of a wide principle, such as we are not competent
or warranted to make.

It is the general fact, that disease is one of the
results of the entrance of sin. Death is by sin : and
what is disease but a partial or approximate death ?
It is sin that, like the box of Pandora, has scattered
direful pains and woes over the whole world. Some
forms of sin lead by direct natural consequence to
disease. Such are intemperance and unchastity, which

1 1

i I

THE HEALING OF HUMANITY.

waste, degrade, and sometimes horribly torment the
human frame. Some offences have provoked the Lord
to inflict diseases ns penalties. Thus Miriam was
struck with leprosy because she murmured against
Moses ; * the men of Ashdod, and other Philistines,
were smitten with " emerods " because they desecrated
the ark of God ;-|- King Jehoram, the unworthy son of
Jehoshaphat, was visited with an incurable disease for
his wickedness.^ In the New Testament, also, St Paul
teaches that disease and death are sent upon a Church
when the Lord's Supper is administered or observed
without due reverence and godly fear — "For this
cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many
sleep." §

Specific applications of the general principle, how-
ever, it is not for us to make. We are not to pro-
nounce judgment — that sickness enters this house, or
lights on that individual, as a judgment for a certain
specified offence. We are incompetent to draw such
conclusions, and in venturing upon them may violate
both charity and truth. W^ look on outward appear-
ances, and cannot have the materials for judging God's
ways with our fellow-men. One who enjoys robust
health and undisturbed prosperity may be an enemy of
God, who is secretly " reserved to the day of judgment
to be punished." Another, who is sorely and variously

* Numb. xii. 10.
1 1 Sam. V.

t 2 Chron. xxi. 12-19.
§ 1 Cor. xi. 30.

aent the
:he Lord
iam was

against
ilistines,
jsecrated
ly son of
sease for

St Paul
, Church
>bsei.Tcd
?or this
id many

le, how-
to pro-
louse, or
I certain
iw such
f violate
appear-
jg God's
3 robust
nemy of
idgment
ariously

-19.

THE HEALING OF HUMANmr. I13

afiiicted, may be not punished at all, but "chastened
ot the Lord in love.

Sickness has its uses and its alleviations ; neverthe-
ess It IS a disorder, and humanity cannot be blessed
tiU sickness with sin is utterly abolished. Such an
abolition IS hoped and longed for by the Christian
hear^ and it is to be accomplished only through Christ
the Physician-Saviour. When He was on earth, our
Lord shewed Himself able and wiUing to cope with aU
he forms of disease, and remedy all the outbreaks of

human misery* Christ refused none who came or

were brought to Him to be healed.

" The dumb began to speak, the blind to see

And the lame leap'd, and pain and darkiess fled :
ihe mourner's eye grew bright with glee,
And from the tomb awoke the wondering dead."

Christ, however, was no mere physician, but a
Physician-Saviour. He dealt with sin as the radical
disease of the human race. When He declared,
Ihey that be whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick,^'He further explained His meaning in
the words, "Por I am not come to call the righteous
but smners to repentance, ^ f Our Lord's cure of the
paralytic at Capernaum is a familiar instance of the
removal of sin and sickness together. '^ He said unto
the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee "
Again, He ''saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto

* Matt. iv. 23, 24 ; Murk i. 32-34, vi. 54-56. + Matt. ix. 12. 13.

mmm

114

THE HEALING OF HUMANITY.

t :

thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into
thine house." * It may be added, that the same con-
nexion between sickness and sin, the same linking
together of the removal of the one with the removal of
the other, appeared in the ministrations of the primi-
tive elders of the Church. As it is written, " Is any
sick among you? let him call for the elders of the
church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord : and the prayer of
faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him
up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be for-
given him." -f-

The power of' Christ is put forth still to soothe and
relieve human pains, and to restore the disturbed har-
monies of our physical and moral nature. His dis-
ciples, indeed, are subject to disease as other men ;
but it is disease without the sting of unforgiven sin,
suffered for a season, that their patience may be
proved, and God glorified in them. Even if their
sickness be unto death, they are sustained by the hope
of that which is beyond and after death. They look
for a city which hath foundations, as it is promised,
" Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation. ''{
A few more pangs, a few more groans, and the sufferer
who is in Christ enters the gates of pearl, and shall
never suffer any more for ever. Why ? There shall
be no sin there. " The people that dwell therein are

* Mark ii. 5-11. t James v, 14, 15. X Isa. xxxiii. 20.

;^ay into
me con-
linking
Qoval of
i primi-
' Is any

of the
ing him
rayer of
lise him

be for-

)the and
bed har-
His dis-
ir men ;
ven sin,
may be
if their
:he hope
hey look
romised,
tation/'l

sufferer
nd shall
3re shall
jrein are

20.

THE HEALING OF HUMANITY. I15

forgiven their iniquity.- No more shall they be
tempted or inclined to commit iniquity. This is the
law of the city-'' There shall in no wise enter into it
any thmg that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abommation or maketh a lie: but they which are
written m the Lamb's book of life "f

This is the key to the future blessedness, just as
he entrance of defilement and untruth into the world
hat now IS, IS the key to our present wretchedness.
In the new dwelling-place there will be no spot no
wrin^e, or any such thing-no guilt, no stain,'nj 1^
and therefore no curse, no pain, no grief. The heirs
of the kmgdom, '< the nations of the saved,'' healed by
the leaves of the Tree of Life, and rejoicing in iti
fruit, stand before the throne in the health and vigour
of immortality-in holy beauties that never fade away •
and the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick." J '

* Isa. xxxiii. 24. t Rev. xxi. 27. 1 1,,, ^J^ 24.

116

THE VIVIFYING POWER OF THE GOSPEL.

XXIII.

Peehaps there is in nature no better expression of
exuberant life and strength than the flow of a mighty
river. The rocks, and forests, and gianb mountains,
suggest ideas of power, but of power restri cted in place,
without motion, without impetus. But what beauty in
the shining river, what grandeur in the rolling flood !
— ever moving as of some living will in itself, never ex-
hausted or faint; without weariness pouring itself by day
and night down wild ravines, and through quiet mea-
dows ; now watering a green valley, where trees skirt its
banks, now passing through villages or towns, with
houses and gardens on either shore, but never resting,
ever rolling on to the bosom of the deep sea ! Indeed,
the great rivers of the world have so impressed the un-
tutored mind with awe, and so blessed and enriched
the lands through which they have their course, that
they have been personified and worshipped. It has
been so with the Nile, the Ganges, even the turbid
Tiber. Living, as we do, on the bank of a nobler river

3sion of

, mighty

untains,

in place,

eauty in

y flood !

lever ex-

f by day

Let mea-

skirt its

as, with

resting,

Indeed,

the un-

enriched

rse, that

It has

3 turbid

ler river

THE VIVIFYING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 117

than any of these-the St Lawrence-we can sympa-
thise, not certainly with superstitious worship, but with
a warm enthusiasm in favour of a mighty stream, that
mis the eye, and gives wealth and beauty to the land.

The Bible tells of a river that "went out of Eden
to water the garden," and parted, and became four
streams;* throws a sacred memory round the little
river of Jordan, and even the soft-flowing rill of Siloam •
and not only so, but celebrates a river above all Greek'
above all Roman fame-a river, "the streams whereof
make glad the city of God."f

^ " The river of God is full." We mean by this not a
nver of pleasures far away in heaven, but a river of
heavenly grace on earth, the grace of salvation-a
hvmg, flowing stream, useful and pleasant to all who
frequent its banks, and a river that gives life whither-
soever it comes, t The source of this river is in the
sanctuary of God, or place of His abode. Its increase,
as It rolls, is obtainea not from tributaries flowin. into
it, but entirely from the fulness of its original fountain
Its course is through a barren land, illustrating the
efflux of Divine grace on a dead and sinful world.° As
the barren soil through which the river in Ezekiel's
vision passed became fertile, so, under the vivifyino-
fertilising, and healing grace of God, the wastes of
human nature, human society, human life, are made to
live agam, and flourish in holy beauties.

• Gen. ii. 10. t Psaltn xlvi. 4. J Ezek. xlvii. 9.

1'i

118

THE VIVIFYING POWER OF THE GOSPEL.

What is the life of a nation without this grace ? Let
history speak. The powerful nations of antiquity are
powerful no more. They had genius, courage, letters,
even art and civilisation; but having no moral health,
and no spiritual life, they had no real endurance, and
have proved no better than brilliant faihires at last.
In so far as any modern nations have more vitality than
the ancient, it is due to their possession of a true reli-
gion — their contact with the flowing water of life.
True it is, that a nation unvisited by the stream from
the sanctuary of God may obtain a certain extension
and eminence ; but it is frivolous, or treacherous, or
ferocious, or immoral and corrupt; and no form of
political constitution, or change of political rulers, will
remedy the case of such a nation, so long as the mass
of the people continue ungodly, and the highest motives
are not brought to bear on the private and public
conscience and will. We are well convinced that, even
in countries which present the most favourable religious
aspect, the most serious public danger comes from the
ungodliness of the people at large. The true health of
nations is in virtue; the true wealth of nations is in
moral culture and the fear of God. History will corro-
borate the doctrine of Scripture, that the only inexhaust-
ible spring of public life, powers, dignity, and self-
government, is in the knowledge and acknowledgment
of our Lord and His Christ. Flowing through the
heart of a people, the stream of pure religion will heal

le? Let
[uity are
, letters,
I health,
nee, and

at last.
lity than
rue reR-

of life,
im from
stension
Tous, or
form of
ers, will
he mass
motives
I public
lat, even
'eligious
rom the
lealth of
ns is in
il corro-
3xhaust-
ad self-
idgment
igh the
i^ill heal

THE VIVIFYING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 119

that which is bitter or corrupt, will cause everything to
live, impart soundness to all the internal relation^ of
the body domestic and politic, and will gradually give
rise to good government, equal laws, just institutions,
a pure literature, a warm benevolence, a diligent atten-
tion to the arts of peace,— in a word, will ensure a
high and broad and graceful civiHsation. If it is not
practicable to have a truly national Church, we still
must have, for the public weal, a sincerely received
national rehgion. Through the deep courses of a na-
tion's convictions, '' let judgment run down as waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream."*

Let us reflect, not only on the life of nations, but on
the life of the Church. The most orderly and orthodox
Church on earth is a formal, almost useless institution,
unless it be vivified by the touch of the waters flowing
from Mount Zion— the present grace of God, the suppl^
of the Spirit of Christ Jesus. There was no charge of
disorder or heterodoxy against the Church in Sardis,
yet it is written, " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and
art dead."t That Church maintained a good reputa-
tion; the ordinances of the gospel were therein regularly
dispensed, and, we presume, the doctrines of the gospel
accurately avowed. No heresies of Nicolaitanes or
others are reprehended at Sardis, as at Ephesus,
Pergamos, and Thyatira. All things were there but the
one needful thing— life. The form of godUness was
* Amos V. 24. f Rev. iii. 1.

120 THE VIVIFYING POWER OF THE GOSPEL.

|t J':

complete, but power thereof there was none. There
was a full-length shadow of religion, but the substance
was not there. With the credit and semblance of life,
the Sardian Church was spiritually dead.

A Church thus dead cannot long remain really
orthodox, but it may continue to profess a sound tradi-
tional creed. First piety declines, gives way before the
encroachments of a cold, secular spirit ; then the doc-
trines of grace are disliked, concealed, or corrupted,
while yet the old standards of belief are not formally
and openly renounced. But the word of €hrist is not
there in power; and without this word in power, with-
out the quickening Spirit, a Church has no energy, no
beauty, no fruitfulness, no vitality; whereas, with this,
the waste place becomes as a well-watered garden, and a
field which the Lord hath blessed.

It is the way of our Lord to keep His Church in
constant dependence on Himself for life and godli-
ness, and so to draw forth the prayers of all faithful
ones for quickening grace — a grace which flows from
His seat, and, instead of spending itself, still swells and
deepens as it flows, diffusing its healing waters from
house to house and heart to heart, and covering all its
banks with unfading and fruitful trees.

The life of the individual soul is imparted and main-
tained by the same grace. The blessed man " shall be
like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not

THE VIVIFYING POWER OP THE GOSPEL. 121

wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."* It
is the root in the river that sends sap and vital force
through all the tree, even to its utmost boughs, yielding
rich foliage and abundant fruit.

Every tree of righteousness must have its own con-
nexion with the river of life through its own roots;
every Christian must have connexion and communion
with the Lord in the grace of the S; ..it, through his
own faith. A pastor's roots will not draw up enough
for the flock, or a father's enough for his children.
One by one, the Christian people must have their roots
in the river of God. There is room enough for all of
them on the banks thereof Paul desired that the
Colossians might be " rooted in Christ," and that the
Ephesians might be "rooted and grounded in love."
This desire have all they who know the Lord's grace,
that others may obtain like precious faith, and like
spiritual strength, till the river of God's pleasure on
earth is thickly lined on either shore with good and
pleasant trees. As it was in the prophetic vision
ah-eady alluded to, "By the river, upon the bank
thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all
trees for meat, whose leaf shaU not fade, neither shaU
the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new
fruits according to his months, because their waters
they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof
shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." f

» Psalm i. 3. f Ezek. xlvii. 12.

iil

il .

122 THE VIVUTING POWER OF THE GOSPEL.

In Paradise restored, the river shall flow clear as
crystal from the very throne of God and of the Lamb,
and pass no longer through a salt and waste land, but
through a region and city of holiness, where there is no
more curse.*

" happy harbour of God's saints !
Bweet and pleasant soil !
In thee no sorrow can be found,
No grief, no care, no toil !

" Quite through the streets, with pleasant sound,
The flood of life doth flow;
Upon whose banks, on every side,
The trees of life do grow.

*' These trees each month do yield their fruit.
For evermore they spring ;
And all the nations of the world
To thee their honours bring.

" Jerusalem, God's dwelling-place.
Full sore I long to see ;
that my sorrows had an end.
That I might dwell in thee ! "

* Rev, xxii. 1-3,

I i

' clear aa
lie Lamb,
land, but
lere in no

THE UNBROKEN HONES OF JESUS.

123

XXIV.

f6eIiibrfllim|oirK«f|(su5.

Whosoeyer haa a broken heart ahaU never have .
broken bone " The Lord is nigh „uto them that are
of a broken heart ; and .saveth sueh as be of a eontrite
spint. Many are the afflictions of the righteous : but
the Lord dehveroth him out of them alL He keepeth
all his bones : not one of them is broken,"* In various
psalm.,, the pious in affliction speak of "bones vexed"
bones consumed," "bones waxed old," "bones bum«l
as an hearth," and "cleaving to the .skin." But the
righteous, though cast down, are not destroyed • their
bones may be " vexed," but " not one of them is broken "
It .s true that David in a certain place refers to his
bones as broken.f But it was thus with him when he
smned, when he fell from his steadfastness, and thereby
forfeited the privileges of a righteous man. So soon as
he IS pemtent~so soon as he gets from God, and pre-
sents to God, a broken spirit, a broken and eonWte
heart-he prays for restoration, and expects even his
* Psalm xxxiv. 18-20. + p^,„ ,;. j.

124

THE UNBROKEN BONES OF JESUS.

broken bones to come together again, and "rejoice " in
God his Saviour.

Not only in providence does God keep His people
from harm, sliding His angels to encamp around them,
but He also succours and sustains them in His grace.
Though at times their ''bones are vexed"— ie. their
hearts are disquieted and distressed — a word of gracious
promise comes to them, that their bones may not be
broken ; in other words, that their souls may not de-
spair. Christ knows well how to give health and quiet
to His disciples in the inner man. His "pleasant
words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and
health to the bones." *

Of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, it is emphatically
true that " Jehovah keepeth all His bones ; not one of
them is broken." This was prefigured in the passover,
and fulfilled on the cross. At the first institution of
the paschal rite, this Divine command was given regard-
ing the lamb, the type of Jesus Christ, " Neither shall
ye break a bone thereof"! In the wilderness of Sinai
the Lord repeateth this injunction : " They shall leave
none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of
it."J: This was strictly fulfilled on the cross, when
" Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us." In His
sacred body, His flesh was pierced, and His blood shed ;
but not one of His bones was broken. The fact is ex-
plicitly narrated in the Gospel of John : " The Jews
• Prov. xvi. 24. f Exod, xii. 46. $ Num. ix. 12.

joice

is people
nd them,
is grace.
i.e. their
gracious
y not be
not de-
nd quiet
pleasant
oul, and

hatically
it one of
)assover,
ution of
L regard-
ler shall
of Sinai
all leave
bone of
s, when
In His
>d shed ;
it is ex-
le Jews
. 12.

THE UNBROKEN BONES OF JESUS.

125

therefore, because it was the preparation, that the
bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sab-
bath-day (for that Sabbath-day was an high day) be-
sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and'that
they might be taJ^en away. Then came the soldiers
and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which
was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus
and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his
legs. ... For these things were done, that the scripture
should be fulfiUed, A bone of him shall not be broken -*
Thus the " Lamb of God " died, a complete and unbroken
sacrifice for sin. Jesus, having power to lay down His
life, wiUed to die, gave up the ghost, before the soldier,
came.

This is not all. The Lord Christ has also a mystical
body, all the members whereof are kept by the grace
and power of God.

Like His physical body, the body mystical of Christ
IS divinely formed. In remote eternity it was designed
or " prepared/' according to the election of grace The
members were written in God's book when as yet .here
was none of them The body thus prepared is fearfully
and wonderfully made. It is not of blood, or of the
will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God In
Its formation there is an overshadowing power of the
Highest. The grace of the Holy Ghost, in the regene-
ration of sinners, is continually making and moulding a

*John xix. 31-33,36.

II ^ti

126

THE UNBROKEN BONES OP JESUS.

body for Christ. The " new birth" is a birth into the
spiritual being and body of the Eedeemer. All who
are truly born again are united to Jesus Christ, as
"members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."*

This mystical body is ever growing. Christ must
increase. There are constant accessions to the Church,
which is His body ; and by the grace flowing from
the Vital Head, and the continual and harmonious
exercise of the various parts and members, the growing
body strengthens day by day, " increasing with the in-
crease of God." As it is written, "From the head,
even Christ, the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, accord-
ing to the effectual working in the measure of every
part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in lova"-f*

The mystical body of the Lord, thus formed and
increased, is a suffering body on earth. Like His
natural body, it is lightly esteemed, wounded, even
crucified." All that are Christ's are made to feel the
strangeness of the world, the malice of the devil, and
the sharpness of the cross. His spiritual members
suffer with Him, if so be they may ^Iso be glorified
together.

But here we perceive another point of analog} The
mystical body, like the natural body of Christ, though
pierced is not parted, and comes through all its tribula-

• Eph. ?. 30. t Eph. iv. 16.

THE UNBROKEN BONES OP JESUS.

127

"♦

tion without a broken bone. That which took place
Kterally on the cross of Calvary, takes place spirituaUy
in universal Christian experience. However severely
afflictions bear on the people or members of Christ, they
cannot separate them from Him, or destroy their'hope
of glory. The bones may be sore vexed, but " not one
of them is broken."

The doctrine of the union of believers to their Lord
involves, as a consequence, the doctrine of their preser-
vation unto eternal life. If in Holy Writ this union is
represented as a betrothal, it is "for ever;"* and
when it is likened to a body with joints and limbs, it is
a body not to be mangled or divided. Christians must
have discipline, suffering, chastisement; but "there is
no condemnation to them that are 'n Christ Jesus."f
We rely on the sure word of the Lord, that not one,
not the least member of Christ, shall be lost ; not one
of Christ's bones, not the smaUest, not a little finger of
His bo.?y, shall ever be broken.

In the great day of the Lord, all the living body that
has come through tribulation, death, and resurrection
without a broken bone, shaU be revealed. When the
Head shaU appear, aU the members shaU appear with
Him in glory. + A glorious sight indeed !— Mystical
Christ complet. ! and the Redeemer and the redeemed
rejoicing together in the fruition of the promises of
God I

*Hos. ii. IP.

t Rom. viii. 1.

t Col. iii. 4.

128

THE lord's vineyard.

XXV.

f fe^ fort's iineprt.

The Lord God has planted his Church as " a choice
vine" in the earth. During the first ages of the
world, His vineyard was not hedged in — there was no
organisation of a religious community. But the call-
ing of Israel out of Egypt marked a very important
epoch in Church history. " Thou hast brought a vine
out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and
planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst
cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.''*
This vine never perishes. There are diversities of dis-
pensation. The Jewish aspect of religion has been
abrogated ; but the vine planted of old shall never die
out. Every plant which the heavenly Father has not
planted shall be rooted up, but this vine flourishes and
puts forth tender grapes.

This is due entirely to the Divine care. Jehovah
demands, "What could have been done more to my vine-
yard, that I have not done in it ? "f Eor the preserva-

* Psalm Ixxx. 8, 9. i Isa, v. 4.

I choice

of the

was no

;he call-

iportant

t a vine

en, and

id didst

land."*

of dis-

u been

jver die

has not

lies and

ehovah
ly vine-
•eserva-

THE LOED'S VINEYARD. 129

«on of the truth through centuries of the world's gross
Idolatry, rehgion was connected with the Jewish polity
Even t, ge.graphical position of Palestine hedged t
foodT : r ?"f "' ^--'-g"arded as wa^ tha

east t d ''%"'t/"^'*™ ""<' «>^ t^o l^'kes on the
east, the desert and mountainous Idumea on the south
the Medaerranean Sea on the west, and by S
L.banus on the north. Besides this, the peculiar
ecclesiastacal system, the Theocratic p lity of llrae,
^rongly fenced in the vineyard of the Lord S
his external fence of separation and protection eve^-
thmg essential to the internal completeness of a W
yard was also supplied. The Owner thereof made a
winepress, digged a wine-vat, and built a towcrfrom

words, God furnished to His Church, even in the Old
Testament times, all the advantages needful in ho J
.mes tor life and godliness. If f^its were not duly
ndered to the Divine Owner, the blame lay, not on
the appurtenances of the vineyard, as though hev
were de ective, but on the misconduct of To ^
keepers, and the negligence of the ,nen of Judlh Td
^habitants of Jerusalem. " For the vineyard of "e
Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and fte m n of
Judah his plea.,ant plant : and he looked for judr„"„t
but behold oppression ; fo- righteousness, bu betid a

*Isa. V. 7.
I

130

THE lord's vineyard.

The vine-keepers in ancient times were the priests^
Levites, and rulers of the people. The interests of the
Church and of true religion were confided to them ;
the vineyard was let out to them that they might
cultivate it, and obtain a yield of good fruit, as a
revenue for their Lord. When the keepers of the Old
Testament vineyard proved unfaithful in their office,
so that nought was yielded but wild grapes — when
they at last became so wicked, as not only to stone the
prophets, the servants, but even to kill the Son, the
Heir — God made a great change in His vinej^ard.
Taking down the fence of Judaism, He planted the
vine in the lands cl the Gentiles. At the same time
He changed the keepers thereof, the husbandmen.*
In lieu of the Jewish priests and elders, the Lord has
given charge of His vineyard, in New Testament
ages, to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and
teachers. In our own time, as many as "labour in
word and doctrine," walking in the steps of apostolic
belief and example, are not only builders under the
Master-Builder, and shepherds under the Chief Shep-
herd, but also vine-dressers under the Great Keeper of
the vineyard. There is need of them. The vine is a
plant that cannot endure neglect, that requires constant
and minute attention. In every season of the year it
must be watched and tended with assiduous care. In
like manner the interests of religion, of the kingdom

* Matt. xxi. 41-45.

THE lord's VINEYABD. 131

Of God on earth, demand the watchful and nntirinir
assiduities of faithful men, who will give themselves
wholly to the work of the vineyard.

This is not all. The Lord himself from heaven
watches over His choice vine. He makes the Sun of
righteousness to shine, and the rains of grace to
descend, that His ''pleasant plant ^' may grow and
fructify. It is God who "gives the increase." "In
that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine I
the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment:
lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."*

The Divine "keeping" is rendered necessary by the
serious dangers to which the Lord's vineyard on earth
is exposed. Scripture mentions three such dangers :—
1. The boar out of the forest. As it is written
" The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild
beast of the field doth devour it."f This is a figure
of the violent persecution by which the Church of God
has suffered. From the forests of heathenism the
invader rushed again and again on Palestine, and the
foot of the wild boar trod down the ancient vineyard of
the Lord. In Christian times, the same violence has
often been repeated. The havoc made of the primitive
Church by Jewish and Pag-nn enemies-tlie suppression
of the truth after the Reformation, in various Euro-
pean countries, by the sword drawn at the instigation
of Papal Rome— and the cruelties inflicted on young

* Isa. xxvii. 2, 3,

f Psalm Ixxx. 13.

132

THE LORD S VINEYARD.

Christian communities on heathen shores in our own
time — are all so many rushes of " the boar out of the
wood," enraged against the heritage of Christ.

Yet the Lord has proved a faithful protector of His
*' pleasant plant." His vine, trodden down by violence
of persecution, has often revived with more vigour and
beauty than before. History contains many instances
in which injustice and attack have tended to the fur-
therance of the gospel. God, at such time as pleaseth
Him, stays the oppressor ; but even while the oppres-
sion lasts, and the boar out of the wood seems to work
his will, Jehovah. restrains his wrath, and overrules all
for good. The experience of this in the early Pagan
persecutions of the Christian Cliurch is boldly expressed
in the words of TertuUian — "Plures efficimur, quoties
metimur a vobis ; semen est sanguis Christianorum."

The Divine Keeper of the vineyard has defeated, and
will defeat, the cruelty of " the boar out of the wood."

2. A second danger lies in the ravages of " the
little foxes." These make no crashing sound like the
wild boar, give no sig.i of their approach or presence,
but enter unobserved, and soon spoil the vines, by
preying on the tender grapes. "Take us the foxes,
the little foxes, that spoil the vines : for our vines have
tender grapes." *

Foxes represent all cunning deceits of error and sin ;
and the "little foxes" are those so-called little sins

* Cant. ii. 15.

3ur own
t of the

r of His
violence
our and
istances
the fur-
pleaseth
oppres-
to work
[•ules all
'■ Pagan
:pressed
quoties
rum."
ted, and
wood."
if "the
like the
[•esence,
les, by
i foxes,
es have

nd sin ;
)le sins

THE lord's vineyard. ] 33

which eat away the tender grape, the good promise of
religion in youth. Great and glaring offences are more
easily watched against and resisted ; but the little foxes
glide in, and are in the heart of the vineyard, busy in
destruction, before we know ; in other words, minute
acts of inconsistency grow insensibly into habits, and
work great mischief while we are unaware. The little
foxes creep in at the smallest hole in the fence ; little
sins creep in at the smallest crevice of unwatchfulness,
and, once in, make sad havoc of young religion, of
the tender grape. Therefore the Lord, who "watches
over His vineyard, cries, " Take us the foxes, the little
foxes!" Let these little ones of Babylon bedashed
against the stones !

3. The third danger comes from unfaithful pastors
or false husbandmen : "Many pastors have destroyed
my vineyaid, they have trodden my portion under foot,
they have made my portion of desire a desolate wil-
derness."*

In the days of old the Church was wasted and cor-
rupted by false prophets and unworthy ministers of
religion : hireling shepherds, that fed themselves, and
not the flock— lying prophets, telling "visions of their
own heart"— keepers of the vineyard, unfaithful to their
trust;— such were the men to whom Scripture ascribes
the declension and corruption of the Jewish religion.
The New Testament also contains frequent warnings

* Jer. xii. ]0.

134

THE LOKD S VINEYARD.

.Its

against false apostles and teachers, " deceitful workers,"
"seducing spirits;" and the history of the Church
since the Christian era has shewn how much these
warnings are needed, in tlie baneful effects wrought in
the Church by men who have alleged themselves to be
its only trusty guardians. Heresies, strifes, persecu-
tions, and bigotries have commonly entered the Church
through irreligious and unworthy clergy. Not even
the boar out of the wood has done so much harm to
the vineyard as popes and priests, and unconverted or
cold-hearted Protestant ministers have done. Clerical
pretensions and ecclesiastical garments may be wrapped
about men who are no true keepers of the vineyard. " Be-
loved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
they are of God ; because many false prophets are gone
out into the world."*

The end for which the vineyard exists is the produc-
tion of fruit. All the plantation, culture, defence, and
care are pointed to this result — "much fruit." "Solomon
had a vineyard in Baal-hamon," and from each of the
keepers received a thousand pieces of silver as a return
for the produce of the vine.f Christ our King has, by
the ministry of His servants, a rich vintage, a grateful
return for His manifold grace, so that His soul " is
satisfied." The entire dispensation of saving mercy,
the culture of the vineyard, and the labours of all
faithful husbandmen therein, unitedly tend to one good

*1 John i7. 1.

tCant. viii. 11.

THE lord's vineyard.

135

result — the increase of godliness, to the glory of the
Father in heaven, and the joy of the ascended Saviour.
In the time of vintage, when tha clusters of ripe grapes
shall be gathered in, all heaven shall ring with the shout
of praise — " Grace, grace unto it ! "

186

THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR.

XXVI.

®I]e §ri3|t i\\\ii Skiting Sim,

All thoughtful men have reverenced the stars. The
mind is soothed and awed by the expressive quiet of a
starry sky. Not jthe poets only, but all men of reflec-
tion and sensibility, have imitated the son of Jesse in
t>.e night watches : " I consider thy heavens, the work
of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained."*

In the noble imagery of Scripture, the lights of the
firmament are made preachers of righteousness : " The
Lord God is a Sun;"f the Church is to be "fair as
the Moon. "J One beautiful emblem in the sky the
Lord Jesus has api^ropriated to Himself— the stead-
fast dayspring from on high : " I am the Bright and
Morning Star."§ Many are the stars in the sky, one
diff'ering from another in glory, but this excelleth them
all-— the chief among ten thousand, and "altogether
lovely."

* Psalm viii. 3.
X Cant. vi. 10.

t Psalm Ixxxiv. 11.
§ Rev. xxii. 16.

THE BBTOIIT AND MORNING STAB.

J 37

Two days are given to the Church— a day of grace,
and a day of glory. The dayspring of each is the
appearing of the " same Jesus " in His first and second
advents.

From the sad era of the Fall, darkness settled on the
human race. Losing original righteousness, man lost
the light of life. The promise, indeed, of a victorious
Seed of the woman, given to our first parents before
they left the garden of E^.in, relieved the gloom of their
expulsion. The hope kiiu ied by this and other promises
was a light in darkness to the Church of the Old Testa-
ment, while thick clouds yet covered the sky. The
ancient believers were " saved by hope," the hope of
the Lord's appearing. So one of them wrote, "My
soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch
for the morninsf."*

The ancient Pagan world lay in gross darkness. It
was unhappy, indeed, and restless : for human souls
were aU made for light, and its philosophers, and
priests, and people alike groped and stumbled in the
gloom; now glorying in some poor lantern of this
world, as if it were a planet in heaven— now rushing
after some ignis fatuus, till they lost their way more
hopelessly than before.

The fulness of time brought the world's second day-
break, and the Church's first daybreak in Judea. We
know that in nature the morning star appears at its due

* Psalm cxxx. 6.

138

THE BRIGHT AlTD MORNING STAR.

time in silence, without clamour or ostentation — no
thunder peals through heaven to herald its approach.
So did Jesus come. In Be'hlehem-Judah, and in the
very stable of the inn, was the nativity of the Son of,
the Highest — the dawn of redemption, the rise of the
Bright and Morning Star.

" For Thon wert born of woman ! Thou didst come,
Holiest ! to this world cf sin and gloom ;
Not in Thy dread omnipotent array.

And not by thunders strow'd.

Was Thy tempestuous roid ;
Nor indignation burnt before Thee on Thy way ;

But Thee, a soft and naktid child.

Thy mother, undefiled.

In the rude manger laid tc rest

From ofiF her virgin breast. " *

Obscure as was the nativity, there were signs and
tokens sufficient t t a good ers, for man had arrived.
A multitude of tuo heavenly host sang praises when
the Star of our redemption rose. The shepherds, angel-
taught, saw the Babe in the manger, and wondered.
Magi from the East, star-guided, fell down before the
Divine Infant, and worshipped; and aged Simon in
the temple, holding the virgin's Child in his arms,
spake of Him as the " light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glo-;- of God's people Israel."t

Signs of iimity soon appeared from the powers and
lovers of darkness. These could not love the Lord
• Milman. f Luke ii. 32.

THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR.

139

Jesus, and wished Him extinct because He disturbed
them with His light. The attempt was made to
destroy Jesus in His infancy. Murderous Herod tried
to quench that Morning Star in blood, when first it
faintly rose in Bethlehem. The demons, too, whose
element is darkness, complained that the Star had
appeared too soon, exposing their malignant tyranny :
" What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of
God ? art thou come hither to torment us before the
time?"* Wicked men were no more glad than the
very demons to see the day break. By long habit
men become so inured to moral darkness, that it is
painful and irksome to them to look on heaven's pure
light. It was thus with the elders and chief priests,
the scribes and Pharisees. They felt the presence of
the Lord Jesus a constant rebuke to themselves ; hence
their plots to weaken His influence, to blacken His
reputation, to eclipse the provoking radiance of that
bright Star, and, if possible, extinguish it utterly in
the darkness of death. These plots had their consum-
mation and apparent triumph in the crucifixion. But
from that hour, when all se6med lost, there was given
a brighter lustre and a more extended radiance to our
exalted Morning Star.

It must be acknowledged, that the day ushered in
by the first advent of the Saviour has not been a

• Matt. viii. 29.

140

THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR.

day without clouds. The brightness has been inter-
cepted and concealed from many ; the powers of dark-
ness struggle hard and long to impede the growing
light.

The Church looks forward to another and more per-
fect day, to be ushered in by the second advent of the
Son of man. Simon Peter has given directions to
Christians how to walk " till the day dawn, and the
day-star arise in your hearts.^^* He points to the

time of Christ's appearing in the resurrection morn

"Behold! he cometh with clouds," but the clouds
shall not hide His radiance from the eyes of angels or
men, for " every eye shall see Him.'f " The sun shaU
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of
the heavens shall be shaken : and then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven.''+

Ungodly men and unclean spirits may fear that
dawn of day, but it is an object of earnest hope to
belipvers. Not more ardently did the Old Testament
worthies wait for the first, than the New Testament
Church ought to wait for the second coming of the
Lord. "Joy cometh in the morning." Reunion of
the long-parted cometh in the morning. Crowns of
righteousness come in the morning to all who love
the Lord's appearing. Thereafter no clouds or dark-
♦ 2 Peter i. 19. f Rev. i. 7. t Matt. xxiv. 29, 30.

.a:

THE BEIGHT AND MORNING STAB.

141

ness shall fall upon the Church. The children of
light shall be gathered before the throne, "And
there shall be no night there; and they need no
candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God
giveth them light : and they shall reign for ever and
ever."*

* Rev. xxii. 5.

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