The Evangelist: Volume 1 (1867)

I THINK I see somewhat of the meaning of Paul’s word, “If in this life only,” &c. It is true that the blessed Lord died for me, but He rose again according to the Scriptures. Now, it is not only what He did, but what He does, that I live by; what He will do I have hope in. Not in man, that “would be disappointment, but in God, the living God, the Christ who died, and rose again. It is He who helps me every day. “By the good hand of my God upon me,” said one. “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue,” said another. It is this daily help, this continual consciousness of the presence of God, that makes the Christian life such a reality. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Not that there is not sympathy and help and comfort along the road, as the grace of Jesus communicates itself through the living members of that body of which He, the Christ, is the head, but the hope (though God be the God of hope, and can fill each saint with joy and peace in believing) is yet a hope that must have its fruition in a resurrection state, and not in a mortal body. This makes believers groan, because they cannot have that now, unhinderedly, which yet is theirs in title―resurrection-life. Liberty, then, is when the Holy Ghost is ungrieved; for the power of the truth would carry the soul into resurrection at once. “Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised hm from the dead.” This is what the soul wants―to walk in company with a risen Christ; and that is what is practically so difficult, by reason of the many things that hinder now. But the power of God keeps through faith unto salvation; that is, Christ keeps, and will keep, that which has been committed to Him against that day. If I saw it in any other hands, I should despair; but He is the resurrection and the life, and cannot lose one that has been given to Him in the eternal counsels of the Godhead, but will raise it up, every jot and title of the mystical body, again at the last day. (John 6:39, 40.) The Lord’s day is yet to come, in contradistinction to man’s day. The Lord will have His way in resurrection. Meanwhile, He is able to pluck the feet of His saints out of every net that may be laid in the road―able to save unto the uttermost, all the way through to the end; a succession of salvations―deliverances of the feet; but the final salvation, the last victory, is yet to come. Death is to be swallowed up in victory, mortality to be swallowed up of life.

2 Chronicles 16.

I HAVE been looking at 2 Chron. 16 with much interest. What a wicked thing of the king of Israel to weave such a spider’s web around the king of Judah! And yet it is what has been done, even as it were yesterday, consciously or unconsciously, by some of whom we might have expected better. Sad that it should be so; but the Bible is a book for all times―its words are living words, and speak the things that are, as well as those that have been, and that shall be. There is no one so marked as a man of God, who seeks to do right, and carry on the Lord’s work. Such an one was Asa, and beautiful indeed is the picture given of his early days. (See chap. 14.) “In his days the land was quiet.” “He took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers ... and the kingdom was quiet before him. And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest.” Now everything flows from the divine favor! All blessing is received from Him who is love―the God of love and peace―and oh, that this were more deeply realized by each and all! To trace the blessing up to Him, to give Him the glory of it all, is what the true and faithful heart delights in. “Because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought, and He hath given us rest on every side.” (14:7.) It is not surprising that a soul taught thus to glorify the Lord in peace and prosperity, should be ready, in the hour of battle, to exhibit the beautiful and affectionate trust which the knowledge of the Lord engenders. “Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: Help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.” Here was the secret of his conquest—reliance upon God. This is the principle that ever brings blessing to the soul—faith; faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. God honors faith, and faith honors Him. This is evident throughout the Bible history. Jesus ever loved to see faith in the people. And surely there is nothing that honors Him so much. He sounded, as it were, the depths of it in those who came to Him. “Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saving, according to your faith be it unto you.” (Matt. 9:28, 29.) Confidence in Jesus is the spring of peace, bringing rest in this dark world, and hope that maketh not ashamed in looking onward to another. But to return to the narrative in 2 Chron. 16. See how one wrong leads to another, unless the eye be very single. (v. 2.) The danger is of getting off the path of dependence upon the Lord―of trust in Him. He is ever at hand, if the soul did but realize it. Asa saw the strait, but what a course he took for deliverance. He calls in the aid of Syria, helping the Syrian with the treasures of the house of the Lord. What a condition of things! And yet the wicked design of the king of Israel is baffled. “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,” the people might have sung; but oh, how humbling! It is the Syrian that smites Israel; and the deliverance wrought for Judah is wrought, not as of old, by means of the ox-goad, sling, or lamp and pitcher of her children, but by the sword and spear of those who were “afar off.” Still it is deliverance; and not only is the snare broken, but the spoils go to the building of two cities for, instead of one against, the people. How wonderful is the wisdom of God in this! It is always so. Let the enemy lay what plots he will, they always rebound upon himself. The remaining verses give a tale of warning, lest the soul should rely on any but the Lord (v. 7); a tale of encouragement, too, seeing that He can accomplish His purposes, work out His sovereign will without man’s aid; yet does He seek that the heart should rely upon Him; seeks that it should be perfect towards Him. Blessed, blessed Lord! How wonderful that He should care for man as He does―wonderful that He should love him so. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him.” Blessed Jesus, how sweet is thy mercy! How happy the portion of the soul that trusts in thee!

May the reader go over the whole chapter and gather its instruction. One thing is mournful, to see how little the later days of some of the Old Testament saints corresponded with their earlier ones. Asa seems here to afford an instance of this. Alas! what is man? He rages against the message of truth even. But God is able to recover His saints. Blessed be His name, He does not finally cast away. The faults of His children are told, and told plainly; but there is forgiveness. with Him, even at the eleventh hour. The covenant of grace, of life and peace, is with a greater than Asa; a greater than David, or than Solomon. The true King of Israel, the Lord of life and glory, Jesus, the Son of God, who hung upon the tree for sinners, for wretched, lost, apostate man, the substitute, the sufferer, the Saviour, has accomplished all that was needed for the vindication of the divine glory in the salvation of all that believe. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

"Always Confident."

2 Col. 5.

WHAT God has wrought is enough to warrant every believer in the Lord Jesus having the fullest confidence in Him. There is not the least excuse for a fear or mistrust. Every need has been met, and every necessity provided for. There is not a state of soul, not a step of the way the believer is called to pass, that has not been anticipated. God has been for us in His counsels and ways in Christ, and always will be for us. Not only has He redeemed us from sin, and Satan, and death, and rescued us from this present evil age, but He has redeemed us unto Himself, unto eternal glory; predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the power whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Saints in the apostles’ days knew these things hence they could say, “We are always confident.” Like other men, they had every now and then something to humble them; but this did not shake their confidence in God. Paul speaks of fighting’s without and fears within, of his having been so tried with troublous circumstances as to be pressed out of measure and above strength; but this did not shake his confidence in God. Whatever might be the difficulties of the path, the workings of Satan to hinder, or the failure of the saints, still he could say, “We are always confident.” It is well to see this, and to learn from Scripture the true secret of abiding confidence.

It is clear, that if this confidence had been grounded on what Paul was, or felt, or experienced, or wrought, it would have been very changeable; for of whom could it be said but the blessed Lord Himself, that He changeth not? If this confidence had been based on Paul’s success in his ministerial labors, it would have greatly fluctuated; for at one time he had difficulty to restrain some from worshipping him as a god, and at another time they tried to stone him to death. The saints who at one time were ready to pluck out their ayes for him, at another counted him their enemy. Many who once walked with him in brotherly affection and confidence, afterward turned away from him. But with all these changes, he could still look up and say, “We are always confident.”

Paul was contemplating eternal realities when he wrote these words. He knew that his earthly tabernacle was a tent, and had the sentence of death on it. He felt that he was a sinner―chief of sinners; and that as a saint he was less than the least, and not meet to be called an apostle. But he knew whom he had believed. He knew the blessedness of the fact, that Christ was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. He gloried in the cross. He rejoiced in having redemption, and being made nigh to God in Christ Jesus, and through His blood. He triumphed in an already accomplished work; so that when a question suggested itself to him as to the security of the believer, his answer was, “It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us.” These are realities on which the soul can rest, and they are enough to give the surest ground of confidence. No marvel, therefore, that the apostle cried out, “We know (not we hope, but we were) that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Cor. 5:1.) Blessed confidence! The triumph and language of faith―the utterance of a soul at perfect peace with God. There is no “if” here; but it is the expression of full rest, and unquestionable hope. It is a soul declaring that it has everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. But more than this. He goes on to say, “Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” This is more than forgiveness, or even acceptance; it is the consciousness of having received already part of the eternal possession; the Holy Ghost having been given as the abiding Comforter; the earnest of all the glories that are to follow. He knew that, as a believer, he was “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” (Eph. 1:14.) He was therefore already in the enjoyment of part of the blessings that the precious blood of Christ had secured for him. Hence he exultingly exclaimed, “Therefore we are always confident.” What more, I would ask, can the believer have to assure him of his eternal security, and of the certainty of being forever in glory, than the present possession of the abiding Comforter? Blessed fruit this of the redemption work of Jesus! Glorious gift to the sons of God! for surely the Holy Spirit could not dwell in an unpurged temple. What could He have to seal on the heart of a sin-stricken soul who has fled to Jesus to escape the wrath to come, but the infinite value, cleansing power, and sanctifying efficacy of the precious blood of Christ? And to whom could He possibly be “the earnest,” but to the heirs of God, and the joint-heirs with Christ? The subject here, then, is the security of the believer; the truth opened up is the ground of his present and everlasting rejoicing in Christ. How blessed! What dishonor to the Lord for a believer to be fearing and questioning his eternal safety, when such an unquestionable warrant for unchanging confidence is spread out before him in the Scriptures of infallible truth!

It is clear, then, that the faithful and unchanging God is the alone ground of being “always confident.” Creatures cannot be trusted; every cistern is broken; every gourd withers; death is stamped on everything we see; the most devoted saint knows that he is full of imperfection; experiences are ever changing; frames and feelings vary continually; but God changeth not. He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. His mercy endureth forever. His word will never pass away. He freely delivered up His beloved Son that we might live through Him; and having finished the work, God raised Him from the dead, and exalted Him to His own right hand. In heaven He appears for us, pleads for us, shepherds us, blesses us, and unceasingly cares for us. Well may we worship the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, and continually ring, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

“Secured in Christ, their Head on high,

The saints below may boldly cry,

Praise to our God! Amen!

To God in Christ all praise be given;

For evermore on earth, in heaven

Amen! amen! amen!”

"And They Shall Never Perish."

John 10:28.

“NEVER, perish!” words of mercy,

Coming from the lips of One

Who, though here a homeless stranger,

Fills the high eternal throne;

Brightness of the Father’s glory,

God and man in One combined;

Faithful Shepherd of the chosen,

Safe are those to Him assigned.

“Never perish!” words of sweetness,

Dissipating every fear;

Filling all with joy and gladness,

Who the Shepherd’s voice can hear;

Bringing richest consolation

To the soul fatigued, oppressed;

Sweet refreshment to the fainting,

And to weary spirits rest.

“Never perish!” words of power;

Satan now I can defy:

Safe my soul beyond my keeping,

Hid with Christ in God on high.

Come what will, I’m safe for ever―

‘Tis the promise of my God;

Written in His word unfailing,

Sealed with Jesus’ precious blood.

“Never perish!” words of glory;

Heaven is mine, and all is well;

O my soul, with rapture burning,

On this precious sentence dwell!

Think not on thy faults and failings,

Nor on thy deserving’s brood;

What thou art in Jesus ponder,

And this promise of thy God.

Another Lawless Son Saved.

IN the late Prussian war a young soldier, a son of Christian parents, was called to the fight. Besides his parents, he had a converted brother and sister. All doubtless cried earnestly to God for him; and though the answer did not come in the way it might have been expected, yet it did come. God did answer prayer. The young scoffer was broken down, and made willing to accept Christ as his Saviour. God is greater than man. He is almighty, and all-wise. He knows how to meet the most stubborn and rebellious, and so subdue by His own grace as to make the soul everlastingly happy in His presence. May praying parents encourage themselves in the Lord, earnestly, perseveringly, believingly crying to God, and expecting answers from Him. Meanwhile train the children for Him, and not for this present evil world. “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Show them by the godliness and devotedness of your walk the reality of your faith. Make no excuse for your own sins; but walk before God, and confess wherein you dishonor Him. Do not be ashamed of Christ, but seek to spread the sweet savor of His precious name. Look for God’s blessing upon you and all your house, and you will not be disappointed. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

The son I am going to tell you about had always been wild and lawless. When packing his things, his mother wanted to put in a little Testament, but he called out, “I won’t have anything so unnecessary; if I want one, there are sure to be plenty to be had.” Amongst other things he said, “I shall return in good case, or not at all. I will not return a cripple, or wounded.” In the first battle he was shot through the knee; but wrote home a few days after, “I am wounded, but not badly; I hope in two or three weeks to be fighting again. Though I lay for some hours on the battle-field amongst the dead and dying, I have not yet learned the meaning of the word fear.” His parents wrote to him at the Schloss where he was taken, but received no answer; and alter a little while some of their letters were returned with “not to be found” written on them. Then, after some time, they received a letter from the doctor, which had been a fortnight on the road, to say Carl had suffered dreadfully. The wound, which at first had done well, took a bad turn, and it would be needful to take off the leg. The issue was doubtful. He worried a good deal about getting no letters. His father started at once for Bohemia, and, on reaching the Schloss, found his son very ill: his leg was off and fever had set in; but his soul was saved! He had learned his lost condition, and got Christ as his Saviour. The Count of the Schloss, a Protestant, had given him a Testament, and the steward’s daughter had read to him from it every day, and often entreated him to give in and pray for mercy. “You will have to; God is stronger than you, and will break you down,” she said. The apparent silence of his parents broke at last his proud heart; it was too bitter in all his pain to be forsaken by those nearest, and to get no word in answer to all he wrote (where all the letters and money are is still a mystery). Conscience told him how well he deserved it all, and once in the light, he soon began to cry for mercy and pardon, and the Lord heard him. His father was obliged to return to his business, and the doctor thought Carl might linger long―perhaps recover―so his mother went to nurse and bring him home. But the first evening she was there, hearing the music at a comrade’s burial, Carl said to her, “Mother, that’s the last music I shall hear on my homeward way. I shall soon be there, very soon at home.” And so it was; the next day he fell asleep most peacefully. He said no one knew how bad he had been; his pain was all his own fault; he had no need to be in active service, a post as field baker had been offered to him, but his pride prevented his accepting it; and when wounded and fallen on the ground, his first thought was, “I am done, I am a cripple, and must go home to be preached to.” In his pride he said, “NEVER! rather die and have done with it;” and with a great effort he raised himself up, and sought death, and wished and tried to be shot through the heart; but though the balls flew around him like hailstones, and even grazed him, not one struck him. At length exhausted, he sunk on the ground, again, and later was fetched away.”

Behold!

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29.

HITHER, come. Behold and wonder!

View the sight all sights above!

Fix thy gaze on Calv’ry yonder,

On the proof that God is love;

Where the beams of heavenly glory

Shine and center in the cross;

See! the Saviour, pierced and gory,

Tasting woe and death for us.

Great is He who bears the anguish,

Rich the virtue of His blood;

Though in suffering He doth languish,

Yet is He the Almighty God.

He it is who gave the motion

To the rolling orbs on high;

Formed the earth, and bade the ocean

Not to pass its boundaries by.

Lo! ‘tis He in human fashion

Who for sinners sheds His blood;

Bearing, in Divine compassion,

Judgment’s deep and fearful flood.

Yes; He bears it undiminished;

Hear His God-forsaken cry!

Hark! He utters, “It is finished;”

See Him yield His breath and die!

Trace Him now from earth to heaven,

Crown’d, and seated on the throne;

See! the highest place is given

To the Lamb who did atone.

God can now His mercy shower

On the worst of Satan’s slaves;

Shew His love’s subduing power,

And the grace that fully saves.

A Brief Meditation on a Word in Jeremiah.

Chapter 23:24.

“Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” How full of comfort is this glorious truth to the soul that seeks Him―that desires to realize His presence! It may be a poor captive in a dungeon, or on a sick bed; a soul all alone, as it were; one groaning under oppression, or perplexed, in difficulty; circumstances and prospects presenting nothing but discouragement. To such what a truth is this: “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” Do not I, Jesus. What a soothing, healing balm is in that blest name!

“The name that calms our fears,

That bide our sorrows come.”

What a hush falls upon the soul―upon creation―as the voice of the Lord is heard, as the presence of the Lord is realized, pervading, occupying everything. It is as the glory filling the temple of old, or the cloud enfolding the mount of transfiguration. “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” What blessedness for the soul that knows, or is known of Him! Can anything keep His presence out from such a one? Unperceived He may be by thousands; but where there has been waiting for Him, where there is felt need of Him, where the heart has desired Him, there He is; and this will be the satisfaction of the soul throughout eternity (the soul whose object is Christ), that He fills it; that filling all in all, as He does, He fills it. It is my own individual joy. I may be, am, but a unit in the vast circle of the redeemed, a drop in the ocean of eternal life, but this is my blessedness, He fills me, I am filled in Him. I can joy in the thought that others are happy, the knowledge of their happiness enhances mine; but the deep satisfaction of my soul, the content that pervades it, has its source in this: that He, the eternal God, the life of all that live, has loved me, loves me ever, fills me from His own exhaustless fullness, makes me a partaker of His own happiness. This by faith now, in full, unclouded, unhindered, perfectness hereafter. Such is the believer’s portion, such the joy that springs into his soul as he enters into the truth of the word, “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”

"But, Sir, 'Tis If I Endure."

“HAVE you known the Lord many years?” we lately asked a well-known Christian lady. She replied, “If I know the Lord, I have known Him many years.” “Why do you say ‘if?’ Have you any doubt about your salvation?” “I hope I know Him,” she said; “and as to salvation, I hope I shall be saved; but, sir, ‘tis if I endure; for does not the Scripture say, that ‘he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved’?” We refer to this case because it is by no mean a singular one; and no marvel, when we hear of those whom we trust are servants of Christ preaching from this test to endeavor to persuade their hearers by it that no one can be quite sure of salvation, and that it is presumption to say that we are saved. It is really distressing to find so many whose ways and words make us hope that they are really born again of God’s Spirit, who are constantly doubting their security. They little think how greatly it dishonors Christ, and grieves the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption.

It is quite true that the Scripture does say, that “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matt. 24:13; Mark 13:13.) But the question is, Who are the persons here spoken of? Certainly we are not; for we know that we have everlasting life, and shall never perish, that we have passed from death unto life, that Christ is our life; for we are in Him who is true. But the Lord is here putting forth a prophetic discourse. He is speaking of what will take place after the Church is gone, before Christ appears with us in manifested glory at the end of the age. The people here spoken of are godly Jews, who will be inspired with hopes concerning Messiah and the kingdom, who refuse to bow down to the beast and his image, at the time when this wicked one shall be putting to death all those who do not receive his mark in their right hands or in their foreheads. Then we can easily see it will be a question of endurance; for such as do endure this fiery persecution will be saved in the flesh, as Noah was. Such will be brought through the fiery persecution, as he was through the flood, and enjoy Messiah’s presence in the kingdom when He reigns before His ancients gloriously. When the Lord repeats the same statement in Matthew 10:22, He evidently contemplates “the gospel of the kingdom” which He there commissions the twelve apostles to carry, as being resumed before the end when the Son of man cometh, which we now know will be taken up by the Jewish remnant after the Church is removed. The question then, I say, will be one of endurance. Now it is simply a question of being in Christ; for such have been quickened together, raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Instead, therefore, of looking forward to a questionable salvation at the end, we have eternal life at starting, we are born again of the Spirit, we have passed from death unto life, we are justified from all things, we shall not come into condemnation, we have died unto sin, we are alive unto God, through Christ Jesus, joined to the Lord, and already seated in Him in heavenly places, who is our life and righteousness, and who hath obtained eternal redemption for us. Nay more, we now know the heavens opened, the veil rent, that Jesus is ascended and gone in there by His own blood, time giving us title to enter now with boldness into God’s presence at all times. Instead, therefore, of its being a question of our faithfulness, or of our endurance, our hearts are taught by the Holy Ghost through the Scriptures to rest in God’s word God’s faithfulness, and the unchangeableness of Him who cannot lie, and who declares that Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25.) We therefore can glory in the Lord, and not in the flesh. Our joy is, that we are now brought into the result of an accomplished work of salvation, according to God’s eternal purpose and grave, and that nothing can change His perfect love to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. We can look up, therefore, and unfeignedly ring,

“Without one thought that’s good to plead,

O what could shield us from despair

But this, though we are vile indeed,

THE LORD OUR RIGHTOUSNESS IS THERE?”

Such, and much more, the gospel of the grace of God brings us; and this received into the heart is the source of all peace and rest of conscience, the ground of all worship and communion with the Father, and the spring also of devotedness and service to our Lord Jesus. If any fear whether such amazing love to such thoroughly unworthy ones would make them careless as to walk and testimony for the Lord, we would ask them, Have you tasted this goodness of God? have you revolved this unspeakable grace of God in Christ into your heart as eternal truth?

Dear reader, there is all the difference between the bare knowledge of the fact that Christ died for sinners, and receiving into your soul for your own blessing the marvelous grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. To know Him crucified as God’s way of saving you, to hold firmly the blessed fact, that when nothing else could cave you, and none else cared to save you, that God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up freely to die the death of the cross, that whosoever―you or anyone else―believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life―I say, to grasp such a fact in the deep consciousness of your hell-deserving state, can it fail to move the affections? Can it do otherwise than win the heart? Is it capable of less than moving the bowels and affections, and making us long to be wholly consecrated to Him who so loved us, and gave Himself for us? Be assured, my reader, that those who have known and believed this gospel of the grace of God, find the Lord Jesus to be an untiring object of delight, an inexhaustible fullness of eternal riches, a ceaseless cause for wonder and praise, and they have a constant longing to know Him more perfectly, and serve Him more faithfully. So vast and boundless is the blessing God has given us in Christ Jesus, and through His blood, that the soul sometimes cries out,

“What in thy love possess I not?

My star by night, my sun by day,

My spring of life when parched with drought;

My wine to cheer, my bread to stay,

My strength, my shield, my safe abode,

My righteousness before my God.”

Dear reader, before you lay down this paper, do ask yourself the plain question, “Have I eternal life?” Do not say, “I hope I shall,” for almost every person intends to have it, and thus allows the mere intentions to deceive and cheat them out of the reality. The point is, Have you eternal life now? Are your sins forgiven? ARE YOU justified from all things? Why not? Because you have not believed God’s testimony to the work of eternal redemption, which Christ accomplished on the cross for every one that believeth? O that I could persuade you now to look up to Jesus at God’s right hand in glory, and take Him as your Saviour! Why not now? O do think most seriously of this, for eternal consequences regarding yourself hang upon it. No longer refuse this sinner-loving Saviour, who delighteth in mercy, who came into the world to save sinners, “he died for the ungodly, and though now alive again from the dead, and at God’s right hand in heaven, still saves sinners; still welcomes all who come to Him; still says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Reader, are you going on to judgment, to receive “WAGES” for your works? or will you now receive eternal life as God’s free “GIFT” through Jesus? Hearken to God’s truth: “The WAGES of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23.)

The Cave of Adullam.

1 Sam. 22:1, 2; Chron. 11:15, 19.

It is true that those who resorted to David in this cave appear to have had no character to lose; they were either themselves debtors, or companions of those that were. But the day of Saul in Israel was like the world―a scene of apostacy and enmity to God. Either God had to act in grace, sovereign grace, or full destructive judgment. And grace can and will gather the harlot and the publican, or receive the discontented and the debtor. But then observe what this company became in the cave of Adullam; they resort thither as men without character, but there they make characters. (See 1 Sam. 22:1, 2, and 1 Chron. 11:15, 19.)

Fellowship with David has power and virtue. He was no debtor, though he will receive debtors. His distress was that of righteousness, and not of wrong. He had won a character already, though he would now, in his “den and cave of the earth,” receive those who had lost theirs. But in his company they become new men, and do such exploits of virtue as give them honor in the day when righteousness is exalted. David’s receiving of such is the condemnation of the world out of which they gathered to him. His making of them new creatures, or their becoming such while with him, is the vindication of that separated place to which they thus gathered. How easy it is to apply all this to a greater than David! When Jesus receives sinners, He receives them in grace; it is no question of previous character with Him. He gathers “bad and good,” as we read; those found in the lanes and alleys, the highways and hedges. It matters not in the reckoning of the Son of God. Not that He countenances evil, or can brook it in His presence; but He will not sanction the self-righteousness of the world; He will receive sinners, and eat with them. But His presence has its virtue―virtue to write a new description under a man’s name as here. (1 Sam. 22:2, and 1 Chron. 11:19.) Such is the mystic power of this separated place in the wilderness, or of Him whose presence and company make it what it is; and what do we covet to be but such Adullamites―men who, having destroyed ourselves in the ruin of character and circumstances, have fled to the Son of God, and with Him have acquired names and dignities, which He will own in the day of enthroned righteousness?

Christ My Comfort.

It is Christ’s love― I find in Christ―that comforts my heart; He is my portion truly, and a never failing one. I look into the word, and there I see it. Take a verse or two in Rom. 8, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? God that justifieth?” God cannot be inconsistent with Himself; He justifies. “Who is he that condemneth? Christ that died.” Ah, I look at the cross. I see it was love that took Him there, the deepest, purest love; will He condemn? “Yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” That same Jesus, who in weakness died, in sorrow and in love gave up His life upon the tree, lives evermore, O blessed truth, always thinking of His saints, ever caring for the welfare, their best, their highest interests. I see a type of Him in Joseph. How tender, how considerate is he for the comfort of those in whom his heart is interested. (Gen. 45). “Provision for the way” he makes, as well as rest, and honor, and abundance for the future. And will Jesus be lees careful for His own? Oh no! He knows the wilderness, and what its wants and sorrows are, and every blessing, spiritual and temporal, that His saints may need He surely will supply. (Phil. 4:19.) The comfort of His presence, the enjoyment of His love, is the soul’s first and highest desire. All else is secondary; but He cares for the minutest thing, and that all the journey through.

Christ the Door.

Notes of an Address.

“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” JOHN 10:9.

THE occasion on which our blessed Lord brought out this wonderful truth, was that of opening the eyes of one who had been born blind, as recorded in the preceding chapter, where we find he was cast out of the synagogue because of his confession of Christ. This was a great offense, and still nothing is more offensive to proud man than a true and hearty confession of the Lord Jesus. The apostle’s word is not less true now than it ever was, that “they who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

The Lord had met the man who had been cast out, and blessedly revealed Himself to him. Then the Lord turned “he conversation to that of spiritual blindness, so that some of the Pharisees, deeply roused by what they had heard, asked Him, “Are we blind also?” For Jesus had said, “For judgment I am come into the world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” A very important testimony; for if a man takes the place of being blind, God is able to make him see; but if he says, I see, and have always been able to discern the things of God, he will have to learn, sooner or later, that he is and always has been blind. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.... neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14.)

This searching testimony of our Lord, as I have observed, so sorely touched the Pharisees, that they said, “Are we blind also?” They felt, doubtless, that they had all the learning of the day, and were the most intelligent people as to Scripture knowledge. Is it possible, then, that such as they could be blind? What was our Lord’s reply? “Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” That is, if they had really known their dark condition, and taken the place of being spiritually blind before God, they would have known God’s grace and power to forgive their sins; but saving, “We see” implied self-complacency, and the absence of felt need; and it is the sick who need the physician. There must be a sense of blindness for any to desire their eyes to be opened: a sense of guilt to lead any one to desire forgiveness. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The Lord is still speaking to the Pharisees in the tenth chapter. They not only professed to see, but to guide and shepherd God’s sheep. The question is, How came they thus in the place of shepherds? Had they a divine or human qualification? Had they gone in by the door? for if they had climbed up some other way, they were only thieves and robbers. A very solemn, searching announcement. The true Shepherd enters by the door; the porter opens to Him; the sheep hear His voice; they are His own sheep, and He leadeth them out. Yes, He leads them out from former ways and associations; outside everything that dishonors God―outside the path of sight, because into the path of faith and love.

The blessed Lord, the true and good Shepherd, declares that He is the door, the only way of access to God, the ONLY door, for any who desire salvation. He said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Thus we see that Jesus not only sought to convict these Pharisees of their blindness and falseness, but throws vide open the door to any who had a desire to enter in. There was not a single soul who heard Christ’s ministry that could go away and say, “There is no salvation for me;” for Jesus said, “By me if any man”―no matter who he is― “if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” How simple this is! A door is not a long dreary passage. A person only takes a single step to enter a door. My unconverted hearers, you are outside the door. It is simply entering into God’s presence through Jesus Christ His Son, who was crucified for sinners, but is now at God’s right, and, and you are saved, and saved forever. It is “by ME,” said Jesus, not by feelings, nor by experiences, nor by good resolutions, nor oven by good works, but by Christ. “By ME if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Oh! the blessedness of having the Lord’s authority for the assertion, that those of us who have entered into God’s presence by Christ are saved! Can anything be more simple? I remember hearing of a poor sick woman, who was told by some ladies that visited her, that Jesus was the door into God’s presence, and that there was no other way, and that all who entered in by Him were saved. She replied, “May I enter in in that way?” She was told, “Yes.” “Then why not now?” said she; and, turning on her side, she simply looked up toward heaven, and taking God at His word, entered in by Jesus, and was filled with joy and peace.

Mark again, I say, the simplicity and the preciousness of the words, “By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” It is no use saving you are too great a sinner, too old, too young, or anything else; it is, “if any man.” God is no respecter of persona. All have sinned. Every man is guilty before God. He that believeth not is condemned already. Now it is true, that if any man enter in by Christ, he will be saved; but in a little while it will be said, “If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed when the Lord cometh.” Now, “WHOSOEVER believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life;” but by-and-by, WEOSOEVER is not found written in the Book of Life, will be cast into the lake of fire.

Have you known, dear friends, what it is to receive this great salvation? Have you entered in by the door? Do you know what it is to find yourself in God’s presence through the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ? A believer is one who has accepted Christ for his Saviour, who has entered in through the door. A person may know that Christ is the door, and yet have never entered in. This is the difference between knowledge and faith. Faith takes Christ simply at His word, and enters in. “By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” This is the testimony of Jesus. Is there any room for doubt or fear, when you know that you have entered in by Christ? Surely He delights to save. He casts out none that come to Him. Resting on His word, we have perfect peace; we find ourselves at rest in God’s presence.

The posture that Jesus now takes toward a guilty world is that of Saviour, but in a little while it will be that of Judge. How, then, can any escape who neglect this great salvation? He will judge both the living and the dead; but now He is calling in richest love and mercy to sinners to enter in and be saved. His arms are still thrown wide open. His almighty power is still snatching brands from the burning. He yet calls in tenderest love, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” All He asks of you is to “Come.” He wants nothing more of you than to submit to be wholly saved by Him; to “enter in” on the ground of an already accomplished redemption; to “refuse not Mm that speaketh,” but to rest in His finished work. Can you, will you, any longer, then, be taken up with the unsatisfying pleasures of sin, and by your own hand of unbelief close this only door of escape from the wrath to come?

Thank God, the door is still wide open, and Christ saves to the uttermost all them that come unto God by Hira; but soon the door will be shut. Many will knock then, but the door is closed upon them forever. Many will be in earnest about their eternal welfare then, but it will be too late. In their anxiety for a mess of pottage, they counted eternal blessings unworthy of their interest; but now they feel themselves close on the precipice of outer darkness and despair, their distress is awakened, and never to be relieved; they knock, and call, and shriek, “Lord, Lord, open to us.”

But the reply from within, “I know you not,” will forever plunge them into the despondency of an eternal gloom. Oh, once more, think of those sweet words of Jesus, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”

Christ, the Physician.

THERE are few of us who have not, at some time or other in our lives, suffered from severe illness, or met with some serious accident, which has threatened even the loss of life itself. Then, cast upon the bed of protracted pain, or left to experience the languor and tedium of long-continued sickness, how welcome has been the aid of the intelligent medical man, and the attention of one’s kind and sympathizing friends. When we were in health, and in the cheerfulness of life and vigor, we may have slighted or despised the assistance which the physician could give; but when really sick and afflicted we have been glad to avail ourselves of his help, upon the principle declared in divine truth, that “they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.” (Luke 5:31.)

The occasion upon which the Lord uttered these words shows that men act much in the same way with respect to their souls; that while they continue righteous in their own eyes, or unconscious and unconcerned as to their real state as sinners before God, they do not value the salvation which has been provided, and is presented by Him who came “not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” But when, by the working of the Spirit of God, they are in any degree awakened to their actual lost and ruined condition, then they are happy to have such an one as the great and good Physician of souls to whom they can go for pardon, life, and healing.

We all know that one of the effects of illness is to make us see everything around us through a false medium. All appears to go wrong, while we probably think that the cause lies, not in ourselves, but in others. And one of the worst consequences of sin is, that it blinds the minds of men to the knowledge of their actual condition as known to the all-seeing eye of God, and declared in His word. Man knows not “the plague of his own heart,” and, therefore, he goes not to Him who alone can effect a cure.

The case of the leper in Israel, as presented to us in the 13th chapter of Leviticus, illustrates the truth that man cannot, and is not expected by his own knowledge to form an accurate estimate of his state as a sinner, but that he must have the judgment of the good Physician Himself, whose eyes are “as a flame of fire,” and who “searcheth the reins and heart,” and knows what is in man as well as what proceeds from him. In that chapter it is said that “the priest shall look on him [the leper], and pronounce him unclean.” And so God, who cannot err, has declared of man that “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the role of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.” (Isa. 1:5, 6.)

As only God knows the deep necessity of man as a sinner, so none but He could have provided the remedy to meet it. But, blessed be His name, He has provided an all-sufficient and permanent remedy for sin in the death and resurrection of His own dear Son; for on the cross the holy and just One “was wounded for our transgressions,” and “bruised for our iniquities.” There “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” There He made “HIS soul an offering for sin.” There Christ “poured out His soul unto death, He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many.” (Isaiah 53.) Thus, having suffered “the just for the unjust,” and “by Himself purged our sins,” He “was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,” and “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,” there to be “a Prince and a Saviour.” “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14, 15.) How, then, was the serpent lifted up? In the 21St chapter of Numbers we read that the people of Israel sinned by speaking “against God,” and that “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” Moses, however, at the command of the Lord, “made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” Even so has the Son of man, the Lord Jesus Christ, been lifted up on the cross, and exalted to the right hand of God; and now one look of faith to Him is present and everlasting salvation to the sinner.

So in the case of Naaman the Syrian, recorded in 2 Kings 5. He was a leper, and, as such, the type of a sinner, and he could do nothing to recover himself from his leprosy; but he was directed to go to Elisha, whose name it appears signifies, “The salvation of God,” and who thus beautifully typifies Christ. And what did Elisha, in the name of the Lord, direct him to do? Simply to “go and wash in Jordan seven times.” Naaman at first resisted; but afterward, upon entreaty, submitted to God’s way of cleansing him; and the issue was that “his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” And so the sinner who submits to God’s way of cleansing him from his sins, and believes in his heart that Jesus was delivered for his offenses, and was raised again for his justification (Rom. 4:25), becomes “clean every whit,” through the purging of his conscience by the precious blood of Christ; and is thus made meet for the very presence of God Himself.

But suppose the Israelite, instead of looking to the uplifted serpent, had tried remedies of his own, would he have lived? No; he would certainly have died. And if Naaman had, in his anger, gone back to the rivers of his own country, as he had at first proponed to do, would he have been clean? Nay; he would have remained a leper still. And so the sinner who despises or neglects God’s role remedy for sin, and follow the devices of his own heart, remains a sinner still, subject to the righteous judgment of God for not having believed in the name of His only begotten Son. His own heart would, indeed, tell him that human nature is not so bad after all, that it has some good left still, debased as he may admit it to be; but that by leaving off this and that sin, and attending to the ordinances of religion, all will be right at last. If, however, he follows the counsels of his heart, which “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” he must continue in his uncleanness, and so remain unfit for the presence of God; and if he persist in this course he must in the end perish in his sins.

Many assent to the great truths of the gospel, by allowing that man is a sinner, that he cannot save himself, that Christ died for sinners, and that He is able and willing to save them. But the mere assent of the understanding is not faith in the Son of God; for “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” A sick man may be told of a physician who could cure his complaint, and may admit that he could successfully treat his case, but if he will not submit to the prescribed treatment, of what avail will his knowledge of the skill of the physician be to him? None whatever. And so the sinner, who, with his mere natural understanding has received “the knowledge of the truth,” but who has not living faith in Christ, has only aggravated his guilt by not obeying the gospel of the grave of God, which has been proclaimed in his hearing.

But the word of the Lord is still, “Him that cometh to me I will in no vise cast out.” (John 6:37.) “There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth for I am God, and there is none else.” (Isa. 15:26) “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” (Ex. 15:26.)

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29.)

“A dying, risen Jesus,

Seen by the eye of faith,

At once from anguish frees us,

And saves the soul from death.

Come, then, to this Physician,

Who loves to bless and give;

He asks no hard condition,

“Tis only, Look and live.”

Christians, What Are You Doing?

“She hath done what she could.” ―Mark 24:8.

THESE were the blessed Saviour’s words concerning one who had broken a costly box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head. Her heart was taken up with Him therefore herself and her substance were consecrated to His service. Christ’s beauty seen, His love felt, and His words known, are the springs of all acceptable service. “The love of Christ constraineth us.”

Dear fellow Christians, what are we doing for Jesus? Let us not be intellectual Christians only, but practical Christians. We may be thought by many to be gracious Christians, but are we faithful Christians? How are we living? Is it to practically honor Christ? Is Christ Himself the one object of our affections? We know that He is all our salvation, but is He all our desire? Is it, then, His glory that we are seeking? Or is it self-glory, self-love, self-pleasing? Are we looking for the praise of men, or the praise of God?

Dear Christian reader, Do you visit the saints that are sick, and minister to the poor of your substance? Are you prayerfully and practically seeking the welfare of the Church of God? Do not say you can do nothing for Christ, for you are a member of His body, and He has given you a place of service in it, and if you ask Him, He will show you what His will is concerning you. You will then find that Christ has given you talents to use for Mm, to occupy till He come. Your blessing and spiritual growth will be hindered, as well as the Lord’s name dishonored, if you are not occupied in service according to His mind.

Think also of the gospel which He commands to be preached to “every creature.” Are you helping it forward by your prayers and substance? Are you preaching it? and if so, are you “steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord?”

“Sow in the wild waste places,

Though none thy love may own:

God guides the down of the thistle

The wandering wind hath sown.

Will Jesus chide thy weakness,

Or call thy labor vain?

The word that for Him thou bearest

Shall return to Him again.

Sow with thine heart in heaven,

Thy strength thy Master’s might,

Till some wild waste places blossom

In the warmth of a Saviour’s light.”

Consider the eternal precipice over which so many appear to be hastening, and think how few of our relatives, friends, and neighbors, heartily confess the Lord Jesus! Think of the tens of thousands close at our doors, and the hundreds of millions in the world who manifestly know not Jesus! How many of our acquaintances pride themselves on making “no profession.” Did not Christ weep over impenitent Jerusalem? Did He not lay down His life upon the Cross to save sinners? Did He not shed His blood for the ungodly? Did He not give Himself, His all, for you and me?

How do we, beloved, resemble Jesus in these things? How do we render to Him again? What are we doing for lost souls? Can we say, like Paul, “We are pure from the blood of all men?” Will the Saviour say, when He comes, to you and me, They have done what they could?

“Call to mind the words of Jesus,

Go throughout the wide, wide world;

Let all nations hear the Gospel,

Let them see Christ’s flag unfurled!

Caring not for wealth or pleasure,

Flinging selfish ease away.

Is it not the solemn duty

Christ’s last precept to obey?

“Think of thousands, yea, of millions,

Living, dying, far from God;

And, in His sight, answer truly,

Art thou guilty of their blood?

If a voice within thy spirit

Bids thee to these heathen go,

Hush it not, but humbly waiting,

Ask that God thy way will show.

“But if duty clearly, plainly

Bids thee stay on British soil;

Oh, to spread Christ’s glorious Gospel

Give thy substance, prayers, and toil:

If with riches God has blest thee,

Freely, gladly, largely give;

Thou shalt find it far more blessed

Than it has been to receive.”

The Cleansing of the Leper.

Lev. 14:1-8.

THE ordinance in Israel of the cleansing of the leper gives us a touching picture of God’s way of cleansing a sinner, and bringing him back into His own blessed presence to worship and serve before Him.

Leprosy was a remarkable type of sin. It entirely unfitted a man for the presence of God. His place was “outside the camp.” Whether he had few spots or many, he was pronounced “utterly unclean.” All he could therefore truthfully say of himself was, “Unclean, unclean.” The disease was most defiling. God alone could make a leper clean, and fit to come into the camp.

The true place therefore of a leper was outside the camp of Israel, outside everything of God—His presence, His service, His worship; with rent garments, head uncovered, and upper lip tied up, calling out, “Unclean!” lest any coming near should contract defilement. It is well for those who can take this self-loathing place, as without God, unclean, and undone before Him, unfit for His presence. Surely it is so; for we are told, that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” that all “are guilty before Him.”

God, however, could meet the leper in this foul and hopeless condition, and bring him back into the camp cleansed, and fit for His presence. In this ordinance we see great principles shadowed forth as to the way in which God has met us in our sin and guilt, fitted us for His own blessed presence, and made us to find rest and peace before Him in love.

1St THE LEPER WAS BROUGHT UNTO THE PRIEST (v. 2.) Wherever else he went, or to whatever person, it would be wholly unavailing. Out of all the people in the world, this one, and he only, had power from God to deal with the leprosy, and to pronounce him clean. So we know that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus only is the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. The sinner must have to do with the Lord Jesus about his sins, or be outside God’s presence forever. There is salvation in no other. Jesus says, “Come!” “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” How clear and encouraging this is!

2nd HE WAS EXAMINED BY THE PRIEST― “The priest shall look and behold if the plague of leprosy be healed.” The leper stood with his leprous spots exposed to the scrutinizing eye of God’s priest. Dealing with God, through Christ, about our sin is no light matter. It is a deeply solemn experience, to fall under the searching eye of God in His infinitely holy presence. To feel oneself a sinner before a sin-hating God, can only be endured by the knowledge of the fact that He is a sinner-loving God; for all things are naked and open before Him. There is not a secret thing which is not wholly uncovered before His eye.

3rd CLEANSING ONLY BY THE DEATH OF ANOTHER. The leper had to learn at this solemn moment, that he could be cleansed only by a sacrifice being offered. A live bird was therefore taken and killed over running or living water; for the death of Christ is connected with the outflowing of eternal life. And surely God teaches the soul that is exercised about his sins before Him, that it is only by the death of Christ that he can be brought to stand in acceptance with Him; for “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” The leper saw, in the suffering and death of the bird, God’s way of meeting him in order to cleanse him from his uncleanness. So it is only by the death of Jesus the Son of God that the sinner finds peace. with God, and cleansing of sin; “for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18.) Then, he saw the living bird, with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, dipped into the blood of the dead bird: thus in a figure the dead bird is identified with the living bird, in order to be a type of Him who was dead and is alive again, and that for evermore. The dignity or majesty, incorruptibility, perfect humility, and other characteristics of Christ, may be typified by the scarlet, and cedar wood, and hyssop, to show us the infinite power and efficacy of His precious blood.

4th THE SPRINKLING OF BLOOD. There the leper stood looking at God’s work for him, and then receiving God’s remedy, and hearing God’s sentence. He did nothing to merit any good, but received all from the God of Israel. Feeling his utter uncleanness and unfitness for God’s presence, his mouth was stopped, while the priest sprinkled the seven times, and “pronounced him clean.” This is most blessed. It touchingly shows us that salvation is of the Lord. It gave perfect assurance to the leper, and left no room for a question. Whatever he felt, or others suggested, he had the consciousness that he was under the power of the blood; and through that alone God’s Priest had “pronounced him clean.” And so the believer now, who simply has to do with Christ—God’s only Saviour―about his sins, is entitled to perfect peace, entirely on the ground that Christ died for our sins, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; for God’s word declares we are now justified by His blood. (Rom. 5:9.) We are thus pronounced clean.

5th THE LIVING BIRD IS THEN LET LOOSE, to prefigure a risen Saviour. “After He had purged our sins, He set down on the right hand of the majesty on high.” So that the resurrection and ascension of Christ give perfect assurance that God was fully satisfied with Christ’s atoning work, and that He saw in His death upon the cross the complete blotting out of the sins of His people. It was not possible that He should be holden of death―His flesh saw no corruption; but He was counted worthy of all glory, because he had so fully glorified the Father on the earth, and finished the work that He gave Him to do. Until the leper was cleansed, the living bird was detained; but the efficacy of the dead one being fully attested by the leper being pronounced clean, it was “let loose into the open field.” What peace and comfort this must have ministered to the poor leper! and what perfect rest of soul the knowledge of Christ risen from the dead and gone into heaven gives us! Surely we can sing―

“My comfort, my rejoicing, all shall be, Christ died and rose, He died and rose for me. He lives again; for me He lives above: I’m lost in wonder in Emmanuel’s love.”

6th THE LEPER CLEANSED HIMSELF. After he was pronounced clean, he cleansed himself and came into the camp. He washed his clothes, shaved off all his hair, and washed himself, and in this way came into the camp. So the believer that has had to do with God about his sins, and has the enjoyment of present forgiveness and cleansing by the blood of Jesus, has no confidence in the flesh; he sees that he himself is thoroughly unclean, and everything connected with him unclean also, and that all his natural comeliness, all that he formerly gloried in, cannot bear the light of God’s presence. But he acknowledges it unclean and unfit for God’s eye, and seas it all purged by the word of God, which testifies to the everlasting efficacy of the blood of Jesus. “Now,” said Jesus, “ye are clean, through the word which have spoken unto you.” Made nigh in Christ Jesus, and through His blood, we can, by the Spirit, enjoy God’s presence, worship the Father, and serve Him acceptably.

"Come!"

Come, weary soul! with guilt oppressed;

Come! shelter on the Saviour’s breast;

Come! Jesus gives the weary rest;

COME! Jesus died for Thee!

None other name can save the soul;

None other name can make thee whole;

On Him, by faith, thy burden roll,

And stand divinely free!

Matt. 11:28; Acts 4:12; Rom. 3:24-26; Gal. 5:1

There’s saving power in Jesus’ name;

The Lamb the Substitute became;

The Saviour bore the sinner’s shame

Himself the glory-realms on high;

Came down, the Holy One, to die:

Far off, His blood hath made me nigh;

It speaketh peace to thee!

John 1:29; 1 Pet. 2:24; Eph. 2.; Heb. 12:24.

Well nigh two thousand years ago,

“A stranger,” Jesus walked below,

Endured suffering, pain, and woe,

The Father’s will His plea.

God’s judgment on the cross He bore;

That bitterness of death is o’er:

Raised from the tomb, He dies no more;

He pleads on high for me.

Jer. 14:8; Is. 53.; John 8:28, 29; Ps. 22.

Oh! why a single doubt retain?

He groaned, He died, He rose again!

Oh! why despise the Saviour’s pain?

His blood was shed for me.

My crimson sins He bore away;

My load of debt He deigned to pay;

The feast is spread; oh why delay?

Arias! He calleth thee!

1 Cor. 15:1-11; Luke 14:16, 17; Heb. 2:2, 3; Mark 10:49, 50.

Ah! ponder well what Christ hath done!

Behold Him! the ascended One!

His well-beloved! His only Son!

The Father gave for thee!

To God thy glad thanksgivings raise;

And witness, walking in His ways,

“He gave Himself for me!”

Eph. 3:16-19; John 3:16; Rom. 10:8-10; Gal. 2:20.

The Coming of the Lord for His Saints, and the Day of the Lord.

IT is very important to distinguished between these two lines of truth, because Scripture does. To speak of the Lord’s coming for us, and the day of the Lord, as if they were the same things is to confuse the both. Our hope, strictly speaking, as Christians, is the Lord Himself; we look for other things afterward, but He is our proximate hope. The day of the Lord is the true Jewish hope; hence you often real of it in the Old Testament. But the coming of Christ for us, when those who are Christ’s shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, is not found in the Old Testament. It is a New Testament revelation. Hence, Paul says, “This we say unto you by the word of the Lord.” And again, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

When the Lord comes for us, those who see Him will be transformed into His likeness—we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye: “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” But when He comes with us, to bring in the day of the Lord, “every eye shall see Him;” and, instead of those who see Him being changed, “all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” When the Lord comes for us, He descends to meet us in the air; but when He comes with us, “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives.”

When He comes for us, there will be some looking for Him―“to them that look for Him, shall he appear” (Heb. 9:28); when He comes with us, it will be as a thief in the night: “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (1 Thess. 5:2.)

When Christ comes for us, He will separate His saints from the wicked, and raise the dead saints, and all will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, without any action on the wicked; they are simply left behind. But when He comes with us, He will sever the wicked from the just; take the bad away in judgment, leaving the righteous for blessing in the earth, and not raising the dead till a thousand years afterward. (Rev. 20:5.) Who can say how near, how very near coming of the Lord for His saints may be!

The Sympathy of Jesus With the Church, and With the Jewish Remnant.

The Lord’s tender care over us is seen in His prayer in John 17. Besides, we are told, that in “that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted;” and again, “We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with sin.” (Heb. 2:18; 4:15.)

The Lord’s care for the Jewish remnant, whom he foresaw would be in the great tribulation, is blessedly brought out in Matt. 24, “Then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains.” “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,” because of the sufferings they would be exposed to; “neither on the Sabbath-day,” because godly Jews would only be free in conscience to take a Sabbath-day’s journey, and thus not escape the pursuit of their persecutors. What tender love and sympathy is here brought out!

The Coming of the Lord for His Saints, and With His Saints.

Compare 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, with Matt. 24:37-41.

Nothing can be more distinct than the difference which the Spirit of God has made in Scripture between these two actions. The one is accompanied by a separation of the saved from the ungodly, the other by a separation of the wicked from among the just.

The true hope of the Church of God is Christ Himself. We are taught in Scripture that the glories of the kingdom will follow; but we know that the Son of God, who is heir of all things, will come for us to introduce us into these glories, and share the inheritance with us, His joint-heirs. We are, therefore left here for “a little while” to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.

We find, therefore, that when the Lord left His disciples, He said, “I will come again, and receive you UNTO MYSELF, that where I am, there ye may be also;” and when the believer’s hope is spoken of by Paul, he says, “The LORD HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” In these verses there is no idea of Christ coming with us, but for us; hence the action is entirely confined to saints―those who are in Christ: the dead in Christ are raised, the living in Christ are changed, and together caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Thus the action ends. It is a separation of the saints from the ungodly; in other words, the good are separated from the bad. No mention is made of the wicked; they are simply left behind. We have also the same instruction in the parable of the ten virgins; those who are ready enter into the marriage, and the door is shut; the unsaved are simply excluded. Observe, then, that the Scriptures teach us clearly, that when the Lord comes FOR us, the saved “are separated from the wicked, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

It is also clear that after this believers are to appear in manifested glory with Christ. “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:4.) This action is connected with judgment upon living people, who have refused the testimony of God concerning Christ; He will come forth in flaming fire, for Christ must then cast out them that do iniquity, and reign till He hath brought everything into subjection to Himself. The world will not be better than it was in the days of Noah. Now God waits in long-suffering mercy, but then the cup of iniquity will be full, so that the Lord will come with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon the ungodly. Christ will then specially deal with the living wicked―take them away in judgment, and tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. It will be an unutterably awful time. The Lord knoweth those who serve Him, and those who serve Him not. So exact will be the line of separation, that if two are together grinding at a mill, or together in the same field, one shall be taken away in judgment, and the other spared for blessing in the earth. Thus it was in the judgment in the time of Noah; those who had refused God’s testimony were taken away, and Noah and his family left for the purged and renewed earth. Hence we read, “As the days of Noe were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came, and TOOK THEM ALL AWAY; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; one SHALL BE TAKEN, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one SHALL BE TAKEN, and the other left.” This scene is therefore clearly a taking away of the wicked, a casting out of the kingdom of them that offend and do iniquity; or, as we find elsewhere, a severing of the wicked from among the just. This action is precisely opposite to that when the Lord comes for us, because it is the Lord taking possession of the earth, entering upon the inheritance with us, His joint-heirs. It is therefore a scene of manifested glory, when it will be known who is the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” (Rev. 1:7.) Here there is no mention of saints being caught up; for, as we have seen, that must have previously taken place; and now we accompany Him. Having been in heaven with Him, the heavens, we are told, open, and the Lord descends in great power and glory, to judge and make war, and the saints follow Him. The whole scene of the earth, therefore, is one of misery and wailing. It is the great and dreadful day of the Lord. (See 2 Chron. 16.) How the knowledge of these things enhances the true ground of peace the security and hope, the believer now has in Christ!

The Cross of Christ.

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”―all. 6:14.

PAUL, delighted in the cross of Christ. It was the attractive object of his heart. It was his great testimony to the world, and constant ministry to the Church. He knew that he owed all present and eternal blessings to the Lord Jesus, and that the cross was the foundation of all his hope, and the source of all comfort and joy. “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” was, therefore, his constant theme. His life was one of faith on the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him, so that he could say, “For me to live is Christ.” His testimony to the heathen was Christ crucified; his ministry to saints, Christ Himself—His worth, fullness, His infinitely efficacious sacrifice, and everlasting priesthood; His Headship, Lordship, coming. He loved to ponder the personal glories of the Son of God, and to mark the moral glories that shone out in every step of His path―the glory of His humiliation, the glory of His resurrection, and ascension, and coming. Paul felt that he had an omnipotent friend in Christ, so that he could say, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me;” and his confidence in every trouble was, that all things worked together for his good, and that in all these things he was more than conqueror through Him that loved him; so that he could thank God for always giving him to triumph in Christ. His constant, patient hope was, that the Lord Himself would soon come, and that he and those who are Christ’s at His coming would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and be forever with the Lord: so that his firm persuasion was, that nothing would be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul’s whole soul was thus thoroughly in love with Christ, and this gave him such a separate walk; for, as another has said,

“‘Tis the treasure I’ve found in His love

That has made me a pilgrim below;”

and it is especially when contemplating the marvelous glory of Christ crucified for sinners, in contrast with all man’s attempts to glory in the flesh, that he bursts forth with that earnest and decided exclamation ― “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Few men ever had so much naturally to glory in as Paul. As to parentage and family, he was one of pure Hebrew extraction, and belonged to one of the most blessed tribes of the people of Israel. As to character, in a word, his whole life was in man’s eye blameless. As to education, he was most refined and polished― “brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.” As to religion, he outstripped most of his neighbors; he tells us, “I profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals;” he belonged to one of the most popular sects of his day; he was not only “a Pharisee,” but “the son of a Pharisee.” But what was his estimate of all these things? He counted them “dung.” The cross of Christ had shown him what man really was. He had learned that, however esteemed that things were among men, they would not bear the holy scrutiny of God. He says, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ,” and confessed himself to be “the chief of sinners.” Thus, the more he knew of himself the more cause he saw for self-abhorrence, and the greater reason for glorying only in the cross of Christ.

Again, as a saint, Paul was one of the most devoted followers of Christ that was ever on the earth. As an apostle, his labors were more abundant, and, perhaps, more successful than any. As to sufferings for Christ, his stripes, imprisonments, hunger, and nakedness were, perhaps, beyond most. As to knowledge of divine truth, who ever had such an “abundance of revelations?” But does he glory in his devotedness, gifts, zeal, sufferings, or knowledge? Does he not tell us that he felt he was “less than the least of all saints,” “not meet to be called an apostle,” and that God’s ways were “past finding out?” All these blessed things seemed little before the brightness of the glory and magnitude of the work of the cross; therefore he adoringly cries out, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Why did Paul see such superlative excellency in the cross? Because it was the foundation of life, the foundation of all his blessings, the source of all enduring glory. In that cross he saw that “God is love;” that God had met him there, though a guilty sinner―a blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious― and brought him eternal salvation as a free gift. There he saw that God made peace through the blood of the cross. There Paul read his title clearly to stand in glory with Christ forever. Through that cross he received life, righteousness, and eternal redemption. There he could see that God, though holy and just, was merciful to our unrighteousness; and that He who perfectly hates sin manifests the perfect love to the sinner. All fears, therefore, vanish before the cross; doubt and mistrust pass away like vapor before the glory of God in Christ crucified. The old man is here set aside, and new life―eternal life―brought to us. Ah, Paul saw that instead of his being condemned, God there condemned sin in the flesh in His own Son. What exceeding riches of divine grace the cross of the Son of God unfold! It fired the apostle’s soul; it attracted his whole heart; it quieted every fear; it satisfied every desire of a sin-stricken conscience; it drew his affections and mind to things above, where Christ sitteth in glory―to heaven, where Christ entered by His own blood. The precious blood of Christ gave him a key to unlock every treasure in heaven, and a title to share the inheritance with Christ. Had he not, then, abundant reason to glory in the cross, and have not all others who thus know God in Christ? Is it any marvel, then, that Paul so cried out, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

Dear reader, what think you of Christ? Do you see that the man Christ jeans who died on the cross is the Son of God, and that He died there for sinners? Is it nothing to you that. God laid the burden and guilt of sin upon His holy and beloved Son, and made Him a curse for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and thus make us fit to stand in God’s presence forever? Did you ever solemnly think of the words of Scripture, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ... and with His stripes we are healed?” Ah, my reader, you cannot escape the coming wrath but through the blood of Christ. His blood alone cleanseth from sin. There is only peace with God through the blood of the cross. Jesus crucified for sinners is the only Saviour; there is salvation in no other. You must either take refuge in Him, and thus learn to glory in the cross, or be in eternal sorrow for having turned your back upon the Son of God who died on the cross to save sinners.

“The cross, its burden, oh, how great!

No strength but His could bear its weight,

No love but His would undertake

To bear it for the sinner’s sake.”

Death and Judgment Past for the Believer.

Notes of an Address on Heb. 9:27, 28.

“And as it is appointed unto me once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

WE have three different appearing’s of the Lord spoken of at the end of this chapter. We read of Christ having appeared at the end of the world―the end of the ages―to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (v. 26.) You see it was not simply to make a way for the sinner that Christ died, but to do what nothing else ever did or can do―to put away sin; and so completely has this been done, that we read elsewhere of sins being purged, blotted out, cast into the depths of the sea, cast behind God’s back, never more to be remembered, and the like, to show us God’s estimate of the value of Christ’s work. Some say that they must every now and then look at their sins; but how much better is it to look to Jesus, and see how completely they have been “put away!” Observe, the Scripture says, “PUT AWAY!”

Then you find Christ spoken of as appearing somewhere now. Where is it? In heaven. He is gone back again to the Father, only He has gone into heaven with that which has accomplished our eternal redemption. He entered into heaven by His own blood. He is there as a great High Priest for all believers. He is only a High Priest for such: the unbeliever is far from God. Jesus, then, is now appearing in the presence of God for us. He is our righteousness, life, redemption, so that we appear before God as He is; we are perfect in Christ Jesus.

Then we have another appearing mentioned in the closing words of the chapter, which is yet future, though we know not how very near it may be; but I shall hope to refer to that soon. Meanwhile, I would call attention to the very solemn truth recorded in verses 27, 28. “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” The as and so here are very emphatic.

Death and judgment are God’s appointments for men, because they are sinners. The divine verdict is not only that “all have sinned,” but that all are “under sin”― “servants of sin;” so that sin to the natural man is something agreeable to his nature, hence we read of the “pleasures of sin.” Death is the result of sin, and so is judgment; and what can. God’s condemnation of sin be but eternal? hence we read of the “second death,” the lake of fire. Death, then, is God’s just sentence on men because of sin― “the wages of sin is death.” There was one man here on whom death had no claim, because in Him was no sin; sin having been laid upon Him, sin in the flesh was condemned in Himself, and He died; but He saw no corruption. It was not possible that He should be holden of death. This was the spotless, holy Jesus, the Saviour of sinners.

Men know they must die, and therefore try to make it, by comfortable circumstances, as agreeable as they can; but they cannot bear to think of “judgment.” Nevertheless, it is God’s appointment, and cannot be altered. Men are exposed to death and judgment; for they are under the dominion of sin as well as the guilt of sin; they are, therefore, “servants of sin,” and “the wages of sin is death.” This is very plain. It is not simply the death of the body; but if a man dies in his sins, he will be raised again, and be judged for those sins before the great white throne, and then cast into the lake of fire, the second death of everlasting darkness and misery. Those of you, therefore, who are still in your sins are going on to death and judgment―God’s appointment. How can you bear the thought of being judged by the light of God’s infinite holiness and unchanging hatred to sin?

We have here, as it were, two parallel columns. The one headed “men,” and having written under it “death” and “judgment;” the other headed “believers,” and under that is written, “Christ put away their sins, and consequently delivered them from death and judgment.” How wide the contrast! The one clouded with darkness and misery, the other bright with light and glory. As the one so the other. As death and judgment were the doom of men because of sin, so Christ bare the sin, and death and judgment. He bare “the sins of many.” How blessed is the portion of those who have Christ for their Saviour!

I would now, my friends, ask if you have received Jesus the Son of God as your Saviour? I do not ask if you have good intentions; for I believe multitudes intend to go to heaven who are still treading the broad road to destruction; neither do I ask if you have some knowledge of the doctrines of Christ; but I do ask if you have received Him? You may say, I pray more, give more, deny myself more, and the like; but that is not the question. To know Christ, and take Him as your very own Saviour, because there is no other, knowing you must perish in eternal misery without Him because of your sins, that is the simple question. For it is not knowing doctrines, or giving alma, or saving prayers that can deliver you from death and judgment, but Jesus the Son of God, and Jesus only. “As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish.” Or, as the blessed Lord said in another place, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation” (or judgment). Blessed deliverance! Happy indeed are those who, having simply received Christ as their Saviour, can rest their heads on their pillows in sweetest confidence and peace, knowing that their sins were purged by the sacrifice of Christ, and that they will not come into judgment. Such are already on the other side of death. “They have passed from death unto life.”

The believer, then, is delivered from what every unbeliever is exposed to—death and judgment. How is it that he is delivered from death? For do not we see that saints die just the same as sinners? They may appear to; but the wages of sin is not simply the separation of soul and body, but there is a “sting” and “terror” connected with death that knows no rest or solace. The believer is so completely delivered from these things that he can say, “O death, where is thy sting?” for the sting of death being “sin,” it is removed by the precious blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin. The “terror,” too, is gone, because he knows that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The believer’s death, therefore, is not called death in the New Testament, but falling asleep in Jesus. Hence, too, the blessed Lord said, “If a man keep my saving, he shall never see death”― “he shall never taste of death.” Blessed, glorious fact, that the soul that has accepted Christ for his Saviour is so completely delivered from death that, when Jesus comes, those who are alive will at once, in a moment, be changed and caught up into the air to meet Him!

As to “judgment,” nothing can be more contrary to the teaching of Scripture than to suppose that saints are going to be judged as to whether they shall have eternal life or not. I refer to the wrong use made of our Lord’s teaching on the sheep and the goats. On referring to it (Matt. 25:31-46) you will see that there is no idea of resurrection there, not one dead person raised, but quite the reverse; it is the King coming here, and judging the nations as to how they dealt with his brethren, a remnant of Jews who will go forth with the gospel of the kingdom alter we have been caught up at the Lord’s coming. It is Christ assembling and judging living people. Nothing can be more opposed to the precious truth, that every believer now has everlasting life, is a child of God, is passed from death unto life, than the falsa idea of God’s children going to be judged. That every believer will appear before the judgment seat, or bema, of Christ, is quite true; but there will be no question of salvation then, but of reward for service; and we shall appear there like Christ, in glorified bodies.

It is most blessed, then, to see that God teaches us that death and judgment have been already met for us by Jesus on the cross, and that which is before us is not, as some say, a day of judgment, a great assize, to decide who shall be saved and who not; for I affirm that Scripture nowhere teaches us to expect that, but to expect Christ. Hence the 28th verse concludes with, and “to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” There will be no question with Christ and believers about sin, and, therefore, not of its consequences―death and judgment. Christ will then put forth His redemption power on our bodies, and thus not only give us full and everlasting deliverance from sorrow and all the consequences of sin, but, in a moment, change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto His glorious body, so that we may have full capacities for ceaseless and untiring enjoyment of Himself. Blessed hope indeed! Precious portion! now children of God, delivered from death and judgment, and having the blessed hope of being forever with the Lord, and forever like Him! The believer is therefore instructed to look back on the cross, and see that Christ there put away his sins and delivered him from death and judgment; to look up to the throne, and see Jesus now appearing in God’s presence for him, his righteousness and great High Priest; and to look for His coming to bring him into eternal enjoyment with Himself.

In a moment, like a lightning flash, and the twinkling of an eye, He will change these vile bodies, and then at once our grateful hearts, loosed forever from every bond, will burst forth in one eternal anthem of praise, of “Worthy is the Lamb.” Now, if we sing a few hymns, nature grows weary and admonishes us that it is enough, but then it will be untiring and unending worship and delight in Jesus. We even now feel that nothing is comparable to Jesus. If the world mere to pile up all its wealth, or gather together all its pleasures, or concentrate all its honors, and present them to a child of God, his reply would be―

“Give me Christ, or else I die;

None but Christ can satisfy;

None but Christ to me be given;

None but Christ on earth or heaven.”

I ask you then, dear friends, have you delight in Jesus? Is He precious to your soul? He is the Father’s delight, and all intelligences in heaven are in subjection to Him. If you, then, cannot find delight in Jesus, how can you be a for the Father’s company? Christ loves me; He loved me when dead in trespasses and sins. I know this, therefore I can say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” His coming again has no terror to me, but delight. Oh, how blessed it will be to find oneself in a moment brought into a region of eternal life, eternal love, eternal glory, and, more than that, to have capacities for its unceasing enjoyment! How blessed, then, is the promise, that “to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

"Drive, and Go Forward."

“And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head my head. And he sed to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he set on her knees tin noon, and then died.”―2 Kings 4:18-20.

A BELIEVER in Christ is the only man upon earth who can look all his enemies in the face; and, moreover, in the presence of their greatest power, can say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Any other man will be afraid to look upon these giant powers―sin, and death, and the grave; for who will dare to challenge either of these? or where is the man who will measure swords with them? “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, that he should live forever, and not see corruption.” The fact of man’s impotence is more than admitted, by the way in which he seeks to hide the terror of these things from his eyes, and to cover over their monster forms and hideousness; that thus disguised in plumes and pageantry, he may cheat himself into the belief that death is not “the wages of sin,” but “a debt of nature,” which he pays, and pays handsomely too. There may be sorrow and grief, and even tears, over the departed, but where is the shame and disgrace of death? Where, in the midst of the long line of this funeral pomp, is there any record that death is the penalty which God inflicted upon man for his disobedience and sin? and so they cover it up; changing the very fact of a grave-yard into a cemetery, with its flowers, and evergreens, and walks, and dignifying all by the name of a necropolis.

It was not upon such a path as this, however, that the Shunammite of our chapter walked. She looked at the reality of death, and measured it, not by any power in herself, or what was around her, but by Elisha, the man of God―Jehovah’s witness upon the earth in that day. To own the prophet Elisha, was to own God; and to come straight to him, was to use the appointed channel for grace and blessing. So “she called to her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.” The urgency of the case, and the simplicity of her faith and confidence in Elisha, will not brook the least delay, no, not even if her husband cross her path, and say as he did: “Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath.” The only reply she will make, in the calm repose of her soul, is, “It shall be well;” for she trusted in the power and grace of the man of God of that day―the link between the heavens and the earth. And should Gehazi afterward meet her, and challenge her as he does, with, “Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?” she will only repeat what faith will delight to say, from the first step it takes with God to the last, “It is well.” “Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.” How precious the speed of her faith, that will not be separated from its resource; and how sinner and saint need this assurance for today, not merely upon the matter of death to the body, but upon that far graver subject of what the Lord speaks, “I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cut into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.” The God-man of today, Jesus the Christ, the greater than Elisha has long ago taken His place on the cross between God in the height of His holiness, and a hell-deserving sinner in the depth of his ruin and misery. Do I think of my sins? “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” Do I think of God, as I well may? It is the very God who has “laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” Do I fear being brought into judgment? He suffered in our stead, “the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” Yea, it is God who says, “Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more;” “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” And now observe, further, the Shunammite’s faith, when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, “Let her alone.” And she tells her tale of sorrow and death in his ear, and leaves it with Elisha to take up, and make it his own concern with Jehovah. He may put her to the test, by bidding Gehazi take the staff and lay it upon the face of the child; but nothing shall separate her from the person of Elisha; to him she is come, and with him she will stay. “And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.” Elisha must not only interest himself about her and her troubles, but make them his own concern; and so he does. “And he arose, and followed her.” How like may we not say to the greater than Elisha, “whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil, for God was with him”―the true Servant of man necessities, till He went into the deeper place at the cross, and where He begs us to receive Him as the Lamb of God for sinners slain, the author of eternal salvation. “And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.” The man of God has now made the whole case his own business, and he is shut in with the Lord. The mother is nowhere in this scene; her faith leaves what she brought with the one to whom she brought it. She came about death, and who can take this up but Elisha; she will wait at the door till she can get her answer in life, by taking up her son in her arms, and bearing him away in triumph. Surely we may say this is what our Jesus did to perfection, when His hour was come, and He trod His solitary but victorious path, and went in alone to “offer Himself without spot to God,” and say to all else, “thou canst not follow me now.” And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour; and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He is alone, shut in alone upon the matter of our sins and their judgment; He drinks that cup of wrath for us, which none else could drink; and in the darkness and sufferings of that hour, cries with a loud voice, and gives up the ghost. He has made the righteousness of God his business, as well as our salvation.

Let us turn again and see the ways and methods to which Elisha was directed. “And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and opened his eyes.” The power and virtue in the prophet, served under the eye of God to accomplish all that was needed in bringing the child back to a life which had been overcome by death. But it is not such a life as this that our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord gives to us; ours is a life out of death, and is on the other side of death and the grave, and the whole power of Satan. The first man’s defeat and disgrace was in death; the second man’s triumph and renown are out of death. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death,” are His now titles by resurrection. The errand which brought Jesus―the God-man―down from above, to “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” so that He might at last say, “I have glorified thee upon the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,” was to be wrought out single-handed and alone; and when at length He stood in our place as the Substitute and Sin-bearer, He had to know what it was to be forsaken of God, to pour out his soul unto death, to be wounded for our transgressions, to be bruised for our iniquities, and purchase our pardon and redemption by the shedding of His own blood. “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” And Elisha sent Gehazi, and said,” Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.” And now let us ask ourselves, shall this confidence and faith of the Shunammite in the power of Elisha in his day, when she put him to the proof by nothing less than the death of her child, say but little to as, who are called and entreated to place our confidence and faith upon a far greater―Elisha’s Lord, and Saviour too, in that work which He came to do, and did upon the cross? Have you, in faith, had to do with God about your state as a poor, ruined, condemned, and guilty sinner; and have you looked to the only name given under heaven among men, whereby they must be saved? Have you heard Jesus say, “It is finished” when He went in alone with God, and made your salvation His own business; have you, in the energy of faith, and in the pressing need of a guilty conscience, said, “Drive, and go forward,” and left all your cares, your guilt and sins with Jesus? Then listen to His voice, as He comes out of the silent and secluded chamber of His own sepulcher; come in and take a blood-bought pardon; come in for the best robe in the Father’s house; come in your sins, and go away without them; come in your rags, and let that be the Father’s care; come like the Shunammite, on a matter of sin and death, and go away with life, and righteousness, and glory. She came only upon one of the many things which are against us; but every believer now can by faith see “all our enemies dead upon the sea shore.” Do we look steadily at sin, and death, and the grave, and corruption? Yes, without a quiver or a throb; for our Jesus has abolished death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light. He has destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and delivered them, who through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage. Do we look steadily at life, and righteousness, and glory, and the heavens? Yes, without a misgiving or a fear; for our Jesus is at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Man is in a new place, and that place is ours; nor can we accept a lower as the purchase of Christ’s sufferings and death, and the gift of the Father’s love. O fall down before this Jesus-Saviour on the cross below―before Him on the throne of God above! Like the Shunammite before Elisha, bow yourself to the very ground, and take up the spoils of Christ’s death, and go out rejoicing. Is there a doubt or an unbelief in your heart to plague you and dishonor Him? He will not do as Elisha did, stretch Himself upon the child a second time, nor put His eyes upon your eyes, &c.; but this He will do, He will come, the doors being shut, and stand in the midst, and say, “Peace be unto you;” and if there be a timid disciple, He will silence all unbelief in the only effectual way, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing;” and the response will be with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” May He grant it to be thus with you.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ... even so “Might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:12, 21.)

Eternity.

TIME flies indeed. Another year has well-nigh ran its course, and we are hurrying on with tremendous speed. It seems as if we were borne on the wings of time more swiftly than ever. Events, too, appear to crowd upon each other in such quick succession, as if men were being hurled into eternity with leas time to think than formerly. Hospitals and asylums are multiplying, and grave-yards are filling with great rapidity. Multitudes are being drawn into the vortex of eternity at a terrific rate, and though men are busy with invention to conceal the real character of death, to garnish the places of graves, and to banish true thoughts of the judgment of the great white throne awaiting those who die in their sins; nevertheless the fact remains unaltered, that eternity, with either its endless misery and darkness, or its unchanging holiness and joy, are vividly spread out before our minds, and coming nearer to us every moment. Every eye must see Jesus. Everyone must either meet Him as a Saviour, or as a Judge.

In much affection then would we ask each reader of this paper the searching question, Where does this moment find you? You will readily admit that you are going on to eternity; on which road then are you now traveling? Is it with the many on the broad road which leadeth to destruction? or are you certain of having entered in at the strait gate, and that you are treading with the few the narrow way which leads to eternal glory? It must be one or the other. There is no middle path. You are either saved or lost; forgiven, or still in your sins; in Christ, or out of Christ! You have either fled for refuge from the impending wrath, or you have not! Do think of this. It is all-important. Give it your most serious consideration. The point is vital. Eternal consequences hang upon whether you have believed on the Son of God for salvation, or whether you have not believed.

You have activities. You are not still. You are treading one of these paths. We ask, Which is it? If Jesus were now to come from heaven for His saints to meet Him in the air, would you be caught up? or would you be left behind for judgment? Or, if the divine sentence should go forth concerning you, “This night thy soul shall be required of thee;” how would it find you? Are you ready? Would it find you saved? Have you now peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you certain that your sins are forgiven? Do you know that you are accepted in Christ? so that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, you have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens? In a word, do you clearly see that Christ is your righteousness, your life, your everything before God?

Do well consider these things, dear reader. Be perfectly sure about the matter. God points you to Christ crucified and risen as the only way. You may rely upon God being true to His own word. Anything else is unworthy of your confidence. A sandy foundation of popular religiousness may suit this trifling generation; but it will not stand by you in a dying hour; it will vanish like smoke before you when standing on the brink of eternity, and nearing the all searching eye of the living God. A solid rock, a sure foundation, such as is presented to you in the word of God, in the accomplished and accepted work of Jesus, will suit you then. You will find then that the precious blood of Christ gives perfect peace, because God declares that you are “now justified by His blood.” The sacrifice of Christ having fully met the claims of God, and your need as a sinner, will give full rest to your conscience, and fill your whole soul with joy. “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

But alas! alas! how many spend their days in trifling away their time, if not in directly opposing the truth of the gospel, and find out their mistake when it is too late. “Too late! too late!” is much more frequently the bitter wail of a dying bed than most are aware of. How many will be forever gnashing their teeth in the misery of outer darkness with the unceasing consciousness of having neglected this great salvation; of having refused God’s glad tidings concerning the infinite value of the sacrifice of Christ for guilty sinners!

Dear reader: Refuse not our affectionate entreaty once more to lay this momentous matter solemnly to heart. Do you not see that, however amiable or virtuous you have been, you stand convicted before God in refusing His Son as your Saviour? This is the point. But however you have trifled with God’s truth and your immortal soul, thank God you are yet out of hall; you are still within sound of the glad tidings of God’s message to man; that “By Christ all that believe are justified from all things; for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (See Acts 13:39; John 3:16.)

Excellency of the Word.

WEEPING with those that weep is a privilege of God’s children, as well as rejoicing with those that rejoice. And who that looks at things as they are but must weep? Still there is comfort. “Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.” (Ps. 79:8.) And what is the answer? “He remembered as in our low estate: for His mercy endureth forever.” (Psa. 136:23.) Here is our consolation, in the sure testimonies of God. The renewed mind will never be given up of Him―cannot be. I could not find relief, pleasure, delight in the word of God if I had not a renewed mind, if I were not regenerate; and it is the regeneration that God looks at, is coming for, in the midst of this great scene. Some of the most precious souls are shut up into corners; but God hides them thus, visits them, and feeds them there. The new mind has its nutriment in the Word. I have been looking at the 119th Psalm. What an instance it is of the delight of the newborn soul in God’s testimonies. Take verses 2 and 3. (I select them because they have come to me at different times lately, though many of the intermediate verses are very full.) Note the blessedness of those who keep His testimonies, and seek Him with the whole heart. It is not, I take it, law here, but whatever proceeds out of the mouth of God―words for the soul of man to live by― “good words, comfortable words,” as it is said in Zech. 1:13, ―words that cheer the drooping spirit, lift the fainting heart. (Isaiah 35:3, 4) It is the seeking soul that gets them, the world-weaned soul, whose object is the Lord. Then again what joy, what satisfaction the Word affords! what a treasury it is! “Thy testimonies have I taken for my heritage forever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” (v. 111.) What a suitability there is of the word to the renewed nature, of Jesus to the heart! what satisfaction, what joy He pours into it! May you realize this, and largely. It is not dependent upon men, nor upon meetings; though where two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name He promises to be; and doubtless water flows on such occasions from Himself, the living Rock, to revive and refresh His saints. But though the blessedness of many is declared in this psalm, it is the breathing of an individual soul, and such an one may find blessing in it, making the word its own.

“I have given them thy Word.” (The Lord Jesus in John 17)

Extracts.

“ME NO POOR CRETUR.”—Multitudes of Christian negroes in their last moments have exhibited a tranquility which death could not ruffle, and a confidence which the king of terrors could not shake. “That poor man’s life must be a misery to him,” said a gentleman to a Missionary who was conducting him round a negro village, alluding to an aged negro who sat at the door of a lonely hut, but suffering from a loathsome disease. “Poor creature! and he seems to be forsaken by the rest of the people.” The old man caught the words, and, looking benignantly at the speaker, replied, with considerable animation, “No, me no poor creetur; me family very good, give me something to eat; and Massa Jesus too good to me, poo sinner: Him give me comfort here,” putting him hand upon his heart.

“Well,” said the Missionary, “but are you not almost tired of carrying about your poor afflicted body?” “No,” replied the negro; “you poo Negro can’t tired. Me sitting down waited for Massa Jesus to can; den me go and left me pore body behind.”

Lifting his eyes up to heaven, he said, with a smile, “There Him is; Him looking down upon me; and it seems like Him say, Keep heart little longer; me soon call for you now;’ so, minister, me satisfy.”

“ME, STEAL AWAY TO JESUS.” ―Adam, the old negro, was dying when the Missionary called to see him. His hands were folded, resting on his breast, and his eyes were shut. Apparently he was in earnest prayer. Shortly he opened his eyes, and, seeing the Missionary, he stretched out his hand and said, “Ah, massa, you know Adam! here him lie now. Me often hear your voice in prayer; me often hear you praise. Once more, massa, let me hear your voice. Oh, sing, sing de praise of Jesus once more; and den may be while you sing me steal away to Jesus.”

The Father's Name.

THERE is a very important difference between the revelation of God as the heavenly Father in Matthew’s gospel, and the full unfolding of the Father Psalms 16:3, which is presented in the gospel by John.

Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the Son of David, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament. In harmony with Psa. 16:3, we see Him at His baptism graciously entering into association with the believing company, in whom the Spirit of God was then working, by causing them to receive John’s testimony, and these He owned by this public act as the excellent of the earth in whom was all His delight. Having stooped in grace to associate Himself with such as personally needed the baptism of repentance, He was proclaimed from heaven as God’s beloved Son, in whom He was well-pleased.

Henceforth these believers were blessed, because this beloved Son had stooped to take up their cause, and He being in their midst, they had through Him the love and interest of heaven with them. This was their new place of privilege. It is developed in the sermon on the mount. There the Lord places them, as subjects of His kingdom in relation to His heavenly Father, and the precepts which He gives them flow from this place of blessing. In their conduct they were to exhibit the goodness and mercy of their heavenly Father, whom He declared to them; and in every circumstance of trial and difficulty they were to confide in their heavenly Father’s love and tare.

If we search the Old Testament, we shall not find a saint who ever expressed himself in this nearness to God. There is no such thought there, as a believer knowing that he had a Father in heaven, whose love to him was to be the measure of his own gracious walk towards the unthankful and the evil. Was the faith of the disciples brighter than that of the Old Testament saints? Quite otherwise. The increase of light and blessing flowed, not from any increase of faith, but from the blessed fact that God had visited His people in the person of His Son. Emmanuel, “God with us,” was in their midst.

The incarnate Son having associated Himself with men, He gave them to say, as man had never said before, “Our Father which art in heaven.” They could now draw near as men to God in heaven, displayed in the character of a Father; but they were not conscious of sonship through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost; for the atonement, whereby the great question of sin was settled, had not been wrought; neither had the Comforter been sent them from the Father, to give them the adoption of sons.

In John’s gospel we find a far deeper unfolding of the Father’s name. Here it is the personal relation of the only-begotten Son; that relationship which was His before all worlds. To the eye of faith the glory that shone from the Lord Jesus as the Word made flesh, was the glory of an only begotten Son with a Father. (John 1:14, Gr.) It was His own incomprehensible nearness as the eternal Son. “Veiled in flesh though “He was, the glory shone from Him as “the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.” (John 1:18.)

Hence in this gospel we find neither “heavenly Father,” nor “our Father.” Throughout the name of God as Father is blessedly declared, but solely in relationship to Jesus, as the only begotten Son. Others are not brought into association until He is risen from the dead.

In the first chapter, He is seen in the full glory of the Son of the Father. In chapter 3, the love of God to the world is declared in giving Him, ―His only-begotten Son. In chapter 6, it is His Father who gives Him, ―the true bread from heaven. In chapter 14, the heavenly house is His Father’s house. In chapter 17, eternal life is knowing His Father the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent. Throughout these chapters it is the Son revealing the Father, as He Himself knew Him.

When redemption is accomplished, and He has died to all connection with a world that neither knew Him nor His Father, He becomes, in resurrection, the living head of the family of God; and as He ascends to His Father, He declares, for the first time, that believers are His brethren, and that He ascends to His Father and to their Father. He, as the first-begotten from the dead, brings them into His own relationship to the Father; and this is entirely distinct from His graciously teaching them in the days of His flesh, that God was their heavenly Father.

Believers are now associated with Him, the first-born among many brethren, in His heavenly position in glory. He, the Sanctifier; and they, the sanctified (Heb. 2:11); and by participation in His eternal life, and being united to Him by the Holy Ghost, they receive the adoption of sons.

At the time Jesus was with them in the flesh, the disciples could say, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Now, consequent upon accomplished redemption, God having sent forth the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, believers can use the name Father in the nearness of the Son Himself.

Through the glorified Saviour, they have access by one Spirit in all that acceptance, which was personally His own, while He dwelt among men, as the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20.)

It is sweet to look to a heavenly Father in the trials and sorrows of an evil world, and to count on His interest in us, as those belonging to Jesus; but far deeper is the blessing of knowing that we are united in risen life by the Holy Ghost to the Son Himself, through His having borne our sins and having risen from the dead. We are thus placed by Him, according to His own acceptance, in that nearness to His Father, which was His unfailing joy as the man of sorrows in His journey through this world.

Many of God’s children have never gone beyond “the heavenly Father” of Matthew’s gospel, and have yet to learn that they stand in the relationship of sons through their union with the Son of God. Of this union He could speak, when on earth, as a future thing. He could say, indeed, to Philip, “Believe me that I am in the Father.” (John 14:20.) But He added, that when the Comforter was come, at that day they should know that He was in the Father; and, moreover, that they were in Him, and He in them. (John 14:20.)

They should not then merely address God as a Father in heaven, who cared for them upon earth, but they should know that they were in the Son, who was in the Father. They should not plead the name of Father merely for their needs as Christians, feeble disciples on earth, but they should know God Himself, in all the wonderful nearness of the Father of their Lord Jesus Christ. They should know Him in what He is to Christ. It is this unfolding of the Name of God in its deep and infinite excellency, and not merely as it met the earthly necessities of poor feeble disciples, which our Lord desired us to enjoy, when He said, “I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26.)

And in conclusion let us remark that the unspeakable grace which puts us, as His saved ones, into His own relationship to the Father, places us also in His position towards the world. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14, 16.)

The knowledge of God as our heavenly Father separates us from the cares and anxieties, and from the spirit of the nations of the world (Luke 12:30.) The knowledge of God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ separates us from the world itself. We are kept in His name from the evil of the world. (John 17:12, 15.) We judge by His name what is of the world. (1 John 2:16.) We overcome the world by believing that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:5.)

ABIDING in Christ is necessary for fruit-bearing.

A Few Thoughts on John 20.

NOTHING can be more unquestionable than that the desires of the renewed mind are always tending to one object―the Lord Jesus Christ Himself―and that no other object can give rest or satisfaction to it. It is evident, in reading the gospels―that of John, for instance―that one thing the blessed Lord was doing was separating to Himself a remnant, drawing hearts to Himself. (12:32.) The Father’s grace it was that worked this, as it is said in 6:44; but the object of the heart thus wrought in is Christ Himself. It is no matter what they were, God gives no account of why He drew them. Who dares challenge Him? If He took the worst, what then? or the most amiable? or some of every sort? He does as He pleases. But I was looking at chap. 20. of this gospel in particular; and the first thing that struck me was, that the Lord, while always near to His own, and verily manifesting Himself, as He has promised to do, not only to the two or three gathered in His name, but to the individual, wherever found (see 14:21, 23), does not always manifest Himself in the same manner or form. (See Mark 16:12) And this is exceedingly interesting and encouraging too. I could go back to the Old Testament for instances. The Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre. (Gen. 18) How? Three men stood by him. Again, there wrestled a man with Jacob until the breaking of the day. (Gen. 32) Who is this? Let the patriarch answer. “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” It is the same as was afterward known as Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. Look again at Ex. 3. How does He appear to Moses? From whence does He speak to him? From the midst of a bush that burned with fine, and yet was not consumed. Holy ground indeed it was, and the servant feared to look. The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, was there, come down to the desert to deliver. Blessed be His name! The fiery bush is there. His people’s sorrows, sufferings, and oppressions, are not disregarded by Him. They are the very things that brought Him down; but not to linger here. No sooner are they delivered, and on their march, than a fiery, cloudy pillar becomes His traveling chariot, and He leads the people through the wilderness. Past the Jordan the Captain of Jehovah’s host appears, His sword drawn in His hand, to be a leader and commander to the people. Joshua is only a servant here. He bows and worships. Again, in after days, when Gideon threshes wheat, or Manoah and his wife are in the field (and these were days of terrible pressure from the adversaries), He whose name is Secret, Wonderful, stands by the exercised and trembling ones, and fills their souls with hope and comfort. “Peace be unto thee: thou shalt not die,” He says to Gideon. (Judg. 6) In the flame of the altar He ascends from Manoah and his wife, and though they see Him no more with the bodily eye, they are not consumed, as the man had feared.

Wondrous manifestations these! but all revealing Him whose delights were with the sons of men, as far as He was pleased then to reveal Himself. He always chose to whom He would make Himself known. It was unexpected by them often, it may be, but always at a time and in a manner suited to their condition and their circumstances. Here (John 20) Magdalene is early. She is seeking One whom she had known as an almighty Friend; One who had delivered her from an awful thralldom. Where is He? Gone from her sight. She had seen Him on the cross―had stood beneath it. He had died; the tomb had received His sacred body. ‘Twas the last she knew of Him, and yet it was Him she sought. She could not do without Jesus. “They have taken away the Lord,” she says to disciples. “They have taken away my Lord,” she says to angels. Her heart was full of Him. Happy they with whom it is so. She does not enter into His thoughts; she weeps because she has Him not; she knows not where He is. He is a dead Christ still for her. “I know not where they have laid Him.” Oh, what a form was His in her memory! “His visage was so marred more than any man’s; His form more than the sons of men.” She thought of Him as He was. My Lord, she says. And the angels show an interest in her. “Why weepest thou?” they say. I do not real that disciples asked her this. Perhaps they did not see her tears. But angels did; and Jesus did―the Lord of angels. “Woman, why weepest thou?” He said; and adds another question too, which they did not: “Whom seekest thou?” “Oh, what a question for hearts now! Whom seekest thou? He knew hers. She knew not who spoke to her; but she lets her heart out; and He, blessed be His name, shows His. “Mary.” Ah! the sheep at once knew His voice. How swift the response, “Rabboni.” Ah! He was Master of everything in her. The Shepherd of the sheep was near. Not to be touched indeed; but the same Jesus; the same yesterday, today, and forever. The risen One, the Lord of all; and what a message He gives her How she speeds away with it! She had seen the Lord, and He had spoken to her. The friend of sinners was alive again―alive for evermore! At evening the disciples are together. Jesus comes. Closed doors cannot shut Mm out. He brings them peace. “Peace be unto you.” A suited word for trembling, fearful hearts. “He showed them His hands and His side.” Oh, what a vision! what a sight for them! Well they might be glad―glad when they saw the Lord! Oh! who could know Him as they had known Him, and not be glad? Again He says, “Peace be unto you.” He breathes upon them, and gives them the Holy Ghost. Most precious gift from a risen Lord! Life they had before; the quickening Spirit had imparted it; they had been born again; but now He gives them life more abundantly. They are sent ones. Power they would have to wait for somewhat longer; but abundant life, and peace, and gladness, now they had with His return to them in resurrection. The risen Lord gave this abundant life, and peace, and gladness. The ascended Lord would give them power! But here is blessedness. I dwell not on the whole scene. Who can write about it as he ought? The Holy Ghost can make it precious to the saints―does make it precious. May He fill the heart with joy and peace in believing; fill it with Jesus the Lord; and may the last words be words of life. “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” The Lord give His dear people everywhere to teste the sweetness of His name, to know the virtue of His name, more abundantly; and may the power of His name be known in many lands, in many hearts, as salvation, life eternal, as it will be to all who by His grace believe.

Following Jesus.

“It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as His lord.”―Matt. 10:25.

SHALL I not walk the path Thou trodst,

Of sorrow and scorn?

Shall I not take the daily cross

By Thee so meekly borne?

Oh, yes! Lord, let it ever be

The same as ‘twas to Thee:

A frowning world―a darksome pass―

A wild and stormy sea!

Oft now I faint; but then I say,

My Saviour went before;

‘Tis not an unknown, untrod way,

And soon it will be o’er.

Oh, yes! and, were it fair and soft,

I might beguiled be,

To rest my heart and hopes in it,

Away from heaven and Thee!

But while it is so dark and cold,

It drives me nearer Thee;

Thou art the rock to which I cling

Amid life’s stormy sea!

The world may frown; it frowned on Thee!

Thy smile makes sorrow bright;

Thou’lt guide me o’er life’s stormy sea,

And make my darkness light!

Forgiveness of Sins.

“Without shedding of blood is no remission.” ―HEB. 9:22.

No remission, no remission

Save by pouring out of blood;

Oh, the woe of thy condition,

Sinner, far away from God!

Sure perdition

Closeth thy self-chosen road.

Lev. 17:11; Rom. 1:18-32; 3:9-28.

Ruined soul, behold the Saviour!

God hath bid thee look and live;

God hath smelled so sweet a savor,

Freely He doth sins forgive:

Take the favor

God in mercy deigns to give.

John 1:29; Heb. 10:4-25; Rom. 2:4-11.

Full remission, full remission

For the blood is in His sight;

Faith effects the life-transition,

Out of darkness into light;

Hails the vision

Of the Lamb, the LORD’S delight!

Ex. 12:13; Acts 26:16-18; Rev. 5:6-14.

‘Twas the precious blood of Jesus

Made atonement full for sin;

Christ from condemnation freed us,

Peace is made the veil within;

Only Jesus is the portal―enter in.

Rev. 1:5, 6; Rom. 8:1, 2; Col. 1:12-20.

Fragments.

REDEMPTION supposes taking us out of one condition and putting us into another. In Christ’s death we get two questions—God’s glory, and our sins. Redemption is eternal, but not universal. We get the blessings of the new covenant, but there is no covenant with us: the letter of it is for the Jews.

There is universal purchase, but not universal redemption. The believer is the only one who owns the purchase, and acta upon it. Every one may come as to the presentation of the Gospel; but this does not interfere with God’s sovereignty. Men will be judged for not believing the Gospel, and for sins.

Friendship.

Is it not a great blessing to have a friend, one that loves and cares for us, and to whom we can freely open our minds? If you have such a friend do not think lightly of the mercy, but set a high value upon him, and shew friendliness towards him; for the Scripture says, “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly; and there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Prov. 18:24.) We all know how intimately Jonathan and David were united in friendship, Saul’s son loving the son of Jesus as his own soul. But what a beautiful title that is by which Abraham is called, in James 2:23, “the friend of God.” And more blessed still is that which is written in Isa. 41:8, where God Himself, speaking of him, says, “Abraham my friend.” If a king, or a nobleman, or a person of distinction and renown, were to say of you or me, that man, or that woman, or that youth, is my friend, should we not feel gratified by such a mark of his favor? But for the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, to call a man, “subject to like passions as we are,” HIS friend, was amazing grace and condescension on His part, and a great honor to the one whom He so called.

Let us not forget, however, that the ways of Abraham were generally well-pleasing to God; for He said of him, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.” He was a man of faith, who obeyed God, living a godly life himself, and who brought up his children and servants in the fear of God; and that pleased the Lord. Now if you have a friend, one that has been tried and proved to be trustworthy, and you have an important matter which you are at liberty to disclose, will you not make it known to him? To be sure you will. And just so the Lord did with His friend; for He said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” So He communed with Abraham about the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was so very grievous in His sight that He said that unless they repented He would destroy them. Then, as we know, Abraham used the intimacy he had with the Lord, to plead with Him to spare the city for the sake of the righteous which were in it. (See Gen. 18)

There is another very sweet passage upon this subject in John 15, where the Lord Jesus, says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” Let us observe that these precious words are addressed by the Lord to His disciples. Now, what is a disciple? A learner in the school of Christ; one who not only believes in Him, but who is also a follower of Him, and seeks to be obedient to Him in all things. Now to them the Lord says, “Ye are my friends.” Wondrous words for the Son of God to say of any of us who own Him both as our Saviour and our Lord. And He not only calla us friends, but He acts towards us as such by opening His mind freely to us; as He says, “All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” As the word of God further shows us, it is by the Holy Spirit opening to us the Scriptures, that we “know the things that are freely given to us of God;” for He “hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

Now, do we value this friendship? If we do we shall certainly be found seeking to do the will of the Lord, taking His yoke upon us, and learning of Him who is meek and lowly in heart. But this we know, that we cannot have His friendship and that of the world too; for “the friendship of the world is enmity with God.” (James 4:4) May we, then, be kept walking in communion with the Lord and His truth; for the “secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant” (Psa. 25:14); so shall we be kept from fellowship with the world, which cast Him out and crucified Him, and which cannot love those who are His, because they are not of the world, even as He is not of the world.

From Death Unto Life.

“Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grave wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Rom. 5:1, 2

NOTHING but the name of Jesus

Can avail in danger’s hour;

Nothing but the name of Jesus,

When the clouds of trouble lower.

Only through the blood of Jesus

Can the guilty soul have peace;

Only through the blood of Jesus

Satan’s captives find release.

Dying sinner, look to Jesus,

Lifted on the cross for thee;

See the Holy Saviour, Jesus,

Stretched and nailed upon the tree!

Why that piercing cry of anguish?

Why did God His Son forsake?

Shall the spotless victim languish?

Must His heart for sorrow break?

Sinner, hear the matchless story,

Listen simply, and believe;

From the risen Lord, in glory,

Life, eternal life, receive.

Jesus died―thy condemnation,

Thine believer, Jesus bore;

Conquered grave, thy desolation,

Rose, and lives to die no more.

Dost thou love the name of Jesus?

Wilt thon trust thyself to Him?

Canst thou say, “My Saviour, Jesus!”

Though thy weeping eyes are dim.

Fear not thou; the blood of Jesus

Cleanses from the ALL, of sin;

In the mighty name of Jesus

Life anew thou mayst begin.

Long hast thou that name been slighting,

God proclaimeth peace today;

In His Holy Lamb delighting,

Thou mayst in His presence stay.

Thus enjoying blest communion

With the Father and the Son;

Life thou hast, with Christ in union,

The atoning work is done.

From Death Unto Life; Or, the Widow's Son Raised.

Luke 7:11-16.

THROUGH the door of death our sins made, the Holy Redeemer went, having borne our sins in His own body on the tree; and now for those who believe in Him that dark and dreadful door has lost its terrors―it has become the opening to the heavens, to light and joy.

Observe, while the sorrowing band is wending its way to the grave, the Son of God approaches. A few disciples, and some wondering strangers, follow Him. His heart is full of tenderness. “When the Lord saw her” ―who had twice suffered the pangs of separation― “He had compassion on her.” He came from heaven to bless us. He grieved over our death. In His words, “Weep not,” there was divine consolation; and if Jesus says, “Weep not,” our tears must tease. But the widow needed more than divine compassion; if her cup should run over, she needed the living in her bosom; and almighty power was exercised, as well as almighty compassion, to give the poor widow joy; death was to become life; it was not to go further; the lifeless body was not permitted to reach the grave. The Lord “came and touched the bier: and they that bare stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise;” and, quickened by His Almighty voice, “He that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother.”

Beloved reader, you long for life, eternal life; you feel your wretched state. Oh, learn in the love and power of Jesus rest and peace! He came to Nain to give life to the widow’s son; He came to this earth that we, dead in sins, might have everlasting life. “He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Believe, then, in the Lord Jesus, and receive God’s gift.

When the dead man heard the voice of the Lord, he had life; he sat up in the vigor of it. Thus when the sinner, dead in sins, hears the voice of the Son of God, he is a new creature. Are you living in the energy of divine life? Do your lips show forth Jesus’ praise? The young man was in himself the living witness to the work of Jesus; and so should we be who have heard His voice. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Out of the city of Nain a dead young man was carried, the only son of his widowed mother. In this touching scene of human grief which the Holy Ghost has brought before us, the most cherished ties are broken; helplessness and sorrow are mingled together. The widow’s tears fail to deliver her only child from death; the respect of all the city avails not to heal her wounded spirit; and thus the mournful company follows the bier to the ledge hewn in the rocky hillside.

This world was once beautiful; no sorrow, no sigh, no tear clouded it; its inhabitants dreaded no departure; for then there was no gateway out of it; but sin entered the world, and all became changed, and death―the door―was made. Through this gateway men are now carried: “It is appointed unto men once to die”

While you are still in the world, still where you may find mercy, pause and consider. Are you prepared to die? ready to be carried out, to leave the world, remembering, “after death the judgment?”

Utterly helpless and hopeless in himself, man could not save himself from death; for he could not live without sin; but God saw his bitterness. The Father and the Son agreed in holy counsel for man’s salvation, and the Son said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” Gracious purpose! Mighty plan! All conceived, all accomplished by God! Man the object of it; but man no worker in it; all of God, and all love to man. The will of God is our sanctification; the means whereby we are sanctified, the blood of God’s Lamb. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.”

The Fruit of Nature.

Isa. 1:5, 6.

THE human heart is like a tree

Implanted in the soil,

Whereon men hope in time to see

The fruit of patient toil;

They dig and dung it, care bestow,

And tend it more and more;

At length they gather fruit―when, lo,

‘Tis rotten to the core.

Genesis 12.

WHEN Jehovah blesses, He does it from His heart. There is a heartiness about the promises that shows what the Promiser is. When God made promise to Abraham, how did He do it? Sovereignly, of His grace, of His love. He called him, and the call of God separates from country, kindred, and father’s house. There is an element, an elevation, where alone the living and true God can be enjoyed. He calls to that. To Abraham it was Canaan. As though God had said, “This is the place I have in view for you.” His glory, it is true, shone on the patriarch before he left his country, but it was to guide him to the land where God would have him be. And in the land was his altar―sometimes here, sometimes there―but always in the land. To leave it unbidden for Egypt, was to step into trouble, humiliation, and rebuke; but when failure had brought difficulty beyond the power of self-extrication, Jehovah acted, the everlasting God interposes for deliverance, and the object of His choice (oh, how little well might he say, “dust and ashes”) returns to his rest, and to his altar in the land where God owns him. A pilgrim and a stranger truly, but under the divine protection―within hearing, as it were, of the divine voice―ready for the divine visits, the divine communications. Such should the Christian be all his life long; a stranger and a sojourner on earth, but risen with Christ in spirit, having only Christ as friend, guide, helper, deliverer, strength, shield, hope, object, counselor, present and eternal rest, and home.

God Is Love.

1 John 4:9, 10.

THE FATHER, in HIS love

For sinners such as we,

Sent Jesus from above

To suffer on the tree.

How good of God His Son to give,

That we on Him might look and live.

The Son in freest grace,

The love of God displayed,

When in the sinner’s place,

He, sinless, sin was made.

What wondrous love and grace were shown,

When Jesus did for guilt atone.

The SPIRIT loves to tell

That once the Saviour died,

And He delights to dwell

On Jesus glorified;

To show to all that from His face

Shine forth the beams of heavenly grace.

As sinners, now, believe

In God’s beloved Son;

They life and peace receive,

And with the Christ are one:

They joy in God, their sins forgiven,

And soon shall dwell with Christ in heaven

"God Loves Me!"

MANY persons entirely mistake the gospel. They imagine that God is now demanding something of them―that they have something to do in order to be saved. At least, they think they must love God. They do not see that the gospel is the very opposite to this; that it is a declaration of God’s love to man, and that God in it brings to them, just as they are, everything that the need for present peace and eternal blessing, through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing for the sinner to do; first, because he cannot do anything acceptable to God― “they that are in the flesh cannot please God;” and, secondly, because Jesus has done it all. He did by Himself purge our sins. He finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. He “is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” The veil is rent, the way into the holiest is made, Jesus has gone into heaven itself by His own blood, and now He appears in the presence of God for us, so that the sinner can come at once, through the sacrifice of Christ, into God’s presence. This God has done. His love has effected this. The Holy Spirit has come down to witness to the infinite perfection of the sacrifice of Christ, and of His everlasting priesthood. These glad tidings the gospel makes known; it tells out the way in which God’s wondrous mercy has met man’s need, and the posture of patience and longsuffering He takes towards this guilty world.

It is natural to man’s proud heart to imagine that he must do something for salvation. The Philippian jailor thought so. Under a sense of need and danger he cried out to Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” But he was soon told that he had nothing to do. The answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” In other words, “Trust in One who has done everything to save you.” This is God’s way of saving sinners, and there is salvation in no other. When the heart perceives that God Himself is the sinner’s Saviour, through Jesus, his faith and hope are then in God. A friend lately said, “When I considered the words, ‘No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him’―and thus saw God in Christ, the sinner’s Saviour, I could rest in God at once; all my fears vanished.”

The thought, that we must love God to be saved, instead of being saved solely because God loves us, clings most tenaciously to fallen nature; but nothing short of seeing God’s love to us in the cross of Christ, even when we were dead in sins, can give peace. A gentleman, after living in sin for many years, in companionship with many others, heard that the ringleader of the party was converted. All were sorry to lose such a jovial friend, and marveled that he could be such a fool as to be religious. Still he was very decided, and went to his old associates one by one to speak to them of the salvation he had found in a crucified Saviour. There was one, however, that he passed over. It was this very gentleman of whom I am speaking, and he felt it much. This led him to reflect and soon he began to realize the unsatisfying character of the pleasures of sin, and to feel that he too had a soul. He read his Bible, but could get no comfort. He thought that he had something to do, and that he never accomplished what he wished. One day, however, he met his old friend, who said to him, “Do you ever read your Bible?” “Yes, I do,” he replied; “but I cannot get comfort out of it― I cannot love God.” “No,” said his friend, “nor could I; but the blessed truth is, that God loves me,” and then wished him good morning. “God loves me,” “God loves me,” thought the gentleman to himself; what can he mean. But before he reached home that day, the thought of God having given His only begotten Son to die on the cross to save sinners flashed upon his soul with divine, living light. Now, thought he, I see it. I see now that God loves me as a sinner. Yes, God so loves me as to save me; and his whole soul was filled with joy and peace. So it is as the apostle John declares, “Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This enables us to love and serve God; for “we love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:10, 19.) It is here the heart finds real joy, gathers up strength for service, and gives glory to God.

“He saw me ruined in the fall,

And loved me not withstanding all;

He saved me from my low estate,

His lovingkindness, O how great!”

The cross of Christ shows the causeless hatred of man to God, and the causeless love of God to man.

"Himself."

I HAVE been greatly delighted of late in contemplating the blessedness of being engrossed with Jesus; and one effect that the many questions, strife’s about words, vain jangling’s and contentions which beset one on every side, have had, is to drive me closer to Himself I desire to recall the scattered and bewildered minds of saints from everything else, and to present to them an object that is worthy―oh, how worthy!― of their entire, constant, continued attention, adoration and praise. The Lord help me to write what He has taught me “concerning Himself!”

It is extremely blessed to observe the prominence which that one word “HIMSELF” has all through the Word. If the Holy Ghost would direct the thoughts to the cross, that great judgment of sin, the scene of that complete payment of all our debt, Calvary, the place of life though the place of a skull, it is by presenting “HIMSELF,” and hence it is in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who “HIMSELF,” bare our sins in HIS OWN BODY on the tree.... by WHOSE STBIPES ye were healed.” Beloved, the center of it all is Jesus ― it is “His own self―it is “His own body” ―it is “His stripes!” Oh, blessed particularity and specialty How sweet it is to the heart! The same thing is to be observed in Isa. 53, where it is all “Him,” “He,” “His” ― the Holy Ghost would fix the undivided, undistracted gaze of my soul on “Jesus Himself” as my perfect sacrifice!

Again: HE has finished the work, He has endured the cross, and sin, that mighty barrier standing in the road of the sinner’s return to God, is taken out of the way; the mountains of my guilt, yea, “the tops of the highest mountains” of mine iniquities, having been “covered” by “THE BLOOD OF JESUS,” the Saviour rises from the dead. The grave could not detain Him. He rises, He bursts the bonds of death; for it was “not possible that he should be holden of it.” He presents Himself to His disciples, who, with blighted hopes and scattered prospects, are terrified and affrighted. All their hopes had been laid in the grave of Jesus, never again, as they thought, to rise. Consequently, when He appears, He causes fear and affright among them. And how does He reassure their hearts? What is the plan He adopts to restore their confidence and peace? He presents HIMSELF, saving, (Luke 24:49,) “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I MYSELF.” Then, (ver. 40,) “He showed unto them His hands and His feet;” mark, beloved, “HIS hands, HIS feet.” Still it is “HIMSELF:” it is not even a clear announcement of the proofs of what He was; it is not a recalling to their minds that He had taught them these things. No, beloved, precious as this would have been from His lips, there was something yet more touching, more melting, more convincing, and that was―presenting HIMSELF― “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I MYSELF.” How blessed is all this!

But there is a step even further in this blessedness, for we find the Gospel by John ends, leaving the disciples and Jesus together, leaving them with HIMSELF. In the 21St of John, Peter is restored, and then, when fully restored and reinstated in office, the blessed Master says, (ver. 19,) “Follow ME.” John, we are told, was seen by Peter “following.” Well, when Peter inquires of the Lord about John, the reply was, “What is that to thee? follow thou ME.” Here we see again the blessed Lord would have the mind engrossed with HIMSELF.

And now that He has come and gone away, and that we, His poor weak ones, are left in the world that disowns and rejects Him, what has He left us to cheer our hearts, to occupy our souls, to feed our hopes? “HIMSELF.” “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also:” (John 14:3:) and so in kindred words of comfort does the Holy Ghost console the Thessalonian saints in their sorrow: “For the Lord HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout.... then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them, to meet THE Lord in the air.” If our past be HIMSELF, if our present be HIMSELF, our future is also HIMSELF, and “so shall we ever be WITH THE Lord.”

Oh, the exceeding preciousness of all this! It is truly “Jesus only;” and well may we sing―

“The bride eyes not her garment,

But her dear Bridegroom’s face.

I will not gaze at glory,

But on my King of grace;

Not on the crown He giveth,

But on His pierced hand.

The Lamb is all the glory

Of Immanuel’s land.”

Beloved, may the Lord deliver us from every object that would seek to intrude itself into the place HE HIMSELF ought to have in our hearts! The devil is not wanting in skill and stratagem to draw the minds and affections of the saints to various points which are indeed connected with Jesus, but which are not “HIMSELF,” and to make these (right and proper in their place,) the all-absorbing subjects for the mind; and when he succeeds, what is the result? A manifest chill among the dear saints of God, a coldness which must ever be the consequence of having any object but Jesus next the heart. May the dear LORD JESUS HIMSELF give us all the grace to abide in that happy place, of which we sometimes sing—

Oh, that I may, like favour’d John,

Recline my wearied head upon

The dear Redeemer’s bread:

From care, and sin, and sorrow free,

Give me, O Lord, to find in THEE

My everlasting rest.”

The House of Moses and the Son's House.

Hebrews 3.

THE comparisons in the Scriptures are beautiful and instructive, but their contrast are ofttimes turning points with the soul and God. These differences will be seen in the pages of the Old Testament especially, and will of necessity be found important to a right understanding of the mind of God, as well as to the establishment of the consciences and the faith of the Lord’s people, whose intercourse and communion with Christ and the Father should be in the peace and joy of accomplished redemption.

All worship in “the holiest” will be found to depend upon “boldness to enter in.” And what can give this to a worshipper in our dispensation but “the rent veil,” and “the blood of Jesus,” and “the High Priest over the House of God,” as in Heb. 10; in fact, “a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” There can be no other path but this blood-sprinkled one, nor any other place than “the holiest” where God is, nor any other priest than “Jesus the Son of God, passed into the heavens.” If worship is to be Christian worship, it must have the truth and savor of the perfectness of Christ’s finished work and prevailing intercession as its proper character and foundation. In brief, the New Testament, as a whole, brings the believer into liberty before God― “the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,” and gives boldness (as we have seen) to the worshiper “to enter into the holiest,” where God is; whereas the Old Testament believer never stood in this liberty, and never knew this boldness. How could he, when there was a remembrance again made of sins every year? Will this give liberty? How can there be boldness to enter where God is, when the Holy Ghost is signifying “that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest?” The liberty and boldness proper to a Christian now, when thus viewed in contrast with a Jewish believer in his temple, or at the door of the tabernacle with a prohibition to enter in, will serve as an example of the important differences we are considering.

The break down in Christian worship in these days is so wide-spread and dishonoring to God, and to the High Priest, and the believer, that the subject must be traced further and fuller, in order that souls may be aroused to the discovery that true worship under Moses in a past time is false worship in “the house of God” in this present time. This is a bold statement to make; may the Lord give us to feel that it is also a very humbling one as we pursue our examinations.

The two dispensations to which we have alluded, or the period before Christ came, and the period since He went away, have their comparisons, which we shall notice. Each has its house; the first, in which Moses was “a servant,” the other, in which Christ takes the place of “Son.” Each had its priesthood, each had its sacrifice, and each had its worshippers. These are important similarities, and there are others.

The contrast, or some of the most striking, are these: The house of Moses, as we may call it, had an earthly calling, but the house of the Son has a “heavenly calling.” In the house of Moses all were servants and none were sons; whereas, in the Son’s house, all are sous; “for ye have not received the spirit of bondage (servant ship) again to fear, but ye have received “he Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.” Precious grace!

The epistle to the Hebrews will further tell us what was the personal glory of the one in each house. “This man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house.” Moreover, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” The next great contrast is between Aaron and the “many priests,” and Christ, a Priest who continueth ever, made after the power of an endless life.” “For He testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”

Every careful reader must have been struck with the frequent use of the words perfect and perfection in this epistle as contrasted with Moses, and all that economy; “for the law made nothing perfect.” Moses, at His brightest, was but a typical mediator; Aaron, with his “garments of glory and beauty,” was but a typical priest; the altars, with the sacrifices and their blood, were but typical things; and all were imperfect in themselves, and, at their best, did but make up “a worldly sanctuary.” That economy never produced a perfect priest, nor a perfect sacrifice, nor a worshipper made perfect; whereas in the Son’s house all is perfect.

Before passing on to notice other contrasts, we shall do well to remember that Moses was made great by being put into his office between Jehovah and Israel, and that Aaron also was dignified by being invested with “the garments of glory and beauty,” and put into the office of priesthood; but the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be made great by any office He may sustain; on the contrary, His own personal glory makes great, and casts glory upon any and all His offices, as Mediator, Priest, and King. Moreover, such “an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s; for this He did once, when He offered up Himself.”

Another important contrast is found in the fact, that only one family had a title to the successional priesthood of Israel; whereas now all the Lord’s people are priests, one as much as another, “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” The acknowledgment that any man, or any class of men, has a better title to the presence of God than another, or that any such can stand in greater nearness, and rightly take a place between other believers and God for blessing, would be a denial of true Christian priesthood in its present place and power. The refusal to own that believers are all and equally made kings and priests unto God and the Father is the apostacy of Christian worship and standing, and leaves no other alternative than to fall back on the superseded types and shadows of Moses and his house. “If he were on earth, he should not be a priest,” gives us at a glance the new order and elevation of true Christian priesthood and service. May none of us be in understanding below the place where the grace of God and the effectual work of Christ have set us in rest and peace.

Another great contrast exists between the house of Moses and the Son’s house, inasmuch as in the first there were courts, and veils, and separation, which marked and maintained the distance between Jehovah and His Israel; but in the Son’s house there is neither a veil before God, nor an outer court for the worshippers; all prohibitions of this sort are gone. The middle wall of partition has been broken down; the handwriting of ordinances that was against us has been blotted out, and nailed to His cross; the veil rent from the top to the bottom, and the outer court abolished. A “new and living way into the holiest” is proclaimed by God Himself; and “let us draw near” are the first notes of the emancipated conscience, and the liberated heart, as we enter in with boldness. Nor will we forget, in the height of our liberty and of our worship in the holiest with our Priest, at what a coat we have been introduced and made at home there with God, and where God is.

Another contrast yet remains between the sacrifices of Moses and Aaron, in the house made with hands, and those of “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” What a contrast shall we find here, as we open our new book of Leviticus, and read, “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins; wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.” Continuous offerings, and a consequent remembrance of sins every year, marked the imperfectness of Moses and his house; but the two pillars of our temple, the Jachin and Boaz of today, will tell us of the “remission of sins,” engraven on the chapiter of the first, and “no more offering” on the chapiter of the last. God, the Jehovah, of whom it was written, “In burnt offerings, and offerings for sin, thou hast had no pleasure,” will now say, from the very holy of holies, “I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sing.” What a new way is this of knowing and worshipping our God and Father!

A few words of practical import may very suitably close these meditations, as we ask ourselves, “In which house am I, in the consciousness of my own soul? Am I standing before God in the liberty and nearness of the Son’s house? or in the distance and bondage of the house of Moses? Am I a worshipper in the Holiest by the “new and living way,” with the great High Priest over this house of God? or am I taking the place of a Jew in the outer court, tied and bound by the remembrance of sins? Again, as regards the sacrifice, am I in the peaceful acknowledgment with God, that Christ, by His one offering once offered, “has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself?” and that the worshipper, once purged, has no more conscience of sins? or am I insisting on the fact that Christ has left me where I was, a miserable sinner as to my state and condition, and that I have something yet to do for myself upon these matters with God?

Do I estimate “boldness to enter in” by my own actual experiences? If so, I shall call it the greatest presumption, and stay out; but if my estimate is formed on the value of the precious blood of Christ, and the intercession of my Priest, I must go in with boldness, were it only to own that He is as perfect in His work as a Priest in the heavens as He was perfect in His work as a Sacrifice on the cross. If you think of yourself, you will never get boldness; if you think of the blood and the Priest, and the God who calla you in, it will be the greatest presumption to hesitate. “Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil, that he die not,” was a law for the house of Moses; but in the nearness and intercourse of the Son’s house, with God the Father, will be found not only liberty and boldness, but the sure guarantee for a separate walk with Christ on the earth. With Him in the holiest, where God is, is the necessary link and security for a closer association with that same Christ, in our denial of the flesh, the world, and the devil the worshipper in the heavens will be outside the camp on earth. May this be known increasingly by the Lord’s dear people, the little while they tarry for Him.

How the Young Jew Found Christ.

An Extract.

I BECAME acquainted with a very intelligent Jew in the city of Montreal. His father, I am informed, was a wealthy banker in Germany. I heard this Jew relate his Christian experience in a fellowship meeting, the substance of which, in his broken English, was this: “The Spirit of de Lord take hold of my heart in my Fader’s house in Germany. He makes me feel so bad, I could not eat my food or take my rest.

“My fader said to me, Why you no be happy? You mope round, just so miserable as can be. Plenty of money, why you no be happy?’

“I say, ‘Fader, I find no place for my soul. De money wont buy a place for my soul. I lie down and die one day, and den what good de money to me, and where go, my poor soul?’

“By-and-by I read in a paper about one Dr. F., a Jewish Rabbi in Canada, that find Messiah. I says to myself, I go to Canada to find that Rabbi that find Messiah. When I come to Canada, I ask de first thing, ‘Where is Dr. F.?’ and dey tel me dat he live in de city Hamilton. When I go to de city of Hamilton he not at home. I no find him for two weeks. Then one man show him me at a public meeting, and I look at him till do meeting was out, and as he come I say to him, You Dr. F.?’

“‘Yes.’

“You Jewish Rabbi?’

“‘Yes,’ “‘You find Messiah?’

“‘Yes.’

“Well, you give me two lessons, and I pay you!’ “Dr. F. say, ‘Come to my house, and I give you many lessons, and not charge anything.’

“But I say, ‘O no, Dr. F.’ And he talk to me, and talk to me, and talk to me, but I no find Messiah.

“Den I go to de Catholic Church and talk to de priest to find Messiah.

“De priest, he tell me about de baptism and de holy water; and I say, ‘Go away wid your water, I wants to find a place for my soul!’

“Den I go back to Dr. F., and he say, ‘You Hebrew scholar? Now, take your Hebrew Bible and read what our ancient prophets say about Messiah. Take your pen and write down de exact description dey give of Him, especially the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah; and when you get de prophetic directions how to find Messiah, take your Greek Testament and search, and you will find, as face answers face in a glass, so de New Testament answers to de Old, and dat everything de old prophets say about Messiah wats fulfilled exactly in de person of Jesus of Nazareth. When your judgment be convinced, den bow down on your knees and pray to Got in the name of Jesus, and you find Messiah in your heart. He save you from all your sins.’

“So I followed de instructions dat Dr. F. he did give me, and my judgment he got convinced, and I bow on my knees, and I cry, ‘O Got of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Got of my feders, I pray to dee in de name of dy dear, suffering Son, Jesus Christ, I be convinced from dy holy books of de Old and New Testamento dat He be Messiah which dow has sent into de world to save sinners. Dow knows what a great sinner I am; but Jesus comes to save de chief of sinners. I trust my soul to Him, I believe He can say of me. O God, have mercy on my poor soul, and save me from my sins for Jesus’ sake. I believe all Dow has say about Jesus, and I take Him as my Saviour.’

“While I pray I feel more and more bad, and I tot my poor soul he must go to hell. Den, I say, if Jesus Christ bore my sins in His own body, and redeemed my soul with His own blood, my soul he no need to go to hell. Den I give my soul to Jesus, I believe in Jesus, and just so quick as lightning, I finds Messiah. He save me from my sins, He fill my soul wid unspeakable joy. My soul he find a home in Jesus. He abide in Jesus now for tree years, and I know Him more and more, and love Him wid all my heart.” He proceeded to tell of some remarkable answers to prayer he had experienced, and such was the artless simplicity of his story, and the light and unction of the Holy Spirit shining through his broken utterances, that between laughing and weeping for joy, when he sat down there were but few dry eyes in that large assembly. He was, at that time employed as a colporteur and Bible-reader to his people of different languages in the city of Montreal.

"I Long to Go Home!"

I long to go home! for I’ve nothing down here;

My Saviour’s in heaven! my All is up there!

I’ve heard of my Saviour, my Jesus, my Lord,

And if He’s as precious as told in the Word,

What will be my joy when I see Him up there,

If His beauty exceeds all the fame of Him here!

He is lovely! He’s precious! He’s all I desire!

When I think of His beauty, my soul is on fire:

This foretaste of pleasure is heaven begun;

What will be its measure when my victory is won,

And I see Him, and know Him, and learn all His love,

And dwell in His fullness in regions above?

"In"

THERE is often much force in a little word in Scripture. The connection in which it occurs, too, is important. I have been thinking of the word “in,” and of the difference of thought and state conveyed by it in different passages. Take, for example, Acts 17:28. Paul is preaching to the heathen. What he says is applicable to men, as men―to all men. “In Him,” that is God, “we live, and move, and have our being.” There it is evident the Godhead is spoken of, and men in their natural lives, breathing upon earth, are looked at as subsisting in and by the power of the Creator―life, and breath, and all things being His gift. This is true, universally, of men living on the earth, and hence the testimony of God to such is of a judgment day to come, and the command of God to such is to repent. The opportunities given to men by being continued in earthly existence, by providential arrangements and gifts, is to, the end that they should “seek the Lord.” He is not perceived by them in their natural state, for they are blind; though if they feel after Him they may find Him, the sense of need in their souls being His gift also―the working of His Spirit. How wonderful this is. In God, as Creator, every man; and yet, if only in Him thus, lost, and on the way to judgment. Repent, says the word of God. “Turn to God.” Happy if the prayer arises, “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God.” For repentance is God’s gift, the gift of Him whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus. God gives repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Jesus is a Prince and a Saviour, exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. To Israel? Yes; and to the Gentiles also. “Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations.” (Luke 24) Repentance is preached as a gift as well as remission of sins. The one is as much Christ’s bounty as the other, and comes in grace and by grace to sinners. He is the Judge, and will fall the judgment-seat by-and-by over all men; but till then till He assumes that character, He saves. He is the Saviour.” God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3) Who would not, then, seek repentance and remission of sins at His hands while it is called today?

There is another “in.” (Hosea 14:3.) “In thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” Here it is, “The Lord thy God.” Israel has a covenant relation with the Lord. Not her covenant, the Sinai one; for mercy would not come that way, but His, and His covenant is life and peace. (Mal. 2:5.) He finds all resources in Himself for blessing her. His gracious love flows forth upon its objects, the helpless children, the fatherless. How truly this is seen where He is known. Jehovah, God of love and peace. But it is “in thee,” a very different thing from being in Him only as a creature in the Creator. In Thee, Jehovah, the tenderly merciful Lord, Creator too, but known in Jesus. In thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Mercy, not only to the soul, full mercy there, washed in the blood, sanctified by the word and Spirit, but in everything mercy. Mercy all down to the lowest want of the body, the food, the raiment, by the covenant love of the Father, the Lord, the God of Israel. (Isaiah “65:8; Matt. 6:6-8.)

But there is yet another “in,” and Christ is the circle that encloses it; a mighty circle, blessed be His name! ―a circle that secures all within it. “In” is multiplied, too, in Christ. He is the One who multiplies all blessing. Look and see. “Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.” (Eph. 1) “In whom we have reclamation through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grave; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” “In whom [Christ] also we have obtained an inheritance.” Again, in chapter 2. “In Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” And in chap. 3:12: “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him” [Christ Jesus]. Here then, is a cluster of blessings for the believer, in a sphere “far above” an earthly one. It is heavenly. By the believer I mean a regenerate one, one born again of the Spirit. The new nature is heavenly in its character, clogged, and confined, and hindered by the earthly often times, but free in Christ; and each believer, however sundered by time and space from others, may look into the character of His blessings, and by faith ascend into a region where nature cannot follow. What does he see there? what does he know there? God’s choice from all eternity in Christ; God’s love to him; God’s acceptance of him in the Beloved; God’s recognition of him as a child, dearly beloved and longed for; God’s view of him in Christ Jesus; God’s nearness to him; his nearness, his boldness in Christ, his confidence, because of Christ, in God His Father. Everyone in Christ dear to God. The blessed God forever looking with complacency on Christ and those in Him, triumphant faith smiling amid all circumstances, grass withering below, God all in all above. How wonderful a portion is the Christian’s. Well may he rest, his heart expanded and expanding, while he looks upon his portion, caring for the glory of the One who loved him, caring for the interest of those He loves, waiting for Christ, waiting for the moment of deliverance and rapture, to be forever with the Lord.

WHEN Jesus was here, He said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” When He comes again He will be able to san “He that hath seen Me hath seen the King of kings and Lord of lords.”

In Christ, or Out of Christ?

On, the love of Christ is boundless,

Broad, and long, and deep, and high!

Every doubt and fear is groundless,

Now the word of faith is nigh.

Jesus Christ, for my salvation,

Came by water and by blood:

Clear I stand from condemnation,

In the risen Son of God.

I was “waiting” once for pardon,

I was “hoping” to be saved;

“Waiting,” though my heart would harden,

“Hoping” danger might be braved.

When, by God’s own truth confounded,

I a sinner stood confest,

Richly then His grace abounded,

Jesus gave me perfect rest.

Was it weary work believing?

Days and weeks and years of toil?

Weary work a gift receiving?

Who would God’s salvation spoil?

No; ‘tis faith’s delight to ponder

What the Son of God hath done,

On the throne to see Him yonder,

Holy, crowned, the living One!

‘Tis not doing, ‘tis not praying,

‘Tis not weeping saves the soul;

God is now His grave displaying;

Jesus died to make me whole.

Look to Him, and life-works follow;

Look to Him without delay!

Sinner, look! and ere tomorrow

Thon wilt weep, and praise, and pray.

Oh, the love of Christ is boundless!

Come today, His mercies prove:

Not till then thy fears are groundless;

Naught can else thy doubts remove.

Jesus Christ salvation;

God declares the work is done:

Out of Christ ‘tis condemnation,

Other saving name there’s none.

Is Christ Precious?

(An Extract.)

IS Christ precious to you? If Christ is not precious to you, you are at war with God. If He is not more precious to you than everything beside, then you are in a bad state as a saint. If you are tired of hearing of Him, then what God delights in wearies, you, and heaven could have no charm for you. For heaven itself would not make you happy, if you have no delight in Christ; for there He is the chief object of delight. Is it still true of you, that you see no beauty in Christ that you should desire Him? In God’s sight He is perfect beauty―all loveliness; and where there is anything of God in the soul, He is the desired one; to see Him, not that we may be charmed for a moment as with a beautiful picture, but to know Him, to love Him. He has laid hold of the affections.

We may not have the answer yet, but there is the desire, there is the thirst in the soul after Him, which He done can answer. If you have no desire after Christ, and can do without Him, then your heart is still alienated from God, who delights in Him done, and there is not a common thought between you and God; for when He is saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” you have no delight in Him, and do not know Him as the desire of your heart. I am not speaking of duties, nor of victory over this and that; but I ask whether day by day Christ is the desire of your heart?

THE TAMIL BRICKMAKER. ―He was working at his brick-kiln. A Missionary was passing, and said to him, “My friend, as you have given a form to clay, so has God fashioned you; and as you can destroy the work of your own hands, so is it in your Creator’s power to preserve or destroy you. If you will know Him, and receive His word, you shall live.” These were words in season for the poor man. He began to inquire about the great God and His word, and soon became desirous of becoming a Christian. Shortly after he became almost blind. He was conveyed to Tranquebar, but the doctors were unable to cure him. There he received more scriptural instruction. The eyes of his understanding were opened. His knowledge of the gospel increased, and he gave evidence of a regenerated heart. His wife also discontinued her opposition, and began to seek the Lord. One day he said, “Although it has not pleased God that I should recover my sight, yet He has, by the power of His Spirit, lighted up the darkness of my heart, and that of my wife, whereby we are enabled to see the wickedness of worshipping idols. Is not this better than if He had put one hundred eyes in my head?”

It Has Been Done.

Rom. 10:6, 9.

WE are not to say in our hearts “Who shall ascend?” or “who shall descend?” as though we had anything to do in the work of our salvation. We are not to have questionings about it. The whole thing has been done. “From the highest throne in glory to the cross of deepest woe,” the blessed Saviour has descended, yea, He has gone down to the lower parts of the earth―so perfect was the path―so all embracing. No step was wanting. And entering every scene, He was the Conqueror there. The chambers of death witnessed it, and now all is light for the believer. The very grave is illuminated. How could it be otherwise? It has been filled by Him who is light―who could say “I am the light of the world.” And Jesus’ precious name―more precious as one learns one’s own infirmity, weakness, helplessness, and need—has become, by filling it Himself, the emptier of the grave for others. “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction” (Hosea 13:14), was the promise of old, and in due season its accomplishment shall be manifested. Faith knows that He is risen―He is gone to God’s right hand. His resurrection, too, is a pledge, an earnest of ours. The grand parts of the incarnation, the life, the sufferings and death, the resurrection and ascension of the Redeemer, are all accomplished. The soul has only to repose upon a completed work. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Jarius.

Mark 5.

THERE was death in the house of Jarius; there was also sorrow there, and reasoning, the power of Satan, of nature, and of unbelief. Jesus entered with a claim to be received. “Only believe,” He said, as He entered. This is precious to us, as well as glorious to Him. The scene around us is as this house of Jarius; death is in it, with abundance of its attendant sorrow of all kinds, and plenty of the unbelief that knows no remedy. But Jesus has entered, and faith hears the word from Him, “Be not afraid,” and faith sees in Him the remedy for it all, and bows to Him as the One to displace it all by Himself. The lesson is simple, “only believe.” The hardest thing to displace is this reasoning or unbelief. Death is more at His command (I speak as a man) than the reasoning of the heart. But He comes to clear away everything, death, sorrow, fear, reasoning, unbelief, and the sense of hopelessness, and put Himself, and the virtue He carried with Him, in the place of all; and so He did. His claim to be everything was approved; for the damsel at His bidding revived and walked; all was cleared away, and He took the place, and the fruit of the virtue which He brought with Him. And so by and by, it is faith that will be approved in His day; for the claim of Christ to be trusted will then be approved. “Only believe” will then be found not too much for Christ to have demanded, or for us to have rendered to Him.

Yea; and let me add, there was more than death, sorrow, and unbelief in the house of Jarius at that time. There were appearances of this, that the Lord had been neglectful of them; He had tarried by the way, and tarried so long that all seemed now to be hopeless.

But these appearances were found to be false; they intimated wrongly about the Lord. He had not been neglectful, He had only let things take such a course as would end in the greater joy of the house, and in His brighter, fuller glory.

Jesus in Company With a Religious Man and a Sinner.

Notes of an Address.

“And one of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with him. And He went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat clown to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, He frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And He turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” ―Luke 7:36-50.

IN this brief narrative we have recorded the ways of Jesus when in company with a sinner, a religious man, (Simon the Pharisee,) and others that sat at meat with Him.

The circumstances were very simple. The Pharisee, like religious people in our day, had a certain respect for one who had the reputation of being a prophet, or a teacher sent from God. Jesus was therefore an object of interest to him, though he knew Him not as the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners. It is lamentable how many seem to make the Lord, or even the Bible, a matter of interest, instead of being a matter of salvation. The Pharisee had invited the Lord to eat with him, and, as He came not to judge the world, but to save, He accordingly went. While there, a notoriously wicked woman came into the house, and, among all the guests, her heart singled out the Lord as the one who alone could meet her need; she cast herself down at His feet behind Him, and it was evident that her soul-distress was very considerable.

This fact was enough to appeal loudly to the conscience of the religious Pharisee. He was surprised at his guest allowing a woman of that character to touch Him, so that he really began to suspect whether he had not been estimating Him too highly in thinking Him to be a prophet. This opened the way for the Lord of glory to pour forth in the presence of them all the blessed testimony of divine grace―the grace of God which bringeth salvation―and to manifest the fact that He came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Simon little thought that his guest was the Son of God. Little either did he suspect that his heart and conscience were laid bare to the eyes of Him whom he had desired to eat with him. The Pharisee feared to tell out his thoughts, but “he spake within himself, that this man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: for she is a sinner.” (v. 39.) Yes, he spake within himself; but the Lord searches the heart. He can read the inmost thought. All is naked to His eye; and He declares that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil, and that continually. Such is man before the eye of God―only and continually evil. But Simon, like many others, thought himself righteous, and therefore he despised this sinful woman; he was evidently grieved to see her in his house, and was astonished that his guest should have allowed such a person to touch Him. He marveled how Jesus could welcome such a sinner; and it is a wonder to unbelieving hearts still, because they think that it is religious or good people that Christ embraces; and they do not believe the blessed fact, that Christ died for the ungodly, and that He saves sinners―guilt, hell-deserving sinners.

How does the Lord meet these unbelieving and self-righteous thoughts of the blind Pharisee? In perfect wisdom, gentleness, and kindness, He says, “Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he says, Master, say on.” And then, if I mistake not, He draws a portrait of both the sinner and the Pharisee, as an appeal to this self-righteous conscience: “A certain creditor had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.” As much as to say, Suppose, then, that it be true that this woman is an open transgressor of God’s laws, and that her flagrant sins are manifest, so that she is considered ten times as great a violator of right principles as some others, and call her a five hundred pence debtor; and then suppose that little can be said of Simon as to outward misconduct; suppose oven that his transgressions against outward morality are few, and seldom repeated, so that he is only a fifty pence debtor; still, the fact is, that, whether the debt be little or much, both are so thoroughly bankrupt, as to have nothing whatever to pay their creditor’s demand. This is most important; because it is not now a question of a person being a great sinner, or a little sinner; the question is, Are your sins forgiven? How can you meet God on the judgment of your sins? for you are in debt, and cannot pay. The answer is, that God is the God of all grace, and frankly, unasked, proclaims forgiveness in pity and mercy, because you cannot liquidate any portion of the debt yourself. This is grace―God in rich mercy forgiving sins, and justly so too, on the ground of the atoning blood of His beloved Son. “Christ died for the ungodly.” “He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.”

Then the Lord appeals to Simon as to which would love the forgiving Creditor most; for the prostrate woman was lavishing, as it were, her grateful heart over the sacred feet of her newly-found Saviour. To this question he answered, “I suppose he to whom he forgave most.” That was clear enough: hence the Saviour said, “Thou hast rightly judged.”

The principles of divine grace and truth being thus laid down, the application follows; and the Lord having drawn a portrait, bringing each guilty and undone before God, alike in need, alike dependent on the free mercy of God, now shows the difference between a soul that apprehends Him as the Saviour of sinners, and one, however religious, who knows Him not. How wonderfully skillful was this perfect Preacher in using the truth; for Simon needed to be awakened to a sense of his guilt, and the hollowness of his religious pretensions; the woman needed to be comforted, and filled with that joy and peace which the Saviour brought for broken-hearted, sin-convicted people.

He turns then to the woman, but still addresses the Pharisee. Directing Simon’s attention to the woman, He says, “I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet;” that is, you have not even shown me a common mark of respect and attention; “but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss”—did not salute me with an ordinary mark of affection; “but since I came in she hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.” Thus the blessed Lord shows Simon how much there was in the ways of this despised, sinful woman superior to himself, and, as He afterward teaches, the spring of all is love―the fruit of a heart moved with gratitude to the Lord. Because of deep-felt need, she clung to Him as the alone Saviour, and knew that He only could make her crimson sins white as wool. She had found Him. Her soul had been longing after personal dealing with this Friend of sinners, and now she had found Him, she counted Him worthy of the costliest service. The alabaster box was broken, His feet anointed, after being bathed with tears of grateful love, and wiped with the hairs of her head. Her love was the fruit of forgiveness of her many sins. She therefore loved much. Hence Jesus added, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (v. 47.)

But further. The Lord thus far has only addressed Himself to Simon. The woman seems to be all this time lying at His feet. She must be comforted, and learn from the Lord Himself that her filthiness is cleansed, her iniquity pardoned. Therefore Jesus said unto her, “Thy sins are forgiven.” Nor is this all; He again addresses Himself to her― “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” We have here three present blessings of eternal importance. Present forgiveness of sins, present salvation, present peace. If we had met this woman the next day, and said to her, Are your sins forgiven? are you saved? what would have been her reply? “Yes, I have forgiveness; I am saved.” And then, if asked, Are you quite sure that your sins are forgiven? would she not have said, “Yes, quite ante, because the Saviour told me so; and His word can never fail!”

It is present peace, present forgiveness, present salvation that so many are denying in our day. They say that we cannot know these things till we come to die. But we have seen what the Lord taught; and there are many more Scripture testimonies to the same effect; and the Scripture cannot be broken. The Lord certainly gave this woman the fullest warrant for taking her stand as a saved person, and that, too, in the way of faith. “Thy faith hath saved thee.” It was not her tears, the ointment, or anything else that saved, blessed fruits as they were, but Jesus alone is the Saviour; and those who accept Him are perfectly secure. It was not doctrines about Christ, or religious duties, or prayers, or anything else, but Christ Himself to whom she had clung and known as her very own Saviour. It was Himself, the Son which came forth from the Father, that she had made her refuge, and in whom alone her confidence rested. Blessed sample of simple faith! Blessed testimony, too, of the reality of present forgiveness of sins, present salvation, and present peace, leaving no room for a fear or doubt, or a moment’s misgiving as to the security of that soul whose simple trust is in Jesus, the Saviour of lost guilty sinners.

But those who sat at meat could no longer be silent. Man hates grace. He “cannot bear the free, unmerited love of God. “Who is this,” they said, “that forgiveth sins also?” Yes, who is this? That has always been the question, and so it is still. “Who is this?” He was in the world, the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” He said, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to my Father.” He died upon the cross to save sinners, and having finished the work, God raised Him from the dead, and exalted Him to His own right hand in heaven. “After He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God: from henceforth expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool.”

Letters to a Young Convert.

No. 2.

MY DEAR ―, In my last, I endeavored to show from Scripture that we have everlasting life as a present possession, and are enjoined to walk in newness of life.

It is well also to know, that God has called us into the highest possible relationship to Himself―that of “sons.” This also is a present blessing, and is full of comfort and power, both for service and for walk. “Beloved, now are we the SONS OF GOD.” (1 John 3:2.) God has made us this by calling in the sovereignty of His grace. He might have saved us, and still kept us in no nearer position than that of servants; but this would not satisfy the Father’s heart, or answer to His eternal purpose in Christ; for He would have us as children before Him in love. Hence we are called sons of God: sons according to God’s eternal purpose and grace, sons by regeneration, sons by adoption. It is because of this that the Spirit of Christ has taken up His abode in us. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6.) Or, as it is elsewhere expressed, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:15.) This shows us the deep intimacy of relationship and affection into which God has brought us; we are so dear to the Father’s heart, that Jesus could say, “Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved Me.” Can anything, I would ask, exceed the place of standing and privilege the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us into? Can we think of a higher relationship that God could give to creatures than that of sons? And do we take this place, and give God the praise and glory due to His name for it?

But more than this. The Spirit of God is the teacher of this wondrous truth; for God would not have us lose the comfort or enjoyment of such dignity as He has brought us into. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. (Rom. 8:16.) Mark the word “are,” because it shows us that the Spirit of God teaches us that it is a present reality. And further, “if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Being sons, and loved as Christ is, God gives us the expectation of sharing the inheritance with Him. How very blessed! Well hath the Holy Ghost said that God is rich in mercy to us. We are, then, children of God. We are therefore instructed to be worshippers of the Father, in Spirit and in truth, to be obedient children, to love the brethren, to be subject to our Father’s will, carrying out His word continually in our daily walk. Having given us His word and Spirit, we are therefore bound to know His mind― “not to be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” As a Father, God teaches, rules, and disciplines us, not for His profit, but for our blessing. He provides for us, and so cares for us, that He bids us not to be anxious about present or future necessities, but to cast every care upon Him, because He careth for us; to reckon upon His Fatherly provision, and to make all our requests known unto Him. He bids us look to the fowls of the air and lilies of the valley―to learn lessons of His Fatherly care over us; and further teaches us that, “If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him.”

May we not be slow of heart to give our heavenly Father credit for such amazing grace, and may we have a single eye to walk so as to be well pleasing in His sight.

Yours affectionately,

Letters to a Young Convert.

No. 3.

MY DEAR―, It is quite true that God does has His priests on the earth; but they are not of an earthly order, like that of Aaron. Neither does the New Testament teach that they are any particular class of God’s people; for all believers are priests; Christ Himself, who has ascended into the heavens, being the High Priest.

Aaron and his children, who formed the priesthood of the past dispensation, shadowed forth, in some measure, the heavenly priesthood of this present time. The attempt to set up the past order again is to leave what is substantial, and to return to the shadow. This is always man’s tendency. It is, in other words, to leave what is spiritual, and to return to what is carnal; to grow weary of the life and walk of faith, and go back to what is of sight and of sense. May we be watchful and prayerful!

It is because all believers are priests that we sometimes sing, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

This is a blessed position. We are both kings and priests, only we have not yet entered upon our kingly position. We expect to reign with Christ, but now our place is one of rejection with Christ. We shall sit on thrones by-and-by.

As the priests of old were separated unto God in His sovereignty, and by the blood and anointing oil, for a special ministry in the sanctuary, so is it in the present order of priesthood. God in His sovereignty calls, and by the precious blood of Christ, and gift of the Holy Ghost, separates us unto Himself, giving us liberty to enter into the holiest to offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Hence we are told, that we are a royal and a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

As Aaron and his sons had continually to be dealing with the sacrifices and the blood, so Jesus, our great High Priest, entered oven into heaven by His own blood, and now appears there in the presence of God for us; and because of this we have liberty to enter at all times into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

Because the priests were God’s servants, He cared for them in every way. They were not only clothed with garments for glory and beauty, sprinkled with blood, and anointed with oil; but God fed them. He provided for their nourishment and sustained them: “They were to eat of those things wherewith the atonement was made.” A striking shadow of Christ being the Food and Sustainer of our souls; and if we would be fitted for our priestly office, we must live upon the food which our God has provided for us. Everything here is calculated to nourish our fleshly desires. We must, therefore, look above by faith to Him who made atonement for our sins, and feed our souls on Him, if we would find nourishment to sustain us in our priestly service. We shall be spiritually weak and feeble, if we are not nourished by the sincere milk of the word which testifies of Christ. It is impossible that we can thrive in divine things if we neglect the divine food which God has given us. The lamentation of one of the prophets was, “He feedeth on ashes:” therefore he adds, “A deceived heart hath turned him aside.” (Isa. 44:20.) And we may be sure, that if we are not found in the banqueting house feeding inside the vail on the bread and wine of the Father’s house, we shall be feeding on the ashes of this ungodly world, and be easily turned aside from the ways of grace and truth. Christ is the living bread, the true bread, the bread of God, which came down from heaven―the One who is the nourisher of all that are spiritual. He said, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father so he that eateth me, even He shall live by me.” (John 6:57.) Let us not forget, then, that the priests were to “eat those things wherewith the atonement was made.” (Ex. 29:33.)

The effect of thus feeding will be consecration unto God― “to sanctify and to consecrate them.” The more we feed on Christ, the more we shall realize that His flesh is real meat, and His blood real drink. As Aaron and his sons fed upon the wave-breast and heave-shoulder, so we shall learn more and more that our real power is in seeing that Christ’s perfect love and almighty strength are engaged on our behalf. The more we enter into His affections, the more our desires will be called forth after Him. Consecration must, therefore, be the result of communion with God―feeding on Christ. We shall be sanctified or separated unto God. I say, unto God. We may be separated from evil things without being separated unto God; but if we are consecrated or sanctified unto God by the truth, we must be removed from that which is evil.

It is, then, of the highest importance that we cultivate this personal fellowship with the Lord Himself. We shall be lean and poor, and, it may be, fretful and easily perturbed, if we are not abiding in Christ, drawing from Him. In this was alone we shall be able to walk worthy of the Lord.

Yours affectionately,

Letters to a Young Convert.

No. 7.

MY DEAR―, It is well to keep prominently before us that God has “called us unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ;” and, I would ask, Can any calling be higher? We are, therefore, called into association with Christ who is rejected by the world, yet preaching grace to it, loved by the Father, and honored by His saints. In fact, the Spirit of God teaches us to measure everything according to Christ Jesus. You will see that nothing leas can really be Christianity. Blessed fellowship, though of course, not without present suffering. We are “not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”

The apostle John, in writing to the saints about their having fellowship with himself and others, says, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” He does not say ought to be, but is. This is really the fact, and in measure true of every believer. For where does the believer rest? What does he delight in? Is it not in Jesus? And does not the Father’s heart rest and delight in Him too? Well, this is fellowship—fellowship with the Father. And does not Jesus enjoy the Father’s love, enter into the Father’s purposes, remember the deep and unutterable sorrows of the cross, and anticipate the coming glories? And do not we? And is not this, according to our tiny measure, fellowship with Jesus? And in proportion as we learn His mind from the Scriptures, and understand the Father’s love and counsels in Christ, by the teaching and power of the Spirit, and what God has revealed regarding the Church, Israel, and the world, will not our thoughts, affections, and ways, be increasingly in fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ?

This is, then, God’s standard of Christian fellowship; and it will be for our profit not to attempt to lower it; but to refuse what cannot be held within this circle. Christian fellowship is a common expression in our day; but few, perhaps, consider that the Holy Ghost proposes nothing leas, and that He guides us, by the truth, into fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

I need scarcely remind you, that Christ Himself, and His precious blood, have laid the foundation of this blessed fellowship. He who purged our sins on the cross has gone into heaven by His own blood, where He now appears for us. Hence we can enter into the holiest of all with boldness; and by the power of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us, we can enter into the Father’s counsels, and love, and ways, in and through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Can any higher privilege be conceived than such an intimacy? With what profound humility and reverent feelings, then, should we ever think or speak of it. We may know it in a very feeble measure now, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

My chief object in calling your attention to the subject of “fellowship” now, is because from my last you will have no difficulty in perceiving that you do not belong to a religious nation, like the people of Israel did; but that you belong to the Church of God―the body of Christ―a body on earth formed by the descent and baptism of the Holy Ghost, in union with a living Head in heaven. This special work of God, unknown, as I believe, before Pentecost, and peculiar to the Church throughout all ages, is necessarily connected with a special position and new relationships; and, I need scarcely tell you, that as a principle it is always true, that conduct is regulated by the knowledge we have of our own position and relationships.

In this dispensation, then, our position, and some of our relationships, are peculiar. We have union with Christ, the risen and ascended man. We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We know that the vail is rent, and have therefore liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We are united in one body with all believers sins the Holy Ghost came down from heaven. We are espoused to Christ, and are destined to the glory of the Bride, the Lamb’s wife; and we shall find that these relationships are presented to us in Scripture to form our characters, mold our affections, and exercise our consciences. To be ignorant therefore of the special calling, position, relationships, and hope of the dispensation, cannot fail to be connected with loss of inward comfort and power of testimony; it leads persona to confuse important dispensational differences, to misinterpret many portions of Scripture, and almost invariably to lower the standard of Christian fellowship and testimony to the world. But I hope, if the Lord will, to enter a little more into these things in my next.

Believe me, yours affectionately,

Letters to Young Converts.

No. 1.

MY DEAR―, I rejoice exceedingly at the mercy of God in not only awakening you to a true sense of your need and danger, but also in enabling you to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. This is eternal salvation. From first to last it is God’s work, and to Him we will give all the glory. He might justly have cut you off in anger, or have allowed you to perish in your sins, like many others, without your having a serious thought of the eternal doom that awaits the unbelieving. Surely it is by grace that we are saved; and it is well to cultivate a sense of this; for faith always receives every good thing from God, and gives all glory to God. The more we contemplate the marvelous grave that God has manifested to us in Christ, the more peaceful and humble shall we be, and the better fitted for the service He has marked out.

It is very important that you should clearly see from the teaching of Scripture that you have eternal life. We are told that “the Father sent the Son into the world that we might live through Him;” and Jesus said, “He that believeth on me HATH EVERLASTING LIFE.” (John 6:47.) You will find this frequently brought out in Scripture, so that we may be fully assured that God hath given to us “eternal life.”

It is blessed to know that we have peace with God, and access into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; but the knowledge of the present possession of eternal life not only gives much comfort and stability of soul, but it is eminently practical, giving us power for present walk. We do not hope to have everlasting life, because we have it; and if we have a new life, it must naturally result in an entire change of walk and conduct―we should walk in newness of life. God’s way in the gospel is to show us our privileges, that we may feel our responsibilities. He first gives us life, then calls us to walk in newness of life. God tells us of our high, holy, and heavenly calling, and then beseeches us to walk worthy of this calling. He shows us something of the work and worth, the love and ways of Jesus, and then exhorts us to walk worthy of the Lord. His grace to us in Christ is the spring of all worship and acceptable service; hence He fills us with the knowledge of His own matchless, perfect love, and then says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” The danger is in reversing this divine order, and thus getting into legality and bondage, or of our walking carelessly, grieving the Holy Spirit, losing communion with the Lord, and declining in faith and love. The believer is really

“Beset with snares on every hand,”

but by looking off unto the Lord Jesus, abiding in Him, feeding on Him, drawing continually out of His fullness―by frequent meditation on His word, and prayer, and faith, we shall be living Christians. Why are there so many Christians who seem cold and formal? Because they have got away from Christ —not, perhaps, as to peace and salvation, but as the source of daily strength and blessing; they have almost, if not entirely, given up the private reading of the Scriptures and closet prayer―secret dealing with God about their souls. Hence, our Lord said, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” (John 6:57.) Christ, then, is our Life-sustainer as well as Life-giver. We must be abiding in Him if we would be earnest, practical fruitful Christians. Nothing will make up for a lack of this.

It is happy, then, to be assured that we have eternal life. There were some believers in the apostles’ days (even as there are now) who did not know that they had eternal life; therefore the Holy Ghost directed John to write and teach them this blessed truth. “These things,” said he, “have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13.) In another place he shows them that love to the children of God is the outflowing of that life: “We know that we have passed, from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14.) This is the proof that we have eternal life. The Lord also taught that all fruit-bearing resulted from union with Himself, even as branches derive all their power of bearing fruit from the life flowing from the vine into the branches.

From other parts of Scripture we learn that the life of the believer is a resurrection-life―we are risen with Christ: hence we are exhorted to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, or to have died unto sin in Christ crucified, our Substitute, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:11.) Once we were all spiritually dead, now we are spiritually alive; we have been quickened together, raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in “Christ Jesus. This is what God has done. We are, then, already the other side of death―risen with Christ. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” “Our life is hid with Christ in God.” What perfect security! What cause for endless praise! Can anything tend more to establish our souls than the knowledge of having everlasting life, and that, too, in union with the Son of God in the heavenlies. What has love done!

May we rejoice continually before God, giving praise and glory to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ! and in the knowledge that Christ is our life, may we manifest in our daily walk that we really “have passed from death unto life.” Then we shall not have a name to live while dead, but we shall be happy and obedient children of God, and earnest and devoted servants of our precious Lord Jesus.

Yours affectionately, ―

Letters to Young Converts.

No. 4.

MY DEAR― The account of the consecration of the priests, in the last dispensation, gives us also typical instruction in two points, which should not be overlooked: 1St. As to the place of acceptance we are brought into before God; and 2nd. Our position here as the priests of God answerable to it. (See Lev. 8:18-24.)

The sin-offering gives an aspect of Christ death which tells us of our sin condemned and purged. The burnt-offering shows us our acceptance with God― “accepted or graced in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6); or, according to Lev. 1:4, “It shall be accepted for him.” So that we stand before God in Christ in all the fragrance of His infinite worthiness, in all the acceptability of Christ Himself. Thus, nothing can touch our security, because Jesus has “given Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor,” and He is at the right hand of God. We are on the ground of an already accomplished redemption. We have entrance into God’s presence, can rejoice in Christ Jesus, and worship the Father.

But the blood of the ram of consecration was sprinkled on the priests. This is another use of the blood of Jesus. It separates us off unto God. We are not our own, but are bought with a price. We are sanctified by the blood. So that we are to be wholly for the Lord. The blood sprinkled upon the conscience calls for a walk down here, answerable to our calling and standing up there. The blood is the ground of both. The Spirit testifies of its power. While then the burnt-offering teaches us that we are now justified by the blood of Christ, the ram of consecration teaches us that we are now sanctified or separated unto God for continual service and worship. We serve in happy liberty, and we worship too, as consecrated by the blood.

There were three different parts of the body sprinkled with the blood―the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot. These are important points to notice.

1. THE TIP OF THE RIGHT EAR may show us that the priests were to receive their instruction from God, and hearken only to Him. The eye and the ear are two of the great avenues by which Satan reaches the heart. When he found Eve ready to listen to his words, he suggested foul and distrustful thoughts of God; and when she saw the tree was good for food and pleasant TO THE EYES, she took of the fruit and did eat, and gave also to her husband. It is well, then, to be reminded that we are to listen only to the Lord. When we lend our ears to listen to unprofitable conversation, we give the enemy an advantage over us. But inclining our ear unto wisdom, we shall be able to speak and act in the fear of the Lord. It is said of the blessed Lord, “He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned;” and we also read, “The Lord God, hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” (Isa. 1:4.) It is well, then, to remember, that as a royal and holy priesthood we are to hearken to God, and receive our instructions from Him.

2. THE THUMB OF THE RIGHT HAND shows us that we are to labor for the Lord, to minister for His glory. We know who said, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;” while another, by the same spirit, admonishes us, whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, to do all for the glory of God. Our powers are to be consecrated to God, we are to be obedient children; not sometimes, but continually.

The blessed Lord could say, “I do always those things that please Him.” And it is when we are dwelling on the grace of God in not sparing His own Son, but delivering Him up for us all, that we can sincerely sing unto the Lord:

“Take thou our hearts, and let them be

Forever closed to all but thee;

Thy willing servants, let us wear

The seal of love forever there.”

3. THE GREAT TOE OF THE RIGHT FOOT instructs us that we are to walk, not in the way of the ungodly, but in God’s ways―to walk with God. The Holy Spirit leads us in this path. The Scriptures reveal to us the footprints of Jesus, and the soul delights to trace them in order to follow His steps. This is a narrow path indeed. He was not of the world. He pleased not Himself. He was always obedient. He never sought to do His own will. He was always a sweet savor unto God. There was not a moment ill spent by Him. He received not honor from men. He was indeed the “faithful witness.” It was a path of suffering, it is true, but of unbroken fellowship with the Father, until His soul was made an offering for sin, when He cried out in bitterest sorrow, “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” In that part of the path we can never participate. But if the remembrance of that sorrow and death, even the death of the cross, be kept fresh in our minds and hearts, we shall be bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and never forget that we are forever consecrated by that sacrifice unto the service of God.

May we often think of this; for in this way our hearts will be kept fresh and happy for worship, and we shall be steadfast in God’s ways, and faithful in the ministry with which the Lord would have us occupied.

Yours affectionately,

A CHRISTIAN, talking of his own death, said, “If I die, I shall be with Christ; if I live, Christ will be with me.

Letters to Young Converts.

No. 5.

MY DEAR―, The more we know of divine truth, the more we discover that God, in the riches of His grace, has provided in and through Christ, and by His word and Spirit, for every step and every circumstance of our wilderness journey.

The great sorrow of a truly regenerated person is sin; not only sin in him, but that he every now and then obeys it in the desires of the flesh and of the mind; that instead of living wholly for Christ, he painfully feels that he has dishonored his loving Lord, by walking or acting carnally and disobediently. This necessarily grieves the Holy Spirit whereby he is sealed, brings a troubled conscience and darkness of soul, and he is conscious that, as a child of God, he has sinned against his heavenly Father. Putting the blame on others, or excusing the sin (the way of the natural man), gives no relief; for he knows that he has sinned against his God and Father, and that sin in His sight must ever be exceedingly sinful. Satan will try to work on the conscience thus troubled, and shake the soul’s confidence in God altogether, if he can. He may suggest the thought, that he cannot be a child of God―that a true Christian would not sin so grievously as he has done; or he may tempt the person to try and forget it, to harden the conscience against it, or to escribe the sorrow to an over-scrupulous conscience; or he may try to persuade the troubled soul that it is not sin, or to induce him to palliate it in some way or other. But the child of God is taught in Scripture, that Christ has by His one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified; and that, having obtained eternal redemption for us, He has entered into heaven itself with His own blood; that the blood of sprinkling speaks for him in God’s presence; that because of that blood he has liberty to enter into the holiest of all, where Jesus now appears for us, and that he is invited to come there with boldness to obtain mercy; for Jesus is ever living to make intercession for him; so that if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Thus he can come into God’s presence and confess his sins; and having confessed them, he has the sure knowledge that God has forgiven. He will in this way realize that his fellowship with the Father is restored, his conscience relieved, and the light of God’s countenance and the joy of His presence afresh enjoyed. “If we (children of God) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9.)

Perhaps nothing is of more importance for every believer to addict himself to than the habit of self-judgment, and confession of personal sin and failure to God. It is impossible that communion with God can be kept up, if we are walking carelessly. We are told, that “if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another;” but that “if we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”

Sin, as I have said, is the believer’s sorest trouble. None but the true Christian is so plagued with sin. But, in the priesthood of Christ, God has fully met our need in this respect. While the sinner that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is forever delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love―has passed from death unto life―the priesthood of Christ is for such, for children of God, and for those too, who in their wilderness journey, sin and dishonor the Lord. But through the knowledge that Christ appears for them in God’s presence as a merciful, faithful, sympathizing, interceding, and unchangeable High Priest, they can look up; because He is ever presenting His own infinitely acceptable sacrifice for them, and upholding them by His own changeless love and almighty power in God’s presence. They can look up and take courage, and return to the Lord with confession and supplication. They learn that, through the perpetual efficacy of that precious blood which cleanseth them from all sin, and the infallible promise that He is faithful and just to forgive them their sins, they may have their consciences fully set at rest, and their fellowship restored; and so they find it.

There is no need, therefore, for you to cloak sin, or to excuse or palliate sin; but to come at once into God’s presence with confession, and you will not fail to realize that you are forgiven, and cleansed from all unrighteousness Yours affectionately in the Lord,

Christ’s acceptance in heaven is the measure of the believer’s acceptance― “accepted in the Beloved.”

Letters to Young Converts.

No. 6.

MY DEAR ―, In the study of Scripture, you have, doubtless, been surprised at the difficulty of reconciling some portions with others. For instance, you read in one place of God giving a law, and threatening with curse and death those who break His commands; in another place you find God’s servant publicly announcing, “Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:38, 39.) In the Old Testament you find God setting up a religion on earth, with visible arrangements, carnal ordinances, sacrifices, &c.; and in the New Testament you find nothing of the kind taught, but you read of saints serving and rejoicing in a Saviour whom they have not seen, and walking by faith, and not by sight. In some Scriptures you see God’s people instructed to hate their enemies, and in other Scriptures the saints are taught to love their enemies. Now, it seems to me impossible that these and many more apparent contradictions can be understood, unless one sees, that though God Himself changes not, yet that He has been pleased to have a different platform, so to speak, on which He acta towards men at some periods to what He has had at others. I refer to what is sometimes called dispensations, some of which have passed away, and others are yet future. In each God has some special line of action and truth to make known, so as to bring glory to His own name. His own immutable attributes are manifested throughout; and His perfect hatred to sin, and the only way of justifying the ungodly through the shedding of blood, have never varied.

Before sin entered into the world, and death by sin, man stood before God as very good. He was of the earth earthy, it is true; but God could come down and talk with him; and such was the place of honor in which he was set who was created in the image of God, that whatsoever Adam called every living thing, that was the name thereof. This state of paradise blessing might have continued only a short time; but we may call it a period or dispensation of INNOCENCE.

Then, between Adam and the giving of the law by Moses, we have not a state of innocence, but of sin and death. There was sin in the world, though not after the similitude of Adam’s transgression (who went straight against God’s plain command); for we are told, that “where no law is, there is no transgression.” Still, the invisible God was made known by the visible creation, and men were conscious of evil. They did not like to retain God in their thoughts, but went out of His presence, and tried to be happy far off from God, and manifested all manner of evil. The conscience was accusing, or else excusing. We may call this a period or dispensation of CONSCIENCE.

When the law was given by Moses, a different character of things was brought in; for by the law sin was made known, and man took a place of direct responsibility to God to keep that law. The end of it was, that those very people who boasted in being Moses’ disciples killed the Prince of Life. They hated God’s beloved Son, without a cause. They crucified the Lord of glory. The law proved man to be thoroughly bad. “The law worketh wrath.” From Moses to Christ we may call a period or dispensation of LAW.

“Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” This is something entirely opposite to the principle of law. No two things can be more opposed than law and grace. Grace demands nothing of man, but brings everything to him in the way of gift; whereas the law brought nothing in the way of gift, but demanded from man what he was unable to do. Not only does law condemn all under it, but grace justifies every one through Christ, and brings the believer into union and fellowship with Christ in heaven. It is not now God setting up a religion in the earth; but His beloved Son having been rejected and crucified, God has exalted Him to His own right hand in heaven; and, having sent down the Holy Ghost, is calling out a people for the name of Jesus―a bride for the beloved Son, the Church, which is the body of Christ. It is this that specially characterizes this dispensation. It is not now God selecting one nation, and exalting it, as to privilege and responsibility, above every other nation; but God calling out of the nations by the gospel an elect people, to form the body of Christ. If we do not see these things, we cannot understand many parts of Scripture; nor can we be in communion with God’s mind about His present acting’s; we shall not perceive the real state of things around us, nor enter into His counsels and purposes as to the Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God. We may call this, therefore, the dispensation of THE CHURCH OF GOD, the calling and characteristics being heavenly and spiritual.

When the Church, or body of Christ―the one new man―is complete, and the Lord has descended into the air, and the saints have been caught up to meet Him, we shall have another order of things again. God will then have a people; but they will be of an earthly order. He will remember His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. There will then be godly Jews, having respect to the law of Moses, with the hope of Messiah’s coming terminating in the reign of Christ, when everything is subdued unto Him, and all enemies put under His feet. Christ will reign, and His heavenly saints with Him, for a thousand years. This period or dispensation is, therefore, often called THE MILLENNIUM.

This is followed by the passing away of the present heaven and earth, and the final judgment of the wicked dead; and then the establishment of the new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. There will be no more curse or death. We may call this, therefore, the ETERNAL STATE.

So far, I think, we gather from Scripture, an outline of dispensations. It is brief and meager, I grant; but when you are able to see change in dispensations, you will find details opened up to you in reading the word of God. Surely the Lord treats us as friend’s, thus so freely to communicate to us the knowledge of His own ways and purposes. When these distinctions are even feebly apprehended, we can see, I think, why God would lay down a different rule of action for an earthly nation, with earthly hopes, and promised superiority and standing over other nations, to what He would to a people, saved by grace, called out of the nations―not of the world―into union with a rejected Christ, who is now exalted in the heavens. We shall, too, while considering the variety of God’s ways, be able to enter into the apostle’s exclamation: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways post finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Believe me to be, Ever yours affectionately in the Lord,

Letters to Young Converts.

No. 8.

MY DEAR ―, As God has given us the Scriptures, which are able to furnish us unto all good works, and the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, ought we not to be as assured of His mind concerning every step of our way, as we are of our eternal salvation? The essential thing, perhaps, needed besides, is a single eye, so that we may look straight up to the Lord Jesus, seeking only to please Him, who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”

Our heavenly Father might take us at once into glory, if He thought best; but He keeps us here for a little while, to bring forth fruit to His praise―to “show forth the virtues of Him, who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

As long as we are here, we have a position to occupy as sons of God, members of Christ, and members one of another. The state of soul we are in―our condition, should also be a matter of the first importance to us, and calls for continual exercise of conscience before God. We have also a testimony to give. It may be well that we should briefly consider each of these three points.

As to our position, it is clear that we are not world, but chosen out of the world; and yet, as a matter of fact, we are in the world. But while here we are to maintain a path of separation from unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:17) and never to forget that we belong to the Church of God, that we are members of the body of Christ, and are to hold the Head, from whom the whole body is nourished. (Col. 2:19.) This is all plain enough; but to act on the fact practically, as belonging to one body on earth, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, of which Christ in heaven is the Head, this is what calls for especial exercise of heart and conscience in the present day.

Time was when the members of the body of Christ had little need of exercise of mind as to their position. The Church was then practically in the unity of the Spirit. All that believed were together. In certain towns all the saints were known as gathered together in love and in truth, and those who were not with them were outside the Church of God. But carnality, strife, doctrines of men, and divisions came in, and have increased; yet God still sees all the members of the one body of Christ as indwelt by one Spirit, however scattered the individuals may be, or associated with the systems and traditions of men.

Man’s sin and failure, however, have not altered God’s truth, or lessened our obligation to carry out His mind. The command of the Holy Ghost, “Endeavour the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3) is as binding on saints as ever. He still gathers the faithful around the Lord Jesus as the center (Matt. 18:20), who is Head of the body, and Son over His own house; and, notwithstanding all the present confusion and scattering, the path for those who desire to be true to Christ is clearly marked out in the word of God. It is well to remember that God is faithful, He cannot deny Himself; and He is able to do more than we ask or think. We shall find, too, that His grace is sufficient for every circumstance, and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The Lord Jesus well knows every part of the pilgrim’s path; for He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, and has gone into heaven, where He now appears in the presence of God for us as our faithful and sympathizing High Priest, and has sent down the Holy Ghost to comfort and encourage our hearts, and to abide with us forever. We may therefore hold fast the confession of our hope, and stand fast on the Scripture ground of holiness and love; and looking away unto Jesus, we shall be able to maintain a position that honors Him in faithful separation from all that is displeasing in His sight. When we find that the position we have taken is according to His mind, we shall be able to survey everything else from that standpoint with a discernment and an intelligence that we could not otherwise have. As in a former dispensation, those who were at all in the mind of God, as to His ways and purposes toward Israel, would be able to estimate aright the character and prospects of the nations around; so now, the soul that is really in principle and practice on the ground of the Church of God, according to His revealed counsels in Christ, is able to survey the false glare of Christendom, the abominations of Babylon, the people of Israel, and Gentile nations, and all too as to their future as well as their present condition.

But supposing the position we have taken to be according to Scripture, what a poor thing for that to be connected with a heart indifferent to the honor of Christ, a mind given to earthly things, and a morbid conscience. Be assured that a miserable condition may co-exist with a scriptural position. How melancholy the thought! But you remember the account we have of the assembly of Laodicea. There was no question with them about position, but their condition of lukewarmness and indifferentism was such, that the Lord was ready to spue them out of His mouth. Surely this is very solemn, and shows us the vast importance of keeping in the love of God, and keeping our hearts with all diligence, lest, while we have a name to live, we are dead; and, while contending for a scriptural position, we practically deny it by a carnal, earthly minded, unspiritual condition of soul. Let us watch and pray, Lest we enter into temptation. Let us feed continually, by prayerful meditation on the Word of God, on the flesh and blood of the Son of God―that meat which endureth, that bread which strengthens, and vine that cheers the heart. Thus abiding in Him, cultivating a life of communion with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, we shall have a broken will, a subject mind, a loving heart, and our delight will be to honor Christ in all things, and wait for His coming.

But I must pass on to the third point―testimony. We are to confess Christ before men, who has purchased us at such a cost. We are to exhibit Christ continually in life and walk, in word and in deed. Our light should shine while we are in this dark world. And will not this be the necessary consequence, if we are abiding in Christ, and our hearts overflowing with His love?

While all the saints should be objects of interest and affection, because they are Christ’s, we are also to carry the gospel into all the world, and preach it to every creature. Mark the two words, “all” and “every.” You may say that you are not gifted for such work. Very likely you are not; but is your heart, and are the means in your power, so at the Lord’s service, that you are helping forward, according as you are able, the testimony of the Lord, both as regards the truth of the Church of God, and in carrying the glad tidings to a guilty world?

Consider, then, I would say in conclusion, whether your position and condition are pleasing to God, and as to how far you are giving a clear, unworldly, faithful testimony, both to saints and sinners around. May God work mightily in these last days in every way for the glory of our adorable Lord Jesus!

Yours very affectionately,

"Loose Him, and Let Him Go."

John 11:44.

THE thought of hearing Him say, as He did of old, “Loose him, and let him go,” is very precious, is it not? From this vile tabernacle of clay, loose him, and let him go. From a world that lieth in the wicked one, loose him, and let him go. From sorrow, sickness, poverty” and pain, loose him, and let him go. From conflict with the powers of darkness, from weariness and disappointment, from all the ills we struggle with, but cannot remedy, “Loose him, and let him go.” And whither? To a Saviour’s loving, faithful, eternal embrace; to a Father’s house above; to joy unspeakable in the Holy Ghost, loose him, and let him go. To the realms where holiness, and light, and life, and love, and truth are found, where angels worship, and the spirits of the just made perfect hold unbroken and unalloyed converse, loose him, and let him go. Yes, the word will soon be uttered by our faithful Shepherd’s voice, and we shall see Him as He is, and bear His likeness through an endless day.

"Lovest Thou Me?"

I LOVE Thee, precious Jesus!

For Thou hast loved me;

And deep in my remembrance

Thy name shall ever be.

More tender than a mother,

My Saviour, Friend, art Thou;

Yea, closer than a brother

Thou cleavest to me now.

I love Thee, precious Jesus!

And closely at Thy side,

Whence living streams are welling,

Would I henceforth abide.

So meek art Thou and lowly,

Of Thee I fain would learn;

And by Thy mind most holy,

The Father’s will discern.

I love Thee, precious Jesus!

I love Thee more and more;

Though scanty still the measure,

My cup so soon runs o’er.

Oh! perfect my perception

Of this, the “wealthy place,”

To faith’s complete reception

Of Thine exceeding grave.

I love Thee, precious Jesus!

And through the cloudy day

I mind me Thou art coming

To call us soon away;

To end our time-condition

In resurrection light;

To give, for hope, fruition;

For faith, the promised light!

I love Thee, precious Jesus!

Thy changeless love I know,

Too mighty in its fullness

To fathom here below.

Naught Thine from Thee may sever,

Then load me in Thy ways;

My mission, now and ever,

To sing aloud Thy praise!

THOUGH almost everything else has changed, the heart of man is as bad now as it was thousands of years ago― “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:6.)

Ministry.

THE great secret of ministry is to bring the resources of God to bear upon the actual condition and circumstances of those by whom it is needed. Of course I am looking at ministry in its aspect towards men, converted or unconverted. Principally, however, my thoughts ranged over the children of God. The varied circumstances and conditions of the saints call for a continued application of the word to their hearts and consciences. There are daily needs which call for daily supplies, and this is true both as regards the body and the soul―a fact almost too evident to need writing down. The blessed grace of God, flowing ever from the risen Christ in glory, makes it a labor of love for the Christian to minister to others―the Holy Ghost being the alone power of action for this, whether the grace bestowed be towards the body or the soul. Christ is the spring of all the blessing, as it is He that ministers really in His saints, as they, from love to Him, minister to one another, as to Him; His love constraining all they do, or it is valueless. I see in Him the Head and pattern of all ministry. He washes the feet daily (John 13); He ever lives to make intercession. (Heb. 7) A dear old saint said to me not long ago, “The double intercession (alluding to Rom. 8:26-27 and 34) goes on night and day;” and it is blessed when the saint is carried into the current of this. There are deep needs among the people of God, needs of many kinds; God alone can supply those needs, and it is His glory to do so. “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” (Psa. 107:9.) There is a deep well-spring of mercy in the heart of God which is never exhausted; and He that died upon the tree to give it free flow, ever lives to administer it. I think we get a pattern of His way in John 6. He is the Creator, but the multitude don’t know it. He gratifies His loving heart by doing them good―working miracles of healing on the diseased among them. They wonder, and they follow; but they know Him not. Who does know Him in the fullness of His glory, in the exceeding blessedness of what He is? Disciples surround Him on the mountain, far above the busy scene of His gracious labors below. How peaceful, how blessed, is converse with Him there. Apart from earth, as it were―not of the world, nor in it even― for the moment. How blessed are they who can thus retire―who can be alone with Jesus. This is what the heart longs for; this is what the blood of atonement has secured for every saint. O praise His blessed, everlasting name! The dungeon deep, the craft of man, the malice of hell itself, cannot shut out from the soul of the believer the precious consciousness of the power and of the love of Jesus.

“He everywhere hath sway,

And all things serve His might;

His every, act pure blessing is,

His path unsullied light.”

But I come to what I was thinking of―His way in blessing. He will feed the multitudes―but how will He feed them? Disciples don’t know. His ways are higher than their ways; His thoughts than their thoughts. They see the need, and they measure it; but they measure it by visible resources. “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient,” one says. Another counts the barley loaves and fishes, and says, “What are they amongst so many?” Ah, Jesus speaks: “Make the men sit down,” He says. This is the first thing; they must rest. Such is His way with sinners: “I will give you rest,” He says. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” O that men would listen―that the still small voice that speaks from Calvary, that speaks of sin forgiven, sin put away forever, would reach their hearts! “Why will ye die?” He says. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Wondrous grace! Wondrous longsuffering! Jesus takes the loaves. He waits upon the creatures of His hands. As the sent One, the Son of God, “He lifts His eyes to His heavenly Father. Blessed Lord! He will glorify God in all things. He owns Him as Creator―Giver―bounteous Lord of all. As another Scripture said. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” (Psa. 145:15, 16.) If none beside will give to God the glory due unto His name, the blessed Son of His love will. Jesus will honor the Father―will declare the Father. If disciples even fail, and show themselves unequal to the occasion, Jesus will not fail―He never does. But they are to learn His way― the way of grace and love. In the 103rd Psalm it is said, “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” And so it is here. Moses was nearer than the people in his day; disciples were nearer than the multitude in the day of John 6; but each and all have to learn, in their several spheres, while the glory passes by: those near to Him, His ways; those lower down, His acts. Not that there is veil or distance in the case of believers. All have a common standing in the Lord. All are brought nigh to God by that most precious blood. But only those who wait on Jesus learn His ways. All benefit by His bounty and his goodness, but blessed souls do more. They learn of Him. He shows His order here: you must first rest, then feed. You cannot feed upon the pastures of the word, unless you first rest upon the finished work. You must rest as a sinner, ere you can feed as a saint. I am not giving an exposition of the Scripture here, but gathering a lesson of the ways of Jesus. And now I come to what I had in my thoughts in referring to this Scripture “He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat down.” Here is His order: the bread of life―Himself, all He is, all He has; God’s gift to a ruined world―the precious gift of His unutterable love, laid in the hands of disciples. For what? To be dispensed. “A plentiful treasure to give to the poor,” surely. Mark the order. God gives His Son—the Son gives Himself—He breaks His body―sheds His blood for sinners. God is glorified; disciples have their hands filled with the fruits of the heavenly mission; the poor are satisfied, and take their portion. An order of blessing streaming down from the highest to the lowest; the joy of giving communicated to the disciples, though they receive all first. As David said, “All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” (1 Chron. 29:14.) Is it so with us? Are we receivers and communicators, looking unto Jesus daily, seeking that He should be glorified not only in the supply of all our need, but in the blessing of all His saints, the spread of His glorious gospel, the salvation of multitudes on every hand?

The Lord bless His people; fill them with His peace, that out of the deep abiding rest His love has given, they may minister to Him and from Him, in the joy and in the power of the Holy Ghost, for His name’s sake. Amen.

The revelation God makes of Himself is to draw to Himself.

No Condemnation.

Rom. 8:1-4.

How rich and marvelous are the blessings God has given us in Christ! Even now we have forgiveness of sins, acceptance, union with Christ; we are children of God, justified from all things; we have the Holy Ghost as a seal and earnest; and here we are told, that to us who are in Christ Jesus there is now NO CONDEMNATION. In the previous chapters the apostle has been looking at man in every possible condition, as fallen in Adam, as without law, as under law, as having sin in him. In every view, man is a sinner―a justly condemned creature. In the fifth chapter man is shown to be under the power of death, because of sin, as connected with the first Adam. We read, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” And again, “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Thus we are plainly taught our fallen condition as connected with the first man. Thank God, we have righteousness and life in another. In the sixth chapter the whole nature of man is, contemplated as unclean; so bad in God’s account as only fit for judgment, and putting out of His sight by death and burial. This is met by the death and burial of Christ. Our old man is crucified in Christ, our Substitute; His resurrection from the dead shows us our perfect freedom. The cross of Christ shows us that we have virtually and judicially died in another, the “old man” judged, and set aside―buried; so that to “reckon ourselves to have died indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ;” in other words, to have died already, the old man buried out of sight, and having the present possession of eternal life. The gift of God is eternal life. In the seventh chapter man is looked at as under law―guilty and exposed to condemnation as a transgressor of God’s commands. This, too, is met by the cross of Christ. If the misery of the conscience of a quickened soul cries out under a sense of its guilt, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” the answer is found in looking entirely outside self, away from all experience and feelings of every kind to Christ; then the soul finds that God has met its need in all its terrible guilt and misery in the death of Christ, and His resurrection giving us the assurance of sin judged, condemned, and put away, fills the soul with praise. Hence the answer is, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is Christ in His atoning work, and He alone, that gives the troubled soul peace. Experience never gives peace; faith in the salvation which God has provided through our Lord Jesus Christ always does.

Thus it is that there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. We may condemn much in ourselves, and others may condemn us, and God, as our Father, may have questions with us as to our walk; but as to our person, He declares that we who are in Christ are justified. Even now He does not condemn us; and He elsewhere declares that we shall not come into condemnation. (John 5:24.) How happy this should make us; how full of joy and peace we should be, if our minds were thus simply stayed upon God, who gives us in His word such ground of everlasting consolation and good hope; but all, all through grace.

But what are we to understand by being in Christ Jesus? Is it not accepting Christ, who was dead, and is alive again, as God’s only ground of salvation? Is it not taking refuge in Him whose blood cleanseth from all sin? Was not Noah quite safe in the ark, while condemnation fell on all those who were outside? Were not the Israelites safe under shelter of the blood sprinkled on the lintel and door posts of their houses, while death and judgment entered every house where the blood was not? Was not the manslayer, guilty as he was, and exposed to the judgment that pursued him, perfectly free, and delivered from condemnation, the moment he entered the gate of the city of refuge? And so now the distinction is equally clear, that those who rely upon the precious blood of Christ are safe, not condemned, secure from coming wrath; for they have accepted God’s salvation, God’s only way of deliverance. Hence it is written, that “being NOW JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, WE SHALL BE SAVED FROM WRATH THROUGH HIM” (Rom. 5:9.)

The law, good and holy as it was, was the ministration of death. It demanded obedience, perfect obedience, but could not give life. Christ could, and did, give life, and this is God’s gift― “The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” There was nothing in us as fallen in Adam, and under sin, to meet the requirements of law; therefore we are told, “What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH.” This tells us that the judgment of God fell on another—God’s own Son—instead of us; therefore divine justice is satisfied, and this is why, as we have seen before, that “there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Being now delivered from the law, the spiritual man, having life and liberty, aims to follow Christ, and in so doing we go far beyond what the law contemplated; but in that path the righteousness of the law is fulfilled IN us, in our hearts, because we love God, and love our neighbor. Knowing Christ as our righteousness, and rejoicing in Him, our hearts go out in love to God and those around us; and this is love; this is Christ-like; this is walking in the Spirit. Thus “the righteousness of the law is fulfilled IN us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

"Not of Works."

“I DO the best I can;” or, “I hope to do better,” are expressions which we often hear when speaking to persons about their souls. It is the natural thought of a proud heart to do something for salvation. Many are so very ignorant, that they think that though some of their works are bad, yet that others are good, and that God will put the bad works into one scale, and the good ones into the other, and that if the good works preponderate, they will be saved; but if the bad works preponderate, they will be lost. Of course, such always flatter themselves that their good works will outweigh the bad, and are thus deceived. Others compare themselves with their neighbors, and think that they stand as good a chance as most, and a better chance than some; therefore they find no cause for fear. Again, there are not a few to be found who have addicted themselves to religious exercises, so diligently attended to various forma, and so regularly observed certain ordinances, as to trust to their Christianity as being of sufficiently good quality to ensure them heaven. But all such false refuges are leveled by one sentence of the Scriptures, that salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:9.) It is clear, that if a person could be saved by his own doings, those who think that they have attained to the required amount might reasonably boast over those who have not. But the apostle asks, “Where is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Rom. 3:27, 28.) It is a delusion, then, to trust to works of any kind for salvation, and, as we have seen, utterly condemned by the word of God. Besides, it is clear, that if man could have done one thing that God could accept at his hands, he could do more, and Christ need not have come into the world to save. Therefore we find the apostle saving, that “if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Gal. 2:21.)

Alas! what a fatal mistake some are making. How often we are met by those who appear to be living proudly on their works. It was well said by an old Christian, that “man’s good works are only splendid sins.” The fact is, that “a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit.” A man must be born again before he can render to God acceptable service. He must have eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, before he can rise above the atmosphere of bringing forth fruit unto death.

It is humbling to be obliged to take the place of utterly unclean, and thoroughly undone, before God— the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint; to confess, that from the role of the foot to the crown of the head we are full of wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. Such, however, is the case; and well it is for those who acknowledge it to be their condition before God; for “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7.)

It may be that some will admit that this is the condition of many, but that such persons are capable of being improved, and that by moral training, reformation, and religious duties, be such good people that, alter a well-spent life of usefulness and benevolence, they will die happy, and be found worthy of heaven. This, however, is a fatal error, entirely opposed to the word of God, and most dishonoring to Christ; it denies that man is a fallen creature and is infidel in its very essence. Our Lord’s words to Nicodemus are applicable to such― “Except a man be born again [born from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:8); or the testimony of an inspired apostle― “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.” “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:20.) Nothing can expose the folly of putting a patch upon the old garment of fallen humanity, or of going about to establish a righteousness in the flesh, or of doing anything to make oneself acceptable with God. Salvation is therefore “not of works.”

How blessed it is to see God coming in in grace, to meet us in this low estate. His arm of power and heart of mercy brought salvation to us while we were enemies and without strength. Love―love to sinners―originating in God, is the spring of all our blessing. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we mere yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8.) The death of Jesus the Son of God on the cross shows us how richly and suitably God met us when in our guilt and helplessness. It brought us everything, and demanded nothing. It manifested that God is for the sinner, and not against him; hating and condemning sin, but―O how wondrous! ―condemning our sin in His own Son, that we might come into His holy presence in the fullest peace and confidence. Precious truth! God in Christ the Saviour of the sinner, the Justifier of the ungodly who believe; as it is written, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:5.)

So long as an anxious soul fails to perceive that he cannot be saved by works of any kind, but simply and entirely through Christ, he will be constantly making efforts in the flesh, he will be struggling like a drowning man to save himself, instead of clinging to the life-boat by his side. He will turn from one list of duties or ordinances to another, but he will not get rest until he accepts Christ for his Saviour, and renounces himself and his doings thoroughly. The more he knows of Jesus and His finished work, the more he discovers that God has not only fathomed the depths of his evil heart, but fully met his need in every respect.

The following incident, related to me by a servant of Christ, illustrates the subject: ― “A friend of mine was a very good swimmer, and he had a companion who also was a good swimmer. They both swam so well that there was always a little question es to which was really the better. One morning my friend said, ‘I will swim out to that buoy, and go round it, and come back again.’ His companion said, ‘So will I.’ Well, my friend went out, swam round the buoy and came back again as fresh as possible; then his friend started, and got just out to the buoy, when his strength failed, and he began to paddle the water.

Those on shore saw him, and said, ‘He is playing;’ but others said, ‘No, he is drowning.’ And presently they heard faint cries of Help! help! and going up to my friend, I said, ‘Oh, sir, he is drowning; can’t you save him?’ When my friend saw he really was drowning, he swam out to him; and just as he came near, his head began to sink, but still he continued to beat the water. ‘Now,’ said my friend, ‘you’re drowning, leave off beating the water;’ but still he kept on at it, and, in reality, instead of helping him to keep above water, it was sending him under. My friend said, ‘Now, you must promise me one thing, that you will leave off doing anything yourself, and then I will save you.’ But still he kept beating the water. My friend swam round him, and said, You’re drowning, you’re drowning; leave off doing anything, and I will save you.’ After a long time, when the poor fellow saw he was only drowning himself, he gave up doing anything, and my friend came over to him, and said, ‘Now you have given up trying to save yourself I will save you. Put your hand on my shoulder.’ He did so, and then he was taken to land safely.”

Happy are those who can reckon all their righteousness as filthy rags, all their wisdom as foolishness, all their fancied strength as real weakness in the sight of God, and simply trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. Such have joy and peace in believing, and their desire and aim is to serve God, to honor Christ, and wait for His coming. They have present peace, and happy fellowship with God; they render willing service, and rejoice in hope of glory. How blessed! The and thus brought into liberty delights to sing, along the wilderness journey,

“I dare not work my soul to save,

That work my Lord has done;

But I would work like any slave,

From love to God’s dear Son.”

O the Cross!

“Without shedding of blood is no remission.” ―Heb. 9:22.

WHAT is the manner of God’s love?

O the cross! O the cross!

Expressed in deeds, all words above,

On the cross! On the cross!

The world with all its wealth ware vain.

To cleanse the soul from sin’s deep stain!

Blood only could remission gain.

O the cross! O the cross!

What is the measure of God’s love?

O the cross! O the cross!

There, there He did its greatness prove,

On the cross! On the cross!

There Jesus did His love declare,

And all our weight of judgment bare;

Oh! what can with the cross compare?

O the cross! O the cross!

What is the fullness of God’s love?

O the cross! O the cross!

His love to all He there did prove,

On the cross! O the cross!

No greater gift could He bestow

To prove His love to man below.

Than thus to let His mercy flow!

O the cross! O the cross!

Thank God for such a cleansing tide

O the cross! O the cross!

Forth streaming from the Saviour’s side,

On the cross! On the cross

O that we may through all our days

There fix our soul’s most earnest gaze,

And for such love give ceaseless praise!

O the cross! O the cross!

"Our God Is a Consuming Fire."

I WAS once in a meeting of Christians―a social meeting it was―when a discussion arose as to the meaning of that text― “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire,” some maintaining that “fire” in that passage meant judgment. “Our God is a consuming fire,” was also quoted. “Oh,” said one who had maintained the opinion above stated, “if I were exposed to that fire, I should be consumed.” The reply was, “Then you are not good metal.” This, doubtless, was a plain retort; but the subject is a solemn one, and well deserves consideration. How does the thought, that God, the God of the Bible, the living and true God, is a consuming fire affect the mind? I recollect that, years ago, this truth was real joy to me, because I saw that whatever was evil must be burnt up―it could not abide the searching holiness of the divine nature. The heart must be with God and against evil, truly to delight in this. Only the soul that has tasted redemption can be with God thus, as knowing what He has done for it in Christ, in removing its guilt and defilement, delivering it from wrath, and the cense of wrath, by the one atoning sacrifice made on Calvary. The blood there shed quiets the conscience, gives the soul peace, binds it to God in love and allegiance, shows it that all that is in God is for it―holiness, truth, righteousness, as well as love and mercy, being engaged for, and not against the one that believes on the Son of God, because of His sacrificial death upon the cross. The name of Jesus―the Christ―becomes precious; a passport and a plea in the very presence of God Himself, the holiest of all; where blessing flows and circles round the soul, its title to all good being assured and witnessed; the Holy Ghost giving comfort, raising the affections to him who is love itself, as known in Jesus, whoever lives, who never changes; of whom it is said, “He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” (Zeph. 3:17.) True, this is a word for Israel by-and-by, in a restored condition; but the spirit of it is in full force now towards each poor wanderer who, like the prodigal, has turned his face towards the Father’s house; turned to Him who is the Father of mercies, and the God of al comfort; whose words are, “This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” And happy is the soul that has drank into this mercy. Surely he may sing―

“Christ died! then I’m clean―

Not a spot within;

God’s mercy and love!

Not a cloud above.”

It is the Spirit, through faith, that thus triumphs over sin―not a cloud above―not a spot within.

“THERE is none other name but thine,

Jehovah Jesus! name divine!

On which to rest for sins forgiven,

For that sweet certainty of heaven.

‘Name above every name!’ thy praise

Shall fill you courts through endless days.

Jehovah Jesus! name divine!

Rock of Salvation! Thou art mine!”

Outcasts for Christ.

AT Monghyr, near the banks of the Ganges, there lived a family of Korees, or Weavers. With few simple implements they made stuffs and cloths, such as are used by Hindoos. The Koree caste was one of the lowest, poorest, and most despised. The husband of the family had heard the Gospel, believed it, and became a sincere Christian. Immediately, his wife and family deserted him. Then his house was set on fire, and he was awoke from his sleep in the middle of the night by the burning embers falling upon him. He instantly started up, seized his loom, and providentially made his escape. His house, clothes, and bed were burned to ashes. He was denied shelter in the village, and was compelled for several months to remain outside under a tree. Here he worked his loom, and supported himself as best he could. While living in this exposed situation, his wife returned to him, and declared her determination to be a Christian too. He was soon after joined by his brother, and his wife and children, who also made up their minds to follow the Lord Jesus. With no better protection than the tree afforded, they all lived together for a considerable time. The village people refused to allow them to live with them, and the zemindars refused to give them another spot of land on which to build a house outside “the village. Thus they literally became outcasts for Christ. But the Lord in whom they trusted supplied their wants, comforted them in difficulty, and enabled them to say, “We were living very happily under the tree.” These poor outcasts were full of joy, because they were the wealthy possessors of a rich Christ.

“MY FATHER HAS SET ME FREE.”―This was the language of an African who lately found peace in believing. He was a very old man at Heald-Town, near Port Elizabeth. He had been in agony of distress on account of his sins. But pardon purchased by the blood of Jesus had been preached in his hearing, and this set his soul at liberty, and led him to exclaim, “My Father has set me free.”

A Parting Word.

1 Cor. 15:51-58

I HAVE one word in my heart to press on you before going away: “Be ye steadfast, unmovable.” If our hearts are not close to Christ, we are apt to get weary in the way. All is a vain show around us; but that which is inside abides, is true, is the life of Christ―all else goes! When the heart gets hold of this fact, it becomes (as to things around) like one taken into a house to work for the day, performs the duties well, but passes through, does not live in the circumstances. To Israel the cloud came down; they stayed; it lifted up―on they went. It was all the same to them. Why? Because, had they stayed when the cloud went on, they would not have had the Lord. One may be daily at the desk for fifty years, yet with Christ the desk is only the circumstance. The doing God’s will, making manifest the savor of Christ, ― that’s the simple thing. Whether I go or you go, I stay or you stay, may that one word be realized in each of us― “steadfast, unmovable,” in whatever sphere, as matter of providence, we are found. Let the divine life be manifested―that abides; all else changes, but that life remains and abides forever―aye, forever. There is not a single thing in which we have served Christ that shall be forgotten. Lazy, alas! we all are in service; but all shall come out that is real, and that which is real is Christ in us, and that only. The appearance now may be very little, not much even in a religious view; but what is real will abide. Our hearts clinging closely to Christ, we shall sustain one another in the body of Christ. The love of Christ should hold the whole together, Christ being everything; we content to be nothing. Helping one another, praying one for the other. I ask not the prayers of the saints; I reckon on them. The Lord keep us going on in simplicity, fulfilling as the hireling one day, till Christ shall come, and then “shall every man have praise of God.” Praise of God! Be that our object, and may God bind all our hearts together thoroughly and eternally.

Reader! You are either in Christ the object verse 15, love, or out of Christ the object of God’s judgment. Which is it?

Peace.

THE unsaved have not peace. They are trying to find happiness in the world without God. They may be amiable, virtuous, benevolent, but their consciences are not at rest when they think of death and judgment. Righteous and blameless as some are in their dealings with their fellow-men, yet they know that matters are not right between them and God. They have no hope. They fear death. They tremble at the thought of having to give an account to God, and are afraid to think of the eternal torment of the damned.

Peace! peace!

O how sweet a thing is peace!

But where can peace be had? The world is trying to bring about outward peace; but that is not peace with God. Most men are laboring for comfortable, peaceful circumstances; but that is not peace with God. Some are hoping to obtain peace by their regular observant of religious duties; but after years of dutywork and diligent religiousness, they find themselves as far off from peace with God as ever. Some men have riches; others are laden with honors. Some are filled with remunerative occupations; others are devoted to pleasure; but it may be that neither of them have peace with God.

Scripture clearly teaches us the true ground of “peace with God.” There we read also of “the peace of God” keeping our hearts and minds, and of “the God of peace” being with as. Let us briefly look at each of these subjects.

1. Peace with God.

God Himself is the peace-maker. He gave His only begotten Son that we might live through Him. Jesus made peace through the blood of His cross. So that after His resurrection from the dead He could show His disciples His hands and His side, and say, “Peace be unto you.” This is the true ground of peace. It is the blood which maketh an atonement for the soul. No one can have peace with God but on the ground of the death of Christ. Man naturally is at enmity with God; his thoughts and ways are all contrary to God. He has nothing in common with God; for God is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His thoughts. How therefore could man be reconciled to God? for sin must be judged, condemned, and put away. The law could not meet the case, for it was tried, and only proved man to be incurably bad, alienated from God, a transgressor. As to man, therefore, the case was utterly hopeless; for he was justly exposed to everlasting destruction from the presence of God. God, however, has resources in Himself. He is the only wise God. The only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father came forth. The Word was made flesh. God was thus manifested in the flesh. He could, as perfect man, be a fit substitute for sinners; and because He was God, He could bear all the just punishment of sin, and satisfy the infinite demands of divine justice, so that God might be just and the Justifier of him that believeth. The death of Jesus, the Sin-bearer on the cross, opens wide the river of God’s love, which freely flows toward man (sinful and undone though he be), meeting all the defilement of conscience and estrangement of heart that made him feel so afraid of God. By a faith’s view of the sacrifice of Christ, the fears of heart are all allayed; mistrust and doubt vanish; the conscience is thoroughly purged, because we sea God dealing in strictest judgment with our guilt, by condemning sin in Christ instead of us; and now, knowing that He who was dead is alive again, and gone into heaven at God’s right hand, because the sins laid upon Him had been justly condemned and put away, the soul unhesitatingly draws nigh to God, through Jesus, in full rest and peace. We have, therefore, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace having been made, we are not called on to do anything to make peace, but to take shelter in the peace-making, peace-speaking blood of the Son of God. So perfect is God’s estimate of the cleansing power of that blood, that He saith, “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” So fully is the believer justified through Christ, that the Scripture saith, “By Him all that believe are justified from all things.” (Acts 13:39.) Praise God for such a rich, and full, and free salvation! What rest of soul for the sinner, to find a hiding-place in the bosom of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the hater of sin and the friend and Saviour of the sinner!

2. THE PEACE OF GOD KEEPING OUR HEARTS AND MINDS.

When the soul is brought to enjoy peace with God, he by the Spirit worships the Father, and honors the Lord Jesus. Soon, however, he finds that temptation assails him, trouble of some sort or other besets his path, and cares oppress his spirit, so that if he be not watchful, his heart will be so burdened that his work and service to the Lord will be hindered, and his comforts droop. At length, however, he is taught, that God has not only been for him in redeeming him from sin, but that He is always for him, and never will be against him; that God is his unchanging friend, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and will never leave him nor forsake him; that he is so peculiarly the object of God’s care, that He assures him that “all things work together for good to them that love God,” and that God undertakes to “supply all his need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Hence it is that the believer is instructed to cast all his care upon God, because He careth for him; yea, to be careful for nothing, but to pray about everything, confidence in the flesh. In this path we are assured that the peace of God―that calm, unruffled mind which Jesus had amid all the temptations and sorrows that crowded upon His path of unparalleled woe, a peace and quietude of spirit which surpasseth all understanding―shall keep our hearts and minds. Only observe, that here also it is “through Christ Jesus.” As “peace with God” is realized by us through Christ Jesus, so is the “peace of God;” for if we are not abiding in Him, if we have lost communion with Him, where are we? It is then, when either care or something else comes in to hinder our present fellowship with the Lord Jesus, that our minds are easily disturbed, we are quickly drawn aside with something unworthy of the Lord, and cannot enjoy that “peace of God which passeth all understanding.” (See Phil. 4:7.)

We can see therefore, I think, why it is, that while many have “peace with God,” so few are in the enjoyment of “the peace of God.” Yet God would have us enjoy both. If a believer is contending for his rights, instead of yielding for the Lord’s sake, ―if he is oppressed with burdens and cares, instead of casting all upon his God and Father, ―if in time of trouble, instead of dealing with God in prayer, he is planning to deliver himself, what is he about but walking in ways of unbelief, dishonoring the Lord, and grieving His Holy Spirit? We must walk in the paths of faith, and love, and truth, if we would have the peace of God ruling in our hearts; we must refine the devices of fleshly wisdom, trust God, expect Him to be as good as His word, and rejoice in the Lord always, to experience “the peace of God.” (Phil. 4:4-7.)

3. THE GOD OF PEACE WITH US.

How blessed! Sometimes God is obliged to disturb and chasten His children. In His discipline with no, He breaks up our plans, disappoints our expectations, and brings us into the most painful experiences. Why? Because He loves us not? No; but because He loves us. As the Father of spirits He reads our motives, sees our objects, understands exactly the course we are pursuing, and cannot approve of our proceedings. He therefore chastens for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness, and be conformed to Christ. “But if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged.” Happy those who are so addicted to self-judgment that the rod of correction is not needed. Let us tread the obedient path, honor God’s truth, walk in honest ways, choose the atmosphere of purity and love, cherish what is virtuous and lovely; in a word, deny self and walk with God, and God will be with us. And God too, “the God of peace,” will be with us, to hush the storm and quiet the tempest, which may threaten to overwhelm us. When the Lord was in the little ship with His disciples, and the tumultuous wave and stormy wind threatened to swallow them up, there was One with them who said, “Peace, be still; and the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” It was the God of peace. And He will in like manner be with us, beloved, if we are found walking in His ways. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the GOD OF PEACE shall be with you.” (Phil. 4:8, 9.)

Prayer and Faith.

“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” ―Phil. 4:6.

One of the greatest privileges of the believer, while passing through this wilderness, is to make God his refuge in every time of need. The Scriptures enjoin us to do so. Faith always looks to God, pleading the name of Jesus. Unbelief always pleads some reason for leasing upon an arm of flesh. But the truth of God stands fast, that “blessed are all they that put their trust in Him;” and those who do trust will always find that, in some way or other, God certainly comes to their help, though it may not always be in the way they expect. “God is faithful.” “He cannot deny Himself.” “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

The following account of how graciously the Lord came to the help of our dear Prussian brethren during the late war cannot fail to be interesting and encouraging to every believer before whom it may be brought.

“You can believe that, when the late dreadful war broke out, the hearts of the Lord’s people were too much exercised before Him to be writing much on the subject ... It was soon known that our dear Prussian brethren would, many of them, have to serve; many sons would have to leave their parents, and many fathers and husbands have to go themselves. The hearts of all were tried. It was asked whether, if the Ring of Prussia were written to, they might net be spared from serving. The reply was, “It is of no use writing to him; better to ask One higher about the matter.” And much unceasing prayer was made. The time came, and many brethren were obliged to join the army in service. In Prussia, and also in Germany, the law is, that at a certain age all must serve; and, in time of war, to refuse or evade is to be shot; thus, humanly speaking, there is no escape. Yet with God, no law, no king, can prevent or interfere with a deliverance. The Prussian brethren called on to join the army engaged in war were twenty-eight or thirty in number, or there might be more. I believe that these brethren were in general scattered throughout the fighting army, yet I heard of some being able to meet occasionally for prayer, and reading the word. In every corner they could they took tracts, which their comrades were glad enough, at such a time, in general to receive, and various accounts tell they had many blessed opportunities of making known the glad tidings of salvation, and had many souls given to them.

“The way in which the Lord answered the earnest prayer made by many about these dear brethren being compelled to serve, and His deliverance, is very striking. They obeyed the ruling powers, and left their homes with sorrowful hearts we can believe, and souls shrinking with horror from the thought of having to shed blood; and, wondrous to relate―forever blessed be His name for the remarkable mercy―not a single man was called into the battle-field! Before the different regiments were summoned into action, a certain number of men were counted off to remain on guard (it might have been every twentieth or fiftieth man). How exactly it was done I do not know, but so it was; wherever they were, our dear brethren were amongst those counted off, and had to stay beside “the stuff,” or remain in the place where they were stationed, and thus not one of them was called to shed blood, or even were, I understand, on the battle-field, and none were wounded; all the blood they saw was in attending those who were wounded. Two brothers in the Lord named S―, wrote such letters to their parents, that they were obliged to leave off sorrowing on their account; for their letters were full of joy, because of open doors and opportunities for making known the salvation that is in Christ.”

Preach the Gospel to Every Creature.

[An Extract.]

Do I mean that it is not the duty of the Christian to preach the gospel, or to further the preaching of it, to every creature? Far from it; yea, in this as in other respects, I say the Church is guilty; we ourselves, we are guilty. When I think what the Church was and will be, when I think what the Saviour was and will be and ever is, and then of what we have been and are, I for one cannot but confess that we are verily guilty for the poor, scant, feeble testimony to God’s grace we tender to every creature. Bear with me if I say, beloved friends, that I believe we have, in the present condition of Christendom, peculiarly to watch against a snare that is incident to the true position most of us are in. Beware of substituting a judgment of others, in their wrong ways of doing God’s work, for your own loving sympathy and right service. May we all have grace earnestly, humbly, self-denyingly, to help on the work of God ourselves. May we rather search how to help and sympathize with our brethren? It is an easy thing, comparatively, to criticize the various religious societies―for instance, those for missionary purposes and Bible circulation. It is not difficult for one to discern ways, means and objects even, which are contrary to the word of God. Nor do I wish to weaken godly feeling as to all this for a moment. No doubt, the way in which the world is appealed to and mingled with the Church is a fatal vice, ruinous to the testimony of God, and contradictory to the whole character of His Church. It is the same kind of sin as for the wife of a loving husband to play him false, giving herself up to that which is as shameful to her as contrary to his honor and love. Let no one infer the least indifference to the sin of Christendom, to the duty of entire separation of the Christian from the world in doing the work of God. But this does not alter my conviction, that we ought to be ashamed, on our part, that we so little feel our identification with God’s testimony on earth, that our sympathies are so dull and intermittent for His workmen and His work in every form, that we have and show so little self-renunciation, so little energy of heart in throwing ourselves into every movement of the Spirit of God whenever it may be done with a good conscience. Let us remember, “For my sake, and the gospel’s.” (Mark 10) What an answer in the day of the Lord, to say that we have not done this, and we have kept from that! It is quite right that we should not be drawn into unscriptural and offensive ways; but we ought surely, when we separate in sorrow, but none the leas thoroughly from that which is evil, to look up to God for grace, that we may know His way of doing His own work, and that we be found in it heartily. “Blessed is that servant whom His lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.”

The Church from the beginning has reason to be ashamed. We ought more thoroughly and universally to have carried out the gospel to every creature. It was, it is the business of the Christian here below―not the whole business, nor yet the most blessed part; but still a most sweet privilege, a most suitable and bounden duty; for duty we have, just as much as privilege. We ought then and thus to have been found in our measure scattering the good seed throughout the field of the world. Let us own that it has not been done, and that we have our own great shortcoming to confess.

Present Trial and Present Joy.

“WHEREIN ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”―1 Peter 1:6-8.

GOD’S children are a blessed but a tried people. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, they are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ;” but they have sorrow. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” More or less, this is the portion of all: not constantly, but every now and then. Being objects of our heavenly Father’s choice we come under His peculiar care; so that if we are called to pass through that which makes the heart sad and heavy, it is only what is necessary and best for us― “if need be ye are in heaviness.” Mark, “if need be.” Let us think of this; for if we know what it is to feel tenderly for our children, we may be assured that our heavenly Father, our perfect Father, will never cause His child a needless tear. Our trials, then, are only when needed, and as much as needed, so that we may be sure there is a “need be” for every one. This is comforting, and enables us to cheerfully submit to the Lord’s dealings, however painful to the desires of flesh and blood they may be, or contrary to our judgment as to their character or extent. The chief object of our Father’s discipline is to bring us into subjection to Himself, as well as to make us happy in Himself.

“It needs our hearts be wean’d from earth,

It needs that we be driven,

By loss of every earthly stay,

To find our rest in heaven.”

How true, too, it is that our trials are various; “manifold temptations.” Scarcely two Christians seem tried exactly in the same way, and perhaps no Christian finds himself in a precisely similar trial to what he has previously passed through. And so we might expect; for if our heavenly Father’s purpose is so to exercise us that we may be weaned from carnal confidantes and other earthly resources, and be brought into subjection to the Father of spirits, made partakers of His holiness, and groom in the knowledge of God, variety of trial seems necessitated; for repetition of the same trial would scarcely exercise us at all.

We do well, however, to notice that the trial is only “for a season.” Is it any delight to our loving Father to see us troubled? Assuredly not. The definite trial is sent for a certain purpose, and when that is accomplished, it is usually followed with peculiar comfort. The apostolic churches were greatly tried by persecution; but after “a season” we read, “Then had the churches rest;” and they walked in the fear of the Lord, and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Job was greatly distressed for “a season,” but when he took the place of self-judgment and self-abhorrence before God, and of prayer for his friends, then the Lord turned the captivity of Job, and the Lord comforted him greatly, and gave him twice as much as he had before. We may generally conclude, that if we are in trial, it is to prepare us for some special blessing that will follow. “Before honor is humility.” If God bring us low, it is that He may lift us up. If He take away a good thing from us, it is generally to give us better. Yet a messenger of Satan may be needful sometimes, lest we be lifted up by the abundance of God’s blessings. We may be sure, whatever be the trial, that there is a need-be for it, that it is only for “a season,” and but if we still trust in the Lord, it will be found unto praise and honor and glory at the Lord’s appearing.

But with all the present heaviness there is present rejoicing― “wherein ye greatly rejoice.” This is cheering. The apostle Paul tells us, as to his own experience, that he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” It is well then to be able to distinguish in our own souls between the pressure of circumstances and the real object of our heart’s joy―the Lord Himself. Circumstances are very changeful, but He changes not; He is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever,” and His perfect love and almighty power are always engaged on our behalf, so that there is always abundant reason for rejoicing in Him. It is very blessed, then, when feeling the circumstances of sorrow we are called to pass through, to know that the Spirit of God calls us to look above the circumstances to One “whom having not seen we love.” And why do we love Him? Is it not because He first loved us? Did He not die for us, even when we were ungodly and without strength? And is He not now our great High Priest in heaven, ever loving us, pleading for us, sympathizing with us, and caring for us in every way? And is He not soon coming for us? Therefore it is that, though we see Him not, yet believing we can rejoice. Surely this is the great secret of the pilgrim’s happiness; not seeking rest and peace in circumstances, be they painful or pleasant, but looking away from and above the circumstances unto Jesus, and finding joy and gladness in Him. We can then bring His grace and power and world to bear on the present path.

Now should we expect only a little joy in the Lord when looking off unto Him? for as we here find, these tried and persecuted Christians had “joy unspeakable.” Yes, “joy unspeakable.” No words can express this joy. It is deep, never-failing, most blessed, and eternal. Those who realize it cannot tell it out to the dearest friend. When the eye gazes only on Jesus, and the ear listens only to His voice, the heart welcomes His sweet words, and the whole soul has only to do with Him, then it is that there is no cloud between, and our joy in Him is unspeakable. No tongue can tell, no pen describe the glow and gladsome feeling, when the heart bounds over everything else, and considers the Lord Jesus Himself. But the joy also is “full of glory;” for the object is the Lord of glory, the center and spring of glory, who bids us now rejoice in hope of glory, and who will soon come and give us to behold His glory, and change us into His own glorious likeness. The joy, therefore, of the believer, which the precious blood of Christ gives to Mm, is unlimited, and bounds into endless and eternal glory.

Happy those who, while feeling the pressure of present sorrow, and who may be in “heaviness through manifold temptations,” can so look off unto Jesus, as the one object of the heart’s affections, as to be able to rejoice in Him “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Remarks on Matt. 24, 25.

No. 2.

Our blessed Lord was sitting on the mount of Olives. It was a peculiarly affecting moment. His loving heart felt it deeply. His own favored nation given up to judgment, and the beautiful temple doomed to desolation, because they would not be blessed and sheltered under His outstretched wing, made it a very solemn point in Israel’s history. We know how truly these things were fulfilled, and that to this day Jerusalem is a city of poverty and wretchedness, literally lying in heaps, and trodden down of the Gentiles.

The disciples were evidently pondering the Lord’s words. They therefore came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world (or rather age)?” Three questions are thus proponed. The first, alluding to the destruction of the temple, is not answered here; but the second and third points are gone into, and especially as to the end, or completion, of the age. The last questions are answered pretty much together, because the coming here referred to is not till the end.

The expression, “the end of the age,” is found only in Matthew’s gospel, because no one who was ignorant of Jewish prophecies could enter into it. The Jews had been taught, especially by Daniel, of a time when the age would be fully run out, and Messiah’s kingdom be established. “The end of the age” might be the end of the condition of things in which Israel then stood, as under the old legal covenant, which would be succeeded by Messiah bringing them into the “new covenant.” The famous prophecy of seventy weeks, recorded in Dan. 9, as to Daniel’s people and the holy city, must run its course. We are told that the city and sanctuary shall be destroyed, but that the end thereof shall be with a flood; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Messiah’s being cut off and having nothing, took place after sixty-nine weeks; then we get another period to complete the age, the last or seventieth hebdomad or week, in which the abomination that maketh desolate is set up, until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate, or desolator (margin). A Jew might also have learned from Jeremiah that the old legal covenant would come to an end, and be succeeded by a “new covenant,” which Jehovah will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, in which there would be such blessing that all shall know Jehovah, from the least to the greatest. (Jer. 32:31-34.) It was natural then to a Jew to be occupied about “the end of the age;” but we get no such subject given in any of the epistles in relation to the Church of God.

The rejection or cutting off of Messiah has postponed, if I may so say, the accomplishment of this seventieth week. Israel being set aside for the time as a people, and Christ having ascended into the heavens, the Holy Ghost is sent down, and baptizes into one body the believers in the rejected Son of God; and until that body is complete, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air, Israel, in God’s judicial dealing, will be under blindness, and scattered over the face of the earth, and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

But there is another point of view in which Scripture bids us consider the end of the age. There is a line of truth called “the kingdom of heaven,” very distinct from another line which treats of the Church of God, though both are painfully commingled as to practice and testimony. That is, that the form the Kingdom now takes is not as it was in Solomon’s day, nor as it will be in millennial times, but the kingdom in a mysterious form which prophets did not prophesy of. (Matt. 13:11.) A people on earth who own allegiance, professedly and outwardly at least, to One in the heavens―as when a man calls himself a Christian―characterizes the kingdom of heaven. We find that Jesus taught, in Matt. 13, that this kingdom condition of things will go on to “the end of the age” too, when the Lord will come in judgment, and cast out of His kingdom them that offend and do iniquity.

There is also another line of truth which takes us on to “the end of the age,” I mean the times of the Gentiles. Daniel gives us full instruction on this point. Four monarchies succeeding each other are there set before us, terminating in ten kingdoms, and then at the end a stone cut out without hands falling upon the image in judgment, and becoming a great mountain, which fills the whole earth. All these different lines of instruction show us that “the end of the age” specially refers to things of earth, and not to the Church, and that, from Daniel’s prophetic testimony, an instructed Jew would have been more or less familiar with the subject. Nor were the minds of the disciples whom our Lord addressed occupied with higher thoughts than the restoration of the kingdom―a time of blessing on the earth in connection with Israel’s king.

An intelligent Jew, therefore, would have known from the prophets that a time would come when the age would be fully run out, and be followed by the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom. Nothing could be nearer to the heart of a Jew than this hope. The questions proponed to our Lord embrace the two points, the end or completion of the age, and Messiah’s coming, and both are connected in Old Testament prophecies. Our Lord, as we have noticed, had previously spoken of the end of the age, and now of His coming, and the disciples wanted further instruction upon both these points.

When Jesus took His farewell of the nation, He gave hope of His coming, only in connection with the people’s repentance, when, instead of going about to kill Him, they will welcome Him with joy, and say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” The disciples, accustomed as they were to think of signs, were anxious to know what the sign of this coming of which He had spoken would be; and hearing of the desolation that was at hand, naturally associated the thought in their minds with the end of the age. We can easily understand therefore what sorrow and disappointment must have filled their minds at being told that the temple would be a ruin, and that instead of the immediate restoration of the kingdom, the expected blessing would be postponed until the people repented.

It is clearly, then, the Lord’s coming to Israel that is here set forth, and not His coming for us; His coming to the earth, and not His coming to meet us in the air. It is very important to see this. The blessed Lord had been received by these disciples as the Messiah. So deep was their impression that He would presently set up the kingdom, that they said, “We thought He would have redeemed Israel,” and asked Him, alter He was risen from the dead, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6.) Thoughts of the kingdom filled their minds; and though afterwards, at the descent of the Holy Ghost, they formed a part of the Church the body of Christ, the platform on which they were then was that of the kingdom. The Church was not then set up; the mystery was still hid in God. (Eph. 2:15, 3:9.)

Remarks on Matthew 24, 25.

No. 1.

WE must regard these chapters as a whole. It is one of our Lord’s prophetic addresses, and enough to show the vast importance of the subject. It consists for the most part of things coming upon the earth. Those who love the Lord Jesus delight to dwell on His “words,” treasure up His “sayings,” and keep His “commandments.”

Since Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God, the Holy Ghost, the other Comforter, has come down, and it is of the highest importance always to bear this in mind; for while He brings the precious things of Christ, in His suffering and death, to our remembrance, He also shows us things to come. To refuse, therefore, to enter into the teaching of the prophetic Scriptures is to turn a deaf ear to what Christ Himself taught, and to declare that the office of the Holy Ghost, to show us “things to come,” is unnecessary.

We must at the outset can attention to the fact, that this prophetic discourse is only fully recorded in Matthew’s gospel. A fragment here and there may be found elsewhere; but the parables of the “talents,” “wise virgins,” and so-called parable of “the sheep” and “the goats,” are not found in any other part of Scripture. Those who are acquainted with the prominent purpose of each evangelist, would expect that things which have reference to Israel or to the kingdom would be found in Matthew. And why? Because Matthew gives us details of divine truth in connection with Christ as Messiah. Here we see that “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” His genealogy is given as Son of Abraham, and Son of David. The circumstance of Herod and all the people of Jerusalem being troubled at the birth of “the King of the Jews,” the king’s edict to massacre all the children under two years, and the flight of Mary and Joseph with the young child into Egypt, are only given in this gospel. Here also the so-called sermon on the mount, detailing the principles on which the kingdom was to be set up, is fully recorded, as well as the parables of “the kingdom of heaven.” The expression, “end of the world” (age), and also the parable of the marriage supper, in which our Lord speaks of destroying the murderers, and burning up their city, is given only by Matthew. The bribing of the soldiers by the chief priests about the resurrection, and many other particulars, bearing especially upon Jewish things and people, are only recorded by this evangelist. But I must notice that Matthew alone omits the ascension of our Lord; for his business, as I have said, was to show Him especially in relation to the kingdom. We, therefore, find this evangelist concluding, by our Lord’s commissioning the twelve to disciple nations, which we expect to be accomplished on this earth in millennial times. It is no marvel then that in this gospel we find allusions to, and instruction concerning, the Jewish remnant yet to come upon this scene. But while thus calling attention to the special business of this evangelist, I do not say that there is not much for our instruction and profit in it. I am sure there is.

It is worthy of notice too, that in this gospel, so remarkably Jewish in its construction, we do get allusion to the Church not found elsewhere; but not until our Lord had been virtually rejected by Israel. They had gone about to destroy Him, and He had pronounced them to be a wicked and adulterous generation, incurably bad. (Matt. 12:14-45.) After this we find our Lord saving, “Upon this rock I will build my Church;” and also on another occasion after this He said, “Tell it unto the Church.” But I repeat, that these statements do not occur till after the hatred of the Jews had been brought out by their going about to destroy Him.

The end of the twenty-third chapter shows us our Lord formally taking leave of the nation of Israel as the rejected stone. He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and YE WOULD NOT.” Our Lord here felt Himself to be the rejected one—the stone which the builders disallowed, and that His attitude of grace and mercy had been refused. He therefore adds the solemn words, “Behold your house is left unto you desolate.” A nation given up to desolation and judgment because of rejecting the Messiah; but not given up forever. Hence our Lord says, “Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” He had called upon the sinful nation to “repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” but instead of repenting they said, “This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and let us seize on his inheritance.” When, therefore, the people do repent, and are brought into that condition of soul to welcome their Messiah, saving, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” then, and not till then, will they see Him. This is simple enough. But it is important to bear in mind, that here it is the Lord taking His farewell of the Jews, and, on account of their sinful rejection of Him, giving them the hope of His coming to them again when they are brought to repentance. The true interpretation of what follows mainly depends on our clearly seeing this.

The Lord then leaves the temple. The disciples, however, call His attention to that building. But the sentence of One greater than the temple had gone forth, that the holy and beautiful city should be a scene of desolation. The Lord had left it. How could there be anything, therefore, but desolation? Can there be blessing where Christ is cast out? The people had rejected the Messiah, the One through whom all blessing could come, how could anything short of judgment then follow? Therefore, “Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” The adorable Lord had come in His Father’s name, and they received Him not; and He knew that when another should come in his own name―the great deceiver and Antichrist― him they would receive. John had come with mourning and lamentation, neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and they said he had a devil; and Jesus had come eating and drinking with publicans and sinners, and publishing the glad-tidings of forgiveness of sins, and showing forth His power to bring in the kingdom; and they said, “Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” They so over and over again rejected Christ and His testimony, and hated Him without a cause, that Jesus leaves the temple, and speaks of the judgments that must inevitably follow. Nor will the people of Israel be brought into their blessings in the land of promise until they have passed through the needed chastisement, and received of the Lord’s hand double for all their sins. (Isa. 40:2.). Then will they say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord;” and again, “O Jehovah, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.”

Remarks on Matthew 24, 25.

No. 3.

THEY must beware of being deceived by man. Our Lord therefore forewarns them. A false Christ will be the great exhibition of the power of Satan. We know this will characterize the seventieth week. However much these principles have been, and still are, at work, their full accomplishment cannot be looked for till after the Church is gone. Then the false Christ will come upon the scene, and many will be deceived. True it is that the name of Christ is already associated with much that is evil, but it is only tending towards the culminating point of this masterpiece of iniquity. However lamb-like he will appear, he will really be a dragon, and energized by Satan. He will not, like Jesus, come in his Father’s name, but come in his own name, and deceive many. Our Lord thus, in replying to the disciples’ questions, seems to look beyond the present time of the calling out of the Church, but takes up Israel’s history, after the Church is gone, and gives the sign of His coming and of the end of the age. Thus we have a series of events characterizing the time of the end, which terminates in the Lord’s coming again to earth, (for His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives,) when Israel shall say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” It may be well to notice that this record of events corresponds with the opening of the seals in the Apocalypse, which we know does not come into action until the heavenly saints are actually seated on thrones in the heavens. Our Lord, therefore, recognizing the disciples who had asked these questions as representative of the Jews who will come upon the scene after the Church is gone, inspired with hope of the kingdom, begins by saying, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” He also told them that there would be wars and rumors of wars, and they were not to be troubled; but the end, that is, the end of the age, is not yet. There would also be famines and pestilences, but these things will be only introductory to the deep and unparalleled sorrows which will follow. Now observe, that when these judgments shall have been put forth according to the order of the first four seals of the Revelation, then what the fifth seal tells us is next brought out; for those who shall then be the bearers of God’s testimony, the publishers of “the gospel of the kingdom,” will be put to death, as represented in Rev. 6:9, 10 by the souls under the altar. “They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Observe, too, that this will be a time when iniquity shall abound, and false prophets will deceive many. Then comes in the promise of salvation in the end to those who endure; a salvation of people bodily out of the great tribulation which will then come upon the earth, a salvation which those who yield to the deceiving’s of the beast will lose, while those who endure in patient faith will be brought through the fire, and into the promised blessing. But there is another thing; “this gospel of the kingdom,” (mark, “this gospel of the kingdom!”) which was preached by our Lord and the twelve, must then be taken up again, and published throughout all the nations; not to the κοσμος, the world in its largest sense, but the οικουμενη, the civilized world,―the same word that is used for the Roman earth when it is said, “all the world shall be taxed,”―and then shall the end come. Thus it is clear, that before the end of the age can come, the glad tidings of the kingdom must be thus published. Now we preach not “the gospel of the kingdom,” but “the gospel of the grace of God.” While we truly declare that all things were made by Christ and for Christ, and that all things are yet to be put in subjection under Him, we do preach that He that believeth God’s testimony, as to Jesus crucified and risen, is delivered from the wrath to come, has passed from death unto life, and has union with Christ in the heavenlies by the power of the Holy Ghost. But the gospel of the kingdom will be very different. It will announce the coming of the King to set up His kingdom, and bring in that blessing on the earth which prophets have long spoken of, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,”(Isa. 11: 9,) when all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, (Num. 14:21,) and when it shall be truly said, “O Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”(Psa. 8:9.) It is important, then, to distinguish between the two testimonies,” the gospel of the kingdom “and” the gospel of the grace of God.” The gospel of the kingdom, when published by the twelve apostles, was limited to the cities of Israel (Matt. 5:5, 23); but it will yet be carried to the nations, before the end of the age comes, and connected with suffering and martyrdom to those who preach it. It was always supposed to be connected with suffering to those who bore the message, and by and by, as we see, it will be associated with betrayal, hatred, affliction, and death.

It may be that some will have difficulty in considering that the disciples are here addressed by our Lord as representative of the faithful Jews who shall come upon the scene after the calling out of the Church. But how otherwise could we understand expressions which we afterward get; such as, “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation ... Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day;” for, as a matter of fact, the disciples whom our Lord addressed actually fell asleep well-nigh 2,000 years ago, and the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet has not yet been set up. The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was certainly not that. Besides, this chapter tells us, that the Lord will be revealed from heaven immediately after the tribulation of those days. Moreover, as we have seen, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet is clearly set forth in connection with the man of sin, who has not yet come forth; nor do the Scriptures lead us to expect he will come till the Church is gone, however much the mystery of iniquity and the principles of lawlessness have been and still are at work, and rapidly preparing the way for him.

But further. Such language as, “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there,” can hardly be conceived to be our Lord’s instruction to us, who are set in the posture of waiting for Him from heaven, and expect to be caught up to meet Him in the air. It surely would be no temptation to us to be told that Christ was in this place or that. The soul that waits for the Lord Himself to descend from heaven refuses the thought; but to a Jew, who is taught by the prophets to expect the Messiah on earth, we can easily understand how the report that He had come, and was either in the desert, or in a secret place, might deceive. Another reason why they were not to be deceived by such a report is, that there would be the sign of His coming, the sign of the Son of man in heaven, introducing His advent to Israel, when, as we have observed, they will say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!”

Remarks on the Drink Offering.

“I delight to do Thy will.”

THIS was the language of Him whose proper place was the bosom of the Father. Truly for such an One there could be no repose on earth. “The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” “Every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.” (John 7:53.) He enjoyed rest, as the obedient Son, in always doing those things which pleased the Father. This linked Him in unchanging communion with the Father―this called forth ever and anon that expression of infinite delight, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

How refreshing to the eye of Him who had so long “looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God” ―to behold the meek and lowly One doing His will, not seeking His own glory, but with wakened ear accomplishing the work given Him to do. Well might He say, “Hear ye Him!” and well would it be for us, beloved, to hearken, and learn of Him. Sometimes, with cheerful, willing hearts, we take a few steps in obedience to Him, entering upon some service which brings a little return of joy to our souls; but, when the path leads right athwart our own wills, our own testes, our own pre-conceived planning’s, then with grudging hearts we coldly follow; it is not then as with the Lord at all times, “I delight to do Thy will.” Yes, at all times; not only in the house at Bethany, but in the wilderness tempted of Satan; not only when riding amidst surrounding hosannas, but in the garden of Gethsemane, and when enduring the bitterness of the cross.

And of this delight, beloved, surely we have some glimpses in the drink-offering. The burnt-offering may show us the value of His death as towards God; the meat-offering, the perfectness of that walk which fitted Him to be the sacrifice; the peace-offering, the joy and satisfaction of God in Him, into which we enter; and the sin-offering, the entire putting away of sin. But it is in the drink-offering that we learn the joy of His heart in so offering Himself without spot to God.

For wine truly is the emblem of joy. Not only did He say, “Lo, I come:” but, “I delight to do thy will.” In every step of the way―in weariness, in loneliness, in rejection, in sorrow―yea, in death’s agony, there was in the very depth of His soul an unutterable joy, into which the Father alone could enter. Not merely the joy set before Him as to the result of that work, but the settled, calm, individual joy of the obedient One, whose heart ever answered to the expectations of the Father, and spent itself in His service.

And of this the drink-offering was the expression.

It accompanied the other offerings, and was needed to set forth an additional feature of the preciousness of Him whose meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work.

There may be another thought conveyed in the drink-offering, namely, the entire surrender of His whole being to God. In the burnt-offering―wholly burnt―there was still some small remainder in the ashes. But that which is spilled on the ground cannot be gathered up―all is gone. He hid not His face from shame and spitting; He bowed down His neck; He was the servant with His ear bored; He would not go out free. O blessed Saviour, into Thy delight may we enter! In Thy entire surrender may we have part! May we know Thee as the meek and lowly One, take upon us Thy yoke, and thus, all along our way, find rest to our souls, until Thou comest to fetch us home to Thy bosom, to receive us to Thyself, to know more of the secrets of Thy heart, and to drink, with unchecked delight, of the river of Thy pleasures.

Short Notes on Daniel.

No. 1.

THE prophet Daniel gives us the history of the Gentile powers, to whom God entrusted dominion on His taking it away from Israel. In Luke 21:24 we have the name, given by the Lord to this period, during which Israel are Lo Ammi (not my people): He says, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” In Daniel we see their origin and end, but he goes no further; merely bringing as to the time when Israel is about to enter into blessing—to the political resurrection of the nation: “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” But of the blessing consequent on the judgment of these powers that were oppressing them, and the result of the stone of chapter filling the whole earth, he gives no details He shows us the beginning and end of government committed into the hand of man.

The book has two divisions, chapters 1, to 6, and 7 to 12; of these, however, chap. 1 and 12 are connected, as they both make known respectively the position of the remnant to whom the testimony of God was committed: chapter 1, at the beginning, and chapter 12 at the close of “the times of the Gentiles.” The first book is the character and conduct of the four Gentile monarchies in their aspect towards God, and the different positions they would assume before Him; of course the consequence of all this is that it brings trouble upon those who are standing for God on the earth. The second book is the character of the power of these monarchies in relation to the world; not to those merely who were standing for God there but their relations to one another, and especially God’s center in the earth―Palestine―which becomes towards the close the object of contention between all.

Chapter 1, gives us the character of the godly remnant; they are faithful to the will of God, and separate from evil; which puta them in a position to receive communications from Him. It is a most important thing for us to take notice of this, as the desire of the Lord is that we should be “filled with the knowledge of His will;” and how is it that we are so slow to learn, and know so little Is it not because we are not in a place where He can reach us―we must be separate from evil―taking a path outside of this world, and be faithful to the mind of God as revealed to us; “For to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.” Such was the case with Daniel here. He was of great natural ability (see Ezek. 28:3); brought with others of the king’s seed, on their being carried captive from Jerusalem; unto the palace of the king of Babylon, that he might there be taught the wisdom of those among whom he was captive. But while submitting himself to this power then owned of God, (always the path of the child of God, Rom. 13) he purposes in his heart not to defile himself. It is one thing to obey the powers that be, and another thing to defile the conscience before God by mixing with that which is not of Him. So Daniel refuses to eat of the king’s meat, which to him, as a Jew, was unclean, and would defile. He might by so doing suffer loss, as far as this world went; but faith takes the soul outside of and beyond the circumstances of this world; and Daniel could trust God for the result. But we never really lose by faithfulness to God, as was the case here: at the end of ten days Daniel, and those with him who had taken the same path, “their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.” And still further, what was the result of all this? “God gave them knowledge and skill in all earning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” None were found like them; they were ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers: “and Daniel continued unto the first year of king Cyrus” ―blessed results of faithfulness to God― “filled with the knowledge of His w chapter 1 wisdom and spiritual understanding;” and why? “because they would not defile themselves with the portion of the king’s meat, or with the vine which he drank.”

In chap. 1 we find Daniel standing up for God, and in chapter 2. God stands up for Daniel; and so is it ever the case. “Them that honor me I will honor; but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” (1 Sam. 2: 30.) Here the sword of power in the earth is being taken from Israel’s hands and given to the Gentile powers, but in such a manner that these powers should thereby learn their dependence upon God. Nebuchadnezzar has this supreme place in the earth shows to him by the figure of a man. He dreams a dream about it, but when he awakes, it has departed from him, and none of the Chaldeans, wise men, or astrologers can tell it to him: “There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter.” If God is to use us, He must first teach us that we are ourselves but empty vessels, entirely dependent upon Him. It would have been well for the Gentile powers had they learned this; but they too, like Israel, would fail. Apart from God the creature cannot stand. The decree goes out that all the vise men should be slain. Solemn picture of how man abuses whatever God entrusts to him. This, however, serves to bring out the faith of those who are walking with God, and His faithfulness in standing by them. When Daniel hears of the decree, he at once asks for time, and he will make known to the king the interpretation; and then He and the rest of the faithful remnant look to the God of heaven to make known the matter to them. The man of the earth rises no higher in his thoughts than the magicians and astrologers around him, but the one who is walking by faith goes straight to God, and finds in Him resources which more than meet all his need; as we ofttimes sing―

“When human cisterns all are dry,

Thy fullness is the same.”

Short Notes on Daniel.

No. 2.

DANIEL speaks here (chap. 2.) of the God of Heaven. He was no longer the God of the earth. His people, those among whom He had said He would dwell, are no longer owned by Him, and He can acknowledge no others. He may commit authority to them, and show how impossible it is for the creature to stand in any position of responsibility, but the glory when it leaves the temple ―its earthly rest― departs from the Mount of Olives for Heaven.

Israel was that nation among whom God had said He would dwell; if they failed He would go to no other. “The gas and calling of God are without repentance.” Hence in Daniel God calls Israel “thy people,” in speaking to him. He never says “my people.” He had cast them off for a time. They were now according to Hosea: “Lo-ammi” (not my people). Remark the accuracy of Scripture. None of the prophets who prophesied after Israel was carried away give Jewish dates, they always reckon according to the years of the Gentile kings in Daniel 2. Here we have a remarkable instance of it. In the first chapter he uses Jewish time, as he is there speaking of when they were still owned of God, though just about to be cast off; but in chap. 2 he is among the Gentile powers, and dates according to their time in Haggai and Zechariah, while those who prophesied when the people were still in the land and owned of God, (though they might tell of coming judgment and the dispersion of the people,) made use of Jewish time in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Micah. It is very blessed to see the effect of a revelation of God’s mind upon the one who is seeking to walk with Him in the light; that which would exalt one walking in the flesh, tends only to keep humble him who is living in the light. (Jer. 2.; 2 Cor. 12) We have the “man in Christ up in the third heaven” ―the flesh is altogether lost sight of. It is no longer, “I Paul,” but, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell; the soul that is in the light is no longer occupied with himself, but with the One who is there―who abides there, who is light Himself. If I am in any way occupied with self, I am not in the light. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all; and I can only be in His presence and abide there, when everything that is of the flesh has been laid aside, when self is utterly forgotten. Daniel had an opportunity to exalt himself: that which was causing so much trouble to the great king of the earth, and was bringing death on others, had been revealed to him. But what use does he make of it? To exalt the God of heaven, content that He should be everything, though it made him nothing. (vv. 28-30.) Blessed picture for us all, if we would walk so as to know His will―to have the place of the confidential servant. What higher portion could we ask for than that? But such is our privilege, and should be our place. May the Lord give us to enter into it, and stand up for Him in this present evil day; to walk humbly because of the flesh, judging ourselves in His presence, that we may know what it is to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

In the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, we have the history of the Gentile powers, as set up in the earth by God, till their judgment. Why they are so judged other scriptures tell us. It is merely the purpose of God to present them to us here as a whole in the figure of a man, “and the form thereof was terrible;” it is the man of the earth in the eye of God, but in his public splendor in the eyes of men, glorious and terrible. Its origin and establishment is divine-hence the head of gold: “The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory: and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and fowls of heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.” But there would be a deterioration; the next kingdom would be inferior; none of them would have the same excellency and greatness as the first, whose peculiarity consisted in its having received power from God Himself, the others succeed more by providential principles. The character of the fourth is especially given. There would be a decline of imperial power, but none of material strength; inasmuch as “iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things.” But its imperial authority would be weak, having to contend with a democracy―the seed of men who would neither mingle nor mix. The last power, moreover, has two forms (v. 33): legs of iron the first form of the kingdom, then feet and toes part of iron and part of clay. This agrees with Rev. 17, where we have the last form of Gentile dominion described as the beast that was, is not, and yet is, in the Revelation; there are here ten toes, both representing the final character of the kingdom subdivided under ten kings; and it is on these that the stone falls which destroys the whole image; so that the iron, the clay, the brass, and the gold, are all broken in pieces. The chief characteristics of each find their full development at the end and are there judged; none escape, but disappear forever; and become as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor. The fifth kingdom, as the one that God establishes (v. 44), is in the days of these kings (the ten toes). We get more details about them in chap. 17, but it is important for us to observe this, as it shows that it is not the gospel that is meant by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands. When it began, the Roman Empire was not subdivided into ten kings―that is its last form. The miry clay is the will of man devoid of all conscience, such as Paul describes in 2 Tim. 3, and will be one of the characteristics of the latter days―man doing without God, and seeking to be without Him. Such is the end of all the progress and science of the present day; it will end by man setting himself up against God; but the result of it we have here―they will be broken in pieces and consumed by a kingdom that shall stand forever; and in that kingdom we have our place and portion and home. Why, then, be taking a place down here in that which is to be broken up and destroyed ―carried away as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor? for when He, who is to usher in this scene, described in ver. 44, appears, “then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” “The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”

Short Notes on Daniel.

No. 3.

Chapter 3. What particularly marks this chapter is the abuse by the Gentile power of the authority given to it by God: refusing to respect the conscience, disallowing His rights, pride of power, idolatry in religion, and making a law of unity in worship―religious oneness―thereby hoping to strengthen the kingdom. Nothing divides so much as a variety of creeds; and man, with his short-sighted wisdom, never rising higher than the things of this world, thus endeavoring to do away with this manifest cause of weakness, by disallowing all the rights of conscience of God in fact―laying His claim entirely on one side, and having set up a religion of its own, would insist on having it acknowledged by all men. We have, too, a perfect picture of what man will end in doing, ―the various principles of blasphemy which characterize the different heads of the Gentile monarchies in the book of Daniel, ―all reappear in the last day. In Rev. 13. we see the very thing done by the head of the revived Roman empire (the last of the four monarchies, as we have seen in chap. 2). An image is made of the beast, or political head, which the false prophet, or ecclesiastical head, (the one who develops himself more especially among Israel in the land as the Antichrist,) causes all to worship, as in this chapter, under penalty of death should they refuse. (Rev. 13:15.) It is a solemn thought, for it shows us what we are by nature; that the first use of the power given by God is to deny Him, to establish idolatry, thereby exalting man, who sets up a religion connected with politics for earthly purposes; and every system of man established on this ground of expediency, and connected with the nation, must bear, more or less, some connection with what we have here. It may not outwardly be so manifest, nevertheless the principles are the same, and, as we have already seen in Rev. 13, their end is identical. May God lead us to have more “understanding of the times,” so that when He comes, none of us may be found mixed up with any of those systems whose end we find so solemnly portrayed in a figure here, and literally in the chapter of Revelation we have referred to; but be found faithfully taking our place with Jesus “outside the camp;” the place of reproach it may be, but, if so, that of honor and blessing. There were however certain, we read, who would not worship this image, who feared God rather than man, — “Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego.” The will of God was peremptory to them, as it ever should be to the Christian. They were like Mordecai, who would not so much as nod the head to a man who was the enemy of God, one of those of whom it had been said by Him, (Deut. 23:3,) “that they should not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever,” but whose remembrance even was to be blotted out from under heaven. (Deut. 25:19.)

The course of these three men was clearly marked out. Where the heart’s allegiance to God is touched, or the rights of conscience interfered with, there can be only one path for the child of God, to stand by Him at all cost. And how blessed their answer to the king in reply to his impious statement, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?” “We are not careful to answer thee in this matter.” Like Peter and John in Acts 4, “Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” It was not a question with these faithful ones what the king either said or did to them. God’s will was supreme; He had their first claims, and like Paul, in Phil. 3, they were prepared to count “all things but loss.”

Faith in God, and obedience to Him, were just as absolute to them as was the king’s will to others. This gives us a third feature in the character of the faithful remnant. It is that which should characterize the faithful few at all times. In chapter 1 They do not defile themselves with the king’s meat (separation from the world). In chapter 2, they have the mind of God. (“Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.”) And here, in chapter 3, they are faithful in refusing to acknowledge any but Him.

Short Notes on Daniel.

No. 4.

CHAP. 3. The same principles of blasphemy which we have seen in verse 15, will characterize the anti-Christian power in the latter days, “imputing this his power unto his god.” (Hab. 1:11.) In Dan. 11:38 we have the same thing, “In his estate shall he honor the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not.” Idolatry is the one great feature which characterizes Babylon, and is that which will fully reappear in the end. Man, exalting himself, setting himself up against God. Solemn Solemn! Such is the end of all the progress in knowledge, science, &c.: it is all tending to the one end—self-satisfaction and denial of God. May we be kept faithful to Him, “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour,” who is coming to take us out of this scene to a place He is preparing a special peculiar place with Himself in the midst of the many mansions. The saints under the old covenant are waiting till we get this “better thing.” (Heb. 11:40.) All creation is groaning and travailing in pain until it comes. (Rom. 8:22.) May our hearts be kept in a state of expectancy worthy of this great event, for which all heaven and earth are waiting.

But what was the result to those who thus stood faithful to the truth of God at all costs? They were cast into a burning fiery furnace; thus their faith was put to the test. The king is supreme in the earth, and for a time is allowed by God his own way.

Thus his character is brought out, and these faithful ones are tested. Deliverance is not always an immediate thing for us in the path of faith; God may and does allow us to be tested, to teach us there is enough in Him to meet and satisfy all our need. He would have the soul rice above the circumstances with which it is surrounded, and which may be trying to it, in order that it may be cast more entirely on Him; but once the lesson is learned, His end gained, “He who does not afflict willingly, or grieve the children of men, is there to prove Himself as the faithful One who has said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” “When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee... when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” And so it was; their faith is tried to the utmost; the furnace heated seven times hotter, so that “the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,” and they are cast down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace, when, lo, these three men are seen walking, loosed from their bonds, in the midst of the furnace, and a fourth is with them, and His form is as the “Son of God.” Blessed reality! And so it ever is; for if He allows our faithfulness to be tried, it is that we may be with Him, and know His power put forth on our behalf. For the remnant of godly Jews at the end of this age, of whom these are a type, this power will be shown by the destruction of their enemies, and bringing them into full millennial blessing. We are waiting for the Lord from heaven. We seek now to have the enjoyment of Him in our own souls.

What do we find Paul doing when everything here below had gone against him, delivered by his own people to the Gentiles, in their hands, shipwrecked, with nature against him, a serpent fastening on his hand, and finally a prisoner in Rome―what, I say, do we find him doing? Writing to the Ephesians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” He had learned what Christ was, the portion that He had in Him. He needed nothing more. He had the greater, why trouble about the lesser. Such is the lesson we should learn from all this. Have we learned it? Do we know experimentally what it is to be dead with Christ, and, therefore, to everything contrary to Christ? We must mark, that faith and obedience are equally as absolute to the godly soul, as is the will of the king; and that is especially our place in this day. Faith in God, and obedience to His word at all costs. There can be no concession. It may cost one dear; it did Paul. “All they in Asia have turned away from me.” “At my first answer no man stood with me.” Notwithstanding “the Lord stood with me... and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” The result may not be made manifest at once; but it will be by and by. No act of faithfulness is forgotten before God. The appearing of Christ will settle all that. Then it will be made apparent to all, that a cup of cold water even, given in His name, has not been without a reward. Are we content to wait till then? To forego present advantages, to be content with food and raiment here, but to have everything in the world to come? not only that, but to have Christ Himself so manifested to our souls now, that trial and suffering will be rather a source of joy than sorrow, inasmuch as they become the channel through which the love and faithfulness of this blessed One are ministered to us.

The Sinner's Friend.

THE Scripture tells us that “Christ died for our sins.” Blessed fact! It will fill eternity with praise. It is the foundation of all blessing and godliness. The love of Christ is unfathomable. When none else could save, and nothing less than His death―even the death of the cross―was needed, He willingly died in our stead, “He poured out His soul unto death.” Unparalleled kindness! The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world; and the beloved Son infinitely glorified the Father in redeeming us from all iniquity. He said, “Therefore doth my Father love Me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.” (John 10:17.) What love! How perfect in every aspect! God’s love manifested in not sparing His own Son, but delivering Him up for us all; and Christ’s, the good Shepherd, in giving His life for the sheep. How blessed! While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. The Prince of life tasted death. His soul was made an offering for sin. He bare our sins in His own body, on the tree. He loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Wondrous grace! The Holy One made sin and made a curse for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Is it any marvel, then, that the adorable Sufferer cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” Precious mysteries of redeeming, love! Who can fathom the unsearchable depths of the cross of Christ?

Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than the necessity of Christ’s death―even the death of the cross―for our redemption. Every saved person knows this. Our Lord told Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up. He also said, “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world;” and, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” How blessed then is the divine fact that “Christ died for the ungodly.” He is the sinner’s Friend, because He was the sinner’s Substitute. Praise God,

The atoning work is done,

The Victim’s blood is shed!

But though Christ, the bearer of our sins, died, it was not possible that He should be holden of death. His flesh saw no corruption. Having purged our sins, God raised Him from the dead, and crowned Him with glory at His own right hand in the heavenlies. Therefore He said to His beloved servant at Patmos, “Fear not; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Glorious triumph! Perfect rest for a sin-burdened soul! He is indeed the sinner’s friend!

Reader, is the death and resurrection of Christ nothing to you? Have you taken refuge in Him as the only hope set before you? How can you possibly escape the coming wrath, if you neglect this great salvation?

A Song in the Night.

I THANK Thee, O Lord, for the gift of affliction,

For wounding my spirit, for breaking my rest;

I bless Thee, O Lord, for the sweet benediction;

In love Thou hast done it; Thy way is the best.

I thank Thee, O Lord, for conflict, temptation,

For the harass of Satan, for weariness, pain;

In all Thou hast granted me strong consolation,

In all Thou hast shown me Thy love and my gain.

I thank Thee, O Lord, for my tears and my sorrow,

For frequent chastising’s, for uncertainty’s care;

Thy wisdom forbids me to boast of the morrow,

Thy goodness protects me ‘gainst every snare.

I pray Thee, O Lord, Thou still wilt uphold me;

Thou knowest my weakness; Thou ponderest my way:

Preserve me, support me, comfort and keep me,

Lest I should grow weary, or wander astray.

I thank Thee, O Lord, for the rest of Thy presence!

Strong refuge! Sweet calm of my troublous night!

Of heaven’s own gladness and brightness the essence!

The glory I look for till dawns the true light.

I thank Thee, my Lord, for the gift of affliction,

For wounding my spirit, for breaking my rest:

I bless Thee, my Lord, for Thy love’s benediction;

In grave Thou hast wounded; Thy way is the best.

Amen.

A Sure Salvation.

How sed it is when we meet with those of whose salvation we can have no doubt, but whose apprehension of the fullness and perfection of that salvation never seems to have gone beyond a hope that they are saved. The LORD would not have His children in that position, because His own blessed word is full of the strongest assurances that the believer in Jesus Christ “HATH everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is PASSED from DEATH unto LIFE.” Once truly “dead in trespasses and sins,” but now as truly “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now if God has given us these assurances, it is not for believers to look upon certainty of salvation as a condition to be attained only after a long period; but as the apostle John, in his first epistle, 5th chapter and 18th verse, says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye HAVE ETRENAL LIFE.”

Surely, then, if these things were written expressly to give their knowledge of a sure salvation, or eternal life, there is no presumption in saying that we do possess what God has given us through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23); on the contrary, it is simply faith “laying hold on God’s truth,” and with the mouth testifying that we “believe God.” Presumption rather consists in teaching or upholding views so thoroughly opposed to the doctrines of Scripture, and which produce in the souls of saints an uncertainty, the effects of which are but too apparent in the lack of spiritual energy, and that false humility which keeps the soul in bondage to its own slavish fears, and the selfishness of the human heart; because, alas, the heart is so prone to be occupied with itself, unless, through grace, it is thoroughly lifted, as it were, out of self, and firmly fixed and settled upon Christ.

O that our hearts were more influenced by the power of such wondrous grace as is manifested by God in the gift of His own dear Son, who died for us that we might “through faith in His name have everlasting life;” that by it we may be more detached from self and the things of time and sense; more earnestly pursuing those things which, by the grace of God, we are called to enjoy, and in every case viewing the word as the expression of His will and mind.

We frequently hear Christians, when interrogated as to their salvation, say, “I hope, or I trust, I shall be saved.” Only a short time age the writer was a passenger in one of the carriages on the London and North Western Railway. At one of the stations, while the train was stopping, he observed a poor man walking up and down the platform as though undecided which carriage to enter. At length, seeing that no one beside the writer was in the compartment, he entered, and occupied the seat immediately facing him. There was a frankness in the man’s countenance and general appearance which seemed to draw one toward” him. In order to open the conversation, a remark was made upon the severity of the weather. He replied, that “all these things were designed for some vise and good end;” “but,” said he, “we are never satisfied. Depend upon it, everything is for our good, sir.”

Judging from these, and a few other remarks, that he was a believer, the writer handed him a little tract, entitled, “Working for Jesus;” at the same time asking the question, “Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir, I do; and it is a blessed thing to work for Jesus. I mean, to teach in Sunday Schools, and that sort of thing, sir; because I’ve seen the good of it. In my own village, where years ago there was no school, we have a Sunday School, where some 200 children are taught and I have witnessed the improvement ever since.”

“Oh yes! undoubtedly the Sunday School has been a blessing to many. But how sad it is that so many of the teacher so engaged are themselves unconverted, and some are perfectly ignorant and careless of the way of Salvation. How can such teaching be blessed to the good of souls?”

“No, sir, it can’t; yet much good has been done in the Sunday School, and the work is increasing, which proves to me that there is blessing.” The conversation upon this subject was continued for a little while, when, as we neared the junction where we must separate, the writer, in order to know what was his condition of soul, said, “Well, now, can you say positively that you are a believer in Jesus, and are saved everlastingly?”

“I trust so, I hope so, sir; for we live by hopes you know; and I read my Bible, and find it most precious. Indeed, I don’t know what I should have done without it in all the troubles which I have had in my lifetime.”

“Yes, but the word declares ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ There is no doubt about it, but everlasting life is the present possession of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, in John 3:16 we have ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ And if you turn to Rom. 8:1 you may read, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.’

“That is, Christ having ‘borne our sins in His own body on the tree,’ the dreadful debt, as we may call it, was then paid. ‘He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.’ Man is now simply called upon to ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ who gives, in unmistakable language, the blessed certainty, ‘He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.’”

While the conversation lasted, the poor fellow repeated the portions of Scripture quoted; and at length the writer again asked him, Can you say now that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and have everlasting life?”

“Yes” said he, taking the writer’s hand;” I have no other foundation. Ah! what a blessed thing to have Christ only for a foundation, since everything else avails naught. And I have proved Him, sir, in many ways, during sickness and poverty, to be my support; and when penniless He has sustained me: but had it not been for Him and my Bible I could not have got through as I did.”

“Then, dear friend, let me advise you, by reading the Word of God, and pondering over it, still to keep close to the Lord, bearing in mind what He has said, ‘For without Me ye can do nothing;’ and be assured that in Him alone is found that which we so much need as we journey onward through the wilderness. “We had now arrived at the junction, and as we parted he said, “Thank you, sir, for what you have said to me; I hope we may meet again some day.”

“We shall meet in heaven,” was the reply.

The Scriptures quoted prove how contrary to the mind of God is that miserable teaching by which many of His saints are kept in a state of uncertainty as regards a question which He has forever settled in giving His beloved Son to die upon the cross.

"The Great Will Case."

PUBLIC attention has been awakened for some weeks past, by a trial whether probate shall be issued, or whether the probate granted shall take effect, respecting a will in which four hundred thousand pounds is at stake amongst the respective claimants. The judge of this probate court takes time to consider the case, and give his decision. What a moment is this for the parties concerned!

Such uncertainty as broods over this will, and sustains the interest of so many about the issue, may well produce in the soul of a Christian feelings of satisfaction and praise to God, even our Father, as he calls to mind how “all the promises are made, yea, and Amen, in Christ Jesus,” and how sure the covenants stand in “the hands of the Mediator,” till the time appointed comes for the claimants to take possession, and walk through the length and breadth of their inheritance. In the meanwhile with what composure can the children of God read their undisputed title, by a new relationship and birth, as we remind one another that our genealogy must be proved, not by descent from flesh and blood; for, on the contrary, our records refuse to recognize any as “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,” who cannot make good their redemption, by “the precious blood of Christ” on the cross, and who are thus “born again of the Spirit.” Another most important difference exists between these two will cases―that during the interval, till the probate shall take effect, as regards the many heirs, the names of any fresh comers will be registered, provided they are handed in upon a claim founded by faith on the finished work of Christ, in His death and resurrection; for these are the terms on which “this will of God” runs: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” No other inheritance (except the one which is “reserved in heaven” for this new race of people) could extend itself after this fashion without impoverishing the respective heirs; but God being God wants “many sons” in glory, and many co-heirs with Christ in the inheritance above, which “is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away,” in order to show throughout the ages to come “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” While this court remains open for fresh claimants, till probate takes effect in actual possession, by our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and our resurrection to the heavens with Christ” we are encouraged to go out into the very highways and hedges, or the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in or compel the maimed, the halt, and the poor to come in “that the house may be filled,” and that there may not be one missing to cause a grief to the family of the Father. Another great contrast in these two will cases is, that, as respects all the children of God, we are accredited, as to our rights and titles, before we are actually put into possession of the inheritance; so that no uncertainty may cross the heart to trouble it, nor any fear as big as a man’s hand rest upon the cloudless horizon of our brightest hopes. God the Father has taken sure of this too; and because we are sons, “God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father; wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” What an object of supreme importance is our great will case! Have you put in your proofs of lineage by being “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever?” Have you been registered in the assurance, that “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Mm from the dead, thou shalt be saved?” Is your name recorded among the many who have gone in upon the “verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life?”

A Thought on Suffering

I THINK suffering, though in itself so grievous and trying to nature, yet leads us to value more that love which has endured so much for us. I cannot be sustained under suffering save by Christ. I cannot lean on Him without feeling, in measure, the preciousness of His love. “He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” A wonderful path for the Son of God to take! but one worthy of Himself. He who could choose what path He would, chose suffering in a world of sin. Not that even He could love suffering; but He loved obedience, and obedience led Him through suffering. “It became Him [God], for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Heb. 2) God willed that His Son―His ever blessed and ever perfect Son, the Son of His love―should go through all that was needed to make Him the merciful and faithful High Priest that He is; the perfect Leader in a path of suffering that leads to heavenly glory. Not that He suffers now; but he looks back, and remembers, and with an infinite depth of compassion—a perfection of knowledge that has no parallel― regards each case among His beloved saints with an interest which, once apprehended, is the sweetest relief. For who, among the children of God―at any rate, the tried portion of them―does not understand the comfort of the thought, “He know it all”― “the Lord Jesus know it perfectly?”

“O Jesus! Lamb of God,

Who us to save from loss,

Didst taste the bitter cup of death

Upon the cross.

Most merciful High Priest,

Our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend;

‘Tis in Thy love done we trust,

Until the end.

Thou wilt our souls sustain,

Our Guide and Strength wilt be;

Until in glory, Lord, above,

Thy face we see.”

“THERE is no heart in the universe that has been so revealed as the heart of God. He gave His Son for us.”

Today or Tomorrow.

“Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Matt. 24:42.

The dark stream of evil is flowing apace,

And man is still walking a stranger to grace,

While daring rebellion is on the increase,

Which mar not my joy, which disturb not my peace,

For my heart is engaged with its own happy song;

The Lord who has loved me will come before long;

It may be tomorrow, or even to night,

That I shall behold Him in unclouded light!

The house, and the land, and the wealth in the chest,

Bring plenty of trouble, but never bring rest;

The Lord is my portion! and when I have grief,

His rich consolation gives instant relief.

I list not to doubts that my reason may bring,

I trust to His mercy, and cheerfully sing―

It may be tomorrow, or even today,

That Christ will descend to call us away.

I know not the way He will bring it about,

But I do know He’ll come with the archangel’s shout;

I know not the hour, whether morning or night,

But I’m waiting with patience, with untold delight.

Though thickly around me sad errors may roll,

This one blessed hope is the stay of my soul―

It may be tomorrow, or even today,

That I shall be called to His presence away!

The world in its wisdom may scorn and deny

The worth of the One upon whom I rely;

But from Him all blessing and holiness flows,

And in Him I have the most blessed repose.

The night doses in, and the morn re-appears,

And thus it has been for a number of years;

But still on the hill-tops of hope I would stay,

And eagerly look for the breaking of day!

Tomorrow may come, with its sorrows and joys,

And the evil which often my pleasure alloys,

And still find the world with its poor little aim,

And the scoffer in nature and practice the same;

May it never find me looking earth-ward for bliss;

My hope is above, my rejoicing is this―

It may be tomorrow, or even this eve,

That I, for my place in the glory, shall leave.

Tomorrow may come, with its sickness and death,

And I may be called to relinquish my breath,

But that makes me happy, because I am sure

My soul with the Lord will be sweetly secure:

But faith takes the word as its own proper range,

And looks not for death, but that wonderful change,

From weakness and sickness, to vigor and might,

From evil and darkness, to beauty and light.

Adorable Saviour! by faith I descry

The long-looked-for day of redemption draws nigh,

When the shame and contempt, and the grief shall give

To the holy rejoicings, the triumphs of grace! [place

Till we from this terrible desert are caught,

My heart would rejoice in this comforting thought―

It may be tomorrow, or even tonight,

The fullness of glory will burst on my sight!

G. C. Walsall.

The Two Servants.

Matt. 23:45-51.

THE doctrine of the Lord’s second coming may be used by men and Satan, like any other part of Scripture, as a covert for false profession. The Scriptures speak of “foolish virgins” ―unsaved people, professing to go out to meet the Bridegroom. To the true children of God this hope is not only most cheering and sanctifying, but often stirs the soul to faithfulness in the Lord’s service.

The “faithful and vise servant” has the reality of the coming of the Lord at heart: it therefore influences his ways. His eye is on the Master. He seeks to do what is pleasing in His sight. He regards with affectionate care the saints around him. He knows them as the Lord’s household, considers their need, and serves them for their profit and blessing. He gives them “meat,” thus ministering Christ to their souls; for “His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood drink indeed.” He gives them meat in due season; comforting the feeble-minded, supporting the weak, instructing some, warning others, and building up the saints in their most holy faith. This is wisdom and faithfulness. These things mark a steward who is faithful to His Master’s desires during His absence. This he is conscious of, and therefore expects, that when the Master comes he will be both commended and rewarded. “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” (Matt. 24:46, 47.)

“The evil servant” does not oppose the doctrine of the Lord’s second coming, he may be quite orthodox in his statements about it, but his heart as to it is wrong. Every error begins here. The Lord’s complaint of old was, “My people do always err in their hearts.” The evil servant said in his heart “My Lord delayeth His coming.” What was the result of this error in the heart? He could damage and afflict the Lord’s servants. If the heart is wrong towards Christ, it will also be wrong towards the members of Christ. He began to “smite his fellow-servants.” But this is not all “He ate and drank with the drunken.” It may not be that he was drunk as they were, but he drank of the same cup, and ate at the same table; he associated himself in companionship with unbelievers, instead of coming out from among them, and being separate. These ways characterize an “evil servant.” How solemn and searching! May we lay our Lord’s words to heart. The future history of such a case is more solemn still. “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 24:50, 51.) May we heed the warning, and watch against the first entrance into our hearts of the suggestion, “My Lord delayeth His coming.”

The Voice of Jesus.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”―Rev. 3:20.

THE words of Jesus! how sweetly they come to us over the troubled waves of the world! calming, and soothing, and comforting us when we are wearied and almost fainting in the great battle of life. O that we heard His words oftener! that we listened more intently and earnestly for the sound of His voice! that, in the words of Samuel of old, we cried more continually, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!” that in the every-day incidents of our life―in our joy and our sorrow, in our prosperity and our adversity—we had a greater realization of the Lord’s presence, and more and more distinctly heard Him speaking to us!

Mourning Christian! in the silent midnight of your sorrow, when every strain of gladness is hushed and silent, and no sound of earthly joy breaks the oppressive stillness of your heart’s affliction,―in that hour, when every earthly voice is silent, when you seem most utterly forsaken and alone, listen to the voice of your Saviour―listen to the voice of Jesus, saying unto you, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18.)

Dear sick one! thou whom Jesus loveth! in the lonely hours of your pain and weariness, which none but yourself and your God can fully realize, listen for the voice of Jesus. Listen during the long, weary day; listen in the still longer and more wearisome night, to the loving voice and tender accents of that One who “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” (Matt. 8:17.) Listen to that same clear voice which spoke of old, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Now saving, “Lo! I am with you always;” “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” In the night as in the day, in joy as in sorrow, in weakness as in strength, I am with you―with you always! Others must leave your side, the fondest and most loving must be absent sometimes; but I never leave thee! I hear your faintest sigh; I feel every fresh throb of your aching head; and the feeblest cry for help and strength I hear, and will answer. It seems as if He brought you into a “desert place apart,” that He might give you greater revelations of His everlasting love and faithfulness, and whisper these sweet words of comfort into your ear; and soon, like the Bride in the Canticles, you will come up out of the wilderness leasing on the Beloved. O that our ears were opened to hear the Lord’s voice oftener! that the constant cry of our hearts was, “We would see Jesus, we would hear His voice,” that whenever we opened His Word, in public or private, we might see written, before every verse, “Thus saith the Lord.” O may He keep us all, listening as well as watching and waiting for Him! Listening, to get clear direction and counsels as to our wilderness journey. Listening, to hear the voice of Jesus, comforting, and encouraging, and speaking very “words in season to Him that is weary.” Watching, that we may not be found idle, unprofitable servants, sleeping at our post when the Master comes. And watching, remembering the blessed word, “The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.” (Lam. 3:25.) O that in the different trying scenes of our life, when the eye of faith is weak and cannot pierce the surrounding darkness and gloom, and see Jesus still beside us in all our trouble, nor see the “glory of that light” which He would ever have shining across our dim pathway,―then let us try to hear His voice, speaking sweet words of love to us from out of the cloud. Let us remember His own words― “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” And let us echo the words of two who long ago heard the same sweet voice speaking to them― “Did not our hearts burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32.)

Walking in the Light.

1 John 1:5-10.

WE read in the book of Leviticus, that the priests had their portion in the offerings of the Lord. Their privilege was to feed in God’s dwelling-place upon that which represented the expiation of the sins of Israel, and which formed the ground of their worship.

But when a priest sinned, he had to offer a sin offering for himself; and this he was commanded not to eat, but to burn it with fire. His communion being interrupted by failure, he could no longer draw near as a worshipper, until he had offered an offering for his own cleansing.

The instruction to be gathered from this evidently is, that although a believer is privileged to abide in communion with God in the unclouded light of His presence, through the person and work of His Son, yet if he sin, he cannot approach in the nearness of communion until he has come to God for cleansing.

The believer is brought in to this light by the atonement of Christ, and there, in the language of Leviticus, he feeds with God upon the sacrifice, delighting in the unspeakable love and divine righteousness which it displays.

But when a believer sins, he has slighted the death of Christ. He has forsaken the light, and he must confess his sin in the hateful and terrible character in which it is revealed by the sufferings of God’s Holy One, that he may be morally capable of entering into communion. This is not communion, but repentance.

To confine the results of the death of Christ to the salvation of the soul is Carelessness about sin, and leads in the end to hardness of heart. To profess communion with God, and at the same time to allow sin and uncleanness is an abomination. It is a fleshly dishonoring of Christ’s most precious death, while professing to be feeding upon it in fellowship with a holy God.

The word of God does not say that the “blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth as from all sin, if we walk up to the light; for that none can do; neither if we walk in the light as far as we can, but absolutely “if we walk in the light,” having no other standard, but honestly and truly walking in the light, “as God,” who sees all according to His holy nature, “is in the light.”

It is because the blood is our perfect cleansing in the light that we can only there know its cleansing virtues. The light gives to every spot of sin its real color, and at the same time it shines upon the blood, and reveals how completely it cleanses us from all sin. To walk alter the manner of other Christians, making their approval our standard, is not walking in the light, as God is in the light; neither is indulgence in worldliness, unmortified tempers, or self-pleasing. If we walk thus, and say we have fellowship with Him, we lie, and do not the truth. We may know the truth, and we may have experienced it, but we are not doing it; and, therefore, honest dealing with ourselves in the light will discover that our minding of the flesh is death, and not life and peace.

A Christian often regrets that he has not more enjoyment; and yet he gives way to pride, or selfishness, or evil speaking, or ungoverned temper; and he tries, perhaps, to take gospel ground more firmly, and to force himself into happiness, whereas he needs grave to confess and forsake his sins. He needs to come into the light to know that the blood, which is God’s one and only adequate judgment of the sinfulness of sin, will not give him fellowship with God whilst walking in darkness.

But the believer, who walks humbly with God, can bless Him for the light. He loves it, and rejoices in a salvation, which has not only delivered him from sin and its consequences, but has brought out what God is in His holy and blessed nature. He would not have his failure excused, for he has been made a partaker of the divine nature; and as he walks in fellowship with his God, he yearns evermore to be a partaker of His holiness, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. He feeds with God upon the sacrifice, and instead of merely knowing its virtue in delivering him from judgment, he becomes daily more acquainted with its infinite perfections as seen in the clear light of God, and thus he grows in fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

The more the believer is in the light, the more he will value the cleansing blood. Holiness of life will increase his sensitiveness to the evil of sin, and will thus enhance his appreciation of the atonement. It is they who have not defiled their garments who long for the white robe, which the Lord promises to the overcomer. (Rev. 3:4.) The defiled are content with defilement.

May it be given to us to know the blessedness of walking in the light, as He is in the light; that as the priests of God we may groom in a divine appreciation of the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, which cleanseth us from all sin.

"What Must I Do First?"

So thoroughly is the thought engrafted in the human mind, that salvation is on the ground of our works, that it is not an uncommon thing to find persona suddenly aroused to the sense of the terrible mistake they have been under for years, in supposing that they would ultimately obtain salvation on the predominance of their good works over the bad. Some time ago a person said to the writer, “I thought, sir, till lately, that I had a great deal to do; but now I see it is all done for me.” She saw that Jesus by His death upon the cross had saved her. She, therefore, had peace with God at once―rest of conscience, because she saw that God had settled the question of sin for her in Christ. Lately we heard of a person, who was awakened to the need of salvation, making the inquiry, “What must I do first?” It is natural to us all to think so highly of ourselves, as to judge that we are competent to work out a righteousness for ourselves sufficiently pure to merit salvation. But the gospel speaks of an already accomplished work for the salvation of sinners in the cross of Christ; yes, for helpless, sinful persons at enmity with God, whose minds are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. This is how Scripture puts it. So that God is not now improving man in the flesh, mending up what sin has done, but He publishes the fact that He has accomplished salvation for the lost, that He gives eternal life to whosoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. So that if a person says, “What must I do first?” our answer is, You have nothing to do; for

“Jesus did it, did it all,

Long, long ago.”

Bow, then, to God’s verdict, that you are guilty before Him, that you cannot make yourself fit for His holy presence, that you are by nature a child of wrath, and by practice a great transgressor in His sight. I say, bow to God’s truth about yourself. You will then see that you are weak, sinful, lost―yes, LOST! incurably bad and LOST! and also that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world to save the lost, and that He did accomplish eternal redemption for all those who believe on His name. The question, then, is not what you must do first; but, Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you accepted Him as your Saviour? Can you, do you, rest in His finished work upon the cross for your eternal salvation? Have you received God’s word as truth which testifies to the all-cleansing power of the blood of the cross, and that tells you that you are now―yes, NOW, justified by His blood on believing? that by Christ “all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses?” If so, you have peace with God, you are His child, you desire, from grateful love, to serve and honor Christ, and when He comes you will be caught up to meet Him in the air, and be with Him and like Him forever.

“Endless praises to the Lord,

Ever be His name adored!

Hallelujah!

He is worthy―praise His name!”

Who Are Christ's Sheep?

Notes of an Address

“MY sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John― 10:27-28.

THERE were religious people all around, but were they Christ’s sheep? This was the all-important question. There was “the hireling,” too, and “the thief;” “the stranger” and “the wolf;” but oh, how different from the Good Shepherd! We cannot forget that there are still many sheep round about us who are very dear to the heart of Jesus. He calls them “His own sheep.” They belong to Him. He loved them, and gave Himself for them. He said, “The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” What amazing love!

“When blood from a victim must flow,

This Shepherd by pity was led

To stand between us and the foe,

And willingly died in our stead.”

One characteristic of Christ’s sheep is, that they hear His voice. No matter who may be the instrument, the question with them is, Is it Christ’s voice? What is He saying? This is one mark of the sheep of Christ from first to last. “They know not the voice of strangers,” but the Shepherd’s voice they well know. It is Jesus they love to hear. When Paul went to Thessalonica, they received his testimony because it was God’s truth. They were not taken up with the servant, but with the message that he brought. They owned it to be God’s testimony. In it they heard the voice of the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for the sheep. They did not receive the testimony as Paul’s opinions; for it came to them “not in word only, but in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;” they therefore turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered them from the wrath to come.

When Paul went to the polished citizens of Corinth, he purposely sought to preach in simple language; and though he was a learned man, he laid aside eloquent and enticing words of man’s wisdom, lest the people should hear only Paul’s rice, and not receive God’s testimony, and thus their faith stand in the wisdom of men instead of the power of God. “I determined,” said he, “not to know anything among you, cave Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Thus they heard and received God’s truth about Jesus; they heard the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd through Paul.

The question is, what is the Lord Jesus, who is seated on the right hand of God in the heavens, saving now? If He were now to speak in an audible voice, would it not be, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life?” Surely that is His testimony. See, then, that you refuse not His voice who speaketh from heaven. The believer looks up to heaven, beholds the face of Jesus by faith, hearkens to His word, and receives His testimony. Christ’s sheep hear His voice. Many know the way of salvation, but have not received Christ as their Saviour. They do not hear His voice in the gospel. “Ye believe not,” said Jesus, “because ye are not of my sheep.”

Christ knows His sheep. True it is that He knows all things; but He peculiarly knows His own. The acquaintance is mutual. They know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, and He knows them. “He knoweth them that trust in Him.” Many a professor will come in that day, saying, “We have prophesied in thy name done many wonderful works;” but Jesus will say unto them, “I never knew you: depart from Me.” They never had any acquaintance with Christ―had no personal dealing with Him. Have you, dear friends, known this personal intimacy with Jesus? Have you known what it is to be reconciled to God through His precious blood? Those who know Christ, however feebly, do not hesitate to cast themselves into His open arms; and such always prove Him to be a Friend that loveth at all times, a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

“Happy they who trust in Jesus!

Sweet their portion is and sure;

When the foe on others seizes,

He will keep His own secure:

Happy people!

Even though despised and poor.”

Another feature in Christ’s sheep is, that having heard His voice, and being assured that Christ knows them, it leads to practical action―thy follow Christ. This is not following roles, creeds, ordinances, however true in themselves they may be, but Christ. It is not following men, however godly they may be, further than they are following Christ. This Satan hates, and tries to hinder. He would sometimes use even Christian people who may be in a bad state of soul to hinder others from wholly following the Lord. He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. We are kept here for no other object than to follow Christ; not to follow our own inclinations, nor to follow other saints, but to follow Christ. This marks Christ’s sheep. Jesus said, “they follow me.” Do we know what this is? Are we searching the Scriptures to find out His steps, that we may follow Him? Are we, through honor and dishonor, seeking only to please Him? Are we aiming to be “meek and lowly in heart” as He was? to take His yoke upon us, and learn of Him? We are told that Christ’s sheep are thus exercised; they follow Christ. It does not say they ought to do so, but that they do follow Christ. This shows them to be Christ’s sheep.

Now, mark the security of Christ’s sheep. 1St. They have everlasting life. “I give unto them eternal life.” This is His gift. It is in no way earned or deserved. No. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life, then, comes to us in the way of gift. Christ does not give less. It is not life for a day or a year, but forever―eternal life. Your life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is our life. Christ is the Giver, the sinner the receiver. My dear friends, have you really received this gift of God? Have you eternal life? I trust you will not rest for a moment, till you are certain that you have eternal life. Oh! you must have eternal life, or you will be in everlasting burnings. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life: he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36.)

2nd “They shall never perish.” What perfect rest and peace this gives the soul; for He is faithful that promised; He cannot deny Himself. David’s fear and distress were not a little that he would one day perish by the hand of Saul; but the true believer need have no misgiving as to the eternal future. He who is almighty in power, and perfect in love, says, “They shall never perish.” Observe, it is absolute and unconditional― “They shall never perish.” Dear trembling believer, you cannot be lost. You are in Christ. You have eternal life, and Christ declares you “shall never perish” “He died for you. His blood cleanseth from all sin. What more can you need to give you perfect rest of soul?

3rd “Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” The word “man” is in italics. It shows us that no power shall be able to separate us from Christ’s keeping.

“Not all that earth or hall can say,

Shall turn His heart of love away.”

When He said, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out,” it implied three things: ―1St I will receive. 2nd I will hold him fast; and 3rd. I will never give him up― “in no wise cast out.” So here He says, “None shall pluck them out of my hand.” What perfect security this gives! Surely it is a threefold cord, that can never be broken. 1St The present possession of “eternal life.” 2nd. The promise of the faithful and good Shepherd, “They shall never perish.” 3rd. Christ’s own almighty hand keeping firmly in its grasp― “None shall pluck them out of my hand.”

All dear children of God do not enter into the joy of these precious realities. They read men’s books, and embrace men’s opinions, instead of going only to the Scriptures for God’s mind, and resting on His precious words about Jesus, which can never pass away.

Why so Careful?

How is it that children of God carry their own tares? Does not our heavenly Father invite us to cast all our care upon Him, and because He careth for us? Why, then, are we so careful and troubled about many things? Does it honor God? Does it do us good? Can it benefit others? Must it not arise from some hidden, self-sufficient feeling? Is it the way of faith? Does it not spring from unbelief? Does it not damage our souls, weaken faith, and often lead us out of communion with the Lord? Has He not told us that the cares of the world choke the word, and hinder fruitfulness? Oh! that we could constantly and unhesitatingly accept the loving counsel of our gracious God and Father: “Be careful for nothing;” and again, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”

“CHILD of my love― ‘Lean hard,’

And let me feel the pressure of thy care.

I know thy burden, child; I shaped it,

Poised it in mine own hand, made no proportion

Of its weight to thine unaided strength.

For even as I laid it on I said,

‘I shall be near; and, while she lean on me,

This burden shall be mine, not hers;

So shall I keep my child within the circling arms

Of mine own love.’ Here lay it down; nor fear

To impose it on a shoulder which upholds

The government of worlds. Yet closer come―

Thou art not near enough; I would embrace thy care,

So I might feel my child reposing on my breast.

Thou lovest me? ―I know it. Doubt not, then;

But loving me― ‘Lean hard.’”

Words of Counsel and Encouragement to Young Evangelists.

IT is a matter of great thankfulness to the Lord that there are so many in the present day who testify the gospel of the grace of God, and that there is so much blessing accompanying the word preached in various places. It is remarkable, too, that many are recognized simply as “evangelists.” Some of them tell us at once that they are not “teachers” or “pastors,” but that their place is simply to declare the “glad tidings” to the unsaved. This distinction of gifts is, thank God, beginning to be recognized, and certainly it is most scriptural so far as it goes. It is hoped that God will yet spread the light of His own truth as to the variety of gifts the ascended Head has given for the building up of “the body.” Some years ago, except among a few Christians, you only heard of “ministers” or “preachers,” now you frequently hear of one of the Lord’s servants being “an evangelist,” another being a “teacher,” a third being a “pastor;” and each one addicting himself to his peculiar line, not as appointed by men, but as called and led of the Lord, though sometimes two or more gifts may be recognized in the same person. Why are these distinctions being now regarded? Is it not because the Scriptures are being by some more read, and God’s order, as recorded in Eph. 4; 1 Cor. 12, and Rom. 12, more clearly seen?

But we would say a few words to young evangelists, those who in all ardor are just beginning to enter upon this most blessed service. Christ crucified, glorified, and coming, is very precious to you. Your hearts are fired with the love of God. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” &c., is your constant theme. The value of immortal souls hangs heavily upon your spirits. You are filled with all joy and peace in believing, and you long for others to realize the same security, and enjoy the same comfort.

You see that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and your whole soul desires that sinners may be plucked as brands from the burning, that they may be delivered from Satan’s iron grasp, and that they may be safely sheltered by the blood of Jesus from the coming wrath. You see, too, how willing and able Christ is to save, how simple the way of eternal salvation, and that Jesus casts out none that come to Him. All this is very sweet. May you be more and more in real earnest; and seek above all that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be abundantly glorified.

During the last thirty years it has been the writer’s joy to see many souls brought to Christ, and to have watched the career of many of them since. He would therefore, in all love, suggest a few words of hearty counsel and exhortation to young evangelists. The scripture he especially calls attention to is, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4.)

We will suppose that you have been exercised before God about taking up this service, and that, after waiting on Him, having no will of your own in the matter, or any wish for the praise of men, you conclude that you must go forth with the gospel in obedience to the Lord Jesus.

1. We may say, then, who is sufficient for such a work? for the flesh profiteth nothing, and God’s determination is, that “no flesh shall glory in His presence.” The answer is plain, “Our sufficiency is of God.” Be then men of prayer; and that not now and then merely, but cultivate the habit of constant dependence upon God. Go not into the warfare at your own charges; if you do, your poor resources will soon come to an end: but give yourselves to prayer. Draw on the ascended Jesus for all you want. He giveth liberally, and giveth more grace. In this way you will escape many snares, be kept from many mistakes and disappointments, and will prove the blessedness of trusting in the Lord, and of laboring in His strength. This is the secret of an evangelist’s success. If the apostles needed this, how much more do we in a day of such weakness and error. If you are not giving yourselves to prayer, you will be cultivating carnal habits, gratifying “the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” aiming to preach eloquently and to a crowd, instead of seeking only to please the Lord Jesus, and to be instrumental in saving solus. A man of prayer will so feel in God’s presence, and that he has to do with God, that his rule, we may almost say instinctively, will be, whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, to do all for the glory of God.

Give yourselves to prayer continually, and then your success will be certain. Humbling’s we all need now and then; but “thy Father who seeth in secret, Himself shall reward thee openly.” Your labor will not be in the vanity of human energy and eloquence, but in the strength of the Lord, in communion with Him, and your labor will not be in vain, for it will be “in the Lord.” Your eyes will be open to see and avoid the snares of the fowler, and both privately and publicly you will prove in your experience the truth of the divine statute, “Them that honor me, I will honor.”

Remember also that the divine order is, first, “prayer;” secondly, “ministry of the word.” If this order be reversed, marvel not at failure. They must lie down in sorrow, who walk in sparks of their own kindling. Be men of God whose prayers precede, as well as accompany and follow your ministry. If you are expecting to preach the gospel in the evening, seek frequently during the day to give yourselves to prayer about it; so that hearers, as well as speakers, may be prepared for the solemn work. In this way you may expect to sow good seed in good ground, that may bring forth much fruit. If you are engaged in business, take part of your dinner-hour for it, or any other moments that are at your command. The Lord knows how you are situated. Pray earnestly, believingly, perseveringly. Pray to be filled with the Spirit. Pray that God may work in saving souls as most He can for the glory of Christ. Beware of cold, dry formality in prayer. Let it be really entering into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, pleading the name of Jesus, and expecting blessed answers. Expect great things from God, and distrust self, abhor self, keep under self.

2. The preaching of the gospel is the ministry of the word of God. Paul exhorted Timothy to “preach the word.” Remember you are to preach not your words, or Mr. So-and-so’s words, but God’s word; not to preach yourselves, but to preach Christ Jesus the Lord. This will be both easy and happy if you have given yourselves to prayer. You need not make a great noise and excitement, for it is God’s word which is the instrument of begetting souls; the incorruptible seed is the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. It is the gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation. Beware of trafficking in unfelt truth. Speak out what you have tasted and enjoyed of God’s truth in your own souls. Tell out what you can of the worth and work of the Lord Jesus. It is a message from God to man that you have to deliver―a message of love, and love always tells its own tale. You have to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that He will soon come again. Sow the seed, be earnest, be faithful, be instant in season and out of season. Whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear, the preaching of Christ is a sweet savor unto God both in them that are saved and in them that perish. You will have much conflict with Satan if you are bold for Christ, and many will shun you and grieve you whose help and sympathy you may have counted on; but your loving and adorable Master will never leave you; therefore, in the gloomiest season, encourage yourselves in Him, and you will find that He is always better than your fears, and a never-failing Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

HAPPY DEATH OF A CHUSAN WOMAN―A native Christian woman recently died in this island. She had been a firm and consistent Christian. Her last words to her son were, “I desire to go and be with Jesus; my heart is at rest. To go and be with my Saviour is much better.”

"Ye Are Come Unto Mount Zion," &C.

Hebrews 12:22-24.

THE method of explaining some parts of Scripture by “spiritualizing” them, as it has been called, has done more than open infidelity ever can do, in setting aside the plain and direct meaning of prophecy, which forms so large a portion of the word of God, and by which alone His people, whether Jewish or Christian, can with certainty know the ways of God, and what they embrace in the future.

Take, as an instance, the mistaken and mischievous habit, so prevalent in the Church, of destroying the only and proper meaning of “Zion” and “Jerusalem,” so that Zion, which once meant Zion, and nothing else, means Zion no longer, when prophetically employed in the light of the coming days of Israel’s millennial glory, but is transposed into the Church of this present period.

This practice is, alas, so common and unsuspected, that even Christians at their prayer-meetings have not hesitated to entreat God to bless “this little hill of Zion,” meaning by the phrase, the particular interest to which they have chosen to attach themselves, and of which they are members. So again, who has not seen, when walking the streets of some of our English towns, certain chapels with the superscription, “Mount Zion?” What would a reverential godly Jew think of such a profane use of his Scriptures, and of a name so dear to him, and so prevalent in the Psalms and prophecies of his national history and prospects?

Schools of theology, and the thousand students who are trained in them, and educated for what is called “the ministry,” may supply an answer to any anxious enquirer how this unspiritual mode of interpreting Scripture has become dominant. Moreover, a traditional religion among the taught, has done much to stereotype this false system among a professing people of this day, as truly as when Jesus accused the elders and scribes of making void the word of God by their traditions among the professing people of an earlier time.

Solemn thoughts and warnings will be plain enough from these considerations to any thoughtful mind, and it is to such I write; beside this, they will necessarily lead to very practical results, in a closer walk with God, according to the uncorrupted word of His own grace. These remarks will further bear upon the Scripture about to be considered, and will have already cleared away the mist which ordinarily hangs over the words, “But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator,” &c.

Next to the importance of allowing the proper names of persons and places to express definitely and distinctly what they really mean, is the inquiry whether we have room in our minds for the future relations of these persons and places to Jehovah, and to God, in the various ways of sorrow and of joy, of casting away or of bringing nigh, of estrangement or of endearment, in which the Lord speaks of Zion and Jerusalem?

Perhaps very many of the children of God have merely looked into the Scriptures upon the all-important question of their own salvation; and having found this accomplished by the suffering of Christ in His atoning blood, and confirmed beyond all gainsaying in His triumphant resurrection, have been content and happy in their own enjoyment of His unchanging favor. But besides our personal salvation by the cross of Christ, there is the throne of God and government connected with Israel and the nations; and this last grand and millennial subject has been overlooked, it may be, in the personal and engrossing desire to know one’s individual security and blessing.

Places therefore whose names are connected in Scripture as the past and future centers of the reign of Christ, whether as Messiah in connection with the throne of His Father David, or in the wide sense of Matt. 25, “When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory,” &c., have been either overlooked or not studied in their relation to the future government of God.

A thoughtful mind will at once see what a great omission has been made, and what consequent ignorance must attach to the person, who is uninformed according to God of all that is taking place around him in the midst of the Gentiles, or what the present and future history of the Jews, or what the hopes of the Church of God now and hereafter really are.

For example, “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;” and many people shall go and say, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, anal we will walk in His paths,” are plain passages from Isaiah, which may well be applied by us as tests of the two things just referred to; whether the names of persons and places are received by us in their true and proper meaning, and whether we have room in our minds for their future application in all that prophecy declares?

Lest there should be the possibility of a doubt in any, whether this quotation is not historical rather than prophetic, let me meet any such uncertainty by introducing the following verse, which says, “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

No one will presume to doubt, in the face of this magnificent picture, that it must be descriptive of a future time, when Christ shall be again present on the earth and reign, and in connection with the house of Jacob in Mount Zion and Jerusalem.

Faith in the prophetic word, and confidence in a God who cannot lie; knowledge of Christ, and a faith which enables us to take all up in the Lord Jesus which remains to be fulfilled; so that God will not suffer a jot or tittle to fail of all that He has promised; enables the believer to say, “ye are come unto Mount Zion;” just as readily as in chapter 2 we say, “But now we see not yet all things put under Him; but we see Jesus,” &c. Faith thinks it no liberty to call things that are not, as though they were; for this is how it knows the God of faith; and thus, in its own superiority and grandeur, it can say, “we see Jesus,” and “are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” How can a Christian say otherwise, who has come to Christ? It is the believer who is taught that “all things are yours; the world, or life, or death, things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”

No doubt the exhortation in this same chapter will be needful for any, where subjection of mind to the written word of God is wanting: “If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” To all else the Scripture is plain; and we will now say Mount Zion means the literal earthly Mount Zion, of which we may read more than a hundred times in Moses, and the Psalms, and the prophets; and that by faith we are come to it, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem too; for we are come to Christ, in whom all is at present headed up, and in whom all is to be made manifest in the day of His coming glory.

Moreover, we must say, “we are come;” because in the horizon of faith, which has nothing upon it but what God has before Himself, we can read the exact delineation of Mount Zion, as well as of the heavenly Jerusalem, and are growingly familiar with them, and all that they shall give birth to, when “the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” according to the covenant which He has made with that people. Faith does not wait upon the eye, nor want what the outward eye does; but can say in its own peculiar language, as anticipating the day of public manifestation, “we see Jesus,” and necessarily connects with this, “we are come” to all that is His in righteous title, as the ascended and glorified one, and ours by the rich grace which has made us heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, and kings and priests unto God and His Father.

A reference historically to the Old Testament Scriptures will show plainly enough that Mount Zion was the earthly center of Jehovah’s government in the time of David, just as Jerusalem was “the city of the great King.” A reference to prophetic Scriptures will show us clearly that they are to be this again, in addition to which, and in consequence of Messiah’s rejection by Israel and the nations, and His ascension to the right hand of God, where all power and glory and riches and wisdom are His, there will be a heavenly Jerusalem to come down from God, having the glory of God, and as a bride adorned for her husband― likewise “the city of the living God.” But we are also come, in union with a risen Christ, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven; those who are now called out to be one with Christ as His Church, and to know their blessed place and portion as one with “the first-born among many brethren” which are written in heaven. Every family in heaven and earth is named after Him, and these distinctions will be yet maintained; the earthly people will be blessed in the earthly places like the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Zion (see Rev. 14), and the heavenly people blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. (Eph. 1)

It is important to see that this was the real difficulty between the apostle and these believing Hebrews, surrounded yet as they were by all that was tangible and visible; a material temple, priests and sacrifices, religious ordinances, and a worldly sanctuary; but called away to the true and heavenly Christ, and to say “we see Jesus,” when the outward eye saw no Christ, and to say “we are come unto Mount Zion,” when, as matter of fact, they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth.

“Nevertheless, the apostle insists with them that they are the only people who are really come, because the whole epistle is founded on faith, and not upon sight or sense. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” So Moses endured as seeing Him who was invisible. Moreover “faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”

Ye are come “to God the Judge of all;” not what stands in opposition and enmity to Himself, but of all that is reconciled by “the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.”

“The spirits of just men” are one thing viewed in their separation from the natural body; but “God is not the God of the dead;” and, in consequence of the resurrection of Christ, they will live to Him. The spirits of these just men will be made perfect when the Lord chapter 11, they that are Christ’s will then be raised incorruptible, changed into His likeness, and will put on “the image of the heavenly.” This is what, at the close of chap. 11, is meant by “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect:” not only will they have known redemption by the blood of Christ, but resurrection (the better thing), by which their natural body will have been raised a spiritual body.

In truth, for these Hebrews not to say “we see Jesus,” and not to own that, in knowing Christ, they were come to Mount Zion, &c., would be to draw back unto perdition, “and to trample underfoot the Son of God,” &c., which passages, and others similar, get their plain and direct meaning in such an application only.

As regards everything outside this enclosure, this elide of blessing (22-24), all else will be shaken according to the promise (for what is a fear to an unbeliever, becomes in faith a promise to a believer): “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven;” and it is not worthwhile to go back from what cannot be shaken― “a kingdom which cannot be moved”―to learn the destruction by shaking terribly the earth, or to learn “God as a consuming fire.” What a contrast! to be with Him who shakes, and learn the stability of what cannot be moved; or to be outside, and prove the power that remover all that can be shaken, and will perish in fire! “We are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem!”

"Yet There Is Room."

SINNER! guilty, unforgiven,

Rushing blindly to the tomb,

One brief moment still is given,

Mercy cries, “There yet is room.”

Turn! O turn! nor madly linger;

Turn before it be too late;

Follow truth’s unerring finger,

Pointing thee to mercy’s gate.

Haste! delay not! Jesus calls thee;

Jesus! He who died for thee!

Ere the judgment scene appalls thee,

Haste, O haste, from wrath to flee.

Come! O come! the shadows darken

O’er destruction’s doomed plain;

To the gospel-message hearken,

Lest it reach thee ne’er again.

Sinner! guilty, unforgiven,

Jesus’ blood can wash thee white;

Satan long for thee hath striven,

Angela watch for thee tonight

Come! O come! the struggle ended,

Great thy joy and peace shall be;

Come! in love uncomprehend,

Jesus waits, He calleth THEE.

The Evangelist: Volume 1 (1867)

Table of Contents

1 Corinthians 15:19.

2 Chronicles 16.

"Always Confident."

"And They Shall Never Perish."

Another Lawless Son Saved.

Behold!

A Brief Meditation on a Word in Jeremiah.

"But, Sir, 'Tis If I Endure."

The Cave of Adullam.

Christ My Comfort.

Christ the Door.

Christ, the Physician.

Christians, What Are You Doing?

The Cleansing of the Leper.

"Come!"

The Coming of the Lord for His Saints, and the Day of the Lord.

The Coming of the Lord for His Saints, and With His Saints.

The Cross of Christ.

Death and Judgment Past for the Believer.

"Drive, and Go Forward."

Eternity.

Excellency of the Word.

Extracts.

The Father's Name.

A Few Thoughts on John 20.

Following Jesus.

Forgiveness of Sins.

Fragments.

Friendship.

From Death Unto Life.

From Death Unto Life; Or, the Widow's Son Raised.

The Fruit of Nature.

Genesis 12.

God Is Love.

"God Loves Me!"

"Himself."

The House of Moses and the Son's House.

How the Young Jew Found Christ.

"I Long to Go Home!"

"In"

In Christ, or Out of Christ?

Is Christ Precious?

It Has Been Done.

Jarius.

Jesus in Company With a Religious Man and a Sinner.

Letters to a Young Convert.

Letters to a Young Convert.

Letters to a Young Convert.

Letters to Young Converts.

Letters to Young Converts.

Letters to Young Converts.

Letters to Young Converts.

Letters to Young Converts.

"Loose Him, and Let Him Go."

"Lovest Thou Me?"

Ministry.

No Condemnation.

"Not of Works."

O the Cross!

"Our God Is a Consuming Fire."

Outcasts for Christ.

A Parting Word.

Peace.

Prayer and Faith.

Preach the Gospel to Every Creature.

Present Trial and Present Joy.

Remarks on Matt. 24, 25.

Remarks on Matthew 24, 25.

Remarks on Matthew 24, 25.

Remarks on the Drink Offering.

Short Notes on Daniel.

Short Notes on Daniel.

Short Notes on Daniel.

Short Notes on Daniel.

The Sinner's Friend.

A Song in the Night.

A Sure Salvation.

"The Great Will Case."