HAVING heard that a well-known Christian woman, who for many years had resided in a distant town, had departed to be with Christ, we hastened at the first opportunity to pay a visit of condolence to her bereaved husband. He was a man who lived and walked among the humbler ranks of society, but was a Christian indeed, who had known and loved the Lord, and sought to walk in obedience to His word for many years.
On entering the house, we said to him, “You have had much sorrow, dear brother, since we last saw YOU
“Yes, I have indeed; but the Lord wonderfully led on my dear wife before she departed. You know, I always felt that she, though a Christian, and a truly converted woman, had never broken with the world. She was, therefore, during a long time of the great bodily suffering which she passed through, far from happy, and did not seem to have a desire to depart to be with Christ. I prayed much for her, and God in his own time and way came in, And," while weeping, he added, “I find her so wanting; it is my deep loss, though it is truly her gain. Poor dear! However, as I said, the Lord led her on, for one night she gathered, from what the doctor said, that her disease would certainly prove fatal; and she lay very quietly for a long time, evidently turning the matter over in her mind, and after that she had little more to say about the world. From that time she would often repeat the lines, —
‘Soon shall I mount, and soar away
To the bright realms of endless day;
And sing, with rapture and surprise,
His loving-kindness in the skies.”
Thus we gladly gathered that her end was not only peace, but triumph; and we could only say to our bereaved brother, that he had, with all the sorrow, abundant cause for praise and thanksgiving to God. We conversed together on the present blessedness of trusting in God under all circumstances, of the comfort also of walking in the strength of the Lord, knowing what it is to be “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,” and the danger we are all in of forgetting our own perfect weakness, and walking in self-confidence and thus breaking down. We remarked also, that peace and thanksgiving will characterize us when we are living in communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, according to the scripture, " Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee " (Psa. 84:44Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. (Psalm 84:4)).
On leaving the house, and walking in the country to our lodging for the night, very solemn and heart-searching thoughts occupied us. Here was a kind-hearted and esteemed believer whom we had known and loved in the Lord for many years, hindered in her last months on earth as to her enjoyment and testimony, by not having broken with the world. Our heart-searching personal inquiry therefore was, “Have I broken with the world? Am I seeking a place of honor and distinction in it? Am I craving for something from it, or am I a minister of blessing to it? Has it socially, politically, or commercially any charm for me? Do I cling to any part of it? “It is clear, that one may give up many or all of its outward social gratifications, as balls, theater, concerts, and such like, and still be very worldly-minded in the accumulation of wealth, in self-indulgence, in improving our surroundings, and, in a quiet way, seeking to advance in earthly honor and distinction, and thus never to have really broken with the world.
We are not delivered from a part of the world, but from this present evil age, according to the will of God our Father. The Apostle Paul boasted in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, because, he said, by it “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 1:4; 6:144Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)
14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)). The cross is then that mighty power which detaches our hearts from the world, makes us willing to suffer in it for Christ's sake, and enables us to be content with food and raiment. For how can we love that great system which surrounds us, which not only goes on “without God," but when God sent His Son into it to save sinners, only despised Him, hated Him without a cause, and rejects Him still? The more we enter into God's thoughts, according to His word, concerning "the death of the cross," the more clearly we shall see that the world will not have us, if we are true to Christ; and that we dare not link ourselves with the haters and murderers of our best and dearest Friend and Saviour. The word of our Saviour was, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world;" but it is astonishing in how many ways we may cling to it.
In the cross we learn also that we have died with Christ,—have been crucified with Him,— have died out of our old Adam and worldly standing, and are now alive unto God in Him who is risen and ascended. We are in Christ Jesus; God has put us there. What grace We have therefore died out of our old associations and relationships; and, having a new life and standing in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Ghost given unto us, thus uniting us with Him who is in the glory, we can understand something of the meaning of our Saviour's words, " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," but are delivered from it, and sent into it, as He said, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
Is it any wonder then that the Holy Ghost now addresses us as risen with Christ, and enjoins us to set our affection on things above, and not on things on the earth? If our hearts, then, are occupied with our glorified Saviour, believing God's truth that we always “are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power," and that when He comes out to reign we shall be manifested with Him in glory, how can we fail to have clone with the world? It is then we can truly say, —
“Farewell to this world's fleeting joys,
Our home is not below;
There was no home for Jesus here,
And 'tis to Him we go.”
H. H. S.
JUSTIFICATION is distinct from peace. Justification is my true state before God, by virtue of the work of Christ, of His death, and of His resurrection. Faith, thus knowing God, is at peace with God; but this is a result, like the present enjoyment of the grace wherein we stand. Faith believes in the God who has done this, and who— exercising His power in love and in righteousness—has raised from the dead the One who bore my sins, having entirely abolished them, and having perfectly glorified God in so doing. On this ground too, "by Him" we have found access into the full favor of God in which we stand. And what is the result? It is glory; we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
J. N. D.