The more deeply we ponder the present condition of things, the more convinced are we that the only place of true security is at the feet of Jesus, our Deliverer and our Lord. We live in a dark and evil day. Yes; dark and evil must we call the moment in which our lot is cast; and that, too, notwithstanding the light of so-called science, the boasted progress of civilization, the noble schemes of philanthropy, the mighty achievements of religious societies, and the soul-stirring records of the leading religious journals of the day. We have no desire whatever to make little of all the good that is being done. Quite the contrary. We have in the former part of this paper given expression to our deep and heartfelt thankfulness for all that God is doing throughout the harvest-field, as well as in the midst of His Church, and in the hearts of His people individually. Yet, with the eye resting on all this and the heart in some small degree sensible of it, we cannot shake off the impression that there is, underlying the present state of society, a spirit of infidelity most appalling to contemplate. Nor does the spirit merely underlie the framework of society, but, alas! in many cases it embodies itself in fearful forms, and stalks abroad with bold and impious front in the very bosom of religious profession. Take the following from a recent writer who, we grieve to say, can set forth in glowing and eloquent language, the “broken lights” of this world, but who, if we are to judge from her work, has never felt the power of that “true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” — that light which can never be broken — never put out — even Jesus “the Sun of Righteousness,” and “The Bright and Morning Star.” “Few,” says this writer, “even of the recognized teachers of religion, who are most ready to denounce the ‘infidelity’ of the times — would be willing to acknowledge bow far the doubts of the age have actually advanced towards questioning these great truths. A few years ago it was remarked in some provincial town in England, that, on the same day on which the clergy were holding: a discussion concerning the Gorham controversy, and the mode in which baptism operated in regeneration, the working men of the place were debating in their Hall the question, ‘Whether there were any proof of the existence of God?’ Just in this manner are learned men writing and preaching throughout the land, arguing as if the only opinions threatened were such matters as the authenticity of certain portions of the Bible, and the bearings of modern science on some scriptural narratives. Underneath this thin ice, over which the controversialists perform their evolutions with more or less grace and vigor, there lies an abyss — the abyss cold, dark, and fathomless — of utter skepticism.”
Such is the testimony of one of a class of writers who are able to see the condition of things, but who, alas! know not the true remedy — who have never taken their place at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right mind. Now, it is sometimes profitable to hear what such witnesses have to say. True, they have only one side of the question, if they have even that. They see much of the hollowness of what is passing around them; they see the inconsistency of professing Christians, the insufficiency and unsatisfactoriness of mere systematic religion, the coldness and dreariness of dogmatic theology, the covetousness and worldliness of many high professors. All these things, they can see with a keen enough eye: but they know not the relief, the resource, the comfort, the peace, the blessedness, the strength, the victory, the moral elevation which are to be found at the feet of a Savior and a Lord. Here is where they are all astray. They can teach men how to doubt; but they give them nothing to believe. They give no certainty to the heart, no resting place for the sole of the foot. They talk of God; but they do not tell us where He is to be found, known, and enjoyed, even in the face of Jesus Christ, and on the eternal page of inspiration. They talk of virtue; but they do not tell us where the only true source and center of all virtue must be sought, even in Jesus, our Savior God — in having Him as our life, our object, our model, our all. They talk of immortality, of a future state; but it is all mist, gloom, and uncertainty. What can immortality, or what a future state, prove to be, but immortal misery and a state of eternal woe, if there be not the saving knowledge of Jesus, the resurrection and the life?
The fact is, dear christian reader, what we want is reality — deep-toned, thorough-going, out-and-out reality — reality in leaning on, looking to, and living for Christ. Nothing less than this will do for the present moment. Things are in rapid progress. Society seems to move forward with the speed of a railway and the electric wire. “Go ahead” is the motto of the day in everything, in science, in commerce, in politics, and religion. The world is rushing along, like an express train, to the dark tunnel of universal skepticism, and the still darker abyss of eternal perdition. This is a deeply solemn reflection, and one eminently calculated to produce seriousness and gravity in the tone and character of all true Christians. There is a demand for devotedness of heart on the part of all who have experienced the saving power of the Name of Jesus. The skeptic and the infidel can pick holes in the dogmas of systematic divinity. They can, with eagle eye, discern the flaws in the great ecclesiastical systems that bear sway throughout the civilized world. Mere official piety, mechanical religion, and superstitious routine cannot stand before the lash of infidelity and rationalism. But, oh! there is a power, a weight, a dignity, about a truly devoted christian life which not one of the shafts of the infidel can ever touch. There is little use in printing and publishing truth in the pages of our books, our pamphlets, and our periodicals, if that truth does not shine in our practical life. Of what avail is it to preach, to write, and to talk of the heavenly calling, if our conduct and character are marked by intense selfishness and worldliness. And so of every other truth in circulation amongst us. It must shine in the life or it is valueless, so far as we are concerned.
Is it that we do not value truth as put forth by the pen or the living voice? By no means. We value it more than words can express. But then if this truth does not act on the conscience, affect the heart, and govern the life, it becomes worse than valueless, it becomes positive darkness in the soul. There is nothing so darkening or so deadening as truth professed and not practiced. Intellectual familiarity with doctrines where the heart is not subject to Christ, or the conscience governed by His commandments, will assuredly issue in a hideous Antinomianism. In point of fact, we are persuaded that we know only just so much truth as really acts upon us. We do not and cannot believe that people know truth if that truth has no weight or influence in the life. There is nothing more dangerous than to traffic in unfelt truth; and it is this that adds such deep seriousness to the thought of the vast amount of truth in circulation amongst us, in one form or another. There is a melancholy disproportion between our ethics and our theology — between our religious creed and our moral character — between our profession and our practice.
Now, we do not write thus for the purpose of depressing-the heart of the christian reader. Nothing is further from our thoughts. We would fain cheer and encourage all whose desire is to follow the Lord with purpose of heart. But then we do greatly dread the strong Antinomian tendency of the present day, and we feel called upon to warn our readers strongly against it, and also to present to them the only divine antidote against it, namely, being found in all humility of mind, at the feet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is our only safe retreat. Here we are safe from self, safe from the world, safe from all the wiles and snares of Satan. It is as we find our place, from day to day, at our Masters feet, and there drink in His holy doctrine from the pages of His word — it is as we gaze upon Him and deeply ponder His commands in our hearts, that we shall be able to pursue a course of true devotedness to Him and to His cause in this world, and to bring forth, in daily life, the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. We are free to own that what we long for in ourselves and in all our brethren, is genuine devotedness to the Person and Cause of Christ. We believe that where this exists, everything will come right; but where it does not exist, there will be nothing right. If the hands of a watch are astray it will not suffice to set them right, you must touch the regulator. If you merely move the hands backward or forward upon the dial, it is labor lost. The only way to effect any permanent change, is to get at once to that which regulates the motion of the whole machine. So it is with ourselves. If the heart be right toward Jesus, we shall not go far astray as to character and conduct. Hence the force of the word, “Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” Oh! that we may have grace so to do, in these days of self-will and self-indulgence!
It may, perhaps, be thought that we have wandered far from our direct theme; but it is not so in reality, for it must be remembered that our subject has two sides, namely, our salvation in Christ, and Christ’s authority over us. This, it will be admitted, affords a very wide field indeed. The demoniac was rescued from the power of Satan and brought under the authority of Christ Blessed exchange! He could, as he sat at the feet of his gracious Deliverer, look back at those tombs where he had spent his nights and days; he could think of the stones with which he used to cut himself; and it may be that his body bore the traces of the chains and fetters with which his fellows had vainly sought to bind him. But now he was delivered he was safe, calm, and happy: and as he beheld the herd of swine rushing violently down into the abyss, he could say, “That would have been my fate — I too had gone down into that dreadful abyss, but for the grace of Him at whose feet I now sit in perfect peace. ‘Oh! to grace bow great a debtor.’”
Thus it is with every saved soul. We can look back at the past, and see what we were; we can look forward into the future, and see what we might be; we can look at the present, and see what we are; and we can take another look into the future, and see what we shall be. And what then? Why then we have simply to gaze in the face of Jesus our loving Savior, who pitied us in our lost and miserable condition; who beheld us, with an eye of deep and tender compassion, as we lay in the iron grasp of the enemy; who came down into all the depths of our wretchedness, and wrought out a full deliverance for us from all that was against us, clothed us with a robe of spotless righteousness, endowed us with His own mind, and has given us the holy privilege of sitting ever at His feet to drink in his pure and heavenly doctrine, and prove the moral security of His presence and influence.
But here let us inquire as to the effect produced upon the Gadarenes by all that Jesus had wrought for and in the poor demoniac. Were they glad to see that so perfectly accomplished which they had tried in vain to effect? They had sought to bind him, but could not; and now they saw him bound, not indeed with fetters of iron, but with chains of love. They had sought to tame him, but could not; and now he was tame—tame as a lamb, reposing at his Shepherd’s feet. Did they rejoice? Quite the reverse. How was this? Ah! they had lost their swine, and they thought far more of them than of Jesus. The Son of God, in all His grace and majesty, was a poor substitute, to the heart of a Gadarene, for a herd of swine. True, the devils were gone; but the swine were gone also, and the Gadarenes would far rather have had the devils and the swine, than Jesus and the mighty triumphs of His grace, and hence “they besought him to depart out of their coasts.” They connected the loss of their swine with the presence of Jesus, whereas the demoniac could only connect with that same blessed presence his full deliverance from the terrible legion of devils. This made all the difference. They did not want His presence; he could not be happy in His absence. They besought him to depart; he prayed that he might be with Him.
It is interesting to notice the three requests that were made of Jesus in this narrative. The devils besought him to send them into the swine, and He did so. The Gadarenes besought Him to depart out of their coast, and He did so. But when the rescued one, the subject of His delivering grace and power, besought Him that he might be with Him, He refused. Why was this? Why grant the request of devils and of Gadarenes, and refuse the one who had proved His saving power? The answer only illustrates yet more forcibly the grace of Jesus. “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, ‘Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapods how great things Jesus had done for him; and all men did marvel.’” What grace shines out here! It is as though He had said, “These people will not have me. They have cast me out. Go thou back to them, and bear witness to the grace that has met your need. Go and declare what the Lord has done for thee.”
Reader, hast thou found mercy? Has thy desperate case been fully met by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? Art thou delivered from the grasp of Satan? Have the chains of thy bondage been broken by His powerful hand? Art thou clothed and in thy right mind? Then remember, thy place is at the feet of Jesus — thy work to testify for Him. He has been down here in this world. He came, in perfect grace, to deliver thee from the terrible power of Satan, and from everlasting perdition, to make thee happy with Himself, forever, in that glorious world above. But the world cast Him out. It would not have Him; and now He says to thee, “Go, witness for me.” This is the grand object of Christian life. We are called to live as witnesses for an absent, a rejected Christ, to exhibit Him in all the scenes and circumstances of daily life.
“Go home to thy friends and tell them.” How much is involved in these words! It is in the very bosom of our families we are called to testify, not merely in words, but in spirit, manner, temper, style, and deportment. It is one thing to be a saint on the benches of a meeting-room, and another thing to live the saint in the bosom of the domestic circle, before the wife, or the husband, the children, the servants, the master, the mistress, or the fellow-servants. There are few things more depressing and discouraging to one who really longs for the prosperity of souls and the integrity of the testimony, than to hear such words as these: “Oh, such an one talks very beautifully, but did you ever see him at home? Do you know how he treats his wife, his children, or his servants? Had you ever any dealings with him?” So also of the wife, the child, the servant. It is most sad, most humiliating, to find that those who know us best, and have the best opportunity of judging, see the least evidence of genuine, practical Christianity in our ways. But, oh! what joy and comfort fill the soul when one hears such testimony as this: “If you would know such an one, you have only to see him in the bosom of his family, to witness him in the details of his business, or know him in the deep intimacies of daily life.” This, truly, is a cordial to the spirit. Would there were more of it! Would that we all knew more of what it is to take our place, morning by morning, in spirit, at the feet of Jesus, our Deliverer and our Lord, and from thence to go forth in testimony for Him in the very midst of that sphere in which our lot is cast. “Go home to thy friends, and tell them what great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” Thus may it be, blessed Lord, with all who profess thy name! (To be continued, if the Lord will)