Light in Our Dwellings: The Christian's Family Relationships on Earth
Julius Anton Wilhelm Eugen von Poseck
Table of Contents
Preface.
A brother in the Lord sometime ago remarked to me, how little, in writings and oral ministry, the subject of Christian family relationships was touched upon, although, as to practical truth, there could be scarcely a more important subject than this, seeing the alarming progress of rationalism and infidelity in England as well as on the Continent, and its baneful effect upon family life, in blighting natural affect ions and undermining, especially in the rising generation the sense of reverence for all divinely instituted authorities.
Being impressed with the truth of his remarks, I have since in some places, given a course of Lectures on the Christian’s family relationships. But in doing so, the immense importance of the subject has grown so much upon me, that I resolved to commit them to print, only in an entirely new form and very much enlarged.
The reason of the reticence on this subject seems to lie partly in the delicate nature of family relationships, and the shrinking from even the appearance of an intrusion upon their privacy, and partly in our natural inclination to think more of our claims upon the fellow members of our family, than of our duties towards them, and thus to emphasize portions of truth which appear to support the former, whilst less heeding those which refer to the latter.
As to the first reason, I can but repeat what I have said in these pages, that nothing is farther from my intention than to trespass upon the sacred confines of family relationships, which none respects more than the writer.
And as to the second reason, we must not be wiser than God and His Word. Divine truth is always simple, absolute, and general. It applies with equal force and authority to sinners and saints of all nationalities. For “there is no difference.” Both the old and the new nature are the same in every country. On the other hand, divine truth is intensely individual, and has not been given us to read and apply it to others, but to ourselves.
I need not fear, therefore, that the honest Christian reader will turn the truths sought to be expounded, to a different use to what they are intended, and commit these pages, however imperfect their contents, to Him, Who is “The God of love and peace,” for His own blessing; that we may “be perfect, of good comfort, of one mind, and live in peace; “adorning by our walk at home, in the world, and in the Church, the doctrine of God our Savior in all things, for the glory of His Name. Amen.
Introduction.
The element of this world is darkness. It is the sphere where Satan, the prince and god of this world and the prince of the power of the air, holds sway, together with his hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenlies, (Eph. 2:2; 6:12) “the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
We, beloved, who through the power and grace of our God and Father have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, and made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, and not only so, but seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus—we are not of this world. But we are in it. (John 17) And though a long-suffering God is still lingering over this scene of increasing corruption and violence, and enmity against Him, waiting to be gracious; and though the light of His gospel still shines, yet, darkness is daily thickening around us, “darkness that may be felt.” And may I solemnly ask myself and you, beloved: What about the light in our houses amidst the growing darkness around us 2 Have we, like those Israelites in Goshen, “light in our dwellings?” And is that light shining brightly, “giving light to all that are in the house,” and is it “seen by them that come into the house?” It is true, we “are light in the Lord,” blessed be God !—But what comes next? “Walk as children of light.” The light has not been given us to be hidden under the bushel of commerce and worldliness, or under the bed of idleness and self-indulgence, but to give light to every inmate of the house, and to the corners in. Thanks be to God, we know that “the night is far spent, and the day is at hand,” but, alas 1 for this poor world it is far otherwise: “The day [of salvation] is far spent, and the night is at hand.” As in the natural, so in the spiritual world: the last hour before daybreak is the darkest and coldest. And that hour is now. But it only proves, that for us, the turn is at hand. The star is in the sky. He, who is “the bright and the morning star,” our Savior is coming, to take us up to Himself. But how will He find us, in whose hearts He has made the corresponding day star arise? Will He find that blessed hope shining upon our path, and our hearts and feet in the light of it? Will He find the light of that hope shining in our houses, and turning them into tents? Tents like that of the Patriarch of Mamre, from whom the Lord could not hide that thing which He did, knowing that Abraham would command his children and his household after him, (three hundred and eighteen servants at the time), so that they should keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment: that the Lord might bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him.
Beloved, let us remember that we are not only to be light bearers—as to the glorious gospel of God and His truth, but that we are to “walk in the light, even as He is in the light,” Who has called us from darkness unto His marvelous light.—This light, it is true, is to shine in the walk of every individual Christian. He is called, not only to announce, but to adorn, by his walk, the Gospel of God and the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. “The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto a perfect day.” But our subject just now is not so much the light of individual walk, but the collective, and therefore more intensified light, as it would shine in a well-ordered Christian household.
Chapter 1: HEAVENLY LIGHT IN a CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD.
(Read Eph. 1 and Col. 3)
HE Christian household, in the true sense of the word, has, like the house of every Israelite in Goshen (during those terrible days of the increasing judgments of God upon Egypt) two essential and characteristic qualities, that distinguish it from every house of an “Egyptian.” First—it is under the shelter of the Blood of the Lamb; and secondly, it is filled with heavenly light. Only it is in the reverse order to that of the Israelites in Goshen, where the light in their dwellings (from a cause apparent enough) preceded the sprinkling with the blood. With the Christian family it is the reverse. The sprinkling of blood (by faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ, Heb. 10:22) is the first thing.
Then comes the light from glory by the spirit of glory. The passage in 2 Cor. 4:6., (so often misquoted and misunderstood) does not refer to the sprinkling of the blood, but comes, (at least the second half of that verse,) after John 3. It is quite true, that divine light as well as life is at work in the soul, as soon as God begins His work of grace there. But God shining in our hearts is not necessarily, nor is it in practical experience, always simultaneous with His giving the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It is: “Has shined in our hearts, to give, not giving—the light (lit: for the shining forth) of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”—Faith in the incarnate Son of God—faith in the crucified Son of man—faith in the risen—One, and faith in the ascended and glorified-One, though it is the same faith and the same object, are often confounded and displaced in a way subversive of the gospel. It is not: light from glory leading life to the cross, but: life, by faith in the crucified and risen-One, receiving through the Spirit, light from the glorified-One. (Eph. 1:13).
But my object just now is not doctrinal light, all-important as that is, especially in these latter days, but the light of practical walking in the truth, as it shone in the household of a Stephanas and of “the elect lady.”— Now, just as the light that was in the dwelling of every Israelite in Goshen, was, as I said above, not a mere earthly light (such as the light of fire or of a candle), but light from heaven., which shone into every chamber and every corner of the house, and filled not only the house, but the hearts of its inmates with its assuring and cheerful influence, whilst darkness lay upon, and filled the houses and hearts of the Egyptians in Goshen with its awful weight and foretaste of a still greater darkness and judgment to come: so will be the light, shining in a godly Christian family and household. It is heavenly in its origin and character. It has nothing in common with the earthly light of mere natural fairness, kindness and amiability. Most thankful we are to a merciful creator God, for having given to man a conscience (though in consequence of man’s fall), i.e. the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, and for having implanted in man’s heart natural affections, without which life (especially family-life) in this world of sin and sorrow would be unbearable, and far be it from me to utter one single word, that might, even in the remotest way, appear to slight natural affections, often so painfully dormant in many a Christian family, and the absence of which is one of the characteristics of apostasy.—But such an earthly light is no divine, no heavenly light in a Christian sense. All that is divine, is also truly moral, but not everything that is moral is also divine. The sun is a light, but not every light is sunlight. There are heavenly lights, and there are earthly lights. The household of an unconverted family, lit up with the most pleasant and brilliant illumination of natural amiability, contains but earthly light. It does not, nor can it keep out darkness. However amiable, sociable and kind the parents of such a family may be, and let the children be ever so obedient and well behaved, the servants well trained and submissive—it is a godless and Christless household, and no soul has ever been brought to the knowledge of the living God and His Christ by the will-o’-the-wisp of natural family-respectability. On the contrary, many precious souls have been led into the swamps of evil doctrine and infidelity by it, for it is a well-known fact, that Satan, who transforms himself and his ministers into angels of light, always takes care to shrine with the halo of natural respectability and amiability such families, the heads or members of which are infidels or heretics. Such an earthly lurid illusive light is not the heavenly serene pure light, that shines in the true Christian household! It does not keep out the darkness, but only increases and serves it. The Egyptians had no doubt plenty of fuel, lamps and candles in their houses, but that did not exclude the darkness.
In the case of a London fog, when sun and daylight disappear, people have lights of their own in their houses, to keep out the darkness. But these are poor lights that only remind us of darkness. Just so is the light of natural respectability, kindness and amiability, or of human religion, and of natural science, “falsely so called,” in an unconverted household. It only makes the Christian, on entering such a house, realize all the more painfully the spiritual darkness, that is, the absence of divine light in such a home. He may pray, that God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, would shine in their hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. But his feelings in such a family would much resemble those we should experience in a house during a regular London fog, when sun and daylight have disappeared. The poor light, lit in one or two rooms, whilst the rest of the house lies in darkness, only reminds one of the absence of the heavenly light, and makes one long for its appearance, to extinguish all the rushlights of man’s contrivance, and fill every room in the house with its blessed, and yet freely, because divinely granted presence.
But on the other hand, how sad and solemn, if in a believer’s house the light shines dimly, sometimes hardly discernible, or is hidden altogether under the “bushel” or under the “bed,” so that darkness prevails. Oh, who can tell the number of precious souls that have been stumbled away from the light of the gospel and of divine truth by the inconsistencies in the families and households of professing Christians! That day will make it manifest, when the Lord will come, “who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” What an awful weight of responsibility rests upon those who like the evil servant, who buried his talents and whose end was outer darkness, hide the light and thus turn it into darkness! What can, what must be the end of such professors, whose houses are lanterns without light? Will it be the “Father’s House” with its “many mansions,” resplendent with the light of glory? Can it be that heavenly city, with its streets of pure gold, lit up by the glory of God, and where the Lamb is the light thereof?
But I am convinced of better things of you, beloved, though I speak thus. Only let us remember, in these dark days more than ever, the words of Him, who, as long as He was in the world, was “The light of the world “:
“Ye are the Light of the world. A city, that is set on an hill, cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel; but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
But how is it, Beloved, that our domestic life often falls so sadly short of being the expression and reflector of our heavenly relationship? Is it not because we have so little entered, in the power of an un-grieved Spirit, into a fuller and deeper realization of our heavenly relationships, either from want of sound and solid instruction in the truth, or from our own culpable neglect of prayerful meditation upon that word which is truth? Let me take a household article for an illustration.
The pendulum of a clock rests upon a pivot above, else it would not move below. Now the pivot, on which it is suspended, is within the clock, invisible; but there above is the starting-point for the visible movement of the pendulum below. If anything is wrong up there (from want of oil, or through rust, &c. the pendulum stops, or moves irregularly, and with a moaning noise, below. It was for this reason that I referred my Christian reader, at the head of this chapter, to the first chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, and the third chapter of his Epistle to the Colossians. You will find, that throughout the epistles of the inspired Apostle, the Holy Ghost takes pains, if I may say so, first of all, to set before the soul the full truth of a settled relationship, resting upon our Blessed Savior and His work, and as unchangeable and unmovable, as are Christ and His work. Then, as flowing from it, and in the closest connection with it, comes the responsibility (as to practical walk), becoming such a relationship, and its natural result-if realized by the power of the Spirit. Our God and Father, blessed be His name! has placed us, and all His dear children, even the feeblest babe in Christ, upon divinely solid, everlasting foundations. With Him, the Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father and God, there is “no variableness,” nor even a “shadow of turning.” The light of the moon changes, and the moon turns; but there is no such thing with the “Father of Lights,”—nay, not even a shadow of turning.
Or, can that Blessed, Beloved One, at God’s right hand, in whom we are accepted, ever change? He is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” Or is there any change as to that blessed Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance, by whom we are sealed? He is the eternal Spirit, and “shall abide with us forever.” Or is there any change as to the kingdom to which we belong? It “cannot be moved.” Or can the Word of God ever change? When this world, with its lying vanities and vain glories, will have relapsed into nonentity, the Word of God must stand. “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.
Thus, as to the certainty, or stability of our relationships, all is safe, safe forever. In the beginning of Ephesians we have the counsels (and wisdom), the power, and the love, and the grace of God; His divine counsels in unerring wisdom—who can frustrate them? His divine power in resurrection -deliverance—who can resist it? His divine love in giving—who can shut it up or chill it? His divine Grace in forgiving —who dare to confine or impugn it? For that grace is not only divinely sovereign, and divinely rich, but it “reigns through righteousness,” the claims of which the Just One, who died for the unjust, to bring us unto God, has fully met upon the Cross. Thus, in the Ephesians, all is eternally safe and settled; and as to our heavenly relationships—because it is all on the part of God—His counsels, His power, His love, His grace—entirely independent of man, who is “dead in trespasses and sins,” and therefore all is perfectly and eternally safe. “Forever Thy Word is settled in heaven.”
But, beloved, let us remember well, that it is not the mere certainty and our assurance, by faith, of our heavenly relationships, but the daily realization of them in the power of the Holy Spirit, that enables us to reflect them in our earthly relations. In the same measure, for instance, as Christian parents fail to “behold “(a word for the eye, not of faith only, but for the “eye of the mind,” i.e., the heart) “what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be the children of God,” they will fail to manifest and reflect this love in their earthly relationships towards their children; and just as much, as the Christian child has realized its relationships to that blessed “Father and God”—not only as a “dear child” (Eph. 5:1), but as an “obedient child” (1 Peter 1:14)— (a relationship announced to us by the lips of the Blessed Son, after He had procured it for us by His obedience unto death), just as much such a child will, by “Christian” (not merely educational) obedience be a light to all in the house and to the corners in. And so it is with the other relationships, such as husbands and wives, masters and servants. We shall more fully enter upon this when speaking of them.
It is just in the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, where we get our heavenly relationships, our heavenly blessings, and our heavenly position, that our earthly relationships, and our relative duties in them, under grace, are most fully dealt with. And in the same measure, I repeat, as we are at home in our blessings up there, and hold Christ the Head, we shall fill our place in our respective relationships down here. As risen with Christ, we are to seek things above, and they are all summed up in Christ, at the right hand of God, in those opening verses of Col. 3, so full of resurrection and ascension power. A Christian who is not at home in Rom. 8 and in the Ephesians (I do not speak of mere intellectual attainments), will not shine much in a Christian home here below, and if the head of a Christian family, or any other believing member of it, does not know how to behave as the head or a member of his family, he only shows that he does not hold the Head above, nor realize his being a member of Christ. And in the same measure as we realize, what is the meaning of that truth, that we shall be like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is—it will be seen in the assemblies and in our houses, that we are Christ-like in our daily lives here below, and our light will shine for the glory of God in the “house of the living God,” and in our dwellings. We little think how often our “manner of behavior” at home betrays how little we are at home there above, and how loosely we hold that blessed head at the right hand of God.
But before entering more fully upon the Christian family relationships on earth, which are all of them relationships of obedience and love, I would offer a few remarks on those three great divine principles, namely: Order, Obedience, and Love.
Chapter 2: ORDER.
Order, obedience and love are inseparable; for without obedience and submission, there can be no order, and where there is no love, there will be no true and lasting obedience in unity, and where there is no unity, there again can be no order.
A few words on the first of these all-important divine principles. God is a God of order. He “is not the author of confusion.” Disorder and confusion belong to the kingdom of Satan and darkness; but, He that is clothed with honor and majesty, who “covereth Himself with light as with a garment,” cannot permit disorder in His kingdom. It would be utterly inconsistent with light, and derogatory to majesty. And as to His divine wisdom, it expresses itself in that perfect order which characterizes all His counsels and works. It is this principle of divine order that pervades the universe. May we consider the heavens, which declare the glory of God, and the firmament, which showeth His handiwork, where He has set a tabernacle for the sun, and ordained the moon and the stars—though there is no speech nor language with them, and though their voice is not heard, yet “their line is gone out through the earth, and their words to the end of the world. And to what, next to the glory of God, does their silent language testify? That God is a God of order.
Each of these vast luminous orbs, suspended in the skies, rises and sets in its appointed time—not a minute or second too late—and keeps its assigned place, or moves in its appointed sphere, without deviating one inch to the right or to the left. There is no confusion, no clashing. “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.” All is perfect order. Or may we look at the lower creation around us, it is the same perfect order. Everything is in its appointed time and place, so beautifully described in Psa. 104.
“They “(the waters)” go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which Thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over.” .... “The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted, where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goat; and the rocks for the conies.” .... “Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.” Well may the Psalmist exclaim: “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hest thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches!”
Thus, from the very first words of holy writ, where we find God, commanding the light to shine out of the darkness that lay upon the chaos, and dividing the light from the darkness, until the last pages of the divine book, showing the glorious heavenly city with the perfect symmetry and harmony of its divine structure, and in the closing chapter, the heavenly paradise, where we find “in the midst of the street, and on either side of the river, the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month,” it is the same divine principle of Order, that stamps every page of that perfect word, where man’s wisdom, which is folly in divine things, cannot displace one single sentence, nay, not one letter, without producing confusion. This spirit of order and harmony, truly divine in its perfection, breathes its sweet and salubrious fragrance from every page of Holy Writ into the soul of its believing readers, in order that their daily life may breathe the same spirit of peaceful order and harmony, in dependence upon Him, who during His life on earth, was always the pattern and expression of it.
The same unvarying divine principle of order we find in God’s government, may it be as to Israel, or the world at large. There is no hitch nor jarring in the divine machinery (if we may say so with all reverence); no turning of the governmental chariot from its straight course so magnificently described in the first chapter of the prophet Ezekiel: corresponding movement of all its parts; wheel within wheel; everything directed by “the Spirit of Life “(see margin) “in the wheels,”—and above the chariot, a voice from the firmament, and above the firmament the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it.”
If, again, we look at the religious ordinances given to Israel in the Law of Moses, we meet with the same invariable Divine principle of order, down to the minutest details of worship, administration and family life. Again, as to the Gentiles, “The most High divided to the nations their inheritance; when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” And as to the wall of partition, by which God hedged in His vineyard from all contact with the Gentiles, we are, I think, sufficiently familiar with that Divine order of separation. No mixture was permitted. How strikingly was this invariable principle of order expressed and acted upon, in the case of the Syrophenician woman, by that obedient, yet always gracious and loving One, who was the express image of His Father, and, as man on earth, always to be found in His proper place, always knowing His time, yea, His hour, from the beginning at Cana, when rejoicing with them that rejoiced, up to the end at Bethany, when He wept with them that wept, or even after the end of His life on earth, at His resurrection, in the perfect order of His grave-clothes.
The Syrophenician woman, when applying to the Lord, at first takes Jewish ground, and addresses Him as “Son of David.” No answer. He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She then comes and worships Him, and says: “Lord, help me.” She only meets with a still more humiliating, yea, crushing refusal: “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs.” For such was then her place as that of the Gentiles generally. She had stepped out of her place, and therefore she had to be reminded of it; and it is only when she takes her true place, that her request is granted.
And since we, beloved, who were once in the same place (Eph. 2); according to the unsearchable riches of God’s sovereign grace have received blessings, which are something more than crumbs falling from the table, even “all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ,”—infinitely higher and richer than even the meat on the table;—has God’s principle of order, think you, been set aside, or relaxed, on account of those immeasurably higher places and blessings, which His grace has assigned to us? Far from it I on the contrary; the highness of our vocation and place, and the nearness of our heavenly relationship are the very reasons why, in the second part of the Divine code, that great principle of order is insisted upon, and should be observed by us all the more, may it be in our houses, or in the church, which is “the House of the living God.”
If a good and great king demands order to rule throughout the realms, and unto the uttermost borders of his kingdom, he will certainly and most particularly insist on order in his family and at his court. And do you think that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in heaven and earth is named, could, in His heavenly courts above, and in His church tolerate that which would be inconsistent with His holiness and derogatory to His majesty? Was His great apostle of the Gentiles and of the church indifferent to the confusion and disorder in the church at Corinth? He told them, that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, i.e., of that order, without which there can be no true peace.
It is on the same principle, that the inspired apostle commands Christian women in the assembly, to have a cover (the symbol of subjection to another’s authority) on their heads, “on account of the angels,” because they are accustomed, to see in the heavenly courts above, everything and everyone in their proper places, and therefore would be grieved, if they saw a woman without that symbol of authority on her head in the church, where those heavenly principalities study the wisdom of God.
In that most solemn closing epistle of Jude, we find that violation of this all-pervading divine principle of order visited with the most terrible judgments, in terms, whose awful solemnity shows the way how God from His throne of holiness and majesty looks at the daring transgressors of the divine law of order, when, speaking of certain antinomian Gibeonites, who had crept into the church unawares, “ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are reminded there of those “everlasting chains,” in which those angels, who “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,” are” reserved under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”—Further of Sodom and Gomorrha and their neighboring cities, “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire,” (mark, reader, the word “eternal,”) for “giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh.” We are further reminded of that awful moment, when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up Core and those with him, for their rebellious contempt of the authorities, instituted by God, i.e., of divine order, as did those, to whom that epistle refers, who “despise dominion and speak evil of dignities,” &c. “To whom is reserved the BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS FOR EVER.”
And as to the heavenly courts above, we find in those passages of the Old and New Testament wherever the Holy Spirit draws the curtain to permit us a glimpse into those heavenly scenes, perfect order pervading the whole; i.e. everything and everyone in their appointed place; and moving in their appointed sphere and time, in perfect harmony of action; be it as to divine government in the Old, or in connection with redemption in the New Testament Even Satan with his wicked spirits must submit to that order, whenever they are permitted to make their appearance there. I need only to point out such passages as Job 1:6, (order as to time); 1 Kings 22:19, (order as to place); further Isa. 6. (besides the above mentioned half heavenly, half earthly scene in Ezek. 1) and further Rev. 4. and 5., to show how God wills his own immutable principle of divine order to bear sway throughout the whole of His creation, from the highest, down to the lowest. Now by the word “order,” we understand such a condition of things and persons, where everything and everybody is found and moves or acts in the proper, appointed place, sphere, and time. Even the children of this world agree that order is one of the essential requisites for human happiness, prosperity, and success. “A place for everything, (and, let us add, “everybody,”) and everything (and everybody) in its place,” is a well-known adage, the truth of which is generally owned and acted upon, from the surroundings of royalty, down to the lowest employees in a manufactory.
How infinitely more important (because divinely required,) is the principle of order for the relationships of the Christian, may they be those in the church or in the family, and how much more ought order to characterize everything in the individual believer’s life and action.
Beloved, bear with me, if I seem to have expatiated too much on the principle of order. But if we consider the rising spirit of revolution, undermining all authority, in the present evil age, and how, notwithstanding man’s boasted progress in organizations and reorganizations of all kind, everything and everybody appears to be, or to be getting out of place, and dissatisfied with the position where God’s providence has put him, it appears all important that we should have our minds and hearts thoroughly imbued with a deep sense of order. That sense appears to grow weaker and weaker everywhere; not only in the world, but, alas, amongst Christians in church and family, because they have imbibed more or less of that spirit of the present age (I need not say, that I am not advocating, in saying so, any attempt at reorganization as to the ruin of the church of God, as every such attempt would, like the “building of steps to the altar,” only expose our shame and nakedness).
And what is it that has caused this disorder, so painfully perceptible everywhere, in the political, social, and religious field? It is the spirit of disobedience, pride, and independence, that spirit from beneath, which manifests itself more and more around us. Under the influence of that spirit from the abyss everything is ripening for the not far distant final apostasy, when Antichrist “the man of sin,” will be revealed, and when he, who is the first Adam in full bloom, will place himself in the temple of God, on His throne, “showing himself that he is God.” This leads us naturally to our second divine principle—obedience.
Chapter 3: OBEDIENCE.
WE all know, beloved, what was the character of the first sin that entered the world, and has made it what it is—a scene of violence and corruption, sorrow, death, and judgment. It was disobedience. Pride and independence had led Satan, the prince of this world, to disobedience, and thus brought him to fall. That once exalted and bright angelic spirit, whose name was “Lucifer,” or “Day Star,” and “Son of the Morning,” had said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ... I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isa. 14.) He had “sealed “up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He had been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was his covering—the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of his tabrets and of his pipes was prepared in him in the day that he was created. He was the anointed cherub that covereth; and God had set him so; he was upon the holy mountain of God; he had walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. He was perfect in his ways from the day that he was created, till iniquity was found in him. And what was his iniquity? “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground; I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee “(Ezek. 28).
That sin of disobedience, which characterized the fall of “Lucifer, the Day Star,” turned that beautiful “covering cherub” into the arch deceiver; “that old serpent,” which is the devil (“ accuser”) and Satan (“ adversary “), and his bright fellow angels into “wicked spirits,” and “rulers of the darkness of this world” (let us ponder, beloved, these effects of pride and disobedience even upon such beings). But not only so. It appears to have produced the “chaos.” For it would appear (though I say it only by way of suggestion) as if the fall of Satan and his angels, as created beings, took place during the time, indicated by the apparent gap between the first and second verses of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis.
And after God had commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and “finished the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them,” it was again the same spirit of disobedience that led to the fall of another number of those bright angelic beings. They “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,” and are” reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day “(Jude). They “saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose “(Gen. 6). Their offspring were the “giants in the earth,” a race characterized by self-confidence, pride, and self-will. After these solemn accounts, in holy writ, of the fall of those once perfect and happy heavenly beings, it is a relief to turn to the same divine record as to the character of the good angels, so beautifully and concisely given at the end of Psa. 103 We find they “excel in strength,” and “do his commandments.” There is strength combined with obedience. How unlike their fallen former companions and fallen mankind, where strength and disobedience go hand in hand, not only in the case of Jeshurun (Israel), who “waxed fat and kicked,” but even with the godly King Uzziah. But how like their heavenly Master, who, when he said, in the consciousness of His own Sovereign divine power: “No man taketh it (life) from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again,” did not fail to add, in the same breath, as it were: “This commandment have I received of my Father.”
But there is a third characteristic given us in the psalm as to those bright angelic beings—1, they “excel in strength;” 2, they “do his commandments;” and 3, they are “hearkening to the voice of his word.” Their obedience is not a lukewarm, mere dutiful obedience, but it is an obedience of the heart. They “hearken,” i.e., they incline their ears to (not only “his word,” but) “the voice of his word.” Their hearts, as well as their ears, love to hear the voice of their Divine Sovereign, and take an interest in everything that concerns His glory; may it be as to creation, when “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God “—i.e., the angels—(Job 38;7) “shouted for joy;” or as to salvation and redemption, “which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12), so beautifully typified by the stooping posture of the Cherubim upon the mercy seat), “or may they be engaged in studying in the church, as their lesson-book, the manifold wisdom of God” (Ephes. 3).
With them it is the same hearty obedience to the will of God; the same heartfelt interest in all the counsels of His Divine will, even where the objects of those counsels belong to a fallen and rebellious race, who were once “children of wrath “and “children of disobedience;” and even though they themselves remain but “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation “ (Heb. 2:14).
There is no envy with those blessed attendants at the heavenly courts above, where everything is perfect, and every heart has but one object and motive—the glory of God and His Christ, and to do His will, hearkening to the voice of His word.
We now come to man’s fall through disobedience. No sooner had God brought light out of darkness and order out of the chaos, and placed man in the garden of Eden, as the head of the lower creation, when Satan, whose character, ever since his fall, it was to envy all that was good and happy, and try to defile and destroy everything which God had established for blessing—succeeded in instilling into man the same spirit of pride and independence that had caused his own fall, and thus to lead him to disobedience. Thus the first sin entered into the world, by which Adam betrayed himself and the lower creation, over which God had placed him as head, into the hands of the usurper, who thus became in fact, though not by right, “the prince of this world.” And not only became Adam an exile from that scene of perfect earthly bliss, to eat in the sweat of his face, in sorrow, all the days of his life of a ground that was cursed for his sake, but by his sin of disobedience he brought in death and judgment, and opened upon the world the flood-gates of sorrow pain and misery, under which creation groans, subject to vanity for man’s sake.
But though disobedience was the first sin, and the root and cause of all the evil in this world, there was a second terrible sin in store, growing from the first, as its natural fruit, and forming together with it, the parentage for all the sins and crimes in this pool wretched world. It was the sin of self-sufficiency, (after such a fall!) the child of self-will—engendering envy and hatred against everything and everybody really good and righteous, and resulting in murder. The first son of Adam slays his brother. Thus Satan, who is a liar and murderer from the beginning, had succeeded in putting his own stamp upon man made after the image of God.
But our blessed God, who is not only Light, but also Love, had foreseen man’s fall, and not only foreseen it, but provided the perfect remedy for it, in His own well-beloved, obedient Son, the Lamb, “fore-ordained before the foundation of the world.” Before man’s sin and fall, God had, amidst the blissful and peaceful scene of the earthly paradise, established the first, earthly relationship among men, that of husband and wife—for He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him.” It is the first relationship, founded by God before sin had entered the world. The first Adam was not to be alone in an earthly paradise. The blessed figure of the last Adam, who will not be alone even in a heavenly one of perfect glory and everything that conduces to everlasting happiness. God the Father, who in His counsels of glory, wisdom, love, and grace, had “predestinated us for the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to Himself, had given us to His Son for His pride in glory,” the helpmeet, if we may say so, in a heavenly paradise. But in order to effect those blessed counsels of Divine Sovereign grace, and to acquire the “pearl of great price,” Christ had not only to sell all that He had, and to make Himself poor, in order that his Bride, through His poverty might become rich. That divine Majesty, which had been outraged by our sins, required more. Its claims in holiness, truth and righteousness must be fully met; the debt must be paid even to the last farthing. To bring us into those two wondrous heavenly relationships planned and decreed in divine counsels, the just must die upon the cross for the unjust. “For it became him, 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 “—the suffering of One, who, though He were a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered. “In heaven He ever was the obedient Son of the Father, but as such, and in such a place, where there is no sin, nor sorrow, nor suffering, He needed not, nor could He learn obedience in that He suffered.” Such an obedience could only be learned by the Son of man, and only here on earth, this scene of man’s disobedience, sorrow, and suffering.
And oh, what a light shone in this dark world when Jesus of Nazareth, as the perfect Man, shone here, not as the “Brightness of glory” as He appeared to Saul on His way to Damascus, but as the “express image “of God, who could say: “Philip, he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” That light shone as long as He was in the world every moment with the same undimmed brightness, in love, grace, truth, holiness, lowliness, meekness, wisdom, obedience, patience, and righteousness. And what were the motives in the heart of that ever perfect Man? Obedience and love (the very two vital points, in which man had failed so grievously and fatally)-obedience to His God and Father’s will, and love to those whom He had given to Him.
In that marvelous scene in the tenth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, where the Holy Ghost draws aside the curtain, and God in His wondrous grace, permits such as us, to be ear-witnesses, as it were, of what passed between Himself and His Son, when the time had come that the Word was to be “made flesh; “what is the parting word of that “Son of His Love,” when about to leave that glorious scene above, tor a scene of rebellion, violence and corruption? “Lo, I come to do Thy will, 0 God! “They are His parting words, when leaving Heaven for earth (though in one way, He was always the Son of man, Who is in Heaven,) and his starting principles, for his earthly career of obedience and love, and unremitting service. At the lonely well of Samaria, under the scorching rays of the mid-day sun, what is His reply to those, who asked Him to eat, Who came to give to the soul of a poor degraded creature, the water of life? “I have meat to eat, that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.” And at the end of His perfect earthly career, when that ever obedient One was prostrate on the ground, and His sweat became as drops of blood, and the thrice repeated cry went up to His Father and God: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee, take this cup from me;”—the thrice repeated conclusion of that cry of agony is: “Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt!” He learned obedience in that He suffered. Obedience it was from the first to last. Obedience let us remember it well! learned in fathomless sufferings for the sake of rebels against God!—That beautiful divine picture of the perfect obedient Man, drawn by the pen of the inspired Psalmist, whose Son and Lord He was, and taken up by the Spirit, through the mouth of the Apostle Peter, —that principle of perfect obedience, embodied and personified by and in Him, who is not only our Savior, but our Pattern and Example is the same principle, through which you and I, beloved, alone can glorify God, and the Name of His obedient Son, whilst passing through this scene of rebellion, and disobedience and opposition to everything that is Divine. It is the principle of Victory in Obedience, contained in those few words (we quote from Acts 2)
“I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved, therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad.” What is it that renders a man superior to circumstances, and makes him behave rightly (i.e. according to God) in the midst of them? Nothing, but a right object before him, and a right motive within him.
And when the time was come that Jesus should be received up, what was it that enabled Him, steadfastly to set His face to go to Jerusalem? It was because He had (with purpose of heart) set the Lord always before His face. Therefore, did He set His face like a flint against shame and spitting; thus A was that He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that pluck off the hair.” And although Satan did not leave one stone unturned in the path of Jesus, to shift Him off the place of dependence and obedience, —he could not succeed, for He had said to the Lord: “Thou art my Lord;” He had set Him before His face, and He was at His right hand, and therefore He could not be moved. The same principle holds good for us (comp. Psa. 62:2,6.)—But there is something more in Psa. 16 than the negative expression: “I shall not be moved.” It is “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth.” The result of Christ’s constant dependence and unswerving obedience was that His heart was glad in a world where He was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” and that His glory (i.e. tongue) did rejoice. There is something very beautiful in the fact that the Hebrew word for “glory” means also “tongue.” So it was with Christ; His tongue was His glory, and did rejoice, because He used it only for the glory of His Father and God (our tongues, alas! are often our shame). Every word uttered by that blessed tongue was a word of truth, love, grace and wisdom. And in the same measure, as we, beloved, walk as beloved and obedient children, i.e., in the sense and realization of the love of God, and in the only safe place of dependence upon Him, we shall not fail to realize the same, in our little measure, as to our hearts and our tongues. Our hearts will be glad and our tongues rejoice, may it be in the testimony of His gospel to poor sinners, or in speaking to one another in psalms and spiritual hymns, or when exhorting and encouraging one another with words of truth and comfort in love.
A scene of sorrow and misery, though this world has become through disobedience, yet what blessings and joy the children of God may experience in the midst of it all, in the place and path of obedience and dependence upon that obedient One, Who has left us such an example!
But it is not only the sin and spirit of disobedience that has made, and does make, this earth such a scene of misery. The sin of Cain, envy, hatred and murder has turned it into a place of violence as well as corruption. Adam sinned against obedience, Cain against love. And what is the fruit of man’s second sin against the “Royal commandment,” culminating in the murder of the Holy and Just One? Take up any of this world’s daily papers, and you will find them teeming with the most horrible accounts of all kinds of murder, corruption and violence, generally softened down by writers with sensational pens, and callous consciences, by calling them “tragedies,”—where even the most sacred family-ties exercise no longer any restraint upon men’s passions. These increasing wars, by which hundreds of thousands of poor fellow- creatures are swept into eternity; numberless families plunged into sorrow and despair, peaceful homesteads laid waste and desolate; whole countries turned into deserts—those terrible weapons and implements of slaughter by sea and by land, assuming, through Satanic inventions, more and more annihilating effects, by which whole battalions are mowed down, whole men-of-war, with their charges of hundreds of precious souls, sunk into the watery grave in a moment of time—what are they but the harvest of the bloody seed sown by Cain’s hand, as recorded in the fourth chapter of Genesis.
And yet to think, beloved, that over such a world of murder and rebellion and sins of every kind, God should still be lingering in His wondrous long-suffering, waiting to be gracious, yea, “beseeching,” through His ministers of the gospel, wretched sinners and enemies to be “reconciled “to Him—what marvelous love and grace, all praise excelling, as it passes knowledge! And not only so: but that a merciful Creator God, foreseeing man’s fall and all the misery it would entail upon him and this world, should not only have provided from eternity the perfect remedy for eternity, but as the One, who giveth “gifts to the rebellious also,” should have provided, even for such, by the ties of family-relationship, a wholesome counterpoise and temporary haven from the trouble s and d era of this tempestuous world, in which life without such a refuge, would be unbearable to sinful man. For I believe, when the Lord God, amidst that blissful and peaceful scene of an yet undefiled paradise, spoke those words: “It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him,” this was not only, though, of course, principally, said with regard to His counsels as to Christ and the Church, in the Heavenly paradise, as typified in Adam and Eve in the earthly. But those words: “It is not good that the man should be alone,” appear to me also to imply God’s merciful temporal provision as to the temporal consequences of man’s fall, against the eternal consequences of which God had so graciously provided the “woman’s seed “as the only refuge, as expressed in the next (3) chapter, as soon as that sad fall had taken place. (This merciful provision of God is a very different thing to Cain’s building a city, a place for comforts, pleasures and treasures, after he had gone out from the presence of the Lord, who had sentenced him to be a “a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.”)
For though sin has marred these earthly relationships, as everything in this world, yet they themselves are Divine institutions, as are, though in another way, the authorities, appointed by a merciful God, as a shelter against the direct power of Satan, and therefore cannot be disregarded by any with impunity. Only there is, as I have said already, this immense difference between the family of a Christian and that of an unbeliever. A Christless household, though its hearth may be the very focus of the natural light, so to speak, of human amiability, morality, science, and outward religiousness, is devoid of every ray of divine light, and therefore cannot lead one single soul to Him, who is the light of life. But in the family of a Christian, and if he were but a child and the only believing member of that family, provided he walks in the truth, there is light from above, divine light in that house, which springs, and is fed, not on nor from the hearth of nature, like Nadab and Abihu’s fire, but in and from heaven; in and from Christ, because the believer is a “light in the Lord,” and if the Christian member of a family or household realizes what this means, and walks as a “child of light,” he will look at his family circle or household’ not merely as a haven of refuge from the storms and roughness of life, as it would be to the natural man. To the faithful member of a partly unconverted family, especially if one or both parents are unconverted, it would be the very opposite to a haven of rest, as “The faithful witness,” our Blessed Master Himself, has told us before: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” On the other hand, the Christian member or members of such a family, especially those in the subordinate places, cannot be too much on their guard against misapplying such passages, as the one just quoted, in any case of a supposed conflict between Divine and human (but divinely appointed) authority. Flesh is not only naturally, but, worst of all, religiously subtle, and always ready to deck itself with the divine authority or some misapplied portions of Scripture, to disguise its unbridledness and insubjection to the law of God under the garb of obedience. But we shall have to enter more fully upon this point, when speaking more in detail of the divers relationships themselves.
The above quoted words of our Lord—the obedient Man on earth, as He was the obedient Son of His Father in heaven—show plainly enough, that it was not God’s intention with regard to the believer in the Old or New Testament—(remember Abraham! Gen. 12) that his family-circle or household should be to him (as it is to the natural man) only a shelter or haven of refuge from the storms of a sinful and therefore hostile world. Thanks be to our merciful God, for providing for fallen creatures, sinners and rebels against Him, such a shelter in a world, governed by Satan, its prince and the prince of the power of the air. It is no small boon for poor mankind, to have, in the bosom of the family, the heart trained in the tender natural affections, implanted by God in the heart of man, in order that in the mutual care of the family members one for another, and in the daily exercise of practical self denial (even in a natural sense,) the abominable selfishness of the natural heart might at least be counteracted and checked, and by daily practice of submitting one to another, that first sin—the root of all the evil the world—self-will and disobedience—have its necessary salubrious counterpoise in these family relationships of obedience and love, in which God has placed man. Thus, as I said before, the direct power of Satan against poor fallen sinful man brought to fall through his malice and subtlety, is at least checked.
But thankful as we are for this provision of a merciful Creator God for fallen creatures (and God forbid! that any should underrate the value of an education, received from naturally honest and conscientious parents, who are not under the influence of heresy or infidelity, compared to children, brought up in the tents of the wicked, and trained in the school of vice); and great as is this difference, and not to be undervalued—what is it, compared to the immense difference between an unconverted family (even supposing it to be the most amiable, and unblameable in a human sense) and a Christian household, especially where the head or both parents are the Lord’s. The difference is as great as that between day and night, or heaven and earth! To the Christian parents, their family or household, is not merely as to the natural man, a shelter and refuge of God’s providence against an evil and restless world; it is infinitely more! To them their house is a “sanctuary” amidst a godless and Christless world, where the precious souls of their children are kept from its defiling influence, a sanctuary—where God and His Christ are acknowledged, and where his Spirit dwells, and His word is shining as the lamp and the light of the house, and the gospel is shedding every day its glorious light, in order that none there may remain a stranger to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. To them it is, to use the words of another “the precious /tome of kind affections; (if Christ is acknowledged) in which the heart is trained in the ties which God Himself has formed; and which, by cherishing the affections, preserves from the passions and from self-will; and which, where its strength is rightly developed, has a power that in spite of sin and disorder, awakens the conscience, and engages the heart, keeping it away from evil, and the direct power of Satan. For it is God’s appointment.
“I know indeed, that another power is required to deliver the heart from sin, and to keep it from sin. Nature, even as God created it, does not give eternal life, does not restore innocence, does not purify the conscience. . . . Where relationship exists, sin has perverted everything and corrupted the will; passions come in. But the relationships themselves are of God; woe to him, who despises them as such! “... “And where these relationships exist, the renunciation of self-will, death to sin, the bringing in of Christ, the operation of life in Him, restore their power: and if they cannot give back the character of innocence lost forever, can make them a scene for the operations of grace, in which meekness, tenderness, mutual help and self-denial, in the midst of the difficulties and sorrows which sin has introduced, lend them a charm and a depth (even as Christ did in every relationship) which innocence itself could not have presented. It is grace, acting in the life of Christ in us, which develops itself in them.”
Now, the heavenly relationships of the Christian to God and His Christ, of which his corresponding earthly relationships are to be the reflections, are of a threefold character:
1. That of children to our Father in heaven;
2. That of members of Christ, as forming part of the church of God, which is the body and bride of Christ, His Son, our glorious Head in heaven, to Whom the Father has given us; and
3. That of servants to our heavenly Lord and Master.
I have mentioned our relationships of children first, for it comes first in the counsels of God, Who had “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”—” Behold,” I and the children, which God hath given me.” ( Heb. 2)” Thine they were
and thou gavest them me.” (John 18) As to time and earth, the relationship of husband and wife comes naturally first. I ought to have said “wife and husband, according to the order in our epistle (as in the Colossians.) Why is the wife mentioned first here, where it is said at the same time, that the husband is the head of the wife? The reason is evident. All these relationships, as mentioned above, are relationships of obedience and love. (For this reason there are no exhortations for brothers and sisters, because they are not subordinate.) Now the first sin that entered the world, having been that of disobedience, the subordinate relationship of the wife comes first. Then follows that of love. It is the same as to children and parents, and servants; and masters.—All these relationships, as said before, are relationships of obedience and love, the very two Divine principles, against which man had sinned so fatally. But the first sin was that of disobedience. Consequently, there is nothing so contrary and utterly repugnant to man’s sinful nature as obedience. Love is not by far so adverse to his nature, i.e., natural love, because God implanted natural affections in his heart. But obedience, even in a human way, i.e., submission to his fellow-men, is a principle against which man’s natural heart rebels more than against anything else. This, I think, is the reason, why the spirit of God heads the following exhortations with these words: “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ; (for this is the true reading). But on this important subject I hope to enter more fully in the fifth chapter.
Chapter 4.: LOVE.
IF it behooves us, beloved, to speak with diffidence, 41, and in the spirit of self-judgment about every principle of divine truth, such as the two preceding ones of “Order “and “Obedience,” it becomes us still more to be humbled before the Lord, when speaking of “The Royal Law,” because there is no divine principle, against which we have failed so grievously, and which is so little exhibited in our daily lives, and because we remember the words of the disciple, whom the Lord loved: “My little children, let us not love in words, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Alas! beloved brethren, well may we exclaim: “From whence are we fallen “when we look back, I will not say to those Pentecostal times, when the multitude of them that believed, were of one heart and of one soul, as they were one body, so that the selfish world around them could but testify: Behold how they love one another;—but even when looking back upon so short a distance, as forty or fifty years, when, in the power, freshness, and warmth of those recovered divine truths, we knew what it means, to “provoke one another unto love and to good works,” and to stir up each other’s pure mind! May the Lord keep us very low before Him, and enable us, not only “earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints,” but to “keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
“Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now, and forever, Amen.”
“God is light;” and “God is love.” These two are His essential qualities—His very being. We know that power, dominion and authority, wisdom and riches belong to Him. But it is nowhere said in scripture, that “God is power,” or that” God is wisdom,” etc. We know that God is holy, righteous, and just, and that He is good, gracious, and merciful. But these divine qualities are only the manifest results of what God is in Himself, i.e., “Light,” and “Love.” “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Alas! how soon did man forget it He forgot it in the morning light, and amidst the abundance of the garden of the Lord, where each rising sun told him, that “God is light,” and the happy creation around him, where God had placed him as head and center, that “God is love.” Listening to the voice of the serpent, he turned in disobedience from the light that shines upon the path of the righteous, to the crooked ways of darkness.
But the same bosom-disciple of the Lover of our souls continues: “God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
But what follows? “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we, that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
Now, light and love are closely connected, nay, inseparable. For the same apostle writes: “He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.” And further: “God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
Our thrice Holy, and thrice blessed God, has not only shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, but He has also shed abroad in our hearts His love, by the Holy Ghost given unto us. He has made us partakers of His own divine nature, and that nature consists of light and love (though He alone is “Light,” and is “Love.”) And He has given His Holy Spirit of love to dwell in that new nature—the new wine in the new bottles—to draw it out, and to direct its new heavenly desires, thoughts, and affections towards their proper object: even Christ at the right hand of God, that blessed Man, who, during His life on earth as “God manifest in the flesh,” was ever the perfect expression of what God is as “Light,” and “Love.”
And as far as that blessed Spirit of glory Who dwells in you and me, beloved, is in us an ungrieved Heavenly Guest, He will fix our eyes on the glory of Christ, and our hearts on His all-glorious and altogether lovely Person.
And thus we shall be enabled, not only to treat, in the light of His presence, that abominable thing, “Self,” which is the opposite and opposer of love, as a judged and condemned thing (as it has been judged and condemned on the cross); but, whilst basking in the sunshine of His love and favor, we shall forget that horrible thing altogether in the Presence of Him, who is the Great “I AM.” He Whose train filleth the temple, will fill the whole vision of our minds, and hearts too. Happy privilege, in God’s own blessed Presence to rejoice in His Christ, in Whom is His own heart’s delight; once lost ones, found by Him, now lost in Him, the sense of His Presence filling us, and the beauty and glory of His Person before us, in the power of His Spirit within us, thus not only to keep “Self” judged, but to forget it. Blessed forgetfulness, whilst thinking of Him, in Whose all-satisfying, and delightful Presence that forgetfulness alone is possible and safe !
“Nothing need our souls dishearten,
But forgetfulness of Thee:
Naught can stay our steady progress;
More than conquerors we shall be
If our eye, whate’er the danger,
Looks to Thee, and none but Thee.”,
“ In Thy presence we are happy
In Thy presence we’re secure;
In Thy presence all afflictions
We can easily endure;
In Thy presence we can conquer,
We can suffer, we can die;
Wandering from Thee we are feeble;
Let Thy love, then, keep us nigh.”
In our chapter (Eph. 5), which deals most fully with the Christian’s family relationships, we find in its first part, the divine character in light and love, to be manifested and reflected in the walk of those that belong to the family and household of God.
“Be ye therefore followers [lit.: “imitators “] of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, even as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.”
And further on; as to light: “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light (which is the correct reading) is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth.”
Now, love, as we remembered before, is the very opposite of self. It forgets itself, to think only of its object. And just as light cannot be hidden, but manifests itself towards others, so is love. It wants and seeks an object, to make it as happy as it is itself. It cannot be shut up within itself, but goes out towards its object, and spends itself upon it, yea, gives itself for it.
Such is the love of God towards us. That love has given all it had to give and could give. It could give no more. And for whom? This it is, that makes it so truly Divine! What is the most unclean thing on earth? Far more unclean than all the forbidden unclean things in Moses’ law? It is a worm in rebellion against God, such as you and I once were, Christian reader! And what has divine redeeming love given for such wretched and defiled objects? Why, the best thing in heaven and on earth! “That Holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.”—” And thou shalt call his name JESUS.”
Stupendous exchange I Marvelous substitution! Who could effect it but God, who is love. It almost tempts one to exclaim with the monk of Erfurth, when God first opened his eyes to behold the wonder of divine substitution and redemption: “Oh, beata culpa, que talem meruisti Redemptorem!” (“ Oh, happy debt, that deserved such a Redeemer! “)
Love in itself, loves to give and to bless; but divine Love delighted in giving that “ineffable gift”—all that even such a God could give—to save and bless sinners, and rebels, and enemies. Human love, when commending itself, is a poor thing; but divine love has a right to commend itself.
His own Son, when He was found on earth in fashion as a man, commends that love in that wondrous sentence, each word of which is, as it were, a gospel in itself: “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.’”
And after those blessed lips, that thus commended the love of the Father, had been closed in death upon the cross, where that divine Love that had given Him, did not spare Him, when Satan and man did. not spare Him; again, God through the third Person of the Trinity, commends His love through the pen of His inspired apostle, in contrasting it with human love.
“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet, peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.”
“But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
In the third chapter of that grand gospel Epistle, which so properly heads the epistles of the great Apostle of the Gentiles and of the Church, God shows us what man is towards Him: “There is none that seeketh after God;” and in the fifth, He says, as it were, “I will now show you, what I am towards you.”
May His love, that passeth understanding, draw forth a fuller response from our hearts, in worship and in our daily lives.
“Once as prodigals we wandered
In our folly far from Thee;
But Thy grace, o’er sin abounding,
Rescued us from misery:
Thou the prodigal hast pardon’d,
‘Kiss’d us’ with a Father’s love;
‘KM the fatted calf,’ and called us
E’er to dwell with Thee above.”
“And not only so!” we may add with the apostle’s words in that blessed chapter. For in the same passage before the Spirit of God commends the love of God towards poor sinners and enemies, He tells us that the love of God (i.e., His love towards us) is shed abroad in our hearts by the same Holy Ghost given unto us. Wondrous fact! only to be accomplished by a still more wondrous love; that the blessed God, Who is Love, and gave His Son as the gift of that love, when we were sinners and enemies, being now His Children by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, should dwell in us by His Own Spirit, as the gift of His Son, after He had given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.
And this blessed “Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind” that dwells in us, beloved, tells us to “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God.” He wants us to realize, in our measure, those wondrous treasures of divine love!—Are we doing so?
Beloved, this world is not only a dark, but a cold place. And even in the “House of the living God,” that was once filled with light and love divine, the atmosphere is becoming more and more chilly. The love of many is waxing cold. If the Apostle was obliged to write about the early age of Christendom, that all were seeking their own; what would he say now? Is it less true now-a-days that all seek their own,” than when he wrote down those words? Let our own consciences give the answer.—If we want a warm place, we must go to the heart of our ever blessed and “Happy “(makarios) God, Who is love, in the power of His Spirit, by Whom His love is shed abroad in our hearts, and Who points upwards to the glorified and all-beauteous One at the right hand of God, Who is the ineffable gift of that Love, as He is the perfect expression of it. Thus the poor, often fainting heart, begins to bask in the warmth and sunshine of His love. We learn amidst the ruins around, of which we ourselves form a part (let us remember it!), not only to “encourage ourselves in the Lord,” as David before Ziklag (only in an infinitely higher sense), instead of needing to be encouraged by others, or to realize with Nehemiah, amidst the ruins, that “The joy of the Lord is the strength of His people;” but we learn to rejoice ALWAYS IN the Lord. The heart gets filled with the sense of the love of Gid, in giving His only Son;—of the love of the Son in giving Himself, and His Spirit a well of water within us, and through the Spirit of love, it learns to behold that manner of love, which the Father has bestowed upon us.
Alas! I fear we have sadly failed to work that mine of divine wealth, or how different would be the response of our hearts to it, and how much more would our earthly relationships, in the world and in our houses, be the reflections of it! And how different would be our demeanor in the church and elsewhere; how much more would it resemble the traits of that love, drawn by the masterly divine pen of the Spirit, in the thirteenth chapter of the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; so beautifully, and with divine fitness, coming in between the 12Th and 14th chapters, those two chapters so abundantly stored with all the divers kinds of divine gifts, wherewith the Spirit of God has endowed the church, like the golden bracelets and earrings, wherewith Eliezer adorned Rebecca. Alas! those at Corinth used them only to adorn themselves, thus turning the blessing of God, given for His glory, and as blessing for others in the testimony of the truth into snares for themselves, and a stumbling-block to those without. Alas! self appeared, and thus the love of Christ (that constrained the inspired penman of that epistle) disappeared. We cannot have that all-important portion of truth too constantly before our eyes—on our sleeves, and our frontlets, as it were. Therefore I print it here in full for your and my own benefit, Christian reader.
“But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show 1 unto you a more excellent way.”
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
“Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
“For we know in part, and prophesy in part.
“But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man. I put away childish things.
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
I would not add one single word of comment on such a divine picture of that love, which, besides holiness of truth, constitutes the essential quality of the Christian, as it is, together with light, the essential characteristic, yea, the very being of God Himself. One may endeavor, in one’s feeble measure, to speak, as has been done, on some other principles of divine truth, such as order, obedience. etc.; commenting upon them from scripture, but where the Spirit of God Himself has drawn such a lovely picture of love, that bears in every one of its traits, in its completeness and conciseness the stamp of the divine Master-Hand, one justly hesitates to add one word, lest it should spoil or weaken the effect upon consciences and hearts, intended by the grace of its divine Author.
It is therefore not by way of comment, but only as a general remark, that I would just venture to say, that love, as described in the above chapter, though divine in its source and nature, differs from the description of the love of God Himself, as given by the same Spirit in the gospel and first epistle of John the apostle, and in the fifth and eighth chapters of the Romans, as to the way in which its manifestation is expressed. The reason is, that in 1 Cor. 13, the description of that love, which “is of God,” is expressed in a way, adapted to the character and nature of the poor frail and defective vessels of His mercy, by which that love is to be reflected and exhibited, where flesh and sell constantly oppose, and rise against it, and therefore have to be denied daily. In God, on the contrary, whose very Self is love; “self,” and “love,” we would say with reverence, are identical, for He is love, which could never be said, even of the most gracious and loving of the Lord’s own.
Every one of my readers, for instance, would feel at once, how inappropriate and unbecoming, to say the least, it would be, to apply verses 4 and 5 (chap. 13) as descriptive of the love of God towards us, whilst, when applied to us, those negative expressions are quite in place, because “self” in us, with all its inherent evils, has to be “negatived,” i.e., to be denied every day of our lives here below. Hence the different way of expression the Spirit uses, when speaking of the love of God, who is love Himself, as manifested towards us, and the love of God in us, to be shown towards our brethren or fellow creatures.
One word more, before I close this all-important subject. There is such a constant inclination, even in Christians, to look for love in ourselves. I do not mean, looking at self—that barren tree—for fruit, but to look for the fruit of the Spirit (such as “love, joy, peace,” &c.,) in our new nature. Nor do I mean looking within, for love to God and our blessed Savior, but the looking within ourselves (in our new nature), for love for one another. It is again the looking at self in a more refined, and therefore all the more dangerous way. It is just like one, standing before a crab-tree, and admiring some blossoms and fruits on it, which have been imparted to—not brought forth by it—by means of engrafting.—You look at the blossoms and fruits, it is true, but you glance at the Crabtree also, and are but too easily inclined, to identify the fruits with the tree, forgetting the skilful hand, that has produced them by engrafting the new tree. It is indeed a fine sight to see “grace on a crab-tree,” which is not our own, for then we are sure to admire the grace, because we see the Crabtree, on which that lovely divine fruit appears, but it is very different to admiring grace on our own Crabtree, or, what amounts to the same thing, to look to our new nature for it, for we are but too apt to confound the new nature with the old one, i.e., flesh with spirit. The Pearsall Smith movement ought to have a warning voice to us all, as to the insidiousness of the religious flesh in self-perfection.
But, some of my readers may say, is there not such a thing as the fruit of the Spirit, such as “love, joy, peace, holiness, and righteousness “Stop. There is nothing said about holiness and righteousness in Gal. 5:22, where we find the fruits of the Spirit mentioned.
It is, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” All that which appears, and ought to appear in the outward walk of the Christian, such as holiness, righteousness, well-doing, &c., is not mentioned amongst the fruit of the Spirit; for the fruit of the Spirit is wrought within us, not in that which appears before, though manifest to men. The latter, such as holiness, righteousness, &c., are the visible effects of the light. The Spirit works within, “in the inward parts “where God “desireth truth,” and in “the hidden part,” where he will “make me to know wisdom.” The word of God nowhere tells us, to look at the new nature for fruit.
But is not the tree known — outwardly — by the fruit thereof, such as holiness, righteousness, &c.? Certainly. But how does the tree in your garden bring forth fruit? Through your standing before it and looking at it? No, but by being rooted in a good soil, and having the light of the sun and the air above and around it. The apostle prays for his beloved Ephesians, that the Father o our Lord Jesus Christ would grant them, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might, by His Spirit in the inner man. And how? By looking within? “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by” love? No, but by— “faith, and ye being grounded in”—what? faith? No, but— “love.” Faith does not look at self, nor even at the new nature within us, but it looks off, and looks up to Christ. And so does love. It looks not within, but at its lovely object, that draws it forth—even Jesus Christ—and so loves Him. Effort is no love. How are we to run the race that is set before us, in patience? By looking of unto—Jesus. The Holy Spirit never occupies us with ourselves, except for self-judgment, if we have grieved Him; and when we have judged ourselves, He at once points upwards. “He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” The tree bears fruit, because it is rooted in the ground, and the sun shines upon it. It instinctively turns towards the sun as does every plant. The Spirit of glory, if not grieved, keeps the eye of faith (that looks at Jesus Christ, and sees Him up there, crowned with glory, and honor) fixed on His glory, and beauty, and we know, beloved, if the eye rests upon a lovely object, the heart soon begins to feed and feast upon it. And thus it is that Jesus Christ “dwells in the heart by faith, as He has entered there by faith. And how do we, like a good tree, get rooted and grounded in love?” Why? through the very looking of the eye of faith at Him, and the feeding of the heart upon Him, Who is altogether lovely.
Thus the heart is feasting upon the “hidden manna,” upon His all-gracious, and all-beauteous Blessed Person, by Whom “grace and truth,” came into this world, where He was always love amidst hatred, as He always was light amidst darkness, and Who is now up there above, “the brightness of glory,” and the image of the Father in holiness and truth, in goodness and grace, and all that is divine; and not only so, but He is as the perfect Man there above, with perfect human sympathy; entering into the smallest details of the trials, and sufferings of each of His members here below, knowing the very house and streets, where they are living. (Acts 9, 10.) Beloved, will not our hearts, whilst pondering and feasting upon all that is good, and gracious and true and holy, and lovely in that ever Blessed One, by getting filled with the sense of His love, reflect and manifest His love towards others, (always remembering, however, that His love cannot be disconnected with truth,) and shall not we thus become “rooted and grounded in love,” and bear the fruit of a good tree, in the warm sunshine of the Presence of Him who is light and love and in the atmosphere of His holiness, grace and truth, “rooted and built up in Him,” who to us is our soil, sun and air. Poor and feeble though our love may be, yet we can say, through grace, like Peter, who did not look at his own heart, nor at the new nature within him, when the Lord asked him: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? “But he looked at the altogether lovely Person of his thrice denied, yet ever gracious and ever loving, but faithful Master before him, and said: “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” It is the same apostle, that afterward wrote: “Seeing ye have purified your sours in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren: see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”,
“But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
“Love Divine, all praise excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down !
Bless us with Thy rich indwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown
Savior, Thee we’d still be blessing,
Serve Thee here, as soon above,
Praise thee, Savior, without ceasing,
Glory in Thy dying love.
Carry on Thy new creation—
Faithful, holy may we be,
Joyful in Thy full salvation,
More and more conformed to Thee!
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
There to worship and adore Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.”
Chapter 5
Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ” (Eph. 5:21).
There is a difference between submission and obedience, and it is well, before entering upon the subject of our chapter, to be clear about it.
Submitting myself to another, means, my accepting and taking a subordinate place under another person’s lawful authority over me. Obedience means my behaving and acting according to that place, no matter, whether I am in it by my own choice, or through necessity (by birth, &c.,) by submitting my will to the will of the one, who is in the place of authority over me Submission and obedience, in a natural sense, are not necessarily identical. There may be an outward submission, without real obedience. In the Christian sense, both are a matter of the heart as being done to the Lora. “The principle of submission and of obedience,” as another has said, “is the healing principle of humanity; only God must be brought into it, in order that the will of man may not be the guide after all. But the principle that governs the heart of max in good, is always and everywhere obedience.”
Now, before proceeding, we may just notice, that although the words that head this chapter, refer to all those who are in a subordinate relationship, i.e., wives, children and servants, yet the word “submitting,” in our chapter, as well in the other passages of the New Testament, is only applied to wives, but not to children nor servants. The reason is clear. Children, as being born in the subordinate place, and servants, or rather slaves (for in those times, hired servants were unknown) being in the same place either by birth, or purchase, or as prisoners of war, could not be enjoined to accept or take that place, in submitting themselves to their superiors—parents or masters—because they were already in that place, independently of their own consent. Therefore they are in our chapter exhorted to obey their superiors. It is not so with wives. They have become so by their own free consent; and knowing beforehand the character and relative duties of their place. Therefore they are told to “submit “themselves to their own husbands, and reverence them, according to the place, upon which they have entered with their own full and free consent, as before the Lord, and according to His will, Who has thus united them. Children and servants (or slaves), therefore, are told to obey, whilst submission—and submissiveness—is enjoined upon the wives.
But, as I have said before, the divine injunction: “Submitting yourselves one to another,” applies, in a general sense, to all the three classes of subordinate relationships in our chapter. For if children and servants are not enjoined to submit themselves, from the reason stated above, yet they as well as the wives are to behave to their superiors in the spirit of submission, i.e., submissiveness, which characterizes true Christian obedience. Thus the exhortation in chap. 5:21, in this sense, applies not only to children, but also to the servants of our days. Therefore, as under grace, and in the spirit of grace, the injunction is general.
But though is our chapter as well as in Col. 3, the word “obedience” is not used with reference to “wives,” because in both these epistles the exhortations to the “wives,” are in close connection with the relationship of the Church to Christ, which is a relationship of subjection (v. 24) of the body to the Head, rather than of obedience (which is applied to Christians individually), we find, on the other hand, in the epistle of the apostle Peter (which deals with Christians individually as pilgrims and strangers on earth), both expressions, i.e., “submission “and “obedience “applied to “wives.” There the Spirit of God points back to Sarah, as a pattern of submission and obedience for all her spiritual “daughters,” just as in the epistle to the Romans we are exhorted to walk in the steps of that faith of Abraham, “Who is the father of us all.” Therefore in that beautiful passage (1 Peter 3:1-6), both expressions are applied to Christian “wives.” But I shall enter more closely upon that portion in the next chapter, when speaking on the relationship of “wives.”
I now would direct the reader’s attention to the second part of our verse, which tells us that such submission of one to another is to be “in the fear of Christ.” For such is the correct reading, and not “In the fear of God,” as the common version has it. For all-important as is the fear of God, as not only characterizing the beginning of the work of God in a soul, as in the case of the thief upon the cross, but also as to the Christian’s walk in holiness of life (2 Cor. 7:1.), it is evident, that in our portion of the Ephesians, as well as in Col. 3 (where we find a similar mistake, namely, the “Peace of God,” whereas it ought to read “the peace of Christ”) it is the second Person of the Godhead, Christ, the Father’s well-beloved, Whom the Spirit of God delights to set in full relief before the eye of faith, as Head of the Church.
And here may be the place for an observation, which in these latter days of religious profession, constantly obtrudes itself on our notice. It is the Christless character of all human religion. The mention of that ever blessed and glorious Name of Jesus, indeed, is not lacking in the religious books and phraseology of our days, (though even then in a familiar way, most offensive to every spiritual Christian, and generally without His proper title— “Lord”). But of Christ very little is seen or heard. The reason is natural enough.
Christendom having degenerated and relapsed into, and returned to the religious “husks.” or, as Paul, the once so zealous religionist, called it; “dung” of Jewish (though Christianized) legal ordinances and attainments, with earthly blessings and promises, without any real sense of what it is, to a believer, to have risen with Christ, and to be linked through His Spirit, with the risen, ascended, and glorified Head there above on the right hand of God, and of being seated in Him in the heavenly places—no wonder, that Christ, i.e. Jesus glorified, is, as such, scarcely known in the religious books and language of our days. Their gospel does not go beyond the Cross (and even this, as to its effects, is only partly known,) blessed foundation, as that is of our salvation; but as to the heavenly position into which the believer has been brought by the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, very little, if anything, is known and realized. Resurrection and Resurrection-ground, is scarcely mentioned in their “gospel,” such as it is, leave alone the Believer’s Union with Christ, and his position above as identified with Christ, accepted in the Beloved, and his heavenly calling and hope. Therefore Jesus, i.e. Christ in His humiliation here on earth, as the despised Jesus of Nazareth, as presented in the gospels (where He is called “Christ “only in His earthly relationship as Israel’s Messiah, comp. John 1:42,) is only known as an individual Savior, whilst the exalted Jesus, i.e. Christ, as the Head of the Church, His body, is a thing unknown, or if known, hardly mentioned, though the whole New Testament, from the Acts of the Apostles, till the book of Revelation, (where the Lamb is the prominent feature,) is full of it. The first Name in the first gospel at Pentecost (after Peter’s few introductory words), is that ever blessed Name of Jesus. And how does the Apostle finish?— “Therefore let all the house of Israel know, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (as to His exaltation at the right hand of God). Consequently in our chapter, and so in Col. 3, where we have Christ as the glorified Head of the Church, it is all “Christ,” except when His ever-blessed Name is mentioned, when we find Jesus, as in verse 20, of our chapter, (Eph. 5) and in Col. 3:17. Now this is exactly the point of weakness, that lies at the root of the evil of all human religion. Having subsided, or relapsed, into an earthly Jewish position, Jesus, i.e. Christ in His humiliation on earth, is known only as their individual Savior from judgment. Blessed Name above every Name, I repeat. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” “And thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest,” says the angel to Mary. But, beloved, it is one thing, to know Jesus as my Savior, as the manna, the bread come down, from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die; and another thing to know that blessed Jesus as Lord and Christ, as the Head of the Church at the right hand of God, and to have the consciousness of being one with Him, as our risen and ascended Lord, and of our life being hid with Him in God, and thus feeding on Him, as the old corn of the land, Canaan above, in the sense of Col. 3, and of having the living consciousness, of being a member of His Body, the Church, of which He is the glorified Head. How little is it known and understood, what is written, not only in the epistles of Paul, but even in the gospel of John: that Jesus died “not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad.” (John 11:52.) Jesus died not only to save individuals, i.e. to have a certain number of saved units, but in order that each individually saved child of God might be gathered in one, i.e. baptized by one Spirit into one body, “whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free,” (1 Cor. 12:13,) of which each believer forms a member; Christ, i.e. the Risen, Ascended, and Glorified Jesus, being the Head of them all, i.e. of the Church, His Body.
This is the reason why, in the epistle to the Ephesians, the Spirit of God exhorts the Christians, to submit themselves one to another “in the fear of Christ,” in His supreme authority as Head of the Church. It is in their character as being members of Christ, that the members of the Christian family are exhorted to submit one to another. For although family-relationships are of on earthly character (individual, in a certain sense), yet we see, how closely the Spirit of God in His teaching in both the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, connects them and the relative duties of the Christians in them, with, and as flowing from their relationship as members of the Church, which is the body of Christ, its Head.
It is His supreme authority as such, which the Holy Ghost delights in setting forth throughout these two epistles, that deal in an especial way with our earthly relationships too, as the place, where, according to God’s intentions, church truth is to be practiced, and our heavenly relationships to be reflected in our daily walk. And we may be sure, that if our light does not shine in our houses and families, it will certainly not shine much in the world around us in the sense of Philippians 2:15.
The Lordship of Christ, in His supreme authority, is stated by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven by Him, at the close of the very first gospel, as referred to above. God had made that same Jesus, Whom the Jews had seen daily going in and out among them, “both Lord and Christ.”
But what was, at Pentecost, in a general, partly Jewish sense, only the first simple statement of the fact, that God had thus honored and invested with the highest authority His well-beloved Son, the once rejected and despised Jesus of Nazareth, we find, at the end of the first chapter of that grand Epistle, which unfolds God’s wondrous counsels, as to Christ and His Church, set forth in divinely- magnificent language, as if the Spirit, whilst pointing upwards to the Man in glory, Whom Stephen, when filled with the Holy Ghost, saw there at the right hand of God, had been taking pains, to speak with reverence, to depict in those magnificent terms, that all Glorious and all Beauteous One in His position of Honor and Dignity, as the Head of the Church, “the first begotten from among the dead,” and “the Firstborn of many brethren,” whom God had raised from the dead, and “Set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”
“Far above “(mark the word “far “) Christian reader The Holy Spirit, who “glorifies Christ,” cannot point high enough upwards in glory to point out, as it were, to the eye of faith, the glorified Person of Christ as Head over all other authorities.
“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come:”
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,”
“Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
What a position, truly glorious, truly lordly! And yet nothing more than the due place for Him, Who once bore the cross, and gave His back to the miters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and Who did not hide His face from shame and spitting! What was the power and dominion over the lower creation, entrusted to the first Adam, compared to that of the last!
Now, may I ask my Christian reader and myself: has the fear of Christ, the One, Who holds such a place there above in glory at the right hand of God, its due sway over our consciences? I need not say, that I am not speaking of legal or slavish fear. I mean that reverential fear, which is produced by authority, when recognized, felt, and willingly bowed to. A man, when in the presence of his betters in authority, feels very different from what he does, when among his equals. And the higher the rank or lawful authority of the one in the superior place, the greater would be the sense of reverential fear on the part of his subordinate before his presence. A common soldier, however submissive, if he be a good soldier, his behavior may be before his superiors, if only a degree or two above him in rank, will feel and behave very differently, when standing before his Commander-in-chief. And in the presence of the highest authority, of a mighty King or Emperor, will not that feeling of reverential fear, produced by such a presence, pervade every one before him, from the commander-in-chief or his Prime minister down to the lowest servant?
I hope, my Christian readers will pardon me for adducing such common—place illustrations, but as the writer of these lines prays and desires, that he may write them as in the sight of God and in Christ, he feels, from his own humbling experience, how little we have learned in these days of boasted independence, where, nevertheless, the fear of men holds greater sway than ever, to realize the meaning of those words: “In the fear of Christ.” And why? Because we have understood so little, what it means, in the power of faith and of an ungrieved Spirit, to be really in His Presence, where we discover our nothingness, aye, and our own good-for-nothingness too. We have been too much in the presence of each other, or of the world and daily circumstances, permitting all kinds of things, such as testimony, the church, service (leave alone other things) to step in between Christ and our souls, instead of keeping Christ between us and circumstances. Thus it is that the “fear of Christ,” which is produced by being in His Presence, is so feebly known amongst and within us. It is all right and well, talking of the constraining love of Christ, but let us not forget that His great apostle Paul knew also what “the terror of the Lord” means. Not, I repeat, as if that terror made him tremble in slavish fear, but it had impressed his conscience with its awful solemnity for others, so that he was able to “persuade” men, i.e., to appeal to their consciences first with the power of a preacher, whose own heart had been solemnized by the thought of the terror of the Lord, in His judgment—for others, of course, not for himself, and then feeling in his heart the constraining power of the love of Christ, he was enabled to “beseech poor sinners and enemies to be `reconciled to God.”—With a conscience, perfect and at ease in the Presence of God, but his heart solemnly impressed with what “the terror of the Lord” meant for His rejectors, i.e., for every unbeliever he could, in the power of that solemn impression, appeal to their consciences, and on the other hand, with the “small voice “of God’s grace in his ministry of reconciliation, apply the balm of the gospel to brokenhearted and troubled ones.
But it is not only the “terror of the Lord,” (as to the judgments that will come upon this world, when the “great day of the wrath of the Lamb “will have come, and finally at the judgment of the dead, small and great, before the great white throne,) that the apostle speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5, for this would have less bearing on the Christian’s family life, (except as to unbelieving members of his family). In the same chapter, we find the “Judgment seat of Christ,” in its solemnity as to ourselves, and not only for others:
“For we” (mark well, Christian reader, we) “must all appear before the judgment of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
It is not a question of others only, but of ourselves too. But as many, especially such who have no settled peace, have been perplexed and troubled by this well known passage of scripture, it will be well to give a few remarks, which, under the Lord’s blessing, may help to remove those difficulties, or, at least, to simplify them; for the word of God is simple enough, and explains itself, if read and taken in its true connection.
First of all, then, we must remember, that this passage has the character of a general divine principle, with all its force intended for the conscience of the Christian. Neither the time, nor the place of the judgment is mentioned. It has the force and meaning of a general principle of truth. It refers neither to the judgment of the quick, in Matthew’s gospel (Matt. 25:31), “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,” when “he shall sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations;” that is, at at the beginning of His millennial reign; nor to the second resurrection, that is, at the end of the thousand years, when He, as the Judge of the dead, shall sit on the great white throne.
But “we all,’’ i.e., His saints too, “must appear before His tribunal. When? or Where? is not said. Of course, it is not before the great white throne; that is for the unbelievers. But whether as to saints, it is to be during the time of our being with Him in the Father’s house (before Christ’s public appearing), as some think, or at His public appearing, as others suppose, is no matter here. Enough, that that solemn, yet blessed and happy moment will appear. I say, solemn, yet blessed and happy: For whilst one would fear to utter one word that might lead to weaken in the least the solemn effect upon our consciences, which the Spirit of God intended by such words at these, yet at the same time, for a heart that knows what grace, and peace with God mean; those words, notwithstanding their solemn weight for every honest Christian’s conscience, afford the best assurance and comfort to his heart.
In order to explain myself more fully, it is necessary to remember, that this passage does not speak of personal judgment in the sense of condemnation, or even of correction and chastisement. As to the former, it has nothing to say to the believer. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” God is not unrighteous, that he should pardon us and give us eternal life, and then condemn us after all. The very thought would be blasphemous. And as to correction or chastisement, they belong to this earth, whilst we are in these poor frail bodies, where flesh, and self, and sin are in us, though we are not in the flesh even now, but in the spirit before God. It cannot, of course, apply to our glorified bodies, when we shall be with Christ.
What, then, do the words: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” mean? First, it is necessary to remember that the word in the original, which, in our common version, is translated: “appear” means, “being made manifest” before Him, either in spirit, in our consciences now, or in our resurrection bodies. The word “appear,” expresses rather the latter kind of manifestation. There is, therefore, a double way of being made manifest before the Lord: now, by faith, in our consciences; and, as to the future, in our resurrection bodies. Therefore the apostle says (vs. 11): “But we are made manifest to God.” (The word in vs. 11 is, in the Greek, the same as in vs. 10.)
What is the effect of “being manifest” to God, and of having been fully exposed to the all-searching light of His Holy Presence? Do you dread the thought, and tremble at it, and shrink from it? If you do, reader, whoever you may be, it is a sure sign, either that you have no settled peace with God, and thus are under the spirit of bondage; or, what is worse, that your conscience is practically bad, because your heart is not upright before God, and you keep some portion of it shut up from Him, and do not want the light of God’s Presence to enter into that dark chamber of your heart, because it is a secret idol-shrine, and you do not want the idol to be exposed to the light of a justly jealous God, Who says: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have none other Gods before me.” And remember, an “idol “is anything that is preferred to Christ, and permitted to slip in between Him and the soul.
Vain attempt of hiding one corner of your heart from God’s searching light, and keeping the other part lit up The darkness will soon spread from that dark idol closet, over the whole heart, and, alas! the conscience too, and thus, the eye not being single, the whole body will be full of darkness. You are, perhaps, not so bold and hardened, as those men of the house of Israel, of whom the prophet speaks (Ezek. 14), who had set up their idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces, and yet were bold enough, to come to a prophet, to inquire of him concerning the Lord, whether He would be with them and prosper them, as king Ahab did. You do not seek, but you shun the light of His Word and of His Presence, where that word takes you (comp. Heb. 4:12 and 13). But are you more honest than they, on that account? No, you are as dishonest as they, only in a different way. Awake awake, poor half-hearted one! Flee to Jesus Christ, and Satan will flee from you. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (lit.: “Shine upon thee.”) He says: “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.” Listen to His touching appeal, lest He “set his face against “you, and make you “a sign and a proverb,” and cut you off from the midst of His people, that you may know that He is the Lord. (Ezek. 14:8) Throw open your whole heart to Him; make a clean breast of it all, as in the light of His judgment seat, and in the morning light of His forgiving and restoring grace, and returning sense of His favor, Dagon’s stump will be cast out, and no part of your heart and body, which is “the temple of God,” be dark any longer.
How different the effect of that solemn passage upon a, Christian, who has settled peace with God, and walks uprightly before Him, though conscious of his many failures Instead of dreading the light, he loves it, because he knows God’s perfect grace in Christ Jesus; he wishes the light to shine into every corner of his heart, and into every crevice of his soul, and says, though in a far higher, deeper, and fuller sense, with the Psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart, and see if there be any wicked way, (or, as the margin has it; “way of pain” or “grief”) in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
He says so, not merely because he has been searched by the Lord and His word, and found how vain is the attempt of fleeing from His Presence, or of concealing or covering anything before Him; but knowing that perfect grace which makes the heart true (Heb. 10:22), he seeks, yea, courts the light, instead of fleeing from it.
But, let not the Christian reader forget, that it is not only now, that we are to be in the light of His Presence, there to judge everything that is not consistent with it, but that we all must (as a future thing) “appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive (mark the words—” may receive”) the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” There is the thought of retribution— I do not say condemnation, or judgment on persons, in the passage. As to the latter, Christ has borne that. But there is retribution, as has been justly pointed out by another, i.e. as to the reward, for those that have done good, and as to loss, for the evil that has been done in the body.
I know we are treading on tender ground, and have therefore to take care, not to go beyond the terra firma of Holy Writ, lest we should get into swamps. Therefore, I would remind my Christian reader, that our so much debated passage, instead of weakening the sense and assurance of the believer’s relationship in settled peace through and in Christ, only serves to consolidate that sense of our relationship, and, indeed, can be only valued and fully realized by those who have settled peace. But as the words: “that every one may receive the things done in the body” have been a difficulty to many, and may be so still to some of my readers; it will be well to ascertain, what is the meaning of the Greek words, used in the original. For we must always remember, that the Spirit of God, Who has written the Word of God, whilst condescending to use the language of poor mankind, to convey to us the “wondrous thoughts and counsels of God to us-ward,” could never write contrary to the common rules, either of the Hebrew language in the Old, or of the Greek in the New Testament. It would be worse than absurd, to suppose such a thing, else the word of God, as being His oracles, would defeat its own end. Translators will therefore always do well to remember this.
Now the Greek word employed by the Holy Spirit in this passage, and rendered in our common version by “receive,” means: to carry of for my own use, something which has become mine, either by promise, present, reward, or under any other lawful title.
This is the original meaning of the word in Greek. Then, in a general sense, it is used for to receive, or to obtain something. Thus, the word evidently conveys to us the idea of one, who receives praise and reward or suffers loss, as the case may be, for the way in which he has accomplished his work.
Although every good thing that a Christian may have done, whilst in his body here below, is only through the gift and grace of God and His Spirit, yet it will, through divine grace, be accounted to him, as if it were all his own work. He will hear the “Well done!” from the blessed lips of his Master. But he will not only receive the mark of approbation from the Lord, but also the corresponding reward, in the place that will be assigned to him in the millennial glory, during the kingdom—not on the earth—but when we shall reign with Christ over the earth. For there are different rewards. Whilst in the gospel of Matt. 25 it is a question of being faithful, during the Master’s absence, as to the talents He may have committed to us, without speaking of the degree of faithfulness, and thus each of the faithful servants receives the same reward, namely, that of being ruler over many things and entering into the joy of his Lord; in Luke (19) each of the ten servants receives the same amount, but not the same reward.
The difference there is as to the degree of the faithfulness of each servant; consequently their reward is different, according to the different degree of faithfulness. The one who has gained ten pounds, receives authority over ten cities, and the; me who has gained five pounds, over five cities. The reward corresponds exactly with their faithfulness. So there will be evidently a difference of reward. One star will differ from another star in glory, not as to the degree of glory in our resurrection-bodies, I think, but as to the places that we shall receive during the millennial kingdom, when reigning with Christ over the earth. So that there will be not only the approbation, but also the reward, or else the loss. A solemn thought for you and me, Christian reader!
In the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, “Who will make manifest the counsels of the hearts,” everything inconsistent with that light, that has been permitted in us, whilst in our bodies, will be fully exposed and judged by ourselves, because being then in glory and in glorious bodies like Christ, it is not only the light of His Presence, that will manifest everything, but flesh and self no longer being there to deceive or to blind, we, as having the mind of Christ (which we have now, only impeded, so often, alas! by self and flesh) and in the perfect light of His Presence, and as having bodies like His own glorious body; there will be nothing to hinder the perfect judgment, on our own part, of everything that has prevented the intended fruits of Light, and of His Spirit to appear in us, when in our earthly bodies. His judgment of approval, as to anything good, done in the body, we shall receive under the deep and perfect sense of that divine grace, to which we owe everything that is good in us, as being ‘ saved by grace, through faith, which is the gift of God,” and as being “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God bath before ordained, that we should walk in them.”
And as to the evil, done when in our bodies, we shall judge it ourselves, as God judges it. For there can be no question of personal judgment by Christ, at that time, for the evil done in our bodies. As to condemnation, it is, blessed be God! a thing of the past; for Christ has borne the judgment due to us; and as to judgment in the sense of chastisement, (where this was necessary, because we did not judge ourselves by His Spirit and under His Word) this process of God’s love to us, in correction, will then be also a thing of the past; for chastisement has to do with our present state, whilst we are on earth in these frail bodies of ours. So that there cannot be any question of personal judgment of the saints by Christ at that time, because then we shall be with Him in glorious bodies, in which there will be nothing to be judged. Thus no sin can reappear and arise against us there as to judgment, may it be condemnation, or chastisement.
But if so, some reader might say, what does the apostle mean by saying, “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ!” It does not mean that the “judgment-seat of Christ “would or could have anything to say, in the way of judgment, to His saints personally, from the reasons mentioned above. It does not say, “We shall all be judged,” but we shall all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ, because the Saints are included.
In order to remove, as much as possible, the last difficulty from the mind of any of our readers, I will give here the word of an eminent servant of Christ, which will serve the purpose better than anything I could say. And, as the subject is of great importance for the spiritual health of every Christian, and many of my readers, perhaps, are not in possession of the important work I am going to quote from, I have, for their benefit, permitted myself to draw rather largely from it.
He says; —
“However great the happiness of being in the perfect light-and this happiness is complete and divine in its character—it is on the side of conscience that the subject is here presented. God maintains His majesty by the judgment which He executes, as it is written;
‘The Lord is known by the judgment that He executes.’ And, for my part, I believe, that it is very profitable for the soul, to have the judgment of God present to our minds, and the sense of the unchangeable majesty of God, maintained in the conscience by this means. If we were not under grace, it would be-it ought to be-insupportable; but the maintenance of this sentiment does not contradict grace. It is, indeed, only under grace, that it can be maintained in its truth; for who otherwise could bear the thought for an instant, of receiving that which he had done in the body? None but he who is completely blinded. But the authority, the holy authority of God, which asserts itself in judgment, forms a part of our relationship with Him: the maintenance of this sentiment, associated with the full enjoyment of grace, forms a part of our holy spiritual affections. It is the fear of the Lord It is in this sense, that “Happy is he that feareth always.” If this weakens the conviction, that the love of God rests fully, eternally upon us, then we get off the only possible ground of any relationship whatever with God, unless perdition could be so called. But, in the sweet and peaceful atmosphere of grace, conscience maintains its rights and its authority against the subtle encroachments of the flesh, through the sense of God’s judgment, in virtue of a holiness which cannot be separated from the character of God, without denying that there is a God; for if there is a God, He is holy.
This sentiment engages the heart of the accepted believer, to endeavor to please the Lord in every way; and in the sense of how solemn a thing it is for a sinner to appear before God, the love that necessarily accompanies it in a believer’s heart, urges him to persuade men with a view to their salvation, while maintaining his own conscience in the light. And he who is now walking in the light, will not fear it on the day when it shall appear in its glory. He must be manifested; but walking in the light, in the sense of the fear of God, we are already manifested to God; nothing hinders the sweet and assured flow of His love.
Accordingly, the walk of such an one justifies itself in the end to the consciences of others; one is manifested as walking in the light. These are, therefore, the two great practical principles of the ministry; to walk in the light, in the sense of God’s solemn judgment for every one; and the conscience being thus pure in the light, the sense of the judgment (which, in this case, cannot trouble the soul for itself, or obscure its view of the love of God,) impels the heart to seek in love those who are in danger of this judgment.”....
“This work of manifestation is already true, in so far as we have realized the light. Cannot I, being now in peace, look back at what I was before conversion, and at all my failures since my conversion, humbled, but adoring the grace of God in all He has done for me, but without a thought of fear, or imputation of sin? Does not this awaken a very deep sense of all that God is? Such will be the case perfectly, when we are manifested, when we shall know, as we are known.”...
“What we find in this passage, is the perfect manifestation of all that a person is and has been, before a throne characterized by judgment, without judgment as to the person in question being guilty. No doubt, when the wicked receives the things done in the body he is condemned. But it is not said (“ for we must all be “) `judged,’ because then all must be condemned. But this manifestation is exactly what brings all morally before the heart, where it is capable of judging evil for itself. Were it under judgment, it could not.
Freed from all fear, and in the perfect light, and with the comfort of perfect love, (for where we have the consciousness of sin, and of its not being imputed, we have the sense, though in an humbling way, of perfect love,) and at The same time the sense of authority and divine government, fully made good in the soul, all is judged by the soul itself, as God judges it, and communion with Him entered into.
This is exceedingly precious. We have to remember, that at our appearance before the judgment-seat of Christ, we are already glorified. Christ has come Himself, in perfect love, to fetch us; and has changed our vile body, according to the resemblance of His glorious body. We are glorified, and like Christ before the judgment takes place. And mark the effect on Paul. Does the thought of being manifested, awaken anxiety or dread? Not the least. He realizes all the solemnity of such a process. He knows the terror of the Lord; has it before his eyes; and what is the consequence? He sets about to persuade others, who are in need of it.” ... .
“But this view of judgment, and our complete manifestation in that day, has a present effect on the saint, according to its own nature. He realizes it by faith. He is manifested. It will unfold all God’s past ways towards him, when he is in glory, but he is manifested now to God; his conscience exercised in the light. It has thus a present sanctifying power.” ... .
“Thus we have here (2 Cor. 5) set before us: glory, with the personal certainty of enjoying it; and death, become the means of being present with the Lord; the tribunal of Christ, and the necessity of being manifested before it; and the love of Christ in His death, all being already dead. How are such diverse principles as these to be reconciled and arranged in the heart? It is that the apostle was manifested before God. Hence the thought of being manifested before the tribunal, produced, along with present sanctification, no other effect on him than that of solemnity, for he was not to come into judgment, but it became an urgent motive for preaching to others, according to the love which Christ had manifested in His death. The idea of the tribunal did not in the least weaken his certainty of glory. His soul, in the full light of God, reflected what was in that light, namely, the glory of Christ, ascended on high as Man. And the love of this same Jesus was strengthened in its activity, by the sense of the tribunal which awaits all men.”
“What a marvelous combination of motives we find in this passage, to form a ministry characterized by the development of all that in which God reveals Himself, and by which he acts on the heart and conscience of man! And it is in a pure conscience that these things can have their force together. If the conscience were not pure, the tribunal would obscure the glory, at least as belonging to oneself, and weaken the sense of His love. At any rate one would be occupied with self in connection with these things, and ought to be so. But when pure before God, it only sees a tribunal which exerts no sense of personal uneasiness, and, therefore has all its true moral effect, as an additional motive for seriousness in our own walk, and a solemn energy in the appeal, which the knowledge of Jesus impels it to address to man.
I have nothing to add, trusting, that after the helpful remarks I have just quoted, the last lingering difficulty in the mind of some readers may have been removed. I have thought it right to dwell at great length upon the subject of “the fear of Christ,” for, so far from making us uneasy, the “fear of Christ,” in its restraining and subduing power, as well as the “love of Christ,” in its constraining power, form both of them, together with the full enjoyment of grace, a part of our holy spiritual affections, as we have been so blessedly reminded; just as the authority, the holy authority of God which asserts itself in judgment, forms a part of our relationship with Him.
And where this “fear of Christ,” in His own supreme authority, has its solemnizing and soul-subduing effect upon us, dear Christian reader, it will most certainly teach us, to submit ourselves one to another in our family relationships, where, in the places of obedience and love, the “fear of Christ “and the “love of Christ,” find the happy and natural scope for their daily healthy exercise, for the glory of our God and Father and of Him Who is our Blessed Head and Master in heaven.
All crowns will be cast at His feet, all His enemies be made His footstool, and at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and those under the earth, and every tongue will have to confess “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Such is God’s just decree, at first announced by His Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and that divine decree will be carried out without fail, as to those who have not confessed and bowed to that Name, under grace. There will be a day of homage of the whole universe before Him, whom Satan and men once derided, when He hung, as the forsaken Sufferer, between heaven and earth, when there was no eye to pity Him, and they cried: “Aha, so would we have it.” Thus God will have it, and His will must be done Even so. Amen. Hallelujah!
And we, beloved, whose tongues and knees have learned, through, and under grace, to confess and to bow to that ever blessed Name, and who confess now that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father, how far do we, practically, own His Lordship in our daily lives, especially in our houses? We bow our knees before Him every morning in our family worship, and own Him Lord, blessed be His grace, that taught us to do so. But does our daily life impress the members of our family or household with the conviction that the “fear of Christ” sways our conduct, and that He is the Lord of our consciences, and the Master of our affections, and that our thoughts are brought “into captivity to the obedience of Christ?”
With what divine fitness and wisdom, then, does the Spirit of God, before entering upon the duties connected with our divers family relationships, set before us, as the only true moving principle for Christian submission, “the fear of Christ!” May it be true, in our family worship (and life), as well as in our public worship!
Chapter 6: WIVES.
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Savior of the body.”
“Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” Eph. 5:22, 23 ,24.
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” Col. 3:18.
Let us go back, for a few moments, to the first pages of Holy Writ. It is always instructive for us to do so. The Spirit of God Himself points back, in our chapter, to that time. We can but follow His direction.
There was a garden, eastward in the land of Eden, planted by the Lord God (lit. Jehovah,) Himself. It was a scene of perfect earthly bliss and happiness, because the Lord God had made it, and sin was not known. No groan was heard, to disturb the constant peace and harmony, that pervaded the whole. Everything there was light, life and happiness, fresh and beautiful in its first bloom, as it had just come forth from the hand of its Maker.
And in that garden, which He had planted, the Lord God had placed man, made in God’s own image, but formed by Him of the dust of the ground. (Alas how soon did man forge, the latter part of his being!) Hp had put Adam there to dress and keep it, not in the posture of a bondman, stooping, in the sweat of his face, to a ground, cursed for his sake, that yields to his labor, besides the herbs for his food, “thorns also and thistles “—the rods of chastisement, and constant memento’s of his fall. No, God had placed Adam there as the king, center and head of the whole of the lower creation, a figure of Him who was to come. He was to have “Dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over everything living that moveth upon the earth.” The Lord of lords, and King of kings, who had invested Adam, his vassal-king on earth, with such power, and given him that lovely garden of Eden for his royal residence, had also Himself installed Adam in his place, and made the whole of the lower creation pass in review before its new sovereign, just as a king, on his accession to the throne, reviews his army, and makes his subjects, represented in their nobles or chiefs, pass before his presence, to bestow or confirm titles and names. Never since that day, has there been, or will there be, in this sinful world, such a coronation scene, until the millennial morn, that great coronation day, shall dawn, when the last Adam, under whose feet God has put all things—the heavens as well as the earth—shall come, as the Lord of lords, and King of kings, to reign over the earth. But He will not come alone. His Church, His Bride—” The Lamb’s Wife “—most precious title! will come along with Him, to reign with Him over the blissful and peaceful millennial earth-that happy moment for which the whole creation, subject to the bondage of corruption for man’s sake, is groaning and travailing in pain together until now.
It was not so with Adam in that lovely garden of Eden. There was a king, but no queen, to share the crown with him. When the “Sons of God” (i.e. angels) above in the heavens shouted for joy,” on looking down upon that perfect scene of earthly bliss and beauty, they had one common interest and motive for joy, even the glory of God that made their hearts beat with one common impulse. Even “The morning stars sung together,” when that bright creation scene sprung into existence. They had fellowship in their joy. But man was alone amidst that lovely scene, alone in his power—alone in his honor—alone with his thoughts—alone with his heart. Each of those numberless creatures subject to Adam’s dominion, from the eagle in mid air down to the singing birds on the trees, from the roaring lion down to the bleating lamb, that was feeding in peace alongside with him (as it will be again at a not far distant happier age), and lower down to the mute inhabitants of the waters—each had its mate, to share the enjoyment of its new existence;—but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. Man was alone in the midst of a paradise, and therefore it was no paradise to him. There was a void in his heart, with all the abundance of that beautiful garden around him. There was no kindred heart to share and respond to his feelings; no kindred spirit to understand his thoughts and to take sweet counsel with; no countenance, to be the mirror of his own, to reflect his smiles of happiness; no familiar voice to answer to his, or to join in sweet harmony with his voice of praise and thanksgiving, when Adam looked up from the paradise around him, to the heavenly residence of his divine Liege-Lord above, the Father of lights, from Whom every good gift and every perfect gift cometh. Adam knew what was light, for the sun and the moon and the stars of heaven declared the glory of Him, who clothed Himself with light as with a garment, and who is the Father of lights.” But he knew not what was love, for in the wide universe around him, there was no object to draw out that love, that gives itself for the beloved object, loses itself in it, and shares everything with it. But the blessed God, who is not only Light, but who is also Love, knew it.
“And the Lord God said: It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make an help-meet for him,” (lit., “An help that is his equal.”)
Had not He Himself an object for His divine love, even His only-begotten, yet co-equal Son, in whom the Father’s heart found its daily delight, before angels or heaven and earth had been called into existence?
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from beginning, or ever the earth was—when there were no depths, I was brought forth—when there were no fountains abounding with water—before the mountains were settled, before the hills was brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with Him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.”
Wondrous words! Still more marvelous grace, that the Spirit of God should have written them, and given to such as us, such an insight into that eternal relationship between Father and Son I But still more stupendous grace, that adds:
“Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.”
Oh love, all praise excelling, as it passes knowledge That love between Father and Son, though divine, and therefore perfectly happy and satisfied, if we may say so, and though the Son was daily His Father’s delight, and rejoiced always before Him, yet that divine love of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, wanted to go beyond itself, and to manifest itself outside itself. Love as well as light cannot be hidden, but manifests itself in the wider range of a creation, called forth by His word, by Whom all things were made, and upheld by the word of His power -a range that not only embraces millions of angels in heaven and creatures on earth, whom that divine love provided for and made perfectly happy, each in their proper sphere and place. But that the vast range into which that love had expanded should contain, as the especial objects of it, children of disobedience, enemies of God, this it is, that makes that love so truly divine, and constitutes its highest glory —the glory of redeeming love—and the glory and riches of divine grace, which is the result of divine love.
Yes, dear fellow—heir of glory The Father’s love wanted many sons to be brought to glory, whom He had predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. He wanted His heavenly house there above, which is as large as is His divine heart, and where there are “many mansions,” to be filled, not only with the brilliant hosts of His angelic servants (holy and blessed though they be!), but with children (once lost prodigals in a far country, in filthy rags, feeding with the swine), in glorious bodies, His daily delight for eternity, as His Son was from eternity, and will be for eternity. That blessed Son of His love, who had to shed His blood upon the cross, to fit them for that glorious house, far above the sun and stars, and to provide them, according to His power, with glorious bodies, like His own, fit for that glorious abode, will come, (and, oh! that may be to-day!) to fetch us up to, and introduce us into that Father’s house, and present all of them (not one will be missing) to His and our Father: “Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me.” Blessed hope, to be turned at any moment, into a still more blessed reality!
But the Father’s love wanted not only children for Himself, but a bride for His Son, and He has given us to Him. “Thine they were, and thou hast given them to me.” (John 17) A bride-taken not from among His holy angels, who do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word, but from among the sons of men, fallen, sinful, and rebellious men I That bride is to dwell with Him in His Father’s house above, whilst the terrible vials of divine wrath will be poured out upon this earth, where once the cross stood, and where He bought her, whom He loved and has washed in His own blood from her sins. She will dwell there with Him, in the daily perfect, peaceful enjoyment of His love, and the object of the Father’s perfect delight and love in heaven, as we are now, though being in this world, as He is, beloved, being accepted in the Beloved One.” She will dwell there with Him, until the last vial shall have been emptied upon this poor world, and Babylon, the great whore, shall have met her threefold deserved fate, and the heavenly hallelujahs will chime, and announce, that “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”
We have turned away, for a few moments, from that bright and happy scene of a yet undefiled paradise, to a higher and brighter one, which will be ours, and never be defiled nor lost. Let us now return, for a little while, to the earthly type of our blessings in an heavenly paradise, and above all in Him, who is the center of it. And may God’s blessed Spirit of truth, of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, under His sure guidance, use these precious types of God’s wondrous counsels, which He has given us in the very first pages of Holy Writ, and open them up to us, and apply them to our hearts and consciences for fruit in praises to God and in our daily lives.
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.”
Wondrous scene foreshadowing that deepest mystery of divine love, power, grace, and wisdom; a scene without parallel, even in the divine record, except by its anti-type on Calvary and at Pentecost! The Holy Ghost, when referring to it in our chapter, through the inspired apostle of the Gentiles, to whom those three great mysteries of God, as to his church, had been revealed (Eph. 3 and 5, and 1 Cor. 2:15) says: “This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.”
The One, Who had formed Adam out of a piece of clay, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, we behold here bending over the sleeping man, to form a help-meet for him—not from the dust of the ground, but from flesh—then sinless flesh—even the rib out of Adam’s side. It is the Same, Who after 4,000 years of poor humanity’s probation, was to give His flesh for the life of the world. He who had said: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will give him an help-meet,” was one day, when hanging—between heaven and earth—upon the cross, to be alone in the most terrible sense of that word, to gain His “helpmeet,” i.e., His bride—His wife—to be His companion in a glorious heavenly home. He was to be alone-not in a paradise—but in the wilderness—to stand firm and immovable, and to bind the strong man, and to spoil him of his goods, whilst the first Adam, who now was lying sleeping before Him, soon fell at the first trial amidst the abundance of a paradise. He was to be alone, during his life-time, like a sparrow on the housetop, though followed and surrounded by thousands; for none understood Him, not even His own disciples. He was to be alone in the agonies of Gethsemane, when the prince of this world was approaching to bring all the power of death he wielded, to bear upon Him. His disciples, whom He wanted to be near Him and watch, whilst He prayed, fell asleep. They had forgotten their Master’s watchword, which He gave, at the very threshold of that pl ace, not only to them, but to us all. Poor sentinels! the enemy coming suddenly, found them sleeping, and the one who could not “watch one hour “with his Master, denied Him afterward. And at last—alone upon the cross, after His own had forsaken Him! When the assembly of the wicked, the bulls of Bashan, the lions, and the dogs enclosed Him, He was alone-forsaken of His God. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die; else it would have abode alone. But, blessed be His gracious and glorious Name!—He could not, nor would He be alone, even in glory. He must and will have His glorious and spotless bride with Him there. That same wondrous Psalm, that opens with the cry of agony of the forsaken One upon the cross—contains, as soon as He has been “heard from the horns of the unicorns,” these blessed words: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” He could, He would not be alone, either as to His earthly people in the millennial blessing, when He will say: “Eat, friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;” or even in His Father’s house above, surrounded by all the glories of heaven; He cannot be alone.
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me, where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”
And not only so, but:
“And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”
Let us remember also these words of our gracious Lord’s prayer, beloved; as we find them reiterated by the Spirit of God in Eph. 4:1-3. May the Lord keep you and me, beloved Christian reader, from any spirit of selfish and independent isolation, whilst in strictest separation from all that is contrary to His Will, as expressed in His Word, which is truth. Soon will He, Who would not that “man should be alone,” come again.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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.” Everlasting praise be to Him, who has procured for us such a hope, and who Himself is our hope.
The Risen One, who has breathed upon those for whom He had died, the spirit of resurrection-life, as His breath, and had made the first Adam a living soul, was the Same, Who took the rib out of sleeping Adam’s side, and made Adam’s help-meet out of it. The soldier’s spear was one day to pierce His own side, and draw forth the blood and the water, to fit that bride, which the Father had given Him, to dwell with Him in glory.
If, before such a sublimely mysterious scene, one may be permitted to express oneself, for a moment, after the manner of men, one cannot help thinking, with deep and holy reverence, what thoughts and feelings must have filled and moved the divine mind and heart of the blessed “Last Adam,” when He, bending over the sleeping first Adam, began to carry into effect (though then but in an earthly sense) those wondrous deep counsels, in which He had agreed with His Father (Gen. 1;26, and John 17). Thoughts-feelings, beyond all human ken and expression, like those that filled and moved the Father’s heart, when He saw Abraham with his son Isaac wending their way up Mount Moriah (where afterward Solomon built a temple to the Lord) near the spot where one day the cross of God’s own beloved, only begotten Son was to stand. Then that heavenly Father’s heart poured itself out in blessings upon the one on Moriah, who is the Father of all them that believe:
“By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gates of his enemies;”
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
Ah! beloved fellow-pilgrim and fellow-heir of glory I Abraham’s raised hand with the knife was stayed by the voice, that called to him from heaven: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
But that blessed One did not restrain His own hand from His only Son, when the time had come, and He spoke again:
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.”
Did He withhold that terrible cup from the lips of His beloved Son, in response to that thrice-repeated appeal of agony in the garden of Gethsemane? No. The cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” proves it.
For Adam, to gain his help-meet, it required but a deep sleep and a painless operation; but to the One who performed it, it cost something more than a sleep: —death, even the death of the cross!—The sword of divine judgment had to fall upon Him, who was God’s “Fellow,” in order that such as you and I, reader, might be raised, not merely from the dust of the ground, but from the deep mire of our sins, where we were once wallowing in rebellion against God, to the rank and title of Christ’s “Fellows” (Comp. Zech. 3 and Heb. 1).
The blessed One, Who one day was to bow His head upon the cross and say: “It is finished,” had accomplished His work with Adam. He awoke from his sleep, and was no longer alone. Before him stood the “woman,” taken from the man, and his beautiful “help-meet.” There she stood before Adam, in her virginal beauty, amongst the beauties of the undefiled young creation around Adam, she the fairest and purest of all. From that moment, the garden of Eden was to Adam not only the “Garden of the Lord,” Who had planted it, but a paradise; for that blessed God, “Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy,” had given him a companion, to enjoy its beauties and abundance, knowing that joy, without one to share it, is but selfish, and therefore no real joy. His own self, though not yet wretched, sinful self, lost itself in another being, his equal, sprung from himself, “Bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.” And as she was taken out of his side, so they were “One heart and one soul.” When Adam looked around him at the beautiful scene, over which the Lord God had placed him as the center and head, and when he tasted of the abundance of the garden of the Lord, there was one, the fairest of all, at his side to share it, whose face reflected every joyful emotion of his own heart, and whose eyes reflected every sunbeam from his own, of an affection, sinless and pure, as it had been planted in their hearts by that blessed God, Who is love, as He is light.
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth.”
Thus, God had formed and consecrated with His own blessing the sacred tie of marriage, as the first relationship among men upon the earth, He, Who created man in His own image, had made them male and female, and said “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.”
Therefore, they were no more twain, but one flesh. What God Himself joined, none was to put asunder. Thus, it was “from the beginning.”
But there was one to whom the garden of the Lord, with its happy human inmates, amidst that blissful scene of light, peace, love, and harmony, was an eyesore, for it reminded Him of a still brighter, higher and happier place which he had forfeited. Through his own wicked error he had fallen from his own steadfastness. And ever since his character had been to envy and hate everything that was of God, and therefore good, and to try and defile and destroy everything which God had established in and for blessing. He determined to blight that fair and happy scene and its inmates with his poisonous breath of sin, and not only so, but to dislodge Adam from his seat of supremacy, and to usurp his place as the prince of the world, by making man to obey him, and to disobey God, and to believe him who made God a liar. And when the sun was shining, through the verdant branches, on the golden fruits of the trees of the Paradise, and upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that was in the midst of the garden, the serpent made its noiseless approach, and began the attack upon the weaker part: the woman taken out of man. The very first word (“yea”) implied: suggestion, and the very first sentence a suggestion and suspicion against God’s goodness, until it waxed bolder, and made God a liar, man not only permitting it, but acting upon it. Alas the old tale is ever new, and will be, to the end of the chapter.
The woman was deceived; instead of being Adam’s helpmeet, she lent herself an instrument to Satan, to make her husband share in her transgression. It was done step by step. She listened to Satan—she spoke to Satan—she believed Satan—she looked at the forbidden tree—she lusted after its fruit—she “took of the fruit thereof”—” and did eat “—” and gave to her husband and he did eat.”
Lust had conceived and brought forth sin, and sin, when it was finished, brought forth death.
Satan, whose constant aim it was and is, to defy and frustrate the counsels of God, seemed to have succeeded. He had dethroned Adam, and substituted himself as the prince of the world. But the moment of his triumph is always the moment of his defeat, for the greater glory of God. No sooner is the first Adam brought to fall, then the last Adam appears, in the promise of the “woman’s seed,” Who was to bruise the head of the serpent, that was to bruise His heel. The greatest of God’s glories, the glory and riches of His grace in redeeming love, is brought to light, through Satan’s instrumentality; and God’ s great plan: “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times lie might gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,” instead of being frustrated by Adam’s fall, that fall, sad as it was, only becomes, in God’s hand, the first steppingstone for its accomplishment. (Comp. Psa. 8, and Heb. 2.) It was the same at the Cross. When Satan seemed to triumph over the last Adam, having put him to death, slain by wicked hands, it was only to find himself, like Goliath, beheaded with his own sword, when He, who had taken part of flesh and blood, through death destroyed him, that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by it (i.e. the Cross.) That same Cross, where Satan and his satellites appeared to triumph, when their shout of derision arose,” Aha! so would we have it,” became, according to God’s wondrous counsels, not only the gate of heavenly glory in a heavenly Paradise, with the blessed last Adam, with Whom the dying thief went in company straight up to that Paradise; but in that wondrous 22nd Psalm, which opens with the cry of the Forsaken One upon the Cross, we find the Cross, at the end, to be also the gate forever widening blessing flowing, from and through it, as the entrance for the earthly blessings in the millennial paradise for God’s earthly people, “when the meek shall eat and be satisfied; when they shall praise the Lord that seek Him,” and their soul “shall live forever,” until, at last, all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him.” “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he is the governor among the nations.” – (the true Joseph.) “All they that be fat upon earth, shall eat and worship, all they that go down to the dust, shall bow before Him, and none can keep alive his own soul.” Then, the Son of Man, Who, in the days of His humiliation, as Jesus of Nazareth, was made a little lower than the angels, and Whom the eye of faith now sees crowned with glory and honor, will, “in the dispensation of the fullness of times, appear as the last Adam, the glorified Man, coming from His heavenly paradise (where the marriage-supper of the Lamb has just been celebrated), on the white horses of victory, setting out with His bride, for His earthward journey towards a millennial paradise, His head encircled with many crowns, as “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Then, after His enemies have been made His footstool, the counsels of God, as foreshadowed in the first Adam, will be accomplished in the Last. Then Israel, His earthly people, after their night of sorrow will see Him, Whom they pierced, and their tears of deepest contrition and repentance, will change into tears of joy; “weeping endureth for a night and joy cometh in the morning,” and the great Coronation Shout will arise, when their Deliverer’s feet shall tread on the Mount of Olives: “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!” Then God’s plan, as to man’s dominion over the earth not only, but over the higher creation, will be fully realized in Christ, the Second Man, Who is the Lord from heaven.
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
But though the heart loves to look onward to that happy time, when God’s blessed counsels as to man, all of which center in that ever Blessed and ever Perfect Man, Jesus of Nazareth, Who alone could accomplish and has accomplished them by the blood of His Cross, will be fulfilled, we must recall ourselves from our digression, to our present humbling and sorrowful subject-man’s fall amidst the abundance of an earthly paradise.
Sin had entered into the world. Satan had succeeded in dethroning man and taken his place as prince of this world. The kingdom of darkness began. The young creation, scarcely sprung into existence, had been nipped in the bud by the withering blast of sin, and under the poisonous blight that had fallen upon it, the first bloom of its young beauty died away. Created things, though still pleasant, now began to bear death’s stamp, and instead of the sweet tone of peaceful harmony, that had pervaded the whole, the groan of sorrow and pain went up to heaven from the suffering creation, that had become subject to vanity and to the bondage of corruption for man’s sake.
Man, fallen and dethroned, became an exile forever from his former happy home, driven out from thy garden of Eden by a merciful God, lest he should eat also of the tree of life, and thus perpetuate his misery on the cursed ground of the earth. The paradise, and the befitting garment of innocence had been lost, never to be recovered.
The second garment (in Gen. 3) —man’s own outfit and stitch work—had only discovered his nakedness and shame, instead of concealing it. But God did not expel Adam and his wife from the garden of Eden, without clothing their nakedness with the third, i.e., the garment of His own make and provision, the very character of which was, at the same time, the typical expression of that great gospel-truth, which, like Rahab’s scarlet line, runs through the whole Word of God, from Abel’s sacrifice, until the Book of Revelation, that is: “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” Its very material was thus the practical illustration, as it were, of the first gospel, announced by a merciful God Himself—not unto Adam (for he had not only sinned, but attempted to excuse himself, nay, to accuse God Himself, in an indirect way), but in Adam’s hearing, (for God is both holy and gracious, blessed be His Name 1) and in the form of judgment upon the serpent.
“Soon as the reign of sin began,
The light of mercy dawn’d on man;
When God announced the blessed news;
The woman’s seed thy head shall bruise.”
True and righteous, indeed, are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! Grace and righteousness are perfectly combined, may it be in government, or in redemption. By the woman’s instrumentality the serpent had introduced sin into the world and ruined man; and “the woman seed,” was to bruise his head and to rescue fallen man. But grace must reign through righteousness. Righteousness and peace were to meet, mercy and truth to kiss each other one day upon the Cross, where the same, Who clothed Adam and Eve, and announced the first glad tidings in their hearing, was to die, the Just for the unjust, to bring a fallen and hostile race back unto God, by faith in His blood, and reconcile them by the blood of His cross.
But, though God is love, He is also light, i.e., He is holy and true. Therefore, after having announced. those first glad tidings, in fallen man’s hearing, in His crushing judgment upon the serpent, as the author and root of all evil, He proceeds to pass His righteous sentence upon Adam and his wife: first upon the woman-for she was the first to sin; nay, she had also persuaded her husband into it, which appears to be evident from the words the Lord spoke to Adam; “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,” &c. Therefore sentence is first passed upon her. How invariable, from the very first, are God’s eternal principles in judgment, as in all His ways His solemn sentence runs thus:-” I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shat bring forth children: (what a difference to His first words to Adam and his wife in the 28th verse of the first chapter of Genesis!) and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee,”
True and righteous, indeed, are His judgments! Where she had sinned, there she was punished. Her lust had conceived and brought forth sin; therefore her sorrow and conception was greatly to be multiplied, and in sorrow she was to bring forth children; she had forgotten her place as Adam’s “help-meet,” and taking the lead, had misled him into that terrible first sin of disobedience against God, and thus ruined his and her own happiness forever! Therefore God’s just sentence is—” Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
Was then Adam’s guilt attenuated by his wife’s sin? Far from it On the contrary, the very thing he alleges as an excuse (“the woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat,”) God pronounces to be the reason for Adam’s judgment, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy “[not for her]” sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it thou vast taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Thus we see, that the responsibility of the man’s guilt, instead of being shifted on the woman, or, at the least shared by her, because of her having taken the initiative, only falls with its full, yea, redoubled weight upon Adam, because he had permitted her to do so. If the man Adam failed to maintain his place as the head of the woman, which he was from a creatural reason, (comp. 1 Cor. 11) even before sin had come in, this only increased his guilt, as said already, instead of attenuating it. (“Because thou hest harkened to the voice of thy wife,” etc.) The commandment, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, had not been given to the woman, but to the man, before the woman had come into existence. Therefore, the full weight of responsibility rested upon Adam in every sense. The brighter and higher his position had been, as head of the lower creation, and as head of the woman, the darker was his sin, and the deeper his fall. “Because thou” (not you) “hast eaten of the tree,” and “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” etc. (Comp. Rom. 5:12-19.)
Then, under the weight of that solemn sentence of God, the fallen man and his wife took their tearful leave of that beautiful garden of the Lord, lost forever to them through their folly and sin. But the weight had been relieved through God’s merciful promise. For the same Divine Voice, that had said to Adam: “Cursed be the ground for thy sake,” had also spoken to the serpent, “Thou art cursed,” etc., and “The woman’s seed shall bruise thy head.”
That gracious promise had not been lost upon Adam’s ear, and they took the relief it gave to their souls, with them, on entering upon a world and life of sorrow and care. Adam, no doubt, by faith in that promise, called his wife “Eve,” (Hebr. “Chavah “) i.e., “living” “because she was the mother of all living.”
And after his faith had begun to be answered, in the temporal sense, by Eve having borne children to Adam, and they had thus entered upon the second family-relationship, provided by a merciful God the happy but responsible relationship of parents and children; do you not think, Christian reader, that both parents, when they, resting from the toil of the day, under the shelter of their poor abode, told their growing sons, along with the solemn and humbling tale of that lost paradise, and the cause of its loss, and the effect of it, as a warning to their young consciences, also told them of those words of God’s gospel-promise, which they had been permitted to listen to, before they as exiles, had to enter upon their new existence of sorrow and toil? Those words had sunk down into the ears of Abel; and his sacrifice, to which God had respect, and by which he obtained witness, that he was righteous, and by which he, “being dead yet speaketh,” showed, how deeply the words he had heard from his parents, had been lodged in Abel’s conscience and heart. It was otherwise with Cain, alas! He was Eve’s first-born, and she said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord “How far motherly pride and natural affection may have influenced the training of the child, and thus prevented the good seed falling into good ground, is a question we cannot enter upon here.
We must leave now the sorrowful abode and family of our first parents, the exiles from a lost paradise, to turn to a brighter and happier abode; I mean the Christian’s Family and Household.
Though still amidst a world of toil and sorrow, yea, of evil increasing everywhere; yet what a privileged, bright and safe abode is that of the Christian family and household! Ah! beloved fellow-Christian! That word of God’s Gospel-promise, pronounced in the paradise, has been fulfilled more than 1800 years ago. “The woman’s seed has bruised the serpent’s head.” For unto us also, though once sinners of the Gentiles, “strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,” yet partakers of the unconditional gospel-promise, pronounced by a merciful God in fallen Adam’s hearing:-unto us also “a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful—Counselor—The Mighty God—The Everlasting Father—The Prince of Peace.” He, Who came, and will come a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel, has made peace by the Blood of His Cross, and given unto us His Spirit, Whose mind is life and peace, and Whose fruit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” all of them qualities that characterize the atmosphere, and form the only true adornment and comforts of a Christian household and family. But let us now turn to a closer consideration of the first of those Christian family-relationships, with which the Holy Spirit deals in our chapter. (Eph. 5)
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body.” (v. 22. 23.)
“Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 3:18.)
In the preceding chapter I have entered fully into the difference between submission and obedience, and the meaning of the expression: “in the fear of Christ.” And I can but trust and pray to God, that those few remarks I have ventured to offer, however imperfect, may have been according to the Lord’s mind, and profitable to the souls of my readers and to my own. For that verse (21) forms the true threshold for entering upon our meditations on our Christian family relationships. They can only be profitable, if we enter upon them with a mind, hallowed and impressed by those words: “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.”
The first word, that follows after “wives” in both the above passages of scripture, is “submit.” It is the same in the Epistle of the Apostle Peter. Those two words thus closely connected by the Spirit, express the mind and will of God as to the “wives” character and position. Subjection and submissiveness, indeed, form the character of every truly godly woman, especially of those in the sacred and blessed relationship of marriage. As I have spoken extensively on the meaning of the word: submission, and the difference between submission and obedience, I only say once more, that, though submission and not obedience, is given in Eph. and Col. as the prominent Christian feature of the wives, from the reasons already mentioned, yet obedience forms no less an essential part of the Divinely required demeanor and character of the Christian “wife,” as we shall see presently in the passage from 1 Peter 3 previously alluded to. How, indeed, could any contrary thought be admitted into the mind of any, with the words of that solemn sentence of the Lord God, to which we have just listened, still ringing in our ears, as it were.
Now, there are three reasons in Scripture for the subordinate place, in which it has pleased the Lord God, to place the woman:
1. On Creation ground;
2. On governmental ground
3. On Church ground.
The first of them the Spirit of God gives us in 1 Cor. 11 where the divine injunction for the woman to have a “cover” on her head (as a sign that she is under authority), is connected, not with her being the first in the transgression, but with her position in creation, before sin had entered the world. v. 3-9, in connection with v.10, show this clearly. But we had better read the whole passage:
“But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth, with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head; for that is even all one, as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man, indeed, ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power “(or, as the margin says a covering, in sign, that she is under the power of her husband) “on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man walnut the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.”
Thus we see, even from the natural point of view, God expressing His mind in most unmistakable language, and branding with the mark of shame every woman who, even if only in her garment, disowns the place in which the Lord has put her. I can but refer to what has been said already on this subject in Ch. when speaking on the principle of divine order.
I am afraid, that in some places on the continent these divine injunctions, as to the woman’s attire, are not regarded as they ought to be. We know that national habit and attire have a great deal to do with this irregularity (if it can be called by such a mild name), and therefore Christians in those assemblies are accustomed to see women make their appearance bareheaded in the “House of the living God,” or, as is often the case, removing the head cover, on entering, as if a decent attire in the street were of more importance than in the presence of God. But national habit and attire cannot be admitted in divine matters, especially in the church of God, as a plea for a custom, which constitutes a flat and standing contradiction to the distinctly expressed will of God, announced by His Spirit in the above passages to Christian women of all times and nations. The plea, that no offense is given to their brethren there, by their doing so, fails entirely. For the divine injunction, given by the Spirit, is not because of their brethren, but “because of the angels.” And are those pure heavenly attendants at the Divine courts above, whose very character it is, to do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word “; are those blessed and devoted “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,” and who “desire to look into these things,” less to be regarded than our fellow Christians? To me, when reading those words: “because of the angels,” it always was and is a solemn and yet most happy thought, that besides Himself, Whose presence alone is light, life and happiness, those blessed, pure, holy, heavenly messengers are present at the assemblies of God, to study the manifold wisdom of God in His Church with adoring hearts, and with their devoted and tender interest in everything that is passing there, because it concerns the glory of God and the welfare of His saints.
Truisms, such as: “a cover on the heart is better than a mere cover on the head,” will not avail to cover outward disobedience; for where there is inward obedience and submission, it will be sure to appear outwardly too; and where the heart is under the power and authority of the word of God, the “power “on the head will not be refused. I feel quite sure, that this is done unintentionally, from a want of spiritual understanding of the bearing of that important and so much neglected portion of divine truth (I mean 1 Cor. 11), but neglect or carelessness can be no excuse for disobedience to divine injunctions, just as little as the concluding words of the Apostle: “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God,” could be used as an encouragement for disregarding the injunctions just given by himself, as inspired by the Holy Ghost. Those words are merely added, by the grace of God in the writer, to put a check upon the contentious spirit of the Corinthians, and guard them against undue legal pressure upon the consciences of their sisters in Christ; as this, after all, could never be made a matter of church discipline. Therefore the Apostle does not speak here the authoritative language of an apostle of Jesus Christ, as in that case of the flagrant evil (1 Cor. 5), but he appeals to their own judgment; “Judge in yourselves: is it comely, that a woman pray unto God uncovered.”
But to any godly woman under the sense of divine grace and truth, the apostle’s speaking thus in grace, would not, in the least weaken, but, on the contrary, serve to increase her solemn sense of responsibility as to the divine truth, taught and insisted on in the above important passage of Holy Writ.
The second reason, adduced for the woman’s place of subjection, is governmental. We find this (besides the solemn sentence of the Lord God in Gen. 3:16) in 1 Tim. 2:11-14, where we have (v. 13), also the creatural aspect:
“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, (comp. Gen. 3:16), if they continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety.”
It is not the purport of these pages, to enter upon the first part of the above portion of Holy Scripture, as to women’s teaching in the church, much less can it be one’s desire, to refer to those itinerating female preachers, who, on the stages of theaters, and on the platforms of town-halls, expose themselves night after night to the public gaze, some of them with a number of little children at home, or, what is worse, exhibiting their daughters at a tender age, as a spectacle to men, but not angels.
It is a relief to turn away from such, to a brighter and happier scene of Divine and patriarchal simplicity. I have alluded to it already I mean the eighteenth chapter of the book of Genesis, to which the Spirit of God delights to point, through the inspired pen of the apostle Peter, as a pattern scene for all who desire, as true daughters of Sarah, to win “without the word,” by “the conversation of the wives,’ them that “obey not the word, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. “That precious scene, to which every heart. taught by grace divine, ever returns for fresh blessing, will, at the same time furnish us with a practical illustration of what I have said about outward and inward obedience.
We find there the Lord of Glory, with two of His holy angels, honoring with His presence the humble abode of His servant Abraham, resting under the tree that overshadowed Abraham’s tent, and accepting of His hospitality.
Sarah is not visible. She is in the tent; in her proper place and sphere. Abraham hastens into the tent unto Sarah and says: “Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes upon the hearth.” According to modern notions of the meaning and limits of “he shall rule over thee,” those words of Abraham would have constituted a flagrant interference with his wife’s duties, and would have evoked a decided remonstrance from many a—shall we say, “daughter of Sarah?” But Sarah (who had no bible, and therefore had not read the third chapter of Geneses) simply obeys. We read further: “And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, and he halted to dress it.”
In that patriarchal household, there was simple, unquestioning, swift and willing obedience everywhere. The Lord delights to visit such homesteads, for He is a God of order. No wonder then, that He, having seen Abraham’s well ordered household, where everybody and everything was, and moved in their proper sphere, should say, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For 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; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
But we return to Sarah; for she, not Abraham, is just now the sweet and attractive object of our attention. Her modest and unobtrusive retirement within the tent, does not deprive her of her heavenly master’s and His two companion’s attention and honorable distinction.
“And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.”
Sarah then betrays her weakness of faith in Him, for Whom there is nothing too hard, and receives a gentle rebuke from the Lord for her unbelief. But there appears to me something exceedingly beautiful in the simple fact, that not only in that most instructive eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews (where Sarah, like all those presented to us in that divine picture-gallery of witnesses of faith, has obtained a good report), but also in that beautiful portion of the first epistle of the apostle Peter (3:1-6), referred to in our previous chapter, no mention whatever is made of Sarah’s failure. And why? Not only because of her outward submission and obedience to her husband, so simply and beautifully appearing in the above quoted portion (Gen. 18.), but because Sarah’s obedience was that “of a meek and quiet spirit;” it was an obedience of the heart. I must remind the reader of what I have said a few pages before, as to the difference between inward and outward obedience. Thus Sarah, in Peter’s epistle, again obtains a good report, not as a witness of faith, but as a pattern of true godly womanhood, in real heartfelt submission and obedience to the husband, because her submission and obedience were inward and therefore real.
Thus it is, that the failures as to faith, and even truthfulness (“for she was afraid”), are not recorded by the Holy Ghost in this precious portion (1 Pet. 3) though in Genesis she is rebuked for both by Him, Who is and was always “He that is holy and He that is true.” The way, in which the really inward obedience of the heart, that was in Sarah, is brought out in our portion by the Spirit of Him Who searches the reins and the hearts, and hears men’s thoughts, is of exquisite beauty.
On the Lord’s promise given to Abraham, that Sarah his wife, who was, like himself, past age, was to have a son, Sarah, who was in the tent door behind Him, on hearing this, “laughed within herself, saying, after I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? “
It is clear from these words, that Sarah’s words as well as her laughter were within herself, i.e. not uttered audibly (Comp. Chapter 17). Therefore Sarah’s words, “My Lord,” as applied to her husband, were not uttered aloud at the time they were spoken; she only spoke them within. What a proof then, that, with her, those words were not a meaningless confession of the lips, but came in reality from the thoroughly submissive and obedient heart of a truly godly wife.
Little did Sarah think, when speaking thus to herself, that those words, “My Lord,” whispered in the secret chamber of her heart, should, two thousand years after, be recorded in Holy Writ, by the Spirit of Him, Who was then her husband’s guest, as a pattern for godly women of all ages, of genuine submission and obedience of the heart, that it might be spoken of throughout the world, for a memorial of her. Thus it is God owns and honors true obedience of the heart. And where this is, there will be always ready submission in words and action.
But let the word of the living God speak itself to the hearts of those of my much beloved and esteemed Christian readers, to whom this portion of Holy Writ is especially addressed, and may the Holy Spirit, who has written them, engrave them on their hearts and consciences;
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel.”
“But let it be the hidden man, of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
“For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.”
“Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.”
There are, therefore, three qualities, which would characterize a true “daughter of Sarah,” i.e. every godly Christian wife, namely:-
1. Submission and obedience to her husband’s rule. As the woman was the first to dishonor God by introducing disobedience into the world; so a godly woman will be the first to glorify God in the world by obedience.
2. The second quality of “Sarah’s daughter” is “doing well,” i.e., good works.
We find this beautiful and blessed quality of a godly woman also in the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy, Ch, 2:9, 10 (a portion of which I have quoted already):
“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;”
“But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”
3. “Not afraid with any amazement.” This, at the first aspect, might appear strange to some, as fear and timidity, and not courage or boldness, forms the woman’s natural character. But we must not forget, that natural timidity has nothing to do with the quiet courage of faith, that forms a part of our new nature, if in the healthy exercise of faithful dependence, without difference of sex, because there is no male nor female as to the new nature. And whilst it is true, that there is nothing more repugnant and hideous than mere natural boldness in a woman, yet it is, at the same time, a well-known truth, borne out by historical facts of all ages, especially in the history of female martyrs during the persecutions of the earlier Christians, that the most godly, gentle, obedient and submissive women have been, at the same time, those who have given to the world and to angels the wondrous spectacle of a quiet courage of faith, which made them, amidst the most cruel tortures and excruciating suffering, rise superior not only to the fears of their nature, but to the terrors of a persecution, which, as to the most terrible circumstances, were in nothing behind those of the death of Stephen or other faithful martyrs.
As a historical illustration of what I have said, I give here, from a most valuable work on Church history, an account of the martyrdom of Perpetua, who suffered the death of a martyr in Africa, during the persecution under the Roman Emperor Severna:
“Perpetua and her companions in all histories hold a distinguished place. The history of their martyrdom not only bears throughout the stamp of circumstantial truth, but abounds with the most exquisite touches of natural feeling and affection. Here we see the beautiful combination of the tenderest feelings and the strongest affections, which Christianity recognizes in all their rights, and makes even more profound and tender, but yet causes all to be sacrificed on the altar of entire devotedness to Him, Who died entirely devoted to us. “Who loved me,” as appropriating faith says, “and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20.
“ t Carthage, in the year 202, three young men, Revocatus, Saturnius, and Secundulus, and two young women, Perpetua and Felicitas, were arrested, all of them being still catechumens, or candidates for baptism and communion. Perpetua was of a good family, wealthy and noble, of liberal education, and honorably married. She was about twenty-two years of age, and was a mother, with her child at the breast. Her whole family seem to have been Christians, except her aged father, who was still a pagan. Nothing is said of her husband. Her father was passionately fond of her, and greatly dreaded the disgrace that her sufferings for Christ would bring on her family. So that she had not only death in its most frightful form to struggle with, but every sacred tie of nature.
When she was first brought before her persecutors, her aged father came and urged her to recant, and say, she was not a Christian. Father,’ she calmly replied, pointing to a vessel that lay on the ground, “can I call this vessel anything else than what it is?” “No,” he replied. “Neither can I say to you anything else than that I am a Christian.” A few days after this the young Christians were baptized. Though they were under guard, they were not committed to prison. But shortly after this, they were thrown into the dungeon. “Then,” she says, “I was tempted, I was terrified, for I had never been in such darkness before. Oh! what a dreadful day! The excessive heat occasioned by the number of persons, the rough treatment of the soldiers, and finally, anxiety for my child made me miserable.” The deacons, however, succeeded in purchasing for the Christian prisoners;) better apartment, where they were separated from the common criminals. Such advantages could usually be purchased from the venal overseers of prisons. Perpetua was now cheered by having her child brought to her. She placed it on her breast and exclaimed, “Now this prison has become a palace to me!”
After a few days there was a rumor that the prisoners were to be examined. The father hastened to his daughter in great distress of mind. “My daughter,” he said,” pity my gray hairs, pity thy father, if I am still worthy to be called thy father. If I have brought thee up to this bloom of thy age, if I have preferred thee above all thy brothers, expose me not to such shame among men. Look upon thy child—thy son—who, if thou diest, cannot long survive thee. Let thy lofty spirit give way, lest thou plunge us all into ruin. For if thou diest thus, not one of us will ever have courage again to speak a free word.” Whilst saying this he kissed her hands, threw himself at her feet, entreating her with terms of endearment, and many tears. But though greatly moved and pained by the sight of her father, and his strong and tender affection for her, she was calm and firm, and felt chiefly concerned for the good of his soul. “My father’s gray hairs,” she said, “pained me, when I considered that he alone of my family would not rejoice in my martyrdom.” “What shall happen,” she said to him, “when I come before the tribunal, depends on the will of God; for we stand not in our own strength, but only by the power of God.”
“On the arrival of the decisive hour—the last day of their trial—an immense multitude was assembled. The aged father again appeared, that he might, for the last time, try his utmost to overcome the resolution of his daughter. On this occasion he brought her infant son in his arms and stood before her. What a moment! ‘What a spectacle! Her aged father, his gray hairs, her tender infant, to say nothing of his agonizing importunities; what an appeal to a daughter—to a young mother’s heart! “Have pity on thy father’s gray hairs,” said the governor, “have pity on thy helpless child; offer sacrifice for the welfare of the Emperor.” Thus she stood before the tribunal, before the assembled multitude, before the admiring myriads of heaven, before the frowning hosts of hell. But Perpetua was calm and firm. Like Abraham of old, the father of the faithful, her eye was not now on her son, but on the God of resurrection, Having commended her child to her mother and her brother, she answered the governor and said,
“That I cannot do.” Art thou a Christian? “he asked. “Yes.” she replied, “I am a Christian.” Her fate was now decided. They were all condemned to serve as a cruel sport for the people and the soldiers, in a fight with wild beasts, on the anniversary of young Geta’s birthday. They returned to their dungeon, rejoicing that they were thus enabled to witness and suffer for Jesus’ sake. The gaoler, Pudas, was converted by means of the tranquil behavior of his prisoners.”
“When led forth into the amphitheater, the martyrs were observed to have a peaceful and joyful appearance. According to a custom, which prevailed in Carthage, the men should have been clothed in scarlet like the priests of Saturn, and the women in yellow as the priestesses of Ceres; but the prisoners protested against such a proceeding. “We have come here,” they said,” of our own choice, that we may not suffer our freedom to be taken from us; we have given up our lives, that we may not be forced to such abominations.” The pagans acknowledged the justice of their demand, and yielded. After taking leave of each other with the mutual kiss of Christian love, in the certain hope of soon meeting again, as “absent from the body and present with the Lord,” they came forward to the scene of death in their simple attire. Their voice of praise to God was heard by the spectators. Perpetua was singing a psalm. The men were exposed to lions, bears, and leopards; the women were tossed by a furious cow. But all were speedily released from their sufferings by the sword of the gladiator, and entered into the joy of their Lord.”
I have given this touching account of Perpetua’s martyrdom, though her relationship as wife does not appear in it, but only that of daughter and mother.
But it suffices to illustrate the truth of what the apostle Peter gives as one of the characteristics of every true daughter of Sarah, that is, not to be afraid with any amazement. Wherever there is in a Christian woman true subjection and obedience of heart to the Lord, the Head in glory, and consequently to the husband, whom the Lord has given to her as her head on earth, there will be, coupled with true womanlike gentleness, always that quiet firmness and courage of faith, which is the result of true dependence upon, and communion with God, where alone the secret of His strength can be learned and is imparted. Thus the words “not afraid with any amazement,” (i.e. “consternation “) mean that quality of a godly wife, which keeps her from being alarmed and terrified by her adversaries, may they be adversaries without, as in Phil. 1:28, (and to this, it appears, the apostle here alludes) or, what is still worse, if the husband himself was an adversary of the divine truth.
For however much, under grace, the Christian wife was, and is bound to obey her husband implicitly, even if he was a heathen, or, as to our present age, an enemy and opponent of the truth, it needs hardly be said, that, where obedience to the husband’s will is demanded from her, in distinct contradiction and opposition to God and His Word, the word always holds good: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” For the wives are told, to submit themselves unto their own husbands “as unto the Lord,” and “as it is fit in the Lord.” The meaning of these words is unmistakable. The former of these expressions: “as unto the Lord,” points the godly “wives” rather to the supreme authority of Him, Who is our Liege Lord, and Who, when appointing Adam to be lord and ruler over his wife, certainly did not mean, to hand to the fallen and sinful man His own supreme Authority as sovereign Ruler and Lord over both Adam and Eve, his wife. Those words (Eph. 5), therefore “as unto the Lord,” put the Blessed Person of the Lord Jesus Christ (not the person of the husband) as the paramount object before the heart and conscience of the Christian” wives,” as the One, for Whom and to Whom they have to do everything. If the eye of faith in, and of affection to the Lord Jesus sees Him behind the husband, how happy and easy it is to obey the latter, especially if he should be a hard, unkind, exacting husband, or even an opponent and enemy of the truth. As another has observed very truly.
“In this Epistle (Ephesians) it is not merely God’s control that is brought out, but special relationship. Here it is the Lord loving His own, with a love that has sacrificed everything for their sake. How can I doubt the blessedness and value of submitting myself to the Lord? The Christian wife may have a husband; and it may be very painful and hard to bear all; perhaps he makes nothing of you, and asks often what is unreasonable. But what will make it to be a light burden? “Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.” Let me only see the Lord in the matter, instead of his inconsiderateness and bad temper, and my path is plain. I am to submit unto my husband as unto the Lord. It is made a matter not of mere duty, but of confidence in the Lord above everything—in His love, care and government. This is what the Holy Ghost first starts with, and makes it to be the best of all the various instructions that He is about to bring forth. He begins with the grand truth, that the Christian woman is entitled, to submit to her husband as unto the Lord. So that it is not made a question simply of affection, which would be human. This is a most necessary thing as a natural element, but it would be true if a person were not a Christian at all. Neither is it a question of that which the husband expects, or of what I might think to be right. All these things belong to the region of proper feelings and morality. But the important thing is, that God cannot be with a Christian woman who walks m the habitual slighting of His ground for her in her relationship as a wife. He will not allow a Christian to walk merely on moral conventional grounds. They may be right enough in their place. But if I am a Christian, I have a higher calling; and then, no matter, what may be the difficulty—even if the one to whom I owe my subjection, be not a Christian —here comes in the blessed guard: “Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as into the Lord.” He entitles me, to see Himself behind the person of the husband, and I have got to follow Him and submit myself to him. In this thought there would be great comfort for the Christian wife, who is ever so tried.”
But those blessed words: “as unto the Lord,” have not only a positive meaning as to trueness of heart to the Person of Him, who gave Himself for us. They have also a negative meaning, as to faithfulness of conscience to Him, “that is holy, and that is true,” as to negating, i.e. saying “no “to anything that would involve positive sin, i.e. disobedience to the Lord’s will, as expressed in His awn word. I say purposely: “as expressed in His own word.” For our nature is so much inclined to say” no “to anything that interferes with our own will, and the subtle encroachments of the flesh, especially the religious flesh, that would gladly avail itself of any excuse for having its own way, are so many, that we cannot be too much on our guard, whenever we feel tempted to be disobedient to those, whom God has placed in authority over us I mean words such as these; “Here disobedience becomes a duty,” often heard in cases of an apparent conflict between divine and human authority. I am always afraid, there is something wrong, when I hear such language. The word of God never puts it thus. It tells us be obedient to those in authority over us, but it tells us nowhere to be disobedient to them. For disobedience is sin, and God is not the author of sin. Such was not the language of Peter and John, when they found themselves in such a conflict. Their words, when before the authorities: “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,”—sound very different from words like those, referred to above.
At the same time, we must always remember what is said in Col. 3 where we find the same divine injunction given to the wives, only with this difference: “as it is fit in the Lord,” instead of “as unto the Lord.” This would more distinctly imply, what I have called the negative side of the expression, used in Eph. 5 “as unto the Lord.” For here it is not only the Lord’s Person (“unto the Lord”) but the demeanor, becoming the handmaid of such a Master, that is applied to the conscience of the Christian “wives.” There is a deep meaning and great force for the heart and conscience of a truly godly “wife “in those two expressions, “as unto the Lord “and, “as it is fit in the Lord.”
I have just given an instance, in the case of Perpetua, of true-heartedness to the Lord, amidst, and triumphing over the circumstances of martyrdom, so terrible to nature, and yet blended with the most tender and touching expression of natural affections as daughter and mother, but sacrificing all to the lover of her soul, who not only loveth His own unto the end but Whose love is strong as death, Who “has washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and. priests unto God and his Father; to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
I now desire to call to my reader’s memory, in a few words, the domestic Christian virtues of a godly “wife,” who, in the stormy times of the Reformation, shed through her household the peaceful light of a truly pious Christian “wife,” as a practical illustration of what is “fit in the Lord.” I mean Catherine von Bora, the wife of Luther. Well known though the incidents of her life may be to my readers, yet perhaps they will bear with me, if I recall to their mind the picture of one, whose life was such a beautiful illustration of those words of the wise, inspired king:
“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou exceedest them all. Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”
“Luther himself,” says one of his biographers, “speaks of his marriage as a happy one.” True, the sex did not then receive the same delicate regard, which is shown to it among us at the present time. Plain and simple honesty, in striking contrast with modern French manners, characterized the age of the Reformation, and connected with this, the decided tone, in which the husband was then accustomed to speak as the master of the household. The obedience of the wife was a matter of direct and simple reality, and was spoken of as such without circumlocution or ambiguity.... Luther, too, was a man who told all his private thoughts and feelings, and it would be strange indeed, if a man of such a temperament should never see nor mention a wife’s little imperfections. He at one time remarks “Katy is kind, submissive in all things, and pleasing; more so (thank God) than I could hope, so that I would not exchange my poverty for the riches of Cresus.” Again he says, in 1538, thirteen years after his marriage: “Even if I were a young man, I would sooner die than marry a second time, knowing what I do of the world, though a queen should be offered me after my Katy.” “A more obedient wife,” he observes again, “I could not find, unless I were to chisel one out of marble.” And again, “I prize her above the kingdom of France or the State of Venice; she is a pious, good wife, given me of God.”
If we wish to see his creed in respect to a wife’s place in a household, we have it undoubtedly in these words, addressed once to “his Katy,” as he was fond of calling her: “You may persuade to anything you wish; you have perfect control,” to which was added, by way of explanation, “in household affairs. I give you the entire control, my authority being unabated.”
As a practical commentary on these words of Luther, I give the following little incident from the same source:
“A student, who had finished his course of study, and was about to leave Wittenberg penniless, came to Luther for a little aid. But Luther’s pocket was empty, and his wife, who was present, was as destitute of money. Luther expressed his regret, that he was unable to render him any assistance. But as he observed the sadness of the young man, his eye fell on a silver goblet, which he had received as a present from the Elector. He looked at his wife inquiringly, and she returned a look which meant: ‘ No.’ He, however, took the costly gift and gave it to the student. The latter refused it, and Katy seized the opportunity of interposing another significant look. Luther said, ‘ I have no need of silver cups; take it to the goldsmith, and get what you can for it, and retain the money. ‘“
Luther complained of being invited so often from home. He preferred to be more in his own family circle. He loved to sit in his own garden, his wife with her work at his side, and his children enjoying their sports. “The best gift of God,” he said, “is a pious and amiable wife, who fears God, loves her family, with whom a man may live in peace, and in whom he may safely confide.” When he journeyed, his wife accompanied him if she could. She was often his companion in his study, taking an interest in his writings, and reminding him if he forgot to reply to the letters he received. On one occasion, when writing his commentary on the twenty-second Psalm, he shut himself up, with nothing but bread and salt, for three days and nights, till Catherine was alarmed for him, and caused a blacksmith to open the door, and there they found Luther lost in deep meditation.”
“The sweets of domestic life,” says Merle D’Aubigne, “soon dispersed the storms that the exasperation of his enemies had gathered over him. His Ketha, as he styled her, manifested the tenderest affection towards him, consoled him in his dejection by repeating passages from the Bible, exonerated him from all household cares, sat near him during his leisure moments, worked his portrait in embroidery, and often amused him by the simplicity of her questions. A certain dignity appears to have marked her character, for Luther would sometimes call her My Lord Ketha. His letters overflowed with tenderness for Catherine; he called her his dear and gracious wife, his dear and amiable Ketha. Luther’s character became more cheerful in Catherine’s society, and this happy frame of mind never deserted him afterward, even in the midst of his greatest trials.”
“In his temporary illness in 1526,” says another of Luther’s biographers, “when it was expected he would leave her a widow with her infant child, she showed remarkable fortitude, as well as faith and patience. `You know,’ he said to her, ‘that I have nothing to leave you but the silver cups.’ ‘My dear doctor,’ she replied, ‘if it is God’s will, then I choose that you be with Him rather than with me. It is not so much I and my child that need you, but many pious Christians. Trouble not yourself about me.’”
“When Luther was at Coburg in 1530, he heard of the illness of his father, and yet his own life was in such peril that he could not safely make the journey to see him. At this both he and Catharine were much distressed. Soon afterward the news of his death reached him. “I have heard,” he says to Link, “of the death of my father, who was so dear and precious to me.” Catharine, to comfort him, sent him a likeness of his favorite daughter Magdalene, then one year old. “You have done a good deed,” says Veit Dietrich, Luther’s amanuensis, “in sending the likeness to the doctor, for by it many of his gloomy thoughts are dissipated. He hath placed it on the wall over against the dining table in the prince’s hall.”
“The foregoing,” continues the same biographer (Dr, Barnas Sears), “are only a few of the evidences of conjugal affection and domestic happiness m the family of Luther, which are to be found in his writings and in those of his contemporaries. Aside from these common frailties, found in the great and good no less than in others, there appears to have been nothing to interrupt the personal happiness of these individuals in each other.”
I trust, my readers will not find these extracts too lengthy, which have given us a glimpse into the family life of the great reformer. They have but furnished another proof that “a prudent wife is from the Lord, and a virtuous woman a crown to her husband.” From that modest Christian homestead of God’s chief witness at those troublous times, around which the “God of this world,” the “prince of the power of the air,” attempted to gather all the clouds and winds at his disposal, and against which he directed his lightnings and thunders, there was a steady light shining, and scattering the darkness, in the power of God’s word and of His Spirit. But not only so. There was, amidst the general corruption of the so-called ministers of Christ in those days, a light shining in and from Luther and his Katy’s dwelling, which told more than the writings and sermons of the Reformers upon the consciences of the people, when they saw with rejoicing how those great God-honored witnesses of truth and the gospel, as husbands and fathers became models of the flock in the most intimate and important relations of life.
I have not given the above historical extracts to make divine truth interesting through history. God forbid! His word, which is truth, does not require the hand of an Uzzah, to support and assert its own power and dignity. But if our Blessed Lord Himself did condescend to use parables and historical allusions, to illustrate and to impress upon the hearts and consciences of those who heard Him, the Divine Truth He taught, and if the Spirit of God in that precious portion of Holy Writ, the eleventh chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, presents to us a divine picture gallery as it were, from sacred history, of those blessed witnesses of faith, by way of practical illustration of the character and power of faith, we cannot be far wrong, if in our feeble measure, we have attempted to do the same, provided this be done in sobriety of truth; for the attempt, so frequent in our times, alas! to spice divine truth with the human ingredients of constant anecdotes, is worse than folly. It is mischievous to the testimony and to souls! It is like the dead flies that cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor.
It is, therefore, simply as a practical illustration of the blessed position, influence, and testimony which is the happy portion and privilege of godly Christian “wives “that we have given the above extracts. Catharina von Bora, Luther’s excellent helpmeet, deserves the greatest honor, because she, as little as her so greatly honored husband, appear to have ever understood and entered into, the divine mystery of the Church of God, as the Body of Christ, as revealed to His great Apostle of the Gentiles, and laid down in His inspired writings. Just as little the Reformers appear to have understood of the truth of the Christian’s heavenly calling and hope, as to the coining of our Blessed Lord. And if with their scanty and clouded knowledge of Church truth Luther’s and Catharina’s homestead appeared so bright (at least, as far as this could be with such a small amount of knowledge) what ought to be the family lives and households of Christians now-a-days, who have been taught and know these wondrous truths, and to whom such a testimony has been committed! I am afraid, not a few of us have to hide our faces in shame and confusion, when considering what poor, feeble, flickering lights have been burning on the candlesticks of our households, so that in the dim light the corners in, often scarcely have been able to discern the Christian family likeness in dig features of such households! “The light “has been neither “clear nor dark.” We cannot add with the prophet, May there be “light at evening time,” for if is the last and darkest hour of the night, and daybreak is near. But is not this the very reason, beloved, why the lights in our households should shine all the brighter, that the Lord, when He cometh, may find our lamps not only “trimmed,” but filled with oil and burning brightly? May the Lord pour upon His Church the “spirit of grace and of supplication,” not only in a general, but individual way, upon “all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.”
We have dwelt at some length on the governmental grounds for the subordinate place assigned in Scripture to the “wives,” for it is an important one. We now come to.
3. The Church ground for the Christian “wives’ place of dependence. This we find in the 23rd and 24th verses of our chapter (Eph. 5):
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so the wives to their own husbands in everything.”
In the preceding (22) verse, as we have Seen, the Spirit of God appeals in a more individual way to the heart of the Christian wife, to submit herself unto her own husband as unto the Lord, i.e., to do it heartily, as unto the Lord (Chapter 6:5, and Col. 3:23). Verse 21 appeals to the conscience and v. 22 to the heart of the Christian “wife.”
First of all we have to notice in our (23) verse, that the husband is not said to be the head of the wife in the (Creation) sense of 1 Cor. 11:3, because “the head of the woman is the man,” but: “even as Christ is the head of the Church.” This ground is just as superior to the former as heaven is higher than the earth. We are here altogether on heavenly ground. Neither is it on the more humbling ground of government, as reminding of sin and its sad consequences as connected with the earth; but we have here, independent, and far above earth and sin, the immutable counsels of God as to the Church, as having been made good by the Cross of Christ, and carried into effect by the power of God, having raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might... “and gave Him to be the Head over all to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.”
What an infinitely superior ground and motive of submission for the Christian “wife,” elevating (if realized by faith) in the same proportion as the two first were humbling, and yet each of them a salubrious and necessary ingredient in the whole compound of this divine receipt for the healing of what sin has done to mankind.
Now those glorious and immutable counsels of God, as to Christ and the Church, have been carried out already, as we know from the above and other portions of Scripture, and through the Spirit Who dwells within us, and by faith, as far as concerns the exaltation of Christ as the Head, and His union with the Church. They have thus far become a blessed fact. I say advisedly, a fact. For the whole force of vv. 23 and 24 lies in the fact, that as Christ is the Head of the Church, so the husband is (not, “is to be,” or “ought to be “) the head of the wife. Christ is” the Head of the Church,” and He is “the Savior of the body “(i.e., the Church as His body). Just so is the husband the head of the wife, and the savior (i.e., natural keeper and protector, under God’s mercy), of her who forms a part of himself.
In the same way we read in the following verse: “Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives unto their own husbands.”
The italics (“let the wives be”) in our common version, entirely spoil the sense of this passage. The apostle does not say, “ought to be,” or “let them be,” as an exhortation to the “wives,” but he tells them that they are subjected (not subject, which implies submissiveness) as a fact, to their husbands, according to God’s own order and will, just as the Church is (as a fact) subject to Christ. Does this weaken, or ought this to weaken in any way, the sense in a Christian “wife,” of her deep and solemn responsibility of submission to her husband? Just the opposite. That responsibility becomes all the more solemn. For if the woman, by the marvelous grace of God is placed in the same position to her husband as the Church is to Christ, she herself being a member of His body, as she is, in a natural way, one flesh with her husband, what must be the consequences for her, if she practically, i.e., in fact, denies that glorious fact of her union with, and subjection to Christ, of which she, as a member of the Church, His Body, is to be the daily reflector in her earthly relationship to her husband.
I would affectionately but solemnly remind my beloved and esteemed sisters in Christ, of the close connection in which the Spirit of God, Who is a God of order, has placed the Christian “wife “with the place of the Church, as to Christ.
“Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ, even so the wives to their own husbands in everything.”
God says, as it were: I have put you in a place of subjection to your own husband, the same place, in which I have set My Church to My Son! I have placed you there, not because you have been the first in the transgression, but because of your connection with My dear Son, Jesus Christ, as a member of My Church, which is His body, and I want My counsels of glory, wisdom, grace, and love towards you in Christ Jesus, reflected by you in a world, where everything that is of Me, and belongs to Me, is daily denied and dishonored.
What a place of honor God has placed the Christian “wife “in! Are you going to refuse it or to deny it practically, after you have accepted it? Remember, it is a place where God has put you. It was your free choice, when you entered upon it, but seeking as we trust, and you would own yourself, His guidance, and according to His will. If you have taken that place without inquiring of Him, according to your own will, and have to suffer for it, this cannot alter your position, nor take you out of it, as long as you, or your husband, are in the body. You cannot alter the fact of your being subjected (according to God’s will) to your husband, even as the Church is subjected to Christ. You cannot wrench yourself out of it, as little as you can wrench your arm from your body. If you try it, you may have to smart for it, but you are in that place. I know some, who have tried to do so, but they suffered acutely for it under God’s governmental hand, and years of sorrow, trial, and misery in the life of many a Christian woman, yea, and gifted and devoted women, could be traced back to their attempting to step out of the place of subjection, in which God, or they themselves, under God’s permitting government, had put them.
Mark the expression: “in everything.” The word of God here is most decisive and clear, and leaves no loophole for any modification for such cases, as: husbands inferior to their wives in natural and intellectual capacities, or demanding unreasonable things, being unkind, yea, cruel. Most trying as such cases may be to faith and patience, there is no ambiguity in the divine injunction: “in everything,” always with the exception of cases, as mentioned above, where the will of the husband is in conflict with the supreme authority of God and His word. The mere pleading of “conscience “won’t do, unless it be based on the Word of God. The open world and the religious world both constantly plead “conscience,” either as an excuse for disobedience to divinely appointed authorities, or to cloak self-will and self-indulgence. Besides, there are many with morbidly scrupulous consciences; and is the divine authority of Holy Writ to be superseded or modified by such? However much such cases of honest but morbid consciences may call for our pity and sympathy and prayerful intercession, under no plea whatever dare we modify the Word of God, where its commandments are so clearly laid down as here (though the Scriptures are always clear in themselves, and will be made clear to those who understand or desire to understand the perfect will of God, as revealed in His own Word). Once begin to modify the written Word, and there is no knowing where you may stop. It is of the utmost importance for the spiritual safety and welfare of every Christian, to bear this in mind!
Far be it from me, in writing these pages, to attempt to frighten any of my Christian readers into subjection. The fear of the Lord, in which “is strong confidence,” and which “is a fountain of life “and “tendeth to life,” is very different from the bondage of the law, which is the ministry of death and condemnation; and the “fear of Christ,” which (as mentioned in the preceding chapter) together with the “love of Christ,” forms a part of the spiritual affections of the new nature towards Christ, is the very opposite to the “spirit of bondage unto trembling.” God wants our hearts as well as our consciences. He says: “My son, give me thy heart.” And Christ says: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” He wants the obedience of the heart as well as of the conscience, and, in fact, the “fear of Christ,” is a matter of the heart just as much as of the conscience, because, as just remembered, it forms part of the spiritual affections of the new nature towards Christ, just as the heart (I do not say conscience) of a child that loves its father, fears him also, i.e., feels reverence for his authority and person.
But I would remind the reader of what was said in the first chapter, as to the reason why our domestic life so often falls short of being the expression and reflector of our heavenly relationships. It is on account of our sad lack of entering into and realizing, in the power of the Holy Ghost, our heavenly relationships. If our consciences are honest before God, and our hearts true to Christ, His Spirit will be ungrieved, and thus in His power we shall be enabled to realize our heavenly relationships, as our other blessings in the heavenlies in Christ; and our family relationships will be the reflectors of the heavenly ones, in the same measure as we realize them. We are, thank God for His grace that has taught us! pretty clear about our safe and perfect heavenly portion and position in Christ. But how far does our condition of soul correspond with it? We know further, that our heavenly relationships, and our standing or position before God, do not depend upon our state or condition of soul (for this would be the law, we say, and say rightly) but they depend upon the person and work of our blessed Savior and Head in glory. We know that, just as settled as is His work of redemption, finished upon the Cross, just as settled is our peace with God, for He has made peace by the blood of His Cross. And we know that, just as much as His blessed person is accepted in heaven, we are accepted before God, for we are “accepted in the Beloved.” But let me ask again myself and you, beloved. how far does our state of soul here below answer to our standing in Christ there above? Have we, like Enoch, this testimony, that we please God? And do we, like Paul, know not only that we are accepted in the Beloved, but labor that we may be acceptable to Him? We know further, the truth of our union with Christ, as being one Spirit with the Lord, and having been baptized by the Spirit into one Body, of which He himself is the glorified Head at the right hand of God. But does our behavior in “the house of the living God,” as well as in our own houses, in our families, practically exhibit and reflect this truth, and thus prove that we have learned and hold it, not merely in our heads, but in our hearts’?
A truly godly woman, who, not only with the eye of faith, sees Jesus, as her individual Savior, “crowned with glory and honor,” for his obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross, seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high, but as risen with Christ, seeks “those things which are above,” where is “Christ,” as the Head of the church, .His body, sitting on the right hand of God, and keeps her eye, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, fixed on His glory, and her heart on His all beauteous person; will not fail, in her family circle, to reflect in meekness, subjection, and obedience, the character of her heavenly glorified Master, Who said, when on earth, in the days of His humiliation: “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, that ye may find rest unto your souls.” Ah! that rest of heart, the absence of which is so painfully noticeable in so many a Christian Martha. And why? Because she has not, like Mary, in the submissive posture of sitting at the Master’s feet, learned and understood, that He did not utter those precious words, before He Himself first had turned to His Father, and said, in submission to His will: “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.”
Her eye being thus on Christ, and her heart thus feeding on Him, she will as surely reflect her heavenly relationship, as a member of His body, the Church and the Bride of the Lamb, as the moon by night reflects upon the earth the light of the absent sun, because she is there above in His light. And will not you, beloved, perhaps much tried sister in Christ, our Head, you, who have learned in Spirit at the feet of your Master and Head there above, to be in submission to your master and head here below, and thus to keep His word and the word of His patience, receive a bright reward from Him, Whose seal and smile you have now already in your conscience? Is not that smile of approval more than enough, to make up for the frowns and unkind words and harsh treatment of a hard, perhaps unconverted husband? Does not Christ know, and will He not publicly own and honor you, as He once did His humble handmaid Mary, far above many of your busy Martha sisters, when “the marriage supper of the Lamb is come, and the outburst of the joyful heavenly Hallelujahs will chime in the marriage of the Lamb’s wife: “Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
Your place then will not be a low and mean one, trying and hard though it may have appeared on earth. You will then wear the royal crown of the kingdom, and reign, like other “companions in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” with Him in glory over the earth (where He once was mocked with a crown of thorns, and spit upon and crucified), because you reflected His character in your earthly tabernacle and household on earth, during the “little while “of His absence, and thus showed, that you had not only the mind of Christ, but had entered into, and understood and expressed His mind as to the Church, His body, for which He gave Himself. You had understood what He meant by saying:
“Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so the wives to their own husbands in everything.”
Oh there is no sight on this sad earth so refreshing and lovely, as a Christian household, graced by a submissive and obedient wife and faithful mother, whose words and actions breathe the spirit of her gentle, heavenly Master, and who, “without words,” by her chaste conversation, coupled with fear, in the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, wins hearts for Christ, and preaches Him by her daily walk, and thus adorns the doctrine and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, a light to all that are in the house, and to the comers in. Many a husband may be a Nabal, but if his wife is a true Abigail, David’s Son and Lord will know how to honor her.
“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is above rubies.”
But on the other hand, there is no more repulsive spectacle in the whole creation than that of an unsubdued “Christian woman!” To such, one can but say: “You know not yet the very first pages of your Bible! The Syrophenician woman knew more of the third chapter of Genesis than you do, therefore you get neither the meat nor the crumbs.”
May the Lord grant, that in these latter days many more Christian households may be blessed with the quiet and salubrious influence of godly house-wives (and there are not a few of them in this highly-privileged country), true “daughters of Sarah,” whose adorning is mot “the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but the hidden man of the heart, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price,” and who thus adorn themselves “after the manner of the holy women in the old time, who trusted in God, being in subjection unto their own husbands,” and “sober, loving their own husbands, loving their children, discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” And what is more: that thus their earthly hearths may be the reflectors of the heavenly light to which they belong, as “lights in the Lord,” and” children of light,” “amidst a crooked and perverse generation,” thus proving by their heavenly life on earth, that they are living in heaven.
Chapter 7: Husbands
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh: but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church; for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” Eph. 5:25-33.
“Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.” Col. 3:19
That which characterizes the relationship of the “husbands” to the “wives” is, Love. And just as the first word, employed by the Spirit, after having addressed the “wives,” is the word “submit,” thus characterizing at once their relationship to the “husbands;” so we find here, that the first word the Holy
Ghost uses, after having addressed the “husbands” is, “love,” as expressing the very nature of their relationship to the “wives.”
Now we know, how apt our perverse hearts are to subvert the character of our relationships, as God has laid it down in His word, i.e., to make the primary duty connected with each relationship the secondary one, and the secondary the primary. Thus, for instance, “wives “are inclined to think and make much more of their love for their husbands, because it is more natural, and consequently easier for them, to love than to obey them. But God does not tell them to love their husbands (except in Titus 2, when speaking to the young women, from an evident reason), but to obey them. Thus, without doing it intentionally, or being aware of it-for our hearts are very deceitful-the chief divine injunction to the “wives “is practically made the secondary one.
Husbands, on the other hand, are prone to think and make much of their position and rights as the head of the wife, losing sight of the fact, that the divine injunction in our chapter (and in other portions of Scripture) is not, to maintain their position, or assert their claims and rights connected with it, but to love their wives. Is it because God does not care whether they maintain their proper place in the family or not? Nothing could be farther from His intention. He is, as we have seen, not a God of confusion, but of order, and wills everyone to be just in the place where He has put us, and a husband who does not know how to maintain the place, where God in His providence has put him, is a pitiful sight indeed. But true as it is, that God will have us to fill the place in which He has set us, and holds us responsible for doing so, He never tells us to assert our rights or claims upon those in family relationship with us, but to fulfill our duties towards them, because we are always far more prone and ready to think of our rights, than to mind our duties.
I know, these are commonplace truths, but they are too much forgotten in our everyday life, and we, therefore, need constantly to be reminded of them, and the Apostle’s word holds good m this sense too: “To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”
God does not, in His Word, enjoin upon us to do what we would be naturally inclined to do, but that which would be contrary to our natural propensities. Therefore the “wives” are not told here to love their husbands, nor the husbands to maintain their right and place as head of the “wives.”
For the “wife,” who, during the daily absence of the husband in the pursuit of his avocation, holds undisputed sway in her little kingdom, is apt to forget, on his return, that the one whom Sarah called “my lord,” and whom the Lord God has appointed to be her “ruler,” has arrived. Ruling is sweet, and nature is loath to hand back the vice regal reins to the hands of the lawful liege lord.
The “husband,” on the other hand, after a day’s contact with this evil world, and having been perhaps, roughly handled by some denizens of the city of Cain, or disappointed or deceived by others, comes home with a ruffled and soured temper (if he has not kept, through grace, his Christian balance), and is prone to forget the divine injunction; “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them;” and: “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” Oh, what wretched, miserably selfish things our hearts are! the very opposite to everything that is in God’s heart, as manifested and revealed by His only begotten Son, when Jesus, as the Son of Man, trod this earth, in unswerving obedience to God, and unruffled love to them, whom the Father had given to Him, to be His bride in glory. Oh for a deeper insight and entering into the love of God and our Savior, by His Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind I It is the very thing the Spirit of God does in our chapter. He reminds the Christian “husband” of, and gives him a deeper insight into Christ’s heart, full of love for the Church, His Bride. He does not tell him, “You ought to love your wife, and if you don’t, you are the most inconsistent Christian;” but He puts Christ and His love before the husband, as the motive power. Even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it,” (or “for her,” as the Greek has it). This it is, which makes exactly the difference between a more natural, moral, or legal; and a Christian exhortation, or “exhortation in Christ.”
The former appeals to the natural conscience of the old man (and thanks be to God that there is such a conscience in man, though acquired in consequence of his fall), whilst the latter appeals to the new nature. The former has for its motive either men’s own relative notions, and measure of right or wrong, good or evil, true or false; or the requirements of God from man in the flesh, as given in the law of God, by which is the knowledge of sin, and which is the strength of sin (though in itself it is holy, just and good), and therefore must be the ministry of condemnation to man, as it gives him no power to keep it. But the Spirit of God, Who glorifies Christ, receives of His, and shows it unto us, and Who is, in connection with the written Word indicted by Him, the only true Exhorter, Comforter, and Teacher; always appeals to the new man in the Christian, that is, to the Godward, Christward, heavenward desires, thoughts, and affections, created by God in him, and presents Christ to that new nature as its only true motive and object. It is, therefore, a great and mischievous mistake, and by no means of rare occurrence, to hear ministers of Christ, when addressing a word of exhortation to Christians, expressing themselves in such terms as these: “If you don’t live up to what you profess, you are not honest; “or, “if you accept such a high position and heavenly calling, and profess such high truths, without acting upon them, you are the most inconsistent people in the world.” All this is true enough, in a natural sense, and it is most sad and humbling, that so many Christians should be found, who, as to consistency between their walk and profession, are put to shame by many an unregenerate, honest, and moral man, and thus are stumbling blocks to precious souls, bringing reproach upon the way of truth, and dishonor on the blessed Name of our Savior! All his is most lamentably true. But what I mean to say is this, that such moral and legal, that is, Christless exhortations, are of no avail for restoring such wanderers It is worse than useless to say to such: “You ought to do this or that,” or, “you ought not to act so or so, and if you do, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.” It is just like throwing stones at a hen with clipped wings, that has strayed into your garden, instead of lifting the poor, frightened thing over the hedge. It is of no use appealing to the natural conscience of a Christian, and to his natural morality or respectability. You only make him legal, and thus either miserable or self-sufficient, by throwing him back upon his natural resources, i.e. broken cisterns of natural respectability and morality or consistency. All this is not Christian, but only a Christless exhortation, and therefore powerless, and perhaps worse. Put Christ before the Christian’s heart and conscience. If this won’t do, nothing will.
How does the Apostle Paul exhort and encourage his beloved Philippians to be likeminded? He had heard, there was something wrong among them.
There was a lack of oil, and thus the wheels of the machine, if I may say so, moved with a creaking noise. What is the remedy the Apostle, or rather the Holy Spirit through His penman, applies as the panacea against all discord? Does he say: “You ought to be like-minded? “He exhorts them, indeed, to “be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” He warns them against doing anything “through strife or vain-glory,” and tells them “in lowliness of mind to esteem each other better than themselves,” adding “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” But how does the apostle begin these exhortations?
Does he call them the most inconsistent and unchristian like set of people, if they don’t heed his exhortations? That would have been no “exhortation in Christ, but a mere moral, human, Christless exhortation. He did not want to make his Philippians “Christian like,” but “Christ-like “here on earth, as they were to be like Christ in glory. This makes all the difference. How then does the apostle head his exhortations? With THE HEAD. He begins with CHRIST.
“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy,” (not, “don’t grieve me,” for his heart had been refreshed by their practical proof of love for him, and he only asks them now, by their unity to make his joy complete) “that ye be like-minded,” &c.
And how does the apostle finish his exhortation? Again with Christ “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
He again puts Christ before them, in Hip perfect (sevenfold) humiliation and obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. And then he holds up before them Christ in His exaltation at the right hand of God, looking onward to that most solemn (and to the heart of God and of His Saints, most happy) moment, when Satan and all his wicked hosts and tools, that surrounded once the cross of the despised and rejected “Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son,” and have, ever since, opposed His cross, will have to bow, their knees in judgment at that once despised, and to them so hateful Name, before they are consigned to their final doom, and their tongues, as every other tongue m the universe, will have to confess, according to God’s just decree, that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”
This is what I call a Christian exhortation, or rather, an exhortation in Christ,” which is a very different thing to lashing people into self exertions, to become more Christian like instead of Christ like.
How does the same apostle proceed, when he wants to stir up the Corinthians to more liberality in love for the poor saints in Judea? (2 Cor. 8) Poor Corinthians, to need that exhortation! But does he chide with them on that account? Does he say, “I must speak faithfully to you,” thus putting himself above them, and contrasting his faithfulness with their unfaithfulness? Nothing of the kind. It is true, he contrasts with the backwardness of their liberality, the forwardness or the poor saints of Macedonia, whoso “abundance of joy “and “deep poverty, in a great trial of affliction, abounded unto the riches of their liberality,” so that “beyond their power they were willing of themselves.” And why? Because they “first gave their own selves to the Lord,” and unto the apostle “by the will of God.”
But does the apostle stop short there? No. That would have been only again “comparing themselves amongst themselves “in another way. He wanted them to follow the example of those poor saints in Macedonia, as they had followed the example of Christ. Therefore he again concludes by putting Christ before them
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be rich.”
The poverty of Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory! What poverty was there any poverty like His? And what riches! What were all the riches of the world compared to theirs, owing to the poverty of the despised Nazarene ‘ Alas, how many of us are like the Corinthians, boasting in their riches in Christ, instead of boasting in Christ, wad therefore little realizing their riches in Him, because, unlike Moses they have so little realized, what the “reproach of Christ” and the poverty of Christ “mean. The poverty of the Lord Jesus Christ! and “our riches “resulting from that poverty What an “exhortation in Christ I ‘ What noble, truly Christian motives, all powerful for the heart! Those were no words for the pockets of the Corinthians, but for their hearts, out of the abundance of which the mouth speaks, and the hand gives.
I could multiply examples from the sacred pages, as to what I have said about the difference between Christian and human exhortation. I content myself with pointing out three more passages to the reader, without entering upon them, as it would lead us too far away from our subject: Rom. 15:1-3, and 1 Peter 2:18-25, and 3:17, 18, besides the one in our chapter, to which I now return from what may appear to some of my readers a digression, but will be found closely connected with the contents of the present chapter.
The Lord grant us to learn more, under His grace, what the apostle Peter calls: stirring up one another’s “pure minds by way of remembrance,” which can only be done by presenting Christ, in the power of His Spirit, to the aspirations and affections of the new nature, which God has imparted to us in His wondrous grace. If you want a plant to grow, open the shutters and let the sun shine upon it; it is in vain, to hold a candle before it.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.”
These words of the apostle afford us a fresh proof of what I have just said, that every true Christian exhortation must be “in Christ.” Just as the next word after “husbands,” is:” love your wives,” thus at once characterizing the nature of the relationship of a husband to his wife; so the next word after” rove your wives,” is, “even as Christ also loved the Church.” The apostle does not present Christ to the old man, in appealing to the husband’s natural good qualities, as manliness, gentleness, liberality. kindness, &c., nor does he present the amiable natural qualities of the woman with her attractions, and the affectionate and touching or solemn vows interchanged at the commencement of their union, as objects of attraction to the new nature of the Christian husband. It is neither the sun shining upon a stone nor a candle held before a plant. The Christ above us acts upon the Christ in us. The husband’s motive for loving his wife must be—Christ. His object in loving her must be again—Christ. And if it is otherwise, the character and spirit of their matrimonial relationship will soon be lowered to the level of a mere natural relationship, and exchange the savor of Christ and His Spirit for that of the flesh, and thus the salt lose his savor. This danger is greater in the matrimonial relationship than in any of the following, because of the closeness of the natural tie, and of the idolatry of the natural heart, stepping in between Christ and the soul.
Do I mean by speaking thus, to impede or check the legitimate outflow of the natural affections between husband and wife? There is nothing farther from my intentions than such a monkish tendency. It is just the absence of the natural affections, implanted in our hearts by our gracious Creator God, which characterizes the latter days, and constitutes one of the chief features of apostasy. On the contrary, where Christ is the motive and object for husband and wife in their intercourse, the love of Christ, instead of impeding and hemming in the free outflow of conjugal affections, will only serve to deepen and render them genuine, by sanctifying, and thus preserving them from degenerating into the idolatry of a mere fleshly affection. “Sanctifying God in your hearts” and “glorifying Him in your bodies.” Thus those natural legitimate affections will be ennobled into Christian affections, “even as Christ loved the Church”, by being kept under the gentle control of the Spirit, and in the channel of His mind. Certainly, there is no affection so true, so abiding and so deep, as that between a spiritually minded Christian husband and wife, because it is in Christ and for Christ’s sake.
“O Lord, Thy boundless love to me
No thought can reach, no tongue declare
Then bend my wayward heart to Thee,
And reign without a rival there;
From Thee, my Lord, I all receive,
Thine, wholly Thine, alone I’d live.”
“O Lord, how cheering is Thy way!
How blest, how gracious in mine eyes!
Care, anguish, sorrow, pass away,
And fear before Thy presenee flies.
Lord Jesus, nothing would I see,
Nothing desire apart from Thee !”
“‘Mid conflict be Thy love my peace!
In weakness be Thy love my strength!
And when the storms of life shall cease,
And Thou to meet us com’st at length,
O Jesus, then this heart will be
For ever satisfied with Thee.”
This love of our blessed Head for His Church is here presented to us in a threefold aspect:
1. His love shown for the church in the past, when He gave Himself for us upon the cross.
2. His love, as manifested towards us at the present time, in sanctifying and cleansing His Church with the washing of water by the word, and in nourishing and cherishing the Church, His body.
3. His love for the Church, as manifested in all its final results, in the future, i.e., in a glorious paradise, when Christ, as the last Adam, will present His Eve to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Thus Christ’s love in the past, His love at the present time, as engaged on behalf of the Church, for whom He died, and His love in the future, when manifested fully in all its glorious results, is presented here by the Spirit of God, in this threefold aspect, for the heart of the Christian husband, in order that this love, in its constraining, self-sacrificing, sanctifying, purifying, nourishing, and supporting blessed activity, may characterize the whole spirit and demeanor of him towards her, whom God has not only given to him to be his companion and helpmeet in this world of sin, trouble, and sorrow, but to be in their household, though in their feeble measure, the expression and reflection of the wondrous mystery of God as to Christ and the Church.
May our gracious Head in glory guide by His Spirit our meditations upon such a sublime and blessed, but solemn subject, and grant, in His grace, that the writer and the reader of them may be kept in His all-searching and yet gracious Presence, and thus our hearts and consciences be more under the living power of these sublime and blessed truths which we profess, and our daily family lives may be the reflectors of them, and the proof that we have learned them in the Presence of God, and hold them in conscious communion with Him, and in conscientious dependence upon Him!
Christ’s love for His Church was dearly proved, in that He gave, not only His life, His precious blood, but Himself, His own perfect, all precious Self for us; Himself, in all His excellencies and perfections. He not only, as the merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, sold all that He had for the pearl of great price, but He gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” Thus Christ not only
1. Gave all that He had-all His treasures in heavenly glory, to buy the treasure in the field, “the excellent of the earth,” i.e., the chosen ones of Israel, His earthly people, and the “pearl of great price,” i.e., the Church, in order that we, through His poverty, might become rich; but when this world, that had been made by Him. and its princes, did not know the Lord of glory in His poverty here below, and when His own people received Him not, because He was, poor, ‘ Joseph, the carpenter’s son;” when they “hated Him without a cause,” and when the cry “Crucify Him! “was raised in the streets of Jerusalem, and Israel and man’s trial was closed, when they, in common conspiracy were assembled around the cross; it was then that He.
2. Gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. It was there and then, that He gave His holy, spotless body, which God Himself had prepared, to be the body of the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot. He gave that holy, sinless body to be buffeted, spit upon, mocked with a crown of thorns, and then to be nailed to the cross; He, “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed:’ It was then and there He gave His own precious blood to be shed for the remission of our sins, that we might be brought to God through Him, the Just, Who died for the unjust. Everlasting praise be to His Name! But He not only gave all that He had, “sold all His treasures; “He not only gave His own holy body to be bruised for our iniquities, and His precious blood to be shed for the remission of our sins, but
3. Christ gave Himself for us. I am afraid many of us have very little realized the true meaning of these words: “Christ gave HIMSELF for us.”
The eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs, from which I have quoted already in the preceding chapters affords us a glimpse of what that blessed One “Himself” was, in the sight, and to the heart of the Father, when “the Word was with God,” before the foundations of this world had been laid by Him. He was daily His Father’s delight: “Then I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.”
And was this delight of God in His only Son lessened when He, Who “thought it no robbery to be equal with God,” had “made Himself of no reputation,” and taken upon Him” the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men “? Was the Father’s estimate of the excellencies of that Son lowered, because He had thus “degraded Himself,” as men would call it, and assumed the humble garb of a servant, to do His Father’s will?
“Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.”
Heaven could. no longer be closed at the sight of that perfect Man on earth, Who had not only made Himself of no reputation, and taken upon Him the form of a servant, but was just about to submit to John’s “baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,” though He knew no sin, and had done nothing amiss, thus taking His place along with the lowest of those of His people, who justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John Heaven could no longer be closed at the sight of that perfect Man, glorifying God on the very earth where He had been dishonored by man. Heaven could be silent no longer. But here it is not the rejoicing choir of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men,” as it was at the birth of the Divine Babe; but it is the voice of that God in the Highest Himself, that praises the Man on earth, who thus glorified Him amidst that rebellious people, who rejected His counsels of grace and love towards themselves. It was the voice of the Father, Whose daily delight that humble Man there, stepping before the prophet into the water, had been, as His co-equal Son from all eternity, that could no longer refrain from expressing His own heart’s delight in Him. No angel is seen, no angelic voice heard here; it is God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Who fills the whole scene. The Father’s voice testifying to His Son, on Whom the Holy Dove is settling at the same time:
“Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.”
And towards the end of the career of obedience, love, goodness, grace, and righteousness, and unremitting service of that blessed Man, when the Cross, that tree of curse, shame, and reproach, came in sight; had God’s delight in that Son of His love abated? Listen to the words of the chief of His apostles:
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice, which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount.”
And when the corn of wheat was now about to full into the ground and die, that it might not abide alone, but bring forth much fruit; and when His “soul is troubled, “and He says, “Father, save me from this hour, “but adds immediately: “but for this cause came I into this hour,” and then the cry goes up: “Father, glorify thy name,” there again is the Father’s immediate response from heaven: “I have glorified, and will glorify again.”
Beloved Christian reader! have our souls in the power of the Holy Ghost, and under the sense of divine grace in Jesus, by Whom grace and truth came into the world, been imbued with the beauty and power of such divine scenes in Holy Writ as the above, that is, of Him Who is the center of them? The more we learn to enter into them, the better we shall realize in our souls the meaning of those words, “He gave Himself.”
In the opening verses of our chapter (Eph. 5) we are enjoined to be “followers (imitators) “of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also bath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”
In this verse both the Person of Christ (“Himself”), in His own perfections and excellencies, and His work, in its efficacy, not merely as sacrifice, but in its character as an “offering and sacrifice of sweet smelling savor,” are presented. But it is as the One Who gave Himself “to God,” and the delight that God takes in His Person and work, that are primarily in view here and His giving Himself for us, though presented as a motive for us to “walk in love,” yet appears to come in here in the second place (though, in the grammatical construction of the sentence, it is in the first place). The exhortation here is addressed to us in our individual relationship to God as His “dear children.” But as soon as we come (verse 25) to the relationships of the Church to Christ, as His Bride and His Body, it is “Even as Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it,” (or “her,” as the original has it). It is not said “to God,” nor is anything said about His offering and sacrifice, and its value and acceptance before God, because it is here the question of Christ’s love for the Church, in her relationship to Him as His espoused Bride, for whom He gave not only all His heavenly treasures, and left His glorious home; and for whom He not only bore the cross, and gave Himself an offering and sacrifice of sweet smelling savor to God, as the One “Who loveth us, and has washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father “(“ Glory be to Him and dominion forever and ever. Amen!”) But it is as the One Who wooed His Church, and won her (whom He, in His marvelous love and grace, is pleased to call “a pearl of great price”), by going down into the deep waters of death, and by undergoing the fiery billows and waves of God, that rolled over His devoted head, when He was dying for her, and was forsaken of God. He loved the Church. This was His motive. And because He loved her, He gave Himself for her.
Supposing some royal prince wooing some poor maid of low origin, in whom we were unable to discern one single trace of beauty or loveliness. Suppose this royal lover to be in his person everything that is admirable, amiable, attractive, and beautiful—naturally and morally. We might be amazed at his choice, but we should say:—” What motives for his chosen one, to love him and to serve him! “—But suppose, he had delivered her, who was “black as the tents of Kedar, because the sun had looked upon her,” from the power of a cruel slaveholder, not only at the risk of his own Me, but at the expense of his own blood, having carried her off, himself exhausted, covered with wounds, to make her his queen, and to share his crown and kingdom with her-would not her love to him be of incomparably greater depth and intensity, being linked in her with the deep gratitude to her deliverer from cruel bondage, at the risk (for I speak in a parable) of his life? How immensely deeper and stronger, in affection and devotedness, would be the tie of relationship between such a husband and wife! On his part because she had cost him everything; and on her part, because she owed to him everything Yes, beloved, He gave HIMSELF for us Have you and I, when reading the Gospels, got our souls imbued with what Jesus was, when glorifying God, as perfect Man on earth? His grace, His love, meekness, gentleness, readiness to help, wherever there was misery, His unwavering obedience and devotedness to His Father and God; His unremitting service of love to those the Father had given to Him, His wisdom, His righteousness; in short, all the excellencies of His person—He has given it all—He has given Himself for the Church. If the 22nd Psalm, the Psalm of His Cross and of its results, closes with those blessed words:—” That He hath done this; “we have here the blessed assurance, still more precious, if possible, that “He gave Himself for us,” because “He loved the Church! “I said “more precious still,” because I do not only find here the One Who has done the whole work, and Who alone could do it, but the One Who gave Himself for the Church, in His relationship of love for her who is His bride. His body. All that Jesus Christ is, in all His excellencies as the Perfect Man. (and not only all that He has which is far less, immense as that is!) is mine! Jesus Christ Himself is mine, “for He loved me, and gave Himself for me,” re-echoes the heart of His espoused bride, exulting in His love. As another has happily expressed it:—” There are no qualities, no excellencies in Christ, which are not mine in the gift of Himself. He has already given them, and consecrated them to the redemption and the blessing of the Church. Not only are they given, but He has given them; His love has accomplished it. Jesus-blessed and praised be His name for it!—is all mine, according to the energy of His love, in all that He is, in all circumstances, and forever, and in the activity of that love, according to which He gave Himself. He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. This is the source of all our blessings, as members of the Church.”
“Then weep no more—’tis all thine own—
His crown, his joy divine;
And, sweeter far than all beside.
He, He Himself is thine.”
But, beloved, blessed as is the assurance, that Jesus Christ, not only as our Savior, but in all that He is in His all beauteous and all glorious person, is ours, in the full sense of His relationship as the heavenly Bridegroom to His heavenly bride: let us not forget. that we are His, as He is ours. The very nearness and blessing of this wondrous relationship of love between Christ and the Church, is at the same time the measure of our responsibility, for reflecting our heavenly relationship to Him in that family-relationship here below, which represents on earth the heavenly relationship of the Church to Christ; I mean, that between husband and wife.
“Husbands. love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it (or her).”
There is something intensely sublime and touching in those words: “even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for her.” The Spirit of God thus appeals to the tenderest and noblest motives and affections of the new nature in vile Christian husband. Under their searching power he cannot help asking himself How fax have t shown my love to the one, whom God has given to me as partner for life, by giving myself for her I It is true. when, on the morning of our union, she stood at my side, and laid her tender hand in mine, with confiding love, as if saying: “To thee, next to God, I commit the destiny of my weal or woe; because the Lord has united us, and given me to you for your help-meet and companion through life, and you to me, to be my head and supporter, and the guide of my youth: “—then, indeed, I understood, how a man may leave his father and mother, to be joined to his wife, and be one flesh with her. Then I gave myself entirely to her, because I felt sure, the Lord had given her to me, and it required no self-denial to do so, for I found myself altogether lost in her. in the power of that love, which God had implanted in our hearts to each other. My life and its energies, I felt, would thus henceforth be spent, not to please myself, but be devoted, in the Lord, to the object of my loving care, whom He had given to me as a help-meet and companion. But how far have those purposes of my first love been carried out, and has that love been abiding, like the love of Him, who not only loved His own, but loved them “unto the end? “I fear, many of us, when before God, under the searching power of those words; “even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for her,” will have to own, that “it has not been so with us we left the first love to our wives, because we had left our first love to Christ. The world had slipped in between the husband’s heart and Christ; and then its chilling, selfish atmosphere had fallen, like a mildew, also upon the first bloom of the husband’s affection, and blighted the tender blossoms of that love that gives itself for the beloved object, loses itself in it, shares everything with it, and finds its sole happiness in the happiness of the beloved one. The vain attractions of the world around us, or the still more subtle allurements of the flesh within, had distanced the husband’s heart from Christ, and therefore alienated his affections from his wife. Or that huge factory-wheel, called: “Business,” had seized him; which, with its giddy rotations, has swallowed up the minds, and hearts, and—consciences of many a Christian, husband and father, alas! and crushed, under its ponderous weight, like the merciless car of “Juggernaut,” not only his own, but the happiness of his wife and children, once basking in the love of the husband and father, when his own heart “rejoiced in the Lord,” Who had loved him and given Himself for him.
You may be sure, if the husband’s heart has “left the first love for Christ, and the world, flesh, and self have slipped in, it will inevitably be followed by an eclipse and a chill in the domestic atmosphere; and his poor wife will soon feel that he has “left the first love” for her too.
There was a Christian merchant in the city of London, who, whilst at breakfast with his family, received a letter, announcing to him the shipwreck of his “fortune.” He quietly folded the letter, and, “looking off unto Jesus,” said:” Thank God, I have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven, which none can take away from me.” His clerk, a young Swiss, who sat at his side, was so impressed by the reality of that testimony, that he became, through God’s mercy, a joint-heir with his master, that is, a child and heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ. I should have liked, to know the wife and children of that happy and truly rich merchant. Do you think, dear brethren, that man’s wife felt ever chilly in his presence, or his children afraid of him? Was there any low temperature in that family-circle? I trove not; and why not? Because he had not set his affections on things on earth, but on things above, where is Christ, sitting on the right hand of God. His own heart was basking in the sunshine of His love, and, therefore, the hearts of his wife and children must have felt the benefit and blessing of it. and the whole household, doubtless, reflected the light, and was redolent with the savor of the heavenly relationship and atmosphere, in which the head of that happy family lived and breathed. For his “beloved was more than another beloved,” even the chiefest among ten thousand “and altogether lovely.” What a treasure and perfume of love there must have been diffused through that Christian household!
Let us now consider in our feeble measure:
2. The love of Christ for the Church, as a present thing, and as shown in His present occupation with her, in sanctifying and cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.
In the thirteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, where we see, on the approach of the Cross, light and darkness drawing into closer contrast, side by side, as it were (compare verses 1, 2, 3, 25, 26, 27; 30-34), we find, first, the love wherewith Jesus loved His own, who were in the world, “unto the end,” i.e., until the Cross, brought before us in the exquisitely touching and beautiful opening verse of that wondrous chapter. (Christ’s love for the Church, at the end, i.e., in His death on the Cross, we have in Eph. 5) Then, after that black, dark cloud in the second verse, we find the sun of the love of Jesus shining forth again in all its brightness.
“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God: He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”
What a stoop from verse 8 to verse 4! In the fall consciousness that the Father had given all things into His hands, i.e., of all the power in heaven and on earth, given to Him by the Father, and all conscious that He came from God, and went to God, He “rises from supper,” but not as a man, about to be entrusted with such power, and fully conscious of the highness and dignity of His descent and position, would have “risen “from the table, i.e., elated, lifted up, and puffed up with pride, or, at the best, with the grand and noble attitude, bearing, and demeanor of some great heir-presumptive, who is just going to receive the crown of a kingdom, upon which the sun never sets; but Jesus only “rises “to stoop down to the posture of the lowest servant. Could there be any lower place than that? Yes; there was one place lower still, awaiting Him the Cross. As He did “rise “only to stoop down, so it was, when He was “lifted up” (by men, but in a different way to man), lifted up from this earth on the Cross, that He took the lowest of all places when He was “numbered with the transgressors,” crucified along with them upon the tree of curse, reproach, and shame, where He bore our sins, and the judgment due to them, But I do not desire to speak or Christ’s lowliness and humiliation, blessed and inexhaustible subject as that is! but of His love for the Church The blood which flowed from His pierced side showed His love, as the One Who has washed us from our sins in His own blood. But it was not only the blood, but also the water, that flowed from His side, the expression of the One Who loveth us now, as He did love His own who were in the world, unto the end; and as He did love them and us in His death upon the Cross. The water, in its cleansing power, represents His love for us now; the One Who, before He went to shed His precious blood and give Himself for us, stooped down, and laid aside His garments, and girded Himself with the towel, and washed his disciples’ feet-did so, as He said Himself to them, that they might wash one anthers’ feet as He had done theirs; but, at the same time, that blessed last service of the meek and lowly Jesus, before He died for His Church, was meant, I doubt not, to give to them, by that typical action, the assurance of His love, after He should have died for them. It is the present love of our risen, ascended, and glorified Savior, at the right hand of God, as the Head of the Church, His body. He gave Himself for the Church, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. It is not here sanctification through the offering of His Body, in the sense of Heb. 10, that is the chief point in view; nor is it “sanctification of the Spirit,” in the sense of 1 Peter 1, but the sanctifying and cleansing power of the Word of God, as applied by our Head in glory, through the power of the Spirit, to the feet, as it were, of His own, whilst we are treading the defiled and defiling soil of the world, through which the Holy and Just One alone passed with unsullied feet.
Oh! what wondrous love is His! which, even at the right hand of God, in that place of honor and glory, and surrounded by the homage of the myriads of heaven, crowned with glory and honor, does not only intercede for his poor, weak and failing ones, whilst they are passing through this polluted world, but m tenderest unceasing care is busy condescends, yea, stoops, we may say, from His glorious place at the right hand of the throne of God, to cleanse her who is His body, His bride! Neither the power which the Father had given unto Him, nor all the consciousness of His royal, divine descent, and of the honor and glory which awaited Him on His return, could prevent His stooping down, to wash His disciples’ feet, as His last service of love, when on earth; and all the glory and honor that surrounds Him there above, cannot divert Him for a moment from His service of unchangeable love in doing the same in glory!
Christ wants to sanctify the Church, His bride, i.e., to separate her unto Himself, practically, from everything in the world that would attract her heart, and alienate it from Him. For this purpose He uses His Word, and applies it by His Spirit to the heart and conscience of the bride.. To her heart; for His Word, the “written Christ,” as it has been happily called, in its attaching power, makes the heart of His bride cleave more closely to her Head, the Christ above.
To her conscience; for in keeping the conscience in His presence, the written Word detaches the Church from the vain objects of the world and the flesh, so that the heart says to Christ: “Thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the virgins love thee. Thaw me, we will run after thee; The king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.”
Thus, by His Spirit and Word, Christ sanctifies, i.e., separates to Himself, the heart of His bride from all defiling and alienating influences in this world. She learns, reposing on His bosom, like His beloved. disciple of old, that His love is indeed better than wine, and far beyond all other loves. She learns, at His bosom, what true love is, and at His feet, what true service is, like His handmaid Mary, whose spikenard sent forth the smell thereof, “while the King sat at His table,” so that the whole house was filled with it.
Oh! would that the Church, whom Christ has thus loved, and does love, and will love forever, may, in these closing perilous times, be more abidingly sitting and listening at the feet of her glorious Head, and more continually reposing on the bosom of her wondrous Heavenly Bridegroom and Lover, in spirit now, as we soon shall possess Him wholly, and be with Him in His glorious home, and with riveted eyes, and undivided hearts, feed upon all His beauty and loveliness, when His thrice-happy bride with rapture will exclaim:—
“He brought me to the banqueting house
And his banner over me is love.”
And such is his banner now, beloved, floating over as, whilst passing onward to our final rest and glory with Christ, through a cruel and subtle enemy’s country. And whilst Rebecca is traveling onward, away from Laban’s house, towards her better home with Isaac, through a barren land, where there is no water, Eliezer. her blessed guide and comforter, spreads the banquet upon the very sand of the wilderness (John 16:13,14), telling her not only of the beauty and riches of her lover, whose golden ornaments she wears already, as the pledges of her betrothal to Him and of His love to her, and not only describing to her the peaceful attractions of His homestead, and the grandeur of His household, but telling of Isaac’s love to her, that: “As the lily is among thorns, so is my love among the daughters:”
And what is Rebecca’s response? Is it this?-” As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons?” May God grant it, beloved!
Then, indeed, the bride may continue I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
What a banquet in the midst of the wilderness, spread daily for every one of His members, to whom Christ is not only precious (for so He is and must be to every real Christian), but whose heart’s affections are in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, going out towards Him, “who is altogether lovely,” and the “chief among ten thousand.”
But there is another kind of Christ’s loving activity from glory towards the Church, His bride whilst on her journey towards her heavenly abode with Him. It is the “cleansing her, with the washing of water by the word,’ from the defilement contracted on the way. He not only sanctifies her by the word, which is truth, that she might be practically set apart, i.e., separated from the world for Himself, as she has been positionally, by His sacrifice and through the Spirit. Thus we have the Word of God not only in its detaching power from the world and attaching to Christ, but in its searching and detecting power, as the two-edged sword (Heb. 4), and in its cleansing character, as presented in our chapter under the figure of the water. Christ, in His love, is not only jealous of the affections (for He has a right to be jealous) of His bride, but also as to her purity, for He is “he that is holy, and he that is true,” and says” Be ye holy, for I am holy.” For if, in His character as our High Priest, “such an high priest became us (as a heavenly people), who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners;” how far more such a bride becomes Christ—our Head in glory a bride who is holy, harmless, undefiled, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. He will not, nor can He suffer one spot, one stain, one speck upon her, who is to be His companion in a heavenly paradise. Therefore Christ, in His: wondrous love, is now in glory as the Head of the Church, continuing the same service of love with regard to His body, in cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, as He, in His wondrous lowliness, condescended to perform on earth, upon the feet of. His disciples, as their Lord and Master; in order that, after His example, we might do the same towards each other, as members of His body, after He had gone up on high, and taken His place at the right hand of God, as the Head of the Church. What wondrous grace, beloved, that He, Who is our glorious Head, should deign to use such as us, to be instrumental in His service of love, in cleansing His body, by washing one another’s feet, in ministering the Word, under the guidance of His Spirit, to one another. But all must come from, and is done by the Head above. His Spirit may use, as He pleases, this or that member of Christ’s body, to wash the feet of another in the assembly, or in individual fellowship one with another, by way of exhortation, instruction, or edification; but it is the Head in glory, from Whom the act of cleansing proceeds, as from the fountain-head. Nor is fellowship of His members (in the assemblies or elsewhere) a necessary condition or means of cleansing, i.e. removing defilement. It may be in the privacy of the closet, in prayer and reading the word, that some portion of His Word may be applied to the heart and conscience for the exercise of either, and thus confession and self-judgment may be produced. For although confession and repentance are, in us, the result and effect of Christ’s intercession for us, in His character as our High Priest before God, and Advocate with the Father; still, this is not the point of view of the Spirit of God in our chapter. It is quite true that, “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” and that “God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But it is not here the question of confession and repentance, as the effect of Christ’s intercession for us (blessed be His name for it!), nor of the Father’s cleansing, in government, His erring, but penitent child, from all unrighteousness (praised be His love as manifested in the chastening rod!); but it is Christ, the Head of His Church, applying through His Spirit the washing of water by the Word, to remove the defilement.
He loved His Church, and gave Himself for her. For what purpose? “That He might sanctify and cleanse her.” But is that all? No He sanctifies and cleanses her-for what? “That he might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
The cleansing and washing, though one of the most precious proofs of Christ’s love (as is the chastening of the love of the Father), yet is only the means for the final end in glory. What love all praise excelling, as it surpasses knowledge. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” May each individual member of His body be enabled, through grace, at every moment to re-echo with the disciple of His love “Even so come, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
We have thus had brought before us, in verse 25, the love of Christ for His Church, as to the past; in verse 26, His love in its present activity towards His Church. We now shall, in verse 27, have to meditate, as far as the limited space of these pages will permit, upon—
3. Christ’s love for His Church, as manifested in the future, in our glorious, heavenly home with Him, when all the purposes and activities of His wondrous love will appear in all their blessed and final results in glory, at the “marriage-supper of the Lamb,” and His love to His bride will still abide for all eternity.
If, at the beginning of our meditations on the 22nd verse, in the preceding chapter. we turned back, for a few moments, to the first pages of Holy Writ; to the peaceful scene of earthly happiness in an earthly paradise, lost and gone forever through man’s folly and sin; we now have to look onward, or rather upward, to a heavenly one, the second paradise in glory.
It was not, like the first, a “garden, planted by the Lord God,” where man was put to keep and till it; but it was gained for you and me, Christian reader, by those hands, that had planted the garden of Eden, being pierced and nailed to the cross by the descendents of the guilty outcasts of Eden, and by the husbandmen of the plentiful vineyard, planted by the same hands, that had planted the beautiful garden of Eden. One of those husbandmen, who had stood by, as an active witness, when they sent a messenger after the lord of the vineyard, with the message that they would not have Him to rule over them, and who, when “breathing threatening and slaughter “against the Church, was “apprehended,” i.e., “laid hold of,” (to be “taken up” with Christ, not merely “converted,” or turned right about face, though this he was also) by that rejected Lord and Christ in glory, was afterward “caught up to the third heaven,” “into paradise,” where he “heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful (or possible) for a man to utter.” It is the same to whom the mystery of Christ and the Church, “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men,” had been revealed; and whose inspired pen refers, in our chapter, to that blissful heavenly paradise, where the last Adam will soon present to Himself His glorious bride in perfect beauty and glory, holy and without blemish. What are all the charms of an earthly paradise, with its natural beauties, compared with the untold ecstasies of the heavenly one, depicted for us by the Spirit of glory in the closing wondrous chapter of the inspired volume! In that heavenly paradise, where Christ will present to Him-self His glorious bride, so magnificently described, in the previous (21.) chapter, under the figure of the New Jerusalem above, there will be nothing to remind her of her former sins and shame. That grace which, even amidst a sinful world, with which she was once ranked in common rebellion against God, had said to her; “your sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” will have placed her, the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb, not only in the spotless scene of the heavenly paradise, but every trace and relic of sin and shame, connected with the earthly paradise and this earth, will be gone. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (representing man’s responsibility wherein he had failed in every respect), is not to be found in that heavenly paradise, but only the tree of life. For Christ, her loving Savior and heavenly Bridegroom, had charged Himself upon the tree of curse with all the debts and responsibilities of her, whom the Father had given to Him, and had given life to her in exchange, so that He is her tree of life. There will be no cherubim with a flaming sword in that paradise, to bar the way to the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every month-fruits ever ready and ripe; there are no unripe fruits on that tree, and there is no such thing as bringing no fruit to perfection. Christ, when on earth, was like that tree, bearing fruit every month, as to His earthly people. He always had “a word in season to him that was weary,” until, upon the cross, charging Himself with the responsibilities of those under the law, and those without the law, by being made a curse, and being made sin, He received the stroke of the “flaming sword “of God’s righteous judgment, that had barred the way to the tree of life, when the sword of God was unsheathed and awoke against His Shepherd, and against the Man that was His Fellow; in order that His own, whom the Father had given to Him, discharged from guilt, and cleansed by His precious blood from all sin and every stain, might be His fellow-heir and partner in that glorious paradise, when He will present to Himself His glorious bride, without spot and wrinkle or any such thing, as the result of His present loving care for the perfection of His Heavenly Bride, the Church, His Body. What perfect grace and love l Not only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—the relic of man’s common sin and shame—has disappeared, but instead of those four great rivers—among them Euphrates, and Hiddekel (or Tigris), that flowed from the garden of Eden, only one stream is seen proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.
The great river Euphrates, on whose shores stood Babylon, the place of Judah’s captivity, has been dried up,” as it were, and Tigris, the river of mighty Nineveh, where Israel was in captivity, has disappeared, like the “wadies “in the desert. Every relic of shame, not only as to man generally, but as to God’s earthly people, over whom Christ, with His glorified saints, will reign, as the last Adam, with the second Eve—during the millennial paradise-every trace of man’s (may it be Gentiles, or Judah and Israel’s) failure, will be effaced in that bright abode of the Lamb’s wife. But one memorial there will be, even in Heaven, though not in that paradise, of that tender care and grace of the lover of our souls. I refer to the fourth chapter of the same book of Revelation, when, after the sad prophetic description, given by the Head of the Church Himself, of the decline and unfaithfulness of the Church,!` terminating in the nauseous lukewarm character of Laodicea, a door is opened in Heaven to the beloved disciple of His bosom, in order that his grieved and chilled heart might’ be warmed and refreshed by a glimpse of that wondrous scene of Heavenly worship (where there was certainly not one single lukewarm heart amongst those myriads above). We find there, “before the throne, a sea of glass like unto crystal.” It is the precious memorial of the gracious and loving care of Christ for us, in cleansing us with the washing of water by the word. Then this care will be needed no longer; therefore the water is no longer in motion, but in a fixed condition, like crystal. But there is that precious memorial of Christ’s never to be forgotten loving care, before the throne, and before the eyes of the twenty-four elders, that sit on their “thrones,” around THE THRONE, clothed in white raiment, with their crowns of gold on their heads. And as the glorious light of the One that sat on the throne, likened to the brightness of a jasper and a sardine stone, is softened by the emerald color of the rainbow round about the throne, on which the Lord. of Glory is seated now at the right hand of God, as the Great Peace-maker, through the blood of His cross—as the “Prince of Peace,” as He is the “Prince of life,” as a sign, that God remembers grace, before He is going to do His “strange “work: judgment; so the “sea of glass, like unto crystal,” is seen amidst the lightnings and thunderings, and voices, proceeding from the throne towards the world, where that glorious One, now seated on the throne, had once been slain by the wicked hands of men that hated Him without a cause. It was with Blood and Water He had cleansed His own; by the Blood in atonement, and by the water practically. And as the Passover, the type; and the Lord’s Supper, the memorial of the cross, had been on earth the blessed provisions of the Lord for His saints of old, to remember the Blood of the Lamb, and for His Church, to remember Him who shed it for their redemption and deliverance; so in heaven the “sea of glass,” like unto crystal, is presented to the view of the Lord’s beloved disciple, as the blessed emblem and memorial of the Lord’s faithful and tender love, in cleansing His saints by the washing of water by the word.
There is another “sea of glass,” also a symbol of the cleansing care of God for His people, not the Church, but Israel. This we find in Rev. 15; but it is “mingled with fire.”—There is not only the cleansing element of the water, but also the refining element of the fire, evidently referring to “the great tribulation,” in Daniel or “Jacob’s trouble,” at the time of the persecution of the faithful remnant in the days of Antichrist and the beast, spoken of in Dan. 12 and other prophetic portions of the Old and New Testament. But in the “sea of glass “in Rev. 4 there is no fire; for among the twenty-four elders, sitting on their thrones, the Church is included. For perfectly true though it may be for us, that the refining process of purification from earthly alloy, by way of fiery tribulation or persecution (which at the same time is correction), is just as much needed for us, as the “cleansing of the washing of water by the word,” that the trial of our 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; “yet, the mentioning of the purging element of fire, by way of God’s government with us, as pilgrims passing through the wilderness, would be evidently out of place, where it is a question, not of chastisement or correction, but of Christ’s loving and tender care bestowed upon us, in His relationship as the Bridegroom of the Church, His bride. This, I think, is the reason why no fire is mingled with the sea of glass, mentioned in the fourth chapter of Revelation. From a similar cause the “sea of glass” would have no place in our chapter (Eph. 5), and much less still in the opening scene of the last chapter of the sacred pages. For just as in that second paradise in glory, where the last Adam, the Lord from heaven Himself, will present to Himself
His Heavenly Eve, a glorious bride, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; every relic of failure and reproach, connected with the first paradise, has disappeared; so even the sea of glass, precious memorial though it be of Christ’s love, would be out of place there, for it would, at the same time, be a memorial of her failures. And as it would be ill becoming a bridegroom, if he would remind his bride, on the nuptial morning, of some of her past failures, or even produce in her presence anything that would remind of it, so the sea of glass would be utterly out of place in the closing chapter, as it would have been in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, where we find the outburst of the joyful praises of heaven chiming in the marriage feast of the Lamb’s wife, she having made herself ready, and being arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, even the righteousnesses of the saints. At such a moment, and in such a scene, the “sea of glass “would be out of place. But a happy place it has in the fourth chapter of this divine book of the inspired volume. Precious to those twenty-four, seated around the Throne in their white garments, must be the sight of that “sea of glass, like unto crystal,” for it reminds them of the never changing loving care bestowed on them by Him, Who has not only loved them and washed them in His own blood from their sins, but unceasing in loving patience and grace, has cleansed His bride (who had so often, alas, practically forgotten at what a cost she had been bought), with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
There are two things, by which beauty it marred; spots and wrinkles. The former indicate defilement; the latter are the result of passion or of care and! age. Both are the effects of sin; the former in a direct, and the latter in an indirect way. If there was no sin in the world, there would be no spots nor wrinkles. People, may they be naturally clean or not, dislike wrinkles; but only a cleans person shuns spots; one of unclean habits does not mind them.
Christian reader! do you hate spots or any such thing? Pardon the question. I know that every real Christian loves holiness. The very breathings of the new nature are after holiness. But do you, practically, not only avoid, but hate spots?
In the epistle of Jude, preceding the closing solemn book of Revelation, the book of judgments (first on the house of God, then upon the world), we find that which will bring down those divine judgments upon a corrupt Christendom. It began with the creeping in of certain ungodly professors, of whom the apostle Paul had forewarned the Church; men, professing godliness, but denying the power of it. They loved spots that is, sin; having, as Peter described them, “eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin.” Therefore, both apostles call them “spots “in the feasts of charity of the Christians. Now, in Jude’s epistle, where we find at the opening a blue, serene, cloudless sky over head for every Christian, as being “sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called; “—and at the close—” the presence of His glory,” where God, “who is able to keep us from falling, is able to present us faultless with exceeding joy; “that is, everything safe above, as to our relationship to God and Christ Jesus; we find, at the same time, the most solemn warnings, addressed not only to the Christians, to whom the apostles Peter and Jude then wrote, but prophetically, and, I think, especially, meant for the Church of the latter days, in which we are living, amidst a scene of religious corruption, where those great phases of it, as pointed out in Jude’s epistle (Cain, Balaam., and Core), are in full bloom. The chief and common characteristic of all those ungodly professors was, that they loved “spots,” i.e., sin, “turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.” Consequently the real believers are enjoined at the end of that solemn epistle, to “hate even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (It is not only, to keep ourselves “unspotted from the world,” all important as this is.)
This reminds me of an incident as to our point. Many years ago an honored servant of Christ was engaged, with a few brethren in some important translation, which the Lord had laid on his and their hearts, and at which they assisted him in their little measure. One morning, on beginning their work, he noticed a little spot of ink in his book, He took out his penknife, and whilst erasing with the greatest care the little blot, ea that hardly a trace of it could be discerned, said, as if speaking to himself rather, than to those with him: “I hate spots.” The writer of these lines, who was one of them, never forgot the lesson conveyed, though perhaps never intended, by those three words. They were the most practical interpretation of the divine injunction, “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh,” and “abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good,” which, amongst the rest, formed the subject of their translation.
Mark, Christian reader, it is not only a question of avoiding doing wrong, but “abhorring that which is evil.” Nor is it merely “doing good;” there is plenty of that in our Laodicean time; but it is, “cleave to that which is good.”
“But,” some may ask, “How am I to abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good? Am I to take these words only as a kind of moral principle, or, if you please, scriptural rule or precept? “No; for then, with all its authority, it would have no power, if taken only in the deadness of the letter (though the word of God in itself, as we know, is profitable for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works).
But how, then, am I to abhor that which is evil? By cleaving to that which is good. And how am I to cleave to that which is good? Let us turn to the eleventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. There we find the answer to both these questions. What was the word of exhortation, addressed to the new converts at Antioch by Barnabas, who “was a good man” (mark the connecting link: “for” between verses 23 and 24), and “full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” He “exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” Thus by cleaving to His Blessed Person, by Whom grace and truth came into the world,-and Who Himself is perfect goodness, grace, love, meekness, holiness, truth, in short, everything that is good and lovely, yea, “who is altogether lovely,” we learn how to cleave to that which is good, by cleaving to Him, Who is perfect goodness Himself.
Thus it was that Barnabas was called a “good man” by the same Holy Spirit, Who tells us in the Old and in the New Testament, yea through the lips of Christ Himself, that “no man is good, but God only.”-Barnabas was an upright man (through grace), and filled with the Holy Ghost, who glorifies Christ, and receives from His, and shows it unto us, and he was “full of faith; “and faith looks neither within nor around, but looks “off unto Jesus,” and thus the heart feeds upon everything that is good, in the Person of that Blessed Lover of our souls; and the more Barnabas fed upon Christ, the more he slave to Christ. Therefore, he was the fit man to exhort those new converts at Antioch, that they would cleave with purpose of heart unto the Lord.” That was then, and is now, the way, of “abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is good.” Thus it is we learn to “hate even the garment, spotted by the flesh,” or even a spot in the book. If the apostle Paul exhorted the Christians at Rome, to abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good, he did not do so by way of a mere legal precept or rule, but because those at Rome were not “babes in Christ,” like those at Antioch, and therefore knew the way how to abhor that which is evil, and how to cleave to that which is good, and, therefore, they needed only to be reminded of the blessed practical Divine principle of truth, because there was strife and contention amongst them, and they were occupied with that which was evil, and thus in danger of getting under the power of it. And from the same reason, I have made these remarks about the way, to abhor that which is evil, and to cleave to that which is good, to the younger of my Christian readers, as we are living in a time, when the danger of getting occupied with that which is evil, is much greater than when the epistle to the Romans was written.
Mark the expression: “nor any such thing.” Reader! do we desire and endeavor, with purpose of heart, not only to keep ourselves without spot, but free from “any such thing? “Only by cleaving to and abiding in Christ, we shall be kept (John 15:5).
“O Lamb of God, still keep me
Close to Thy pierced side;
‘Tis only there in safety
And peace I can abide.
When foes and snares surround me;
When lusts and fears within
The grace that sought and found me,
Alone can keep me clean.”
Therefore, beloved, let us in these evil days more than ever, “cleave to the Lord with true purpose of heart.” The “Lamb without blemish and without spot, once slain for us,” He that is holy and He that is true, will have us to be true to Him, and holy as He is holy; blameless and harmless, without rebuke in the midst or a crooked and perverse generation, as He will present His bride to Himself in glory, without spot and blemish. We are so now before God, Who has chosen us to be holy and without blame before Him in Christ. But we are so now before God only in Christ. But in that heavenly paradise, we shall be before Christ, “holy and without blame “(or “blemish “). What a moment for Himself and for us! It is not only He that will be satisfied, when in the numberless hosts of the redeemed, He will see the fruits of the travail of His soul; but we also shall be satisfied, when we “awake with His likeness.” “We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. It will not be then, God presenting the bride to His Son, as Eve was presented to Adam by the Lord God, Who had formed her from Adam’s rib, but Christ presenting to Himself His bride, who is of His flesh and of His bones, and for whose sake He not only forsook His Father’s house above, but had to drink upon the Cross the cup which the Father gave Him, to rescue her
from her low and ruined condition, when He gave His holy flesh for her upon the cross, and shed His precious blood for her, in order that through His death she might have life, and be cleansed from her guilt and iniquities. But He will not only no of the travail of His soul (“ when He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors “), but He will see also the perfect fruit of the unremitting and unceasing care of His love, which He now bestows upon her, in cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He, the last Adam, Who is the Lord from heaven, “will then Himself present to Himself His own bride, so dearly bought, and so dearly beloved. And if the first Adam with such a delight surveyed the bride, presented to him by Him, Who is the last Adam, and when, even amidst the abundance of that earthly paradise, his happiness was not complete, until Eve had been presented to him: what will, what must be the delight of Christ, when presenting to Himself the Church, His bride, in perfect, unsullied, glorious beauty, in that bright paradise of undefilable and unfading beauty and glory, where everything is peace, love, and harmony; and amidst the heavenly hallelujahs of the myriads of His angelic hosts, and of the guests called to the marriage feast of the Lamb’s wife-even the just men (the Old Testament saints) made perfect. What is the wedding of Cana, with its brimful pitchers of wine, to be fulfilled in the earthly blessing of the reunion of Jehovah with His earthly beloved One, compared to that flood of heavenly light and glory, and joy, and blessing, and praise, which will resound, and be poured out around that glorious Bridegroom and His heavenly Bride, who has been the object of such love—love passing knowledge.—Then, surely, she will be altogether lovely to Him, as He mow is altogether lovely to her. And as the inheritance laid up for her there in heaven, is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away; so she herself and her beauty will be incorruptible, undefilable, and unfading forever. At the end of a thousand years reigning with Christ over the earth, her beauty will be the same, “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” At the beginning of the millennial time, she is presented as “His wife,” who “hath made herself ready “(Rev. 19:7.), and at the end of those thousand years, when the old earth and heaven will have been folded up, as a garment, by Him, Who had made them, and been put into the fire and passed away; the Church, His bride, is presented as coming down from heaven under the figure of the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
There will be no change then by changing times, as little with her as with Him.
“That face once so marr’d, I shall gaze on at length
And fearless behold, the’ all shining in strength;
Those eyes, flames of fire, so searching I prove,
They shall beam on me there inexpressible love.”
“ That voice, like great waters, how calmly my soul
Will hear, in the glory, its deep thunders roll!
Though now it rebuketh, and humbleth all pride,
It shall speak only love to the glorified bride!”
What a moment for Christ and the Church!—For you and for me amongst the rest, beloved fellow-pilgrim, and fellow-heir of glory! Shall I say “moment?” Nay, that moment will be eternity, and eternity will be like a moment! “And thus shall we be with the Lord forever!”
“‘Midst the darkness, storm and sorrow,
One bright gleam I see;
Well I know the blessed morrow,
Christ will come for me.”
“‘Midst the light, and peace, and glory
Of the Father’s home,
Christ for me is watching, waiting—
Waiting till I come.”
“Long the blessed Guide has led me
By the desert road;
Now I see the golden towers—
City of my God.”
“There, amidst the love and glory,
He is waiting yet;
On His hands a name is graven,
He can ne’er forget.”
There, amidst the songs of heaven,
Sweeter to His ear
Is the footfall through the desert,
Ever drawing near.”
There made ready are the mansions,
Glorious, bright, and fair;
But the bride the Father gave Him
Still is wanting there.”
“Who is this who comes to meet mo,
On the desert way,
As the Morning Star foretelling
God’s unclouded day?”
“He it is Who came to win me,
On the cross of shame;
In His glory will I know Him,
Evermore the same.”
“Oh the blessed joy of meeting,
All the desert past!
Oh, the wondrous words of greeting
He shall speak at last! “
“He and I together entering
Those bright courts above;
He and I together sharing
All the Father’s love.”
Where no shade nor stain can onto:
Nor the gold be dim;
In that holiness unsullied,
I shall walk with Him.”
“Meet companion then for Jesus,
From Him, for Him made;
Glory of God’s grace forever
There in me displayed.”
“He, Who in His hour of sorrow,
Bore the curse alone;
I, who through the lonely desert,
Trod where He had gone.”
“He and I in that bright glory,
One deep joy shall share:
Mine, to be forever with Him;
His, that I am there.”
I have endeavored, however faintly and feebly, to meditate a little upon the way, in which Christ has, manifested and does manifest His love for the Church, His body and His bride, until, in her complete union with Him, in a bright, glorious, and incorruptible paradise, His love will be fully revealed and known; when we shall see Him as He is, and shall know as we are known. But blessed as it is, and precious to our hearts, to dwell in our poor measure upon those words: even as Christ also loved the Church; we now come to the practical application: “So ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies.” How far has this little word, “so” spoken to my and your conscience, beloved brethren, whoever of you are in the sacred relationship of “husbands?” We must not forget, that the “even as” in verse 25, and the “so ought in verse 28, are in the closest practical connection as to heart and conscience. And if it be true, that the very gait and look of a husband, when leaving his house in the morning for his business, often tells a tale as to the measure in which his Christian “helpmeet” has entered into the relationship of the Church to Christ; it is no less true, that the demeanor of the husband, on his return, in the evening, from the busy city, betrays just as distinctly, how far he has been, throughout the day, living in the sense of what Christ is for the Church. Do I mean to say, that business is to be neglected; and the ledger to be replaced by the Bible in the counting house? I should think very little indeed of the heavenly-mindedness of such a one; for he who disregards the claims of common practical righteousness, only shows that he knows but very little of what it means to live in heaven and to “hold the Head”—Christ. For that blessed One, when on earth, loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, and was always to be found in His right place, and always knew His time, may it be those thirty years in Joseph’s humble abode, before He entered upon His ministry; or afterward, when He said, “Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” A Christian, may he be a master in his own business, who neglects his customers; or a servant, who embezzles his employer’s time and neglects his business, whilst reading his Bible, practically denies the truths of that blessed divine book, in which he appears to be absorbed, instead of “adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
But, beloved brethren, is there not a great difference between the mind and the heart? between our thoughts and our affections? God says: “My son, give me thine heart.” Men may claim our mind, in our business and daily duties, and rightly so. But God has the sole claim upon our hearts, for He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Christ has that claim upon us, for He gave Himself for us, and has bought us with the highest price, that only Divine love could pay; even His own precious blood. Is He, not only precious (for this Christ is to every real Christian!) but “altogether lovely” to you? “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Where is your treasure, Christian reader? Above there, or here below? You cannot look up to heaven with one eye, and at the same time keep the other fixed on the earth, but must have both your eyes either heavenward, or earthward. Just so will your heart be either in heaven (Col. 3:1, 2), or on the earth (Phil. 3:19.) You cannot have one half of your heart in heaven, and the other half on earth. Impossible. I ask again-not: where is your mind? That may be engaged with the customers at the counter, or with the ledger, or in the warehouse, or manufactory; and properly so. But, Christian husband, where is your heart, during your absence from home, in your earthly avocation? Surely, if the heart is in heaven, our heavenly home, where Christ is; the eye, tongue, hands, and feet, will be guided here OR earth by His Spirit.
Does your partner or employer expect or demand from you something that goes against your conscience? “Look off unto Jesus Christ, the Head above,” and the cloud overhead will soon disperse, and light shine upon your path. The burden will glide off from you, you don’t know how. Or are you in perplexity and difficulties? Is there a great crisis impending, and you do not know what to do and whither to turn? “Commit thy ways unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Does your path seem to be more and more intricate, and beset with impediments on all sides, because you are not able to compete with the world’s deceitful ways in trade and commerce? “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Or have you been exposed, during a day’s hard task, to the taunts of your worldly fellow-workmen in the manufactory, because you refuse to enter into their ungodly ways, or infidel conversation? You, beloved, certainly need no word of encouragement. For our heavenly Master, Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, and threatened not, when He suffered, Himself says to you: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is you reward in heaven.”
And if thus during your daily employment, you have, with the eye of faith, been looking of unto Jesus,” whilst the natural eye was engaged with the visible objects of your lawful daily occupation; and if you, though roughly handled by the world around you, have been holding all the firmer our risen and glorified Head, Who, when appearing, a risen Savior amidst His troubled ones, said “Why are ye troubled? handle me; “and have thus drawn from His fullness, wisdom for your daily difficulties, grace and patience to bear up under them, and faith to rise above them; don’t you think, beloved brother, that, on your return home, your wife will have the benefit of your holding the Head (Col. 3) and of your having realized what Christ is for the Church?” (Eph. 5). It would be strange if she did not, whatever her sore trouble may have been during the day.
It was for this reason that I said before: if it be true that the very gait and look of a husband, when leaving his house in the morning for his business, often tells a tale as to the measure in which his Christian “helpmeet “has entered into the relationship of the Church to Christ; it is no less true, that the demeanor of the husband, on his return in the evening from the busy city, betrays just as distinctly, how far he has been, throughout the day, living in the sense of what Christ is for the Church, and whether he has been “holding “the Head” or not. For a Christian husband, who does not know how to behave at home as the head of the family, only proves that he does not hold the Head above, nor realizes what Christ is for the Church. I do not mean in the sense of maintaining his authority (though this is also true), but as to his love for his wife and children. Why is it, that so many a Christian matrimony is anything but “a heaven on earth? “Because the husband does not live in heaven, nor “hold the Head” in heaven, and therefore do not live heavenly on earth, nor behave as the head of a Christian family ought to behave. It is the wife’s privilege, it is true, with her gentle, loving hand to smooth away any sorrow, I do not say frown—from the returning husband’s brow; but if be during the day, has been resting on Christ’s bosom, where His beloved disciple so calmly reposed, whilst everybody around was troubled; if his heart has been happy in the consciousness of the love of Christ, Who is now engaged in cleansing the Church, to present her to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle;—his wife may have to remove a passing cloud of care, but that cloud will bring no storm; it will disperse before her submissive smile of tender, holy love, without her being made the conductor for a rising tempest in the husband’s heart, after a day’s sultry atmosphere. Such storms may occur in worldly households (and even there, any husband of natural manliness would be ashamed to be overtaken by them), but they do not clear the atmosphere, as natural tempests do, but only render it more and more heavy and pregnant with the destructive element of strife and contention, until peace and happiness are undermined, unless God interferes, in governmental grace, with His mighty hand and voice, and thus clears and restores the atmosphere, that is, the hearts, in such a household, where Christ has been so sadly denied, because “the gentleness of Christ “and “the love of Christ “had been so little realized.
The Christian husband, whose heart, during, perhaps, a cloudy and stormy day, has been pillowed on Christ’s love, and sunning itself in the warmth of that love, does not, on his return, frown his wife into silence, submission, and obedience: but he loves her into it, and the only way he forces her into it is by his own example in submission and dependence upon Christ the Head, and obedience to His Word.
But Christ’s love for the Church is not only shown by His cleansing her, but by His nourishing and cherishing her. And it is this part of His loving care in particular, which the Spirit of God here impresses upon the Christian husband’s heart and conscience. If Christ’s love, in cleansing the Church, has been set here before the Christian husband, it is not, that he should set to work and do the same with his wife, but that he may, in a general way, learn of our loving Head in glory to manifest his love towards his wife in his tender solicitude for her, as to everything that concerns her welfare. And why? Because “he that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh: but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ the Church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” Therefore those words: So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies,” refer to that which follows (in verse 29), rather than to what precedes in verses 26 and 27. There are not a few who show great willingness (I do not say expertness) for washing their wives’ feet, but let them starve at the same time. If you do not know how to nourish and cherish your wife, as your own body, you are not fit to wash her feet.
But is the husband, then, to shut his eyes, if he sees something wrong in his wife? Is love to blindfold him, as a natural man’s love so often does? Certainly no. The love of the unconverted idolatrous heart may blind the eyes to the failures of its object, but true Christian love does not. On the contrary, the eye of such true love perceives quicker than would a stranger’s eye, anything wrong in the beloved one, just as your eye would discern every spot upon a precious vessel, for which you have paid a high price, and which you prize very much. Your hand would at once be ready, with the tenderest care to remove and wipe off the spot, in order that you may present it to your eye, to feast upon it in its unblemished purity and beauty. This it is what Christ does for the Church, His Body. It is the very opposite of a lynx-eyed spirit of fault-finding; it is the spirit of true love, which desires to find no fault, and therefore tenderly and carefully tries to remove anything that is faulty But I can only repeat what I have expressed already, that when the Spirit of God in our chapter enjoins the husbands to love their wives as their own bodies, adding that “he that loveth his wife loveth himself,” He expressly connects this injunction with the nourishing and cherishing her, “even as Christ the Church,” and not with the cleansing. There is always the strictest wisdom and propriety in the Word of God, as in everything that is divine.
If the husband’s own heart feeds upon the “hidden manna,” and is strengthened as with marrow and fatness; and if he is in the daily habit of turning with a thirsty soul to Him Who says: “He that is athirst, let him come unto Me and drink,” and thus practices what we often sing:
“Whom have we, Lord, but Thee, Soul thirst to satisfy!
Exhaustless spring! the waters free! All other streams are dry;” you may be sure, he will be able to supply his wife with that food, upon which he has been feeding himself, i.e., to nourish her; and to cherish her, that is, to water and refresh her soul with that water of life, which has refreshed his own. For I cannot eat nor drink for others, but I must eat and drink for myself; and then, and not before, the streams of refreshing will flow out to others.
But if I see a husband coming home from the busy city, sitting down to the repast which tender and loving hands have spread for him, and then taking his hat and hurrying off, evening after evening, to some church meeting, to give them the benefit of his assistance and counsel; or to some Scripture reading, where divine truth is discussed metaphysically, whilst the precious souls of his wife and children are starving at home; and then, when returning late at night, chiding with his wife, or expressing his regret at her want of spirituality, what shall I say to him? I would say to him: “My dear brother, is this the way that Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for her? Is this the way that Christ sanctifies and cleanses His body with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish? Is this the way that the Lord nourisheth and cherisheth her? I know that the word of exhortation told the Hebrews, not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some was, but to exhort one another, and so much the more as they saw the day approaching; but it told them also, to consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works And does this term “one another” mean any one else but your own wife, your own body? Charity begins at home. I should certainly be the last to encourage any forsaking the assemblies, but if I see a husband every evening in the week hurrying away from wife and children to attend meetings, there is but too much reason to fear, that he will get surfeited, whilst his wife is starving.
I know there are servants of Christ, especially gifted by Him, whom He may call away from wife and children, for a longer time, into the regions beyond, “to make known the glad tidings of His gospel, or visit, edify, and instruct, and encourage the body of Christ in those parts For such, especially, the word of the Apostle would hold good. But this I say, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives, be as though they had none.” The Lord would know in such a case, how to provide. And this is true, not only for such, but for every Christian husband. But it does not warrant any one to neglect his wife, which would be nothing less than a flat contradiction of the injunction given by the Holy Spirit, through the same Apostle, in our chapter. On the contrary, if a Christian husband would make that passage a warrant for his neglecting his wife and children, day after day, and evening after evening, in order to practice his gift (which is often very different from “stirring up the gift,”) in a wider circle, or, if he has no gift, to maintain his place and influence in the Church, the inevitable result will be, that the condition of his wife and children soon will become such, as to close the door upon his service, or deprive him of his place in the Church. There have been lamentable illustrations of the truth of this.
Suppose an officer in the commissariat department of an army or garrison, who daily provides every soldier, from the general down to the drummer boy, with their due rations; or the steward of a ship, who gives to every individual in the ship, from the captain to the cabin boy, their meat in due season, would leave his wife and children to starve. Would this be taken as a proof of his strict honesty and faithfulness in his service to the queen and the country? I should think, his queen would be the very last to praise him for it, And what is the verdict of the Divine Code in such a case? “But if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel [unbeliever].”
There is One above in glory, at the right hand of God, Who, though surrounded by myriads of adoring heavenly hosts, does not, for one single moment, take His eye off from any, even the feeblest (and to you and me, perhaps, most uninteresting) of the countless members of His Body, the Church, whom He loved, and for whom He gave Himself. He is every moment engaged with cleansing, nourishing, and feeding every one. And permit me to add, beloved brother, it is just this which you and I are so apt to lose sight of Has, through the ministry of one of Christ’s vessels, some needed portion of divine truth been brought home in power to your conscience? Remember, it is our glorious Head there above, Who did it. His all searching eye saw your need, and He, by His Spirit (through Whom you are linked with Him), and through His Spirit’s channel, ministered the needed word of exhortation to you, to cleanse you with the washing of water, by the word. If your conscience is honest, and the heart true through grace, you will at once look up thankfully to the Head above, who cleanses you, because He loves you, instead of turning round to some neighbor and grumbling: “He’s always lashing us.” Or has the eye of your mind been enlightened by the opening up of some important portion of Holy Writ and your heart been cherished and comforted? It is Christ, the Head, Who once on earth made the hearts of His two sorrowing ones burn, when He expounded the Scriptures to them, Who now, from glory, by His Spirit, ministers from His Word the needed nourishment and comfort to your heart. Or have you, above all, been feeding upon His death, and upon Himself, Who died for us, when sitting down at His table, together with your fellow-members? And has your soul been strengthened and refreshed at that divine repast His loving hands took care to spread for us, before they were pierced and nailed to the cross by men’s wicked. hands? Has your soul, in fellowship with His saints, worshipped God and the Lamb, slain for us, remembering Him, Who loved us and gave Himself for us, in blessed forgetfulness of self and everything around, the eye fixed on His glory, and the heart on His all-beauteous Person? It is He, Who did it, our Head at the right hand of God; our Head, once bruised, and mocked, and spit upon, but now crowned with glory and honor, in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily. From His fullness He has, by His Spirit—that well of water in you, springing up into life everlasting—enabled you to look up and praise God the Father and Him, in Whom God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Look up to the Head, and thank Him for His love and grace, and all that He is (and He is everything, and gives everything, for He gave Himself)— and gives to His Body the Church. You won’t turn then, as soon as the meeting is over, to some ministering member, whom the Head may have used for your blessing, and say to him, “What a nice word you gave us,’ or turn round to some other fellow-worm at your side and whisper: “What a wondrous, blessed man! What a master mind.
And you and I, beloved brother, having, perhaps, just joined in a closing hymn like this:
“O, patient, spotless One,
Our hearts in meekness train,
To bear thy yoke and learn of Thee,
That we may rest obtain;”
we shall, on coming home, and finding there something not quite according to our mind or taste, not set up our backs like the pins of a porcupine, as another has observed. But, in the living consciousness, of what it is to be members of such a Body, and of belonging to such a Head, Who has just in His grace, and love, from His fullness, dispensed and diffused nourishment and strength to so many of His members, and to such feeble and unworthy ones as you and me, among the rest; we shall not only dwell with our wives according to knowledge, as the apostle Peter enjoins us, “giving honor unto the wives as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that our prayers be not hindered “(all important as this is), but we shall love our wives, “even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.” We shall nourish and cherish them, “even as also Christ (which is the true reading) the Church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.”
Beloved brethren, how far are our households the expression and reflection of Christ and the Church, His Body?”
I now conclude with the closing verse of our chapter:
“Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as Himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”
“O precious Savior, deep Thy pain,
When forth the life-blood flow’d,
That washed our souls from every stain,
That paid the debt we owed.”
“ Cleansed from our sins, renew’d by grace,
Thy royal throne above,
(Blest Savior) is our destined place,
Our portion there, Thy love.”
“Thine eye in that bright, cloudless day,
Shall, with supreme delight,
Thy fair and glorious bride survey
Unblemished in thy sight.”
Chapter 8: Children.
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Eph. 6:1-3).
“Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord” (Col. 3:20).
FOR the expression of the relationship of “children,” the original has two words: “teknon” and “huios” The former expresses the nearness of that relationship in affection, and the latter, in position, as to the rights and claims springing from it, and the duties connected with it. It is the same in the English and other languages. If parents wish to express their parental affection to their offspring, they say: “My child.”
The very word, “child,” at once carries the heart of father and mother back to the days of the infancy of the beloved offspring of their love, from the first moment of its existence, when its first feeble, weeping cry announced its arrival in a world of sin and sorrow, and sent a thrill through the parent’s heart; and through the first years of its helpless infancy, drawing forth the tender pity of the father, and requiring the cares of a mother’s love by day and night. That single word, “child,” recalls, as it enshrines, all those affections of a parent’s heart, of which the child has been the happy recipient.
But when the object of that tender, loving parental care has developed into maturity, and the sturdy youth, or blooming maid, stands before the parents; the latter have to put before them their duties, accruing from their position as “sons” or “daughters,” and perhaps, to speak to them the solemn, though loving word of exhortation, where that position of “son” and “heir,” as to the corresponding responsibility and duty, might have been lost sight of and neglected. In such cases the father’s grave word, “My son,” appeals to the conscience of the forgetful young recipient of parental love and liberality; and if that word has found an echo in his conscience, and produced its proper effect, the old cheerful term, “my child,” will come as a balm for the heart, like the first sunbeam after the stormy cloud.
And may I ask those of my beloved younger Christian readers, who are in this happy, but none the less responsible relationship: “Does that sweet word, “my child,” when coming to you from the lips of a fond parent, recall to your heart the many days and nights of unceasing loving parental care, patience, and forbearance, bestowed upon you from the first moment of your existence, through all the years of your naughty, capricious, noisy, troublesome, importuning, heedless, restless, and boisterous childhood? And if that word, “my child,” speaks to your heart, beloved, as I do not doubt it does, has it also a voice for your conscience, as to bow you have requited that parental love and tender care, that was, under God’s supreme, merciful protection, watching over you all those years, and doting upon you, and taking notice of your slightest wants, with unwearied patience? That love, that watched, during the long hours of the night, over your sick bed, or toiled for you in the sweat of the brow in the heat of the day, or braved the frost, and the storms and waves, that you might be fed and clothed. Nay, more that love that watched over your precious soul, and not only stored your mind with the needed amount of knowledge, to enable you to earn your bread in an honest way, but; if you had the privilege, to be the child of Christian parents) brought you up, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and wrestled in prayer to God for your soul, by day and night, and under God’s grace, became instrumental for your everlasting salvation. Have you yielded to God and to your parents the fruits of a Timothy or Jehoshaphat?
I again would ask you, Has that word, “my child,” exercised its appealing power upon your conscience as well as upon your heart? If so, you will show that you have understood what the word, “my son,” means, and your parent will have no need to address you by the latter term, with the sorrowful look and grave tone of reproach and exhortation, but only by way of encouragement, reward, and confidence, because you have shown by your demeanor, that you understood not only what it is to be a child, but also what it mesas to be a “son.”
Suffer these few words of exhortation, beloved young brother or sister in Christ; for you know, the Limes in which we are living, are called by that most honored Christian pilot, “perilous times,” and these days are the “latter days.” And we know how the spirit of the present age, pride and independence, manifested in such an appalling degree in the present “rising generation” of the world, is apt to affect, and, alas has grievously affected and tainted, with its poisonous breath, the hearts and minds of the younger portion of many a Christian family, and will continue to do so still more, if not carefully and prayerfully watched and guarded against. The Laodicean spirit of selfishness, self-sufficiency, and self-conceit, has not only found its way into the Church generally, but even in Christian families its baneful influence is often most painfully felt, and noticeable even to strangers, in the demeanor and bearing of their younger members. Lukewarmness has manifested its nauseous effect, first as to the affections of the Church to Christ, and, in consequence, as to the natural affections of the members of Christian families one towards another and not only as to natural affections, but even as to the “great healing principle of humanity: “obedience and submission.
But we must not forget, beloved, that after the closing of the door upon the foolish virgins of Laodicea, at the end of the third chapter of the Book of Revelation, “a door was opened in heaven,” and the Lord’s beloved disciple, the sad spectator of the previous scenes of ruins and decline, was told, “Come up hither,” lest, by remaining on the same level with those scenes around him, he should become indifferent, i.e., lukewarm, himself, or reduced to, despair From this world’s chilling and nauseous temperature, the Lord’s bosom-disciple is taken right up into the warm atmosphere of heavenly worship, where every bosom glows with adoring response to “God and the Lamb,” and where no Laodicean heart is to be found amongst those myriads even of angels, not to speak of the redeemed there above.
Let us do the same, Christian reader. For if the heart grows sick and wearied with looking at the Laodicean state around, in church and family-life, the only true panacea is, to rise above it in the Spirit, that “Power from on high,” the “Spirit of glory,” who has been given us, that we might, in His power, shut the door upon everything within and around us, and have a door opened to us in heaven, to enter in the Spirit into a fuller realization of those counsels of our glorious God and Father, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We bless Him, because He “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before Him in love.”
And what is the relationship in which we were to be brought towards God, according to His glorious counsels?
“Having predestinated us “(or marked is out before hand), “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”
This, the relationship of children, then, is the first mentioned in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where we have the counsels of God in and through Christ Jesus. Then afterward, in the fifth chapter, we have the bride; for the Father had given the children as a bride to the Son.
The same order, though not in a Church aspect, we find in the second chapter of the Epistle of the same apostle to the Hebrews.
“ For it became him, 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 “(v. 10).
Then, further on: “Behold, I and the children which God hath given me” (v. 13). The same in John 17 “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me “(v. 6).
Surely, if the prophetic spirit through David, with regard to God’s counsels in Christ as to Israel, said: “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works, which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered; “we, in an infinitely higher sense, may say this of God’s counsels as to Christ and the Church.
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose love was perfectly pleased with His blessed Son, Who was His daily delight from eternity, yet did not confine Himself to His only Son, if we may say so with reverence. That love went out farther into a wider range, though all was connected with Christ, by Whom all things were made. God in His wondrous counsels, in which the Son, Who says, “I and the Father are one,” agreed with Him (as in everything); God would have children for Himself, and many sons brought to glory.” But in order to accomplish those wondrous counsels of blessing, His own Son, His only begotten Son, must suffer and die upon the cross.
“ For it became him, 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.”
And what were those sufferings which have made you, Christian reader, a child of God? Not only had the Lord of Glory to be nailed to the cross, and there to face all the taunts and derision of the assembly of the wicked that enclosed Him—terrible as this was—but more, not only had the Holy One to be made sin for us, and to bear our sins on His own body, without spot and blemish; and not only had the Prince of Life to taste death, (who, and if he were the most spiritual saint of God, could have more than the faintest idea or measure of what that meant!) but more still! The only begotten, well-beloved Son of the Father. upon Whom that Father’s heart and eye rested with the supreme and perfect delight of a God and Father-that Son had to drink that awful cup, which that Father’s own hand gave Him
“The cup, which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”
Christian sons and daughters, children of the same Father—you, whom the Son of that Father is not ashamed to call “brethren,”—have those words of the obedient Son of a divine Father’s love penetrated, in their divine power, into your consciences, and been felt in your hearts, in their appealing power?
That cup, filled up to the brim, every drop of whose awful contents would have consumed you or me, beloved child of God, if we should have had to taste it, He had to drink it, deeper and deeper—until it had been drained to the very last drop, and the Son, Who was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, could bow His head upon that cross and speak the words: “It is finished.”
Or can we understand, beloved child. of God, what it cost God, not only to give His only begotten Son, but to deliver Him up for us, by His “determinate counsel and foreknowledge “(Acts 2:23)?”
Determination in man only is a sign of a hard heart, or a hard will. God’s determinate counsel in delivering up the obedient Son of His love for children of wrath and of disobedience, only manifests His loving heart and gracious, blessed will towards sinners, rebels and enemies, such as you and I once were, Christian reader, that we, through Christ’s obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, might be-not only dear, but-obedient children.
There are two reasons why God loves His blessed Son. First, because He is His Son, the only begotten Son of the Father, and, as such, perfect, and the worthy object of God—the Father’s delight. When God appointed the foundations of the earth, the Son was with Him, as one brought up with Him: and He was daily His Father’s delight, rejoicing always before Him.
In that divine Son, there was everything that was perfect, and delightful to the divine Father’s heart. But there was another reason for such a Father’s love to such a Son! It was not only the divine perfection of the Son of God, but.
2. The perfect obedience of Jesus, the Son of Man,
As the co-eternal Son of the Father, He had agreed with Him, as One with the Father, in His counsels of grace, wisdom, and glory, as to the many sons to be brought to glory, for which the Son was, in due time, to suffer and to die. And when the time had arrived, that the word was to be “made flesh,” and the Son of God to become the Son of Man; on leaving that heavenly home of divine love, and peace, and glory, to exchange it for a world where sin, misery, hatred, rebellion, pollution, sickness, death, darkness, and every evil and unclean thing are at home, the words of the Son to the Father were: “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God! “—Delightful words to the ears and heart of that Father!
And after the blessed Son, the Lord of Glory, had assumed the humble garb of a servant, and was found in the fashion of man; and when the divine Father’s eye followed the steps of that perfect Man on earth, Whoso every step, word, action, thought, and feeling, glorified God on earth, where God had been so dishonored by man, yea, Whose very meat it was, to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work; Whose every step was a step in the downward road of obedience—lower and lower, until it terminated on the cross—as ours had been in the downward road of disobedience-with what delight did the Father’s eye trace the steps of that obedient and lowly Son of Man, —Who was the mighty Son of God But it was not this obedience, the obedience of the Perfect Man Jesus, during His life on earth, when opposed at every step by Satan and man, that made, precious to God though it was, Jesus pronounce those words:
“Therefore my Father loveth me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
It was on account of the obedience unto death of the Son of Man, obedience perfect unto, and complete in His death, the death on the cross, that the Father loved Him, and does love Him, and will love Him forever.
But as with the Heavenly Father, so with an earthly, there may be two reasons for loving his child. First, because he is his child, and, secondly, because he is an obedient child. For however impartially a good father may love all his children, yet there is no doubt, that his love towards an obedient child will manifest itself in a very different way from what it does towards a disobedient one. In the former case, the love of the parent flows out unchecked, without let or hindrance, towards its dear object, doting upon it, pouring out upon it all its warmth and full sunshine of paternal favor, not only because he is a child, but because he is an obedient one. In the latter, on the contrary, the parent’s love being checked and grieved, can only look with a mother’s tearful eye at the self-willed and unsubdued child of her affection, or manifest itself in the father’s solemn rebuke, or even in the chastening rod. Alas! alas beloved brother and sister in Christ (the obedient Son of the Father’s love), is it not often so between God and us? And how often?
There was a time, when you, returning from a far, far country, where you had been boarding with the pigs, and wallowing in the mire with them, covered with rag., but through grace, a repentant prodigal, felt the kiss of a divine Father’s redeeming love, because you had, through Ms grace, Who was looking out for your return, believed in His dear Son, Who in obedience to His Father’s will, left His Father’s house with the many glorious mansions, to go into a far country—not in disobedience, like you and I—but in obedience to His will, Who would not, that we should die in our sins. Ire spent “His substance,” not like you and I, in “wasting “it, but He had sold all that He had, in order that we might share with Him all that He has. You had felt the welcoming, adopting kiss of that Father. The filthy garments were taken away from you, before you were aware of it, and you found yourself clothed, not only with change of raiment, but with the “BEST GARMENT.” The gold ring, the expression of your nearest and dearest relationship as a child to the Father, and as betrothed to His Son, had been put upon your finger; the shoes were on your feet, your standing was perfect, for it was in Christ, in Whom there is no condemnation; and sure, for it was on Him as your foundation-stone.
You found yourselves ushered into the banqueting hall of the Father’s house. The fatted calf, that had been killed, and roasted, was on the table. How many guests were sitting down there, to partake in the Father’s and their common joy, in hailing and welcoming back the one who had been dead, and was alive again, who had been lost away from the Father in the ways of sin and despair, and was now lost in the joy of the Father’s heart, End house! How many were there sitting down to that banquet? You could not tell, as little as you could measure the length of the table, where they were seated. Its length was about the same as that from west to east, and south to north. And whilst the vast space was ringing with the merry-making welcome on your return, you were ensconced between the Father and the Son, in that love, from which you felt, that nothing could separate you; and the “Abba” responded to the Father’s kiss, and the “Thou knowest Lord, that I love Thee,” to the caresses of the lover of your soul.
But it was not only, “Thou knowest Lord, that I love thee,” that responded to the love of your Savior. There was another sentiment in your heart: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” It was that of obedience, that desires to know and to do the will of the one who loves us, and whom we love. And it was not only the “Abba, Father,” that responded to the Father’s kiss, through His Spirit, by Whom His love was shed abroad in your heart, beloved child of God, but your heart’s desire was, to be “led by the Spirit of God “and to walk as a “child of God,” and thus to respond to that divine redeeming love, that had sought you and looked out for you, when you were lost, and that hailed and welcomed your return.
Ah! beloved child of God! when the first joy of that wondrous new divine relationship was diffused through every corner of your heart, and made it leap in the power of that Spirit of adoption, and bask in the sunshine of the Father’s favor, and when you then, with the eagerness of the new-born babe, turned to the sincere pure milk of His Word, drinking deeply of His Written Christ—for you had “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” to get your soul imbued with the sense of the greatness of your Savior (Heb. 1) and of your salvation (Heb. 2), “which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12), and when you then came to the following verses: “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ: as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts, in your ignorance: but as He, which hath called you, is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy;” —and when you further on read of the “Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work,” and were reminded of that immense prize, with which His love, and the love of His obedient Son had redeemed you: even “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot “; did not your conscience, equally with your heart, feel and realize the power of those words: “as obedient children? “
You then did not only enjoy the blessing and happiness of your relationship as “dear children “of God, but you felt also the responsibilities as “obedient children “of “the Father, on Whom you call,” and Who “hath called you,” and says: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” You then felt, that you were not only a dearly beloved, but a dearly bought child of God.
Yes, beloved, there is no relationship without its corresponding responsibility. If I enjoy the privileges of a friend, I have to fulfill the duties or obligations of a friend. And if I am placed in the happy relationship of a child, I have to remember the duties of a mild. The higher and nearer the relationship, the more sacred and solemn are the duties, accruing from it, and connected with it.
It was from this reason, which I, at the commencement of this chapter, endeavored to call the attention, especially of the younger portion of my Christian readers, to the difference between “child” and “son.” It is one thing, to enjoy, by faith, your blessed and sure portion and relationship as “children of God,” in the sense of John 1:12-13 (the true rendering there is “children,” not “sons “); and it is quite another thing, to remember and heed the “exhortation, which speaketh unto you as sons:” (the true rendering,) “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint, when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he, whom the father chasteneth not? “
It is one thing, to enjoy the blessed truth, that “the Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16); and another thing, to remember what is written in the same precious chapter: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
I have said already at the beginning of this chapter, that the word “son” implies the responsibility and duty, and further the position and rights or claims of that relationship, whilst the word child expresses the nearness of it in liberty and affection. The eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, that precious portion of Holy Writ, which deals with the Christian’s standing and relationship, makes this distinction between “child” and “son” more evident than any other portion of Scripture, and we find here expressions close together, in the sense I have mentioned, and already quoted from that chapter. (Compare further verse 19, where it is a question of the rights and dignity of the “sons of God,” with verse 21, where we have the final result in the full enjoyment of the liberty of “children of God,” as to our bodies in glory, which we now enjoy already in the Spirit).
We may have learned, my beloved young Christian reader, through grace, in our little measure to “behold, what measure of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children (the true rendering) of God; “but it is a different thing to listen to the solemn divine injunction: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” And at the end of the divine code: “He that overcometh, shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
And now let me ask you, that are in the happy relationship of children, under the roof and care of loving parents: have you not only used your eyes, i.e., “behold “that manner of love which the Father hath bestowed upon you, that you should be called “children of God,” but are your eyes equally open to the responsibility, springing from that sweet and blessed relationship, i.e., to walk not only as “dear children,” but as “obedient children,” and thus, by being “led by the Spirit of God, to show that you are the “sons of God,” and have understood and realize what that latter expression means and does involve?
The same God, to Whose wondrous love and His blessed Son’s loving obedience unto death, even the death on the cross, you owe eternal life, and the divine relationship you are in as “children” and “sons “of God, has placed you here on earth in a similar relationship, where it is His will, that you should reflect your heavenly relationship, and walking in this world, perhaps in the midst of an unconverted family, with unconverted parents, as a harmless and blameless child of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine, as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.”
Beloved “child of God 1 “your heavenly Father has given you earthly parents, to whom, next God, you owe your life, and your health in body and mind, and your intellectual and bodily development and attainments, and thus a life-long debt of gratitude for years of their unwearied loving care and patience. Are you endeavoring under the grace of God, to repay to your parents at least some portion of that debt, which you never will be able to fully repay?
In these closing evil days, disobedience, that root of all evil, and of all temporal and eternal misery, is rampant, and fast developing towards its full bloom in the person of Antichrist, the “man of sin,” and” son of perdition,” whose very character will be “self-will,” for he “shall do according to his will.” But there is another feature that characterizes Antichrist; he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods.” Mark the expression: “God of gods.”
We know, that God in His Word calls the authorities, whom He has appointed on this earth, by the name of “gods.” (Compare Ex. 22:28; Psa. 82:1, 6; John 10:34, 35). They are thus called, because they are ordained by Him to take His place on earth, to rule in righteousness, and to check and counteract the destructive power and undermining, corrupting, and malignant influence of the “prince “and “god “of this world, who himself fell through his pride, in being lifted up against the most High God, and who, ever since Adam’s fall, has been at work to inspire man with the same spirit of pride, and independence, and rebellion against God and all divinely appointed authorities i.e., “gods,” who are in God’s stead, and act for God (such as kings, judges, or magistrates), until Satan’s masterpiece: Antichrist, as the first Adam in full bloom, will sit in the temple of God, “showing himself that he is God.
And is not this spirit of self-will, pride, and independence, which, besides that of lying and murder, forms the chief feature of Satan and Antichrist, now pervading this sad world, in every country, and in all ranks of human society? And is not the Satanic spirit of Antichrist, who “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called god, or that is worshipped,” now more than ever manifest?
Mark again the expression: “above all that is called god, or that is worshipped” (i.e. “an object of veneration,” which is the true meaning of the Greek). That is to say: that spirit of opposition and self-exaltation is not only directed against God, but against all “gods,” i.e., divinely appointed authorities, such as kings, judges, and magistrates.
And if God enjoins upon us in His Word, to “fear God,” and “honor the king,” and to “be subject unto the higher powers,” because they are “ordained of God,” and “God’s ministers,” and in that sense are called “gods “: do you think, beloved young fellow-believer, that the divine injunction in our chapter: “Honor thy father and mother,” is of less weight and importance than that which says, “Honor the king?
If anything, it is of paramount importance. It “is the first commandment with promise,” as the Spirit of God reminds us m our chapter, and rightly so. For if kings and authorities are to be honored, because they are appointed by a merciful Creator God, to check and restrain Satan’s mischievous power over and in this world, and to protect against evil doers, (his instruments), and therefore are “gods,” or in God’s stead; how far more is honor due from you to those, and how far more have you to consider them, not only as your “fathers “or “parents,” but as “gods “(in the above sense of the word), whom God has appointed to be, not only the natural protectors and providers for your youth, and whose roof and hearth has not only been to you a shelter and refuge from the storms and dangers of an ungodly and godless world, which lies in the wicked one; but if you have been or are so privileged as to have one or two believing, godly parents, they have instilled into your soul, from your earliest days, the pure milk of the Word of God. And thus, like Timothy, the youthful, and yet so fruitful servant of Christ (whose very name, ‘ fear God,” testified to the care his pious mother and grandmother must have taken to instill into his young heart that which is “the beginning of wisdom,”) you have known from a child the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Do you, my beloved young brother or sister in Christ Jesus, show your Christian parents, in return for their years of ceaseless prayers, and watchfulness, and care, something of that gratitude which the blessed youth Timothy, no doubt, showed to his excellent mother and grandmother, as he did to the great Apostle of the Gentiles and of the Church, who was his father in the Gospel? If so, blessed are you For it is not merely the promise of long life on earth, 03 of your earthly welfare, which will be your portion. There is something far higher for you, as you know. You will have in your conscience the seal of the approval of the Lord Jesus Christ, the obedient “Son of God,” and the obedient Son of man” also; and you will, wherever you are, in all your ways- and circumstances, enjoy the deep consciousness of God’s complacency, the complacency of Him Who said, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.”
And what was it, beloved child of God, that so peculiarly and sweetly characterized the obedience of the blessed child of Nazareth? It was this, that, whilst He always was conscious, even in His human childhood, of being the Son of God, that is, of His divine relationship to His Father in heaven, yet He never for a moment was unmindful of, or forgot His earthly relationship, in which He found Himself, in obedience to His Heavenly Father’s will. On the contrary, it was just whilst fully conscious and mindful of the dignity and character, and the obligations (if we may say so) springing from His heavenly, divine relationship, that the child Jesus was such a perfect pattern of obedience and subjection in His earthly relationship. Joseph and the mother of Jesus, after three day’s anxious seeking, found Him at last sitting in the temple in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions (for that blessed perfect child never forgot, or overstepped His place!) so that all that heard Him, were astonished at His understanding and answers. His mother said to Him, by way of a gentle reproach: “Son, why halt thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”
Now, in the case of any other child acting thus, there would have been just cause, not only for a gentle reproach, but for a grave rebuke. But this child was first of all the Son of God, before He became the lowly Son of man. Joseph and Mary ought to have remembered this. For had not the angel Gabriel, when announcing to her the birth of Jesus, said, that He should be great, and be “called the Son of the Highest”. . . . “the Son of God? “And must not that divine, heavenly relationship have the precedence to His earthly one? It was in the sense of that relationship, and in the full consciousness of it, and as the Son of God, that Jesus said unto them: “How is it, that ye sought me? Wist ye not, that I must be about my Father’s business?”
“ And they understood not the saying, which he spake unto them “(though His mother kept all these sayings in her heart), but Jesus always understood His place and His time. What follows immediately after?
“And He went down with them, and cane to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.”
Perfect in obedience in His earthly relationship as “Son of man,” as He was perfect in obedience as the “Son of God.” First His heavenly, divine relationship as paramount in everything; then, as springing from it and in close connection with it, His earthly relationship. Only think on the one side, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, the Creator of the world, Who called the universe into existence: and on the other side, Joseph, the poor carpenter, with his poor wife (though of the lineage of David), despised of men, and counted as naught, as to their social standing 1 But the Lord of glory, Who was laid in a manger of a stable, and a helpless babe in Simeon’s arms, follows, as the child Jesus of Nazareth, his humble parents to their humble abode, and serves Joseph in the carpenter’s shop.
The world admires a Czar, whom they call “The Great,” because he became a ship’s carpenter, to learn the art of ship-building, for the good of his empire. The world admires this as one of the features and proofs of his greatness. But there stood One, greater than the greatest of the earth, in that humble carpenter-shop at Nazareth, of Whom the world’s annals are silent, and Whom, when He had accomplished His career of obedience in the downward line (as man’s was disobedience in the upward line), they hated without a cause, until at the close of His blessed course, when His obedience was perfect unto death, even the death of the cross, they spat upon Him, and mocked Him with a crown of thorns, and nailed Him to that cross. Such was the close of the earthly career of the obedient child of Nazareth, Who is not only our Savior, but also our pattern, that we should walk as He has left us an example. Beloved, are we doing so?
He was always “He that is holy,” and” He that is true,” in His heavenly and in His earthly relationships. In the sense of what He was as the “Son of God,” Who “was come from God, and went to God,” He could stoop down as the lowly “Son of man,” to perform the service of the lowest servant, and wash His servant’s feet, and from the temple, in the full sense that He, as the Son of God, must be about His Father’s business, He could follow Joseph and Mary to their humble cottage, and be subject unto them.
And in the same measure, I repeat, as we realize our relationship above as dear children,” and “obedient children,” we shall know not only how to behave ourselves before men, but to glorify God in our earthly relationship as children, who are enjoined to “obey “and “honor their parents.”
The passage just quoted from Luke 2, as to the child Jesus in the temple, and the child Jesus in the humble carpenter’s cottage at Nazareth, as showing His perfect discernment of both His heavenly and His earthly relationship, and vet His faithfulness in each, as found through all the gospels (John 2:4; Matt. 12:46-50; John 19:25-27), affords us at once a practical illustration of the first verse of Eph. 6, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” That is to say. “obey your parents,” and not only “obey them,” but “obey your parents in all things;” as the same Apostle writes to the Colossians: only let your obedience be in the Lord, i.e., not against His own Word. The obligations connected with our heavenly relationship must always be paramount. Thus the “in all things” of the Colossians finds its completing modification in the Ephesians in those words, “in the Lord; “lest the subtle flesh and self-will in the “child “should plead the duty of obedience in its earthly relationship, to cloak with a divine precept his disobedience to another divine precept. And from the same reason, the “in the Lord” in the Ephesians has its necessary commentary addition in the Colossians, lest a child should plead its heavenly relationship (under the plea of “conscience,” i.e., without the Word) to cover his disobedience in the earthly one. (Compare pp. 158, 137, 139.)
I do not intend here to dwell upon other examples, in Holy Writ, of filial obedience and reverence to par( n s, such as Isaac and Joseph; the former, in his resistless and quiet, though mere passive obedience on the top of Moriah, the beautiful figure of the One, of Whose obedience unto death I have just spoken, Who was a willing, and yet a willing less victim, bound to the tree of curse; and Joseph, in whose heart all the treasures of Egypt could not chill his filial affections for his father, and even for his brethren, as all the honors of Egypt could not prevent him from owning his father (the despised herdsman, the “paria” of Egypt), before Pharaoh, and from honoring him before the Egyptians, who would have thought themselves defiled by eating with an herdsman at the same table! We easily can understand the partiality of Jacob’s heart for such a son, whatever we may think of his lack of wisdom in showing it before Joseph’s brethren.
Beloved, we know what is the spirit of this age. The Word of God has forewarned us, and our daily experience confirms it. The spirit of the present generation, and particularly of the younger part of it, is the spirit of pride, self-will, and contempt of all divinely instituted authorities. If, in the days of John, the spirit of Antichrist, who shall do according to his will, and shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall “speak marvelous things against the God of gods,” was already at work, what about the days in which we are living? Surely everything shows that they are not only the latter, but the very last days! The mystery of iniquity is fast approaching its final outbreak. And though Antichrist has not yet appeared in person, speaking “marvelous things against the God of gods,” yet Satan is paving the way everywhere for the fast approaching appearance of his masterpiece, by speaking marvelous things against the gods,” i.e., all divinely appointed authorities, not only in his infidel and rationalistic organs of the press, but in the general tone of conversation, especially on the part of our “rising generation.” When they speak, for instance, of their parents, the old sacred terms of “father” and “mother” are shunned, and supplanted by epithets of a mere educational character, with the repetition of which I will not disgrace these leaves. And though I should be loath to think any of my Christian young readers guilty of using such utterly ungodly expressions which are the most flagrant contradiction to the solemn divine injunction. “Honor thy father and mother; “yet is not the very fact of the present use of that phraseology, adopted by the young people of the present age, a proof how Satan is paving the way for his great lie Antichrist, in causing men to speak irreverently against the “gods,” i.e., authorities, until he can be bold enough to throw off the mask, and, through his false Christ, “speak marvelous things against the God of gods?” There is everything in man’s natural rebellious heart, to yield to that spirit, that will soon culminate in Antichrist, who is the first Adam in full bloom. Therefore let us see to what is written. “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee” (Prov. 4).
And let my young Christian reader remember, that the Word of God, whilst accompanying its divine injunction to obey our parents, and to honor father and mother, with especial promises of blessings, on the other hand, contains and pronounces the most solemn judgment upon those who disregard the Divine commandment, Indeed, there is scarcely any of the various sins, offenses and transgressions, mentioned in the law of Moses, where the Divine displeasure and judgment is pronounced in such awfully solemn terms as in the case of rebellious and irreverent children.
I will give a few passages. Let God’s own Word speak its own solemn language! First, I would direct the reader’s attention to the place which the Spirit of God in Holy Writ assigns to the parents, as to their place of authority, in closest connection with the holy reverence due to God. In Lev. 19. we read:
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.”
And immediately after
“Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my Sabbath I am the Lord your God.’’
Further “My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck, When thou goest, it shall lead thee when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life “(Prov. 6:20-23)
“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, End forsake not the law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck” (Prov. 1:8, 9).
“Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old (Prov. 23:22).
“Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother “(Deut. 27:16).
“There is a generation that curseth their father, and Doth not bless their mother; a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness; a generation, 0 how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up; a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men” (Prov. 30:11-14).
And verse 17. “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.”
It is said of the well known Adam Clarke, whose pious mother, in his earliest days, had nurtured his soul with the sincere milk of the Word of God, that he, when a little boy, having one day been disobedient to his mother, on entering the garden, saw a raven over his head flying through the air. At this sight, the last of the above quoted passages of Scripture flashed across his young mind, and fell with such power upon his conscience that he, crying and trembling, covered his eyes with his hands, to protect them against the raven, and hurried back into the house.
Let not my younger Christian readers make light of the childish fear of young Adam Clarke, for it was the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. He looketh to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at His Word (Isa. 66:2).
Would, there was more of this trembling at His Word in the “children of this generation,” who, in this respect, certainly are not so wise as the little boy Adam Clarke. God, Who used the birds of prey as His messengers, to feed Elijah, His obedient servant, during the time of famine, can use them, if He pleases, and will use them, as the executioners of His righteous judgment upon children who despise those, whom God has placed over them in His stead, and who thus despise God Himself, in disobeying their parents. There is something awfully solemn in those words: “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” Except that of an idol, there is no greater abomination in the sight of God than a rebellious child. Such a state indicates utter moral corruption, and thus God treats it here, for “wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”
I know one, who, when a boy of eight years, was present at the death-bed of a pious aged lady, the widow of an office. One of her sons, a Roman Catholic priest, had, by his uncontrollable temper, caused much sorrow and grief to his departing mother. He did not make his appearance at the death-bed of his mother, but stayed in the next room, until all was over.
And when now the door of his room opened, and the solemn news were whispered to him: “She is gone! “and he caught sight of the lifeless body of his departed mother in the next room, he buried his face in his hands, and abandoned himself to such an outburst of grief and “repentance, that was too, late,” that it made an indelible impression upon the little boy, who was the grandson of the departed lady And as the boy again looked at her pale face, and the lips and eyes, closed forever in death, that had given him so many loving smiles, looks, and kind and faithful words; and as he looked at her white lifeless hands, that were no longer to caress him and minister to him the countless tokens of a grandmother’s love; all at once the remembrance of his many naughty ways, by which he had so ill requited the love of the departed one, came upon the little boy, and he experienced feelings very similar to those of his uncle in the next room.
He had something of his uncle’s hasty temper, and often afterward, in his younger years, when he felt tempted to give way to it towards any member of the family, especially towards his parents, he used to turn for a moment aside, and that death-bed scene would rise up in his remembrance, and he used to imagine the beloved one, to whom he at the moment felt tempted to be disobedient or unkind, lifeless before him in the coffin, and the anticipation of a remorse that would be too late, often checked the rising self-will, and prevented the thought or feeling from being uttered.
And if that death scene had such a lasting effect upon the conscience and heart of that unconverted youth, let me ask my Christian reader and myself: has that death scene on Calvary, where the obedient Son of His Father died, and drank the cup of wrath for “children of wrath and of disobedience,” its proper effect upon our consciences and hearts? Ah! Reader! if you and I were more constantly at the foot of that Cross, where all the fearful consequences of our self-will and disobedience were laid upon that Perfect Son, Who had a right to have His own will, but only used it, as another has said, not to do His own will, but the will of Him Who had sent. Him: would not our whole walk and demeanor, especially in our houses and families, bear more the stamp of that cross, where we have been redeemed, and of the glory whither we are called? Not only would our neighbors in the world around us see, that in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world is crucified unto us, and we unto the world, but in our houses and families it would be seen, that we are Christ’s, and, as such, have crucified the flesh with the affections (margin, “passions “) and lusts.”
And now, before closing this portion, let me recall to the remembrance of my young Christian reader two trees, which stood in two very different places in the land of Canaan, where “Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked against his maker.” The one of them was a great green oak tree, in the wood of Ephraim, where a rebellious people had fought and lost a great battle against their rightful king and lord. Twenty thousand of them had been slain, “and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.”
And from a thick bough of that oak-tree, suspended by a rope of his own long hair (which, in his case, was no badge of Nazariteship), there hangs between heaven and earth, a son of David, Absalom, the rebellious chief of that routed army, and, worse than this: the rebellious son of the most tender and loving father. For however true it is, that Absalom was a rod in the hand of God for David’s chastisement, on account of his grievous sin, this in no wise could attenuate the abominable crime of Absalom’s rebellion.
There, suspended between heaven and earth, hangs the fairest among all the sons of Israel; for “in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot, even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him.” He hangs there, the most awful and hideous spectacle to heaven and earth: a rebellious son; food for the fowls of heaven-a cursed one; for “cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree; “even the mule, that was under him, had betrayed and left him, glad to get rid of such a burden! His rebellious heart is thrust through with three darts, by the stern chieftain of his broken-hearted royal father’s army....
At last they take him off the gibbet, and cast him, like the carcass of a dead beast, into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him,” a figure of the final destiny of his doomed soul...
Is there any page in the whole range of Holy Writ, where the righteous, stern, divine displeasure against disobedient and rebellious children is expressed with such an awful distinctness, as in that oak-tree in the wood of Ephraim we have just looked upon? I know of none.
Let us turn now from that ghastly spot to another scene, unparalleled in it solemnity, yet fraught with everlasting blessings for heaven and earth.
Upon the mount of Calvary there stood another tree—a barren tree, barren as Israel’s fig-tree—and yet how fruitful! Upon that tree, behold another “Son of David” suspended, but “David’s Son,” and “David’s Lord! “He is enclosed by a host of “rebellious children,” but not to be their leader in the war of rebellion against His Royal Father, but in obedience to His Father’s will, to lay down His life and die for that nation, “and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” And whilst in His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, His holy, spotless body is passing from life unto death, one precious soul of a Gentile, of one “not of that nation,” the soul of the captain of the soldiers who nailed Him to that tree of curse, passes from death unto life, and he exclaims “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”
But there stood two other barren trees, one on each side of the tree of curse, where the obedient Son of the Father was made sin, and a curse for “children of disobedience” and “rebellious children,” and when He was “numbered with the transgressors.” For on each of those two trees, there hung one who was a rebel against God and men, under the judgment of God and of men. And just before that Holy and Just One poured out His soul unto death, one of those two “rebellious children” (most likely “of that nation”), that were gibbeted along with the obedient One, turned right round, saying: “Lord, remember me, when thou comest in thy kingdom.” Again, a soul had passed from death unto life, and he heard from the lips of that Blessed One, the blessed response: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee: to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
And after the spotless body of that Holy and Obedient One, “who was made the seed of David according to the flesh,” had been laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s new tomb, “wherein was never man yet laid,” and He thus had made His grave with the rich in His death (as in his death upon the cross He had been numbered with the wicked), He was, in spite of Satan’s watchmen and seal upon the stone before the grave, to make it secure, “declared to be the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”
The Captain of our salvation, obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross, had been made perfect through sufferings. The awful cry: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” had been followed by:” It is finished,” and: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; “and many sons had been fitted for glory, whom He is not ashamed to call brethren, and of whom He says: “Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me.”
Child of God and heir of glory! Are we walking in the spirit and footsteps of that obedient One, and do we glorify Him, and His and our Father and God in our earthly relationship, as He was ever the obedient “Son of man,” no less than He was the obedient” Son of God.” May those words of THE SON forever be engraven on the memory of our hearts and consciences:
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
I pray God, that it may please Him to own in blessing, especially to the younger portion of my Christian readers, the remarks I have ventured to offer in this chapter, written in self-distrust and self-judgment, I hope, before Him, who searcheth the reins and the hearts. For the spirit of this age is the spirit of Absalom, soon to culminate in Antichrist.
And if any of my beloved, honest young brothers and sisters in Christ, whilst reading these pages, should discover that they have imbibed something of that spirit (to which the natural heart is so prone), I can but leave them between those two trees: the one in the wood of Ephraim, and the other on Golgotha—and, beseech them, prayerfully to look at, and to meditate upon each of them, that their profiting, like that of the good son Timothy, may appear unto all, and that all that are in the house may see the light shining, for the glory of God our Father, and of Jesus Christ, His obedient and well beloved Son, to Whom be glory, and honor, and praise, now and forever! Amen!
Chapter 9.: Fathers.
“And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord “(Eph. 6:4).
“Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged (Col. 3:21).
“FATHER ! “- word, encircling untold treasures of divine love, divine mercy and pity, divine tender and ever watchful care, divine unerring wisdom in rule and discipline towards the objects of such love! It expresses the nearest and dearest relationship to Him, in which the redeeming love of God could bring us, through the ineffable gift of His own dear Son. . . “FATHER!”— next to the ever blessed name of “JESUS,” His well beloved Son, there is no name, the sound of which is so sweet to the divine ear as is the name of “Abba, Father,” when first uttered by the stammering lips of the saved child of rebellion and wrath, who has learned, through grace, to call on that precious name of “JESUS,” as his only passport, and to trust in His precious blood, as his only title to glory, and for access to the full favor of Him, Whom he now addresses as “Abba, Father,” though as a stammering babe, yet with all the liberty of the Spirit of adoption, by Whom the love of God has been shed abroad in his heart.
“Abba,” Father—Lord! we call Thee,
(Hallowed name!) from day to day;—
‘Tim Thy children’s right to know Thee,
None but children, “Abba,” say.
This high honor we inherit,
Thy free gift, through Jesu’s blood;
God, the Spirit, with our spirit
Witnesseth we’re sons of God.”
Well may the Spirit of God invite us, beloved, to “behold that manner of love, which the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God “What exhaustless stores, what a fathomless abyss of our divine Father’s love do those words open unto us!
“Love that no tongue can teach,
Love that no thought can reach,
No love like His.
God is its blessed source,
Death ne’er can stop its course,
Nothing can stay its force;
Matchless it is.”
When the blessed Savior and Lover of our souls had risen from His grave, where His sorrowful handmaid wept like a desolate orphan, His first words to her at once expressed that relationship of tenderest love in which He, through His death and resurrection, has brought us, whom He is not ashamed to call “brethren” because He has made us children of His Father and God: “Go to my brethren, and say unto them: I ascend unto any Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”
This message of the “First-begotten of many brethren,” after He had taken His seat on high at the right hand of God, as the Head of the Church, His body; the Spirit of glory and of adoption takes up, through His honored penman, the Apostle of glory and of the Church, in addressing the Churches, and in an especial way in his apostolic greeting to the Church at Ephesus:
“Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What love does that wondrous heavenly greeting remind us of, beloved! It tells us that the same love
of that blessed Divine Father, which rests on Christ, rests upon us, for we are “accepted in the Beloved.” And how does the Father look at the face of His Anointed? With the supreme delight of a Father and God. That same perfect, eternal love rests upon us, poor, feeble ones though we be, and having failed in everything wherewith His grace had entrusted us! We are “accepted in the Beloved,” and “as He is” (i.e., accepted and beloved in heaven),” so are we in this world; “—a world of enmity, hatred, and opposition against everything that is of God and belongs to God, and persecuting all who will live godly in Christ Jesus. What an assurance, what a comfort, to pass through a scene like this, and in times like these, with the consciousness that the same Father’s love that rested upon His own Son, when He, as the perfect Man, walked this earth, and for that very reason was opposed at every step of His life, until He was lifted up from the earth and nailed to the cross; rests upon us, whilst we, like Him, (and yet, alas! how unlike Him!) are passing through a cruel and subtle enemy’s country towards our final rest and glory with Him!
Oh, what a Father is ours, beloved! And what a love is constantly engaged on our behalf! A love that gave the greatest gift: even the only begotten Son, and takes notice of the smallest thing belonging to us. For what is smaller or seems less important, than a hair of our head? What do we care for one hair more or less? Or what mother, even the most dotingly, fondly loving mother—has ever troubled herself with counting the hairs of her child’s head? Our Divine Father has done so. Perfect love cares for the smallest, as for the greatest need, and notices the smallest circumstances of the beloved object. It is not said, that He counted our sins, as we do sometimes, (“ Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? till seven times “?) For though they were innumerable, He might have known their number, for He knows the number of the stars, and whilst they move, and rise, and set at His bidding, He takes notice of a single poor sparrow, for none of them falls from the roof without Him!
“Behold, what manner of love hath the Father bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.” His love has not only covered a multitude (and what a multitude!) of sins, and not only has His grace said: “Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” but His love has been shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us, even the Spirit of His Son sent into our hearts, which crieth, “Abba, Father,” and beareth witness together with our spirit, that we are children of God.
Three great results, as to our relationship with God, are thus the consequence of that wondrous fact of our being indwelt by the Holy Ghost.
1. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts (i.e., not our love to Him, but His love to us).
2. This blessed Spirit of adoption, even the Spirit of His Son, sent into our hearts, crieth: “Abba, Father,” i.e., gives utterance and expression to that blessed relationship, in which we stand as children of God, in addressing Him by the precious name of “Father.”
3. At the same time does His Spirit bear witness together with our spirit, that we are children of God. That is, not only is the Holy Spirit of adoption in us the power of addressing God, according to our relationship to Him, by that blessed name of “Abba, Father,” but He is at the same time the power within us, of our individual assurance and realization of that relationship, in bearing witness together with our new nature in resurrection life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2), “that we are children of God.”
The result of the first of these blessed facts, i.e., of the love of God having been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us, is the testimony, by the same Spirit, to a hostile world around us, of the love of God towards sinners and enemies (provided that Spirit dwells as an ungrieved Guest within us, and we can say: “The love of Christ constraineth us”), to commend the love of God to enemies and sinners, and to beseech them in Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God. For it is not only the love of God shed abroad in the heart, that makes a Christian a proclaimer of His love and grace; (I do not speak here only of gifted “evangelists,” in the strict sense of the word), but the “love of Christ constraining us to tell out that love towards others, who are still strangers to it, instead of resting satisfied in self-contentment with the fact that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
And if the world and Satan, its prince and god, oppose that testimony, as they will be sure to do, wherever it is rendered faithfully, i.e., by word and practice, the result of the second blessed truth, i.e., of the Spirit of adoption, which dwelleth in us and crieth: “Abba, Father,” will be the deeper realization of His love towards us, Whom we are permitted to address by that precious title. When His Son pronounced those solemn “woes “upon those cities who believed not in Him, and when, as to Israel as a nation, the solemn word of the prophet was about to be fulfilled: “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain; “ what comes next?
“At that time Jesus answered and said: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” And after having thus, in the submission of the perfect Son, turned to the Father, in the full sense of His relationship, He can turn round and say to others: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and ace heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” &c.
How blessed, beloved, if-we, after the perfect pattern of that perfect Son, learn, in our little measure, thus to realize more of the nearness of our relationship to our Father and God, even the Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ! Have we learned, amidst a scene of daily increasing opposition to everything that is of God and belongs to Him, amidst a world that knew not the Father, neither the Son, nor knows His Spirit, nor His Word, nor His children, and yet, led on by Satan, its prince and god, instinctively, and with daily increasing enmity, opposes the children of God and their testimony;—have we learned, amidst it all, or rather away from it all, to turn to Him, and realize the love of Him Whom we call: “Abba, Father?” How precious is the sound of “Abba, Father “in that portion of the Word of God, I mean the eighth chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans ! How calmly, full of holy, happy assurance that single word, “Abba,” ascends from this world of sin and sorrow up to Heaven! In contrast to the spirit of bondage on the one hand, which made the whole people at the foot of Sinai to tremble, and even Moses, the friend of God, so that he said. “I exceedingly fear and quake;” with what confidence of childlike and calm assurance, and liberty, goes up to Heaven the “Abba, Father,” coming from the heart and lips of the youngest “babe,” the least in the kingdom of God, and yet greater than the Lord’s forerunner! “Abba, Father,” the expression of liberty and confidence, in contrast to the spirit of bondage unto fear. “Abba, Father,” the expression of confiding and joyful gratitude, in contrast to the “groan,” expressing pain beyond utterance in words, ascending to heaven from a creation subject to the bondage of corruption, travailing in pain, and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, when in glorious bodies they shall enjoy, as to their bodies also, that liberty which now they enjoy in the Spirit; and when the creature, which is now subject to vanity, for man’s sake, will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption “into the liberty of the glory of the children of God “(for so runs the correct reading). And He, Who listens to the “Abba, Father “of His dear children in Christ Jesus, hears and understands no less the groan of the poor suffering creation that is travailing together in pain. For it is not only the creature that groans, but His children, being linked with it, as to their poor bodies, that groan within themselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies.
But from this suffering creation, there is ascending unto heaven, another groan, most solemn, and yet most precious: a groan of intercession, uttered by the Spirit of God Himself, Who maketh intercession “with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
How faintly do we realize what sin has done! It made the Son of God, when He, as the perfect Man, trod this sad earth, groan and weep here below, before He suffered upon the cross (we nowhere find that He even smiled in this world of sin and sorrow, where He was “the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief “); it is sin which makes this creation and the children of God “groan,” and that makes even the blessed Spirit of God, Whose mind is life and peace, groan in this scene of sin and death. But the Holy Spirit “maketh intercession for the saints according to God.” “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.” Blessed fact precious assurance I Christ making intercession for us in heaven, at the right hand of God, and the Spirit of God interceding for us on earth! What a never failing, divinely perfect and effectual intercession! And with what assurance does it inspire our souls, if realized in the power of His Word and Spirit!
But beloved, it is not this kind of practical assurance, springing from such realities of faith, precious as they are, that I would crave for my own and your hearts just here, It is not so much the loving intercession of Jesus Christ, our Advocate with the Father, nor of the Holy Spirit, blessed though they be! but it is the love of the Father Himself to us, His children, that I wish to dwell upon, and to get my own and your hearts more imbued with.
“I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; “said Jesus, “for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and believed that I came out from God.”
Our Father and God, Who Himself is love, listens to, and understands the groan of the creature travailing together in pain, and He Who heard even the groan of the fasting cattle of Nineveh and spared them, should He not hear and understand the “Abba, Father,” of His children, who call on Him in the ever dear name of His well beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and are themselves “beloved children,” the fruits of the travail of the soul of Jesus, when He poured out His soul for them unto death? What is like a mother’s love? And why does she love her child with such love? Because she has travailed in pain for it.
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”
And what, beloved, about the love of such a Father? He Himself tells us in the same portion (Rom. 8) something of His love.
“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?”
Who is able to pluck us out of His hand? None; neither Satan, angels, nor men. Who is able to separate us from His love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? “Let the prince and god of this world set himself in array against us with all the forces of this world; they cannot separate us from the love of the Father, as little as the whole arsenal fraught with all the weapons of persecution, wielded by Satan, neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ.
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And if you and I, beloved of God, have in the early morning hour offered to our Father, and to Christ Jesus the sacrifices of our hearts and lips, rendering thus to Him the first fruits of the new day; and if we have got our hearts refreshed and impregnated, through His grace, with the sense of His love; and if we in the silent closet have addressed Him with that dear and endearing title, “Abba, Father,” and cast all our cares for the day upon Him, who clothes the lilies and feeds the ravens, and enjoy within us the calm and deep assurance of His love and His peace, which passeth all understanding; and if we then enter into the circle of our family, where we are to be the reflectors of that wondrous heavenly relationship, and receive the smiles and tokens of love from our beloved ones, and hear the endearing “father “from the lips of our children, the echo, as it were, of that term of filial affection and confidence with which we have just addressed our heavenly Father; will not that “father “be re-echoed by our hearts more fully than by the kindest natural father? And will not the face of the earthly father, who has just been basking in the sunshine of the favor of His heavenly Father, reflect, as did the face of Moses, something of the glorious joy and peace, he has just enjoyed on the mountain? And will not his kiss, his look, his words, his whole demeanor, be the reflex of that heavenly Father’s Presence, in Whose sunshine and love he has been bathing? Will not his conversation during the frugal family meal be seasoned with salt, and minister grace to the hearers? And during the family reading, will not the way in which he reads the Scriptures to his family, for his own and their nurture and admonition in the Lord, be in the unction and power, and demonstration of the Holy Ghost? And will not the few words of comment he may have to offer them, come fresh from the presence of God, where he himself has been, and felt the power and comfort of that word (I do not mean, of the same portion of Scripture) in the Divine Presence?
And above all—that heavenly Father’s love, which you just have tasted in all its sweetness in the heavenly sanctuary, will make its divine effect visible in the earthly father’s sunny face and happy loving smile, when he enters the sanctuary of his family.
“Thy morning smiles bless all the day.”
The morning smiles of our divine Father’s love, received in His presence at the solitary hour of the early morning, will not only light up and cheer, together with His rising sun, the domestic circle, but in the evening, on the father’s return from the dusty warehouse or the dingy counting house, or from the din and noise of Tubal-cain’s manufactories in the foggy city, and after a day’s rough handling by its denizens, the radiance of that bright morning smile will still linger on the returning father’s weary face, and irradiate, together with the last glorious beams of the setting sun, the quiet domestic circle. The love of that heavenly Father, who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust, will penetrate the atmosphere of such a Christian household, and the savor of divine grace in Jesus Christ will be tasted, and the gentle yet mighty drawings of the Spirit of love and truth be felt, if slowly, yet surely in God’s own time, by one member after another of such a privileged Christian home, where the father and head of the family is himself at home with divine love, and has learned, to “behold the manner of that love which the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.”
“Oh happy house! where Thou art loved the best,
O Lord, so full of love and grace;
Where never comes such welcome, honored Guest;
Where none can ever fill Thy place;
Where every heart goes forth to meet Thee,
Where every ear attends Thy word,
Where every lip with blessing greets Thee,
Where all are waiting on their Lord.”
It is with reluctance we turn from such a scene to that of a Christian dwelling where the light shines dimly, or only in occasional fits, and then almost disappears; because the father of that family, though having felt once a divine Father’s kiss, when a returning prodigal, and though having heard the sound of joyful welcome ringing through the Father’s house above, when sitting down at the banqueting feast, has become dull and cool. His poor heart, once basking in the sunshine of such a Father’s love, as revealed in Jesus, His dear Son, has grown chilly, distanced from the warmth and brightness of that divine love, in the northern latitude of this world, where the sunbeams of that love, which is ever perfect in itself and unchangeable, reach his poor soul only in such an oblique direction, that they only impart to him an occasional light without warmth.
Poor father! estranged as you are in your own heart from the love of your heavenly Father in Christ Jesus, how, indeed, can you heed the divine injunction, not to provoke your children to anger, but to bring them up in the nurture [or “discipline “] and admonition of the Lord?
You may, indeed, give to your children the smile of a father’s love, as long as things around look bright and smile at you; but that love will be fitful, at the same rate as your light has grown dim and fitful, and there will be a sadness about your smile, which your children will perceive, though they may not understand the cause of the eclipse that has befallen your own and your family circle’s domestic happiness. Alas! alas, poor father The earth, i.e., the world with its passions and lusts—has come between you and the Sun of the Father’s love in Christ Jesus; and thus you have ceased to reflect the heavenly light, and have become to your own family circle an eclipsed sun or moon. Even the natural beams of many an unconverted father’s love, implanted in his heart by a merciful Creator, will appear to shed more light, and spread more warmth (though but in a natural way), in the circle of his family, than yours, Christian father, and child of God! And how can it be otherwise? How can you spread light and warmth around you, when you derive none yourself from above, being away from Him, who is not only the “Father of lights,” but who Himself is Light and Love? How can you give nurture to your wife and children, when your own soul is starving and miserable? How can you bring up your children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, when you are yourself a rebellious child of God? You may try to assert and enforce your authority in your family, but a naturally consistent, though unconverted, father of a family will have more real weight and authority in his house than you; for there is, at all events, consistency with him, which commands respect. But inconsistency may claim, but does not carry with it authority, even in a worldly sense. But the inconsistencies of a Christian father who is not walking uprightly, are not only perceived, but most injuriously felt by the unconverted members of his family. All real authority must emanate from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has set you in the place of a father in your family, and invested you with the authority of such. But if you are not subject yourself to His divine authority, will not your family—even the unconverted part of it, yea, and they most of all—soon perceive and feel it grievously, and what is more—most injuriously? Will your heavenly Father support you in your place of authority, as long as you resist His heavenly supreme authority? How can you have the spiritual weight, gravity, and wisdom to maintain your paternal authority, if the Spirit of God dwells in you as a grieved guest?
When our Lord, before His departure from this world, comforted His desponding disciples with the promise of the Holy Ghost, He spoke not only of the fact to them, that the Holy Spirit should dwell in them, but He added:
“If a man love me, he will keep my word” [not “words “]: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (John 14:23).
There is a great difference between dwelling in a house, and being familiar, and on good terms with its inmates. I may have lodgings in a house, perhaps one or two upper rooms. Thus I dwell in the house. But if I do not care for the people that live in the house, I shall not enter much into conversation with them; but if they gain my confidence and esteem, I shall feel, and make myself at home with them. It is the same as to our conscious communion with God, and the enjoyment of it. “It is,” as another has said, “in the path of obedience that the manifestations of the Father’s love and the love of Christ are found. We love, but do not caress our naughty children. If we grieve the Spirit, He will not be in us the active power of the manifestation to our souls of the Father and the Son in communion. God may restore us by His love, and by testifying when we have wandered; but communion is in obedience.”
And how can a Christian father, if indwelt by a grieved Spirit, who thus must be in him a stern rebuker and exhorter, instead- of being the Comforter and active power of enjoyment of communion with the Father and the Son, be a light in his dwelling and family? Alas the salt has lost his savor; wherewith shall it be seasoned, and how shall it impart flavor and savor to others?
May our good God grant to every Christian father, in days like these, to be more at home in our heavenly relationship and place in the sanctuary above, in order that we may reflect more brightly, in the sanctuary of our family, the heavenly character of our blessed Father above, in holiness, love, peace, righteousness, and grace.
My Christian reader will easily see why “mothers “are not mentioned here. A mother’s tender love needs no exhortation, not to provoke her children to wrath. The warning she needs would be more in the contrary direction. It is a well-known fact, that children, who have lost their father in’ their infancy, often grow up to a softness of mind and character, that unfits them for the stern duties and realities of life;, and on the other hand, such who have been deprived of their mother in their early days, often assume a sternness of character, which renders them very unsociable and inaccessible for the gentle influences and loving associations of family life.
But though “mothers “are not mentioned, the relationship of parents being one of love, so natural to mothers, they are, as hardly need be said, included, especially where the mother of a family is a widow, and, as such, the head of the family; or where the father is unconverted, all these exhortations being, of course, addressed to believing members of a family. But if in the first part of the Apostle’s injunctions as to parental duty, mothers are not mentioned, from the reasons given above, they come in, in an especial way, for the second part of our verse “bring them up in the nurture [or discipline’] and admonition of the Lord.; “for it is just in this point, that on the part of mothers virtue often becomes a failure, so disastrous to themselves and to the spoiled child of their love.
As has already been indicated, the word in the original is not: “nurture,” but “discipline.” The Christian father (or mother) has to bring up the children “in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.”
“Discipline and admonition!” stern words for the easy-going, and so-called “liberal “principles of these days! Does not the child want nurture for the heart as well as discipline and admonition for the conscience? Most certainly; and he would be a very unwise father indeed, who would let his son starve, and then use the rod, because he turns aside to nibble, over the hedge, at some forbidden fruit in our worldly neighbor’s garden! It is true, the father is to bring him up “in the discipline and admonition of the Lord,” i.e., under the yoke of Christ. But that yoke is neither hard nor heavy. “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” says our gracious Master. Do not Christian fathers often forget this? It is for this very reason that the Apostle says:” And ye fathers, provoke not your children unto wrath; i.e., treat them with true fatherly kindness, with a mother’s love and gentleness, “but,” on the other hand, forget not to “bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.”
How else can we account for the strange fact, that so many children, especially sons, of consistent Christian parents, when growing up, betray such an inconceivable aversion, yea, repugnance against everything that is called “religious?” The natural heart’s enmity against God and His Word is not sufficient to account for this, for that reason would hold good for every child of believing parents. Is it not rather, because such Christian parents, especially fathers, have, with a stern Sinaitic spirit, ministered divine truth to their children, so that “the Word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken?”
There is a vast difference between imposing divine truth like an iron yoke upon the young necks of children, especially boys and young men, who naturally are prone to kick and revolt against everything resembling oppression or tyranny; and seeking first to win and secure their filial affections and confidence, and thus to elicit their interest, and make them willing listeners to the reading or expounding of divine truth, coming from the lips of a wise, considerate, beloved, and esteemed parent. This is a very different thing to their receiving the Word of God as men’s word, and from men. “If we receive divine truth from men,” Calvin said truly, “we shall soon receive error from men “(1 Thess. 2: 13). But if a teacher of divine truth does not commend himself to the consciences, or if he repels, and alienates the hearts of his hearers, the divine seed he sows will, in most cases, fall upon a sterile ground.
The parent who knows, with a heart kept fresh through grace, how to be a child with children, and to enter upon their thoughts, and to take interest in their legitimate juvenile aspirations and pleasures, will be sure to find their ears open to listen to the grave word of exhortation, and willing to submit to the word of correction, and even to the rod, if wielded by his loving and unwilling, but faithful hand. Is it not thus our heavenly Father deals with us, His children? He shows His love in season, and applies the chastisement in season. It is thus He makes us to kiss the rod.
A dear minister of Christ was obliged to chastise his boy. At every stroke of the rod, the weeping boy clung all the more closely to his father, until at last, the father was obliged to throw away the rod, remembering what is written: “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.” That father must have won the heart and confidence of his boy, long before he chastised him, and thus the boy’s heart felt the strokes of the rod far more keenly than did his flesh, for he could see in his father’s face the grief and pain it cost him to deal with his child in such a way. The result was, that the rod went right to the conscience of the boy, as well as to his heart, and there produced peaceable fruits of righteousness, and thus the father could throw away the rod.
But there was another effect of that loving father’s faithful correction. The boy clung all the more closely to his father, instead of being repelled and alienated from him. What a lesson to Christian parents! It is a well-known fact, that parents, who are not only kind to their children, but also train them in strict obedience and submission to parental authority, are always the most beloved and esteemed by them; whereas over indulging parents, as a rule, earn from their children anything but gratitude, respect, or affection.
These are common truths; but they are so constantly forgotten by many Christian parents, that it appears “safe, to say and write the same things.” And not only so; it is a well-known fact, that believing parents, who know and hold or enjoy the blessings of full gospel truth as to God’s free grace and salvation through and in Jesus Christ; and, moreover, know and hold, and enjoy their happy place of liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free, in but too many cases are very remiss in bringing up their children in the discipline of the Lord. For it is a common experience, confirmed by many witnesses, that Christian tutors or governesses, as a rule, find it much easier to maintain their place of authority amongst their pupils, when the latter belong to a Christian family, where the parent or parents are under the yoke of the law and legal religious ordinances, than in a Christian family where the parents know the peace and liberty of a full Gospel, and are enjoying, or at least profess to enjoy, the happy liberty of the children of God, delivered of the trammels and fetters of the law and of human ordinances, with the liberty of worshippers in spirit and in truth, whom Christ has made free. The frequent complaint of tutors and governesses in many such families is, that they find it next to impossible to keep the pupils entrusted to their charge under proper control, being not supported by the authority of the parents, who appear to believe that the “rod of correction” is an instrument that belongs to the barbarous Old Testament dispensation of the law of Moses, a kind of the symbols of Sinai, which ought not to be seen in Christian households where the parents are on the ground of full, free grace, peace, love, and mercy, and where grace reigns sovereign, as we are no longer under the law, but under grace. Consequently that old fashioned instrument: the rod, which our legal parents and ancestors deemed to be a necessary and useful symbol and supporter of parental authority, and which yielded its place on the mantle-shelf-only on certain family festival days to the holly berries, and bouquets, and such like brighter and cheerful emblems, has been abolished, and the “non-punishment system “adopted, as more befitting the principles of grace and philanthropy, held and taught in such households and schools.
Christian reader, pardon the writer of these pages if he, in so serious a question, seems to have yielded, for a moment, to what may appear a satirical way of expression; but nowhere does the “folly “of sin (for every sin is also folly—as to ourselves;) appear so prominently as in the case of Christian parents, who, setting aside, or forgetting the plainest and strictest injunctions of Holy Writ, in the New as well as in the Old Testament, practically declare themselves to be wiser than God and His Word, which is truth:
“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (Prov. 23:13, 14).
“He that spareth his rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth betimes “(chap. 13:24).
“Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying “(chap. 19:18).
“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (chap. 12:15).
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
“Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul “(chap. 29:15, 17).
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? but if ye are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons “(Heb. 12:6, 8).
Solemn passages these, Christian father I Are you going to degrade your own children to “bastards,” by training them on the non-punishment principle? Prove that he is your son by—scourging him. It is thus God dealt with you and me. “He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” And why? Because He loveth us, and does love us; “For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.” Does “scourging “look like “receiving “? or “chastening “like “loving “? Certainly not in any other relationship, but it is just that which characterizes the love of the father for his son. First of all, it is true, came the Father’s kisses of welcome; then the “BEST garment; “then the ring and the sandals; then the fatted calf, and the music and dancing; and afterward—the rod.
The “rod” does not taste like the “kiss,” but the same love that applied the kiss wields the rod. The love that spared not the only begotten Son, but laid the “chastisement of our peace upon Him,” Who was the Holy and Spotless One, cannot spare our sinful flesh. Therefore it afflicts the flesh, in order to make the conscience to judge it, and the foolish heart, that had given way to it, return and cling the more closely to the love that applied the rod.
But it must be felt by the child, even whilst under the rod, that it is love that applies the rod. Children’s eyes perceive very quickly, and their young hearts feel very acutely, even whilst under chastisement, whether love, or anger and passion, in the parent, applies the rod. In the latter case, the corrective implement will work anything but correction. Wrath provokes wrath. “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” In such a case, every stroke of the rod will drive the precious object of parental chastisement farther and farther away, and alienate his poor heart from the parent, instead of drawing him nearer to you, as in the case of the chastened boy mentioned above. It is not thus God deals with us, His children, beloved. How important, to learn of Him, Who “is Light “(i.e., “Holy, Holy, Holy,”) and Who “is Love,” how to show firmness and authority in season, and love in season. And how important, therefore, for a parent, before applying the rod of correction, to look up with an humbled and chastened spirit, before he applies the chastening rod, and ask God, Who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, for the needed wisdom and grace, and that His Spirit of love and of discretion may guide, for His own glory, the father’s hand, in applying the bitter rod of correction.
Before going further, I would just offer a few remarks upon a case of discipline, which was of old, and is, I trust, even in our evil days, a case of not very frequent occurrence, but requires all the more promptness and wisdom where it does occur. I mean the case of a stubborn and rebellious son, provided for in the book of Deuteronomy in such awfully solemn terms:
“ If a man have a stubborn and rebellions son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
“ Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; “And they shall say unto the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.
“And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear “(Deut. 21:18-21).
What an appalling scene! Next to the one in the wood of Ephraim, referred to at the end of the preceding chapter, there is hardly any of equal awfulness throughout the Old Testament. Parents, commanded by Jehovah Himself, Who “is Love” as He “is Light,” to lay hold of their own off-spring, and bring him before the elders and the congregation, to be stoned! It was a private affair—a family matter. What had the elders and the congregation to do with it? God had to say to it, and to see to it In His sight, there is, next to the abomination of an idol, nothing more horrible and unbearable than a rebellious child. Its existence was a spot to the camp where God dwelt. The congregation had to purge itself from its presence, else the whole congregation of Israel, as well as the family to which the rebellious son belonged, would have been defiled by his continued presence.
The sin of disobedience and rebellion is here dealt with in connection with drunkenness; not because drunkenness was the capital sin (comp. v. 18), but because the crime of such stubbornness and disobedience to parents is of such an unnatural and dastardly character, that it can be only imputed to the maddening influence of drink, whilst showing at the same time, that drunkenness cannot be admitted as a plea for such a crime before God, as it ought not to be, and, generally, is not admitted as a plea before human judges.
But what, in the case of a stubborn and rebellious son in a Christian family; rare, I trust, as such a terrible case may be? Is grace to prevail, and he to remain in the house, because the law of Moses is no longer applicable? Is the stubborn and rebellions son to stay, until he has infected all the children with the leaven of his wickedness, and turned the whole into a mutinous camp? Fearful, indeed, in its consequences, would be the sinful folly, and awfully solemn the responsibility of the over-indulgent parent in such a case! If the word of love and grace, and the rod of chastisement have proved ineffectual, the family ought, without further delay, to be purged from the defiling presence of the rebellious child, and the door shut upon him. God’s blessing cannot rest upon a household where He is dishonored by the sufferance of such an abomination in His sight. Let the obstinate one learn, under the iron rule and the heavy yoke of the stranger, to appreciate and bow to the sacred claims of a loving father’s or mother’s authority, and in the icy atmosphere of a selfish world, to yearn and long for the genial flame of the homely hearth, and the peaceful haven of his family, the privileges and affections of which he had spurned. If, in such an extreme, deplorable case, outraged parental authority has firmly and graciously asserted its inalienable claims, and thus the sanctuary of the family been purged from that which is an abomination in the sight of God, their prayers for the wanderer will ascend to the throne of grace, and result, in God’s own time, in the sigh for the “father’s house,” and the tearful cry of repentance: “Father, I have sinned against thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”
Beloved I let us remember that what is called “Antinomianism,” i.e., the natural tendency to indulge flesh or nature (even in its legitimate affections)—contrary to God and His word, under plea of grace—has a broader margin than we think; and I fear there is far more in us of that kind of antinomianism than we suspect.
If, on a subject of such vast importance as the present one, I have spoken with more freedom than the delicate nature of family-relationships may appear to warrant to some of my Christian readers, I can but assure them, that nothing is farther from the writer’s intention than any intrusion upon the sacred confines of family-life, which no one could respect more sincerely than he does. But whilst writing, the immense importance of the subject of our consideration, especially in these last days, so grew upon his soul, as “in the sight of God speaking in Christ,” that he should have considered himself remiss in faithfulness and grace, if he had attempted to soften or tone down what he knows to be but too solemnly true!
The following incident from the writer’s early life, the awful solemnity of which has left an indelible impression on his mind, may serve as an additional explanation for his frankness of expression:
When a boy of ten years of age, I lived in a small town in Westphalia. Our neighbor opposite was an old gentleman, who was a wine-merchant. He had served in the Swiss guard of Louis xvi., and had been one of the defenders of the Tuileries and of the Royal family at the outbreak of the first French revolution in 1789. He was what is called a “pious “man, as punctual and regular as a clockwork; and precisely at the same time every morning we saw his tall, straight, and soldierly figure, with the well-powdered pigtail, like a relic of bygone days, turning round the corner on his way to the church close by, to attend mass. Mr. D— was held in general esteem by all his townsmen, on account of his unimpeachable honesty, and natural kindness, and amiability, and lived in peace with all, except one—his only son. For, alas! Mr. D.’s “virtue “was his weakness, and thus had become his sin. Like his unfortunate late royal master, his kindness was not combined with the firmness so necessary in the training of boys. Engelbert, his son, consequently, soon became the terror of the neighborhood, and the daily plague of his father’s life, and of the faithful old servant, who lived with them. At the time I saw him, he was a young man of about twenty years, and had just returned from one of his carousing and reveling rambles to the towns and villages in the neighborhood.
One Sunday afternoon, during which the voice of strife and contention, with cursing and swearing, was heard coming from the wine merchant’s house, sometimes interrupted by the gentle remonstrance of the poor aged father and the entreaties of the servant, suddenly the latter rushed into the street with cries of “murder! “The old wine merchant having at last refused to satisfy his son’s insatiable desires, the latter had attempted his father’s life, by stabbing him with a knife.
Never shall I forget the sight, when the miserable unnatural son, now a criminal, was led away, amidst the furious crowd, between two gens d’armes, to the prison, cursing and swearing, and shaking his clenched fists against heaven, as if defying God and men The broken-hearted father died soon after, and the poor old servant, having lost her reason, was sent to the madhouse, and the house shut up. Some years after, on a visit to the old little town, I found the house had been pulled down, and no trace of it was left. Its place knew it no more.
“Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge (Prov. 23:12).
What comes next?
“Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou beatest hint with the rod he shall not die.”
And not only so, but “Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.”
How true it is, that “he that spareth his rod” hateth his son: but he that loveth him, ehasteneth him betimes.”
Is there not great need, Christian parents, in times of a molluscous kind of love, without the backbone of divine truth, to raise the sound of alarm in matters where godly men of old, such as Eli, and even Samuel, who had to announce the judgment of God to Eli, failed, and had to reap the bitter fruit of their neglect?
The Lord grant us to heed such warnings betimes? whilst encouraging our hearts with God’s blessing upon Abraham, which in principle holds good also for us, if we walk in his footsteps. “For,” said the Lord, “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; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
But although “discipline and admonition in the Lord “form the principal and essential part of the training of children, as referring chiefly to their consciences, and although the word “nurture “is not in the original text, as has been already mentioned, yet it is fully comprised in them as necessarily belonging to it. For it is certainly not the intention of the God of all grace and the “Father of mercies,” Who “pitieth them that fear him, as a father pitieth his children,” and Whose Spirit of adoption within us is a Comforter as well as an Exhorter, that parents should leave their children without the necessary spiritual food for the heart. The reason why the words “discipline and admonition,” as especially referring to the conscience, are used here is, I believe, because the Apostle’s exhortation to the parents refers not only to their believing, but also to their unconverted children. Now, God’s work in the soul, we know, always begins in the conscience. And as in unconverted children there is no new nature, no new heart, i.e., God-ward and Christ-ward affections, and thoughts, and aspirations, that could be nourished with spiritual food: and as the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” unto salvation, those words: “discipline and admonition, have been used by the Spirit of God, I believe, as especially belonging to the conscience. But does not the Word of God contain food even for the heart of the unregenerate child, provided it is trained in the fear of the Lord? What child ever grows tired of such portions as the history of Joseph and his brethren? What heart, even of unregenerate man, if not entirely hardened by sin and crime, has not been moved by such portions of Holy Writ as the parable of the prodigal son, and similar portions of the Gospels, which never fail to exert their appealing power to the natural legitimate affections of mankind? But it is not only such portions as these, but everywhere throughout Holy Writ there are portions, which tell even upon the natural heart of every unregenerate man, who is not entirely hardened, and whose taste has not been altogether perverted by sin, as those referred to in Titus 1:15. For though it is true, that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” yet there is a charm and a power in the Word of God, even as to the unregenerate soul (I do not speak here, of course, of its divine power for salvation in regeneration; for there the water, the Word, and the spirit are co-operative), which is confirmed by daily facts. This is very different to giving to your children merely moral comments upon the Scripture, and thus deadening its divine power and effect upon their consciences and hearts. Read the Scriptures to them without too long comments during the family reading in the morning. Such long comments only produce weariness, even in young believers, much more in the unconverted, and make them still more averse to divine things than they are already by nature. Let God’s Word in its own divine simplicity, power, and authority, appeal to and act upon their hearts and consciences, avoiding even the remotest appearance of any religious constraint or restraint, by forcing them into “religion.” Keep yourselves, as much as possible, behind the scene, except as to your walk, and all the glory and excellency of power will be God’s, and He will not fail to glorify Himself in the conversion of your children, who are already “holy “through the believing parents (1 Cor. 7:14). It is thus that Christian parents, through grace, may be helpful to produce the “good ground in their children’s hearts, in the sense of Matt. 13:8 and 23. And when the seed of the Gospel then falls upon such a well prepared ground (all divine in power and grace though the work is, and must be, from first to last), it will spring up and bear fruit unto life eternal.
But nurture does not only imply the feeding of the souls of our children from the Word of God, all important as this is. Young minds and hearts want change. It is their very nature. I do not mean in a sinful, but natural way. Beware of “dosing” them constantly with Scriptural lessons and precepts! It only serves to delay or counteract, as much as is possible, the work of God in their souls. They want: (1) variety of reading; (2) variety of intercourse and company; (3) variety of occupation, and (4) variety of their youthful relaxations and entertainments.
It is of all importance that Christian parents should remember this; and I believe the true cause why many godly parents, who had brought up their children most conscientiously, have been for many years disappointed as to the hoped and prayed for fruits of their faithful training of their children, may be traced back to their lack of wisdom, in not giving sufficient scope for the natural love of variety in the young, as to the four points, I have just mentioned. The subject is of all importance, though the necessary limits of this book will not permit me to enter into details. Beware of a monotonous education, Christian parent, and do not deprive your children of that variety their young minds and hearts naturally need and long for! Only beware, that that variety is not of a worldly character.
May I, before closing this portion, be permitted to offer to such of my beloved Christian readers, who are in the happy, but so intensely responsible relationship of parents, a few suggestions as to each of those four points:
1. As to variety of reading:
a. As to scientific books and teachings, beware of the poisonous leaven of rationalism and infidelity, with which scientific books and teachings are now-a-days so generally impregnated. By such books the poison of infidelity is slowly but surely instilled into the susceptible young mind and heart, which thus becomes blasted, and withered, and hardened to everything even naturally noble and moral, not to speak of their eternal interests. Thank God there are still in this country many sound books and writers in this domain; and if Christian parents would confer with Christian schoolmen as to the choice of the study-books of their children, instead of leaving it to them to choose their books, they would in many cases avoid the solemn consequences of the neglect of that part of parental responsibility.
And here I cannot refrain from alluding to a part of that responsibility, which frequently is being lost sight of by Christian parents, until they have to reap the bitter fruits of their neglect. I mean the sending of their sons to universities to complete their education, and for the attainment of the scientific knowledge, required to fit them for profession or business, where they would be able to earn their livelihood in a time, where the prince and god of this world draws his entangling net closer and closer, so that it appears to some parents almost impossible to procure for their sons places where they can lead an honest life, and yet suited to their and their parent’s position in society. Hence most of those young gentlemen devote themselves to the study of medicine, as the only avocation which secures to them such a position without violating their consciences. Thus they are sent away from the quiet haven of a Christian homestead to the high school of Athens—the university, the very atmosphere of which is impregnated with the pestilential vapors of rationalism and infidelity: and where, as another has said, the great men of science, falsely so called, men with great fame, but little or no shame, are dishonest enough to betray the confidence of honest parents, who have confided to them their children for their education, by using their professor chairs for instilling into their young minds the deadly poison of infidelity and contempt of those sacred divine truths, in which they had been brought up at their mother’s knees.
Let me, just as a note of warning to such Christian parents, who of late seem to think it an indispensable necessity to send their children to France to “finish their education,” give an extract from the letter of e Parisian correspondent He writes:
“They (the students) come here from ever quarter of the world The idea has been industriously circulated, that the schools of Paris are so superior, that like advantages cannot be found elsewhere Perhaps this is so. The measureless power of the nation, which has enriched the world’s treasury with the marvelous knowledge of Arago, Leverrier, Gay Lussae, Cuvier, and others, cannot be overestimated; but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is purchased at a price that no father or mother would be willing to pay Science is here deep and profound. Here (i.e., in the “Latin Quarter “) in the late hours of the night, from the little narrow windows lights may be seen flickering, where students are striving to unravel the most intricate of nature’s mysteries. Your son may come back to you, able to wield a steady knife, where the nerves quiver and the life goes out; every fiber of the human frame may lie before him like a map, he may unfold the wonderful history of the stars; all the hidden secrets of nature may be known to him; he may be able to tell you how layer after layer was piled upon this ponderous globe, from the time it was first shot a molten mass from its parent sun, to the instant when God said “Let there be light; “—all knowledge in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters that are under the earth, may be his; but he will come back to you heartless, soulless, godless, doubting the honesty of his own father, and the virtue of his mother, and the chastity of his wife and his sister. Here, among the cloisters of knowledge, is an atmosphere of rottenness and licentiousness scarcely conceivable by those who have not witnessed it.”
Christian parents! Are you going to sacrifice your precious children to the Molech of “science, falsely so called,” and in its wake of infidelity and atheism, in order to secure a comfortable first-class berth, suitable to your and their rank and position in human society? I can say nothing more to you, but that you must sadly have forgotten your high heavenly calling in Christ Jesus, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” and that you must either have learned very little, or forgotten very much of that true divine science, to be acquired at God’s high school in those two Epistles, which furnish us with the subject of these pages. There have been sad instances of the truth of these remarks.
But, beloved, I am convinced of better things of you, though I speak thus. I can but say, that I, if in your place, would rather see my son in an humble farmer’s cottage, plowing the field and planting cabbages, than send him to Satan’s high school of rationalism and infidelity, in peril of everlasting ruin !
We now come to another class of books:
b. Literary books.—I need not say what great care is needed as to this kind of books, as most of them breathe the spirit of the world, and are most injurious by their unhealthy sensational style of our days. The want of stimulants betrays an unhealthy constitution. It is not pepper, but salt, that imparts healthy savor and keeps from corruption. Especially would I warn Christian parents against the produce of modern poetry. The poems of Cowper, especially his beautiful descriptions of nature, will never lose their charm for the young who are of a simple and sound taste.
But there is another class of literary books which must not be left unnoticed. I mean novels. One should hardly think it necessary to warn Christian parents against permitting their sons and daughters to read them. But, alas! experience has taught us differently, humbling though it may be 1 All I can say to them is this: if you want the minds of your children to be poisoned, their consciences to be hardened, and their hearts to be defiled; their imagination to be wrought upon at the expense of the higher intellectual powers, often leading to an unhinging of the mind, and finally to the madhouse-if you want to see them unfitted for practical life, by living in an imaginary world of their own, their hearts a prey to false feelings; if you want them to be taken off from the terra firma of everything that is real and true, and thus unfitted for the stern realities of daily life, led away and astray into the swamps by the “will-o-the-wisp “of a treacherous and delusive imagination; and last, though not least, if you want their hearts to be as hard as the world’s highroad, and thus rendered insensible to everything that is divine, and therefore real, true, and lovely, and incapable of receiving the grains of Gospel seed that may be sown, only to be picked up by the birds: in short, if you, Christian parents, want to do your best for the temporal and eternal ruin of your offspring, in spirit, soul, and body-let them read novels, or let them feed on the criminal reports of the newspapers I Do not say, I have over-drawn the picture! There are numbers of over-indulgent parents, who would be able to bear their tearful witness to the truth of these warning words.
Supposing you see one of your children sitting down to a meal, and you know that one of the dishes on the table contains some poisonous substance, that there is “death in the pot,” will you allow him to eat it, because it is his favorite dish? And, pardon the question: Is the soul of your own precious child to be destroyed, perhaps for his everlasting ruin, by Satan’s literature, and you can stand by, an indifferent looker on? I know, beloved, it needs only to put the real consequences of the pernicious reading of such poisoned literary dishes of Satan before you, to make you recoil with horror from any such further over-indulgence to your beloved offspring, the real consequences of which you had, perhaps, not seen in their full and solemn light.
c. As to religious books, I need hardly say that, though from various reasons, the solemn responsibility of the Christian parent, as to the control of the books read by their children, is equally great, if not greater still, on account of the many fatal heresies spread throughout Christendom. For whilst in the case of novel reading, it is especially the imagination and the mind of the young reader that suffers from its baneful effect, the reading of unsound religious books affects directly the conscience and-the heart of the young, that is, the very parts of his inner man, where God works, by His Spirit and Word, in His divine power and grace. Here the danger threatens especially the souls of young believing members of the family, and the parents’ watchful care will, therefore, have to be asserted in an especial way on their behalf. I need not say, that grace and wisdom must be combined here with faithfulness.
There was a Christian mother, distinguished by her womanlike gentleness combined with firmness. She had declared to her children once for all, that if she found a novel in the house, it would be immediately committed to the fire, no matter whether the book belonged to them or to others. And as her children knew, that if once their mother said a thing, she did it, the result was that no novel was ever seen in the house. May the Lord grant wisdom and firmness!
As to the second point, namely, variety of intercourse and company, Christian parents would do well to be on their guard as to any over strictness in keeping their children aloof from all intercourse and contact with unconverted children of their age. I mean as to their education. I know some who kept their children under a kind of a strict monkish and nunnish seclusion at home, either by having them educated by private Christian tutors and governesses, or, where the parents could not afford this, the father and mother themselves performing the duties of tutor and governess. Even invitations to dinner or tea at their Christian friends houses were refused, lest their children should mix with the unconverted children of those families. Whilst fully agreeing with such parents as to the all-importance of training their children on the divine principle of separation from the world, we must not overlook, on the other hand, that nothing is more foreign to the spirit of Christianity, i.e.; of the New Testament, than such a kind of monastical seclusion. It is unnatural, and it has, according to the well-known natural law of extremes, produced in such families the very thing sought to be prevented. If Christian parents are what they ought to be at home, their children will not be tempted to seek that happiness in the world, which they “find in the sanctuary of the domestic circle,” as another has said, “which God has formed as a safeguard for those who are growing up in weakness.” The few hours spent by the children of Christian parents in their necessary contact with such unconverted children, will only serve to make hem appreciate all the more the privileges of their Christian homestead; and besides, furnish them with precious opportunities to render to their young mates, in their legitimate intercourse with them, their little, and yet often so effectual, testimony to their blessed Savior, which under such a strict domestic seclusion they would never be able to do.
I need hardly say, that this is a very different thing to Christian parents sending their children to worldly boarding schools. They might just as well throw their children into a furnace or into the water, and then ask God to keep them from being burnt or drowned. What such Christian parents can think of their responsibility before God, to bring up their children “in the discipline and admonition of the Lord,” I am at a loss to understand.
One word more on the subject of the nurture of children as to intercourse and conversation. I mean the unguarded way in which parents often speak, in the presence of their children, about the foibles, or weakness, or failures of elder fellow-Christians, especially the Lord’s servants. I fully grant that this is generally done from mere habit or carelessness. But, then, is not that very habit an ungodly and unchristian one, beloved? If I hear an elder Christian, in the presence of a number of young people, speak in a criticizing or even disparaging way about the services and labor of one, or some of his fellow-laborers (I will not say, about his character!) what can I think about his grace, wisdom, and spirituality? The natural instinct of the young should be veneration for those who ought to be esteemed, either on account of their age, or rank and position, in which God in His government, or the Lord in the Church and His service, has placed them. May I ask you affectionately, but solemnly, beloved, what fruits can you expect from your children as to their obedience to the divine injunction: “Honor thy father and mother,” if you set them yourselves the example of “speaking evil of dignities” in their presence? Are you not, by so doing, contributing to foster in their tender young hearts the spirit of the present “rising generation,” spoken of in the previous portion, by ministering, though inadvertently, I grant, to their young souls the poison of a criticizing spirit, which, like a mildew, falls with blasting and blighting effect upon the souls of so many young, through the carelessness of unwise, or shall we say, unspiritual Christian parents, many of whom have reaped, and will reap (unless the Lord in His grace prevent) for themselves, what they have sown unwittingly or carelessly in their children’s hearts. I am sure the key for the sad conduct of the forward, uppish, and precocious children of so many parents, looked up to in the Church and elsewhere, must be sought and is found in their unguarded way of speaking in the presence of their children. Young eyes are more quick to notice, and young ears much swifter to hear than we imagine. Therefore let us be “swift to hear, and slow to speak,” and may the Lord in His mercy “set a watch before our mouths, and keep the doors of our lips.”
As to the two last points, i.e., the occupation and entertainments of children, a very few words may suffice. It is of great importance, that not only their occupation within doors, and their entertainments out of doors, in God’s free, wide nature, and fresh open air, should have the right measure and proportion; but whilst guarding against even the appearance of a slavish legality, they should, as much as possible, be carried on under the eye of the parent, or tutor, or governess, in order that the spirit of the world, and of this present evil age, which stamps everything around us, may not be permitted to slip in and exert its baneful influence upon the young susceptible souls of the children. Let there be full enjoyment and liberty, so natural and indispensable for youthful hearts and minds, but let all things also here be done decently and in order, and in “the fear of the Lord,” which is the beginning of wisdom. In the case of the children of parents who, from their limited means, are obliged to send them to the ordinary schools, the Lord is faithful, and will know how to keep them there, provided their parents not only pray for them, but shine before them at home.
Chapter 10: Servants.
“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto. Christ; not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing a man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free “(Eph. 6:5-8).
“Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong, shall receive for the wrong which he bath done; and there is no respect of persons (Col. 3:22-25),
WE now have come to the least esteemed of the relationships, which form the subject of these pages—that of servants. But if it is the least esteemed among men, it is at the same time that to which God, Who exalts that which is abased, and abases that which is exalted, attaches in His Word an especial importance. In fact, there is no relationship for which the Spirit of God gives so many directions for the comfort, encouragement, and instruction of those who are placed in it, as those in the relationship of servants, or “bondman” and “bondwomen.” And why? Because there is no position in which men may be found that is beset with so many temptations, provocations, and difficulties, and therefore, so entirely contrary to man’s natural disposition, as is that of the servant or bondman, from apparent reasons; especially if we remember, that in those times the condition of a servant was that of a slave, who was the property of his master, not that of a hired servant of our days. But now the word “bondman “or “bondwoman,” translated “servant “in our version, refers not only to such Christian servants who were “slaves “in those times (or maybe so, even now in those barbarous regions of the globe where slavery is still in existence), but to all who for wages have bound themselves for service to someone, and thus have entered voluntarily the subordinate place of a “servant.” Therefore the exhortations addressed to “servants,” in no less than five Epistles, hold equally good for our modem Christian servants.
But we must remember, that the position of servants at the time of the Apostles, especially that of Gentile slaves, cannot be compared to the relationship of servants in our days. The slave of those days was the property of his master. And though the Jewish servant was, under the merciful provisions of the law of Moses, protected against ill-treatment by a cruel master, there was scarcely any legal restraint of a tyrannical master’s cruelty amongst the Gentiles, where the poor slave was exposed to the most barbarous cruelties on the part of an ill-disposed master. My Christian reader may easily imagine what must have been the temptations, provocations, and sufferings of a Christian slave under the power of a cruel Gentile master. He might have become a slave by birth, without any fault of his. If his mother, at his birth, had been a slave, he became, from his birth, a slave of his mother’s master.
It is therefore most precious and instructive for us to see how “the God of all grace,” and “the Father of mercies,” in such an especial way has provided, in His Word, instruction and encouragement for those of His dear children, who were in the position of slaves exposed to every kind of evil treatment and cruelty, especially if they had to serve a master, who was in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity, and would ill treat them in proportion to their godliness and faithfulness to their Lord Jesus Christ. God does not leave His children destitute of His mercy and of His truth, and comforts them that are cast down. He guideth the meek in judgment and teacheth them His way.
But there is another, higher reason why the Spirit of God, through His inspired penman, takes such manifest interest in, and provides in such an especial way for the guidance and encouragement of “servants.” It is because the relationship of the servant is that in which Christ, in His character as Son of Man, glorified God on earth. For whilst the Gospel of John presents Him, in an especial way, as the obedient Son of the Father; in the synoptic Gospels, especially that of Mark, we find Jesus as the humble Servant—not only as to His career of unwearied, unremitting service of love to those God had given to Him, but particularly as to the low place of service He took. It has been blessedly remarked, that “Jesus would teach us to take the lowest place, if He had not taken it already Himself.” And nowhere in the Gospels does this characteristic feature of the lowly Servant appear more wonderfully than in the Gospel of John, to which I have referred already in a previous portion of these pages, when speaking of His love for the Church. The very grandeur of that “grand Gospel,” as it truly has been called, in the first chapter of which the glories of the Son of God are depicted by His Spirit Who glorifies Him, and Who alone could thus describe His glories, serves to set in relief that low position of a menial servant which He takes in the thirteenth chapter, when “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”
But having dwelt in my poor way already on this precious portion of the Gospel of John (p. 191, 192), I content myself with saying, that there ‘was one place still lower than that, reserved for the lowest of all servants, that is, when He was nailed to the cursed tree. Then it was fulfilled, what is written in Ex. 21, of the boring of the ear of the loving servant. There are three stages of Christ’s life on earth mentioned in Scripture, which mark His character as the perfect Servant. The first is in the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me,” &c.
The Holy Ghost, though evidently referring to Ps. 40:6, has not quoted here from the Hebrew text of that Psalm, but from the Greek of the Septuagint, a circumstance which has puzzled not a few. “But let God be true, but every man a liar.” He is wiser than men’s wisest, and apparently most reasonable questionings. And if we only would read our Bible with the firm conviction that the Word of God must be true, because it is truth, and that men’s reasoning about it always must be wrong, however reasonable, apparently, his reasonings may be, we should find in God’s own time, that the very difficulties which so much have puzzled us, will prove to our souls most blessed inlets of fresh light and blessing, and the key for deeper and wider opening up and unfolding of the treasures of knowledge and wisdom, hidden in that precious Word. It is the same as to Heb. 10:5: “a body hast thou prepared me.”
In Psa. 40, the Hebrew word for “opened mine ears” is not the same as in Ex. 21, in the case of the Hebrew servant, who, by having his ear attached to the door-post with an awl, became thus a servant forever. Here (Heb. 10) the true meaning of “digged mine ears” is, that God has prepared His (Christ’s) ears. Now, we know that the ear is everything in the case of a servant. A servant without a willing and attentive ear would be useless. Therefore, in his ease, the word “ear” expresses his whole body. Now, Christ had His ears digged by taking upon Him the form of a servant, i.e., by being made in the likeness o men, and being found in fashion as a man. It is from this reason, that the Holy Ghost here (in Heb. 10:5), accepts the translation of the Septuagint: “a body hest thou prepared me.”
But it was not only that Christ had thus become a servant, assuming the humble garb of a servant, i.e., by becoming a man. After having stooped from the throne of glory to the manger in a stable, to lie a helpless babe in Joseph’s and Mary’s, and Simeon’s arms; He bumbles Himself still. For “being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.” You and I, dear reader, need to be humbled, because we are not humble. Christ humbled Himself. He not only had taken upon Him the form of a servant, but He acted as a servant. “I am among you as he that serveth,” was His word of gentle rebuke to His would-be-great disciples. When tempted in the wilderness at the outset of His career by Satan, the proud arch rebel, and the instigator and leader of every rebellion in heaven and on earth, He, Who Himself is THE WORD, used not His own words, everyone of which was truth, but He used the written Word of God, as the “sword of the Spirit,” to defeat Satan, thus binding the strong man. All His replies to Satan are taken from the book of Deuteronomy, which treats of the Jewish servant in his responsibility to God.
Thus, the Lord God had not only “digged” the ears of the humble Jesus of Nazareth, but He “opened His ear,” i.e., kept it open, to hear as the learned, in order that He, the lowly Servant, might know how to speak with the “tongue of the learned,” a word in season to the weary.
God wakened His ear morning by morning to hear as the learned. He opened His ear, and He was not rebellious, neither turned away back, so that He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not His face from shame and spitting; ever the obedient Servant, as He was ever the obedient Son.
But that blessed “Servant of servants,” if we may say so with reverence, did not only take upon Him the form of a servant, after He had said: “A body hast thou prepared me,” when God had “digged,” i.e., “prepared “his ears; and not only did He humble Himself, during His life, being found in fashion as a man, ever the meek and obedient Servant, Whose ears were kept open, and awakened morning by morning, to receive for every day’s work the orders of His God at His doorposts, as it were; but when the time had come that the lowest of all servants was to be highly exalted, and to be received up to glory, and when now THE CROSS, to Him the gate to glory, came in sight, and the murderous cries, “Crucify Him! -Away with Him! “resounded before Pilate’s judgment hall, did that blessed Servant stop His ears from those terrible cries? No; but He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” He might have “gone out free” (marg. “with his body “) (Ex. 21:3), but what would then have become of the wife and the children whom God had given to Him? The corn of wheat would have abode alone.
We now come to Exodus 21, as the third and last stage of the ever-perfect service of that wondrous “Servant.”
“And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him unto the judges he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”
It was in Christ’s sufferings on the cross, the gate to the Father’s house in glory, that the ear of that blessed SERVANT was bored through, when He became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,”during those terrible hours, when all the malice of Satan and men was let loose, and the sword of Divine Justice awoke against Him.
He “loved His Master,” to Whom His soul had said “Thou art my Lord; “He loved her whom that blessed Master had given to Him, to be the Lamb’s wife; and He loved the children whom God had given unto Him. Thus He was brought before the judge, and as a lamb to the slaughter; “for it became Him, 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.”
But at the same time, when Jesus became the “captain of our salvation,” He became a “servant forever,” when He was nailed to the cross. It is true, God has made Him Lord and Christ, as to Israel (Acts 2.); and “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36); but when He will appear again as “LORD of LORD’S,” and “KING of KINGS,” to reign over this earth, He will “gird himself and make his servants to sit down to meat, and will come and serve them, i.e., He, the millennial King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will at the millennial banquet serve His servants, who, during His absence from this earth, kept their loins girded about, and their lamps burning, as “men that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately; “as to us, this will be true also, only in a heavenly sense.
And has not God set Him, as the Head of the Church, His body, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and has He not put all things under His feet? And yet, oh, wondrous picture of love and grace you find the Same to Whose exalted position (Eph. 1), we have just gazed up into heaven, in the fifth chapter of the same Epistle, stooping down to wash our feet. That which He did on earth, (John 13) before ascending to heaven, He now continues to do in glory.
His service was finished at the end of His blessed career on earth. He had perfectly glorified God as a man on the earth. He had finished the work which God gave Him to do; He had, as the faithful Steward, given them their meat in due season; He had given them the Father’s Name, and His Word; His whole life on earth had been an uninterrupted line of perfect service. So He might have gone out free, i.e., returned to heaven just as He was. But Jesus, in His character as a Servant, loved His Father and those whom the Father had given Him too much to give up the service; and so, according to Ex. 21, His ear was bored, and He became a servant forever; now on earth to wash our feet; soon in heavenly glory, when He will gird Himself to serve His servants, who have served Him on earth, however poorly and feebly, if they have waited for His coming.
Abraham and Sarah, who had the honor of having the Lord of glory as their guest at Mamre, and Of waiting upon Him; Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, who in their humble abode at Bethany served the One Who was among them as he that serveth; will then be served in their turn by Him, Who is the Servant of servants, as He is the Lord of fords, and King of kings, the King of glory, when He will gird Himself and come forth and serve them. And not only they, but you and I amongst the rest, Christian reader, most unprofitable servants though we have been, especially if we consider the infinitely greater privileges, in position and blessing, which are ours, compared to those humble and faithful servants of their and our heavenly Master; all the more humbling to us, seeing what our poor “service,” if it can be called so, has been and is still! May our loins be girded, and our lights burning, and we ourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.
“‘Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall fins watching verily, 1 Say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”
And then—” His servants shall serve him “—serve Him then as we ought, and not according to our thoughts, as we do here, alas! so often.
“And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there.” No need there of burning lamps; for “they need no candle, nor the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever.” That is, not only shall they reign with Christ over the earth during the thousand years of the millennial kingdom of righteousness and peace, where “righteousness reigns,” but in the eternal state of the new heavens and the new earth, where “righteousness dwelleth” (referred to in 2 Pet. 3) His servants, so poor, feeble, and unworthy here, but then perfect like Him in glorious bodies, “shall reign with him forever and ever.”
Fellow servants of Christ, what wondrous prospect is yours and mine through grace Is it not worth the while to serve a Master so gracious, patient, kind and liberal? Even a glass of water given by you in His name to a faint and thirsty one, shall not lose its reward! Every tear wept in sympathy with one of the suffering ones of Him, who wept at Lazarus grave, will He “gather in His bottle;” every word of comfort spoken to one of His sick, isolated, or sorrowing ones in some out of the way corner or upper-chamber will be written down in His “book of remembrance,” to the credit of them that “feared the Lord and thought upon his name.” “They shall be his,” and His great new Name, that once despised Name of the humblest of all servants, that Name which is above every name. and at which every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth;— that glorious Name of JESUS shall be written on the foreheads of His servants in the fall blaze of glory!
In the day when the Lord will “make up his jewels,” every tear wept in sorrow and sympathy for His sake, will shine like a diamond in the sunlight of His countenance, “when He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe;’ when all His numberless servants will reflect His glories, as the dewdrops in the field, sparkling in all the various colors of jewelry at the rise of the sun, reflect the glory of the heavenly orb. And what is it, beloved, that renders those tiny dewdrops fit to be reflectors of His glory? It is because they are pure, and free from any earthly alloy; for they came from heaven, and therefore reflect heavenly glory. Thus it will be with the saints, the servants of the Lord, when they will appear with Him in glory, clothed upon with their house that is from heaven, in their glorious bodies, their glorious livery, the “gala-uniform “of the soldiers of Christ. There will be nothing then in their bodies, no earthly or fleshly alloy, no mixture of self to prevent them from fully reflecting the glories of the once despised Jesus of Nazareth, when He, Whose “visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men,” will come to “sprinkle many nations;” with His “countenance as the sun shineth in his strength,” yet “with healing in his wings” for His earthly people. What a radiant reflex will His servants then be! How different to what we are now, alas! Would God we were more like dewdrops—little, pure, and empty, i.e., without alloy! What different lights, what different reflectors of Christ’s beauties should we be in this world, and in days like these!
But I must not forget that it is an especial class of Christ’s servants, who are the subject of the portion of Holy Writ, which we are considering just now, i.e., those in the place of domestic servants. An humble place, and little esteemed among men generally, and therefore shunned and greatly disliked by many young believers, who belong to families in an humble station of life. Hence the frequent efforts of their parents to place their sons, especially their daughters, in situations, or bring them up in a way often far beyond the modest station in which an all-wise God in His providence has placed them. So instead of procuring for their children a place in a respectable service or trade, suitable for their station in life, they either place them in some showy business establishment, where the world with its allurements, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, surrounds them, and where they are daily inhaling its deadly, poisonous atmosphere; or give them a scientific education, to elevate them to the rank of professional gentlemen and ladies, where they soon learn to forget their father’s humble cottage, only in a very different way to what the Lord enjoins His beloved, who has not forgotten the tents of Kedar, but says “Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me; my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”
The too frequent result of such high aspirations of youthful or parental pride and vanity, is either the ruin of their Christian character and happiness, if they succeed, by falling into pride, which goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall; or, a breaking down, as to circumstances, under the mighty, yet merciful hand of God, Whose wisdom in providence they had disowned.
It is quite true that Christians are not to be guided by divine providence, nor does God intend us to be so, but by faith. Moses, when he had come to years, left the place where divine providence had placed him at Pharaoh’s court. What enabled him to do so? Faith. But what was his motive for doing so? Was it the desire to get up into a higher, and more honorable place? What place could be higher and more honorable than to be the first at Pharaoh’s court, where he was called the “Son of Pharaoh’s daughter?” All the honors of Egypt were his. Or was it the desire to get rich? The rich treasures of Egypt were at his disposal in his elevated place. Or was it the wish for more leisure and pleasure? There is no place like the court of a king for idleness and pleasures of this world, especially for one in Moses’ position. What, then, made Moses refuse the honors, pleasures and treasures of Egypt? What made him exchange that place, where he was the most wealthy gentleman next to royalty, with the obscure place of his poor, despised and oppressed people, who, bowed down under their heavy burdens, covered with the dust of the brick kilns, groaned beneath the whips of their pitiless task-masters? Mark, Christian reader! It was because Moses “esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” This was Moses’ motive, as the Spirit of God, Who searches the reins and the hearts, tells us in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. This was his motive for refusing the honor of being called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Is it the same motive, beloved brother or sister in Christ, that makes you seek a place for your son or daughter, or prefer a situation in yonder splendid establishment, to the more humble place of a servant in some godly Christian family, whose daily life is on the principle, that “godliness with contentment is great gain?” I would earnestly and affectionately ask you, to “ponder the path of thy feet,” remembering, that “the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.” But not only does he ponder our goings. Our natural hearts are deceitful above all things. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”
Beloved brother and sister in an humble position of life, but called to reign as kings with Christ (for it is to such I am speaking now); the Lord of Glory, Who on earth was known as “Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son,” and during His life of unremitting service, had less of a home than the birds and the foxes, has not sent His servants into the world to try to be “gentlemen “and “ladies,” nor to get leisure, and pleasures, and treasures. Where did Moses receive his training for a gentleman? At Pharaoh’s court, no doubt, he obtained all the accomplishments required for a gentleman in those days; for “he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” And what was the result of his education at Pharoah’s court as a gentleman He slew an Egyptian. Then Moses received another forty years’ training at a place of education very different to Pharaoh’s court. It was at the back side of the wilderness, as a shepherd of Jethro’s flock.
That was God’s school for training Moses; the same school where, at a later period, David was to be trained. And what was the result of that second training? He became a perfect “gentleman,” not in the sense of Egypt, but according to God’s mind. (“Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3).
Beloved, it is thus that God trains “gentlemen “and “gentlewomen” (1 Peter 3:4), according to His own mind, and the mind of the lowest of all servants, who said: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Dear fellow bondmen in Christ It is only under His easy yoke, that His servants learn to bear burdens in this world, which appear to nature and unbelief like a heavy yoke upon our naturally proud and stubborn necks. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Do not despise the place of a “servant.” It was the place of Christ here on earth. Will you be greater than your Master? The lower your place here on earth, the nearer to Christ, and the more occasion have you to glorify Him in that place, and to manifest His character, Who is meek and lowly in heart. If God, in His wise and gracious providence, has been pleased to place you in an humble station of life, thank Him for it; rejoice in Christ always, and seek to glorify Him in it. Walk with God in the place where you are, and do not try to get or step out of it. You will only have to suffer for it, it you do. Do not leave it, until you are fully sure that the same Divine Providence, that had placed you where you are, removes you to another place. Do not go before God, nor lag behind Him, but walk with God, as His servant Enoch did, and you will have the seal of His approval in your conscience, and the joy of His communion in your heart. And what are all the honors, pleasures, and treasures of Egypt without that? If you have been born in a poor cottage, do not desire to become rich. It is God Who has put you there. Stay there, and remember that Joseph the carpenter’s cottage at Nazareth was, most likely, a more humble dwelling than yours, and yet there the Son of God and Lord of Glory lived for thirty years. He dwelt there full of grace and truth. Remember that “godliness with contentment is great gain.” It is not written, that they that are rich, but “they that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Honor those who are in a superior position of life to you, according to the divine injunction: to “render to all their dues: fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor “(Rom. 13). Honor them in their place, and glorify God in yours. And “let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted; but the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away:” (James 1:9, 10).
There is no place where the character of our Heavenly Master can be so much reflected, and His Name so glorified, as that of servants. This was true in an especial way for the Christian servants at the time those exhortations were written; for, as has been said already, they were not hired servants who received wages, but mere slaves. Under the Roman law, at the time of the Apostles, the masters of slaves had power of life and death over them. If a master was killed, all those slaves that had been under the same roof with him at the time of the murder, o who had been near enough to hear his cries, were without difference sentenced to death. The master could inflict the most barbarous cruelties upon them, without being confined to the number of thirty-nine lashes as were the slaveholders in British America by the provisions of the “Consolidated Slave Law” of 1784, before the abolition of modern slavery in those parts. The power of the masters over death and life was only taken away from them and given to the authorities in the second century after Christ, under the reign of the mild Antonine emperors. If a slave was ill-treated, or mutilated by a third person who was not his master, he himself had no redress, except that his master, if he pleased, could bring in an action for compensation, according to the Aquilian law.
I have given these few historical notes, to give my Christian readers an idea of the terrible, helpless position in which Christian slaves were at the time, when the inspired Apostles Peter and Paul wrote for the instruction, guidance, and comfort of those dear, so sorely tried saints of God. We now see at once the reason why the “God of all comfort,” and “Father of mercies,” Whose blessed Son, when He was on this earth a “Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,” knew what it is to be tempted, when He was made the butt of Satan’s and man’s taunts and persecutions; not hiding His face from shame and spitting, nor His back from the smiters, nor His cheeks from them that pluck off the hair; we see at once, I say, why the blessed God of all grace, no less than five times, through the inspired pens of His two chief Apostles, ministers through His Holy Comforter the consolations of the Scriptures to those of His dear children who were in a position of life so sorely tried, helpless and defenseless, and more than any human beings on earth exposed to men’s arbitrary and merciless ill-treatment, and therefore, in their position, so like their heavenly Master. Can we wonder at the especial interest shown to His children in that relationship of life, by the Father of the once rejected and crucified Jesus of Nazareth, and by that blessed Savior Himself, Who can be, and is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” because He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,” and Who called out from glory, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? “to the very Apostle who wrote the words that head this chapter Well, indeed, may all His tried and tempted ones “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
These words of instruction and comfort for the Christian servants, given in Holy Writ through the inspired pens of the two chief Apostles of the Lord in five of their epistles, present three aspects of the position and corresponding duties of Christian servants.
1. As servants of Christ, in their responsibility to Him, as their Heavenly Lord. This we have in the two passages from the Ephesians and Colossians which head this chapter.
With regard to their responsibility in their testimony to the Name and doctrine of our God and Savior. This we find in 1 Tim. 6:1,2, and Titus 2:9,10.
As to their privilege to suffer for righteousness’ sake, as spoken of in 1 Peter 2:18-20.
I would offer a few remarks on each of these three points.
As to the first point, I must remind my Christian reader of what has been already said as to the difference between a slave and a hired servant, i.e., one who has bound himself to serve for a certain time for wages. The former (unless he was a slave by birth, or as a prisoner of war, or as punishment for a crime) had become so by purchase. His master had bought him, and therefore he was the property of his master, who could do with him as he pleased. This, beloved, constitutes exactly our relationship to Christ, Who has redeemed and purchased us with the highest price He could pay for us, that is, with His own precious blood. The word in the original used for “servants “is “slaves,” not only because there were no hired servants at those times, but only slaves, but because we are slaves. It is a hard word to the ears of men, and rightly so, if applied to earthly relationships. But as to our relationship to Christ, there is no sweeter word to a Christian. If Christ had only hired me, I should belong to Him only for a time, but He has bought me, and so I am His own forever. And that inestimable price, which our Master has paid for us, beloved, even His own most precious Blood, we find in its practical bearing upon the Christian’s walk, applied in a threefold way to our consciences.
With regard to our bodies; “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body ‘‘ (1 Cor. 6:20),
With regard to our spirits and the motives of our actions” “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the slaves of men (ch. 7:23), and With respect to the vain conversation (as to all religion after the flesh), received by tradition from the fathers, the “religion of our fathers:”
“ And if ye call on the Father” (in contrast to the fathers),” who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot,” etc., etc.
I must leave it to my readers to ponder these three portions of Holy Writ, in their bearing upon the practical walk of the believer, as the necessary limits of these pages will not permit to enter more closely upon them. But they suffice to show to us, how important it is for you and me, beloved, especially in these last days, where the Master’s coming is at hand, to remember, that we are not only dearly beloved, but also dearly bought ones, in order that the Master, when He comes, may find our loins girded, and our lamps burning, as servants that wait for their Master’s return, Who has not hired us with corruptible gold and silver, but bought and redeemed us with His own most precious blood, not merely to be his servants, i.e., hirelings, partly His own and partly our own, but His slaves, His own altogether and forever and ever! Blessed be His glorious and gracious Name!
A slave of Christ! Blessed and most honored title, by which the great Apostle of the Church calls himself in the very first line of his Epistle to the Romans. He even puts that title before that of the Apostle, in beginning his Epistle with “Paul, a slave (or bondsman) [“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? “] of Jesus Christ, [a] called Apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,” etc. To be a slave of Christ, is indeed to be a freeman, i.e. a man, whom Christ has made free from the slavery of Satan and sin, and of his own will, which is the most real slavery in the most terrible sense of the word. The slavery of Christ, therefore, is truest liberty, and the more we live in the sense of what it means to serve such a Master, the more shall we enjoy and stand fast in the liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free.
It is in this sense, then, that the Apostle tells servants, to be obedient to their masters, according to the flesh “with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ.” That the words “with fear and trembling” do not, in the least imply any slavish “fear of men which bringeth a snare,” need hardly be said. For such service could not be “in singleness of heart,” nor” unto Christ.” Besides, the immediately following words “not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ,” would exclude any such thought. And, let us remember that every service which is done “as unto the Lord,” will always be done,” with good will “to the master “according to the flesh,” “not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward.” But of this we shall speak further on. Mark, there are two motives for service given here; the first, and this is paramount, as it is the purest motive—that is, in the fear of the Lord and in affection to His blessed Person, Who as a servant, has set us such an example, as in everything that is good and for the glory of God. This, that is, doing service heartily, as unto the Lord, “fearing the Lord,” (which is the correct reading in Col. 3:22), and as “serving the Lord,” is paramount. I have spoken of this in the fifth Chapter (pp. 79-81) more explicitly. The second motive for “service “is a `` reward,” which, in our character of “servants “of Christ, is quite a proper motive. I say in our character as “servants.” For the Church, as the “Bride “of Christ, such a motive, or goal if you please, would be utterly out of place; for in that character, we have but one motive and only one object, Christ. Therefore the Lord says when speaking to Philadelphia: “Behold, I come quickly.” But in Rev. 22, with regard to His discriminating judgment as to the good and evil servants, He says, “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward with me, to give everyone according as his work shall be.” It is the same in Ephes., and especially in Col. 3:23-25: “and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men: knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” What enabled Moses God’s faithful servant, who was “faithful in all his house” to “esteem the reproach of Christ” greater riches than the treasures in Egypt? It was because “he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” Did such a motive, in his character as a “servant,” lower the value of Moses action? Certainly not, else the Holy Ghost would not have recorded it as “a good report” to that excellent witness of faith. Christ Himself “for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,” in His character of a servant. Did this in any way detract from His service, or did it impair the perfection of His motives of obedience to His Father, and love to those the Father had given to Him? I need not answer the question. Hope is as legitimate a Christian motive for the servant of Christ, as are faith and love, though the latter is the greatest, and abideth forever, when faith will be sight, and hope will have become possession and thus both the former will have ceased. May my beloved brothers and sisters in their (before men, but not before God) humble place of service, always remember that even in the sight of men, the most menial work or service is ennobled by a noble motive and a noble object. And what more noble motive and object than Christ, and what more noble reward than “be forever with the Lord,” and serve Him and reign with Him? May He be the sole motive of, and object of all our service! As another has said:
“Suppose, the Lord had sent two Angels on an errand to the earth, the one, to sweep some crossing in the streets of London, and the other to rule over a kingdom; we may be sure, that the former would perform his task with the same willingness and devotedness as the latter.” May it be thus with us I What beautiful example of true hearted and disinterested service we have in the Old Testament in the lovely character of Abraham’s chief servant Eliezer If he was one among three hundred and eighteen in his time, I fear he would be one among ten thousand in our days.
2. The second aspect given by the Spirit of God in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul to Timothy and Titus, as to the responsibility of Christian servants, is in connection with the Christian’s testimony to the Name and doctrine of God our Savior:
“Let as many servants, as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit” (1 Tim. 6:1, 2).
“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” (Titus 2:9-10).
Here it is not the motive and object of service, that is, the Lord Christ Himself, and our joyful hope, to be forever with Him, and hear from the Master’s lips in glory the coveted words of His approval, “Well done, good and faithful servant, thou Nast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” But we have here to do with testimony, which is never presented to us as a motive or object for service; for as soon as testimony becomes a motive or object of service, of whatever kind that service may be, it is a proof, that Service, or Testimony has slipped in between Christ and the heart, and thus has hidden Christ from our view, as the sole object. The result will be, that subtle self and flesh will soon characterize our service, and thus the testimony be marred. Therefore it is not the motive or object of Service, to which the Spirit here directs the Christian domestic servant’s attention, but it is the effect of his service as to the Name and doctrine of God our Savior. A consideration of immense moment indeed! Do we heed it as we ought, my beloved fellow-servants in the yoke of Christ? Alas! Alas! Too frequently does it happen, that through the inconsistencies in the conduct of Christian servants, I will not, say the blessed Name of God, but His doctrine, His divine truth is blasphemed, and the way of truth evil spoken of, in the household and neighborhood, to which they belong.
And nothing is more dishonoring to the Name of God, His doctrine, and His truth, than the unbecoming, disrespectful and independent behavior of so many Christian servants in our days. The reason is easily seen, though none the less condemnable. The Christian slave of old, or the servant of our times, especially if he was, or is in the service of an unconverted master, is, as a man in Christ, and having been made partaker of the divine nature, and being in. dwelt by the Holy Spirit, naturally conscious of his superiority, under grace, over every unconverted person, even in the highest station of life. Jacob, the poor despised herdsman (the most despised and lowest class in Egypt), could bless the King Pharaoh, and the king submitted to it. The smaller is without all contradiction, blessed of the greater.’ Wondrous superiority of an Old Testament Saint over the mightiest king of the earth! How infinitely greater, then, is the superiority of the Christian (for the least in the kingdom of God is greater than even John the Baptist, not to speak of Jacob) over every citizen of this world, and if he were the richest, wisest, or highest in position! But here lies the danger! For we must always remember, that whilst the Spirit within us does not cease to be the Spirit, because the flesh is in us; on the other hand, the flesh in us does not cease to be the flesh, because the Spirit is within us. Flesh is always ready to take advantage of divine grace for its own elevation or gratification. Hence the constant danger for the Christian servant, unless he is kept humble under grace and under the sense of it, to assume a superior demeanor to the master or mistress, if they are unconverted; or if they are believers, to adopt a familiar air of equality with them, This is nothing but a kind of antinomianism, i.e., turning grace to account for the selfish flesh.
There is nothing more revolting and shocking to the feelings of the unconverted, or more grievous to the Christian master or mistress, than such a conduct on the part of their Christian servant, who professes to be a follower of Him, who was the lowest of all servants. This is not to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things,” but disgracing it, and casting a stumbling block in the way of the unconverted members of the household, instead of being a light to them that are in the house.
It is very instructive for us all, and of exquisite beauty, that it is to believing servants (or “slaves” in those times), that the Apostle, after his practical exhortations for them, holds out that truly noble divine incentive for every Christian; even that beautiful string, and glorious cluster of divine gospel truths, in their practical bearing for a godly walk. Greatly as we all of us need to ponder them well for a more consistent walk in these perilous times, I would especially earnestly commend them to the prayerful meditation of those of my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, whom our all wise and all gracious God, has been pleased, to place here on earth in the same position, in which His own Son has been, and glorified Him here below; that of “servants.” I give the whole passage:—
“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again:
“Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ:
“who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
“These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority, Let no man despise thee” (Titus 2:9-15).
I would direct my reader’s attention to the little word “for” in verse 11. It is the link that links the wondrous motive power, contained in the following verses, as its “engine,” as it were, with the preceding verses (9 and 10). These powerful motives and motive powers for a godly walk, here especially applied to Christian servants are:—
“The grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men” (that is, for the unconverted master or mistress also) “has appeared.” Grace and truth came personified into this world in the Person of Jesus Christ.
It is, as another has said, but the succinct description of God’s intervention in infinite love, by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the accomplishment of redemption. Here the lovely Person of the incarnate Son of God, “God manifest in the flesh,” with all the moral beauties and perfections of the Son of man, as we behold Him in the Gospels, in His humiliation, meekness and lowliness, and life of unremitting service; and, above all, upon the cross, is, as the Pattern for our walk, set before the Christian servant and us all, as He has left us an example that we should follow His footsteps. That grace teaches us, to deny, i. e. to say “no,’ to ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly (i. e., as to ourselves, in self-denial); righteously (as to our dealings with our fellow men, in business, service, etc., etc.) and godly (as to God, and His claims upon us), in this present world.
But there is another motive power; hope, i. e., Christ Himself again, “Who is our Hope,” and for Whose coming from heaven, to receive us up to Himself, we should be daily looking; and then there is a third legitimate motive; i. e., the reward, which will be ours at the (public) “appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” I have spoken of this already. But now we come to the last, and most powerful motive for a godly walk; Christ. who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from—what? From Satan? From hell? From the wrath to come?—Yes. But more from all iniquity.” Not merely from the consequences of our iniquities; we all are glad and thankful enough for that, but it is “from all iniquity.”) Mark it, Christian reader!-Christ came, as we read in the very first chapter of the first Gospel, “to save His people (Israel) from their sins.” They would gladly have been saved from the consequences of their sins, such as the yoke of the Romans, their diseases and infirmities, etc., just as the Gadarenes were glad enough to be delivered from the effects of their sins—the legion of devils—but did not want to have their illicit and sinful traffic in a forbidden and impure article, their swine—spoiled. Alas! Alas! not alone with the Gadarenes was it thus. How often do we find such secret hankering after the forbidden articles—the lusts of the world and of the flesh, in Christians. It is, because they have not realized in their souls the power of those words: “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity (how intensely practical is all this 1) and purify unto himself a peculiar people (i.e., a people, that belong to Him, as His property), zealous of good works.”
The Old Testament furnishes Christian servants with a beautiful instance of such a faithful believing servant in an unbelieving household, in the little Israelitish maid in Naaman’s house (2 Kings 5). Only a little is said of her, but that which is recorded, shows sufficiently, what a bright testimony in faith and walk she must have been in that great household I say advisedly in her walk as a servant; for else her mistress, and Naaman, and the king of Syria himself would not have acted, as they did, upon the mere word of a little servant girl, if they had not placed implicit confidence in her character, and thus in her words. What a contrast to her is Gehazi, Elisha’s servant! What a privileged place was his in the house of such a prophet, with the daily example of the godly prophet before his eyes! He coveted the “wages of unrighteousness, and Naaman’s leprosy was his reward! As far as he could, he had done everything to undo the effect of his master’s and Naaman’s maidservant’s faithful testimony. Thus the word of God has furnished us in one and the same chapter with two examples as to servants, the one for solemn warning, and the other for the encouragement, instruction, and exercise of Christian servants.
3. The third divine injunction for believing servants, as to their privilege of suffering for conscience and righteousness sake is found in 1 Peter 2:18-25. But as these words refer in an especial way to the “slaves” of those times, in their most trying and yet so privileged position, I need only say a few words, as this unnatural relationship, thank God for His mercy! has been abolished in nearly all parts of professing Christendom.
The tie of relationship between master and servant, has on the contrary, in most of our civilized countries become so extremely lax, that for our modern servants, there is rarely such a thing now possible, as suffering for righteousness sake. If the servant or the maid feel or think themselves wronged, or even aggravated by their master or mistress, they give notice to leave, and there the matter ends. Whether, in the case of a Christian servant, this is according to the mind of their meek and lowly Master in heaven, is another question, which they would always do well to weigh in the presence of their heavenly Lord, before they step into the presence of their master and mistress according to the flesh, to give notice to quit service.
What more powerful portion of the word of God could the Apostle put before those often so cruelly treated domestic slaves or servants, than the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah the prophet! However the domestic servant of those days might have to suffer from the caprices, ill-humor and natural opposition of an unconverted master; whatever barbarous treatment he might have to bear within the narrow compass of the house (being less fortunate than the slave in the open field); one look at that cross, where Christ suffered, the Just for the unjust, when He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and opened not His mouth as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, though He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth’; Christ Who when He was reviled, reviled not again, and threatened not when He suffered, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously; one look at that common hall, where He, the Lord of glory, was made a target, for the insults of the Roman soldiers, who surrounded Him, buffeting Him, spitting in His face, mocking Him with a crown of thorns; one look at that cursed tree where He bore our sins in His own body, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we were healed, one such look, if in faith and in the Spirit was it not enough then, and is it not enough now to shut the mouth of any of Christ’s disciples, when suffering wrong, may he be a servant, or a freeman, (i.e., bondsman of Christ)? Oh, how little have we understood the words of the Apostle (who was to glorify God by his martyrdom upon the cross), spoken to those dear fellow-servants of his in Christ: “For even hereunto” [i.e., suffering for well doing]” were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps.”
There is none who more deserves to be esteemed and respected than a Christian servant, who just fills his or her place, and glorifies God in it and adorning the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, Who took the form of a servant, knows and will know how to honor such. But, on the other hand, there can be scarcely a more pitiable and disgraceful sight, even to common-sense people of the world, than Christian servants who utterly forget and deny their Savior and Lord’s character, by stepping out of their place, and trying to assume by their dress, manners, and appearance, a position which is Exactly the opposite to that of Him, Whom they profess to be their Master and Lord. The Lord. knows how to humble such who thus bring disgrace on His Name, His truth, and His Gospel, instead of adorning the by their walk. I would earnestly commend to such a close meditation on the seven downward steps of humiliation of our heavenly Master, as they are given in the second Chapter of Philippians, verses 7 and 8.
I cannot conclude these remarks better than by giving to my readers a little account of a most touching incident in the case of a “poor, but rich, “(Rev. 2;9) converted negro slave, which happened about fifty years ago, some time before the abolition of slavery in the British possessions. It will furnish us with the best practical illustration of what has been said.
A slaveholder in the West Indies had amongst his Negro slaves one whom we will call Sambo. One Sunday on which, according to the above mentioned “Consolidated Slave Law,” every slave was free from work, Sambo heard the Gospel, at some missionary station, many miles from his masters plantation, and was laid hold of by divine power and grace. His Master, who was a great enemy of God and His Christ, soon discovered the change that had come over his slave. From that time poor Sambo was exposed to an incessant and harassing ill-treatment, but He bore it patiently, for he, like Stephen, looked off unto Jesus, Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame. His master had strictly forbidden him, to go to any more religious meetings. But poor Sambo thought, that this was a case in which he ought to obey God rather than men. And the Sunday being, besides, his free day, he accordingly went to listen again to the gospel, walking by night many miles to the place of the meeting, to be back before daybreak. But Sambo’s absence was discovered, and on his open avowal of where he had been, his pitiless master had him tied to the triangle, and beaten, until the blood streamed from the lacerated body of Christ’s faithful bond man. The barbarous slaveholder, and slave of Satan, then stepped to the bleeding sufferer, and asked him: “What can Jesus Christ do for you now?” “He helps me to bear it patiently, Massa!” replied Sambo. Enraged at his calmness, the slaveholder ordered him to be flogged afresh, until the body of the poor slave was one mass of wounds. Again the taunting challenge of Satan’s slave was flung at the fainting freeman of Christ: “What can Jesus Christ do for you now?” “He make me very happy Massa!” was Sambo’s answer. Again his inhuman tormentor had the terrible whip applied to him, when, seeing that his victim was drawing near his end, for the third time the sneering question was put to him: “What can Jesus Christ do for you now?” — “He teach me to pray for you, Massa!” whispered the dying negro, and fell asleep, to enter into his Master’s joy and rest.
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
“Master! we would no longer be,
Loved by the world, that hated Thee,
But patient in Thy footsteps go,
Thy sorrow as Thy joy to know;
We would—and O confirm the power,
With meekness meet the darkest hour,
By shame, contempt, however tried,
For Thou west scorn’d and crucified,”
“ We welcome still Thy faithful word—
The cross shall meet its sure reward,
For soon must pass the little while,
Then joy shall crown Thy servants’ toil,
And we shall hear Thee, Savior say:
‘Arise, my love, and come away;
Look up, for thou shalt weep no more,
But rest on heaven’s eternal shore.’ “
Chapter 11.: Masters
“And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening; knowing that your Master also is in heaven: neither is there respect of persons with him “(Eph. 6:9).
“Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven” (Col. 4:1).
“LORD, what shall I do?” was the cry of one, who in the midst of a career of mad persecution, was suddenly laid low with his mouth in the dust, smitten down from the highest round of the ladder of religious attainments, when the Lord of glory, once the despised and humble Jesus of Nazareth, laid hold of him from glory, and turned. Saul, the most violent persecutor of David’s son, into Paul the most devoted servant of David’s Lord. A light from glory, brighter than the sun at noon-day, shone upon the man who was then in the zenith of his religious reputation. The One, Whom Paul afterward called. “the brightness of glory,” and to Whom “all power is given in heaven and on earth,” laid him low on the ground, and made him kiss the dust. But not only did the light from glory, shine upon and around him, and blind his eyes, for God to shine in his heart, and to give there the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ; but a voice from glory spoke t) Saul those memorable words: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? “Divine light and divine life are combined. It was the voice of Him, Who, when on earth, “did not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street,” but at whose commanding shout the bodies of His sleeping Saints, will come forth, and together with those of the living ones, changed in the twinkling of an. eye into His glorious likeness, will be caught up to meet Him in the air, to be forever with the Lord. (Oh, blessed hope to be fulfilled, perhaps this very day!) And, a thousand years later, that voice will again be heard from the “great white throne,” bidding “the dead,” (i.e. all the unbelievers) “small and great,” to arise from their graves, and at the voice of the once despised “carpenter’s son of Nazareth,” the sea, and the great gaoler “death “and “hades “will give up their prisoners and say: “Here they are!” It was that voice of the “LORD OF LORDS,” and “KING OF KINGS,” calling out from glory:” Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? “that drew from the prostrate persecutor the trembling reply “Lord, who art thou? “and, after the response from. glory “I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest,” again those words, “What shall I do, Lord ?”
It was the consciousness of this supreme authority of Christ, as the Heavenly Lord and Master of each of His servants individually, which, from the moment of his conversion until he sealed his fruitful Christian life, service, and testimony with his blood, so thoroughly pervaded his whole being, and characterized all his writings. Every verse, one might almost say, of Paul’s epistles bears testimony to what I have just said. Suffice it to mention only a few of the more prominent passages from his epistles.
1. As to Christ’s Lordship over Israel and all nations, and His riches towards them all for salvation:
“For there is no difference between the Sew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved” (Rom. 10:11-12).
2. As to His Lordship over every one of His servants, and our solemn responsibility, not to judge another’s servant, nor to interfere between his conscience and his Heavenly Master:-
“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living “(Rom. 14:4-9).
3. The Lordship of Christ over His Servants, as to their committing the judgment of their stewardship and service to Him, as the only competent and infallible authority:—
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment, yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 4:3.5).
4. Christ’s Lordship, as to its origin and sphere:—
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven,” (Cor. 15:47).
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory; Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. 2:7, 8).
5. The Lordship of Christ, as regards the unity of the Spirit, in connection with faith and baptism, in their individual character, and Christ’s rights over those, who thus own His Lordship.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ (Eph. 4:1-6).
6. Christ’s Lordship with regard to His second coming (for the Church), and His Sovereign power in fashioning our vile bodies like unto His glorious body, and our being forever with our Blessed Lord.
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself (Phil. 3:20-21).
For 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:16-18)-
7. Christ’s Lordship, in connection with faithfulness in walk, service and testimony, viewed in the light of His public appearing as King of kings, and Lord of lords.”
I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the Bing of kings; and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Tim. 9-11).
8. The Lordship of Christ, to be owned at the general homage of the universe, even by hell, when every knee will have to bow to the exalted Man, Who once humbled Himself, and every tongue will have to own His Lordship.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11)
I have given these comparatively few passages from Paul’s epistles, to show, how entirely the sense of the Lordship of Jesus Christ swayed his whole inward man, and how much he resembled his Heavenly Master, Who, when He was on earth, the humble dependent and obedient Man, had said to God “Thou art my Lord.” So with Paul. Christ reigned in his heart, Christ ruled over his conscience, and the thoughts of his mind had been brought into captivity to the obedience of his Heavenly Master, Whose happy bondsman and freeman he owned himself to be. Paul’s service, his walk, his actions, his ministry in words and letters, were the daily practical proof of it.
And, beloved, the Lord, Who knew how to break down and bring into His blessed captivity one, who had been the “chief of sinners,” the most stubborn and obstinate of all that had ever kicked against the pricks, when he, like a ravening wolf, had made havoc in the flock of God, and, increasing in rage, like a furious lion, “yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” had pursued his terrible course, until arrested by divine power and grace; that blessed Savior knew how to arrest you And me, Christian reader, in our pernicious mad course of sin and opposition against God. It was the same divine power, though in a different way, that laid you and me low before Him on our faces in the dust; it was the same God, Who shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and it was the same gracious voice, that spoke to us, though in a different way
“I am Jesus;” and bowed our knees before Him, and made us say: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
And when you then rose from your knees, with the happy assurance of the forgiveness of your sins, and that you had heard the voice of the Son of God, and had passed from death unto life, yea, that you had eternal life, and you had become a. new man in Christ Jesus, no longer to live to yourself, and to please yourself, but Him Who died for you and rose again; was it not at that moment the sense of His Lordship that filled your soul? You knew, you had been delivered by divine power from the power of darkness, and that you had been translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. You knew that instead of that terrible master, under whose cruel bondage you had been groaning, you had now entered into the service of a Master, Who had given His own life as a ransom for you. His divine power had made you bow your knees before Him, and His divine grace made the knees of your heart and mind bow before Him, and own His Lordship from your heart, and the thoughts of your mind had been brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It is true, dear fellow-bondsmen of Christ, we have to confess to our deep shame, how often we have practically, disowned our Master in heaven, and served ourselves instead of Him, and acted and lived, as if we were not His own peculiar people, and as if we had chosen Him to be our Master, as is the fashion of servants in our days, instead of His having chosen us.
But though we have been, not only unprofitable, but unfaithful servants, He has been faithful; for He cannot deny Himself. And since we, on entering through God’s sovereign grace the service of Christ, first tasted that the Lord is good and gracious, has not the kindness, goodness, and grace of our Master in heaven been ever the same towards us? Has He ever shown Himself to be an austere master to us, reaping where He had not sown, and gathering where He had not strewed? Such may be the language of an evil servant, but it is neither your experience nor mine, beloved I But it is quite another question, whether we keep in our souls the sense of His Lordship—as to our consciences—and of His goodness and grace—as to our hearts.
In the same measure as a Christian master and mistress realize in their consciences the authority, and in their hearts the goodness and kindness of their Master in heaven, they will “do the same things “to their servants that they wish their servants should do to them, and they will give to their servants “that which is just “(as a matter of conscience towards Christ); and not only that which is just, but also that which is “equal” (or “fair “), as a matter of the heart in kindness.
And if the eye of the earthly master is looking up to the eye of his Master in heaven, “Who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like unto brass,” when speaking of that cruel mistress Jezebel,” who corrupted His servants, and when announcing Himself to Thyatira as the One Who searcheth the reins and hearts, and will give unto every one according to his works; if the eye of the earthly master, I say, is up to the eye of his Master Who is in heaven, with Whom “there is no respect of persons,” the language of threat will be hushed towards his earthly servant, and the voice of kindness heard instead.
The divine injunctions given by the Apostle were, as need hardly be said, of double force for the Christian masters of the times of the Apostles, their servants being slaves. And here may be the place to mention, that the Apostle Paul, when sending back a run-a-way slave, Onesimus, to his master Philemon, with a letter of commendation, never says a word to the Christian master as to whether the institution of slavery was right or wrong. Not as if the Apostle himself had had any doubt in his mind about the character of that institution. He certainly was not the man to justify slavery. But he was the Apostle to whom the Lord had revealed the mystery of the Church, with a heavenly calling, a heavenly position and character, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, and therefore pilgrims and strangers in this world, into which the Lord has not sent us “to set things right, but souls,” as another has truly expressed it. The Christian, therefore, as a pilgrim and stranger, passing through an enemy’s land on his way to his glorious home with his heavenly Master, and as a heavenly citizen, pays tribute to whom tribute, and honor to whom honor is due, as we would do in a foreign country. But just as little as we should think it to be our business to meddle with the political or social institutions of the land, where we are only strangers and sojourners, just as little can it belong to the province of a Christian, who understands and realizes his heavenly calling, to interfere with the affairs of this world, and try to improve it, as if he were one of its citizens. He knows that this world, however much Christianity may have morally improved it, can never be improved God-ward, but, like a stone rolling down a steep hill, or like those two thousand swine of the Gadarenes, rushing down the hill towards the lake, is hastening downward, downward, with an ever-growing fatal speed. His business is not to meddle with the world’s business, but to warn men to flee from the approaching deluge of judgment to the only ark of refuge in Christ, in Whom there is no condemnation, and to beseech them to be reconciled to God, Who commends His love towards us, in that when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. His heavenly Master has not sent him into this world to secure the election of its candidates for its councils, but to “make his own election sure,” an election sure in the counsels of God, but the consciousness of which is kept fresh and sure in our souls, if we give diligence and attention to the divine injunctions given us in those all-important opening words of the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter (verses 5-11).
This is the reason why the Apostle, in his Epistle to Philemon, does not touch with a single word the question as to the right of a Christian to keep slaves. It was a general institution throughout the world in those times, and he was not called by His Master to interfere with the laws and institutions of this world. He therefore does not say to Philemon, “It is very wrong and utterly inconsistent for you, as a Christian, to keep slaves.” On the contrary, he fully acknowledges Philemon in his legitimate position as a master of slaves, by sending back Onesimus. He does not even assert his Apostolic authority, to restrain Philemon from inflicting some punishment upon his run-away slave (the penalty of the law for such slaves was death), nor does he enjoin Philemon, as he does the Ephesian masters, to forbear threatening, “because his (Philemon’s) Master also was in heaven, with whom there is no respect of persons.” These Apostolic exhortations, all right and in their place as they were, being addressed to the Ephesians, would have provoked the flesh in Philemon, instead of stirring up his pure mind: and the Spirit of God, who indicted this lovely little Epistle through His inspired penman, knew and knows how to supply those whom He deigns to use as His instruments with “words in season.”
But whilst we all own the fact of the inspiration of Paul’s Epistle to Philemon, this fact does not prevent the true spirit of the gentle and gracious Master so abounding in His servant, from appearing in all its loveliness, For the Holy Ghost in using individuals as instruments, does not efface their individuality. And if, in reading the greater Epistles of the Apostle of the Gentiles, we honor in him the chosen vessel of the Heavenly Master, the Head of the Church, in communicating to the Church the wondrous counsels of God concerning it as revealed to Paul; and if we, in reading those inspired pages, not only honor the Lord’s chosen vessel, but His devoted servant, as a pattern for us in true and whole-hearted service to his and our Master in heaven (2 Cor. 10-12); in his smaller Epistles to Timothy and Titus, and especially in his little “commendatory note,” if we may say so with reverence, to Philemon, we learn not only to esteem, but to love “the aged Paul,” as he calls himself.
What true love, grace, and wisdom from above, in all tenderness and delicacy, every line of that little Epistle breathes. Philemon was, though in a less noted and conspicuous way than Timothy, Titus, and others, a devoted servant of Christ, honored by the Apostle himself as his “beloved and fellow-laborer,” who, with Apphia and Archippus (who were probably his wife and son) appeared to have belonged to the Church at Colosse (near to Laodicea), which had its meeting in their house (comp. Col. 4:9-17).
The Apostle had heard of Philemon’s love and faith toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all Saints. He appears to have been a “son of consolation” to the saints at Colosse, and in the neighborhood, for “the bowels of the saints were refreshed by him.” Snowing him to be of such a loving and gracious disposition, the Apostle might have written to him with less hesitation than he would have done to others, even Christians in Philemon’s position. But true grace never trespasses upon love, though it confides in it. And so Philemon’s well known kindness, instead of inducing Paul to take advantage of it for Onesimus, by requesting Philemon to leave him to Paul, to minister to him in the bonds of the Gospel (a powerful plea indeed, especially if we remember that both master and slave had been converted through the Apostle’s instrumentality), only makes him act all the more considerately and tenderly towards the master of Onesimus, and he sends him back, in order that his benefit “should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.” Onesimus (which means “profitable “), he writes, had formerly been unprofitable to his master (most likely even before he ran away from him), but, being now the Lord’s, and a dear brother in the Lord, he would now be a real Onesimus,” i.e., profitable for his master; but, the Apostle adds, “not now as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord! If thou count me therefore as a partner, receive him as myself.”
But the Apostle does not fail to add: “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account: I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.”
Having thus removed every appearance of showing his love, and doing good to one brother at the expense of another, he continues:
“Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord; refresh my bowels “[comp. v. 7.] “in the Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.”
And after thus having given him full credit, not only for obedience to Paul (in his double character as an Apostle, and as Philemon’s father in the Gospel), but just as much for his love, he concludes by asking him to prepare him also a lodging, giving him a prospect of his visit.
I do not know of any of the Epistles of the Apostles where we meet with such a concise combination of the most powerful and noble motives of the now nature, within the narrow compass of a commendatory note as we find in Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. It is a true pattern of what the Apostle Peter calls “stirring up your pure minds.” May the Lord give us grace to imitate this way of “provoking one another unto love and to good works.”
There is one other point to which I would call the reader’s attention, if he has not noticed it already. It is the strict regard which the inspired Apostle shows in all his writings (as do all the others) to what may be called propriety in earthly relationships. The same Apostle who entreats the master of Onesimus to receive him “not as a slave, or servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved,” writes to Timothy, when speaking of Christian servants:” And they that have believing masters, let them [i.e., the servants] not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.”
The Spirit of God, Who is a God of order, is the Spirit of wisdom as well as of truth. From the same reason we find the same Apostle in both the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, reminding the masters, but not the servants, that their Master also is in heaven. There is always perfect propriety in the Word of God.
If Christian masters and mistresses would keep more constantly in the memory of their hearts and consciences those words: “that they also have a Master in heaven,” to Whom they are responsible for their service as masters, as are their servants, no less than for any other part of their service, there would not be so many difficulties and complaints in the daily life of so many a Christian family now-a-days! I fear but few believing masters or mistresses properly appreciate and realize the high privileges and the grave responsibility of their position!
I say privileges, for God has indeed given you the great privilege, beloved brother and sister, daily to reflect in your houses the character of our Master Who is in heaven, Who “is light “and “is love,” in your dealings with your servants, in righteousness and kindness, in giving them not only that which is “just,” but that which is “equal,” or “fair.”
The powerful example and influence of a godly master and mistress is not only manifested in the demeanor of their children, but still more in the conduct of the servants; for the master and mistress having, now-a-days, not the same authority and power over their servants, as they have over their children, and the former not being, besides, so constantly under the influence of the master and mistress, and in a comparatively very loose and uncertain relationship to them, the appearance and conduct of the servants in a Christian household testify in this respect, even more than that of the children, to the Christian character of the master or mistress of the house. Length of service may be creditable to the servant, but not necessarily to the master, especially when the latter is rich or in a high position of life, when selfish interests, such as high wages, the honor and comfort of serving in a great house, &c., may induce servants to remain longer in service than they would have otherwise done. But if you perceive in the very look and manner of the servant or servants of such a household, the spirit of contentment and peace, coupled with cheerful obedience, and if you see the machinery of the household working without a creaking noise, “wheel within wheel,” as it were, you may safely conclude, that the wheels of the domestic machinery must be well oiled, and that the light shining in that house is a light that burns without sputtering; and that the master, who is at the helm, is himself under the eye, and receives the daily orders from the Master in heaven, Who is not only the Captain of our salvation, but Who alone—
“Holds the helm and guides the ship.”
It is evident that the master and mistress of such a household “wait upon the Lord their God,” and therefore the willing “eyes of the servants look unto the hand of their masters, and the eyes of the maidens unto the hand of their mistress,” not with the trembling and fearful look of slaves, under the iron yoke of a strong minded and strong willed master, but serving them heartily, and with good will doing service, because even the unconverted among them ‘cannot help perceiving, told must acknowledge that their master and mistress, in giving their orders to them, only do so in obedience to a superior Master, Whose undisputed sway, though they do not see nor know Him, over the consciences and hearts of their master and mistress is so evident, and Whose Spirit of “power, and of love, and of sound mind,” in all grace, meekness, and gentleness, and wisdom is so manifest m all their demeanor and conversation, ministering not only truth, but grace to the hearers, and spreading His heavenly savor and fragrance through that whole household of peace, so that even the naturally stubborn among such servants are compelled to submit to the easy yoke and light burden of such a service, and will sooner or later be brought to submit to the sway of that blessed Lord, Whose gentle and yet mighty Spirit and grace they felt ruling in the hearts of those whom they served.
Chapter 12: Conclusion
We have, with the Lord’s gracious help, considered the Christian family relationships in their different parts, and the privileges and responsibilities connected with the Christian household, as laid down in the Word of God, the entrance of Whose words giveth light and understanding unto the simple. May the God of all grace grant His own blessing upon these pages and upon the souls of their readers. In days like these, where Egyptian judicial darkness is rapidly thickening in the open, and in the professing religious world; amidst the general shipwreck of all religious establishments, and the sad failure of testimony on every side, where the lurid, infernal torchlight of rationalism and infidelity only serves to increase the prevailing darkness; it is a comfort and encouragement to the weary Christian pilgrim, on approaching the precincts of a Christian household, to see heavenly day-light, brighter than that in Israel’s dwellings in Goshen, shining through the windows upon poor stray wanderers, who are groping their way through the surrounding darkness. Such a household is like a Pharos to the storm tossed mariner, shedding its light upon the troubled waves around, and warning against the hidden rocks and shoals. And its interior is to the wearied pilgrim and stranger, like Elim with its twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, where he may rest for a little while, and “encamp by the water,” and “lie down in the green pastures,” and be “led beside the still waters “by the Good Shepherd, Who led Israel through the wilderness like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and Who is the foundation stone of that Christian household and the Center, from whence everyone starts, towards which everything tends, and around which everything moves; and the glorious Head to Whom everyone looks up, and depends upon for daily wisdom, daily grace, faith to rise above difficulties and trials, and for patience to bear up under them. Blessed household, where grace and truth diffuse warmth and light, because Jesus Christ is the Liege Lord in every heart, and in every conscience, and the thoughts of their minds have been brought into captivity to His obedience; and where His Word is the lamp for their feet, and the light for their path, because it is the daily pasture of their souls.
With reluctance, but refreshed, and strengthened, and encouraged for the remainder of his wilderness journey, the privileged guest in such a household, leaves its bright fire-side praising God for His grace, and praying for His hundred-fold blessing upon every member of that “Household of Goshen.”
I knew such a household in a village of the West of England. It was but small, within the limits of an humble cottage. The master of that household was just going to destroy himself, being in despair about his sins, and Satan ringing in his ears the words: “Lost! Lost! “That very night an old well known servant of Christ preached in the village. Poor J. S. was prevailed upon to go and hear the Gospel. The subject was the prodigal son. That night the Lord spoke “Pease “to dear J. S., and he “rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.” Since then, like the jailer at Philippi, he has considered it his privilege, to “set meat” before all the Lord’s servants who minister to hungry souls the Bread of life which came down from heaven,” that a man may eat thereof and not die,” and his wife has been the kind hostess of Christian wayfarers, saying like Lydia: “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.”
One day J. S. and his partner had the privilege to entertain one of the Lord’s most honored servants, who has entered not long since into his Master’s joy. Early in the morning, after having taken leave of his hosts, the Lord’s hoary servant stepped into the road, and, turning to the house, with uplifted hands, said: “Peace, peace, peace, be upon this house!”
That prayer has been heard. The writer of this has several times had the privilege of being a guest under J. S.’s hospitable roof, and never has he been in a Christian household where the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, and the peace of Christ, which the world can neither give nor take away and the savor of the Spirit, Whose mind is life and peace, so pervaded and breathed through the whole house as in J. S.’s quiet and peaceful tent. Peace be with him and his house!
And now, before concluding, may I be permitted to repeat to myself and the reader the question, in the opening lines of these pages: “What about the light in our houses amidst the growing darkness around us? Have we like those Israelites in Goshen, “light in our dwellings” And is that light shining brightly, “giving light to all that are in the house? “And is it “seen by them that come into the house?”
The God of all grace grant it! And may His peace, which passeth all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, waiting for His coining from heaven!
Appendix.
See foot-note, p. 365
Æ. PLINIUS TO HIS DEAR SABINIAN.
“Your late slave, whom you have made free, and with whom you said you were angry, has prostrated himself at my feet, and clung to them, as if they had been yours. He wept much, entreated much, and was much silent. Altogether, he gave me the impression of being penitent. I believe him truly reformed, because he feels that he has done wrong. You will be angry, I know, and rightly so, I know too. But then the special praise of your clemency will be as just as is the cause for your anger. You have loved the man, and I hope you will love him still; meanwhile, it is enough if you will permit yourself to be entreated. You may be angry with him again, if he deserves it, and your anger will then be all the more excusable, because you had granted his prayer. Put something on account of his youth, and of his tears, and of your indulgence. Thus, you will not torment him, nor yourself either. For yourself must suffer if you are angry ever so little. I am afraid lest I should appear not as one who asks, but compels, by joining my prayers with his. But I do so all the more large and profusely, the more sharply and severely I have rebuked him myself, and threatened him roughly, that, after this, I should never intercede for him again; of course, this was meant for him who needed frightening, but not for you. For perhaps I shall ask and obtain again; provided it is of such a kind as it becomes me to ask and you to grant. Farewell.”