Next to the direct example of our Lord Himself which we considered a little last month, we should think this subject to be the most profitable one for Christian study. From a brief review of what appeared in last month’s number, it is plain at first sight that, although a large amount of work has been carefully and on the whole well done, still the subject is by no means exhausted, and we would recommend our studious friends who wish for a little profitable occupation for a leisure Sunday afternoon or evening to make out further examples of the lists of Scripture graces in such chapters as Romans 12. It is evident, however, that for the purposes of the class some selection had to be made, and so we will now briefly glance at last month’s work.
We may remark that we are at once struck by the fact that the same name is several times repeated. Thus David, Moses, Daniel, Abraham, Jacob, Peter, Hannah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and others, each appear under several heads. In some cases this gives us a slight sketch of their Christian character.
For instance, David is an example of eight out of the twelve graces chosen, and he is seen to be compassionate, a man of faith, humble, joyful, patient, prayerful, repentant, and truthful. Moses is an example of sympathy, faith, humility, love, and patience. Daniel is marked by sympathy, humility, prayerfulness, and truthfulness; Mary of Bethany by sympathy, liberality, and love; Abraham by great faith, by liberality, obedience, and patience; Peter, in spite of his great failures, yet furnishes us examples of faith, obedience, prayerfulness, repentance and truthfulness; the dying thief shows faith, repentance, and truthfulness; Hannah gives a beautiful example of faith, humility, joy and prayerfulness; Jeremiah of humility, joy, patience, and prayerfulness, four lovely virtues; while Nehemiah’s character is accurately portrayed in his joy in God, his liberality, love, patience, and prayerfulness. Interesting though it would be however to pursue this line of thought, we leave it for the far more practical one of bringing the question home to ourselves.
Let us consider a few of these graces. What about compassion and sympathy? How many lonely hours have we cheered, how many weeping eyes have we dried? As to this, “Have we done what we could?” What about our faith for spiritual blessings? Are our eyes set on brighter things above, or taken up with things around us? Could the epitaph which the Spirit of God inscribed over the tombstone of the patriarchs, 2000 years after their death, be truthfully written over ours?
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
What about even faith for temporal mercies? Does God see us really trusting in Him who feeds the sparrows, and without whose knowledge not a hair of our head can fall to the ground? Oh! how rebuked we must feel in going through even this short list! What about humility, is it known and seen and felt by all we meet that we are truly humble-minded, that we think little of our acts and still less of ourselves? How about by in God, not in prosperous circumstances, but after the manner of Habakkuk (3:18), of Paul and Silas in prison. But we must not stay to go through the list, Liberality, Love, Obedience, Patience, Prayerfulness, (oh! how we neglect this) Repentance and Truthfulness, surely each of these has some voice to our consciences.
We can quite understand the inclination to say, “Well this is a very disagreeable subject, it makes me quite uncomfortable.” It is well that it should do so to each of us. A little stirring up as to practical christian walk does nothing but good to those who are only too ready quietly to slumber in the security of their christian privileges. And in conclusion, we would recommend those who would really get the full good of such a subject, quietly to take the first leisure hour, and, pencil in hand, to take the list, including also above one hundred examples from the life of Paul, and in careful self-examination before God, see against how many they can honestly make a mark showing that to some extent, however imperfectly they can truly say they exhibit that grace. An hour truly so spent would be laden with blessing to the one who thus allows the Word of God to search his daily life.