IT is a remarkable fact that all the replies by which Lord overcame Satan are drawn from the book which is singled out by these men to be denied and refuted, that is Deuteronomy, with “for it is written” and “it is written again”; with the solemn expression “Man shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Satan must turn to Scripture too but not to make the Lord leave it. It was sufficient for the Lord as absolute authority, and for Satan to put him to silence and ever will be, though not for these modern doctors. It is sufficient for the faith of God’s people, and more than that, leads them into the depths of God’s own wisdom and grace. For human wisdom it is—fraud and poetry! We must remember that when the church and its doctors were in such a state that it is said by divine authority “from such turn away,” (2 Tim. 3) the Scriptures are given as our resource, able to make wise unto Salvation.
Zurich, June 8th, 1878.
The Glory of His Grace.
I see a Man at God’s right hand,
Upon the throne of God,
And there in seven-fold light I see
The seven-fold sprinkled blood,
I look upon that glorious Man,
On that blood-sprinkled throne;
I know that He sits there for me,
That glory is my own.
The heart of God flows forth in love,
A deep eternal stream;
Through that beloved Son it flows
To me as unto Him.
And looking on His face, I know—
Weak, worthless though I be—
How deep, how measureless, how sweet,
That love of God to me.
How deep, how full, the joy of Him
Who sits upon the throne!
The joy the gladness of His heart,
In calling me His own.
And He has sent me forth to tell
Of all that joy above,
The glories where in Him I dwell,
The greatness of His love.
Not of the joy His ransomed know
Within that bright abode,
But, all His heart’s desire fulfilled,
The endless joy of God.
The joy with which the righteous One
Can call with hands outspread,
And welcome to His heart of love,
The lost, the vile, the dead.
The Lord who sits upon the throne
With them His joy will share,
And there the sprinkled blood appears
That He may set them there.
From drear dark places of the earth,
From depths of sin and shame,
He takes the vessels for His grace,
A people for His name.
“Today with me in Paradise,”
He needs that wondrous span
To show the love that could not rest
Short of His heaven for man.
And when in glory of His own
He shows the spotless Bride,
Aloud the songs of heaven declare
God’s heart is satisfied.