When a wealthy person had died, there is a good deal of anxiety to know whether, in the distribution of the property, there will be anything left by the will to any outside the circle of the nearest relatives. I well remember being at a funeral, after which a letter was received from one who had expected to be remembered, asking how much had been left to him. He was to be disappointed in course of post. Last year I had to examine a will, and found that a sum had been left to a person named therein; but a codicil left the payment optional at the discretion of the executor, who decided to withhold it.
How many must be disappointed who entertain expectations of this nature! And how many there are receive legacies who foolishly squander the wealth they come into possession of so early!
But there is a Will which bequeaths infinite riches and boundless pleasures; and yet how few comparatively there are who appear to be at all anxious to know whether their names are written in its pages. This will is of very ancient date: it was written before the foundation of the world, before time began. It was made by a rich and glorious Person; and it bequeaths the most extensive riches for time and eternity.
I remember, when quite a little boy, being much impressed by reading of Selina Hastings (afterward Countess of Huntingdon), who, when nine years of age, saw a passing funeral. This led her to solemn reflection and to earnest prayer. When she grew older she wrote a poem on the Day of Judgment, which contained the following stanzas:
“Oh when my righteous Judge shall come
To fetch His ransomed people home,
Shall I among them stand?
Shall such a worthless worm as I,
Who sometimes am afraid to die,
Be found at His right hand?
“I love to meet among them now,
Before His gracious feet to bow,
Though vilest of them all:
But can I bear the piercing thought
What if my name should be left out,
When He for them shall call?
“Prevent, prevent it by Thy grace;
Be Thou, dear Lord, my hiding-place
In this the accepted day:
Thy pardoning voice O let me hear,
To still my unbelieving fear;
Nor let me fall, I pray.
“Let me among Thy saints be found,
Whene’er the archangel’s trump shall sound,
To see Thy smiling face:
Then loudest of the crowd I’ll sing,
While heaven’s resounding mansions ring
With shouts of sovereign grace.”
In these lines there is an evident anxiety to realize an interest in what God has written about His people, and in what He has promised to be to them and to do for them. Have you, my dear reader, felt this anxiety? or are you unconcerned and careless?
You may ask me in return what this Will is, and where it is, and how its contents may be known. It is, in fact, the Covenant of grace; but the reader for whom these lines are intended will perhaps more readily perceive my meaning if I refer him to the Bible the Word of God. This blessed word is the mind and will of God made known to sinners. What He is to sinners who seek Him, what He does for them, and what He has in reserve for them, all is revealed in this wonderful Book. Sinners, too, are as exactly described as if their human names were written on the pages. These are some of the descriptions: “Everyone that thirsteth.” “Whosoever will.” “He that seeketh.” “All ye who labor and are heavy laden.”
These, then, are as it were the names of the persons who are interested in the Will, which is signed by God Himself, and witnessed by the Holy Spirit who makes its contents known.
Have you, dear reader, seen your name thus written in the Will? If so, you know something of what is in store for you, and of what is now most certainly yours. All things are yours; for all things are bequeathed to those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. All they need here below, and all they hope for above, is their own. It is made known to them now by faith; and the day is coming when they shall eternally enter into the inheritance reserved for them.
W. W.