OUR Christian brother, Daniel, works on a heavy-land farm, which makes such havoc of his clothes, that when Sunday morning comes, and he has put off his old and put on his new garments, you would hardly know him.
Our brother, too, as all the village would tell you, has grace, in some measure, to live out this word— “Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.... put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering... and above all these things put on charity.” (Col. 3:9-149Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Colossians 3:9‑14)).
By the teaching of the blessed Spirit he has learned, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)). He knows that all that he is, as a man, born of a woman, “was crucified with Christ;” that He is “born from above,” and is “accepted in the Beloved,” with whom He is risen.
If you are walking over muddy ground with Daniel when he has on his common clothes, he is likely to say, “I don’t mind the dirt;” but let him put on his best, and he will take good care to keep them clean.
We do not say our brother always walks uprightly, and never slips; for there are enticing companions, and the watchful enemy, self, still the same. He is thus often called, in a spiritual sense, to work in his best suit in the necessary dirt of the heavy land of his farm. This is the practical difficulty of his daily life, and this it is that causes our brother to be so frequently alone, pleading upon his knees.