they are to be like Christ, and to be glorified with Him. Is He
glorious? So shall they be. Is He enthroned? So shall they be. Does He
wear a crown? So shall they. Is He a priest? So shall they be kings to
share His dominion, and priests to offer acceptable sacrifices forever.
Mark, that in all Christ has, believers participate. They are to reign
with Christ, and have a portion of His joy; to be honored with Him, to
be accepted in Him. This is heaven indeed! If you have this hope, I
beseech you hold it fast, live on it, rejoice in it.
"A hope so much divine,
May trials well endure;
May purge your soul from sense and sin,
As Christ the Lord is pure."
Live near your Master now, so shall your evidences be bright; and when
you come to cross the flood, you shall see Him face to face, and what
_that is_ only they can tell who enjoy it every hour. But if you have
_not_ this bright hope, how is it that you can live content? You are
going through a dark world to a darker eternity. I beseech you stop and
pause. Consider for a moment whether it is worth while to lose heaven
for this poor earth. What! pawn eternal glories for the pitiful pence of
a few moments of the world's enjoyments? No, stop, I beseech you; weigh
the bargain ere you accept it. What shall it profit you to gain the
whole world and lose your soul? What wailing and gnashing of teeth shall
there be over the carelessness or misadventure by which men lose _such a
heaven as this_?
_Rejoice Always._
Whenever a Christian man yields to a mournful, desponding spirit, under
his trials; when he does not seek grace from God to battle manfully and
cheerfully with trouble; when he does not ask his heavenly Father to
give him strength and consolation whereby he may be enabled to rejoice
in the Lord at _all_ times, he does dishonor to the high, and mighty,
and noble principles of Christianity, which are fitted to bear a man up,
and make him happy even in times of the deepest affliction. It is the
boast of the gospel that it lifts the heart above trouble; it is one of
the glories of our religion that it makes us say, "Although the fig-tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of the
olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, _yet will I rejoice
in the Lord_, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
_Religion a Present Concern._
Religion must be a thing of the present, because the _present has such
intimate connections with the future_. We are told in Scripture that
this life is a seed-time, and the future is the harvest, "he that soweth
to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; he that soweth to the
spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." As the seed
generates the plant, even so doth this present life generate the eternal
future. Heaven and hell are, after all, but the developments of our
present character, for is it not written, "he that is holy, let him be
holy still; he that is unjust, let him be unjust still?" Do we not know
that in the heart of every sin condemnation slumbers? Is it not a
fearful truth that the germ of everlasting torment sleeps in every vile
wish, every unholy thought, every unclean act, so that hell is but a
great breaking out of slumbering lava, which had been so quiet, that
while the mountain was covered with fair verdure, even to its summit,
death comes and bids that lava rise; and down the steeps of manhood's
eternal existence, the fiery lava of eternal misery doth pour itself?
Yet it was there before, for sin is hell, and rebellion against God is
the prelude of misery. So is it with heaven; I know that heaven is a
reward, not of debt but of grace; but still the Christian has that
within him which forestalls for him a heaven. What did Christ say? "I
_give_ unto my sheep eternal life." He did not say, "_I will give_," but
"_I do give_." As soon as they believe in Me, I give them eternal life.
"He that believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation." The Christian hath within him the seed-beds
of a paradise; in due time the light which is sown for the righteous,
and the gladness which is sown for the upright in heart, shall spring
up, and they shall reap the harvest. Is it not plain, then, that
religion is a thing which we must have here? Is it not prominently
revealed that religion is important for the present? For if this life be
the seed-time of the future, how can I expect to reap in another world
other harvests than I have been sowing here? How can I trust that I
shall be saved then, unless I am saved now? How can I have hope that
heaven shall be my eternal inheritance, unless the earnest be begun in
my own soul on earth?
_Trouble Lightened_.
I am persuaded that if we looked more to Jesus, our troubles would not
appear either so great or so grievous. In the darkest night of trial,
looking to Christ will clear the ebon sky. When the darkness seems
thick, like that of Egypt, "darkness that might be felt," even then,
like a bright lightning flash, as vivid, but not so transient, will a
look to Jesus prove. One glimpse of Him may well suffice for all our
toils while on the road. Looking to Him will illuminate the most dreary
way. Cheered by His voice, nerved by His strength, we are prepared to do
and to suffer, even as he did, unto the end. O, weary and troubled
Christians, "look unto Him, and be lightened!"
_The Gospel Requirement_.
The gospel is not a scheme of giving _to_ God, but of receiving _from_
God. It is taking of His fulness, drinking out of His "wells of
salvation," receiving from His storehouse. Sinner! remember all that God
asks of thee, in order to thy salvation, is, that thou wouldst be a
_receiver_, and this He gives thee, even the power to receive. He asks
thee not to do anything, but to hold out thine empty hand, and take all
thou wantest. He does not bid thee store thy granaries and become rich,
but he bids thee simply confess thy poverty, and open the doors of thine
empty chambers, that He may pour thee out a blessing such as thou shalt
scarcely find room to contain. Hast thou learnt this truth? Hast thou
come to live as a receiver at the hand of God? Hast thou stood at
Mercy's gate, humbly seeking salvation? For, if thou hast not--if thou
hast never yet been willing to take the riches of grace from God instead
of giving to Him of thine own worthless doings--if thou art not willing
to be a recipient of His gratuitous goodness, thou art a total stranger
to everything like the gospel of Christ.
"_Ye are Not Your Own._"
If you are a child of God, you belong wholly and entirely to Christ.
Yet are there not many who seem to imagine that if they save a corner in
their souls for their religion, all will be well? Satan may stalk across
the broad acres of their judgment and their understanding, and he may
reign over their thoughts and their imaginations; but if in some quiet
nook there be preserved the appearance of religion, all will be right.
Oh! be not deceived in this; Christ never went halves in a man yet. He
will have the whole of you, or He will have none of you. He will be Lord
paramount, Master supreme, absolute Monarch, or else He will have
nothing to do with you. You may serve Satan, if you will, but when you
serve Him, you shall not serve Christ too. If you are not wholly given
up to God--if, in the intent and purpose of your souls, every thought,
and wish, and power, and talent, and possession be not devoted and
consecrated to Christ, you have no reason to believe that you have been
redeemed by His precious blood. In His people, whom He has purchased for
His own, He _will_ reign without a rival. Christ will not be
part-proprietor of any man.
"_Continue in Prayer._"
Be much in prayer. God's plants grow faster in the warm atmosphere of
the closet--it is a forcing-place for spiritual vegetation. He who would
grow strong must often kneel at the throne of grace. Of all training
practice for spiritual battles, _knee practice_ is the most healthful
and strengthening.
_The Holy Saviour._
There is an expression used by the apostle Paul respecting the Lord
Jesus, which is very beautiful and significant--"who _knew_ no sin." It
does not merely say _did_ none, but _knew_ none. Sin was no acquaintance
of His; He was acquainted with grief, but no acquaintance of sin. He had
to walk in the midst of its most frequented haunts, but did not know it.
Not that He was ignorant of its nature, or unaware of its penalty, but
He did not _know_ it; He was a stranger to it; He never by word, by nod,
or by smile, gave it the faintest recognition. Of course He knew what
sin was, for He was very God, but with sin He had no communion, no
fellowship, no brotherhood. He was a perfect stranger in the presence of
sin; He was a foreigner; He was not an inhabitant of that land where sin
is acknowledged. He passed through the wilderness of suffering, but into
the wilderness of sin He could never go. "He _knew_ no sin:" mark that
expression and treasure it up; and when you are thinking of your
Substitute, and behold Him bleeding upon the cross, think that you see
written in those lines of blood, "He knew no sin." Mingled with the
redness of His blood--that Rose of Sharon--behold the purity of His
nature--the Lily of the Valley--"He knew no sin."
_Christ our Example_.
_Remember the blessed example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_.
This surely will teach you not to live to yourself! "For ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for our
sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." His
heart is made of tenderness, His bowels melt with love. In all our
afflictions He is afflicted. Since the day when He became flesh of our
flesh, He hath never hidden Himself from our sufferings. Our glorious
Head is moved with all the sorrows which distress the members. Crowned
though He now is, He forgets not the thorns which once He wore; amid the
splendors of His regal state in Paradise, He is not unmindful of His
children here below. Still is He persecuted when Saul persecutes the
saints; still are His brethren as the apple of His eye, and very near
His heart. If ye can find in Christ a grain of selfishness, consecrate
yourselves unto your lusts, and let Mammon be your God. If ye can find
in Christ a solitary atom of hardness of heart and callousness of
spirit, then justify yourselves, ye whose hearts are as stone to the
wailing of the desolate. But if ye profess to be followers of the Man of
Nazareth, be ye full of compassion; He feedeth the hungry lest they be
faint by the way; He bindeth up the broken in heart and healeth all
their wounds; He heareth the cry of the needy and ariseth to their help.
If ye are His disciples, go and do likewise.
_God's Government._
There are still people to be found foolish enough to believe that
events occur at hap-hazard, without divine predestination, and different
calamities transpire without the overruling hand, or the direct agency
of God. Alas! for us, if chance had aught to do with events of our life.
We should be like poor mariners, put out to sea in an unsafe vessel,
without a chart and without a helm; we should know nothing of the port
to which we might ultimately come; we should only feel that we were now
the sport of the winds, the captives of the tempest, and might soon be
the victims of the all-devouring deep. Alas! poor orphans were we all,
if we were indebted for food and clothing, for present comfort and
future prospects, to nothing but chance. No father's care to watch over
us, but left to the fickleness and fallibility of mortal things! What
were all that we see about us, but a great sand-storm in the midst of a
desert, blinding our eyes, preventing us from ever hoping to see the end
through the darkness of the beginning? We should be pilgrims in a
pathless waste, where there were no roads to direct us--travellers who
might be overturned and overwhelmed at any moment, and our bleached
bones left the victims of the tempest, unknown, or forgotten of all.
Thank God, it is not so with us. We believe that everything which
happens to us is ordered by the wise and tender will of Him who is our
Father and our Friend; we see order in the midst of confusion; we see
purposes accomplished where others discern nothing but void and vacancy.
We believe that "He hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and
the clouds are the dust of His feet."
_The Secret of Strength._
Art thou proud, believer, because thou hast been profitable to the
Church, and done some little service to thy times? Who maketh thee to
differ, and what hast thou which thou hast not received? Hast thou shed
a little light upon the darkness? Ah! who lit thy candle--and who is it
who keeps thee still shining, and prevents thee from being extinguished?
Hast thou overcome temptation? Hang not up thy banner; do not decorate
thine own bosom with the glory; for who made thee strong in the battle?
Who made thy sword sharp, and nerved thine arm to strike the foe?
Remember, thou hast done nothing whatever of thyself. If thou be this
day a vessel unto honor, decorated and gilded--if now thou art a
precious vase, filled with the sweetest perfume, yet thou didst not make
thyself so. Thou art the clay, but _who_ is the potter? If thou be a
vessel unto honor, yet not a vessel unto thine own honor, but a vessel
unto the honor of Him who made thee. If thou standest among thy
fellow-men as the angels stand above the fallen spirits--a chosen one,
distinguished from them--yet remember, it was not any goodness in
thyself which made thee to be chosen; nor has it been any of thine own
efforts, or thine own power, which lifted thee out of the miry clay, set
thy feet on the rock, and established thy goings. Off with the crown
from thy proud head, and lay down thine honors at the feet of Him who
gave them to thee. With cherubim and seraphim veil thy face, and cry,
"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto His name be all the glory forever
and ever."
And when thou art thus bowed down with humility, be thou prepared to
learn this other lesson--_never depend on thyself again_. If thou hast
aught to do, go not forth to do it leaning on an arm of flesh. First bow
thy knee, and ask power of Him who makes thee strong, and then thou
shalt come back from thy labor rejoicing. But if thou goest in thine own
strength, thou shalt break thy ploughshare on the rock; thou shalt sow
thy seed by the side of the salt sea upon the barren sand, and thou
shalt look upon the naked acres in years to come, and they shall not
yield thee so much as a single blade to make glad thine heart. "Trust ye
in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."
That strength is not available to you so long as you repose in any
strength of your own. He will help you if you confess your weakness; but
if you are strong in yourself, He will take way his own power from you,
and you will stumble and fall. Learn, then, the grace of depending daily
upon God, so shalt thou be clothed with becoming humility.
_Nature and Grace._
You will never perceive God in nature, until you have learned to see
God in grace. We have heard a great deal about going up from nature to
nature's God. Impossible! A man might as well attempt to go from the top
of the Alps to heaven. There is still a great gulf between nature and
God to the natural mind. You must first of all perceive God incarnate in
the person of Christ, before you will perceive God omnipotent in the
creation which He has made. You have heard a great deal about men
delighting to worship in the forest glades, who disdain to frequent the
sanctuary of the saints. Ay; but there was little truth in it. There is
often great sound where there is much emptiness; and you will frequently
find that those men who talk most of this natural worship, are those who
do not worship God at all. God's works are too gross a medium to allow
the light. Rugged is the path and dark the atmosphere, if we go by way
of the creatures to find out the Creator to perfection. But when I see
Christ, I see God's new and living way between my soul and my God, most
clear and pleasant. I come to my God at once, and finding Him in Christ,
I find Him everywhere else besides.
_Look to Christ._
Would you be free from doubts? Would you rejoice in the Lord with faith
unmoved, and confidence unshaken? Then _look to Jesus_! Certain I am
that if we lived more _with_ Jesus, were more _like_ Jesus, and trusted
more _to_ Jesus, doubts and fears would be very scarce and rare things.
_Love in Chastening._
God's people are often chastened, and the Lord's hand lieth heavy upon
them; yet there is paternal goodness in their chastenings, and infinite
lovingkindness in their tribulations. Did you ever hear this parable?
There was a certain shepherd who had a sheep which he desired to lead
into another and better field; he called it, and it would not come; he
led it, and it would not follow; he drove it, but it would only follow
its own devices. At last he thought within himself, "I will do this."
The sheep had a little lamb by its side, and the shepherd took the lamb
up in his arms, and carried it away, and then the ewe came too. And so
with you; God has been calling to _you_, and you did not come; Christ
said, "Come," and you would not; He sent affliction, and you would not
come; at length He took your child away, and you came forthwith; you
followed the Saviour then. You see it was loving work on the shepherd's
part. He did but take the lamb to save the sheep, and the Saviour but
took your child to heaven that He might bring _you_ there also. Oh,
blessed afflictions, blessed losses, blessed deaths, which end in
spiritual life! You know that if a man desires to gather a harvest from
his field, he first ploughs it up. The field might complain, and say,
"Why these scars across my face? Why this rough upturning?" Because
there can be no sowing till there has been ploughing; sharp ploughshares
make furrows for good seed. Or take yet another picture from nature: a
man desireth to make of a rusty piece of iron, a bright sword which
shall be serviceable to a great warrior. What doth he do? He putteth it
into the fire, and melteth it; he taketh away all its dross, and
removeth all its tin; then he fashioneth it with his hammer; he beateth
it full sore upon the anvil; he anneals it in one fire after another,
till at last it comes out a good blade which will not snap in the day of
warfare. This is what God doeth with you--I pray you do not misread the
book of God's providence; for if you read it aright it runs thus--"I
will have mercy on this man, and therefore have I smitten him and
wounded him. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." Come, therefore,
let us return unto the Lord, for He hath wounded and He will heal; He
hath smitten and He will bind us up.
_Enduring the Cross._
"For the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross." What was
the joy? Oh, 'tis a thought must melt a rock, and make a heart of iron
move, that the joy which was set before Jesus, was principally the joy
of saving us. I know it was the joy of fulfilling His Father's will--of
sitting down on His Father's throne--of being made perfect through
suffering; but still I know that this is the grand, great motive of the
Saviour enduring the cross--the joy of saving us. Do you know what the
joy is of doing good to others? If you do not, I pity you, for of all
joys which God has left in this poor wilderness, this is one of the
sweetest. Do you know it? Have you never felt that joy divine, when your
gold has been given to the poor, and your silver has been dedicated to
the Lord, when you bestowed it upon the hungry--and you have gone aside,
and said, "I feel it is a joy worth living for to feed the hungry, and
clothe the naked, and to do good to my poor suffering fellow-creatures?"
Now, this is the joy which Christ felt; it was the joy of feeding us
with the bread of heaven; the joy of clothing poor, naked sinners in His
own righteousness; the joy of finding a home for homeless souls, of
delivering us from the prison of hell, and giving us the eternal
enjoyments of heaven. See the greatness of His love which thus led Him
to endure the cross and despise the shame, that He might save sinners.
Truly Christ's love "passeth knowledge!" Christians! if Christ endured
all this for the joy of saving you, will _you_ be ashamed of bearing or
suffering anything for Christ? Surely love to Him who hath so loved us
should make us willing to endure all things for His sake. Do you feel
that in following Christ you must lose by it--lose honor, position,
wealth? Do you feel that in being a Christian you incur ridicule and
reproach? and will you turn aside because of these little things, when
He would not turn aside, but endured the cross and despised the shame?
No, by the grace of God let every Christian say,--
"Now for the love I bear His name,
What was my gain I count my loss;
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to His cross."
"For me to live is Christ; to die is gain." Living, I will be His;
dying, I will be His. I will live to His honor, and serve Him wholly. I
will take up my cross, and follow Him, rejoicing if I am counted worthy
to suffer for His name's sake.
_Christian Gravity._
When we make a profession of our faith in Christ, we are not to drape
our faces in gloom, but rather to light our hearts with a purer joy than
we ever knew before; and yet we must put away all unseemly levity. "I
said of laughter, it is mad." I said it, too, in the day of the gladness
of my heart. The madman's frolics, the drunkard's boisterous
mirth--these compare not with the serene pleasure of our princely
expectations. Walk as those who are looking for the coming of the Son of
Man, hearing this voice in your ears, "What manner or person ought ye to
be in all holy conversation and godliness?"
_Short-Sightedness._
What short-sighted creatures we often are! We think we see the end when
we are only viewing the beginning. We get our telescope out sometimes to
look to the future, and we breathe on the glass with the hot breath of
our anxiety, and then we think we see clouds and darkness before us. If
we are in trouble, we see
"Every day new straits attend,
And wonder where the scene will end."
Nay; we conclude that it must end in our destruction. We imagine "God
hath forgotten to be gracious." We think "He hath in anger shut up the
bowels of compassion." Oh, this short-sightedness! When you and I ought
to believe in God; when we ought to look at the heaven which awaiteth
us, and the glory for which these light afflictions are preparing us;
when we ought to be looking through the cloud to the eternal sun which
never knows an eclipse; when we should be resting on the invisible arm
of the immortal God, and triumphing in His love, we are mourning and
distrusting. God forgive us for this, and enable _us_ henceforth to look
not _at_ our troubles, but _above_ them, even to Him who, with infinite
wisdom and love, is guiding us, and has promised to bring us safely
through.
_Steadfastness._
If you had more faith, you would be as happy in the furnace as on the
mountain of enjoyment; you would be as glad in famine as in plenty; you
would rejoice in the Lord when the olive yielded no oil, as well as when
the vat was bursting and overflowing its brim. If you had more
confidence in God, you would have far less of tossings up and down; and
if you had greater nearness to Christ, you would have less vacillation.
At times you can bid defiance to the rage of Satan, boldly meet every
attack, and resist every temptation; but too often you are fearful and
irresolute, and ready to run away from the fight instead of making
valiant resistance. But if you always remember Him who endured such
contradiction of sinners against Himself, you might always be firm and
steadfast. Live near your Master, and you shall not be thus changeful
and uncertain. Beware of being like a weathercock. Seek of God, that His
law may be written on your heart as if it were written in stone, and not
as if it were written in sand. Seek that His grace may come to you like
a river, and not like a brook which fails. Seek that you may keep your
conversation always holy; that your course may be like the shining light
which tarries not, but burns brighter and brighter until the fulness of
the day. Seek that the "God of all grace may establish, strengthen,
settle you."
"_Be not High-minded, but Fear._"