The Christian’s native air;
His watch-word at the gates of death,
He enters heaven with prayer!”
But, observe for what Stephen prayed. “Lord Jesus receive my
spirit!” This is the prayer of faith, commending the immortal
spirit to the covenant care of Jesus. The spirit does not die
with the body. None but God, who gave, can take away the soul’s
existence, and he has declared that he never will. Would that
bad men would think on that! You cannot get rid of your soul’s
existence: you cannot cease to be: you may wish it; though the
wish is monstrous and unnatural. But there is no annihilation for
any soul of man. Oh, come to our Saviour! give him your guilty
soul, to be justified through his atonement, washed in his blood,
regenerated by his Spirit. Make to him _now_ that surrender of your
soul, for which he calls. Renew this happy self-dedication every
day, very especially every Sabbath, and most solemnly, from time to
time at the Lord’s Supper. And then, when you come to die, it will
only be, to do once more, what you have so often done in former
days,--again to commend your soul very humbly, believingly, and
affectionately, under the faithful care of Jesus Christ.
THE HOUSE OF GOD.
The church was pleasantly situated on a rising bank, at the foot
of a considerable hill. It was surrounded by trees, and had a
rural retired appearance. In every direction the roads that led to
this house of God, possessed distinct but interesting features.
One of them ascended between several rural cottages from the
sea-shore, which adjoined the lower part of the village-street.
Another winded round the curved sides of the adjacent hill, and
was adorned, both above and below, with numerous sheep feeding
on the herbage of the down. A third road led to the church by a
gently rising approach, between high banks, covered with young
trees, bushes, ivy, hedge-plants, and wild flowers.--From a point
of land, which commanded a view of all these several avenues, I
used sometimes, for a while, to watch my congregation gradually
assembling together at the hour of Sabbath worship. They were in
some directions visible for a considerable distance. Gratifying
associations of thought would form in my mind, as I contemplated
their approach and successive arrival within the precincts of the
house of prayer.--One day as I was thus occupied, during a short
interval previous to the hour of divine service, I reflected on
the joy, which David experienced at the time he exclaimed, “I was
glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is
built as a city that is compact together; whither the tribes go
up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks unto the name of the Lord.” I was led to reflect upon the
various blessings, connected with the establishment of public
worship. “How many immortal souls are now gathering together to
perform the all-important work of prayer and praise--to hear the
word of God--to feed upon the bread of life! They are leaving
their respective dwellings, and will soon be united together in
the house of prayer.” How beautifully does this represent the
effect produced by the voice of the “Good Shepherd,” calling his
sheep from every part of the wilderness into his fold! As those
fields, hills, and lanes, are now covered with men, women, and
children, in various directions, drawing nearer to each other,
and to the object of their journey’s end; even so, “many shall
come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and
from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” Who
can rightly appreciate the value of such hours as these?--hours
spent in learning the way of holy pleasantness, and the paths of
heavenly peace--hours devoted to the service of God, and of souls;
in warning the sinner to flee from wrath to come; in teaching
the ignorant how to live and die; in preaching the gospel to the
poor; in healing the broken-hearted; in declaring “deliverance to
the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.” “Blessed is
the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.”
This train of reflection, at intervals, occurred powerfully to my
feelings, as I viewed that very congregation assembled together
in the house of God, whose steps, in their approach to it, I had
watched with prayerful emotions.--“Here the rich and poor met
together,” in mutual acknowledgement that “the Lord is the maker
of them all,” and that all are alike dependent creatures, looking
up to one common Father to supply their wants, both temporal and
spiritual.--Again, likewise, shall they meet together in the grave,
that undistinguishing receptacle of the opulent and the needy.--And
once more, at the judgment-seat of Christ, shall the rich and poor
meet together, that “every one may receive the things done in
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad.” How closely connected in the history of man, art these three
periods of a general meeting together. The house of prayer--the
house appointed for all living--and the house not made with hands
eternal in the heavens.--May we never separate these ideas from
each other, but retain them in a sacred and profitable union! So
shall our worshipping assemblies on earth be representative of the
general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in
heaven.
FINIS.
A CHOICE DROP OF HONEY
FROM
THE ROCK CHRIST;
OR,
A SHORT WORD OF ADVICE
TO
SAINTS AND SINNERS.
BY THOMAS WILCOCKS.
[Illustration]
GLASGOW:
PRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS.
CHRISTIAN READER,
I find, in this latter day, the love of the Lord shining in
some measure with its pleasant beams into my heart, warming my
affections, inflaming my soul not only to give a spiritual echo in
soul duty to so great a lover as my Saviour is, whose transcendent
love passeth knowledge, Eph. iii. 19. but also the loving and
wishing well to all Sion’s heaven-born children; for I find, in
this day, many poor souls tossed to and fro, ready to be carried
away with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, Eph. iv. 14: and
that there are many foundations to build upon that are false, upon
which much labour is spent in vain; that men are not speaking the
truth in love; neither are they growing up unto him in all things,
which is the head Christ, Eph. iv. 15. There cannot be a growing
in Christ, without a union with him. Thou wilt find, therefore,
gentle reader, this ensuing little treatise, if the Lord be pleased
to bless the reading of it unto thee, as a still voice behind thee
saying, “This is the way, walk in it, that thou turn not to the
right hand or the left.”--The way into that pleasant path of soul
justification before God is in and through the righteousness of
Jesus Christ, for all our self-righteousness is as filthy rags:
surely shall one say, “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be
justified, and shall glory,” Isai. xlv. 25. It is only the dying of
that Just One, for us unjust ones, that must bring us to God. He
that knew no sin was made sin for us; that we who were nothing but
sin, might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. v. 21.
Christian Reader, let all that is of old Adam in thee fall down
at the foot of Christ. He only must have the pre-eminence;--all
the vessels of this new spiritual covenant temple, from the cups
to the flagons, must be all hung upon Christ; he is to build the
temple of the Lord, and is to bear the glory; he, by his Father’s
appointment, is the foundation-stone, the corner-stone, and the
top-stone; he is the Father’s fulness of grace and glory: whatever
thy wants be, thou mayest come to him; there is balsam enough in
him fit for a cure.
Reader, the good Lord help thee to experience the ensuing word of
advice, that it may be made by God unto thee like honey, sweet
to thy soul, and health to thy bones, and thy soul shall rejoice
within thee. Thy brother in the faith and fellowship of the gospel,
THOMAS WILCOCKS.
A CHOICE DROP OF HONEY
FROM THE
ROCK CHRIST.
A word of advice to my own heart and thine:--Thou art a professor,
and partakest of all ordinances: Thou dost well, they are glorious
privileges. But if thou hast not the blood of Christ at the root of
thy profession, it will wither, and prove but painted pageantry to
go to hell in.
If thou retain guilt and self-righteousness under it, those vipers
will eat out all the vitals of it at length.--Try and examine with
the greatest strictness every day, what foundation thy profession
and thy hope of glory is built upon, whether it was laid by the
hand of Christ; if not, it will never be able to endure the storm
that will come against it. Satan will throw it all down, and great
will be the fall thereof, Matt. vii. 27.
Glorious professor! thou shalt be winnowed, every vein of thy
profession shall be tried to purpose! It is terrible to have it all
come tumbling down, and to find nothing but it to rest upon.
Soaring professor! see to thy waxen wings betimes, which will melt
with the heat of temptations. What a misery it is, to trade much,
and break at length, and have no stock, no foundation laid for
eternity in thy soul!
Gilded professor! look if there be not a worm at the root, that
will spoil all thy fine gourd, and make it die about thee in a
day of scorching. Look over thy soul daily, and ask, “Where is
the blood of Christ to be seen upon my soul? What righteousness
is it that I stand upon to be saved? Have I got off my
self-righteousness?”--Many eminent professors have come at length
to cry out in the sight of the ruin of all their duties, Undone,
undone, to all eternity!
Consider, the greatest sins may be hid under the greatest duties,
and the greatest terrors. See the wound that sin hath made in thy
soul be perfectly cured by the blood of Christ; not skinned over
with duties, humblings, enlargements, &c. Apply what thou wilt
besides the blood of Christ, it will poison the sore. Thou wilt
find that sin was never mortified truly; that thou hast not seen
Christ bleeding for thee upon the cross; nothing can kill it, but
the beholding of Christ’s righteousness.
Nature can afford no balsam fit for soul cure. Healing from duty
and not from Christ, is the most desperate disease. Poor ragged
nature, with all its highest improvements, can never spin a garment
fine enough, without spot, to cover the soul’s nakedness. Nothing
can fit the soul for that use, but Christ’s perfect righteousness.
Whatsoever is of nature’s spinning must be all unravelled, before
the righteousness of Christ can be put on; whatsoever is nature’s
putting on, Satan will come and plunder it every rag away, and
leave the soul naked and open to the wrath of God. All that nature
can do will never make up the least drachm of grace, that can
mortify sin, or look Christ in the face even for one day.
Thou art a professor, goest on hearing, praying, and receiving,
yet miserable thou mayest be. Look about thee; did thou ever yet
see Christ to this day in distinction from all other excellencies
and righteousness in the world, and all of them falling before the
majesty of his love and grace? Is. ii. 17.
If thou hast seen Christ truly, thou hast seen pure grace, pure
righteousness in him, every way infinite, far exceeding all sin
and misery. If thou hast seen Christ, thou canst trample upon
all the righteousness of men and angels, so as to bring thee
into acceptance with God. If thou hast seen Christ, thou wouldst
not do a duty without him for ten thousand worlds, 1 Cor. ii. 2.
If ever thou sawest Christ, thou sawest him a Rock, higher than
self-righteousness, Satan, and sin, Ps. lxi. 2; and this Rock doth
follow thee, 1 Cor. x. 4; and there will be continual dropping of
honey and grace out of that Rock to satisfy thee, Ps. lxxxi. 16.
Examine if ever thou hast beheld Christ as the only-begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth, John, i. 14, 16, 17. Be sure
thou art come to Christ, that thou standest on the Rock of Ages,
hast answered to his call to thy soul, hast closed with him for
justification.
Men talk bravely of believing, but whilst whole and sound few know
it. Christ is the mystery of the Scripture: Grace the mystery of
Christ. Believing is the most wonderful thing in the world. Put any
thing of thine own to it, and thou spoilest it; Christ will not so
much as look at it for believing. When thou believest and comest
to Christ, thou must leave behind thee thine own righteousness,
and bring nothing but thy sin. (O that is hard!) Leave behind thy
holiness, sanctification, duties, humblings, &c., and bring nothing
but thy wants and miseries, else Christ is not fit for thee, nor
thou for Christ. Christ will be a whole Redeemer and Mediator, and
thou must be an undone sinner, or Christ and thou will never agree.
It is the hardest thing to take Christ alone for righteousness:
that is, to acknowledge him Christ. Join any thing to him of thine
own, and thou dost un-Christ him.
Whatever comes in when thou goest to God for acceptance besides
Christ, call it anti-Christ bid it begone; make only Christ’s
righteousness triumphant; all besides that is Babylon, which must
fall if Christ stand; and thou shalt rejoice in the day of the
fall thereof, Is. xiv. 10, 11, 12.----Christ alone did tread the
wine-press, and there was none with him, Is. lxiii. 3. If thou
join any thing to Christ, Christ will trample upon it in fury
and anger, and stain his raiment with the blood thereof.----Thou
thinkest it easy to believe; was ever thy faith tried with an hour
of temptation, or with a thorough sight of sin? Was it ever put to
wrestle with Satan, and the wrath of God lying upon the conscience?
When thou wast in the mouth of hell and the grave, then God shewed
thee Christ, a ransom, a righteousness, &c. Then if thou couldst
say, Oh, I see grace enough in Christ, thou mayest say that which
is the biggest word in the world, Thou believest. Untried faith is
uncertain faith.
To believing, there must go a clear conviction of sin, and the
merits of the blood of Christ, and of Christ’s willingness to save
upon this consideration merely, that thou art a sinner; things all
harder than to make a world. All the powers in nature cannot get up
so high in a storm of sin and guilt, as really to believe there is
any grace, any willingness, in Christ to save. When Satan charged
sin upon the conscience, then for the soul to bring it to Christ,
that is gospel-like. That is to make him Christ, he serves for that
use. To accept Christ’s righteousness alone, his blood alone, for
salvation, that is the sum of the gospel. When the soul, in all
duties and distresses, can say, Nothing but Christ, Christ alone
for righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption, 1
Cor. i. 30; not humblings, nor duties, nor graces, &c., that soul
hath got above the reach of the billows.
All temptations, Satan’s advantages, our complainings, are laid in
self-righteousness, and self-excellency: God pursueth these, by
setting Satan upon thee, as Laban did Jacob for his images; these
must be torn from thee, he is unwilling as thou wilt; these hinder
Christ from coming in; and till Christ come in, guilt will not come
out; and where guilt is, there is hardness of heart; and therefore
much guilt argues little if any thing of Christ.
When guilt is raised up, take heed of getting it allayed any
way but by Christ’s blood, that will tend to hardening. Make
Christ thy peace, Eph. i. 14, not thy duties, thy tears, &c.
Thou mayest offend Christ by duties as well as sins. Look at
Christ, and do as much as thou wilt. Rest with all thy weight upon
Christ’s righteousness; take heed of having one foot on thine own
righteousness and another on Christ’s. Till he come and sit on
high, upon a throne of grace in the conscience, there is nothing
but guilt, terror, secret suspicions, the soul hanging betwixt hope
and fear, which is an un-gospel-like state.
He that fears to see sin’s utmost vileness, the utmost hell of
his own heart, suspects the merits of Christ. Be thou never
such a great sinner, 1 John, ii. 1; try Christ, to make him thy
advocate, and thou shalt find him Jesus Christ the righteous.
In all doubtings, fears, storms of conscience, look at Christ
continually. Do not argue it with Satan, he desires no better.
Bid him go to Christ, and he will answer him. It is his office to
be our advocate, 1 John, ii. 1. His office is to answer the law
as our surety, Heb. vii. 22; his office to answer justice, as our
Mediator, Gal. iii. 20; 1 Tim. ii. 5. And he is sworn to that
office, Heb. vii. 20, 21. Put Christ upon it. If thou wilt do any
thing thyself to satisfaction for sin, thou renouncest Christ the
righteous, who was made sin for thee, 2 Cor. v. 21.
Satan may alledge, and corrupt scripture, but he cannot answer
scripture. It is Christ’s word of mighty authority. Christ foiled
Satan with it, Matt. iv. 10. In all the scripture there is not an
ill word against a poor sinner stripped of self-righteousness; nay,
it plainly points out this man to be the subject of the grace of
the gospel, and none else. Believe but in Christ’s willingness,
and that will make thee willing. If thou findest thou canst not
believe, put him upon it; he works to will and to believe, put him
upon it; he works to will and to do of his own pleasure, Phil. ii.
13. Mourn for thy unbelief, which is a setting up of guilt in the
conscience above Christ, an undervaluing of the merits of Christ,
accounting his blood an unholy, a common, and unsatisfying thing.
Thou complainest much of thyself.--Doth thy sin make thee look more
at Christ, less at thyself! That is right, else complaining is but
hypocrisy. To be looking at duties, graces, enlargements, when thou
shouldst be looking at Christ, that is pitiful. Looking at them
will make you humble. By grace ye are saved, Eph. ii. 5, 8. In all
thy temptations be not discouraged, James, i. 2. Those surges may
be not to drown thee, but to cast thee on the Rock Christ.
Thou mayest be brought low, even to the brink of hell, yet there
thou mayest cry, there thou mayest look towards the holy temple,
Jonah, ii. 14. Into that temple none might enter but purified ones,
and with an offering too, Acts, xxi. 26. But now Christ is our
temple, sacrifice, altar, and high-priest to whom none must come
but sinners, and that without any offering but his own blood once
offered. Heb. vii. 27.
Remember all the patterns of grace that are in heaven. Thou
thinkest, “Oh what a monument of grace shall I be!” There are many
thousands as rich monuments as thou canst be. The greatest sinner
did never surpass the grace of Christ. Do not despair: hope still.
When the clouds are blackest, even then look towards Christ, the
standing pillar of the Father’s love and grace, set up in heaven,
for all sinners to gaze upon continually. Whatsoever Satan or
conscience say, do not conclude against thyself. Christ shall have
the last word; he is judge of quick and dead, and must pronounce
the fatal sentence. His blood speaks reconciliation, Col. i. 20;
cleansing, 1 John, i. 7; purchase, Acts xx. 28; redemption, 1 Pet.
i. 9; purging, Heb. v. 13, 14; remission, verse 22; liberty, Heb.
x. 19; justification, Rom. v. 9; nearness to God, Eph. ii. 13. Not
a drop of this blood shall be lost. Stand and hearken what God will
say, for he will speak peace to his people, that they return no
more to folly, Psal. lxxxv. 8. He speaks grace, mercy, and peace, 2
Tim. i. 2. That is the language of the Father and of Christ. Wait
for Christ’s appearing, as the morning star, Rev. xxii. 19. He
shall come as certain as the morning, as refreshing as the rain,
Hos. vi. 3.
The sun may as well be hindered from rising, as Christ the sun
of righteousness, Mal. iv. 2. Look not a moment off Christ. Look
not upon sin, but look upon Christ first: when thou mournest for
sin, if thou dost not see Christ, then away with it, Zech. ii. 20.
In every duty look at Christ; before duty, to pardon; in duty,
to assist; after duty, to accept. Without this it is but carnal
careless duty. Do not legalise the gospel, as if part did remain
to thee to do and suffer, and Christ were but an half mediator; and
thou must bear part of thine own sin, and make part satisfaction.
Let sin break thy heart, but not thy hope in the gospel.
Look more at justification than sanctification. In the highest
commands consider Christ, not as an exactor, to inquire, but a
debtor and undertaker, to work. If thou hast looked at workings,
duties, qualifications, &c., more than at the merits of Christ, it
will cost thee dear; no wonder thou goest complaining; graces may
be evidences, the merits of Christ alone, without them, must be the
foundation of thy hope to rest upon. Christ only can be the hope of
glory, Col. i. 27.
When we come to God, we must bring nothing but Christ with us. Any
ingredients, or any previous qualifications of our own, will poison
and corrupt faith. He that builds upon duties, graces, &c., knows
not the merits of Christ; this makes believing so hard, so far from
nature. If thou believest, thou must every day renounce as dung and
dross, (Phil. iii. 7, 9,) thy privileges, thy qualifications, thy
baptism, thy sanctification, thy duties, thy graces, thy tears, thy
meltings, thy humblings, and nothing but Christ must be held up.
Every day thy workings, thy self-sufficiency must be destroyed.
Thou must take all out of God’s hand. Christ is the gift of God,
John, iv. 10. Faith is the gift of God, Eph. ii. 1. Pardon a free
gift, Rom. v. 16. Ah, how nature storms, frets, rages at this, that
all is of gift, and it can purchase nothing with its actings, and
tears, and duties; that all workings are excluded, and of no value
in heaven!
If nature had been to contrive the way of salvation, it would
rather have put it into the hands of saints or angels to sell
it, than the hands of Christ, who gives freely, whom therefore
it suspects; nature would have set up a way to purchase by
doing; therefore it abominates the merits of Christ, as the most
destructive thing to it. Nature would do any thing to be saved,
rather than go to Christ, or close with Christ, and owe all to him.
Christ will have nothing; but the soul will force somewhat of his
own upon Christ. Herein is that great controversy.--Consider--didst
thou ever yet see the merits of Christ, and the infinite
satisfaction made by his death? Didst thou see this when the burden
of sin and the wrath of God lay heavy on thy conscience? That is
grace. The greatness of Christ’s merit is not known but to a poor
soul in deep distress! Slight convictions will but have slight low
prizings of Christ’s blood and merits.
Despairing sinner! Thou lookest on thy right hand, and on thy left,
saying, “Who will shew us any good?” Thou art looking over all thy
duties and professions to patch a righteousness to save thee. Look
at Christ now; look to him and be saved all the ends of the earth,
Is. xlv. 22. There is none else. He is a Saviour, and there is none
besides him, xliii. 11. Look any where else, and thou art undone.
God will look at nothing but Christ, and thou must look at nothing
else. Christ is lifted up on high, as the brazen serpent in the
wilderness, that sinners at the end of the earth, at the greatest
distance, may see him, and look towards him, John, iii. 14, 15. The
least sight of him will be saving, the least touch healing to thee;
and God intends thou shouldst look on him, for he hath set him upon
a high throne of glory, in the open view of all poor sinners. Thou
hast infinite reason to look on him: no reason at all to look off
him; for he is meek and lowly of heart, Matt. xi. 29. He will do
that himself which he requires of his creatures; viz. bear with
infirmities, Rom. xv. 1. Not pleasing himself, nor standing upon
points of law, ver. 2; he will restore with the spirit of meekness,
Gal. vi.; and bear thy burdens, ver. 2. He will forgive not only
till seven times, but seventy times seven, Matt. xviii. 21, 22. I
put the faith of the apostles to it to believe this, Luke, xvii. 4,
5. Because we are hard to forgive, we think Christ is hard.