by the author of
"THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES,"
"THE FAITHFUL PROMISER," ETC.
Taken from the last London Edition.
New York:
STANFORD & DELISSER,
No. 508, BROADWAY.
1858.
The Words of Jesus.
"A word spoken in season," says the wise man, "how good it is!" If this
be true regarding the utterances of uninspired lips, with what devout
and paramount interest must we invest the sayings of Incarnate
Truth--"the WORDS OF JESUS!"
We have, in the motto-verses which head the succeeding pages a few
comforting responses from the Oracle of heavenly Wisdom--a few grapes
plucked from the true Vine--living streams welling fresh from the Living
Fountain. Every portion of Scripture is designed for nutriment to the
soul--"the bread of life;" but surely we may well regard the recorded
"_Words of Jesus_" as "the finest of the wheat." These are the "Honey"
out of the true "Rock," with which He will "satisfy" us. "The WORDS that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
The following are selected more especially as "_Words for the
Weary_"--healing leaves for the wounded spirit falling from the Tree of
Life. Jesus was divinely qualified for this special office of speaking
"many and _comfortable_ words." "The Lord God hath given me the tongue
of the learned, that I might know how to speak a _Word in Season_ to him
that is _weary_."
Let us, like the disciple of Patmos, turn to hear the voice that speaks
to us, saying, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in _His
Word_ do I hope." Eighteen hundred years have elapsed since these
"words" were uttered. With tones of unaltered and unchanged affection,
they are still echoed from the inner sanctuary--they come this day fresh
as they were spoken, from the lips of Him whose memorial to all time is
this: "_that same Jesus_."
Reader, seek to realise, in meditating on them, the simple but solemn
truth--"_Christ speaks to me!_" Surely nothing can be more soothing with
which to close your eyes on your nightly pillow, or to carry with you in
the morning out to the duties (or, it may be, the trials and sorrows) of
the day, than--"A WORD OF JESUS."