Part 7

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._"

While we most earnestly seek after the full assurance of faith, knowing it is our strength and our joy, let us at the same time remember that there is a _temptation_ connected with it. When thou hast gained this full assurance, believer, then be on thy watch-tower, for the next temptation will be, "Soul, take thine ease; the work is done; thou _hast_ attained; now fold thine arms; sit thou still; all will end well; why needest thou too much to vex thyself?" Take heed in those seasons when you have no doubts. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." "I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by Thy favor Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong." And what next? "Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled." Bless God for full assurance; but, remember, nothing but careful walking can preserve it. Full assurance is a priceless pearl; but when a man has a precious jewel, and he walks the streets, he ought to be much afraid of pickpockets. So, when the Christian has full assurance, let him be sure that Satan will try to rob him of it. Let him be more circumspect in his walk, and more diligent in his watch than he was before.

_Evidence of the New Life._

"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious," it is _certain evidence of a divine change_; for men by nature find no delight in Jesus. I do not inquire what your experience may have been, or may not have been; if Christ be precious to you, there has been a work of grace in your heart; if you love Him, if His presence be your joy, if His blood be your hope, if His glory be your object and aim, and if His person be the constant love of your soul, you could not have had this taste by nature, for you were dead; you could not have acquired this taste by learning, for this is a miracle which none but the God who is supreme over nature could have wrought in you. Let every tried and troubled Christian, who, nevertheless, does taste that the Lord is good, take consolation from this. "The upright love thee."

"_A few Names even in Sardis._"

"Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments." Here we have special preservation. Mark it carefully. "Thou hast a few names." Only a few; not so few as some think, but not so many as others imagine. A few compared with the mass of professors: a few compared even with the true children of God, for many of _them_ have defiled their garments. There were but a few, and those few were even in _Sardis_. There is not a Church on earth which is so corrupt but has "a few."

Take heart, Christians; there are a few in Sardis. Do not be quite cast down. _Some_ heroes have not turned their backs in the day of battle; _some_ mighty men still fight for the truth. But be careful, for, perhaps, you are not one of the "few." Since there are but "a few," there ought to be great searchings of heart. Let us look to _our_ garments, and see whether they be defiled. And since there are but "few," _be active_. The fewer the workmen to do the work, the greater reason is there that you should be active. "Be instant in season, out of season." Oh! if we had hundreds behind us, we might say, "Let _them_ do the work;" but if we stand with only "a few," how should each of those few exert themselves!

Stir yourselves up, then, to the greatest activity, for verily there are but a few in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. Above all, _be prayerful_. Put up your earnest cries to God that He would multiply the faithful, that He would increase the number of chosen ones who stand fast, and that He would purify the Church. Cry unto God that the day may come when the much fine gold shall be no longer dim; when the glory shall again return to Zion. Beg of God to remove the cloud, to take away "the darkness that may be felt." Be doubly prayerful, for there are but few in Sardis who have not defiled their garments.

_Increase of Strength._

The troubles with which the plants of God's right-hand planting are assailed when they are saplings are very inconsiderable compared with those which blow about them when they become, like cedars, strongly rooted. When we grow strong, so sure as our strength increases, our sufferings, our trials, our labors, or our temptations, will be multiplied. God's power is never communicated to any man to be laid up in store. The food which is given to strengthen us, like the manna which was gathered by the Israelites in the wilderness, is intended for immediate use. When the Lord puts upon our feet the shoes of iron which He has promised us in the covenant, it is that we may walk in them--not that we may put them into our museum, and gaze upon them as curiosities. If He gives us a strong hand, it is because we have a strong foe to fight with. If He shall give us a great meal, as He did Elijah of old, it is that we may go for a forty-day's journey in the strength of that meal.

_The Triumphant Deliverance._

When the Israelites went forth out of the land of Egypt, they took with them the whole of their possessions, according to the word of the Lord--"Not a hoof shall be left behind." What does this teach us? Why, not only that all God's _people_ shall be saved, but that all which God's people _ever had_ shall be restored. All which Jacob ever took down to Egypt shall be brought out again. Have I lost a perfect righteousness in Adam? I shall have a perfect righteousness in Christ. Have I lost happiness on earth in Adam? God will give me much happiness here below in Christ. Have I lost heaven in Adam? I shall have heaven in Christ; for Christ came not only to seek and to save the people who were lost, but _that which_ was lost; that is, all the inheritance, as well as the people; all their property. Not the sheep merely, but the good pasture which the sheep had lost; not only the prodigal son, but all the prodigal son's estates. Everything was brought out of Egypt; not even Joseph's bones were left behind. The Egyptians could not say that they had a scrap of the Israelites' property--not even one of their kneading troughs, nor one of their old garments. And when Christ shall have conquered all things to Himself, the Christian shall not have lost one atom by the toils of Egypt, but shall be able to say, "O _death_, where is thy sting? O _grave_, where is thy victory?" O _hell_, where is thy triumph? Thou hast not a flag nor a pennon to show of thy victory; there is not a casque or a helmet left upon the battle-field; there is not a single trophy which thou mayst raise up in hell in scorn of Christ. He hath not only delivered His people, but they have gone out with flying colors. Stand and admire and love the Lord, who thus delivers all His people. "Great are Thy works, O Lord, and marvellous are Thy doings; and that my soul knoweth right well."

_A Complete Saviour._

It would be inconsistent with the character of Him "by whom are all things," if He had sent an incomplete Saviour; that is, if He had left us to do part ourselves, and for Christ to do the rest. Look at the sun. God wills for the sun to light the earth: doth he ask the earth's darkness to contribute to the light? Doth He question the night, and ask whether it has not in its sombre shades something which it may contribute to the brightness of noon? No; up rises the sun in the morning, like a giant to run his race, and the earth is made bright. And shall God turn to the dark sinner, and ask him whether there is anything in him which may contribute to eternal light? No; Jesus rises as the Sun of Righteousness, with healing beneath His wings, and darkness is, at His coming, light. He alone is "the light of the world;" His own arm brought salvation; He asks no help from man, but giveth all and doeth all of His own rich grace, and is a complete and perfect Saviour.

_Home-Mercies._

When we realize that all our daily mercies come to us as the gifts of our Father in heaven, it makes them doubly precious to us. There is nothing which tastes as sweet to the school-boy as that which comes from home. So with the Christian. All his mercies are sweeter because they are home-mercies--they come "from above;" the land in which he lives is not like the land of Egypt, fed by a river; but it "drinketh water of the rain or heaven." Happy the lot of that man who thus receives everything as coming from God, and thanks his Father for it all! It makes anything sweet, when he knows it comes from heaven. This thought, also, has a tendency to keep us from an overweening love of the world. The spies went to Eshcol, and fetched thence an immense cluster of the grapes which grew there; but you do not find that the people said, "The fruits we have received from the land of promise, make us contented to stay in the wilderness." No; they saw that the grapes came from Canaan, and thereupon they said, "Let us go on and possess the land." And so, when we get rich mercies, if we think they come from the natural soil of this earth alone, we might well feel a wish to stay here. But if we know that they come from a foreign clime, we are naturally anxious to go

"Where our dear Lord His vineyard keeps, And all the clusters grow."

Christian, rejoice then in the thought that all thou hast cometh from above; thy daily bread cometh not so much from thine industry as from thy heavenly Father's care; thou seest stamped upon every mercy heaven's own inscription, and every blessing comes down to thee perfumed with the ointment, and the spikenard, and the myrrh of the ivory palaces, whence God dispenses His bounties.

"_Grace Doth Much More Abound._"

There has never been a period in this world's history when it was wholly given up to sin. God has always had His servants on earth; at times they may have been hidden by fifties in the caves, but they have never been utterly cut off. Grace may be low; the stream might be very shallow, but it has never been wholly dry. The clouds have never been so universal as to hide the day. But the time is fast approaching when grace shall extend all over our world, and "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." "Grace doth _much more_ abound;" and whatever possessions the world has lost by sin, it has gained _far more_ by grace. It is true we have been expelled from a garden of delights, where peace, love, and happiness found a glorious habitation, but we have through Jesus a fairer inheritance. The plains of heaven exceed the fields of paradise in the ever-new delights which they afford, while the tree of life, and the river from the throne, render the inhabitants of the celestial regions more than imparadised. It is true that we have become subject to death by sin, yet has not grace revealed an immortality for the sake of which we are glad to die? Life lost in Adam is more than restored in Christ. Our original robes were rent asunder by Adam, but Jesus has clothed us with a divine righteousness, far exceeding in value even the spotless robes of created innocence. We mourn our low and miserable condition through sin, but we rejoice at the thought, that we are now more secure than before we fell, we are brought into closer alliance with Jesus than our creature standing could ever boast. O Jesus! Thou hast won us an inheritance more wide than Adam ever lost; Thou hast filled our coffer with greater riches than our sin has ever lavished; Thou hast loaded us with honors, and endowed us with privileges far more excellent than our natural birthright could have procured us. Truly, truly, "grace doth much more abound."

_Unsubmissive Prayers._

When we look at our prayers, we have much reason to deplore the _unsubmissive spirit_ which too often pervades them. How often have we in our prayers not simply wrestled with God for a blessing--for that was allowable--but we have imperiously demanded it! We have not said, "Deny this to me, O my God, if so thou pleasest;" we have not been ready to say, as the Redeemer did, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt;" but we have asked after the blind inclination of our ignorance, as if we could brook no denial from the omniscient counsel of His will. Forgetful of a humble deference to our Lord's superior wisdom and grace, we have asked and declared that we would not be content unless we had that particular desire upon which our hearts were set. Now, whenever we come to God, and ask for anything which we consider a real good, we have a right to plead earnestly; but we err when we go beyond the bounds of earnestness, and come to _demand_. It is ours to ask for a blessing, but not to define what the blessing shall be. It is ours to place our head beneath the mighty hands of divine benediction, but it is not ours to uplift the hands, as Joseph did those of Jacob, and say, "Not so, my father." We must be content if He gives the blessing cross-handed; quite as content that He should put His left hand on our head as the right. We must not intrude into God's almonry, "It is the Lord, let Him do as seemeth Him good." Prayer was never meant to be a fetter upon the sovereignty of God. We must always subjoin at the bottom of the prayer this heavenly postscript, "Father, deny this if it be most for Thy glory." Christ will have nothing to do with dictatorial prayers.

"_More than Conquerors._"

The Christian is to be a conqueror at last. Do you think that we are forever to be the drudges and the slaves of sin, sighing for freedom, and yet never able to escape from its bondage? No! Soon the chains which confine me shall be broken, the doors of my prison shall be opened, and I shall mount to the glorious city, the abode of holiness, where I shall be entirely freed from sin. We who love the Lord are not to sojourn in Mesech for aye. The dust may defile our robes now, but the day is coming when we shall rise and shake ourselves from the dust, and put on our beautiful garments. It is true we are now like Israel in Canaan. Canaan is full of enemies; but the Canaanites shall and must be driven out, and the whole land from Dan to Beersheba shall be the Lord's. Christians, rejoice! You are soon to be perfect, soon to be free from sin, without one wrong inclination, one evil desire. You are soon to be as pure as the angels in light; nay, more, with your Master's garments on, you are to be "holy as the holy One." Can you think of that? Is it not the very sum of heaven, the rapture of bliss, the sonnet of the hill-tops of glory--that you are to be perfect? No temptation can reach you, nor if the temptation could reach you would you be hurt by it; for there will be nothing in you which could in any way foster sin. It would be as when a spark falls upon an ocean; your holiness would quench it in a moment. Yes, washed in the blood of Jesus, you are soon to walk the golden streets, white-robed and white-hearted too. O, rejoice in the immediate prospect, and let it nerve you for the present conflict.

_Christian Gladness._