Chapter 2
Sorrowing Believer! what couldst thou wish more than this? Thy furnace is severe; but look at this assurance of Him who lighted it. Love is the fuel that feeds its flames! Its every spark is love! Kindled by a Father's hand, and designed as a special pledge of a Father's love. How many of his dear children has He so rebuked and chastened; and all, _all_ for one reason, "_I love them!_" The myriads in glory have passed through these furnace-fires,--_there_ they were chosen,--_there_ they were purified, sanctified, and made "vessels meet for the Master's use;" the dross and the alloy purged, that the pure metal might remain. And art thou to claim exemption from the same discipline? Art thou to think it strange concerning these same fiery trials that may be trying thee? Rather exult in them as thine adoption-privilege. Envy not those who are strangers to the refining flames,--who are "_without chastisement_;" rather, surely, the severest discipline _with_ a _Father's love_, than the fullest earthly cup without that Father's smile. Oh! for grace to say, when the furnace is hottest, and the rod sorest, "Even so, _Father_!" And what, after all, is the severest of thy chastisements in comparison with what thy sins have deserved? Dost thou murmur under a Father's correcting love? What would it have been to have stood the wrath of an unpropitiated Judge, and that, too, _for ever_? Surely, in the light of eternity, the heaviest pang of earth is indeed "a light affliction!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
16TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"If need be."--1 PETER i. 6.
A Condition in Chastisement.
Three gracious words! Not one of all my tears shed for nought! Not one stroke of the rod unheeded, or that might have been spared? Thy heavenly Father loves thee too much, and too tenderly, to bestow harsher correction than thy case requires? Is it loss of health, or loss of wealth, or loss of beloved friends? Be still! there was a _need be_. We are no judges of what that "need be" is; often through aching hearts we are forced to exclaim, "Thy judgments are a great deep!" But God here pledges himself, that there will not be one redundant thorn in the believer's chaplet of suffering. No burden too heavy will be laid on him; and no sacrifice too great exacted _from_ him. He will "temper the wind to the shorn lamb." Whenever the "need be" has accomplished its end, then the rod is removed--the chastisement suspended--the furnace quenched. "If need be!" Oh! what a pillow on which to rest thy aching head,--that there is not a drop in all thy bitter cup but what a God of love saw to be _absolutely_ necessary! Wilt thou not trust Him, even though thou canst not trace the mystery of His dealings? Not too curiously prying into the "_Why_ it is?" or "_How_ it is?" but satisfied that "So it is," and, therefore that all _must_ be well! "Although thou sayest, thou canst not see Him, yet judgment is before Him, _therefore_ trust thou in Him!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
17TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench."--MATT. xii. 20.
Strength in the Weak.
Will Jesus accept such a heart as mine?--this erring, treacherous, traitor heart? The past! how many forgotten vows--broken covenants--prayerless days! How often have I made new resolutions, and as often has the reed succumbed to the first blast of temptation, and the burning flax been well-nigh quenched by guilty omissions and guiltier commissions! Oh! my soul! thou art low indeed,--the things that remain seem "ready to die." But thy Saviour-God will not give thee "over unto death." The reed is bruised; but He will not pluck it up by the roots. The flax is reduced to a smoking ember; but He will fan the decaying flame. Why wound thy loving Saviour's heart by these repeated declensions? He will not--_cannot_ give thee up. Go, mourn thy weakness and unbelief. Cry unto the Strong for strength. Weary and faint one! thou hast an Omnipotent arm to lean on. "_He_ fainteth not, neither is weary!" Listen to His own gracious assurance: "Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will _strengthen_ thee; yea, I will help thee with the right hand of my righteousness!" Leaving all thy false props and refuges, be this thy resolve: "In the Lord put I my trust: why say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
18TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out."--JOHN vi. 37.
Encouragement to the Desponding.
"Cast out!" My soul! how oft might this have been thy history! Thou hast cast off thy God,--might He not oft have "cast out" thee? Yes! cast thee out as fuel for the fire of His wrath,--a sapless, fruitless cumberer. And yet, notwithstanding all thine ungrateful requital for His unmerited forbearance, He is still declaring, "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." Thy sins may be legion-like,--the sand of the sea may be their befitting type,--the thought of their turpitude and aggravation may be ready to overwhelm thee; but be still! thy patient God waits to be gracious! Oh! be deeply humbled and softened because of thy guilt, resolve to dedicate thyself anew to His service, and so coming, "He will _by no means_ cast thee out!" Despond not by reason of former shortcomings,--thy sins are great, but thy Saviour's merits are greater. He is willing to forget all the past, and sink it in oblivion, if there be present love, and the promise of future obedience. "Simon, son of Jonas, _lovest thou me_?" Ah! how different is God's verdict from man's! After such sins as thine, man's sentence would have been, "_I_ will in nowise receive!" But "it is better to fall into the hands of God, than into the hands of man;" for He says, "I will in _nowise_ cast out!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
19TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth."--JOHN xiv. 27.
Peace in Believing.
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." "Perfect peace!"--what a blessed attainment! My soul! is it thine? Sure I am it is _not_, if thou art seeking it in a perishable world, or in the perishable creature, or in thy perishable self. Although thou hast all that the world would call enviable and happy, unless thou hast peace _in_ God, and _with_ God, all else is unworthy of the name;--a spurious thing, which the first breath of adversity will shatter, and the hour of death utterly annihilate! Perfect peace! What is it? It is the peace of forgiveness. It is the peace arising out of a sense of God reconciled through the blood of the everlasting covenant,--resting sweetly on the bosom, and the work of Jesus,--to Him committing thine eternal all. My soul! stay thyself on God, that so this blessed peace may be thine. Thou hast tried the world. It has deceived thee. Prop after prop of earthly scaffolding has yielded, and tottered, and fallen. Has thy God ever done so? Ah! this false and counterfeit world-peace may do well for the world's work, and the world's day of prosperity. But test it in the hour of sorrow; and what can it do for thee when most it is needed? On the other hand, what though thou hast no other blessing on earth to call thine own? Thou art rich indeed, if thou canst look upwards to Heaven, and say with "unpresumptuous smile," "I am at peace with God."
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
20TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."--REV. xiv. 13.
Bliss in Dying.
My Soul! is this blessedness thine in prospect? Art thou ready, if called this night to lie down on thy death-pillow, sweetly to fall asleep in Jesus? What is the sting of death? It is sin. Is death, then, to thee, robbed of its sting, by having listened to the gracious accents of pardoning love, "Be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee?" If thou hast made up thy peace with God, resting on the work and atoning blood of His dear Son, then is the Last Enemy divested of all his terror, and thou canst say, in sweet composure, of thy dying couch and dying hour,--"I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, because Thou, Lord, makest me to dwell in safety!" Reader! ponder that solemn question, "Am I ready to die? Am I living as I should wish I had done when that last hour arrives?" And when shall it arrive? To-morrow is not thine. "Verily, there may be but a step between thee and death." Oh! solve the question speedily,--risk no doubts and no peradventure. Every day is proclaiming anew the lesson, "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Seek to live, so that that hour cannot come upon thee too soon, or too unexpectedly. Live a dying life! How blessed to live,--how blessed to die, with the consciousness, that there may be but a step between thee and glory!
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
21ST DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"In due season we shall reap, if we faint not."--GAL. vi. 9.
A Due Reaping.
Believer! all the glory of thy salvation belongs to Jesus,--none to thyself; every jewel in thine eternal crown is His,--purchased by His blood, and polished by His Spirit. The confession of time will be the ascription of all eternity: "By the grace of God I am what I am!" But though "all be of grace," thy God calls thee to personal strenuousness in the work of thy high calling;--to "labour," to "fight," to "wrestle," to "_agonize_;" and the heavenly reaping will be in proportion to the earthly sowing: "He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully!" What an incentive to holy living, and increased spiritual attainments! My soul! wouldst thou be a star shining high and bright in the firmament of glory?--wouldst thou receive the ten-talent recompense? Then be not weary. Gird on thine armour for fresh conquests. Be gaining daily some new victory over sin. Deny thyself. Be a willing cross-bearer for thy Lord's sake. Do good to all men as thou hast opportunity; be patient under provocation, "slow to wrath," resigned in trial. Let the world take knowledge of thee that thou art wearing Christ's livery, and bearing Christ's spirit, and sharing Christ's cross. And when the reaping time comes, He who has promised that the cup of cold water cannot go unrecompensed, will not suffer thee to lose thy reward!
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
22D DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"The days of thy mourning shall be ended."--ISAIAH lx. 20.
An End of Weeping.
Christ's people are a weeping band, though there be much in this lovely world to make them joyous and happy. Yet when they think of sin--their own sin, and the unblushing sins of a world in which their God is dishonoured--need we wonder at their tears?--that they should be called "Mourners," and their pilgrimage-home a "Valley of Tears?" Bereavement, and sickness, and poverty, and death, following the track of sin, add to their mourning experience; and with many of God's best beloved, one tear is scarce dried when another is ready to flow! Mourners! rejoice! When the reaping time comes, the weeping time ends! When the white robe and the golden harp are bestowed, every remnant of the sackcloth attire is removed. The moment the pilgrim, whose forehead is here furrowed with woe, bathes it in the crystal river of life,--that moment the pangs of a lifetime of sorrow are eternally forgotten! Reader! if thou art one of these careworn ones, the days of thy mourning are numbered! A few more throbbings of this aching heart, and then the angel who proclaims "time," shall proclaim also, sorrow, and sighing, and mourning, to "be no longer!" Seek now to mourn thy sins more than thy sorrows; reserve thy bitterest tears for forgetfulness of thy dear Lord. The saddest and sorest of all bereavements, is when the sins which have separated thee from Him, evoke the anguish-cry, "Where is my God?"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
23D DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"Behold, I come quickly."--REV. iii. 11.
A Speedy Coming.
"Even so! come, Lord Jesus!" "Why tarry the wheels of Thy chariot?" Six thousand years this world has rolled on, getting hoary with age, and wrinkled with sins and sorrows. A waiting Church sees the long-drawn shadows of twilight announcing, "The Lord is at hand." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him. Oh! happy days, when thine adorable Redeemer, so long dishonoured and despised, shall be publicly enthroned, in presence of an assembled universe, crowned Lord of All, glorified in His saints, satisfied in the fruits of His soul's travail, destroying His enemies with the brightness of His coming--the lightning-glance of wrath,--causing the hearts of His exulting people to "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him! Let it be a joyous thought to thee,--thy "blessed hope,"--the meeting of thine Elder Brother. Stand oftentimes on the watchtower to catch the first streak of that coming brightness, the first murmur of these chariot wheels. The world is now in preparation! It is rocking on its worn-out axle. There are voices on every side proclaiming, "He cometh! He cometh! to judge the earth." Reader! art thou among the number of those who "love His appearing?" Remember the attitude of His expectant saints: "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, will find WATCHING!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
24TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"At evening-time it shall be light."--ZECH. xiv. 7.
Eventide Light.
How inspiring the thought of coming glory! How would we rise above our sins, and sorrows, and sufferings, if we could live under the power of "a world to come!" Were faith to take at all times its giant leap beyond a soul-trammelling earth, and remember its brighter destiny. If it could stand on its Pisgah Mount, and look above and beyond the mists and vapours of this land of shadows, and rest on the "better country." But, alas! in spite of ourselves, the wings ofttimes refuse to soar--the spirit droops--guilty fears depress--sin dims and darkens--God's providences seem to frown--God's ways are misinterpreted--the Christian belies his name and his destiny. But, "At eventide it shall be light."--The material sun, which wades through clouds and a troubled sky, sets often in a couch of lustrous gold? So, when the sun of life is setting, many a ray of light will shoot athwart memory's darkened sky, and many mysterious dealings of the wilderness will then elicit an "All is well!" How frequently is the presence and upholding grace of Jesus especially felt and acknowledged at that hour, and griefs and misgivings hushed with His own gentle accents, "Fear not! it is I; be not afraid." A triumphant death-bed! It is no unmeaning word; the eye is lighted with holy lustre, the tongue with holy rapture, as if the harps of heaven were stealing on it. My soul! may such a life's evening-tide be thine!
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
25TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter."--JOHN xiii. 7.
Heavenly Illumination.
As the natural sun sometimes sinks in clouds, so, occasionally, the Christian who has a bright rising, and a brighter meridian, sets in gloom. It is not _always_ "light" at his evening-time; but this we know, that when the day of immortality breaks, the last vestige of earth's shadows will for ever flee away. To the closing hour of time, Providence may be to him a baffling enigma: but ere the first hour has struck on heaven's chronometer, all will be clear. My soul! "in God's light thou shalt see light;" the Book of His decrees is a sealed book now,--"A great deep" is all the explanation thou canst often give to His judgments; the _why_ and the _wherefore_ He seems to keep from us, to test our faith, to discipline us in trustful submission, and lead us to say, "Thy will be done!" But rejoice in that hereafter-light which awaits thee! Now we see through a glass darkly; but _then_, face to face. In the great mirror of eternity all the events of this chequered scene will be reflected; the darkest of them will be seen to be bright with mercy,--the severest dispensations, "only the severer aspects of His love!" Pry not, then, too curiously; pronounce not too censoriously on God's dealings with thee. Wait with patience till the grand day of disclosures; one confession shall then burst from every tongue, "Righteous art thou, O Lord!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
26TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."--JOHN xiv. 3.
A Glorious Reunion.
If the meeting of a long absent friend, or brother, on earth, be a joyous event, what, my soul, must be the joy of thy union with this Brother of brothers, this Friend of friends! "I will come again!" Oh! what an errand of love, what a promised honour and dignity is this!--His saints to share, not His Heaven only, but His immediate presence. "Where _I am, there ye_ shall be also!" "Father, I _will_ (it was His dying wish,--a wondrous codicil in that testamentary prayer) that those whom Thou hast given me be with me where _I am_." Happy reunion! Blessed Saviour, if Thy presence be so sweet on a sin-stricken earth, and when known only by the invisible eye of faith, what must be that presence in a sinless Heaven, unfolded in all its unutterable loveliness and glory! Happy reunion! it will be a meeting of the whole ransomed family--the Head with all its members--the Vine with all its branches--the Shepherd with all His flock--the Elder Brother with all His kinsmen. Oh, the joy, too, of mutual recognition among the death-divided--ties snapt asunder on earth, indissolubly renewed--severed friendships reunited--the triumph of love complete--love binding brother with brother, and friend with friend, and _all_ to the Elder Brother! My soul! what thinkest thou of this Heaven? Remember who it is that Jesus says shall sit with Him upon His throne,--"Him that overcometh."
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
27TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever."--HOSEA ii. 19.
Everlasting Espousals.
How wondrous and varied are the figures which Jesus employs to express the tenderness of His covenant love! My soul! thy Saviour-God hath "married thee!" Wouldst thou know the hour of thy betrothment? Go back into the depths of a by-past eternity, before the world was; then and there, thine espousals were contracted: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Soon shall the bridal-hour arrive, when thine absent Lord shall come to welcome His betrothed bride into His royal palace. "The Bridegroom tarrieth;" but see that thou dost not slumber and sleep! Surely there is much all around demanding the girded loins and the burning lamps. At "midnight!" (the hour when He is least expected) the cry _may_ be--_shall_ be heard,--"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" My soul! has this mystic union been formed between thee and thy Lord? Canst thou say, in humble assurance of thine affiance in Him, "My beloved is mine, and I am His!" If so, great, unspeakably great, are the glories which await thee! Thy dowry, as the bride of Christ, is all that Omnipotence can bestow, and all that a feeble creature can receive. In the prospect of those glorious nuptials, thou needest dread no pang of widowhood. What God has joined together, no created power can take asunder; He betroths thee, and it is "for ever!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
28TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"This corruptible must put on incorruption."--1 COR. xv. 53.
A Joyful Resurrection.
Marvel of marvels? The sleeping ashes of the sepulchre starting at the tones of the archangel's trumpet!--the dishonoured dust, rising a glorified body, like its risen Lord's? At death, the soul's bliss is perfect in kind; but this bliss is not complete in degree, until reunited to the tabernacle it has left behind to mingle with the sods of the valley. But tread lightly on that grave, it contains precious, because ransomed dust! My body, as well as my spirit, was included in the redemption price of Calvary; and "them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." Oh! blessed Jubilee-day of creation, when Christ's "dead men shall arise;"--when, together with His dead body, they shall come; and the summons shall sound forth, "Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust!" All the joys of that resurrection morn we cannot tell; but its chief glory we _do_ know,--"When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." Like Him!--My soul, art thou waiting this manifestation of the sons of God? Like Him!--Hast thou caught up any faint resemblance to that all-glorious image? Having this hope in thee, art thou purifying thyself, even as He is pure? Be much with Jesus now, that thou mayst exult in meeting Him hereafter. Thus taking Him as thy Guide and Portion in life, thou mayst lay thee down in thy dark and noisome cell, and look forward with triumphant hope to the dawn of a resurrection morn, saying, "What time I awake, I am still with Thee!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
29TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"There shall be no night there."--REV. xxi. 25.
A Nightless Heaven.
My soul! is it night with thee here? Art thou wearied with these midnight tossings on life's tumultuous sea? Be still! the day is breaking! soon shall thy Lord appear. "His going forth is prepared as the morning." That glorious appearing shall disperse every cloud, and usher in an eternal noontide which knows no twilight. "Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light." Everlasting light! Wondrous secret of a nightless world!--the glories of a present God!--the everlasting light of the Three in One, quenching the radiance of all created orbs--superseding all material luminaries. "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning!" The haven is nearing--star after star is quenched in more glorious effulgence--every bound over these dark waves is bringing thee nearer the eternal shore. Wilt thou not, then, humbly and patiently endure "weeping for the night," in the prospect of the "joy that cometh in the morning?" Strange realities! a world without night--a firmament without a sun; and, greater wonder still, _thyself_ in this world,--a joyful denizen of this nightless, sinless, sorrowless, tearless Heaven!--basking underneath the Fountain of uncreated light! No exhaustion of glorified body and spirit to require repose; no lassitude or weariness to suspend the ever-deepening song: "They _rest not_!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"
30TH DAY.
"He is Faithful that Promised."
"When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."--1 PETER v. 4.
A Crown of Life.