JUNE 1
"And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity."Isa 33:24
Let the Christian invalid be cheered with the prospect of arriving at this land of light and love, of rest and holiness, before long. The moment the spirit is absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8), it treads those balmy shores where health breathes in the air, flows in the waters, and sparkles in the sunbeams. There is no sickness in heaven, for "the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" and this accounts for
the absence of all physical malady. There is no sickness in heaven, because there is no sin. But the more full enjoyment of this blessing is reserved for the new earth, upon which "the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev 21:2) will dwell. Then it is that "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev 21:4).
Christian sufferer, you are nearing this land; a few more days of languishing and pain, a few more nights of weary wakefulness, and you are there! Do you not see, through the chinks of the "earthly house of this tabernacle...a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor 5:1)? Do you not see the "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb 11:10)? It hath "no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev 21:23). "The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there" (Rev 21:25). Soon you will exchange this hospital for your Father's house, and as you cross the threshold, the last pang is inflicted, the last sigh is heaved, and the last tear is brushed
from your eye. Then, at the resurrection of the just, comes the new body. "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor 15:42-44).
All this blessedness and glory Jesus has procured for you. All this blessedness and glory awaits you; and into its full possession and experience Jesus will soon bring you. Animated with such a prospect, and cheered with such a hope, patiently endure the prolonged sickness and the protracted suffering, exclaiming in the spirit and language of Jesus, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done" (Matt 26:42).
JUNE 2
"I have prayed for thee."Luke 22:32
We must not overlook the individuality of our Lord's intercession. As if forgetting for that moment the whole church, and regarding Peter as representing in his person each tempted believer, Jesus makes him the special object of His prayer. How much comfort do we lose in overlooking this truth, in not more distinctly recognizing the personal interest which each believer has in the love of Christ! "My grace is sufficient
for thee" and "I have prayed for thee" are the gracious words with which Jesus would meet each individual case. Think not then, O believer, that you are alone, unloved, uncared for, unthought of; Jesus bears you upon His heart, and if loved and cared for and remembered by Him, you can afford to part with some creature stream, however loved and valued that stream may be. Keep your eye intently fixed upon your Lord's intercession.
We lose ourselves in the crowd too much, and merge ourselves in the mass. We forget our interest in the covenant, and our personal obligation to glorify God in our different walks of life. But it is the special privilege of the believer to concentrate upon himself, as in focal power, every thought and affection of God, just as the eye of a well-executed portrait may be said to fasten itself exclusively upon each individual in the room. "I have prayed for thee ." Oh cheering declaration! Christian reader, lose not sight of it. Come and lay your hand of faith upon the covenant of grace, and say, "the fullness of the covenant is mine." Lay your hand upon the covenant of God, and say, "The God of the covenant is mine; Jesus, its Mediator, is my Savior. He obeyed, suffered, bled, and expired, all for me. He hath loved me, and hath given Himself for me (Eph 5:2). Lord! Dost thou think of me? Does my case come up before
Thy notice? Dost Thou bear my burden upon Thine arm, my sorrow upon Thine heart, my name upon Thy lips; and dost Thou pray for my poor, assaulted, and trembling faith? Yea, Lord, Thou dost. I believe it, because Thou hast said it, and press the precious truth, so rich in consolation, to my trembling, grateful heart."
JUNE 3
"I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not."Luke 22:32
The Lord goes before His flock as its Shepherd. He precedes it every step, not only to map its path, but also to provide for all the circumstances, the most trivial and minute, of its history. To Him nothing can be unforeseen; nothing can be concealed from Him. No event can surprise Him, no contingency can thwart Him, and no difficulty can embarrass Him. The entire history of the individual saint of God, from his earliest, when as yet it had no existence, to his latest breath, is written in His book, as minutely and as accurately as though it were a record of the past. In anticipation of each developed circumstance, of each temptation and trial, difficulty and want, Jesus prays for His people. "I have prayed for thee," He says. It would seem as if the sorrow had reached His heart before it touched our own; as
if the assault had fallen upon Him before it fell upon us; and that, knowing what would transpire and seeing in what critical and painful circumstances His child would be placed, He anticipates his case by special intercession on his behalf: "I have prayed for thee."
Can the mind of the tried believer repose upon a truth more sustaining and soothing than this? It would have been a glorious unfolding of the love of Jesus to know that when the sifting came, when faith was actually tried, that Jesus then prayed for the sufferer. But to be assured that before a dart was winged, or a shock was felt, or even a suspicion was awakened that the tempter was approaching and danger was nigh, Jesus, robed in His priestly garments and bearing the golden censer in His hand, had entered within the veil to make special intercession for that trial of faithoh, it is a view of His love, which to the mind of the tempted believer would seem to outshine all others!
For what does Jesus pray? That the temptation might not come? That faith may not be tried? Oh no! He asks not the Father for complete exemption from temptation and trial on behalf of His people. Full well does He know that if conformed to Him, their Head, they must through much tribulation enter the kingdom. Pure and sinless though He was, needing no sifting and no
refining, He yet passed through each process as if there were in Him the chaff to scatter and the alloy to consume. How much more needful does Jesus see that His people, in whom there is such a mixture of the precious with the vile, so much indwelling sin, so much powerful corruption perpetually seeking to destroy indwelling grace, should not be exempted from the process which, painful though it be, is absolutely needful and eternally good! But Jesus prays that in the actual trial of faith, it might not fail. Now, why is it, O believing soul, that your tried faith has not failed? Why have you passed through the sifting with not one precious grain fallen to the ground? Because your great High Priest prayed for you before the trial, prayed for you in the trial, and has not ceased to pray for you since the trial. All upholding grace, all restraining grace, all restoring grace, all establishing grace, has been sent to you through the channel of your Lord's perpetual and ever-prevalent intercession. Oh, how should this truth endear the Savior to your heart! With what holy contrition should it fill your spirit, and with what sweet affection should it constrain your soul to a simple and an unreserved surrender to God!
JUNE 4
"Have faith in God."Mark 11:22
Have faith in Him as God. His character justifies it, His word invites it, His promises encourage it, and His blessing crowns it. How frequently in the Word does God condescend to invite the exercise of faith in Himself by a declaration and on the ground of what He is. Thus to Abraham, God says, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen 17:1). And to His church, He says, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it" (Ps 81:10). How kind and condescending in God is this mode of asking and encouraging the confidence of His people! How singularly does He come down to our weakness and infirmity! What a foundation for faith to build upon does He reveal! What a field for faith to work in does He open! What amplitude, what scope, and what riches amidst which it may revel! "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is anything too hard for me" (Jer 32:27)?
Faith needs and asks no more. Less than this would not meet its case; more than this it could not have. When faith feels that it has God's word for its warrant in believing, God's command for its rule in obeying, God's promise for its
encouragement in suffering, and God Himself as the foundation of its confidence and the center of its rest, it becomes invulnerable, and almost omnipotent. The exact measure of our faith is the extent of our experimental knowledge of God. Acquaintance with God must inspire the mind with confidence in Him. The more truly we know, the more implicitly we trust in Him. It is in this way, among others, that He answers the prayer of His people, "Establish Thy word unto Thy servant, who is devoted to Thy fear." God establishes the truth of His Word by enlarging the believer's knowledge of Himself, and this knowledge is mainly attained through the truth. The Word reveals God, and an experimental knowledge of God confirms the truth of the Word; the one thus establishing the other. Our faith, then, if it is a real principle, must have respect to God as God. "Have faith in God."
JUNE 5
"Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."Isa 40:2
By sealing a sense of pardon upon the conscience, God comforts the disconsolate. There is no comfort equal to this. As our deepest sorrow flows
from a sense of sin, so our deepest joy springs from a sense of its forgiveness. What comfort can there be where this is lacking? What sorrow where this is felt? "When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble" (Job 34:29)? This was the comfort that God commanded the prophet to speak to His spiritual Jerusalem: Say unto her, that her sins are forgiven. And this is the message that the Lord sends to His whole church. This comfort has all His saints. Thy sins, O believer, are forgiven. "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins" (Isa 44:22), saith God. You are not called upon to believe that God will pardon, but that He has pardoned you. Forgiveness is a past act; the sense of it written upon the conscience is a present one. "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb 10:14); He has forever put away their sins. Faith in the blood of Jesus brings the soul into the possession of a present forgiveness. And when God the Holy Spirit thus imprints a sense of pardoned sin upon the troubled conscience, all other sorrows in comparison dwindle into insignificance. "Strike, Lord," saith Luther, "I bear anything willingly, because my sins are forgiven."
Thus, beloved, God comforts his conscience-troubled people. He loves to speak comfortably
to their hearts. Is it any delight to Him to see thee carrying thy burden of conscious sin day after day and week after week? Ah no! He has procured the means of thy pardon at the great price, nothing less than the sacrifice of His beloved Son; and will not the same love, which procured thy forgiveness, speak it to thy heart? Oh yes; the sun in the heavens does not pour forth its light more freely, light itself does not speed more rapidly, the mountain stream does not rush on more gladsome and unfettered than the pardon of sin flows from the heart of God to the humble and contrite mourner. Is sin thy trouble? Does conscious guilt cast thee down? Look up, disconsolate soul! There is forgiveness with God. It is in His heart to pardon thee. Repair to His feet; go thou to God's confessional, and over the head of the atoning sacrifice acknowledge thy transgression, and He will forgive the iniquity of thy sin. And, oh, what will be the joy of thy heart, the music of thy lips, the grateful surrender of thy person, when Jesus says, "Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace."
JUNE 6
"And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."Matt 10:38
How few there are, among the many professing Christ, who yet know by experience the great and
wondrous life of faith! Only they who are taught the plague of their own hearts by the Spirit can possibly know it. How few there are who appear to possess vital religion in their souls! How few choose Christ with His cross! The great mass of professors are aiming to separate them. They desire to bear the name of Christ, and be accounted as the followers of Christ, and do something for the cause of Christ; but they hide His cross, are ashamed of it, and shrink from His cross. Christ and His outward lowliness, Christ and His poverty, Christ and His humiliation, Christ and the world's despising, form no part of their creed nor their religion. But Christ and the world, Christ and the popular voice, Christ and the slavery of sin, Christ and an unhumbled spirit, Christ and a love of money and ease and self-indulgence make up the religion of vast numbers who yet profess and call themselves Christians. Awful fact! How forcibly does it remind us of the solemn words of Jesus, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt 7:21).
Let us, in view of this solemn truth, search our hearts and ask the searching of God's Spirit; in ascertaining the real state of our souls, let us take nothing for granted, rest not in past experience,
nor in gifts, nor usefulness, but be satisfied only with the present, inward witness of the Holy Ghost.
JUNE 7
"Submit yourselves therefore to God."James 4:7
Submission to the divine will is a great advance in holiness, and this is mainly and effectually attained through sanctified chastisement. In prosperity, how full are we of self-sufficiency! When the Lord asks our obedience, we give Him our counsel. But when He sends the rod, and by the accompanying grace of His Spirit sanctifies its stroke, we learn of what true obedience consists. It was in this school our blessed Lord Himself was taught. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Heb 5:8). He learned to obey in suffering and to bring His will in suffering into complete submission to His Father's will.
God has in His family such obedient children as those who, passing under the rod, are brought into the bond of the covenant. Oh, what a high Christian attainment is submission to the will of God! It is the noblest grace attainable upon earth. When our Lord taught His disciples to pray to the Father for the spread of holiness, He embodied the petition in these words, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10). The
universal and complete holiness of heaven springs from the universal and complete perfection in which the will of God is done by angels and glorified spirits. In proportion as the divine will prevails upon earth, holiness will reign. And, oh, what a beauteous earth and what a blissful world would this be if the will of God were done by every creature! In the new earth, in which will dwell righteousness, it will be so. The original harmony of this fallen universe will then be restored, and its pristine beauty recovered. God, in the person of His Son, will once more reign over, and walk in the midst of, a people whose will shall be but the reflection of His own.
Thus to conform to the divine will is to assimilate with the divine holiness. What God will, how God will, and when God will defines the rule which should govern all the conduct and limit all the desires of the child of God. The instant the overwhelmed heart is brought into this state, the afflicted believer has planted his feet upon the Rock that is higher than he. All is peace, all is composure, because all is submission to the will of God. "The Lord reigneth" is the truth whose all-commanding yet gentle whisper has stilled the tempest and calmed the waves. In its intense anxiety that the divine will might be done, the chastened soul is but breathing after deeper
holiness, and every fervent desire for the attainment of holiness is holiness already attained. Blessed chastening of love that produces in this world, so distant and uncongenial, the buds and blossoms and fruits of heaven! A richer fruit grows not within the Paradise of God than holiness. And yet, in the experience of a chastened believer, bleeding under the rod of his heavenly Father, there may be obtained such victories over sin, such purification of heart, such meekness of spirit, such Christ-like conformity, and such a discipline of the will, as to make him a rich "partaker of the divine holiness."
JUNE 8
"Now the just shall live by faith."Heb 10:38
We cannot too frequently or too deeply study the profound meaning of these words. God will have His child perpetually looking to, leaning upon, and receiving from Him. At present we are but in a state of nonage. We are not, therefore, in a condition to be trusted with grace for the future. Imprudent and careless, we would soon squander and exhaust our resources, and when the emergency came, we would find ourselves unprepared to meet it. The Lord, in wisdom and love, keeps all our grace in His own hands, and deals it out just as our circumstances demand.
Oh, who that knows his own heart, and the heart of Christ, would not desire that all his supply should be in God, and not in himself? Who, so to speak, would wish to be his own spiritual treasurer? Who that knows the blessedness of a life of faith, the sweetness of going to God in everything and for everything, would wish to transfer his mercies from Christ's keeping to his own, or wish to hold in the present the supply of the future?
Be satisfied, dear reader, to walk by faith, and not by sight. You have a full Christ to draw from, and a faithful God to look to. You have a "covenant, ordered in all things, and sure" (2 Sam 23:5), and the precious promise, "as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut 33:25), to lean confidently upon all your journey through. Be content, then, to be poor and dependent, and willing to travel on empty-handed, seeing God's hand opened and Christ's hand outstretched to supply your daily bread. It is sweet to be a dependent creature upon Godto hang upon a loving Father; to live as a poor, needy sinner, day by day, moment by moment, upon Jesus; to trace God in ten thousand ways; to mark His wisdom here, His condescension there, now His love, and then His faithfulness, all combining and exerted for our good. Truly this is the most holy and blessed life upon earth.
Why should we, then, shrink from any trial, flee from any duty, or turn aside from any cross, since for that trial, that duty, and that cross, Jesus has provided its required and appropriate grace? You are perhaps exclaiming, "Trouble is near!" Well, be it so. So also divine grace is near, strength is near, counsel is near, deliverance is near, Jesus is near, God is near, and a throne of grace is near. Therefore, why need you fear, though trouble be near? "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps 46:1).
JUNE 9
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."John 15:9
What sweet repose is here for the saints of God. Does God rest in His love? Then the believer in Jesus may rest in it, too. Does Infinity find repose here? Then may a poor finite creature. Does Immanuel rest in it? Then may I, resting in Immanuel. If it is enough for Jehovah, surely it is enough for the people of Jehovah. Our dear Lord's exhortations harmonize with this truth, "Abide in me"; "Continue ye in my love."
Beloved reader, come and rest in this love; Jesus invites you to its blessed repose. Are you weary, tossed with tempest? Is there sadness in your spirit, sorrow in your heart, and a cloud upon
your mind? Is some crystal cistern broken, some fragrant flower withered, some fond and pleasant mercy gone? "Come," says Jesus, "and rest in my love. Rest in the reality of my love, the depth of my love, the tenderness of my love, and the deathlessness of my love."
Oh blessed rest! Poor, heartbroken sinner, weeping penitent, weary, laboring soul! What dost thou want? Mercy? It is in Christ. Forgiveness? It is in Christ. Acceptance? It is in Christ. The silencing power of love? It is in Christ. A reconciled Father, a pacified God? He is in Christ. All that you need is in Christ. Draw near, then, and rest in His love.
The Father rests in Jesus, His justice rests in Jesus, His holiness rests in Jesus, His truth rests in Jesus, His power rests in Jesus, and in Jesus you too may rest! God rests in His love towards you, because He rests in the Son of His love. And in the Son of His love, your weary, jaded, trembling spirit may find full and eternal repose. And whatever your present circumstances are, be the severity of your Father's dealings what it may, ever remember that He still rests in His love. Judging of Him by providences rather than by promises, your faith may become unhinged from this truth. But the standard by which you are to form your views of God's character is the same by which
you are to judge your ownHis word. That word declares that He rests in His love, that He now rests in it, that He rests in it at the present time, and, therefore, He rests in it at the moment that His providences in your history are the darkest and most lowering. When to your view all things seem against you, when even God himself seems against you, then is He resting with infinite satisfaction and delight in the love with which He has loved you from everlasting. And when all the mighty wheels of His providence are rapidly revolving; when event follows event, and convulsion succeeds convulsion; when your spirit is agitated, and your heart is alarmed, and your whole soul is awestruck and appalled at the wonder-workings of His power, then is God calmly, serenely resting in His love towards you, unmoved, unruffled, unclouded by the things which convulse the universe.
JUNE 10
"The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."Isa 53:6
How shall we account for the sufferings of Christ, which were intense and mysterious, if not on the ground of their vicarious character? Those sufferings were intense in the extreme. There was a severity in them which, if not required by divine justice, would be perfectly unaccountable.
Heaven, earth, and hell all were in league against Him. Survey His eventful history; mark every step which He took from Bethlehem to Calvary; and what do we learn of His sufferings, but that they were of the most extraordinary and intense character. His enemies, like dogs of war, were let loose upon Him. His professed followers themselves stood aghast at the scenes through which their Lord was passingone betraying Him, another denying Him, and all, in the hour of His extremity, forsaking Him. Is it any wonder that, in the anguish of His soul, His suffering humanity should exclaim, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt 26:39). In that awful moment, all the waves and billows of God's wrath, due to the sins of His people, were passing over Him. The Father, the last resource of sympathy, veiled His face, and withdrew from Him His sensible presence; and on the cross, draining the cup of sorrow, He fulfilled the prophecy which spake of Him, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me" (Isa 63:3).
His sufferings were also mysterious . Why a holy, harmless being, whose whole life had been one act of unparalleled goodness, should be doomed to persecution so severe, to sufferings so acute, and to a death so painful and ignominious, the
denier of the atonement must be embarrassed to account. But the doctrine of a vicarious sacrifice explains it all, and presents the only key to the mystery. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21). "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal 3:13). All the mystery now is gone. He was "made sin for us." He was "made a curse for us." He bore the sin, and consequently the penalty of sin. Had we been left, Christian reader, to bear our sins, we must inevitably have borne alone the punishment of our sins. But Jesus took upon Him our sins. For this, He became a party in the covenant of redemption; for this, He assumed our nature; for this, He sorrowed in Gethsemane; for this, the law of God exacted its utmost claim; and for this, the justice of God inflicted the utmost penalty. Oh, what a truth is this! The Son of God offering Himself up a sacrifice for sin! He who knew no sin, who was holy, harmless, and undefiled with not one thought of evil in His heart, yet made sin, or a sin-offering! Oh, the greatness of the thought! If God had not Himself declared it, we could not have believed it, though an angel's tongue had announced it. God Himself must proclaim it;
and because He has so proclaimed it, we believe it. God alone can write it upon the heart.
JUNE 11
"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord."Hos 6:3
True faith in God supposes him reconciled in Christ. This is the groundwork of all holy, humble conversation with God. But here we must be cautious of placing a limit, as too many do. It is a great display of sovereign grace that we should have peace with God. God reconciled to us in Jesus is, of all divine and experimental truths, the greatest. Until this is experienced, we can affirm of no individual that he is safe for eternity. Yet, alas, what numbers reject this truth and still dream on of heaven!
But, great as is this grace, it is not less our mercy to be advancing to more matured attainments in universal holiness on the ground of assured peace. We are, at best, but dull scholars in the science of spiritual arithmetic. We have imperfectly learned one of its first rules: that of adding grace to grace. "Giving all diligence," exhorts the apostle, "add to your faith virtue," etc. (2 Pet 1:5). Peace through the atoning blood being obtained, the movement is to be progressive, the course onward, each day, if possible, augmenting
the measure of our grace and adding to the number of the Spirit's graces.
Reconciliation with God is but the starting gate in the divine life, not the goal; it is the commencement, and not the end, of our course. In other words, vast numbers rest in their first reception of Christ. They are hopefully converted, they unite themselves with a particular section of the church of God, and settle down under an attached ministry. But here they seem to abide. There is no advance, no progress, no forgetting of the things that are behind, pressing upwards to higher rounds in the glorious ladder by which we may ascend to heaven, which a gracious Father has let down out of heaven. Content with having placed the foot upon the first step, there they remain. There is no "following on to know the Lord." And yet why has the Lord removed the burden from the shoulder, but that we might mount upward? Why has He broken the chains from our feet, but that we may go forward? Thus are we constantly forgetting that the cross is the starting gate of our race and yet ever to be kept in view, while holiness, breathed after upon earth, and in some blessed degree attained, but perfected in heaven, is our bright and certain goal.
JUNE 12
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."John 16:24
A most powerful incentive to prayer is found in a close and realizing view of the atoning blood. What encouragement does it present to this blessed and holy life of communion with God! The atoning blood! The mercy seat sprinkled over! The High Priest before the throne! The cloud of incense constantly ascending! The Father well pleased! What can more freely invite the soul that pants for close and holy communion with God? And when the atoning blood is realized upon the conscience, when pardon and acceptance are sealed upon the heart by the Eternal Spirit, oh, then what a persuasion to draw nigh the throne of grace has the believer in Christ! Then there is no consciousness of guilt to keep the believer back, no dread of God, no trembling apprehensions of a repulse. God is viewed through the cross as reconciled, and as standing in the endeared relationship, wearing the inviting smile of a Father. With such an altar, such a High Priest, such atoning blood, and such a reconciled God, what an element should prayer be to a believer in Christ! Let the soul, depressed, burdened, tried, tempted, as it may be, draw nigh the mercy seat.
God delights to hear, delights to answer. Taking in the hand the atoning blood, pleading the infinite merit of Christ, and reminding the Father of what His Son has accomplished, of His own gracious promise to receive and favorably answer the petition endorsed with the name and presented in behalf of that Son, the feeblest, most disconsolate, or most burdened child of God may approach and open all the heart to a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. Let the atoning blood be strenuously pleaded, let the precious and infinite merit of Christ be fully urged, and the blessing petitioned for will be obtained.
May not this be assigned as a reason why so few of our petitions are answered, why so little blessing is obtained: the faint pleading of the atoning blood? There is so feeble a recognition of the blessed way of access, so little wrestling with the precious blood, so little looking by faith to the cross; the dear name of Immanuel is so seldom urged, and when urged, so coldly mentioned. Is it any marvel that our prayers return to us unanswered, the petition ungranted, the draft on the full treasury of His love unhonored? The Father loves to be reminded of His beloved Son; the very breathing of the name to Him is music; the very waving of the censer of infinite merits to
Him is fragrant. He delights to be pressed with this plea. It is a plea at all times prevalent; it is a plea He cannot reject. It glorifies Himself and honors His Son, while it enriches him who urges it. And, oh, in the absence of all other pleas, what a mercy to come with a plea like this! Who can fully estimate it? No plea has the poor believer springing from himself; he searches, but nothing can he find on which to rest a claim; all within is vile, all without is marred by sin; unfaithfulness, ingratitude, departure do but make up the history of the day. But in Christ he sees that which he can urge, and in urging which God will hear and answer.
JUNE 13
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."Isa 40:31
We may here meet a question which has often been asked by those who are conscious of a relapsed state of soul: "Am I still to be found in spiritual duties and enjoyments while sensible of a backsliding state of heart from God?" To this we reply that the warrant of a Christian's duty is not the measure of his grace, but the command of his God. If this be so, and we have no reason to question its truth, then you are bound to meet all those obligations and to discharge all those
duties which a profession of Christ enjoins, be your state of soul low as it may and irrespective of the spiritual and mental fluctuations to which the soul is always exposed. Unless aware of his design, Satan will here obtain a great advantage over you. Assuming the form of an angel of light, and with angelic gentleness and plausibility, he will suggest that your frame of soul is too torpid and lifeless and dull to draw near to God; that your affections are too frigid, your love too congealed, your heart too carnal, your mind too groveling, your pursuits too earthly, your backslidings too great, your neglects too many to take to Christ. He will hold up to view the folly, the hypocrisy, and the inconsistency of being found in the employment and use of holy and spiritual duties, while your soul thus cleaves to the dust.
But listen not to his false suggestions, and heed not his sophistical reasoning, not for a moment. It is only in the way of waiting upon God that you will be recovered from the lapsed state of your soul. In the way of meditation, confession, tears, and prayer you may yet rise from the dust, and with bolder pinion, richer plumage, and sweeter song, soar to the gate of heaven, and return again, scattering around you its blessings, and reflecting its glory. Oh, go to Jesus, then, however
low and discouraging your spiritual state may be, and relax not from a single means of grace.
JUNE 14
"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me."Ps 138:7
Contemplate the Psalmist's circumstances"walking in the midst of trouble." It was no new and untrodden path along which he was pursuing his way to God. The footprint of many a suffering pilgrim, sometimes stained with blood, always moistened with tears, might be descried in that way from the time that Abel, the primeval martyr, laid the first bleeding brow that ever reposed upon the bosom of Jesus. And yet how often does trial overtake the believer, as "though some strange thing had happened to him"! That at the peculiar nature of an affliction a Christian man should be startled and alarmed, would create no surprise; but that he should be startled at the trial itself, as if he alone, the only one of the family, were exempted from the discipline of the covenant, and had no interest in the Savior's declaration, "In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33), might well astonish us.
But David's experience is that of many of the spiritual seed of David. His words seem to imply continuous trial: "I walk in the midst of trouble."
With how many travelers to the celestial city it is thus! They seem never to be without trial. They know no cessation, they obtain no repose, they experience no rest. The foam of one mountain billow has scarcely broken and died upon the shore before another follows in its wake: "Deep calleth unto deep." Is it the trial of sickness? The darkened chamber scarcely ever illumined with one cheering ray of light, the bed of suffering seldom offering one moment's real repose, the couch of weariness rarely quitted, are vivid pictures of trial drawn from real life, needing no coloring of the fancy to heighten or exaggerate. Is it domestic trial? What scenes of incessant friction and anxieties, turmoil and sources of bitterness, do some families present; trouble seems never to absent itself from the little circle. Yes, it is through a series of trials that many of Christ's followers are called to travel. The loss of earthly substance may be followed by the decay of health, and this succeeded perhaps by that which, of all afflictions, most deeply pierces and lacerates the heart and for a season covers every scene with the dark pall of woethe desolation of death . Thus the believer ever journeys along a path paved with sorrow and hemmed in by trial. Well, be it so! We do not speak of it complainingly; God forbid! We arraign not the wisdom, nor doubt the mercy,
nor impeach the truth of Him who has drawn every line of that path, who has paved every step of that way, and who knows its history from the end to the beginning. Why should our heart fret against the Lord? Why should we weary at the way? It is the ordained way; it is the right way; it is the Lord's way. It is the way to a city of habitation, where the soul and body, companions on the weary pilgrimage, will together sweetly and eternally rest. Then all trouble ceases; then all conflict terminates. Emerging from the gloom and labyrinth of the wilderness, the released spirit finds itself at home, the inhabitant of a world of which it is said, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev 21:4).
JUNE 15
"My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."Matt 26:38
The spiritual troubles which encompass the Christian are the deepest and the severest of all his trials. What, in comparison, are others? Our Lord keenly felt this when He uttered that affecting exclamation, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but
for this cause came I unto this hour" (John 12:27). What to Him, galling and agonizing as they were, were the smiting, and the scourging, and the spitting, and the excruciating torture, compared with the sword which was now entering His soulthe mental conflict and spiritual sorrow which, in the hour of atonement, amazed, staggered, and overwhelmed Him? Listen again to His affecting cry: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Then, withdrawing Himself from His disciples because the human sympathy upon which He had relied in anticipation of the hour of suffering failed Him now, and retiring from man, He flung Himself upon the bosom of God, knelt down, and prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matt 26:39)! Such, my soul, was the conflict which thy Savior endured for thee.
Partakers of Christ's sufferings, all true believers are in a measure acquainted with some of those soul troubles which thus overwhelmed the Son of God. The suspensions of divine consolation, the hidings of God's countenance, the assaults of Satan, and the contact and conflict with sin are bitter ingredients in that cup of spiritual sorrow of which they are sometimes called deeply to drink.
Are you, beloved, walking in the midst of trouble? Think not that you are alone. May your
eye of faith be anointed with fresh eyesalve to see One walking side by side with you, the same who walked with the three children through the fiery furnace, whose form is like the Son of God (Dan 3:25). Yes, Jesus is with you in your trial. Christ is with you in your trouble. The path, however strait, is not so narrow that your Lord cannot tread it with you, side by side. Your way is not so intricate that He cannot enable you to thread your steps through the labyrinth. There is room enough for you and Christ to walk together. He is with you; though, like the two disciples journeying in mournful communion one with the other to Emmaus, your eyes may see Him not, yet is He traveling with you along that sad and mournful, lone and pensive path. Christ is in your adversity, Christ is in your cross, Christ is in your crook, Christ is in your suffering, Christ is in your persecution, Christ is in your sicknessyea, Christ is at your side every step you take, and He will conduct you safely to your Father's house. Though you walk in the midst of trouble, He will revive you.
JUNE 16
"Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."Ps 50:15
It is in the time of trouble that we learn to pray with new power. We become more thoroughly
acquainted with the divine nature and the omnipotent energy of prayer. As the true sons of Israel we learn what our resources are. Many are then led to pray who never prayed before. "Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them" (Isa 26:16). Then the proud spirit yields; the knee, that never bent before, bends now, and the terrified soul cries out unto Him whose chastening is upon it. The slumbering Christian is also awakened to call upon God. He discovers at what distance he had been living from God. Then he discovers his true position and the real state of his soul in regard to prayer. Thus awakened by a voice, like the slumbering prophet, and startled by a rebuke issuing from a quarter he would least have suspected"What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God" (Jon 1:6)he awakes, and finds himself in a storm, threatening instant destruction. To what does he then betake himself? David shall answer: "I give myself unto prayer" (Ps 109:4). And oh, how, eloquent is then the voice of the wrestling believer! Never did the fugitive prophet "pray unto the Lord his God" as when walking in the midst of trouble. "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. When my soul
fainted within me, I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple" (Jon 2:2,7).
This is the way the Lord revives the spirit of prayer within us. And oh, what words can describe the blessedness of prayer in trial and the preciousness of the privilege of having a God to go to, a Father to flee to in trouble! To bring you more deeply and personally into the experience of this, dear tried Christian, the Lord thy God is dealing with thee now. O beloved, betake yourself unto prayer! Thou shalt indeed find it the outlet of all sorrow and the inlet of all joy. Welcome the trouble that thus revives you. Receive with meekness of spirit, yea, with gladness of heart, the discipline, however humbling, that throws you upon God, severs you from all creatures, and shuts you up to Him alone. That discipline, painful as it is, springs from love. In love that trouble is sent, in love that cross is permitted, in love that cup is given, in love that rod is used. It is to set you upon the work of prayer. What are these frowns of thy Father, what these hidings of thy Savior, what these withholdings of the Spirit, but to allure you within the holiest, there to find the throne of grace? "I will go," says the Lord, "and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence,
and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early" (Hos 5:15).
JUNE 17
"Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways."Isa 64:5
Let us not fail to learn the secret of receiving much from Christ: the free dispensing abroad of what we have already received. Be assured of this, that he will receive the most from God who does the most for God: "But the diligent soul shall be made fat" (Prov 13:4); "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich" (Prov 10:4); "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth" (Prov 11:24). This is God's law, and He will never repeal it; this is His promise, and He will ever and in all cases make it good. Go forth, believer in Christ, and let your beams of light shine. Let your streams of grace be dispersed abroad; live for God, suffer for Christ; witness for the truth, and labor for man. Be such a depository of this living and life-giving treasure, that others, less favored than yourself, instructed, guided, and strengthened by your wisdom, experience, and grace, may proceed on their way, glorifying God for the grace given to you. Oh, to have the word of God dwelling in us
so richly, and our hearts so intensely glowing with the love of Christ, as to be ever ready to open our lips for Goda well always full and running over.
This, then, is the secret of augmenting our stores, even by scattering them; of replenishing our resources, even by exhausting them. Who, we repeat the question, has ever become impoverished by giving and laboring for God? Where lives the Christian steward whose fidelity to his Master's interest has compromised the welfare of his own? Where is the Christian man who, with cheerful generosity, has consecrated his intellectual wealth or his temporal wealth to advance the truth and kingdom of Jesus, and whom Christ has not reimbursed a thousand-fold? Where is the believer in Jesus who has endured reproach and suffering, patiently and silently, for conscience' sake, for truth's sake, or for Christ's sake, and who has not infinitely gained in the rest which he has found in God? Where is the active Christian, who zealously labors to dispense abroad the life-giving waters, and yet has not felt, in the solemn retirement and calm repose of his closet, when pouring out his sorrow into the bosom of his Savior, or in holding close and holy communion with his God, the springing up into his soul of a hidden well of peace, joy, and love, which has more than restored the energies he has exhausted and
recompensed him for the sacrifice which he has made? God meets His people in all their works of faith and labors of love. They are never alone. He meets them in the path of duty and of trial, both in doing and in suffering His will. When embarrassed, He meets them with counsel; when assailed, He meets them with protection; when exhausted, He meets them with strength; when faint, He meets them with cordials. If we take up Christ's cross upon our shoulder, Christ will take both us and our cross up in His arms. If we bow down our neck to His yoke, and bend low our back to His burden, we shall find rest in both.
JUNE 18
"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him."1 John 2:27
"The Lord's anointed" is the expressive and appropriate designation of all the Lord's people. This anointing it is that marks them as a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" (1 Pet 2:9). It is the Lord's peculiar mark upon them that distinguishes and designates them as His own. All who are strangers
to this anointing are strangers to the grace of God and the calling of the Holy Ghost. There may be much spiritual light in the judgment, and even an open profession of religion before the world, added to which there shall be something of Jehu's "zeal for the Lord"; and yet that anointing of the Holy Spirit be still wanting, apart from which all intellectual illumination, and outward profession, and party zeal, pass for nothing with a heart-searching God. As the proper signification of the endeared name, Christ, is anointed, so the true signification of the honored title, Christian, points us to the anointing, of which all who have union with Christ personally share. I believe the remark to be as solemn as it is true, that only eternity will fully unfold the amount of evil that has sprung from calling those Christians who call themselves Christians without any valid title to the high, holy, and distinguished term. How imperfectly are men in general aware of the deep, awful, spiritual import of the term! They think not and they know not that a Christian is one who partakes of that same divine Holy Spirit, in His renewing, sanctifying grace, with which Christ was anointed of the Father for His great work.
The effects of this anointing are what might be expected from a cause so glorious. It beautifies the soul. It is that anointing spoken of by the
Psalmist: "And oil to make his face to shine" (Ps 104:15). Therefore, it is called the "beauties of holiness." How does a man's face shine and his countenance light up when the joy of the Lord is his strength, when the spirit of adoption is in his soul, when the love of God is shed abroad in his heart! It gladdens, too. Therefore it is called the "oil of joy" and "the oil of gladness." It causes the heart to sing in its deep sorrows, imparts the "garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isa 61:3), and fills the soul with the glory of that kingdom which consists not in meats and in drinks, "but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom 14:17). Another effect springing from this anointing is the deep teaching it imparts: "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John 2:20). Such are some of the effects of this holy anointing. It beautifies, gladdens, and teaches.
JUNE 19
"I shall be anointed with fresh oil."Ps 92:10
That the Lord re-anoints His people, who can doubt? Alas for them, if He did not! The ample provision which He has made for the necessity proves it. There is more of the precious oil in the sacred vessel. Oh, blessed, holy, comforting truth to those who, mournfully conscious of their loss,
are earnestly desirous for their recovery. All fullness of anointing dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ. With Him is the residue of the Spirit (Mal 2:15). He is prepared to impart more grace to those who have lost grace, or who to their present state desire to add an increase. In the renewed quickening of the Spirit, the re-anointing is received. "Quicken thou me!" was the reiterated prayer of David. What! Was he not already a quickened soul? Undoubtedly. Yet, feeling the need of a renewed quickening, he earnestly importunes for it: "Quicken me in Thy truth, through Thy judgments, by Thy precepts: only quicken Thou mefor this my soul pants." And while the world was asking, "Who will show us any good?" the fervent breathing of this anointed priest of God was, "Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake" (Ps 143:11).
Seek this renewed quickening. New supplies of grace from Christ are implied in this fresh anointing. New grace to subdue new corruptions, perpetually rising to the surface; to meet new temptations, through the ever-shifting ways of the subtle enemy; to overcome new difficulties, perpetually occurring in the path to heaven; and to bear up under new trials, ever transpiring in a world of tribulation. The renewed joys and comforts of the Holy Spirit are also found in the fresh
anointing. The joys that had evaporated are replaced by others; the peace which had been interrupted flows back again; consolations, which had fled, are restored; and confidence in God, which seemed shaken, is once more established in the soul.
Be not content with the old anointing. It is essential to a more holy and happy life, it is essential to a peaceful and cloudless death, that you seek to be anointed with fresh oil. Be not satisfied with past experiences. You may at one time have possessed the clear witness of the Spirit; you may have enjoyed the love of God in your heart; you may have lived so near to Christ as to have found wisdom's "ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Prov 3:17); but the old anointing ceases to afford you now the high delight which you once experienced. Seek, then, the fresh anointing of the Spirit. Seek to have a new revelation of Christ to your soul. Seek the renewed application of His precious blood to your conscience. Oh, seek the fresh oil! There is a fresh supply in Christ, a fresh supply in the Spirit, a fresh supply in the heart of God, a fresh supply in the covenant of grace. Jesus is prepared to pour it upon your soul more abundantly. The Holy Spirit is prepared to lead you to the source where this costly treasure dwells. A vessel of clay though you are, be your capacity small, your unworthiness
great, yet the Triune God is ready to recognize your exalted dignity and rank as a king and a priest by shedding the oil of gladness upon your head more copiously than ever.
Let aged Christians especially look to the state of their souls and seek this renewed anointing. In nearing the end of their journey, in looking into their graves, and beyond them, to the meeting with their God and Savior, they will need to be anointed with fresh oil. One dropoh, how will it insinuate itself through the whole inner life, diffusing energy and might, thus renewing the soul's strength, and composing its ruffled pinions for its heavenly flight. Come, pilgrim of many a weary stage! Come, soldier of many a hard-fought battle! Come, voyager of many a storm and tempest!
Sit down at the Savior's feet, and receive of the fresh oil! Come, gather up the trailing garments, shake off the gathered dust from your sandals, wipe the sweat from your brow, and rest awhile upon the bosom of your Lord, while with fresh oil He anoints you for your burial. Is it not time for you to give up this poor world's pursuit, lay aside in some measure its needless anxiety and care, and allow a holy pause, a solemn calm, to intervene before you unclasp your helmet, lay down your staff, and are gathered to your fathers?
JUNE 20
"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."Gal 3:26
It is delightful to trace the different exhibitions of faith which the Holy Ghost has presented to our view in His own Word. He seems to have thus spread them out before us that the ever varied and varying circumstances of the saints of God may be adequately met. In some sections of His Word, He has presented to our view sturdy characters, impressed with the lineaments of a strong, gigantic faith. For example, the strong faith in the centurion when he said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:...but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed" (Luke 7:6-7). Great faith was exhibited in the case of the woman of Canaan, who, at the apparent repulse of the blessed Lord, would take no denial, but met His seeming objection by saying, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (Matt 15:27-28). Strong faith was in Abraham, too, who could take his son, his only son, his son whom he loved, and offer him up at God's bidding. And, to mention only one more, it was strong,
unwavering faith in Job that could say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15).
But, on the other hand, the Holy Ghost presents to our view some of the weakest exhibitions of faith, in order that no dear child of God, reposing by simple reliance on Christ, might despair. The leper exercised feeble faith when he said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" (Luke 5:12) He was not doubting of Christ's ability; the only point he seemed to question was His willingness to cleanse him. Faith of the same feeble character was exercised by the father who brought his child possessed of a dumb spirit to Jesus, to be dispossessed, with the request thus couched: "If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us" (Mark 9:22). In this case, Christ's willingness was fully believed, only His ability was doubted; and yet, in both cases, the one that doubted His willingness, and the other that doubted His ability, Christ manifested His compassion and answered their request. Let no anxious, seeking soul hang back, then, from Jesus, because of the weakness of its faith. It may be small faith; it may be small in its degree, and weak in its exhibition; yet it is "precious faith"yea, "like precious faith" with Abraham and Job, and all the prophets and apostles. If it is faith, however small, it is yet "the
faith of God's elect"; it is of the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost, and though feeble, yet, if it directs its eye out of and off of itself, simply to Jesus, that single glance shall sweep the ocean fullness of His love in the soul.
JUNE 21
"This do in remembrance of me."Luke 22:19
To the soul hungering and thirsting for the Lord Jesus in the ordinance, Jesus presents Himself. He draws back the shutter, opens the window, stands within it, and looks forth upon His people, clustering around His table, desiring to remember His love. "Precious Jesus!" is the meditation of a soul thus looking for its Beloved. "I have come to Thine ordinance invited by Thy love, drawn by Thy Spirit; but what is it to my soul without Thee? Thy minister may open this institution with clearness and power, but if Thou dost not manifest Thyself, to break and heal my heart, or if I catch not one glimpse of Thee, my Lord, it is no ordinance of grace or sweetness to my soul. I want by faith to see Thee in the baptism of Thy sufferings, to feed upon Thy flesh, and to drink of Thy blood. I want to enjoy communion with Thee. Thou knowest, Lord, the workings of my heart; Thou knowest that the great desire of my soul is that I might enjoy fellowship with Christ.
Oh, that I might have more of Christ, that I might meet with Christ, that I might have some further manifestation of Christ, and that I might have my soul closer knit to Christ. I come thirsting after Jesus, knowing my infinite need of Him, and His infinite excellency and fullness to meet my case. My soul doth famish and perish without Christ; but in the enjoyment of Christ there is a sufficiency for the satisfying of my soul. That which I have had of Christ, sometimes in the word, and sometimes in prayer, has been sweet unto my taste; but I look for closer communion and for a clearer manifestation of Christ here, for this is the great communion of the body and blood of Jesus. Behold, Lord, I approach these windows of Thy house, a poor, unworthy, backsliding child, tried and tempted; yet just as I am, dear Lord, I come. I dare not, I cannot, stay away from Thee, Thou divine loadstone of my heart, Thou precious magnet of my soul! Thou dost draw me, and then I run after Thee; Thou dost show Thyself in the window, and, overcome with Thy beauty and Thy love, I exclaim, 'Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me' (Song 6:5). Blessed Spirit! I have been taught to believe that Thou wilt take of the things of Jesus, and show them unto me. Open the window of this ordinance, and let me behold my soul's
Beloved standing within it. I cannot live, I cannot die, without Him. Living or dying, I must have Christ. 'I am any beloved's, and his desire is towards me' (Song 7:10); and truly my soul's desire is towards Him. There is to my soul no love like Christ's love. There is no voice like Christ's voice. There is no sympathy like Christ's sympathy. There is no friend like this Friend; there is no Christ like my Christ."
The window is open! "The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills" (Song 2:8). He looks forth at the window; and lively faith and ardent love, sweet contrition and holy joy, possess and overwhelm my soul!
JUNE 22
"The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus."Heb 13:20
How beautifully the apostle associates the two blessings! He is now truly the "God of peace"the pacified God, the reconciled Father; and the evidence of it is His raising up His dear Son from the grave. Thus what a bright view does this truth unfold to us of God! When we retire within ourselves, we see much to engender dark views of, and distrustful feelings towards, Him. But when faith travels to the grave of Jesus and we see it
empty, we have such an overwhelming evidence of the perfect reconciliation of God, of His thoughts of peace towards us, that faith instantly triumphs, and all our gloomy, trembling apprehensions of His character vanish and disappear. He is the "God of peace" because Jesus is a risen Savior. And in proportion as you lay hold by faith of the resurrection life of Christ, you will have that pillar to sustain you upon which rests the whole fabric of salvation. The peace of God will fill your heart, as you know from experience the power of the Lord's resurrection in your soul. The power of Christ's resurrection, in fact, lies in a sense of pardoned sin, in our apprehension of complete justification, in the living hope of eternal glory. Jesus saves to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him, because he is a risen and a living Savior, and ever liveth to make intercession in behalf of all His people.
Oh, deal believingly with a risen Christ! The same resurrection power, which brought back to life again the Head of the Church, is exerted in effecting the spiritual resurrection of the Church itself. The true believer is already risen. He was once dead in sin, and entombed in the grave of his iniquities. But a power, the same which awoke the death slumber of Lazarus, has darted from the tomb of Jesus, and has quickened Him to a
new and a deathless life. Oh, were we more directly to trace the mighty energy of the Eternal Spirit in our souls, raising us from the region of death to life and immortality, to that stupendous fact of redemptionthe resurrection of Christ from the deadhow would it exalt our views of its importance, and fill our souls with its glory! What must be the power of our Lord's resurrection that can even now awake the profoundest sleep of spiritual death! When the Spirit of God puts forth His own grace to raise a soul from the grave of sin, forget not it is in virtue of a risen, living Savior. Despair not of the spiritual life of any, though they may have laid in the grave so long as well-nigh to have quenched all hope of their conversion, since Christ has risen from the dead, and is alive, to give life in answer to the prayer of faith. "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor 15:45).
JUNE 23
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection."Phil 3:10
We are, alas, but too conscious of the downward tendency of our hearts. We want an antagonistic principlesomething to counteract the ever-working influence of an ungodly world. Where shall we meet with it? We answer, in the power
of Christ's resurrection, felt, realized, and experienced in the soul. This is the argument of Paul: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col 3:1-2).
What a heaven-attracting power, then, has this glorious truth! What is Christ? He is alive. Where is Christ? He is in heaven, at the right hand of God, as my head, my representative, my forerunner, my treasure, my all. Then, let me rise! Shall not my affections soar to their best beloved? Shall not my heart be where its treasure is? Shall I set my mind upon things on the earth, when my Lord rose out of the earth, and ascended above the earth, and bids me rise and follow Him in faith, spirit, and love, until He calls me to come away to Him entirely, that I may be ever with Him and behold His glory? If I am indeed risen with Christ, then let me evidence it by my increasing spiritual-mindedness. Christ, who is my life, is in heaven; why should I needlessly be buried in the earth? Why allow, as I appear to do, an object upon earth whose claims to my love are paramount, whose beauty to my eye is greater, whose attraction to my soul is stronger, than my risen, ascended, and glorified Lord? Is there upon earth one who loves me as Jesus loves me? Is there
one who has done for me what Jesus has done? Is there one who is doing for me now what Jesus is doing? Is there one who is to me such a friend, such a brother, such a counselor as Jesus? No, not one! Then why should not my thoughts be more with Him? Why should not my heart cling closer to Him? Why this vagrancy of mind, this truancy of affection, this wandering of desire; why this forgetfulness, coldness, and cleaving to earth, when my Lord is risen, and I am professedly risen with Him?
Oh, to feel more sensibly, more deeply, more constantly the power of His resurrection! Lord, I detect my heart settling down on creature things, objects of sense and sin. My business is a snare, my domestic blessings are a snare, my friendships are a snare, my position is a snare, the too fond opinion which others entertain of me is a snare; my grace, my gifts, my usefulness, through the corruption of my heart, are snares. Lord, place beneath my soul the mighty lever of Thy resurrection, and lift me towards Thyself! Oh, let me feel the earth-severing, heaven-attracting power of Thy resurrection life! Having been buried with Thee by baptism into death, I now rise with Thee like Thou wast raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, that I might walk with Thee in newness of life until I reach Thee in the realms of glory.
JUNE 24
"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham."Heb 2:16
Who are the persons upon whom the heart of Jesus is set? They are not angels; and yet He loves angels, because they are elect and holy. He loves them as the creatures of His power, and as the ministers of His will. But God loves not angels as He loves man . The Lord Jesus bears not the same affection towards those unfallen and pure spirits as He does towards a poor sinner hiding in His wounded side, cleansed in His blood, and enfolding himself within the robe of His righteousness. He never took part of the nature of angels, nor wept over angels, nor bled for angelsbut all this He did for man!
It is His church, then, which is represented as the object of His loveHis own people, the donation of His Father, the creatures of His choice, the subjects of His grace, the treasure of His heart. Is it asked wherein has He loved them? Rather might we ask wherein has He not loved them. Look at His assumption of their nature. What a mighty stoop was this! The Infinite to the finite. Were it possible for me to save the life of an insect by assuming the form of that insect, I should, by so doing, manifest my great benevolence. But
behold the love of our Incarnate God! His heart was bent and His whole soul was set upon saving man. But He could save man only by becoming man. He could not raise our nature without stooping and assuming that nature. He must not only look upon it, pity it, and weep over it, but He must take it into the closest and most indissoluble union with Himself. Nor was it the mere exchange or blending together of natures so as to form one new nature. It was not the absorption of the Infinite into the finite, for He ceased not to be God when He became man. He did not extinguish, but only veiled, the glory of His Deity. In this consisted the mightiness of the stoop. I see no humiliation in the Savior's life, but as it springs from this one fact: His condescension in taking up into union with His own divine person our human nature. This was the first and greatest step in the path that conducted Him to the cross. All the acts of abasement and disgrace that follow were engrafted upon this.
Oh, what humiliation! Look at your nature! Contemplate it in some of its severest forms of degradation, wretchedness, and woe. Are you not often constrained to blush that it is your own? Do you not turn from it at times with loathing and abhorrence, ashamed to confess that you are a man? Above all, what self-loathing and what
self-abhorrence, when the Holy Spirit opens the chambers of iniquity in your own heart, and makes you acquainted with the abominations that are there! And yet the Son of God stooped to our nature. "A body hast thou prepared me" (Heb 10:5). But He took unfallen, sinless humanity into union with His Godhead. Whence, then, is His condescension? In stooping to an inferior nature, though in that stoop He received no taint from us. He was made a sin-offering, yet He was "without sin." Dear reader, if this truth has no glory to your eye, no sweetness to your soul, what is your Christianity? It is the foundation of Christianity, the marrow of the Gospel, the hope of the soul, and the truth which takes every ruffle from the pillow of death.
Is not this just the truth we want as a suffering and a tried people? When do we extract the sweetest honey from this bitter of bitters? Is it not when our humanity is wounded, oppressed, and cast down? When do we most value and love the humiliation of the Incarnate God? Is it not when by suffering we are driven to learn the tenderness and the sympathy that are in Christ? Oh, blessed affliction, sweet sorrow, friendly chastisement, that brings my soul into a deeper experience of what God is in my nature!
JUNE 25
"Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself or us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour."Eph 5:2
It was an entire sacrifice. It was Himself He offered up. More He could not give; less would not have sufficed. He gave Himselfall that He possessed in heaven, and all that belonged to Him on earth, He gave in behalf of His people. His life of obedience, His death of suffering, He gave as "an offering and a sacrifice to God." It was an entire surrender.
It was a voluntary offering. "He gave Himself." It was not by compulsion or by constraint that He surrendered Himself into the hands of divine justice; He went not a reluctant victim to the altar; they did not drag Him to the cross. He went voluntarily. It is true that there existed a solemn necessity wherefore Jesus should die in behalf of His people. It grew out of His covenant engagement with the Father. He voluntarily entered into that engagement. His own ineffable love constrained Him. But after the compact had been made, the covenant of redemption ratified, and the bond given to justice, there was a necessity resting upon Jesus wherefore He should finish the work. His word, His honor, His truth, and His glory were all pledged to the entire
fulfillment of His suretyship. He had freely given Himself into the power of justice; on His taking upon Him the form of a servant, therefore, He was under obligations to satisfy all its claims; He was legally bound to obey all its commands. And yet it was a voluntary surrender of Himself as a sacrifice for His people. It was a willing offering. If there was a necessity, and we have shown that there was, it grew out of His own voluntary love to His church. It was, so to speak, a voluntary necessity. See how this blessed view of the death of Jesus is sustained by the divine Word. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isa 53:7). His own declaration confirms the truth. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17-18).
JUNE 26
"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?"John 18:4
His voluntary work was not founded on ignorance. He well knew what the covenant of redemption
involved and what stern justice demanded. The entire scene of His humiliation was before Him, in all its dark and somber hues: the manger, the bloodthirsty king, the scorn and contumely of His countrymen, the unbelief of His own kinsmen, the mental agony of Gethsemane, the bloody sweat, the bitter cup, the waywardness of His disciples, the betrayal of one, the denial of another, the forsaking of all, the mock trial, the purple robe, the crown of thorns, the infuriated cry, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" (John 19:15), the heavy cross, the painful crucifixion, the cruel taunts, the vinegar and gall, the hidings of His Father's countenance, the concentrated horrors of the curse, the last cry of anguish, the falling of the head, the giving up the ghostall, all was before the omniscient mind of the Son of God with vividness equal to its reality, when He exclaimed, "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24). And yet He willingly rushed to the rescue of ruined man. Though He knew the price of pardon was His blood, He voluntarily gave Himself up thus to the bitter agony. And did He regret that He had undertaken the work? Never! It is said that it repented God that He had made man; but in no instance is it recorded that it repented Jesus that He had redeemed man. Not
an action, not a word, not a look betrayed an emotion like this. Every step He took from Bethlehem to Calvary did but unfold the willingness of Jesus to die. "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished" (Luke 12:50).
Oh, how amazing was the love of Jesus! This, this was the secret why He loved not His own life unto the death. He loved sinners too well. He loved us better than Himself. With all our sinfulness, guilt, wretchedness, and poverty, He yet loved us so much as to give Himself an offering and sacrifice unto God for us. Here was the spring from which flowed these streams of mercy. This was the gushing fountain that was opened when He died. And when they taunted Him, and said, "If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself" (Luke 23:37), oh, what a reply did His silence give: "I came not to save myself, but my people. I hang here, not for my own sins, but for theirs; I could save myself, but I came to give my life a ransom for many." They thought the nails alone kept Him to the cross; He knew it was His own love that fastened Him there.
Behold the strength of Immanuel's love. Come, fall prostrate, adore and worship Him. Oh, what love was His! Oh, the depth! Content not thyself with standing upon the shore of this ocean. Enter
into it, drink largely from it. It is for thee, if thou dost feel thy nothingness, thy poverty, thy vileness; this ocean is for thee. It is not for angels, it is for men. It is not for the righteous, but for sinners. Then drink to the full from the love of Jesus. Be not satisfied with small supplies. Take a large vessel to the fountain. The larger the demand, the larger the supply. The more needy, the more welcome. The more vile, the more fit.
JUNE 27
"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."Lam 3:26
A believer may present a right petition in a right way, and yet he may not wait for the Lord's answer in His own time. He may appoint a time, and if the Lord does not answer within that period, he turns away, resigning all expectation of an answer. There is such a thing as waiting for the Lord. The apostle alludes to and enjoins this holy patience when he speaks to the Ephesians of "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance" (Eph 6:18). A believer may present his request, have some degree of nearness in urging it, press it with fervency, and yet, forgetting the hoping, quiet, waiting patience which ought
invariably to mark a praying soul, he may lose the blessing he has sought. There is such a thing as "waiting upon the Lord." Oh, how long have we made Him to wait for us! For years, it may be, we kept Him knocking, standing, and waiting at the door of our hearts, until His own Spirit took the work in His own hands, unlocked the heart, and the Savior entered. The Lord would now often have us wait His time in answering prayer. And, if the vision tarry, still let us wait, hope, and expect. Let the delay but stimulate hope, increase desire, exercise faith, and multiply petitions at the mercy seat. It will come when the Lord sees best.
A believer may lose the answer to his prayer by dictating to the Lord the mode, as well as the time, of answering. The Lord has His own mode of blessing His people. We may prescribe the way the Lord should answer, but He may send the blessing to us through an opposite channel or in a way we never thought of, and would never have selected. Sovereignty sits ruling upon the throne, and in no aspect is its exercise more manifestly seen than in selecting the way and the means by which the prayers of the saints of God are answered. Dictate not to the Lord. If you ask a blessing through a certain channel, or in a prescribed way, let it be with the deepest humility of mind,
and with perfect submission to the will of God. Be satisfied to receive the blessing in any way which a good and covenant God may appoint. Be assured, it will be in that way that will most glorify Himself, and secure to you the greatest amount of blessing.
JUNE 28
"The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."Prov 4:18
The first light that dawns upon the soul is the daybreak of grace. When that blessed period arrives and the Sun of Righteousness has risen upon the long-darkened mind, how do the shadows of ignorance and of guilt instantly disappear! What a breaking away of, perhaps, a long night of alienation from God, of direct hostility to God, and of ignorance of the Lord Jesus, then takes place.
This state is not, however, always strongly marked at first. The beginning of grace in the soul is frequently analogous to the beginning of day in the natural world. The dawn of grace is at first so faint, the daybreak so gentle, that only a skillful eye can see its earliest tints. The individual himself is, perhaps, ignorant of the extraordinary transition through which his soul is passing. It
may be that the individual is almost overwhelmed with despair at the discovery of darkness which that dawn has made, the revelation it has brought to view of the desperate depravity of his heart, the utter corruption of his fallen nature, the number and the turpitude of his sins. But what has led to this discovery? What has revealed all this darkness and sin? It is the daybreak of grace in the soul! One faint ray, and what a change has it produced! And is it real? Ah! Just as real as that the first beam, faintly painted on the eastern sky, is a real and an essential part of light. The daybreak, faint and glimmering though it be, is as really day as noon is day.
So is it with the dawn of grace in the soul. The first serious thought, the first real misgiving, the first conviction of sin, the first downfall of the eye, the first bending of the knee, the first tear, the first prayer, and the first touch of faith are as really and as essentially the daybreak of God's converting grace in the soul as is the utmost perfection to which that grace can arrive. Oh, glorious dawn is this, my reader, if now for the first time in your life the daybreak of grace has come, and the shadows of ignorance and guilt are fleeing away before the advancing light of Jesus in your soul. If now you are seeing how depraved your nature is; if now you are learning the
utter worthlessness of your own righteousness; if now you are fleeing as a poor, lost sinner to Christ, relinquishing your hold of everything else and clinging only to Him; though this be but in weakness, tremulousness, and hesitancy, yet sing for joy, for the day is breaking! The prelude to the day of eternal glory and the shadows of unregeneration are forever fleeing away.
As this day of grace has begun, so it will advance. Nothing shall impede its course; nothing shall arrest its progress. "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6). The Sun, now risen upon you with healing in His beams, shall never stand still and never go back. He hath "set a tabernacle for the sun" (Ps 19:4) in the renewed soul of man, and onward that sun will roll in its glorious orbit, penetrating with its beams every dark recess, until all mental shadows are merged and lost in its unclouded and eternal splendor.
JUNE 29
"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part."1 Cor 13:9
With all our attainments, how little have we really attained! With all our knowledge, how little do we actually know! How superficially and imperfectly are we acquainted with truth, with Jesus
who is emphatically "the Truth," with God whom the Truth reveals. "We see through a glass darkly"; all is yet as a riddle when compared with what we shall know when the shadows of ignorance have fled. There are, too, the enshrouding shadows of God's dark and painful dispensations. Our dealings are with a God of whom it is said, "Clouds and darkness are round about him" (Ps 97:2), who often covers Himself as with a cloud, and to whom the midnight traveler to the world of light has often occasion to address himself in the language of the church, "Thou art a God that hidest Thyself."
Ah, beloved, what clouds of dark providences may be gathering and thickening around thy present path! Through what a gloomy, stormy night of affliction faith maybe steering thy tempest-tossed boat! Faith eyeing the promise, and not the providence, the bright light that is in the cloud, and not the lowering cloud itself, will steer that trembling vessel safely through the surge. Remember that the believer is passive in the providences of God, but he is active with regard to the promises of God. In the one case he is to "be still" and know that God reigns, and that the Judge of all the earth must do right (Gen 18:25). In the other, his faith, child-like, unquestioning, and unwavering, is to take hold of what God says and of what God is, believing that what He has promised
He is also able and willing to perform. This is to be "strong in faith, giving glory to God" (Rom 4:20).
JUNE 30
"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."Song 2:17
The divine withdrawal is a shadow, often imparting an aspect of dreariness to the path we are treading to the Zion of God. "Wherefore hidest thou thy face," says Job (Job 13:24). "For a small moment," says God to the church, "have I forsaken thee. ... In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment" (Isa 54:7-8). Ah! There are many who have the quenchless light of life in their souls, who yet, like Job, are constrained to take up the lamentation, "I went mourning without the sun" (Job 30:28). There are no shadows darker to some of God's saints than this. Many professing Christians dwell so perpetually in the region of shadows, they so seldom feel the sunshine of God's presence in their souls, that they scarcely can discern when the light is withdrawn. But there are others who have habitually walked so near with God in the rich, personal enjoyment of their pardon, acceptance, and adoption, that if but a vapor floats between their soul and the sun, they are sensible of it in an instant. Oh, blessed are they whose walk is so close, so filial with God, whose
home is so hard by the cross, who, like the apocalyptic angel, dwell so entirely in the sun as to feel the barometer of their soul affected by the slightest change in their spiritual atmosphere; they walk so much beneath the light of God's reconciled countenance as to be sensible of His hidings even "for a small moment."
Then there comes the last of our shadows, "the valley of the shadow of death." There they terminate. This may be the focus where they all shall meet, but it is to meet only to be entirely and forever scattered. The sentiment is as true as the figure is poetic: "the shadow of death." It is but a "shadow" to the believer; the body of that shadow Jesus, the "Captain of our salvation," met on the cross, fought, and overcame. By dying, He so completely destroyed death and him that had the power of death, that the substance of death in the experience of the dying Christian dwindles into a mere shadow, and that shadow melts into eternal glory.