JULY 1
"All things work together for good to them that love God."—Rom 8:28
Observe the unity of operation. They work together, not singly and separately, but conjointly, as adjunct causes and mutual helps. Therefore,
we often mark a plurality of trial in the calamity which befalls the Christian. Seldom does affliction come solitary and alone; storm rises upon storm, cloud on cloud. One messenger of woe is quickly succeeded by another, burdened with tidings of yet heavier sorrow. Trace the wisdom, and not the wisdom only, but the love of thy God, child of suffering, in ordaining your path to heaven through much tribulation and in weaving around you many trials. Single and alone, the good they are charged to convey would be only partially accomplished, and the evil they were designed to meet imperfectly cured. It is the compounding of the ingredients in the recipe that constitutes its sanative power. Extract any one ingredient, and you impair the others and destroy the whole. We may not understand the chemistry of the process; we do not see how one element acts upon the properties of the others, nor how by the combination of all the cure is effected. Yet, confiding in the skill of the compounder, and submitting our reason to our faith, we take the remedy and receive the benefit.
So with the divine dispensations; they work, but "work together." How assuredly would the curative process of trial be impaired, if but one of the several sent were wanting! How would the adjustment, harmony, and symmetry of God's
arrangement be destroyed, if one dark dispensation were lacking from perhaps the many that lower upon our horizon! It is the combination of sound, or the harmony of many and often discordant notes, that constitute music. Oh, how imperfectly are we aware not of the necessity of trial only, but of a plurality of trial, in order to wake from our lips the sweetest, loftiest anthem of praise and thanksgiving to God!
Thus it is that the most deeply tried believers are the most skillful and the most melodious choristers in God's church. They sing the sweetest on earth and they sing the loudest in heaven who are passing through and have come out of "great tribulation." Then, Christian, count it all joy when you fall into divers trials; be not terrified if wave responds to wave, if cloud caps cloud, if storm rises on storm, if your Joseph has been taken, and now your Benjamin be demanded. The greater the accumulation of trial, the richer the freight it bears. It is then that the interposition, wisdom, and love of our God appear the most conspicuous and wonderful. Having delivered us out of six troubles, we see Him hastening to our rescue in the seventh. Then the experience of the sweet singer of Israel awakes an echo in our heart: "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters" (Ps 18:16).
Let us not forget that it is a present working. It says not that all things shall work together for good, though this is equally certain, but it says that all things do now work together for good. It is not a past, nor a future, but a present process. They are always working for good. The operation may be as invisible and noiseless as the leaven fomenting in the meal, and yet not less certain and effectual. The kingdom of God cometh not into our souls with observation, nor does it grow in our souls with observation. Whether the good thus borne upon the raven-wing of trial and thus embosomed in the lowering cloud of some crushing providence be immediate or remote, it matters little; sooner or later it will accomplish its benign and heaven-sent mission, and then trial will expand its dark pinions and fly away, and sorrow will roll up its somber drapery and disappear. The painful and inexplicable dispensations, which at the present moment may be thickening and deepening around your path, are but so many problems in God's government, which He is working out to their certain, satisfactory, and happy results.
JULY 2
"We know that all things work together for good."—Rom 8:28
Safely may the apostle rest his appeal with us. We know it, because God has said it. We know it, because others have testified to it. Best of all, we know it, because we have experienced it ourselves. We can set our seal to the truth that all things under the government of an infinitely great, all-wise, righteous, and beneficent Lord God, both in the world, in the church, and in the history of each member of the church, work together for good. What that good may be, the shape it may assume, the complexion it may wear, the end to which it may be subservient, we cannot tell. To our dim view it may appear an evil, but to God's farseeing eye it is a positive good. His glory is secured by it, and with that end accomplished, we are sure it must be good. Oh truth most divine! Oh words most consolatory! How many whose eye traces this page, it may be whose tears bedew it, whose sighs breathe over it, whose prayers hallow it, may be wading in deep waters, may be drinking bitter cups, and are ready to exclaim, "All these things are against me!" Oh no, beloved of God, all these things are for you! "The Lord sitteth upon the flood" (Ps 29:10). "The voice
of the Lord is upon the waters" (Ps 29:3). "He maketh the clouds his chariot" (Ps 104:3).
Be not then afraid. Calmly stay your faith on this divinely assured truth that "all things work together for good to them that love God." Will it not be a good if your present adversity results in the dethronement of some worshipped idol, in the endearing of Christ to your soul, in the closer conformity of your mind to God's image, in the purification of your heart, in your more thorough suitability for heaven? Will it not be a real good if it terminate in a revival of God's work within you, in stirring you up to more prayer, in enlarging your heart to all that love the same Savior, in stimulating you to increased activity for the conversion of sinners, for the diffusion of the truth, and for the glory of God? Oh yes! Good, real good, permanent good must result from all the divine dispensations in your history. Bitter repentance shall end in the experienced sweetness of Christ's love. The festering wound shall but elicit the healing balm. The overpowering burden shall but bring you to the tranquil rest. The storm shall but quicken your footsteps to the hiding-place. The north wind and the south wind shall breathe together over your garden, and the spices shall flow out. In a little while—oh, how soon!—you shall pass away from earth to heaven, and in its
clearer, serener light shall read the truth that was often read with tears before, "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom 8:28).
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JULY 3
"Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone."—Isa 28:16
Jesus is fitly compared to a stone for strength and durability. He is a Savior, and a great one, "mighty to save." "I have laid help upon one that is mighty" (Ps 89:19). If it were probable that the fact of His Deity should be announced in a voice of thunder from the eternal throne, can we suppose it would be uttered in terms more decided and explicit than those which fell upon the ear of the exiled evangelist from the lips of Christ Himself? "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev 1:8). And what a needed truth is this! None but an almighty ransom could have saved from going down to the pit. Jesus is our ransom, and Jesus is the Almighty.
The Redeemer is not only a stone, but a "tried stone." The grand experiment has been made, the great test has been applied, and to answer all the ends for which the Lord God laid it in Zion,
it has proved completely adequate. Never was a foundation tried as this. In the eternal purpose of redemption, Omnipotence tried it. In the divine mind there existed no lurking suspicion, no embarrassing uncertainty as to the result. The Father knew all that this foundation was to sustain, and well He knew, too, that it was capable of sustaining all. Stupendous were the consequences. His own glory and the honor of His government were involved; the salvation of His elect was to be secured; death, with all its horrors, was to be abolished; life, with all its immortal, untold glories, was to be revealed; hell was to be closed, and heaven opened to all believers. With such momentous realities pending and with such mighty and glorious results at stake, the Eternal mind, in its purpose of grace and glory, would lay for a foundation a "tried stone."
Blessed Immanuel! How effulgently does Thy glory beam from beneath Thy prophetical veil! Thou art that "tried stone ," tried by the Father when He laid upon Thee all His people's sins and transgressions, bruised Thee, and put Thee to grief. Tried by the law when it exacted and received from Thee Thy utmost obedience to its precepts. Tried by divine justice when it kindled around Thee its fiercest flame, yet consumed Thee not. Tried by the Church, built upon Thee so
securely that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her. Tried by poor sinners who have brought their burdens of guilt to Thy blood, and have found pardon and peace. Tried by believers who have taken their trials to Thy sympathy, their sorrows to Thy love, their wounds to Thy healing, their weakness to Thy strength, their emptiness to Thy fullness, their petitions to Thine ear, and have never, never been disappointed. Oh yes, Thou art that "tried stone" to whom I would come moment by moment.
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JULY 4
"A precious corner stone."—Isa 28:16
Of whom does the prophet speak this but of Jesus, compared with whom nothing is precious? He alone is worthy of the term, who alone can smooth life's rugged path, sweeten life's bitter trials, lighten life's heavy burdens, and this by daily and hourly outpourings of His own life, grace, and preciousness. What language can express how precious this precious stone is to him who, conscious of his vileness, poverty, and nothingness, or with a spirit oppressed with deep trial or bleeding from painful bereavement, wades to it through the billows, exclaiming, "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Ps 61:2). Precious in His all-atoning blood;
precious in His all-justifying righteousness; precious in His infinite fullness; precious in every office that He fills, in every work that He performs, in every promise that He makes; precious is Christ to him who, finding all other foundations but as sliding sand, builds his hope of glory upon the incarnate God. "To you, therefore, that believe, he is precious" (1 Pet 2:7).
A "cornerstone," too, is our glorious Redeemer. We fear that the important position which this occupies in the spiritual building—its essential relation to the compactness, strength, and durability of the whole fabric—is not duly considered by many who are professedly "lively stones" in the "spiritual house." And yet how momentous and how holy is the instruction it conveys! The cornerstone is that which unites the parts of the edifice; it is to the building what the keystone is to the arch; it imparts unity, symmetry, and strength. The Lord Jesus has been the uniting stone of the church in all ages. The saints of the patriarchal, Levitical, and Christian churches all meet and form in Him one glorious temple of the living God. "No more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," they are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in
whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord," and thus becomes "an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph 2:19-22).
That there are divisions in the church of God, visible and painful; that the one body is sadly dismembered, the seamless robe rudely torn and disfigured; this is a truth too glaring to conceal, and almost too painful and humiliating to acknowledge. Alas, that it should be! Oh, how much is the unity of the church lost sight of in the din of religious controversy and in the heat of party zeal! How does brother look coldly upon brother, minister glance suspiciously at minister, and church stand aloof from church! Ought this so to be? And to what may it in a great degree be traced? We believe it is traceable to a forgetfulness of the truth that all true believers are "one in Christ Jesus;" that the blood of the Lamb is the bond of union of the saints; that He is the "corner stone," uniting all the parts of the one edifice; and that, if built upon Him, we are one with that church, and that church is one with Christ.
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JULY 5
"A sure foundation."—Isa 28:16
"A sure foundation" is the last quality of excellence specified of this precious Stone. As if to remove
all lingering doubt from the mind and to annihilate all imaginary and shadowy conceptions of Jesus in so momentous a matter as the salvation of the soul, Jehovah, the great Builder of the church, declares the foundation thus laid to be a real and substantial one. Confidently here may the weary rest, and the sinner may build his hope of heaven. All is sure. Sure that the word he credits is true; sure that the invitation that calls him is sincere; sure that the welcome extended to him is cordial. Sure, in coming to Jesus, of free forgiveness, of full justification, of complete and eternal acceptance with a reconciled God. Sure that in renouncing all self-dependence and building high his hope of glory on this foundation, he "shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end" (Isa 45:17). All, too, is sure to the believer in the covenant of grace, of which Jesus is the Surety and Mediator. Every promise is sure—the full supply of all our need, the daily efficacy of the atoning blood, the answer to our prayers though long delayed, the hope of being forever with Jesus—all is certain and sure when based on Jesus, springing from the heart of an unchangeable God, and confirmed by the oath of Him who has said, "Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David" (Ps 89:35).
Precious Jesus, we have been contemplating Thy glory as through a glass darkly. And yet we thank and adore Thee even for this glimpse. Dim and imperfect though it is, it has endeared Thee unutterably to our hearts. Oh, if this is Thy glory beheld through a clouded medium, what will it be seen face to face! Soon, soon shall we gaze upon it. Then, Thou glorious King, we shall exclaim, "It was a true report that I heard of thy acts and of thy wisdom, and, behold, the half was not told me." Seeing that we look for such things, grant us grace, that being "diligent, we may be found of thee in peace, without spot, and blameless" (2 Pet 3:14). Send to us what Thou wilt, withhold from us what Thou wilt; only vouchsafe to us a part in the first resurrection and a seat at Thy right hand when Thou comest to Thy kingdom. Low at Thy feet we fall! Here may Thy Spirit reveal to us more of Thy glory! Oh, irradiate, sanctify, and cheer us with its beams! Behold, we cling to Thee! Thou art our Immanuel, or portion, and our all. In darkness we repair to the fountain of Thy light. In sorrow, we flee to the asylum of Thy bosom. Oppressed, we come to the shelter of Thy cross. Oh, take Thou our hearts, and bind them closer and still closer to Thyself! Won by Thy beauty and drawn by Thy love, let there be a renewed
surrender of our whole spirit, and soul, and body. Claim Thou a fresh possession. "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage" (Ps 119:54); "Thou shalt guide us with thy counsel, and afterward receive us to glory" (Ps 73:24). Then shall we unite with the Hallelujah Chorus, and sing in strains of surpassing sweetness, gratitude, and love. "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!" (2 Cor 9:15).
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JULY 6
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."—Matt 11:28
With what brightness does the truth appear, written with beams of heavenly light: Jesus, the Rest for the weary! "Come unto me." The Father has made His Son the resting place of His church. He Himself has vested His whole glory in Christ. He knew what Christ was capable of sustaining. He knew that as His fellow, one equal with Himself, He could with safety embark the honor of His government in the hands of His Son. He confided therein Himself! His government and His Church—all are in Christ. To this "tried stone" He would now bring His people. He found it strong enough for Himself, He knows it to be strong enough for them, and with confidence He invites the weary to come and repose upon it.
Jesus but echoes the heart of the Father when he says, "Come unto me and I will give you rest."
Never did the tongue of Jesus utter words more learned, more eloquent, more persuasive. This is the word we need. We seek rest by nature everywhere, and in everything, except in Jesus. We seek it in the sensual world, we seek it in the moral world, we seek it in the religious world; we find it not. We seek it in conviction, we seek it in ordinances, we seek it in doing the works of the law, and still it evades us. We go from place to place, from scheme to scheme, from minister to minister, and still the burden presses, the guilt remains, and we find no rest. No, and we will never find it, until it is sought and found solely, wholly, exclusively, and entirely in Jesus. Rest for the sin-weary soul is only to be met with in Him who bore the curse for man's transgression. Here God rests, and here the sinner must rest. Here the Father rests, and here the child may rest. Jesus is the great burden bearer for God and for man.
Listen again to the melody of His words: "Come unto me and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28). See how He invites you without one solitary condition. He makes no exception to your guilt and unworthiness. The word is, "Come unto me"; in other words, believe in me. To "come" is simply and only to believe. And oh, how can we
fully set forth the rest to be found it Jesus? Let those testify who took their guilt to His blood, their vileness to His righteousness, their sins to His grace, their burdens to His arm, their sorrows to His heart. Let them tell how, in a moment, their sense of weariness fled, and rest, sweet, soothing rest to their soul, succeeded. Are you, my reader, a sin-weary soul? Then, to you is this invitation addressed: "Come unto me; to me, a Savior whose willingness is equal to my ability. To me, who never rejected a single soul that sought salvation and heaven at my hands. Come unto me and I will give you rest."
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JULY 7
"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."—2 Cor 12:9
In the case of a tried believer, the rest that Jesus gives does not always imply the removal of the burden from whence this sense of weariness proceeds. The burden is permitted to remain, and yet rest is experienced. Yea, it would appear from His procedure that the very existence of the burden is essential to the experience of the rest. He withdraws not the trouble from us, nor us from the trouble; and still the repose we sighed for is given. Wonderful indeed! But how is it explained? That burden takes us to Jesus. It is but
the cause of our simply going to Him. But for that sorrow, calamity, sickness, or bereavement we should have stayed away. The pressure compelled us to go. And how does He meet us! Does He open a way of escape from our difficulty, or does He immediately unbind our burden and set us free? Nay; better than this, He pours strength into our souls, life into our spirits, and love into our hearts, and so we find rest. Thus are fulfilled in our experience the precious promises, "As thy day, so shall thy strength be" (Deut 33:25). "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Cor 12:9).
The timing of the Lord's promised grace is no small unfolding of His love, nor less an evidence of His complex person as God-man. How could He so time His supply of strength as to meet the dilemma at its very crisis! Did not His Deity make Him cognizant of the critical juncture in which His people were placed? And let it be mentioned that this operation is going on in every place and at every moment. And how could He meet that dilemma and speak a word in season to the weary unless His humanity was touched with the feeling of the infirmity? It is by this process of experience that we are brought into close views of the glory of our incarnate God. When He speaks through the ministry of the Word, or by the Word itself, to the believer who is wearied with conflict
and with trial, it has been just at the moment that its sustaining and consoling power was most needed. The eye that slumbers not nor sleeps was upon you. He knew in what furnace you were placed, and was there to temper the flame when it seemed the severest. He saw your frail bark struggling through the tempest, and He came to your rescue at the height of the storm. How has He proved this in seasons of difficulty and doubt! How often at a crisis or the most critical of your history has the Lord appeared for you! Your want has been supplied, your doubt has been solved, and your perplexity has been guided; He has delivered your soul from death, your eyes from tears, and your feet from falling. A word by Jesus, spoken in due season—how good is it!
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JULY 8
"For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."—Heb 13:14
The true believer in Jesus is a traveler. He is journeying to a city of habitation, to the mount of God, and, blessed be God, he will soon be there! The apostle Peter dedicates his pastoral letter to the "strangers scattered" abroad, the people of God dispersed over the face of the earth. Such is the church of Christ. It is sometimes incorrectly called "the visible church." The idea is
unscriptural. Visible churches there may be, but there is no visible church. The saints of God are "strangers and pilgrims" scattered abroad. They have no permanent abode, no certain resting place. The church is in the wilderness, journeying through it. The present is called the "time of our sojourning." We are but wayfarers at an inn, abiding only for a night. Here we have no abiding city; we are strangers and sojourners as all our fathers were. But this, beloved, is the reconciling, animating thought: we are journeying to the mount of God. We are on our way to the good land which the Lord our God has promised us, to the kingdom and the mansion which Jesus has gone to take possession of and to prepare for us. In a word—and this image is the climax of the blissful prospect—we are hastening to our "Father's house," the home of the whole family in heaven and in earth, the residence of Christ, the dwellingplace of God. Each believer in Jesus is journeying to this. The road is difficult; the desert is tedious and sometimes perilous from its smoothness, or painful from it roughness; its confinement now wearying, its intricacy now embarrassing. But who will complain of the path that conducts him to his home? Who would yield to the sensation of fatigue when journeying to an eternal rest?
Much of the disquietude and repining of spirit peculiar to the pilgrimage of the saints arises from the faint conceptions that the mind forms of the coming glory. We think too faintly and too seldom of heaven. The eye is bent downwards, and seldom do we lift up our heads in prospect of the "redemption that draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28). And yet how much there is in the thought of glory, in the anticipation of heaven and its nature and associations, calculated to stimulate, cheer, and allure us onwards! It is the place where we shall be sinless; it is the residence where we shall see God; it is the mansion where we shall be housed with Christ; it is the home where we shall dwell with all the saints; it is the goal at which are collecting all the holy of earth, some of whom have quitted our embrace for its holier and happier regions, and whom we shall meet again.
Why, then, should we be cast down because of the way, lose sight of the glory that awaits us for one moment, or cease to strive for the fitness essential to its enjoyment? In a little while we shall be there. Oh, how short the journey! Then we shall realize, to their fullest extent, the beauty and the sweetness of the description so often read and pondered with tears of hope—"Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Heb 12:22-24). O my soul, wilt thou not stretch every nerve, endure every privation, and relinquish every weight, thus to reach this glorious mount of God?
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JULY 9
"But my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."—Phil 4:19
God has amply provided for all the needs of the Christian journey. The Lord Jesus being the believer's Way, all nourishment for the pilgrimage of the saints is laid up in Him. All supply of wisdom for the perplexing way, strength for the wearisome way, grace for the perilous way, and sympathy for the trying way, is in Jesus. In Him has the Father laid up the provision for the wilderness journey. And what storehouses of nourishment, both testifying of Jesus, are the word of God and the covenant of grace! How full, how rich and ample the supply! All the soul-establishing doctrines, all the sanctifying precepts, and all
the precious, comforting promises go to make up the nourishment for the wilderness journey. Sometimes the Lord brings us into the very heart of the wilderness just to prove to us how easily and how readily He can provide a table for us even there. And when all other resources are exhausted, all supply is cut off, and every spring of water is dried, then He opens the eye of our faith to see what His heart of love has prepared.
Are you, dear reader, sitting down to weep like Hagar, or to die like Elijah in the wilderness, desolate, weary, and exhausted? Oh, see what appropriate and ample nourishment thy God and Father has provided for thee. The Angel of the covenant touches thee with the right hand of His love, and bids thee rise and eat and drink, yea, to "drink abundantly." In the glorious gospel are "all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old," which the Lord hath laid up for His people. "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart" (Eccles 9:7), for all this storehouse of nourishment, this table of provision, is for thee. All the love that is in God's heart, grace that is in the Savior's nature, comfort that is in the Spirit's tenderness, sanctifying truths, free invitations, and precious promises which cluster in the gospel of Christ, all are thy sacred nourishment provided for the journey to the mount of
God. Listen to the voice of Jesus, saying to thee, as of old, "Come and dine."
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JULY 10
"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him."—Heb 7:25
What a witness is this to the power and readiness of Christ to save! This is the testimony of the Holy Ghost to the blessed Son of God. But He does more than this. He brings home the record with power to the soul. He writes the testimony on the heart. He converts the believing soul itself into a witness that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim 1:15).
And what a gospel is this for a poor sinner! It speaks of pardon, of acceptance, of peace, of full redemption here, and of unspeakable glory hereafter. It proclaims a Savior to the lost, a Redeemer to the captive, a Surety to the bankrupt, a Physician to the sick, a Friend to the needy, and an Advocate to the criminal. All that a self-ruined, sin-accused, law-condemned, justice-threatened, brokenhearted sinner wants, this glorious gospel of the blessed God provides. It reveals to the self-ruined sinner One in whom is his help (Hos 13:9). To the sin-accused, it reveals One who can take away all sin (1 John 1:7). To the law
condemned, it reveals One who saves from all condemnation (Rom 8:1). To the justice-threatened, it reveals One who is a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest (Isa 32:2). To the brokenhearted, it reveals One who bindeth up and healeth (Isa 61:1). That One is Jesus. Oh, name ever dear, ever sweet, ever precious, ever fragrant, ever healing to the poor in spirit!
What a witness, then, the Eternal Spirit bears for Jesus! He assures the believer that all he can possibly want is treasured up in Christ, that he has no cross but Christ can bear it, no sorrow but Christ can alleviate it, no corruption but Christ can subdue it, no guilt but Christ can remove it, no sin but Christ can pardon it, no want but Christ can supply it. Lift up your heads, ye poor, ye needy, ye disconsolate! Lift up your heads and rejoice that Christ is all to you, all you need in this vale of tears, all you need in the deepest sorrow, all you need under the heaviest affliction, all you need in sickness, all you will need in the hour of death and in the day of judgment. Yea, and Christ is in all, too. He is in all your salvation; He is in all your mercies; He is in all your trials; He is in all your consolations and in all your afflictions. What more can you want? What more do you desire? A Father who loves you as the apple of His eye; a full Savior to whom to go,
moment by moment; and a blessed indwelling, sanctifying, comforting Spirit, to reveal all to you, and to give you Himself, as the "earnest of your inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Eph 1:14). "Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord" (Ps 144:15).
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JULY 11
"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."—Gal 2:20
The life of Christ and the life of self cannot coexist in the same heart. If the one lives, the other dies. The sentence of death is written upon man's self when the Spirit of Christ enters his heart and quickens his soul with the life of God. "I live," he exclaims, "yet not I." What a striking and beautiful example of this have we in the life and labors of the apostle Paul! Does he speak of his ministry? What a renunciation of self appears! Lost in the greatness and grandeur of his theme, he exclaims, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord" (2 Cor 4:5). Again, "Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph 3:8). Does he refer to his office? What self-crucifixion! "I magnify mine office." In what way? Was it by
vaunting proclamations of its grandeur and legitimacy, its divine institution, or its solemn functions? Never!
Rather, he magnified his office by diminishing himself and exalting his Master. He was nothing, and even his office itself was comparatively nothing, that "Christ might be all in all." Does he speak of his gifts and labors? What absence of self! "I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Cor 15:9-10). Such was the religion of Paul. His Christianity was a self-denying, self-crucifying, self-renouncing Christianity. "I live, yet not I. I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I" (1 Cor 15:10). Oh, what a self-denying spirit was his!
But every truly spiritual man is a self-renouncing man. In the discipline of his own heart, beneath the cross of Jesus, and in the school of trial and temptation he has been taught in some degree, that if he lives, it is not he that lives, but that it is Christ that liveth in him. In all his own righteousness, duties, and doings, he
tramples on the great matter of justification; while with fruits of the Spirit, evidences of faith, and pulsations of the inner spiritual life, tending to authenticate and advance his sanctification, he desires to be "careful to maintain good works," that God in all things might be glorified.
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JULY 12
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."—1 Cor 15:10
We should be always careful to distinguish between the denial of self and the denial of the life of God within us. The most entire renunciation of ourselves, the most humiliating acknowledgment of our personal unworthiness, may comport with the strongest assurance and profession of Christ living in us. Self-denial does not necessarily involve grace-denial. It is the profoundest act of humility in a Christian man to acknowledge the grace of God in his soul. Never is there so real a crucifixion and never so entire a renunciation of self as when the heart, in its lowly but deep and grateful throbbings, acknowledges its indebtedness to sovereign grace and, in the fervor of its adoring love, summons the whole Church
to listen to its recital of the great things God hath done for it. "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul"(Ps 66:16).
Oh yes, it is a self-denying life. Listen to Job: "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). Listen to Isaiah: "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isa 6:5). Listen to the penitent publican: "God be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). Listen again to Paul: "I live, yet not I" (Gal 2:20). Thus does a sense of sin and a believing sight of Christ lay the soul low before God in self-renunciation and self-abhorrence.
Judge your spiritual condition, dear reader, by this characteristic of the inner life. Is it yours? Has there been this renunciation of your sinful self and of your righteous self? Has the Spirit of God emptied you? Has the grace of God humbled you? Has the life of God crucified you? Are you as one in whom Christ lives, walking humbly with God? Oh, it is the essence of vital godliness, it is the very life of true religion. If Christ is living in you, you are a humble soul. Pride never existed in the heart of Christ. His whole life was one act of the profoundest self-abasement. In the truest
and fullest sense of the emphatic declaration, "He humbled Himself." It is impossible, then, that He who was thus "meek and lowly in heart" can dwell in one whom "pride compasseth as a chain." "I live, yet not I" are two states of the renewed soul, as inseparable as any cause and effect. A humble and a self-denying Christ dwells only with a humble and a self-denying soul. If your gifts inflate you, if your position exalts you, if your usefulness engenders pride, if the honor and distinction which God or man has placed upon you has turned you aside from the simplicity of your walk and set you upon the work of self-seeking and self-advancement so that you are not meek and gentle, child-like, and Christ-like in spirit, be sure of this: you are either not a partaker of the life of Christ, or else that life is at a low ebb in your soul. Which of the two do you think is your real state?
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JULY 13
"I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."—John 17:4-5
His work being finished, the great atonement made, and salvation eternally secured for all the
covenant seed, it was proper that the Son of God should return back to glory. Heaven was His original and proper place. He was but a stranger and a sojourner here. His mission accomplished, earth, which had once attracted Him to its bosom, attracted Him no longer. As the field of His labors, the scene of His humiliation, and the theatre of His conflict, He had willingly bent His steps towards it. His labors now finished, His humiliation now passed, His battle now fought, and His victory won, He as readily hastened from all below. Oh, what stronger ties, what more powerful allurements, had earth than heaven for Jesus? All to Him had been toil and suffering, trial and sorrow. Wearisome had been His pilgrimage, laborious His life, humiliating its every scene, and painful its every incident. Creatures the best and the fondest had disappointed Him, sources of the most promising created good had failed Him, and the hour of His deepest necessity and woe found Him treading the winepress alone, forsaken by man, deserted by God! An atmosphere of sin had enveloped Him on every side; forms of suffering and pollution each moment flitted before His eye, and sounds of blasphemy and woe fell at each step upon His ear. At whatever point He turned, He saw His Father's name dishonored, His Spirit grieved, His own dignity
outraged, His teaching despised, His gospel rejected, and His authority trampled under foot by men swearing allegiance to another and a rival sovereign.
What greater, sweeter, and holier attractions, then, had earth than heaven for Jesus? His resurrection from the dead was His preparation for glory. Leaving the garments of mortality in the forsaken tomb, He wrapped around Him the robe of immortality and, poised upon the wing, awaited only the signal for His heavenly flight. All that now remained for Him to accomplish was to authenticate the fact of His risen life, place His church in a position to receive the promised Spirit, breathe His parting blessing, and then ascend to glory. Heaven was His home, loved and longed for! How sweet to Him were its recollections! How hallowed its associations, heightened by their contrast with the scene from which He was now retiring! No curse there; no sorrow there; no suffering there; no tears there; no indignity awaited Him there. All was one expanse of glory, all one Elysium of happiness! Bright was the landscape stretched before His view, redolent the breezes, and soft the music that floated from its fields and bowers.
But far above all the glory suggested by the most splendid material imagery rose, in spiritual
and surpassing grandeur, the seat, the altar, and the throne which, as Prophet, Priest, and King, He sighed to occupy. A more perfect investiture of Him in these offices, a more complete establishment of His mediatorial dominion, awaited Him. All power in heaven and on earth was to be placed in His hands, and all things were to be put in subjection under Him. All beings, from the loftiest angel in heaven to the lowest creature on earth, were to acknowledge His government, submit to His sovereignty, worship, and "crown Him Lord of all."
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JULY 14
"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."—1 John 2:1
The work of our Lord as Priest was twofold—atonement and intercession. The one He accomplished upon the cross, the other He now transacts upon the throne. "When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb 1:3). Under the law, the high priest took the blood after that he had slain the sacrifice, and, passing within the veil, sprinkled it on the mercy seat, so making intercession for the people. "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing" (Heb 9:8). "But, Christ being come, an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb 9:11-12). And what is He now doing? Presenting His own blood each moment before the mercy seat on behalf of His redeemed people! "He ever liveth to make intercession for us" (Heb 7:25). Oh, forget not this, dear saint of God! This is spoken for the comfort of the mourners in Zion, for those who, knowing the plague of their own hearts, and deploring its constant tendency to outbreak, are humbled in the dust with deep godly sorrow.
Look up! Does sin plead loud against you? The blood of Jesus pleads louder for you. Do your backslidings, rebellions, and iniquities, committed against so much light and love, call for vengeance? The blood of Jesus "speaketh better things." Does Satan stand at your right hand to accuse you? Your Advocate stands at God's right hand to plead for you. All hail, ye mourning souls, ye that smite on the breast, ye brokenhearted, ye contrite ones: "Who is he that condemneth! It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again;
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom 8:34). Jesus is a glorious and a successful Advocate. He has never lost a cause entrusted to His advocacy, and never will. He pleads powerfully, He pleads eloquently, He pleads prevalently, because He pleads on behalf of a people unspeakably dear to His heart, for whom He "loved not His own life unto the death," and presses His case, on the ground of His own most precious blood and accepted person, with His Father and their Father, His God and their God.
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JULY 15
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him."—1 John 4:9
"God is love" was the great truth Jesus came to make known. Hence God's love is clearly a revelation to man, rather than a discovery by man. Divine love was the last perfection of Deity to baffle the research of human wisdom. Other attributes might be dimly traced in creation. Some faint glimmerings of God's wisdom, power, and goodness might be seen in the "things which are made"; but how God could love sinners, could redeem and save sinners, was a question to which
nature's oracle returned no response. In the exercise of the vast powers with which his Creator has endowed him, man may discover everything but this. He sweeps the firmament above him with his glass, and a new star cluster of surpassing glory jumps before his view. He delves into the earth beneath him, and an ancient and long-lost city is untombed. He works on a problem, and science develops some new and startling wonder. But there is one discovery he cannot make, one wonder surpassing all wonders, the most marvelous and stupendous, that he cannot unravel. Nature, aiding him in all other researches, affords him no clue to this. The sunbeam paints it not upon the brilliant cloud; the glacier reflects it not from its dazzling brow; the valley's stream murmurs it not in its gentle music; it thunders not in the roar of ocean's billow; it sighs not in the evening's zephyr; it exhales not the opening flower. All nature is profoundly silent upon a theme so divine and strange, so vast and tender, as God's redeeming love to man.
But the Son, leaving the bosom of the Father, in which from eternity He had reposed, and which in the fullness of time He relinquished, has descended to our world to correct our apprehensions, to dislodge our doubts, to calm our fears, and to reassure our hopes with the certainty of
the wondrous fact that God is still mindful of man, and takes delight in man; that no revolt or alienation, no enmity or ingratitude, has turned away His heart from man; that He loves him still, and that loving, He "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Thus did He come, His Father's representative, to declare Him to man. And as He wrought His brilliant miracles of stupendous power, thus attesting the fact of His Godhead, and as He pronounced His discourses of infinite wisdom, thus unlocking the treasures of His grace, and as He traveled all laden with our sins to the cross, thus unsealing the fountain of His compassion, He could say to all who challenged the divinity of His mission, or who asked at His hands a vision of the Father, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14: 9), and "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).
Behold the mission of the Savior to our world! He has come to uplift the veil, and reveal the heart of God, that heart all throbbing with a love as infinite as His nature, as deathless as His being. He came not to inspire, but to reveal, the love of God. The atonement did not originate the Father's love, it expounded it; the love was already there. Sin had but beclouded its existence; rebellion had
but arrested its flow. Struggling and panting for a full, unrestrained expression, it could find no adequate outlet, no appropriate channel in its course to man, save in the surrender and sacrifice of its most costly and precious treasure. The Son of the Father must bleed and die before the love of the Father could embrace its object. And now, child of God, the veil is withdrawn, the thick cloud is blotted out, and your God stands before you all arrayed in ineffable love, His heart your divine pavilion, His bosom your sacred home. "The only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18).
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JULY 16
Precious and significant are the words of Jesus, the very same words that He spoke when on earth. Did those lips, glowing with more than a seraph's hallowed touch, into which grace without measure was poured, ever breathe a sentence more touching, more simple, or more significant than this, "Only believe"? Originally addressed to an afflicted parent who sought His compassion and His help on behalf of a little daughter lying at the point of death, they seem to be especially appropriate to every case of anxiety, of trial, and of need. Alas! How many such will scan this page;
how many a sigh will breathe over it, how many a tear will moisten it, how many a mournful glance will light upon it! Be it so; there comes back a voice of sympathy responding to each sad heart. Not man, but Jesus speaks: "Only believe."
In other words, "only trust." What is faith, but trust? What is believing in Jesus but trusting in Jesus? When Jesus says, "Only believe Me," He literally says, "Only trust Me." And what a natural, beautiful, soothing definition of the word faith is this! Many a volume has been written to explain the nature and illustrate the operation of faith, with the subject and the reader remaining as much mystified and perplexed as ever. But who can fail to comprehend the meaning of the good old word trust! Everyone can understand what this means. When, therefore, Jesus says, as He does to every individual who reads these words, "Only believe Me," He literally says, "Only trust Me." Thus He spoke to the anxious father who besought Him to come and heal his child: "Only believe; only trust My power, only trust My compassion, only trust My word; be not afraid, only trust Me." And thus He speaks to you, believer. Oh, for a heart to respond, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth"!
Trust implies, on our part, mystery and ignorance, danger and helplessness. How wrapped in
inscrutability, how shadowy and unreal, is all the future! As we attempt to penetrate the dark clouds, what strange forebodings steal over our spirits. Just at this juncture, Jesus approaches, and with address most winning, and in accents most gentle, speaks these words, "Only believe, only trust Me! Trust Me, who knows the end from the beginning; trust Me, who has all resources at My command; trust Me, whose love never changes, whose wisdom never misleads, whose word never fails, whose eye never slumbers nor sleeps—only trust Me!"
"Enough, my blessed Lord," my soul replies. "I will sit me down a loving child, a lowly disciple at Thy feet, and, indistinct and dreary as my future path may be, will learn from Thee how and where I may trust Thee all my journey through."
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JULY 17
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things."—Rom 8:32
How beautiful and conclusive the reasoning of the apostle! Arguing from the greater to the less, he proceeds to assure the believer of God's readiness to freely bestow all needful blessings. To this He stood pledged. The gift of His own Son, so freely and unreservedly bestowed, was the security and the channel of every other mercy. When
God gave His Son, the reconciliation had not actually been effected, justice had received no satisfaction, and the broken law no repair. Thus "God commended His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). If then, when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, will He freely give us all things?
"All things!" How comprehensive and grand! "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Pet 1:3). Holding the security in the hand of faith, you may repair to your heavenly Father, and ask for all that you need. God has bound Himself, so to speak, to withhold no good thing from you. He is pledged, and from that pledge to grant you all you need, He will never recede. What is your demand? Is it the Spirit to seal, to sanctify, to comfort you? Then draw near and ask the gift. "For if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13). Is it pardon? Then ask it. He who provided the sacrifice for sin, will He not freely bestow the forgiveness of sin? Is it grace? Having given you the Reservoir of grace, is He not as willing and "able to make all grace abound toward
you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work?" (2 Cor 9:8). Is it comfort? Having given you the Consolation of Israel, will He not prove to you the God of all comfort? Is your necessity temporal? Are your circumstances adverse? Filled with forebodings of approaching difficulty, the cruse of oil and the barrel of meal wasting, are you anxious and fearful? Take your temporal need to God. What! Will He bestow the higher blessings of grace, and withhold the inferior ones of providence? Never! Can you press to your believing heart the priceless, precious, unspeakable gift of His Son, and yet cherish in that heart the gloomy misgiving thought of God's unwillingness and inability to supply all you need?
"Freely give." God's gifts are both rich and gratuitous. He always bestows more, never less, than we ask. It would seem as though He could not open His hand to a poor comer, but it overflowed with a bounty worthy of Himself. Here are met all the objections to our coming which spring from our unworthiness, unfruitfulness, and unfaithfulness. Having nothing to pay, nothing in return is required. "Without money, and without price" (Isa 55:1). Free as the sunlight, free as the balmy air, free as the mountain stream, free as the heart of God can make it, is every blessing which He bestows. "He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom 8:32).
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JULY 18
"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit."—Rom 8:5
By this truth, let us test the reality of our religious profession. In this light, let us closely examine our Christian character and walk. What, reader, is the habitual and supreme bent of your mind? Is it that which is spiritual, or that which is carnal? Judge your preparation for death in the near view of its approaching solemnities. Decide upon your state for eternity in the rapid progress of its deepening shadows. Ascertain the real state of your case for the judgment in the certain arrival of its dread scrutiny. You have your mind either set upon the things of the flesh, or upon the things of the Spirit. You are either born again from above, or are groveling in things below. You are either sanctified, or you are unholy. You are for the Lord, or you are against Him. You are either Satan's slave or Christ's freeman. Which?
You inquire, "How may I know that I am of the Spirit?" We answer, by your producing the fruits of the Spirit. A broken heart for sin; a felt conviction of the hidden plague; an humble and a contrite
spirit; an utter rejection of a human righteousness; a simple, believing reception of the Lord Jesus; a breathing after divine conformity; these are evidences of a renewed and sanctified state. If these are yours in any degree, then you are of the Spirit.
But rest not here. Be exhorted to walk in the Spirit. Be not satisfied with having the question decided in your favor, or with just barely knowing that you have crossed the line that separates the regenerate from the unregenerate, death from life. Remain not where you are; go forward. Be not content with a low standard. Compare not your church with other churches, nor yourself with other Christians; nor measure yourself by yourself. Rather, fix your eye upon Christ; copy His example, imbibe His mind, and place yourself under the government of His Spirit. Strive to go forward! Endeavor to be always sowing to the Spirit. Be satisfied with the Lord's disposal of you. Study the divine art of contentment. Be convinced that what the Lord ordains is best. Covet but little of earthly good; and, as an old divine exhorts, "sail with a low gale." Lie low. The great secret of a holy and a happy life is contained in a small compass: walking humbly with God. In all failures in duty, in all shortcomings in practice, in all transactions with God, and in all dealings with man, remembering the innumerable traces
of imperfection and sin found upon all you do, deal frequently, closely, with the atoning blood. "Wash and be clean" (2 Kings 5:13).
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JULY 19
"We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ."—1 John 5:20
"I in them." Thus it is a mutual indwelling; Christ in us, and we in Christ. Here is our security. The believer is in Christ as Jacob was in the garment of the elder brother when Isaac kissed him, and he "smelled the smell of the raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed" (Gen 27:27). He is in Christ as the poor murderer was within the city of refuge when pursued by the avenger of blood who could not overtake and slay. He is in Christ as Noah was enclosed within the ark, with the heavens darkening above him and the waters heaving beneath him, yet with not a drop of the flood penetrating his vessel nor a blast of the storm disturbing the serenity of his spirit. How expressive are these Scriptural emblems of the perfect security of a believer in Christ! He is clothed with the garment of the Elder Brother, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is unto all and upon all them that believe. On that garment the Father's hands are placed;
in that robe the person of the believer is accepted; it is to God "as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed;" the blessing of the heavenly birthright is his, and for him there is no condemnation. Pursued by the avenger of blood and the threatenings of a condemning law, he has reached the city of refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. Fearful and trembling, yet believing and hoping, he has crossed the sacred threshold, and in an instant he is safe, and for him there is no condemnation. Fleeing from the gathering storm, the wrath which is to come, he has availed himself of the open door of the sacred ark, the crucified Savior; he has entered, God has shut him in, and for him there is no condemnation.
Yes, Christ Jesus is our sanctuary, beneath whose shadow we are safe. Christ Jesus is our strong tower, within whose embattlements no avenger can threaten. Christ Jesus is our hiding-place from the wind, and covert from the tempest; and not one drop of the wrath to come can fall upon the soul that is in Him. Oh, how completely accepted, and how perfectly secure, the sinner is in Christ Jesus! He feels he is saved on the basis of a law whose honor is vindicated; whose holiness is secured through the accomplishment of a righteous Sovereign; and whose glory of moral government is eternally and illustriously
exhibited through the mercy of a gracious God. Now is his head lifted up above his enemies round about him, for there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Reader, are you in Christ Jesus? Is this your condition?
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JULY 20
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."—Luke 13:5
This was the doctrine which our Lord preached, and so did His apostles when they declared, "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). No command, no duty, can be more distinctly, intelligently, and solemnly defined and urged than this. But the inquirer will ask, "What is repentance?" The reply is that it is that secret grace that lays the soul low before God, self-loathing, with sin abhorred, confessed, and forsaken. It is the abasement and humiliation of a man because of the sinfulness of his nature and the sins of his life before the holy, heart-searching Lord God. The more matured believer is now prone to look upon a broken and contrite spirit, flowing from a sight of the cross, as the most precious fruit found in his soul. No moments to him are so hallowed, so solemn, or so sweet, as those spent in bathing the Savior's feet with tears. There is indeed a bitterness in the grief which a
sense of sin produces, and this, of all other bitterness, is the greatest. He knows, from experience, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that he has forsaken the Lord his God. Nevertheless, there is a sweetness, an indescribable sweetness, which must be experienced to be understood, blended with the bitterness of a heart broken for sin, from a sight of the cross of the incarnate God. Oh, precious tears wept beneath that cross!
But how shall I portray the man that is of a humble and contrite spirit? He is one who truly knows the evil of sin, for he has felt it. He apprehends, in some degree, the holiness of God's character, and the spirituality of His law, for he has seen it. His views of himself have undergone a radical change. He no longer judges himself as others judge of him. They exalt him; he abases himself. They approve; he condemns. And in that very thing for which they most extol him, he is humbling himself in secret. While others are applauding actions, he is searching into motives; while they are extolling virtues, he is sifting principles; while they are weaving the garland for his brow, he, shut in alone with God, is covering himself with sackcloth and with ashes. Oh, precious fruit of a living branch of the true vine! Is it any wonder, then, that God should come and dwell with such a one in whom is found
something so good towards Him? Oh, no! He delights to see us in this posture and to mark a soul walking before Him in a conscious sense of its poverty, the eye drawing from the cross its most persuasive motives to a deep prostration of soul at His feet. Dear reader, to know what a sense of God's reconciling love is, to know how skillfully, tenderly, and effectually Jesus binds up and heals, thy spirit must be wounded and thy heart must be broken for sin. Oh, it is worth an ocean of tears to experience the loving gentleness of Christ's hand in drying them. Has God ever said of you, as He said of Ahab, "See how he humbleth himself before me?"(1 Kings 21:29). Search and ascertain if this good fruit is found in your soul.
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JULY 21
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities."—Rom 8:26
The word here rendered "helpeth" properly means to take part with. It implies not merely sympathy with, but a personal participation in our infirmity. The Spirit helps our infirmities by sharing them with us. Now take the general infirmities of the believer—infirmities which, unaided by another and a superior power, must crush and overwhelm—and trace the help thus afforded by the Spirit. We are taught to adore
the love of the Father, from whence each trickle of mercy has its rise. We delight to dwell on the love of the Son, through whose channel all redemption-blessing flows. And shall we overlook the love of the Holy Ghost? Shall we forget His comforts, His grace, His succoring? Forbid it, Thou eternal and blessed Spirit! Thy essential Deity, Thy personal subsistence, Thy tender love, Thy divine power, Thy efficacious grace, Thy sovereign mercy, Thy infinite patience, and Thy exquisite sympathy all demand our deepest love and awake our loftiest praise.
But how is this sympathy of the Spirit expressed? Seeing the soul bound with an infirmity, all His compassion is awakened. Approaching, He takes hold of the burden. Constrained by a love which no thought can conceive, moved by a tenderness no tongue can describe, He advances, and places the power of His Godhead beneath the pressure, and thus He helpeth our infirmity.
Doubt you this? We summon you as a witness to its truth. Why are you not a ruin and a wreck? Why has not your infirmity long since dethroned reason, and annihilated faith, and extinguished hope, and clad for the future with the pall of despair? Why have you ridden serene and secure upon the crest of the billow, smiling calmly upon the dark and yawning surges dashing and foaming
around you? Why have you, when your heart has been overwhelmed, found relief in a sigh, a tear, an uplifted glance, in one thought of God? Oh, it has been because the Spirit, all silent and invisible, was near to you, sympathizing, helping, bearing your infirmities, and because the power of His Deity was placed around you!
When you have staggered and turned pale, and have well nigh given up all for lost, resigning yourself to the broodings of despair, that Spirit has approached, all-loving and powerful, and helped, by sharing your infirmity. Some appropriate and precious promise has been sealed upon your heart; some clear and soothing view of Christ has been presented to your eye; some gentle whisper of love has breathed upon your ear; and you have been helped. The pressure has been lightened, the grief has been assuaged, the weakness has been strengthened, and you have risen superior to the infirmity that bowed you to the dust. Oh, it was the Spirit that helped you. Grieved, wounded, and slighted a thousand times over though He has been, receiving at your hands the unkindest requital for the tenderest love, yet when your infirmity bowed you to the earth, and the sword entered your soul, He drew near, forgetting all your base ingratitude, and administered wine to your dejected spirit and oil to your bleeding
wound, and placed beneath you the encircling arms of His everlasting love.
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JULY 22
"For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered."—Rom 8:26
The Holy Spirit is here represented in the character of a pleader or advocate for the saints. To form a vivid conception of this truth, we have but to imagine an anxious and embarrassed client prosecuting some important suit, or battling for his life in a court of justice. At his side stands his counselor, thoroughly acquainted with the nature of his case, and deeply versed in the bearings of the law. He is there to instruct the suppliant how to shape his course, with what arguments to support, with what pleas to urge, and with what words to clothe his suit. Such is the advocacy and such the aid of the Spirit in the matter of prayer. We stand in the presence of the Lord; it may be to protest against a deserved punishment, or to plead for a needed blessing. "We know not what we should pray for as we ought" (Rom 8:26). How shall we order our cause before the Great Judge? With what feelings, with what language, with what arguments shall we unburden
our heart, unveil our sorrow, confess our sin, and make known our request? How shall we overcome the remembrance of past ingratitude, the conviction of present guilt, the pressure of deep need, and the overwhelming sense of the divine Majesty? How shall we wake the heart to feeling, rouse the dull, sluggish emotions of the soul, recall the truant affections, and concentrate the mind upon the holy and awful engagement? But our counselor is there! "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us" (Rom 8:26).
How does the Spirit do this? He indicts the prayer. Think not that that spiritual petition, which breathed from your lips and rose as an incense cloud before the mercy seat, was other than the indicting of the Holy Ghost. He inspired that prayer, He created those desires, and He awoke those groanings. The form of your petition may have been ungraceful, your language simple, your sentences broken, your accents tremulous, yet there was an eloquence and a power in that prayer which reached the heart and moved the arm of God. It overcame the Angel of the Covenant. And whose eloquence and whose power was it? The interceding Spirit's.
The Spirit also teaches us what to pray for. Many and urgent as our wants are, we only accurately know them as the Spirit makes them known.
Alas! What profound ignorance of ourselves must we cherish, when we know not what we should ask God for as we ought! But the Spirit reveals our deep necessity; convinces us of our emptiness, poverty, and need; and teaches us what blessings to ask, what evils to deprecate, what mercies to implore.
He sympathizes, too, with our infirmity in prayer by portraying to our view the parental character of God. Sealing on our hearts a sense of adoption, he emboldens us to approach God with filial love and child-like confidence. He leads us to God as a Father.
Nor must we overlook the skill with which the Spirit enables us to urge the sinner's great plea in our approaches to God: the atoning blood of Jesus. This is no small part of the divine aid we receive in our infirmity. Satan, the accuser of the saints, even follows the believer to the throne of grace to confront and confound him there. When Joshua stood before the Angel of the Lord, Satan stood at his right hand to resist him. But the Spirit is there, too! He is there in the character and to discharge the office of the praying soul's Intercessor. He instructs the accused suppliant what arguments to use, what pleas to urge, and how to resist the devil. He strengthens the visual organ of the soul so that it clearly discerns the
blood upon the mercy seat within the veil, on which it fixes the eye in simple faith. Oh, it is the delight of the Spirit to take of the things of Jesus—His love, His work, His sympathy, His grace, His power—and show them to the soul prostrate in prayer before the throne of grace.
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JULY 23
"My soul cleaveth unto the dust."—Ps 119:25
Ah, how many whose eye scans this page may take up and breathe David's words. You feel a deadness, a dullness, and an earthliness in enjoyments, duties, and privileges in which your whole soul should be all life, all fervor, all love. You are low where you ought to be elevated; you grovel where you ought to soar; you cleave to the earth where you ought to be embracing the heavens. Your thoughts are low; your affections are low; your feelings are low; your spirits are low; and you seem almost ready to question the existence of the life of God in your soul. But even in this sad and depressed state, may there not be something cheering, encouraging, hopeful? There was evidently in David's: "My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me" (Ps 119:25). This was the cheering, encouraging, hopeful feature in the Psalmist's case: his breathing after the requickening of the divine life of his soul. Here was that which
marked him a man of God. It was a living man complaining of his deadness and breathing after more life. It was a heaven-born soul lamenting its earthliness and panting after more of heaven. It was a spiritual man mourning over his carnality and praying for more spirituality. It is not the prayer of one conscious of the low state of His soul, and yet satisfied with that state.
Perhaps no expression is more familiar to the ear, and no acknowledgment is more frequently on the lips of religious professors, than this. And yet where is the accompanying effort to rise above it? Where is the putting on of the armor? Where is the conflict? Where is the effort to emerge from the dust, to break away from the enthrallment and soar into a higher and purer region? Alas! Many from whose lips smoothly glides the humiliating confession still embrace the dust, seem to love the dust, and never stretch their pinions to rise above it.
But let us study closely this lesson of David's experience, that while deep lamentation filled his heart, and an honest confession breathed from his lips, there was also a breathing, a panting of soul, after a higher and a better state. He seemed to say, "Lord, I am prostrate, but I long to rise; I am fettered, but I struggle to be free; my soul cleaveth to the dust, but quicken thou me!"
Similar to this was the state of the church, so graphically depicted by Solomon in his Song: "I sleep, but my heart waketh" (Song 5:2).
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JULY 24
This prayer implies what, alas, is so needful in many: a re-conversion of soul. It is a putting of the Lord's hand a second time to the work of grace in the heart. "When thou art converted," said our Lord to Peter, "strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32). What! Had not Peter already been converted? Most truly. But, although a regenerate man, he had so relapsed in grace as to need a re-conversion. Our Lord's meaning, then, obviously is, "When thou art restored, recovered, quickened, then strengthen thy brethren."
How many religious professors stand in need of a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit! You, perhaps, my reader, are one. Where is the spiritual vigor you once displayed? Where is the spiritual joy you once possessed? Where is the unclouded hope you once indulged? Where is the humble walk with God you once maintained? Where is the fragrance that once breathed around you? Alas! Your soul cleaves to the dust and you need the reconverting grace, the renewed baptism of the Spirit.
"Quicken Thou me" is your prayer. A clearer manifestation of divine life in the soul is not the least blessing contained in this prayer for quickening.
How little realization enters into the religion of many! There is the full credence of the judgment to the truth, a conversing about religion, the ministry, and the church. But where is felt the realizing power, the earth-fading, heaven-attracting power of vital godliness into the soul?
Dear reader, the hour that will bring your religious profession, your religious creed, your religious notions, to the test is at hand; and the great question in that awful moment will be, "Am I ready to die? Have I in my soul the life of God? Am I born of the Spirit? Have I a living Christ in my now failing, dying heart?" But what a prayer is this in view of a scene and a scrutiny so solemn: "Quicken Thou me, Lord; quicken Thy work in my soul, and strengthen that which Thou hast wrought in me. The love that congeals, the faith that trembles, the hope that fluctuates, the joy that droops, do Thou inspire with new life, new energy, new power! It is of little moment what others think of me; Lord, Thou knowest my soul cleaveth to the dust. There is in my heart more of earth than of heaven; more of self than of Christ; more of the creature than of God. Thou knowest me in secret, how my grace wanes, how
my affections chill, how seldom my closet is visited, how much my Bible is neglected, how insipid to my taste the means of grace, and how irksome and vapid are all spiritual duties and privileges. Lord, stir up Thyself to the revivifying of my soul; quicken, oh, quicken Thou me in Thy ways. Enlarge my heart, that I may run the way of Thy commandments."
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JULY 25
"According to thy word."—Ps 119:25
The argument with which this holy petition is urged is most powerful and prevalent: according to the promise of the word, and the instrumentality of the word. Both are engaged to quicken the soul. The promise is most precious: "I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine" (Hos 14:4-5). God stands ready to fulfill in your holy and happy experience this precious promise to quicken and revive you, to shed the dews of His grace upon your soul, thus moistening and nourishing the roots, fibers, and fruits of the new and heavenly life within you. "I will be as the dew
unto Israel" (Hos 14:4). Christ is our dew; the dew of His love, the dew of His grace, the dew of His Spirit, is prepared, silent and unseen but effectual and vivifying, to fall upon the renewed powers of your nature, reviving the work of God in your soul.
But by the instrumentality of the word, the Lord quickens the soul. The word of Christ is spirit and life; therefore it is a quickening word. "This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath quickened me" (Ps 119:50). Again, "I will never forget thy precepts; for with them thou hast quickened me" (Ps 119:93). Therefore did Jesus pray to his Father in behalf of his Church, "Sanctify them through thy truth" (John 17:17). Thus does the Word quicken.
We are here constrained to suggest an inquiry: May not the prevalent decay of spiritual life in the church of God; the low standard of spirituality; the alarming growth of soul-destroying error; the startling discovery which some modern teachers appear to have stumbled upon, that doctrines which the church of Christ has ever received as revealed truth, councils have authorized, decretals have embodied, and the sanctified intellects of master-spirits have contended for and maintained, are not found in the Bible, but are the visionary dogma of a bygone age; we say, may not these
prevalent evils be mainly attributable to the contempt thrown upon the Word of God? We verily and solemnly believe it to be so. We need to be constantly reminded that the great regenerator and emancipator of the world is the Bible; that nothing short of this disturbs the spiritual death which universally prevails; and that nothing short of this will free the human mind from the shackles of error and superstition which enslave at this moment nearly two-thirds of the human race. This "sword of the Spirit"—like that of Goliath, there is none like it—has overcome popery and infidelity, and, unimpaired by the conflict, it is ready to overcome them yet again. Oh, that in this day of sad departure from the Word of God, we may rally round the Bible in closer and more united phalanx! Firm in the belief of its divinity, strong in the conviction of its strength, may we go forth in the great conflict of truth and error, wielding no weapon but the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph 6:17). In all our spiritual relapses, too, may the word of the Lord quicken us. May it, like a mighty lever, raise our soul from the dust to which it so much cleaves.
JULY 26
"Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law."—Ps 94:12
That there is a present partial understanding of God's will and ways concerning us we readily concede. We may, now and then, see an explanation for His conduct. The veil is just sufficiently lifted to reveal a portion of the "end of the Lord." He will make us acquainted with the evil which He corrects, with the backsliding which He chastens, with the temptation which He checks, and with the dangerous path around which He throws his hedge, so that we cannot escape. We see it, and we bless the hand outstretched to save. He will also cause us to be fruitful. We have mourned our leanness, confessed our barrenness, lamented the distance of our walk and the little glory we bring to His dear name, and, lo, the dresser of the vineyard has appeared to prune His sickly branch, "that it may bring forth more fruit." "By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin" (Isa 27:9).
The deeper teaching, and the result of the divine chastenings, has revealed to some extent the "end of the Lord" in His mysterious conduct. Oh, there is no school like God's school; for who teacheth like Him? God's highest school is the school of trial. All his true scholars have graduated
from this. "Who are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev 7:14). Ask each spiritually, deeply taught Christian where he attained his knowledge, and he will point you to God's great university—the school of trial.
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JULY 27
"Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."—John 13:7
Oh, that "hereafter"! What a solemn word to the ungodly! Is there, then, a hereafter? Jesus says there is; and I believe it, because He says it. That hereafter will be terrible to the man that dies in his sins. It will be a hereafter whose history will be written in mourning, lamentation, and woe. It had been better for thee, reader, living and dying impenitent and unbelieving, had you never been born, or had there been no hereafter. But there is a hereafter of woe to the sinner, as of bliss to the saint. "These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matt 25:46).
The position which the Christian shall occupy hereafter will be most favourable to a full and clear comprehension of all the mysteries of the
way. The clouds and darkness, emblems in our history of obscurity and distress, which now envelope God's throne and enshroud His government of the saints, will have passed away; the mist and fog will have vanished, and, breathing a purer atmosphere, and canopied by a brighter sky, the glorified saint will see every object, circumstance, incident, and step with an eye unobscured by a vapor, and unmoistened by a tear. "Now we know in part; then shall we know even as we are known" (1 Cor 13:9). And what shall we know? All the mysteries of providence. Things which had made us greatly grieve will be seen to have been causes of the greatest joy. Clouds of threatening, which appeared to us charged with the agent of destruction, will then unveil and reveal the love that they embosomed and concealed. All the mysteries of faith, too, will be known. "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Cor 13:12). The great mystery of godliness will develop and unfold its wonders. His everlasting love to His church, His choice of a people for Himself, His sovereign grace in calling them—all will shine forth with unclouded luster to the eternal praise of His great and holy name. Oh, what a perfect, harmonious, and glorious whole, from
first to last, will all His doings in providence and grace appear to the undimmed eye, the ravished gaze of His white-robed, palm-bearing church.
Many and holy are the lessons we may gather from this subject. The first is the lesson of deep humility. There are three steps in the Christian's life. The first is humility; the second is humility; the third is humility. In veiling His dealings, Jesus would hide pride from us. In leading the blind by a way that they do not know, He teaches them to confide in the knowledge, truth, and goodness of their divine escort, and that confidence is the calm unquestioning repose of faith.
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JULY 28
"Showing himself through the lattice."—Song 2:9
This is a clearer and more glorious discovery of Christ, inasmuch as it is the manifestation of Christ in the revealed word. Our Lord cares not to conceal Himself from His saints. He remembers that all their comeliness is through Him, that all their grace is in Him, that all their happiness is from Him; therefore, He delights to afford them every means and occasion of increasing their knowledge of Him and of perfecting their resemblance to Him. The "lattice" of His house is figurative of the doctrines, precepts, and
promises of His gospel. Through these, the Lord Jesus manifests Himself when we come to the study of the Word, not as self-sufficient teachers, but as sincere and humble learners, deeply conscious how little we really know, and thirsting to know more of God in Jesus. The Lord Jesus often shows Himself through these "lattices"—perhaps some type, or prophecy, or doctrine, or command—and we are instructed, sanctified, and blest. It is the loss of so many readers of the Bible that they do not search it for Christ. Men will study it with the view of increasing their knowledge of science and of philosophy, of poetry and of painting; but how few search it for Jesus!
And yet in knowing Him the spiritual mystery of all that God designed to communicate in the present world is unlocked. To know God is to comprehend all knowledge; God is only truly known as revealed in Jesus. Therefore, he who is experimentally acquainted with Jesus holds in his hand the key that unlocks the vast treasury of God's revealed mind and heart.
Oh, search for Christ in the lattice of the Word! The type foreshadows Him, the prophecy unfolds Him, the doctrine teaches Him, the precept speaks of Him, the promise leads to Him. Rejoice in the Word, but only as the wise men did in the star as it led them to Christ. The Word
of Christ is precious, but nothing more precious than Christ Himself and His formation of the soul. Rest not in the Word, but look through it to Christ. Blessed Lord, I would fain open this box of precious ointment of Thine own Word, that the fragrance of Thy grace and of Thy name might revive me. It is Thy Word, and not man's word, that can meet my case and satisfy my soul. Man can only direct me to Thee; Thy Word brings me to Thee. Thy servants can at best but bring Thee in Thy gospel to my heart; but Thy Spirit of truth brings Thee through the gospel into my heart. Oh, show Thyself to me in the gospel lattice of Thy Word, and I shall rejoice in finding Thee as one that hath found great spoil.
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JULY 29
"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?"—Song 8:5
Was ever a poor pilgrim more honored? Was ever a lonely traveler in better company? How can you be solitary or sorrowful, in peril, or suffer need, while you are journeying homewards in company with and leaning upon Jesus? But for what are you to lean upon your Beloved? You are to lean upon Jesus for your entire salvation. He is "made of God unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor 1:30);
and for each one of these inestimable blessings you are to depend daily upon Christ. Where can you lean for pardon, but upon the atoning blood of Jesus? Where can you lean for acceptance, but upon the justifying righteousness of Jesus? And where can you lean for sanctification, but upon the sin-subduing grace of Jesus? This leaning upon the Beloved, then, is a daily coming up out of ourselves in the great matter of our salvation, and resting in the finished work of Christ—more than that, in Christ Himself.
You are to lean upon the fullness of your Beloved. He is full and sufficient for all the wants of His people. A circumstance in your history cannot possibly occur, a necessity in your case cannot arise, in which you may not repair to the infinite fullness which the Father has laid up in Christ for His church in the wilderness. Why, then, seek in your poverty what can only be found in Christ's riches? Why look to your emptiness when you may repair to His fullness? "My grace is sufficient for thee"(2 Cor 12:9) is the cheering declaration with which Jesus meets every turn in your path, every crook in your lot, every want in your journey. Distrust then your own wisdom, look from your own self, and lean your entire weight upon the infinite fullness that is in Christ. The posture is expressive of conscious weakness
and deep self-distrust. Who is more feeble than a child of God? Taught the lesson of his weakness in the region of his own heart, and still learning it in his stumbling, falls, and mistakes, many and painful, in his self-inflicted wounds and dislocations, he is at length brought to feel that all his strength is outside of himself. He has the sentence of death in himself, that he should not trust in himself. "I am weak, yea, weakness itself," is his language; "I am as a reed shaken of the wind; I stumble at a feather; I tremble at an echo; I jump at my own shadow; the smallest difficulty impedes me; the least temptation overcomes me. How shall I ever fight my way through this mighty host, and reach in safety the world of bliss?"
By leaning daily, hourly, moment by moment, upon your Beloved for strength. Christ is the power of God, and He is the power of the children of God. Who can strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, but Jesus? In them that have no might He increaseth strength. When they are weak in themselves, then are they strong in Him. His declaration is, "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). Lean, then, upon Jesus for strength. He has strength for all your weakness; He can strengthen your faith, strengthen your hope, strengthen your courage, strengthen your patience, and strengthen your
heart for every burden, for every trial, and for every temptation. Lean upon Him; He loves to feel the pressure of your arm; He loves you to link your feebleness to His almightiness, to avail yourself of His grace. Thus leaning off yourself upon Christ, "as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut 33:25). In all your tremblings and sinkings, you will feel the encircling of His power. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut 33:27).
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JULY 30
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."—John 14:3
When heart and flesh are fast failing, and the trembling feet descend into the dark valley of the shadow of death, to whom shall we then look but unto Jesus? The world is now receding, and all creatures are fading upon the sight; one object alone remains, arresting and fixing the believer's eye: it is Jesus, the Savior. It is Immanuel, the Incarnate and now-present God. It is the Captain of our salvation, the Conqueror of death, and the Spoiler of the grave. It is our friend, our brother, our Joseph, our Joshua, loving and faithful, and present to the last. Jesus is there to confront death again, and vanquish it with his own weapons.
Jesus is there to remind His departing one that the grave can wear no gloom, and can boast of no victory, since He Himself passed through its portal, rose and revived, and lives for evermore.
Sick one, in your languishing, look to Jesus! Departing one, in your death-struggles, look to Jesus! Are you guilty? Jesus is righteous. Are you a sinner? Jesus is a Savior. Are you fearful, and do you tremble? The Shepherd of the flock is with you, and no one shall pluck His sheep out of His hands. How fully, how suitably, does the gospel now meet your case! In your bodily weakness and mental confusion, two truths are, perhaps, all that you can now dwell upon: your sinfulness and Christ's redemption; your emptiness and Christ's sufficiency. Enough! You need no more; God requires no more. In your felt weakness, in your conscious unworthiness, in the middle of the swelling of the cold waters, raise your eye and fix it upon Jesus, and all will be well. Do you not hear the words of your Savior calling you from the bright world of glory to which He bids you come, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away" (Song 2:10)? Believer, look to Him, lean upon Him, cleave to Him, labor for Him, suffer for Him, and, if need be, die for Him. Thus, love and trust, live and die, for "Jesus only. "
JULY 31
"Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child."—Ps 131:2
The first object from which our heavenly Father weans His child is himself. Of all idols, this he finds the hardest to abandon. When man in Paradise aspired to be as God, God was dethroned from his soul and the creature became as a deity to itself. From that moment, the idolatry of self has been the great and universal crime of our race, and will continue to be until Christ comes to restore all things. In the soul of the regenerate, divine grace has done much to dethrone this idol and to reinstate God. The work, however, is but partially accomplished. The dishonored and rejected rival is reluctant to relinquish his throne and yield to the supreme control and sway of another. There is much yet to be achieved before this indwelling and unconquered foe lays down his weapons in entire subjection to the will and the authority of the Savior whose throne and rights he has usurped.
Thus, much still lingers in the heart, which the Spirit has renewed and inhabits, of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-seeking, and self-love. From all this, our Father seeks to wean us. From our own wisdom, which is but folly; from our
own strength, which is but weakness; from our own wills, which are often as an uncurbed steed; from our own ways, which are crooked; from our own hearts, which are deceitful; from our own judgments, which are dark; from our own ends, which are narrow and selfish, He would wean and detach us, that our souls may get more and more back to their original center of repose—God Himself. In view of this mournful exhibition of fallen and corrupt self, how necessary the discipline of our heavenly Father that extorts from us the Psalmist's language, "Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother" (Ps 131:2). Self seemed to be our mother, the fruitful parent of so much in our plans and aims and spirit that was dishonoring to our God. From this He would gently and tenderly, but effectually, wean us, that we may learn to rely upon His wisdom, to repose in His strength, to consult His honor, and to seek His glory and smile, supremely and alone.
Oh, how effectually is this blessed state attained when God, by setting us aside in the season of solitude and sorrow, teaches us that He can do without us! We perhaps thought that our rank, our talents, our influence, or our very presence were essential to the advancement of His cause, and that some parts of it could not proceed
without us! The Lord knew otherwise. And so He laid His hand upon us, and withdrew us from the scene of our labors and duties, engagements and ambition, that He might hide pride from our hearts, the pride of self-importance. And oh, what a mighty attainment in the Christian life it is to be thus weaned from ourselves! Beloved, it forms the root of all other blessings. The moment we learn to cease from ourselves, from our own wisdom, and power, and importance, the Lord appears and takes us up. Then His wisdom is displayed, His power is put forth, His glory is developed, and His great name gets to itself all the praise. It was not until God had placed Moses in the cleft of the rock that His glory passed by. Moses must be hid, that God might be all.
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