vje5.^v^ %, %., 'k PRINCETON, N. J. ^//^/^sr^ a^UL^e.^ C/it ^^j^^t.,^ CA-tx^-t^-cj!^ / BV 4834 .T5 1875 Tholuck, August, 1799-1877. Hours of Christian devotion Shelf.... HOURS CHRISTIAN DEVOTION HOURS OF CHRISTIAN DEVOTION TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF a/tholuck, d.d. PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE ; COUNCILLOR OF THE SUPREME CONSISTORY, BY ROBERT MENZIES, D.D. SFXOND EDITION. NEW YORK : SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO 1875. • \ PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. INASMUCH as in the case of a devotional work, more than of any other, what is personal to the Author claims considera- tion, I take leave to communicate the following particulars : — For several years I had, in common with many others, felt the want of a sterling book of devotion — the product of our own times, and judiciously adapted to the prevailing wants; and I was surprised that, among the increasing number of works on the practice of Christianity, there appeared none calculated to be for the age in which we live what those of Thomas a Kempis and of John Arndt were for theirs. It is true that the Church still possesses the treasure bequeathed to her by those and other wit- nesses for the truth, who were masters of the art of speaking to the heart ; and that such sterling works of the olden time will never cease to sustain and foster vital Christianity, as long as the Bible continues to lay the foundation of it. At the same time, however, they do not by any means preclude the necessity of a work originating in the present day. For does not the difference between books of devotion and the Holy Scriptures consist in this, that the latter furnish the prolific seed of all the many and various developments of spiritual life, and consequently provide a fund of spiritual nourishment suited for all ages and all indivi- duals alike ; whereas a book of devotion delineates one particular form of it, modified by its own particular age, and by the peculi- arities of the individual author.^ Is there not, a connection be- tween the mode in which the religious life is at any time expressed and the then prevailing degree of culture ; and in consequence of this, do not different periods claim for a book of devotion a cor- responding difference in style .^ And even, although that point be overlooked, considering that there are at least a few models of excellence in form which continue classical for all ages, has not vi Preface to the First Edition. every age dangers and errors, discoveries and views, conflicts and afflictions, peculiarly its ov^n ? There can be no doubt, therefore, that beside the devotional books of bygone times a place on the shelf is due to more modern productions ; and v^ould not an A Kempis, a Tauler, and an Arndt, had they lived in the nineteenth century, have spoken with far greater power than they do to the hearts of the present generation ? The thought of labouring in this field of literature, however, was foreign to my mind until awakened by outward incidents. First of all, in the year 1826, when bowed down both in mind and body by long and severe indisposition, I began to write medita- tions on passages of Scripture chiefly with a view to my own consolation. The task was never finished. During my second visit to England, I received a fresh impulse by becoming ac- quainted with a work of which the plan appeared to me emi- nently suited for family worship. It contained select portions of sacred Scripture, chiefly of a practical tendency, and one for every day of the year. Short solutions of the difficulties were given for the purpose of promoting insight into the meaning of the Word. There was then appended a meditation upon the text, and finally a prayer embodying, as vows to God, the resolu- tions inspired by the subject. I still think that a devotional work executed according to such a plan is a real want of the Church of our native land still requiring to be supplied ; and I was stirred up repeatedly to think of composing a work of the sort. It was, however, the state of my eyesight, which for a length of time threatened to fail me, that proved the occasion of my writing the book which I now present to the Christian world. During the winter mornings and evenings I was prevented from pursuing my usual employments by candle-light, and it was then that, in quiet rumination, the plan of these ' Hours of Christian Devotion * was matured. At the time, the danger of being compelled to re- sign for several years, if not for ever, my vocation as professor, was constantly present to my mind ; and if a season of affliction is not in general the most unfavourable for the production of a religious work, I may be permitted to indulge good hopes of the success of the present one, as not only the original conception but also the subsequent execution of it occupied what were very grave hours of my life. On the other hand, I am well aware how much there is to weaken this expectation. The curse of the present age, which Preface to the First Edition. vii has proved the main hindrance to the production of a sterling work of Christian devotion, will not spare mme. The force of intuition, and with it of vital faith, is broken by the predominance of the reflective power, which lifts its voice not merely in the professor's chair, where it has a right to be heard, but even in the closet of prayer. It is the fatal worm which is perpetually gnawing at the faith of our times, and consuming its vigour. When I speak of reflection, I do not mean, as many may mis- apprehend, the doubts which may arise in individual minds. What I mean is, the habit of reflecting upon the reasonableness of faith which necessarily presupposes the positive existence of doubt. If, however, the true theologian be he who, after climb- ing the ladder of science to a height at which he has the un- clouded heaven in view, delights himself with gazing into it, and no longer thinks of the steps of the ladder save when employed in the friendly office of helping those at the foot to mount — if he, I say, be the true theologian, then certainly there is no better school for perfecting his education than that of affliction, for there he becomes practically confirmed in the article of faith, and has no leisure to look anywhere but above himself. Whether I have succeeded in supplying to any extent an existing want, time must decide. To myself it is a satisfaction to know that the work is not the product of reflection, but owes its origin to external induce- ments which were wholly unsolicited. For some time I could not make up my mind with regard to the plan. At first I hesitated whether to make it a work for family use or a devotional book of a more general character ; next, whether to adopt exclusively the form of meditation, and in that case, whether the meditation should adhere closely to the text, or take a wider range ; and finally, what arrangement would best answer the purpose in view. Hardly any of our books of devotion are methodically arranged. The casual contemplations which they deliver present themselves like flowers upon the meadow, to be plucked as any one likes. Something may perhaps be said in favour of this plan ; at any rate, such a lack of method is preferable to an excess of it, when obtained at the expense of freedom and liveliness. It may, however, be objected to such an unmethodical collection, that it is wholly inartistic; and, moreover, that there are arrangements by which certain advantages, intel- lectual as well as religious and moral, may be attained. I there- fore came to the resolution to give in these meditations a view of viii Preface to the First Edition. the Development of the Christian life on both its inward and out- ward sides. This further entailed that the book should be of a more general character, and also that it should take the form of meditations ; because for family worship, at which the whole household, including the servants, are present, this form is, in my opinion, less suitable than that which I have above described. By the plan which I have adopted I likewise hope to meet the wants of those who, at least, are not destitute of Christian feelings, but in whom these are not accompanied by a developed Christian intelligence. Bishop Mynster's book endeavours to combine edifi- cation with an exhaustive exposition of the doctrines as they are classed in systems of theology. My endeavour has been to do the same with regard to the doctrine of the Christian way of salvation. A rigid systematising is in general repugnant to my nature, and as my fondness for carving out of the raw material equals my aversion to \h^ process of gluing, I have not sacrificed freedom of expatiation to regularity of plan. Within the limits of the course taken by the work, as a whole, freedom and variety obtain. Most books of devotion are chargeable with monotony. That is a fault which I have endeavoured to avoid — or rather, to speak more correctly, it is a fault into which the peculiarity of my mind has prevented me from falling. In writing these meditations I have felt myself in my proper element much more than in the composi- tion of sermons, the traditional form of which imposes fetters under which my mind often sighs for freedom. I have also ven- tured to lay aside the language of the pulpit, and, in so far as the subject admitted, have adopted the style sometimes of Claudius, sometimes of Thomas k Kempis, sometimes of Tersteegen, and at others, and indeed most frequently, of Luther. To that dear father of our Church I have owed more than I can tell in the composition of this work. In converse with such a man of steel — so pithy a nature — in whom certain phases of the Christian life were exhibited in the most finished style (although differently gifted individuals have displayed it more perfectly in others), I always felt myself edified, elevated, and strengthened. His image, I confess, had for several years presented itself to me under a cloud, for I fixed my eye too exclusively upon the outbreaks of his vigorous nature, ere yet it had been subdued by the Spirit of the Lord ; and I felt myself inspired with purer sentiments of reverence for Calvin, whose mind was so well disciplined both in thinking and acting. But on resuming my study of Luther, when the Preface to the First Edition, • ix unction of faith and power consecrating his radically German character, the entire truthfulness of his being, and his wondrous childlike candour and naivete, once more unfolded themselves in their glory to my eye, I was constrained to turn to him again with the most entire and unmingled affection, and to exclaim. His foibles are so great only owing to the greatness of his virtues ! Poetry speaks to the heart in quite another dialect than prose. It was therefore my intention to introduce an abundance of choice extracts from our old hymns ; but it cost great labour to find them, and frequently I could not find at all such as I wished and re- quired ; I therefore spoke in the language of poetry myself. Very few of the verses dispersed throughout the work are by other authors. I am aware how much it thereby loses in pith and in ecclesiastical character ; but there has also been a gain in ori- ginality, which is no inconsiderable advantage for a devotional work. As for tone and language, I could have wished for the power of speaking with the tongue of a Luther or a Claudius to enable me to speak to all; but at least I have endeavoured to learn from these masters. The title chosen for the work will be disapproved by many. Some will wish not to be reminded in any way of the well-known "Stunden der Andacht;" others will at once perceive in it a sen- tence of condemnation of that widely-circulating work. The reason why this title was selected was simply in order that they who are pleased with the cooking of the food in the " Stunden der Andacht," but doubt of its wholesome and nutritive qualities, might be at once informed that there is something here which is intended to supply their wants. I am not of the number who, the moment they see that book in any person's hands, would snatch it away, as I am aware that in many cases it has fostered the seeds of good ; but I certainly consider much of what it contains to be pernicious, and, most pernicious of all, the abundant nourishment it supplies to the conceit of self-righteousness. Besides, in works of this sort much depends not only upon what ihty give, but like- wise and not less upon what they withhold. Now, what the "Aarau Stunden der Andacht" withholds is nothing less than what the Evangelical Church declares to be the only true way of salvation. The object proposed by the following meditations is to show what that way is. They claim to be an impartial and healthy portraiture of the Gospel life of faith, and in that respect are calculated to reconcile all such honest admirers of the former X Preface to the Seventh Edition. work as are courageous enough not to shrink from the pain of self- knowledge. There is an inexcusable want of conscience in the way in which some men are now calling others Mystics and Pie- tists, while they wish to have it believed that these sectarian nick- names do not strike with equal force the Evangelical Church (I except Dr Bretschneider, who has the merit of speaking out, and who represents Luther and Melanchthon as the ringleaders of the Pietists). I therefore call upon all who may publicly express an opinion of this work, and feel disposed to characterise it 2,spietis- tical, to show so much at least of a sense of justice as expressly to state whether and to what extent they find the delineation it con- tains of the Gospel life of faith to be morbid ; or whether, with Bretschneider, they denominate this form of piety pietistical, just because it does delineate what the life of faith is, according to the view of the Evangelical Church. Considering the blind party zeal of the opponents, and the reiterated acts of crying injustice which they commit, it were to be wished that none of them would enter the polemical field without seriously taking to heart the words of our Lord in Matthew, vii. 12. Such are the remarks with which I desire to preface these ' Hours of Christian Devotion.' May so much of divine truth as they contain find its way into the heart, and to God be the glory and the praise. A. THOLUCK. Halle, 29//? September 1839. PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. However little I could have expected it, I have had the gratifica- tion of emitting a sixth edition of this work, originally the fruit of hours of sorrow. It has been my endeavour to approximate the language to that simplicity, without which devotion can never reach its proper depth, more than was the case in the first edition. Since then many similar voices have been raised ; among them may this of mine still for a while retain its youth. A. THOLUCK. Halle, 25^/2 October 1859. AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION. IT is a gratification to me to see those Hours of Devotion translated into the English tongue, and presented to the nation by whom so many of my other works have already met with so kind a reception. The hindrance to an earlier trans- lation of the work, as I anticipated from the first, and have now learned as a fact, has been its peculiarly German char- acter. The texts of Scripture are cited and explained as they stand in Luther's version of the Bible ; numerous passages are quoted from the writings of that reformer, and of other godly German authors ; and a text is occasionally taken from the Apocrypha. Above all, however, I must here refer to the poetry prefixed as mottoes to the several meditations, and appended to them at the end. To meet this last obstacle, the translators of different countries have adopted different methods. The Swede has inserted hymns of his own Church ; the Dane poetry of his own making ; and the French trans- lator has omitted the poetry altogether, and generally abridged even the prose text. The esteemed friend who has executed this English translation has not allowed himself to be deterred by any of these difficulties, and, as it appears, has even van- xii Preface to English Translation. quished with some success the last of them — that, namely, presented by the poetry. I deem it of little importance that one of the parts of the book is not included in this translation ; ^ I hope that, in spite of that omission, it contains a kernel which may take root and grow up in the heart of the readers. I have had the satisfaction of finding in a remote Waldensian valley a pious soul to whom the book, even in the extremely abridged form of the French translation, had become a source of happiness and edification. The hope I entertain for it rests upon the fact, that in place of being composed, like other works of the kind, I believe I can say of it with truth that it was rather an effusion. It was the fruit of a mind which sought to reap good to the Church from hours of sorrow as well as of joy, for it originated in a season of heavy trial, when, owing to the weak- ness of my eyesight, I was prevented in the winter evenings from prosecuting my learned studies. Like the pious Ter- steegen, I then thought with myself : " If my God does not will as I do, I will as He does, and thus we always keep on friendly terms." I also sought to extract a gratification from those hours of bitter suffering by presenting to Christian souls a fruit of the heart in place of a labour of the head. And the Lord has been pleased to bless it, as I know by testimonies from the Churches of various countries which have reached me, and made me ashamed. I therefore indulge the hope, that in that Christian land, which above most others has been blessed with a riches of devotional books, this one also, in its own peculiar style, will find minds and hearts which will feel its attraction. It has a specialty adapted to the present reHgious wants of Britain ; for while it edifies it seeks to instruct^ and that "^ This refers to the twelve Meditations on the Fasts and Festivals. These form an independent work. Preface to English Translation. xiii on the practical duties of the Christian life. This, no doubt, it does exclusively upon the ground on which alone the fruits of life ever grow — I mean, the ground of faith. I have been young, but now am old — I have spent a whole lifetime in batding against infidelity with the weapons of apologetical science, — but I have become ever more and more convinced that the way to the heart does not lie through the head ; and that the only way to the conversion of the head lies through a converted heart, which already tastes the living fruits of the Gospel. A. THOLUCK. METRICAL PROGRAMME. I. GENERAL PART. I. If Wobz bt from txm MM^W i^isjointb, Its sole forrnbalion's mib^rmin^ir. MEDITATIONS. Oh happy who themselves condemn, . Faith proves a savingkpower to them ; And faith on Holy Scripture rests, Which, what God is, what man, attests 9-15 16-19 20-25 II. m)^zn gnit^ t^z ^zmi to f #©@ unseals, J^uU mang a flofocr its jd^arnt xzbzuh. Faithful and kind, a gardener here Labours from weeds the beds to clear ; While late and early dew in showers From heaven revives the drooping flowers : Though clouds at times the sky invest, In the cool shade some plants thrive best : . Inside the garden fairest shows. Yet to earth's ends its perfume throws ; And all life's ranks and handicrafts Partake the fragrance which it wafts ; 26-30 31-40 41-47 48-55 56-64 Metrical Programme, xv III. S^l^ongl^ soon \\t brigl^l \m^ fab^ anb bw, 1#^@ on sofon fijlbs can s^ea&w bwcrg. . 65-67 II. SPECIAL PART. THE CIRCLE OF HUMAN LIFE. Oh who will teach me, ere it fleets away, To make the most of life's brief winter day ? . . . 68, 69 Behold, the Church extends the hand of grace To help the pilgrim entering on the race ; And, ere the threatening storms obscure the sky, Yields him a refuge in her sanctuary :..... 70 That hand he holds until, in strength increased. The Master calls him to the holy feast. Where the new man receives congenial food, As died the old in the baptismal flood : . . . . 71, 72 Thus, trained by home and Church to meet the strife, In manhood's strength he takes the field of life ; And, first the wide and various scene explored. Selects some spot on which to serve the Lord : . . . 73 Next, that the hours of toil may sweetly glide, He calls the gentle helpmate to his side, .... 74 And labours on, till, old and weary grown. Kind death approaching, mows the veteran down : . . 75 Then meet the mourners round his silent grave, And God adore for the dear friend He gave : , . . 76 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 . We are the offspring of God. 2. Our days are few and full of trouble. 3. One thing is needful. 4. Teach us to number our days. 5. All of us have sinned. 6. I was shapen in iniquity. 7. In many things we offend. 8. Though I be unconscious of guilt, I am not therefore justified. 9. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 10. We are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 11. The Lord hath loved me with an everlasting love. 12. I obtained mercy, because I resisted ignorantly in unbelief 13. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 14. Faith is a new sense. 15. The heavens declare the glory of God. 16. The law of the Lord converteth souls. 17. Blessed is he who meditateth day and night in the law of the Lord. 18. I am not come to destroy the law or the prophets. 19. O Lord, how great are Thy works, and Thy thoughts are very deep. 20. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off. 21. He doeth according to His will. 22. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. 23. The Lord giveth every one according to his ways. 24. Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repent- ance. 25. The lot is cast into the lap, but the disposing thereof is of the Lord. 26. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 27. The vinedresser purges the vine. 28. He hath filled me with bitterness. Table of Contents, xvii ( 29. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. 30. Since I spake against my son, I do earnestly remember him still. 31. Before I was afflicted I went astray.' 32. Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 33. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. 34. Jesus withdrew Himself to pray. 35. The Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. 36. God is the chief good. 37. This is our confidence, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. 38. The Lord's Prayer. 39. I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 40. They continued steadfastly in fellowship. 41. How long halt ye between two opinions ? "^2. Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are under gi-ace. 43. I am formed out of the clay. 44. Thou didst hide Thy face and I was troubled. 45. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 46. The heart is deceitful above all things, who can know it ? 47. A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again ; but the wicked shall fall into mischief. 48. Abraham against hope believed in hope. 49. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircum- cision, but faith which worketh by love. 50. Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity. 51. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost ? 52. The love of money is the root of all evil. 53. Learn of me, for T am meek and lowly in heart. 54. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, 55. Put away lying, and speak every man truth with his neighbour. 56. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 57. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 58. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much. 59. There are many members, yet but one body. 60. Husband and wife are no more twain, but one flesh ; what, therefore, God hath joined, let not man put asunder. 61. Marriage is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. 62. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house ; thy children like olive-plants round thy table. 63. Suffer little children to come unto me. xviii Table of Contents. 64. He that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways shall save soul from death. 65. It .doth not yet appear what we shall be. 66. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. 67. The creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. THE CIRCLE OF HUMAN LIFE. 68. New- Year's Day. 69. A birthday. 70. Baptism. 71. Profession of faith. 72. The Lord's Supper. 73. Outset in life. 74. Marriage. 75. The evening of life. 76. The death of the Christian. I. ff fo&c h ixam itnt J 3^1 if bxspm^ir, fl» sole fflunbatbii's tinirammJ^. HOURS OF DEVOTION. 1. TOe are tl&e ©ttsptfng at (Sail. God's so;?, thou art, no doubt, but ah ! the one Who fled his Father's house, and was tindone. Acts, xvii. 28. " In Him we live, and move, and have our being ; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring." I AM the offspring of God, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. Of this consciousness — the con- sciousness that God is not afar off, but a God that is near — some trace, as I imagine, will be found in every human being not sophisticated by education or depraved by a life of sin. There must be something in our nature which connects us with the great Fountain of truth, goodness, and beauty; for otherwise how could we take delight in the true, the good, and the beautiful? The more simple and innocent a man is, the more vividly he feels that he is related to God, although into the nature of the relationship he has no clear insight. And this feeling must be rooted amazingly deep in the heart, for we hold it fast in spite of the misery and sin which abound in 4 I. We are the Offspring of God. the world, and which seem to give it the lie. I never could divest myself of the conviction that in this house of clay ^ there dwells a spirit whose native country is the other world. And to that other world the way is unobstructed. Angels still fly down from it, and bring messages to us here on earth. Yes, "God is a God at hand, and not afar off" from His creatures. 2 All this I have said to myself; and yet when I reflect upon the miseries of man's life, the fickleness and frailty of his heart, and the black wickedness which he is capable of com- mitting, I am far less inclined to wonder at those who, being destitute of the light of God's Word, doubt of their divine ex- traction, than at those who believe it. " Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down : he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." ^ Oh, how pathetically do these words, from an early age of the world, express the sentiment, which sug- gests itself far more readily to the mind of him who contem- plates the surface of human life than does the exclamation, " We are the offspring of God " ! Hear, too, how Luther de- scribes the human heart. " It is," he says, " like a ship at sea, tossed by tempests from the four quarters of the globe. On this side beat fear and anxiety about future misfortunes — on that, trouble and sorrow about present evil. Here pre- sumption and hope of prosperity to come inflate, there blow the gales of joy and confidence in present blessings." How, then, can this fleeting child of an hour, this slave of every passion, be the offspring of God? It is a riddle; who can solve it? So, indeed, may they exclaim who have not yet taken the divine Word to be the light of their feet. But, God be thanked ! I know the simple solution. Man is the son of God ; but he is the prodigal son, now sojourning ui a far country and feeding upon husks. 1 Job, X. 9; iv. 19. 2 jgj.. xxiii. 23. ^ Job, xiv. i, 2. I. IVe are the Offspring of God. 5 From God Himself I claim descent, of no mean lineage I ; Why then from heaven averted turns to earth my grovelling eye ? God lives and moves within me, sure that proves no vulgar birth ! And yet I live in bondage to the meanest things of earth. Read me this riddle : Yes, my child, thou art of God the son— That son who turned a prodigal, and fled and was undone. Yes, here too, as in so many other instances, Holy Scripture reconciles the contradictory, and justifies each of the conflict- ing feelings in the human heart. But if I am the prodigal son, surely my first and great concern should be to understand cor- rectly the miserable state to which I have been reduced. On this subject I must not allow myself to be dazzled by the re- collection of the primeval nobility of my nature. That recol- lection should at the most only serve to kindle aspiration in my heart. How comes it that so many, yielding to the seduc- tion of a foolish pride, disavow the debasing penury and wretchedness with which we are encompassed? They are like persons on whose ear some discord grates, but who persuade themselves that it is a concord, until at last they blunt their sense of hearing. Or they are like the unjust steward in the parable ; ^ being ashamed to beg^ they think it better to cheats at least themselves. I will not imitate them. No ; I acknow- ledge myself to be the prodigal, living in the far country, and feeding upon husks. The longing of my heart goes vehemently forth towards the land of spiritual freedom ; it is my true father- land, and He who has known a home will kiss no more The chain that binds him to a foreign shore. Yes, I too exclaim, " I am the offspring of God," but I do it with eyes suffused with tears ; for I perceive that the divine element within me is, contrary to its nature, thwarted, whereas of right it ought to reign. Man is the lost sheep once fed beneath the crook of the good Shepherd, and which then had sunshine and green pastures in abundance, but which has now 1 Luke, xvi. 3. 6 I. We are tJie Offspring of God. gone astray in the wilderness and fallen among thorns. He is the lost penny, stamped with the image of a great king, but which has been trodden in the dust till scarce a trace of the august features can any longer be discerned. ^ And yet the immortal life from God, which is in me, is merely overpowered by death, but not extinguished. A resurrection-germ survives amid the fatal slumber, and shoots and labours towards the sun. I am aware that evil has the might within me, but I am also aware that to good belongs the right. I have read how in the land of Japan there is both a temporal and a spiritual emperor, and that the former possesses all the power, but is every year obliged to pay homage to the latter. There is the same rela- tion between my sinful Adam and that divine image which even the Fall has not wholly obliterated from the soul of man. 2 So yearns the prodigal and all that is within him after that archetypal and supremely perfect Son, above whose head the heavens were once opened, and the voice exclaimed, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." For Him he pants, to loose his bonds, and restore afresh the features of the divine likeness. I still retain within me, like a faint remem- brance, a truth of God, which the apostle says was also " mani- fest in " the heathen, but was by them " held in unrighteous- ness ; " ^ but I am like one who dreams, and the truth does not take distinct shape before my eyes. We often say we know a name although at the moment we cannot call it to mind ; but let another come and utter the long-forgotten word and we recognise it at once. The same happens to us with respect to that truth from God in which we live, and move, and have our being, but which we are unable to recall. He who lay in the Father's bosom has uttered the word of it, and it too we recognise. Since then we see, what we never saw before, that we are prodigal sojis ; but at the same time we see the way which leads to our home. ^ Luke, XV. 8, 2 James, iii. 9. ^ Rom. i. 18, 32. 2. Otir Days are few and full of Trouble. The Soul. My God and Father ! I pant after Thee, and can 'no longer be satisfied with anything else. Thou art the source of my being, and, consequently, its end and aim. Wilt Thou know me again, all disfigured as I am ? The Lord. • Make Christ thy robe, and then thou shalt be known, If thou art His, for mine I will thee own. Thy high descent no heritage bestows ; He is my son, whose soul my image shows. 2. ©ur 19 ass are to antJ full of trouble. The roses grow on thorns, say I, The thorns on roses, you reply ; And to determijte which has hit The truth will tax a subtle wit ; Though sure it makes a difference vast, Which word stands first and which comes last. EccLus. xl. 1-4. " Great travail is created for every man, and an heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb till the day that they return to the mother of all things. Their imagina- tion of things to come, and the day of death, trouble their thoughts and cause fear of heart ; from him that sitteth on the throne of glory, unto him that is humbled in earth and ashes ; from him that weareth the purple and a crown, unto him that is clothed with a linen frock." 8 2. Our Days are few and full of Trouble, WHETHER there be more of joy or sorrow in human life is a question on which very different opinions are entertained. In answering it, many circumstances must be taken into account, and none more than the quantity of human misery which we admit within our observation. There was once an Eastern king who, desirous that his eye might never fall upon the wretchedness of his subjects, barred the entrance of his palace even to the light of the sun, and beneath the glitter of variegated lamps spent his days in jollity and mirth. And so might any one spend his days, could he be content to live by lamp-light, and contrive to exclude from his mind all that afflicts himself and others. That is what I cannot do. I survey the foes which, in countless hosts within us and without, wage war with human happiness. I reflect on the heaps of disappointed hopes that lie behind, and on the no less numerous fears of future evil which brood before, every member of our race. I learn from experience that there is scarce a family, scarce even a single individual, who is not burdened with some peculiar care, or wounded by some secret sorrow, according to the words of the poet — " In this vain world the days are not all fair — To suffer is the work we have to do ; And every one has got a cross to bear, And every one some secret heart-ache too." I think upon the sufferings which men inflict upon each other, and upon all the heavy strokes which they receive from the hand of God ; and when I then direct my view to what they usually consider the compensation — I mean their so-called pleasures and enjoyments — it always appears to me as if the thousands who exult over the rich delights of life were wilfully cherishing a delusion which, in a sober mood, and had they but leisure to be alone, would vanish, and give place to the confes- sion that they were not happy. And when I further reflect on the kind of consolation with which they try to sweeten the bit- terness of life and death — those paltry schoolboy rhymes, by 2. Our Days are few and full of Trouble. 9 which they fain would sing to rest their hearts that will not rest, such as — •• Taste life's glad moments, While the wasting taper glows ; " or, " Begone, dull care ! " and many of the same sort — O children ! I exclaim, was ever a conflagration stamped out with the foot, or a falling ava- lanche arrested by the hand ? Of a truth, no clear-sighted man can doubt for a moment that this earth, on which hours of tame pleasure must needs be drowned in weeks of bitter anguish, is no longer a paradise. Deny it if you can, ye who involuntarily pay homage to the truth and are constrained to sing — Where grows the rose that has no thorn ? My child, I cannot tell ; No rose e'er blossomed here on earth, That had not thorns as well. Nay, have not even the sages of the Gentile world sung to us " That every good vouchsafed to mortals is accompanied by two sorrows"? and as for the attempt to calm the troubled heart by alleging that without the thorns the roses would give us no pleasure, I never could persuade myself that that was true. For how comes it, then, that we dream of a hereafter where the roses have no thorns, and where the garlands never wither ? If the light could not gladden the heart of man with- out its attendant shadow, the shadow of this earth would neces- sarily stretch across into the land of the blessed. No : others may pass over the tears and shadows of this earthly life unconcerned — I cannot. Without belying my in- most convictions, I must assent to the words of the son of Sirach, that " Great travail is created for every man, and an heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb till the day that they return to 10 2. Oui^ Days are few and full of Trouble. the mother of all things." I must admit that the same heavy yoke weighs upon him " that weareth the purple and a crown," as upon him " that is clothed with a linen frock." For though earthly misery, like sin, takes various shapes, not without reason did the ancients give wings to Care, for it is present in every place. And I know of no key to the deep wretchedness of Adam's race save that which the Scriptures supply, when they tell us that the thistles and thorns first entered the earth with sin^ and shall never be wholly extirpated save in that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness?- No doubt this is a truth which it is very hard to confess. Admit it ; and then every thorn upon the flowers of earth has a spiritual and unseen sting which wounds more sharply than that which pierces from without. And then, too, every thorn becomes to us a preacher of repent- ance. Oh, how deep a humiliation this is, and how revolting to the flesh ! Are the cares which infest the earth already so many and bitter; and yet must I feel in every one of them the additional sting of sin? It is even so; but in the very fact that so it is, behold, O man, the badge of thy nobility ! Here is a proof that misery and pain, the crown of thorns and the bitter cross, appertain no more to thee than they did to thy Saviour. Our sufl"ering is our bondage; and when "the glorious liberty of the children of God shall come," ^ they shall also be relieved from the thorny crown and the bitter cross. We shall then have grown to full age : for the present we are minors, and need the rod. " It is a good thing," says the prophet, " for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." ^ The days of our life on earth are to us all a time of youth. And though " no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." * Yes : afterwards that peaceable fruit of righteousness shall we likewise reap. 1 2 Peter, iii. 13 ; Rev. xxi. i. ^ Rom. viii. 21. •^ Lam. iii. 27. ^ Heb. xii. 11. 2. Our Days are few and full of Trouble. 1 1 And all the less can we avoid being humbled under tribu- lation, in respect that the heaviest strokes which fall upon us are those inflicted by our fellow-men. " Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, and let me not fall into the hand of men," ^ was the prayer of the saints of old. Strokes of that sort serve to remind me of my own sin. Even the son of Sirach, in describing the misery of life, speaks of " anger, zeal, envy, contradiction, and variance ; " and these, in fact, are the chief of the stripes with which man scourges his brother. But if earthly aflliction of every sort makes us long for " an appeaser of all strife," much more does f/iis ! It is a perpetual dis- course upon the theme, how greatly we stand in need of a Prince of Peace to reign over us. When I think what must have become of me if I had passed all my life without having ever felt the weight of the divine hand, I shudder. Oh, how much good tribulation has done me ! HoAv it has rooted up the weeds and lopped off the rank shoots of sin in my nature ; and how, beneath its in- fluence, has my longing after a Saviour grown more and more intense ! And when I further reflect how forgetful of God men are even now, overwhelmed although they be with so vast an ocean of tribulation and misery, I scarcely venture to figure to myself what they must have been without it. Would they ever have thought at all of an appeaser of discord, seeing that even in their present state they imagine they can dispense with His help? O Lord, I refuse not Thy correction, for it is just : withhold not Thou from me Thy strokes; they are full of love and goodness. My soul is well pleased that Thou hast beset the ways of men with thorns. Oh, may all the thorns of earth fulfil their end, and discourse to me of the great heart-ache which sin has brought upon humanity! O Lord, we have merited this so bitter wrath of Thine, for great has been our transgression. But Thou hast proclaimicd that "Whoso con- fesseth his sins and forsaketh them shall have mercy ; " ^ and 1 Ecclus. ii. i8 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. ^ Prov. xxviii. 13. 12 3- One Thing is needful. as I now confess my sins unto Thee, oh let me obtain the mercy which Thou hast promised. The Soul. Where can the rose that has no thorn be found ? Not on this earth of ours ; But, tell me, shall earth s roses always wound The hand that plucks the flowers ? The Lord. I gave the rose at first a harmless boon, The thorns are thine alone ; But ponder well the truth they teach, and soon Their pain will all be gone. ©ne 2E]&mg is neetiful. Men blindly trifle this brief life away. As thoughtless children treat their toys at play, Which, prized at first, theti spoilt, they cast aside As ebbs the fit of fancy, like the tide. We live without an aim, nor heed at all The strict account for which the Judge will call. Yet if the creature with his God contend. Can any question how the strife must end ? Luke, x. 41, 42. "And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things ; but one thing is needful : and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her." THERE is nothing which more clearly shows the deceit- fulness of sin, than the fact that men so seldom inquire for what purpose they have come into the world. Sometimes, 3- One Thing is needful. 13 no doubt, we do hear persons who would not be thought totally devoid of Christianity, saying to themselves, " I must work while it is day," — as if all depended upon the working, and nothing upon the nature of the work. He who carries on some of the homelier trades of life seems likely to arrive at the conviction that, in and of itself, his occupation can never be the chief end and object of his existence, far sooner than he whose employment is of a higher kind. The Lord has told us that man was not made even for so external a work as keepi?tg the Sabbath ; ^ and far less, methinks, can he have been made to keep a shop, or hew wood, or exercise any common handi- craft. These are all a mere Martha's service. But oh how fatally does the deceitfulness of sin make sport of the men who cultivate learning and science and art ! These things have quite a spiritual aspect, and the pursuit of them appears a high and noble vocation. Nor does one in ten of those who embrace it consider that, unless he make the love and glory of God his beginning and end, labour in the fields of literature and science is as much a bondage and a thraldom as that of the hind at the plough. Ah ! then no more across the main For truth and wisdom fly ; By love alone can souls obtain Worth and nobility. In like manner, on the other hand, the humblest handicraft, when exercised from love to God and for His sake, becomes a lofty spiritual function. According to the words of Luther — " No holier work the priest performs, Than when in faith, to sweep the room. The Christian housemaid plies her broom." History speaks to us of earnest 7nen, who,' from their first outset on the path of life, felt themselves secretly constrained to inquire where the path would lead them. They could not 1 Mark, ii. 27. 14 3- One Thing is needful. but wonder at others who, though confessing themselves to be travellers, could yet tarry at the inns by the wayside, and trifle away their time, instead of hastening forward and pre- paring for the place destined to be their abode for ever. But oh how seldom are such characters to be found ! The world ought justly to marvel at the man who makes no inquiry about his Maker or his Maker's will, as at something unnatural; whereas it almost seems to be the world's opinion that he is the monster who takes it into his head to be seriously con- cerned about any such matter. And yet the Being whom men thus forget is the God who made them ! But, while forgetting God, what a multitude of other things they trouble themselves about, especially in these days of sweet turmoil ! How impetuously they pursue a good which all the while they might find within their reach ! With what passionate ardour do many even of those who are above slak- ing their thirst at the marshes by the wayside, hunt in the fields of art and science for that sovereign balm which is to heal, and heal for ever, all the wounds of humanity ! How piteously they mourn the loss of any opportunity to admire some master- piece of art, as if they had trifled away the grace of God ; and how eagerly they grasp at every new discovery in science as if it were a draught that would wake the dead ! That science is good and art beautiful none can deny ; but alas ! until the wounds of the soul be healed, art and science only inflame, and cannot quench its thirst. Out upon the headlong impetuosity of men Who seek on ocean's boundless sands, But seek in vain, the pearl which 'scapes their eye, Hid in the refuge of some tiny shell ! Yes : not afar off have we to search for the pearl of great price — that pearl, to possess himself of which a man ought to sell all that he hath. The Son of God has bequeathed it to His Church ; and, since that day, wherever a church exists, there also is a market where the pearl may be purchased. Out 3- One Thing is needfnl. 1 5 upon the headlong impetuosity of mankind ! Oh, while with thankful heart I look forth from my refuge among the green pastures and the still waters, and behold the multitude rushing with such haste and clamour along, and always passing the goal, at which, if they but knew it, it is their wish to arrive, how I long to cry out to them — Why thus precipitate ? In your hot haste to reach you pass the gate ! Jesus, my Lord, truly dost Thou say that souls which, like Martha, labour only for this world's meat, are careful and troubled about many things, and that the better part is that which Mary chose ; for since I began to hunger for the meat of heaven, my carefulness and trouble are greatly subdued, and now are always mingled with some sense of peace ; whereas before, so long as I strove after earthly blessings and earthly wisdom alone, I was never free from restlessness and disquiet. But to the violent, who, with sword in hand, would make a conquest of Thee, Thou never yieldest. They only find who seek Thee with childlike hearts. The millions of sunbeams that warm and cherish us come all of them at once, but all so softly and silently down; and even so dost Thou de- sire to be sought — earnestly, indeed, but not with hot and boisterous haste. Dear Lord ! when Mary took her place at Thy feet, Thou didst sit down beside her; and to every soul that longs after Thee Thou wilt do the same. Thy only wish is to see us all at Thy feet like her. From the silence that reigns in Thy school, I used to think that life in a manner ceased when love to Thee began ; and, behold, I have found that '''■in loving Thee I first began to live." So long as I was out of the centre I roved around the whole circumference of creation, and had no rest. I found the centre in finding God, and I need to wander about for rest no more. True it is that avocations such as Martha's are also ap- pointed for us in this life ; and Thou Thyself, O Jesus, by Thy humble labours in the carpenter's shop, hast sanctified 1 6 3. One Thing is needful. all trades and handicrafts, thereby putting me to shame, and teaching me by Thy example to count no labour which life imposes, ignoble or unclean. A light in the centre illumines the whole circumference ; and even so, when there is grace in the heart, it radiates its brightness upon all man's outward employments. Martha, then, performs her service, but she does it with the mind of Mary. Holy Jesus ! doubtless Thy abour in the shop of Joseph was as much a worship as Thy prayers in the temple. It was ever Thy meat to do Thy heavenly Father's will, and with this hidden manna Thou wert regaled even when standing at the carpenter's bench. And the same hidden manna shall also be my food, whether in my workshop or at my desk, whether labouring in the fields or walking in the streets. In every work, however mean, Some touch of heaven we trace, If but the heart within have felt The influence of grace. And art and skill, beneath love's ray, Their choicest flowers and fruits display. O Lord, rich in grace, when Thou takest possession of the heart, how beautifully all the natural talents Thou hast lent us expand ! Beneath the sunny influence of Thy love even our secular employments thrive and prosper. Oh, if they but knew, how would the men who only strive for success in tem- poral affairs take to heart what Thy Word avers, that *' godli- ness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come " ! ^ And were our philosophers and artists thoroughly penetrated by the light and warmth of the Sun of grace, how would the arts and sciences of this earthly life flourish as they have never yet done ; and how much brighter would be the hue, and richer the fragrance, of the fruit they bore ! Yes, one thing is needful. Give me the one chief good, and, that possessed, I, in that one, will reUsh all the rest. 1 I Tim. iv. 8. 4. Teach its to niunber oitr Days. 1 7 All Thou pervadest, Lord, oh let Thy light Be shed upon my darkened sight ! As tender flowers their cups unfold, And open to the sunbeams hold, So let me too Still fondly do,— Imbibe Thy rays, And take the moulding of Thy grace. STeac]^ us to numiber our Jiags. There's nothing that we less can trust Tha7t life and all it gives ; Nothing more sure than that to dust Returns whatever lives. By every step in life's brief race. From life itself we part ; Joy dies within the heart apace, And with it dies the heart. I Cor. XV. 32. *' If after the manner of men ^ I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not ? let us eat and drink ; for to-morrow we die." 2 Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Psalm xc. 12. " So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." MAY it not be said of the vast majority of mankind that they live as if they imagined they were never to die ? And yet it is not so. The fact seems rather to be that, aware ^ I.e., without regard to the retribution of eternity. ^ This saying of a Greek, poet shows the view taken of life by many of the heathen who did not believe in the world to come. B 1 8 4. Teach us to number our Days. how short is the span that separates them from the confine at which they must surrender and bid adieu to all this earth has given them, they would fain enjoy life while it lasts. '' Death makes pale the face," is indeed a weighty truth ; but it fares no better than all other such weighty truths when committed to the power of man. If, in the hand of one, it becomes a staff on which he safely leans, in that of another it is transformed into a serpent. Does death indeed, he says, make pale the face ? '' Well, then, come on, let us enjoy the good things that are present ; and let us diligently use the creatures like as in youth. . . . Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds ere they be withered." ^ But what is this pale death, for on that all depends ? Is it the black wall at which the pilgrim halts, and — goes down? Is it the sleep which no dreams disturb ? Or is it the dark partition between us and the holy land? Is it the swift moment, the little bridge, on which the brief sleep of time encounters the long awakening of eternity? That black is the wall at which the days of our life terminate is denied by none. Well for him who can discern in it the little door through which the light of the day of judgment throws its purple rays ! Judging by what meets the eye, we might suppose that although the leaves of that door stand always open, the vast majority of mankind had never observed it. Like Belshazzar, they appear to sit at the banquet of life without one thought of the dark and silent hand which is all the while inscribing upon the wall, " Thou art weighed in the balance and found wantiftg." I am persuaded, however, that this is mere ap- pearance. I am confident that there is not a human being whose heart has not, some time or other, felt a presentiment of the terrors of judgment. No one believes that all is over at death, or at least believes it firmly and at all times. And will not what is to ensue thereafter merely resume the thread which was broken here ; and if so, will there be no accusers to 1 Wisdom of Solomon, ii, 6-8. 4- Teach ics to ntirnber our Days. 19 testify of hours misspent, of privileges abused, of places pro- faned, of debts unpaid, and hidden secrets of iniquity? If there be no presentiment of a day of judgment even in the heart of the thoughtless, whence comes their dread of being left alone ? This feeling admits of no explanation but the fact that even here on earth there are accusers which, in solitary hours, present to man his unpaid accounts. Or whence, if not from such a presentiment, come the resolutions which so many form, and repeat, and again repeat, to amend their lives and seek out new paths for their feet ? Oh that the ability were only as strong as the wish ! but At thirty man suspects himself a fool ; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan ; At fifty chides his impotent delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve- In all the magnanimity of thought, Resolves and re-resolves, and dies the same. It is true that serious thoughts like that of the day of judg- ment do not float upon the surface, and this may be the reason why many a one appears far less concerned than he really is. Let some man of God, however, push the probe deep into the thoughtless heart, and it is soon seen that he touches the quick. No one probably perceived from the countenance of Felix, the Roman governor, that any dread of eternity lingered in his greedy and voluptuous bosom. But if that had not been the case, why do we read that, " as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered. Go thy way for this time " ? ^ Yes ; without a doubt, in the deep despondency which creeps over us all at the thought of separation from the good things of this life, there is always some touch of the terrors of eternity. Begin the song of death to sing, That solemn parting strain ; Perhaps this very day may bring An end to all thy pain. 1 Acts, xxiv. 25. 20 4- Teach us to number our Days. Yes ; without a doubt, the awe which these words inspire springs not merely from sohcitude about what we leave behind, but likewise from anxiety about what awaits us before. No one can be happy in this present life unless he be assured of salva- tion in the life to come. In former days, when as yet I knew not in what I believed, it used deeply to affect and humble me, while composing long dissertations upon such questions as, Whether the soul is immortal, and what immortality is, — to hear beheving Christians speaking upon the subject as confidently as if they had just come from the heavenly land. This was nothing but the fulfilment of the promise, " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," and ^^ tasteth the powers or the world to come." ^ As for the man who has never yet made his peace with God, how can he possibly be happy in this life, seeing that every moment is conducting him farther and farther away from the place which contains all that gives pleasure to his heart ? Every tick of the clock, every particle of sand that drops in the hour-glass, proclaims that a fragment of his life, and, with it, of his fortitude and joy, is gone. Dost thou hear the low but mournful lay which the softly-falling grains never cease to sing? — Behold, O man ! and thee bethink How these, our Httle sands, that sink, Life's ebb proclaim. As one by one we steal away. So silently does fell decay Prey on thy frame. What though our course be still and slow ? No pause by day or night we know, But ever drop. And come there will an hour when all Are gone, and as the last shall fall Thy pulse shall stop. 1 John, iii. 36 ; Heb. vi. 5. 5- We are all alike Sinners, 21 O my soul ! is it indeed the case that no man can be happy in this Hfe without the assurance of salvation in the hfe to come ? Be it then thy endeavonr so to live as at the hour of death thou wilt wish to have lived. While time lasts, lay hold on eternity. Above all, lay hold on Him who has said, " Whosoever believeth on me hath everlasting life." 5. are all alike Smners. O God, in man the long-lost power renew Things of the Spirit to discern and do. Rom. iii. 22, 23. ''For there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." I HAVE never yet met the man who disputed the fact of his being a sinner ; but I have met with many who ad- mitted it, and yet lived on in the world as gaily as if it entailed 710 further conseque7ices. When I proceed to inquire how this can possibly be, it always strikes me, as the chief reason, that men do not give themselves leisure — to reflect. All around me appear to labour under an indescribable distraction of mind. I cannot otherwise account for the decided manner in which they admit many propositions, and yet do not draw from them the conclusio7is that are obviously manifest. Since the hour in which I first clearly apprehended the one truth that I a7n a si7i- 7ier — agaiTist God, I likewise perceived, as clearly, that there is no business in life so important as to recover His favour, and become His obedient child. Before that discovery, it always seemed to me as if my life had no proper aim. It was then that, for the first time, I became aware for what purpose I was living. No doubt I had a certain object, even before, but it 22 5' ^^ ^^'^ ^^^ alike Sinners. was one of which I felt ashamed, and therefore did not ac- knowledge even to myself. It was, in truth, to enjoy the things of this world, and to be honoured in the eyes of men. And to thousands at my side, although they too are ashamed to confess it, this is the sole wreath for which they strive. If, however, they would take time to reflect, the mere perceptions of the understanding w^ould show them the folly of their con- duct. For, supposing our joys and hopes to have their centre m this world, what a painful thought that we are every day withdrawing further away from it ! whereas, if eternity be our end and aim, how pleasing to think that to it we are every day advancing nearer ! When glory before men is what we seek, we must needs meet with perpetual disappointment. For will the envy of our brethren ever permit us to enjoy such glory un- extenuated, or will our vanity ever be satisfied with the meas- ure of it which they allot ? But men do not consider. And so we see them planting, and building, and toiling, and enjoy- ing themselves. Day after day comes and goes, and the one greatest and most urgent business of life remains undone. The chasm which separates man from his God is not filled up. We come short of the glory of God, says the Bible ; and what is that glory ? It is the glory of walking before Him as His children. In his blindness, man, indeed, claims for himself the privileges^ but he violates the duties, of a confiding and always submissive and obedient child. No doubt we hear one and another acknowledging that they are destitute of this glory, but they acknowledge it without shame, and this is just another in- stance of the fatal effects of not taking sufficient time to con- sider. For can anything be more natural than that the child who is constrained to confess a want of affection and obedience to his father, should at least feel ashamed when he makes the confession? Even to do that, however, is a great step. I have always found that a sinner is in a hopeful way who has learned to blush. The sinner's shame and grace of God Soon enter into brotherhood. 5- We are all alike Sinfters. 23 There is no difference, says the apostle. No doubt, what he means, in the first instance, is between Jews and Gentiles. It may likewise, however, be said of all that are born of woman, that there is no difference. However manifold may be the shapes which sin assumes among men, the attentive spectator who contemplates it, whether as existing among the savage children of nature or in polite society, among the old or the young, the learned or the unlearned, will find that it is always the same actor reappearing in different parts. I have made extensive observations upon mankind — I have mixed with all classes of society, and lived with the people of various coun- tries— but never yet have I found a man who had not his weak side. I was continually reminded of the saying of one of our philosophers, that for every Jmman being there is a price for which he may be bought. No doubt I have met with many a noble character, who, at the slightest motion of his weak side, in- stantly took arms against himself The weak side, however, was still there. It is an observation which, in my opinion, needs no very large experience to make, and which, I cannot doubt, any one who duly reflects, and deeply and earnestly searches the recesses of his own heart, must also admit, that man — that is, every human being — carries within him the seed oi every sin ; and this, I think, is the sense in which the apostle has said, " There is no differenced^ One thing especially, it appears to me, even the most stub- born must acknowledge — viz., that there is one moral infirmity common to the whole race. We are all extravaga?itly enam- oured of ourselves. As Luther says, " There is no hole too little for self-love to creep through." This is a weak side which no one who exercises any measure of self-reflection can disown. Take but a single instance. With what difficulty and reluc- tance we submit to have our frailties laid open ! How we in- stantly endeavour to ward off every attempt of this sort, even when made by persons whom we love ! Except those whom the Spirit of God had rendered humble and meek, I never met ' with any who could readily and cheerfully bear to be told their 24 5- We are all alike Sinners. faults. What more decisive sign can there be that we all la- bour under a sore distemper ? I have often cast in my mind what ought to be looked upon as the peculiar mark by which a Christian may be distinguished from a child of the world ; and I am persuaded that, far more than in anything else, it is to be found in the difference of the impression made upon him by the words sin and guilt. For myself, there was a time when I acknowledged that in some, yea, in many things, I came short in the sight of God, and yet I remained quite indifferent about the matter. I could also think with the utmost coolness and unconcern of the hour on which I shall have to appear before Him. I am acquainted with not a few who take no pains about their sanctification, and of whom I yet can conceive that, when they pass into the other world, they will approach the Judge of all as bodily and confi- dently as if they already held in their hands an order for the rewards of virtue : whereas believing Christians have received the privilege of childship, and yet how bashful and timid they remain ! Close to Thy throne I seek not, Lord, a place. Not even my wish aspires to venture there — Grant me but from afar to see Thy face. And at Thy threshold breathe my humble prayer ; And for so great and undeserved a grace. To one so vile as me, Thy name I'll praise. Assuredly that is the sentiment common to the redeemed. It is also mine ; for I am conscious how wholly I am destitute of the glory which I ought to have in the sight of God. My Lord and King, it is true that with Thee no boasting avails. There is, however, a praise and a glory which it be- hoves us to present to Thee. It is the glory of being Thy obedient children ; for when Thou mad'st us after Thine own image, that is what Thou mad'st us to be. Of this glory I confess that I am destitute. But look upon me in mercy, for I am heartily ashamed of my nakedness, and desire to be clothed with the righteousness of Thy Son. Oh, look upon me in mercy for His dear sake ! 6. / was shapen in Iniquity. 25 6. 31 toas sfjapen xxi 3iniquit2. Why dost thou still tip07i the branches gaze ? Believe me, child, 'twere not so bad a case, If all the mischief centred in the shoot, And did not issue from the root. Psalm li. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. — Verses 1-3. " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness : according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions : and my sin is ever before me." HOLY God, before the light of Thy grace had shone upon me, how foreign to me and far away was any earnest desire to have my transgressions blotted out ! But now, when conscious of the very slightest aberration from Thy precepts, how uneasily my heart beats ! I can find no rest, nor even think of amendment, until I have entered my closet and ac- knowledged to Thee my transgression. Yes ; vain is the attempt at amendme7it in the future, until amends have been made for what lies behind us in the past. Oh, this sensitive- ness of conscience ! which sees its sin continually before it, until it has been forgiven. Is not this the surest evidence that the Spirit of the Lord is at work upon the soul ? No doubt they denounce it as extravagance when even a little fault gives a man so deep distress. But what says the apostle James ? " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." ^ Is not the law with its precepts a body with its members, and each of them animated by the ^ James, ii. i o. 26 6. / was shapeii in Iniquity. same soul — viz., the Spirit of God ? Yes ; the divine com- mandments are all, as it were, suspended upon a golden thread, which thread is the love of God, and against the love of God does he offend who breaks the least of these commandments. Or, as Luther so beautifully says, ''T\\q first among the ten com- mandments contains the germ of all the rest." And does not the distinction drawn between great and little sins too often rest upon mere appearance ? Tell me, ye who pass so merci- less a judgment upon some one great transgression in a human life, have you had so little experience of the power which op portunity and an unguarded moment exercise over man ? On the other hand, who does not know that there are impious thoughts in the secresy of the closet, subtle sins of pride which can raise a greater barrier between God and man than the worst sins of the flesh ? Was not Luther right when he said that " the l>lack devil is often less dangerous than the white one " ? In fleshly lust there is always more of sensuous pas- "^ sion and less of deliberate consciousness than in spiritual iniqui- ties. I have more than once observed that truly pure and holy souls who would have trembled at even the faintest breath upon the mirror of their own hearts, were easily reconciled to the pardon of a David and a Magdalene. The murmurs came from the gross slaves of vice. Oh, little do such persons understand the mystery of penitential tears ! And no less is the compass and the depth of the domain oistibtle sins hidden from their view. I am persuaded that no one who has actually made this observation, will hesitate for a moment to take his ■^ seat on the same penitential bench with David the fallen king, the malefactor, and the Magdalene. Verse 4. '' Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight : that Thou mightest be justi- fied when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest." Against Thee, Thee oitly, have I sinned, is a weighty word, and may be called the true mystery of repentance. In the 6. / was shapen in Iniquity. 27 case of the benefits which we receive from men, we so often look no further than the persons from whom we receive them, in place of carrying forward our thoughts to the supreme bene- factor whose ministers men are. We act in precisely the same way with our sins. All we think of is the harm which we thereby do to this person or to that, or to ourselves. But, as we have said, there runs a golden thread through all the com- mandments of God, and for that reason every trespass is an offence against His love. The little concern men show about their evil deeds, their unwillingness to take them to heart, must partly, at least, have its origin in their unconsciousness that by every sin they distress their greatest benefactor. Were they aware of this, their chief anxiety would be to obtain forgiveness from Him whom their trespasses most offend. Nor would they less acknowledge the righteousness of a holy God in His judgment upon sin, for they would then see in it more of its true sinfulness. Verse 5. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." It is with me as with the Psalmist, the contemplation of each particular transgression always leads me back to the fact that not only are my actions sinful, but that /am 77iyself d. sinner. Luther says that "good works do not make a man good." May not the like also be said of evil works ? He who attains to a true self-knowledge always feels that the real sting of every misdeed is, that it shows him to himself as one toVhom holi- ness and truth are not supremely dear. When the law of God says, "Thou shalt not kill," it is not my ha7id\ki2X is directly addressed, but myself and my person. It is therefore his inward bias, inclining either towards God or towards that v/hich is un- godly, according to which a man is accepted or rejected. Such a bias King David feels in his heart, and he does not seek to excuse it on the plea that it is innate. No; his self-condemna- tion derives all the greater strictness from the consciousness 28 6. / was shapen in Iniqtdty. that at the stem, yea, the very root, of his spiritual life, sin has been gnawing. It is humanity that has fallen ; and how should not every human being lament the fall ! Oh, how difficult it is for sinful man to come down from the leaves zxi^ fruits of his sin to the knowledge of its stem and root ! not that this knowledge lies afar off; but pride prevents us attaining to it. Justly does Luther say, that this is the most difficult lesson of the Psalm, yea, of the whole sacred Scrip- tures, and one without which the sacred Scriptures cannot possibly be understood. Such, also, is the persuasion of the Psalmist, for he says : — Verse 6. " Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts : and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom." He acknowledges that it is the Spirit of God which has inwardly led him to the discovery of his sinfulness in all its depth. And he who has experienced how long the proud heart revolts against such a recognition will readily confess that — Unaided by Thy beams, eternal Light, To know myself was far above my might. All amendment, however, must begin with self-acquaintance; and however bitter of itself this hidden truth may be, it is nevertheless grateful to one who cannot bear hypocrisy and falsehood. Painful, also, as to any of us may be an insight into the depth of our corruption, it yet has also a pleasant side. It is always a sign that God is dealing with us, and that the Spirit which reproves the world of sin has taken up His abode in our hearts. Verses 7-10. '' Purge me with hyssop,^ and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness ; that the bones which Thou hast 1 Levit. xiv. 6. 6. / ivas shapen iii Iniquity. 29 broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me." If it be difficult to attain to a U'lithftd insight ijito our corrup- tion, far more difficult is it, after this insight has been attained, to summon up courage enough to enter the presence of God, and ask Him to forgive us our si?is. The second is doubtless the hardest part of the task. St Bernard says, " The devil does man a double injury; before the act of sin he robs him of shame, and when the moment for believing comes, he unseason- ably gives it back." And another father of the Church exclaims — " Oh, how bad a servant is shame i7t a beggar's house!" Is not this the thing which they who have no experience of it find to be so incomprehensible — viz., that Christians on the one hand think their sin and guilt so great, and at the same time, on the other, have such high thoughts of grace ? But suppos- ing the case that a man after being so deeply humbled really attains to the unflinching belief that he has obtained mercy, oh then, sooner might the earth remain parched beneath the thunder-shower, than that such a man should not bring forth meet fruits of gratitude and love. No : the apostle speaks of faith purifying the heart ; ^ and even so, in fact, does forgive- ness of sin make the sinner's heart pure. The right spirit is renewed within him, so that he advances steadily in the path of holiness. When St Paul says that " all things must work to- gether for good to them that love God," the word all may be held to include even sin. For does not every new absolution received after the new transgression cut as it were a deeper furrow in the heart, and secure a more favourable bed for the seed of the divine Word? Therefore thus do I also pray — Dead are our hearts, those hearts that Thine distress, Beloved Lord, with sorrows numberless ; And since, forgiveness only can revive The heart that's dead, do Thou my sins forgive. 1 Acts, XV. 9. 30 7- ^^^ many Things we offend. Cause but one drop of Thy sweet grace to flow, And oh, what beauteous flowers responsive grow ! Vouchsafe this boon, for, Lord, I deeply feel. No balm hni grace for grace my heart can heal. l> In mang ^Tj^m^s iBe offcntJ. A foul disease i7ifects humanity. From which One only of the race was free. John, viii. 46, 29 ; v. 30. " Which of you convinceth me of sin?" " And He that sent me is with me : the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him." " I can of mine own self do nothing : as I hear, I judge : and my judgment is just ; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." THERE can be no stronger testimony to the fact that human nature is deeply fallen, than to find, as we do, that in the several thousand years during which the world has been standing, and among the eight hundred millions of men who every thirty years die and are replaced by new births, there has been but one who could say with truth, " Which of you convinceth me of sin?" " I do always those things that please the Father." Men are very vain ; they are so fond of saying about themselves more than what is true, and yet not one of them has ventured to say that. How plainly, then, must our very eyesight teach us the contrary ! And how de- cidedly does our Lord, by this one saying, step out from the ranks of His brethren ! When one of us begins to amend his ways, the mark by which this is always known is the readiness 7. In many Things we offend. 3 1 with which he confesses how bad is his case. The holy- apostles themselves do not conceal that they still continued sinners. St Paul writes, " Not as though I had already at- tained, either were already perfect ; but I follow after." ^ A John declares, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ^ And a James con- fesses, '' In many things we offend all."^ Nor did the blessed apostles spare each other, for a Paul rebukes a Peter " before them all."^ How completely does the Saviour here step out from the ranks of all the other children of men ! For myself, it is only since His divine image rose before my soul that I have properly learned what is the true state of man. Previously, I always measured myself with the little, and so ap- peared in my own eyes to be great. Now I measure myself with Him, and have become very little indeed. When we hear a man who thoroughly impresses us with his modesty and truth relate in plain and simple terms some great thing which he has done, we always feel as if we ourselves were thereby humbled ; and when the Saviour utters such words as, "I always do the will of my heavenly Father," or, " It is my meat to do the will of Him that sent me," — and when I think that they are uttered by Him with perfect truth — I then, for the first time, can conceive what a creature made in the image of God ought to be in his Maker's sight, and the relationship in which he ought to stand towards Him. Never before had I figured to myself the appearance of such a human being. And then to think of one so majestically great and spotlessly pure as Jesus, with humility so sincere, inviting sinners to come to Him. Oh, it is this which so powerfully attracts us to His heart — brings us, we know not how, under His yoke — makes us continually recall Him to our thoughts, and take Him as the mirror in which we survey ourselves, and learn thereby to be more and more ashamed. Wondrous is the change we then undergo. We become more and more pure, and yet seem to 1 Philip, iii, 12, 2 j John, i. 8. 3 James, iii. 2. 4 q^i. jj, i^_ 32 7- I''^ many Tilings we offend. ourselves more and more sinful. On the lighter ground the spots are better seen. The clearer the atmosphere, the more distinctly we perceive the outline of all objects. In this way I can well figure to myself how holy John, although he had been so long trained in the Master's school, can yet in extreme old age utter the harsh words, '' If we say that we have fellow- ship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth;" and was yet, on the other hand, constrained to con- fess, '' If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Confession of sin and repentance are generally very painful. When, however, they proceed from the contemplation of one's self in the mirror of the Lord's virtues, it seems as if all the harshness of repentance were taken away, so that it ought no longer to be called by that name, being rather a progressive and ever-growing sense of shame. When reproved by the law, we are thrown back upon ourselves, and become really har- dened ; but when the Lord upbraids us for our faults by His holy example, the effect is rather to mollify and open our hearts, and incline us to surrender ourselves to Him. It is quite like a mirror that reflects its brightness, so as to brighten us when we look into it, and thus we are changed into His image from glory to glory. ^ It is as if He every day probed more and more deeply into our heart with the question, " Lovest thou me?" till not a single stain remains. Preachers deal so much in reproof, and teachers in exhorta- tion to the young, I am persuaded that if they would only present to us a true portrait of Jesus in His majesty and meek- ness. His severity and love — if they would but show Him in the depth of His condescension, poverty, and self-abasement — it would be the severest lecture which they could address to men, and would make a far deeper impression than any dis- course or exhortation of another kind. The difference is like that in the fable, where the sun and the tempest strove which of them would soonest snatch away his mantle from the tra- 1 2 Cor. iii. i8. 7- In many Things we offend. 3 3 veller. In the storm, he only clutched it convulsively, and wrapped himself more firmly in it than before; but under the gentle rays of the sun, he allowed it to drop. Upon myself, no discourse upon repentance makes so deep an impression as^ when Christ is set forth before my eyes. When I see how in all things He seeks not His own glory, but that of His heavenly Father, 1 I am ashamed of my ambition. When I see how He came not to be ministered unto but to minister, it makes me ashamed of my pride. When I see how He took and drank the cup which His Father gave to Him, it makes me ashamed of my disobedience. When I see how He endured the con- tradiction of sinners, and when reviled, reviled not again, ^ it makes me ashamed of my impatience and anger. In short, I know of no more powerful discourse upon repentance, at least of none that more melts and humbles me, than the example of my Saviour. Luther speaks to the same effect in words of singular beauty. " Put ye 07i the Lord^ says the apostle ; and it is a stirring word. For a sorry knave must he be who sees his master fasting and suffering hunger, toiling, watching, and enduring fatigue, while he himself is guzzling and drinking, sleeping, lounging, and living in pleasure. What master could tolerate such behaviour in a servant, or what servant could venture so to behave ? The thing is impossible. It must put a man to the blush when he looks to Christ and finds so great a contrast in himself. He who is not warmed, admonished, and stimulated by Christ's example, will certainly never be quickened or excited by anything else. Words will do nothing : compared with that, they are but as the rustling of the leaves to peals of thunder." It is thus, then, that I pray to Him who is the perfect pat- tern of all holiness — O holy Jesus, fountain of purity ! What is the rock's clearest crystal to Thee? John, viii. 49, 50. 2 j Peter, ii. 23. 34 8. He thatjudgeth me is the Lord. Blessedness dwells in Thy spotless light ; The Cherubim's brightness, The Seraphim's whiteness, Fade before Thine to the blackness of night. My model fair Thou art, Mould after Thine my heart, Jesus, my all. Lord, to Thine arms I flee, O make me holy and pure like Thee. O gentle Jesus, how did Thy pliant will Bend to the Father's, submissive still ! Even to the death Thou didst obey. In that same way incline My heart and will to Thine. Yes, Lord, my self-will take and slay. Would I were meek and mild, Ever Thy willing child, Jesus, my all. Lo, to Thine arms I flee. Make me obedient, Lord, like Thee. 8. i^e tjfat jutigetji me fg tje iLortr. A guiltless conscience is the best Of cushions where the head may rest, No doubt ; but when the panel's called To utter sentence o?i his fault, The trial finds a swift conclusion. And strong the chance of absolution. I Cor. iv. 3, 4. " With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment : yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified : but He that judgeth me is the Lord." HOW strange that a man should be his own judge ! How marvellous a thing is conscience I There is no one who does not shrink from inflicting pain upon himself, and yet we 8. He thatjudgeth me is the Lord. 35 not only judge, but we condemn ourselves. Ought this, how- ever, to go so greatly against the grain, inasmuch as it is really done, not by our own selves, but by another within us ? It is impossible that the voice of conscience in man can be his own. Conscience behaves to him as a master does to an unprofitable servant — speaks to him imperatively, and often appears before him as an offended king in his wrath. Many there are who would like to part with it altogether, and think that without a conscience they could lead a much more pleasant life. What is the use of it, they say, except to fill the mind with all kinds of uneasy thoughts and scruples ? In this case, however, it is vain to attempt to run away. Conscience cleaves to us like the officer to the convicted criminal, and says, I had to bear with thee, now it is thy turn to bear with me. It is louder than any thunder ; and, again, its whisper is gentle and secret, like the murmur of a brook beneath the foliage. It is the secret thing of which Job tells us that it was as an image be- fore his eyes, and passed before his face and made all his bones to shake. " Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal ma7i be mo7'e iust than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker V^ Like care and death, this secret thing has wings, and wan- ders through all the earth. Never was heart of man so tough and close as not to have some chink or hole through which it could enter in. This is true even of the heathen. I am one who cannot frown when I see the little dogs eating of the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And it delights my very heart to find that the W©rd which " lighteth every man who cometh into the world," ^ has also kindled some few 1 Job, iv. 12-17. ^ John, i. 9. 36 8. He that jtidgeth me is the Lord. sparks in the hearts of the heathen. For I reflect on what the Lord says, "Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" and on the question of Paul, " Is God not also the God of the Gen- tiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also."^ Some altars are built of rough and unhewn, and others of polished, stone. Some bear the inscription. To the imk?ioum God; others to the know7i. My devotion warms, and good thoughts crowd into my mind, when I read the beautiful testimony which one of the sages of ancient heathenism ^ bears to the conscience. He says : "This is the law which no one can resist, of which no par- ticular clause can be cancelled, and which, as a whole, can never be disannulled. From it no magistracy upon earth, no national decree, can give exemption. It needs no interpreter, and is not one thing at Rome and another at Athens, one thing now and something else hereafter. It is ever one and the same, eternal and unalterable, embracing all nations and ages. And He who is the great Lord and Sovereign of the universe is its maker and interpreter. Whosoever disobeys it flies from himself and subverts his human nature, thereby un- dergoing the severest of all penalties, although he may escape whatever else is reckoned penal." I have the same feelings when one of their old poets ^ speaks of the " laws which de- scend from on high — which took not their birth from man's mortal nature — which oblivion will never cover, and in which reigns a great God who never grows old."^ When I read such testimonies from the mouth of those whom we call the blinded heathen, I cannot but think that Paul's words will one day be fulfilled, and that the circum- cision which has hid its bright and beautiful light beneath a bushel, shall be judged by the uncircumcision which has made its little spark to shine forth in so edifying a manner in the eyes of all the world. I listen with holy awe to witnesses so grave and reverend ; for, from the forcible testimony which they bear to the power 1 Rom. iii. 29. 2 Cicero. 3 Sophocles. * Rom, ii. 14, 15, 27. I 8. He that jiidgeth me is the Lord. 37 of conscience in the human breast, what can be more evident than that it is the cloud above the ark of the covenant, out of which the Lord of hosts Himself addresses the children of men, and preaches to them of truth and righteousness ? ^ On the other hand, how great a contrast it seems, when a saint like Paul, though conscious of nothing blameworthy in his conduct, does not on that account reckon himself justified, and will trust only to the judgment of the Lord! To the same effect the apostle John writes, " If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all thrngsT'^ Now, doubtless, it is a weighty doctrine that man should yield his entire confidence to no voice of God other than that which addresses him from His revealed Word. For who could rehearse all the dreadful extravagances of fanaticism, and the proud and foolish thoughts into which they who have trusted solely to their conscience have fallen? The truth is, that although the voice of conscience be nothing else than the voice of the Lord of hosts, still, in order to hear it aright, man requires previously to possess a spiritual ear, and that is a gift of divine grace through the Holy Spirit ; or it may also be said that conscience is the handwriting of the Lord, which it needs a spiritual eye to read. They have invented a kind of ink to write with, but the writing does not become visible until subjected to a certain degree of heat. It is the same with that law which God has inscribed on the tablet of the heart. So long as the flesh attempts, in its own strength, to read it, how laborious is the task ! We cannot discover the meaning and put into it pure falsehoods. The word becomes distinct and legible to the reader's eye only when, through the grace of God, the fire of the Holy Spirit is applied to his heart. But, ah me ! when that is done, how the letters of the writing, which was before invisible, begin to live and stir ! It becomes bright and radiant to the sight, and can no longer be disputed away. Not without cause, therefore, does the apostle Paul, when wishing to lay special weight upon his words, 1 Exod. xxviii. 30. ^ i John, iii. 20. 38 8. Hethatjudgeth me is the Lord. distrust the testimony of his weak human conscience and prefer thus to write : " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghosts ^ For how many thousand souls, especially in these times, has the Father of lies set a fatal net and snare, by darkening and hiding beneath a bushel the truth which is so highly necessary, and so pre-eminently important, for every Christian to know ; I mean, the truth that every conscience remains a blind leader of the blind, so long as it is unenlightened by the Holy Ghost, and has not taken for its rule the revealed Word of God ! It is notorious to all the world that the Father of lies is a great logician ; but he is also, it appears, a fine poet, for he has composed many a tinselled proverb, such as — Hear St thou God's inward call ? obey, nor fear, However high it points thy bold career. At last, however, it has turned out that the call came from the lying spirit of pride. And again — " In the heart's longing know the voice of fate." In the end, however, the heart only ran to where it was attracted by the lust of the flesh or by mammon. It is thus that Beelzebub has got for himself a court-dress, that he may make his appearance in good society. O foolish Christians ! if you will not listen to the wise Solomon when he tells you that " he that trusteth his own heart is a fool," ^ or to the Psalmist when he says that " all men are liars,'^ ^ at least attend to what one of your own prophets has most wisely averred : — Not every voice, I find, is to be trusted, ^^ That whispers its monitions in the heart. The lying spirit, to deceive mankind, Oft feigns the accents of fair truth herself, And scatters his false oracles around. No doubt the old oracles cheated many a one, when as yet 1 Rom. ix. T. 2 Prov. xxviii. 26. ^ Psalm cxvi. 11. 8. He thatjudgeth me is the Lord. 39 there was no Word of God in the world. The pity is that they should still keep men in leading-strings in these days when a merciful God has vouchsafed to us the Word of truth, that sure testimony which makes wise the simple.^ Ye great saints who wear the mask so well, and present to yourselves so large a register of your virtues, would that God would give you grace to see what manner of spirit it is which scatters its oracles so plentifully in your bosom ; whether it be the Spirit of truth, of which it is written that it reproves the world of sin, or the spirit of lies ! For myself, when I give heed to what my conscience, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, says, all I can hear is that it rehearses the reckoning which God has written out for me in His Word, "Thou shalt have no other God before me." And then says : " Lo, O man, this is what thou art bound to do. Thou oughtest to fear, and love, and honour none but me. Thou oughtest always to put thy trust in me alone, and in every case rely on my goodness. Of all this, however, thou doest the contrary. Thou art at enmity with me. Thou lovest all other things more than me. Thou dost not believe in me with thy whole heart, but art every moment in doubt, and puttest thy confidence in other things." Lord Jesus, as my natural blindness is so great, I implore of Thee with my whole heart that by Thy holy Word Thou wouldst evermore kindle within me the fire of Thy Spirit, in order that I may more clearly recognise such parts of Thy law as nature has written in my heart. Keep me, gracious God, from the temptations and seductions of my own natural mind, and let Thy holy Word be the sole light of my feet. 1 Psalm xix. 8. 40 9- Blessed is he whose Sin is covered. BlessctJ IS \z irtjjose ^\\i is cobereti* ]A/'hoever would his ways amend, Must first be good within. Therefore thine utmost efforts bend To cleanse thy heart from sifi. Thou deem' st good works the proper plan To make thee all thou ojighfst to be. And so the tailor m.akes his man ; But yet, my friend, I always see, Unless a man have other worth, that scarce A fool will stop to look what clothes he wears. Psalm xxxii. A Psalm of David. — Verse i. " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." LET other men rejoice in other things; my joy— a joy which never fails — is this, that in the sight of God my sin is covered. So long as it remained uncovered, I could feel no confidence in presenting myself before Him. I was like one on whose person vice had imprinted its mark, and who is fain to hide his face from the public gaze. Even so, I felt ashamed to be seen of God. To him who knows how great a disfiguration sin is, nothing seems so sad as to hear men congratulating themselves on account of some mean and paltry advantage they may possess, while they are totally unconcerned about the fact that " their sin is not covered." Verses 2-4. " Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and niglit Thy hand was heavy upon me : my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." 9- Blessed is he whose Sin is covered. 41 How true what the Word of God here avers, that he only can obtain the forgiveness of his sin in whose spirit there is no guile ! Never is God gracious towards us until we are sincere towards Him; and because, while here on earth, it is so hard for us to be sincere, the earth is full of saints and heaven full of sinners. Not until conscience had driven its sting deep into his flesh did King David summon up courage to be wholly guileless towards himself and towards his God. So long as our path is smooth we walk on asleep, and, like David, many a one needs a grievous fall to awake him and push the sting of conscience far enough in. No doubt, were we to judge from appearances, we might suppose that in these days of ours the sting had been broken off from the consciences of men, — all look so gay and smiling. I suspect, however, that it still wounds them ; but then, if I may so speak, there is a slow pain of conscience not perceived to be what it really is, but which, nevertheless, like other slow distempers, exhausts the strength far more than any pain the most acute, for — Not when it pierces through, but when it gnaws, Does suffering's tooth the keenest anguish cause. There is a state of mind in which a man thinks nothing right, longs incessantly for change, and, because he has quarrelled with himself, quarrels, or at least likes to quarrel, with all around him. And what is this but the slow pain of an evil conscience, only not understood to be what it truly is ? In my own experience I have known several persons who in this manner had long been a torment both to themselves and others, but who, after the morning star of the Gospel arose in their hearts, discovered that all which they had really lacked was \X\Q foj'givejiess of their si?is. They now looked upon their whole previous life as a time in which they were labouring to conceal from themselves and others a disease that was preying upon their vitals. In such a state a man is ill at ease. Oh, how often smiling countenances are but a mask which conceals weeping hearts, and cheerful looks a mere article of dress put 42 9- Blessed is he whose Sin is covered. on when men go into company, in order afterwards, when again alone, to hear, in addition to other reproaches, that of having belied themselves I Yes, " blessed indeed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile, and to whom the Lord imputeth not his iniquity." Lord, I will not keep silence before Thee : oh, be not Thou silent to me ! Verse 5. "I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my trans- gressions unto the Lord ; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." What a moment is that in which a man for the first time hears and fully believes the Saviour's words, " Thy sins are forgiveii thee "I Among all by whom it has been experienced, who has a tongue sufficiently eloquent to describe it to those to whom it is unknown ? It is an exaltation, it is an abase- ment, and, at the same time, in both a blessedness with which no other state can compare. Ye full and self-satisfied souls, would that you but knew the full import of the word grace — grace without desert ! Oh what a mighty word is grace ! How soothing to the stricken heart ! When dropt upon the wounded place, Like sovereign balm it heals the smart. When, past a long dark night of grief, And tears and groanings for relief, At last comes absolution — Oh what a boon ! And as we cannot say that we already are, but only that we are always becoming, Christians, even so it is with absolution such as this. It ought to serve as a horn of salvation, and every day afresh help to raise us up and set us on our feet. Oh that the Holy Spirit would but show me in its true colours the very slightest of my faults, that my soul might take no rest until I have obtained forgiveness ! Never has so mighty a flood of inward strength caught and borne me along on its wave as in those hours when, kneeling in the silence of my 9. Blessed is he whose Sin is covered. 43 closet, I felt the Saviour's hand upon my head j and, as the best recompense of my tears, heard Him say — From all thy sins I thee absolve. Look on me, and believe and rise, my son ; Be of good cheer, gird up thy loins, and run. Yes ; though before I had only crept, in that hour I obtained strength to run. Grasping His hand — the beloved hand that blessed me — I vowed this vow in His presence — Yes, Saviour, both ray hands I give To seal the promise I renew ; I'll love Thee only v^^hile I live. And only live to serve Thee too. Such is the issue of every fresh absolution ; and thus, in the school of grace, the inner man really grows stronger and stronger, and we learn the truth of the words : " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary ; and they shall walk, and not faint." ^ No repentance is really effectual save that which cheers ; for, to weak and feeble man, what can possibly be so invigorating as joy, especially a joy so tender, so inward, so soul-pervading as that which flows from the consciousness of unmerited grace ? If, then, at any time thy knees wax feeble, seek to imbibe strength from joy, and joy from grace. Verse 6. " For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found : surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him." From what source save the firm assurance that we have a gracious and reconciled God, can we derive right confidence in prayer ? And hence we find that only holy men who have been justified by grace possess a boldness which enables them to hold free and unconstrained communion with God, as the 1 Isa. xl. 31. 44 9- Blessed is he whose Sin is covered. child does with its mother. In such famihar intercourse they so wholly disburden their hearts of cares and doubts, that the water-floods of affliction, in which so many struggle and some even perish, do not come nigh unto them. A gracious God can confer only graces ; and therefore he who has found a gracious God thenceforth receives from Him nothing else but grace, through the medium of all created things, and in seasons of prosperity and adversity alike. As a mother gives the breast to her babe, so to such a soul does God, in all creatures and in all events of life, present a breast from which it can imbibe spiritual nourishment; and he who has advanced so far is for ever beyond the reach of the water-floods. O Lord, I will not conceal that I have not honoured Thee as I ought to have done. Alas ! never have I so honoured Thee all my life. As I did not acknowledge Thine absolute sover- eignty over me, so neither for that reason did I appreciate Thy grace. I underlie the curse of a disobedient and perpetually stubborn heart, that would fain always walk in its own ways. How ashamed I would be were other men to see my heart as Thou seest it ! and yet, O my God, I am not ashamed before Thee! I pass my life unable to elude the conviction that in almost all I purpose and perform, I study solely to serve my- self^ and yet Thou art my Lord, and alone art able to do with me what Thou wilt, seeing that I am the work of Thy hand. If such be the tenor of my life, what wonder that my heart is never tranquil ? for who can be at rest who is at enmity with God ? So long as I keep silence, anathema is upon me. I will speak — yea, unto Thee will I speak, O my God, and pour out my whole heart before Thee ! If washed with mine own hands, I only soil myself anew. Do Thou wash me — yea, wash me every morning afresh ! Wash me each morn afresh in Thy bright flood, Fountain of Golgotha, for while I groan Beneath unpardoned sin's oppressive load, I feel my spirit sink, my vigour gone ; But oh, what life through all my being streams. When grace bedews afresh my wearied limbs ! lo. Christ zvas set forth to be a Propitiation. 45 There can be no amendment without grace, No rising up till God forgives the fall. The flood of mercy must old scores efface, And in oblivion's ocean whelm them all. What soldier e'er with heart the fight renewed. When foes behind were left still unsubdued ? And ask you why this goodly fountain lies Lonely and unfrequented by the crowd ? It is because whoe'er approaches, spies His image mirrored on the crystal flood. He cannot else be healed ; but with dismay That sight the crowd behold and haste away. Cl^rist irras set fort]^ to be a Propitiation. Mine was the burden which my Saviour bore, Romans, iii. 24-26. "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ; to declare at this time His righteousness : that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Psalm cxi. 4. " He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious, and full of compassion." " /^"^OME hither with your tongues and pens," exclaims V_/ Luther, " all ye that have them ; sing and play all ye that can, that so we may in some small degree comprehend the import of these words." Oh, how nobly and benignly they are spoken for poor and disconsolate sinners, and for con- sciences that are wounded and afraid ! Here we are told that, now since the Lord Jesus Christ has interposed, we can come 46 10. Christ was set forth to be a Propitiation. boldly to our God as His children and heirs. A memorial has been erected which proclaims from eternity to eternity the wonders of His compassion. Oh for a voice to sing aloud until the very firmament shall ring — Peace, peace, an everlasting peace, Discord shall now for ever cease ! Alas ! how seldom in these poor days of ours do we hear such joyful exclamation bursting from the hearts of exulting Christians ! It is enough to make one weep to see so many precious gifts of God lying neglected and despised, and none caring to use them with thankfulness and praise. But what is that compared with the pang which wrings the heart when we think that God has torn from His bosom His darling, His only child and dearest life, and delivered Him up for sin ; and yet that men despise even so divine a gift ? In Israel, the mercy- seat was erected upon the Hd of the ark of the covenant — that ark in which was contained the covenant law, so often broken by the many transgressions of the people 3 and yet even there had their gracious and merciful God set up a memorial, and accepted the blood of the sin-offering when sprinkled upon it, covering in this manner with the shadow of His grace the vio- lated law and all its threatenings against transgressors. But oh, how much better is that which the Lord, gracious and full of compassion, has provided for its !'^ Theirs was but a ^'shadow of good things to come ;''^ ours is the living mercy-seat which He has now erected on Golgotha and Gethsemane, and from which there is a direct way to the sanctuary of His heart ! How is it possible for men to pass by this mercy-seat and for a moment entertain the thought that it is a mere useless ornament to the sanctuary? Yes, a mere ornament it may appear to them so long as they have yet to cross the threshold within which alone it can be rightly seen. The mercy-seat of the New Testament is indeed a mere ornament — a carved work of cedar — until a man has been brought to concede the right 1 Heb. xi. 40. 2 Heb. x. i. 10. Christ was set forth to be a Propitiation. 47 of God to condemn hi^n ; in other words, so long as he draws near with any sort of advantage which he counts his own. None can possibly behold its glory unless they be naked and bare. There is a strait gate to be passed on the way to it, and outside of this lie heaps of counterfeit pearls, robes of false silk and embroidery of tinsel ; because they who enter must leave behind them all things they count their own, and so the more of these they have to take off, the longer they are in passing through. There is a true and pleasant story told of one of those who are wont to array themselves largely with the robes of self-righteousness. He had deeply lamented over a brother, who was a true child of God, but whom, as one who had abjured all personal merit, he regarded as a mean fellow, while fancying himself to be eminently holy and good. To this person divine grace vouchsafed a dream. It seemed to him, as he slept, that he looked through a narrow door and saw his brother, who had meanwhile departed this life in peace, seated at table with all the saints in a great and beautiful hall. Not a little surprised, he made haste to enter the door, in order if still possible to uproot the tare that had crept in among the wheat. But mark what happened. The strait door became ever straiter and straiter about him, and he was obliged to put off every article of dress, one after another, un- til nothing was left but a single silken napkin of great worth, which he had wrapped about his body. Oh then, what striv- ing and straining there was to take this precious article inside along with him ! But all his efforts were vain, until he left it behind : and only when he had stripped himself perfectly bare could he force his way through. On awakening he made the dream a subject of serious reflection, and subsequently the grace of God changed his heart. O my fellow-men, ye who have never yet been able to see the mercy-seat in its glory, is it not because such silken napkins are too common among you ? Ah me ! how stoutly men resist before they can be brought to divest themselves of all that is their own ! I did so myself, O Lord ; I resisted when Thy law proclaimed that the " Lord 48 10. Christ was set forth to be a Propitiation. is a holy and a jealous God. He will not forgive your trans- gressions nor your sins."^ I would not submit to be condemned. In my heart, however, Thy Spirit has affixed His seal to the testimony of the letter of Thy law, so that I cannot contend with Thee, and must acknowledge the justice of Thy sentence. Behold, then, I confess that it is wholly just. For even wert Thou in Thy wrath to destroy me, I should be compelled to say, " Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment." ^ O Lord, like Job, I have ven- tured to dispute with Thee, and to say, " Oh that one would hear me ! Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book;"^ for while I seemed righteous in my own cause, Thy judgments were too heavy for me, I could not bear them. But Thou, " who with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, and makest his beauty to consume away like a moth,""^ hast tried my reins in the night season, chastened my heart by Thy Spirit, and set my secret sin before mine eyes, so that I was constrained to confess with Job, " I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." ^ Yes, Thou God of justice, / acknowledge myself to be guilty in Thy sight, and "that it is the foolishness of a man which perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord."*^ That Thou sxtjust in all Thy ways, None of Thy servants, Lord, gainsays. Though hyj Thy terrible award Down to the burning gulf I'm thrust. My voice shall 'midst the flames be heard Proclaiming, " This 7ny doo7n is just." Yet, Lord, to make Thy glory known, By acts severely just alone. Were little for a God hke Thee. Thy matchless greatness to express. Transcendent King ! \&\. mercy ho. The partner of Thy righteousness. And this hast Thou done — Thou hast fed the hungry, 1 Josh. xxiv. 19. ^Job, xxxiv, 12. ^Job, xxxi. 35. 4 Psalm xxxix. 11. ^Job, xlii. 6. ^ Prov. xix. 3. 10. Christ was set forth to be a Propitiation. 49 Thou hast given drink to them that were athirst, and clothed the naked. Yes \ when I appeared all naked in Thy sight, how rich and beautiful were the garments with which Thou didst clothe me ! O blessed Jesus, so close is the fellowship into which Thou hast entered with man, that to Thyself, from us on whom they lay. Thou hast transferred all the penalties of transgression, and instead hast given to us Thyself with all Thy purity and holiness to be possessed as our own. Sin, death, and Satan, to harm me now is beyond your power. Henceforward you have to do with one who is stronger than I, for I am my Lord's. O wounded head ! with thorns so vilely crowned, Since Thou Thyself so close to man hast bound. That all of Thine to me no less pertains, No human tongue can well express, No human fancy rightly guess, The strength which from the head the member gains. I have part in the anguished sweat of Gethsemane, and in the sacred blood that was shed on Golgotha. I have part in the cry, "I thirst;*' and in the appeal, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Mine is Thy descent into hell, and mine Thine ascension into heaven'; for have we not been made " members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones ".?i To the natural mind, no doubt, it seems to pass all bounds of belief that one who but a little ago was sunk so deep in hell, should at once be admitted into heaven, and take a seat at table with Him who is the eternal God and Sovereign of the universe. But faith is not the business of the flesh. It is the work of the Holy Ghost, by which " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts." ^ "It seems," says Luther, " quite incredible to the conscimce. Conscience takes upon it to condemn all my good works, and all my own righteousness in the sight of God : but I can say to it I have none of either ; for who can pluck hair from the palm of his hand, or pay money from an empty purse ? All that is good 1 Eph. V. 30. ^ Rom. V. 5. D 50 lo. Christ was set forth to be a Propitiation. and holy about me belongs to my Master. If, again, con- science accuses me of si7i, I reply. Neither have I any of that, for Christ has taken and carried it away. O conscience ! thine accusing office is gone, if so be that thou makest other charge or complaint against me save this alone, that I do not suffi- ciently embrace the Lord Jesus, who is now my righteousness and my life. They tell us of a poor fellow who one night caught a thief in his house, and mocked him, saying. What a fool thou must be to fancy that in a dark night thou couldst find anything where I myself can find nothing in the light of day ! Even so the believer who has no longer either sin or holiness of his own answers, when the accuser stands up against him : Here there is nothing to find but Christ alone." Beloved Master ! now that by Thy precious blood Thou hast become such a mercy-seat for me, I hear a voice which from dawn till eve resounds from it and says. This I did for thy sake, what doest thou for mine ? Oh, how strong is the bond of affection which such blood-besprinkled love winds around the lover and the loved ! How many millions have already loved Thee with a purity of affection which far excels that of child or woman, so that in a moment they would have gladly sacri- ficed their life for Thine ! As Thou hast thus given Thyself to me, and become mine, what other return can I make than to give myself to Thee, and become Thine ? Yes, Jesus, me also Thou mayest now take and use as Thou wilt. He is mine, and His am I, Bound by an everlasting tie. For since He gave Himself to death My soul to save, For Him I'll live, for Him resign my breath. But couldst Thou possibly have knit Thy followers to Thee by a bond of love so strong if Thou hadst appeared among us, as some will have it. Thou didst appear, solely as a Teacher ? If in place of taking upon Thee our poor flesh and blood, with all the bitter pains of death to boot, Thou hadst come amongst us as a blessed Spirit, and again departed as such, without leav- 1 1. TJie Lords Love is everlasting. 5 1 ing behind Thee to Thy friends anything but Thy words — O Lord, forgive me for saying it, beautiful are Thy words, yea of surpassing beauty, but still more beautiful are Thy works ! — in that case, no doubt, we might have gazed after Thee into Thy heaven of glory ; but ah ! our hearts would have lingered here on earth. Oh, if even among us men it is only the love that makes a sacrifice that begets a true affection, surely none can doubt that only upon a blood-besprinkled path could we have found an entrance into Thy heart, and that only a crucified love could have riveted the hearts of men so closely to itself. What loathsome body's this that meets my gaze ? A foul disease on all the members preys ; None of them can or help or heal the rest, With its own ills opprest. It is humanity, and, dismal plight ! Without a head it lies, and shocks the sight : The anguished cry for succour never ceases, Yet still the plague increases. But lo ! a glorious Head from heaven descends, Whom neither sore nor putrid breath offends ; His heart on vi^hat v^^as sick He sets, and it To His own self doth knit. Yes, — dearly has the Head the body loved, Sickness and death from every limb removed ; With vigour from His own the faint imbued, The dead with life renewed. 11. W^z Horti's 3L0be is eberlastmg. In all that me befell since life began, I now can trace a thread which jnercy span. Jer. xxxi. 3. " The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love : therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." 52 II. The L 07' d 's Love is everlasting. WHEN we have come to understand the reason why we live, and distinctly perceive the end and aim of ex- istence here on earth, it is a pleasant task to trace back the path by which the divine goodness conducted us, and to ob- serve that it was all wisdom and all love. The great majority of the race never think of inquiring what is man's chief end ; and they who do, make the inquiry so difficult to themselves, pore over it so long, use all manner of optical instruments, which only confound plain common-sense ; and yet the truth lies within their reach, and is evident to view. If, then, there be few who succeed in finding it, although the Bible declares that -" God layeth up sound wisdom for the sincere^'^ the number of those who are sincere towards themselves must be small. And true it is that men do lie to themselves ; nor of the lies they tell is there any more manifest than when they affirm, as they are always doing, that the purpose for which they are here is to work for others. No one, however, can work for others except in so far as he has himself experienced a work of God. "s^ O ye hypocrites ! how can you really love others, seeing you have so little love for yourselves .? You do not love them. What you love is your own life, or, as the poet calls it, the pleasing habit of existing and acting. Full many a day and many a weary night, With busy zeal you toiled to chase away ; And mirthful stories heard and told which might Beguile the sense of lagging time's delay. And was this wrong ? you ask, and boldly show Your reckoning to the world's great Judge and Lord, Appealing to His justice to bestow On virtue so severe its due reward. Ye fools ! how will the hearts within you die, When from the mouth that never speaks in vain, The irrevocable sentence forth shall fly, Your due reward was given you, why complain? English version righteous, Prov. 1 1. The Lord's Love is everlasting. 53 Play was the good supreme your heart desired, And to the full you had it all your days ; But now, behold, the term for play expired, Eternity its awful scenes displays. Is it any wonder, then, that having nothing but working, and working for others, solely and continually before their eye, men should complain in their delusion "that God hedges up their way with thorns,"^ that He has tied their hands, that they are living in vain, being forced to stand idle in the mar- ket-place ? Why is it that in this particular instance they forget what in others they remember so well, that every man' s neaj-est neighbour is himself^ In fact, the widest field for active exertion is that which is closest to us, and lies in our own bosoms. Even a whole lifetime spent upon a sick-bed gives the amplest scope for activity. Let a man have come to see that the grand object in life is to spend its brief span in becoming a tree in the garden of God, verdant with foliage, and loaded with all the noble graces called by St Paul " the fruit of the Spirit," which are " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance,"^ — I repeat, he who has come to see this, will find in every situation of life a noble sphere for exertion. When by the help of grace, however, this 'discovery has been made, the man then learns also to see a plan and pur- pose in the whole course of his life, and at each new stage of it sees this more and more clearly. As we advance in years, it is as if we were ascending a terraced height from every higher elevation of which our view becomes more comprehen- sive, and all the objects it embraces seem more connected with each other. And oh what a prospect it will be at last, when, having reached the summit, we can overlook the whole! " The Lord hath appeared of old unto me."" O Lord, under how manifold and various disguises, and upon how many different paths, one after another, hast Thou gone forth to meet me in order that perchance mine eye might recognise and my heart might find Thee ! Many a time, like the disciples of Emmaus. 1 Hos. ii. 6. 2 Gal v. 22. 54 II. The Lords Love is everlasting. I felt my heart burning within me, and yet my eye was holden that I knew Thee not. Now, however, I know Thee under all disguises, now I see Thee upon every way. Yes, it is a bless- ing to have been bred within the precincts of the Christian Church — a blessing even in our own days, when the walls of Zion are so sadly broken down. When I look back in thought, oh how many impressions of the Spirit of Christ I have, as it were, unconsciously and involuntarily received ! In fact I can say that His maternal bosom began to give me spiritual nourishment almost as soon as that of my mother to nourish me bodily. The prayers my parents taught me, the example of many pious men, all I learned of the history of the Church of Christ, the religious instruction I received, the many sermons I heard, and the manners of the Christians with whom I lived, — all these exercised their influences upon me j and when at last, oh Love eternal. Thou didst actually take me to Thy heart, and I gazed upon Thee face to face, then were all these several beams of love condensed into one, and the light which fell upon the present illumined to me also the past and the future. Judging from my own experience, I am disposed to believe that in the life of every man there are, before conversion, many more traces of Christian grace than he himself knows or imagines. It is as with the light which exerts upon us a quickening influence, though we do not observe whence the quickening comes. It is as if we then saw the Saviour through a veil, and all that conversion does is to take the veil away. We may possibly have doubts about a truth which yet we cannot deny, and may, as the apostle expresses it, be appre- hended of Christ, without our appreheiidiiig Him. There is a precursory grace which penetrates and takes hold of a man without his being aware of it. And so it was, O my God, that when as yet I knew Thee not. Thou didst with " loving- kinduess draw vie to Thee.^^ O Love eternal, who Thy depths can sound ? Ages before my mind on Thee could think, Ages before my heart in Thee could sink, Thy holy effluence compassed me around. II. The Lord' s Love is everlasting. 55 Who can Thy depths explore, O Love divine ? As gently and mysteriously the light Falls on the suckling's eyes, unused to sight, So didst Thou enter this cold heart of mine. " Thou hast loved me with an everlastijtg love" for Thy love is older than my life. Thou didst love me before I existed, for it was because Thou didst love me that I now exist. Be- fore the world was created Thou didst call me by name, and Thou didst create the world with an eye to me, the poorest of Thy children, in order that, along with all the millions who at my side advance to the goal of consummation, I too might find a path to conduct me to the same. Oh what confidence, what fortitude, what magnanimity are inspired by the thought that I too was thought of in this world of God, and that for me, among the rest, it was prepared ! Brave and determined does the soldier enter the conflict when he knows for certain that the general whose eye surveys the field has reckoned upon him also being at his post. Even though he fall, he knows he is in his right place. Like him, I too know that He, whose eye of affection overlooks the universe, has as- signed to me my station, and traced out for me my path. Onwards I march through perpetual vicissitudes of brightness and gloom, and the issue is as yet hidden from my view. But the eye that knows no change, beholds it from eternity to eternity in a light that is ever the same. " Who7n He did forehiow^ He also did predestinate to be con- formed to the image of His Son; moreover^ whom He did predes- tinate^ them He also called ; and who7fi He called, them He also justified ; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. Who shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LordV'^ Away from earth, O my spirit ! Away from this sojourn in dim twilight where nothing is, but all is in the act of being ! Sink into thy source. Before that never- changing eye, which across the flight of ages beholds the con- summation of all things. Thou also dost stand made perfect. 1 Rom. viii. 29, 30, 39. 56 12. I resisted ignorantly in Unbelief. Yes ! before that eye I am already justified, sanctified, and glorified. Already does the crown adorn my brow, though here I still bear the cross. What is faith ? Is it not the eye that sees the invisible things ? Is it not the anchor that enter- eth into that within the veilP^ All this hast Thou done in lovhig-kijidness alone. What else, indeed, could have been Thy motive, seeing that Thy love is older than my life ? As Thou hast first given to us whatever we can give thee back in return,^ so likewise are all the ways by which Thou hast led us loviftg-ki?idness, and nothing else. Even now, my soul, see thy salvation wrought, Thy sorrow turned away, thy battle fought ; Even now in spirit the Saviour's throne thou sharest, Even now in spirit the crown of glory wearest. Offspring of time, ye fleeting cares, adieu ! To-morrow, yesterday, I've done with you ; In vast eternity's domain I live, Where God to me will bhss eternal give. ( 12. 31 r£0fst£ti tcfnorantlg in W^vi^zlizt Why art Thou not by all adored f Because they do not know Thee, Lord. Hadst Thou to me Thy beauties shown, Thee, Thee I would have loved alotie. Tim. i. 12-14. "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry ; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious : but I obtained mercy, be- 1 Heb. vi. 19, 2 Rom. xi. 35. 12. I resisted ignorantly in U^ibelief. 57 cause I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." AND so blasphemers, persecutors, and revilers were the kind of persons whom Christ invited into His kingdom ! Nay, it was far worse ; for though to many it may seem a dangerous thing to say, still the Lord himself has averred that " publicans and harlots " — that is, the vilest slaves of sin — are more welcome to become His subjects than the specious saints who deem themselves superlatively good.^ No wonder, then, that even on this earth these paragons of virtue decline to hold fellowship with the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, whom the Lord sent His messengers into the streets and lanes of the city to invite,^ and when they meet them keep some paces aloof. Well, then, measures have been adopted that also in the world to come you will run no risk of being defiled by such low company ; for, when translated there, between you and them you will find a great gulf fixed. The Lord our God, however, as Luther says, is an Artist who delights only in difficult masterpieces, and cares not for plain carving. He is also specially fond of working from the block, and therefore always chooses the hardest timber and stone on which to display the perfection of his skill. This has been His custom from the earHest times. Even the people which He chose out of all the nations of the earth for His own, and of which He said, " My dove, my undefiled is but one," ^ was a very raven. Alas ! too often they forgot the Father who had led them out of the wilderness, and in pure mercy and loving-kindness brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey. And doubtless, hereafter, when we shall be walk- ing through the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem, many a lofty palace built of the most precious stones shall we behold. But methinks the fairest ornament of them all will be the motto engraven upon the porch — 1 Matt. xxi. 31. 2 Luke, xiv. 21. •* Song of Sol. vi. 9, 58 12.7 resisted ignorantly in Unbelief. Immersed in miry pits profound, His chosen folk the Saviour found, And brought them to this glorious place, To show the wonders of His grace. For such is the inscription which must stand upon every house of which the Lord is the builder. Accordingly Saul was a stone superlatively hard; but the very hardest of stones, if it strive with the Lord, must prove brittle as a potter's vessel, and be dashed to pieces. Is it not written, " Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken ; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder " ? ^ Hear also the words of Luther : " Christ speaks and says, Good people, beware of meddling and embroiling" yourselves with me. If you do, I plainly tell you that I am a stone, and will not be afraid of the pots, however big-bellied they be, and however they may blow themselves out, as if they meant to terrify me with their wrath and threatening. The bigger and the more inflated they are, the sooner will they be struck, and the more easily broken." "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks," spake the Lord Jesus to Saul. And although Saul resisted, he was compelled to submit ; for it is written, " The strong shall be assigned to Him as a prey."^ But hard although he was, Saul was not for that reason of the worst quality of stone; otherwise, in my opinion, the heavenly Architect would not have specially chosen and pre- ferred him. Certainly he was neither mud nor clay, like the dissemblers and hypocrites of whom we read so much in the Gospel. Though belonging to the same sect, he was not one of those Pharisees^ who strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel — "paid tithes of mint, anise, and cummin, but omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith"* — and who were, no doubt, like himself, zealous against Christ and His doctrine, but were so for their own glory, and not for the glory of God. Neither was Saul a Simon the sorcerer, who, when Philip preached the Gospel and wrought miracles, 1 Matt. xxi. 44. 2 Isa. liii. 12 — Luther's vers. 3 Acts, xxvi. 5. ^ Matt, xxiii. 23. 12. I resisted igitorantly in Unbelief. 59 attended to the miracles and not to the preaching ; and, even in the former, had regard solely to the profit which might be reaped by him who performed^ and not to that which would accrue to him who believed in them. Just as little did he follow the example of those moral heroes of the modern school, who, by cunning arts of exposition, contrive to oblit- erate the clearest language of the divine commandments. On the contrary, into conflict with these divine commandments he honourably entered, and maintained it until his strength was wholly spent. According to the account of himself which he has bequeathed to us in the 7th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, he had a zeal of God, but not according to know- ledge ; and even while persecuting Christ, did it with a good intention, deeming it a service rendered to God.^ Now that is the quality of the timber which our God still uses for the carpentry of His temple. Of the self-same sort, as I think, was the malefactor on the cross. The hypocrite gazes up at him with astonishment, and imagines that that person got into Paradise at far too cheap a rate. Mark, however, what the entrance cost him. There was a strait gate through which it behoved him, as it behoves all, to pass, and to leave outside both his sins and his holiness ; and this the malefactor did when he spake to his accomplice saying : ''Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds : but this man hath done nothing amiss." See here, ye moral heroes, the ditch which you require to clear ! It consists in the confession, '*' We are iji the same cojtdemnation, ajid indeed Justly^ ^ A very brief sentence is this, but it is like a hole pierced in a sheet of paper, through which the eye can see the whole firmament. Even so it is with the heart. If it under- stand but the little word repentance, though ignorant of every other virtue, through that all heaven enters in. There must therefore be agreement between Paul and James, when the one says, " By the grace of God I am what 1 Rom. X. 2 ; Gal. i. 13, 14. ^ Luke, xxiii. 40, 41. 6o 12. I resisted ignorantly ill Unbelief. I am ; " ^ and the other admonishes, " Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." ^ And again, between the Lord's address to Paul, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks," and what He elsewhere avers — viz., " Every one who is of the truth heareth my voice." And so there is. Saul himself had been drawing near to God, although in a wrong way; and while yet in bondage to the law, and labouring under spiritual blindness, was, notwithstanding, of the number whom the Lord describes as being " of the truth." For though he still blasphemed the name of Jesus, such was the temper of his mind that everything with him depended upon his knowing for certain that the Lord had spoken. After ascertaining that, never did he fail to say Amen. This he did in the instance before us. For the moment he is convinced that it was the Lord who called him, he is ready with the answer, " What wouldst Thou have me to do?" And for this reason he alleges, as a great consolation to himself, that he did what he did " ignorantly in unbelief.^^ Yes, my Saviour, and that is what I too can say like him. I did it ignorantly when I did not recognise Thee in Thy servile disguise ; I did it ignorantly when Thou didst meet me in the way and I haughtily passed Thee by ; I did it ignorantly when Thou didst court me for my heart and I refused to give it Thee. At the same time Thou also knowest that all this was done in ignorance, and for that reason Thou wouldst not accept the repulse, but didst return again and again to knock at the door, and try if it were still barred. The more the spell of my sin dissolved, the more didst Thou disclose to me the charm of Thy love ; and then how could I any longer fail to see that to reject Thee is to reject salvatioji ? In this way Thou didst ever more and more enrich me ; and when at last the hour came, and Thou didst reveal Thyself to me in all Thy majesty and beauty, I then surrendered myself wholly to Thee, and with Thee found at last all that I had so long, and with such unquenchable desire, been seeking on every hand. 1 I Cor. XV. lo. 2 janigg^ iy_ 3^ 13. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 61 Thou art, O Lord, too strong for me ; I yield, ^ For who with Thee can cope? When in the field Thy banner waves, the very mightiest must Before Thee, conquering hero, lick the dust. What strange delusion compassed me about ! ISTethought 'twas with my bitterest foe I fought ; The spell dissolved, and, petrified with woe, I saw of friends the dearest in that foe. O Love, that won me in the fiery fight, How did I still with scorn Thy toils requite ! Pardon I crave— I k7iew not who Thou wert. Or none but Thee had ever won my heart. 13. ^{jrist is i\iz TOag, tlje STrut]^, anti t]^e 3Life. Ftill many a fathom down I went In leartimg's mines obscure, And studied day and night i?itent, Her treasures to secure. But all in vain / Till Wisdom i spake, He who would win m.e for a wife Must with the heart his courtship make ; Knowledge is but the mirrored form of life. John, xiv. 6. " I am the way, the truth, and the life." John, vii. 17. '' If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Matt. v. 8. " The pure in heart shall see God." Disciple. — It is written, " He that believeth not shall be damned." ^ Does this mean, he that will not believe although he can^ or he who cannot believe although he will .? 1 The divine wisdom manifested in Christ.— Matt. xi. 19 ; Luke, xi. 49. 2 Mark, xvi. 16. 62 13- Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Master. — And who, then, cannot believe ? D. — He who has experienced the truth of the apostle's aver- ment that " Faith is not given to every man." ^ - M. — You know, however, who they are to whom faith is given ? D. — I know a class to whom it certainly is not. It is not given to them who want to see before they believe. M. — And I know to whom it is given. It is given to them who hunger and thirst. Do you hunger and thirst? D. — Why should I not ? M. — For many reasons that might be assigned, and for this, among others — no one hungers who is full. Is that the case with you ? i^.— No. M. — What then do you lack? D. — I cannot rightly express it ; but, if you please, I will say, The instrument is out of tune. M. — What ! have you already advanced so far ? Tell me, now, which of the strings is sprung. D. — Perhaps more than one. M. — But do you not know the Artist whose hand can mend the broken ones, and put in tune those that have lost the pitch ? D. — Yes, and No; for He whom you mean has made a condition with which I cannot comply. M. — What is it? D. — " Not to see and yet to believe.'^ ^ i set a great value upon my eyes. M. — For the present put that aside, and answer me this question, can any one tune the strings unless he has the true pitch within himself? D. — No other can. M. — What, then, think you of Him who has put the stone of stumbling in your way? Has He the true pitch within Himself? 1 2 Thess. iii. 2 — Luther's vers, ^Jq^^, xx. 29. 13. Christ is the Way, the Truths and the Life. 63 D. — I cannot answer No ; for there is that about Him which might well make one beheve that He has. M. — What is it ? D, — Well, sound and colour are sister-streams from the same hill. What the verdure of the fresh-sown field in spring is to the eye — something on which it reposes with complete satisfaction — that, I confess, in many a quiet hour on which no eye but Heaven's looked down, has been to my spirit the contemplation of His image. I must confess that I then felt as if I had reached the summit of a hill so lofty that around its tranquil crown the storms are silent. M. — It almost seems to me that while your words dispute, your knees already bow to the Son of God and man. D. — There, we are again upon different roads. Do you mean the Son of God who ascended from earth to heaven, or the one who came down from heaven to earth ? M. — In His own Word I read : " No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven ; " ^ and again : *' Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascendi?ig and descending upon the Son of man." ^ I do not, therefore, under- stand the distinction which you draw. Moreover, a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from on high.^ Can he manifest God to whom God has not manifested Himself? D. — You express what I think; and as for bending the knee — Why should the knee not bend to all that's fair, If God's bright image glows reflected there ? M. — That, my son, is a posture in which I rejoice to see you. Bold and erect we stand upon our feet, When for support on our own strength we lean. 'Tis meet that he should kneel who must receive. As you acknowledge Him to be the only One who has the true pitch within Himself, you will also accredit Him with the ijohn, iii. 13. ^ John, i. 51. ^John, iii. 27. 64 13- CJirist is the Way, tJie Truth, and the Life. power to put others in tune, and will be willing to receive at His hands. D. — Yes, I would like it much, only I love my eyes. M. — And so do I. But you do see; and your own words testify that what you see is something amazingly great. D. — Yes, I see a mystery ; and therefore, with eyes that see, I am still blind. M. — Does the compass less safely show the mariner the way through the stormy waves because it is a hidden mystery to him why it points to the north ? D. — He is the Way — that I have long known ; but He him- self says that He is the Truth. M. — And because He says it that also will be true. Not only is He the Truth, but He is likewise the Life. If, then, He promised to you also the truth, why do you not trust Him ? D. — I confess I saw a Way, but I have not found the Truth. M. — You say, I smv and have long k?town the Way ; but did you 2X^0 follow \\.} D. — Ought I to blush if I answer that I did not ? O master ! I boldly aver before thee and all the world that Wisdom is the great goddess to whom I pay my court. M. — And so you love the Life only to know it ? Yours is indeed a curious taste, Content to smell rather than eat the feast. L>. — You disparage my goddess, and yet I am not ashamed of her. Would that in her majesty she were not ashamed of me ! Knoivledge — the word is far from expressing that for which my soul longs with a burning thirst. One may know all things by rote — God, angels, the world ; but that which we merely know by rote, neither satisfies nor tranquillises the mind. No j not for so paltry a prize as that did my soul sue. The knowledge for which I sued is of so inward a kind, that were the firmament itself to become a book, and every star a letter, I should still deem it far too small. I will learn the 13. CJmst is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, 65 knowledge for which I long from no volume but my own spirit. I have a boding impression of its being of so vast a compass, that all that is in heaven, and all that is in the heart of the Only-begotten, and all that is in the heart of God Him- self, will be comprehended in it. And what say you to the Master's own averment, that " This is life eternal, that they might knoiv Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent " ? ^ M. — Several things I should have to say. But now I shall say but one. If life be the offspring of knowledge^ what if knowledge itself be the offspring oi faith, and of faith alone? What if the correct order be, as St Peter shows, " We believe and are sure'^ 2 (surely know) ; or, as it is expressed in the words of the prophet, " I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness (faith), and thou shalt kjiow the Lord" ? ^ D. — Methinks that way a hard one. M. — It has often happened that a man has confided in a loving hand, and, when bidden, has gone the way it led blind- fold, until the time came to take the bandage from his eyes. You say the way is hard, but, my son, it is you who are indis- creet. You refuse to trust Him, and yet require of Him to \x\x?,tyoii. Do you not know what is written, — " The secret of the Lord is with them thaty^^r Him "?* D. — I can only repeat that faith is a beautiful child, if only it were not blind. M. — Do not sin, my son. Faith is not blind; for how could it possibly love if it did not see? Its eyes are not bound; for what says the apostle, — " Now we see through a glass darkly" ?^ Accordingly, faith sees its own objects — nay,Jit also sees some- thing more; it sees why it beHeves. And tell me, you whose eyes have gazed upon that One who of all the human race alone bears the true pitch within Him, can you say that in trusting Him you did not know the reason why ? 1 John, xvii. 3 2 John, vi. 69. ^ Hos. ii. 20. ■* Psalm xxv. 14. ^ I Cor. xiii. 12. The ancients had metal mirrors, which showed the objects less distinctly than is done by ours. E 66 13- CJirist is the Wajy, the Truth, and the Life. D. — No doubt I saw a reason faintly and partially. But, after all, dear master, faith is still a bitter morsel. M. — Bitter only where love is lacking. He who loves relies. You love Him not ; and you do not love Him although you say that of all beings He is the most worthy of love. D. — In your opinion, then, the way to knowledge lies through faith and love ? M. — So I think, and so Christ says ; for all knowledge is but the mirror of life. D. — Be not displeased if I once more take refuge in His own words : " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." M. — The buckler breaks. The life eternal was certainly present in the Church long before the knowledge after which you aspire. " We know," says St John. " that we have passed from death unto life." The knowing spoken of in Scripture is a tasting. " We have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.^' ^ " Taste and see that the Lord is good." 2 In those days when the Light of the world shone upon the Church, a garden of the Lord sprang up, and every tree in it was adorned with golden fruits. But what grows beneath the beams of the light which you see ? However near the sun may be, still, if its rays fall obliquely, the winter lasts and not a flower blossoms. And with you it fell obliquely, and not in the centre, which is the heart. D. — You nearly vanquish me, for you are mighty in the Word of God ; and what that means I now can no longer doubt. Must we then begin from below ? M. — Where else can he who has fallen begin? Properly speaking, however, faith is rather ijinermost than undermost, and it gives light both up and down. Mankind have lost the cheerful ring of peace ; and in what other way can they recover it save that in which it was lost ? We fell by disobedience, and only by obedience do we regain our feet. To believe is to obey. I know of only one test which the Lord has proposed to them 1 Heb. vi. 5. ^ Psalm xxxiv. 9 ; i Pet. ii. 3. 13- Christ is the Way, the TriUh, and the Life. 67 who ask of Him a test. It is : ^^ If any man will do His will^ he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." " The pure in heart shall see God." You have aspired after a knowledge not merely to be known to you by rote, but possessed as more your own than all else. Eut is not such a knowledge external only so long as your own being belies the testimony of your knowledge ? You wished to unite yourself in wedlock with the lofty goddess Wisdom, and forgot what she herself declares : "I love those that love me;" and, " My son, give me thine heart." ^ You wished to wed her, and yet are ignorant of the holy mystery of wedlock, which is, " that they two shall be one flesh ;"'^ and yet you were not willing to share with her so much as your heart, but oxAj your thoughts. D. — Let a wise man correct me ; it is as wine poured into my wounds. Let him smite me ; it is as ointment upon my head. M. — I have not yet done. Something I have still to say respecting the flnal issue. How is it possible for us to reach it, even with our knowledge, so long as it is written, " It doth not yet appear what we shall be" ?^ The apostle has said, not merely of this or that individual, but of all of woman born, " Now we see through a glass darkly." It cannot therefore be faith alone that sees in the dim glass, but also kttowledge, ajid that in an equal degree — the knowledge which is taught in the schools of earth. Where is the man who does not hold his breath when he contemplates the goal which beckons us at the consummation of all things ? " Then, however, I shall know even as I am known (of God)." And thou, fettered at every inch of the way by the dust on which thou treadest, and, like the weathercock, changing every hour thy course and compass, thou triumphest in the fancy that thou hast already grasped that goal with half thy hand. Yes ; as children grasp at the moon. And would that you were but children in your teens ! Who would then grudge you your sport ? But you are forward boys, ambitious of playing the part of master before the time — knights of the peacock-feather — mock monarchs in 1 Prov. viii. 17 ; xxiii. 26. 2 gph. v. 31, 32. 3 j John, iii. 2. 6S 14. Faith is a new Sense. the realm of thought. Is not your knowledge a journey without an end? Scarcely have you reached a stage when you must arise and proceed. Is it not like the thread of Ariadne, with which, painfully picking your steps, you creep on from dark- ness to light? The name for it is a working day. It will be Sabbath where we see face to face. There only, where all is comprehended in one, do we find rest. And if it be true that, Before the image of the mountains green Can mirrored on the crystal lake be seen, The angry storm must hush itself to rest, And not a ripple curl the water's breast ; oh, how far are you yet from seeing a correct image even in the glass ! For when will all be calm within you ? D. — The wise man says, " A right answer is like a sweet kiss."^ I shall still with half-broken mast be tossed about upon the spacious sea, but now I know in what direction to look for land. 14. ifaitf) 10 a neSrr ^mse. Faiths a sixth sense, by all confessed To reach much further than the rest. Heb. xi. 24-27. "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteem- ing the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king : for he endured, as seeing Him who is in- visible." 1 Prov. xxiv. 26 — Luther's vers. 14- Faith is a new Sense. 69 MOSES had become a king's son, and the future offered to him the prospect of honour, wealth, and luxury, but he chose to avouch his connection with the poor and servile Hebrew nation. It may well have been that he did not at the time foresee the forty long years of contention and trouble which awaited him ; for during these he was " a sorely afflicted man, above all men upon the earth," ^ and had little enjoyment. Even his natural understanding, however, was sufficient to show him that he would have to encounter re- proach and bitter variance and sore privations ; and yet from all of these he did not recoil. Like Christ, who instead of the joy which was set before Him, preferred to endure the cross, ^ so did Moses esteem such reproach greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. And this is the reason why it is called the reproach of Christ. The recompense of the reward was invisible to the bodily eye ; but, notwithstanding, he beheld it with the eye of faith; and with faith's view of it, it behoved him to rest content until the 120th year of his life. Only then did he attain to vision ; but even then not to fruition. For though he saw it with his eyes, he was not allowed to touch with his foot the land of Canaan, the goal of his earthly pil- grimage. From the top of Nebo he beheld it afar off, but "went not over thither,"^ passing meanwhile into that better land of which Canaan presented but an imperfect image.^ The hoary pilgrim was thus a true type of the walk of faith in this scene of sojourn on earth. " He endured as seeing Him that is invisible." Yes, such is faith; and no words could describe it better. It is the eye for the world unseen ; it is a conviction wrought into the inner man which makes us surer of its objects than the sense of sight does of those which stand before our eyes. We are told in Scripture ^ that it " is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ; " and this means that it is a testi- mony of God's Spirit in our mind, excelling every other, nay, 1 Num. xii. 3 — Luther's vers. 2 Heb. xii. 2 —Luther's vers. 3 Deut. xxxiv. 4. ^ Heb. iv. 8, 9. ^ Heb. xi. i. 70 14- Faith is a new Sense. bidding defiance to all other testimonies of the visible world. For thus it is written respecting Abraham : " Against hope he believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God."i How forcible the expression, " Against hope he believed in hope " ! What was there in all the visible world on which the patriarch could build the belief or expectation that his seed should one day be equal in number to the stars of heaven ? In nature he saw only a pure negation. But what does it matter although all creation say No, when the word of God has said Yes ? Faith fastens on Him who is unseen, as if it saw Him. How marvellous a thing faith is ! There is no power greater than that which the sight of our eyes exercises over us, and yet in defiance of it faith can hope even where there is nothing to hope for. In truth, however, faith itself is likewise an eye, and one before which all the riches of the invisible world — the deepest recesses of heaven, as well as the abyss of hell — lie disclosed. Were it otherwise, how could a man possibly pre- vail upon himself to put to hazard the present world, with all its wealth, in order to win eternity ? " Were the universal globe," says a believer, " and all that it contains, suspended upon the thread of a lie, and did I know the word of truth which would break the thread, that word I would utter, although the globe and all that it contains were to drop into the abyss." Whence comes this certainty and confidence? It cannot have its source in the sublunary world, and must be a testimony vouchsafed by God to the soul. Let there be but a grain of such inward faith, and it will remove mountains of appetites and lusts, and extirpate the passions most deeply rooted in the heart. Yes, a single grain of such faith makes the entire 1 Rom. iv. 18-20. 14- Faith is a new Sense. yi t domain of visible things transparent to us. We see through them all, and taste through them all, the powers of the in- visible world to come. That " in Him we live, and move, and have our being,'' becomes a reality to the believer ; and the words of the Lord, " I am a God at hand, and not afar off," a matter of experience. He scents the breath of the Divine Being whether he walks forth into the garden of nature, or mixes in the society of men, or remains in the solitude of his closet. We need not wonder that the generality look upon the believer as a fool and a dreamer who lives in a world of his own, instead of that which is common to the race. And yet the reverse is the case. They are the dreamers. It is they who live in a world of their own ; for so long as the breath of God is not everywhere traced and felt here below, what is the world but the vain and unsubstantial fabric of a dream? No, it is 7i>e who are awake; we who now in time already experience eternity, and in the present world taste the powers of that which is to come. Is it so that I am without strength ? Oh, now I perceive that the impotence of man is but impotence of faith ! Faith removes mountains. What are all the earthly things that can come against me — enmity, sickness, poverty, and death? They are only what I myself make them, by my faith or my unbelief. Faith subjugates and transforms without distinction all outward objects. If at every moment of my life I could cleave to Him that is invisible, as if I actually saw Him with my eyes, what would then be difficult, what impossible for me ? If, indeed. He were revealed to my view only in the char- acter of Judge, my strength would be broken rather than in- creased. But it is as the Father of ?ny Lord Jesus Christ, and with outstretched arms to embrace His prodigal son, that He stands before me. Am I not a citizen of the New Jerusalem — that Jerusalem of which it is written, " The inhabitants shall not say I am sick ; the people that dwell therein shall be for- given their iniquity''?^ Yes; now I know why so much stress, 1 Isa. xxxiii. 24. 72 14- Faith is a new Sense. is laid upon faith, and why it is written, *' O Lord, are not Thine eyes set upon faith ? " ^ Abraham, by beUeving, gave glory to God. We glorify Thee when we believe that what Thou dost promise Thou art also able to perform ; and our faith is our only worship. Tell me, my soul, why to and fro, Wanders o'er all the earth thine eye ? What sees it there but sin and woe, Bewailed with tears that never dry ? Or why to ocean's furthest shore For peace and comfort dost thou roam ? Eternity is at thy door, And all its joys thou hast at home. Yes, these to have and hold are thine, When to thy fixed and earnest gaze In the heart's lone and silent shrine, Its wealth and glory heaven displays. Can aught be sure if these deceive. And balk like airy dreams the hand ? Though bafiSed sense may not believe, Firm and substantial there they stand. What though in vain thou search around For some poor staff on which to lean. Nor one of all the ties be found That knit thee to this earthly scene? Oh, let them unregretted go, With all that here thy heart could charm. Ee not dismayed — to help thee, lo ! God offers an almighty arm. The staves on which thy hopes once leant, By Him were broken one by one ; His hand the bonds asunder rent Which round thy heart the world had thrown. And this He did that thou mightst yield To none but Him thy confidence. And on the things eternal build As if they stood revealed to sense. Oh then, my soul, if earth to thee Shut her inhospitable door, Bid her a long good-night, and be Undaunted as thou wert before. 1 Jer. V. 3 — Luther's vers. 15- The Heavens declare the Glory of God. 73 Not till the senses all deny One grain of comfort or delight. Does faith's bedimmed and timid eye Begin to see heaven's portal bright. 15. SEfje i&ea&eng "atdmt tfie ffilots of ffioti. There are Three Testaments which show What God both is and does ; And he who well the First would know The Second must peruse ; Nor will he in the Second speed, Unless the Third be rightly read. Psalm xix. — A Psalm of David. Part First. — Verse i. " The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firma- ment showeth His handiwork." MAN so often calls for preachers — ought he not much rather to desire a proper ear for hearing them ? for, in truth, we are surrounded with preachers wherever we turn our eyes. There are preachers in the firmament above, preach- ers in the earth below, preachers within us and preachers with- out. What a sermon it is which the firmament of heaven alone preaches to us — ^the sky, whether azure and serene, or overcast with stormy clouds ! The heaven, with its marvels, declares the glory of God by the magnificence of day as well as by the magnificence of night. But do many listen ? Can it be denied that until God speak to his heart within, man cannot comprehend the language He utters from everything about and above and beneath him? How beautiful to this effect the words of Tauler ! " He who gazes long at the sun sees a sun impressed on every object to which he afterwards turns his eye ; and it is the same with him 74 1 5- ^/^^ Heavens declare the Glory of God. who is much occupied with the contemplation of God." There are hours when we can stand in the bosom of nature and feel as if we were in a church, and a fresh doxology were gushing from every breast, so that we cannot choose but join the hymn, and are caught and borne along by the general flood of devotion. At other times, again, how dumb and speechless the creatures around us seem all to be, as if every one of them must needs pursue its way alone without the guidance of a heavenly hand ! The difference depends upon whether God speaks within us or not. Open thy heart to God ; if He be there, The outspread world will be thy book of prayer. Verse 2. " Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.^' It is still the same heaven as that to which the Saviour lifted up his eyes when He prayed — the same as that on which the childless Abraham gazed when in the silence of night he received the promise, '' Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : ... so shall thy seed be." It is the same heaven as that which our first parents be- held, when as yet holy and sinless children they sojourned in Paradise. Here below, on the surface of the earth, all has changed — at least among the children of men ; but for 6000 years day has been uttering unto day, and night unto night, the same high and perpetual discourse concerning Him by whom the heavens and the earth were made. There is something peculiarly grand and elevating in the thought that through so long a series of ages nature has continued the same, and yet that to this day she retains all the charm of novelty, because nothing in her merely is^ but all toiding to be. Who can refuse to ex- claim with the poet — O nature ! what in thy fair face we see Not sameness is, but similarity ; For all is old and all grows new again In thy perpetual domain. 1 5 . The Heavens declare the Glory of God. 7 5 Let a man once become sensible of the contrast between nature's order and regularity, and the never-ceasing inconstancy and fickleness of his own heart, and oh ! how does he then yearn for that inward steadfastness over which the vicissitude of light and shadow — of day and night — has lost all power ! It is this which gives to nature the edifying and medicinal influence which it exercises over us. Verse 3. " There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." How true ! Nature's is a voice that can be heard and under- stood in every speech and language. It addresses a man like the look of a friend or the pressure of an affectionate hand, which are intelligible to every nation of the earth without the aid of words. In fact, is it not the very eye of God — of Him who is the very best of friends — that does look out upon us from nature ? And in some measure at least the nations of the earth have not failed to catch the accents of this voice. It is true they could not have comprehended its meaning, and must have wanted the interpreter in the heart, for they worshipped the creature instead of the Creator. ^ Evidently they must have supposed that the hymn which all created things in heaven and upon earth are singing was a hymn in the creature's praise, and yet what all created things declare is the glory of the God v^ho made them. How many also there are among our- selves by whom this is not rightly understood ! Often when I hear their outbursts of enthusiasm at the beauty of nature, it pains me to observe that it is always the mere glory of the creature which they extol, and that their minds do not ascend to Him whose handiwork the creature is. Fain would I accost them in the height of their admiration, and say, O my friends ! you quite mistake the meaning of the hymn. It celebrates the glory of that God who gave all their beauty to His works. 1 Rom. i. 21-23. 76 15- The Heavens decla7'e the Glory of God. Sweet lily of the field, arrayed In all thy pomp of dress, To be my pattern thou wert made, And gentle monitress, " O come, let us worship and bow down ; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God \ and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.''^ Verses 4-6. " Their line ^ is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them ^ hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Every object in the firmament of heaven declares the glory of God. Every object produces upon us the impression that all is old and all new in that perpetual domain. This im- pression, however, we receive chiefly from the stui, when we see it every morning ascend the horizon in youthful freshness, as if emerging from a bath. To one of us it might well appear that in the opposite hemisphere it had been recruiting its strength, as we, the children of men, have meanwhile ourselves been doing during the silence of night ; and yet its setting here has only been its rising there. How it bedims with its splen- dour whatever else presumes to shine beside it, and so in per- fect solitude ascends the heavens ! How monarch-like, and, as it were, without respect of persons, it sheds its beams upon mountain and valley, upon the humble and the great ! We can scarcely wonder that they to whom the secojid of God's Testaments was not vouchsafed to help them to expound the first, which is the Book of Nature, should have prostrated themselves and adored it as the Lord. And yet what is it but the ministering servant of Him who claims it as His ozun, and of whom we read that " He maketh His sun to rise on the evil 1 Psalm xcv. 6, 7. 2 According to others, sound. ^ I.e., in the ends of the world or the heavens. 15- The Heavens declare the Gloiy of God. yj and the good " ? Nay, it is but the servant of His servants, for it only ministers to other suns which all at last circle around Him who bears the name of the " Father of Lights." ^ Doubt- less there was truth in the apostle's words when he said that " the invisible things of God, even His eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world ; " so that the Gentiles " are without excuse." ^ In fact, however, these things are clearly seen only by those in whose heart His precious Word — the Holy Bible — has kindled the light which illumines all nature besides. When it is said that the three revelations of God — that in Nature, that in the Old Testa- ment, and that in the New — constitute together a single book in three parts, it is a book which can be properly understood only when in reading it we reverse the order. If, however, the two latter parts have been duly mastered, and we then again open the first, oh what sermons never before imagined resound from it in our ears ! None but a disciple of Christ understands the meaning of the words when, encompassed by the glories of nature. He exclaims : " Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground." Yes ; only the Christian, when he calls the earth holy ground, knows that it is because the Holy One of God once trod it with sinless foot — because on it He offered the sacrifice of His precious blood — and because upon it, when it shall have been consecrated afresh, " the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." ^ This is to look into the heart of His grace : and to him, but only to him, who thus looks, does the world become full of mere miracles of mercy. Oh, with what new eyes do we read the book of nature when we see on every page of it the traces of One who so loved the world that He did not spare His only-begotten Son, but tore Him from His heart, and delivered Him up, that the world might be saved ! When with an eye like this a man gazes into nature, it is very true that his heart will, even less than that of others, be 1 James, i. 17. 2 Rom, i. 20. 3 Rgy. xxi, 3. y8 15. T/ie Heavens declare the Glory of God. satiated with her loveUness ; but then it will be filled with hod- ings of the imperishable beauty of that neu) earth upon which God's children shall dwell from eternity to eternity, when they have attained to the glorious freedom which has been promised to them. Then does the enraptured heart send forth exulting shouts, and sing — Lord, if Thy throne and footstool shine So brightly here below, Who shall the glories all divine Within Thy heart that glow ? And again — Fair art thou, earth, clad in so bright array ; And when thy dazzling beauty I survey. Enraptured, I exclaim — Yes, thou art fair ! So fair thou art even now v^hen on thy plains Walk sinful men, whose touch thy soil profanes, And proudly vaunt themselves thy sovereign lords. But, earth, what wilt thou be when o'er thy fields The hand of ransomed saints the sceptre wields? For that blest day thou keep'st thy bridal robes. My Father in heaven, I know and have felt that every object in Thy glorious kingdom may become to us a preacher, and that the fault lies in our obdurate ears that nature, alike in her loveliness and terror, preaches to us so little. All created things discourse of Thy glory. Day utters it unto day, and night unto night. Oh give me a truly childlike heart, that I may comprehend what they say ! Vouchsafe to me also an unruffled mind, that in the voice of the whole creation I may hear that of the uncreated God, who is my Father and my Lord. I will exercise my thoughts upon Thy holy word of revelation, that so I may become more intelligent of what it may be Thy will to say to me from the book of nature. And above and beyond all the loveliness of nature now displayed to my view, vouchsafe to me a bhssful presentiment of that happy day when the earth, the present cradle of fallen human- ity, shall, along with her Lord, be exalted to the imperishable glory which thou hast destined for them. 1 6. The Law of the Lord coiiverteth the Soul. 79 16. Srje Eato of tje Horti conijcrtetjj ti^c ^oul 5/^j/ ar^ the righteous, but he well must know That which right is, who what is right would do. Psalm xix. Fart Second. — Verse 7. " The law of the Lord is without change,^ converting the soul : the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." LIKE the word of God in nature, so likewise is His word in revelation without change ; and that is the reason why it recruits ^ my soul. I need a divine word which con- tinues always the same, and which is sure. Man is required to build his whole life upon religion ; what would become of him if religion itself rested on no solid and immovable founda- tion ? Oh, could I but build all my actions upon the Lord's unchangeable law and sure testimony, how unchangeable and sure my whole life itself would then become ! And yet what is this but true wisdom? I have always figured to myself the wise man as one who never needs to change his principles, but remains constantly like himself. To such a condition, however, we can only attain by founding our life on a sure testimony of God ; for, as King Solomon says, " All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes ; but the Lord alone maketh the heart sure." ^ Verses 8, 9. " The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoic- ing the heart : the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever : the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether." How delightful to me it is that the Lord's commandments 1 Luther's vers. ^ Prov. xvi. 2 — Luther's vers. 8o 1 6. TJie Law of the Lord converteth tJie Sold. are all pure and clean, and true and righteous ! Well do I know that the knowledge of God and the knowledge of man are the two hinges on which the door of heaven turns. But not less conscious am I, from my natural inclinations, that the thoughts which I entertain respecting myself, the world, and God, are far from being right; and hence the continual desire I have to compare them with the thoughts of a being who is higher than myself. It seems to me that we can offer to God no more simple and natural prayer than this ; — Oh search my inmost thoughts, that they May never from Thy precepts stray ; Guide heart and mind The truth to find. Every day do I experience that a right point of view, even when I have succeeded in finding it, is so apt to be again lost; and I see more truth than I can express in the saying of the apostle James, that when we contemplate our inner man, it happens to us, as it does to him who looks at his bodily face in a glass : " He beholdeth himself," are the words, " and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." ^ Take a single instance : I clearly see how greatly we need to call in our scattered senses, and to concentrate the whole force of our minds upon the great task of life, in order to discharge it aright. And more or less this is a conviction which many share. We act, however, like men who, although knowing that they have a tower to build, do yet in their daily avocations make no greater preparation for it than if it were some paltry hut. How needful, then, it is to resort frequently to the divine Word, if for nothing else than to keep alive in our minds the consciousness of what the chief task of life is ! How great a boon it is to possess commandments of God that are alto- gether clean and pure, and true and right ! For even though it be said that God is nothing but an unuttered sigh in every human heart, who is able to utter it until the word of revela- tion has taught him the proper language ? ^ James, i. 23, 24. 1 6. The Law of the Lord converteth the Soul. 8i Ve7'se lo. *' More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold : sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb," To utter with perfect sincerity these words of the Psalmist is far from an easy task. Well do we k7iow that we ought to be able to do it. But are we able ? It pertains to the delusion by which we are all ensnared, that we fancy ourselves to be as much better as we have learned to kjiow better what it is to be so. Still I have reason to praise the Lord. At one period of my life, no doubt, there were many things which, in the inmost recesses of my heart, I felt to be dearer to me and sweeter to my taste than the word and the commandment of my God, and when I could not have understood at all what the Psalmist here says. But it is otherwise with me now, in so far as that I can now declare that I understand what he avers — nay, more, that I feel it. Moreover, I can see what my Saviour means when He affirms, *' My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." I experience a blessedness in thinking that God has revealed His will in a sure word ; and even when, in any par- ticular instance, it seems bitter to reduce it to practice, still even in this bitterness there is a mixture of what is sweet ; and by the grace of God I hope to advance ever further and further in the same way. Oh how abundant a source of felicity that will be ! Verses ii, 12. " Moreover by them is Thy servant warned : and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults." Great, no doubt, is the reward of keeping the commandments even here below. It always seems to me to be in itself a great reward that God counts us worthy of being taken into His service. I feel it to be a high honour when I think that I am the servant of such a Master. Nay, rather are we His childre7t F Sz 1 6. T/ie Law of the Lord coiiverteth the Soul. when we are able heartily and willingly to do His will, and that is a still more blessed reward ; for they who are children are likewise heirs, yea, joint-heirs with Christ, the true and the only-begotten Son.^ The warning given to us by the commandments of my God, I will endeavour to improve as often as I find myself again in danger of falling into ways of my own. I know that in a thousand things I am yet unacquainted with myself, and this therefore shall be my daily prayer : — Eye, that on guile and falsehood cannot look, Blessed are they no secret sins who brook, But, free from sly Hypocrisy, To God and man do what is right, And humbly walk before Thy sight. Verse 13. " Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins ; let them not have dominion over me : then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great trans- gression." Do I still commit presumptitous^ or, in other words, deliber- ate sins ? Would to God that I did not ! for he who willingly offends against any one commandment, is upon the way to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost. It is true that this is often done by us without our being conscious of it. We prac- tise some self-deception in order to hang a veil over the divine commandment, and in this manner are gradually enticed into acts which previously, with a clear and unclouded eye, we looked upon as evil. And here again it is important that we should frequently hold up before our eyes the mirror of God's Word, and submit to its reproofs. It may likewise have a wholesome effect to cherish, as the pious Psalmist does, a con- tinual mistrust of ourselves, lest by ceasing to walk circum- spectly we may perchance become guilty even of the "great transgression." When I question my heart whether it would 1 Rom. viii. 17. 1 6. The Law of the Lord converteth the Soul. 83 be possible for me wholly to break with Him whom at present my soul loves as its dearest portion, I am constrained to say that in myself 1 have no certainty and confidence that I shall always abide with Him. Such certainty I find only in Himself. Verse 14. ''Let the words of my mouth, and the medita- tion of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer. Yes, O my God, let them be acceptable unto Thee ! After almost every quiet prayer and holy meditation in the divine presence, we have the consciousness that there was an ear which heard us, and a heart which received our sighs. The effect of a silent colloquy with God is so soothing ! There was a time when I used greatly to wonder at these words of Luther : — Bear and forbear and silent be, Tell to no man thy misery ; Yield not in trouble to dismay — God can deliver any day. I wondered, because we feel the outpouring of grief into the heart of a friend to be so sweet. At the same time, he who talks much of his troubles to men is apt to fall into a way of saying too little of them to God; while, on the other hand, he who has often experienced the blessed alleviation which flows from silent converse with the Eternal, loses much of his desire for the sympathy of his fellows. It appears to me now as if spreading out our distress too largely before men, served only to make it broader, and to take away its zest ; and hence the proverb, *' Talking of trouble makes it double." On the contrary, if, when in distress, we can contrive to maintain calm composure of mind, and to bear it always as in the sight of God, submissively waiting for succour from Him according to the words of the Psalmist, "Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from Him cometh my salvation," ^ — in that case, the distress 1 Psalm Ixii. i. 84 1 6. TJie Law of the Lord coiiverteth the Soid. neither extends in breadth nor sinks in depth. It lies upon the surface of the heart Hke the morning mist, which the sun as it ascends dissipates into hght clouds. O thou Searcher of hearts ! let the sure testimony of Thy Word make my heart sure, and the purity of Thy command- ments purify and enhghten my eyes. Thou knowest me better than I know myself Let Thy light shine even unto the most hidden folds of my soul. How different the light in which I now appear from that in which I saw myself a year ago ! and yet I am conscious of still wearing a mask which conceals me from myself, and of often trying to think that I am what I am not. I see the temptation, and yet cannot make my escape from it. I perceive the hook of Satan, and yet snatch at the bait. If my rescue from these snares of self-deception de- pended upon efforts of my own, I would give them up in de- spair, for the more I struggle the more I become entangled. To Thee, then, O Lord, to Thee I turn, that Thy pure and holy Spirit may disclose to me my secret faults. Grant that Thy divine Word may serve as a bright mirror in which I behold my image in its perfect truth. Lo, I feel that I have fortitude enough to condemn myself, if Thy Word require it at my hands. It is for truth, and tmth alone, that my soul is athirst. Even although death be in it, oh, rather give me death with truth than life with falsehood ! It is because I find per- fect truth in Thy law that Thy law is so sweet to me. That is the reason for which I love it even when it wrings every sub- terfuge from my hands, and tears asunder the veils behind which I would have concealed myself from Thy face. I am willing to be condemned by Thee, because I know that none gain admission into heaven but they who confess that their desert was hell. And shall I never, then, O Lord my God, advance so far as to live so much as a single day without sin in Thy sight ? Oh, if I cannot be exempt from such sins as spring from infirmity of the flesh, or indiscretion, or sloth, keep me at least from falling into presumptuous sins ! Above all that, however, I/. Meditate in His Law day and night. 85 above and beyond my transgressions, both little and great, above my self-reproaches and self-exculpations, lies the confi- dence towards Thee which through Christ Jesus I am privileged to entertain. Forbid that the corrections of Thy Word should ever make me forget its consolations ; for although it behoves us to condemn ourselves, we must do it only in order to be justified by Thee. Alas for man ! how apt he is to overlook the one of these things in the other ! and yet they are both alike indispensable for his salvation. O Lord, guide me by Thy Spirit, that on the narrow way I may turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. 17. ^etiitatc m i^is ilaln tiag anti niufjt, I am a dry and withered stock ! I hear thee still complain ; But pla7it thee by the water-brook, And thoti It grow green again. Psalm i. i, 2. " Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord ; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." FULL well did godly men, even under the Old Testament, discern how precious a gift the grace of God has pro- vided for us in His Word ; and gladly did they forsake all other company in order to commune with Him there. How poor a novice, then, must I be, who still pant so eagerly for the companionship of men, though I have the offer of companion- ship so delightful with the good of all ages, and with Him who 86 ly. Meditate in His Law day and night. is my God and my Lord ! Of what sort are the companies into which I go ? Do I always return from them more com- posed, more devout, or in any way a better man ? And if not, does the fault lie wholly with the persons whom I meet? No; I am persuaded that if all were right with myself — if on these occasions I were to bear in remembrance all that has been done for me — even the counsel of the ungodly might then prove to me a counsel for good. But, alas ! how often do I barter my birthright for a mess of pottage : lay myself, like Samson, in Delilah's lap, — and when the cry is heard, " The Philistines be upon thee!'' and Samson awakes, behold, his strength is departed from him ! The pious Psalmist possessed only the Old Testament, and yet felt himself rich and happy in possessing it, although to its disciples the Old Testament was a schoolmaster stern and severe. I possess the benign and precious Gospel, and yet I am far from valuing it as I ought. It was a saying of Luther that " Holy Scripture is a sweet-scented herb, and that the more you rub it, the more it emits its fragrance." Alas ! never, certainly, have I rubbed it enough ; I still cleave so much to the ingenious thoughts of men and the deep things of the learned. And yet the Bible alone is a deep ocean ; whereas learned men, even when their cogitations are shrewdest, are mere water-cisterns, which in seasons of need sometimes run dry and sometimes congeal. In approaching the Word of God, I must empty myself of my own thoughts and imaginations far more than I have ever done ; for when our hands are full we can receive no more. I take too little pains with the Word, forgetting that he who desires to drink new wine must not decline the labour of treading the press. The Psalmist says that "in God's law he doth meditate ;" and ought we not to go earnestly to work with His Word, seeing that it is written, " O Lord, how great are Thy words I and Thy thoughts are very deep. A bnitish nia7i knoweth not, neither doth a fool unde7'stand this'"l^ Ye proud masters who treat the blessed Word of God 1 Psalm xcii. 5, 6 — I^uther's vers. I/. Meditate in His Law day and flight. 8/ as if it were a mere alphabet-book for children, and for no better reason than because you are yourselves mere A-B-C-Da- rians in divine things, how will the saying of the Psalmist one day rise up and bear testimony against you ? As yet, like the water-spider, you have but glided fleetly over the surface of this ocean. Oh that you would attempt even for once to dive into its depths ! We are surprised that so little of the faith of our fathers is to be found amongst us. But what else save little of their faith can there be, seeing that there is amongst us so little of their habit oi prayer and meditation upon God's Word and law ? Need we wonder that the children can no more wage wars like those of which they hear their fathers discourse, when they refuse to practise the martial exercises in which their fathers were trained ? We complain of being so overburdened with work that we have no leisure for prayer and meditation on the Word ; and yet we read of a man who had a task upon his shoulders that would have been too heavy for ten of us, but of whom one of his familiar friends has borne testimony that he did not allow a single day to pass without devoting to prayer at least three of the hours most convenient for the purpose.^ Verse 3. "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither ; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." How good a thing it must be when a man resembles the tree here described, which always, as the season when it is due arrives, brings forth its fruit, and whose leaves do not wither ! To make this, however, possible, the tree must be planted by the rivers of water, in order that there may be a continual sup- ply of fresh moisture to the root. How apt, then, the figure, when the pious Psalmist here compares the Holy Scriptures to such a water-brook ! Oh what a flood of power and life 1 Veit Dietrich in the 8th Sermon of Mathesius. 88 I/. Meditate i7t His Law day and night. streams in upon a man when the Word of God, as the apostle expresses it, is mixed with faith in his heart ! He thereby acquires a sort of ifivincibility, so that with the Bible in his hand he can put to flight his weakness, his sloth, gloomy- thoughts, temptations of the flesh, and all his spiritual enemies, be they however strong or subtle, and called by whatsoever name. Just as our Lord and Master showed in His own temptation, when, with no other sword and buckler but the Word, He discomfited Satan. How happy the man would be who, amidst life's troubles and conflicts, could adopt the language of good Dr Luther and say, " The Lord not only acts as the shepherd of the Christian flock, but hkewise gives His rod and staff, which means His JVord, that it may be to them a sword I And this weapon they carry not in their hand, but in their mouth, and with it do not only comfort them that mourn, but likewise put the devil, with all his emissaries, be they ever so subtle and keen, to rout. In this way, by the grace of God, I have kept my feet for these eighteen years past, and have allowed my enemies continually to rage and threaten, slander, condemn, devise wicked plots and machina- tions, and practise all kinds of villany against me. I have allowed them anxiously to perplex their minds with schemes to take away my life and uproot my doctrine, or, as I ought rather to say, God's ; and yet all the while I was happy and in good spirits, though better, no doubt, at one time than another, and gave little heed to their bluster and rage, but kept hold of the rod of comfort and sat at the Lord's table — by which I mean that I committed to Him the cause in which, without desire or intention of mine, He had enlisted me — and mean- while repeated to Him a paternoster or a psalm." Here, my dear readers, you have a specimen of the peculiar power derived from the fresh water-brooks when a man plants himself beside them, and has his root nourished by the Word of God. And wherever such power reigns in the heart, there,] without fail, does a man also bring forth fruit in /lis season ;\ which means, that whatever it be which duty calls upon him] I J. Meditate in His Law day and night. 89 at any time to do, he then finds himself competent for the task, because he continues always fresh. Christian faith gives brightness to the eyes and colour to the cheeks ; whereas he who lives without the Word of God is one whose calendar, every day and hour, shows a change of weather, and whose whole life is one long April month, when sunshine and snow- drift, fresh growth and sear decay, perpetually succeed each other. This, however, is a secret which must not be divulged to the world, and therefore he must needs have recourse to paint, that he may present a decent appearance when he goes into company ; and thus, at last, he learns to tell lies to him- self. I have read of a celebrated man ^ that, when about to expire, he cried out in sore distress, '* Give me great thoughts.^' Now no one doubts that great thoughts are like sea- waves which bear proud vessels aloft, or like the cool shade of the fig-tree in a sultry day, or like noble elms on which the vine can fasten for support. Great thoughts train a man to great- ness; but what are all the great thoughts in the world compared with God's eternal thoughts of peace disclosed to us in the Gospel? When it is with these that the Christian moistens the roots of his existence — when these are what he makes his prop and stay, and on which he climbs aloft — when these are what he keeps perpetually before the eyes of his soul — he cannot fail to acquire an inward steadfastness. Such an one can never wither ; and, moreover, whatsoever he doeth must prosper. Why do other people not prosper in their doings ? The reason is, because they have no one to cofitrol their thoughts : in other words, in place of being governed by the eternal thoughts of God, they have many masters, and many of these are unwise, and suggest to them some new folly every hour. Will you never learn how pitiable a creature he is who allows himself to be driven and tossed about by every momen- tary freak, every gust of humour and desire, as the wave is seized and tossed by the whirlwind ? This is what the Psalmist expresses with still greater force in the following words : — 1 Herder. 90 I/. Meditate in His Law day and night. Verse 4. " The ungodly are not so : but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." How singularly true ! Ungodly or Godi-less is equivalent in meaning to root-/^j-i-, which implies that they are the sport of all the winds of caprice and accident. When I observe the persons who do not make the divine Word the rule of their life, I see in by far the most of them the mere reflection of the circumstances by which they are surrounded, and of the events in which they are involved. They do not themselves know what they shall be next year, or even to-morrow. As for others, to whom this description may not apply, it may be that they really have a compass to direct their course ; but it is that of the world, and is contained in the following proverb : — /, 7ne, and 7?iine, those mighty powers, Rule, at their will, this world of ours. The vast majority, however, do not follow even that com- pass, but are like the chaff which the least breath of wind disperses on every side. " I hate vain thoughts ; but Thy law do I love," ^ says the Psalmist in another passage, but to the same effect — viz., that the man in whom the law of the Loi'd does not wield the sceptre, is like a ship without a pilot, or a pilot without a compass, or a compass without a needle. An Eastern poet has said — Man's heart is like the apple Which to and fro is driven, On some deserted heath, By the four winds of heaven. Man's heart is like the water That seethes in a pot, And sinks and bubbles up As the fire grows cold or hot. It thus appears that that which the human heart lacks, and which it has most need to obtain, has been recognised by man from where the sun rises to where it sets. The only thing they did not know was where to find it. 1 Psalm cxix. 113. I/. Meditate in His Law day and night. 91 Verses 5,6. " Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous ; but the way of the ungodly shall perish." If we compare the way of the ungodly with that of the children of God in their journey through the world, it certainly does appear as if the former were never at a loss for a path on which to go ; just as the Lord on a certain occasion said to His yet unbelieving brethren, ''Your time is alway ready." ^ The way of the righteous, however, which is the way of divine prescription, is rough, uphill, and narrow, and often without any visible outlet. Nevertheless, while he is looking anxiously around, and his heart faints and fears, the eye of God has long seen where it is to terminate, and to terminate in triumph ; whereas the broad way of the ungodly perishes. From depths to many a wondrous height, From straits to places wide, To show the wonders of His might. The Lord His folk doth guide. Forward, then, thou faint and trembling heart — still forward upon the path of duty — the path prescribed by God ! Thou canst not see the issue, but His eye has seen it long ago. His world has been so arranged, that upon the path of duty, and upon that path alone, can the blissful goal be reached. A pious Israelite of the olden time has said that " the world is founded upon the law of Moses," which means nothing else than that the path of duty and integrity cannot ultimately con- duct to any but the happiest end. O consolatory thought that " the Lord knoweth my way f" I will therefore no longer stop or linger for a moment, even though to my own timid eye the path of duty may seem to be leading me into the yawning abyss. The Lord knoweth 7ny way, and everything in the world ; yea, the whole creation must become ministering angels to those who follow the direction of 1 John, vii. 6. 92 I/. Meditate in His Law day and night. His law. He who gave the commandments is the self-same God who guides with His hand all the powers of earth and heaven. " The way of the ungodly shall perish ^ For a little it may still continue, but perish it one day shall, and that in terror. It sometimes appears as if the Lord had forgotten His sacred office of judge, although, certainly. He will let nothing escape Him at the last. But not seldom, on the other hand, it appears as if even here in time, while he is confidently walking upon the broad way, the ungodly man felt a presentiment that that way is, ere long, suddenly to perish. For do we not occasion- ally observe in the lives of persons who are utterly forgetful of God, and already hardened in their minds, an inward hesita- tion and uncertainty, so that they all at once stand still like one awaking out of sleep, into which he immediately sinks back? And are not these, as it were, moments in which some single solemn toll of the bell that is to ring in the general judgment is wafted to their ear ? " The way of the Lord is strength to the upright, but the workers of iniquity are of faint heart." i Cherish, my soul, the elevating thought That on the Word is built the world of God ; And that though nature's frame asunder break, On duty's path I'm safe amid the wreck. Be not dismayed though in the conflict dire . Truth's cause may seem — it seems but^to expire. The ark of God unharmed survives the fray, And all earth's crowns the crown of Christ obey. 1 Prov. X. 29 — Luther's vers. i8. / am not come to destroy the Law, &c. 93 18. 31 am not come to tiestrog t!je Hato antJ tje propfjets. i^^V^ / ^at/^ the picture bright, And care not on the sketch to look. Yet even the sketch is worth a sight ; It shows the pains the painter took. Matt. v. 17. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Rom. XV. 4. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." SUCH is the divine seal which the mouth of truth has impressed upon the Old Testament, in order that we may never treat with indifference or contempt those writings which the Saviour read as the book of His heavenly Father. In general it was not to destroy that He — the epitome of all truth — appeared on earth. He came to fill up any outline of truth already existing, and to make of it a picture replete with life and power. As the stars do not really lose their light at the rising of the sun, but only lose it to our eyes, so is it with all the sparks of truth which were scattered abroad in the world when the sun of Christ arose ; they still possess a glory — but then, as the apostle says, their glory is not to be considered a glory when compared with that which excelleth. ^ Oh that I had eyes to see the divine light which already shone in Moses and the prophets ! God of the fathers, teach me devoutly to read that book which was devoutly read by^my Saviour. O Thou God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever, for they are the rejoicing 1 2 Cor. iii, lo. 94 1 8. I am not come to destroy of my heart. " Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." ^ " Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." ^ How marvellous a temple of God is Scripture from its first commencement to its final close ! It is coextensive with the his- tory of the world, and accompanies, as it were, the human race from their origin to their end. " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," are its opening words ; and it termi- nates with a description of the period when New Jerusalem, the holy city, shall come down from God out of heaven, and the Lord God shall give light to His people, and they shall reign for ever and ever.^ That is one broad characteristic which even an eye penetrating no deeper than the surface can scarcely fail to observe in the Book of God. I read in an author, to whom even the children of the world bend those knees which they refuse to bend to Christ, as follows : " The high veneration which has been paid to the Bible by so many of the nations and kindreds of the earth, is due to its intrinsic worth. It is not merely a kind of national book, but it is the book of the nations ; ex- hibiting, as it does, the fortunes of one of these as the symbol of all the rest, connecting its history with the origin of the world, and through a gradual succession of temporal and spir- itual evolutions and of necessary and casual events, carrying it forward to the remotest ages of eternity."^ How closely are the Old and New Testaments connected with each other, so that it is impossible to tear them asunder ! *' Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord," is the promise with which the Old Testament concludes ; ^ and with the account of how this same Elijah came and preached repentance the New Testament begins.*^ As the light shines dimly at the dawn, and then the morning star appears, and then at last comes the perfect day, so likewise is it with that long series of divine 1 Rom. XV, 4. 2 Ps cxix. 18. ^ Rev. xxi. 2 ; xxii. 5. ^ Goethe. ^ Mai. iv. 5. '° Matt, iii. 2; xi. 14; xvii. 11. the Law and the Prophets. 95 messengers of whom it is written, — " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." 1 The Lord has "fulfilled the law and the prophets." Even the Old Testament itself is a fulfilment. There are two voices in every human breast, the voice of co7iscience and the voice of desire^ and both of these it has fulfilled, and given to them a clear utterance. Although in characters indistinct, a divine law" stands written in every breast of man. That law has now been written clearly and unmistakably upon stone and parch- ment, that we may no longer deny its existence to ourselves. It says. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy hearty and with all thy soid^ a7id with all thy might ; and likewise, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.^ And is not this the sum and substance of all commandments which can possibly be delivered to man, as indeed our Lord showed when in these two He comprised the whole law ? ^ But along with the voice which tells us what we ought to be, yet what we are not, there is also another which makes itself heard in every human heart, and which affords us a glimmer of hope that our trespasses shall not separate us for ever from our God, and that we shall at least one day become what we ought to be. This boding voice of desire, which, though feeble and confused, resounds through the successive generations of our race, has also met its fulfilment in the Old Testament. There, there are voices which clearly and unmistakably speak of the time when " there shall be a fountain open to the ijihabitatits of Jerusalein for sin and for uncleanfiess '' ^ — of a time when of the city of God upon earth it shall be said, ^^ Thy people shall be all righteous : they shall inherit the la?td for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that 1 may be glorified."" ^ But the law and prophecy of the Old Testament are themselves only shadows of the good things to come, of which the substance is Christ.^ It was in 1 Heb. i. I, 2 Rom. ii. 15. ^ Deut. vi. 5 ; Lev. xix. 18. 4 Mark, xii. 29-31. ^ Zech. xiii. i. ^ Isa. Ix. 21. ' ^ Heb. x. i. 96 i8. / am not come to destroy Him, our Saviour, that the fountain for sin and uncleanness was opened. It was from His mouth that the prophecy came, " Where I am" — and we may be allowed to subjoin, such as I am — " there " and such '•' also shall my servant be." And ever since we obtained this hope, even the law is no longer a shadow for us who are Christians. It has been quickened into life. For now we can address each other in the words of John and say, " Little children let us love Him, for He first loved us;" and wherever such a love as this is felt, there the law no longer stands inscribed upon the table of stone — there it is written by the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of men, as the voice of prophecy promised that it should one day be. Hear the words : '' I will make a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which my covenant they brake, although I was an hus- band unto them, saith the Lord : but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts \ and will be their God, and they shall be my people." ^ The prophecies, however, are by no means the only part of the Old Testament in which the shadows of the good things to come have been enshrined. In point of fact, the people of God, with the whole of their religious rites, and even the events of their history, constitute an adumbration of future blessings and of future times. The utterances of the prophets appear merely as bright spots, in which the spirit which pervades the whole of that ancient economy concentrates its power and energies more clearly into view. " Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation : " is not that a descrip- tion of the "spiritual Israel" whom Christ in the New Testa- ment has made a royal priesthood ? ^ And as to their rites of worship, oh, when it is given to any of us to catch a glimpse of the awful mysteries which are hidden in them, how do we 2 Gal. vi. 16 ; i Pet. ii. 9 ; Rev. v. 10. the Law and the Prophets. 97 then exclaim with David, " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after ; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple " ! ^ In the Temple there was t\\Q fore-court of the tabernacle for the people, typifying those who outwardly belong to the holy nation, but who have not yet become priestly souls, qualified to offer acceptable sacrifices to God. There was next the holy place, into which the priests alone were admitted, pre- figuring those who, like priests, make their lives a continual act of religious worship, and present to the Lord the spiritual oblations with which He is well pleased.^ There was then thQ holiest of all, from which even the priests were debarred, and into which only the high priest was permitted to enter, and he only once a-year, prefiguring the Church made perfect — that Church which is hereafter to see what here on earth was the object of its faith ; just as in the Apocalypse the eyes of the seer behold the temple of God opened in heaven — that true holy of holies — and in it the ark of His testament.^ In the fore-court stood the laver, in which it behoved the priests to wash their hands and feet before they entered the holy place; also the altar of burnt-offering, on which were presented the sacrifices foreshadowing the great oblation of Christ. In the holy place was set the table with the twelve loaves of showbread — the offering made by Israel to the Lord, and typifying the good works with which He is well pleased. There, also, stood the golden candlestick with the seven lamps to give light to the apartment, from which all light from with- out was excluded, and typifying the divine Word, by whose light priestly souls are guided on their way. Finally, in the holy place there was likewise the altar of incense, whose fragrant smoke as- cended to heaven, and was a figure of the prayers of the saints.* In the awful darkness of the most holy place stood the ark of the covenant, over which the presence of the Lord was en- 1 Psalm xxvii. 4. ^ i Peter ii. 5. 3 Rev. xi, 19. 4 Psalm cxli. 2 ; Rev. viii. 4. 98 i8. / am not come to destroy the Law, &c. throned and gave forth its oracles, and in it the sacred chest containing the law, upon which the covenant of the Lord with His people was founded — the chest being for that reason called the ark of the covejiant, or of the testimo7iy of God, to signify that the connection of the Lord with His people rests upon the eter- nal pillars of the law and its observance. Above it, made of pure and massive gold, was the lid of the mercy-seat overshadowed by the wings of the cherubim, whose fourfold face of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man — severally emblematical of the qualities of majesty, strength, freedom, and intelligence in the creatures — pictured forth the creation itself; while above them brooded the mysterious presence of the Lord of hosts — the whole forming a representation of the reign of the invisible Jehovah over all that He has made, and of which the foundations are grace and law. We have to mention, also, those manifold sacrifices ordained for all sorts of transgression — the thank-offerings — the praises — and the sin offerings — all intended to supplement what is lacking in our poor gratitude, praises, and affection, and to take away the guilt of sin. What are they, with their perpetual repetitions, but a weak adumbration of that perfect sacrifice which has been offered by the High Priest of the New Testa- ment, who could say, " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God! "^ for that is the sacrifice which has given to these shadowy em- blems their perfect truth. Yes, it is a sacred allegory which speaks to me from all the institutions and narratives of the Old Testament, and by which I also ought to be drawn towards Him who has brought into the world the substance of the good things which were to come. How it teaches me to adore the preceptive grace of God, who was pleased in this manner to train and prepare mankind for the revelation of the mystery which in the silence of His bosom had been kept secret ^ since the world began ! How I learn from it to hope that the God who so faithfully reared His child Israel until the time came for taking the bandage from his eyes, will also train me, feeding me with milk so long as I am 1 Heb. X. 9. ^ Rom. xvi. 25. ig. 0 Lord, Thy Thoughts are very deep. 99 still a babe and until I am fit for stronger meat, even that perfect word of righteousness ! ^ Go with me, Thou God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ! Open mine eyes, and teach me to see wondrous things out of the law. 19.