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The Future Tenses 
 
 OF 
 
 The Blessed Life. 
 
 /■ 
 
 F. B. MEYER, B. A. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 if The Present Tenses of the Blessed Life" ; 
 "Christian Living" ; "The Shepherd Psalm" 
 
 ETC, ETC. 
 
 /j 3s & y 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company, 
 
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 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, in the Office of the 
 Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE e y e gets strained with peering into the un- 
 known. We cannot penetrate the vail which 
 the Father hangs over coming days, as the light 
 gauze of mist over the gaunt hills, or the smiling 
 pasture-lands. 
 
 It is better not to know. The joy hidden in the 
 years would unfit us for common tasks; whilst the 
 dread, apart from the sight of His all-sufficient 
 grace, that awaits to succor us, would paralyze. It 
 is His mercy that puts its hand over our eyes. 
 
 But if, by the constitution of our minds, we must 
 anticipate the future, then let us believe that it is 
 radiant with His presence, filling each moment to it s 
 outermost rim. No day, whatever it takes, can de- 
 prive us of Him. Each day will utter to the next 
 some speech of His love. All the days linked to- 
 gether, and entwined with His present grace, will 
 make a golden chain of holy and blessed living. 
 
 F. B. MEYER. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. A Cluster of Grapes 
 
 II. Kept and Watered 
 
 III. For Easter Morning 
 
 IV. Waiting 
 
 V. Guidance and Glory 
 
 VI. A Door of Hope 
 
 VII. "Hewilldoit" 
 
 VIII. Morning Help 
 
 IX. Claiming and Reckoning 
 
 X. Death, the Gate of Life 
 
 XI. What the Man can be 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 7 
 
 20 
 
 . 32 
 
 42 
 
 , 56 
 
 72 
 
 ■ 84 
 
 98 
 
 . 108 
 
 124 
 
 146 
 
THE FUTURE TENSES OF THE 
 BLESSED LIFE. 
 
 I. 
 
 a Cluster of ©rapes* 
 
 "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is 
 mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with 
 joy; He will rest in his love; He will joy over thee 
 with singing." Zeph. iii. 17 
 
 T^HESE words sparkle as the rim of 
 the ocean does when, though clouds 
 brood dense overhead, the sun shines 
 far out at sea. They were primarily 
 addressed to the daughter of Zion, to 
 Israel the chosen people; and they 
 undoubtedly foreshadow blessings 
 which are yet to be realized. Ten 
 times over in this chapter God as- 
 sures His people of what He will 
 
H Cluster of ©rapes. 
 
 most certainly do on their behalf. 
 
 But a much wider circle than the 
 chosen race may appropriate the bless- 
 ed comfort of these words. They who 
 are of the faith of Abraham are reck- 
 oned children of Abraham, and are 
 therefore justified in claiming their 
 share in the blessings promised to 
 all the seed; "not to that only which 
 is of the law, but to that also which 
 is of faith. ■' If you believe on Him 
 "who quickeneth the dead, and calleth 
 these things which be not as though 
 they were," then draw near and drink 
 deep draughts of rest and grace from 
 these wells of sacred promise. 
 
 Twice over in this paragraph we 
 are told that the Lord, the King of 
 Israel, is in the midst of His people. 
 This is an indisputable fact. He is in 
 the midst of His church, so that it 
 shall not be moved; though the waves 
 around roar and be troubled, beating 
 themselves into yeasty foam and 
 
"Cbrtst m us," 9 
 
 clouds of spray. But He is also in 
 the midst of our individual being. We 
 have been so strengthened by the 
 spirit in the inner man, that Christ 
 dwells in our hearts by faith. At the 
 moment of regeneration God becomes, 
 in the person of His Son, and through 
 the work of the Holy Ghost, resident 
 in those who believe. Thencefor- 
 ward they are His holy temples and 
 those ever-memorable words are real- 
 ized in their experience, "We will 
 come unto him, and make our abode 
 with him." 
 
 Well would it be if each Christian 
 were to devote some portion, how- 
 ever brief, in each day, to meditation 
 upon this marvellous fact. "The mighty 
 God, the King, is in the midst of me. 
 I am God-tenanted, God-possessed. 
 The High and Holy One who inhabit- 
 eth eternity has taken up His abode 
 in my heart." And this marvellous 
 indwelling — more wonderful than if 
 
io b Cluster of ©rapes, 
 
 an angel were to indwell an emmet 
 or humming-bird— is not dependent 
 on frames or feelings or aught in us; 
 but endures through all our changes 
 and fluctuations unto the eternal ages. 
 
 But if the mighty God is indeed in 
 us, why is there so much weakness 
 and failure in our lives? why have we 
 so little to show for this marvellous 
 possession? Alas! the answer is not 
 far to seek — we have limited the Holy 
 One of Israel. He has been in the 
 midst of us as a man astonied, and as a 
 mighty man that cannot save; be- 
 cause our backslidings have been 
 many, and we have sinned against 
 Him (Jer. xiv. 17-8.) 
 
 In olden days, amid the Roman 
 forum, there was a little brooklet, 
 called the Girls' Fountain, which sang 
 merrily as it broke into the .light, and 
 passed on its way toward the yellow 
 Tiber. For centuries, however, it was 
 lost sight of; not that it had ceased 
 
Ube "(Biris' fountain," n 
 
 to exist, but that it had become cover- 
 ed and almost choked by tons of rub- 
 bish, accumulated thickly on the spot, 
 as the proud city was subjected to 
 repeated and ruthless violence at the 
 hands of many spoilers. But when in 
 recent years the debris was removed, 
 that fountain, so long choked and 
 hindered, freed from all restraints, 
 again took up her song and recom- 
 menced her useful ministry. Is not 
 that a type of the work of the Mighty 
 One within us? He has not left us;but 
 His gracious power, which would have 
 been put forth in us and for us, has been 
 rendered almost inoperative and dead. 
 What now shall hinder us ridding our- 
 selves of all which has hindered Him 
 from doing His mighty works so that 
 He may do that which He so much 
 loves, and which we so much need? 
 
 Then we may expect Him to accom- 
 plish the four blessed "I wills" of this 
 precious verse. 
 
12 H Cluster of ©rapes. 
 
 "He will save" — As God took the 
 side of His people against their foes, 
 and will do so again in the final strug- 
 gle, when His feet shall stand upon the 
 Mount of Olives, so will He take our 
 side against our sins. He has saved us 
 from the penalty of sin; He will also 
 save us from its power. As we look 
 back on a finished salvation, accom- 
 plished for us on the cross, so we may 
 confidently look forward to a sufficient 
 salvation along the entire course of 
 our future life, till we enter the City 
 whose walls are salvation and its gates 
 praise. 
 
 Your foes may be numerous as the 
 devils in hell, strong and wily; but 
 He will save. Your temperament 
 may be as susceptible to temptation 
 as an aspen-leaf is to the wind; but 
 He will save. Your past years, by 
 repeated acts of indulgence, may have 
 formed habits strong as iron bands; 
 but He will save. Your circumstances 
 
"*>e will Save," 13 
 
 and companions may be most un- 
 favorable to a life of victory; but He 
 will save. Difficulties are nought to 
 Him; the darkness shineth as the day. 
 It were rank blasphemy to suppose 
 that our Creator could have given us 
 a body which He could not keep; or 
 have placed us in circumstance in 
 which He could not restrain. Is it 
 not written, without a single hint at 
 limitation or reserve? — "He shall save 
 His people from their sins." And 
 shall He not do so? 
 
 If there be, therefore, perpetual 
 failure in your life, it cannot arise 
 from any weakness or impotence in 
 the Mighty God; but from some fail- 
 ure on your part. That failure may 
 probably be discovered in one of three 
 hiding places — imperfect surrender; 
 deficient faith; or neglected com- 
 munion. But when the intention of 
 the soul is right with God, without 
 doubt He Will Save. 
 
14 H Cluster of ©rapes. 
 
 11 He will rejoice over thee with joy ." 
 — The great evangelic prophet gives 
 the key to understand this promise 
 when he says, "As the bridegroom 
 rejoiceth over the bride, so shalt thy 
 God rejoice over thee." It is very won- 
 derful that the Holy Spirit should 
 choose metaphor. Plato held that 
 love is the attraction to each other 
 of twin souls, made each for the 
 other, and moving towards each 
 other; until each finds in the other the 
 completement and supply of the needs 
 of its own nature. As we need 
 God, so does God need us. There is 
 something in us which satisfies Him, 
 and without which His nature would 
 not be perfectly content. 
 
 Here is a marvel, at the brink of 
 which the first-born sons of light stand 
 bewildered ! How then can we fathom 
 it? We can understand better how 
 He came to create, redeem, regener- 
 ate, and pity us; but that He should 
 
"1foe will IRejoice/' 15 
 
 need us as the bridegroom needs the 
 bride — who shall understand this? We 
 should have thought that our sin would 
 alienate Him from us for ever. But 
 His yearning for us is greater than 
 His hatred of our sin. And He will 
 expend infinite pains to rid us of the 
 evil that clings to us, that He may 
 have us for Himself forever 
 
 And when the long suspense is over 
 and the weary years of waiting have 
 passed by, and He presents us to Him- 
 self, as a bride adorned for her hus- 
 band, without spot, or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing, amid the over-whelming 
 gladness of that hour for us, there will 
 be realized on His part "the joy that 
 was set before Him;" for which He 
 endured the cross and despised the 
 shame; and He will be abundantly 
 satisfied. He will rejoice over us 
 with joy. 
 
 He will Rest in His Love — The 
 margin suggests an exquisite alter- 
 
1 6 H Cluster of ©rapes* 
 
 native, "He will be silent in His love." 
 Of old the Psalmist said that his soul 
 was silent in its calm expectancy for 
 God's salvation. Here we are told 
 that God is silent in His brooding 
 tenderness. 
 
 All the deepest emotion is silent. 
 That which is superficial can easily 
 find words in which to express itself; 
 but whatever touches the depths of 
 our being is inexpressible. Deep 
 waters run still. Hence it is that the 
 apostle speaks of joy unspeakable; 
 of peace that passeth all understand- 
 ing; of things which eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, nor the heart of man 
 conceived. When we are told, then, 
 that God's love will be a silent one, 
 we know that it is too intense, too 
 deep, too infinite to find expression. 
 
 Such love is ours now, and will be 
 ours forever. "The Father Himself 
 loveth you." "He that loveth Me 
 shall be loved of My Father, and I 
 
"1bz will jos over tbee/' 17 
 
 will love him." All earthly love may 
 ebb away from us, subsiding as a tide 
 down the beach; all that is lovable 
 and attractive in our outward estate 
 may perish; life may seem drear, and 
 desolate, and silent; but over all the 
 love of God will arch as the blue sky 
 over earth. It is a mistake to be ever 
 asking for expressions from love like 
 this. Be content to know and be- 
 lieve it; to rest in it; to lie back on 
 those everlasting arms; to look up in 
 that tender face. It will break silence 
 presently; but in the meanwhile be 
 still, and know that God is love. There 
 is exquisite grace and meaning in the 
 words of the spouse, "I charge you, 
 O! ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the 
 roes and by the hinds of the field, that 
 ye stir not up, nor awaken my love, 
 till he please." 
 
 He will Joy over thee with Singing. 
 — It is much to hear a lark sing, as if 
 its throat must be torn by the torrent 
 
H Cluster of ©rapes. 
 
 of melody; more to hear a child sing 
 as it comes down a woodland path in 
 spring, chequered with sunlight falling 
 on blue hyacinths and yellow prim- 
 roses; more still to hear an angel sing, 
 as the lone messenger of God breaks 
 into melody to cheer himself on some 
 distant journey from the Home of 
 Song; more still to have heard our 
 Saviour sing in the days of His earthly 
 ministry, when He joined His disciples 
 in the Jewish Hallel; but what will 
 it not be when the great God Himself 
 breaks into song, to celebrate an ac- 
 complished work, an emancipated 
 world, a redeemed race, a Bride won 
 for His Son! 
 
 Ah! there are great times coming — 
 even now they are being prepared! 
 Creation is yet to witness scenes of 
 which her fairest pageants are but fad- 
 ing symbols! She shall yet become an 
 orchestra from which songs shall arise 
 throughout all ages. The new song is 
 
"1foe will |0£ over thee/' 19 
 
 being rehearsed but ere long it shall 
 be rendered by ten thousand times ten 
 thousand blessed rejoicing spirits; and 
 amid all, leading all, pervading all, 
 bearing all upwards and forwards, 
 will be heard the voice of the Eternal, 
 as He rejoices over us with singing! 
 Hallelujah! 
 
II. 
 IRept an& Materefc. 
 
 "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every mo- 
 ment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and 
 day." Isa. xxvii. 17 
 
 \ 17 HEN God fences a soul out of the 
 world in order to till it, and make 
 it bear fruit to Himself, He does not 
 leave it to go back into a waiste. He 
 keeps it. 
 
 A vineyard will engross the whole 
 of a man's time— perhaps the time 
 of many men. The nourishing of 
 the soil, the pruning of the branches, 
 the syringing of the leaves, the thin- 
 ing of the grapes, the support of the 
 heavy clusters — all demand constant 
 and assiduous care. There is a tend- 
 
"T Mill Keep/' 21 
 
 ency in all cultivated things to go back 
 to their original type. 
 
 However it may be made to agree 
 with the modern ideas of development 
 and evolution, it is nevertheless a fact 
 that the fairest results of human skill 
 are not in themselves permanent; but 
 tend ever backward to the rudest and 
 simplest forms of their species — the 
 apple tree to the crab, the vine of 
 Sorek to the wild vine of the hills. 
 Therefore the keeper of the vineyard 
 is ever engaged in going to and fro on 
 the narrow paths, fighting every tend- 
 ency towards deterioration with un- 
 wavering patience. He keeps his vine- 
 yard. And when the harvest of the 
 fruit is near, he is more than ever 
 watchful against the little foxes on the 
 one hand, and the pillaging Bedouin 
 on the other. 
 
 With similar care, but much more 
 watchful tenderness, our God is ever 
 watching over us. With eager eyes 
 
22 iftept anfc Materefc, 
 
 He marks the slightest sign of deterior- 
 ation — -a hardening conscience; a dead- 
 ening spirituality; a waning love. 
 Any symptom of this sort fills Him 
 with — if I may use the words — keen 
 anxiety; and His gentle but skilful 
 hand is at once at work to arrest the 
 evil, restore the soul and force it on- 
 ward to new accessions of that Divine 
 life which is our only true bliss and 
 rest. 
 
 Let us not carry the responsibility 
 of our nurture. It is too much for 
 us. Better far is it to devolve the care 
 of our keeping on our faithful Creator, 
 who has made, and who will bear 
 and keep; who is more eager for our 
 sanctification than we can be; and 
 who, with unslumbering care, keeps 
 His purchased possession. 
 
 But notice, the verse says, "I will 
 keep it night and day." How price- 
 less is that assurance! The present 
 tense is sweet, but sweeter still the 
 
"1be is Hble," 23 
 
 future. By night, ill dreams may 
 hover near, with their befouling touch, 
 like vampire bats with their silent 
 wing but deadly bite; but — "I will 
 keep." By day, evil spirits may haunt 
 the steps, determined, if possible, 
 to entangle in wiles, or bear down by 
 force; but — "I will keep." Without, 
 there may be incessant persecution 
 and opposition; but — "/ will keep" 
 Within, there may be the constant 
 tendencv to deteriorate; but — "I will 
 keep" Under dark skies and bright 
 ones; in all times of prosperity and 
 adversity, of weal or woe; in the hour 
 of death and in the day of judgment — 
 
 "I WILL KEEP." 
 
 Many of God's saints are troubled 
 with the dread of failing away, and of 
 never reaching the Golden city on 
 which they have set their hearts. 
 They forget that He has promised to 
 keep; to preserve from all evil; to en- 
 viron with His protection; to escort 
 
24 Ikept an& Watered 
 
 to glory; to bring them safe home! 
 Did they only realize the full meaning 
 of these precious words, they would 
 take their harps from the willows, and 
 sing some s'.ch psalm as that which 
 the pilgrims sang amid the dangers of 
 their ascent to the holy city and tem- 
 ple, of the keeping power of God (Psa. 
 cxxi.); and they would burst out with 
 that glorious assurance of the great 
 Apostle, who had put God to the test 
 as few men have had the opportunity 
 of doing; "I know whom I have be- 
 lieved, and am persuaded that He is 
 able to keep that which I have com 
 mitted unto Him against that day" 
 (2 Tim.i: i). 
 
 He is able to keep, therefore He will 
 keep. You may have inherited a nature 
 whose whole bent is toward evil; but 
 He is able to keep, and He will keep! 
 It is impossible to believe for one 
 moment that He would entrust to any 
 of us a disposition which could not be 
 
Ube Ikes of Faitb, 25 
 
 tamed and trained by Him. You may 
 have encouraged your evil tendencies 
 by repeated indulgence, so that the 
 track is well-trodden towards sin; but 
 He is able to keep, and He will keep! 
 He can make the Niagara leap back- 
 ward; the unbroken flow of the river 
 cease; and the ocean-waves congeal 
 and cleave. You may have, in the 
 clear call of duty, to spend your days 
 in a place where everything is against 
 godliness and righteousness of life, 
 and the air is tainted with impurity 
 and blasphemy; but even there He is 
 able to keep, and He will keep! No 
 fortifications, however weak; no panic- 
 stricken heart, however fearful; no 
 misgivings, however weary — can in- 
 validate the power of Him who patrols 
 the words to keep His property, lest 
 any hurt it night or day. 
 
 It is beyond all question that He 
 will not suffer Himself to be deprived 
 of the results of His blood-shedding. 
 
26 iRept an& Watered 
 
 He has expended too much on us to 
 be defrauded now. He is too deeply 
 involved to dare to seek to extricate 
 Himself. He is like some millionaire, 
 largely implicated in some financial 
 speculation, which is not perfectly 
 safe; and who is therefore compelled 
 to go on putting in more and more 
 capital, until the corner is turned, and 
 the whole investment placed beyond 
 the risk of loss. For His honor's sake, 
 for His blood's sake, for His Son's 
 sake, He is bound to keep. 
 
 But His keeping power is not ex- 
 ercised apart from us, or in spite of its. 
 It is coincident with our faith. The 
 Bible is full of promises, which in 
 many cases are evidently unfulfilled, 
 not because of any failure on God's 
 part, but because we will not turn the 
 golden key of Faith in the wards of 
 Promise. Christ Himself, however 
 willing, cannot do mighty works where 
 
"j£\>er£ /iDoment," 27 
 
 there is unbelief. It is not even 
 enough to pray for God's keeping 
 power; we must claim it. I was much 
 helped the other day by a young man 
 saying. "I used to pray to God to 
 keep me, and I was not kept; I now 
 claim His keeping each morning, and 
 thank Him for it, and I have learned 
 the secret of victory." 
 
 Yes, it is a true distinction. There 
 may be much prayer without the faith 
 that claims. But where there is the 
 presence of such faith, small as a grain 
 of mustard-seed, slight as the trace of 
 ozone in the air, it carries with it an 
 open sesame to all God's treasures, 
 and notably to all the tenderness and 
 sufficiency of His keeping power. 
 
 Let us bind his promise on our 
 hearts as we descend each day into 
 the arena of life, dreading the onset 
 of men as wild beasts, and despairing 
 of remaining steadfast or unmoved. 
 Let us do more, and claim that God, 
 
28 mept an& Watered 
 
 by His Holy Spirit, should do as He 
 has said. Let us march to victory with a 
 veritable battle-shout, "Jesus Saves !" 
 Let us anticipate every battle with 
 the chant of thanksgiving on our lips 
 (2 Chron. xx:2i.) "No weapon that 
 is formed against thee shall prosper; 
 and every tongue that shall rise against 
 thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." 
 We shall not be kept from tempta- 
 tion, but in it. We shall not be de- 
 livered from the presence of evil tend- 
 encies within, but we shall be ren- 
 dered dead to them. We shall still 
 need to confess ourselves sinners re- 
 quiring daily intercession and cleans- 
 ing; but we shall be kept from con- 
 scious sin up to the limit of our light; 
 we shall be kept in ever deeper ave- 
 nues and departments of our nature; 
 we who were once kept from the out- 
 ward act shall be kept from the in- 
 ward disposition and intention; we 
 shall be kept from the uprising of 
 
XTbe ITenfcerness of (Soft, 29 
 
 desire as well as from its manifesta- 
 tion in fact. 
 
 But there is one promise more — "I 
 will water it every moment." In the 
 scorching Oriental heat the vineyard 
 needs incessant watering, else the 
 vines fail. And our spirits are equally 
 dependent on the refreshment which 
 only God's tender love can afford. 
 The heat of temptation and of sore 
 discipline is so oppressive, that we 
 must faint beneath either one or the 
 other, expect for the alleviating succor 
 which our faithful God is constantly 
 administering. 
 
 Every moment — literally, every time 
 the eye twinkles — God is watering us. 
 We have become so accustomed to it, 
 that we hardly realize how much we 
 owe to it. Sometimes by the gentle 
 distillation of dew, that gathers al- 
 most imperceptibly on our spirits, and 
 we hardly know whence or how it has 
 
3o ikept an£> Materefc* 
 
 come. Sometimes by the touch of 
 a moistening sponge, applied by the 
 very hand of God. Sometimes by a 
 shower of grace. By a text suggested 
 to our memory; a holy thought; the 
 look, or act, or word of some compan- 
 ion; a paragraph in a paper; a sen- 
 tence in a book — God waters us, and 
 we become fresh and green, where the 
 leaf showed signs of becoming shrivel- 
 ed and sere. 
 
 How blessed is life like this! In 
 such hands — watched and guarded by 
 such care — nurtured with such tender- 
 ness ! May the result in each of us be — 
 not the disappointment of wild grapes, 
 but — the abundant clusters that will 
 make glad the great Husbandman of 
 our souls. 
 
 We are safe because of His invisi- 
 ble protection; as in our childhood's 
 days the penny was safe at the bottom 
 of the basin, the water of which was 
 charged with electricity, an unseen 
 
Ubc Uenfcerness of ©o&, 31 
 
 influence that was mighty to resist all 
 approach. We are refreshed by a ten- 
 derness which does not use a cataract 
 when a summer shower will suffice for 
 the tender grass on the mown lawns. 
 "Thy gentleness has made me great." 
 
III. 
 fov Easter /IDorning* 
 
 "I will ransom them from the power of the 
 grave; I will redeem them from death; O death, 
 I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy de- 
 struction." Hosea xiii. 14 
 
 COR long ages it must have almost 
 seemed as if God had forgotten His 
 challenge. "Death reigned from Adam 
 to Moses," from Moses to David, who 
 "died and was buried ;" and from David 
 to Christ. One of the earliest chap- 
 ters of the Bible (Gen. v.) is a ceme- 
 tery of the old world through which 
 we walk, remarking the inscriptions 
 that record the names and ages of the 
 world's grey fathers; and in the case 
 of each the monotonous announcement 
 follows, "and he died." 
 
TLbc promise of paraMse. 33 
 
 The generations of mankind spring 
 smiling and beautiful on mother earth, 
 like the clover crops of successive 
 years as if to defy, or with their charms, 
 to fascinate the tyrant -reaper. But 
 all to no avail. Xerxes sits upon his 
 throne on the shores of the Helles- 
 pont, whilst the myriads of his army 
 pass before him in battle array; and he 
 weeps in the presence of the inevit- 
 able certainty that in a hundred years 
 not one of them shall be left. ''All 
 flesh is as grass, and all the glory of 
 man as the flower of grass; he wither- 
 eth, and the flower thereof falleth 
 away." 
 
 There were only two exceptions to 
 the dread monotony of death — the 
 rapture of Enoch, and the ascension 
 of Elijah; they were like the early cro- 
 cus or aconite, which announces the 
 coming of the spring. All the rest 
 died. At last He came in human 
 form who had been fore-announced as 
 
34 jfor JEastev jflDornfng, 
 
 Death's death, the destined fulfiller of 
 the promise of Paradise. At least He 
 will not succumb. He will not see 
 death! Or if they meet, before one 
 glance of His eyes, "which are as a 
 flame of fire," surely death will wan 
 as the moon when smitten by sunlight! 
 But contrary to all that we might have 
 thought, it was not so. He, too, the 
 Prince of Life, the One who had 
 spoken of Himself as invested with the 
 power of resurrection, who Himself 
 was the Fountain of Life, having en- 
 tered the lists with the fell tyrant, al- 
 lowed Himself to be led as a lamb to 
 the slaughter and after hours of human 
 anguish, closed His eyes, yielded up 
 His spirit, and hung a corpse upon 
 the tree. And it might have seemed 
 therefore that none, not even God, 
 could break the thrall of death. 
 
 Such was the appearance; but not 
 the fact. We are reminded of the old 
 Greek story that when the city of 
 
"1Ro more Beatb-" 35 
 
 Athens was doomed to supply each 
 year a tribute of youths and maidens to 
 the monster of Crete, the hero Theseus 
 embarked with the crew, and accom- 
 panied the victims that he might beard 
 the dreadful ogre in his den, and slay- 
 ing him, forever free his native city, 
 from the burden under which it groan- 
 ed. So Christ through death abolished 
 death, and "destroyed him that had 
 the power of death, that is the devil, 
 and delivered those who through fear 
 of death were all their life-time sub- 
 ject to bondage.'' Here was fulfilled 
 the divine announcement, u O! death, 
 I will be thy plagues." 
 
 Nor is this all. In the last vision 
 vouching to man of the ascended 
 Christ, the keys of death are said to 
 hang at His girdle, and He has the 
 power to shut so that no one can open, 
 and to open so that no one can shut. 
 
 Nor is even this all. The day is 
 not far distant when all His saints 
 
36 jf or JEaster /iDorning* 
 
 "that are in their graves shall hear 
 His voice, and shall come forth;" then 
 shall be fulfilled the saying that is 
 written, "Death is swallowed up in vic- 
 tory;" and then shall it be manifest 
 that God has ransomed His people 
 from the power of the grave; so that 
 not a hoof shall be left behind, nor 
 a single fragment of the mystical body 
 of Christ separated from all the rest. 
 Nor is even this all. The world of 
 men is to particpate in the resurrection 
 power of death's victor. When God 
 enters into conflict with His foes, He 
 shows them no quarter; He yields to 
 no feelings of compunction, "repent- 
 ance is hid from His eyes." There is 
 not a single unit of the human race, 
 who has passed through death in con- 
 nection with the first Adam, who shall 
 not share in the resurrection power 
 of the second. "As in Adam all die, even 
 so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
 They shall come from the ages before 
 
"TEbou art witb me-" 37 
 
 the flood; from the foot of the pyra- 
 mids, where the slaves of the Pharaohs 
 mingled their dust with the bricks they 
 mad6 ; from the earliest scenes of life, 
 and from the latest; from the most 
 enlightened races of mankind, and the 
 most degraded; from the most warlike 
 and the most peaceful tribes; cathe- 
 dral vaults shall spilt and give up their 
 contents; Marathon, Austerlitz, and 
 Waterloo, shall add their contribu- 
 tions; the sea shall give return of 
 the harvest sown through the centuries. 
 Babylon, Nineveh, London, New York, 
 shall spring to their feet, and march 
 before the irresistible decree of Him 
 who died in weakness, but who shall 
 then despoil death of its prey, and 
 compel him to disgorge. 
 
 Nor is this all. All enemies are to 
 be put beneath His feet. The last 
 enemy to be destroyed by Emmanuel 
 shall be death itself. In what its 
 destruction shall consist we do not 
 
38 tfov Easter ZlDorning 
 
 know ; except that in that world which 
 the King who sits upon the throne shall 
 create, we are told, "There shall be 
 no more death. " No funeral cortege 
 shall wind its way over the golden 
 pavement; no cypress tree shall grow 
 beside the river of life; no sob of 
 mourner shall mingle with the songs 
 of the redeemed; not a flower shall 
 fade; not a leaf shrivel; not a babe 
 languish — for ever and for ever and all 
 the spiritual constituents of death, 
 which have accompanied the disso- 
 lution of the body, shall in the case 
 of those who have accepted eternal 
 life by faith in Jesus, be forever obliter- 
 ated, or made the channels through 
 which rivers of unending bliss shall 
 eternally flow. 
 
 How gloriously then will God realize 
 the words that glisten before our eyes 
 this Easter morning! Already in the 
 resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 from the dead we see that the empire 
 
"present witb tbe %ovb: 9 _39 
 
 of Death is doomed. Panic, dating 
 from the first Easter morning, has 
 reigned through all its realm, as some 
 weak nation trembles before the steady 
 and inevitable advance of an irresistible 
 foe. And that panic shall be justified 
 by the result. 
 
 But in the meanwhile, is there no 
 comfort for us who are compelled to 
 live in the valley shadowed by Death? 
 There is, because He goes beside us; 
 and the psalmist, who had spoken 
 of Him in the third person, ad- 
 dresses Him in the second as that 
 shadow comes nearer: "He restoreth 
 my soul; Thou art with me." And if 
 that blessed experience is to be ours 
 of which the apostle spoke, that we 
 should be alive and remain till the 
 coming of the Lord, then there awaits 
 us a still more blessed participation 
 in the victory of which we have been 
 thinking, for we which are alive and re- 
 main till His coming shall be caught up 
 
4° fox lEaster /IDorntng* 
 
 to meet Him in the clouds, this corrup- 
 tion putting on incorruption, this mor- 
 tal putting on immortality, in a mo- 
 ment, in the twinkling of an eye. Not 
 ours the pangs of dissolution then; but 
 the bright swift translation !This earth- 
 ly house transmuted into the heavenly, 
 flesh and blood unto ethereal element; 
 the body dropped from the opening 
 glories of the spiritual, as the chrysalis 
 case from the butterfly! Oh, who can 
 wonder at the eager desire of the 
 apostle that this might become his lot! 
 (2 Cor. v.) 
 
 And if this should not be the case, 
 and we were doomed to go down, each 
 alone, to die, yet even then we need 
 not be without solace. Death is abol- 
 ished! The wasp struck its sting into 
 the cross of the dying Lord, and lost 
 it there, and is now stingless forever. 
 The poison fang of the viper has been 
 extracted, Goliath beheaded by his 
 own sword. The teeth of the lion have 
 
"present wftb tbe Xor&/' 4 1 
 
 been drawn. And for this reason the 
 apostles always speak of a believer's 
 death as being but a sleep. Death is 
 not to be more dreaded than sleep, its 
 twin. 
 
 In all likelihood we shall be quite 
 surprised when we have passed through 
 the dark portal, that was so slight 
 and easy an experience. We dread 
 it now, because we do not really be- 
 lieve that Christ's death has made it 
 all so different. If we believed this, 
 it would give us great confidence. But 
 whether we believed or not, we shall 
 find it so. A step; a moment; a passage 
 across the Bridge of Sighs; a transition 
 from darkness to light ; a birth — that is 
 all. Absent from the body, present 
 with the Lord. No moment of un- 
 consciousness or oblivion! The veil 
 rent, the shell broken, the iron gate- 
 way passed whilst the light and air of 
 the eternal morning break on the eman- 
 cipated spirit ! 
 
IV. 
 
 "Waiting." 
 
 ' 'The Lord will wait. . . Wait for Him. " — Is A. xxx, 1 8. 
 
 Y\/Eare all familiar with the waiting 
 hours of life, when the stream 
 hardly seems to move, or the air to stir; 
 when the heart grows sick with deferred 
 hope, and begins to question whether 
 its way may not be hidden from the 
 Lord, and its judgment passed over 
 from its God. There are hours on 
 languid summer days when all nature 
 seems to have become stagnant— the 
 aspen-leaf does not quiver; the fish 
 does not rise in the pool; the hum of 
 the bee becomes less frequent and 
 more drowsy; and the shadow hardly 
 moves on the dial— and these hours in 
 nature find their counterpart in the 
 
monotony of life's common round, the 
 common-place routine of its daily task. 
 
 Such waiting times were wearily 
 passing over the godly at Jerusalem 
 while the invader was drawing his 
 coils ever nearer to the doomed city, 
 and the ambassadors were being cajol- 
 ed in Egypt by false hopes; and cease- 
 less prayers to God were apparently 
 bringing no response. To such the 
 prophet addressed these words, en- 
 couraging them to believe that God 
 was not unmindful of their case, but 
 was waiting that He might act more 
 graciously toward them than He could 
 by answering them at once; and that 
 He would finally be very gracious in 
 responding to the voice of their cry. 
 
 We, too, have sometimes been in- 
 clined to stagger at God's delays. 
 When we have prayed for immediate 
 deliverance from some pressing sor- 
 row; for the conversion of seme be- 
 loved relative; for our own growth in 
 
44 "Wafting," 
 
 grace and victory over sin — it has 
 seemed as if the prayer had lost its 
 way, or had become relegated to some 
 corner of the Divine mind, where 
 it was in danger of being over-looked. 
 And we have begun to question the 
 usefulness of prayer, and to wonder if 
 our cries and tears were achieving any 
 result. As a reply to such surmising, 
 how comforting the assurance of the 
 text — God waits that He may be gra- 
 cious; i.e., He waits until there is such 
 a combination of circumstances, and 
 such a refining of character, that He 
 can do ever so much better than if He 
 had interposed in the first moments of 
 our agonized appeal. 
 
 He does not delay because of any 
 caprice. We must not think that 
 heaven has favorites, who are always 
 served first. There is no partiality 
 or favoritism with our Father. He 
 chastens those whom He loves. The 
 first come last. Each is dealt with 
 
Ube IResult 45 
 
 according to his own merits, and on 
 the ground of the peculiar necessities 
 of his case. 
 
 He does not delay because of any 
 neglect. A woman may forget her 
 sucking child, but our Saviour cannot 
 forget us. We are graven as with a 
 point of the rugged nail on the palms of 
 his hand. We are his babes, needing 
 hourly attention; the members of His 
 body, fed by His constant life; the 
 constituent parts of His Bride, whom 
 He nourishes and cherishes as Himself. 
 Sooner might His right hand forget its 
 cunning than he not count us above 
 His chief joy. 
 
 He does not delay because He denies. 
 Our heart sometimes so interpretes 
 His dealings; but they do not really 
 mean what our timorous faith reads in- 
 to them. The remittance is not sent 
 as asked; yet that does not prove that 
 it is not there in our name, but only 
 that it is being kept at interest, accum- 
 
46 "Maitin^" 
 
 ulating till it reach a higher figure 
 and be more of service, because com- 
 ing at a time of greater need. No! 
 His delays are the children of his love. 
 He waits that He may be gracious, 
 He dams up the current, that by hold- 
 ing it back it may become a swifter, 
 fuller stream. And what results are 
 served by this prolonged delay? 
 
 The energy of the flesh dies down. 
 There is nothing which so tames and 
 subdues us as waiting. So long as we 
 are able to do something, the flesh-life 
 is kept vigorous and strong; but it is 
 speedily worn out by waiting — as the 
 life of the criminal would be worn out 
 by the slow process of death on the 
 cross. And there is no kinder thing 
 that God can do for us than to destroy 
 the egotism, the self-assertiveness of 
 our life, and to bring its pride to the 
 dust. Waiting with mountains on 
 either side, the sea in front, and the 
 foe behind, is enough to empty the 
 
/IDen wbo have Waited 47 
 
 stoutest heart of its self-confidence, and 
 to make it cry out to the strong for aid. 
 
 We often cease to want the very 
 things on which we had set our hearts. 
 Thus it has happened, as the years 
 have passed, that we have seen reason 
 to admire and adore the wise love 
 which witheld that on which we 
 had set our hearts with passionate in- 
 tensity. We have discerned God's rea- 
 sons for witholding, and we have had 
 our own thankfulness. 
 
 Our character also becomes riper by 
 waiting. It is better for the young man 
 to accumulate his fortune slowly, 
 because he learns to value his money 
 rightly, and to spend it well. Better 
 for the student to acquire knowledge 
 by degrees, because he gains habits of 
 industry which are simply invaluable. 
 Better for the saint to grow to good- 
 ness by long and insensible progress, 
 that he may be able to sympathize with 
 those who are beginning to take the 
 
4§ 'Waiting- ' 
 
 upward path. The tree must grow, 
 ere it can carry its full weight of fruit. 
 The eye needs strength, ere it can gaze 
 upon the sun. The apostles must tarry 
 at Jerusalem, that they may become 
 mature and Spirit-taught, before they 
 can bear without injury the tears and 
 prayers of three thousand souls at Pen- 
 tecost. 
 
 Moreover, we secure larger results 
 by waiting. If the Egyptian farmer 
 is too impatient, and sows his seeds be- 
 fore the Nile has reached its full flood, 
 they will not be carried to the furthest 
 limit of his ground, and his harvest 
 will suffer. So often there is a result 
 which may be gained by patient waiting 
 which would defy us if we snatched at 
 it. What folly to let out the molten 
 metal from the cistern till the mould 
 is perfectly ready to receive it! 
 
 For all these reasons will the lord 
 wait, that He may be gracious. And 
 when patience has had its perfect work, 
 
* 1bope tbou in (Bob/' 49 
 
 and there is no further reason for delay, 
 He will be very gracious at the voice 
 of our cry. 
 
 Abraham waited for twenty-five 
 years; and we can never gauge the ago- 
 ny of that long suspense for a man who 
 had no Bible, no experience of other 
 men, no long record of the past. But in 
 the end he became the father, not of 
 Isaac only, but of all who believe. 
 God waited that He might be gracious. 
 
 Job waited through slow-moving 
 arguments, that may have con- 
 sumed weeks or months. Unable to 
 enter God's presence-chamber to plead 
 his cause, he was compelled to await 
 its slow unfolding in the hands of his 
 great Advocate and God; but at last 
 he obtained a further revelation than 
 he had been capable of in the earlier 
 stages of that great controversy. God 
 waited that He might be gracious. 
 
 David waited from early boyhood to 
 mature manhood, ere the throne of 
 
50 "Matting-" 
 
 the whole nation became his. But it 
 came at last. The fruit was ripe, and 
 it fell into his hands. And it was bet- 
 ter far that his adversaries should be 
 put out of the way, apart from his own 
 agency, than that he should appear in 
 any way to snatch at what was not le- 
 gitimately his. All Israel was finally 
 prepared, and in God's time, to own 
 and accept his supremacy. God waited 
 that He might be gracious. 
 
 Elijah, over-tired with the conflict 
 on Carmel, and the eager speed with 
 which he fled from Jezebel, lay on the 
 desert floor, and asked to die. But 
 instead of death's gaunt form, angels 
 ministered to him food and sleep; and 
 he lived long enough to see the solemn 
 pomp of Horeb's theophany, and to 
 receive the distinguished honor of 
 translation in chariot and horses of 
 flame. God waited that he might be 
 gracious. 
 
 The two sisters gently reproached 
 
Coming Blessing, 5* 
 
 the blessed Lord, that He had not 
 hurried to them at the first appeal they 
 made to Him. "When he heard, 
 therefore, that he was sick, he abode 
 four days still in the same place where 
 He was." But they learned that the 
 delay was intended to make a greater 
 miracle possible, and to reveal the 
 Lord Jesus as the Resurrection and the 
 Life, after a sublimer fashion than had 
 been possible had He only raised His 
 friend from his malady in its earlier 
 stages. He waited that He might be 
 gracious. 
 
 Dare, then, to trust your Heavenly 
 Father at any cost; and when heart and 
 flesh fail, still bid your soul to hope in 
 God, and buoy it up with the assur- 
 ance that it shall yet praise Him for the 
 help of His countenance. God is good 
 when He gives; but better when He 
 keeps in order to give an accumulated 
 blessing, heaped up, pressed down, and 
 running over, into the bosom of His 
 
52 "Matting" 
 
 child in whom patience has had her 
 perfect work. 
 
 "He will be very gracious unto thee 
 at the voice of thy cry"(ver. 19). It 
 passes tongue or pen to tell all that is 
 contained in that word very. Suffice 
 it to say that motherhood and father- 
 hood meet in Him; and that all which 
 delicacy, and tact, and thoughtfuness 
 can do, will be done for the soul that 
 waiteth for Him. And during the long 
 delay, little acts of tenderness will keep 
 coming into the soul, making it aware 
 that He is near; as when in a time of 
 suspense, and a beloved one is anticis 
 pating an operation, love is alway- 
 busy providing little alleviations of the 
 pain, small diversions from the one ab- 
 sorbing thought, and delicate assuran- 
 ces of sympathy. 
 
 But we must wait. This as all we 
 can do safely. Many will bid us go 
 here or there, and do this or the other. 
 Our heart often prompts us to repeat 
 
Coming blessing 53 
 
 Saul's great mistake, and to offer the 
 sacrifice, though Samuel has not ar- 
 rived, but if we obey either of these 
 promptings, we become involved in 
 endless sorrow, and weave webs in 
 which we become hopelessly entang- 
 led For your own safety's sake, 
 stand still; wait and see the salvation 
 of God. 
 
 But whilst we wait, there should be 
 the expectant outlook. We must not 
 cower in the dark closet, but climb 
 to our watch-tower and scan the hori- 
 zon. We must look out for God's car- 
 rier-pigeons; lest they come to the cote 
 with messages under their wings which 
 we may miss. We must go down to 
 the quay; or God's heavily freighted 
 ships may touch there, and go away 
 without discharging their cargoes. We 
 must imitate the shipwrecked sailor, 
 who keeps the fire lit by night, and is 
 incessantly on the outlook for passing 
 ships; else a search expedition may 
 
54 -Mafting/ 
 
 come near his poor islet and miss him. 
 
 Those who wait thus cannot be 
 ashamed. It is impossible that God 
 should disappoint the hope which he has 
 instilled and nourished in the heart 
 of His child. That hope is the shadow 
 of coming blessing; to have the one is 
 to be sure of the other in his own good 
 time. "We are saved by hope." "And 
 hope maketh not ashamed." "Lord," 
 sayeth the Psalmist, "let none that 
 wait on Thee be ashamed." "My peo- 
 ple," is the reiterated Divine response, 
 "shall never be ashamed." They that 
 wait for a providence, says the old pro- 
 verb, shall never be without a provi- 
 dence to wait for. What a blessed- 
 ness is here ! 
 
 And as the face is ever turned in one 
 direction, it becomes assimilated to the 
 image of that visage on which the eye 
 is so persistently fixed. "Beholding it 
 we are changed." 
 
 There is not much difference between 
 
Coming Messing. 55 
 
 the two Hebrew words for waiting and 
 singing. And it is certain that the 
 one soon passes into the other. Hence 
 it is that many of the Psalms, which 
 begin with the plaintive expressions of 
 waiting, climb up into joyful outburst 
 of gladness and thanksgiving. Take 
 heart, O troubled child of God! He 
 waits that He may be gracious. He can 
 make no mistakes. He has His eye 
 on the dial His finger on your pulse; 
 He notices the coming and going of 
 the tremulous life. He will not be a 
 moment before His time, nor a mo- 
 ment after. 
 
 "Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
 And scan His work in vain; 
 
 God is His own interpreter, 
 And He will make it plain/ ■ 
 
V. 
 
 "(Butfcance an& (Slots." 
 
 "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after- 
 ward receive me to glory." — Psa. lxxiii.24. 
 
 TN this Psalm troubled men find help 
 A when they need help. It is like 
 the balustrade which leads up from the 
 dark cellar to the upper world, with its 
 air of light and beauty; let us lean hard 
 on it, or rather on Him, who is just 
 beneath the surface of its words. 
 
 There are some troubles which strong 
 men may account themselves equal to 
 bear in the energy of their own strength; 
 but there are others so crushing, so 
 terrible, that the heart utterly fails. 
 The pruning-knife is so sharp, the 
 cleansing fire so keen, the cup so bit- 
 ter. 
 
Ube Sanctuary of (Bob* 57 
 
 The psalmist here specifies the cause 
 of one of these bitter troubles, as he tells 
 us how perplexed he was with the mys- 
 teries of God's providence. The in- 
 equalities of life; the prosperity of the 
 wicked; and the sorrows of the saints; 
 why the ungodly prosper, while the 
 waters of a full cup are wrung out to 
 God's people — these things have al- 
 ways been amongst the things hard to 
 be understood; and in the case of the 
 good Asaph, as he sought to know and 
 understand them, his feet had almost 
 gone, his steps had well-nigh slipped. 
 
 And there are other sorrows which 
 come to men — when the love cools 
 which had once lit up their lives; when 
 the prop on which they leaned is re- 
 moved; when the hand that was tight- 
 ly grasped in theirs relaxes its grip; 
 when some evil thing that had entwined 
 itself withthe stronglimbs of service has 
 to be deliberately plucked away; when 
 the face has to be resolutely turned back 
 
58 "(Sui&ance an& <Slor£*" 
 
 from some door into bliss to take a 
 lonely and desert path, and the smile 
 of the summer garden is exchanged for 
 the cold grey of the limestone rock. 
 To bear all this with the anointed head 
 and washed face! Not filling the air 
 with complainings, or seeking to attract 
 the pity of others; but suffering alone, 
 and dumb with silence. Ah, how little 
 do we know of what is passing beneath 
 the surface-lives of those we meet con- 
 tinually! We are like houses, through 
 the windows of which now and again 
 a face looks out; but the most of all 
 that happens within is hidden. 
 
 But how shall we meet these troub- 
 les? 
 
 There is no better way than to go 
 into the sanctuary of God, (17). 
 There earthly voices are hushed, and 
 even the voice of passion is stilled. 
 The glare of earth is replaced by those 
 quiet neutral tints which rest the brain. 
 The soul is able to see things from the 
 
XTbe Sanctuary of ©o&. 59 
 
 standpoint of God and eternity, and so 
 weigh them in the balances of the 
 other world. We cannot judge of 
 things as they really are whilst we are 
 living in the busy stir of the world, 
 and amid the hum of human voices. 
 There is no such place for meditation 
 as the shrine of worship, though it 
 may be a quiet walk amid trees and 
 meadows, beside tranquil lakes, or 
 within the sound of the ocean wave 
 breaking on the beach. And sorrow 
 is almost a blessing if it drives us here. 
 " Blessed are they that dwell in Thy 
 house ; they will still be praising Thee." 
 Next we may well look on to the end 
 of things (17). Amid the agony of 
 Job's trial, he might well have been 
 strong could he have seen the end of 
 the Lord, how very pityful He is, and 
 of what tender mercy. The way is 
 dark, and the stones cut the tender 
 feet; but the Shepherd knows that the 
 green pastures and waters of rest, to 
 
60 <<<3ui&ance an& (Slors*" 
 
 which He leads, will more than recom- 
 pense. Oh, trust Him, my brother! 
 You cannot see the goal; but He does, 
 and He has been there to prepare it for 
 you. Wait for Him and be stilL He 
 may seem to sleep; but the boat is 
 making progress through the storm, 
 and when He awakes, the keel will 
 stand at the very point where you 
 would fain be. "Thou shalt guide me 
 with Thy counsel, and afterward re- 
 ceive me to glory." 
 
 And then, best of all, we must be care- 
 fid to maintain the Blessed life. When 
 in winter the short daylight fades off 
 the world, we gather to our lamps and 
 and fires, and the glow steals through 
 the curtains on the passers-by. So, 
 when all our life is wrapped in gloom, 
 we must betake ourselves more vigor- 
 ously to the cultivation of the Blessed 
 Life. The sap which was making 
 leaves must now go into fruit. 
 
 And what is the Blessed Life? It is 
 
Ube Blessefc Xife. 61 
 
 well described in the exquisite strophe 
 with which the Psalm closes (23-28). 
 To be continually with God, cultiva- 
 ting the momentary sense of His pres- 
 ence. To feel that heaven is heaven 
 because He is there; and that earth 
 need not be so lonesome if He is left. 
 "Thou remainest." To count on Him 
 more and more as the strength of the 
 heart, and the Divine portion of the 
 soul; to draw near unto him in thought, 
 and musing, and desire, in the study 
 of His Word and prayer; to trust in 
 Him, and declare His works to others. 
 These are some of the phases of the 
 Blessed Life. 
 
 Its essence consists, not in the emo- 
 tions, but in the will; in the attitude 
 assumed, perhaps almost unconsciously 
 at the moment of conversion, at some 
 subsequent time. When the will is in 
 this attitude, adjusted, subjugated, 
 surrendered, the nature of man comes 
 to rest, as a boat anchored at stem and 
 
62 "(Butfcance anfc Glovy 
 
 stern on the bosom of a tranquil sea; 
 which only moves quietly as the gentle 
 undulations, the exhausted movement 
 of some long-spent storm, pass beneath 
 the keel, or the wavelets break music- 
 ally against its sides. There may be 
 tremendous force, abounding activity, 
 the incessant demands of varied inter- 
 ests; but the fret and chafe are gone, 
 for the nature has found the true law 
 and aim and ambition of its existence 
 in becoming an organ through which 
 the will of God is done, even as it is 
 done in heaven. When the God of 
 peace adjusts us to do His will in every 
 good work, then we have the peace of 
 God as a sentinel keeping the heart and 
 garrisoning the mind. 
 
 The nature which is in harmony with 
 the will of God is at one with all the 
 holy beings in heaven and on earth — 
 with the stars and their courses; with 
 the inner spirit of nature; with the un- 
 derlying principles of true blessedness; 
 
H>i\nne Companionsbtp* 63 
 
 and, above all, with the nature of Je- 
 sus, in whom the Divine and human 
 blend perfectly; and so we come to 
 know Him after an intimate and 
 blessed sort. Remember how He said, 
 "Whosoever shall do the will of My 
 Father, the same is My brother, and 
 sister, and mother." He knows us, 
 and we know Him; He loves; and we 
 love; He lives and we live also. There 
 is generated thus a Divine companion- 
 ship. All happy things, and all sad 
 ones; all work in the world He loves 
 so well; all travail for souls; all the 
 lights and shades of life are shared with 
 Him, our Kinsman, Brother, Lord; 
 and into His resources we dip our 
 handsxonstantly, unstintingly, know- 
 ing that we are ever with, Him, and 
 that love likes the loved to share its 
 stores. 
 
 This is the ideal life; but not an 
 ideal alone, thank God, in ten thou- 
 sand instances. For many of us who 
 
64 "(Bux&ance an& Olors/' 
 
 read these words know it by glad en- 
 joyment; if not through all the year, 
 at least in bright parentheses, set in 
 brackets of gold amid the darker let- 
 terpress of ordinary experience. 
 
 But why are these experiences not 
 more permanent} We read that "Daniel 
 continued." Oh to be steadfast and 
 unmovable! In order to do this, let 
 us remember the following principles. 
 
 (i) We must always distinguish be- 
 tween our emotions, and our attitude. 
 The one may die off our lives like the 
 sunset glory from the ridges of the Alps, 
 that seem so grey and cold when it is 
 gone; but the other should resemble 
 the changeless perpetuity of the ever- 
 lasting hills, unaltered by the transi- 
 tions of the ages, or the alternations 
 of day and night. You may not always 
 feel as happy, but you can always say 
 "Yes" to the will of God, and realize 
 your attitude in the risen, ascended, 
 loving Jesus, amongst the thousand 
 
Ube Mill of 6o&. 65 
 
 thousands that minister to Him. In 
 moments of depression, be sure to live 
 in your will and His will. 
 
 (2) We must be careful to maintain 
 this attitude of the will unaltered. God 
 is constanly putting into our lives lit- 
 tle or greater occasions of testing. He 
 presents us with His will hidden in a 
 choice, which may be a stepping-stone 
 or a stumbling-block. It is necessary, 
 therefore, to be keenly on the alert 
 for these occasions; lest almost un- 
 consciously our will start back from 
 the attitude it was led to assume, in- 
 stead of riveting more firmly than ever 
 the blessed yoke of allegiance. Unless 
 we are watchful in applying to each 
 new point the principle of surrender, 
 which we have assumed, we may drift 
 from full face, to three-quarter, and 
 half-face before we are aware. 
 
 (3) We must exercise ourselves to 
 have the "conscience void of offense 
 toward God and toward men." It is 
 
66 "©uifcance an& (Siors*" 
 
 a great secret to maintain, not a scru- 
 pulous, but a sensitive conscience; and 
 whensoever the clear surface of the 
 mirror is blotted or blurred by the 
 slightest mist, to search out the cause, 
 and at all costs rectify it. Conscience 
 and the Holy Ghost are expressly al- 
 lied by the apostle — the crystal stone 
 ever bathed in the translucent glory of 
 heaven. 
 
 (4) We must ever keep our heart 
 open to the Holy Spirit. It is His 
 province and prerogative to nurture 
 the inner life, and to fill it with the real- 
 ized presence of the Lord. Sometimes 
 it is wise definitely to seek by faith to 
 receive an infilling of His Presence, 
 and to believe that the faith which can 
 claim, most certainly receives. At 
 other times, or ever we are aware, 
 through an open casement in our heart 
 there is wafted the breath of heaven, 
 laden with spicery and balm. We 
 often take the word out of His hands, 
 
IRurturinQ tbe flutter Xife* 67 
 
 pulling up our flowers by the roots to 
 see if they are growing; or worrying 
 because we think we are not learning 
 our lessons quickly enough. We forget 
 that the Father is the Husbandman; 
 and that if only we are receptive 
 enough and willing, He will fulfill in us 
 the gook pleasure of His goodness, 
 and the work of faith with power. The 
 responsibility of realizing in us all 
 that our nature is capable of must lie 
 yonder on His shoulders; the receptiv- 
 ity of His Holy impulses, and compli- 
 ance with the least of them, is all that 
 rests on us. 
 
 (5) We must be very careful to 
 maintain unbroken the habits of the 
 devout life. Too many are like the 
 slip-carriage, which runs for a little 
 from the impulse received from the 
 engine, but then slackens till it comes 
 to a stand; instead of resembling that 
 which keeps its connection with the 
 speed and strength of the locomo- 
 
68 "(Buifcance anfc ©lots/' 
 
 tive. Even when we had lost our im- 
 mediate taste for devotional exercises, 
 let us still pursue them; some of our 
 gladdest hours have been those in 
 which we have made a conscious 
 effort to break through the lethargy 
 and sluggishness of the soul. 
 
 I have found these things helpful. 
 (a) Not to read newspaper or light lit- 
 erature in the early morning; nor then 
 or at any other time to dissipate the 
 energies of the soul on that which does 
 not profit. 
 
 (b) Relaxation and recreation of 
 mind and body are, of course, needful 
 and right. They must be attended to, 
 or even our spiritual life will become 
 impaired. It is wisdom on the part of 
 the fisherman to cease net-casting, that 
 he may set himself to net-mending. 
 
 (c) To have always in reading some 
 spiritual or devotional book, that 
 touches specially on the inner life in 
 its deepest aspect, and to devote some 
 
IRutturiuQ tbe flutter Xife- 6 9 
 
 part of the morning hour to its perusal. 
 
 {d) To Feed on Christ in His Word, 
 and in the frequent observance of His 
 holy supper, which is always a great 
 means of grace and nourishment to my 
 soul. 
 
 (e) To cultivate the habit of con- 
 verse with Christ, whilst walking in 
 the streets, and especially in the coun- 
 try, or whilst engaged in any occupa- 
 tion. There is always time to look up 
 to Him for His smile. 
 
 if) To engage much in Christian con- 
 verse with those who are deeply versed 
 in these things, and have had close 
 dealings with the Lord. It is when 
 brethren talk together and reason that 
 the Lord draws near to go with them, 
 and their hearts catch fire and burn. 
 
 In a laundry, the other day, I saw two 
 kinds of irons. One, the usual sort, 
 needing to be put on a heated furnace 
 at frequent intervals to fit them for 
 their work. The other, in which the 
 
70 "(But&ance an& <Slors/* 
 
 iron was attached by a flexible gutta- 
 percha tube to the gas-pipe, so that it 
 was easy to use it, and inside the iron 
 a jet of flame, fed by the gas, which 
 maintained it at regular temperature, 
 and counteracted the chilling effects of 
 its work. Is it not this that we want? 
 Not depending on the outside stimulus 
 of a convention, a mission, or a ser- 
 mon; but receiving straight from God 
 Himself that inward fire of the Holy 
 Ghost, to give and perpetuate which 
 is the dearest passion of the hearer of 
 Jesus. 
 
 All this will cost us something; the 
 daily dying to self; saying "No" to the 
 flesh; the cutting of hand and foot; 
 the dropping down into the earth to 
 die: but these sufferings are not wor- 
 thy to be compared with the growing 
 glory of our life, or its blessedness, or 
 its fruitfulness. 
 
 And so it shall be that, as we nour- 
 ish the Blessed life, in all its beauty, 
 
Nurturing tbe firmer Xife* 71 
 
 till it become the habit of our being, 
 there will come to us a great sense of 
 rest amid trouble, of sweet singing, 
 amid the earthquake that causes the 
 prison-house to rock. God permits 
 the pain, that we may be driven in to 
 Himself in the very desperation of our 
 souls. 
 
VI 
 
 H 2>oor of 1bope. 
 
 " I will give her ... a door of hope." — Hosea ii, 5. 
 
 T^HIS chapter is full of God's / wills. 
 It is easy to enumerate between 
 twenty and thirty. And as we read 
 them over, we are lost in wonder at 
 all that God is prepared to do for us, 
 who wandered from Him, choosing 
 our own willful ways. It is only^an- 
 other illustration of the truth that 
 God's love is inexhaustible, and that 
 He will not fail nor be discouraged till 
 He has executed His purpose in each 
 of those whom He has taken to be 
 His own. It may be a long process 
 delayed and checked by our repeated 
 backslidings; but through all our wan- 
 
2)a£ amifc tbe Gloom* 73 
 
 derings and sins, He will pursue the 
 purpose of His all-conquering love, 
 till we are betrothed unto Him for- 
 ever. 
 
 Let us imagine a narrow, rocky de- 
 file. A mountain torrent, rapid and 
 muddy, hurries downward beside the 
 path, strewn with rough slate and jag- 
 ged stones, which climbs up to the 
 head of the pass. On either side walls 
 of rock rear themselves, steamy with 
 moisture, and covered with festoons 
 of hanging plants and ferns; above, a 
 narrow chink of blue shows itself where 
 the walls of rock almost meet; all is 
 wild and lonely, and terrible. And 
 there, with bleeding feet, clothed in 
 scanty rags, a female figure crouches 
 in brokenness of heart and desperate 
 straits. Such is the valley of Achor, 
 or Trouble; and that is Israel in the 
 hour of her extreme distress. God has 
 allured her from paths of vice and sin 
 into the wilderness. Her way as been 
 
74 H 2)oor of 1bope* 
 
 so hedged up that she could not find 
 her paths. Corn and wine have failed; 
 wool and flax have been withdrawn; 
 ear-rings and jewels have been strip- 
 ped off. 
 
 Yet, as she is on the point of aban- 
 doning herself to the uttermost abyss 
 of despair, the air seems to quiver with 
 angel-wings, and to thrill with the re- 
 peated declarations of the Divine pur- 
 poses of grace. And beneath their 
 impulse the sinner is heard to say, "I 
 will go and return to my first hus- 
 band; for then was it better with me 
 than now." Ah, blessed resolve! No 
 sooner has it passed her lips than down 
 the pass a fair form is seen approach- 
 ing, in robes of dazzling beauty, which 
 make day amid the gloom. It is the 
 angel of Hope; and when she reaches 
 the place where the penitent kneels, 
 she touches with her v/and the adjoin- 
 ing rock, and, lo! it swings backward, 
 and opens a way straight into a smil- 
 
Ube Dalles of Hcbor* 75 
 
 ing landscape of luxuriant beauty, 
 where the corn waves, and the juice 
 reddens in the clustered grapes. It is 
 the door of hope in the valley of Achor, 
 through which the penitent passes 
 from the wilderness into the garden of 
 Paradise, w 7 here the sun ever shines, 
 and the breeze is heavy with perfume. 
 Something like this happens still. 
 At sometime or other we shall have 
 to pass through the valley of Achor. 
 The road to our home lies that way. 
 A chariot of fire carries some beloved 
 soul from our side, and we have taken 
 alone a path which a little before we 
 trod in blessed companionship. Or 
 we are called upon to face opposition, 
 slander, and misinterpretation on the* 
 part of those whom we had counted 
 friends. Or our schemes miscarry, 
 our cherished hopes are blighted, and, 
 we are driven back discomfited from 
 some position which seemed to be 
 within our easy reach. At such times 
 
76 H Door of 1bope, 
 
 we tread the valley of Achor, deso- 
 lately and painfully. 
 
 We cannot forget the incidents 
 which first gave its name to the valley 
 of Achor, and which will throw light 
 on one of the frequent causes of our 
 coming thither. Flushed with their 
 successful capture of Jericho, the tribes 
 of Israel chose out a handful of their 
 number to capture the little town of 
 Ai, which stood at the top of the de- 
 file leading from the Jordan plain into 
 the heart of the country. The work 
 seemed altogether inconsiderable, and 
 any great effort needless. Ah! how 
 little they expected that ere the night 
 fell that little band of warriors would 
 be fleeing in hot haste down the pass, 
 pursued almost to the -gates of the 
 camp by the foe! — not because they 
 were wanting in prowess, but because 
 the forbidden thing was concealed in 
 one of their tents, standing in appar- 
 ent innocence amongst the rest, which 
 
"Zhz accursed tbtng/' 77 
 
 glistened as lign-aloes beside the rivers. 
 There are troubles which God sends 
 us directly from His Fatherly chast- 
 ening hand; these are not so hard to 
 bear, because, if with one hand He 
 uses the scourge, with the other He 
 binds and heals, and applies the leaves 
 of the tree of life. There are other 
 troubles which come to us from men, 
 these, too are bearable, because we 
 can turn to Him for vindication, and 
 count on Him for sympathy and fel- 
 lowship. But there are other troubles 
 for which we are ourselves account- 
 able, because we have taken of the 
 forbidden thing, and have hidden it 
 in our hearts, smoothing over the earth 
 that it appears not to men. But all 
 the time we are conscious of the 
 guilty secret, and it is always naked 
 and open to the eyes of Him with 
 whom we have to do. These troubles 
 are the hardest to bear; and there is 
 no relief from them until we have dis- 
 
78 H H)oor of Ifoope, 
 
 covered and dragged the accursed thing 
 to light, and put it away, stoning it 
 with stones, and burning it with fire. 
 It may be that some who read these 
 words will find here a photograph of 
 themselves, of the inner reason why 
 their lives have been so full of defeat 
 and failure. They are met in every 
 direction by shut gates. The way is 
 hedged up by thorns. Angels with 
 drawn swords stand in narrow ways, 
 walled on either side, and forbid their 
 further progress. Bitterly they refuse 
 to be called "Naomi, "because the hand 
 of the Lord seems to have gone out 
 against them. The very ships in which 
 they sail are doomed to go down with 
 crew and freight because they have 
 taken passage in them. Like Joshua, 
 they rend their clothes, and fall on 
 their faces before the Lord, and put 
 dust on their heads. But as to him, 
 so to them, the Lord says, "Get thee 
 up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy 
 
@ur jfaitbful fngb priest 79 
 
 face? . . . There is an accursed thing 
 in the midst of thee, O Isarel. Thou 
 canst not stand before thine enemies, 
 until ye take away the accursed thing 
 from among you" (Josh. vii. 10-13). 
 
 Deliverance from the valley of 
 Achor is impossible until a solemn con- 
 vocation has been held in the heart, 
 to which all the motives, and purposes 
 and intentions of the inner life have 
 been summoned. The lot must be 
 solemnly cast. Is it the inner life or 
 the outer? And if the inner, is it soul 
 or spirit? And if the soul, is it the 
 past, present, or future; retrospective 
 or prospective ; memory or hope ? And 
 if it be neither of these, but some per- 
 mitted evil in the present, is it in the 
 emotions or the will? Thus we win- 
 now away one possible cause of failure 
 after the other, until we are led by 
 the Holy Spirit to discover, so to 
 speak, "Achan, the son of Carmi, the 
 son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the 
 
80 h Boor of 1bope- 
 
 tribe of Judah," as the cause of all 
 disaster and defeat. And when once 
 he is indicated, we must show him no 
 mercy. The cause of our defeat and 
 failure must perish, that we may our- 
 selves be saved. Maiming is, after 
 all, not too dear a price to pay, if only 
 we may enter into life. 
 
 And if we be too tender-hearted to 
 deal strongly and vigorously with the 
 Achan who has caused us defeat and 
 loss, let us go to our merciful and 
 faithful High Priest, who carries in His 
 hand the sharp, two-edged sword, 
 which pierces to the dividing asunder 
 of soul and spirit ; and let us implore 
 Him to do for us what we cannot, or 
 dare not, do for ourselves. He will 
 not fail us in our extremity. He will 
 do the work as tenderly and as thor- 
 oughly as the case requires. And 
 when the work is done in the valley 
 of Achor, there will be opened to us 
 u a door of hope." 
 
Zbe wa$ to IDictor^. 
 
 I may here be permitted to quote 
 from a letter which has come into my 
 hands while writing this article: — 
 "Last June I asked your advice about 
 continuing an engagement with a 
 young man who was not a Christian; 
 and at that time I fully determined — I 
 fear too much in my own strength — to 
 give it up. But a short time ago, in 
 a moment of weakness, it was again 
 re-opened. Since that time I have 
 experienced nothing but defeat and 
 failure, until a few Sundays ago your 
 sermon about Achan showed me plain- 
 ly how wrong I was; and in God's 
 strength I gave over the whole of my 
 life into His hands, after a sharp strug- 
 gle. I am very happy now, fully trust- 
 ing that this is not His will for me. 
 Oh, if people would let God live 
 through them, how much happier 
 they would be!" In this case, in the 
 valley of Achor, there has been opened 
 "a door of hope." 
 
82 h Door of ibope. 
 
 How often our great adversary tries 
 to arrest us in doing some necessary 
 deed of self-denial, by presenting to our 
 view all the suffering and pain to which 
 we shall be exposed if we dare to per- 
 severe! But he cannot, and will not, 
 tell us, on the other hand, how much 
 blessing will stream into our life, if 
 we dare to be true to the promptings 
 of the spirit of God. Only let us be- 
 lieve that in every valley of Achor 
 there is a door of hope, if we will but 
 dare to stone Achan to death. And 
 when the cairn of stones beneath 
 which he lies is reared in the valley, 
 we shall ascend the long pass to vic- 
 tory. As sure as God is true, there 
 is a way out of every trouble into as- 
 sured and glorious victory, if only in 
 the trouble we will do God's will on 
 Achan. 
 
 Time would fail to tell of all the ad- 
 vantages to which that door will lead. 
 Some of them are enumerated here. 
 
Ube wa$ to IDtctori?* 83 
 
 "She shall sing 77 (15). There shall 
 be a return of joy, which had fled 
 from the heart. "Thou shalt call me 
 Ishi" (16). There shall be a deeper 
 knowledge of God, so that He shall be 
 rather the Husband than the Master. 
 "I will make a covenant" (18). There 
 shall be realized a blessed unity with 
 all creation. "I will hear 77 (21). There 
 shall be new power in prayer, and 
 answers shall tread in each other's 
 footsteps, as they hasten into the 
 soul. 
 
 Thus through trouble we shall pass 
 into blessedness; through the grave 
 into life; through the iron gate into 
 freedom. And, at last, when we pass 
 through the valley of the shadow of 
 death — to so many a valley of Achor 
 indeed — we shall find a door of hope 
 suddenly opened even there, by which 
 we shall pass into the radiant, daz- 
 zling light of our Father's palace, and 
 the land of perpetual day. 
 
VII. 
 
 "*>e will J>o it" 
 
 (Thess. v. 24.) 
 
 VX7 HAT is it that He will do ? There 
 is a tone of confidence in these 
 words which bespeaks the unwavering 
 faith of the apostle in the willinghood 
 and power of God to do for these 
 Thessalonian Christians that which 
 indeed is needed by all of us for life 
 and godliness: first, that they should 
 be sanctified wholly; and secondly, 
 that they should be preserved without 
 blame, until the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 We can hardly realize how much 
 this meant to men and women reared 
 amid the excesses and abominations 
 of those days, when religion was an- 
 
"Blameless." 85 
 
 other name for unbridled indulgence 
 in every kind of sin. Blamelessness of 
 life, the stainless habit of the soul, self- 
 restraint were the attributes of the few 
 whose natures seemed cast in a spe- 
 cial mold ; while they mocked ordi- 
 nary people, much as Alpine summits 
 do emaciated invalids or disabled crip- 
 ples. And yet the apostle was a prac- 
 tical man, not likely to ask that which 
 lay outside the limits of possibility for 
 man to realize, or for God to give. 
 And the fact of his having prayed for 
 these things was clear evidence that 
 believers might seek for, and attain, 
 that condition of soul which his words 
 implied. 
 
 We must distinguish carefully be- 
 tween "blamelessness" and" faithless- 
 ness" — The latter can only be ours 
 when we have passed the gate of 
 pearl, and been presented faultless in 
 the presence of His glory, with ex- 
 
86 «f>e will fco ft." 
 
 ceeding joy; the former alone is pos- 
 sible to us here and now — but, thank 
 God, it is possible, because He has 
 said that" He will do it." 
 
 Every one admits that there is a 
 difference between these two words. 
 Take an instance from common life. 
 A working woman comes home weary 
 from her day's toil, and having pro- 
 vided the evening meal, and put her 
 little ones to bed, she sits down to 
 work for her babe. Presently the lit- 
 tle frock falls upon her knee, and she 
 leans back in a snatch of unconscious- 
 ness, such as only the most tired 
 know. Her eldest little girl, noticing 
 the collapse of her mother's efforts, 
 steals to her side, takes her work gent- 
 ly out of the tired fingers, and creep- 
 ing back to her chair by the fire, es- 
 says to finish the uncompleted hem. 
 "Mary," says the mother, suddenly 
 awaking, "what are you doing?" 
 "Helping you, mother," replies a 
 
"1bi& witb Cbttst in 6o&," 87 
 
 voice with a touch of scaredness in it. 
 "Let me see what you have done; 
 bring it here, child." And as the 
 quick woman's eyes look down at the 
 tortuous stitches, she sees at a glance 
 that every one of them will have to 
 be unpicked and done again. But 
 she says never a word to the little 
 maiden of blame or fault-finding. 
 The work is not faultless, by a long 
 way; but the child is blameless. Had 
 the cobbled seam been due to sloven- 
 liness or neglect, the work had been 
 blameworthy as well as faulty; but 
 inasmuch as it has been done to the 
 very best of the child's ability, she 
 stands without blame in her mother's 
 presence. Of course, the analogy is 
 not perfect, because other conditions 
 connected with our Saviour's work 
 have to be introduced before we can 
 stand in the presence of God, blame- 
 less and faultless. Yet the illustra- 
 tion will show how it is possible for 
 
88 "ibe will fro it/' 
 
 those whose every moment is full of 
 fault to be nevertheless blameless and 
 harmless, the sons of God without re- 
 proach ; because they have not wilfully 
 ignored any known command, or 
 failed in any service to which they 
 were called, but have lived in the cur- 
 rent of the precious blood, and within 
 the charmed circle of the will of God. 
 Oh to live that blameless life, the life 
 hid with Christ in God! 
 
 The agent of this condition of stain- 
 less purity and beauty is God himself . — 
 He is often spoken of as "the God 
 of Peace." None less than He could 
 accomplish so marvelous a result. 
 Consider the greatness of the contrast! 
 There is no true heart illumined by 
 the Spirit of God which will hesitate 
 to adopt the confession of the patri- 
 arch, " Behold, I am vile!" It were 
 difficult to find words to set forth with 
 sufficient emphasis our natural undone 
 
Silent Forces. 89 
 
 and sinful state in the sight of God. 
 Pure snow trampled into mud by the 
 passers-by ! The refuse of gas-retorts 
 which, till recently, was deemed too 
 filthy for use! Ink, jet black, and 
 apt to leave a deep permanent stain! 
 And to think that such can be made 
 blameless, not only yonder, but here 
 and now — this is a marvel which the 
 finger of God alone can effect. "He 
 will do it." 
 
 But he will do it as the God of 
 Peace, — 
 
 The mightiest forces in the universe 
 are the stillest. Destruction ever 
 crashes on its way, like the express 
 which tears through the little wayside 
 station. The roar of the autumn sea! 
 The vehemence of the hurricane hurl- 
 ing through the forests! The crack- 
 ling of the devouring fire! The thun- 
 der, the earthquake, the volcano! But 
 who can hear the day break? — or de- 
 
go "the will &o it" 
 
 tect the footfall of the spring, stepping 
 through the woods, scattering flowers? 
 Who thinks of listening for the pulse 
 of the law of gravitation, or the thud 
 of the forces that redden the grape, 
 golden the corn, and cover the peaches 
 with their delicate bloom ? 
 
 Stand on an eminence and watch 
 the effect of a long summer day on an 
 English landscape. There is no sound 
 but the far away bleat of the sheep, 
 the low of the cattle, or the lazy mur- 
 mur of the bee, by which the effect of 
 the silence is rendered yet more in- 
 tense. Nature seems asleep beneath 
 some drowsy spell of slumber. The 
 hours move slowly, as if loath to leave 
 their merry dance in the woodland 
 glade. But all the while, as you lie 
 in a delightful reverie, you are aware 
 that mighty chemical processes are at 
 work, by which the juices of the earth 
 and the elements in the air, the dew 
 and the sunshine, are being elabo- 
 
"Spirit, Soul, an& 3Bo&^;' 91 
 
 rated for the sustenance of man. 
 So God works in the hearts He loves. 
 He does not strive, nor cry, nor cause 
 His voice to be heard in the streets of 
 the inner city. It is sometimes diffi- 
 cult to detect His working, and impos- 
 sible to say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! 
 His touch is so gentle; His voice so 
 still and small; His breath so zephyr- 
 like. When He is most at work with- 
 in we think that we are making no 
 progress, and even that we are going 
 back. Comparing the experiences of 
 some others with our own, we are in- 
 clined to imagine that we have not 
 been the subjects of the spirit's work; 
 or that His operations have come to 
 a standstill because there is nothing 
 sensible to record. At such times we 
 should remember that we have to do 
 with the God of Peace. He works 
 most energetically and mightily, when 
 to any of the senses of the soul there 
 is no evidence that He is there at all. 
 
92 "ibe will So it" 
 
 The presence of ozone in the air can 
 only be detected by the most delicate 
 tests, a faint color on a piece of litmus 
 paper — that is all. And the presence 
 of God in the soul is only apprehended 
 when the bloom of perfect health be- 
 comes apparent as its result. 
 
 The method of His work is from 
 within, outwards. — This text is often 
 quoted, and generally mis-quoted. 
 Men often speak of body, soul, and 
 spirit — and, indeed, that is generally 
 their method; but it is not God's Man 
 begins from without and works in- 
 wards; God begins from within and 
 works outwards — from the spirit to 
 the soul, and from the soul to the body. 
 
 There is a beautiful analogy sug- 
 gested by the Lord Himself between 
 our nature and the temple, in whose 
 precincts He stood when He spake of 
 "the temple of His Body." It is also 
 accentuated bythe Holy Ghost through 
 
Sanctificatiom 93 
 
 the apostle Paul. As God is a Trin- 
 ity in Unity, so was the temple; and 
 so is man. The spirit corresponds to 
 the most Holy Place; the soul, by 
 which we reason, imagine, hope, and 
 love, to the Holy Place, where white- 
 stoled priests went to and fro on their 
 sacred duties; the body, to the outer 
 Court. In the case of the unregener- 
 ate, the most holy or inner shrine is 
 either destitute of light or tenanted by 
 the spirit of evil. But in the nature 
 which has been truly regenerated by 
 the Holy Ghost, a marvelous addi- 
 tion has been made by the entrance of 
 the true Sheckinah light, the nature 
 of God. This is the distinction be- 
 tween the unsaved and the saved. 
 The former are like a deserted castle; 
 the latter like that castle when the 
 royal pennon tells that the sovereign 
 has come to reside within. 
 
 Before the act of consecration it 
 would seem as if a heavy curtain hung 
 
94 "1£>e will &o ft" 
 
 between the spirit and the soul, shut- 
 ting out the glow of the Sheckinah 
 glory; but when the will has been en- 
 tirely resigned and yielded, that veil 
 is torn from the top to the bottom, 
 and the soul also becomes pervaded 
 with the blessed light and power of 
 God. Nor can it be confined there; 
 but as in the dedication of Solomon's 
 Temple there was an overflow of light 
 in cascades of glory, driving the priests 
 before it by excess of splendor, so 
 the body of the believer comes under 
 the gracious influence of the indwel- 
 ling spirit, and is transfigured, refined, 
 purified, and saved. 
 
 This is Sanctification. There are 
 many definitions of the word sanctify ; 
 but there is none so entirely satisfac- 
 tory as that which affirms that it is 
 the result wrought on character by 
 the indwelling and presence of God. 
 Wherever God is, there, as the neces- 
 sary result, are the essential forces 
 
Ibe is ffaitbful-" 95 
 
 which sanctify — whether it be the 
 seventh day, or the sacred ground on 
 which the burning bush stood, or the 
 tabernacle in whose inner shrine the 
 Sheckinah shone, or the heart of man 
 where God has taken up His abode. 
 Art thou wholly sanctified ? Hast thou 
 opened thine entire being in every de- 
 partment to His indwelling? Does 
 that Divine presence fill thee, which 
 makes heaven what it is? If not, then 
 never rest until through the open case- 
 ments of thy being His presence is 
 wafted, never to go out again, but to 
 occupy and possess thee in every part. 
 Then thou shalt be sanctified. Thou 
 wilt carry with thee everywhere the 
 sign of the Divine Presence which 
 will be the true antidote against sin. 
 He who dreads the influenza saturates 
 his garments with Eucalyptus oil; and 
 he who fears to sin must steep his na- 
 ture in the Presence of God. Then 
 when be is wholly sanctified he is 
 
96 "Tbe will fro it," 
 
 wholly kept and preserved blameless 
 in spirit, soul, and body. 
 
 The certainty that God will do this. 
 —"He will do it." Old habits are 
 strong, but He is stronger; tempta- 
 tions masterful, but He can quell them ; 
 circumstances unfavorable, but He is 
 above them; the difficulty of securing 
 in us a blamless life almost insupera- 
 ble— but " He will do it." What can 
 He not do, who hath made the heav- 
 ens and the earth, the stars and the 
 seas, the soaring Alps and the dainty 
 shells that lie along the coast? He 
 can do these greater miracles in the 
 moral sphere; and He will do them 
 because He has instilled the appetite 
 and desire for them, and has trained 
 us to yearn for them, and surely can- 
 not disappoint the instinctive cravings 
 which He has Himself imparted. He 
 is faithful. He does not teach babes 
 to cry for milk which is not stored in 
 
"1be is jfaitbful" 97 
 
 their mother's breasts. He does not 
 create instincts without providing 
 satisfaction for their demands. He 
 does not teach us to long almost to 
 agony for a blameless life, and then 
 dash our hopes with disappointment 
 on the ground. No; He is faithful to 
 His Son, to His covenant, and to the 
 yearnings which He has implanted for 
 a blameless life; and He will do it of 
 His spirit and grace, far more exceed- 
 ding abundantly above all that we ask 
 or think. 
 
VIII. 
 
 "flDorning t>elp." 
 
 "God shall help . . . right early" ("when the 
 morning appeareth," Margin). — PsA.xlvi. 5. 
 
 TPHIS Psalm dates from later days 
 than those of David's, though it 
 has much of his heroic courage and 
 splendid diction. It belongs to the 
 days of Hezekiah, and may even have 
 been composed by that splendid in- 
 spired genius, Isaiah, whose hymns 
 and odes were almost as priceless a 
 heritage to his people as his great 
 evangelic prophecies have been to the 
 church. 
 
 // was a dark time indeed. — The 
 holy city was without an ally; desti- 
 tute of the fortifications and equip- 
 
<3oVs Covenant. 99 
 
 ment which were the boast of the 
 mightier cites of the great world; no- 
 tably deficient in the possession of a 
 river, which should engirdle it with its 
 bioad streams, intercepting the inva- 
 der, or providing a never-ending sup- 
 ply of water for the imprisoned citi- 
 zens; and ever nearer drew the terri- 
 ble Assyrian, who boasted that "he 
 had gathered the riches of all the 
 earth, and there was none that moved 
 the wing, or opened the mouth, or 
 peeped." Then the inspired uttered 
 those clarion notes which told that 
 God was their refuge and strength, a 
 very present help in time of trouble; 
 and declared . that those who dwelt 
 beneath His protection must not fear. 
 "God will help." 
 
 He will help because He is bound 
 by His covenant, — He has entered 
 into covenant with our Surety, Jesus, 
 that He will succor to the uttermost 
 
ioo "jflbornfnd 1belp*'' 
 
 of omnipotence every soul of man who 
 becomes one with Him by a living 
 faith. Inasmuch as the Father does 
 to one of the least of His, He does it 
 to His Son. And if God were to fail 
 to help one of those who belong to 
 Christ, though he were the weakest or 
 meanest of His members, the failure 
 would be to the Son Himself. But 
 this, of course is unthinkable; and so 
 by the very ties of the Divine love 
 and unity, God is bound to help all 
 that claim His succor in the name of 
 Jesus. 
 
 He will help, because He is bound 
 by considerations of his oivu honor. 
 — What mirth it would make in the 
 place prepared for the devil and his 
 angels, if it were known that the Al- 
 mighty could not, help one of those 
 who fled to him for deliverance! Da- 
 vid bitterly complained once that 
 there was danger of his foes saying, 
 
'feat not" ioi 
 
 "There is no help for him in God;" 
 and used this as an argument why God 
 should make no tarrying. And if 
 the servant cares so much for the 
 honor of the King, surely there are 
 state reasons why it should not be tar- 
 nished by even an appearance of neg- 
 lect. That was a true answer of a 
 dying saint, when one suggested that 
 perhaps, after all, God might desert 
 her, and she replied, "He can if He 
 will; but in that case He will lose more 
 than I shall. For His own name's 
 sake He is bound to help." 
 
 He will help because He is bound 
 by his own promise — How often does 
 the page of scripture testify to His 
 willingness to help, as it glistens with 
 His promises: "Fear not, thou worm 
 Jacob, I will help thee!" "Fear not, 
 for I am with thee; be not dismayed, 
 for I am thy God; I will strengthen 
 thee; yea, I will help thee: yea, I will 
 
102 "/[Doming 1belp," 
 
 uphold thee with the right hand of 
 My righteousness." "He hath said, 
 I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
 thee." "So that we may boldly say, 
 The Lord is my helper; I will not fear 
 what man shall do unto me." If only 
 we are reconciled to God, and are liv- 
 ing in His purpose, to do His will; 
 then, though we are confronted with 
 unlooked-for opposition, with moun- 
 tains of obstruction whilst in the pros- 
 ecution of His plans, we may unhes- 
 itatingly count on Divine help, and 
 reckon on God's faithfulness. We 
 need not look to the hills for help; but 
 beyond them, to the God of Jacob. 
 "Our help cometh from the Lord, 
 which made heaven and earth." 
 
 Is there a soul to whom these words 
 may come who does not need help? 
 The body is weakened by disease — 
 you need help to be patient ; the nerves 
 are so weary and so overstrung — you 
 need help to be gentle; the heart is so 
 
u %ovb, 10elp me," 103 
 
 sick with waiting for one who does not 
 come — and you need help just to exist 
 from moment to moment; the anxieties 
 of providing for the innocent nestlings 
 who so implicitly trust you are so ur- 
 gent, that you need help not to take 
 advantage of some unholy suggestion 
 constantly pressed on you; help for 
 resisting temptation, for bearing faith- 
 ful witness to the truth, for being al- 
 ways sweet and strong and good, for 
 prosecuting the path which dips down 
 into the valley of shadow, for laying 
 the darling Isaac on the altar, for tak- 
 ing up the cross and following the 
 Crucified. We all need help like this 
 — "Grace to help in time of need." 
 But we cannot be disappointed of ob- 
 taining it: "God shall help." The 
 very straitness of circumstances hedg- 
 ing thee round like the gathering hosts 
 of Senacherib around Jerusalem; the 
 absolute failure of all human succor; 
 the mysterious silence of God — all 
 
io4 "/looming 1foelp* M 
 
 these things have been contrived to 
 lead thee to give Him His right place, 
 and to take up thine own; and then 
 to utter the one intense cry, which 
 carries the promise of the answer at 
 its heart, "Lord, help me!" And He 
 will ride on the heavens to thy help, 
 and draw thee out of the deep waters 
 by His outstretched arm: "God shall 
 help thee." 
 
 The hour when God zvill help — 
 "And that right early." This fixes 
 the period of the advent of help. The 
 margin renders it, "When the morn- 
 ing appeareth." There was doubtless 
 a prophetic reference in these words 
 to the fact that the destruction of the 
 beleaguering hosts would take place 
 as night began to yield to the silvery 
 touch of dawn. "When they arose 
 early in the morning, behold, they 
 were all dead corpses." 
 
 But there is surely something fur- 
 
Sbouts of Deliverance* 105 
 
 ther, which touches the life of God's 
 people in all ages. The help seems to 
 tarry. The day wears away, and yet 
 the Divine deliverance comes not. 
 The last night has come; to-morrow 
 will witness the final assault of the foe 
 and the destruction of the last fabric 
 of hope. The weary hours pass sadly; 
 and, lo, it is the fourth watch, that in 
 which the grey dawn of the dreaded 
 hour steals up into the sky. Is there 
 no use in prayer? Has God forgotten 
 to be giacious? Has He in anger 
 shut up His tender mercies? Is His 
 mercy clean gone forever? No; at 
 that very moment the Divine helper 
 is come. 
 
 The delay has been long enough to 
 test faith and hope; but not too long 
 to make interposition useless. See! 
 the legions of ministering spirits speed 
 from their long lines of waiting expec- 
 tancy, and fill the air with shouts of 
 deliverance. God Himself rides upon 
 
106 "/looming 1belp/' 
 
 a cherub, and draws nigh to rescue 
 the beloved and much-tired soul. The 
 enemy gives back. The prey is torn 
 from the jaws of the mighty. Another 
 illustration is given of olden words: 
 "There is none like unto the God of 
 Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven 
 in thy help, and in His excellency on 
 the sky;" "God shall help, and that 
 right early." 
 
 Let it, however, not be forgotten 
 that, as Israel could not detect the 
 Divine protection that engirdled them 
 so it may not be always possible to 
 realize or feel that the Divine help has 
 come. But this should not surprise 
 us; it is God's way to test our faith in 
 Himself. If we have once claimed 
 His all-sufficient succor, we must be- 
 lieve that we have the petitions we 
 have made, and that the help of God 
 has come into our lives. Claim it, and 
 go on living in the faith that you have 
 it; and you will find that it has verily 
 
Sbouts of Deliverance," 107 
 
 come, though its footfall has awoke no 
 echo, and its soft wings have startled 
 no wave of vibrating response on the 
 still air. 
 
IX. 
 
 Claiming an& iRecftoning. 
 
 ' The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." 
 
 — Isa. ix. 7 
 
 'THIS paragraph is so associated with 
 an especial season in our English 
 life that it seems hedged around from 
 common use, and we hardly realize 
 the wealth of meaning which lies with- 
 in for daily help, making it one of the 
 deepest, sweetest, and most helpful 
 passages in Isaiah's prophecies. 
 
 There is an evident rebound from 
 sorrow, from dimness and anguish, con- 
 flict and pain; and the resulting joy is 
 compared to three similitudes, in which 
 alone the imagination of the prophet 
 can find adequate expression. It is 
 the harvest-time, and the long patience 
 
"TTbe H)ass of flMMan." 109 
 
 of the husbandman has met with its 
 reward; the fields are cleared of their 
 golden burden; the last of the sheaves 
 which had cast long shadows in the 
 setting sun has been carried to the 
 barn; and throughout the homestead 
 there is the joy of finished labors, 
 hopes fulfilled, and plentiful provision 
 for days to come. "They joy before 
 Thee according to the joy in harvest. 1,1 
 The scene is changed and it is the 
 close of the war for freedom in which 
 Gideon led Israel against the hosts of 
 Midian, that like locusts, had devoured 
 their land. Bitter, indeed, had been 
 the long bondage, in which their crops 
 had been swept off, their homes pil- 
 laged, their populations enslaved; and 
 therefore the exultation was the more 
 jubilant when the youngest son of Jo- 
 ash, the Abi-ezrite, with his three 
 hundred soldiers, inaugurated a tide 
 of victory, which rose and gathered 
 force until Midian had been driven 
 
1 10 Claiming an& IRecfeoning* 
 
 across the frontier, suffering a defeat 
 which paralyzed it for a century. Ah, 
 what joy was there throughout all the 
 land of Israel ! And " Thou hast bro- 
 en the yoke of his burden, and the 
 staff of his shoulder, the rod of his op- 
 pressor, as in the day of Midi an" 
 
 Again the scene is changed, and the 
 prophetic vision beholds that blessed 
 hour when war itself shall die, after 
 which the bugle will never again sum- 
 mon embattled hosts to meet in con- 
 flict, and the grass will never again be 
 dyed with the rich blood of men, and 
 nations will never again forbear to 
 count the gains of a battle won be- 
 cause of the awful cost in their noblest 
 sons. What a day that will be when 
 museums shall be erected to preserve 
 as curiosities the implements and ac- 
 coutrements of war, that the children 
 of the new age may study the old bar- 
 baric times which shall have passed 
 away as a bad "dream"! Then, from 
 
<5ot> in Cbrist m 
 
 vale to mountain peak, from river 
 bank to ocean shore, shall ring out a 
 note of joy so high, so piercing, that 
 the very stars shall tremble in their 
 silver spheres — "Hallelujah! for the 
 Lord God omnipotent reigneth." This 
 shall be the joy when the battle of the 
 warrior, with its confused noise, "and 
 the garments rolled in blood, shall be 
 for burning, for fuel of fire" (R. V.). 
 Nor will the prophet be satisfied with 
 any imagery less than this to depict 
 the joy of which he speaks when the 
 great consummation that fires his soul 
 shall have been realized by the zeal of 
 the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 And what is that consummation, 
 which is to break upon men as a great 
 light on those that walk in darkness, 
 and in the land of the shadow of 
 death, thrilling them with joy un- 
 speakable and full of glory? The an- 
 swer is given in those marvelous 
 words, in which the peace of the sea 
 
n2 Claiming au& IRecftoninc}* 
 
 of glass is mingled with the fire of 
 manifested Deity: u Unto us a Child 
 is born, unto us a Son is given; and 
 the government shall be upon His 
 shoulder; and His name shall be called 
 Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty 
 God the Everlasting Father, the 
 Prince of Peace. 11 In other words, 
 God has stored Himself up in Jesus, 
 the Babe of Bethlehem, the Boy of 
 Nazareth, the Son of Man, stooping 
 low enough to be within the reach of 
 the humblest, lowliest child of the hu- 
 man family; so that each of us might 
 be able to claim, and appropriate, and 
 use all the abundant stores of Deity 
 for the exigencies of daily living. 
 
 A respectable family becomes very 
 reduced in its circumstances; the 
 mother finds it difficult to make the 
 meagre provision suffice for her hun- 
 gry little ones; their clothes get more 
 ragged; the father's threadbare coat 
 makes it less and less possible for him 
 
H Son an& Brotber* 113 
 
 to obtain the situation which his qual- 
 ifications deserve. But a child is born 
 into that home, quite unlike the rest 
 of the children — beautiful in feature, 
 quick in intelligence, winsome, gifted 
 spirituelle. As he grows up, he man- 
 ifests unusual powers; rapidly distan- 
 ces his compeers; passes from the ele- 
 mentary school to the college, and 
 thence to the university. Presently 
 tidings begin to come back of his suc- 
 cess, his growing fams, his prizes, the 
 assured certainty of his becoming a 
 great man; and as they arrive in let- 
 ter, and rumor, and newspaper, the 
 mother's eye gets brighter; the father 
 no longer evades the associates of 
 earlier days; the home becomes better 
 furnished and the table better spread; 
 the other children are better clothed 
 and educated and put forward in life; 
 and the one glad explanation of it all 
 is found in the words, "Unto us a child 
 is born, unto us a son is given. " And 
 
in Claiming anfc TRecfeoning* 
 
 as the years go on, whilst money pours 
 in as a golden tide to the successful 
 student, it will find its way increas- 
 ingly to the family in the eld home; 
 and each member of it will reap the 
 benefit of association with its child 
 and son, all that is needed being to 
 prove a distinct need, and to put in 
 an appropriate claim. What a mine 
 of wealth would be opened up in the 
 counsel, strength, resources, influence, 
 and position, of that beloved and 
 trusted son and brother! 
 
 This will illustrate the prophet's 
 thought. As the oppressed Jews, 
 groaning in their brick-kilns, were glad 
 for Moses, given to lead them forth 
 from the house of bondage ; as Eng- 
 land, travailing under the cruel exac- 
 tions of the Danes, was glad for our 
 great Alfred; as the Netherlands were 
 glad when William the Silent arose to 
 arrest the blood-thirsty rule of Alva; 
 as Italy was glad when her Victor 
 
u %et bfm tafce." 115 
 
 — * — — 
 
 Emmanuel overthrew the dark mis- 
 rule of the Papacy — so may we be 
 glad because God has given Himself 
 to us in Jesus. Why should living 
 men complain? Granted that Adam 
 was our father, the second Adam is 
 the Son of Man. If tears, and toil, 
 and pain, and death have come by 
 the one; glory, and honor, and immor- 
 tality are ours by the other. And if 
 only we belong to the same family by 
 regeneration and adoption; if we are 
 sons, and therefore younger brothers 
 of the Son; if we have the right to call 
 His Father our Father, we gain from 
 our association with Him more than 
 enough to compensate us for our as- 
 sociation with the gardener who stole 
 his Master's fruit in the Garden of 
 Paradise. 
 
 Christian people do not enough ap- 
 preciate this connection, or avail 
 themselves of its benefits. We do not 
 enough distinguish between praying 
 
1 16 Claiming anfc IRecfeoning* 
 
 and claiming by a simple faith; but 
 there is a wide difference between the 
 two. We may pray for some special 
 grace for years, and still be deficient 
 in it; whereas we may claim it in an 
 instant, and it will be ours. I am so 
 often impressed with this difference 
 in prayer-meetings. The same peti- 
 tions are being constantly offered for 
 the same things in a half entreating, 
 half-despairing tone. But if the gifts 
 sought from the Father's hands are 
 really such as He can bestow, there 
 should be no need for the incessant 
 repetition of the same requests be- 
 cause they would be claimed and taken 
 from His outstretched hand. A Chris- 
 tian will request prayer that he may 
 receive a certain grace of Christian 
 character; whereas there is not the 
 least reason in the world why he 
 should not take as much of it as he 
 requires, altogether apart from the 
 intercession of others. We ask for 
 
©ur Counsellor* 117 
 
 health, or power, or deliverance, or 
 vindication, with the accent of weary 
 uncertainty, which proffers the same 
 request, year after year, regardless of 
 the voice, which is ever crying, "Who- 
 soever will, let him take. . . freely." 
 
 Of course there are things with all 
 of us which are not included in God's 
 will, and concerning which we cannot 
 therefore ask with any claiming faith. 
 But there are others, which are pre- 
 sented on the page of scripture, or are 
 indicated by the evident Providence 
 of God, concerning which we have 
 the right to say, "My Father, it is Thy 
 grace which has put this precious thing 
 within my reach; and I take it with a 
 reverent grateful heart." And when 
 we have been led to take up this atti- 
 tude, we must not suddenly turn round 
 to ascertain through some answering 
 emotion whether we have received the 
 gift we sought. We must reckon that 
 it is ours; we must rest satisfied that 
 
"8 Claiming an& IRecftonutg. 
 
 God is faithful, and that He has done 
 as He has said; we must even count 
 Him true and our own emotions liars. 
 If we ask anything according to His 
 will, we know that He hears us; and 
 if we know that He hears us, we know 
 that we have the petition that we de- 
 sired of Him — not only that it will be 
 ours, but that it is ours, to be used 
 forthwith for His glory, because the 
 zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform 
 it. 
 
 Are you in need of counsel? Rev- 
 erently and thoughtfully claim the 
 wisdom of the Counsellor; reckon that 
 you have it, and act to the best of 
 your judgment, believing that His 
 wisdom is threading it with His unseen 
 direction. And when you have acted, 
 whatever be the results, dare to believe 
 that you were directed to do the best 
 thing, and never look back. 
 
 Are you in need of strength? Rev- 
 erently and believingly claim the power 
 
"ffeefcontbeiipinQCbrist/' ng 
 
 of the Mighty God, and reckon that it 
 is yours; and go forth to any work to 
 which He may call you, believing that 
 you are adequately equipped. You 
 will not know what power you have 
 till you begin to use it. 
 
 Are yon in need of Unchanging love 
 and affection, in a world of incessant 
 disappointment, in which the warmest 
 friendships cool, and the dearest 
 friends die? Reverently and gladly 
 avail yourself of the love of the Father 
 of the Ages, the I AM, who is the 
 same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
 Drink deep draughts of His love and 
 know that it is yours, though you may 
 not be conscious at the moment how 
 much is pouring into your soul. 
 
 Do yon want peace? Reverently 
 and trustfully claim His peace, who is 
 the Prince of Peace ; and know that it 
 is yours, in the depths of your soul, 
 though the surface of your life be still 
 swept by storms. 
 
i2o Claiming an&IRecfeoning, 
 
 We may often fail to receive these 
 gifts from God, because we fail to 
 feed on Christ through His word. 
 Here, too, the same distinction must 
 be made. We are all too prone to 
 judge of our profit in the reading of 
 the Bible by our emotional pleasure. 
 If we have much of this, we think we 
 have gained much; but if little, we 
 ask what profit there is in our Bible 
 study. We must learn to believe that 
 just as food will nourish us even when 
 it is not specially palatable, and though 
 we may not think of it after we have 
 eaten it, so the Word of God will 
 nourish our spirits when we thought- 
 fully and prayerf ally read it, in the 
 absence of much sensible pleasure. 
 Read your Bibles, and so feed on the 
 living Christ; and believe that you are 
 gaining health and strength, even 
 though it be an effort of your faith to 
 reckon that it is so. 
 
 These are two great words — claim 
 
Braugbts of Soy. 121 
 
 God's fulness, and reckon that what- 
 ever you can claim is yours, although 
 no answering emotion assures you that 
 it is. Dare to act in faith, stepping 
 out in the assurance that you have 
 what you have claimed, and doing 
 just as you would do if you felt to 
 have it. 
 
 But this is only possible when you 
 have put the government — where God 
 the Father has placed it — on the 
 shoulders of Jesus, It is there by 
 right, but it must be also there by 
 choice and acquiescence. And when 
 it is, there is no limit to the freedom 
 with which we may have access to 
 God. All of God lies open to him 
 who will be all for God. Nor is it 
 such a dreadful thing to resign the gov- 
 ernment of the life to Jesus. Napo- 
 leon, standing amid the ambassadors 
 of Europe, reassured the entire con- 
 intent by the utterance of his New 
 Year's motto, The empire of peace. 
 
122 Claiming anfc TRecftonina* 
 
 But with far greater truth may we 
 apply the words to Jesus Christ, the 
 Prince of Peace, whose rule over the 
 soul is the synonym of peace unspeak- 
 able and full of glory. And as His 
 government spreads further and fur- 
 ther over the soul, with its growing 
 area there is growing peace, until they 
 shall both become complete to all the 
 heights, and depths, and breadths of 
 blessedness. Of the increase of His 
 government, and of our peace, there 
 is no end. 
 
 All this may seem shadowy and far 
 away; difficult, if not impossible, to 
 realize in our life. But we may take 
 comfort in the assurance that the zeal 
 of the Lord of Hosts will perform 
 what we cannot accomplish. There 
 is grace enough in him, and patieuce, 
 nd strength. He will not fail, nor 
 be discouraged. Hand over the entire 
 matter to Him; leave yourself in his 
 hands ; accept what He sends ; do what 
 
Braugbts of 5o£. 123 
 
 He bids; and you will drink deep 
 draughts of that joy of which the pro- 
 phet speaks in these rapturous and 
 glowing words. 
 
X. 
 
 Deatb tbe (3ate of Xife. 
 
 "In the third day He will raise us up and we shall 
 live in his sight. — Hos vi, 2. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 HTWO Christians were engaged in 
 deep conversation on a subject 
 which had an absorbing interest for 
 them — how to secure a fuller measure 
 of the life of God in the soul. Theirs 
 was the search for the Golden Grail. 
 
 For some weeks previous to the oc- 
 casion of which I write, they had been 
 led to see, in dim outline at least, the 
 great law, which runs through all the 
 world, that life is through death. 
 The flowers of spring are born from 
 the death of winter. The richest 
 crops are raised on virgin soils, where 
 
XTbe corn of wbeat* 125 
 
 for centuries dead leaves had been left 
 to rot and molder. Each generation 
 of living things arises out of the death 
 of that which has preceded it. And 
 is not this in harmony with that law in 
 spiritual things, to which our Lord so 
 constantly referred? "Except a corn 
 of wheat fall into the ground and die, 
 it abideth alone; but if it die, it bring- 
 eth forth much fruit"; "Whosoever 
 shall lose his life for My sake, the 
 same shall save it;" It is profitable to 
 be maimed in order to enter into life." 
 And once when Peter sought to per- 
 suade Him to spare Himself the cross, 
 He told him he was playing the part 
 of Satan. 
 
 It was beneath the inspiration of 
 such thoughts as these, that my friends 
 clasped each other's hands, and looking 
 steadfastly up to Christ, dared rever- 
 ently and trustfully to say, "Lord, we 
 choose death; let us drink of Thy cup, 
 aud be baptized with thy baptism, if 
 
1 26 Beatb tbe (Bate of %i t e. 
 
 ouly we may have thy life abundant- 
 ly" It was a great thing to say — 
 but, after all, is it not what each of us 
 should say to Him, who has passed 
 through the grave to the glory of the 
 Risen Life, leaving us an example that 
 we should follow His steps, and in 
 whom God reckons that we have died 
 already? "Know ye not that so many 
 of us as were baptized into Jesus 
 Christ were baptized into His death?" 
 and does not that initial act of our 
 religion accept that position which is 
 ours in God's purpose, and write the 
 sentence of death on all our existence? 
 We must not court death — we must in- 
 vent ingenious methods of dying. But 
 weare to yield ourselves into the hands 
 of the Living One that became dead, 
 asking Him to lead us as He will, sure 
 that He can make no mistake; and 
 that in proportion to our deep plant- 
 ing together in the dark soil of death 
 will be the wealth and radiance 
 
Self-complacence, 127 
 
 of color in our common after-life. 
 
 Perhaps my friends had hardly 
 counted the cost, any more than the 
 two disciples knew what was involved, 
 when, in answer to their Master's 
 challenge about sharing His baptism 
 and cup, they said, "We are able." 
 Perhaps it is best that we should not 
 know, and that He should lead us 
 down one step at a time. But there 
 are certain well-defined stages in this 
 inward dying, which must probably 
 be appropriated by us all. 
 
 We must die to self complacency, — 
 The first step in the education of 
 some village lad, who gives evidence 
 of the artist's gift, which has already 
 made him the idol of the rustics 
 around, is to introduce him to the 
 masterpieces of human genius, that he 
 may be fit to die of shame, when any 
 shall mention his own rude daubs. 
 And the first step in the education of 
 the spirit is to break down all conceit 
 
1 28 s>eatb tbe ©ate of Xff e. 
 
 in its own goodness. This is the les- 
 son of the Book of Job. At the outset 
 Job accounts himself the perfect man, 
 and stoutly protests his innocence 
 against the accusations of his friends; 
 but at the close, when he has seen 
 the holiness of God, he confesses him- 
 self vile. Any kind of self-esteem on 
 account of our superiority to others, 
 of the sensitiveness of our conscience, 
 or of our very humility and modesty, 
 must be denied and offered to death. 
 
 We must die to our own method of 
 justification. — We are all anxious to 
 stand right with God's law. We allege 
 excuses why we have sinned as we 
 have done. We blame our parents, 
 our temperament, or our circumstanc- 
 es. We try to compensate by the 
 makeweight of good things we do, or 
 evil things we avoid. Like Cain, we 
 come before God with the fruit of the 
 earth, produced and ripened by our 
 assiduous care. And so long as this 
 
Spiritual 3ovs. 129 
 
 is our case, we are not only in a state 
 of condemnation before God, but we 
 shut ourselves out of that blessed re- 
 demption which has been wrought out 
 for us in the Person and Work of Je- 
 sus. 
 
 We must die to our own method of 
 santift cation. — This, at least, we 
 think we can do. If only we are 
 started right, we surely can keep so. 
 We can at least be good, and pure, 
 and gentle. Resolutions well made, 
 the self-watch well kept, the temper 
 of the soul well maintained by con- 
 tact with noble ideals — surely these 
 will suffice to maintain our spiritual 
 life on the high level to which, at the 
 outset, the Saviour lifted it. We start 
 out as an army, with banners and 
 banners and bands, and gleaming ar- 
 mor; but we encounter nothing but 
 disappointment and failure, and return 
 at last defeated, disheartened, almost 
 in despair. Ah, we must die to our 
 
1 30 2>eatb the ©ate of %\ f e. 
 
 good self, arrayed in its Sunday best, 
 as we once died to our bad self, dressed 
 in rags! 
 
 We must die to our spiritual joys. 
 -—In the early stages of Christian liv- 
 ing, our Father allures us forward 
 with many moments of radiant sun- 
 shine and reasons of sacred delight; 
 but alas! we get to cling to these rath- 
 er than to Himself, and so it befalls 
 that He is obliged to cut them off and 
 to wean as, that we may turn to Him- 
 self, to find what we could never find 
 in His gifts. 
 
 If a father were always bringing 
 chocolate creams home to his little 
 children, he might begin to wonder 
 whether their welcome day by day 
 was intended for himself, or for what 
 he brought. And so he might one 
 morning clearly announce to them 
 that they must not expect any more 
 for at least a month. But how often 
 would he wonder to himself through- 
 
"H enjoy (Soft*" 131 
 
 out that day whether he would be 
 greeted again by the sparkling eyes, 
 and heightened color, and patter of 
 little feet along the passage! And if, 
 when he turned the corner of the 
 street, he saw the window as full as 
 usual of little expectant faces, would 
 he not thankfully realize that his chil- 
 dren loved him, not for his sweets, 
 but for himself? So God, our Father, 
 is often obliged to deprive the soul of 
 all emotional delights; and we must 
 be prepared to die to them. 
 
 A Christian woman was once asked 
 if she enjoyed religion; and she an- 
 swered, after a moment's thought, "I 
 enjoy God." There was a great truth 
 taught in that distinction, and one 
 which can only be learnt when we 
 have submitted to the death of which 
 we speak. 
 
 We must die to our self- energy in 
 Christian work. — How much there is 
 of this in us all! We are more taken 
 
132 Beatb tbe ©ate of Xife- 
 
 up in doing things for Christ than with 
 Christ Himself; as if a wife should be 
 so occupied in doing acts of service 
 for her husband, that she neglected 
 communion with him in the twilight, 
 beneath the trellis-work of the porch, 
 or in the glow of the winter fire. How 
 much of natural impetuosity, of ambi- 
 tion, of dependence on our own 
 schemes, of resolve to do as others 
 have done, of yearning for notice and 
 patronage, there is in all our Christian 
 work! To see the result; to know 
 that you are effecting something; to 
 feel that you are exercising an influ- 
 ence in the molding of men — all this 
 is such a temptation, diverting us 
 from the simplicity and unobtrusive- 
 ness of the highest form of work. 
 
 We must learn to work without 
 these perplexing cross-lights, to per- 
 severe undaunted by years of apparent 
 failure; to renounce our boasted 
 schemes and vaunted strength; to be 
 
Ufcoltars* 133 
 
 broken and emptied vessels; each to 
 be an insignificant joint in the great 
 body; content to stand as a pawn on 
 one square of the chessboard, not 
 moved for hours, because set to hold 
 a position on which perhaps the whole 
 game turns. It is only so that we 
 become meet for the Master's use, and 
 capable of the loftiest service. 
 
 We must die to excess in what is 
 right, — Of course we must be crucified 
 to all that is strong; but our difficulty 
 will often lie with what is in itself in- 
 nocent and right. Human affection; 
 the love of wife or child, of parent or 
 friend; the desire to know; the power 
 of conversation; the play of poetry, 
 imagination, and genius. All these 
 things are precious and inestimable 
 gifts, for which we should be always 
 thankful, and for the proper use of 
 which we shall be called to account. 
 We have no right to bury any one of 
 them in the napkin of neglect. We 
 
1 34 Beatb tbe (Sate of Xif e, 
 
 must rejoice in every good thing which 
 the Lord our God has given. But we 
 must never forget that there is as much 
 danger through excess in a right di- 
 rection, as through the least trespass 
 in a wrong one. The excessive use of 
 a right thing is its abuse; and is that 
 sin of idolatry against which we are 
 perpetually warned. Nothing will 
 more certainly affect and hinder the 
 work of God in the soul. We must 
 learn self-restraint; to be still; to die 
 to our impetuosity and excess. 
 
 TJiere are times when we are called 
 icpon to die to what is natural and 
 right in others, but which we must 
 renounce for some special purpose. — 
 The right hand, or foot, or eye, may 
 cause us to stumble; and in this case 
 we must be willing to dispense with 
 them. Or we may be specially called 
 on to undertake some mission, which 
 will involve our leaving father and 
 mother, and wife and children, and 
 
XTbe Xife of (Bob. 135 
 
 lands. But these demands do not 
 come to all; and when they seem to 
 come, we must carefully wait to as- 
 certain beyond a doubt what may be 
 the precise will of God. It is His 
 business to explain His will to the 
 obedient soul; and until we are certain 
 of it, we must keep still, and wait 
 patiently for Him. 
 
 The self-life is our greatest trouble. 
 It is so various in its manifestations. 
 Resist it in one place, it will break out 
 in another. When you have over- 
 come it in some hideous form, it will 
 insinuate itself in congratulations for 
 your victory. It will appear as an 
 angel of light, so guileless and inno- 
 cent, excusing faults as infirmities; 
 anger as highly-strung nervousness; 
 ambition as zeal for God. It will 
 freely vaunt its sinlessness and free- 
 dom from the very root of evil. Its 
 heads are as many as the hydra's. It 
 is like the weed which spoils our wa- 
 
136 3>eatb tbe Gate of Xif e. 
 
 ters; or like the velvety moss of the 
 American forests — creeping every- 
 where, but stifling life from the trees 
 to which it clings. We must die to 
 self if we would taste of the deep, 
 tranquil, satisfying Life of God. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Dying is neither easy nor pleasant. 
 — The Master did not find it so, nor 
 shall we. To learn that your right- 
 eousness is as filthy rags; to be re- 
 duced to take the gift of forgiveness 
 on the same terms as the meanest and 
 vilest sinner; to find that it is impos- 
 sible to realize your cherished ideals; 
 to discover that God wants neither 
 your wisdom nor strength, but your 
 helplessness in His work, to be con- 
 tent to lose all the bright manifesta- 
 tions of God's favor; to lay your Isaac 
 upon the altar, your dearest, most 
 cherished, most God-given possession; 
 
1bow to Wie. 137 
 
 to turn aside from some gate standing 
 open before you into a sunlit garden, 
 and at the call of God to take a dark- 
 er, stonier pathway; to renounce what 
 others hold without rebuke; to go to 
 Gethsemane, and Calvary and the 
 grave, in close companionship with 
 the Man of Sorrows; to be stripped 
 of friends, and wealth, and reputation, 
 and success; flung like a shipwrecked 
 mariner on some lone shore — ah! this 
 is not the lot which we would natur- 
 ally select. Nay, it is that from which 
 we shrink. 
 
 But we are not called upon to ex- 
 perience the whole of this at onee. — 
 Many pass through life knowing com- 
 paratively little of it. Others know 
 only the earlier stages. And for such 
 as we are called to drink this cup to its 
 dregs, it is diluted in its preliminary 
 experiences. The less are given first, 
 the greater follow only at intervals, 
 and as the strength of the soul has de- 
 
138 H>eatb tbe (Bate of Xife, 
 
 veloped into ability to bear them; so 
 that we may be quite sure whatever 
 is given us to do or suffer, there is a 
 certainty of sufficient strength being 
 within our reach, there is no need for 
 either fainting under trial, or despair 
 as to its issue. 
 
 Now let us learn how to die. 
 
 Let us look, not on the dying side, 
 but on the living side. — Each shadow 
 has its light; each valley its height; 
 each night its dawn; each wound of 
 the oyster-shell its pearl; each kind 
 of death its counterpart of life. 
 
 To have the one is to have both. 
 It is, therefore, a mistake to be ever 
 thinking of what you must give up. 
 Think rather oi what you must take in. 
 Follow hard after Christ, to be with 
 Him, for Him, like Him. Let your 
 intimacy with Him be like those 
 closely pointed stones in the old build- 
 ings of Thebes, between which it is 
 impossible to insert even a sheet of 
 
TTbe name of Jesus* 139 
 
 writing-paper. Obey Him up to the 
 hilt. 
 
 So will ever new blessings disclose 
 themselves to you; and as you climb 
 to them you will be insensibly drawn 
 away from things that fascinated and 
 injured you. Reaching out after a 
 fuller measure of life, you will hardly 
 realize the cost by which alone you 
 can enter upon its enjoyment. The 
 wrench of death will be less percepti- 
 ble amid the joy which sheds its light 
 on your face, and the warm glow into 
 your heart. As the room is filled with 
 the odor of the ointment, you will 
 not grieve so much over the broken 
 alabaster box. Win Him, and you 
 will more easily count all things but 
 dross. 
 
 Above all, tricst the lead of Jesus, — 
 "He will revive us; He will raise us 
 up; and we shall live in His sight. " 
 
 He knows every step of the way 
 through the dark valley; because, as 
 
1 40 3>eatb tbe ©ate of %i t c. 
 
 the Captain of Salvation, He has been 
 obliged to traverse it with each son 
 whom He has brought to glory. While 
 the heart is breaking, He yearns with 
 tender pity over the bleeding member 
 of His own body. The knife which 
 cuts into our flesh pierces His heart. 
 Lean heavily on His arm. He is with 
 you, feeling for you infinitely, though 
 you cannot see Him. It is impossi- 
 ble for Him to take one false step, or 
 inflict one needless stab of pain. 
 
 Out of your suffering He is going 
 to bring glory to Himself and blessed- 
 ness to you. Fix your eyes on these. 
 In proportion to your pain will be the 
 eternal weight of each. And though 
 heart and flesh fail or faint, take His 
 name, like a perpetual refrain on your 
 lips; and go forward, remembering 
 that "for the joy that was set before 
 Him, He endured the cross, despising 
 the shame, and is set down at the 
 right hand of the throne of God." 
 
"%iU more abun&ant/' i+i 
 
 There is no solace to the troubled 
 soul so sweet as the perpetual mention 
 of the name "Jesus," as the life is laid 
 upon the altar, and surrendered to be 
 all His own. Look up to Him; see 
 the smile on His face, as He sees His 
 own image reflected in the soul which 
 He is burnishing, and hears His own 
 name repeated by the lips which re- 
 strain the groans and anguish that 
 press for utterance Do not be ashamed 
 of your tears ; they shall be very grate- 
 ful to Him, and shall refresh Him like 
 those of old that fell thick and fast on 
 His feet. He sometimes seems to 
 tarry. His stages of redemption are 
 so slow; but His love is dealing more 
 wisely with thee in its delays, impet- 
 uous spirit, than it could in haste! It 
 is hard to wait when heart and flesh 
 are failing; but thy God will be the 
 strength of thy life, and thy portion 
 for ever. He sees the eternal weight 
 of glory which must follow on this 
 
142 Beatb tbe (Bate of %ife. 
 
 thine affliction, which in comparison 
 is light, though it seems so heavy to 
 thy poor soul, "because by thy strength, 
 with none to spare." And He knows 
 the nearest path that will lead thee 
 to it. Trust His hand and purpose 
 running through the circumstances of 
 thy life. 
 
 And out of all this will come the 
 more abundant life. — Suffering at first 
 isolates us; but afterwards it links us 
 in the closest bonds with all who are 
 sitting on the hard benches of the 
 school of sorrow. We learn to com- 
 fort them with the comfort with which 
 we have ourselves been comforted of 
 God. The water streams from the 
 smiten rock. The flower springs from 
 the dead seed. The crystal river from 
 the melting glacier. The bright gold 
 emerges from the dark mine and the 
 cleansing fires. As the marble wastes 
 beneath the sculptor's chisel, and 
 falls in a shower of splinters to the 
 
"TKHait for Dim." H3 
 
 floor, the image grows in its fair and 
 perfect beauty. 
 
 A simple-hearted Christian girl, who 
 had heard God's call to the mission- 
 field, felt keenly the pain of leaving 
 her lover in one of our great manu- 
 facturing centers. She came to her 
 minister and said: "I cannot bear to 
 give up anything for Jesus grudgingly. n 
 So she spent a whole night in prayer, 
 that He would help her to make the 
 gift with a smile, and came again to 
 her minister, saying, "I don't love 
 Jack less; but I love the Lord Jesus 
 so much more, that it is easy to go." 
 
 When you are sure that Jeus asks 
 aught of you, yield up your will to 
 Him; ask Him to come, and take it 
 and blend it with His own. Be will- 
 in to be made willing. Lie low at His 
 feet. Wait for Him. Trust Him. 
 Do not be afraid. He will gently open 
 the door of Life, through which you 
 will pass out of the vale of death into 
 
144 Beatb tbe (Bate of %ii e. 
 
 wider and more abundant blessedness. 
 Lay yourself upon the altar of devo- 
 tion; and as the burnt-offering begins, 
 the song of the Lord will begin also, 
 never to stay again, but to rise higher 
 and even higher, till it passes on to 
 blend with the high notes of angel 
 minstrelsy 
 
 And, in the end, when the lesson is 
 fully mastered, we shall find that His 
 going forth has been prepared as the 
 morning; and He will come unto us 
 as the rain, as the latter and former 
 rain, unto the earth. Abraham shall 
 take his Isaac from off the altar, and 
 lead him home; Joseph shall weep 
 tears of welcome on his father's neck; 
 Job shall have more prosperity than 
 before his trial; the young confessors 
 shall emerge from their fire without 
 their bonds; flowers shall grow where 
 the black cinders lay; and where the 
 body was buried in the sepulcher amid 
 tears of hopeless sorrow, there shall 
 
"Wait for Tbim," 145 
 
 be a joyous resurrection. We shall live 
 again, and shall know the Lord as 
 never before. 
 
 Wait to see the end of the Lord; 
 He is very pitiful; He is human in His 
 tenderness. Though He slay thee, 
 trust in Him; He knows the thoughts 
 He thinks towards thee, thoughts of 
 good, and not of evil, to give thee an 
 expected end: "He will raise us up, 
 and we shall live in His sight." 
 
 In agony, O Lord, 
 
 To thee I cry; 
 I cannot tell my grief, 
 
 Nor why I sigh. 
 But thou who sendest me 
 
 This bitter pain, 
 Wilt stand beside me 
 
 Soothing this brain; 
 Calming with tender hand 
 
 This breaking heart, 
 Although the pain is great 
 
 And sore the smart. 
 Teach me Thy lessons soon, 
 
 Then wilt Thou, Lord, 
 Give me my heart's desire. 
 
 Keeping thy Word. 
 
XL 
 
 Wbat tbe /IDan can be. 
 
 "A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind 
 
 and a cover from the tempest; as rivers of water in 
 
 a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a 
 
 weary land." 
 
 ISA. xxxii. 2. 
 
 Y\ 7HAT a revelation is here of the 
 wants of men ! The very supply 
 indicates the depths and urgency of 
 the need which craves for satisfaction. 
 "Hiding Place!" "Covert!" "Foun- 
 tains of Water!" "The shadow of a 
 great Rock!" Each of these beauti- 
 ful images serves to accentuate the 
 impression of urgent and pitiful need. 
 Lighthouses and harbors are always 
 terribly suggestive. 
 
 If a hiding-place is provided, it is 
 evident that the bleak moor-land, or 
 
"1be rebufte& the MiuS/' t 47 
 
 desert-waste is being swept by pitiless 
 blasts, which search the traveller and 
 catch up the sand-atoms in blinding 
 whirlwinds. If there is a covert, it 
 is clear the storms must be frequent. 
 If rivers of water ', then there is every 
 fear of thirst. If "the shadow of a 
 great rock, then there is likelihood of 
 weariness in the scorching glare of the 
 sun. 
 
 And surely all these have their anal- 
 ogies and correspondences in our lives. 
 
 Wind. — Once when the Lord and 
 His apostles were sailing together 
 across the lake, there came down a 
 great storm of wind on the water, 
 which became suddenly and ominously 
 ruffled, flecked with white foam, and 
 dashed ever more tumultuously against 
 the sides of the little shell that carried 
 the Hope of the world. It would 
 seem as if the prince of the power of 
 the air, whose empire is in some way 
 mysteriously associated with the ariel 
 
148 Xlftlbat tbe man can be* 
 
 regions, sought to vent his hate on 
 his glorious Antagonist by raising this 
 terrible and dangerous storm around 
 the men who loved Him, and Himself. 
 Surely Satanic agency is more than 
 hinted at when we are told that He 
 rebuked the wind and the waves — re- 
 buke would hardly avail for a mere 
 element. 
 
 But how apt a symbol of our lives 
 is here! Often when all seems fair, 
 when the winds are confined in their 
 chambers, when there is the hush of 
 perfect calm in our lives, whilst we 
 are confident and unsuspecting of 
 alarm — all suddenly a wild storm en- 
 velopes us in a furious melee. A 
 calumnious story is circulated, which 
 is absolutely without foundation; a 
 well-meant act is misconstrued; a love 
 suddenly cools; a dam which had 
 warded off the wild north sea breaks; 
 a life which had been dearer than our 
 own fails; our whole nature is plunged 
 
"H>n? places/' 149 
 
 into a bath of agonizing pain; the 
 mind is cast into a tumult of perplex- 
 ity; the heart is rent. Ah, then we 
 know bitterly the spiritual side of the 
 words, "a small tempest lay upon us." 
 Storm. — Storms sweep the floor of 
 the desert of all the loose sand that 
 may be lying there, and gathering it 
 together hurl it against the traveler 
 or the caravan, stinging, blinding, and 
 threatening to overwhelm. But a co- 
 vert is an enclosure of canvas, or a 
 nook formed by bowlders of rock lean- 
 ing together, and against it the storm 
 beats in vain, piling up the dust atoms 
 in hillocks without, whilst the cower- 
 ing refugees escape. Thus it is with 
 human life. We are exposed not only 
 to great and crushing sorrows, which 
 threaten to suddenly engulf us, as it is 
 said the old seats of human life were 
 engulfed in the midst of the Indian 
 ocean; but we have to suffer from 
 the accumulations of little stinging 
 
i5° Wbat tbe flDan can be* 
 
 irritations, which are like the grit 
 or sand grains of the desert. The 
 rasping temper of some one with 
 whom we have to live; the annoyances 
 and slights which are daily heaped on 
 us; petty innuendoes and insinuations 
 that sting; trifles which we could not 
 put into words, but which hurt us like 
 acid dropped into a sore —it is hard to 
 stand against these. 
 
 A Dry Place. — Our lot is sometimes 
 cast, as David's was, in a dry and 
 thirsty land, where no water is. There 
 are few helps in our religious life; we 
 are cast into a worldly family; we are 
 obliged to attend an uncongenial min- 
 istry; we are too driven with occupa- 
 tion to have quiet times for fellowship 
 with God, and communion with His 
 saints; or we are so lonely that we 
 long unutterably for some kindred 
 soul, some one to love or to be loved 
 — all these are dry places. The eye 
 ranges day after day over the same 
 
Ell nee&g met in Cbrts t. 1 5 1 
 
 monotonous landscape; no well of 
 water, no living spring, no sign of 
 fresh green verdure. And, indeed, it 
 is remarkable to think how many are 
 daily passing over this arid waste, 
 some unloving, some unloved, some 
 scorched by the fierce quick heat of 
 passion, all feeling the parching thirst, 
 in which the tongue cleaves to the roof 
 of the mouth. 
 
 A Weary Land. — The whole ex- 
 panse of desert lies beneath the glare 
 of the noontide sun. The lizards and 
 beetles revel in it, but every living 
 thing pants in exhaustion, or creeps 
 into the shade; and the traveler paces 
 wearily on, ready to throw himself 
 down under the shadow of the veriest 
 bush and ask for death. Weary peo- 
 ple ! there are plenty of them. Weary 
 of life, with its poverty from which 
 there is never a moment's respite! 
 Weary of life, with the love of the life 
 unrequited! Weary of life, with the 
 
152 Wbat tbe Zlfoan can be. 
 
 light of life hidden beneath a bushel! 
 Weary of life, with its common-place 
 duties and monotonous routine! 
 Weary, weary, so weary! The de- 
 mands are so incessant; the pressure 
 is so constant; the heartache is so 
 wearing; the pain is so cruel; the sor- 
 row that eats out the heart is so bitter. 
 Ah, me! the eyes weary of looking for 
 one who never comes! the ears weary 
 of listening for a step that never greets 
 them; the hearts weary of waiting for 
 a love that never comes forth from the 
 grave, though they call never so loudly. 
 But all these many-sided needs may 
 be met and satisfied in "The Man 
 Christ Jesus." No one man could 
 perfectly meet even them all. And 
 He is prepared to meet them all, not 
 only in the case of one or two of the 
 children of men, but for every one of 
 the vast population of our globe; yea, 
 and abundantly beyond all that any 
 ask or think. 
 
"Complete in 1bim/' 153 
 
 We can never forget our Lord's es- 
 sential Deity; the Second Person, in 
 the ever-blessed Trinity; the Fellow 
 of Jehovah; the only-begotten Son of 
 the Father. But we must never mag- 
 nify His Deity at the expense of His 
 humanity. He emptied Himself of 
 His Divine prerogative when He as- 
 sumed human nature. God with God, 
 He is also Man with man. And it is 
 of Him in His true humanity that the 
 prophet speaks in these rapturous 
 words. Let men with their indefina- 
 ble aspirations, and women with their 
 yearnings for love, and sympathy, and 
 strength, and ownership, bring all to 
 that Man, whom God hath ordained, 
 and concerning whom He has given 
 assurance to all men in raising Him 
 from the dead. There is no hunger or 
 thirst in our nature that does not bring 
 a beatitude with it, when it leads 
 us to His royal and glorious nature, 
 to find there both solace and supply. 
 
1 54 TOlbat tbe ZlDan can be* 
 
 How manifold is the character of 
 Christ! No one metaphor can set 
 forth all His beauty. Creation has to 
 be ransacked, for metaphors to unfold 
 the mysteries of loveliness and power 
 which lie hid within Him, waiting to 
 be unfurled: — 
 
 "The whole creation can afford 
 But some faint shadows of my lord; 
 Nature, to make his beauties known, 
 Must mingle colors not her own." 
 
 In all men there is a fatal incom- 
 pleteness. One quality seems to have 
 grown rich at the expense of others. 
 The soil of their soul has given all its 
 nutriment to some exquisite flower or 
 fruit of the Christian character but 
 just in proportion as it has poured it- 
 self in one direction, it has been 
 drained away in others. Have you 
 not often wished to take the charac- 
 teristic qualities from the men in whom 
 they are strongest, and put them all 
 together into one nature, making one 
 complete man out of the many broken 
 
Ube Mater of %ife. 155 
 
 bits, one chord of the many single 
 notes, one ray of the many colors? 
 But this that you wish to do is done 
 in Him — in whom the faith of Abra- 
 ham, the meekness of Moses, the pa- 
 tience of Job, the strength of Daniel, 
 the love of the apostle John, blend in 
 one complete symmetrical whole. 
 
 And this is the further thought —that 
 He completes our incompleteness. 
 We are but partial segments of the 
 circumference. He makes up the per- 
 fect sweep of the circle. We bring to 
 Him but a tiny scrap of the Christian 
 character; but He sweetly steps in 
 and fills up the deficiency, adding to 
 our few lines a whole Paradise of warm 
 color, so that the picture is perfected 
 in beauty. Whatever, then, be your 
 need, my reader, seek its complement 
 (i. e., its completement) in Him; and 
 as you do so, claim that God your 
 Father should fulfill in you the good 
 pleasure of His goodness, and the 
 
1 56 Wbat tbe /IDan can be, 
 
 work of faith with power, teaching 
 you what Jesus can be to the soul that 
 comes to Him for all. "My God shall 
 supply all your need, according to His 
 riches in glory by Christ Jesus." "In 
 Him ye are made full" (R. V.). 
 
 Are you driven by the wind, "tossed 
 with the tempest, and not comforted ?" 
 Hide in Him! Get into Him, as the 
 bark, strained and leaking, gets with- 
 in the shelter of the mole or harbor- 
 bar. Look out on the fury of the 
 storm from the protecting environment 
 of His presence. Often we have been 
 hidden from the strife of tongues, or 
 the sharp arrows of cruel and unjust 
 scandal, in the thought of the love of 
 some one for whom we have suffered, 
 and one smile from whom has made 
 us impervious to the assault. And 
 how often have we retired within the 
 strong and tender advice or succor of 
 some noble, and wealthy, and capable 
 friend, making our refuge with him 
 
UbeHiU5uffictenc£0f3esus- 157 
 
 until certain calamities have passed 
 by! And why should we not do this 
 with the Man of men, of whom all 
 other men are suggestions and hints, 
 and partial representations? Why 
 should not those words of David fit us 
 more literally, and be more frequently 
 on our lips? — "The Lord is my rock, 
 and my deliverer; my God, my 
 strength, in whom I will trust; my 
 buckler, and the horn of my salvation 
 and my high tower.' 7 
 
 Are you being blinded by the drift 
 of the tempest, as it drives the sleet 
 of the northern gale, or the dust of 
 the southern sirocco into your face? 
 Jesus will be a covert from it. Stand- 
 ing before you with His face to the 
 pitiless blast, He will screen you: "He 
 shall cover thee with His feathers, and 
 under His wings shalt thou trust; His 
 truth shall be thy shield and buckler." 
 Remember how of old He went forth 
 to meet the bands that entered the 
 
158 Mbat tbe /Ifcan can be, 
 
 garden, beneath the leadership of the 
 traitor, and said of the disciples cow- 
 ering behind Him, "if ye seek Me let 
 these go their way." so will He fight 
 for you, and defend you. The Shep- 
 herd shall go before you; and you, as 
 His sheep, shall follow, safe from 
 harm. 
 
 Are you in a dry place? The Lord 
 Jesus knows what it is to be athirst. 
 "He came unto His own, and His 
 own received Him not." The cry 
 with which He expired must have 
 been often on His lips, "I thirst." 
 
 Oh, precious human love! of which, 
 in His earthly life, the supreme Lover 
 knew but little; that out of the expe- 
 riences of His own pilgrimage over the 
 waterless waste, He might be able to 
 supply the thirst of souls. What was 
 meant by that Rock, whose streams 
 followed the pilgrim host, except that 
 Jesus would set forth in parable and 
 type His willinghood and ability to 
 
"HMfce in 1bim," 159 
 
 quench all thirst, and appease the 
 fever of desire? Let us cease from 
 the labor of hewing out our own cis- 
 terns, which soon get exhausted of the 
 brackish water which they contain; 
 and let us ask of Him to give us to 
 drink of those living springs which are 
 Himself, and of which, if a man drink, 
 he shall never thirst again. 
 
 Are you in a weary land? Listen 
 to Him who bids the weary come to 
 Him for rest. Sit beneath His shadow 
 with great delight. He will give rest 
 from the consciousness of unforgiven 
 sin; rest from the inward strife; rest 
 from conflict with men and things 
 around; rest from chafe and fret 
 against the will of God. What a con- 
 trast there is between the angry surf 
 that flings itself on the coral reef, and 
 the lagoon of Stillwater; between that 
 strong, insect-built wall, and the frail, 
 palm-shaded islet which lies within. 
 And if the former represent the fret 
 
160 XKilbat tbe flDan can be- 
 
 of outward circumstance, the other is 
 a picture of the calm rest which is ex- 
 perienced by the life hidden with 
 Christ in God. See how the weary 
 caravan hastens to escape from the 
 piercing swords of an almost unbear- 
 able sunshine, to throw itself down to 
 rest beneath the blue shade of a great 
 rock, in whose recesses a small frond 
 of green here and there betrays the 
 presence of moisture and comparative 
 cool. So, O weary souls, fling your- 
 selves down at the feet of the Man 
 who is a High Priest touched with the 
 feeling of sorrow, acquainted with 
 grief, strong, tender, true, combining 
 in His glorious person every attribute 
 that can make life blessed, and learn 
 how He can be the shadow of a great 
 Rock. Breathe His name over and 
 over a thousand times a day. Tell 
 Him again and again that you choose 
 and prefer His will, even though as 
 yet you cannot say that you delight in 
 
Uhc TKTtater ot Xife. 161 
 
 it. Hand over the whole responsibil- 
 ity of the things that press you to Him, 
 and then by a loving faith claim His 
 rest. You may not experience any 
 rush of emotion, any tidal wave of 
 rapture, any remarkable alternation of 
 feeling; but there will steal into you 
 a sense of rest, of calm, of peace, as 
 when sleep steals over a tired frame, 
 and wraps it insensibly in its tender 
 embrace. 
 
 May the Holy Spirit unfold to each 
 soul that reads these lines that sense 
 of the all-sufficiency of Jesus, that 
 blessed satisfaction with Him, that 
 unbroken fellowship of communion, 
 which are the charm of heaven, and 
 which tinge earth's experiences with a 
 heavenly glory; as dull, leaden clouds 
 will gleam in the light of a setting 
 or rising sun! 
 
 "Oh, the little birds sang east, the little birds sang 
 
 west; 
 And I said, in under-breath, 'All our life is mixed 
 
 with death! 
 
x6 2 Wbat tbe /IDan can be. 
 
 And who knoweth which is best?' 
 
 Oh, the little birds sang east, the little birds sang west; 
 And I smiled to think God's greatness flows around 
 our incompleteness: 
 Round our restlessness His rest!" 
 
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