Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 

 THE 
 
 TITLES OF JEHOVAH: 
 
 A SEMES OF LECTUEES, 
 
 PREACHED IN PORTMAN CHAPEL, BAKER STREET, 
 DURING LENT 1858. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDBD, 
 
 SIX LECTUEES ON THE CHRISTIAN RACE, 
 
 PEKACHKD DUEINQ LENT I85T. 
 
 REV. J. W. REEVE, M.A, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE CHAPEL. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 M.DCCC.LXIV. 
 
TO 
 
 THE CONGREGATION OF PORTMAN CHAPEL, 
 
 jresc f dares, 
 
 PREACHED TO THEM, AND PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST, 
 
 ARE 
 AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 
 
 Bf 
 THEIR FAITHFUL FRIEND AND MINISTER, 
 
 J. W. REEVE. 
 
 12 UPPER HARI.EY STREET, 
 June 1858. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE TITLES OF JEHOVAH. 
 
 PACK 
 
 LECTURE I. JEHOVAH, I 
 
 II. JEHOVAH-JIREH, .... 25 
 
 III. JEHOYAH-TSIDKENU, ... 49 
 
 IV. JEHOVAH-SHALOM, . . . 73 
 
 V. JEHOVAH-NISSI, . . . . 103 
 
 VI. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, . . . 129 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MCE, 
 
 LECTURE I. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN RACE, 161 
 
 II. ITS ILLUSTRATION IN THE WITNESSES, 187 
 III. THE PREPARATION TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY, 213 
 IV. THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT 
 
 IS TO BE RUN, .... 239 
 
 V. THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER, . 265 
 
 VL THE PROSPECT BEFORE Hlil, . . 293 
 
THE TITLES OP JEHOYAH: 
 
 A SEEIES OF LECTURES, 
 
 PREACHED IN PORTMAN CHAPEL, LOXDON. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 KEV. J. W. REEVE, M.A., 
 
 MINISTER OF THE CHAPEL. 
 
EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AWD COSTPAHT, 
 PAUL'S WORK. 
 
JEHOYAH. 
 
 THE God of Abra'am praise, 
 
 Who reigns enthroned above ; 
 Ancient of everlasting days, 
 
 And God of love : 
 JEHOVAH! Great I AM! 
 
 By earth and heaven conf ess'd ; 
 I bow, and bless thy sacred name, 
 
 For ever blest. 
 
 The God of Abra'am praise, 
 
 At whose supreme command 
 From earth I rise, and seek the joys 
 
 At His right hand : 
 I all 011 earth forsake, 
 
 Its wisdom, fame, and power ; 
 And Him my only portion make, 
 
 My shield and tower. 
 
 He by Himself hath sworn ; 
 
 I on His oath depend ; 
 I shall, on eagle's wings upborne, 
 
 To heaven ascend. 
 I shall behold His face, 
 
 I shall His power adore, 
 And sing the wonders of His grace 
 
 For evermore. 
 
 A 
 
JEHOVAH. 
 
 There dwells the Lord our King, 
 
 The Lord our Righteousness, 
 Triumphant o'er the world and sin, 
 
 The Prince of Peace : 
 On Zion's sacred height, 
 
 His kingdom still maintains ; 
 And glorious, with His saints, in light 
 
 For ever reigns. 
 
 The whole triumphant host 
 
 Give thanks to God on high ; 
 Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ! 
 
 They ever cry ; 
 Hail, Abra'am's God and mine ! 
 
 (I join the heavenly lays,) 
 All might and majesty are Thine, 
 
 And endless praise. 
 
LECTUEE I. 
 
 GOD'S ETERNITY. 
 
 EXODUS vi. 3. 
 
 "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto 
 Jacob, by the name of God Almighty ; but by my name 
 Jehovah was I not known to them." 
 
 THE course which I propose (if the Lord will) 
 to bring before you this Lent, is one con- 
 nected with the titles attached to the name, 
 " Jehovah," in Scripture. I shall endeavour 
 to draw out the practical bearing of them ; 
 to shew the benefit there is to the child of 
 God in thus recognising His Father in these 
 various aspects. My desire for you is, that 
 your knowledge of Scripture should be valu- 
 able, in that it does something for you ; 
 
4 JEHOVAH. 
 
 that it alleviates your sorrows that it 
 heightens your joys. My desire for you is, 
 that you may always know where to look, 
 not only for a Saviour who can pardon, and 
 cleanse from sin, but also sympathise in your 
 troubles. So that you may feel there is One 
 who is willing to leave the high heaven in 
 which He dwells, and come down by His 
 Spirit into your circumstances ; and sit with 
 you, and talk with you, and cheer and com- 
 fort and direct you ; that thus you may 
 really walk in fellowship with Jesus, and thus 
 be ripened for v His kingdom. The benefit 
 and blessedness of this will be, that, when 
 you are called hence, you will have to change 
 only your place, not your company; but 
 will go to Him, whom you have loved and 
 served here, to serve Him day and night for 
 ever. 
 
 I shall take these titles simply as they 
 stand in our Bibles, with the interpretation 
 there given of them ; and may God, the Holy 
 Spirit, graciously help our infirmities, and 
 
GOD S ETERNITY. 5 
 
 enable us to realise what He himself has 
 said, " They that know thy name will put 
 their trust in thee." 
 
 I bring the text before you, that we may 
 have a general knowledge of what the term, 
 " Jehovah," means, and what it conveys to a 
 child of God ; and then I shall, in subsequent 
 lectures, endeavour to shew what He is, in 
 connexion with His various titles, to every 
 one that puts his trust in Him. 
 
 "The title, Jehovah," says Serle, "is the 
 grand, the peculiar, and the incommunicable 
 name of God. It neither is applied to any 
 created being throughout Scripture, nor can 
 be applied in reason ; for it imports the 
 necessary independent and eternal existence 
 of the Most High. This glorious name is 
 applied to each and to all the persons in the 
 sacred Trinity, throughout the Scriptures. 
 To the Father, as Creator to the Son, as 
 Eedeemer to the Holy Ghost, as the Divine 
 Agent. To the three persons together, as 
 Trinity in Unity." 
 
6 JEHOVAH. 
 
 The simple reading of the text would seem 
 as if this were the first revelation of God 
 under the title, Jehovah. He had made 
 Himself known to the patriarchs as God 
 Almighty, the All-sufficient, who possesses 
 all wisdom, power, and dominion, to con- 
 trive and execute the purposes of His love ; 
 but as Jehovah, the Self-existent, was He 
 not known. And yet we find Moses had 
 used this name in the preceding history. 
 The patriarchs had raised their altars, and 
 called on the name of Jehovah ; and we find 
 Abraham even calling the place where 
 he was about to sacrifice Isaac, " Jehovah- 
 jireh." 
 
 Under this difficulty, some commentators 
 propose to read the text, " But by my name, 
 Jehovah, was I not known to them," interro- 
 gatively, thus " And by my name, Jehovah, 
 was I not known to them?" meaning, By 
 this name was I not also known to them ? 
 Others think the text is sufficiently explained, 
 by supposing that, although the patriarchs 
 
GOD S ETERNITY. 7 
 
 knew the name, Jehovah, they did not 
 know it in this meaning ; namely, the self- 
 existent, eternal, unchangeable God. 
 
 The first discovery of the name, " I Am/' 
 which signifies the Divine Eternity, as well 
 as Immutability, was for the comfort of the 
 oppressed Israelites in Egypt (Ex. iii. 14, 15). 
 It was then published from the burning bush 
 as " strong consolation " to these afflicted 
 ones. And it has not yet lost its power, 
 nor ever shall, in any of the sorrows that ever 
 have befallen, or shall befall, the Church of 
 Christ. It shall be as a wall, on the right 
 hand and on the left, against the waves which 
 may buffet us as we pass through this trouble- 
 some world. It is a co'nsolation as durable 
 as the God whose name it is. He is still, 
 " I Am ; " and the same to the Church now 
 as then. Yea, it may be said, the spiritual 
 Israel have a greater right to it than the 
 mere carnal Israel. No oppression can be 
 greater than that which the true Israel suffers 
 from the enemy of souls : and the God who 
 
8 JEHOVAH. 
 
 sustained them can also comfort us ; for, you 
 observe (Ex. iii. 15), it was not a tempo- 
 rary name but " a name for ever, a memo- 
 rial unto all generations." 
 
 But when we come to think upon this 
 name, " I Am," that it means Him. who was, 
 and is, and is to come that it includes a 
 past, as well as future, eternity the mind is 
 lost. The meaning is extremely vague. It 
 is so vast and incomprehensible. The very 
 notion of eternity is difficult. As Austin 
 said of time, " If no man will ask me the 
 question what time is, I know well enough 
 what it is ; but if any man ask me what it 
 is, I know not how to explain it." So of 
 eternity. And, indeed, to a finite mind, it 
 is difficult to conceive of eternity. To think 
 that God always was, and always is, and 
 always will be, what He is ; that so far 
 from any change coming upon Him, not even 
 the shadow of it can fall upon Him. He is 
 the eternal " I Am." 
 
 He tells us what He is ; for we read, " God 
 
GOD S ETERNITY. 9 
 
 is a Spirit." He tells us also where He is ; 
 for we read, " Heaven is my throne." And 
 also, "Thus saith the high and lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy : 
 I dwell in the high and holy place, with him 
 also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." 
 But how He is, or why He is, we are not told ; 
 but simply that He is as He is, and wills to 
 be. 
 
 Yes ! " From everlasting to everlasting, 
 Thou art God." "The same," as says the 
 Psalmist " Thou art the same, and Thy 
 years shall have no end." 
 
 While man is constantly changing not the 
 same to-day that he w^as yesterday, or that 
 he will be to-morrow ; not the same at night 
 that he was in the morning ; something is 
 gone, something is added : God is the same 
 He was from everlasting, and as He will be 
 to everlasting. He receives nothing ; He loses 
 nothing. " His years fail not ; " that is, they 
 do not come and go as others do. But His day 
 is like Himself, " the same yesterday, and to- 
 
10 JEHOVAH. 
 
 day, and for ever." This is scarcely conceiv- 
 able by us living in time, where everything 
 is passing and fading where the day has 
 scarcely dawned before the shadows of even- 
 ing are closing upon us where each step 
 we take, the ground is, as it were, crumbling 
 beneath us, and gradually, but surely lower- 
 ing us, into our grave where what we love 
 and delight in to-day, is to-morrow numbered 
 with the things that are gone. That there 
 should be a state of things changeless, fixed, 
 immutable, eternal, is scarcely conceivable 
 by us. Eternity is to time what the ocean 
 is to a river. The ocean never changes its 
 place, but continues ever the same ; ever 
 receiving, ever absorbing, but still continuing 
 the same ; whereas rivers glide along, " never 
 continuing in one stay," and are at length 
 swallowed up in the ocean. So eternity is 
 constantly receiving and engulphing time 
 with all its solemnities ; but itself continues 
 ever the same. 
 
 But although the subject of God's eternity 
 
GOD'S ETERNITY. 11 
 
 is a deep, and mysterious, and incompre- 
 hensible one ; very much of the comfort of 
 the Christian hangs upon it as a blessed 
 truth. 
 
 For instance, 1. If God were not eternal, He 
 could not be immutable ; and then what be- 
 comes of the security of the Church ? For it 
 is on " the immutability of His counsel " that 
 the " strong consolation " of the believer 
 hinges. Take away God's immutability, and 
 we have no security. For whatever has a 
 beginning, undergoes a change in passing 
 from what it was not, to what it becomes ; 
 and if God had not been eternal, He had a 
 beginning; and thus was not immutable ; and 
 so, in passing from nothing to what He is, 
 there would have been the greatest change ; 
 and a change of being is even greater than a 
 change of purpose. But if God be eternal, 
 then change is impossible. " I am the Lord, 
 I change not" (Mai. iii. 6). Yes! God is a 
 sun, always shining in His full meridian 
 glory. There is no rising nor setting. His 
 
12 JEHOVAH. 
 
 eternity defends us from all risk of change. 
 He is as immutable as He, is eternal, and 
 His word as sure as His existence. 
 
 But this immutability, which is an attri- 
 bute of God, we must not regard as render- 
 ing Him indifferent to, or uninterested in, 
 the concerns or trials of His creatures. On 
 the contrary, it greatly increases His concern 
 in them. That which He is interested in to- 
 day, He was always interested in, as having 
 foreseen it, as an object of interest, from 
 eternity. This is a wonderful thought ; that 
 your trial, which has just burst forth from 
 the womb of events, which you are just be- 
 ginning to feel, which is just stirring the 
 surface of your soul, and beginning to exer- 
 cise it, has been all along foreknown of God ! 
 Its weight, its pressure, its effect, has been 
 accurately gauged. It has a specific object, 
 pre-determined and pre-arranged, by which 
 God means to do you good at your latter 
 end. But if God were not eternal, there 
 were then something before Him which might 
 
GOD'S ETERNITY. 13 
 
 thwart and overthrow His purposes of love 
 towards you! 
 
 We are deeply interested in the eternity of 
 God, were it only for the immutability of His 
 purposes of love to us. 
 
 2. But if God were not eternal, He could 
 not be infinitely perfect, and then what 
 becomes of the happiness of the Church f 
 To be finite and limited, in any particu- 
 lar, is a great imperfection. He could not 
 be a perfect being if He were not always so, 
 and would not for ever remain so. And if 
 He were not a perfect being, He could not be 
 infinitely happy ; for whatever perfections 
 He had would be saddened by the knowledge 
 that they would come to an end. But He is 
 " blessed from everlasting to everlasting." 
 Are we not interested in the eternity of God, 
 when we think of what is written, "The 
 glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given 
 them?" "Father, I will that they also, 
 whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me 
 where I am; that they may behold My 
 
14 JEHOVAH. 
 
 glory, which Thou hast given Me ; for Thou 
 lovedst Me before the foundation of the 
 world." Is Christ's glory our glory 1 ? Is 
 Christ's blessedness our blessedness"? Is it 
 no matter of interest to us that this blessed- 
 ness should be perfect and eternal? Most 
 truly are we deeply interested in knowing 
 that our God is the very and eternal " I Am." 
 Otherwise, the tears which He is one day to 
 wipe away might fall again, and our hearts 
 be burdened with irremediable sorrow. But 
 God's eternity secures us from all fear, and 
 our happiness will be perfect and eternal 
 because God's is so. 
 
 3. Again, if God were not eternal He 
 could not be Almighty, and then what be- 
 comes of the defence of the Church f The 
 title of Almighty belongs not to a nature 
 that had a beginning. Whatever had a be- 
 ginning was once nothing; and as such could 
 do nothing: for where there is no being 
 there is no power. Neither does the title 
 Almighty belong to one whose nature is 
 
GOD S ETEKNITY. 1 5 
 
 perishable. Such an one could not pre- 
 serve himself either from outward enemies 
 or inward decay. Hence we read (Isa. ii. 
 22), "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in 
 his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted 
 of?" as much as to say, no account is to be 
 made of man because his breath is in his 
 nostrils; and were it not alike applicable to 
 God, if He were perishable? Yes! He could 
 not properly be said to be Almighty if He 
 were not always Almighty eternally Al- 
 mighty. Hence we find God's eternity and 
 Almightiness joined by the Holy Ghost (Rev. 
 i. 8), "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
 and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, 
 and which was, and which is to come, the 
 Almighty/' 
 
 Say, then, when we think of the strength, 
 and malice, and subtlety of our enemies ; 
 and the pitiless way in which they would 
 crush us, but for the strength of the "stronger 
 than he" Are we not interested in the eter- 
 nity of God \ for thus only are we assured 
 
1 6 . JEHOVAH. 
 
 that He is Almighty, and thus only can we 
 be assured that no enemy shall ever pluck us 
 out of His hands. When I commit myself 
 to the care of one who is Almighty, I need 
 fear no evil. God's eternity assures me that 
 I have a friend "who loveth at all times," 
 and is older than my oldest enemy that, in 
 making me His own, He will make me in- 
 finitely happy, and keep me safe from all evil 
 for ever and ever. 
 
 Now, the same title which God uses of 
 Himself in my text, is claimed by Christ 
 (John viii. 58), " Before Abraham was, I Am." 
 It is said of Him also, He is " the same yes- 
 terday, to-day, and for ever" (Heb. xiii. 8). 
 He is thus immutable. If eternity be the 
 property of God, then Christ is God ; for this 
 property is ascribed to Him. " He is before 
 all things" that is, all created things. "For 
 by Him were all things created that are in 
 heaven, and that are in earth, visible and in- 
 visible, whether they be thrones, or domi- 
 nions, or principalities, or powers ; all things 
 
GOD'S ETEENITY. 17 
 
 were created by him and for him" (Col. i. 
 16). Again, Christ speaks of a glory which 
 He had with the Father before the founda- 
 tion of the world ; that is, when there was no 
 creature in being. Again (Isa. ix. 6), He is 
 called " The mighty God " " The everlasting 
 Father." Not the Father in the holy, blessed, 
 and glorious Trinity, but the Father of many 
 nations, the everlasting Father of His seed. 
 
 But I need not dwell on this point ; for 
 just as the eternity of God is the ground of 
 all religion, so the eternity of Christ is the 
 ground of the Christian religion. Our sins 
 could not have been perfectly expiated by 
 one who had not an eternal divinity, to 
 answer for the offences committed against 
 an eternal God. The sufferings of one not 
 divine could be of little value against the 
 wrath of an eternal God; and so w r e read, 
 "The Church of God was purchased with 
 His own blood" (Acts xx. 28). 
 
 My reason for thus speaking on the eter- 
 nity of God is, that you may better under- 
 
 B 
 
18 JEHOVAH. 
 
 stand the blessings God has in store for you, 
 to be enjoyed through all eternity. My 
 desire is, that you may know that your God 
 is a God who loves with an "everlasting love," 
 and sustains with "everlasting arms;" that 
 your refuge is an eternal God ; and that His 
 care for you hath flourished from eternity. 
 I desire that, when you hear of Him as 
 " Jehovah-jireh," you may feel you have One 
 who not only has made an eternal provision 
 for you, but a provision for your eternity: 
 That, when you hear of Him as " Jehovah- 
 tsidkenu," you may understand you have in 
 Him a righteousness which can endure the 
 scrutiny of God ; that it is everlasting 
 righteousness ; and that it is in this you shall 
 be accepted, and so stand faultless before the 
 throne of God, through all eternity: That, 
 when you hear of Him as " Jehovah- shalom," 
 you may be assured of receiving from Him 
 His own peace " The peace of God which 
 passeth all understanding," and which, like 
 His own, shall endure through all eternity : 
 
GOD'S ETERNITY. 19 
 
 That, when you here of him as "Jehovah- 
 nissi," you may regard Him not merely as 
 One who has won an everlasting victory for 
 you over your most deadly foes, but as One 
 under whose banner and captainship you 
 too shall fight, and conquer, and win a 
 victory for eternity : That, when you here 
 of Him as " Jehovah-shammah," you may 
 understand that you are to dwell in the city 
 in which God is the everlasting light ; and 
 whence you shall no more go out for aU 
 eternity. Here is our comfort (rod is eter- 
 nal. What He has to give is eternal. Oh ! 
 remember God's spiritual blessings are, like 
 Himself, eternal not temporary, or fading, 
 or fleeting, but such as endure. This is the 
 real value of the Gospel, that it is an " ever- 
 lasting Gospel." Were its blessings but for 
 a time, however long, men might be excused 
 for neglecting it, as of itself it would one 
 day terminate ; but since it is for ever! for 
 ever!! for ever!!! what follv and madness to 
 
 4/ */ 
 
 despise it ! For surely, the eternity of God 
 
20 JEHOVAH. 
 
 should be as great a terror to them that 
 despise Him, as it is a comfort to those that 
 love Him. And to the wicked, on whom the 
 weight of His arm will fall, His eternity 
 should be a greater terror even than His 
 power. For while His power can make His 
 punishment sharp, His eternity can make it 
 perpetual; and, as one says, "Ever to en- 
 dure, is the sting at the end of every lash." 
 
 There is another thought, in connexion 
 with God's eternity, which should make us 
 tremble, and that is, that sins committed 
 long ago though past with us. and but dimly 
 remembered, if not altogether forgotten are, 
 in respect of God's eternity, still present before 
 Him. All things are before God at once, 
 and our earliest sins stand side by side be- 
 fore Him, with those committed this moment. 
 "A thousand years in Thy sight are but as 
 yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in 
 the night." Ought not this to keep our 
 penitence alive and fresh before Him ? and 
 make us ever live, as it were, upon the brink 
 
GOD'S ETERNITY. 21 
 
 of that " Fountain opened for sin and un- 
 cleanness V And if we have never repented 
 of our sins, and have never been forgiven 
 and if we once did shudder at them, though 
 time has worn away the anguish they once 
 caused remember no length of time can 
 wash away their guilt; they stand before 
 the Lord in all their heinousness it is 
 Christ's blood alone that can remove their 
 stain. Flee, then, to this blood at once ; and 
 then, instead of bearing the weight of God's 
 wrath to all eternity, He will bless you 
 with " an eternal weight of glory." 
 
 Let me conclude with a word of comfort 
 from the subject. If God be thus eternal, 
 what consolation for those who are in cove- 
 nant with Him, who have made a covenant 
 with Him by sacrifice, even by the sacrifice 
 of Christ ! It is " an everlasting covenant, 
 ordered in all things and sure." And the 
 oath by which God has confirmed it is His 
 own life for, " because He could swear by 
 no greater, He sware by Himself" (Heb. 
 
22 JEHOVAH. 
 
 vi. 13); and it shall never be disannulled, 
 for it is the fruit of immutable counsel. 
 Besides, the covenant stands fast with Christ, 
 in whom all His people are included. " This 
 is the promise which He has promised us, 
 even eternal life." And this promise, like 
 all others, is " Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus." 
 And the promise is as old as Himself ; it was 
 " promised before the world began," before we 
 needed it. It has anticipated all our wants. 
 Oh ! think of the nature of the promise - 
 not a fading one, but eternal ; so that we 
 can say of it, as of nothing else, " To-morrow 
 shall be as this day, and much more abun- 
 dant." Let a man take hold of this promise, 
 and then he can say, " Soul, take thine ease ; 
 thou hast much goods laid up for many 
 years." Oh! our happiness cannot perish 
 so long as God lives. And how long shall 
 that be 1 Is He the First? Has He ever 
 been alive \ He is also the Last ! He shall 
 ever be alive ! Your joy shall know no 
 change. It shall be perpetual, yet without 
 
GOD'S ETERNITY. 23 
 
 satiety. It shall be secure, and free from all 
 apprehension. We shall not then, as now, 
 regret the joys that are gone ; nor linger 
 over the present, because it will soon fade ; 
 nor long for the future with impatience. Oh ! 
 it will, indeed, be joyful, joyful ! A heart 
 running over with love the tears all wiped 
 away all sorrow done with. When the 
 glory of the Lord shall rise upon us, it will 
 never set again. It will be one long, bright, 
 and inextinguishable day. There will be 
 constantly fresh delights ; but all emanating 
 from, as well as centering in, our God. 
 There will be a perpetual spring of blessing, 
 of which no winter shall ever rob us ; for as 
 God has infinite power to impart joy, so has 
 He an eternity in which to perpetuate 
 it. Come then, dear brethren, in our deep- 
 est sorrows, let us lift up our heads. " The 
 eternal God is our refuge, and underneath 
 are the everlasting arms." The great "I Am" 
 is on our side. We are weak, but He is 
 strong ; our enemies are mighty, but our 
 
24 JEHOVAH. 
 
 God, that dwelleth on high, is mightier ; and 
 remember, "this God is our God for ever 
 and ever : He will be our guide unto death." 
 Therefore, let us " trust and not be afraid : 
 for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and 
 our song ; He also is become our salvation." 
 " Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the 
 Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." 
 
JEHOYAH-HREH, 
 
 My life's a shade ! My days 
 
 Apace to death decline ; 
 My Lord, He 's life ; He '11 raise 
 This flesh again, e'en mine. 
 Sweet truth to me, 
 I shall arise, 
 And with these eyes 
 My Saviour see. 
 
 I Ve said sometimes with tears, 
 "Ah me! I'm loth to die;" 
 
 Lord ! silence Thou these fears, 
 My life 's with Thee on high. 
 Sweet truth, &c. 
 
 My Lord, His angels shall 
 Their golden trumpets sound, 
 
 At whose most welcome call 
 My grave shall be unbound. 
 Sweet truth, &c. 
 
 Then -welcome, harmless grave, 
 By thee to heaven I '11 go ; 
 
 My Lord, His death shall save 
 Me from the flames below. 
 Sweet truth, &c. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 GOD'S PROVISION. 
 
 GENESIS xxii. 14. 
 
 "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah- 
 jireh : as it is said to this day, In the Mount of 
 the Lord it shall be seen." 
 
 OUR subject this morning is Jehovah-jireh, 
 the meaning of which, as the margin teaches, 
 is, "the Lord will see, or provide;" and 
 before we proceed to illustrate it, in God's 
 dealings with His Church, it would be well 
 to review the circumstances under which 
 the place was so named. This will lead us 
 to look at Abraham's trial as given in this 
 chapter. I need not read it; it is familiar, 
 in terms at least, to you. I would particu- 
 
28 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 
 
 larly direct your attention to the principle 
 by which Abraham was actuated in this 
 transaction a principle without which "it 
 is impossible to please God" without which 
 Abraham's conduct is scarcely better than 
 murder ; but, accompanied by which, it ob- 
 tained for him the honourable appellation of 
 "the Father of the Faithful." We are not 
 left in doubt as to what this principle was ; 
 for we read, "By faith Abraham, when he 
 was tried, offered up Isaac." 
 
 As we proceed, you will observe how this 
 blessed principle pervades the whole of this 
 marvellous transaction, and gives to it a 
 meaning of the very highest moment. It 
 was no common trial a father called to 
 sacrifice a son. It was one we cannot at all 
 realise we can none of us understand it. 
 The anguish of that three days' journey 
 the thoughts that passed through the heart 
 of the patriarch the surging fears that at 
 times overwhelmed his mind, and the calm 
 trust in God which again hushed the angry 
 
GOD'S FEO VISION. 29 
 
 waves. I say it was no common trial : not 
 only as it respected the parental feelings of 
 the old man, but as it respected the hopes 
 which were bound up in Isaac. 
 
 It was not merely offering up his son; for 
 heathen men have been able to do this 
 " have given their first-born for their trans- 
 gression, the fruit of their body for the sin 
 of their soul." It was not merely doing as 
 he was told to do, for many have done this 
 in a spirit of sullen obedience, because they 
 were afraid to disobey; but it was offering 
 up him " of whom it was said, that in Isaac 
 shall thy seed be called, and he that had 
 received the promise offered up his only- 
 begotten son" (Heb. xi. 17, 18). This was 
 the strength of the trial, that the only-be- 
 gotten son, in whom his seed was to be 
 called, on whom the promises depended, 
 should be sacrificed. But this was the point 
 in which faith triumphed where it shewed 
 its superiority to sight, to reason, to human 
 probability. It was to Abraham "the evi- 
 
30 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 
 
 dence of things not seen," in spite of what 
 he' did see. What Abraham, as a natural 
 man, saw, was the death of his only-begotten 
 son, and the consequent extinction of every 
 hope connected with the promised seed. 
 What Abraham, as a believer, saw, was the 
 fulfilment of God's promise in spite of all 
 that seemed to be against it. He saw, not 
 Isaac dead, but an ever-living God faithful 
 to His word. 
 
 Had he listened to human counsels, what 
 strong things might have been said to hinder 
 his obedience what plausible objections 
 might have been made ! What might not 
 the flesh have urged ? " You are about to 
 cast away, by this act, every hope God has 
 taught you to cherish. You are cutting 
 from under your feet the very ground on 
 which you stand." But it mattered not to 
 Abraham. Like Paul, "he conferred not 
 with flesh and blood." God was the same 
 He ever had been, and Abraham's faith did 
 not waver. God had never ordered him to 
 
GOD'S PROVISION. 31 
 
 do anything but what was right and good. 
 He had proved Him often, and he felt that 
 the Almighty God who had been his "shield" 
 hitherto, would, in this dark dispensation, if 
 he were faithful, be his "exceeding great 
 reward." We read of no hesitation, no ex- 
 pression of regret, no delay, but instant pre- 
 paration for instant obedience ; and, " early 
 in the morning," Abraham departed on his 
 trying journey. Although the dispensation 
 was unspeakably painful and dark, yet the 
 shadow of it seems in no way to have rested 
 either on his heart or his faith. It might 
 seem to human thought, that what God com- 
 manded him to do was inconsistent with 
 what God had promised yea, more, that if 
 carried out, it would render the promise 
 impossible ; but he left it all. He did not 
 reason, but he trusted "against hope he 
 believed in hope." He rested simply on 
 God's promise. This was the thing ! God 
 promised, Abraham believed God com- 
 manded, Abraham obeyed. Now certainly, 
 
32 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 
 
 the faith which could stand such a test, is 
 no mere exercise of human resolution. It is 
 the fruit of the Spirit, the gift of God ; and 
 it is the noblest instance on record of un- 
 shaken trust in God's word of promise when 
 appearances seemed to be so much against it. 
 
 But now that we have seen how strong 
 Abraham's faith was, what mountains it re- 
 moved, there is another thing that occurs, 
 and that is what did Abraham believe? 
 What was the particular point on which his 
 mind was fixed, which imparted such daunt- 
 less courage to his faith "? 
 
 Paul gives us the clue (Heb. xi. 19) 
 Abraham accounted "that God was able to 
 raise him up, even from the dead ; from 
 whence also he received him in a figure." 
 
 Again (Eom. iv. 17), it is probably said 
 with reference to this same trial, that He 
 whom Abraham believed, was "God that 
 quickeneth the dead." 
 
 But it may be asked, What kind of a re- 
 surrection was this for which Abraham 
 
GOD'S PROVISION. 33 
 
 looked 1 Was it a return to tins present life 
 only \ Was it like that of the raising of 
 Lazarus ? or like that which filled the mind 
 of Martha, when, in reply to our Lord's as- 
 surance, " Thy brother shall rise again," she 
 said, " I know that he shall rise again in the 
 resurrection aU the last day 1 " (John xi. 24.) 
 I need not say that such a resurrection was 
 the especial hope of the people of Israel. Paul 
 pleads it before Agrippa, and calls it " the 
 hope of the promise made of God unto our 
 fathers." And that this was Abraham's hope, 
 is confirmed by Heb. xi. 9, 10, 13, 16, where 
 it is said, that "Abraham sojourned in the 
 land of promise, as in a strange country." 
 Why ? " For he looked for a city which hath 
 foundations, whose builder and maker is 
 God." So of the patriarchs " These all died 
 in faith, not having received the promises, 
 but having seen them afar off ; and were per- 
 suaded of them, and embraced them, and con- 
 fessed that they were strangers and pilgrims 
 on the earth. For they that say such things, 
 c 
 
34 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 
 
 declare plainly that they seek a country." 
 And after pointing out, that it was not the 
 country from whence they came that they 
 desired, Paul adds, but " a better country, 
 that is, an heavenly." Do not these scrip- 
 tures teach us, that what Abraham relied 
 on, was not merely the power of God to raise 
 the dead but more especially, God's power to 
 fulfil His promise in reference to the resur- 
 rection to the inheritance of the life to come 1 ? 
 Undoubtedly. They teach us that the pa- 
 triarchs' hopes were not bounded by the 
 earthly Canaan, but that they looked for a 
 land which is the very "glory of all lands;" 
 where " the King shall be seen in His 
 beauty." 
 
 It is interesting, no less than assuring, to 
 see, that as there is but " one Lord and one 
 Spirit," so is there but " one faith " in all the 
 Church of God ; and that although the thing 
 promised, may stand out with more clearness 
 under one dispensation than another, yet the 
 thing realised is ever the same, viz., the re- 
 
GOD'S PEG VISION. 35 
 
 turn of the soul to the presence of God, and 
 seeing Him face to face for ever. 
 
 But there is another passage of the New 
 Testament which throws light on this point. 
 " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my 
 day ; and he saw it, and was glad." What 
 day was this \ No doubt, the day of Christ's 
 sojourn on earth. That which He means, 
 when He says, " I must work the works of 
 Him that sent me, while it is day;" when He 
 glorified His Father, and " finished the work 
 which He had given Him to do." The whole 
 period of Christ's humiliation, and especially 
 that which crowned it all His resurrection 
 is this day. This seems a privilege, granted 
 peculiarly to Abraham. The patriarchs, as 
 we have seen, walked as strangers and pil- 
 grims, and declared plainly they sought a 
 better country, that is, an heavenly. They 
 lived by faith in a Saviour, but Abraham saw 
 more clearly he saw Christ's day. And 
 where did he see this most clearly \ Where, 
 but on the mount in offering up his son? 
 
36 JEHOVAH-JTREH. 
 
 There he saw in vivid reality the typical de- 
 tails of the atonement of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the general result of which alone was 
 then communicated to others. 
 
 And if, as many think, Mount Moriah is 
 the very spot, subsequently called the Hill of 
 Calvary, it is the more striking. The laying 
 his son upon the altar, and stretching forth 
 his hand to slay him, represented not merely 
 the sacrifice of the only- begotten and well- 
 beloved Son of God; but he was thus able 
 more deeply to feel how great that love which 
 " spared not His own Son, but delivered Him 
 up for us all." He himself represents the 
 Father in the very act of causing the sword 
 of Divine justice to fall upon the Son of 
 His love. Again, the ram, provided in 
 Isaac's place, puts before us the grand prin- 
 ciple of the gospel substitution. A ransom 
 is found for those who otherwise must have 
 died. And in the reception of Isaac again, 
 as it were, from the dead (not, however, with- 
 out sacrifice), we see the resurrection of the 
 
GOD'S PROVISION. 37 
 
 Son of God, and His return to the bosom of 
 the Father. 
 
 What, then, was vouchsafed to Abraham, 
 in the midst of this very heavy trial, was a 
 more glad insight into the resurrection state 
 and the eternal world. He saw that God's 
 promises reach beyond this life, and have 
 their chief fulfilment in the life to come. He 
 saw that the birthright of which Isaac was 
 the heir, belongs not in its completeness to 
 this world, but to the world to come ; when 
 patience shall have had her perfect work, and 
 faith shall fully inherit the promise. 
 
 And is it not so with us now? Are we ever 
 called to give up an Isaac, without having 
 something better promised in its stead? And 
 do we ever yield, in meek submissiveness to 
 the will of God, without seeing, in the cha- 
 racter and faithfulness of God, the assurance 
 of something better, when God's purpose is 
 complete 1 ? What it is, may not be revealed 
 so clearly as it was to Abraham; nor may 
 we ever receive our Isaac back again in 
 
38 JEHOVAH- JIEEH. 
 
 this lifetime ; that ray of sunshine may be 
 dimmed for ever ; but we know who has 
 said, " There is no man that hath left house, 
 or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or 
 wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and 
 the gospel's; but he shall receive an hun- 
 dredfold now in this time, houses, and bre- 
 thren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, 
 and lands, with persecutions; and in the 
 world to come eternal life." 
 
 Thus we see Abraham's faith was upborne 
 on the great truths of the atonement and the 
 resurrection the same that support your 
 faith and mine, when we are called to trial; 
 and these spring particularly from " the day 
 of Christ!' We may be called nay, many 
 of us have been called to give up those we 
 tenderly love; around whom shone many a 
 bright hope for years to come. But the hope 
 withered. The flower faded. It was a bitter 
 parting. It was hard to say, " God's will be 
 done." But what sustains the soul at such 
 an hour? Why, the blood that cleanses, and 
 
GOD'S PROVISION. 39 
 
 the resurrection that shall restore. Yes ! let 
 the once bright beaming face be mingled 
 with the dust we may say, " Whom I love 
 is not there ; the Lord has provided better." 
 And by the way in which our spirit rises, as 
 it were, after that which is gone by the 
 way in which our forlorn heart quits for a 
 time this earth, and dwells on things above, 
 Christ calls us to that heaven where He now 
 dwells, and where He has provided places of 
 rest for us. Well might Abraham call the 
 place "Jehovah-jireh;" what he had learned 
 there was abundantly enough to enable him 
 to cast all his care upon God. " The Lord 
 will provide/' The Lord did provide as 
 Abraham little expected, and as you and I 
 can but faintly hope. 
 
 But the great lesson is this, that we must 
 not view our trials, or judge of them in the 
 dim light of the present night-scene, but in 
 the brightness of eternity, the inextinguish- 
 able day. " What I do, thou knowest not 
 now," is written upon all God's dispensations ; 
 
40 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 
 
 but faith assures us, no less certainly, "we 
 shall know hereafter." What we are to learn 
 is not confined to this dying scene. Trials 
 are intended to teach for heaven. It is thus 
 they "work together for good;" yea, a "far 
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 
 while we look not at the things which are 
 seen, but at the things which are not seen." 
 We do not estimate God's provision aright, 
 unless we include eternity. The extreme 
 poverty we see on the one hand, and the un- 
 bounded wealth on the other the wasting 
 sickness, and the radiant health the inces- 
 sant trial, and the unclouded prosperity 
 the excessive labour, and the unwholesome 
 indolence all perplex us if we do not include 
 eternity. But when we are enabled to realise 
 this great thought, then these tiny inequali- 
 ties of earth vanish from our view; and we 
 may cradle ourselves in the blessed truth, that 
 the Eternal God, who is our refuge, has eter- 
 nally provided the path, and the portion 
 the ways, and the means by and through 
 
GOD S PROVISION. 41 
 
 which His children shall come to a " city of 
 habitation." 
 
 I need not attempt to specify the particu- 
 lars in which God has provided. He has 
 done so blessedly and abundantly. We see 
 it in our " creation, preservation, and all the 
 blessings of this life;" but, above all, "in 
 His inestimable love, in the redemption of 
 the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 
 means of grace, and in the hope of glory." 
 What have we really wanted, as we have 
 come along life's path thus far, which God 
 has not graciously provided and put before 
 us ? Who of you can charge Him with a 
 single omission'? 
 
 Look through the universe, and see how 
 He provides for all ! From the least to the 
 greatest of His creatures, "He filleth all 
 things living with plenteousness." You have, 
 no doubt, desired many things which He has 
 withheld; but this was because you did not 
 really want them because to have had them 
 would have done you harm and so the Lord 
 
42 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 
 
 provided better than your desires. For, you 
 know, we read of some to whom " He gave 
 their heart's desires, but sent leanness into 
 their souls." 
 
 But, especially, if Mount Moriah be the 
 Hill of Calvary, how strikingly do we see the 
 text fulfilled "In the mount of the Lord 
 it shall be seen" how God is "Jehovah- 
 jireh!" 
 
 Dear brethren, many may be our wants ; 
 but they all dwindle into nothing by the side 
 of the wants of the soul. Think of the pro- 
 vision made on Calvary. Man has no wants 
 so deep and dreadful as those connected with 
 sin ; and man has no provision comparable 
 to the blood of Christ. This was, like Him- 
 self, an eternal provision. " The Lamb was 
 slain before the foundation of the world." 
 It is also eternal in its results. It has 
 purchased an everlasting remission of sin 
 an eternal inheritance everlasting blessed- 
 ness an "eternal weight of glory." It 
 is a provision rich and precious enough to 
 
GOD'S PROVISION. 43 
 
 obliterate for ever God's view of the evil 
 of sin, as respects all His children. It 
 was ample enough to meet all man's need. 
 The fragrance of that blood can not only 
 neutralise the vileness of man's sins, but 
 render the sinner acceptable before God; for, 
 washed in that blood, he is white as snow. 
 Dwell on the extent of this provision. " The 
 blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
 As we are graciously taught to pray for the 
 forgiveness of our trespasses not some, but 
 all of them so it shews there is no limit to 
 the cleansing power of Christ's blood. All 
 transgressions, however deep or heinous, are 
 to it but as a drop of water to the ocean 
 never seen again when once brought into 
 contact with that mass of waters. It is 
 called " a plenteous redemption," since it re- 
 deems " Israel from all his iniquities." 
 
 Let, then, no one be dejected who is really 
 giving himself to Christ. If one such be 
 here think, the blood that has cleansed so 
 many from all sin, from such sins, and such 
 
44 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 
 
 multitudes of them, can surely cleanse you 
 from all yours, were they as numerous as all 
 those that have been cleansed since the 
 foundation of the world. What is to hin- 
 der its doing in your person what it has 
 done in so many others ? It is quite true, 
 when we think of our sins, our pride, lust, 
 vanity, falsehood, &c., and all our abomina- 
 tions, we may well be cast down; but when 
 we look to the cross of Christ when we 
 think of " Jehovah-jireh," and remember that 
 in the mount of the Lord this is particularly 
 seen then we may take heart again. And 
 as we have seen the blessed sun disperse and 
 roll away the mists of the valley, and disclose 
 a scene of quietness, beauty, and peace, so 
 will the clouds and darkness, which at times 
 overspread our souls, be broken and dispersed, 
 when we remember what our Jehovah has 
 said, "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy 
 transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins/' and 
 ''I will not remember thy sins." And con- 
 sider, dear brethren, with respect to 1 John 
 
GOD'S PROVISION. 45 
 
 i. 7, there is comfort not only in the words, 
 but in the very grammar of the sentence 
 there is blessing. Observe, the present tense 
 "cleanseth from all sin;" not, hath cleansed 
 only, or will cleanse, but does it now cleans- 
 eth to-day, as it did yesterday ; and to-mor- 
 row, as it does to-day. Christ's blood is called 
 (Heb. x. 20) "a new and living way." The 
 word rendered "new," signifies newly slain 
 or sacrificed, to shew its unchanging and 
 incorruptible value. It is called "living," 
 too, to shew its fresh and efficacious vigour, 
 as if shed but this moment. 
 
 I have dwelt on the provision of this blood, 
 because it is the pledge of all we need besides 
 (Eom. viii. 32). Having this, who needs any- 
 thing else by comparison 1 ? Having this, in 
 its full savour and power on the soul, who 
 longs for anything else \ who will not say, 
 God has provided abundantly ? Having this 
 blood as our own, who will not say with 
 Paul, "I have all things, and abound 1 ?" 
 Yes! it satisfies the soul. And it is just 
 
46 JEHOVAH-JTREH. 
 
 in proportion as we are ignorant of this pro- 
 vision that we hanker after and covet other 
 things. It is just as we are far from this 
 blood that we are far from peace, and so 
 ever longing for something which we think 
 we need. " Jesus and the resurrection " are 
 God's grand provision : having made sure of 
 these by faith, we may be at peace. We 
 can afford then to let go the world, and the 
 things of it its fashions, its follies, its 
 bitterness, and its heart-burnings its fading 
 honours, and its small ambitions; for we 
 have then the prospect of sitting with saints 
 to "judge angels and the world," and to 
 share the glory of our risen Lord. 
 
 Have you thus secured by faith, "Jesus 
 and the resurrection 1 ?" Then you may say 
 with respect to all else, " Jehovah-jireh"- 
 "All things are yours." 
 
 Jesus made this provision for you at an 
 inexpressible amount of suffering. Are you 
 content to enjoy this provision in the path 
 of suffering ? It is needful to " suffer with 
 
GOD'S PKOVISION. 47 
 
 Him, that you may also be glorified to- 
 gether." 
 
 He calls on you to live upon the hope of 
 being with Him hereafter. Are you content 
 to have all your hope there and there alone ? 
 Can you bear to wait f to have your portion 
 postponed, your expectation deferred, till the 
 hour when eternity shall burst upon you? 
 Can you resign all to Him without a mur- 
 mur your own peculiar Isaac \ Can you 
 take up your cross daily yea, a fresh cross 
 daily, "if needs be 1 ?" Can you do this 
 meekly as becomes the gospel, conscious 
 that you need discipline, and happy that 
 God calls you to trial rather than not deal 
 with you at all 1 ? Can you do this, welcom- 
 ing all as from a loving Father's hand, who 
 has a favour unto you; not receiving trial 
 in a kind of dogged spirit of mere endur- 
 ance, indifferent alike to the cause and its 
 results but, like Abraham, in a firm re- 
 liance on a faithful, eternal, immutable, 
 loving God? Can you? Then may God 
 
48 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 
 
 speed you on your way! May His sunshine 
 be in your hearts, His freedom on your 
 wing. Your comfort may be "Jehovah- 
 jireh;" but never, never forget it is in the 
 mount of the Lord that this is seen. 
 
JEHOYAH-TSIDONU. 
 
 JESUS, Thy blood and righteousness 
 My beauty are, my glorious dress ; 
 'Midst flaming worlds, in these array'd, 
 With joy shall I lift up my head. 
 
 When from the dust of death I rise, 
 To claim my mansion in the skies ; 
 E'en then shall this be all my plea, 
 " Jesus hath lived and died for me." 
 
 Bold shall I stand in that great day, 
 For who aught to my charge shall lay? 
 Fully, through Thee, absolved I am, 
 From sin and fear, from guilt and shame. 
 
 Thus Abraham the friend of God, 
 Thus all the armies bought with blood, 
 Saviour of sinners, Thee proclaim, 
 Sinners, of whom the chief I am. 
 
 This spotless robe the same appears, 
 When ruin'd nature sinks in years ; 
 No age can change its glorious hue, 
 The robe of Christ is ever new. 
 
 Oh, let the dead now hear Thy voice, 
 Now bid Thy banish'd ones rejoice : 
 Their beauty this, their glorious dress, 
 Jesus, the Lord our Righteousness. 
 
 D 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 JEREMIAH xxiii. 6. 
 
 " And this is his name whereby he shall be called, The 
 Lord our righteousness." 
 
 OUR last lecture was on " Jehovah-jireh," 
 and the rich provision He has made in the 
 death and resurrection of Christ how by 
 His death He made a perfect atonement for 
 sin, and proved the acceptance of His work 
 by His resurrection from the dead. 
 
 We have now to consider Him as " Jeho- 
 vah-tsidkenu," The Lord our righteousness; 
 and we may regard this as no less a part of 
 the eternal and gracious provision made for 
 sinners in redemption. For if, in redeeming 
 
52 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENTL 
 
 lost sinners, it was necessary that a, perfect 
 atonement should be made for the transgres- 
 
 o 
 
 sions of God's holy law, it was also not less 
 necessary that that law should be perfectly 
 kept, for it is only "the man that doeth 
 these things that shall live by them." And 
 although we read (Acts xx. 28) that the 
 Church of God was "purchased with His 
 own blood," yet it was by an obedience unto 
 death. The terms of the agreement were, 
 " I come to do Thy will ; yea, Thy law is 
 within My heart." And amongst other pro- 
 phetic declarations of our Lord it is said, 
 He should " bring in everlasting righteous- 
 ness" (Dan. ix. 24). And you will remember 
 that, in Isaiah xlii. 21, the Lord is repre- 
 sented as being "well-pleased for His right- 
 eousness' sake." Why \ Because " He will 
 magnify the law, and make it honourable," 
 by His perfect obedience to it. This is a 
 subject that demands our closest attention, 
 for the docrine of the righteousness of God, 
 accounted to us by faith, is questioned by 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 53 
 
 many, and indistinctly held by many who 
 do not question it. 
 
 It is not difficult to conceive that a right- 
 eousness, which could be accepted by a holy 
 God, must be perfect, having no defect; and 
 that no one could come into His presence 
 who was not thus furnished, because we 
 read, " God is of purer eyes than to behold 
 iniquity/' Then the question arises, How 
 can man stained with sin as he is, the ima- 
 ginations of the thoughts of whose heart 
 are only evil continually appear before God 1 
 In himself he is hopelessly lost ; for, being a 
 sinner, he can never of himself rise above his 
 nature, but must remain what he is. In 
 this misery, comes in "the glorious gospel of 
 the blessed God" with the doctrine of the 
 text, confirmed as it is by various other 
 parts of Scripture. We shall see Jehovah- 
 Jesus has not only atoned for sin, but has 
 "brought in" a righteousness which, ac- 
 counted to us by faith, covers all our sins; 
 and arrayed in which, we may stand " fault- 
 
54 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 less before the throne of God with exceeding 
 
 joy." 
 
 I propose, therefore, to consider 
 
 I. WHOSE RIGHTEOUSNESS THIS IS. 
 
 II. WHAT is SAID OF IT. 
 
 III. HOW IT BECOMES OUKS. 
 
 I. WHOSE RIGHTEOUSNESS THIS IS. 
 
 In its primary meaning, I cannot doubt 
 this text has an especial reference to the 
 Jews, and their return to their own land; 
 but whatever may be their particular privi- 
 leges as connected with that event, all be- 
 lievers are now "partakers of the common- 
 wealth of Israel" (Eph. ii. 12), and are, from 
 the testimony of Paul, at liberty to lay hold 
 of such a text as this. It is ours, then, as 
 well as theirs ; and although, when they 
 shall receive it and make it their own by 
 faith, it will be like "life from the dead" to 
 all who are on earth, yet let us make it ours 
 now anticipate, as it were, the blessing, and 
 rise triumphant into that blessedness which 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 55 
 
 God gives to all who believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In my first lecture I shewed you that 
 Jesus Christ is God that He is Jehovah - 
 Jesus. It is He who is spoken of in the 
 text. Now, the righteousness which you 
 and I require, in order to be accepted of 
 God, must be the righteousness of God. It 
 is always so spoken of by Paul; and, indeed, 
 it must necessarily be the righteousness of 
 God, or it could not be accounted to us. 
 For no mere creature has any righteousness 
 which could be accounted to another, much 
 less any to impart. When God made man 
 upright, He did not give to Adam more 
 righteousness then he needed wherewith to 
 glorify God. You and I have no righteous- 
 ness at aD, in consequence of the Fall; there- 
 fore, if we do not obtain righteousness from 
 God, we cannot have it at all. What man 
 requires for his justification before God, is a 
 righteousness equal to the demands of God's 
 holy law. That law is revealed, to shew us 
 
56 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 the extent of the obedience God requires; 
 and the more we study it, and compare our 
 obedience with it, the more we must see our 
 miserable shortcomings and consequent ex- 
 posure to condemnation. We must, therefore, 
 obtain a righteousness, or we can have no 
 title to heaven. 
 
 For when a sinner has been forgiven all 
 his sins by the blood of Christ, and the door 
 of heaven has been set open by the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, there comes a consideration 
 What right and title has the pardoned sinner 
 to the kingdom of heaven ? To have our 
 debts paid, and to be let out of gaol, is one 
 thing ; to have a fine estate given to us is 
 another. To be forgiven all our sin, ,nd so 
 delivered from the condemnation of the law, 
 is one thing; to be justified, and so to have 
 our persons accepted before God, and thus to 
 have a right to enter into glory, is another. 
 Not that pardon and justification are ever 
 separated in the economy of God's salvation 
 not that a pardoned man is ever shut out 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 57 
 
 of heaven; but the ideas of forgiveness of 
 our sins, and the acceptance of our persons, 
 are distinct. The ideas of deliverance from 
 condemnation, and a title to heaven, are dis- 
 tinct; and as God has seen fit to make pro- 
 vision for them both, it becomes us to under- 
 stand them. I may be forgiven all my 
 iniquities, and there may stand before me 
 the enjoyments of my Father's house; but if 
 I have no right to enter in, my happiness is 
 very incomplete. You remember an illustra- 
 tion of this in the case of Absalom (2 Sam. 
 xiv. 28). To be pardoned, and allowed to 
 return from Geshur to Jerusalem, was all 
 well, so far as it went ; but to be there two 
 years, and not to be allowed to see the king's 
 face, or enter his father's house, was more 
 than he could bear ; and so he set Joab's 
 barley-field on fire, in order to force him 
 to bring the matter before the king, for, 
 as he says, "Wherefore am I come from 
 Geshur \ it had been good for me to have 
 been there still." It was intolerable not 
 
58 JEHOVAH-TSIUKENU. 
 
 to see his father; he felt his pardon was 
 incomplete. It was not like forgiveness at all, 
 to be thus held at arm's length. And should 
 we not all feel this, were God to say, " I for- 
 give you, but you shall never see My face 
 shall never come where I dwell never sit 
 down at My table 1 " We should all, at least 
 if we loved God, feel this to be very short of 
 what we longed for. And yet bear with 
 me if.: I remind you, that this is the sort 
 of forgiveness which many people con- 
 tent themselves with extending to others. 
 They say, "Oh! I quite forgive; I have no 
 ill feeling; but I will not see him again; I 
 
 O * O y 
 
 will have nothing more to do with him." 
 But is this hearty forgiveness 1 ? Is it forgive- 
 ness at all? Is it what would satisfy them, 
 were they truly sorry for having offended? 
 and especially in the case of God and heaven? 
 They should remember that they pray to be 
 forgiven as (in the same way as) they forgive 
 others. 
 
 But God's reconciliation is not thus incom- 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 59 
 
 plete. He has provided, not only that sinners 
 may be forgiven their iniquity, but that their 
 persons may be accepted also; that they 
 may not only be received into His house, but 
 into His heart, and be to Him as dear chil- 
 dren for ever. Do we ask how \ Through faith 
 in Jesus Christ, and the office of "Jehovah- 
 tsidkenu." 
 
 We read (Eev. xxii. 1 4), " Blessed are they 
 that do his commandments, that they may 
 have right to the tree of life, and may enter 
 in through the gates into the city." We 
 see the right and title consist in obe- 
 dience to God's commandments. Now, the 
 question is, What righteousness can we find 
 in the world capable of bearing the scrutiny 
 of an all-seeing God? Not our own, certainly ; 
 for we read, " All our righteousnesses are 
 as filthy rags/' But here comes in the pro- 
 vision of " Jehovah-tsidkenu." Christ has 
 rendered a perfect obedience to God's holy 
 law, and thus brought in " everlasting right- 
 eousness." Here is a title to heaven in every 
 
60 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 way complete. It is a title infinite and 
 everlasting. And as the infinite merit of His 
 death could atone for infinite transgressions, 
 and redeem souls from death everlasting, so 
 the infinite merit of His obedience secures 
 a righteousness of everlasting and infinite 
 efficacy. 
 
 We see, then, the only righteousness which 
 can meet the demand of God's holy law, and 
 thus secure a title to everlasting life, is the 
 righteousness of Jesus. He has left nothing 
 undone needful for His Father's honour and 
 His people's salvation. The blood He shed is 
 perfect; the righteousness He wrought out is 
 perfect ; the heaven He has purchased is per- 
 fect; and the happiness He confers is perfect. 
 It is every way worthy of Him as God, and 
 in every way blessed for us as sinners. And 
 this leads me to notice, 
 
 II. WHAT is SAID OF THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 It is our righteousness ! We may inquire, 
 
 Who are the favoured possessors of this 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 61 
 
 righteousness 1 To whom does it belong 1 
 It is my privilege to say, To you, if you are 
 a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes ! 
 this infinite everlasting perfect all-suffi- 
 cient righteousness is the portion of the least 
 of the little ones that believe in Jesus. What 
 though your faith be feeble, if only it be 
 real 1 ? "The righteousness of God, which is 
 by faith of Jesus Christ, is unto all and upon 
 all them that believe " (Bom. iii. 22). What 
 though you may be vile and worthless yea, 
 have been the vilest of the vile 1 what though 
 your sins have been as scarlet, and your 
 transgressions have grown up into the hea- 
 vens'? what though, "from the crown of the 
 head, to the sole of the foot, there is no 
 soundness in you 1" yea, so corrupt are you, 
 as to be abominable in the sight of God so 
 lost to all spirituality, as to be accounted 
 " dead in trespasses and sins : " still, quick- 
 ened and made alive by the Holy Spirit of 
 God ; washed and made clean by the blood of 
 Christ; attired in the white robe of Christ's 
 
62 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENTL 
 
 righteousness, which covers all your defects ; 
 though vile in yourself, and black as the 
 tents of Kedar, you will be comely in Christ ; 
 comely with the beauty which He puts upon 
 you, and may take your place at the mar- 
 riage-supper of the Lamb. 
 
 Now, these considerations shew that Jesus 
 must be Jehovah. If He were not, He could 
 not be our righteousness. As a mere creature 
 He could merit nothing, because He would 
 owe to God all He could do; and after He 
 had done all, be only an unprofitable servant. 
 But as He is God, all He has done, He has 
 done voluntarily; and His divinity stamps 
 an infinite value on His work, so that it may 
 well avail not only for Himself, but also for 
 a ruined world. 
 
 Such is the dignity of our blessed Lord ! 
 He is Jehovah one with the Father; in 
 glory equal, in majesty co-eternal ! Nor is 
 there one ransomed soul in heaven who does 
 not ascribe salvation to the blood and right- 
 eousness of this our Incarnate God ! Does 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 63 
 
 not this subject unfold more of God's love in 
 the gift of Jesus Christ 1 Do you not feel 
 your love to Him kindling more, as you recall 
 what great things He has done for youl 
 That this righteousness infinite in extent, 
 perfect in its purity, everlasting in its efficacy 
 
 is all made over to the sinner that believes ; 
 that henceforth God sees him in this right- 
 eousness ; sees him " complete in Christ " 
 
 "accepted in the beloved;" sees him in 
 "the best robe" fit to take his place at his 
 Father's table. What should be the language 
 of our hearts when we contemplate our pri- 
 vileges ? " Not unto us, Lord not unto 
 
 o 
 
 us ! but unto Thy name give praise, for Thy 
 mercy and for Thy truth's sake." 
 
 III. HOW DOES THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS BE- 
 COME OURS \ 
 
 By faith; by that mysterious principle 
 which unites the soul to Christ. The faith 
 which secures an interest in the merits of 
 His blood, secures also the merits of His 
 righteousness. 
 
64 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 We distinctly read, "He who knew no 
 sin was made sin for us, that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in him" 
 (2 Cor. v. 21). "Who of God is made unto 
 us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifica- 
 tion, and redemption" (1 Cor. i. 30). And 
 then, "The righteousness of God which 
 is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and 
 upon all them that believe" (Rom. iii. 22). 
 And again, " Christ is become the end of 
 the law for righteousness to every one that 
 believeth " (Rom. x. 3). This is what Paul 
 means (Phil. iii. 8, 9)" Yea, doubtless, and 
 I count all things but loss for the excellency 
 of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; 
 for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, 
 and do count them but dung, that I may win 
 Christ, and be found in Him, not having 
 mine own righteousness, which is of the law, 
 but that which is through the faith of Christ, 
 the righteousness which is of God by faith." 
 Oh, how wonderful the power of faith, to 
 secure to us such blessings ! How wonderful 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 65 
 
 the goodness of God! to confer heaven on 
 such terms ! But so it is ! Eeal, simple, 
 childlike faith is the thing required.! And 
 faith is as necessary in an instrumental way, 
 as Christ is, in a meritorious way. Christ pur- 
 chased the pardon of our sins by His own 
 blood, but faith alone puts us in possession of 
 that pardon. Hence we are always said to 
 be "justified by faith." It is not said that 
 " faith justifies," lest we should mistake the 
 instrumentality for the meritorious cause. 
 We are justified by faith in whom? Verily, 
 in Christ. So with regard to righteousness, 
 our title to heaven ; faith is not our righteous- 
 ness, but faith secures to us the righteousness 
 of God ! Thus we are made the righteousness 
 of God in Him, and have a title to everlast- 
 ing blessedness. What a mercy is this way 
 of salvation ! Just think, if you were told 
 that you must work out a righteousness of 
 your own equal to the demands of God's law 
 who dare indulge a hope of attaining it 1 
 That there should be no act in your life, no 
 E 
 
66 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 word in your tongue, no movement in your 
 heart, your mind, your feelings, your desires, 
 your imaginations no defect of purity in 
 motive, spirit, or object, in all you do and are, 
 through all your life. The best man on earth 
 would sink down in despair; but now, in 
 God's gracious way, the worst man need not 
 despair. The righteousness of Jehovah ap- 
 pears not only equal to our wants, but to the 
 wants of all mankind ; and by trusting to Him 
 really, we find strength, and peace, and glory. 
 Nor could any way of acceptance be so 
 honourable to God, since we find it refers all 
 the glory to Him ; and we find the hosts in 
 heaven ascribing the glory of salvation wholly 
 to Him. Nor could any way be devised 
 which should more effectually conduce to 
 holiness; for the Cross attracts the heart 
 Christ's love in dying secures the believer's 
 affections. It makes sin hateful ; and in pro- 
 portion as we love Christ, shall we hate sin, 
 and holiness will be the atmosphere in which 
 the believer loves to dwell. He desires to 
 
GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 67 
 
 serve and honour God, and strives hard for 
 it in the path of holiness and obedience. Let 
 the world say what it may about such a mode 
 of preaching the gospel tending to licentious- 
 ness namely, the proclamation of a free par- 
 don in the blood of Christ, and an everlast- 
 ing title to heaven in the righteousness of 
 Christ. Let the world say what it will, the 
 Holy Ghost says, " The grace of God which 
 bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
 teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and 
 worldly lusts, we should live soberly, right- 
 eously, and godly, in this present world" 
 (Titus ii. 11, 12). 
 
 Should you not rejoice in this title of Je- 
 hovah "The Lord ourKighteousness?" Who, 
 then, can have such righteousness as the be- 
 liever \ Perfect, infinite, everlasting and 
 being everlasting, it is a title to eternal life 
 and blessedness! Oh! could we unite all 
 the righteousness of all the angels that now 
 surround the throne of God, it would not be 
 equal to the righteousness of a believer; be- 
 
68 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 cause this is the righteousness of God. Be 
 joyful in the Lord that you have such a por- 
 tion! let your whole heart delight in it. This 
 righteousness is for ever! It shall not be 
 abolished. It is of Me, saith the Lord ! Look 
 at this righteousness as you will, and how 
 full of blessedness is it ! 
 
 Look at its quality. It is the righteous- 
 ness of God pure, perfect, spotless. It covers 
 all defects. No stain of sin can possibly 
 appear through it. The believer is looked 
 at in the righteousness of God, and therefore 
 well may it be said, " Then shall the righteous 
 shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of 
 their Father." 
 
 Look at its quantity. It is infinite it can 
 never be exhausted. What myriads it has 
 covered, and will cover ! It is adapted to 
 that " multitude which no man can number, 
 gathered out of all nations, and kindreds, 
 and people, and tongues" (Eev. vii. 9). We 
 shall not then know Jew from Gentile, for 
 Christ hath made both one. 
 
GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 69 
 
 Look at its duration. It is everlasting, 
 and can never come to an end ; for " My 
 righteousness shall be for ever," saith the 
 Lord. 
 
 Think of its blessing! To have a title 
 to everlasting life, of which none can rob 
 us, for this is what thieves cannot steal ; 
 which none can dispute, for God hath ac- 
 cepted it ; which can never decay, for it is 
 incorruptible ; which can never fail in its 
 efficacy, for it is amply sufficient to cover 
 all defects; which can never be less accept- 
 able, for God is well pleased with it. How 
 wonderful this thought ! How appropriately 
 expressed in the lines familiar to you all 
 
 " Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, 
 My beauty are, my glorious dress : 
 Midst flaming worlds, in these array'd, 
 With joy may I lift up my head." 
 
 Think of the wonderful union proclaimed 
 in the text, "The Lord our Kighteousness." 
 So that the believer may say, " Christ's right- 
 eousness is mine. I am accounted righteous 
 
70 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 before God for the merits' sake of Jesus 
 Christ." He identifies the believer with Him- 
 self. For just as all the members of the 
 human body constitute one person, and are 
 the man, so the members of Christ's body 
 are called Christ (1 Cor. xii. 12). "We find 
 similar teaching in the Old Testament on 
 this subject. Observe my text, and then 
 look at Jer. xxxiii. 15, 16 " This is the 
 name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord 
 our Eighteousness." Who is she? but the 
 Church. It is the union between Christ and 
 the Church. It is the Bride taking the name 
 of the Bridegroom ! I am not unaware that 
 scholars give another rendering of this verse, 
 as well as that of the text, but it does not 
 materially affect the ordinary version. (See 
 Blayney on Jer. in loco.) 
 
 It shews the oneness of Christ with His 
 people; how He identifies Himself with 
 them; that they have the same Father 
 the same God and are to sit on the same 
 throne, and share the same glory. 
 
GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 71 
 
 Remember to keep the righteousness of 
 Christ distinct from your own. Christ's is 
 perfect; yours is imperfect. His is your title 
 to heaven; but yours is your sanctification, 
 your conformity to Him, called in Scripture 
 your "meetness to partake the inheritance 
 of the saints in light." 
 
 Are you aiming to prove that you possess 
 His righteousness, by striving after confor- 
 mity to Him likeness to His mind doing 
 His will keeping His commandments se- 
 parating from the world and the things of it 
 setting your affections on things above 
 living in meekness and lowliness of spirit, 
 in gentleness and forbearance of temper 
 having the law of kindness on your tongue, 
 and the spirit of love in your heart by 
 activity in doing good by self-denial and 
 watchfulness by prayer and the study of 
 Scripture"? Do not be cast down because 
 these things are but feeble in you. " Despise 
 not the day of small things." Persevere, in 
 the strength of the Lord, and in due time 
 
72 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 
 
 " ye shall reap, if ye faint not " (Gal. vi. 9). 
 But rejoice in Him who is unchangeable, and 
 trust in His righteousness who can never fail 
 
 CJ 
 
 you, "Yet a little while, and He that shall 
 come, will come, and will not tarry " (Heb. x. 
 37). Yet a little, and you shall be gathered 
 to your rest; and you shall bask for ever 
 in the beams of the Sun of Eighteousness, 
 who is now, and will be for ever, " The Lord 
 our Righteousness" 
 
JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 FATHEE, I know that all my life 
 
 Is portion'd out for me, 
 And the changes that are sure to come 
 
 I do not care to see ; 
 But I ask Thee for a present mind, 
 
 Intent on pleasing Thee. 
 
 Wherever in the world I am, 
 
 In whatsoe'er estate, 
 I have a fellowship with hearts 
 
 To keep and cultivate ; 
 And a work of lowly love to do, 
 
 For the Lord on whom I wait. 
 
 So I ask Thee for the daily strength 
 
 To none that ask denied, 
 And a mind to blend with outward life 
 
 While keeping at Thy side ; 
 Content to fill a little space 
 
 If Thou be glorified. 
 
 In the service that Thy love appoints, 
 
 There are no bonds for me ; 
 For my inmost heart is taught "the truth' 
 
 That makes Thy children "free;" 
 And a life of self -renouncing love 
 
 Is a life of liberty. 
 
LECTUKE IV. 
 
 GOD'S PEACE. 
 
 JUDGES vi. 24. 
 
 " Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and 
 called it Jehovah-shalom : ^lnto this day it is yet in 
 Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites" 
 
 THE title to be considered this morning is 
 Jehovah-shalom, which the margin renders, 
 "The Lord send peace." The subject is the 
 peace which God gives, and by which He 
 fits us for His service. When God has 
 eminent work for any to do, He usually fits 
 and qualifies them for the performance of it. 
 When the Son of God was to take upon Him 
 our nature, to suffer and die, it is said, " A 
 body hast thou prepared me " " The Spirit 
 of the Lord God is upon me/ 5 When Saul 
 
76 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 was to be fitted to sit on the throne of 
 Israel, " God gave him another heart." 
 Daniel, too, was preferred by Darius, "be- 
 cause an excellent spirit was found in him." 
 But although we may have qualifications for 
 some particular work, we must take heed to 
 our spirit, to see that that is right with God, 
 and that we are really serving Him in the 
 work we have to do ; otherwise we shall be 
 merely instruments in His hands, and not 
 His servants. Jesus Christ was the real 
 Servant of God Daniel also. They both 
 loved God, and so did His work. Saul, also, 
 and Jehu, did God's work; but, alas! it is 
 to be feared, they were but instruments, and 
 not servants. Their heart was not with God 
 in what they did. In the character brought 
 before us in the text, we see a man qualified 
 to be a real servant of God. 
 
 The circumstances of Israel were at this 
 time of an afflictive kind. The Midianites 
 so oppressed them by destroying their crops, 
 driving off their cattle, and laying waste 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 77 
 
 their country, that many of the children of 
 Israel were fain to flee to the mountains, 
 and live in dens, and caves, and strong- 
 holds (Judges vi. 1-6). The feelings, there- 
 fore, of Gideon, as expressed in verse 13, were 
 but natural, " my Lord, if the Lord be 
 with us, why then is all this befallen us? 
 and where be all his miracles which our 
 fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord 
 bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord 
 hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the 
 hands of the Midiauites." But the Lord had 
 in no sense forgotten them ; for He sent a pro- 
 phet to teach them, but they would not obey 
 God's voice. He had in no sense forsaken them ; 
 for He now appeared to Gideon for the very 
 purpose of qualifying him, as He had formerly 
 qualified Moses, to deliver His people! The 
 Lord found him in an humble, though honest 
 occupation threshing wheat; but doing it 
 in such a way as shewed he feared discovery. 
 And it is now, when Israel's fortunes are at 
 the lowest, that the Lord appears for their 
 
78 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 help. In reading through the chapter, we 
 must see that Gideon on this occasion, as 
 well as on that mentioned in verse 36, mani- 
 fested a weakness of faith, and a difficulty 
 of being satisfied with God's word of pro- 
 mise, which we ought on all accounts to 
 endeavour to avoid; but, in spite of all his 
 demands, God graciously gave him such a 
 token of favour, in accepting his offering, as 
 perfectly set his mind at rest. It is true, 
 when Gideon understood who had appeared 
 to him, he was overwhelmed with dread and 
 apprehension; but the gracious assurance of 
 the Lord, "Peace be unto thee; fear not: 
 thou shalt not die," calmed his mind ; and he 
 built an altar unto the Lord, and called it 
 " Jehovah-shalom." Now, it was in the 
 strength of this peace, this reliance on the 
 Lord's favour, that Gideon was to go forth 
 to do God's work. We will consider, 
 
 I. THE STRENGTH OP REAL SERVICE 
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 II. THE NATURE OF THIS PEACE. 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 79 
 
 I. THE STRENGTH OP KEAL SERVICE 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 The angel of the Lord, who appeared to 
 Gideon, is no doubt the Angel of the Cove- 
 nant, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah- Jesus ; 
 and all He said was calculated to assure 
 Gideon's heart. "The Lord is with thee." 
 Observe how personal is the address, " Have 
 not I sent thee f Surely I will be with thee." 
 
 There can be no real, hearty service, with- 
 out this firm assurance of God's favour. So 
 long as a man is in doubt how God regards 
 him so long as he doubts whether He is a 
 reconciled God so long as he doubts his 
 own relation to God so long as he doubts 
 whether what he does will be accepted or 
 not there can be no heartiness in service. 
 You all know this. It is a truth of every- 
 day life. We must have felt how distressing 
 and disheartening it is, when we are trying 
 to help or serve a friend, to feel a doubt 
 whether it will be agreeable or acceptable 
 after all. And this is doubly the case when 
 
80 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 the matter is between God and us ! It 
 makes the hands hang down, and the chariot 
 wheels drag heavily. It takes away all 
 alacrity, and spring, and pleasure in. the 
 service. But let us be assured that what we 
 do, however poor, and short of what it ought 
 to be, will be kindly received, and there is no 
 effort and self-denial too great for us to make. 
 I am not unaware that there is a school 
 which teaches, that we can by service, as it 
 were, propitiate God; and that a man may 
 make himself acceptable by what he does. 
 But this is a vain idea. Scripture encourages 
 nothing of the sort ; for our services are 
 surely never accepted when our persons are 
 not. Such services may be used by the 
 Lord, as Jehu's were in destroying idolatry ; 
 but such persons are not God's servants, only 
 His instruments. No ! as a dead man can- 
 not work himself into a living one, so a man, 
 " dead in trespasses and sins," does not work 
 himself into spiritual life. We do not work 
 up to life, butyrom life. We work because 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 81 
 
 we are alive, not in order to the attainment 
 of life. So in happy service. We do not 
 work up to peace, but from peace. We 
 work cheerfully and heartily for God, because 
 we are at peace with Him. And in this 
 there is all the difference between active and 
 cheerful service, and the dull, cold discharge 
 of duty, which we have no heart to do, but 
 which, like slaves, we are afraid to leave 
 undone. 
 
 There is another consideration, too, which 
 proves this point: that as God is not served- 
 but by His own Spirit as "the flesh," as a 
 principle, does not (cannot) serve God ; so 
 we only serve Him as we are influenced by 
 His Holy Spirit. And it is this Holy Spirit, 
 that, taking of the things of Christ and 
 shewing them to us, shewing us our own 
 individual interest in them how Christ died 
 for my sins, and rose again for my justifica- 
 tion how He " loved me, and gave Himself 
 for me" brings peace to the soul; for the 
 soul that believes this has peace. "Being 
 F 
 
82 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 justified by faith, we have peace with God;" 
 and "the love of God is shed abroad in our 
 hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us." 
 Then, indeed, "the love of Christ constraineth 
 us." Then the whole man is devoted to 
 God's service. He feels, " I am not my own, 
 but bought with a price : I must, therefore, 
 glorify God in my body and in my spirit, 
 which are God's." This is no mere human 
 deduction, but is illustrated in the case of 
 many leading characters in Scripture. See it 
 in Noah (Gen. vi. 8) ; " he found grace in the 
 eyes of the Lord," that is, favour; he was 
 at peace with God, and then he served Him, 
 and did His work as a preacher of righteous- 
 ness, and a builder of the ark. See Joseph in 
 Egypt (Gen. xxxix. 2) ; " the Lord was with 
 Joseph," assuring him of His favour, and 
 then he did God's work, in making preparation 
 for his family, who were eventually to come 
 down into Egypt. See Moses; although 
 learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, 
 it. was not until he had been brought to 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 83 
 
 know God in the wilderness, and had been 
 assured that God would be with him (Ex. iii. 
 12), that he was qualified for his work of 
 delivering Israel out of bondage. If you 
 look at Acts vii. 25, you will see that he 
 attempted it before, but his brethren " under- 
 stood not." See Isaiah, overwhelmed with 
 dread at the vision of the Lord ; but as soon 
 as " the live coal from off the altar touched 
 his lips, and his sin was purged " and he was 
 assured of the love of God ; in other words, 
 " at peace " he was all alacrity for service. 
 "Here am I, send me." Thus the Lord 
 nerved Ezekiel for his work, not only by 
 saying, " I send thee " (Ezek. ii. 1-3), but by 
 establishing the power of His word in his 
 heart (Ezek. iii. 3). So it was with Gideon. 
 The Lord, Jehovah-Jesus, appeared to him ; 
 found him in his obscurity, and fitted him 
 to take the lead in Israel. But observe his 
 hesitation after the Lord addressed him 
 (verse 1 5), " my Lord, wherewith shall 
 I save Israel 1 ? Behold, my family is poor 
 
84 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 in Manasseh, and I am the least in my 
 father's house. We see the same hesitation 
 in Moses (Ex. iii. 13, and Ex. iv. 1, 10) "0 
 my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither hereto- 
 fore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy 
 servant; but I am slow of speech, and of a 
 slow tongue;" and this reluctance on the 
 part of Moses was carried so far, although 
 the Lord met his objections one by one, that 
 " the anger of the Lord was kindled against 
 him." So that we are taught to take heed, 
 lest what may be modest hesitation about 
 service run into sinful objection to its per- 
 formance. 
 
 But see, again, the re-assurance of our gra- 
 cious Lord (Judges vi. 16), in Gideon's case, 
 " Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt 
 smite the Midianites as one man;" then the 
 acceptance of the offering, and Gideon's alarm! 
 and then the gracious words, " Peace be unto 
 thee; fear not: thou shalt not die" (ver. 23). 
 
 We may ask, perhaps, what assured the 
 heart of Gideon, and gave him peace ? It 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 85 
 
 was the word of the Lord, " Peace be unto 
 thee," which he believed implicitly. How 
 valuable is the written Word in this aspect ! 
 What a privilege to have it always to refer 
 to to be able to assure our hearts again and 
 again of God's love ! Oh, may the Holy 
 Spirit write the promises on our souls with 
 all " the riches of the full assurance of under- 
 standing." 
 
 Another thing, too, which gave Gideon con- 
 fidence, was the light of God's countenance 
 lifted up upon him : " The Lord looked 
 upon him and said, Go in this thy might, 
 and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of 
 the Midianites : have not I sent thee ? " 
 This was the might of Gideon in which he 
 was to do such great things the faith of 
 God's favour and presence. Not merely that 
 God loved him, but would be with him, and 
 strengthen as well as direct him ! And what 
 is there a man cannot do when he believes 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ \ when faith is 
 strong ; and the man can say, " I know whom 
 
86 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 I have believed, and am persuaded that He 
 is able to keep that which I have committed 
 unto Him against that day 1 ?" What service 
 is too hard 1 ? "Who art thou, great moun- 
 tain"? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become 
 a plain." Yes! nothing is impossible to 
 faith; and faith is the root of peace. And 
 just in proportion as we can trust Christ, we 
 are happy, and can work for Him. 
 
 This is a practical fact of Christianity. 
 What made Peter and John rejoice, after 
 they were beaten before the Council, that 
 they were counted worthy to suffer shame 
 for His name? and Paul and Silas sing 
 hymns in the prison at Philippi with their 
 backs still lacerated by the scourging 1 ? It 
 was peace inward peace, in the midst of 
 outward trouble. God had spoken peace to 
 their souls by the blood of Christ. They 
 could look to God as their reconciled Father 
 to Christ as their Redeemer to the 
 Holy Ghost as their Sanctifier. They 
 could rejoice in sin forgiven. Their hearts 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 87 
 
 were set on heavenly things. They regarded 
 themselves as pilgrims and strangers upon 
 earth, and heaven as their eternal home ! Faith 
 in God's unfailing word assured them of these 
 things, and they were at peace ; consequently, 
 none of the things which they suffered moved 
 them; they could do great things! 
 
 My dear brethren, have you never felt 
 this'? When you have realised Christ's pre- 
 sence, how strong you were? how bold you 
 were 1 ? how you could speak out for the 
 honour of the Lord, under circumstances in 
 which, perhaps, at other times you were a 
 coward, and were silent \ how you could go 
 forth and perform duties from which at other 
 times you have shrunk 1 ? how you could 
 relish Scripture, and the ordinances of God's 
 house, when at other times they were cold 
 and unmeaning'? So it is when we are liv- 
 ing in fellowship with Jesus, and in the 
 enjoyment of His peace, we can do the work 
 He calls us to! 
 
 Having seen what peace can do, let us 
 
88 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 look at its nature, and into our hearts, to see 
 if we know anything about it. 
 
 II. THE NATUEE OF THIS PEACE ! 
 
 It is different from all other kinds of peace. 
 It is a peace which God gives. There is 
 a peace which may be called the peace of 
 temper. Some persons are so calm and easy, 
 that nothing seems to ruffle them. The joys 
 and sorrows of life seem alike unable to move 
 them. Let things go wrong or right, they 
 are equally calm. This is not the peace of God. 
 
 Again, there is what may be called the 
 peace of circumstances, that which arises 
 from prosperous affairs, easy competence, 
 good health, a loving family, kind friends, 
 &c. The life of some seems to glide along 
 in one unbroken stream of enjoyment. This 
 is not the peace of God. 
 
 Again, there is the peace of the world; 
 arising from gaiety, bustle, excitement, plea- 
 sure, and fashionable amusements. Some 
 people never think beyond the present mo- 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 89 
 
 ment; they are always gay, and seem able 
 to defy care. This is not the peace of God. 
 Again, there is the peace of the devil. 
 When "the strong man armed" has entire 
 possession of the soul ; when the man is given 
 up to self-indulgence ; when he is indifferent 
 to sin, so only that it yields him pleasure; 
 when the warnings and exhortations of Scrip- 
 ture are alike unheeded; when the "con- 
 science is seared as with a hot iron," and the 
 man is utterly blinded by the god of this 
 world! I need not say this differs widely 
 from the peace of God ! For, as I have said, 
 it is a peace which God gives which comes 
 from Him alone the peace of Jehovah- 
 Jesus the very same which Christ has, now 
 He is seated at the right hand of God. This 
 is the peace which He bequeathed to His 
 believing people, when He said, "My peace 
 give I unto you : not as the world giveth, give 
 I unto you" the peace in which God keeps 
 those whose minds are stayed upon Him (Isa. 
 xxvi. 3). 
 
90 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 Paul calls it "the peace of God which 
 passeth all understanding." But the expres- 
 sion, "passeth all understanding," must not 
 deter us in our inquiry into its nature; 
 for this applies rather to the degree of its 
 excellence, than to its nature. It is so excel- 
 lent that it cannot be fully understood, but 
 it by no means implies that we cannot un- 
 derstand it at all. 
 
 All God's blessings are understood in some 
 degree by His people, although it will require 
 the maturity of the soul's powers in heaven 
 to know them fully. Of this peace, then, we 
 know that its author is God; and that it 
 cometh down, like all other good and perfect 
 gifts, from the Father of Lights. It is peace 
 of soul of conscience. It is pure, holy, 
 sanctifying; and is of so tender a nature, 
 that it flies at the approach of wilful sin, and 
 the offender is left destitute of heavenly 
 peace. 
 
 The agent who works this peace in man is 
 the Holy Ghost. As the love of God, so the 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 91 
 
 peace of God is shed abroad in the heart by 
 the Holy Ghost. He is, indeed, in this office, 
 a Comforter ; and fills the heart and soul with 
 those ineffable consolations which constitute 
 "the peace of God which passeth all under- 
 standing." The Holy Ghost communicates, 
 from the spiritual treasury, all spiritual bless- 
 ings in Christ, to those to whom this treasury 
 is laid open by faith in the blood of atone- 
 ment. The way in which these blessings are 
 communicated is, indeed, various, and diffi- 
 cult to define; but the children of God can, 
 however, rejoice in the fact, that a heavenly 
 calm does sometimes pervade the mind, 
 keeping it in Christ Jesus when earth and 
 its "lying vanities" fade from the perception, 
 and heaven comes more fully into view 
 when a communion with God is enjoyed 
 which cannot be expressed to another some- 
 thing which seems to bring a special sense of 
 God's presence upon the soul. Short-lived 
 are these seasons, but still unquestionably 
 enjoyed by the children of God. Still the 
 
92 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 peace of God is generally of a more con- 
 stant nature than this, and arises from three 
 causes. 
 
 1. A clear sense of God's favour towards us 
 in Christ. There can be no true peace with- 
 out this. But I will not enlarge on this point, 
 as I have already spoken of it. 
 
 2. Entire submission to the will of God! 
 There can be no peace without this. Where 
 the will runs counter to the will of God, there 
 cannot be peace. This is a hard lesson to 
 learn, "Thy will be done/' These are the 
 words of Jesus, and He used them in their 
 fullest sense. Many of His followers know 
 their truth before they feel their power. And 
 we must not be deterred from trying to learn 
 their meaning, because the understanding 
 may be in advance of the heart. But if there 
 be a want of submission to God, there cannot 
 be peace; for unsubmissiveness, in whatever 
 degree it may exist, is rebellion; and " There 
 is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" 
 (Isa. xlviii. 22). The peace of God dwells not 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 93 
 
 in troubled waters. It produces a great calm, 
 and stills the soul. It does not find the soul 
 calm, but makes it so. The Spirit of God 
 broods over the passions, and hushes all into 
 uncomplaining silence and peace. 
 
 3. An appropriation of the promises of 
 God! Gideon, and all the great heroes of 
 Scripture, believed what God said, and were 
 at peace. There is a fulness of all spiritual 
 blessing in God. The promises of Scripture 
 are discoveries of them ; and we have peace 
 just as we are able by faith to appropriate 
 them, and make them our own. The pro- 
 mises are God's bonds and pledges, by which 
 He engages Himself to give us all we need. 
 
 Think on these three points 1st, A clear 
 sense of God's favour; 2d, Submission to 
 God's appointments; 3d, Believing, so as to 
 appropriate the promises of Scripture. 
 
 Further, it may be said with respect to 
 this peace, that it exercises an effect on the 
 disposition and temper. It subdues the most 
 unpromising tempers the harsh, the fretful, 
 
94 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 peevish, revengeful, selfish, quick, passionate, 
 &c. and makes the individual who was once 
 a burden in the family, a blessing to all 
 around. It does not, indeed, effect this all at 
 once ; but it enables us to resist tempers, and 
 so gradually to overcome them. Consider 
 this. Christianity is something practical. 
 The peace of God is to do something. It is 
 not to be mere passive feeling, but it is to 
 work results. 
 
 This peace comes out in our circumstances. 
 When prosperity is gone, the peace of God 
 still remains, if the will is submissive to God. 
 If we can trust God as a Father, as tender 
 and kind as He is wise and good, what is to 
 rob us of peace? It is true our tears may 
 flow, our hearts be torn, but we need not 
 part with peace. For peace is not in external 
 things, but in God. The creature may be 4 
 taken from us; that which gave its peculiar 
 charm to our earthly existence may be gone ; 
 but the peace of God is independent of out- 
 ward circumstances, it is something far deeper. 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 95 
 
 It has to do with the love of God, not with 
 the love of the creature. It has to do with 
 pardon of sin, and a conscious interest in 
 Christ's redeeming work ; and the realisation 
 of these by faith will soothe, yea, gladden the 
 soul in the darkest storm of earthly sorrow. 
 So that whatever else we lose, if we can only 
 believe, we need not lose our peace! 
 
 Observe, now, the contrast between the 
 peace of the world and the peace of God. 
 The peace of the world springs from bustle 
 and gaiety : the peace of God is felt in the 
 calm of retirement, when the soul communes 
 with its God alone. The peace of God is 
 purifying and sanctifying, and gradually 
 prepares the soul for heaven : all other kinds 
 of peace but increase self-will, and chain the 
 soul to earth. The peace of God weans the 
 soul from this world and now that it has 
 begun to taste communion with God, it 
 esteems the things of earth more nearly at 
 their proper rate. Worldly peace is broken 
 in a moment; at the first blasfc of affliction 
 
96 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 it is gone. The peace of God is abiding it 
 continues steadily through trials, for it is 
 that which this world can neither give nor 
 take away. 
 
 But do you ask, How am I to acquire this 
 peace? I reply, Christ is the source of this 
 peace, as well as the channel through which 
 it flows to man ! Would we know why God 
 blesses His Church with peace 1 ? To Calvary 
 must we look, and there we see "Jehovah- 
 jireh," the provision which the Lord has 
 made for man's peace. Yes! in the bleeding 
 sacrifice there offered in the brow crowned 
 with thorns in the side pierced by the spear 
 in that agonised frame in that piteous 
 cry in the horrors and sufferings, yet glories 
 of the crucifixion we see the source and 
 channel of our peace! 
 
 Dear brethren, what know you of this 
 peace \ If you know it not, seek it in 
 Christ! Think not that it is mere rapture 
 and enthusiasm. It is true there may have 
 been pretenders to this peace, who have 
 
GODS PEACE. 97 
 
 mistaken strong feelings for gracious ones; 
 and it is ever Satan's way to bring discredit 
 upon truth by raising up pretenders and 
 hypocrites. But still do not think there is 
 no such thing as the peace of God. There 
 is, on the authority of God's own Word ; and 
 it may be obtained from " Jehovah-shalom" 
 Jehovah-Jesus ! The question is, Have 
 you found it "? If you know this peace, 
 guard it carefully. Carry it, like the flame 
 of a candle, in the hollow of your hand, for 
 the breath of worldliness will put it out. 
 Watch against anything which may inter- 
 rupt it. Guard against a light and trifling 
 and careless spirit. Nothing sooner destroys 
 peace than thoughtless talk. Watch against 
 unholy, discontented, fretful tempers. Be 
 not dissatisfied with what God has already 
 done for your souls. " Despise not the day 
 of small things." The peace of God will not 
 dwell in a murmuring heart. Guard against 
 self-righteousness. Peace comes from Jesus 
 Christ. Self-righteousness tries to find it in 
 
98 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 self. Oh! foolish heart, there is no peace 
 there. It comes from heaven, through Jesus 
 Christ! I would say also, guard against 
 wilful sin. This may seem a strange admo- 
 nition to believers; but what are we to say 
 of leaving undone what we know we ought 
 to do, and doing what we know we ought 
 not to dol Are not these wilful sins'? And 
 can a man be at peace who lives thus"? Im- 
 possible. What, then, are the lessons we 
 learn 1 ? 
 
 1. We see that whom God makes His 
 servant He qualifies for His work. Seek, 
 therefore, of the Lord qualification for His 
 service. It begins in the heart in your 
 own soul. Gideon first obtained peace of 
 soul, then he began to work. Let your first 
 work be to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and so get grace for the service of the Lord. 
 You may ask, Am I, then, to leave off doing 
 my duty till I obtain peace 1 ? Surely not; 
 but try to do it in faith. Relieve and act. 
 Say I do this because my God commands 
 
GOD'S PEACE. 99 
 
 me, and I trust Him for grace and strength 
 to do it rightly. But try to turn a bare 
 duty into a happy privilege. Endeavour to 
 realise that God's service is perfect freedom. 
 But you will only be able to do this as you 
 taste the sweets of peace with God through 
 Jesus Christ. Remember the first step to 
 real service is peace, and this begins in your 
 own soul ! 
 
 2. Observe the progressive power of this 
 peace. Having realised peace in his own 
 soul, Gideon's faith extends to his family. 
 His next act is to cut down his father's 
 grove where Baal was worshipped. Know- 
 ing the peace of God ourselves, can we be 
 indifferent either to the honour of God or to 
 the welfare of those we love ? 
 
 How many of you may be called to cut 
 down some Baal's grove in your family ! 
 This requires strong faith. It is hard for a 
 child to teach a parent when the lesson is 
 unwelcome ! and much more to tell them of 
 their sins, and try to reform them. It 
 
100 JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 
 
 seems almost irreverent and undutiful to 
 tell one's parents they are wrong, and need 
 a firmer hold upon the Saviour! It is 
 difficult enough to deal with one's brothers 
 and sisters, but far harder with one's parents. 
 Here it is that our Lord's words are often 
 verified, "I am not come to send peace on 
 the earth, but a sword;" so that "a man's 
 foes are they of his own household." But 
 be not discouraged; cherishing the peace of 
 God, you will be able to do these hard 
 things, and much more, and to do them in 
 such a way as haply to preserve peace. 
 Think of what is involved. Look to the 
 Lord and fear not. 
 
 3. Observe, lastly, that Gideon's peace 
 extends in its influence. He next acts for 
 his country. So it is as faith grows, the 
 sphere of its operation enlarges, and the 
 believer's heart embraces the world. Hence 
 the true spring of all missionary effort. 
 And, oh ! see to it that you begin in the 
 right place in your own heart. Would you 
 
GOD'S PEACE 101 
 
 be a benefactor to your country and the 
 world at large 1 seek peace for your own 
 soul. Would you really benefit your family? 
 still seek peace for your own soul, and " let 
 your light so shine before men, that they 
 may see your good works, and glorify your 
 Father which is in heaven." Let your 
 steady, consistent, Christian example win 
 them to Christ ! Would you really consult 
 your own best interests \ still seek peace in 
 your own soul, and never forget that the 
 root of real love to God, to ourselves, to 
 our neighbour, is Jesus Christ, "Jehovah- 
 shalom." 
 
JEHOYAH-NISSL 
 
 FIGHT the good fight ; lay hold 
 
 Upon eternal life ; 
 Keep but the shield, be bold, 
 
 Stand through the hottest strife ; 
 Invincible while in the field, 
 Thou canst not fail, unless thou yield. 
 
 No force of earth or hell, 
 Though fiends with men unite, 
 
 Truth's champion can compel, 
 However prest, to flight : 
 
 Invincible upon the field. 
 
 He cannot fall, unless he yield. 
 
 Trust in thy Saviour's might ; 
 
 Yea, till thy latest breath, 
 Fight, and, like Him, in fight, 
 
 By dying, conquer death ; 
 And all-victorious in the field, 
 Then with thy sword thy spirit yield. 
 
 Great words are these, and strong ; 
 
 Yet, Lord, I look to Thee, 
 To whom alone belong 
 
 Valour and victory. 
 With Thee, my Captain, in the field, 
 I must prevail I cannot yield. 
 
LECTUEE V. 
 GOD'S VICTORY. 
 
 EXODUS xvii. 15. 
 
 "And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it 
 Jehovah-nissi." 
 
 Our last lecture taught us the necessity of 
 peace with God, in order to render accept- 
 able service. The subject of the present 
 lecture is the need of dependence upon God 
 in conflict. The Christian life is always 
 represented in Scripture as a struggle, in 
 which we have a ceaseless enemy ever striv- 
 ing to overthrow our faith, and so to ruin our 
 soul ; and whom we can successfully meet 
 and defeat only by faith in Jesus Christ. 
 And what a mercy it is that faith in the Son 
 
106 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 of God is not only able "to overcome the 
 world," but also to "quench all the fiery 
 darts of the wicked!" 
 
 We have now to consider the title, " Je- 
 hovah-nissi, " which the margin tells us 
 means, "The Lord my banner;" and the 
 materials for its illustration must be ga- 
 thered from the history with which the text 
 stands connected. It is a passage in the 
 history of Israel and, indeed, the history of 
 Israel is a great storehouse of instruction for 
 the Church of Christ. The sins and idola- 
 tries of Israel are " written for our admoni- 
 tion," that we may avoid them; their signal 
 deliverances, for "-our learning, that we 
 through patience and comfort of the Scrip- 
 tures might have hope." 
 
 The more closely we study the history of 
 Israel, in all its minute detail, the greater 
 the knowledge we shall have of ourselves; 
 for the history of Israel is but the history of 
 the human heart: and the more we are 
 acquainted with God's long-suffering, and 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 107 
 
 protection, and favour towards them in spite 
 of all their sins, the more we shall know of 
 His dealings in grace towards His Church. 
 
 The great lesson prominently taught in all 
 Israel's wanderings in the wilderness, is the 
 need of dependence on God. After their deli- 
 verance from Egyptian bondage, this teaching 
 especially begins. They learn they must be 
 dependent on God for everything for water, 
 for bread; the one brought miraculously from 
 a rock, the other as miraculously rained down 
 from heaven. The event commemorated in 
 the words of the text shews that they were to 
 be as dependent upon God for strength in 
 conflict that it is under His banner alone, 
 victory is sure; and although, in reading 
 what befell Israel, it would seem that man's 
 life is only one series of dangers, deliver- 
 ances, and escapes, yet the Lord at last 
 brings His people to the haven where they 
 would be! The event connected with the 
 text is written as a memorial of God's 
 mercy, and to strengthen the faith of Hi a 
 
108 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 people; for it was not more certain that 
 God defeated Amalek on this occasion, than 
 that He would, in His own good time, 
 "utterly put out the remembrance of him 
 from under heaven." This was partially 
 accomplished by Saul (1 Sam. xv.), and sub- 
 sequently completed by David (1 Sam. xxx.), 
 with the exception of " four hundred young 
 men who rode upon camels and fled " (ver. 1 7). 
 
 The occasion of Moses raising this altar is 
 the defeat of Amalek; and the lesson is, 
 that bringing the Lord, by faith and depend- 
 ence, into our circumstances ranging our- 
 selves under His banner considering conflict 
 and trial as not coming without His gracious 
 permission, and dealing with it in His 
 strength we shall conquer as truly as Israel 
 did. 
 
 But it may be asked, How does this teach 
 us, seeing that Amalek is no more, that his 
 remembrance is clean put out 1 ? 
 
 Brethren, there is an Amalek still in this 
 world, of which this history is but a feeble 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 109 
 
 representation. One with whom all Christ's 
 people have to fight; one "whose hand is 
 continually against the throne of God ; " 
 one *' with whom the Lord will have war 
 from generation to generation ; " one who 
 once dared to enter the lists with the Son of 
 God ; but one whom " the God of peace will 
 bruise under our feet shortly;" and who is 
 eventually to be destroyed in the lake of fire 
 and brimstone for ever. It is Satan the 
 Prince of this world ! " The principalities, 
 and powers, and rulers of the darkness of 
 this world" those principles which are so 
 rife in this world, and which are wielded 
 with such subtlety and force, by the god of 
 this world which assault us in such unex- 
 pected ways, and with such force, at times; 
 at one time springing up, as it were, a ser- 
 pent from beneath our feet ; at another, con- 
 fronting us with all the attractiveness of an 
 angel of light. These are our Amalek. And 
 the consideration of the circumstances in 
 which Israel was placed, will help us to 
 
110 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 understand our position as good soldiers of 
 the cross, pledged to fight the battles of the 
 Lord. We will consider, 
 
 I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF ISRAEL. 
 II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF ISRAEL. 
 
 Under this head, I must direct your at- 
 tention, first, to " the conflict" The Israel- 
 ites were scarcely come out of Egypt before 
 they were attacked by the Amalekites, al- 
 though no provocation had been given by 
 Israel; but it was doubtless a revengeful 
 feeling, from the way in which they con- 
 sidered their father Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 15, 
 16) had been deprived of his birthright by 
 Jacob, and consequently of the land of 
 Canaan, to which the Israelites were now 
 journeying. See the description of Amalek's 
 conduct (Deut. xxv. 17-19) "Ee member 
 what Amalek did unto thee by the way, 
 when ye were come forth out of Egypt ; how 
 he met thee by the way, and smote the hind- 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. Ill 
 
 most of thee, even all that were feeble behind 
 thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and 
 he feared not God." And if you remember, 
 in Ps. Ixxxiii. 7, Amalek is mentioned as one 
 of those nations who were confederate against 
 God and His Church, and who said, "Come 
 and let us cut them off from being a nation, 
 that the name of Israel may be no more in 
 remembrance." Now, what has ever been 
 Satan's conduct against the Church of God? 
 What was it to our first parents'? Did he 
 not attack, quite unprovoked, the "feeble" 
 one] "for the woman was first in the trans- 
 gression" (1 Tim. ii. 14). Is not "the hand 
 of this Amalek always against the throne of 
 the Lord" that heart of man where the 
 Lord should have His throne ? Is not Satan's 
 malice always against the life of God in the 
 soul of man] Was it not so in Adam's 
 case? Is it not so in the case of every one 
 where the life of God is restored in the soul? 
 Is it not so in all the Church of Christ"? in 
 all who have left the spiritual Egypt, an un- 
 
112 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 godly world, and set their faces towards the 
 heavenly Canaan ? It is so. And, more- 
 over, this is to be borne in mind, in all his 
 temptations, great or small, Satan never 
 means less than death the everlasting de- 
 struction of the soul. Oh ! never forget 
 this ; let the departure from what is right 
 be the very least, so slight that none shall 
 ever observe it at all, yet his object is ever 
 the same death. The very deviation itself 
 may have so plausible a reason, that it 
 almost seems to warrant it. He has no 
 objection, therefore, to see persons pursuing 
 right objects, if only it be by wrong means; 
 for he knows we are not "to do evil that 
 good may come;" and so, if he can corrupt 
 the integrity of either our motive, our spirit, 
 or our end, he will not harass us further, but 
 let us be at rest, thinking all is well. For he 
 does not lead his victims straight to the gulf 
 this would frighten them but conducts 
 them thither by a thousand winding paths. 
 Satan is always trying, persecuting, ensnar- 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 113 
 
 ing the children of God. His malice and 
 efforts are directed against such; and the 
 feebler and fainter their faith, the severer are 
 his attacks. And although the people of 
 God desire peace in this stormy world, and 
 to conduct themselves "blamelessly and 
 harmlessly," yet, as soldiers of Christ, they 
 cannot obtain their inheritance without pre^ 
 paring themselves for combat, and " warring 
 a good warfare." And this warfare will last 
 
 o 
 
 as long as this life lasts. There is " no dis- 
 charge in this war" till "mortality is swal- 
 lowed up of life." So long as life lasts, the 
 good soldier must "endure hardness," Trial, 
 in some shape or other, will be his. He will 
 be constantly reminded this is not his rest - 
 that " here he has no continuing city." And 
 perhaps the greatest trial of all is the dis^ 
 cipline needed to bring him into a state of 
 simple obedience to, and dependence upon 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, it is not war- 
 fare and conflict that need discourage him; 
 " looking unto Jesus," all will be well 1 
 
 H 
 
114 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 2. The Commander. Joshua was com- 
 manded to " choose out men, and go out and 
 fight with Amalek" (ver. 9). And of whom is 
 Joshua the type ? It is another name for 
 Jesus, who is given to us of God to be "a 
 leader and commander" (Isa. Iv. 4). He is 
 " the Captain of our salvation," under whose 
 banner all believers are enlisted, and must 
 fight. But this it is which makes the vic- 
 tory sure. We have a Commander who is 
 well acquainted with all the wiles of the 
 enemy, and who has already conquered him 
 for us, and who has declared that He will 
 " bruise him under our feet shortly." Be- 
 sides, too, as "Leader," He appoints us our 
 respective stations, whether we bear more or 
 less of the brunt of the battle, and we may be 
 sure the position in which He places us is the 
 right one. It matters not where it may 
 be, however humble and obscure ; nor what 
 it may be, however small the service given 
 us to perform. If it be what Jesus has given 
 us to do, it is the fittest for us, as well as the 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 115 
 
 most acceptable to Him. It is doing what 
 He tells us to do, not merely what we think 
 will please Him. And, moreover, this is the 
 most honourable position for us. It is the 
 Master we serve which makes the service 
 honourable. And however unfit we may be 
 when He calls us to His work, He can and 
 will qualify us for it. He can supply all our 
 want of knowledge all our weakness for 
 He has "the tongue of the learned" (Isa. 1. 
 4), and to Him we must look for direction 
 and support. And so long as we are looking 
 to Him for orders, and working these orders 
 out in His name and strength, and according 
 to His will, we may safely depend on Him 
 for provision, and for an abundant share of 
 the spoils of victory. 
 
 It is said, "Joshua discomfited Amalek 
 and his people with the edge of the sword " 
 (ver. 13). And who is it that has vanquished 
 Amalek on the cross 1 ? Even He who 
 "spoiled principalities and powers, and tri- 
 umphed over them openly in it." Who is it 
 
116 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 that " gives power to the faint, and to them 
 that have no might increaseth strength ? " 
 (Isa. xl. 29). Even He " whose strength is 
 made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. xii. 9). 
 It is Jesus, and it is through this Commander 
 we are made more than conquerors! 
 
 3. The Means. While Joshua was fighting 
 in the valley, Moses was to stand on the top 
 of the hill with the rod of God in his hand 
 (ver. 9). The rod of Moses was that with 
 which he had wrought his wonders in Egypt, 
 and it was a special emblem of Divine 
 power. While he held it up, Israel pro- 
 spered; but when, through infirmity, he let 
 it drop, Amalek prevailed. 
 
 Now, it is thus precisely that God's people 
 prevail against their enemies. They must 
 keep their eye fixed on, and thus magnify, 
 the power of God exerted on their behalf. 
 As long as the eye is single, and faith fixed 
 on Christ alone, they will triumph over every 
 foe; but if, through infirmity, or weakness 
 of faith, they look away from Christ, that 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 117 
 
 instant is there failure and defeat. Have we 
 not an illustration of this in the case of 
 Peter walking on the water 1 ? So long as he 
 kept his eye on Christ, he could walk on the 
 top of the waves ; " but when he saw the 
 wind boisterous, he was afraid," and began to 
 sink. We learn another lesson, too, that 
 those trials on the very top of which we can 
 walk, so long as we are simply looking to 
 Christ, open their jaws to swallow us up, and 
 we sink under them, when we cease to look 
 to the Lord. There is no strength equal to 
 every conflict, but that of Christ. 
 
 The lifting up of the hands of Moses may 
 further denote the efficacy of prayer; and it 
 is certain the success of service will fluctuate, 
 just as a throne of grace is much and ear- 
 nestly, or little and carelessly, used. Now, 
 Christ is both Moses and Joshua to us. Our 
 Joshua, who fights our battles here below; 
 our Moses, in the world above, ever making 
 intercession for us, that our faith fail not! 
 And it is by a combination of hard conflict 
 
118 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 and wrestling with our enemies, backed by 
 fervent prayer, that we shall win the victory. 
 By prayer we obtain strength in conflict 
 we use it; but Christ is all! 
 
 4. The Victory. You observe (ver. 14) that 
 Moses was commanded, "Write this for a 
 memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the 
 ears of Joshua; for I will utterly put out 
 the remembrance of Amalek from under 
 heaven." And what, I would ask, is written 
 in Scripture but a memorial of what has been 
 done through the malice of our Amalek, and 
 of the victory obtained through the valour 
 of our Joshua'? A record of the ruin sin 
 has wrought of the conflict and victory of 
 Christ and a promise of the final extinction 
 of Amalek'? Yes, in the provision which 
 Jehovah has made in the blood and right- 
 eousness of Christ, we see the grounds of our 
 victory. In the death and resurrection of 
 Christ, we have the pledge of our complete 
 victory, and the final death of Amalek. And 
 if Moses thought this victory over Amalek 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 119 
 
 worthy of an altar of memorial, can we find 
 no passages in our past history on which we 
 should inscribe " Jehovah-nissif " If the 
 way by which we have come thus far in life 
 has been marked in many parts by conflict 
 and trial, has it not also been marked by 
 special deliverances'? Are there not many, 
 many scenes, which memory can recall, in 
 which but for the Lord we must have fallen 1 ? 
 Are there not many dangers marked by as 
 many wonderful escapes'? Above all, are 
 there not many sins, over which the blood- 
 red hand has been graciously drawn to blot 
 them all away so that, although the memory 
 of the act remains, the guilt is washed away 
 for ever 1 ? Oh, surely if Samuel could set up 
 his "Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the 
 Lord helped us;" so, after every deliverance, 
 should we set up a memorial of "Jehovah- 
 nissi!" 
 
 And if we read, "Joshua discomfited 
 Amalek," what has not our Joshua done ! 
 "Was ever victory so complete? At what a 
 
120 JEEOVAH-N1SSL 
 
 cost, too ! Did He not " bear our griefs and 
 carry our sorrows;" yea, "bear our sins in 
 His own body on the tree 1 ? " Was not " He 
 who knew no sin, made sin for us, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in 
 Him?" Could any payment be more com- 
 plete than this 1 ? any suretyship more exact 
 in its compensation? Could any creditor 
 be more completely satisfied than God, or 
 any debtor more completely exonerated than 
 man"? Could any tyrant be more completely 
 vanquished than Satan, or any captive more 
 completely liberated than the believing sin- 
 ner"? Impossible! Christ's work is perfect 
 perfect for the honour of God perfect for 
 His own satisfaction perfect for the salva- 
 tion of His Church. 
 
 This is the memorial recorded in Scripture, 
 that God has made a covenant in Christ, 
 by which the salvation of all His Church is 
 everlastingly secured. This, the Holy Ghost 
 teaches. He gives spiritual perceptions of 
 the eternal love of God to His people in 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 121 
 
 Christ. He shews the heart of Christ to His 
 people His bowels and mercies His end- 
 less compassions and how everything He is 
 and has done, is suited to a sinner's wants. 
 He shews that the joy and peace, which a 
 believer has, are not built upon anything he 
 is or feels in himself, but upon the person 
 and work of Christ, as revealed in the ever- 
 lasting gospel that the revelation of Christ 
 is the foundation of all faith in Him, and 
 that man's feelings or sinfulness in nowise 
 alter the truth of God, nor the record He 
 hath given of His Son. And it is what a 
 man believes of Christ which gives him 
 rest. Does he feel he is a sinner 1 He is to 
 avail himself of the blood of Christ. Does 
 he feel himself empty of all good \ He must 
 receive of Christ's fulness. Does He feel 
 himself to be nothing? Christ is all! This 
 is the good news of the gospel this is the 
 comfort to the weary and heavy laden the 
 seeing in our Joshua all that is needed, not 
 merely for the healing, and cleansing, and 
 
1 22 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 sanctifying of our souls, but for the final 
 destruction of our Amalek. Satan still sur- 
 vives, and is permitted for a season to harass 
 and try God's people, and will do so till our 
 Lord comes again ; but as it is written of 
 the literal Amalek, " Amalek was the first of 
 the nations, but his latter end shall be that 
 he perish for ever" (Numbers xxiv. 20), so 
 shall it be with our great enemy! 
 
 It is, no doubt, a wearying part of our 
 conflict, that we have to contend so often 
 with the same old sins lusts, evil thoughts, 
 habits, indolence, self-indulgence, &c. Ama- 
 lek has entrenched himself so deeply in our 
 hearts and nature, that we never seem to get 
 to the bottom of his deceits and snares. 
 Oh! what does it not cost to "cast down 
 imaginations, and every high thing that 
 exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
 Christ"?" What does it not cost the believer 
 to be strange to bosom lusts which approach 
 with such unholy familiarity, and intrude at 
 such solemn seasons? Who is not tormented 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 123 
 
 by the memory of sins committed years ago ? 
 and although the guilt may be all washed 
 away in the blood of Christ, yet we still 
 carry the hateful memory within. This con- 
 flict is heavy, but it is in the power of our 
 Joshua to sustain us. He has the strength 
 to give us, and He will impart it in answer 
 to prayer! 
 
 II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 " Moses built an altar, and called the name 
 of it Jehovah-nissi ; for he said, Because the 
 Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war 
 with Amalek from generation to generation." 
 We may ask, Where is the literal Amalek "? 
 He is gone. Did God forget His promise 
 because He allowed generations to pass 
 before He fulfilled itl In nowise. The re- 
 membrance of Amalek's sin was as fresh 
 with God when He put out his name as 
 when Amalek committed it. Israel had but 
 to wait patiently and trust implicitly, and 
 lo! it was unto them even as God said. 
 
124 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 Their enemy was destroyed. What is the 
 lesson? We have "need of patience, that, 
 after we have done the will of God, we might 
 receive the promise'*' (Heb. x. 36). What 
 we need is faith in the word of God. 
 
 What an encouragement to resist sin in 
 every form, is it to know, " This is the will 
 of God, even your sanctification "- that it 
 is written, " Be ye holy, for I am holy." And 
 if, by the grace of God, we are bent on re- 
 sisting sin "mortifying the deeds of the 
 body," " crucifying the flesh, with the affec- 
 tions and lusts"- we are bent on that on 
 which the Lord is determined too; and we 
 may confidently look for His help. For it is 
 not more certain that God has a people at 
 all in this world, than that He has deter- 
 mined what they are to be. If from all 
 eternity He has known them that are His, 
 He has also predetermined that they shall 
 be " holy and without blame before Him in 
 love." Be not cast down by the number of 
 
GOD'S VICTORY. 125 
 
 your enemies. It was after their deliverance 
 from Egypt that the trials of Israel began. 
 We may be screened for a season by the 
 good providence of God, as the Israelites 
 were kept from going through the territory 
 of the Philistines, lest they should be alarmed 
 by that warlike people, and return to Egypt 
 (Exod. xiii. 17); but believers are enlisted 
 on purpose to fight, and their courage will 
 be put to the test. 
 
 Remember, it was " after they were illumi- 
 nated" the Hebrews " endured a great fight 
 of afflictions " (Heb. x. 32). So it is after 
 you have known " Jehovah-jireh," and " Je- 
 hovah-tsidkenu," and " Jehovah-shalom," that 
 you are called to know Him as "Jehovah- 
 nissi" and to fight the battles of the Lord. 
 The right spirit for a Christian soldier is de- 
 pendence on his Captain, obedience to His 
 orders, and unflinching courage. Remember 
 still, all is to be done by the power of God. 
 It is He that will crush Amalek. Rest, then, 
 
126 JEHO VAH-NISSI. 
 
 on His promise; it is as certain as any of 
 His acts already fulfilled. Don't seek for 
 holiness or strength in yourself, but in Jesus. 
 Your fallen nature will never be otherwise 
 than it is in this time-state. That which is 
 born of the flesh is flesh, and will ever remain 
 so ; it is, as a principle, incapable of improve- 
 ment. But your hope, your refuge, your 
 security, are all in Jesus. Look, then, to Jesus. 
 Be of good courage. Shall God permit Satan 
 to mar His work for ever'? Shall the Omni- 
 potent Jehovah be baifled by His rebellious 
 creature 1 ? Are some of Satan's host already 
 " in everlasting chains," and shall not all be 
 there 1 ? Yes, if there be strength, and truth, 
 and faithfulness in God! Let, then, "Je- 
 hovah-nissi " be our banner, and let us dis- 
 play it boldly, because of the truth ! 
 
 1. I would here remark, A banner is a 
 rallying point. So should the Cross be for 
 all Christ's people. Christ is the ensign to 
 which the gathering of the people is to be. 
 
GOD'S VICTOKY. 127 
 
 Under this should they be found, and no- 
 where else. As Amalek smote the hinder- 
 most of Israel, so will the great spiritual 
 Amalek strike at the soul of any loiterer in 
 the path of service, who does not bear his 
 cross boldly, and, like Joshua and Caleb, 
 follow the Lord fully. 
 
 2. A banner is to distinguish Christ's 
 soldiers. Never be ashamed of your colours. 
 Cleave to them to the last ! Encourage and 
 help each other, as Aaron and Hur helped 
 Moses. Hold up each other's hands. Ani- 
 mate each other's hearts. Think what a 
 Captain you are fighting under ! The world 
 which tempts you has been overcome by 
 Him. The Prince of this world has been 
 judged by Him. Fight on but a little while, 
 and ere long you shall put your feet on the 
 neck of all your enemies, and enjoy the fruit 
 of victory for ever; for the battle is the 
 Lord's. His honour is concerned in it no 
 less than our safety. The Lord will surely 
 
] 28 JEHOVAH-NISSI. 
 
 be true to Himself, and if we are true to 
 Him, our safety is certain. Let us learn to 
 identify ourselves with Him and His objects: 
 " Ye that love the Lord, hate evil/' and you 
 shall one day be more than conquerors 
 through the power of " Jehovah-nissi." 
 
JEIIOYATT-SIIAMMAH. 
 
 WHO can the thoughts conceive, 
 The feelings of his breast, 
 
 Who shall himself perceive 
 In heaven at rest ! 
 
 When there the spirit wakes. 
 
 And, springing from the dust, 
 Its new position takes 
 Among the just 
 
 Methinks all other joys 
 
 Would scarce at first be felt ! 
 
 This would the tongue employ 
 The heart would melt. 
 
 " My trial then is done 
 Ended the weary strife : 
 
 I Ve kept the faith, I 've won 
 Eternal life. 
 
 " I Ve drawn my last sad breath, 
 Tears, sighs, are all forgot : 
 
 I 've pass'd the gates of Death 
 He harm'd me not. 
 
 " No doubtings now, nor sin, 
 Can dim my title clear ; 
 
 By Christ I 've enter'd in 
 I 'm saved I 'in here ! " 
 
LECTUEE VI. 
 
 GOD'S PRESENCE. 
 
 EZEKIEL xlviii. 35. 
 
 " And the name of the city from that day shall be, The 
 Lord is there." 
 
 BEFORE we proceed to consider the title, " Je- 
 hovah-shamniah," which the margin informs 
 us is the original of the phrase, " The Lord 
 is there," it will be right, perhaps, to say a few 
 words on the portion of Scripture with which 
 the text stands connected. 
 
 This portion of Scripture includes the last 
 eight chapters of Ezekiel; and is confessedly 
 one of the difficulties of Scripture. It con- 
 tains some things "hard to be understood;" 
 but we must distinguish as to where the cliffi- 
 
132 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 culty lies. Not, assuredly, in the chapters 
 themselves; which are a simple, intelligible 
 description of a city containing a temple, 
 having a priestly ritual. This is not very 
 difficult to understand ; but the difficulty lies 
 rather in attempting to explain how, and 
 where, these things shall be in the dispensa- 
 tions of God. If we compare this portion of 
 Scripture with others, in some respects similar, 
 in the hope of reconciling them, it is quite 
 beyond our power to do so ; but although we 
 cannot reconcile them, it does not follow that 
 they cannot be reconciled. If the renewal of 
 sacrifice seems at variance with " Christ's one 
 sacrifice for sins for ever," the believing 
 these chapters to contain merely a represen- 
 tation of spiritual worship seems not less dif- 
 ficult. If the literal interpretation contain 
 difficulties, the spiritual is not free from them. 
 So the most becoming course appears to be, 
 to lay aside preconceived notions; to take 
 this portion of Scripture as it stands, humbly 
 acknowledging we cannot reconcile it with 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 133 
 
 other parts; but patiently waiting for the 
 explanation which God will soon give of this, 
 as well as of other portions of His Word; 
 believing it to be true of some of His words, 
 as of some of His acts, "What I do, thou 
 knowest not now, but thou shalt know here- 
 after." 
 
 There can be, I think, no doubt that it ap- 
 plies particularly, perhaps wholly, to the Jew ; 
 and is therefore not applicable to those who 
 are believers now ; and who, if " quick " at 
 Christ's coming, will be " caught up in the 
 clouds, to meet the Lord in the air," and so 
 " be ever with Him;" and who, if first called 
 to pass through the valley of death, will be 
 among those whom God shall "bring with 
 Him." But although there may be difficulties 
 connected with the city in the context, there 
 are certain things clear with respect to that 
 city of which the believer in Christ now is des- 
 tined to be an inhabitant. Brethren, there is 
 a city, declared to be the believer's blessed por- 
 tion and habitation, of which it may be truly 
 
1D4 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 said, " The Lord is there." It is that spoken 
 of in Rev. xxi. 2. It is " the holy city, new 
 Jerusalem "- the city of God. The same 
 the Old Testament saints looked for, the 
 " city which hath foundations, whose builder 
 and maker is God " the city wherein is no 
 temple, " for the Lord God Almighty and 
 the Lamb are the temple of it." It is that 
 which, ordinarily, is called heaven ; but which 
 is spoken of, in one respect, with a distinct- 
 ness which cheers the heart of a believer 
 namely, as the place where the Lord is. This 
 is heaven to the believer, "To be with 
 Christ " where He is to " see Him as He is " 
 -to " be like Him " to "behold His glory 
 which He had with the Father before the 
 world began." This is the blessed prospect 
 of the believer, and with this he is satisfied. 
 Let us consider this city, of which it may 
 be said, " The Lord is there." When we look 
 at Rev. xxi. 2, we see " the holy city, new 
 Jerusalem," is spoken of as the Bride, the 
 Lamb's wife ; that is, the whole body of be- 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 135 
 
 lievers : where the place is put for the people 
 who dwell there. We have an illustration of 
 this form of speech in Heb. xii. 22, 23, where 
 Paul speaks of "the city of the living God, 
 the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly 
 and church of the first-born;" or still more 
 aptly in Mark i. 33, "And all the city was 
 gathered together at the door;" and again, 
 in Acts xiii. 44, "And the next Sabbath-day 
 came almost the whole city together to hear 
 the word of God," where we clearly under- 
 stand what is meant by the city, all the 
 people of that city. So by "the city of God" 
 is meant all God's believing people, "the 
 whole family named of Christ in heaven and 
 earth." 
 
 Now, of this city, of which part have 
 crossed the flood, and part are still militant 
 here on earth, it is the believer's privilege to 
 know, that the Lord is not more really with 
 those who have finished their course and have 
 entered in through the gates, than with those 
 who are still warring in the body of this flesh. 
 
136 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 The Lord is with His Bride during the 
 time she is being prepared and adorned for 
 her Husband; for it is He who disciplines, 
 and trains, and fits her for Himself. The 
 Lord is with His Church now, whatever may 
 be her state, as truly as He will be hereafter 
 for ever! 
 
 This is my subject, Wherever a believer 
 is, "the Lord is there." The believer is a 
 "temple of the Holy Ghost" "an habitation 
 of God through the Spirit;" Christ "dwells 
 in his heart." This, if blessed, is also most 
 solemn. Let us not look at it as a mere truth 
 of the general omnipresence of God ; but let 
 us connect it with what it involves as respects 
 ourselves personally. It should be a stimulus 
 to walk worthy of our high calling. The 
 consciousness, at all times, of the all-seeing 
 eye of Jesus should have this effect. For if 
 a believer consider that the eye of Jesus is on 
 him, it cannot but make him jealous over 
 himself lest there should be anything at work 
 within, offensive to that eye! Now, with re- 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 137 
 
 spect to this city, the body of believers gene- 
 rally, and each in particular, I would say 
 1st, The Lord is there as the Searcher of 
 hearts. Secresy and concealment are the 
 relief of many in this world; darkness is 
 their refuge: but to God the darkness and 
 the light are both alike " All things are 
 naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with 
 whom we have to do." This is solemn! It 
 is a solemn thing to stand before a holy, sin- 
 hating God to think that all things are 
 before Him our most secret sins in the 
 light of His countenance. Yet so it is! 
 Every creature is open before God. This is 
 inevitable. It is a necessity of one's being. 
 Nothing is beyond the reach, nor beneath 
 the notice of God; nothing so high, but He 
 sees above it ; nothing so low, but He sees 
 beneath it; nothing so dark, but His eye 
 pierces through it; nothing so subtle and 
 ethereal, but He grasps it. He knows the 
 qualities, the habits, the power, the influence, 
 and the value of all His creatures their 
 
138 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 secret history, and every movement con- 
 nected with them. Every human being is 
 open before God, whether he thinks of it, 
 and believes it, or not. This will be seen in 
 that day when " God shall judge the secrets 
 of men by Jesus Christ" (Rom. ii. 16). Yes! 
 let things be never so close or hidden, " the 
 Lord is there." Each thing in the universe, 
 as well as each thought in man's heart, is as 
 if it stood alone. How strikingly is this 
 brought out in Psalm cxxxix. 1-4, " Lord, 
 thou hast searched me, and known me. 
 Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up- 
 rising: Thou understandest my thought afar 
 
 C2 / 
 
 off. Thou compassest ('winnoivest,' margin) 
 my path, and my lying down, and art 
 acquainted with all my ways. For there is 
 not a word in my tongue, but, lo, Lord, 
 thou knowest it altogether." Oh, what a 
 word is that, "winnowest!" Who can bear 
 to have their paths " winnowed f " to have 
 the precious separated from the vile? that 
 which is from that which merely seemeth to 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 139 
 
 be f to have the reality come out \ We 
 rather like to be thought all we profess to 
 be. We shrink from having all our motives 
 scrutinised and searched. But God is ever 
 doing this. He is ever there to see. Nor 
 can we escape this searching process 
 " Whither shall I go from Thy spirit \ or 
 whither shall I flee from Thy presence V 
 We cannot; do what, or go where, we will. 
 In the description given of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ (Eev. i. 14), it is said, "His eyes were 
 as a flame of fire." And when He comes to 
 deal with the churches (Rev. ii. and iii.), He 
 begins with them all thus, "I know thy 
 works." His judgment is not dependent on 
 men's outward profession, but is oftentimes 
 quite independent of it, and contrary to it; 
 and often quite contrary to that which, in 
 their secret heart, they judge of themselves. 
 For instance, the Church of Laodicea said of 
 herself, " I am rich ;" but Christ saw that she 
 was " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
 blind, and naked." So, when Judas was in 
 
140 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 the very height of his profession among the 
 twelve, Jesus knew him to be a devil (John 
 vi. 70); and when Peter was in the very 
 worst of his defection, He judged him to be 
 a child of God, and prayed for him that his 
 faith might not fail. I repeat, this is solemn. 
 But, to an honest heart, is it not comforting 
 also ? To you, who have " the testimony of 
 your conscience, that in simplicity and godly 
 sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
 the grace of God, you have your conversation 
 in the world" to you, who really try to 
 live before God, this must be a relief. It 
 must be to you what it was to Peter to say, 
 "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou 
 knowest that I love Thee." Of course, such 
 a thought is overwhelming to the hypocrite ; 
 but to the humble-minded, sincere child of 
 God it must be a comfort. 
 
 2d, "The Lord is there" as the Judge of 
 what sin is. Sin is not merely what you and 
 I think it to be, but what the Lord sees and 
 knows it to be. When the Holy Spirit teaches 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 1 41 
 
 a man about sin, it is not merely to shew him 
 what sin is in acts of disobedience, but what 
 it is in its nature; that it is lawlessness (1 
 John iii. 4), contempt of, and utter contrariety 
 to God; that the flesh is vile, and that that 
 principle can never be anything else before 
 God. It is from want of this teaching that 
 people are content to go on outwardly cor- 
 rect, but never watching the heart; because 
 they do not regard its irregularities and de- 
 partures from God. But the Lord sees all 
 the evil of sin its pride, rebellion, hatred, 
 enmity, insolence, arrogance, blasphemy 
 how it aims at dethroning God and setting 
 up self. For what is sin but rebellion ? and 
 what is rebellion, but saying, "We will not 
 have this man to reign over us?" Yes! the 
 Lord sees all its shapes, and forms, and cir- 
 cumstances ; and His conclusion is, that it is 
 the abominable thing which He hates. Now, 
 what sin is to God, that, man's heart is natu- 
 rally. Whatever the extreme of deceitful- 
 ness and desperate wickedness is, that, man's 
 
1 42 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 heart is (Jer. xvii. 9) ; and it is into this 
 knowledge of self, that the Holy Spirit and 
 the Word of God gradually conduct be- 
 lievers, that they may see things as Jesus 
 sees them, and feel about them as Jesus 
 feels; so far, at least, as they can bear it. 
 Jesus Christ gradually shews His children 
 that they are vile in themselves; and this 
 He does, not to terrify them, but to humble 
 them, that they may not glory in themselves, 
 but in Him. The believer's experience of 
 himself is, not that he grows better, but 
 rather worse. The more he digs into his 
 heart, the more he sees of the real character 
 of his motives, objects, spirit, &c. the more 
 he sees his heart as Jesus Christ has all 
 along seen it to be. And this leads him to 
 see that his salvation can only be of grace. 
 A man who has once stood with his heart 
 bare before Jesus Christ, sees at once that all 
 hope in himself is gone that he is far too 
 abominable to have one hope of salvation 
 but in the unfathomable mystery of God's 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 143 
 
 grace. He sees, that however gross may 
 have been his life and conduct, the "Lord 
 who is there" knows his heart to be immea- 
 sureably worse. Such a man sees himself in 
 no respect different from God's account of 
 man before the Flood, that " every imagina- 
 tion of the thoughts of his heart was only 
 evil continually;" that thousands of years of 
 progress and mental culture leave man the 
 same before God corrupt, and lying under 
 "the law of sin and death;" and that no 
 mere knowledge, no philosophy can save him. 
 Nay, more; such is the weakness of nature, 
 that after a man has been " delivered from 
 the power of darkness, and translated into 
 the kingdom of God's dear Son," he finds 
 himself unable to maintain his standing be- 
 fore God. He knows how the veriest trifle 
 and vanity of this world will move his heart 
 from the everlasting realities of the gospel; 
 how soon he dishonours Christ, by pride or 
 some other abominable sin. Such a man, so 
 taught, can find rest only in the free grace of 
 
144 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 God. Such a passage as Eph. ii. 4-8 is 
 life to his soul: "But God, who is rich 
 in mercy, for his great love wherewith he 
 loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
 hath quickened us together with Christ ; (by 
 grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us 
 up together, and made us sit together in 
 heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the 
 ages to come he might shew the exceeding 
 riches of his grace, in his kindness toward 
 us through Christ Jesus. For by grace 
 are ye saved through faith; and that not 
 of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Yes! 
 believers are "God's workmanship, created 
 in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God 
 hath before ordained that we should walk in 
 them." And this is the only point of rest 
 for a spiritually enlightened mind. It may 
 be painful to be stripped of self to have 
 all one is and does so " winnowed " by the 
 all-searching eye of Christ, that one feels as 
 vile and worthless as a weed upon the shore 
 shrivelled into nothing yet this is the 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 145 
 
 way to make us prize " Jehovah-shammab " 
 in another aspect. 
 
 3d, As the Provider of the remedy! 
 "The Lord is there," with His children, in 
 pointing out how perfect this remedy is. 
 Yes! the Lord, who knows man as He is, 
 has provided a salvation for him as he is. 
 And when the blessed gospel speaks to us 
 of pardon, it is pardon of our sins, to the 
 full extent of what God knows them to be 
 as they are seen by His omniscience, in all 
 their terrible aggravations as they were in 
 childhood, youth, manhood, old age against 
 light, knowledge, conscience in the midst 
 
 O o * 
 
 of profession, zeal, labour, activity in gospel 
 duties, &c. Here we get a glimpse of the 
 comprehensiveness of being cleansed from all 
 sin. And, moreover, when the same blessed 
 gospel speaks to us of "the righteousness of 
 God which is by faith of Jesus Christ," it is 
 a righteousness searched and "winnowed" 
 by God's all-seeing eye, and yet declared to 
 be "everlasting righteousness." Think, on 
 K 
 
146 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 the one hand, of the extent of cleansing; on 
 the other, of the extent of righteousness. 
 Both are the work of Jehovah -Jesus, and 
 both are yours by faith of Jesus Christ. 
 Oh! there is blessing in the thought, "The 
 Lord is there," in everything; for though it 
 may alarm us to think of being searched 
 through and through by the eye of the Lord, 
 yet what a blessing to know that sin is 
 thoroughly searched out, in its most secret 
 hiding-places, and charged on Jesus Christ! 
 for did but one escape, and appear against 
 you at the last day, what could you do? 
 
 No enlightened mind could bear the 
 knowledge God has of us, but for Christ. 
 And you remember the use Paul makes of 
 the atonement of Christ when speaking on 
 this subject? " Neither is there any creature 
 that is not manifest in His sight: but all 
 things are naked and opened unto the eyes 
 of Him with whom we have to do ; " and as 
 if he could not bear the idea, he instantly 
 flies to the atonement, "Seeing then we 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 147 
 
 have a great High Priest that is passed into 
 the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us 
 hold fast our profession. For we have not 
 an High Priest which cannot be touched with 
 the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all 
 points tempted like as we are, yet without 
 sin." 
 
 And how immeasurable the comfort of 
 knowing, that the power and efficacy of all 
 He is in Himself (and you know He is Jeho- 
 vah, Eternal) attaches to all He has done for 
 sinners. For instance, He has offered "one 
 sacrifice for sins for ever." This, like Him- 
 self, is " the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
 for ever." "He has obtained eternal re- 
 demption for us" He has "brought in ever- 
 lasting righteousness" He hath "perfected 
 for ever them that are sanctified" He is 
 "consecrated a Priest for evermore" "He 
 ever liveth to make intercession for us." 
 
 Now, all the value of the work and offices 
 of Christ flows from the glory of His person. 
 And the whole question, between God and 
 
1 48 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 the believer, is determined on the ground of 
 the unalterable value of what Christ has 
 done. The work of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 is infinitely above our need as sinners, vast 
 and comprehensive as that need is; and 
 although it is hard to believe ourselves to be 
 so bad as God knows us to be although 
 man is ever looking into himself, hoping to 
 find himself better, while the thought of 
 God's omniscience must ever destroy such a 
 hope yet here is the comforting thought 
 connected with God's omniscience, that al- 
 though He acts towards us upon His own 
 judgment of what we are, and not what we 
 think of ourselves, yet the remedy for sin, 
 which He presents to us in Christ, is also not 
 according to our narrow estimate of the 
 value of Christ's work and person, but 
 according to His own omniscient estimate of 
 its height, and depth, and length, and breadth, 
 which passeth knowledge. Yes ! if when 
 God tells us we are lost sinners, He means a 
 ruin inconceivable by us, in its depth and 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 149 
 
 misery; so also, when He tells us we are 
 saved in Christ, He means a salvation in- 
 conceivable in its comprehensiveness and 
 blessedness. For just as no one sees his 
 heart to be so bad as Omniscience knows it 
 to be, so no one knows the perfections of 
 Christ, in all their fulness, to be so glorious 
 as they are. It will take eternity to reveal 
 them to us ! 
 
 &th, " The Lord is there" as a present help 
 and comfort to His people! Yes! always 
 there at the right time, because He antici- 
 pates the effect of circumstances upon His 
 Church. He knows what things will tell 
 the extent to which, and the manner how, 
 they will tell. " The Lord is there" with His 
 Church, in her circumstances, be what they 
 may, teaching her "line upon line, pre- 
 cept upon precept." He is with her in the 
 wilderness leading her, bearing her on 
 eagle's wings, eventually to bring her to Him- 
 self. He does not leave her, except to shew 
 her, like Hezekiah, what is in her heart, and 
 
150 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 to make her more prize His presence and 
 help. He is with her, defending and keeping 
 her "as the apple of an eye" appearing 
 especially for her in times of trial, and pro- 
 viding for her in unexampled and unexpected 
 ways. He is there as her sympathising Hus- 
 band as her Omnipotent Lord as the ten- 
 der Partner of her sorrows as the glad 
 Partaker of her joys. He neither forgets nor 
 forsakes her in trouble, but He sits by as a 
 Refiner and Purifier; and when He sees His 
 own blessed image formed and reflected in 
 her, then He takes her to Himself, to be with 
 Him in another state. And what a mercy to 
 think, that the spiritual stones of which this 
 city is composed are all fitted by God's own 
 workmanship for the very place they are to 
 occupy! There is no believer so feeble in his 
 faith, so obscure in his position, so insignifi- 
 cant among his fellows on earth, but he has 
 his proper place assigned him in the heavenly 
 temple, for which he is being prepared by 
 the Lord. And as, at the building of Solo- 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 151 
 
 mon's temple, the materials were prepared at 
 a distance, " and made ready before brought 
 thither; so that there was neither hammer, 
 nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the 
 house while it was in building;" so all the 
 lively stones, of which the heavenly city is 
 composed, are made ready in the quarry of 
 this life. It is here the preparation, the 
 chipping, and the polishing of them goes on. 
 They are all hewn from the same hard stony 
 nature all digged out of the same pit of a 
 corrupt world. They are all " God's work- 
 manship created in Christ Jesus unto good 
 works " all squared by one rule of obedience 
 to the Lord all cemented together by the 
 spirit of love all dove-tailed into one body 
 by the exercise of the various graces of the 
 Spirit; and when they are taken from the 
 din, and dust, and turmoil of this life, it is to 
 be in joy, and peace, and love for ever. It 
 is, moreover, worthy of notice, that in the 
 tabernacle there were no windows the light 
 was all from within. In Solomon's temple, 
 
152 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 too, "the windows were of narrow lights." 
 So the believer walks not by the light of this 
 world, but chiefly by that "candle of the 
 Lord," which by the Holy Spirit has been re- 
 lighted in his heart, and by the Word of God, 
 which is now become " a light unto his feet 
 and a lamp to his path ; " and hereafter it is 
 to be entirely so, when "the Lord shall be 
 his everlasting light, and his God his glory." 
 Let us not, then, complain of our trials; 
 but try to bear them patiently yea, bravely. 
 "The Lord is there." He is in them, and 
 will be with us in them. " Affliction cometh 
 not forth of the dust," nor without a " needs 
 be," and a suitable object. And if only we 
 can bring ourselves to believe " the Lord is 
 there," all is well; yea, Messed. This is your 
 comfort. When God looks upon the Church, 
 He looks on Jesus, and sees her in Him 
 sees her " a glorious Church, without spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing." He sees each 
 member "complete in Christ" every man 
 perfect in Christ Jesus." 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 153 
 
 Lastly, " The Lord is there " as the future 
 full portion and bliss of II is people! 
 
 Whether this state shall be ushered in by 
 the trump of God waking us from the dead, 
 or whether we shall live to hear the " shout " 
 with which " the Lord will descend from 
 heaven," it will be one of everlasting blessed- 
 ness and glory. To be with Christ to see 
 Him as He is to be like Him to share His 
 glory, this is the believer's portion! an 
 everlasting portion; one, never to be dimi- 
 nished in its brightness never to be dimi- 
 nished in extent, enjoyment, or duration; 
 one, where all pain, and sorrow, and tears 
 shall ceaseybr ever; and be among the former 
 things which have all passed away; where, 
 if we remember the trials of earth, it will 
 only be to make us magnify the grace which 
 overruled them all for good, and now makes 
 our happiness seem all the brighter where, 
 in addition to the rapture of clasping again 
 to our hearts those whom we have known 
 and loved in the Lord, we shall mingle with 
 
154 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 the saints of every age and clime, "with 
 the spirits of just men made perfect "- 
 where, while hearts are warm, and true, and 
 loving to each other, we shall be filled with 
 an exceeding love to Christ, who gave us all 
 where we shall be able to unite the " Alle- 
 luia " of praise with the " Amen " of perfect 
 acquiescence where "the city hath no need 
 of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in 
 it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and 
 the Lamb is the light thereof." 
 
 my beloved brethren, think on these 
 things! Think of the everlasting blessings 
 God has prepared for you! That as Jehovah 
 is eternal, so what He gives is eternal too. 
 Think of the everlasting provision which He 
 has made for you, in the death and resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, as " Jehovah-jireh " of the 
 " everlasting righteousness " He has provided 
 for you, as " Jehovah-tsidkenu " of the 
 everlasting peace He gives you, as " Jehovah- 
 shalom " of the everlasting victory He has 
 won for you over death and Satan, as " Je- 
 
GOD'S PRESENCE. 155 
 
 hovah-nissi " and of the everlasting glory 
 of His presence, as " Jehovah-shammah!" 
 What has He not done for you, and all that 
 love Him \ Surely I may say to you, 
 " Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the 
 Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." 
 
 Before I close, listen to one word of warn- 
 ing. Remember, such of you as may be 
 living without much reference to God, that 
 His eye is ever upon you, searching your 
 most secret thoughts and ways. It is not a 
 question whether He sees you; this is fixed 
 and inevitable: but it is a question whether 
 you will resolutely determine to live as before 
 Him, giving yourself up to His service 
 whether you will invite His presence, desire 
 it always, live as in His sight in short, 
 whether you will strive to "set the Lord 
 always before you?" Strive to love the 
 Lord to hate evil. Remember the power 
 of Satan in these last days. He appears now, 
 often as an angel of light, with disguises so 
 specious, that, if it were possible, the very 
 
156 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 
 
 elect would be deceived. He is always 
 endeavouring to pass off a counterfeit for the 
 real. For example, if there is a Church of 
 the living God which is true and real, Satan 
 is ever trying to rear a false church. If 
 Christ has a Bride adorned and beautified for 
 Himself, there is a painted harlot in the 
 world who is audaciously claiming this place 
 of honour. If God has a city, the heavenly 
 Jerusalem, Satan is sedulously building up a 
 Babylon. Oh, beware of her delicacies ! If 
 there are those who bear the seal of the 
 living God in their foreheads, there are also 
 those who have the mark of the beast. Pray 
 that you may judge righteous judgment in 
 these matters that you may choose heartily 
 for the Lord. Pray that you may be led to 
 take the road "that leadeth unto life," and 
 give, as a reason to those that ask you, " The 
 Lord is there;" till at length, being carried 
 to that city of God, you shall no longer say, 
 "The Lord is there" but "The Lord is here" 
 and " I am ever with the Lord." 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE: 
 
 A SERIES OF LECTURES, 
 
 PREACHED IN PORTMAN CHAPEL, BAKER STREET. 
 LENT 1857. 
 
 BTTHB 
 
 KEY. J. W. REEVE, A.M., 
 
 MINISTER OF THE CIIAI'KI- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 
 II. ITS ILLUSTRATION IN THE WITNESSES. 
 
 III. THE PREPARATION TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 
 
 IV. THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT IS 
 
 TO BE RUN. 
 
 V. THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 VI. THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 RACE, 
 
 FOR a Faith that will not shrink, 
 
 Though press'd by every foe ; 
 That will not tremble on the brink 
 
 Of any earthly woe : 
 
 That will not murmur nor complain, 
 
 Beneath the chast'ning rod ; 
 But, in the hour of grief or pain, 
 
 Will lean upon its God : 
 
 A Faith that shines more bright and clear, 
 
 When tempests rage without ; 
 That, when in danger, knows no fear, 
 
 In darkness, feels no doubt : 
 
 That bears, unmoved, the world's dread frown, 
 
 Nor heeds its scornful smile ; 
 That seas of trouble cannot drown, 
 
 Nor Satan's arts beguile : 
 
 A Faith that keeps the narrow way, 
 
 Till life's last hour is fled, 
 And with a pure and heavenly ray 
 
 Lights up the dying bed. 
 
 Lord, give us such a Faith as this ; 
 
 And then, whate'er may come, 
 We '11 taste, e'en here, the hallow'd bliss 
 
 Of our eternal home. 
 
 L 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 
 
 HEBREWS xi. 1. 
 
 " Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the 
 evidence of things not seen" 
 
 THE subject of my present course of lectures 
 is the " Christian race," as set forth in the 
 first two verses of chap. xii. It is one of 
 deep importance, because it is a race ap- 
 pointed of God. All have to run who would 
 not miss eternal life. It behoves us, there- 
 fore, not merely to know the principle on 
 which alone it can be run, but which will 
 successfully meet the difficulties through 
 which it must be run. In this race there 
 is no exemption. All must run who would 
 
164 THE PKINCIPLE OP 
 
 win. Victory is not necessarily sure to the 
 swift, but to the patient who persevere to 
 the end. The thing is "so to run that we 
 may obtain." I shall divide the subject as 
 follows : 
 
 I. THE PKINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN EACE. 
 II. ITS ILLUSTRATION IN THE WITNESSES. 
 
 III. THE PREPARATION TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 
 
 IV. THE RACE ITSELF, AND THE SPIRIT IN 
 
 WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 
 V. THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 VI. THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 We have now to consider the first of these : 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 
 
 This is Faith. 
 
 From the begining of the world in all 
 ages of it under all dispensations of grace 
 all alterations of worship, faith has been 
 the only principle of living unto God of 
 resisting and overcoming sin of obtaining 
 ..promises of inheriting eternal life. This 
 chapter, in telling us what faith has done in 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 165 
 
 ages that are past, encourages us to believe 
 what it will do in our own circumstances, if 
 we exercise it really. We see it can do " all 
 things that pertain to life and godliness" 
 and service of God here, and all things that 
 will secure everlasting rest hereafter. With- 
 out faith nothing can be done in the spiri- 
 tual life, for "without faith it is impossible 
 to please God." But, blessed be God, it is 
 also written, " All things are possible to him 
 that believeth." Faith, therefore, is the 
 principle which must be brought to bear in 
 the Christian race, for it is the principle of 
 the Christian life. It is said, in the text, to 
 be " the substance of things hoped for, the 
 evidence of things not seen;" i. e., it is a 
 principle which makes the things hoped for 
 substantial and influential realities even 
 here ; which sees and feels the power " of 
 things not seen," and brings them to bear 
 on "things seen;" so that by it a believer is 
 constantly making the promises of the Word, 
 and the prospects of eternity, tell on the 
 
166 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 things of time thus tasting in the grace 
 given here, the glory that is yet to be re- 
 vealed. 
 
 I need not, on this occasion, bring before 
 you the elementary parts of Christianity. I 
 shall start from the point of justification 
 when a man first begins to serve God, and 
 sets out in the Christian race. A man must 
 be a believer in Jesus Christ, and therefore 
 justified in the sight of God, before he starts 
 on this race. It is no mere worldly race, in 
 which the zeal of the flesh, or a desire of out- 
 stripping others, or any other carnal motive, 
 will make men run a long way, and witli 
 great earnestness too. It is no mere struggle 
 for human glory, for the course will often 
 lie through things which "will stain the 
 pride of all human glory ;" nor is it a con- 
 test for things that perish in the using, for 
 it often calls for the sacrifice of all earthly 
 hopes, and demands the giving up of that 
 which sheds a halo round our very life; but 
 it is a race for "an inheritance incorruptible 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 167 
 
 and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." It 
 must be run in a spirit of separation from 
 the world, and of simple child-like dependence 
 on Christ. And very much of the conflict 
 will go on, far out of the sight of men, in the 
 narrow precincts of our own heart. 
 
 You may ask, What is the object of that 
 faith which qualifies men for this race, and 
 keeps them constant in it, notwithstanding 
 the difficulties with which they have to con- 
 tend 7 ? The ultimate object of faith is God, 
 The immediate saving object of faith, as re- 
 vealed in the New Testament, is Jesus Christ, 
 the Son of God. If you look at those places 
 in Scripture in which a statement of faith in 
 Christ is recorded, you will usually find it 
 with this addition, " the Son of God ; " e. g. t 
 Peter's (Matt. xvi. 16, and John vi. 69); 
 Martha's (John xi. 27) ; John's (John xx. 31) ; 
 the Eunuch's (Acts viii. 37); Paul's (Acts ix. 
 20) : and John, speaking of triumphant faith, 
 says (1 John v. 5), " Who is he that over- 
 cometh the world, but he that believeth that 
 
168 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 Jesus is the Son of God?" And it is very 
 important to acknowledge His deity, for this 
 only gives efficiency to His atonement, sub- 
 dues the heart, and makes man obedient. 
 This requires the power of the Holy Ghost 
 to effect (1 Cor. xii. 3). 
 
 To believe that Jesus was the Son of Mary 
 is mere natural faith. It is not more diffi- 
 cult than to believe in the existence of any 
 other remarkable person. Paul believed this, 
 but it only awakened rage and persecution 
 against His people ; and it was not until he 
 was on his way to Damascus that he believed 
 Christ's deity. Then it was his heart 
 was humbled, and he said, "Lord, what 
 wouldst thou have me to do 1 ?" But to 
 believe in Jesus as the Son of God, God and 
 Man in one Christ, so that we are humbled 
 before Him, and give Him our hearts, 'and 
 accept Him for all He is, and has done; this 
 requires the power of the Holy Ghost. And 
 further, we must remember, true faith leans 
 on the person of Christ; not on the doctrines 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 169 
 
 and system of Christianity merely, which He 
 taught although these are very important 
 in their places but on Christ personally. 
 Hence the difference between believing the 
 Crucifixion and Christ crucified. It can be 
 no greater difficulty, to the reader of history, 
 to believe that Jesus was crucified at Jeru- 
 salem, than that King Charles was beheaded 
 at Whitehall; but to believe in Jesus Christ 
 the Son of God, offered for the sins of the 
 world, is beyond the power of nature. It is 
 not possible to the natural man, but is a 
 spiritual act taught of the Holy Ghost. 
 Hence the apostles in their preaching spoke 
 of " Christ crucified." " Him have ye slain." 
 "Him hath God raised up." It was not 
 usually the statement of the doctrine of the 
 Crucifixion, or of the Resurrection, but the 
 statement of a Person crucified and raised. 
 Now, this faith is said, in the text, to be 
 " the substance of things hoped for, the evi- 
 dence of things not seen ;" that is, it is such 
 an argumentative conviction, and gives such 
 
170 THE PRINCIPLE OP 
 
 power to the soul, that it makes "things 
 hoped for " substantial and real ; and gives 
 such certainty to "things not seen," that 
 sight itself could scarcely add anything to 
 the evidence. It is such a proof that it 
 refutes all objections, and the man acts in 
 quiet confidence of what is promised. Now, 
 it is the very glory of Christianity that it 
 has to do with "things not seen" by the 
 world. As it is written, " Eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither have entered into the 
 heart of man, the things which God hath 
 prepared for them that love him; but God 
 hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit" 
 (1 Cor. ii. 9, 10). This is the principle 
 necessary to run the Christian race a prin- 
 ciple which has to do with " things not seen," 
 and which brings them to bear on "things 
 seen." For instance, Faith, which is " the 
 evidence of things not seen," is thus able to 
 see the glorious invisible things of God, and 
 of His grace, and to bring them nearer to the 
 soul. This was the secret of Moses' resolu- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 171 
 
 tion in separating himself from the court of 
 Pharaoh, and casting in his lot with the chil- 
 
 ' O 
 
 dren of Israel. By faith, he " saw Him who is 
 invisible;" and not only this, but somewhat 
 of what God is, and of what God has to give, 
 and of what God promises, and of what God 
 will do for them that really trust Him. 
 
 Again, " Faith is the substance of things 
 hoped for." Thus, the blood and righteous- 
 ness and resurrection of Christ, become a 
 reality. Union with Christ is a reality. The 
 believer recognises his interest in Christ ; he 
 identifies himself with Christ; he can say, 
 looking at His mediatorial work, When Christ 
 died, I died when Christ rose, I rose when 
 Christ ascended, I ascended as Christ sits 
 in heaven, I sit in heaven. For not only am 
 I told that God, who is rich in mercy, hath 
 quickened believers with Christ, and hath 
 raised them up together, and made them sit 
 together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus 
 (Eph. ii. 5, 6), but also, that " as He is, so are 
 we in this world " (1 John iv. 17). Thus we 
 
1 72 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 see pardon becomes a reality. Christ's love, 
 Christ's strength, Christ's protection, Christ's 
 salvation, are all blessed realities. The be- 
 liever has them they are his ! Do we ask 
 how and why 1 ? He knows whom he has be- 
 lieved ! 
 
 The same may be said of trials and temp- 
 tations. " All things are yours." How this 
 smooths the way in every trouble ! The be- 
 liever may say of troubles as they arise, 
 "This is mine given to me of God. It 
 contains a secret blessing : let me then not 
 fear it, as it comes from the hand of my 
 Father ; but let me try to deal with it wisely, 
 prayerfully, in the sight and strength of God 
 bowing my head humbly when I should 
 bend standing up manfully when I should 
 resist feeling Christ is with me through it 
 all, and will bring me out more than con- 
 queror." 
 
 Dear brethren, think ; all things have been 
 considered by Him who bought you with 
 His blood. He purchased you out of all 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 1 73 
 
 difficulties and temptations; He foresaw all 
 that would befall you, and yet He said, 
 " Father, I will that they also, whom Thou 
 hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that 
 they may behold My glory which Thou gavest 
 Me, for Thou lovedst Me before the founda- 
 tion of the world/' Faith sees this excel- 
 lency in Christ this love, and power, and 
 faithfulness to His purpose; and in propor- 
 tion to our knowledge of His character will 
 be our confidence in Him. And this very 
 principle which keeps the heart on Christ, as 
 all in all, relieves the soul from all apprehen- 
 sion as to the result, and enables it to leave 
 all to God. It is occupied not in what the 
 result of a trial will be, but rather in ascer- 
 taining how faith should behave herself under 
 it. It asks, " How shall I shew I love, and 
 trust, and serve, and honour Jesus V This 
 is the thing to occupy the heart of a believer, 
 and this lightens every other trouble. It is 
 a great truth, that in taking up Christ's bur- 
 den all other burdens fall off. Yes! in put- 
 
174 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 ting on Christ's yoke, and making Him our 
 own, we find strength of mind to meet all 
 the trials of life with calmness. For the be- 
 lieving soul can always shelter itself in this 
 " My God knows best He sees the end 
 from the beginning He sees the steps, the 
 hindrances, the difficulties, and out of them 
 all the Lord will deliver me." What a shield 
 is faith in the practice of life! It worketh 
 by love; and oh, how we can trust when we 
 love! Nay, how hard it is to doubt whom 
 we love! What confidence we repose in them. 
 We seem able to leave all to them. Such is 
 the power of faith! Such is the value of the 
 principle of the Christian race. Let us see 
 how it operates. The Christian race is run 
 I. In a prescribed course. It is deter- 
 mined by Him who has fixed the bounds of 
 our habitation, as well as the length of our 
 course. It is as various as our age, our cir- 
 cumstances, our habits, dispositions, position 
 in life, &c., but it is suitable to us. It may 
 be prominent before the world, or utterly 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 1 75 
 
 secluded from it ; but all our relations of life 
 public, private, domestic, social, &c. will 
 tell upon it. The course of believers is not 
 the same: they are not contending against 
 each other, but against sin, as embodied in 
 the world, the flesh, and the devil. In this 
 race believers start from different points, at 
 different hours, under different circumstances ; 
 but their course is exactly prescribed by the 
 Lord: and it is only as they bear this in 
 mind, and believe their course therefore to be 
 the best, that they will run successfully and 
 to God's glory. We see, therefore, one point 
 which faith ensures, viz., to make us con- 
 tented where we are, and do the best we can. 
 Now, Satan will use all his artifices to allure 
 the believer from his prescribed course; and 
 if he cannot tempt him into actual departure 
 from it, he will try to make him dissatisfied 
 with God's appointments. He will try to 
 make him think the course of another is 
 easier, and more suitable than that which he 
 is called to follow; and that if he had more 
 
176 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 of this blessing and of that, it would be better 
 for him. But here again com.es in faith. It 
 shews us Christ, our sovereign Lord, on whose 
 shoulder is the government of all things, doing 
 all for the glory of God, and teaching the be- 
 liever how his own glory is inseparably bound 
 up with the glory of Christ. Faith brings 
 the end (the point never seen nor considered 
 by the world) to bear on the appointments 
 of God, and thus is able to trust God as truly 
 for the steps which conduct to that end, as 
 for the end itself; and, moreover, is able to 
 look at Christ's purpose, instead of at the cir- 
 cumstances in which it is placed. The course 
 may be rough, very rough, or the reverse, as 
 God sees best; but faith quiets the believer, 
 and enables him to feel " all is well ;" to sub- 
 mit humbly, saying, " It is the Lord, let Him 
 do what seemeth Him good ;" and thus streng- 
 thens him to do the best he can under the 
 circumstances. He bows his head to the Lord, 
 and is at peace. 
 
 2. The race is run according to pre- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN KACE. 177 
 
 scribed rules. These are laid down in the 
 Holy Scriptures. Faith, therefore, in God's 
 written Word is indispensable to success. I 
 need not say a word on the importance of 
 believing the inspiration of Scripture. If we 
 cannot heartily accept the Bible as God's 
 Word, it appears to me we have nothing to 
 stand on, and leave ourselves without hope, 
 with nothing to guide or console us. But if 
 there be such a thing as the Christian race, 
 and appointed by the Lord, which all must 
 run or perish, then the rules, according to 
 which it must be run, are in God's Word, 
 which is the declaration of His will in Christ 
 Jesus concerning us. This must be studied, . 
 therefore, in order that we may know what 
 to do, and it must be trusted, too, implicitly. 
 There must be no self-willed departure from 
 it, under the plea of expediency or human 
 judgment of things; but Scripture is to be 
 simply and honestly followed, remembering 
 " If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall 
 be full of light." What others do is no rule 
 M 
 
1 78 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 for the believer. I repeat, the believer is not 
 competing with men. He does not lose this 
 race because others are ahead of him, nor 
 win it because others are behind. He is con- 
 tending against sin in all its forms. His ad- 
 versaries are Satan, with all his wiles the 
 flesh, with all its indulgences and allure- 
 ments the world, with all its heartless false- 
 hoods: and how can a believer meet and re- 
 sist and overcome these, but in the way God 
 has prescribed, by the blood, and strength, 
 and righteousness of Christ 1 ? And how can 
 he avail himself of these, but by faith? If a 
 man believe in Christ, then these blessings 
 .are his own to use freely on every emer- 
 gency ; but implicit obedience to the Word of 
 God is necessary, and this is the result of be- 
 lieving that the race must be run according 
 to God's prescribed rules. 
 
 3. But this race has to be run in the face 
 of difficulties! Observe here, the adaptation 
 of faith. Its peculiarity is, that it is "the 
 evidence of things not seen." It sees " things 
 
THE CHRISTIAN EACE. 1 79 
 
 not seen," through "things that are seen." 
 Life itself presents a thousand actual dif- 
 ficulties in the Christian course; faith sees 
 them all removed and overcome. Moun- 
 tains stand in the path; faith pierces them 
 and sees the course made plain not neces- 
 sarily easy or smooth, but plain so there is 
 no doubt what to do, nor may there be hesi- 
 tation in doing it. Faith sees the power of 
 God, and difficulties disappear. Faith brings 
 Christ into our circumstances, and the ques- 
 tion is no longer between us and trial, but 
 between trial and the strength of Christ. 
 Because the real privilege of faith is this, 
 "It is not I, but Christ liveth in me;" and 
 " It is God which worketh in you to will 
 and to do of His good pleasure." And 
 it is " the things not seen " which are " eter- 
 nal/' being brought to bear on " things seen 
 which are temporal," which gives a man the 
 victory. It was, no doubt, a hard thing for 
 Moses to turn his back on the pleasures of 
 Egypt. How did he do it? "He had re- 
 
180 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 spect unto the recompense of the reward." 
 Faith opens a man's eyes to the character 
 and love of Christ, and the believer sees in 
 Christ more for him than can be against him. 
 
 The help that is in Christ for time of trial 
 is not seen by the world, and is therefore 
 neglected; but faith sees it, in spite of all 
 things that seem to be against it, and rests 
 on it, and is blessed in it. Faith, in realis- 
 ing union with Christ, realises the substance 
 of the text, and sees deliverance in the midst 
 of trial, and victory and success in spite of 
 all difficulties. 
 
 4. Again, observe how faith enables a man, 
 in face of difficulties, to plod on and on in 
 the path of obedience, not listening to sugges- 
 tions of the flesh, but hearing only the com- 
 mand of God, having no doubt about the 
 result, although not knowing how it is to be 
 brought about. " Faith," as Luther remarks, 
 "has nothing to do with 'whys and where- 
 fores.' " It goes on and does, believing the 
 God who commands, and leaving the results 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 181 
 
 with Him. What an abundance of difficul- 
 ties did Noah's faith carry him through! 
 The Lord told him to build an ark. Un- 
 belief would have urged, " Lord, I cannot do 
 it. I know not how. I have been a preacher 
 many years, but not a carpenter, much less 
 a ship-builder; and if I, all ignorant of the 
 art, were to set about it, how the world will 
 jeer, and what evil things will it say of Thee 
 for employing such as I am ! And, suppose 
 I should build the ark, how shall I collect 
 the creatures \ How get them into the ark 
 how feed them how prevent their tear- 
 ing me and each other to pieces V Yet, not- 
 withstanding all these difficulties, "Noah 
 prepared an ark." He did it by faith : he ran 
 his race, hard as it was, successfully by faith. 
 Think of the difficulties the flesh might 
 have urged in the case of Abraham's trial. 
 Think of how much expediency might have 
 advanced in the case of the three children 
 and Daniel, to enable them to escape respec- 
 tively the fiery furnace, and the lion's den. 
 
] 82 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 But their faith looked away from the dif- 
 ficulty straight to the Lord, and they were 
 triumphantly delivered ! This is the way 
 especially to honour God : to see the pro- 
 tecting, delivering arm of the Lord in the 
 face of all difficulties. 
 
 But we must not think it an easy thing 
 thus to trust God. It is a hard thing. It 
 is far easier to try and help one's self, than 
 to sit still and believe in God's help. And 
 perhaps harder than all, to exercise simple 
 faith in God, while we are humbly and dili- 
 gently using means: accounting the means 
 valuable only as we recognise God in them. 
 But this is what we must aim at, to bring 
 faith into common things, so that we may 
 have it at hand for uncommon things. Life 
 is full of hard and trying things, and we 
 need to be prepared. God has told us the 
 principle on which alone we can go through 
 life to His honour and our salvation ; and if 
 we are looking to Him for it, we shall not 
 be disappointed. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN EACE. 183 
 
 But I need not proceed further. You 
 know the principle which must be in con- 
 tinual exercise in the Christian race, and 
 which is applicable to all the conceivable 
 circumstances of it. Cultivate dependence 
 on Christ. Bring " things not seen " to bear 
 on "things seen," and you will triumph. T ou 
 will find your path illumined by light from 
 above, and your heart cheered by the songs 
 of the Celestial City. Faith will surely do 
 as much in New Testament times as ever it 
 did in Old Testament times. 
 
 Eead through this chapter from which my 
 text is taken, and see what mighty things 
 faith can accomplish. How it will resist 
 great temptations do great things sup- 
 press strong fears subdue heavy griefs 
 impart to you a pilgrim-spirit keep your 
 hearts fixed in the midst of all the turnings 
 and changes of your course make you faith- 
 ful and true in all your relations and obliga- 
 tions, &c., and all by bringing eternity and 
 the things of it to bear on time and the 
 
184 THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 things of it. Oh, when a man realises that 
 he has to do with eternity when this be- 
 comes a practical recognised fact of his 
 existence, what an influence it has! When 
 he understands heartily that everything he 
 does tells on eternity, and that for all he 
 must give account, how important things 
 become! Trifles, as he once thought them, 
 are so no longer. They become weighty and 
 solemn, because they make their mark for 
 eternity. And when, moreover, we realise 
 the true secret of the life of faith, union with 
 Christ, how strong it makes us! "It is not 
 I, but Christ;" and then what is too hard 
 for us? Faith can do all things. Depend 
 on Christ, and all is well. Your race may 
 be long, difficult, weary; so full of strange 
 trials that it shall be a series of surprises 
 and sudden dangers; but faith shall spring 
 above the changes, and realise the goal. The 
 series of surprises and dangers shall be also 
 a series of escapes and deliverances, and faith 
 shall enable you so to run that you may 
 
THE CHRISTIAN EACE. 185 
 
 obtain. But never forget where your true 
 strength lies. It is in Christ, in whom we 
 have righteousness and strength. Go on in 
 this might. " Be strong in the grace which 
 is in Christ Jesus." Cleave steadily to Him, 
 and you shall find that faith will do for you 
 all it has done in the salvation of others. 
 
ITS ILLUSTRATION IN THE WITNESSES. 
 
 THE Son of God goes forth to war 
 
 A kingly crown to gain ; 
 His blood-red banner streams afar ! 
 
 Who follows in His train ? 
 
 Who best can drink His cup of woe, 
 
 Triumphant over pain, 
 Who patient bears His cross below, 
 
 He follows in His train. 
 
 The Martyr first, whose eagle eye 
 Could pierce beyond the grave ; 
 
 Who saw his Master in the sky, 
 And call'd on Him to save. 
 
 Like Him, with pardon on his tongue, 
 
 In midst of mortal pain, 
 He pray'd for them that did the wrong ! 
 
 Who follows in His train ? 
 
 A noble army men and boys, 
 
 The matron and the maid, 
 Around the Saviour's throne rejoice 
 
 In robes of light array'd. 
 
 They climb'd the steep ascent of heaven, 
 
 Through peril, toil, and pain. 
 O God ! to \is may grace be given 
 
 To follow in their train. 
 
LECTUEE II. 
 
 ITS ILLUSTEATION IN THE WITNESSES. 
 
 HEBREWS xii. 1. 
 
 " Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so 
 great a cloud of witnesses." 
 
 WE read (Rom. xv. 4), "Whatsoever tilings 
 were written aforetime were written for our 
 learning, that we through patience and com- 
 fort of the Scriptures might have hope;" and 
 the Holy Ghost has graciously given us, in 
 Heb. xi., a list of believing heroes, whose 
 trials were severe, but whose faith was 
 real and strong, and who came off victo- 
 rious in their conflict. This is our encou- 
 ragement. The strongest need it. The 
 weakest may be helped by it ; and, being a 
 promise made by the Lord, we may be sure 
 
190 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 it is not only needful, but will be useful, if 
 rightly employed. The words of our text 
 are an exhortation to believers generally (for 
 Paul includes himself with the Hebrews), to 
 apply to their own peculiar circumstances, in 
 the Christian race, the principle illustrated in 
 chapter xi., and which had done such wonders 
 in the cases cited. I do not think the term, 
 " witnesses," refers only to chapter xi., but to 
 all the saints of the Old Testament, whose 
 faith is recorded in Scripture, and from whose 
 examples, in the application of faith, we are 
 to learn how to use it ourselves. 
 
 The expression, " cloud of witnesses," is, in 
 this sense, very instructive. It means a great 
 many. Some, the Apostle had named, but it 
 includes all those alluded to from verse 32 to 
 39. He heaped them together as a cloud. 
 A cloud is a beautiful emblem. A cloud is 
 formed by vapours exhaled by the sun from 
 the earth, and which are returned again in 
 fertilising showers. So this cloud of wit- 
 nesses were all attracted from earth to heaven 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 191 
 
 by the Sun of Kighteousness, and the con- 
 templation of them, as now with Christ in 
 joy and felicty, but once here, as we are now, 
 struggling in the flesh, will be as a heavenly 
 dew refreshing our soul in the dust and heat 
 of conflict, and urging us to be " followers of 
 them who now, through faith and patience, 
 inherit the promises." The term, " witnesses," 
 may be understood in two senses. 
 
 1. Of such as look on when a thing is done 
 by others, and give their testimony about it. 
 In this sense, the idea is that of spectators, 
 who, by their applause and notice, encouraged 
 those that contended in the public games. 
 Thus Paul charged Timothy in his work, not 
 only " before God and the Lord Jesus Christ," 
 to whom he must give account, but also be- 
 fore the "elect angels," who were witnesses, 
 spectators, of what he was doing in his minis- 
 try. In this sense the apostles were wit- 
 nesses. " How God anointed Jesus of Naza- 
 reth with the Holy Ghost, and with power; 
 who went about doing good, and healing all 
 
192 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 that were oppressed of the devil : for God was 
 with him. And we are witnesses of all things 
 which he did, both in the land of the Jews, 
 and in Jerusalem ; whom they slew, and 
 hanged on a tree : Him God raised up the 
 third day, and shewed him openly; not to 
 all the people, but unto witnesses chosen be- 
 fore of God, even to us, who did eat and 
 drink with him after he rose from the dead " 
 (Acts x. 38-41). "And he was seen many 
 days of them which came up with him from 
 Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses 
 unto the people" (Acts xiii. 31). 
 
 But there is another sense in which the 
 term may be used. 
 
 2. Of such as do a thing themselves, and 
 thus, in their own persons, bear witness to the 
 power of a principle by which a thing is done. 
 Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ says, " To this 
 end was I born, and for this cause came I 
 into the world, that I should bear witness 
 unto the truth." Our gracious Lord exhi- 
 bited the power of truth. So also God's 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 193 
 
 people, in Isa. xliii. 10, are said to be His 
 "witnesses." Thus also martyrs, who have 
 laid down their own necks for the truth, and 
 those mentioned in chap, xi, are " witnesses." 
 What they testified to, or were witnesses to, 
 is, that faith will carry a man through all he 
 may be called to do and suffer in the way of 
 obedience to God that it is best to obey God, 
 whatever a man may suffer in consequence 
 and that true faith will be victorious, not- 
 withstanding the malice of the world or the 
 temptations of Satan. Now, to have such 
 witnesses to appeal to, will strengthen our 
 own faith; and it will be a great encourage- 
 ment to have such persons to tell us, by their 
 own victorious example, of the folly of being 
 afraid of the misery and sin of hesitating 
 to obey the Word of God, and of the false- 
 hood of Satan's temptations. If they could 
 speak to us, they would say, "I was once 
 tried as you are; sore tempted by sin and 
 unbelief, and hindered in running the race 
 
 set before me; but faith enabled me to per- 
 N 
 
194 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 severe, and carried me through, and I have 
 entered into rest." Yes! these have gone 
 through the trial, and have come out victori- 
 
 O ' 
 
 ous. This is the sense of the term "wit- 
 nesses" which I prefer: not spectators, but 
 persons who are witnesses for the same truth. 
 Because although competitors in a race may 
 be urged to great exertion by the applause 
 of the spectators, yet "the honour which 
 cometh from man " is not the spring of the 
 Christian combatant ; but when we see what 
 faith has carried others through, then we are 
 encouraged to look to Jesus, for what He did 
 in them He can do in us. 
 
 Let us look at this encouragement, which 
 the illustration of the principle in the wit- 
 nesses affords us. 
 
 In the New Testament, faith is the grace 
 which Christ approves, and which grace, 
 when He comes again, will be very rare. 
 "When the Son of man cometh, shall He 
 find faith on the earth?" (Luke xviii. 8.) 
 So in the Old Testament, faith is the grace 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 195 
 
 most commended. For example, Abel was 
 a righteous man, Moses a meek man, Sam- 
 son a strong man, Gideon a brave man ; 
 but it is not for these qualities they are 
 mentioned, but for faith. "They all ob- 
 tained a good report through faith" (Heb. 
 xi. 39). 
 
 Look at the testimony faith enabled them 
 to leave behind. They being dead yet speak 
 to us. Our circumstances can never be more 
 trying than theirs : and the power that sus- 
 tained them can keep us also. 
 
 Faith is the prime grace, for it makes a 
 man a Christian. It brings Christ and the 
 soul together. It is the instrumentality by 
 which the Lord lays the believer's sins on 
 Christ, and Christ's righteousness on the 
 believer. It covers the defects of all other 
 graces, and makes the man " accepted in the 
 Beloved," "complete in Christ." In Heb. xi. 
 we have witnesses -of two kinds some, 
 famous for what they did ; some, for what 
 they suffered : and as we are called to do 
 
196 ITS ILLUSTKATION 
 
 and suffer for the gospel's sake, let us try 
 and learn of them. Let us consider 
 
 1. What faith does. It is an active prin- 
 ciple, always working by love (Gal. v. 6) ; 
 that is, always doing good, not harm, and 
 not merely executing, but originating good. 
 There is a certain activity which is often 
 mischievous, because it is impulsive and 
 inconsiderate, and has no definite object, 
 which is the result of feeling rather than of 
 principle; but faith counts the cost, is calm 
 and reflective. It is written (Isa. xxviii. 16), 
 "He that believeth shall not make haste;" 
 i. e., shall not do things otherwise than con- 
 siderately and sedately, and shall be striving 
 ever for good. It seems to realise the text, 
 " Trust in the Lord, and do good." Faith is 
 a grace which really acts, which tries to do 
 good in all things. It can, so to speak, turn 
 its hand to anything. " All things are pos- 
 sible to him that believeth." Not this parti- 
 cular thing only, or that, but all things. So 
 that when there is an opportunity of doing 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 197 
 
 good, faith is ready to enter in and act. Now, 
 faith goes forth in the might of God's power 
 in the strength of Christ. The promise is 
 made to it of doing the greatest things. 
 What said our Lord to His disciples'? "Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on 
 Me, the works that I do shall he do also; 
 and greater works than these shall he do; 
 because I go unto my Father" (John xiv. 
 12). Accordingly, we find all the great 
 things done by men, as recorded in the 
 Scriptures, ascribed to faith. And the reason 
 is, God does much to honour that grace 
 which ascribes all power to Him. Faith 
 takes hold of God's strength. God honours 
 faith, and shews it does not trust Him in 
 vain! 
 
 Look now, for example, at some on whom 
 the Holy Ghost makes no comment, in chap, 
 xi., but whose names are mentioned because 
 their faith was great as Gideon, and Barak, 
 and Samson, and Jephthah, and David, and 
 Samuel. Their deeds of faith are recorded 
 
198 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 in other parts of Scripture. Look at others, 
 whose names are not mentioned in chap, xi., 
 but whose acts are who, through faith, 
 "subdued kingdoms," as the Judges did; 
 who "wrought righteousness," as Samuel 
 did, appealing to Israel, and saying, "Wit- 
 ness against me, whose ass or whose ox have 
 I taken 1" who obtained promises "-not 
 the great promise of the Messiah, for this 
 (ver. 39 says) "they received not" but the 
 promises made of victories, deliverances, 
 kingdoms; "stopped the mouths of lions," as 
 Daniel did; "quenched the violence of fire," 
 as the three children did ; " escaped the edge 
 of the sword," as Elijah and Elisha did ; 
 "out of weakness were made strong," as 
 Hezekiah was ; " waxed valiant in fight, 
 turned to flight the armies of the aliens," as 
 Joshua often did ; " and women received 
 their dead raised to life again," as the widow 
 of Sarepta and the Shunammite did. 
 
 Nor must we always judge of the strength 
 of faith by the nature of the act in which it 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 199 
 
 is exhibited. Faith is not necessarily feeble, 
 because the act itself may seem small by 
 comparison. The principle may be very 
 grand, although its illustration may be very 
 poor in the eye of the world. No doubt, 
 the two mites which the widow cast into the 
 treasury seemed small in the eyes of those 
 who cast in of their abundance; but in the 
 eyes of the Lord, who looketh on the heart, 
 it was more than all the others gave, for she 
 gave all the living that she had. She parted 
 with all her earthly means, because she had 
 faith in God; whereas the others gave only 
 of their abundance, which did not necessarily 
 imply any faith in God at all. 
 
 Apply this principle to the common things 
 of life ; and he will be found to be the strong 
 believer, not who does the greatest things 
 in the eye of men, but who exercises most 
 dependence upon God in everything. And 
 to exercise such trust in God, in the midst 
 of earthly abundance, as though we had 
 nothing, is no less honouring to God, than 
 
200 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 being really poor, to believe that in Him we 
 possess all things. And if, in Scripture, we 
 are taught that the way to be ruler over 
 much is to be faithful in a little, so the way 
 to do great things is to bring faith to bear 
 on the little things of life. Let faith see 
 God in everything. Do not commit a sin 
 because it is a little one. Do not neglect a 
 duty because it may appear a trivial one. 
 Do not think a small matter above the exer- 
 cise of faith, but remember it is the principle 
 of the Christian life, applicable to all things, 
 great and small. Faith will do great things 
 when it is real. It may be very weak. 
 Gideon's faith was weak. You remember 
 how he required sign after sign, before he 
 could be satisfied to trust God (Judges vi. 
 36-40); first, the dew upon the fleece and 
 the ground dry; and then the dew upon the 
 ground and the fleece dry. Barak's faith 
 was weak (Judges iv. 6, &c.) ; he would not 
 go forth against the enemy unless the pro- 
 phetess Deborah accompanied him. But in 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 201 
 
 both cases their faith was genuine; they 
 trusted God, and did great things ! And if 
 men do not great things for God now, why 
 is if? They lack faith. Why are we not 
 more holy? Because we do not remember 
 constantly that God's eye is upon us. Why 
 do we not make greater head against the 
 world and the things of it ? Because we 
 trust too much in our own strength, and not 
 enough in God's ; because we look too much 
 at the difficulties to be overcome, and forget 
 the power of God ; because we look too much 
 at the sufferings to be endured in the con- 
 flict with sin, and forget the support and 
 strength and comfort which God can give. 
 
 If you want an illustration of the way in 
 which faith can meet difficulties, look at 
 Abraham. He took his stand on God's pro- 
 mise, and was at rest. The way to heaven 
 is clogged with many difficulties; but the 
 way to meet them is to regard them as so 
 many occasions for the exercise of faith so 
 many opportunities for the display of God's 
 
202 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 power. It is not difficulties that shall stop 
 us, but only want of faith. No sooner does 
 a believer begin to set out in earnest for 
 heaven, but discouragements arise, and Satan 
 tries to hinder him. When the children of 
 Israel began to agitate the question of going 
 to do sacrifice to the Lord, Pharaoh doubled 
 their tasks. It is thus with young believers, 
 their difficulties seem to increase; but the 
 secret is to look, not at them, but to Christ. 
 But observe Abraham. He had a promise 
 that his seed sjiould be as numerous as the 
 stars of heaven, and he believed it (Gen. xv. 
 5). Now, if Abraham had looked on the 
 promises with reference to the means, he 
 would have said, "It is impossible;" but as 
 Paul says (Rom. iv. 19-21), "Being not 
 weak in faith, he considered not his own 
 body now dead, when he was about an hun- 
 dred years old, neither yet the deadness of 
 Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the pro- 
 mise of God through unbelief; but was 
 strong in faith, giving glory to God; and 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 203 
 
 being fully persuaded that, what He had pro- 
 mised, He was able also to perform." He 
 rested on the promise of God ; and accord- 
 ing to his faith, so it was. And the same 
 thing is said (Heb. xi. 11) of Sarah: "She 
 judged Him faithful who had promised." 
 
 There is another point of importance 
 which these witnesses teach us namely, to 
 wait the Lord's time. Abraham did this 
 for fifteen or twenty years. But some there 
 are who think, if mercy does not come at 
 such a time, and in such a way, it is all over. 
 Their patience is all gone. But patience is 
 an important grace. Trials are sent to exer- 
 cise it. Yea, we read, "tribulation worketh 
 patience." The want of it is dishonouring 
 to God. He has all time, as well as all 
 means, at His disposal: and He who made 
 Israel's captivity expire on the very day 
 (Ex. xii. 41), and opened a way through the 
 sea, will never fail in His truth now to them 
 that trust Him. 
 
 Has God made to us promises of blessing 1 ? 
 
204 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 Has He promised, " Sin shall not have do- 
 minion over you " (Kom. vi. 14)? Do we 
 find many things both within and without 
 against it ? Do we find sin abounding, the 
 world prevailing 1 What is the course to 
 take 1 Why, not to pore on our sins, but to 
 lean on the promise. Look to Christ, the 
 source of power. If Job found it necessary 
 to make a covenant with his eyes ; if David 
 prayed (Ps. cxix. 37), "Turn away mine 
 eyes from beholding vanity," so must we 
 turn away our eyes from those difficulties 
 and hindrances which tempt us to doubt the 
 truth of a promise. We must take our stand 
 on the faithfulness of God, throw ourselves 
 on Jesus Christ, and lean on His love and 
 truth and strength, remembering " Heaven 
 and earth shall pass away: but My words 
 shall not pass away." Think of Abraham; 
 he did not stand poring on the old age of 
 himself and Sarah, or he would have been 
 staggered, but " he was strong in faith, giving 
 glory to God;" resting on the promise. And 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 205 
 
 faith is just that principle which, piercing 
 through the difficulties, sees the fulfilment of 
 a promise : it is " the evidence of things not 
 seen," in spite of what we do see. 
 
 2. But observe, in the second place, What 
 faith can suffer. "Women received their 
 dead raised to life again : and others were 
 tortured, not accepting deliverance; that 
 they might obtain a better resurrection : and 
 others had trial of cruel mockings and 
 scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and im- 
 prisonment : they were stoned, they were 
 sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with 
 the sword : they wandered about in sheep- 
 skins and goatskins ; being destitute, afflicted, 
 tormented : (of whom the world was not 
 worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in 
 mountains, and in dens and caves of the 
 earth. And these all, having obtained a good 
 report through faith, received not the pro- 
 mise" (Heb. xi. 35-39). "They would not 
 accept deliverance, that they might obtain a 
 better resurrection;" that is, they had an eye 
 
206 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 to the last, the great resurrection, which is a 
 far better resurrection than any temporary 
 resurrection from death, which deliverance 
 from great suffering might secure. They 
 suffered great things just because they be- 
 lieved in "the better resurrection." The 
 world, indeed, was not worthy of such cha- 
 racters. They are seldom understood, often 
 misunderstood and misrepresented ; but they 
 are dear to the Lord, because they are not of 
 the world, even as He is not of the world. 
 We must remember that suffering or trial, 
 and the feeling it deeply, is no evidence of 
 the absence of faith ; rather is it the reverse, 
 and furnishes occasion for the exercise of 
 faith. Paul's sufferings were very severe, as 
 recorded in 1 Cor. iv. 11, and 2 Cor. xi., but 
 he was very precious to the Lord, and his 
 faith was real and victorious. His sufferings 
 did not hinder his labours. His trials did 
 not prevent his working. Nay, says he, " I 
 laboured more abundantly than they all;" 
 but still, jealous lest he should be misunder- 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 207 
 
 stood, he adds, " Yet not I, but the grace of 
 God which was with me." But we must 
 remember it is set forth in Scripture (Phil, 
 i. 29) as a privilege to suffer, and in this 
 suffering, faith will sustain, and faith only. 
 Human resolution and firmness of character 
 may induce dogged endurance, but faith 
 alone can suffer humbly, and meekly, and 
 according to the will of God, and persevere 
 to the end. David says, "I had fainted, 
 unless I had believed to see the goodness of 
 the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. xxvii. 
 13). The more a man can lean on the Word 
 of God, the more and the better he will be 
 able to endure; the more he will be able to 
 resist sin, and all its allurements, as Moses 
 did (Heb. xi. 24, 25), and as did those men- 
 tioned in ver. 35, "not acceptiDg deliverance." 
 You may not (through the tender dealings 
 of God) be called to suffer as they did ; but 
 if you are determinedly set to serve God, to 
 live separate from the world, to cultivate all 
 holiness, to maintain His truth against adver- 
 
208 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 saries, to walk in love in the midst of evil 
 men, you will have to suffer, and you will 
 ueed the same power of faith. You will have 
 to maintain a conflict against sin within and 
 without against unholy thoughts, unkind 
 feelings, evil tempers, pride, vanity, and every 
 hurtful lust. You will find there is suffering 
 still in the Christian life. If there be no suf- 
 fering, there is the greatest reason to doubt 
 whether there is any real Christian principle 
 whether you are not swimming with the 
 stream, instead of against it. 
 
 We see, then, the illustration of faith in 
 the witnesses mentioned. They did great 
 things and suffered great things. Yet, I 
 repeat, their conduct is recorded, not for 
 their works' but for their faith's sake to 
 teach and encourage us. They had the same 
 infirmities we have, they lived in the same 
 world, they had the same evil hearts, they 
 had the same great adversary, but they had 
 fewer privileges. They did not live under a 
 dispensation of the Spirit in the New Testa- 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 209 
 
 ment sense. Still their faith enabled them 
 to conquer. 
 
 And there is another thing which shews 
 the value of faith; namely, that when once 
 established in the heart by the power of the 
 Holy Ghost, it seems to obliterate all defects 
 of character before God. We read of David, 
 and Eahab, and Samson, as illustrations of 
 faith; but no mention is made here of their 
 sins and wickedness. These were all blotted 
 out for ever. They were pardoned, and re- 
 membered no more. I am not unaware that 
 some persons do not regard all the characters 
 mentioned in Heb. xi. as illustrations of 
 saving faith, but merely of such faith as can 
 do great things; but the Holy Spirit does 
 not confound things that differ, and there is 
 nothing in the chapter to lead us to suppose 
 that the same quality of faith does not at- 
 tach to all the characters mentioned. Now, 
 we are to remember this " cloud of witnesses," 
 who did God's work in their day, that we 
 may be encouraged to do what we have to 
 
210 ITS ILLUSTRATION 
 
 do for God in our day, and to do it on the 
 same principle and in the same spirit. Let 
 us believe like Abraham, "the father of the 
 faithful," and our faith will not stagger. Are 
 we called to the special exercise of meekness ? 
 we may profitably study the character of 
 the " man Moses, who was meek above all the 
 men that were on the face of the earth." 
 Are we called to fight the battles of the Lord? 
 we may learn from the valour of " Joshua and 
 Caleb, who followed the Lord fully." Would 
 we behave ourselves wisely 1 ? let us think of 
 "the man after God's own heart/' Would 
 we be bold even before kings? let us learn 
 of Elijah standing before Ahab. Need we 
 lessons of filial obedience and piety 1 ? we may 
 gather them from "Euth, the Moabitess" of 
 modesty and dignity? from Esther the Queen. 
 These all stand out in the Word of God as 
 witnesses to the value of that principle by 
 which alone we can run our Christian race 
 successfully. Would you be victorious in this 
 
IN THE WITNESSES. 211 
 
 race? then, above all, study Jesus Christ 
 more. "Who is he that overcometh the 
 world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the 
 Son of God?" (1 John v. 5.) The more you 
 know of Jesus Christ and His excellency, the 
 stronger will be your faith. Let it be rooted 
 and grounded in Him Him personally not 
 in doctrine or things merely, but in Him. 
 This is the way to be loving and active in 
 doing good. Who so hard, and selfish, and 
 shut up, and exclusive, as those who, possessed 
 of an accurate knowledge of doctrine, are yet 
 destitute of the knowledge of Christ 1 ? 
 
 Strive to believe. The more you believe 
 the Word of God, in the face of difficulties, 
 the more you honour and please Him. God 
 will trust him with much, who trusts much 
 to God. Encourage each other in faith. Help 
 each other, by telling of what the Lord hath 
 done for your souls. Bring faith to bear on 
 daily life : in common duties, it will ennoble 
 them; in little things, it will make them 
 
212 ITS ILLUSTRATION, ETC. 
 
 valuable ; in hard things, it will make them 
 easy. Doing small things by faith, is the 
 way to do great things. And, above all, 
 never forget, without Christ you can do no- 
 thing; but by faith in Him you can do all 
 things, as chapter llth abundantly proves. 
 
THE PREPARATION TO KUN 
 SUCCESSFULLY. 
 
 RISE, my soul, and stretch thy wings, 
 
 Thy better portion trace ; 
 Rise from transitory things 
 
 Toward heaven, thy native place. 
 Sun and moon and stars decay; 
 
 Time shall soon this earth remove ; 
 Rise, my soul, and haste away 
 
 To seats prepared above. 
 
 Rivers to the ocean run, 
 
 Nor stay in all their course ; 
 Fire, ascending, seeks the sun ; 
 
 Both speed them to their source. 
 So a soul that 's born of God, 
 
 Pants to view His glorious face ; 
 Upward tends to His abode, 
 
 To rest in His embrace. 
 
 Cease, ye pilgrims, cease to mourn, 
 
 Press onward to the prize ; 
 Soon your Saviour will return, 
 
 Triumphant in the skies. 
 Yet a season, and you know 
 
 Happy entrance will be given ; 
 All your sorrows left below, 
 
 And earth exchanged for heaven. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 THE PREPARATION TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 
 
 HEBREWS xii. 1. 
 
 " Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth 
 so easily beset MS." 
 
 THE struggle involved in the Christian race 
 is expressed in Scripture by various terms, 
 all of which, however, convey the idea of our 
 strength being taxed to the utmost. It is 
 called "a conflict" (Phil. i. 30), "a fight" 
 (1 Tim. vi. 12), "a wrestling" (Eph. vi. 12); 
 and as the stake for which we run is eternal 
 life, we are urged to put forth all our power. 
 As, for instance, we are exhorted to " strive " 
 (Luke xiii. 14), as one contending for his 
 life; to "labour" (Heb. iv. 11), to "be vigi- 
 lant " (1 Pet. v. 8), to " give all diligence " 
 
216 THE PREPARATION 
 
 (2 Pet. i. 5) ; and the secret is, being " strong 
 in the Lord and in the power of His might " 
 (Eph. vi. 10). 
 
 In preparing for the Christian race, a man 
 should not only have a clear view of the 
 object to be attained eternal life; and of 
 the way in which it is to be attained, through 
 faith in Christ; but he should also have 
 counted the cost of contending. This is the 
 course our Lord recommends (Luke xiv. 28, 
 &c.) He should first have satisfied himself 
 of the value of the prize, and then made up 
 his mind to win it. This should be estab- 
 lished within him, as his guiding, govern- 
 ing purpose. His language should be, "By 
 God's grace, I will so run as to obtain. This 
 is my one object, to which all other things 
 shall yield and be made subservient. For 
 this, I live; for this, I run; and for this, 
 I have made up my mind to 'lay aside' 
 everything that may hinder." The idea to 
 be illustrated is not the actually running the 
 race, but the giving up all that hinders our 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 217 
 
 running to the greatest advantage. And 
 this we must do cheerfully and willingly 
 as cheerfully and unhesitatingly as a man 
 would put off such articles of heavy clothing 
 as would be likely to hamper him in running 
 a foot race. 
 
 Let us look at the terms used. 
 
 1st, "Let us lay aside;" that is, put off. 
 The word is used of the murderers of Stephen, 
 who put off their clothes in order the better 
 to execute their dreadful deed (Acts vii. 58). 
 It is used, too, of "putting off," and "put- 
 ting away," and " laying apart," and " aside,' 5 
 various sins (Eph. iv. 22, 25; Col. iii. 8; 
 James i. 21 ; 1 Peter ii. 1). The idea is 
 common in the Old Testament, as well as 
 in the New Testament. As, for example, 
 "Wash you, make you clean; put away the 
 evil of your doings from before mine eyes;" 
 (Isa. i. 16). And so very important is this 
 subject of getting rid of what hinders our 
 spiritual progress, that our Lord says, "If 
 thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and 
 
218 THE PREPARATION 
 
 cast it from th.ee ; for it is profitable for thee 
 that one of thy members should perish and 
 not that thy whole body should be cast into 
 hell" (Matt. v. 29, 30). The ''profit" lies 
 in getting rid of the offending member, dear 
 as it may be ; and it clearly teaches, that one 
 reason why people do not succeed better in 
 the Christian race is, that impediments are 
 not removed. They are not resolute and 
 determined enough against what hinders. 
 If the sacrifice demanded be costly, the 
 hindrance is often allowed to remain. The 
 real reason of this is, they do not estimate 
 the sacrifice in comparison with the soul, or 
 it would be made; but in comparison of 
 their own fleshly ease and indulgence. Now, 
 may we not see the solemn responsibility 
 Christ charges on us with respect to self- 
 discipline? "If thine eye foot hand 
 offend thee," get rid of them. We are to 
 regard these useful members as nothing in 
 comparison of the soul. Nor are we to 
 flinch from the suffering which such sacri- 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 219 
 
 fices will involve. For we must not forget, 
 that although the strength by which alone 
 we can get rid of these hindrances be all 
 Christ's, yet the pain is all ours. We shall 
 feel the wrench of parting with old habits, 
 and ways, and scenes, in which we have 
 found such pleasure, and which, by long cus- 
 tom, have become almost necessaiy, but 
 which now we see to be hindrances to the 
 soul in its Christian race. Oh, what stern, 
 strong resolution is required to go through 
 all this! but it must be done when Christ 
 calls for it. 
 
 People do not sufficiently consider the 
 character of the things which hinder their 
 advancement. They take it for granted there 
 must be hindrances, but they have neither 
 faith enough to believe they can be removed, 
 nor principle enough to set about trying to 
 get rid of them. They forget the power of 
 Christ, and the promise, that " to him that 
 believeth, all things are possible." 
 
 Again, persons do not sufficiently suspect 
 
220 THE PREPARATION 
 
 hindrances in themselves. There are many 
 " roots of bitterness" which they never notice, 
 and all because they never search diligently. 
 The love of Christ is but languid in their 
 hearts. Eternal life is not kept steadily be- 
 fore them. Hatred of sin is but a feeble 
 principle; for in proportion as these deepen 
 in intensity, would be their zeal in laying 
 aside all that prevents their growth. Oh, 
 if we are warned against putting a stumbling- 
 block in our weak brother's way (Kom. xiv.) ; 
 if our Lord has said, that " it were better for 
 a man that a millstone were hanged about 
 his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
 depth of the sea, than offend (or put an occa- 
 sion to fall in the way of) one of those little 
 ones which believe in Him " (Matt, xviii. 6) ; 
 surely we ought to try to remove them out 
 of our own way! our own soul, surely, is as 
 precious as our neighbour's ! It cost the same 
 blood to redeem, it was valued at the same 
 price, and ought to be as dear in our eyes. 
 But there are many persons who seem to be 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 22 I 
 
 so intent on the safety of others, that they 
 assume their own as a matter of course ; and 
 the very anxiety and activity which they 
 manifest for the welfare of others, become a 
 hindrance to their own. Does any one doubt 
 the truth of this, or, at any rate, its liability, 
 in the case of ministers, Scripture-readers, 
 missionaries, and, in short, of all who tire 
 much occupied in the spiritual care of others? 
 Spiritual objects, through their number or 
 frequency, may, alas! be pursued in a cold 
 and perfunctory spirit; and then who can 
 doubt that they are hindrances of the most 
 fatal kind? 
 
 And again, when they are found, these 
 hindrances must be dealt with summarily. 
 Our Lord expresses it, by "plucking out," 
 " cutting off," " casting from thee." There 
 must be no compunction, no parleying, no 
 hesitation. We must deal with them as Israel 
 was to deal with him who enticed him to 
 idolatry " Thou shalt not consent unto him, 
 nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine 
 
222 THE PREPARATION 
 
 eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither 
 shalt thou conceal him ; but thou shalt surely 
 kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him 
 to put him to death " (Deut. xiii. 8, 9). Ob- 
 serve the stern inflexibility of the principle : 
 however dear, whether brother, son, daughter, 
 wife, or " friend, which is as thine own soul." 
 Thus he was to be dealt with. Observe, too, 
 the responsibility laid on him who was 
 tempted, "thine hand shall be first upon 
 him." There was to be no negative waiving 
 of the thing, no waiting till circumstances 
 interfered in our behalf there was to be 
 nothing of this sort, but positive action on 
 our part at once. And remember, this is no 
 human judgment of the way of dealing with 
 a sinful temptation. It is God's direction; 
 and assuredly, therefore, the best and most 
 suitable way. 
 
 I am not unaware of the strong faith 
 needed to act thus resolutely. I am not un- 
 aware it is hard of attainment most diffi- 
 cult. But right things are not often easy, 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 223 
 
 although always best. But this only shews 
 us that the real staple of the Christian race is 
 faith. It is this that makes hard things 
 easy, and all things possible. And it is as 
 much needed to get rid of the hindrances, as 
 to speed the progress. We must not forget 
 that this " laying aside " must be done on 
 principle, with express reference to winning 
 the race. The " laying aside " anything that 
 hinders, from any other motive than that of 
 serving God better, is not the thing meant. 
 A variety of motives prevail with men to 
 give up sinful habits, and we ought to thank 
 God when any sin is abandoned; but we 
 must not confound what is but mere carnal 
 policy, with what ought to be positively spi- 
 ritual purpose. You will not misunderstand 
 me to mean, that it is not well to do what is 
 right, however defective may be the motive; 
 but as Christianity is a religion of motives, 
 and we are told to " do all to the glory of 
 God," if we would really serve God we must 
 mean it. We shall never serve Him accept- 
 
224 THE PREPARATION 
 
 ably without meaning it. No man serves 
 God by accident. There must be design. 
 Many a drunkard has become sober many a 
 profligate has become moral and so far as 
 it goes, they should be encouraged; but if 
 they have not meant God's honour in these 
 things, we are not to confound them with 
 Christian acts. 
 
 Let me ask you all, as before God, In any 
 bad habits you may have discontinued, has 
 the honour of God been your object? Have 
 you come to this point on this principle 
 " I will, by God's grace, ' lay aside ' whatever 
 hinders me in the Christian race, however 
 dear, pleasant, fashionable it may be 1 " You 
 will never get on till you come to this. 
 There are many things which you all would 
 readily get rid of, were it not for the trouble 
 and self-denial involved ; and which would 
 not be matters of regret to you : but are there 
 no hindrances which are very dear to you 
 still, which are matters of conscious self-in- 
 dulgence, which you know are hindrances, 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 225 
 
 but which you cannot part with, and are 
 inclined to defend 1 
 
 Oh, it requires strong as well as stern 
 principle to "lay aside" all, to put aside 
 every plea which might be urged for retain- 
 ing what you desire to retain ! Saul could 
 slay the vulgar, coarse Amalekites, but it 
 required the stern integrity of a Samuel to 
 hew down the perfumed, polished Agag. 
 Look, then, this in the face bravely, like 
 one who feels his soul's welfare is at stake 
 that if you would run successfully, you must 
 "lay aside" what enfeebles the soul and 
 damages it before God, and so hinders it in 
 its Christian course ; and you must lay it 
 aside for God's sake because He forbids it. 
 I would say, do not confound difficulties 
 with hindrances. Difficulties are often sent 
 directly by the Lord to exercise and try our 
 faith : hindrances, I think, never, although 
 permitted through Satan and our own evil 
 hearts. Difficulties are not necessarily hin- 
 drances, because the race is not to be run 
 p 
 
226 THE PREPARATION 
 
 with speed, but with "patience;" and so, 
 while difficulties are exercising faith, and 
 drawing out energy of purpose and character, 
 a man may be making great strides in his 
 Christian race, and the difficulty be the very 
 occasion of his progress. 
 
 2d, "Every weight" This signifies any 
 impediment, not any one thing, nor things 
 of any one kind but anything that hinders 
 and is really a weight to the soul. Now, 
 what responsibility comes in here with 
 respect to self-knowledge ! I need not at- 
 tempt to particularise what may be a weight 
 and hindrance in our Christian race. All 
 actual sin is so, of course (Ps. xxxviii. 4) ; 
 "the cares of this life" (Luke xxi. 34); the 
 world (James iv. 4), and all comprised under 
 that term; "the lust of the eye of the 
 flesh the pride of life." These are said, 
 distinctly, to be "not of the Father, but of 
 the world." The elegancies, refinements, 
 luxuries, display, of life ; its riches, honours, 
 &c. I quite admit these things are, in many 
 
TO EUN SUCCESSFULLY. 227 
 
 respects, a question of degree, in which I 
 would not dogmatise ; nor do I know that 
 they necessarily involve sin, or are neces- 
 sarily hindrances to the soul; still they are 
 great temptations to it, and must be watched. 
 And it is in this, I repeat, that a man's re- 
 sponsibility consists : he must examine, and 
 see,-and try to understand, the effect of these 
 things upon his spirit; and if they are as a 
 weight upon his soul, hindering his Christian 
 progress, they are to be laid aside. It is 
 every weight not some only, which cost 
 little or nothing to part with, but every 
 weight, however dear and costly may be the 
 sacrifice. It cannot be doubted there is 
 more hindrance in common things, in which 
 a man secretly imbibes the spirit of the 
 world, and is drawn into its customs, and 
 follows its directions, than in uncommon 
 things. Lawful things are often greater 
 hindrances than things that are sinful, be- 
 cause they are less suspected, and because 
 less watched against, or less considered in 
 
228 THE PREPARATION 
 
 their effects. But who can doubt that it is 
 a man's solemn duty to try the effect which 
 certain companions have upon him certain 
 society books recreations habits hours, 
 &c. \ These may all be hindrances, which lie 
 like a dead weight upon his soul. And if 
 conscientiously believed to be so, they must 
 be laid aside and cheerfully too ! If, in 
 the maintenance of their Christian integrity, 
 the Hebrews could "take joyfully the spoil- 
 ing of their goods," much more ought we to 
 part cheerfully with what operates against 
 our successful running. 
 
 We see the inexpressible importance of 
 our Lord's very first principle of service, self- 
 denial (Matt. xvi. 24) "mortifying the deeds 
 of the body," "the sin which is in your mem- 
 bers," "crucifying the flesh, with its affec- 
 tions and lusts." Let us never forget the 
 flesh, as an evil principle, is ever a deadly 
 hindrance to the Christian race. It is a 
 constant weight or clog to progress; and we 
 must allow it no quarter in any particular. 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 229 
 
 It entrenches itself in different members in 
 different persons in the eye, the heart, the 
 tongue, &c. Oh! who shall say what an 
 enemy to the Christian race is the tongue 
 what mischief it produces in our own souls, 
 what sorrow in others \ How many throw 
 themselves back in their race, by the love of 
 saying smart, clever, biting things, as inju- 
 rious to their own spirituality as they are 
 painful to others; or by always saying kind 
 things, so that truth and faithfulness are 
 
 O ' 
 
 obscured, and thus their amiability becomes 
 a sin from fear of man; or by saying plea- 
 sant, amusing things, so that imagination 
 often supplies the place of facts, and levity 
 of sobriety ! " The tongue is a world of 
 iniquity." But a true believer will use all 
 means to get rid of so deadly an enemy, to 
 himself and Christ, as an unbridled tongue : 
 he knows it is out of the abundance of the 
 heart that the mouth speaketh; and there- 
 fore he will be much in prayer to God to set 
 a watch on his heart, and to keep the door of 
 
230 THE PREPARATION 
 
 his lips; to keep him back from presump- 
 tuous sins ; to deliver him from temptations ; 
 to enable him to mourn for sin before God; 
 and to take reproof thankfully (Ps. cxli. 5). 
 
 3d, There is still another expression to be 
 noted, " The sin which doth so easily beset 
 us" This is by some understood to mean 
 indwelling sin; and it means, in this sense, 
 that we must be as careful in suppressing 
 our inward, inbred corruptions, as in laying 
 aside our external weights. Nay, it should, 
 if possible, be more our study to subdue it, 
 for it is an enemy in the heart; and more 
 danger arises from a traitor within a citadel, 
 than from enemies without. David was 
 never in so much danger from any or all 
 the nations without, as from those that rose 
 against him in his own kingdom. And we 
 must remember, it is scarcely in the power 
 of any outward enemy to hurt us, unless the 
 inward traitor takes part. This enemy is 
 never at rest. We cannot act, or speak, or 
 think, but it will infest and harass us : at all 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 231 
 
 times in all places in company when 
 alone at church at home in prayer in 
 duties of charity in our calling when we 
 are waking or sleeping. It is indeed neces- 
 sary to "keep the heart with all diligence" 
 (Prov. iv. 23). 
 
 But "sin which doth so easily beset us," 
 may mean some particular sin which we are 
 especially prone to ; such as pride, vanity, 
 sloth, evil tempers, captiousness, unforgiving- 
 ness, inconsiderateness, &c. Here comes in 
 again the solemn subject of personal respon- 
 sibility and self-knowledge. You are to try 
 to find this out, and watch against it. "What 
 others do," even good men, must not be your 
 rule; what may be harmless to them may be 
 ruinous to you. It may not be sin in itself, 
 but only the occasion of sin, and therefore, 
 however pleasant in itself, it must be laid 
 aside. Your Christianity must be positive, 
 not negative (Matt. xii. 30; 1 Cor. x. 31), 
 and therefore things not profitable and edify- 
 ing to the soul are to be laid aside. 
 
232 THE PREPARATION 
 
 We see the Word of God makes heavy and 
 serious demands on believers, but it is all in- 
 tended for good. It is written, "In all labour 
 there is profit, but the talk of the lips tend- 
 eth only to penury" (Prov. xiv. 23) ; and no 
 labour yields such profit as that which is 
 directed to the destruction of sin, the culti- 
 vation of holiness, and spiritual progress. 
 And nothing is a greater hindrance to spiri- 
 tuality than vain, unmeaning conversation 
 on solemn spiritual subjects. 
 
 It may be said, we cannot "lay aside" 
 indwelling sin. It is true we cannot attain 
 unto perfection in holiness we cannot so 
 crucify the old man that he stirs no more; 
 but we are to endeavour, by God's grace, to 
 do so : and our submission and obedience to 
 God's will, and our desire so to run that we 
 may obtain, will be seen in our persevering 
 efforts after conformity to Christ. 
 
 We see what a solemn life is the Chris- 
 tian's what a thing it is to " lay aside every 
 weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 233 
 
 us ! " The corruption of the heart furnishes 
 the believer with work, most difficult, trying 
 painful work : what Christ calls " plucking 
 out the right eye," &c. Constant work, too 
 as long as life lasts, till the race is run. No 
 time, no place, no occasion, no circumstances 
 are free from hard work; and we must re- 
 member, to relax is to give advantage to our 
 watchful adversary. Corruption works in 
 the best duties, at the most solemn seasons. 
 Satan and the world are great enemies to 
 believers, but the heart is a greater enemy 
 still ; and the former have power only accord- 
 ing to the state of the latter (John xiv. 30). 
 The more we are like Christ, the less power 
 has Satan over us. There is no cessation in 
 this strife. Particular sins die hard, and 
 many a believer has to struggle with the 
 same sins which cost him prayers and tears 
 years ago. This makes the Christian race 
 often weary. It is, no doubt, a discouraging 
 thing to meet the same enemies day after 
 day to find ourselves failing in the same 
 
234 THE PRAPARATION 
 
 things to feel we are not more above certain 
 temptations than we were years ago to find 
 ourselves falling into the same sins, and often 
 not by surprise, but with our eyes open. 
 But what is the remedy? To faint and give 
 up"? Nay, to live more by faith, to take hold 
 on Christ's strength, to lean more on Him, 
 to cultivate the persuasion that without Him 
 all is vain that without His Spirit you 
 cannot " lay aside " common things rightly, 
 but that with Him all things are certain, and 
 you shall win the race. 
 
 In conclusion, I would say 
 
 1st, Pray for more faith that you may 
 " endure hardness," and know what real habi- 
 tual self-denial is, in all its comprehensive- 
 ness. Pray to be kept from evil. Say with 
 the Psalmist, " Who can understand his 
 errors'? cleanse thou me from secret faults: 
 keep back thy servant also from presumptu- 
 ous sins." And again, "Order my steps in 
 thy word; and let not any iniquity have 
 dominion over me." Never was there greater 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 235 
 
 need for this prayer than now, when the very 
 foundations of Christianity, the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, are assailed in their inspiration, their 
 doctrines, and their integrity. Oh! pray to 
 be like Christ, in obedience to, and reverence 
 for the Sacred Scriptures. He never cast 
 doubts on Scripture, but said, " The Scrip- 
 ture cannot be broken." 
 
 Labour, then, for faith in Christ. Faith 
 opens the reality, and value, and glory of 
 eternal things to the soul ; and you will find 
 that it is the love of Christ which will enable 
 you to " lay aside every weight, and the sin 
 which doth so easily beset you." 
 
 2d, Strive to live in communion with 
 God. " Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not 
 fulfil the lusts of the flesh." " Be in the fear 
 of the Lord all the day long;" for "the fear 
 of the Lord is to hate evil," and " by the fear 
 of the Lord men depart from evil." Bear in 
 mind, " Thou God seest me," and thus shall 
 you be enabled to " lay aside every weight, 
 and the sin which doth so easily beset you." 
 
236 THE PREPARATION 
 
 3d, Regard all allowed hindrances in 
 your particular case as sin. Nothing hinders 
 the soul but sin. Difficulties do not, but sin 
 does. The particular thing, remember, may 
 not be sin in others or to others, but if you 
 believe it hinders you, then to you it is sin, 
 and you must lay it aside. brethren! 
 ought we to need exhortation to lay aside 
 sin, ruin, destruction? Alas! for the deceit- 
 fulness of sin, for the wickedness of our 
 hearts. Oh! watch and pray. Sin may lurk 
 in things little suspected by yourself or 
 others in habits which render you most 
 pleasant and agreeable to others; yea, in 
 things which are right in themselves, but in 
 which the motive is not pure. Let your 
 prayer be, " Search me, God, and know 
 my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 
 and see if there be any wicked way in me, 
 and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 
 cxxxix. 23, 24). Go through your history 
 on your knees before the Lord. Take your- 
 self in review for one day. Consider what 
 
TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY. 237 
 
 have been your thoughts, words, ways the 
 mode in which you have passed your time, 
 the tone and tendency of your feelings, 
 afiections, desires, &c. Unravel yourself 
 before Him. Take yourself to pieces. Go 
 into detail about your conversation, spirit, 
 habits, &c., and beg Him not only to en- 
 lighten you to see what is wrong, but also to 
 give you grace resolutely to lay it aside. 
 Set the Lord always before you, approve 
 yourself to Him, act in His strength, culti- 
 vate His mind about all things as set forth 
 in His Word, endeavour to maintain " a con- 
 science void of offence, both towards God 
 and towards man ; " and thus shall you be 
 strengthened, first to see and understand, 
 and next to " lay aside every weight, and the 
 sin which doth so easily beset you." 
 
THE EACE, AND THE SPIRIT IN WHICH 
 IT IS TO BE RUN. 
 
 LORD ! can a helpless worm like me 
 Attempt to make her way to Thee ? 
 Yes, let me raise Thy praises high ; 
 In weakness Thou canst strength supply ? 
 
 'Twas by Thy grace that I begun, 
 Resolved the heavenly race to run : 
 'Tis grace corrects me when I stray, 
 'Tis grace upholds me in the way. 
 
 Run on, my soul, and still adore, 
 Receiving still, still asking more ; 
 In Christ thy strength and wisdom lies 
 Oh, look to Him with steadfast eyes ! 
 
 Look to that blood thy Saviour shed ; 
 Thy Daysman dying in thy stead ; 
 Behold Him on the accursed tree ; 
 Great was the love He bore to thee. 
 
 He who thus loved thee unto death 
 Will love thee to thy latest breath ; 
 Keep sight of Him, my soul, and run 
 He '11 crown thee when thy race is done. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT IS 
 TO BE RUN. 
 
 HEBREWS xii. 1. 
 
 "And let us run with patience the race that is set 
 before us." 
 
 WE come now to consider the race itself, and 
 the spirit in which it is to be run. I have 
 already said it was a race which required all 
 our powers, for it is for our lives, our souls. 
 It is not only a certain course to be run 
 under certain conditions, but it is a contest 
 against all the powers of evil, both within 
 and without. It is a " striving for the mas- 
 tery" over all the powers of darkness, and 
 in spite of all hindrances. It is a wrest- 
 Q 
 
242 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 ling "against principalities, against powers, 
 against the rulers of the darkness of this 
 world, against spiritual wickedness in high 
 places," so that we must "take the whole 
 armour of God." We shall be sure to be 
 placed in such circumstances as to need it ; 
 and happy if we know how to use it, and 
 adapt it to our circumstances. In the last 
 lecture, we spoke of what would hinder our 
 running ; in this, we are to consider the 
 race itself, the gathering up all our powers 
 and concentrating them on this point 
 namely, so running as to win. I will ask 
 your attention to two main points 
 I. THE RACE. 
 
 II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 
 
 t 
 
 I. THE, RACE. 
 
 It is "a race .set before us." It is not what 
 we fall into by chance, nor is it of our own 
 choosing ; but it is " set before us," marked 
 out by the Lord himself. It is a prescribed 
 course. Christ has determined it, as well as 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE EUN. 243 
 
 limited the bounds of it. He has ordered it, 
 with all the duties, responsibilities, service, 
 &c., which belong to it. It is to be run, too, 
 according to prescribed rules, which are 
 all plainly set down in the Word of God. 
 With respect to the difficulties of it, Christ 
 hides nothing from us. He tells us, before 
 we begin, to "sit down and count the cost" 
 that if we would follow Him we must 
 begin by denying ourselves, taking up our 
 cross daily, &c. so that entering upon it may 
 be as truly an act of our choice, and will, 
 and judgment, as it was on the part of Moses, 
 when he "refused to be called the son of 
 Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer 
 affliction with the people of God, than to 
 enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 
 xi. 24, 25). So that if, in the trials of the 
 race, we are inclined to faint and grow weary, 
 we may say to ourselves, " Why do I faint 1 
 Has Christ deceived me? Did He not fore- 
 warn me? Did He not tell me of trial?" 
 If, therefore, we find His words come true, 
 
244 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 let it be our encouragement rather to perse- 
 vere to the end ; for He who has prescribed 
 the course, and knows all the difficulties and 
 trials which beset it, will carry us triumph- 
 antly through it. It was on this ground 
 Paul said, We run "not uncertainly" (1 Cor. 
 ix. 26), for his "course was set before him." 
 The first practical point to which we are 
 to bend our minds is this: My Christian 
 race is to be run where God has placed me. 
 Let me, then, consider my condition and my 
 circumstances. Am f a parent, a child, old, 
 young, rich, poor, in business, at leisure, &c. ? 
 I am to adapt myself and my circumstances 
 to my race not my race to my circumstances 
 and to run it, with an the advantages and 
 disadvantages arising from them. God has 
 determined my circumstances, position, &c., 
 and I am to do the best I can in them, be- 
 lieving them to be the best for me. If we 
 kept this ever in mind, how would it settle 
 us in our place and work, and put an end to 
 vain wishes ! how would it make us redeem. 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 245 
 
 the time now wasted in wishing things differ- 
 ent from what they are, and turn our atten- 
 tion to making the best of things as they 
 are to running the race set before us! Am 
 I in business? Then business shall be ac- 
 commodated yea, made subservient not 
 merely to running, but winning the race. 
 Have I heavy claims and responsibilities of 
 any other kind 1 ? Then they shall bend to 
 the paramount importance of this race. 
 
 In no case shall we be warranted in neglect 
 of business or any other duties. Nor will 
 God, in any case, ever lay upon us such re- 
 sponsibilities in temporal things, as that we 
 need neglect anything which He has charged 
 upon us with respect to spiritual things. It 
 is quite possible, and, alas ! common, for a 
 man so to accumulate business cares upon 
 himself ,as that his soul is neglected and his 
 Christian race hindered. He may also ac- 
 custom himself to say, "I am so immersed 
 in business and its incessant demands, that I 
 cannot do this and that ;" but I would ear- 
 
246 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 nestly warn such to remember, that they 
 should rather say, " I have so immersed my- 
 self in business I have so accumulated cares 
 upon myself in ten thousand ways that I 
 am a sinner against my own soul." Yes ; 
 his is the guilt ! All this business, which 
 hinders his running, is not necessary in the 
 sense that serving God is. Oh, let him 
 beware of charging these hindrances upon 
 God, as if he must attend to temporal things 
 at the expense of spiritual ! Listen to James 
 (i. 13-15), "Let no man say when he is 
 tempted (tempted to postpone spiritual things 
 to temporal), I am tempted of God: for God 
 cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt- 
 eth he any man: but every man is tempted, 
 when he is drawn away of his own lust (the 
 lust of, business or any other thing) and 
 enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it 
 bringeth forth sin (the sin of self-excuse and 
 charging its circumstances on God) : and 
 sin, when it is finished (when the sin of self- 
 excuse has settled into a confirmed habit), 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 247 
 
 bringeth forth death.." No ; the thing is, to 
 adapt our time and strength to our work, and 
 to give to each a due portion ; and to remem- 
 ber that the work of running and winning 
 the Christian race is as real as any temporal 
 work God has given us to do ; and who will 
 say it is not as important 1 Here, then, 
 comes in again our responsibility, our need 
 of praying for a right judgment in all things, 
 that we may know what is important, and 
 estimate everything rightly, according to the 
 mind of Christ and the standard of Holy 
 Scripture. I am not unaware of the diffi- 
 culty of all this; but it is not a difficulty 
 insurmountable -not a difficulty beyond the 
 reach of faith rightly to deal with; and, I 
 may say, it is a difficulty which will cease 
 to be one just in proportion to our rightly 
 estimating the importance of winning the 
 race. If we make winning the race the 
 first consideration, as we ought, we shall 
 make other things give way without much 
 trouble we shall neither love them nor regret 
 
248 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 their loss, in comparison of the great object; 
 but if we allow business, or any other cares, 
 to take the first place, then the difficulty 
 Avill be great indeed; and it will be a diffi- 
 culty which will daily increase in magnitude, 
 just as the winning the race diminishes in 
 importance. 
 
 Thus it is, that, instead of "laying aside 
 every weight, and the sin which doth so 
 easily beset them," persons go on "lading 
 themselves with thick clay" (Hab. ii. 6); 
 whether it is in being "careful and troubled" 
 about a variety of things, or whether it is in 
 having the mind absorbed by that most en- 
 grossing of all temptations, money; so that 
 money, money, getting money, becomes the 
 thing not that they live by merely, but, alas! 
 live for. . It would almost seem, in the pre- 
 sent day, as if to have a large business, and 
 to increase it day by day, were "the one 
 thing needful." The spirit pervades all 
 classes; and persons, Christian persons, who 
 are by no means indifferent to winning the 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN.' 249 
 
 race, seldom stop to inquire the effect of such 
 habits on their Christian course. The worldly 
 phrase, "Oh, they are doing well," seems to 
 satisfy every thought; and whether the 
 "doing well" extends to the soul, is, alas! 
 not often a matter of concern. But ought it 
 not to be? Should we think him a wise 
 man who, in running a race, encumbered 
 himself with all kinds of weights and hin- 
 drances ? Should we think he was " doing 
 well," who was every minute in danger of 
 going further behind ? Should we say, " Look 
 how well he is doing ! he has just taken up 
 a fresh weight; he has got more upon him 
 than ever? " Should we not rather exclaim, 
 "Lay aside every weight, or you will lose 
 the race altogether?" In weighing "things 
 seen" against "things not seen," we must 
 ever make the spiritual scale the weightest. 
 These things are incapable of an even balance. 
 Hear the Judge, " What is a man profited, if 
 he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
 own soul ? or what can a man give in ex- 
 
250 THE KACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 change for his soul?" "Ye cannot serve 
 God and mammon." 
 
 I do not say that a mind full of business, 
 or a pocket full of money, is of necessity to 
 be accompanied by a lean and starving soul ; 
 but we may be assured of this, that our Lord 
 has not said all He has, about "riches 
 and the cares of this life," without deep 
 significance; and that the possession of 
 riches, and, perhaps, still more, the accumu- 
 lation of them, is a great snare and difficulty 
 to the soul in running the race set before 
 us! 
 
 The race, then, is to be run, as God has 
 set it before us under the circumstances and 
 in the position in which He has placed us 
 and it is our responsibility to distinguish be- 
 tween ttye difficulties, which He puts in our 
 way to exercise and try our faith, and the 
 hindrances which we culpably accumulate 
 upon ourselves, by preferring " things seen " 
 to " things not seen," and a corruptible to an 
 incorruptible crown. 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 251 
 
 Let us now consider 
 
 II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH WE ARE TO RUN. 
 
 " With patience." The grace of patience is 
 much commended in Scripture. The seed 
 on the good ground are they which "bring 
 forth fruit with patience" (Luke viii. 15). 
 Paul prays for the Colossians, that they may 
 be " strengthened unto all patience and long- 
 suffering with joyfulness" (Col. i. 11); and 
 he glories in the Thessalonians for this grace 
 (2 Thess. i. 4). 
 
 The idea of a race forbids all loitering or 
 sloth, in any way; therefore we must not 
 confound patience with anything like indif- 
 ference, or a spirit which does not much care 
 how things go. There is no indifference in 
 Christianity ; nothing like " don't care " in 
 the Christian race. No ; but patience is that 
 calm, meek, submissive spirit under trial, 
 coupled with a bright expectation of deliver- 
 ance, which at once feels that God's ways 
 are right, though often veiled in a deep 
 mysteriousness, and that He is faithful to 
 
252 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 His promise in His own good time, in spite 
 of all that seems to be against it. This is 
 the spirit in which we are to run a spirit 
 which combines submission and hope, endu- 
 rance and expectation. We are to run, then, 
 " with patience ;" not necessarily with speed, 
 but "with patience;" plodding on and on, in 
 the same round of duties the same narrow 
 spliere exciting no notice calling forth no 
 commendation from men having neither 
 gifts, nor powers, nor opportunity to make a 
 noise in the world doing only common 
 things living amidst common people. These 
 things will be often disagreeable and wearing 
 to the flesh; nay, to some people they will 
 be altogether intolerable. There is, perhaps, 
 in every heart a tendency to live before men; 
 but, in some persons, life without publicity 
 is scarcely worth having. 
 
 I speak now of what are called " religious 
 people." Their life seems to be always " be- 
 fore men." No opportunity of going hither 
 and thither is passed over. It always seems 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 253 
 
 so urgent a call, that they feel " obliged to 
 go." To be at home, silently and diligently 
 working, where God has put them, is irk- 
 some. The excitement of change has become 
 almost necessary. Of course, there may be 
 persons who may do this profitably to others, 
 and without damage to themselves men on 
 whom God has bestowed popular gifts by 
 which they can interest others in good things 
 but such persons should walk cautiously 
 and prayerfully, lest they mistake the excite- 
 ment of popularity for the power and warmth 
 of Christian principle; and lest, while they 
 have a name to live, they are dead before 
 God. It is a far higher and rarer attainment 
 to be content to live before God; and it is very 
 blessed; for you shall find that the common 
 duties of our proper calling, however mono- 
 tonous and uninteresting in themselves, will 
 become instinct with life and power to the 
 spirit, when we look upon them with the eye 
 of faith, as constituting the race set before 
 us when we regard them as God's appoint- 
 
254 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 ments as His appointments for His own 
 glory and our salvation : then common things 
 become noble things, done in an uncommon 
 spirit; and the daily and homely drudgeries 
 of life, when undertaken in the spirit of faith, 
 and for the service of the Lord, become " spi- 
 ritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through 
 Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. ii. 5). 
 
 This is the way to run. This is the sure 
 way of progress " Growing up in all things 
 into him which is the head, even Christ" 
 (Eph. iv. 15) aiming at conformity to 
 Christ. 
 
 Again, in spiritual things, how often is 
 that maxim seen to be true, "Most haste, 
 worst speed." How often is it exemplified 
 in the Christian race! You see some Chris- 
 tians all activity and bustle ; always engaged 
 in some busy works; hurrying hither and 
 thither ; running, literally ; always doing, but, 
 alas! seldom thinking. No time for calm 
 reflection, serious meditation, fervent prayer, 
 deep study of Scripture. Seldom stopping 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 255 
 
 to inquire why they do this and that, what 
 they mean by it, what good they do to others, 
 what good they get themselves. There is 
 much surface-work but little depth, little 
 dealing with the heart, little resolution to do 
 what they do in the best way, and to God's 
 glory. What a text is that, "He that be- 
 lieveth shall not make haste" (Isa.xxviii.16); 
 i. e., shall live seriously, reflectively ; doing 
 well rather than much ; not discouraged by 
 difficulties nor stopped by hindrances ; but 
 calmly and patiently meeting things, as they 
 arise, in the strength of God; enduring, suf- 
 fering, but still hoping and believing that 
 our " labour shall not be in vain in the Lord >; 
 (1 Cor. xv. 58). In running our race we 
 shall have " need of patience," in the face of 
 all the opposition that will be made by men 
 and Satan. How much David needed pa- 
 tience when, in his troubles, men said daily 
 unto him, "Where is thy God?" (Ps. xlii. 10.) 
 And we see how the patience of hope sus- 
 tained him. We, too, are told to " consider 
 
256 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 Him that endured such contradiction of sin- 
 ners against Himself, lest we be wearied and 
 faint in our minds." You remember how 
 our Lord was treated, how they reviled Him, 
 saying, " He trusted in God ; let him deliver 
 him now, if he will have him : for he said, I 
 am the Son of God" (Matt, xxvii. 43). And 
 what befell our Lord on the cross shews 
 what His followers may expect under it, for 
 ' the disciple is not above his Master, nor the 
 servant above his Lord;" and our resource is 
 the same as His, namely, " committing our- 
 selves to Him that judgeth righteously" (1 
 Pet. ii. 23). 
 
 Every effort will be made, by the malice 
 
 s 
 
 of Satan, to "wear out the saints of the Most 
 High ; " and what havoc he has made, and is 
 daily making among professors, is seen in 
 the numbers of apostates from the faith, who 
 give up and turn aside before the race is run. 
 But in this especially is the value of patience : 
 " By patient continuance in well-doing men 
 obtain eternal life." By patience the soul is 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 257 
 
 supported and strengthened. Our Lord's 
 direction to His disciples, in the midst of the 
 hatred and persecution to which they would 
 be exposed, is, " In your patience possess ye 
 your souls." For it enables the believer to 
 take a calm view of things as they are to 
 see how the facts of the Christian race daily 
 agree with what our Lord had said ; and thus, 
 seeing the truth of God's Word, in the trials 
 of life, the soul will be encouraged to rest on 
 the promises, and to say with Paul, " I reckon 
 that the sufferings of this present time are 
 not worthy to be compared with the glory 
 which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. viii. 18). 
 And to obviate any despondency which might 
 arise from meeting the same enemies day 
 after day, contending with the same sins, St 
 James says, "Take, my brethren, the pro- 
 phets, who have spoken in the name of the 
 Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, 
 and of patience." And we have also the 
 testimony of " the cloud of witnesses." You 
 will be called to nothing which was not found 
 
258 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 in them to nothing which is not necessary 
 for the trial of your faith, "if need be"- 
 to nothing which is not practicable to faith. 
 I shewed you (Lecture II.) what difficulties 
 faith will carry a man through ; and no more 
 will ever be required of you than men of 
 like passions have successfully accomplished. 
 
 Let their examples stir us up to holy zeal 
 in the same path of patience, considering the 
 end the prize set before us. Be ours the 
 spirit of Paul, " This one thing I do, forget- 
 ting those things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are 
 before, I press toward the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jesus" (Phil. iii. 13, 14). 
 
 In this exhortation, I of course assume 
 that you possess the principle of real faith in 
 Christ- the Son of God; otherwise such ex- 
 amples will only cast you down, and render 
 effort hopeless. As says Paul, " We having 
 the same spirit of faith, according as it is 
 written, I believed, and therefore have I 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 259 
 
 spoken : we also believe, and therefore speak" 
 (2 Cor. iv. 13). If we have not the same 
 spirit of faith, it is vain to attempt to imitate 
 them ; but to faith, all things are possible. 
 
 Once more ; the race is to be run " with 
 patience" therefore in sickness as well as in 
 health. Look at that suffering saint of God, 
 lying for years upon a sick-bed; ripe, as we 
 think, long since for glory ready to receive 
 the prize. But no ! there is " need of pa- 
 tience :" there may be a long way, and a long 
 while, still to run. Look at one cut off from 
 all the outward enjoyments of life, enduring 
 from day to day severe bodily pain, and, in 
 some cases, without many of the alleviations 
 of sickness ; contending with a Will which 
 often rises, and asks, " Why am I thus \ why 
 am I laid prostrate, while others are allowed 
 to be actively and usefully employed 1 ?''' but 
 which Will, by degrees, God graciously hushes 
 into uncomplaining stillness and peace, and 
 into the sweet assurance that the whole dis- 
 cipline is sent in love. What a comfort, 
 
260 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 under such circumstances, to know that OUT 
 particular course in the Christian race is 
 " set before us " is of the appointment of a 
 loving Father! "What a comfort to feel that, 
 in cutting such an one off from contact with 
 the world, God is thus shielding from far 
 severer trials than are endured on a bed of 
 pain. Might we not say to such an one, 
 " Be of good cheer are you not running the 
 race set before you? are you not bearing 
 witness, as truly as others, to the reality of 
 faith? to the reality of God's grace in sub- 
 duing the will, and moulding the heart into 
 conformity to Christ? to the power of prayer 
 in stilling complaint? to the reality of spirit- 
 ual comfort and joy in the midst of great 
 bodily suffering? to the blessed truth that 
 though your outward man decayeth, yet the 
 inward man is renewed day by day? To 
 outward eyes your course may be rough and 
 hard, but to your own soul God is daily 
 shewing it is the best for you. He is mould- 
 ing you day by day to say, "Not my will, 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 261 
 
 but thine, Lord, be done." You are, then, 
 not only running, but, in the exercise of 
 patience and faith, you are surely winning 
 the race set before you. You are not to con- 
 sider how you could have run some different 
 course, but how best you can fulfil your 
 own! 
 
 This is the privilege of faith and patience 
 in suffering ; not the privilege of mere suffer- 
 ing, but of suffering according to God's will. 
 Faith makes all the difference the everlast- 
 ing difference ; faith, which brings the future 
 to bear upon the present. So that "our 
 light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
 worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory : while we look not 
 at the things which are seen, but at the 
 things which are not seen." 
 
 Observe the lessons which flow from this 
 subject: 
 
 1. Be cheerful and contented and diligent 
 in running the race set before you. Despise 
 it not because it is obscure and far from the 
 
262 THE RACE, AND THE SPIRIT 
 
 observation of men. It is safer to run in the 
 shade, if God so appoint, than in the dazzling 
 glare of a deceiving world. He knows where 
 you can run best, and He has set it before 
 you. Despise not your daily duties because 
 they are common and homely because the 
 range of them is narrow and unknown; but 
 remember that all God's appointed courses 
 end in the same everlasting goal, and that 
 faith can turn the simplest service of minis- 
 tering a drop of water into a spiritual sacri- 
 fice, and can so expand the range of daily 
 duty, as that it shall reach from earth to 
 heaven; and thus, in serving man below, 
 you shall be ministering in the courts of 
 God. 
 
 2. Faint not at the difficulties of the way, 
 nor be staggered by the hindrances. Remem- 
 ber, " There shall no temptation take you but 
 such as is common to man : but God is faith- 
 ful, who will not suffer you to be tempted 
 above that ye are able; but will with the 
 temptation also make a way to escape, that 
 
IN WHICH IT IS TO BE RUN. 263 
 
 ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. x. 13). 
 Wait on the Lord, and He will renew your 
 strength. "Let patience have her perfect 
 work." Persevere to the end. Kemember 
 Christ's words, " He that endureth to the end 
 the same shall be saved." Oh ! if you would 
 win, the last step, which carries you over the 
 very threshold of heaven, is as necessary as 
 that with which you started in the race. 
 
 3. Hang on the faithfulness of God! Are 
 you running in the course He has set before 
 you ? In His spirit 1 in His strength? to 
 His glory \ Then be of good cheer. He who 
 has led you thus far, will continue to lead 
 you to the end. "God hath not cast away 
 his people whom he foreknew." He has said, 
 " I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they 
 shall never perish, neither shall any man 
 pluck them out of my hand " (John x. 28). 
 Look up then and trust: put your hand in 
 His, and " run with patience the race set be- 
 fore you." 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER 
 
 " WE would see Jesus " for the shadows lengthen 
 Across this little landscape of our life : 
 
 "We would see Jesus, our weak faith to strengthen 
 For the last weariness the final strife. 
 
 We would see Jesus for life's hand hath rested 
 With its dark touch upon both heart and brow ; 
 
 A nd though our souls have many a billow breasted, 
 Others are rising in the distance now. 
 
 We would see Jesus the great Rock-foundation, 
 Whereon our feet were set by sovereign grace : 
 
 Nor life nor death, with all their agitation, 
 Can thence remove us if we see His face. 
 
 We would see Jesus other lights are paling 
 Which for long years we have rejoiced to see ; 
 
 The blessings of our pilgrimage are failing 
 We would not mourn them, for we go to Thee ! 
 
 We would see Jesus yet the spirit lingers 
 Round the clear objects it has loved so long, 
 
 And earth from earth can scarce unclose its fingers 
 Our love to Thee makes not this love less strong. 
 
 We would see Jesus this is all we 're needing 
 Strength, joy, and willingness come with the sight ; 
 
 We would see Jesus dying, risen, pleading : 
 Then welcome, day ! and farewell, mortal night ! 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 
 
 HEBREWS xiL 2. 
 
 "Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of 
 our faith" 
 
 IN these words we have the attitude of the 
 soul in running the Christian race " Look- 
 ing unto Jesus." In the previous lectures 
 we have considered the principle of faith 
 its actings and the examples which Scrip- 
 ture furnishes of what it can do and suffer. 
 Now we have to contemplate the glorious 
 object of faith. We have to ascend, in 
 thought, from the examples of Divine power, 
 to Him who is the source of all power; and 
 who furnished, in Himself, a pattern of faith 
 
268 THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 
 
 and obedience in every way. From our 
 companions in faith, we are led to "the 
 Author and Finisher of our faith;" and 
 therefore Paul proposes to us the Person of 
 the Son of God, as Him from whom alone 
 comes the power to run our Christian race, 
 and grace and wisdom to run it successfully. 
 "The Author and Finisher of faith:" the 
 word "our" not being in the original. The 
 true idea here is, not that Jesus is "the Author 
 and Finisher of our faith," in the sense of 
 being the cause of it, and the sustainer and 
 completer of it (though that is true) ; but 
 that He is the perfect model of faith, the 
 best example we can have: that, if in the 
 life of faith we are in difficulty, we must look 
 tojEim, and we shall find every doubt solved, 
 and our line of action clearly laid down: for, 
 in looking to Him, we see One who has 
 carried off every palm of victory, and has 
 always been triumphant. The context will 
 shew that a continued act is intended: "Run 
 with patience the race set before us, looking 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 269 
 
 tinto Jesus;" looking all the while we run, 
 and looking that we may run happily and 
 safely ! 
 
 The term " looking," in Scripture, when it 
 refers to God or Christ, denotes an act of 
 faith or trust. It is not a mere glance now 
 and then, but the habit of the soul. " Be- 
 hold, as the eyes of servants look unto the 
 hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a 
 maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so 
 our eyes wait upon the Lord our God " (Ps. 
 cxxiii. 2). Feeling that " all our fresh springs 
 are in Him" (Ps. Ixxxvii. 7), we must be 
 like the lame man at the Beautiful gate of 
 the temple, constantly " expecting to receive 
 something of Him" (Acts iii. 5). 
 
 We have two points to consider 
 
 I. THE ACT OF FAITH. 
 II. THE- OBJECT OF FAITH, 
 
 I. THE ACT OF FAITH. 
 
 This is expressed by the term " looking un- 
 to." The word used in the original is peculiar. 
 
270 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 It means looking away from other things, in 
 order to look unto Jesus having the atten- 
 tion resolutely withdrawn from all distrac- 
 tions, that it may be steadily fixed on Jesus. 
 There must be a set purpose in it. Persons 
 may look away from the world (as ordinarily 
 understood), and separate themselves out- 
 wardly from it, but still not in order to 
 look to Christ. They may carry into retire- 
 ment a world in their own hearts, not less 
 fatal to their salvation than that which they 
 leave behind; for it is not being separate 
 from the world in body which is necessary, 
 but in heart and spirit. 
 
 Now, I need scarcely tell you, this looking 
 away from other things, in order to look to 
 Christ, is the main difficulty of the Christian 
 life. To be in the world, and not of it to 
 have to do with many lawful and beautiful 
 and attractive things, and suffer none of them 
 to steal the heart from Christ to "buy, as 
 though we possessed not, and to use this 
 world, as not abusing it" (1 Cor. vii. 30, 31) 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 271 
 
 to make all subservient to winning the 
 race, and to count anything misused and 
 misapplied which does not minister to our 
 spiritual success : this is the difficulty. But 
 is it not the important thing 1 Is it not the 
 wise thing 1 ? Is it not the act of common 
 sense I Is it not what wise men do in tem- 
 poral things 1 Do not they bend all things 
 to their point 1 Do they ever, to use their 
 own language, "throw away a chance V No! 
 never. Believers all know this, and approve 
 it ; but still, such is " the deceitfulness of 
 sin," that they find the same intentness in 
 spiritual things a great difficulty. Nor is 
 the difficulty lessened by the knowledge of 
 what we ought to do. We all well know we 
 ought to give our heart's best affections to 
 Christ. We all know, for we have experi- 
 enced it a thousand times, that all this world's 
 pleasures, and profits, and allurements, are 
 vain and transitory things. We know that 
 a spirit above worldly cares and trifles is the 
 best possession we can have : and yet, with 
 
272 THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 
 
 all this knowledge, how difficult is it to at- 
 tain this state yea, how difficult even to 
 try ! To secure this, we need a clear percep- 
 tion of the excellency and glory of Christ, 
 the object of faith : for the more we see in 
 Him, the less shall we see in other things ; 
 and the more our hearts are occupied with 
 Him, the less power will other things have to 
 win us away. We need, moreover, a spirit 
 of simple dependence on His power and love 
 for the supply of all our wants. And when 
 once a man knows what an eternal God is 
 an eternal Christ is an eternal crown is it 
 takes the edge off other things. Yes! as it 
 is said, "From the face of Him who sat on 
 the great white throne the earth and the 
 heaven fled away, and there was found no 
 place for them;" so of the allurements of this 
 world when once seen in the light of the 
 glory of Christ, they fade and lose their power 
 over the soul. Just as when the glorious 
 sun bursts forth from the chambers of the 
 east, he blots out the -stars not by extin- 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 273 
 
 guishing, but by outshining them, so that 
 their light is no longer seen. Such is the 
 power of the light of God's countenance 
 lifted up upon us. This we must remember, 
 that in order to look to Christ, we must look 
 off the world and the things of it; for a 
 worldly spirit will obscure the glory of 
 Christ by corrupting the tastes of the soul: 
 if the world has your heart, you will never 
 look to Christ and then you will wander 
 from the way, you will go wrong altogether. 
 Nor need I warn you against sin in general : 
 you know that the conscious love and prac- 
 tice of any sin will deaden the soul to the 
 pursuit of spiritual things ; and you will 
 drop down exhausted in the spiritual race, 
 overcome by the devil. There is no running 
 this race without spiritual strength, and the 
 great source of spiritual strength is a throne 
 of grace : but observe the effect of the love 
 and pursuit of sin on prayer " If I regard 
 iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear 
 my prayer." 
 
 8 
 
274 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 But there are certain things on which the 
 heart is apt to dwell, to the hindrance of the 
 spiritual race, which, though not necessarily 
 sins in themselves, we must yet look off from, 
 in order to look to Christ : 
 
 1st, Your own weakness. There is a habit 
 of mind which is constantly leading men to 
 say, " Oh, if I could but do this and that 
 if I were but this or that, how much better 
 I should get on!" One does not deny the 
 effect of circumstances in the spiritual life, 
 but what we have to do is to run our race 
 through them, "looking unto Jesus." We 
 must try the promises are made to effort, 
 not to mere want : observe Isa. xli. 1 7 it is 
 " when the poor and needy seek water," &c., 
 not merely want it. But what the persons 
 I speak of are thinking of, is the desirable- 
 ness of having more strength in themselves 
 wherewith to meet their hindrances, instead 
 of seeking it in Christ. They are continually 
 dwelling on themselves looking down, in- 
 stead of looking up to Him in whom alone 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 275 
 
 they can be strong. It is quite true, that 
 there is a sense in which the very conscious- 
 ness of weakness is strength ; as when Paul 
 says, " When I am weak, then am I strong " 
 (2 Cor. xii. 10); but then the secret in 
 Paul's case was, that he threw himself on 
 Christ : as he says, " Most gladly therefore 
 will I rather glory in my infirmities, that 
 (under these circumstances of infirmity) the 
 power of Christ may rest upon me " (ver. 9). 
 So he says, "I can do all things (in spite 
 of circumstances) through Christ which 
 strengthened me " (Phil. iv. 13). He took 
 the course himself which he proposed to the 
 Ephesians to " be strong in the Lord, and 
 in the power of His might" (Eph. vi. 10); 
 and to Timothy to be " strong in the grace 
 which is in Christ Jesus " (2 Tim. ii. l). 
 
 Again, you must look off 
 
 2d, From the length and dangers of the 
 race. How may the Christian see his heart 
 reflected in the history of Israel ! We read, 
 "The soul of the people was much dis- 
 
276 THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 
 
 couraged because of the way" (Num. xxi. 4). 
 They had a long weary way before them, and 
 they were cast down. How many faint at 
 the length of the way before them ! How 
 many say to themselves, " * Oh that I had 
 wings like a dove/ to run my race swiftly 
 instead of patiently!" But to such I would 
 say " Look off from the length of the way, 
 to Him who called you to start in the race. 
 He is 'the Author' of the faith by which alone 
 you started, and He will be * the Finisher ' 
 of it too. Instead of the length of the way, 
 think of the crown that awaits you at the 
 end. And as the seven years, which Jacob 
 served for Rachel, seemed unto him but a 
 few days for the love which he had unto 
 her (Gen. xxix. 20), so will it be with you. 
 Look to Christ. His presence and love will 
 light up the weariest way; and the length 
 will be as nothing; and you will trip lightly, 
 instead of drag wearily, over the sands of 
 life's desert." 
 
 So with the dangers of the way ! These 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 277 
 
 are all to be met by the power of God ; and 
 just in proportion as we keep our eyes on 
 Christ, and turned away from them, will 
 they vanish. What an illustration have we 
 of this truth in the case of Peter walking on 
 the water! (Matt. xiv. 28, &c.) so long as he 
 kept his eye on Christ, he could walk on the 
 top of the waves, but when he looked off 
 Christ, and saw the winds boisterous, he was 
 afraid and began to sink. Yea, more ; those 
 waves, on the very top of which Peter could 
 walk when "looking unto Jesus," opened their 
 jaws to swallow him up the moment he took 
 his eye off Christ and looked at them instead. 
 
 But there is one other point I would 
 mention : we must look off 
 
 3d, From difficulties that oppose our 
 running. Oh ! it makes all the difference 
 whether you look at them or at Christ. 
 Where lay the cause of the difference in the 
 estimate of the difficulties of entering the 
 promised land between Joshua and Caleb, 
 and the ten other spies \ The latter looked 
 
278 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 at the difficulties only, and they were over- 
 whelmed : the others, at God, and they were 
 confident. The ten said, "The people be 
 strong, and the cities are walled and very 
 great ; . . . . and we were in our own sight 
 as grasshoppers" (Num. xiii. 28, 33). Whereas 
 Joshua and Caleb leaned on the promise 
 and power of God, and said, " Eebel not ye 
 against the Lord, neither fear ye the people 
 of the land ; for they are bread for us : their 
 defence is departed from them, and the Lord 
 is with us: fear them not" (Num. xiv. 9). 
 Dear brethren, if you can really look off the 
 difficulties of your course to Christ, then 
 here is your consolation; it is not a question 
 between you and what opposes you, but 
 between what opposes yon and Christ ! You 
 are quit of it: and whatever the difficulty 
 be, it is your privilege to say, "By the help 
 of my God, I can leap over the wall." 
 
 Yes ! you are to keep your eyes and heart 
 steadily on Christ, as the source of all power 
 in the race ; and if you have the right spirit 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 279 
 
 in tMs matter, it is your privilege to say, " It 
 is not I, but Christ " " Not I, but the grace 
 qf God." This is the truth. "It is God that 
 worketh in you both to will and to do of 
 His good pleasure" (Phil. ii. 13). "Looking 
 unto Jesus" "setting the Lord al way be- 
 fore you," as Christ did will give you power 
 and endurance, will enable you to hold on 
 in the face of all trials. Thousands may pass 
 you on the road, but you are not necessarily 
 losing for all that. Their road may be 
 smoother now, and yours may be rougher. 
 You may have your difficulties now; theirs 
 may lie further on, and may come by and by. 
 Besides, their power may be altogether less 
 their faith more feeble. They may not be 
 able to bear so much as you can. You may 
 be learning lessons now to fit you for what 
 lies before you. But here is your comfort, 
 all that Christ teaches is profitable, and 
 worth knowing, and is sure to work for the 
 soul's good. 
 
 Again, if you would have your" course 
 
280 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACEB. 
 
 bright and peaceful, you must look to Christ. 
 Oh, if we can really do this, we shall find 
 Christianity is not all trial ! Clouds may 
 prevail, but there are gleams of sunshine. 
 There are happy times, when beams of hea- 
 venly light stream into the soul when the 
 Holy Spirit whispers peace to the heart 
 when pardon of sin is felt to be a reality, 
 and fellowship with Christ a fact when 
 heaven is believed to be our eternal home, 
 and a throne of grace is felt to be our rest 
 and refuge here when the heart smiles in 
 the happy consciousness that this poor life 
 is not all, that the race will one day be run 
 and won, and the crown obtained and worn 
 for ever ! 
 
 But, I ask, when is this blessedness at- 
 tained ? when is this felt and realised as our 
 portion \ Just when the heart, turned from 
 all other things, is looking steadily to Christ! 
 Just when the blood that bought us, and the 
 righteousness in which we are accepted, are 
 most confidently believed in just when the 
 
THE ATTITUDE OP THE RACER. 281 
 
 love of Christ in dying and rising again, and 
 ascending into heaven, and ordering all the 
 minute particulars of our race, is most vividly 
 seen by faith ! Then " afflictions seem light, 
 and but for a moment" then the course 
 seems clear and easy the difficulties vanish 
 the way seems bright the effort nothing. 
 We seem in spirit to have reached the goal, 
 because we are looking really to " Jesus, the 
 Author and Finisher of our faith." 
 
 II. THE OBJECT OF FAITH. 
 
 Jesus ! What does this name comprehend, 
 or rather what does it not ? All that man 
 needs for time and eternity! It is to the 
 believer's heart like "ointment poured forth" 
 (Cant. i. 3) ; it has in it "all powders of the 
 merchant" (Cant. iii. 6) all graces and ex- 
 cellencies ! One creature has this excellence, 
 and another that ; but Christ has all. Does 
 a man need a Priest to atone for his sins "? 
 here is Jesus, who by His own blood hath 
 made reconciliation for him! A Prophet to 
 
282 THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 
 
 teach him 1 here is Jesus, who has "the tongue 
 of the learned, that He may know how to 
 speak a word in season to him that is weary!" 
 (Isa. 1. 4.) A King to defend him 1 ? here is 
 Jesus, to whom " all power is given in heaven 
 and earth ! " Is there an orphan child who 
 needs a Father? Christ is our everlasting 
 Father! Is there a widow who has lost her 
 Husband? come here, poor mourner, "Thy 
 Maker is thine Husband, the Lord of hosts 
 is His name!" (Isa. liv. 5.) Do we want a 
 Brother? here is one "born for adversity!" 
 A Friend? here is one "that loveth at all 
 times!" (Prov. xvii. 17.) Yea, and the best 
 of all in every capacity. 
 
 He is indeed Almighty to us in every re- 
 spect. It is He who marked out our course, 
 and who knows, therefore, all the difficulties 
 and hindrances of it, and is as able as He is 
 willing to help us in it. Whatever our course 
 however lowly and obscure we are not 
 running with no eye to watch us, no arm to 
 defend us, no ear to hear our cry. No! There 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 283. 
 
 is an eye, that never slumbereth, ever open 
 upon us an arm, that is never shortened/ 
 able and willing to save an ear, that is never 
 heavy, ready to hear! And these have ever 
 been at your service ever exerted on your 
 behalf, hitherto. Again, is your course in 
 the crowded highway of public life, where 
 you are surrounded by thousands, where 
 there are many syren voices crying, "Turn 
 in hither?" you need not fear being lost 
 in the crowd. His eye sees you, and He 
 knows His sheep from all others; and He 
 who stopped to listen to the request of Bar- 
 timaeus, and to dry the tears of the widow 
 of Nain, will not fail to hear your cry! 
 
 And we shall have constant need of this 
 help. A thousand perplexities will at times 
 beset us, but our help is in the name of the 
 Lord. We must look to Him. Yes ! we 
 must look up; for in heaven is the wisdom 
 to solve the difficulties of earth, and thence 
 must we obtain it. We must look up ; from 
 heaven comes the key to unlock the deep 
 
284 THE ATTITUDE OF THE EAGER. 
 
 recesses of the Word of God, and thence must 
 we obtain the teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
 We must look up ; for just in proportion as 
 we keep our eye on Jesus keep our heart 
 up in heaven drink into the spirit of our 
 Elder Brother meditate on the submission 
 of His will, the alacrity of His obedience, 
 the principle of His life when on earth shall 
 we run with patience and with safety. 
 
 Yes ! we must take the place of privilege 
 which Scripture assigns to all believers 
 "Seated with Christ in heavenly places " 
 (Eph. ii. 6). There we must dwell. We 
 must take our place close by our living Head, 
 and we must, so to speak, come forth daily 
 from heaven to run our race on earth bring- 
 ing heavenly principles to bear on daily life ; 
 and thither must we return again in spirit 
 after the turmoil and bustle of the contest. 
 Our breathing times are times of "looking 
 unto Jesus." Our times of refreshing must 
 be from the presence of the Lord; and every 
 pause, in the heat of the conflict, will be best 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 285 
 
 spent in communion with Him, and in such 
 recreations only as He approves. 
 
 This is the secret of running the race, and 
 winning it too. This will in nowise prevent 
 the exercise of any faculties God has given 
 us, nor our responsibility for their right use ; 
 but " looking unto Jesus " will sanctify them 
 all. This will in nowise countenance any 
 relaxation or indolence in the positive busi- 
 ness and duties of life, whether parental, 
 filial, social, or political; but will give power, 
 and point, and purpose to them all. They 
 will all be directed to the highest object, the 
 service of God. " Looking unto Jesus " is 
 the way to bring a right judgment to bear 
 on all things, for we shall see them in the 
 light, and weigh them in the balance, of 
 eternity ! " Looking unto Jesus " is the way 
 to secure " a spirit of love and power and of 
 a sound mind," for we shall learn the mind 
 of our Master in all things. " Looking unto 
 Jesus " is the way to be wise and prudent in 
 all things, for it will be but drawing our sup- 
 
280 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 plies from that " riches of grace wherein He 
 hath abounded towards us in all wisdom 
 and prudence " (Eph. i. 7, 8). " Looking unto 
 Jesus " will cheer us in our daily course, re- 
 membering that He ran it steadily, patiently, 
 triumphantly. 
 
 And think not that being thus wholly 
 occupied with "looking unto Jesus" will 
 make us cold and hard and unmindful of the 
 kindnesses and sympathies of life nay, nay! 
 "Looking unto Jesus," we shall catch the 
 spirit of our blessed Master, whose heart was 
 full of love; ever running over on all with 
 whom He had to do. Eunning with dili- 
 gence, and yet with patience, as He did, we 
 shall find time for all the charities of life. 
 We shall have a word of kindness, and a look 
 of friendliness, for all. We shall be willing 
 to see the favourable side of all to see the 
 best in everybody, and to make the most we 
 can of it with integrity. Not, indeed, to the 
 qualifying of the mournful fact of sin ; or to 
 the diluting of the distinctiveness of God's 
 
THE ATTITUDE OP THE EAGER. 287 
 
 truth; or to the obscuring of man's deep 
 need of the Eedeemer's blood; but striving 
 to win men to Christ, more by an exhibition 
 of the peace and holiness which He alone 
 can give, than by a seeming exclusive appro- 
 priation of His love. 
 
 Thus we shall never be too busy to help 
 to bear our neighbour's burden, and thus ful- 
 fil our Master's law. And we shall be ever 
 ready to listen to the tale of sorrow, and to 
 stretch forth a helping hand to all who, like 
 ourselves, are struggling through a weary 
 strife. And how many are the occasions and 
 opportunities in which we might brush aside 
 some hindrance from our brother's path in 
 which we might make it smoother to the 
 weary and heavy laden, if only we lived 
 more in the spirit of Him to whom we pro- 
 fess to be looking ! 
 
 Oh, let us strive to be Christians indeed 
 Christ-like in everything ! Then shall we 
 be full of love to all ! Then will kind and 
 cheering words flow, as it were, naturally 
 
288 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 from our lips then will useful and holy 
 acts flow forth in our daily conduct then 
 will tenderness, delicacy, tact, and feeling 
 mark all our intercourse one with another: 
 and then all these things will be of the 
 rarest and the best, for they will be done for 
 the glory of God. And do you ask, " How 
 can I attain this 1 ?" I answer, "By 'looking 
 unto Jesus:'" for then, "with open face be- 
 holding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
 we are changed into the same image" (2 
 Cor. iii. 18). 
 
 What are the lessons ? 
 
 1st, Cultivate a single eye to Christ ! 
 Observe the striking contrast in the passage, 
 " The light of the body is the eye ; if, there- 
 fore, thine eye be single, thy whole body 
 shall be full of light; but if thine eye be 
 evil, thy whole body shall be full of dark- 
 ness" (Matt. vi. 22). There is no success 
 in the Christian race, unless we are looking 
 singly to Jesus. An easy, careless, latitudi- 
 narian spirit will destroy all. It is not a 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 28.9 
 
 race to be run at odd times, when the fit 
 takes us, nor when we may think we have "a 
 convenient season ;" but it is to be the ab- 
 sorbing object of life. It must pervade all 
 life. We are not at liberty to halt at times, 
 and step aside into the world, and then to 
 take up our course again as if nothing parti- 
 cular had happened. You will find one day, 
 that, in such departures, something does 
 happen to the soul. And though you may 
 not perceive it now, and be unwilling to be- 
 lieve it, yet that does not prove that mischief 
 has not happened, but rather that it has, and 
 that " the light that is in thee is darkness." 
 
 2d, Depend on Christ wholly! Eemember, 
 every needful qualification for successful 
 running is in Him ; and to be had only from 
 Him. In any departures from the prescribed 
 course, confess your sin instantly to Him ; 
 but place no reliance on your confessions, 
 and prayers, and tears for obtaining peace ; 
 let nothing content you but coming afresh to 
 " the blood that cleanseth from all sin." Let 
 
 T 
 
290 THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 
 
 the language of your soul be, in progress as 
 well as in occasional backslidings, " My soul, 
 wait thou only upon God, for my expectation 
 is from Him" (Ps. Ixii. 5). 
 
 3d, Remember there is nothing else worth 
 looking to! What is earth and all its allure- 
 ments ? The day comes when it shall reel to 
 and fro like a drunkard : when every moun- 
 tain and island shall be moved out of its 
 place ; and " the earth, and all the works of 
 it, shall be burned up." What is worldly 
 honour? It has been well compared to a 
 feather floating in the air, over a man's head, 
 which he is striving to catch, but which 
 thousands of men are trying to prevent his 
 catching. It is a great question if he catch 
 it at all ; but suppose he should what has 
 he got 1 ? A feather! Such is worldly honour! 
 
 What is human friendship 1 ? You have 
 one now who is as your own soul! Are you 
 sure of him ? You are soon invited to follow 
 him to his grave, or what is worse far, he 
 grows cold and strange, and you feel there 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE RACER. 291 
 
 is nothing human that can endure the strain 
 of earth. What must we do, then, to make 
 sure of anything now and for ever? We 
 must look to Christ : not only to sanctify the 
 enjoyment of what we have, but to keep it 
 pure, and thus make it ours for ever, by 
 making it His own! 
 
 Let us, then, look to Jesus. Commit all 
 that is dear husband, wife, child, &c. to 
 Him : and we shall find Him to be not only 
 the gracious Author, but the no less gracious 
 and triumphant Finisher of our 
 
THE PEOSPECT BEFOKE HIM. 
 
 THE joyful day is hast'ning, 
 
 When, life's short troubles o'er, 
 My soul shall need no chast'niiig, 
 
 Shall never suffer more. 
 Then grief and pain and dying, 
 
 Nor felt, nor fear'd, shall be ; 
 All sorrow then and sighing 
 
 Far, far away shall flee ! 
 
 That God whose work is perfect, 
 
 Whose will no change can know, 
 Reveals this glorious prospect 
 
 To cheer my path below. 
 My Saviour hath awarded 
 
 A place in heaven to me ; 
 By power Almighty guarded 
 
 That heritage shall be. 
 
 And onward He will bear me, 
 
 And guide and guard me still ; 
 And by His grace prepare me 
 
 That glorious seat to fill 
 Each painful dispensation 
 
 That now makes dark my days, 
 Shall work for my salvation, 
 
 Shall swell my song of praise ! 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 HEBREWS xii. 2. 
 
 * Who for the joy that was set before him endured the 
 Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the 
 right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 WE have now reached the last subject in 
 our course the prospect before us in the 
 Christian race. May it animate us! and 
 may the Holy Spirit graciously render it so 
 attractive and abiding in its influence, that 
 we may ever find it helpful and refreshing ! 
 
 Our example is the Lord Jesus Christ, our 
 Elder Brother. The encouragement from it 
 is this that if He endured the Cross, and 
 was victorious in His course, mysteriously 
 
296 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 heavy and painful as it was, we may also 
 successfully finish our race in the strength of 
 Him who is "the Author and Finisher of 
 our faith." We have to dwell not only on 
 "the prospect" of the believer, but on the 
 frame of mind which our Lord exhibited 
 during His race. 
 
 We see in Him faith, love, zeal for His 
 Father's glory, submission to His will, com- 
 passion for the souls of men. And these 
 graces are all to be exhibited in us. Faith 
 will enable us to start in the race love, " to 
 lay aside every weight and the sin which 
 doth so easily beset us " zeal for God's glory, 
 to run and not faint submission, to do so 
 " with patience " in the course God " has 
 set before us " and compassion for others, to 
 set the best example we can of a bright and 
 hopeful spirit. We will consider 
 
 I. WHAT CHRIST DID. 
 II. WHAT SUSTAINED HIM. 
 III. WHAT HE HAS ATTAINED. 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 297 
 
 I. WHAT CHRIST DID. 
 
 " Endured the Cross, despising the shame." 
 There is an aspect of our Lord's sufferings, in 
 which they furnish us with no example in 
 which they are altogether unapproachable. 
 The Cross He endured had a mysterious 
 weight about it, sufficient to have sunk the 
 universe, but the God-man bore it. This 
 aspect is that which refers to the atonement 
 which He made for the sins of all who shall 
 be saved. But although the actual cross is 
 mentioned here, as the climax of Christ's 
 sufferings, surely His whole life on earth is 
 included; for this is particularly the feature 
 of His sufferings in which we are called to 
 " consider " Him. As, for instance, the way 
 in which He "endured the contradiction of 
 sinners against Himself;" the scriptural 
 wisdom, with which He defeated the traps 
 laid to entangle Him in His talk the long- 
 suffering, w r ith which He bare the hardness 
 and unbelief of men's hearts the meekness 
 with which He submitted to the unkindness 
 
298 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 heaped upon Him the uncomplaining 
 silence, with which He listened to their 
 taunts all these are included in His suffer- 
 ings, and furnish us with an unparalleled 
 example. The 22d and 69th Psalms are full 
 of prophetic declarations of these points, and 
 the Gospels abound with illustrations of 
 them. He endured them all endured them 
 patiently. There was a holy composure in 
 His soul that, though so unjustly and cruelly 
 dealt with, no word of reproach or threaten- 
 ing ever escaped Him. " As a sheep before 
 her shearers is dumb, so opened He not His 
 mouth" (Isa. liii. 7). And when He did speak, 
 it was in prayer for those who murdered 
 Him (Luke xxiii. 34, and 1 Peter ii. 21, &c.). 
 Unto this invincible patience and love, 
 He added the greatest magnanimity of spirit. 
 "He despised the shame" did not faint under 
 it. He regarded it not, in comparison of the 
 "joy set before Him." This was always in 
 His eye, and He lived in constant contempla- 
 tion of it. Besides, too, the Cross was no real 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFOEE HIM. 299 
 
 shame to our Lord Jesus Christ. It was not 
 His own sins He bore, but those of His be- 
 loved people. It brought no stain upon His 
 spotless soul, while it removed mountains of 
 guilt from the believing soul of each one of 
 His dear brethren. There was no reproach 
 in the Cross to Him. It was in accordance 
 with His Father's will. He knew it would 
 l)e accounted a shameful thing before men, 
 but this He overlooked. He despised it. He 
 looked another way to the "joy set before 
 Him." Now, this is the way in which be- 
 lievers are to carry their cross, and to endure 
 patiently the trials of their race. Their com- 
 fort is this there is nothing penal in their 
 sufferings they are not in the way of punish- 
 ment. That is done with. Christ bare this 
 in His own body on the tree ! once for all ! 
 Therefore, there is nothing, in this respect, 
 which they need to fear or be ashamed of. 
 Still, no doubt, we shall meet with many 
 things in our race, of which, through the 
 feebleness of our faith, we shall be ashamed, 
 
300 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 and this is really our shame; but there will 
 be nothing in the race which God appoints 
 us, of which we need to be ashamad, any 
 more than we need be ashamed of being 
 "appointed to obtain salvation through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ " (1 Thess. v. 9). There 
 is nothing shameful in serving God, any more 
 than in being a child of God. It is an honour, 
 not a disgrace, to a child to obey its Father! 
 No! however lowly the service to which God 
 calls us, let it only be His appointment, and 
 then to sweep a crossing is as honourable as 
 to sit on a throne. It is the Master we serve, 
 and the motive of our service, which make it 
 honourable. So there is nothing shameful in 
 running the race He has set before us. We 
 shall be called to exhibit principles and con- 
 duct of which the world will be ashamed, 
 and for which they will heap contempt and 
 scorn upon us, as says the Psalmist, after 
 telling us that his eyes were always waiting 
 upon the Lord in other words, "looking 
 unto Jesus " he mentions the treatment to 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 301 
 
 which, in consequence, he was subjected by 
 the world : " Our soul is exceedingly filled 
 
 <~J V 
 
 with the scorning of those that are at ease, 
 and with the contempt of the proud" (Ps. 
 cxxiii. 4). Observe, too, " Because for thy 
 sake, I have borne reproach, shame hath 
 covered iny face. Thou hast known my re- 
 proach, and my shame, and my dishonour : 
 mine adversaries are all before Thee " (Ps. 
 Ixix. 7, 19). Here is the comfort, "Mine 
 adversaries are all 'before Thee" As the race 
 is appointed by Thee ; so the circumstances 
 of it the hindrances of it the trials of it 
 are " all before Thee." 
 
 But all this kind of suffering and shame 
 we are to endure patiently; yea, despise it 
 is to be as nothing "for the joy that is set 
 before us " because, in connexion with this 
 joy, there is a hope "which maketh not 
 ashamed " (Eom. v. 5). No doubt, the Chris- 
 tian would constantly have occasion to be 
 ashamed were it not for the hope of " the 
 joy set before him." As Paul says, " If in 
 
302 THE PROSPECT BEFORE Jl I M. 
 
 this life only we have hope in Christ, we are 
 of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 19). 
 But having this hope, and having " the joy 
 set before him," he says, " I reckon that the 
 sufferings of this present time are not worthy 
 to be compared with the glory which shall be 
 revealed in us" (Rom. viii. 18) meaning, 
 I have considered the whole thing, and have 
 come to this conclusion, " that the sufferings 
 of this present time are not worthy to be 
 compared," &c. So you will have to suffer 
 no doubt of that but then you are to re- 
 gard it even as an honour (Phil. i. 29) : and 
 if you surfer as a Christian, Peter says, " Let 
 him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God 
 on this behalf" (1 Peter iv. 16). But I beg 
 you to observe : " The joy set before us " 
 is inseparably connected with " looking unto 
 Jesus " lose sight of Him, and joy is gone. 
 But the consciousness of union with Him, 
 and of the successful issue of the conflict, will 
 enable you to endure to the end ! Remem- 
 ber you do not suffer alone. " In all their 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 303 
 
 affliction He was afflicted" (Isa. Lxiii. 9). 
 He who enabled Peter and John, after they 
 had been beaten, to rejoice "that they were 
 counted worthy to suffer shame for His 
 name" (Acts v. 41), will be with you 1 But 
 take heed to this be sure to run in the course 
 He has set before you be sure to run accord- 
 ing to the rules laid down for you in Scrip- 
 ture. Look away from all other things. 
 Keep Christ simply and singly before you, 
 and you will be safe and able to endura 
 
 II. WHAT SUSTAINED HIM. 
 
 "The joy set before him/' How strong 
 must have been this principle ! It shone, 
 as a light, through all the darkness of His 
 course beckoning Him onwards. Observe 
 the fixedness of His resolution, "When the 
 time was come that He should be received 
 up, He steadfastly set His face to go to 
 Jerusalem" (Luke ix. 51). He was as one 
 eager for the conflict, panting to have it 
 over. He said, : 'I have a baptism to be 
 
304 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 baptized with, and how am I straitened till 
 it be accomplished (Luke xii. 50). 
 
 Do we ask what it was? Eedeeming the 
 Church. Buying it, though with the price 
 of His own blood. Setting forth, in His own 
 death, the means by which all His sheep 
 were to be gathered into one flock. The joy 
 in the Saviour's soul, in the prospect of His 
 work, is prophetically declared " I will de- 
 clare thy name unto my brethren, in the 
 midst of the congregation will I praise thee" 
 (Ps. xxii. 22). This was the object for which 
 He lived and died and rose again. Observe 
 His loving heart " My Brethren." This is 
 the term He used to Mary after His resur- 
 rection, and this is the light in which He 
 regards us now. "Brethren" "He is not 
 ashamed to call us brethren" (Heb. ii. 11). 
 " He is the first-born among many brethren" 
 (Rom. viii. 29). His omniscient eye darted 
 through the brief period which lay between 
 His own suffering course and the day when 
 He shall come again in His glory with all 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 305 
 
 His saints (1 Thess. iii. 13). He surveyed 
 with a glance the season of His Church's 
 trials the intricacies hindrances difficul- 
 ties of the race His Brethren have to run 
 and He sees the end! He sees of the "travail 
 of His soul and is satisfied." He sees " that 
 beautiful flock," for which He give Himself, 
 all gathered not one missing. He "pre- 
 sents it a glorious church not having spot 
 or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and 
 without blemish" (Eph. v. 27). He sees the 
 great work completed His people saved and 
 glorified ! This was the joy set before Him, 
 and which sustained Him. 
 
 And is not this the joy which should fill 
 our hearts as we patiently endure in our 
 course \ Must we not look, beyond the 
 trials of the way, to the end \ to the joy of 
 being with Christ of being delivered from a 
 groaning world of being beyond the reach 
 of sin of meeting all those who have de- 
 parted hence in the Lord ? Who could en- 
 dure, were it not for this 1 Who could bear 
 
306 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 to feel that there was nothing better for him 
 than to live as he does now among the dying, 
 and to be following, as he often is, the dead to 
 the grave "? What heart, that feels the inex- 
 pressible evil of sin, in the misery and suffer- 
 ing it occasions, not only in his own heart 
 but in the world around, could bear the 
 painful life that many of the saints of God 
 lead \ But faith in Christ gives an entirely 
 different aspect to trial and suffering. It 
 connects them with a definite purpose of 
 God. It sees in them a specific object in 
 the shape of blessing to the believer's soul. 
 It regards them as a necessary part of the 
 course which conducts to joys above. And 
 God's plan of love would be incomplete, but 
 for the lessons to be learned in the school of 
 suffering. The believer, therefore, patiently 
 submits to God's dispensations for the pre- 
 sent, knowing that though there be tears 
 below there are songs above, and that, one 
 day, there will be the inconceivable joy of 
 sitting down at the right hand of God. 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 307 
 
 Oh, what a scene will that be when the 
 conqueror receives the crown, " which the 
 Lord the righteous judge shall give him in 
 that day!" when that mighty "multitude, 
 which no man can number, shall be gathered 
 from all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
 and tongues, and shall stand before the 
 throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with 
 white robes and palms in their hands; and 
 shall cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation 
 to our God which sitteth upon the throne, 
 and to the Lamb" and the question shall be 
 asked, "What are these, which are arrayed 
 in white robes, and whence came they?" and 
 it shall be answered, " These are they which 
 came out of great tribulation, and have 
 washed their robes, and made them white in 
 the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. vii. 9, 14). 
 These are they who have struggled bravely 
 in the Christian race, and through faith in 
 Christ, have won it. And then you shall 
 recognise those whom you have known and 
 loved in Christ on earth, and who have 
 
308 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 patiently endured to the end. There you 
 will see those who ran their race in silence, 
 and in the shade unknown, unmentioned 
 among men, now emerging from their tem- 
 porary obscurity, and " shining forth like the 
 sun in the kingdom of their heavenly Father." 
 There you will see the once feeble creature 
 who ran the race on a bed of sickness whose 
 joints were distorted by pain whose body 
 was wasted to a skeleton whose face was 
 deeply lined by suffering and the furrows 
 on whose cheeks were but channels for the 
 tears : But now, no more of this the tears 
 all wiped away the vile body changed and 
 fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body 
 " arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which 
 is the righteousness of saints " ready to sit 
 down " at the marriage supper of the Lamb." 
 There is the crown of gold upon the head 
 the palm of victory in the hand. There is 
 the new song swelling through the vaults of 
 Heaven : " Thou art worthy, for thou wast 
 slain and hast redeemed us to God out of 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 309 
 
 every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
 nation" (Eev. v. 9, 10); and we shall hear, 
 as it were, " the voice of a great multitude, 
 and as the voice of many waters, and as the 
 voice of many thunderings, saying, Alleluia, 
 for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth" 
 (Rev. xix. 6). 
 
 This is the joy ^et before us, to make us 
 not ashamed of the Cross of Christ. Nothing 
 less! And is it not enough to make us 
 "endure the cross, and despise the shame T' 
 
 We come now to the consideration of 
 
 III. WHAT HE HAS ATTAINED. 
 
 " Set down at the right hand of the throne 
 of God:" "Set down" in token that He 
 has done His work (Heb. x. 11, 12) : " Ex- 
 pecting till His enemies be made His foot- 
 stool : " Ordering all things by His wisdom 
 and power, till His Church has run her race 
 till her discipline is complete and she is 
 " made meet to partake the inheritance of 
 the saints in light!" Christ is now at the 
 
310 THE PEOSPECT BEFORE HTM. 
 
 right hand of God! He is "entered into 
 heaven as our forerunner" (Heb. vi. 20) as 
 our Representative ; and, as the Head is there, 
 the members are sure to follow. For His 
 glory is to be ours (John xvii. 22). Where 
 He is there are we to be in the mansions 
 He is gone before to prepare. 
 
 And if we would run our race successfully 
 here, we must now take by faith our place 
 there (Eph. ii. 6). It is ours ! by His pur- 
 chase for us, and gift to us. Our affections 
 must be there with Him (Col. iii. 1). Our 
 citizenship must be there (Phil. iii. 20). We 
 must live in our own city, to which Christ 
 has given us the right of entering in (Rev. 
 xxii. 1 4) ; and we must come forth in the 
 spirit of heaven to do our work on earth. 
 We must be like men who are here on duty, 
 but who belong above; whose hearts and 
 hopes are there. Yes ! brethren, strive to 
 live, not so much looking up from earth to 
 heaven, as looking down from heaven upon 
 earth. Be alive to your privileges as "fellow- 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 311 
 
 citizens of the saints and of the household of 
 God." This will enable you to pass by, yea 
 to scorn, many of the allurements of earth; 
 you will feel you can afford to forego trifles, 
 because you " have in heaven a better and 
 more enduring substance." Your question 
 will often be, " Does this become a citizen of 
 heaven 1 What will my Lord think of me, 
 if, having all the privileges of His house, I 
 can turn to the beggarly elements of a world 
 which lieth in wickedness 1 ?" This is the way 
 to reason if you would live as you ought. 
 Think of what is said " As He is, so are we 
 in this world" (1 John iv. 17). In spirit we 
 are to anticipate the glory. He says we 
 shall not only see His glory, but possess it. 
 He has given it to us : " The glory which 
 thou gavest me I have given them" (John 
 xvii. 22). What a thought is this! You, a 
 poor, weak, feeble, sinful worm, often wander- 
 ing and straying, yet, by faith, a possessor of 
 Christ's glory yet to be revealed. 
 
 Eise up to a right estimate of this privi- 
 
312 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 lege ; it will do great things for you. It will 
 raise the tone of your conduct ; it will keep 
 you humble and lowly in spirit ; it will make 
 you step warily and carefully, like those who 
 are clad in white ; it will make you watchful 
 against the spirit of the world against the 
 indulgence of the flesh; it will make you, 
 like Paul, " keep under your body, and bring 
 it into subjection." Eemember, your right 
 place, as a believer, is with Christ at the 
 right hand of God, and it is but a question 
 of time of patient waiting and doing all 
 His will and "yet a little while and He that 
 shall come will come, and will not tarry" 
 (Heb. x. 37). If the thought of having His 
 Church with Him for ever carried joy to 
 Christ's heart, so should the prospect of being 
 with Him bring joy also to us ! It is a grand 
 reality, fixed and certain, in the purpose of 
 God; purchased by the blood of Christ 
 secured in the everlasting covenant. Every 
 day brings this blessed consummation nearer 
 every struggle of Christian principle brings 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFORE HTM. 313 
 
 you nearer to the crown of victory. " Now 
 is our salvation nearer than when we be- 
 lieved." " The night is far spent, the day is 
 at hand." Live like that man who watches 
 for His Lord's return, that when He cometh 
 and knocketh he may open to Him imme- 
 diately. " Blessed is that servant whom his 
 Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing " 
 (Luke xii. 36, 43). 
 
 Let me ask, in conclusion, Have you the 
 principle of the Christian race faith, true 
 simple faith in the person of the Son of God 7 ? 
 Have you made sure of this "? Without this, 
 all is vain. With it, all is sure ! See in the 
 witnesses what faith can do and suffer. It is 
 the same victorious -principle now as then. 
 There is "one faith." The same thing in 
 Abel and Abraham as in you who are Christ's 
 now. Capable of as great things now as 
 then. Let it "work by love" (Gal. v. 6). 
 It will enable you to " lay aside every weight 
 and the sin which doth so easily beset you " 
 to pluck out the right eye, or to cut off 
 
314 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 the right hand" to do hard things yea, 
 things otherwise impossible. Faith will en- 
 able you to "run with patience the race set 
 before you" humbly, cheerfully, diligently, 
 resolutely not murmuring or wishing for 
 another course only desiring manfully to 
 contend with, and overcome, the difficulties 
 and appointments of this ; and patiently to 
 endure to the end. Remember the proper 
 object of faith is Christ look to Him and 
 His joy shall animate you and His glory 
 consummate your race ! 
 
 And ought not a thought like this to add 
 earnestness to our running 1 Ought it not to 
 constrain us to a more prayerful spirit, that 
 we may have more godly decision of charac- 
 ter, greater energy in the resistance of sin, 
 the world, the flesh, and the devil, and greater 
 patience to endure the trials of our course, 
 more holy resolution to make Christ our all in 
 all to bring His sanctifying power to bear on 
 every step and struggle of our race, so that 
 we may live more like men that belong to 
 
THE PROSPECT BEFOUE HIM. 315 
 
 Him, with our loins girt for earnest service 
 and our lights burning thus holding forth 
 the word of life to others 1 Let us try to 
 live so, dear brethren, in patient, cheerful con- 
 tentment with our lot making the best of 
 things as they are not cast down by diffi- 
 culties, nor thinking ourselves forsaken in the 
 hour of trial but maintaining a kind and 
 loving heart to all our fellow-men a ready 
 hand to help them, and a bright word to 
 cheer them ; and, above all, a dutiful, obedient, 
 and trustful heart towards our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Let me entreat you to make it a matter of 
 earnest prayer, that the subject which I have 
 brought before you may be written on your 
 hearts by God's Holy Spirit that the Word 
 of God may be increasingly precious to you 
 the Christian race a subject of increasing 
 earnestness the solemn purpose of winning, 
 by God's grace, a matter of growing impor- 
 tance that "so running you may obtain," 
 and receive at length " a crown of glory that 
 
316 THE PROSPECT BEFORE HIM. 
 
 fadeth not away." I leave for your .medita- 
 tion and comfort the passage of Scripture 
 Which has supplied the subject, " Wherefore, 
 seeing we are compassed about with so great 
 a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every 
 weight, and the sin which doth so easily 
 beset us, and let us run with patience the 
 race set before us, looking unto Jesus the 
 Author and Finisher of our faith ; who, for 
 the joy that was set before Him, endured the 
 cross, despising the shame, and is set down at 
 the right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BALLANlVMi AND COMJAlfY, 1'RINTEBS, EDINBURGH. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 "his book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
A 000 595 447 4