صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

JAN. 9.-" He will be our guide even unto death."
Psalm xlviii. 14.

THIS assurance comes home to our case and feelings. We are strangers and pilgrims upon earth. We resemble the Jews in the wilderness; we are not in Egypt, and we are not in Canaan, but journeying from the one to the other. We are delivered from our natural state; but before we can enter glory,

"We have this desert world to pass;
"A dangerous and a tiresome place."

And as the Jews were not left to themselves, but had a conductor, so have we-"This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." How perfectly, how infinitely qualified is he for this office! In a journey, it is unnecessary for the traveller to know the road: but the guide ought to know it; and when he is well acquainted with it, and we have full confidence in him, we shall feel satisfaction, notwithstanding our own ignorance. Abraham went out, not knowing whither he went; but he knew with whom and Job, after expressing his perplexities, and the successlessness of his efforts to explore the dispensation he was under, relieves himself with this thought: "But he knoweth the way that I take."

:

"Oh, who so fit to choose our lot,
"And regulate our ways,"

as he who sees the end from the beginning; who knows all our walking through this great wilderness; who cannot mistake as to what is good or evil for us; and who has said, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." If we had a

wise and sure, but a sullen and silent leader, it would deduct much from the pleasure of the journey. But our guide indulges us with constant intercourse. He allows us to address him whenever we please, and in every thing by prayer and supplication to make known our requests; while he condescendingly addresses us, talking with us by the way, and opening to us the Scriptures. He is also equal to all our exigencies. Do we want food, refreshment, rest? He can supply all our need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Have we storms? "He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Are we exposed to enemies? What David said to Abiathar, who had fled to him in his jeopardy, He says to us, "Abide with me; for he that seeketh thy life seeketh my life; but with me thou shalt be in safeguard." I should not be afraid of the sights and howlings of the wood, if I had a lion at my right hand every step, and could depend upon his fidelity-A lion is the strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any. More than this, is our privilege.

"A thousand savage beasts of prey
"Around the forest roam,

“But Judah's Lion guards the way,
"And guides the traveller home."

What human patience could bear with our manners and provocations? What creature-conductor is there, but would throw up his charge, long before the journey's end? But he does not cast away his people. He never leaves nor forsakes them. This is their comfort; this is their hope; this is their security-the long-suffering of our God is salvation. "I, the Lord, change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."

Yes-he will be our guide, " even unto death;" that is, till the journey is over, and all its cares cease. But is nothing more necessary? To death is much, but THROUGH death seems better. When

we come to the entrance of the gloomy passage, it is pleasing to think that he is at the other side, and will receive us to himself, that where he is, there we may be also. But how am I to get THROUGH? "My flesh and my heart faileth."

"Oh, if my Lord would come, and MEET-
"My soul would stretch her wings in haste:
"Fly fearless through Death's iron gate,
"Nor feel the terrors as she pass'd."

Well, this case is provided for. All is insured. He will be with us THROUGH-"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."-Amen.

JAN. 10.-"A devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house; which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." Acts x. 2.

We should beware of general and indiscriminate reflections upon communities and professions. They are injurious; they tend to make and keep the parties what they find they are generally supposed to be. They are unjust; for there are always exceptions. And they are ungenerous; for the more temptations men have to resist, the more evils they have to subdue, the more difficulties they have to struggle with—the more deserving and commendable is the individual that succeeds; or rather, the more is the grace of God glorified in him. Can there be no excellency connected with arms? In the New Testament we meet with no less than four centurions, and all are spoken of with approbation-the centurion who came to our Lord on the behalf of his servant-the centurion that watched and confessed at the Cross-the cen

[blocks in formation]

turion that behaved so courteously to Paul in his voyage-and Cornelius, here spoken of.

[ocr errors]

He is supposed to have been a proselyte, but he was not. Yet he worshipped God, the knowledge of whom he probably obtained by residing with his men in Judea. He was a "devout man ;" and three fine unions are mentioned in his character and conduct. A union of personal and relative duty: "He feared God, with all his house." This was like Joshua, who said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord:"-not my house without myself, nor myself without my house; but I, and my house. If we are godly ourselves, we shall surely give evidence of it by instructing, and admonishing, and impressing those who are placed under our care. And in vain shall we use the means, if we counteract them by our own example. We must do, as well as teach.

A union of piety and morality: he gave alms and prayed. Piety is more than prayer; and morality is more than alms: yet alms and prayer are not only parts, but essential parts of them-and they can never be separated. Some talk of their love to the Gospel, and their communion with God, who are hard-hearted and close-handed. "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" Others stand fair with their fellow-creatures, and are distinguished by liberality and kindness, yet they have no fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ; they live without God; they indulge their sensual passions, and imagine that charity covers a multitude of sins-"But pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world."

- A union of the real and eminent in religion: "He gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." There cannot be the eminence of

grace without the reality; but there may be the reality without the eminence. We should be thankful for a day of small things; but we should seek after a day of great ones. We should add to the essentials of religion, its excellencies too. We should not only have life, but have it more abundantly.

As to our temporal condition, we should be content with such things as we have; but contentment does not become us in divine things. There we should be ambitious. There we should be covetous. We need more. And more is attainable. Let us, therefore, enlarge our desires and our hopes, and seek to be filled with all the fulness of God.

JAN. 11.-" Where dwellest thou ?" John i. 38.

THIS question was addressed to our Lord by two of John's disciples. One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother-of the other we are ignorant: but they were now both following Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, "What seek ye?" They said unto him, 'Rabbi, Where dwellest thou?'

Let us consider, the principle of the inquiry. It was not curiosity, but regard. It was as much as to say, we wish to be better acquainted. John had spoken of him highly, and they had just seen him: but this, instead of satisfying them, drew forth their desire after more intimacy. Now this is common to all the subjects of divine grace, and arises from their love to him. For love longs to be near the object of attachment: separation is painful; distance is intolerable; while intercourse yields a pleasure words

no more describe, than paint can express light or heat. Hence the believer longs to be with the Saviour. "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,

« السابقةمتابعة »