William Jay

“I am the vine.”—John 15:5

Ministers are not to preach themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. But he was his own subject; He preached himself. How could he have done otherwise, concerned as he was to be useful? For,

And he knew this far better than we do. And who was able to declare what he truly was, so well as himself?

Here he calls himself the vine, a very easy and natural image; and natural images are the most preferable in divine things. Many writers and preachers love those allusions which show their learning, and which the uneducated cannot understand. Our Saviour never takes his comparisons from the sciences, and seldom from the arts, but from natural scenery, which is obvious and intelligible to all.

A vine is not so remarkable in its appearance as many other trees. In loftiness, it yields to the cedar; in strength, to the oak; in sightliness, to the palm-tree and the fir. The greatness of Jesus was spiritual. He had no earthly pomp and riches. Like his kingdom, he was not of this world. [John 18:36] Hence it was said, “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness;

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and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” [Isa 53:2]

The vine is renowned for its fertility. One single vine, planted by the empress Lavinia, yielded one hundred and eight gallons of wine in one year. Many grapes grow on one cluster, many clusters on one branch, and many branches on one tree. How many have been saved by the Lord Jesus! In him all fulness dwells. [Col 1:19] In him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. [Eph 1:3] What clusters were brought from Eshcol, to show Israel the goodliness and fruitfulness of Canaan! [Num 13:27] And what specimens of heaven, what earnests of the inheritance, what firstfruits of the Spirit, [Rom 8:23] do faith and hope bring believers from him, even while they are in the wilderness!

The nature of the produce of the vine is delightful and profitable. The fruit is sweet to the taste. The juice it yields cheers and makes glad the heart of man. [Ps 104:15] Give wine to those that be of heavy hearts. [Prov 31:6] It was sometimes used medicinally. [1 Tim 5:23] The good Samaritan poured oil and wine into the wounds of the bleeding traveller. [Luke 10:34] And he brings us health and cure, and comfort and delight, and more than angels’ food; for

The vine also yields shade, and it was valued for this purpose in the East. Hence we so often read in the Scripture of sitting under the vine and the fig-tree. They had walks and bowers made of these; and while the fruit refreshed them, the shelter screened them from the sun. And he is a shadow from the heat, and rescues us from the evil of every annoyance to which we are exposed. I sat, says the church, under his shadow with delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. [Song 2:3]

The image, therefore, is pleasing and striking, and aids us in our conception of him and communion with him. Yet it teaches us as much by contrast as by comparison. A vine is not always green. It does not always bear. It never bears twelve manner of fruits. It does not endure for ever. But all this is true of him.

The fruit of the vine, if taken too largely, will injure the partaker; but there is no danger here: while we are forbidden to be drunk with wine, wherein is excess, we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. [Eph 5:18] The produce of the vine is only for the body, and for time; but his benefits are for the soul and eternity. Many cannot obtain the advantages of the vine; but none, however poor and mean, are excluded from the participations of Christ. The image, therefore, is but a humble one, and falls far short of his glory. So does every thing that is employed to show forth his worth, his glory, or his grace.

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JUNE 2

“Ye are the branches.”—John 15:5

For whatever He is, they have a relation corresponding with it. Thus, if he is the king, they are the subjects. If he is the shepherd, they are the sheep. If he is the head, they are the members. Therefore having said to his disciples, I am the vine, he adds, Ye are the branches.

This reminds us of their union with him. The vine and the branches are connected. The latter are even parts of the former; and it would be absurd for a person to say, I did not hurt the vine, I only injured the branches. Why persecutest thou me? said the Saviour to Saul, [Acts 9:4] who was only persecuting his followers. He that touches them, touches the apple of his eye. [Zech 2:8] And as he is sensible of their wrongs, so he feels every kindness shown them, and says, “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.” [Matt25:40]

This gives them a character of likeness. The branches are the very same kind of wood as the vine, and the very same sap pervades them both. And they that are joined to the Lord are of one spirit. [1 Cor 6:17] The same mind is in them which was also in Christ Jesus. [Phil 2:5]

This shows their dependence. “The righteous shall flourish as a branch;” [Prov 11:28] but the branch does not bear the tree, but the tree the branch. Whatever likeness there may be, in all things he has the preeminence. He is our life and strength. [Ps 27:1] “Abide,” says he, “in me: as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me; for without me ye can do nothing.” [John 15:4-5]

This proclaims their usefulness. The branches are the beauty and excellency of the vine, and by these its vigor and fertility are displayed. He is glorified in his people. He makes them to blossom and yield fruit. He diffuses his goodness through their prayers and lives. In him is their fruit found, as to its source and support; but they bear it—they are the branches—they are filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.

Let me learn one thing from all this. Let me accustom myself to derive spiritual reflections from all the material objects around me. A taste for natural scenery is pleasing and good in itself. But let me not approach it as a creature, only to enjoy, or as a philosopher, only to admire, but as a Christian also, to improve. Let sense be a handmaid to faith. Let that which is seen and temporal raise me to that which is unseen and eternal.

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JUNE 3

“Which is our hope.”—1 Tim 1:1

Much has been said in praise of hope. It has been called the mainspring of motion, the soul of enterprise, the balm of life, the soother of care, and the healer of sorrow.

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We are not, however, going to speak of hope in general. We therefore say nothing of the hope of the worldling, which is a thing of naught; or of the hope of the infidel, which is annihilation; or of the hope of the Antinomian, which is a devil’s dream; or of the hope of thePharisee, which is a spider’s web; or of the hope of the hypocrite, which is a lie in his right hand; [Isa 44:20] but of our hope, as Christians. And what is this? Jesus Christ, says the apostle; he ”is our hope.” He deserves and realizes the character four ways. He is our hope substantially, meritoriously, efficiently, and exemplarily.

He is the object of our hope. “There be many that say, Who will show us any good?” [Ps 4:6] But any good will not answer the wishes of a believer. His supreme aim is the principal, the only good. It is to win Christ, to be found in him, and in him to be blessed with all spiritual blessings. The Christian’s hope is chiefly laid up for him in heaven. And is not He the essence of all the blessedness there? The place is glorious, but what would it be without his presence? The company is attractive, but what would friends and saints and angels be without communion with him? We sometimes hear it said, “Well, we are hoping for the same heaven.” But nothing can be more false. A natural man is hoping for one kind of heaven, a spiritual man for another; and each herein follows his peculiar disposition. I cannot hope for what I do not love and desire. As a man, I may hope for a heaven that shall secure me from hell, and exempt me from all toil and trouble, and furnish me with things in which I feel pleasure. But it is only as a Christian, I can long to depart to be with Christ, which is far better. [Phil 1:23]

He is the ground of our hope. In proportion to the use and grandeur of a building should be the basis. Nothing can equal the vastness and value of the believer’s expectation. If we are wise, therefore, we shall inquire what is to bear it up. And no other foundation can any man lay than that is laid, which is Christ. [1 Cor 3:11] Every thing else we depend upon will prove sand. But here is rock, and he that believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [Rom 9:33] View him as incarnate. Why is not our condition as hopeless as that of devils? Verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. [Heb 2:16] Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise himself also took part of the same. He assumed the nature he would save, and he will save as surely as he assumed it. View him as the gift of God. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. [John 3:16] What can discourage us now? If our unworthiness, or the greatness of the blessing could prove a hinderance to the divine goodness, it would have operated earlier, and he would have withholden from the guilty this unspeakable gift. [2 Cor 9:15] “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” [Rom 8:32] But his goodness is wise goodness, just goodness. It must be as honorable to himself as it is beneficial to us; and we behold his Son set forth as a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness. [Rom 3:25] Sin is punished while it is pardoned. Even the law has nothing to

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complain of in our deliverance; it is much more glorified in our salvation than it would have been by our destruction. One died for all; [2 Cor5:14] and he was infinitely more than all. Do we question whether he finished the work that was given him to do; and whether it was an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savor; and whether he shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied? [Isa 53:11] Behold him discharged from the grave, and ascending up on high, and receiving gifts for men, [Ps 68:18] even for the rebellious, and entering into the holy place, there to appear in the presence of God for us. [Heb 9:24] What can we desire more? If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more now, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. [Rom 5:10] “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” [Rom 8:34] Will not this suffice? He raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God. [1 Pet 1:21]

He is the author of our hope. For it is not natural to us, neither is it derived from ourselves, but he produces it in us by his Holy Spirit. Means must be used, but the excellency of the power is of him, and not of them. Hence, says the apostle to those who were glorying in men, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” [1 Cor 3:5] Every thing in the new world is done by the Spirit of Christ. Under a conviction of guilt enough to condemn us a thousand times over, did we find it an easy thing to hope in God at first, and believe that he was pacified towards us for all that we had done, and that we were accepted in the Beloved? [Eph 1:6] Have we proved it an easy thing since to keep this hope lively and flourishing, or even to maintain it at all? How often should we have said, My hope is perished from the Lord, and have given up all our profession, but for “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” [Phil1:19] in glorifying him afresh; according to the promise, “He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” [John 16:14]

He is also the model of our hope. For though he is unspeakably more than our example, he is nothing less; and the higher views we have taken of him do not hinder, but indeed the more require our saying, that the same mind which was in him must be in us; that we must walk even as he walked; [1 John 2:6] that we must pray as he prayed, fear as he feared, and hope as he hoped. And how did he hope? “I will,” said he, “put my trust in Him.” [Heb 2:13] It was not to quote prophecy that his insulters, when he was on the cross, said, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God.” It was to reproach him for the confidence in God which they knew he had professed to exercise. It will be well, if our enemies can revile us for nothing worse. David seems early to have been dedicated to God, but it was in the name of the holy child Jesus he spoke, when he said, “Thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mother’s belly.” [Ps 22:10] From his earliest

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infancy, from the first exercise of reason he honored him. Nor did he ever fail in his confidence in God. In every extremity he trusted in him. Even when in anguish on the cross and dying, he cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” [Luke 23:46] His confidence, also, was equally cheerful. He sung a hymn when he was entering the garden of Gethsemane. [Mark14:26] Though a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, [Isa 53:3] instead of murmuring he said, “In the midst of the church will I sing praises unto thee.” [Heb 2:12] Thus may I bear the image of the heavenly, till he shall appear and I shall be perfectly like him; for I shall see him as he is. [1 John 3:2]

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JUNE 4

“The woman then left her waterpot.”—John 4:28

Three reasons may be assigned for this.

Perhaps she left it from kindness to our Saviour and his disciples. His disciples had gone into the city to buy meat, and had just returned; and they were now going to partake of their homely fare. But for beverage they had nothing to draw with, and the well was deep. She therefore leaves them her vessel, to enable them to draw and drink. Female kindness and contrivance and accommodation are as quick as thought, and never need a prompter. I admire the simplicity of early hospitality. See Rebekah with Abraham’s steward: “And she said, Drink, my Lord; and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him to drink.” [Gen 24:18] Ah, ye generous hearts, who wish to do good, and feel your want of power, do what you can. And remember the Saviour’s words: “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” [Matt 10:42]

Perhaps she left it from indifference. She was now so impressed and occupied with infinitely greater and better things, that she forgets the very errand that brought her to the well. The feelings of new converts are peculiarly strong and lively. The eternal realities and glories that open to their view dazzle their minds, and render them incapable of distinctly observing other objects. Considering the infirmity of our nature, it is not to be wondered at if the powers of the world to come, and the “one thing needful,” [Luke 10:42] the care of the soul, should for the time engross all their attention, and make them too heedless of other claims.

Hence what we should censure in others, we excuse in young beginners, especially if they are suddenly awakened. I say excuse, for we never wish to justify ignorance, imprudence, and rashness. God is not the God of confusion: “Let every thing,” says the apostle, “be done decently, and in order.” [1 Cor 14:40] Religion is not to draw us off from our business and callings. Neither are we to leave our places and stations in life, even in pursuit of things good in themselves. When the demoniac had been dispossessed, he besought the Saviour that he might be with him. Yet “Jesus suffered him not;” but said, Return to thine own

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house, and show how great things God hath done for thee. [Mark 5:19] And says Paul to the Thessalonians, “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands;” [1 Thess 4:11] to provide things honest in the sight of all men; to maintain your families without dependence, and have to give to him that needeth; [Eph 4:28] and to preserve your religion from censure. We are not, therefore, to abandon our waterpots. We are not to be careless of our worldly substance, but to preserve and use it. Witness the cautions in Scripture against suretyship, and backing bills, and the admonition, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” [John 6:12] Yet those who are born from above, and bound for glory, are only strangers and pilgrims upon earth; and they who have found the pearl of great price, will not and cannot feel towards worldly things as they once did. [Matt 13:46] They cannot be so anxious to gain them, so overjoyed in possessing them, so depressed in losing them. And they will be willing to forsake whatever the service of God requires them to part with, however dear or valuable. Thus Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, upon hearing the call, “Follow me,” “arose and followed him.” [Matt 9:9]

Perhaps she left it, as it would have proved a hinderance to her speed. The King’s business requires haste. In this she was now engaged, and burning with zeal, she could not bear the thought of losing a moment in communicating the knowledge she possessed; and of saying to her neighbors, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ? [John 4:29] She knew the importance of the case. And she knew the brevity and uncertainty of the opportunity. It was not the gratification of their curiosity—it was their life. And if he withdrew from the well before they arrived, the day of their visitation might never return.

Upon the same principles, let us get rid of every impediment, and avoid every delay, not only in gaining good for ourselves, but in doing good to others. All is pending upon the moment. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest.” [Eccles 9:10]

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JUNE 5

“Be thou their arm every morning.”—Isa 33:2

This is a prayer for others. And when we repair to the throne of the heavenly grace, we should never forget our fellow-Christians. Yet those will never pray earnestly, or even sincerely, for others, who do not pray for themselves. Every believer therefore includes himself in the number of those for whom he implores the blessing, “Be thou their arm every morning.”

He is made sensible of his own weakness and insufficiency. He knows, he feels, and he increasingly knows and feels his need of an arm, a divine arm, every morning.

For what purpose?

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He needs this arm to defend him in all his dangers, and to keep him from all evil, especially the evil of sin, that it may not grieve him.

He needs this arm to uphold him under his burdens. The pressure often urges him to exclaim, “Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me.”

He needs this arm to lean on, in all his goings. What a journey lies before him! And what step can he take alone? This is the image of the church. She is represented as coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved.

And as this arm is necessary, so it is sufficient; and it is kindly held out in the promises and invitations of the word. “There,” says God, “let him take hold of my strength.” And we take hold of it by faith and prayer.

Let me then avail myself of the privilege. Be thou my arm every morning. Let me lean, and converse with thee. Let me lean, and feel thee at my side. Let me lean, and go forward without dismay or discouragement. “Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” [Ps 16:8-11]

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JUNE 6

“And walk humbly with thy God.”—Mic 6:8

Why not joyfully? There is a foundation laid for this. It is their privilege, and it is said they shall sing in the ways of the Lord. This is not, however, absolutely necessary. In a sense, Christians may go on without it. We have known much self-denial, and deadness to the world, and spirituality of devotion, and zeal for the glory of God and the welfare of others, in persons who may be said to be saved by hope rather than confidence. But with regard to humbleness of mind, this is indispensable—always, and in every thing, and no progress can be made without it. So that when Luther was asked what was the first step in religion, he replied, Humility; and when asked what was the second, and the third, answered in the same way. And Peter admonishes Christians to be clothed with humility; [1 Pet 5:5] as if he would say, This is to cover, to defend, to distinguish, to adorn all. But how is our walking humbly with God to appear?

It is to appear in connection with divine truth. Here God is our teacher; and if as learners we walk humbly with him, we shall cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Christ; [2 Cor 10:5] we shall sacrifice the pride of reason, and having ascertained that the Scriptures are the word of God, and discovered what they really contain, we shall not speculate upon their principles, but admit them on the divine authority. Nothing can be more proud and vain than to believe no more than we can comprehend, or can make appear to be credible in itself. Is not this founding our faith on knowledge,

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and not on testimony? Is not this trusting God like a discredited witness in court, whose deposition is regarded only as it is collaterally supported? Is this honoring his wisdom or veracity? Is this receiving with meekness the engrafted word? [James 1:21] Is this receiving the kingdom of heaven as a little child? [Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17]

It will appear in connection with divine ordinances. Here we walk with God as worshippers; and if we walk humbly with him, we shall have grace whereby we may serve him acceptably, with reverence and with godly fear. [Heb 12:28] We have indeed, in Christ, boldness and access with confidence; but it is by the faith of him; that is, by the confidence of one who feels his encouragement derived from a mediator. We may come boldly to the throne of grace, [Heb 4:16] but it is to obtain mercy and find grace to help us; the boldness therefore can only be the boldness of the indigent and the guilty, who have nothing of their own to plead. We approach him as a father; but if I am a father, says he, where is mine honor? [Mal 1:6] We have heard some address the Supreme Being with such levity and freedom as they would not have used to a fellow-creature a little above their own level in life. We should keep our feet when we go to the house of God. He is in heaven and we upon the earth, therefore our words should be few. [Eccles 5:1-2]

It will appear in connection with his mercies. Here we walk with God as our benefactor; and if we walk humbly with him, we shall own and feel that we have no claim upon God for any thing we possess or enjoy. Am I indulged? I am not worthy of the least of all his mercies. [Gen 32:10] Am I distinguished?

Am I successful? I shall not ascribe it to my own skill, or the power of my own arm. I shall not sacrifice to my own net, or burn incense to my own drag. “The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” [Prov 10:22]

It will appear with regard to our trials. Here we walk with God as our reprover and corrector; and if we walk humbly, we shall not charge him foolishly; we shall not arraign his authority, or ask, What doest thou? We shall not expose ourselves to the reflection, Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved. We shall be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live. [Heb 12:9] We shall be dumb and open not our mouth, because He does it. Or if we speak, it will be to acknowledge that his judgments are right, and that in faithfulness he has afflicted us. [Ps 119:75] “I mourn, but I do not murmur. I wonder not that my troubles are so heavy, but that they are so light. I more than deserve them all, and I need them all. I would not only bear, but kiss the rod. It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.” [1 Sam 3:18]

It will appear with regard to our conditions. Here we walk with God as our disposer and governor; and if we walk humbly, we shall hold ourselves at his control; we shall be willing that he should choose

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our inheritance for us; we shall not lean to our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge him. [Prov 3:6] We shall be satisfied with our own allotment, and learn in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content. [Phil 4:11] We shall abide in the callings wherein his providence has placed us, and not be eager to rise into superior offices, feeling our unfitness for them, and fearful of the perils; saying, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.” [Ps 131:2]

It will appear with regard to our qualification and ability for our work. Here we walk with God as our helper and strength; and if we walk humbly, we shall be sensible of our insufficiency for all the purposes of the divine life. We shall feel that we know not what to pray for as we ought, unless the Spirit itself helpeth our infirmities; that the preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue are from the Lord; [Prov16:1] that with regard to the exercise of every grace and the performance of every duty, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can we, except we abide in him, for without him we can do nothing. [John 15:5] Did Peter walk humbly with him when, even after the warning he had received, he leaned on his own resolution for superior constancy? Here humility is to fear always, and to pray, Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. [Ps 119:117]

It will appear with regard to the whole of our recovery. Here we walk with God as a Saviour; and if we walk humbly, we shall not go about to establish our own righteousness, but submit ourselves unto the righteousness which is of God; and acknowledge that we have nothing to glory in before him. Not by works of righteousness which I have done, but according to his mercy he saved me. [Titus 3:5] I look on the rock whence I was hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence I was digged. How long did he wait for me! What pains were used in vain to bring my heart to him! He was found of me when I sought him not. And how little have I attained! I am still an unprofitable servant. [Luke17:10] The sins of my holy things would condemn me; I must look only for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. If I am called, he called me by his grace. If I have a good hope, it is a good hope through grace. By the grace of God, I am what I am. [1 Cor 15:10]

Happy this humble walker with God. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” [James 4:6]

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JUNE 7

“The Lord is our judge.”—Isa 33:22

In ancient times the character of a judge was united with that of a sovereign. To deliver the award of acquittal, condemnation, or pardon, was the exclusive prerogative of majesty. Even in our days, the sentence pronounced by the appointed expositors of the law must have the fiat of the monarch before it can be fulfilled.

The word judge is frequently, in the Scripture, synonymous with ruler. But here the Lord, as “our judge,” is distinguished from the Lord as “our lawgiver” and “our king;” the term should therefore be taken in its more peculiar meaning as to decisions and directions.

And this view of God should blend with every other character he sustains: not to depress hope, but to prevent presumption; not to hinder our access to God, but to sanctify us when we come nigh him; not to inspire gloom, but to exclude from us all that carelessness and levity so inconsistent with our dependence and responsibility. “If ye call on the Father, who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” [1 Pet 1:17]

He is our future judge. So then, says the Scripture, every one of us must give account of himself to God. [Rom 14:12] “God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing.” [Eccles 12:14] And who could bear the thought of this process without the knowledge of a Mediator? The only way to find safety in that day is to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and to be found in him. He is our advocate with the Father, and he is the propitiation for our sins. The charges brought against us are all true, and we have nothing to offer even in our own extenuation. But we appeal to our Surety, and he answers for us. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” [Rom 8:34]

He is our judge at present. And the apostle speaks of it as a privilege of the gospel dispensation, that “we are come to God, the judge of all.” [Heb 12:22-23]

Are you perplexed about the path of duty, and yet you must move forward, while importance is attached to every step? Refer yourselves to his unerring counsel. Be influenced and encouraged by the command and the promise, “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; and lean not

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unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” [Prov 3:6]

Is your spiritual state doubtful to your own minds? And do you dread delusion? Present the case before him, and say, “Search me, O 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.” [Ps139:24]

Do you lie under the misapprehension of friends and the reproaches of enemies? Say, with Job, “Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.” [Job 16:19] How often did David turn from the groundless and cruel censures of men to Him who knoweth all things. “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely, I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.” [Ps 131:2] “Let my sentence come forth from thy presence: let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.” [Ps 17:2] Are you reviled? Revile not again. Do you suffer? Threaten not, but commit yourselves to him that judgeth righteously. [1 Pet 2:23] It is pleasing to have the approbation of our fellow-creatures, but there is a higher, a juster, a more merciful tribunal. It is a light thing to be judged of man’s judgment. He that judgeth us is the Lord. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God.” [1 Cor 4:5]

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JUNE 8

“The grace that is in Christ Jesus.”—2 Tim 2:1

Grace is connected with the whole of our recovery as sinners. It is all in all in every part of our salvation. Whether he is chosen, or redeemed, or justified, or converted, or sanctified, or preserved, or comforted, the believer will acknowledge, by the grace of God I am what I am—not I, but the grace of God which is with me. [1 Cor 15:10]

But where is this grace to be found? The apostle tells us, when he speaks of it as the resource of Timothy, both as a minister and a Christian, Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. As Mediator, he is the principle and the treasury of it with regard to us.

It is in him exclusively. And we may as well think of finding snow on the bosom of the sun, or water to cool the tongue in hell, [Luke16:24] as to think of finding elsewhere than in him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. As Pharaoh said to the famishingmultitudes that cried to him for corn, “Go unto Joseph, he has all the corn;” [Gen 41:55] so perishing sinners are sent to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. [Eph 1:3] If there was only one well in the vicinity of a place, this would soon become the scene of concourse, and thither all the inhabitants would repair. “And to him shall the gathering of the people be.” [Gen 49:10] “If any man thirst,” said he, “let him come unto me and drink.” [John 7:37]

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Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name given under heaven among men, whereby they must be saved. [Acts 4:12] And what Christian will refuse to join in the ascription, “Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace?”

It is in him all-sufficiently. For it is not in him as water in a vessel, which, though as large as the brazen sea, would, by constant drawing, be soon drawn dry; but as water in a spring, which, though always flowing, is always as full as ever. It is not in him like light in a lamp, which, however luminous, consumes while it shines, and will soon go out in darkness; but like light in the sun, which, after shining for so many ages, is undiminished, and is as able as ever to bless the earth with his beams. There never has been, and there never will be, never can be a deficiency in him; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. [Heb 13:8]

It is in him relatively. He has it for the use and advantage of his people. Is he head over all things? [Eph 1:22] It is to his body the church. Has he power given him over all flesh? It is that he might give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him. [John 17:2] Is he exalted at the right hand of God? It is to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and forgiveness of sins. [Acts 5:31] Did he receive gifts? It was for men, and even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Many trustees are faithless to their office. The rich have wealth for the poor; but it is either hoarded by avarice or squandered by extravagance, so that the poor often share but little of it, and the design of the proprietor is subverted by the baseness of the steward. But here there is no danger. He to whom all our welfare isintrusted will be faithful, not as a servant, like Moses, but as a son over his own house. [Heb 3:6] His work falls in with every disposition of his heart. He so loves the recipients of his bounty, that he even died for them and rose again. The power and authority to bless them was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame. [Heb 12:2]

And it is wisely in him. Could we see no reason for it, we ought to believe in the propriety of the dispensation. God does all things well; [Acts 10:33] and we may always infer the rectitude of any instance of his conduct even from his adopting it. And when he has told us that a particular course of action “became him,” it is absurd to speculate, and profane to object. But it is easy to apprehend the wisdom of God in his being pleased that in him should all fulness dwell. [Col 1:19] It is thus infinitely secure. Adam had all in his own hand, and soon failed and ruined his whole race. And should we act better than he? But “this man abideth ever;” [Heb 7:24] and therefore the covenant, of which he is the head, is everlasting, ordered in all things, and sure. [2 Sam 23:5] By this appointment also, there is rendered necessary a communion between Christ and Christians, equally honorable to him, and beneficial to them. Let me explain this by a simple reference. An infant when born, if left to himself, would perish, for he is entirely unequal to his own support. But he is not abandoned. Provision is made for his nourishment. Where? In another.

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In whom? The one above all others interested in him, and whose relation to him, whose anxiety on his behalf, whose love will always yield him a welcome access to her bosom; and the mutual action of giving and receiving will endear the babe to the mother, and the mother to the babe. It is well we cannot live independent of Christ Jesus. How much are his glory and our welfare connected with the blessed necessity of our daily and hourly intercourse with him!

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JUNE 9

“And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.”—Acts 3:2

What an object of distress was here! Some, if they are poor, are strong and healthful, and limbs and labor are sufficient for them. And some, if they are sickly and infirm, have wealth, or relations and friends that can afford them support. But here penury and helplessness are combined. The sufferings of some are accidental, and endured for a season only; but this man’s affliction entered the world with him, and upwards of forty years he had endured the calamity.

What a vale of tears is this earth! To what a variety of evils are the human race exposed! Oh, could we see all; could we see a little of the millionth part! What is a burial-ground, a field of battle, a hospital, every dismembered, disordered body, but a commentary upon sin as the text? For sin—

“Brought death into the world, and all our woe.”

Can we see such a case as this, and not be thankful for our exemption and preservation? Shall we say, He deserved to be such a cripple; but I did not? Rather, shall we not say, By the grace of God, I am what I am? [1 Cor 15:10]

Such an instance of misery is presented to try our disposition. The eye affecteth the heart, and was designed to do it. None but a priest or Levite will pass by on the other side. [Luke 10:31-32] Such sights will attract the notice of the humane and the merciful, and move all his bowels of compassion, and put in requisition all his powers of relief. Job, even with regard to his prosperity, which too often makes men insensible and careless, could make this appeal: “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.” “I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.” [Job 29:13,15]

As the only expedient of this poor wretch was begging, so, to give him an advantage, they placed him daily at the Beautiful gate of the temple, to ask alms of them that went in. This was wise. Surely he who is going to seek mercy will be ready to show it. Surely he who

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is going to pray for pardon will not be unforgiving and implacable. “Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” [Matt 5:24] What communion hath light with darkness? [2 Cor 6:14] What fellowship can the cruel and uncharitable have with him who is love itself?

Piety without benevolence is hypocrisy. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? [1 John 4:20] And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God, love his brother also.” The tongue of men and angels, without charity, is as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. [1 Cor 13:1] The gift of prophecy, the understanding of all mysteries, and all faith, so that we could remove mountains, would be nothing without charity. [1 Cor 13:2-3] How such a man, whatever be his profession, can be a partaker of divine grace, perplexed even an inspired apostle. “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?”

How well he adds, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed, and in truth.”

“And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.” [1 John 3:17-19]

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JUNE 10

“He delighteth in mercy.”—Mic 7:18

Causes are best discovered in their effects. We determine the nature of the spring by the quality of the streams. The tree is known by the fruits. [Matt 7:16] We judge of men’s principles and dispositions by their pursuits and conduct. God himself, so to speak, submits to be examined in the same way. To ascertain what he is, we have but to consider what he does. The things the Scripture testifies concerning him are confirmed and exemplified by the facts to which it refers us. Thus says the church, “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of our God.” [Ps 48:8] Is he called, “The God of all grace,” [1 Pet 5:10] “The Father of mercies?” [2 Cor 1:3] Is it said, “He is rich in mercy,” [Eph2:4] “He delighteth in mercy?” [Mic 7:18] Let us pause and reflect, and we shall find the proofs and illustrations more wonderful than the assertion itself.

We are saved by hope: [Rom 8:24] hope is the first step in the return of a sinner to God; and what hath God wrought to gain the confidence of our guilty, and therefore foreboding and misgiving minds! Here let us follow the example of the inspired John. What is it that arrests and enraptures his attention? “Herein is love.” Where? In what? “Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” [1 John 4:10] Not that he would overlook the other doings of God, but here he saw most clearly that “God

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is love.” [1 John 4:8,16] God’s soul delights in his own Son, yet he would seem to delight more in mercy; for when he met with him and us on Calvary, he said, Thou shalt die, and they shall live. It therefore pleased the Lord to bruise him, that by his stripes we might be healed, [Isa53:5] and through his sweet-smelling sacrifice, become dearer to God than if we had never sinned. And we must here take in not only theexpensiveness of the act, but the character of the objects. It is the reasoning of another apostle, “Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” [Rom 5:8] And having made the provision, so that all things are now ready, would he endeavor to awaken our attention to it, would he send forth the ministry of reconciliation to beseech us to accept it, unless he delighted in mercy?

He delights also not only in the exercise of mercy to us, but by us. He therefore would not leave mercy to the operation of reason and religion only, but, as our Maker, he has rendered it a law of our being. By our very constitution, pity is an unavoidable emotion. When we see the pain and distress of a fellow-creature, the eye affecteth the heart. We involuntarily feel an uneasiness, which prompts us to succor him, even to relieve ourselves. As far indeed as this is implanted in us, it is a mere instinct. But who produced it there? Who made it natural? Who rendered it so difficult to be subdued and destroyed, but a Being who delighteth in mercy? Besides, though it be originally an instinct only, by cherishing it we render it a virtue, and by exciting and exercising it from religious motives, we turn it into a Christian grace.

And see what stress he has laid upon it in his word. How often does he enjoin it! How dreadfully has he threatened the neglect of it! And what promises has he made to the practice of it! “He shall have judgment without mercy, that showed no mercy.” [James 2:13] “But blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” [Matt 5:7] He has told us, that no clearness of knowledge, no rectitude of opinion, no fervor of zeal, no constancy of attendance on ordinances, no talking of divine things, will be a compensation for charity. “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?” [1 John3:17] And hence the preeminence our Saviour gives it in the proceedings of the last day. “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” [Matt 25:36] The language has been perverted, for men dream of merit where, above all things, we need mercy. This word “for” is here not causative, but evidential: just as we may say, the spring is come, for the birds sing; the singing of the birds does not cause the coming of the

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spring, but is the effect and proof of it. But even this distinction affords the merciless no favor; for though the practice here so noticed be not the procuring of the blessedness, it is the character of the blessed. On every ground, therefore, the man who is a stranger to it is not entitled to hope. For which reason, too, our Lord goes on to the subjects of condemnation. And who are these? Tyrants, robbers, murderers of fathers and mothers, perjured persons? [1 Tim 1:9-10] No; but the slothful and the selfish, the unkind tongue, the close hand, the unfeeling heart, the unpitying eye, the foot that knew not the door of misery. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.” [Matt 25:43]

Let us therefore not only admire, but let us be followers of Him who delighteth in mercy. We cannot love him unless we are concerned to please him, and we cannot please him unless we are likeminded with him. Neither can we enjoy him. Resemblance is the foundation of our communion with him. He only that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. [1 John 4:16] “BE YE THEREFORE MERCIFUL, EVEN AS YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN IS MERCIFUL.” [Luke 6:36]

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JUNE 11

“It came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau, his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold, now I am old, I know not the day of my death: now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.”—Gen 27:1-4

In Isaac’s blindness we see one of the frequent accompaniments of age. Age is generally an aggregate of privations, diseases, and infirmities. If by reason of strength we reach fourscore years, [Ps 90:10] the strength then becomes labor and sorrow—labor in the preserving, and sorrow in the possession.

A powerful reason why we should remember our Creator in the days of our youth, [Eccles 12:1] that we may have a resource when the evil days come, in which we shall say, I have no pleasure. What a privilege, when exercised with loss of sight and of hearing, with trembling of limbs and sleepless nights, and fearful apprehensions and failure of desire, to have God for the strength of our heart, and our portion for ever, [Ps 73:26] and to hear him saying, “Even to your old age I am he: and even to hoar hairs will I carry you I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” [Isa 46:4]

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The reflection of Isaac upon his mortality may be adopted by every individual, whatever his condition, or health, or age. All are ignorant of the time of their dissolution; for the human race dies at all periods as well as in all circumstances, and we know not what a day may bring forth. [Prov 27:1] But when Isaac says, “I know not the day of my death,” [Gen 27:2] he means that it was near, and that every day might be reckoned as his last. Death is not far from every one of us. But while, as the proverb says, the young may die, the old must die. And it becomes the aged to think frequently and seriously of their departure as at hand. They should prepare for it, and regard zealously the call of every present duty. It was the prayer of Moses, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” [Ps 90:12] It was the profession of our Lord and Saviour, “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, wherein no man can work.” [John 9:4] It was the admonition of Solomon, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” [Eccles 9:10]

Thus Isaac was roused into a concern to finish his work before he finished his course: “Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.” Observe, he speaks of doing it while yet alive, not afterwards. In like manner Elijah, when waiting for his ascension into heaven, said to Elisha, “Ask now what I shall do for thee, before I be taken up from thee,” believing his intercourse with him and his acting for him would then be terminated. This is a solemn, and should be a useful thought. Look at your children, your relations, your friends, your neighbors, and see in what way you can serve your generation. Now you can bless them by your prayers, your counsels, your example, your liberality; but all these opportunities are confined to life, and this life is a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. [James 4:14] Isaac did well in seizing the present moment to set his house in order before his death. But there are two things in which he was blamable.

First, he shows too great a regard for the indulgence of his appetite. It is mournful to see a good man, and especially an old man, instead of mortifying the deeds of the body, [Rom 8:13] studying his sensual gratification, and making provision for the flesh, not to fulfil the wants, but the lusts thereof. [Rom 13:14] Carriages should be dragged as they are going down hill.

Secondly, he was more influenced by natural affection than a regard to the will of God. He wished to make Esau heir, but God had expressly declared, “The elder shall serve the younger.” [Gen 25:23; Rom 9:12] Isaac could not have been ignorant of this. Had he forgotten it, or did he disregard it? Here we see his frailty. Yet this does not render the purpose of God of none effect. His counsel shall stand, and he shall do all his pleasure. [Isa 46:10] Rebekah, on the other hand, was fond of Jacob, and a father has no chance against a mother who has a favorite whom she is determined to

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advance, especially such a selfish, crafty, cunning creature as was at work here. Rebekah’s aim, indeed, fell in with God’s design, but this concurrence arose, not from her piety, but her partiality. Her conduct was unjustifiable and sinful, for we must not do evil that good may come. [Rom 3:8] She had the divine promise on the side of her preference, and she should have rested in the Lord, and waited patiently for him, and not have fretted herself in any wise to do evil. “He that believeth maketh not haste.” Had she quietly committed her way unto the Lord, he would have brought it to pass without those wretched consequences that afflicted the family. For God uses instruments without approving of them; and though he makes the folly and passions of men to praise him, he fails not to prove that it is an evil and bitter thing to forsake him, and to act without his fear in our hearts.

How painful would it be to go on and see a mother teaching her child to tell lies, and to see a son imposing on the blindness of an aged father! We have no notion that Rebekah was ever religious. And what proof have we that Jacob was pious at this time? Was he not converted in his journey from Beersheba to Haran? At Bethel God met with him, and there he spoke with us.

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JUNE 12

“The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”—Exod 13:21-22

This institution was necessary, for there was no path in the desert, and they had no maps, no pioneers, no guides. But, says God, I have not brought you out of Egypt to leave you to wander and perish in the wilderness. Behold your conductor unto the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. Accordingly, by this they were to be regulated in all their journeying. As this rose, they rose. As this paused, they paused. As this turned to the right hand or to the left, they turned. It sometimes called them to leave a more endeared spot, and to stop in a less inviting scene, but they were not at liberty to cling to the one or decline the other, the signal was instantly decisive. This pillar was obviously nothing less than a real miracle, yet how little were the observers affected by it. They sinned, and even committed idolatry with this hovering prodigy always over them! We are prone to ascribe too much moral efficacy to such supernatural appearances. They soon became as unimpressive and uninfluential as the ordinary means of grace are with us.

It was a symbol of the divine presence. “The Lord was in the pillar.” It was this nearness of God that insured their safety, and gave them their distinction and preeminence. There he was always at hand, always in view. “And,” says Moses, “what nation is there so great,

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who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?” [Deut 4:7]

But how extensively adapted was this provision to their state and exigencies! It was both a pillar of a cloud and a pillar of fire to lead them in the way. The one appearance was for the day, the other for the night. Fire by day would have added to the dazzling and fervidness of a burning sky; the pillar was therefore a cloud by day, and screened them like a large umbrella from the scorching rays of the sun. Cloud by night would have added to the gloom, the darkness, and the dread of danger; the pillar was therefore a fire by night, to lick up the unwholesome damps, to warm the chilling atmosphere, and to afford them a light by which they could see to move about in their tents, and also to travel, as they often did, after the sun was set.

If this ordinance showed his wisdom and goodness, the continuance of the blessing evinced his patience; for, notwithstanding their unworthiness, and their provocations, and their various corrections, this pillar was not taken away from before the people till they reached the border of Jordan and came to their journey’s end!

He has a people for his name now. They are only strangers and pilgrims on earth, bound for a better country, that is, a heavenly. [Heb11:16] This they would never reach if they were left to themselves. But the God of Israel is with them. They have not the same sensible proof of his presence as the Jews had; yet they have real evidence of it, and it is satisfactory to their own minds. He keeps them from falling. He accommodates himself to their conditions. He is a very present help in trouble. [Ps 46:1] He makes his goodness to pass before them. [Exod33:19] He leads them by his word and his Spirit and his providence. He has also said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. [Heb 13:5] Therefore they may boldly say, “This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.” [Ps 48:14]

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JUNE 13

“The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make, them broad plates for a covering of the altar.”—Num 16:38

He had solemnly forewarned and admonished the rebels themselves before they suffered, and thus in wrath he remembered mercy. When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who headed the conspiracy, were buried alive, and their companions, the two hundred and fifty princes, men of honor, were burned with fire, he would make them beacons, and prevent

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others from coming into the same condemnation. Orders therefore were given to take up the censers in which they had dared to burn incense, and make of them broad plates to cover the altar of burnt-offering, that they might be “a sign unto the children of Israel;” [Num 16:38] that is, a memorial to the Levites, and the comers thereunto, of the revolt of these men, and that they were punished for invading an office which God had forbidden them.

Whence we note, that the sin which is hurtful to the transgressors should be useful to the observers.

“These sinners against their own souls.” [Num 16:38] Whenever men sin, they sin against themselves. Society cannot exist without laws, and laws are nothing without penalties. Connivance at the guilty would be cruelty to the innocent. In every well-ordered government crimes are punished. And will they, can they escape in the empire of a Being holy in all his ways, and righteous in all his works? [Ps 145:17] What would you think of a magistrate who bore the sword in vain, and who was not a terror to evildoers as well as a praise to them that do well? [Rom 13:3] What would you think of him, if, when you brought before him the incendiary of your house, or the murderer of your child, he should say, This does not regard me; and smile, and say, Go in peace? We dislike the word vindictive justice; there seems something malignant in it; but substitute in the room of it the vindicatory or punitive justice of God, and we contend that this is essential to the excellencyof his character, and that you could not esteem or even love him without it. What regard could you have for a being who equally respected lies and truth, cruelty and kindness—a Nero and a Howard? We readily own that when anger and wrath are ascribed to God in the Scriptures, they do not imply anything in him like passion in us, but only principle. But principle they do establish, and this principle is the soul of order, adherence to rectitude, determination to punish.

And we may see this in his threatenings. For his wrath is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. [Rom1:18] If this book be true, the wicked shall not stand in his sight. He hateth all workers of iniquity.

He has also confirmed and exemplified it in his conduct. Look to heaven, and see the angels sinning against themselves, and cast down to hell. See Adam and Eve driven from the garden of Eden. [Gen 3:24] See the flood carrying away the world of the ungodly. See the inhabitants of the plain, and Pharaoh, and the nations of Canaan, and the Jews, though so peculiarly indulged of God. Yea, he even visits the transgressions of good men with a rod; and though he forgives their iniquities, he takes vengeance on their inventions. [Ps 99:8] See Moses and Aaron forbidden to enter the land of promise, and Eli and David so awfully judged in this life. And if these things are done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? [Luke 23:31] And if the righteous are recompensed in the earth, how much more the sinner and the ungodly?

It would be easy to trace the injury of sin with regard to everything

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of which the welfare of the sinner is compounded. His connections ought to be dear to him. But how does he sin against these! How does the wicked child rend the heart of his parents, and bring down their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave! How does the husband, instead of providing for those of his own house, by his vices reduce the wife he ought to love even as himself to indigence and wretchedness, and her helpless babes along with her! What a blessing is health! But how does he sin against this! By intemperance and sensuality he is made to possess the iniquities of his youth, which lie down with him in the dust. [Job 20:11] Envy is the rottenness of the bones. [Prov 14:30] So are hatred and malice. And so are all those corroding anxieties and fears which they must feel who have no confidence in God, or hope of heaven. Reputation is desirable, as it enables us to live in the esteem of others, and valuable, as it is an instrument of usefulness: a good name, says Wisdom itself, is better than great riches. [Prov 22:1] But who regards the sinner? Who confides in him? What is his friendship, or his promise? The name of the wicked shall rot. [Prov 10:7] “A wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.” [Prov 13:5] We must be measured and weighed by our souls. The mind is the standard of the man. This is the seat of happiness or misery. But he that sinneth against me, says God, wrongeth his own soul. [Prov 8:36] Wrongs it of peace, for there is no peace to the wicked. [Isa 48:22; Isa 57:21] Wrongs it of liberty and pleasure, for he is in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. [Acts 8:23] Wrongs it of safety, for the wrath of God abideth on him; [John 3:36] he is condemned already. [John 3:18]

But let not these sinners suffer in vain. They are our martyrs; they die and perish for us. Their loss should be our gain, and their destruction our salvation.

The first advantage we may derive from an observation of the sins and sufferings of others, is the confirmation of our faith. And nothing can tend more to establish our belief in the truth of the Scripture, than to take its declarations and decisions, and compare them with the documents of men’s lives. The Bible tells us that “the way of transgressors is hard;” [Prov 13:15] that they proceed from evil to evil; that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; [1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9] that the companion of fools shall be destroyed; that the love of money is the root of all evil. [1 Tim 6:10] And who has not seen this as well as read it?

Another benefit is gratitude. When we see the wicked, we see what we should have been but for preventing and distinguishing grace. Who made me to differ? [1 Cor 4:7] Have I a heart of flesh, while they are insensible? Am I a light in the Lord, while they are darkness? Am I walking in the way everlasting, while destruction and misery are in their paths? [Rom 3:16] By the grace of God, I am what I am. [1 Cor15:10]

The observation should also awaken and excite zeal. Surely none so much need our compassion as those who are destroying themselves for ever. We talk of doing good. What advantage can we procure a fellow-creature like that godliness which is profitable unto all things? What enemy can we rescue him from like his lusts and vices? If we

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convert a sinner from the error of his way, we save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins. [James 5:20]

It should also serve to wean us from the present world. What a bedlam it is! What a sink of corruption too! What righteous soul is not daily, hourly vexed with the filthy conversation of the ungodly? [2 Pet 2:8] Thus the ear, the eye, the heart is constantly annoyed. We behold the transgressors, and are grieved. O that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men! O that I had wings like a dove; for then would I flee away, and be at rest, [Ps 55:6] with the spirits of just men made perfect, [Heb 12:23] dwelling in love, and dwelling in God!

Finally, let us fetch from it warnings. When Daniel, addressing Belshazzar, reminded him of his father’s pride and destruction, he aggravates his guilt by saying, “Thou knewest all this.” [Dan 5:22] When the apostle mentions “the sins and plagues that Israel knew,” he says, “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” [1 Cor 10:12]

And surely, O my soul, if the sins of others may be rendered thus profitable, I ought to be concerned to gain something from my own. Let me derive wisdom from my follies, strength from my weakness, and standing from my very falls. Let me see more of my depravity, and put on humbleness of mind, and apply to the blood of sprinkling; and never more trust in my own heart, but be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; [2 Tim 2:1] and be sober and vigilant, and, till I am beyond the reach of evil, pray, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” [Ps 119:117]

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JUNE 14

“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?”—John 14:9

He had been with Philip and his fellow-disciples corporeally, for the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among them, and they beheld his glory. [John 1:14] But his bodily presence was confined to Judea, and few knew him after the flesh. And soon he was known so no more, for he was received up into heaven. But it is remarkable, that while on earth he evinced that his efficiency was not dependent on his bodily presence; for he performed cures at a distance, as we see in the case of the nobleman’s son [John 4:50] and the centurion’s servant, [Matt 8:13;Luke 7:10] who were healed by no application,

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but simply by his volition, as if to encourage the belief that when removed hence he could still operate in our world.

And if his word is to be relied upon, he is with his people now. What was his promise to his ministers, to his churches, to individuals? “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matt 28:20] “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” [Matt 18:20] “If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” [John 14:23] Therefore, he has either given promises which he is unable to fulfil, or, though now in heaven, he is with his disciples on earth—with them specially, graciously, spiritually. Effects prove the existence of the cause. The operation of the workman shows his presence. And that “his name is near, his wondrous works declare.” [Ps 75:1] He has done enough in the Christian to demonstrate that he is with him, and he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. [Heb 13:5]

Yet he says to Philip, “Hast thou not known me?” Philip was not entirely ignorant of him. But he knew him not sufficiently; he knew him not comparatively; he knew him not, considering how he might have known him. And is not this the case with us? Some have very little knowledge of any kind. They never guide even the common affairs of this life with discretion. They seem incapable of improvement. Even suffering does not teach them wisdom. “Experience,” says Franklin, “is a dear school; yet fools will learn in no other.” And they do not learn even in this. Yet the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. [Luke 16:8] We live in a land of vision; we have Sabbaths and Bibles, and religious ordinances and teachers. Yet as to knowledge of the peculiar truths of the gospel, and the reality of Christian experience, numbers are as ignorant as heathens. “The light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not.” [John 1:5] Must we go on? What do many Christians, real Christians, who have long had the great Teacher with them, what do even they know? What do they know of their own interest in him? Are they not yet unable to determine what their spiritual condition is, and to say with Thomas, MyLord and my God? [John 20:28] How little do they know of his salvation! How little of the glories of his person! How little of the nature of his dispensations towards them; so that they are confounded with the fresh discoveries they make of the evils of their own hearts, perplexed with their afflictions, desponding if difficulties multiply, and they see no means or way of escape, and ready to conclude that he has shut out their prayers, because he does not immediately and sensibly answer them; and all this from their knowing so little of the manner in which he deals with his people.

Yet the defectiveness of their knowledge is very censurable, especially after long intimacy with him. Hence the apostle reproaches the Hebrews: “When for the time ye ought to have been teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” [Heb 5:12] Hence our Lord said to his disciples on another occasion,

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“Are ye also yet without understanding?” [Matt 15:16] And here again he says, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” He had scarcely been three years with them then, and he had very gradually developed himself, and kept back many things for a future communication. Yet it was a long period, considering its importance and privileges. And always having access to him with their inquiries, and hearing his discourses, and witnessing all his conduct, they ought to have gained much more than they did. But they were slow of heart, [Luke 24:25] and made very little progress, as we see by their various mistakes and embarrassments. Yet what right have we to cast a stone at them? How few, how poor, how wretched have been our attainments! And yet he has been much longer with many of us; ten, twenty, forty years—years, too, abounding with every assistance. Four things ought to make us blush at the thought of this.

First, the necessity and value of the knowledge we have made so little proficiency in. How much depends upon it—our usefulness, our preservation from error, our peace and comfort, and our progress in the divine life. For though we may grow in knowledge without growing in grace, we cannot grow in grace without growing in knowledge. Religion does not act upon us mechanically, but morally; that is, through the influence of just views and motives.

Secondly, some have made far greater advancement in much less time, and with very inferior advantages. They set out long after us, but they soon passed us on the road. They have had very little pious intercourse, and have seldom heard a gospel sermon. Yet when we converse with them, and observe them in the relations, duties, and trials of life, how much below them must we feel ourselves to be.

Thirdly, our obligations and responsibility rise with our means and opportunities. What an advantage are pious relations. What a privilege is a gospel ministry. What a precious talent is time. Where is conscience while we look at our slender improvement of all these? Where much is given, much will be required. [Luke 12:48]

Lastly, our unprofitableness is the subject of divine disappointment and complaint. “What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” [Isa 5:4] The thought of displeasing and dishonoring him is nothing to some people. But shall we provoke and grieve his Holy Spirit? Can we who love him and know what he has done for us, can we be insensible to the Saviour’s decision, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples?” [John 15:8]

What remains but that we admire and adore the patience of Him who still bears with us, though we have so often constrained him to ask, “How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” And let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord. Let us guard against indecision and sloth. Let us be diligent in the use of all the means of religious improvement. Let us not cease to

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pray, that we may be “filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” [Col 1:10]

“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning. And he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” [Hos 6:3]

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JUNE 15

“When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.”—Deut 32:8

This is an important and interesting communication. It supplies us with two facts.

First, that God originally divided the nations their inheritance. When after the deluge he gave the new earth to the children of men, he did not throw it in among them, so to speak, for a kind of scramble, that each might seize what he could, but he assigned them their several portions, that the discontented might not invade the peaceful, nor the mighty prey upon the weak. God permits what he does not approve; but nothing can be more contrary to his design and pleasure than for powerful states to invade and incorporate little ones. And the crime generally punishes itself. Such unjust and forced accessions add nothing to the safety, strength, or happiness of the acquirers; but become sources of uneasiness, corruption, and revolt; so difficult is it to suppress old attachments, and patriotic instincts that are almost equal to the force of nature. Paul justifies the sentiment of Moses: “He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.” [Acts 17:27]

Secondly, in the arrangement of the limits and conditions of mankind, he had an especial reference to the future commonwealth of Israel. For they were by far the most important detachment of the human race. They were the Lord’s portion, and the lot of his inheritance. They were the depositaries of revealed religion; the heirs of the righteousness which is by faith. To them pertained the adoption and the glory and the covenant, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; theirs were the fathers; and of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. [Rom 9:5] We cannot trace this fact perfectly, for want of more materials; and we know not all the purposes of God in making and keeping the Jews a peculiar body; otherwise we should clearly see how all the dispensations of God corresponded to their privileged destination.

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One thing is to be observed. They were not intended to engross the divine favor, but to be the mediums and diffusers of it. They were not only to be blessed, but to be blessings. Hence their being placed in the midst of the earth, that from them knowledge might be derived, and proselytes to revealed religion might be made; and that, in the fulness of time, out of Zion might go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; [Isa 2:3] and that the great supper, [Luke 14:16] as our Lord calls it, and which was designed for the whole family of Adam, might be spread in the midst of the earth, and be accessible to all.

While we here see that there is nothing like chance in the government of the world, there is what may be called a peculiar providence in particular instances. And here we cannot help thinking of our own country. No country on earth bears such a comparison with Judea, in privilege and design, as this favored land. Its appropriation and appointment will account for its preservation, and emerging from difficulties which seemed likely to swallow it up. And when we consider what it is, and what it more than promises to be, we can find reason for its insular situation; its government, laws, and commerce; its talent and learning, and influence and dominion. We are a sinful people, but as “the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; so, says God, will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.” We cannot approve of every thing we have done, especially in the West and East Indies; but we cannot be ignorant that God is overruling it for good; and has ends in view far beyond slaveholders, and mercantile companies, and heroes, and statesmen. We have fought, and we have conquered; but the negro is instructed, and the captive is made free indeed; and openings are made and occupied for the spread of the gospel.

The economies of heaven on earth have always been regulated by one end—the cause of the Messiah; and could we view things as God does, we should perceive how all the revolutions of the world, the changes of empire, the successes or defeats of haughty worms, have affected this cause, immediately or remotely, in a way of achievement or preparation, of purification or increase, of solidity or diffusion; and that all things are going on not only consistently with it, but conducively to it. For says the Ruler over all, “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”

And O, Christian, there is a special providence over thee. The hairs of thy head are all numbered. [Matt 10:30; Luke 12:7] One thing regulates all that befalls thee; all the dark, as well as the clear; all the painful, as well as the cheerful—thy spiritual, thy everlasting welfare: “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God; to these that are the called according to his purpose.”

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JUNE 16

“Thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes.”—Ps 26:3

And it will be well to follow David, and to keep the lovingkindness of God before our eyes also. This should be done four ways.

First, as a subject of contemplation. The mind will be active, and it is our wisdom to regulate and sanctify our thoughts. Isaac went out into the field at eventide to meditate, [Gen 24:63] and we may infer the nature of his reflections from his character. David said, My meditation of him shall be sweet. How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great is the sum of them! [Ps 139:17] People complain of the difficulty they feel in fixing their minds; but the duty would become easier by use, and surely they never can be at a loss for a theme. Let them take his lovingkindness and set it before their eyes. Let them observe it as it appears in the promises of his word, in the history of the church, in their own experience. Let them pass from the instances of his lovingkindness to the qualities of it. Let them dwell upon its earliness, andfulness, and extensiveness, and seasonableness, and constancy. “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand thelovingkindness of the Lord.” [Ps 107:43]

Secondly, as the source of encouragement. How often shall we need this! We shall feel our want of it under a sense of our guilt and unworthiness and continued imperfections; and nothing short of the exceeding riches of his grace, [Eph 2:7] in his kindness towards us by Christ Jesus, will be able to relieve us. But this will relieve us, and effectually succor us. It will give us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, and boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. [Eph 3:12] And it will do all this without reconciling us to our sins, or even our infirmities; yea, it will make us lament our deficiencies the more, and grieve that we serve him so little, who loves us so much. We shall want it in our afflictions. And who can hope to escape these in a vale of tears? Now nothing is so desirable in our sufferings as to see, not only the hand, but the kindness of God in them. For often they look like the effects of his wrath, and we tremble under them, and cry, “Do not condemn me. I could bear these trials if I thought they were only the strokes of a Father’s rod, and knew they were sent in love.” And they are sent in love. They are only the strokes of a Father’s rod, laid hold of with reluctance, and laid aside with pleasure.

Thirdly, as an excitement to praise. It is afflicting to think how little the lovingkindness of God is acknowledged by those who are constantly partaking of it. How lamentable, says Leighton, is it, that a world so full of God’s mercy should be so empty of his glory. Oh, says David, again and again, Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! [Ps107:8,15,21,31] Were there not ten lepers cleansed? But where are the nine? [Luke 17:17] Did even Hezekiah render according to the benefits done him? And are we better than they? And whence is it that we feel so little the obligations

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we are under to the God of our mercies? Because the mercies of God are so little remarked and remembered by us. Nothing can impress us when it is out of our minds and thoughts. Therefore, says David, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” [Ps 103:2] At the moment when God appears for us, we are sensible of his goodness, and speak well of his name; but like the Jews, we soon forget his works, and the wonders which he has shown us. We inscribe our afflictions upon a rock, and the characters remain; we write our mercies on the sand of the seashore, and the first wave of trouble washes them out.

Lastly, we should keep his lovingkindness before our eyes as an example for imitation. The Scripture calls upon us to be followers of God as dear children. [Eph 5:1] And in what are we to resemble him? His moral, and not his natural perfections. We may wish to resemble him in power and independence, and to be as gods, knowing good and evil. [Gen 3:5] But we are to be concerned to reverence him, not as the greatest, but the best of beings; to be faithful as he is faithful, to be holy as he is holy, [1 Pet 1:15] to be patient and forgiving and kind like himself. “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefullyuse you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” [Matt 5:45] Be ye therefore merciful, even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful. [Luke 6:36]

You would do well to keep in view some of your fellow-creatures who feel that it is more blessed to give than to receive. [Acts 20:35] Think of a Howard, a Thornton, a Reynolds. But in Him the fatherless findeth mercy. [Hos 14:3] God is love. We cannot equal him, but it is our happiness to resemble him. He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. [1 John 4:8,16] “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” [Col 3:14]

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JUNE 17

“The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.”—Lam 4:20

Some commentators suppose that these words are intended to apply to the Saviour. We see no ground for this conclusion. Others imagine that there may be a reference to him under the case of Zedekiah. However this may be, the passage may be used, not to prove any doctrine, but to remind us of several things pertaining to the Lord Jesus, and fully established in the Scriptures of truth.

Such as his office: “The anointed of the Lord;” the very meaning of the word Messiah in the Old Testament, and of Christ in the New.

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Prophets, priests, and kings were anointed at their consecration. He was all these. And therefore he is said to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. [Ps 45:6; Heb 1:9] Here the term imports majesty; and he is the King of glory, the King of saints, the King of nations. “With my holy oil have I anointed him.” [Ps 89:20]

Such is the estimation in which he is holden by his subjects: “The breath of our nostrils.” He is not so regarded by others. The world knew him not. [John 1:10] The Jews received him not. [John 1:11] He is now, as to the multitude, despised and rejected of men. [Isa 53:3] This was the case once with his own people. They acknowledge it, and look back with shame and sorrow upon a period—and with some of them it was a long period—during which he had no form or comeliness, nor any beauty that they should desire him. [Isa 53:2] But he has been revealed in them. And now he appears fairer than the children of men, and altogether lovely. [Song 5:16] Faith makes him precious. He is their righteousness and strength, their glory and joy, all their salvation and all their desire. We may be excessive in our attachment to a creature, but we can never think too highly of him. It was idolatry in these Jews to call their prince the breath of their nostrils, but Jesus is really and absolutely so to us. How dear; how important; how indispensable!

Such is their expectation from him, “Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.” The Israelites were literally among the heathen, surrounded as they were with the gentile nations. This was also the case with the first Christians. Yea, they were not only encompassed by them, but intermixed with them. In one house dwelt an idolater, in the next a worshipper of God. A pagan and a Christian labored together in the same field or the same manufactory. We should not undervalue the outward advantages of Christianity. How much more privileged are we than our missionary brethren! They live under his shadow, but it is among the heathen; while we have our Sabbaths and temples, and preachers and our fellow-Christians, with whom we take sweet counsel together. [Ps 55:14] Though there are no heathens among us nominally, and as to dispensation, yet there are some who know nothing doctrinally, and many who know nothing spiritually—many who are without God in the world, [Eph 2:12] and who hate and oppose, as far as they are allowed, the religion we experience. And how often is a righteous soul vexed with the filthy conversation of the ungodly, [2 Pet 2:8] and constrained to sigh, “Woe is me, that I dwell in Mesech!” [Ps 120:5] But whatever be the disadvantages of our condition, there is a shadow, and his shadow, under which we can live. A shadow from the heat—not the shadow of a summer-cloud only, but of a great rock in a weary land; [Isa 32:2] the shadow of a tree yielding not only shade, but fruit; according to the acknowledgment of the church, “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” [Song 2:3] So it is said, “They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.” [Hos 14:7] His shadow means protection,

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and all the blessings of his empire. The reign of some rulers is like the shadow of a vulture over the bird of prey, or as a hurricane over the flooded meadow and the stripped forest. But let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. [Ps 149:2] Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. [Ps 2:12]

Such is his apprehension and suffering: “He was taken in their pits.” They watched him and persecuted him through life. At length he was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and they insulted him and crucified him, and laid him in the grave. Then his disciples said, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” [Luke 24:21] “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.” [Lam 4:20]

But here correspondence becomes contrast. No type, no image, no illustration can do justice to him; and when examined, it will always be found to teach more by unlikeness than by conformity. Zedekiah’s subjects had their hopes disappointed and destroyed by his arrest; and when carried away and imprisoned at Babylon he could no longer defend or comfort them. But Jesus is our hope, notwithstanding his apprehension and death, yea, and in consequence of it. He is made perfect through sufferings. [Heb 2:10] And thus it is that he brings many sons unto glory. When he fell into the hands of his enemies, they thought they had completely succeeded. But their triumph was short. He fell; but in dying he overcame. And then was the judgment of this world, and then was the prince of this world cast out. [John 12:31] We therefore glory in his cross: there he becomes the author of eternal salvation. He died for us, and rose again; and because he lives, we shall live also.

Let us then live under his shadow—securely live, nobly live, joyfully live; not only having life, but having it more abundantly.

And let us invite others to come and share with us. “In that day shall ye call every man his neighbor, under the vine, and under the fig-tree.”

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JUNE 18

“After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought; for by their occupation they were tentmakers.”—Acts 18:1-3

Aquila and Priscilla were persons of great religious excellence. They are often mentioned with commendation in the epistles as well as in the Acts of the Apostles, especially when Paul says to the Romans, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus; who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.” [Rom 16:4] They were born in Pontus, then they resided in Italy, and were now in business at Corinth. Hither they had been driven by an imperial decree, and

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probably thought hard of the measure that banished them. But in consequence of this trial they became acquainted with Paul, and had him for their guest, their friend, and companion. And what a companion must a man of his talents and grace have been. And what an advantage must they have derived from his morning and evening devotions, and his example, and his constant conversation. Surely they would acknowledge, It is good for us that we have been afflicted. [Ps 119:71]

The lives of some have been very changeable, and in their removals contrary to a disposition to enjoy a fixed and permanent dwelling, they have been ready to murmur and complain. But nothing occurs by chance, and all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to those that fear him. Let such remember that they know not what designs God has to accomplish by events of this nature, either with regard to themselves or with regard to their connections. Let them also reflect that this is not their rest, and view every present residence as

 ”Preliminary to the last retreat.”

In proportion as we look after a better country, [Heb 11:16] and realize it as our own, all earthly situations will be alike indifferent to us; yea, we shall find each of them none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven. [Gen 28:17]

Paul not only lodged with them, but wrought, for they were of the same occupation with himself. For though he had been educated at the feet of Gamaliel, [Acts 22:3] he had been bred to the craft of tent-making. The Jews, whatever was their condition in life, were accustomed to give their sons a calling; wisely considering it a prevention of idleness, a security from temptation, and a resource in accidental indigence. Hence, of their doctors, one was surnamed Rabbi the shoemaker; another, Rabbi the baker; another, Rabbi the carpenter. Ricaut says, the grand seignior, to whom he was ambassador, was taught to make wooden spoons. Is this degrading? Seneca says, he would rather be sick and confined to his bed, than be unemployed. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden to dress and to keep it. [Gen 2:15] And our Saviour declined not working at his supposed father’s business. Paul, the chief of the apostles, was not ashamed of labor. But as a man of taste and learning, he must have been fond of reading; and he desired Timothy to bring him his books and parchments. [2 Tim 4:13] It seems therefore strange that his friends should not have indulged him with leisure and entire freedom for his office also, by exempting him from manual toil. The workman is worthy of his hire, [Luke 10:7] and this he always claimed as a right, contending that they who preached the gospel should live of the gospel; [1 Cor 9:14] adding, also, that no man who warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. [2 Tim 2:4]

But a right is sometimes to be given up, and there is no general rule but allows of exceptions. Priscilla and Aquila were not rich, and would lament their inability to do more for their illustrious guest. And he had an independence of mind; and seeing these worthy people

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themselves laboring to gain a livelihood, he would not be burdensome, but pay for his accommodations. And they are mean souls who will endure to be supported by the alms, and especially by the industry of others, when their own hands are sufficient for them. They who will not work should not eat. [2 Thess 3:10] In a word, Paul knew the infancy of the cause, and was acquainted with all the circumstances of the case, and acted, we may be assured, with wisdom and prudence. Yet his conduct displayed the noblest self-denial and zeal.

There are two places in which he refers to his working. The first shows the degree in which he toiled, often, after teaching, sitting up late at night: “Ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail; for we labored night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto you.” [1 Thess 2:9] The second tells us that his aim was not only to support himself, but to be able to succor others: “Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me.” [Acts 20:34] What a soul had this man! And how well could he add, “I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” [Acts 20:35]

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JUNE 19

“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”—2 Tim 2:1

We may have this grace, and not be strong in it. The reality is one thing, the degree is another: We read of weak faith as well as of strong faith. There are lambs in our Shepherd’s fold as well as sheep, and in our Father’s house there are little children as well as young men. But while there is in religion an infancy which is natural and lovely, there is also another which is unlooked for and offensive—it is the effect of relapse. It is not of the beginning of the divine life, but of an after-period the apostle speaks, when, reproving the Hebrews, he says, “Ye arebecome such as have need of milk, and not of strong drink.” [Heb 5:12] We must not despise the day of small things. [Zech 4:10] The Saviour himself does not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, [Isa 42:3; Matt 12:20] but he is concerned to bring forth judgment unto victory. [Matt 12:20] And while the feeble-minded are to be comforted, the slothful are to be stimulated, and all are to be kept from “settling upon their lees.” [Zeph 1:12]

Everything shows how necessary it is to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Your dangers require it. These are to be found in all the relations, offices, conditions, and circumstances of life. Your passions are not wholly mortified. There is the sin that yet dwelleth in you. [Rom 7:17,20] The world lieth in wickedness, [1 John 5:19] and you are passing through it. Your adversary the devil goeth about seeking whom he may devour. [1 Pet 5:8] How much depends upon one instance of falling! And did not Abraham equivocate? Did not Moses speak unadvisedly? Did not Peter deny his Lord? And what says all this to us? Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

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Your duties require it. You have a family, and with your house you are to serve the Lord. [Josh 24:15] You have a calling, and in this you are to abide with God. You have the exercises of devotion, in which you are to worship God in spirit and in truth. [John 4:23-24] You have to walk by faith, and not by sight. [2 Cor 5:7] You are to have your conversation in heaven, [Phil 3:20] while every thing conspires to keep you down to earth.

Your usefulness requires it. You are not to live to yourselves, but to him that died for you, and rose again. You are to look not on your own things, but also on the things of others. [Phil 2:4] You are to walk in wisdom towards them that are without, and endeavor to win souls. [Col 4:5] You are to do good, as you have opportunity, unto all men, especially unto those that are of the household of faith. [Gal 6:10]

Your trials require it. Who but must reckon upon these in a world like this? And if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. [Prov 24:10] To glorify God in the fires, and to recommend religion by its supports and comforts, when everything else fails, demands no small share of grace.

Your consolations require it. Consolations are not only delightful, but they are even of practical importance in religion. They enlarge the heart and enliven zeal, and embolden courage, and wean from the world. And you read of a peace that passeth all understanding, [Phil 4:7] and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. [1 Pet 1:8] Yet what do some of you know of these? More grace would bring more evidence, and raise you more above your fears and depressions. “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” [Isa 7:9]

Death requires it. Other events may, but this must occur. It is a melancholy day to those that have no God, and a very serious one to those who have. To think of it, to meet it with triumph, or even with confidence—will not this call for more grace than you now possess? And what is the language of all these demands? Despond? No; but be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Without him you can do nothing; [John15:5] but through his strengthening you, you can do all things. [Phil 4:13]

Rest not therefore in any present attainment. Like Paul, forget the things that are behind, and reach forth unto those that are before. [Phil3:13] It is to be lamented that we are easily dissatisfied where we ought to be content, and content where we ought to be dissatisfied. In temporal matters we should have our conversation without covetousness, and be content with such things as we have. [Heb 13:5] But here, alas, we are avariciously anxious. And though three feet are enough for us in the cradle, and seven in the grave, nothing can satisfy us between. But in spiritual things, with what trifling acquisitions are we contented! Yet here it is even our duty to be covetous, to be ambitious. And as before us lies an infinite fulness, and we are not straitened in our resources, let us not be straitened in our desires and expectations; let us ask and receive, that our joy may be full. [John 16:24]

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JUNE 20

“Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.”—Ps 61:5

So, then, they that fear God have a heritage. All of them have not a heritage in the world. And they need not be ashamed to own it; they have the honor of conformity to their Lord and Saviour, who had not where to lay his head. [Matt 8:20; Luke 9:58] And though they have nothing, they yet possess all things [Zech 8:12]: “I know thy poverty; but thou art rich.” [Rev 2:9] Indeed, even as to temporal good, they are above others. He blesses their bread and their water; [Exod 23:25] and bread and water, with the favor of God, are dainties. And a little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked. [Ps 37:16] It is not only sweeter, but safer, and will go farther. The grace of God will make a little go a great way. This we have often seen; and we should have been amazed how some individuals, with their very slender means, could make a decent appearance, and pay their way, and have a trifle to give to him that needeth, [Eph 4:28] did we not know that the secret of the Lord was upon their tabernacle. Godliness also, with contentment, is great gain. [1 Tim 6:6] Contentment is a kind of self-sufficiency. It does not allow us to want what Providence denies. And who, whatever be his affluence, can be more than content? A man is satisfied with much less in a journey than he has at home. Now regeneration makes a man a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth, and then reason as well as faith says to him,

But as to spiritual good, they may well say, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. For the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup.” [Ps 16:5] His testimonies are their heritage for ever, and they find them the rejoicing of their hearts. All the exceeding great and precious promises are theirs. And theirs is the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth notaway, reserved in heaven for them. [1 Pet 1:4] Compared with this, what was the heritage of a Jew in Canaan; of Adam in Paradise? What is the heritage of a crowned worldling; of an angel in glory? Yet this is as true as it is wonderful: “This is the heritage of the servants of God; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” [Isa 54:17]

For this heritage is not obtained by force, nor by purchase, nor by desert, but by bounty and grace. It is “given.”

And we may know that we possess it. David speaks without any hesitation: “Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.”

O that I could read my title clear! “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion.” [Ps 65:1] I long to be able to praise thee as the health of my countenance, and my God. “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” [Ps 35:3] And “show me a token for good.” [Ps 86:17]

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Above all, as, whatever they may doubt or fear, blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled; [Matt5:6] enable me, if I cannot say with confidence, Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name—enable me to pray, with supreme desire, “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.” [Ps 106:5]

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JUNE 21

“Neither give place to the devil.”—Eph 4:27

If this admonition be connected with the words immediately preceding, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath,” [Eph 4:26] the apostle intimates that sinful passion arises from the influence of the devil, and that, when it prevails, we give up ourselves to his power. And can there be a truer specimen of hell than a man in a state of fury and revenge?

But there is nothing in the case that requires us to confine the address to the repulsion of wrath. The truth is, that Satan has access to us, and in various ways is always endeavoring to encroach upon us; and it must be our object to repel him: The image is familiar and striking. If an enemy was trying to enter your field, your garden, or your house, you would withstand him, for you would see that as you yielded he advanced. In every successful temptation Satan gains upon us, and takes a position which we ought to have kept.

With the philosophy of this subject we have nothing to do, but only with the fact itself. The sacred writers as much support the doctrine of diabolical agency as of divine. They make use of the same terms and phrases in the one case as in the other. Is God said to open the eyes of our understanding? [Eph 1:8] Satan is said to blind the minds of them that believe not. Is God said to work in us to will and to do? [Phil 2:13] Satan is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. [Eph 2:2] Are Christians filled with the Spirit? Why, says Peter to Ananias, has Satan filled thy heart? [Acts 5:3]

But while the fact is proved, nothing is said of the mode in which his operations are carried on. We cannot think, however, that it is always done personally and immediately. This would involve an impossibility. If he were thus soliciting every individual in every part of the earth at the same time, and his work is always going on, he must be omnipresent and omniscient. But he is the god of this world; [2 Cor 4:4] and having under him all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, [1 John 2:16] and having all the errors and the wickedness which he has introduced into our region to make use of, and such a depraved nature as ours to work upon, he has power enough to employ mediately for all his purposes. The bird need not be afraid of the fowler if he keeps away from his gun and his snare, for he is not in

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much danger from his fingers. How is the fish taken? The angler does not wade into the water, and seize it in his hand. He does not even seehis prey; but he reaches it and secures it by a baited hook at the end of his line and his rod. Yet he catches the fish, and would do the same if his instrument was a mile long.

There are many reasons why we should not give place to the devil. [Eph 4:27] One is, because his designs are always bad. He may transform himself into an angel of light; [2 Cor 11:14] and he may endeavor to introduce his evils and mischiefs under specious names, representing covetousness as laying up for the children, and pride as dignity, and revenge as a becoming spirit, and trimming in religion as prudence, and conformity to the world as winning others. Thus we are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. [Heb 3:13] But we ought not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices. [2 Cor 2:11] We read of his depths and his wiles. And God in his word tears off all his disguises, and shows us at once that his aim is only to ensnare and enslave, and rob and degrade, and wound and destroy. He therefore that yields wrongeth his own soul, and loves death. [Prov 8:36]

Another is, because the more you give way, the more advantage he has over you. It will always be found much more easy to keep him out, than to get him out. When the Moors were admitted into Spain, they staid there for more than six hundred years, in spite of every groan and effort—so much harder is expulsion than exclusion.

Let us therefore avoid parleying with this enemy. He will rise in his demands with every concession. He is not to be treated with, but rejected. Let us guard against beginnings; they increase unto more ungodliness. In this downhill course we easily proceed from evil to evil. When a person walks out in the morning clean in his apparel, he is cautious how he treads, and the first soil he contracts affects him; but the second offends him less, and the third much less still, till he says, “It matters not now,” and heedlessly dashes on. The youth is not profligate at once; but evil communications corrupt good manners. [1 Cor 15:33] The first time he complies with a temptation he feels a reluctance, and after the crime is committed his conscience smites him. But a degree of this is overcome by every subsequent repetition, and the profaner of the Sabbath, and the drunkard, and the sensualist, go boldly on, waxing worse and worse. One sin naturally leads to another, prepares for another, pleads for another, and renders another necessary, either by way of concealment or finish. Thus David, to hide his adultery, commits murder, and then impiously ascribes this to the providence of God: “The sword smiteth all alike.”

Another reason is, because you need not yield. You are not forced. If the devil compelled you, he would also justify you, for there can be no guilt where there is no liberty. The motives to commit sin can never be so great as the arguments to forbear. What can weigh for a moment against the authority of an infinite Being on whom we entirely depend? And what is any indulgence or suffering, compared with endless happiness or misery? Would God have enjoined upon us a thing

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that is impracticable? And is not his grace sufficient for us? [2 Cor 12:9] And is it not attainable by us? Is not his promise true: Ask, and it shall be given you? [Mark 7:7; Luke 11:9] And, in the history and experience of his people in all ages, do we not see proof of this? Have not multitudes in the same condition, exposed to the same perils, feeling the same weaknesses and depravity, been more than conquerors? [Rom8:37]

Finally, resistance is the way to success, and insures it. Hence, says God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [James 4:7] Can God be mistaken? Can he deceive? And does not everyone know that persons slacken in any course or action in proportion as they want encouragement? For hope is the mainspring of motion. If a beggar be relieved, however slenderly or seldom, he will in extremity repair to the door again, but not if he be positively and invariably refused.

Resist, therefore, steadfastly, and show that you are in earnest and determined. For there is a heartless undecided refusal that invites renewed application, or at least does not shut the door entirely against importunity. If Satan cannot look into the heart, he is acquainted with the ways in which it shows itself, and is sure to know whether there is a latent wandering after what is professedly renounced, and so will be led to watch his opportunity, and ply his means.

But the apostle adds, Resist him steadfastly, in the faith. [1 Pet 5:9] There is no fighting on a quagmire. Faith furnishes the only solid, the only safe ground on which we can contend. Faith clothes us with the whole armor of God. [Eph 6:11,13] Faith connects us with the Captain of our salvation, [Heb 2:10] without whom we can do nothing, but through whose strengthening us we can do all things. [Phil 4:13]

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JUNE 22

“He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria.”—John 4:3-4

For two reasons: because Samaria lay in his passage, and because he had in design the conversion of this poor woman. We cannot imagine an event of such magnitude in itself—for there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth; [Luke 15:10] and attended with such consequences as this was, for it involved the salvation also of many of the Samaritans—we cannot imagine that such an event was accidental. Nothing takes place by chance in our most common affairs; and is the conversion of a soul for everlasting blessedness a casualty?

In the recovery of sinners, the grace of God is equally necessary and illustrious. By grace are we saved through faith; and that not of

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ourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast; [Eph 2:9] for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. [Eph2:10] And in the conversion Jesus here accomplished, we have an example of this grace, an example of its freeness, of its gentleness, of its power, and of its effects.

Of its freeness, in selecting this wicked wretch, in spite of her unworthiness, and without her desire, and making her not only the partaker, but the instrument of his goodness.

Of its gentleness, in having recourse to no means of alarm, no violence. No angel appears with a drawn sword; no lightnings flash; no thunder rolls; no threatening terrifies. All is mercy, all is mildness; and he employs circumstances the most natural and suitable to bring her to conviction, and to induce her to pray.

Of its power, in the victory it gained over the corruptions of her heart. If there be a moral disorder that seems incurable, or an evil capable of resisting all reasoning and motive, it is the spirit of impurity. But behold here a new creature! [2 Cor 5:17] She is not only pardoned, but renewed, and the change wrought at once!

Of its effects. She not only believes with the heart, but confesses with the mouth. [Rom 10:9] She is not only enlightened, but inflamed. No sooner has she gained good than she is concerned to do good. Personal religion becomes social. She cannot for a moment keep from others what she has seen and heard herself. What benevolence; what zeal; what urgency; what fortitude! “The woman then left her waterpot, and went into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” And what success too! For they who speak from experience seldom speak in vain. “Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” [John 4:28-30] Some of these might have accompanied her from curiosity, and some from the mere contagion of example, but not a few were deeply andsavingly impressed. “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So, when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.” [John 4:40]

The sight of this had so affected our Saviour as, it would seem, to take away his appetite. He had been hungry as well as thirsty, and the disciples had gone away into the city to buy meat. But when they returned, and prayed him, saying, Master, eat; he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. And when they said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? he said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” What a repast have I had since you left me! A poor sinful Samaritaness has been here, and I have manifested myself to her; and under the impression, she has hastened to inform and invite her neighbors to come and hear me, and has prevailed. “Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?” But see the encouragement you have to scatter the seeds of divine truth. “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields” [John 4:32-35]—see the woman and her company coming over yonder plain—

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“for they are white already to harvest.” Here the success is so immediate, that “the sower and the reaper rejoice together.” And so it is written: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seeds; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.” [Amos 9:13]

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JUNE 23

“The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.”—Ps 29:11

The God of nature gave David a fine poetical talent. And he employed it like a good man, for his own improvement, and the profit of many. It is well to take advantage of the excitement of any present feeling, and to give it a religious direction. According to the admonition of the apostle James, Is any afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. [James 5:13] David did this, for he was accustomed to put his sentiment into verse on the occurrence of any interesting or significant event. Many of his psalms took their rise from a trouble or a deliverance he had just experienced. Ps 31 was written at the dedication of his new house. Ps 104 was a spring meditation. Ps 8 is a night scene. Ps 19, a morning piece. The lines before us were composed in a thunderstorm.

Thunder is one of the sublimest displays of Deity. It generally produces fearfulness and terror. Caligula the emperor, at the hearing of it, would creep into any hole or corner. But such a man should reflect, that if God has a mind to kill him, he can do it without raising nature into a storm; his breath is in his nostrils; he is crushed before the moth: “Thine eye is upon me, and I am not!” [Job 7:8] And we should do well to think of a more dreadful event. Baxter did this. When a storm came on as he was preaching, and the congregation was obviously disconcerted and dismayed, he paused, and then said, “Men and brethren, we are assembled here to prepare for that hour when the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and all the works that are therein, shall be burned up.” [2 Pet3:10]

All greatness is comparative. David therefore naturally addresses “the mighty,” as much as to say to them, You are flattered and feared, but what is the greatest of you before Him? Think of the Thunderer, and adore. “Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful: the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh

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the wilderness: the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests.” [Ps29:3-9] Here let the mind review the description, and we shall see how truly and vividly David’s imagination marked and portrayed the circumstances and effects of the phenomenon.

He then leads us from the uproar of nature to the small still voice of grace. [1 Kings 19:12] He retires with us into the sanctuary of God,there to testify the glory of his goodness, and to calm and cheer us with the assurance of his providential empire over all the commotions of life, and his attention to the welfare of his people. “And in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.” [Ps 29:11]

But this promise, you say, is made to “his people.” It is. But be not afraid. Perhaps they will not be found so unlike yourselves as you imagine. It is here implied that they are weak and distressed. They want strength and peace. And both these blessings are insured.

Are they by nature without strength? And have they from experience a growing conviction of their inability? Yet, with all this sense of weakness, have they trials to endure, duties to perform, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish? As their day, so shall their strength be. [Deut33:25] His grace is sufficient for them. Let the weak say, I am strong. [Joel 3:10]

Do they need rest and refreshing? The God of peace shall give them peace always by all means. Not worldly peace. He has nowhere absolutely engaged to give this. We say absolutely, for if it be good for them, they shall not want it; for they shall want no good thing. [Ps34:10] But there is a peace as far exceeding every other as the soul surpasses the body, and eternity exceeds time—the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, [Phil 4:7] and which keeps the heart and mind through Christ Jesus. [Phil 4:7] This does not depend upon outward things. In the world, says the Saviour, ye shall have tribulation; but in me ye shall have peace. [John 16:33] And hence, as when weak they are strong, [2 Cor 12:10] so, though sorrowful, they are always rejoicing.

Yet it is only the beginning of it they have here. At death they enter into peace fully. Every enemy is then vanquished. The din of war is heard no more. The dangerous, treacherous, raging, sickly sea is crossed. And then are they glad because they be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. [Ps 107:30]

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JUNE 24

“He departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.”—Acts 18:7-8

This was at Corinth. Here he continued a year and six months, assured that the Lord had much people in that city. At first he reasoned

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in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews. [Acts 18:4] But upon their opposing and rejecting him, he sought another place to teach in. It was not a building appropriated to public worship. At this time, and long after this, the Christians had no such edifices. They assembled wherever they could find an accommodation. The spot was indeed consecrated, not by a religious ceremony, but by the presence of God, and the service itself. The Saviour himself attached no holiness to walls or ground, but said, Where—let it be where it will—two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. [Matt 18:20] He preached not only in the temple and in the synagogue, but in the private dwelling, and by the wayside, and in the mountain, and on board a ship. And his apostles followed his example; and everywhere lifted up holy hands without wrath and doubting. [1 Tim 2:8]

The house Paul now entered belonged to a worshipper of God whose name was Justus, and it joined hard to the synagogue. The nearer the church, the proverb is, the farther from God. This is founded on the observation that what men can easily reach and enjoy, they often neglect. And who are they that come late to the sanctuary? Not those from a distance, but they who live near. Who are absent in bad weather? Those who have carriages, or can procure vehicles; not they who come on foot. Who most frequently excuse their nonattendance? The strong and healthful; not the indisposed and weak. Who sleep during the service? Not the poor and laborious, who have seldom an hour of repose, but the lazy and genteel, who never know what fatigue means.

It was a trial of principle in this man to open his house to Paul. It would create him inconvenience and trouble and expense, and it would draw upon him danger and reproach, as it was an open avowal of his adherence to the cause, and he knew that the sect was everywhere spoken against. [Acts 28:22] How many professors of religion, yielding to their selfish and dastardly reasonings, would have refused! They would have said, What will people think of me? What will my relations say? And may not my business suffer? We are never prepared for a course of godliness till we can give up everything to God, especially our paltry reputation, as well as our worldly profit. Bunyan, with as much truth as genius, places all the pilgrims under the conduct of Mr. Great-Heart. It is to intimate that we shall need courage every step of the way to the shining city. Let us consult not with flesh and blood, [Gal 1:16] but only with conviction; and go forth to the Saviour without the camp, bearing his reproach. [Heb 13:13] We shall then not only retain peace of mind, but please him whose lovingkindness is better than life. [Ps 63:3] Did Obededom repent of taking in the ark? The Lord blessed his house, and all that pertained to him. [2 Sam 6:11; 1 Chron 13:14] Who was ever a loser by anything he did for the cause of God? Who can be a loser while He remains true who has said, Them that honor me I will honor. They shall prosper that love Zion? [Ps 122:6]

What Justus did in accommodating Paul, rewarded and dignified

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him; and it is now told for a memorial of him. How must it have delighted him to see the good that was done under his own roof. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” [Luke 15:10] But here a man of some rank and influence, Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believes; nor is this all—his house too is added to the Lord. Yea, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and are baptized.

Yet Paul baptized but few of them. And when he wrote his epistle to these people, he rejoiced in the fact. This has puzzled those who look upon the dispensation of the sacraments, so called, as by far the most honorable and sacred part of the ministerial function. And in all our churches persons are allowed to preach before they are authorized to administer what are called divine ordinances. And many reasons have been alleged to account consistently with this, for Paul’s conduct in thanking God that in all the time he stayed here, and notwithstanding the multitude of converts, he had only baptized Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas. But the reason he himself assigns overturns an unscriptural notion and practice. He had devolved upon others the baptism of the new converts because, says he, “Jesus Christ sent me not to baptize” [1 Cor 1:15-17]—which outward form could be dispensed by others of inferior station and talent—”but,” which is by far the most important and difficult part of the office, “to preach the gospel.”

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JUNE 25

“The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them.”—Num 10:33

That is, the Lord did this. But the ark was the symbol of his presence, and the seat of his residence; from which, by the cloud, he regulated all their movements. Yet the expression is still metaphorical, and we must not suffer the condescension of his language to injure the glory of his perfections. He feels no perplexity. He never deliberates, never examines, never searches; for there is nothing that is not manifest in his sight. [Heb 4:13] But as men do this, and must do this, if they would avoid mistakes, and decide and act judiciously, the Lord thus intimates that his wisdom was concerned in all their journeyings; and that his people may keep their minds in perfect peace, being stayed on him; [Isa26:3] for, as strangers and pilgrims on the earth, he careth for them—they are under his guidance—nothing befalls them by chance. All their removals and their rests, all their situations, their trials, their comforts, are chosen for them by the only wise God their Saviour, [Jude 1:25] who is always on the lookout for them: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him.” [2 Chron 16:9]

He not only leads his people in the way that they should go, but is concerned to afford them repose, as well as direction. Thus, in his promise to Moses, he said, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give

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thee rest.” [Exod 33:14] Thus, in the review of his goodness, he says to Jeremiah, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.” [Jer 31:2]

Thus here he searched out for them a resting-place, in their journey and after it. To the former Moses refers when he says, “The Lord your God went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in;” [Deut 1:33] before they were required to lay them entirely aside. Thus, before they reached Canaan, he led them into many resting-places: in some of which they continued only days; in some, weeks; in some, months; and in a few, even years. It was a fine resting-place when they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm-trees. But this was at the beginning of their journey, and designed to encourage them. They could not look for many stations like this. Each, however, which they successively occupied was of the Lord’s selecting.

We may apply this to the temporal residences of Christians. How movable have some of them been! But He has led them from one situation to another, and it should be satisfying for them to think that he could find a better resting-place for them than they could have chosen for themselves, for he perfectly knows both the place and the persons. Sometimes the lines fall to them in agreeable scenes, [Ps 16:6] and he kindly exceeds their hopes. In other cases the abode is less inviting, and even trying. But they must acquiesce, without murmuring or complaining, in their Conductor’s disposal—conscious that they are not worthy of the least of all his mercies, [Gen 32:10] and remembering that they are not yet come unto “the rest and inheritance which the Lord giveth them.” [Deut 12:9]

It will apply also to their spiritual peace and refreshment in their travels. “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” [Jer 6:16] There are spiritual resting-places on this side of heaven. In their acquaintance with his throne, his house, his day, his word, the covenant of peace, here he affords them the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. [Isa 32:2] Here he maketh his flock to rest at noon. [Song 1:7] Here they lie down in green pastures, and are fed beside the still waters. [Ps 23:2]

But the principal resting-place he sought out for them was at their journey’s end. It was Canaan. “In the day I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.” [Ezek 20:6,15]

Yet there is a better country. And this, Christian, He is looking out for you. Whatever you now enjoy, your repose is imperfect and interrupted. Something, aloud or in a whisper, says, Arise, and depart hence; for this is not your rest. [Mic 2:10]

But there remaineth a rest for the people of God. [Heb 4:9] A rest from all toil and temptation; from all sorrow and sin. A rest not only inGod, but a rest with him.

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JUNE 26

“Upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that be talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?”—John 4:27

That is, immediately upon the conversion, and just as he had said unto her, I that speak unto thee am the Messiah. [John 4:25-26]

Thus their return broke off the conference, and the woman was probably grieved to see the disciples so near at hand. Our most interesting interviews in this world are often and soon interrupted. It is sweet to hold converse with our fellow-Christians and with ministers; and it is far sweeter still to hold communion with the Saviour. There are moments in the sanctuary and the closet, when we can say,

But not only our sinful distractions, but our lawful connections and business and cares invade and disperse our enjoyments, and make us long after a state where these interruptions will be no more. Now we have visions, or at best but visits; then we shall be for ever with the Lord. [1 Thess 4:17]

The disciples were astonished, and the cause of their marveling was, that “he talked with the woman.” Had they an apprehension that she was a woman of ill-character? And like the Pharisees, did they suppose that it was incompatible with the sanctity of the Messiah to hold any intercourse with persons of infamous reputation? This is not probable. She was a stranger to them. Our Lord indeed knew her, but it was by his divine prerogative, and as yet he had no opportunity to speak of her to his disciples.

It is more likely that their wonder arose from seeing him in close and friendly conversation with a woman of Samaria, for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. [John 4:9] The rancor excluded even the common civilities of life. At present the disciples seemed not aware of their Lord’s design to extend favor to the Gentiles, and were but little acquainted with the nature of his kingdom, “where there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; for we are all one in Christ Jesus.” [Gal 3:28]

Again, women have not always been properly regarded. If they contribute to their own degradation, they must blame themselves. It has often been asked why the conversation of even wise men is, with women, always vain and trifling? We do not entirely admit the fact. If however there be truth in the supposition, the cause is to be found in females themselves; they must be pleased with such discourse, for

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men will naturally accommodate themselves to their taste; and it is their interest to do so. Let women rise and vindicate their sex—many are now doing so; let them show that they consider themselves, and wish to be considered as rational as well as animal creatures, and as companions as well as playthings and toys, and articles of sense and dress. But at this period the sex were treated, and are so still in the East, as beings much inferior to men. Now the disciples knowing that Jesus never trifled in conversation, but always spoke superiorly and divinely, were amazed to find him discoursing on deep and important subjects with a poor menial woman, judged incapable of understanding them.

The meanness of the persons to whom he manifested himself always scandalized flesh and blood. Have, it was asked, any of the rulers believed on him? But this people, who know not the law, are cursed. [John 7:49] Yet it was his glory that the poor had the gospel preached unto them, [Matt 11:5; Luke 7:223] and that the common people heard him gladly. [Mark 12:37] When he rejoiced in spirit, he said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. [Matt11:25; Luke 10:21] And his apostle follows in the same strain: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? [1 Cor 1:19-20] But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” [1 Cor 1:27-29]

But we here see the diffidence and submission of the disciples. “Yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?” Confidence in his greatness and rectitude awed them into silence. Whence we recommend two things. First, let us observe the words of Solomon: “If thou hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth.” [Prov 30:32] A good man should make conscience of the state of his mind, as well as of his speech; but what we cannot always prevent in thought, we may restrain in expression. Words are worse than thoughts: they add to them; they show more of the dominion of evil; they are more injurious to others, and betray ourselves more into difficulties. In a multitude of words there wanteth not sin. [Prov 10:19] Therefore let us resolve to take heed to our ways, that we sin not with our tongue. David prayed, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” [Ps 141:3]

Secondly, as the reverence of the disciples induced them not to question the propriety of our Lord’s conduct, though for the present they could not understand it, so should we act towards him. He is not bound to give account of any of his matters; and he often requires us to walk by faith, and not by sight. [2 Cor 5:7] But we know that his work is perfect; his ways are judgment. Let us never charge him foolishly, but

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acquiesce in the most mysterious of his dispensations; assured that he has reasons for them which at present satisfy him, and will satisfy us when they are finished and explained. What we know not now, we shall know hereafter. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” [Gen18:25] “Just and true are all thy ways, O thou King of saints.” [Rev 15:3]

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JUNE 27

“Thou hast been a shadow from the heat.”—Isa 25:4

And what he has been, he is and will be—the same yesterday, today, and for ever. [Heb 13:8]

Heat means evil—any evil, every evil from which it is desirable to be screened. Heaven is a state—and many have reached it—where the sun does not light on them, or any heat. [Rev 7:16] But it is otherwise in this world. Here many things affect the mind as oppressive heat does the body, and makes us pant for deliverance and repose. The wrath of God—a sense of his fiery law in the conscience—the temptations of Satan—the persecutions of wicked and unreasonable men, afflictions—public and private, personal and relative: here is the heat.

Where is the shadow? Behold me, says the Saviour of sinners: behold me! Come unto me, and I will give you rest. [Matt 11:28] This is the rest, says God, wherewith ye shall cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing.

But what kind of shadow is he? We read in the Scripture of the shadow of a cloud, of the shadow of a tree, of the shadow of a rock, of the shadow of a tabernacle from the heat. The shadow of a cloud in harvest is grateful, but transient. The shadow of a tree under which we sit down is delightful, but it is limited to a small distance; and the rays frequently pierce through the boughs. The shadow of a great rock is dense and cool, but it befriends not on every side, and covers little from the vertical rays. The shadow of a tabernacle, into which we may continually resort, and find not only room but entertainment, is the most complete and inviting. All these have some truth in their application to him, but none of them can do justice to the subject. He is what they imply, but more; and not only more than each of them, but more than allof them; and more than all of them combined; and more than all of them combined in the best estate—and infinitely more. He is not onlyperfect, but divine; and “he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” [Ps 91:1]

Let me leave, then, other shadows. They are all inadequate to the wants of the soul, and in some way or other will be sure to fail me; yea, whatever else I get under for shelter will not only prove vanity, but vexation of spirit.

But let me make use of this shadow from the heat. He is not far off; he is accessible. He is easy to approach. And it is only by repairing to him that I can enjoy the benefit derivable from him.

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And while believing, I rejoice in him with joy unspeakable, let me show my benevolence by recommending him to others. They also are strangers to repose. They also want rest unto their souls. And he is sufficient to receive, and defend, and succor, and bless all. Oh happy period, when the eyes of men, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be towards the Lord; and when in him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. [Gen 12:3; Gen 28:14] The Lord hasten it in his time.

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JUNE 28

“What doest thou here, Elijah?”—1 Kings 19:13

The principle of this question was not ignorance. God well knew how and why he came there. But he would know from Elijah himself and therefore asks him; that being called upon to account for his conduct, he might be convinced of his folly, and be either speechless, or condemned out of his own mouth. We may view the inquiry three ways.

First, as an instance of God’s moral observation of his creatures. “His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he pondereth all his goings.” [Prov 5:21] Nothing can screen us from this inspection. Elijah was in a wilderness, and alone; he had even left his servant behind him; but the eye of God followed him. And “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” [Prov 15:3] And let us not imagine that he only looks after an extraordinary character, like Elijah. No one is too small and inconsiderable to be disregarded by him. Every human being is not only his creature, but his subject, and responsible to him. The meanest slave is great in the sight of God, as possessed of a soul, and destined for eternity. God has a right to know where we are, and what we are doing; and a much greater right than a father or a master has to know this with regard to a child or a servant, for we are absolutely his. And he is interested in observing our conduct: interested as a judge, who is to pass sentence upon our actions; interested as a friend and benefactor, who would check us when we are going astray, or recall us when we have wandered. For,

Secondly, we may consider it as a reproof given to a good man. He ought not to have been here, hiding himself from his enemy, and begging that he might die; but should have been engaged in carrying on the cause of God in the reformation he had so nobly begun. He was therefore blamable. God does not cast him off, but he reprehends him. And as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens. And faithful are the wounds of this Friend. [Prov 27:6]

And how does he administer this reproof? He had all the elements under his control, and he showed Elijah what he could do: “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind, an earthquake; but the Lord was not

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in the earthquake: and after the earthquake, a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.” “And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said”—You cowardly deserter? You ungrateful, rebellious wretch?—No; but, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” And this “in a small still voice;” a kind of undertone, or whisper, as if no one should hear it besides. Here was no upbraiding, nothing to inflame passion, but a kind and calm appeal to reason. How forcible, and yet tender! It is thus his gentleness makes us great. It is thus he does not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. [Isa 42:3; Matt 12:20] It is thus he calls upon us to be followers of him, as dear children. [Eph 5:1] If a brother be overtaken in a fault, [Gal 6:1] let us not employ the earthquake, the wind, and the fire, but the small still voice. Let us take him aside. Let us tell him his fault between him and us alone. Let us restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. Reproof should never be given in a passion. It is too much, says an old writer, to expect that a sick patient will take physic, not only when it is nauseous, but boiling hot. And we know who has said, “In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.” [2 Tim 2:25] “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” [James 1:20]

Thirdly, as a rule by which we may judge ourselves. Let us suppose that we heard God addressing us, as he did Elijah. How should we answer him? Could we say, I hope I am where thou wouldst have me to be, and doing what thou wouldst have me to do? He does thus inquire. And therefore it behooves us so to act as to be able to give a satisfactory account of our conduct.

Let us apply the question to our troubles. How came we in these difficulties? Have they befallen us in following after God, or have we drawn them upon ourselves by our folly and sin?

Let us apply it to our connections. We are choosing associates; are we walking with wise men, or are we the companions of fools? [Prov13:20] We are engaging ourselves for life; are we marrying in the Lord, or unequally yoking ourselves with unbelievers? [2 Cor 6:14] “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Let us apply it to our recreations. Are they such as conduce to the health of the body, and accord with purity of mind; or are they amusements and dissipations which, if God should call us to account, would strike our consciences dumb?

Let us apply it to our stations. Are we abiding with God in our own callings, or are we acting out of our proper sphere of duty? How many have injured, if not ruined, their usefulness and comfort, by improper removals, or striking their tent without the cloud!

Let us apply it to our religious services. We ought to have an aim in coming to his house. Happy they who, when they hear the inquiry, What doest thou here, Elijah? can say, Here I am, not from custom or curiosity, but to know what the Lord will speak; and to see his power and his glory as I have seen him in the sanctuary. [Ps 63:2]

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And let us remember that a false answer will be more than useless. We often assign a reason very different from the true one to an inquiring fellow-creature, and him we may deceive; but God is not mocked. [Gal 6:7]

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JUNE 29

“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.”—Acts 18:9-10

The Lord is a very present help in trouble; [Ps 46:1] and before his people express their apprehensions, he foresees them, and effectuallyprovides against them.

It is obvious Paul was now depressed and discouraged. He had nature in him as well as grace. The Christian, and even the apostle, did not destroy the man. He had genius; and not only great sensibility, but a tinge of melancholy is perhaps inseparable from this endowment. He was also the subject of bodily enervation, and was now worn down, not only by constant preaching, but also by working manually day and night, to support himself and relieve others. In allusion to which, he says, in his letter to these Corinthians, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” [1 Cor 2:3] Yea, he was now, it would seem, afraid of men, of suffering persecution, of death. Is this he that said, None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy? [Acts 20:24] Yes. He then spoke sincerely, and according to the frame he was in. But what a change do we feel if the Lord hides his face, or faith fails, yea, or if there be only a variation in the humors of the body, or the state of the weather!

The Lord therefore removes his fear by the assurance that no man should set upon him to hurt him; for “He was with him, and had much work for him to do;” so that even his destination secured him. And see how faithfully and remarkably this was accomplished. For though the place was so abandoned, and he had so many enemies, he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them without any molestation. At length a storm arose, which tried his confidence in the promise. But it issued in the proof that the Saviour in whom he trusted was true and righteous altogether. For all the Jews in the city made a violent insurrection against Paul, and brought him before Gallio the deputy. But Gallio refused to take cognizance of the affair, and drove them from the judgment-seat. Upon which, provoked by his conduct, the Greeks, who had joined the Jews in this assault, fell upon Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in sight of the bench. But Paul, on whose account the persecution was raised, was suffered to escape uninjured, and continued his labors a considerable time longer undisturbed, and at length withdrew from the place in peace.

Is not this enough to prove that nothing is too hard for the Lord; [Jer 32:17]

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that he can turn the shadow of death into the morning; that our enemies, however numerous and malignant, are all under his control, and cannot move a hair’s breadth beyond the length of the chain in which he holds them?

Do we not here see, that if we have his promise we have enough to establish, strengthen, settle us, [1 Pet 5:10] whatever our difficulties and dangers may be? Heaven and earth may pass away, but his word cannot fail. If a child, even in the dark, feels his father’s hand grasping his, and hears him say, I am with thee, fear not, he is calmed and confident. Yea, says David, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. [Ps 23:4] He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. [Heb 13:5-6] “Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us.”

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JUNE 30

“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.”—Ps 46:4

What can this “river” be, but that blessed covenant to which David himself repaired in the time of trouble, and extolled beyond every other resource or delight? Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. [2 Sam 23:5]

And what are “the streams” of this river, but the outgoings and effects of this divine constitution—the blood of Jesus, the influences of the Holy Spirit, the doctrines and promises of the gospel, the ordinances of religion, and all the means of grace?

There are four ways in which the streams of a river would gladden the citizens. They will all apply in a preeminent degree to the case before us.

The first regards prospect. Nothing can be more pleasing or interesting to those who relish the simple beauties of nature, than to walk by the side of living streams; to see the fish playing and disappearing; the green weeds waving their long streamers in the water; the reeds bending and recovering themselves again; the rippling of the shallows, and the glassy reflections of the deeps, while the bushes and trees form a quivering shade on the banks. Here is enough to fix the tasteful mind, and to induce the poet to take out his pen, and the painter his pencil. What views have Christians by the side of their streams! How various, how endearing, how impressive the objects which strike and occupy their minds! “My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will rejoice in the Lord.” [Ps 104:34]

The second regards traffic. It is an unspeakable advantage to a place to be accessible by water, as it renders commerce not only practicable, but easy and extensive. The Humber was the making of Hull. The Thames has rendered London so famous. Were this stream dried

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up or diverted, how would the mistress of the nations be humbled and reduced! It is owing to their trade carried on by the means of their rivers, that many cities on the Continent have united themselves to the ends of the earth, and acquired such distinction and wealth. And by these streams Christians obtain riches for the soul and eternity: unsearchable riches, durable riches, with righteousness. It is by these they carry on business with the land that is very far off, the merchandise of which is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. [Prov 3:14]

The third regards fertility. Imagine a dry and barren land where no water is, and think what happiness would ensue if springs gushed forth from the sands, and meandered through meadows with grass and reeds and rushes. Lot chose the plain country, the vale of Sodom, near Jordan, because it was well watered, like the garden of the Lord. [Gen 13:10] Did you never read the words of Balaam in describing the blessedness of Israel? “As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar-trees beside the waters.” [Num 24:6] What is a tree planted by the rivers of waters, bringing forth fruit in its season, [Ps1:3] and with never-withering leaves, but a Christian by these streams, growing in the divine life, adorned with the graces of the Spirit, and filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God? [Phil 1:11]

The fourth regards supply. What could a city do without this precious, all-important fluid? An enemy therefore always endeavors to cut off the water, to compel a place the more suddenly and speedily to surrender. Hence the boast of Rabshakeh: “With the sole of my foot I have dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.” [2 Kings 19:24; Isa 37:25] This shall never be the case here. Your resources can never fail. Your relief can never be cut off. You have always access to the God of all grace. And how superior are your supplies! How free; how full; how satisfying! “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” [John 4:14]

Are you asking, Who will show us any good? [Ps 4:6] Let the subject supply an answer. Oh, there is, there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. Forsake the foolish, and live, and go in the way of understanding. [Prov 9:6] Leave the world, and enter the church. There—how unlike creatures, who are all vanity and vexation of spirit—there you will find a Saviour full of grace and truth. [John1:14] Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee.

O my soul, am I the subject of this happiness? Let me give proof of it. Let me be a witness for God. Let me exemplify his word. Let me convince others that there is a reality, an excellency, a blessedness

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in the religion of Jesus that can set the heart at rest, and yield a joy unspeakable and full of glory. [1 Pet 1:8]

The pleasures of which we have been speaking are the pleasures of the way. What will be those of the end!

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JULY 1

“I beseech thee, show me thy glory.”—Exod 33:18

This prayer was not entirely proper. It would seem that Moses desired some visible display of Deity, or some kind of representation of Him. And so far it was refused. “He said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen.” [Exod33:23]

Here we perceive our weakness, even physically considered. How little can we sustain! When Daniel only saw an angel, he fell into a deep sleep. John, at the sight of Him, on whose bosom he had often leaned, fell at his feet as dead. [Rev 1:17] Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. [1 Cor 15:50]

We cannot go on well till God has gained our full confidence. Let us never suppose that he denies us anything from an insufficiency to give, or from a grudging disposition. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” [Rom 8:32] The very same principle that leads him to give us some things, induces him to withhold others—a regard to our safety and happiness.

Had the Lord yielded all the wish of Moses, Moses would have been destroyed upon the spot. He therefore rejects what was evil in it, but grants what was good: “I will make all my goodness pass before thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” [Exod 33:19] We are morally defective, and our infirmities appear even in our prayers. We know not what to pray for as we ought. [Rom 8:26] What would be the consequence if all our desires were accomplished? It is our privilege that God is as wise as he is kind. He knows what is really good for us, and answers us not according to our wishes, but our wants, and according to what we ourselves should only pray for, if we were alive to our real welfare, and always knew what it includes.

Thus qualified, we cannot do better than to make this prayer our

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own, and desire God to show us his glory. For he alone can do it efficiently. As the sun can only be seen by his own shining, so God can only be known by his own revealing; in his light we see light. But we have every encouragement we could desire, if we seek the discovery from him. If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. [James 1:5] Then shall ye know, if ye follow on to know the Lord.

Let us pray, therefore, that he would show us more of his glory; more of it in his works; more of it in his ways; more of it in his dispensations and ordinances; and above all, more of it in the face of Jesus Christ.

Nor let us ever think we do not stand in need of more. For who expressed this desire? A man who had been indulged already beyond any of his fellow-creatures. Yet, after communications the most deep and extensive; after being inspired to write Scripture: after beholding God in the burning bush; after talking with him as a man talketh with his friend, [Exod 33:11] so far is he from being satisfied, that his soul is drawn forth after more acquaintance with him; and he, even he cries, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Behold another instance. Paul, after all his intimacies with the Lord Jesus for many years, cries, “That I may know him!” [Phil 3:10] But who is Moses? Who is Paul? “Which things the angels desired to look into.” [1 Pet 1:12]

Yet some are so perfectly indifferent to the subject of this prayer, that they say unto God, “Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” Spiritual darkness is the forerunner and pledge of eternal. “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” [2 Cor4:3] “Because they are a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them; and he that formed them will show them no favor.” [Isa 27:11]

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JULY 2

“From thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: the princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: and from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth.”—Num 21:16-19

Beer was a pleasing station to the Jews, and it is a very instructive one to us. They here came into a dry place, but they neither rebelled nor murmured against God, or his servant Moses.

See, first, how easily the Lord can supply the wants of his people. “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” Not only is every good gift and every perfect gift from above, [Num 21:16] but all our temporal comforts come from the hand of God. We are not to look for miracles, but we may be assured that his word can be accomplished without them: “For sooner all nature shall change, than one of God’s promises fail.” And he has said, “Thy bread shall be given thee; and thy water

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shall be sure.” And what he has promised, he is able also to perform. [Rom 4:21] Let us not limit the Holy One of Israel. Nothing is too hard for him. [Jer 32:17] He can turn the shadow of death into the morning. Jehovahjireh! the Lord will provide. “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” [Isa 41:18]

Secondly, see how want endears our blessings. “Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.” We feel unthankful for this precious fluid because it is so common, and we have never been deprived of it. Had we gone several days in a wilderness without it, how should we have exulted and praised God at the sight of a refreshing supply. It is thus, by their removal or suspension, we are taught the worth of our comforts. How is liberty prized and enjoyed after bondage; and health after sickness; and spring after winter; and morning after night. We become indifferent to the means of grace. By a change of residence, or by accident or disease, we are deprived of the privileges of the sanctuary. Then we remember these things, and pour out our souls in us, for we had gone with the multitude; we went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and gladness, with a multitude that kept holy day. [Ps 42:4] Oh, says David, when he was faint, O that one would give me to drink of the water of the well that is by the gate of Bethlehem! [2 Sam 23:15] And were we equally athirst spiritually, how should we long for the well of salvation, and say,

Thirdly, his agency does not exclude or supersede our instrumentality. “The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.” God filled it, but they digged it. This was their part. This they could do; and why should God have exempted them from it? He gives the increase, but Paul must plant and Apollos water. [1 Cor 3:6] He furnishes the wind, but we are to spread the sails. He gives, but we gather. Prayer and diligence, dependence and activity, harmonize in the Scripture, and are only inconsistent in the crude minds of ignorant and foolish men. Paul makes divine influence not an excuse for the neglect of means, but a motive and encouragement to the use of them: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” [Phil 2:13]

Fourthly, however pleasing any of our present stations are, we must, if we are the Israel of God, leave them. “And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: and from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth.” The part they left is called indeed the wilderness; and so it was; but it was good for them to be there. There

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they had witnessed proofs of the power and goodness of God, and there they had enjoyed a time of refreshing from his presence. But they had compassed the place long enough, and decamping from this loved scene, had to journey on in the desert. Here also Christians have their indulgences. But these are designed not to induce them to tarry, but to encourage them to advance. In the midst of their enjoyments a voice cries, “Arise ye, and depart hence; for this is not your rest.” [Mic 2:10]

These people would have been the more willing to move, because they knew they were moving towards Canaan, a better country, the end and aim of their journey, and because they were under the direction of God, as their guide, and who would never leave them nor forsake them. [Heb 13:5] So it should be with us.

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JULY 3

“Faint—”—Judg 8:4

What war is there that has in it nothing to depress, nothing to animate, and that does not furnish a diversity of feelings in those who carry it on?

Christians resemble these followers of Gideon and pursuers of the Amalekites—faint, yet pursuing.

Yes; while engaged in this good fight of faith, they may be, faint. We need not wonder at this, if we consider the enemies they have to vanquish. These are, bodily appetites, filthiness of spirit, a depraved nature, all sin and error, the present evil world, [Gal 1:4] the devil, and his angels. [Matt 25:41] If we also consider the qualities of their adversaries, their number, their malignity, their power, their policy, their success, for they have cast down many mighty, yea, many strong men have been slain by them. [Prov 7:26] When we think of the heroes, the statesmen, the princes, the philosophers, the divines, and all the myriads they have enslaved and destroyed, who is not ready to tremble, and exclaim, “I shall one day perish!” [1 Sam 27:1]

There is also the length of the service. It is not for a season only, but for life. We are not allowed to receive any proposals of peace. We cannot enter into a truce, no, not even to bury the dead. Let the dead bury their dead. [Matt 8:22; Luke 9:60] We are to fight on through summer and winter, by day and night, in every situation and condition. He that endureth to the end, the same only shall be saved. [Matt 10:22] In conversion we throw away the scabbard; in death only we lay down the sword. While we are here, something is still to be done, something still to be avoided, in company, in solitude, in health, in sickness. And is it nothing to watch in all things; [2 Tim 4:5] to pray without ceasing; in every thing to give thanks; [1 Thess 5:17-18] to be always abounding in the work of the Lord? [1 Cor 15:58]

There are also occasional difficulties too common to be overlooked. It is easy to suppose a few of them. What marvel if the soldier is faint, when the road is rough and thorny, and the weather is warm and oppressive—and he hungers and thirsts for want of seasonable refreshments

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and supplies, which are interrupted, if not cut off—and he feels a loss of strength, occasioned by a wound from without, or an indisposition from within? Is this talking parables? There is not a Christian on earth whose religious experience will not easily explain it.

And if this, therefore, be my experience, let me remember that there is nothing ominous nor even peculiar in it. Every subject of divine grace is well acquainted with the heart’s bitterness, and must know it, [Prov 14:10] or much of the Scripture could not be applied to him, either in a way of description or comfort.

And let me be thankful that to will is present with me, though how to perform that which is good I find not. [Rom 7:18] If I faint, I do notflee. Faint, yet pursuing.

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JULY 4

“… Yet pursuing.”—Judg 8:4

The life and experience of the Christian are full of contrasts. He resembles the bush of Moses, which was seen burning, but not consumed. [Exod 3:2] And his language is, Cast down, but not destroyed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as dying, and behold, we live. [2 Cor 6:9] We are now viewing him as a soldier. In our last page we saw him faint, but we shall now find him, amidst all that is grievous, feeling no disposition to give up. Faint, yet pursuing.

And there is much to encourage and animate him. There is something in himself, and which is nothing less than a principle of divine grace. Everything else will decline when it meets with its proper temptation. Natural and merely moral resources are as the morning cloud and the early dew, which soon passeth away. [Hos 13:3] But we are confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in us, will perform it. [Phil 1:6] That which is divine is durable, is invincible. That which is born of God, overcometh the world. [1 John 5:4]

There is also much to encourage him in his cause. It is a good warfare. It will bear examination. Conscience entirely approves of it. Angels applaud it. There is therefore nothing to make us waver or hesitate. Everything in the conflict feeds courage. We ought to engage and persevere. It is the cause of truth, of righteousness, of glory, of real glory. It would be more honorable to be foiled in this cause than to conquer in any other.

There is also much in his Leader and Commander. Some chiefs have so attached and inspired their troops, that they would plunge into any enterprise, or follow them into any danger. It was said proverbially at Rome, that it was unbecoming a Roman soldier to fear while Caesar was alive. It is much more unworthy a Christian soldier to fear while Christ is alive; for, because, says he, I live, ye shall live also. [John 14:19] When Antigonus heard some of his troops rather despondingly say, How many are coming against us? he asked, But, my soldiers, how many do you reckon me for? And whenever we think of our foes, and

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then of the Captain of our salvation, [Heb 2:10] we may truly say, More are they that be with us than they that be with them. [2 King 6:16] Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. [1 John 4:4] Who goes before us? Who teaches our hands to war, and our fingers to fight? [Ps 144:1] Who provides for us? Who renews our strength? What limits have his wisdom and power? Did he ever lose an action yet, or a single private in his army?

And let me think of the certainty of the issue. Fear unnerves; but it would make a hero of a coward to assure him in the conflict that he should overcome. This can rarely or never be done in other contentions, for nothing is so doubtful as the result of battle. Prudence therefore says, Let not him that putteth on the harness boast himself like him that putteth it off. [1 Kings 20:11] But the Christian enters the field under peculiar advantage. However trying or lengthened the struggle may be, he fights not uncertainly. Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors. [Rom 8:37]

For what will be the result of success? What do other victors gain? How precarious, how unsatisfying, how poor, how mean the rewards of the world’s warriors, compared with the acquisitions of the good soldiers of Jesus Christ! “He that overcometh shall inherit all things.” [Rev21:7]

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JULY 5

“Submit yourselves to God.”—James 4:7

This is the great thing. This is the excellency, the essence, the proof of religion. God is our Saviour, our Lawgiver, our Disposer. Under each of these characters his people are made willing to submit to him in the day of his power. And nothing but the efficiency of divine grace can influence a man cordially to resign himself to God in all these relations.

We must submit ourselves to God as the Saviour. Here our concern with him begins, and here it must begin. We are condemned; and the first thing is to obtain deliverance. We are diseased and dying; and the first thing we want is the physician and the remedy. When therefore the Jews asked our Lord, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? “This,” said he, “is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” [John 6:29] When the jailer asked Paul and Silas what he should do to be saved, they said unto him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” [Acts 16:31] God is a sovereign, at whose mercy we absolutely lie. We have no claims upon him, and it is wonderful that he is disposed to undertake our case at all. But he requires us to submit, and never will allow us to prescribe. He will have the entire management of our case, or he will have nothing to do with it. And it might be supposed that there would be no great difficulty here. But men are not sensible of their condition and danger, and there is much in the nature and manner of this salvation that is not palatable to the pride of the human heart. No court is paid to our reason, but we are required to trust in a plan concerning which we have never been consulted; and even to become

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fools, that we may be wise. [1 Cor 3:18] However decent and moral our character has been, we must be content to enter into life in the very same way with the chief of sinners. We must renounce our own righteousness, and plead for acceptance as guilty. We must depend on another for all our strength. We must acknowledge that all we have is from the exceeding riches of his grace, [Eph 2:7] and be crying to the last, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” [Ps 115:1]

But to this every awakened and humbled sinner is brought. And his submission is not the effect of necessity only. It is accompanied with acquiescence and approbation. He sees a consistency and an excellency in it that delight him, while they relieve. And though he knows there is no other way, yet if there were a thousand other ways, he would turn from them all, and say, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Gal 6:14]

We must submit ourselves to him as the lawgiver, and be willing to live not to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. [1 Pet 4:2] He only is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. We cannot love him till we hope in his mercy, nor run in the ways of his commandments till we are freed from the load of guilt and terror—a burden too heavy for us to bear. But faith is followed by love, and love by obedience. We are delivered from the hand of our enemies, says Zechariah, not to be lawless, but to serve Him who has made us free, without fear, in holiness and righteousness, before him all the days of our lives. [Luke 1:75] Our obligations are infinitely increased by redeeming grace and dying love. And every believer feels them, and acknowledges that he is not his own; for he is bought with a price, and bound to glorify God in his body and in his spirit, which are God’s. [1 Cor 6:19-20] The love of sin, as well as the love of self, is subdued in him; and he gratefully asks, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?” [Ps 116:12] “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” [Acts 9:6] He finds his yoke easy. He accounts his service to be the truest freedom. He cannot, indeed, do the things which he would; and this is his grief: but he delights in the law of God after the inward man. [Rom 7:22] He would not bring down the divine commands to his deficiencies, but longs to rise to the level of their perfection. And though he is full of complaining, it is of the servant and not of the Master. He always speaks well of his name, and recommends him to others.

We must also submit to him as our disposer, and be willing that he should choose our inheritance for us. Man naturally loves independence; he wishes to be at his own control, and to have the management of events, both as they affect others and himself. Many also who talk much of the providence of God, are constantly striving with it. Hence they envy the success of their fellow-creatures, and are discontented and repining when things do not fall out according to their mind. And especially under their trials, they think God deals improperly with them, and so charge him foolishly or unkindly.

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This temper is at least dethroned in the Christian, and he is disposed to say, “Here I am; let him do what seemeth him good.” [2 Sam15:26] I am ignorant, and liable to be imposed upon, but He is all-wise; and by not sparing his own Son for me, he has justified the implicit confidence of my heart. Let him therefore determine the bounds of my habitation, and arrange all the events of my condition. If things are not such as I had wished and reckoned upon, I have no reason to complain. He has a right to do what he will with his own, [Matt 20:15] and he always uses it in a way the most conducive to my welfare. How often have I desired him to undertake and act for me. And when he complies, is it for me to murmur and dispute; or say unto him, What doest thou? [Dan 4:35]

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JULY 6

“What went ye out into the wilderness to see?”—Matt 11:7

These are the words of Jesus to the multitude concerning John, to whose preaching they had repaired. “There were many of you, and persons of all ranks and conditions, and some from a great distance. What did you think of the preacher? What induced you to attend his ministry? Surely you have some reason for it, some design in it. What was it?”

May we not learn from hence that we should always have an end in view in repairing to the ordinances of religion, and be able to answer the question, Why we attend the ministrations of the word?

This becomes us even as men. Men ought not to act at random, or like the inferior creatures, who are led by blind impulse or instinct, without reflection or motive. They, as the Scripture says, have no understanding; [Ps 32:9] and must be governed and guided by those above them. But God teaches us more than the beasts of the field, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of the air; there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. [Job 32:8] And wherein is this preeminence to appear, but in our acting wisely and with design?

We rise higher, and say, that without this we cannot please God. There can be nothing religious without design. Intention is essential to moral conduct. And though a good motive cannot sanctify a bad action, a bad motive will always vitiate a good action. The Pharisees fasted and prayed and gave alms, but it was to be seen of men; [Matt 6:1] and thus all was corrupted in its principle.

Without an aim in our attendance, we have nothing to pray for before we go—nothing to make the subject bear upon while we are hearing—nothing by which to examine ourselves when we return. How can we decide whether our meeting together is for the better, or the worse; whether we have failed in the opportunity, or succeeded? Success is the accomplishment of an end, and must be judged of by it.

A man that acts without an end, never acts in earnest. It is the end that stimulates zeal, that sweetens labor, that repays every expense.

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What would induce a patient to the taking of medicine, or the losing of a limb, but the thought of restoring or preserving health and life?

To finish the argument, the concern itself here should be taken into the account. In common and trivial matters, we may act without motive; but in momentous ones, every kind of deliberation is wisdom. And how important is our attendance on the word of life! It regards God, and the soul, and eternity. Its consequences will remain for ever. It must furnish the most awful part of our future account. We forget these exercises, but they are all recorded in the book of God’s remembrance. We have soon done with the sermon, but the sermon has not done with us till it has judged us at the last day. What an insult is offered to God, to come before him, and by an appearance of devotion, to call forth his attention, when in reality we have nothing to do with him! What a trifling is it with divine things! And what can be so dangerous as this? It impairs the conscience; it deadens moral sensibility; it renders the means of grace unimpressive by familiarity; it provokes God to withhold or withdraw the influence that is essential to their success.

But admitting that we always ought to have an end in view, WHAT OUGHT THAT END TO BE? Not curiosity and amusement. This was the case with Ezekiel’s hearers. They went to his preaching as persons go to a concert. He was to them as a pleasant song. [Ezek 33:32]

Not criticism and cavilling. Many are wiser than their teachers. They come to judge, not to learn; and make a man an offender for a word. Many came to our Saviour to “catch him in his talk.” [Mark 12:13]

Not any outward advantage. A man, by his attending the gospel, may secure himself reputation, business, or friendship. This is trading in divine things. And what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? [Job 27:8]

Not the quieting of conscience. Some are at ease in Zion, because they hear the word of truth, though they do it not. But the apostle tells us they deceive their own selves; and our Lord calls them fools, because they build upon the sand. [Matt 7:26]

But the end should be, to obtain the conversion of the soul to God. This is the very design of the ministry itself. And how many have we known, since we attended the word, who have been turned from the error of their ways into the path of peace! [Prov 3:17] Has faith come tous by hearing? [Rom 10:17] Has this efficacy ever been our aim, our wish, our prayer?

It should also be, to gain all needful instruction. This was the case with many who came to hear John. The people, the publicans, and the soldiers severally said to him, “And what shall we do?” [Luke 3:14] They did not inquire after the duty of others, but after their own. David went to inquire in God’s temple, and said, I will hear what God the Lord will speak. [Ps 85:8] The best disposition we can go in, is when we have no partialities, and can sincerely ask, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? [Acts 9:6] not shunning to hear all the counsel of God, [Acts20:27] or counting the preacher our enemy because he tells us the truth.

It should be to have divine things reapplied and re-impressed. If

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we do not want new information, it is desirable to be reminded of forgotten truth, and to have our knowledge reduced to experience and practice. The principle of divine grace cannot be lost. But what changes do believers feel in their frames; how often do their souls cleave unto the dust! [Ps 119:25] And here they obtain quickening, according to his word. And by waiting upon him their strength is renewed.

It should be also to aid in upholding the public means of grace for the advantage of others. How adapted to usefulness is the institution of preaching! We may judge what a neighborhood would be without the ministry of the word, when we see what it is even with it. Here are always to be heard calls to repentance, and proclamations of pardon. Here are always furnished solace to the afflicted, and excitement to the careless.

It is lamentable that so little of this spirit is to be found in the midst of so much hearing as there is in our day. We read of a concourse of people in the Acts, occasioned by the clamor of Demetrius, of whom it is said, “Some cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.” [Acts 19:32] With the exception of the crying out, this is a fair representation of many a religious audience. A few are informed and principled, but the mass have no aim, or an improper one.

In another view, it is pleasing to see a place filled with hearers. They are in the way, and God may meet with them. His grace is sovereign and free. Some who came with no serious design, have been convinced of all, and judged of all; and confessed that God was in the midst of them, of a truth. Yet his sovereignty is not our rule, but our resource. What he may do, is one thing; what he will do, is another. He has said, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” [James 4:8] And though he is sometimes found of them that seek him not, he is always found of them that seek him. [1 Chron 28:9; 2 Chron 15:2]

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JULY 7

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”—Rom 7:24

It is commonly supposed that here is a reference to a cruel usage sometimes practised by the tyrants of antiquity, and which is mentioned by Virgil and Cicero and Valerius Maximus. It consisted in fastening a dead carcass to a living man. Now suppose a dead body bound to your body, its hands to your hands, its face to your face, its lips to your lips. Here is not only a burden, but an offence. You cannot separate yourself from your hated companion; it lies down, and rises up, and walks with you. You cannot breathe without inhaling a kind of pestilence, and, “Oh,” you would say, “Oh how slowly the parts corrupt and fall off! Oh, how can I longer endure it? When shall I be free? O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this

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death?” This is very strong, but it comes not up to Paul’s case. He is speaking of such a wretchedness not without him, but within.

Whatever we may think of this allusion, here is a representation of the sin that dwelleth in us; it is the body of this death, or, as it is in the margin, this body of death. It is called a body, to intimate the entireness and universality of the evil. Thus we call a code of laws a body of laws, and a system of divinity a body of divinity. And it is a body of death, to mark its malignant effect. Gunpowder is a body of destruction; arsenic is a body of poison; sin is a body of death. It brought death into the world. It has slain all the inhabitants of the earth, and will soon slay us. It has brought upon us spiritual, as well as corporeal death. And it produces a deadness even in the souls of believers, and hinders the operation of those vital principles which they have received from above. By this baneful influence, the tendencies of the divine life in them, which are so glorious, are chilled and checked; and therefore they are frequently wandering in meditation, and stupid in reading and hearing, and insensible in prayer, and dull even in praise; till roused by reflection, they cry, My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word. [Ps 119:25]

For there are remains of this evil even in the subjects of divine grace. None of them are free. In many things, says James, we offend all. [James 3:2] In all our doings, says the church, our sins do appear. [Ezek 21:24] My tears, says Beveridge, require to be washed in the blood of Christ, and my repentance needs to be repented of. Those who could die for the Saviour have used the most humbling language with regard to themselves. Sometimes, says Bradford, O my God, there seems to be no difference between me and the wicked; my understanding seems as dark as theirs, and my will as perverse as theirs, and my heart as hard as theirs. Yea, says Paul, at the end of so many years of advancement, I have not attained, I am not already perfect. [Phil 3:12] After this, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?”

But observe the distress this remaining corruption occasions them. It is their chief burden and grief. Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? Paul never said anything like this of any of his sufferings. Yet he was a great sufferer; he suffered the loss of all things: [Phil 3:8] he was once stoned, thrice he suffered shipwreck, thrice he was beaten with rods, five times he received forty stripes save one; he was in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft: [2 Cor 11:23] yet so far from groaning and complaining, he tells us he took pleasure in all this, because it was for Christ’s sake. [2 Cor 12:10] And it is a sad evidence against us, if we are more affected with our calamities than with our corruptions. We are not required to be Stoics; we may feel our sufferings. But there is something we shall feel more, if we are in a right state of mind, namely, an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. [Heb 3:12]

The people of the world judge of Christians by their own views and feelings, and because they love sin, and would deem the liberty to indulge in it a privilege, they think Christians are disposed to take

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every advantage for the same purpose. But how shall they who are dead to sin live any longer therein? [Rom 6:2] Sin is their abhorrence, and at the foot of the cross they have sworn to have indignation against it for ever. They have a new nature, and as far as they are sanctified, there is as perfect a contrariety between them and sin as between darkness and light. Hence the contest within. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these being contrary the one to the other, they cannot do the things that they would. [Gal 5:17] And will not this be painful? If a mechanic longed to excel in his workmanship, and an enemy stood by and marred everything before he put it out of his hand, would not this be vexatious? Would not a man in a journey of importance, and anxious above all things to speed his way, feel ahinderance that would impede him for an hour, more than an idler would the loss of a day? He that delights in neatness will suffer more from a single stain, than another would from wearing a filthy garment. Because their sentiments are evangelical, their enemies seem to think their feelings must be Antinomian; but though this may not be made plain to others, their doctrinal views befriend holiness, and with their mind they serve the law of God; [Rom 7:25] yea, they delight in the law of God after the inward man. [Rom 7:22] The goodness of God leadeth them to repentance. [Rom 2:4] His love is shed abroad in their hearts, [Rom 5:5] and they love him in return. They grieve to think they serve him so defectively, and have still in them so much of that which he infinitely hates. How painful to think, that while they repose upon his bosom they should often pierce it too!

In a word, while many would represent the Christian, if not an enemy to holiness and good works, yet too indifferent to their claims, he is abasing himself before God for the hidden evils of his heart; and is more affected with his sins of infirmity than his revilers are with sins of profligacy and presumption. Thus you may drive a sword through the body of a dead man, and no muscle moves; while the puncture of a thorn will pain a living one all over.

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JULY 8

“But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified.”—1 Cor 6:11

We consider the word “washed” as a general term, comprehending a twofold cleansing, a cleansing from the guilt, and a cleansing from the pollution of sin. It would be easy to show that in the Scripture it is used in both these senses. The two added articles, therefore, are explanatory of its meaning here. Ye are washed; that is, ye are sanctified and justified.

What we wish to observe is, that both these are found in the same subjects. Justification and sanctification should be always discriminated, but they must never be disunited. Where they are not distinguished, a religious system cannot be clear; and where they are divided, it can never be safe. Where they are not distinguished, law and

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gospel; free will and free grace, the merit of man and the righteousness of Christ, run into a mass of confusion and disorder. And where they are divided, Pharisaic pride, or Antinomian presumption, will be sure to follow.

Be it remembered, then, that the one regards something done for us; the other, something done in us. The one is a relative, the other a personal change. The one a change in our state, the other in our nature. The one is perfect at once, the other is gradual. The one is derived from the obedience of the Saviour, the other from his Spirit. The one gives us a title to heaven, the other a meetness for it.

But let us not forget their union. It is supposed that this was typified in the dying of the Lord Jesus, when from his pierced side there came forth blood and water; the one to atone, the other to purify. But not to lay too much stress on a historical incident, and which can be physically accounted for, the truth to which we allude is most expressly asserted in the word of God. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” [2 Cor 5:17] “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” [Rom 8:1] We need one as well as the other. And if we were not sanctified as well as justified, we could neither serve God properly, nor enjoy him. Suppose an unrenewed man pardoned: he would be no more able to see the kingdom of God than before, but would feel the company, the pleasures, and employments of the state uncongenial and irksome. Or suppose you had a son, and you forbade him to enter a place of contagion, on pain of losing all you could leave him. He goes, and is seized with the infection. He thus is not only guilty, by transgressing your command, but he is also diseased. And do you not perceive, that your forgiving him does notheal him? He wants not only the father’s pardon, but the physician’s aid; and in vain he is freed from the forfeiture of his estate, if he be left under the power of his disorder.

Let us therefore judge of the one by the other, and make our election by making our calling sure. [2 Pet 1:10] To be justified freely from all things, to have passed from death unto life, [John 5:24; 1 John 3:14] and never to come into condemnation again, is a privilege of infinite value, and there is a possibility of knowing that it belongs to us. But how is it to be known? Not by an audible voice from heaven, as the woman heard: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” [Luke 5:20] Not by a sudden impulse, or working the mind into a persuasion which we are unable to justify. For the very thing to be determined is, whether this confidence be a good hope through grace, or a mere presumption. If the confidence itself were sufficient, the Antinomian would be surer than the Christian; but he has a lie in his right hand. [Isa 44:20] The sacred writers do not consider this certainty of mind as self-proved, nor regard all apprehensions as to our state unbelief. They tell us to “fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it.” [Heb 4:1] They call upon us to “examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith,” [2 Cor 13:5] and to “prove our ownselves.”

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“We know,” says John, “that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” [1 John 3:14] “Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” [1 John 3:24] This is the way, walk ye in it. [Isa 30:21] What is the spirit which he hath given you? Does it convince of sin? Does it cause you to hunger and thirst after righteousness? [Matt 5:6] Does it glorify Christ?

It is true that our souls are justified by faith, but faith is justified by works. [James 2:21,24-25] Has this promise been fulfilled in us: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them?” [Ezek 36:25-27] As far as we are strangers to this practice and to these dispositions, whatever our knowledge or our assurance may be, we ought to tremble. For though the grace of God finds us sinners, it does not leave us such. While it “bringeth salvation,” [Titus 2:11] it teaches us “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” [Titus 2:12-14]

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JULY 9

“And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”—Luke 11:1

Though “one” of his disciples only said this, we have no reason to think the rest differed from him in sentiment. He was the mouth for them all. When our Lord said to the twelve, Will ye also go away? Peter answered—but it was in the name of his brethren, and expressed the conviction of each of them—”Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” [John 6:68] It is very probable he was the speaker here, for his heart was always very near his lips. But whoever the speaker was, everything here was praiseworthy.

I admire his decorum. Some are satisfied with the moralities of conduct; but there are the proprieties too, and these are not to be overlooked. “Let every thing be done,” says the Scripture, “decently, and in order.” [1 Cor 14:40] This should be peculiarly the case in our holy assemblies. Let us guard against everything that is unseemly and disturbing. Let us avoid coughing as much as we can. Let us not look and stare all over the house of God. Let us not talk, or whisper. Let us beware of coming in during the service. How painful and injurious is it to the preacher and worshipper to be interrupted and diverted in those sacred moments in which we ought to attend on the Lord without distraction. Observe these disciples. They surrounded our Saviour while he was engaged, but with breathless silence, and did not break in upon his devotions, but waited till he had “ceased praying.”

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I admire his emulation. Having heard his Master, he began to say, Well, this is prayer. What dignity, what wisdom, what reverence, what submission, what fervor are here! According to this, we have never prayed yet. Lord, teach us to pray. Indeed, the more we attend on him in anything, the less shall we think of ourselves. The beams of this Sun will soon darken our tapers.

I admire his wish to resemble what he so much admired. We should always endeavor to improve by the superior endowments andexcellences of others. These should not excite envy, or yield discouragement, but excite to imitation. What others are, they are by grace; and when we see how any of our fellow-Christians bear prosperity, or endure affliction, or fill up their stations, we should be anxious to follow them, even as they follow Christ.

I admire his spiritual wisdom. Some wish to resemble others in worldly possessions, or bodily qualities, or mental endowments and acquisitions. But it is better to resemble them in grace than in any of these. Many would rule, or compose, or speak like others; but the thing is,to pray like them. It is by prayer we hold communion with God. It is by this we unlock all his treasures. He that knows how to pray, has the secret of safety in prosperity, and of support in trouble. He has the art of overruling every enemy, and of turning every loss into a gain. He has the power of soothing every care, of subduing every passion, of adding a relish to every enjoyment; the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than much fine gold. [Prov 3:14] Many things are good for me, but none so good as to draw nigh to God.

I admire his humility. He is convinced that they are not sufficient of themselves for the duty, but need divine aid. We want instruction in everything. The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps; [Jer 10:23] but we peculiarly need guidance here. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, says the apostle, for we know not what to pray for as we ought. [Rom 8:26] The best of men have erred in their prayers. Take my life from me, says Elijah, in the very midst of his usefulness. I beseech thee, says Moses, show me thy glory. You ask for death, says God; for no man can see me, and live. [Exod 33:20] “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” [Matt 20:22; Mark10:38] What would children be—how miserable, how useless, what burdens to themselves, and what plagues to others, if they had whatsoever they desired! As to temporal blessings, it is hard to distinguish between our real and our imaginary wants, and between what is pleasing and what is profitable. And even as to spiritual things, we never see their beauty and glory, so

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as to desire them supremely, till the Lord teaches us to profit. Nor do we know of ourselves how to come before the Lord, and deal concerning them. Under a sense of guilt, and a concern to obtain acceptance, what strange expedients do we often adopt, and what a self-righteous traffic do we carry on, before we come with the blood of sprinkling, and make mention of his righteousness only! We may also err as to our end and aim. We often ask, and receive not, because we ask amiss, that we may consume it upon our lusts. [James 4:3]

“An easy thing to pray!” Who that has made the trial, and is concerned for the result of it, but exclaims, with Elihu, “Teach us what we shall say unto Him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness,” [Job 37:19] or, with the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray?”

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JULY 10

“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”—2 Cor 9:15

We have always been accustomed to think of Christ when these words are pronounced, and we are not disposed to give up this application without necessity. And we see no such necessity if we appeal to authority; for, not to mention many of the ancients, this application is supported by many of the moderns also—by a Henry, a Scott, a Doddridge. And we see no such necessity if we refer to the writer of the words. Paul’s mind was full of Christ; the love of Christ constrained him; [2 Cor 5:14] and nothing is more common in his epistles than sudden and unlooked for allusions to him. To which we may add, the nature of the case itself; for if the words would apply to the charity of the Corinthians, how much stronger will they apply to the Saviour of sinners! And though we would do justice to every part of the Scripture, we would yet rather be followers of Cocceius than Crellius, of whom, as expositors of the Bible, it was said, the one found Christ everywhere, the other nowhere.

God then—this is the meaning—so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [John 3:16] Yea, he is not only a gift, but an unspeakable gift. [2 Cor 9:15] Much has indeed been said of this gift in Christian conversation, in the sermons of ministers, in the preaching of prophets and apostles, in the Scriptures of truth, of which it is the principal and, in a sense, the only subject. But it is not in the power of words to do it justice. And we see how even inspired men labor for terms and images when they would hold forth a little of the Saviour’s glory.

He is a gift unspeakable, if we consider the greatness of his person. We consider him a man of sorrows; [Isa 53:3] but he was not always so. He was born in the fulness of time, [Gal 4:4] but his goings forth were from of old, from everlasting. [Mic 5:2] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [John 1:1,3]

Unspeakable, if we consider the immensity of the plenitude which

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he possesses as Mediator for our use. Some things include many more. What an unspeakable blessing is a fountain, being the source of all the refreshing streams that flow from it, and fertilize and beautify the ground! What an unspeakable blessing is the sun, that makes our day, our spring, our summer! What would the earth be without the sun? What an unspeakable blessing is life, with all its intelligence, pursuits, productions, and enjoyments! He is the fountain of living waters. [Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13] He is the Sun of righteousness. [Mal 4:2] He is the life of the soul and eternity. He not only insures everything else, but contains it. In him it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell. [Col1:19] In him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. [Eph 1:3]

And can we think of this, and not exclaim, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift? [2 Cor 9:15] Nothing is so detestable as ingratitude. The very heathens condemned it. One of their philosophers said, Call a man ungrateful, and you call him everything that is vile. The Lacedemonians made it punishable. South compares such a wretch to the sea, that turns the sweet influences of the clouds into brine, and to the grave, which is always receiving and never restoring. How soon we complain of a want of thankfulness in our fellow-creatures towards ourselves! How soon do we abandon them, when our favors seem lost upon them!

And yet what are these favors, when too, from a community of nature, and the command of God, we are under an obligation to show them! How few, how small! How far from being entirely pure in their motive! With how little self-denial and sacrifice attended! Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [1 John 4:10]

And can this love deserve only a careless reflection of the mind, or a cold acknowledgment of the lip? Ought it not to claim and consecrate the heart? Ought we not to ask every moment, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?” [Ps 116:12] Ought we not, by the mercies of God, to present our bodies a living sacrifice? [Rom 12:1]

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JULY 11

“And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.”—1 Kings 19:8

Having, on mount Carmel, witnessed the triumph of truth over idolatry, and destroyed Baal’s prophets, and predicted the return of rain, and urged the king to hasten home, lest he should be impeded by the approaching torrents, “Elijah girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” [1 Kings 18:46] Had Ahab properly regarded Elijah, he would have taken him up into his chariot, as the eunuch did

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Philip; [Acts 8:31] and have honored him before his attendants, and conversed with him respecting the awful state of the country. But he did not cordially like him, and was happy to get rid of him as soon as possible, as Felix said unto Paul, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee.” [Acts 24:25]

But we admire the conduct of Elijah. He was not elated by the recent unparalleled honors conferred upon him above the duty of a subject; and therefore, notwithstanding the character of Ahab, he pays respect to him as a sovereign, and renders honor to whom honor was officially due. [Rom 13:7]

It is probable that Elijah came to Jezreel to carry on the reformation he had begun, and hoping that the late miracle would give him a powerful influence. But soon after he arrives in the suburbs, he learns the determination, not of the queen-consort, but of the queen-regent for Ahab, though king, was completely governed by a termagant wife—to put him to death. “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do unto me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” [1 King 19:1-2] Upon this he should have stood his ground, and have resolved to go on with his work, leaving events with God, and relying upon that providence and grace which had so signally appeared for him. He should have replied, as Chrysostom did, when Eudoxia the empress threatened him, “Go, tell her that I fear nothing but sin;” or as Basil did, when Valerius the Arian emperor sent him word that he would put him to death, “I would that he would; I shall only get to heaven the sooner:” or as Luther did, when they would have dissuaded him from going to Worms, “I would go if there were as many devils there as there are tiles upon the houses:” or as the prince of Condé did to the French king, when he purposed that he should go to mass, or suffer perpetual banishment or death, “As to the first of these, by the grace of God, I never will; and as to the other two, I leave the choice of either to your majesty.”

But where is the faith that never staggers through unbelief; [Rom 4:20] the hand that never hangs down; the knee that never trembles? [Heb 12:12] We are amazed at the magnanimity of Elijah before, in reproving Ahab to his face, opposing single-handed all the followers of Baal, and slaying Jezebel’s four hundred and fifty chaplains. But what is man? He cannot stand longer than God holds him, or walk further than God lead him. This same hero now turns pale, and flees for his life. “And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.” [1 Kings 19:3] And why did he leave him? Was it from tenderness, wishing to save him from the perils to which he himself was exposed? Or was it the more perfectly to conceal his movements, as one could be more easily hid than more? Or did he wish for unrestrained, unwitnessed intercourse with God? There are seasons and places in which we wish no eye to see,

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no ear to hear, but God to be all in all. Abraham left his young men below when he ascended to worship God. [Gen 22:5] And Jesus said to Peter, James, and John in the garden, Tarry ye here, while I go and pray yonder. [Num 22:19]

However this was, “he went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper-tree;” and fatigued with journeying and hunger, and harassed with forebodings, and despairing of further success in his exertions, he asked to resign not only his office, but his life: “He requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” [1 Kings 19:4] That is, I am not fitter to bear their trials, or discharge their duties, than they were. Why then should I remain, when they are removed? I have done and suffered my share. This was the language of nature, not of grace. Children grow fretful as they grow sleepy. Paul longed to depart, to be with Christ, which was far better; [Phil 1:23] yet he was willing to abide in the flesh, because it was needful for others. While we are ready to go, we must also be willing to stay if God has anything for us to do or to suffer. To be impatient for retreat, especially as soon as we meet with disappointment, is unmanly and sinful.

Though Elijah was forward to die, it was a peevish haste, and evinced that he was in a very improper frame for the event. But God remembered that he was dust, [Ps 103:14] compassionated his weakness, and appeared for him, even in a strait of his own producing, and dealt not with him after his desert. “And as he lay and slept under a juniper-tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.” [1 King 19:6] Before, he had fed him by ravens; now he supplies him by one of those heavenly messengers who are all ministering spirits unto the heirs of salvation. [Heb 1:14] The office seems beneath one of these glorious beings. But he was as much pleased to bring a meal to this weary traveller, as he would have been had he received orders to manage the affairs of an empire. Angels have no partialities. They consider not the nature of the command, but only the author. May His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. [Matt6:10]

But what was the meal? A cake of bread and a cruse of water. Nature is content with little, and grace with less. How many disorders arise from excess! A voracious appetite is a judgment; a delicate one is an infirmity; a dainty one is a disgrace. Ministers, above all men, should not be given to appetite, or be fond of dainty meats. [Prov 23:2-3] And those who entertain them should not insult them by the nature and the degree of their preparations. Did our Saviour require much serving? Did not he reprove Martha, for being cumbered about many things? [Luke 10:41] When an angel was the guest, Abraham brought him forth a cake baked on the hearth, with butter and milk. [Gen 18:8] And when an angel, who had the command of every store, catered for the greatest and best man of the age, it was a cake of bread and a cruse of water.

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But “the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee.” [1 Kings 19:7] God’s caring for his people is not only relieving, but prospective. He foresees what they will need, and prepares them for difficulties and duties which they had not reckoned upon. He strengthens the shoulder when the burden is going to be increased. And when he gives them an additional supply of faith, hope, peace, and joy, little perhaps do they imagine what trials they are to endure, or what steps they are to take in the strength of it.

But how was Elijah fitted for his journey? Surely the sustenance derived from this meal was miraculous. But it shows us what his power can do, and teaches us that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. “And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” And why did he choose to repair hither? Would no other place have afforded him an equally safe retreat? Was he actuated by curiosity, or piety? Here was much to strike his mind, and to aid his faith and devotion. Here, would he say, Israel encamped. Here fell the manna. Here moved, and here stood the fiery cloudy pillar. On the top of this hill God spoke all the words of his law. And there God spoke with Moses face to face. How much is connected with some spots! “They are none other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.”

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JULY 12

“I die daily.”—1 Cor 15:31

We need not confine the meaning, but take the expression in all its latitude of import. In what sense could not Paul make this acknowledgment? In what sense is it possible or proper for us to make it?

First, he died daily because he professed to preach the gospel in constant hazard of life. “In labors,” says he, “more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” Well might he affirm, “I die daily.” In this sense, you say, the words are not applicable to you. It is true, from many of his dangers you are secure. Your religion is not exposing you to the loss of your life, or even of your liberty or your substance. But do not even you die daily? Are not you in jeopardy every hour? Are you not surrounded by wicked and unreasonable men, whose vices and passions would destroy you, without the restraining providence of God?

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Are you not liable to a thousand accidents? What a frail thing is the human body! How strange that such a curious machine, composed of such a multitude of delicate organs, should continue so long in force and operation! Know you not that the heart beats seconds, and that sixty movements of the blood take place every minute; so that sixty times every minute the question is asked whether we are to live or die? We die daily.

Secondly, Paul could say this, as death was actually invading him daily. And this is the case with us. We are mortal, not only in distinction, but in state. We decay while we receive sustenance. We talk of dying. But is dying a future thing? Have we not always been dying?

We talk of dying? Why, many of us are half dead already, and some much more. Many of our connections are dead; many of our comforts; many of our hopes. We have buried many of our opportunities, and days, and years; and every year and every day brings us nearer the entireend of the whole. It is absurd to confine dying to the act of separation between soul and body; this is only the finishing stroke: we die daily.

Thirdly, Paul, by a moral death, died daily. So should we. To die to an object, according to Scripture, is to have no more connection with it, or attachment to it. Thus the apostle says to the Romans, “Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.” “How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” And this moral dying is frequently expressed by the word crucifixion, in allusion to the mode of it; and to remind us also of the cause, as well as the example. Hence it is said, “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; for he that is dead is thus freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” Thus the Christian dies daily, by a course of mortification to sin and the world, and the impression of things seen and temporal, and the power of temptation. “For they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts.”

Fourthly, Paul died daily by a readiness for his dissolution whenever it should take place. And the man who is likeminded will feel a concern to be prepared to die; to die in a good state, and in a good frame; to die safely; to die cheerfully; to die glorifying God, and having anabundant entrance ministered unto him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. And this must commence with the apostle’s desire, “to win Christ, and be found in him.” Nothing can be done to purpose, in our preparation for eternity, till we have said, “Into thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” The voice from heaven only pronounces those blessed who die in the Lord; in a state of union and communion with him;

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having his righteousness to give them a title to heaven, and his grace to give them a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light.

But we should be concerned, not only to be habitually, but actually ready to die. That is, to be in a waiting posture, having our loins girded and our lamps burning; keeping our consciences clear and calm, drawing off our affections from earth, that when the summons comes we may be willing to depart, and not be constrained to plead, “O spare me a little, that I may recover strength before I go hence, and be no more.” [Ps39:13] In the history of Charles V. emperor of Germany, we are told that he resigned the reins of government, and retired into a convent in Spain. There be resolved to celebrate his own obsequies. For this purpose he ordered his tomb to be erected in the chapel of the monastery of St. Justus. Thither, at the proper season, all his domestics were ordered to march in funeral procession, carrying in their hands black tapers. The emperor followed in his shroud. Arrived at the place, he was laid in his coffin. The service of the dead was performed; and when the ceremonies were ended, the doors were closed, the attendants dismissed, and he was left alone. After remaining some time in the grave, he arose and repaired to his apartment, filled with all those awful reflections which the solemnity was adapted to inspire. Now we do not recommend the practice of such a gloomy and abject superstition. But you may sanctify the expedient, at least in thought. You may anticipate an event that must befall you. And Oh that you were wise, that you understood this, that you would consider your latter end! Oh that you would remember that the services you perform for others, will certainly be required for yourselves! Oh that, when you see man going to his long home, and the mourners going about the streets, you would say, “I also am accomplishing, as a hireling, my day; and in a little time my neighbors, friends, and relations will seek me, and I shall not be!”

Would it be improper or useless for you, in imagination, to suppose yourselves entering your sick-chamber—stretched upon a bed of languishing—dying—wrapped up in your winding-sheet—laid in your coffin—friends, for the last time, touching your cold cheek with their lips, or the back of their hand—the lid screwed down, and your remains borne through the mutes at the door, and accompanied to the grave, and left there—while the spirit had returned to God who gave it? In endeavoring to realize this condition, I ask, How would the world appear? What would you think of the censure or praise of men? What, of many of your pursuits? Would not this check the levity of the mind, and the pride of life? Would not also this contemplation break the force of surprise?

“Familiar thoughts can slope the way to death.”

But if we think not of the subject, the event will be a sudden precipice.

The sum of human wisdom is, to keep us from surprise in anything;

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the sum of divine wisdom is, to keep us from surprise in death. We know not how soon the event may come, nor in what manner it may befall us. It may not wait the close of threescore years and ten. It may not announce its approach by the common warnings of sickness. If we have not learned this truth already from our observations of mortality, neither should we be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

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JULY 13

“I will yet for this he inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.”—Ezek 36:37

That is what he had been promising, and notwithstanding the freeness and certainty of the engagement. Such is the revealed “will” of God. And his will is law, and law from which there lies no appeal. Nothing therefore can dispense with the obligation of prayer. But let us look at this fact.

As we have no claims upon God, and all he does for us must be from pure mercy and grace, no one can deny that he has a right to determine the way in which his favors shall be conferred. Nor can it be questioned that he is the most competent judge in this case, for his understanding is infinite; he knows himself and his relations, and he knows us and our welfare perfectly.

Yet let us not suppose that he acts arbitrarily, though he may act sovereignly. And let us remember too that his acting sovereignly does not consist in his acting without reasons, but in his being governed by reasons which are often far above out of our sight.

His wisdom and his goodness are to be seen here as plainly as his authority. Some vainly ask, Where is the propriety of prayer? Can prayer be necessary to inform a Being perfect in knowledge? Or to excite a Being always ready to do good? Or to induce a Being, with whom there is no variableness, to change his measures? But the question is beside the mark. What is not necessary as to God, may be necessary as tous. Religion is founded not in his wants, but in ours. Does not something of this kind obtain among all ranks and conditions of our fellow-creatures? All-parental as you are, do you always dispense with your child’s asking for what he wants? As a master, though willing to forgive, do you not deem it needful to require the servant that offended you to confess his fault and implore pardon?

How many are the advantages arising from God’s requiring us to ask, that we may have; and to seek, that we may find! The exercise of prayer keeps alive a sense of our indigence and dependence. Every time I go to God in prayer, I am reminded that I am ignorant, and that he is wise; that I am weak, and that he is powerful; that I am guilty and miserable, and that he is merciful and gracious; that I am nothing, and that he is all in all.

Prayer, by bringing us into the presence of God, will impress us

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with his excellencies; and the intercourse we have with him will lead us to admire and fear and love and resemble him. For we soon catch the spirit, and take off the manners of those with whom we are intimate; especially if they are above us, and we much esteem them. It is said that those who are about the court have an air and an address peculiar to themselves; and that it is difficult, if not impossible, for another to assume it. A man who is much at the throne of grace, will betray it in a manner of feeling, speaking, and acting, that a religious pretender can never entirely exemplify.

Hereby, too, the blessing is more endeared and enhanced. We never much regard what we acquire without application or effort. The effort is a kind of price, and we judge of the commodity by the cost. That which blesses us is what relieves our wants, fulfils our desire, accomplishes our hope, crowns our sacrifices. God’s blessings are not bestowed upon those who are incapable of feeling their value; they would then yield neither pleasure to the receiver, nor praise to the giver. His way therefore is to make us sensible of our need, to show us the importance and excellence of the favors, and to draw forth our souls after them. Then we are in his way. Then we can plead his promise. For “blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

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JULY 14

“My peace I give unto you.”—John 14:27

Peace sometimes signifies a confluence of temporal good things. This is not the meaning of it here. Our Saviour himself was poor, and a man of sorrows. And he said to his disciples, In the world ye shall have tribulation. Yet at the same time they were to have peace in him. This peace, therefore, must have been something which trouble could not hinder or injure. It must have been a spiritual privilege, composure of mind especially—for here is the source of the greatest perplexity and disquietude—the calm of conscience, arising from a hope of our acceptance in the Beloved. Before it can be enjoyed, the awful breach between us and God must be healed, and the blessed partaker of it be able to say, Thou wast angry with me; but thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. For there must be a sense of apprehension of God’s favor, which is life. I may be pardoned; but if I am ignorant of my forgiveness, my anxieties and uneasinesses will remain. But when He says to the soul, I am thy salvation, then being justified by faith, I have peace with God; not only peace with him above, but peace with him within, a peace that passeth all understanding.

For who can adequately conceive the value of this donation? We need not descend into the depths of hell to inquire what the miserable victims of despair would give for a moment’s enjoyment of it. Let those speak who have been convinced of sin, who have felt a wounded

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spirit, and expecting to fall into the hand of the living God, have exclaimed, What must I do to be saved? What were the feelings of the manslayer, with the avenger of blood urging on at his heels? And what was the change he experienced as soon as he had entered the appointed asylum, and could turn round and face the foe? Say ye—for ye have realized the blessed transition—ye who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before you.

It is a cluster of the grapes of Eshcol. It weans from the world. It enlivens duty. It smoothes the rugged path of adversity. It turns a dying-chamber into the house of God and the gate of heaven.

But the Saviour calls it his peace: “My peace I give unto you.” It would be a low sense of this, though a true one, that he came and preached it. It was his in an infinitely more expensive way. He procured it for us. He came not to tell us the way to heaven, but to be the way; not to show us how to make our peace with God, but to make it. And he did make it: we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. [Isa 53:5] He made peace by the blood of his cross. And he applies it by the agency of his Holy Spirit: enabling us to believe, and enter into rest; and maintaining our hope in all the changes of life, and under a continued sense of our unworthiness and guilt.

Nor is it more his by derivation than distinction. Many have peace; but how unlike his! There is the peace of the sinner. This is of Satanic origin. The strong man armed keepeth his palace and his goods in peace. This peace is worse than war. It is not founded in conviction, but ignorance. It cannot endure thought. It is unworthy the name of peace. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” How can a man retire and go to sleep, when, if he dies before the morning—and how easily may his bed become his grave—God is under an oath to destroy him? He denies it, or forgets. There is the peace of the self-righteous Pharisee, and the peace of the evangelical hypocrite, both of which will prove as the spider’s web, and as the giving up of the ghost. There is the peace of the worldling, who, by his fireside, or in the calm of his evening’s walk, musing on his abundance, says, O my soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry. But he may that very night have his soul required of him; and then whose are those things which he has provided? What is it to be at ease in our circumstances, and to enjoy peace with our neighbors and in our families, while we are at war with God, and his wrath abideth on us?

But this man shall be the peace when the Assyrian cometh into the land. Look to him. Repair to him. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up all their wounds.” While you neglect him, you may seek peace, but you will never find it. But he cries—O, hear him—

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“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” And is not this the very thing you want? Rest, rest unto your souls? Believe him; try his word. “Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.”

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JULY 15

“It came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”—Matt 13:53-58

His own country here means, not Bethlehem, where he was born, but Nazareth, where he had been brought up. It was a poor and despised place, so that it was proverbially asked, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Yet there was he found, who is the King of glory.

Here he taught in their synagogues. What he taught is not recorded. But we may determine the substance of it from his addresses on other occasions, and from the end which he always kept in view, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” Of his manner of teaching we cannot form an adequate conception. It was all his own. “Grace was poured into his lips.” Even those who derived no saving advantage from it, even his enemies, said, “Never man spake like this man.”

Accordingly, the people were astonished. Wonder has its place in religion, and there is everything in the gospel to call it forth. Yet many emotions of this kind are not powerful enough to produce any decisive result, and the subjects of them behold and wonder, and perish. Thus it was here. They acknowledge his works to be mighty works; that is, miraculous, but are offended with his want of education, having been at no university, at the feet of no Gamaliel, never having learned letters. And also because he was not a man of birth and rank, but had relations in common life, and was himself engaged in manual employment. See how the god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not. Who can stand before envy and prejudice? If he had the wisdom, and did the works, both of which they admitted, surely it was the more commendable, and the more marvellous, that he was so preeminent without any ordinary helps, and the more likely was he to be divinely inspired. There seemed no other way of accounting for the prodigy. And this seems to strike them. But men do not value things according to their real excellence. And when there is not a cordial liking to any subject, every circumstance which would otherwise befriend, is converted into objection.

In answer to their offence, our Saviour remarks, “A prophet is not

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without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house.” Usefulness depends upon acceptance, and acceptance upon esteem. Hence a bishop is to have a good report of them that are without; and hearers are commanded not only to receive such, but to hold them in reputation. Those who have been above a man in condition, do not like to come down and listen to him as an instructor and reprover; and those who have been his equals, have been too familiar with him to feel veneration towards him. Many things, though quite consistent with sanctity, yet breed not that reverence and respect which attach to a man that comes to us, so to speak, from a kind of distance, and is only seen through the medium of his sacred office. The case here stated is not universally and absolutely true; but it is so generally and comparatively, and even our Saviour himself was not an exception to it. After this some of his servants need not be astonished at the treatment they experience. Neither should they fret and complain. They must take human nature as it is, and accommodate themselves as much as they can, prudently and innocently, to the actual state of society. This governed the Master; and he assigns it as the reason why he preferred laboring elsewhere: “He said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.”

What a conclusion is here! “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Some he did. Mark says, He laid his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them. But what was the prevention of more? He generally required faith in his miraculous exertions. Hence the expressions, Be it unto thee according to thy faith. Believest thou that I am able to do this? If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. There were indeed some cases in which he wrought without this, at least without the faith of the individual himself, though even then faith was found in those who applied on his behalf, or who brought him to Jesus.

But faith is always necessary in spiritual operations. He can produce faith within us, but he cannot carry on his works of grace without it. If he could, it would be in contradiction to his word, and by a blind, positive, physical force, without our knowledge, feeling, wishes, or designs. But this is not his way. He does everything by faith. We are saved through faith. Hence the importance of believing. The first, the chief concern is, to get faith. Talk not of the sufficiency and excellency of the remedy, it cannot heal us unless it be applied; and it can only be applied by faith. The gospel is the power of God to salvation, but it is only to everyone that believeth.

There is something infinitely evil in unbelief, if we only consider what it prevents. It stands, and it is the only thing that does stand between a sinner and the relief of the gospel. Let him believe, and he is saved. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that believeth hath the Son. As to others, the wrath of God abideth on them, for nothing

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else can withdraw them from under it. The Jews could not enter into Canaan because of their unbelief. It equally bars heaven against us. But what mighty works attend faith! By faith we are justified. By faith we are sanctified. We stand, we walk, we live, we conquer by faith.

And what an injurious bar to a Christian himself is unbelief. How much does it hinder him from achieving in a way of duty, and realizing in a way of privilege. What keeps him so weak and wavering? Unbelief. “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” If we depend on our frames and feelings, we draw from a summer brook, instead of the well of living waters. Pleasing experiences are cordials, but faith furnishes the soul’s food. Faith in the promises would immediately tranquillize us, as it did Paul in the storm: “Be of good cheer; for I believe God, that it shall be as it was told me.” What keeps a Christian so poor in consolation? Unbelief. “Filled with all joy and peace in believing.” “Believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.”

Who would not, then, by faith, let loose all the sources of divine mercy and grace?

Who would not cry out, with tears, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief?”

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JULY 16

“Call to remembrance the former days.”—Heb 10:32

This will soon convince us that there is nothing new under the sun, and keep us from saying, “What is the cause that the former days were better than these?” In many respects we have the advantage. In knowledge, in civilization, and liberty, and trade, and the conveniences and comforts of life, and, above all, in spiritual privileges, we far surpass our predecessors.

If we look back to the period of Judaism, we shall have reason to say, “Blessed are our eyes, for they see; and our ears, for they hear: for many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things that we see, and did not see them; and to hear the things that we hear, and did not hear them.” They had the type, we have the reality; they had the promise, we have the accomplishment; they had the dawn, we have the day; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

If we look back to the period previous to the entrance of the gospel into our own country, what were our ancestors? Naked painted savages in the woods, oppressed by cruel rites, enslaved by idolatry; being without Christ, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel; having no hope, and without God in the world.

We were called Christians long before the Reformation. But look at the period prior to that auspicious event. In what a state of mental degradation were we: religion superstition, the service performed in

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an unknown tongue, the Scriptures kept from the common people, and nothing suffered to peep or mutter but as priestcraft gave leave!

And when men began to know the words of life, and to serve God in spirit and in truth, what interdictions were they under, and to what fines, imprisonments, tortures, deaths, were they exposed by the spirit of persecution, Popish and even Protestant! Remember the former times, in which your forefathers endured a great fight of affliction for conscience’ sake. Think how they would have rejoiced to see a day in which we sit under our own vine and fig-tree, and none can make us afraid; in which the gospel is spreading far and wide; in which individuals and churches and communities combine to make manifest the savor of the Redeemer’s knowledge in every place. Christians should judge by a rule of their own, and deem those the best times in which the best cause flourishes most. We therefore live in the most preferable era the world ever yet witnessed.

But it is well for us also to remember the earlier periods of our own personal history and experience, our days of religious nothingness, when we never called upon his name, and had no fear of God before our eyes. What feeling does the review of these days require!

But other days, better days, blessed days followed, after we knew God, or rather, were known of him. He remembers these: “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase.” And shall we forget them? Can we forget them?

“How sweet their memory still!”

In one respect the review must be humbling; for how little has our practice corresponded with our profession, or our proficiency with our advantages! Yea, instead of advancing, have we not stood still, or rather, have we not gone back? We read of “the first ways of David.” They were, alas, his best. The king of Israel never equalled the shepherd of Bethlehem. When at ease in Zion, his soul prospered much less than when he was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains. And have we never sighed, “O that it was with me as in months past?” Here is the charge, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Let us not deny it, but remember from whence we are fallen, and repent, and do our first works.

Are we in trouble? Do we see no way for our escape? Does God seem to have forgotten to be gracious? Let us remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. His love and power and truth are still the same. And “because he has been my help, therefore under the shadow of his wings will I rejoice.”

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JULY 17

“Ye have an unction from the Holy One.”—1 John 2:20

Who is this Holy One? Unquestionably the Lord Jesus. It was one of the names by which he was known in the days of his flesh. The devils knew him by it, and said. “We know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” Ye denied, said Peter and John to the Jews, the Holy One and the Just. He was so called from the innocency of his life, the purity of his nature, and the eminency of his perfections; and therefore, in a sense, it is applicable to no mere creature. God is often called the Holy One in the Old Testament; and alluding to the very place where holiness is thrice ascribed to him by the seraphim, the evangelist affirms, “This said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” He is relatively as well as personally holy, and evangelically as well as legally. He is as holy in his gospel as in his law. He is as holy in his dispensations as in his ordinances. He is holy in all his ways, and righteous in all his works. He came by water as well as by blood, and gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. And though he will bring millions from the depraved race of Adam to glory, he will bring them all there, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

And what is this unction from Him? John was a Jew, and well knew that oil, unction, anointing—it is all the same thing—was used to consecrate, to beautify, to refresh, and delight. The word therefore is used here for the influence of the Holy Spirit. And this is derived from the Lord Jesus. This was typified in the case of Aaron, when the oil was poured upon his head, and went down to the skirts of his garments. So here the unction descends from the head of the church to the lowest members of the body. Hence it is so often called the Spirit of Christ. It comes to us through his mediation, and it comes to us from his possession. For it was not, as Mr. Howe observes, the design and effect of the sufferings and death of Christ that the Spirit should be given immediately to any individuals, but that the whole dispensation should be lodged in his hands, and the administration be the honor of his office. He received gifts for men, and this was the chief of them. Being by the right hand of God exalted, says Peter, and having received of the Father the promise of the Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. He therefore said to his disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” “And he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.”

Thus it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. “And of his fulness,” says every saved, every sanctified sinner, “have all we received, and grace for grace.”

Have we this unction from the Holy One? If any man have not

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the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Destitute of this, our religion will be a form of godliness without the power; the practice, without the principle; duty, without delight—a task, wearisomeness, vanity. We can only know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.

If strangers to the benefit, let us seek it. We know to whom we are to apply. He is able, he is willing to give us the supply of his own Spirit. How encouraging to address ourselves to one who loved us, and gave himself for us; who says, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink; who never sent one suppliant empty away; who never will, never can, for he cannot deny himself.

Cherish this unction. It is what the apostle means, when he says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by which ye are sealed to the day of redemption.” Not only does gratitude require this, because of what the Spirit has already done for you, but a concern for your own welfare. What can you do without his aids and comforts? In consequence of his sin, David feared the entire loss of his agency, and therefore cried, “Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” Yea, he had suffered the loss of the consolation and support which He alone can give. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit.”

Let us diffuse this unction. Let us make manifest the savor of the Redeemer’s knowledge in every place, in every condition, in every company. Let it so abound in our conduct, temper, and discourse, that we may be distinguished and recommended by it. So that all may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus.

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JULY 18

“God, who is rich in mercy.”—Eph 2:4

In a thousand things God entirely eludes our research. In everything he surpasses our comprehension. But we know that he is merciful; we are sure that he is rich in mercy. And we cannot be too thankful that the eminence of an attribute so essential to our happiness and hope, is not obscurely revealed, but so plainly and fully made known in the works of his hands, the dispensations of his providence, the promises of his word, the provisions of his house, and the Son of his love. For who does not need this assurance? The self-righteous Pharisee, who thanks God that he is not as other men are, he does not require it. And the proud pretender, who is free from all sin, he does not require it; he formerly required it, but he has now attained, he is now already perfect. But there are four classes, of characters to whom it must be like life from the dead.

First, the victims of affliction. These are not rarely to be met with in this vale of tears. To such we would say, We ask you not what your distresses are, but if oppressed, pray, “Lord, undertake for me.”

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“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” Repair not, under the pressure of woe, to the rope, or the bowl of intoxication, or the dissipations of the world—this is like Saul’s going to the witch of Endor—but go to the throne of the heavenly grace, imploring the pity of the God of all comfort. He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. It is your welfare that has called forth this seeming severity. He knows your frame. He remembereth that you are dust. He lays upon you no more than he will enable you to bear. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. When the benevolent end of the dispensation is answered, he will readily lay aside the rod, and say, “Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps; set thy heart towards the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.”

Secondly, convinced penitents. They were formerly always extenuating their guilt; now they are dwelling only upon the aggravations of it. Lately they seemed unsusceptible of alarm; now they refuse to be comforted: Such is their unworthiness, the number and greatness of their sins, they are cast out of his sight, and there is only for them a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation. But, awakened sinner, remember there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. There is everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. With the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. Judge not of his goodness by a human standard. Who is a God like unto him? View him not through the medium of your own feelings. Believe his own word, wherein he assures you that he is ready to forgive, that he will abundantly pardon. Believe his oath, wherein he swears by himself, “As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of him that dieth; wherefore turn, and live ye.”

Thirdly, desponding backsliders. These, after walking in the way everlasting, have fallen by their iniquity, and perhaps feel more anguish of mind than when they were first led to repentance. They say, and they say justly, “No one has sinned with such enhancement as I have done. I have sinned in the dearest relations, and under the highest obligations, and against the greatest advantages. I have sinned after being made to know what an evil and bitter thing sin is, and also after tasting that the Lord is gracious. My sin has been more injurious in its effects than that of others; it has more dishonored religion and grieved the Holy Spirit of God.” All this they ought to feel. Yet must not they forget that He is rich in mercy. It is this belief that will break the heart most, and make it sorrow after a godly sort. It is this alone that will lead them forward, with weeping and supplication, saying, Lord, take away all iniquity; create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. And He, will He refuse to reply,

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“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him?”

Fourthly, persevering believers. These have holden on their way, and having obtained help of God, continue to this day. They ought therefore to feel thankful. Yet it becomes them also to be humble. Indeed, the more they advance in the divine life, the more will they be dissatisfied with themselves. They will be deeply affected with a sense of their unprofitableness, and numberless infirmities. If their outward conduct has been fair to men, they know how little their heart has been right with God. They know the sins of their holy things would be enough to condemn them, if God should bring them into judgment with him. Their language therefore still is, God be merciful to me a sinner. This is their only relief: He is rich in mercy. And living and dying, they “look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

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JULY 19

“As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”—Ezek 1:28

There is always ground for the prophet’s complaint, “Seeing many things, they observe not.” How often do even objects peculiarly designed and adapted to excite and impress, fail to strike, or at least to awaken any proper attention. This is the case with the rainbow. Children wonder at the novelty, grandeur, and construction of the figure, but seldom ask a question about it. The common people, who are much abroad in the field, rarely give it a gaze; and never connect a thought with it, but as it may be supposed, by the time of its exhibition, to intimate the state of the weather. And what does the philosopher? In the pride of science, he despises the vulgar; but though able to explain the mediate cause of the phenomenon, he never looks after anything the Scripture says concerning it. But who is not only a naturalist, but a moralist? And not only a moralist, but a Christian—a Christian in the field as well as in the temple; making that which is seen and temporal, the means of communion with that which is unseen and eternal?

The rainbow may be viewed three ways. First, physically. Thus it is, in the sky, a semicircle of various colors, which appears in showery weather. It is gendered by the sunbeams on a cloud. Where there is a moist and dark cloud opposite the orb of day, and disposed to receive and reflect his rays, the bow is seen; and never without this concurrence.

Secondly, federally. The first time we read of it in the book of Genesis is in this covenant relation. “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant,

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which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” It was in being before; but now it was made a divinely constituted sign, or token. Thus it should lead us to think of the holiness and justice of God in the destruction of the old world, and also of his forbearance and goodness in engaging not to destroy it in like manner again, and in affording a sensible assurance of it. The appearance may be, in some measure, viewed as even typical of the event. The bow was early the principal weapon of war, and soon became the emblem of it. David says, “He hath bent his bow, and made ready his arrows upon the string, to shoot at the persecutors.” But here is a bow without arrows, and without a string. When a man uses the bow in a hostile manner, the ends are towards himself, and the back is towards the enemy. But here the bow is reversed—the back is towards heaven, and the ends towards the earth. And therefore, if it had arrows upon the string, they must be discharged upwards, not downwards—the earth is safe, and has nothing to fear from it. If this should be thought more curious than wise, yet the bow thus viewed, if not a type, is a proof and a pledge. It says, the flood is gone, never to return. And here we feel a perfect certainty. However long or violently the rain falls, we are not alarmed. We look to the bow in the cloud, and are sure that “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” And why do we not feel equally sure with regard to another interposition?

For, thirdly, the bow is to be viewed evangelically. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.” Here we find God doing, in a nobler case, what he did after the deluge. Here we find him with a better, an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And to render the allusion similar, and to afford strong consolation to those who are fleeing for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them, we have his oath, accompanied with a sign or token, that should subdue every apprehension. Where, what is it? “Upon the likeness of the throne,” says Ezekiel, “was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” We know to whom this refers. “I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about.

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This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” An emblem of his glory, both as to his person and importance. Who can help admiring the rainbow? It is one of the most beautiful appearances in nature. How various the colors! Yet the celestial tints are united, and though distinct, melt into each other to make one astonishing whole. And his name is Wonderful. What a combination of excellences is found in him! “He is altogether lovely.” All human and divine beauties meet in him. All the charms of nature, all the attractions of all creatures in earth and in heaven are blended in him, and infinitely surpassed. “For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!”

It also reminds us of his importance. It insures us safety, covenant safety. We are justified by his blood, and saved from wrath through him. He is the hope, the consolation of Israel. He that believeth on him cannot perish, but hath everlasting life.

Let us look to him, and be comforted against every adverse threatening. Afflictions cannot overwhelm us; the law cannot curse us; enemies cannot injure us. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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JULY 20

“They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”—Acts 4:13

This recognition is explained in two ways. Some take it literally, as referring to the persons of the apostles. These their arraigners remembered, when they looked at them, for they had seen them before in company with him. And this, it is more than probable, was the case. For some of this very council attended his examination on the night of his apprehension. Yea, he was examined in the very house of this Caiaphas; and we are assured that Peter, on the occasion, went into the high-priest’s palace to see the end. Jesus also had openly taught in the temple, when, more than once, some of these men were present, disputing with him; and he was always accompanied by his disciples. No wonder therefore, that Peter and John were recognized by them. But others take it in allusion to their qualities, behavior, and mode of speaking; connecting it particularly with the former words. And “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus;” remarking that they were of the same party, or as we should say, of the same stamp. So the sentence has been commonly understood. And three remarks may be made upon it.

First, some have been with Jesus. Peter and John had been, as to

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his bodily presence, with him for several years, in public and in private, going out and coming in with him. And who is not ready to envy them such intercourse? But he was received up into glory; and they who had known him after the flesh, knew him so no more. Yet he had promised his people his spiritual presence to the end of the world. And thus, though now invisible, he is yet accessible. Hereafter they will be for ever with the Lord. But this heaven begins on earth. They were naturally without Christ; though not as to dispensation, yet as to experience. But their religion began with an introduction to him. They were made sensible of their need of him; they sought him; they found him. They had much to do with him then, and they have had much to do with him ever since. And they only go on well in religion as they are able to say, “I am continually with thee.” They are with him in his word, in his house, at his table—with him in the closet, in the field—they are with him as pupils are with their teacher, as servants are with their master, waiting upon him all the day—as followers with their leader, willing to follow him whithersoever he goeth—as soldiers with their commander, fighting the good fight of faith: for “they that be with him are called, and chosen, and faithful;” and “he that is not with him, is against him.”

Secondly, it is expected that they who are with him should resemble him. It is proverbially said, Tell me a man’s company, and I will tell you his character. And it is well known that like not only attracts, but begets like. Hence the importance we attach to the choice of associates. Hence we say to the unmarried, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Hence to the young, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. If we enter the house of mourning, we instantly catch the sympathy. The heart softens; the countenance contracts; the eye melts. How different are our sensations in the circles of festivity and mirth. It is said that those who live at court have a manner of their own, which others cannot successfully put on. All association, however limited, produces some influence. But the conformity will be in proportion to the degree of the intimacy, and the constancy of the intercourse, and the love we have to the individual, and the veneration we feel for his greatness. Now all these will apply supremely to the Christian’s acquaintance with Christ. And therefore the resemblance must be the greater, especially when we add to all this, that it is the duty and the main business of his religion to imitate him. For he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk as he walked. And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Thirdly, this conformity will not be overlooked. The Christian himself may not be sensible of it, for the more progress he makes in the divine life, the more humble will he be. Moses was not aware of the brilliancy of his face when he came down from being with God, and was surprised to see the people dazzled at the glory of his countenance. And Paul said, I have not attained, I am not already perfect. But

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God will take knowledge of it; angels will take knowledge of it; ministers will take knowledge of it; his fellow-Christians will take knowledge of it; the world will take knowledge of it—his profiting will appear unto all men. And though the wicked cannot be pleased with it, yet they are aware of what, by their profession, Christians ought to be; and their consistency will enthrone them in their conviction, and put to silence their ignorance; and may constrain them to glorify God in the day of visitation.

If persons are seen firm in principle, fearless in duty, zealous in the cause of God, yet humble and lowly, gentle and tender, and patient in suffering, and ready to forgive, no one need be told with whom they have been.

So if you are proud, and vain, and worldly-minded, and avaricious, and revengeful, and censorious, and unkind, we do not require you to tell us with whom you are most intimate. And though we do not believe in witchcraft, we know that you have a familiar spirit; and we know who, and what he is. “And glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above; but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated; full of mercy and good fruits; without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

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JULY 21

“O taste and see that the Lord is good.”—Ps 34:8

That God is good is too obvious to be denied; though, alas, we are so little affected with it. He is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. He openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing. As to ourselves, he made us. He placed us so high in the scale of beings. He furnished, for our reception, a world filled with his bounty and beauty. He gives the sweet interchange of hill and vale, and wood and lawn. He makes the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice, and in the succession and produce of the seasons, he crowns the year with his goodness. He not only provides for our support, but for our comfort. He not only feeds and clothes, but feasts and adorns us. All our senses might have been so many inlets of pain, but they are the avenues of a thousand pleasures; and we are furnished with the most delightful colors and sounds and relishes and perfumes. Our food might have been rendered distasteful, but he has made it pleasant; and connected gratification with the most necessary act of life. No one eats from a sense of duty, or to avoid death, but for pleasure.

Distinguished from this general goodness of God there is, however, a peculiar goodness, and which regards us as sinners. It is called, in the Scriptures, mercy and grace. It led him to remember us in our low

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estate, and to make provision for our salvation from every effect of the fall. He spared not his own Son; he delivered him for our offences, and raised him again for our justification. And in him all things are now ready for our acceptance. And in him, unworthy as we are, we may obtain all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, for ever. Herein is love. And this favor which he bears unto his people, and which regards the soul and eternity—this good will of Him that dwelt in the bush, is what we are supremely to seek after.

But what is the best way to know this goodness? David does not say, Hear, and know; read, and know; believe, and know—but, Tasteand see that the Lord is good. That is, apply to him for yourselves, instead of relying on the authority of others; as in a case of disputed relish, you determine not by testimony, but taste. In other words, it means experience. Experience is knowledge derived from experiment, in contradistinction from theory. Since the mighty mind of Bacon beat down hypotheses, and introduced the inductive system, philosophy has reasoned from facts, and experimental philosophy has been much applauded. Why then should we ridicule experimental religion? Is there no standard in divinity to which we can appeal? Is there no test to be applied to the truth of pious pretensions? Are there no facts to bear out, or to contradict, what the Scripture says of sin; of repentance; of hope; of peace and joy in believing?

Some, and in our day many, know divine things in a way of speculation; but they are not under their operation—they feel not the powers of the world to come. And these are the most unlikely characters to be wrought upon. They are familiar with the truths of the gospel; they admit all the preacher advances; they acknowledge all he proves, but it has no influence over the heart and life. They believe in hell, but make no attempt to flee from the wrath to come. They believe in heaven, but do not set their affections on things above. They believe in the value of the soul, and that its redemption ceaseth for ever, and yet neglect the only opportunity to embrace the things that belong to their peace. They go through the Bible, but its threatenings do not alarm, and its promises do not allure them. They resist every motive. They have been wooed and awed a thousand times in vain. They see and approve better things, and follow worse. They are not happy, and contrive not to be miserable. They are in the jaws of death, and yet are at ease in Zion. What paradoxes, what contradictions are you! Of what worth is yourknowledge? To know a refuge, and never enter it! To know a remedy, and never apply it! To know good, and never partake of it! This will not only leave you to perish, but deprive you of excuse, and aggravate your sin and condemnation. Like Uriah, with his fatal letter, you carry information that will place you in the front of the battle. Be not satisfied, therefore, till you know these things to purpose—which can only be by your knowing them experimentally.

Then your heart will be established in grace, and you will be so

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confirmed in the truth, that you will not be led away by the error of the wicked, to fall from your own steadfastness.

Then you will desire greater degrees of it, and having tasted that the Lord is gracious, your prayers will be, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.”

Then you will be excited and qualified to address others. You will speak from the heart, and recommend a tried remedy, a remedy that haseffectually cured yourselves. “Lo this, we have searched it, so it is: hear it, and know thou it for thy good.”

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JULY 22

“To him that overcometh.”—Rev 3:21

There are seven addresses of this kind, closing the seven epistles which John was to write, and send to the churches which were in Asia: to Ephesus, and Smyrna, and Pergamos, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Overlooking what is peculiar to each of them, let us notice what is common to all. Four things are so.

First, all of them regard a particular character. It is a successful soldier: him that overcometh. This reminds us of the nature of the Christian’s life. It is a warfare. It was such, unquestionably, in the days of the apostles. We read of their wrestling with principalities and powers; of their fighting the good fight of faith; of their resisting unto blood. If it be said, “The language is figurative,” we allow it. Yet it must, or we are trifled with, imply realities. And what are these? If it be said, “Religion is not the same thing now as it was then,” we ask, When was it changed, and by whom; and what is it at present? What would be thought of a preacher who should come forward in public, and say, A religious life was a difficult thing once, but it is a very easy one now? The first Christians were required, in order to be the disciples of Christ, to deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow him in their generation; but all this is dispensed with now! He may prophesy falsely, and the people may love to have it so, but what will be done in the end thereof? If therefore you think yourselves in the way everlasting, without knowing anything of this spiritual warfare, you are in a pitiable condition; and pertain to the strong man armed, who keeps his palace and goods in peace.

Secondly, all of them are attached to an individual. Not to them that conquer, but to him that overcometh. As much as to say, Each is perceived by me in the crowd, and if all in the church should prove corrupt, and only one maintain his fidelity, faint, yet pursuing, let him not be ashamed or afraid. He shall be confessed before my Father and the holy angels. For him that honors me, I will honor.

Thirdly, all of them contain the assurance of some reward of grace. Such is the fruit of paradise, the hidden manna—a crown of life—the white stone—the morning star—white raiment—a pillar in the temple of God—a seat with the Saviour on his throne. But who can describe

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or comprehend these remunerations? They are yet to be revealed. But we know enough of them to animate us in the conflict, and to convince us that godliness is profitable unto all things.

Fourthly, all represent the Lord Jesus as the author and bestower of every honor and indulgence. I will make—I will give—I will grant, says He who procured all for us, and in whom all the fulness dwells. The joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame, was the gratification of his benevolence in receiving gifts for men. And he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. Hesaves them spiritually now. He shall raise up their bodies at the last day. And He shall say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. Amen.

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JULY 23

“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”—Ps 86:5

The first word, “for,” shows that the text contains a reason for something; and it was this, as we see by the preceding verse, “Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.” We learn from it of what importance it is to place and keep the Supreme Being before the eye of the mind, in an amiable and inviting character, when we have to do with him. Tell me not, there is danger in such representations; they may gender presumption. They may: everything is liable to abuse. But we are saved by hope. By withdrawing this confidence in God, man fell; and he can only be restored by replacing it in him. The first step of a sinner in returning to God, must result from this trust. Accordingly the design of revelation is to produce and support it. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” The same is said of the mediation of Christ: “By him we believe in God, who raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God.” More are destroyed by despair than by presumption. When once a man says there is no hope, he becomes abandoned; and the despondence he feels is the strongest link in the chain that binds him in an unconverted state. Let there be therefore always a refuge open, and into which a sinner, when he looks back and wishes to enter, may return. Tell him that yet there is room. Tell him that God is good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him.

And from hence, let me also learn that when we have no comfort arising from personal assurance, there is encouragement enough in the general views which the Scripture gives us of God to induce us to wait on the Lord, and keep his way. David does not here say, I will lift up

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my soul to Him, for he is my God, and he has given me the heritage of them that fear his name; but he looks to his goodness, and readiness to forgive, and the plenteousness and impartiality of his mercy. These considerations do not require me to ascertain, before I come to him, that I am a saint; but tell me to come as a sinner, and assure me that he will in no wise cast me out. When I know not that I have grace, how delightful is it to know that it is attainable; and to hear a voice saying, “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” Thus Mr. Scott said, when dying, that those scriptures refreshed and comforted him most, which were not limited to a particular class, but open to all.

Yet however good and forgiving and merciful he is, this is nothing to those who refuse or neglect to “call upon him.” Such blessed assurances are not intended to make us careless, but to excite and animate our applications to him. Prayer is the way in which He, who has a right to determine, and who cannot err, has chosen for our obtaining his favors. Yet I will be inquired of. Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find.

Those therefore that live without prayer, are shut out from the blessedness. But this is not all. They incur, also, the curse which results from the contempt of his grace. There is no aggravation of misery like the consciousness of patience exhausted, kindness abused, opportunity lost. But lost entirely by our own fault; lost for ever! This conviction will be the food of the worm that never dies, and the fuel of the fire that never shall be quenched.

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JULY 24

“Prove me now.”—Mal 3:10

There is nothing of which men are more tenacious than the honor of their veracity. How offended do they feel, if we seem to suspect the truth of their word, by requiring a pledge or voucher before we can venture upon it! If a king were to address his subjects in a way of privilege, and they should say, We must try thy faithfulness before we can trust it, he would consider himself insulted, and in wrath have nothing to do with them. God is veracity itself, and magnifies his word above all his name. And he might justly say to us, Such are my declarations; dishonor me not by requiring any confirmation; I am entitled to implicit credence, and if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. But he knoweth our frame, and he knoweth the absolute importance of our confidence in him; and therefore he allows us to acquire it in our own way, and seems more concerned for our satisfaction than for his own glory.

And yet hereby he glorifies himself too; for by this method he not only shows his kindness and condescension in accommodating himself to our infirmities, but obtains a sensible and satisfactory conviction in favor of his truth. In addition to testimony, we are furnished with experience.

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What we have read and heard, we have brought to trial, and have demonstrated ourselves. So that we do not merely believe. There must be, indeed, a degree of faith to induce us to make the trial; but when we have made it, and made it successfully, the proof increases the confidence of faith; and he that thus believes has the witness in himself.

Hence, when God invites us to prove him, it is not sinful to do it, yea, it would be sinful to refuse. We see this in the case of Ahaz. “Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God: ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.” He did not decline it from confidence in God, or from humility, but from desperation or indifference: “Not I; it is useless.” Isaiah so understood it, as appears from his answer and complaint: “Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?” When He allows a privilege, it becomes us gratefully to use it; and we reflect upon his kindness and wisdom, if we do not. Some, like Gallio, care for none of these things. They do not think religion or revelation worthy of proof. Hume said he had never read through the New Testament in his life. As much as to say, It is nothing to me whether these things be true or false. I will take no pains to ascertain whether we have souls as well as bodies; whether another world succeeds this; and whether, after death, there be a judgment.

There is indeed a censurable proving of God, and it is more than once charged upon the Jews of old. It was founded in unbelief, and led them to dare his judgments. Thus Pharaoh, and thus Adam and Eve tried his word in his threatenings. This is always wrong. First, because, if the trial proves the denunciation true, the proof is useless, for it is derived from the infliction of the evil itself, and we are not convinced, but punished. Secondly, we cannot put the menaces of God to the test but by criminal conduct. It is only by sinning that we can try whether what he has threatened against sin will be accomplished, as the practice is the condition on which the penalty is suspended. But it is otherwise with the promises of God: if we find them true, we are saved and happy; and we can only seek the proof of their truth in what is good and improving—in praying, in obedience, in the use of all the means which God has ordained.

Let us then prove him, and see whether his word will come to pass or not. Let us prove him with regard to the freeness of his mercy. For he hath said, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Let us prove him with regard to the efficacy of his grace. For he hath said, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Let us prove him with regard to the care of his providence. For he hath said, “There is no want to them that fear him.” “He careth for you.” “The hairs of your head are all numbered.” Let us prove him with regard to the advantage of benevolence. For

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he hath said, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Let us prove him with regard to the blessedness of his service. For he hath said, “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” “There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake; who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

By how many millions has all this been proved. His word is a tried word; and it has never failed in the trial, and never will fail.

Let us make the trial for ourselves, and set to our seal that God is true. Thus we shall become his witnesses to others, and be able to say, “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

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JULY 25

“For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”—Acts 3:22-23

There was a remarkable resemblance between Moses and the Messiah, which it would be easy to trace. But the likeness here spoken of regards his office. Moses was a prophet, a peculiar prophet, a preeminent prophet. He introduced and established the whole of the Jewish dispensation with miracles, wonders, and signs. He was the mediator between God and the people. Other prophets received divine communications through various mediums, but he received everything from God immediately. “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold.” But if “the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Yea, in all things he has the preeminence. Moses was faithful as a servant, but Christ as a Son over his own house. The commission of Moses was confined to one nation; Christ is not only the glory of his people Israel, but a light to lighten the Gentiles—the light of the world.

Every office the Saviour sustains requires a corresponding disposition in them to whom he is sent. As he is a prophet, we are commanded “to hear him.” It cannot mean a mere hearing. Then many would be safe who are condemned already. But it includes our believing his instructions with a faith unfeigned, and our cordial submission to them; or, as the apostle expresses it, our obeying from the heart the form of doctrine delivered us. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and

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“keep it.” If he commands us to lay up treasure in heaven, and we mind earthly things; if he tells us to deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow him, and we live to the lusts of men; if he says, Look unto me, and be ye saved, and we go about to establish our own righteousness, we do not hear him, but despise and reject him. He that hath his commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth him, and he it is that heareth him.

We are not only to hear him, but to hear him “in all things whatsoever he shall say unto us.” Some dislike the mysterious parts of Christianity; some, the humiliating; some, the practical. But the only inquiry of a true disciple is, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He will not dictate; he will not object; he will not prefer one thing to another; but say, “I esteem all thy commandments concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way.” The test of real obedience is to “do all things without murmurings and disputings.”

Notwithstanding our duty and our responsibility, it is here supposed that some “will not hear this Prophet.” This is a sad intimation, and we might wonder at the fact. But the depravity of human nature will account for it, and all history confirms it. Some ridicule and oppose. Many never attend the means of grace. Numbers have only a “form of godliness,” while they deny the power thereof.

And to what are they exposed? “It shall come to pass, that every soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.” Mark the impartiality of the sentence, “every soul.” The refusers may be many, and they may differ from each other, but, though each may turn to his own way, all are going astray. There is only one path of life, but there are many avenues to death. And it matters not what our particular character is, whether profligate or formalist, Pharisee or hypocrite, he that believeth not shall be damned; and without holiness noman shall see the Lord. See the nature of the doom, “shall be cut off.” This is not correction, but excision; not however annihilation—this would be a privilege. They shall seek death, but they shall not find it. In vain will they ask the rocks to fall on them, and the mountains to cover them. The penalty is not the loss of their being, but of their happiness and of their hope, the destruction of body and soul in hell for ever. Observe the dreadfulness of the aggravation, “from among the people.” They are intermixed now, and some of them very peculiarly. They attend in the same sanctuary; they live under the same roof; they are united by the ties of friendship and of blood. But their privileged situation and condition only evinced and increased their depravity. “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly; and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” Their present advantages, therefore, will afford them no security, neither will they be able to retain them. The wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. But, severed from the just, they will be led forth with the workers of iniquity, and carry away

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with them into the place of torment only the remembrance and the guilt of all they neglected and abused here.

“See then that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, how much more shall not we escape, if we TURN AWAY FROM HIM THAT SPEAKETH FROM HEAVEN!”

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JULY 26

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”—Matt 13:44

How well may the Saviour call the gospel a treasure! The tongue of an angel could not describe its value and preciousness. It meets and relieves every want of the soul. It blesses us with all spiritual blessings. It is the true riches; unsearchable riches; durable riches. It profits in the day of wrath. It delivers from death. It ennobles in the world to come.

A man may find a treasure hid in a field by accident or by search. There is nothing casual in the salvation of a sinner as to God; but as tohimself, the event may be wholly undesigned and unlooked for. He may have been seeking, but not for this object. Saul was searching when Samuel met him, but it was for his father’s asses, and not for the kingdom. Thus the Lord is found of them that sought him not, and asked not for him. Matthew was sitting at the receipt of custom when the Saviour said, Follow me. Saul was in a journey of iniquity when the Saviour appeared to him in the way, and called him by his grace. Some have gone to the house of God from mere custom and curiosity, or a design to ridicule, but have returned to pray, and have said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? But, says Henry, though he is sometimes found of them that seek him not, he is always found of them that seek him. This was the case with Cornelius. He was a devout man, and feared God, with all his house; praying and giving alms always, when Peter was sent to tell him words by which he was to be saved. Nathaniel had retired beneath the fig-tree to read and reflect and pray when the Saviour took knowledge of him, and said, Thou shalt see greater things than these. And there are those now who are awakened rather than enlightened; they feel their spiritual wants, and are using the means of grace. And whatever ignorance or legality mixes with their efforts, they are in the search, and they shall find. He who has touched the heart, and turned it from the world, will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.

The emotions of the finder are naturally portrayed. First, when he hath found the treasure, he hideth it. When we are anxious to secure a thing, we conceal it. The way, therefore, is here used for the end; and hiding refers not to secrecy, but safety. The allusion is to that holy jealousy recommended by the apostle, when he says, Let us therefore

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fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it: looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. To that trembling at God’s word, when we are more affected with the inviting than with the awful parts. To that solicitude to obtain which always genders apprehension. Oh, how shall I make all this my own? Oh, if I should miss it! What must I do to be saved?

Secondly, he feels joy thereof. Not that firm and glorious joy which arises in the established Christian from a consciousness of possession, and who can say, I know that my Redeemer liveth; but the joy that results from the discovery of the reality, the excellency, the suitableness, the all-sufficiency, the attainableness of the blessing, and is called, Rejoicing in hope. The patient, while the disease yet oppresses him, cannot feel at ease; but he is gladdened when he hears of the arrival of a physician, bringing with him a remedy that was never applied in vain.

Thirdly, he goeth—for now it is impossible for him, like many, to sit still—and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth the field; that is, he is fully determined to submit to the cost of procuring it, whatever it may be. We can offer no equivalency for the possession; nor is this the meaning of the word. In this way, were we to buy, it would not be without money, and without price. But the meaning is simply exchange, as in buying, we part with something to gain something. Hereby we show our estimation; for what stronger proof can we give of our valuation of an object, than parting with all we have for the sake of it?

And the case here is such, that we must make a choice and a sacrifice to evince our preference and attain our desire. Some things must be absolutely given up; some conditionally; and all, as to supreme regard and dependence. Are we willing then to part with our sins—all our sins: even our bosom lusts; the right hand; the right eye? Are we willing to part with our own wisdom, not leaning to our own understanding, but receiving the kingdom of God as little children, and becoming fools that we may be wise? Are we willing to part with self-righteousness? not with the practice of obedience, morality, and good works, but only the substitution of them in the room of the Saviour, and reliance on them for our acceptance before God, and the pleading of them as a title to heaven, instead of saying, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Are we willing to part with the world; the promises of superiors; the applause of companions; the smiles of friends; the ties of the dearest relations? For “he that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.”

This is a hard saying. But everything requires sacrifice, and everything in proportion to the importance of the attainment. And here the prize is infinite. And we are more than indemnified for all we suffer or lose. “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

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JULY 27

“This grace wherein we stand.”—Rom 5:2

What is this state? And what is this standing? The state is a state of grace, and means the privileged condition in which all Christians are found, though they were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. It is expressed by our apostle in the preceding words: Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace.

It may well be called “this grace,” for it only flows from, and only proclaims the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us by Christ Jesus. How dreadful is it to have God for our adversary! He in whom we live; he who is about our path, and our lying down; he on whose side all creatures rise up and arrange themselves; he whose look is death, and whose frown is hell! What were our alarms when we began to discover our danger, and conscience induced us to cry, “What must I do to be saved?” And when we saw the storm passing off; when we were told that the dreadful breach was made up; when we believed that God was pacified towards us for all that we had done, what were our feelings then, but life from the dead? And in that day we said, “O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.”

But we may be reconciled to another, so as to be forgiven, and not be admitted into the intimacies of friendship. After Absalom was, through the intercession of Joab, allowed to return to Jerusalem, two years elapsed before he was allowed to see the king’s face. But God favors us with the most familiar intercourse and communion. We come boldly to the throne of grace. In everything, by prayer and supplication, we make known our requests. We dwell in his house; we eat at his table; we walk with God; we lean on his arm, and on his bosom. He honors us with his confidence, and trusts us with his secrets. He allows us to put him in remembrance, and plead with him, and say—can his condescension go farther?—”Concerning the work of my hands, command ye me.”

This grace means, also, approbation and complacency. He takes pleasure in them that fear him. He rests in his love. He joys over them with singing. They are his children, his bride, his jewels, his glory. And as their persons, so their services are accepted in the Beloved. Poor as they are, he smiles upon them. Their prayer is his delight; their alms are the odor of a sweet smell. He views their motive, and passes by their mistakes. He regards their wishes and design, and says, in their failures, “It is well that it was in thy heart.”

Hence follows sympathy and compassion. What is done to them he resents as a personal injury; for he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye. In all their affliction he is afflicted. Though he corrects them, it is for their profit. He takes the rod with reluctance, and he lays it aside with pleasure. He cannot withstand their yielding and

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their tears. “Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still.”

In this grace they stand. Standing, here, intends firmness, stability, permanence. It is sometimes opposed to condemnation. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? To which we may answer, No one that appeals to his own obedience, but everyone that is found in Christ. There is no condemnation to them that are in him. For “who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Sometimes it is also opposed to defeat. Take to you the whole armor of God, that ye may stand in the evil day; and having done all, may stand. And of this they may be assured; for whatever disproportion there is between them and their enemies, the worm Jacob shall thresh the mountains. Some warriors have barely overcome; such another victory as they gained would have almost ruined them; but a Christian, having vanquished all his adversaries, stands with his feet on their necks, and is ready to engage as many more. Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

The more privileged any condition is, the more anxieties does it awaken. It is easy therefore to imagine what a Christian must feel if he apprehended any uncertainty as to the state he is in. But that state is as safe as it is blessed. “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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JULY 28

“Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.”—1 Chron 16:10

And yet many believe, or pretend to believe, that religion is a joyless thing.

The heart has very little, if any share in other enjoyments. Those delights only gratify the appetites, and strike the senses, and charm the imagination. But where is the heart? Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness. In religion the heart finds relief, repose, satisfaction, joy. “Yes; the heart of those who are fully assured of their condition, who have already attained, or have far advanced in the divine life.” Nay, says the prophet, Let the heart of

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them rejoice that seek the Lord. And there are three reasons to authorize it.

First, because it is an evidence of grace. They may draw a conclusion against themselves, and refuse to be comforted; but no man can seek to know and enjoy and serve and resemble God from mere nature. Actions may not indicate the state of the mind, but desires spring from it. We may be forced to do, but we cannot be compelled to prefer and to choose.

Secondly, because their success is sure. This is the case in no other pursuit. In the fields of worldly labor, we may spend our strength for naught and in vain. A rival may bear off from us a prize which we have long been chasing, and at the very moment we are seizing it. The cup of enjoyment, filled with eager hope, is often dashed to the ground from the very lip that touches it. But their heart shall live that seek God. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless return again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Is there unfaithfulness with God? Did he ever say to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me, in vain?

Thirdly, because, when they have found, their aim and their wish in seeking are fully answered. All they can desire is treasured up in him; and they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. As to success in other cases, the wise man tells us, all is vanity, and vexation of spirit: vexation if we lose, and vanity if we gain. To one of these alternatives we are inevitably subjected. We must be disappointed either in acquiring them—and this is often the case—or in possessing them—and this is always the case.

But while everything earthly falls short of hope, it is not possible to form an expectation adequate to the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the saints. What is it to have God himself for our portion and exceeding joy! To be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ! To realize a happiness that solitude increases, that trouble improves, that death perfects! 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.”

While thus the heart of them that seek him should rejoice, the heart of others should be induced to seek him. At present he is not far from any one of you. He is even inviting you to seek him. Yet a little while, and it will be too late. Therefore, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; and call ye upon him while he is near.”

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JULY 29

“To whom he showed himself alive after his passion.”—Acts 1:3

How much will eternity reveal to our astonished minds; and in reference to a thousand things, we may safely follow the advice of the poet,

“Wait the great teacher Death, and God adore.”

The Scripture is given to establish our faith, and comfort our hearts, and sanctify our lives, but not to amuse us and to gratify our curiosity. Our Saviour rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, but between these events there elapsed a considerable portion of time. During these intervening weeks, where was he, and how employed? One thing only we know, that he frequently showed himself to his disciples.

But what purposes were these intermediate appearances intended to answer? The Lord does not always give an account of any of his matters, and we ought to be peculiarly cautious in assigning reasons for his conduct who says, “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts.” We cannot, however, err in remarking,

That they were the accomplishment of his word. He had said, “Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from you.” “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me.” Now though these declarations extend to his final coming to judgment, and his advent in the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, yet they more immediately insure his manifestation of himself between his resurrection and his glory. And if the disciples understood it not at the time, the meaning would be explained by the verification. And they would see how well they might in every other case rely upon his promise.

They were also to convince them how fully he had forgiven them, and thus to gain the confidence of their hearts. For they had behaved very unworthily. After all he had done for them, and their own professions of attachment, when the hour of trial came, they all forsook him and fled. How much he felt their defection, we learn from his complaint: “I looked for some to take pity, and there was none; and for comforter, and I found none.” And their own consciences upbraided and condemned them for their vileness. And therefore had he gone away to heaven, and they had not seen him, they would have feared his resentment and displeasure. But he appeared to them again and again, and always with kindness in his looks, and peace on his lips; and at last, laying his hands on them, he was taken up to heaven in the very act of blessing them, thus telling them that he had the same heart as ever, and was more than pacified towards them after all that they had done.

They were also to evince the certainty of his resurrection. The importance of this event rendered it necessary that it should be placed

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beyond the possibility of all reasonable doubt. The disciples were not eagerly credulous of the fact, but slow of heart to believe; and their diffidence has been overruled to confirm our faith. For they required and obtained every kind and degree of proof; and these deponents were many; and were eye and ear witnesses; and even handled the Word of life; and did eat and drink with him; and for a length of time; and in cases of a most peculiar nature. They could not therefore be mistaken, and we cannot be deceived. He is risen indeed! And therefore he is the Son of God. And we are not in our sins. The dead in Christ are not perished. And because he lives, we shall live also.

They were also to impart information on subjects not touched, or only hinted at before, because the disciples were not able to bear them, and the proper hour was not yet come. And therefore the sacred historian says, that he not only showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, but also spoke to them of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And this led them to think so differently of this kingdom from what they had done before, and to wait by prayer for his coming in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

But when he said, I am no more in this world, and also, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world; and when he said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him,” surely he intended a manifestation beyond his appearance between his grave and his glory. And this we ourselves may hope to claim. But how is it that he will manifest himself unto us, and not unto the world? We disclaim all pretensions to personal manifestations. Some have contended for these, and, like Colonel Gardiner, have believed that they corporeally saw him. But surely this was mistaking a lively impression on the mind for a reality. The case speaks for itself. Being embodied, he could render himself visible; but then it would be a true representation—we should see him as he is. And accordingly Saul saw him, when he appeared in his way to Damascus, with a body glorious above the brightness of the sun. But these good people always see him as he is not: they always see him bleeding on the cross; but he is not there, he dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. We need no sensible appearance.

But there is a spiritual manifestation absolutely necessary. Paul experienced this, or the outward vision would have been of little avail: “It pleased God,” says he, “to reveal his Son in me.” And our Saviour himself said, He that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, hath everlasting life. It is a perception by faith of his glory, so as to induce us to love him and trust in him and follow him.

There are also special manifestations of himself—we mean, as to clearness and enjoyment—occasionally experienced by his people, and which excite them to exclaim, “This is none other but the house of God,

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and this is the gate of heaven.” These are not their food, but cordials. They are regulated by their condition and exigencies. But though they are limited as to number and degree, they are most desirable and valuable. They make us better acquainted with heaven than all the descriptions contained in sermons and books. And they make us long after a state in which his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face. “And so shall they be for ever with the Lord.”

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JULY 30

“This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.”—John 21:14

Not the third time in succession, for he had appeared before this to the women, and to Cephas, and to James, and to the two disciples going to Emmaus, but the third time in kind; that is, the third time when the disciples were together.

“And on this wise showed he himself.” The place was, “the sea of Tiberias,” called also, the lake of Gennesaret, and the lake of Galilee. Who would not like to visit this sea, whose surface and whose shores so often felt the presence, and witnessed the miracles of the Son of God?

The favored party were, “Simon Peter, and Thomas, called Didymus”—he had lost much by his absence before, but now he keeps close to his brethren—”and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee”—we thought well of him from the beginning; for though at first he had some infirmities, he was open to conviction, and loved retirement; and he who saw him under the fig-tree, assured him that he should see greater things than these—”and the sons of Zebedee”—John and James—”and two other of his disciples,” who are not named. But it may be asked, How came the disciples here, seeing when he rose from the dead they were—unless perhaps Nathanael—at Jerusalem? The Saviour had said, “The hour cometh, and now is, when ye shall be scattered every one to his own;” and it is said, “Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.” This was the effect of fear. But though fear made them flee, yet their repairing down into Galilee was enjoined them by the angel who appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. And Jesus himself had said, before his death, “After I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.” They believed his word, and obeyed; and He was faithful that promised.

But how did he find them engaged? “Simon Peter,” who had a house of his own, and perhaps had retained the implements of his business, “saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee.” This was not, as some imagine, blamable; as if they ought to have remained fasting and praying, or as if this exertion was the effect of despondency with regard to his appearance, and his care to provide for them. They acted commendably. It showed their humility; that though advanced, they were not elated, nor ashamed of their

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former engagement, and their wish not to be burdensome to any, if they could supply their own wants, and with quietness work, and eat their own bread; and also their diligence, in redeeming their time, and not waiting for him in idleness. And he appeared to them, though not engaged in a religious exercise, but in a secular, honest calling, as the angels had appeared to the shepherds, when keeping their flocks by night. And if he came to any of us, by death, how much better would it be for him to find us active in fulfilling the duties of a useful station, than telling our beads, or kneeling before a skull or a crucifix in a cell. When Elijah was consciously waiting for the chariot that was to carry him to heaven, what did he? Retire to fast and pray? No; but he continued talking with his pupil and successor, for his improvement, determined to be useful to the last, and to live as long as he breathed. And blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.

But “that night they caught nothing.” Though, in an ordinary way, the hand of the diligent maketh rich, yet this rule has its exceptions. These should be sufficient to teach us that the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich; and that, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Men, and even good men, may for a while be baffled in their efforts, to teach them the lesson of dependence upon Providence, and to keep them, when success cometh, from sacrificing to their own net, and burning incense to their own drag, as if by these their portion hath been made plenteous.

He loves to astonish as well as relieve his people; he therefore often delays his appearance, till our hopelessness has prepared us for the display of his glory to the greatest advantage. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. “When the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore.” But they “knew not that it was Jesus,” supposing him to be some common person waiting their coming ashore, to purchase what they had caught. And this was the meaning of the question, “Children, have ye any meat?” that is, Have you succeeded in fishing? And have you any provision to dispose of? Upon their answering, No; he showed his omniscience. He saw where a shoal was approaching the boat, and ordered them to “cast the net on the right side of the ship,” assuring them that they should find. They did so; and who ever lost by obeying him? So signal was their success, that they were not able to draw the net for the multitude of fishes.

Thus good men sometimes see their affairs, after many a fruitless struggle, taking a favorable turn, and succeeding beyond their expectation. “At eveningtide it shall be light.” “It is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” We shall look at this narrative again.

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JULY 31

“And on this wise showed he himself.”—John 21:1

We have traced this appearance down to the moment when the disciples ascertained who he was. John recognized him first, reminded, as it would appear, by a former miracle of the same kind, and on the performance of which Peter had exclaimed, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Yet Peter was not at present struck with the recollection himself. But no sooner does John say to him, “It is the Lord,” than the ship can hold him no longer; but, girding himself with his fisher’s coat, he plunges into the sea to reach him. What rashness! What zeal! How perfectly in character does this man always appear! He was fervent, but acted by feeling rather than reflection. He had a warm heart. The Lord had lately turned and looked upon him in the judgment-hall, and he went out and wept bitterly. He had had much forgiven, and he loved much. The Saviour had more than pardoned his late sad conduct, and had sent a message to him distinctively, “Go, tell my disciples, and Peter.” And how could he love him enough? And “love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love; neither can the floods drown it.”

The rest of the disciples followed slowly, but surely, dragging the net. Had all done like Peter, the fish had been abandoned, and the vessel left to be drifted and injured. While we admire some, we must not condemn others. The dispositions and the duties of men are various; and while some perform splendid actions, and excite notice, others go ploddingly on in the sober discharge of their common calling. But they also have the testimony that they please God.

What did they find when they came to land? “A fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread.” This was to show that he cared for them; that they should be furnished not only with grace sufficient for them, but with food convenient for them, and that verily they should be fed. He had reminded them of this on a former occasion. When he sent them forth on their missionary excursion unprovided, they had misgivings how they were to be supplied, though they were ashamed to make known their fears; but he who employed them was bound to maintain them; and when they returned, he said, When I sent you forth without purse and scrip, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. “O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” You serve a kind master, and the world is his, and the fulness thereof. Jehovahjireh! But we read, “Thou shalt eat the labor of thy hand;” and nothing has such a peculiar relish as what is gained by the blessing of God upon our own endeavors. He therefore also said unto them, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.” And thus, while they must have

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marvelled and adored at what was nothing less than a miracle, they were not only supplied for their immediate use, but the sale of the capture would pay their expenses back to Jerusalem, and while waiting there for the promise of the Father.

Filled with reverence and awe, they seemed reserved, and disposed to keep back. He therefore invited them: “Come and dine. And none of his disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.” But still keeping back, “Jesus then cometh” to them, “and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.” The meat was ordinary, and coarsely dressed, but it was wholesome, and the appetite of labor made it welcome. We do not live to eat, but eat to live. Nature wants little, and grace less. Luther often dined upon a herring, and Junius on an egg. If it be, as it is said, beneath a philosopher to be nice and finical in his food, how much more is it so in a Christian, in a minister? Jesus censured Martha, and commended Mary. The table He spreads for us is frugal and simple. It is the world, the flesh, the devil, disease, and death bring in the rest. No mention is made of his blessing the repast, but there is no doubt but he did; it was his constant usage, to teach us to be religious in our common actions, and that man liveth, not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.

But did he actually partake of the provision himself? What says Peter? “He showed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.” Did he rise with the same body that he died? “Behold,” said he, “my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” Did his body undergo any change before his ascension? Will things in a future state be possible that are not necessary? We know but in part; and the sacred writers prophesy but in part.

But, “blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Let me be one of the number to whom he shall say, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

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