Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

sion to reprove? Let us remember what was said of Leighton-H rebuked faults with such kindness and mildness that they were never repeated, not because the reproved were afraid, but ashamed to repeat As much as lieth in us let us live peaceably with all men; and resolve to act upon the lesson we teach our infants

tnem.

"I'll not easily offend,

Nor be easily offended:
What's amiss I'll strive to mend,

And endure what can't be mended "

And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And ye masters, forbear threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, and that there is no respect of persons with him. Gentleness indeed must peculiarly appear in our treatment of those who are placed under us. It is one of Lavater's aphorisms on man, and will, we are persuaded, be found without exception true-" If without living with him, or studying him, you would know a man at once, observa how he acts and speaks towards his inferiors." Towards his superiors and his equals he is guarded, but with his inferiors he is open and free-and if with them he assumes airs, and commands harshly, and answers roughly; if he swaggers, scolds, and threatens; if he tries to inspire fear rather than to gain love-he has a tyrannical and a villanous heart. A common observer would say--he is no gentleman; every thing in the Gospel says he is no Christian.

MARCH 29.-"Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord tne king shall appoint."-2 Sam. xv. 15.

THIS was said on the trying emergency when he was about to leave Jerusalem, to escape from the vile rebellion of Absalom. And it was well said. And it shows us what little reason David had to complain, all men are liars. With a few exceptions, no one ever had more attached and devoted adherents than he.

There is no spiritual meaning in the words. They intend no more than they express. But who can help thinking with what propriety they may be adopted by Christians, and addressed to Christ? He is their Lord and King. They profess to be his servants. He has the appointment of their work. And they should be ready to do his will without partiality as well as without hypocrisy--"Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my Lord the King shall appoint."

This is our reasonable service: and four things should excite, sustain, and increase this readiness.

First, the consciousness of our obligations to him. How much do we owe him! What has he not done for us? and in a way the most expensive to himself? He was rich, and for our sakes he be came poor

"He sunk beneath our heavy woes,

To raise us to his throne:

There's not gift his hand bestows,
But cost his heart a groan."

We can never discharge our obligations to a love that passeth knowledge. But we should be deeply sensible of them; and hol

and

ourselves entirely at his disposal; and delight to do his will; constantly ask, "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits towards me ?"

Secondly, a persuasion of his right to appoint every thing pertaining to us. Not a right derived and limited like that of a master or a father to dispose of his servant or his child: but an original inalienable right-the right of an absolute proprietor-the right of a creator over a creature whom he called out of nothing, and who lives, and moves, and has his being in him.

Thirdly, a conviction not only that he nas a right to appoint, but that his appointments are right—always wise, and just, and good. They may be sovereign, but they are not arbitrary. The reasons of them may be for a time concealed, but they are worthy of his character. They are now satisfactory to his own mind, and when explained, they will draw forth our approbation and praise. We know not what is best or even good for us. We have made mistakes and suffered embarrassments enough when we have attempted to judge for ourselves, to convince us that the way of man is not in himself. But he cannot err. His understanding is infinite: and our wisdom and welfare require us to say, "The Lord shall choose cur inheritance for us."

Lastly, a persuasion that our acceptance with him does not depend upon the place he assigns us, or the nature of the work he ordains us, but our submission to it. We are not answerable for our stations and offices; but for our conduct in them. We can serve the Lord in adversity as well as in prosperity; in a private as well as in a public capacity. A good actor on the stage may be seen in the character of a peasant as well as in that of a prince-it is not the part allotted him that calls forth the applause of the audience, but the manner in which he represents it. To be great in the world depends upon things over which we have frequently no control: but all may be great in the sight of the Lord: the hearer as well as the preacher; the servant as well as the master. He looketh to the heart; and if we are ready to do whatsoever he appoints, we shall have the testimony that we please God; and shall soon hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Such was the submission of Saul of Tarsus-"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Such was the temper of Samuel-" Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Such was the practice of David"On thee do I wait all the day." And such is the readiness of angels-Though they excel in strength, they do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. What pleases them is not the kind of work in which they are employed, but their having an opportunity of showing their regard to the pleasure of the employer. May his will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!

MARCH 30 - Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, and of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven."Col. i. 4, 5.

THESE were the grounds of Paul and Timothy's praise to God on behalf of the Colossians. And they are all spiritual motives. Tem

VOL. I.

16

poral blessings are not to be overlooked-But gratitude is to be wise, and to proportion its fervours to the value of the benefits conferred. And what are the good things pertaining to the life that now is, compared with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places? Much depends upon the nature of our gratitude. There is no man who does not sometimes thank God. But for what? A safe voyage; a good harvest; a recovery from sickness. All that awakens his heart is confined within the circle of time and sense. Christians are peculiar in every thing; and their gratitude shows that they are heavenly-minded. They therefore thank God not so much for the meat that perisheth, as for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life; not so much for civil freedom, as for the glorious liberty of the sons of God; not so much for health of body as for soul prosperity. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. The blessings here specified are three.

First, their faith in Christ. Faith regards all the Scripture; but this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Faith therefore has principally to do with the Saviour. It receives as true the testimony concerning him; and leads us to depend upon him, and to apply to him for all that he is revealed to accomplish and bestow. Under the influence of it therefore we are represented as looking to him; coming to him; building on him as our foundation; entering him as our refuge; and glory ing in him as the Lord our righteousness and strength-For the Scriptures always describe rather than define faith; and show us what it is by what it does.

Secondly, Their love to all the saints. I need not observe how often love is connected with faith: but the same order is always maintained between them--Faith precedes love. Love is the frunt and not the root; the effect and not the cause. Faith is the origin of every thing in the Christian life; and it is vain unless it be operative-it works by love. Love to whom? To "the Saints". not exclusively, but peculiarly. The Thessalonians loved all their fellow-creatures, but not with the same degree or even kind of love. They loved their enemies, but not as they loved their friends. They loved sinners; but it was with a love of pity and benevolence, hot of esteem and complacency. But the saints were regarded by them as the excellent of the earth, and in them was all their delight. Love to whom? To "all the saints”—regardless of outward distinctions, or the minor matters of religion. Indeed our love to the brethren is not a proof that we have passed from death unto life, unless it regards them as saints. We love them under the influence of some other character or quality unless we can pray, “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity:" and follow the example of him who said, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Thirdly, Their "hope." Hope is a grace as well as faith and love; but as a grace hope is in us; whereas here hope is said to be "laid up for them in heaven"-This shows that the object of hope is here intended; or all that which God has promised to his people beyond the gravi. The laying it up in heaven reminds us of its

security. Hence the admonition of the Saviour: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." In a world like this, where nothing is safe or certain, how anxious, fearful, miserable, must those be, who have their portion in this life! But Christians can dwell at ease. None of these changes and dangers affect their essential welfare. They know in themselves that they have in heaven a letter and an enduring substance. They have chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from them.—It shows us that it is principally future. At present they are not at home, but strangers and pilgrims on earth. They have remittances and supplies, but it is from God's riches in glory. The inheritance is reserved in heaven for them; and they cannot possess it till they are of age. Should they think of building their tabernacles here, something would soon tell them to arise and depart hence for this is not their rest. Seed is sown for the righteous; but the reaping-time is to come. Now is the conflict, but the crown of glory that fadeth not away is reserved for the hour of triumph.-Also by being laid up in heaven it is much concealed. O how great is the goodness. says David, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! and says the Apostle, 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. After all the developments of the Scripture, and the illuminations of the Holy Spirit in the experience of Christians, we read of a glory that shall be revealed. We could not in this weak state of flesh and blood bear the full disclosure. But the veil will soon be drawn aside; and the voice will cry, Come and And the sight will infinitely surpass the expectation.

see.

MARCH 31.-"The ingrafted word.”—James i. 21.

HISTORY is silent as to the time when grafting was first introduced. But it has been long practised; and the process is now generally familiar.

The image essentially includes union, vital union, between parts not connected before. The man receives the word into his heart, as the tree receives into its stock the scion, which by incorporatien becomes thenceforward one with itself. The surprise seems here-We should imagine when the insertion is made, that the sap of the tree entering the scion which is so much smaller, would immediately convert the scion into its own quality: but instead of this the scion converts the sap; and the changed juice maintains, enlarges, fructifies the scion; and causes it in due time to produce-not according to the kind of the old stock-but of the adopted graft.

A metaphor is not to be pressed: out we cannot avoid remarking, That as the body of the tree continues the same after the ingrafting, so in conversion we remain physically the same as before: retaining the same relations, conditions, callings; the same corporeal powers and mental faculties-only the efficiency of them is changed, hallowed, and applied to other uses and purp ses—and all through the medium of the word.

Grafting is one of the most pleasing exercises to those who feel lelight in horticulture: and how eagerl and anxiously after the

operation has been performed, does the gardener go and examine whether it nas succeeded! And this will be soon known. If the scion has taken, it proves the vitality by the appearance and growth of the graft. There are first the shoots; then the branches; at length the blossoms and the fruit appear; and the whole increases every year, till it becomes a great tree, and abundantly rewards the

owner.

Thus earnestly and carefully does a minister look after the effect of his labour; and the success of his preaching is known and hailed in the same way; only with higher exultation and praise. Happy those servants of the Lord Jesus whose hearers have received "the grace of God in truth; and to whom they say, our gospel came to you not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.”

[ocr errors]

-It is from hence the gospel has its character; and is called the ingrafted word. It is so called, however, not because this is always the effect--for there are many who receive it in vain, but it is designed to be so received; and it is actually thus received when "it is able to save the soul." Thus it is called the word of faith-not because it is always believed; but because it is redible; and it is made known for the obedience of faith; and it cannot profit us unless faith be mixed with it. Thus it is called the word of life-not because it quickens all those among whom it coines--for there are many who remain dead in trespasses and sins: but it calls us to walk in newness of life; and the man who receives it, not only has "life, but life more abundantly."

How does this apply to us? "My word," said Jesus to the Jews, "has no place in you"-Has it a place in us?-And what place? In the head only ? or the heart? Is it in us a notion? or a princi ple? And does it work powerfully in us as it does in them that believe? And does it fill us with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God? Such is the promise: "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them."

APRIL.

APRIL 1.—“And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."-John xvii. 13.

"IN the world." For as yet he was in it, but was just going to leave it and go unto the Father. His last words, considering their conduct, might have been reproachful, or at least reproving: Lut the things he now spoke were adapted to encourage, and designed to comfort them "These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."

[ocr errors]

Observe the nature of this joy-"my joy." There is a joy he himself feels in contemplating the welfare of his people. In saving them "he rejoices over them with singing." As the good shepherd he lays the sheep he has found on his shoulder, "rejoicing." He sees of the travail of his soul, and is "satisfied.” satisfied." But his joy here is not the joy of which he is the subject, but the joy of which he is the medium, author, source and only source. Jesus the Saviour! All that is good and blessed is thine. The bluoi that redeems us 18

« AnteriorContinuar »