Page images
PDF
EPUB

2. How, then, shall he not with him freely give us all things.' As if the apostle had said, The conclusion is inevitable; having given us the greater gift, how can it be imagined he will refuse us the less? Having bestowed upon us that which was inconceivably infinitely the most dear and precious, how is it possible he should deny us whatever else may be needful for our final salvation?'

us, who can be against us?' Ah yes,-might |ing the world unto himself, not imputing unto some doubting disciple reply, if God be for us?' men their trespasses. But is he 'for us,' of a truth? is he on the side of one so poor, feeble, worthless as I? will he in the face of all the manifold provocations wherewith I have grieved his Spirit, continue to vouchsafe that grace and strength of which I am every hour, every moment, in need, and without which I must inevitably perish? The answer is ready, and it is as complete as it is gracious. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death for us all, how shall he not, with him, freely give us all things.'

6

[ocr errors]

The argument consists in a pointed reference to what God has already done,-as involving in it of necessity the assurance that he will withhold no good thing' from his people, that he will supply all their need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

"With him.' Whatever good gift the believer receives must come to him, not only through Christ as the channel of all grace and mercy,but with Christ. In other words, until we receive Christ himself, we can receive no blessing from God. Till then we are and must be without God and without hope in the world. Accordingly, it is himself Christ offers to all to whom 1. 'He spared not his own Son.' When the the message of the gospel comes. 'Behold I redemption of a lost world was to be achieved, stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my when the souls of fallen men were to be rescued voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, from sin, and death, and hell, he counted no | and will sup with him, and he with me,' Rev. iii. sacrifice too great for such an end. To secure it 20. I am the living bread which came down a price of infinite value must be paid, his own | from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he Son must be the ransom,—and even at such a cost, shall live for ever. And the bread that I will his purpose of mercy was fulfilled. 'He spared give is my flesh which I will give for the life of him not.' Though he had been in the bosom of the world. Without Christ, we are wretched, the Father from all eternity,-as one brought up and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. with him, and who was daily his delight rejoicing always before him, He freely surrendered him that he might become the suffering substitute of perishing sinners. Yea, he allowed not the cup to pass from him,' even when it was full of the wrath of the Almighty. Not one act of humiliation, not one tear of sorrow, not one groan of agony was diminished from the full weight and measure of what was due to the offended justice of God. He delivered him up to the death.' Not until the career which began in the manger at Bethlehem, had been carried forward to the cross of Calvary, and consummated in the anguish of that awful hour which drew from him the mysterious cry, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Not till then was he permitted to say, 'It is finished.'

But with him,' God will 'freely give us all things.' He exacts nothing as an equivalent for the inestimable blessings of pardon, and peace, and purity, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Christ has purchased them for his people with his own blood, and therefore with him' they are all freely bestowed.' He is the heir of all things,' and all his people, even the very humblest and meanest of their number, are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.' Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours. And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's,' 1 Cor. iii. 21-23.

6

How marvellous is the love of God!-truly it passeth knowledge. To meditate upon it is And for whom was this sacrifice made? On both most pleasing, and most profitable to the whose account was it that God thus delivered up believer's soul. This love is the prime motive, his own Son? It was for us all.' Even for the the grand constraining principle which the gospel very chief of sinners. Whosoever believeth in employs, to subdue the enmity and to soften the him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting impenitence of man's hard and stony heart; to life. 'In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, dislodge the fears and to engage the confidence of barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.' His righte- his unbelieving mind. And just in proportion as ousness is unto all and upon all them that believe. we are enabled to comprehend with all saints No one that cometh to God by him will he in what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and any wise cast out. For in Christ he is reconcil-height of the love of God to us,-will that love

[ocr errors]

to God which is the fulfilling of his law be shed | ning. Events may fall out altogether contrary abroad in our hearts. While we remain ignorant to our anticipations, breaking up our best laid or distrustful of the love of God, conscious guilt will fill our minds with fear, that fear which hath torment. But there is no fear in love; perfect love casteth out fear. And it is only those who are 'rooted and grounded in love,' that are 'filled with the fulness of God.' 'Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen,' Eph. iii. 20, 21.

SECOND DAY.-EVENING.

schemes, and disappointing our fondest hopesour most deeply cherished desires. And were we left to sustain a shock so unexpected and severe in our own strength,—were we abandoned in circumstances so unlooked for and so agitating, entirely to our own resources, how little hope would there be of a way of escape? But the Lord seeth under the whole heaven. The most sudden of those turns of fortune, of those cross incidents which so confound the wisdom of man, and so baffle all his powers of calculation, surprise not him whose understanding is infinite. The 'end and measure of our days,' and the whole course and complexion they are destined to take, were present from all eternity to that Omniscience which foresees, with equal certainty, the falling

‘And as thy days, so shall thy strength be, Deut. of a leaf, and the dissolution of a world.

xxxiii. 25.

OFTENTIMES When the Christian turns his eye forward upon the future, and attempts to penetrate the thick shadows that rest upon it, his mind is oppressed with anxieties and fears. Already he has had painful and humbling experience of his utter insufficiency for any good thing; of his proneness to err, his readiness to give way to temptation, his tendency to grow weary in well-doing, his constant danger of becoming a prey to the devil, the flesh, or the world. The knowledge of these infirmities, and the recollection of the many sins and short-comings into which they have already betrayed him, fill him not unfrequently with much disquietude, and make him to tremble for the safety of his soul. And truly, had he nothing better than his own might and prudence with which to meet the dangers that beset his path, well might he be alarmed. But the real secret, both of his peril and his perplexity, is his forgetfulness of the presence and power of him whose grace is sufficient for the severest trials of his people, and whose strength is perfected in their weakness. And accordingly, it is by leading back the believer's thoughts to the only source of security, that God graciously seeks to dispel his terrors, and to re-assure and comfort his fainting heart. You know not, it is true, what lies before you. You cannot tell what even a day or an hour may bring forth. But let this one word from a faithful covenant-keeping God, be your ground of confidence 'as thy days, so shall thy strength be.'

2. But the promise implies, not only that he who hath given us this promise, knows with infallible certainty what shall befal us; it implies further, that nothing shall or can befal us without his will. Our days' shall be such, as in his own infinite wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness, He hath himself appointed them to be. He numbereth even the hairs of our head, and without our Father not a sparrow falleth to the ground. The Lord reigneth,' said the psalmist, 'let the earth rejoice,' Psal. xcvii. 1. And what a cause of rejoicing is it to be assured, that all things are under the constant, irresistible control of him, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working! His way, it is true, appears on many occasions, to our view, to be in the sea, and his path on the great waters, so that his footsteps are not known,' Psal. lxxvii. 19. The designs of his holy providence may be, by us, inscrutable; clouds and darkness may seem to be round about his pavilion; but that the dispensation, whatever it be, has emanated from the counsels of eternity,

this is enough to inspire the child of God with unwavering confidence in its absolute rectitude; for shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? are not justice and judgment the habitation of his throne? It is a realizing conviction of this truth, that he and all his concerns are in the hands of God, which enables the believer both 'to hope, and quietly to wait for the salvation of God,' Lam. iii. 26. It is this which strengthens him to say, even under the sorest adversity, ‘Thy

will be done.'

of

1.This promise reminds us, that though the future 3. But once more still, while the promise be hidden, and that in great wisdom and mercy, the text implies, that the Lord knows of what from us,—it is all naked and open in the eyes of nature our days shall be, and that all the ‘orderthe Lord. He knoweth the end from the begining of our lot' is from himself; it at the same

case.

time expressly assures the Christian, that grace
will be given in proportion to the exigency of his
As thy days, so shall thy strength be.
What encouragement, what unspeakable consola-
tion is this promise fitted to convey? How closely
does it connect the believer with his Lord? How
strongly does it assure him of the watchfulness,
the sympathy, the care of his gracious Redeemer?
'The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out
of temptation,' 2 Pet. ii. 9. The trial of their
faith is to him much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,' 1
Pet. i. 7. 'God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that
ye may be able to bear it,' 1 Cor. x. 13.
If it be the duties of our place and station that
fill us with solicitude,—if their number seems to
surpass the resources of our strength and time,
if their difficulty defies our wisdom,-if the
responsibility they involve presses heavily on our
conscience, let us cast our burden on the Lord
and he will sustain it. 'Ask and ye shall receive,
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be
opened unto you,' Luke xi. 9.

If it be trials, in our person, our families, our fortunes, we are called to endure; we have not only an example of patient suffering set for us by him who 'endured the cross, despising the shame,' and to whom therefore we do well to look, 'lest we should be weary, and faint in our minds;' but we have an explicit assurance, that 'he will not leave us comfortless, that he will come to us.' In all his people's afflictions he is himself afflicted. He will be 'a very present help in time of trouble,' Psal. xlvi. 1.

If it be temptations to sin to which we are exposed,—if the cares of this life, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things,' be threatening to enter in, and to entice us away from God; he who hath himself suffered being tempted, will not fail to succour his people when they are tempted. He will teach those who make him their refuge to say with Paul: 'I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ Jesus which strengtheneth me,' Phil. iv. 12, 13.

THIRD DAY.-MORNING.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee,' Psal. lxxxiv. 11, 12.

THE word 'for' which begins this passage of scripture, shows that here we have the grounds of some previous statement, the reasons which had chiefly moved the psalmist to utter those expressions which the preceding context contains. At the period when this song of Zion was composed, David was an exile from his city and his throne. And nothing speaks more strongly of the depth and fervour of his piety, than the fact, that of all the losses he had sustained in that season of sore adversity, none pressed so heavily upon his heart as the loss of the public ordinances of the house of God. His soul longed, yea, even fainted for the courts of the Lord,' ver. 2. One day in the courts of the sanctuary, was to him better than a thousand. The meanest attendant in the temple, occupied, in his estimation, a place of honour. And in his own state of separation from the tabernacle of the Most High, he envied the very birds that had found nests for themselves beneath the altars of God. And why this delight in the place where God had put his name, and in the services which bring the creature into close communion with the great Creator? For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.'

Three things in this passage invite our consideration. I. What God is. He is a sun and shield.'

II. What he does for his people. 'He gives grace and glory, and withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly.' III. The confidence which, for these reasons, ought to be reposed in him. 'O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.'

I. 'God is a sun and shield.' Both comparisons are strikingly appropriate. To the natural world the sun is the grand source of light and life. And God in Christ is the light and the life of men. This accordingly is the testimony of the Lord Jesus, when he was manifested in the flesh. 'I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' Moreover, it is this very light which gives life to the soul. For every regenerate soul is born 'not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.' As the natural sun vivifies and enlightens

the earth, so the Lord, who is 'the Sun of righte- | complete and wonderful. 'It doth not yet appear ousness,' sends out his living light and health into what we shall be; but we know that when he men's dark and perishing souls. shall appear we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is,' 1 John iii. 2.

'But the Lord is also a shield.' Though in the moment of his conversion, the sinner is truly brought from darkness into light, he is not in the same instant removed from all danger. He is now in the right way,' the way to a 'city of habitation.' But his course is through an enemy's country; and at every step of his progress his path is beset by the foe. The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. The world lieth in wickedness. His own heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. But the Lord God is a 'shield.' 'Behold,' therefore joyfully exclaims the believer, 'God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation,' Isa. xii. 2.

II. What God does for his people. 'He gives them grace and glory, and he withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly.' He gives them 'grace.' This is their provision by the way. It is a provision abundantly adequate to their necessities, however urgent and oppressive these may be. My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness,' 2 Cor. xii. 9. It is a provision which is never exhausted. 'He giveth more grace,' Jam. iv. 6. It is a provision dealt out with unerring exactness, as he knoweth that their several cases require. For 'unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ.' It is a provision infinitely rich and various. For to one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit,' 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9. 'My God,' says the apostle Paul,

[ocr errors]

'shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,' Phil. iv. 19.

6

He gives them 'glory.' This is their final and eternal reward; when they shall have fought the good fight and finished their course, they shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away,' 1 Pet. v. 4. The glory,' said Jesus unto his Father, which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one,' John xvii. 22, 23. This participation in the glory of Christ shall extend both to the bodies and the souls of his people. The body, which is sown in corruption, shall be raised in incorruption; sown a natural body, it shall be raised a spiritual body: sown in dishonour, it shall be raised in glory, 1 Cor. xv. The soul, on the ether hand, shall undergo a transformation equally

But if we would hope to enjoy this grace in time, and this glory in eternity,—we must ‘walk in the light, as he is in the light,' and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

III. What confidence should these considera

tions prompt us to repose in God! O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.' "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth, even for ever,' Psal. cxxv. 1, 2.

THIRD DAY.-EVENING.

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, Rom. viii. 38, 39.

In the immediately preceding verses Paul had been expressing, in a strain of holy confidence and joy, the strong and blissful conviction which the gospel had given him, of the present security an final triumph of all the people of God. In themselves, it is true, they are unprofitable servants, less than the least of all his mercies. But who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?” Tried, indeed, by their own merits they have all sinned and come short of his glory. But it is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?" In the world, it is not to be denied, they have much tribulation; for many of them in those times of trial and persecution had been, so to speak, killed all the day long,-accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' But could the enmity of ungodly men separate them from the love of Christ,— from the love of that Saviour who laid down for their sakes his life upon the bloody and ignominious cross,—and who was now within the vail at God's right hand, with an all-prevailing voice making continual intercession for them? No! let the violence of the ungodly do its worst,-let all the evils which malice or misfortune could accumulate, be heaped in succession upon their heads,-let tribulation terrify, let distress grieve, let persecution wound, let famine waste, let nakedness expose, let peril endanger, let the sword

destroy, 'in all these things,' exultingly exclaims that which shall be. The round of time's agen

the apostle, 'we are more than conquerors through Christ that loved us.'

1. Neither 'death nor life' can separate the believer from the love of God. Life has indeed many snares to entangle the followers of Christ, and withdraw them from their allegiance;-its vanities, its pleasures, its cares; and Satan well knows how to use them, so as 'to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.' But an unseen power the power of Omnipotence, is around them, a power which says to every adversary, 'hitherto shalt thou come and no farther.' They dwell under the shadow of the Almighty. Death is the king of terrors. He can dissolve all earthly ties, he can tear asunder the most endearing of human relationships, he can wrench from our grasp the most loved of our worldly treasures. But he cannot separate us from the love of God. He can crumble into dust the earthly house of our tabernacle ;-but only that we may exchange it for a building of God, 'an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' He can close our eyes to all which they here behold, and our ears to all they now hear; but only that we may open them on sights and sounds, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard;' such as it hath not entered into the mind of man to conceive.

2. Neither 'angels, nor principalities, nor powers,' can separate us from the love of God. The world of spirits has no inhabitant of might sufficient to make a breach in that covenant, which shelters the believer; that covenant well ordered in all things and sure; within which he reposes upon the love of a reconciled God. The principalities and powers, -the thrones and dominions,-whether those that sway the sceptres of this world, or that hold their dark confederacy at the gates of hell;' are

cies, and circumstances, continues to revolve. Now they are the past,-now the present,-now the future. But however various they be, the people of God have ever withstood them all. Time may shake and remove things temporal; but the love of God to his people is one of those things eternal, which cannot be shaken, and which shall remain. And space is as powerless in this attempt as time. Neither height nor depth;' nothing above, though the universe be searched to the highest summit of heaven; nothing beneath, though hell be challenged to its lowest abyss;— nothing throughout all immensity can be discovered of efficacy to check, even for one passing moment, the full and flowing tide of God's unfathomable love.

4. Nor any other creature,' can separate us from the love of God. The apostle has now, as it were, reached the limit of all imaginable things, by which the soul might be threatened with separation from the love of God. He has sent his soaring mind, guided and elevated by the Spirit of God, abroad over earth, and hell, and heaven; with the calm eye of faith, touched into penetrating clearness by an unction from the Holy One, he has ranged over the whole visible and invisible world; all nature, animate, and inanimate, has passed in review before him; and from this far reaching survey, he has gathered back one united testimony to the glorious truth, that creation has not within it any power to divide the believer from that love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

FOURTH DAY.-MORNING.

impotent, however vehemently they may striveThen hath God also to the Gentiles granted

to shake what stands established upon the love of God. 'Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed; saying, Let us break his bands, and cast his cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. . . . Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. ... Blessed are all they that put their trust in him,' Psal. ii. 1-4, 9, 10.

3. Neither things present, nor things to come, neither height, nor depth,' can separate us from the love of God. Time has nothing in all its ample store of resources, that can undo the purposes of eternity. The thing which hath been, is

repentance unto life,' Acts xi. 18.

THESE words indicate the arrival of a period which had long before been expressly foretold. The sacred volume is introduced by an account of the great work of creation, and of the covenant by which, under God, man was set over it. But scarcely is this covenant announced, together with the blessings by which the keeping of it was to be attended, when we arrive at the detail of its impious violation, and of the consequent influx of that tide of sin and misery which from that fatal hour has continued to overflow and defile this whole world in all its succeeding generations. It is, however, precisely at this early stage in the inspired history we meet with the first faint and obscure intimations of what it

« PreviousContinue »