He sometimes, by a sudden calamity, causes to flash upon the mind, with the suddenness, the vividness, and the fearfulness of lightning, the truth which had formerly shone clearly and steadily, but unregardedly, from the page of revelation. What is thus accomplished by the frowns of Providence, is sometimes not less suddenly, and not less strikingly, accomplished by the simple preaching of the word. While the cloud of Providence is charged with the lightning, the Scriptures-the quiver of the Almighty, are charged with the sharp arrows of conviction; and when directed by the Spirit, are not less effectual in piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. The simple announcing of a text is sometimes the means of startling the conscience from the sleep of self-security, to a painful apprehension of coming wrath. As a dream when one awaketh,' so the sin-convicted and self-condemned sinner comes to a consciousness, that hitherto he has been dead, while he lived-dead to the most solemn and momentous realities, to the most certain, the most awful, and the most imminent of dangers. and for the mitigation of which the sinner can plead no excuse; it is with an earnestness at which the dead in sin may wonder, or which they may deride as weakness, but for which there is in reality too good reason, that the convicted and self-condemned sinner cries, Men and brethren, what shall I do? This is a cry, not in soltitude; or if in solitude, not in solitude alone. It is a cry directed to those who can sympathize with, and counsel, in such an emergency. And to such, though a distressing, it is a gladdening cry. It is the uttered pangs of the second birth; but it is joyfully prophetic of the life that shall never die. True repentance is a cup of bitterness-a dark valley-a day of great heaviness and sorrow, and trembling of heart. It is the daughter of sadness, clothed in sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. Her eyes are red with weeping, and her breast is bare, and sore with beating.' Were this the sorrow of the world, which worketh death, we might well weep over it. But it is a sorrow which calls for joy-joy even in heaven-the joy of angels over one sinner that repenteth. The The effect of such a disclosure is an irrepressi- gay, laughing prodigal, wasting his substance in ble alarm; and while an irrepressible, it is seen riotous living, makes the wise man, and espeto be a well-founded alarm, respecting the salva- cially the serious Christian, weep. The prodigal tion of the soul. For, how fearful the revelation become the swine-herd, sitting in rags, without which the disclosure makes! It is wrath that is a friend to give to him, and fain to fill his belly revealed, the wrath of an Almighty avenger, with the husks that the swine did eat, full of wrath revealed from heaven, from the throne of melancholy, poignant thoughts on his past folly Him whose glory now appears like a consuming and the want and degradation of his present state; fire-not the radiant glory of a purely beaming this sad spectacle fills the wise man and the light, of an unclouded sun, as He appears to serious Christian with the joy of hope. But it angels and reconciled men; but the portentous is a spectacle enough to make the sons of God glory of a fiery meteor, of a blood-like sun shout for joy, when the downcast prodigal, coming charioted in mountain masses of lurid clouds to himself, and calling to mind his father's house, pregnant with flames, in which the red right says within himself, 'How many hired servants hand of the Almighty seems embosomed, and in my father's house have bread enough and to already moving to smite with its awful everlast- spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise ing vengeance. It is wrath too, from which there and go to my father.' The prodigal is yet in is seen to be no escape. It is seen that he that wretchedness; but he is on his way to happiness: fleeth shall not escape, and he that escapeth shall and the joyful father might well say, even before not be delivered.' And while it is a fearful the best robe was put upon him, before the ring looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,' was on his hands, or the shoes on his feet, 'let from which there is no escape; it is a judgment us eat and be merry.' It is not then to uninand indignation, for deliverance from which the terested, but to deeply and joyfully sympathizing sin-convicted can plead no self-satisfying, and far counsellors-to brethren, that the penitent address less a God-satisfying excuse. His sin, he has themselves, when they inquire, 'What shall we come to see, was wilfully, obstinately, and per- do?' Let not the spiritually distressed, therefore, severingly committed; and so committed, not-fear to go to the godly minister or neighbour, to withstanding manifold counsels, warnings, and ask counsel, how they may obtain comfort to rebukes. their afflicted souls. Let them go to impart joy and return rejoicing. The terrors of the awakened conscience being thus, the terrors of coming wrath-wrath from heaven-wrath from which there is no escape, TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.-MORNING veil.' Imagination makes the poet feel; so docs true faith the Christian. It brings the object To open their eyes, and to turn them from dark-which it contemplates near to him,—gives it not ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me,' Acts xxvi. 18. 'WHO so blind as those who will not see?' asks the proverb. And says the prophet, 'Bring forth the blind people that have eyes.' There is, then, other than natural; there is intellectual, moral, spiritual blindness. Comparatively few are blind to the light of the sun. It is the reverse of this with the light of the gospel: comparatively few have their eyes open to behold it. None can behold it, till they obey the command in its spiritual sense, 'Go wash in the pool of Siloam.' Go then, ye that are blind, to the fountain of gospel truth and spiritual influence; like the blind man, wash in faith, and like him you will come seeing. Seeing what? God in his majesty, holiness, and frowning displeasure against iniquity-sin in its guiltiness and loathsomeness—self in your guilt, depravity, danger, and helplessness-Christ in his all-sufficiency and freeness for your salvation-God in Christ, reconciling a guilty world unto himself, not imputing to them their trespasses. You will see time in its shortness and uncertainty, eternity with its heaven of bliss and its abode of misery-the one in its allurements, the other in its terrors, and both in their unending perpetuity. But you will say, All these I see; I have been taught them from my youth up. Yes, you have heard of them by the hearing of the ear, but hearing is not seeing. Mark the difference: I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now doth mine eye see Thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' It is one thing to be told that God is holy, it is another by faith to see God's holiness. It is one thing to be told that sin is sinful, it is another by faith to see sin's sinfulness. It is one thing to be told that Christ is all-sufficient, it is another by faith to see and lay hold on his all-sufficiency. It is one thing to contemplate past events and distant scenes with the faculties of the unimaginative, uninterested compiler of facts; it is another to contemplate these with the realizing and creative faculties of the poet or the painter. What imagination is to the poet or the painter, faith is to the Christian. It gives vividness, presence, substance, to the object which it contemplates. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for.' It not only knows that God is in heaven, it sees him there: 'It enters within the only reality but proximity. It enables him to know experimentally the full import of that expression, Enoch walked with God;' and can he but feel, when he is conscious of such august and holy companionship? We have said that hearing is not seeing. But there is also a seeing which is not the seeing of faith. There is openness of the mind's eye to truth in the abstract, while there is blindness to truth in the concrete, that is, to truth in connection with the object of whom it is affirmed. The eye of the mind may take in the idea of infinitude, and wisdom, and power, and goodness. from the works of creation and from the page of scripture, while there is a habitual blindness to the personality, presence, and active agency of the Being in whom these attributes reside. In short, God's attributes as abstract truths may enter the mind and remain there, while God's personality and presence as the actual possessor and exerciser of these attributes, is habitually excluded. And so of every other scripture truth. This enables us to understand how unbelievers and nominal Christians can sometimes stand amazed at the works or ways of God, and yet with truth be said to be 'living without God in the world.' It is the mere immensity of the power, or wisdom, or beneficence, which overawes them, not the apprehended personality and agency of the Godhead in whom these attributes reside. They are overawed, but their feeling is like that of the atheistic painter when he contemplates Alpine scenery; or like that of the atheistic poet when he contemplates the sublimities of the hurricane-the feeling of the mere man of taste. Such feeling is no certain indication of the faith of a Christian, or of a religionist of any name; for it may be experienced by him who denies the being of a God. Say not then that your eyes are open to gospel truth, merely because you have been taught it, and are feelingly impressed by it. But the text speaks not only of opening the blind eyes, but of turning from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. And why? Because we may have our eyes opened to the darkness in which we have hitherto lived, and yet 'love the darkness rather than the light; our deeds being evil.' Light is pleasant to the eye that loves it, but it is painful to the eye that cannot bear it. The light of evidence is courted by arraigned innocence: 'He cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest.' But the • Now we light of evidence is dreaded by the arraigned cul- | can he know them, for they are spiritually disprit, and he is tempted to do every thing in his cerned.' It is only a Grecian that can teach to power to quench it, or to escape from it: 'Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.' It is not enough, therefore, that the light of conviction shine in upon the conscience; the power of conversion must turn from the unfruitful works of darkness.' Gospel light only makes manifest; it does not necessarily convey salvation. It reveals the way, but we must turn our feet into it, and walk therein. Has then the gospel opened our blind eyes to the darkness in which we have hitherto lived? Let us turn our back upon the darkness, and hasten to the region where the true light shineth. Having turned our back upon the darkness,—which is Satan's element, and one of the chief secrets and sources of his power, -we shall escape from under the dominion of that dread and deceitful enemy to God; and having reached our once angry, but now reconciled Father, we shall obtain forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified. What is there in darkness that should be tempting to any but a devil? To him the darkness is tempting, were it for nothing else than to escape the light. But if we are not wholly devils, and if we dread their destiny, what more desirable than forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among the sanctified by faith in Christ? TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.-EVENING 'Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law,' Psal. cxix. 18. THERE are professing Christians who can admire the beauty and propriety of such a prayer as this; but who, when you unfold to them its meaning and the doctrine upon which it proceeds -the doctrine of spiritual influence,-will forthwith say, 'This is an hard saying: who can hear it.' They find it easy, and they think it rational, to utter the prayer without meaning; but they find it hard, and they think it irrational, to utter it with the intelligence and faith of a Bible Christian. understand Greek: so it is only the Spirit that How welcome every one to utter such a prayer! And how strong the inducements; whether we consider the power and willingness of the hearer and answerer of prayer, the prevalence of the intercessor at the throne, the power of the intercessor in the heart, or the gifts which are received in answer to our supplications! But it ought not to be forgotten, that the The Greek Testament contains the same won-blessings which we receive through the Spirit, drous things that the English Testament contains. are not sent down by miracle from heaven. They But we must learn the language, before we can see are already upon the earth treasured up in the those wonders in it. In like manner, we must law of God. They are like the treasures hid in learn the language of the Spirit, before we can the earth for the husbandman that ploughs, or read spiritually its recorded discoveries. The for the miner that digs for them. In the word natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither and though the eyes were opened by the Spirit, we cannot expect to find them, till we seek them tion. 6 TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.-MORNING. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me,' John vi. 45. 'TAUGHT of God,' that is, taught by God; not concerning Him. Or, God-taught, as the original might be correctly rendered; and, as the same phrase, 'taught of God,' in 1 Thes. iv. 9, would be rendered, if literally rendered. 'Learned of the Father.' Here also the 'of" should be 'by,' or 'from,' to indicate with less ambiguity, as the original does, whence the learning has been derived. But, how taught by God? By His works, by the miracles of Christ, and by His word, say some. Truly so; but not wholly, nor chiefly so. Many of the Jews whom Jesus addressed, had enjoyed this mode of teaching to the full, and had not come to Him. But He says, Every man that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. It is of an effectual teaching that Christ speaks; not of an ineffectual. He speaks of his Father as a teacher by whom men shall learn; not of his works or word, as a book from which they may learn. How then taught by God? Taught by his Spirit, for this is the prediction of the prophets: 'It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.' I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.' Why should we demur to receive such a doctrine? Why be slow to avail ourselves of such a promise? Are we naturally so teachable in divine things, so void of prejudice, so fond of truth?-of humbling, self-condemning truth? Are holiness, and self-denial, and love of God, so natural to us, so congenial to our corrupt affections, that we need not the aid of a divine illuminator and sanctifier? Are we so like the holy angels that we are already worthy of, and fit for, heaven? Or, if not, is it so easy a matter to acquire their likeness, and a liking to their society, their employments and enjoyments, that we can dispense with foreign aid for such a purpose? Have we hitherto been so obedient to the truth? Have we hitherto made so ample a return to Christ, for the great love wherewith He loved us? In our eating, in our drinking, and in whatsoever we have done, have we done all so uniformly, so devoutly, so devotedly to the glory of God, that we are sensible of no shortcomings; or of no such shortcomings as to make us wish for help that they may be fewer, and that the very end of our being may be more the desire of our hearts, and the fruit of our lives? Ah! what says an inspired and eminently devoted apostle! We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.' 'O! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' But whence our unwillingness to acquiesce in, and to ask for, so necessary, so desirable, and so free a gift, as the gift of the Spirit? 'It interferes with my free-agency. It detracts from my own sufficiency. It makes man nothing, and God everything, in my salvation.' O pride, pride! of how much hast thou bereft us! Of how much wouldst thou bereave us still! Is it not enough that thou separatest between chief friends on earth? that thou sealest up the fountain of love and charity, by sealing the lips and palsying the hand of the poor but proud unfortunate among men? Will nothing satisfy thy lust of power, and love of liberty, but the separating of the creature from the Creator-the redeemed from the Redeemer? Will nothing satisfy the haughtiness of thy poverty, but to spurn the pearl of great price, and the riches of redeeming and sanctifying love? Thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' Let the forbearance and tenderness of a compassionating God, who knows thee and thy necessities better than the proud can know themselves, subdue thee to acceptance of His authoritative, yet affectionate advice: 'I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.' But, still talking of thy freedom? Thou fool! It is because God will not, cannot, as moral governor, touch thy moral freedom, that thou, if impenitent, art left to perish in thy sins. God desires not the death of any sinner, and He has done every thing short of interfering with liberty of will, for overcoming the sinner's unwillingness to come unto Himself. His seeming interference, and the sinner's plausible, but unfounded objection, are an affecting proof of this. 'Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life.' · of Christ, which the worldly and unregenerate cannot brook. They would fain be thought the followers of Christ, although they have not his Spirit. But if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.' They would unwittingly be both the pharisee and the publican-the pharisee in character, and the publican in blessing. Forgetting their bad deeds, they boast of their good deeds, would be thought less needful of repentance than the publican, and would thereby be justified in the sight of God. Nay, they despise, perhaps, the publican and his unostentatious distance, downcast eyes, and beating of his breast. Yet they would inherit his blessing. They give to God their negatives in morals, and their positives in religion:-their negatives in morals; for they are neither extortioners, nor unjust, nor adulterers, nor quite so bad as the publican, which they think is saying a great deal for themselves :-their positives in religion; for they fast twice in the week, and they give tithes of all that they possess; and these are the substantials, if not the essentials, of a gift. These they give, and they think it hard that a becoming consciousness on their part of the value of their gift, should of itself turn their gold into dross, and their sacrifice into an abomination. Such is their knowledge of divine things. Yet they are not ignorant. They are sometimes the wisest of the wise in this world; and they are not unfrequently the wise in their own conceit. But it is of the world that they have learned--not of the Father: and they have been always learning, but have never come to the knowledge of the truth. Well did Esaias prophesy, saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.' Teach me thy way, O Lord, teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God; thy Spirit is good. TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.-EVENING. 'Draw me, we will run after thee,' Cant. i. 4. THIS prayer is from the Song of Songs; that is, according to a Hebrew idiom, The most excellent of Songs. Open mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of this portion of thy law. But it is not only the pride of moral freedom; the pride of personal character creates a preju- The church of God is in this Song poetically dice against the doctrine of the text. Every represented under the figure of a bride, surroundone that hath heard, and hath learned of the ed by a company of choral virgins. The bride Father, cometh unto me.' This draws a distinc- sings, 'Draw me.' The choral virgins unite with tion between themselves and the true followers her in singing, We will run after thee.' |