Part 7 (1/2)
I love the Lord, because my voice And prayer He did hear; I, while I live, will call on Him Who bowed to me His ear.
He was greatly encouraged to serve G.o.d in view of the alliance and a.s.sistance of Jehovah towards the redemption of Israel. In the fortieth Psalm he ill.u.s.trates this thought still further:
I waited for the Lord my G.o.d, And patiently did bear.
He took me from the fearful pit, And from the miry clay, And on a Rock He set my feet, Establis.h.i.+ng my way.
The nature of salvation is the same all the world over. The scheme is sovereign. The objects are poor, helpless sinners. The results are ever the same, namely, the forgiveness of sin--justification by faith alone; and then, at last, an abundant entrance is afforded into the beautiful mansions of light, where friends.h.i.+p is changeless and carkering care is unknown, and no more pale faces with mute hearts breaking every day.
Yonder we shall be clad in the beauteous wedding garments of the King.
To die in the Lord will be an ample equivalent for all of earth's sorrows and difficulties. In the meantime, we must continually say concerning such providences as the present, ”Draw me, we will run after thee. Awake, O north wind and come thou, south, and blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out.” This loss will work together for our good if we hear His voice. It calls us to the necessary duty of immediate decision. We must not halt any longer between two opinions.
If the Lord be G.o.d follow Him, but if Baal be your G.o.d follow him no longer. But please remember that the wages of sin is death. You are called to decide for Christ, to decide for heaven, by this sad bereavement. He draws you with the cords of love as with the bands of a man. Will you run after Him?
There is no one can help you in the hour of death and the judgment but Jesus. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Yield, oh! yield to His call! Say yes, ”My beloved is mine and I am His; He feedeth among the lilies until the daybreak, and the shadows flee away.” Oh! turn your eyes upwards:
Where high the heavenly temple stands, The house of G.o.d not made with hands, A great High Priest our nature wears, The guardian of mankind appears.
If we would die in the Lord, we must recognize Christ, not only as having died that we might live, but also as having triumphed over the grave, and is now sitting at the right hand of G.o.d making continual intercession for us. By day and by night He pleads our cause. Don't try to get to heaven by the intercession of saints or angels. Christ alone is the Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Disobedience in this direction will prove disastrous.
Say, ”who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments, from Bozrah travelling in the greatness of His strength?” I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. This is your Daysman, your Mediator. He hath opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness.
Five bleeding wounds He bears, Received on Calvary, Now pour effectual prayers And strongly speak for thee.
If you would die like our dear Brother Knowles, _in the Lord_, then to-day behold His wounded hands and side. We have all sinned against G.o.d and abused His mercy; but, oh, let us to-day consecrate ourselves to Christ, and like the prodigal son say, ”I will arise and go to my father.” Christ is our great representative before the throne. Oh, that He would ever teach us to offer this prayer:
Lord G.o.d of Hosts, my prayer hear; O Jacob's G.o.d, give ear!
See G.o.d, our s.h.i.+eld, look on the face Of thine anointed dear.
I tell you, my friends, we do not want any new school theology. The holy religion of our fathers is good enough for me. Here it is a loving father, a crucified and triumphant and pleading saviour for us poor, miserable and helpless sinners, and a Home beyond the flood.
I will arise now and go about the city, in the streets, on the cars, in the workshop, on the s.h.i.+p, on the sea and land where-ever G.o.d may guide my wandering footsteps through each perplexing path of life. And I will seek Him whom my soul loveth.
_They rest from their labors and their works do follow them._ The Psalmist says that our strength is labor and sorrow. The more we toil for Christ and His church the more we honor Him and become fruit-bearers. By a constant course of activity and devotedness for the welfare of fallen humanity, the capacities of the soul are greatly enlarged, and we apprehend more fully the fact that G.o.d hath put the treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of G.o.d and not of man. Sometimes, too, our good will be evil spoken of and attributed to selfish motives. We may be traduced by tongues which neither know our faculties nor our person. 'Tis but the rough road that virtue must go through. We must not allow any discouragements or censure to r.e.t.a.r.d our aggressive work, remembering constantly that the Master was accused of having a devil, and that he cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub. Oh, what wrong ideas men have of the great work of saving souls. What prejudices, what indifference, what neglect, what lukewarmness have the true servants of Christ to encounter as they earnestly toil in transplanting souls into the vineyard _of the Lord_.
The life of Christ on earth was a life of generous labor; and when He called His disciples, He said, ”Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Kempis, in his ”Imitation of Christ,” says, ”by the words of Christ we are taught to imitate His life and manner, if we would be truly enlightened and be delivered from all blindness of heart.” ”Learn of me,” said Jesus, as well as ”Come unto me. I have set the Lord always before me, said David. What a glorious thing it is for the servant of Christ to know that he is earnestly engaged in the work of His Master. It is our labors of love that alone meets with the smile and approbation of G.o.d, for He is cognizant of everything we try to accomplish for His cause on earth. Oh, that we may say from the heart, I must work the works of Him that sent me; the night cometh when no man can work.”
The trees of the Lord are full of sap, they are fat and flouris.h.i.+ng. We are all familiar with the work of blessed beneficence of Howard, the great philanthropist, and Henry Martyn, the self-denying missionary. To be a true Christian, then, requires a life of toil. ”For man goeth forth unto the work and to his labor until the evening.” How sweet, then, is rest to the laboring man. When the harvest is gathered in. A harvest of souls for Christ. Here am I, Lord, and the children which thou hast given me. Paul said that I may so preach and labor that I may present every one of you perfect before G.o.d. This is no mean toil. What prayers. What watching. What toil. What tears. Ah! but at eventide it shall be light. Strange language.
What a beautiful and touching description does Burns give, in his ”Cottar's Sat.u.r.day Night,” of the sweet rest and joy that springs into the soul when the weary work is over. He says:
The toil-worn cottar frae his labor goes, This night his weekly moil is at an end, Collects his spades, his mattocks and his hoes, Hoping the morn in ease and rest to spend, And weary o'er the moor his course does hameward bend.
The next stanza can be truly applied to our Elder in his Christian experience:
The parent pair their secret homage pay, And proffer up to heaven the warm request, That He who stills the raven's clamorous nest, And decks the lily fair in flowery pride, Would in His way His Wisdom see the best, For them and for their little ones provide, But chiefly in their hearts with _grace Divine_ reside.
I think this is the most descriptive, and true, and touching scene of a Christian man's experience that can be found in any language. Burns knew how to touch the tender chord of a human heart. ”An honest man's the n.o.blest work of G.o.d.” ”They rest from their labor and their works do follow them.”
Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, says, ”Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak: For G.o.d is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which He showed unto His name.”
Listen, then, to this sweet, silent voice calling us to go and do likewise.