IV.—NEVER CEASE STRIVING TILL YOU HAVE WON.
Your adversary will not. He will pursue you till you have gained the prize. “He who to the end endures,” is the
saved man. It is very instructive to note how many backsliders there are among professors of mature age. The most grievous cases of falling away are not from the ranks of young disciples, but from those who ought to have been safe examples for them! If you have lived to be grey-headed, remember your silver hair may make a fool’s cap yet! There are other lessons, but they will keep till another year. We will end our Sermon with some lines of Charles Wesley’s, not known to all our readers:—
“But did the great apostle fear
He should not to the end endure,
Should not hold out, and persevere,
And make his own election sure?
Could Paul believe it possible,
When all his toils and griefs were past,
Himself should of salvation fail,
And die a reprobate at last?”“Who then art thou that dar’st reject
The sacred terms, the humbling awe,
As absolutely saved,—elect,—
And free from an abolished law?
Dost thou no self-denial need,
No watch, or abstinence severe;
In one short moment perfected!
An angel—an immortal here?”
XXII. GOOD-FRIDAY.
One wonders how it came to have that name! We cannot help feeling, that if other titles were as well-deserved, it would be a blessing to the world. For instance, if Nobleman, Gentleman, Reverend, &c., were as descriptive as this day’s name, there would be many happier people than there are.
No wonder that it should be called “Good,” for it helps us to look back to the time when the best action the world has known, or can know, was done. We gaze upon the Cross, and we thank God for His unspeakable gift. One knows not which to admire the most: the Love that could smite the Well-beloved, or the Love that could, for the sake of enemies, bear the blow?
How do our readers mean to spend the day? We have no right to bind any man’s conscience, and seek to have others do as we do, except they are led in the same direction, and yet we wonder how those who observe the day at all, can allow themselves to spend it in dissipation.
We are no admirer of those who make the day one of sadness and gloom.
It is GOOD-FRIDAY,
and we cannot understand how men can allow themselves to act as though it were Bad Friday, as though they could hear the hammer nailing Christ to the cross. A high churchman’s conscience is a wonderful thing, and in nothing is it so
surprising as this, that it can allow itself to act as though Jesus were slain and in His tomb! Has not the Lord Himself spoken? Let us listen to Him who speaks in rebuke to those who would darken our homes and places of worship, and cheat themselves into a sentimentality which again sees the corpse of Jesus laid in Joseph’s grave.
“I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for Evermore.”
It cannot be pleasing to Jesus to be spoken of as though He was once more in the hands of His enemies.
While we regret that so many people in our country should make this day one of rioting and extravagance, we are sure that it is in some degree a reaction from the usages of those who would have us spend the day in sorrow. That which is unreal must in time become unsatisfactory, and those who would compel us to live over again the sorrows of Calvary, may drive us to football, or that which is worse! Let men once think that the church has turned actor, and they will say, “No, we will go to the theatre, for there the acting is better done.”
Every day we should visit in spirit the cross of Jesus, for every day we need the merit of the atonement, and the stimulus of that example of self-forgetfulness. Let us turn away from the so-called realism which would hang the world in black, and, at the same time let us avoid those who would make this a day of revelry. There is a middle path, one upon which Christ smiles, and a path we can tread any day, and thus make it good—we mean the
pathway of self-sacrifice.
For the joy of blessing others, let us be willing to endure shame or pain. There is always pleasure to be earned by
those who are willing to pay the price,—the pleasure of unselfishness,—but this cannot be tasted except by those who seek their highest joy in the wellbeing of others. Our risen and glorified Lord tastes this joy every day, Good-Friday not excepted, and we think it will lead us to spend the day according to His will, if we seek for ourselves all the blessings He purchased with His blood, and none more earnestly than that sanctifying Spirit who will help us to follow His blessed example, and, by caring others,
make every good.
The CROWN cannot be
INDEPENDENT
of the SPADE!
XXIII. PETER THE PREACHER.
Yes! the Preacher! for it is in this way he has earned the right to be remembered. Perhaps his sermon at Pentecost was more remarkable in its results than any sermon has been since. The question arises in the minds of thinking men, “Is there any reason why preaching now should be less effective than it was when men first began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ?” One thing is certain, human nature has not improved, and hell is as great a fact now as then. God’s love for men has not decreased. He is still interested in the human race, and the promise, as Peter put it, is “to all that are afar off.”—Acts ii. 39.
“Why, then, do we not see the same results?
We do in kind, but not in number. Why not in both? Is not the answer to be found in Acts i. 14?
“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.”
Is not the Church of to-day weak in the knee? Do we pray as the men and women did who waited for the promise of the Father in the upper room? Peter would pray. He had all the instinct of a preacher, and would feel his heart bound at the thought that he was to be a witness of God’s readiness to pardon. His prayer would differ from many others. How he would plead for the power that would crown him with the diadem of a preacher! There was a time when he had prayed—“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Now, his cry would be—“Come to me, let not
my sins cause Thee to stay, but come quickly.” There are many of us who feel we need to cry to Peter’s Saviour and Lord, for we have allowed doubts to hide His face, or self-indulgence to fence Him about. Let every preacher who reads these words unite with us in pleading for a Pentecost that shall renew our commission, and make all men to know that a risen Saviour is our King, and a promised Comforter our portion,
What a blow to Socinianism, both of idea and word, would a ‘second Pentecost’ become!
We do not here mean to dwell on the example shewn to the Church by the accord in prayer, the many pleading, so differently, and yet in harmony; we are writing now for preachers, knowing that hundreds of workers will read every line we write, and we are thus led to enquire further—
How far Peter’s Sermon is like the sermons we preach?
Some who have read it, as it is printed, have said, “We should not have invited such a preacher to our circuit:” but such people forget that the accompaniments of preaching cannot be printed. Who can write down the spiritual atmosphere? Who can reproduce the tone of voice in which Peter spoke? How can he describe what some of us have felt—the unction—the never-to-be-forgotten emotions of the soul? Depend upon it, these were present in a remarkable manner.
But beside all this, there are the Bible facts. Peter knew his Bible and could quote it. How familiar he must have been with the Old Testament! Could he have found, in any part of the book, passages more telling and more
suitable? If we knew our Bible better, we should not need to do as the manner of some is, round off common-place ideas of our own, with pretty poetry of someone else’s!
Then, the preacher was not afraid to tell the congregation what sins they had committed. Many of them were what is called “good sort of people, went to place of worship, and paid their way,” &c. But it was true, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Let us who preach, cry to God to give us His Spirit, that we may tell those who hear us of their sins. How are they to be convinced of sins, if they are not told of them?
Nor was Peter satisfied with the good feeling, or even with seeing the people moved. It was not enough for him that his hearers were pricked in the heart, he would have them do more. Would he not have said to many of those who have gone into the inquiry-room, “I am not satisfied that you are in earnest. You want God to save you in your sins.” Repentance is impossible to those who are not conscious of guiltiness. And, without repentance, faith holds the cup of water to one who was never thirsty. Do you wonder that it is loathsome? He might drink if it were not so pure,
But it takes thirst to relish water!
This is a tempting subject, we could say much more, but we will only add, that the last word in the chapter, which tells of “Peter the Preacher,” gives the result of such sermons as his—
“Saved!”
XXIV. “WHEN SOLOMON WAS OLD.”
“It came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other Gods.”
1 Kings xi. 4.
Who could have predicted that this would come to pass? And yet it is often so, for it is still true that
No amount of Knowledge will Save from Backsliding those who Refuse to Listen to God.
We learn from verse 10 that God had taken pains to save Solomon from idolatry, (see 1 Kings vi. 12, and xi. 6). But what good is it for even God to try to save a man who will have his own way? And yet one would have thought that a man who knew what Solomon knew, would have not bowed down to gods of wood and stone! It is not always at our weakest place we fail! It is well for us to be aware of this. Who would have expected Moses to fail in his temper, or Elijah in his courage? Solomon must have hated himself when he bowed before these graven images, and must have looked with loathing on those filthy idols before whom he was prostrate, and yet he went on in his evil way. How the priests who offered the idolatrous sacrifices would rejoice in their illustrious pervert! Will any of us ever give the foes of God cause for exultation? Do not tell me that you are too well instructed! Are you wiser than Solomon? “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me.”—Jer. ix, 23-24. You
are safe only as you are willing to be led by the word of God.
What is the Bible to You?
Is it a lamp to your feet? Not merely a lantern to keep you out of the mire, but a treasure like that miner’s lamp; a light by which he is not only guided, but able to walk in the shadow of death. All around him is the gas that would slay him, and yet by that lamp he walks to the place of safety! This is what the Bible must be to you, or it is nothing.
Mind you, it is not enough for you to know the Bible. We have heard drunken men quote it with correctness, but it had not saved them from the demon which haunted them. It is an instructive thought that the man who wrote some of the Bible, who is spoken of in the pulpit as “The Wise Man,” the author of the Book of Proverbs, was led away into sin and eternal disgrace. In fact, it matters not what we know, if we are not led of the Spirit we shall come to grief. The more deeply a ship is laden, if she gets aground, the more likely she is to become a wreck. It takes the wisest of men to make the fool Solomon became. Perhaps the most serious aspect of this story is, that it was not while the king was young, but when grey-headed, that he wandered from God, and this leads me to say that
The worst cases of Backsliding are among those who are no longer young.
We should not have been surprised if Solomon had been led away by youthful passion or indiscretion, but we are shocked to find that it was when he ought to have been venerable that he became vicious—“When Solomon was old.” We should have expected history would have told
us of the power he exerted over the people; how the nation saw in his silver locks the crown of glory he had spoken of in his book. It would have seemed natural to have read of great gatherings of the people of different nations, listening to his wondrously wise words. Instead of this, the news spread far and wide that the wise king had stooped to folly of the worst degree.
My brothers! what sort of old men shall we make? If we are allowed to remain among our fellows, shall we live the life that shall make men thank God for our length of days, or will they wish we had died in our youthful prime? There are men whose youth was like the mountain stream, which cheered everything it touched. Born among the mountains, and wedding other brooks and streamlets, uniting them in a river, clear and lovely, along whose banks children loved to play. But later on, as it became broad and deep, taking in pollution and garbage, until the clear and joyous river is changed into a great sewer, filling the air with noxious smells, and defiling the face of nature with its liquid blackness. Such is life to some men—Solomon was one, perhaps the worst.
One is ready to ask—Can this be the man to whom God spake in large promise? Is this he whose prayer brought into the temple the manifested presence of the Almighty? Can it be possible that this hoary idolater had been the favourite of Jehovah? Alas! it is only too true. More than once we have known men whose prayers could bring heaven to earth, and lift earth to heaven, but who have lived too long, and ere they fell into a dishonoured grave, brought shame to the cross of Jesus, and gave the enemies of God food for laughter. Let those among us who are no longer young, see to it that we are not among those who
fall more deeply into sin than it is possible for young disciples to do.
What should we think if Westminster Abbey became a gin-palace? If all around its gates lewd men and dishonoured women stood and cracked their filthy jokes; if from its lovely choir the drunkard’s song was heard? Verily, you say, “It is nigh to blasphemy to imagine such a thing. We had rather that it had been burned to ashes when the fire of London destroyed St. Paul’s. Would that it had reached far enough West to destroy the ancient pile rather than it should be so polluted!” Aye, aye, you are right, and yet to see a man who, in his youth was a Christian, but in his old age has become an apostate, is a more sorrowful sight still. Alas! that it should be so common.
How did it come about? What scheme of hell led to this? What combination of men and fiends accomplished this tragedy? It was love—affection, infatuation, for that which ought not to have been loved, “King Solomon loved many strange women, besides the daughter of Pharaoh,” as the margin puts it. And this leads me to say that
A Man’s Female Friends Frame his Fortunes.
Solomon began wrong; he allowed his affection to fasten itself on a stranger—an Egyptian. It is a question worth considering, whether we preachers say enough to the people on this question of matrimony. A man’s marriage is sure to tell on his history. He can never be the same again he was before. He may wed one who shall help him to be good, whose voice shall be like church bells calling him to prayer. Or he may fasten himself to one, who, like Jezebel, shall stir up her husband to deeds of shame and cruelty.
Sometimes we have felt, when we have seen some marriages, that it would have been a fitting thing if a hearse had been among the carriages, for there lay dead hope on its way to a grave from which there could be no resurrection!
Young man! what woman is it you like the best? Who is her god? Fashion? Pleasure? What is the name of the deity she worships? If it is anyone rather than Jehovah, beware! Before you die, she shall turn you as Solomon was turned. What is that you say? You are not such a fool! Well, that remains to be seen. Are you one of those who trust in his own heart? If so, remember what he is called. See Prov. xxviii. 26. Is not the helm of your life in her hands now? Would you love her as you do, if she had not the reins of your soul in her grasp? If Solomon had known all that was to follow when he first looked on the daughter of Pharaoh, he would have died before he would have made her his bride. Let not this sad story be in any way a prophecy of your future. There are plenty of women whom to know is to be elevated, and whom to wed would be to foretaste the companionship of heaven. Wives are often the architects and the husbands the builders. See to it, that the woman you love does not make you lay out the foundation of a jail. She may tell you it is a palace, but neither of you have yet seen the elevation. She only draws the ground-plan.
There is yet another scene in this tragedy. Solomon, by his folly, lost his son’s estate. God said, “I will surely rend the kingdom from thee.” Rehoboam was the poorer for his father’s sin.
Our Children become the Heirs of our Crimes.
Some other day, it may be, we will take the story of the
son. Let it suffice to-day that we learn the lesson the Bible would teach us. Solomon’s sun went down in a cloud. It is a disputed question whether Solomon repented in time to save his soul. There ought to have been no question as to whether he was in heaven or no. As it is, we don’t know that David has one of his children with him, except the baby boy who died despite his father’s fasting and prayer. Surely no one more than David will need to have that promise fulfilled—“God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” It may be that David has needed to be comforted, because the builder of the temple is among those who died in idolatry.
Let every father among us bear in mind, that when we neglect prayer, or give up devotion, because we want the time for seeking gold or any other idol, we are mortgaging our children’s future. Giving up religious exercises is like cutting down the trees on an estate, the next heir will know the want of them. No man can be said to be a good father, who, for the sake of any worldly good, impoverishes the souls of his offspring. “Turned away his heart after other gods,” means turning away the kingdom of Israel. Sin cannot be separated from sorrow, and this is as true to-day as it was in the days of Solomon.