Through want of s.p.a.ce I was obliged to close my last letter without even touching upon the subject of the Sunday-school: I must, however, devote a page or two to a branch of work which has occupied a very large place in my heart for thirty years. I should deem my series incomplete were this subject left untouched.
Some may question how far the Sunday-school can be viewed as an integral part of the work of evangelization. I can only say it is mainly in this light I regard it. I look upon it as one great and most interesting branch of gospel work. The superintendent of the Sunday-school and the teacher of the Sunday-school cla.s.s are workers in the wide gospel field, just as distinctly as the evangelist or preacher of the gospel.
I am fully aware that a Sunday-school differs materially from an ordinary gospel preaching. It is not convened in the same way, or conducted in the same manner. There is, if I may so express myself, a union of the parent, the teacher, and the evangelist, in the person of the Sunday-school worker. For the time being he takes the place of the parent: he seeks to do the duty of a teacher; but he aims at the object of the evangelist--that priceless object, the salvation of the souls of the precious little ones committed to his charge. As to the mode in which he gains his end--as to the details of his work--as to the varied agencies which he may bring to bear, he alone is responsible.
I am aware that exception is taken to the Sunday-school on the ground that its tendency is to interfere with parental or domestic training.
Now I must confess, dearest A., that I cannot see any force whatever in this objection. The true object of the Sunday-school is, not to supersede parental training, but to help it where it exists, or to supply its lack where it does not exist. There are, as you and I well know, hundreds of thousands of dear children who have no parental training at all. Thousands have no parents, and thousands more have parents who are far worse than none. Look at the mult.i.tudes that throng the lanes, alleys, and courtyards of our large cities and towns, who seem hardly a degree above mere animal existence--yea, many of them like little incarnate demons.
Who can think upon all these precious souls without wishing a hearty G.o.d-speed to all _true_ Sunday-school workers, and earnestly longing for more thorough earnestness and energy in that most blessed work?
I say "_true_" Sunday-school workers, because I fear that many engage in the work who are not true, not real, not fit. Many, I fear, take it up as a little bit of fashionable religious work, suited to the younger members of religious communities. Many, too, view it as a kind of set-off to a week of self-indulgence, folly, and worldliness. All such persons are an actual hindrance rather than a help to this sacred service.
Then again, there are many who sincerely love Christ, and long to serve Him in the Sunday-school, but who are not really fitted for the work.
They are deficient in tact, energy, order, and rule. They lack that power to adapt themselves to the children, and to engage their young hearts, which is so essential to the Sunday-school worker. It is a great mistake to suppose that every one who stands idle in the market-place is fit to turn into this particular branch of Christian labor. On the contrary, it needs a person thoroughly fitted of G.o.d for it; and if it be asked, "How are we ever to be supplied with suited agents for this branch of evangelistic service?" I reply, Just in the same way as you are to be supplied in any other department--by earnest, persevering, believing prayer. I am most thoroughly persuaded that if Christians were more stirred up by G.o.d"s Spirit to feel the importance of the Sunday-school--if they could only seize the idea that it is, like the Tract depot and the preaching, part and parcel of that most glorious work to which we are called in these closing days of Christendom"s history--if they were more permeated by the idea of the evangelistic nature and object of Sunday-school work, they would be more instant and earnest in prayer, both in the closet and in the public a.s.sembly, that the Lord would raise up in our midst a band of earnest, devoted, whole-hearted Sunday-school workers.
This is the lack, dearest A.; and may G.o.d, in His abounding mercy, supply it! He is able, and surely He is willing. But then He will be waited on and inquired of; and "He is the rewarder of them that _diligently_ seek Him." I think we have much cause for thankfulness and praise for what has been done in the way of Sunday-schools during the last few years. I well remember the time when many of our friends seemed to overlook this branch of work altogether. Even now many treat it with indifference, thus weakening the hand and discouraging the hearts of those engaged in it.
But I shall not dwell upon this, inasmuch as my theme is the Sunday-school, and not those who neglect or oppose it. I bless G.o.d for what I see in the way of encouragement. I have often been exceedingly refreshed and delighted by seeing some of our very oldest friends rising from the table of their Lord, and proceeding to arrange the benches on which the dear little ones were soon to be ranged to hear the sweet story of a Saviour"s love. And what could be more lovely, more touching, or more morally suited, than for those who had just been remembering the Saviour"s dying love to seek, even by the arrangement of the benches, to carry out His living words, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me?"
There is very much I should like to add as to the mode of working the Sunday-school; but perhaps it is just as well that each worker should be wholly cast upon the living G.o.d for counsel and help as to details. We must ever remember that the Sunday-school, like the Tract depot and the preaching, is entirely a work of individual responsibility. This is a grand point; and where it is fully understood, and where there is real earnestness of heart and singleness of eye, I believe there will be no great difficulty as to the particular mode of working. A large heart, and a fixed purpose to carry on the great work and fulfil the glorious mission committed to us, will effectually deliver us from the withering influence of crotchets and prejudices--those miserable obstructions to all that is lovely and of good report.
May G.o.d pour out His blessing on all Sunday-schools, upon the pupils, the teachers, and the superintendents! May He also bless all who are engaged, in any way, in the instruction of the young! May He cheer and refresh their spirits by giving them to reap many golden sheaves in their special corner of the one great and glorious gospel field!
Ever believe me, dearest A., Your deeply affectionate * * *
THE LIVING G.o.d AND A LIVING FAITH
There is one great substantial fact standing prominently forth on every page of the volume of G.o.d, and ill.u.s.trated in every stage of the history of G.o.d"s people--a fact of immense weight and moral power at all times, but specially in seasons of darkness, difficulty, and discouragement, occasioned by the low condition of things among those who profess to be on the Lord"s side. The fact is this, _That faith can always count on G.o.d, and G.o.d will always answer faith_.
Such is our fact, such our thesis; and if the reader will turn with us, for a few moments, to 2 Chron xx., he will find a very beautiful and very striking ill.u.s.tration.
This chapter shows us the good king Jehoshaphat under very heavy pressure indeed--it records a dark moment in his history. "It came to pa.s.s after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other besides the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then" (for people are ever quick to run with evil tidings) "there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great mult.i.tude against thee from beyond the sea, on this side Syria."
Here was a difficulty of no ordinary nature. This invading host was made up of the descendants of Lot and of Esau; and this fact might give rise to a thousand conflicting thoughts and distracting questions in the mind of Jehoshaphat. They were not Egyptians or a.s.syrians, concerning whom there could be no question whatever; but both Esau and Lot stood in certain relations to Israel, and a question might suggest itself as to how far such relations were to be recognized.
Not this only. The practical state of the entire nation of Israel--the actual condition of G.o.d"s people, was such as to give rise to the most serious misgivings. Israel no longer presented an unbroken front to the invading foe. Their visible unity was gone. A grievous breach had been made in their battlements. The ten tribes and the two were rent asunder, the one from the other. The condition of the former was terrible, and that of the latter, shaky enough.
Thus the circ.u.mstances of king Jehoshaphat were dark and discouraging in the extreme; and, even as regards himself and his practical course, he was but just emerging from the consequences of a very humiliating fall, so that his reminiscences would be quite as cheerless as his surroundings.
But it is just here that our grand substantial fact presents itself to the vision of faith, and flings a mantle of light over the whole scene.
Things looked gloomy, no doubt; but G.o.d was to be counted upon by faith, and faith could count upon Him. G.o.d is a never failing resource--a great reality, at all times, and under all circ.u.mstances.
"G.o.d is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the stream whereof shall make glad the city of G.o.d, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. G.o.d is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: G.o.d shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the G.o.d of Jacob is our refuge" (Psa. xlvi. I-7).
Here, then, was Jehoshaphat"s resource in the day of his trouble; and to it he at once betook himself, in that earnest faith which never fails to draw down power and blessing from the living and true G.o.d, to meet every exigency of the way. "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, O Lord G.o.d of our fathers, art not Thou G.o.d in heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thy hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Art not Thou our G.o.d, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to _the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever_?"
These are the breathings of faith--faith that enables the soul to take the very highest possible ground. It mattered not what unsettled questions there might be between Esau and Jacob; there were none between Abraham and the Almighty G.o.d. Now, G.o.d had given the land to Abraham, His friend. For how long? _For ever._ This was enough. "The gifts and calling of G.o.d are without repentance." G.o.d will never cancel His call, or take back a gift. This is a fixed foundation principle; and on this faith always takes its stand with firm decision. The enemy might throw in a thousand suggestions; and the poor heart might throw up a thousand reasonings. It might seem like presumption and empty conceit, on the part of Jehoshaphat, to plant his foot on such lofty ground. It was all well enough in the days of David, or of Solomon, or of Joshua, when the unity of the nation was unbroken, and the banner of Jehovah floated in triumph over the twelve tribes of Israel. But things were sadly changed; and it ill became one in Jehoshaphat"s circ.u.mstances to use such lofty language or a.s.sume to occupy such a high position.
What is faith"s reply to all this? A very simple, but a very powerful one--G.o.d never changes. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.
Had He not made Abraham a present of the land of Canaan? Had He not bestowed it upon his seed forever? Had He not ratified the gift by His word and His oath--these two immutable things in which it was impossible for Him to lie? Unquestionably. But then what of the law? Did not that make some difference? None whatever, as regards G.o.d"s gift and promise.
Four centuries previous to the giving of the law, was the great transaction settled and stablished between the Almighty G.o.d and Abraham His friend--and settled and stablished forever. Hence nothing can possibly touch this. There were no legal conditions proposed to Abraham.
All was pure and absolute grace. G.o.d gave the land to Abraham by promise, and not by law, in any shape or form.
Now, it was on this original ground that Jehoshaphat took his stand; and he was right. It was the only thing for him to do. He had not one hair"s breadth of solid standing ground, short of these golden words, "Thou gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever." It was either this or nothing. _A living faith always lays hold on the living G.o.d._ It cannot stop short of Him. It looks not at men or their circ.u.mstances. It takes no account of the changes and chances of this mortal life. It lives and moves and has its being in the presence of the living G.o.d; it rejoices in the cloudless sunlight of His blessed countenance. It carries on all its artless reasonings in the sanctuary, and draws all its happy conclusions from the facts discovered there. It does not lower the standard according to the condition of things around, but boldly and decidedly takes up its position on the very highest ground.
Now, these actings of faith are always most grateful to the heart of G.o.d. The living G.o.d delights in a living faith. We may be quite sure that the bolder the grasp of faith, the more welcome it is to G.o.d. We need never suppose that the blessed One is either gratified or glorified by the workings of a legal mind. No, no; He delights to be trusted without a shadow of reserve or misgiving. He delights to be fully counted upon and largely used; and the deeper the need, and the darker the surrounding gloom, the more is He glorified by the faith that draws upon Him.
Hence, we may a.s.sert with perfect confidence, that the att.i.tude and the utterances of Jehoshaphat, in the scene before us, were in full accordance with the mind of G.o.d. There is something perfectly beautiful to see him, as it were, opening the original lease, and laying his finger on that clause in virtue of which Israel held as tenants forever under G.o.d. Nothing could cancel that clause or break that lease. No flaw there. All was ordered and sure. "Thou _gavest_ it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend _forever_."
This was solid ground--the ground of G.o.d--the ground of faith, which no power of the enemy can ever shake. True, the enemy might remind Jehoshaphat of sin and folly, failure and unfaithfulness. Nay, he might suggest to him that the very fact of the threatened invasion proved that Israel had fallen, for had they not done so, there would be neither enemy nor evil.
But for this, too, grace had provided an answer--an answer which faith knew well how to appropriate. Jehoshaphat reminds Jehovah of the house which Solomon had built to His name. "They have built Thee a sanctuary therein for Thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as a sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in Thy presence (for Thy name is in this house), and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou will hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and distroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of _Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit_.
O our G.o.d, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do, but _our eyes are upon Thee_" (vers. 8-12).
Here, truly, is a living faith dealing with the living G.o.d. It is no mere empty profession--no lifeless creed--no cold uninfluential theory.
It is not a man "saying he has faith." Such things will never stand in the day of battle. They may do well enough when all is calm, smooth, and bright; but when difficulties have to be grappled with--when the enemy has to be met face to face, all merely nominal faith, all mere lip profession, will prove like autumn leaves before the blast. Nothing will stand the test of actual conflict but a living personal faith in a living personal Saviour-G.o.d. This is what is needed. It is this which alone can sustain the heart, come what may. Faith brings G.o.d into the scene, and all is strength, victory, and perfect peace.
Thus it was with the king of Judah, in the days of 2 Chron. xx. "We have no might; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee." This is the way to occupy G.o.d"s ground, even with the eyes fixed on G.o.d Himself. This is the true secret of stability and peace. The devil will leave no stone unturned to drive us off the true ground which, as Christians, we ought to occupy in these last days; and we, in ourselves, have no might whatever against him. Our only resource is in the living G.o.d. If our eyes are upon Him, nothing can harm us. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
Reader, art thou on G.o.d"s ground? Canst thou give a "Thus saith the Lord" for the position which thou occupiest, at this moment? Art thou consciously standing on the solid ground of holy Scripture? Is there anything questionable in thy surroundings and a.s.sociations? We beseech thee to weigh these questions solemnly as in the divine presence. Be a.s.sured they are of moment just now. We are pa.s.sing through critical moments.
Men are taking sides; principles are working and coming to a head. Never was it more needful to be thoroughly and unmistakably on the Lord"s side. Jehoshaphat never could have met the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, had he not been persuaded that his feet were on the very ground which G.o.d had given to Abraham. If the enemy could have shaken his confidence as to this, he would have had an easy victory. But Jehoshaphat knew where he was; he knew his ground. He understood his bearings; and therefore he could fix his eyes with confidence upon the living G.o.d. He had no misgivings as to his position. He did not say, as many do, now-a-days, "I am not quite sure. I hope I am; but sometimes clouds come over my soul, and make me hesitate as to whether I am really on divine ground." Ah! no, reader, the king of Judah would not have understood such language at all. All was clear to him. His eye rested on the original grant. He felt sure he was on the true ground of the Israel of G.o.d; and albeit all Israel were not there with him, yet G.o.d was with him, and that was enough. His was a living faith in the living G.o.d--the only thing that will stand in the day of trial.
There is something in the att.i.tude and utterance of the king of Judah, on that memorable occasion, well worthy of the reader"s profound attention. His feet were firmly fixed on G.o.d"s ground, and his eyes as firmly fixed on G.o.d Himself; and in addition to this, there was the deep sense of his own thorough nothingness. He had not so much as a shadow of a doubt as to the fact of his being in possession of the very inheritance which G.o.d had given him. He knew that he was in his right place. He did not _hope_ it; still less did he doubt it; no, he knew it.
He could say, "I believe and am sure."
This is all-important. It is impossible to stand against the enemy, if there is anything equivocal in our position. If there be any secret misgiving as to our being in our right place--if we cannot give a "Thus saith the Lord" for the position which we occupy, the path we tread, the a.s.sociations in which we stand, the work in which we are engaged, there will, most a.s.suredly, be weakness in the hour of conflict. Satan is sure to avail himself of the smallest misgiving in the soul. All must be settled as to our positive standing, if we would make any headway against the enemy. There must be an unclouded confidence as to our real position before G.o.d, else the foe will have an easy victory.
Now, it is precisely here that there is so much weakness apparent among the children of G.o.d. Very few, comparatively, are clear, sound, and settled as to their foundation--very few are able, without any reserve, to take the blessed ground of being washed in the blood of Jesus, and sealed with the Holy Spirit. At times they hope it. When things go well with them; when they have had a good time in the closet; when they have enjoyed nearness to G.o.d in prayer, or over the Word; while they are sitting under a clear, fervent, forcible ministry--at such moments, perhaps, they can venture to speak hopefully about themselves. But, very soon, dark clouds gather; they feel the workings of indwelling sin; they are afflicted with wandering thoughts; or it may be, they have been betrayed into some levity of spirit, or irritability of temper; then they begin to _reason_ about themselves, and to question whether they are, in reality, the children of G.o.d. And from reasonings and questionings, they very speedily slip into positive unbelief, and then plunge into the thick gloom of a despondency bordering on despair.
All this is most sad. It is, at once, dishonoring to G.o.d, and destructive to the soul"s peace; and as to progress, in such a condition, it is wholly out of the question. How can any one run a race, if he has not cleared the starting post? How can he erect a building, if he has not laid the foundation? And, on the same principle, how can a soul grow in the divine life, if he is always liable to doubt whether he has that life or not?
But it may be that some of our readers are disposed to put such a question as the following, "How can I be sure that I am on G.o.d"s ground?--that I am washed in the blood of Jesus and sealed with the Holy Spirit?" We reply, How do you know that you are a lost sinner? Is it because you feel it? Is mere feeling the ground of your faith? If so, it is not a divine faith at all. True faith rests _only_ on the testimony of holy Scripture. No doubt, it is by the gracious energy of the Holy Ghost that any one can exercise this living faith; but we are speaking now of the true ground of faith--the authority--the basis on which it rests, and that is simply the holy Scriptures which, as the inspired apostle tells us, are able to make us wise unto salvation, and which even a child could know, without the church, the clergy, the fathers, the doctors, the councils, the colleges, or any other human intervention whatsoever.
"Abraham believed G.o.d." Here was divine faith. It was not a question of feeling. Indeed, if Abraham had been influenced by his feelings, he would have been a doubter instead of a believer. For what had he to build upon in himself? "His own body now dead." A poor ground surely on which to build his faith in the promise of an innumerable seed. But, we are told, "He considered not his own body now dead" (Rom. iv.). What, then, did he consider? He considered the word of the living G.o.d, and on that he rested. Now this is faith. And mark what the apostle says: "He staggered not at the promise of G.o.d through unbelief" (for unbelief is always a staggerer), "but was strong in faith, giving glory to G.o.d: and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And _therefore_ it was imputed to him for righteousness."
"Ah! but," the anxious reader may say, "what has all this to say to my case? I am not an Abraham--I cannot expect a special revelation from G.o.d. How am I to know that G.o.d has spoken to me? How can I possess this precious faith?" Well, dear friend, mark the apostle"s further statement. "Now," he adds, "it was not written for his (Abraham"s) sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if"--if what?--if we feel, realize, or experience aught in ourselves? Nay, but "if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
All this is full of solid comfort and richest consolation. It a.s.sures the anxious inquirer that he has the self-same ground and authority to rest upon that Abraham had, with an immensely higher measure of light thrown on that ground, inasmuch as Abraham was called to believe in a promise, whereas we are privileged to believe in an accomplished fact.
He was called to look forward to something which was to be done; we look back at something that is done, even an accomplished redemption, attested by the fact of a risen and glorified Saviour, at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.
But as to the ground or authority on which we are called to rest our souls, it is the same in our case as in Abraham"s and all true believers" in all ages--it is the word of G.o.d--the holy Scriptures.
There is no other foundation of faith but this; and the faith that rests on any other is not true faith at all. A faith resting on human tradition--on the authority of the Church--on the authority of so-called general councils--on the clergy--or on learned men, is not divine faith, but mere superst.i.tion; it is a faith which "stands in the wisdom of men," and "not in the power of G.o.d" (I Cor. ii. 5).