Every thorn that wounds _them_, has wounded _Him_ before. Every cross they can bear, he has borne before. Every tear they shed, He has shed before. There is one respect, indeed, in which the ident.i.ty fails,--He was "yet without sin;" but this recoil of His Holy nature from moral evil gives Him a deeper and intenser sensibility towards those who have still corruption within responding to temptation without.
Reader! are you ready to faint under your tribulations? Is it a seducing world--a wandering, wayward heart? "Consider _Him_ that endured!" Listen to your adorable Redeemer, stooping from His Throne, and saying, "_I_ have overcome the world." He came forth unscathed from its snares. With the same heavenly weapon He bids you wield, three times did he repel the Tempter, saying, "It is written."--Is it some crushing trial, or overwhelming grief? He is "_acquainted_ with _grief_." He, the mighty Vine, knows the minutest fibres of sorrow in the branches; when the pruning knife touches _them_, it touches _Him_. "He has gone," says a tried sufferer, "through every cla.s.s in our wilderness school." He loves to bring His people into untried and perplexing places, that they may seek out the guiding pillar, and prize its radiance. He puts them on the darkening waves, that they may follow the guiding light hung out astern from the only Bark of pure and unsullied Humanity that was ever proof against the storm.
Be a.s.sured there is disguised love in all He does. He who knows us infinitely better than we know ourselves, often puts a thorn in our nest to drive us to the wing, that we may not be grovellers forever. "It is,"
says Evans, "upon the smooth ice we slip, the rough path is safest for the feet." The tearless and undimmed eye is not to be coveted _here_; _that_ is reserved for heaven!
Who can tell what m.u.f.fled and disguised "needs be" there may lurk under these world-tribulations? His true spiritual seed are often planted deep in the soil; they have to make their way through a load of sorrow before they reach the surface; but their roots are thereby the firmer and deeper struck. Had it not been for these lowly and needed "depths," they might have rushed up as feeble saplings, and succ.u.mbed to the first blast. He often leads His people still, as he led them of old, to "a high mountain apart;" but it is to a _high_ mountain--_above the world_; and, better still, He who Himself hath overcome the world, leadeth them there, and speaketh comfortably unto them.
"I HOPE IN THY _WORD_."
13TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Fear not, little flock; it is your Father"s good pleasure to give you the kingdom."--Luke xii. 32.
The Little Flock.
The music of the Shepherd"s voice again! Another comforting "word," and how tender! _his_ flock a _little_ flock, a _feeble_ flock, a _fearful_ flock, but a _beloved_ flock, loved of the Father, enjoying His "good pleasure," and soon to be a _glorified_ flock, safe in the fold, secure within the kingdom! How does He quiet their fears and misgivings? As they stand panting on the bleak mountain side, He points His crook upwards to the bright and shining gates of glory, and says, "It is your Father"s good pleasure to give you these!" What gentle words! What a blessed consummation! Gracious Saviour, Thy _gentleness_ hath made me _great_!
That kingdom is the believer"s by irreversible and inalienable charter-right--"I appoint unto you" (by covenant), says Jesus in another place, "a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." It is as sure as everlasting love and almighty power can make it. Satan, the great foe of the kingdom, may be injecting foul misgivings, and doubts, and fears as to your security; but he cannot denude you of your purchased immunities. He must first pluck the crown from the Brow upon the Throne, before he can weaken or impair this sure word of promise. If "it pleased the Lord" to _bruise_ the Shepherd, it will surely please Him to make happy the purchased flock. If He "smote" His "Fellow" when the sheep were scattered, surely it will rejoice Him, for the Shepherd"s sake, "to turn His hand upon the little ones."
Believers, think of this! "It is your Father"s good pleasure." The Good Shepherd, in leading you across the intervening mountains, shows you signals and memorials of paternal grace studding all the way. He may "lead you about" in your way thither. He led the children of Israel of old out of Egypt to their promised kingdom,--how? By forty years"
wilderness-discipline and privations. But trust Him; dishonour Him not with guilty doubts and fears. Look not back on your dark, stumbling paths, nor within on your fitful and vacillating heart; but forwards to the land that is far off. How earnestly G.o.d desires your salvation! What a heaping together of similar tender "words" with that which is here addressed to us? The Gospel seems like a palace full of opened windows, from each of which He issues an invitation, declaring that He has no pleasure in our death--but rather that we would turn and live!
Let the melody of the Shepherd"s reed fall gently on your ear,--"It is your Father"s good pleasure." I have given you, He seems to say, the best proof that it is _mine_. In order to purchase that kingdom, I died for you! But it is also _His_: "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so," says G.o.d, "will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Fear not, then, little flock! though yours for a while should be the bleak mountain and sterile waste, seeking your way Zionward, it may be "with torn fleeces and bleeding feet;" for,
"IT IS NOT THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH."
14TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."--John vii. 37.
The Unlimited Offer.
One of the most gracious "words" that ever "proceeded out of the mouth of G.o.d!" The time it was uttered was an impressive one; it was on "the last, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a denser mult.i.tude than on any of the seven preceding ones were a.s.sembled together. The golden bowl, according to custom, had probably just been filled with the waters of Siloam, and was being carried up to the Temple amid the acclamations of the crowd, when the Saviour of the world seized the opportunity of speaking to them some truths of momentous import.
Many, doubtless, were the "words of Jesus" uttered on the previous days, but the most important is reserved for the last. What, then, is the great closing theme on which He rivets the attention of this vast auditory, and which He would have them carry away to their distant homes? It is, _The freeness of His own great salvation_--"If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
Reader, do you discredit the reality of this gracious offer? Are your legion sins standing as a barrier between you and a Saviour"s proffered mercy? Do you feel as if you cannot come "just as you are;" that some partial cleansing, some preparatory reformation must take place before you can venture to the living fountain? Nay, "_if any man_." What is freer than water?--The poorest beggar may drink "without money" the wayside pool. _That_ is your Lord"s own picture of His own glorious salvation; you are invited to come, "without one plea," in all your poverty and want, your weakness and unworthiness. Remember the Redeemer"s saying to the woman of Samaria. She was the chief of sinners--profligate--hardened--degraded; but He made no condition, no qualification; _simple believing_ was all that was required,--"If thou knewest the gift of G.o.d," thou wouldst have asked, and He would have given thee "living water."
But is there not, after all, _one_ condition mentioned in this "word of Jesus?"--"_If_ any man _thirst_." You may have the depressing consciousness that you experience no such ardent longings after holiness,--no feeling of your affecting need of the Saviour. But is not this very conviction of your want an indication of a feeble longing after Christ? If you are saying, "I have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep," He who makes offer of the salvation-stream will Himself fill your empty vessel,--"He satisfieth the _longing_ soul with goodness."
"Jesus _stood_ and _cried_." It is the solitary instance recorded of Him of whom it is said, "He shall _not_ strive nor cry," lifting up "His voice in the streets." But it was truth of surpa.s.sing interest and magnitude He had to proclaim. It was a declaration, moreover, specially dear to him. As it formed the theme of this ever-memorable _sermon_ during His public ministry, so when He was sealing up the inspired record--the last utterances of His voice on earth, till that voice shall be heard again on the throne, contained the same life-giving invitation,--"Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Oh! as the echoes of that gracious saying--this blast of the silver trumpet--are still sounding to the ends of the world, may this be the recorded result,
"AS HE SPAKE _THESE WORDS_, MANY BELIEVED ON HIM."
15TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."--Matt. xi. 30.
The Joyful Servitude.
Can the same be said of Satan, or sin? With regard to _them_, how faithfully true rather is the converse--"my yoke is _heavy_, and my burden is _grievous_!" Christ"s service is a happy service, the _only_ happy one; and even when there is a cross to carry, or a yoke to bear, it is His own appointment. "_My_ yoke." It is sent by no untried friend.
Nay, He who puts it on His people, bore this very yoke Himself. "He _carried_ our sorrows." How blessed this feeling of holy servitude to so kind a Master! not like "dumb, driven cattle," goaded on, but _led_, and led often most tenderly when the yoke and the burden are upon us. The great apostle rarely speaks of himself under any other t.i.tle but _one_.
That _one_ he seems to make his boast. He had much whereof he might glory;--he had been the instrument in saving thousands--he had spoken before kings--he had been in Caesar"s palace and Caesar"s presence--he had been caught up into the third heaven,--but in all his letters this is his joyful prefix and superscription, "The _Servant_ (literally, _the slave_) of Jesus Christ!"
Reader! dost thou know this blessed servitude? Canst thou say with a joyful heart, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant?" He is no hard taskmaster. Would Satan try to teach thee so? Let this be the refutation, "He loved me, and gave _Himself_ for _me_." True, the yoke is the appointed discipline he employs in training his children for immortality. But be comforted! "It is His tender hand that _puts_ it on, and _keeps_ it on." He will suit the yoke to the neck, and the neck to the yoke. He will suit His grace to your trials. Nay, He will bring you even to be in love with these, when they bring along with them such gracious unfoldings of His own faithfulness and mercy. How His people need thus to be in heaviness through manifold temptations, to keep them meek and submissive! "Jeshurun (like a bullock unaccustomed to the harness, fed and pampered in the stall) waxed fat, and kicked." Never is there more gracious love than when G.o.d takes His own means to curb and subjugate, to humble us, and to prove us--bringing us out from ourselves, our likings, our confidences, our prosperity, and putting us under the needed YOKE.
And who has ever repented of that joyful servitude? Among all the ten thousand regrets that mingle with a dying hour, and oft bedew with bitter tears a dying pillow, who ever told of regrets and repentance here?
Tried believer, has He ever failed thee? Has His yoke been too grievous?
Have thy tears been unalleviated--thy sorrows unsolaced--thy temptations above that thou wert able to bear? Ah! rather canst thou not testify, "The word of the Lord is tried;" I cast my burden upon Him, and He "sustained me?" How have seeming difficulties melted away! How has the yoke lost its heaviness, and the cross its bitterness, in the thought of whom thou wert bearing it for! There is a promised rest in the very carrying of the yoke; and a better rest remains for the weary and toil-worn when the appointed work is finished; for thus saith "that same Jesus,"
"TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN OF ME, ... AND YE SHALL FIND _REST_ UNTO YOUR SOULS."
16TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you."--John xv. 9.
The Measure of Love.
This is the most wondrous verse in the Bible. Who can sound the unimagined depths of that love which dwelt in the bosom of the Father from all eternity towards His Son?--and yet here is the Saviour"s own exponent of His love towards His people!
There is no subject more profoundly mysterious than those mystic intercommunings between the first and second persons in the adorable Trinity before the world was. Scripture gives us only some dim and shadowy revelations regarding them--distant gleams of light, and no more. Let one suffice. "_Then_ I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him."
We know that earthly affection is deepened and intensified by increased familiarity with its object. The friendship of yesterday is not the sacred, hallowed thing, which years of growing intercourse have matured.
If we may with reverence apply this test to the highest type of holy affection, what must have been that interchange of love which the measureless lapse of Eternity had fostered--a love, moreover, not fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered tones and estranged looks--but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow of turning! And yet, listen to the "words of Jesus," As the Father hath loved _me_, _so_ have I loved _you_! It would have been infinitely more than we had reason to expect, if He had said, "As my Father hath loved ANGELS, so have I loved you." But the love borne to no finite beings is an appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds, that love existed. It was coeval with Eternity itself. Hear how the two themes of the Saviour"s eternal rejoicing--the _love of His Father_, and His _love for sinners_--are grouped together;--"Rejoicing always before HIM, _and_ in the habitable part of His _earth_!"