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diff --git a/40216-8.txt b/40216-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9595609..0000000 --- a/40216-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12745 +0,0 @@ - THE PATRIARCHS - - - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Title: The Patriarchs - Being Meditations upon Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, - Joseph, Job; The Canticles, Heaven and Earth. - -Author: J. G. Bellett - -Release Date: July 11, 2012 [EBook #40216] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATRIARCHS *** - - - - -Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. - - - - - - THE PATRIARCHS: - - Being Meditations - - UPON - - ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, JOB; - - THE CANTICLES, HEAVEN AND EARTH. - - - BY - - _J. G. BELLETT_. - - - - - New Edition. - - - - - A. S. ROUSE, - - 15 & 16, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. - - 1895 - - - - - THE PATRIARCHS: - - BEING MEDITATIONS UPON - - ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, JOB; - - THE CANTICLES, HEAVEN AND EARTH. - - - - - ENOCH. - - -It is not so much of Enoch himself that I now purpose, in the Lord's -grace, I would hope, to write a little, but rather of the times and the -saints before the flood. Whether it be of them or of him, the materials, -as we know, are very scanty; but in the way and wisdom of the Spirit of -God, they are full of meaning and of value. - - -A peculiar attraction has been commonly felt in the Book of Genesis. - -The simplicity of the narratives has to account for much of this, I -doubt not. Human life is in its infancy and artlessness. The scenes are -domestic, and the habits and manners such as family duties and -affections were forming. This is a great source of enjoyment to the mind -from this book. Such springs of pleasure are at times tasted in spite of -ourselves. We are spoiled very much by the customs of the world, and we -suppose that we like them. But still we find ourselves naturally at ease -in such scenery as that which this lovely book presents to us. The wife -of one wealthy lord, who numbered his servants by hundreds, and his -flocks by thousands, would knead the cake for the traveller; and the -daughter of another, without practising the language of apology, would -be seen by strangers watering the family herds. - -Yet with all this there was the truest courtesy. The honour due to all -men was as well understood as the love of kindred. It was not barbaric -life, though simple and inartificial. It was not rude simplicity; but -that which came from an influence that could mould and adorn life. And -that influence was the knowledge of God. The times of this book were, as -we know they were, unindebted to the advance of civility, or the -regulations of cultivated life; but still the state of things was not -barbarous, just because there was the knowledge of God. The hand of God -was felt, while as yet the conceits of polished life had not time or -liberty either to garnish or soil the scene. - -It is this which fashions the manners of these early times. Peculiar -they are, deeply commending themselves to a right mind; but enough, -perhaps, to provoke the smile of many who belong to times like ours. For -strange nowadays would be the confidential friendship of a master and -his servant. And yet such was between Abraham and Eliezer, though all -the while the duties and rights of the relationship were religiously -observed. And how unwarrantable would it now be judged, that the -intended husband of one of the daughters, or the son-in-law himself, as -in the case of Laban and Jacob, should tend the family flocks in the -heat of day and frost of night, getting his wages! And yet in all this -there is no moral offence whatever; nothing but what may charm the -nicest sensibilities of our nature. - -But that which ought to lend this book its principal power to engage us -is this: the Lord Himself is seen in it in ways and characters suited to -this simple and primitive style. The action of the book being very much -domestic, plain and unadorned, His way is according. Whether He -communicates His mind, or manifests His presence, it is after this same -pattern. He does not employ prophets, but personally makes His pleasure -known. It may be in a dream, or with a voice, as well as by personal -manifestation; but still it is _Himself_. And even if angels are -employed, they are rather His _companions_ than His _messengers_. - -In the cool of the day, or the afternoon, He walked in the garden. In -the field He pleaded with Cain, _personally_ pleaded with him, adding -the weight and authority of His own presence to a moment of awful and -solemn interest. He came down at the cry of Babel, and the cry of the -sin of Sodom, just that He might see, as we would do, whether things -were really as bad as they were said to be. In forms of intimacy He -again and again appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; inviting -confidence, expressing displeasure, or conveying His purpose, in ways of -full personal familiarity. And though, in the progress of the book, this -style may grow a little slack, still it is maintained in measure to the -end, even where we might have least expected it. For to kings, not of -the stock of Abraham, the Lord God appeared in dreams by night, and, -without amazement, warned them of their duty, or told them of their -danger. - -The ministry of prophets, as I observed, is not employed. That would -have been too distant, too reserved, to suit the general style. Nor is -the divine pleasure communicated through the Holy Ghost, or by -inspiration. That is not the way either--not the _usual_ way. But it is, -as we have seen, the personal interference of the Lord Himself, coming -in a vision, or by a dream or a word; or in the still nearer way of -taking the forms and attributes of manhood; and that, too, not in mystic -dress, as afterwards to such as Isaiah, Daniel, or John; but as one who -was meeting man in his place and circumstances. As a traveller, needing -hospitality, He eats of a calf and a cake at the tent door with one; -with another He contends and wrestles, as a man with his fellow, having -a quarrel or matter of dispute with him. - -See all this style of action in the case of Noah. How interestedly does -the Lord God enter into the whole state of things in that day! Just as -we all feel, His eye affects His heart. And then, just as we all do, He -takes counsel with Himself. He saw the wickedness of man that it was -great; it grieved Him to the heart; and then He said, "I will destroy -man whom I have created from the face of the earth." And after all this, -just as we ourselves would do, having taken His counsel, He communicates -it to a friend, passing it to the ear, and the heart, and the sympathies -of another. - -It was _thus_ that the Lord dealt with Noah. He dealt with him as a man -with his friend, as well as like God with an elect sinner. And we -ourselves practise these ways. We love these confidences of friendship. -We love a second self. "The end of all flesh is come before Me," says -the Lord to Noah, telling him what had been passing in His own bosom. -And afterwards, in the day of the waters, in the same way of gracious -friendship, when the ark was about to float upon the scene of the -judgment, "the Lord shut him in." With His own hand He did it. - -Here was intimacy. Here was living, palpable nearness of the Lord God to -His creature. And this is in character with His general actings and -communications in this book. The glory was not as yet taking its place -in a dispensation, shrouded in a cloudy chariot, or seated between -cherubim. In all that there was majesty and conscious greatness, and the -distance of holiness, as suited an ordered economy. But in the times of -Genesis this was not so. Things were informal, and the action was -desultory; and the Lord was in person, as the occasion demanded, -according to this. - -In this manner do we find the action of this beautiful book. The elect -of God are thus, and thus is the living God Himself. It is as divine as -anything else in the Word. And the soul so receives it. And good reason -have we for blessing the Lord, because He has introduced our hearts to -such a book as this. For we are not always ready for the higher things. -We cannot at all times reach them, or obey a summons to ascend the -heavenly places. But the Spirit of God is tender of our weakness, and -has provided for it. The Scriptures, if I may take leave to speak in a -figure, have change of air and change of scene for our souls. - -It is relish and appetite we have to covet, beloved--a holy delight in -the things of God, whether they be the things of the "children" or of -the "fathers;" the pure milk or the strong meat. _Little_ ones in His -school are still _living_ ones. That is the blessed thing. He who liveth -in the mere power of intellect, or in the schools of men, is dead while -he liveth. - - -There is, however, another thing to be said on the times and on the Book -of Genesis. - -In those times, or, as the apostle speaks, "from Adam to Moses," _law_ -did not give character to the state of the people of God. Adam was under -law in Eden, and so were the children of Israel after the day of Mount -Sinai. But not so the generations from Adam to Moses. Sin was equally in -the world, but there was no law. Rom. v. 14. - -But not only, I may observe, were they not under law; there was also -almost a total absence of moral or preceptive instruction. Much -revelation of the divine pleasure and counsels there was; but scarcely -anything of precept. Under the Spirit, revelation worked its result on -character and conduct, and formed the mind and the ways of the saints. -Evil was resented by them, and judged of God; but without a written -standard of right and wrong. Without any law against murder, Cain is -exposed; without a fifth commandment, Ham's dishonour of his father is -punished. And so Jacob's guile is visited and resented by the Lord; and -the wicked way of Joseph's brethren. And without the light of any -precept the soul of a saint can thus plead with temptation, How can I do -this great wickedness, and sin against God? - -All this is so, though neither law nor moral instruction was then -published. It was revelation in matters of faith which, under the -Spirit, formed patriarchal character. Abraham was not enjoined either -his altar or his tent; but his call of God, through the Spirit, -suggested both. No precept required his high, generous treatment of Lot; -but his faith and hope in God dictated and commanded it. Without -direction on the case, his knowledge of God and the mind of Christ that -was in him disposed him, and taught him to let the potsherds of the -earth strive with their fellows, but as soon as his kinsman was a -captive to go forth for his deliverance. No word, no oracle from God, -distinguished for him between the king of Salem and the king of Sodom; -but the light that was in him did. - -I might go through other histories in this book, and find these same -things. The holy judgment of the mind that was in them, under the -Spirit, suggested to those early saints conduct by means of revelation, -promise, and calling of God. And this is ever beautiful, when we get -genuine samples or instances of it. - - -Such then are among the characteristics of this earliest and infant age -of our history, and of the precious book which records it. And this -earliest method in the way of the Lord is to be the last and the abiding -method. In Genesis, as we have seen, the Lord God acted "in the human -guise," being personally present in the scene, and seeking the nearest -intimacy with His creature. And this is to be the eternal thing when -dispensations are over. God in manhood is to be for ever! - -Precious mystery! Unfathomable wonder! Blessed to ponder this. The first -is to be the last. The song of salvation--the "song of Moses"--was the -first breath of the ransomed tribes. It was sung on the banks of the Red -Sea, just as they had got beyond the reach of Pharaoh. After experiences -were different. They had then to do with themselves. But at first the -victory of the divine "man of war" was everything to them. And this -first thing is to be the eternal thing. The song of Moses is to fill the -courts of glory. Exodus xv.; Rev. xv. And so in earliest days, in -Genesis days, the divine presence was not deemed strange, or something -which did not suit the earth, or belong to man. The divine courtesies -were then, so to speak, freely given, and unsuspectingly received. And -so at the end, in days of millennial heavens and earth, the Lord God -will be personally again in the scene. - - -The first five chapters of this book give us an account of antediluvian -times, or, as they have been called, "the world before the flood." And -it is those chapters I now purpose to look at a little particularly. - -The whole opens, as of course, with the work of creation. I speak not -particularly of this. But, instructed by the apostle, we may say that it -is only _faith_ which deals justly with this great work. Faith puts God -above all the things that were made, or are seen. "Through faith we -understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that -things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Faith -treats God worthily--the only principle in the soul which does so. He -dwells "in the light which no man can approach unto." Faith owns this. -The wisdom of men busies itself in seeing or inspecting Him. But though -He will "show" great things of Himself, yet does faith know that no man -hath seen or can see Him. 1 Tim. vi. It enjoys all His manifestations; -but inspects not His dwelling-place in light. - -The second chapter exhibits the man made in the image of God, in his -estate in the garden of Eden. All there was tributary to him, all was -for him. He had food for all the faculties and desires of his nature, -and provision of all desirable things. He was made, however, to _impart_ -as well as to receive; and that is ever a necessary feature in the -happiness of a well-ordered mind. He was important to the garden, as the -garden was important to him. He had "to dress it and to keep it." And he -saw his dwelling-place the spring-head of a fruitful river, which went -forth with life and refreshing to the whole earth. With all this the -voice of a Sovereign was heard. A command went forth. "Of the tree of -the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat." But this was no -trespass, no discordant note on the ear of Adam. God will not, and -cannot, give His glory to another. And a creature of a right thought, -"made upright," as Adam was, must delight in having it so. All this was -therefore only harmonious and consistent happiness. - -To perfect his condition the Lord God celebrates for him a coronation -day, and a day of espousals. But this action has an order in it. The -Lord takes counsel with Himself about Adam's espousals. This is done -_first_. Then He introduces him to the scene of his sovereignty. He -brings the creatures of the field and of the air to Adam, to see what he -would call them, and whatsoever he called every living creature, that -was the name thereof. This was investing him with dominion, setting the -crown royal on his head. Then He prepares the help-meet, and presents -Eve to him, following his coronation with his marriage. - -This is the order of these events--an order which has a sacred and -interesting sense in it. It is not the mere progress of independent -facts. It is the design, so to speak, of a great master. For there is, -as we now know, a mystery which had been "hid in God," "purposed in -Himself," before the foundation of the world, His secret (Eph. iii.), of -which this marriage in the garden of Eden was the type. Eph. v. And -according to this the Lord, in the solitude of His own presence, in the -musings of His own bosom, ere He led forth Adam into his kingdom, -prepares his help-meet for him. - -This, however, is not merely the _design of a great master_, but the -_well-known way of a perfect love_. - -The _richest_ purpose of joy is the _first_ in counsel. - -The Lord's earliest thought was about Adam's best blessing. The -help-meet at his side, the one like unto him, his companion, was -destined to be more to him than all beside. And that which was chief in -his enjoyments was the earliest and deepest thought in the mind of his -Lord. His Lord pondered it. He spoke of it to Himself. His coronation -was taken in hand at once and disposed of; but the getting of his -help-meet for him was counselled and talked of beforehand. - -This is the way that love would take. We know it ourselves. We like to -dwell in thought over the materials of the happiness of one we love. So -that all this is sweet and important to our hearts; for we read in it -that which may again draw out the admiration and the worship, "Behold, -what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us!" - -And Adam at once owns all this. Out of the abundance of the heart the -mouth speaks. "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh," he -says, as he received the woman from the hand of the Lord God, owning -that all was now complete. The serpent may by-and-by insinuate it to be -otherwise. But he is a liar. There is not a flaw in all this estate. No -lack, and no exception. Nothing that did not in its way contribute to -bless him; and nothing of creature blessedness that was wanting to him. - -But all this is at once envied by the great enemy. And he had title to -try the stability of it. The nakedness, the unshamed nakedness, of the -man and the woman was innocency. Yes, but it was also _exposure_. The -creature was to be proved. Strength of creaturehood was to be tried. And -the enemy had title to enter the garden to carry on the trial. He was no -trespasser there. The order and purpose of creation made room for him, -as well as for Adam himself. The very instrument by which he was to -conduct his designs was there already. The tree of knowledge was in the -midst of the garden. - -The tempter, this serpent that was "more subtil than any beast of the -field," was the devil. This is directly told us. Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2. And -the scene around us to this hour tells of his victory. "The present evil -world," whether in its moral condition or in its circumstances, we get -in this chapter iii. And we might have expected this; for the world as -it now is has derived itself out of the apostasy of Adam; its character -and condition are formed by that great act of rebellion. - -The three master-principles which animate "the course" of it--"the lust -of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"--are here -seen to become the springs of moral action in the heart of the woman, as -soon as she listened to the devil; for the soul that gives up God must -find out other masters, and other resources. And this is the world. The -world has no confidence in God, nothing to bind it to Him, nothing to -give it rest in Him, no sense of His love and truth. Such has it been -since this hour, when man gave ear to the accuser of God. It has -therefore found out other objects. God made man upright; but he has -sought out many inventions. Eccles. vii. 29. - -Conscience, too, is quickened into being. Sin did this. "They knew that -they were naked." And it was then, at the hour of its birth, as it is to -this hour, an _uneasy_ conscience, a conscience that makes cowards of -all who carry it. "I was afraid," says Adam (unable to look at God), -"because I was naked." Conscience in man must be of this quality, for it -owes its existence to sin. There was no sense of good and evil in him -till he sinned; and this sense, thus acquired, must leave him a coward -in the presence of the _righteous_ One. - -Instinctively they make themselves aprons. This is our doing still. Our -common state of guilt makes us shun even our fellow-creatures. We cannot -stand inspection even from them. One great and constant effort, in the -scene around us every day, is to escape _full_ notice. The apron is -still invented. The social system understands and allows this. Indeed, -it is maintained by a common consent of this sort. And religion, in its -way and measure, as well as the rules and common understanding of -society, helps in all this. But "the presence of the Lord God" is a -different element from that of the presence of our fellows. No rules -which sustain the social system will make that tolerable for a moment. -The clothing and the ceremony, the inventions of society, or the good -manners that array and adorn it, will be found vanity. All have come -short of _His_ glory. Let but the conscience hear the tread of His foot, -or the sound of His voice in the garden, and no attempt will be equal to -that moment. Even religious inventions will all be vain. They can give -no confidence with God, nor turn the current of the heart. With his -apron upon him, Adam hides himself among the trees of the garden. - -This teaches holy and solemn lessons. But with all this cowardice there -is effrontery. "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of -the tree." Man lays the mischief down at God's door. He says in effect, -"Let God see to it; for the woman is His creature, and He gave her to -me;" as he still, in the spirit of his mind, says, "Let God see to it; -for the world is His, and He made it." A strange and horrible union! The -insolence of the heart charging God, and yet a coward conscience unable -to meet Him. The sinner may talk big, and make a noise; he may reason -upon God and his own condition, and frame speeches and arguments as well -as aprons; but in spite of all he can surround himself with, there he -is, like Adam, ashamed of himself, and afraid of God. Man has wronged -the blessed God, and avoids Him. He charges Him, and yet is afraid to -look in His face while he does so. All this, in spite of himself, -witnesses against him. "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee," the -Lord has but to say. And then, as again in the parable, he must be -speechless. - -Such was the mind of Adam then, and such is human nature still. But if -this were his moral condition, what were his circumstances? Just those -of man to this hour also. By the sweat of his face he was to get bread, -and in the sorrow of his heart to eat of it; and that too in the place -of thorns and thistles. And in like sorrow the woman was to bring forth -children; and all this till they both returned to the dust, out of which -they had been taken. And man is still after this manner, outside the -garden, conversant with toil and sorrow. Dressing and keeping a lovely -surface and a fruitful soil is not the thing or the allotment now. -Thorns and thistles and an unkindly reluctant ground are to be contended -with, and life to be had by the sweat of the face in the contest. - -God alone is above this water-flood, able to manage this mighty -catastrophe. And His supremacy is such that He will make even such an -eater yield meat, and get sweetness out of even this strong one. - -In a glorious sense, however, redemption is far more than remedy of a -mischief, or relief, even with advantage, for an injured, ruined -creation. Creation, rather, is the servant of redemption; for -"redemption is no afterthought." For the pleasure of Him who sits upon -the throne all things are and were created. But that very throne has -_the rainbow round about it_ (Rev. iv.), the sign of covenant -faithfulness, and that all things were to stand _in redemption_, or in -the value of the blood of Jesus. So that when sin entered, the Lord God -was at once prepared for it (I speak as a man); prepared to meet it by -covenant arrangements made before the world began, as His very first -word to the serpent tells us, "I will put enmity between thee and the -woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and -thou shalt bruise his heel." - -Here the great way of God opens upon us. This promised Seed of the -woman, here revealed, is _God's provision for dead and ruined man_, in -the face of all the malice and wrath of the enemy. And He is this _at -all personal cost_; for the serpent was to bruise His heel. But though -bruised, _He was to achieve a glorious victory_; for He was to bruise -the serpent's head. - -These are the holy, august characters of this mysterious stranger--this -promised Deliverer or Kinsman. Such was the truth revealed on the first -moment of our sin, and such has been the truth ever since. This gospel, -published in the first promise in the face of the devil himself, is -maintained in these last days by the apostle, in the face of men on -earth and angels in heaven. Gal. i. 8. Whether it be the earliest or the -latest preaching of it, this glorious gospel is still the same. It is -"the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son." It is the -gospel of the bruised and yet victorious Seed of the woman. In the -bright and perfect idea of it man is silent and passive. Abram had only -to _believe_, and righteousness was imputed to him. Israel had but to -_stand by_ and see God's salvation. Joshua in Zechariah iii., the -prodigal, the convicted adulteress, are all in like case. And here, at -the beginning of our sin, and the beginning of God's gospel, it is just -the same. Adam has only to _listen_, and through hearing to believe and -live. The word is nigh us, and we have but to receive it without working -anything in the heights above, or in the depths beneath. The -_activities_ are God's; the _sacrifices_ are God's. The profoundness of -our silence and passiveness in _becoming_ righteousness is only equalled -by the greatness of the divine activity and sacrifice in _acquiring_ -righteousness for us. In the sight of such a mystery we may well stand -and say, "What hath God wrought!" "Simple indeed it is to us," as one -once said, "but it cost _Him_ everything." - -There is nothing in the heart of man like faith in this gospel. The -faith of a poor sinner in the redeeming grace of God is the most -beautiful condition the soul can be in. As saints, beloved, we may trust -God for our need. We may look to Him for counsel, or for provision. We -may trust Him to vindicate our doings, comfort us in sorrow, and -strengthen us in difficulties. But the faith of a sinner, in the -justifying grace and work of His divine Saviour, transcends them all. -Nothing is so precious, for nothing apprehends God in so glorious a -character, or gives Him to the soul in so wondrous a relationship. This -faith it is which uses the richest resources in God, and acts upon the -most blessed discoveries of Him. For while all the ways of His glory -shine brightly--His strength, and comfort, and wisdom for His needy -saints--yet, that He has grace and salvation for sinners, this excelleth -them all. - -The Spirit of God, in these early times, gives us some most precious -samples of this most precious faith; as though (may I say it?) -delighting in such a thing, He produced an impression of the finest -character _at once_, as soon as occasion served. - -Thus Adam, in his faith, talked only of life, though in the midst of -death--death, which he himself had brought in, a standing witness -against him. He was doomed to be an outcast in a scene of ruin which his -own sin had produced. He knew this and allowed it. But he had listened -to the story of the conflict between his destroyer and the woman's Seed. -In the very place of judgment--from among the trees of the garden, where -conscience had driven him--his ear had caught the sound of the sweet -gospel, not of mercy merely, but propitiation and victory, and forth he -comes, talking of life. He called his wife "Eve," the mother of all -living. All life was in the promised Kinsman-Redeemer. In creation Adam -himself had been constituted head of life--"Be fruitful, and multiply, -and replenish the earth;" but that, in his esteem, was now forfeited and -gone. Life must flow in a new channel--"He that hath the Son hath life, -and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." - -How grand in its very simplicity all this was! And there was recovery -also of _moral_ glory, in a great sense, in all this. Adam had not -_submitted_ himself to the _majesty_ of God, but affected to be as God. -But now he does _submit_ himself to the _righteousness_ of God. His -shoulders bowed themselves to receive the covering wrought for his -nakedness by God's own hand. See Rom. x. 3. He was now honouring God the -Redeemer, though he had just before been doing all he could to dishonour -God the Creator--so simply was he led by the Spirit to value the divine -provision for a sinner in the promise of our bruised but victorious -Kinsman. - -In like manner, Eve. She had listened to the same promise, and -therefore, as soon as she had brought forth her first-born, she gives -witness that this promise lived chief in the thoughts of her heart. "I -have gotten a man from the Lord," said she. She as much overlooked -herself as Adam did. She gloried only in her Seed. She had listened to -the promise with too faithful an ear to mistake herself for her Seed. It -was not over herself, but over him, that she now, in the language of -another mother, was singing, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my -spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour!" There was a mistake here, it is -true. But there was witness how the object of faith filled her visions, -and the expectations of faith stirred in her heart. And so soon as -disastrous events manifest her mistake, and prove to her that this -first-born of her womb was anything rather than the promised Seed--that -instead of being the bruiser of the serpent's head, he turned out to be -the murderer of his brother--still is she found on the rock where faith -had fixed her soul. "Let God be true, but every man a liar," was her -triumph. Over Seth she exclaims, "God hath appointed me another seed -instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Though every cistern fail, she knows -the fountain cannot. One son had been a murderer, and another his -victim; but still God is true. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord -_for ever_; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all -generations." - -Precious faith, we may say, "like precious faith," with Adam, and with -us, beloved. So Abel. Faith in him had respect to the same promise, the -same gospel. The word had spoken of a _bruised_ Deliverer; and -accordingly it is a victim, a bruised or bloody sacrifice, he lays on -God's altar. But not only so. He brings the _fat_ of the victim -likewise. He knows the delight which God Himself takes in the provisions -of His own grace. He knows that He is pleased with the work of His own -hand. He understands that God is a cheerful giver, that there is no -grudging in the gift of grace. In spirit he hears the music which the -Father's command has awakened in His own house over His returned -prodigal. In the delight with which God Himself had clothed the naked -sinner with coats which His own hand had willingly wrought (a happier -task than even the six days of creation), the faith of Abel seems to -glory. And as thus the richest joy that is felt in all the costly -mystery of redemption is felt by God Himself, he lays the richest part -of the victim, the fat of the animal, on the altar, making _that_ the -Lord's own portion in this feast of love and joy, in His own house, and -at His own table. - -This was another most excellent sample of a sinner's faith. Abel, in -spirit, was in Luke xv.--that chapter which tells us that the Lord's own -joy in it may account for the gospel. And all these are _pattern_ works -of the Spirit, forming the faith of sinners. There is no questioning of -God's grace, no uneasy reflections on creature-worthlessness, though -there was plenty of cause for that. The strength, the liberty, the -triumph of the promise live in their souls. - -And let me add, that if the confession of Lamech (chapter iv. 23, 24) be -the utterance of a convicted believing sinner (as I believe it is), it -is only another equally fine expression of this same early and excellent -faith. It is of an order worthy to stand with that of Adam, or of Eve, -or of Abel; fervent, strong, unquestioning, and full of liberty. - -God's word to Cain had revealed a great truth--that He, and He _alone_, -has to do with a sinner. Others, like Abel, may suffer; but all sin is -directly done against God, and He asserts His title to deal with it -alone. "Whosoever slayeth Cain [the Lord therefore says], vengeance -shall be taken on him sevenfold." - -This great truth, so unspeakably precious to faith, Lamech seems to have -received and fed upon, until his whole soul triumphed in it. Not merely -_preservation_ from man, like Cain, does he count upon, but _salvation_, -"the salvation of God." Learning that as a sinner he was _alone_ with -God, he takes that place, and there discovers how God can deal with him, -even in the security and provisions of grace; and that discovery is the -light in which his soul at once walks. Like Job, afterwards, he -publishes his confession far and wide. "Hear my voice, ye wives of -Lamech," he says; "hearken unto my speech." Then in true gospel -intelligence he magnifies sin, and owns that it was his destruction. "I -have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt." But then -again, in true gospel simplicity, he much more magnifies grace. "If Cain -be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." In his -thoughts, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." He is of the -very mind and temper of Paul. His confidence and victory are apostolic. -He seems to sing-- - - "I hear the accuser roar - Of ills that I have done; - I know them well, and thousands more-- - Jehovah findeth none." - - -A glorious sight his faith takes of the whole mystery, and of the -boundlessness and riches of grace. He listens to the provisions of grace -(when alone with God), and the charging of the law, the accusings of -Satan, the alarms of conscience, and the self-righteous reproaches of -men, are not heard.[1] - - [1] I do not, however, assume that Lamech was a murderer; but he could - identify himself with such. With Paul, he could, in the sense of - what he was before God, speak of himself as chief of sinners. And - we know also that the repentant Remnant of the latter day will, in - their confession, quite take the place of blood-guiltiness after - this manner. They will look to Him whom they pierced. They will, - in the spirit of Daniel or Nehemiah, make themselves one with the - guilty nation. - -These operations of the Spirit through the promise on the souls of -sinners are truly beautiful. The apron of fig-leaves drops off, or is -rather cast away, when such operations go on. It is found _unnecessary_ -now, as it was found _insufficient_ before. And so all the inventions of -men. They are the contrivances of the wrong-doer himself, the efforts of -the creature, the devices of the sinner, and they can _therefore_ never -do. But they are as unnecessary as they are insufficient. The coat of -skin, the work of God Himself, has made them so. - -There is, however, something which this glorious relief provided for the -sinner does _not_ accomplish. The thorns and the thistles of the cursed -ground remain; and with them the sweat of the face, and the sorrow of -the heart, and then the return of dust to dust. As to this hour. We -shine in "the righteousness of God," adorned under His own eye, and by -His own hand dressed for His presence; but all the while pressures and -hindrances and sore grievances wait on the tilling of the earth; and -pains bring us into the world, till we return to the dust from whence we -came. Neither does this glorious provision of grace displace the -cherubim. They accompany it rather. They are stationed at the eastern -gate of the garden, with their flaming sword, to keep every way of the -tree of life; and no promise which Adam had listened to, no covering -which Adam had received, changes this. Man's capacity to regain that -tree is gone, and gone for ever. Never will he be anything but a _saved -sinner_, pass he along what paths of glory he may, from "paradise" to -"the kingdom," from the kingdom to "the new heavens and the new earth." -Eating of that tree is only by gift of Jesus, the woman's Seed of the -first promise. Rev. ii. 7. - -Such are among the mysteries taught us in this wonderful chapter, full -of mysteries as it is, and of the profoundest secrets of God. But we -have to come down for instruction to learn man and his ways, as well as -to rise, as we learn God and His counsels. - -Cain is declared by the Spirit of God in the apostle to have been "of -that wicked one." The first thing we see in him is his religion. He -renders to God, as offering or sacrifice, the fruit of the cursed -ground, the produce of his own toil. But this was unbelief. It was the -denial of all that had happened since the creation, the _religious_ -denial of it. It was the direct contradiction of the way of faith, or of -Abel. Abel took the way of the promise to God, the bloody victory of the -woman's Seed, the death and resurrection of Christ, and offered of his -flock; but Cain refused to see man's ruin and God's redemption, giving -God the fruit of the earth; in effect saying, that He was to be read and -known in the thorns and the thistles, the sweat, and the sorrow, and the -death; and by the solemn services of his altar he was denying all truth. - -This was the way of a heart deeply departed from God. He was laying the -scene of ruin at God's door, as Adam, ere he repented, had laid down the -sin itself there. - -His next way is in terrible keeping with all this. He hates his brother, -being of that wicked one who is a murderer (John viii. 44), and in -process of time he slays him. - -Tremendous fruit of the apostate, departed nature. He was the first of -that generation who delivered Jesus to be crucified--self-righteous and -murderous. For envy the Jews delivered Jesus; and Cain slew Abel because -his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. It is the world. -"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have -passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that -loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is -a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in -him." The Lord pleaded with him. See iv. 6, 7. His heart had conceived -the sin, but his hand had not brought forth fruit unto death; and with a -voice of long-suffering grace and warning the Lord pleaded with him. The -grace was despised; this grace of pleading with him at the last hour, as -the grace of the promise had been despised before. - -"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men -loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The -light which the Lord Jesus was bringing with Him was the light of life -or salvation. Isa. xlix. 6; John viii. 12. And _this_ was the light -which Cain hated and refused. - -There is the light of righteousness or holiness. But the refusal of it -is not without remedy. In that light the Lord God had come into the -garden and called, "Adam, where art thou?" Adam could not stand it; for -he had sinned. It was intolerable to him. He had come short of that -glory. He retreats from it. And then the Lord God shines in another -light. The promise is made. The character of the glory is changed. God -seats Himself in a light which the sinner can approach, and, believing, -Adam comes forth. - -_This_ was the light which Cain despised, the light of salvation, the -light of the promise, the light in which God shines before men outside -the garden. And Cain is therefore cursed as Adam had not been. As it is -said of another generation, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and -perish." - -All this is the solemn history of the first unbeliever. But the treasury -of corrupt nature that was in him spends itself in further ways of -wickedness. In him was rising that spring which was to give out "its -superfluity of naughtiness." He lies after all this, and justifies -himself. "I know not," says he; "am I my brother's keeper?" For "the -lusts of his father he would do;" and when the devil "speaketh a lie, he -speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." - -All this, however, and even more than this, was _man_, and not Cain -merely. It was the ruined heart of man exposing itself. And because it -was this, because it was the common nature that was thus disclosing -itself, the Lord takes the judgment of it away from man. "Whosoever -slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold;" for none are -without sin. "Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that -judgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself." All -are in the like condemnation. No one can take up the stone and cast it -at another. And in order to express this great principle of truth, and -that God alone has either title or competency to deal with sin, the Lord -will not allow any man to touch the fratricide. By this divine writing -on the case, all are to go out convicted, one by one, and leave the -sinner with God. John viii. - -For the ends of government, when government in the earth becomes the -divine purpose, it shall be said, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man -shall his blood be shed. ix. 6. But this is not so as yet. And for the -teaching of the common pravity, that all of us may be humbled by the -common conviction, that "we have all sinned, and come short of the glory -of God," not one of the whole human family is allowed to touch this -wicked Cain. And so to this day, when government has been divinely set -up, it is not sin that it deals with. _Crimes_, or offences against -public order, and _wrongs_ done to individuals, may be judged by man; -but to take vengeance on _sin_ would be the assuming of personal -guiltlessness. "He that is _without sin_ among you, let _him_ first cast -a stone at her." God has to deal with sin _alone_.[2] - - [2] Some have spoken of the Jews, as guilty of the blood of Christ, so - as to have betrayed the principle of self-righteousness condemned - here. And yet I doubt not that there is a sense in which the Jews - are--in a special sense--connected with that sin in the divine - judgment. The land of the Jews is the distinguished field of - blood; the blood of Jesus, in a great sense, is specially on them - and their children. And so, like Cain, that people are under the - special securities of God. And further; that blood is to be - cleansed from off their land, though it now so stains it. Joel - iii. 21. - - And still further; the language of Lamech, I also judge, is - mystical or typical, intimating the repentance of the Jews who - shed the blood, after generations of unbelief and hardness of - heart. See note, p. 20. - -But, further, as to this awful history. Man will not always be making -this terrible exhibition of himself. He will not at all times appear as -the liar and the murderer. Legion will not be found on every journey we -take. There are restraints. The law, in one sense, was given to that -end. So there are the checks and improvements of education. And there is -the control of God's hand, and the fear of His providence and judgment. -And there is "the law of opinion," as it has been called, the verdict of -society. These and the like influences produce an order in the social -scene, which has therefore become not only tolerable, but full of vast -accommodations and large entertainments. A new _scene_ is thus produced, -though not a new _creature_. Man is man still, the same creature in -God's esteem, or in all divine reckoning, though he appears in the -character of a respectable citizen of the world, and not as the murderer -of his brother. Cain builds a city. He has a thriving, prosperous -family. Through their skill and industry the face of the world -flourishes and looks well. All is respectable; and pleasant and friendly -the people are one with another. The murder is forgotten. Man does not -hear the cry of blood, but the sound of the harp and the organ. His -inventions have stifled his convictions. Cain is an honourable man. But -as to the presence of God, he is as thoroughly separated from it as when -his hand was freshly stained with the blood of his brother. - -This is solemn. Man, as a respectable citizen of the world, may be as -separated from God as a murderer. "The remnant of them," as the parable -speaks, "took his servants ... and slew them." The remnant! a word which -lets us know that the refusers of the supper were of _one_ class with -those who shed the blood of the innocent. - -The ease and indifference with which Cain could turn his back upon the -Lord, and upon the recollection of his brother's blood, are dreadful. He -got a promise of security, and that was all he cared for. And quickly, -under his hand, accommodations and delights of all sorts fill the scene. - -In some sense this is principally shocking. This exceeds. But is not -this the "course of the world"? Was it not man that slew Jesus? Does not -the guilt of that deed lie at every man's door? And what is the course -of the world but the ease and indifference of Cain in this highest state -of guilt? The earth has borne the cross of Christ; and yet man can busy -himself with garnishing and furnishing it, and making life in it -convenient and pleasurable without God. This is shocking when we look at -it in full divine light. A respectable citizen of the world Cain was, -but all the while a heartless forgetter of the sorrows of Abel! His ease -and respectability are the blackest features of his history. He went -away as soon as he got a promise of security; and that promise he uses, -not to soften his heart, and overwhelm him with convictions of all that -had happened, but as giving him full occasion to indulge and magnify -himself. - -We read in the New Testament of "the way of Cain." It may be, nay, it -is, run by others. Jude 11. And what a way does this chapter show it to -be! He was an infidel, or a man of his own religion; not obedient in -faith to God's revelation. He practised the works of the liar and the -murderer; he hated the light; he was proof against God's word in mercy -and in warning; he cares nothing for the presence of God which his sin -had forfeited, or for the sorrow of his brother which his hand had -inflicted. And, as such an one, he can take pains to make himself happy -and honourable in the very place which thus witnessed against him. - -Is this the "way of Cain"? Is this man still? Yes; and nature outlives a -thousand restraints and improvements. For at the end of Christendom's -career it will even then be said of a generation, "They have gone in the -way of Cain." - -This is deeply solemn, beloved, had we but hearts to feel it. There is, -however, a rescued, separated people. Seth's family are after another -order altogether. They are not seen in cities, furnished with -accommodations and pleasures, apart, like Cain, "from the presence of -the Lord;" but as the household of God, separated from that world that -lay in the wicked one, to the faith and worship of His name. - - -It is the sight of this elect family that has principally at this time -drawn me to this portion of the precious oracles of God. There is much, -I believe, in their standing and testimony which has instruction for our -souls. Like all else in these chapters, it is but short notices we get; -but great things are to be found in them. - -This family of Seth may generally be thus spoken of: _They are -strikingly opposed to the way of Cain, and remarkably apprehensive of -the way of God_. - -I speak not here again of their _faith_, but of their _standing and -testimony_. Their faith, or the character of their religion, may be read -in that of Adam, who re-appears here at the head of these antediluvian -saints; and his faith (kindred with that of Eve and Abel, or of all who -receive the gospel of the grace of God) I have already considered. But I -speak now of their standing as a household of God, and of their -testimony in the world. - -The Lord had set a mark on Cain, that no one finding him should slay -him. He would not have the blood of Abel avenged. This we have already -seen. - -The family of Seth are strictly observant of this. No attempt, or -anything like it, is made by them to answer the cry of innocent blood. -They know that it is heard in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth; but, -under this word of God, they are deaf to it themselves. Vengeance does -not belong to them. The harvest has not come. They are not reapers. In -obedience they heard, not the cry of blood, but the voice of the Lord -countermanding vengeance. And they suffer it. They take the wrong done -to their brother, and are acceptable with God. - -Express charge demanded this, and this was consequently simple -obedience. But the mind of a saint is full of light. It is the mind of -Christ (1 Cor. ii.); in us, it is true, darkened in a thousand actings -of it, by the coarseness and blindness of nature with which it is now -linked; but still, in itself it is full of light. Even angelic nature is -all life. Torpidity and dulness do not belong to it. "Winds" and "flames -of fire" express that nature, and such things act constantly and -fervently; and in like virtue the mind of Christ, the divine nature in -the saint, is full of affection and intelligence. - -We get some of its fine ways of acting in this household of God. - -The innocent blood is to remain unavenged. Its cry from the earth is not -to be answered, at least for the present. _That_ is enough to teach the -saint his pilgrim, heavenly calling. The family of Seth are therefore as -pilgrims and strangers here, and all their habits are those of heavenly -citizens. If the earth be not to be cleansed, the elect are to be -strangers in it with a heavenly calling. - -Beautifully true to the mind of God is this! For this is the way of God; -and it was apprehended by these saints, more in the light and knowledge -of His most perfect and beautiful ways than many of us, beloved, who, in -the fuller revelations of this present age, have been so much nourished -and instructed. But it is not the much schooling we get, but the -capacity which sits at the lesson. David wanted capacity for this same -lesson, when he talked of building a house of cedars, a fixed -habitation, for the Lord, while the land was still defiled with blood. -But the Lord (may I say?) would be, like the antediluvian saints, a -stranger on the earth, a dweller in tents, while blood was staining it; -and that very night rebuked the purpose of the king of Israel. 1 Chron. -xvii. - -We have many exhibitions of this way of God in different forms of it. -The Lord, for instance, would have no altar in Egypt, uncircumcised as -that land was. He would not have a throne in the land (in the full glory -of it) till the day of Solomon, when all was sanctified for His royal -presence. Afterwards the glory was grieved away by the abominations -which were done in the temple. The captives, in like spirit, hang their -harps on the willows of the Euphrates; for how could they sing in a -strange land, or let the songs of Zion be heard in Babylon? Separation -was the rule of the divine mind. Separation was holiness. Pollution -demanded it, and faith rose at the bidding. And with all this the Seth -family, the household of God in earliest days--days before the -flood--are in company. They are one in spirit with Jehovah Himself in -Egypt, with the glory in the defiled temple, with the harps of the -captives in Babylon, and with the Church of God in "this present evil -world." - -We have to distinguish between these two things: _God's assertion of His -title to the earth, and God's call of a people out of the earth_. - -These different things have been again and again exhibited in the -progress of the dispensations. And they have been exhibited, as I have -long judged, alternately. - -The Lord began, in Adam, to claim and display His rights on the earth. -The man in the garden was to own the sovereignty of God, and the earth -was the rest and the delight of the Lord, and the place of His glory. - -Sin entering and polluting all, and the pollution being left uncleansed, -in Seth God called a people away from the earth to an inheritance in -heaven. - -Then in Noah the Lord God re-asserted His rights here, and took up the -earth as the place where His elect might find a home, and His own -presence be known again. - -After this Abraham is separated from kindred, and from country, and from -father's house, to be a heavenly stranger on the earth, with his altar -and his tent, looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. - -Israel, in their day, then take up this mystic tale of the heavens and -the earth, and in the land of Canaan become the witness of the scene of -God's sovereignty. The ark passes over the river as "the ark of the -covenant of the Lord of all the earth." - -And now the Church is set for the full testimony of heavenly mysteries -again; and strangership here is the divine idea, till our being taken to -meet the Lord in the air. - -This wondrous tale these dispensations of God, like day and night -alternate, have thus been telling from the beginning; and still are -telling. And millennial days ere long will make these pledges good, and -be the glorious substance of these foreshadowings.[3] - - [3] Such passages as Eph. i. 10 and Col. i. 20 tell us that both the - heavens and the earth are equally the scene of divine purposes. - And the great argument in Rom. xi. instructs us about those - purposes, and the ways and times of their accomplishment. - -Now let me observe, that whenever God arises in this progress of His -counsels to _assert title to the earth_, He begins by judging and -cleansing it. And this, I may say, _of course_; because, the scene of -His purposed glory and presence being corrupted, He must take the -offence away, for His presence could not brook defilement. Noah's -lordship of the earth was, accordingly, preceded by the flood carrying -away the world of the ungodly. Israel's inheritance of Canaan under -Jehovah, as the God of all the earth, was prepared by the judgment of -the Amorites and the sword of Joshua. And the future millennial kingdom, -when the earth is to be the place of the glory again, is (as all -Scripture tells us) to be ushered in by that great action called "the -day of the Lord," with a clearing out of all that offend, and all that -do iniquity. - -But the _call of God_ is quite of another character. It proceeds on the -principle, that God Himself is apart from the earth, and is not seeking -to have it as the home of His glory, or the place of His presence; but -seeking a people out of it, to be His, away from it, and above it. The -earth is altogether a stranger to such a purpose. It is left just as it -is found. No judgment, no visitation of the scene here from the hand of -God, accompanies it. - -This was exhibited in Abraham. Abraham was the object of the call of -God; and accordingly the Canaanites find no rival in him. He does not -dispute with them the title or possession of the soil. He finds them, -and he leaves them, lords of it. He desires only to pitch his tent and -raise his altar on the surface of it for a season; and then, for another -season, to have his bones laid in the bowels of it. - -So with the Church in this age. She is likewise under the call of God. -But her call leaves the Gentiles in power, as it found them. "Let every -soul be subject to the higher powers." The saints have only to obey them -unreluctantly, or to suffer from them patiently, according as the demand -made by them is or is not consistent with their subjection to Christ and -the call of God. They cannot strive with the potsherds of the earth. -Peter's sword is to be put up, and Pilate is to learn that the servants -of Jesus cannot fight. Their warfare is not with flesh and blood. They -are defeated the moment they begin it. The call of God has marshalled -the hosts of God against principalities and powers on high, and the -battle is there. It does not connect us with the earth. Our -_necessities_ do, but not our _call_. We need the fruit of the ground, -the toil of the hand, and the skill of the heart, to provide things -needful for the body. Our necessities thus connect us with it, and we -have to do with it for their supply; but our call separates us from it. -Joshua went into the possession of the Gentiles, that his sword might -make it the possession of the Lord; Paul went into the places of the -Gentiles, to take out of them a people unto God, linked with the -disallowed Stone, despised and rejected of men. - -The family of Seth were, in like manner, under this call of God. It was -intimated to them by the charge to leave the blood of Abel unavenged, -and they understood the intimation. If the earth be left in its -defilement, God is not seeking it (as we have now seen all His ways -declare), and this family of faith are in that secret. They will not -seek it either. Cain's house was in possession of it, and Seth's family -will leave them there, without a rival or a struggle. The mind of God in -them took this knowledge of the way of God, and of His pleasure touching -them; and they acted on heavenly principles in a blood-stained earth, -whose judgment was now for a time to linger and to slumber. - -I own, beloved, that I greatly admire this fine expression of the mind -of Christ in these earliest saints. They take the only way which the -holiness of God could sanction. They are "partakers of _His_ holiness." -The light they walked in was _God's_; the holiness they partook of was -_God's_. 1 John i. 7; Heb. xii. 10. This is a peculiar thing. That light -is not merely righteousness. It is the light of grace also. Yea, and the -light of heavenly strangership in a polluted world. It is a light which -reproves the course of this world, and makes manifest other principles -and hopes altogether. There may be righteousness, and the watching and -praying which escapes temptation; but there must be a walk according to -these principles and hopes, to form a walk "in the light, as He is the -light." These earliest believers beautifully shine there, I believe. -They were not under law. They come between Adam and Moses. They had not -precepts, as I have already shown. But they were in the light, as God is -in the light. And if afterwards Abram did not need to be told to have -his altar and his tent--if he needed no precept from the Lord how to -order the marriage of his son, or how to answer the king of Sodom--so -these saints of still earlier days understood the holiness of the call -of God, and took their journey for a heavenly country at the bidding of -the pollution of the earth. - -I own indeed, again, that I greatly admire this. It is the beauty of the -Spirit's workmanship in His elect vessels. All is His. "How great is His -goodness, and how great is His beauty!" They learn the word in spirit -ere the voice of the Spirit uttered it--"Arise, depart, for this is not -your rest; it is polluted." - -The details about these antediluvian believers are very scanty; but -through it all there is this heavenly character. They do not supply -history for the world; but they do supply instruction for the Church. -This is heavenly. No spirit of burning or spirit of judgment had purged -the blood of the earth, and they shrink instinctively from it. In the -spirit of their minds they leave it. "What communion has light with -darkness? what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?" their -conduct asks. Their _religion_ is that of separation from the world, and -so are _their habits_. - -They call on the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is the -revelation He has been pleased to make of Himself. Immanuel, Jesus, "the -Lord our righteousness," Jehovah, God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and -the Holy Ghost--these are among His names graciously and gloriously -published by Himself. And "to call on the name of the Lord" was service -or worship of God in spirit and in truth. - -This was the religion of these earliest saints. It was simply the -religion of faith and hope. They worshipped God, and, apart from the -world, they waited in hope. "The work of faith" and "the patience of -hope" are seen in them. Something of the Thessalonian spirit breathes in -them. For they served the living and true God, and waited for the Son -from heaven, who had already delivered them. 1 Thess. i. To "call on the -name of the Lord" is faith, and salvation, and worship. It bespeaks the -standing of a saint, and his spiritual service. It shall come to pass, -that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Joel -ii.; Rom. x. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and -will call upon the name of the Lord. Psalm cxvi. And such was their -religion, such was their worship. It was worship in spirit. No temples, -or costly carnal services, or institutions of man appear. - -And in their ways and habits they are only seen as a people walking -across the surface of the earth, till their bodies are either laid under -it, or are translated to heaven above it. They rejoice, as though they -rejoiced not; they buy, as though they possessed not; they have wives, -as though they had none. All around them is as Babylon to them, and -their harps are on the willows. Cain's family have all the music to -themselves. But Seth's family are a risen people. Their conversation is -in heaven. They look for no estates or cities. All they take is an -earlier Machpelah. Nothing is told us of their place or their business. -They are strangers where even Adam was once at home, and, much more, -where Cain still was. We may follow them, and in spirit abide with them -for a day; but where they dwelt we know not--like the disciples who -followed the glorious Stranger from heaven in the day of His sojourn -here. John i. 38, 39. They are without a place or a name. The earth knew -them not. Like the stranger Rechabites, they are, throughout their -generations, one after another, of the wilderness, and not of the city -(Judges i. 16); or in Levitical language, they were a standing order of -Nazarites, more separated to God than even Israel themselves. - -They are the earliest witnesses of this heavenly strangership. Such a -life is exhibited afterwards in other saints of God in its fuller, -beautiful details; but we have it here in spirit. - -For instance, in Isaac. The world was against him. But he strives not -with it either in deed or in word. He neither answers nor resists. The -Philistines tell him to go from them. He goes at their bidding. They -spoil him of his labours. He yields and takes it patiently, as Esek and -Sitnah tell us. Gen. xxvi. - -So his father Abraham before him. Only, sad to tell it, it is a -_brother_ who acts the part of the world in the scene. Lot chooses, as -the world chooses, the well-watered plain. Abraham suffers, and takes it -patiently--though it was something more galling than the wrong of a -Philistine--the unthankful, selfish way of one who should have known -better, and who owed him everything. Gen. xiii. - -So Israel, in still later days, accepts the insult of Edom in like -spirit. They pleaded for a passage through their land by the claims of -kindred, by reason of their common origin, by their many toils and -afflictions, by the tokens of the divine favour toward them, and by -their present need as toiling, way-worn pilgrims through a desert land. -But Edom despised them and threatened. They pleaded again, but they were -insulted again; they suffered it, and took another road. Num. xx. And so -their Lord in the day of His pilgrimage. He sought another village when -other Edomites of Samaria refused Him. Luke ix. Precious and happy, thus -to put Him at the head of all that is excellent! The good that is done -is _like_ Him, as well as _of_ Him. Isaac suffers wrong from _the -world_, and takes it patiently. Abraham suffers wrong from _one who owed -him everything_, and takes it patiently. Israel suffers likewise from -their _kindred_; but Jesus from those whom _He was serving and blessing -at the cost of everything to Himself_, from the world which He had made, -and from that people whom He had adopted. And yet "He lays His thunder -by," and goes on His pilgrimage of love and service still. - -In like spirit the family of God, in days before the flood pursue their -pilgrim path. They leave the world to Cain. There is not the symptom of -a struggle, nor the breath of a complaint. They say not, nor think of -saying, "Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance -with me." In habits of life and principles of conduct, they are as -distinct from their injurious brother as though they were of another -race, or in another world. Cain's family make _all_ the world's history. -They build its cities, they promote its arts, they conduct its trade, -they invent its pleasures and pastimes. But in all this Seth's family -are not seen. The one generation call their cities after their own -names; the other call themselves by the name of the Lord. The one do all -they can to make the world their own, and not the Lord's; the other do -all they can to shew themselves to be the Lord's, and not their own. -Cain writes his own name on the earth; Seth writes the Lord's name on -himself. - -We may bless the Lord for this vigorous delineation of heavenly -strangership on earth, and ask for grace to know some of its living -power in our souls. It is this which has drawn me to this portion of the -Word at this time. It reads us a lesson, beloved. And well indeed, if -the instincts of our renewed minds suggest the same heavenly path with -like certainty and clearness. The call of God leads that way, and all -His teaching demands it. The pastimes and the purposes, the interests -and the pleasures, of the children of Cain are nothing to these -pilgrims. They declare plainly that they refuse the thought, that there -is any capacity in the earth, as it is now, to give them satisfaction. -They are discontented with it, and make no attempts to have it -otherwise. There lay their moral separation from the way of Cain and his -household. They were not mindful of the country around them, but sought -a better, that is, a heavenly.[4] May I not therefore say of them, as I -have said, that they are strikingly opposed to the way of Cain, and -remarkably apprehensive of the way of God? - - [4] What I say of this antediluvian family is only as we see them in - Genesis v. I doubt not, as under every trial of man, failure and - corruption are witnessed. But I speak merely of their standing and - testimony as given to us here. Sons and daughters, as we are told, - were born to them, generation after generation, and seeds of - apostasy were sown and sprang up among them, I doubt not. But this - does not at all affect the lesson we get from this fifth chapter. - -After this pattern the Lord would have us: in the world, but not of it; -of heaven, though not as yet (except in Christ) in it. Paul, in the Holy -Ghost, would so have us, taking example from those whose "conversation -is in heaven." Peter, in the same Spirit, would so have us "as strangers -and pilgrims" abstaining from fleshly lusts. James summons us, in the -same Spirit, to know that "the friendship of the world is enmity with -God." And John separates us as by a stroke: "We are of God, and the -whole world lieth in wickedness." - -It is for the Church surely, beloved, to walk in this elevation and -separateness. What is according to the call of God, and what worthy of -heavenly hopes, but this? We breathe but feebly, and glow but faintly, -in company with those and like witnesses. What a temper of soul, it has -just struck me, we get in such a chapter as Phil. iv.! What a glow is -felt throughout it! What depth and fervency of affection! What a shout -of triumph the spirit raises! What elevation in the midst of changes, -perplexities, and depressions! The apostle's whole temper of soul -throughout that chapter is uncommon. But if one may speak for others, it -is to us little more than the tale of a distant land, or the warmth and -brilliancy of other climes reported to our souls by travellers. - -Lead us, Lord, we pray thee! Teach us indeed to sing-- - - "We're bound for yonder land, - Where Jesus reigns supreme; - We leave the shore at His command, - Forsaking all for Him. - - "'T were easy, did we choose, - Again to reach the shore-- - But that is what our souls refuse, - We'll never touch it more." - - -But surely it is one thing to be the advocate of Christianity, and -another to be the disciple of it. And though it may sound strange at -first, far easier is it to _teach_ its lessons than to _learn_ them. But -so our souls know full well. - -We have, however, still to look at the _destiny_ and _endowments_ of -these saints, as we have already looked at their _faith_, their -_virtues_, and their _religion_. - -The translation of Enoch was the first formal testimony of the great -divine secret, that _man was to have a place and inheritance in the -heavens_. By creation he was formed for the earth. The garden was his -habitation, Eden his demesne, and all the earth his estate. But now is -brought forth the deeper purpose, that God has an election from among -men, destined, in the everlasting counsels of abounding grace, for -heaven. - -In the course of ages and dispensations after this, this high purpose of -God was only dimly and occasionally, slowly and gradually, manifested. -But in the person of Enoch it is made to shine out at once. The heavenly -calling at this early moment, and in the bosom of his elect and favoured -household, declares itself in its full lustre. This great fact among the -antediluvian patriarchs anticipates in spirit the hour of Mount Tabor, -the vision of the martyred Stephen, and the taking up of the saints in -the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. - -Such was the high destiny of the elect people. - -The prophecies of Enoch and of Lamech are samples of their endowments. -And rich indeed, worthy of their dignity, these endowments were. For -those prophecies under the Holy Ghost tell us that glorious secrets had -been entrusted to them. They were treated as in the place of friends. -"Shall I hide from them," the Lord was saying to them, as afterwards to -Abraham, "that thing which I do?" For such privileges belong only to -dignity. See Gen. xviii. 18. And if Abraham knew the doom of Sodom -beforehand, Enoch, in a deeper, larger sense, knew the doom of the whole -world beforehand. And his prophecy lets out a mystery of solemn and -wondrous glory--that the heavenly saints are to accompany the Lord in -the day of His power and judgment. And, as of a character equal with -this, Lamech's, which comes after, in its turn, with happier -anticipations, sketches the scene that lies beyond the judgment, days of -millennial blessedness, "the days of heaven upon the earth." The Lord -has not given up the earth for ever. And these saints before the flood -can speak of that great mystery even before the bow in the cloud becomes -the token of it. But they know the judgment of it must come first; and -they can speak of that mystery also before the fountains of the great -deep were broken up. - -Rich endowments in the Spirit thus attach to their high personal dignity -with God. As with the Church now. "Stewards" they were "of the mysteries -of God." They could "sing of mercy and of judgment;" unto God and of His -counsels they could sing. Profoundest secrets feed their souls. "The -deep things of God," the things both of prophets and apostles, the -things of the epistles and the apocalypse, are theirs. Paul was -entrusted with the circumstances of the heavenly calling. He speaks of -our being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and of -that great expectation as being our comfort and relief against the day -of the Lord and its terrors; Enoch in himself, long before, illustrated -that very thing. John speaks of the raptured saints accompanying the -Lord in the day of His power, joining in the breaking of the potter's -vessel, and in the warfare of the Rider on the white horse; Enoch in his -prophecy, long before, testified the same. Jude 14, 15. Prophets tell of -the wilderness by-and-by rejoicing, and of the desert blossoming, of the -blessed One renewing the face of the earth, and instead of the brier, -the myrtle flourishing; but long before Lamech had told of this same -comfort in the earth again, and this rest for man from the curse of the -ground. Gen. v. 29. - -Rich indeed were these endowments in the Holy Ghost. There is even -peculiar vividness in these earliest utterances of the prophetic spirit. -There is commonly a haze over the distance. It is not clear, as if it -were the foreground. Indistinctness invests it. And this, in contrast -with the nearer landscape, only heightens the impression of the whole. -So the notices of the prophets, and the things reported by apostles. -They are delivered in different style. Properly so. The haze of distance -commonly invests the communications we get of the future. Such is the -perfectness of the way of the Spirit. The very drapery under which the -distant or the future appears sets it off fitly. Clearness, or literal -definiteness, would be offensive, as glare or nakedness. This is -commonly so, and this is all admirable. But if _at times_ the distance -is illuminated, we can delight in it; and in these earliest notices the -latest scenes of divine action are thus set off in strange and beautiful -distinctness. - -Such was the heavenly calling, its virtues, its dignity, and its -endowments, of this antediluvian family of God. The end of their path -was heavenly also, as heavenly as any feature of it. I speak not of the -_fact_ of its ending in heaven, but of the very _style_ in which it so -ended. No sign among the nations gave notice of it. No times or seasons -had to mark or measure it. No stated age or numbered years had to spend -themselves. No voice of prophecy had so much as hinted the blessed, -rapturous moment. "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took -him." Nothing peculiar ushered forth that glorious hour. No big -expectations or strange events gave token of its coming. It was the -natural heavenly close of an undeviating heavenly journey. - -It was otherwise with Noah afterwards. Great preparation was made for -his deliverance. Years also spent themselves--appointed years. But not -so our heavenly patriarch. Noah was carried through the judgment; but -Enoch, before it came, was borne to the place out of which it came.[5] - - [5] I am not careful to apply all this, as I believe it may be - applied. I rather leave it in the way of a suggestion. But it does - seem to me that the Lord, _speaking of the Jewish election_, takes - Noah for His text or type (Matt. xxiv.); while the apostle, - _addressing the Church_, takes his language the rather from the - translation of Enoch. 1 Thess. iv. 17; 2 Thess. ii. 1. For the - Jewish remnant, like Noah, will be carried through the - judgment---the saints now gathering will be in the sphere out of - which the judgment is to be poured. For we are taught again and - again, as I have noticed before, that exercise of power in that - day, in company with the Lord, is part of the glory of the saints. - See Col. iii. 4; Rev. ii. 26; xvii. 14; xix. 14. - -And if the days and years did not measure it, nor signs announce it, did -the world, I ask, witness it? Or was it, though so glorious and great, -silent and secret? - -The language of the apostle seems to give me my answer, and so does all -the analogy of Scripture. He "was not found, because God had translated -him." This sounds as though man had been a stranger to that glorious -hour. The world seems to have inquired and searched after him, like the -sons of the prophets after Elijah; but in vain. 2 Kings ii. 17; Heb. xi. -5. And this tells us that the translation had been a secret to man; for -they would not have searched, had they seen it. - -All scriptural or divine analogy answers me in like manner. Glory, in -none of its forms or actions, is for the eye or ear of mere man. - -Horses and chariots filled the mountain; but the prophet's servant had -to get his eye opened ere he could see them. Daniel saw a glorious -stranger, and heard his voice as the voice of a multitude; but the men -who stood with him saw nothing--only a terror fell on them. The glory on -"the holy hill" shone only in the sight of Peter, James, and John, -though the brightness there at that moment (night as it was) might have -lighted up all the land; for the divine face "did shine as the sun." -Many bodies of saints arose, attendants on the Lord's rising; but it was -only to some in the holy city they showed themselves. The heaven was -opened over the head of the martyr of Jesus, in the very midst of a -multitude; but the glory was seen only by him. Paul went to Paradise, -and Philip to Azotus; but no eye of man tracked either the flight or the -journey. And beyond all, when Jesus rose, and that, too, from a tomb of -hewn stone, and from amid a guard of wakeful soldiers, no ear or eye was -in the secret. It was a lie, that the keepers of the stone slept; but it -is a truth, that they saw no more of the resurrection than had they done -so. Silence and secrecy thus mark all these glorious transactions. -Visions, audiences, resurrections, flights, ascensions, the glory down -here, and the heaven opened up there, all these go on, and yet mere man -is a stranger to all. And the translation of Enoch takes company with -all these, I assuredly judge; and so, I further judge, will another -glorious hour soon to come, in which "they that are Christ's" are _all_ -to be interested. - - -I have now reached and closed the fifth chapter. The first part of the -Book of Genesis will be found to end here. For these chapters (i.-v.) -constitute a little volume. - -I. This chapter opens the volume with the work of creation. - -II. Creation being complete, the Lord, the Creator, takes His delight -in it; and in the midst of it, and over it, places the man whom He had -formed in His own image, with all endowments and possessions to make his -condition perfect. - -III. Man, thus made perfect, being tried and overcome, we see the -_ruin_ which he wrought, and the _redemption_ which God provided. - -IV. V. These chapters then show us one branch of this ruined, redeemed -family choosing the ruins, and another branch of it delighting in the -redemption. - -This is simple, and yet perfect. The tale is told--a tale of other days; -but in the results and sympathies of which we live at this hour. - -It is the sight of the elect, believing, heavenly household, which we -get in this little volume, which has at this time drawn my thoughts to -it. They walked on earth as we should walk; but they were, by their -faith, hope, and destiny, all the while, very near heaven, as we are. - -Are we touching the skirts of such glory with unaffected hearts, -beloved? Does anything more humble you in His presence, I ask you (for -my own soul has already given its answer), than the conviction we have -of the little estimation in which the heart holds His promised glory? It -is terrible discovery to make of oneself. That we have but small delight -in the provisions of His goodness, is more terrible than that we have no -answer to the demands of His righteousness. And yet both stand in proof -against us. After Israel had left Egypt, they were tested by the voice -of the law; but the golden calf tells that they had no answer for it. In -the progress of their journey, they are tested by the firstfruits of -Canaan; but the desired captain tells that they had no relish for the -feast. And what is the heart of man still? What was it in Christ's day? -The parable of the marriage of the king's son, like the captain of the -wilderness, tells us that there is no relish there for the table which -God spreads. What are singing men and singing women to a heavy ear? The -pleasant land is despised still. Canaan is not worth the scaling of a -single wall, or an encounter with one Amalekite. The farm, the -merchandise, and the wife, are made the captain to take us back, in -spite of the invitations of love and the treasures of glory. - -Terrible discovery! And yet it is not hard to make it. The proof of it -clings pretty close to us. We know how quickly present interests move -us; how loss depresses and profit elates us; and then, again, we know -how dull the glory glitters, if but a difficulty or a hazard lie this -side of it. - -Are we sorry because of this, beloved? Does it ever break the heart into -sighs and groans before our God? Sad and solemn, if we feel it not -thus--and terrible, when we deliberately talk to ourselves of making a -captain again. And this we do when the pastime and the pleasures of the -sons of men again give animation to our hearts, or when their honours or -their pursuits become again our objects. Lot's wife, beloved, had got -beyond Sodom, and that, too, in company with the elect, when it was -found that she was still there, in such a sense as to perish with the -city. Israel was as far as the wilderness of Paran, and that, too, in -company with the ark of God, when it was proved that they were still -amid the flesh-pots of Egypt. Serious remembrances for us all! holy -warnings, that we wanton not with those lusts and enjoyments, which once -we watched and mortified. - - -"Of that day and hour knoweth no man"--are the solemn words by which the -Lord refuses to pledge the moment of His return to His Jewish remnant. -Matt. xxiv. 36. That moment is to be to them as the thief of the night, -or as the hour of the woman in travail. So as to death. If it come on -any of us without a moment's warning, the Lord has not been untrue to -any pledge He has given. And so as to the rapture. In no case is the day -or the hour pledged or made known. All is included in _one_ word of deep -and holy import--"Watch"--and that one word is addressed to all: "What I -say unto you, I say unto all, Watch." - -Whether the close to us be by death or rapture--whether it be to Israel -by being taken or left--the day and the hour remain alike untold; no -pledge of it is promised at all. Each and all are set on the -watch-tower. _We_ wait for "the Son from heaven;" _they_ will have to -wait for "the days of the Son of man;" but neither of us know the hour -that closes the waiting. - -That is common to them and to us. We stand in equal condition with them -as to this. But together with this there is a difference. - -The Jewish Remnant are given signs. That is, they are told of certain -things which _must_ precede "the days of the Son of man," though they -are left ignorant of the day or the hour of that appearing. See Matt. -xxiv. 32-36. The saints now gathering to the hope of the "Son from -heaven" are, on the contrary, not given any such signs, or told of any -necessary precursory events. - -The Lord communicated His _purpose_ of judgment to Noah, but said -nothing to him of the _time_ of it. But Noah knew that it could not be -till his ark was built. He knew not the time when the waters were to -rise; but he knew they could not rise till he and his were lodged in -safety. This was a sign, or an event necessarily forerunning the close -of his history. And so with the earthly Israel. Circumstances must take -place, though the day or the hour of it be not known, ere the Son of man -can be here on earth again. But not so with Enoch. No circumstance -necessarily delayed his translation. His walk with God was not a -circumstance. And that was all that led the way to his ascension. And so -with the Church now gathering. She waits for no circumstance--no years -measure her sojourn here; no events prepare her heavenward way. She is -not put, like the Jewish election, under the restraint of any signs or -preceding circumstances. - -The Lord treats it as _deceit_ to say "the time draweth nigh;" while the -apostle _expressly puts us under those words_. Luke xxi. 8; James v. 8. -_After certain signs or events_, the Lord tells the remnant that their -expectation is near; the apostle tells us that ours is _always so_. -Matt. xxiv. 33; Phil. iv. 5. The Lord exhorts the remnant to watch, -because the day may otherwise overtake them; the apostle exhorts us to -watch, because we are already of the day, and it is fit that we should -act as day-men. Matt. xxiv. 43; 1 Thess. v. 5, 6. - -Here lies a difference. But still, all are equally commanded to -watch--we in this our day, as ever knowing that "the end of all things -is at hand," and the remnant, in their coming day, even though they know -that some events must go before. - -And beautiful and just this is. For if the things threatened be -profoundly solemn, as they are, and the things promised be unspeakably -glorious, as they are, it is but little to require of us to _treat them -as supreme_--and that, in other words, is _watching_. - -And the sense of the nearness of the glory should be cherished by us. I -mean its nearness in _place_ as well as time. And we need be at no -effort to persuade ourselves of it. It is taught us very clearly and -surely. The congregation of Israel were set at the door of the -tabernacle, and as soon as the appointed moment came the glory was -before them. See Lev. viii. ix. So at the erection of the tabernacle, -and so at the introduction of the ark into the temple. Ex. xl.; 2 Chron. -v. So when it had business to do (though of different characters) with -the company on Mount Tabor, with the dying Stephen, or with Saul on the -road to Damascus--wherever it may have to act, and whatever it may be -called to do, to convict, to cheer, or to transfigure--to smite to the -earth the persecutor, to give triumph to the martyr, or to conform an -elect Vessel to itself, it can be present in a moment, in the twinkling -of an eye. It is but a thin veil, which either hides it or distances it. -The path is short, and the journey rapidly accomplished. We should -cherish the thought of this, beloved. It has its power as well as its -consolation. And so ere long, when the time of 1 Cor. xv. 51 arrives, -that moment of the general transfiguration, as soon as the voice of the -archangel summons it, the glory will be here again, as in the twinkling -of an eye, to do its business with us, and in the image of the heavenly -to bear us up, like Enoch, to the heavenly country. - -Then shall the Lord be glorified in His saints--not as now, in their -obedience and service, their holiness and fruitfulness, but in their -_personal_ beauty. Arrayed in white, and shining in our glories, we -shall be the wondrous witness of what He has done for the sinner that -trusts in Him. And as one much loved and honoured in the Lord has just -written to me, so I write to you, beloved: "No lark ever sprang up on a -dewy morning to sing its sweet song with such alacrity as you and I -shall spring up to meet our Lord in the air." And his exhortation to me -I would make mine to you (though feebly echoed from my heart): "Oh, my -brother, set it before your mind's eye as a living reality, and then let -hope patiently wait for the fulfilment!" - - - "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." - - - - - NOAH. - - GENESIS VI.-XI. - - -How changed is the whole condition of things since the day of Genesis! - -Were I to read the opening of this fine scripture, and just expose my -heart to the simpler earliest impression of what I get there, it is this -thought which would engage my mind; and yet with all ease we can account -for this strange and wondrous revolution. In chapter i. God was alone, -producing the fruit of His own handiwork, in wisdom, goodness, and -skill; and then all was good and desirable. On the return of every -evening and morning the divine delights lingered over what the divine -hand was working out, and behold all was very good; and the seventh day -was sanctified for the celebration of this rest and enjoyment. But now, -it is not God's hand presenting a perfect work to God's thoughts and -affections, but it is man, the apostate artificer, spreading out a wide -scene of corruption and violence for the grief and repentings of the -divine mind. The secret of the change lies there. Man has been at work; -man has been fashioning and furnishing the scene, and not the living, -blessed God. The earth is therefore filled with violence; giants there -are, mighty men, men of renown; and the imaginations of that heart which -was now making "this present evil world" are only evil, and that -continually. - -Here lies the secret. The change was complete because of the new potter -that had been at the wheel; the change could not be less. The song of -the morning stars, the shout of the sons of God, had no echo in the -scene of creation now; man was now abroad--not as a part of the work, -but as a reprobate workman. - -It is just this which gives character to the opening of chapter vi. And -there is no relief for all this in the creature--the best sample and -portion it could offer is itself defiled. The sons of God themselves are -dragged into the mire--their will, their desire, their taste, are -supreme with them. The daughters of Moab have seduced to fornication; -and the Nazarites, who were purer than snow and whiter than milk, whose -polishing was of sapphire, are become blacker than a coal. The witness -against them is, "he also is flesh." - -If Adam was seduced by the subtilest of enemies, and followed the sight -of his eye and the desire of his heart, the sons of God are now seduced -by an enemy equally successful. He works, it is true, from within rather -than without--"he also is flesh"--but the sight of the eye and the -desire of the heart are again followed. Wives are taken of all "whom -they choose;" other lords are listened to, for God is not in all their -thoughts, and then it matters not whether it be the promise of the -serpent, or the fairness of the daughters of men. Gen. iii. 4, 5. - -The multiplying of men on the face of the earth is noticed as connected -with all this corruption--just as in the history of the Church. Acts vi. -1. It was when the number of disciples was multiplied that murmurings -and disputings began to arise; and these kindred cases in Genesis vi. -and Acts vi. tell us that man is never to be trusted, and that the more -we get of him the worse things are. "Jesus did not commit Himself to -them, for He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of -man, for He knew what was in man." - -Such was the condition of the scene from one end to the other; and -against all this corruption and violence which now overspread the earth, -the judgment of God is marked--"My spirit shall not _always_ strive with -man." There may be, and there shall be, a term of long-suffering--as it -is said, "his days shall be one hundred and twenty years"--but still -judgment is marked, and the day of visitation will come--the Spirit will -not _always_ strive. - -But there is resource in God, as well as judgment with Him. If man, the -work of His _hand_, have "grieved" Him, still, drawing from Himself, He -will (may I say?) go deeper, and find His joy in the counsels of His -_heart_. - -"Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Man, as a sinner, shall -become the object of electing, pardoning, justifying love--he shall -engage the _heart_ now, as of old, at creation, he engaged the _hand_ of -the Lord. - -Thus from Himself the Lord draws, but from Himself in a deeper sense and -way than before. This was to be no more repairing of the creature--such -a thing would have been no fit work for God. As to man, God had to -repent that He had made him on the earth; and as to the scene around -him, the mind of God was changed--changed unalterably, and for ever. -Man, as a thing formed of the dust, was never to be the divine delight -again--mere man. But grace can make a new thing--not repairing the work -marred on the wheel, but making it another vessel, as it seem good to -the potter to make it. In its old estate it was ruined, but in its ruins -grace will take it up to make it a goodly and a pleasant vessel of -richest treasures and all-desirable beauty. - -We admire a ruin; and some, as they have thought of this, have suspected -the _moral_ of such a sentiment, and been ready to condemn the heart and -eye that could linger with pleasure over what was the witness of decay -and death, and the entrance of the power of sin. But I would venture to -embolden such, and to tell them that they may still admire a ruin, and -do so without fear or self-judgment. The redeemed thing is a vast, and -precious, and beautiful ruin; it will bespeak the power of sin and death -for ever, while displaying the boundless, glorious victory of death's -Destroyer. And the thoughts of the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ, as -well as heaven itself and all its hosts, will linger over that ruin for -a happy eternity. It will be the ornament and the delight of the -creation of God. "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it! Shout, -ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O -forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob!" And -again, "Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than -over ninety-and-nine just persons which need no repentance." - -This is heaven's admiration of a beautiful ruin; and these are the ways -of God. The operations of His hands were, of old, His delight, and the -counsels of His grace are now His delight, and the attending angels have -their music, and their dancing in the house of the prodigal's Father. - -Noah, having thus found grace in the eyes of the Lord, becomes the -subject of divine teaching. An elect vessel is always the vessel for the -handiwork of God, through the Spirit. The Lord communicates His mind to -him; He tells him that the judgment of an evil world, which had now -filled up its measure, was marked before Him, but that for him and his -house there was safety, and a great deliverance. - -This communication has a very precious character in it--_it is strictly -according to the previous counsel of His own bosom_. This is very much -to be prized. God tells His elect one, that the end of all flesh was -come before Him--as, in His own secret counsels He had already said, "My -spirit shall not _always_ strive with man;" He tells him of the sense -and judgment He had of the _moral_ condition of the earth--just such as -He had uttered in secret before; and, further, He tells him to get ready -an ark for the saving of his house, as, in the counsels of His electing -love and sovereign purpose, Noah had already found grace in His eyes. - -It is very establishing to the heart to notice this. It lets us -understand how _exactly_ the revelation made to us puts us into -possession of the divine mind, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing -which I do?" says the Lord, on another occasion, when He was, as here, -speaking to Himself. And a _fulness_, as well as exactness, I may say, -distinguishes these revelations. Jesus says to His disciples, "_All_ -things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you"--with, -however, one exception. The Lord God had fixed 120 years as the term of -His longsuffering. Noah's preaching, as well as ark-building, was to be -for that period. Such was the purpose of God. But Noah was told nothing -of this predestinated interval. The Lord kept back all mention of the -120 years. Noah knew, indeed, that the waters could not prevail till he -and his were safe in the ark, but how long that might be preparing, or -whether or not, after it was finished, any time should pass ere the -waters should begin to rise, he knew not. This part of the divine -counsel the Father kept in His own power; this was the exception to the -fulness of the communication. Events were to take place, signs were to -precede "the day of the Lord"--such, at least, as the finishing and -filling of the ark. In the language of the prophet, the bud was to -become tender, and to put forth its leaves. Had any one talked to Noah -about the waters rising ere the ark was ready, Noah would not have been -shaken in mind, or in anywise troubled. That could not be. "The time -draweth nigh" would have been deceit then, as it will be by-and-by, when -the earthly remnant, or election, are, like Noah, waiting for -redemption. Luke xxi. 8. But still, the period itself, the term of the -divine longsuffering, was put in the Father's power, and no one knew the -day nor the hour. So rich and full are those harmonies in earlier and -latter days, in typical and closing actions of God's hand. Noah was at -this time an _earthly_ man--that is an elect one destined for -inheritance in the earth, as the nation of Israel, by-and-by, will be; -and both of them, in their several days, are provided, by divine -instructions, against the deceits which might alarm them, or the -promises which might seduce them; but the day and hour of their -deliverance are not told. - -The ark, in the size, fashion, and material of it, is entirely the -prescription of God. Noah has but to make it--the Lord plans it as well -as appoints it. The making of it is only the trial and the proof of -faith--"by faith Noah, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of -his house." Israel fashioning the sanctuary, in after days, was a like -act of faith. They had to make it, and make it they did, with willing -hearts and ready service, yielding their brass, and their silver, and -their gold, their fine linen, badgers' skins, shittim-wood, oil, spices, -and precious stones. But all this was only the obedience of faith to the -way of deliverance and peace, which God Himself had planned and -revealed. They made the sanctuary as Noah made the ark; but neither was -his act nor their act anything more than faith in the provisions of God. -And what is the gospel, and faith in the gospel, to this hour, but such -a revelation of the provisions of grace, and such obedience to that -revelation? The religion of the elect has ever been the same--"It is of -faith, that it might be by grace." Faith in God's sovereign provisions -was Adam's religion at the beginning, then it was Noah's, afterwards it -was the religion of Abraham, and of every true Israelite; and so at this -day it is ours. We all, as well as Adam, come forth from our shame, and -fear, and confusion of conscience, at the tidings of the bruised and -bruising Seed of the woman. We all, as well as Noah, prepare an ark for -salvation, and become heirs of the righteousness which is by faith; we -all as well as Israel, betake us from the fiery hill to the sanctuary of -enthroned mercy--and Jesus, Jesus, is the name borne along the line, -from one end of it to the other, of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and -saints, Gentile and Jewish, small and great, in the deep-toned melody -that is to charm the eternity of heaven. - -It is not merely mercy. Heaven knows no such thought. Neither is it -simple, naked promise. It is _propitiation_ and victory, and _purchased_ -as well as promised blessings. - -Inspect the sanctuary of God and you will find that it is not mere mercy -that is there. It is enthroned mercy, mercy on the ark of the covenant, -mercy sustained by the work and on the person of the Son of God. And -faith has respect only to such a mystery as that. Faith never talks of -mere mercy. It could not. It could no more talk of mere mercy in God -than it could of moral righteousness in man. The gospel does not know -such ideas, and therefore faith cannot apprehend them. The gospel -reveals One who is just, while justifying the ungodly. Mercy and truth -have met together. It is glory to God in the highest while it is peace -and good will to men. This is the way of the gospel. - -Abraham is in the faith of this, as we see in Genesis xv. The Lord had -said to him, "I will give thee this land to inherit it." This was a -promise, the promise too of One that could not lie. It was an immutable -thing. And Abraham rightly listened to this. As a sinner, who knew full -well and full justly, that promises to such an one must have foundations -and warranty, he listened to it; therefore he at once says, "Whereby -shall I know that I shall inherit it?" Is this a challenge of the -promise? Is this a question of the divine truthfulness? No, indeed. It -is only faith letting God know, that it was a conscious sinner who was -listening to His promise, which needed therefore some warranty, or -consideration, to carry it with certainty to the heart. And the Lord was -well pleased with this. Faith always pleases Him, as without it nothing -does. And at once He prepares to let Abraham know that _sacrifice -sustained the promise_. - -Our patriarch, before Abraham, was in the like faith. And walking in the -steps of the same faith he takes an advanced character. He attains -righteousness. "Thee have I seen righteous before me in this -generation," is now the word of God to him. "By faith Noah, being warned -of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to -the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, _and -became heir of the righteousness which is by faith_." - -Love, and faith, and the patience of hope were, however, each to animate -his soul, and form his life, for that solemn interval of 120 years. -While the ark was preparing, the Spirit, in Noah's preaching, was -striving with that generation. Nothing can be more beautifully replete -with meaning than all this. Noah was in the work of faith, the labour of -love, and the patience of hope--a true Thessalonian saint. He was -preparing the ark in that faith which had received the divine -warning--in love he was telling his generation of righteousness. 2 Peter -ii. 5. Just like a saint of this day. His own safety is settled and -sure--_that_ he knows; but he is careful that his neighbours should -share it with him. The Spirit then strove in the testimony as now He -strives; but every stroke of Noah's hammer day by day told that He would -not _always_ strive. - -At the close of this predestinated but undisclosed period, Noah enters -the ark. This was the great salvation in a mystery. It was as the night -of Egypt's doom and Israel's rescue. Nothing less than safety and -deliverance under the fullest securities and dearest title in an hour of -most solemn judgment, was now the story of Noah. And this is the -salvation of the gospel. In Egypt afterwards, the very hand which -carried the sword of destruction along the land had appointed the -sheltering blood. Could the sword strike? Impossible! And now it was He, -who took counsel with Himself about the judgment of the world, who had -also counselled His elect about the way of escape. It was the hand which -was about to let the waters out which was now shutting Noah in. Could -they then prevail against him! Just, in like manner, impossible! - - "The voice that speaks in thunder - Says, 'Sinner, I am thine.'" - -The One to whom vengeance belongs has settled all the plan of safety. He -that is bearing the sword into the land has appointed the scarlet line -in the window. But a solemn scene of judgment accompanies all this. The -sun was risen on the earth, as, after this, Lot entered into Zoar. And -yet that sunny hour was the very time for the rain of brimstone and fire -to fall. Nothing could be done till Lot entered the city, but then -nothing remained to be done ere the fire came down. - -How deeply was the moment of visitation hid! They might well have said, -"Peace and safety," when they saw that morning sun, as he was wont, -gilding the bright and happy surface of the scene around them. But even -then the "sudden destruction" fell. - -Noah's generation was eating, and drinking, and marrying, just as the -water began to rise. There was no harbinger, save, like Lot's escape to -Zoar, Noah's entrance into the ark. But that was folly. To imprison -himself and all that he had in the sides of a ship aground, that _was_ -folly. But the flood came in the moment of fancied security, and took -them all away. They were "willingly ignorant" of the word of God, the -testimony of the "preacher of righteousness;" one who addressed them in -the power and on the principle of a resurrection hope. 1 Peter iii. - -Sudden and sure destruction on all outside, but divine, infallible -security on all within. The city of refuge was _appointed of God_, and -its walls must be salvation. Impossible to be less. The same -righteousness which has pronounced a curse on every one that continueth -not in all things written in the book of the law to do them, has -likewise pronounced a curse on every one that hangeth on a tree. Gal. -iii. Can He then deny His own remedy to the sinner, cursed under the -law, when he pleads, by faith, the Saviour cursed on the tree? Alike, -impossible. - -"The Lord shut him in." The hand of the Lord imparted its own strength -and security to Noah's condition. It is not too bold to say, that all -within the door of the ark were as safe as the Lord Himself. The Lord -returned, we may say, to His own heavens, or to His throne, which is -established for ever, and Noah was left on the earth, in the place and -day of judgment. But Noah was as safe as the Lord. "We may have boldness -in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." -Jesus has gone back to heaven, and we are still in this world, the -judgment of which is marked before God; but we have the boldness which -is proper to Jesus. Wonderful to utter it! And yet is all that -mysterious, glorious security figured in that little action, "The Lord -shut him in." God's own hand imparted its strength to Noah's condition -ere He returned to the heavens. - -Some of every sort are borne with Noah from the place of death into the -ark of salvation. The "eight souls," as Peter speaks, but with them, -remnants of the beasts of the earth, small and great, winged fowl and -creeping things, all are housed and redeemed together with Noah. - -So was it afterwards in Egypt. Not a hoof was left behind. The great -redemption of that day, in like manner, provided for all--Moses and the -600,000, with their wives and little ones, and also all their cattle; -all again knew and manifested the saving strength of God. As in the day -of Nineveh, long after, "the much cattle" are the Lord's thought, as the -six-score thousand persons that could not discern between their right -hand and their left. - -And in the coming day of the inheritance of Christ, His dominions will -measure all the works of God's hand, "All sheep and oxen, yea, and the -beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea;" and -the fields and the floods, and the hills and trees of the wood, shall be -joyful before Him. Psalm xcviii. - -Welcome mystery! Are they not all His creatures? Did not His hand of old -form them, and His eyes and His heart rest and delight in them? And is -this lost to Him? May Jonah grieve for his withered gourd, and the Lord -not spare the works of His own hand for His abiding joy? He will renew -the face of the earth, as it is written--The glory of the Lord shall -endure for ever, the Lord shall rejoice in His works. Psalm civ. 31. -"The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation -of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not -willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, -because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of -corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." - -But it is here that I may pause for a moment, to notice the -dispensational character of these days of Noah. - - -The earth, as the scene of God's delight, and of His people's -citizenship, had been lost by the apostasy of Adam; and the hopes and -inheritance of the saints, all through the days before the flood, were -heavenly--the Lord thereby disclosing, though faintly, certain portions -of the great secrets of His own bosom--the secrets of the good pleasure -purposed in Himself ere worlds were, that heaven, as well as earth, -should be connected with the destinies of man. The heavens were opened -to man, when Adam, the man of the earth, failed. Gen. v. 24. - -That was so. But earth was not shut because heaven was thus opened. The -divine counsel ran otherwise. It was this--that God would "gather -together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and -which are on earth." And the heavenly calling having been already -revealed in the story of the saints before the flood, the due season had -now come for the revelation of God's great purpose concerning the earth, -and to make it known that He had not given it up, because, in His -dispensational ways, He had taken up the heavens. - -As in Rev. iv. When the heavenly saints, "the fulness of the Gentiles," -the mystic elders and living creatures, are seated in their heavenly -places, the thoughts of Him who sat on the throne there return to the -earth. The rainbow is _at once_ seen around the throne--the witness of -this, that the covenant which gives security _to the earth_ was about to -be the spring of action in heaven. And so now in these days of Noah. -When the heavenly family had ended their course, and Enoch was -translated, the Lord's thoughts returned to the earth, and that, I may -say, _at once_; for the next thing of character in the progress of the -hand, or the Spirit of God, is the prophecy of Lamech, pledging God and -His mercies to the earth again, and introducing Noah--"This same [Noah] -shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of -the ground which the Lord hath cursed." - -This is all simple--scarcely capable of being misunderstood. The -prophecy of Lamech, which introduces it, tells us what we are to expect -and find in the mystery of Noah. "The key of the parable lies at the -door." The recovery of the earth, the return of God's rest and delight -in it, all this will be made good in the coming times of the true Noah, -in whom, and in whom alone, all the promises of God are yea and amen. - -A great action, however, must usher in those times. The call of the -heavenly people is quite otherwise, as in the call of the antediluvian -saints. There was in those days no interference with the scene around. -Cain's family was left in possession--quiet, undisputed possession--of -their cities and their wealth. The visitation of God then, as always -under such a call, only separated a people without affecting either to -regulate or judge the world. It left it as it found it. But God's claim -to the earth, and His purpose to take it up again, is necessarily -otherwise. There He is as _thoroughly interfering with every thing_, as -in the other way of His "manifold wisdom" He was _utterly leaving all -alone_. For by judgment He must purge the earth, and get it fit to be -His footstool. - -All this is the dispensational truth we learn here, in this parable, or -in these times of Noah. The earth has been remembered, and is now -resumed, but through purifying judgments. All takes the sentence of -death into itself, that it may stand as a new thing, in the strength and -grace of Him who quickens the dead. The earth itself was in the water, -or under the water, and the elect remnant were saved--as in the -appointed city of refuge--from the hand of the avenger; and all -therefore appears again, as in resurrection. - -Beasts, and fowl, and creeping things, some of every sort, go into the -ark; and there, within that refuge, which kept its charge in peace from -fear of evil, the ransomed passed the days of their patience. - -But they were more than safe. They were _remembered_--"God remembered -Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in -the ark." So did Joshua, in other days, remember Rahab. The scene of -death and judgment lay all around our patriarch. It was one vast, and -deep, and mighty ruin--an extended Jericho the accursed--another and a -wider land of Pharaoh, with the doom of the Lord resting darkly and -heavily upon it. But He who had already shut His remnant in, now -remembers them; and in that remembrance there was present life, and, in -prospect, a goodly inheritance. - -It will be so with another elect remnant, in coming days. Before the -same covenant God, who was now keeping Noah in mind, a book of -remembrance will be written for them that fear the Lord and think upon -His name. Mal. iii. And of them the Lord says, "They shall be mine in -that day when I make up my jewels;" as now, in virtue of this -covenant-remembrance, the Lord causes a wind to pass over the earth, the -waters abate, and the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat. - -This remembrance of God was most precious. But Noah, in his city of -refuge, had other consolations. The divine remembrance was the hidden -comfort of faith; but he had also blessed, conscious exercises of -spirit. - -The ark had a window in it. The door was in the keeping of the Lord, but -the window was for Noah's use. He who had shut him in, alone could let -him out--the times and the seasons were in _His_ hand. But while the -time of his pilgrimage, as a prisoner of hope, cannot be shortened, yet -may the hopes of such a prisoner be very preciously nourished, and his -spirit within him blessedly exercised. Noah may open the window, remove -the covering, look out, and send forth his messengers, his Caleb and -Joshua and their companions, to spy out the land, and report to him what -it is, whether it be fat or lean, good or bad, and to bring him the -fruit of it. - -What beauty and what wisdom strike the eye and the heart in all this! -This window in the ark, and its uses, are so significant! The divine -_methods_ are so worthy of the divine _communications_! "Apples of gold -in pictures of silver" are the Spirit's words. - -Typical, symbolic, parabolic teaching is very acceptable to the heart, -and makes ready entrance there. We all prove this, just as children like -pictures and stories. Not only, I would here observe, are doctrines thus -taught--not only the great mysteries of the glory, but experiences of -the soul, the personal inworkings of the Spirit, are illustrated by -these same methods. Conviction of sin, for instance, was expressed in -Adam retreating from the voice of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the -garden. The longings and inquiries of a soul awakened to a sense of its -condition, if haply it might find its path, are given to us in the -Israelite standing at his tent door stripped of his ornaments, and -looking after the Mediator as he entered the Tabernacle. Ex. xxxiii. And -Moses, with his veiled and unveiled face, might have spoken of exercises -and experiences of heart to us, even had not the Spirit, by His light in -the Apostle, helped our understandings. 2 Cor. iii. - -We might go through a thousand such instances. And by this method the -great things of God are pressed home upon the heart. By these figures -the Lord is standing very near the heart, and knocking there. It is not -His grace displaying itself in the distance, or shining from afar, but -it is the Lord Himself, and His blessing, coming very near for our full -acceptance. We may _admire_, but if we do not also _enjoy_, the purpose -of the revelation is not answered. - -Now this method is beautifully preserved in these days of Noah. Indeed -the whole of Genesis is full of it. It is a book of "allegories," as St. -Paul speaks--divine stories written for the school of God. - -The ark, as I have already noticed, had its door and its window, and -Noah had his spies to send into the promised land--and the mission of -these spies, the raven and the dove, express the experience of the saint -in the contrary workings of the flesh and spirit, which contend in him. - -The raven never returns. The earth may be still unpurged, but the -unclean nature can take up with it. The "present evil world" will do -well enough for fallen, degraded man. Indeed, the ark was rather a place -of captivity than security, to the unclean raven. She never returns to -it when once escaped. But Noah will not trust her. Beautiful saintly -intelligence! The raven may remain outside; but that is no proof to Noah -that the earth is clean, or fit for the sole of his foot. Noah will not -trust her, but sends out a clean creature after her. And different -indeed are the tidings which she bears. It is, in principle, the contest -of Caleb and Joshua with their companion spies. The dove returns -instinctively. There was no rest for her in a place still under judgment -of God, and unpurged. And Noah, conscious that he can trust her and -commit the question to her settlement, sends her out a second and a -third time. And well indeed he may trust her. Her only sympathy is with -the pledges of peace and of a new creation. On her second return she -bears an olive-leaf in her mouth, and after her third mission she never -comes back. - -Beautiful mystery! The earth was redeemed from the curse now, and in its -new-creation state the dove can delight. All is native air to her. It is -now the land of the turtle and the olive, and Noah understands the -absence of this clean creature. He at once removes the covering from the -ark, and looks out; and the God of glory shortly lets him out, as the -God of all grace had before shut him in. - -Surely the ways of a saint, the ways of the mind of Christ, are here! I -know not that any action can be more pregnant with meaning. There was -the ark, and its window, and its door. The ark itself was for safety, -the window for a prospect, and the door for an exodus, in due season. -All this was faith and hope ending their pilgrimage in the place of -promised glory. - -Noah suspected not the ark; he did not occupy himself in feeling its -timbers, whether indeed they were keeping the waters outside--he had no -doubt of that. He had no pump in his ship, if I may be allowed the -figure; and I may utter it, since, homely as it is, it glorifies Jesus -in the security He gives the sinner; for such is the very style of -Scripture itself. - -The lesson taught us may be the profoundest in the mind of the Spirit, -but the school where it is learnt may be a despised place. Look, for -instance, at Genesis xlviii. You are there at the bedside of a dying old -man--a common homely spot. But there, some of the deepest and richest -secrets of the mind of God are, in a figure, conveyed to us--the great -mystery of our adoption, according to divine good pleasure; and then our -welcome into the family of God, in the day of our manifestation, or -conversion. And what richer counsels of grace are there than those? And -yet in what more common or homely school could they have been taught us? - -As in still earlier days, in Genesis xvi. There you are introduced to -the domestic arrangement of Abraham's family as to the servant and her -mistress, and their disputes; and yet, in all that, you get the profound -mystery of the two covenants. Gal. iv. And again, in the act, the -ordinary act, of discharging a servant, another feature in the same -mystery is presented to us, in chapter xxi. The wisdom of God delights -in these scenes and materials; they rebuke the erring thought of man's -heart, that important things must be done or said by imposing -methods--that the prophet must come forth and strike his hand over the -place. 2 Kings v. 11. But it is with rude and inartificial instruments -that both the wisdom of God and the power of God are commonly seen. -Rams' horns blew down Jericho, and fishermen turned the world upside -down, as was said of them. But these homely methods of God's wisdom aid -in carrying the instruction home, and lodging it deep in the intimacies -and recollections of the heart. I may therefore still say that Noah's -ship had no pump in it. Indeed it could not. Such a thing would have -witnessed against it. God's provisions would have declared their own -insufficiency. That could never have been. God's provisions and God's -works always tell _whose_ they are by being _what_ they are. Simplicity, -and yet sufficiency, give them their character. "Let there be light, and -there was light." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be -saved;" and the sinner, believing, rejoiced in God with all his house. - -So, in like simplicity, in these earlier days. The heart of Noah was not -soiled by a suspicion. He rested in the sea-worthiness of his vessel, -because of God's appointment and approval of it--nay, I may say, because -of God's building of it. Faith keeping his heart quiet and assured as to -the judgment, hope fills it as to the coming glory. - -Such is the beautiful way of this "prisoner of hope." _A prisoner of -hope_ is one of the Spirit's titles, I may say, for all the saints of -God. Jeremiah was such an one in his day. Jeremiah was shut up in "the -court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house," and this, -too, for Christ's sake. He was God's prisoner, and such an one is always -hope's prisoner. Jeremiah is told to purchase Hananiah's field, and that -was food for hope, like the olive-leaf in the mouth of the dove. It told -the prophet of good days to come, though at that moment he was in a -prison, the Chaldean army at the city gates, and all the land deserted. -The waters were again all around and abroad; but the ark of the prophet, -like that of the patriarch, had a window in it. - -So was Israel a prisoner of hope in the night of the passover. With shoe -on foot, staff in hand, and girded loins, Israel waited in the very -midst of the judgments of the Lord; but, like our patriarch, they waited -there only to pass out to the inheritance of the Lord. And having the -pre-eminence in all things, Jesus again and again shows us the perfect -way of a prisoner of hope, looking for a resurrection portion. As when -He entered Jerusalem, in John xii., the Jewish multitudes and the -Gentile strangers being drawn thither to inquire after Him, and all the -dignities and joys of the Son of David seeming to wait on Him, His heart -waits on the resurrection hope still, "the joy set before him," and -forth from that attitude of soul, or place of expectation, He speaks of -the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying. Steadily and -desirously did His eye rest on the glory which lay, not _in_ that hour, -but _beyond_ it. In a spirit of entire consecration and sacrifice, He -surrenders _that_ hour (bright to Him in the world as it was, and big -with the promise of all its kingdoms and the glory thereof) to the -Father: and the voice from heaven then visits this perfect, blessed -"prisoner of hope," with assurances that, in due season, even -resurrection times, His name and victory and honour should all be -provided for and secured. - -Matchless Jesus!--This voice from heaven was again the food of hope's -prisoner. And what was the transfiguration on the holy hill but the -same? Jesus had been speaking to the disciples of His death, and -encouraging them (as He would us, beloved) not to love their lives in -this world, when, soon after, six or eight days, as we read, the holy -hill shines suddenly with the light of resurrection or millennial -regions. And what was all that visitation of glory, but the grapes of -Eshcol brought from Canaan to the camp of God in the desert; or as the -return of the dove to Noah, with the olive-leaf in her mouth? - - -The time, however, for "rendering double" to this "prisoner of hope" -(Zech. ix. 12), comes in due course. "And God spake unto Noah, saying, -Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' -wives with thee! bring forth with thee every living thing that is with -thee, of all flesh, both of fowl and of cattle, and of every creeping -thing that creepeth upon the earth." And Noah went forth. He landed on -the renewed earth, where, at that mystic moment, all was, in a great -sense, according to God's mind again; no longer corrupt, as when he had -last trod it in its old estate, but clean, under the refining of the -judgment. - -Not a thing had gone into the ark thirteen months before, which did not -now come forth. The small and the great had been in it, and the small -were as safe as the great; the creeping thing of the ditch or the hedge, -as free of all danger or harm as Noah himself. Precious mystery! We may -be little, and we are little, as the heart knows full well; but heaven, -or the coming system of glory, has fitted itself like the ark, for the -receiving of the small as well as the great. "A voice came out of the -throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear -Him, both small and great." We may be calm, though we know ourselves to -be "small" in every way, even as the creeping thing that went in with -Noah--for such a little one was equally in the covenant, or "the family -settlement," which made each and all, in their way and measure, -inheritors of the new world. The Father's house on high has surely made -its reckoning according to these differences of "small and great." As in -ancient days of typical glory, all the congregation of Israel, the -distant ones of Dan and Naphtali, as well as the princes of Judah, -joined in the shout of triumph when the fire came down, and in mystery, -the kingdom was entered. Lev. ix. Clement and others were not Paul in -the measure of their labours, or in the energy of the Spirit; but they -were Paul as having their names, alike with his, in the book of life. -Phil. iv. 3. The Father has built His house in the heavens, on the very -plan of its receiving the saints as well as Jesus Himself. It was part -of the original design. Ere foundations were laid, that plan and purpose -were laid. In counsels of everlasting love it was provided that the -house should be a large one, a many-roomed or mansioned house, that all -the children might be there. - -What say we, beloved? Do our thoughts of it and glances at it do justice -to this love of God? As well might you say, your prospect from the -highest of the hills could do justice to God's creation. Could your -glance then measure the ten thousandth part of the earth? The length, -the depth, the breadth, the height--the love of Christ which passeth -knowledge! - - -"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, -and every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the -Lord smelled a sweet savour: and the Lord said in His heart, I will not -again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of -man's heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more -every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed time -and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and -night, shall not cease." The cleansing of the waters of judgment had -made no change in the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart. They -were still evil, and that only. The heart was uncured, for "that which -is born of the flesh is flesh," though there be water to cleanse or fire -to refine. It was no change there which gave the Lord thoughts of peace -and not of evil towards men. - -"Faith eyes the blood of Christ, and not victory over corruptions," as -one has said, even where there is such victory. But here, _in spite of -corruptions_, that blood awakens thoughts of peace and not of evil, to -give the sinner an expected end. Christ was under the eye of God, and -that was enough; as in the day of atonement. The blood of sprinkling is -then seen everywhere. That was the great secret, the great principle, of -that mystic day in Israel. The blood of the lamb (Lev. xvi.) went into -the presence of God, attended by a cloud of incense; so that Aaron -himself was hid, and there was no man in the tabernacle of the -congregation, as the holy service of putting the blood on every thing -proceeded. Christ in mystery was seen, and nothing else--and the fruit -of that was the bearing away of sins into the wilderness, a land not -inhabited, a place of forgetfulness, where there was no voice to accuse, -to judge, or to condemn, where nothing _could_ be heard but the voice of -that blood which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. - -That blood, now under the eye of the Lord God, had moved His heart. Do I -speak as a man? No, the word is, "The Lord said in His heart, I will not -again curse the ground." As the Saviour Himself says (in spirit bound -for the altar), "Therefore doth my Father _love_ me, because I lay down -my life." The heart of the Lord God has sealed the acceptance of the -sacrifice. It did so here, in the times of Noah. - -This word that broke from the heart of the Lord God in Noah's day, the -passage of the burning lamp in Abraham's day (Gen. xv.), and the answer -of God to Solomon (2 Chron. i.), all witness to the value of the cross -of Christ with God established. The rending of the veil from top to -bottom, the breaking of the rocks, and the bursting of the graves, -witness the same, when the true offering was once and for ever -accomplished. In rich variety of form and character is the acceptance of -the work done in "the place that is called Calvary" testified and -published--in every tongue and language, as it were, in Hebrew, and -Greek, and Latin. - -And Noah becomes at once the object of fresh and multiplied blessings, -blessings in glory and inheritance now, as already he had blessings in -election, an acceptance of grace and the righteousness which is by -faith. "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, -and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you, and the -dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every -fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the -fishes of the sea: into your hand they are delivered." - -Noah was blessed in the new world. That blessing conveyed to him -property and dominion in the earth, and the use or enjoyment of the -creatures good for food. "Every moving thing that liveth" was given to -him, that it might be meat for him. - -Here was a large grant, as wide as the scene which lay around him. He -was monarch of all he surveyed, lord, like Adam in the garden, of the -new world. Instructed, however, as well as honoured and enriched--taught -that the _blood_ of the animal was not to be eaten with its _flesh_: -"the flesh with the blood thereof, which is the life thereof, thou shalt -not eat"--a principle which involves all the thoughts and counsels of -God in His way with sinners--as suited a prohibition, or limitation to -the grant made to Noah now, as had been the prohibition of the tree in -the midst of the garden, to the grant of all things else made to Adam. - -The blood was the life, and man was not to eat it. It would have been a -bold re-assuming of that which through sin he had lost, a challenge to -regain life by forcing the passage kept by the sword of the cherubim. -For this ordinance told the sinner, that having lost his title to the -tree of life, he can never return to it in his own strength. The life -has reverted to God. Blood is His. And the gospel comes to tell us how -He has used it, even providing with it and through it new, eternal, -infallible life for the dead sinner. - -The way of God in the gospel was, therefore, rehearsed to Noah in this -ordinance: "The flesh with the blood thereof, which is the life thereof, -thou shalt not eat." His altar had already told us that he stood with -Adam in the faith of the woman's Seed, and that that mystery was the -principle of his religion and his worship. But here, while making over -every thing to him for property, dominion, and use, the Lord will not -pass by this great exception out of the grant; conveying, as it does, -the great secret or principle of His gospel. In the changed -circumstances of Adam and Noah, in the difference between an upright -creature and a ruined sinner, this exception was as fitting and -necessary, as I have said, as that of the tree of knowledge out of the -grant of all with which the Lord, the Creator, had of old, furnished and -filled the scene. - -We take life from Christ who has made atonement by His blood. But we -deeply own we can get it nowhere else. _We do not look for it elsewhere, -but we refuse it not from Him._ We know we were dead in trespasses and -sins, but we know that we have life in Him, though only in Him. Adam -learnt these things in the promise of the woman's Seed, and in the sword -of the cherubim; Noah learnt them or witnessed them in his altar and in -this ordinance; these things the whole book of God declares; and -eternity will celebrate them. - -Further, however, still--for in this blessing we find Noah with the -sword of justice in his hand. His fellow-man was to be both protected -and avenged. Man's person was sacred; and his life or blood, if shed by -either man or beast, would be required. "And surely your blood of your -lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and -at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother, will I require -the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be -shed."[6] - - [6] It has been justly said by another, that the principle of - _government_ was represented in Noah; that Adam had been the - representative head of _creation_, and that Noah is the same now - of _government_. And I doubt not, that after the judicial - scattering from Babel, the nations became associations in which - God still recognized the sword of justice and the seat of - government, which therefore are still to be exercised, and ought - still to be religiously owned and reverenced. - -Who does not instinctively approve of this? All that we feel judges the -fitness of thus treating the person of man as sacred. While every other -moving thing that lived was submitted to the use of man, his fellow-man -was to be sacred in his eyes. - -We instinctively approve this. But this scripture accounts for this -instinct. The reason lies here--"in the image of God made He man." There -is a dignity in man that is entirely his own. He is the natural head of -creation. Man is the possessor and governor, and not part of the -conveyed inheritance, or of the delegated dominion. He is the object and -not the subject of the divine grant. The instinctive verdict of our own -hearts is thus divinely accounted for. - -After this, however, a great subject opens before us. "With thee will I -establish my covenant" had been God's word to Noah, before the ark was -made, or the waters had come. vi. 18. Now that the judgment is past, and -the new earth is inherited, that covenant is fully detailed, as well as -pledged again to God's elect. ix. 8-17. And it is here that the word -"covenant" is first used. The covenants of which we read in Scripture -are all specific, having their parties and their objects well defined -and plainly declared. There is no mistaking of them. Whether it be this -covenant of the earth with Noah, the covenant with Abraham and his seed, -the covenant of priesthood with Phinehas, or that of the throne with -David, all is defined--the parties are declared and the objects set -forth. Nor do these, nor any of them, I surely judge, contemplate the -peculiar calling of the Church. Spiritual calling in heavenly places, -and the results of oneness with Christ, are neither described nor -conveyed by them. But the Scriptures of the New Testament abundantly -declare a _purpose_, or a counsel, of God according to the good pleasure -of His will; a mystery hid in God, before the foundation of the world, -in which the Church is directly interested. See Romans xvi. 25; 1 Cor. -ii. 7; Eph. i. 9; iii. 8-11; Col. i. 26; 1 Tim. ii. 9. - -The inquiry may arise, Does this purpose or counsel take the form of a -covenant? Let us call it covenant, or simply a purpose taken of God; -still the great and holy and august transaction itself is richly found -in the New Testament. But has it, we may still ask, the character of a -covenant? - -I would not be careful to say that it is ever called so; but I believe -we may say, that many things of a covenant nature are intimated as -attaching to it. Promises are made, consideration or price contemplated, -arrangements formed and fixed, and all this as between distinct parties. -"In the volume of the book it is written of Me"--"I was set up from -everlasting"--and such words of deepest and holiest import have their -place in settling these thoughts that arise. And not only were our -election, and appointment to our peculiar glory, as in predestination, -matters before the world (Rom. viii. 28, 29; Eph. i. 4, 5; 1 Peter i. -2), but we were then formally or virtually given by the Father to -Christ. John vi. 37, 39; x. 29; xvii. 1, 6, 8, 9, 11. - -And eternal life is declared to have been promised before the world -was--language which intimates Christ as a party to a blessed transaction -then, and one that has covenant character in it. Titus i. 2. - -I do not, then, say that this transaction is called a covenant, as God's -dealing with Noah is, and His dealing with Abraham, with David, and with -Phinehas; but it has these qualities, or this form of a covenant; the -presence of distinct parties, considerations and purposes all settled, -and the whole confirmed and acted on. And how does the spirit of a saint -welcome the blessed truth of this great eternal transaction, engaging -all the Godhead in the behalf of our souls!--as we read, among other -passages, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, -through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of -the blood of Jesus Christ."[7] - - [7] As intimating blessed and distinct actions among the Persons of - the Godhead, according to covenant arrangements, we may remember - Messiah's words in Isa. xlviii.--"And now hath the Lord God and - His Spirit sent me." What words! how full of deep, counselled, and - ordered grace towards sinners! And they are quite according to the - structure of things in the Gospels--for there not only does the - baptism of Jesus but many passages tell us or show us, according - to this word of the prophet, that the mission and ministry of the - Lord Jesus were under the ordaining of God and the anointing of - the Holy Ghost;--the Lord God and His Spirit sent the Son, the - Christ or Messiah. - -But what strong foundations are these! what wondrous discoveries of -grace! God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in counsel and in -action for us! In the Gospel, man is in the place of _vision and -audience only_. It is _God_ that is active. The activities and -sacrifices are _God's_, and the sinner has but to hear and live, to look -and be saved. But these doings of God in the gospel of His grace, are -the fruit (as we thus see) of precious and wondrous counsels, taken in -Himself ere worlds were framed. And what, I ask, can surpass this? Can -title or stability for a sinner, such as may allay all motion and -uneasiness of conscience, be conceived beyond what he gets in this? -Doings for him by God, and sacrifices made for him, and all this -according to counsels ere worlds began! A sinner made happy (may I use -this word?) at God's expense! - -It is covenant or counselled service that Jesus has rendered us. A -promise is made to Noah, that the waters shall not again prevail to -destroy the earth, but this promise rests on the strong foundation of -the blood of a covenant. Noah's altar had already sent up a sweet -savour, a savour of rest, to God, and in the satisfaction and delight of -that the Lord had said, I will not again curse the ground for man's -sake. That blood was the foundation of the promise. Just as with Abraham -afterwards. The land is promised to him, but it is by the covenant of -Him who passes through the pieces of the sacrifice. No _promised_ -blessing that is not a _purchased_ blessing also--no throne of grace, as -we have said before, that does not stay itself on the ark of the -covenant. Gen. xv. 17. - -But the covenant comes with its seal, as well as with its blood. As -here. There is _the bow which witnesses it_ as well as _the blood which -sustains it_. Wondrous thoughts keep themselves before the soul in all -this! The foundation and the witness, the blood and the token, the -consideration and the attestation of the great act and deed of God come -to mind here. The like figure whereunto even circumcision afterwards; -for as the bow in the cloud, so circumcision in the flesh, is a sign of -covenant engagements. - -All such signs, however, beautiful and sure as they may be, are lost -when we think of the great original. For it is the Holy Ghost Himself -that is now given as the great sign, the seal of our adoption, the -earnest of our inheritance, the witness of the accomplished work of -Jesus, and of the acceptance of it in all its sufficiency and -preciousness. - -What thoughts are these! The promise of God sustained by the blood of -the Son, and witnessed by the presence of the Spirit! How has God -imparted Himself to us in this marvellous act and deed for sinners! The -soul can conceive nothing richer. In divine activities we are -interested, but such activities as are founded on everlasting counsels, -and which make manifest to us and for us the name of God, "Father, Son, -and Holy Ghost." - -How should it take us out of ourselves, to stand in sight of this! What -a mystery it is; and what have we to do, but with Moses to "turn aside -and see this great sight," turn aside from all else! The grander "this -great sight" presents itself to our eye, the more commanding will it be. -Let us get rich thoughts of this mystery. "The secret of the Lord is -with them that fear Him, and He will shew them His covenant." Let us see -this great transaction settled ere worlds began, see it calling forth -all the energies of divine love and power in Father, Son, and Holy -Ghost, see it undertaking the most deep and marvellous purposes of grace -and glory for the elect, keep the eye on it, like Moses, till, like him, -we discover Him who dwells in the midst of it, and whose name explains -it all. - - "Oh, all ye rich, ye wise, ye just, - Who the blood's doctrine have discussed - And judge it mean and slight-- - Grant that I may, the rest's your own, - In shame and poverty sit down - At this one well-spring of delight!" - - -If it be but a man's covenant, there is both the consideration and the -deed, the purchase money and the muniments, the price and the witness of -its payment. God treats with our souls in language thus well understood, -and tells us thus of the _consideration_ and the _deed_, or that which -_sustains_ and that which _witnesses_ the counsels of His sovereign good -pleasure. It is a deed of gift to the elect, but it is nothing less than -the blood of the Son which sustains it, and the presence of the Spirit -which witnesses it. - -What a secret! By nature I am at a great distance from God, an alien and -a foreigner. I am also shut up, so that I cannot come forth. But in this -great transaction God Himself undertook to travel this unmeasured -distance, and assail the house of my strong enemy; and in His -incarnation, sorrows, and victory all this mighty doing of love is -accomplished, and I am "compassed about with songs of deliverance." - -Can it be, as I gaze at such a mystery, that I fear lest the distant one -be not brought nigh, or the captive one be not delivered? "Surely in the -floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto me." I may -say--"_Thou_ art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; -thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." - - "Strong Deliverer! - Be Thou still our strength and shield!" - - -This may well be our confidence in the faith of such truth. But to these -general thoughts on the covenants and their signs, I might add, the -token given to Noah has a beautiful significancy. The bow, as it were, -rode triumphant on the cloud. It rolled away the stone and sat upon it. -Its form and bearing were those of a conqueror. It said to the cloud, -"Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves -be stayed." It gave the angel of death his measure, and said to him, "It -is enough, stay now thine hand." - -And all this lives in the divine remembrance. The earth and the covenant -that secures it are there. "The bow shall be in the cloud, and I will -look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God -and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." -Accordingly this promise to the earth is remembered, the bow in the -cloud is looked at, through every stage and variety of the -dispensational actings of the Lord. - -It was remembered, of course, all the time the Lord had His seat in -Zion, for then the glory made _the earth_ its residence. The Lord then -dwelt between the cherubim, in the temple at Jerusalem, in the land of -Israel. But when the throne of the Lord leaves that city, and the -sanctuary loses the glory, because abominations had grieved and -disturbed it, the throne and the glory are accompanied by the rainbow to -heaven. Ezek. i. 28. Though the earth then ceased, for a while, to be -the dwelling-place of God, still it was before Him in counsel. He would -be mindful of it, as the object of His faithful care, according to the -promise.[8] - - [8] Just like the throne of David. That throne is for the present in - the dust--the crown of Judah is cast down--but the promise of the - Lord to it is remembered, as is His promise to the earth. This - analogy Scripture giveth us in Jer. xxxiii. Dishonoured now or - made the sport of the wicked, the promises to the earth and to - David's throne are still in full remembrance, and, in their - season, will be accomplished. - -And therefore when heaven is opened to our view, we see the faithful and -remembered bow encompassing the throne. Rev. iv. And further still. The -rainbow is seen when the Lord is presented as coming down for the -direct, immediate execution of judgment. The mighty angel, the divine -executor of the day of the Lord, comes down to the earth clothed with a -cloud, the symbol of judgment, and the fearful vessel of wrath. Gen. ix. -14; Rev. i. 7. But even then the rainbow is with Him (Rev. x.); as much -as to tell us, that to the end, and at the end, God remembers His -promise to the earth, and will debate with judgment. The cloud is to -descend, it is true--"They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds -of heaven." The judgment must sit--the books must be opened--the vials -must be emptied; but it is only to take out of the kingdom them that -offend--to destroy them that destroy the earth. The cloud, as it -executes its commission, must stay itself at the beginning of the bow. -The _day_ of the Lord, or the judgment, must give place to the -_presence_ of the Lord, or the refreshment and restoration. Time shall -be no longer, the mighty angel may cry; the present course of things may -cease again, as once it did in the days of Noah; but the bow shines, in -the eye of the Lord, as brightly as ever, and His promise lives in His -heart. The earth is still beloved, for Noah's sake, as Israel is for the -fathers' sake--that true Noah, in whom (but in whom alone) all the -promises of God are yea and amen; and of whom it shall be said, in all -its fulness and truth, "This same shall comfort us concerning our work -and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath -cursed." - -This earth of ours, given to the children of men, therefore outlives the -judgment. It stands the shock of the descent of the mighty angel, though -clothed with a cloud, planting his right foot on the sea, and his left -on the earth, and crying aloud, as when a lion roareth. Rev. x. - -And what is it reserved for? For more than the bow had promised it. It -is not only preserved--with its seed time and harvest, its summer and -winter, its day and night, its cold and heat--but it is to be delivered -into "the liberty of the glory of the children of God." This is more -than had been promised. - -Such was the token, and such will be its acknowledgment--such was the -pledge, and such will be its redemption. Beautiful mystery! The -covenant, with its blood and its sign! God's promise, with the sacrifice -of the Son as its foundation, and the presence of the Spirit as its -witness! - -But here this thought occurs to me: Are we, beloved, to stand before -such ways and revelations of God in the same calmness in which they are -delivered to us? Is that the thing that becomes us? The Queen of Sheba -did not stand before the glories of Solomon in the same way that Solomon -himself dwelt among them. Solomon was at home in the midst of them. They -were all his own. It was _his_ wisdom, and _his_ house that he had -built. The meat of the table, and the sitting of the servants, with -their apparel, were all _his_. The ascent by which he went into the -house of God was his. But the Queen of Sheba, from the distant south, -was but introduced to it all. Fitting it was that he should be at ease -there; and fitting it was that she should be all rapture. So with the -book of God and the disciple. All the profound and precious mysteries -which the Spirit is unfolding there are His own--the thoughts and -counsels of the divine mind. There is no effort to produce effect in the -communication of them; the tale of the wonders of grace and glory is -told artlessly. But is the soul, introduced to them, to be, in like -manner, unmoved? Such an one may rather gaze with more of rapture than -she who came from the uttermost parts of the earth, for "a greater than -Solomon is here." - -And it is more of this Sheba-rapture we want. We too easily afford to -talk of God's things as though there were no more preciousness and -excellency in them than our hearts could measure; but as secret after -secret comes forth from the wisdom of the greater than Solomon, surely -our souls should say, "Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy -servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom." - - -Endowed and blessed, enriched and honoured--instructed too, and ordained -as "the power" under God, and with all this, at ease, in conscious -safety, "no evil or enemy occurrent," Noah is seated in the new world. A -new trial of man, under new circumstances, was proceeding; and, as with -Adam in Eden, nothing is left undone on God's part. The oxen and -fatlings were killed, and all things were ready. But where is man's -sufficiency? If Adam failed before him, and lost the garden; if Israel -failed after him, and lost their land of milk and honey; it may be said -to Noah, "Lovest thou me more than these?" In Christ, and in Him only, -are unfailing fidelity and strength. And Noah, like the rest, fails, and -the virgin soil of the new world is quickly tarnished by the very first -foot that trod it. - -"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and -drank of the vine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within the -tent." - -Noah himself is put to shame; the very first man, the Adam of this new -system, begins the history of this second apostasy, like his first -father. - -The "little fire" is thus kindled; but it is for "a greater matter." -Noah is put to shame; but Ham, his son, glories in the shame. That was a -terrible advance in the progress of evil. "Ham, the father of Canaan, -saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without." - -It was a terrible advance in evil; this was not simply the being -"overtaken in a fault," but "rejoicing in iniquity." The common moral -sense rejects this--"Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on their -shoulders, went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father." -And the saint himself is soon restored. Noah awakens from his wine. He -that was overtaken recovers himself, through the Spirit, and the grace -of God gives him a great triumph--a very precious and glorious triumph -indeed, for the restored one judges his judge, and condemns his -accuser--"Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his -brethren." This is something more than recovery--it is triumphant -recovery. Even the apostle's fine word, "Who shall lay anything to the -charge of God's elect?" scarcely measures it; for that is only the -silencing of the accuser, while this is turning back on the pursuer. -"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall rise.... -Then she that is mine enemy shall be trodden down as the mire of the -streets." - -Here, however, we may stand for a moment--the rich and interesting -prospects of the Spirit of prophecy here spread themselves out before -us. - -This curse upon Canaan is part of Noah's prophecy. Noah, in spirit, -looked out from the renewed earth, but anticipated the return of -corruption and violence, though the grace of God were to have its -witness in the midst of it. In detail, he saw that one branch of the -human family (now about to re-people the earth) was to be distinguished -by the revelation and presence of God among them; another by their -success and advancement in the world--a people to be enlarged and made -honourable in the earth; another, by the constant, unchanging token, in -their flesh, of degradation and servitude. His prophecy contemplated, as -we may say, the Asiatic, the European, and the African man; or, the -Hebrew in the East, with whom was to be the sanctuary of God--the -Gentile of the West, who was, under the hand or providence of God, to -make himself great in borders beyond his own--and the slave of the -South, who might know a change of masters, but who was to be a slave -still. - -Short is the notice of the world's history, but just and perfect as far -as it goes, and enough to answer the purpose of the Spirit in Noah, who -was taking his son Ham for his text. - -The three prophecies, which we get in these earliest times, that of -Enoch, that of Lamech, and this of Noah, all touching the earth and its -history, though respecting different stages or parts of that history, -together present a very perfect outline of the whole thing. We must take -them in this order--Noah's, Enoch's, Lamech's. - -Noah's prophecy has been accomplishing from of old, and is still getting -its seal and witness in all the changes of the world's solemn and -interesting story. Enoch's (Jude 14), which spoke of judgment, will have -its answer, its full answer, when the present course of things is -closing, and the day of the Lord comes to convince the ungodly. Lamech's -(Genesis v. 29), which spoke of rest, will be made good afterwards, -when, "the day of the Lord" having fulfilled the judgment, "the presence -of the Lord" will bring its restitution and refreshing. - -The present and the future of the world's history, the varied good and -evil of the present, and the judgment and the glory that are to share -the future, are thus sketched before us in these prophecies. It is easy -to discern these things, and to give these early patriarchal oracles -their order and character. - -It is Noah's, however, that I must look at more particularly, as what we -have more properly to do with here. It was delivered on the discovery of -the evil of his son Ham, and the onward course of evil is then detailed -to its close and maturity, ere we leave these chapters. - -We have already watched the infant springing of it in Noah himself, and -the advanced form of it in Ham. Its further growth is next to be seen in -the builders of Babel, some hundred years after the flood. And an awful -exhibition it is. - -At the birth-time of this new world, Noah's altar was raised, witnessing -faith and worship--but now the city and the tower are reared, witnessing -defiance of God and the affected independency of man. And the answer of -heaven to these things is just as different. Noah's altar brought down -words and tokens of peace and security--the cry of the city and the -tower now bring down judgment. Corruption here, and vengeance from on -high, mark the scene, instead of worship here, and blessing from God. -Then it was, that the Lord hung the bright token of His covenant in the -heavens, but now He is sending abroad over the earth the witnesses of -His righteous anger. - -But this is not all. The tower is over-topped, high and proud as it was. -The builders may be scattered, but their principles survive. Judgment -does not cure. All the apostate mind that quickened that proud and -rebellious confederacy, gathers itself rapidly for its perfect work and -display in one man. For soon after the scattering (it may be about -thirty years) Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, plants his standard on the very -spot which had witnessed the judgment of God. The beginning of his -kingdom was Babel. x. 10. He unfurls his banner in the very face of Him -"to whom vengeance belongs," and cries, "Where is the God of judgment?" -He was as the fool of Ps. xiv.--"The fool hath said in his heart, There -is no God." He begins to be a mighty one in the earth. "Before the Lord -he hunted." In defiance of God he sought conquest and power. He added -house to house and field to field, in the desire to be lord alone. Erech -and Accad and Calneh are mother-cities, and mighty Nineveh with Rehoboth -and Calah, and that great city Resen, are but colonies in the system of -this vaunting apostate. He had no heart for any portion which God could -give him. He undertook to provide for himself, to be the maker of his -own fortune, that his dignity and honour should proceed from himself. -And such an one is the man of the world to this day. His intellect or -his industry, his skill or his courage, makes him what he is, and -provides him what he cares for. Such was this distinguished apostate, -this earliest representative and type of that one who, in closing days, -is to do according to his will, and fill the measure of man's iniquity. - -It is a serious sight for the watching and observance of our souls. Are -we, beloved, waiting for other and purer scenes? and are our hearts upon -such enjoyments as God can sanction, and Jesus share with us? - -These chapters properly close with this--these scenes of evil and proud -rebellion pass from before us, with a faint and distant view of the call -of another heavenly stranger apart from the world. But all that is the -dawn of another era in the ways of God, and our present subject only -looks at it in the distance. - -The second part of the book of Genesis, I may say, ends here. It -presents a complete, distinct action, suitably following what had -preceded it, and as suitably (were it my purpose to show it) introducing -what is to follow it. - -In this portion, Gen. vi.-xi., the scene is laid in the earth. The -heavenly family have already been before us, Gen. i.-v., and their -course ended in the translation of Enoch; now the scene is laid in the -earth again, as at the beginning in the garden of Eden. - -The contents of this little volume, which I have now closed, might be -given in the following order: - -vi.-viii. These chapters present the sin and judgment of the earth, with -the election, faith, and deliverance of the saints in the midst of it -all, and out of it all. - -ix. This chapter shows us the new condition of man in the new world, -endowed and enriched there by the God of heaven and earth, secured in -the covenant mercy, and made the representative and executor of divine -authority. - -x. xi. These chapters unfold great portions of the history of the new -world, the springs, workings, progress, and maturity of evil, leaving or -rendering the earth such a place as that the Lord must again, a second -time, retire from it (at least for the present) and bring out from it, -also a second time, a people to be heavenly strangers in the midst of -it, like the antediluvian saints. - -Heaven and earth have thus, in their season, been rehearsing the -mystery, till together, in coming days, the days of the glory, they -shall display it, when "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of -things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and -every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the -Father." - - -"The land shall not be sold for ever," says the Lord; "for the land is -mine." Lev. xxv. 23. Man has a term of years granted him, in which it is -left in his power to disturb the divine order. For forty-nine years in -Israel disturbing traffic might go on, but in the fiftieth year the Lord -asserted His right, and restored all things according to His own mind; -for it was a time of "refreshing" and of "restitution" as from His own -"presence." - -Bright and happy expectation! "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness -thereof," is the proclamation of Psalm xxiv. And then the challenge goes -forth, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?"--that is, Who shall -take the government of this earth and its fulness? And the answer is -made by another challenge to the city gates, to lift up their heads to -the Lord of hosts, the King of glory; a fervent form of words whereby to -convey the truth, that the Lord, as in strength and victory, the Lord as -Redeemer and Avenger, should take the government. As again in Rev. v. a -like proclamation is heard, "Who is worthy to open the book, and to -loose the seals thereof?" And the answer from every region is this, "The -Lamb that was slain, the Lion of the tribe of Judah." He who sat on the -throne gave that answer by letting the Book pass from His hand into the -hand of the Lamb. The living creatures and crowned elders joined in that -answer by singing their song over the prospect of their reign over the -earth. The hosts of angels add to it, by ascribing all wisdom and -strength and honour and faculty of dominion unto the Lamb--and every -creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and in the seas, in their -order and measure, join in uttering this same answer. The title of the -Lamb to take dominion in the earth is thus owned and verified in the -very place where alone all lordship or office could be rightly -attested--the presence of the throne in heaven. - -And so it is. The nobleman has now gone into the distant country to get -for himself a kingdom. Jesus, who refused all power from the god of this -world (Matt. iv.), or from the desire of the multitude (John vi.), takes -it from God, as He owns in Psalm lxii. that to Him it belongs. And in -due season He will return, and those who have owned Him in the day of -His rejection shall shine with Him in the day of His glory; those who -have served Him now shall take another city with Him then. - -In the prospect of such a day, Paul says to Timothy, "Keep this -commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord -Jesus Christ: which in His time He shall show, who is the blessed and -only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords." And in the like -prospect the same dear apostle could say of himself, "I have fought a -good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth -there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the -righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto -all them also that love His appearing." - -May the Lord give our poor hearts--for they need it much--more of the -like spirit of faith and power of hope! Amen. - - - - - ABRAHAM. - - GENESIS XII.-XXV. - - -In earlier parts of the book of Genesis, I have already traced two -distinct histories--that of the antediluvian saints, or the times from -Adam to Enoch; and that of Noah and of those who followed him, down to -the scattering of the nations. - -The first of these histories occupies chapters i.-v., the second, -vi.-xi. - -In the chapter which follows--xii.--the story of Abraham begins, and is -continued down to chap. xxv. This forms the third portion or section of -the book of Genesis, and presents to us a new era in the ways of God. -And in all this, I am sure, there is beautiful moral order, and an -unfolding of the dispensational wisdom of God. For in these things the -heavens and the earth are made, by turns, to take up the wondrous tale -of that wisdom, and to rehearse divine mysteries--such mysteries as, "in -the fulness of time," will be accomplished, when, as we know, He shall -gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven -and which are on earth. Eph. i. 10. - - -Adam in innocency was a man of the earth. He had to enjoy it, knowing it -all as his, but knowing nothing as his beside. But when he was sent out -of Eden, he became a stranger in the earth. He received no commission to -improve or furnish it. He had simply to till the ground for a living, -and the translation of Enoch tells us, that the destiny and inheritance -of that earliest household of God was _heavenly_.[9] - - [9] The family of Cain was the contradiction of this, in those - antediluvian days. They tilled the ground for something more than - livelihood. Their tillage led to the culture and advancement of - the world as a system of gain and pleasure. And thus were the two - families distinguished--the one was formed by faith, or by - obedience to the revelation of God; the other by the despite of - it, as the world is to this day. - -In Noah, however, in process of time, the purpose of God is different. -Noah is a man of the earth again. He leaves the ark in a character very -different from that in which Adam had left the garden. Noah left the ark -under commission to keep the world in order, as judge and ruler. It was -not strangership on it, but citizenship in it, and government of it, -that was now again the divine thought. But a second apostasy was -witnessed in the midst of Noah's descendants. In process of time, they -affected independency in the earth, casting off the fear of God, and -seeking to do for themselves without Him, as Adam had (seeking to be as -God) in the garden of old. - -Abraham, upon all this, finds grace in the eyes of the Lord. He is -called out from this apostate scene; and, as we might expect, from this -alternate telling of heavenly and earthly mysteries, after Noah the man -of the earth, Abraham is called to be a heavenly man. - -The Lord said to him, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy -kindred, and from thy father's house." This was the character of the -call of Abraham. It was not a call from moral pollution, or from -idolatry, or the like; it was a call from the associations of nature and -of the earth. There were idols to be left, I doubt not. See Joshua xxiv. -2, 3. But it was not the leaving of them that constituted the nature of -the call. Yet Abraham, touching the earth, was to be like Adam outside -the garden. He leaves Ur of the Chaldees, as Adam left Eden. He received -no commission to cultivate the land of Canaan for the Lord, or to -conquer and govern the people there. The arrangements of the world were -left just as they were. Abraham had nothing to say to the nations -through which he passed on his way to Canaan; and when he reached that -land, he found the Canaanite there, and there he left him as he found -him. - -Government had been set up in Noah, and nations had been organized; as -natural relationships had been instituted at the beginning, or in Adam. -But Abraham is called from all this. God Himself is received by faith; -and the things of nature which Adam might have conveyed to him, or the -things of government which Noah might have secured to him, are left -behind.[10] - - [10] In their day, Abraham's seed, or the nation of Israel, are again - an _earthly_ people; and they exhibit the very opposite of all - this. They _smite_ the nations of Canaan; and instead of being - called _from_ kindred and country, they are called _to_ all such - things; men, women, children, and even cattle (for not a hoof was - to be left behind), journeyed from Egypt to Canaan--from a land of - strangers to their own inheritance. - -In our patriarch, then, we see the election and the call of God. He was -of the corrupt, departed family of man, without a single claim on God. -But sovereign grace (in the virtue of which all the redeemed, according -to eternal counsel, stand) had made him its object; and under such grace -he is, in due time, manifested as a chosen one, and is called of God to -be a heavenly stranger in the world. Scripture speaks of him as the -father of all them that believe. Rom. iv. We may, therefore, expect to -find the life of faith exhibited in him; and so we do find it, as this -little book designs to show. - -But in this "life of faith" we do not merely look for the principle of -dependence on God, or of confidence in Him, though that may be the -thought immediately suggested by such words. It signifies much more. It -is a life of large and various energies; for according to God, or -Scripture, faith is that principle in the soul which not only trusts Him -and believes Him; it is also that which apprehends His way, acts in -concert with His principles and purposes, receives His promises, enjoys -His favour, does His bidding, looks for His kingdom, in His strength -gains victories, and by His light walks in light; and thus it is ever, -though variously, exhibiting a life according to Him, or formed by -communion with Him. - -All this is strongly marked for our observation. - -Heb. xi. shows us all this--the life of faith in its vast diversity of -exercise and action. Accordingly, we shall find, in the life of Abraham, -occasions where confidence in God was the virtue exercised; occasions, -too, where strength was put forth and conflict endured; and again, where -surrender of rights and submission to wrongs were the virtues. And the -life of faith is beautiful in its variety; for this variety is but the -changeful glowing of the same mind, the mind of Christ, in the saint. - -But again. We are not to understand that we get _nothing else_ than this -light and power of faith in the believer or saint. Perfectness in this -variety of the life of faith is not to be found save in Him who is set -before us as "the Author and Finisher of faith," and whose way, from -beginning to end, and in every incident of it, was the great exemplar of -this life in full unsullied brightness. Still, however, the life of -Abraham, or of David, or of Joseph, or of Paul, is to be called the life -of faith; for it was the life of those in whom that principle was, -though betraying again and again, and that too in different ways, the -pravity of nature, the workings of unbelief, and the counsels of a heart -prone to converse with flesh and blood, and to take the way of a -revolted world. - - -This life of faith our Abraham entered upon with beautiful simplicity -and earnestness. "He went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into -the land of Canaan he came." He went out, not knowing whither he went. -He took God for his security and his portion; and, as another has said, -"it is in this that the Spirit of God rests, as characteristic of his -approved faith; for, by separation from the world, on the ground of -implicit confidence in God, he lost everything, and got nothing but _the -word of God_." - -We do not like such conditions. The heart resents them; but the renewed -mind approves them, and justifies God in them. The _sufferings_ of -Christ are first, and then the _glories_. 1 Peter i. 11. Job was nearer -his good thing in God, when he lay in ashes amid the potsherds, than -when he was happy in his nest. Israel did not descend Mount Lebanon, and -enter Canaan after a fruitful journey, through a land of cities and -villages, and corn and wine, and rivers and vineyards; but they paced it -slowly, through one desert after another. And so Abraham was called out -from all, to go he knew not whither; but this he knew, that it was God -who had called him. And this was faith's beginning. "He went forth to go -into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan he came." - -He came, however, rather to sojourn than to dwell there. He moves from -place to place, and in every place it is but a tent he pitches. He had -been told by the God of glory, that the land should be _shown_ him. He -should _have_ it in _his seed_ for ever, but in _his own person_ he was -but to _see_ it. And, accordingly, we find him _surveying it carefully_, -but not _occupying any of it_. For this was the right answer of such a -promise. He _looked_ on the land, because the promise was that it should -be _shown_ him. He went first to Sichem and to the plain of Moreh; from -thence, southward, to the neighbourhood of Bethel and Ai. But he was a -man of the tent, and of the tent only, wherever he went. The Canaanite -was then in the land, and he was the occupier of the soil; and Abraham -did not dispute with him for a foot's breadth of it. He surveyed it, and -had such possession of it as faith and hope imparted; but he sought no -personal, present inheritance there. The promise lived in his heart, and -the promise was his measure as well as his joy. Chapter xii. - -Quickly, however, another man in our Abraham is before us; for, like all -of us, beloved, he was a man of _nature_, as he was a man of God; and -there is none perfect in the life of faith, as we said before, but the -Master Himself. Famine touches the land into which the call of God had -brought him. A strange surprise this may well be thought to have been. -But faith would have been equal to it. Faith in Paul was equal to a like -surprise. Called into Macedonia by the voice of God, a prison awaited -him. But Paul stands the shock, though Abraham falls before it. Paul and -his companion sing hymns in the prison in Macedonia; but Abraham -practises a lie, seeking help from the famine of Canaan in another land, -of which his call under the God of glory had made no mention whatever. - -Such things have been, and still are, found among the saints. There are -"Little Faith" and "Great Heart" among the elect, as well as flesh and -spirit--nature and the new mind in each of them. But this we may know: -that if nature _rule_ us, nature will _expose_ us. Even the man of the -earth, Pharaoh of Egypt, puts Abraham to shame; and his journey, instead -of being onward in the witness of his tent and in the joy of his altar, -was that of a wearied foot, because it was that of a rebuking heart. He -has to "do his first works," to retrace his steps, and regain his -standing--sorrowful works at all times. He has to leave "by-path meadow" -for the King's highway again, betaking himself back from Egypt to the -place between Ai and Bethel, where he had raised his altar at the first. - -What say we to this, beloved? The flocks got in Egypt accompany him -home. The glitter of the gold and the silver--the offerings of a land -that lay beyond where the God of glory had called him--adorn and set off -his return. All this is so indeed. But what say we to all this? again I -ask. Is the bleating and the lowing of such flocks and herds in our ears -like the soft music of an approving conscience? or this glittering -wealth like the brightness of the divine presence which was now lost to -Abraham? I am bold to answer for Abraham, though I may not for myself, -that his spirit knew the difference. The wearied heart was but feebly -relieved by all that he brought with him from the land of Egypt, or out -of the house of Pharaoh. Sure I am of this. It could not but be so with -such a man. "He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul," must -have been his experience; and his action in the scene which immediately -succeeds, as I judge, tells us something of this. - -Lot, his younger brother, or his brother's son, who had come with him -out of Ur into Canaan, now becomes the occasion of trial to Abraham, as -the famine had lately been. But faith in Abraham triumphs, I may say, to -admiration. The very style in which he gives this trial its answer seems -to say, that he will return fourfold to the life of faith for that which -nature had so lately, as it were, taken away from it. The herdmen of the -two brothers, the elder and the younger, cannot feed their flocks -together. They must separate. This was the occasion of trial which had -now arisen. But "let Lot choose," is Abraham's language. In a fine -sense, he will act on the divine oracle, "the elder shall serve the -younger." Lot may choose, and leave Abraham what portion he please. The -well-watered plains may be his; Abraham can trust the Lord of the -country, though he lose them. He may have to _dig_ wells instead of -_finding_ them; but it is better to dig for them in the strength of God, -than to find them in the way of covetousness; better, as it were, to -wait for them in Canaan, than to go after them again down to Egypt. -xiii. - -This is beautiful recovery. And in this way will faith, at times, -exercise judgment on unbelief, and clear itself again. And now the Lord -visits him, as He had not, as He could not, have done in Egypt. The God -of glory, who had called Abraham into Canaan, could not go with him into -Egypt: but to the man who was surrendering the best of the land to his -younger brother, in the joy of restored confidence in God, He will -delight to show Himself. - -Where, then, are we, beloved? I will ask. Where is our spirit? On which -road with Abraham are we, as at this moment, travelling? Are we knowing -Egypt in the bitterness of self-reproach, or a regained Canaan in the -joy of God's countenance? Is it a walk with God we are taking every day? -The life of faith knows the difference between the checks of the worldly -mind and the enlargements of the believing mind. Abraham knew these -things. He knew, in spirit, what Egypt was--the place of gold and of -silver, and of rebuke and death; he knew what it was to regain Ai -without an altar on the road; and he knew what it was to rest again, -with altar and tent, in the plains of Mamre. - - -Thus the chequered life of faith begins. But there is vastly more in it -than this. And in this variety of action in the life of faith, we notice -its _intelligence_, the exercise of the mind of Christ, or of the -spiritual sense, which discerns things that differ, which has capacity -to know times and seasons according to God. This fine endowment of the -saint we find in Abraham, in the next passage of his history. - -The battle of the kings is recorded in chap. xiv. While that was a mere -contest between such, Abraham has nothing to say to it. Let the -potsherds strive with the potsherds. But as soon as he hears that his -kinsman Lot is involved in that struggle, he stirs himself. - -Everything, as we read, is beautiful in its season. There is a time to -build, and a time to pull down. There was a time for Abraham to be -still, and a time for Abraham to be active; a time to be silent, and a -time to break silence. And he understood the time. Like the men of -Issachar afterwards, he knew the time, and what Israel ought to do. -God's principles were Abraham's rules. Lot was taken prisoner, and the -kinsman's part was now Abraham's duty. The battle-field in the vale of -Siddim shall be his now, as the tent had been his till now in the plains -of Mamre. The mind of God had another lesson for him than that which he -learnt while the potsherds of the earth were alone in the conflict; and -a time to break silence calls him out at the head of his trained -servants. - -Excellent and beautiful indeed in a saint is this intelligence of the -mind of Christ, and beautiful is everything in its season. Out of season -the very same action is defiled and disfigured. For the _material_ of an -action is not enough to determine the _character_ of an action. It must -be _seasonable_ likewise. Elijah, from his elevation, may call down fire -from heaven on the captains and their fifties; and so, the two -witnesses, in the day of Rev. xi. But it will not do for the companions -of the lowly, rejected Jesus to act thus on the Samaritan villagers. -Luke ix. It is only in its season that anything is really right. How was -the garden of Gethsemane (made sacred as it was by the sorrows of the -Lord Jesus) disfigured by the blood which Peter's sword drew there! What -a stain on that soil, though the power of Christ was present to remove -it! But another sword was doing right service when it hewed Agag in -pieces. For when vengeance is demanded, when the trumpet of the -sanctuary sounds an alarm for war, vengeance or war will be as perfect -as grace and suffering. It is for God to determine the dispensational -way, and to make known the dispensational truth. That being done, all -life of faith is just that manner or order or character of life that is -according to it. "The duties and services of faith flow from truths -entrusted. If the truths be neglected, the duties or services cannot be -fulfilled." And the good pleasure of God, or His revealed and dispensed -wisdom, varies in changing and advancing ages. Noah, in a few -generations before Abraham, would have avenged the blood of one made in -the likeness or image of God, in the same spirit of faith, as Abraham -allowed one army of confederate kings to slay another. It is neither the -"sword" nor the "garment," as the Lord speaks in Luke xxii., that must -needs be the due instrument of service, or symbol of faith; but either -of them, according as it severally expresses the dispensational good -pleasure of God at the time. - -This is much to be observed; for the distinguishing of things that -differ, and the rightly dividing of the word of God or of truth, is -expected, among other virtues, in the life of faith. Abraham was endowed -with this fine faculty. He walked in the light of that day, as God was -in the light. He knew the voice of the silver trumpet; when, as it were, -to gather to the tabernacle, and when to go forth to the battle. - - -But there is more than this in our patriarch at this time. Two victories -distinguish him--one over the armies of the kings, and one over the -offers of the king of Sodom. - -The first of these Abraham gained, because he struck the blow exactly in -God's time. He went out to the battle neither sooner nor later than God -would have had him. He waited, as it were, till "he heard the going in -the mulberry trees." Victory was therefore sure; for the battle was the -Lord's, not his. His arm was braced by the Lord; and this victory of -Abraham's was that of an earlier sling and stone, or of the jaw-bone of -an ass, or of a Jonathan and his armour-bearer against a Philistine -host; for Abraham's was but a _band of trained servants against the -armies of four confederated kings_. - -The second, still brighter than the first, was achieved in virtue of -fellowship with the very springs of divine strength. The _spirit_ of the -patriarch was in victory here, as his _arm_ had been before. He had so -drunk in the communication of the King of Salem--had so fed on the bread -and wine of that royal, priestly stranger--that the king of Sodom spread -out his feast in vain. The soul of Abraham _had been in heaven_, and he -could not return to the world. - -That was his blessed experience in the valley of Shaveh. Happy soul -indeed! Oh for something more than to trace the image of it in the book! -Zaccheus, in his day, was a son of Abraham in this generation, or -according to this life and power. Zaccheus so drank in the joy and -strength that are to be known in the presence of Christ, that the world -became a dead thing to him. He had sat at table with the true -Melchizedek, and had eaten of His bread and drunk of His wine. Jesus had -spread a feast for His host at Jericho as He had in other days for -Abraham in the valley of Shaveh; and, strengthened and refreshed, this -son of Abraham, like his father of old, was able to surrender the world. -Behold, Lord, says he, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I -have wronged any man of anything by false accusation, I restore him -fourfold. He could give Abraham's answer to the king of Sodom, for he -had had Abraham's refreshment from the King of Salem. - -Surely, beloved, this is the way of victory in all the saints. The -springs of strength and joy are found in Jesus. May you and I be able to -look at Him and say, "All my fresh springs are in thee." "This is the -victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." And what are all -conquests in God's account but such?-- - - "'Tis within - The fervent spirit labours. There he gains - Fresh conquests o'er himself, compared with which - The laurels that a Cæsar wears are weeds." - - -Such, then, are the victories of faith. - -But we have more still; and in the next scene, in chapter xv. we see -faith's _boldness_. - -And let me ask, for our common comfort, what more precious with God -Himself than this? The intelligence of faith is bright, and its -victories glorious; but in the accounting of the God of all grace, its -boldness surpasses all. - -After Abraham's victory over the world, or over the offers of the king -of Sodom, the Lord comes to him with some great pledges and promises. -After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, -saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great -reward. xv. 1. After the heat of the preceding day, it was meet, in the -ways of grace, that Abraham should be owned again, and encouraged again. -But faith is bold, very bold, apparently aiming higher than the purposes -and undertakings of grace. And this is a wonderful moment to -contemplate. Abraham seems to throw back the words of the Lord. "I am -thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward," says the Lord. "What wilt -thou give me?" Abraham replies--"What wilt thou give me, seeing I go -childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?" - -This was bold; but, blessed to say it, not too bold for the ear of the -Lord who finds His richest joy in the language of faith like this. - -Good it is to have a _portion_; but Abraham sought an _object_, an -object for the heart; something far more important to us. Adam found it -so. Eden was not to him what Eve was. The garden with all its tributes -did not do for him what the helpmeet did. Eve opened his mouth; she -alone did that, because she alone had filled his heart. Christ finds it -so. The Church is more to Him than all the glory of the kingdom--as the -pearl and the treasure were more to the men who found them, than all -their possessions, for they sold all to get them. The strayed sheep, the -lost piece of silver, the prodigal son, are more to heaven--to the -Father, to the Shepherd, to the Spirit, and to angels--as occasions of -joy, than all else; just because the heart has got its object--love has -found its answer. _This_ is the mind of Christ. Affection puts the heart -on a journey; and it cannot rest, in the midst of all beside, without -its object; and it says even to the Lord and His pledges, "What wilt -thou give me, seeing I go childless?" - -But bold faith this was indeed, appearing thus to throw back the words -of God. But it was precious to Him. Yea, it was precious to Him on the -highest kind of title; for faith, acting thus and craving after this -manner, spoke the way and the taste of the divine mind itself. For God -Himself looks for children, as Abraham did. It is not the spirit of -bondage that is to fill His house, but that of adoption; it is not -servants but children He will have round Him. He has "predestinated us -unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, _to Himself_." He has -found in His children an object for _Himself_; and Abraham was, -therefore, but telling out the _common_ secret of his own heart, and of -the bosom of God. And at once his desire is answered; and the sight of -the starry heavens is made to pledge to the patriarch something better -than all portions and all conditions; for the Lord says to him, "So -shall thy _seed_ be." - -How truly may we say, never does faith aim more justly than when it aims -high, and draws with a bold hand. Never is the mark it sets before it -more God's own purpose. "Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God," says the -prophet to the king, "ask it either in the depth, or in the height -above;" range through the divine resources, and use them. What king Ahaz -would not do, wearying the Lord by his reserve, and unbelief, and -slowness of heart, Abraham does and continues to do. His soul continues -in the same power of faith to the end of this action. He holds on in the -same track. "I'll give thee this land to inherit it," says the Lord to -him shortly afterwards. "Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" -is his reply to the Lord. This is of the same fine character; and being -so--bespeaking the boldness of faith--it is still infinitely acceptable -with the Lord. Abraham seeks something beyond a promise. Not that he -doubted the promise. He was sure of it. It could never fail. Heaven and -earth would pass away, ere it could pass away. But "oath and blood" to -seal it were desired by Abraham. He loved _covenant_ title, and his -faith sought it; but sought no more than grace and purpose and sovereign -good-pleasure had already designed to give him. - -And there lies the richest, fullest consolation. _Faith is never too -bold to please the Lord._ In the days of His flesh, He often rebuked the -reserves and suspicions of little faith, but never the strength and -decision of a faith that aimed as at everything, and would not go -without a blessing. So, the very style in which, in this fine chapter -(xv.), He answers the faith of His servant, tells us of the delight with -which He had entertained His servant's boldness. The very _style_ of the -answer speaks this in our ears; as afterwards in the case of the palsied -man in Luke v.; for there the words, "Man, thy sins be forgiven thee," -tell how the heart of the same Lord, the God of Abraham, had been -refreshed by the faith which broke up the roof of the house without -apology, in order to reach Him. And it is the same here. When a fine, -bold, unquestioning faith sought for a child, the Lord God took Abraham -forth that very night, and, showing him the starry heavens, said to him, -"So shall thy seed be." When like faith would have the land secured by -something more than a word of promise, the same Lord pledges the -covenant by the passage of a burning lamp between the pieces of the -sacrifice. - -This _style_, as I said, is full of meaning. It eloquently (may I say?) -bespeaks the divine mind. The Lord does not content Himself by merely -promising a child, as by word of mouth, or by merely giving some other -assurances to Abraham that the land shall be the inheritance of his -seed; but, in each case, He enters on certain actions, and conducts them -with such august and striking solemnities, as lets us know -instinctively, the delight with which He had listened to these demands -of faith. - -Would that we knew our God as He is to be known, for His praise and our -comfort! Love delights to be used. Love is wearied with ceremoniousness. -It is, in its way, a trespasser on love's very nature, and on its -essential mode of acting. Family affection, for instance, puts ceremony -aside all the day long. Intimacy is there, and not form. Form would be -too cumbrous for it, as Saul's armour was for David. It has not proved -it, and cannot therefore wear it. Love is doing the business of the -house in one and another, and the common confidence of all allows it to -be done in love's way. So will the Lord have it with Himself. The -intimacy of faith is according to His grace, and ceremony is but a -weariness to Him. - -Grace, as we sing at times, is "a sea without a shore," and we are -encouraged to launch forth with full-spread sails. The pot of oil would -have been without a bottom, had the woman's faith _still_ drawn from it; -and the king of Israel's victories would have been in quick succession, -till not a Syrian had been left to tell the tale, had his faith trod the -field of battle as one who knew it only as a field of conquest. 2 Kings -iv. and xiii. But we are straitened. The boldness of faith is too fine -an element for the niggard heart of man that cannot trust the Lord: -though, blessed to tell it, it is that which _answers_, as well as -_uses_, the boundless grace of God. - -The believing mind is the happy mind; and it is the obedient mind also, -the God-glorifying mind. It is the thankful and the worshipping mind; -the mind too that keeps the saint the most in readiness for service, and -in separation from pollutions. We may be watchful, and it is right; we -may be self-judging, and it is right; we may be careful to observe the -rule of righteousness in all that we do, and it is right: but withal, to -hold the heart up in the light of the favour of God, by the exercise of -a simple, child-like, believing mind, this is what glorifies Him, this -is what answers His grace, this is what above all proves itself grateful -to Him with whom we have to do. "We have access by faith into this grace -wherein we stand." It is not attainment, it is not watchfulness, it is -not services or duties, which entitle us to take that journey, that -gives the soul entrance into that wealthy place of the divine -favour--_by faith_ we have access into this grace wherein we stand. - -But we go onward still in this history, and find it rich in other -instructions and illustrations of the life of faith. - -Sarah now comes forth for the first time in independent action. Chapters -xvi. xvii. - -The famine had already, as we saw, tempted Abraham to seek the _land_ of -Egypt, and he got the resources of that land, with shame and sorrow, and -a wearisome journey back again to Canaan. Sarah now tempts him to seek -the _bondmaid_ of Egypt. - -We know what this Egyptian bondmaid is, from the divine teaching of the -epistle to the Galatians. She is the covenant from mount Sinai, the law, -the religion of ordinances; and Sarah, in her suggestions to Abraham, -that he should take this Egyptian, represents _nature_, which always -finds its relief and its resources in flesh and blood, finds its -_religion_ there also, as well as everything else. - -The Spirit had not as yet dealt with Sarah's soul. At least, we have had -no manifestation of this. She was an elect one surely; but our election -goes long before we become the subject of divine workmanship; and, as -yet, spiritual life, the life of faith, the operation of the truth on -Sarah through the Holy Ghost, had not been witnessed. She had not as yet -been spoken of by the Lord. She had not been the companion of her -husband in the exercise of his spirit before God, nor his -fellow-disciple in God's school. She was not called out with Abraham to -number the stars, or to watch the sacrifice. She was still, I may say, -in the place of _nature_; and accordingly she invites her husband to -give her seed by her Egyptian handmaid. - -That is her place in this action; and Abraham becomes the saint -_betrayed by nature_, led in nature's path, surprised by a temptation -from that quarter now, as he had been before by the pressure of famine. - -But all this is unbelief and departure from God. It is the way of man, -the way of nature; not of faith or of the Spirit. We naturally resort to -the law, the bondwoman, the religion of ordinances, when the _soul_ -feels its need; as we naturally go down to Egypt, or seek the world, -when our _circumstances_ are needy. It is unbelief and departure from -God, as is seen even in Abraham; but to leave God and the restorings of -His grace, when the soul has need, is a more grievous offence and wrong -against Him, than to seek help as from Egypt, when our circumstances -have need. My poverty may tempt me to use shifts and contrivances, which -is bad enough; but if my conscience want healing, if breaches within -need repairing, that I may walk again in the enjoyed light of His -countenance, and I go to mere religion, or to ordinances, or to anything -but the provisions of His own sanctuary, this is still worse. - -The Hagars and the Pharaohs, the bondmaids and the wealth of Egypt, are -poor resorts for the Abrahams of God. But so it has been, and so it is, -through the working of nature. But Abraham (we will now see for our -comfort) is under God's eye, though led by Sarah's suggestions. God has -His place in him as well as nature; and He will assert it for his -restoring. He rises on his soul in a fresh revelation of Himself, -demanding of His saint the fresh obedience of faith. "I am the almighty -God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." For Abraham's soul had lost -this truth, the almightiness or the all-sufficiency of God. He had gone -in to Hagar; he had taken up confidence in the flesh; he had left the -ground he had stood upon in chap. xv.; but the Lord will not and cannot -allow this; and therefore rises, in a renewed revelation of Himself, on -the spirit of His saint; and it is a rising "with healing in its wings;" -for Abraham falls on his face, convicted and abashed, and the soul is -led again in paths of righteousness. - -Surely there are to this hour such moments in the history of "them that -believe," as well as of their "father Abraham." Abraham had not fallen -on his face, when the Lord appeared to him and spoke to him in chap. xv. -There he stood, conscious that he was in the light with the Lord. But -darkness had now come over his soul, and he is not ready for the Lord. -He is on his face, silent and amazed. He is not standing, urging the -suits of faith, as there; but on his face, silent and confounded. The -change in his experience is great; but there is no change in the Lord; -for it is the same love, whether He rebuke or comfort. If we walk in the -light, we have fellowship with Him; if we confess our sins, we have -forgiveness with Him; if we be able to stand before Him, He will feed -and strengthen us; if we must needs fall convicted in His presence, He -will raise us up again. - -This is a fine, earnest path of the spirit of a saint. There is a deep -reality here. Departure from God proves itself to be bitterness; but God -proves Himself to the soul to be restoration and peace; and under His -gracious hand faith is afresh emboldened, and Abraham plies his suit, as -one that was again in the vigour of chap. xv., and seeks of God that -Ishmael might live before Him. - -How one longs to have one's own soul formed by these blessed revelations -of grace, and the inwrought work of faith which answers them. The scene -changes; but God and the soul are together still. There is -reality--reality in the sadness and in the joy, in the light of the -divine countenance and in the hiding of our own face as in the dust. - -All this may be said of the life of faith, as seen in chapters xvi. -xvii. But on entering upon the next scene of action, in chapters xviii. -xix., I would observe, that in the life of Abraham we get something -beside these exercises and illustrations of faith. _We get exhibitions -of certain divine mysteries also._ - - -All the facts in this history are simple truths. They happened just as -recorded. But there is this twofold design in them: either to give -samples of the life of faith in a saint, or to give illustrations of -some great ways and purposes of God. - -And such illustrations of the divine counsels and mysteries is the -common way of divine wisdom throughout Scripture. What was the -tabernacle or the temple but a place for the constant rehearsal of -mysteries, such as atonement and intercession, and the varied order of -God in the worship and services of His house, or in the ministry of -grace? For such were the sacrifices and the services there, the feasts, -and the holy days, and the jubilees. What, in like manner, were the -exodus, and the journey through the wilderness, and the entrance into -Canaan, the wars there, and then the throne of the peaceful one? Were -not all these, whether institutes of the sanctuary, or facts in the -history, exhibitions of the hidden, eternal counsels of the divine -bosom? - -Now chapters xviii. xix. of this history suggest this recollection. -These chapters are to be read together, and afford us a large and vivid -exhibition of certain great truths, which concern us at this moment, in -as full a sense as ever the facts themselves, which convey them to us as -in a parable, concerned Abraham and his generation. - -Sodom, in that day, was the _world_. It had been warned, but had refused -instruction. It had proved incurably departed from God, and beyond -correction. Sodom had been visited and chastened in the day of the -victory of the confederated kings--as we saw in chapter xiv.; but it was -Sodom still, and was, at this time, in advanced iniquity, in a state of -ripened apostasy, her last state worse than her first. - -Sodom was the _world_ in this day. The Lord Jesus, in His teaching, -gives it morally that place, just as another generation had been the -world in Noah's day. See Matt. xxiv.; Luke xvii. They are like figures, -presenting to our thoughts "this present evil world," which is ripening -itself for the judgment of God. - -At such a crisis, however, in this day of the judgment of Sodom, or the -overthrow of the cities of the plain, as in every other like day, there -are two incidental matters to be deeply pondered by our souls; there is -_deliverance out of the judgment_, and there is _separation before it -come_. There is Lot, and there is Abraham. Lot is delivered, when the -hour of the crisis comes; Abraham is separated before it comes. - -All this is much to be weighed in our thoughts. _Judgment_, -_deliverance_, _separation_--these are the elements of the action here, -and these are full of meaning, and of application to our own history as -the Church of God, and to the world around us. - -Before this action opens, Abraham had been in a heavenly place. He was a -stranger on the earth, having his tent only, and wandering from place to -place without so much as to set his foot on; and now, when the judgment -comes, he is apart from it altogether, like Enoch, the heavenly Enoch, -in another and earlier day of judgment. Each of these, in the day of -visitation, was outside, beyond, or above the scene of the ruin; not -merely delivered out of it when it came, but separated from it before it -came. - -Abraham had already stood with the Lord Himself on an eminence which -overlooked Sodom, as he and the Lord had walked together from the plain -of Mamre; and now, when the judgment spends itself on that apostate, -polluted city, Abraham is again, in that high place, beholding the -desolation afar off. He was (in the spirit of the place where he stood) -in company with Him who was executing the judgment. But Lot is only -rescued. Lot is a delivered man, Abraham is a separated one. As Abraham -is the Enoch, Lot is the Noah of this later day, and is drawn forth from -the devoted city. - -What mysteries are these! What solemn realities, in the counsels of God, -are here rehearsed for our learning! Do we know what we are looking at -in all this? Do we not see great purposes of God, as in a glass, in this -varied and eventful action? Have we to ask, Where is this mystic ground, -on which we are here standing? Surely, beloved, we ought to know it. In -this action, the world, as Sodom, is typically meeting its doom; the -righteous remnant, as in Lot, are delivered in that hour of wrath; and -the Church, as in Abraham, already separated and borne above, looks afar -off on the scene of the mighty desolation. Surely these mysteries are -before us in this action at Sodom. "Known unto God are all His works -from the beginning of the world." The world, the Church, and the -kingdom, are here in mysteries or types; the thing that is to be judged; -the thing that is to be separated to heavenly glory; the thing that is -to be delivered, and thus reserved for the earth again after the -purification. Enoch, Noah, and the deluged creation are again here in -Abraham, and Lot, and the doomed cities of the plain. - -These are mysteries of which the Book of God is full. And thus is it -again and afresh witnessed to us, what we are and where we are, though -travelling on, to all appearance, in the common track of everyday human -life, with a generation, in the spirit of their mind, still, as ever, -saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell -asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the -creation." - -Many incidental things might occur to the mind in this, as in other -sections of this wonderful history; such as the visit of the Son of God -to Abraham; Abraham's intercession for Sodom; the angels' reserve -towards Lot; and the contrasted characters of the two saints--the saint -of the tent, and the saint in Sodom. But my purpose, in this little -book, does not take in such details. But I would ask, in closing this -action in chapters xviii. xix. Are we, beloved, apprehensive of the -moment in which we are living? Is "man's day" brightening up to its -meridian before us, ascending to its noontide splendour? And what think -we of that? Are we joining in the congratulations of man with his -fellow, that thus it is? Or is all this brightness suspected and -challenged by us, as the sure precursor of God's judgment? Do we know -that the god of this world finds a house "swept and garnished" as -thoroughly a scene for his evil and destructive energy as a Sodom? Do we -judge, with our generation, that this cannot be? Or do we hold it in -mind, that it is in such a house that he will work at the closing of -Christendom's history? And are we waiting for the Son of God to take us -up to that mystic eminence where of old He took His Abraham? The Lord -give us grace to occupy such ground! And we shall the more easily and -naturally do so, if, like Abraham, we are saints of the tent and not of -the city--such saints (again like Abraham) as rejoice, "in the heat of -the day," to hold communion with the Lord of glory. - -After this we go, with our patriarch, into the land of the Philistines, -where he sojourns during the times of chapters xx. xxi. - -The old compact between Abraham and Sarah is acted on again, after so -long a time--acted on now at Gerar, as before it had been in Egypt. It -had been made between them ere they left their native country. It was -brought out with them from the very place of their birth. It was, I may -say, in them older than anything of God; and after many changes and -exercises it is in them and with them the same thing still. - -It was a very evil thing--both subtle and unclean. It was false and yet -specious, and savoured strongly of the serpent, of him that is a liar -and the father of lies. Abraham was forced to betray it, vile as it was, -to the king of Gerar. "It came to pass, when God caused me to wander -from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which -thou shalt show unto me: at every place whither we shall come, say of -me, He is my brother." This was worse than we might even have feared. -There was not a principle in the life of faith that was not gainsaid by -so vile a compact as this, brought from the very place of their nativity -with them. And such is the flesh, the inbred corruption. Its way, -whenever taken, is shame and deep dishonour. It degrades a saint even -before men. It is that which will confound and expose an Abraham before -an Abimelech. And it never changes, or improves, or ceases to be. It is -the same in Egypt, and at Gerar. It lives in us still, and follows us -everywhere. We get it at our birth from the loins of Adam; and we are, -for the common consistency of our way as the called of God, to mortify -and refuse it. - -Wretched indeed it is to have to see such a thing as this. But the -Spirit of God hides nothing. There it lies before us, this vile and -wicked thing, in the pathway of the recording Spirit. We have, however, -other happier objects. - -The progress of Sarah's soul, under the light and leading of the Lord, -is to be tracked in its own peculiar and instructive path. Under the -influence of the flesh she had, at the outset, joined Abraham in this -unclean compact, of which I have just spoken. In unbelief, she had -afterwards, as we also saw, given Hagar to her husband; and then, in the -haste and rebellion of the heart, she resented the effects of that -unbelief, and cast out the bondwoman, whom she had adopted and settled -in the family. But at the command of the Lord, Hagar had gone back to -her; and now, at the time of this action, she had borne with her in the -house for fourteen years. There was, however, no manifestation of the -renewed mind, or the life of faith, in her. It was even during these -years, that in unbelief she had laughed at the promise, behind the -tent-door. But still, I may say, she had, during this time, in one -sense, _been at school_; and she seems to have learnt a lesson, for she -submitted patiently and unresistingly, to the presence of the bondwoman -and her child in the house of her husband. We hear of no fresh quarrels -between them. This was something. This was witness of her being in the -hand of God, till at length, as we know, she was given faith to conceive -seed. Heb. xi. A great journey, however, after all this, is now about to -be taken by her spirit. She is to take the lead even of her husband. And -happy this is--common enough, too, among the saints--but happy, very -happy. And were we of a delivered heart--a heart given up to the desire -of Christ's glory only--we should rejoice in these discoveries, made in -the regions of the Spirit, though we ourselves would have to be humbled -by them. "The last shall be first, and the first last." These are among -the ways of "new-born souls," and to be discerned still by those who -"mark the steps of grace." Paul could say of some, "Who also were in -Christ before me;" but we may be bold to add, in that case, though he -did not, "The last were first." And the generous liberty of the redeemed -soul will but glory in these sovereign actings of the Spirit. - -Sarah's elevation above Abraham in the things of the kingdom of God is -now to appear in illustration of all this. In obedience to the command, -Abraham calls the child that was born, Isaac. But Sarah _interprets_ -that name: and this is a finer exercise of soul over the gift of God. To -obey a word is good; but to obey it in the joy of an exercised heart, -and in the light and intelligence of a mind that has entered into the -divine sense of that word, is better. Abraham called the child that was -born to him, Isaac: but Sarah said "God has made me to laugh; and all -they that hear it will laugh with me." The oracle of chapter xvii. 19 -was made more to her than a command to be observed. It had springs of -refreshing in it, and kindlings of soul. It was full of light and -meaning to the opened understanding of Sarah. And this leads to strength -and decision. This Deborah of earlier days will brace the loins of -Barak. "Cast out this bondwoman and her son," says Sarah to Abraham; for -she was happy in the liberty of grace and promise, while he was still -lingering amid the claims of nature, and the desires which his own loins -had gendered. "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this -bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." And this was -_Scripture_, as we read in Gal. iv.; this was the voice of God. This -decision of faith, in the liberty of grace, gets its sealing at once -under God's own hand. "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath -made you free," says the Spirit. And what met the mind of the Lord, in -the days of His flesh, like the faith which was bold and free, after -this manner? the faith which would use Him without ceremony, which -reached Him through a crowd, which pressed in through the silent -reproaches of a misjudging Pharisee, or through the injurious whispers -of a self-righteous multitude! And how much of the energy of the Spirit -in St. Paul is engaged in giving the sinner this precious boldness, this -immediate assurance of heart in Christ, in spite of law, conscience, -earth, and hell! - -This boldness of faith in Sarah, this challenge of the bondwoman, this -demand (in her own behalf too) that she might enjoy her Isaac all alone, -is _Scripture_. Gal. iv. 30. She spake as "the oracles of God." But in -Abraham nature now acts. He would fain retain Ishmael. This is no -strange thing. Nature now acts in Abraham, and faith in Sarah; as, on an -earlier occasion, which we noticed, nature had acted in Sarah and faith -in Abraham. But nature in Abraham must submit. He must not let Sarah be -entangled any longer as with this yoke of bondage. The house must be -freed of Ishmael, for it is to be built only in Isaac. "The son of the -bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." - -But all this quickly bears its fruit. Hagar being now gone, and the -house settled in Isaac according to this demand of faith, glory is -therefore quickly ready to enter. For this is the divine order. Having -"access into this grace wherein we stand, we rejoice in hope of the -glory of God." Such is the order of the Spirit in the soul of such a -saint; and such is the order now in the mystic house of our Abraham. - -_Abraham is sought by the Gentile._ This is full of meaning. In the days -of stress and famine, Abraham seeks the Gentile, whether in Egypt or in -Philistia; but now, the Gentile seeks Abraham. This is a great change. -Abraham's house, as we have seen, is now established in grace. Ishmael -is dismissed, and Isaac is gloried in. In mystic sense, Israel has -turned to the Lord, the veil is taken away, Jerusalem has said to -Christ, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," her warfare -is therefore accomplished, and she is receiving the double. The Gentile -seeks Israel. Abimelech and Phichol, the king and his chief captain, -come to Abraham. - -This is a great dispensational change. Israel is the head now, and not -the tail. The skirt of the Jew is now laid hold on by the nations; for -the Jew has, by faith, laid hold on the Lord, and the nations say, God -is with you. Chap. xxi. 22; Zech. viii. 23. - -This is full of meaning; and Abraham on all this (led of the Spirit) is -full of thoughts of glory or of the kingdom. And rightly so. Because, -when the Jew is sought by the Gentile, instead of being trodden down or -degraded by the Gentile, the kingdom is at hand. Accordingly, on the -king of Gerar seeking him and suing him, our patriarch raises a _new_ -altar; not the altar of a heavenly stranger, as in chapter xii., but an -altar to "the everlasting God;" not an altar in a wilderness-world, but -an altar beside a _grove_ and a _well_; the one being a witness that the -solitary place had been made glad, and that the wilderness was -rejoicing; the other, that the peoples of the earth were confederate -with the seed of Abraham.[11] - - [11] The Lord Jesus, in His day, acknowledged this same pledge or - symptom of the kingdom. For when the Greeks came up to the feast - and asked to see Him, as the Gentile here seeks Abraham, His - thoughts are immediately upon His glory. He knows indeed that - glory is to be reached only by His death, and so He testifies; but - still, His thoughts go out at once to the glory. See John xii. 23. - -All this bright intelligence of faith in Abraham is very beautiful. We -have already seen other actings of it in him. He knew a time of peace -and a time of war, and acted accordingly in the day of the battle of the -five kings with four. So, again, he knew his heavenly place, and took -it, when the fire of the Lord was judging the cities of the plain. So, -again, as this chapter xxi. very remarkably shows us, he also knew when -to suffer wrong and when to resent, when to be passive and when to -assert his rights. For now, in the time of this chapter, when the -Gentile seeks him, he reproves Abimelech for a well of water which -Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. _But he had not -complained of this injury until now_; for Abimelech said to him, "I wot -not who has done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet -heard I of it, but to-day." And this is exceedingly beautiful. It is -perfect in its generation. Abraham had till now suffered, and taken it -patiently, because till now he had been a heavenly stranger on the -earth; and such patient suffering in such an one is acceptable with God. -But now, times are changed. The heavenly stranger has become the head of -the nations, sought by the Gentile; and rights and wrongs must now be -settled, and the cry of the oppressed must be heard. - -All this has great moral beauty in it. I know not how sufficiently to -admire this workmanship of the Spirit in the mind of Abraham. He was an -Israelite who knew the seasons of the year--when to be at the Passover, -and when at the Feast of Tabernacles. He knew, in spirit, when to -continue with Jesus in His temptations, and then again, when the day -arrived, how to surround Him with hosannahs as He entered the city of -the Son of David. All such various and blending lights shone in the -spiritual intelligence of his soul. God, by the Spirit, communicated a -beautiful mind to Abraham. In other days, he would not have so much of -this earth as to set his foot on--he would surrender the choice of the -land to Lot--he would leave the Canaanite where he found him--he would -refuse to be enriched by the king of Sodom even in so little as a thread -or a shoe-latchet--he would wander up and down in his tent here, a -stranger from heaven--but now, in a day signified and marked by the hand -of God, he can be another man, and know his millennial place, as father -of the Israel of God, and their representative as head of the nations. -He can keep the Feast of Tabernacles in its season. His rebuke of -Abimelech--his entertaining him--his enriching him--his giving him -covenant pledges--and all this in such easy, conscious dignity--and then -his new altar or his calling on God in a new character, and his planting -a grove, all bespeak another man, and that a transfiguration, if I may -so speak, had taken place in him, according to God. - -All this I judge to have a great character in it. But I will not any -longer stay here; for there is still more in this fine life of faith -which our father Abraham, through grace, tracked to the very end, -holding still the beginning of his confidence. - -And here let me say, this life of faith is, in other words, life spent -in the _power of resurrection_. It is the life of a dead and risen man. -It is a lesson, if one may speak for others, hard indeed to be learnt to -any good effect, but still it is the lesson, the practical lesson of our -lives, that we are a dead and risen people. At the outset Abraham, in -spirit, took that character. He left behind him all that nature or the -world had provided him with. He left what his _birth_ introduced him to, -for that which _faith_ introduced him to. And as he began, so he -continued and ended, with failings by the way indeed, and that too again -and again, but still to the end he was a man of faith, a dead and risen -man. - -As such an one he had received Isaac, some twenty years ago, not -considering his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's -womb; and as such an one he now offers him on the altar at the word of -the Lord. The promise was _God's_--that was enough for him. For _faith_ -is never overcome. It has divine, infinite resources. The believer fails -again and again; but faith is never overcome, or comes short of its -expectation. xxii. - -This is the way of faith, when Isaac was demanded.[12] And the same -overcoming faith we trace in the very next scene, the burial of Sarah. -This was the same faith, the faith of a dead and risen man, the faith -which had already _received_ Isaac, and _offered_ Isaac, now buries -Sarah. Abraham believed in resurrection, and in God as the God of -resurrection, the God who quickens the dead, and calls those things that -be not as though they were. The cave of Machpelah tells us this. "Earth -to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes, _in sure and certain hope_," was -the language of Abraham's heart there. His purchase of that place, with -all his care to make it his own, to have it as his _possession_, while -beyond it he cared not for a single acre of the whole land, tells us of -his faith in resurrection. His treaty for it with the children of Heth -is like his words to his servants at the foot of mount Moriah, "Abide ye -here with the ass, while I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and -come again to you." Each of these things bespoke beforehand what he knew -about his Isaac and his Sarah. He committed each of them into the hands -of Him who, as he knew, quickens the dead. The corn of wheat dying, as -he knew, was to live again. The handful of sacred dust, as he knew, was -to be gathered again. Death itself was eyed in like victory of faith, as -had already been eyed the fire, and the wood, and the beloved victim on -the altar. xxiii. - - [12] There are _mysteries_ as well as _illustrations of faith_ in these - things; but I cannot follow them here. The offer of Isaac on - Moriah, we none of us doubt, is a mystery. So, I surely know, is - the action of Hagar and Ishmael in chapter xxi. It is the picture - of the present _outcast_ but _preserved_ Jew--a homeless fugitive, - destined, however, for future purposes of mercy. See Gal. iv. 25. - But I follow not these things particularly here. - -These were the victories of faith again. Faith in our patriarch, after -this manner, talked calmly with all circumstances, and won the day over -them all in their turn. Beautiful victories of "precious faith"! And -they are gained still. Faith still disposes of one circumstance after -another as it rises. It meets our own personal condition as "dead in -trespasses and sins;" it meets the difficulties and temptations of the -way; it meets the last great enemy. Let me not make a wonder of meeting -things on the journey, or at the end of it, if I have already met what -withstood me at the outset. Faith will go to mount Moriah, or to the -cave of Machpelah, if it have already gone out in the starry night with -the Lord at Hebron. If it have met death in my own person, it may meet -it in my Isaac or my Sarah. One speaks, the Lord knows, of His grace, -and not of one's own experience. But still, beloved, let each of us say, -Am I not at peace with God? Do I not know that He is for me? Do I not -know that my estate of sin, guilt, and condemnation has been met in His -grace? Do I not know that I am washed, accepted, adopted? Have I not -gone out with Abraham, as in the night of chap. xv., and found relief -for my own state by nature, and shall I then tarry on my way, though the -trial of mount Moriah await me, or the death and burial at Machpelah? If -faith have already met sin, it is to know itself conqueror over even -death. Let our souls be accustomed to the thought that the _brightest -victory of faith was achieved at the beginning_--that if at peace with -God in spite of sin, we may reckon on strength and comfort from Him in -spite of the trials of the way, and on power and triumph in Him in spite -of the end of it. Faith which has done its _first_ work has done its -_greatest_ work. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by -the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by -His life." God is glorified in these reckonings of faith. "He that -spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He -not with Him also freely give us all things?" - -It is the power of life over death, life in victory, that faith uses. It -was such power of victorious life that Abraham possessed himself of by -faith. The sepulchre is empty, and the grave-clothes are lying there, as -the spoils of war. The deadness of his own body, the altar of his Isaac, -and the grave of his Sarah, were visited and inspected by a _risen_ man, -in the light of the faith of Him who is the Quickener of the dead, and -calleth those things that be not as though they were. - -These are the great things of faith in the souls of the elect. But -further still, in this fruitful, shifting history. Abraham, at the end, -is seen to hold his first ground, as well as to work his earlier -victories. He maintains, through grace, erect and firm, that very -attitude which he had at once and at the first assumed, when by faith he -hearkened to the call of God. - -That call of God had done these two things with Abraham, I might say -_for_ Abraham; it had separated him from Mesopotamia, and yet left him a -stranger in Canaan. From country, kindred, and father's house he had -been withdrawn; but still, in the midst of that land and people to which -he had come, he was to be but a pilgrim, dwelling as on the surface of -it, in a tent, whatever part of it he might pass through or visit. - -This position was very holy. His separation was twofold--separation from -pollution, such as he might meet in Canaan; separation from natural -alliances, such as he had been born into in Mesopotamia. He was under -the call of the God of glory; and such a call made no terms with either -the flesh or the world. In somewhat of Levite holiness, he did not know -his mother's children; in somewhat of church holiness, he knew no man -after the flesh. Nay; beyond even all this, in somewhat of the virtue of -his divine Lord, he did not know _himself_. He was the heir of the land -where he was a pilgrim. The _promise_ of God was his, as surely as the -_call_. He knew himself to be destined of divine, unimpeachable purpose, -to dignities of a very high order. But to the end he was willing to pass -unknown, entirely unknown. He talked of himself to the children of the -land only as a stranger and a sojourner. He would pay for the smallest -plot of ground which he wanted. He would be nothing and nobody in the -midst of them. He never talked of the dignities which he knew, all the -time, really attached to him. David, in like spirit, in other days, had -the oil of Samuel on him, the consecration of God to the throne of the -tribes of Israel; and yet he would be hid, and thank a rich neighbour, -in his need, for a piece of bread. These men of God knew not themselves. -This was the way of our Abraham; and this was the virtue of Him who, in -this same departed, evil world, made Himself of no reputation, though -God of heaven and earth. - -Blessed virtues of soul under the power of the call of God, through the -Holy Ghost! Mesopotamia is left, Canaan is estranged, and self is -forgotten and hid! The call of God purposes to do at this day with us -what in that day it did with Abraham. It would fain conform us to -itself. Its authority is supreme. It is not that country or kindred are, -of necessity, defiling. Nature accredits them; and the law of God, in -its season, owns and enforces them. But the call of God is supreme, and -demands separation of a very high, and fine, and peculiar order. And -this was what addressed Abraham when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, the place -of his birth, of his kindred, and of his natural associations, and this -was what still echoed in his heart all the time of his sojourn in -Canaan. - -It was not that he was called to assert the _harm_ of such things. Not -at all. But they were such things as the call of God left behind; and -the harm, or the moral wrong, or the pollution of a thing was no longer -his rule, but _inconsistency with the call of God_. He may allow the -right and the claim of a thousand things; but it is the voice of the God -of glory, to which in faith he had hearkened already, that must lead him -and command him. "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking -back, is fit for the kingdom of God." - -He was very true to his call. According to it, at the beginning, he had -gone forth, not knowing, as before him, whither he went, and leaving, as -behind him, all that even nature itself must accredit, and all but the -sovereign pleasure of God sanction. He continued in the power of it, -sojourning in tents, unknown and unendowed, a stranger in the world, -refusing to take one backward step. And at the end, we find the same -power of his call as fresh in his soul as ever--as earnest and as simple -in chap. xxiv. as it had been in chap. xii. He charges Eliezer to act -upon it to the full, as he himself at the outset had done--that is, he -was to keep Isaac in the place of separation at all cost. Let come what -may, Isaac was neither to be taken back to Mesopotamia, nor to be allied -with Canaan. He was, let circumstances make it difficult as they may, to -be maintained in his true place under the call of God. - -This has a great character in it. There is another mystery in this -exquisite chapter (xxiv.), as we commonly know; but I do not notice it -here. I rather design to trace the earnest, simple path, which faith -trod from first to last, in our father Abraham. The voice of the God of -glory was _still_ heard by him. He was _still_ the separated man. He -declared plainly that he sought a heavenly country. He might have had -opportunity to return. This very journey of Eliezer proved that he had -not forgotten the road. But he did not, he would not. - -This strangership of our patriarch in the earth has indeed a very fine -character. He left Mesopotamia, he sojourned in Canaan, he hid or forgot -himself! Abraham left Abraham behind, as well as country, kindred, and -father's house. He made himself of no reputation. He spoke of himself as -"a stranger and a sojourner," and as that only, in the audience of the -children of Heth, though he was, all the while, the one "who had the -promises." All this was real, true-hearted strangership in the world. -And it was conscious citizenship in heaven that made him, after this -manner, a willing stranger here. Because of possessions in prospect, he -could do without them in hand. The land of promise was to him but a -strange country, because it was but a land of promise and not of -possession. He saw Christ's day, and was glad; but he saw it in the -distance. Heb. xi. 9-14. - - -And Abraham was all this to the very end--as these closing chapters show -us. The character which he took up at the beginning, under the call of -God, that character he maintained to the end. He fails in the power of -faith along the road, again and again, but he is the same heavenly -stranger to the end of his journey.[13] - - [13] In the mystic history of the earth given to us in Lev. xxiii. the - Church is brought in as the "poor" and the "stranger" gleaning in - another man's field, in ver. 22. But as she entered that field so - she left it. She was the poor one, and the stranger, and the - gleaner in another's field, to the end. The field never becomes - her property. - - Looked at in the light of this beautiful figure, what is - Christendom under God's eye? - -And strangership of this order is ours, I am deeply assured. Ours is to -be strangership in the earth, because of conscious and well-known -citizenship in heaven; separation from the world, because of oneness -with an already risen Christ. Nothing can alter this while we are on the -earth. We ought so to look in the face of a _rejected_ Christ as to -maintain this strangership in power. And so we do, as far as Christ is -of more value to us than all our circumstances. It is for want of this -that we take up with the world as we do. We have not learnt the lesson -that Moses learnt--that the reproach of Christ was greater riches than -the treasures of Egypt. - -Hard but blessed. Abraham knew something of it in power. He was the -stranger to the end. He might have returned to Mesopotamia. He had not -forgotten the road, as we observed before; and the constant respect and -friendliness of all his neighbours proved that there was no enemy to -hinder the journey. But the call of God had fixed his heart, and he -looked only where it led him.[14] - - [14] The Lord Jesus, in the days of His flesh, acted as the God who, of - old, had called Abraham. _For He put in the supreme claims of such - an one._ "He that loveth father or mother more than Me," says He, - "is not worthy of Me." And again, "Follow Me, and let the dead - bury their dead." Who but God can step in between us and such - relationships, such obligations and services? Duties and - affections like these are more than sanctioned by nature; they are - enforced by law--law of God Himself. But the call of God is - supreme, and Jesus asserted it in the day of His humiliation here. - -Would that the soul held these things in increased power! Little indeed -does the heart know of this, if one may speak for others. But they are -real--the prized fruit of divine energy in the elect of God. - -After all this we find another and distinct matter in the history of -Abraham. I mean his marriage with Keturah, and his family by her. - -This family by Keturah is, we may surely judge, a distinct mystery. That -is, Abraham is here presenting a new feature of the divine wisdom, or -illustrating another secret in the ways of the divine dispensations. In -these children of the second wife we get (typically) the millennial -nations, the nations which shall people the earth in the days of the -kingdom, branches of the great family of God in that day, and children -of Abraham. They may lie far off, as in the ends of the earth; but they -shall have their allotments, and be owned as of the one extended -millennial family. "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people," shall be -said to them. The ends of the earth shall be Christ's inheritance then, -as surely as the Church shall be glorified in Him and with Him in the -heavens, and the throne of David, and the inheritance of Israel be His, -as set up and revived in the land of their fathers. Abraham's children -will be all the world over. - -For in that day of glory, the King of Israel shall be the God of the -whole earth. Christ is the Father of the everlasting age. If Israel be -honoured by Him, all the nations shall be blest in Him. He is "the light -to lighten the Gentiles," as He is "the glory of His people Israel." -Keturah's children, parcelled off in other lands, bespeak this mystery. -They will be second to Israel, it is true; but, nevertheless, they will -be elect and beloved. As it is here written: And Abraham gave all that -he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham -had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he -yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. xxv.[15] - - [15] The same mystery, I doubt not, is presented in the marriage of - Moses and the Ethiopian, and in that also of Solomon with - Pharaoh's daughter. Moses' second wife stands, in dignity, below - his Zipporah, who shines in peculiar glory at the mount of God in - Exodus xviii.; and Pharaoh's daughter, though fully acknowledged - by the king at Jerusalem, would not be given a place in the city - of David. - -This is, I believe, the mystic meaning of this new family of Abraham; -and this strange and wondrous article is that which closes his history. -But it is another witness of the large and varied testimony which God -has borne to His own counsels and secrets in that history. And this is -very remarkable. At times _the Father_ is seen in Abraham--as, in his -desire for children--his making a feast at the weaning of Isaac--his -offering up of his son--his sending for a wife for his son; at other -times _the Christ_ is seen in him, as the one in whom all the families -of the earth are to be blest--as the kinsman-redeemer of Israel--as the -holder of the headship of the nations--father of the millennial or -everlasting age--and then, at other times, _the Church_, or heavenly -people, are traced or reflected in this wondrous story; and, at other -times, we are on earth, or with _Israel_. - -We have the Blessed One, unto whom all His works are known from the -beginning of the world, in the details and changeful stories of this -life of Abraham, thus showing forth parts of His ways. In the allegories -of Sarah and her seed, of Hagar and her seed, of Keturah and her seed, -we have the mystery of Jerusalem, "the mother of us all," Israel in -bondage as she now is with her children, and the gathering of the -nations all the world over, as branches of the one extended millennial -family. Mystery after mystery is thus acted in the life of Abraham; and -many and various parts of "the manifold wisdom of God" are taught us. - -I am quite aware, that _living or personal_ types may have been as -unconscious of what they were, under God's hand, as _material_ types. -Hagar, no doubt, was as passive as the gold that overlaid the table of -shew-bread, or as the water which filled the brazen laver. But the -lesson to us is not affected by this. I have Christ's royal glory in the -state of Solomon, and I have the deeply precious provisions of His grace -in the golden plate on Aaron's forehead; and I no more think of -enquiring about Solomon himself in that matter than I do about the gold. -The sleeping Adam teaches me about the death of the Christ of God; the -waking rapture of Adam, on receiving Eve, teaches me about the -satisfaction and joy of the same Christ of God, when He shall see of the -travail of His soul; but whether Adam knew what he was doing for me, I -do not ask myself. I can learn about the first covenant from an -unconscious Hagar, as I can learn about the cleansing of the blood of -Christ from an unconscious altar. So, as to our Abraham, in taking his -place in the midst of all these varied and wondrous mysteries, I enquire -not curiously the measure of his mind in these things. The wisdom of God -can say--the Christ who stood in the eternal counsels can say, "Behold, -I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for -wonders;" but how far Abraham could speak so, in whatever measure he was -himself in the secret he was made to utter, or whether he spoke -mysteries as in an unknown tongue, we have not to enquire. "God is His -own interpreter." - -Our patriarch has now closed his actings and his exercises. We have now -to close his eyes, as we read in chap. xxv. 7, 8, "And these are the -days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred -threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died -in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to -his people." - -He had, we may say, seen the land, but he was not to go over and possess -it. He was the Moses of an earlier generation; like him, a _heavenly_ -man, a man of the wilderness and not of the inheritance--a man of the -tent--a child of resurrection. He was gathered to his people, ere the -land was entered by the Israel of God according to promise. As in the -glass of God's purpose, and by the light of faith, he sees the land; but -he goes not over to possess it. He dies as on Mount Pisgah, on the -wilderness-side of the Jordan, destined, with Enoch before him and with -Moses after him, to shine on the top of the hill in the heavenly glory -of the Son of man. - - -We have now closed the third section of the Book of Genesis; and, with -it, the scenes and circumstances of the life of Abraham. - -In the midst of these fragments, thus gathered and treasured up for us -by the Holy Ghost, we have seen faith getting its victories, knowing its -rights and pleading its titles, practising its generosity, enjoying its -fellowships, making its surrenders, and obtaining its consolations and -promises. But we have seen also its _intelligence_, and learnt it to be -such a thing as walks in the light, or according to the judgment, of the -mind of Christ. - -There is something very beautiful in such a sight as this. We do not -commonly witness this fine combination--the _intelligence_ of faith, and -the _moral power_ of faith. In some saints, there is the earnest, urgent -power of faith, which goes on right truthfully and honestly, but with -many a mistake as to the dispensational wisdom of God. In others, there -is a mind nicely taught, endowed with much priestly, spiritual skill, in -following the wisdom of God in ages and dispensations, but with lack of -power in all that service which a simpler and more earnest faith would -be constantly pursuing. But in Abraham we see these things combined. - -In our walk with God, the light of the knowledge of His mind should be -seen, as well as our hearts be ever found open to His presence and joy, -and our consciences alive to His claims and His will. The life of faith -is a very incomplete thing, if we know not, as Abraham knew, the times -as signified of God, when to fight, as it were, and when to be still; -when to be silent under the wrongs of an Abimelech, and when to resent -them; when to raise the altar of a sojourning stranger, and when to call -on the name of the everlasting God. In other words, we ought to know -what the Lord is about, according to His own eternal purpose, and what -He is leading onward to its consummation, in His varied and fruitful -wisdom. - -Such is the nature of all obedience; for the conduct of the saint is -ever to be according to the dispensed wisdom of God at the time, or in -the given age. - -But, let me add, the highest point of moral dignity in Abraham was this: -that he was _a stranger in the earth_. - -This, I may say, outshines all. It was this that made God not _ashamed_ -to be called his God. God can _morally_ own the soul that advisedly -refuses citizenship in this revolted, corrupted world. - -This was the highest point in moral dignity in Abraham. - -God loveth the stranger. Deut. x. 18. He loves the _poor_, _unfriended_ -stranger, with the love of pity and of grace, and provides for him. But -with the _separated_ stranger, who has turned his back on this polluted -scene, God links His name and His honour, and morally owns such without -shame. Heb. xi. 13-16. - -How finely he started on his journey at the beginning! The Lord and His -promises were all he had. He left, as we have seen, his _natural_ home -behind him, but he did not expect to find _another_ home in the place he -was going to. He knew that he was to be a stranger and sojourner with -God in the earth. Mesopotamia was left, but Canaan was not taken up in -the stead of it. Accordingly, from all the people there, he was a -separated man all his days, or during his sojourn among them of about -one hundred years. Canaan was the _world_ to that heavenly man, and he -had as little to do with it or to say to it as he might, though all the -while in it. When circumstances demanded it, or as far as business -involved him, he dealt with it. He would traffic with the people of the -land, if need were (to be sure he would), but his sympathies were not -with them. He needed a burying-place, and he purchased it of the -children of Heth. He would not think of hesitating to treat with them -about a necessary matter of bargain and sale; but he would rather _buy_ -than _receive_. He was loth to be debtor to them, or to be enriched by -them--nor were they his _companions_. This we observe throughout. If -Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre--it may be morally attracted by what they saw in -him--seek confederacy with him, he will not refuse their alliance on a -given occasion of the common interest, when such interest the God who -had called him would sanction or commend. But still the Canaanites were -not his company. His wife was his company, his household, his flocks and -his herds, and his fellow-saint, Lot, his brother's son, who had come -out of Mesopotamia with him--as long, at least, as such an one walked as -a separated man in Canaan. But even _he_, when undistinguished from the -people of the land, is a stranger to him as well and as fully as they. - - -All this has surely a voice in our ears. Angels were Abraham's company -at times, and so the Lord of angels--and at all times, his altar and his -tent were with him, and the mysteries or truths of God, as they were -made known to him. But the people of the land, the men of the world, did -not acquire his tastes or sympathies, or share his confidence. He was -_among_ them but not _of_ them--and rather would he have had his house -unbuilt, and Isaac be without a wife, than that such wife should be a -daughter of Canaan. - -To some of us, beloved, this breaking up of natural things is terrible. -But if Jesus were loved more, all this would be the easier reckoned on. -If His value for us _within the veil_ were more pondered in our hearts -and treasured up there, we should go to Him _without the camp_ with -firmer, surer step. "I have learnt," said one of the martyrs, "that -there is no freedom like that of the heart that has given up all for -Christ--no wisdom like that learnt at His feet--no poetry like the calm -foreseeing of the glory that shall be." - - -Of our Abraham and his companions in this life of faith, confessing that -they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, it is written, "They that -say such things declare plainly that they seek a country--and truly if -they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they might have -had opportunity to have returned, but now they desire a better country, -that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their -God, for He hath prepared for them a city." - -Beloved, we are called to be these strangers--strangers such as God can -thus morally own. If the world were not Abraham's object, we ought to -feel, even on higher sanctions, that it cannot be ours. The call of the -God of glory made Abraham a stranger here--the cross of Christ, in -addition to that, may still more make us strangers. As we sometimes -sing-- - - "Before His cross we now are left, - As strangers in the land." - - -"Ye are dead," says the apostle, "and your life is hid with Christ in -God." That is strangership of the highest order--the strangership of the -Son of God Himself. "The world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." - -In the strength of this strangership in the world, may we have grace to -"abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul"! and in the -strength of our conscious citizenship in heaven may "we look for the -Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it -may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working -whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." - - - - - ISAAC. - - GENESIS XXV.-XXVII. - - -In the former papers, entitled _Enoch_, _Noah_, and _Abraham_, I have -followed the course of the Book of Genesis, down to the end of chapter -xxiv. I now propose to take it up from thence, and follow it on through -chapters xxv.-xxvii.; Isaac, after Abraham, being the principal person -there. - -There is, however, but little in his history, and little in his -character. In some respects this is no matter; for, whether much or -little, his name is in the recollection of us all who have learnt the -ways of the God of grace, "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," which -is His name for ever, His memorial unto all generations. Exod. iii. - -Isaac was a stranger in the earth, a heavenly stranger, as his father -had been, and we see him with his tent and his altar, as we saw Abraham; -and we hear the Lord giving him the promises, as He had given them to -Abraham. - -"By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange -country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with -him of the same promise." - -This tent-life of the patriarchs had a great character in it. Hebrews -xi. 9, 10 teaches us this. It tells us that the fathers were content to -live upon the surface of this world. A tent has no foundations. It is -pitched or struck at a moment's warning. And such a slight and passing -connection with this earth, and life upon it, these patriarchs were -satisfied to have and seek only. They did not look for a city or for -foundations, till God became a Builder. Till His building was manifested -they were sojourners here, just crossing the plain, or surface of the -earth, without striking their roots into it. - -This is the voice that is heard from the tents of these pilgrim-fathers. -And as their tents bespoke this heavenly strangership, their altars -bespoke their worship, their _true_ worship; for they raised their altar -to Him who had _appeared_ to them. They did not affect to find out God -by their wisdom, and then worship Him in the light and dictate of their -own thoughts. They did not, thus, in the common folly, profess -themselves to be wise; but they knew God and worshipped God only -according to His revelation of Himself. Therefore it was not an altar -"to the unknown God" at which they served; but they served or worshipped -in truth. And in its generation the patriarchal _altar_ was, in this -way, as beautiful as the patriarchal _tent_. The latter put them into -due relationship to the world around them, the former to the Lord God of -heaven and earth who was above them. - -Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alike in all this. There was, therefore, -no new dispensational secret, no fresh purpose of the divine counsels, -revealed in Isaac, as there had been in Abraham.[16] This is so. But -still, though there was no new dispensational scene unfolded, there was -a further unfolding of the glories that attach to the dispensation or -calling which had been already made known in Abraham. And a very -important one too--such as, if we had divine affections, we should -deeply prize. I mean this: The heavenly calling or strangership on earth -was the _common_ thing; but characteristically, _election_ was -illustrated in Abraham, and _sonship_ or adoption in Isaac. - - [16] See the paper on "Enoch," pp. 32-37, where certain dispensational - purposes of God, in their differences, are considered. - -God called Abraham from the world, from kindred, country, and father's -house, separating him to Himself and to His promises. But Isaac was -already as one chosen and called and sanctified, while in the house of -his father. He was at home from his birth, and he was there with God, -having been born according to promise, and through an energy that -quickened the dead; and in all these things he represented _sonship_, as -Abraham had represented _election_. In Isaac we see that family that is -"born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of -man, but of God," and who stand in liberty; as the apostle says, "Now -we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." We are -Abraham's seed, so many Isaacs, children of the freewoman, or in the -adoption, if we be Christ's. - -Now this mystery of sonship or adoption represented in Isaac, as the -mystery of election had been made known in Abraham, is in divine order. -For _the election of God is unto adoption_, as we read, "Having -predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto -Himself;" and this being so, this high, personal prerogative being -represented in Isaac, in the course of his history we get the mystery of -the son of the freewoman very blessedly, largely exhibited. - -For we get both the _birth_ and the _weaning_. And each of these events -was the occasion of joy in the house of the father. The child born was -called "laughter," the child weaned was celebrated by a feast. - -Wondrous and gracious secrets these are. It is the father's joy to _have -children_, it is his further joy that his children should _know -themselves to be children_. This was the birth and the weaning of Isaac -in the Book of Genesis. And all this, after so long a time, is revived -in the Epistle to the Galatians. For what was represented in Isaac is -realized in us through the Spirit. In that epistle we learn that we are -children by faith in Christ Jesus. And there we learn also that, being -children, we receive the spirit of children. We are _weaned_ as well as -_born_. Paul travailed in birth for them again, as he says: "My little -children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in -you." The Christ of this passage is Christ _the Son_; and Paul longed -and laboured that they might be brought into the Isaac-state, the -liberty of conscious adoption. They were under temptation to feed again -upon the ordinances which gendered bondage, and which the tutors and -governors of an earlier dispensation had enjoined. But opposed to this, -the apostle would draw them again into liberty, as he himself had proved -the virtue of it in his own soul. It had pleased God, as he says, to -reveal the Son in him. The life he lived in the flesh he lived by the -faith of _the Son_, who loved him. He could, therefore, go down to -Arabia, where he had no flesh and blood to confer with, no Jerusalem or -city of solemnities, no apostles or ordinances, no priesthood after a -carnal order, no worldly sanctuary, to countenance, to seal, or to -perfect him. He did not want what any or all could give him, for he had -_the Son revealed in him_. He was a weaned Isaac; and he would fain have -the Galatians to be such likewise; and to hear the word which of old had -been heard in the house of Abraham over Isaac, "Cast out the bondwoman -and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son -of the freewoman." - -All this is given us, mystically, in Isaac, the child of the freewoman, -whose birth caused laughter, and whose weaning was celebrated with a -feast. And this mystery is, we thus see, largely and expressly revived -and opened, in its full character, in the Epistle to the Galatians. - -It is not of _glories_ only that we must be thinking, when thinking of -predestination. God's purposes concerning us are still richer. We are -predestinated to a state of _gratified affections_, as well as to a -place of _displayed glories_--to "the adoption of children," and to be -"before Him in love," as well as to the inheritance of all things. -Ephesians i. And the Spirit already given is as surely in us the power -to cry, "Abba, Father," as He is the seal of the title of the coming -redemption. - -We are apt to forget this. We think of calling and of predestination, in -connection with glory, rather than in connection with love, and -relationship, and home, and a Father's house. - -And yet it is relationship that will give even the inheritance or the -glory its richest joy. The youngest child in the family has another kind -of enjoyment of the palace of the king, than the highest estate and -dignitary of his realm. The child is there _without state_, for its -title is in relationship--the lords of the land may be there, but they -are there as at court, by title of their dignity or office. And the -child's enjoyment of the palace is not only, as I said, of _another_ -kind, it is of a higher kind--it is personal and not official--the -palace is _a home_ to it, and not merely _the court of royalty_. - -Now it is the son, the child at home, the child in the privileges of -relationship, that we get in Isaac. It is such an one that he -represents--this is what Isaac, mystically, is. Isaac was kept at home, -waited on by the household, nourished and endowed; and the wealth as -well as the comfort of his father's house was his; as we read, "And -Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the -concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away -from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east -country." - -Mystically looked at, Isaac is thus before us, a son, born of the free -woman, born of promise, born of God, as it is said, "I will come and -Sarah shall have a son." Isaac represents that adopted family who are -made "accepted in the Beloved," who have put on Christ, who stand in His -joy, and breathe His spirit. - -We have, however, to consider him _morally_ as well as _mystically_; -that is, in his _character_, as well as in his _person_. The elements, -however, are but few. There is but little history connected with him. -There are but few incidents in his life, and but little disclosure of -character. And this is to our comfort. At times we find among the elect -of God very fine natural materials, a noble bearing of soul, or a -delicate, attractive form of human virtue; and again, at other times, -either poor, or even very bad, human materials. And this becomes a -relief to our poor hearts. _Because_ we find it (from a better -acquaintance with ourselves than with others) easy to own the poor and -wretched materials that go to make up what we ourselves are; and then it -is our comfort (comfort of a certain sort) to find like samples of -nature in others of God's people. - -Isaac was _wanting_ in character. He was neither of fine nor of bad -natural materials. There was much in him that, as we say, was amiable, -and which, after a human estimate, would have been attractive. But he -was wanting in character. The style of his education may go far to -account for this. He had been reared tenderly. He had never been away -from the side of his mother, the child of whose old age he was--her only -child; and these habits had relaxed him, and kept a naturally amiable -temper in its common softness. Quietness and retirement, the temper that -rather submits than resents, and this allied to the relaxing indulgence -of domestic, if not animal, life, appear in him. He was blameless, we -may quite assume, pious and strict in the observance of relative duties, -as a child and as a husband, and would have engaged the good-will and -good wishes of his neighbours; but he was wanting in that energy which -would have made him a witness among them, at least, beyond the -separation which attended his circumcision, his altar, and his tent. And -such a life is always a poor one. To his tent and his altar he was true, -to a common measure; but he pitched the one and raised the other with -too feeble a hand. - -Isaac was forty years old when he received Rebecca to wife. For twenty -years they were childless; but under this trial they behaved themselves -even better than Abraham and Sarah had done. Abraham and Sarah had no -child, and Sarah gave her bondmaid to her husband. Isaac and Rebecca had -no child; but they entreated the Lord, and waited for His mercy. This -was a difference, and for a moment, the last are first, and the first -are last; and such moral variety do we find among the people of God to -this day. But the two sets of children suggest different divine -mysteries, as the way of the parents of each thus afford different moral -teaching. - -There were the two sons of Abraham--Isaac and Ishmael; but they were by -two wives: there are now the two sons of Isaac--Jacob and Esau; but they -are by the same wife. - -The enmity between the sons of Abraham began when Ishmael, a lad of -fourteen years of age, mocked the weaned Isaac. But the struggle between -the sons of Isaac was in the womb. Two nations were there, as the Lord -had told Rebecca, "Two manner of people shall be separated from thy -bowels." And so it came to pass. The man of God was found in Jacob, the -man of the world in Esau; the principle of _faith_ was in the one, the -principle of _nature_ in the other. Two manner of people were indeed -separated from her bowels, and had struggled in her womb. "The -friendship of the world is enmity against God." And this was Esau. -Accordingly, Esau made the earth the scene of his energies, of his -enjoyments, and of his expectations. He was "a man of the field," and "a -cunning hunter." He prospered in his generation. He loved the field, and -he knew how to use the field. He set his heart on the present life, and -knew how to turn its capabilities to the account of his enjoyments. His -sons quickly became dukes, nay kings, and had their cities; as Ishmael's -children had become princes, and had their castles. Their dignity and -their greatness proceeded from themselves; and the world witnessed them -in their magnificence. - -But Jacob was "a plain man," a man of the tent. He took after his -fathers. Like Abraham and Isaac, he was a stranger here, sojourning as -on the surface of the earth for a season, with his eye upon the promise. -His children--while Esau's were dukes, settled in their domains, in the -sunshine of their dignities and wealth--had to wander from one nation to -another people, to suffer the hardships and wrongs of injurious Egypt, -or to traverse, as pilgrims, the trackless, wasted desert. - -Esau was the "profane" one. His hope and his heart were linked with life -in this world, and with that only; for he would say, "I am at the point -to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" Like the -Gadarenes, and like Judas, Esau would sell his title to Christ. But -Jacob had faith, and was ready to buy what Esau was ready to sell. - -Two manner of people were, after this manner, separated from Rebecca's -bowels, as all this tells us. They are no sooner brought forth than this -is seen; and their earliest habits, their first activities, are -characteristic. It was not merely the bondwoman and the free, or the -children of the two covenants, as Ishmael and Isaac had been; in Esau -and Jacob we get a _fuller_ expression of the same natures; the one, -that reprobate thing, had from Adam, profane or worldly, which takes a -portion in the earth and not in God; the other, that divine thing, had -from Christ, which is believing, hopeful, looking to God's provisions, -and waiting for the kingdom. - -All this survives to the present day, and flourishes abundantly in -different samples in the midst of us, or around us. I might say the -Cain, the Nimrod, the Ishmael, and the Esau are still abroad on the -earth, and these tales and illustrations have their lessons for our -souls. They are wonderful in their simplicity; but they are too deep for -the wisdom of the world, and too pure for the love of it. - -These things I have gathered for the sake of the moral and the mystery -which so abound in them. But my immediate business is with Isaac. - - -Isaac, as I have already noticed, was brought up in his mother's tent. -He was, as I may say, rather the child of his mother than of his -father--the common case of all of us in our earliest days. But with -Isaac, this was so till his mother died; and then he must have been much -beyond thirty years of age. - -He knew more of Sarah's tent, than of the busier haunts and occupations -of men. Her tent had been his _teacher_, as well as his _nurse_, and -this education left impressions on his character which were never -effaced. We have a passing or incidental, but still, a very sure, -witness of the strength of maternal influence over him, in chap. xxiv. -67. "And Isaac brought her [Rebecca] into his mother's tent, _and Isaac -was comforted after his mother's death_." - -This strongly intimates the tendencies of his early life. And thus was -character formed in him. He was the easy, gentle, unresisting Isaac, -pious, as we speak, and, as I have said of him, blameless and amicable. - -But with all this, and while this I doubt not is surely so, I ask, Was -it merely nature or character that bore him unresistingly along the road -to Mount Moriah? See chap. xxii. Was it merely filial piety which then -disposed him to be bound as a lamb for the slaughter, without opening -his mouth? Can we assume this? Was this the force of character merely? I -say not so. This was too much for human gentleness and submission, even -such as might have been found in an Isaac, or in a Jephthah's daughter. -I must rather say, the hand of the Lord was over him on that occasion, -just as, long afterwards, it was over the owner of the ass that was -needed to bear the King on to the city, and then over the multitude that -accompanied and hailed Him on the road; or, as it was over the man -bearing the pitcher of water, who prepared the guest-chamber for the -last passover. On these occasions, the hand of the Lord was strong to -force the material to comply, and take the impression of the moment. As -also in the earlier days of Samuel, when the kine carried the ark of God -right on the way homeward, though nature resisted it, their young being -left behind them. For the divine power was upon the kine then. And -Isaac, in like manner, was under divine power, under the hand of God, on -this occasion; willingly, I fully grant, but made willing as in a day of -power; for he was to be the type or foreshadowing of a greater than he. -The seal was in a strong hand, and the impression must be taken, clear, -deep, and legible. "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," is the writing on -the seal. "As a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his -mouth." - -That was a great moment in the life of Isaac, an occasion of great -meaning. So in his acceptance of Rebecca. See chap. xxiv. In his taking -a wife, not of all whom he chose, but of his father's providing, we may -trace the same strong hand over him. There might easily have been more -of human submissiveness and filial piety in this, than in the case of -the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, we may surely allow; but still this was a -_sealing_ time as well as the other. This marriage was a type or -mystery, as well as that sacrifice. The wife brought home to the son and -heir of the father, by the servant who was in the full confidence and -secret of the father, this was a mystery; and the material must comply -again, and take the impression from the hand that was using it. The -potter was making vessels for the use of the household, and the clay -must yield. The prophet's children, ages afterwards, had names given -them, as the Lord pleased, and the prophet had to say of them, Behold, I -and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for -wonders. Isa. viii. And so, Isaac and Rebecca, in the day and -circumstances of their marriage, were a type, "for a sign and a wonder." -This was their chief dignity; _they tell the mysteries of God_. They are -parables as well as mysteries. They were events set in time or in the -progress of the earth's history, as the sun and moon and stars are set -in the heavens, _for signs_. Each of them has a writing on it under the -hand of God. "I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of -hosts;" for on these events He has impressed the image of some of His -everlasting counsels. - -But though this gentle and submissive nature that was in our Isaac was -not equal to such sacrifices and surrenders as these, yet gentle, -submissive nature is the quality which gives him his character. At times -it acts amiably and attractively; at times it sadly betrays him. But at -all times, under all circumstances, amid the few incidents that are -recorded of him, it is the easy, gentle, yielding Isaac that we see. And -the presence of one and the same virtue on every occasion is, I need not -say, but poor in point of character. It is _combination_ that bespeaks -character and divine workmanship. "The kingdom of God is righteousness -and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." It is firm as well as gracious and -joyous. And this is moral glory; as many coloured rays give us the one -unsullied result in the light we enjoy and admire. But this does not -shine in Isaac. In none, surely, in its full beauty, save in Him in whom -all glories, in their different generations, meet and shine. - -Jeremiah, I might here take liberty to say, appears to me to have been a -man of one passion, as Isaac was a man of one virtue. I mean, of course, -characteristically as to each of them, Isaac and Jeremiah. A godly -passion indeed it was, grief over the moral wastes of Zion, which -characterized Jeremiah. But being thus his _one_ affection, the passion -or sentiment, which, after this manner, possessed his soul, it makes him -generally very engaging and attractive to the heart; but at times it -allies his spirit with that which defiles him. He is angry with the -people who were stirring the sorrows of his heart. And he murmurs -against God Himself. I speak, of course, of Jeremiah's character, as we -get it exhibited in his ministry. I know, surely, in that ministry, -looked at in itself, he was the prophet of God and delivered the -inspirations of the Holy Ghost. But as a man I speak of him; as a man, -he was a man of one passion; as I have said of Isaac that he was a man -of one virtue. But it is those in whom there is _assemblage_ of virtues, -that tell us more assuredly of divine workmanship, of trees planted by -the rivers of waters, that bring forth fruit _in season_. Psalm i. For -it is this seasonableness that is the real beauty. Everything is -beautiful in its season, and only then. Gentleness loses its beauty, -when zeal and indignation are called for. The first Psalm is too high a -description for a man of one virtue; it implies character, and decision, -and individuality; it shows a soul drawing its virtue from God. "He -shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth -its fruit in its season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever -he doeth shall prosper." This is of divine husbandry; but such we do not -see in our Isaac. In his measure, and certainly in contrast with Isaac, -this combination or assemblage of virtues, of which I have already -spoken, appears in Abraham; and this difference in the two may be seen -in their acting under similar circumstances. Abraham in chap. xxi. and -Isaac in this chapter xxvi.[17] - - [17] As to the common sin of Abraham and Isaac touching the denial of - their wives, calling them their sisters, see "Abraham," p. 122. - -Isaac had been very badly treated by the Philistines. One well after -another of his own digging was violently taken away from him, as the -wells which his father had dug had been filled up. He had yielded to -this wrong with a gentle, gracious spirit, in a spirit that well became -one of God's strangers and pilgrims here, who look for citizenship in -another world. He went from place to place, as the Philistines again and -again strove with him and urged him. This was according to the mind -which marks him, as we said, in every incident of his life. Suffering, -he threatens not--doing well and suffering for it, he takes it -patiently; and this we know is acceptable with God. 1 Peter ii. 20. And -so God here attests this; for He owns His servant in this thing, and -comes to him by night as He had comforted Abraham. But when, in season, -the Philistines are brought to a better mind, and Abimelech the king, -with his friend Ahuzzath, and Phichol his chief captain, seek Isaac and -alliance with him, I ask, Does not his character, in its way, betray -him? - -Of course it was right in Isaac to receive them, and plight them his -friendship, and to exchange the good offices and pledges and securities -of neighbourliness which they sought. For we ought to forgive, if it be -seventy times seven a day. But with that there is to be faithfulness in -its season--faithfulness as well as forgiveness. "If thy brother -trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." But -Isaac was not quite up to this sturdier virtue. He complains to -Abimelech, but it is in such soft and easy terms, that it seems to carry -no authority to the conscience with it. Not so his entering into -covenant with him. He strikes hands readily, and, I may say, heartily. -He makes a feast for the king of Gerar, and sends him away as his ally, -without his being brought to any acknowledgment of the wrong which his -people had done to the man whose friendship he was now seeking and -getting. Nor is there on the lips of Isaac any gainsaying of Abimelech's -assertion, that he had done nothing but good to Isaac all the time he -had been in his country. As far as this intercourse went, and as far as -we can discover the mind of the king of Gerar, he was not convicted by -Isaac, but returned home with his friends at peace with himself as well -as with Isaac. Isaac had not made good to Abimelech's conscience the -complaint he had made to his ear--there was want of character and force -in it--it partook of Isaac's own nature. - -This was but poor virtue in Isaac. It is but poor virtue in ourselves, -when it appears--and some of us have to treat it as such, and confess it -as such, at times. It is agreeable in a certain form of amiable human -nature; but it is not service to God. We are humbled by reason of that -in our own ways. It is poor, and our Isaac here gives us, in measure at -least, a sample of this. - -It was, however, otherwise with Abraham. The king of Gerar had sought -Abraham in his day, and sought him for a like reason, and with a like -desire. Abraham meets him in as noble a spirit of forgiveness as Isaac -would have done, with an equal readiness of heart and hand to accept -him, and to pledge him. But with all this, he rebukes him and makes him -feel the rebukes. "Abraham _reproved_ Abimelech," as we read, but as we -do not read in the case of Isaac. Abraham will not send him away -satisfied with himself, as Isaac did, with an unanswered boast in his -mouth of his and his people's virtues. He will assure him, as fully as -Isaac could have done, of his full forgiveness and reconciliation; but -he will not hide it from him, that his conscience may have a question -with him, though his neighbour may accept him and pardon him; that there -are matters (as between him and the Lord) which Abraham's feast and -Abraham's friendship could never settle. - -This was _real_, real before God, where _reality_, beloved, ever puts -us. May we know that secret better, and be upright before Him! This was -beautiful--and by this Abraham was _blessing_ Abimelech, and not _merely -gratifying_ him. But this was not so with Isaac; and we may leave him on -this occasion, in chap. xxvi., with something of this inquiry in our -hearts, Was it mere nature, or the renewed mind in the saint, that acted -thus?--a question which still occurs. - -Isaac was an elect one, as surely as Abraham; a stranger with God in the -earth; one who _used_ his altar as well as _carried_ it. He was -meditating in the field when he got his Rebecca, and he had prayed for -the mercy, when Esau and Jacob were given to him. We speak of -_character_ in him only, when we thus contrast him with another. We -speak of the living, practical ways of a saint; and we see in him what -was below a witness for God abroad, though amiable and devout at home. -This is found in Isaac; and kindred things are still found, again I may -say, as many of us know to our humbling. As one once said to me, "There -is much that goes with others for being _spiritual_, because it is done -for the eye and taste of our fellow-Christians, and not, as in God's -presence, with a single heart to Him." - - -This indeed is true; and this searches our hearts to their profit. Such -notices of our common ways may convict, but they need by no means -dishearten us. Quite otherwise; they may be welcomed as for blessing. -The light that penetrates to scatter our darkness, leaves itself behind -to gladden us, and has title to assert the place as _all its own_--so -that we ought to be able, in spirit, to sing of _present light_ and -_past_ _darkness_, to know what we _were_, and what we _are_, and still -to sing-- - - "All that I was, my sin, my guilt, - My death was all my own-- - All that I am I owe to Thee, - My gracious God, alone. - - "The evil of my former state - Was mine and only mine-- - The good in which I now rejoice - Is Thine and only Thine. - - "The darkness of my former state, - The bondage, all was mine-- - The light of life in which I walk, - The liberty is Thine." - - -This is standing, not attainment; this is what faith entitles us to -celebrate. Faith takes up this language, and the soul surely hears it -and understands it. But _faith_ is the spring, in the inworking power of -the Holy Ghost. As in Heb. xi., from beginning to end, it is _faith_ -that is celebrated. Enoch, and Moses, and David, and the prophets, and -the martyrs of other days, may be presented there in their fruits and -victories, but it is _faith_, and not the people of God, that the Spirit -by the apostle is celebrating in that fine chapter. - - -But I must return to Isaac. - -At the close of chapter xxvi. we read: "And Esau was forty years old -when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and -Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: which were a grief of mind -to Isaac and to Rebekah." - -This has much for us in the way of admonition; but to use it aright, I -must look to things connected with it, or like it, in the earlier -history of Abraham, and then in the future histories of Jacob and his -son Judah. - -The command to the nation of Israel at the very beginning was to keep -the way of the Lord very particularly as to _marriage_. They were by no -means either to give their daughters to the sons of the Canaanites, or -take the Canaanites' daughters for their sons. Deut. vii. 3. If they did -so, it would be on the pain of being no longer owned of the Lord. Josh. -xxiii. According to this, the apostate days of Solomon are marked by -disobedience to this very thing (1 Kings xi.); and afterwards, no real -recovery to God could be admitted, without a return to the observance of -this principle in their marriages. Ezra x.; Neh. x. - -Obedience, therefore, in this thing was a peculiar test of the state of -the nation. And it is thus that I look at it in this earliest book of -Genesis. For though divine law was not then published, divine principles -were then understood. It may be regarded as the witness of the state of -_family_ religion then, as it was of the state of _national_ religion -afterwards. - -Abraham, in this matter, eminently keeps "the way of the Lord;" and so -Eliezer, one of his "household;" and so our Isaac, one of his -"children." For Abraham sends a special embassy into a distant land, in -order to get a wife "in the Lord" for his son--Eliezer goes on that -embassy with a ready mind--and Isaac in patience waits for the fruit of -it, not seeking any alliance with the nearer people; and, though sad and -solitary, keeps himself for the Lord's appointed helpmeet. Like Adam, he -waited for a helpmeet from the Lord's own hand, though it cost him -patience and sore solitude. This his meditation in the field at eventide -shows. He endured. He might have got a daughter of Canaan; but he -endured. He will rather suffer the sickening of his heart from the -deferring of his hope, than not marry "in the Lord," or take him a wife -of any that he may choose. And all this was very beautiful in this first -generation of this elect family. The father, the servant, and the child, -each in his way, witnesses how Abraham had ordered his house according -to God, teaching his children and his household the way of the Lord. See -chap. xviii. 19. - -But we notice a course of sad decline and departure from all this. - -Isaac, in his turn and generation, becomes the head of the family. But -he is grievously careless in this matter, compared with his father; as -this scripture, the close of chapter xxvi., shows us. He does not watch -over his children's ways, to anticipate mischief, as Abraham had done. -Esau his son marries a daughter of the Hittites. Isaac and Rebecca are -grieved at this, it is true; for they had _righteous_ souls which knew -how to be "vexed" with this; but then, it was their _carelessness_ which -had brought this vexation upon them. - -This we cannot say was beautiful. But still there was a happy symptom in -it. There was a righteous soul to be vexed, a mind sensitive of -defilement. And this was well. Jacob, however, declines still further. -He neither anticipates the mischief, like Abraham, nor does he, like -Isaac, grieve over it when it occurs. But with an unconcerned heart, as -far as the history tells us, he allows his children to form what -alliances they please, and to take them wives of all whom they choose. - -This is sad. There is no _joy_ for the heart here, as in the _obedience_ -of Abraham; there is no _relief_ for the heart here, as in the _sorrow_ -of Isaac and Rebecca. - -But Judah afterwards goes beyond even all this in a very fearful way. He -represents the fourth generation of this elect family. But he not only -does not anticipate mischief, like Abraham, in the ordering of his -family, nor grieve over mischief when brought into it, like Isaac, nor -is he simply indifferent about it, whether it be brought in or not, like -Jacob, but he actually brings it in himself! For he does nothing less -than take a daughter of the Canaanites to be the wife of his son Er! - -This exceeded. This was sinning with a high hand. And thus, in all this, -in this history of the four generations of Genesis-patriarchs, we notice -declension, gradual but solemn declension, till it reach complete -apostasy from the way of the Lord. - -But if this be serious and sad, as it really is, is it not profitable -and seasonable? Can we not readily own, that it is "written for our -learning"? How does it warn us of a tendency to decline from God's -principles! What took place in the same elect family, generation after -generation, may take place in the same elect person, year after year. -The principles of God may be deserted by easy gradations. They may first -be _relaxed_, then _forgotten_, then _despised_. They may pass from a -_firm_ hand into an _easy_ one, from thence to an _indifferent_ one, and -find themselves at last flung away by a _rebellious_ one. Many have at -first stood for God's principles in the face of difficulties and -fascinations, like Abraham--then, merely grieved over the loss of them, -like Isaac--then, been careless about their loss or maintenance, like -Jacob--and at last, with a high hand, broken them, like Judah. - -This is suggested by the scene at the close of chap. xxvi. As we pursue -the story of Isaac after this, we shall find that his soft and pliant -nature allies him not only with weaknesses, but with defilement, with -some of the low indulgences of mere animal nature. I mean in the closing -action of his life, his blessing of Esau and Jacob. - -This is a solemn scene indeed, full of warning and admonition. - -Though Isaac had been grieved, as we have seen, by the marriage of Esau -with a daughter of the Hittites, yet we learn immediately afterwards, -that it is this very same Esau that draws and holds the strongest -affections of his father's heart, to which that father would, if he -could, have sacrificed everything. And this was very sad. It reminds me -of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat had godly _sensibilities_, but he was -wanting in godly _energies_. Through vanity he sadly sinned; first -joining in affinity with Ahab, king of Israel, and then with Ahab going -to the battle. But still, he had sensibilities that were spiritual and -of divine workmanship. For in the midst of the prophets of Baal, he was -not at ease. He had a witness within, that this would not do; and he -asked, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord beside, that we might -inquire of him?" But still, and in spite of all this, he went to -Ramoth-Gilead to battle, and that, too, in alliance with that very Ahab, -who had thus so painfully wounded the best affections of his soul, and -who, under his own eye, and as they sat on the throne together, in the -spirit of deep revolt from the God of Israel, had consulted the prophets -of Baal. - -This was strange, as well as terrible; but this was that king -Jehoshaphat. And just after the same manner, our Isaac on this occasion -had his _sensibilities_, but not his corresponding _energies_. With a -godly mind he grieved over Esau's marriage with a daughter of Heth; and -yet that very Esau, who thus wounded the witness within him, was the one -to attract and hold and order the fondest sympathies of his heart, so as -to hinder him from freeing himself to act for God. - -It was not through vanity, as it was in Jehoshaphat, that Isaac thus -sadly and strangely failed--it was rather, from the common pravity of -his character, such as we have seen it to be, a general relaxed moral -tone of soul. But whether it be through this or that, he is ensnared, I -may say, by an earlier Ahab, though his soul had the sense of that -Ahab's apostasy. He would help Esau to the blessing all he could, as -Jehoshaphat would help the king of Israel all he could to the victory at -Ramoth-Gilead. - -What sights are these! what lessons and warnings! - -But we must inspect this family scene, this family circle in chap. -xxvii. a little more closely. There are others beside Isaac to be looked -at. - -Abraham's servant in chap. xxiv. had brought two different things with -him out of the house of his master, when he visited the house of -Bethuel. He brought a _report_ of all that the Lord had done for -Abraham, and _gifts_. - -These different things become tests of that household in Mesopotamia. -The report dealt with future and distant things, and had God necessarily -connected with it--the gifts might have been independent of Him, and -were a present gain. Rebecca was moved by the report. She takes the -jewels, it is true; but the tidings which the servant brought are chief -with her. The report of what awaited her among a distant people whom the -Lord had blessed had power to detach her. It was not Isaac merely, or -Abraham's wealth merely. Her father had wealth, and she need not go far -to promise herself a home and its enjoyments. But _the Lord_ had blessed -Abraham, and had now prospered the journey of his servant. It was not a -question with Rebecca whether she would take Isaac and a share in -Abraham's wealth, or remain poor and lonely. The question was -this--Would she take the portion the Lord was now bringing her, or that -which her kindred and circumstances in the world had provided her? - -And so it is with us, beloved. It is not a question between heaven and -nothing, but between heaven and the world, between our taking the -happiness which the Lord in His promises, or which human present -circumstances, have for us. Are we desirous of divine joy and of -heavenly riches? Can we say to the Lord Jesus, Thou shalt "choose our -inheritance for us?" Is the distant land, of which we have received a -report, our object? This was Rebecca; she could answer these questions. -We should wrong her if we judged that with her it was Abraham's wealth -and Isaac's hand or nothing. It was not so. As we said before, and -surely the story warrants it, she had large expectations of every kind, -if she remained at home. She need not take a long, untried journey with -a stranger and to a strange people. But all became nothing to her, when -in faith she received the report. She comes forth at the call of God. - -Rebecca was a genuine daughter of Abraham. Abraham had crossed the -desert at the call of the God of glory, and Rebecca now crosses the same -desert at the report of what the God of glory had done for Abraham. They -had the like "spirit of faith." The stronger expression of it we may -find in Abraham, but it was the like "spirit of faith." Abraham had gone -forth in the faith of an unattested call; Rebecca now goes forth on an -accredited report. There was no Eshcol brought out of Canaan to Ur to -embolden Abraham to take the journey; but "this is the fruit of it" was -said to Rebecca in the servants and camels and gold and jewels--a branch -with a cluster rich and abundant indeed. The report is now sealed to -Rebecca, as it had not been to Abraham. Abraham tried an untried path; -Rebecca did but walk in the footsteps of the flock. But they were on the -same road, and reached the same place. - -This is simple and beautiful in Rebecca, and the way of faith to this -hour. But, beloved, there is more, and that, too, of another kind. -Rebecca's _character_ had been already formed--as, I may say, it is with -all of us, before we are quickened of God. The moment of His power -arrives--we are made alive with divine life then--the separating call is -also answered; but it finds us of a certain character, a certain shape -and complexion of mind. It finds us, it may be, Cretans (Titus i.), or -brothers and sisters of Laban, or something that wears the strong stamp -of a peculiar pravity of nature. And then character and mind, derived -from nature or from family or from education and the like, we take with -us after we have been born of the Spirit, and carry it in us across the -desert from Padan-aram to the house of Abraham. - -This is serious. It is serious, that with the quickening of the Spirit, -nature or the force of early habits and education, or of family -character, will cling to us still. "The Cretans are always liars." - -Laban, with whom Rebecca had grown up, was a crafty, knowing, worldly -man. It is plain that, on the occasion of Eliezer's visit, he had been -moved only by the _gifts_. They made a ready way for Abraham's servant; -as we read, A man's gift maketh room for him. Proverbs xviii. 16. Laban -was evidently the stirring, active, important one in his father -Bethuel's house. He had a taste for occasions which called for -management. And all this is a very bad symptom. It is a bad symptom when -one carries the bag. It is bad to find one prematurely managing and -clever, or, at any period, fond of occasions where skill of that kind is -to be exercised, having an aptness in conducting either state affairs or -family interests. And just such an one was Laban; and Laban was the -brother of Rebecca; and Rebecca had passed all her life, till her -marriage, with him; and the family character, in this only great action -in which she is called to take a part, sadly betrays itself. - -If Abraham and Sarah had brought the foul, unclean compact between them, -as they left their father's house to walk with God, so did Rebecca bring -this family character, this Laban-leaven, with her. We have _nature_ in -its pravity with us after our conversion; and we have our own _fleshly -characteristics_ also, as well as the common pravity of nature. And we -have to rebuke them sharply, that we may be sound, that is, morally -healthful, in the faith. Tit. i. 13. And this lesson is afresh pressed -upon us, from the story of this distinguished woman in this chapter. - -But there is more of the same kind. Jacob, as well as his mother, -Rebecca, got his mind formed by this same earliest influence. He was all -his days--I mean, all his practical, active days--a slow-hearted, -calculating man; and in this family scene, in chap. xxvii., we find him -to be such an one--a ready, intelligent pupil of his mother, Laban's -sister, and whose favourite child he had been from his birth. So that as -Laban had been corrupting his sister Rebecca, Rebecca had been -corrupting her son Jacob. - -And further still, as this same chapter tells us, Isaac, whose mind and -character, as we have seen, had been so remarkably formed by his early -life in Sarah's tent, had sunk into the indulgence of some of the low -desires of nature. He loved his son Esau, because he ate of his venison. -This was poor indeed, and something worse than poor. And this love of -venison, we may surely suggest, must have encouraged Esau in the chase; -just as Rebecca's cleverness, got and brought from her brother's house -in Padan, formed the mind and character of her favourite Jacob. And thus -one parent was helping to corrupt one of the children, and the other the -other. - -What mischief, what sad defilement, is disclosed here, in all this -family scene! But we may go on to expose it even more; for the heart is -not only capable of such defilement, but it is daring enough, at times, -to take its naughtiness _into the sanctuary_. "I was almost in all evil -in the _midst of the congregation and assembly_." Proverbs v. - -The word to Aaron, long after this, was, Do not drink wine nor strong -drink, thou, nor thy son with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of -the congregation. Lev. x. Nature is not to be animated in order to wait -on the service of God; it is not to be set in action by its provisions, -for the discharge of the duties of the sanctuary. Strong drink may -exhilarate, and give ebullition to animal spirits, but this is no -qualification for a priest of the house of God. - -But even into pollution such as this Isaac seems to have been betrayed. -"Take, I pray thee," says he to Esau, "thy weapons, thy quiver and thy -bow, and go to the field, and take me some venison: and make me savoury -meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul -may bless thee before I die." He was going to do the last religious act -of a patriarchal priest, and he calls as for wine and strong drink, the -food of mere animal life, to raise and endow him for the service! - -This was sad indeed, thus to deliberate on the venison at such a moment. -We may all be conscious how much of nature soils our holy things, how -much of the mere animation of the flesh may be mistaken for the easy and -strong current of the Spirit. We may be aware of this, in the place of -communion. And this is to be our sorrow and our humbling--we are to -confess it as evil, or at least as weakness, and to watch against it. -But to prepare for it, carefully to mix the wine and strong drink, to -take a full draught, after this manner, this exceeds in defilement. - -And nothing comes of all this but dishonour and loss. The whole of this -family pollution is judged in the holiness of God, because this was a -family of God in the earth. "You only have I known of all the families -of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." -Isaac is laid aside, Rebecca never sees Jacob again, and the calculating -supplanter finds himself in the midst of toils and wrongs and hardships, -supplanted and deceived himself again and again; for twenty long years -an alien from the house of his father. Nothing comes of all this, -whether we look at the crooked policy of the one party, or at the -fleshly favouritism of the other; all is disappointment and shame, under -the rebuke of the holiness of the Lord. - -There is, however, one relief, and it is a very important one, in the -midst of this otherwise foul and gloomy scene. "By faith Isaac blessed -Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." This is the Holy Ghost's own -reference to this chapter in Hebrews xi. - -But ere I speak of the relief or comfort which this has for us when -thinking of Isaac, I take occasion to inquire, What was the nature or -character of this blessing by the patriarchs upon their children, which -we find again and again in the Book of Genesis? - -A blessing was in the hand of Melchizedek in chap. xiv.; as again, long -after, there was a blessing in the hand of Aaron in Num. vi. These -instances we may easily understand--these blessings were conferred or -pronounced by reason of _office_. They were delivered through priesthood -ordained of God. There was nothing prophetic or oracular in them. The -words which these priests used were rather _prepared_ than _inspired_; -words already prescribed by divine provision, rather than communicated -at the moment by divine illumination, at least in the case of Aaron. - -With the patriarchal blessing, however, it was as clearly otherwise. -There was a prophecy or an oracle in Isaac's words on Esau and Jacob -here in chap. xxvii.; and so was there afterwards in Jacob's words on -his children in chap. xlix., and in his words on Joseph's children in -chap. xlviii.; and so was there before, in Noah's words, in chap. ix., -on Shem, Ham, and Japheth. - -But why, I inquire, was this great matter thus committed to the -patriarchs? - -If I mistake not, some of the secrets of patriarchal religion, -patriarchal worship and ministry, are involved in the answer to this. -Religion had, in these earliest days, the same great truths which it -still has for its spirit and principle. The Fall and Recovery of man, or -Ruin and Redemption, were then made known, and they were received by -faith. The altars of the fathers, and the ordinance of clean and -unclean, tell us of faith and of the apprehensions of faith in those -days. The tent of the living patriarchs, and the Machpelah of the -departed patriarchs, tell us that they understood the stranger's -calling, and a coming resurrection; and Abraham's grove at Beersheba -(chap. xxi.), and his alliance with the Gentile at the well of the oath, -tell us likewise, in clear though symbolic language, that they -understood some of the bright and happy secrets of the millennial age, -or of "the world to come." - -And worship and ministry, in those infant days, were in their simplest -forms. I may say, _nature_ suggested that the father or head of the -house should be the prophet, priest, and king, there. In after times, -when the condition of things spread out, and when, with enlargement and -age, corruption came in, _the holiness of God_ demanded a separated or -circumcised people; and, connected with such, a separated or anointed -priesthood. Now, in our day, in the day of the kingdom of God, which is, -as we know, "not in word, but in power," it is required that ministry -should be something more than nature would suggest, or than holiness -would demand; there must be _power_, such as the Spirit Himself prepares -and imparts. But in the early days of Genesis, those _family_ -days--those infant, earliest days--the voice of _nature_ was listened -to, and duly and seasonably so; and accordingly, the head of the family -was the minister of God to the family, and both the dignities and the -services of prophets, priests, and kings, within the range of the -homestead, or in the family temple, centred in the father. - -The blessing of the children seems to flow from this. It was an act -performed in the combined virtues of a prophet and a priest, which, as -we see, the fathers of the families carried in their own persons. They -received a communication of the divine mind, and then uttered it, as -"oracles of God;" and, being separated or priestly representatives of -God to their children, they pronounced His blessing, God's blessing, -upon them. - -They seem to sustain this character through the Book of Genesis. - -In our Isaac it is sad indeed to see how this character was exercised, -or rather abused--as such like high endowments have constantly been, the -priestly dignity, for instance, in the person of Eli (godly old man as -he was), and the kingly authority, in one tremendous instance, even by -such an one as the deeply-loved and honoured son of Jesse. - -So Isaac would have made his office serve, not only his private -partialities, but his very appetites. And this, too, in the face of -solemn, divine warning. The word had gone before, upon Isaac's children -(Esau the elder and Jacob the younger), "the elder shall serve the -younger." But Isaac's fleshly favouritism and appetites had made him -careless and forgetful of this, and he would fain have made the elder, -Esau, the heir of the promise. - -And here we may call to mind, that Caiaphas, in his day, was such an one -as Isaac, combining the prophet and the priest in his own person. And -Caiaphas would fain have abused his office and his gift to his own -wretched purposes and desires. He delivered a true prophecy with a -design on the life of the Lord Jesus. John xi. And in earlier days, the -prophet Balaam was of the same generation. He sought, all he could, to -use his gift in the service of his lusts. God, however, took him out of -his own hand, and forced his lips to utter the sentence of -righteousness, the judgment of truth. And, though it be sad to put such -men together, even in a single action, yet so it is; for such was Isaac -in Gen. xxvii. Though a sanctified and filled vessel, he would have -served the wish of his own fond heart, in the use of the treasure which -he carried; but God took him out of his own hand, and used him as the -oracle of His settled, sovereign purpose. Again I say, it is sad thus to -link such men as Isaac and Balaam in a common moral action. But we know -that "that which is born of the flesh is flesh." As an old writer says, -"The water that is foul in the well will not be clean in the bucket." -The flesh in an Isaac is as the flesh in a Balaam; and the world in the -heart of each of them is the same world. - -But they are not one _to the end_. This is the comfort, the gracious -comfort, of which I spoke before. Balaam is Balaam still, the man who -loved the wages of unrighteousness, and ran greedily after his own error -for reward; he goes on as Balaam, giving counsel to Balak to cast a -stumbling-block before the people of God; and at last he fell, as -Balaam, with the uncircumcised, slain with the sword, like those that go -down to the pit. But Isaac repented with godly sorrow unto a repentance -not to be repented of. When his eye is opened, and he discovers what he -had been about, and how Jacob had got the blessing which he had prepared -for Esau--when it thus confronts him to the face, that he had been -withstanding God, but that he could not prevail, his soul seems to -awaken as from sleep, and to get alive to all this, for we read of him, -that he trembled with a great trembling greatly. v. 33. The sight, the -moral sense, of the place that he was filling, startles his soul. He -trembles in himself. The flesh which he had been nourishing could not -stand him in such a moment--and he seeks it not--it has been exposed to -him; and in the light and energy of the better life, he acts according -to faith, and says, speaking now of Jacob, and no longer of Esau, "I -have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed." - -There was nothing of this in Balaam; Balaam was not turned back. When -the angel withstood him in the narrow way, and his ass fell under him, -there was none of this godly sorrow working repentance. But our Isaac is -restored. He seeks another way, and takes up and follows after God's -object from that moment. It is not "the _madness_ of the prophet" that -the Spirit records in Isaac, as He had to do in Balaam, but the _faith_ -of the prophet. For in this hour of happy restored fellowship with the -mind of God, after his trembling, "with a great trembling greatly," the -way of Isaac is sealed and signalized by the Spirit. "By faith Isaac -blessed Esau and Jacob concerning things to come." And this is the only -matter in the life of Isaac which is noticed by the Spirit in that -chapter, Heb. xi. - -But this had character in it, and the Spirit has distinguished it. The -victories of faith which Moses gained were very fine. He answered both -the _attractions_ and the _terrors_ of Egypt; refusing to be called the -son of the king's daughter, and forsaking the country, not fearing the -king's wrath. These were splendid victories; and are so to this day, -when achieved in the saint. But there are conquests much less -distinguished, which nevertheless are conquests, recorded in this -chapter which celebrates the deeds of faith. They may be seen in Isaac -and in Jacob. Each of these witnesses of faith, in his day, blessed the -children or the sons before him _according to God_, though this was -_contrary to nature_. Isaac would have preferred Esau, and Jacob would -have preferred Manasseh; but Isaac persisted in his blessing of Jacob, -and Jacob in his blessing of Ephraim, and in this, _nature_ was -conquered. It was not, we may allow, the _world_, in either its snares -or its dangers, that stood out to try the strength of faith in the -saint--but still it was an opposer. It was _nature_; the suggestions or -sympathies or partialities of nature--and while we may admire the -splendour of the victories of a Moses or an Abraham, let us remember and -look to it, that we fight the fight of faith with _nature_, and gain the -day in that field, with Isaac and Jacob. - -As to Jacob's part in this family scene which we are looking at, we may -certainly say, had he but left his matters in the Lord's hand, where -they had been from the beginning, from before his birth, and not allowed -his mother to take them into hers, he would have fared far better. How -often has many and many a Jacob since the days of Gen. xxvii. proved the -same! The Lord had promised him the blessing without any condition. "The -elder shall serve the younger." But he could not, in the patience of -faith, wait the Lord's time and method to make good His own promise. -Therefore the promise gets laden with reserves and difficulties and -burthens. It shall surely be made good. The promise of the Lord is -certain, and "never was forfeited yet." He is able to make it stand. The -elder shall serve the younger--but now, by reason of Jacob's own -unbelief and policy, the elder shall give the younger some trouble: -because the younger thinks well to deal with the promise in his own -craft and skill, he shall be made to reach it after delay and sorrow and -shame. - -Accordingly, Esau himself gets a promise from the Lord, through his -father Isaac, on this occasion, a promise which the divine purpose and -grace towards Jacob, at the first, had never contemplated. "And Isaac -his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the -fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy -sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to -pass when thou shalt have the dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from -off thy neck." _vv._ 39, 40. - -All this comes to pass. David, who came of Jacob, sets garrisons in -Edom, and the Edomites become his servants and bring gifts. Jehoram, who -also comes of Jacob, afterwards loses the Edomites as his servants and -tributaries; they revolt, and continue so to this day. 2 Sam. viii. 14; -2 Chron. xxi. 8. - -Saviours by-and-by shall come to Zion and judge the mount of Esau. -Obadiah 21. The tabernacle of David which is now fallen shall be raised -up, and Israel shall possess Edom and the residue of the Gentiles. Amos -ix. This shall be made good in its season, for the elder shall serve the -younger--the promise is yea and amen. But now, and from the days of -Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat of the house of David of the lineage of -Jacob, Esau or Edom has been in revolt; and the promise is thus delayed -and complicated and burthened in ways such as the grace of God and the -gift by grace had never designed, and such as Jacob had never passed -through, had his faith been more simple. - -And there is much like this in Christian experience. See the disciples -on the sea of Galilee, in Mark iv. The Lord had said to them, "Let us go -unto the other side." This was a pledge to them that they were sure to -reach the other side. They need not fear. They may, if they please, lay -them down to sleep with their Master. But no--they fear, and consult -with flesh and blood. And therefore they reach the other side with -tremblings and amazement and shame. Their fears loaded their spirit with -these burdens, which, had they left the _fulfilling_ of the word to Him -who had _given_ the word, would have been saved them. And so, the -unbelief of Jacob in Gen. xxvii., his putting the promise of God into -his mother's hand, has loaded the history of his house with those -perplexities and contradictions and changes, which, as we have -mentioned, were all strangers to the promise, as the simple gift of -grace, at the beginning, had purposed it and made it. - -Many like experiences the disciples had, through their unbelief, as they -companied with the Lord Jesus all the time He went in and out among -them--and many such are known to us His saints at this day. Our spirits -gather amazement and shame, when we might have known only the calm and -bright enjoyments of faith, looking, if it were so, at a sleeping Jesus, -and knowing His sufficiency for all promises, though winds and waves -oppose. - -Thus was it with Jacob, according to the part he acted in this sad -family scene. Esau was not the _guilty_ one here. He was rather the -_injured_ party; and therefore, in the hand of Him by whom "actions are -weighed," Esau is the only one who is a gainer. All the rest have to -learn what the way of their own hearts shall end in. Isaac, Rebecca, and -Jacob alike prove this. It is Esau, so far the injured one, who gains, -as we have seen, anything by it all. By his sword he lives, and, in time -and for a time, breaks the yoke of his younger brother off his neck.[18] - - [18] Jeroboam in his day took his own way to reach the promise of God - touching the kingdom of the ten tribes, by the prophet Ahijah--and - he delayed his own mercy; just as Jacob does in this chapter. Nay, - further. Jeroboam has to be an exile in Egypt till the death of - Solomon, because of this; as Jacob has for twenty years to be an - exile in Padan, for the same evil. See 1 Kings xi. - - -After all this, just at the end of his ways, though not of his days, at -the desire of the suspicious and terrified Rebecca, Isaac sends away -Jacob. And this action is done with an expression of sorrow and shame -and disappointment, the bitter fruit which their own way had prepared -for them. All would have been different indeed, had the spirit and -obedience of faith kept them in the way of the Lord. xxvii. 42; xxviii. -5. - -And here we reach, as we said, the end, the practical end, of the life -of our patriarch. He lives, it is true, for forty years after this; it -may be more--but he is lost to us. He is as if he were not. - -At the close of chapter xxxv. we read, "And Jacob came unto Isaac his -father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where -Abraham and Isaac sojourned. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and -fourscore years. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered -unto his people, old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob -buried him." - -Abraham had carefully possessed himself of Machpelah, on the occasion of -Sarah's death; and there he had buried Sarah, and there Isaac and -Ishmael had buried him; and there, at this time, Jacob and Esau bury -Isaac; and there afterwards his twelve sons bury Jacob. - -The purchase of this parcel of ground, and the care the patriarchs -manifested in the matter of their burial there, tell us of their faith -in their own happy resurrection and its attendant inheritance of the -land. It tells us that _hope_ was in their souls as surely as -_faith_--that as they rested, without a doubt, in the certainty of their -call and adoption, so did they, with like assurance, in the life and -inheritance prepared for them in the world to come. They lived in faith, -and they died in faith. They were a people in whose souls the life of -faith and hope was known and enjoyed. They betray nature again and -again; they err, they shift and contrive and play false with God at -times through unbelief; they incur discipline and rebuke, and at times -are humbled before men; but they seem never to doubt the blessed facts, -that they were _adopted_ and _endowed_ by the God of glory. Faith and -hope lived in their souls. I say not that they had what we have. There -is now an unction, an earnest, and a witness, fruit of the given, -indwelling Spirit, imparting not only the power but the character of -this day of ours. But the patriarchs, in their infant age, seem _never -to doubt_. And this is precious--that God, even in the earliest -communications of Himself--communications of Himself to His elect even -in their childhood, or, in the infant days of Genesis--would be known by -them as One to be trusted both for the present and the future. - -And again I say, this is precious. The Spirit forms _hope_ in the soul -of the elect, as surely as faith. Machpelah tells us this, as to the -patriarchs. But it was found before them, and it has been found ever -since. Adam was a hoping as well as a believing man. As soon as he had -faith, he had hope. He walked as a _stranger_ on earth, as well as in -_the consciousness of life_. And with him, and like him, the -antediluvian saints. - -Israel afterwards celebrated the last night of their sojourn in Egypt -with the staff in their hand and the shoe on their foot, as simply and -as surely as they had put the blood on the lintel. They hoped for -something beyond Egypt, as certainly as they counted on security in -Egypt. - -Moses witnessed this standing of Israel, this proper standing in the -camp of God in the power of faith and hope, when afterwards he said to -Hobab, "We are journeying to a place of which the Lord said, I will give -it you." And so Paul, in his words before King Agrippa, "Unto which -promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to -come." - -The oil in the vessels of the wise virgins is the expression of the -power of hope. They provided against His delay for whose return alone -they looked and waited, be that return far off or nigh. - -And to give hope its highest, brightest moral glory, we are given to -know, that the present heaven of Jesus is a heaven of hope. Though -seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, He is, we know, -"expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." And the mind of the -glorified Church will, by-and-by, be kindred with this mind of her -glorified Lord; for the heaven of Rev. v. is also a heaven of hope. -"Thou art worthy," say the living creatures and enthroned elders of that -heaven, "to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast -slain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and -tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made them unto our God kings -and priests: and they shall reign over the earth." - -In this life of faith and hope, the fathers of the Book of Genesis are -seen to be one. Happy to know this. They illustrate different mysteries, -and read us different moral lessons; but in this life of faith and hope -they are _one_; and each in his day, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is alike -gathered to his people (chaps. xxv., xxxv., xlix.)--each is "a handful -of sacred dust" in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, laid up -there in sure and certain hope of a resurrection unto life and to the -inheritance. - - -There is a common saying, "It is better to wear out than to rust out." -But this better thing was not Isaac's. He rusts out. And _such_ was the -natural close of _such_ a life. - -Was Isaac, I ask, a vessel marred on the wheel? Was he a vessel laid -aside as not fit for the Master's use? or at least not fit for it any -longer? His history seems to tell us this. Abraham had not been such an -one. All the distinguishing features of "the stranger here," all the -proper fruits of that energy that quickened him at the outset, were -borne in him and by him to the very end. We have looked at this already -in the walk of Abraham. (See pp. 134-137.) Abraham's leaf did not -wither. He brought forth fruit in old age. So was it with Moses, with -David, and with Paul. They die with their harness on, at the plough or -in the battle. Mistakes and more than mistakes they made by the way, or -in their cause, or at their work; but they are never laid aside. Moses -is counselling the camp near the banks of the Jordan; David is ordering -the conditions of the kingdom, and putting it (in its beauty and -strength) into the hand of Solomon; Paul has his armour on, his loins -girded. When, as I may say, the time of their departure was at hand, the -Master, as we read in Luke xii., found them "so doing," as servants -should be found. But thus was it not with Isaac. Isaac is laid aside. -For forty long years we know nothing of him; he had been, as it were, -decaying away and wasting. The vessel was rusting till it rusted out. - -There surely is meaning in all this, meaning for our admonition. - -And yet--such is the fruitfulness and instruction of the testimonies of -God--there are others, in Scripture, of other generations, who have -still more solemn lessons and warnings for us. It is humbling to be -_laid aside_ as no longer fit for use; but it is sad to be left merely -to _recover ourselves_, and it is terrible to remain to _defile -ourselves_. And illustrations of all this moral variety we get in the -testimonies of God. _Jacob_, in his closing days in Egypt, is not as a -vessel laid aside, but he is there recovering himself. I know there are -some truly precious things connected with him during those seventeen -years that he spent in that land, and we could not spare the lesson -which the Spirit reads to us out of the life of Jacob in Egypt. But -still, the moral of it is this--a saint, who had been under holy -discipline, recovering himself, and yielding fruit meet for recovery. -And when we think of it a little, that is but a poor thing. But -_Solomon_ is a still worse case. He lives to defile himself; sad and -terrible to tell it. This was neither Isaac nor Jacob--it was not a -saint simply laid aside, nor a saint left to recover himself. Isaac was, -in the great moral sense, blameless to the end, and Jacob's last days -were his best days; but of Solomon we read, "It came to pass, _when -Solomon was old_, that his wives turned away his heart after other -gods," and this has made the writing over his name, the tablet to his -memory, equivocal, and hard to be deciphered to this day. - -Such lessons do Isaac and Jacob and Solomon, in these ways, read for us, -beloved--such are the minute and various instructions left for our souls -in the fruitful and living pages of the oracles of God. They give us to -see, in the house of God, vessels fit for use and kept in use even to -the end--vessels laid aside, to rust out rather than to wear -out--vessels whose best service it is to get themselves clean again--and -vessels whose dishonour it is, at the end of their service, to contract -some fresh defilement. - -Wondrous and various the lessons and the ways of grace, abounding grace! -Quickly indeed does the soul entertain thoughts of God according to the -suggestions of _nature_, instead of knowing Him according to _faith_. -Nature holds Him before the soul as a judge, or as a lawgiver, or an -exactor of righteousness, as One that carries balances in His hand to -try every thought and work--One that is sensitive and resentful of the -slightest touch of evil. But faith holds Him before a gazing, -worshipping eye and heart, as the One who always loves us, do what He -may, or speak as He will. For faith worketh by love (Gal. v. 6)--it -worketh towards God as Love, and therefore it is a spirit of confidence -and liberty. If we find our souls under pressure of the spirit of fear -or bondage or uncertainty, we may be sure that they have let go the -gentle hand of faith, and allowed themselves to be led by such tutors -and governors as nature provides. This ought not so to be. We are to -know that we have _ever_ to do with _love_! When we read, when we pray, -when we converse, when we confess, when we serve, when we sing, when we -look at His hand in providence, or think of His name in secret, may -faith's communion with God be ours! He loves us. The relationship in -which we stand, and of which our Isaac was the expression, makes this a -_necessary_ truth. - -It is "to Himself" that God has brought us and adopted us--having -predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ _to -Himself_, according to the good pleasure of His will. Eph. i. 5. And -these words "to Himself" bespeak God's own joy in the _adoption_ of the -elect, in making them _children_; as was Abraham's joy at the weaning of -our Isaac. Christ presents the Church to _Himself_ (Eph. v. 27), and the -Father gathers the elect as children by adoption to _Himself_. Each has -personal interest and personal delight in the mysteries of grace. And -according to this, the Holy Ghost, in the Epistle to the Galatians, to -which the story of Isaac so refers, pleads the cause of the Father as -well as the cause of Christ with us. He teaches us that we are redeemed -by Christ from the _curse_ of the law, and, through the Spirit given to -us by the Father, from the _bondage_ of the law. All this is full of -blessing to us; and all this, the mystery of Isaac, the son of the -free-woman, suggests to us. - -Faith is that principle in us which gives to the Lord Jesus the place or -privilege (such a place indeed as God alone can fill) of sustaining the -confidence of a sinner entirely by Himself, of being the immediate, the -only object of the sinner's trust. But faith, in this dispensation, -involves _relationship_. By faith we stand in the Person as well as _on_ -the work of Christ--and Christ being the Son, we are children, as we are -saved sinners. We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. -Gal. iii. 26. And Ishmael is not to share the house with Isaac. The -spirit of bondage gendered by the law or by the religion of ordinances, -is to be put out, and the spirit of liberty alone is to fill it. For the -house is now set in a child and not in a servant, in Isaac and not in -Eliezer--and _relationship_ is God's joy as it is ours. "The _Father -seeketh_ such to worship Him." Wondrous words of abounding grace, -beloved! and Sarah's joy in our Isaac pledged this in patriarchal days. - - - - - JACOB. - - GENESIS XXVIII.-XXXVI. - - -I have already followed the course of the Book of Genesis to the close -of chapter xxvii. From that chapter to chapter xxxvi., Jacob is -principal; and it is that portion which I now purpose to consider. - -There is a very important era in the life of Jacob afterwards--his -sojourn in Egypt for seventeen years, and his death there. But this is -found in that part of the book in which Joseph becomes principal, so -that I shall refer to it only so far as Jacob is concerned. - - -The life of Jacob is one of very large and varied action, quite of -another character from that of his father Isaac. The wisdom of God -readily accounts for this; because there is divine intention in the -construction of these histories, as there is divine truthfulness in the -record of them. By them we are instructed in mysteries, as surely as we -are made acquainted with circumstances. It has been my desire to notice -these mysteries, as well as to gather the moral of these earliest ages -of the human family, and these first fathers of the elect of God. - -_Election_, and the call of God, in the sovereign exercise of His grace, -were exhibited in Abraham. - -_Sonship_, to which election brings us, (for we are predestinated unto -the adoption of children,) was then shown in Isaac. - -_Discipline_, as of a son, (for what son is he whom the father -chasteneth not?) is now, in its season, to be exhibited in Jacob. - -And thus, after this manner, these successive histories not only -continue the orderly narrative of facts, but present us with a view of -that course or conduct which the grace and wisdom of God is taking with -His people. - - -Jacob was a son as well as Isaac. But he was a son at school, or under -correction; not a son, like Isaac, in the care and nurture of the home -of his father; not as one given to know the rights and dignities of son -and heir, but as one made to know the love, the practical love, that -chastens and corrects. This was the child Jacob. But we are never to -forget that we are never more distinctly children than when under such -discipline. Discipline assumes adoption. The exhortation or correction -speaks to us as _to children_. The discipline may occupy the foreground, -but the fatherly love is the secret. - -But this notice of Jacob as a son under discipline I give here only as a -general characteristic. As to the materials of his history, various and -striking as they are, we may distinguish them into four eras: - -1. His birth and early life in his father's house in the land of Canaan. - -2. His journey to Padan-aram, and his residence there, in the house of -Laban the Syrian, for twenty years. - -3. His journey back from Padan-aram, and his second residence in Canaan. - -4. His journey from Canaan to Egypt, and his residence and death there. - -This may be read as a simple, natural table of contents, so to call it, -and I would follow it out in its order. - - -_Part I._--This earliest portion of Jacob's history, his birth, and his -life in the house of his father in the land of Canaan till he was about -seventy years of age,[19] I have generally anticipated in the preceding -paper, entitled "Isaac." And I may be allowed to say, necessarily so; -because it is involved in those chapters of the Book of Genesis, where -Isaac is principal. I must therefore refer to it. - - [19] It is said in the Jewish writings that he was seventy-seven. - - -_Part II._--Jacob begins to be seen under discipline in chap. xxviii., -and there it is where this second part of his history opens, and where -also, in the Book of Genesis, he becomes the chief or leading character. - -In his journey out towards Padan, but ere he left the borders of Canaan, -at the place called Luz, the Lord meets him. This was not his father's -bed-side, where he was sinning, but a lonely, dreary, distant spot where -his sin had cast him, and where the discipline of his heavenly Father -was dealing with him. In such a place God can meet us. He cannot appear -to us in the scene of our iniquities, but He can in the place of His -correction. And such was Luz to Jacob. It was a comfortless spot. The -stones of the place were his pillow, and the sky over his head his -covering; and he had no friend but his staff to accompany and cheer him. -But the God of his fathers comes there to him. He does not alter his -present circumstances or reverse the chastening. He lets him still -pursue his way unfriended, to find, at the end of it, twenty years' hard -service at the hand of a stranger, with many a wrong and injury. But he -gives him heavenly pledges, that hosts on high should watch and wait -around him. - -The Lord had made, as we know, great promises to Abraham: the same were -repeated to Isaac, and are now, at Bethel, given to Jacob. But, to -Jacob, something very distinct from these common promises is added: -"And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither -thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not -leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." _v._ -15. This was a new promise, an added mercy; just because Jacob needed -it, as Abraham and Isaac had not. Jacob was the only one of the three -who needed that the Lord would be with him wherever he went, and bring -him home again. Jacob, by his own naughtiness, had made this additional -mercy necessary to himself, and, in abounding grace, he gets it; and the -vision of the ladder pledges it. The promises to Abraham and to Isaac -had not included this providential, angelic care. They had remained in -the land; but Jacob had made himself an exile, that needed the care and -watching of a special oversight from heaven, and he gets it. And it is -to this, I believe, that Jacob alludes, when he says to Joseph, The -blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my -progenitors. Chap. xlix. 26. This angelic care, that watched over him, -under direct commission from heaven, in his days of exile and drudgery, -which his own error had incurred, _distinguished_ him as an object of -mercy, and gave him "blessings" above those of his "progenitors." And in -this character he reached "the bounds of the everlasting hills." He was -heir of the kingdom as a _debtor to special mercy_, through that -abounding grace that had helped him and kept him amid the bitter fruits -of his own naughtiness. As David, in his day, triumphed in "the -everlasting covenant" made with him, though for the present his house -was in ruins through his own sin. 2 Samuel xxiii. - -This is God's way, excellent and perfect in the combination of grace and -holiness. And upon this, let me observe, that in all circumstances there -are two objects, and that nature eyes the one, and faith the other. -Thus, in divine discipline, such as Jacob was now experiencing, there is -the _rod_, and also the _hand that is using it_. Nature regards the -first, faith recognizes the second. Job, in his day, broke down under -the rod, because he concerned himself with it alone. Had he eyed the -counsel, the heart, or the hand that was appointing it (as we are -exhorted to do, Micah vi. 9), he would have stood. But nature prevailed -in him, and he kept his eye upon the rod, and it was too much for him. - -So in _failures_, as well as in circumstances, there are two objects. -Conscience has its object, and faith again has its object. But -conscience is not to be allowed to rob faith of its treasures, the -treasures of restoring, pardoning grace, which the love of God in Christ -has stored up for it. - -There is great comfort in this. Nature is not to be over-busy with -circumstances, nor conscience with failures. Nature is to feel that no -affliction is for the present joyous, and conscience or heart may be -broken; but in either case, faith is to be at its post and do its duty; -and much of the gracious energy of the Spirit in the epistles is engaged -in putting faith at its post, and encouraging it to do its duty. The -Apostles, under the Holy Ghost, take knowledge of the danger and -temptation we are under by nature; and while it is abundantly enforced, -that conscience is to be quick and jealous, yet it is required that -faith shall maintain itself in the very face of it. - -To know God _in grace_ is His praise and our joy. We naturally, or -according to the instincts of a tainted nature, think of Him as one that -_exacts obedience and looks for service_. But faith knows Him as one -that _communicates_, that speaks to us of privileges, of the liberty and -the blessing of our relationship to Him. - -But Jacob's soul was not quite up to this way of grace. He found the -place where the ladder and the angels were seen, and where the God of -his fathers spoke to him, to be "dreadful." In some sense it was too -much for him. As it was long afterwards with Peter on the holy hill. God -is true to the aboundings of His grace. Jacob may say, "How dreadful is -this place!" Peter and his companions may have their fear; but the -ladder, nevertheless, reaches to heaven, and angels are up and down upon -it in the sight of the patriarch; and the glory on the Mount still -shines. For the grace of God is richer than the apprehensions of the -soul about it. God shines in Himself above our experiences. And it is in -Himself He is to be known, and not in the reflections of our experience. - -Still, like Peter on the hill, Jacob, in some sense, found it good to be -at Luz, and he called the place Bethel. It was the house of God to him, -for God had there been with him, and spoken to him; it was the gate of -heaven in his eye, for there the angels had appeared, as descending from -their own place on high. "This is none other but the house of God," says -he, "and this is the gate of heaven." - -God both _records_ His name and _glorifies_ it. He records it or reveals -it at first, and faith accepts Him. In due time He verifies that record -or testimony, making it all good, and thus glorifies His name. And -wherever He records His name there is His house. Ornan's threshing-floor -got the same dignity long afterwards, which Luz now gets, and on the -same title. "This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of -burnt-offering for Israel," says David of that spot of the Jebusite. 1 -Chron. xxii. 1. For it was the place, like this Bethel of our patriarch, -where mercy had rejoiced against judgment, where God was revealing -Himself in the aboundings of His grace, and there faith descries the -house of God. Jacob and David, each in his day, were saints under -discipline; but the Lord met them in the rich provisions of His love, -thus revealing Himself or recording His name; and this was His house to -them. But it is easier thus to consecrate the house, than to learn the -lesson that is taught there. Jacob rightly uttered his heart under force -of the impressions which the vision could not but awaken; but there is -something of old Jacob in his spirit still. The faulty way of his heart -is at work still, and he seems to calculate, and to make bargains, and -to enter into conditions, though the Lord had spoken to him there in the -language of the promise, in free, sovereign, abounding goodness. For -nature still stirs itself after many a rebuke and defeat, and outlives -what for a moment may have appeared a death-blow. Jacob no more now -leaves it behind him at Bethel, than before he had left it behind him in -his mother's tent. - -But he goes on. Grace sets the chastened saint on his journey, and with -some alacrity too, till "he came to the land of the people of the east," -till he reached Padan-aram, where his mother's counsel had appointed -him, and, doubtless, where the hand of God had now conducted him. - -His introduction to Rachel was at the well, and in the midst of the -flock, like that of Eliezer to Rebecca; and Eliezer was but Isaac's -representative. But Jacob was the poor man, Isaac the wealthy. Isaac -could enrich Rebecca with earrings and bracelets of gold, pledges of the -goodly estate he had for her. Jacob has but his toil and sweat of face. -The one was as the son and heir, the other a man who had beggared -himself, and must find his own way through the wear and tear of life as -best he may, with God's help. Israel served for a wife, and for a wife -he kept sheep. Hosea xii. 12. And a hard service he was about to find -it. But he enters on it at once, and continues at it for twenty long -years. Chap. xxix.-xxxi. - -The scene is laid in the house of Laban his mother's brother, and a -scene of various moral action it quickly becomes, and so continues. We -have not only Jacob himself and Laban, but the two wives Leah and -Rachel, and their two handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah. - -Jacob had been but a little while under the trials and sorrows of his -sojourn with Laban, ere he was visited after the very pattern of his own -offence at home. He had deceived his father touching his brother and the -blessing. Laban now deceives him touching Rachel and the marriage. But -in much of his behaviour during the twenty years he spent with Laban, we -see what was excellent in him. For the force and influence of knowing -_that we are under the hand of God for correction_, is necessarily felt -by a mind that has anything right towards God in it. It is not that -nature will be changed or broken under such a pressure, but it must, in -measure, more or less, be controlled. David when under rebuke, sore and -humbling as ever saint had exposed himself to, carries himself -beautifully. His words to Ittai, to Zadok, and to Hushai, his resentment -of the motion of the sons of Zeruiah, his humiliations, his lamentations -over Absalom, and his using his victory as if it had been a defeat, all -this and more than this of the same kind, show us a blessed work of the -Spirit in his soul. In Jacob at Padan-aram we get nothing so fine as -this, I know; but, if I mistake not, we get a saint under discipline -conscious of the discipline, well understanding the character of the -moment under God's hand, and the righteousness of the rebuke of the -Lord, carrying himself meekly and watchfully. He submits to the wrongs -of an injurious master in silence. He serves patiently, and suffers -without complaint. His wages were changed ten times, but he answers not -again. In all this he is humbled under the mighty hand of God, as one -who would fain remember his own past ways. And at the end of twenty -years' hard drudgery and ill usage, he is able to testify of his -fidelity, and God Himself seems to seal the testimony. By the -providences of His hand, and the revelations in visitations of His -Spirit, and also by direct interferences with Laban himself, the Lord -shelters and blesses and vindicates Jacob. - -There is beauty in this. I say not that nature was mortified, that the -root of bitterness was judged. We shall find, I know, that after this, -Jacob is old Jacob still, sadly betrayed by the same leaven that had -been working in him from the beginning. But, while in the house of the -Syrian, Jacob was as one who knew himself to be under the mighty hand of -God as for correction, and carried himself accordingly, neither -justifying himself against reproaches, nor contending for his rights in -the face of wrongs and injustice. - -Such a one I judge Jacob to have been in the house of Laban. As to -Laban, he was a thorough man of the world when Jacob entered his house, -and so he was when Jacob left it. In all his dealings, from first to -last, he eyes his own advantage. He is constrained to own that the hand -of God was with Jacob; but he would make that hand, through Jacob, -minister to himself, and turn Jacob's interest in God to his own -account. For twenty years he had the witness of the hand of the Lord, -and the operation of His grace and power, under his eye and in his -house, and that daily; but he continued a man of the world still. God -came near to him, as afterwards to Bethsaida and Chorazin in the doing -of His mighty works; but there was no repentance. And Jacob's departure -from his house at the last, was like an escape out of the enemy's hand, -or from the snare of the fowler. It was a kind of exodus. In a family -way it was what was afterwards known by Israel in a national way. Laban -was as Pharaoh, and Padan-aram as Egypt to our patriarch. He would fain -have kept Jacob a drudge still, or at best have sent him away as a -beggar; but the Lord pleaded for Jacob with Laban, as He afterwards -pleaded for Israel with Pharaoh. Laban and Pharaoh had each in his day -_witnessed_ the operation of God, but neither of them became the -_subject_ of it. - -A thorough lover of the world he surely was, and never anything better; -a crafty one, and a hypocritical one too--common companions. At the end, -when all his devices are broken to pieces, and no enchantment is allowed -to prosper, as against Israel, he does what he can, according to the -miserable, disgusting style of a crafty heart, to cover the purpose -which had now failed, and to give himself a fair character. He pretends -that Jacob's leaving him was mere fondness for home, while his -conscience must have told him many a very different reason. He affects -grief and indignation at not having an opportunity of kissing his -daughters and grandchildren, and of sending them away honourably, while -his conscience must have reminded him how he had sold them again and -again. He seems to be concerned for them, now about to be in Jacob's -hand, as if his own hand had been that of a father to them. He pretends -to spare Jacob through religious fear of God's words, while he must have -felt himself to be completely restrained by God, willing or unwilling, -religious or profane; as Balaam afterwards. And he gives a serious air -to the last bargain between him and Jacob, introducing the name of the -God of Abraham, though he had just been searching for his idols, and was -preparing to return to that land out of which God had called Abraham, -and to continue there a thorough, heartless man of the world still, a -worshipper of his own god. - -Miserable man! pointing a holy, serious lesson for us. - - -But we have the women and the children of Padan-aram, as well as Laban -the Syrian. The women and the children of the Book of Genesis are all -mysteries. We see this in Eve and her three children--in Abraham's -Sarah, and Abraham's Hagar, and Abraham's Keturah, and the seed of each -of them. And we noticed in Isaac (see page 152) the same mystic -character in Rebecca his wife, and Esau and Jacob his children. Each and -all tell out parts and parcels of the purpose of God, as in figures. And -now, in the women which become connected with Jacob in Padan, whether it -be his wife the elder sister, or his wife the younger sister, or the -handmaids given to them, and in the children of each of them, there are -mysteries again. - -In the children of Israel, that is, the nation, the seed of Abraham, we -find three classes. 1. There has already been Israel _after the flesh_, -set in the land under title of their fleshly alliance with Abraham. 2. -There is now, at this time, the nation _in bondage_, made to know the -service of the Gentiles. 3. There will be, by-and-by, the nation _set in -grace_, Israel redeemed and accepted, established in the promises made -to the fathers. - -These are three generations in the nation of Israel, as that nation -either has been, now is, or is to be hereafter. And the shadowing of -this, I judge, we see in the families of Jacob in Padan; that is, in the -children of Leah, who had her title in the flesh; in the children of the -handmaids; and in the children of Rachel the beloved, who had no -strength in nature, but whose seed was all of promise or of God. - -The way of the wisdom of God is thus learnt in the women and children -here, in chapters xxix.-xxxi., as it had been in the earlier family -scenes of this wondrous book. - -As soon as Joseph, the child of promise, the son of Rachel the beloved, -is given to him, Jacob speaks of leaving Padan, the place of his exile -and bondage. See xxx. 25, 26. And this, simple as it seems to be, has -character in it. The condition of an alien and servant did not suit him, -as soon as he got the seed that witnessed to him the power of God in his -behalf. He may have felt somewhat instinctively, that it became him now -to assert his freedom, and to bethink himself of his home and his -inheritance. I say not whether Jacob really entered into this, or -whether it was something of an inspiration that he breathed, and which, -in its full meaning, was beyond him. But so it was that he said to -Laban, immediately upon the birth of Joseph, "Send me away, that I may -go to my own place and to my country." - -It had been very much after this manner with Abraham in an earlier day. -As soon as Isaac was weaned, the scene around Abraham immediately -changed. The child of the bondwoman has to leave the house, and Abraham -takes precedence of the Gentile. See chap. xxi. The weaning of Isaac was -the turning-point in Abraham's condition. In spirit, for a moment, he -enters the kingdom, raising a new altar, an altar to the "everlasting -God," and planting a grove. This was very fine, and the character of it -I have considered in its place. See "Abraham," page 126. But so was it -now with Jacob, as then with Abraham. As soon as Joseph, the child of -promise, that witnessed the grace and strength of God, is given to him, -he conceives the thought of freedom and of home. - -This was a fine, striking instance of the intelligence of a new mind in -Jacob. The way of faith, I may add, is seen in Rachel on the same -occasion, for she calls her son "Joseph," that is, "adding;" assured -that the Lord, who had now _begun_ His mercies towards her, would _go -on_ with them and _perfect_ them. As faith now in our hearts and on our -lips, in like spirit, says, "He that spared not His own Son, but -delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give -us all things?" From His gifts, Rachel not only "drew a plea to _ask_ -Him still for more," but in still bolder, happier faith, drew a -conclusion to _trust_ Him still for more. - -But though this was so, the connection between Laban and Jacob is -continued for a while after Joseph's birth, till the separation takes -place under force of other circumstances altogether, leaving Laban, -still more than before, a kind of pillar of salt, or a solemn -remembrance to us of what our wretched hearts are capable. - - -_Part III._--The time of his servitude closes in chap. xxxi. He is then -on his way back from Padan-aram to Canaan; the principal scenes of his -journey being at _Mount Gilead_, shortly after his setting out, and -_Mahanaim_, near the brook Jabbok, a little before he entered the land. - -It was at Mount Gilead that the parting between him and Laban took -place, for Laban had pursued him so far. But there they make a covenant, -offering sacrifice, and then eating together as upon the sacrifice. - -Such a scene, in mystery, exhibits our blessing. For we enjoy a covenant -of peace, secured by a sacrifice, and witnessed by a feast. So, in the -night of redemption from Egypt, the altar and the table, that is, the -sacrifice and the feast, are there again. The blood is upon the -door-post, and the household, thus ransomed and sheltered, are within, -feeding on the lamb, whose blood was protecting and delivering them. - -But there is another thing on this occasion to be noticed--_it is Jacob -who offers the sacrifice_. - -This has a great character in it. It tells us that Jacob knew his place -and dignity under God. Laban had all the claims which nature or the -flesh or relationship could confer, but Jacob acts in spite of them. -Laban was the elder; he was the master and the father-in-law. But still -Jacob takes the place of the "better," and offers the sacrifice, in the -like spirit of faith as Abraham when entering into covenant with the -king of Gerar (chapter xxi.); or like Jethro at Horeb, in the midst of -the Israel of God, and in the presence of Aaron. Ex. xviii. - -Such cases are among the triumphs of faith; and they are no mean -triumphs either. To know our high title in Christ, and by no means to -surrender it, even when circumstances may humble us, this is no easy -thing. Jacob was under discipline in Padan-aram. He had no altar there. -Before God he was rather a penitent than a worshipper. But before Laban -he knows himself as a saint, and here, at the Mount Gilead, he has his -pillar, his sacrifice, and his feast, and he exercises that faith which -emboldens him to act according to his dignity as a saint and priest of -God, in the presence of all the claims of flesh and blood. Elihu, in the -book of Job, though renouncing _himself_ before his elders, asserts the -title of _the Spirit in him_, in the face of the highest claims of -nature. - -It is very encouraging to witness such fragments of the mind of Christ -in the saints. Jacob never suspected his title in Christ, from first to -last, though under discipline all his days. And this is blessed--blessed -to take the place that grace, in its riches, in its exceeding riches, in -its glory and in its aboundings, gives us. I do not believe, if Peter in -John xxi. had purposed to reach the Lord as a _penitent_, he would have -_hurried_ towards him as he did. A penitent would have approached with a -more measured step. But Peter was not thinking of his late denial of his -Lord, but of his Lord Himself. His step was therefore hurried and -earnest. He had sinned against his Master, it is indeed true, and might -have been backward and ashamed. But, wondrous to say it, as Peter _the -penitent_ would not have taken so ready and so earnest a journey, so -Peter the penitent would not, at the end of it, have been so welcome to -his Master, as the confiding though erring Peter. In this is the grace -and heart of Him "with whom is _all_ our business now." - -These are but fragments however, broken pillars in the temples of God. -Nature is nature still; and Jacob, quickly after all this, betrays -himself as _old_ Jacob still. - -One has said, that had the Lord slacked His hand with Job, when the -_first_ trial was over, Job would have come short of the blessing. There -was respite; and it might have been thought that all had ended. But -God's end in grace was not yet reached; and we may be sure that Satan's -malice was not yet satisfied. The unweary adversary begins afresh, the -Lord gives him place again, and Job is visited a _second_ time. - -And nature is just as unwearied as Satan. Expel it and it will return. -We have just had this little respite from the way of nature, in Jacob at -Mount Gilead, and seen for a moment the better mind in him, and some -expressions of the glory, but we are quickly, too quickly indeed, to see -the old man again. - -Jacob goes on his way from Mount Gilead, and as he approaches the -borders of the land, the angels of God meet him. Jacob at once -recognizes them. "This is God's host," says he, and he called the place -Mahanaim. - -This was holy ground. The undertakings of chapter xxviii. had been -fulfilled--the pledges of Bethel had been redeemed. Accordingly, we have -no ladder here. Providential, angelic guardianship had fulfilled its -ministry; Jacob had been kept in the distant land, and brought home to -his own land. The ladder may, therefore, be taken down, and instead of -angels ascending and descending as between heaven and the patriarch, -angels _meet_ him. They are standing before him, just to salute him, or -to welcome him on his return. The Lord God of his fathers and of the -promises was welcoming our patriarch home, and ministers of the heavenly -courts were sent to express the mind of their King towards him. - -This was "piping" to Jacob, and Jacob ought to have "danced." He should -have breathed an exulting spirit. He should have been already in -triumph, ere the battle was fought, or even the armies were arrayed. He -should have entered the field with songs, like Jehoshaphat. If the hosts -of heaven thus waited on him, what had he to fear from the hosts of -Esau? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" But this was not so -with him. He "laments," rather than dances, at this piping. He trembles, -and prays, and calculates. He marshals his force, as though the battle -were his. This is all _religious_, but it is all _unbelief_ too; and all -this the Lord resents. Surely He does. It was all out of harmony in His -ear. He had welcomed Jacob home with every token of an earnest, -honourable welcome, but Jacob was out of spirits. - -The Lord seeks to be _one_ with us, and that we be one with Him; so that -discordance of soul can never suit Him. He withstands Jacob. "There -wrestled a man with him," as we read, "till the breaking of the day." -This was God's answer to his prayer. And this is all very significant, -and it has lessons for us. - -It is found by us much easier to trust the Lord in all questions that -arise between Him and ourselves, than it is to bring Him in, and use -Him, and trust Him, in questions that arise between us and -others--easier to trust Him for eternity than for to-morrow; because -eternity is entirely in His hand. To-morrow, as we judge, is more or -less divided between Him and others--in the power of circumstances as -well as of God. Abraham, in his day, betrayed this. He came forth at the -bidding of the God of glory, leaving country, kindred, and father's -house; but as soon as a famine came, his faith failed, and instead of -trusting the Lord in the face of circumstances, he goes down to Egypt. - -Jacob, at Mahanaim, betrays the same easy, common way of nature. He is -unable to trust God in the face of Esau. Esau's 400 men frighten him, -and he will interpose, first, his messengers with words of peace and -friendliness, and then, his presents, that by one or the other he may -allay the heat of his brother's anger. He has no faith in God, so as to -bring Him in between himself and Esau. He trembles, and prays, and -calculates, and marshals his household. Circumstances have proved too -much for him. But immediately afterwards, when the Lord Himself -withstands him, when it becomes a question between him and God, then he -is bold and prevails. He faints not, though rebuked, and rebuked -sharply, by the Lord. He behaves himself like a champion of faith, and -obtains a good report. He carries himself like a prince, and gains new -honours. This is a common experience, and this moment in Jacob's history -at the brook Jabbok expresses it. - -There is not, however, necessarily, in such a victory as this, a cure -for that faint-heartedness that had occasioned the previous conflict. -And Jacob is now about to illustrate this for our further admonition. In -the very next chapter (xxxiii.), which is but the continuance of the -same action, or a further stage in it, we find him the same timid, -unbelieving, calculating man, in the presence of Esau, as he had been, -ere he had prevailed with the wrestler at Jabbok. - -This is admonition for us. There may be exercise of spirit before God, -and yet not much advance in the strength of the soul in carrying on its -conflict with the world. In no stage of his history does Jacob appear -morally lower than in that which immediately follows Peniel. He is not -in anywise purified from himself. He calculates, he prevaricates, he -affects amiability and confidence, he lies, he flatters. He stood -against the stranger at Jabbok. He was strong in faith, glorifying the -grace of God, even when the way of God had a controversy with him. But -before Esau he practises and acts the old man to shameful perfection. He -rids himself of his brother by a grossly false pretence. He is nothing -better than a mean flatterer, a servile courtier, shamelessly speaking -of the face of Esau as of the face of God. It is all miserable--a -humbling picture of the moral condition to which a saint may come, for a -time, if nature be allowed. - -There are moments of exhilaration of spirit, and we may be thankful for -them; as when Jacob had so lately, in the preceding chapter, said, "This -is God's host;" and again, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is -preserved." These are moments of exhilaration of spirit. But then, they -may be only _refreshments_, and not solid edification. And sad indeed it -is to see a saint after them returning so quickly to himself. "Where is -then the blessedness ye spake of?" - -And who will trust his own heart, when we thus see that Jacob's was so -untrue? Jacob had lost the knowledge of God's name. He had to inquire -after it, instead of using it and enjoying it. That name was "Almighty," -the name that told him of all-sufficiency for all his need. But Jacob -had lost it in chap. xxxii., and he is not as one who had recovered it -in chap. xxxiii. He is contriving for himself. And we may, in like -manner, lose the name that has been revealed to us. That name is -"Father"--a name that may give abiding calmness and strength and liberty -to the soul. It prepares a home for the heart. "He that dwelleth in love -dwelleth in God." This home is enough to make our joy full, as John -speaks. And though we may be under His hand for discipline, as Jacob -was, still we are to know the power of that name, the full, secret, -unchanging love of a father. Like Jacob in these two chapters, we have -lost the name of God, if it be not thus with our souls. "Ye have -forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children," says -the apostle to us. And Jacob, therefore, may be no longer such a wonder -to us, but we may the rather at times be a wonder to ourselves. - - -After this, in his journey onward from the place where he and Esau -parted, he reaches Succoth, and then Shechem, and we may say, he had -then returned to Canaan. But it is only still worse and worse with him. -He seems for a while to have entirely forgotten himself and the call of -God. And mischief must follow this. Consistency with our calling is -looked for. We are all, it may be in a thousand ways, untrue to it; but -if it be willingly disregarded by an easy, relaxing conscience, the -commonest moral defences may soon give way. Truth and integrity may be -forced to yield, and such pollutions may at last be found, that would -not, as the apostle speaks, be named among the Gentiles. - -At Succoth, where our patriarch first arrived, he builds a house; and -then at Shalem, in Shechem, he buys a field--what Abraham and Isaac, -truer to the call of God, never did, and never would have done. How -could he count on moral security under such circumstances? The tent had -been exchanged for a house, and the pilgrim stranger had become a -citizen and a freeholder. Was not all this a forgetting of himself under -the call of God? The Lord, long after this, lets David know, by His -servant Nathan, that there was a difference between a _house_ and a -_tent_, and that He would have that difference maintained. 1 Chron. -xvii. But here at Succoth, Jacob violates this. So also it is the divine -memorial of the patriarchs in their purity, that they dwelt in tents -(Heb. xi. 9); but here at Succoth, Jacob willingly forfeits that -memorial. And again, the Lord did not give Abraham so much land as to -set his foot on (Acts vii. 5); but here at Shalem in Shechem, Jacob, in -spite of this, will have a parcel of ground, and buy it for an -inheritance. - -The altar, which comes next, in the catalogue, to the house and the -field, may appear at first to be a relief and a sanctifier, the one good -thing in the midst of corruption. But it is, perhaps, the worst of all. -It was not raised to Him who had appeared to him. There had been no -communion between the Lord and Jacob, at either Succoth or Shechem. -Shechem was not Bethel, and this parcel of ground, where El-elohe-Israel -was raised, was not the place of stones and destitution, where abounding -grace had shone from an open heaven on the unfriended head of the -patriarch, but the parcel of a field which Jacob had bought of the -children of Hamor, the father of Shechem. It was raised, not by a -heavenly stranger to the God who visited him, but in the midst of the -uncircumcised. It looks like an attempt to get the Lord's sanction of -Jacob's loss of his separated, pilgrim, Nazarite character; to link His -name and His worship with that on which His judgment was resting, and -toward which His long-suffering was shown till iniquity was full. - -Surely it is rather an uncircumcised Jacob we see here, and not -circumcised Shechemites. It is all miserable. Is this a son of Abraham? -Is this a saint of God? Is this one of God's strangers in a world that -has revolted from Him? This is like the religious energy of Christendom, -which has put the name of Christ in company with the world that is under -His judgment, and only borne with in His long-suffering. It is as if -Israel had consented to Pharaoh, and undertaken to give Jehovah an altar -in Egypt. But such altars are no altars--as another gospel is not -another. Such religion is vain, whether practised in these earliest days -at Shechem, or now in these days of Christendom, among the nations of a -judged, condemned world, from which separation is the call of God. But -this will not do. A fair trade with the world will be followed, and the -course of it pursued greedily, without watchfulness or conviction, but -religious family services, and religious national ordinances, the modern -order at Shechem, will all the while be waited on. - -It was of the fruit of all this that Jacob had afterwards to say, "O my -soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, -be not thou united." For it is to the action in chapter xxxiv. that -Jacob thus refers, when he was about to die, in chapter xlix. He finds -out, at the end, the real character of all this, the fruit of his -dwelling at Shechem. In self-will a man had been killed there, and a -fence thrown down. But surely Jacob himself had digged down God's fence -before. The partition-wall which the call of God had raised between the -clean and the unclean, between the circumcision and the Gentile, he -himself, in spirit, had broken down, when he settled as a citizen or -freeholder on his purchased estate at Shechem. And Simeon and Levi may -perfect this, as soon afterwards as they please. - -"And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to -see the daughters of the land." xxxiv. 1. Was this the way of the house -of Abraham? Was this the family of the separated patriarch keeping the -way of the Lord? Had Abraham been thus slack? What intercourse had he -had for his children with either the sons or the daughters of the land? - -It is all sad, and proclaims its own shame. Shechem is next door to -Sodom. But it is not Sodom, I grant. Jacob is not Lot. We can -distinguish; and we have to distinguish, though it is sad to be put to -the work of distinguishing. Nature prevails, in some more, in some less, -in all the recorded saints of God. But there is _moral variety_, as well -as the _prevalency of nature_, and "things that differ" among the saints -are to be distinguished by us. There is a _soiled_ garment, and there is -a _mixed_ garment. Our way, under the Spirit, is to keep the garment -both unsoiled and unmixed. Surely it is to keep ourselves "unspotted -from the world." But still, a _soiled_ garment is not a _mixed_ garment, -a garment, as Scripture speaks, "of divers sorts, of woollen and of -linen." Nor is a garment with a thread of "another sort" now and again -in it, to be mistaken for a mixed garment, the texture of which is -wrought on the very principle of woollen and linen. Scripture, ever -fruitful and perfect, exhibits characters formed by what are called -"mixed principles," and also characters which occasionally betray the -mixture, but which are not formed throughout by them. The life of Lot -was formed throughout by mixed principles. As soon as temptation -addressed him, he entered into connection with evil. Though associated -with the call of God, he had to be saved so as by fire. The garment -which Lot wore was of divers sorts, of woollen and of linen. Abraham, at -times, wore a soiled garment, but never a mixed one. Lot was untrue to -the call of God from the outset of his career to the close of it. He -became a citizen where he should have been a stranger, taking a house in -the city of Sodom, while Abraham was traversing the face of the country -from tent to tent. And Lot's life of false principles leads him into -_sorrows that are his shame_--and that is the real misery of sorrow. He -had no comfort in his sorrow. His righteous soul was vexed: this is told -of him; but there was no joy, no brightness, no triumph in his spirit. -The angels maintained much reserve towards him. He had to escape with -his life as a prey, and under the loss of all beside. - -Our Jacob was not of this generation. We dare not say he was a man of -mixed principles, or one who wore a garment of divers sorts, of woollen -and linen. But he had a soiled garment on him pretty commonly, and here -at Succoth and at Shechem, a garment with threads of another sort woven -in it. His schemes and calculations disfigure him, and are the soiled -garment; his building a house at Succoth, and purchasing a field at -Shechem, untrue to the call of God, and to the tent-life of his fathers, -look very like a garment with threads of another sort in it. - -Still Jacob is not to be put with Lot. His life was not _formed_ of -mixed principles. He was indeed a stranger with God in the earth. But, -like Lot, he had been in the place of the uncircumcised willingly; and -he was now to feel the bitterness of his own way; and very much what -Sodom had been to Lot, Shechem is now to Jacob. He is saved (may I not -say?) yet so as by fire. The iniquity of Simeon and Levi, with the -instruments of cruelty that were in their habitations, bring poor Jacob -very low. He is at his wits' end in the midst of that people, of whom he -had purchased his estate, and in the neighbourhood of whom, he had, -Lot-like, consented to settle. - -Things, however, are now at the worst. We are about to make, through the -grace of God, a happy escape with Jacob out of all this, to find a good -riddance of Shechem and all its pollutions. - -"A word spoken in due season, how good is it!" We often prove this -ourselves. A word will do more for us at times than long and careful -discourses. For "power belongeth unto God." "Follow me," from the lips -of Christ, had power to detach Levi from the receipt of custom; while, -in the same chapter, a discourse was heard by Peter without effect, -being left by it, as he had been before it, the easy, kind-hearted, -amiable, and obliging Peter. See Luke v. "Thy people shall be willing in -the day of thy power," even that very people, of whom it had been said -before, "All day long have I stretched out my hands unto a disobedient -and gainsaying people." - -An instance of this power is found in the history of Jacob, just at this -time, in chapter xxxv. 1. - -"Arise, go up to Bethel," said the Lord to him, "and dwell there; and -make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest -from the face of Esau thy brother." - -These few words were with power. They formed, I believe, the great era -in the life of Jacob, or rather, in the history of his soul. They were -few and simple, unaccompanied by anything strange or startling, no -vision or miracle attending them; but they were a day of power. He had -already come forth from the vision of the ladder at Bethel, from the -magnificent sight of the angelic host at Mahanaim, and from the -wrestling of the divine Stranger at Peniel, scarcely helped or advanced -at all in the real energy of his soul. But now, power visits him; and -power with God may use as weak an instrument as it pleases; it matters -not. The hand of God can do the business of God, though it have but a -sling and a stone, or the jaw-bone of an ass, or lamps and pitchers; and -the Spirit of God can do the business of God with souls, though He use -but a word, or a look, or a groan. - -These few words which open chapter xxxv. prevail over Jacob. "Arise, go -up to Bethel." Bethel is rewritten on his heart and conscience as by the -finger of God. He falls before it, as Abraham, in chap. xvii., had -fallen before the name of "God Almighty," or as Peter, long after, in -Luke xii., fell before the look of Jesus. - -Power is always its own witness, as light is. These words, carrying the -power of God with them, are everything now to the soul of our patriarch. -They manifest their virtue at once, just as the one touch of the woman -in the crowd did. As soon as Jacob heard them, without fuller -commandment to do so, he cleanses his household, and will have his tents -purified of all the abominations which they had brought with them out of -Padan. In spirit he was already at Bethel, the place where God had met -him in the riches of His grace, in the day of his degradation and -misery. Bethel had been reintroduced to his heart--yea, manifested to -his soul in greater vividness than ever. He now read the story of grace -clearer than ever; and _grace pleads for holiness_. The feast of -unleavened bread waits on the Passover. The grace of God that bringeth -salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. For grace, -again I say it, pleads for holiness. And so, Jacob, now hearing of -Bethel in the power of the Spirit, without further ordinance, or -requirement, or command, will have his house and his household clean. - -This is full of beauty and meaning. Pollution cannot be allowed by one -who is in the sense and joy of abounding grace. Gods and earrings, idols -and vanities, are together buried under an oak at Shechem, and Shechem -is left behind. The patriarch rises up with all that was his, and is -quickly on the road to Bethel. He had kept the feast of unleavened bread -in company with the Passover, as Israel afterwards did in Egypt; but, -like Israel too, he is at once, with staff in hand and shoe on foot, -leaving his Egypt behind him. And the Lord accompanies him, as He did -Israel in the day of their Exodus afterwards; and accompanies in -_strength_ too; for, as the rod of Moses opened the way of Israel in the -face of enemies, and He that was in the cloud looked out and troubled -the host of Pharaoh, so now, we read of Jacob and his household, "they -journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round -about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." - -This is surely full of beauty and meaning, I may again say. There is -mercy and blessing here, but there is humbling also. Israel had lost the -power of God's name, and Jacob must now learn that he had lost also the -honour of his own name. But all shall be given back to him. "God -Almighty," and "Israel," and "Bethel" are revealed afresh, at this -moment of revival. - -God must be worshipped as the God of salvation. To be sure He must, in -such a world as this. Such worship is the only worship "in truth." John -iv. 23. In Lev. xvii. and in Deut. xii. the divine jealousy touching -this is strongly expressed. It is as "Saviour," He records His name in a -scene of sin and death. As He says by His prophet, "There is no God else -beside; a _just God and a Saviour_; there is none beside me." Isa. xlv. -21. This is revelation of Him; and on this all worship is grounded. In -this He records His name, and there is His house of praise. At Bethel, -God has thus recorded His name, and there was His house, and there Jacob -now brings his sacrifices. He raises his altar, and calls it El-Bethel. -With Jacob, that was the Tabernacle of the wilderness, or the Temple on -Mount Moriah, the Temple on Ornan's threshing-floor. And this was -infinitely acceptable, and God gave fervent and immediate witness of -such acceptableness; for He appeared to him at once at the altar there, -and blessed him, and said, "Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, -but Israel shall be thy name: and He called his name Israel. And God -said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and -a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy -loins; and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give -it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up -from him in the place where He talked with him." - -This was the expression of divine acceptance, and delight in Jacob's -altar at Bethel. This was like the glory filling the Tabernacle in -Exodus xl., and again filling the Temple in 2 Chron. v. This was the God -of grace and salvation with desire occupying the house and accepting the -worship which a poor sinner, who had tasted abounding grace, had raised -and rendered to Him. Nothing can exceed the interest of such a moment. -Solomon felt the power of such a moment; for on seeing the glory fill -the house which he had built, he utters his heart in these admirable -words: "The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. -But I have built a house of habitation for Thee, and a place for Thy -dwelling for ever." The Temple, where mercy was seen to rejoice against -judgment, had power to draw the Lord God from the thick darkness, the -retreat of righteousness, into the midst of His worshipping people. - -What could exceed this? And, in patriarchal days, this was seen at this -altar or temple at Bethel. The glory was there. The Lord appeared there, -and spoke there to Jacob, as afterwards to Solomon. Luz was as Ornan's -threshing-floor, and each of them had become God's house. And Jacob -called the place, a second time, Bethel, but without any of the -misgivings that had soiled his spirit when he was there at the first. He -is now there in the spirit of Solomon before the glory in the Temple, -knowing God's return to him, and His nearness and presence with him. - -Then, in the freedom and strength of all this, our patriarch resumes his -journey. He goes from Bethel to Bethlehem, and from thence, by the tower -of Edar, to Mamre, in the south country, where his father Isaac was -dwelling. But in none of these places do we read of house or land again. -It is the tent and the altar and the pillar, the journeying onward -still, the burial of his aged father, and at last, as one with his -fathers, dwelling in the land where they had dwelt before him. See chap. -xxxvii. 1. - -This was indeed a different journey, in its moral character, from the -one which he had before taken from Padan to Mount Gilead, and from -thence onward to Shechem through Mahanaim and Succoth. Jacob is -unrebuked now. We have no wrestling as at Peniel, no peremptory voice -summoning away as from Shechem. No fears are awakened in our hearts -respecting him, lest the tent may be deserted again, or the call of God -be forgotten. The word "Bethel," on the lips of the Lord and on the ear -of Jacob, had done wonders. "A word spoken in due season, how good is -it!" surely we may again remember. "Behold, God exalteth by His power: -who teacheth like Him?" And He might surely have challenged His erring -but convicted child, after this second scene at Bethel, and said to him -in the words of Isaiah, "Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One -of Israel, I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which -leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." - -It is not that all is perfected as yet. Reuben's iniquity may tell us -this too painfully. But the rising up from the place of nature, and the -moral extrication of his heart from the spirit of the world, have taken -place. Nor is it that he is as yet beyond the place of discipline. That -is not so. He does not find Rebecca with Isaac at Mamre. He never sees -his mother again, the mother who had so preserved him and cherished him. -His mother's nurse he buries; and more than that, his beloved Rachel he -loses. He has indeed the pledge of strength in "the son of his right -hand," but that same son told of sorrow touching Rachel. And thus he is -under discipline still. But--he is in God's _way_, as well as under -God's _hand_. That is the new thing. Discipline is telling upon him, and -reaching its end. The path is shining, and its latest hour will soon be -found to be its brightest. - - -_Part IV._--When we enter upon chapter xxxvii. we find _Joseph_ to be -principal in the action, and principal in the thoughts of the Spirit of -God. This is evident from the second verse: "These are the generations -of Jacob. Joseph being seventeen years old," &c. But we get detached -notices of Jacob from this chapter to the end of the book, and which -give us the last portion of his history. - -He was now, as I may call him, a widower. He appears before us as a -lonely, retired man, with more of recollections than of present -activities about him. He was indeed the patriarch, the common head and -father of all the households of his children, and so recognized by them. -But the _business_ of the family was rather in their hands; and he was -passing his widowerhood without seeking to be again the stirring, -energetic man he had once been. - -His retirement, however, was not like that of his father Isaac. Isaac, -for the last forty years of his life, is not seen. He appears to have -been laid aside, as a vessel unfit for use, as I have observed of him, -not _wearing_ out, as the word is, but _rusting_ out. See "Isaac," p. -185. But this was not Jacob's closing years. He was no longer a man of -business, but his retirement was not _inactive_. The richest, happiest, -and purest exercises of his soul seem to be now, and they enlarge and -deepen as they advance; chastened and disciplined as we have seen, his -soul is now rendering the fruit of divine husbandry. We cannot fully say -that Jacob ever reached the high dignity of being a _servant_ of God; -but we may say, when we have reached the end of his story, that he was -_fruitful_ to Him. - -For there is a difference between _service_ and _fruitfulness_. Service -is more manifested and active, fruitfulness may be hidden. The hand or -the foot may serve, and so they should. Tipped with the blood and with -the oil, they are to be instruments in the hands of the Master of the -house; but it is in the deep, secret places of the heart that the -husbandry of the saint, in the power of the Spirit through the truth, is -to be yielding fruit to God. Fruitfulness is known in the cultivation of -those graces and virtues which give real and intrinsic character to the -people of God--those habits and tempers and properties of the inner man -which, with God, are of great price. It is within, or "out of the -heart," that those herbs, meet for Him by whom the soul is dressed, grow -fragrant and beautiful, such as bespeak the virtue of that rain from -heaven which has fallen upon it. - -It is this fruitfulness, as I judge, which will be found in our Jacob, -in this last scene of his pilgrimage. We have had some fainter notice of -this, while yet he remained in Canaan, and ere he took his journey to -Egypt. But the richer harvest of this husbandry is gathered during the -seventeen years that he spent in that land, ere he himself was gathered -to his fathers. For this participation of God's holiness, this fruit of -the discipline of the Father of spirits, is commonly gradual--and we -shall find it to be so in Jacob--the light shining more and more unto -the perfect day; the last hour being the brightest. - -In the course of chapter xxxvii., which I have now reached, we are told -that the brethren of Joseph were gone to feed their flocks at Shechem. -But why was this recurrence to Shechem? Was it that the purchased land, -the family estate, was there?[20] It was a dangerous place to be -connected with. It had proved a snare to the whole family, and the Lord -had called them from it. Had Jacob been as watchful as he should have -been, we might not now have heard again of Shechem and of the flocks and -the brethren there. But still, it is happy to see that there were -symptoms of uneasiness in his mind about it; for he sends Joseph to find -out how the flocks and the brethren were faring there, as though there -were some misgiving in his heart about them in so suspected a place. And -this may be received as the pulse of a quickened state of soul in our -patriarch, though that pulse be but weak. - - [20] This parcel of ground, at last, becomes only a burying-place, like - Machpelah; but it had not, at first, been purchased as such, as - Machpelah was. - -So afterwards in chapter xliii., when he is sending away his sons, the -second time, into Egypt to buy food, he commits them into the hand of -the Lord as "God Almighty." "God Almighty," says he, "give you mercy -before the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin." -This also tells happily of Jacob's condition of soul--that in some -measure at least _he had recovered the power of that name which he had -once lost_, and which, as we saw, all the exercise through which he had -passed at Peniel had not given back to him. - -From these testimonies we may say that Jacob was under godly exercise, -by the hand of the Father of his spirit, in those early days. Beyond -this I need not notice him, till we see him preparing to go down to see -his son in Egypt before he die. But that moment was a very important -moment indeed in the progress of his soul--and we must meditate on it. - - -On his hearing that Joseph was yet alive, and governor over all the land -of Egypt, we read that his heart fainted, for he believed it not. It was -the Lord's doing--for so the fact was--but it was marvellous in Jacob's -eyes. He "believed not for joy, and wondered;" for this was receiving -Joseph alive from the dead. At first this was too much for him; but when -he saw the waggons which king Pharaoh had sent to bear him, and all that -belonged to him, down to Egypt, his spirit revived, and he said, without -further delay, "It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and -see him before I die." - -_Nature_ thus spake at once in Jacob, as soon as the report was -believed; and without further challenge he begins his journey to Egypt. -But a calmer moment, as we shall now see, succeeds this outburst or -ebullition of nature, and then the way of nature is challenged. - -"And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to -Beersheba, and offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac." - -This is remarkable. Why these sacrifices at Beersheba? There had been -none at Mamre, ere Jacob set out. Why, then, this halt at Beersheba, and -this service to the God of Isaac? - -This may at first be wondered at; but it will be found to be common -enough (I had almost said, necessary) in the ways of the people of God. - -_Nature_ had acted in Jacob at Mamre, as soon as he believed the report -about Joseph, and set him at once on the road to Egypt. But now the -_spiritual sensibilities_ have waked up, and are challenging the -conclusions and ways of nature. Very common this is. The _saint_ is now -feeling reserve, where the _father_ had felt none. Jacob had not dealt -with the Lord about this journey, as he was beginning it; but the mind -of Christ in him, his conscience in the Holy Ghost, so to speak, is now -taking the lead, and the judgment of nature is reviewed, and reviewed in -the light of the Lord. - -Many years before this the Lord had said to Isaac, Go not down into -Egypt (xxvi. 2); and this had been said to Isaac in a day of famine, -like the present. And this is remembered by Jacob as soon as he reaches -Beersheba, the last spot in the southern quarters of the land, which lay -in the way to Egypt, and in the view of which was stretched out that -country to which Isaac had thus been warned not to go. - -All this accounts to me for Jacob's sacrifices at Beersheba to the God -of his father Isaac. And all this has great moral meaning in it. It was -a mighty stir in Jacob's soul, and it was very acceptable to the Lord. -As we find in the day of the siege of Samaria. The poor lepers outside -the city immediately feed themselves and gather for themselves among the -tents of the Syrians. It was natural, almost necessary, that they should -do so. But soon afterwards another mind begins to stir in them, as here -in our patriarch, and they say, We do not well: this day is a day of -good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, -some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and -tell the king's household. 2 Kings vii. This was the action of a better -mind, like this present stir in Jacob's spirit. And this awakening in -Jacob is so acceptable with the Lord, that He comes at once to him with -these words of consolation, "I am God, the God of thy father: fear not -to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I -will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up -again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." - -When we consider this for a moment, we may well say, What a -communication this was! How thoroughly did it let Jacob know that the -Lord had read _all_ his heart, his present fears and his earlier -affections, the mind of the father and the mind of the saint, the -desires of nature and the sensibilities of the spirit. "Fear not to go -down into Egypt" calmed the present uneasiness of his renewed mind; -"Joseph shall surely put his hand upon thy eyes," gratified the earlier -desire of his heart over his long-lost child. How full all this was! How -perfectly did it prove the reality of the sympathy of Christ with _all_ -that was stirring in His elect one! Jacob found pity in Him, and grace -for seasonable help. "When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou -knewest my path," was said by David, and is here surely understood by -Jacob. The groan that was not uttered by him in man's ear, had, in _all_ -its meaning, entered the ear of Him who searcheth the heart. And after -this, Jacob can no longer halt at Beersheba, or question his further -journey to Egypt. - -He accomplishes it; and his first sight of Joseph, as we might have -expected, and as the Lord would have fully warranted it to be, was the -occasion of fullest joy to his long-bereaved heart. And I would here -observe, that I have felt, as to Jacob in these his last years, that he -had become a very _affectionate_ old man; and this is a happy -impression, another witness of an improved state of heart. For a -calculating man, such as he had been in the habits and activities of his -life, is commonly, and somewhat of moral necessity, wanting in -thoughtfulness and desire respecting others. He is too much, of course, -his own object. But now it is not thus with Jacob. His grief at the loss -of Joseph was intense. He bewails Simeon bitterly as well, and seems -ready to brave the horrors of famine, rather than hazard the loss of any -more of the children. And then, at the close of these years, his -adoption of the sons of Joseph, his sympathy with Joseph in his sorrow -over the preference of the younger, his reference to Rachel and her -burial at Ephrath, and his mention of Leah, and of his fathers and their -wives in connection with Machpelah, all is from a loving heart. And the -general grief which his death occasioned would tell us that he had been, -in the midst of the people, a loved, affectionate old man. It is -delightful to mark all this. - -But with all this we find him, in his own person and ways, very much the -same widowed, solitary man in Egypt as we saw him to have been for years -in Canaan ere he came out. Only it was thus under very strong temptation -to be otherwise; for he maintained his strangership, though he now had -opportunity to make the earth again the scene of his efforts and -expectations. For we like _reflected_ dignity. We know the charms of it -full well. If nature were given its way, we would be making the most of -our parentage, and connections, and set off before others our alliance -with that which is honourable in our generation. Jacob, in Egypt, had -some of the very best opportunities for indulging his heart in that way. -His son was then the pride of that land. Joseph was the second man in -the kingdom, and Joseph was Jacob's son. Here was a temptation to Jacob -to come forth and show himself to the world. Joseph's father would have -been an object. Would not all eyes be upon him? Would not place be given -to him and way made for him, whenever or wherever he appeared? Nature -would have said, If Jacob had such opportunities, let him show himself -to the world. The spirit of the world must have suggested that; as long -afterwards to a greater than Jacob, who had no _reflected_ glories to -exhibit, but all _personal_ glories. "If thou do these things, shew -thyself to the world." See John vii. 4. But, in the spirit of one who, -in his way, had overcome the world, Jacob continues a retired man -through all his life of seventeen years in Egypt. He was a stranger, -where every human attraction joined in tempting him to be a citizen. - -To me, I own, this is exquisite fruit of a chastened mind, fruit of -divine discipline, the witness of a large participation of the holiness -of God, the holiness that suited the calling of God, the calling that -made Jacob a stranger and pilgrim on the earth. At Shechem he reminded -us of Lot in Sodom, but here he reminds us of Abraham in his victory -over all the offers of the king of Sodom. - -But with this separation from the world there is nothing of false -humility. In the midst of all this practical strangership he knows and -exercises his dignity under God. As he enters, and as he leaves the -presence of king Pharaoh (chap. xlvii.), he blesses him. This is to be -observed. As he stood there in the royal presence, he owned himself a -pilgrim on the earth, somewhat poor and weary too; but at his -introduction and on his exit he blesses him, as one who knew what he was -in the election and grace of God; for "without all contradiction the -less is blessed of the better." This is not what old Simeon did when he -had the infant of Bethlehem in his arms, but this is what old Jacob now -does, when he has the greatest man on the earth before him. He made no -requests of the king, though he might reasonably have expected whatever -he asked. He was silent as to all that Pharaoh or Egypt would do for -him, but he speaks as the better one blessing the less again and again. -This was like the chained prisoner of Rome before the dignitaries and -officers of Rome. Paul let Agrippa know--he let the Roman governor -know--that he, their prisoner, carried and owned the good thing, and -that he could wish no better wish for them all, than that they were as -he was. And this is faith that glorifies grace--the proper business of -faith--precious faith indeed, whether in a prisoner-apostle, or in an -exile stranger-patriarch. Rome and Egypt have the wealth and power of -the world, such as men will envy and praise, but Paul and Jacob carry a -secret with them that makes them speak another language. - -This is all full of meaning in our Jacob. The glory is hidden in an -earthen vessel, but it is there, and the vessel knows it to be there. -Jacob does nothing in those Egypt-years of his, to make history for the -world. He takes no part in its changes; its interests and progress are -lost upon him; he is at the disposal of others, taking what they may -give him, and being what they may make him; but he knows a secret that -takes his spirit above them. Others may flourish in Egypt, he only -spends the remnant of his days there. See xlvii. 27, 28. - -I own indeed that I stand in admiration of this way of the Lord, of the -Spirit of God, with Jacob. To such a life as his had been, most suited -was such an end as this now is. It is a poor thing that we should need -such a pause as this, at the end of the journey; but, if needed, it is -beautiful to see it fruitful, after this manner. During that long -husbandry of his soul under "the Father of spirits," that seventeen -years in Egypt, how commonly, I dare to suppose, did Jacob sit before -the Lord, meditating the past years, with some confusion of face; and -the fire would kindle then, and the refiner's work go on. - -But when these silent and retired years are about to close, we find him, -somewhat abruptly, stirring and earnest. It is with Joseph respecting -his burial. He will have Joseph not only promise, but swear, that he -will bury him in the land of his fathers. xlvii. 30. This is also very -beautiful. We never find him urgent about the conditions of his _life_ -in Egypt; he seems willing, as I said, to take what they give him and to -be what they make him; but as to his _burial_, he is, now, all urgency -and decision. He will have it confirmed to him by an oath, that his son -will take his dead body to that land which witnessed the promise of God -to him. He is earnest and peremptory now, as he was indifferent before. -For faith likes to read its title clear, full, and indefeasible. Abraham -would have the inheritance by _covenant_, as well as by _word_. Chap. -xv. Jacob now will have the burial, such a burial as is worthy of the -hopes of a child of Abraham, by _oath_, as well as by _promise_. - -All this shows us another Jacob than what we once knew him to be. He is -now partaker of God's holiness; his mind and character are in -consistency with the call of God. He is a stranger with God in the -earth, but in sure and certain hope of promised inheritance. This is -fruitfulness; I say not that it is service; but it is beautiful -fruitfulness in the inner man. - -In chapter xlviii. which follows, we get that one act in his life which -is signalized by the Spirit as the act of faith. See Heb. xi. 21. But -the whole chapter is beautiful. All is _grace_ on God's part, and all is -_faith_ in the heart of Jacob. For it is the proper business and duty of -_faith_ to accept the decisions of grace, and that is just what grace is -doing here. Grace adopts the sons of Joseph, who had no title in the -flesh, and takes them into the family of Abraham. Grace gives the place -and portion of the firstborn, the double portion, as though they were -Reuben and Simeon. Grace sets the younger of them above the elder. And -grace gives Joseph, or the adopted firstborn, an earnest of his coming -inheritance. To all this Jacob bows and is obedient. In faith he accepts -the decisions of grace. Nature may resent this; but Jacob is true to the -word of grace committed to him. Joseph was moved when Jacob was setting -Ephraim above Manasseh. Jacob feels for him; but he fulfils the word of -God committed to him, let nature be surprised or wounded as it may. He -does not listen to nature in his son Joseph, as he had listened to it on -a like occasion, years and years ago, in his mother Rebecca.[21] - - [21] In Joseph obtaining the rights of the firstborn, there is - something besides grace; but I do not notice it here. - -Surely this is beautiful: faith thus accepting the decisions of grace. -But in this, Jacob was also God's oracle. He was not only in faith -obedient to the purpose or counsel of grace, but he was used of God as a -vessel of His house, used to declare His mind, to represent and act His -purposes in these mysteries of grace, the _adoption_, and the -_inheritance_, and the _earnest_. - -And as this vessel was thus so fully approving itself fit for the -Master's use, it is still used. We still see him and hear him as God's -oracle, as we enter chapter xlix. He calls his twelve sons, and blesses -them. He delivers, under the Spirit, the words and judgments of God -touching them. But this was a very trying moment to him. It exceeds all -in what it cost him. In preferring Ephraim to Manasseh, he suffered -something. But he, who did not then attend to nature in his son, will -not now attend to it in himself. He goes through this sorrowful, -humbling scene, feeling it bitterly at certain stages of it; but he -still goes on with it and through it. He had now to retrace, under the -Spirit, and as the oracle of God, and in their presence, the ways of his -sons in past days, and the fruit of these ways in days still to come. He -had to do much of this with a wounded heart, and with recollections that -might well be deeply humbling. For these words upon his sons were a kind -of judgment upon himself for his past carelessness about his children. -But still he does go on and finishes his service, as the oracle of God, -and that too with such sympathies and affections as give us some further -beautiful witnesses of his purified state of soul. - -Levi's and Simeon's iniquity has to come before him. But he resents this -now in a way, no trace of which we find in him in the day when that -iniquity was perpetrated. It troubled him then because of the mischief -which it might work for him among his neighbours. "Ye have troubled me," -said he, "to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the -Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall -gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be -destroyed, I and my house." Chap. xxxiv. 30. This was the mind he was in -when he was a citizen in Shechem. But now it is on other ground -altogether, higher and purer ground, that his soul refuses this -iniquity. It was iniquity; that is enough; and he will not let his -honour be united with it. Then he opens his eyes on the uncleanness of -Reuben, just to be shocked by it. And then, as the backsliding of Dan is -summoned up before him, his whole soul is moved, and he is cast on the -hope of God's salvation, his only escape, the only escape which he would -own, from all that was around him, behind him, or before him. "Dan shall -be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's -heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy -salvation, O Lord." - -What affections and energies are here! How finely this vessel did its -service in the house of God! Poor David knew more than sorrow for the -loss of Absalom in the day of Absalom's fall. That slaying of his son -brought sin to remembrance. And here Jacob entered, with full personal -sympathies, into the counsels of God, and had his own part and share in -recollections that must have stirred the conscience. - -He not only announced these judgments of God, but felt them. He was not -a _mere_ vessel, but a _living_ vessel. And he was faithful to Him that -appointed him, though the service was, after this manner, full of -humbling and bitterness. - -We saw Jacob "dumb for a season." This we noticed as the character of -many years of our Patriarch's closing life. But his mouth had now been -opened by faith; and once opened, God uses him abundantly as His oracle. -This is like Zacharias, the Zacharias of Luke i. He also, as we know, -had been dumb for a season; but in faith he wrote his child's name upon -a writing-table, and then the Lord used him as His prophet. - - -Here the story ends; but I believe we have gathered the moral of it. The -Lord's hand with Jacob tells us how unwearied He is with His foolish and -wayward ones. It is _variety_, too, as well as _patience_, that we see -in this constant moral culture. Jacob had to learn different lessons; -and He, with whom he had to do, set Himself in patient grace to teach -them all to him. Bethel, Peniel, Bethel again, and Beersheba, witness -this, as we have seen. And then, throughout a changeful course, at home -and abroad, in youth and in manhood, among strangers or at the side of -his father and his mother, Jacob betrayed much that needed chastening, -and the lesson was taught him again and again. - -He reminds us of the disciples in the days of the Lord. In how many ways -had the Lord to correct and instruct them! And it was the same to the -end; and the patience of their divine Teacher was the same to the end. -The ignorance, the selfishness, the constant moral mistakes they made -and betrayed, the different ways in which they crossed the mind of their -Master, all glorify the goodness that waited on them. And it may remind -us also of Him who bore with Israel's manners in the wilderness for -forty years. And it may be also a remembrancer to ourselves of much of -that patience and grace which we are daily experiencing at the same -hand. - -Discipline, the discipline of a child, is illustrated in Jacob, as we -observed at the beginning, ere we began to consider his story, and as we -now have seen it to be. And discipline is healthful, and does good like -a medicine. If we need it, it is the _only_ thing for us. When in the -days of Samuel, Israel asked for a king, would it have been well for -them, if the Lord had given them David? The Lord had David in reserve -for them; but would it have been seasonable, would it have been -healthful for them, if David had been given to them at once, when with a -rebellious will they were asking for a king? Surely, they must first be -made to know the bitterness of their own way. A Saul must be given when -Israel asks a king. This was discipline, and this was the only thing -that would have been healthful for them. But when they have tasted the -bitterness of their own way, in pity of their misery, the Lord will -bring out that which He has in reserve for them, the man after His own -heart that shall fulfil all His pleasure. - -How perfect was all this! Had David been given to Israel in the day of 1 -Sam. xi. the whole moral of the story would have been lost to us. But -the love is the same, whether it be discipline or consolation, medicine -or food. - -This is the characteristic lesson we learn from the story of our -patriarch. - -With Machpelah and his burial, Jacob then _ends_ these dying -intercourses with his sons, as he had _begun_ them. xlvii. 29, xlix. 29. -He had Joseph's word and oath already on this matter, and now he must -put all of them under the same engagements to him about it. Death was -more important to him than life. Life kept him in Egypt, death would -restore him to Canaan. Death linked him with the God and the promise of -his fathers. The hopes of faith lay beyond life, and outside Egypt. In -spirit he was saying, Absent from the body, present with the Lord; -"Confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to -be present with the Lord." As far as patriarchal faith could utter this, -Jacob was uttering it. And at the very last we read, "When Jacob had -made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the -bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." - -It was surely no barren or unfruitful time he had spent in Egypt. Though -to him and to his hands the business of life was all over, he was not -_rusting_ out, as we had to say of Isaac. Jacob's silence was husbandry. -We rejoice in these last days as his best days. We rejoice still more in -the grace which provided this pause for him at the end of his journey, -that, in the language of the Psalmist, he might recover strength before -he went hence, and was no more seen. - -Gracious indeed is it towards all of us His elect ones, to have such a -sight as this, such a specimen (may I so call it?) of divine patience, -wisdom, and goodness, as this. It is peculiar indeed, having its own -place amid the infinite forms and characters which grace assumes in -relation to the need of the saints. Jacob's last days were his golden -days. To others, to their flocks and herds, Egypt was a land of Goshen; -but it was not to Jacob's flocks and herds, for we do not read that he -had any; but it was to Jacob's _soul_ that Egypt was a Goshen, the very -richest, fairest, best-watered land his spirit had ever enjoyed. It was -more really the gate of heaven to him than Bethel had been. It was more -the face of God to him than Peniel had been. He had the Lord in secret -and in silence with him there, but in real, living power. With all that -would naturally have kept him at home on the earth he was a stranger. In -Egypt Jacob was a delivered, extricated man, as from the beginning and -all through he had been a chosen and a called one. - -Are we learning that which God was teaching him there? Are we seeking, -with more single heart, the portion of God's strangers and pilgrims, -thinking rather of Machpelah than of Egypt, of the rapture that links us -with the promise, than of all the daily growing prosperity of this -present evil world? - - - - - JOSEPH. - - GENESIS XXXVII.-L. - - -Joseph becomes principal in the narratives of the Book of Genesis as -soon as we reach chap. xxxvii., and so continues, I may say, to the end. -So that I now propose to close with this paper on "Joseph," referring to -the others, entitled "Enoch," "Noah," "Abraham," "Isaac," "Jacob," as if -they had been already read. - - -Joseph's story has its peculiarity in the midst of the things of -Genesis--its own mystery, and its characteristic moral; as the others -have. _Election_, as we have seen, was illustrated in Abraham; -_sonship_, or the adoption of the elect one, in Isaac; _discipline_ of -the adopted one in Jacob; and now in Joseph, _heirship_ is to be. - -All this is a divine order. - -And, consistently with this, in Joseph we get sufferings before glories, -or before the inheritance of the kingdom; all this realizing that word -of the apostle, "If children, then heirs ... if so be that we suffer -with Him, that we may be also glorified together." - -For while discipline attaches to us as children, sufferings go before us -as heirs; and this gives us the distinction between Jacob and Joseph. It -is discipline we see in Jacob, discipline leading him as a child, under -the hand of the Father of his spirit, to a participation of God's -holiness. It is sufferings, martyr-sufferings, sufferings for -righteousness, we see in Joseph, marking his path to glories. - -And this is the crowning thing; and thus it comes as the closing thing, -in this wondrous Book of Genesis--after this manner perfect in its -structure, as it is truthful in its records. One moral after another is -studied, one secret after another is revealed, in the artless family -scenes which constitute its materials; and in them we learn our calling, -the sources and the issues of our history, from our election to our -inheritance. - -Thus is it for our learning in this Book of Genesis. - - -But as yet, while we are in this Book, there is no _law_. We are taught -that this was so in Romans v. 13, 14. But we might have perceived it for -ourselves. Because, in dispensational age, so to speak, the time of this -Book was the time of _infancy_. The elect were as children who had never -left home, never as yet been under a schoolmaster. - -Neither is there any _miracle_. I mean no miracle by the hand of man. -For power would no more have suited such hands, than law or a -schoolmaster would have suited such an age. And, besides, there was no -mission or apostleship to seal. Miracles or "signs following" were not -demanded as credentials of a mission. But as soon as we leave this Book, -and enter Exodus, we get a mission or an apostleship, and then we get -miracles, as seals, to accredit it. - -So that what we do not get is just as fitting, from its absence, as what -we do get. Neither power nor law would have been in season, and -accordingly neither power nor law do we get. - -But I will now pass on to Joseph, or to chapters xxxvii.-l. - -The materials which we find in these chapters, and which form the -history of Joseph, may be separated into four parts: - - 1. His early times at home in his father's house, in the land - of Canaan. - 2. His life, as a separated man, in Egypt. - 3. His recovery of his kindred, his father and his brethren, - and the results of such recovery. - 4. His latter times in the land of Egypt till the day of his - death. - -This may be received as the contents of this wondrous story. The way in -which it is told has been witnessed to by the sympathies and -sensibilities of thousands of hearts in every generation. - - -_Part I._ (xxxvii. xxxviii.)--As soon as we enter on the history, the -heir is at once and immediately seen in Joseph. His dreams are dreams of -_glory_. But _sufferings_ as quickly form his present reality. - -The story begins by Joseph being a witness both _to_ and _against_ his -brethren. He tells his father of their evil deeds, and he tells -themselves of his dreams. I cannot blame him in either. I say not how -far nature may have soiled him in the doing of these things; but the -testimonies themselves were, I believe, under divine authority. There -was One who was all perfection, as I need not say, in everything He did -or said, and He bore witness against the world, and to His own glories. -A want of season and of measure may have soiled these services in -Joseph; for a thing out of season and beyond its measure, though right -in itself, has contracted defilement. A vessel in the master's house, at -times, has to _hide_, as well as to _hold_, the treasure that is in it, -and should know where, and when, and how, to use it. David had the oil -of Samuel, the anointing of the Lord, upon him, and he knew that the -kingdom was to be his, but he veiled his glory till Abigail, by faith, -owned it. And in this David may have surpassed Joseph. I say not that it -was not so. But to tell of what his dreams or his visions in the Spirit -had communicated to him, was of God. - -And hence his sufferings. The Lord marks him as the heir of glory; he -speaks of the goodness he had found, and of the high purpose of God -concerning him, and his brethren hate him. They envy him; and who can -stand before envy? They had already begrudged him his father's favour, -and now they hate him for God's. They hate him for his words and for his -dreams; and when in the field together (as of old, it had been with Cain -and Abel), they take counsel whether to slay him, to cast him into a -pit, or to sell him to strangers. - -And this was at a time when he was serving them. He had come a long way -to inquire after their welfare, and take their pledge, and to carry them -blessings from their father's house with their father's love. Such a -moment was their opportunity. It was not as the bearer of good tidings -that they received him; but "Behold, this dreamer cometh," they say. -"This is the heir" (Matt. xxi. 38); that was the spirit of their words. -For envy they deliver them; for his love they are his enemies; and at -last they sell him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. - -There may be different measures in the common enmity; but in a great -moral sense they are all one generation. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn, -and we may suppose that he judged himself more answerable to the aged -father for the lad, than any of them. He saves Joseph from the sword, -and Judah proposes a sale of him to the merchantmen, in the stead of the -pit. After such manners as these there are measures in the common -enmity. As some said of Jesus, "He is a good man;" others, "Nay, but He -deceiveth the people." In the parable of "the marriage of the king's -son," some went to the farm, and some to the merchandize, while others -were taking the servants and killing them. But the Lord speaks of all as -of one generation. "The _remnant_ of them," He says, "took his servants -and slew them." The Judge of all the earth will surely do right, and -sins will get their many stripes and their few stripes, but _the world_ -has cast out Jesus, and the world is the world; as here, all are the -guilty brethren of Joseph; and, as the issue of their counsels and of -their common hatred, he is sold to the merchantmen, and by them is -carried down to the market of Egypt, for further and profitable sale -there. - -It is the heartlessness of all this that is specially shocking; and it -is that which the prophet Amos, under the Holy Ghost, so solemnly -notices in his reference to the affliction of Joseph. Chap. vi. And we, -though at this distant day, may take our share of the rebuke of the -prophet for like heartlessness, if we can willingly love the world which -cast out the true Joseph. And what must we say, when we look on the -boasted advance of everything in that world, the constant skill that is -exercised in sweeping and garnishing that house which is stained with -the blood of Jesus? The beds of ivory, the sound of the viols, the wine, -and the chief ointments, were never so abundant as in these days. And if -we can take up with life in such a world, are we true, as we ought to -be, to the cross of Christ? A heartless heart we have, and a heartless -world we live in, as it is heartless brethren of Joseph we are here -looking at. One knows it for one's self full well; and surely, I may -again say, it is this heartlessness that is principally shocking to -ourselves (if one may speak for others), as it was to the Spirit in -Amos. We are not "grieved for the affliction of Joseph," we are not true -to the rejection of Christ. _Worldliness is heartlessness to Him._ - -What depths there are in the corruption that is in us! As here, they -dipped the favoured coat, the coat that the old father had put on -Joseph, they dipped it in blood, and sent it to their father with these -words: "This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or -no." This is the language of Cain: "Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain was -laying the burthen of Abel's blood on the Lord, intimating by these -words that the Lord should have been Abel's keeper, seeing He had had -such respect to him and his offering. So these words of Joseph's -brethren seem to lay the burthen of Joseph's blood upon the aged father, -who, if he loved him as well as this coat seemed to say he did, should -have looked after him better than this blood seemed to say he had. - -What depths, indeed, in the revolted, corrupted heart of man! What -discoveries of these depths temptation makes at times! They sinned, in -all this, against their aged father, and against their unoffending -brother, at a time when the love of the one had counselled, and the love -of the other had undertaken, a mission to them of grace and blessing; as -is said of a generation which they represent both morally and typically, -"They please not God, and are contrary to all men." - -Dark deeds indeed! Joseph's blood is upon themselves, let them seek to -hide it as they may; and the day is before them when their sin shall -find them out, and this blood upon Joseph's coat shall be a swift -witness against them. For the present they do but prosper in wickedness, -that they may fill up their measure. The course of Joseph's history is -interrupted, that we might get this sight of them during Joseph's -separation from them. Chap. xxxviii. affords it to us. And it is indeed -apostasy, full departure from "the way of the Lord," in which Abraham -had walked, and in which he had commanded his children and his household -after him to walk. Judah deals treacherously, marrying the daughter of -Shuah. The way of the Lord is utterly despised and forsaken by Judah. -Still grace gets pledge here. Pharez is a second supplanter. The hope of -Israel is in the womb, a blessing is in the cluster; but truly it is -such a cluster of a wild vine as might well be doomed to the sickle, if -sovereign, abounding grace did not say, Destroy it not. Isa. lxv. 8; -Matt. i. 3. - -And such is the sin of the nation of Israel, as of this, their own -father Judah; and such the grace in which the nation shall stand in the -latter day. Grace shall then reign in the story of Israel, as it now -does in the person of every saint, elected in the sovereign good -pleasure of God, and made a monument of the saving power of Christ. - -We may not be prepared for this grace of God in some of its surpassing -exhibitions. We may be less prepared for it than we think. Jonah was -not, Ananias was not, Peter was not. Jonah iv.; Acts ix. and x. We are -not always practised, skilful weigh-masters in the use of the balances, -the weights and measures of the sanctuary. Are the heartlessness of -chap. xxxvii., and the defilement of chap. xxxviii., and that, too, when -found together, too bad? I ask. After all this are we prepared for -"repentance and remission of sins" in the grace of God? The moral sense, -the natural conscience, self-righteousness, the laws of society, and the -judgments of men, supply us with false weights and measures, and we -carry them about with us more than we are aware of. But they are an -abomination. Deut. xxv. 16. In our thoughts, the way of the harlot and -the publican are worse than the easy, respectable course of the world. -Had we the balances of the sanctuary, we should assay things otherwise. -"That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of -God." - - -_Part II._ (xxxix.-xli.)--In these chapters, which give us the second -part, according to our division, we have the life of Joseph while he was -a separated man in the land of Egypt. - -During this time we shall see the beginning of his day, or his -exaltation. But ere that come, we are to witness his further -sufferings--his sufferings at the hand of _strangers_. - -We may, somewhat naturally, have the thought that _the Jew_ is specially -guilty, as far as the moral history of this world goes--specially -answerable for sin against the Lord. But in this we are not fully wise. -The Jew had, indeed, a special hand in the sorrows of Christ; and, -nationally, Israel is under special judgment. But the Gentile is a -distinct, not a different man. The ministry of our Lord Jesus tested -"the world," as well as "His own." The record touching the cross is -this, Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, -both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of -Israel, were gathered together. Acts iv. All were guilty there. As the -apostle of the Gentiles, in his doctrine, says, the whole world has -become guilty before God. Jew and Gentile are all alike proved under -sin. Rom. iii. - -Our present chapters suggest this. Joseph's affliction, begun among his -brethren, is now continued among strangers. His brethren had already -hated him, and put him in the pit, and thence taken him to sell him as a -bond-slave; an evil woman of the Egyptians now falsely accuses him, and -he is put in prison, and then another Egyptian, whom he had served and -befriended, forgets him and leaves him. But, however it may be with him, -whether at home or abroad, God is with him. This becomes the very -characteristic of his history. Chapter xxxix.; Acts vii. For, in His way -with His elect, God's _sympathy_ comes first, and then His _power_, the -sympathy which accompanies them through their sorrow, and then the power -which delivers them out of it. We are prone to desire present ease, and -would have all inconvenience and contradiction removed at once. But this -is not _His_ way. When at Bethany "Jesus wept;" and afterwards, but not -till afterwards, He said, "Lazarus, come forth." Nature would have had -the death, which had called forth the tears, anticipated. We judge that -we might have been spared many a trial, and we reason it out as a clear, -unquestioned conclusion, that God had power. As the friends of the -family at Bethany said, Could not this man, that opened the eyes of the -blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? But they -reasoned imperfectly, because they reasoned partially; that is, only on -the _power_ of Christ. - -We ought to (and we should, had we but bowels in Christ) very chiefly -value the age or dispensation of His sympathy; it gives _Himself_ to us -in so peculiar a way. And this sympathy was eminently Joseph's, in this -day of his affliction. As we said, that "God was with him" is -characteristic of his condition. And he had abundant evidence of this. -As soon as he is in Potiphar's house, all under his hand, committed to -him by his master, prospers. And change of scene works no change in -this; for as soon as he is in prison, the same record we read of him, -and the same circumstances we see around him. The keeper of the prison -puts the same confidence in him that Potiphar his master had; and under -his hand in the prison all things prosper, as they had in the Egyptian's -house. So that Joseph had full witness from God, that God was sufficient -for him. - -It was not for such an one to leave the help of the Lord for the help of -the creature. But Joseph craves the remembrance and the sympathy of the -butler, and would have him give him a good word with the king his -master. - -This was natural. Joseph had befriended the butler of the king, and such -an one was able to befriend him. His craving of his sympathy is not to -be condemned on any natural, human, or even moral grounds. But whether -it was quite worthy of _Joseph_ to do so may be questioned, whether it -was quite the way which _faith_ would have suggested. - -And it comes to nothing. The butler, as we know, forgets him, and he is -left for two long years in the prison. For God will still be everything -to him. Help shall come, but it shall come from Himself. With the Lord, -the heaviness of the night is sure to yield to the joy of the morning; -and ere this season of his separation from his brethren came to an end, -Joseph is released, and blessed, and honoured. It becomes the -budding-time of his glories. - -Excellent things indeed are found in the condition of the separated -Joseph, such things as bear our thoughts to Him who is the greater than -Joseph. I would just observe four of them. - -1. There is great _moral beauty_ in him. He was a Nazarite then, as pure -an one as Daniel in like circumstances, a captive among the -uncircumcised, maintaining his circumcision, his separation to God, -unspotted. 2. There is _precious spiritual gift_ in him. He was a vessel -in God's house, carrying the mind of Christ, and ministering that mind -as an oracle of God; like Daniel again, interpreting dreams, and making -known even to kings, though still in his day of humiliation, what was -coming upon the earth. 3. There is the _right hand of power and dignity -for him_. He is seated nearest the throne, and put in possession of -those resources on which his own brethren, who had cast him out, and the -whole world beside, are destined ere long to depend for preservation in -the earth. 4. There is _joy, peculiar joy, prepared for him_. The king -makes a marriage for him, and he becomes the head of a family among the -Gentiles; and this is a source of such joy to him, that he can, in some -sense, as the names of his children tell us, forget his kindred, and -even rejoice in his affliction. - -Surely these are excellent things found in the condition of Joseph while -separated from his brethren. And in them we see the Lord Himself in this -present age, the season of His separation from Israel. A child might -trace the likeness; but He, who reveals to babes and sucklings, has led -the way in this. In Stephen's wondrous word, in Acts vii., we get Joseph -and others put in kindred place and circumstances with the Lord, who is -there called "the Just One." And this is so full of interest, that -though it be but incidental, we must turn aside for a little, and listen -to that great voice of the Spirit of God. - - -Stephen appears but for a moment in the course of the divine history; -but it is to fill a very eminent and distinguished place. The occasion -on which he is seen, and on which he acts, is full of meaning. Jewish -enmity was again doing its dark deeds, and the God of glory was again -disclosing His brighter purposes. - -Stephen is another witness of the Lord passing from earth to heaven, -leaving the earth for a season in its unbelief and apostasy, and calling -out a people for heavenly places. - -Stephen's was another separating era. Abraham's had been such, and so -had Joseph's, and so had that of Moses, and that of "the Just One," -Jesus. The occasion of the separation from kindred to strangers, (and -that is, from earth to heaven,) may be different, but it is alike -separation. Abraham was separated, because God was leaving a defiled -world unjudged; and unjudged defilement God cannot make His habitation, -nor allow it to be the habitation of His elect. The world after the -flood had defiled itself, and the Lord was leaving it in its defilement, -not purifying it by a second flood; and therefore He becomes a stranger -in it Himself, and calls His elect out of it with Him. Thus Abraham is a -separated man. Joseph in his day was another; separated from home and -kindred, like Abraham; and so Moses. But Joseph and Moses were not -separated like Abraham, simply by the call of God out of unjudged -defilement, but by the enmity and persecutions of their brethren. And so -Jesus, "His own," and the world made by Him refused Him, and would not -know Him. Wicked hands slew Him, and the heavens received Him. And so -Stephen. - -Stephen is, thus, in company with these separated ones, Abraham, Joseph, -Moses, and "the Just One." And he is naturally directed by the Spirit, -to go over their histories in this wondrous chapter. And these separated -ones have, at different eras or intervals, in the progress of God's way -upon earth, marked out or foreshadowed His higher or richer purposes -touching heaven. For their times, as we speak, were _transitional_. - -Stephen's was such. Till his day, the scene in "the Acts of the -Apostles" is laid in _the earth_. In chapter i. the risen Lord had -spoken to His apostles of "the kingdom of God." In the same chapter the -angels had withdrawn the eyes of the men of Galilee, as they call the -disciples, from gazing up into heaven, under the promise that Jesus -should return to earth. When the Holy Ghost is given, as in chapter ii., -under His baptism it is of things in the earth that the apostles speak. -They testify that Jesus was to sit at the right hand of God in heaven, -till His foes on earth were made His footstool. They then preach, that -upon the repentance of Israel Jesus would return to earth with times of -refreshing and restitution, and that He was exalted to give repentance -and remission of sins to Israel. Israel is, thus, the people, and the -earth the scene, contemplated in the action or testimony of the Spirit -in the apostles in these earliest chapters. - -But Jewish enmity again takes its way, as it had done in many other -days, even from the beginning; and divine grace takes its way also, as -it had also done in such other days. And Stephen, under the Spirit of -God, takes such a moment as his text. He looks back at the way of the -nation, uncircumcised in heart and ear, resisting the Lord in one or -another of His witnesses; and he looks back also at the way of the God -of glory calling into new and peculiar blessing those whom either -earthly pollution or Jewish enmity was separating or casting out. - -Thus his own condition at that moment was his text, just as the -condition of things in chapter ii. had been Peter's text. Peter preached -from the gift of tongues; Stephen, as I may say, from his own face then -shining like the face of an angel, and from the enmity of the Jews that -was then pressing him and threatening him. The Spirit in Stephen takes -up the moment. It was a transitional moment. It was the hour of the -shining face and of the murderous stones, of the earth's enmity and of -the still brighter, richer discoveries of grace calling to heaven. And -Stephen looks back to other histories, histories of other elect ones, -who had already filled up kindred moments in the way of God. For the -people of the earth are now withstanding God in him, as they had -withstood Him in others. As he tells them, they were always resisting -the Holy Ghost; the children and the fathers were alike in this, -throughout all generations of the nation. - -Thus, in Stephen, we are called to witness another great transitional -moment. It is such a moment in the Book of the Acts, as Joseph's was in -the Book of Genesis. This links Stephen and Joseph, and gives natural -occasion to the Holy Ghost in Stephen to make reference, as He does, to -Joseph. But if the earth is refusing Stephen a place, as his brethren -had refused Joseph a place in the land of his fathers, heaven shall open -to Stephen. Grace in God shall be active as enmity in man is active--and -the eater shall yield meat. And heaven does therefore open in Acts vii. -A ray from thence finds its way out, and gently yet brightly falls upon -the face of Stephen, as the people of the earth were casting him out. -And thus sealed from heaven and for heaven, he speaks of heaven, and -heaven itself opens to him, and then the Holy Ghost Himself guides his -eye right upward to heaven, and then his spirit is received of the Lord -Jesus into heaven. All is heaven. Stephen gets the pledge or earnest of -it first, then the sight of it in its wide-opened glories, and then his -place in it with Jesus. - -Nothing can exceed, while still in the body, the brightness of such a -moment. It was the Transfiguration of the Book of the Acts of the -Apostles. It was beyond the measure of the patriarch's Bethel; for here -the top of the ladder was disclosed, and Stephen was taught to know his -place to be there with the Lord, and not at the foot of it merely with -Jacob. The moment was transitional, which the time of Genesis xxviii. -was not. It had its forecasting rather in the rejected, outcast Joseph -finding his richer joys and brighter honours among the distant Gentiles -in Egypt. Or rather, if we please, Joseph's history and Stephen's -history, are, each of them in its day and its different way, the -foreshadowing and the pledge of that glory and inheritance in heaven to -which the Church, the election of this age, is called. - -Simply and necessarily, therefore, are Joseph and Stephen linked -together, as we find in Acts vii. Each of them filled the same -transitional place--more vividly marked indeed in Stephen, and properly -so--but each of them filled it. All was new and heavenly, as we have -seen, with Stephen. It is not _downwards_ but _upwards_ he is commanded -to look. The angels had told the men of Galilee in chapter i. to take -their eyes off from heaven; the Spirit Himself bade Stephen, in chapter -vii., to direct his eye right up to heaven. The glory of the terrestrial -had been one, the glory of the celestial is now another. Even the gift -of Tongues had not pledged heaven to the disciples in chapter ii. There -was no transfiguration then, no face shining like the face of an angel. -The Holy Ghost was upon the assembly in Jerusalem, but the assembly -itself was not in sight of heaven as its home and inheritance. But -Stephen was on the confines of the two worlds. His body was the victim -of the enmity of man's world, his spirit was about to be received amid -the glories of Christ's world. He was rejected by his brethren, accepted -by God. All was transitional--and fitly does he look back to Joseph and -to Moses, who had been in such a place before him. - -And here let me say, suggested by this allusion to Joseph and others in -Acts vii., that we are not to be surprised by this typical or parabolic -character of Old Testament histories. Quite otherwise. We ought to be -fully prepared for it; and that, too, on a very simple principle. God, -acting in these histories (we speak to His praise) acts in them (surely) -_according to Himself and His counsels_. And, consequently, these -histories become so many revelations of Himself, and of the purposes He -is bringing to pass. - -An assurance of the inspiration of the narrative does not, therefore, in -the full sense, give us _God_ in the narrative. There is purpose as well -as veracity in it--there is an "ensample" as well as inspiration. "These -things happened to them for ensamples." They happened as they are -recorded. There is historic truth in them. But God brought them to pass, -in order that they might be "ensamples;" and till we find this ensample, -that is, the divine purpose in the history, we have not got God in it. -We are to go to these narratives, be they those of Joseph or any other, -very much in the mind with which the Prophet had to go to the house of -the potter. Jer. xviii. He was to see a _real work_ there; vessels made -by the hand and skill of the workman. But there was a _lesson_ in the -work, as well as a reality. There was a parable in it; for the Prophet -had to see God Himself at the wheel, as well as the potter. So in these -histories which we get in Scripture. There is reality in them, exact -truthfulness, such as inspiration secures. But there is meaning also; -and till we discover that, and learn God and His purpose in the history, -we have not really as yet gone down to the potter's house. - -But this is only by the way, suggested by the use which the Spirit -Himself, through Stephen, makes of the Old Testament stories of Abraham, -Joseph, and Moses, in that marvellous chapter, Acts vii. - - -_Part III._ (xlii.-lvii.)--We now come to Joseph's recovery of his -father and his brethren, and its consequences. - -Among the things which gave character to Joseph and his circumstances, -while he was separated from his brethren, we observed this, that he was -put into possession of those resources on which his brethren themselves -and all the world beside were to depend for preservation in the earth. -The set time for the world drawing on these resources has now arrived; -and with that, the set time for Joseph's restoration to his brethren. - -Joseph is now in authority. His day of humiliation and sorrow is over. -He is at the right hand of the throne of Egypt, and the great executor -of all rule and power in the land. None can lift up hand or foot without -him. He has received the king's ring, and he rides in the second -chariot. He is the treasurer and dispenser of all the wealth of the -nation, the one who opened or shut all its storehouses at his pleasure. -He that _was_ in the pit _is_ on the throne. - -This is Joseph _as_ in resurrection. I say _as_ in resurrection. For the -thing itself--resurrection from the dead--had to wait for the day of the -Son of the living God, who was to be, in His own person, alive from the -dead. But though we could not have "the very image" of this great -mystery, yet we have "shadows" of it, both in certain ordinances of the -law, and in certain histories of the elect. The dead and the living -birds of Leviticus xiv., and the two goats of Leviticus xvi., are among -such ordinances; and such historical scenes as the unbinding of Isaac -from the altar on Mount Moriah, or Jonah's deliverance from the whale's -belly, set forth the same. And so does this season in Joseph's history, -being the day of his power and authority in Egypt after his sore -troubles in the pit and in the prison. It is Joseph _as_ in -resurrection. - -The Spirit of God, in chap. xlix., using Jacob as His oracle, looks back -at Joseph in this condition, and celebrates him accordingly. "Joseph is -a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over -the wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and -hated him: but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were -made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." And having spoken -this of Joseph, the Spirit uses it as a figure of a Greater than Joseph; -for Jacob adds, "From thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." We -have Christ in Joseph. The risen Christ is seen as in a figure here. All -power is now in Him, in heaven and on earth. He is seated at the right -hand of the Majesty on high. His title to the resources of creation is -sure, sealed by the dignity of the place He now fills. And the resources -which He now _owns_, by-and-by He will _use_ for Israel and for the -whole earth, after the pattern of this mystery of Joseph. This we are -now about to see. - -The famine begins, and the opening of Joseph's storehouses begins, at -the close of chap. xli. But the scene is then changed for a season; and -the story of the brethren's repentance and acceptance is let in, as a -kind of episode. But there is wonderful beauty in this. Because the -restitution of all things waits, as we know, for the repentance and -fulness of Israel. So that this introduction of the new matter, by way -of an episode, in chapters xlii.-xlvi., is full of beauty and meaning; -and the scene in Egypt, and the full opening of Joseph's stores for that -land and the whole earth, are resumed in due season afterwards, in -chapter xlvii. For, "what shall the receiving of them be, but life from -the dead?" asks the apostle, tracing, under the Spirit, the story of -Israel. Rom. xi. "If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and -the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their -fulness?" So that we are prepared for this repentance of the brethren -going before the full blessing of the earth. - -Over this operation, this process of the softening of their hearts under -the hand of Joseph, it would be impossible not to tarry for a while. I -must therefore do so. Our own hearts would need something, if we were -not alive to this scene, to admire and enjoy it, and be thankful for it; -so full is it of the most exquisite touches of true affection, so -profound in the disclosure of the moral principles of our nature, and so -important in the sight it gives us of the workmanship of God by His -Spirit leading sinners, through conviction and the sense of their ruined -state, to repentance and newness of life. - - -The scene of this workmanship of God is laid in a season of need and -sorrow, as is common in the ways of the God of all grace. For He does -not refuse to be sought by us, when we have no help for it. It was thus -with the prodigal; it is thus with Joseph's brethren; and it will, I -doubt not, be found by-and-by to have been thus with a goodly portion of -those who are to praise His name in glory for ever. The prodigal had no -help for it, and back to his father and his father's house he must go. -Joseph's brethren have no help for it now, and down to Egypt and Egypt's -storehouses they must go. Mean it may be, base it may be, in the heart -of man thus to turn to God, when all else is gone. But the Lord will be -found by this base and selfish heart. He will condescend to enter, as -some one speaks, by these despised doors of nature. For twenty long -years Joseph's brethren had lived easy and prosperous, with goods laid -up, and blessings plentiful around them, and Joseph and his sorrows had -all been forgotten. For a time the prodigal had his money, the portion -of his father's goods that had fallen to him; and with his money, as -long as it lasted, he took his pleasure, his back turned upon his -father. But famine touches "the far country" and "the land of Canaan," -and then, whether they will or not, the father's house and Joseph's -stores must be sought. See Hosea v. 15. - -Thus the scene opens, and Joseph's brethren come down to Egypt to buy -food. - -As soon as Joseph saw them, he knew them. He "remembered the dreams -which he had dreamed of them." But upon this he at once set himself to -the task of restoring their souls. See xlii. 9. - -Strange, and yet beautiful and excellent! His dreams had merely exalted -him above them. Had he sought, therefore, simply to make good those -dreams when he thus remembered them, he might at once have revealed -himself, and, as the favoured sheaf in the field, or as the sun, the -ruling sun, in the heavens, have had them on their faces before him. But -to restore their souls, instead of exalting himself, becomes at once his -purpose. This was the counsel he took in his heart, as he surveyed the -moment when he might have realized his own greatness and their -humiliation, according to his dreams. How truly excellent and blessed is -this! There was One, in after-days, who, when He took knowledge that He -had come from God and went to God, and that the Father had put all -things into His hands, rose and girded Himself, and began to wash His -disciples' feet. The knowledge of His dignities only led Him to wait on -the need of His saints. Who can speak the character of such a moment? -But Joseph here, in the far distance, reminds me of it. "He remembered -his dreams," dreams which exalted him, and that only; and yet he turns -himself at once to the defiled feet, the guilty hearts, the unclean -consciences, of his brethren, that he might heal, and wash, and restore -them. - -Strange, again I say. There was no connection between such remembrance -and such action, save as grace, divine grace, of which Joseph was the -witness, is known; save as the Jesus of John xiii. is understood. - -"Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto -them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come." This -was taking them up for the good work (though the process be humbling and -painful) of restoring their souls. The conscience must be faithfully -dealt with, if anything be done. And Joseph aims at it at once. He makes -himself strange to them. He speaks to them by an interpreter, and he -speaks roughly. He must get their conscience into action, let it cost -himself in personal feeling what it may. His love, for the present, must -be firm; its hour for melting and tenderness is before it. It shall be -_gratified_ by-and-by; it must _serve_ now. In the day of their sin they -had said of him, "Behold, this dreamer cometh;" and now, in the day of -their conviction, he says of them, "Ye are spies; to see the nakedness -of the land are ye come." They had once sold their brother, when their -heart knew no pity; now, with all peremptoriness which knew no reserve, -one of themselves is taken and bound. But all this was only, in the -purpose of grace, to fix the arrow deep in the conscience, there to -spend its venom, and there to lay the sentence of death. And this is -done. When God acts, the power of the Spirit waits upon the counsel of -love. If they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; -then He sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have -exceeded. Job xxxvi. "We are verily guilty concerning our brother," they -all say as with one conscience, "in that we saw the anguish of his soul, -when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress -come upon us." - -This was something; it was much; but Joseph has still to go on with the -_service_ of love. Had he consulted his _name_ at the first, when he -remembered his dreams, he would have revealed himself at once, and stood -forth as the honoured one in the midst of his confounded, humbled -brethren. Had he now consulted his _heart_, he would have revealed -himself, and been the gratified one on the bosom of his convicted, -sorrowing brethren. But he consulted neither the one nor the other. -_Love was serving_; and the husbandman of the soul has, at times, like -the tiller of the ground, need of "long patience," and has to wait for -the latter, as for the early rain. - -This was a happy and promising, because it was a _real_ beginning. But -Joseph has yet to learn whether the heart of children and of brothers -were in them, or whether they were still, as once they had been, -reckless of a brother's cries and of a father's grief. He therefore -exercises them still. Roughness and kindness, encouragements and alarms, -challenges and feasts, favours and reproaches, all are used and made to -work together. Though indeed all is much the same in the reckoning of a -guilty conscience. Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead in the -apprehensions of it. A shaken leaf is an armed host in its presence. -Kindness and roughness alike alarm. They are afraid because they are -brought into Joseph's house. They fear where no fear is. But all is -working repentance not to be repented of; and the fruit meet for this is -soon to be brought forth. - -Joseph lays a plan for fully testing whether indeed a child's heart and -a brother's heart were now in them. - -As they are preparing the second time to return to Canaan with food for -them and their households, Joseph's cup is put in Benjamin's sack--as we -all know, for it is a favourite story--and they set out on their -journey. But this, simple as it seems, is the crisis. Their own lips -will now have to pronounce the verdict; for the question is now about to -be put, whether they are as once they were, or whether a heart of flesh -has been given to them. Will the sorrows of Benjamin move them, as the -cries of Joseph once failed to do? Will the grief of the aged father at -home plead with their heart, as once it did not? This place, this -moment, was the field of Dothan again. They were returning, in spirit, -to the place where all their offence was committed. In the field of -Dothan, in chap. xxxvii., they had to say, Would they sacrifice their -innocent brother Joseph to their lusts, their envy, and their malice? -Here, when Benjamin is claimed as a captive because of the cup found in -his sack--claimed as one who has forfeited life and liberty to the lord -of Egypt--it is in like manner put to them to say whether they would -sacrifice him, and return on their way home, easy and careless and -satisfied. - -Nothing can excel the skill of the wisdom of Joseph in thus bringing his -brethren back, morally and in spirit, to the field in Dothan. The same -question is raised here as there, and put to them solemnly. Judah, he -whom his brethren shall praise, gives this question its answer. They -were innocent, indeed, touching the cup. But this is nothing to their -consciences, and nothing on Judah's lips. Conviction loses sight of -everything but sin. Its offence is its object. "I acknowledge my -transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." The brethren might have -spoken of their innocency, and been somewhat hurt, that, after this -manner, they were again and again misunderstood and charged falsely. -They had been called spies when they were true men, and now they were -handled as common thieves, though they were honest men. They might have -said this was too bad. They could bear a good deal, injurious speeches -and hard usage, but to be dealt with thus, was something too much for -flesh and blood to put up with. But no--nothing of this--this was not -Joseph's brethren now. They had once hid their guilt under the lie which -they sent to their father, now they are willing to hide their innocency -touching the cup under the confession they make to Joseph. Judah stands -forth to represent this new mind in them. Guiltless they were indeed in -all these matters, from first to last; neither spies nor rogues; but -some twenty years ago they had been guilty of what this stranger in -Egypt (as they must have supposed) knew nothing, but which God and their -consciences knew. They may be innocent now, but they were guilty then; -and their sin, and that only, was now before them. Confession, and not -vindication, is their language. "What shall we speak?" says Judah. "How -shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of thy -servants." - -Joseph for a moment feigns as though all this was nothing to him. This -may be their business, if they please, but Benjamin was his. Benjamin is -the guilty one, as far as the great man in Egypt is concerned; he must -remain, and the rest may take themselves home as fast as they please. -"The man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as -for you, get you up in peace unto your father." - -What could exceed this? I ask. Did Solomon's wisdom in settling the -question between the two harlots exceed it? Did he, in a spirit of -judgment befitting one who sat in the place of judgment, find out the -heart of a mother? and does not Joseph here, in like wisdom from God, -find out the heart of his brethren? It is all beyond admiration. The -heart is indeed laid open. After these words from Joseph, Judah draws -near, and with the bowels of a son and a brother pleads for Jacob and -for Benjamin. "The lad" and "the old man" are the burthen of his words, -for they were now the fulness of his heart. He will abide a bondman to -his lord, only let "the lad" go back to "his father." Let but the -father's heart be comforted, and Benjamin's innocency preserve him, and -Judah will be thankful, come to himself what may. - -This is everything. The sequel is now reached, the sequel which had been -weighed from the beginning. The goodness of God had led to repentance. -Joseph was exalted indeed; the sheaf had risen and stood upright; but -"this was all the fruit, to take away their sin." So Christ is now -exalted, as we read, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to -Israel, and forgiveness of sins. Acts v. 31. - -And now the veil may be rent, and it shall be rent. Joseph will be made -known to his brethren. - -But this was a moment hard to meet and to manage. The re-appearing of -one whom they had hated and sold, and the remembrance of whom had been -so deeply stirring their souls, might be overwhelming. He must attemper -this light to their vision, lest it prove intolerable. But love is -skilful, and has its methods and its instruments ready for occasions. "I -am Joseph," he says to his brethren; but in the same breath (as the -common word among us is) he adds, "Doth my father yet live?" - -Exquisite indeed, in the way of grace, this was, and perfect in the -skilfulness of love. Joseph could have answered this question himself. -Judah's speech (the echo of which was still in his ears, for it was too -precious to allow him to part with it) had already told him, that the -father was still alive. But Joseph hastened to bring a third person into -the scene. He could not allow the servants or officers of the palace to -be present then; for this would be to expose his brethren. And yet to be -alone with himself he dreaded as enough to prove too much for them. And -therefore he must bring some one in, to share that moment with them; and -such an one, the very best of all, was he whom Joseph's word introduces. - -Perfect indeed in its place this was. It calls to my mind the scene at -the well of Sychar. "I that speak unto thee am He," says the Lord to the -woman who had just by His means been discovered to herself in all her -old crimson sins. It was not merely, "I am He," but "I that speak unto -thee am He." In these words He reveals His glory. He stands before her -as Messiah, who could, as she had said, tell all things, and who had -now, as she had proved, really told all things, such things as were -terrible in the hearing of an awakened conscience. But He reveals it in -company with the sweet, condescending, inviting grace of one who was -sitting and talking with her. And this was the title of her soul to find -freedom, where she might have expected to be overwhelmed. And she did -find it. - -What skilfulness in the ways of love! From its precious stores, I may -say, in well-known words-- - - "There sparkles forth whate'er is fit - For exigence of every hour." - -We only want to trust it more, and assure ourselves of it. - -And there is more of this in Joseph still. - -Shortly after this he has to say again to them, "I am Joseph," and to -add to it, "whom ye sold into Egypt." But then he goes at once through a -long tale of God's purposes in all that matter, and lets them know how -important to Pharaoh, to Egypt, and to the whole world, as well as to -them and to their households, his ever having left home was about to be. -Love does not give them opportunity to occupy the time with thoughts of -themselves. Joseph crowds a multitude of other thoughts upon their -minds--and he kisses them and weeps with them. - -Pharaoh's people may now, after all this, return and share the scene -with them. They can now see, in these visitors from Canaan, not Joseph's -persecutors, but his brethren. They are introduced to the palace only in -that character. As in the parable of the prodigal. The father will see -him in his misery; and, while yet in rags and hunger and shame, kiss him -and welcome him; but the household shall see him as a son at the table. -"Cause every man to go out from me," had been Joseph's word, when he was -going to make himself known to them; but now, the house of Pharaoh shall -hear that Joseph's brethren have arrived. The spirit of that blessed One -whom we learn in the Gospels breathes in all this. We are in John iv. -and in Luke xv. when in Genesis xlv. - - -There are occasions in the story of human life which _the heart_ claims -entirely for itself. The Lord met such, as we all do at times. There was -constant faithfulness in His dealing with the disciples. He did not let -their mistakes pass. He was rebuking them very commonly, because He -loved them very perfectly, and was training their souls rather than -indulging Himself. But there did come a moment when faithfulness must -yield up the place, and tenderness fill it. I mean, the hour of -_parting_, as we get it in John xiv.-xvi. It was then too late to be -faithful. Education of the soul under the rebukes of a pastor was not to -go on then. "O ye of little faith," or "How is it that ye do not -understand?" was not to be heard then. It was the hour of parting, and -the heart had leave to take it entirely into its own hand. - -Now a time of _reconciliation_ is, in this, like the hour of parting. -The heart claims it for itself. Tenderness alone suits it; faithfulness -would be an intruder. And thus we find it with Joseph here. He wept -aloud, so that the house of Pharaoh heard it. He wept on the neck of all -his brethren and kissed them, fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and -wept, and kissed him. And if he spoke in the midst of his tears, it was -only to encourage their hearts, and give them pledges and reasons why -they should be in full confidence and ease before him.[22] - - [22] Neither Pharaoh, nor Pharaoh's house, nor any in Egypt seem ever - to have been told of the sin of the brethren. - -Surely I may claim these rights and privileges for the hour of -_parting_, and for the hour of _reconciliation_. And this was so, as we -see, in this time of Joseph's restoration to his brethren. But when all -this is over, and he has introduced them to Pharaoh and the palace, and -they are in readiness to return to Canaan, in full preparation to bring -their aged father into Egypt to Joseph, when they are just standing, -Benjamin with them, and Simeon with them, and all was the exultation of -a favoured and prosperous hour, one word of warning would not be out of -season, and Joseph has it for them, "See that ye fall not out by the -way." "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" addressed the heart of -Peter much in the same spirit, and at a kindred moment, when the -reconciliation, as I may call it, had been accomplished, and Peter's -unbroken net had gathered 153, and he had dined with his denied Master -on the sea shore. - - -Surely the whole of this, from first to last, is perfect. There is a -moral magnificence in Scripture which makes it, of a truth, the -chiefest, as we may say, of the works of God. The Spirit breathes in it -all. Its tenderness, its grandeur, and its depth, are alike His. In the -issue of the story of Joseph and his brethren we see something that is -very excellent. The rights and the wrongs of Joseph, the claims which he -had made, and the injuries he had endured, were all wonderfully -answered. Whatever dignities his dreams had pledged him, he gained them -all in full measure. Whatever wrongs he had suffered, they were all -avenged in the very way his own heart would have chosen. The judgment of -their sin against him was executed in the bosoms of the brethren -themselves; not a hard word touching it passed his lips from first to -last. - -These were the issues of both the rights and wrongs of Joseph. "This -also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, -and excellent in working." - - -But I must look back at all this for another moment. Conviction of -conscience may be but natural, the ordinary necessary working of the -soul, the absence of which would be resented as the evidence of a seared -or hardened state. But when it is more than the mere stirring of the -soul under the authority of nature--when the Spirit of God has produced -it--He takes His own object or instrument to work by. David, under the -convicting Spirit, says to God, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, -and done this evil in Thy sight." And thus will it be with Israel in the -day of their conviction; for their conscience will then be linked with -the once rejected, crucified Jesus. As the Lord says by the prophet, I -will pour upon them the spirit of grace and of supplications: and _they -shall look upon Me whom they have pierced_, and they shall mourn for -Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for -Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. This is conviction, -when the Spirit of God takes that business out of the hand of nature -into His own hand. This is conscience doing its work, as the apostle -speaks, "in the Holy Ghost." In such a day, under such authority and -power, Israel will address themselves directly to Jesus. Isaiah liii. -shows us the same in another form. And precious work this is in the -soul--_needed_ work still in each of us. - -Now this is seen in Joseph's brethren. Another has noticed it already in -a general way. But it is deeply worthy of notice. It was their sin -against Joseph they called to mind in the day of their distress. "We are -verily guilty concerning our brother," they say, "in that we saw the -anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear." Other -sins might have been present to the conscience then. Reuben might have -thought of the defilement of his father's bed, Simeon and Levi of their -blood-shedding and treachery, and Judah of his marriage; but, stirred -into life, not merely by the trouble which had come upon them, but by -the Spirit, they are mindful of the _common_ sin, and speak, as with one -conscience, of their wickedness touching Joseph. And it is this which -bespeaks the Spirit's work in this conviction. - -Needed work, again I say, this is in every one of us. But the _fountain_ -has to do its work as well as the Spirit of grace. Joseph, as we saw, -interpreted his sorrows, though at their wicked hands, very differently -from what their fears and guilt had interpreted them. They said, and -very rightly, "we are verily guilty concerning our brother;" he says, -and very truly, "God did send me before you, to preserve life." And this -is the gospel. We are convicted, but saved. We learn that we have -destroyed ourselves, but that in Him is our help. The blood meets the -spear. The fountain is opened in those very wounds which our own hands -have inflicted. And this will be the experience of the Jewish election -(whose history that of these brethren foreshadow, as we know) in the day -of Isaiah liii. and Zechariah xiii. The cross is the witness. Faith -stands before it, and there learns _ruin_ and _redemption_. - - -In the progress of this wondrous story, the reconciliation, as we have -now seen, is accomplished. Joseph has received his brethren; and all is -therefore ready for Israel's full blessing. Restoration must follow -conversion. Times of refreshing and restitution must come upon Israel's -repentance. The aged father, with his household and flocks, is brought -from Canaan, and with his sons presented to Pharaoh, and they are seated -in the very best of the land, the land of Goshen in Rameses. - -They were told that they might leave all their own stuff _behind_ them, -for all the good of the land of Egypt was _before_ them. And so it -proved to be. Their empty sacks had come down to Egypt at the first to -be made full, and they were still to prove that there were a heart and a -hand there, both equal and ready to give without measure, and the -emptier they came down the fuller they would learn this. - -They were but shepherds, it is true, and such were an abomination to the -Egyptians. But Joseph "is not ashamed to call them brethren." Strangers -they were, and pensioners; but the man of that day, the lord of Egypt, -again I say, was "not ashamed to call them brethren." He owns them in -the presence of the king, of the palace, and of the nation. And the king -proves to be of the same mind. That they were Joseph's brethren was -enough for Pharaoh. Truly this has language in our ears. A day is at -hand, when all this shall be made good in the great originals of Christ -and Israel. He will return to them and say, "It is my people;" and they -will say, "The Lord is my God." - - -But though this is great and excellent, it is not all. The earth itself -has to be settled and blest, the inheritance has to be received and -displayed, as the brethren, the Israel of Christ, had to be thus -quickened and restored; and this we are now to see. Joseph in chapter -xlvii. becomes the upholder of the world in life and order. By him life -is preserved in the earth, and order maintained. And all the people are -made willing in that day of his power. All is right that Joseph does, in -the eyes of all the people. Their money, their cattle, their lands, and -themselves, are made over to Pharaoh; and yet all pleases them, for they -owe their lives to Joseph. Egypt, in those days, was a sample of the new -world, the world brought back to God by _redemption_. It was a -"purchased possession," just what the millennial earth is to be. Eph. i. -14. It was creation reconciled, delivered from the doom of famine, from -death and the curse, by the hand of a saviour. Joseph's corn had bought -the land, the cattle, and the people. All was under Pharaoh in a new -character, as a purchased possession, standing in the grace of -redemption. Pharaoh, who had been king of the country, is king of the -country still; but he has another, a redeemer of the land and people, -associated with him now, as once he had not. As in millennial days. What -a picture has the hand of God drawn for us here! what a pledge have we -here, yea, what a sample of the earth in the days of the kingdom! - - -Pharaoh had trusted Joseph, and Joseph had pledged Pharaoh, in earlier -days, when as yet nothing was done. Ere the word of Joseph began to be -accomplished Pharaoh had seated him in dignity and power, given him a -wife from among the daughters of the excellent of the land, and put upon -him a name that told already to all who read it, what he thought of him, -and how he received him.[23] And Joseph, in the confidence that all -would be according to the interpretations which God had given him to -deliver, accepted all this at Pharaoh's hand; and then, but not till -then, the plentiful years came, one after another, to make good the -pledges of Joseph to Pharaoh, and to vindicate all the honours which had -been conferred by Pharaoh on Joseph. See chap. xli. - - [23] Zaphnath-paaneah, in the old Egyptian tongue, is said to have - signified "the saviour of the world"; in the Hebrew, as we - understand, it might be rendered "the revealer of secrets." - -Precious notices of all that which finds its originals, its counselled -and eternal reality, in the secrets which have been between God and His -anointed! We have only to bow and worship; and as we gather the spoils -and riches of the word of God, to rejoice and be thankful. "I rejoice in -thy word as one that findeth great spoil." "I have rejoiced in the way -of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches." - -It was fitting that we should have this sample of the new world, or the -coming millennial condition of the earth, in the history of Joseph; for, -as we said at the beginning, he is the _heir_, set to represent such an -one in the grace of God, after his fathers had told out, each his -several part, in the same fruitful and abounding grace. _Election_, as -we have seen, we got in Abraham; _sonship_, to which election -predestinates us, in Isaac; _discipline_, to which sonship introduces -us, in Jacob; and now, _the heir and the inheritance_ which follows, -closing the mystery which grace has counselled, and closing likewise the -Book of Genesis, in Joseph. - -There is no speech or language here, but a voice is heard, clear, full, -and harmonious, by the ear that is awakened. And as we look back on -Joseph alone, we see a page of sacred story, full of Jesus; a _rejected_ -Jesus first, a _risen and ascended_ Jesus then, and now at the end, a -_millennial_ Jesus, Jesus in His inheritance and kingdom. - -"Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." But -what we do not get teaches us this as surely as what we do. He has -formed the light and the darkness. "The day is thine, the night also is -thine." In all this passing and magnificent exhibition of the -inheritance, there is one whom we might have expected to see _chiefly_, -and yet we see her _not at all_. Asenath the wife is not found here. She -and her children get no portions in this great settlement of everything -in the land; they are not so much as seen or mentioned. Is it that they -were forgotten? That could not be. But she was the heavenly one, the -wife given to Joseph from among the Gentiles in the day of his -separation from his kindred, and her portion is more excellent than what -the land in its best condition could afford her; it is in him and with -him who is the lord and dispenser of it all. Asenath is lost in Joseph; -or, to be seen only in Joseph. - -And thus the _full_ end is told at the beginning; for all this in the -Book of Genesis is "the dispensation of the fulness of times," when God -shall gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and -which are on earth. And surely it is happy, beloved, in the sight of the -world's present confusion, in the midst of the agitation of human -thoughts which is ever around us, to learn in the mouth of such -witnesses, that the end is thus before Him, and has been so from the -beginning. "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of -His heart to all generations." His people and His purposes are alike -before Him; and such truths comforted the apostles, when they found -themselves in the midst of church disappointments. See 2 Tim. ii. 19. - -_Part IV._ (xlviii.-l.)--This is rather, I might say, an appendix to the -history, than the fourth part of it. It is made up of a few detached -actions in Joseph's latter days. - -The first thing, however, which we get is kindred with what we have seen -to be the characteristic of the history itself. Chapter xlviii., which -opens this fourth part, shows us the bestowing of the birthright upon -Joseph; and the birthright and the inheritance are, in some sense, one. - -In Israel, or under the law, the birthright carried the double portion. -The firstborn was to have a double share of the father's goods; and the -law enjoined that this should be his by an indefeasible title, a title -that was not to be challenged. The double portion was not to be given to -any other child of the family on any ground of personal affection or -partiality whatever. Deut. xxi. 15-17. - -But though this were so, the birthright might have been either sold or -forfeited by the firstborn himself. His own acts might alienate it, -though his father's partialities or prejudices could not. And we find -this to have been the case. Esau sold it, and Reuben forfeited it. -Genesis xxv.; 1 Chron. v. In the case of the sale of it by Esau, Jacob -who bought it, of course, had title to it. The bargain and sale made it -his. That is clear. But in the case of the forfeiture of it by Reuben, -who is to take it? It reverted to the father; but on which of the sons -would he confer it? That was a question, and it is that question which -this chapter answers. It presents us with the solemnity of the aged -father, dying Jacob, investing Joseph with the birthright which Reuben -his firstborn had forfeited. - -Upon hearing of the illness of his father, Joseph comes to his bedside, -bringing his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. None of the other -sons of Jacob are present. The Spirit of God, through Jacob, has a -special business with Joseph. - -Jacob begins the action by reciting to Joseph the divine grant of the -land of Canaan. This was a setting forth of the family estate, the -property which he had to leave among his children. He then _adopts_ the -sons of Joseph; for this was needed to the investing of them with the -rights of children, inasmuch, as, in a great legal sense, they were -strangers to Abraham. Their mother was an Egyptian. They were a seed, -therefore, whom the law would, in its day, have put away. Ezra x. 3. But -Jacob adopts them. He takes them into the family. "And now," says he to -Joseph, "thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee -in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine." They -are constituted of the seed of Abraham, and made children of Jacob; and -this being done, Jacob at once sets them in the place of the firstborn; -for he adds immediately, "As Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." - -This was a solemn act of investiture, by which the rights of the eldest, -the double portion which attached to the birthright, passed over to -Joseph in the persons of his two sons. See 1 Chron. v.; Ezek. xlvii. -13.[24] - - [24] The title now bestowed was afterwards realized, when the family - estate, the land of Canaan, came to be divided between the tribes; - for Joseph then gets two portions in his two sons, who are treated - as though they had been two distinct sons of Jacob. - -But we have still to ask, Why was Joseph thus preferred? The forfeited -right had reverted to Jacob, and from his hand it had to be disposed of -afresh. But why was it given to Joseph? Was this merely grace? I could -not say so. Grace, I know, on this great occasion, takes its way; and -were we duly emptied, we should delight in the way of grace, even though -we ourselves might get, in its distributions, only a left-hand or -Manasseh blessing. But while all this is so, I still question whether it -were _merely_ grace which thus conferred the rights of the eldest son -upon Joseph. - -I rather judge that Joseph _earned_ it. If Jacob aforetime bought it, -Joseph, I believe, had now earned it. - -We have already, in the history, tracked his path to the inheritance. It -was the path, like that of his divine Master, whose shadow in the -distance he was, of sorrow and rejection and separation, and yet of -righteousness and testimony. And this path had ended with praise and -honour and glory in the kingdom or inheritance; and the birthright is -kindred with the inheritance. - -It is, therefore, easy for us to say, as we have said, that Joseph -earned the birthright. Judah earned the royalty, Levi the priesthood, -and so Joseph the double portion. And his father gave him a pledge, "an -earnest of the inheritance," which was characteristic of this; for at -the end of this action Jacob says to him, "Moreover I have given to thee -one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the -Amorite with my sword and with my bow." This was an earnest. But not -only so; it was a _sample_ also. It was characteristic. It spoke of the -inheritance as it was to be in the hand of Joseph. This portion had been -_won_, and so had Joseph's. The sword of Jacob had gained this parcel of -ground, as the patience of Joseph had gained the inheritance and the -birthright; and it is according to this that the dying father afterwards -celebrates him. "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the -blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting -hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head -of him _that was separate from his brethren_." Or as Moses, the man of -God, says of him, "Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and -upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren." - -The apostle speaks of "the reward of the inheritance," words which may -not sound as if they exactly suited each other; for the inheritance is -of grace, and reward is of work. So the Lord speaks of giving "a crown -of life," words which may also sound in the ear as somewhat discordant; -for life is of grace, and a crown is a reward. But the soul accepts -these things, and makes no difficulty of them. "All purchased and -promised blessings be with you," said the dying martyr to his wife. And -he spoke wisely, as he did blessedly; for blessings in one sense are all -purchased; in another, promised or given. As a sweet hymn, which we all -know, has it-- - - "Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, - Unworthy though I be, - For me a _blood-bought free reward_, - A golden harp for me." - -And Joseph, I judge, got the birthright or the inheritance in this way. -It was in his hand "the reward of the inheritance." It was a bought -thing, and yet a given thing; an earned thing, and yet a free thing. We -see grace in the bestowment of it upon him, but we see also the fruit or -issue of that path of martyr-sorrows which he, and he alone, of all -Jacob's sons, had trod in patience and in triumph. - -This action, therefore, is in full company with the leading character of -Joseph's history. We see the heir in him, and with that the right of the -firstborn, the double portion, with its earnest, "the earnest of the -inheritance," made over to him, in the action of this chapter. - - -In the next chapter (xlix.) Joseph is only one of the many sons of -Jacob--Jacob the father being principal. Joseph and his brethren are -together under the eye and before the thoughts of the dying patriarch, -who was led of the Spirit to tell them what should befall them in the -last days. This I take no further notice of here, but refer to the -history of Jacob, where I have already considered it. - - -In the last chapter (l.) Joseph is again principal; not, however, so -much mystically as personally; that is, not as the _heir_, but as the -_man_. We see Joseph himself here, his character and his virtues, rather -than the lord of Egypt, his place and his dignities. And considered -personally, he is perhaps the most attractive character in the book of -Genesis. There is more of the fruit and force of godliness in him than -in either of his fathers. We have in him the steadiest, most consistent -walk in the ways of God. There is less elevation, I am sensible, than in -Abraham, as of course there is less exercise of spirit than in Jacob; -but through all circumstances, trials, honours, changes, he is still the -man of God who walked in His fear and before Him. His history is not -made up of failures and recoveries, or a doing of first works over -again. It is a path of light, if not of such light as shines more and -more unto the perfect day, yet of light which shines clear and calm and -constant. In his history we have not angelic visits, nor apparitions of -the Lord, or audiences of divine oracles; but in Joseph himself we have -a vessel used of God, because approved of Him; a very precious thing -with God. It is not Peniel or Beersheba again, occasional refreshments -and illuminations, but rather an abiding witness within, so that he knew -the way of God, and kept it. "Until the time that _his word_ came, the -_word of the Lord_ tried him." The authority which Egypt, in due season, -owned in him, he had before owned in the Lord. He was the obedient one -himself, and then became the one set in authority. He continued as with -Christ in His temptations, and then he was appointed to a kingdom. -Subjection was his path to honour, the due path of all the heirs of the -same kingdom. - -But there are some peculiarities in the story of Joseph beyond this. We -do not find the altar and the tent with him, as we do with his fathers. -Because it is not strangership in the earth that we see in him, but the -inheritance or the kingdom, after suffering and humiliation. It is not -the tent of his fathers that we see in his history, but the pit and the -prison, which were his alone, and not his fathers'. The tent and the -altar may duly be the symbols of their calling; the pit and the prison -first, and then the throne, become the symbols of his. - -And as another peculiarity, we may observe that the Lord is never called -the God of Joseph, as He is called "the God of Abraham, and the God of -Isaac, and the God of Jacob." But this, likewise, we may account for. -Joseph was rather among the _sons_ than the _fathers_. The covenant was -not made with him, as it had been with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; nor -was any one set aside in order that he might have the blessing. The -covenant was made with Abraham separated from country, kindred, and -father's house. It was renewed with Isaac, to the setting aside of -Ishmael. It was renewed again with Jacob to the setting aside of Esau. -But it was not renewed with Joseph; for he was only one of the sons of -Jacob, and they were all alike interested in it; they were all the seed -contemplated by it; and Joseph was no more of that seed than either of -the others. So that we have no ground for the characteristic title, "the -God of Joseph." For, while grace was displayed in the call of Abraham, -and then again in the choosing of Isaac the younger, and in the choosing -of Jacob the younger, it was displayed in Joseph only in its common -measure in behalf of all the seed, a measure that reached to others as -to him.[25] - - [25] God is afterwards called "the God of Israel," as before He had - been called the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Because - His covenant was with the nation of Israel. - -Thus Joseph takes his place in our sight, and we look at him either -_morally_ or _mystically_; with his characteristic virtues, or in his -peculiar typical place. But we have not quite done with him yet. - -He was, I would now add, _a great weeper_. - -Paul says that he was "mindful" of Timothy's tears; and there were many -tears in the eyes of Joseph which we might well be mindful of. David and -Jonathan were weepers, as well as Paul and Timothy. But were I careful -to do so, I might claim it for Joseph, that he exceeded them all. The -occasions of his tears were more various. And indeed it is an earnest, -real, and hearty flow of affections that we have to covet in the midst -of the more cultivated and orderly attainments of this day. Tears are -ofttimes precious things, and sometimes sacred too. - -At the beginning, when Joseph saw conviction awakening in the conscience -of his brethren, he wept. These were tears both of sorrow and of joy. He -felt for them passing through the agony; but he must have rejoiced to -see the needed arrow reaching its mark, and the bleeding of the wounds -that followed. - -He wept again when he saw Benjamin. The son of his own mother, her only -child besides himself, whose birth too had been her death, and the only -one in the midst of his father's children (who were all then before him) -who had not been guilty of his blood. Such an one as this was at that -moment seen by him in Benjamin. These tears, therefore, nature could -account for. - -He wept again as he saw the work of repentance going on in his brethren. -In his way, he greatly longed after them; till at the last, Judah's -words were too much for him; conviction of conscience had then ended in -restoration of heart. "The old man" and "the lad" again and again on the -lips of Judah had eloquence which prevailed, and Joseph could no longer -refrain himself. He sobbed aloud, and the house of Pharaoh heard him. -But these were more than the tears of nature. This was the bowels of -Christ, or the tears of the Father upon the neck of the prodigal. - -Each of these weepings was beautiful in its season; but we have more -still. - -He fell on his father's face, and wept, as his father had just yielded -up the ghost. This was as the grave of Lazarus to Joseph; and there he -and his Lord can weep together. - -And again he wept, when, after his father's death, his brethren began to -suspect his love. He was disappointed. An unworthy return to the ways of -a constant, patient, serving love, made him weep--in the spirit of Him, -I may say, who wept over Jerusalem. For years had he been doing all he -could to win their confidence. He had nourished them and their little -ones. Years had now passed, and not one rebuke of them do we find either -in his life or in his ways. Grief over their departed father had just -freshly given them to know what common affections they had to bind them -together. He had supplied them with every reason to trust him. And yet, -after all, they were fearing him. This was a terrible shock to such a -heart as Joseph's. But he did not resent it, save with his tears, and -renewed assurances of his diligent, faithful love. And have not such -tears as these, I ask, as fine a character as tears can have? They were -as the pulses of the aggrieved spirit of the Lord. "How long shall I be -with you?" "Why are ye fearful?" "Have I been so long time with you, and -yet hast thou not known Me?" These were kindred pulses of an aggrieved -heart in Jesus. Jesus has _sanctified_ tears, and made them, like -everything else that went up from Him to God, a sacrifice of a -sweet-smelling savour; Joseph and David and Paul, yea, Jonathan and -Timothy too, have made them _precious_, and put them among the treasures -of the Spirit in the bosom of the Church. - - -Such an one was Joseph, and in such company we put him; again, I say, -perhaps the most attractive character in the Book of Genesis. We see in -him the grace and blamelessness that we get in Isaac, the "piety," as we -speak, marking him in all his relations in life. But withal, there was -combination which we do not find in Isaac. There was firmness--energy as -well as sensibility. - -It remains for him to do the last office of this piety to the memory of -his father; and he does it, we need scarcely say, in all grace and -faithfulness. He buries his father, as his father had willed it, in the -land of Canaan. But the whole is conducted with much solemnity--and the -occasion is such, that we must wait upon it for a little moment. - - -In other days, worship was a magnificent ceremonial. Temples, altars, -feasts, holy days, sacrifices, and the like, furnished it, and officers -of different orders, in appropriate vestments, conducted it. Because in -those days worship pointed onward to certain great mysteries which had -then to be realized. But now these mysteries have been accomplished in -the manifestation of Christ, His person, work, sufferings, and -victories--so that gorgeous worship is now but a reproach on all that -which is found in Him, in its full substance and efficacy. - -So as to funerals, as well as worship. In other days they were to be -gorgeous. Because resurrection was then only in prospect; and funerals -then were a kind of pledge of the expected resurrection; and it was -fitting that the pledge should be magnificent according to the glory of -that which it pledged. But now, since resurrection has been realized in -the person of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the gorgeous funeral, like -the ceremonious worship, is rather a reproach, as though the great -mystery itself had not been yet realized in its substance and efficacy. -For it is not funereal pomp which is now the pledge of our coming -resurrection--the resurrection of the Lord is that, the first-fruits of -a promised harvest. - -Accordingly, worship and funerals are now, in like simplicity, to -bespeak the Church's faith in _accomplished_ mysteries. We are now in -sight of the victory of the Lord Jesus. We no longer give or receive -pledges of it, as in ordinances, but we celebrate it. Joseph of -Arimathea gave His body a costly burial, as Joseph the son of Jacob here -gives the body of his loved and honoured father. We read of Jesus: "He -made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death." In that -day of Joseph of Arimathea the grave had not been spoiled; and pledges -therefore--like pledges with these in the day of the Patriarch--might -still be given. But in the burial of the Lord Jesus we properly see the -last of these pledges; because in Him we see the first-fruits of them -that slept. The grave-clothes and the napkins lie in the empty sepulchre -as spoils of a glorious war, and trophies which tell of glorious -victory. Death was overthrown, and faith now celebrates what offices and -usages, as well as ordinances and ceremonies, had once only pledged and -foreshadowed. And let me add, that faith did learn this lesson, for the -burial which followed that of Jesus had neither its embalming nor its -magnificence. It was shortly disposed of, reverently withal, and -lovingly. "Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great -lamentation over him." - -Had we faith, deeply should we prize all this. Our privileges are great -indeed. In the services of the house of God now, the table has succeeded -the altar, and instead of a sacrifice we have a feast upon a sacrifice. -And so have we to see death and burial, too, in the light of the -resurrection of Jesus. - -These things we notice in connection with Jacob's funeral. His death has -its moral operation in the family, bringing out (as is often the case -when the head of a family is removed) what before was not suspected to -be there. But I must meditate on this for a while. - - -The simplicity of patriarchal _faith_ is very remarkable. It was like -their manners--beautiful from their artlessness. There was nothing of -the spirit of bondage in the Genesis-saints. The patriarchs walked in -the assurance of this, that God was their God, His promises their -portion, and the city and land of the glory their inheritance. They -lived and died in this spirit of faith. No suspicions or reserves, no -questionings, no mistrust of grace, defiles their souls. And this is -surely the more strange because, while we nowhere among them trace this -spirit of bondage, we see it everywhere else, immediately after we leave -the Book of Genesis, and then all through Scripture. It would be vain to -follow all the notices of it which Scripture furnishes. It works -naturally and abundantly in us. Surely we know it in ourselves, and see -it in all around us. - -How is it, then, that it does not betray itself in the Patriarchs? Was -it because they were such constant witnesses to themselves of the grace -and election of God, and had never heard the voice of the law? This -helped to form their minds, we may be sure. But besides this, this -absence of the spirit of bondage was beautifully consistent with their -dispensational standing; for they were as children who had never as yet -been from home. They were in infancy, and they could no more move in the -presence of God in a spirit of fear and uncertainty, than a child, ere -he left home, could be tempted to question his title to the nurture and -shelter of his father's house. And it is of the moral beauty and -perfection of this infant Book of Genesis that we see this child-like, -unquestioning faith in the saints of God there. They are faulty, and -that, too, at times, through want of faith, when certain circumstances -press them; but their souls are never defiled by a spirit of mistrust -and bondage. We see this throughout--at least till we reach the moment -when we are taking leave of the Book, and have gone beyond what is -properly the patriarchal character of it. I mean, in Joseph's brethren, -as soon as Jacob's funeral is over. - -It then appeared that they had not been trusting their brother with a -guileless, happy confidence. There had been an object of common interest -between them, and that had been too much the secret of their confidence, -instead of Joseph himself. They had not boldness by reason of what -Joseph was, and of what he had done, but they had trusted in a -circumstance. Jacob's presence was the stay of their hearts. They had -repented; they had been convicted and quickened; but still, their -confidence did not honour Joseph, as Joseph had richly deserved at their -hands. - -And this may have a word for us. We may ask ourselves, if countenance -and fellowship of others were withdrawn, would it be found that our -whole confidence has all along been in Jesus? that we have so learnt -grace, that we can abide the presence of unveiled glory? that the -removal of a Jacob clouds not the atmosphere in which our souls have -been dwelling? - - -But we are now reaching the very end of the times of Joseph. However, -ere we witness his death, we have (seasonable for us to notice this in -this eventful day of ours) a fine instance of _faith's acquaintance with -the course of the world's history_. - -I do not speak of a _prophet's_ knowledge of what is about to be among -the nations, such as Daniel had, when he told of the rise of one beast -after another, and of the Great Image from its head of gold down to its -toes of iron and clay. Such knowledge was by the _Spirit_, the Lord -filling the heart of Daniel, and of others like him, with His own light. -I speak only of _faith's_ knowledge of that course of things which the -history of the nations is to take. - -Joseph says to his brethren, "I die: and God will surely visit you, and -bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to -Isaac, and to Jacob." - -The children of Israel were at that time very happy in the land of -Egypt. They were in the full favour of the king; they were in possession -of the richest district in the country, and they saw one of themselves -the second person in the kingdom. Not a single symptom of danger or of -change appeared in all their condition. And Joseph himself was as happy -as circumstances could make him. "He saw Ephraim's children of the third -generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought -up upon Joseph's knees." - -But in the midst of all this, Joseph speaks of _God visiting them_; -words which bespeak days of sorrow to be at hand, such days as that God -would then be their only friend and helper. - -Strange this was, very strange! Who could believe it? Was Joseph -dreaming? statesmen and politicians might have said. But no; Joseph was -not dreaming. God's word was his wisdom. The divine oracle in chapter -xv. had forewarned, that Egypt would afflict Israel, but that God would -befriend them, and bring them back to Canaan--and this word from God was -everything to Joseph, was everything to faith--appearances were nothing. -The oracle had spoken it. Joseph believed it and remembered it. And thus -by faith Joseph saw Israel's _affliction_ in the day of Israel's -brightest promise and prosperity--he saw Egypt's _enmity_ in this day of -Egypt's friendship--he saw _brick-kilns and task-masters_ in the fair -fields and sunny harvest of Goshen. As Noah, by like faith, had once -seen a deluged world during 120 years of successive sowing times and -reaping times, vintages and summer gatherings, times of buying and -selling, planting and building. - -This was faith's acquaintance with the coming course of things. And -faith, in this our day, is to be a like politician, and to know -something of the course of things by the light of God's word, in the -face of all appearances. And this is the only act in Joseph's life which -is recorded as of faith in Heb. xi. It is thus strikingly distinguished -in the midst of so many acts of faith and godliness, and of such a -course of walking with God, as we have seen in him. But it was worthy to -be thus signalized. It was a great witness of Joseph's living upon the -word of God, in the midst of the world's attractions and occupations, -and with a mind superior to all present appearances. Abraham had been -instructed, through divine visions and audiences, about this coming -history of Israel in Egypt; Joseph only used what Abraham had received. -We have no visits of the Lord to Joseph, as we have to Abraham. Joseph, -if you please, was not in Abraham's elevation. But we have in him what -is morally the chiefest, the light and certainty of a believing mind, -the apprehensions and decisions of faith. He remembered what Abraham had -heard, and he acted on what he remembered. What he wanted in personal -elevation, as an oracle of God, he had, in moral power, as a believer in -God. And if I must needs choose between them, I would rather _believe_ -than be _inspired_. And Joseph believed, when, as we read, "he made -mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment -concerning his bones." Heb. xi. 22. This was _faith's political -knowledge_, as I may speak--faith's acquaintance with the things which -were coming on the earth. And this is that which made a Noah or a Joseph -wiser than all the senators of the kingdoms. We know well how Joseph's -words were vindicated, and how very unlooked for brick-kilns defiled the -goodly lands of Goshen, and task-masters drove Israel to their work. -Just as before, in Noah's day, waters covered the very tops of the -mountains, and a ship, apparently in all folly built for dry land, was -soon the only ark of safety in a watery world. - -And I do ask, Is it not to be thus with faith still? Have we not -warrant, by faith in the word of God, to know the course which this -world, with all its growing refinement and varied progress, is taking -every hour? Have we not reason to know that it is on its way to -judgment? Indeed we have. The Lord Jesus has been rejected in this -world. That is the fact which gives the world its character with God. No -advance in civil order and cultivation, no spread of even His own truth -among the nations, can avail to relieve the world of the judgment that -awaits it because of this deed. Let the day be as bright as was the day -of the Egyptian Joseph to Israel, faith knows that "the polished -surface" is soon to be broken up. Circumstances never give faith its -object. It is the word of God that does that; and circumstances and -appearances are not to be allowed to take the eye of faith off its -object. The house, swept and garnished as it is at present, promises -much. So did the land of Rameses and the friendship of Pharaoh, in the -days of Gen. 50. But such promises are idle words in the ear of faith; -it regards them not. As Jeremiah said to the king of Judah, when the -allied army had arrived, and the hostile army had broken up and gone -away, "Deceive not yourselves;" so faith says, in this hour, to the -generation that is boasting in progress, "Deceive not yourselves." Faith -says this with boldness; for well it knows, that the last state of the -swept and garnished house is worse than the first. - -Joseph then gave proof that he believed what he testified. Like Jacob, -his heart was in Canaan, the land of the covenant, the land of his -father's sepulchres. And, like Jacob, he took an oath of his brethren, -saying, "God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from -hence." The unseen world was the real thing with him, as it had been -with his fathers. The call of God had linked them all with that which -lay beyond death, and their thoughts and their hearts were there before -themselves. It was as natural for them to die as to live. - -"Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old." - -His brethren, the children of Israel, were true to him, as he had been -to his father Jacob. They embalmed his body at once. Afterwards, Moses -carried it with him out of Egypt; and, at the last, Joshua buried it in -Shechem in the land of Canaan. See Gen. 50. 26; Ex. xiii. 19; Josh. -xxiv. 32. - - -We thus close the story of Joseph, and with it the Book of Genesis, the -book of the creation and of the first ways of God, the book also of the -patriarchs, the earliest families of the children of men, and the infant -age of the elect of God. - -We are sensible, I think, when we leave this book, that in some sense we -are getting on lower ground. I think this will be generally felt. - -In Genesis, the Lord is rather _manifesting Himself_; afterwards He is -_exposing man_. Man was not under law, as we have said, during the times -of this book. He was set to learn God under many and different -expressions and revelations of Himself. But as soon as law enters, and -that is very quickly after we leave this book, man is necessarily -brought forward, and we have to see him, not simply as under the call of -God, but in his own place and character. And surely this is enough to -make us sensible of being, in some sense, on lower ground. Of course, in -the unfolding of counsels, in the bringing forth of God's resources upon -man's failures, and in the further manifestations of God Himself upon -the exposure of man, we are advancing all through the volume from -beginning to end. - -But, all-various and wondrous as these counsels are, which get their -disclosure as we proceed through Scripture, let the wisdom of God be -never so manifold, as we know it is, yet we may say, every part of it -gets some notice or foreshadowing in this Book of Genesis. These are -faint and obscure; but the rudiments of the whole language are found in -this introductory and infant lesson. Atonement, faith, judgment, glory, -government, calling, the kingdom, the Church, Israel, the nations, -covenants, promises, prophecies, with the blessed God Himself in His -holiness, love, and truth, the doings of His hand, and the workmanship -and fruits of His Spirit, all these and the like appear in this book. -Creation was displayed at the beginning. Soiled and ruined under the -hand of man, redemption was published. The heavens and the earth are -then shown to be the scenes of redemption (as they had been at the first -of creation) in the histories of _Enoch_ and _Noah_. And then in -_Abraham_, _Isaac_, _Jacob_, and _Joseph_ we get man (the leading -subject of redemption, as of course he is) in his election, adoption, -discipline, and inheritance. These mysteries have been looked at in this -series, and they lie under the eye, and for the observation of our -souls, as we pass on from one of these histories to another. - -And let us learn to say, beloved, to His praise who has spread out such -living creations before us, that if the heavens declare the glory of God -and the firmament showeth His handiwork, so with no less clearness and -certainty do the pages of Scripture bespeak the breathings of His -Spirit. - - - - - THE BOOK OF JOB. - - JAMES v. 11. - - "Behind a frowning providence - He hides a smiling face" - - -May surely be said, upon the reading of this deeply affecting story. -Said, too, with peculiar fitness and fulness of truth, as though the -thought of the Christian poet had been suggested by the tale of the -inspired historian. The frown was specially dark and lowering, the smile -behind it brilliantly beaming and happy. The veil was very thick, but -the glory within very bright. The boastings of the Lord in His servant -were above the noise of all the water-floods. - - "The bud may have a bitter taste, - But sweet will be the flower" - -may as surely be the motto for the story also. For let us wait only for -a little, and the fruit of the travail will be precious beyond all -expectation. Very bitter indeed was the bud, but very sweet indeed was -the flower. It had to ripen under the pruning of the sprigs and the -taking away of the branches (Isaiah xviii. 5), but it tells, in the end, -the skill and patience of its divine husbandman. I would, however, -rather trace some of the principles of this beautiful Book, than thus at -the beginning more largely anticipate the moral of it. - -Resurrection, called by the Lord "the power of God," or, at least, one -of the ways of that power (Matthew xxii. 29), has been made known, -through different witnesses, and in divers manners, from the very -beginning. And connected as it is with redemption, the great principle -of God's way and the secret of His purposes, it must have been so. - -It was intimated in the creation of the beautiful scene around us, for -the world itself was called forth from the grave of the deep. The -material was without form, and darkness was upon the face of it, but -light was commanded to shine out of darkness, and beauty and order were -caused to arise. See Hebrews xi. 3. - -It declared itself in the formation of Eve. Then again in the earliest -promise about the bruised Seed of the woman. It was kept in memory in -Seth given in the place of Abel whom Cain slew; and then again in the -line of the fathers before the flood. But still more illustriously was -it published in Noah. "Every thing in the earth shall die," says the -Lord to him, "but with thee will I establish my covenant;" thus -disclosing the secret, that the earth was to be established according to -the purpose of God, as in resurrection, stability, and beauty. - -So, after these earlier fathers, Abraham was to have both a family and -an inheritance on the same principle. He and his generations after him -were taught resurrection in the mystery of the barren woman keeping -house. The covenant blessing was linked with the risen family. Ishmael -may get possessions, and promises too, but the covenant was with Isaac. - -And more marvellously still, not to pause longer over other witnesses of -it, we see resurrection in the blessed history of "the Word made flesh." -We might indeed have forejudged that it would have been otherwise. For -in Christ, flesh was without taint. Here was "a holy thing." But even of -such we have now to say, "Yea, though we have known Christ after the -flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." Christ known by us now -is Christ in resurrection. And this is enough to let us know assuredly, -that resurrection is the principle of all the divine action, and the -secret of the covenant.[26] - - [26] All orders of His creatures in all places of His dominions witness - Him as the _living_ God; but in the history of redeemed sinners He - is witnessed as the living God in _victory_. This is His glory; - and resurrection should be prized by us as the display of it. The - sepulchre with the grave-clothes lying in order, and the napkin - which had been about the head, are the trophies of such victory. - John xx. 6, 7. The history of redeemed sinners celebrates Him - thus. To hesitate about resurrection is to betray ignorance of - God, and of the power that is His. See Matthew xxii. 29; 1 Cor. - xv. 34. - -But resurrection has also been, from the beginning, an article of the -faith of God's people; and, being such, it was also the lesson they had -to learn and to practise, the principle of their life; because the -principle of a divine dispensation is ever the rule and character of the -saints' conduct. The purchase and occupation of the burying field at -Machpelah, tell us that the Genesis-fathers had learnt the lesson. Moses -learnt and practised it, when he chose affliction with the people of -God, having respect to the recompense of the reward. David was in the -power of it, when he made the covenant, or resurrection-promise, all his -salvation and all his desire, though his house, his present house, was -not to grow. 2 Sam. xxiii. The whole nation of Israel were taught it, -again and again, by their prophets, and by-and-by they will learn it, -and then witness it to the whole world, the dry bones living again, the -winter-beaten teil tree flourishing again; for "what shall the receiving -of them be, but life from the dead?" The Lord Jesus, "the Author and -Finisher of faith," in His day, I need not say, practised this lesson to -all perfection. And each of us, His saints and people, is set down to it -every day, that we "may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and -the fellowship of His sufferings." - -By the life of faith the elders obtained a good report. And so the -saints in every age. For "without faith it is impossible to please Him;" -that faith which trusts Him as a rewarder of them that diligently seek -Him, which respects the unseen and the future. They, of whom the world -was not worthy, practised the life of faith, the life of dead and risen -people. Hebrews xi. Stephen before the council tells us the same. -Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, in his account, were great witnesses of this -same life; and he himself, at that moment, after the pattern of his -master, Jesus, was exhibiting the strength and virtues of it, through -the power of the Holy Ghost, and apprehending, through the same Spirit, -the brightest joys and glories of it. Acts vii. - - -Now, I believe that the leading purpose of the Book of Job is to exhibit -this. It is the story of an elect one, in early patriarchal days, a -child of resurrection, set down to learn the lesson of resurrection. His -celebrated confession tells us that resurrection was understood by him -as a doctrine, while the whole story tells us, that he had still to know -the power of it in his soul. It was an article of his faith, but not the -principle of his life. - -And a sore lesson it was to him, hard indeed to learn and digest. He did -not like (and which of us does like?) to take the sentence of death into -himself, that he might not trust in himself, or in his circumstances in -life, or his condition by nature, but in God who raises the dead. "I -shall die in my nest," was his thought and his hope. But he was to see -his nest rifled of all with which nature had filled it, and with which -circumstances had adorned it. - -Such is, I believe, the leading purpose of the Spirit of God in this -Book. This honoured and cherished saint had to learn the power of the -calling of all the elect, practically and personally, the life of faith, -or the lesson of resurrection. And it may be a consolation for us, -beloved, who know ourselves to be little among them, to read, in the -records which we have of them, that all have not been equally apt and -bright scholars in that school, and that all, in different measures, -have failed in it, as well as made attainments in it. - -How unworthily of it, for instance, did Abraham behave, how little like -a dead and risen man, a man of faith, when he denied his wife to the -Egyptian, and yet how beautifully did he carry himself, as such, when he -surrendered the choice of the land to his younger kinsman. And even our -own Apostle, the aptest scholar in the school, the constant witness of -this calling to others, and the energetic disciple of the power of it in -his own soul, in a moment when the fear of man brought with it a snare, -makes this very doctrine the covert of a guileful thought. Acts xxiii. -6. - -Encouragements and consolations visit the soul from all this. Happy is -it to know, that our present lesson, as those who are dead, and whose -life is hid with Christ in God, has been the lesson of the elect from -the beginning--that on many a bright and hallowed occasion they -practised that lesson to the glory of their Lord, that at times they -found it hard, and at times failed in it. This tale of the soul is well -understood by us. Only we, living in New Testament times, are set down -to learn the same lesson in the still ampler page, and after the clearer -method, in which it is now taught us in the death and resurrection of -the Lord Jesus Christ. - -There is some difference, let me observe, nay, I would say, distance, -between a _righteous_ and a _devoted_ man. No saint is a devoted one, -who has not been practising this lesson of which I have been speaking. -The measure of his devotedness may be said to be according to his -attainment in it, according to the energy he is exercising as a man dead -and risen with Christ. At the beginning of this history, Job was a -righteous man. He was spoken well of again and again, in the very face -of his accuser. But he was not a devoted man. The whisper of his heart, -as I noticed before, was this, "I shall die in my nest." Accepted he -was, as a sinner who knew his living and triumphant Redeemer, godly and -upright beyond his fellows, but withal, as to the power that wrought in -his soul, he was not a dead and risen man. - -Such also, I might add, was Agur in the Book of Proverbs. He was godly, -and of a lowly, self-judging spirit. He makes a good confession of human -blindness and pravity, of the unsearchable glories of God, the purity -and preciousness of His word, and of the security of all who trust in -Him. Prov. xxx. 1-9. He was a man of God, and walked in a good spirit. -But he was not a devoted man. He did not know how to abound and how to -suffer need. He dreaded poverty lest he should steal, and riches lest he -should deny God. He was not prepared for changes. Neither was Job. But -Paul was. He had surrendered himself to Christ, as they had not. -According to the power that wrought in his soul, Paul was a dead and -risen man. He was ready to be "emptied from vessel to vessel." He was -instructed both to be full and to be hungry. He could do all things -through Christ strengthening him. See that devoted man, that dead and -risen man, in the closing chapters of Acts. xx.-xxviii. He is in the -midst of a weeping company of brethren at Miletus, and in the bosom of a -loving Christian household at Tyre. But were those, the greenest spots -on earth to a saint, where, if any where, the foot of the mystic ladder -is felt to rest, and the fond heart lingers and says, Let us make -tabernacles here, able to detain him? No. Even there, the dear, devoted -Apostle carried a heart thoroughly surrendered to Christ. "What mean -ye," says he, "to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be -bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord -Jesus." He would not be kept. And on from thence he goes, along the -coast of Syria up to Jerusalem, and then for two long years, apart from -brethren, in perils by sea and land, under insults and wrongs, a single -heart and devoted affection bearing him through all. - -A good conscience alone is not up to all this. Mere righteousness will -not take such a journey. There must be that singleness of eye to Christ, -that principle of devotedness, which reckons upon death and resurrection -with Jesus. Job was righteous, but he was not prepared for such shifting -scenery as this. He loved the green spot and the feathered nest. Changes -come, and changes are too much for him. But God, in the love wherewith -He loved him, as his heavenly Father, puts him to school, to learn the -lesson of a child of resurrection, to be a partaker of "_His_ holiness," -the holiness not merely of a right or pure-minded man, but _the holiness -that suits the call of God_, the holiness of a dead and risen man, one -of the pilgrim family, one of God's strangers in the world. Heb. xii. 9, -10. - -Job was chastened to be partaker of such a holiness as this. Not that -trials and troubles, like his, are essential to the learning of this -lesson. A very common method it is, indeed, with our heavenly Father, in -His wisdom. But Paul set himself daily to practise that lesson, without -the instructions of griefs and losses in either body or estate. Phil. -iii. In the fervent labourings of the spirit within, he exercised -himself in it every day. And so should we. We are to dread the Laodicean -state, satisfaction with present condition or attainment. The Laodicean -was not a Pharisee, or a self-righteous man of religion. He was a -professor, it may be, of very correct notions and judgments, but in a -spirit of self-complacency, he did not cherish increasing freshness and -vigour in the ways of the Lord. - -Arise, depart; for this is not your rest, says the Spirit by the -Prophet. And why? Why is it not to be our rest? "It is polluted," he -adds. He does not say it is sorrowful, it is disappointing, it is -unsatisfying, but it is polluted. The quickened soul is to gather from -the _moral_ and not from the _circumstances_ of the scene here, its -reasons for cherishing within it the power of Christ's resurrection. The -dove outside the ark did not fear the snare of the fowler, but found no -rest for the sole of her foot on the unpurged ground. - -It is humbling to sit down and delineate what has been so poorly reached -in personal power. But "a beauteous light" may be seen "from far," and -as such, some of us descry and hail the virtues of the risen life. - -A dead and risen man will have neither his _springs_ nor his _objects_ -here. His principles of action will be found in Christ, and his -expectations in the coming kingdom. He is taken out of all the -advantages and adornings of the flesh into the righteousness of God, and -then, livingly and practically, is struggling up the hill, having, in -spirit, left the low level of the world, abating the force of nature, -and the fascination of nature's circumstances, and taking the affections -from things on earth to give them to those which are with Christ above. -He has lost himself, but he has won Christ. He has taken leave of the -course of the world which goes its rounds on the plain beneath, and is -ascending after Jesus. - -He lets the world know that it could never provide him with his object. -In the midst of its kingdoms and delights he is a stranger still. And -virtues and qualities of heart he practises that are of like divine -excellence. He can, like his Master, hide the glory to which God has -appointed him, and be nothing in the present scene. Abraham did not tell -every Canaanite whom he chanced to meet, that he was the heir of the -country. In the ears of the children of Heth he said, "I am a stranger -and a sojourner with you." He was content to be, and (what is still -harder) to be thought to be, a homeless, houseless man. So David, -another of the dead and risen family, when hunted and driven by the evil -thing then in power, though the oil of Samuel was upon him, God's own -consecration to the throne, he did not publish it. That was the secret -and the joy of faith. But he did not publish it. He did not traffic with -it among men--he did not talk of himself in connection with that which -the world could value. He was rather, in his own reckoning before men, -no better than "a dead dog" or "a flea." - -Oh, precious faith! Oh, holy and triumphant faith! But this was an -elevation which Job had to reach. He was not, according to the power -which wrought in his soul, of this generation. Not that his condition in -life made him proud, or self-indulgent, or indifferent to others. But he -_valued_ his condition. With what eloquence does he describe it. Chapter -xxix. The minuteness with which he remembers it tells us with what -fondness he had embraced it. The eloquence with which he describes it -(and nothing can exceed that) betrays with what fervour of heart he had -lingered over it, in the day of its bloom and beauty. He loved his -condition and circumstances in life, his place, his character, his -estimation, his dignities and praise among men. Godly he was, truly and -admirably so. There was none like him in the earth. But his place in the -earth was important to him. He was largely ready to communicate and to -serve, but he communicated and served as a patron or a benefactor. And -he desired continuance. "I shall multiply my days as the sand," was his -calculation. Hence the great end of his trial, and the purpose of -recording it. For this Book gives us the story of a saint in patriarchal -days, or rather, the story of his trials, trials through which he was to -learn the common lesson, according to the common calling, that we are a -dead and risen people. Job came, I believe, before Abraham, but he did -not come before this lesson; for it had been taught, as we have seen, -from the beginning; Adam and Abel, and the line of Seth through Enoch -and Noah, had already practised it. And Job, after them, is set down to -the same lesson, only engraven in somewhat deeper and darker lines. - -Such, generally, I believe, was Job, and such his history. A solitary -saint he was; at least, not linked with dispensational arrangements, or -with the peculiar covenanted family, and before the call of God was -manifested in the person of Abraham. This, however, adds exceeding value -to the Book. For it is, thus, a witness of the religion of God's people -in the most detached and independent condition. Time and place do not -connect him with the ecclesiastical order or course of things at all. -But still, the faith of the elect of God was his faith, their truths his -truths, their calling his calling, their hopes his hopes. We have Adam, -and Seth, and Noah, and Shem, and Job, and Abraham, Moses, Prophets, -Apostles, and ourselves, till the number of the elect be accomplished, -learning the joy and the song of redemption. As we sometimes sing -together-- - - "Then shall countless myriads, wearing - Robes made white in Jesu's blood, - Palms (like rested pilgrims) bearing, - Stand around the throne of God. - - "These, redeemed from every nation, - Shall in triumph bless His name; - Every voice shall cry, 'Salvation - To our God and to the Lamb.'" - - -Not only, however, the substance or materials, but the very style of the -Book is in the analogy of the whole inspired volume. It does not teach -doctrines formally, after the method of a science; it rather assumes -them, or lets them publish themselves incidentally. Even in the Epistles -this is the common way. The great revelation of doctrines made there -comes out, more commonly, in the way of either enforcing results, or in -answer to inquiries, or in defence of truth against gainsayers or -corrupters. So in this Book, doctrines are assumed, or delivered -incidentally; the more direct object, as I have suggested, being -this--to exhibit a soul set to learn, through trials and sorrows, the -common lesson, the power of our calling, that our hopes are neither in -the world, nor from the flesh, but in living scenes, with Jesus, beyond -all that is here. - -And deeply affecting as a narrative of trying and sorrowing events it -surely is, for the events themselves are deeply touching. But they are -all ordinary, or such as are "common to man." Robbers carry off his oxen -and asses. Lightning destroys his flocks. A high wind blows down his -house, and kills his children. And, at last, a sore disease breaks out -on his body from head to foot. - -Each of these might have happened to his ungodly neighbour, as well as -to him. In the mere matter of these afflictions, there was nothing that -distinguished him as a child of God. They were not the sufferings of -righteousness from the hand of man, the sufferings of a martyr. They -were such as were "common to man." But still they were all under the -exactest inspection and admeasurement of his heavenly Father, all in the -way of appointment and of discipline flowing from heavenly interests, -and divine relationships. And all, too, the result of great transactions -in heaven. For Satan had been there, accusing Job, and the Lord had been -boasting of him; and the Lord had licensed Satan to go against Job, with -a quiver full of arrows, but had appointed him his measure and rule. - -And this is very comforting. For many a child of God is troubled, in the -day of affliction, with the thought that his trial is commonplace, and -no witness at all that he is not "as other men." But such trouble is -mistaken. In the shape or material of the affliction, the believer may -be just in company with other men, it is true. The same storm on the -distant sea, or the same disease at home, may have bereaved them alike; -but faith takes account of the relationship with God, and of the -interest which all that concerns a poor saint awakens in heaven. - -In the wisdom of God, in the construction of this beautiful story (true -as I know it to be in every incident that it records), it is made to -introduce all the great actors in the divine mystery, and to reveal the -great truths which form the common faith of the elect. - -This is much to be prized; for this declares the perfect harmony of all, -even the most distant and independent, portions of the oracles of God. -Accordingly, we see engaged in the action of this Book the _angels_ who -minister to the divine pleasure; _Satan_ the great adversary; _the elect -sinner_ whose faith is cast into the furnace; _his brethren_ in the -faith; _the minister of God_ in the energy of the Holy Ghost; and _the -Lord God Himself_. - -These are the actors in the wondrous scenery of this Book; so that while -the action itself is simply the trial of a saint, it is so constructed -as to bring forth all these great agents and energies, the very same -with which our souls are conversant to this hour, occupied, also, in the -ways and places which the whole of Scripture assigns to them. And it is -a matter of the richest interest to our souls to trace this. - -Thus the angels or "sons of God" are here seen for a moment or two, but -exactly in the place and action which the general consent of all -Scripture gives them. They are in attendance on the Lord in heaven, as -those who had been forth, and were ready again to go forth, in the -service of His good pleasure. For the whole Word thus bears witness to -them. They are "ministering spirits," "ministers of His that do His -pleasure." They are His hosts on high, and the Lord Himself is among -them. Gabriel stands in His presence. The Seraphim attend His throne, -and they are winged, either to veil their faces and their feet before -the divine majesty, or to fly, like the wind, to execute the divine -commands. All this is told of the angels throughout Scripture, and here -the heavens are opened for a moment, and all this is seen and heard. - -So as to Satan. This Book is in strictest analogy with the whole volume. -"Messengers of Satan" go forth from the presence of God, as well as -Gabriel and the hosts. "Lying spirits" as well as "ministering spirits" -take their journey and their commission from thence. He goes about, says -an apostle, seeking whom he may devour; as here, he says of himself, -that he had been up and down, and to and fro, in the earth. Another -apostle tells us, that he, with his principalities and powers, is in -heavenly places; and here we find him among the sons of God, in the -presence of God. And again; he desired to have all the apostles, that he -might sift them as wheat, put them to the proof of what they were; and -so here as to Job. Satan is elsewhere called "the accuser of the -brethren," and here he is heard as such. He is the tormentor of this -servant of God, as Scripture generally presents him; but, as Scripture -also testifies, his action is under the limitations and sovereignty of -God. Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, as He walked in the land of -Israel, gave him his measure (Mark v.); and so Elohim from the throne -does here, and the eye of the Seer and the voice of the Prophet assign -him also exactly this place and action. 1 Kings xxii.; Zech. iii.[27] - - [27] The children of light should reckon upon the attempts of the - powers of darkness against them. A sudden moment of conflict - should not therefore surprise us. For we are set to be the scene - or theatre of their defeat by Christ. "It is our illumination" - that exposes us. That is its proper natural operation. The more we - are in the light, I may say, the more exposed we are. It was - Adam's creature-beauty, Job's memorial with God, and the Apostle's - attachment to Christ, that laid them open to Satan. - - But let me add, that a "messenger of Satan" may be sent forth from - the presence of God upon either the _flesh_ or the _heart_ of man. - An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and a lying spirit - came upon the prophets of Ahab. 1 Sam. xvi.; 1 Kings xxii. The - Lord was beginning solemn acts of _judgment_, and, therefore, - these messengers of Satan were sent forth upon the _heart_ of - those who were righteously under judgment. But other messengers of - Satan reach only the _body_ or _circumstances_, as in the case of - Paul and of our patriarch. And this is _discipline_ merely, and - not judgment. - -These analogies are as strict and literal as they can be. And -further--for it is edifying to trace this still--we find the patriarch -in one school with the distant apostle of the Gentiles--so richly does -one Spirit breathe through the whole volume. We are in the last chapters -of 2 Corinthians, when reading the first chapters of the Book of Job! We -have the "thorn in the flesh," "the messenger of Satan," in both Job and -Paul. - -Then, as to Job and his friends, or the elect one whose faith is cast -into the furnace, and his brethren in the faith. A very principal part -of this patriarchal story is made up, as we commonly know, of the -controversies that arose between them. Bitter and heated they were, in -something more than the ordinary measure. But such things are still, and -have been in every age. - -Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were friends and brethren indeed, though -they proved to be but "miserable comforters." They came to Job when all -had deserted him, children mocking him, young men pushing away his feet, -his kinsfolk failing him, his inward friends forgetting him, his -servants giving him no answer, and his wife refusing him, though he -entreated for their children's sake. They were true-hearted friends, who -said that they would go and comfort their afflicted brother. And they -did go; and they sat with him in his place of ashes and potsherds for -seven days. - -But they fell out by the way. _Sad_ to tell it, but so it was; not -_strange_ to tell it, for so has it ever been, and so is it still. So -early as the times of Abraham's herdmen and Lot's herdmen, this stands -on record. Joseph had to say to his brethren, "See that ye fall not out -by the way." Moses knew the trial of the _camp_ even beyond that of the -_wilderness_, as he went from Egypt to the Jordan. It was of His own -that Jesus in His day had to say, How long shall I be with you and -suffer you? And Paul counted "the care of all the churches" the heaviest -thing that came upon him. - -Variety of temper, different measures of attainment, the quality of the -light and the form of the kingdom in us, if I may so express it, will -occasion collision and trial, even where there is nothing morally wrong. -But from whatever cause it be, so is it still, and so has it been from -the days of Job and his friends, that we form a great part of each -other's trial. The Lord sits over it all, refining His silver and -purifying His gold, but still so it is, that we help to heat each -other's furnace for the trial of faith. - -Nothing, perhaps, has been a more common source of this falling out by -the way, than the holding of favourite religious opinions, or an undue, -disproportioned estimation of certain doctrines or points of truth. And -this was the case here. Job prized certain points of truth, and his -friends had their favourites also. But each "knew but in part," and -darkened the perfect counsels of God. And by reason of this, they fell -out by the way. Job, sorely afflicted by stroke upon stroke, insisted on -it, that God acted _arbitrarily_; and having a right to do as He -pleased, did so. His friends would have it, that God dealt -_retributively_, and that therefore His way with Job convicted Job of -some unconfessed iniquity. Their doctrines also very much savoured of -human thoughts; they were not refined from the lees of man's -religiousness. They drew much from the traditions of the elders, and -from their own experiences and observations. They accredited that false -though favourite axiom in the morals of the world, that "honesty is the -best policy." "Who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the -righteous cut off?" is the challenge which their religion published. "I -have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But He -is of one mind, and who can turn Him?" is the counsel of his heart. They -insinuate that if all were told, nothing would be too bad for him; and -he reproaches them, in the contempt and bitterness of a wounded spirit, -and an insulted character. "No doubt ye are the people, and wisdom shall -die with you." - -Such was the strife of words, the bickering and debate, among them; as -sad a sample of falling out by the way as has ever been known, I may -say, among brethren. - -Elihu, in whom was a "manifestation of the Spirit," at length enters the -scene, bringing the light of God to make manifest these forms of -darkness. He had listened to the discourses and controversies of these -brethren, but, in modesty and reserve, as became his years, in the -presence of ancient men, he had hitherto held his peace. He waited till -multitude of days, which should know wisdom, and speak of understanding, -had delivered sentence of truth. But now he speaks. The stirrings of the -Spirit constrain him. He is silent while it is a question between -himself and them, but he durst not surrender the rights of the Spirit in -him. He cannot respect any man's person now. In Job's day, God chose the -weak thing, as He has done ever since. Elihu was but a youth. Timothy -was the same. But the ancient men had failed. The stone of help lies in -another stripling of Bethlehem. For, from beginning to end it must be -known, that the good that is done upon the earth, He doeth Himself. "Not -by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Eliphaz and -his companions shall not have it to say, "We have found out wisdom;" for -"God thrusteth him down, not man," said Elihu of Job. - -Job was to be rebuked. He had argued the arbitrariness of the divine -hand in dealing with man, and, accounting for his present sufferings in -that way, he was so far "righteous in his own eyes." Elihu shows that -this was not so; that all was the holy discipline of One who, knowing -the end from the beginning, ever counsels the best for His people. Nor -will he, like the others, draw either from himself, or from the elders -or fathers. He will not, in the way of human religiousness, bow to any -names or traditions, however venerated, but, led of the Spirit, press on -in the path where the light of God shines. - -Elihu will not join in laying to Job's charge what his conscience -truthfully resisted. But he will tell Job that the thoughts of -conscience are not to rule his judgment, or dictate his speeches; that -he should rather have allowed the divine wisdom in all this sore -discipline, than concluded on the divine arbitrariness in it, just -because conscience was clear. He tells Job this should have been his -word--"Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, -I will not offend any more: that which I see not, teach Thou me: if I -have done iniquity, I will do no more." - -"A mighty maze," philosophy will say, "but not without a plan." "God is -His own interpreter, and He will make it plain," a Christian poet will -say. And a true and beautiful thought that is. But inspired wisdom -counsels and teaches thus--"Although thou sayest thou shalt not see Him, -yet judgment is before Him; therefore trust thou in Him." Chapter xxxv. -14. For we are to know that purposes of wisdom and goodness rule every -event, though another day has so to declare it. "Judgment" is ever -"before Him," as Elihu says. And God is to be justified in the thoughts -of His children now, as He will be in the face of heaven and earth -by-and-by. Matt. xi. 19; Ps. li. 4; l. 4. - -Such an one was Elihu. And it is a circumstance full of meaning and of -moral beauty, that Job does not answer him, as he had the others. Elihu -invited him to speak if he would. But he had a moral sense, a conscience -in the Holy Ghost, that witnessed to the authority with which this -minister of the Spirit spake. Very precious this is. How often, how -common, among the saints, is this! Yea, and even beyond their borders, -at times, the like authority is felt. How often has the presence of a -holy man controlled the ungodly. The multitudes in the villages of -Israel, after this manner, owned the Lord at times. They "were -astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority, -and not as the scribes." And the want of this is painful. Have we not -often, beloved, been grieved to see the heart and understanding of -others unmoved by that which has come to our own souls with all the -authority of truth, and in the freshness of the divine unction? But Job -gives us not this pain. And a man very dear to the saints he is, as he -was to the blessed Lord who was thus afflicting him. Elihu had spoken to -him in the Spirit, and his soul bowed to the authority of his word. He -could not treat Elihu as he had treated Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. He -may not be as yet humbled, but he cannot be angry; he may not as yet -make confession, but he will not reply. The Spirit of God in the -ministry of His servant had entered the scene, and Job will at least be -silent.[28] - - [28] The knowledge of truth alone will never ensure happy or profitable - ministry. If we draw merely from our stores or possessions of - knowledge, we shall find ourselves confounded. The freshness of - the Spirit in us, and the exercise of our gift under Him, at the - time of ministry, are also needful. - -The Lord, however, is He that teacheth to profit. There are diversities -of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all. Paul -plants, and Apollos waters, but it is God that giveth the increase. And, -in analogy with these truths, the action of this beautiful Book -proceeds. The voice of God from the whirlwind makes the testimony of the -gifted minister effectual to the conscience and heart of Job. In a -series of challenges as to natural things, that voice, mighty and yet -gracious, addresses him. It has been said, by those competent to -entertain such inquiries, that nothing in the whole compass of language -can equal, much less surpass, the inimitable grandeur and sublimity of -this address. And we can all see that it does that which it belongs to -divine power to do--the complainant is humbled. "I know that Thou canst -do everything." He confesses to Him whose mighty hand could exalt him in -due time, and, after he had suffered awhile, was well able to -strengthen, settle, and stablish him. 1 Peter v. - -It was not the lesson of a sinner which Job had to learn. He knew -already the grace of God. It was the lesson of a saint he needed to be -taught, or taught more perfectly. It is for this, therefore, that the -Lord seats Himself in the whirlwind. Had Job then, and for the first -time, to learn the lesson of a sinner, the Lord would rather have -addressed him in "the still small voice," the tone which suits grace, -and in which it seeks and delights to be heard. But Job was already a -saved sinner. He knew already the _grace_, but had as yet to be taught -the _rights_, of God. And therefore the voice from the whirlwind. For -the saint has to count on such apparent roughness as the sinner never -gets. John was left in prison, when every sickness and disease among the -people was attended to. The Lord, in His walks of mercy and of -usefulness to all who needed Him, may often have passed near the prison -doors, but He did not open them, as He could have done, though He was, -all the while, giving sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf. Was -it that John was loved the less? No. Among them that were born of woman -there was none like him. And was it that Job was loved the less, because -he was addressed out of the whirlwind? No. There was none like him in -the earth, a perfect and an upright man. But already knowing the grace -of God, he was now to learn and own His rights. And he does learn them, -and confesses them. And he confesses them, and bows to them, before the -pressure of the mighty hand was removed, and while as yet it was heavy -upon him. That is much to be observed, much to be prized. For that is a -beautiful witness, that Job had learnt the lesson indeed, learnt it -spiritually, learnt it in the grace and energy of divine teaching. It is -easy and common to own the good of a chastisement when it is over, and -then to say, I would not have been without it. That is not above the -reach of nature. But while the burthen is still borne, to vindicate and -bless the hand that lays it on, that is something more. While as yet he -lay in the place of ashes and potsherds, and sore boils tormented his -body from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, Job said, -"Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon -my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I -will proceed no further." - -Such was the moral, and such the issue, of this simple but important -action. A lesson had to be taught a child of God. Human wisdom, and -religion too, sets itself to teach it, but betrays its own weakness and -dishonour. A minister of the Spirit, in the light of the Lord, rebukes -the thought of man, exposing the wise and the scribe and the disputer of -this world, and applying the principles of the truth of God. And the -power of Him who worketh all in all seals the instruction. Human and -divine energies are thus displayed in the places and characters which -belong to them, the one abased, and the other magnified. - - -Such are the actors in the scene of this wondrous Book--angels, Satan, -the tried saint, and his brethren, the minister of God in the energy of -the Spirit, and the Lord Himself. They hold the place, and do the deeds, -which, as we have now seen, all Scripture assigns them respectively. - -This Book, as I observed before, is an independent Book. The most so, I -may add, of any in the inspired volume. In the progress of revelation it -intimates nothing before it, nor does any other part of that revelation -find it necessary to it. Job's history is not linked with that of the -people of God, nor does it advance, in any way, the manifestation of the -purposes of God. But stranger and foreigner as it is, it speaks exactly -the same language. The same Spirit breathes here, the same light shines -here. And this is so, not only in the case of those who are introduced -as actors in the scenes, but also in the truths and doctrines assumed or -asserted. The corruption of nature as found in the seed of Adam--the -value of a sacrifice as a propitiation with God--a coming day of -judgment--resurrection and life--these are among the common thoughts -here. But more beautiful and striking than all is the knowledge it takes -of _the person and duty of the Kinsman_, a mystery well known in -Scripture, and, throughout Scripture, largely though silently referred -to, when too commonly not perceived--a mystery which shadows all the -great truths that are characteristic of the work of our redemption. - -This subject is too great to be fully considered here, even had I the -grace and light to do so. But it is so happy a one, and suggested by our -Patriarch's well-known confession of his faith, that I cannot altogether -pass it by. - -Our apostle says, "No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth -and cherisheth it." A necessary way of nature is here assumed, and -assumed with approval, by the Spirit of God. That regard to one's self -which each one of us is ready enough to render, is divinely sanctioned. -And then, on this very principle of nature, the apostle goes on to put -the Lord's nurture of the Church. "For no man ever yet hated his own -flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, _even as the Lord the Church_; -for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." Christ -is declared to act towards us on this instinctive verdict of nature, -that a man is to love his own body. The Holy Ghost, through the apostle, -would let our hearts embrace this joy, that the force of this first law -of nature is felt by Christ towards us, and the duty it imposes is owned -by Him. So that if I can understand my love for myself, I may understand -Christ's love to me. The duty I owe myself is acknowledged by my Lord as -due by Him to me. He can but nourish and cherish me, as I would nourish -and cherish myself. - -Can any thought, I ask, respecting the place into which the love of the -Son of God has brought Him surpass this? Can the imagination form the -idea of a more intense and devoted affection? Impossible. If it could, -Christ would embody it, and His Spirit would reveal it, for His love -"passeth knowledge." But it cannot. - -But though this may be the most marvellous expression of this love, yet -there is another of the same character. There is another duty owed on -the like claims of nature, which in like manner has been adopted and -acknowledged by the Lord--the duty of kindred or natural relations. - -The Lord, the Son of God, became our Kinsman. "Forasmuch then as the -children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took -part of the same." And He became this Kinsman that He might do for the -children the duties and services of a Kinsman. And what these duties -are, and how the Lord has answered and discharged them, we are told in -Scripture. - - -One principal duty was, to ransom a brother or his inheritance, if such -or either had been sold. - -Now such a sold or forfeited condition is ours by nature, under the -ruins of Adam. Forfeiture of every thing is the simple idea that holds -our natural condition in the just light. We have forfeited life, and -with it all things, by the breach of those terms on which we held life, -and with it all things. We have incurred the debt of death. "In the day -thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Adam did eat, and this law -demanded death. We sold ourselves under that sentence, and to that -penalty, and were debtors to die the death. But our Kinsman has paid the -price. Jesus died. He has counted out the money to the uttermost -farthing. In the language of the law, eye has gone for eye, life for -life, blood for blood. We have not been redeemed by corruptible things -as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ. The value of -that blood was well tried. The blood of bulls and of goats was not rich -enough. It would not do, it could not do. But "Lo, I come to do Thy -will, O God," tells us that He was satisfied who exacted, and could not -but exact, the full ransom or redemption-price. And now _we and our -inheritance stand repurchased by our Kinsman_. - -This is the very principal in the great services of Christ for us. It is -largely noticed and foreshadowed by the law (Lev. xxv.), but it was -understood from the beginning. For sacrifice or vicarious offering -proceeded on this principle. And that was made known upon the entrance -of sin, or act of forfeiture. The coat of skin which covered Adam bore -witness that he stood in the value of a ransom, that the virtue of One -who had met the demand of God against him was now upon him. - -But this is full of blessing--that the great mystery of the Kinsman or -Redeemer was known (published by the Lord, and believed by the sinner) -ere the law had shadowed it, or prophets proclaimed it.[29] - - [29] The same Hebrew word signifies kinsman, redeemer, and avenger. - -Another of these duties was this--to rescue or deliver a brother taken -captive. - -In the previous case of ransom or repurchase, the Kinsman had to deal -with a rightful claimant, and to answer his demands. His brother or his -brother's inheritance had been sold, and had to be repurchased at a -price well and justly ascertained, according to the law of estimations. -But this duty of rescuing or delivering a brother is different. Here the -Kinsman has to do with a stranger or a foe; and by counterforce, or the -strength of a stronger arm, to perform this service. - -But this, also, is our natural condition, our state under the ruins of -the fall. And this character of Kinsman-service, the Son of God, -partaker of our flesh and blood, renders us. - -In this, however, His dealing is with our enemy. In the previous case of -repurchase He dealt with God, answering His righteous demands for us: -here, He answers the enemy for us. For while it is true that we had, -through disobedience, incurred the debt of death, the forfeiture of life -and all things, so as to need a ransom, it is also true that we had -suffered wrong at the hand of the Serpent, out of the results of which, -in bondage or captivity to the powers of darkness and corruption, our -Redeemer or Kinsman delivers us. - -It was in this action that the Lord, in the days of His flesh, went -through the cities and villages of Israel. As the stronger man He had -then entered the strong man's house, spoiling his goods, and unloosing -his prisoners. And He will finish such work, and perfect His way as the -Kinsman-deliverer, when He, as the plague of death and hell's -destruction, rescues His sleeping saints. Then will take place the -_redemption_ of the _purchased_ possession. See Eph. i. 14. - -And again I may say, Happy is it to know that this way of Christ, this -work of our great Kinsman, was also known in patriarchal days. When -Abraham heard that _his brother_ was taken captive, he armed his trained -servants, and brought again his brother Lot and his goods. Genesis xiv. -Five kings may fight with four in the vale of Siddim, the potsherds of -the earth may strive with their fellows; all this, in one sense, is no -concern of the heavenly stranger, though his tent may be pitched in the -neighbourhood. But the way of Christ, which becomes the principle of -conduct to His people, is everything to him--and that way must have been -then known, the service of the Kinsman-deliverer must have been then -quite understood among the elect household, for as soon as Abraham hears -of Lot, he is all action in a moment, and goes forth for the rescue of -his captured brother. - -A kindred duty with this was, to avenge the blood of a murdered brother, -or relative. - -This duty was recognized by the law, and kept in memory all through the -times of the nation. The ordinance touching the cities of refuge was a -relief against the abuse of it; and the famous parable of the woman of -Tekoah assumed the fact, that the whole system in Israel took knowledge -of it. - -But, like the others, it was older than the law and the prophets. -Notices of Christ and His ways and His doings for us were the earliest -manifestations of the mind of God. Happy for our hearts to know this! -And, accordingly, this Kinsman-duty had been prescribed in very early -days. When the sword was committed to Noah, it was published. "At the -hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso -sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." But it was -understood as a divine principle even before then. Cain trembled before -this law, which, as his words intimate, must have then been known -everywhere. Genesis iv. 14. It was, indeed, a part of the very first -promise. "It shall bruise thy head" announced it. For that sentence told -the Serpent, that man's Kinsman, the Woman's Seed, would avenge on him -the wrongs done by him upon the family. And this duty Christ will -perform when He casts the old Serpent, "which is the Devil and Satan," -with death and hell, into the lake of fire.[30] - - [30] The Kinsman _delivering_ and the Kinsman _avenging_ deals with an - enemy or a wrong-doer, and not, as in the case of _repurchasing_, - with a righteous claimant. There is, however, this difference: in - the case of delivering, the Kinsman only rescues his brother or - relative out of the hand of the enemy; in the case of avenging, he - visits the blood of his brother or relative upon the head of the - enemy. Christ will deliver us from the hand of death at the - _beginning_ of the Kingdom (1 Corinthians xv. 54), He will avenge - us upon the head of death at the _close_ of the Kingdom. 1 - Corinthians xv. 26. - -Such are among the duties which a Kinsman, according to the mind and -reckoning of the Lord, owed, and such is the glorious performance of -them by our great Kinsman. And wondrous is it to be entitled thus to -write of Him! wondrous that the necessary and instinctive dictates of -nature are suggested by the Holy Ghost as the ground, warrant, and -character of the love of Christ to the Saints! that, as I said before, -whatever nature tells me I owe myself, that Christ tells me He owes me; -and now, I may add, whatever nature tells me my kindred owe me, that -also Christ tells me He owes me. And again I ask, Can any thought -respecting the place into which the love of the Son of God has brought -Him, surpass this? Can the imagination form the idea of a more intense -and devoted affection? - -The Son of God became our Kinsman for the very end of performing all -these Kinsman-services for us. Hebrews ii., I believe, tells us that. -And these duties and services embody all the great materials in the -mystery of redemption. And, as we have now seen, they have been made -known from the beginning. Jesus did not wait till the Law presented Him, -in its shadows or swaddling-clothes, to the faith and joy of poor -sinners. The Law afterwards gave the things concerning Him a tabernacle, -but those things had been made known from the beginning. The fourth day, -in the course of creation, brought forth the Sun, which then became the -tabernacle of the light, but the light had been abroad through the -scene, the light had been shining, from the earliest moment of the first -day. Jesus was known in the garden of Eden, and borne on the breath of -the very first promise. And cheering this is to our spirits--happy to -track these notices of the common faith, these thoughts and truths of -God and His covenant, all along the line of the ages, linking the most -distant hearts of the elect in the fellowship of one joy, and giving -them one song for ever and ever. - -Among the saints of the earlier days, our Job knew Him in this great -character of Kinsman or Redeemer. As rescuing him from the power of -death, or from captivity to the grave and corruption, Job celebrates -Him. It is a scripture well known, and much delighted in by the saints. -And well may it be so. All that ushers it forth to our hearing, and all -that sustains and accompanies it while we listen to it, give it an -uncommon character. - -"Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! -that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! -For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the -latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin, worms destroy this -body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and -mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed -within me." - -What an apprehension of Christ in both His person and His work is here! -It is the faith and hope of our Gospel. Job knew he had a Redeemer, a -Redeemer then living, and thereafter to stand upon the earth manifested -in flesh, and that this Redeemer would achieve for him a glorious -victory over the power of death, and strength of corruption. And all -this fine apprehension of Christ is accompanied with the simplest -appropriating faith. "Whom I shall see for myself," says Job, "and mine -eyes shall behold, and not another." This is the confidence of Paul. -This is the liberty that is befitting the full revelation of the grace -of God. Paul and Job, in like spirit, knew the glorious redemption, and -knew it for themselves. "Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." - -And what fervency is this with which the Holy Ghost enables the -patriarch to set his seal to all this precious confession of his faith! -Job would have all men know, and every generation of them, he would -publish it far and wide, he would tell it out without a fear that he -should ever have to cancel a letter of it, he would engrave it for -eternity and have it leaded in the rock, that he knew his Redeemer! - -What "light of the Lord" was this in which the Patriarch walked! "O -house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." Job -walked there long before the house of Jacob, or the prophets of Israel, -knew of it. The light was abroad, and the Spirit led the elect into it, -from the beginning. And this occasion, recorded in the 19th chapter, was -a moment when that light beamed brightly in Job's soul. His face did not -then, like Stephen's, shine as an angel's in the presence of his -accusers. He had not, in that way, put on the garments of a child of -resurrection, but his spirit within was in the regions and liberty and -triumph of such a one. - -This visitation, in the energy of the Holy Ghost, drawing forth this -blessed utterance from the heart of the patriarch, was the bow in the -cloud for a moment. It shared the path of Job's spirit with the grief -and heaviness that it knew so well--as Jeremiah's vision by night, and -the Mount of Transfiguration, broke the dreary way of the weeping -prophet, and of the adorable "Man of sorrows." Jer. xxxi. 26; Matt. -xvii. 2. It was the Spirit's power. The poor sufferer was made to look -away from God's dealings _with_ him to His doings _for_ him. For there -is a difference. The one calls the soul into exercise, and often are too -unwieldy, beyond the management of our hearts. Very generally they need -an interpreter. The other takes the soul into entire liberty. They are -so plain that a child may read them. They bear their own meaning on -their forehead. They need no interpreter. God's providences, or His -dealings _with_ us, are ofttimes perplexing, as well as tenderly -afflicting. God's grace in the Gospel, or His doings for us, are such as -cannot either puzzle the thoughts or grieve the heart. They bear their -own witness, and tell a tale of devoted, everlasting love, such as it is -impossible to mistake. - -And these are the things we have to do with, every day. If we be -oppressed or fatigued by the current course of circumstances, finding -them weighty, dark, and intricate, it is our privilege, and our duty -too, to pass over, in spirit and in thought, to that calm and sunny -atmosphere in which the Gospel, or God's doings for us, ever invest the -soul. - -All this may be seen in Job. That loved and honoured saint is generally -seen grappling with God's dealings with him. The hand of God had gone -out upon all his interests and enjoyments. Loss of fortune, children, -and health, had come, by sore surprise, upon him, and he persists, in -the heat and resentment of nature, to keep all this before his mind. But -in a moment of the Spirit's power he is made to look away from all this, -to turn from God's dealings _with_ him to God's doings _for_ him; and -then he triumphs. Then he can contemplate more than the boils on his -body, even the worms destroying it; but all is light and triumph. Then, -in the face of all enemies, he can sit and sing in spirit, If God be for -me, who can be against me? Romans viii. - -Truly blessed is this. The tempter would lead us to judge of God by the -dark shadings of many a passage of our history here. But the Spirit -would have us acquaint ourselves with Him in the beauteous light of the -Gospel, the glory that shines in the face of Jesus Christ; and there is -light there and no darkness at all--no shadows which have to be chased -away, no dimness that needs to be interpreted. - -But this rather by the way--I have already traced certain combinations -between this earliest and most independent portion of the book of God -and all other parts of it, whether near or distant. And very -establishing to the heart this is. But such combinations or harmonies -may be traced still further--in the _scenes of action_, as well as in -the _actors in the scenes_. - -There are "heaven" and "earth" here, as in all Scripture; each, too, -having its "day" or special occasion. See i. 4, 6, 13; ii. 1. There are -also "this present evil world," and "the world to come." At the opening -of the action the scene is laid in this present evil world. It is but -domestic, but all the features of the great world are seen in it. For -each family circle, like every heart, is a little world. Indulgence and -the love of enjoyment appear in the children, and something of the -common "enmity against God" in the wife of our patriarch. Then, again, -there are _natural_ calamities, as from wind and fire and disease; and -there are _relative_ calamities, as from the hand of our neighbour or -fellow-men, as Sabeans and Chaldeans. And all this is the various -casualty of life and human circumstance to this hour. There is stroke -upon stroke, messenger after messenger, turning over every page of the -history. It is but human life _then_ instead of _now_, but the same life -in its losses, crosses, and sore contradictions. There is a little -reality, a little of the "friend in need" who "is a friend indeed," but -there is a great deal of scorn and desertion in the hour of calamity, -still so well known in the world. Job has three friends who sit with him -among his ashes and potsherds, but all beside see him afar off. - -Is not all this "the present evil world" drawn to the life? - -But at the close of the action, the scene is laid in "the world to -come," God's world and not man's, the world which His energies are to -form, and His principles are to fill. It is the time of refreshing and -restitution. In the 42nd chapter of our Book, we are, in spirit, in the -Millennium. The Holy Ghost gives us this account of it. "Be patient -therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord," are the words which -introduce His allusion to "the patience of Job," and to "the end of the -Lord." The husbandman toils in hope, and gets his fruit in harvest, or -in resurrection. And so did Job endure, till, at last, he that sowed -reaped. The 42nd chapter is the harvest of the husbandman. James v. -7-11. - -And happy, I may say, is this further witness to the value which a -spirit of confession and repentance has with our God, beloved. As it is -written, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;" and again, "If we -confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins." For I -doubt not, that it was to Job's few words of confession and repentance -that the Lord referred when He turned to the friends and told them, that -they had not spoken of Him the thing that was right, like His servant -Job. They had not made confession at the end, as he had done. And let us -cherish this assurance. There are comfort and strength in it. The -language of repentance prevails. "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning -himself," says Jehovah--and then came the divine compassion: "Is Ephraim -my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do -earnestly remember him still." Or, as we may learn from Hosea, words of -confession and repentance from Israel, in the latter day, mightily -prevail with God. "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast -fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say -unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." "I will -heal their backsliding, I will love them freely," is the divine answer, -with a rich and beautiful chapter of promises. - -The consolation of this! the tale it tells us of grace, unwearied, -long-suffering grace! And accordingly Job flourishes again. The Lord is -as the dew to him. He grows as the lily, his branches spread, his beauty -is as the olive tree, his scent as Lebanon. In "the end of the Lord" he -is seen as "in the regeneration," or day of the kingdom, and even others -dwell under his shadow, reviving as the corn, and growing as the vine. -See Hosea xiv.[31] - - [31] I do not regard Job so much as a _type_, but rather as a _sample_. - His calling was the common calling, as a dead and risen man. Every - saint, now gathering for heavenly glory, is such. Israel in the - latter day will be as such, and the whole system of the millennial - age. The Lord Jesus holds all things, and exercises His offices, - as the One that was dead and is alive again. But I judge it to be - more fitting to speak of Job as a sample of the common calling, - than as a type. I could not, however, object to the expression, - were it used by others. - - Job learnt his lesson through sufferings. The Lord, I may say, did - the same. Hebrews ii. iv. v. He was made perfect for His high - functions in that way. Christ's compassions could not have been - _priestly_, till He became a man, partaker of the flesh and blood - of the children, and suffered as such. And Job's history may be - read as the expression or foreshadowing of all this. - - So Israel. They will be as a people who, having destroyed - themselves, have found their help in God. Hosea presents them in - that character. Their language in chapter xiv. is the language of - such a people. And Job's history may be regarded as the expression - or foreshadowing of this also. He revives, he grows again as the - lily, and his branches spread, at the end, as Israel and Israel's - branches will, according to their prophet. So that we may speak of - Job as a type. But I still feel and judge it to be more fitting, - to present him as a sample of us all, in the common faith, as dead - and risen with Christ. - -Such was our Patriarch in "the end of the Lord." Another witness he is -that the burning bush is never consumed, because of the good-will of Him -who dwells in it. It may be Israel in Egypt, or in Babylon, the children -in the furnace, or the prophet in the den. It may be a poor elect -Gadarene, beset with a legion, or the patriarch, the sport of wind and -fire and bodily disease, of Chaldeans and Sabeans too, the power and -messengers of Satan let out upon him, still the burning bush is -unconsumed for the goodwill of Him who dwells in it. "We had the -sentence of death in ourselves," says the apostle, as speaking in the -name of them all, "that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who -raiseth the dead." - -Such an one was our Patriarch. And such an one he had learnt himself to -be. In the school of God he had now learnt his calling, as in the -experience of his own soul. But a great lesson it is. A great -difference, I am full sure, between having God in the midst of our -circumstances, and God as Himself the first and great circumstance. The -first was Job's way at the beginning. He would not have been without -God. He owned Him, and gave Him an altar in the family scene. But he had -not said to Him, Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us. He had not, -as Abram did afterward, _come out from circumstances with God_, trusting -Him to surround him with His own circumstances. The power to do this -cries, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth -that I desire beside Thee." For such was the utterance of a saint when -his soul had come forth from the tempest and temptation of seeing -himself second to the wicked in the conditions and circumstances of life -here. Ps. lxxiii. - -What a voice this truth has for us! Some may listen to it for _comfort_, -others of us of feebler faith for _warning_. The world and pride and -selfishness form the circumstances out of which the call of God summons -us; and religion, in a sense, may have brought God into them; but faith, -in its simplicity, forms the other, and God has not to be brought into -them, for He is there from the beginning, the great Framer or Artificer -of them all. - -One repeats this truth, for it is, as I judge, the great secret of this -Book. Our Job at the end learnt the power of the call of God. And this, -I may say, imparts a just and spiritual bearing to all he now does, as -well as invests his whole estate with the beauty and stability of -millennial days. - -He was, at the beginning, as a _prophet_, _priest_, and _king_, and so -is he again, at the end. But he is so after a new order, exercising his -different functions more according to the mind of God. As a _prophet_, -he had, at the beginning, too confidently assumed to be the interpreter -of God and His ways; but now he says, "I will demand of Thee, and -declare Thou unto me." He will be a disciple of the Lord, ere he teach -others; he will have his ear opened, ere his tongue be loosed. Isa. 50. -4. Such is the purifying of his prophetic ministry. He will know -nothing, save as he learns it from God. His doctrine is not _his_ now. -As a _priest_, at the beginning, he had stepped in between God and his -children, to heal probable or dreaded breaches. But he does not seem to -wash his own clothes, while sprinkling the purifying water on others. -Num. xix. 21. He wanted to remember that he himself was also in the -body, temptable like the weakest. Gal. vi. 1. But now he is _accepted_ -himself. Job xlii. 9; Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. As a _king_, his honours now -come after his afflictions, his glories after his sufferings; and also -after he prayed for his friends, is his captivity turned. He exercises -grace, ere he is again entrusted with power--all this being according to -the great originals. "Ye are they which have continued with Me in my -temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath -appointed unto Me." - -In these ways, he is prophet, priest, and king, _after a_ _new order_, -and all is refined in the furnace, like gold tried in the fire. - -And he is the father of a family again, a family also, as I may again -say, of a new order--nothing has to be corrected among them, but all is -in happy, holy fellowship, the heart of the father turned to the -children, and the heart of the children to their father. At the -beginning he had to watch their ways, and provide for the evil they -might have committed. But at the end there is nothing of this; their -father has only to see them with admiration and delight. They awakened -_fear_ at first, but now _contentment_. - -And further, in this beautiful millennial or resurrection scene, which -thus closes this story, the stormy wind is hushed, and the lightning of -the thunder strikes no more. In this day of a second Noah, such as Job -was (the lord of a new world), the waters which once "prevailed" are now -"assuaged." And the Chaldeans and Sabeans no longer spoil the spoil, and -prey the prey. There is "no adversary nor evil occurrent," no "Canaanite -in the house of the Lord" now. Nothing hurts or destroys in all the holy -mountain. The Lord delivers His people from those who served themselves -of them. - -All this is pledged and pictured for us here. And what may be said to be -of still deeper value to us, the great enemy himself, the ready and -wishful agent of all the mischief and sorrow that had come in, is gone -likewise. At the beginning he is in the action, exercising himself as an -accuser in heaven, and as a tormentor on earth. And it is for the -comfort of the tried saint, that the hand of both God and the enemy are -engaged in his trial; the enemy (as here with our patriarch) seeking to -cast his crown to the ground, and to cast his fair memorial with God in -the dust, the Lord purposing (and performing it) to brighten that crown, -and still further to bless the heir of those dignities and joys. It is a -comfort to the saint, in the day of trial, to remember this. But, at the -end, the enemy is gone. The purpose, in the wisdom of God, for which he -had been used, is answered, and he is gone. The discipline of Job had -ceased as in his destruction. - -Satan had understood Job. He knew the workings of that corrupt nature, -which his own lie had formed in the garden of Eden. He had said, "Doth -Job fear God for nought? Hast not Thou made an hedge about him?... Touch -all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face.... Skin for skin; -yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life." And serious and -terrible is the thought, beloved, that he knows us so thoroughly, and -understands the springs of thought and will within us. But though he -thus understands _Job_, he did not understand _God_. The counsels of -grace are above him. And by reason of this, he has been always, in the -history of this world, defeating himself, while thinking that he was -getting advantage of us; for he has to meet God in the very thing he -does, and the purposes he plans, against us. When he interfered with -Adam in the garden, he encountered God to his confusion, and the promise -to Adam announced his own doom. When he provoked David to number the -people, Ornan's threshing-floor was disclosed, and the spot where mercy -rejoiced against judgment becomes the place of the temple. When he -sifted the Apostles as wheat, he was answered by the prayer of Jesus, -and, instead of faith failing, brethren were strengthened. And, above -all, when he touched Jesus on the cross, the very death he inflicted was -his own perfect and accomplished ruin. So, in every trouble which he -brings on any of us, he finds, or is to find, sooner or later, that he -has met the mighty God, and not the feeble saint. He entered Job's nest -that he might spoil it, and leave it driven and wasted. He came into -another garden then. But God was there as well as his servant Job, and -in the end Satan is confounded. - -Thus is it with the saints and their enemy. They shall take the kingdom, -and in the kingdom Satan shall have no place. Out of the trials which he -had raised around them and against them, they come forth to wear their -crowns, and sing their songs. And, instead of his appearing again "among -the sons of God," the mighty angel shall lay hold on him, and cast him -into the bottomless pit.[32] - - [32] It has been observed by another, that Satan is _always_ defeated. - This thought seems to get the most striking confirmations from - Scripture, beyond the cases mentioned above. - - He is the instrument, the willing instrument, of destroying the - flesh; but that destruction ends in _the saving of the spirit_. 1 - Cor. v. 5. He receives, gladly receives, one that is judicially - delivered over to him; but all that ends in _such an one learning - not to blaspheme_. 1 Tim. i. 20. He sends forth his messengers as - thorns in the flesh, delighting to do so, as being bent on - mischief, having been "a murderer from the beginning;" but this - still works good, for _the servant of Christ is thereby kept from - undue exaltation_. 2 Cor. xii. 7. - - These are illustrious exhibitions of the devil being _always_ - defeated. Because they show this--that he lends himself directly - to his own overthrow. His own weapon is turned against himself. - The one whom he assails is, by the very assault, given strength or - virtue against him. - - Happy assurance! our great adversary is never victorious! It is - the pricks he kicks against. - -This is full of blessing--and this is millennial blessing, shadowed here -in this beautiful story. But there is more. There will be no question in -the millennial heavens about the saints, as there was about Adam in the -garden, and about Job in the beginning of this Book. The tree of -knowledge tested the creature whom God had just made. But in the age of -the resurrection, in the heavens where Job and all the children of the -resurrection will be, there will be no such test. There will be no -question about man. There will be silence in heaven as to man, for the -great Kinsman has answered all questions, and man is glorified there. - -Such are the changes which have arisen, ere we leave this divine, -inspired story. Has not the _trial_ of faith been _precious_, as St. -Peter speaks, when we can talk of such changes? The enemy is gone. His -ministers, or messengers, the wind and the fire, the Chaldeans and -Sabeans, take their commission no more. Job, too, has changed his mind, -and made his confession to God--his friends have changed their mind, and -humbled themselves to him. But there is One who abides the same. He has -no step to retrace, no word to recall, no deed of His hand, or counsel -of His heart, to alter or repent of. Other scriptures tell of Him, that -He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," and that with Him -there "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." And this precious -tale about Him and His doings so illustrates and exhibits Him. - -There is never entire calmness, or the absence of all haste and -distraction, where we are not conscious that our _strength is equal to -our business_, whatever it may be. Nor is there, when we are not equally -conscious of _integrity or righteousness in that business_. The -consciousness of both righteousness and strength is needed in order to -fit the hand to do a deed, or the foot to take a step, with entire ease. - -Now we know that this ease marks all the ways and operations of God. He -is ever at work (to speak after the manner of men) in the full -possession of this undistractedness of which we are speaking. We might -judge this from the necessary glory of His godhead. But the ways of -Jesus on earth always exhibited this, and He, as we know, was God -manifest in the flesh. And this ease and calmness, in which all the -operations of God proceed, tell us, that though they may to us appear -strange and even wilful, as Job thought them, yet is He able to -interpret them every one, so as to be justified in His sayings, and -clear when He is judged. And this is happy. "The bud may have a bitter -taste," and "blind unbelief is sure to err." These things are so. But -"God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain." We know how our -Job was tried--deeply, variously, and, as might be thought, wantonly, -needlessly; for he walked in the fear of God, and in the service of his -generation. But "the end of the Lord" is more than vindication. It is -display. The trial is found to be unto praise and honour and glory. The -light of the coming day, rebuke what it may, will have only to set off -and reflect the excellency of Him with whom we have to do. - -Thus have we lingered, for a little, over these bright notices of -millennial days, "the days of heaven upon earth," which shine at the -close of this lovely as well as serious and instructive tale of -patriarchal times. But there is more. - -At the beginning, Job held all his blessings with reserve and suspicion. -He was not in safety, nor at rest, nor in quiet; yet trouble came. "The -thing which I greatly feared is come upon me," says he, "and that which -I was afraid of is come unto me." It must needs be so. The instability -with which departure from God has affected every possession and every -profit here makes this necessary. But, at the end, there are no "fears -within," any more than Chaldeans or "fightings without." No shadow -crosses the settled sunshine that rests on all around him, or the calm -light which fills all within. - -And further--his kinsfolk and acquaintance, at the end, seek him again. -They ought, indeed, never to have deserted him. For we deceive ourselves -if we think that we must be right if we _grieve_ those whom God is -_disciplining_. This is often very far indeed from being the case. The -Lord said in Zechariah, "I am very sore displeased with the heathen that -are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward -the affliction." So also is Isaiah xlvii. 6--and so Obadiah 10-14, to -the same effect. We are more commonly, perhaps, in God's mind, and act -as the living vessels of the Spirit, when _soothing_ such. And sure I am -it was so in Job's case. Had his former friends known God's way, they -would have dealt very differently with him. They would not have left -him. The very fact that "the hand of God" had touched him, as he so -deeply expresses it, would have been the occasion of "pity," as he -further says, from his friends. - -However, as part of the bright sunshine that gladdens his estate at the -end, his kinsfolk and acquaintance again seek him. And they do so to -_congratulate_ as well as to _compassionate_ him. And if they talk to -him of past griefs, it is but to heighten his present joy--as Israel -afterwards, in their triumphant feast of Tabernacles, might make booths -and sit under them, in grateful remembrance of wilderness-days. - -All these are happy reverses, and the latter end of our patriarch is -twice as good as his beginning. But among all the gladdening -anticipations which shine in the latter page of this history there is -none which more captivates the heart than _the reconciliation_. The -patriarch and his brethren, as the narrative largely tells us, and as we -well know, had sadly fallen out by the way, as they walked along the -high road of "this present evil world;" but as soon as they enter "the -age to come," the strife of tongues and stir of war are heard and seen -no more. - -This is truly welcome to the heart. For what joy will it be to be -delivered of selfishness and pride, and many other workings of an -ungenerous and perverted nature. How are the pleasures of the heart -spoiled by such robbers continually! What a thing a page of history is! -What a record of the agitations of envy and ambition and revenge! Is it -not misery thus to see men "hateful, and hating one another," and then -to remember that we are still alive and active in the midst of the same -elements? But another thing is in our prospect; and it is the way of the -wisdom and grace of God again and again, in the progress of His Word, as -here in the 42nd chapter of Job, to give us a mystic picture of it. Then -man, as _deceived by Satan_, shall give place; and man, as _anointed by -God_, shall prevail. Then shall be known the joy of getting out of such -darkness into such light, of beholding the Sun again, after centuries of -midnight gloom. - -We know from Scripture that great physical virtue will attend this -coming kingdom. As prophets sing, the wilderness "shall rejoice and -blossom as the rose"--the lame shall leap as the hart, the tongue of the -dumb shall sing, the cow and the bear shall feed together, and the wolf -shall lie down with the kid. Nature in all its order shall own the -presence of the Lord. The floods shall clap their hands, the trees of -the wood shall rejoice, before Him. As creation has already felt the -bondage of corruption, it shall then feel the liberty of glory. - -It will be as though dormant sensibilities had all been suddenly -awakened. It will be as the sweeping of an exquisite instrument with a -master hand. It will be the _same_ creation, but under new authority, -new influences. Let but the sons of God be manifested, and the whole -system shall spring into new conditions and consciousness. - -And so _man_, when the powers of that coming age take him up as their -subject. Let but the passage be made from this present evil world into -the world to come, and new principles will at once gild and furnish the -scene, and give _moral_ enjoyments (which are the richest of all) to all -personal and social life. - -This will be the touching of an instrument of still finer workmanship. -The system around the vegetable and animal world is susceptible of such -forms of beauty and of order as may make it all the vivid, happy -reflection of divine goodness and wisdom; but in the renewed mind of man -there lie latent powers and affections of nothing less than the divinest -texture. In its present condition it has to struggle with nature, and to -suffer sore let and hindrance from the flesh. It is oppressed and -encumbered by a gross atmosphere. But it has capabilities of acting, -judging, and feeling of the highest order. And let but the due -influences reach it in power, those sensibilities and faculties will be -all awakened, and forms of moral beauty throughout all personal and -social life will show themselves. What a hope for the spirit tried in -conflict with the flesh! It will be the same "new creature" that now is: -only in other conditions. Not oppressed and clouded, but, as it were, -breathing its native air. - -Scripture gives us many a witness of such moral virtue and enjoyment in -the millennial age. It is one of the most delightful occupations of the -mind of Christ in us, to hear these witnesses, in their mystic language, -deliver their testimony. - -The Father of Israel and the Gentiles are seen together, for a moment, -in Genesis xxi. And their communion was a sample of the holy, happy -intercourse of Israel and the nations, in the coming days of the -kingdom. Questions which before had divided and disturbed them are now -all settled. The well of water, which had been the occasion of strife, -is now a witness of the oath or covenant. All pure social affections -adorn this communion of Abraham and Abimelech; and they part under -pledged and plighted friendship. Abraham's grove, in principle, makes -the desert to bloom, and his altar makes the earth a sanctuary; but his -way with Abimelech, and Abimelech's with him, give that bright moment -its dearest and highest character. For there are no enjoyments like -_moral_ enjoyments, no pleasures like those of the _heart_. - -So in Exodus xviii. The heavenly and the earthly families are seen -together, under the type of Jethro and the ransomed tribes, at the mount -of God. And all is full of moral beauty. And yet the materials which -make up the scene had been, in other and earlier days, very differently -minded towards each other. Moses and Zipporah had parted in anger, the -last time they had met, and the congregation had been murmuring again -and again. But now the mount of God has influences for them, and from -the highest to the least, from Jethro down to the most distant parts of -the camp, all is in the power of godly order, subjection, and -fellowship. - -Then again, that generation that lived in the closing days of David and -in the early days of Solomon exhibit the same. They had been numbering -each other to the sword, in the wood of Ephraim, but the sword is turned -into a ploughshare now. The days of Solomon were, typically or in -spirit, millennial days, and sweet and surprising virtue attends them. -Instead of going forth again to the field of battle, they sit, every man -with his neighbour, under the vine and under the fig-tree. "Judah and -Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating -and drinking, and making merry." - -Are not these _moral_ transfigurations? And how blessed they are! Pass -but the border. Leave man's day for the Lord's day. Breathe the air of -the Mount of God--and all this moral renovation, with its countless -springs and streams of social felicity, shall be tasted, ever fresh and -ever pure. 'Tis but a little while and all this shall be. The _same_ -brethren, who may now be a trial to one another, like our Job and his -friends, shall then heighten and enlarge each other's joy. And in the -earthly places, "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim." -Pride and selfishness shall have ceased to depreciate, as they do now, -with all their companion lusts and wickednesses, the pleasures of the -heart. - -This patriarchal story, on which we have now been meditating, more -ancient than, and as illustrious as, any of these inspired records, -gives us a like sample of millennial days. Job and his three friends, -Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, are -the same Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the same _persons_. And they -are no longer contending, but united brethren. They have ascended the -mount at the end; and there lies all the difference. And barren indeed -our hearts must be of every gracious affection, and dead to all godly -emotions, if we hail not such a prospect. - -He who by His blood did long ago break down all partition walls, and who -is now, by His Spirit, giving believers common access to the Father, -will by-and-by, with His own hand, join the stick of Ephraim and the -stick of Judah, and make them one there. Ezekiel xxxvii. 16. His Israel -on the earth shall see "eye to eye," for the light and the joy of Zion's -salvation shall be passed, with holy speed, from the messengers on the -mountains to the watchmen of the city, and from them to the people, and -from the people to the nations (Isaiah lii. 7-9)--and, among the -heavenly people, the children of the resurrection, like Job and his -friends, "that which is in part shall be done away, and that which is -perfect shall come." - - - - - THE CANTICLES. - - -"Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and -the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee." - -This was the devout breathing of the king of Israel (the penman, too, of -this little book to which we are now proposing, in the Lord's grace, to -introduce ourselves), when the glory had come to fill the house which he -had builded. - -But so it was. The Son of God, Jehovah's Fellow, He that was with God -and was God, was manifest in flesh, and conversed with us here. He dwelt -with men on the earth. He tabernacled among us. He was Jesus. We knew -Him as such. He was a _Man_, and a Friend, and a Master, and a -Companion. He invited confidence. He sought sympathy and imparted it. -And, as a _Man_, we know Him still--as truly a Man amid the brightest -glories of heaven now, as once He was a Man amid the ruins and sorrows -of earth--as able, through sympathy, to understand the sufferings of His -saints still, as when He walked the streets and highways here, bearing -our griefs and carrying our sicknesses. - -And what will He be even for ever? Still _Jesus Christ_. Dominion of all -things will be His as a _Man_. The scene may change the second time, -from the present temple in heaven to the kingdom of glory, as at first -it changed from the cities and villages here to the temple on high, but -it is "the _Man_ Christ Jesus" who passes from scene to scene. Precious -mystery! Manhood having been once taken up, will never be given up. A -temple has been found for the glory, a vessel for the blessing, a person -for the manifestation, an instrument for the exercise of power and -government, suited to the counsels of divine wisdom and to the purposes -of divine goodness. - - -From the beginning of His ways, and throughout them, the Lord God has -been evidencing His purpose to bring His creature _man_ very near to -Him. The expression of this has been different, but still constant. - -In patriarchal days the intimacy was _personal_. He walked in the midst -of the human family, personally appearing to His elect; not so much -employing either prophets or angels, but having to do with the action -Himself. - -In the times of Israel, He was not so much in "the human guise" as -before. He was rather in mystic dress. But still He was _near_ them. The -Lord in the burning bush, the glory in the cloud, the armed captain by -Jericho, speak this nearness. The God of Israel seen on the sapphire -throne, the glory filling the temple courts, or seated between the -cherubim, tell the same. And the promises, "I will set My tabernacle -among you ... and I will walk among you," and "Mine eyes and Mine heart -shall be there perpetually," alike witness this desired and purposed -fellowship. - -Then, in the progress of the ages, the assumption of manhood is a -witness, I may say, that speaks for itself; and the _ways_ of God -manifest in the flesh agree therewith. Jesus "came eating and drinking." -And still the same, after He had become the _risen Man_. He had not -then, it is true, one lodging and repast with His disciples, as once He -had. He did not then, as before, go in and out among them. They were not -to know Him "after the flesh," as in earlier days. But still there was -full intimacy. There was many a note of conscious authority about Him, -it is most true. He speaks of all power in heaven and in earth being -His. He opens their understandings. He pronounces peace upon them on new -and authoritative grounds, He imparts the Holy Ghost, as the Head of the -new creation. He blessed, as Priest of the temple, the only Priest. All -this He does, as risen from the dead, with conscious power; but, with -all this, He owns intimacy, loving, personal intimacy, as near and dear -as ever, if not more so. He eats and drinks with them, as once He did. -He calls them "brethren," as He had not done before His resurrection. He -speaks of having one God and Father with them, as He had not done then. -Though with all authority He sends them forth to work, yet does He still -work with them. Mark xvi.; Luke xxiv.; John xx. And though He was at -that time paying them only an occasional visit, a visit now and then, as -He pleased, during forty days (Acts i. 3), yet He intimates, by a little -action, that, by-and-by, all such distance and separation will be over, -and they should "follow" Him to His place, risen and glorified with -Himself. John xxi. 19-23. - -Is not all this intimacy still? desired and enjoyed intimacy on the part -of our "everlasting Lover"? And as to this present dispensation, the -same is provided for and maintained, though in a different way. The Holy -Ghost is come. The Spirit of truth is in us. Our bodies are nothing less -than His living temples or dwelling-places, while the Son has, -mystically, borne us to heaven in and with Himself. Eph. ii. 6. Surely -no form of fellowship which we have contemplated is more deep and -intimate than this. If, personally, the Lord God was with the -patriarchs, and would take a calf and a cake in the love of -hospitality--if, in the sight of the whole congregation, He would let -the glory fill the temple courts in the joy of its new-found -habitation--if, in "the Man Christ Jesus," the Lord God would walk with -us, and share our seasons of rest and labour and refreshment, talking at -a well with one elect sinner, or letting another press His bosom at -supper, and ask Him about the secrets that were in that bosom--in this -present day He has us, in the thoughts and affections of His own heart, -up in heaven with Himself, and the Holy Ghost is here with us, in the -midst of the thoughts and affections of our hearts. - -Is this, I ask, intimacy of a feebler nature? Is this a retracing of His -way back into His own perfections and sufficiency, or amid the glories -and principalities of angels? Is this _reserve_, as men speak? Is this -withdrawing Himself, or repenting of former intimacy with man, as though -He had been disappointed and put off? "Adam, where art thou?" was His -voice. But has Adam's retreat forced the Lord back? Let this one -Witness, this Witness of our times, this indwelling Spirit, leading us -in company with Himself after this manner, tell us. All His present way -is only a richer pursuit of that purpose which broke forth, in infant -form, in the days of Genesis. - -And what shall we say of this intimacy in still future days? Redeemed -men take the place of cherubic nearness to the throne. The living -creatures and the crowned elders are there, and the angels do but -surround them as well as the throne. The Lamb's wife, the holy -Jerusalem, bears the glory in her bosom. The Tabernacle of God is with -men, and He will dwell with them. - - -But if all this be so, as it surely is, a holy inquiry arises, How are -we to entertain this? In what spirit, and after what manner, are we to -act on the truth of this gracious purpose of God? _We are to admit and -believe it in all the simplicity in which it is revealed._ This is our -first duty. We are by no means to refuse the thought of this divine -nearness. Did John, I ask, refuse to lie on His Lord's bosom, or excuse -himself for doing so? No. Neither are we, through mistaken humility, to -question whether we have rightly interpreted the many scriptures which -declare this truth. We are to use the privileges it confers. - -But with this use of its privileges we are to honour its claims. For -this presence of God is a _pure_ as well as a _cheerful_ element. Of -old, the shoes were to be taken from the feet, when that presence was -entered, to express the sense of holiness which became it. But that was -all. Neither Moses nor Joshua were required to withdraw; only to tread -softly. They were welcomed and encouraged, while instructed in the -holiness of such intimacy. - -So in the Canticles. The soul makes its boast of its Lord's love. It -does not refuse to listen to the tenderest expressions of it, nor to -recite His well-known desire towards her; but withal, there is owned and -felt unworthiness. There is the breathing of the purest though most -intimate thoughts--an affection quickly sensitive of the putting slight -on such wondrous condescensions of divine love, and diligence in -nourishing in the soul the answer due to them. And, thus, this little -book gives very clear witness to the truth of God's intimacy with man, -and to the manner in which it should be entertained by us. And in doing -this it introduces us to a great divine mystery, which, in like manner, -gets its early and constant illustration in the Book of God--a mystery -which must now hold our thoughts for a little. I mean that of the Bride -and the Bridegroom. - -The Church is called "the Lamb's wife." But this title has its meaning. -"The Lamb" is a figure or a description of the Son of God which tells us -of the sorrows He endured for us. The soul well understands this; and -therefore this title, "the Lamb's wife," tells us that it is by _His -sufferings_ the Lord has made her His own; that He valued her so as to -give up all for her. And from the beginning He has been publishing this -precious gospel truth. - -Ere Adam received Eve he was cast into a deep sleep, and out of his side -was taken a rib, of which was formed that one that was afterwards -presented to him as his wife. This witnesses the mystery I have -mentioned. Adam was humbled and Adam suffered (I mean, of course, only -in the symbol or mystery), ere he received Eve; all this casting -beforehand the shadow of the humiliation and suffering of the true Adam, -in acquiring His Eve for Himself. - -So Jacob afterwards. He had to sustain the burthen and heat of a long -and toilsome day, ere he could possess himself of Rachel. The law of her -people, the law of her country, and the oppressive exactions of the -covetous Laban, had put him on these terms. He had to endure the -constant consuming of sun and moon, to toil night and day, and have his -exile lengthened out, or go without his Rachel. - -Joseph, ere he got his Asenath, was separated from his brethren. - -The same thing we see in Moses. He too was separated from his brethren. -And still more, he _earned_ Zipporah. He rescued her from oppression, -then opened the well to her and her flock, and then her father owned his -claim to her hand. So with his second wife. He had to take her at the -expense of his good name with his own kindred; she was a black -Ethiopian, and did not suit the thoughts of his brother and sister. But -he bore the reproach, and married the Ethiopian. - -In each of these marriages (typical as well as real) we see _the -character_ of the Bridegroom; we see the Lord Jesus Christ possessing -Himself of His Bride _at some personal cost_. Whether it be humiliation -and suffering, as in Adam, toil and weariness and conflict, as in Jacob, -separation and dreary loneliness, as in Joseph, or mere reproach, as -doing a thing unworthy of him, as in Moses, still it is, in principle, a -_suffering_ Bridegroom that we see. - -And I might notice Boaz, another type of the same. He was a mighty man -of wealth, but he pleads the cause of a poor gleaner in his fields; he -allows her approaches and her suit, and takes her to him to wife. He is -not ashamed to make a destitute stranger, who but a day before depended -on the bounty of his hand, the companion of his wealth and honour, and -the builder of his house and name among the tribes of Israel. And thus -the marriage of Boaz tells out the same mystery, that the Bridegroom of -the Church is the One who had before been humbled to redeem her, and -make her His own. - - -Not only, however, in types and illustrations is this great truth set -forth, but in the plain teaching of Scripture also. It is said, that -Christ loved the Church, then gave Himself for it, then sanctified it by -the washing of the Word--and all this, that He might present it worthily -to Himself as His Bride. Eph. v. Here, doctrinally, or in the way of -plain teaching, we have the _Lamb the Bridegroom_; for ere He takes the -Church _He gives Himself for her_. He takes to wife the one whom He had -afore purchased with blood. - -In Old Testament Scriptures, the same thing is taught, as between the -Lord and Jerusalem, which is, _in principle_, the same as Christ and the -Church. - -Thus, in Isaiah it is said, Thy Maker is thy Husband, thy Redeemer--the -whole passage showing Jerusalem taken up by the Lord in simple -loving-kindness, He owning one that, like the Ethiopian or like Ruth, -might be a reproach to Him. liv. - -So Jeremiah represents the Lord in the very same grace, taking Jerusalem -even after she had proved herself unfaithful, and been legally and -judicially put away. iii. - -Hosea is made the representative of the same. i.-iii. He buys his wife -(iii. 2), he washes and cleanses her, as well as bears the reproach of -espousing one in herself so worthless and lost. - -So in the striking picture of Ezekiel. Jerusalem is looked at in her -loathsome, offensive degradation; but when not one eye pitied, the Lord -not only took compassion on, but quickened, washed, clothed, anointed, -beautified, and endowed her, and did not stop till He had taken her to -Himself. xvi. - -Thus is it in the teachings or voices of the prophets, as in the early -types and shadows; both and all telling out the mystery, that _the Lamb_ -is the _Bridegroom_, that the One who at the end seats her in the -companionship of His glory, had before redeemed her by His blood, washed -and purified her by His Word and Spirit, suffered reproach for her (Luke -xix. 7), and gone down to her in her ruin, ere He could take her up to -His estate and honour. - -This is the mystery of the Divine Bridegroom. All human tales or fables -fall short of this, let the imagination that wrought them up be as -fervent as it may. This is the mystery of a love that passes knowledge -between Christ and the Church. She must love Him for the service He has -shown her; He must love her for the cost she has put Him to. She will -find herself for ever by the side of One who so loved her as to die for -her. He will see one by His side who so engaged Him that He was willing -to go through with His affection, though the cost of loving her would -take (to speak after the manner of men) all that He was worth. He cannot -but prize her supremely, and so she Him. This only difference may be -observed--that His love was proved ere she became His, for He had -beforehand counted the cost of loving her--her love, later and more -backward, and only in the second place, began on her knowing His love -for her. For Christ, as the Bridegroom (as in everything else, whether -of grace or glory, Col. i.), is to have "the pre-eminence." In the -character of His love He entirely outshines the love of the bride, and -leaves hers, as it were, no love at all, by reason of the love that -excelleth. - - -But having thus looked at the Bridegroom, I would, in like manner, see -the Bride for a moment or two. But I must limit myself, and will, -therefore, only trace her as reflected in the Book of Genesis. - -_Eve_ is, of course, the earliest type. In her we see the personal -characteristics of the bride: she is formed by the Lord for Adam. Adam's -joy in a helpmeet was what the Lord proposed to Himself when He began to -form Eve. He had respect to Adam's need and joy in this work. And when -Adam receives Eve from the hand of the Lord, his words express his -satisfaction in her, vindicating the Lord's workmanship, that His hand -had accomplished the design which His love had undertaken. Eve was -fitted to Adam. This was her full personal beauty. He owned her bone of -his bone, and flesh of his flesh. _All in her was attractiveness._ She -entirely answered the expectations, and satisfied the heart, of him for -whom she had been formed. He took her and clave to her (Gen. ii.); and -this, we know, is a type of Christ and the Church. Eph. v. - -_Sarah_ is the next distinguished female in that book; and she is a -mystic person also. But it is not the Bride whom she expresses, but the -Mother. So that I will not particularly notice her. For Abraham is "the -father of all them that believe"--and Sarah is "the free woman" or, in -an allegory, "the mother of us all" (Gal. iv.), linked with the family -of God in the place of the mother, rather than with the Lord as His -Bride. So that I pass her by. - -_Rebecca_ comes next in this holy line, and in her we have the Bride -again, as in Eve. But great and blessed truths connected with the Bride -are told in Rebecca. She is separated from Isaac. He is far away, and -has never seen her. But Rebecca is the father's choice, and Eliezer's -care, till Isaac receives her. Isaac longed for her. That is shown by -his going forth in solitariness to meditate at eventide. But beyond the -sense of this loneliness, we do not see Isaac doing or suffering -anything for her. The council about the wife is taken between Abraham -and Eliezer. They settle the whole plan. And Eliezer, in beautiful, -self-denying service, goes on toil and travel to secure this elect Bride -for Isaac. And he does secure her. And he prepares her for him. He not -only separates her from her kindred and her father's house, but conducts -her across the desert; on the way, doubtless, telling her many a tale of -him whose she was so soon to be--till at length he gives her safely into -Isaac's hand, and Isaac, like Adam, is comforted in his Bride. - -This is a beautiful light in which to look at the Bride; the one who is -brought home to her lord from the distant land, having been the object -of the father's choice, and of the servant's care. This is a mystery. -And in it we get the Lord receiving His Bride at the hand of the Father -and of the Holy Ghost, chosen for Him, and given to Him, He having -nothing to do but to take her at their hand, and to find in her, as -Isaac found in Rebecca, the relief of his solitariness, the inmate of -his tent, and the companion of all his joys. - -_Rachel_, next in order, shows herself to us. And in her we get the -Bride again, though in a different character. Here we find the one who -was to own and enjoy her, travelling and toiling for her. And this is -just as true, in the mystery, as the other. For, in one sense, Christ -has only to receive His Bride at the hand of the Father and the Holy -Ghost, the gift of the one and the workmanship of the other--but, in -another sense, He has Himself gone into the distant land, and (as I have -already been observing on the Bridegroom) laboured and been put to -reproach and wrong for her. In all this, Jacob sets forth the true -Bridegroom. The Lord Jesus personally has borne the heat of the day _all -alone_. He had not where to lay His head, like Jacob--absent from His -Father's house, and the place of His inheritance--wronged again and -again in a world which, like Laban and his house, ever seeks its own; -and yet, enduring all this, and willing to endure all this, for the love -that He had to her whom His eye had rested on; as Jacob's seven years of -service seemed to him but as a few days, because of his love for Rachel. - -This is as striking a picture of the truth as we have yet seen; here the -same mystery of the Bride is still published to us, though still in a -distinct part of it. In Eve, we had her full personal fitness for her -Lord--in Rebecca, we had her as the object of the Father's election and -the Spirit's care, in order to give her to Christ--in Rachel, we see her -as the prize, whom the Lord sets before His own eye, for the sake of -which He will give Himself to exile and toil and wrongs. As reflected in -Isaac, He has nothing to do for her; as reflected in Jacob, He has -everything to do for her. - -_Asenath_ closes these wonders. She is the woman of the fourth -generation of the Patriarchs. There is the Sarah of Abraham, the Rebecca -of Isaac, the Rachel of Jacob, and the Asenath of Joseph. She now in her -turn takes up the same mystic tale. She was a Gentile, and in nowise, -like the rest, connected in the flesh with Joseph. The enmity of his -brethren had cast Joseph among her people. And he is honoured there, and -with these strange and Gentile honours gets a Gentile bride and family; -and in the bosom of this unexpected joy he is willing to forget, for a -season, his father's house, and to account himself fruitful or happy, -though among strangers. - -This, in its season, is as full of meaning as any of our previous pages -in this tale of the Bride. For here we get the Bride in her Gentile, -heavenly character. Here we are told a great secret; that this same -personage, whose beauty and personal characteristics we saw in Eve, -whose election by the Father and conduct under the hand of the Spirit we -saw in Rebecca, and whose purchase for Himself by the personal toil and -sorrow of Christ we saw in Rachel, is a _Gentile_, a _Stranger_, one -brought into union with the Lord, after His own kindred in the flesh had -refused Him. - -All this speaks clearly in the ear of the scribe that is instructed unto -the kingdom of heaven; he traces the mystery of the Bride in all this, -and listens to Eve, to Rebecca, to Rachel, and to Asenath telling out -separate parts of it. And how does all this witness to us _the delight -which Christ takes in His saints_! It is not merely that He has saved -them by His blood, but they are His crown and His joy, His glory and His -delight. His own love and workmanship have been displayed in us, more -highly than in any scene of His power. And this joy of Christ in His -saints is strongly expressed in each of these cases. We love Him for the -sorrows He has endured, and He loves us who thus prize His love. John -xiv. 21. And if these affections be not understood as passing between -Christ and the saint, if we do not, without reserve, allow this -satisfaction in each other, our souls will not enter into much of that -communion which the Scripture provides for. The Canticles will not be -understood, if we do not allow and entertain the thought of Christ's -delight in the saints, with the same certainty that we allow the thought -of His having purchased and sanctified them by His blood. - -But this communion must spring from intelligence of the soul, or it will -be mere natural fervour. When Ruth sought the feet of Boaz, and did not -again go to the gleaning-field, it was because Naomi had been -instructing her further about him. Her soul had passed through the light -of Naomi's words, and, thus taught, she desires more intimate fellowship -with him than she had yet enjoyed. She seeks _himself_. The -gleaning-field, where she was less than his handmaids, is deserted, and -the place of a suitor for himself is assumed. She cannot call herself -less than one of his handmaids any longer. She seeks a kinsman's love, -for she knows him to be a kinsman. And this is truly blessed. - - -Love, or desire towards another, takes different forms in the heart. -There is the love of _pity_, the love of _gratitude_, and the love of -_complacency_. The love of pity regards its object in some sort as -_below_ it, and is full of tenderness. The love of gratitude, on the -contrary, regards its object as _above_ it, and is full of humility. The -love of complacency does not necessarily look either above or below, but -simply at its object, and is full of admiration. But, in addition to -this, there is the love of _kindred_. It has its foundation in nature, -and hence it is called "natural affection." And this love of kindred has -a glory which is peculiarly its own. _It warrants the deepest -intimacies._ There is no settling of one's self for the other's -presence. There is full ease in going out and coming in. _Expressions_ -of love are not deemed intrusive--nay, they are sanctioned as being due -and comely. The heart knows its right to indulge itself over its object, -and that, too, without check or shame. This is the glory of this -affection. The love of pity, of gratitude, or of complacency, must act -decorously, and in proper form. But the love of kindred, the love of -those who dwell in one house, and whom nature or the hand of God has -bound together, feels its right to gratify itself, and is not fearful of -being rebuked. See, for instance, Canticles viii. 1. This is its -distinguishing boast. Nothing admits this but itself. This is, in a full -and deep sense, "personal affection." - -Parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives (and I -might add, friends), know this. They know their title to indulge, -without scorn or rebuke, in the warmest expressions of their mutual -love. And it is the richest feast of the heart. The love of pity has its -enjoyment, and so have the love of gratitude and the love of -complacency; but they do not, in themselves and alone, warrant these -_personal_ fervours. Personally, their objects may be below, above, or -at a distance, and should be approached with a due respect to all their -rights. But not so with our kindred, because it is their _persons_ and -not _their qualities_ or _conditions_, that form the ground of our love. -We may deal with them without apology or reserve. In such cases it is -_himself_ that the heart embraces. It is not his sorrows, his favours, -or his excellencies, but it is himself, which this affection handles and -converses with. - -We may receive a benefit from a person, and be assured of a hearty -welcome to it, and yet feel ourselves ill at ease in his presence. -Nothing is more common than this. Gratitude is awakened in the heart -very deeply, and yet reserve and uneasiness are felt. It calls for -something beyond our assurance of his good-will, and of our full welcome -to his service, to make us at ease in the presence of a benefactor. And -this something, I believe, is the discovery that we have an interest in -_himself_, as well as in his _ability to serve us_. - -This delineates, as I judge, the experience of the poor woman with the -issue of blood. Mark v. She knew the Lord's ability to relieve her -sorrow, and her hearty welcome to avail herself of it. She, therefore, -comes and takes the virtue out of Him without reserve. But she comes -_behind Him_. This expresses her state of mind. She knows her welcome to -His service, but nothing more. But the Lord trains her heart for more. -He lets her know that she is interested in _Himself_, as well as in _His -power to oblige her_. He calls her "daughter." He owns kindred or -relationship with her. This was the communication which alone was equal -to remove her fears and trembling. Her rich and mighty patron is her -kinsman. This is what her heart needed to know. Without this, in the -spirit of her mind, she would have been still "behind" Him. But this -gives her ease. "Go in peace" may then be said, as well as "Be whole of -thy plague." She need not be reserved. Christ does not deal with her as -a patron or benefactor. Luke xxii. 25. She has an interest in _Himself_ -as well as in His _power to bless her_. And so as to the Canticles. It -is the love which warrants _personal intimacy_ (after this manner of the -nearest and dearest relationships) that breathes in this lovely book. -The age of the union has not yet arrived. But it is the time of -betrothment, and we are His delight. Nay, it was so ere worlds were. -Prov. viii. - -Do we believe this? Does it make us happy? We are, naturally, suspicious -of any offer to make us happy in God. Because our moral sense, our -natural conscience, tells us of our having lost all right even to His -ordinary blessings. The mere moral sense will therefore be quick to -stand to it, and question all overtures of peace from heaven, and be -ready to challenge their reality. But here comes the vigour of the -spiritual mind, or the energy of faith. Faith gainsays these conclusions -of nature. It refuses at times to think according to the moral sense of -nature, as it refuses at times to act according to the relative claims -of nature. In their place, the dictates of the moral sense and the -claims of nature are sacred---as we read, "Doth not even _nature_ itself -teach you, that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him?" But -still they are not supreme. If God put in His claim, or make His -revelation, the _relations_ of nature and the _moral sense_ of nature -are to withdraw their authority. "He that loveth father or mother more -than Me is not worthy of Me." And in the revelation of God, faith reads -our abundant title to be near to Him and happy with Him, though natural -conscience and our sense of the fitness of things would have it -otherwise. Faith feeds where the moral sensibilities of the natural mind -would count it presuming even to tread. - -I ask, then, Do we ponder, without reserve or suspicion, the thought of -such love towards us in the heart of Jesus as this book suggests? Does -it make us happy? We owe the love of children to God as our Father, the -love of redeemed ones to God as our Saviour, the love of disciples to -Jesus as our Master and Lord. But what is the love that we owe for this -way of Christ's heart to us? How are we to meet it in a way worthy of -it? This book, I believe, tells us. But this conducts the soul into the -holiest. And what grief, and shame, and trouble of heart arise, when we -reflect how little we are there, and how many tales against us all this -is ever telling! - - -The Canticles do not give us the ways of filial affection, or of the -affection due to a benefactor. But they give us, I believe, the actings -of the love of espousals, in both Christ's heart and ours. The joy of -hearing the Bridegroom's voice, I may say, is fulfilled here in the -heart of the saint, as it was in the soul of the Baptist. And what, I -would ask, are the attributes of a commanding affection like this? What -do we find the power of it to be, when it seats itself in us? - -As to _service_, it makes it welcome. To say that service for the object -of this affection is "perfect freedom" is far too cold. It makes service -infinitely grateful, even though it call for self-denial or weariness. -And it can render its offering without caring for any eye or heart to -approve it, but that of the one whom it has made its object. It cares -not that others should be able to esteem its ways. It has all the -desired fruit of its service, if its object approve it, and give but its -presence at the end of it. As to _society_, this affection wants none -but that of its object. If there be no weariness felt in service, as we -have been saying, so is there no irksomeness known in solitude. All that -is cared for is the presence of that one who commands the heart. There -is no sense of solitude, if that one _alone_ be present; there is no -sense of satiety, though that one be _always_ present. As to _authority -in the soul_, it holds its place, I need not say, unrivalled. It is the -man of the heart. It breaks the bands and cuts the cords of other -desires. It makes us undervalue all things but the one. It may take -other things up, but this is only by the way. It is ever glancing at its -own thing, even if others be for a time in the foreground. It looks -through the lattices at it. Other things are esteemed according to their -connection with it. And it will control the wrong and cultivate the -right tendencies of the heart; for occasions which might wound vanity or -gratify pride are not valued or pursued, while we retain it; and yet to -approve ourselves there, we will nerve the heart and the hand to great -and generous ways. - -What intenseness is here! and what purity also! It refreshes the soul to -think that we have been created susceptible of such affections. But the -warning of another is in season. "Wherever a passion has these -properties, or any of them, conspicuous in it, it cannot, but by being -consecrated to God, avoid becoming injurious to Him and to itself. The -very nobleness of it entitles Him to it." But the same one tells us that -we should seek, not to _annihilate_, but to _transfigure_ it. He says, -"I would not have it swallowed up by death, the common fate, but be -ennobled by a destiny like that of Enoch and Elias, who, having ceased -to converse with mortals, died not, but were translated to heaven." - -It is good for us to listen to this. The heart has been made deeply -susceptible of this affection, and Christ is the offered object of it. -He proposes Himself to it. He claims the supreme place in our hearts. -"He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me." -Whatever passion of the soul be moved, it is God's right to have the -highest exercise of it towards Himself. It has not treated Him as God if -it have not rendered this to Him. If each of the passions of our souls -do not give Him its richest and largest offerings, it is not a -_worshipping_ passion. - -This we may readily grant, needing, however, increase of grace ourselves -to be worshippers on such a score. In the language of another; "as, -among the Jews, there were odoriferous unguents, which it was neither -unusual nor unlawful to use themselves or bestow upon their friends, but -also a peculiar composition of a precious ointment, which God having -reserved for His own service, the perfuming of others with it was -sacrilege, so there are regulated degrees of love which we may harbour -for others, but there is too a certain peculiar strain of love which -belongs unto God." Exod. xxx. 34-38. It is, I may add, idolatry when -bestowed on a creature, but it is worship when rendered to Him. - -This may sound a solemn truth, but it is a happy one. Is it not blessed -to know that our Lord claims our hearts and their affections? Have any -of us, beloved, read "the first and great commandment" without, at -least, sometimes rejoicing in the grace that would make such a demand -upon us? Mark xii. 30. Is it nothing to us that God Himself values our -love, that He says to us, "My son, give Me thine heart"? The wise -virgins delighted in such truth. Many had gone out with them, professing -the common expectation. The foolish had lamps. They took their place in -the common profession. But the wise counted the cost of the Bridegroom's -absence, and the hope of His return. In the spirit of their minds they -had said that, let His delay be long or short, they must still wait, for -that nothing could satisfy them but His presence. The night of His -absence might be long or short---they could not tell---they would not -undertake to say. It might be, as to its length, a summer night, or a -winter night. But their hearts deeply owned this---that nothing could -close, nothing could turn that shadow of death into the morning, but the -restored presence of the Bridegroom. On this their souls were fixed. -And, therefore, they took vessels of oil, as well as lamps. They -prepared for a night season, they counted on a darksome time, till Jesus -returned. The expectation of their heart so supremely pointed to Him, -that nothing could change hope to fruition but His presence; they must -be expecting, expecting, and still expecting, till then. "Hope to the -end" they purposed to do, for the grace that was to be brought to them -at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was a _worshipping_ hope. - -The early freshness faded, I doubt not. This may sustain us who are so -conscious of the dulness and stupidity of our hearts. The brightness of -that moment when the lamp was first lit is dimmed. "While the Bridegroom -tarried, they all slumbered and slept." But the reality of supreme -delight in Christ, and desire after Him, had not departed. The vessels -were still at the side of the slumbering virgins. The oil had not to be -_bought_, but only to be _used_ afresh. - -How does all this, as in a parable, tell of the heart cleaving to Jesus! -And our Canticles express the same. And our own poets have sung of this -love, as well as these mystic songs of the King of Israel: - - "Jesus has all my powers possess'd, - My hopes, my fears, my joys, - He, the dear Sovereign of my breast, - Shall still command my voice. - - "Some of the fairest choirs above - Shall flock around my song, - With joy to hear the name they love - Sound from a mortal's tongue." - - -The Church receives such breathings as not beyond the measure or the -melody of the soul. And we want these affections to make us happy, and -to set us free. It is a divine method of delivering us from the tyranny -of carnal or worldly desires. It is the Spirit's way of spoiling other -attractions of their power to seduce and fill the heart, and of lifting -the soul above the frettings of low anxieties. Look at the commanding -power of such affection in the poor sinner in Luke vii. Working in her -heart as it did, she was deaf to the reproaches and blind to the -splendours of the Pharisee and his entertainment. She knew only her -Object. The feast and the guests were all lost upon her. This was the -_power_ of affection in her. And what was the _value_ of it to Christ? -Nothing that it dictated or did passed His notice. He appeared to be -silent, and but the passive Receiver of her offerings; but He had noted -them all. The tears, and the kiss, and the ointment, and all, had been -noted in the book of His remembrance, and they are read therefrom, when -the time for the opening of that book had come. - -And look at the same in Mary at the sepulchre. She sees the angels. And -they were dazzling, beautiful in their generation, and wondrous to the -eye of flesh and blood. But what was all splendour to her then? The dead -body of her Lord was her object, the fond image of her heart, and even -heavenly glories can be passed by in the pursuit of it. So with David of -old. His soul was full of joy in the Lord. He will dance before the ark, -he would "play before the Lord;" and if such were shame, he purposed to -be viler still. As with Zaccheus too, not a king like David, but a mere -citizen of Jericho (for the Spirit links rich and poor, high and low, -gentle and simple, as we speak, in one affection), he would press -through the crowd, and without seeming to give the strangeness of the -deed a thought, climb into a sycamore tree in pursuit of the desire -which then commanded his heart. - -Would that this, beloved, were more shed abroad in our hearts! How -should we learn to entertain Christ, as this passion entertains or -embalms its object! And what a heaven it will be, when He is ours in -this way, feeding this fire in our souls, and giving us to know, in -Himself and in His beauties, this seraph love without chill for ever and -ever! - -Would that our hearts were longing for Him! This is what we find -breathed in the Canticles. It is not _filial_ love or _grateful_ love -that would ever send this message, Tell him that "I am sick of love." It -is more than that. Such is not the language of those affections, but -such is the language of the Canticles. And, therefore, we cannot say -less of this book, than that it is, after a mystic manner, the -utterances of Christ and of a living, espoused soul--all springing from -the faith which gives the soul the happy assurance of acceptance and -favour with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. - - -As to the structure of it as a composition, I doubt not, for a moment, -the correctness of those who treat it as "a collection of distinct idyls -or little poems perfectly detached and separate from each other, with no -other connection than what they derive from a common subject, the -peculiarities of the style of a common author, and perhaps some unity of -design in the mystic sense, which they are intended to bear." The -spiritual senses of the saints are to be exercised in discerning the -beginnings and endings of these different canticles or little songs, and -in interpreting the holy mysteries they express. Different light, and -different enjoyment in doing it, may surely be expected among us. But -that these songs or little poems are allegories, we will none of us -doubt. The intercourses of an espoused pair are the imagery; the love of -Christ and the saint, the mystic sense. And warranted, I am sure, are -the suggestions of another on this subject, "that there are those -manifestations of His love, and those affections kindled in the heart -towards the person of the Son of God, which may well borrow their -allusions from the tenderest and most powerful affection which subsists -among men." "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God -rejoice over thee." "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He -will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, -He will joy over thee with singing." "So shall the king greatly desire -thy beauty." "Thou shalt abide for me many days ... thou shalt not be -for another man: so will I also be for thee." "Husbands, love your -wives, even as Christ also loved the Church." These and kindred -passages, with many typical histories in Scripture, and some ordinances -of the law, all warrant this thought, as well as the character of the -Spirit's inworking at times in the souls of the saints. - - -The divine authority of this book has never been questioned in any way -worthy of the least regard from those who walk simply in the light of -God, refusing man and his thoughts and his wisdom. "Where is the wise? -where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" It was ever -reverenced by the Jews as a part of the oracles of God, and in that -character, we may assure ourselves, received the sanction of Christ, and -of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles. No one should pause for a moment to -admit its value to the soul of the saint. "We may," as has been well -said, "form but a guess concerning some of its beauties, but, in the -hands of a Christian, it is invested with a brighter lustre than they -could have discerned, who read it in the days of Solomon. For though, in -regard to the exterior imagery of the allegories, some of their beauties -may be lost, the hidden mystic sense is brought more to light, and -manifested with fuller assurance to the believer under the Gospel -dispensation. 'For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired -to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them.'" - - -There is no inquiry into the fact or the ground or the nature of our -acceptance with God, in this book. Such questions and inquiries are -settled beforehand. The communion is _upon_ the settlement of them all, -as I have already noticed. Acceptance with God is known. It is delight -in Christ, occupation with Himself, that we get here. It is not the -finding of Him out, nor is it the confession of sins. The communion is a -_sinner's_ communion, most surely--but it is of a consciously pardoned, -accepted, and loved sinner. And when any sorrow or repentance is felt or -owned, it is not for any blot or open transgression, but for some -spiritual backsliding, some momentary coldness, some infirmity in -maintaining or cultivating the soul's due fervour. This is much to be -observed. Nothing gross, or even open, in conduct--nothing established -as a habit is detected here--nothing that a soul that had not been -already in simple and earnest fellowship with Jesus would have been -apprehensive of. It is only _a present, temporary slothfulness of -heart_. The very repentance and confession is of such a nature as -intimates the fine tone of the soul that could feel and make it. The -contact or touch is so tender, that the very perception of it speaks the -delicacy of the organ which met it and resented it. - -But what an element is this! Oh, how coarse, beloved, are our -sensibilities compared with all this. Our poor souls are rarely here; -they are engaged ofttimes in doing first works again, in grieving over -the advantages which our lusts have taken of us, the surprisals which -the heat of wrong tempers has wrought, and such like things. But all -such occupation of the soul keeps us below this pure and spiritual -delight in Christ, this sickness of love, this breathing on the -mountains of myrrh, and this dressing and keeping of the garden of -spices, here so blessedly presented. Surely it is but little of this we -know. Is God our exceeding joy? Is it in the chambers of the King, in -thoughts of glory, we walk? Is our spikenard greeting our Lord, and are -our souls able to call Him nothing less than our "Beloved"? It were well -indeed if such affections as these were filling and commanding our -hearts. Then should we have weapons of sure victory wherewith to meet -our enemies, and to beat down the intrusive desires and thoughts that -defile us so often. In the figurative style of another we may say: "As -when, in a clear morning, the rising sun vouchsafes to visit us, the -bright stars which did adorn our hemisphere, as well as those dark -shades which did benight it, vanish." Lust could not with any power come -against a soul thus occupied. This "joy of the Lord" would indeed be our -"strength." For what a dwelling-place opens here for faith to enter! -What a banqueting-house for the soul! How far distant from fear and -clouds of conscience such regions lie! The land of the turtle is this, -the garden of all pleasant fruits. - -But where is the precious faith to enter it and walk there? We need to -cry for largeness of heart in the bowels of Christ Jesus. It is of -influence on the whole soul to be occupied with such affections. It -strengthens and sanctifies--for all questions of our _standing_ are -anticipated, and our energy in _meeting temptation_ is increased, and -thus the _liberty_ and _purity_ of the soul are secured. For how can the -thought of _condemnation_ or the temptation to _defilement_ be -entertained, when the believer is seeking to reach more into the light -and joy of such communion as this? Does it not lead him into more than a -mere escape from a spirit of bondage, or from practical evil? Is it not -the divine method of making him more than conqueror? - -As expressing such communion as this, this book of the Song of Songs may -suit any saint. Not, however, that I mean, that we may necessarily -follow one path of experience, and go from one stage therein to another. -But according to the soul's enlarging knowledge of Jesus, so will, of -course, be its enlarging experience. And there ought to be -_progress_--as we read, "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord -and Saviour Jesus Christ." And as the different relations in which the -Lord stands to us are apprehended and embraced by the soul, -corresponding experiences will arise, for experience is our entrance -into the power of these relations. And the Canticles I judge to be the -utterances of the soul at one point of this journey, from the first -quickening to the full and final enjoyment. It is not the experience of -Rebecca when first awakened to leave Mesopotamia, nor of Ruth, when -first made ready, in Moab, to take the God of Naomi as her God, nor as -afterwards a gleaner in the field--it is the exercise of Rebecca's -heart, while on the way to Isaac, listening to the tales of her gracious -and wise conductor, and of Ruth at the feet of Boaz, as the suitor of -his hand and name. - -This is the general moral of the book. But this being so, I can the more -admire the perfectness of the Spirit in making this a short book. It is -of too intimate a character to have been much spread out. It lies -within. It is the recesses of the Temple. It was called by the Jews the -"holy of holies." And that was the smallest place, as well as the most -retired. It expressed the deepest character of communion with God. There -was one communion at the Brazen Altar or the Brazen Laver in the -courts--another in the holy place, at the Table, the Candlestick, and -the Altar--and another in the presence of the Lord Himself, in the -holiest. And of this character of communion is that which the Canticles -express. It may be that the soul cannot at all times enter into it. Ruth -would not have been prepared for laying herself at the feet of Boaz when -she entered his field as a gleaner. The teaching she got from Naomi was -needed to bring her into the threshing-floor. - -And this little book seems to open with the soul expressing all this. It -opens with strong and fervent desire toward _Himself_; reaching forth to -apprehend Him in some more intimate manner than had been previously -understood. It is as though the saint had been conscious of being in a -lower condition than would now satisfy. For at times the soul rests -itself simply on the firm ground of doctrines; such as "The blood of -Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." It is the simple and -sure power of such truth that alone answers, at times, the need of the -soul. But again, at times, the ground under our feet, as believers, is -understood and rested on, and it is the Lord Himself that the soul -desires. And such is its condition here. "Let Him kiss me with the -kisses of His mouth." She had been keeping the vineyards--attending to -things abroad, but now was learning that her own vineyard had been -neglected; and the deeper things of personal fellowship are longed for. -The saint is leaving Martha's and taking Mary's place, longing to feed -under His own eye and from His own hand, and not another's. And at the -close, the soul appears to know that _it had become a keeper of its own -vineyard_. At the beginning there had been the grief that the vineyards -of others had been kept, but that her own had been neglected (i. 6); but -now, it is conscious of being more at home, more about its own vineyard; -as though it had left the Martha place, busy about many things, and -assumed the Mary place, at the feet of Jesus in personal communion. -viii. 12. - -This is the advance, the conscious, happy advance, which the soul makes -through these exercises. It has reached a higher order of communion with -the Lord, and it desires that this may continue till Jesus return. - - -The very style of the writing, too, is just that which suits the heart -under the power of a commanding affection. "Let _Him_ kiss me with the -kisses of His mouth"--like Mary Magdalene to the supposed gardener--"If -thou have borne _Him_ hence"--both _meaning_ Christ, but neither -_naming_ Him. For "the heart had been before taken up with the thoughts -of Him, and to _this relative_ these thoughts were the antecedent--that -good matter which the heart was inditing. For they that are full of -Christ themselves are ready to think that others should be so too." Or, -it is as the language of the Apostle, who _means_ the day of glory and -of the kingdom without _naming_ it, when he says, "I know whom I have -believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have -committed unto Him against _that day_;" and again, "Henceforth there is -laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous -judge, shall give me at _that day_." - -Thus is it, in the very style and manner of the renewed mind, eyeing, as -it does, both the Lord Himself and the glory. And blessed are these -affections. The truth or the doctrine of the Gospel is no cold, rigid -system. Surely our souls must know this. It is at times laid down in -propositions, taking the form of an argument, deducing conclusions from -adequate and proved premises. But still the Gospel calls for the warmest -affections, and abundantly provides for them. _Even the Canticles -themselves never pass beyond the strict bounds of the Gospel--they never -exceed that measure which the strictest rules of evangelic truth would -prescribe._ So that we should interpret these little songs or idyls in -the light of the didactic Scriptures, as we may profitably read those -Scriptures in the warmth of these Canticles. The Apostle says, "I have -espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin -to Christ." This assumes all that is in the Canticles. And in this way, -the Gospel, in its strictest meaning, will account for all that is in -Solomon's Song. The latter delineates those affections which well suit -such truths and revelations as the former teaches or delivers. But this -being so important, as I judge, I desire to instance it in a few -particulars. - -In these idyls, the Lord looks on the saint as altogether lovely. And so -in His eyes is the believer. A sinner in himself, he has, by faith, -taken on him the beauty of Christ. He is "in Him." He has "the -righteousness of God" upon him. He is "accepted in the Beloved." Faith -alone gives him all this comeliness. He has been baptized into Christ, -and put on Christ. This is the beauty of the believer; and he is lovely -in Christ's eye, as the Canticles again and again express. - -Indeed in this form of beauty there can be no spot. For it is Christ -Himself that the believer is arrayed with. The very "best robe" in the -Father's house is on him. It is a spotless beauty he shines in. The -doctrine of the Gospel teaches us this, and here Christ utters His -delight in it; such harmonies are there between the Gospels and the -Canticles. - -But further. In the mystery of Christ and the believer, Christ has a -mountain of myrrh to which He here invites the believer to turn his -steps--and St. Paul exhorts us, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek -those things which are above, where Christ sitteth." The believer mounts -those hills with Jesus as here invited, and as in the Gospel exhorted. -His conversation is in heaven. In Christ he sits in heavenly places. And -he savours of the myrrh and the frankincense which are there. - -Again, the Lord delights in the graces of His saint. He rests, with the -love of complacency, in the believer who walks in the Spirit before Him. -John xv. 10. She is an enclosed garden under His eye, a spring shut up, -a fountain sealed. As we read, the Spirit is in him, a well of water -springing up into everlasting life. He has the savour of the spices, and -the flowings of the living water, _in himself_, and the fragrancy and -freshness of these gladden his Lord anew. This is the teaching of the -Gospel, and this is the language of Christ in the Canticles. He delights -in what is _in us_ through the Spirit, as well as in what is _on_ us -through faith. He has His joy in the places of communion with His elect -here, as in the heaven to which He has ascended. - -This is largely told us in Scripture. "Hearken, O daughter, and -consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy -father's house, _so_ shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; for He is -thy Lord, and worship thou Him." Psalm xlv. Here is something beyond -_imputed_ beauty. For here we learn the grace in her which kindles His -desire. She has forgotten her own people and her father's house, so the -King desires her. And she owns Him as Lord, and worships Him. She will -render Him affection and homage. And all of this suited and attractive -grace was shown in Rebecca. _She left all for Isaac._ She forgot her own -people and her father's house, and came across an unknown desert in -company with a stranger, in the singleness and devotedness of an -undivided heart. And on reaching him for whom she had consented to all -this, _she lights from her beast, and veils herself_. She puts on the -ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. She arrays herself in -shamefacedness and sobriety. She loves, and yet bows. And _so_ Isaac -desires her. And so is the Church to be _subject_ to Christ, and yet -_love_ Him with virgin love. Eph. v.; 2 Cor. xi. 2.[33] - - [33] Affection begets confidence. Rebecca committed herself to Eliezer, - _never asking her father or brother for an escort_. So the more - singly we love Jesus, the more confidently will our souls trust - Him and His supplies for us alone, without confidence in the flesh - or anything else. - -And in the Canticles we find the Spirit of Christ inviting His saint -into the liberty of this present time, into the atmosphere of a house -where the cry of adoption is heard. All the darker and colder age is -passed. All that dispensation which kept the soul in bondage and fear is -over. The voice of the turtle is heard; the voice of that perfect love -which casts out fear. "The darkness is past, and the true light now -shineth," says St. John, as though he had the Canticles in mind. The -saint should now arise, taking his place as the _loved_ and the _fair_ -one, being in the full consciousness of personal unspottedness and -beauty, through grace, and of his Lord's perfect favour and delight. He -should come away from "the spirit of fear," and pass over into the -spirit of love and of power "and of a sound mind." For all in the -dispensation is gladdening. The flowers appear on the earth, and the -singing of birds is heard. All is promise, all pledge, and earnest, and -seal, and unction. - -And again, if the betrothed one of the Canticles _say_, "While the King -sitteth at His table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof," the -disciple in the gospel _does_ this. John xii. 3. - -And, according to all this, we may observe how some of the tenderest -utterances of this book are warranted by the simple narratives of the -Gospel. If the beloved watch over the restored soul with the fondest -jealousy, not allowing the busy foot of others to disturb the silent, -hidden rest of the loved one, what does Jesus do in the favoured house -at Bethany less than this? How does He check the motions of Martha? Ch. -ii. 7; Luke x. 41.[34] - - [34] "Till _she_ please," it ought to be, as the "love" is the female - in this book. Ch. ii. 7; iii. 5; vii. 4. - -The great moral principles of truth are also strictly and fully -understood here, though under very delicate and spiritual illustrations. -St. James says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye -may consume it upon your lusts." In this book we read, "By night upon my -bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth; I sought Him, but I found Him -not." The great moral principle, that _there is a seeking which does not -find_, is equally owned in each of these scriptures; but the one has a -much more delicate exhibition of it than the other. Jesus is here sought -_on the bed_, that is, in some listlessness of mind. The bed may be the -place of _meditation_ (Psalm lxiii.; Isa. xxvi.), but not of _seeking_, -which demands action. And thus the seeker _on the bed_, the listless, -drowsy inquirer after the Lord, will not, till he pass through -discipline, as here (iii. 1-5), find Him. - -If Christ again and again express His deep satisfaction in her, through -this book, what have we less than this in the strict teaching of -Scripture? Did He not find, at the beginning, that His "delights were -with the sons of men"? and at the end, when He sees of the travail of -His soul for us, will He not be "satisfied"? Prov. viii.; Isa. liii. If -the sinner be content with Him, so is He equally with the sinner. The -woman at the well, it is true, forgot her waterpot for Him; but He -forgot His _thirst_ for her, and that was greater. And then, in like -enjoyment of spirit, He said, on the very same occasion, "I have meat to -eat that ye know not of." John iv. - -From the first to the latest moment of our Christian history, our power -to refresh the mind of our Lord is deeply and fully owned in Scripture. -Our earliest confidence in Him as sinners sets Him at once at a feast -(as we have just seen, John iv. 32), there to make merry with his -friends (Luke xv. 9); for angels rejoice. The recovery of a wanderer has -like joy for Him. Read the utterance of the divine affection over -repentant Ephraim, in Jer. xxxi. 20. And what under the eye, and to the -heart of our Lord, are the comely walk of the saints, and their goings -in the sanctuary? Is not "a meek and quiet spirit" in God's sight "of -great price"? Does not the pure behaviour of the believer _please_ Him, -convey complacency or delight to the divine mind? 1 Thess. iv. 1. And -how is such complacency in us witnessed again and again by the promise -that He will manifest Himself to us, and make His abode with us! John -xiv. - -Does not all this make good the suggestions of this book? And so, in the -Gospels as well as in the Canticles, is not Christ borne away in the -chariots of Amminadib, the chariots of His willing people? Where, I ask, -did the report of the seventy bear Him? Luke x. 17, 18. Where did the -desire of the Greeks translate Him? John xii. 21-23. And the faith of -the Gentile soldier could, for a moment, hold His spirit in delight and -admiration, and then bear Him onward to the glory, when the East and the -West shall send home the children of the kingdom with Abraham and Isaac -and Jacob. Matt. viii. 8-11. - -But the affection which can be thus _gratified_ may be _wounded_. These -are among the properties of love. You may grieve as well as refresh the -loving heart. And so it is with our Lord, both in the Canticles and in -the Gospels; as we read also in the Epistles, "_Grieve_ not the Holy -Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." - -And again. The betrothed one here knows that the heavens (symbolized by -hills and mountains) have received her Beloved. But she knows also that -though He be _at home_ there, like a roe or a young hart upon its -_native_ hills, yet that He delights in communion with her, and visits -her, desirously looking through the lattices. And further still; she -knows that her duty it is to watch against intrusion and disturbance, as -the keepers of a vineyard would watch against the young foxes. And I -ask, Is not all this the truth, the enjoyment, and the practical energy, -again and again recognized and enforced in the teaching of the Gospel? -We know that the heavens have received Jesus until "the times of -refreshing." We know that He makes His present abode with the saint, and -manifests Himself to him, as He does not unto the world. And we know -that there is to be energy and watchfulness that we "walk in the -spirit," and not "in the flesh," if we would taste and enjoy these -manifestations of His name to our souls. - -So, still further, there is a garden, in this book, under the tillage of -the north wind and the south wind, that it may yield its fruits and its -spices to the Lord. And does not the severer style of the New Testament -abundantly admit the idea? The Father Himself is the Husbandman of a -vine which He digs about and dungs; and the saint is as a field that -drinketh in the rain from heaven, to yield herbs meet for Him by whom it -is dressed. John xv.; Heb. vi. - -In the imagery here we have Christ as a Suitor at the door, asking of -the one He loves admission from "the drops of the night;" and in the New -Testament we have Him standing and knocking at the reluctant heart, -desiring that entertainment which revived and zealous affection would -surely provide Him. Rev. iii. 20. And well for us, beloved, if our -lukewarm Laodiceanism do but depart, like the drowsiness of this dear -one in this lovely mystic song. Chap. v. 2-16. - -And I know not that the constant self-congratulation of the espoused one -in this book is a whit beyond that of Paul. She can always talk of her -Beloved being hers, and say moreover, "I am my Beloved's, and His desire -is towards me." But he can also always, in spirit, sing (let the toil -and wear of life be what they may), "The life that I live in the flesh I -live by the faith of the Son of God, _Who loved me, and gave Himself for -me_." And that is the language of Paul, happy in the assurance of -Christ's devoted love to him.[35] - - [35] It is commonly interpreted as though Paul, in Gal. ii. 20, were - expressing his _devotedness_ to his Master. But this is not so. - This robs the verse of its exquisite glory. He is rather speaking - of the joy of his soul in the knowledge of what a devoted and - glorious Lover he had. - -If, I may also say, in the imagery of this book, the loved saint can -say, "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was -sweet to my taste," the plainer style of an epistle is not less fervent. -"Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet -believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Surely -the heart is equally in possession of an Object which it knows is fitted -to answer all its desires. - -And further still. We have, in the actions of this book, souls in -different elevations, the betrothed one, and "the daughters of -Jerusalem." How much is that known among themselves, and contemplated in -the illustrations and teachings of the New Testament! All are not fully -formed--not fully in the measure of the stature, so to express it. "We -have a little sister, and she hath no breasts." All are not alike in the -liberty of the dispensation. Such draw out the sympathy of the saint -established in the grace of God, and solicitous care, and prayer, and -inquiry of the Lord, are made about such, as here. See chap. viii. 8. - -Indeed, I know not that anything can be more in the harmonies of the -Spirit, in the combined and glowing lights of the Gospel, than the -utterance of the betrothed one in this short passage. Chap. viii. 8-10. -The actings of her soul, both towards others and towards the Lord, are -the Spirit's sweetest and choicest workmanship. She has respect to "the -infirmity of the weak," desiring for them strength and edifying in the -fuller measure of Christ, and yet all the time owning full oneness and -relationship with them in Him, while she rejoices in her own certain, -happy assurance, and the fulness of her growth, even to an ecstasy, that -her breasts were like towers! and because of that, knowing her Lord's -favour towards her, and delight in her. And sure we may be, that all -this is purely and richly the way of a believing, renewed soul. Full -adoption of the weak, with desires for their larger liberty and -assurance, and yet certainty of personal standing in the most undimmed -joy of entire assurance, with perfect persuasion that all this liberty -and confidence were thoroughly to the heart and mind of Jesus. - -Nothing can be more perfect, I believe, than all this in the harmonies -and lights of a spiritual mind, according to the strictest sense of -evangelic truth. - -So again and again, in the gospel history, we find Jesus led to forget -His sorrows when beholding faith in a sinner. He found there, as I have -already stated, the refreshment of His spirit. He found a transient -forgetting of His sorrows among the Samaritans, from the Centurion, from -Zaccheus, and from the spikenard and fellowship of Mary. He seeks the -same here. He comes to His espoused one, that He might find, in -fellowship with her, some other and far different thing than that -rejection and refusal which He was ever meeting in the world. And is it -not also so, that if the saint be sluggish and careless, the faithful -kindred in Christ will help the discipline? If Jesus say, "Could ye not -watch with Me one hour?" Paul will say, "Quit you like men, be strong." -So in the action of this book. Jesus leaves a memorial of the soul's -drowsiness on "the hole of the door," that the conscience may take -alarm; and the watchman of the city smite her, and the keepers of the -walls draw the veil from her face. Chap. v. - -The harmonies of the "one Spirit" are heard in all this. And so, in the -course of these little songs, I discern the way of the Lord toward a -repentant, recovered soul. See chap. vi. 4-13. She had just refused to -open her door to Him, but, through discipline, had been brought to -fervent communion with Him again. v. 2-vi. 3. And now His eye and His -heart are full of her again. He looks on her as beautiful as ever. She -is His "undefiled," and nothing less; no upbraidings pass His lips. Her -motion towards Him is comely and graceful in His esteem. And He lets her -know that her repentance had given Him pleasant and wondrous -refreshment. As soon as she was made willing (Psalm cx. 2), He got into -a chariot to bear Him away speedily and joyously to her. vi. 12, margin. -She may be a wonder to herself, she may take a place unworthy of any -notice (v. 13); but the Lord and angels rejoice over her. As we know in -the Gospels, the ninety and nine just ones can be left for the one -prodigal; the angels in heaven rejoice; the house makes merry; the -friends of the beloved triumph over the returned Shulamite. She is like -the returned Jacob: the Mahanaim, the hosts of God, salute them both, -wait at the threshold of the land or of the house, to do their Lord's -pleasure toward them, and express His welcome and concern for them. Gen. -xxxii. 1; Cant. vi. 13.[36] - - [36] Another once observed to me, that in the Canticles, the Beloved - expresses _directly to herself_ the beauties He discerns in her; - the betrothed one never does this, but recites His beauties _in - the ears of others_; and further observed, that there was great - moral propriety in this, something quite according to the dictate - of a delicate affection. - -And what is the longing here but that the day should break? And what is -the longing of the same soul in the words of the Gospel? "Come, Lord -Jesus, come quickly,"--so largely and so exactly do the teachings and -the breathings of the New Testament, in these and kindred ways, measure -the affections of the heart in this book? Christ dwells in the heart by -faith. Christ lies all night between the breasts. Eph. iii. 17; Cant. i. -13. And has not the saint attuned his heart over Jesus in language of -like fervour, such as we all use without shame? - - "How tedious and tasteless the hours - When Jesus no longer I see, - Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flowers, - Have lost all their sweetness for me; - The midsummer sun shines but dim, - The fields strive in vain to look gay, - But when I am happy in Him, - December's as pleasant as May. - - "His name yields the richest perfume, - And sweeter than music His voice, - His presence disperses my gloom, - And makes all within me rejoice: - I should, were He always so nigh, - Have nothing to wish or to fear, - No mortal so happy as I, - My summer would last the whole year." - - -These are among the seals set upon this beautiful portion of God's Word -by the spiritual mind of the believer, and also by kindred truths and -principles found in other scriptures. And it has been happily said, that -"if there be no express allusion to this book in the New Testament, the -same allegory, as portraying the same truth, evidently appears to have -been familiar to the minds of the writers of it, and to the minds also -of the people whom they addressed. Not more abruptly does John the -Baptist, for instance, refer to our Lord as 'the Lamb of God who taketh -away the sin of the world,' as being the character of the Messiah which -all would know and understand, than he does to the same blessed Person -in the character of the Bridegroom of the Church--'he that hath the -Bride is the Bridegroom.'" - -And is it not seasonable, in these days of growing irreligiousness and -worldliness, to warn one another, beloved, to keep our minds incorrupt -in the simplicity that is in Christ? In the preparation-season, which -the present age is, and which the Canticles contemplate, Eve was getting -ready, under the forming hand of God, for Adam, and for Adam _only_. -Adam slept for Eve, and Eve was made for Adam. So with Christ and the -Church. He slept in death for us, and we are preparing, under the Holy -Ghost, for Him. "I have espoused you to _one_ husband, that I may -present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." As he says also in another -place, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again till -_Christ_ be formed in you," Christ, and Christ only, Christ in His -precious sufficiency for a sinner, in answer to the Hagar or Galatian -thought of "days, and months, and times, and years," that other gospel -which yet is not another. - -But this is assailed. The Gospel, in its claim on the sinner to give his -undivided confidence to Christ, has been abroad on the lips of a -thousand witnesses, to the gladdening of thousands of souls. The enemy -has watched and hated this. Working in the scene in which he goes "to -and fro" and "up and down" (Job i. 7), he is busy to seduce the heart -from this Gospel. And is not his success far beyond the measure of the -fears of any of us? The religion of fleshly confidences or of ordinances -is to this hour among us. It admits of worldliness; and worldliness is, -at this same hour, flourishing in company with it. There is the erection -of temples for worship, and of palaces for the worshippers; stricter -care to observe, in its season, due attendance in the sanctuary, -together with unparalleled skill and energy and enterprise in advancing -the indulgence and elegance of human life, so as to make the world a -_desirable_ and _safe_ place to live in--a place where religion may now -be seen to be observed and honoured. - -This is all seductive from the principle of faith--this is corruption of -the mind from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Gospel addresses -itself to man, not only as a _guilty_ but as a _religious_ creature. It -finds him under the power of _superstition_ or _religiousness_, as well -as of sin. It is as natural for man to refuse to go into the -judgment-hall lest he should be defiled, as it is, in very enmity to -God, to cry out, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." And the Gospel gets as -stern a refusal from the _religious_ man as from the _lustful_ man. As -the Divine Teacher tells us, the harlot goes into the kingdom before the -Pharisee. - -Religious vanities are deeply playing their part in our day, and -fascinating many souls. What answer, beloved, do you and I give them? Is -Jesus so precious that no allurement has power? Is the virgin purity of -the mind still kept? and as chaste ones are we still betrothed to Christ -only? Like the newly-formed Eve, are we in our place of earliest, -freshest presentation to our Lord? or have we, apart from His side, -opened our ear to the serpent? - -The kingdom of heaven is as a supper, a royal, joyous feast got ready -for sinners, that they might taste and see that the Lord is good, and -that blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. It does not put God in the -place of a _receiver_, for man _to bring Him His due_; but it puts Him -in the place of a _giver_, and man is called _to value His blessing_. -But the question is, Who listens, with desirous heart, to the bidding? -Who wears "the wedding garment"? Who prizes Christ? Who triumphs in His -salvation? Who longs for the day of His espousals? John had this garment -on him, knowing, as he did, the joy of being the Bridegroom's friend. It -was flowing at liberty on Mary's shoulders, as she sat at her Lord's -feet and heard His words. Paul tucked it tight about him when he said, -"God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus -Christ." The eunuch had just put it on as "he went his way rejoicing" in -the faith of the name of Jesus. Every sinner adorns himself with it the -moment his heart values Christ. And what joy is it thus to know that -when we put on Christ it is not "sackcloth" we put on, nor is it "the -spirit of heaviness" we enter into, but "a wedding garment" has clothed -us, and with "the garment of praise" we array our spirits! - -Have we thus learned "the kingdom of heaven"? Have we, in spirit, -entered it as a banqueting-hall where both magnificence and joy welcome -us? Are we, consciously, guests at the marriage of a King's Son? Have we -learnt the mysteries of the faith? Have we gazed at them? Has the musing -over them kindled a fire in the heart to burn up the chaff of worldly -rudiments? Paul had this element in his soul as he travelled through -Greece. And how did the glow of these mysteries address itself to "the -princes of the world" there? It consumed them all. "Where is the wise? -where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" Precious -ardour of the Spirit! What a pile was thus fired in the famed cities of -the learned and the wise! and how were all the thoughts of men thrown as -rubbish into it! - -And how did he treat the rudiments of the _religious_ world? He bore the -same fervent sense of Christ with him into their regions, to test what -chaff and dross were there. In Galatia he found much of it; but he -spared none of it. Though an angel from heaven gather such rubbish; -though Peter himself help in the work; though the Galatians, who once -would have plucked out their eyes for him, be enticed, nothing should -stand before the heat of the Spirit that bore him onward. "O foolish -Galatians, who hath bewitched you?... Ye observe days, and months, and -times, and years. I am afraid of you." - -Could he do less? Could he carry Jesus in his heart, and calmly stand -and measure his light with the lights of Greece, or God's great -ordinance with man's traditions? - -It is to make much of Christ we want, beloved--much of Himself, and His -glorious achievements for sinners. We want simplicity in that sense of -the word--the breathings of a soul content with Him, and the peace of a -conscience for ever at rest in His sufficiency. "What think ye of -Christ?" is the test, as a dear hymn well known among us has it-- - - "Some call Him a Saviour, in word, - But mix their own works with His plan, - And hope He His help will afford, - When they have done all that they can: - If doing prove rather too light - (A little they own they may fail), - They purpose to make up full weight - By casting His name in the scale. - - "Some style Him the pearl of great price, - And say He's the fountain of joys, - Yet feed upon folly and vice, - And cleave to the world and its toys-- - Like Judas, the Saviour they kiss, - And, while they salute Him, betray-- - Ah, what will profession like this - Avail in His terrible day! - - "If asked what of Jesus I think, - Though all my best thoughts are but poor, - I say, He's my meat and my drink, - My life, and my strength, and my store; - My Shepherd, my Husband, my Friend, - My Saviour from sin and from thrall, - My hope from beginning to end, - My portion, my Lord, and my all." - - -May these thoughts and affections be ours. They are the sweet witness of -the one faith, the one Lord, the one Spirit (Eph. iv.), for they express -the leading, ruling mind of the Canticles. There the soul in kindred -affection has but one object, but that one is enough. It is satisfied, -and never for a moment looks for a second. It has the "Beloved," and -cares for nothing else. If it grieve, it is over the want of capacity to -enjoy Him. It seeks for nothing but Jesus, lamenting only that it is not -more fully and altogether with Him. And this is the experience we have -to desire--to find in the Lord a satisfying object, a cure for the -wanderings of the poor heart, which, till it fix on Him, will go about -and still say, "Who will show us any good?" "The labour of the foolish -wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the -city." - -"That unsatisfiedness with transitory fruitions which men deplore as the -_unhappiness_ of their nature is indeed the _privilege_ of it." Just -indeed, and truly to be prized, is such a sentiment. For this thirsting -again, this spending of "labour for that which satisfieth not," casts -the heart on Jesus, As this has ever been, so is it now. The building of -palaces, the planting of vineyards, the getting of singing-men and -singing-women, the multiplying of the delights of the children of men, -all these efforts and travails of the heart take their course and have -their way still. Eccles. ii. But Jesus revealed to the heart, as in this -book, commands these thoughts and purposes away. It speaks the language -of the blessed Lord Himself; and the experience in it is the experience -of the poor woman who was able to leave her pitcher at the -well--"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but -whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never -thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of -water springing up into everlasting life." - - -"I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning -Star.... Even so, come, Lord Jesus." - - - - - HEAVEN AND EARTH. - - -"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The scene of -the divine handiwork was twofold; and, accordingly, "in the dispensation -of the fulness of times," God will display Himself again, both in -_heaven_ and on _earth_. - -I would begin my meditation on this divine subject with Genesis -i-xlvii., which presents, I judge, a beautiful view of the Lord acting, -by turns, as in heaven and on earth, till, at the close, we find them -together in a way typical of what their connection and yet distinctness -will be in that coming dispensation of the fulness of times. May our -meditations be always submitted to His truth and Spirit, and conducted -in the temper of worshippers. - - -_Genesis I. II._---It was only of the _earth_ that Adam was made lord. -The garden was his residence, and he was to replenish and subdue the -earth. This was the limitation of his inheritance and of his enjoyments. -He knew of heaven only as he saw it above him, and by its lights -dividing his day and his night. But he had no thoughts which linked him, -personally, with it. - - -III.---But Adam transgressed and lost the garden, and became a drudge in -the earth, instead of being the happy lord of it. Gen. iii. 17-19. He -was now to get a bare existence out of it, till he was laid down in -death upon it. - - -IV. V.---Such was his changed condition. To cling to the earth now as -one's delight and portion was to act in bold defiance of the Lord of -judgment. And such was the spirit of Cain and his family. He thought the -earth good enough for God, and desired nothing better for himself. He -gave God the fruit of it, and built a city for himself on the face of -it, furnishing it with desirable things of all sorts, unmoved by the -thought of the blood with which his own hand had stained it, and of the -presence of the Lord, on whom he had turned his back. But such was not -Adam, or Abel, or Seth, or that line of worshippers who "call on the -name of the Lord." They have in the earth only a burying-place. But -grace having provided a remedy for them as sinners, and righteousness -having separated them from a cursed earth, they believe in the remedy, -and seek no place or memorial in the earth, and the Lord gives them a -higher and a richer inheritance, even in _heaven_ with Himself, as -signified in the translation of Enoch. - - -VI.-IX.---But though the Lord is thus removing the scene of His counsels -and the hopes of His elect from earth to heaven, yet the earth is not -given up. It is, we know, destined to rejoice, by-and-by, in the liberty -of the glory; or, as I have already quoted, in "the dispensation of the -fulness of times." Eph. i. 9, 10. And, accordingly, this purpose the -Lord will at times rehearse and illustrate, as He does now, in due -season, in the history of Noah. - -The heavenly family, as we have just seen, only died both to and in the -earth. They could speak, it is true, both of its coming judgment and -blessing. Enoch foretold of the one, and Lamech of the other. Jude 14; -Gen. v. 29. But they were, neither of them, _in_ the scenes they thus -talked about. But Noah, who comes after them, is a man of _the earth_ -again. In his day the earth re-appears as the scene of divine care and -delight. God has communion with man upon it again. It has passed through -the judgment of the water, and God makes a covenant with it, has the -prophet, priest, and king upon it, providing for its continuance and -godly government. Noah's connection with it was quite unlike that of -either Cain or Seth. He did not, like the former, fill it and enjoy it -in defiance of God; nor did he, like the latter, take merely a -burying-place in it; but he enjoyed the whole of it under the Lord. The -Lord sanctioned his inheritance of it, his dominion over it, and his -delight in it. - - -X. XI.---Thus the earth, in its turn, again takes up the wondrous tale, -and is the care and object of the Lord. But again it becomes corrupt -before Him. Noah himself, like Adam, begins this sad history, and the -builders of Babel, like another family of Cain, perfect the apostasy, -seeking to fill the earth with themselves independently of God. They -were mighty hunters before the Lord. They scoured the face of the earth, -as though they asked, in infidel pride, "Where is the God of judgment?" - - -XII.-XXXVI.---This, however, was not allowed. Another judgment comes -upon them. They are scattered, and the whole human social order is -awfully broken up. But Abram is called out to find his fellowship with -God, apart from the world. His family dwelt in Mesopotamia beyond the -Euphrates. He came from the stock of Shem, but was a worshipper of -idols, as all the nations were. But sovereign grace distinguishes him, -and the God of glory calls him forth from kindred, from home, and from -country. - -It is a call, however, that does not interfere with the order of the -earth, or government among the nations. He is called to be a _stranger_, -and not a rival of "the powers," or a new-modelled governor of any -people. He walks with God as the God of glory--a higher character than -that of the one by whom "the powers that be are ordained." He is a -pilgrim and stranger on earth, and walks as a _heavenly man_. He has -promise that _his seed_ and _inheritance in the earth_ shall become -linked together by-and-by; but he, with Isaac and Jacob, dwell in tents -all their days, and a tent life is that of a stranger here, of one that -is not at home and at rest. - -Here, then, we have a heavenly people again--heavenly in the character -of their walk, and heavenly, like Enoch or Lamech, in their intelligence -about the earth's future history, and the promise to their seed of -inheritance in it in due season. But we have still deeper and fuller -mysteries in the history of him who comes after them. - - -XXXVII.-XLVII.--Through the wickedness of his brethren, as we all know, -for it is a favourite story, Joseph is estranged from the scene of the -promised and covenanted inheritance, and becomes first a sufferer, and -then a husband, a father, and a governor, in the midst of a distant -people; till at last his brethren, who once hated him, and the -inhabitants of the earth, are fed and ruled by him in grace and wisdom. - -Nothing can be more expressive than all this. It is a striking -exhibition of the great result purposed of God "in the dispensation of -the fulness of times." Joseph is cast among the Gentiles; and there, -after sorrow and bondage, becomes the exalted one, and the head and -father of a family with such joy, that his heart for a season can afford -to forget his kindred in the flesh. This surely is Christ in heaven now, -exalted after His sorrows, and with Him the Church taken from among the -Gentiles, made His companion and joy during the season of His -estrangement from Israel. But in process of time Joseph is made the -depositary and the dispenser of the world's resources; his brethren, as -well as all beside, become dependent on him; he feeds them and rules -them according to his pleasure. And this as surely is Christ, as He will -be in the earth by-and-by, with Israel brought to repentance and seated -in the fairest portion of the earth, and with all the nations under His -sceptre, when He will order them according to His wisdom, feed them out -of His stores, and re-settle them in their inheritance in peace and -righteousness. - -Surely the heavens and the earth are, in type, here seen, as they will -really be in "the dispensation of the fulness of times," when all -things, both in heaven and on earth, shall be gathered together in -Christ. Surely this is a rehearsal of the great result, and the heavens -and the earth tell out together the mystery of God! - -And I cannot but observe the willing, unmurmuring subjection which the -Egyptians yield to Joseph. He moves them hither and thither, and settles -them as he likes, but all is welcome to them; and so, in the days of the -kingdom, the whole world will be ready to say, Jesus has done all things -well. What blessedness! Subjection to Jesus, but willing and glad -subjection! His sceptre getting its approval and its welcome from all -over whom it waves and asserts its power! - -And again I observe that all this power of Joseph is held in full -consent of Pharaoh's supremacy. The people, and the cattle, and the -lands, are all bought by Joseph _for_ Pharaoh. It is Pharaoh's kingdom -still, though under Joseph's administration--as in the kingdom of which -this is the type, every tongue shall confess Jesus Lord, to _the glory -of God the Father_. - -These features give clear expression and character to the picture. But -there is one other touch (the touch of a master's hand, I would -reverently say) in this picture which is not inferior in meaning or in -beauty to any. I mean, that in all this settlement of the earth, Asenath -and the children get no portion. They are not seen; there is no mention -of them even. Jacob may get Goshen; but Asenath, Ephraim, and Manasseh, -nothing. Is it that the wife and children were loved less, and the -father and brethren more? Nay, that cannot be. But Asenath and the -children are heavenly, and have their portion, the rather in and with -him who is the lord and dispenser of all this, and they cannot mingle in -the interests and arrangements of the earth. Even Goshen, the fairest -and fattest of the land, is unworthy of them. They are the family of the -lord himself. They share the home, and the presence, and the closest -endearments of him who is the happy and honoured head of all this scene -of glory. - -Is not this the great result, in miniature or in type? Have we not in -all this that promised "dispensation of the fulness of times," when God -will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in -heaven; and which are on earth? Are not the heavens and the earth here -seen and heard together in their millennial order? I surely judge that -they are. "Known unto God are all His works, from the beginning of the -world." - - -But as we go on in the course of the divine dispensations, earthly and -heavenly scenes and purposes still unfold themselves. Israel, in their -turn, and after these scenes in the hook of Genesis, become the witness -of God, and an _earthly_ people. A portion of the world is sanctified -for God's possession and dwelling-place again. As the deluge had -purified the whole of it for the divine power and presence in Noah's -day, so the sword of Joshua now purifies a portion of it for the same -divine power and presence in Israel. God has His sanctuary and His -throne in the land of Canaan. He is worshipped in Jerusalem, and there -His law is dispensed. The glory is again in the earth. As Lord of the -earth, the God of Israel keeps court and rule on the earth again. But -all is corrupted again. Canaan was defiled by the apostasy of Israel, as -the Noah-earth had been defiled by the tower of Babel. Ezekiel, who was -set as a watchman in the day of this apostasy, sees therefore the glory -on its way from Jerusalem to _heaven_. It does not seek any other spot -on earth, but, being disturbed at Jerusalem by the defilements there, it -retreats to heaven. Ezekiel xi. - -Up to this day of Ezekiel the glory had communicated with Israel _in -power_. It was a glory, or divine presence, that had judged Egypt, -guided the camp through the desert, smitten the nations of Canaan, -divided their land among the tribes, and then seated itself in the -temple and on the throne at Jerusalem. All this was the glory _in -power_. But, as we have seen, Israel had now forfeited it, and it -returns to heaven. But it had another character in which to show itself. -This same glory, or the divine presence, God Himself, returns veiled in -the person of Jesus; in whom, as a rejected Galilean, or carpenter's -son, having not where to lay His head, worse off in the world than the -birds or the foxes, it went about in the land of Israel in fullest -grace, healing, preaching, toiling, watching; poor, yet enriching -others; thirsty and hungry, yet feeding thousands, and in every thing as -simply and surely declaring itself to be the glory, as it did when it -divided the waters of Jordan, or threw down the walls of Jericho. Only -it was the glory in its _grace_ now, as it had been the glory in its -_power_ then. In this form, however, Israel, or the earth, forfeited it -also, though it did not leave the earth in the same way. Of old, when -rejected in its power, it left the earth of itself, in righteous anger -resenting the affront done to its majesty, and withdrawing itself in -judgment (Ezek. i.-xi.); but now, being rejected in its grace, it is at -last rather sent away than withdraws itself. But still, whether we see -the glory in power or in grace, the earth has forfeited it, and it is -now hid in the heavens. See Acts vii. 55. - -This is the history of the glory since Ezekiel xi. to the ascension of -Jesus. And it is again where the prophet of God saw it going in that -chapter, that is, in heaven. Only it is now gathering the fulness of the -Gentiles there, receiving to itself the "holy brethren, partakers of the -heavenly calling." The Holy Ghost has come forth to tell us here of the -glory there, to form us into association with its own wondrous history, -or to make its portion our portion. - -Such is the place, and such the action, of the glory now. - -But there is another stage in its history still. Ezekiel sees it return -to the very spot from whence it set out. Ezekiel xliii. It had never -sought any other place on earth. If Zion be unprepared for Jesus, the -earth must lose Him, for of Zion alone has He said, "This is my rest for -ever." But the glory does return, as we see in that chapter of Ezekiel. -And then will arise that system commonly known by the name of "the -millennium," when Jesus will become the centre, the true ladder which -Jacob saw, the sustainer of all things in heaven and on earth, -reconciling all by His blood, and then gathering all in Himself to -spread His glories over all. See Isaiah iv. 5, 6. - -Thus the two parts of the future kingdom, the heavenly and the earthly, -have been pledged again and again from the beginning; one witness after -another, called forth in the dispensations, has, as we have seen, been -telling of His counsels; and the millennium will be the owning of these -pledges, and the accomplishment of the promises of these heavenly and -earthly witnesses. - -It has been grateful to my own soul to think of the _intercourse_ of -heaven with earth, in the progress of this varied and wondrous history. -I mean in the visions, or the dreams, or the angelic visits, which at -times the people of God have enjoyed. The audiences of divine oracles -are of this character also. All these show that the heavens had access -to the earth, and had but to pass through a thin veil to meet or reach -it. - -While the earth was undefiled, the Lord God walked in the garden. And -afterwards, though He was in some sense estranged from earth, yet He was -ever ready to visit it in the behalf of His elect, as in the histories -of Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, and others. The ladder which Jacob saw, with -its top in heaven and its foot on the earth; the passing and repassing -of Moses in and out between the Lord and the people; the elders going up -and seeing the God of Israel; Solomon's ascent from his own house up to -the house of the Lord, these are notices of intercourse between the -heavens and the earth in the days of the kingdom. So that bright and -memorable hour, when Jesus was transfigured, in company with Moses and -Elias, in the sight of Peter, James, and John. So the occasional -appearances of Christ to His disciples after He had risen. And so the -vision of the descending and ascending sheet. The heavenly things at -such moments unfold themselves to the eye of man, and give sweet notice -of their nearness to us. We do not as yet perceive this nearness, for -the glory is not yet in its millennial place over the city of the Jews; -but faith reads these notices of this nearness, and understands them. -Isaiah iv. Faith, in Elisha, knew that the Lord of hosts was nigh, and -he prayed that his servant might have his eye opened to see that the -mountains around him were filled with the chariots and horses of heaven; -and in the millennial kingdom all this will be to sight. The heavenly -glory, or glory of the golden city, will shine over the Jerusalem of the -land of Israel. On all her habitations it will be a covering. The ladder -will be erected, with its head in the heavens and its foot on the earth; -the same blessed Lord will be the centre of all things; and, as in the -different parts of one temple, the services of praise and joy will be -celebrated, every tongue confessing Jesus Lord, to the glory of God the -Father. - -The _pure moral happiness_ that will be enjoyed by reason of this -intercourse, is also sweetly pictured in different types and prophecies. -As at the meeting of Jethro and Moses, of Solomon and the Queen of the -South; as in Isaiah lx., or on the holy Mount, or in the holy Jerusalem. -What right affections do we find in all these intercourses! What pure -social pleasures are, as I have said, pictured before us! At the mount -of God how naturally Moses at once takes the place of the inferior, and -Aaron too; and how gracefully Jethro, representing the heavenly man, -fills the duties and wears the honours of their superior! And with what -joy of heart, and praise on his lips, does he listen to the tale of -God's mercies to Israel! In the Queen of the South what unenvious and -ungrudging generosity of soul we witness, and in Solomon what readiness -to make her happy! He tells her all that was in her heart, and more -besides, filling her with such light and joy, that, it is said, there -was no more spirit in her; and she returns home, not to envy his -greatness, but to spread the report of it. From Isaiah lx. we learn how -gladly will all the nations, in the day of the kingdom, wait on -Jerusalem with their treasures. Even like the flight of doves to their -windows will be the willing-hearted journeys of the dromedaries of -Midian, or the voyages of the ships of Tarshish, with their treasures -and their spoils, to nourish the joy and glory of Zion. They will -delight to do her honour, and all will be with the glow and fervency of -a free-will offering. As afterwards, in the case of Peter on the holy -Mount; when he awoke to the sight and sense of the heavenly glory, such -joy filled his soul as, at once, and by its own necessity, expelled all -selfishness from his heart. It was not Peter properly who spoke, but the -virtue of the place, the spirit of the scene. He was, as in the -twinkling of an eye, so filled with the air and breath of heaven, that -he was ready to labour and let other men enter into his labours. -"Master, it is good for us to be here," said he; "let us make three -tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." And, -again, in the holy Jerusalem, what is the commerce there between the -families of God? All that is most blessedly of the same great and -generous character. The kings bring their glory and honour up to the -light of the city, counting it their place and their joy to do her -honour, not lightly approaching her, but, as owning her holy dignity, -bringing _only their glory and their honour_ up to her. And she -dispenses her treasures with the same gracefulness. The leaves of her -tree, the light of her glory, the streams of her living river, are all -at the welcome disposal of the nations. - -All these shadowy expressions of the social delights of millennial days -will be deeply prized by us, if we love the exercise of pure, unselfish -affections. - -But in this intercourse it is the heavens that will visit the earth, and -not the earth the heavens--the people of the one will come down to the -other, but not the contrary--the people of the earth will only have to -receive and welcome the visitants from heaven. - -The kingdom of nature, as we may call it, exhibits this. For the earth -gives nothing to heaven, but receives from it; as the sunshine and the -rain come down to bless the earth, but the earth adds nothing in -return.[37] - - [37] The saints of the present age, being heavenly in their calling, - should be heavenly also in the spirit of their mind, and - consciously, in all their tastes and desires, only as strangers, - and not at home, in the earth; a people, as another once said, not - as looking up from earth to heaven, but as looking down from - heaven to earth. - -But in this coming intercourse of the heavens and the earth, when the -people of the heavens go up and down the mystic or millennial ladder, I -have thought that Scripture leads us to judge that there will be change -of raiment, or a certain veiling of their proper glory, when they come -down, and have communion with the earth beneath them and under them. - -The expression of this we get in the Lord's appearances after He rose -from the dead. For then He could assume any veil which suited the -business He had to do, whether that of the gardener to Mary, that of a -travelling companion to the two going to Emmaus, or that of a courteous -stranger on the banks of the lake to the fishermen. In such appearances -He could not be seen in heaven; but He could thus veil Himself when the -business He had in hand to do on the earth required it. As of old, Moses -was the unveiled Moses in the presence of God, but the veiled Moses in -the sight of Aaron and the congregation. One suit of raiment was fitted -to heaven, another to earth. And as also, in the case of the priests, -they had such apparel as became them when they were _within_, and they -had another dress wherein to appear _without_. They suited themselves -differently to the presence of God and the people. See Lev. vi. 11; xvi. -4, 23, 24; Ezek. xlii. 14; xiv. 19. - -And, besides, we see this changeful appearance of the Son of God in old -times. He had various suits wherein to show Himself, and wherein to veil -the brighter glory which was fit only to the higher regions. He was in a -burning bush at Horeb, in a cloudy chariot through the wilderness, and -as an armed soldier under the walls of Jericho. Joshua v. 13. The -business of the kingdom, the concerns of the earth, called Him here; and -He appeared in a way suited to the business He had to do. And all these -are notices of the change of raiment, in which those who are to govern -"the world to come," and to do the matters of the kingdom on earth, may -wait on their ministry here, and then return to appear again unveiled in -their more proper heavenly places. - -But in addition to this doctrine of heavenly and earthly places and -peoples, in the days of the coming glory, and in addition to the truth -of there being blessed and wondrous intercourse between them, as I have -been shortly stating, we might meditate on some of the joys and glories -_peculiar_ to each of them. - -To rise and meet the Lord in the air is the hope which is the most -immediately upon the heart of the believer. Then the going with Him to -the mansions in the Father's house. As He says, "I will come again, and -receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." And -that house will give exercise to all those family affections which the -heart so well understands. The Father will be there, and the First-born -among many brethren, and the many brethren themselves. And to extend -these relationships, and awaken affections to the full, there will be -the marriage there, and the now espoused or betrothed Church will become -the bride of the Lamb. Rev. xix. - -There are scenes of glory also, and occasions of other joy, accompanying -this. In those heavens there will be the "Holy Jerusalem," the dwelling -of the saints as a royal priestly people, the place of _government_ and -of _worship_. And there will be the Tree of Life, and the River of Life, -and the Light, and the Throne of God and the Lamb. And the saints will -be there as harpers, not having cymbals and timbrels of merely _human_ -skill, fitted to raise the joys of earth (Ps. xcviii.), but having -"harps of God," instruments of divine workmanship, fitted to awaken -melody worthy of heaven itself. And the enthroned elders will be there, -casting their crowns before the throne, and the angels delighting to -ascribe all power and authority to the Lamb that was slain.[38] - - [38] Another once observed, that the moment of highest rapture in - heaven is not when the saints _wear_ their crowns, but when they - _cast them down_ before the throne. Rev. iv. 10. - -And throughout all this there will be nothing to trouble or to hinder. -As on earth, in those days, "nothing will hurt or destroy in all God's -holy mountain," so, in the heavens, there will be no entrance to -anything defiling. There can be no enemies, for they have been judged; -no serpent, for he has been trodden under foot. There will be no -weariness of heart, no coldness or dulness of soul, no fainting of -spirit; but the servants will serve without fault, and night and day -there will be the happy worship, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." - -This heaven too will be one scene of God's own rest or sabbath; and the -saints, in their measure tasting the same refreshing, will dwell in that -rest in bodies fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. They shall be -like Him in His glory, seeing Him as He is. They shall shine "as the -sun" in the kingdom of their Father. In mind, body, and estate they will -be conformed to the Beloved. And there will be the seeing or -understanding of all the precious revelation of God, not as through a -glass, darkly, but as face to face, knowing even as we are known. And -there will be the white stone; the hidden manna; the morning star; the -white robes, wherein to stand before the throne of God; the white -garments, wherein to walk with the Lord through the dominions; and the -white raiment, wherein to sit on their own thrones. Rev. ii. iii. All -these will be ours then. - -But this leads to a scripture which is very fruitful in notices of -heavenly joy and glory. I mean Rev. ii. iii. The promises there made -will be found, I believe, to unroll before us, in holy and exact order, -the things which await the saints of the heavens in those coming days. - -_Ephesus._--"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of -life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." - -Those outside shall have the _leaves_ of this same tree for healing -(Rev. xxii.), but the saints of the heavens shall have more--the very -fruit of the tree itself, gathered, as it were, immediately from it, -where it grows in the midst of God's own garden; not the fruit brought -to them, but gathered by their own hands off the very tree. Strong -intimation of the freshness, the constant freshness, of that life which -is theirs. As Jesus says (and what can pass beyond such words?), -"Because I live, ye shall live also." Here, in this promise to Ephesus, -is the tree of life partaken of immediately by the heavenly saints. For -this is their portion, to receive life from the very fountains and roots -themselves, and there also to feed and to nourish it. - -_Smyrna._--"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of -life.... He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." - -This is something beyond what had been said to Ephesus. Life was -regarded as _imparted_ in its richest form to Ephesus; but here we see -it _gained_ by Smyrna. For Smyrna was sorely tried. Some were cast into -prison, and all of them were in tribulation. They were to suffer many -things, but they are promised, on being faithful unto death, a _crown_ -of life. As James in like manner speaks, "Blessed is the man that -endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of -life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." Here the -crown of life is promised to them who endure trial. And this is -beautiful in its season. The Lord delights to own the faith of His -saints; and if they have shown that they loved not their life in this -world unto death, it shall be as though they had gained it in the world -to come. Life shall be a crown to them _there_, as the glorious reward -of their not having cared for it _here_. - -_Pergamos._--"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden -manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name -written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." - -We have another source of joy disclosed here. _Life_ is possessed, and -that abundantly and honourably, as we saw, at Ephesus and Smyrna; but -there is here the promise of another joy--_the sense of the Lord's -personal favour and affection_; communion with Him of such kind as is -known only by hearts closely knit together in those delights and -remembrances with which a stranger could not intermeddle. This is here -spoken of to the faithful remnant in Pergamos. They had held His faith -in the midst of difficulties, and clung to His name; and this should be -rewarded with that which is ever most precious--tokens of personal -affection, waking the delightful sense and assurance that the heart of -the Lord is knit to their heart. He will kiss the saint "with the kisses -of His mouth;" or, in the midst of it all, give that pledge which shall -speak it. It is the _hidden_ manna which is here fed upon; and the stone -here received has a name on it, which _none know but he who receives -it_. This, as another has said, expresses individual affection. It is -not public joy, but delight in the conscious possession of the Lord's -love. How blessed a character of joy in the coming days is this! _Life_ -possessed in abundance and in honour we have already seen at Ephesus and -Smyrna; but here, at Pergamos, we advance to another possession--not -_glory_ in any form of it as yet, but the blessed certainty and -consciousness of the Lord's _personal affection_. - -_Thyatira._--"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to -him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a -rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, -even as I received of My Father; and I will give him the morning star." - -Here we reach _public scenes, scenes of power and glory_. This is not -merely life, though enjoyed never so blessedly, nor simple personal -affection and individual joy, but here is something displayed in honour -and strength abroad; here are power and glory in the first character in -which the glories of the saints are destined hereafter to be unfolded; -_i.e._, in their being the companions of the Lord in the day when He -comes forth to make His enemies His footstool; or, according to the -decree of the second psalm, to break them with a rod of iron, to dash -them in pieces like a potter's vessel. This will be His power just as He -takes the kingdom. This will be His ridding out all that would have been -inconsistent with the kingdom. This will be the girding of the sword -upon the thigh, like David, ere the throne be ascended, like Solomon. -Psalm xlv. It will be the Rider's action, ere the reign of the thousand -years begins. Rev. xix. And in that exercise of power, and display of -glory, the saints (as we are here instructed and promised) shall be with -Him. This is blessed in its place, and given to us in due season; for, -_after the life_, and the _personal, hidden joy_, the _public glories_ -begin to be ushered forth. - -_Sardis._--"They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He -that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will -not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his -name before My Father, and before His angels." - -This is a stage onward in the scenes of glory. The vengeance has been -taken, the sword of Him who sits on the white horse has done its -righteous service, the vessels of the potter have been broken, and the -kingdom has come. Jesus here promises to His faithful ones that He will -confess them before His Father and His angels. This is not redeeming -them from judgment, or saving their souls (as we speak), but _publicly -owning them before the assembled dignities of the kingdom_. He promises -them that they shall walk with Him in white, for they are worthy. That -hand which now in grace washes their feet, will then take hold of them -in holy, happy intimacy, and own full companionship with them in the -realms of glory. They shall _walk_ with Him. - -What a character of joy is this! To be _publicly_ owned, as before (as -we read of Pergamos) privately and personally caressed. In how many ways -does the Spirit of God trace the coming joy of the saints! The life, the -love, the glory, that are reserved for them; the tree of life, and its -crown too; the white stone, carrying to the deepest senses of the heart -the pledge of love; and then companionship with the King of glory in His -walks abroad through His bright and happy dominions. But even more than -this the same Spirit has still to tell. - -_Philadelphia._---"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the -temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him -the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New -Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write -upon him My new name." - -We have just seen the heir of the kingdom as the companion of the Lord -of the kingdom, abroad in the light of the glory, walking there in white -with Him, owned before the Father and before the angels. Here the -promise is, that _the faithful one shall have his_ _place in the system -of glory itself_, that he shall be of that glorious order of kings and -priests who shall then form the character of the scene, each of them -being a pillar in the temple, and each enrolled as of the city High and -holy dignities! Each of the faithful ones filling his place in the -temple and the city, a needed member of that royal priesthood then -established in their holy government in the heavens, where the New -Jerusalem abides and shines. What honour is put on them here! Owned -_abroad_ in companionship with the Lord, walking through the rich and -wide scene of glory; and also owned _within_, as bearing, each in -himself, a part of the glory, every vessel needed to the full expression -of the light of the New Jerusalem, and formed as the vital part of the -fulness of Him who is to fill all in all! A king and a priest, each of -them occupying his several rank and station in the temple and the city, -the Salem of the true Melchisedec. What a place of dignity! Surely love -delights to show what it can do, and will do. If we had but hearts to -prize these things, chiefly because of their telling us of this love -which has thus counselled for us! For what higher, happier thought can -we have, even of glory itself, than that it is the manner in which love -lets us know what it will do for its elect one. Poor, poor _heart_ that -moves so little at these things, while the _mind_ stirs the conception -of them! - -_Laodicea._---"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My -throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His -throne." - -Here _the highest point of glory is reached_. This is the bright and -sunny elevation up to which this passage through the joys and honours of -the kingdom has conducted us. Here the faithful one enters into the joy -of his Lord, sharing His throne; not only owned by Him abroad, and -established with Him within, walking in white with Him, or fixed as a -needed and honoured portion of the great system of royal priesthood, but -with Him seated in the supreme place. - -These pledges and promises may now end. They have told of blessedness -indeed. - -Exceeding great things have surely passed before us in this wondrous -scripture, Rev. ii. iii. The tree and crown of life---the white -stone---the morning star---the walking abroad with Jesus through the -realms---residence in the temple and city---a place on the throne -itself! Surely, if Jesus Himself be prized, then will all this be -welcomed by us. And then, as we are further told, the joy of dispensing -to the earth the streams of that living river, and the leaves of that -living tree, which rises and grows in our heavens (Rev. xxii.); with -access, moreover, to the ladder which lies between the upper and lower -regions, in order, as I have been already observing, to do the business -of the kingdom, in conscious royal dignity, and full priestly holiness. - -The glory also shall be revealed _in_ us, each saint shall bear it or be -a vessel of it, and each of them shall be a child of light and a child -of the day, and each a son of glory, glorified together with Christ, so -as to join with Him in shedding light, beyond that of the sun or the -moon, upon the creation beneath, that the present earnest expectation of -that creation may be satisfied in the then "manifestation of the sons of -God." - -"And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads." -They shall be intimately near Him, speaking face to face, as a man -speaketh to his friend, without fear or suspicion, for their title shall -be signed and sealed as with His own hand. He will have appropriated -them to Himself; and this they shall know, because His name shall be on -them. And there, as within all veils, they will walk in their heavenly -temple, and look on their Lord, and love, and wonder. - - -And to all this, we may add, that everything will be according to our -mind, as we speak; all will be right in our eyes; all will equally and -entirely please us, and be just as we would have it. This we see in the -book of Revelation, in the progress of which the heavenly family, -wherever they are seen or heard, are always found in the fullest concord -with the action that is going on. In chap. iv. the throne is getting -itself ready for judgment---lightnings, thunders, and voices proceeding -from it; but the elders and the living creatures have their doxologies -to the name of the Lord God Almighty, who sits and orders all. In chap. -v. the Lamb takes the book, and they again rejoice, taking their harps -to celebrate Him, and to make merry at the prospect which this sight -opens to them. In chap. xi. the seventh angel announces judgment, but -they have only to fall on their faces, and worship, and give thanks. In -chap. xii. the war in heaven and its issue is just as they would have -it; and with a loud voice they publish "Salvation!" In chap. xv. God's -_works and ways_, all things of His _counsel_ or His _strength_, form -the theme of their song. And in chap. xix. the judgment of the woman who -corrupted the earth calls forth again and again the hallelujah of the -glorified family. Thus all, from beginning to end, is equally and -altogether right in their eyes; all is exactly as they would have it. -They as loudly triumph in the Kinsman _Avenger_ (chap. xix.), as they do -in the Kinsman _Redeemer_. Chap. v. Everything is to them beautiful in -its season. The marriage of the Lamb, and the judgment of the great -whore, are equally and entirely according to their mind. - -Different, far different indeed, from what is now felt by the believer. -As far as he is spiritual, nothing is fully right around him here. And -this is only increasingly so, as the world gets fuller of its own -inventions, and increases with the increase of man. And a judgment this -affords as to the state of our affections. For we may ask ourselves, How -are we moved by the present advance in the improvements of the world? -Are we congratulating ourselves and the age upon them, or are they -sickening to our hearts? This may be a touch-stone of the condition of -our souls, whether indeed Christ be our object or not. The great tower -in the plains of Shinar would have been the boast of a Nimrod, but Abram -would have turned from it to weep. Just as the merchants of the earth -bewail that which the heavens rejoice over. Rev. xviii. - -And this is the great inquiry for us now---Is Christ the object of our -hearts---the One that we long for? For that He will be ours, and near us -and with us for ever, will be the highest point in all our rich -happiness in this future heaven which we have been looking at. Provision -for the _heart_ is always the dearest thought we can entertain. As with -Adam at the beginning. He was put into the possession of a goodly -estate, which carried with it all that could gratify the sense. There -were the trees and the fruits of that garden, pleasant to the eye and to -the palate. The desire of the one and of the other, and of all the -senses and faculties of man, might be _holily_ indulged, for the tree of -knowledge had not been then eaten. The Lord God was in the supreme -place, the creature was not then worshipped and served more than the -Creator, and all the senses might righteously take their enjoyments, and -the divine Planter of Eden had provided for them. Gen. ii. 9. Yea, and -more than this. Adam received _dominion_ from the same hand. The -natural--nay, the divine--delight in power and dignity was thus provided -for; for as the Lord God in the upper world called the stars by their -names, thus owning them, so did He give Adam on the earth to call the -cattle and the fowl by their names, thus taking headship of them. And in -this way he was set in the midst of these divine provisions for his eye, -his ear, his tastes, and his desire of dignity. But the heart was as yet -unfed. The day of his _coronation_ was not the day of his _espousals_. -And the Lord God knows him. He knows the creature whom in His love and -perfections He had formed. It is not good, says He, that he should be -alone, I will make him an help meet for him. And Adam receives Eve from -the same hand which had given him Eden with its fruits, and dominion in -the earth. And then it is that his lips are opened. "Out of the -abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." "This is now bone of my bone, -and flesh of my flesh," says Adam, expressing his deep satisfaction, and -that he now needed no more. Eden could not, with all its delights for -the senses, nor could his vast and unrivalled dominion abroad, as -"monarch of all he surveyed," do what Eve did for him. She unsealed his -lips with a confession that _now_ he was satisfied. And so with us in -possessing Jesus, above all glory, in our heavenly Eden, for ever. - -These, and the like notices of heaven scattered through the Word, it is -blessed to take up and ponder. And, as one has said, "The Holy Ghost, -who is called the earnest of our inheritance, acts upon these notices, -and makes them living to our souls." And it is these notices and -attractions which make us, in a divine sense, strangers and pilgrims -here. Abraham, it has been observed, became a stranger in the earth, not -from any sorrow or pressure in Mesopotamia, for we read of none such, -but because "the God of glory" had spoken in the language of "promise" -to him. He was drawn out from kindred and home and country by something -before him, and not urged or driven out by anything behind. This was -heavenly strangership here. - -Is it thus, beloved, or are we desiring that it may be thus, with our -souls? Are we pondering the prospect, and following out the distant -glimpses of it, with fixed and interested hearts? These are the present -questions for the stirring and guiding of our souls. The search will -lead to humbling and rebuke, but it will be an excellent oil. - -And, as if to give us full ease of heart in the enjoyment of this our -future heaven, the Lord has taught us to know that we are in some sense -_wanted_ there, however unimportant we may deem ourselves. For each is -to be a vessel of the glory, as we have already said; of larger or -smaller quantity it may be, but still each is a _needed_ vessel in that -house of glory. We commonly think how necessary the Lord is to us. True -indeed. We shall celebrate the fact that we owe everything to Him -throughout eternity. But it is also a truth (to the praise of the riches -of grace be it spoken) that we are necessary to Him. "The woman is the -glory of the man." Not in the same way, surely. He is necessary to us -for _life_ as well as for joy, for _salvation_ as well as for glory; but -we are important, of course, only to His joy and glory; as it is -written, "That we should be to the praise of His glory;" and again, -"That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His -grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Eph. ii 7. - -The Lord God consulted for Adam's joy when He purposed in Himself to -form Eve. Eve, we may know full well, was abundantly happy in Adam; but -still the concern of the Lord was about Adam being happy in Eve. So it -is even now in the dispensation of the Gospel. The true Adam is still -consulted for. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which -made a marriage for his _son_." And so will it be still in the -dispensation or age of the glory. It is called "the marriage of the -Lamb"--not, as once observed to me, the marriage of the Church or of the -Lamb's wife, but _of the Lamb_, as though _the Lamb_ were the One -chiefly interested in that joy. - -And so it is. The Church will have her joy in Christ, but Christ will -have His greater joy in the Church. The strongest pulse of gladness that -is to beat for eternity will be in the bosom of the Lord over His -ransomed Bride. In all things He is to have the pre-eminence; and, as in -all things, so in this--that His joy in her will be greater than hers in -Him. - -And all the foreknown to that end, and none less than _all_, will form -the Eve of that Adam, and be the Bride or the Woman destined thus to be -the Man's joy and glory. _All_ here are _now_ "fitly joined together and -compacted by that which every joint supplieth," and no less _then_ will -the _all_ be demanded. Oh, how the Lord not only prepares the heaven, -but in this way prepares the heart for it, that we may enjoy it with -_entire ease_, seeing ourselves a needed portion of the holy furniture -of the place! As Joseph would comfort his brethren by telling them that -it was God who had sent him into Egypt before them, that life might be -preserved by a great deliverance. Their wicked hands had done it, it is -true; but God's purpose had done it also, and it is this He would have -them now think of, and not the other. For this is the way of love; and -"God is love." Love will not only spread the feast, but do what it can -to let it be tasted with all confidence and joy of heart. Love will make -the guests _sit_ at the table, give them a plentiful board, and ease -while enjoying it. - -Can we, beloved, read these notices of the heaven that is to be ours -by-and-by, and for ever, and, as we read, wish our hearts joy that it is -so? Can we count ourselves happy, having such prospects as these? As the -miser can bear the scorn of the world without, in the thought of his -treasures at home, can we in the hope of this joy of heaven live above -the earth and its promises? - -Such things, however, as these, excellent as they are, have something -still further with them. The _air_ of a place is more important to us -than its _scenery_. If we can get both, of course the better; but if we -can have but one, the good air will be surely preferred. - -Now, heaven, I may say, will have both. It will be filled with a moral -element or atmosphere, as well as furnished with glories; and the former -(I speak as a man) will be more in the account of our joy than the -latter. - -I have found it well at times to ponder this, and to learn something of -that moral element that is to be the air of heaven. Scriptures which I -have already noticed test and prove the purity of that air. The -millennial atmosphere both in heaven and on earth will indeed be ever -fresh, laden with balmy fragrance. If we are now wearied with our own -selfishness, and with the tempers of "hateful and hating" human nature, -we must long for a change of air, such as the land of the glory is said -to know, the land of the voice of the turtle. If the brightness of those -regions, or the scenery of the place, have its attraction (and what -heart can conceive it?), what must be the atmosphere of it to our happy -souls, where social life, through all its relations, as between heaven -and earth, and as between Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and the most -distant islands, moves and kindles continually with the most generous -and delicate affections. - -It is not that nature will be triumphed over merely; nature will not be -there; at least, not in the heavens which we are approaching. We shall -not have to speak of saints carrying themselves towards each other in a -good spirit. Such security is well in its place, and while we sojourn in -our "vile bodies." But there the element itself will be good. The -fervent currents of pure and happy minds, flowing from each to all, will -form it. - -The moral dignity and beauty, the various and yet consistent perfections -that will animate us then, will all be bright and lovely before the -divine mind. God shall survey the work of His fingers through the -different spheres of glory, and rest with delight in it. - -It is a thought much to be cherished, that our eternal ways will thus be -the divine delight, and more than make up to God (I speak again after -the manner of men) for the grief which, by us and in us, His Spirit is -now so continually put to. - -Such will be the _moral_ enjoyments in the realms of glory; no small -part of that banquet at which the Lord will seat His guests, when He -comes forth and girds Himself to wait upon them. Luke xii. 37. We may be -but little able to comprehend the glory itself, but we can appreciate -these moral characteristics of the heaven we are reaching. - -While still here, in the conflicts of flesh and spirit, we are, in some -sense, under the guardianship of _conscience_, that principle which -judges of "good and evil." But conscience will not keep heaven in order. -Our _passions_ and our _righteousness_ will there be one. Little do we -now advance in a heavenly direction by the gracious current of -affections. But what bliss, when the very energy which bears us -_speedily_ will also bear us _rightly_ onward---when the very gale which -fills the sails will regulate the rudder; the passion that engages and -delights the soul being the very rule and measure of all that is worthy -of the presence of God! - -May we cherish in our souls these notices of heaven! Faint is their -impression; humblingly indeed do some of us know this; but we may -entertain them, and bid them welcome, grieved that our welcome is not -more warm and affectionate. - - -But the earth is still remembered, and kept in store for great purposes -yet to be accomplished. The rainbow was, of old, as we know, made the -pledge of this. It is a token of the covenant between God and all the -earth, and every living thing upon it. The Lord says, that when the -cloud comes, the bow shall be with it---when the portent of judgment -lowers, the sign of peace shall shine. And, as we see to this day, the -earth has not been again destroyed. It may not be the residence of the -glory, as it once was, and as it will be again, but still it is -preserved, according to the promise of the rainbow. And Scripture is -diligent and exact to show us, that in every variety of the divine -procedure, this promise has been, is, and will be remembered. - -Thus it was surely remembered all the time the Lord had His seat in -Zion; for then the Lord made the earth His habitation. But when the -throne of the Lord leaves Zion, and the holiest of holies loses the -glory, because the earthly people had, by their sin, disturbed its rest, -and all returns to heaven (Ezek. i-xi.), we see the throne and the glory -carrying the rainbow with them. That is, though the earth was then -stripped of glory; though Jerusalem, the throne of the Lord, was then -for a season laid on heaps, and put under the foot of the Gentiles; -still the Lord would be mindful of the earth, and make it the object of -His faithful care, according to His promise. And thus we see the glory, -though it leave the earth, bearing with it the remembrance of the earth: -_the rainbow accompanies it to heaven_; this telling us, that though the -Lord leave the earth as the scene of His power and praise for a time, He -has it still in recollection before Him. Accordingly, when the heaven is -opened to our vision in Rev. iv. we see the faithful bow encompassing -the throne there. How blessed this is! The Lord in the heavens is still -mindful of the earth. He has thrown the very pledge of its security -around His throne on high, so that though the earth see not that throne, -and is no longer the place of that throne, that throne sees the earth -and remembers it, and longs, as it were, for its natural footstool. - -This shows us the security of the earth during this heavenly -dispensation through which we are now passing. The Lord is now gathering -a people _for heaven_. It is true, He is not filling the earth with -glory yet, but gathering an elect family out from it, to have communion -with Himself in heaven; but still He is mindful of His promise. He looks -on the bow, and preserves the earth, keeps the seed-time and the -harvest, the cold and the heat, the day and the night, the summer and -the winter, in their stated rounds and seasons. Gen. ix. - -How simple all this is. When the throne went first from earth to heaven, -we saw it bearing along with it the recollection of the earth; and now -in its place in the heavens we see it still clasping to its breast and -encircling across its brow this fond and loved token of the earth's -blessing. Ezek. i.; Rev. iv. - -But there is still more. For let the Lord come down in the judgments -that are by-and-by to visit the earth, we shall find Him as fully -mindful of His promise not to destroy it, as now He is, or has been -hitherto. This we see in Rev. x. The mighty angel, the angel of -judgment, comes down; and he is clothed with a cloud, the fearful vessel -of wrath, and token of judgment; as was said at the beginning, "When I -bring a cloud over the earth." But even then the rainbow is with Him; as -it was added, "The bow shall be seen in the cloud." It is not simply -with a cloud He comes down, but with the cloud and the bow accompanying -it. See Gen. ix. 14; Rev. x. 1. As much as to tell us, that at the very -end He remembers His word, and will debate with judgment. He will say to -it, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." The cloud is to descend, -it is true; the judgment must come, the vials of wrath must be poured -out; but it is only to judge those who corrupt or destroy the earth, and -not to destroy the earth itself; for the mighty angel, as we see from -this scripture, who comes down "clothed with a cloud," has also "a -rainbow upon his head." And the cloud, as it executes its commission, -and pours out its water or its judgments again, must stay itself in -obedience to the bow that is to measure and control it. The present -course of things may cease, as in the days of Noah, but the bow shines -in the eye of the Lord. His promise lives in His heart, and the earth -shall be the happy scene and witness of its rich fulfilment. - -Thus, then, we see that even the judgment itself shall not touch the -ancient promise to the earth. It is still beloved for Noah's sake, of -whom it was said, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and -toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed -(Gen. v.), that is, for His blessed sake whom Noah typified; and we need -not say, beloved, who He is. Therefore it survives the judgment, it -stands the shock of the descent of this mighty angel, though clothed -with a cloud, planting his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on -the land, and crying aloud as when a lion roars. - -And what is it reserved for? For even more than the rainbow had promised -it. For this is the way of God. He takes up His pledges, and is faithful -_abundantly_, doing more exceedingly than He had spoken. And so is it in -this case of the earth. It is not only preserved, with its seed-time and -its harvest, its day and its night, but it is brought into the "liberty -of the glory of the sons of God." This is more than had been pledged to -it. The holy city descends out of heaven, to take its connection with -the earth; and, shining in due sphere above it, forth from its bosom it -sends the leaves of its living tree, the streams of its living water, -and the rays of its indwelling glory, to beautify and to refresh the -earth and its creatures below. Rev. xxi, xxii. The rainbow need not now -appear, for the cloud is gone. The bow would do well enough while there -was the cloud, the promise and the pledge might comfort, while there was -place for judgment, or for fear of evil; but now judgment is over. The -cloud is scattered, and the bow has therefore no place. But the holy -city descends out of heaven from God, to do more, much more, than merely -to redeem the divine pledge. For it is glorifying, and not merely -preserving, the creation. It shall then _rejoice_ in the presence of the -Lord, when He cometh to govern the earth. - -Would not time fail to tell of all the types and prophecies of the -_earth's_ blessing in the days of the kingdom? The trees and the fields -and the floods, in their order, will then rejoice before the Lord. The -creation itself shall be delivered into the liberty of the glory of the -children of God. Psalm viii., with many a kindred voice, proclaims it. -The voice of every creature on earth, under the earth, and in the sea, -heard in vision by the prophet, anticipates it. Rev. v. And the promised -day, when "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose," when "the -leopard shall lie down with the kid," and when "the heavens shall hear -the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil," -will realize it. Isaiah xxxv.; Hosea ii. - -And _the nations_, we know, will fill their place in this approaching -system of glory. They will turn their swords into ploughshares; and -instead of learning war, they will learn the ways of the Lord, and walk -in His paths. At the appointed season they will wait, each with his -offering, on the King in Zion, holding their high and joyous feast in -the presence of His greatness there. Then from the uttermost parts of -the earth shall be heard songs to the Righteous One. And then shall the -call of the prophet be answered by the willing hearts of all the people: -"Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the -earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, -and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof -lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the -inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the -mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in -the islands." - -_Israel_ then shall dwell safely--"every man under his vine and under -his fig tree." They shall be "all righteous;" they shall be all united; -they shall call every man his neighbour. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, -nor Judah vex Ephraim." The two mystic sticks shall become one in the -prophet's hand. They shall be "one nation in the land upon the mountains -of Israel." And, as in the shadowy days of Solomon, it shall then be -said, "Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in -multitude, eating and drinking and making merry." Their merriment, too, -shall be holy. It shall be the joy of a sanctuary. "They shall -abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy -righteousness.... They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk -of Thy power." Within themselves, towards the nations around, and under -the God of their fathers, the God of their covenant, all shall be -blessing with Israel. For thus saith the Lord God, They shall dwell in -the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant.... I will make a -covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with -them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My -sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be -with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And -the heathen shall known that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My -sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel xxxvii. - -All this tells the tale of millennial joys on the earth. But in this -system, of earthly glory, beyond the _creation_ itself, _the nations_, -and _Israel_, there is a spot still more illustrious, an object -distinguished in the midst of even joys and dignities like these. I mean -_Jerusalem_. - -And I have before now asked myself, Why is it that Jerusalem is made so -much of in Scripture? Why is it that "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion -more than all the dwellings of Jacob"? - -It was _His_ court--the place of His presence both as the God and the -King of Israel. His palace and His sanctuary were there. The -administrations of His laws and the ordinances of His worship were -there. The thrones of judgment, the testimony of Israel, and the -eucharistic service of His name, were all known there. Psalm cxxii. It -was the place where Jehovah had recorded His name, and where the glory -dwelt, the symbol of His presence. - -It was _His home_. The whole land was the Lord's demesne; but Jerusalem -was the mansion-house, the family dwelling. The children were placed out -here and there through the tribes and divisions of the land, which was -the family estate, but Jerusalem was the family mansion. It was the -father's house, the common home, where, at stated holy days, the -children met, according to the common way of the affection of kindred. - -This, I believe, was Jerusalem's _first_ attraction in the eye and to -the heart of the Lord of Israel. He sought and He found a home at -Jerusalem, saying, "This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I -have desired it." And He left it, when sin had defiled it, with all the -hesitation and lingering which disappointed affection so well -understands. Ezekiel viii.-xi. - -Jerusalem was all this--the house of the Father, the palace of the King, -and the temple of the God of Israel. For Israel were His children, His -people, and His worshippers, and the affections of a Father's heart, and -the joys and honours of the Lord and King, found their object and their -sphere at Jerusalem. And this is more than enough to account to us for -her high distinction. And all this is she to be again. It will be the -palace, the temple, and the family mansion again. It will be the place -of prayer for all nations. It will be the seat of legislation, worship, -judgment, and government. It will be the fountain, too, of the virtues -of the new covenant, from whence the living waters will flow, to make -her, in those days, the mystic mother of the family. Psalm lxxxvii. And -the glory of the heavens will shine on her from above, doing for her the -service of sun and moon, while she is lifted up and exposed, that she -may bask in the full light of it, and dwell under it as her native air. -Isa. iv. 5; lx. 1; Zech. xiv. 10. - -And she shall be the bride of the Lord of the earth, and the queen in -the day of His power. He will clothe her with ornaments as such, rejoice -over her, impart His name to her, and have her so honoured and cherished -by the whole world, as to treat despite of her as indignity done to -Himself. Psalm xlv.; Isaiah lx.; Jeremiah xxxiii.; Ezekiel xlviii.; -Zeph. iii. - -All this may well account for the place which Jerusalem holds in the -thoughts of the Spirit. His prophets, those who spake as they were moved -by Him, address her again and again as the bride, the queen, and the -mother, in the days of the approaching glory. But what shall we say of -Him, who has thus decked her with all beauty and dignity, and given her -such relationship to Himself? Is it not wondrous and happy to see the -circle of human sympathies thus seating itself in the divine mind? Is -_friendship_ only human? How can I say so, when I see Jesus and the -disciple whom He loved walking in company? Are the affections of -_kindred_ merely human? How can I say so, when I think of Christ and the -Church, and a thousand witnesses from Scripture? Is the heart's fond -delight in _home_ a divine as well as a human joy? How can I doubt it, -when I thus see the Lord and Jerusalem? Surely the divine mind is the -seat of all the pure and righteous sensibilities of the heart, and "the -Man Christ Jesus" tells me so. The Lord God of Israel has known, and -will know again, the affection that lingers round the homestead of many -a family recollection and joy. - -Such will be Jerusalem, and such the earth itself, the nations, and -Israel, in the promised days of the presence and power of the Lord. -Faintly traced by the hand, more feebly responded to by the heart. But -"yet true," though "surpassing fable." - -All Scripture, however, shows us that such joy cannot be had on earth, -or in the circumstances and history of the world, in their _present_ -state, nor till the earth is made the scene of righteousness; and such -it is not to be, till the Lord have ridded it of all that offends, and -all that does iniquity. _The sword of judgment_ must go before _the -throne of glory_. The earth must be cleared of its corruptions, ere it -can be a garden of holy, divine delights again. - -The Gospel is not producing a happy world, or spreading out a garden of -Eden. It proposes no such thing, but to take out of the world a people, -a heavenly people, for Christ. But the presence of the Lord will make a -happy world by-and-by, when that presence can righteously return to it. - -The close of the Psalms shows us this. Beautiful close! All -praise---untiring, satisfying fruit of lips uttering the joy of a filled -heart, and owning the undivided glory of the Blessed One! But this had -been preceded by the sorrows of the righteous in an evil world, and then -the judgment of that world. For that Book gives the cries of the -righteous in an evil world, the joys of the Spirit in the midst of that -evil, the varied exercises of the soul by the way, and the end of the -righteous in the joy of praise. All, however, forbids the heart from -entertaining the thought of joy _in the_ _earth_ till the judgment have -cleansed it; the _rest_ is to be prepared for _Solomon_ by the _sword_ -of _David_. - -The proper thought of this will keep the heart from being tossed by -disappointments, and take it off from the expectation of any progress to -rest and stability for the world, or in it, till the Lord have executed -judgment. Our joy now is to be in Himself, in spirit, in the thought of -His love, and the sense of His peace, helped onward, day by day, in the -hope of full and righteous joy with Him, when the wicked have gone from -the scene for ever. - -How sensitively does the Lord's mind recede from the thought of joy in -the earth, when the people were wondering at all things that He did! -Turning to His disciples He said, "Let these sayings sink down into your -ears; for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men." But -this, I may say, was only a sample of all His mind, as He looked to the -earth in its present condition. It was ever in His thoughts connected -with trial. - -Psalm lxxv. strikingly utters this. There Messiah looks on the earth as -all dissolved and disordered, about to drink the cup of judgment at -God's righteous hand. For the present He expected nothing from it. But -then, after the exhausting of that cup, He does look on it as the scene -of joy and praise and exaltation of righteousness, He Himself bearing up -its pillars, and leading its songs. - -I feel it, however, to be a very solemn truth, that God is allowing man, -giving him space and time, to ripen his iniquity, that the judgment may -fall upon him in the height of his pride, and crush the system which he -is raising in its point of greatest pretension and advancement. It is -surely a solemn truth. But even in such a purpose, as in all others, -"Wisdom is justified of all her children." The believer may be awed by -such a fact in the divine dealings with man, but he approves it, -understands it to be a fitting thing, that man should be allowed to -produce the fully ripened fruit of his own departure from God, to -present it and survey it in the pride of his heart, and then receive his -righteous answer to all his boasted and enjoyed apostasy, from the -signal judgment of God. The iniquity of the Amorites was to be _full_, -ere justice should overtake it. The Lord bore with Babel till the cry of -it went up to Him. Nebuchadnezzar had built "great Babylon," as he -gloried, by the might of his power, and for the honour of his majesty, -when he was driven from his high estate; Haman was full when God emptied -him even to the dregs. And the great man of the earth, at the last, -shall come to his end, just as he has planted the tabernacles of his -palaces in the glorious holy mountain. - -It is solemn; but it is as wisdom would have it, and as faith deeply -approves it. God is justified in His sayings, and overcomes when He is -judged. - - -Happy I desire to find this meditation. Where there is much conflict of -thought and judgment among the saints, it is grateful to the soul to -turn to subjects of _common_ interest and delight; and when the scene -around is getting full of man's inventions and man's importance, it is -well, to look to those regions of light and purity, where God, supreme -and all-sufficient, will gather together all things in Christ, both -which are in heaven and which are on earth. Regions of light and purity -indeed, where all will tell of intimacy or nearness, and yet of the full -sense of the position of the Creator and the creature, the Sanctifier -and the sanctified. In many a delightful page of God's Word is this -brightly reflected. The Lord dwelt in the midst of the camp of Israel -while at rest, and, as it took its journey, went along with it, whether -by night or by day, whether the road lay right onward, or turned back to -the mountain or the sea. But still He was _God_, the Lord of the camp. - -How does all that commend itself to our souls! We bow to this. We -rejoice to know that He dwells in a light that no man can approach unto, -and yet that He has walked through the cities and villages of earth; -that He is One whom no man hath seen, nor can see, and yet that none -less than the One who is in His bosom has declared Him to us, been in -the midst of us, our Kinsman in the flesh, as well as Jehovah's Fellow. - -His supreme authority, as Lord, is infinite; His distance and holiness, -as God, are infinite. And yet He is "Head over all things _to_ the -Church," and God Himself is "for us." At the very moment of His -commanding Moses and Joshua to take their shoes from their feet, because -of His presence, He was manifesting Himself to them in symbols or -characters significant of the deepest sympathy, and of the most devoted -service. Exodus iii; Joshua v. - -But enough. I will not pursue these thoughts any further. Yet in the -days of increasing gloom and perplexity, like the present, the soul is -the more sent to the sure hiding-place of safety, or to the sunny Pisgah -heights of hope and observation. It gets the more accustomed to meditate -on the strength of those foundations which God has put under our -feet---the intimacy of that communion into which He has even now -introduced our hearts---and the brightness of those prospects which He -has set before our eyes. - -I only ask, beloved, Are we pressing, in desire, after this portion? Are -we unsatisfied with all in comparison with it? Are we refusing to form -any purpose, or to entertain any prospect, short of this? In Psalm -lxxxiv. the heart of the worshipper is still _on the way_, unsatisfied, -though he have "pools," and "rain," and "strength" of the Lord, till he -reach Zion. In Psalm xc. all which the man of God sees is the vanity of -human life and the "return" of the Lord. He does not anticipate changes -and improvements in the condition of things, but looks to being "made -glad" and of being "satisfied" at the "return" of Christ. - -Is this our mind? I again ask. Are we still prisoners of hope, refusing -to let anything change the expectant attitude of the soul? The Holy -Ghost is given to us, not to change that, but to strengthen it. His very -presence does but nourish present dissatisfaction of heart, and the -longings of hope and desire. He causes the saint to "abound in hope," -and gives breadth and compass to the cry, "Come, Lord Jesus." Spirit of -truth, the other Comforter, as He is, He does not show Himself for the -Bridegroom, nor propose to make His refreshings "the marriage supper of -the Lamb." The energy of hope, the desirings of the soul after our still -unmanifested Lord, only speak the Spirit's presence in us the more -clearly and blessedly. It is His very design and workmanship. He draws -us forth to hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to us at -the revelation of Jesus Christ. - -And is He, beloved, our object? The heart well knows the power of that -which is its object. Do we make Jesus such? Do we find, in ourselves, -anything of that sickness of hope of which we read in Scripture? And are -we able to say, "When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?" - -May the Spirit shed abroad more and more, in the heart of each of us, -these and the like affections. And to Him that loved us, and washed us -from our sins in His own blood, be glory and dominion for ever! Amen. - - Bride of the Lamb! awake, awake! - Why sleep for sorrow now? - The hope of glory, Christ, is thine, - A child of glory thou. - - Thy spirit through the lonely night, - From earthly joy apart, - Hath sigh'd for One that's far away, - The Bridegroom of thy heart. - - But see, the night is waning fast, - The breaking morn is near, - And Jesus comes with voice of love, - Thy drooping heart to cheer. - - He comes; for, oh, His yearning heart - No more can bear delay, - To scenes of full, unmingled joy - To call His Bride away. - - This earth, the scene of all His woe, - A homeless wild to thee, - Full soon upon His heav'nly throne, - Its rightful King shall see. - - Thou too shalt reign, He will not wear - His crown of joy alone, - And earth His royal Bride shall see - Beside Him on the throne. - - Then weep no more, 'tis all thine own, - His crown, His joy divine, - And sweeter far than all beside, - He, He Himself is thine. - - - - - - London: _A. S. 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