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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Multiplied Blessings, by Edward Hoare
+
+
+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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Multiplied Blessings
+       Eighteen Short Readings
+
+
+Author: Edward Hoare
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2013  [eBook #43201]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MULTIPLIED BLESSINGS***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1907 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
+edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+                           MULTIPLIED BLESSINGS
+                        _EIGHTEEN SHORT READINGS_
+
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                               BY THE LATE
+                             REV. CANON HOARE
+                  VICAR OF HOLY TRINITY, TUNBRIDGE WELLS
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+           PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                  LONDON
+                SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
+                       NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.
+                     43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
+                       BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET
+                          NEW YORK: E. S. GORHAM
+                                   1907
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+THESE short readings, now published for the first time, are extracts from
+the written sermons of the late Rev. E. Hoare, Vicar of Holy Trinity,
+Tunbridge Wells from 1853 to 1894, and Hon. Canon of Canterbury.  They
+are taken, word for word, from his original MSS., and have been selected
+with a view to giving practical help in the Christian life.  Many of them
+were written long ago, but the hindrances and difficulties that meet the
+Christian continue much the same, and it is hoped that the following
+pages may be used of God to bring before the reader the Lord Jesus Christ
+as the Saviour, Guide, and Helper.
+
+                                                                  K. A. H.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                                       PAGE
+MULTIPLIED BLESSINGS                                      5
+THE SAVIOUR SEEKING THE SINNER                           12
+A DIVINE SALVATION                                       17
+FEELINGS                                                 24
+A PEACEFUL DEATH-BED                                     28
+A PEACEFUL LIFE                                          33
+THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT                        38
+THE WITNESS—THE LEADER—THE COMMANDER                     43
+FAITH AND EFFORT                                         49
+THE JOY OF THE LORD                                      54
+THE WORK OF THE LORD                                     58
+CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN THE CONFIRMATION OF FAITH        62
+THE COMING OF THE LORD                                   66
+“WITH” AND “BY”                                          71
+THE STIRRING OF THE SPIRIT                               76
+A WILLING SERVICE                                        81
+FEAR NOT                                                 86
+THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE                               91
+
+
+
+
+MULTIPLIED BLESSINGS
+
+
+    “Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou
+    shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
+
+    “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:
+    I will guide thee with mine eye.”—Ps. xxxii. 7, 8.
+
+WELL, indeed, may the Psalmist say, “Blessed is he whose transgression is
+forgiven,” for every blessing flows into the soul as the consequence of
+divine forgiveness.  The word in the Hebrew rendered “Blessed” is in the
+plural number, to show that there is not one blessing only, but
+multiplied blessings and multiplied mercies, all springing from this one
+source, the forgiveness of sin.  When David wrote these words he felt the
+truth of them.  He spoke of a gift which he had himself experienced.  He
+had found mercy, so he proclaimed its richness.  We know how grievously
+he fell in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, and we remember Nathan’s
+visit.  It was after that visit that, according to the general belief,
+this Psalm was written.  He had struggled with the agonies of unforgiven
+sin, till at length the message was delivered to him by the prophet, “The
+Lord, also, hath put away thy sin.” {5}  No wonder, then, that he poured
+out his heart in this hymn of thanksgiving, commencing with the words,
+“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
+
+But it is not merely a Psalm of thanksgiving, for according to the title
+it was a Maschil, a Psalm giving instruction.  When David was pleading
+for mercy in Psalm li., he said that when he had found forgiveness
+himself, he would make it known for the good of others, “Then will I
+teach transgressors Thy ways.” {6}  So now, having been forgiven, he
+wrote this Psalm of instruction for others.
+
+“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
+These were the words with which David commenced his Psalm, and in these
+words he said that to which every forgiven soul will most heartily add,
+“Amen.”
+
+What was the peculiar character of that blessedness?  We learn from
+verses 3 and 4 the awful misery of sin unrepented and unforgiven.  We
+find how David’s tears were dried up by the burning heat of a guilty
+conscience, and how the dreadful burden weighed day and night upon his
+soul.  Then in the next verse we are taught the secret of the great
+transition from misery to peace.  We find how he made up his mind to make
+no further efforts to conceal his guilt.  He resolved to confess it
+before God, and no longer attempt to hide it from man.  The result was a
+complete, assured, and most merciful forgiveness.  “Thou forgavest,” he
+said, “the iniquity of my sin.”  He was assured of the gift, but what was
+the unspeakable blessedness to which, when forgiven, he was admitted?
+
+This we learn from the words of our text in which we find the peaceful
+intercourse of the forgiven soul with God.  It is that peaceful
+intercourse which constitutes the real test of forgiveness, Christ died,
+the just for the unjust, to bring us to God: so those who are made
+partakers of that atoning work are actually brought to God and made what
+the Psalmist calls “a people near unto Him.” {7}  So it was in the case
+of David.  There was nothing to keep him any longer at a distance, and in
+the full peace of complete reconciliation he enjoyed the unspeakable
+privilege of communion with God.  The account of this communion is given
+us in the verses of our text, in the first of which we have the language
+of the forgiven sinner to God, in the second the reply from God Himself.
+
+
+
+I.  THE LANGUAGE OF THE FORGIVEN SOUL ADDRESSING GOD.
+
+
+He that was afar off without any shelter from the rough storm of an
+accusing conscience, is now able to look up to the God who has forgiven
+him and say, “Thou art my hiding-place.”  He finds his shelter and his
+safety in the presence of that very God whose law he had broken.  He does
+not say, “Thou hast provided a hiding-place,” but “Thou _art_ my
+hiding-place.”  He who had been exposed without protection to the sore
+buffetings of his own conscience, confirmed as it was by the just
+sentence of God’s holy law, had been so completely restored that he had
+found in God Himself a hiding-place.
+
+In that sacred hiding-place he realized two results, safety and praise.
+When hidden there he was safe, just as our own life is safe when hidden
+with Christ in God, and therefore he could say, “Thou shalt preserve me,”
+and when hidden there he would live in the very atmosphere of
+thanksgiving, so he said, “Thou shalt compass me about (or surround me)
+with songs of deliverance.”  A song of deliverance is a song of praise
+from one that has been delivered.  The Song of Moses was a song of
+deliverance when he stood on the shores of the Red Sea after he had seen
+the hosts of Egypt overwhelmed in the flood. {8a}  David’s was a song of
+deliverance when God had brought him up out of the horrible pit and
+established his goings, and had put a new song in his mouth. {8b}  The
+song of the great multitude before the throne is a song of deliverance,
+when, brought out of great tribulation, clothed with white robes and
+palms in their hands, they sing, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon
+the throne, and unto the Lamb.”  {8c}
+
+Observe the connection between this safety and these songs of
+deliverance.  The songs are not merely the consequence of the safety, but
+a part of it.  Hidden in the Lord, we are compassed, or surrounded, by
+them.  Whichever way we look, whether forward in hope, or backward in
+memory, or upwards in trust, there is in every direction something to
+call forth the praise, and the spirit of thanksgiving is in itself a
+protection against assault.
+
+There is just the same connection between praise and safety in the
+description of the restored Zion: “Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation,
+and thy gates Praise.” {8d}  Praise is there represented as part of the
+defence.  The enemy cannot enter because the gateway is filled by praise.
+The song of deliverance is so hearty and so loud that the voice of the
+tempter is not heard.  And thus it is that the forgiven man, hidden in
+Christ Jesus, praises God, because he has been saved, and confirms his
+safety by the very act of praising Him.  Does not this teach us a lesson
+as to our own communion with God?  Whatever it is that weighs on the
+heart and disturbs the spirit, whatever the storm be that beats upon us,
+whether it be care from without or conscience within, whether it be the
+pain of trouble or the still greater pain of the sense of sin, the
+forgiven man may go straight to Him and say, “I flee unto Thee to hide
+me.” {9a}  And if hidden in Him, can anything really hurt us?  Is not His
+salvation a sufficient wall?  Shall anything that can really hurt us
+enter in by those gates which He has closed with praise?  In holy peace,
+then let the songs of deliverance rise before Him.  Let the unspeakable
+blessedness of the divine safety call forth the notes of thanksgiving.
+If the sweet note of praise was heard by the prisoners from the inner
+dungeon at Philippi, {9b} shall it not be heard by the whole church of
+God from those who have found a hiding-place in their Lord?
+
+
+
+II.  THE LORD’S REPLY TO THE FORGIVEN MAN.
+
+
+Such, then, was the language of the forgiven man to the God who had
+forgiven him.  What reply did he receive?  “I will instruct thee and
+teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine
+eye.”  You will observe that what is here promised is His own divine
+guidance and instruction, and you will see at once how appropriate such a
+promise was under the peculiar circumstances of the case.  David had
+grievously fallen.  He had been walking, in former times, in God’s way,
+but had turned aside in a most awful manner.  We do not know what was the
+preparatory process in his mind.  Perhaps he had forgotten his weakness;
+perhaps he had grown self-confident and fell.  But we see what God
+promised now that he was restored.  He undertook in future to keep him
+Himself, by His own instruction and His own guidance.  The Lord Himself
+undertook to guide him, and so keep him safe from the danger of another
+fall.
+
+There are two points in this promise.  It was _in_ the way, not _about_
+the way, that God promised to guide him.  When he was walking in the
+narrow way God under took to walk with him there, and to hold him fast in
+His own right hand till the journey should be complete, and the rest
+reached at the end.  Let us all learn the lesson that God’s teaching is
+only found in the path of God’s commandments.  If we choose to walk in
+some way of our own choosing, we must not expect the guidance of the
+Lord.
+
+Observe also what I may term the delicacy of the promise and the intimacy
+of the relationship.  God says, “I will guide thee with Mine eye.”
+
+When David was living in a state of impenitence, the strong hand of God
+was upon him day and night.  But now a look is enough.  No force is
+needed.  The heart is tender, the ear is open, the eye is fixed on the
+Lord Jesus, and the least intimation of His will is sufficient.  The
+passage seems to describe the eye of the Lord watching over His children,
+and the eyes of His children fixed on the Lord.  When the Lord Jesus
+looked on Peter, Peter must have been looking on Him, and one look melted
+his heart.  And so when the Lord is guiding us, there is no need of
+strong or violent discipline, of the wind, the storm, or the earthquake,
+for the still small voice is enough.  What is needed is that we should be
+living looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, seeking
+to know His will, drinking in His word, watching the guidance of His
+providence, applying the principles of Scripture to common life, and so
+not waiting till conviction is forced upon us, but, with a tender heart
+and a ready mind, seeking hour by hour to do His will.  It is in such an
+attitude of mind that we can realize the sacred promise, “I will guide
+thee with Mine eye.”
+
+Such, then, was the intercourse of this forgiven man with God.  How
+close, how intimate, how sacred, how blessed, the communion!  And how
+complete must have been the forgiveness that prepared the way for it.  It
+seems almost impossible to believe that this was the same man on whom
+God’s hand had been heavy day and night, the same whose bones had waxed
+old through his roaring all the day long, now forgiven, now brought into
+happy intercourse with God.  Does not the passage teach a wonderful
+lesson to every soul that has been mercifully forgiven in Christ Jesus?
+When we think of the precious blood of Christ, and how the Lord laid on
+Him the iniquity of us all, can we suppose for a moment that the
+forgiveness bestowed on us is less complete, or the restoration less
+perfect, than that of David?  Since, then, in his case, the insuperable
+barrier of his guilt was so completely broken down that he was admitted
+to this sacred and intimate fellowship, why should any one of us remain
+at a distance?  Why should not we, even we, go before the same Father to
+find in Him our hiding-place, and receive from Him the same blessed
+assurance, “I will guide thee with Mine eye”?  May He accompany us
+through life with that loving guidance and watch over every step we take
+till, by His great grace, we are safe from danger.
+
+
+
+
+THE SAVIOUR SEEKING THE SINNER
+
+
+    “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
+    doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after
+    that which is lost, until he find it?”—ST. LUKE xv. 4.
+
+THERE are many amongst us truly and conscientiously seeking the Lord
+whose souls are ill at ease, and whose hearts are far from peace.  They
+are feeling after Him, if haply they may find Him; but they are like
+blind men groping for the wall, for they have not found Him, and they
+have no firm resting-place for their faith.  They have been reading many
+passages about seeking the Lord, and have endeavoured to seek Him, but
+they are sorely discouraged.
+
+Let us, therefore, change the subject, and instead of considering how
+they are to seek the Lord, let us see how the Lord seeks them.  Let us
+look at the Divine side of the transaction, and instead of being absorbed
+by the subject of the sinner seeking the Saviour, let us look at the
+boundless grace of God which is shown by the Saviour seeking the sinner.
+
+It is the great subject of this chapter, which contains three
+illustrations of the one subject, and thus forms an illustrated comment
+on His words, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
+lost.” {13}  According to those words He came for the lost, and came not
+only to save them when they should succeed in finding Him, but to seek
+them in order that He may save.  He does not save without seeking, nor
+does He seek without saving.  Let us glean some lessons, from the
+combination of the three illustrations, as to the loss of the sinner, and
+the seeking of the Saviour.
+
+
+
+THE LOSS.
+
+
+In all three cases the recovered one is said to have been lost.  The
+sheep was lost.  The coin was lost.  The son was lost.
+
+If we study the illustrations in detail we shall see that there are three
+ways described in the chapter in which this loss is brought about.
+
+It is brought about, in the case of the lost sheep, through simple
+ignorance and the folly of pursuing each passing object of attraction.
+The wandering sheep has no particular intention of going wrong.  It does
+not set off with a deliberate wish to run away; it is simply led on step
+by step by any attraction that lies beside its path.  And is not this the
+case with thousands of those who have wandered from the Shepherd’s care?
+
+In the second parable the loss is occasioned by the neglect of others.
+The piece of money is lost through carelessness, without any fault of its
+own.  The person who had the charge of it took no heed to be sure that it
+was safe.  How many are there in exactly that position?  They have been
+lost, humanly speaking, through want of care.
+
+But the third character is quite distinct from both the others.  The
+Prodigal Son was lost because he deliberately and determinately left his
+father’s home.  He was totally unlike the wandering sheep led on from
+step to step without a plan, for he had a plan, and he deliberately
+carried it out.  This, then, is far the worst of the three.  It
+represents one living in the midst of privileges, but deliberately
+casting away his faith.  He has life and death brought before him, and he
+chooses death, or, at all events, he chooses that which leads to death.
+Oh! how marvellous is the boundless grace and mercy of our God, that He
+should go out of His way to seek and to save any one so unthankful and so
+guilty!
+
+
+
+THE SEEKING OF THE SAVIOUR.
+
+
+He seeks by coming Himself as the Son of Man.  The Shepherd leaving the
+fold and going forth into the wilderness to seek the wanderer, is a
+picture of the Son of God leaving the glory which He had with the Father
+before the world was, and visiting this fallen world as the Son of man,
+in order that He might seek, and, by His atoning blood, might save the
+sinner.  We shall never understand His grace in seeking us if we do not
+realize that great act of His already complete.  This great finished work
+of His is the foundation of all that follows, and if we want to
+understand the mystery of His love in seeking us we must begin with the
+two great facts, Incarnation and Atonement.  Why did He become man?  Why
+was He born at Bethlehem?  Was it not because He came on a divine mission
+to seek the sinner?  Why did He die?  Why did He utter that bitter cry
+upon the cross?  Was it not that He might remove the curse by bearing it,
+and having broken down every barrier, might have the joy of bringing the
+lost one to the Father’s home?  You, then, who are anxious about your
+souls, and whose earnest desire it is to be sought out and saved,
+remember what the Son of man has already done; fall back on the finished
+fact; and never forget that however doubtful you may be as to your own
+position, there is no doubt whatever as to the fact that the Son of God
+has come to seek the lost one and to save him by His blood.
+
+
+
+HE SEEKS THROUGH HUMAN AGENCY.
+
+
+I cannot think that the woman lighting a candle and sweeping the house
+represents the Saviour.  She is generally, and I think correctly, thought
+to represent the Church.  If this be the case it may serve to teach how
+the whole Church of Christ ought to be entirely engaged in carrying out
+the sacred mission of our Blessed Lord.  It is not the Spirit alone that
+is to say “Come,” {15} but the Bride and all that hear the message.  He
+has become man and died for us, but we are to light the candle, sweep the
+house, and seek diligently till we find the lost ones.  We are to spare
+no effort for their recovery: we are to search them out; we are to let
+them know that there is a Christian friend anxious for their safety, and
+that there will not only be joy amongst the angels of God, but a hearty
+welcome amongst His people on earth for any poor lost one brought in
+lowly repentance to the feet of the Blessed Saviour, there to find pardon
+and recovery.
+
+And what are we to say of the third parable, for we find no mention of
+the seeking there.  But we find the divine act most remarkably
+represented, for there we may see how God Himself seeks the wanderer.  We
+do not see the father doing it in the parable, but we do see how God
+Himself does it in fact.  We there see the work both of His providence
+and of His Spirit.  Of His providence, for the Father in heaven both
+sought and found him, just as He is doing with thousands now.  He took
+from him one thing after another till all hope was gone, and he envied
+even the swine their meal.  God was seeking him, so He broke him down and
+crushed him on purpose that He might save.
+
+But God did much more than bring him into trouble, for trouble very often
+does nothing but harden.  But in this case the Spirit of God was seeking
+him, so that it was a trouble blessed by the Spirit, and he was led with
+a broken heart to say, “Father, I have sinned.”
+
+See how God Himself sought him and brought him to true repentance.  He
+was far away from the hand of man.  He was lost to his father’s home.
+But he was never lost sight of by God.  There was a loving eye watching
+him, and a loving care seeking him, so that though lost to man he was not
+lost to God, and his father with a full heart was able at length to say,
+“This my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
+
+
+
+
+A DIVINE SALVATION
+
+
+                   “Salvation is of the Lord.”—JONAH ii. 9.
+
+    “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that
+    pertain onto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that
+    hath called us to glory and virtue.”—2 ST. PETER i. 3.
+
+NO one can read his Bible without being convinced that it is full of
+practical exhortations as to human conduct and human effort.  Those who
+are seeking the Lord Jesus Christ are exhorted to repent, to believe, to
+be converted, to seek, to come, and to follow on to know the Lord.  Hence
+it follows that as we are very apt to see only one side of anything at a
+time, there is a great tendency to dwell exclusively on human action, and
+to exhort, and to persuade, as if everything was in our own hands, so
+that we may do just what we please, and when we please, in the great
+matter of our soul’s salvation.  People are apt to write and speak about
+coming to Jesus as if it all rested with the sinner himself.  But this,
+though deduced from a truth, is not the whole truth of Scripture.  We
+find there beyond all doubt the warning, the offer and the invitation;
+but we find also the clear description of a divine salvation, the plan of
+divine wisdom, and the gift of divine grace.  Accordingly in this passage
+when St. Peter {17} is addressing those who had obtained like precious
+faith with himself, he makes it perfectly clear at the very outset of his
+letter that they had obtained it, not by the power of their own energy,
+or the determination of their own will, but through the power of God, the
+gift of God, and the call of God, “whereby were given unto them exceeding
+great and precious promises.” {18a}
+
+Let us, therefore, turn our attention to the divine side of the great
+transaction, and trace through four successive steps, the divine Saviour,
+the divine salvation, the divine revelation, and the divine application.
+
+
+
+I.  A DIVINE SAVIOUR.
+
+
+It is not my business now to make any attempt to prove the divinity of
+our Blessed Redeemer, for I take it for granted that we all admit the
+great truths of Christianity.  What I desire now to do is to point out
+that, if saved at all, we are saved by a Person, and that that Person is
+divine.  The Lord Jesus Christ is a personal Saviour, and as a personal
+Saviour, saves us from the death of sin.  It is as much a personal act as
+when a bold swimmer leaps into the ocean and saves a drowning man.
+
+Now it is plain that everything depends on the nature and power of the
+person who saves us.  If He be only man, then we can hope for nothing
+more than a man-made salvation.  The salvation will not rise above the
+Saviour; but if He is divine, then we may rest on His divine omnipotence,
+and look for the power of God unto salvation.  Thus the divinity of the
+Lord Jesus Christ is a matter of life and death to us.  The question is
+whether we are to save ourselves or be saved by our God.  And this is the
+issue which He Himself raised when He said, “I give unto them eternal
+life.” {18b}  The statement of that passage is that He, as a Person,
+holds His people in His own hand, and holds them with omnipotent strength
+because He is divine, for He and the Father are one.  There, then, is
+both the foundation and the keystone of our trust.  We may see all kinds
+of difficulties; there may be confusion, perplexity, and the cry of
+distress in every direction, but according to His divine power God has
+provided a divine Saviour, and in that Saviour we may rest, for He is the
+Son of God.
+
+
+
+II.  A DIVINE SALVATION.
+
+
+The whole plan from first to last is divine.  The world is full of human
+plans, some of which are successful and some total failures.  One man
+contrives one thing and one another, but God alone planned the great
+salvation.  It was not in the power of ruined nature to restore itself,
+so in boundless mercy and in His own divine omnipotence He provided a
+plan of restoration.  Thus the purpose is divine, His own eternal purpose
+before the world was; the mode of reconciliation is divine, the release
+of the sinner through the imputation of sin to the sin-bearer.  The
+propitiation was divine, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
+through faith in His blood.” {20a}  The imputation of righteousness is
+divine, “For God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
+might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” {20b}
+
+The work of sanctification is divine, “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
+of God is made unto us . . . sanctification;” {20c} and the final
+gathering of God’s elect will be divine for “all that are in the graves
+shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” {20d}
+
+It is most important to bear this well in mind, for it places the subject
+beyond the sphere of human speculation.  If a man starts a new system of
+philosophy, or if people advocate any particular system in politics, we
+are perfectly at liberty to criticise it.  What one man does, another man
+may criticise.  But it is a very different thing with the salvation of
+God.  Once admit that it is a divine plan, arranged in divine wisdom and
+carried out in divine power, and it is then manifestly beyond the reach
+of human intellect.  There may be things in it which seem to us very
+mysterious; but what else can we expect when the infinite and divine
+arrangements of God are subjected to the speculations of the finite mind
+of man?  If the whole salvation were of such a character as to present no
+points of difficulty to the human inquirer, we might almost doubt its
+divinity, and believe that as it is within the range of man’s mind, so it
+had its origin in man’s ingenuity.  But when we see it beyond the reach
+of man, then we are taught by our own inability to fathom it, to regard
+it as a plan above ourselves, for the simple reason that it is divine.
+
+
+
+III.  DIVINE REVELATION.
+
+
+But when we have acknowledged that the Saviour and the salvation are
+divine, there remains a further question of the utmost possible
+importance.  It is this.  In what way is this divine salvation made known
+to mankind?  Is it known by human discovery or divine communication?  Do
+we know it by thinking out the subject, or by receiving a revelation from
+God?  Surely the answer to this question is obvious, that a divine
+salvation can only be known by a divine communication.  The eternal
+purpose of God can only be known by divine communication from Himself.  A
+supernatural salvation requires in the very nature of things a
+supernatural communication from God.  Thus an Apostle describes {21} the
+faith, not as having been _discovered by_ the saints, but as having been
+_delivered to_ the saints, delivered to them, that is, in God’s own
+inspired Word.  As God has planned a complete salvation, so He has given
+a complete revelation of that salvation.  He has not left us to grope for
+it as blind men feeling for the wall; but has revealed His plan in His
+own word, and taught us to rest in the scripture of truth as His own
+revelation of His purpose of grace.
+
+
+
+IV.  THE DIVINE APPLICATION.
+
+
+To many this is the most difficult of the four points mentioned at the
+outset.  They are perfectly satisfied as to the divine Saviour, the
+divine salvation, and the divine revelation in the Word of God, but have
+found no little difficulty in the application of it to themselves.  They
+can see the chain with its three links hanging down from heaven over
+their heads, but it is just out of their own reach, and as a poor dying
+sailor once said to me, “I see the rope, but I cannot get hold of it.”
+So they see the salvation, but cannot get hold of it as their own.  If
+there are any anxious on the subject, and earnestly desiring “to get
+hold” on the great salvation, let them remember that what they really
+want is for _the Saviour to lay hold on them_, and this is what He
+practically does by the power of the Holy Ghost.  It is the peculiar
+office of the Holy Ghost to take of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ
+and apply them unto us, and without that act of His we may struggle in
+vain to reach the blessing.  It is not enough for us to be told that God
+has provided a perfect Saviour, that that Saviour has made a perfect
+propitiation, and that by virtue of that propitiation the great salvation
+is offered to us as a gift.  We may be assured of all that and yet live
+on without it, for we want in addition that which the human heart cannot
+find in itself, the power to receive the gift and, receiving it, to live.
+It is by this mighty power that those who sleep are awakened; those far
+off are brought nigh; the bondsmen are set free; the dead made alive, and
+those who are strangers and outcasts are made heirs of God through the
+blood of Christ.
+
+There is no case too hopeless for the Lord’s salvation.  There are many
+who have been so utterly unsuccessful in their efforts to rise that they
+begin to think there is something peculiar in themselves which makes them
+an exception to the general offer of life and pardon.  And there are
+others who are longing for the salvation of some stubborn, unbroken
+heart, but who have sought so long and so hopelessly that they almost
+begin to despair.  Now whether your anxiety be for yourself or others,
+remember the divinity of the great salvation.  If the whole is divine,
+why should it not be sufficient?  You say you are dead, but cannot the
+divine power raise the dead?  You say your sins are too great for pardon,
+but is not the divine propitiation sufficient for them all?  You say you
+cannot produce even a good prayer, but does not the divine revelation
+assure you that the salvation is a free gift even for those who have
+nothing?
+
+Give up, then, all thought of working yourself up to salvation, for that
+is a mere human process, and is certain to fail, but throw yourself
+_before you are saved_ right away on the Saviour for His great gift of
+salvation.  Remember that the whole thing from first to last is divine,
+and, because it is divine, as a little child trust it without the
+slightest qualification, trust the promise, accept the gift, and may God
+grant that you may be able to use as your own the words of the text,
+“According as His divine power hath given unto me all things that pertain
+unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called
+_me_ to glory and virtue.”
+
+
+
+
+FEELINGS
+
+
+                       “Love, joy, peace.”—GAL. v. 22.
+
+FEELINGS clearly have their place in the things of God.  Our Christianity
+is based on principles, but still it calls forth the feelings.  Now there
+are two great extremes into which we are apt to fall with reference to
+Christian feeling.
+
+There are some whose religion seems to consist in feeling only.  They
+look for warm, bright emotions, they bring everything to the standard of
+their feelings, and if they feel as they wish to do they are satisfied.
+Their hearts are warmed by the things of God, and many a cold, phlegmatic
+theologian would be a different being if he could but catch something of
+their feeling.
+
+But still we must put in a caution, for feelings, however bright, are not
+to be trusted unless they rise out of principle and end in practice.  If
+you have feeling only—a feeling not based on solid acquaintance with
+Scriptural truth, it will rise like a bubble, and look as beautiful in
+its colours, but it will burst as easily as the bubble does, and even at
+its best estate can never bear the slightest pressure.  Here, then, is
+one extreme—the religion of feeling, of emotion, of impression, taking
+the place of the religion of conviction, of principle, of faith.
+
+But there is another extreme: I mean the religion without feeling.  Some
+seem to think all emotion, or warmth, or fervour is enthusiasm, and
+settle down satisfied with a cold reception of Christian truth.  They may
+be quite correct in their creed, and may really believe all the great
+truths of the Gospel, but their system is to give no expression to
+Christian emotion, and this has a wonderful power of chilling all around
+them.
+
+We must not rest satisfied with an unfeeling consent to Christian truth.
+We want to feel as well as to know, and to have the heart really warmed
+by the tender love of our gracious Saviour.  But here I suspect that I
+shall be met by a great difficulty on the part of many of you, for this
+feeling is exactly that which many cannot find.  You can understand, but
+you cannot feel.  Your great trouble is, that there is such a dreadful
+apathy over your whole soul that nothing seems to rouse it.  If this is
+the case consider—
+
+
+
+I.  THE FEELINGS, HOWEVER WARM, CAN NEVER JUSTIFY, AND THE WANT OF
+FEELING DOES NOT PREVENT JUSTIFICATION.
+
+
+I have known persons who have long since given up all idea of being
+justified by _works_, who still have a secret clinging to some idea of
+being justified by _feelings_.  If they could but feel more—more love,
+more repentance, more warmth—then they think they could trust Christ for
+their acceptance.  They have learned, they think, to trust Him if they
+have the feelings, but they would not venture to do so without them.
+
+Now, before they can be happy in Christ they will have to go a step
+deeper, and learn to trust Him when they have not the feelings as well as
+when they have.  They must remember that our justification is entirely
+dependent on His atonement and His righteousness, and so it is His free
+gift, freely given to those that are dead in sin.  Now a dead man has no
+feelings.  If, therefore, we wait for our justification until we have the
+feelings we must wait till we are alive.  But the language of Scripture
+is, “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,
+even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.”
+{26}  Your only hope, therefore, is to trust Him as you are, without
+waiting till you are one atom warmer than you are at this present moment.
+With your heart as cold as you now feel it to be, you must throw yourself
+at once before His feet, and cry, “Lord, save me, I perish.”
+
+Closely connected with this suggestion is another, namely this—
+
+
+
+II.  IF YOU WANT TO BE MADE TO FEEL, YOU MUST LOSE NO TIME IN GOING NEAR
+TO A FATHER’S THRONE.
+
+
+You will never feel warm while you stand shivering outside the city.  You
+must go inside, even while you are cold, and there have your heart warmed
+by the Lord Himself.  Remember that the great heart-warming subject is
+the tender love of God as displayed in Christ Jesus.  If the love of
+Christ does not make you feel, nothing else will.  Do not, therefore,
+stand afar off gazing on your own coldness, but turn at once to the Cross
+of Christ.  Study Him in the garden bowed down under the heavy burden of
+sin; study Him on the cross forsaken even of the Father, and remember
+that all that was borne for you, even for you.  Remember there was a
+personal connection between Him and you in the whole of that great
+transaction, and so abide, as it were, gazing on the Lord Jesus, on His
+life, on His meekness, on His burden, on His cry.  Pray God that you may
+realize your part in the whole matter.  Confess before Him your own cold,
+dead, lifeless condition.  Trust Him, as He died for you, to save you
+from it; and so you may hope that, though you feel so cold as you
+approach Him, you may experience something of His love when you gaze on
+Him, and know something even of His joy when you go on your way justified
+through His grace.
+
+
+
+III.  REMEMBER WELL THAT FEELING IS THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THAT
+YOU CANNOT WORK YOURSELF UP TO IT.
+
+
+It is very clearly the work of the Holy Spirit to call forth feeling.  He
+does not act on the head only, but on the heart also.  He opens the
+understanding, but His great office is to make His people feel what they
+already know.  Thus of the nine fruits of the Spirit {27a} the first
+three are all emotions.  Their seat is neither in the head nor in the
+practice, but they are all feelings of the heart, “Love, joy, peace.”
+They all lead to practice, and all are founded on principle, but all
+three are sacred emotions implanted there by the Holy Ghost Himself.
+
+If, therefore, your cold, unfeeling heart is a real sorrow to you; if the
+trouble of your heart is that your sins trouble you so little, and that
+you feel so coldly towards that Blessed Saviour who has felt for you so
+deeply, rest not content, but throw yourself before God that the Spirit
+of grace and of supplication may enable you to look upon Him whom you
+have pierced, that He may take of the things of Jesus and show them unto
+you; that He may call forth in your soul His own fruits of love, joy, and
+peace, and that so He may answer you the Apostle’s prayer—“The God of
+Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” {27b}
+
+
+
+
+A PEACEFUL DEATH-BED
+
+
+    “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy
+    word:
+
+    “For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”—ST. LUKE ii. 29, 30.
+
+OUR thoughts are often directed to the blessed prospect of our Lord’s
+return, and there cannot be a doubt that His personal coming is the
+crowning hope of the Church of God.  At the same time, it is most
+important for us to be, if I may so express it, familiar with the thought
+of the present heaven.  The youngest amongst us may be cut down at any
+moment, and the old amongst us must be convinced that our time is short,
+and that our places must soon be filled by others.  We ought, therefore,
+to know where we are going, and what it is that awaits us when “the
+earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved.” {28a}
+
+The words of our text, so often chanted in our churches, express a
+sentiment to which, I fear, many who chant them are entire strangers, for
+they express the peaceful readiness with which Simeon was looking forward
+to his death.  It had been “revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he
+should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” {28b}  He
+had, therefore, spent his latter days waiting and watching for the
+promised Christ, and at length, when the Child was presented in the
+Temple, he saw in that Child the Messiah for whom he had been waiting,
+and then it was that, his hope being fulfilled, he could bless God and
+say, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.”
+
+There are three subjects suggested by his words.
+
+
+
+I.  THE VIEW WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF DEATH.
+
+
+He does not speak of it as annihilation, destruction, or stupefaction,
+but as a departure or removal from one place to another.  If a person
+were to depart from this place and go elsewhere, he would simply change
+his home.  Until he departs his home is here, but when he departs his
+home is elsewhere.
+
+Is it not exactly the same when the spirit departs from its present home
+and removes to the building of God, the house not made with hands,
+eternal in the heavens?  In this case, as in an earthly removal,
+departure implies the continuance of life.  Thus I rejoice in the many
+passages in which death is spoken of as a departure.  It was clearly the
+idea in the mind of St. Paul, as when he said, “having a desire to
+depart,” {29a} and again, “The time of my departure is at hand.” {29b}
+When those we love are in far distant lands we see them not, but they are
+there; our eyes cannot behold them, nor our ears hear their pleasant
+voices, for they are far away, but that does not lead us to doubt either
+their life, their intelligence, or their affection.  Just so it is with
+those that are gone.  We no longer hear the voice, or look on the loved
+countenance, but we are fully persuaded that, as spirits, they are living
+elsewhere, that separation is not destruction, and that removal does not
+involve the diminution of the intelligent powers of the living mind.
+
+But if death is thus a departure, where is the place to which the spirit
+goes?  Over this point there is a veil thrown in Scripture.  If we were
+to know all about it there would be nothing in the knowledge to affect
+our practical conduct, so there is no knowledge given.  Nor do we require
+it, for one thing is told us, and that one thing is enough.  If assured
+of that one thing we want no more.  What, then, is that one thing so
+clearly revealed to us in God’s holy Word?  Where shall we find an
+account of it?  Let us turn to the language of the Apostle Paul: “I am in
+a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ.”
+{30a}  He knew, therefore, that in his departure he should depart to be
+with Christ, in the conscious enjoyment of His perceptible and
+never-ceasing love.
+
+
+
+II.  THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THE BELIEVER MAY DIE.
+
+
+This is described in the words of Simeon, “Let thy servant depart in
+peace.”  Simeon could look forward to his dying hour in a tranquil spirit
+of calm, resting peace.  How often is there care on the heart of the
+dying believer.  A father may be leaving his wife and family, who have
+been dependent on him for support; or a mother her children, with the
+strong conviction that there is no substitute for a mother’s love.  Let
+no one suppose that there is no trial of faith in such a separation, and
+that it is not, in many cases, very hard to trust.  But in Christ Jesus
+there may be peace even in such a parting, and the dying mother, if she
+knows her Saviour, may trust her all into His loving hands, and say, “I
+know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that
+which I have committed unto Him.” {30b}  She has committed her children
+into His care.  They are her deposit with God, and she may be at perfect
+peace in the assurance that, though _she_ is departing, _He_ is
+remaining, and will remain a faithful Saviour till every one of those
+dear children is presented safe before His throne.
+
+Let no one suppose that it is not a very solemn thing to die, to be
+suddenly cut off from everything of which we have ever had any
+experience, and to launch out alone into an invisible world.  It cannot,
+therefore, be an easy thing to die in peace.  But, thanks be to God, we
+believe that the departing spirit passes at once into the loving presence
+of our Redeemer, and why should there not be peace?  I believe it is the
+forgetfulness of this personal entrance into the personal presence of a
+personal Saviour that sometimes seems to darken the dying hour.  People
+forget those few words, “Thou art with me,” {31a} and then they are
+afraid.  But when we rest on those words, and combine them with our
+assured hope, knowing that He is now with us invisibly, and that we are
+going to be with Him visibly, then we shall be able to say, as Simeon
+did, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.”
+
+
+
+III.  THE GREAT FOUNDATION OF SIMEON’S PEACEFUL TRUST.
+
+
+His eyes had seen the salvation of God.  What he had really seen was the
+promised Messiah, that is, the Lord’s Christ.  The little child was the
+promised Saviour, and to him the Saviour was salvation.  The Person and
+the Gift were so bound together that they were as one.  He could not know
+the Person without the Gift, or enjoy the Gift except through the Person.
+Thus our Lord, more than thirty years afterwards, spoke of Himself as
+“the Salvation,” {31b} when He said, as He entered into the house of
+Zacchæus, “This day is salvation come to this house.”  Simeon had what we
+cannot have, something material that he could handle and look upon.  His
+hand could handle and his eye could see the little child; and there
+cannot be a doubt that there is in the human mind a craving after
+something visible, tangible, and material.  But we have nothing of the
+kind; we cannot hold our salvation in our hands.  Neither do we want it
+there.  It is safer in the hands of our Lord Himself.  But though we
+cannot say, “Mine _eyes_ have seen,” we can say, thanks be to God, “Mine
+_heart_ hath seen,” and we can understand the words, “Whom having not
+seen, ye love.” {32a}  There is exactly the same union in that passage
+between the Saviour and the salvation.  Receiving Him we receive
+salvation, and beholding Him with the eye of faith we behold, as it were,
+our names written in the Book of Life.
+
+To behold the Saviour is a very personal matter.  It is not merely to
+behold Him like a monument on a distant hill, which we can admire, but
+never enter; or as a harbour of refuge which we cannot reach.  It must
+not be with us as it was with Balaam when he said, “I shall behold Him,
+but not nigh,” {32b} for the invitation to us is to draw near, and our
+privilege is in our inmost soul to pour out our heart before Him, as
+before One who knows all its secrets, and through His own most precious
+blood has blotted out all its guilt.  This has thrown a gleam of sacred
+light into many a death-chamber.  May God grant that it may be the same
+with each of us.  Let none of us rest until we can say, “Mine eyes have
+seen Thy salvation,” till we not merely know that there is a Saviour, but
+can rest assured that He has saved us, and has made us—even us—heirs of
+God and joint-heirs with Himself in His kingdom.
+
+
+
+
+A PEACEFUL LIFE
+
+
+    “To me to live is Christ.”—PHIL. i. 21.
+
+WE have studied the subject of a peaceful death-bed and I hope we learned
+how to die.  Let us now turn our thoughts to a peaceful life and
+endeavour to learn how to live.  The two things are bound fast together.
+
+Let us study what St. Paul meant when he said, “To me to live is Christ.”
+When there is any one object, for which, and in which, a person lives, it
+is not an uncommon thing to say it is his life.  To a certain extent this
+explains the expression, “To me to live is Christ,” for the Lord Jesus
+Christ was the one absorbing object of St. Paul’s whole life.  He thought
+of Him; he leaned on Him; he trusted in Him; he loved Him, and he lived
+for Him.  He could not do without Him.  If we look at the subject more in
+detail we find three things very clearly taught us in Scripture.  Our
+life is hidden _with_ Him, dependent _on_ Him, and devoted _to_ Him.
+
+
+
+HIDDEN WITH HIM
+
+
+In this stormy world we perpetually need a hiding-place, a shelter from
+the storm, and a covert from the blast.  And so in the great prophecy of
+our Lord and Saviour revealed in Isaiah, we read of Him, “A man shall be
+as an hiding-place from the wind.” {34a}  But three centuries before
+Isaiah uttered that prophecy David had learnt to hide under His care, and
+said of Him, “Thou art my hiding-place.” {34b}  The trouble from which he
+was hiding was deep conviction of sin.  In consequence of his sin the
+hand of God had been heavy upon him day and night.  But at length the
+guilt of his great sin had been blotted out, and as a forgiven man he
+could find shelter in the very God against whom he had transgressed.  He
+could hide himself in the love of Him against whom he had sinned, and
+instead of finding the Lord’s hand heavy upon him, he could rejoice in
+the thought that there was a wall of praise around him.  Now just in the
+same way our life is said to be hidden with Christ.  “Your life is hid
+with Christ in God.” {34c}  It is not exposed to the rude shocks of the
+outer world, but is hidden with Him.  As _He_ is unseen, so _it_ is
+unseen; but as _He_ is safe at the right hand of the Father, so is _it_
+safe, being laid up in perfect safety as a sure deposit in the
+everlasting fidelity of God.  It is on the safety of this deposit that
+our whole life depends.  If there were the slightest doubt about it we
+should be like ships drifting on the wide ocean without either chart,
+compass, or anchorage.  But now we are safe because indissolubly bound up
+with the Saviour, and so completely is our life identified with Him that
+in the next verse He is described as “Christ our life.”  He holds our
+life in His right hand.  He is the source, the fountain, and the main
+spring of it all, so that we can well understand the words of St. John,
+“He that hath the Son hath life.” {34d}
+
+
+
+DEPENDENT ON HIM
+
+
+There is a struggle in the human heart for independence.  The tendency of
+the day is to throw off all dependence, and, with it, all submission.
+“_I_ will,” “_I_ choose,” “_I_ think,” “_I_ determine,” “_I_ am
+resolved,” is the self-sufficient language of these latter days.  Now
+such an one can never say, “To me to live is Christ.”  If he say anything
+it should be, “To me to live is self!”  But see what a contrast there is
+in the life of the believer.  Turn only to one passage in Galatians.
+There you find the “I” crucified; “I am crucified with Christ.” {35}  But
+though the “I” is crucified, there is a life that remains for
+“Nevertheless I live.”  And now what is the character of this abiding
+life?  The latter part of the verse describes it, “Yet not I, but Christ
+liveth in me.”  These words tell of a life of habitual dependence.  It
+all depends on the in-dwelling Saviour.  His in-dwelling, that is life,
+that is the secret of everything.  But how is this indwelling realized?
+How is it appropriated or experienced?  It is clear that it cannot be
+known by the senses.  We cannot see, hear, or handle Him.  We must not
+look for anything material.  Nor is it connected here with anything
+Sacramental; but it is described as the unspeakable blessing of an
+abiding faith, “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the
+faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
+
+We must not leave the passage without remarking two facts respecting that
+love.
+
+(1)  It was shown in propitiation.  St. Paul did not merely say, “Who
+loved me,” but adds, “Who gave Himself for me.”  There are many proofs of
+His love, but the crowning act of all is propitiation.  It is the ransom
+paid in full that is the one hope for the captive, and the supreme
+evidence of the Redeemer’s love.
+
+(2)  The love was not merely for all, but according to that passage, “for
+_me_.”  One individual is a mere unit in a crowd, no more than a grain of
+sand in an Egyptian desert; so that it seems a very easy thing for any
+one person to be lost in the multitude.  But it is the office of God the
+Holy Ghost to apply the work wrought out for _all_ to the special need of
+_each one_.
+
+
+
+DEVOTED TO HIM
+
+
+St. Paul could say, “To me to live is Christ,” for he could also say
+without hesitation that the one thought of his life was his Saviour’s
+glory.  He lived for one object, and that one object is described as his
+life.  Now we hear a great deal of consecration in these days, and we
+cannot hear too much, if only it is kept in its right place, for there is
+far too little consecration to God amongst us.  Consecration is the
+surrender of the whole life to the Lord.  It is the setting the Lord
+always before us in all that He calls us to do.  We have been loved by
+Him, redeemed by Him, called by Him, and saved by Him; so now we are His.
+We belong to Him altogether.  Our powers are no longer our own, but our
+Lord’s; our lives should be no longer occupied for ourselves, but for our
+Lord; so that in us may be carried out the purpose of redeeming love as
+described by St. Paul.  “He died for all, that they which live should not
+henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and
+rose again.” {37}
+
+Shall we live for ourselves or for His glory?  For the gratification of
+self, or for the happy, holy, sacred service of Him to whom we owe all
+that we have, and all that we hope for, our Blessed Lord and Saviour
+Jesus Christ?
+
+
+
+
+THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
+
+
+    “Ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”—ST.
+    JOHN xiv. 17.
+
+IN this verse our Blessed Lord spoke of the knowledge enjoyed by His
+people.  He spoke of the present, and the future; of that which they had
+then at the time that He was with them, and of that which they were about
+to enjoy after the Day of Pentecost, when He would be taken away from
+them.  With reference to the present He says “He dwelleth” (or, is
+dwelling) with you, or amongst you; with reference to the future He says
+“He shall be in you.”  There are clearly, therefore, two great subjects
+to be considered, the knowledge enjoyed by the disciples when the Lord
+Jesus was still upon earth, and the knowledge enjoyed by all His people
+ever since the Day of Pentecost.
+
+
+
+I.  WHEN HE WAS ON EARTH.
+
+
+    “Ye know Him for He dwelleth with you.”
+
+The expression does not describe an internal union within the soul, but
+an external companionship.  The meaning is the same as when St. John
+said, “There standeth one among you, whom ye know not.” {38}  There they
+were, a little company of disciples, and amongst them in the midst of
+their society, in the room where they were assembled, was abiding, or
+dwelling, the Spirit of Truth.
+
+Now what was the meaning of this declaration?  Was it not this?  That the
+Holy Spirit was at that time dwelling amongst them as embodied and
+manifested in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Of Him it was said by
+John the Baptist “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” {39a}
+So it was said by St. Paul, “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the
+Godhead bodily.” {39b}  And by St. Peter we are taught that He was
+anointed with the Holy Ghost, and God was with Him. {39c}
+
+Consider, then, the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh, as
+the human manifestation of the mind and power of the Holy Ghost, and you
+will see in a moment that while He was on earth the Spirit of Truth was
+dwelling amongst the disciples.  Where the Lord Jesus was, there was the
+Spirit; where He dwelt, there the Spirit dwelt; and when He and those
+twelve disciples sat together at the Last Supper, He could say of the
+Spirit of Truth, “Ye know Him for He dwelleth with, or among, you.”
+
+
+
+II.  THE KNOWLEDGE ENJOYED BY ALL HIS PEOPLE AFTER HIS DEPARTURE.
+
+
+It was to be very different afterwards.  There is an immense change when
+our Lord speaks of what should take place after His departure.  It is no
+longer “with,” but “in.”  He would be not merely present in their
+company, but abiding in their souls.
+
+In this promise, there are three things requiring our careful notice.
+
+(1)  The promise applies not to a company, to a society, to a Church, or
+to any body of men, but _to each individual_.  The Holy Spirit will not
+be merely in the midst of a congregation, but a sacred guest in each
+soul.  You see this very clearly in the history of the Day of Pentecost.
+{40}  The Holy Spirit came on the company, on the Church, for He filled
+all the house where they were sitting.  But besides that there was a
+separate personal gift to each person present, for “it sat upon each of
+them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”
+
+(2)  The sacred gift is no longer localized or specially enjoyed in one
+place.  So long as the Lord Jesus was amongst them where He was, there
+was the Gift.  But now, wherever the believer is, there is the Gift.  See
+the unspeakable blessedness of this sacred promise.  The gift of the
+Spirit is not confined to this place or that.  It is the inestimable
+privilege of each individual believer wherever he is, and in whatever
+position it may please God to cast his lot.  You may be cut off from the
+means of grace in which you have delighted, but wherever you are, you are
+not cut off from the Spirit of Truth, from the indwelling of the Holy
+Ghost, for He is not limited to time, or place, or circumstance, and
+wherever you go at the Lord’s command, there you will carry His presence
+with you.
+
+(3)  He dwells _within_ the soul.
+
+There is this great difference between His presence and that of the most
+faithful and loving of friends.  The friend can only judge by the
+outside; the anxious look, the tear in the eye, or the words of sorrow.
+But the Spirit of Truth is within, and He takes note of the inner secrets
+of the soul.  He does not wait for any external evidence of what is
+passing.  The hidden springs of thought are all open to His eye: the
+secret pain that is never breathed to any one; the hidden hope that
+smoulders in the heart; the subtle temptation that is beginning to grow
+up unperceived, and the yearning of soul after a higher life,—all these
+things are open to Him, and He, dwelling within and knowing all that is
+passing within, can check, can guide, can heal, can help, can supply any
+possible need “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” {41a}
+
+There is no telling, then, the unspeakable blessing of the Pentecostal
+gift, and we can perfectly understand why it was that our Lord said “It
+is expedient for you that I go away.”
+
+But do we all desire it?  “Of course we do,” say some.  But it is not at
+all a matter of course.  There was no room for Christ in the inn at
+Bethlehem, and there is no room for the Spirit of Truth in many hearts.
+If He dwells within your soul He will humble you and make you to “abhor
+yourself and repent in dust and ashes.” {41b}  Do you desire that?  If He
+dwells within you, He will wean you from the world and teach you to live
+as one looking for the Kingdom.  Do you desire that?  If He dwells within
+you He will teach you to give up your own will.  Do you desire that?  Do
+you desire really to be led by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit to become
+a humble, gentle, and submissive child of God?  I fear there are many
+who, when the whole subject is considered, are not prepared to give Him
+an unreserved welcome, and would be tempted to close the door of their
+hearts against His entrance.  If the door is opened by them at all, it is
+only set ajar, and not thrown wide open that the King of Glory may enter
+in, in the fulness of His power, and turn out everything that is at
+variance with His will.
+
+But I believe there are many who would hold nothing back and who long
+above all things that the Spirit of Truth may take full possession of
+their souls.  Their difficulty is not that they do not wish it, but that
+they can scarcely believe it possible that He should ever dwell in such a
+heart as theirs.  They find so much sin there that they can scarcely
+imagine it possible that the Holy Comforter should not be driven from
+them by all that He sees within.  No doubt there is quite sufficient to
+drive Him grieved and displeased from His resting-place, and if it were
+not for the everlasting covenant of God, and the precious blood of
+Christ, I can perfectly understand the impossibility of His making such a
+heart His dwelling-place.  But the atoning blood alters the whole case.
+The blood of Christ breaks down every barrier.  It is a new and living
+way {42} by which not only may you enter boldly into the presence of God,
+but through which the Spirit of God may enter your heart and take full
+possession of it as His own abiding-place.
+
+If you are longing to be filled with the Spirit, you must look straight
+to that cross of Christ.  You must remember the fulness of the pardon.
+You must trust to that Atonement as breaking down even the barrier raised
+by your own dark corruption, and, pleading that precious blood, must open
+every avenue of your soul to the Spirit of Truth, that He may enter in
+and there reign supreme.
+
+
+
+
+THE WITNESS—THE LEADER—THE COMMANDER
+
+
+    “Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and
+    commander to the people.”—ISA. lv. 4.
+
+IT is often said that a living head is essential to the well-being of a
+living Church.  Nothing can be clearer than the teaching of Scripture
+that our Living Head is in heaven now, seated at the right hand of God.
+
+It is as a Living Head that our Blessed Saviour is here predicted.  Three
+rich promises are made by God to every hungering and thirsting
+heart—Life, a Covenant, and a living Head.  Life, for He says, “Hear, and
+your soul shall live.”  A covenant, for He says, “I will make an
+everlasting covenant with you;” and a Head, for He adds, in the words of
+our text, “Behold I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader
+and commander to the people.”
+
+The question may arise, “Who is it that is thus given for a witness?  Who
+is the person that the people are to recognize as their leader and
+commander?”  The prophecy says David.  But David, we know, was a typical
+character.  He was not merely a king, but a type; a type of Him who was
+to be both his son and his Lord.  Accordingly we are taught that the name
+David was applied to the Lord Jesus, for we find the words applied by St.
+Paul to Christ and His resurrection. {44a}  We are there taught that when
+God raised up Christ from the dead, He gave us the sure mercies of David.
+The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is the Witness, He is the Leader, and
+He the Commander of His people.  In other words the risen Redeemer is our
+Living Head.
+
+The text, therefore, directs us to His present action, not to His death
+or even to His life before His death, but to His present Headship at the
+right hand of God.  He is
+
+
+
+A WITNESS
+
+
+One who bears a true and faithful testimony.  This He did in His life on
+earth, as we learn from His own words when He stood before Pilate.  “To
+this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
+should bear witness into the truth.” {44b}  And this same character He
+maintains in heaven, for at the opening of the Book of Revelation we are
+taught to look for grace and peace “from Jesus Christ the faithful
+witness, the first-begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of
+the earth.” {44c}  It is clear that as the “first-begotten,” that is, as
+the risen Saviour, He now acts as a witness.
+
+This is done in two ways.  He is a witness to the world, bearing witness
+to God’s great plan of salvation.  But more than that He witnesses to the
+heart of each of His own children, assuring them of His faithfulness,
+confirming them in His truth, and doing what David prayed Him to do, “Say
+unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” {44d}  There is an outer and an inner
+witness; an outer witness in the power of His Spirit accompanying His
+word, and an inner witness within the souls of His own people; hidden
+from the world and known only to those who enjoy it, that witness of
+which St. John spoke when he said, “He that believeth on the Son of God
+hath the witness in himself.” {45a}  And this may teach us an important
+lesson respecting the true nature of faith.  It is faith when we receive
+the testimony of the Lord Jesus as an undoubted truth, and, without
+questioning, simply believe Him.  There are difficult truths taught in
+His word, and some strangely at variance with human opinion; but true
+faith gives up all and trusts.  It makes a complete surrender to Jesus
+Christ, the faithful witness.
+
+
+
+HE IS A LEADER
+
+
+And when we speak of Him as a Leader, we must not connect His office
+merely with the idea of war, for it is the office of peace also.  When
+our Lord compares Himself to the Shepherd He says He “leadeth them out.”
+{45b}  Nor is His office of a leader given up even in the peaceful rest
+of Heaven.  There is a leading Hand even there, for when St. John was
+permitted to look in and to see the great multitude before the Throne,
+the Angel referred him to words from the blessed promise in Isaiah. {45c}
+In heaven, therefore, the promise is both fulfilled and known.  It is
+fulfilled, for there the saints of God are refreshed by the living
+waters; and it is known, for the Angel himself, while describing the joys
+of heaven, calls attention to the ancient prophecy, and shows how in the
+peaceful scene around him it was receiving its complete fulfilment.
+
+Now what is implied when we are taught that the Lord Jesus is a Leader
+for His people?  It implies much more than teaching, and therefore the
+office of the leader is far beyond that of witness.  It would be of but
+little use to explain to a blind man the windings of some narrow path.
+But it would be an act of great kindness to take him by the hand and lead
+him.  And this is what our Leader does for us, for He says, “I will bring
+the blind by a way they knew not.” {46a}
+
+Our proud hearts may dislike the dependent position of either the feeble
+or the blind; but, whether we like it or no, we are both blind and
+feeble, unable to trace our path amidst the perplexities of life, and
+equally unable to move safely alone even when the path may be discovered.
+It is, therefore, in mercy and in tender love that God has given Him to
+be a Leader, and our part is to accept the gift and trust Him.  When we
+are brought into perplexity, into one of those positions of life where
+two ways seem to meet, we may fall down before Him as our great Leader,
+and say, “For thy name’s sake, lead me and guide me.” {46b}  When we find
+ourselves in slippery places and scarcely know how to stand, we may come
+into His presence and cry, “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” {46c}
+When perplexing doctrine is presented to us, and false teaching abounds
+around us, we may spread out His word which contains His testimony, and
+say, “Shew me Thy ways, O Lord.” {46d}  And when we come to the valley of
+the shadow of death, when no human hand can help us, and no human
+sympathy reach our necessities, even then we may be perfectly sure that
+our great Leader will never leave us; but as we part from all friends
+here on earth, and as all earthly helps fade away, we may lean more
+simply and more heavily than ever on Him and say, “Though I walk through
+the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with
+me.” {47a}
+
+So again for the Church of Christ.  Our lot is cast in very perplexing
+times, and those who really care for the Church of God must often have
+their hearts filled with deep anxiety.  It is a happy thing to know that
+God has given him to be a Leader of the people, and “Head over all things
+to the Church.” {47b}  We may trust Him, therefore, to take care of His
+own truth, and rest assured that amidst all the perplexities of these
+latter days He will guide His own people safe to the end, until every one
+of them appeareth before God.
+
+
+
+HE IS A COMMANDER
+
+
+We cannot say of this office, as we did of the last, that it belongs to
+peace, for it is one peculiar to war.  The commander is for the
+battle-field, and still more for the well-arranged campaign.  Thus our
+Lord is presented to us as a Commander in the book of Revelation. {47c}
+He then appears in His royal character, and at the same time heading His
+army.  He encounters all the powers of the world, but he is surrounded by
+a little company of faithful followers, and He leads them on to victory.
+
+The Church of God must be prepared for conflict.  Till the Lord comes sin
+will give the Church no peace.  Till Satan is trampled down under His
+feet, he will never rest in his deadly warfare against the Lord Jesus and
+His little flock.  The soldier of Christ must be a man of war.
+
+The great Commander will have His own chosen and faithful followers—“they
+that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” {48a}  They are
+marked from the world by a clear line of separation.  They bear His name;
+they wear His uniform; they rally round His banner; they are not ashamed
+of His reproach; and wheresoever He goeth there it is their joy to follow
+Him.  There is no service like His, no commander so perfect, no struggle
+so noble, no victory so certain and so glorious.
+
+If we really be amongst the chosen band of faithful followers, our one
+standard in life must be the will of our great Commander.  We must be
+watching each signal from Him, and owning no authority but His.  From
+first to last our spirit must be that of Saul of Tarsus, “Lord, what wilt
+Thou have me to do?” {48b}  This may sometimes imply a painful surrender,
+a surrender of ease, and inclination, and, hardest of all, of pride.  But
+the soldier in the earthly army yields at once to his commanding officer,
+and how much more should we, when He has chosen us to be His people,
+blotted out our sins by His blood, called us into His own fellowship,
+sealed us with His seal, and made us heirs of His Kingdom?
+
+
+
+
+FAITH AND EFFORT
+
+
+    “Our God shall fight for us.”—NEH. iv. 20.
+
+I CAN imagine nothing better calculated to make a people calm, peaceful,
+and courageous, than to be able to say in faith, “Our God shall fight for
+us.”  If we can say this, we may think on our country and rest assured
+that, whatever happens, all is safe.  If we can say this, we may look
+upon God’s people struggling for His truth, sometimes sorely pressed and
+sometimes quite disheartened; but when we look on Him whom God has given
+to be a Leader and Commander of the people, we may take courage that all
+will be well, for He is our God, and He will fight for us.  Or, we may
+look at our own personal difficulties, at the temptation without by which
+we are surrounded, and the proneness to yield within, which renders us
+perpetually liable to its power; and sometimes we may be ready to ask the
+question, Can such as we are ever gain the victory?  But, if we can but
+say in faith, “Our God shall fight for us,” then, weak as we are, we may
+look forward to a triumph, and say even beforehand, “Thanks be to God
+which giveth us the victory.”
+
+But there are few cases in which this language of faith was more
+appropriate than when originally spoken by Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was one of
+the most beautiful characters to be met with in all history.  I know of
+no one in whom there was a greater combination of practical,
+business-like habits, with true, simple-minded, childlike faith.  When
+acting as cup-bearer to the King of Babylon, he heard of the desolation
+of Jerusalem, and obtained permission to return thither in order to
+rebuild the walls and restore the city.  The Jews at the time were so
+exceedingly feeble, that the onlookers laughed them to scorn.  But, when
+once the work was begun, contempt was exchanged for indignation, and
+Sanballat with others “conspired all of them together to come and to
+fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.”  Then it was that Nehemiah
+used these words for the great encouragement of all who were working with
+him, and said, “Our God shall fight for us.”
+
+But while he thus spoke with the full assurance of confiding faith, he
+was not led by that faith to negligence.  True faith never leads to
+negligence.  It always stimulates exertion and rouses men to hopeful
+energy.  So it did in the case of Nehemiah, for the same verse which
+contains the assurance contains also the spirit of active preparation.
+We will study the conduct of Nehemiah as furnishing an illustration of
+the union of faith and effort, examining first his effort, then his
+faith.
+
+
+
+I.  THE EFFORT MADE.
+
+
+It was made under very discouraging circumstances.  The city was in
+ruins, the walls were in heaps, and there were only a few restored
+captives to labour for their restoration.  Now, in what spirit did these
+feeble Jews rise to their work?
+
+(1)  They all worked together.
+
+There was just such an united and harmonious action as we long to witness
+in the Church of God.  It is an old proverb that “union is strength.”  In
+this case the whole wall was portioned out and all classes united.  First
+came the High Priest and his brethren, next the men of Jericho, soon
+followed by the carpenters, the goldsmiths, and the apothecaries.  Then
+came the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, followed by Shallum and his
+daughters; further on we read of Baruch, who set an example to the whole
+company, for he _earnestly_ repaired the portion entrusted to his care,
+till at length the circuit was complete.
+
+(2)  They worked with a will.
+
+There is such a thing as work without a will.  There is the dull, lazy
+work of the idle man, and the mechanical work of those who take no
+interest in what they are about.  Just as in religion, there is the
+languid performance of a routine as different as possible to the real
+wrestling with God in faith.  There is no soul in it, and who can wonder
+if there is no result?  In this case there was rapid result, and they
+built the wall, and the reason is given, “for the people had a mind to
+work.” {51}  An important lesson this for every Christian effort.
+
+(3)  They made real sacrifices for their work.  It must have been a sore
+inconvenience to these men to leave their own occupations and to labour
+on the wall; but they laboured night and day till the wall rose from its
+ruins.  Oh, that we had more of this spirit in the Church of God!  Would
+that we knew better how to give to Him so as to pinch ourselves; to give
+our time, our money, our painstaking, our real self-denying work, in
+order to glorify God, and show that we live not unto ourselves, but unto
+Him that died for us and rose again.
+
+
+
+II.  THEIR FAITH.
+
+
+This showed itself in three ways.
+
+(1)  In prayer.
+
+Nehemiah was a man of prayer.  When any trouble arose, his heart turned
+as if by an holy instinct to God, and so, when Tobiah mocked their
+efforts, Nehemiah gave no rough answer, but he turned his heart upwards
+and said, “Hear, O our God, for we are despised.” {52a}  How much bitter
+strife would be avoided in the world if men acted like Nehemiah, and,
+instead of retorting, spread out their provocations before God.
+
+But the conduct of the opponents soon turned from mockery to war, and
+there was a plan to attack the rising walls.  But the attack was met just
+in the same way as the insult.  In both cases he gave himself to prayer.
+I cannot imagine a better illustration of the praying believer than the
+words in verse 9, “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set
+a watch against them day and night.”  They heard of the conspiracy, and
+at once spread the intelligence before God; but, having done so, they did
+not consider that prayer superseded effort, but day and night they set
+their watch on the walls.  Had they watched without praying, they would
+have been trusting to their own forethought; and had they prayed without
+watching, they would have tempted God to leave them.  But they watched
+and they prayed, and they prayed and they watched, and so they acted in
+the spirit of the words in aftertimes spoken to us, “Watch and Pray.”
+{52b}
+
+(2)  Their faith showed itself also in the recognition of what God had
+done for them.  Faith not only asks God’s help, but acknowledges it.  It
+gives Him thanks for His action as well as asks Him to act; so when the
+danger was past we find Nehemiah ascribing it all to the good hand of God
+on his efforts.  He did not say, “When we had defeated their plans,” but
+“When God had brought their counsel to nought.” {53}
+
+(3) Faith looks forward to the future.  When the workmen were all at
+their posts; when the builders laboured, every one having his sword
+girded by his side; when the trumpeter stood by the chief, ready at any
+moment to sound the alarm; when the voice of prayer had been heard day
+and night all along the line of the rising walls; when all had been done
+that man could do—then the heart rose high above all that man had done,
+and in calm, confident trust, Nehemiah assures the people, saying, “Our
+God shall fight for us.”  He had made preparation, but he trusted to God
+for victory.  He was at the head of a feeble people, but he was the
+servant of the Most High God.  He knew that the battle was not to the
+strong, nor the race to the swift; so he rested his hope on the strong
+hand of his God, and in simple faith he trusted Him to give the victory.
+
+
+
+
+THE JOY OF THE LORD
+
+
+    “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
+    stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only so, but
+    we glory in tribulations also.”—ROM. v. 2, 3.
+
+THE joy of the Lord is a subject that goes to the heart of many.  Some
+are rejoicing in the Lord, while others are longing to be partakers of
+it; it is a gift after which their heart is yearning.
+
+Let us consider the real foundation of true, solid, well-founded joy.  In
+these two verses there is a description of the joy and its power.  There
+is the joy, for “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” and there is
+the power of that joy, for it rises above the troubles of life, and we
+rejoice “even in tribulation.”  There is, therefore, such a bright hope
+of the coming glory, that we may go on our way with a thankful heart,
+rejoicing in the Lord; and there is such a manifestation of the love of
+Christ in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the distress of
+tribulation is overpowered, and even in the midst of sorrow there may be
+an abiding joyfulness in Christ Jesus the Lord.
+
+Observe the foundation of this joy, and see how it is the consequence of
+our sure standing in Christ Jesus.  When we rejoice in hope of the glory
+of God, and rejoice even in tribulation, this joy is the consequence of a
+previous transaction, and the result of our occupying a new position.  We
+have had access, or admission, and are now standing in His grace.  It is
+the standing in that grace that is the foundation of the joy of hope.
+This leads us to the question, “What is the grace?”
+
+The word “grace” has different meanings in Scripture.  Sometimes it means
+the inward work of God the Holy Ghost in the soul, as when it says, “Grow
+in grace.” {55a}  But this cannot be our standing-ground, for the simple
+reason that it is imperfect and variable.  But this is not the only
+meaning of the word, or nearly so, for it is used for any great gift of
+love and mercy bestowed in God’s free favour on His people.  We have to
+consider what is the free gift or favour into which we have had access,
+and which is now our standing-ground.  This question the context must
+decide; and it seems to me impossible to study that context, without
+coming to the conclusion that the grace here referred to is that which
+must ever be the real resting place for those who are convinced of sin, a
+righteousness imputed in the free grace of God. {55b}
+
+This, then, is the grace in which we stand, the grace of imputation, the
+gracious gift of a righteousness reckoned, counted, or imputed to us when
+we do not deserve it; the marvellous mercy through which we are accounted
+righteous, accepted as righteous, beloved as righteous, and finally saved
+as righteous, although we are not really so in fact, and although we are
+conscious in our own hearts of matter for the most profound humiliation
+before God.  Who can wonder that we rejoice in hope when we are placed in
+mercy on such a standing-ground as that?
+
+This, you observe, is a work _for_ us, and not _in_ us, and therefore
+never varies.  The work _in_ us is perpetually changing.  It is a
+progressive work, and its progress is sometimes much more rapid than at
+others.  But the work _for_ us does not go up and down with the work _in_
+us; it is unchangeable, like God Himself.  The righteousness imputed is
+the righteousness of God, and therefore perfect and unchangeable.  It
+changeth not for the simple reason that He changeth not, and therefore
+always, in cloud as well as sunshine, in dark days as well as bright, in
+the hour of tribulation as well as in the season of unmixed prosperity,
+in the times of deepest humiliation as well as in those of emotion and
+encouragement, the justified believer may rejoice in Him, and triumph in
+the God of his salvation.  It is this that gives its security to hope,
+this that makes us sure of its never failing.  If we were relying on all
+the varied changes of our own feelings, there might be joy one day and
+despair the next; but while we stand in the grace of imputed
+righteousness, our hope has a foundation that can never give way, and
+therefore we may accept the joy without a fear, and rejoice in hope of
+the glory of God.
+
+What is the great principle within the soul which constitutes our
+standing in this grace?
+
+To this question we shall find an answer in the words of St. Paul, “Thou
+standest by faith.” {56}  And this is exactly what is taught us in this
+passage.  In verse 1, we are taught that it is by faith that we are
+justified; and then, in verse 2, we learn that it is by faith that we
+have access into this grace wherein we stand.  From first to last,
+therefore, it is a matter of faith.  The whole secret of our standing,
+and of the joy that follows from it, is found in that one word “trust.”
+Trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your finished Sacrifice and your living
+Lord, and you stand on the rock.  Let your trust rest on anything else,
+on your feelings, your thoughts, your experience, your intentions, or
+your religious efforts, and you will be no better than men endeavouring
+to walk steadily on the waves of the sea.  But trust Christ _as_ you are,
+_where_ you are, and that without putting even your own trust between you
+and Him, and you may go on your way rejoicing in Him, and need never
+cease to give thanks for a foundation so solid and a grace so free.
+
+
+
+
+THE WORK OF THE LORD
+
+
+    “Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
+    Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the
+    Lord.”—1 COR. xv. 58.
+
+WE have lately studied “the joy of the Lord,” and now I am anxious that
+our thoughts should be turned to another subject, which is much more
+intimately connected with it than many seem to suppose, that is, the work
+of the Lord.  The joy of the Lord imparts strength for service, and the
+service of the Lord increases joy.  There is action and reaction between
+the two.
+
+
+
+WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORK OF THE LORD?
+
+
+It is _work_—work with all the self-denial that accompanies steady work.
+
+It is work _for_ the Lord.  When we say that a father works for his
+family, or a servant for his master, it does not mean that such an one
+simply goes about his own business, but it does mean that he has a
+particular person in view, and that he is working for him.  We are such
+poor, frail creatures that there is a constant tendency to admit bye
+motives in our work.  I know how hard it is to preserve a single eye to
+the glory of God.  One’s own reputation and the great pleasure of one’s
+own success have a constant tendency to introduce false motives.  What we
+want is to lose sight of self altogether, and to remember that if we are
+doing the work _of_ the Lord, we are doing it _for_ the Lord.
+
+It is work _from_ the Lord.  It is the work to which the Lord has
+appointed each of us.  When God called Barnabus and Paul, He said,
+“Separate them for the work whereunto I have called them.” {59a}  Now we
+are not called to the Apostleship, but I believe there is not an
+individual amongst us who is not called by God to a certain work in His
+service.  The Church of God is said to be “compacted by that which every
+joint supplieth.” {59b}  There is not, therefore, a joint in the whole
+body that is not to supply something.  All who are in Christ Jesus are
+the children of God, and all are called to work in His service, the
+strong man in the fulness of his strength, or the suffering invalid laid
+low with broken health.
+
+This, then, being the character of the work of the Lord, let us turn to
+the encouragement which God has given, and the root from which it
+springs.
+
+
+
+THE ENCOURAGEMENT.
+
+
+There are some things in our Christian life which we think, some which we
+hope, and some which we know.  We know some, for they are assured to us
+in God’s word, and we are fully persuaded that His word is true.  Now
+here is one of the things we know, know as a matter of certainty without
+the possibility of doubt.  We know that our labour is not in vain in the
+Lord.  It may often appear to us exceedingly feeble and defective: we may
+be ashamed and humbled at its multiplied shortcomings: we may look back
+upon it honeycombed, as it were, by mistakes: we may be conscious that we
+have left undone those things that we ought to have done, and we may be
+painfully aware that nothing has been done as it ought to have been done
+for God, but still we are assured that it will not be in vain.  When
+Samuel was but a child, “the Lord was with him, and did let none of his
+words fall to the ground,” {60a} and we may be sure that He will not let
+one word spoken in His name fall to the ground now.  If the Lord is with
+you, no one thing that you ever do for Him will be in vain.  You may not
+see the fruit of it, or if you do it may be after years of waiting, but
+the Lord knows all about it.  He sees exactly what you are doing, or
+saying, or giving, or praying, and the book of remembrance is written
+before Him.  You yourself may be one of God’s hidden ones, and in the day
+when He makes up His jewels, {60b} you may meet then with others, hidden
+like yourself, to whom your labour, however feeble, has been blessed in
+His mercy.  Cleave, then, to the work of the Lord without wavering.  Let
+no discouragements dishearten you, hold steadily on your way, faint yet
+pursuing, being perfectly assured that what God has promised He is able
+also to perform, and that even your poor service will not be in vain in
+the Lord.
+
+
+
+THE ROOT FROM WHICH ALL SUCH WORK MUST SPRING.
+
+
+It is not all kinds of labour to which the promise is attached, for there
+is a great deal of labour that is altogether in vain.  “Except the Lord
+build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” {60c}  And the
+distinction is very clearly taught us here, for the work here spoken of
+is a labour “in the Lord.”  It teaches how work is the consequence of
+union; that we do not do the work of the Lord in order that by doing it
+we may attain to union, but that the union comes first and the work of
+the Lord follows as its result.  There will be no fruit on the branch if
+there is not first a union with the vine.  There is no hope, therefore,
+of any man winning to himself a union with Christ by any amount of
+painstaking in work.  If your heart is yearning for that union, you must
+accept it as a free gift because Christ Jesus, the Son of God, has
+redeemed you by His own most precious blood, and you must do so just as
+you are, without waiting for even one more effort in His service.  You
+must be “in the Lord” before you can “labour in the Lord,” and that union
+must be the free gift of His unmerited grace.  You must be created in Him
+unto good works before you will do anything for His glory. {61}
+
+
+
+
+CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN THE CONFIRMATION OF FAITH
+
+
+    “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings
+    will I rejoice.”—PSA. lxiii. 7.
+
+I WISH to speak on the important use of Christian experience in the
+confirmation of faith.  I say in the confirmation of faith, for there is
+the widest possible difference between confirmation and commencement.
+Experience may confirm the faith when it already exists, but the faith
+must obviously be there before there can be any experience of its result.
+
+At the outset of our Christian course we have nothing to do but throw
+ourselves absolutely in naked trust on the sure promises of the covenant
+of God, and rest exclusively on what He has done and promised.  We have
+nothing then to do with our own history, our own feelings, or our own
+progress, it is Christ and Christ alone on whom the soul must rest for
+life.  And so, if we look to the real foundation of faith, it must be to
+the last day of our pilgrimage.  It is a fatal-moment for us if we are
+led to look away for a single moment from Him.  But at the same time we
+must remember that we are not always at the beginning of our Christian
+life.  One who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and walked with Him for
+many years is not in the same position as one who is to-day seeking Him
+for the first time.  He has had the experience of the loving-kindness of
+the Lord.  He has never found Him to fail in any of the anxieties of his
+life, and if he could trust many years ago when he had nothing but the
+bare promise, how much more may he trust the Saviour now when the truth
+of His word has been tried and tested in all the varied experiences of
+life?
+
+The Lord Jesus Christ is described as “a sure foundation;” {63a} sure,
+because He is the foundation laid by God; sure, because of His own
+eternal Godhead; sure, therefore, as an object of simple trust before a
+person has had any experience of His grace.  To the trembling sinner who
+has hitherto been a total stranger to Him, and has never known anything
+of His love, even to him He is a sure foundation, and though knowing Him
+only through the word, that trembling sinner may come to Him and trust.
+But according to that same verse He is also a tried foundation.  He has
+been tried by the whole church of God for eighteen centuries and has
+never once been found to fail any one that has come to Him in faith.  He
+has been tried by us who have known Him for the greater part of our
+lives, and we are not to ignore all He has done for us, but say, as St.
+John did, not merely that we have believed, but that “we have known and
+believed the love that God hath towards us.” {63b}
+
+Now this is the principle of the text.  The Psalm was written when David
+was in great trouble, having taken flight from Saul in the wilderness of
+Judah.  He was there hidden in such caves as Adullam, and cut off from
+the sanctuary of God.  But it is a very cheerful and thankful Psalm.  He
+was not downhearted because of his troubles, but he had such an assurance
+of the loving-kindness of the Lord that his heart was full of praise.  He
+could praise Him, and that with joyful lips, even in the wilderness.  The
+reason was that he could trust Him, and though he was only a young man
+his trust had been confirmed by experience.  He had been in difficulty
+almost the whole time since his call, but he had found a strong arm with
+him all the way, and therefore he said, “Because thou has been my help,
+therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.”  In this verse
+there are two things to be observed—
+
+
+
+I.  THE THANKFUL RECOGNITION OF HELP ALREADY GIVEN.
+
+
+The Lord had helped him through many difficulties and he thankfully
+recognized the help.  We do not know to what particular act of help he
+referred.  It may have been to his victory over Goliath, or to the escape
+from the javelin of Saul.  Or it may be to the daily, hourly help given
+to his own soul in all the difficulties of his situation; to that help
+which finds no place in history, but which is the unceasing source of
+life and strength to the child of God.  But whatever was the peculiar
+character of the help, it is perfectly clear that it was accepted and
+recognized.  He asked for help, he found it, he acknowledged it, and he
+was thankful for it.
+
+Let us learn the lesson that we should not be always praying for help,
+and fearing to acknowledge it when given.  It is our privilege to ask for
+the gift, but it is also both our privilege and duty to acknowledge it.
+
+
+
+II.  THE JOYFUL ASSURANCE FOR THE FUTURE.
+
+
+He knew that he believed in a God that changeth not, just as we believe
+that the Lord Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,”
+{64} and the result was the assurance that He who had helped him thus far
+would help him to the end.  He knew that his God would not change, and
+therefore he was happy and confident though he was in “a dry and thirsty
+land.” {65a}  His joy did not depend on circumstances, but on God, and
+being confident in His unchanging grace he could be happy anywhere.  He
+used to delight in the Sanctuary, and we read in verse 2 how he had there
+seen in his own soul God’s power and glory.  But the same Lord who had
+helped him in the Sanctuary would help him also in the cave, and
+therefore he was not an unhappy man even in the wilderness, but he said,
+“Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise
+Thee.”
+
+And this was no new principle in his mind, for we find him acting on it
+when he was quite a youth.  It was the principle that carried him into
+the conflict with Goliath, for when Saul dissuaded him from the attempt,
+he said, “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out
+of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this
+Philistine.” {65b}  Thus the recognition of past help ought to lead to
+confident trust.  If we have found help actually given, if we have reason
+to believe that God is helping now, we may boldly look forward into the
+future, and be perfectly confident that He will help to the end.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMING OF THE LORD
+
+
+   THE PRACTICAL EFFECT OF THIS BLESSED HOPE ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER
+
+    “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord
+    draweth nigh.”—ST. JAMES v. 8.
+
+THE hope of the near approach of the Lord’s coming should lead us to sit
+light to the world and the things of it.  There is no greater temptation
+besetting our path than that of becoming entangled in the things of the
+world.  We are for ever spinning cobwebs for our own bondage, and being
+then caught in our own web.  Hence the importance of the weaning power of
+the blessed hope of the near coming of our Lord and Saviour.  This
+applies in sorrow.
+
+There were sorrows in the days of St. Paul, just as there are now, and he
+never taught us not to weep.  What he did teach was that we “should not
+sorrow as those that have no hope.”  The character of the sorrow may be
+changed.  And what was the power that should thus change the character of
+grief?  The next verse supplies the answer.  “For if we believe that
+Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will
+God bring with Him.” {66}  We may look forward, therefore, to His speedy
+return, when the graves of those who are in Christ shall open, and when
+all sorrow will be lost for eternity in the blessed privilege of being
+“ever with the lord.” {67a}  Is not such a hope enough to change the
+character of grief?
+
+This blessed hope changes also the character of our joy.
+
+Just as it gives a tone to sorrow, so also it does to joy.  It makes it
+sober and solid.  It gives it a quiet, peaceful, abiding character.  Turn
+to the words of St. Paul.  “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say,
+Rejoice.” {67b}  And observe the verse that follows: “Let your moderation
+be known unto all men.  The Lord is at hand.”  Let your joy be the sober
+joy of men who believe that the coming of the Lord is at hand; the calm,
+well-assured, abiding joy of those who, being in the Lord, are persuaded
+that they will be with the Lord for ever.
+
+And the same effect will follow with reference to all our possessions.
+
+Let no one suppose we are not to prize those precious gifts which God has
+given us.  Ought we to think lightly of money, time, influence, power?
+By no means; but if we believe that the coming of the Lord is near we
+must sit light to it all, for it will all soon give place to the glories
+of His kingdom.  Remember St. Paul’s thrilling words: “The time is
+short,” {67c} and the exhortation that follows to “use this world, as not
+abusing it.”
+
+If we believe that the Lord’s coming is near we must wake up and trim our
+lamps.
+
+We must never forget that real, true believers may grow cold, and dull,
+and sleepy.  Thus even the wise virgins were asleep when the Bridegroom
+came.  But they were thoroughly prepared, so they were up in a moment
+when they heard the cry, and, having trimmed their lamps, were ready.
+Now, the thought of His appearing should have this effect on ourselves.
+Who is there amongst us that does not want to be quickened; to be aroused
+to fresh energy for God; to have the soul filled with a holy fervour, and
+the whole heart glowing with the love of Christ?  Who is there that
+should not desire to respond with every faculty he possesses to the
+stirring appeal of St. Paul: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is
+high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than
+when we believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” {68a}
+Shall we sleep on as if the old world were going on for ever?  Do we
+really believe that “the Bridegroom cometh,” {68b} and shall we not trim
+our lamps without one moment’s delay in order that when He comes He may
+find them burning brightly to His glory?
+
+If we are looking for the speedy coming of the Lord, it should lead to a
+calm, happy, peaceful hope in the midst of the turmoils of the latter
+days.
+
+There is nothing to lead us to expect a calm termination to the present
+state of things.  Our Lord when He comes will come riding, as it were, on
+the whirlwind and the storm.  It is a very common thing to find a bar
+with heavy breakers on it at the mouth of the finest harbours, and so we
+must be prepared for a stormy sea as we enter the haven of rest.  Our
+Lord taught this very clearly when He said, “There shall be signs in the
+sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of
+nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.” {68c}  And now
+observe the effect of these events on different characters.  Through the
+world at large they produce what may be called a panic—“Men’s hearts
+failing them for fear.” {69a}  But how is it to be with the people of
+God?  Are their hearts to fail them for fear?  No, for we read, “When
+these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your
+heads.” {69b}  They are not to be bowed down, but to hold their head
+erect, and with a confident spirit to look up full of hope.  And why?
+What is it that is to make so vast a difference between the two
+characters?  How can we explain the contrast?  It is all explained in the
+latter part of that verse—“For your redemption draweth nigh.”  It is
+perfectly clear that by redemption is here meant the final deliverance,
+for in the previous verse {69c} we read of the final coming of the
+Deliverer.  That calm peace, therefore, is the blessed result of a
+blessed hope.  God’s people will know that the Deliverer is at hand, and
+therefore will not be afraid.  They will believe God’s Holy Word, and
+therefore what alarms others will cheer them.  The same storm which sinks
+the great ironclads outside will bring their little bark into harbour.
+They will know what it all means, and, with God’s Word in their hand,
+they will know who is reigning, and will see in all that is frightening
+others the predicted signs of His near approach.
+
+
+
+ONE WORD IN CONCLUSION.
+
+
+The word “redemption” has a double sense in common use.  It is sometimes
+used for atonement or propitiation simply, and sometimes for the great
+deliverance which is the consequence of the great propitiation.  It is
+clear that in this passage it is used for deliverance.  But another thing
+is equally clear, namely, this—that we shall never be able to rest in the
+hope of the deliverance unless we are first taught to rest for
+forgiveness on the completed propitiation.  Redemption by power is the
+consequence of redemption by blood.  It is the redemption by power of
+which the Lord said “He draweth nigh;” but we shall never be able to lift
+up our heads, and look up in joy to the prospect, unless we first know in
+our own souls the unspeakable blessing of that redemption by blood which
+has long since been completed for ever.  It is only when we know Jesus
+Christ and Him crucified that we can look up in calm, peaceful confidence
+to Jesus Christ and Him glorified.
+
+
+
+
+“WITH” AND “BY”
+
+
+    “And when they were come, and had gathered the Church together, they
+    rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the
+    door of faith onto the Gentiles.”—ACTS xiv. 27.
+
+THERE are few institutions of greater antiquity than the missionary
+meeting.  It is truly apostolic in its origin.  The first such meeting of
+which we read was held at Antioch after the return of St. Paul from his
+first missionary journey.  It was from Antioch he set off, having been
+commended by the brethren to the grace of God; and it was at Antioch,
+after his return, that he gathered together the Church and rehearsed to
+them all that God had done with them in his journey.  This is the great
+subject of his address, and will suggest three subjects of inquiry for
+ourselves.
+
+
+
+I.  WHAT HAD BEEN DONE?
+
+
+In the first place, the door of faith had been opened to the Gentiles.
+Surely by “the door of faith” we must understand that “new and living
+way” of which we read in Hebrews. {71}  And what is that way?  Is not
+this explained by the previous verse, “Having, therefore, boldness to
+enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”  It is the free access to
+the throne of Grace through the finished, final propitiation, there
+described as “the blood of Jesus.”  When He died, the veil of the temple
+was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the mercy-seat was laid
+open to the sinner drawing near in faith, and the invitation was
+proclaimed to all.  The throne of righteousness became the throne of
+mercy, and the throne of judgment became approachable even to the sinner,
+for it was transformed into a throne of grace.
+
+This is the door of faith that had been opened to the Gentiles, and it is
+very difficult for us to realize all that was involved in such a fact.
+There was a middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile which kept
+them as wide asunder as if there had been no common Saviour.  But now St.
+Paul reported that the middle wall had been broken down. {72a}  Every
+stone of it had been swept away, and, according to the covenant of God,
+all were invited as one flock around one Shepherd.
+
+But this was not all that had been done.  The great work of that
+missionary journey was the turning of the hearts of both Jews and
+Gentiles to enter in by that open door.  It is one thing to set a door
+open before a person, but often a much more difficult thing to induce him
+to enter in.  Now the great result of this journey was that many precious
+souls were brought in through the open door, and in Christ Jesus were
+saved.  This was the work of which St. Paul gave an account on his return
+to Antioch.  If he mentioned individuals he doubtless told them of
+Sergius Paulus, the Roman pro-consul at Paphos, that “prudent man,” {72b}
+one of the first converts given to the Apostle.  Then, again, he
+doubtless told them of the great multitude both of the Jews and also of
+the Greeks in Iconium who believed. {72c}  And if he were asked as to the
+reality of the work in their souls, he doubtless told them of the
+beautiful character of the Christians in the other Antioch, Antioch of
+Pisidia, of whom it is said, “the disciples were filled with joy, and
+with the Holy Ghost.” {73}
+
+They had, indeed, entered in by the open door.  They had tasted the joy
+of the living way, they had been brought under the shadow of the
+mercy-seat.  They had sat down under His shadow with great delight, and
+had found the fruit sweet to their taste.  So marvellous had been the
+change that the very men who before this memorable journey had been
+living, some in Jewish hostility, and some in heathen abomination, were
+now happy, holy, thankful believers, and were actually filled with the
+Holy Ghost.  We see, then, what had been done.  The next question is—
+
+
+
+II.  WHO WAS THE DOER?
+
+
+St. Paul and St. Barnabas were the principal agents, and of these St.
+Paul was the chief speaker, but it was not he who changed the hearts or
+filled the disciples with joy and with the Holy Ghost.  So he did not
+tell what _he_ had done, but what God had done.  The drawing of the
+sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, into the new or living way was a Divine
+act.  To open the heart required a Divine power as much as to open the
+door.  It is important for us clearly to bear in mind this principle,
+that the power to enter in is of itself the gift of God—that we must
+trust Him not only to save us when we have entered in, but to enable us
+to enter in; not only to show mercy on us when we have come near to Him,
+but to draw us near by His own Spirit.
+
+
+
+III.  IN WHAT WAY DID THE LORD MAKE USE OF HUMAN AGENCY?
+
+
+There are two expressions employed which throw great light on the
+subject.  In this verse we read of the things which God had done _with_
+them, and the same expression occurs in Acts xv. 4.  But if we pass on to
+Acts xv., we find it stated that “God had wrought upon the Gentiles _by_
+them.” {74a}  The one expression implies companionship, the other
+instrumentality.  Consider them separately.
+
+(1)  “With.”
+
+The idea is that throughout the journey our Lord was literally fulfilling
+His promise.  “I am with you alway.” {74b}  They went out to preach in
+His name and He went with them, as their constant, never-failing, though
+invisible, companion and friend.  Thus, while they were acting, He was
+acting also.  The two were acting together, and so fulfilling the one
+purpose of God.  The action of the Lord was giving effect to the action
+of the preacher, though in some cases it was quite independent of it.
+Take the case of Lydia as an illustration. {74c}  St. Paul preached to
+that little company assembled at the place of prayer by the riverside at
+Phillipi.  There was the action of the preacher.  But now look at the
+action of the Lord working with him.  By His fore-seeing providence He
+had brought Lydia from her home at Thyatira, and by His guiding Spirit
+had brought St. Paul from his work in Asia Minor.  It was He that brought
+them both to the same spot on that Sabbath morning.  Then, again, while
+St. Paul was preaching the Lord was acting, for He was acting with His
+servant, first by the preparatory leading of His providence, and
+afterwards by the heart-opening movement of the Holy Ghost
+
+(2)  And this leads me to the other expression, “_by_.”  This expresses
+something different to companionship, for it teaches that in thus drawing
+sinners to Himself He makes use of men as instruments.  In the case of
+Lydia the Lord opened her heart, but the things which were spoken by St.
+Paul were the instrument which God employed to lead her to the faith.  It
+was not without instrumentality, but by it, that God acted.  It is
+important to bear this in mind—that human instrumentality is not in
+antagonism to faith.  We must remember the “by” as well as the “with,”
+and that when God has given means, we do not honour Him by neglecting or
+ignoring them.  St. Paul was most anxious to urge on the Corinthians that
+it was God alone who gave the increase, but while he did so he was not
+deterred from adding that he had planted and Apollos watered. {75}  We
+know that God is a Sovereign, and that He, if He pleased, could gather in
+the whole company of His elect without the use of any one man to work for
+Him; but we know also that “by us” the preaching is to be fully known,
+and we are fully persuaded that if we are to look for a harvest we must
+both plant and water.
+
+
+
+
+THE STIRRING OF THE SPIRIT
+
+
+    “And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of
+    Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of
+    Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the
+    people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of Hosts,
+    their God.”—HAG. i. 14.
+
+LET US consider this stirring of the will, and then the great need of it
+even amongst the faithful people of God.
+
+I.  We read a great deal in Scripture of a movement in the will, as we
+know in practical life, how we ourselves are moved, or aroused on many
+occasions.  We know what it is to be like Peter, who was asleep in the
+prison till the Angel of the Lord “smote him on the side, and raised him
+up, saying, Arise up quickly.” {76a}  We are often aroused to make an
+_effort_ which we never thought of before, and our whole soul is on fire
+to be working with a holy enthusiasm for God.
+
+Now this stirring of the spirit is the act of God Himself.  I am quite
+aware that there are passages in which man is described as stirring
+himself, as for example, “There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that
+stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” {76b}  But such an expression
+is the description of the outward effect, and not of the inward movement
+of the soul, as is proved by that very text, which gives us the reason
+for the absence of any such stirring, “Thou hast hid Thy face from us.”
+It was because He had hidden His face that no one was stirred to lay hold
+on His grace.  Thus St. Paul teaches us that it is God Himself who
+worketh on the will.  He urges the little flock at Philippi to be more
+diligent in his absence than they were in his presence, {77a} and in the
+next verse he gives us the reason that “It is God who worketh in you both
+to will and to do of His good pleasure.”  So in this passage, when
+Zerubbabel was aroused to a new action it was the Lord who stirred his
+spirit, and who produced such a strong, deep feeling in his soul that he
+could not rest without making a fresh effort for the Lord.  This stirring
+was the blessed result of the Holy Spirit’s action.  Oh, that we had more
+of it amongst ourselves!
+
+But while it is the work of the Holy Spirit, we shall find that, as a
+general rule, He makes use of means.  Of course, if He pleases, He may
+Himself speak to the soul in the way of direct personal communication,
+and so arouse the heart and conscience without the aid of any human
+instrumentality.  But in most cases He makes use of means.
+
+Sometimes men are stirred by the sight of evil, as St. Paul was stirred
+in spirit by the sight of the idolatry at Athens. {77b}  And it does seem
+strange that God’s faithful people can sit so still as they do, and look
+on so quietly on the sin that abounds around them.  How is it that the
+whole soul does not burn within us with a longing desire to be at work
+for God?
+
+Sometimes it is through the power of the ministry.  It was so with
+Zerubbabel, of whom it is said that the Lord stirred his spirit.  The
+means employed in his case was the preaching of the two prophets Haggai
+and Zechariah.  Sometimes God raises up great preachers whose office it
+seems to be to awaken nations.  Such were Whitfield and the Wesleys.
+Such was Luther at the time of the Reformation, and such were Haggai and
+Zechariah after the return of the captives from Babylon.  It was through
+them that the fire was lighted in the soul of Zerubbabel.  Their burning
+words stirred his spirit, and he threw himself with a holy zeal into the
+service of the Lord.
+
+Sometimes it is by the example and influence of others, as “iron
+sharpeneth iron.” {78a}  There is nothing more infectious than character.
+There is a certain atmosphere surrounding each of us, and it has its
+influence on all who come near us.  The idle man makes others idle, the
+corrupt man makes others corrupt; so the holy man wins others to
+holiness, and the man of Christian enthusiasm will warm up those who come
+in contact with him.
+
+Sometimes He does it by stirring our nest.  This is what He did for
+Israel in Egypt.  They had begun to settle down content with their
+captivity.  They had their flesh-pots, their melons, and their cucumbers,
+and they did not care to be unsettled; so God stirred them up by
+oppression.  This is the process described in Moses’ song, “As an eagle
+stirreth up her nest.” {78b}  The young eagles, being comfortable in
+their nest, have no desire to launch forth into the untried experiment of
+flight.  So the parent bird stirs up the nest, and by means of that
+stirring compels them to a move.  Is it not often just the same with us?
+We are so fond of our nests, so apt to settle down quietly, forgetful of
+that which is to come.  So God in mercy stirs the nest.  The heart is
+saddened, but the very stirring may be God’s appointed instrument for
+waking up a new hope, a new longing for the second advent, and a
+dependence never known before on His own grace, and love, and perfect
+sufficiency.
+
+By whatever means the Lord does it, we must never forget that it is His
+own divine act of mercy and grace.  No sight of evil, no preaching, no
+example, no chastening can produce the result.  It is God the Holy Ghost
+that stirs the spirit.
+
+II.  Consider the need of this stirring amongst the faithful people of
+God.
+
+It might be supposed that the true and faithful people of God would not
+require it, and that they would be irresistibly drawn on by the
+constraining power of the love of Christ.  But this is not the teaching
+of Scripture, and I am sure it is not the conclusion from experience.  We
+must never forget that the wise virgins went to sleep.  Nor must we even
+lose sight of those thrilling words addressed by St. Paul to those in
+Rome whom he describes as “beloved of God, and called to be saints,”
+{79a} when in the prospect of the second Advent he said to them, “Now it
+is high time to awake out of sleep.” {79b}  Had they not, you may say,
+been already aroused from sleep?  Had they not been awakened from the
+sleep of death, and brought into a new life in Christ Jesus?  How, then,
+should it be high time for them to awake out of sleep?  Were they not
+already the “beloved of God”?
+
+Now, this brings us exactly to the point; to the great need of Divine
+stirring, even for those who have already been awakened into a new life
+in Christ Jesus.  Turn to the Song of Solomon, and you will find the
+whole thing explained.  In ch. v. the Bridegroom is described as
+returning home at night, and, knocking at the door of his home, calls to
+the Bride within, and says, “Open to me.” {80}  Now what is her state of
+mind when she hears His knock and listens to His voice? “I sleep, but my
+heart waketh.”  Have we not there the exact description of very common
+Christian life?  How many are there still sleeping, though they hear the
+knock and their heart waketh?  They are neither fully asleep nor fully
+awake.  They are awake enough to hear the voice, but too sleepy to act on
+it.  But we cannot be satisfied with this half and half condition.  The
+Bride in the Song of Solomon was so long in arousing herself, that when
+at length she did so, it was too late.  In ver. 6 she tells her sad, sad
+story.  “I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself and
+was gone.”  Should not such a description arouse us all?  Most truly may
+it be said that He is standing at our own doors both knocking and
+calling.  Sin is raging, error is spreading, misery is abounding, hell is
+filling; but, thanks be to God, Christ Jesus is saving, and shall His own
+chosen people be sleeping quietly, seeking their own ease, and sitting
+down content if only they can entertain a well-grounded hope that the
+heavy burden of their own sin has been blotted out through His most
+precious blood.  “Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy
+faithful people.”
+
+
+
+
+A WILLING SERVICE
+
+
+    “Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the
+    Lord?”—1 CHRON. xxix. 5.
+
+THE occasion was a very solemn one.  It was the last act of David’s
+reign.  He had long desired to build a temple for the glory of God, but
+he was not allowed to carry out his wish.  So he collected the necessary
+materials, and at length, when he had decided to abdicate in favour of
+Solomon, he called an assembly and declared Solomon, who was still young
+and tender, to be his successor, then handed over to him the plans which
+he had prepared for the Temple, and concluded with a solemn charge. {81}
+
+Having thus ended what may be termed the official business of his life,
+the aged king proceeded to address the congregation.  Let us study four
+things in that address; his question, his thanksgiving, his prayer, and
+his final appeal.
+
+
+
+HIS QUESTION
+
+
+He told them how he was passing away, and how the work was great, so he
+asked them a question which may be well put to every congregation in
+every age, “Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto
+the Lord?”
+
+Now, we hear a great deal in these days of consecration.  The idea of
+consecration is not a new thing in the Church of God, and I am sure that
+we want more of the true spirit of it in our own hearts.  There is such a
+thing as consecration of heart, and consecration of service.  The
+consecration of heart is the surrender of the whole man with the
+affections, the powers, and the strong will to the Lord.  The
+consecration of service is the dedication of all our active powers to his
+work.  When David said, “I am thine,” {82a} it was the consecration of
+heart, and when Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me,” {82b} it was the
+consecration of service.  Now, it was the consecration of service for
+which David appealed, and it is this practical consecration of service on
+which we are dependent for the work in a parish.  Who is willing to
+consecrate his service?  I cannot see into the secrets of the hearts, but
+I know who ought to be willing—all those who believe in the words of our
+Blessed Saviour, “For their sakes I consecrate Myself.” {82c}  Did He,
+the spotless Son of God, consecrate Himself to be the atoning sacrifice
+for us?  And if we believe that, can we doubt for one moment who it is
+that should be willing to consecrate his service to Him?  Redeemed
+sinner, is it not you?  Pardoned believer, is it not you?  Are you ready
+to fall at His feet and say, “Here am I; let me be Thine.  Here is my
+skill: use it.  Here is my intellect: use it.  Here is my power of
+speech: use it.  Here is my money: use it.  Here is all, all I have and
+all I am: let it all be Thine own, and help me to employ it for Thy
+glory”?
+
+
+
+HIS PRAISE
+
+
+David’s question fell on willing hearts, and there was a wonderful
+response to his appeal.  Gold, silver, and precious stones were poured
+into the treasury, and the willing heart with which all was done was
+beautiful.  It was not done grudgingly or of necessity, but with a happy,
+joyous, thankful spirit, so that the old man’s heart was gladdened, and
+“David the King rejoiced with great joy.” {83a}  It was this joyous
+spirit that called forth his praise.  When he saw the blessed result of
+his appeal he did not lay it down to his personal influence, or to his
+own persuasive power, but he stood up and blessed the Lord.  He was too
+old for government, but he was not too old for praise.  His last words
+from the throne were those of praise and prayer.  His joy ran straight
+into thanksgiving, and in this thanksgiving two principles were
+conspicuous, he gave all the glory to God, and he acknowledged himself
+and his people to be utterly unworthy of the sacred privilege of this
+happy service.  This is the true view of service and of gifts.  When God
+calls us to work for Him, or to give for Him, we should not regard it as
+a burden laid upon us, but as an honour to which we are invited, an
+honour that angels themselves might covet.  This was the spirit of David
+when he said “What am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to
+offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of
+Thine own have we given Thee.” {83b}  And this should be our own spirit
+in all service and all gifts for such a Lord.  We do not want to regard
+it as a yoke, a necessity, a heavy task imposed on us by God; but as an
+honour, a privilege, a happy, loving service of the King of kings, for
+which the best amongst us is utterly unworthy.
+
+
+
+HIS PRAYER
+
+
+After a time his praise ran into prayer.  This is just as it ought to be,
+for praise should encourage prayer, as prayer should always lead to
+praise.  Thus the loving heart should pass backwards and forwards from
+one to the other, and the two should be so blended that when we are
+engaged by the one the other should never be out of sight.
+
+Observe the prayer in ver. 18, and remember the circumstances.  It was a
+moment of wonderful national enthusiasm at the commencement of a great
+national work.  Their hearts were filled with joy and they were ready for
+anything.  Now, what was the danger?  What would be the danger to
+ourselves in our own day?  Would it not be decay, a gradual dying off of
+our first zeal, a chill in the first love as there was at Ephesus? {84}
+What David prayed for, therefore, was continuance, or perseverance.  In
+short he prayed against declension from their first love, for look at his
+words in ver. 18.  For “prepare” the marginal reading is “stablish.”  And
+now you see the point of the prayer, “Keep this _for ever_ in the
+imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and _establish_
+their heart unto Thee.”  What an insight it gives both as to our danger
+and our hope.  How it shows us our need of being kept alive in our first
+love, and teaches us that we must not be trusting to the privileges of
+past experience, or the fact of past consecration, but that we need the
+perpetual action of the Holy Spirit in keeping His grace for ever in the
+imagination of the thoughts of the heart.
+
+And where are we to look for this preservation?  Do we not learn that our
+hearts are like leaky vessels, and the brightest, holiest and most joyous
+of believers requires the daily power of the Holy Spirit, not merely to
+stop the leak, but to fill the vessel?
+
+
+
+THE FINAL APPEAL
+
+
+The old man finished his prayer.  In it he spoke alone.  He was, as it
+were, the mouthpiece of his people.  But that was not enough.  It was not
+sufficient that he should speak on their behalf, but they must praise God
+for themselves.  So having been into the very presence chamber of God in
+prayer, he came out, as it were to the assembled multitude, and said to
+the vast throng, “Now bless the Lord your God.”  Praise was the climax of
+the transaction, and praise the last act of David’s reign.
+
+Now may there be the spirit of that remarkable day amongst ourselves.
+Trace it all the way through, remember the consecration, the liberality,
+the joy, the praise, the prayer, and the final outburst of congregational
+worship.  May God breathe on us the same spirit.  May there be the same
+consecration of service, the same willing offerings, the same joyous
+praise, and the same thankful prayer for a holy perseverance unto the
+end.  And, in conclusion, may I not say to you what David said to the
+congregation, “Now bless the Lord your God.”
+
+
+
+
+FEAR NOT
+
+
+    “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy
+    God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee: yea, I will
+    uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”—ISA. xli. 10.
+
+WHEN we observe how frequently God says to us “Fear not,” we may be quite
+sure that there is a great deal in common life to occasion fear.  The
+frequent recurrence of the exhortation in all parts of Scripture teaches
+us, that through the whole range of Scriptural history there had been
+that all around God’s people which, without the Lord’s help, must have
+been sure to make the heart afraid.
+
+You will observe in our text that He does not bid us fear not because He
+undertakes to remove all danger.  What He says is, that when things arise
+that may justly alarm us, we need not fear.  “Fear not, _for_ I am with
+thee,” (observe the “_for_”).  If fear is to be really overcome, it must
+be by the eye being kept fixed on God and His promises.
+
+This verse contains two assurances and three promises; assurances of what
+He is to us now, and promises of what He undertakes to do for us.
+
+
+
+THE ASSURANCES
+
+
+“I am with thee.”  “I am thy God.”  It is interesting to observe how the
+different portions of Scripture correspond with one another.  They are
+all inspired by one Spirit, and all speak one truth.  So when I turn to
+the concluding description of the blessedness of the Heavenly
+inheritance, I find just the same assurance, “God Himself shall be with
+them and be their God.”  {87}  He does not promise to be nearer to His
+people, even in the heavenly rest, than He declares Himself to be now,
+when we are in the midst of our struggle upon earth.  He promises _then_
+to be with us and to be our God, and He assures us in the text that He is
+just the same _now_.
+
+The words of the assurance, “I am with thee,” imply both reconciliation
+and companionship.  Reconciliation, for He is not against us, but with
+us.  Not separated by the barrier of unforgiven sin, but so completely
+reconciled, the law being satisfied that every barrier is broken down for
+ever, and He is altogether on our side.
+
+Companionship, for as a reconciled and loving Father He never for a
+moment leaves His child, by night or by day, in joy or in sorrow; in
+active work, or in quiet submission; in the ministry at home or in the
+distant work of missions.  Wherever His people are, and in whatever
+circumstances, there is He with them as their Father, their Friend, their
+Companion, their Helper, their God.
+
+For He also says, “I am thy God.”  He is not merely with us, but with us
+in all the omnipotence of Godhead.  An earthly friend may fail in helping
+us; but when He is with us as our God He will never fail.  When He says,
+“I am thy God,” He clearly means that He has chosen us to be His people,
+a peculiar people unto Himself; and that, having done so, He acts as God,
+on our behalf, governing, guiding, preserving, saving, and finally
+gathering to His own presence in His kingdom.
+
+
+
+THE PROMISES
+
+
+(1)  “I will strengthen thee.”
+
+Into whatever position He places us, for that He undertakes to give us
+the needful strength.  If He calls us to be still and suffer, He will
+give strength for suffering; if to go forth in His name and labour in His
+service, He will give strength for activity; and in the holy warfare
+which we are all called to wage with indwelling sin, strength to
+overcome.  And you must notice that, when He promises to strengthen, He
+describes an imparted power.  He does not speak of Himself as acting for
+you externally, as when He accounts you righteous; but within you,
+imparting power, and so enabling you to act for Him.  The promise of God
+in Scripture is that He will strengthen us, or, in other words, that He
+will impart a power of action in His service.
+
+(2)  “I will help thee.”
+
+The same lesson respecting man’s activity is taught when He promises to
+help.  There is a great difference between strengthening and helping.  To
+strengthen is an inward work, the gift of an inward power.  To help is an
+external work.  I may help a lame man to walk, though I cannot strengthen
+his limb.  But help implies activity on the part of those who receive it.
+God does not help us to do nothing.  He helps us to be patient, loving,
+gentle, sweet-tempered.  He helps us to be diligent and active in His
+service; but He does not help us to sit still and be passive.  Help
+implies exertion.  If He strengthens us by the Holy Ghost in the inner
+man, and if He undertakes to help us in every struggle against sin, it is
+our privilege to accept His promise, and press on, assured of victory.
+
+(3)  “I will uphold thee.”
+
+These words appear to convey the idea of danger.  We are walking in
+slippery places, and with fearful falls on every hand, so that we require
+not merely a clear eye to guide us, but a strong hand to hold us.  In
+every step of our way we require to be upheld.  In every moment of our
+lives we require to be held up by one who sees all our danger, who knows
+the path perfectly well, who can hold us with so strong a grasp that
+nothing can pluck us out of His hand, and who, according to the language
+of St. Jude, is “able to keep us from falling.” {89a}
+
+It is this perpetual and final preservation that is secured to us in the
+third promise; and I would have you most particularly observe that it is
+not with the right hand of His mercy, or the right hand of His love, or
+of His compassion, or even of His power, but the right hand of His
+righteousness.  And why is this?  Because this grace is the result of the
+covenant.  By that covenant His people are given to the Lord Jesus that
+they may be saved.  In fulfilling that covenant He has shed His own most
+precious blood for us, to make atonement for our sin.  And the result is,
+that as, according to St. John, “He is faithful and just to forgive us
+our sins,” {89b} so, also, is He faithful and just to uphold us against a
+fall.
+
+But here, I know, a question will arise.  This is God’s promise, but is
+it ever realized?  It is very beautiful in Scripture, but do we meet with
+it in practical life?  Are these gifts of God really given?  Is this
+presence of God really displayed? this upholding power really
+experienced?  Let us consider these five points and see.
+
+“I am with thee.”  Has this been practically experienced?  Look at the
+words of David in the prospect of his dying hour, “Thou art with me,”
+{90a} and, again, “O God, Thou art my God.” {90b}
+
+“I will strengthen thee.”  Remember how Daniel realized its fulfilment
+when he said, “Let my Lord speak; for Thou hast strengthened me.” {90c}
+
+“I will help thee.”  Remember David’s words, “My heart trusted in Him,
+and I am helped.” {90d}
+
+“I will uphold thee.”  But will He really uphold us through trials and
+temptations?  Will He really keep us fast in the right hand of His
+righteousness, and that when our faith is weak?  Turn to Asaph’s
+experience.  He says of himself, “As for me, my feet were almost gone; my
+steps had well-nigh slipped.” {90e}  But now look at the upholding arm.
+“Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right
+hand.” {90f}  So, then, this promise has been practically fulfilled.  God
+has been true to His word, and men have found Him so.  His truth has
+never failed, and will He fail us?  Will he fail the weakest amongst us?
+Will He cease to uphold His people?  Let us trust Him.  We are not worthy
+to do so.  If He had treated us as we have deserved, He would long since
+have cast us off.  But He has not treated us as we have deserved.  He has
+loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, so we may trust
+Him, and leave all in His care; and of this we may rest perfectly
+assured, that the strong arm will never give way.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
+
+
+    “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
+    Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
+
+    “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
+    and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”—PSA. xxiii. 5,
+    6.
+
+IT is a very delightful thing to be able to say “Surely” when we look
+forward.  Now, this sureness for the future depends on our present
+relationship to God, and the confidence expressed in verse 6 is the
+blessed result of the unspeakably precious gifts described in the earlier
+verses of the Psalm.  It depends on the connection between the present
+and the future, a connection resulting from the unchangeableness in the
+character of God.  In order, therefore, to understand the last verse
+which relates to the future, let us study the one preceding it, which
+describes the present.  We may thus combine the present and the future,
+and I think the result will be what our Church describes as a “sure and
+certain hope.”
+
+
+
+THE PRESENT
+
+
+As I have just said, our confidence for the future depends on our present
+relationship to God; and, accordingly, the Psalm opens with the words,
+“The Lord is my Shepherd.”  The holy relationship between the Shepherd
+and the flock is described as being already established, and by both
+parties recognized, and all that follows is the result of that
+relationship.  We have not time to study the whole Psalm; but look at the
+three results taught us in verse 5.
+
+
+I.  ALL WANTS ARE SUPPLIED.
+
+
+Even if there are enemies, they cannot interfere with the full and sure
+supply which God has provided for His servant.  When he reaches the end
+of his journey, he will find that the Lord has prepared a place for his
+rest; and now that he is in the midst of it, he may rejoice in that the
+same most blessed Saviour has prepared a table for his daily supply.
+
+This refers, doubtless, to our daily wants, and it describes His
+fulfilment of our supplication in the Lord’s Prayer.  We pray day by day,
+“Give us this day our daily bread;” and when we really enter into the
+spirit of this Psalm, we as much as say that the prayer is answered, the
+bread provided, and the table spread.
+
+And may we not apply it still more to the bread of life?  Is it not our
+sacred privilege, when the soul is hungered, to feed even on Him; when
+the soul is athirst, to drink of the pure river of the water of life?
+And are there not many amongst us who know, by their own experience, the
+truth of the promise, “They shall be abundantly satisfied?” {92}
+
+
+II.  THE SPIRIT IS REFRESHED.
+
+
+This is taught in the words, “Thou anointest my head with oil.”  The
+words refer to the custom of anointing the weary man with ointment or
+oil.  It was poured sometimes on the feet and sometimes on the head.  The
+object in both cases was the same, namely, refreshment; and surely we
+must thankfully acknowledge that our Heavenly Father does not merely give
+us the bare necessities of existence, but softens, refreshes, and cheers
+the spirit.  He prepares not the table only, but the joy.  “He giveth us
+richly all things to enjoy.” {93a}
+
+
+III.  THE CUP OVERFLOWS.
+
+
+The mercies are so rich, the grace so abundant, the loving-kindness so
+bountiful, the living fountain so free, that the little cup of human
+capacity cannot hold it all, and it runneth over.  God describes His
+people as not merely satisfied, but abundantly satisfied; and speaks of
+the Holy Spirit as not merely bestowed, but as “shed on us abundantly.”
+{93b}  Why, then, are we content with a little water hardly perceptible
+at the bottom of our little cup?  Stephen was “full of faith and of the
+Holy Ghost,” {93c} and we are told to be “filled with the Spirit;” {93d}
+why, then, rest content with only a few drops in our own soul while there
+is the deep, broad river of the water of life able to fill, to
+overflowing, every vessel that can be found to receive the free supply?
+Why do we not realize more the truth of the promise, “Open thy mouth
+wide, and I will fill it”? {93e}
+
+So much, then, for the present.  A table prepared, a head anointed, a cup
+running over.  These are present gifts—the present and indescribable
+privileges of those whose joy it is to be able to say, “The Lord is my
+Shepherd.”
+
+
+
+THE FUTURE
+
+
+Let us pass on to the future as taught in verse 6.  We may observe two
+things—
+
+
+I.  THE ASSURANCE.
+
+
+“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  The
+idea seems to be that, in the poetry of this beautiful Psalm, Goodness
+and Mercy are represented as two persons, just as we find first Mercy and
+Truth as two persons meeting each other in Christ Jesus, and then
+Righteousness and Peace, two other persons, kissing each other in Him.
+{94a}  So here we have the two persons: Goodness, the bearer of every
+gift that can possibly be required, and Mercy dealing most graciously
+even with sin; the two following the servant of the Lord, and never
+leaving him all the way through.  And you may observe they _follow_ him,
+so that he does not always see them, and may not even know they are
+there.  He may sometimes imagine that he is forsaken and alone, but he is
+strangely mistaken, for Goodness and Mercy are close behind, the one to
+supply his need, and the other to deal graciously even with his sin.
+
+If we are in Christ Jesus, we may be as sure of the future as of the
+past.  We may be perfectly certain of the truth of the words of the Good
+Shepherd, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
+of my hand.” {94b}  That promise is so sure that it can never fail, that
+hand so strong that all the powers of hell cannot pluck the weakest
+little one from its grasp, that heart so true that we may be perfectly
+certain He will never abandon one whom He has called by the Holy Ghost
+into fellowship with Himself.
+
+
+II.  THE DETERMINATION.
+
+
+“I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”  David delighted in the
+house of God; and clearly we must explain these words as referring to the
+holy worship of the sanctuary.  But in order to enter into the full
+spirit of the passage, we must rise from the Church on earth to the
+sanctuary in heaven; to the heavenly home and the presence chamber of
+God.  There, indeed, is the table spread, there is the anointing oil,
+there the cup runneth over; and now, through the rest of our pilgrimage,
+though the journey may possibly be through the Vale of Baca, {95a} though
+sometimes the soul may be bowed down, and that even when the heart is
+fixed, yet in the midst of it all, and through it all, we may live in a
+close intimacy with Him.  We may quietly rest in His love, we may dwell
+in Him and He in us; and while He gives the gracious promise, “Him that
+cometh to Me I will in no wise _cast_ out,” {95b} we may resolve, God
+helping us, that we will never _go_ out, and that, to the last day of our
+lives, we will hold fast by Him, till at length the veil shall be
+withdrawn, and the heavenly home open before us, and we realize what it
+is, in the highest possible sense, “to dwell in the house of the Lord for
+ever.”
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                 THE END
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+               PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
+                           LONDON AND BECCLES.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+{5}  2 Sam. xii. 13.
+
+{6}  Psa. li. 13.
+
+{7}  Psa. cxlviii. 14.
+
+{8a}  Exod. xv. 1.
+
+{8b}  Psa. xl. 2, 3.
+
+{8c}  Rev. vii. 10, 14.
+
+{8d}  Isa. lx. 18.
+
+{9a}  Psa. cxliii. 9.
+
+{9b}  Acts xvi. 25, R.V.
+
+{13}  St. Luke xix. 10.
+
+{15}  Rev. xxii. 17.
+
+{17}  2 Peter i. 3.
+
+{18a}  2 Peter i. 3.
+
+{18b}  St. John x. 28.
+
+{20a}  Rom. iii. 25.
+
+{20b}  2 Cor. v. 21.
+
+{20c}  1 Cor. i. 30.
+
+{20d}  St. John v. 28.
+
+{21}  St. Jude 3.
+
+{26}  Eph. ii. 4, 5.
+
+{27a}  Gal. v. 22.
+
+{27b}  Rom. xv. 13.
+
+{28a}  2 Cor. v. 1.
+
+{28b}  St. Luke ii. 26.
+
+{29a}  Phil. i. 23.
+
+{29b}  2 Tim. iv. 6.
+
+{30a}  Phil. i. 23.
+
+{30b}  2 Tim. i. 12.
+
+{31a}  Psa. xxiii. 4.
+
+{31b}  St. Luke xix. 9.
+
+{32a}  1 Peter i. 8.
+
+{32b}  Num. xxiv. 17.
+
+{34a}  Isa. xxxii. 2.
+
+{34b}  Psa. xxxii. 7.
+
+{34c}  Col. iii. 3.
+
+{34d}  1 John v. 12.
+
+{35}  Gal. ii. 20.
+
+{37}  2 Cor. v. 15.
+
+{38}  St. John i. 26.
+
+{39a}  St. John iii. 34.
+
+{39b}  Col. ii. 9.
+
+{39c}  Acts x. 38.
+
+{40}  Acts ii, 3, 4.
+
+{41a}  Phil. iv. 19.
+
+{41b}  Job. xlii. 6.
+
+{42}  Heb. x. 20.
+
+{44a}  Acts xiii. 34.
+
+{44b}  St. John xviii. 37.
+
+{44c}  Rev. i. 5.
+
+{44d}  Psa. xxxv. 3.
+
+{45a}  1 John v. 10.
+
+{45b}  St. John x. 3.
+
+{45c}  Isa. xliv. 10.
+
+{46a}  Isa. xlii. 16.
+
+{46b}  Psa. xxxi. 3.
+
+{46c}  Psa. cxix. 117.
+
+{46d}  Psa. xxv. 4.
+
+{47a}  Psa. xxiii 4.
+
+{47b}  Eph. i. 22.
+
+{47c}  Rev. xvii. 14.
+
+{48a}  Rev. xvii. 14.
+
+{48b}  Acts ix. 6.
+
+{51}  Neh. iv. 6.
+
+{52a}  Neh. iv. 4.
+
+{52b}  St. Matt. xxvi. 41.
+
+{53}  Neh. iv. 15.
+
+{55a}  2 Pet. iii. 18.
+
+{55b}  Rom. iv. 24, 25.
+
+{56}  Rom. xi. 20.
+
+{59a}  Acts xiii. 2.
+
+{59b}  Eph. iv. 16.
+
+{60a}  1 Sam. iii. 19.
+
+{60b}  Mal. iii. 17.
+
+{60c}  Ps. cxxvii. 1.
+
+{61}  Eph. ii. 10.
+
+{63a}  Isa. xxviii. 16.
+
+{63b}  1 John iv. 16.
+
+{64}  Heb. xiii. 8.
+
+{65a}  Psa. lxiii. 1.
+
+{65b}  Sam. xvii. 37.
+
+{66}  1 Thess. iv. 13, 14.
+
+{67a}  1 Thess. iv. 17.
+
+{67b}  Phil. iv. 4, 5.
+
+{67c}  1 Cor. vii. 29.
+
+{68a}  Rom. xiii. 11.
+
+{68b}  St. Matt. xxv. 6.
+
+{68c}  St. Luke xxi. 25.
+
+{69a}  St. Luke xxi. 26.
+
+{69b}  St. Luke xxi. 28.
+
+{69c}  St. Luke xxi. 27.
+
+{71}  Heb. x. 20.
+
+{72a}  Eph. ii. 14.
+
+{72b}  Acts xiii. 7.
+
+{72c}  Acts xiv. 1.
+
+{73}  Acts xiii. 52.
+
+{74a}  Acts xv. 4–12.
+
+{74b}  St. Matt. xxviii. 20.
+
+{74c}  Acts xvi. 14.
+
+{75}  1 Cor. iii. 6.
+
+{76a}  Acts xii. 7.
+
+{76b}  Isa. lxiv. 7.
+
+{77a}  Phil. ii. 12.
+
+{77b}  Acts xvii. 16.
+
+{78a}  Prov. xxvii. 17.
+
+{78b}  Deut. xxxii. 11.
+
+{79a}  Rom. i. 7.
+
+{79b}  Rom. xiii. 11.
+
+{80}  Cant v. 2.
+
+{81}  1 Chron. xxviii. 20.
+
+{82a}  Psa. cxix. 94.
+
+{82b}  Isa vi. 8.
+
+{82c}  St. John xvii. 19, R.V.  Margin.
+
+{83a}  1 Chron. xxix. 9.
+
+{83b}  1 Chron. xxix. 14.
+
+{84}  Rev. ii. 4.
+
+{87}  Rev. xxi. 3.
+
+{89a}  St. Jude 24.
+
+{89b}  1 John i. 9.
+
+{90a}  Psa. xxiii. 4.
+
+{90b}  Psa. lxiii. 1.
+
+{90c}  Dan. x. 19.
+
+{90d}  Psa. xxviii. 7.
+
+{90e}  Psa. lxxiii. 2.
+
+{90f}  Psa. lxxiii. 23.
+
+{92}  Psa. xxxvi. 8.
+
+{93a}  1 Tim. vi. 17.
+
+{93b}  Titus iii. 6.
+
+{93c}  Acts vi. 5.
+
+{93d}  Eph. v. 18.
+
+{93e}  Psa. lxxxi. 10.
+
+{94a}  Psa. lxxxv. 10.
+
+{94b}  St. John x. 28.
+
+{95a}  Psa. lxxxiv. 6, Cp. R.V.
+
+{95b}  St. John vi. 37.
+
+
+
+
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